Nothing is ever simple

Chapter One

Mission Specs.
Date: September, 2558.
Assignment: Security.
Location: Science Base Zeta, Gamma Halo ring.
Objective: Provide additional security on the Gamma Halo ring.
Team Inbound: Ghost

The Gamma Halo ring was supposed to be a main target for the Covenant, but there had been no sighting since the Master Chief had tried to protect the Ivanoff Research Station. In total there were six Spartan IVs currently at this particular science base, their designations were as follows: Spartan Alfred Diamond, Spartan Leonardo Blake aka Leon, Spartan Joshua Anderson aka Josh, Spartan Hank Hunter, Spartan Ethan Smith, and Spartan Chase Blake. They were fireteam Ghost and they were assigned to protect the base from any enemy forces that may try and take the it by force. With the Covenant knowing where the ring was located there was no telling when they would attack. Fortunately, or unfortunately in some cases, there hadn’t been any reports of Covenant outside of Requiem. Overall the Spartans were, for lack of a better term, bored.

“This. Is. Boring.” Chase thought out loud electing a groan from the other three in the armory.

“Oh my god, will you please just shut up already.” Josh said as pulled out more ammo magazines for his assault rifle and put them on his ammo belt. For his helmet and shoulders he had E.O.D. class armor, for his torso he had Defender class armor, and Recruit class armor for his forearms and legs. In his right hand was his assault rifle and on his back was his railgun and his upgraded hologram armor module. Better than its predecessor the upgraded hologram armor module allowed the hologram to do simple movements. Taking up most of his back though, except a little on the right for his railgun, was a backpack containing a few 4x4x4 cubes of C-12 SCs and a few canisters of C-7 foaming explosive.

“And we’ve heard you say it over and over for the past two days. You’re like a broken record.” Alfred said as he loaded his DMR with a new mag and placed it on his back. He had on Scout class helmet and shoulder armor, Defender class torso armor, and Recruit leg and forearm armor. Also on his back was his sniper rifle, of which he was just started grabbing some extra mags for, and his chameleon armor module. It allowed him to change sections of his armor to different colors for an indefinite amount of time.

“Chase, the next time you complain I’ll personally throw you into the nearest shuttle bound back to the Infinity.” Leon said as he got ammo for his battle rifle resting on the bench beside him and his DMR on his back. He had on a Pathfinder helmet and shoulders, Defender torso, and Recruit forearms and leg armor. In his armor slot was a fancy piece of forerunner tech called promethean vision. It allowed him to see life signatures through walls, but only had an effective range of thirty meters, five more than their standard motion sensors.

“I’m sorry, but I was expecting this to be a huge all out fight for the Halo ring, not a job babysitting a bunch of scientists.” Chase said as he leaned up against the back wall of the armory his assault rifle and shotgun both on his back already loaded and ready. He wore a E.V.A. helmet and shoulder armor, Defender torso armor, and Recruit forearms and leg armor. As an armor module he had secured himself a fancy piece of forerunner tech, like his older brother Leon, called a hard light shield, “Another thing, how the hell are we supposed to protect them if we can’t go into the labs underground. I mean really, we’re hired as security then we can’t go into over half the damn base.”

“There’s no way the Covenant could gain access to the interior of the ring without one of the bases here knowing about it so an attack from inside the labs is impossible.” Alfred stated.

“Ya never know Aly, ya never know.” Chase said chuckling at his own joke.

“And stop calling me that god awful nickname. It was annoying enough when you got everyone back home to call me that.” Alfred said loudly pointing an accusing finger at him. All Chase did was laugh a little harder and Josh also started chuckling a little bit.

“Chase stop worrying about the labs, I’ve told you I already talked to Captain Miller about it and he said he had the passageways sealed off with two meters of titanium A plating the moment they got word the covenant knew about this ring and the MPs here have had routine checks on said barriers since.” He stood up and looked at the other spartans in the room and they to him, “Just relax and be grateful that we aren’t one of the teams that's stuck on the Infinity doing a couple more months of the War Games simulations. Instead we’re on a ring world built by an ancient and extinct civilization.”

“Till recently.” Chase muttered.

“My point is, take the down time in stride, cause your going to be missing it when we’re stuck inside of some firefight thats lasted a few hours.” As Leon finished he swapped his battle rifle on his back for his DMR and began grabbing ammo for it as well.

The room was quiet for a few minutes as everyone finished loading their weapons and grabbing ammo while thinking about Leons words of advice. That is till Chase suddenly asked, “Where’s Hank and Ethan?”

“I sent them on ahead to make sure the dig site is clear and safe for us to use the bigger explosives.” Leon said as he loaded the last bullet into the magazine for his DMR.

The room once again fell silent as Chase looked around and watched as everyone wrapped up their jobs. He looked around the room for anything that might be interesting enough to hold his attention for more than a few seconds. Upon finding nothing besides the lockers full of weaponry and ammunition he shook his head and said, “I wish something interesting would freaking happen.”

Suddenly alarms throughout the entire facility began ringing, before a voice came on over the intercom, “Containment breach on level B-3 I repeat containment breach on level B-3 and now spreading to B-4. Containment breaches on levels B-3 and B-4. Lock down and quarantine procedures has been initiated. All above ground personnel are to evacuate immediately.”

“Well well well, looks like we finally get to see some action.” Chase says while pulling his assault rifle off his back.

Leon shook his head in disappointment at Chase’s enthusiasm for fighting and finished grabbing his ammo. They all fell in line as he led them all out of the armory and towards the captains office two buildings away. As they walked out of the current building their surroundings became hectic.

They looked on in confusion as the usually open and peaceful area, that was the center of the compound. The three football fields long, circular opening was filled with people trying to get on the evacuation pelicans. Before they could take another step a man in standard issue military police armor, with a sergeant insignia on the upper left hand side of his torso armor, ran up to them holding a shotgun.

“Sergeant, what’s the situation?” Leon asked ignoring the rising volume of people yelling in the crowd.

“Sir, I have direct orders from Captain Miller for you. You’re all to go to floor B5 and find Commander Richards. He’ll bring you up to speed on the situation at hand and give you your orders.” he yelled over everyone else that was near them.

Leon nodded, “Alright sergeant, anything else?”

“No, sir.”

“Alright then, dismissed.” the sergeant quickly nodded before turning and jogging off the opposite way the spartans were heading.

As Ghost team jogged off another man rushed up beside the sergeant and whispered in his ear, “Sir, anything or anyone that could expose us has been sealed inside the labs. Everything is setup to make everything point to only Richards as the insurrectionist leader.”

“Good now lets get the hell out of here before the parasite reaches the surface.” and with that they both nodded and made their way into the crowd towards their Pelicans.

Leon opened up his teams private comm channel, “Hank, Ethan, can you hear me?”

“Yes sir.” Ethan replied first, his voice calm like it always is.

“Loud clear.” Hank answered immediately after in his usual deep voice.

“Alright, we have a situation here at the base and I need the both of you to report back here A-S-A-P, understood.”

“Yes sir.” they said in unison before the line went silent.

Fireteam Ghost passed the local marine barracks that had just recently been set up before they reached the large forerunner building that housed the elevator. The building was about half a mile high, triangularly shaped building with smooth sides and one big opening for a door. They all walked in towards a circular room that housed quite possibly the largest elevator the spartans had ever seen.

It took up nearly the entire room, was large, circular, and bigger than a Pelican. Caution signs were posted on the walls leading into the room as there was at least a six foot gap between the elevator and the wall on all sides and there was no railing to be seen. As they continued out onto a small walkway, that could barely fit two spartans side by side, Josh, Leon, and Alfred continued advancing on to the large platform in single file, while Chase stayed behind pushing some of the forerunner glyphs on the control terminal.

“Hey guys, am I the only one getting a weird feeling about this?” Chase asked as he finished and joined his team on the elevator just before it hummed to life and began its slow descent.

“Where’s that eagerness to fight that you had five minutes ago?” Josh asked sarcastically.

“You’re just nervous, its probably just a false alarm or worst case scenario some doctor knocked over a virus, but our air filters should keep us safe.” Leon said firmly holding his battle rifle as pathway leading into level B2 slowly came into view then rose above their heads.

“Yeah what’s the worst that could happen.” Josh says causing Chase to look at him in awe of the fact he just asked that. Before he could say anything though someone else spoke up.

“It pains me to say it, but I’m with Chase on this one.” Alfred stated causing everyone to look at him in shock, “Something just seems off about this whole thing. Like what would cause a mass evacuation instead of just standard quarantine protocols? If it was just a virus leaking out then isn’t everyone going against protocol by leaving before being properly-”

“Hold that thought Alfred. Does anyone else hear that?.” Leon asked calling attention to the distant sounds of gunfire and small explosions. They listened in silence as platform to level B3 slowly came and passed them by. It looked like Alfred was about to say something, but before he could a shrill scream pierced the air around them, causing Chase to whirl around to the platform that lead into level B4.

There stood a monstrosity that could only be describe as the twisted, reanimated remains of a dead man. It had sickly yellow skin and what appeared to be large bubbles, or boils, all over his skin. Its left forearm was broken leaving a sharp jagged bone sticking out and in its right hand was a standard issue magnum. Only one creature in the galaxies history could’ve morph this poor man into what he is now... the Flood. Each one of them thought the same thing upon seeing the creature, but only one remained vocal in the situation at hand.

“Oh shit.” were the first words to be uttered in the situation by Chase, but they described it best nonetheless.

Alfred was the first to bring up his weapon and fire at the thing. He shot three rounds from his DMR tearing through the creature’s chest sending it falling onto its back. None of them saw the creature land before the pathway had ascended above their heads and the elevator had continued its trip downward. After the bullets were fired Leon had his battle rifle and Alfred had his DMR aimed at the platform above them, while Chase and Josh had their assault rifles aimed on the pathway in front of them.

Ten seconds passed without a single sound being made by the spartans. Now that the elevators humming had stopped the distant sounds gunfire started to slowly fade as the flood killed. The sound of screaming could be heard clearly though... human and other.

A flicker of the light on the B5 platform ahead of them got all of their attention straightforward. The control panel for the elevator was flickering, fading, then reappearing. This received three confused reactions and one terrified one.

“Move!” Chase yelled out while bolting towards the passageway in front of them. They all followed close behind, but the holographic console began sporadically phasing in and out. Then it disappeared completely as well as the anti-grav system holding up the elevator. Chase dove and barely landed on the level B5 walkway, the rest of his team wasn’t so lucky. Their momentum carried them forward and onto the pathway below, while the elevator continued its descent past the other levels.

On level B6 Leon and Alfred landed hard and slightly slid into through the doorway as their shields made it seem like they were on ice. Josh’s stomach impacted the edge of the walkway that Leon and Alfred had landed on. Slightly disoriented he began to slide off the edge but caught himself at the last moment. Thankfully the impact had also knocked his shields down so he could get some kind of grip. He slid his assault rifle forward, and out of the way, and climbed about halfway up before his shields began charging again and he was in a fight against the now slightly slick surface.

“Oh-shit!” he yelled out as he dropped his shields, trying to regain his grip, but the damage had been done.

“Guys, I could use some help here!” he said as he propped himself up on his elbows and tried to pull himself up, but his left arm slipped off the walkway and he barely grabbed the edge with his right hand. Josh grabbed the ledge with his other hand and tried again to pull himself up before a hand extended in front of his visor.

“Need a hand?” Leon asked and Josh immediately took his hand. Grunting in effort he pulled him up and onto the platform.

“Hey josh, you dropped something.” Alfred said getting his attention as he stood up. Alfred then tossed Josh his assault rifle who caught it and immediately began looking it over for any signs of damage. Satisfied that it would be fine he looked at Alfred who had his weapon raised at the door, ready for anything to come through.

Suddenly Leon turned his head rapidly left to right and looked around them. “Where’s Chase?” They all looked around but he was nowhere in sight.

“Up here!” Chase called out getting their attention. He was leaning over the platform above them and waving his hand. As he pulled back onto the platform his voice came in clear on the radio, “Please someone tell me that I did not just see what I think I saw.”

“We all saw it and now what the hell are we going to do about it.” Alfred asked as he kept his eyes on the pathway leading into the facility. Josh was right beside him doing the same to cover Leon, who was crouching behind them looking at the layout of the facility he pulled up on his HUD.

Leon was next to talk while he had a holographic display of the facility on his visor, “Chase try and get to the Commander and get some answers then we’ll all meetup at junction 2C and ride that elevator out of here.”

“Bro I’m looking at the map to and that junction has a stopping point on level B3 and thats where this whole thing started. I think we should try and get to the secondary elevator on level B7. That should take us directly back to the surface.” Chase said highlighting another rout they could take on Leon’s HUD using his own.

“Or it will get us trapped deeper inside this ring of death.” Alfred said but keeping his eyes glued on the doorway.

“Careful what you say Aly.” Chase quickly said.

“Chase-” Leon said sharply to get his attention back to him, “-that path will take you through half the fifth floor-”.

“I know, then I’ll have to take the 3C junction to the seventh floor, but those things aren’t on this floor yet and they could be getting closer to doing so the more we argue about this and that junction you want to take only takes us up to the second floor. We would have to get to 2A junction from there if we want to reach the surface.”

“But shouldn’t that elevator have stops on all the floors? So its pointless to try and reach it.” Josh spoke up, not taking his eyes off the doorway.

“No its completely sealed off except for at the surface and seventh floors as per Commander Richards orders.” Chase answered.

“Why would he give that order? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Chase, how did you get this information?” Leon asked, curious that his brother had been given this information and he hadn’t.

“A couple of bribes and a little bit of Ethans hacking skills, but thats not the point.” Chase said quickly growing more impatient by the second, “That elevator is a direct line to the surface with no stops at any other floors.”

There was a long silence that seemed to last forever before Leon finally said, “Okay we’ll go on ahead and secure the secondary elevator. You get Richards and get there as fast as you can.”

“Okay then lets get to it.” Chase said before taking off down the pathway and into the facility.

*****Meanwhile in Equestria*****

It was a chilly autumn evening in the nation of Equestria. The animals were all preparing for winter hibernation and a few birds flew overhead, flying south past the Badlands to Zebrica and to warmer weather overall. Twilight Sparkle and all her friends had a lovely day setting up the track for the annual Running of the Leaves competition. They were now relaxing and enjoying the few more minutes of the evening in the comfort of Twilights home before Princess Celestia fully lowered the sun and Princess Luna raised the moon. Spike had suggested a sleepover so that everypony could be together when they went to the starting line. Though Twilight knew that the real reason was he wanted to spend more time around Rarity.

The whole evening was planned to perfection from truth or dare to makeovers to a full scale pillow fight. Twilight had spent a lot of time carefully adding in a lot of flexibility in the time frames as well, even making multiple match ups for teams based on strengths and weaknesses of each of her friends.

‘Yes tonight is going to be perfect.’ She thought as she and her other friends sat in a semicircle around Rainbow Dash and listened to the beginning of one of her longer scary stories as the sun finally vanished completely below the horizon.

“The stories of the forest didn’t scare them though. They all laughed at the old pony, shrugging off what she said and trotted into the forest anyway.” Rainbow Dash started in as scary a voice she could make, “The group of six trotted happily down the trail each one eager to get to the camping spot by the lake before the sun went down, but as they continued onward one had a feeling like they were being watched. Her name wa-”

A series of loud crunches was heard from the kitchen making Rainbow Dash groan in annoyance. “Hey, Spike, could you keep it down I’m trying to tell one of my best scary stories in here.” She turned and yelled out.

“Sorry, just finishing my rubies.” The small baby dragon said as he walked out of the kitchen and into the main room where they all were located. He took a seat on Twilights left side, or, as he saw it, Rarity’s right seeing as they were sitting right next to each other.

Rainbow Dash looked around the group and noticed the rather large bump in Fluttershy’s sleeping bag instead of the timid mare herself. “Fluttershy it was only Spike eating some gemstones, come on we’re not even to the scary parts yet.”

“Rainbow is it really a good idea ta be tellin yer best scary story while Fluttershy is here?” Applejack asked.

“I-Its okay, I don’t want to be a burden.” Fluttershy said peeking out from under the inside of the sleeping bag.

“Nonsense darling, you're not a burden, not now not ever. I myself was just about to suggest we do something else as well. I feel I got enough of these stories when Applejack, Rainbow, and I went camping a couple of months ago.” Rarity added.

“I-if thats okay with you Rainbow...” Fluttershy added slightly coming out of the sleeping bag.

“Yeah its fine, besides I’m sure Twilight has a lot of things planned for tonight anyways, right?” She looked over at Twilight who responded with a nod of her head before speaking.

“Yep and I was thinking that we first start off with-” With impeccable timing as always Spike belched loudly leaving behind a cloud of smoke before it condensed into the form of a letter. “Okay I guess we start with seeing what the Princess wants.” she said as something on the scroll caught her eye, “Why is Princess Luna’s emblem on this?”

After removing the black ribbon and seal Spike began reading the letter,

“To my dear good friend Twilight Sparkle,

I write this as my sister raises the sun and searches for the item of which this letter is about. As of half an hour ago a strange occurrence has been happening in the castle. The usual flow of magic in the castle is being disrupted and sucked away as if a portal was opening, but that is not the worst part. With your studies of magic and you know what kind of power it takes to make a just a stationary portal this next part should make it clear why we are worried. The portal is moving erratically and refuses to stay in one spot. The kind of power that is required to do such a thing is unheard of and most definitely couldn’t be a pony. We require that you get your friends and bring the elements here to Canterlot. While we do not wish to, we will need them if whatever is making the portal is hostile. A chariot will be there within the next twenty minutes to pick you up.

Your friend,
Princess Luna.”

After a few seconds for the letter to sink in Twilight was first to speak, “Well looks like we’ll have to reschedule the sleepover girls the Princesses need us.”

****

The next fifteen minutes were spent separating from the library and making sure things were in order in case they were in Canterlot for more than a day or two. Soon they were all waiting for the chariot outside of the library, each with a saddle bag of things that would be needed on the trip, excluding Spike who was staying behind to feed Fluttershy’s animals and take care of the Library. To pass the time waiting, they began to talk about what they were to expect when they got to the Castle.

“Hey, Twi, jus how strong would somethin have to be to do whatever’s happenin at the castle?” Applejack quietly asked as the chariot came into view.

Twilight thought about it for a few seconds before answering, “It would have to be more powerful than Discord, Nightmare Moon, and King Sombra -” a small glimpse of fear flash through Applejack’s face, “-but nothing is as powerful as the combined force of the princesses and the Elements of Harmony.” she finished smiling making Applejack smile as well and they both turned to see the covered chariot land.

It was one of Princess Luna’s to be sure as it was more dark colored and gothic in appearance than Princess Celestia’s. It was pulled by two Lunar guards that wore dark purple armor matching that of the chariot’s decor. Their wings were like bats, their eyes were yellow with black slits for pupils, and their coats were a shade of grey that matched with the armor perfectly.

“Miss Twilight, please hurry aboard, the magical disturbance is increasing as we speak.” The stallion said detaching himself from the chariot’s harness and opening its door for them.

As they all filed into the large chariot, Rarity heard a loud chattering sound coming from the back of the group. She twisted her head to see Fluttershy hiding behind her with her teeth chattering loudly. With a slightly confused face Rarity followed her friends line of sight towards the guards, “Don’t worry Fluttershy, the guards aren’t going to hurt you, they're only here to get us to the castle.”

“W-w-why are their eyes like th-that?” the timid mare asked as she followed Rarity onto the chariot.

As they got settled into their seats Twilight answered Fluttershy’s question, “The reason all the guards in either the celestial division or the lunar division look the same is because their armor has enchantments to make them all look the same. Its really more of a uniform kinda deal than an actual practical one I think.”

“Oh...” she simply replied.

As the chariot rose away from Ponyville and towards Canterlot a sudden thought crossed one pegasi’s mind, “Oh buck.” Rainbow Dash said electing a gasp from Rarity.

“Rainbow Dash! Such language should not be said by a lady or in the presence of one.” She exclaimed.

“Sorry, but I just realised that since we’re going to Canterlot we won’t be able to participate in the Running of the Leaves, and I’ll have to wait till next year to beat Applejack.”

“Be that as it may you still shouldn’t say such things, I mean after all darling its only one race, you to compete more than any other two ponies I’ve ever seen.” Rarity finished looking back at the beautiful scenery as it passed by.

“I’ll be rememberin’ that come next cider season.” Applejack whispered to Pinkie. They both giggled before looking out the window at Canterlot as it got closer.

As they got closer each one began to look on in awe at the sight of the majestic, mountain city of Canterlot at night. Towers rose from multiple areas in the back portion of the city, the largest and biggest belonged to the the royal castle nearest the mountain side. Lights brighten areas all around the city showing many different breathtakingly, beautiful sights, thanks to the Deerlings discovery of how to make and uphold a green source of energy.

“Doesn’t the city look absolutely, totally, extremely, completely, amazing at night! Oh, oh I wonder if Vinyl Scratch and Octavia got their Club slash Orchestra Theater open yet.” Pinkie said looking away from the city in thought before shrugging and looking back at the city.

The rest of the trip was spent looking and pointing out particular spots in the city to see if the others could see them as well. Soon though, they landed, and were met immediately by Princess Luna.

They were all about to bow to her when she began talking, “Please skip the formal greetings and follow me we’re not sure how much time we have.” she turned and began walking back into the castle.

The elements exchanged some confused/concerned looks, but quickly followed after her. As they entered the castle none of them looked around at the expensive decor that decorated most, if not all, of the castle. They travelled down three hallways before Twilight broke the silence, “Princess, where are we going?”

“To the throne room, that's where Tia was able to trap the portal.” she said as they took another left.

“How did she trap it?” Twilight asked getting closer to Princess Luna to hear her better.

“When the portal appeared near her, she quickly brought forth two crystal columns infused with magic to keep it from teleporting further. It's currently fading in and out of existence in between the two columns, but refuses to stay gone.” she answered just as they arrived at the side door to the throne room. When they opened the sight of what was happening shocked all of the elements.

There, in the middle of the room, was the two thick columns of pink crystal. The portal itself was quite the site to see. It was a circular, swirling black mass that gave no idea as to what was on the other side, as the girls got closer they could catch small glimpses of something on the other side, but couldn’t make anything out. There was constant electrical strikes going to and from the portal’s edges and the two pink towers of crystal, filling the meter gap between them. The sound the electrical strikes made were loud but not at a deafening level.

“Great, you all made good time getting here.” a familiar voice said over the electrical sounds as they entered the room. They all turned to see the prince of the Crystal Empire, and former captain of the royal day guard, Shining Armor, standing there proudly wearing a white and blue version of his old captain armor with a large group of day guards behind him. Beside him was another stallion wearing the normal captain armor. Like the guards behind him the new captain showed no emotion on his face and kept his eyes directly on the portal.

Twilight looked like she was about to question Shining's being there, but Luna spoke first, “Prince Armor, what’s the situation?”

“The portal remains the same. Any magic I’ve used to try and put a shield around it has been sucked away.” he replied.

“Where is my sister?” she asked as the Elements of Harmony, minus Twilight, all had their eyes glued to the portal watching the swirling darkness and the lightning strikes.

“Princess Celestia went to put on her royal armor and said you should do the same.” as he said it Luna’s eyes widened in shock.

“You are sure that is what she said?” Shining gave a small nod, “Then I shall do so and be back as soon as I can.” as she finished her horn became encased in a silvery-blue aura. There was a small boom as the air rushed to occupy the space the princess had left when she teleported.

“Twilie.” Shining Armor said as he walked over to where her and the others had stopped to look at the portal.

Twilight met Shining half way and embracing him in a small hug, “Shining, its good to see you again, but what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be with Cadence in the Crystal Empire?”

He nodded, “I’m just here to swear in the new Captain of the Royal Guard. Apparently even if you become a prince you still have to follow tradition and the new captain has to be sworn in by the old one.”

Twilight chuckled, “Tradition is tradition for a reason Shining. Is that the new captain over there?”

“Yeah, I’m letting him command the troops till I’m forced to step in, but with the princesses here and you and your friends I’m sure everything will be fine.”

“Yeah, your right. What could possibly be stronger than the princesses and the Elements of Harmony?” Twilight asked chuckling at the thought.

“Hey don’t forget about the Royal Guard. They are the ones protecting you after all, so give them some credit.” Shining said chuckling with his sister.

****

The five of them stared in awe at the portal in front of them. Pinkie was first to speak, “What do you think is on the other side of it?” she gasped loudly as a thought flashed through her mind, “What if its aliens? Aliens that are opening portals to other worlds so they can take them over! Or maybe it’s-”

“Pinkie, you’ve been reading those comic books I showed you again, haven’t you?” Rainbow Dash asked not taking her eyes off the portal.

“Yes, but that's not the point! What if a big scary alien robot thing walks out and starts shooting laser beams out of its eyes! Then what if it has a whole army of big, scary, alien, laser-beam-eyed, robot things that are trying to take over the world-no, the universe!” as she continued her warnings on big, scary, alien, laser-beam-eyed, robot things nopony could hear the small metallic clang of metal boots on the other side of the portal.

Exposition, Fighting, and Explosions

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Chapter Two

It had been almost an hour since splitting up with Chase and the spartans weren’t liking it at all. The first thing they discovered early on was that the map that was provided for them was only right about key locations, like the elevators. This lead to numerous times where they were forced to backtrack and take different routes to get to their target. They had been lucky with the first elevator getting to it without any problems and only backtracking once, but the moment they set foot on floor B7 it was like god was making fun of them. They must of explored every inch of the damn floor. They made one mark on any pathway they just entered, but if they were forced to backtrack they left a second mark on the doorway. After what felt like an eternity had passed they finally arrived at the door they’re at now.

The door hissed open as Alfred finished hacking the UNSC console that controlled the forerunner panel beside it. The three of them were currently in a bright forerunner passageway leading to the rendezvous point. Leon and Josh currently had their weapons raised and looking down the path they just came from. Alfred tapped Josh's shoulder, getting him to turn to the door, and raised his weapon the moment the door opened. Together with Leon covering their six, Josh and Alfred checked every visible corner and inch of the room.

“Clear.” they both said a second apart through the comm channel and they all began to advance into the room. On the other side of the door was another UNSC control panel controlling a forerunner one. Leon reached over and hit a series of buttons on it as he passed, shutting the door behind them. Leon turned to Josh and Alfred to see them all ready advancing into the room that was supposed to have the B7 elevator in it, but it didn’t. Instead there was a slightly raised platform that held a lot of stairs all leading up to this very large archway at the top.

“Oh no...”Alfred said barely above a whisper.

“No no no! Where the hell is the elevator and what the fuck is this thing?” Josh asked as the thought of being trapped on the ring was starting to force its way to the front of his mind.

As they walked in Leon took a few mental notes: there was no real cover except at the top of the structure, the room was brighter than anything he had seen so far, and it had almost no distinguishing features besides the structure in the center and a small gap under the platform, showing that it could descend. Without the archway the structure was just over three stories high, but with the archway it easily went over four or five. The stairs that lead up to the archway looked like they circled the entire structure and the absence of a hole in the roof meant it couldn’t ascend.

As they looked around the impossibly bright white walled room Josh stepped in front of them, “Well what the hell do we do know?”

“We secure the room and wait for Chase and the Commander to get here. Then we start getting some answers.” Leon said beginning the long climb up the stairs.

“Answers to what? Unless the he has a secret passageway that could get us onto the surface of this damn ring then its pointless.”

“Shut up and think.” Alfred said as he began following Leon, “Nothing about what’s been going on adds up. Beginning with the quarantine outside, it would be more orderly and people wouldn’t be allowed to leave without a full contamination check. Then there was the elevator. The flood hadn’t spread that far yet and couldn’t of damaged that many power systems, so why did it lose power? Lastly there’s our maps, why are they wrong? Why were we given wrong information about the layout of the labs? Something doesn’t add up.”

“The sergeant as well.” Leon said stopping and turning to them, “Why did we get our orders from him and not the captain? Our com systems were working fine until we came down here.”

“Oh my god, I hate this confusing crap. Can one of you two skip to the point?” Josh asked.

“Someone wants us dead and the captain didn’t give us these orders.” Alfred stated.

“Then why the hell are we down here?”

“Because we followed bad orders, but once Chase gets here with Commander Richards I think there might be a way out of here.” Leon said beginning back up the stairs with Josh and Alfred right behind him.

Little known to the spartans, at the top of the structure was a small man in a dark uniform typing away furiously at some forerunner glyphs on the console.

*****

Chase walked cautiously down the dim hallway, always keeping his assault rifle raised at all times. He had been like that the past hour after dropping out of radio contact with his team. So far the trip had been pleasantly uneventful for which Chase was thankful for. The Commander was supposed to be in a private lab on this floor, but when he got there all he found was a sealed bulkhead at the back of a small office. Said bulkhead also had a small key card scanner to the right side of it and big print above stating ‘WEAPON TEST CHAMBER #7’.

Since he had mediocre hacking skills at best in the human department he turned around and was about to leave but, a file lying on the desk caught Chase’s eye. Soon he began reading/downloading any and all the information that he could. The files he found on the small holo-projected computer not only pissed him off beyond all rational thought, they infuriated him to the point that he punched the bulkhead with all his strength, putting a good sized dent in it.

The files revealed that the scientist here were being misled by a small insurrectionist group co-lead by the very sergeant his team had gotten orders from. Plus the man they were sent to get new orders from was not only the main leader of the insurrectionists, but the one that had convinced the scientists that the UNSC had approved of flood testing. So, by extension, the one responsible for all of this shit.

The plans regarding him and his team were simple enough, assuming the most plausible what if scenario they used to make it was any good at all. They would make fake orders for the spartans to report to someone inside the ring, weather they are there or not, and then cut all power to the elevators leading to the surface. By sending fireteam Ghost underground and out of the way, they not only get rid of some spartans, but stop them from asking what’s going on with the evacuation despite the quarantine. What the evacuation was actually doing was scrambling up the insurrectionists so that as many as possible could escape and go into hiding. It went into much greater detail than that, as well as having an entire folder full of contingency plans for other situations.

There was only one question on Chases mind at that moment though, ‘Where the hell is that scumbag Richards?’

Chase opened the door leading to the 3C junction elevator, but as he walked to the controls something kept bugging him and it wasn’t the fact the map was screwed up all to hell. Something about the elevator was setting off sirens in his head but he couldn’t think of what it was. The elevator was smaller and took up the majority of the small space, or at least the hole where the elevator stopped did. It was a little bit bigger than the spartan was tall and just as wide. It had walls surrounding it on all sides except one on each floor.

Regardless he called the elevator down to his level and only when he heard it getting closed did it finally hit him. The elevator stopped at the seventh floor, but started at the third. Already he could hear the sickly sounds of the floods flesh rubbing against each other as the elevator got closer. He turned to run and get some distance from it, but the door had already shut and they would be on him in seconds. Thinking quickly he turned to the elevator, pulled a grenade off his off his ammo belt, and waited.

....

He primed the grenade as the elevator came into view and tossed it on the platform. The spartan was pleasantly surprised to see only five combat forms on the elevator and only one having a gun. The grenade landed near the center of the elevator and exploded just as it came to a stop. Three of them were blown into nothing but pieces. Another one was thrown to the right into a wall as the grenade went off and the last one was propelled by the explosion directly towards Chase. Seeing this he flattened himself against the wall and let the creature hit the door full force, before falling to the ground.

Wasting no time, Chase shot a five round burst into the creatures exposed chest, killing the parasite that had taken control of the body. As he took a step towards the elevator the combat form that had been thrown against a wall in the elevator attempted to get up and attack, but Chase took aim and fired another five shot burst into its chest, killing it.

“Well, that was easy.” he said to himself as he hit the controls on the opposite wall of the elevator entrance. His eyes then shot open as the elevator began to move and he realized what he had just said. He then smack his hand against his helmet muttering a string of curse words as the elevator descended down to the seventh floor.

****

As Leon neared the top of the structure he could hear the sounds of someone typing frantically on a console. Curious he hastened his climb and as he got to the top he saw a single man typing away at a forerunner console as if his life depended on it. He was muttering gibberish as he typed away, Leon only able to make out parts of words and syllables. One thing was clear though and that was the stars and bars that showed he was Commander Richards, because Richards was the only commander on the base.

Leon cleared his throat and began, “Sir, my name is Leon of Fireteam Ghost. We’re here for some answers.” if the man had heard him he showed no signs of it. He just type away muttering to himself like a madman as Alfred and Josh came up the last few stairs.

“Should we be worried he’s insane and messing with forerunner tech?” Josh asked as Richards ignored the new arrivals just like the first.

Ignoring the question Leon walked over to the Commander, placed his hand on his shoulder and said, “Sir, we’re trapped down here until you tell us what’s going on.” the Commander continued typing away, as if oblivious to the armored hand on his shoulder.

Before any more could be said a loud boom echo throughout the room. Even the Commander’s attention was fixed towards the door. He finally noticed the spartans and straightened up a bit, “Spartans protect me from the flood and we might just get out of here alive!” he yelled as another boom echoed through the room. He then went back to typing at the console even faster than he was before.

Now with a common objective Leon began giving out orders, “Alright, Alfred keep out your DMR, your sniper rounds will just go right through them. Josh, do you still have the C-7 foaming explosives?”

“Yeah, I’ve got C-7 and C-12. Didn’t know how much we would need to clear that dig site of debris.” He answered starting to pull off his railgun and setting it aside to reach his backpack.

“C-12! A bit overkill for simply clearing out debris don’t you think?” the shock in Alfred's voice was obvious, “How did you even get a hold of that? One four inch cube of that stuff can level a five story building!”

“We don’t have time to argue, Josh is that stuff inside its protective housing?” Josh looked up at Leon and nodded, “Then that's were its staying. Get out a C-7 canister, were going to give the flood a little surprise. Alfred keep an eye on Richards.”

Alfred nodded as Josh put his railgun on his back, grabbed one of the four C-7 canisters, and followed Leon down the steps leaving the rest of his explosives by Alfred. As the two neared the bottom of the stairs they noticed their motion sensors were lit up red with multiple dots behind the door. Fear began to circulate in Josh's mind. Fear of what happened to Chase, fear of what will happen to Ethan and Hank, and, lastly, fear of what will happen to them if-when that door comes down.

“Josh!” Leon yelled for the second time getting his attention, “Calm down, we’re going to get out of this. We just need to keep our heads and not panic. I know this is our first mission as a team outside of the War Games simulations, but we will survive. Understand?”

Josh nodded his head, “Sir, yes sir... Thanks Leon.”

“Don’t mention it now get those explosives set to blow these bastards right ba-” he was cut off by an explosion on the other side of the door. Shortly after the sounds of automatic weapon fire was heard and a single green dot appeared on the edge of their radars. It was slowly moving forward cutting the red dots down till the sound of the weapon stopped. Four dots remained moving towards the lone green one.

****

Chase looked at the four charging combat forms with a grin. He had killed damn near all of them, including all the little infection form fuckers, with a grenade and knew just how to handle these ones. Quickly he grasped the end of his assault rifle with his left hand and put it on his back as his right hand grasped the butt of his shotgun and swung it in front. One of the combat forms leaped up in the air and tried to come down on him with a mutated right arm, but Chase shot forwards, shotgun in his hands. The first combat form flew over his head over as he charged the remaining three.

He shot his first blast at combat form number two as it got close enough, hitting it dead center. It dropped to the floor dead while number three swung its right arm at him. Chase boosted the shielding at the bottom of his feet to max and slid under its arm while cocking his shotgun, replacing the spent shell with a new one. He then shot the new shell into combat form number four, blowing its entire right arm and shoulder away, and sending it crashing into the ground just like number two.

He slid the rest of the distance to the door on the green gore covered floor, while turning around, and cocking his shotgun while doing so. The two remaining combat forms were charging at him, but it was what he saw on his motion sensor that got him worried and relieved. More red blips were coming in from the left and right passageways at the opposite end of the corridor he was in, but on the other side of the door where two close friendly contacts and a third one at the very edge of his motion sensor.

He pounded his fist on the door three times and yelled, “Open the door!” he then shot his third shell into combat form number two as it got closer, killing it. Its body slid into the door beside Chase, who was looking at the first combat form that had initially jumped over his head. Once again it jumped at him when it was halfway to him. Chase, who was unamused by its stupid jumping, moved slightly to the left outside of its attack range and cocked his shotgun. The moment combat form touched the ground he had his shotgun pointed to its chest and pulled the trigger, painting the wall and part of the door a nice, sickly green color.

The doors then opened to reveal Leon at the door console and Josh holding his assault rifle up checking for any more. “Its about time you opened the door.” Chase said as he cocked his shotgun again.

“You’re welcome, now get in here.” Leon said closing the door as Chase walked through it.

As he looked around Chase noticed that there was no elevator in the room, “So... I see there is no elevator which means that we are fucked because of my stupid ass plan... awesome...”

“We’re all still alive and that's how its going to stay.” Leon said as they waited.

“So what’s the plan or are we just going to keep killing till we run out of ammo?” Chase asked as Josh started to apply the C-7 to the area around the door.

“The Commander is up top fiddling with the control panel to the forerunner archway. Richards thinks he can get us out of here and we’re protecting him.” Leon said as Chase pulled four shotgun shells out of an ammo pouch on his left side.

Chase looked up at Leon as finished a smile spreading across his face, “Where’s Commander Richards now, cause I would really like to kill him.”

“Whoa! What?” Josh asked quickly looking up from the foam explosive in front of him.

“Why? What did you find?” Leon asked.

Flicking on his radio so Alfred could hear as well Chase explained, “I found files in his office that blatantly showed that fucker, Sergeant Miller, and a couple of other ass hats here are insurrectionists, who tricked the scientists here into thinking the UNSC had approved of flood testing.” At the top of the tower Alfred turned to look at the Commander who was still typing away.

“That doesn’t make sense. Why would they send us down here after him then?” Joshed asked while resuming his work with the C-7.

“To make sure we didn’t mess with the lie that is the evacuation outside. According to the files I pulled from his computer, they’re using the quarantine to make people disappear without anyone coming to look for them and the evacuation to scramble everyone up. I didn’t read on after that, but I still got the files here in my helmet.” As he finished, Chase knocked on the side of his helmet.

Silence was all that was heard as what Chase had just said sink in. Alfred was the first to talk, “Okay I say we tie him up the moment he has us a way out of here.”

“We’ll figure all this out once we get out of here. Chase did you get enough evidence to show who the insurrectionists are?” Leon asked.

Chase shrugged his shoulders, “I have no idea, like I said I only read a little bit.”

“Alright then once we get out of here we’re going to get names and a confession all on video.”

“Bro, I like the way you think.” Chase said nodding his helmet in approval. Suddenly the sound of electricity filled the air. All of them looked towards the top of the structure to see electric strikes hitting the walls and ceiling.

“Guys you need to get up here now.” Alfred said over the comm. They all took off towards the top of the structure, Josh leaving behind the still half full canister of C-7 with a little bit leaking from the nozzle.

Alfred looked in awe with Richards at the marvel that was in front of him now. Even the air seemed to come to a standstill. In front of them was a swirling whole of nothingness, silently sucking in the very light around it and distorting the scenery behind it.

“I did it... I stabilized the slipspace field on the other side of the portal...” Richard muttered to himself as he stepped closer to the archway containing the portal, “I’m going to get out of this nightmare alive!” he took off running towards the portal but a single shot rang out and he face planted and slid on the ground. He then rolled over screaming in agony as he looked down at the bloody mess that had been his right calf. He looked up at Alfred who was holding his DMR and pointing it right at him.

“Whoa there pal, you’re not going anywhere till we say you can.” Alfred said lowering his rifle. The Commander’s eyes widened as he realized he had been found out, he then began to crawl backwards towards the portal as fast as he could. “Keep moving, that way the next one can go in your head.” Richards froze at what Alfred had just said.

Richards started curling up in the fetal position on the ground in what seemed like defeat and fear for his life. In reality he was covering up his hand as it made its way to his sidearm, “I’m so close to finally being out of this hell hole.” he said as Alfred began to move towards him, “I refuse to let you stop me!” He then whipped the pistol out and shot a bullet at Alfred. The only bullet he shot as Alfred raised his rifle and fired, not letting the bullet phase him as he knew it would bounce of his shields.

Leon reached the top before the others to see the scene in front of him, “Alfred, what happened?”

“He made a mad dash for the portal. If I had shot a warning shot first he could've made it through so I aimed to injure him instead and then he pulled out a pistol and fired at me. He gave me no choice.” Alfred stated.

As Josh and Chase finally got to the top they saw a dead Richards. Chase gave a low whistle, “Damn Aly, nice shot, but you couldn’t of waited for us?”

“He tried to run, I injured him, and he then tried to kill me.” Alfred said in his defense.

“Whatever you say Aly, whatever you say.” as he finished there was a very loud boom that came from the doorway, “Damn, I almost forgot about them.”

“Okay, we’re going through the portal and getting out of here before they break down the door. Does anyone object to that?” Leon said in a hurry as the booms at the doorway were getting louder.

“Yeah I do, does anyone know where this thing leads?” Alfred asked.

“He did seem pretty confident that it lead to safety.” Josh said as he zipped up his backpack and put it on his back followed by his railgun.

“But safe for who? How do we know he doesn’t have his insurrectionist buddies on the other side?” Alfred asked as Chase walked over and examined the console controlling the portal.

“Would you rather face them or the flood, cause I sure as hell would rather kick some rebel asses.” Josh rebutled. Leon was about to stop their argument, but Chase tapped him on the shoulder and motioned towards the console.

As Alfred and Josh continued their argument Leon looked at the runes on the holographic console, “What am I seeing here?”

“I don’t expect you to understand them as I barely do and I stayed in training for the sole purpose of researching this stuff.” Chase said as he typed away at the console bringing up more screens and adding to the complexity of what was in front of Leon.

“Wait.” Leon looked up from the console to Chase, “I thought you stayed to take the extra CQC classes?”

“No, I finished those long before I took up extra forerunner studies.” Chase said not even looking away from the console, “But its what these symbols mean that scares me.”

“Scared as in staying here and fighting the flood or scared as in finding out there's still footage from Joshes twenty-first birthday party?”

“Second one.” Chase barely said as he typed as furiously as the Commander had.

Leon seemed to straightened up more and turned to Josh and Alfred, who were visor to visor still arguing over to use the portal or not, “Josh, Alfred, lock it down and get over here. Chase thinks we got a bigger problem than the flood.” The voice of their CO got their attention and they were quick to follow his orders.

Chase kept his eyes locked on the screen and made sense of most of the symbols rolling across it. He didn’t even look up to see if they were ready for the explanation, “I’m going to make this as short and simple as possible. Somehow Richards was able to lock on to a signal that isn’t even really there by putting in a set of coordinates for a slipspace jump into this portal. By doing such he’s either the smartest man I’ve met or he was doing something so stupid it actually worked.

“Now if this portal were to be locked onto another forerunner facility I would be getting a steady signal back and we would be able to get out of here, but that's not the case. The fact he was even able to open it fully, but not get back a resounding signal and be able to stabilize the other side is nothing short of a miracle.”

“I thought you said that this was scarier than the flood, so far it just sounds like we’ll be hopping in blind.” Josh said as Chase paused for a moment.

“That should be scary enough on its own, but probably a better death than becoming one of those things.” Alfred said motioning his head towards the stairs leading to the door and the now rhythmic pounding it was being given.

“Chase, are you done or is there more?” Leon said.

“Oh, there’s more alright and this is the scary part. I’m not getting any of the standard radiation signals that normally happen when a slipspace portal is opened, but I am getting a weird energy registration coming in. That means this isn’t a slipspace portal and that some kind of energy has locked it in place and stabilized the other side.” as Chase finished silence settled in and the only thing that made a sound was the constant banging on the door bellow.

“An energy that isn’t forerunner, but can stabilize their portals...” Leon muttered as he digested the new information.

BOOM

They all turned their attention to the doorway at the bottom of the stairs. It had a lot of smaller dents in it from the unorganized pounding the flood were giving it, but the dent in the center that was just made was easily three times the size of the rest.

BOOM

Then another dent, just as big as the last, was made up and to the right of the first. Leon realized they were out of time and knew something had to be done fast, “Chase what is better. Facing the flood and being turned into one of them or facing whatever is on the other side of the portal?”

BOOM

A third dent joined the rest right above the first. “Portal, definitely the portal.” He said and they all began moving towards the portal.

“Alfred, you’re first, Josh is next, then Chase, and I’ll be last, now lets do this before they get through.” Leon said as each spartan gave a nod at his name.

Alfred walked up to the portal, DMR clutched tightly in his hands. He took a deep breath and calmly began walking into the portal. Due to the spherical shape of the portal his head was first to disappear into it, quickly followed by the rest of his body.

Josh was next, but approached more slowly than Alfred, “See you guys on the other side.”

BOOM

“Alright Chase, your next.” Leon said.

Chase took a few steps away from the portal as a startling though came over him. “What if we can’t shut it from the other side?”

“What?”

“I said what if we can’t shut this thing down from the other side. The flood would be right behind us and we wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“Chase come on be reasonable. If something opened it then it can close it!” Leon shouted.

“What if it doesn’t? There’s only one way to be sure that everyone is safe.”

“Chase!” he visibly lost his aggression as he finished, “I can’t lose you, you’re the only family I have left.”

BOOM

“We’re out of time! They’ll need your pathfinder training to survive. Now go!” Chase yelled as he ran past Leon and looked down at the door. It was heavily damaged and bent, but still barely holding them back. After a moments hesitation Leon began walking slowly towards the portal, stopping only when he was one step away.

He turned to take one last look at his brother and the two of them locked eyes. There was a long silence between the two of them, neither able to find the right last words to say to the other. Finally Chase broke the silence, “Yeah know, the moment you leave we’re both going to think of so many better things to say as final words... Tell the guys I’m sorry and... and good luck Leon.”

“Chase you-”

BOOM-CRASH

“Go!” Chase yelled as he pulled the last grenade of his belt and threw it at the open doorway. When he turned back Leon was gone. He suppressed the pangs of sadness and fear that immediately sprang up inside and turned his attention to the console. The grenade exploded at the bottom of the stairs, setting of the C7 that had been set up, Chase didn’t even glance at it. Time wasn’t on his side.

“I’ve got 30 seconds till they reach me... 30 seconds to shut this thing down.” Chase said to himself as he typed away.

****

As Leon emerged through the portal the sight before him was so ridiculous that he couldn’t believe it. Josh and Alfred were surrounded by... by what could only be described as white ponies in golden armor, armed with spears and short swords. Both humans had their own weapons pointed towards a different side of the group. He was at a loss of words and didn’t know what to do, so he did what he was trained to do.

The room they had come out in was fairly large, easily able to fit a pelican vertically and still have a lot of room. Behind everyone and thing were two chairs side by side that looked like thrones, one being a dark blue with a crescent moon at the top and the other was white, possibly ivory, with an image of the sun at the top. Behind that was a wall with stained glass windows that seemed to depict some sort of heroes or maybe their rulers. To the right behind the soldier ponies were tall ivory columns that had dark blue vines on each one, twisting down from the top. It was the opposite with the left side as the columns were dark blue and the vine was the ivory color. There was one thing that stood out above all though. They were completely surrounded, so there was no way to easily escape this situation without getting hostile.

“Chase!” Josh’s said in a hushed manner over the comms getting his attention on back on the spartans, “What the hell do we do?!”

The question caught him off guard and Leon hesitated for a moment, “Just... just lower your weapons. We need to seem as nonthreatening as possible.”

“We’re seven foot tall walking tanks, just how do we look non-threatening?” Josh said keeping his sights trained whichever pony moved.

“Well you can start by lowering your weapon.” Giving an annoyed sigh Josh relaxed the grip on his assault rifle and lowered it and Leon continued, “Alright now we have no way of communicating with them, so anyone have an idea?”

“Does ‘see how long the mexican standoff lasts’ count as a plan?”

“No.”

“Well maybe Chase will have one when he gets here.” Josh said sending a jolt of pain through Leon’s heart. He would have to tell them when they got out of this situation, but not now.

Suddenly the sound a hoof hitting the marble floor reverberated through the room. The front of the armored group in front of the spartans split down the middle, two groups of five joining the others in a second line on either side of them, totaling ten on each side and twenty in all. Leon made a mental note that their armor looked like gold and if it was that their bullets would easily penetrate.

A single pony, in different armor than the others, was all that remained, “In the name of the royal sisters you all are to cease all acts of aggression towards the nation of Equestria immediately.”

...

Nobody moved and nobody made a single sound. The ponies and spartans were at a standstill. One side was cautious of the bigger and heavily armored creatures and the other was dumbstruck that the ponies could speak english.

KZZZTSH

The abnormally loud lightning bolt made all the spartans turn to the source of the sound and were shocked at what they saw. The portal was in between two pillars of pink crystal and lighting strikes were hitting them on both sides, but it was the developing picture in the portal that all their eyes began focusing on. The inky, darkness gave way as white started to take over and form shapes and colors, an image. In that image was Chase being held in the air by the right claw of pure form.

His left arm appeared to be pinned and his right was holding his assault rifle out and emptying the magazine into the monsters deformed head. No sound was heard from the other side of the portal as it assault rifle spat its last round. With a mighty swing the monster threw Chase at the ground and he bounced towards the portal, but not into it. As Chase began to shakily get up off the ground the pure form charged him.

Josh was a blur as he charged the portal to try and stop the monster from killing his friend, but the moment he touched the portal he was blown back by an unseen force. He soared over the spartans, and the one pony guard, and crashed into the ground just in front of the two thrones.

During this Leon never took his eyes off the scene in front of him as the portal got whiter with each passing moment. He didn’t stop watching even as the monster brought both its arms down onto the back of Chase's helmet, sending him crashing down once again. The pure form struck down on the helmet a second time, shattering the visor and possibly killing the occupant.

Alfred turned away and refused to look as the second swing came down. Instead he chose to analyse the ponies that were watching the events unfold. All the guards looked in awe at the creature as it killed his friend, some with looks of disgust, even some with looks of sorrow despite the fact they didn’t even know them.

Josh had just gotten to his feet as the second blow came down. Chase and him had been the best of friends since before they could walk and to see him go out like that. Despite how hard he tried to hold them back tears began to well up in his eyes.

The pure form began to walk past Chases body towards the portal, seeing more potential victims. The spartans raised their weapons and Josh tried his best to clear his eyes without taking off his helmet as he went to stand beside Leon. The ponies saw the pure form as a threat, but didn’t know what to do as the new captain just stood there and gawked at the monster.

Finally one voice came through the crowd, “Lines of two behind the creatures!” At once the two groups combined into two single file lines behind them.

When the pure form was within ten feet of reaching the portal it looked as if it stumbled, but that was not the case. As it turned violently from left to right to try and throw off its attacker, everyone in the room got a clear view of Chase grappled to the back of the thing. Seeing that it couldn't shake off it's attacker it began to change forms. Big bubbles started to appear all over its skin, its appendages began to shorten, and it fell forward onto the ground. It had taken on a completely new appearance and looked more like a bug than a walking monstrosity that it had been.

Wasting no time Chase shoved his fist straight through the pure form, finally killing it. His victory was short lived though as a combat form jumped over the top of the stairs and charged him. Wasting no time Chase kicked it straight back over the stairs, but only to have two more take its place. Quickly reaching down he picked up his assault rifle and loaded a fresh magazine into it while sidestepping the first swing that came at him.

The image abruptly vanished as pure white was all they could see, but before any of them could even ask a question the whole portal seemed to collapse in on itself. A small white ball was all that remained and everyone seemed to lower their guard.

BOOM!

The small white ball smashed into the ground and exploded with tremendous force. The spartans, in their over eight-hundred pound armor, sailed over the ponies and crashed through the stained windows on the back wall. The last thing they saw as they soured out of the room was a blinding light and the walls beginning to crumble and collapse.

On the run from the law

View Online

Chapter Three

"Leon... Leon... Leon!" Alfred's voice yelled, waking Leon from his stupor.

The spartan in question shook his head and brought a hand to his helmet, "Wha-what happened?"

"We need to move now!" Alfred yelled again over the sounds of a building falling. From his position Leon could see the throne room, they had just been in, starting to crumble. The walls were buckling and the shattered windows were raining down like razors. Leon grabbed Alfred's hand and got to his feet, but never took his eyes off the collapsing building.

"Oh shit dude, what about all the ponies that were in there?" Josh asked while standing in his own little crater.

“Sad to say it, but they’re not our problem.” Alfred said as he looked back up the rock wall to the building, “Besides we couldn’t save them even if we wanted, we’d never reach them in time.”

It was a sad truth Leon couldn’t denni. Him and his team were there by accident and would, undoubtedly, be blamed for the whole incident... “We need to move.”

Leon’s words caught the attention of the others, “Where? We’re three men down and there sure as hell aint no UNSC on this planet to rendezvous with.”

“We need to get away from those ponies, they’ll be after us for this.”

“Judging by their level of technology, I’d say they’re about as threatening as an actual pony.” Alfred stated. Josh nodded his head in agreement and Leon couldn’t think of a way they would be threatening either.

“Hey guys did it just get really quiet?” Josh asked, making Alfred and Leon notice it as well. All three of them looked back towards the building they had just been thrown out of and were shocked to see it frozen, not in ice, but in time.

Dust hung in the air, not moving just like the walls and shards of glass all around the building. Walls that were broken in half and in the middle of collapsing were still, as if they were looking at a picture. Cracks that had been spreading to the other parts of the castle-like building had ceased their advance and more of the flying ponies were circling the frozen structure.

“Chase would be yelling at us right now for questioning something easy looking if he were here.” Josh said without taking his eyes off the frozen building in front of him. Leon repressed the pain that welled up in him and scanned their surroundings. Following the mountain side he spotted a small opening hidden by the rocks, a good enough spot to lay low for a little bit.

“Quick, there’s an opening over there, we can lay low till they get out of the sky.” Leon rose to his feet and moved towards the cave. Alfred followed immediately after and Josh hesitated moment, looking around for something.

“Bingo.” He said aloud picking up his MA5D assault rifle. He then proceeded to pick up Leon’s BR85HB Service Rifle and Alfred’s M395 Designated Marksman Rifle before walking towards the opening in the wall, “I’m gonna give them so much crap for this.”

As Josh approached the entrance he saw on his motion sensor Leon and Alfred were represented by little down arrows at the edge of his sensor. As he neared the now obvious cave, he heard someone shout very clearly and very louldly, “FIND THE ONES RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS OR YOU ALL WILL KNOW WHAT THE MOON IS LIKE THIS TIME OF YEAR!”

The sudden shouting caused Leon and Alfred to stop and turn towards the entrance. There was a short pause before a different voice shouted, “DID LUNA STUTTER!? GO!”

“We definitely pissed of some ponies.” Josh said backing up from the entrance.

“We need to move, double time.” Leon said taking his BR from Josh and started and running into the cavern. Alfred grabbed his DMR and followed with Josh right behind.

The caves were like a maze, once again forcing the spartans to repeat the process of marking their path with markers that only their armor visors could see, like they did on the ring earlier. The caves had multiple dead ends, either ending with a wall, a cave in, or a big open crevice that they couldn’t see the bottom of. Whenever they came across such a path and were forced to backtrack they would make a second mark by the pathway opening, the first being made when they started down the path. Luckily they had found a bridge across the crevice a little while back and were making at least some progress.

Though coming across the same crevice multiple times made Josh very annoyed, “Aaaand a crevice. Oh the same crevice we’ve found six damn times.” He said face palming himself.

“Yes, we know. Everyone here has eyes of their own. Now could please shut up.” Alfred said, more annoyed at Josh than anything.

“Quiet.” Leon said crouching by the opening to the drop off. He looked up at the one walkway they had used to get to this side of the crevice. On it were three ponies in golden armor. Two were looking around in the dark for any trace of them and the third at the front had a lantern floating beside it in a pale blue aura. After zooming in with his visor he saw the first two ponies had no wings, but the third had a horn cloaked in the same aura as the lantern.

“Telekinesis maybe?” Alfred said crouched behind Leon.

“It would explain how they froze that building earlier.” Josh said poking his head around the corner, trying not to obstruct his teammates’ view.

“I’ve got a feeling it’s more than that.” Leon said as the ponies disappeared into the caves, “Good thing we got night vision, otherwise they would’ve spotted us... We got a move fast and carefully from here on out. Our black armor and visors will be hard to see, but it won’t make us invisible.” Josh and Alfred nodded, understanding the threat the ponies telekinetic powers represented.

A small, but distinct flapping sound was heard by the party, drawing their attention back to the bridge. New occupants in a dark purple armor were on it, receiving orders from another pony with dark grey armor. One of the ponies had taken off with their wings down the other side of the crevice, making the small flapping sound. Zooming in on the ponies the spartans noticed the bat like wings they possessed and the cat like eyes they had. Soon as one all the ponies saluted the leader by raising a hoof to their foreheads and taking off down both sides of the crevice.

“Move!” Leon said with quiet urgency as the bat ponies drew near. With their shields making their steps almost silent on the hard floor as they took off down the cave and away from their pursuers.

They began to repeat their process of cave elimination again, checking any corner they took for the armored ponies they had seen before. Two times they were forced to backtrack because of an oncoming light source that could have only been one of the pursuing squads.

Then they made a startling discovery. They once again retraced their steps on a ‘Y’ intersection with Alfred taking point with his DMR. He turned the corner, then immediately held up his hand in a fist. Josh and Leon froze and watched as Alfred slowly backtracked his steps to them before his voice came in over the radio, “Two dark ones from earlier, twenty feet away with no light source. They’re light has either broke and they abandoned it or they can see in the dark and have no need for one.”

“Of course, their cat like eyes aren’t just for show, they can see in low light environments.” Leon said, “We’re going to have to use our thermal visors from now on.”

“Should we retrace our steps to the four-way intersection that was before this one, or should we follow them.” Josh asked from the back of the group.

“Why would we follow them, their hunting us.” Alfred stated.

“Remember when we always couldn’t find Chase in the War Games simulations and when we finally on our way to our first deployment he told us, ‘The best place to hide is right beside your enemy-’”

“'-because they never suspect it.'” Leon finished quietly, “Alright, we follow them, they probably know which tunnels are dead ends anyway.” With the new plan in place they all switched their visors to the thermal setting and began trailing the two ponies from a good thirty some feet. Josh still marked they paths they took with the special marker that only their visors could see.

After following the ponies for two paths and three sets of stairs the one on the right finally spoke up in a feminine voice, “The first tunnel on the right up ahead opens up near the train tracks to Ponyville. We should check the dirt on the outside of the tunnel for any prints and then continue our search for the monsters.” the other pony just nodded. After a short time they came across a six-way intersection and sure enough the ponies traveled down the first tunnel on the right.

Alfred held up a fist, stopping Josh and Leon’s approach, “Should we wait or follow?”

“Follow, they could take another path further down.” Leon said.

With a nod Alfred resumed following the two ponies as they continued down the tunnel. With the thoughts that he would no longer need it Josh swapped from his thermal visor to his night vision. From their safe distance Josh watched as the ponies approached a pile of rubble where the shaft had caved in. Without stopping the two ponies walked right through the rocks as if they were an illusion. Josh spoke up through the comms, “So that's why we keep going around in circles, the real exits are concealed with holograms.”

“What? They just walked out the cave opening, where do you see a hologram?” Alfred replied stopping the group.

“Switch to night vision, I did just a second ago cause the thermal was getting annoying.” Josh stated.

Leon kept his thermal visor up and his eyes glued to the ponies outside looking at the dirt for any trace of them. They both seemed to say something to one another before spreading their bat-like wings and taking off.

“Wow, this means we could of passed around twenty ways out already.” Alfred said having switched his visor to night vision.

“Josh, this may be a good find, but try not to disobey orders in the future.” Leon said walking past Alfred and towards the exit. As Alfred and Josh followed the former was chuckling at the latter, “Same goes for you Alfred, I never said swap visors.” both of them shut up after that.

Moving out of the tunnel the spartans found themselves near an open field with train tracks to their left and a waterfall some distance to their right. It was a welcome change from the maze of tunnels they had just gone through. Leon held up his hand and motioned them towards the waterfall. It took around ten minutes of walking before the spartans ran into the bank of the river the waterfall poured into. The river was about twenty meters in diameter. Leon held up his fist, stopping the group, “We need to wade in this river for a few miles down stream. That should stop, or at least stall any pursuit of us unless we’re spotted while doing so.” the other spartans just nodded in understanding.

“Ho-ly crap.” Josh said, putting emphasis on each syllable. Leon and Alfred turned to and saw him looking skyward towards the top of the waterfall. Following his gaze the two spartans joined Josh in gawking at the majestic sight in front of them. Despite the spray of water from the falls they all were able to see a large city with a white and golden castle resting near the mountain side, “Is that the place we just escaped from?”

“If the ponies were able to build that on the side of a mountain, without carving it into the actual mountain, then we definitely have underestimated them.” Alfred said wondering how a city of that size was so easily resting on the mountain.

“Even at this distance, it’s still too close for me. Let’s get moving.” Leon began walking into the water with Josh and Alfred right behind him. They got to the center and the water came up to their shoulders. After a while the current was almost nonexistent and the spartans were slightly hampered by the water.

Four hours and three miles later and the moon had already begun its descent into the western sky before Leon led the spartans through a small lake and out of the other side. They had seen no patrols since they left the tunnels, but this could only last so long, “Alright, from here we need to move into that forest and try and find some form of shelter for the day. We walked in the tunnels for about three hours and it took us four more to get this far. I’d say we got somewhere between four and six hours left before the sun begins to rise.”

“I can totally live with that.” Josh said walking out of the water and onto the shore behind Alfred.

As Leon was about to walk towards the woods Alfred called out, “Hold up, I think there’s a settlement on the other side of those hills.”

Josh and Leon turned back to Alfred who was gazing at the hills to the west. Hardly noticeable at first glance, but there was a small glow from a light source that was on the other side. Josh moved his head forward and squinted his eyes and barely saw it, “Okay, so what? Who cares about a light on the other side of a hill.”

“That’s why you got some of the lower scores in stealth training.” Leon said walking towards the forest and searching the ground as if he had dropped something.

“Yep, definite settlement.” Alfred tapped Josh’s shoulder with the back of his hand, “There’s a bridge a small ways down the stream and a couple of homes farther than that.”

Leon walked past Josh to the shore carrying a small branch full of leaves that must of come from the forest, “We’ll use this to hide our tracks. Alfred you take point, Josh you got sides, and I’ll cover any tracks we make with this.” Leon began sweeping the sand with the branch, eliminating any signs of their tracks.

Josh was about to question the point, but kept it to himself as he realized just what Leon was doing. Shrugging his shoulders Josh fell in behind Alfred as they began a slow trek through the forest.

It was about few minutes later Leon abandoned the stick after the trail started to become more and more rugged and troublesome. They began slowly turning west from their southbound trail into more rugged forestry. After about two hours they were walking south west and, by the way the vegetation kept getting thicker, were heading towards the center of the forest. Without their night vision visors, they wouldn’t of been able to see five feet in front of them, but what they could see were the red dots on their motion sensors.

After another hour of walking, and the red dots following, they came across a small clearing. Alfred walked into it first, moving to the left and with his DMR trained on the foliage to the Left side. Josh came through, moving to the right, with his assault rifle trained on the forestry to the right. Then Leon moved in between the two and had his BR trained on the bushes and trees on the opposite side of the clearing.

They walked like this to the center of the clearing before Leon said, “Whatever’s been following us on the sensors doesn’t seem to know when to attack us.”

“If it was the ponies then they would have ambushed us by now.” Alfred said keeping his gaze on not just the left side, but where they just came from as well.

Leon activated his Promethean Vision and looked all around the clearing, “Seven in all, wolf like in structure. One in front, two in back, and two on either side of us.” Leon deactivated his module for it to cool down and looked towards the right side of the clearing. He could still see some light from the small settlement, “Try not to use your weapons. We need to conserve ammo and it would alert the nearby village of our presence.” Leon attached his weapon to his back, next to his own DMR, and continued, “If we divide them up the odds will be better, but be sure to watch your motion trackers.”

“Got it.” Alfred muttered, attaching his DMR next to his sniper rifle on his back.

“Okay then,” Josh started as he put his assault rifle under his backpack and magnetically locked it in place, “Lets get this started.” He sent out his hologram to the wolves that were on his side using his motion tracker as a reference.

The two wolves fell for the bait as they jumped out of the bushes and attempted tackling the hologram. Josh hesitated for a moment as the wolves appeared to be made of wood, but he quickly dismissed any questions forming in his head and focused on killing them. The two wolves collided midair, but before they could hit the ground Josh was on them. With a mighty kick, one wooden wolf’s head was thrown through the night air and disappeared somewhere over the treetops. The remaining pieces of wood that made up the wolf’s body collapsed on the second as lifeless kindling.

The second wolf seemed a bit dazed as the main body piece of the now dead wolf came down on it’s head. Taking his opportunity, Josh brought his foot down on the wolfs head. A sickening crunch was heard across the clearing as splinters flew in every which direction from the destroyed wolf’s head. Josh ignored the feeling of his victory and looked across the clearing to see the others finishing up their own fights.

Leon lifted on of the wooden wolves into the air over his head and smashed it into a small pile of wood that looked like it had been more wolves. He glanced over at Josh, who nodded, then over to Alfred, who was having some trouble dealing with the two wolves that kept circling him.

Alfred looked between the two wolves as they raced around him in circles. They had yet to attack him or get close enough for him to attack them. He was beginning to get annoyed.

Suddenly the one he had his eye on jumped at him, but he easily jumped over it by pulling up his legs as he reached the peak of his jump. Before he could land though a force collided with him from his side, knocking him to the ground and taking some of his shields away. Quickly he tried to get up, but something landed on his back as he did so, taking the rest of his shields. Unfazed by the new addition, and the flashing red shield bar at the top of his vision, Alfred rolled forward and crushed the wolf under the weight of his armor.

The last wooden wolf backed away from the three spartans, towards the treeline and its safety, but just before it reached the trees it collapsed. The yellow light drained out of its wooden eye sockets and disappeared, leaving only a small pile of dead wood in its wake. The spartans stared at the dead wooden wolf in confusion as to what had killed it.

“Well... that was weird.” Alfred muttered as he moved back towards Leon, Josh doing the same.

“In the words of Chase, ‘Don’t question it or shit gets worse.’” Josh said, now looking back around the clearing for more hostiles.

Leon looked around at the small wood piles in the area, a thought hitting him as Josh mentioned Chase. He began laughing lightly as it came and pass, but he walked over to the wood pile he had made then turned to the others, “Hey Josh, you know what Chase would’ve called these?” Josh shook his head in response letting Leon continue, “Timberwolves.”

Both Josh and Alfred laughed at the joke, but soon the laughter died out and Leon was still standing there looking at the timberwolves’ remains. He looked up towards the stars and the moon, “He would of liked it here.”

Leon felt a hand land on his shoulder and he lowered his head to see Josh there, “We’re here for ya man. We’ve all known Chase since we were kids, but I can’t say I know what you’re going through. Me and him were like brothers, but you were his brother.”

“Chase and I didn’t always see eye to eye, but I know he was one hell of a fighter and one of the best soldiers I’ve ever fought with. I guarantee you he took out half those flood before his time came.” Alfred stated.

Leon looked back up at the moon, then to Josh and Alfred, “It’s going to be sunrise soon, we should get back to looking for some form of shelter.”

With a nod Josh removed his hand from Leon's shoulder, “Just tell us where to-”

Josh was interrupted as all the wood from the timberwolves and from the surrounding forest began to converge on the spot where the final wolf had met it’s mysterious death. Larger pieces of wood began to come out of the forest and join the large bundle that was taking form in front of them. Soon the basic outline was obvious and the spartans took and a step back as the large timberwolf’s head began to form.

“Leon, you got a plan?” Josh asked, his left arm ready to grab his ARC-920 (rail gun).

“Yeah, and it’s one that Chase would be proud of.” Leon reply as the beast completed itself.

“Let’s hear it.” Josh said as the timberwolf’s empty eye sockets started glowing yellow.

“We’re going to tackle the bastard the moment he charges. Any objections?” Leon asked before lowering himself to the ground, like someone who was about to take off in a marathon does.

“Definitely something Chase would come up with, I’m in” Josh answered, lowering himself down beside Leon.

“Three sets of SPARTAN IV armor, each weighing between a quarter and a half a ton, against a couple hundred pounds of firewood. Count me in too.” Alfred said as he joined his friends in the standoff with the large timberwolf.

Then, just as Leon thought, the timberwolf charged them. It’s front legs struck the ground once and it was already over. The spartans had went from zero to eleven and collided with the wolf before it could even notice it’s prey had moved. The wolf bursted like a small balloon, causing logs, wood chips, and splinters to go flying in every which direction.

Moaning as he got up from the ground, Josh brought a hand up to the side of his head, “We just did something stupid, it worked, and I got a headache from it. You really did have chase in mind when you made that plan.”

“Let’s not think of anymore of those types of plans.” Alfred muttered.

“Come on, we need to get moving. It’ll be day soon.” Leon said as he scan the tree tops for any sign of a cliff or rocky area nearby, “Looks like there’s a small cliff south of us, hopefully it will have a cave. Alfred you got point again, Josh you got the rear.”

Alfred gave a simple nod before grabbing his DMR off his back and moving to the treeline. Leon was in the middle, grabbing his BR off his back and watching the sides for any more surprises. Then Josh was behind both of them, sliding his assault rifle out from under his backpack and following them into the forest, hopefully towards safety.

The Princess and the Sniper

View Online

Chapter Four

Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep...Beep...

‘What’s that sound?’

Beep... Beep... Beep...

‘Is that a heartbeat monitor?’

Suddenly memories from earlier came rushing back and Twilight bolted upwards on the bed, but then immediately fell back down as her body protested the rapid movement. After the wave of pain had passed she opened her eyes and discovered her left eye was covered in bandages. She looked around the room, taking notice of the night sky through the window and the street lights of Canterlot shining dimly through her window from below. On the side of her bed was a small table with a few get well cards and a small, dimly lit lamp taking up residence. Looking around the small room she took note that she appeared to be alone.
T

‘That explosion must have did this to me, but where is everypony else?’ Twilight thought as she looked through the dark room once more. There were chairs against the wall in front of her with the a door she assumed led into the hall. There was another door to a small cubicle on her left that she assumed was a bathroom. As she looked to the right towards the window she saw a small bump in the covers just beside her right fore hoof. She lifted the covers to reveal the sleeping form of Spike. A smile crept onto her face as she watched him sleep ‘Oh Spike.’

With the smallest of cracks the door in front of her began to open and two arguing, familiar voices came through, “Sister it’s been a full week and nopony has woken up yet. You must stop these hourly visits and focus on finding the ones responsible for hurting them and you.”

“It’s my fault she’s in here Luna, it’s my fault all of them are in here.”

Twilight’s heart monitor began beeping a bit faster ‘What happened to everypony?’

“If we were to assign blame I would be at fault for not staying until you arrived, but we both thought we had more time. Please sister, we must focus on getting the troops prepared for the worst.”

Feeling that her eavesdropping had gone on long enough Twilight used her magic to open the door the rest of the way. This caught the attention of the two arguing princesses.

“Twilight, you’re awake!” Luna exclaimed as the two entered the room.

“Twilight, you don’t know how happy I am to see you awake and well.” Celestia said as she nuzzled Twilight and she returned the affection.

“Thank you Princess, but what happened to everypony after that explosion?” Twilight's concern was shown in her voice and in her eyes. Their happy expressions dropped into one of sadness as neither of them seemed to want to answer the question, “Princess, what happened to my friends and everypony else?”

Celestia let out a deep sigh, “Twilight, firstly I want you to know that everypony is alright, but they’re all in a magical induced coma.” in answer to what she had just been told, Twilight’s eyes grew wide and her heartbeat monitor began to beep faster, “But, with you waking now I have no doubt that everypony will be waking up soon.”

The heartbeat monitor began to slow to a normal speed, “But how did this happen, the last thing I remember was the portal turning into a white ball and slamming into the ground.”

“We believe that when the portal collapsed in on itself, all the magical energy it had been collecting was forcibly shot outwards. The resulting burst of energy and explosion weakened the magical and physical support areas in the throne room’s architecture causing it to collapse.” Luna stated as Twilight wrapped her head around the new information.

“The throne room collapsed!” Twilight shouted in shock causing a nearby baby dragon to turn over in his sleep.

“Twilight please, try and keep your voice down. There are other patients in the room next to this one.” The dark blue alicorn said with a hushed tone.

“If the throne room collapsed how did everypony get out okay?”
H

“We arrived just as the ceiling was caving in and we were able to hold the building up as a squad of royal guards pulled everypony out.” Luna answered.

“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go find the doctor to make sure everything is in good order.” Celestia said as she walked out of the room.

“Princess Luna-”

“Please Twilight, we’re friends, Luna is fine.”

“I’m sorry for listening in earlier, but what did you mean when you said the creatures hurt us and Celestia.”

Luna’s expression became one of sadness and she let out a sorrowful sigh, “It was three days after the throne room incident that Celestia found the creatures in the Everfree Forest. With the forests wide expanse, thick foliage, and network of underground cave systems it would of taken every guard in Equestria to do an effective search, so Celestia and I searched to our best efforts while the guards focused on all the settlements they could have reached.” It was at that moment Celestia returned with a pale blue unicorn, levitating a clipboard, that Twilight assumed was the doctor. The doctor smiled and began examining the medical instruments around Twilight’s bed but stayed quiet.

“But how did you know what they looked like if everypony in the room was put into a coma?” Twilight asked as the doctor began using his magic to write a few things down on the clipboard.

“Excuse me, Princesses, Twilight appears to be perfectly fine now. Thanks to modern medical magic she will have no signs of muscle degradation, but just to be on the safe side we’ll monitor her over night and see what tomorrow has to bring. If her condition stays the same she’ll be released sometime in the afternoon.” the doctor stated rather hastily.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the doctor 'That was quick.' "Uh, what about my eye?"

"Ah, yes, those bandages can come off in the morning and your sight shouldn't be affected."

“Thank you for the good news doctor.” Celestia said as a smile formed on her face, “Now could you do me a favor and go check on the other coma patients. Come get us if any more have awoken.”

“Of course your Highness.” The doctor said, bowing down and leaving the room. The door then shut with a golden aura around it and locked. Twilight looked to the princesses with a puzzled look on her face.

“To answer your question Twilight, when the explosion happened the three creatures were thrown through the stained glass windows and into the side of the mountain. When they hit the ground they left three distinct impressions. This gave us our base image and we were able to make assumptions from there.” Luna answered.

Celestia let her smile drop as her expression grew serious, “Twilight, what I’m about to say could cause mass panic if it were to get out of this room. You will be allowed to tell the elements about this and Spike if you think he can keep the secret, but not a single other pony. Is that understood?”

“Yes Princess, but before you start, could you tell me just how long I have been in here?”

“It would be one week tomorrow.” Luna answered. This sent Twilight through a loop as the incident seemed like it had taken place just a few days ago.

‘Has Spike been here that entire time?’ Twilight thought as Celestia continued.

“The day the creatures attacked and comatosed twenty guards, the new captain of the Royal Day Guard, Prince Armor, and the Elements of Harmony to say Luna and I were mad was an understatement.” Celestia began as Twilight nodded slowly. There were a few questions she still wished to ask her mentor, but Twilight knew this story was more important. With a deep breath Celestia began...
E
**3 days earlier**

After finishing the last of the cases for the afternoon portion of the Day Courts, Celestia began her search for the creatures in the Everfree forest. She would use her magic to do a deep scan of the forest to penetrate not just the thick foliage, but the ground. This allowed here to search for them in the caves under the forest as well. She repeated the process around six times, getting the majority of the forest while she did so. After that she would land and begin searching on hoof, trying her best to find anything that could be theirs. Today though, Celestia had lucked out and found two of them in a small clearing just half a mile into the forest from Ponyville.

Closing her eyes, Celestia telepathically contacted Luna, ‘Luna, Luna wake up.’

‘What is it? I just got to sleep a few hours ago.’ Luna said, her telepathic voice sounding tired and dreary.

‘I’ve found them in the Everfree. Get here as soon as you can.' even without physically seeing it Celestia knew Luna well enough to know she probably shot out of bed and into the sky through her balcony doorway.

‘I’ll be there in a few minutes, make sure they stay there.’ Celestia felt the venom of Luna’s voice even through the telepathic link.

Celestia returned her attention to the clearing, the sight perplexed her mind. The two creatures were still there, but a manticore began to creep into the clearing. She watched as the two creatures lined them selves up in a straight line with the beast. One of the creatures began backing up, but kept the in line with the other and the manticore. Without warning the beast charged the closest creature and pounced. Without moving from it’s spot, the creature grabbed the manticore and used it’s momentum to throw it at his ally. The other creature ran towards it and tackled the beast while it was still in the air. Even with her distance Celestia heard its spine and numerous other bones break.

The two landed in a heap next to the first creature and the second got up and seemed to act as if this was an everyday thing. It would of taken her best Day Guard earth pony squad to accomplish what she had just seen, and it still would of taken them longer. Then there was the sad fact it was only two of them and there had been three different impressions in the mountain by the castle.

As Celestia began her descent towards them both of them looked up directly at her. They then retrieved large pieces of metal from their backs that she assumed were weapons, but they were like none she had ever seen. As she landed Celestia stared directly at the first creatures face, now seeing that it wore armor and not an exoskeleton like she had thought.

After a few seconds of analyzing the two in front of her, Celestia did a quick scan of the surrounding clearing for the third. Upon finding nothing she returned her full attention to the two in front of her, “Judging by the shape of your bodies and the impressions left in the mountain outside the throne room, I assume you were the ones that attacked a few days ago. Am I wrong?”

There was a small moment of hesitation before the closest to her took a step forward and spoke, “We never attacked anyone.”

“There are twenty-eight magical comatose victims, a collapsed throne room, and three distinct impressions made in the mountain side that puts you both at the scene.”
H

“What happened at that castle was just a mistake, we never intended-”

Celestia interrupted him, “It does not matter what you intended. What matters is that you have put a Prince, the Royal Guard Captain, and the Elements of Harmony all in the hospital. If you truly think you are innocent then you will be found so in the Royal Courts.”

There was a few moments of hesitation before the creature answered, “What authority do you have to arrest us?”

Celestia was slightly taken back by this, ‘How could they not know who I am?’ small thoughts of doubt began to creep into her mind, but Celestia pushed them back and answered, “I am Princess Celestia, Co-ruler of Equestria.”

**Meanwhile on the other side of this conversation**

“No way am I about to get arrested by a pony princess.” Josh said through the short range comm.

“We just need to stay calm and try to resolve this without resorting to violence... any ideas on how to do that?” Leon answered as he stared into the piercing eyes of the Princess.

“How the hell should I know what to do. Were dealing with a flying horse, with a horn. Oh and who's also one of the rulers of this place.”

Leon looked into the trees surrounding them just as an idea struck him, “Okay then Princess since your a co-ruler, who is the other?”

“Why are you playing twenty questions with her?” Josh asked.

As the Princess started talking, Leon explained, “To keep her talking. Listen we’re going to make a run for the tree line and then we’ll confuse her using your holograms and escape.”

“Sounds-” Josh was interrupted as the princesses horn became enshrouded with a golden aura.

The ground itself shook as the earth began to move and replace itself. A rock wall began to come up out of the ground all around the clearing making the trees shake and the spartans to get slightly off balance. When the earthquake stopped a wall of solid rock about ten feet high surrounded them, blocking off any escape plans they had been thinking of.

“It’s impolite to think of escape plans when somepony is taking. Now will you come peacefully or will I have to render you unconscious and carry you back.”

**Mountain side, 2 miles away**

Alfred had been watching the whole meeting take place between Leon and the flying unicorn, but was now looking at the new arrival that was coming in from the east of the meeting place. It was another flying unicorn, but with a darker color scheme than the other. Had he been his normal black color that his whole team wore then the new arrival could of seen him, but he had changed it to match the color of the rocks around him with his armor module.

Alfred watched as the new arrival began its descent into the clearing. He zoomed in with his sniper rifle and took aim at the white pony that had originally disrupted his teams hunting session. He aimed for the horn, Leon having given orders not to use lethal force unless it is absolutely necessary. As the darker one landed both of the ponies horns began to glow and Alfred saw Leon and Josh raise their rifles at the two ponies.
E

Alfred would have to chose his timing carefully, with a distance like this his suit could only calculate drop and adjust the sniper scope accordingly. It would be up to him to adjust for the other factors like wind speed and bullet travel. Moving his left hand out he grabbed the sniper magazine that had laying in the sun next to him, popped it into the rifle, and pushed the bolt forward locking the anti-material bullet in the chamber.

Three things could happen when he pulls the trigger. First, the shot could hit the target, creating enough of a distraction for Leon and Josh to escape. Second the bullet could miss and alert the ponies to his presence and put Leon and Josh in jeopardy as they would have two hostiles to deal with. Third, the bullet could hit the pony in the head and kill it instantly, invoking rage from its comrade and the spartans will be forced to end it as well. It all boiled down to this single bullet.

**About 20 seconds earlier in the clearing**

“Princess, if I thought we would get a just trial I would agree to lay down my weapon and come with you, but I’m not about to make that decision for my team.” Leon replied as another contact came in on his motion tracker and into view.

Leon and Josh watched as the new arrival landed next to the other and spoke, “If thou refuses to come then thou’s fate is thusly sealed.” Both of their horns became enshrouded in a ghostly aura, and the two spartans raised their weapons at them.

“So you were buying time for your reinforcements to come.” Leon let out a soft chuckle, “Looks like we have similar tactics.” Leon stated, but before either princess could question his meaning there was a loud crack and Celestia’s horn came flying off.

Before the princess even hit the ground Leon and Josh had bolted to the wall behind the two princesses. The darker princess saw their movement and her horn became enshrouded in an a dark blue aura and suddenly vanished with Celestia. Not stopping their momentum, the two spartans charged straight through the wall.

From the far side of the clearing Luna looked stunned as the spartans chose to run and not attack her. Not wanting to give them a chance to return, she quickly scan the clearing to find Celestia’s broken horn. It was only a few seconds later that Luna found the broken piece and teleported both of them back to the castle.
R
****

Twilight’s jaw had effectively dropped as she stared at Celestia’s horn, “But... it looks just fine to me.”

“I was able to reattach it once we were back. Thankfully it had broken clean and there was no fragmentation.” Luna answered.

“How-how were they able to do that? Unicorn horns are one the strongest parts of their bodies, the history books say you were able to parry swords with your horn in the old ages.”

“Yes, we know, and for them to of broken mine so easily means they could possibly be the most dangerous beings we have ever encountered.” Celestia said, “There was something they said though that I would like you to clear up for me Twilight.”

“Anything princess.”

“Twilight, we must ask you, what happened in the throne room?” Luna asked.

The question caught her off guard as the whole incident seemed to have happened so long ago. Nodding once Twilight took a deep breath and began to recite what had led up to her being in the hospital.

****

She and her brother had been talking when one of the guards had called out, “I think something’s on the other side of the portal!”

Immediately the captain barked an order that Twilight didn't catch and the guards, Shining included, all galloped to the other side of the portal. Twilight and the others were left standing there confused as to what was happening. Using cation the group slowly crept up to one of the pillars to try and get a good view of what was going on.
O

Twilight and the rest of the elements were hiding behind the closest pillar on the right side of the new arrivals. The guards had surrounded the first two creatures to come through the portal, eliminating any means of escape. It looked as if a fight was going to start out, but then a third creature came through the portal. It seemed to look around and scope out the situation, before looking towards one of the first two. It was only a short time after that they lowered the pieces of metal they had been pointing at the guards.

'No communication? Possibly psychic.' Twilight thought as she watched from her obstructed view point.

Suddenly a hoof stomp rang out and the guards in front of the creatures broke apart into two teams that joined the guards at the sides, completely blocking all of the girls view. Rainbow Dash being the exception as she was hovering above them. Then sompony spoke up, “In the name of the royal sisters you all are to cease all acts of aggression towards the nation of Equestria immediately.” The silence afterwards was almost deafening as both parties were at a standstill once again.

KZZZTSH

All the elements jumped with fear as an abnormally large lightning bolt struck the pink column a few meters away, with the exception of Fluttershy who zipped behind Rarity and Applejack for protection. The six mares watched as all the guards and the three creatures shifted their gaze to the portal. All of the guards attention were focused on the portal more than the new arrivals.

Suddenly one of the creatures made a mad dash towards the portal, only to be shot back by the magical force surrounding it. The creature soared over the captain of the guard and landed in front of the two thrones. It brought it’s head back up and watched the portal for a small time. Twilight watched as the other bipeds made no move to get their friend, but instead one just observed the ponies. Almost as if what it was looking at was too gruesome a site to watch. Then the last had been rooted to its spot, not looking away from the portal for even a fraction of a second. Soon the first biped rejoined the other two.

The girls' view of the portal was poor and they couldn’t see what was happening, but that soon changed as Shining Armor’s voice rang out, “Lines of two behind the creatures!”
A

Twilight and the elements finally got a clear view of the portal as the guards followed the orders, but, due to the angle, they still couldn’t see what was happening on the other side of it. What they did see however was an unobstructed view of the trio of armored, bipedal creatures that were easily twice the size of anypony present. The armor each wore was different, but Twilight couldn't remember the exact looks of them.

Pinky let out a sharp gasp from the back of the group, but everypony present ignored it and stared at the perplexing sight that was the creatures in front of them. “Just what are they all staring at?” Rainbow Dash mumbled as she began to hover passed Twilight towards the next pillar.

Applejack quickly grabbed her tail and yanked her back down to the ground, “Hold up there RD, I don’t think it's such a good idea to be splitin up.”

“Applejack is right, what if we have to use the Elements of Harmony to stop whatever has everypony so-” Twilight was cut off as a bright white light filled the room. Turning they all saw the portal collapse in on itself and form a small white ball. Before Twilight could even begin to wonder what the ball was it slammed into the ground and exploded with terrifying force and everything went dark.

****

“So they weren’t attacking...” Celestia mumbled

“But they have attacked you now, so this wouldn’t change anything... right?” Twilight questioned.

Celestia shook her head, “If they were not attacking then what was their purpose of coming here? So many things are now left unanswered.”

There was a knock on the door not a moment later, “Princesses, I have two ponies here who wish to see the patient.” the doctor said from the other side of the door.

“Enter.” Luna answered. Slowly the door opened to reveal two ponies Twilight hadn’t seen in quite a while.

“Mom, Dad!” Quickly the two ponies with the doctor rushed passed the princesses to Twilight’s side.
RR

'I think we should leave them to catch up.' Luna said over the telepathic link. Celestia gave a small nod and they snuck out the door as Twilight's mother cried tears of joy into her daughter’s coat.

As the two princesses left Twilight with her parents they teleported to Luna’s room to have privacy as they discussed something either as dangerous or more than the three creatures they hunted, politics.

“Sister, while it is good news of Twilight's recovery we must not act like everything is going to be alright. Especially since the Gryphon Kingdom made it official today that General Black will be taking the kings place since the disappearance.” Luna started electing a sorrowful sigh from Celestia.

“I know Luna and I had hoped that the Minotaur Domain wouldn't of reacted to such a change so violently, but now they are about to go to war. Were we not hunting down these monsters we could be the third party to help put an end to the disputes around King Talon’s disappearance as well as his daughter's.”

“But sister, some form of foul play is obvious here. Their carriage was found burning in the middle of Red Thorn Bog and there were no bodies or a decent investigation.” Luna stated.

“I know, but stopping the war would of been first, but now it doesn’t matter as we have our own crisis to deal with.” Celestia began walking towards the balcony as she finished.

“It may not stay our problem for long.” Luna joined her sister on the balcony looking at the night life of Canterlot.

“You’re referring to the magical anomaly that happened earlier today? It was within the Gryphon Kingdoms borders and we can’t get involved with either of the warring nations unless it’s for negotiations of peace.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right... Do you know where the Deers allegiance lies, or the southern tribes?”

“The D-B Kingdom is staying neutral and will only step in if either side begins committing genocide of innocents. We will step in the moment we apprehend these accursed creatures and get answers.” Celestia answered, yawning as she finished.
I

“Tis late sister, go to bed and get some sleep before you have to raise the sun.”

Celestia nodded and smiled, “Good night Lulu.”

“Sweet dreams Celly.” Luna said sharing the same small smile as her sister before Celestia teleported away to her room.

With a happy sigh Luna returned to her room, wondering what book she should read. As she reached her book shelf three loud knocks were heard at the door, “Princess, the Night Courts are about to start.”

Luna looked at the door with an annoyed expression before letting out a defeated sigh, “I’ll be right there.”

****
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ h a s _ _ _ _ v e d.

Meanwhile on the Ring of Doom

View Online

Chapter Five

The entire room was pitch black and silent. The archway that Fireteam Ghost had gone through was as dark and dead as everything else in the room. Along the floor and in the open doorway were piles of dead bodies, two of which were still human.

From the black hallway, past the pried open doorway, a single flood infection form scurried across the floor. Even with all the dead and decaying bodies around, it was following something, the scent of something alive. It crawled over the dead bodies of the combat forms and a few pure forms before it finally sensed it was close.

On the floor directly in front of the infection form was a human clad in metal armor from head to tow. The parasite moved carefully and closed the gap between the two before it started up the humans leg, slowly as to not wake it. As the parasite slowly moved over the humans chest there was a flash of movement to the side and an armored fist collided with the parasite, destroying it in a small explosion of gore.

"Sorry, you're not my type." Chase said as he painfully began to situp. The first thing he noticed was a sharp pain in his left eye. He knew he had a shard of his visor in it, that was going to complicate things. He shook the remains of the parasite off his hand and activated the lights on his helmet. Through his one good eye, Chase looked at the piles of dead flood all around him.

He looked towards the archway, hoping to see the light of the console, but there was nothing. The archway was destroyed, along with any way of him getting to Leon or Josh. 'The portal must of destroyed the archway when I overloaded the power and made it collapse on itself.'

Chase looked around and found his MA5D assault rifle nearby. A few minutes later and he found his M45D tactical shotgun under the dead body of former Commander Richards. As he moved the body to get it, a small key card fell out of the Commander's lab coat.

It was red in color and had 'Level 5 Security Clearance' in white lettering next to a picture of Richards. Picking it up, Chase was about to break it in hate towards him, but an inhuman scream came from beyond the doorway. Without thinking Chase put the key card into an ammo pouch on his left side, the one that also contained his shotgun shells.

He loaded a new magazine into his assault rifle and moved slowly towards the door with it raised. Due to the lights on either side of his helmet his pupils contracted, making anything not in direct contact with the light look completely dark. As Chase began to move towards the door he realized something, 'This is just like a horror movie... I am really screwed now.'

As he reached the intersection outside the doorway he checked both ways for anything, but found nothing. As he retraced his steps through the labs the sound of his armor boots striking the floor alerted him that his shields were down. Weather it was his broken visor or the blast from the portal, Chase couldn’t tell.

The dull echo of his footsteps unnerved him to no end as he continued towards the elevator that brought him down to this level. It took him a few moments, but he finally reached the elevator. The console was dark and the elevator wasn’t there, but Chase had figured as much would happen.

He leaned over the edge to look at the bottom, but his helmet lights couldn’t penetrate the darkness. Chase gave a low whistle as he looked down the seemingly bottomless pit. He shook his head to get rid of any second thoughts as to what he was about to do.

The walls like the platform that used to me there were octagonal, eight flat surfaces. Taking a few steps back, Chase readied himself, “One for the money, two-!” he jumped across the gap and slammed his feet against the opposite wall. Even without his visor he could still control his armors secondary features, like his magnetic boots and his armor lock.

His boots kept him against the wall and the armor lock helped him keep his balance. With his arms locked and his plan seemingly working he grinned, “-Because fuck it.”

Slowly he released the armor lock on his left leg and moved it forward. He fully extended his leg for a step and got it locked against the wall. He deactivated his armor lock and began to climb up the wall, “This is easier than I thought it was going to be... aww fuck.” Chase thought out loud. Noticing he had just tempted the universe to make his situation worse than what it was, Chase retrieved his MA5D from his back and shouldered it for the climb up.

He just passed the fifth floor doorway and he was starting to feel the weight of the armor, “Why... does this armor... weigh so much.” He head a squishy, splat sound as something landed on his chest. Chase quickly swatted the blob of fleshy substance off and snapped his head back to looking up the shaft.

Just beyond his helmet’s lights, Chase could see the bug like shapes of the stalker pure form flood. There were three that began to enter his immediate view, so Chase leveled his assault rifle with the nearest one, “You fuckers just never learn.” with a smug grin Chase pulled the trigger on his rifle and immediately his grin disappeared. The bursts of light his rifle caused as it spat bullets illuminated more of the shaft showing dozens of stalkers.

After his magazine ran dry Chase knew he needed another plan. He heard a few of them beginning to change into the ranged pure form. As the name implies they are good at ranged fighting and Chase had no shields to defend against their needles. Thinking quickly, he jumped and twisted his body in the air. He came down hard on the fifth floor access way. Rising off of his hands and knees he was just about to take off running when a flaw in his plan was staring him in the face.

The door in front of him was closed and the power was out... this did not make for a good combo. Something large landed behind him with a loud thud and Chase was once again lifted off the ground by the force of an impact. The door dented but held as he was slammed into it.

Chase didn’t have time to even turn around before he was picked up and slammed against the door repeatedly. Finally the door gave in and Chase skidded across the ground in a partial daze. He wanted to just lay there, but there was a sound behind him, a sound that scarred his very soul. Thinking quickly he got on his hands and knees and did a roll away from the monster.

He came up in a crouched position and turned to look at the doorway. the first pure that attacked him was on it’s knees spitting up some of the bulbous infection forms. Behind it, two more stalkers where changing too match the tank. Chase could see his MA5D on the ground behind them.

‘I’m not getting that back.’ Chase thought as he rose to his feet and began backing away. All three of the pure forms turned to him just as his foot connected with the ground, “... Well it’s been fun, but I got to get going.” all three pure forms screamed and charged, now joined by the little infection forms.

Chase sprinted down the hall as fast as he could. He easily left the flood behind him as he reached his armor’s max speed. He retraced his steps from his previous visit, stopping only at the intersections to make sure he was on the right path.

As he was running down the hallway his right calf erupted in pain. Chase tumbled forward, first landing on his right shoulder before going into a role due to his momentum. During his training, Chase had experience all the livable pains caused by the armor he now wore. Do to this he was able to tell by the amount of pain that his leg just cramped up because he over exerted it.

Chase looked around for a room he could stowaway in till the pain reseeded. An open door just down the hall he had come from gave him another glimmer of hope. Not because it was a semi-safe place to hide, though that was a factor, but because he had been in it before.

Using his training, Chase was able to crawl rather fast using his elbows and move through the door without bumping his leg into anything. His eye was another huge disadvantage as he had a hard time telling distances between objects.

Crawling through the doorway, Chase saw the familiar surroundings of former Commander Richards Office. The desk looked the same as he had left it and the computer seemed to be off, but the screen gave off the faintest of lights. Using the desk as some support, Chase carefully rose on his one foot, ignoring the oak desks loud groaning sounds from the added weight.

A solid thump was heard as he hopped around the desk to look at the computer screen. A small box of text was in the middle of the screen.

‘System servers: OFFLINE

Emergency generators: OFFLINE

Experimental power source: ONLINE

Please contact system administrator for the proper course of action.’

With the pain fading away from his leg, Chase turned around to look at the door that could save his life. Above the doorway were the words ‘Weapon Testing Chamber 7’.

“Something’s not right here.” Chase muttered as he limped to the door that the commander easily could of gotten into instead of going for the portal. The card reader to the side seemed active and ready with a small red light on the upper left corner. Retrieving the Commander’s card from his ammo pouch he swiped it through the reader. It issued a small beep and the red light turned green just before the door began to slowly slide open.

Light leaked through the crack illuminating the room and, as soon as he could, Chase stepped through the crack and looked around. The room was sterile white with a few folding tables, some ‘UNSC’ labeled machines, and paper scattered across said tables. Then in the center of the room was a small transparent case with the hilt of an energy sword resting in the center.

“One damn weapon, now I see why Richards went for the portal.” Chase thought out loud as the door finished siding open behind him. Chase looked at some of the paper work on one of the tables and some parts jumped out at him: “... Unresponsive... Limitless energy... Power source...” Chase said out loud. He then gave a low whistle and looked back at the case, “Infinite energy and it doesn’t work... I am screwed.” Chase finished, putting emphasis on the last few words.

As Chase moved closer to the sword the lights in the room got brighter. Chase took note of this as he stood in front of the case, “Or maybe not...”

A scream pierced Chase’s thoughts as he looked at the sword hilt. He turned to the door and retrieved his shotgun from his back as he did so. There was nothing there though, at least nothing in Richard’s office. Thinking quickly, Chase smashed the case behind him with his elbow and grabbed the hilt of the sword.

The moment his fingers wrapped around the piece of covenant tech, there was a very bright flash of green light and all the lights in the room went off. Chase jumped to the side, thinking someone had just fired a fuel rod cannon at him. He came up in a crouched position with his shotgun raised to the area behind the case with his left hand, his helmet lights illuminating the area. Nothing stirred and no sounds were made as Chase checked the rest of the room. Noticing he was under no immediate threat Chase looked down at the glowing red energy sword casting it’s own eerie red light.

“Oh, red hot.” Chase sliced through one of the tables, causing any paper to contacted the sword to catch fire and the two table halves to crash onto the floor with the ends that used to be together melting into a small puddle of plastic and whatever else the table was made of, “I think I’m in love.”

The fire began to die out as Chase walked out of the room, his leg seemingly fine now. He deactivated the sword and attached it to his right leg before proceeding out the doorway and into Richard’s office. Then, from there, he walked into the dark hallway, the whole time he had his shotgun raised. Nothing stirred in the shadows as his helmet lights pierced through them. Chase checked both ways with his shotgun raised before he began running down the corridor, at a slower pace than before, but continuing his journey to the surface all the same.

-Meanwhile-

A dozen or so flood combat forms were shuffling around the clearing that had previously been full of people evacuating. All the people that had been at the facility had either left with the Pelicans or became a flood host. With nothing to fight, the combat forms on the rings surface were left to their own devices, while the ones on the second floor of the labs gathered enough dead to make a gravemind. Unknown to the flood, there were two spartans watching them, planning.

Ethan and Hank were crouched on either side of a small alley behind two of the buildings that surrounded the clearing. Both of them had known something was wrong when they had failed to receive any radio contact from the base. Ethan had put the Pelican down about a mile away on the opposite side of a barren, flat land.

From there the duo had stuck to the edge of the dry wasteland and approached the base with stealth and caution. So far they had no idea where Leon, Alfred, Josh, and Chase were, but since there vitals all disappeared at the same time, they assumed they were in the labs.

“Got anything on the radio?” Hank asked through the comm channel.

“Negative.” Ethan simply replied.

“Alright, mark any locations where there’s a secondary entrance to the labs.” four different blue diamonds appeared on Hank’s HUD, “From what we’ve seen, there’s no power. Are any of those maintenance shafts?” Only one blue diamond remained.

“It’s a long twisting slope down, only stops on floors two and five.”

“Alright, we’ll pass by the armory on the way there and get our personal weapons.” Hank then continued on behind the buildings with Ethan following behind him.

After they passed the last building before the armory the air was filled with screams. Quickly the duo hid behind the armory building as all the flood rushed to the opposite side of the clearing from them.

“That’s to the main elevator.” Ethan said watching all the flood converge on the elevator building.

“They’ll have a rough time getting down that way with the power out. This also means their are still people alive down there.” Carefully they walked into the armory from the rear entrance, Ethan had an MA5D raised while Hank had a SAW. After they confirmed the room was clear they put their weapons in the correct lockers and grabbed their more personal ones.

“Grab as much as you can carry, but only ammo for what you plan on keeping.” Hank stated as Ethan grabbed two M6D pistols (Halo 1), putting one each hip, and an MA5B assault rifle (Halo 1) on his back. The two armor plates his pistols rested on contained a clip/magazine cycling mechanism that swapped the spent one for new ones. He put five magazines in each, the maximum amount, before attaching ten more magazines to his waist for his MA5B. Two grenades rested under his speed enhancement armor module.

Hank hefted a large ammo pack onto his back, his armors magnetic locks holding it in place with more force than what a grizzly bear could muster. A rectangular tube led to the turret that rested below the ammo box. He grabbed the vertical grip and swung it around to his front where his left hand grabbed a horizontal grip that was placed just behind the shield. On his hips Hank grabbed two M7/Caseless Submachine Guns and loaded his own clip/magazine cycling mechanism with five magazines each. His armor module that rested below his ammo pack was able to give him two more levels of shielding, but it took it quite a while to recharge and Hank had a hard time moving around with the added slickness the shields brought.

In addition to his personal weapons, which Hank returned to there respected holsters, he also grabbed as many grenades as the magnets on his waist could carry. Ethan grabbed a M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle also known as a Spartan Laser and attached it next to his MA5B. They both holstered their weapons and grabbed a M90 Shotgun (Halo 1). It had a large ammo capacity at the cost of range and had a bit more kick than the M45D Shotgun Chase preferred.

“We stay as quiet as possible and try to reach them on the radio. How long we got till the contingency plan is enacted?” Hank asked as they walked out the back of the armory.

“Half hour to an hour to finish up evacuations and data retrieval.” Ethan answered as they moved carefully down another alley way to their objective.

“Then this ring is destroyed and this section of space is quarantined, right?” Hank asked as they stopped and let a few flood run past the opening to the alley. Ethan nodded his head in confirmation, “Then once we get to the shaft we’ll have ta pick of the pace.”

The next few minutes passed in silence before they came upon a large vent-like structure jutting out of the ground. Green mist hung in the air around it and came out of it, signaling a flood presence in the vent. “Must be a lot of ‘em in there. Not very likely we’ll stay hidden for long... We move fast from here on out and try to get to the second floor.”

“Wouldn’t the fifth floor be more likely since that’s where the Commander’s office is?” Ethan asked as he scanned his surroundings and kept his eyes on his motion sensor.

“Good point.” Hank muttered in thought, “Alright, we head for floor five and try to get a hold of someone. With any luck we’ll find everyone and get out before the contingency begins.”

A loud shriek began nearby and soon seemed to echo throughout the relatively small compound. Needing no other indication that they had been discovered the two quickly entered the shaft in pursuit of the rest of their team.

To short for title

View Online

Chapter Six

“Come on, we’re burning daylight.” Leon said through the comm channel as the group continued their trek back to base camp.

For the past two days they had been doing recon on the mountain castle looking for any signs of forerunner technology. They had taken scans, mapped out the entirety of the caves, and checked if the building collapsing had killed anyone. Leon felt like a small burden had been lifted off of him when he heard that all involved had survived, but where in commas.

“Six days in this hell hole. Six days and all we have to show for it is a cave as our home.” Josh said from the back of the group as they edged around Ghastly Gorge as a sign nearby labeled it.

“We’ve only been searching for two days, at least we got our base set up and defenses in place.” Alfred countered keeping watch on the forestry in front of them.

“Stay focused, you can both argue when we’re safely back at base camp.” Leon said keeping an eye on their sides and the skies from the center of the group.

“Why couldn’t we just get one of these caves as our base camp?” Josh asked looking at the number of holes in the walls of the gorge, “With how many their are they got to connect into some kind of system of caverns.”

“The cave I found not only has water, but it had a boulder in it’s entrance that we could use as a door, it’s barely noticeable, and should stay at a good temperature year round because it’s underground.” Alfred said as they entered the thick underbrush that made most of the forest unnavigable.

Leon let out a loud groan stopping Josh’s rebuttal, “Were I anyone else, you two would of been shot by now with how many of my orders you’re ignoring.”

“That’s why you’re the best C-O I’ve ever had.” Josh said as they came into a small clearing with a boulder in the middle, half submerged in the ground.

“I’m the only C-O you’ve had since you got out of the ODST training academy.” Leon stated as Josh and Alfred moved to either side of the boulder and scanned the dense foliage around them.

Leon attacked his rifle to his back and crouched down in front of the boulder. He dug his fingers a small way into the ground to search for a good grip and, a few seconds later, Leon lifted the front of the boulder and rolled it on to the opposite side of the hole. The whole time this was going on Josh and Alfred had not stopped bickering like an old married couple.

“I’m just saying the opening is a little obvious and a few more pitfalls and spike traps would let me sleep a little easier at night.” Josh said as he and Alfred walked into the cave. Leon followed them and slowly lowered the boulder back to it’s original resting spot.

“So you’re volunteering to be the one to go around and clean out said traps, reset them, and gather the supplies to keep them working?” Alfred asked as they walked down the carved out steps into the fair sized cave.

“... Well when you put it like that, no, but if we all pitch in-”

“The traps are fine, now both of you retire for the eventing and I’ll wake you for tonight’s operation.” Leon interjected as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Well at least tonight will be fun then.” Josh said as he attached his assault rifle to his back and walked over to the edge of the small body of water, nearest the cave wall, and sat down.

Alfred started walking to his spot on the opposite side of the cave, but Leon placed his hand on his shoulder, “Hey, come here for a sec I gotta go over some revisions to your assignment.” Alfred nodded and the two walked to the cave wall farthest away from Josh.

“What’s the new plan?” Alfred asked attaching his DMR to his back.

“Stick with the plan we made when we came back from the mountain. What I wanted to talk to you about is you and Josh.” Leon stated crossing his arms.

“What about us, we’re just arguing like we always do.”

“No, you two used to get along somewhat fine. Now you’re both arguing like you and Chase did back in basic.”

“Well I can’t help it if he disagrees with everything I have to say.” Alfred leaned back against the wall, crossing his own arms like Leon.

“Maybe not, but you can try to get him to be himself again. I want this resolved by tonight's op, understand?”

“Yes, Sir.” Alfred sighed and began walking over to where Josh was sitting. Leon nodded his approval that the problem would be resolved soon and they could focus on getting home. Leon walked back over to the stairs and began the climb up, he needed to check and reset the traps.

As the boulder to the entrance was moved back into place Josh looked up to see Alfred walking towards him, “The hell you want?”

“We need to talk.” Alfred stated bluntly.

“If you could just go away that would be great cause I’d rather sleep than argue with your dumb ass.” Josh made a shooing motion with his hand before leaning back against the wall.

“Direct order from Leon, we gotta sort this out before tonight.” Alfred sat down with his legs crossed a few feet from Josh.

“... Fine, I’ll give you five minutes, but after that I’m just gonna mute ya.” Josh said.

“Firstly, why all the added hostility lately?”

Josh curled his left leg in, leaving the right straight, “With Chase gone someone has to pick up the slack.”

“So you’ve been acting like an asshole, well more of an asshole than usual, because you miss your best friend?” Alfred asked. Josh remained silent, “I knew him almost as long as you did, but I’m not acting like a more bitchy version of him.”

“No, you and Leon act like he was never here, like you’ve already forgotten him.” Josh said, his voice sounding threatening.

“I could live to be a hundred years old and not forget him, but you know Chase and I haven't exactly been on the best of terms the last few years.”

“You mean after you abandoned-”

“There’s no need to reopen old wounds, right now you got to stop acting like him and move on, or at least keep up a good facade until we’re somewhere safe.” Alfred said, ‘That’s what Leon is doing.’

“Fine, I’ll stop, I’m kinda relieved actually.” Josh said leaning his head back against the wall, “Ignoring Leon has been annoying and down right hard, I respect him to much to disobey him, but that’s what Chase did all the time.”

“Yeah, but those two were always the ones to come up with the plans, they corrected each other all the time and used each other to make amazing plans.” Alfred paused for a few seconds before he continued, “With Chase gone I think Leon has been pushing himself to hard. He’s hardly gotten any sleep and when I have seen him asleep he moves around like he’s having a nightmare.”

“He’s got to be taking this hard... I’ll talk to him about it after tonight’s op. We should get some sleep.” Josh said as he laid down on the ground.

“Good to have you back.” Alfred said standing up. He then walked back over to his side of the cave to enjoy some rest before tonight's operation.

*****

Wind raced through the dark forestry making a low whistling sound. The sky above was a brilliant blue with a few clouds hanging around here and their. Leon looked out from the small cliff that barely got above the tree tops, taking a deep breath as the scene brought back memories of a more pleasant time. He did this despite the fact his helmets air filters made it pointless, it was the thought that counted.

He had just finished checking the last of the traps and was shocked to find nothing had been caught, not a single thing in any of the traps. It had perplexed him to no end and he had started searching around each trap after the fourth empty one. He started to notice a powder on the traps, but thought nothing of it as it looked like it could've easily been pollen. At least that’s what he thought until he saw a cloaked figure tossing the powder all around one of the traps.

It looked like another pony in body shape and had a cloak covering most of it self and little cloth bags around its hooves. Despite the lack of opposable digits it had no problem tossing the powder from its saddlebags with it’s left fore hoof. As Leon watched he noticed that it left no hoof prints anywhere it walked, looking behind him he saw his boot prints as clear as day... ‘I’ll have to talk to the others about making a few false trails.’

Back to the pony, it seemed to finish up tossing the powder as it closed the flap on it’s saddlebag. It then proceeded to scan the area around it as if it sensed Leon watching it, but with Leon’s distance and black armor and visor it would be damn near impossible to see him.

“Hunter hiding in the green, do you think you can’t be seen? Poaching is illegal in the Everfree, all that do are stopped by me.” The female pony said looking right at Leon, it’s eyes glowing yellow through the darkness of the hood and forest. At first Leon felt a ping of fear, but he soon saw the pony had not moved from it’s spot. All bark no bite.

“I hunt for survival only, leave now and no-one has to get hurt.” Leon said after a few moments, it was true in a sense, but the traps were more of a security system.

“So you say, yet you hunt by day.” She said, her eyes narrowing to slits, “All you have is a party of three, yet the traps you place are more than plenty.”

Leon thought hard about what to say next, ‘She knows how many of us there are so she has more than likely seen us also meaning she could know where we have made our base camp. It’s too big of a risk, she can’t go free.’ “How about this, we go back to your place, get a map, and you can show me where I’m allowed to put my traps.”

Her eyes seemed to lessen in intensity for a few moments, as if contemplating Leon’s plan, “For your solution to become reality, you must dismantle your traps immediately.”

“Of course.”

“Then tomorrow we will see, if or if not you are lying to me. At noon north of here at Ghastly Gorge, a treaty together we will forge.” before Leon could put in any say to the new plan she pulled a bottle out from under her cloak and shattered it against the ground, “Be sure to bring the other two, and remember-” her entire body began to become mist, converging together to make a stream going somewhere over the tree tops, “-I’ll be watching you.” with her last few words the rest of her body turned to mist and flew out of Leon’s sight. The piercing yellow eyes though remained for a few seconds before they closed like a blink and disappeared.

Leon stood there, rooted to the spot in confusion of what he just witnessed. Slowly he began to turn before he remembered the pitfall trap that the figure had stood by, “I’ll get that trap later...” he muttered before walking back to the other traps. He planned to follow his end of the bargain since the powder stuff the pony spread affected the traps in someway. Whether it was his own paranoia of the figures final words or something else, Leon kept seeing little bits of yellow while he walked through the dark forest, like those eyes were following him.

Flood vs Spartans on the Ring of Doom

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Chapter Seven

“Worst idea I’ve ever had...” Chase muttered as he ran away from the main elevator room, putting his armor up to speeds faster than sixty mph, “What the hell was I thinking? Of course the main shaft would be swarming with the things, why wouldn’t it? It’s an easy way to the surface, accessible on all floors, god damn it!”

Chase slid to a stop to turn at a corner, but saw nothing but a maintenance shaft the sentinels use coming down from the ceiling and angling towards him at a ninety degree angle. Throwing caution to the wind, Chase jumped into the shaft and used the same trick with his boots to begin his ascent up the shaft. He could hear the howls from the flood behind him as he moved as fast as he could up the shaft.

‘Please don’t let this thing be flooded with them.’ Chase thought as he looked at the dark corner turn that lead further into facility. Suddenly something latched onto Chase’s back mid step, grabbing his arms for leverage. He slammed his foot against the wall to make sure he did fall back down the tunnel. He was inches away from the turn to level ground, so close he could put his hand out and touch it, but the combat form on his back wouldn’t allow that.

Chase tried to swing his right arm back to elbow his assailant, but as the hit connected another jumped on the same arm. Then another one jumped on his left arm and another wrapped its clammy dead arms around his neck. Chase smacked his head back against one of his assailants and twisted his body rapidly from left to right to try and shake them off, but it was no luck. Chase made a grab for the sword on his right hip, but just as his fingers grasped it, and the magnetic lock disconnected, another of the flood horde grabbed his arm and jerked it back.

Chase felt the handle slip from his grip. A million things went through his mind all at once. Ways to reach his shotgun on his back, the possibility to use his hard light shield to crush the flood and get his sword, even the thought as to what was happening to Ethan and Hank. One thought though, stayed louder than the rest, ‘I will not die here!’

As his magnetic hold to the wall began to give with the added pileup of flood, Chase reached for the ledge with his left hand in one last attempt to save himself. It was so close, but just like with his right hand one of the flood hosts latched onto it and brought it back down. Chase used the momentum from the falling flood to throw it back down the shaft, comically making it hit three more that were jumping up to him.

With no time to laugh and a free left arm, he punched off both of the flood that had become attached to his right arm. Chase quickly brought both arms over his shoulders and grabbed the combat form that had taken up residence. He then threw the thing over his head and into the angled ceiling of the vent.

Chase jumped towards the ledge and was able to grasp it just as the body he had just thrown came back down. It barely missed him and dropped on top of the other flood as they were jumping up the shaft. Using his momentum from the jump, he swung his legs over the edge to his right and rolled into the shaft.

Just as he rose into a kneeling position a large force collided with his stomach, making him roll back towards the drop into the hell he had left. Chase caught sight of his new assailant jumping at him. With reflex kicking in, he rolled under the jumping combat form and retrieved his shotgun from his back. When he saw it go over the edge, the spartan wasted no time and immediately turned and ran down the shaft.

‘Oh man, I wish Hank and Ethan were here with some ammo right now.’ Chase thought as he ran up the slightly sloping tunnel, at a reduced speed of course, since it slightly curved to the right.

After a few more seconds a bright green light flashed from Chase’s right. Looking back, he saw nothing that could of caused the light, but it reminded him of the sword he had lost. His hand shot down to his right hip, expecting to find the empty spot that used to hold his sword, but his hand grasped something else. Using his left hand to holster his shotgun, Chase brought the object up in front of him.

It was the sword he had dropped, he knew it had left his hand after the flood grabbed his arm, ‘Did it relock to my armor?’

Chase put the confusing thoughts concerning the sword out of his head as a voice came in over the radio, “Chase, this is Hank, can you hear me? Your signal just came in.”

“Oh Hank, I’ve never been more happy to hear your hick voice.” Chase answered, putting the sword back on his hip.

“Good to see your awful sense of humor is intact. I’ve got Ethan with me, are the others with you?”

“No, I got them an express ride out of here with a portal we found on the seventh floor.” Chase slapped a combat form out of his way as he continued up the shaft ignoring it’s pain filled howl and the sounds of bones breaking, “I’ll give you the details when we get out of here, where are you two?”

“Right in front of you.” Hank said as Chase rounded the corner to see both of them.

“Alrighty then,” Chase said as he slid to a stop, “I’ve got a small army of flood behind me so if we could get going that-a-way,” he pointed his two index finger to the tunnel behind Hank and Ethan, “-that would be great.”

Ethan step in front of Chase before he could continue down the path, “Hank, hold him.” without question Hank did as he was told and put his arms under Chase’s and locked his hands behind his head, “Take off your helmet.”

Chase was going to protest, but he knew what Ethan was going to do and disengaged to locks on his helmet. Quickly Ethan pulled out a med-kit from off his back.

“When did you pick that up?” Hank asked as Ethan pulled a few things out of the kit.

“Dead guy, floor 3. Bite this.” Ethan stuffed a rag from the med-kit into Chase’s mouth. Before Chase react in any way Ethan jerked out the piece of Chase’s visor that had destroyed his eye. Chase dropped to his knees in pain and Hank got into a kneeling position, the latter still holding the former.

The moment Chase looked up, Ethan used his left arm to hold his head there and sprayed a disinfectant into the wound. Chase tried his hardest to get away from them and the new wave of pain the disinfectant brought, despite that he knew it had to be done. It’s a muscle reaction to avoid pain, but with both Hank and Ethan holding him down, he couldn’t avoid it.

Soon it felt like fire ants were making a home of his destroyed eye socket. It was the bio-foam sealing the wound. Chase’s let out a muffled scream before going limp, his energy practically drained in just a few moments. Ethan put a sterile piece of cotton against his eye before wrapping gauze around his head to keep it there.

When the rag was removed from Chase’s mouth he looked up at Ethan and said, “You can really be an asshole sometimes, you know that right?”

Ethan just nodded and handed Chase his helmet.

After a few moments, Chase claimed to be back on his feet and they began to run back up the path Hank and Ethan had just came down. Chase was at the front with Ethan to his left and Hank at his right. Soon, Chase broke the silence, “You know, I figured you guys would of brought a lot more than just your personals.”

“We did.” Ethan replied keeping his assault rifle raised and watching the path ahead of them.

“We used up our shotguns and most of our grenades getting past the second and third floors. Watch your step when we get near them, it got a little messy.” Hank said, watching the red down pointing arrows on his motion tacker begin to disappear as the spartans ascended the shaft.

Chase nodded his head, “Nice.”

After a about a minute went by, they passed a gore filled piece of the tunnel and a turn off for the third floor. They were all careful not to slip on the blood and pieces of flesh from the flood as they passed by. They did the same as they passed floor two and continued to the exit. Shortly after they could begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel, they had reached the surface.

They all stopped short of the exit as they heard a flood scream outside. Cautiously they all approached the tunnel’s end, weapons raised, ready for anything to jump out at them. Hank had his two SMGs, Ethan had his MA5B, and Chase had his M45D shotgun. Slowly they exited and looked around for any flood forms that could of made the yell they heard.

They moved silently and slowly behind, through, and around the seemingly abandoned buildings that dotted the landscape with the main circle of buildings in the center. The whole area was eerily quiet, as if a hunter was on the prowl and everything but the spartans knew it. Once they reached the edge of the camp and saw the stretch of forest give way to a barren landscape Chase spoke up, “So, how far out did you park?”

“About a mile or two out, why?”

“Just wondering if you actually knew that or if it was going to be another Tibia situation.” Chase muttered as they continued with caution.

“That still wasn’t my fault.”

“You-” Chase was suddenly interrupted as a loud shriek sliced through the quiet that had taken hold of the area. The spartans turned their backs to the wasteland and looked back towards the compound, but nothing was in sight. Without warning, something large landed right behind them and smacked them all in the back, sending them flying into the compound.

Ethan continued with his momentum and was able to right himself before landing on the ground. He slid a small distance before turning back with his assault rifle raised to shoot at the enemy who had gotten the drop on them.

Hank landed on his ammo pack and slid into the side of a concrete building, cracking the surface. He quickly rolled over and stood, his SMGs never leaving his hands, aiming at the thing that had hit them.

Chase smashed through the back wall of a green paneled barracks building. He groggily sat up, and immediately noticed a lack of a weapon in his hands. He looked up and saw it in the clearing a short distance away from... “What, the fuck, is that?”

The creature in question stood twice as tall as the spartans, a good fifteen to sixteen feet high. It had two long, tentacle arms that appeared to be armored, extendable, and ended in pointy little pyramid-like pincers. It’s legs were long and thin, but with how it just attacked them they’re also strong and easily supported the bulky body. Like the pure forms, it had no face, but instead had the feelers from a couple of infection forms in a small, circular, slightly caved in area.

The creature crouched as Ethan began firing at it in controlled bursts, his 7.62x51mm armor piercing rounds bouncing off it’s armored chest. The creature launched itself straight at him at speeds he barely saw. Ethan tried to dive out of the way, but the creature was faster and slammed into his midsection. He went flying and slammed into Chase just as he was climbing out of the barracks building he had landed in.

The thing, standing just a few feet away from where it had smacked into Ethan, took a step towards the two downed spartans. A spray of automatic fire from it’s right made it change it’s mind though. It jumped high in the air and landed behind one of the buildings in the distance, leaving the spartans a small time to regroup.

Ethan and Chase crawled out of the destroyed building they had landed in, both scanning their surroundings as they did so. Hank slowly made his way to them, both his SMGs raised, both a little over half a clip. They moved towards the wasteland again, all thinking of getting off the ring before they had another run in with the creature from a bad Japanese horror movie.

As Chase picked up his shotgun he handed it to Hank, “Check how many shells I got, would ya.”

Hank grabbed it, then gave it right back, “It’s out, ya got more?”

“Nope.” Chase muttered, tossing the shotgun away.

“We’re gonna have ta sprint it to the Pelican. I don’t think we can take this thing with just what we got.”

“Negative, it would be on us before we got the Pelican started.”

“Wait, Ethan, how much juice is left in that Spartan Laser?” Chase said, finally noticing the weapon on his back.

“One shot.” Ethan answered.

“He’s saving it for if we have to take out our own ride out of here.” Hank answered before Chase could ask.

“Okay, so that’s-”

“Duck!” Hank shouted dropping to the ground, the others followed quickly after. A M831 Troop Transport Warthog came flying over their heads and landed on its wheels, rolled twice, and came to a stop on it’s wheels. The only thing that seemed to take any damage was the broken windshield.

“I think that was actually a Warthog.” Chase stated.

“Move!” Hank shouted next before diving to the right of an incoming M808B MBT also known as a Scorpion. Chase dove left with Ethan as the hulking vehicle smashed into the ground, flipped over the Warthog, and blew up. Somehow, the Warthog remained unscathed despite the debris that flew out from the burning wreckage of the Scorpion.

“And that was a Scorpion.” Chase added, standing up.

“I think we could see that.” Hank said, attaching his SMGs to his hips and hefting his modified M247H Heavy Machine Gun out in front of him. Ethan raised his MA5B and Chase activated his sword as they all looked at the flood monster in front of them. It was on top of the concrete building Hank had slammed into, and it was holding another Scorpion tank in it’s left tentacle.

Hank caught sight of Chase’s sword, but Chase answered before he could ask, “I’ll tell ya later. Right now, let’s deal with the shity Japanese tentacle monster.”

“What?”

“Just shoot it.” Chase said. Hank and Ethan were happy to comply. Ethan fired short bursts from his MA5B, while Hank laid down a non-stop spray of bullets. Meanwhile, Chase ran behind Ethan and began to Circle the monster, hoping to either expose it’s back to the other two spartans or get a shot at slicing off one of its appendages.

Chase’s plan went down the toilet as the creature used the Scorpion tank as a make shift shield and once again jumped back and out of range. Hiding itself amongst the broken and/or abandoned buildings, but it was Ethan’s words that sent a chill down everyone’s spine, “It’s stalling.”

“So it’s other friends could get here no doubt. I say we load up in the Hog and fight this thing where it can’t hide.” Chase said.

Suddenly a mongoose came flying over head, barely missing Hank by inches, “Ah hell, ya got my vote. Let’s move.” Hank said as they all turned and went for the Transport Warthog together.

Chase slid across the hood, the contact with his armor making an annoying screech as he did so, and quickly made his way to the driver seat. Ethan then followed into the passenger seat and Hank jumped in the back. With his back against an awful seat, and his M247 propped up on the rear-end of the of the Warthog, Hank said two words that should never be said to Chase, “Floor it.”

The Warthog lurched forward as it’s wheels found purchase on the cracked stone of the wasteland-like area. Chase decided that he would skirt the right edge of the area to give them time to kill the creature stalking them. All they had to do was wait for the creature to attack and-

“Incoming!” Hank shouted before he began shooting at the creature behind them. Chase swerved to the left just before the monster crushed them. A large column of dirt and rock erupted where they were no more than a second ago as the creature tried to stop their escape.

“God damn it Hank, shoot it!” Chase yelled as Ethan started firing his MA5B from the passenger seat.

“What do you think I’m doing!? It’s still got the Scorpion!” Hank’s response was quick and cut off by another wall of bullets raging out of his M247.

“Good, if it keeps a hold of the Scorpion then it could slow it down enough for us to-” Chase was cut off as the Scorpion tank suddenly flew over his head and exploded right in the middle of his path. He swerved left to avoid the wreckage, trying to think of a way to kill the monster before they got to the Pelican.

At the back of the Hog, Hank continued shooting wall after wall of bullets any time the creature got in range. Without warning, the creature suddenly stopped, jumped back away from them, and watched as they drove away. Hank kept his eyes on it as it shrunk away in the distance, “It just backed off.”

“What do you mean it backed off?” Chase asked.

“I mean it backed off, it’s just standing there, not moving.” Hank answered.

“Well, let’s not question it and get the fuck out of here.” Chase said as the Warthog bounced from a particularly large hole.

The air was calm for a few seconds as the spartans drove onward to their destination, but only for a few seconds. A loud deep howl began to reverberate throughout the area, seeming to come from everywhere at once. The sound sent a chill down all of their spines as it got louder, going so far as to make the local wildlife in the trees to their right shoot up in the air.

“Contacts!” Ethan shouted, readjusting his aim for the figures that had shot out of the trees. Hank did the same with his M247, although with some difficulty due to the roll cage over the seats.

“I think those are just birds guys.” Chase said dismissively before something shot out of the forest and slammed into the cracked windshield of the Warthog.

The thing in front of him was easily recognized as a flood host, but it was another Chase had never seen before. It looked close to a mutated rat-bat hybrid, with long legs that were almost longer than it’s body. It’s wings were boney and looked like leather and the skin on it’s back was transparent showing it’s spine whereas the rest of it’s skin was a sickly green. To top it off, as it righted itself and looked at Chase from the hood of the Warthog, it opened it’s mouth to hiss at him and showed off a full set of very sharp teeth. As it took off from the hood it’s legs curved forward and let them see the single sharp talon at the end of each leg.

“You were saying?” Hank commented as the swarm moved back towards the creature.

“Just how long have those been there?” Chase asked aloud.

The swarm that had came out of the forest had begun to follow them in the skies above them, making a wall of flesh so thick Hank and Ethan only saw glimpse of the sky near the edges of the swarm. Hank let loose a small spray of bullets at the swarm, but the distance was great enough that the swarm were able to disperse and avoid the rounds, “What do we do now? Those things are staying out of range of our weapons and I’ve lost sight of the big one.”

“This ring curves up, how did you lose sight of it?” Chase asked as he began pulling away from the forest.

“I was distracted!” Hank shouted as the the swarmers began to group above them once more, the shot at them, “Incoming!”

Chase quickly swerved the Warthog as the bulk of the swarm hit the ground where they had been not a second before. Ethan was the first to fire his weapon and Hank quickly followed as the swarm righted itself and shot after them. It was gaining fast despite Hank’s bullets taking out a great deal of them. Ethan conserved his ammo and shot any that broke away from the main group in small bursts of fire. Soon the swarm began to dwindle to nothing as they were cut down in their attempt to reach their vehicle.

“Keep your eyes open cause that was too-” Hank started before Chase cut him off.

“Don’t finish that sentence!” Chase shouted, “Or do you want something even worse to come after us?”

“There’s the Pelican.” Ethan said, cutting off Hank’s rebuttal.

“Finally, let’s get the fu-” Chase was cut off as something very big climbed on top of the Pelican. Chase was shocked at the sight, the fact it had been smart enough to make a distraction, and the sound of a spartan laser being drawn in his passenger seat. He looked over to see Ethan charging the shot. Fear gripped Chase’s heart, Hank didn’t know what was happening as he was finishing off the last of the swarmers, and Ethan’s only thought was that the flood couldn’t get off the ring.

“Shoot the monster, not the Pelican!” Chase shouted as he saw where the laser was pointing, “Ethan don’t!” the laser discharged and the beam flew towards it’s target.

Time crawled as Chase looked on in awe, Ethan had shot at the Pelican, but the flood monster had jumped in front of the shot at the last second. It’s tentacle arms were crossed in front of it’s chest, then suddenly they fell off at the crossing point and revealed that the laser had left quite the crater in the beast’s chest.

“Chase turn!” Ethan’s words snapped Chase out of his stupor as he saw they had gotten very close to the monster.

Chase swung the Warthog left and pulled on the E-brake as he did so, swinging out the back end just before the Warthog came to a complete stop. The creature let out a large howl of pain as it seemed to just register what had happened to it, a howl that was cut off as multiple 12.7x99mm rounds pounded into it’s newly open chest cavity. It let out a gurgling sound as it fell back onto the rocky, barren ground, dead and defeated.

Ethan jumped out of the passenger seat and proceeded towards the Pelican, the rear hatch opening as he got near. Hank climbed out the back and watched the surroundings for any signs of flood that may be answering to the call the big one had made. Chase put the Warthog in reverse and backed it up to the back of the Pelican, fully intent on bringing the vehicle that had saved their lives with him to safety.

Ethan, meanwhile, had gotten to the cockpit of the Pelican and knew what Chase was doing as he saw the bigger blip on his motion sensor approach. As he sat down into the pilot seat he pressed a few buttons and the magnetic clamps on the back of the Pelican descended towards the Warthog. Chase waited for a solid thump as the clamps connected with the rollcage of the Warthog before exiting the vehicle and moving towards the Pelican.

“Let’s get the hell off this ring, shall we?” Chase said as he joined Hank inside the Pelican. Hank just nodded, taking a seat as the back doors closed on the hellish landscape.

As they began to take off a thought crossed Chase’s mind, “Hey Ethan, you meant to shoot that thing, right?” there was no response, “Right?”

“I got Lasky on comms.” Ethan said over the radio, completely ignoring Chase’s question.

“Lasky? You mean Infinity is here? This should be good.” Chase said dropping the subject and switching off their private team channel, “This is Spartan Chase Blake of Fireteam Ghost, go ahead Captain.”

“Spartan, do you know how close you were to being destroyed with that ring?” Captain Lasky’s voice came through the comm.

“Do I even want to know?” Chase said taking a seat across from Hank and leaning his head back.

“Probably not.” Infinity’s AI Roland’s voice came in next, “But maybe you can answer a few questions for us when you get here.”

“Oh I can do more than answer questions with the data I got.” Chase said with a small chuckle.

“Good, you can start off with where Captain Miller went with his entire ship.” Commander Palmers stern voice came in next.

Chase slowly sat up straight and looked at Hank, “I don’t know about that, but I got names and reports from a great number of rebel sympathisers that operate within the UNSC. First things first though.”

“What is it Spartan?” Lasky asked.

“We kinda skipped breakfast thanks to this whole thing, so...”

Chase heard Lasky chuckle before he answered, “After a full debrief I think we can help with that.”

“Well thank god, crisis averted.” Chase laughed as they ascended into space. Hank joined in and Chase could of swore he heard Ethan give the smallest chuckle. At the back of his mind, Chase thought, ‘Now to find everyone else.’

Operation: Ponyville

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Chapter Eight

Darkness blanketed the small town of Ponyville, only pierced by the rare streetlight with a lit candle inside. All it’s populace sleeping peacefully in their homes, some, if not most, still saddened by the loss of six of the towns beloved occupants. No-pony was awake at such an hour, with Luna’s moon high in the sky, but that didn’t mean everything was asleep.

From the edge of the town a dark figure darted from alley to alley, staying quiet and hidden from any possible onlookers. Another dark figure could be seen skirting the towns edges towards the apple orchard known as Sweet Apple Acres. A third going the opposite way of the second and skirting the Everfree forest towards Ponyville’s dam, Hoover Dam.

Peeking out from the side of a ridiculous looking gingerbread house, Leon saw his target in sight. He opened the teams comm channel, “Ghost One reporting, I have visual on my target. Report progress.”

Alfred’s voice came in next, “Ghost Two reporting, I have visual on my target and I’m making good time.”

Josh’s voice came last, “You know, I’m pretty sure we don’t gotta worry about anyone monitoring the comm channels. I’d be surprised if the ponies-”

Leon’s voice interrupted him, “Ghost Four, we don’t know a lot about these ponies, so we will not underestimate them. Now give me your report.”

Josh’s voice came back in with a bored tone to it, “Ghost Four reporting, I’m closing in on my target and wish to say something freely.”

“Go ahead, Ghost Four.” Leon said darting towards his target.

“The whole ‘Ghost’ then a number thing is fucking stupid.”

“Noted Ghost Four, get back to it.” Leon allowed himself a small chuckle as he finished the same song and dance he and Josh got into on missions such as this. As he reached his target in the middle of the small clearing in the town, Leon pressed his back against the bark of the tree. He looked around to see if there was anything that had spotted him, his night vision piecing the dark shadows that he had just left, but only a street lamp down the road by the gingerbread house greeted him.

Turning around, Leon activated his Promethean Vision and looked at the interior of the tree house. It was big, with a basement, a balcony on top, and what looked like three more rooms spaced out in a circular pattern around the second floor. The main room had stairs to the second floor and a few doorways that led to the basement, kitchen, and a bedroom. Stairs went from the main room to the second floor and then spiraled up to the balcony on top of the tree. With the Promethean Vision he could see the bedroom showed no signs of life inside.

With the last few seconds of his armor ability, Leon scanned his surroundings for anything that might be lurking about. As suspected, nothing was watching him, but something did catch his eye. Moving quickly around the sign in front of the tree, Leon moved the ‘Welcome’ mat out of the way to reveal a key lying in the dirt. Now with the key in hand, Leon abandoned his previous plan of breaking the lock on the back door and unlocked the front door to the ‘Golden Oaks Library’ as the sign called it.

As Leon began to open the door, Alfred’s voice came in through the comm, “Ghost One, be aware you have a purple bat flying over your position.”

Leon moved into the library and left the door the tiniest bit open and watched the lunar guard fly over, “I see’em, Ghost Two. Be aware, he appears to be heading towards your position.”

“Ghost Two, going radio silent.” Alfred finished as the guard soared ever closer to the apple orchard.

Leon watched and waited for the guard to get well out of range before closing to the door completely. Leon turned to see the main room was exactly what he wanted, a big friggin library. After tossing the key aside, Leon looked around and began grabbing books of interest such as, ‘Equestrian History 101’ and ‘The Three Pony Races: An In Depth Analysis' plus a few others.

Leon opened the comm channel while stuffing the books into Josh’s backpack, “Ghost One reporting, I’ve completed my objective and I’m-”

Leon was cut off as a siren began to sound throughout the small town. Soon Josh’s voice came in over the radio, “Hijo de perra, Ghost Four mission complete, but I tripped something on the way out.”

“The town’s going to be in an uproar soon. I’m making my way out now, stick to the plan.” Leon stuffed the last of the books into the backpack as he was taking and started out the door. There were already a few lights turning on inside the buildings sending a red flag up in Leon’s mind. Quickly Leon moved to the opposite side of the street and in between two buildings. He began silently moving from alley to alley once more as ponies wandered out of their homes to see what was causing all the noise.

Silently, Leon moved around the crowds as they began to converge towards town hall where a mare was speaking to the populace to try and calm them down. It worked out fine for Leon as not a single pony saw him slip into the shadows and out of the town. As Leon began moving along the side of the town towards the Everfree Forest he began to wonder just what the technology level of the ponies was. From the speed the lights turned on, they had electrical lighting, but the homes betrayed the thought that they were advanced at all, ‘Maybe it’s just to give the whole place a look like it’s from a simpler time.’

Another question that refused to leave his mind as he neared his safety, ‘How the hell do ponies use a key, or a doorknob?’

Leon’s thoughts were interrupted by Alfred talking over the comms, “Ghost Two reporting, I have my mission objective and am returning to base. I’ve also picked up a bit of information. The guard that came here and told the owner that a pony named Applejack has just woken from the coma she’s been in. The farmer asked if the others had woken too and the guard said yes, so I think whatever the portal collapse did, it’s starting to wear off.”

“Good catch Ghost Two, Ghost One out.” Leon let out a heavy sigh after he turned off his comm. As Leon got ever closer to the edge of the Everfree he could hear the town arguing on what to do. The voice of reason said something about already alerting the guard, but Leon had no fear of them as he would already be in the forest by the time they arrived. As Leon was about to cross the stream and move into the woods, a blip appeared on his motions sensor. He ducked behind a tree and watched as a Lunar guard take off from the side of the forest.

After a few moments for the guard to fly off, Leon looked out from behind the tree and watched the guard fly towards the dam at the far west edge of the forest. Slowly moving from his spot, Leon waded through the creek and entered the forest, opening his comm as he did so, “Ghost Four, the purple bat is flying towards your area.” Instead of a vocal response a green acknowledgment light popped on to the side of Leon’s HUD, “Ghost Two, can you tell me when that guard left the orchard house?”

“He left about two minutes before Ghost Four tripped the alarm at the dam, Ghost One.” Alfred’s voice came in clear over the radio.

‘What were you doing this whole time?’ Leon wondered as he made his way to the cave. Even while in the jungle like environment these ponies called a forest he maintained as much stealth as he could, just in case the mare from earlier was watching him still. The thought alone sent a chill up his spine.

“Ghost Four, reporting. I stuck around the Dam long enough to see they didn’t even check where I was at. They were more concerned about the all the footage from their cameras being mysteriously gone.” Josh said. Even without physically seeing it, a hint in his voice gave the thought that he was smirking.

“Ghost Four, just what did you do?” Leon asked as he carefully skirted a small clearing.

“Get this, they have wireless access, but there was no security at all. I might not be a grand master hacker like Ethan, but anyone can get into something that has no security around it. All I had to do was delete the files of tonight and boom, not a single shred of evidence.” Josh replied, sounding a bit too cocky.

“Good job Ghost Four, soon we’re going to have to check on just how technologically advanced theses ponies are. We’ll discuss what we’ve all seen back at base, Ghost One out.” Leon finished as he made his way through the Everfree. As he pressed on through the unforgiving forest, he began to wonder why he had yet to encounter any wildlife that made the forest so dangerous. Soon his thoughts were put at the back of his mind as Leon arrived at the clearing that held their base.

Despite the tree cover that made the clearing all but impossible to see from above, Leon stayed cautious and stuck to the side of the clearing. He would move into the base when the others got there, making it less likely to be seen by anyone, or thing, watching. Using the two-dimensional map they had made of the area, Leon tracked his teams progress as he waited. Josh was only barely into the forest on the east side and Alfred was moving slower, but was already halfway to him coming from the south-west.

After a few minutes the sound of the alarm stopped and the forest grew eerily quiet all around. Ten or so minutes later Josh and Alfred arrived just a few seconds from each other. In Alfred’s arms was a large basket full of apples, their main food for the next week or two. As they moved towards the boulder that covered their base, Leon got on one side of the boulder and motioned for Josh to get the other.

“What?” Josh asked, not understanding Leon’s gesture towards the boulder.

“Get the other side.” Leon stated.

“Why?”

“Just do it.” Leon said with a heavy sigh.

Rolling his eyes, Josh picked up his side of the boulder as Leon did his and together they easily lifted it up over their heads. Alfred, arms filled with a basket of apples, walked down the slope and into their base. “Ladies first.” Josh said as he passed under the boulder.

“You’re fondling a boulder right now, so the gentlemen will go first.” Alfred stated with a matter-of-fact tone to his voice.

“Okay, we step inside and lower it slowly.” Leon said stopping Josh’s comeback before he could say anything.

Josh was about to ask ‘Why?’ again but decided against it, “Fine, let’s just hurry this up. I hate the blue fog around here, gives me the creeps.”

“You and me both.” Leon said, copying Josh and taking a step into the hole. Out of the corner of his eye Leon thought he saw a pair of light blue eyes staring at him through the mist, but they were gone when he turned his head to look.

“What’s up? You see something?” Josh asked looked towards where Leon had been focused before.

Leon continued looking for a moment before continuing to lower the boulder with Josh, “No, just the stupid fog playing tricks on my eyes.”

“I hear that. I hate that stupid crap, I keep getting a signal on my motion sensor every now and then, but I can never find it.” Josh said as they descended into the cave.

Leon was thinking so hard about the eyes he thought he saw that what Josh said didn’t even register to him till he got to the bottom of the decline, “Wait, how long has that been going on?”

“Well, it happened once before we met the Princesses, then twice tonight. I tried following it the first time it happened, but I couldn’t pick up any traces of it anywhere.” Josh said walking over to the basket of apples. Alfred already had his helmet off and was eating one while sitting at the edge of the little pond.

“Could it of been at a higher elevation than you?” Leon asked placing the backpack full of books next to the basket as Josh grabbed an green apple.

“Nah, every time I get the reading it’s on the same elevation as me and it goes straight across my radar. Can’t find any signs, no sounds, and I never actually see it. I’m giving up and saying it’s magic since that’s a legit answer in this world.” Josh said taking a seat by the water like Alfred.

“What’s going on?” Alfred asked before taking the last bite of his apple and pulling a comb out of one of the pockets on his belt.

“Josh has been getting readings on his radar, but could never find out what was causing them.” Leon took a seat between the two of them, a little ways away from the water, and took his helmet off.

Leon shook his head, hating how clumped his black hair could get in his helmet, as Josh began to talk, “Yeah, it would just zoom across the radar and then nothing... What the hell are you doing?”

Alfred was looking into the water at his reflection, combing his slightly-long blond hair backwards, “Combing my hair.”

“I can see that, but why are you?” Josh said taking off his own helmet.

“So my hair stays out of my eyes.” Alfred stated as if it was obvious.

“Dude, if you won't cut your damn hair then corn row it like mine.” Josh said bringing his right armored hand over his brow scalp and black cornrowed hair, “Or be a girl and at least cut the bangs like Leon.” he gestured to Leon with his left hand, accidentally letting go of the apple he had been holding.

Leon’s right hand, which had been scratching the five o'clock shadow on his chin, caught the apple before it hit him, “Guys we got a real problem here and talking about hairstyles isn’t helping. Now when you saw that motion tracker reading was there any smoke around, or any wind maybe.”

“You’re thinking it could of been that one mare, aren’t you?” Josh asked, leaning over and grabbing another apple out of the basket.

“No, we looked at the video with thermal, it showed her just turning and running into the forest and that’s why she couldn’t of been doing whatever Josh was seeing. What I’m saying is she was able to use smoke to project the image she wanted me to see.”

“I think I know what you’re thinking and it’s impossible. Nothing could affect our systems without our knowing.” Alfred said putting his comb away and taking a bite of his apple.

“That’s not what I’m thinking. I’m thinking that something has been watching us without us wanting to see it.” Leon tossed the apple back onto the pile and grabbed his helmet, “And I think I caught a glimpse of it before I lowered the boulder earlier.”

“Sure it’s not just sleep deprivation?” Josh asked with a chuckle as Leon slipped his helmet on, “Cause, I can’t remember the last time I saw you get any sleep.”

“This is serious.” Leon stated as he pulled a chip out of the back of his helmet and placed it on the ground in between all of them. A few seconds later a hologram projected out of the top of the chip showing a cube.

“I forgot that the AI chips could do that.” Josh took a bite of his apple as a video began playing on all sides of the cube.

The video played from when Josh and Leon took a step into the hole and stopped whenever Leon caught sight of the eyes, “See, they’re different from the rhyming mare’s. They almost seem demonic with the slits for pupils.”

“Switch it to thermal, maybe it’s just that one pony again.” Josh suggested taking another bite of his apple. Leon did as suggested and the results where not as simple.

“What the hell?” Leon muttered.

“That shouldn’t be possible.” Alfred said quietly.

“Ghost Hunters would love this shit.” Josh said looking at the picture. The picture showed normal heat signatures till you reached the area around where the eyes had been floating. The whole area had temperatures that reached into the negatives and the front half of a figure was visible, “First magic, now ghosts. What’s next?”

The hologram faded and Leon picked up the chip, “I’m sure if we looked at Josh’s video log we would see that thing.”

“Leon, we’re in way over our heads in this. We don’t know what our enemy is capable of and our base location is now known by two things.” Alfred said.

“I know, I know... We need more information in almost every area and the books won’t cover everything we need to know.”

“What are saying Leon?”

Leon let out a heavy sigh, “I think we should trust the rhyming mare.”

“I got five bucks this blows up in our face.” Josh said taking the last bite of his apple and tossing the core over his shoulder.

“Just in case it’s an ambush, I think we should leave our weapons here.” Alfred said grabbing both his DMR and his sniper rifle. He laid them on the ground in front of them, “If it is an ambush we can use it to our advantage.”

“Fuck no man, I’m not about to go into an ambush without my weapons, Leon back me up here.” Josh said crossing his arms.

“...” Leon reached back and grabbed both his DMR and battle rifle and placed them on top of Alfred’s weapons, “I know what your thinking Alfred and it's dangerous, but I'm in."

Leon and Alfred stared at Josh waiting for his response, “... You white boys are fucking crazy.” he then grabbed and placed both his weapons on the pile, followed by three full cans of C-7 that he had emptied out of the backpack earlier that evening, “When this blows up in our face I will say ‘I told you so’ and there ain't shit you can say to stop me.”

“Noted, now you two get some sleep we got a meeting tomorrow we want to be our best for.” Leon said standing and grabbing the backpack from next to the pile.

“While you do what?” Alfred asked.

“I’m going to do some research into just what we’ll be going up against in case this is an ambush.”

“Oh no you aren’t.” Josh said standing and taking the pack from Leon.

“What?”

“You’re going to sleep, like you said we need to be our best for that meeting.” Josh finished with air quotes as he said meeting.

Leon looked from Josh to Alfred, who had also stood up at this point. Knowing when to pick his battles Leon let out a sigh, “Fine, fine, I’ll get a few hours of rest after I’m done with first watch.”

“Alfred’s got first watch tonight, you got third.” Josh stated tossing the pack to Alfred.

“I’ll start reading them, you get some rest Leon.” Alfred said.

Looking between the two of them Leon let out a weak, “Fine.” and walked towards the wall. Josh and Alfred exchanged a glance and nodded. They were going to let Leon get his rest now and let him be mad at them later.

****The next morning, Canterlot****

The city of Canterlot was beginning it’s day like any other. Nobles yelling at their servants for breakfast and shops beginning to open up. At one shop we find our six heroines sitting down for some coffee and doughnuts at Doughnut Joes.

“Here ya are girls, Donut Joe’s house special for all of ya, on the house.” the tan unicorn said with a smile, putting down a full box of delicious smelling doughnuts and six cups of hot coffee.

“Thanks Joe, what’s the occasion?” Twilight asked after they all had said their thanks.

“The occasions that one of my best customers and all her friends just woke up out of their commas. If that ain’t a happy occasion to give you all some free drinks and doughnuts then I don’t know what is.” Joe said laughing and walking away to tend to the other customers.

“Well that was mighty nice of him.” Applejack said taking a drink of the coffee.

“Wow, noponys ever let me drink coffee before!” Pinkie said with excitement. Rarity and Fluttershy scooted a little bit away from her as she picked up the cup. Dropping whatever conversation they had been having before the mares all had their eyes glued to Pinkie as she took her first drink.

Rainbow Dash leaned over and asked quietly, “Twilight, if Pinkies never had coffee what would she be like with it?”

“Yuck!” Pinkie exclaimed putting down her cup, “Why would anypony drink that?”

There were a few sighs of relief that nothing had happened before Rainbow spoke up, “Pinkie, you’re so random.” she finished laughing.

“Um, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked quietly getting the unicorns attention, “Why did you call us here?”

“Right.” Twilight’s horn flashed and a purple dome encased the group, shimmered, and disappeared, “I was hoping to talk to you all about what we saw last week.”

“What was with the shield thing?” Rainbow asked grabbing a doughnut and taking a bite.

“It’s just a soundproofing spell so nopony can hear us.”

Rainbow audibly swallowed before asking “Why? They’re not exactly a secret. I saw three wanted posters on the way here.”

“Because of something else I have to say after I hear what you girls have to say.” Twilight answered as Rainbow Dash took another bite of her doughnut.

“Twilight, we really didn’t get a chance to meet them. Only a chance to see them in their awful armor before the portal collapsed.” Rarity said using her magic to tear off a small piece of her doughnut and eat it.

“Wait, they weren’t robots from another universe?” Pinkie asked before eating a whole sprinkle covered doughnut in one bite.

“No, when the last one that came through looked back at the portal after that loud lightning strike it looked like all the hope in it was just sucked away. I feel sorry for them.” Rarity finished as she poured some sweetener into her coffee.

“Rares, they put us all in commas. Took me an hour ta get Applebloom ta stay at the castle with Granny.” Applejack said wiping some coffee off her mouth with her foreleg.

“I know what you mean. Poor little Sweetie didn’t want to leave my side, but we finally reached a compromise that even my parents liked.”

“How’d ya manage that?” Applejack asked dunking her doughnut in her coffee.

“Oh, they’re over there.” Rarity said motioning to a waving Sweetie Bell and her parents at a table on the other side of the restaurant.

Rarity gave a small wave to them before Applejack continued, “How can ya feel sorry for ‘em? All I want ta do is help find those things and put ‘em behind bars.”

“Well I think that all they need is a party!” Pinkie exclaimed, a little confetti bursting out of her mane as she raised her forehooves.

“Darling, not everything can be solved with a party. Now I doubt that they would actually hurt anypony, but I agree that we need to find them before something awful happens.” Rarity said using her magic to stir her coffee.

“Well I think it would be super-duper cool to find them and throw them a party and be some of the aliens first friends here.” Pinkie then grabbed the can of sweetener that Rarity had used on her coffee and drank the rest of the small can, “That hit the spot.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at pinkie, “Yeah, I’m with Pinks that it would be cool to find them and be their friends, but they did kida destroy part of the castle.”

“Wha’s the matter RD, ya scared?” Applejack teased as before she took another drink of her coffee.

“What? No. I could of kicked their flanks all around the Throne Room. I’m saying we should be prepared for if these things don’t want to be our friends.” Rainbow finished.

Twilight nodded her head, her right forehoof on her chin in thought, “Alright, what about you Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy put down her cup of coffee, “Well... after that explosion I’m kinda worried they might be injured. T-that’s just me though, what about you Twilight?”

“Well I think we need to find them, but what I’m about to say may change some of your minds.” Twilight said getting everypony’s attention, “Four days ago, the Princesses actually confronted them in a field in the Everfree Forest.”

“Whoa, so they’re already captured?” Rainbow interrupted.

Taking a sip of her own coffee Twilight shook her head, “No, the aliens actually escaped them.”

There was a small collection of gasps before Fluttershy asked, “Was anypony hurt?”

“They killed a manticore and apparently, the aliens were able to break Princess Celestia’s horn in two.” this time everypony gasped as Twilight continued, “Thankfully Princess Luna was able to reattach it, but it was the conversation that Celestia had with them that I’ve been trying to make sense of.”

“They attacked the Princesses and you’re worried about what it was saying?” Rainbow asked, the shock in her voice very noticeable.

“Yes, because they said they never attacked, stated that they hadn’t intended for anypony hurt, and when Princess Celestia landed they asked who she was. They didn’t know who Princess Celestia was! Everypony knows who the Princesses are, but they didn’t, so they knew next to nothing about our world before they came here.” Twilight finished taking another sip of her coffee.

“So them getting here must of been one big surprise! Wow, they really know how to end a party with a bang.” Pinkie said laughing her flank off at her own joke.

“Pinkie darling, don’t roll on the floor laughing. It’s unbecoming of a proper lady and the floor is probably filthy.” Rarity said sipping her coffee.

“Twilight, I still don’t see how them not knowing something is bigger than the fact they hurt the Princesses.” Rainbow stated.

“Ah agree with RD, we should be trackin down these varment.” Applejack said with a firm nod of her head.

“Girls we have to look at this from their point of view. They went through a portal that landed them in a room surrounded by guards and weapons. Then their way back exploded and made them public enemy number one. After that they snuck past the dozens of patrols placed around the castle and the mountain and have been living in the Everfree till the Princess confronted them.” Twilight took a small sip of her coffee, “Only then, when they were cornered and threatened, did they resort to violence.”

All the mares seemed to take in the small speech twilight gave when Fluttershy spoke up, “Then at the portal, the guards and them where getting ready to fight something.”

Everypony present stared at Fluttershy making the mare shrink in her seat as Twilight continued, “Good point Fluttershy. The aliens and the Royal Guard were about to fight whatever was on the other side of that portal meaning they could of been chased through it.”

“Alright Twi, we getcha. Not everythin here is as simple as it seems. What’re we gonna do ‘bout that?” Applejack asked eating the last of her doughnut.

“Well, after things settle down with our families, we’re going to get go after them and get some answers. Who’s with me?” Twilight asked, standing and looking at her five best friends.

“Well, I’m in. When do we leave?” Rainbow answered immediately, also standing.

“You can count me in two Sugarcube. Just gotta make sure Applebloom will be alright.” Applejack said standing up.

“Yay! We’re going alien hunting just like in the comic books Dash gave me.” Pinkie said standing with them, “I hope it doesn’t end the same way though.”

“I’ll have to take care of things with Sweetie Bell and my parents first and I’ll be right there with you darling.” Rarity said having stood up when Pinkie did.

“We’ll always be there for you Twilight.” Fluttershy said, her voice having actual confidence in it.

Twilight smiled as she looked at all of her friends, “Thanks girls, you’re the best friends anypony could ask for.”

One group hug later and the six all left Doughnut Joe’s and went their separate ways to do what they needed to do before they went off searching for the aliens. Rarity walked with her family and Applejack back to the castle, Rainbow Dash took off into the sky, Pinkie Pie just disappeared, and Twilight and Fluttershy were walking down a road to Twilight’s home.

“Fluttershy, just why do you want to go?” Twilight asked as they walked through the crowded street.

Fluttershy looked away for a moment before returning her gaze to Twilight, “Well, I-I just want to make sure everypony stays safe.”

Twilight barely heard her, but still heard her, “Fluttershy, you don’t have to do anything. When we go looking for them we’ll be fine and if you want to you can stay in Ponyville.”

“Oh no, I could never let any of you put yourselves in more danger just for my cowardice. What if you ran into another Cockatrice? Or a Manticore?” Fluttershy said, her voice once again gaining that confidence from earlier.

“But doesn’t it scare you that they killed a Manticore or who they were able to drive off?” Twilight asked, being careful of what she said.

“Yes, but any animal fights if it’s backed into a corner.” Fluttershy countered.

“But doesn’t the fact that they killed scare you?”

“I don’t like it when my animal friends are taken, but I understand the need for it to happen.” As Fluttershy finished Twilight stopped and looked at her with shock written across her own face, “What?”

“Fluttershy, I never knew you took death so... casually.” Twilight said starting to walk again.

“I-I don’t mean to, b-but if I cried every time one of my animal friends were taken by a predator, I would never stop crying. I try not to discriminate, that’s how I became friends with Mr. Bear.”

Twilight thought about how to respond to that, but couldn’t think of anything. It didn’t matter anyway as her home came into view and a few moments later they hugged and parted ways. Fluttershy was on her way to the post office to send off an update to her Pen Pal, Twilight didn’t ask who it was. Her mind was already focused on how to deal with her parents. With a deep breath Twilight knocked on the door.

****Location Unknown****

Red thorns everywhere, a yellow like fog blanketing the area, thick trees taking up any ground possible outside the water and making a thin, but depression inspiring canopy, and in the middle of a small shallow pond was a crashed D79H-TC Pelican. The water only made it up a few inches on the Pelican and thankfully most items in today's age were water proof. Nearby a M831 Troop Transport Warthog was still attached to the back half of the Pelican.

Despite the foreign invader the surrounding wildlife could still easily be heard, bugs buzzed and frogs croaked. Not a lot happened in the middle of no where, or at least nothing of interest when an alien spaceship just crashed a day earlier. Two gryphon onlookers stared at the ship with wonder and fascination on their faces despite one of them being badly injured.

One of the gryphons, the male with a grey furred body, dark grey wings, and light grey feathered head, had a long cut along his left side that was bleeding on to the other gryphon. The other gryphon, a much younger female with a dark tan coat, dark brown wings, and a white feathered head with purple around her eyes, didn’t seem to mind that a little more blood was getting on to her as she helped hold the gryphon up.

“We need... to keep moving.” The elder gryphon wheezed out.

“If that’s something the Deerlings created then it could have a medical pack on board.” The female gryphon stated, “You take a seat and I’ll look around for anything useful.”

After getting laid down in front of the thick trunk of a black tree the Elder gryphon watched as his daughter spread her wings and took off towards the ship, “Please... be careful Gilda.”

Little did either of them know just what was beginning to wake up on that ship.

Depending on how you look at it, things either went exactly to plan or FUBAR

View Online

Chapter Nine

“Told ya so.” a voice said in the darkness of Canterlot’s deepest dungeon cell.

“Shut up.” another responded, matching the first bored voice.

“Told ya so.” the first voice said again, as it had for the last few hours.

“Shut up.” the second voice responded as it had since the first voice started.

In between the two voices, who were on opposite sides of the small cell, was a third figure. He too was sitting against the dark stone that made up the wall of their cell, opposite of the iron door entrance. Each of the three had nothing but pieces of tan cloth to protect them from the damp, cold cell. Outside the iron door where at the least five stories worth of stairs leading back up to the castle dungeons. The corridors split off to the left and right creating a ‘U’ shape with the stairway down to the creatures in the bottom most part.

A top these stairs where two royal guards, one Day Guard earth pony and one Night Guard pegasus, “Hey Bright, you know the story of those things?”

“Dusk, you know we’re not supposed to talk when on duty.” the Day Guard replied.

“Oh come on, think of it as sharing information about the enemy so I could better combat them.”

Bright chuckled at his friends excuse, “Fine, fine, these things are the ones that caused the throne room to collapse. Rumor has it that they even met with the Princesses in the Everfree and ended up breaking Celestia's horn.”

“Shut up, you gotta be pulling my leg.” Dusk finished with a dismissive wave of his hoof.

Bright had a smug grin on his face, “Nope, heard it from a friend of mine who works as Celestia's head maid. She walked in on Luna repairing the damages from the brief fight they had.”

“They didn’t look like much when they were brought in.”

“That’s the thing, after a magic analysis, the doctors concluded that they couldn’t of done most of the things that have been claimed without getting hurt somehow.”

“So, how did they do them?” Dusk said sitting down.

Bright did the same, “Celestia brought in a couple of tech professors from Canterlot University-”

“That’s why there were Deerlings walking around with high security clearance.”

“Yep, and get this, apparently their armor was the secret. I only heard muffles from the room I was guarding, but it’s some high tech stuff.”

"How did they catch them?" Dusk asked.

"Ambushed them and slammed them in between two pieces of marble. If the Princesses hadn't reacted so quick they would of escaped too."

"Escaped? From between two pieces of solid marble? How were they not dead?"

"Magic marble, it instantly formed a mold around them and solidified, but get this if they had been any slower in getting their armor off they would of broken out of the stuff. Seriously that armor made them almost invincible, but we got magic."

“You think we’re ever going to get some armor like that?” Dusk asked thinking of being inside a suit of invincible armor.

“Nope.” Bright said casually, derailing the line of thought that Dusk had been on.

“Huh, why?”

“Cause the brainiacs only got their helmets to work with. To examine the rest of the armor they need to have those things put it back on. I was escorting Twilight and one of the professors and they wouldn’t shut up about ways to get the armor to decompressed without having to put it on those things.”

“Couldn’t they just put them to sleep?” Dusk asked, ears on alert for any sound. Didn’t want a superior to walk around the corner and see two guards sitting down and having a chat.

“I thought the same thing, but those things need to be able to think. That’s the way the armor compression spell works, it needs to be on the original owner... I think.” Bright finished, scratching the back of his neck with his left forehoof.

“Aw don’t hurt yourself with all that thinking now. I say we just leave the magical stuff to the Unicorns and just stick to guarding doors and escorting uptight nobles.”

“Like Blueblood?”

A small shiver went through Dusk at the name, “Oh I don’t envy the Day Guards that have to escort him everywhere.”

“Could you believe he took control of the court yesterday?”

“What? How did he do that?”

“He stated that since both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were the ones attacked that it wouldn’t be a fair trial for the creatures. He recited some old law and boom.” Bright brought his hoof down on the ground for emphasis, “He’s head of the court for the case.”

“Fair? Didn’t he immediately sentence them to death?”

“Yep, I’ve never heard a louder group gasp than when he said those words. I think Celestia had plans for those things, but she certainly wasn’t thinking of a death sentence.”

Dusk let out a small whistle, “So what happened next?”

“That was the end of it. Celestia’s advisors, that usually had a say in the big cases, were in an outrage, but nopony had noticed that there wasn’t a law that said they had to have a say.”

“I never pictured blueblood as... smart enough to do that.”

Bright let out another small chuckle, “Same here, but nopony could stop him and their execution is scheduled three days from now.”

“What’s today again?”

“September thirteenth, almost the fourteenth.”

“Wow.” Dusk nodded his head, “Sucks to be them. I’m surprised they’re not taking this worse.”

“They have been pretty quiet, even the one that kept saying ‘I told you so’, but they are practically aliens so maybe they just don’t talk that much.”

“If I was them I’d be trying to make the guards as angry as possible so they would come in and I could knock them out. Or try and trick them into thinking I was sick and was about to die, anything to get them into the cell I was in.”

“Yeah, maybe they’re too stupid, or maybe they’ve accepted their fate and are praying to the creators.” Bright's left ear twitched violently, “Sompony’s coming this way.” the two snapped to attention as a few shadows were displayed on the wall down the hall.

Slowly the shadows shrunk as the three owners got farther away from the torchlight and turned the corner. The mares didn’t see it as the guards had years of training hiding it, but out of the corners of their eyes Dusk and Bright where studying and watching the three mares as they approached. They were easily recognized of course, not many ponies that work in the castle wouldn’t recognize three of the six elements of harmony.

The echo from their hooves got louder as the three approached from the long corridor to the left of the two guards. Bright, being the closest to them, saw the three were the Elements of Generosity, Magic, and Loyalty, in that order. Their actual names being Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, and Rainbow Dash, respectively. Twilight had a simple pair of saddlebags sporting her colors and her cutie mark and Rarity had silver scarf around her neck that had a small version of her cutie mark stitched into the end corner on her right shoulder. The only thing that Rainbow Dash wore was a smug grin.

The group stopped in front of the two guards and Twilight was the first to talk, “I’ve been given permission by Princes Celestia and Princes Luna to ask the creatures a few questions regarding their reasons for being here and-”

“Twilight, I don’t need one of your lectures, I just need to see your papers.” Bright said holding his hoof out expectantly. Dusk to his side let out a choked chuckle as Rainbow’s smug grin turned into a look of confusion.

“Wha- Oh of course.” Twilight lifted the flap on her one of her saddlebags and out floated two pieces of paper, one with Celestia’s sun seal and one with Luna’s moon seal.

“Wait a second, I thought you guys never moved? What gives?” Rainbow asked as the guards took the papers.

“That’s just the mares.” Dusk said before chuckling at his own joke while looking at the paper. Rainbow stifled a laugh at his joke while Rarity looked disgusted and Twilight just looked confused.

Bright let out a sigh beside him as examined the paper, “You realize you just made a sexist joke in front of three national heroes right?”

Dusk shrugged while looking closely at the moon seal, “... It’s good.” he finally said giving the paper back to Twilight.

“You’re all clear Miss. Sparkle, proceed with caution.” Bright gave back the paper and stood at attention once more.

The three of them moved passed the guards, Rarity looking oddly at Dusk before following the others down the stairs. After a few moments Rainbow broke the silence, “So, what’s the plan if they don’t talk?”

“What do mean?” Twilight asked.

“Well, are me and Rarity gonna do like a whole good cop bad cop thing while you take notes or are-”

“Rainbow, we’re just here to ask them some questions, if they don’t answer it’s entirely up to them.” Twilight interrupted.

“Okay, that makes this a whole lot more boring.”

“Think about it this way Rainbow Dash, you can tell all those little colts and fillies in your fan club that you got to talk to real aliens.” Rarity said as they neared the door.

“That’s an awesome idea!” Rainbow practically shouted just as they arrived at the door.

“Shut up!” A voiced yelled from the other side of the door, “Some of us are trying to sleep while you ponies plan our public murder.”

The three flinched at the sudden yell from behind the door. Rainbow was the first to recover and hovered in front of the metal bars that were at the top of the door, but before she could say anything Twilight pulled her back down.

“Sorry, about my friend, she was just excited about something.” Twilight started pulling out a pencil and a small stack of paper, “My name’s Twilight Sparkle and I’d like to ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind.”

There was no response for a little bit before a different voice came out, “Why?”

Before Twilight could respond Rarity spoke up, “I’m sorry, but would it be too much for us to ask for your names before we begin. My name is Rarity.”

“And my names-” Rainbow started before the first voice cut her off.

“Rainbow Dash.”

“Hey, how do you know that? Have you been spying on us?” Rainbow had her face right against the bars, “Is that why you came here, because you thought we would be an easily conquered planet?”

“Are you suggesting that just because we’re of a different race that we came here with nothing but bad intentions. Ha, fucking racist.” the first voice said, stopping her from continuing.

“What!? Well you’re-”

“Miss. Dash, we heard your friend say your name on the way down. Now could please be quiet, you’re giving me a headache.” A third voice interrupted her, “Now, my name is Alfred Diamond. Unless my CO says all I can tell you is my name and rank”

Twilight began writing while the second voice began talking, “You can tell them your name, rank, and anything you deem absolutely necessary. I’d rather not have the UNSC brand us as traitors on the off chance they find this place.”

“Okay, so what’s your name and does UNSC stand for something?” Twilight asked writing down everything she possibly could.

“Leonardo Blake, call me Leon, and the second one isn’t that important.”

“And my names Joshua Anderson, but I go by Josh. I’m going back to sleep now, got to get plenty of rest if you racists are going to have us murdered in a few days.” there was some shuffling on the other side of the door as Josh got more comfortable.

“Did turning over make that floor any more comfortable Josh?” Leon asked with a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

“Tons, I’m not facing either of you idiots.”

Unseen by the ponies, Leon shook his head in defeat before addressing them, “You, never did answer my question Miss Sparkle.”

“Oh, please call me Twi-”

“Miss. Sparkle, please answer my question or none of us will answer any of your questions.” Leon interrupted.

“O-okay, since you weren’t given a fair trial I was sent down here by both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to get your side of the story. They’re currently looking for any loop hole in the laws by which to take control of the case from Prince Blueblood, or at least get you off of a death sentence.” Twilight answered, her voice becoming louder and more confident as she talked of the Princesses and afterwards.

There was silence for a long time before Leon spoke, “Alright Miss. Sparkle, we’ll tell you our side of the story, but in return we get to ask a question for every question you got an answer.”

“That sounds like a fair trade, but on one condition.” Rainbow and Rarity exchanged a confused glance before Twilight continued, “Please stop calling me Miss. Sparkle.”

There was a small pause before Leon answered, “Fair deal, why don’t you start Miss. Twilight.” Rarity held her hoof to her mouth to keep from giggling out loud, Rainbow didn’t even try to hide her chuckling as Twilight face-hoofed.

“Ha, I see what you did there.” Rainbow said as Twilight flashed her a glare.

“Ha, I see what you did there.” Josh said at the same time as Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, you some kind of mind reader now?”

“Girl, you’ve been reading way too many damn comic books.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean!?” Rainbow Dash yelled getting right next to the bars at the top of the door.

As Rainbow and Josh yelled at one another Rarity stepped next to Twilight and whispered, “Maybe we should of waited till morning, Rainbow would of been too tired to argue then.”

Giggling Twilight replied, “To bad the others had to go back to Ponyville and missed Rainbow arguing with an alien.”

“You are without a doubt thee most annoying hijo de perra I’ve ever encountered!” Josh yelled, “I’m done talking, good night!”

“I’m done too and not just cause you’re done!” Rainbow sat down with her back to the door.

A few seconds of silence passed before Leon spoke up, “Alright, now that that's out of the way, why don’t you start Twilight.”

Smiling that Leon used only her name, Twilight pulled out a few more papers, “First of all, can you tell me how you arrived in the throne room?”

****Location Unknown****

9/13/Morning

“Gah! Why won’t you open!” Gilda yelled as she slammed a stick into the glass-like pod on the front of the crashed vehicle.

“Gilda... they’re going to... be here soon.” The grey gryphon wheezed out as Gilda tried again to open the metal behemoth, this time from the back, “You need to... get to Queen Eve... and tell her what happened.”

“Dad I’m not leaving you, so just shut up already!” Gilda yelled smacking the stick against the pod once more. The stick snapped in two and she tossed it into the water with an angry growl before using her own talons to try and break the pod open. As Gilda continued her assault the noises from her shouting and scraping made the occupant inside the rear of the ship start to stir.

Meanwhile, King Ashford Talon of the Silver Claw Clan tried his best to keep not to bleed out, a task easier said than done. As he laid there against some moss by large tree he kept expecting to sense the finality of his existence, to, despite his best efforts, experience death's cold embrace as he could no longer hold it off. After another minute of Gilda trying her best to open the pod the King did start to sense something, but it was not the finality he was expecting. With a low whoosh sound, barely audible to his ears, a sense of dread began to flow through him, along with a rush of adrenalin, for their pursuers had found them.

King Ashford looked through the open canopy, scanning the skies, and saw three figures in armor dive bombing towards their position. Knowing they’d been spotted he shouted, “Gilda!” whatever else he was going to say was cut off as he began violently coughing.

Time slowed down as Gilda turned from her spot just in time to see their attackers diving in from the east. Their fur and feathers were all black as the armor enchantments made it so. The armor they wore was a deep purple, with an amber trim, and the leader had a white star in the center of his chest plate. With the sun behind them, Gilda was blinded for a second before the first of the attackers slammed into her and pinned her to the cold, muddy ground. Thankfully they hadn’t landed in the water that surrounded the ship.

The King, despite his wounds, retrieved his sword from his right, uninjured side and was about to charge his daughter’s attacker when he felt cold steel pressed against his throat, a fourth attacker had snuck up behind him, “Ah, ah, ah, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Now toss it away.”

With his daughter pinned to the ground and a dagger at his throat, the King let out a sigh and threw his sword into the water near the ship, “Good, now then...” the dagger was removed from it’s spot on his neck and the hilt impacted the back of his skull before he could do anything.

Gilda watched with her head shoved in the dirt and a dagger laying on the back of her neck as her father fell to the ground unconscious. She hadn’t seen the blow herself, but feared the worst. She screamed out at her attackers and tried to shake the gryphon off her back, but there was sharp pain at the back of her skull and her efforts of escape stopped almost instantly.

Her eyes became unfocused and her body began to relax as if under some kind of spell. Gilda could no longer scream out at her attackers or resist in any kind of way, but she could still make sense of what they were saying.

The gryphon on her back eased his way off of her before speaking to another she couldn’t see, “About time you put the bitch under, I thought I was going to have to knock her out.”

“Ah, she had a very well guarded mind for a non-magic user, but the paralysis spell did the trick and it seems Swift has taken care of the King.” a second voice replied as she was drug over to her father. They said nothing as she was dragged through the mud and put beside her unconscious father. Gilda’s eyes began to get blurry as she looked at her father. She knew what they were going to do, it was the end for both of them.

“Now, how the hell are we going to get them back to the castle?” a third voice asked, once again outside of her vision.

“Well, we only have to lug back this fine bitch.” Gilda felt the first voices talons gently pat her flank, “So we could kill and leave the False King, but I think King Black wanted to mount his head on a pike back at the castle.”

“We could cut off his head now and bring it back to King Black as a gift.” the third voice said before asking, “Do you think he would let us have some fun with the Princess?”

“From the rumors going around the castle, that’s not an exclusive group so I don’t see why not.” the first voice said, making the tears come from Gilda’s eyes multiply, “Why don’t we move away from the Deerling thing and indulge ourselves for this great achievement.”

“I-I don’t think we should guys.” a fourth small voice said. After a few seconds it added, “I-I-I mean w-what if the King wants her a-all to himself.”

Suddenly there was a strange mechanical sound that filled the air as if something was winding down. Gilda couldn’t see it but all the armored gryphons looked to the crashed ship as it’s rear end began to open up and reveal the contents. The doorway that had once blocked entry slid into itself and lowered making a small ramp. It barely missed hitting the other vehicle attached to it.

“You know, after that girl woke me up, I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation.” A figure was standing in the dark innards of the ship, looking down on the three attackers and their prisoners. With the initial shock gone, the four gryphons quickly got into position around the two prisoners with two in front and two behind them, “Oh, there’s no need for you to get all defensive about it, I’ve seen plenty of sick fucks just like you in my day.”

“This is business of the Royal Crown, due to the nature of this incident you are to come down from there and come with us back to the castle. Failure to do so will result in the forfeit of your life.” the lead gryphon with the white star chest piece spoke with a confident, malicious tone as if addressing a common civilian. The two gryphons in front pulled out their swords, one in the back pointed a crossbow with one of its talons, and the last gryphon just held up their right talons.

“Oh, so you’re from the Royal Crown. I’m so sorry, I thought you were a bunch of badly dressed rapists, cause that’s what I got from your little talk a moment ago.” the figure said without moving an inch.

“You-you dare mock the King’s personal Royal Guard. Come down now and your death will be swift, something I cannot promise if we are forced to retrieve you.”

“Ha! Okay okay, you win, I'll come down.” the figure walked into the light and jumped off the side of the ramp, “Alright now you said something about a swift death?”

The gryphons all stared wide eyed at the creature that was almost twice their height. It stood on two legs in black armor with strips of dark green in some places. It also seemed to have a number of smooth surfaces that for some reason didn’t reflect light. The helmet seemed different and there was a large dark green strip where the eyes would be on a normal creature.

It had two things stuck to it’s back, but the gryphons couldn’t see them to know it they were weapons or part of it’s armor. Then there was its left arm, or lack there of. Instead it looked like a skeletal version of the other arm only completely made of metal.

“What in tartarus are you?” the lead guard asked with a look of pure confusion.

“My name is Chase Blake and I, am a Spartan.”

There was a long silence that followed as the gryphons took in the answer the strange creature had given them. Soon the gryphon behind the hostages holding a crossbow stated, “You look like a mutant minotaur to me.”

There was a murmur of agreement between them as Chase let out a sigh, ‘So much for them just running in fear, oh well I can add gryphons on to my kill list.’ “Alright, how bout we get to business and you release those gryphons. Ahem, failure to do so will result in the forfeit of your life.” he said the last sentence in his best impression of the gruff sounding leader.

“Are you mocking me?!” the leader shouted.

“No, no, not at all... okay maybe a little.” the spartan said as he grabbed something that was on his back and pointed it at them.

“Swift! Kill this bastard!” the leader shouted and the one called Davis shot his crossbow at Chase. The bolt flew true and hit its mark right in the middle of the spartan’s chest. As it made contact a layer of light flashed around the spartan for a moment and the bolt fell into the water, broken.

“He has a shield around him.” the other gryphon in the back stated.

“Then work your magic and take it down!” the leader yelled back at the gryphon. Said gryphon closed it’s eyes and it’s talon began glowing while the other reloaded his crossbow.

“Okay, I don’t know what you’re doing, but if you stand down now I won’t kill you. This is your last chance.” Chase warned as he aimed his rifle at the leaders head.

“Is that shield down!” the leader asked loudly behind him.

“I-I... I can’t find any traces of magic around him. No active, passive, or natural. That shield wasn’t made by magic.” the gryphon said quietly.

A dead silence fell over them before there was a loud splash at the front of the group. The gryphon next to the leader had dropped his sword into the water, “I’m not with them! I just didn’t want to die I swear!”

The gryphon leader reacted swiftly and slashed at the traitor with his sword. Before the blade connected there was a loud bang that echoed throughout the swap for miles and the leader dropped dead in the water with a hole going straight through his head. The rebellious gryphon fell backwards as the dead gryphons blade bounced harmlessly off his chest plate.

The crossbow gryphon shot up in the air and started flying off, but fell back to the ground dead as three more booms erupted from the spartans weapon. The mage gryphon sat there watching it all play out, noting that the weapon that the spartan used was like that of a highly advanced crossbow. Thinking quickly, he erected a bubble barrier around himself stared the spartan down. A ripple went through the barrier as a Chase shot at him.

Keeping his barrier up, the gryphon raised his wings and was about to go up into the air when the barrier was assaulted with ripples from whatever weapon the spartan had. The mental strain from so much force hitting the barrier repeatedly became too much and it soon fell. The gryphon collapsed onto his side from exhaustion and closed his eyes, fully expecting his end to come from the hands of this alien.

The rebellious gryphon stared at the dead bodies of his commander and Swift the crossbow gryphon. Then he looked at the mage gryphon, heavily panting and probably waiting for his end to come.

“Hey, you there pal?” something poked his head three times forcing the gryphon to look up and immediately his pupils shrank in fear, “Wow, how did you get your pupils to do that?”

“P-please don’t hurt me.”

“Okay since you said please I won’t. You got a name?” Chase said putting his MA5D onto his back.

“... Kaylon...”

“Well then Kaylon in case you didn’t hear me earlier I’m Chase. Now inside that ship is a white box with a red plus symbol on it. You know what a plus sign is right?” Chase asked pointing back to the crashed vehicle. Kaylon nodded and Chase continued, “Okay then, that’s a first aid kit. I need you to go up there and get it or that gryphons gonna die.”

Kaylon nodded and took off for the ship while Chase walked slowly over to the panting gryphon. Gipping and activating his red energy sword for intimidation purposes only, Chase knelt down beside the mage, “Okay you are going to start telling me everything about what you used to stop my bullets or you will meet with an unfortunate fate. Understand?” to make his point Chase tapped the chest plate of the armor with his sword.

There was a small flash as Chase pulled the sword away to see a white bridge connect from the armor to the center of his sword, “The hell?” he looked to the gryphon to see that he still had his eyes closed and seemed to have no clue that the trade was even happening. Chase began to feel a pressure building at the back of his head, annoying and slightly painful. Backing away from the gryphon did no good as the energy line went straight and stretched back with him. Chase made a sharp pull with his sword hoping to disconnect the line, but instead it made the gryphon mage come flying at him.

Not even bothering to move, the mages side collided with Chase and fell to the ground, now unconscious. The white line was still there though and the pressure and pain were getting worse the longer he stayed connected. Shaking the sword up and down didn’t work, but when Chase twisted the sword and put the plasma blade between the sword center and source of the energy line broke and the build up stopped.

Once he deactivated his sword the pressure and pain disappeared and left the ‘What the hell just happened?’ mystery open for debate. With the gryphon mage now unconscious, and sporting different feather and fur colors for some reason, Chase put all thoughts and questions at the back of his mind with all the other questions that have amassed since he woke up.

The flapping of wings alerted him to the arrival Kaylon, who had a bulky first aid box held in his talons. Chase took the box as he landed and pushed the still conscious Gilda to the side to have better access to the King’s wound, “Alright, I’m not my teams medic, but hopefully the tried and true ‘Sanitize, Close, Wrap’ method works.”

“What’s the ‘Sanitize, Close, Wrap’ method?” Kaylon asked relaxing a little bit as Chase began treating the wound.

“It’s the basic method that most try first when they have little to no medical experience. First you disinfect the wound first, then you normally stitch and or cauterize the wound, but we got this little bit of awesomeness in a can.” Chase held up a small canister with the words ‘Bio-foam’ on the side, “Lastly you wrap it with sterile cloth and just make sure the cloth stays sterile. Once my buddy Ethan wakes up he should be able to review my work and make sure I didn’t mess up.”

“Sooo... you could be doing this wrong?” Kaylon asked as he used some moss nearby to prop up Gilda’s head like a pillow.

“Since the invention of Bio-foam even the most inexperienced medic can at least ensure that the wound will stay closed and clean. So there isn’t that much room for error.” Chase explained as Kaylon began moving the dead bodies of the gryphons away from them.

“Wow, we usually need a magic user to be that sure about a wound being okay.” Kaylon said making Chase look up from the Bio-foam filled wound.

“Did you just say magic?” Chase asked looking at the gryphon from his spot.

“Yeah... why?”

“Oh, no reason...” Chase said as he began to apply the bandages around the King’s midsection, binding the wings as well, “So, does that armor make you look all black with some ‘enchantment’ or something?”

“Yeah, but it’s more a uniform thing than a practical one.” Kaylon answered as he took of his helmet. The feathers on his head and neck changed, revealing his natural dark silver colorage, “Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Shoot.” Chase said while thinking about the armor magic and what his sword had done a few minutes prior.

“You could of waited and stayed out of the fight here, but instead you intervened and saved those two, and me.” he paused for a moment, “Why did you do it though?”

“Aw, well I signed up for the military, back in my universe, to protect the innocent and follow my friends and brother. Now I thought that these two where the enemies at first.” Chase pointed at King Ashford and Princess Gilda, “Then I overheard their conversation about how this king wanted to prevent a war, but for all I knew the war could of been completely justified so I stayed back. Then someone mentioned raping the Princess. Now back where I come from, rape is something that we have laws against and my moral side told me, it was time to intervene.”

Kaylon stayed quiet while the information soaked in. Chase waited a few seconds for his response, before getting up and walking to the ship when silence was all he got. Chase walked around the front to the two pods and peered inside, “Yo, sleepin uglies, it’s time for you to get up now!”

“What are you doing?” Kaylon yelled at him looking in the skies for more scouting parties.

“Do you ever stop asking questions?” Chase asked but continued before Kaylon could respond, “Nevermind, I wanted to give them a chance to wake up before I used the fun way.” Kaylon resisted asking what the ‘fun way’ was and went back to trying to get the mud off of Princess Gilda’s face.

Chase flipped open a little panel that was beside the bottom cockpit and pulled on a chord that was inside. The pod-like windshield gave a little click and made a short hiss before it popped up a little, free of the safety locks. Chase flipped it up the rest of the way revealing the unconscious spartan known as Ethan. The man’s head was locked in position as his armor was still locked from before the crash. Looking him over, Chase couldn’t see any visible scratches or nicks on the Black VENATOR-class armor, or the CONTOURED-class forearms and legs armor.

Chase shook his head in approval at a small thought in his head before using his own armor systems to connect to Ethan’s and release the armor lock down. As the man’s arms fell to his side Chase gripped the top and bottom of the torso armor and hefted Ethan out of the pilot seat. Setting Ethan down next to the ship Chase turned his attention to the second pod-like windshield and repeated the opening process.

Chase was greeted with the site of Hank’s OPERATOR-class armored helmet being shield by his XV-27 SHIFTING-class armor forearms. There were no visible scratches on the other pieces of the OPERATOR-class armor he wore or the LG-50 BULK-class leg armor. Chase already knew that both Hank and Ethan were fine and just unconscious because of the squad health monitor he could pull up on the spot when ever he wanted.

Dragging Hank out of the Pelican cockpit was a lot harder than Ethan because of the sheer size of the man and the increased height of the second pilot’s position. After a few moments of trial and error Chase finally managed to get Hank out and set him up next to Ethan. After shutting both hatches, Chase dragged the two unconscious spartans towards where the gryphons were.

“Okay, I gotta ask just, what is the ‘fun way’ of waking them up.” Kaylon asked as Chase laid down the spartans away from the water.

“Oh, first I need to see if I can find any black markers, but trust me it will be funny when they wake up.” Chase said laughing and walking back to the ship.

Kaylon sighed in disappointment and muttered, “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?”

A loud *SHR* sound penetrated the air around the small campsite that Kaylon had built when Chase was gone. Turning Kaylon saw one of the once unconscious creatures applying more Bio-foam to some areas in the Kings wound. Turning his head from the spot the spartan had once been to the spot now by the king, Kaylon was baffled that he had snuck by him without alerting him in any way.

“Bandages.” Ethan said simply. It was more of a command than a question. A command Kaylon immediately completed as a renewed fear of the spartans came up in his heart. After giving the Bandages to Ethan, Kaylon quickly backed away to what he believed to be a safe distance and watched as Ethan applied a professional’s touch to the bandagings.

With two of the spartans now awake Kaylon thought about what changes this could mean for the kingdom. Even what the appearance of these creatures could mean for the whole world. One thing was for sure though...

“Found a red marker!”

It was going to be one heck of a weird adventure.

Introductions and Planning

View Online

Chapter Ten

‘With the evidence highly stacked on the former of the two conclusions, we highly recommended he be taken off active duty. The loss his team sustained on their latest mission is only further stressing his condition. If something isn’t done soon, he might do something drastic in regards to the issue he has been pressing for the past six months.

As Captain of the UNSC INFINITY any that get hurt due to any action of his will be your fault.

The second matter you addressed about...’

Captain Lasky took another drink from his whisky glass as he pushed the paper away. It had been two hours since Requiem was destroyed and it wouldn’t be long now before he got another message about his failure. Not only on Requiem, but in the case around the remnants of Fireteam Ghost, among other things.

Even as it was happening Tom couldn’t believe it. Three of the best spartans he had on the ship threw away their lives for a faint chance at finally regaining what they had lost. Erasing Roland's data on them, having a ship ready to take, and secretly rearranging the missions roster to give them multiple windows of opportunity to set up the portal... Secretly he was proud of them, that they would go to such links for the smallest chance to find their lost friends.

When Fireteam Ghost had came back to Infinity talking about a portal similar to the one they had encountered on the Gamma Halo, the three spartans and a few members from the other teams held a small celebration. Despite the minute chances of the portal being able to repeat what it’s counterpart on the Halo did, it was the greatest news to them in months. Something one member of their team imparticularly needed after the failed mission a month ago.

It was only a delay at first, but so many things happened so soon after, that the mission was scrubbed. After comms were lost with Fireteam Crimson, the Storm Covenant locked down the air space between the portal and any of the FOBs and worst of all, while unrelated, it was revealed that Doctor Halsey had been communicating with Jul ‘Mdama. Most missions were scrubbed and all teams got reassigned for security reasons.

Once the team learned of it, Chase was furious and had to be escorted out of the bridge by Hank and Ethan. Not a single person on the ship thought he was out of line, except Commander Palmer, and she kept a close eye on them after that. As the days ticked by, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Teams went on missions and deployments and soon, Fireteam Crimson was found, that made a lot of people happier.

During that time though, Fireteam Ghost was actually hard at work on a plan to go AWOL. Under the guise that they were going on missions, the team must of returned to the Requiem portal at some point, it was the only thought that made sense. Fireteam Ghost was last seen flying into Requiem as it was on a collision course with the sun. Roland estimated that, even if the portal was open and waiting for them, it was a very small probability that they made it with how fast Requiem was falling apart.

A single message was left in Spartan Chase Blake’s handwriting on the console of the dock they flew out of. It gave their reason, what they had been doing on Requiem, their knowledge of what would happen if they came back, and how they did all of it. Now, with them gone, Lasky had to give his report on what had happened, and it would either end in his court marshal, their names on UNSC’s most wanted list, neither, or both.

Staring at the little whisky left in his glass, Captain Lasky shook his head and picked up a more recent paper. They had made their decision and they would have to live with the consequences. He just hoped that the move they pulled was worth it, if they survived at all.

****Red Thorn Bog****
9/13/Noon

The small campsite was quiet save for the sound of the fire crackling and lighting up the densely foliated area. The gryphon guard, Kaylon, sat near King Ashford and Princess Gilda while the only other occupant was cleaning his helmet of red marker lines. Hank was just finishing up getting rid of the clownish frown that Chase had put on his visor and would be able to move onto the last bits on the back.

“Can I ask you a question?” Kaylon broke the silence as he stared at the face of the man. Hank had buzz cut brown hair, cleanly shaven tan face, but the look in his grey eyes practically cut right through you. Easily being the biggest of the three spartans, he was quite the intimidating person.

“Go ahead.” Hank said as he scrubbed harder with the brush.

“You are a military outfit, right?”

“Yes, not the best disciplined bunch, but we are military.”

Kaylon scrunched up his face in confusion, “And your leader is Chase, the one that save us?” Hank only gave a nod and Kaylon continued, “He doesn’t exactly seem like the greatest leader.”

“He did save your life and your criticising him on his ability as a leader?”

“Don’t get me wrong, he’s great, but he just doesn’t seem like the leader type. Like when you woke up and saw your helmet, he looked pretty scared after he got his laughs in.”

Finally finishing the helmet, Hank put it on and answered, “To be honest, he’s only been our leader for the past few months. Even then most of that was spent in the infirmary for him while Ethan and I got guard duty. When he gets back from patrol, we can move out.”

“W-wait! What about the King and Princess? Or the mage?”

“Ethan has been interrogating the other gryphon since he woke up an hour ago... I should probably go get him before he kills the poor sod.” Hank said standing up and walking towards the other side of the Pelican, “As for the King and Princess, they’ve been awake for a while now, so they’ll be fine.”

Kaylon looked surprised and turned to see both of the gryphons he’d been guarding open their eyes and weakly shuffle into a sitting position, “King Ashford, Princess Gilda!” he quickly turned to them and bowed to show his respect.

“Get out of the dirt, this is no time for such formalities.” King Ashford stated. Quickly his left Talon shot to his left side and he looked down to see all the bandages around his midsection, “Guard, what’s your name?”

“Corporal Kaylon Rucker, reporting for duty sir!” Kaylon said rather loudly snapping to a stiff standing position with his right balled up talon resting on his chest.

“At ease corporal, tell me, how long have we been out?” the King asked as gilda watched the spartan known as Hank disappear into the woods on the other side of the pelican.

Kaylon stood in a visibly more relaxed stance, “About four hours sir.”

“Do you know what these things are?” Gilda asked suddenly.

“No, mam.”

“Do you know why they're here?” the King asked looking around for any of the spartans.

“Their leader said he would tell me once you woke up, so he would only have to say it once.”

“Yeah, well I say we get out of here before that happens.” Gilda said stretching out her wings and looking towards the open canopy above the clearing.

“With how little we know of them it might be the best.” King Ashford said as he stood with his daughter.

“What of the gryphon mage they have captive?” Kaylon asked.

“He is a traitor and should be killed, but we should leave now while we can.”

“Wow, not even a thanks?” a new voice said causing all three to look over the fire at one of the spartans as they sat down, “Well, before you go you should be warned, there are a lot of air patrols to the west and more to the south. I’d recommend staying with us for a while, but do whatever you want.” the three gryphons exchanged a worried glance before Chase continued, “Of course, we could always make a deal and everything will be better for the both of us.”

Narrowing his eyes the King asked, “What kind of deal?”

“Well, my team and I can help you take back your kingdom and in return all we ask for is a safe place to stay while we brush up on this stuff you call ‘magic’.” Chase finished with air quotes when he said magic.

“Ha! There’s only three of you, how can you possibly help with our problem?” Gilda laughed.

“If all you’ve figured out from your two hours of fake sleeping is that there are three of us, then you are a failure of an information gatherer.” Chase said and continued before Gilda could respond, “To answer your question though, I was thinking a political assassination.”

“The guards are bound to be on constant patrol, you’ll never get close.” Gilda stated.

“Okay, what would showing the public you're alive do?” Chase directed the question at the King.

“We tried that a few days ago...” the King's left talon gave a subtle twitch, “It didn’t end well.”

“The public is split, half wants to go to war with the Minotaur Domain while the other half wants the peace to continue.” Kaylon said, putting in his two cents.

“So if we don’t do this right, it could cause a civil war.” Chase said nodding his head.

“Right, but if we can show in front of the Court of Nine that Black tried to assassinate me it would show he’s more coward than king.”

“So all we gotta do is get you in that courtroom, sounds easy enough.”

Gilda looked from her father to the spartan and back, “Uh, hello! We have no way of even getting into the city or the castle!”

“Hmm, you’re right...” Chase put his right hand to the bottom of his helmet as if stroking an imaginary beard, “If only we had two suits of magical armor that changed your fur and feather color to match everyone around you...” Chase trailed off before snapping his fingers, “Wait! We have exactly that.”

“You mean my dead squadmates' armor?” Kaylon asked and Chase nodded in confirmation.

“It’s a solid idea, but I still have a few questions about you and what you’re doing here.” King Ashford stated before a loud grumble came from Gilda’s stomach.

“... What? We haven’t eaten in a few days ya dweeb, got any grub around here?” she said.

Chase struggled to hold back a laugh as she said dweeb, “I think we got a thing or two you can eat. Then I can answer your questions while we eat.” Chase finished with a happy tune before walking towards the ship.

The gryphons’ eyes watched as chase climbed the back ramp and started digging through the crates. King Ashford whispered to the others, “We trust for now, but be ready for the dagger.”

Chase looked up from one of the crates and stopped looking through it and loudly said, “You could of told me you were getting lunch Ethan.”

The gryphons looked back towards the fire to see the spartan with his helmet off roasting pieces of meat over the fire. His almost completely white face was perfectly calm as put more fish onto sticks and put them in the ground leaning over the fire. To Kaylon Ethan’s sneaking skills were amazing but he had gotten somewhat used to never knowing where the spartan would show up.

His recently awoken compatriots however... “How, in the name of the ancestors, did you get behind us so silently?” the King asked.

“Well you see, our entire group is based around stealth and staying out of sight.” Chase said as he sat down across the fire from the gryphons.

“Hey, dweeb, aren’t those the same thing?” Gilda asked while eyeing the roasting fish with hunger written across her face.

“In most cases, but when we put you three into the castle tomorrow, you’ll be stealthy and in plain sight for all to see.” Chase picked out one of the roasted fish and handed it over to Gilda, “Now I believe you had some questions for me?”

“Yes, first I would like to say I am very grateful you saved not only my life but my daughter’s. For that alone you will always have my thanks, but that leaves the question of why you were here in the first place?” the King asked as Gilda tore into her fish.

“Oh you know, the usual in these types of situations. We disobeyed orders and barely made it through a highly advanced alien portal to your world to look for the lost members of our team that came through a similar portal six to seven months ago.” Chase explained just a bit too quickly.

“... Dweeb, say that again but slow enough so we can actually understand.” Gilda said as she finished her first fish.

“Long story short we disobeyed orders, went through a portal, and wound up here where you found us.” Chase said leaning back against the tree with his real hand and robotic hand behind his head.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Kaylon asked as he began eating the fish he just got.

Chase shrugged his shoulders, “Eh, not that hungary.”

The king took a piece of fish from Ethan before addressing Chase once more, “It just dawned on me that we never got your name.”

“Kaylon didn’t tell you?” Chase asked with a little bit of surprise in his voice, “Anyway, I’m Chase Blake and I’m the current leader of this team of pure awesomeness.” though just a slight bit, Chase noticed that Gilda flinched when he finished his sentence.

“I am King Ashford Talon, this is my daughter Gilda Talon, and Corporal Kaylon Rucker. We are all apart of the Silver Claw Clan and current leading Clan of Griffonia.” the King said as he gestured to his daughter and Kaylon.

“Well this guy over here,” Chase raised his hand to Ethan, “Is Lieutenant Ethan Smith, the big guy who was here before was Lieutenant Junior Grade Hank Hunter, and I’m a Lieutenant Commander myself. Anything else?”

“Who exactly are you looking for?” the King asked as his fish rested on a large leaf near his talons.

“To be specific, we’re looking for my brother, my brother’s friend, and my best friend.”

“You say they’ve been here for six or seven months, but I’ve never heard of them. Can you explain that?” the King asked as he finally took a bite out of his fish.

“Well our entire group is focused on stealth and my brother Leon has Pathfinder training. That type of training means he can be out of touch with command for months at a time and still be able to operate and complete his mission. Then our entire group specialises in stealth with two only being good, not amazing like Ethan here.” Chase finished with a hand gesture to the black haired spartan currently eating one of the roasted fish.

“You said your brother can still complete his mission, what is his mission here?” King Ashford asked as he tore off the last piece of his fish.

“Oh that was just a slip of the tongue, they came here because we had our backs to the wall and it was either death or going through the portal.” Chase said as he spotted Hank dragging a tied up gryphon through the water to them, “Hank about time you made it, what took you so long?”

“Found something you’re gonna want to see.” Hank said as he dropped the rope and brought his left hand out from behind his back and tossed something at Chase.

Having only a second to see the giant spider flying at him, Chase’s eyes grew wide as dinner plates under his helmet. As the thing landed and stuck to his visor, Chase let out a girlish scream and rolled backwards into the bushes, “Oh god, get it off! Get it off! Get it off!”

Gilda started laughing out loud while Kaylon tried his best to hide his laughter from the smirking King. Hank took a spot near the fire, taking off his helmet, and grabbed one of the fish, “You season these yet?” he asked Ethan as the two ignored Chase’s cries for help.

“No.” Ethan said simply while a large ‘thwack’ sound was heard behind them.

“I think I got it!” Chase yelled triumphantly as it sounded like he was walking back to them.

Chase walked into the little campsite and plopped down onto the ground between Kaylon and Ethan before taking off his helmet and looking directly at Hank, “I hate you.”

Hank cracked a smile and passed Chase a roasted fish still on the stick, “You should’ve known I’d get you back.”

“You know I hate spiders man.” Chase looked over to the gryphons to see them all staring at him, “... What, I may be a soldier doesn’t mean I’m not scared of somethings.”

Gilda and Kaylon stared at him still while the King asked, “Just how much of you is robotic?”

“Oh! You mean my eye.” Chase said tapping the metal exterior of his left eye. It was a dull silver in color with a small green light in the center and seemed to fit well in his eye socket as he was still able to blink with that eye. Though it was creepy as you could still see the green light when he did so, “Well this happened the same time as when the other half of our team went through the portal.”

“Could you explain just what happened that caused your team to spit up?” the King asked while raising a claw to literally shut Gilda’s beak.

“Well, I could tell you, but we need to get on the move so I’ll just show you on the way to the castle.” Chase said taking one last bite of his fish. He stood up, put his helmet on, and began walking towards the ship, “Come on we’re burning daylight.”

Gilda bursted out laughing while Hank called after him, “Hey Chase, you’ve got something on your back!”

Stopping mid stride, Chase straightened up, “Is it the fucking spider?”

“Yes!” Gilda shouted as she continued laughing.

Once again freaking out, Chase flopped down into the water shouting, “Get it off!” repeatedly. Hank chuckled as he began pushing dirt over the fire with his boot. Ethan calmly walked over to where Chase was flailing in the water and, with a swift arm movement, removed the spider from his armor. Chase, unknowing that it was gone, continued to flail in the water while Ethan walked to the water’s edge and sat the spider down on the bark of a large tree.

“So we’re taking that thing to the castle?” Kaylon asked Hank as he finished with the fire.

“We’re going to be setting it down in a forest clearing a few miles away from the outer walls of the city.” seeing the confusion on the gryphon’s face Hank answered his next question, “Ethan and Chase already did some recon on the area while I kept an eye on you three.”

“Then who was watching the mage?” Kaylon asked as Chase finally seemed to realise the spider was gone.

“They took turns scouting the area. First Chase then Ethan, but when the mage woke up we were able to get a good bit out of him about a few key locations and a small bit of knowledge about magic.” Hank used his knife to cut the binds on the gryphon before leaving him and walking to the pelican.

“What are you going to do with him?” the King asked as Hank walked past Chase as he tried to get out of the water.

“He’s a traitor of your people, but we’ll be done with our job before he’s able to tell anyone what happened here.” Chase said, shaking his arms to get off as much water as he could.

“He’s unarmed and has a broken wing. None of us would kill someone that’s unarmed and injured.” Hank said as he walked around to the front of the Pelican where Ethan was climbing into the front cockpit.

“Of course, he’s still a traitor to your nation and potential rapist.” Chase said while walking around the Troop Hog attached to the Pelican, “So his fate is ultimately up to you.”

As the King walked by the knocked out mage he drew his sword and cut the gryphons throat with precision, showing his years of sword handling. Kaylon walked past the body after the King and Gilda followed slowly behind them. Chase made a note at Gilda’s sick expression as she passed the body of the dying gryphon.

Chase handed the King an old rag to wipe the blood off his blade with while the Kaylon asked, “How are you going to show us what happened at the portal?”

Shoving a few boxes of ammo out of the way, a small table raised up out of the floor of the Pelican while the back doors shut, “Our helmets constantly record what we’re seeing on a mission.” Chase explained as he ejected a chip out of the back of his helmet, “These small little chips can hold up to two hundred terabytes of information... I think? I never did get an actual number from a technician I asked, I just know it’s a lot.”

The gryphons watched as the spartan inserted the chip into the side of the table and a holographic image appeared. Multiple folders with labels appeared varying in size the three largest were labeled ‘Music’, ‘Youtube’, and ‘Missions’. The one labeled ‘Missions’ opened up and the others disappeared, replaced by pictures with time lengths under them.

The pictures moved up and more replaced them before one was selected and enhanced to fit the entire holographic screen, “Okay while you guys watch this, I’m going to be taking a nap.” Chase said as the video began to play with him, Leon, Alfred, and Josh all in the armory on the Gamma Halo ring.

'Huh, I wonder what Leon and them are up to right now?' Chase thought as he laid down across the seats on his side of the pelican.

****Canterlot Dungeons****
9/13/Noon

Leon thought over the information that Twilight had given them as Josh and Alfred continued their ‘fighting’. The guards up at the top of the stairs failing to realise that once again his team was listening in on their gossip. With the information Twilight had given them, she had unknowingly sealed their escape plan.

Four hours and through the use of seemingly meaningless questions and leads, Leon was able to get Twilight to divulge where they were keeping his groups armor, what kind of magic their cell has on it, and that the Night Guard roam the main halls at night. Other information she gave them was useful, but it wasn’t necessary to escape the poorly built prison.

The other unicorn Rarity, seemed to notice what he was doing and ushered Twilight and the pegasus, Rainbow Dash, out before she could say anymore. Near the beginning of the conversation she was nice enough to let Alfred use her scarf and get them all some more blankets since he was ‘cold’. Blankets that were now stacked in a corner beside Leon to resemble the spartan covered up and sleeping.

Leon didn’t know who designed the cell, but they were down right stupid when they made it. The door itself was well maintained solid steel, but the hinges were on the inside of the cell meaning the door swung open to the inside. They had to wait for these two guards especially though, because they noticed just how undying their loyalty was to the Princesses.

Leon snapped his fingers causing Josh and Alfred to stop their verbal assault of one another almost instantly. The guards were talking pretty loud now about something regarding the Princesses, but Josh got their attention and started their escape plan.

“Hey! Moron and Stupid, you two seem to love your Princesses quite a lot, right?” Josh said while Alfred crouched down behind where the door would stop once it was open.

“Just ignore him Shield.” the Night Guard pegasus said to the unicorn.

“Hey, all I want to know is, have either of you two fucked those fine gals.” Josh said with a suave sounding voice.

“WHAT!” they both shouted back down the stairs to the cell.

“Well I thought if they were slutty enough to let us three have at them then you guards must get-”

“You will shut your filthy mouth this instant!” the Day Guard shouted, “Princess Celestia would never do such things with you vile creatures!”

“Hey bro, it’s okay. She was real classy about it, and didn’t spit out my first load, though she cough up my second when I accidently broke her horn.” Josh said chuckling a bit as if remembering the moment.

“You will be quiet or else!” the Day Guard shouted with a slightly less pissed Night Guard next to him.

Noticing the Night Guard Josh switched it up a bit, “Hey Celly wasn’t as big of a slut as Lulu, damn, she took both my buddies at once. One in front, one in-”

“You don’t want to finish that sentence creature.” the Night Guard said in a very serious voice.

“Can I talk about how they both cried in pure ecstasy as they gargled our-”

Josh was cut off as the Day Guard teleported to the bottom of the stairs and threw Josh against the back wall with his magic, “You still want to talk creature!” the night guard flew down the stairs and put a key in the door.

“Keep a shield up behind him so the other two don’t interfere.” the Night Guard said calmly as he opened the cell. As the two of them walked in with evil looking grins on their faces, they didn’t see Alfred behind the door they just opened.

“My god, are you two recruits straight out of training or something because you are hella stupid.” Josh said as Leon calmly stood up behind him in the barrier.

Before they were able to answer, Alfred darted out from behind the door, grabbed the unicorn’s horn, and yanked it backwards making him break the spells. Leon tackled the Night Guard to the ground while he was beginning to look at his buddy and delivered a quick series of punches to his throat and chest. Josh fell to the floor and quickly delivered a nasty left hook to the unicorn’s jaw making his horn break off in Alfred’s hand.

Before the unicorn could scream for help or in pain, Alfred wrapped his right arm around his neck and used his left to lock him in a headlock. Doing so cut off the blood flow from his heart to his brain and after ten seconds he was unconscious. Leon was pushed off the Night Guard as he rolled over and began gasping for breaths. Not missing a beat, Leon sweeped his back legs out from under him and brought his left arm around his neck and locked with his right arm in the same way Alfred did with the Day Guard.

After the Night Guard was out the spartans gave a nod to each other and moved the unconscious guards up against the walls and covered them with blankets. They kept the small bundle of blankets in the corner and locked the door as they proceeded up the stairs. They stayed silent and alert as they stalked their ways out of the cell area they were in and continued to the brighter colored area that was the castle interior.

A spiral stairway led them from the dungeon into the west wing of the castle. They stuck to the walls as they heard a guard patrol walk by and down the direction they needed to go. Leon gave the hand motions to stay low and stay outta sight, also made a small note that Alfred still had the scarf Rarity had given him. When Twilight entered lecture mode last night and mentioned the entire west wing was off limits to everyone but the guards, Princesses, and them was strong evidence that they’re armor had to be in this wing. That and that the entire east wing was were the diplomats and guests rooms where.

They followed the guards as silently as they could with the wind from the open windows helping a little bit as it muffled their own sounds. Soon the guards turned right at a ‘T’ intersection and sounded like they stopped. Leon quickly motioned for the spartans to hide and they did so just in time as the sound of hooves started coming back and two guards walked back down the corridor. Josh was hiding behind a statue of one of the Princesses while Leon and Alfred had hidden at the top of a large banner that draped from the top of the wall to the bottom.

Staying put till the guards were out of sight, Leon looked out the window and could see the area to the right of the intersection was a tower, so the guards must of swapped with the current ones guarding the door. In a stroke of luck one of the windows in the tower was open and Leon could see a table holding a lot of papers and Josh’s EOD helmet. Carefully getting down from the banner, Leon motioned to the window and began to climb out of it when Alfred pulled him back in.

Staying low to the floor Alfred held up two fingers and jerked his thumb out the window. Leon got the meaning that two of the pegasi guards were outside and looked over to Josh who was in the shadows in between the wall and the statue. He had his eyes fixed on the window and his hand was flat and low to the ground. After a few tense seconds of Leon holding his breath Josh gave the thumbs up sign and Leon hopped onto the window sill.

Keeping an eye on his target and not looking down, Leon put his teenage years of parkour to use and jumped to the window. His left hand slipped off as his body swung to the side, but he quickly got a better grip and soon poked his head up to look at the room. The inside was filled with all kinds of equipment and tables filled with paper work, but there was no one inside. Not questioning the streak of good luck so far, the spartan hoisted himself into the room and immediately went for his Pathfinder helmet.

Taking off the cloth that had been covering up his dignity, Leon placed the helmet on his head and thought about it being on his body a small few seconds later he felt the armor suddenly cover his entire body. He looked down at his armor and thought, ‘Thank you gossiping guards.’

He grabbed Josh’s EOD helmet and Alfred’s SCOUT helmet and moved towards the door. Activating his Promethean Vision he could see there was only two unicorn guards and the other, unused, corridor was empty. His team was still in their hiding spots in the other one, waiting for his orders.

Leon moved to the window and motioned his hand for them to advance on the guards from the front and get their attention. Leon pressed against the door and waited for-

“Hey! What are you-” the guards was cut off as Leon opened the door and slammed his fist into the right guard’s horn, breaking it off instantly. The other guard looked at Leon, his horn lit up with a spell, but Alfred slammed into him and quickly put him into a headlock. Making sure that the horn wouldn’t be used, Alfred put all his strength into snapping the thing off before locking his headlock. Leon did the same for the first guard as Josh kept a look out for more.

After a few seconds the guards fell unconscious and Leon dragged their bodies into the room that once held their armor. Tossing the helmets to their rightful owners Leon watched as a small flash happened before the armor was on the spartans. Leaving the pieces of cloth they had used before in a trash bin nearby, the three spartans now had to find a way out.

“I’ve got a lock on the tags we put on the weapons, they’re still in the forest thankfully.” Josh said through their private radio channel as they began to move down the unused hallway.

Alfred carefully put Rarity’s scarf into one of the pouches that usually contains the ammo for his sniper rifle, “I’ve still got a reading on the markers we put up in the tunnels under Canterlot.”

“Then that’s our target. Let’s move out and stay quiet.” Leon said as an objective marker appeared on all their HUDs. It wouldn’t be long now and they would be out of the castle and after that out of this country to the place Twilight said was out of all the nations control, The Badlands.

****Canterlot Castle****
9/13/Noon-ish

“Twilight, I really don’t think we should go back there darling. I think those spartans are just using us to get information. Or at least Leon is.” Rarity said as she and Rainbow Dash followed Twilight down the corridor to the west wing of the castle.

“I think you’re just over reacting Rarity. They don’t have very long left if the Princesses can’t find a way to take back control of their case from Blueblood.” Twilight said as the three rounded a corner, “Besides they’re in the deepest cell in the dungeons with guards being the only ones who can open the door without tripping an alarm. It would be impossible for them to get out and that’s not even taking into account the guards patrolling the halls.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, it’s impossible we get it egghead, but this same thing happened in one of my Daring Doo books. Daring had trusted the police to keep Dr. Caballeron locked up in his cell for his crimes and he escaped in less than a day.” Rainbow says stopping Twilight.

“I’ve read them too Rainbow, and the only reason he escaped in the book was because he bribed the police. The spartan’s have no money and can’t do that.” Twilight said walking past her hovering friend.

“Darling will you at least be more careful of what you tell them.” Rarity asked as they approached the last corner before the stairway to the spartans.

Twilight sighed in defeat, “Okay Rarity, I’ll watch what I say and if I start to say something you don’t think I should, you can stop me.”

“Thank you darling that’s all I ask.” Rarity finished as they turned the corner. There they stood with their mouths open at the site of at least twenty guards, both Day and Night, as they looked and scanned with spells the surroundings of the stairway leading to the dungeons. In the middle of the chaos was Princess Luna, who was holding up a paper and seemed to be reading it closely.

“Princess Luna,” Twilight said as she approached, “What’s going, what happened?”

Luna turned to the ponies and her hard glare softened, “Twilight, I asked you to call me Luna, don’t make me order you to.”

“Sorry Princces- I mean Luna. Why are all these guards here? Did something happen?”

Luna’s glared hardened once more as she looked over shoulder at two guards that were sitting against the wall. They quickly looked away from her and pretended they were in a conversation of their own. With a sigh she turned back to Twilight and answered, “Somehow the guard roster got messed up and two rookie guards ponies were assigned to the spartans. They tricked them into opening the cell and knocked both of them out before escaping.”

“What!” Rainbow yelled as Rarity teleported her favorite couch to her and fainted onto it.

“Bu-bu-but... How?” Twilight asked, trying to wrap her mind around how they were able escape.

“They piled blankets in a corner and made it look like one of them was sleeping while the other two were in plain sight. The one called Josh then antagonised the guards enough to make them come into their cell and try to teach him a lesson. Alfred was hiding where the door would open and stayed concealed till both guards were in. Once Leon stood up Alfred took off the Day Guards horn and the three of them knocked the guards out.” Luna looked at the three ponies shocked expressions before walking down the hall, “Follow me, it gets worse.”

After Rarity sent her couch back to her home, the three ponies followed the Princess through the corridors and Twilight noticed where they were going, “Pri- Luna, please don’t tell me they-”

“I’m afraid so Twilight.” Luna said as they rounded the last corner to the room that held the spartans armor, “With what the guards reported here one of the spartans was able to get to their armor and ambush them from behind while the other two attacked from the front.”

“How did they get to the room without going passed the guards?” Twilight asked as Rarity looked at one of the closed windows.

“Well they had to use the windows, there absolutely filthy.” Rarity said looking at the small dirt marks on the window sill.

“Yes, that is what we believe happened, but after the spartans got their armor it’s like they just vanished.”

Twilight looked at Rarity then at Rainbow Dash and they both nodded to her. She turned around and said, “Okay, Luna, what do you want us to do.”

Luna smiled at them as she knew, without a doubt in her mind, if anypony could bring these three to justice it was them, “I want you three to return to Ponyville by train and get the other Bearers and the Elements. From their I want you to go into the Everfree and find a zebra name Zecora. She helped us find the spartans the first time, hopefully she can lead you to where they made their hideout in the forest.”

“Don’t worry Luna you can count on us.” Twilight said triumphantly before taking off back down the hallway with Rarity and Rainbow right behind her.

“I know you’ll make the right decision Twilight.” Luna muttered watching them go.

****Tunnels under Canterlot****
9/13/Noon-ish

Celestia walked with her contingent of guards down the tunnel that led from the waterfall exit of the caves. It seemed the most likely one that the spartans would chose if they chose to get back to their hideout in the forest. Though why Celestia was with the guards was a completely different than what her guards thought she was there for.

As they came to another intersection Celestia spoke up, “Guards continue up the path, I’ll be along shortly.”

“Yes, your Highness.” the lead guard said as he continued down the path.

As he continued Celestia let out a sigh as she thought of how to phrase her next words. Once Celestia was sure the guards were out of hearing range she began, “I’m sorry things had to turn out this way. When my sister and I first heard my nephews verdict we were shocked, but to us then you all were still the monsters that put our little ponies in comas.

“Then, late last night, Twilight brought me the papers containing your side of the story and we saw how foolish we had been. You were victims in the beginning and it was through my actions and my sister’s, that you were forced to hurt our ponies in order to survive. I can’t call off the search for you unless they have found no evidence of your whereabouts in a week.

“Be warned though as we have to make it looked like we tried everything to get you back. Twilight and her friends will be coming after you, I suggest you make it to the Badlands before then. You have yet to permanently hurt anypony, I’m putting my trust in you that you won't hurt them.

“I wish you luck in the land’s beyond Equestria. Hopefully when we meet again, Blueblood will of tried his coup attempt and failed, leaving me in charge of your case once more.” Celestia began walking down the tunnel after her guards, having said her piece.

Behind her, out of the darkness, Leon looked after her and quietly said, “Thank you.” before the three spartans continued down the tunnels to freedom.

The hunt begins

View Online

Chapter Eleven

****Everfree Forest****
9/13/Afternoon

The Everfree Forest was well known around Ponyville for being host to some of the most dangerous animals in all of Equestria. It would only take a small venture off the forest path to meet with an unfortunate fate. Though for a select few, these fears were nonexistent to the point one such being lived within the forest itself.

Today was different though as the entire forest seemed to know that the biggest predators the forest had ever seen, where back and they were not being slow and stealthy anymore. Leon, Josh, and Alfred ran through the forest as fast as they could without risking injury, which is a little less than half their max. They dodged toppled over trees, ran through thick bushes as if they weren’t there, and cared not for any creatures they passed. For them it was a race against time, one the timer had already started for.

“Cave’s up ahead with the marker, looks like they never found them.” Josh mused as they closed on the clearing.

“Lucky break, let’s get them and make for the south-east.” Leon stated just before they burst through the foliage and into the clearing.

Their armor dug into the earth as they slid to a stop before the boulder covering their hideout. Alfred gripped it rolled it out of the hole with enough strength for it to gain a little air before coming to a stop in the grass. Josh and Leon went passed him into the hole just as the boulder was moved. Alfred crouched in place, keeping his eyes on his motion sensor and the surrounding shrubbery.

Leon and Josh began to move to the spots they had hid the weapons, it was going to take them a minute to dig them out. Josh began to uncover the ammo cache from behind some of the tree roots that had been growing through the dirt walls. Soon, he pulled out a few large boxes that were made entirely out of large leaves from the surrounding forest.

Attaching his own ammo to his belt and loading a round into his Asymmetric Recoilless Carbine-920, also called a Railgun, Josh stacked Alfred’s ammo to the side before Leon called to him, “Head’s up.” Josh did a half turn and caught his MA5D assault rifle in the air with his left hand while setting Alfred’s M395 DMR on the ground next to the ammo with his right. Quickly grabbing the last few shots for his railgun, Josh began to empty out his blowpack of the now useless books.

Leon grabbed the last of his magazines of 7.62x51mm FMJ-AP bullets and loaded one for his M395 DMR before moving to the next weapon stache. Josh, now with his blowpack empty of books and full of explosives once more, began grabbing his assault rifle ammo. After a few seconds Josh was done and moved up the incline to the entrance. Alfred saw him on his sensor and dropped down as soon as Josh was hopping up to take look out position with his assault rifle raised.

As Alfred arrived at the bottom of the sloping entrance walkway, he grabbed his own DMR, loaded a magazine into it, and chambered a round before grabbing his ammo and attaching it to is belt. After he finished with gathering his ammunition, Alfred walked over to the last weapon cache where Leon finally unearthed the last of the ammo caches.

Leon held out Alfred’s wrapped up SRS 99-S5 AM rifle to the Spartan as he crouched down. Both of them began unwrapping their weapons and ammo as if it was their first Christmas. It wasn’t long before each of them were loading new magazines into their newly reaquired weapons. Too soon though an alert from Josh came in over the comm channel, “Hurry it up guys, got seven bastardos moving in from the north-west.”

“Could they be Timberwolves?” Alfred asked as he worked faster to attach his ammo to his belt.

“Nope, they’re too closely packed, uncoordinated.” Josh said taking aim at the enemies’ direction.

“Shoot off a few rounds over their heads and wait for me.” Leon ordered as he grabbed the last of his BR85HB SR Battle Rifle ammo in the pile.

Josh got a small smile on his face as he finally got the chance to use his weapon, “Yes sir.”

Making sure all the targets were at roughly the same altitude, Josh began to fire a round after round over where the ponies were. The results were easily seen on the radar as the dots stopped and began to move erratically in the trees. Josh could hear one of the ponies scream as his assault rifle shot round after round into the canopy. Smiling, he watched as they hid behind the trees beyond the clearing, trying to shout to one another if they were okay.

“Leon were running low on time.” Josh said over the radio, ceasing fire.

“We’re done here. Split up, carry out your objectives, and rendezvous at Point Bravo.” Leon said over the radio as he and Alfred came up behind Josh. Two acknowledgment lights blinked at the corner of the Leon’s HUD as they all piled up at the entrance to the cave.

“Alright, so, go on three?” Josh asked keeping an eye on his HUD’s motion tracker.

“Just like always.” Leon answered smiling.

“One...” Alfred started getting ready to bolt across the clearing towards Ghastly Gorge.

“Two...” Leon chimed in, getting ready to run his curving route to the castle.

“Three!” Josh shouted, popping out of the hole, shooting his assault rifle, and moving towards the boulder that used to be in the entrance. Josh kept laying down suppressive fire with his assault rifle, shooting over the ponies heads, as Alfred sprinted straight out of the cave and into the foliage opposite of him. Leon turned and went opposite of where the ponies were coming from.

Josh began to move into the foliage he was closest to when he saw a purple light shoot out of the woods and right at him. His eyes growing wide, Josh jumped into the forest’s edge and heard the rock that he had used for cover explode behind him. With a smug grin on his face he stood and shouted, “You missed!” before running into the forest towards his objective.

****

As Twilight heard the Spartans run off into the forest she put a hoof to her ear to try and stop the ringing, “Is everypony okay?”

“What!” Pinkie shouted from right next to her, nearly scarring her out of her coat.

Twilight turned her head to the pink mare, “Shh, not so loud.”

As her friends came out from behind the cover of the trees, Twilight began to re-plan just how they were going to capture the Spartans, ‘We just need to get their shields down and then we can use Applejack's rope I enchanted to keep them tied up.'

“Twi, what now?” the apple farmer’s question pulled Twilight from her thoughts.

Looking up at her now assembled friends, Twilight nodded her head as a plan started to form, “Alright, we split up, and track them down. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Zecora, you will chase after the one that went towards Ghastly Gorge.” two of the three she named gave nods of approval while Fluttershy was still hiding. While Rarity and Zecora began talking to Fluttershy Twilight continued, “Applejack, Rainbow, you two will pursue the one that went towards the dam.” the two of them looked at each other and nodded before taking off. Twilight’s gaze fell on the pink party pony, “Pinkie, we’ll be chasing the one that went straight ahead of us into the forest.”

After making sure that Fluttershy was going to be okay, Twilight and Pinkie took off into the forest after the Spartan. As they moved as fast as they could, being safe from the Everfree’s animals thanks to Zecora, Pinkie seemed to barely be able to hold in her excitement, “We’re... hunting... ALIENS! This is awesome! What if they have traps hidden throughout the forest and we not only have to look out for the traps, but the aliens too! Then it turns into some survival adventure as we are hunted by the very creatures we came to hunt! Oh this is just like issue number forty-three of ‘Aliens took my Fillyfriend’ and Sun Drop hired a gang of mercenaries to help her search through the Jungles of the D-B Kingdom. Then they discovered-”

It hadn’t even been a minute as Twilight and Pinkie ran through the foliage after the Spartan before the purple unicorn let out a loud groan, ‘Maybe I should of taken Rainbow and let AJ have Pinkie...'

****

“I think I saw him!” Rainbow yelled as she and Applejack tore through the forest as fast as they could. Jumping over large tree roots and avoiding as many obstacles as they could, the two galloped like bats out of Tartarus after the Spartan. They were sticking close together as the forest was too narrow and dense for Rainbow to safely use her wings. Being the fastest of the groups, and most competitive, the duo was able to catch up to the Spartan after a few minutes.

The trail he left was easy to follow as the Spartan ran as fast as the forest would allow without tripping every few steps. Considering where the Spartan was heading, the two mares were very nervous he would do something... excessive. As they ran, Applejack grabbed the enchanted piece of rope from her saddle bags in order to get ready for the eventuality of catching up with the Spartan.

“If you think I’m gonna go back there just to die in a few days, your fucking insane!” the Spartan called Josh yelled back as the two mares closed in on him.

“Then you shouldn’t of attacked the Princesses!” Rainbow yelled back.

As the Rainbow continued with yelling at the Spartan, Applejack was at war with herself on the matter. Despite all the Spartans had done, despite who they have attacked and harmed, being completely honest with herself, she didn’t think they deserved to die.

‘They've yet to kill anypony, so why should we start?' the orange mare thought to herself as Rainbow gave another witty comeback to the Spartan, ‘Why ain't he gone for that loud weapon yet? Twi, practically drained herself puttin protection spells on us, but he don't know that.'

At the back of her mind, so many things weren't adding up that it surprised her Twilight hadn’t brought this up yet. The whole situation around these Spartans was weird, confusing, and down right frustrating since they were the only ones to go after them, ‘Ya'd think after hurting the Princesses we'd at least get a guard or two ta... well do somethin.'

While Applejack had been thinking the two of them had started to fall behind Josh as the trees started thinning out. Soon they began to see light as the edge of the forest drew closer. Just before the mares exited the forest they saw Josh run left across the opening. Rainbow and Applejack burst through the leaves and the vines and resumed their pursuit of the Spartan.

The water of the Ponyville dam was clear and calm to their right, while Josh was running down the edge of the water back towards the forest. It was a little weird to finally see one up close, but Applejack didn’t care about that and threw the rope at the running Spartan. It flew through the air perfectly and the Spartan’s head, torso, and arms were in the loop just before she pulled. Then the rope was jerked right through him, as if he was just an illusion.

“Okay,” something behind Applejack said, “Here’s how this is going to work.” turning on the spot, the apple farmer saw that the real Spartan was not only behind her, but had Rainbow locked in it’s arms.

Rainbow tried to yell something to her, but it came out so muffled by the spartan’s hand that she couldn’t understand, “Now, no need to hurt anypony.” Applejack said putting down the rope.

“In the deepest part of the water, right by the dam wall, there’s a case. You are going to bring it to me.” Josh said removing his left hand from Rainbow’s mouth and pulling a knife out from his belt and laying it down against her neck, sharp side going out and away, “And don’t get any funny ideas.”

The feel of the cold metal against her neck instantly shut up any response Rainbow had while Applejack just gave a very slow nod, “Alright, no need ta-”

“Just get the damn case now.” Josh interrupted motioning towards the water with his head. Applejack slowly walked towards the water, never taking her eyes off the Spartan that held the knife to her friends throat. Not wanting to test if he was actually lying like she thought he was, she looked towards the small lake, then back to Rainbow, and finally began to move into the water.

After a few moments, she found where he said the case would be and was confused that he came for it. It was a small silver box that had no real purpose from what she could see. It was too little to have been anything threatening like a bomb, but she couldn’t think of anything else it could be considering where it was. As carefully as she could, Applejack lifted the box and swam back up to the surface.

Upon getting to the surface of the water, the orange earth pony took a big intake of air and took a moment to get her bearings. She looked around and saw that the Spartan was still on the edge of the water, but didn’t see Rainbow anywhere in sight, “Good, now hurry up to shore.”

Fear gripped Applejack as she slowly swam to the shore and watched Josh pull one of the metal sticks off his back and pointed it at her. She began to question if he was lying like she thought or if he had just wanted to split them up and make them easier targets. Her questions stopped as the Spartan addressed her slow and hesitant behavior.

“The pegasus is fine, now give me the box and I’ll tell you where she is.” Josh said keeping the weapon pointed at her.

Putting the box down on the rocks that made up the shore of the dam’s water, Applejack couldn’t help but feel this pit in her stomach. Taking a few steps away from the Spartan’s box, Applejack began scanning the forest, the dam wall, and anywhere else her Rainbow maned friend could be.

“Alright, this seems to all be in order.” Josh said crouched down and looking at the box. Laying down his weapon, he pulled the other metal stick off his back and put it down as well. The Spartan then slid the straps of his backpack off and sat it down in front of himself before unzipping the largest pocket. Applejack watched as the spartan pulled a few large canisters of something out of the pack before setting the silver box carefully into it. Then he put back the canisters, re-zipped the bag, put it back on his back, and finally put the second metal weapon in it’s resting spot.

“Alrighty then, I used your rope to tie your friend to the lowest branch on the tree over there.” Josh said picking up his weapon and pointing to one of the trees that were on the forest’s edge, “Let this be a lesson, never try and hunt a Spartan.” without another word the Spartan kicked up rocks and dirt as he sprinted into the forest leaving Applejack to find Rainbow.

****

Rarity was not having a very good day. She had went to sleep late thanks to Twilight’s questioning of the Spartans and been woken up early on top of that. Then she fell asleep on the short train ride to Ponyville and awoke more tired and with a crick in her neck. From there she was told to get Fluttershy and meet up at the entrance to the Everfree Forest, which was the only thing to go right so far.

After meeting up with the girls and getting Zecora to help them, Rarity then had to walk through the dirt and Celestia knows what else as they made their way to the Spartan’s hideout. Then they’re almost there and suddenly the thunder of some weapon fills their ears and wood chips from the trees fly everywhere. A few chips landed in her mane and some more in her tail, it was just a complete disaster. Thankfully it hadn’t taken much to get Fluttershy moving, though Rarity silently wished it had taken longer.

For the past hour now, the trio of ponies had been walking through the forest and pieces of dirt, wood, and green flecks of foliage were stuck in Rarity’s mane because of it. Considering the daunting task ahead of them, it wasn’t about to get any better for the poor mare.

They traveled in silence, stopping every now and then for Zecora to pick up the small trail the Spartan left behind in the foliage. Rarity was amazed that the zebra was able to follow the trail the spartan was leaving. If she had been the one to try and make heads or tails of the trail then it would have been a very short adventure for her and Fluttershy, one ending with being lost and confused.

They had been going through the forest for the past few minutes when Zecora held her right hoof in the air, signalling them to stop. It was something that Rarity and Fluttershy had gotten used to as the zebra mare would occasionally lose the trail. Fluttershy went to see if she could assist her while Rarity stood under one of the trees, looking around for anything that could distract her mind from her thoughts on the mission.

‘Somepony should really get rid of that oaf Blueblood before he does any more damage. Surely I can't be the only pony to see that this isn't right, they don't-' Rarity’s train of thought was derailed as Fluttershy tapped her on the shoulder.

“Zecora thinks she found the trail...” the yellow pegasus said in her normally quiet voice. Despite it not being said, Rarity sensed there was a ‘but’ coming.

“But?”

“I-it might just be a normal animal this time.” Fluttershy said, hiding behind her mane.

Rarity let out a sigh, she knew it would eventually come to this after hearing the one called Leon explain that his team focused on stealth the previous night. On the bright side though, Rarity hoped they could just go back home now and let the Royal Guard actually do it’s job for once. As Zecora led her and Fluttershy away and further into the forest, Rarity shook her head to try and clear her thoughts.

‘Don't think like that, the Royal Guard do there job of... well I'm sure they do something, but it is my job, no, duty as an Element of Harmony to help protect Equestria. Even if it means getting this dirty.' Rarity thought to herself as she followed Fluttershy and Zecora. As she continued she noticed her scarf was about to fall off and... ‘I don't remember putting a scarf on!'

Letting out a scream, she used her magic to toss the scarf away from her while backpedaling into a tree. Fluttershy and Zecora turn on the spot to see what all the commotion was about and looked at her with confusion. Rarity didn’t look at them though as her mind was racing with thoughts of how that particular scarf had gotten draped across the back of her neck.

“Rarity... Rarity.” Fluttershy said slightly shaking the mare with her hoof, “Rarity, what’s wrong.”

“Please tell us friend, what has you at wits end.” Zecora asked examining the scarf that lay on the open ground.

“... Fluttershy, how long have I had that scarf on?” Rarity asked slowly looking at the piece of clothing in Zecora’s hooves.

“Just since we stopped last, why?”

“Because I never put it on.” Rarity said as Fluttershy looked from the scarf to her.

“This is very confusing, is this not your cutie mark in the stitching?” Zecora asked, showing the end that had the three blue diamond shapes stitched into the fabric.

Rarity slowly nodded her head, “Yes, but the last time I saw that scarf, I gave it to one of the Spartans when they were in the Canterlot Dungeons.”

Revelation sprung up on Zecora and Fluttershy’s faces before Fluttershy spoke with fear in her voice, “Th-then how d-did it get on you?”

“It doesn’t matter why or how, this shows it could of killed any of us by now.” Zecora stated before looking up into the canopy above, “There are still a few hours before night, we should end this search and find Twilight. The powder I use the keep Everfree creatures at bay only works on the predators of the day.”

“What about the ones at night?” Rarity asked, her eyes going wide at this new revelation.

“That powder is much harder to brew and I hardly have enough for any of you.” Zecora began to walk back the way they came.

“What now then?”

“We return to my hut for safety, our friends should’ve returned by now, hopefully.”

Rarity felt her eye twitch as she was just told she had walked through the forest for over a two hours for absolutely nothing. Letting out a loud sigh Rarity got up off the ground and began to follow the zebra with Fluttershy sticking to her side. Before they were out of sight though, Rarity grabbed the scarf with her magic and put it into one of her saddlebags. Together the three began the long trek back to Zecora’s hut, hopeful that one of their friends had been more successful.

****

“Then the evil Emperor Zinyak had Puckish Rogue locked away in a virtual world to try and keep him from interfering with his plans. Little did he know though that-”

“Pinkie! How many times do I have to ask you to be quiet before you actually listen to me?” Twilight asked the pink mare as they walked through the forest towards Zecora’s hut.

“But you said I could talk as much as I want on the way back if I was completely quiet while we were searching. You Pinkie Promised even.” Pinkie stated rather sadly.

“I know I know, and I’m sorry I snapped at you but, we searched for over three hours and just kept going in circles. How can something that big just up and disappear into thin air? If I hadn’t seen the scans myself, I’d think they’re using magic!” Twilight yelled in frustration as they finally reached the path that ran from the forest entrance to Zecora’s hut.

“Yeah, but can’t you use your magic to look for theirs if they had magic?” the pink mare beside Twilight asked.

“Yes, and I tried just in case, but I couldn’t find anything. We need some way of leveling the playing field and if at all possible find out what they’re doing so we can stop it.” Twilight said as they began to see the outside of Zecora’s hut.

“Waaaait a minute, Rainbow told me that we were looking for the aliens to invite them to a ‘Welcome to our planet please don’t take it over’ party.” Pinkie said stopping in the middle of the trail making Twilight as well.

Looking at the pink earth pony in confusion, Twilight said, “Why in all of Equestria would you want to invite them to a party! Pinkie, they put us and a good number of the royal guard in magical overdose comas, attacked the Princesses, escaped from the dungeons with information I gave them, hurt four Royal Guards in the process of the escape, and to top it off tried to kill us earlier.” as Twilight spoke her tone got angrier and her distance from Pinkie closed till they were face to face.

After a few tense seconds Twilight seemed to notice that she just released her pent up frustration on her friend. She backed away a little bit and began to stutter an apology when Pinkie surprised her, “So?”

Twilight looked at her friend as if she had just grown a second head, “So? That’s all you have to say? After all they’ve done you would still defend them?”

“Wellllll, going down the list you just made: One, they had to open the portal to stay alive and didn’t know it would do what it did. Two the Princesses kinda sorta started it since they didn’t even try to get the full story before threatening them. Three I’m guessing they would’ve escaped anyway, it would of just taken them longer to find their armor. Four they would of knocked out more guards the longer they looked for their armor. Finally earlier, they were shooting above us, never once coming close to actually hurting us.” as the pink mare finished with a smile, Twilight just stared at her, mouth open in shock as Pinkie actually used logic.

‘... Are they good?’ the thought rang in Twilight’s head over and over again as she mentally went through all the information that she had known up to this point. The thought was disturbing enough to distract her from the fact Pinkie was the one to put a hole in her line of thought with logic.

Twilight was so engrossed in her line of thought that she didn’t notice any of the things Pinkie was doing to try and get her attention. She barely registered it when the pink party pony closed her mouth and tried shaking her to get her attention. She didn’t even hear the voices that came in from behind her.

‘They still hurt the Princesses and need to be brought... back to Canterlot... for an excessive punishment... no.' Twilight shook her head, ‘The Princesses gave me this task of bringing them back and I won't fail them.'

Suddenly Twilight felt a large bucket of ice water dumped on her head and she became aware of her surroundings. The inside of Zecora’s hut was decorated with tribal masks that belonged to her culture as well as a lot of pots, jars, and other containers filled with potions or the ingredients to make them. Twilight resisted the urge to shake her mane to get the water out as it would of gotten water all over Zecora’s home.

“Twi, you with us now Sugarcube?” the familiar accent made her turn around and see Applejack and Pinkie Pie standing there, the latter holding a bucket and balancing on her hind legs.

Looking down Twilight noticed she was inside a large cauldron, “Why am I in Zecora’s cauldron?”

“We would of got water all over the floor if you weren’t, silly.” Pinkie said laughing, “You should see how funny you look!”

“Ya weren’t respondin ta us, no matter what we did. Pinkie suggested it and it actually worked.” Applejack said smiling.

As she climbed out of the cauldron, Twilight asked, “Where’s Rainbow Dash?”

“Oh, when we got back she fell asleep on the floor over there.” Applejack pointed to the sleeping pegasus by the fireplace, “We caught up ta the Spartan though, just wish we’d of faired better.”

“He didn’t hurt you did he?” Twilight asked before Pinkie assaulted her with a towel.

“Nah, but he did hold Rainbow hostage while I got something from the dam.” Applejack saw Twilight’s next question a mile away, “She’s fine, like I said, nopony got hurt.”

Letting out a sigh of relief Twilight was about to ask a question when Pinkie stopped drying her and asked her’s, “Did you invite him to the party!? We couldn’t find our Spartan and never got the chance.”

Applejack looked at the pink mare with a raised eyebrow before looking to Twilight for the answer, “It’s what Rainbow told her. Look, what did you get from the dam?”

“Was a small silver box about yay big.” she brought her hooves a little less than half a meter apart, “Bout this high.” she twisted her hooves and made the gap between the two half of what it was before, “Rainbow thinks it was a bomb, but I don’t see how somethin so small could be threatinin.”

“Hey! Did you invite him to the party?” Pinkie asked again finally finishing with drying Twilight off.

“Pinkie there is no party, now did anything else happen?” Twilight pulled out a pen and a piece of paper from her saddle bags by the door. They were half way to her when her coat, mane, and tale suddenly poofed up making her look like a giant pony shaped ball of fuzz. Twilight let out a sigh as Applejack and Pinkie bursted out laughing, ‘Today is not turning out to well.'

****Everfree Castle****
9/13/Night

Slowly, Alfred moved from cover to cover using the shadows made by the moonlight to his advantage. Slowly he made his way into the castle, taking precautions despite the fact his two squadmates were already in the structure. Like a shadow without a body, he moved quickly and quietly through the destroyed doors and broken down interior till he came to the library.

He hugged the wall and glanced into the room, catching sight of two spartans looking at something glowing on one of the tables. Leon was blocking his view of the glowing object, but there was no danger that he could see, so he relaxed a little bit and entered the room. Both Spartans had their helmets off and seemed to be talking to something.

Once Alfred was close enough he was looking at one of the most perplexing sights he’d ever seen. On the table was an AI chip from one of their helmets and ontop of that was a holographic projection of something looking like one of the Princesses.

It was tiny as it was restricted by the device creating the projection and blue for the same reason. Despite it’s size, Alfred saw it possessed slit pupils, sharp teeth, and a crescent moon cutie mark. It’s mane and tail seemed to be like blobs of data, or smoke. It had a long spiral horn, flared out wings, and some sort of armor on it’s hooves, head, and chest.

Finally tuning into the conversation Alfred heard Leon ask, “And you thought if you possessed him, you could leave?”

The figure nodded and a frustrated voice came out of Josh’s helmet on the table, “Yes, I was imprisoned here when I was separated from my other half. Now I just want to leave and I’m stuck in this thing anyway, so why won’t you just take me!”

“I don’t trust you one, little, bit. I’ve read enough of the recent history to know you’re not some poor soul who was trapped here on accident.” Leon rebutled.

“I never claimed I was! The Elements of Harmony purify or lock away spirits. When they hit me they purified, but I couldn’t move to far from the castle or I would start to fade from existence.” the figure looked down with sadness while Josh saw Alfred and motioned for him to take a seat across the table, “I’m unable to possess ponies because of the Elements’ magic, I saw you Spartan’s as my last chance of being free.”

Leon looked at Alfred as he sat down, “The spirit-”

“Ghost.” Josh quickly cut in.

“-tried to take over Josh. We’re debating on if we should just leave the chip here or do the stupid thing and take it with us.” Leon continued, ignoring Josh.

Alfred looked at the little projected alicorn, not taking off his helmet like the others so as to keep a check on his motion sensor, “Why would we take her with us?”

“Because she could help us with understanding magic and how to get around it.” Josh answered.

Alfred nodded his head, it was a sound idea, if she didn’t learn how to control the armor through the AI port in his helmet. A thought passed through Alfred’s head as Leon and Josh began going back and forth on the pros and cons of the idea, “You said you can’t leave this place? What makes you think you can do it in our armor?”

“Ever since I was sucked into this, ‘chip’ my magic seems... distant, unfocused, like it’s not being used. Ever since I split with my other half I’ve had to constantly use magic to keep myself alive, it was only when I was near the Tree of Harmony that I was able to regain it faster than I lost it.” the hologram stated.

“You mean the glowing crystal tree in the fog down below?” Josh asked. The alicorn figure nodded, “... You guys got to use a crazy plan earlier, I say we trust her for mine.”

“I say the risks out weigh the benefits to much.” Leon said crossing his arms and leaning back away from the table, “What about you Alfred?”

Alfred brought his fingers together in front of his face and looked into the eyes of the hologram. He wasn’t sure if she could stare back from there, but after a few moments thinking out the risks, the pros, and the cons, he spoke, “If Josh keeps her in his helmet, I say we risk it.”

“Yes.” Josh said air pumping his fist.

“I hold the same rights as Josh. If this backfires, I’ll be the one saying ‘I told you so’ repeatedly.” Leon said grabbing his helmet and putting it on.

Alfred chuckled as he looked at Leon, “Alright, and when she helps us out of a tight spot, we’ll be the ones saying it.”

Josh put on his helmet and picked the chip off the table, “Welcome to the team Moonie.”

"Please don't abuse me with awful nicknames." the holographic alicorn said as Josh put her into the AI slot in his helmet, "My name is Nightmare Moon."

A SPARTAN's way of restoring order

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Chapter Twelve

****Skies above the Gryphon Kingdom****
9/13/Noon-ish

From his half asleep state, Chase barely registered the shock and awe on the faces of the three gryphons as they watched his teams escape from the Gamma halo. He debated at first if he should edit out the shots that showed how the ring curved up into the horizon, but thought that there were enough pictures on the internet that it wasn’t exactly secret anymore amongst the general populace. Not to mention his previous crimes such as theft of UNSC property, desertion, as well as twenty more made up ones they would slap on if he was ever caught in UNSC space again pretty much made showing some video seem like nothing.

All in all, he just didn’t care, ‘Current mission: Find Leon, Josh, and... I guess Alfred if we have time. Then think of something else from there. Foolproof.'

This whole deal with the gryphons Chase considered just a good deed, ‘Seeking peace is usually the way to go, plus I couldn't just sit on my ass and let them rape someone right outside my ship.'

Stealing a glance at the gryphons through his black visor, Chase saw the three talking as the video was over. The King nodded something and Chase silently hoped they weren’t going to try anything stupid. He held gryphons in high respect since they were his families’ crest, killing the ones that he had just helped didn’t sit right with him.

“Chase, we’ll be at the insertion point in three minutes. Might wanna have our guests put on that armor soon.” Hank’s voice came in through the comm channel, making chase rethink just how long that stupid video was.

“Yeah, I’ll tell ‘em.” Chase said as he began to sit up. Stretching the various muscles that had started to get cramped and popping various things, Chase looked over at the gryphons, “We’ll be arriving at the spot soon, might want to get into the armor before we get there so we can get this over faster.”

“Alright, just give it to us and we’ll put it on.” Gilda said, falling down from the seat and onto the floor.

Chase was about to respond when he realised something, ‘We never grabbed the extra freaking armor...'

Noticing the spartan’s lack of words, Gilda put on a deadpan expression, “You forgot them didn’t you?”

“... Noooo...? We just thought, that, we would only take the King and Kaylon could give up his armor. It would be the safest since we would only have to protect one target instead of three...” Chase said a bit uncertain that they would buy it.

“That makes sense... but why didn’t you tell us?” Kaylon asked with confusion.

‘Holy shit they're actually-'

“No, the dweeb just forgot to get the other sets of armor before we left and is trying to cover for it.” Gilda answered before Chase could.

“How are you the leader of this group?” King Ashford asked suddenly.

“What?” Chase asked.

“How are you the leader of this group of soldiers? In all my days of commanding troops, I’ve never had somegryph forget the main thing they need for the mission they were given. How are you the leader of this group?”

“... Cause I’m not?” Chase said as if it was an obvious thing, “I’d make an awful leader, I have an absolutely awful memory, and the only reason we succeed in most missions is because we know how to fight as a team. My main position on this team is CQC expert and forerunner tech analyst. My brother is the leader and me and him usually come up with the plans together.”

“Then why are you the leader of these two? From what I’ve seen you act more like a bunch of new soldiers who thinks war is fun than an experienced team.” the King said glaring at the spartan.

“I’m the leader of those two because of rank. Other than that we’re just some friends trying to find our other lost friends.” Chase said taking a seat, “Personally I’ve never had one of those traumatic experiences that give a guy PTSD and we’ve all been part of the same group since we got out of training. Except Ethan, we picked him up on Reach.”

The King continued to glare at the spartan as Chase continued, “Ya sure we’ve had missions go south but we’re still alive. Nothing much to get all worked up about.”

“Considering I’m trusting my life, my daughters, and my kingdoms future on a bunch of overconfident hatchlings, I’d say I’m allowed to get worked up.” the King got down off the seat, “Were it not for the weapons and armor you carry, I’d have a hard time believing that you would be anything more helpful than a group of mercenaries.”

‘Should I run the risk of making him more mad with an overconfident sounding comment or actually seem serious?' Chase thought as the King finished.

“Thirty seconds to the sight.” Hank’s voice said over the room speaker.

“Well, you’re just going to have to trust us and hope for the best.” Chase said, trying to make his voice sound neutral and not piss off his current employer.

The King didn’t seem happy, but stayed silent on the matter. He then turned to Kaylon who had been watching the exchange of words with fear that a fight would break out, “Give me your armor.”

“Y-yes sir!” Kaylon said as he began to take off the dark purple armor starting with the helm, then the chest plate, then the armor piece that he had over his flanks, before finally taking off the center piece that had been between the two previous ones and under his wings.

Being careful with his wing, the King began to put on the armor in the opposite order that Kaylon had taken it off. While he did so Chase took note of the new colors Kaylon was sporting. The feathers around his head where a dark green like the ones on his wings and the fur on his body was a few shades darker. Unlike Gilda, the feathers around his bright green eyes matched the rest on his head. While the King and Gilda’s talons where a yellow color that matched their beaks, Kaylon’s beak and talons where silver in color.

“I want to make a green joke here, but I can’t think of one.” Chase said looking at Kaylon.

The gryphon in question let out a sigh and shook his head while the King finished with putting on the helm. The ship, which had been slowing down for a little while now, shook as they had undoubtedly reached their destination. With a smirk on under his helmet, Chase began walking towards the back of the Pelican with the King right behind him.

“I take it my daughter will be left here with Kaylon?” King Ashford asked as the ramp began to fold in on itself and descend, barely missing the Troop Hog.

“Yep, Hank will be guarding them. Me and Ethan will be watching over you while you move to the Castle Courtroom.” Chase answered, walking out of the Pelican.

“Wait, I’m not about to leave my dad with you on his own. That’s not happening.” Gilda stated, flying in front of the spartan.

“Hmm.” Chase nodded at the gryphon, “I respect that you wouldn’t let your father go off on his own with a bunch of strangers, but unless you actually grabbed one of the sets of armor, like I forgot to do, then I don’t see how you would be able to sneak in there with us.”

Gilda glared at the spartan with enough intensity to melt a hole through metal, “So what are we supposed to do? Twiddle our talons while you play the part of the big hero?”

Tilting his head as if he was giving it some thought, Chase then nodded, “Yeah, that sounds about right. It’s not like you won’t be doing anything though. You and Kaylon are going to guide Ethan to the courtroom while I look over King Ashford.”

“Just how-” Gilda started before she was cut off.

“Gilda, everything will be fine.” the King said before turning and addressing Chase, “Let’s get this over with.”

“Wow... talk about someone needing a better attitude.” Chase muttered as he walked around Gilda and into the afternoon sun. The small clearing they had chosen was a quite a few clicks west of where the city was, made clear by the lone mountain rising up in the horizon, and it would be one hell of a long walk till the got there. Thankfully they weren’t in the bog anymore and it just seem like really dense forest with some shrubbery between their LZ and the city.

Ignoring the comments Princess Gilda made towards him, Chase turned the corner to see Ethan checking over his weapons. His MA5B assault rifle lay across his black armored back over his Speed Boost armor ability and his M6D pistols were in his hands being looked over. From what the King had said, Chase doubted that they would actually need to use them, but it was always better to not need it and have it than not have it and need it.

Chase pulled his own MA5D off of his back to inspect it and decided against putting in a new magazine as his current one was still over half full. All the ammo he carried was for his MA5D while his other weapon was the special T-1 Energy Weapon/Sword that he had found on the Gamma Halo ring. His T-4 Active Camouflage unit was in perfect operating order which brought a smile to his face. The old T-3 models always lost consistency whenever the spartan moved, the newer T-4s were more like the Elite’s version.

After he finished looking his assault rifle over, Chase’s HUD flickered with static before returning to it’s original look. Looking up he saw Ethan nod towards him and attach his pistols to his thighs, “Fixed the comms.”

“I didn’t even think they were broken.” Chase said as Ethan began to walk towards the city in the distance.

Chase turned back to the Pelican to see the King in his new armor waiting for him. Hank walked into the Pelican behind him and was probably going to get the video up and running on Ethans helmet so Gilda and Kaylon could guide him. Looking down at the King, who stood as high as Chase’s stomach, he motioned his head towards where Ethan had taken off, “Well let’s get a move on.”

The King let out a sigh as he began moving, “How are you going to protect me once we get to the castle?”

“Oh, you’ll see... or more accurately, you won’t.” Chase said in a cheery tune as they approached the forest.

“Wait!” someone shouted out before the King could respond. Turning, Chase watched as Gilda embraced her father in a hug, “Please be carefull.” King Ashford whispered something to Gilda that Chase didn’t catch before they separated. Gilda suddenly turned to the spartan with a glare like the one she shot him earlier, “Dweeb, if he is hurt at all, or one feather is out of place, I will hunt you down and castrate you with my bare talons!”

‘Holy shit... she doesn't stand a chance against me, but I admire her determination.' Chase thought as he just nodded his head once in understanding. As she began walking back towards the Pelican, Chase began to laugh at the situation him and his team was in. This earned him a confuse look from the King as they turned and began walking into the forest towards the city.

“What’s got you in stitches?” the King asked.

“Two days ago I was fighting on the inside of a giant metal sphere the size of a planet. Yesterday I escaped from that place as it was pulled into a sun in what I’m sure was a huge explosion. Then today I’m helping a king take back his kingdom and stop a potential war while also trying to find the rest of my team.” Chase began laughing once again as he talked, “I swear, once I retire I will be rich off my autobiography alone.”

The King also began to laugh, “Your joking right?”

“No, that is actually what I’ve done over the past few days.”

“Hm, I’d certainly buy it, though nogryph would believe such a tale.”

“I’ve got video and picture evidence to back most of it up. I dare anyone to call me a liar with all that backing me up.”

The King just nodded and grew silent. It would be a long time till they reached the edges of the city, even longer to get to the castle. As the sun was just beginning its descent from hitting its peak in the sky, the spartan resisted the urge to just turn on some music to pass the time. If he wasn’t on protection detail or had another spartan he would of in a heartbeat. Sadly, Chase would just have to live with being bored as he moved through the forest looking at nothing but trees roots and his charge.

‘It's gonna be a long day.'

****Nailock Taizon, Gryphon Kingdom Capital****
9/13/After-noon

Chase looked around his new surroundings and couldn’t help but feel that overall, the capital city was... only slightly impressive. The city’s normal buildings were built mostly out of stone and used wood for wall sides, probably for some reason that Chase wasn’t smart enough to know about. When it came down to what he was expecting, the impressive part came from the castle itself.

Spanning across the entire back side of the city, the Royal castle was big enough to thank the fact they have guides for when they got in. There was no one point in the city you couldn’t see a part of the castle. It was carved into the very mountain, but that wasn’t good enough for whoever made the place, oh no.

Multiple spires rose up, illuminated by the low sun and multiple lights with in the castle itself without any sign of where the rocks were fused together. The entire place looked like it was made out of black marble, but the usual white lines that run through the rock looked like an artist had intricately made each individual one. Considering how many overlapped each other and curved gracefully with no signs of a jagged edge to be seen, it was almost breathtaking.

Chase hadn’t even seen them up close, all of this was observations that he made from a distance using the zoom function in his helmet. It wasn’t as beautiful as the nature preserves on Jericho IV, but it was one hell of a sight that made Chase think it had to be made with magic. Shaking the thoughts on magic out of his head, the spartan began to move to another alley way to keep his charge in sight.

One of his main fears when seeing the city had been that the streets would be flooded with passing civilians and leaving little room to maneuver. This proved wrong when it was revealed the majority of the city didn’t bother with doors on ground level since the entire population could fly. Balconies with entrance signs lit up in neon lights proved to be as confusing as possible as the gryphons seemed nowhere near even the basics in electricity, technology wise.

The King seemed to be doing fine and from this distance, Chase could spot the entrance the gryphon would be using to enter the castle. The two of them were on the north side of the city and the far side of the castle wall. There were a few entrances at ground level for the few guards that had to be grounded due to injuries their wings sustained in battle.

Another plus to using this north side entrance was that in was weakly guarded, most of the castle guards being stationed around the market and the west entrance to the castle. With how a only a few of the building had signs that made them out to be stores or something else, the district they were in reminded Chase of a suburban area. Nobody home during the day.

Focusing once more on the mission at hand, Chase activated his active camo and moved up closer to the King as he approached an iron door on the wall. He then knocked two times fast, three short and waited a little bit before adding one last knock. A little slider at the King’s eye level moved and revealed the eyes of another gryphon on the other side. The two of them seemed to exchange words before they both erupted in laughter at something Chase didn’t catch.

The door swung open to reveal another guard in a green variant of the armor the King wore. As they exchanged words and the King lured the guard a few steps away from the door, Chase moved quickly and sprinted into the wide open garden. Now with the castle within reach, and the spartan hiding behind some of the well maintained foliage, Chase could see that the castle was even more breathtaking up close than it was at a distance.

Instead of ogling the castle like he wanted to do, Chase turned off his active camo, to let the little bit he used recharge, and watched as the King walked on the path around all the exotic trees and cool looking flower bushes. After about a few minutes of tailing the gryphon through the large garden, the King finally came upon an open set of ash grey, glass paneled doors.

Activating his cammo once again, Chase began to the boring process of watching the fifteen minute timer count down in the corner of his vision over his motion sensor. Thankfully the doors were all on ground level as they made their way to the Royal Courtroom. Chase even saw a set of stairs and thought about why they would have them for a few seconds before he realised he didn’t care and just moved on after the King.

Despite the entire castle being black with white accenting decals, it was actually pretty well lit up. Not depressingly dark and gloomy like Chase had expected. Another purple guard passed and didn’t acknowledge the King or even steal a second glance at where the invisible spartan was pressed against the wall. Overall it was a smooth ride so far, and it only made Chase wonder just what kind of shit storm they were walking into.

The timer for his active camouflage dropped into the single digits as they rounded the last corner. This time the corridor ended with very elaborate set of ebony doors with even finer ivory decals then what the black marble around them had. On either side of the door was a guard in purple armor that looked just like the King, but unlike the earlier guards, these ones looked at the disguised King Ashford with disgust.

“Hope you’re not looking to get in CORPORAL.” the guard to the King’s right said.

“Courtrooms been on lockdown for the past few days as they get everything ready for King Black’s coronation.” the second guard answered before King Ashford could ask.

‘Oh yeah, I'm probably gonna have to take these two out.' Chase couldn’t see the King’s reaction from this distance, but his tail and wing twitched slightly when the second guard mentioned King Black.

“I’m sorry sir, but I’ve been in the infirmary for the past week, could you tell me what exactly happened. I’ve only heard rumors.” the King asked, probably putting on his best poker face.

“Ha! You must of been in a comma to of not heard of the cowards death.” the second guard laughed.

“The cowardice King Ashford and Princess Gilda were killed in an accident over Red Thorn Bog. Since then the Royal Court has been doing everything in their power to stop King Black from actually becoming King.” the first one answered with a glare at the King, “What your name corporal?”

‘Welp, time for the fighting to start!' Chase thought as he began to move in closer to the guards.

“Rusher, Rusher Johnson.” that made Chase do a double take and back off a little, “I’ll leave it you then.” the King said before saluting both of them and walking back down the corridor towards the spartan.

The King began to go back down the same path that he had taken except after two turns he moved down one of the corridors that he hadn’t gone through yet. King Ashford opened and entered the last door on the right and left it open for Chase to enter. Quickly catching on to what the King wanted, the spartan followed suit and entered the room before shutting the door.

The new room was revealed to be a small broom closet, seeing as it full of cleaning supplies and a mop was in a bucket, against the wall, behind the King, “Where is the other spartan, Ethan?” the King asked as soon as the door was shut.

“One sec.” Chase pulled up the squads camera views and opened Ethan’s before he began quickly describing what Ethan was looking at, “Is the courtroom where supposed to get into pretty large with four columns on either side of the main entrance and has a large balcony for second floor seats. All of this while being in front of three tables, one being a large curving table that has only nine seats while the other two-”

“I know very well what my own courtroom looks like, so you can stop describing it. I take it that you know all this because your friend is already in?” the King interrupted and asked. Chase gave a nod as he tried think of how Ethan had gotten onto the decorative stone archways above the room, “Then can you tell me if they’re in there?” the King asked as if it were an obvious question.

“Oh yeah, they’re in there. So are a lot of gryphons in armor and some white gryphon with a crown that I’m gonna assume is this Black you’ve been talking about.” Chase said as he looked at the scene.

“Orders?” Ethan suddenly asked as the King continued.

“They... not even Black is arrogant enough to think he can kill the Court of Nine and... tell Ethan to protect the Nine at all costs.” the King said with rising concern in his voice.

“Ethan protect the nine court heads at all costs.” Chase said over the radio before closing the camera feed and looking at the King, “You want us to kill Black or no?”

“Keep him alive, I will deal with him myself.” the King said darkly while moving towards the door.

“Ethan, when all hell breaks loose, only injure Black, the King wants him alive.” Chase stated, turning invisible and following the King. A green acknowledgment light flashed on the side of his HUD showing Ethan got and understood the order.

“I take it we’re going into the room no matter what?” Chase asked quietly.

“If you could dispose of the guards quickly, I’d appreciate it getting this whole thing over with as soon as possible.” the King said as he continued to walk at a fast pace. Without a doubt his injury was hurting like hell, so Chase assumed the King wanted this to end fast so he wouldn’t have to fight much and wind up in the infirmary.

Chase resisted the urge to bolt forward down the last corridor and kill the two guards, but it would put the King out of his sight. In a situation like this where Murphy’s Law was just begging to come into play Chase was being a little cautious. Once they turned the final corner though, Chase took off like a bat out of hell and sprinted right to the guard on the his left.

The gryphon didn’t know what hit him as Chase enclosed his right hand around the gryphons beak and positioned his left hand behind the gryphons head. A twist and pop later, and the second gryphon looked over to see his partner now had his entire head facing the other way, a look of fear and confusion plastered on his dead face. Before the body even hit the floor, Chase had already positioned his hand over the second gryphon’s beak like he had the first.

Not even a second passed and there was another pop sound and the spartan laid the dead gryphon on the ground slowly, unlike he had with the first. The King looked at the two dead gryphons briefly as Chase stood beside the door still cloaked and grabbing his MA5D. A look of regret danced across his face. Then a second later and it was gone, replaced with stone cold determination and conviction. Putting both talons on the door, the King forced them open in an overly dramatic sort of way earning him the attention of the entire courtroom.

The group of two seemed to of walked in at one hell of a moment as all the guards with Black had their short swords out and looked ready for the word to go on a killing spree. The thing that Chase noticed right away though was a smaller creature behind the front right pillar. It wore a fitted headset that had a small camera on the right side and a microphone leading from it’s ear to the side of it’s mouth. Since it was away from the conflict, Chase ignored it, but marked them green with his HUD for Ethan to know it wasn’t target.

The white gryphon, which Chase was just now realizing the irony of the name Black, turned to look at their entrance with anger and slight confusion on his face, “Guard, what’s the meaning of-”

“Oh you know damn well why I’m here you traitorous bastard.” King Ashford interrupted in a low and cold voice. Taking off the helmet, the feathers on the King’s head turned back to their normal light grey tone earning a shocked gasp from the room, “And I fully intend to take my Kingdom back. If you guards stand down now, I’ll give you a fair trial, but I will not make this offer twice.”

Black seemed stunned for a second before letting out a small chuckle, “Well thank goodness you're back. Now I won’t have to worry about you actually escaping to the D-B Kingdom.”

Stealing a glance at the nine gryphons behind him, Black began to laugh in a slightly psychotic way before shouting at the twenty gryphons under his command, “Kill them all!”

Before the first gryphon even moved, it was practically over. Chase decloaked and leveled his assault rifle with the closest gryphon going for the King before opening fire. He dropped faster than he knew what had happened as three rounds found their mark. The sudden bursts of sound made the others slightly pause to look towards the loud noise that the rifle had made. The second target was chosen as the body of the first hit the floor.

Two rounds went straight through the gryphons throat, exiting through the gryphons spine and armor in a splash of metal, blood, and bone. Another three went into the third gryphon’s chest, slicing through the armor as if it weren’t even there. Two more found the fourth guard as he was began to finally move towards the King. Then a single bullet found it’s way into the chest of a gryphon as he flew upwards to probably get a look at what was happening.

On the other side of the line of guards, the gryphons were dying even quicker as a storm of bullets rained down on them from the ceiling. Ethan’s two M6D pistols penetrating the gryphons armor and incapacitating them each with one bullet. Thanks to the 12.7x40mm M225 SAPHE (Semi Armor Piercing High Explosive) magnum rounds, the gryphons that died after the bullets hit their spines were the lucky ones. Those that didn’t had to deal with pieces of metal slicing around inside them after the the small explosion of the bullet sent pieces of metal into their internal organs. A few died from suffocation as the shards of metal hit their lungs and drowned in their own blood.

On Chase’s side, Two more rounds and the sixth gryphon, out of the nine that charged the King, went down gargling his own blood as the rounds ripped open his throat. With the last three gryphons closer than comfortable, Chase shot his last six rounds in a sweep from right to left. One round found it’s mark in the chest cavity of the farthest right gryphon while a second bullet nicked his armor, ricocheting off harmlessly. The third and fourth rounds found themselves buried into the middle gryphon’s stomach as he tried to gain altitude. The fifth hit a stone pillar while the sixth buried itself into the hip of the last gryphon.

As a last ditch effort the gryphon jumped with his wings spread at the King, sword pointing forward straight at his chest. The King jumped back out of the gryphons range, his own sword grasped in his talons, and got into a fighting stance with his eyes glued to the gryphon. Chase had other ideas as he swung out his left leg and kicked the last guard right in the chest as he tried to pass.

The sound of bones snapping reverberated through the room as Chase’s foot more than like likely caused the gryphon’s chest cavity to cave in. The kick’s power caused the gryphon to fly back and slam into the white gryphon, Black. The impact knocked both of them into the bodies of the fallen gryphons that had tried to kill the Court of Nine.

Speaking of whom, on top of the raised row of seats were nine gryphons that all seemed shocked and/or appalled at what had just happened in front of them. The farthest one to the right was in the middle of throwing up their lunch at the sight of the massacre in front of them.

Ethan had, at some point, dropped from the ceiling and had both of his M6D pistols pointed at Black as struggled to get the dying gryphon off of him. Chase reloaded his assault rifle as the room began to quiet down and the blood began to run out of the dead bodies’ wounds, King Ashford walked forward, “Why did it have to come to this.”

Black, free of the gryphon that had slammed into him, stood shakily as he looked around, beak clenched shut and eyes narrowed in anger, “You killed all of these guards and you have to ask why? They’re dead because of you! You and those, things!”

“I gave them a chance to stand down and they didn’t take it. I will be personally writing my condolences to their families for their loss, but I will not say sorry in a single one. They were given a chance to live and they chose what they thought would be an easy battle. This could’ve been even worse had you gotten what you want.”

“Justice!? Cause that’s all I’ve ever wanted! Those dirty Minotaurs deserve nothing else than death!” Black shouted in anger reaching for his sword. Chase held up his hand to stop Ethan from killing the idiot.

“The kind of war you wish to fight has no end.” King Ashford stated as he readied his own sword, “If you had your way there wouldn’t be any Minotaurs left on this planet.”

“Paradise if I’ve ever heard it.” Black said as he took off towards the King.

With ease that showed off years of sword handling, King Ashford sidestepped and parried the cut and sliced with his own sword. Black moved his head a second too late, leaving him with a small cut on his cheek. With rage evident in his face, Black went on a full on assault, hacking away at the King. With a calm face, King Ashford parried, blocked, and dodged all of the strikes made at him and returned with his own well thought out strikes.

As the King and Black fought, Ethan never once had his sights off of Black and Chase, knowing who was going to win, began to silently walk towards the deer-looking creature. It had a feminine looking body, but Chase had learned the hard way that when you assume something it makes an ass out of both parties. It had brown eyes and the sides of it's coat were a dark ash color. A long stretch of fur from the top of it's... muzzle that stretched and encompassed half of it's back was a really dark blue. Then it had a dark purple... mane with the outer inch of it’s short tail was the same color while the inner color matched the dark blue of it's back.

The deer was full locked on the battle at hand while talking into the microphone, “The battle is intense and fierce as these two fight for the fate of the kingdom. The questions keep piling as the creature that had killed over half the guards with General Black just watches. The other-” she suddenly stopped as she looked over and saw Chase was crouched right next to her.

The deer’s jaw visibly quaked as she held in a scream of surprise. Chase chuckled at the sight before stating, “You might want to keep that camera on the fight before you miss something.” the deer gulped and took the spartan’s advice, looking back towards the fight between King Ashford and General Black.

With how many strikes Black kept giving, it was only a matter of time before he slipped like the King was waiting for. He was letting rage run his mind, something that translated into his sword work and made it sloppy. The only reason that the King had yet to kill the S-O-B was because he was fast and aggressive with his strikes. If it didn’t end soon, judging on how neither combatants looked in the least bit tired from the straight minute or so fighting, it would be going on for hours.

Soon though, the King got the opening he wanted. Black was hovering with his wings and using them to maneuver around the King quickly to try and find a blind spot in the King’s defense. The King kept moving around and jumping from side to side to avoid the swings from Black. Then Black swung down with the short sword in his right talons, but before he could retreat King Ashford’s left talons shot forward and pulled the white gryphon forward. The battle was over as the King buried his sword into Black’s chest, just below where the armor protected.

The range of emotions Chase saw in Black’s eyes were limited to three, rage, shock, and finally pain as his body went limp. Ethan finally lowered his pistols as Black’s body fell over onto the ground, the crown that had been atop his head rolled away from the from his now dead form. Chase turned to the deer to see her practically grinning from ear to ear with joy.

“This is Action News’ Alice Summers saying, King Ashford is back and peace seems to be his main goal. This is monumentally good news not only for the world, but for this shows ratings. I will now attempt to get the King to answer a few questions as to what this means for the Gryphon Kingdom and-”

“I’m sorry, the King will not be taking questions from the media at this time.” Chase said as he got the deer’s attention, “We need to clean up the courtroom, comb the guard and army for Black’s supporters, then we have to find the poor janitor who’s cleaning this up.”

“Just who and what are you anyway?” the deer asked the spartan.

“My name is Chase Blake, and I’m a spartan.”

“... That’s it? Can you please explain what a spartan is? Maybe why you’re here helping King Ashford?” Alice asked while Chase stole a glance at the King. He had begun to address the Court of Nine and Ethan was watching over them all.

“Hmm, sure.” Chase said shrugging his shoulders and motioning her towards the door, “I will answer a few questions, outside, chose them carefully.” ‘I really want to get this day over with already.'

“What’s a spartan? Why are you helping the King? Those two to start.” Alice said without missing a beat as she followed the spartan.

Taking one last glance back at the proceedings between the King and the nine gryphons of the court, Chase shut the doors and turned to the deer, “Alright, a spartan is a highly trained, highly advanced, and very deadly soldier. The reason I was with the King is because he enlisted my teams help during this operation.”

“I suppose you can’t give me the details of this steel armor you have on.” she stated.

“Did you really think I would correct you?” Chase asked chuckling at her attempt to learn what the armor was made of.

“Fine, fine, but you don’t seem like you’re from around here.” she said raising an eyebrow at the spartan.

“Well, that is a long story. Just know that it involves a portal, an exploding planet, and crashing our ship in one heck of a cliche way.” Chase responded with a cheery tone.

“So, wait.” Alice looked at the spartan with new found confusion, “You’re telling me you’re an alien.”

Chase brought a hand up to the bottom of his helmet to stroke his imaginary beard, “Well, the portal thing that we used didn’t cross just distances, but aliens sound simple enough, so yes.”

Alice just raised her eyebrow, “Okay... then why did you come here?”

“About six to seven months ago, the other half of my team came through a similar portal using the same coordinates. I’m just here to find them.”

“How do you plan on getting back?”

“We don’t.” Chase answered simply, shocking the deer reporter.

“What do you mean ‘you don’t’?”

“So far the only two portals that are know are either destroyed or in a quarantined area. The odds of us finding a way to return on our own are damn near astronomical.”

“You don’t seem that worried, care to explain?”

“Well-” Chase was interrupted as the doors opened up and revealed a smiling King Ashford with Ethan at his side. Alice quickly dropped down into a bow making Chase raise an eyebrow under his helmet.

“Spartan, we’re about to go free the guards Black imprisoned. After that we’re making the announcement of his betrayal, so get ready for another fight.” the King stated before he noticed Alice and chuckled, “Wow, I didn’t know the deerling media was this fast.”

Alice rose from her bowing position, “King Ashford, do you think you could answer some questions?”

“I’m sorry Miss. Summers, but you will have to wait for the press release like all the other news crews. Chase, I would like it if Ethan stayed to protect the Court of Nine, and Miss. Summers, while we proceed to the dungeons.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Chase said with a happy tune before nodding to Ethan, “It’s about time this long day finally came to an end.”

Under the Magical Dome

View Online

Chapter Thirteen

****Southeastern end of the Everfree Forest****
9/14/Morning

“Please shut up.” Leon muttered as-

“Stop looking in my head!”

“I can’t control it! Just don’t think- by the ancients! What is wrong with you!”

Alfred let out a fairly loud sigh as he moved through the dense underbrush to the forest’s edge. Morning light becoming visible the closer they got to the forest’s edge.

“Told you we should’ve left that chip in the castle.” Leon said with a small smile at his friend’s misfortune. So far, beyond the arguing and occasional burst of static in the comms, the newest edition to their team hadn’t hindered them that much. Josh was still in control of his own body and armor, so that was still a plus...

“Okay, whatever you’re doing stop! My HUD is going crazy.” Josh said as he held his assault rifle close to his midsection.

‘At least he's not broadcasting that through his external speakers.’ Leon thought as they neared the light. Alfred, at the front of the group, began moving slower and in slowly began to crouch down. Leon doing the same while Josh put his back to a tree and watched behind them.

Alfred, who was now on his stomach and inside a bush, switched his DMR out for his sniper rifle. Several seconds passed in surprise silence before Alfred spoke, “Set of train tracks a klick in the direction we’re going, small town three klicks East by South-East and what seems to be an orchard nine klicks South by South-West.”

“Copy that. We move for the orchard, restock our food, and move for the mountains. Stick together, move fast, and-” Leon was cut off as a warning signal appeared on his and Alfred’s HUD.

“Why is this so confusing!” Nightmare shouted through their comms.

“What are you trying to do again?” Leon asked before Josh could yell at the AI for activating Josh's emergency armor lock down.

“All I can do in here is hear his thoughts and those aren’t very fun to see or hear. I was trying to access the camera on the his helmet so I could take my mind off some of the disgusting things his comes up with.”

“Hey! You can’t judge me! You don’t know-” Josh began before Leon spoke over him.

“Alright, we’ll take a small breather and you can work on that.” Leon said while turning off the signal that Josh’s armor was emitting, ‘Hopefully we were the only ones to get that.'

“Still locked up here you know, any time you wanna do something about that, it would be fan-fucking-tastic.” Josh said to no one particular.

“I think... I... Got it!” Nightmare stated happily.

Soon after though, Josh’s eyes became wider than dinner plates as pain shot through his body, “Oh mother of God! Reverse it! REVERSE IT!” Josh shouted as the gel layer of his armor was overpressurized. His cries were unheard Alfred and Leon though as the comms were cut off a moment before. The feeling of a thousand tiny knives piercing his skin in unimaginable pain immediately disappeared as a blue flicker went across his visor.

“Huzzah! We have access to the, HUD, as you call it.” Nightmare said proudly as Josh just slumped against the tree exhausted.

“We? Who else is in my head?” Josh asked weakly while inhaling deeply, trying to get his breath back.

“Do not be so accusative, I’m the only one in here. Sometimes I use the royal ‘We’ when addressing myself, it was how I was raised to talk after all.”

“And you’re not now because...?”

“If one is to survive then they must adapt with the world around them. In my long life I’ve never heard truer words spoken.”

After a few seconds of silence between the two, Josh nodded his head, “Sounds legit, so you ready for us to move Moonie?”

“Don’t. Call me. Moonie.” Nightmare said through the comms with venom in her voice.

“Are you ready?” Josh asked again.

There was a few seconds of silences once again before Nightmare sighed, “Yes, We’re ready.”

“Great! Leon we’re ready to go.” Josh said looking over to Leon. The spartan in question currently eating an apple while Alfred did the same.

“We got time still. Alfred was smart enough to grab some apples as he passed the orchard yesterday, so why don’t you eat yours and then we’ll head out.” Leon tossed him one of the delicious red fruits while Josh took off his helmet.

“Oh that’s weird.” Josh stated shaking his head. Upon seeing the questioning eyebrow from Leon, he continued, “Just really weird adjusting to an AI then not having one. Can’t really describe it, it’s just weird.”

“I’m sure you’ll get used to it. We’re probably going to be here for a while.” Alfred said taking one last bite of his apple.

“I thought this was just a small break?” Josh questioned.

“I meant on this planet. We have no idea where we’re at and no way to contact the UNSC unless they get close to this one individual planet amongst the entire galaxy.”

“I think it’s worse than that Al. A lot of things aren’t adding up or making any sense whatsoever.” Leon said while taking another bite out of his apple.

Josh swallowed his own apple bite before speaking, “You mean the mythical creatures speaking English, the fact magic exists, how we somehow got mixed up in a political battle in the middle of an escape, how a ghost was-”

“We get it.” Alfred said, cutting Josh off, “Nothing is making sense, but what is there that we can do about it?”

“Just because we can’t change what happened doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to understand it. There are better times for this though.” Leon said taking one last big bite of his apple.

“It sounds to me like you crossed existential planes.” Nightmare said making Josh’s helmet the center of attention, “Something that would be impossible to do because of the amount of power required would be equal to about ten Celestias at full power. Then there’s the business of targeting one individual plane so that your atoms to get scattered to the entire infinite lot of them.”

“So what? You’re saying we’re in another universe?” Josh asked with a healthy bit of sarcasm and skepticism in his voice.

“From what I’ve seen in your filthy mind, yes.” Nightmare stated causing everyone else to go silent.

The silence persisted as Leon finished off his apple and Josh worked on his own. Alfred was looking out across the expanse of grassland that slowly turned to desert, slowly breathing and barely concentrating on his HUD. Leon stared at the ground, thinking of long term survival plans. Everything from food and shelter to thinking of suitable power options to replace his armors reactor when it runs out of energy in a few decades.

Josh shook his head and tossed his apple core over his shoulder and into the foliage, “You know, I think I can live with that.”

“What?” the other two spartans asked simultaneously.

“Dude, I joined to kill aliens and help in the war effort. With the war over, the only reason I’m still here was to keep an eye on everyone else... and my contract.” Josh said putting his helmet back on.

“You realize how stupid that sounds right?” Alfred stated, “We have no way of getting back to the UNSC period. That means no more of the luxuries that comes with technology. No more of that techno music you like... No more of your cheap dates and one night stands. Hell no more women at all.”

“Dude, we’re freakin aliens to them. With enough show of force we could probably live like kings here. Not that we would, but it is a possibility. Don’t count the ponies too short on the technology thing either, remember the camera at the dam?”

“What about our friends back in the UNSC?” Alfred stated, anger beginning to edge into his voice, “What about Hank and Ethan. They probably think we’re dead! And that’s if they got off the ring at all!”

The sudden thought of their other friends being dead made an uncomfortable silence drift back over the group. Alfred turned away from Josh and began looking out over the distance they were going to be going. Leon was quiet and still staring at the ground for a while as Josh slowly put back on his helmet.

Nightmare, decided to stay silent as she really had nothing to say. What could you say to three alien super soldiers who were mourning the loss of their friends?

After a about a minute in silence, Leon spoke up, “If we’re stuck here, we got make the most of it and survive.” Leon stood up and brought his BR to his chest, “I will not let Chase’s death be in vain. We’ll look for way to get back to our world, but for now we need to get out of Equestria, find a suitable location for our FOB, and do some research on magic. Sound good?” Leon extended a hand to help Josh up.

“Mierda, better than anything I got.” Josh said accepting the assistance.

“If there is no possible way to get back, I can learn to live with it.” Alfred equipped his DMR and checked the surrounding area again, “Clear.”

“Let’s move.” as the words left his mouth, Alfred bolted out of cover and moved towards the apple orchard going his armor’s top speed that didn’t run the risk of his legs cramping up. Leon and Josh were right behind him, weapons ready for anything.

****Neilock Taizon, Gryphon Kingdom Capital****
9/14/Noon-ish

“I had three gryphons try to kill me in my sleep last night, how bout you guys?” Chase asked through his teams communications channel. Chase was currently walking behind King Ashford while a small contingent of guards escorted them to the very courtroom that Chase and Ethan had cleared out the previous night. The guards were some of the fifty or so they had pulled from the dungeons and given back their armor. The King was wearing his ‘I’m royalty' clothes, which consisted of a platinum crown, gold version of the guards armor minus the helmet, and his sword at his side.

“Me an Ethan slept in the Pelican, took shifts to watch out for thieves.” Hank’s voice answered back.

“Wish you would of told me, I could of joined you and actually gotten some sleep.” Chase said with a small chuckle.

“Why did you sleep in the castle?”

“A show of faith in our hosts, and now they’ll be overly generous to make up for the poor security. At least that's what I’m going for.” as he finished, the King stopped just before the doors and turned to the spartan.

“Chase, this is more than likely going to go on for a few hours and I can’t let you in. Thompson will be your guide through the castle. He knows all the areas that you’re allowed to be and can lead you to the courtyard your ship and friends are in.”

“Sounds good to me.” Chase nodded his head before adding, “Good luck in there.” The King smiled, making Chase raise an eyebrow in confusion since it seemed impossible to do with a beak, and turned back to the door. Chase turned away as the doors opened and the sounds of over a hundred gryphons arguing reached his ears. A personal guard of the King’s, as evident by the purple armor, stuck by Chase’s side as he walked away from the courtroom.

“So think you can show me where the Library is, I need to check out a few books on-” Chase was cut off as his helmet began beeping franticly. Chase stopped mid stride and pulled up Ghost team’s squad roster. Six names with their designations and roles in the squad popped up. Three of them were highlighted green, the three currently at the castle, two were greyed out, meaning they were missing in action.

The last one was a blinking red color, showing that the emergency systems in the spartan's suit had been activated.

“Going to have to take a rain check on those books.” Chase said to the confused guard before an objective point appeared on his HUD, more than likely made by Ethan, “Me and my team gotta leave as soon as possible, but tell the King that it was a pleasure to help him keep the peace in this... wonderful kingdom of his.”

The guard looked at Chase with confusion, “Could I have a reason for the King as to this abrupt departure?”

“I just got an emergency signal from the other half of my team. So we’re going to go and find them. Now, I gotta go.” Chase turned on his cloaking device and began running down the hallway.

‘We're coming guys, just hold on.'

A minute later Chase rushed out of one of open decorative glass doors that lead into the main courtyard of the castle. The Pelican was already started up and the back ramp was down and facing him. Chase slowed down and slid into the Pelican, stopping himself from falling by grabbing onto the holotable. The ramp began to pull back as they lifted off the ground, earning them the attention of a lot of spectators in the city.

“Ethan, could anyone else of gotten that signal?” Chase asked pulling up their team roster on the holotable.

“Yes.” Ethan stated with his usual monotone voice.

“It went out over a big area, so it’s possible someone else picked it up. They wouldn’t of been able to understand the information in the signal, but it is possible that Leon and them will have some company.” Hank said as Chase felt the Pelican lurch from the boosters turning on, “The biggest question is why? They couldn’t of known we’re here and the lockdown only sends out that signal if sent manually by the spartan.”

“They could of got separated and Josh used as a way to get them to his position.” Chase suggested, “It would explain why it went off quickly afterwards... Hey if we got the signal, why can’t we contact them?”

“A small signal ping and communicating with them are two entirely different things. Ethan thinks their comms are messed up just like ours were from the portal. He said he had to... um...”

“Do a hard reset.” Ethan answered for Hank.

“Yeah, he had to do a hard reset on all our suit’s systems for some technical reason, I didn’t understand half of it honestly. In short though, we’ll have to be a lot closer before they can hear us.”

“How long until we reach them?” Chase asked looking at a holographic image of Josh, Leon, and Alfred.

“It will take a while, even if we use the boosters the entire way. You might want to get some rest if you want to look good for your boyfriend Josh.” Hank said over the radio.

“Oh ha ha ha Hank, you should've been a comedian. I think I will take a nap though, definitely didn’t get any sleep last night.” Chase said, closing the image and sitting down on the seats behind him. With a smile on his face, the spartan stretched out over the seats, set an alarm to wake him up later, and closed his eyes, 'Nothing can stop us now.'

****Appleloosa, Equestria****
9/14/Late morning

It was just another quiet morning for the town of Appleloosa. Ponies were already at work, doing their jobs or out in the apple orchard tending to the trees. Everything considered it was looking to be just another normal day for the citizens that trotted through town on errands or for business reasons. That is, till the morning train arrived with six particular ponies wearing fancy pieces of jewelry that could seal away gods and, as Twilight hoped, aliens.

“Are you sure about this Sugarcube?” Applejack asked as the got off the train at Appleloosa. They had all gotten on the train in the early morning to try and cut the spartans off before they got to the Badlands, despite half of them not even wanting to continue the pursuit.

“Yes, they will need to restock on food before entering the Badlands and the apple orchards here are-” Twilight began before Applejack interrupted her.

“I meant bout going after ‘em. We’re practically signin away their lives if in we catch ‘em. Regardless of what they’ve done, we shouldn’t be the first to kill.”

Twilight let out a heavy sigh, “I know AJ and, I agree. We shouldn’t be the first to kill, but I believe the Princesses will find a way to give them a fair trial. They’ve even been talking of about asking Cadence to come all the way from the Crystal Empire for a de novo appeal. Sadly both her and Shining are dealing with their own political troubles in the Empire.”

“Now jus think fer a second Twi. What if they can’t?” Applejack stated.

Rainbow let out a loud groan as she stretched her wings, cutting off Twilight’s response, “Why can’t one of us do the court thing? I think after all the stuff we’ve been through we should-”

“Rainbow.” Twilight said cutting her off, “We were granted nobility status when we became Bearers, but we can’t do it for the same reason as the Princesses. Blueblood would just say that the ruling would be unjust and unfair and besides us, and the Princesses, he’s the only other political figure who can legally take the case.”

“Oh, I do so dread politics.” Rarity said as she walked up to them with Fluttershy next to her, “All of this could’ve been done and over with if Blueblood hadn’t taken over the case.”

“At least Pinkie seems happy.” Fluttershy said drawing all the mares attention to the pink party pony. She was currently behind Braeburn as he welcomed some other ponies to Appleloosa, imitating everything he did from the way he said ‘Appleloosa’ to waving at the girls before showing the new ponies around town. After she stopped laughing a the oblivious stallion, Pinkie bounced over to where the rest of them were waiting.

“Hi girls! Are we having a staring contest?”

“No.” Twilight interrupted before she could ask another twenty or so questions, “We’re about to head out into the apple orchard to see if there are any signs of the spartans and to set up a stakeout.”

“We have to stay in the orchard? With that dust storm settling in? We’ll get absolutely filthy.” Rarity said motioning towards a large cloud of dust that had been kicked up at the edge of the apple trees.

Twilight rolled her eyes as they left the train station, “It will settle before we get there, it’s probably just Chief Thunderhooves and his tribe stampeding.”

“Wow, I didn’t know they stampeded-ed from the Everfree Forest.” Pinkie said while looking through a pair of binoculars at the dust cloud.

Everypony stopped in their tracks and Twilight grabbed the binoculars from Pinkie to see what she meant. Sure enough, the dust trail seemed to originate where the grass turned to sand near the Everfree, “Girls we need to move now!”

The rest of the girls stayed silent as they ran towards the orchard. Twilight was in front with Rainbow flying high above to get a look at what was happening. Fluttershy was second surprisingly with Applejack and Rarity right behind her. Applejack looked to her side to see Rarity putting on a light tan sun hat and Pinkie was...

“Where in tarnation is Pinkie?” Applejack yelled but got no response back, ‘I hope that mare stays outa trouble.’

****

It was no longer a game of stealth for the spartans. From virtually every angle, they wouldn’t of been able to get near the town or the apple orchard with out being in plain sight for longer than Leon wanted. Especially since they were being pursued.

“So, what’s the plan this time Leon?” Josh asked as the approached the trees.

“Get the apples and get to the Macintosh Hills, the closest border of Equestria. There we should be able to get enough water to last us for a while. Then we descend into the Badlands and find a place for our FOB.” Leon said just as they came up to the first set of trees, “Josh lock the C-7 to your sides, we’re going to need the room in your bag to carry the apples. Alfred keep a look out for any curious civilians.”

The spartans got to work doing just that while Leon began pulling down two apples at a time from the closest tree. The dust cloud they had made began to drift over them and into the apple orchard, reducing the chances of someone seeing them. Alfred turned on his thermal to get a gage on how far he could see in the dust storm. Being in the air for a little bit had cooled the warm morning sad to allow him to actually see a good distance through the dust.

A heat signature shot up through the trees and into the air, “Contact forty meters out, looks like a pegasus.”

Leon was quick to reply, “Keep your eyes on her, we move slow and carefully from here on out. We got plenty of cover and I’d rather us not waste what ammo we have.”

“Gotcha.” Josh said, shooting Leon a thumbs up.

Together they began to move through the orchard, not really going that fast, but not at a normal pace either. After a few minutes they were out of the dust cloud and all of them were able to turn off their thermal. Soon after Alfred called out, “The pegasus landed about forty-five meters north-west of us.”

“Copy that, make sure to keep an eye on our six for-”

Something cut Leon off as it popped down right in front of his visor, “Hi! My name is Pinkie Pie!”

Three things happened in that brief second that followed. Josh and Alfred brought their weapons up and aimed it at the pony’s stomach. Leon jumped back and slid between Josh and Alfred, putting some distance between the pony and himself. Pinkie just started laughing at the scramble she had caused.

“That was cool!” the pony shouted out before dropping down from the tree, “From what Twilight said I thought for sure you would of been able to see me before you got here, but then you didn’t! I’m officially the first pony ever to scare an alien. Yes!” she did a little hoof pump motion before addressing the spartans who all had their weapons pointed at her. There were a few seconds of silence after that as she just stared at the spartans with a big smile on her face.

“There something you wanted?” Josh asked slowly to end the awkward silence.

“Oh right!” Pinkie said before reaching into her mane and pulling out three envelopes and holding them out in her hoof, “For when the Princesses find a way to take your case back and clear your names.” she said happily as she set them down on the ground, “I hope after this I can hold the title of the first friend to an alien too.” after another quick smile, the pink mare began to trot away from the group.

There was a collective group silence afterwards was practically deafening. As she left their sight and went out of range of their motion sensors the spartans all lowered their weapons before looking at one another in confusion. Then they all looked towards the three envelopes on the ground that Pinkie had left them.

“... That was by far the weirdest thing to happen to us yet and that is say something.” Josh finally said, breaking the silence.

“She always was the weirdest of that bunch of meddlesome mares.” Nightmare commented as Josh saw another flicker of blue go across his visor.

Leon knelt down and picked them up, “Scans don’t show anything abnormal about them. Nightmare, can you sense any magic?”

“None.”

"Wait how do you know if they got magic or not?" Josh asked as Leon looked over the envelopes.

"I don't know, I just thought about sensing the letters for magic, not actually trying mind you, and then all I could see is the magic spectrum." Nightmare answered earning shrug from Josh as Leon picked up the pieces of paper.

“You’re not thinking about actually taking them are you?” Alfred asked as Leon stood with the letters.

“It’s a gamble and we don’t seem to have too good of luck lately. We got the Princesses on our side, who knows, maybe we got more supporters than we think.” Leon said as he put the letters into a pouch with his DMR ammo.

“After we got led into an ambush the last time? This is just moronic.”

"Nightmare wasn't a bad gamble, was she? Besides, we haven’t even opened them yet and we’re not going to till we get out of here. We’ve wasted enough time as it is.” Leon said as began to walk in the direction they were going.

Alfred let out a sigh and shook his head before following. Josh shrugged his shoulders and fell into place behind them when Nightmare’s voice came in through his radio, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Josh made sure his radio to the other two was on receive only before answering, “Fuck, they wouldn’t of listened to me anyway.” after a few seconds Josh shrugged his shoulders and picked up his pace with Leon and Alfred, “Oh well, not like it matters much now. We can take on pretty much anything that’s not the Princesses, so, what’s there to worry about?”

“You should be careful what you say spartan.” Nightmare answered. Not even a second later a purple wave of magic shot past the spartans, going right through them and causing their shields to slightly deplete.

“Nightmare what was that?” Leon asked as the spartans picked up their pace.

“Scanning spell, somehow your shields punched a hole right through it instead of setting it off, strange. They know what direction we’re going now, just not our exact location.”

“Spartans, increase speed to-” Leon was cut off abruptly by a large purple barrier erupting up far in front of them. They all slid to a stop and watched as the wall began to extend over them and towards the sky. Looking at the sight, the spartans were able to see similar walls forming in all directions and stretching to a singular point in the sky creating a dome of purple energy that occasionally had a burst of static run over it’s transparent walls.

“... Well fuck.” Josh said as it completed and the entire dome shimmered in the morning light.

“Right after we just talked to that one, we get a dome put over us, boxing us in.” Alfred stated, “Pretty suspicious if you ask me.”

“Or Twilight noticed us with that scanning wave.” Leon stated as he began to move towards the shields edge, “Let’s get to the edge and see if we can break out of this thing.”

“That won’t do you any good.” Nightmare spoke up getting Leon’s attention, “I’ve seen this type of shield before, just on a much smaller scale. It immediately alerts the caster if something moves out of it. They would be able to teleport to you and use their elements. Twilight probably has a plan to keep you held in one spot too so they won’t miss.”

Leon slowed to a stop before looking at Josh, “Alright then, what do you suggest?”

“Me?” Josh asked with shock.

“No, Nightmare. Unless you’ve got a plan of course."

"Nope."

"Okay then, Nightmare what do you suggest we do."

“You would actually care to know what I think you should do?”

“You’re the only one here with any knowledge on magic. Now is your moment to prove you’re part of this team. What do you suggest we do?” silence fell on the group as Leon finished his question. Seconds ticked away quietly, the only sounds being heard were those of birds and the wind as they waited for Nightmare’s answer.

“... Alright.” the spartans visibly relaxed as Nightmare continued, “Twilight is more than likely exhausted from creating a shield of this size, but she has to keep it up by sending out bursts of magic at regular intervals. If you can knock her out just before one of these moments the shield will fall.”

Leon began nodding his head as a plan began to form, “Alright, can she do that scan again any time soon?”

“No, she’ll need to conserve her magic to keep the shield up. She probably only has enough to teleport in case your cross the boundaries, but that would be it. Given enough time though, her energy will build to the point she can do another scan and find you without having to risk losing the shield.”

“Do you know how long the intervals are or how long till she can do the scan?”

“No, those vary greatly on the caster, it could be anywhere between two minutes to two hours.”

“Alright then.” Leon said before turning to Alfred, “You and me going to be on observation duty. Josh... go find a good hiding spot.”

“Good call.” Josh said with a nod of his head before turning and heading towards the edge of the shield.

“And Nightmare.” Leon said over the radio as Josh walked away, “Thanks.”

“It’s just self-preservation.” she stated over the com channel, “You might want to get moving though as they knew you were going in this direction before the shield came up.”

"Told you she would be helpful." Alfred stated as Josh disappeared behind some trees.

"Then why are you so against trusting the pink pony?"

"Big difference between trusting the enemy and trusting the enemy of our enemy."

Alfred and Leon looked at each other, nodded with a smug smile to each other, and began moving through the forestry towards where the pegasus had landed earlier.

The hunt had begun.

Author's Notes:

Finally, that's done. I know it's not as long as the usual chapters, I don't think anyway, but I'm going to try and get another chapter out earlier than usual... It's probably not going to happen with COD, Halo, and Pokémon all coming out with games this month, but there might be some hope for an early chapter if Advance Warfare sucks as much as Ghosts did.

Second order of business, this story finally broke 100 likes! This is an amazing achievement that I just wanted to thank all of you readers for putting up with the long intervals between the chapters and sticking with the story anyway. Your continued support and comments are what keep this story going and I can't thank you enough for it.

On to the Community Question: For those of you getting the Master Chief Collection, will you be attempting the LASO achievement?

For those that don't know the LASO achievement is to beat all the campaigns on Legendary All Skulls On.

My answer: Yes, for the sole fact that it will remind me of the days when Halo was about yelling at the grunts for their random lucky grenades, freaking the hell out when an Elite Honor Guard come charging at you with an Energy sword, or just running for your life during the Flood missions... Ah, good times.

Spartans vs Elements

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Chapter Fourteen

****Appleloosa, Equestria****
9/14/Afternoon

The Appleloosan apple orchards were a sight to behold to the ponies in their relatively remote part of Equestria. Normally ponies would be tending to the trees, collecting the apples and such. On this fine sunny day though, the Apple family that ran the farm were cut off from their south-eastern orchard by a large, purple dome of magic.

Having heard that the Elements of Harmony had recently came to town, they were quick to put two and two together and leave that side of the orchard to them. Enough happened in the middle of nowhere that they didn’t need to go looking for more weird things or trouble. Especially if whatever it was took the Elements to take it down.

Inside the dome though five ponies gathered around an exhausted Twilight as she tried to stay standing after casting the shield spell. Applejack got next to her to get ready to catch her if she fell, “Twi, I think ya over did it a mite bit.”

“No... they were, near the edge...” Twilight responded after a few moments as if she was half awake.

“What if they just keep running?” Pinkie asked cocking her head to the side and scarring the feathers off of Rainbow Dash, who she appeared right next to.

Taking large breaths, soon Twilight answered, “They wouldn’t... risk it. Leon’s... to cautious.”

After stealing a glance at Pinkie, Rainbow shook her head, “Well, where are they? We can finally end this once and for all.” she said bumping her two fore hooves together.

“Or, we could leave this dusty place and contact the guard for them to search for them.” Rarity suggested as she used her traveling comb to try and get all the loose sand that had been kicked up out of her mane.

Fluttershy looked around the forest before turning to them, “Well I-I think-”

“It’s just some dirt Rarity, get over it. We’re hunting aliens. Aliens!” Rainbow stated, flying into the air slightly above them, “We need to be alert and ready for anything, not worried about our coats and manes.”

“Hey that kinda rhymed.” Pinkie said happily as she bounced around the group.

Fluttershy tried speaking again, “Girls we really shou-”

“Well, I’m sorry I’m not as enthused as you at taking somepony’s life away.” Rarity turned her head away, “And proper mane care is something you know nothing about, so I don’t expect you to know just how bad sand being in my mane and coat is.”

“Girls please qu-” Fluttershy tried once again.

“They’re aliens Rarity, not ponies. They attacked the Princesses, put all of us, some of the Royal Guard, and Twilights brother in comas. Then they put a few of the Royal guard back in the hospital during their escape.” Rainbow said closing the distance between the two of them, “I don’t like that they’re going to be killed, but they did the crime and they gotta pay.”

Rarity and Rainbow Dash were staring daggers at each other and Rainbow was actually growling. Just when it looked like a fight was about to break out, Applejack stepped between the two of them and pushed them apart with her fore hooves, “Both of ya quiet down. Shy’ been trying to tell us somethin for a while now.” the two glared at each other one last time before turning away and looking at Fluttershy, “S’all you Sugarcube.”

As Twilight and Pinkie also focused their attention on the shy pegasus, she began, “I’ve been trying to say we need to be quiet.”

Before she could continue Rainbow spoke up, “Well Applejack’s already got that covered, now let’s go- Ow!” she yelled out as Applejack yanked her back down to the ground by her tail.

“I don’t think she’s done yet Dash.” Applejack said with a deadpan expression.

“A-as I was saying, we need to be quiet because we could be as easily be hunted instead.” she said, lowering to the ground and hiding behind her pink mane.

“Fluttershy’s right, we need to be really careful from here on out.” Twilight said getting all of their attention, “We could end up just like the guards at the castle if we’re not.”

Fluttershy audibly gulped while Rainbow Dash flew up in the air, “Well I’m not scared them. I say let them hunt us, they’ll be easier to find.”

“Girls we need to get searching. They were in this direction when the scanning field went passed them.” Twilight said as she began walking, “Thankfully the sand and dust has settled a bit and we can actually see.”

“That way’s mostly hills before the desert Twi. Tracking them’s going to be a bit harder.” Applejack stated as they all began to follow.

Twilight grumbled something under her breath before responding, “All we got to do is wait a while for my magic to build back up and I can launch another scan and teleport us to them.” she finished before stopping.

Twilight’s horn crackled with energy before a large burst of magic shot out and into the sky. Upon contact with the barrier it dispersed and a shimmer of purple light ran over the entire shield. Holding her head, but staying balanced this time Twilight nodded her head back towards her friends and began walking again. In order to find the Spartans they would have to be perfectly silent and work together to the best of their ability to actually have any chance of finding them.

It was almost a full minute before Pinkie spoke up with her usual happy tone, “Anypony wanna play ‘I Spy’?”

After a few moans and facehoofs, everypony was sure it was going to be a long day.

****

All was quiet in the Appleloosan Apple Orchard. Not a single bird chirped, no wind blew through the trees, and no animals came out of their homes. They knew there were predators in the orchard. The only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of soft chattering between six multicolored ponies that made their way through the orchard. A fact that made Leon grinned at as he watched the group from a distance.

“Target sighted.” Alfred’s voice called over the radio channel.

“Affirmative. It’s been eight minutes since she set up the barrier, observe till she sets off a burst like Ghost Seven described.” Leon replied.

A light blinked to the side of Leon’s vision as an acknowledgement from Alfred as the ponies slipped out of sight, but not off radar. The small talk the ponies were having was nothing notable. The pink pony that had spoke to them earlier, Pinkie Pie, had been talking almost non-stop and the only responses that she got wouldn’t even count as small talk. The sight of a group ignoring a single, talkative individual reminded Leon of how Chase would do the same thing back when they were in school...

Shaking his head, Leon returned his attention to the here and now and moved to another tree to keep the group either in his sights or on his radar. The group came up to a small area that didn’t exactly strike Leon as important till he saw the boot prints that their armor had left in the dirt. Almost half-ton armor will do that.

Twilight at the front of the group was grinding her teeth before half turning and looking back at the group, “Pinkie please be quiet!” the pink pony firmly shut her mouth as Twilight turned to her, “We are trying to catch alien super soldiers, we need to be completely ready for anything! In order for us to be ready we have to be able to hear what’s going on around us, and we can’t hear anything with you constantly talking!”

Leon watched as the group froze and stared at Twilight, ‘How have they done half the things wrote about in the history book?'

“Oky doky!” the pink pony said happily as she hummed and bounced passed Twilight.

Twilight let out a large sigh and was about to trot after her friend but she stopped mid step. Her eyes closed and her horn lit up and not a second later a purple burst of energy shot up towards the dome. She seemed uneasy on her hooves for a second before the orange pony stepped up to support her side. After a few seconds Rarity spoke up and pointed out their boot prints.

“And there’s the burst, right on the ten minute mark.” Leon muttered to himself.

“Ghost One, we may have a problem.” Alfred said over the radio.

“Go ahead Ghost Two.”

“The Pink one is bouncing in a circle around the tree I’m in. If she lures the others over I don’t think I’ll be able to run and hide again with how open the orchard is.”

“Alright, if they begin to move towards you I’ll shoot off a round and get their attention to where I am. Once they move to investigate, you s-”

“Pinkie get over here we got a trail we can follow.”

From the ponies’ perspective, Pinkie just waved at the leaves of the tree and followed after them. From the Spartans’ perspective, she looked right at Alfred, waved with a big smile on her face, and left with her friends. Both Spartans spent a moment contemplating what had just happened when they finally moved on after the ponies that had ran off.

“Okay, I’ll say this.” Alfred spoke up over the radio, “She’s weird and acts to erratically to trust out right, but not selling us out is getting her closer to trust worthy.”

“Agreed. Now let’s not lose them. We initiated the plan in nine minutes.”

****

“And you say this was one of the ‘most effective' hiding spots your friend used?” Night mare asked as Josh finished with his plan of hiding from the ponies.

“We covered our tracks in the sand, now if we can get fully covered then they’ll just walk right past us.” Josh said as he stared at the large hole in the sand in front of him, “Hell, they might walk right over us.”

“How do you intend to breath?”

“My suit has over an hour of personal oxygen.”

“What if the wind uncovers a bit of you and they see it?”

“There’s no wind because of the dome thing.” Josh said looking up at the purple dome as it shimmered with newfound light.

“... This is so stupid they would never suspect it.” Nightmare said after a few seconds.

Josh just chuckled as he laid down in the hole, “Let me tell ya, you should’ve seen the time we used it on the battlefield. Elite was so surprised he didn’t even get to raise his weapon before Chase tackled him... Ah, good times.”

“So you’ve done this before?” Nightmare asked as Josh looked back towards the orchard a small distance away.

“Well... not me personally, but I watched Chase do it from the canyon's top that me and Alfred we watching him from.”

Nightmare was silent for a few seconds as Josh finished covering up his torso with a generous amount of sand, “Out of all the Spartan’s, why did I have to get you?”

“I don’t know, you’re just that lucky?”

After large sigh from nightmare, the two fell into silence as Josh finished filling the two foot deep sand pit. The Spartan looked down over his work and was pleasantly surprised that the sand covered him completely. With a good feeling about what he was doing the Spartan began covering up his helmet and finally dug his arms into the sand.

“If this actually works, and they walk right passed us, what then?” Nightmare asked as Josh locked his armor to prevent accidental movement.

“We just wait for Leon’s all clear and we get up and take off.”

“You know, if they get close enough, we could ambush them and take them by surprise.”

“Why?” Josh raised an eyebrow in confusion as he opened up the live video from Leon’s helmet cam.

“So that sparkle will be unable to send up the magic burst again. Did you not listen when I explained this to Leon?”

“They got that covered. We just have to worry about not being seen, something I think we got down perfectly.” Josh answered with a cocky smile on his face.

“Keep talking like that and-” Nightmare started before she was cut off.

Static blared through the suit’s comm channel, “..... Spa-........ to con-...... do y-........” the static stopped and after a look and Leon’s helmet cam that was still up, it looked like he had gotten it too.

“This is Fireteam Ghost, Ghost One speaking. We have a negative copy on last transmission. Repeat, negative copy on last transmission.” Leon answered as he made hand movements to Alfred to keep following the ponies.

“Could there be more than just you three from you universe here?” Nightmare asked as another chopped up message came in over the open comm channel.

“Normally, I’d say no, but considering all the unlikely crap that's happened to us already, there just might be.” Josh answered just as the static cleared on the next transmission.

“This is Spar-..... -ake trying to conta-........ Ghost. Do you re-.....”

Leon spoke up once more as the static stopped, “Still a negative copy on that, but it’s starting to clear up.”

“Oh for fucks sake.” a very familiar voice said over the now clear radio signal, “This is Spartan Chase Blake trying to contact Fireteam Dumbasses. Can you hear me.” Chase yelled, speaking the last words very slowly and loudly.

Everything seemed to stop for a few seconds as the transmission stopped. Leon had stopped moving entirely from the looks of it from his helmet cam. Josh just started to chuckle, then full on started laughing, “Hahahahahaha! I knew it! I knew you weren’t dead!”

“Oh come on Josh, it was just an army of Flood. Do you think so little of me.” Chase said with a happy tone, “Hey bro, did I give ya a heart attack from shock or something? You’re not talking.”

“.... How are you here?” Leon asked in a quiet voice.

“Oh well then, if that’s how you feel. Ethan turn us-”

“You know what I mean.” Leon cut him off, “The portal exploded and you were in a room full of Flood. If the explosion hadn’t-”

“Leon!” Chase said cutting Leon off “The explosion killed the Flood and knocked out all power in that section of the ring. To make a long story short, Ethan and Hank fought their way to me and together the three of us got off the ring.” the radio went silent for a few seconds, “I can show you the video if you don’t believe me.”

“Leon.” Alfred spoke up for the first time, “Time’s running out. She’s about to send up another burst in two minutes.”

“Where are they at?”

“Closing in on Ghost Four's position.”

From the view of his helmet cam, Josh watched Leon slowly nodded his head and begin to move, “Alright, Chase what all do you have with you?”

“Oh you know, the usual. Couple crates of ammo, a Troop Hog, a Pelican, an extra surplus of fuel for the Pelican... Damn it Hank, you forgot to pack the kitchen sink.” Chase said in a Joking way.

“Serious situation here Chase. We’re trapped under a magical dome with a team of heroes who have saved the world a few times over. We need an evac in a minute thirty, can you do that?”

“No, we’re fifteen minutes out, at best. We're straining the Pelican's engines as is, you’re on your own for a while still.” Chase answered with a somber tone.

“Got it. Meet up with us on the mountains to our south east. That’s where we’re headed. Going radio silent.” Leon finished as Josh started seeing some movement on his motion sensor.

“Show time.” Josh murmured as he switched the radio to receive only. At this point there wouldn’t be a fight, not with how one sided things were looking in favor of the Spartans. That made Josh nervous.

“Seems like victory is almost assured. Of course it’s times like this that the smallest mistake can lead to a loss.” Nightmare spoke up as the red dots stopped about fifteen meters away, “With how nervous you are, I believe you already knew that.”

While watching Leon’s helmet cam, Josh watched as Alfred stepped out from behind a tree and grabbed the orange pony that was at the edge of the group. Alfred had the pony in a headlock till her eyes began to flutter and she began to go limp in his grip. He slowly began to set her down after he made sure she was still breathing.

The ponies stopped a short distance from where the orchard ended and the desert started. Twilight at the front began to talk to the rest about a strategy to capture the Spartans, but she started to trail off as she looked amongst the group, “Where’s Applejack?”

The rest of the ponies turned and began to look for the missing pony. Rarity was the first to speak, “She was right by me, not even a moment ago.”

Suddenly Pinkie took a sharp intake of breath, “We fell prey to the most obvious of tactics. This happens in every comic Rainbow gave me.” she got real low to the ground and began to stalk around Twilight, “While we were all looking for them, they’ve been after us too.” she then zoomed to Rainbow Dash’s side, “Then when we weren’t looking they snatched the one that was farthest from the center of the group.” she zoomed to Fluttershy and kept talking.

Josh saw through Leon’s helmet cam and through the trees, that Alfred had gotten behind the tree closest to Twilight, ready to act. Pinkie zoomed to Rarity’s side and put a hoof to her forehead to over dramatize what she was saying, but Josh didn’t care. Alfred stepped out, grabbed Twilight by the neck with his left hand and her horn with his right before hiding behind the tree again. He either had a tight grip on her throat or threatened her as soon as her, because the other ponies didn’t respond to the kidnapping.

Leon began to move through the trees, always keeping the ponies either in sight or on sensor. It was easy to keep them on sensor with Pinkie constantly moving around. Alfred’s marker showed him moving away from the others slowly, probably on the off chance that the pony will break free.

After a few seconds, Rarity spoke up just as Leon was moving into position behind Rainbow Dash, “P-please Pinkie, she probably just stopped to admire a certain apple tree or something. We don’t need to jump to hastily to the worst case scenario. Right Twilight?.... Twilight?” the white pony turned and looked around, but no Twilight was to be seen.

Josh watched through Leon’s cam as Rainbow spread her wings and lowered herself to the ground, getting ready to take off. Leon backed off as Rainbow began to shout into the orchard multiple threats. She continued shouting as Leon backed away, but the whole world froze as a large crack of something stepping on a twig echoed through the air. Looking down, Leon was relieved to see it wasn’t him that had done it, but the sound sent the group into a full on panic.

Josh didn’t get to watch the full freak out as they fretted over what Leon saw was the orange one walking up to them. As Leon moved away, Josh heard the orange one shouting in a southern sounding accent. That made him chuckle a little bit.

“Ghost Two, what is the status of the package?”

“Package is asleep and secure, barrier should be down any second. Moving to the edge of the barrier now.” Alfred replied.

“Ghost four, I’m going to lure them away with a gunshot the moment I see the barrier go down. When they move away to investigate, you make a move for the mountains with Ghost Two.” Josh blinked his acknowledgment light and Leon continued, “Ghost Two, leave the package in a safe place as soon as the barrier falls.” another light from Alfred this time.

Josh closed out Leon’s helmet cam feed and got ready to sprint for the mountains. Josh then noticed that the dots on his sensor were no longer acting erratically. The ponies were either out of range of his sensor or they weren’t moving at all. A bad call here could lead to him being chased instead of getting away.

“They moved away.” Nightmare said casually, almost making Josh jump in his armor.

“Thanks for the heads up Moonie.” Josh said, letting out a sigh of relief.

Nightmare let out a frustrated sigh as Leon’s voice came through the radio, “Barrier’s down, firing shot.” Josh listened and he heard a muffled boom through the sand.

“Here goes nothing.” Josh said as he got up out of the sand, throwing it all this direction and that. Looking over, Josh could see the ponies running off in the distance through the trees, “Enemies have taken the bait, moving to the mountains.”

“Ghost Four, find a good spot for us to meet up with Ghosts Three, Five, and Six.” Leon said over the radio.

Josh blinked his acknowledgment light and took off over the small strip of desert and ran for the mountains, “And just like that, we’re home free.” Josh said to Nightmare as they ran towards the mountains.

“It looks like we are safe, but the others are not.”

“Girl, you need to chill. Leon and Alfred got it covered.” Josh said just as a large explosion happened behind him. The entire area lit up purple as Josh turned to see a small crater now amongst the trees.

“Everyone report in!” Leon yelled over the radio.

“Ghost Four, fine.” Josh answered.

“Ghost Two, fine. The package woke up as I was fleeing the area. She missed me though.” Alfred spoke up as Josh watched him running out of the orchard. Shaking his helmet, Josh got back to running up the hills that led to the mountains.

“Twilight had to of used up all her magic for that final blast.” Nightmare stated as Josh began accelerating to the top ‘safe’ speeds for running, “She’s gone well past what a normal unicorn would be able to do. If she’s not passed out by now, then she’s closer to an alicorn in magical reserves than a unicorn.”

“Alright, Josh are you at the base of the mountains yet?” Leon asked as Josh crested the final hill and slid to a stop.

“Yeah.” Josh looked up the rock face, “Lookin pretty steep. Might have to test out that myth about just punching into the rock for-”

Josh was cut off as something flashed across his motion sensor and struck him in the back. Josh landed on his face as his shield’s alarm began blaring. Looking back at the sensor, he saw his attacker move up and out of range of the motion sensor. Quickly he rolled right and sat back up to see a certain rainbow haired pegasus beginning to dive bomb him again.

Now that he knew the attack was coming, Josh rolled onto his back and propelled himself onto his feet, ignoring the questions from Leon as Nightmare answered them. He watched as she rethought her plan and moved back a little bit. Josh watched her turn and take her eyes off him for a second and he put down his hologram right in front of himself.

Just as he hoped, she suddenly turned towards mid glide and jetted towards the hologram. Using his thoughts to control the basic movements, Josh made the hologram take a step back as if it were surprised. Not even a second later and Rainbow passed through the hologram with look of shock on her face. She tried to turn and follow the steep slope up, but Josh was on her to fast for her to even start to angle.

Josh grabbed her tail and yanked her back towards him. Immediately he grabbed her neck and held it to his armor with his left hand while he dropped down to one knee. While she tried to struggle Josh brought his right arm over her right shoulder and bent it so her chin was almost above the bend in his arm, but more on his forearm. As he put his forearm against the left side of her neck he let go with his left and brought the palm to his closed right fist, completing the sleeper hold.

She began to struggle more, beating on his armor with her legs, “Points for trying, but next time you want to take on a Spartan, bring an army.” soon enough, her hits became softer and softer till she went limp in his arms. He held there for another six seconds to be sure she was out and would stay out longer than the orange pony from before. Soon he slowly released the hold and laid her out on the ground. After a quick check to see she was breathing, Josh faced towards the cliff.

“Ah, I remember the days when I could gloat at my enemies after a one sided battle.” Nightmare chimed in as Josh jumped onto the red rock cliff face.

“Yeah, Chase is gonna be mad he didn’t get to make a grand entrance.” Josh chuckled as two green dots rapidly appeared on his motion sensor, “Watch out for the idiot pegasus.” he called as he failed found another hand hold and pulled himself up.

Josh heard two more sets of armor collide with the mountain as he continued to climb. At the fast rate they were going, Josh figured they would be able to crest the top of the mountains and drop into the basin on the other side after only a few minutes of climbing.

“Climb fast, after we top the mountain we’ll be able to see the Badlands.” Leon said over the comm channel, “We can jump onto Chase’s Pelican from their, climb all the way down them, or jump and hope the overpressurized gel layer absorbs most of the impact.”

“You know Leon, this ‘mountains’ aren’t exactly that big.” Josh replied.

“They’re actually called Macintosh Hills, but they’re too big for just hills considering the other side.”

“What’s on the other side?” Josh asked as Nightmare groaned in his helmet.

“On the other side is a steep slope and then a drop off over half a mile straight down.” Alfred stated before Leon could answer, “From this side they just look like hills, from over there they are mountains.”

“Honestly, don’t you listen at all?” Nightmare asked, making Josh laugh a little bit.

“According to the last girl to ask him that, no. No he doesn’t.” Chase suddenly chimed in over the radio, “So, Josh, who’s your friend?” he asked as if he were talking to a little kid, "Heard her earlier, but it didn't seem like a good time to bring it up."

“How about we swap stories when we meet up.” Leon answered for him, “What’s your ETA?”

“Still about eight minutes. Get to the top of the mountains or hills, whatever you want to call ‘em, and our two excellent pilots should be able to fly close enough for you to jump on.” Chase answered.

“Alright then, let’s get to climbing.” Leon stated as he began to climb faster.

****

“Twilight.... Twilight!..... TWILIGHT!”

The unicorn in question bolted up right her eyes wide open and looking right at her friends. Applejack came into view, “Easy there Twi, you been out for a bit. Why don’t you jus try an take it easy.”

“What... what happened? How long was I out?” Twilight asked as she got to her hooves.

“We don’t know, but it’s only been a few minutes since your shield went down.” Rarity spoke up as she put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, “Darling, I think it’s time we admit it. We can’t win here.”

“What, but it’s only been a few minutes. We can still get them before they get to the border.” Twilight said as she began to move forward, but stumbled.

Fluttershy caught her and helped her back up, “Twilight, look at me.” she said out of her normal shy voice. Twilight found it hard to meet her gaze but did so, “We can’t win. They are just faster and smarter than the ponies we’ve fought.”

“More on the stealth side as well.” Rarity added.

“Quieter too.” Applejack chimed in.

“They’re like ninjas!” Pinkie said happily as she bounced between the trees.

“How i-”

“Twilight, we just can’t fight an enemy like this one. Even if we found them, we don’t know where Rainbow is to use the Elements.” Fluttershy said making Twilight’s head shoot up.

“Rainbow’s missing!? I heard one of their weapons go off earlier-”

“And you thought one of us got hurt. Right?” Applejack cut Twilight off, “Dash took off faster than a bat out of Tartarus towards the sound. We’d thought they’d done you in.”

“So she’s fine?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, saw her fly over head not too long ago.” Applejack answered.

“Now we just have to find Rainbow and my sun hat and we can leave.” Rarity said as she began to look through the trees with her hoof pressed to her forehead.

“.... No.” all eyes locked with Twilight, “The attacked the Princesses and broke off her horn. I can’t even imagine how painful that would've been for her.” Twilight took a few steps forward and turned to the group, “We’re going to find them, only we won’t give them to the Princesses.” that got shocked gasps from all of the ponies present.

“What do ya mean? How are we supposed to keep ‘em locked up?” Applejack asked.

“We’ll seal them in stone just like we did Discord. Then we’ll hide the statue till Blueblood is off the case then we give them to the Princesses so they can get a fair trial.” Twilight said with a smile on her muzzle.

“Hmm, I won’t like lyin to the Princesses and all, but it seems like the best plan we got.” Applejack said with a firm nod of her head, “Count me in.”

“We can keep the statue at my house. Nopony comes around much in the winter.” Fluttershy said.

Twilight’s horn lit up and, with a strained look, a small flash happened next to them and the glass case that contained the elements appeared next to them, “Conjuring spell.” she said woozily while rocking side to side on her hooves.

Applejack put a hoof around her to help her regain her balance, “I said take it easy Sugarcube.”

“Alright then, how do we find them or Rainbow?” Rarity asked as Pinkie bounced by them and Fluttershy grabbed the elements to give out to everypony.

“Oh oh, I know, pick me pick me!” Pinkie said as she suddenly appeared next to Rarity and raised her hoof.

Fluttershy distributed their elements with her own on her neck before Twilight asked with a slight groan, “Yes Pinkie?”

“They’re over there!” the pink pony said while pointing her hoof at Macintosh Hills.

Sure enough, Twilight turned around and saw that the Spartans were making good time going up the rocks. Twilight’s eyes widened, “We’ll never make it in time before they get over the top!”

“Yes we can, we just got ta hurry.” Applejack said as she galloped off with Twilight and the others hot on her hooves. Their hooves thundered against the ground as the charged the spot that the Spartans were going to cross the border.

“What about Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked as they ran.

“Knowing Dash, she's done gone up there and gotten knocked out like Twi.” Applejack called back.

‘It's about time this came to an end.' Twilight thought with a smirk on her face as she felt the weight of her element on her head.

****

‘Huh?... What's that sound...' Rainbow thought as she began to regain consciousness. Her eyes began to flutter open, slowly but surely showing her nothing but dirt and rock. She began to push herself up with her forelegs and shake her head to try and clear it. Looking around, it all came back to her, ‘He put me in a bucking sleeper hold!'

Growling, she flapped her wings and took to the air once more, looking around the area for any signs of the black armored aliens. A small rock landed on top of her head making her immediately look up the red rocky hill to see the two black Spartans almost at the top. Squinting her eyes and growling, she targeted one specific Spartan, the one she’s lost to twice now, and charged him.

Josh had just reached for another hand hold when Rainbow impacted him and wrapped her hooves around his neck. Taken by surprise, Josh was easily pulled off the mountain when Rainbow began to flap her wings. The weight of the armor was too much for Rainbow as she was forced to let go immediately.

Smiling at her small victory, Rainbow watched as Josh fell towards the ground, only to be caught by Leon half way down. Gritting her teeth Rainbow flapped her wings hard and took off into the sky. If she couldn’t use her strength to get them off the rock, then she knew just what could blast them off.

After a few seconds of searching she spotted her target, a lone cloud resting above the town of Appleloosa. Grinning she grabbed it and zoomed back towards the cliff the Spartans were trying to climb. The two had almost reached the top when she came back with the cloud, “This is for the sleeper hold you bucker!” Rainbow yelled as she kicked the hard with her two back hooves.

A lightning bolt jumped out of the bottom of the cloud and collided with the cliff face, scorching the area with large black mark right above Josh. Thinking of something quick for her missed shot she didn’t drop the cocky tone of her voice, “Give up now and that won’t be you.”

“Give up!? You missed! Why would we give up when we already won!?” Josh yelled back making her grit her teeth in anger, “Say cheese and wait for the flash!” he continued pointing up the mountain.

She looked up and at first she didn’t see anything till a large flash of light happened near the top and her ears started ringing. She shook her head to get the ringing to stop and was about to kick the cloud for another bolt when she noticed, there was no more cloud. She looked around in a full circle before looking back towards the rock where she had seen the flash come from.

She watched as one of the rocks moved up the slope and stood on top of the hill. No, not a rock. One of the aliens had somehow changed the color of their armor to match the color of the rock and blended in perfectly. Just like that, her plan to blast them off the cliff went up in smoke. Unable to do anything without risking herself, as the alien on top had his weapon pointed at her, she watched as the other two aliens reached the top as well.

“Rainbow!” Twilight’s voice called from the ground, getting the pegasus’s attention.

Rainbow turned to see all her friends being levitated up by Twilight’s magic. Smiling once more Rainbow joined them with staring at the Spartans, “What took you all so long?”

Twilight ignored her as she stared down Leon and panted hard as she exhausted the little of her magic that she had regained. She didn’t waste time with words as she closed her eyes and Rainbow did the same, focusing on the Element Twilight placed around her neck.

“Attention little ponies!” a loud voice called that didn’t belong to that had been present before, making Rainbow open her eyes in confusion, “You are about to attack a UNSC military vehicle. Cease and dissist or you will be fired upon with lethal force.”

Rainbow watched as a large metal ship of some kind rose up from behind the Spartans. It’s wings were twisted vertically as it hovered in place behind the aliens, a fourth one on top of it.

“I say again.” the new alien on top of the ship yelled as the three Spartans jumped onto it with him, “You are about to attack UNSC military personnel over non Equestrian soil.”

Rainbow felt her Element begin to glow as it’s harmonious magic began to flow outwards and surround the group with rainbow colored energy. Twilight wasn’t backing down, and Rainbow couldn’t stop smiling.

****

“Guys, they aren’t standing down!” Josh yelled as Chase watched the swirling rainbow magic.

“Ethan-Hank, get us out of here!” Leon yelled over the radio.

“Happily.” Hank said over the radio as the Pelican began to turn. They were suddenly stopped mid-turn as the ship became covered in a rainbow hued aura, “Some things keeping us held tight!”

“Leon what do we do!?” Josh yelled as he saw the orb of light the ponies were in brightened up more.

“Hell of a time to test this!” Chase suddenly yelled before Leon could answer. Not even a second later, a rainbow of energy shot up from the ponies and down towards the Pelican. Chase pulled out his energy sword in hopes of doing the same trick that had happened with the gryphon guard’s armor. As it materialized the energy narrowed and flowed directly to the red energy sword.

Chase’s mind felt like a cup that had been forced to take on a dam’s worth of water as he felt like his head was splitting. The others didn’t get time to react as Chase swung his sword back towards the wave of energy trying to get rid of the pain that had suddenly stuck him. The action resulted in an explosion of magic that could be seen for miles.

The last thing any of the Spartans, or the ponies saw was the wall of rainbow colored energy that consumed them.

****The Badlands****
9/17/Night

...

...*whispers*

...*shuffling*

...*whispers*

... ‘What happened?’ Chase asked groggily while he tried to move his head but a flash of pain put a stop to that right quick.

“Hey hey hey, easy now. Don’t try to get up.” Chase heard Leon say from his right side.

“Wha-... What happened?...” Chase asked as he tried to feel his body to make sure he was all there.

“We were hoping you could tell us.” Alfred’s voice chimed in as Chase tried to open his eyes. All he saw was a lot of bandages blocking everything out.

Chase chuckled, making his headache worsen, “Someone flash him the finger. I can barely move.”

“Covered.” Josh said from his left side.

There was the sound of gravel being moved and steped before Hank’s voice came next with a joking tone, “The slacker finally awake yet?”

“Josh-”

“Gotcha ya.” Josh interrupted as he undoubtedly flipped Hank off.

“Chase.” Leon began, “Do you know what happened on the Pelican?”

Thinking with his limited mental power, Chase slowly began to remember what had transpired before he blacked out, “I...” Chase stopped and closed his mouth, moving his tongue around to try and help his dry mouth, “I tried to use my sword to absorb the magic.” he took a large intake of breath, “I had done something like it when I touched the armor on one of the gryphon guards. Hadn’t tested it or did anything like it since... Till now apparently.”

It was silent for a few seconds before Leon spoke again, “Alright, how do you feel. Your suit had to administer electric shocks to start you heart again while we were all out... You died for a few seconds.”

As Chase heard the what Leon said he was silent for a few seconds before he began to chuckle. Then full on laugh before the pain in his head became apparent again and he stopped, “Never thought denial would actually make me immortal.”

“This isn’t something to be laughing about Chase!” Leon yelled making Chase cringe as he began to feel his heart beat in his head, “According to the Queen, you’ve got enough magic in you right now to destroy half a continent!”

‘... What?’ “... Who’s the Queen?” Chase asked first as he was pretty sure of how to solve the second thing.

“You’ve been out for a while. We’ve made some allies so we could get you properly treated.” Leon said, his voice calmer than it was before, but still edgy.

“Were it not for Queen Cocoon helping us we would of been spotted by the Royal Guard and forced to abandon the ship you rode in on.” a familiar female voice said from his left.

“Was that the Queen?” Chase asked.

"No, she's a princess." Alfred said from behind Leon.

"I know who Josh is, I was talking ab-"

“Later, right now we need to solve the magic thing. Do you have any idea how to release it?” Leon asked making Chase grin.

“That’s too obvious for me to make a sex joke, but seriously, is my sword still on?” Chase asked, praying that it would be a repeat of what happened in Red Thorn Bog.

“Yes, so do you know how to get rid of the magic?” Alfred asked from his right.

“Hold on...” Chase tried his best to move his arm and slowly began to relieve pressure on grip so as to deactivate it. Once his hand had moved enough to deactivate the sword, Chase felt like the dam in his mind had broke. He heard a lot of muffled shouting and armor clinking together in the few seconds after he let go. Wave after wave of magical energy radiated out from him and he felt like he was on cloud nine.

After a few more seconds of bliss, Chase felt the last of the energy dissipation and tried moving around again. After a quick check that he was still fine, Chase lifted his arm like he was never injured. Then he sat up and started stretching his arms and back, feeling like he just woke up from a long nap.

“Oh man that was awesome.” Chase said as he moved the bandages over his eye to see the others.

Looking to his right he saw Leon and Alfred stacked on top of one another in the corner of the cave like they were ragdolls that had just got tossed away. The two groaned as they tried to get up, making Chase laugh a little. Looking to the left, Chase saw Hank and Josh laying on their backs a small distance outside of the cave they were in. Both of which were starting to get up, groaning like Leon and Alfred.

Chase started to laugh once again at his team, “Man, what happened to you guys?”

“You did! What the hell was that!?” Leon yelled as he got to his feet.

Chase rolled on to his back and sprung on to his feet, “Sweet, sweet release.” he said with a goofy smile on his face.

Leon groaned loudly as Chase became aware of a buzzing slash humming sound that was getting louder, “From the sounds of it you got the Queen’s attention.”

“Who?” Chase asked as he looked towards the entrance to the cave where the sound was coming from.

“Our new employer.” Leon said with surprisingly no disdain in his voice.

Hank and Josh walked into the cave and turned around to see a large pony-like creature touch down. It’s skin was black and glossy looking in the moonlight. It’s hair was green and parted on either side of her jagged horn. It’s wings were partially transparent and seemed more fit for a bug than a pony. Her eyes had a ring of light green then dark green surrounded it’s cat like pupils. On Either side of it were two smaller versions, minus the hair and their eyes had no pupils.

“Wow.” Chase said as looked at the creatures.

“Chase, meet Queen Cocoon. Our new employer for a while.” Leon stated as the queen walked in passed Josh and Hank.

“So this is the famous Chase that I’ve heard so many tales of.” the Queen said in a feminine voice, “You really are a strange one aren’t you.”

“Yes and proud of it.” Chase said smiling, but keeping the energy sword hilt firmly in his hand, “So what’s our first mission then?”

“We,” Leon said putting a hand on Chase’s shoulder, “are going to leave in a few minutes. You are going to stay here and rest. Need I remind you that you died.”

“Yeah, then I slept it off.” Chase said, turning to Leon, “Now we can do this the easy way, or I’ll just follow you after you leave. You know I will.”

The two stared each other down for a few tense seconds before Leon chuckled, “Chase, do you at all feel a draft?”

Caught off guard by the question Chase looked down at his armor and was shocked to see he had no armor. He had what looked like a burlap sack like shorts and that was all he had on.

“... How-”

“Magic.” Josh answered from behind him before starting to laugh.

“When we’re long gone, Hank and Josh will tell you how to get your armor back.” Leon said, holding back laughing himself.

“We get to enjoy the peace and quiet a bit longer while we go and rescue her daughter.” Alfred said with happy tone.

“Don’t forget the guards she has with her as well. All of them are young and foolish, but they are my subjects and I don’t want any of them hurt.” the Queen stated with concern in her voice.

“We’ll do the best we can.” Leon stated to the Queen.

“We’ll bring them back, safe and sound.” Alfred said, walking up to Leon’s side.

“Wish I could go.” Chase finished with a frown on his face.

“Thank you for this. If you can get them all back safely, we will happily let you stay till your ship is repaired.” the Queen said as she turned to depart, “Goodnight to all of you. I shall see you at breakfast.”

As Queen Cocoon and her guards flew off Chase straightened up a little, “... Wait. What happened to the ship.” he asked looking back to Leon and Alfred, both of whom stayed quiet and tight lipped. Chase turned to Josh and Hank, “... Is the Warthog alright?”

“Well I’ll tell him if you all won’t.” Chase turned to Josh as a feminine voice came from the helmet on his head, “It fell off during the crash and the fall bent both axles as well as damaging some of the engine.”

Chase inhaled slowly and exhaled, “... Okay, I think it’s story time. Because I will not have time to talk to you idiots tomorrow while I work on the Hog.” Chase stated as he walked over and sat down against the cave wall, “You guys first.”

****Canterlot, Equestria****
9/18/Morning

... Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep...

'That sounds Familiar.' Twilight thought as she began to stir in her bead.

“Doctor, I think she’s waking up.” a mare’s voice said from close by.

“Go send a message to the castle. The Princesses will want to know.” a stallions voice answered.

Slowly her eyes began to open to see a hospital room exactly like the one she had been in before. She moved her head and looked around the room and she was sure of it, this was the same room as last time.

“Aw Miss. Sparkle. I see you’ve decided to join us a few days earlier than last time.” the doctor joked as he used his magic to look at a clip board, “If it follows the same pattern as last time, your friends should be up soon as well.”

“What happened?” Twilight asked as the doctor put down the clip board.

“Well, all I know is what I’ve been told and I was told you were found by a squad of Royal Guards near the Badlands’ border.” he said as he began to check the machines to the side of her bed, “Pretty big magical build up explosion down there, took the top off one of the Macintosh Hills.”

Twilight tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes with her forelegs before she asked, “Where are the Princesses?”

“They’ll be here as soon as they get the message I’m sure. They’re dealing with a lot of stuff now since those aliens attacked and some nobility tried to overthrow the princesses while you all were gone.”

“What!” Twilight exclaimed earning her a shush from the doctor.

“A few members of the royalty tried to take power with an idiotic plan of attacking in the middle of a court case.” the doctor said as he finished checking the machine, “Apparently a member of nobility has already been arrested.”

“One of them wouldn’t of happened to be-”

“Blueblood? Yep, he’s finally were the pompous- uh, sorry. I really didn’t like the guy.” the doctor said rubbing the back of his head with his hoof, “You’re actually the third patient to ask me that.”

“So the spar- the aliens case is back in control of the Princesses?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, but they haven’t changed the ruling. A friend of mine is a maid at the castle and she said they were just fuming when the Royal Guard discovered all of you.”

“Really, w-” Twilight was cut off as a bright flash lit up the room.

When Twilight opened her eyes again she saw Princess Celestia standing in the center of the room, her horn just beginning to lose its golden aura, “Twilight, thank the maker you’re awake.” she said as she walked up to the bed, “Doctor leave us and check on the others.”

“At once.” the doctor, who had been bowing, said before trotting to the door and leaving.

Celestia’s horn lit up and the door and windows were covered in a golden aura that dissipated after a few seconds. Twilight flinched under Celestia’s stare, making the Princess exhale a breath and calm down a bit, “I’m sorry Twilight, but things have been hectic lately and hearing what happened at the border would help me tremendously.”

“Of course Princess. We tracked them down and held them for a while at the apple orchard near the border using a barrier spell Shining had taught me.” Twilight began as Celestia listened intently. After ten minutes of Twilight talking about the spartans and the tactics they used, looking ashamed when she explained their plan to keep them as stone till they could get a fair trial. Celestia was secretly proud that her student put her moral higher than order, but she was becoming increasingly worried as the Spartans seemed to have a better understanding of magic than she thought.

“I levitated us into the air with the Elements and was just about to use them when... When this giant metal ship rose up behind them with another Spartan on top of it. He told us to stand down or they would use lethal force.”

“Did they attack you before you used the Elements?” Celestia asked.

“No, they never shot their weapons. Leon, Josh, and Alfred joined the new Spartan on the ship before we used the Elements. The last thing I remember seeing is the one that had been on the ship to begin with pulled out something red and started to absorb the harmonious magic.” Twilight said as she tried to remember, “Then he swung the object back at the beam and the explosion happened... I can’t remember anything but a bright white light after that.”

Celestia tapped her hoof against her chin in thought, “So there were more of the Spartans. They never once tried to kill you all?”

“Except for the explosion, no. They only knocked us out.” Twilight answered.

“Hmm.” Celestia said before nodded her head, “Thank you for clearing that up Twilight. What I’m going to ask of you next will be difficult.” Twilight braced herself for the order to go after the Spartans into the Badlands, “I need you to leave this to me from here on.”

“What?” Twilight asked as it was opposite of what she was expecting.

“Twilight, your sense of duty to Equestria is admirable, but I can take things from here. I doubt we would be able to find the Spartans now any way. We tried to search as soon as we got you and your friends back to Canterlot, but we couldn’t find a trace other than a few pieces of metal that I now think is from their ship.” Celestia stated, “You can write a report to me whenever your feeling up to it, but for now you need to rest, recover, and spend some time winding down.”

Twilight let out a soft exhale, “That sounds terrific.”

“Great.” Celestia said happily, “I’ll even give you an assignment next week to take your mind off of things.”

“Sounds perfect.” Twilight stated happily.

Skipping Time and Catching Up Pt. 1

View Online

Chapter Fifteen

****Southern Minotaur Empire****
Eight Months Later/Noon-ish

After the peace treaty went through between the Gryphon Kingdom and the Minotaur Kingdom all was well for the first seventy-two hours. The coupe on the gryphon king had been fixed with the help of the Spartans, but no one was there to help minotaur king when it happened to him. Instead he fought his way through his own army with the help of the most loyal of his guards and servants.

After being forced out of his castle, the King began to rally those for peace to the northern half of the empire. Those for war began to gather in the captured castle of the king, and a civil war had begun with lines being drawn in the months that followed. Besides King Steel Heart’s escape from his own castle there had only been a few battles between the two fronts. The D-B Kingdom had come in to try and make peace between the two sides, but the new ruler of the side for war, King Bronze Shield, wanted no peace. He wanted War.

Not just with the Minotaur Dominion or the Gryphon Kingdom, but with the D-B Kingdom, the Equestrian’s, the Diamond Dog Empire, and every small little piece of land that held the title of a nation. He wanted to see the world burn, and he would show this with the execution of the next generation of rebels who would fight him. In the cell he was on his way to were those set for todays execution, rebels who had tried to restore balance and the rightful king back to the throne. With them were their families from the elderly to the youngest child.

The brown minotaur walked down the stone corridor leading to the prisoner’s quarters. King Bronze’s dark armor loudly clinking and clanking along the way as he casually walked to see those he would be killing later. As he approached the cell with all the prisoners he saw an elderly taur wrapped in a cloak trying to help the situation by telling stories to the children, even a good number of adults were listening as not a single taur noticed his arrival.

“The dragon had taken the bait and swallowed it whole.” the children let out a little ‘yes’ as the elder continued, “The dragon then began to move steadily closer to the Spartan it had injured. The ground shook as its monstrous claws came down, but the Spartan seemed not afraid of the beast as he raised his hand into the air. He looked as if he were about to wave good by to the life he had, but instead, his open hand closed into a fist and Boom!” the children jumped as the old taur raised his voice for the last word.

“The dragon was blown up from the inside out. The bait it had swallowed had contained a bomb and the dragon was none the wiser.” the elderly taur began to laugh as he continued, “The Spartans disappeared after that. As they had done so many times before.”

“Can you tell us another story of the Spartans?” a child asked making the elderly minotaur begin to laugh.

“I’m afraid there are no more to tell.” the cloaked minotaur said before adding quietly, “But you can be in the next one.” his hood shifted slightly upwards to look at the King.

King Bronze snorted as he looked upon the filth gathering all their attention. The prisoners would be dealt with within the hour. As they began to whimper and move away from the bars with the parent minotaurs putting themselves in front of the children the elderly minotaur began to laugh.

The King let out a small chuckle himself, “And what is it you find so funny prisoner.”

The elderly minotaur stood up showing to be at least a full head or more higher than the King, “I’m laughing that we’re getting paid more for this job than the dragon.” he said as he pulled off the hood of his cloak to reveal the widely known helmet and visor of Spartan Chase Blake, “Honestly.” the King began to back up, his eyes wide, “This job was almost double what we got for the dragon and we just got to take you in alive.”

The King growled as he drew his sword, “Guards seize him!”... nothing happened. The King hazarded a glance back down the corridor and saw both his guards on the ground and another Spartan standing out of his sword’s reach with their weapon raised. The King turned back to the cell only to have handful of powder thrown into his face. He brought his free arm up to his eyes and shake off the powder when he started to feel the effects.

Everything began to become hazy, out of focus. He could see the room anymore as his eyes were shut, but it felt like he was moving or spinning. His arms began to feel tired and he dropped his sword as he no longer had the strength to hold it up. With his whole world spinning, the King began to tilt every which way before finally leaning too much forward and...

“Timberrr.” Chase said casually as the King face planted into the hard stone floor of the castle making Chase wince, “Ooo~ that’s gotta hurt.” shrugging his shoulders, Chase casually walked up to the cell door and broke the lock, “Now, if everyone will kindly follow my friend here we can have you all somewhere safe before night fall.”

There was a few seconds of silence before a barrage of thank you's and other things were said to the Spartan as they all began to follow Ethan out of the dungeon. Chase watched them go, smiling to himself as he picked up the knocked out Bronze Shield, “I love my job.”

****Changeling Hive, Badlands****
Morning

“So I tell him, you either give me an egg or I’m out of here.” A blue haired changeling told the Spartan on the other side of the table. Her eyes matching her hair, wings, and the shell on her back that covered her wings when not in use. The rest of her body was black like all the other changelings.

“Damn. You go girl.” Josh said taking a drink of his smoothie. A few little facts the Spartan’s learned is that, while changelings need love to live they still needed other food as well, but not very much. Since Changelings could feed off their love for one another this made the hive very rich, resource wise. The first thing they noticed though was that male changelings have the fin-like thing on the backs of their heads while females actually have hair. Another was that the guard had a uniform type deal and all those within turned into the same version of a heroic changeling that died protecting the current queen during the founding of the hive.

Lastly, once you get past appearances, they are very nice and don’t judge based on appearances like equestrians are known for, “You know, sometimes I just wish I could drop it all and leave. Explore the world, maybe meet a someling that’s actually worth a damn.”

“We’re working hard so you can do just that.” Josh said happily before gulping down a bit of his smoothie, “Got the biggest ones out of the way and now we’ve recently got an offer from one of the big five.”

“I know, and we all couldn’t be happier since you Spartans started helping us.” the changeling stated smiling, “Well I got to get back to my job, see you around Josh.” she went back to waiting on the other customers in the brightly lit up dinner.

“See ya Azure.” Josh said as he finished his drink and put a few bits down on the table.

As Josh left the dinner and put on his helmet, he took a look around the lone city that made up the Changeling Empire. Multiple building made out of or into the rocks that made up the cave all lit up with the bioluminescent moss that grew in the slightly damp cave. The entire cavern was dome-like with water accumulating in the center of the city making a lake.

An island had been made in the center of the lake and a castle fit for something out of a story book was erected on it. The castle could be seen from almost any part of the main center cavern. There was a whole network of tunnels and caverns that had been separated, sectioned off, and organized. Each area outside of the main cavern was either residential or owned by the queen for special projects. Then there was the cavern that was given to the Spartans for the storing of their equipment and personal use.

As he looked at the large ceiling and surrounding buildings, a familiar voice spoke up, “You know I thought that maybe you were all bark and no bite, as they say, when it came to this, ‘play-ah’ thing, but now I am one-hundred percent certain my opinion of you can get no lower.”

As they walked back to the castle lit up by the moss that grew all over the Changeling Empire, Josh just shook his head, “You know Moonie, each time you say that ya just know I’m going to do something to lower it more, so why do you even say it?”

“Wishful thinking apparently.” the spirit turned AI replied.

“I don’t see a problem with it if it’s what everyone here is doing.” Josh said in his defense, “Besides, with how open the topic of sex is here, I feel like I did the last time I got some shore leave and headed to Vegas Quadrant with the guys. There’s just less alcohol involved.”

“So were the citizens in this ‘Vegas’ also confined to living underground for fear that they would be killed on site above?” Nightmare asked making Josh sigh.

“You know just how to kill the mood.” Josh said as he past a few more changelings on the path to the castle. Instead of hair they had the fin like things on the backs of their head showing they were male. They two had the only two colors just like Azure and the majority of changelings, one being a light purple and the other a light green. It's a little rare, but not unheard of, for a changeling to have different colored eyes, hair, and wings with there black insect-like bodies, like the hero of old the guard copies.

Realizing he had been staring as they approached, Josh waved to them. They returned the gesture and went on their way, “Had I been here when Chrysalis did her whole speech and rant about the way they were living, I can’t say I wouldn’t of been tempted to join her in the attempt to capture a kingdom of their own. Leon would of talked me out of it, but I would of been tempted.” Josh looked around as all the changelings moved from place to place in the hive as he walked down the straight road, some with a smile, some with a sad look, many in between, “They lived what they thought was a good life, but Chrysalis told them of what they could have and quite a few citizens joined her.”

“Yes, any ruler worthy of the title wouldn’t let their people live in fear like this, no matter if they are ignorantly happy or not. They deserve to be able to leave and not fear just the prospect of the surface, but Cocoon has been trying her best to make the world more accepting.” Nightmare said with a sigh, “At least the dragons accept them and don’t kill on sight now that we helped them with the rouge.”

“Yeah, I guess it’s just baby steps now since the failed assault on Canterlot. Now we got changelings that were part of it telling everyone else that the ponies were weak and not to be feared like they thought. Which I guess is true since the attackers were civilians and still only barely lost.” Josh stated with a small chuckle as he turned a corner halfway down the street and passed two of the guards on the bridge to the castle.

“If my other half had been there to help then I assure you, it wouldn’t of been so. Maybe it’s for the best though as, by some miracle, there were no casualties.” Nightmare replied as they walked towards the looming stone castle.

“Oh yeah. One of the Big Five’s capitals gets invaded and not a single death came from it.” Josh began to laugh, “It’s so absurd I can’t believe it. No one is even missing! I just refuse to believe a teenager was behind what could've been one of the biggest military victories in this planet’s history.”

Nightmare began to laugh lightly, “I would hardly call it the biggest military victory had it succeeded. I remember battles between empires that have both fallen to time that would make what she did look like a foal trying to take a toy from another foal.”

“I’d like to hear some of those stories sometime, might bore me enough to get some sleep.” Josh chuckled as he walked around one of the castle’s many corners and proceeded down a flight of stairs.

“If it get’s you to stop falling asleep during mission briefings then I’ll try it. Oh and next time that happens, I’m not telling you what Leon said.” Nightmare replied with her own chuckle.

“Josh.” a deep voice called out as Josh reached the bottom of the stairs. Turning Josh saw hank walking towards him with a few guards at his sides, “Were about to go play some football, you in?”

“Wish man, Leon wanted me for something.” Josh stated as he began to move passed.

“Right, just don’t want to get beat by me again eh?” Hank stated crossing his arms and looking at his fellow Spartan.

“Oh it’s-”

“As much as I would like to see Josh get taken down a few pegs, we do have to meet with Leon.” Nightmare stated, interrupting Josh.

Hank nodded his helmet, “Looks like someone was saved from embarrassment. Come to the stadium when you’re done and we’ll see who’s better.” he walked away with the guards in tow.

“Oh I’ll be there.” Josh called after him, but he didn’t seem to hear him.

“I’ve still got you muted.” Nightmare chuckled while Josh groaned and continued down the hallway as, “What do you think Leon wanted you for?”

“You’re in my head, can’t you tell?” Josh asked.

“It will be a cold day in the ninth level of Tartarus when I read your thoughts again. I can’t think of a day, in recent memory, when I was happier than the day I learned how to block your thoughts.” Nightmare answered.

“Right, good for you.” Josh said as he rolled his eyes, “In truth though, I ain’t gotta clue what to expect if Hank isn’t going to be there. Usually when we go on ops it’s either me and him or me and Chase, but since Chase is with Ethan are wrapping up our job with the Minotaurs I don’t think we’re being deployed. It was about time Leon stopped trying to protect him like an overprotective mother.”

“I almost forgot the rare moments you use logic.” Nightmare said with a smug tone, “I still don’t think Chase is fit for deployment though. Once I saw the video from that mission... well I just find it hard to believe that after he lost his mind the UNSC actually kept him as a Spartan.”

“He says he doesn’t remember anything after... well after Reaper tore apart his team.” Josh stated as the mood of the conversation took a major turn downwards, “That and the Energy Sword can’t leave his side so to discharge him with a weapon like that wouldn’t of been a very good idea either.”

“True, true... I suppose since he has yet to go on a killing spree that he’s fine for now, but I won’t be recommending any high tension missions for him in the future.” Nightmare stated, “Though the three of us handled the dragon issue very well I thought.”

“You mean besides my side getting tore open and it taking two weeks for the best and most magically adept changelings to repair my armor?” Josh asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You’re lucky they were able to repair it at all. The high grade materials that you armor is made out of can’t be repaired as if it were a linen cloth. For the spell to work it takes not only time for the materials to duplicate at an atomic level, but also a lot of magic and precision for such a spell.” Nightmare stated as they rounded another corner, “An average magic user would of been killed under the strain and still a few of the changelings had to be treated for magic exhaustion.”

“...”

“Nothing to say? I guess there is a first time for everything... Josh?” Nightmare asked as Josh didn’t answer, but continued walking.

Before Nightmare could ask again Josh interrupted her, “I don’t think I was ever as happy as the day I learned to mute you.” he said with a smile on his face and the mood took a turn up again.

“I can still override it~.” Nightmare said with a happy tone as Josh groaned.

“So, what do you think Leon wants?” Josh asked as he rounded another corner and began to pass some random rooms that he never learned the purpose of.

“Probably to get you to stop this whole sleeping around business.” Nightmare answered.

“He hasn’t talked to me yet once we figured out the magical side of safe sex.” Josh said as he turned another corner and came upon a door, “This is where he wanted to meet us right?”

“Yes, but we’ve never been here before. I wonder why Leon requested we come here instead of the cave...” Nightmare thought out loud.

“Red flags are starting to go up.” Josh stated as he stopped in front of the door, “Isn’t this the way to the dungeons?”

“... Get your rifle out, I’ll probe for magic.” Nightmare stated as Josh’s EOD helmet visor, which was just two eye holes, lit up a shade of blue.

Josh grabbed the MA5D off his back and carefully began to push the door open with the weapon lowered. The lights were dim and only the occasional torch lit up the stairs in front of Josh, enough light just to see, but enough for something to hide. Weapon raised, Josh began to slowly descend the stairs, “Why in the hell would Leon want me to meet him here?”

“I don’t know, but magical scans aren’t showing anything out of the ordinary...” Nightmare answered as Josh reached the bottom of the stairs. Torches lined the walls and most of the cells appeared empty, as did the path in front of him that branched off to the left and right. As Josh got closer to the intersection a green blip appeared on his radar. The constant signal of a friendly IFF tag. Josh put away his weapon as he continued down the path, but Nightmare stayed alert for magical activity.

As they rounded another corner Josh was relieved to see Leon standing in front of one of the stone walled cells, “Josh, there you are.” Leon said as they approached, “I’ve got the other’s thoughts, but I need your take on how to handle... this.” Leon gestured to the inside of the cage.

Josh got close enough to look inside and saw-, “Uhg, what’s she doing here?” Nightmare asked with venom in her voice. Inside the cage was a well known pink earth pony mare, with her trade mark poofy pink mane, Pinkie Pie.

“Hi!” the mare stated happily with a smile on her face.

“Hey.” Josh replied in kind before turning to Leon, “What’s she doing here?”

“She got my letter in reply to her invites. Our not being able to come apparently warranted a visit as soon as that news channel caught us working with the changelings after the dragon meeting.” Leon explained before turning to Pinkie, “I just told Alfred over the comms to ask Chase and Ethan what they think we should do. Alfred said he trusted my judgment as long as we don’t kill her.”

“What?!” Pinkie exclaimed as Leon finished.

“Calm down, we aren’t doing that.” Josh said before turning off his external speakers, “We aren’t, are we?”

“No.” Leon stated before addressing Pinkie, “What were you hoping to accomplish by coming here?”

Pinkie cocked her head to the side, “Well since we couldn’t have your party in Equestria, I decided I would just bring the party to you. I would of brought a few of my friends, but they had other things they had to do. Twilight was getting situated into her new princess position in Canterlot. Applejack was checking something with the bits the farm made this year. Rarity-”

“We get it.” Josh interrupted, “Why did you want to throw us a party though?”

“That’s what I do for all my new friends. I also do it for any new ponies that come to Ponyville.” she stated happily, “It’s also an ‘I’m sorry for chasing after you halfway across Equestria’ party. I would say I’m sorry to the changelings who I fought in Canterlot, but that was in self defense. Oh! I do have to say sorry to Chrysalis though. When I heard that she was rescued by you guys from the castle we trapped her in, I was sad because I thought about how scared she must of been stuck in that tiny room with....”

“...” both Spartans were quiet as she continued to talk... and talk.... and talk.......... and-

“For the love of the night, shut up!” Nightmare yelled through the external speakers. The whole room grew si-

“Oh! Is Princess Luna here?” Pinkie asked as she began to look around.

Josh looked as Leon facepalmed at the situation, “Go ahead, show her.”

Shrugging his shoulders Josh reached to the back of his helmet and brought back in front of him, “Pinkie, I think you know Moonie.” a small holographic image appeared over the chip earning Pinkie’s undivided attention. A swirling mist began to materialize over the chip before Nightmare Moon spread her wings and the mist became her mane and tail showing off all her eight inch tall glory.

“Laughter.” Nightmare stated with a hint of malice behind her voice.

“Whoa...” Pinkie dumbly stared at the projection, “Are you really Nightmare Moon?”

“What’s left after you tore me apart and purified me from my other half. A very painful process I assure you.” Nightmare said, making the pink mare shy away from her glare.

“I want to say I’m sorry, but-”

“No need to explain Element. I know what I tried to do was foolish, I’m fortunate enough Leon did not leave me to that miserable existence in the castle ruins.” Nightmare said earning a raised eyebrow from everyone in the room.

“A decision I’ve yet to regret, and I don’t think I will.” Leon stated.

“Moonie just said something nice.” Josh said slowly, “So when are you going to start reading my thoughts again because I’m pretty sure the ninth level of Tartarus just froze over.”

“Oh, my friends say I make that happen a lot.” Pinkie said, once again her happy self.

That got a chuckle out of Josh while Leon crossed his arms looking at the mare in front of him, “You don't have to appologise to Chrysalis either, she wasn't trapped in the castle, she was still using it as a base to plot another attack..." Leon sighed as he uncrossed his arms, "No matter what I decide, I’ll have to check it with Queen Cocoon. It's still her empire after all.”

Suddenly Leon’s comm came to life, “Leon.” Alfred started, “I just got off the long distance with Chase and Ethan... You’re not going to believe their idea.”

“Both as in they both thought it up, or Chase suggested it and Ethan agreed?” Leon asked while Josh returned Nightmare to his helmet.

“Actually Ethan suggested one thing and Chase built on it for what could be the most idiotic thing I’ve heard.” Alfred replied.

“Oooo, this is sounding like my kind of plan.” Pinkie said with a smile that was starting to creep Josh out.

“What’s the plan?” Leon asked.

“He’s heard that she’s a party planner, so he wants her to throw a hive wide party...” Alfred said slowly, “I want no part in this, whatever you decide leave our cave out of it.” the comm went dead.

The Spartans were just standing there in a stunned stupor while Pinkie had a smile practically a mile wide, “This is... the best plan... ever!”

“Please tell me you’re not thinking of doing this.” Nightmare stated.

“We’d have to tell everyling about her before hand...” Josh thought out loud.

“I’d have to iron out a lot of things with Cocoon...” Leon murmured.

So engrossed in their thought they had failed to notice the green blip that had been moving towards them on their motion sensors, “A lot of things.” the new comer stated making them turn to see the Queen standing there with Chrysalis by her side, “But it might even be a good learning experience for Chrissy and the hive as a whole.”

“Am I the only one here who thinks she could be a spy?” Nightmare asked dumbfounded that everyone around her was quick to trust a high profile enemy.

“She willingly submitted to a memory search with no restrictions. I had one of the guards go get the best magically adapted, and most unbiased, changeling to perform the search and he claimed there was no tampering to hide anything. Even the memories she has of her dreams showed no signs of any influence, though afterwards he wanted to eat something called a chimi cherry changa.” Leon explained, making Nightmare’s argument dissipate into thin air. One does not simply allow another to view their memories unless they are true of heart... or at the least very stupid.

“Then it’s settled, a good number of changelings’ first exposure to Equestria will be through Pinkie Pie and her party.” Cocoon stated before turning to Pinkie, “You will have a guard by you at all times and if you move to far away from that guard it will be thought as suspicious activity and you will be put on even tighter security. A third strike and you will have your memory wiped and you will be thrown out into the middle of the Badlands. Understand?”

Pinkie nodded and made a mock salute with her hoof, “I Pinkie Promise to be on my best behavior.” she stated before making a bunch of different hoof movements, “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” she finished with a smile.

“Okay... " Leon said slowly, "So who’s going to be her-”

“Hank.” Josh said quickly, interrupting Leon, “He has a lot of free time since Chase finished up the Warthog and he has more sway with the citizens than I do.”

“No he doesn’t.” Nightmare joined the argument, “A lot of the guards respect him, but we’re trying to sway the citizens, not the guard. You have more sway with the citizens because you’re always out there in the city.” Nightmare had wanted to state that he had probably dated half of them, but she held her tongue... for now.

“You realize if I get the guarding position we will have to follow her, we will have to help her set up the party, and we will be protecting her, right?” Josh asked.

Leon ignored Josh and Nightmare as he watched Cocoon and Chrysalis have a mute argument between just the two of them. Cocoon, who was on par with Celestia in height and just below eye level for the Spartan, seemed to have muted their argument from being heard. Chrysalis, who was on par with Luna in height and barely reached his chin, seemed to be pissed at whatever she was suggesting.

After a few seconds of silence, Leon was about to speak up when Nightmare finally answered Josh, “Then again the guards all go home to their families at the end of their shifts and they could just as easily, if not more so, spread word that she is a good pony.”

“Alright then, since you both made such good reasons why you would be guards, then all three of you get the job.” Leon stated happily.

Josh turned on the spot and both him and Nightmare shouted, “What!?”

“Yep. End of discussion, unless you wanted to add something Cocoon.” Leon added as he saw her drop whatever spell.

“Yes actually, she’ll be kept in a guest room for the next few days while I tell the hive then proceed to wait for them to calm down. During that time I’d like it if my daughter stayed with this pony so that she might learn a lesson. I hope that will be no trouble?” Cocoon asked while a very angry yet defeated looking Chrysalis looked on with a scowl.

Before Josh could object Leon answered, “Sounds terrific, I’ve already got three of my own guarding Pinkie, so it shouldn’t be any problem to add another for them to look after.”

“I don’t need protecting.” Chrysalis stated with absolute hatred in her voice making Cocoon take on a saddened expression.

“But-” Josh tried to say before he was interrupted again.

“Alright then.” Cocoon said before turning back to Chrysalis, “If you need anything, have Josh get Leon. Me and him will be going over our plans for the reveal of Pinkie and how to make sure that we can contain whatever inevitably goes wrong.” she leaned down a little bit and nuzzled the side of Chrysalis’ head. The younger changeling hesitated before returning the affection then quickly pulling away.

The Queen smiled, “Come Leon, the sooner we start planning at get this over with the sooner we can handle the mess that comes after.”

“Agreed.” Leon stated as he began to move after her.

“Hey. Hey!” Josh called after them as they left him alone with Pinkie Pie and Chrysalis, “She’s still in the cell, where are the keys!?”

“Oh I was never locked in here.” Pinkie said happily as she moved to cell door to the right of the rest of the bars and opened it easily, “I just wanted to see what it was like in these dungeons.”

“... We’ll be in an asylum before the end of this won’t we?” Nightmare asked as Josh groaned and turned around to see Chrysalis beginning to leave.

“Hey! Wait-” something latched onto the back of Josh’s helmet and hooves dangled on either side of his head as pinkie took a seat on his shoulders.

“Onward to the party planning room!” Pinkie cried out before bursting out laughing.

“We’ll be lucky if we last the day.” Josh groaned before moving forwards with the pink mare on his head. Suddenly though, an idea began to form. Turning off his external speakers as he followed after Chrysalis, Josh explained, “Okay, what’s the one way to get and keep a child’s attention?”

“We’re not dealing with foals and fillies, we need more than just an attention grabber for these two.” Nightmare stated as they got close to Chrysalis.

“A trick I learned from helping Hank on his first job.” Josh said with a smug tone before turning on his external speakers, “How would you two like to sample my people’s culture-”

“No. I will not accept your protection for I have no need of it.” Chrysalis stated before storming off towards the stairs leading out of the dungeons.

“Well then, I guess it will just be me and Pinkie to watch all the action packed movies I’ve got...” Josh stated casually yet in an enticing sort of way.

“Oh cool, you’ve got movies!” Pinkie stated happily, “What kind? Romantics ones? Action? Scarry? Funny?”

“All kinds.” Josh stated as he noticed Chrysalis had stopped, “We just need to get some popcorn, a few drinks, and a projector and I can show you any kind of movie you want.”

“Dibs on first pick!” Pinkie stated in her usual happy demeanor.

Noticing that Chrysalis was actually considering joining them Josh continued, “Yeah, and it won’t even really be guarding since we’ll all just be a bunch of people hanging out, watching movies, and overall doing nothing actually serious, productive, or anything to do with work.” Josh was specifically mentioning the work part because he knew that Chrysalis was still doing her three-thousand hours of community service.

"Pretty please with sugar and a few cupcakes on top?” Pinkie asked.

“... Fine, I suppose I do need to learn about your culture if you’re going to be our allies.” she stated before continuing up the stairs.

“This might not be as bad as I thought it was going to be.” Nightmare stated as Josh followed Chrysalis up the stairs.

“Do you have any movies with ghosts?” Pinkie asked, “Wait, watching a movie with ghosts wouldn’t be racist towards Moonie would it?”

While Nightmare groaned Josh couldn’t get the smile off his face. It’s clear to see why Pinkie Pie was the element of Laughter, “Maybe a movie night won’t be so bad.” Josh stated as he got to the top of the stairs and Chrysalis began to lead the way to the guest rooms.

“Why’s that?” both Chrysalis and Nightmare asked at the same time, making Josh and Pinkie start to laugh.

“Because, Hank is one of the easiest people to scare.” Josh said with a smirk hidden under his helmet.

“Really? I thought Chase would be the easiest since the spiders thing.” Chrysalis said as they backtracked through the hallways of the castle.

“Anything Hank can hit or shoot, he’s not scared of. Get into somewhere haunted he’ll start shaking like a white boy in the wrong neighborhood. Chase is the second easiest to scare on our team, just get a spider near him or get him near the ocean and he’ll start flipping out.” Josh stated.

“Chase is scared of water? Did he not travel over the water to get to here from the Gryphon Kingdoms?” Nightmare questioned.

“Why would a white boy be shaking if he’s in the wrong neighborhood?” Pinkie asked before Josh could answer Nightmare’s question.

“Chase isn’t scared of water, he’s scared of really deep water and open ocean.” Josh held back his laughter as he answered, “The white boy joke is a human thing.”

“More like a racist thing.” Nightmare chimed in making Josh burst out laughing, “This guard deal might just be as bad as I thought.”

****Pelican, Over Storm Central Sea****
Afternoon

The Storm Central Sea, named such as it had more storms happen over it’s waters than any other body of water in the known world. Yeah, known world, despite the best of efforts only the northern half of the planet has actually been mapped. There was an entire strip of land called The Everfree Rainforest, ponies named it, that was considered to be not one of, but thee deadliest place on the planet.

Some speculated that it was all that covered the expanse of the southern hemisphere, other’s claimed it’s the first barrier one has to cross to become a god. Books have been written about it, many have spent their entire careers studying it, and finally, our Spartans had a running bet on it. For that reason, Ethan and Chase had taken a little detour from their path straight back to the hive.

They were currently flying high above the south faction of the Minotaur Dominion, skirting the water as per Chase’s request. They still had plenty of surplus fuel and the detour wasn’t that costly on it, but they were still looking into a possible magical alternative. The Pelican didn’t run on water like the Warthog, sooner or later it was just going to be a decoration piece.

While Ethan piloted them over a storm front, Chase sat in the cozy back of the Pelican, with his feet propped up on a few bags full of bits, watching one of his favorite movies, Tremors 2: Aftershocks. Chase was watching the montage of graboid killing near the beginning of the film when the video paused, shrunk down, and another image took it’s place. Sighing in annoyance Chase tapped the image that the holoprojector had made and different charts and gauges appeared with a small wall of text to the side.

Chase’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the scans on the projection. Slowly, without taking his eyes off of the images, he grabbed the few bit sacks he was using and toss them onto the other twenty or so near the wall at the front of the troop compartment of the Pelican. He pressed on one of the scanners that was slowly rising making it take up the entire screen, “Hey Ethan, I’m getting some abnormal electromagnetic readings back here. Did we drift into the storm clouds?”

“No, still over it.” Ethan droned out as Chase watched the meter rise. After a few seconds of watching it fill up, the moment the number on the gauge read fifty a lot of things happened at once. The Pelican violently shook, the holotable powered down, and Chase found himself slammed into the ceiling of the Pelican as it’s engines stopped and it began to drop like a rock.

“Ethan status!” Chase said as he slammed his boots onto the ground and activated their magnetic properties.

“EMP, magical source.” Ethan stated as Chase watched the holo table start to flicker on and off.

“Can you get us air born again!?” Chase stated as he moved passed all the floating gold coins to get to the holotable.

“Both engines spun to zero.” Ethan was silent as Chase sat down in one of the Pelican’s seats and began to strap himself in. The holotable came back online and, but they were still in free fall, “Recycle the engines now!”

Chase’s arms were a flurry of movement as he moved screens aside, pressed on others, before finally an image of the Pelican’s engines appeared. A small timer to the side of the holo screen read out thirty-two seconds. He began pressing all sorts of different buttons, getting the individual systems back online, before finally swiping along the last screen. A rumble went through the entire Pelican as the engines began their starting process for coming online.

While it did that, Chase moved the top left corner of the screen down, shrinking all of the engine and system’s stuff and brought up the maps of the region they were in. Slowly but surely they were drifting into the Everfree Rainforest and had actually crossed the boundary a few seconds earlier... ‘Wait a minute...’ “Ethan, as soon as the engines are ready pull us around and get us away from this fucking forest!”

Two things popped up on the screen again as Chase observed the map. The first was the timer showing ten seconds before they crashed. The other was the EM meter that was once again slowly starting to rise, “Oh shit. Ethan the EM meter is starting to rise again, we need to go now.”

As soon as the timer hit seven seconds, the whole Pelican lurched forward and the gold bits were thrown into the floor and the ramp of the Pelican. Chase locked his armor as he felt the Pelican pull a one-eighty and the emergency thrusters activate. All the landing thrusters on the bottom of the Pelican were angled backwards to give even the tiniest bit of thrust. Chase watched with clenched teeth as the EM meter slowly rose past forty.

The Pelican began to shake again as it plowed through the storm it had been above seconds earlier. Chase got ready to over pressurize his armor for the worst case scenario, considering they were now over the water. As he thought that, Chase’s heart began to race. He had seen the type of things on the internet about what lurked in the depths of the deepest ocean. As the EM meter slowly went passed forty-seven Chase began to try and calm himself by taking deep, shaky breaths.

Before the thoughts of if the water pressure would kill the two of them or if they would be forced to slowly run out of air entered Chase’s mind the EM meter stopped at forty-eight point four and slowly began to go back down. Chase let out a huge sigh of relief as he disengaged the armor lock and let his arms go limp onto the seats. He didn’t even care about the turbulence anymore as the engines slowly began to wind down and go back to normal propulsion.

As the Pelican slowly began to rise above the storm once more, Ethan’s voice over the radio made Chase jump, “Are you okay?”

“Ah, yeah. I’m fine.” Chase said through his panting, “Get a hold of Leon, I’ve got to tell him about this. Though when we come back, we’re stopping the moment the EM meter get’s the tiniest bit of a signal.”

“Affirmative.”

“One thing’s for sure though, we got a mystery on our hands.” Chase said with a small smile before that smile dropped upon looking around the Pelican’s interior, “And one hell of a mess to clean up.”

Author's Notes:

So, here is Chapter 15: Skipping Time and Catching up Part 1. As you may of noticed, we've now got chapter names! There will be another time skip from this one to the next chapter as I've realized I couldn't of picked a worse time to put these Spartans in Equestria. It needs to be summer for the start of Season 4 to happen and so I have a lot of time to make up for. Almost a full year will have passed for our Spartans before the actual story behind Arc II starts. For us though, it's going to be covered in two chapters.

Alright, community question: How's your guys opinion on the Halo 5 beta?

My answer: ...I haven't gotten to play the stupid thing yet. For some reason I can load Youtube videos in seconds, but the moment my Xbone connects to the internet it only downloads at 12 kb/s or somewhere around there... It makes me sad.

At least The Master Chief collection is in playable order now, I just got through winning a Blood Gulch Big Team Battle on Halo CE and I went 9 and 9... Don't laugh, my internet sucks... and the guns were broken... and insert another random reason here. Point is, I had fun... really wish I could play the beta though... Please spare no detail if you chose to describe an awesome moment.

Skipping Time and Catching Up Pt. 2

View Online

Chapter Sixteen

****Canterlot, Equestria****
One Month Later/Morning

Morning in Equestria is loved by a good number more ponies than it should be. Princess Celestia is one of these ponies. With a smile on her muzzle and a shot of hard whisky in her tea she was ready to take on the nonsense that had come up while she had been held captive by the plant’s in the Everfree. Beside her was Luna, looking as tired as ever as she was not a morning pony. In her magical grip was a large mug of coffee.

During their absence, the Royal Guard had a few reported accounts of suspicious activity near the Royal Archives. A worrying thought, but the guard captain assured her that he could take care of the reports himself. Considering his shaky start, put in a magical comma a few hours after his promotion ceremony, he was starting to show better leader skills than Shining Armor had when he started.

All that though were things Celestia thought could handle themselves. Whatever the Council had called for both Princesses to be present for however... probably should be looked into, ‘Please don't let it be another meeting about the rewriting of the tax laws.’ Celestia thought to herself, careful not to broadcast that over her and her sister’s telepathic link.

“Sister.” Luna started as she finished another sip of her coffee, “Please tell me why I had to get up at this hour.” Celestia opened her mouth to answer, “If you tell me it’s for the tax laws again, I’m turning around right now.”

Celestia held in a laugh at her sister as she answered, “I was told by Parchment that there was to be a Council meeting in the right wing meeting room.”

Luna groaned, “So it could be another meeting about the taxes.” she let out a slightly louder groan before taking a large drink of her coffee.

“Luna it won’t be that bad.” Celestia stated as they came to the door, “It can’t be any worse than being abducted by plant’s yesterday.”

Celestia used her magic to open the door and both her and Luna were welcome to the curious site of Parchment standing at the side of the room by himself. The yellow unicorn councilor stood to the right of the room with a briefcase at his side. He turned his head making a lock of his black mane come out from under his fedora and frame the side of his face.

The room itself followed the rest of the castle with lavish decor, a long, highly decorated table, and a multitude of over-the-top fancy cushions to sit on. Despite both Princesses being confused at only the one councilor's presence, they didn’t show it on their faces.

“Ah, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna.” Parchment bowed.

“Councilor.” Luna droned before drinking the last of her coffee.

“Councilor Parchment.” Celestia said as if he were a dear friend, “Where is the rest of the council?”

Parchment sigh, “Straight to business then.” he said before his horn lit up and closed the doors behind Celestia. The electric lights above kept the room bright while Parchment continued, “The councilors have been talking and we’ve come to an agreement in relation to you two.” he gestured to both Celestia and Luna, “Ever since the first attack a few years ago by Nightmare Moon the guard has been shown time and time again to fail their jobs protecting you both.”

Luna was about to say they didn’t need protection, but after yesterday she could see why it would seem so.

“Okay, so what has the council decided?” Celestia asked, eyebrow raised.

Parchment sighed before opening his briefcase and began to pull out various files and papers, “A complete overhaul for the Royal Guard. New training, larger numbers, and personal escorts at all times for the foreseeable future. A squad of the best trained soldiers from both the Night Guard and the Day Guard will be-”

“I believe the proper names are the Lunar Guard and the Solar Guard.” Luna corrected the stallion as she took a seat on a cushion beside her sister.

‘Is it the Solar Guard?... Why does there have to be twenty different names for two separate divisions of the Royal Guard?’ Celestia thought to herself as Parchment continued.

“I'm sorry Princess, but as I was saying a squad of the best will be chosen out of the Lunar Guard and the Solar Guard to guard you at all times. Exception being when you are in your bed chambers.” Parchment began to hoof over papers to the Princesses, “Details pertaining to the Royal Guard overhaul. The budget will need some, finer tuning, but I’m sure the captains can work those out and get back to us at some point.”

“Parchment, it says here that guards will be stationed by our sides immediately. How are we to choose the best of the newly trained guards if the guards haven’t been trained yet?” Celestia asked as she looked at the third paper in the stack she was given.

Parchment took a shaky breath as he pulled out another paper, “This was signed off by the entire council and for the next few months while the guards are being trained we’ve hired two of the best in the business to protect you.”

Luna picked up the paper in her magic and immediately her eyes began to narrow as she began reading line after line, “Councilor, surely you jest? Celestia may of pardoned them for a few of their crime’s but they are still wanted for all the others.” Luna stated as she presented the paper to Celestia for her to look over.

“No, I am not joking. The Spartans have yet to fail any job that has been given to them. On top of that if the mission parameters state that if lethal force is optional they have yet to take the easy route and kill.”

“They are working with Changelings.” Luna stated her voice growing louder. “The very same hive who attempted to invade us last year.”

“It has been stated by the Spartans that the Changeling Empire is only their host and ally. Last week, the Spartans worked for the Minotaur Dominion and got the job done before the end of the next day. Minotaurs are known for their hate of changelings and has led three hunts to exterminate the species in centuries past, but they still trusted the Spartans and the Spartans upheld their end of the deal in full.” Parchment stated as Celestia carefully examined the paper.

“I don’t like the idea.” Celestia lowered the paper as Parchment held his breath, “But, it would help improve relations with the Changeling Empire.”

Parchment let out a huge sigh of relief, “They’ve also agreed to work the next few months for free as long as their whole team get’s their records cleared.”

Celestia nodded her head, “What do you think Luna?”

Luna was silent for a moment before answering, “This seems like a setup by the changelings, but if the Minotaurs can put aside centuries long hate of the changelings to work with them then I see no reason we can not either.” Parchment smiled as he felt a load of weight get lifted off his shoulders, “There will, however, be two other guards of our personal choice with them at all times.”

Parchment nodded, “Of course, stating that a guard will be with them at all times is in their contract, but as for personal choice I’m afraid that we have already selected who will be with them. Since it will be a complete overhaul of the system, we brought in a veteran who retired recently to guard them with the Luna Guard captain till the first group of the guard is trained.”

“Please don’t tell me you’ve brought in Shining Armor. With the upcoming Equestria Games, Cadence is likely to need his help to prepare.” Celestia stated as Parchment shook his head.

“No, we’ve brought in former Lieutenant Spear from the Solar Guard and he will be working with Captain Echo Location of the Lunar Guard. The Spartans will stay with you whenever you’re awake and will almost never leave your side.”

Luna let out a sigh, “When will they get here. I’d rather at least get a nap in before we have to welcome them.”

“I’m more curious as to whom Leon would send.” Celestia said as she looked over a few more of the papers detailing the guard overhaul.

“Looking to get some payback on the one who shot your horn?” Luna said with a smug smile on her face.

“No, I’d be surprised to see any of the original three Spartans show up here.” Celestia said as she took a sip of her tea.

“Well you’re, half right...” Parchment muttered before adding quickly, “As for your questions of when and who, they’re in here now-” Celestia almost, almost, did a spit take as he said that, “-and on your say they’ll come out.”

She swallowed her tea as Luna’s eyes began to dart around the room, having been sure that they were the only ones in the room seconds prior. Celestia too was about to look around the room, but she knew that she wouldn’t find them. Parchment tried to make himself as small as possible as he wanted to be left out of whatever came next.

“Alright then, you can come out now.” Celestia said as she looked around the room to see where they might appear. On her command a portion of the wall to her right began to move from it’s spot and take a step towards her. The white colors of the wall seemed have blotches of black suddenly appear in multiple place. Before a moment had passed standing before her was not a portion of the wall but a fully armored Spartan with his hands behind his back.

Celestia turned to her left and sure enough another Spartan stood by Luna, though the Princess of the Night was still focused on the one by her.

‘There's one beside you too.’ Celestia told Luna over their link.

Luna, to her credit, didn’t suddenly turn to look at the Spartan. Though turning her head slowly like she was in a horror movie and had an ominous shadow cast over her wasn’t much better. The Spartan next to Luna looked at the two of them, with folded arms, before nodding it’s head to the other.

“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.” Alfred started, getting both their attention, “I’m Spartan Alfred Diamond and my friend here is Spartan Ethan Smith. We will be your protection till the first few squads of guards are trained and they can take our positions.”

Celestia narrowed her eyes at Alfred, “You were the one who shot my horn off.”

“Yes, I was providing sniper support for Leon and Josh when you encountered them in the forest. I would like to state-”

“Spartan.” Luna interrupted, “Why would your leader send you out of all the other Spartans?”

Any reaction Alfred had was not seen through his helmet, “We recently had a matter come up and we had to prioritize our forces and our deployments.”

“And I suppose we are not privy to that information?” Luna asked with a glare.

“No.” Ethan stated simply causing the Princesses to glance at him.

“If we do not have your trust-” Luna began, staring directly into Alfred's visor, “-why should we give you ours?”

Before Alfred could respond, Ethan answered, “Trust is earned.”

“Not given.” Alfred finished, “This is not a matter of trust though. Telling you where our other deployments are is out of the question. We can tell you a lot of things as Leon thought it would be good to establish trust between us. Understand though that any questions about the Hive’s security and exact location, as well as any questions around their technology and ours, will not be answered.”

Celestia thought the last one was a given, but didn’t say anything as Alfred continued, “However, Leon said that personal information is our own to give. Just don’t be expecting much from Ethan.”

“What do you gain from this?” Celestia asked, hoping to catch Alfred off guard, “You’re names were already cleared of any major charges that couldn’t be payed off.”

Alfred was quiet for a second, “Before the Princess Chrysalis attacked Canterlot most changelings in the hive lived in fear of the above ground world. When she took her makeshift army to Canterlot and came but a step from overtaking the city the changelings under her command were shocked to say the least.

“Ever since the oldest in the Hive escaped the prison camps of the minotaurs they’ve told stories of how the world outside their Hive was cruel, evil, and anyone would kill them on site for just being a changeling. For them, that battle was the turning point. A militia group of civilians and a few military soldiers almost took down the goddess of the sun.”

Celestia opened her mouth to protest the title, but Alfred raised a hand to stop her, “It doesn’t matter if you are or you’re not, for them they had come but one step form the impossible. Queen Cocoon was hard pressed to keep them all safe after that. She doesn’t like change but she’s trying her best to make a future for her people.”

“I’d rather get to bed sometime today Spartan.” Luna stated, “Save your sob story for later and get to the point.”

Alfred nodded, “As it is changelings are seen as monsters all over the world from Equestria to the D-B Kingdom. At the Annual World Leaders Summit in a few months all we ask is that you support changeling integration and help drop the laws for them just being seen. Your decision will not affect how we will preform our jobs, but it would be considered a gesture of good will.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow as Luna narrowed her eyes and looked into the Spartan’s visor, “You really think so low of us that we wouldn’t of done so before?”

That seemed to catch Alfred off guard, “What?”

“My sister is right, we would of approved for the laws being dropped even before you came here. They are entirely too harsh and immoral.” Celestia stated as she took a sip of her tea, ‘Should have put a double shot whiskey in this.’

“You’ll have to forgive me for not believing you given Equestria’s reputation, but if what you say is true then how is it that the laws haven’t been addressed sooner?”

“You seem to think that we make all the final decisions in the World Council, but the other five leaders have just as much say as we do. I can’t tell you the vote numbers or the other nation’s reasons as it’s not mine to say, but Luna and I voted for a reworking of the laws.” Celestia answered before a look of confusion crossed her face, “What did you mean ‘given Equestria's reputation.’?”

“You don’t know?” Alfred asked.

“We wouldn’t be asking you if we did.” Luna stated before Celestia could answer.

“From the multitude of reports our changeling friends have gathered, Equestria is seen, as a whole, a nation of racist bigots.”

Luna froze mid sip of her coffee as the Spartan finished. Celestia stared at him with wide eyes as her mouth moved trying to think of words. Parchment, who had been quietly observing and silently hoping that he wasn’t going to get fired, stared at the Spartan in confusion.

“From other individual reports from other sources confirmed this. Your average Equestrian looks down on those from other nations with pity. In most cases, with gryphons and minotaurs especially, they are seen as barbaric. Those with political pull make it a living tartarus for them to get into equestria for a permanent stay. Then there are the school systems in these areas that instill the smallest of racist teachings. Talking about how other nations have messed up and went to war while Equestria has stayed peaceful for a millennia.

“A few settlements are noted to be ‘not as racist’ but they are few. Two of your major port cities, Manehattan and Las Pegasus, are notorious for tourists being discriminated against. The Police force in San Franciscolt is noted as being overly brutal with immigrants while it’s general population is more accepting.”

“I’ve heard quite enough.” Luna stated, “I’m tired and as of right now I’ve had just about enough of this nonsense. Equestria prides itself on equality and peace, so forgive me if I do not believe you.”

“Quite true. We will do our own research into the matter.” Celestia stood up, “For now though I do believe this meeting is at a close.”

“Of course, tell us what to do and we’ll stay as close as possible without being seen.”

“I’ll be going to my office to sign away on some paper work.” the sun princess stated, finishing her tea/whisky.

“I’ll be going to bed.” Luna said getting up and heading towards the door. Alfred nodded towards Ethan and then began to follow Luna. As she walked out the door, Alfred’s armor changed to the same white as the walls and he ran off ahead.

Celestia turned from the door to the Spartan still in the room, “We’ll be making the announcement about you tomorrow. Then you won’t have to-”

“No.” Ethan stated, interrupting Celestia, “We stay hidden.” the solar princess furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Ethan gestured his hand to the papers, “Contract.”

“Alright, I’ll review it later. Are you going to meet me at my study, or-” she stopped talking as Ethan’s armor began to turn transparent. In less than a second the only thing that told her he was still there was her distorted view of the wall and decor behind him.

Getting up off her cushion, Celestia smiled at the Spartan, “Than let’s get going, I plan to stop by the kitchens first to get a small breakfast. Have you already eaten?”

“I’m fine.”

“That wasn’t the question was it.” Celestia turned and began to go towards the door with Ethan close behind.

As the door shut to the council meeting room shut, a certain stallion let out a large breath of relief. Parchment was happy that the meeting had seemingly gone well and their guards should be with them in a short while. His relief was short lived though as the door opened up once more.

“Oh and Parchment,” Celestia said as she looked back into the room, “I’m going to need you to look over and point out the flaws in the newest rewrite of the tax laws. I’ll be busy with some other things and we need to work those out by next week.” she gave her trademark smile as she shut the door, “Thank you.”

The stallion was quiet for a while, staring at the door where the Princess had left. Soon though his right eye began to twitch with an increasing rate before half a smile appeared on his face. He promptly passed out a few seconds later.

****Changeling Empire, Badlands****
Morning

As normal, the small city that was the capital of the Changeling Empire, and the only city for that matter, was full of activity. All the changelings running and flying to and fro. Some going to jobs, others going to meet friends, overall it was just a normal morning.

Inside the castle, in a room near the center of the walls, there was a scene unfolding that none had ever seen before. Inside a dark room two aliens, a changeling, and a spirit inside a helmet were all practically sitting on the edges of their seats, for those that could. Their eyes glued to the holographic screen in front of them as they watch their movie unfold in an amazing finish that cou-

The image suddenly turned off and the lights turned on, electing cries of protest from the small audience. They all turned around to see Leon standing there with his arms crossed, “What are you all doing?”

“Well bro we were watching an awesome movie till you showed up.” Chase stated as he got up off the couch.

“You’re all not forgetting anything? Something important maybe?” Leon asked waiting for Chase’s answer.

Arching an eyebrow in confusion, Chase opened his mouth to answer before Chrysalis beat him to it, “I think he wanted to join in on this movie night.”

“Oh-oh! Dude I’m so sorry.” Leon raised an eyebrow behind his helmet, “I completely forgot to ask you. I’m really sorry...” sighing and making his hand meet his helmet, Leon shook his head.

Josh spoke next, “Ya got good timing. We were about to watch Die Hard next.”

“Do any of you have any idea what time it is?” Leon asked.

All of them replied with a no before Nightmare’s answered, “It’s almost ten- Oh blasted, we’re late for our mission debrief.”

There was a moan of protest from Chase and Josh as the latter picked up his helmet and got off the couch. Chrysalis followed suit with a large yawn, walking past the armored Spartan, “Best of luck and all that-” she was cut off with another yawn as she walked out the door.

“Hey Leon, how's that one proje-” Chase started before Leon raised his hand.

“It’s doing fine, stop trying to change the subject and get your armor on.” Leon stated as he turned to the door, “We’ll talk at the Pelican.”

Both Spartans began to undress what the few clothes they had on. Chase picked up his helmet from the table in front of the couch and put it on. Seconds later a flash of light lit up the room and, thanks to the magic of armor compression, the Spartan felt all the weird sensations of the suit suddenly being on him. Another flash showed Josh had done the same.

“I had thought you two would go to different rooms for such a thing considering your kinds need for clothing.” Nightmare commented as Chase moved around a bit to get make sure everything was in order.

“We went through cryo training together. You got no shame after that... or maybe it was just how our drill sergeant did the exercise?” Josh shrugged, “Hell if I know.”

“God damn I hated that guy.” Chase said out loud as he kicked his discarded clothes to the side of the room, “Hey remember when he helped some guy-”

“Yes, drop it now.” Josh said dangerously making Chase laugh.

“Sure you don’t want to reminisce about that night for Moony’s sake. You three seemed to have a hell of a night.”

Josh suddenly straightened up, “Oh-kay, I’m out.” he said, speed walking out of the room.

“Dude don't be like that, I'm just messin with ya.” Chase said as he went after him.

“Am I missing something here?” Nightmare asked as Josh walked through the castle’s corridors.

“It was a very bad night, let’s leave it at that.” Josh stated as Chase caught up to him.

****

Leon stood in front of the Pelican’s open loading bay door looking over the three Spartans in front of him, “Now, a few weeks back Chase and Ethan were flying back from their mission with the Minotaurs and they were almost taken down by something. That something was of magic origination so Josh and Nightmare will be going on this mission to assist with scanning the environment.”

The Spartan in question put a magazine into his MA5D, “Sweet.” he said as he clicked on the safety.

“Hank,” Leon said with a nod towards the Spartan, “-you’ll be our pilot so I’ve already loaded your chain gun into the Pelican.”

“Thanks, did you get the clamps on it nice and tight? I’d rather have it than leave it if we crash.” Hank asked.

“You know, it’s because of things like that I trust Ethan’s piloting skills more than yours.” Chase said, making Hank laugh and earning a look from Leon.

“Chase, you’ll be staying here to watch our equipment.” Leon said getting Chase’s full attention, “We’ll also need you to be here in case something happens to either team.”

“And what if something happens to both teams?” Chase asked.

“If you can still contact us, then ask me. If you can't get a hold of either team, check your equipment and make the decision yourself. It will be up to you who to move to assist.” Leon stated, “If either team misses four consecutive check ins then you call back the other team and head to the missing team’s last known position.” Leon switched to a private channel, “You’ll also be overseeing that project too.”

“Alright alright. The check ins are every twelve hours for each team, right?” Chase asked. Upon receiving a nod he got up and moved to the other side of the room, “Sweet, then I got some time for a nap.”

Shaking his head Leon called to him, “Our check in time is eight. The Equestrian team’s is ten.” Chase flashed him a thumbs up before Chase entered a small stone house that was built into the rock wall.

“Alright let’s get loaded up and I can tell you what we’ve been able to gather on the Everfree Rainforest.” Leon said, getting a slow nod from Josh, “Nightmare can you please make sure he stays awake for the debrief.”

“You didn’t have to ask.” Nightmare said with a happy tone.

“Glad to finally be on a mission again?”

“Yes and while I’m sure it won’t be as fun as the dragon slaying, I’m sure it won’t be that boring either.”

Nodding his head Leon turned and walked into the Pelican, “Well come on, we’re burning daylight.”

Josh sluggishly got up, “I just had to do the movie binge with Chase and Chryssy.” he started shaking his head s he entered the Pelican and the door began to close.

Meanwhile Chase looked out the front door of the cave-like home and watched as the Pelican began to start up. He carefully slid out of the doorway as it lifted off the ground and moved towards the hole in the wall. Chase watched it slip into the tunnel and smiled, “Fuck yeah, time for a vay-kay.”

The Spartan walked back into the house and came out again, but this time he had in his hands a lawn chair that one might find at any garage sale. He opened it and set it on the rocky cave floor beside his Warthog before looking around the cave.

Besides the boxes of ammo and miscellaneous equipment in the corner it was now just a big empty room without the Pelican. An exit for foot traffic and a large tunnel to take the Pelican out of were the only signs that he wasn’t trapped. Nodding his head, Chase sat down on the chair with his armor on and thanked whoever created the magic spells used on the chair for making this moment possible.

He set a timer for seven forty-five and laid back in the chair. In his helmet he played a video of a beautiful setting sun and waves hitting the sandy shore he was now pretending to be on. He would be alerted by one of the security measures in place if one of the changelings, or anything, walked or flew into the cave.

Right now though was his time to relax, “Do you like Pina Colada? Dah dah. Getting stuck in the rain?” Chase hummed while the song played quietly in his helmet.

Stuff is Starting to Happen

View Online

Chapter Seventeen

****Changeling Empire, Badlands****
Eight Weeks Later, Afternoon

‘Why in the hell did Cocoon think this was a good idea?’ Chase thought to himself as he looked at the sleeping changeling princess on the couch in front of him. She was now, since Leon thought it was a good idea too, part of Fireteam Ghost. The moment she had finished her three-thousand hours of community service she was put under the Spartans’ command.

That was a week ago and she hasn’t been out of the cave, or off that couch since. Chase stole a glance at the television behind him. It was happy day when he discovered that the deers had invented satellite television, but now it just made it easy for Chrysalis to never get bored and leave the room.

He had been fine with it the first few days as she had just gotten done with three hundred and twenty days straight of working with people that moderately hate her. One hundred and ten of which where she worked twelve hours instead of the normal eight. Today, that was going to change.

Turning off the crappy soap channel, Chase put one armored boot under the couch and smiled, “Chryssy, this is your wake up call. Please move your sorry ass.” he was answered with more snoring making him smile.

The next second the couch was flipped over onto it’s back and a disgruntled changeling was rolled onto the hard, stone floor. Over the course of the next few seconds a lot of cursing and laughing, from the changeling and Spartan respectively, filled the quiet cave. Once they both quieted down, and Chrysalis was only shooting Chase glares, the Spartan followed the changeling into the kitchen.

“Well today is going to be your first day on the job. How's it feel?” Chase asked with an overly happy tone to agitate her.

“Fantastic... we got any cereal?” Chrysalis lazily looked into the wooden cabinets affixed to the stone walls.

“You know it’s the middle of the afternoon right?” the Spartan asked as the changeling found her prize and got a bowl and spoon out of a different cabinet.

“Your point?” Chrysalis asked, opening the fridge.

“Touché, but after you’re done eating, I’m going to show you how to use the radio in the Warthog. You’ll be sitting in it on standby in case one of the teams needs to get a hold of us.” the Spartan smiled as Chrysalis grunted in acknowledgment before eating a spoonful of cereal.

“And just what will you be doing?” she asked.

“First, I’ll check on a project me and Leon have been working on. After that I’m going to see if I can’t find a spare radio in all our equipment so you won’t have to stay in the Warthog.”

“You can’t do that first?” Chrysalis asked before she levitated another spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

“I gotta get you out of this house somehow. Even if the Warthog is right out front and you could probably just turn the TV and watch it through the window.” Chase said suggestively before turning to the cabinets.

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything as Chase continued, “Before all that though, I’m going to start putting up more strict screening rules for potential jobs. Had to talk to a crazy guy yesterday.” Chase shook his head and pulled a red bag out of the cabinet closest to him, “Guy said he needed our help to save a kingdom or something from his evil twin. Not how he said it, but it’s the gist.”

Chase opened the bag of chips and realized Chrysalis probably didn’t care before she asked, “You didn’t accept a job because you thought he was insane?”

“Hey now-” Chase said pointing one of the triangle chips at her, “-having a voice in your head is different from claiming to have an evil twin.” he shook his head and tried to eat the chip only to remember he had his helmet on.

The changeling princess laughed and continued to eat her cereal while Chase continued, “Besides my insanity has saved my ass a few times. This guy claimed that his took out a city... or banished it, something like that, I really stopped paying attention some time before that.”

“So his insane half took out a city while your insane half would probably do the same... yes I really see the differences.” Chrysalis took another bite.

“Hey, I still trust myself when I start to lose it. Leon does too since he kept me on the mission roster.” Chase said as he placed the bag down, “Besides it’s my insane half that keeps me sane.”

“That’s an oxymoron.” she stated before taking another bite.

“What’d you call me?”

With a roll of her eyes, Chrysalis swallowed the cereal before bringing her hoof to her chin, “That actually sounds a little familiar. Maybe I should ask mother about it.”

“Nope you’re not getting out of finally working. Besides, today is the easy day. All you gotta do is sit in the warthog and listen for either team to call in an emergency.” Chase said setting his helmet on the granite countertop, “And this is serious. Alfred and Ethan had reported that a few ponies in the nobility had hooves in really shady businesses and Leon got sick a while back in the jungle.” Chase popped a chip into his mouth, “He’s fine now, but Moony has noted he’s acting weirdly.”

“Why haven’t they come back yet then? Sounds like a good excuse to call sixty-six on Leon.” Chrysalis asked as she started to get the last few bites out of her cereal.

“Hey, we don’t call a code sixty-six unless they are actively going against the betterment of the team... That and they’re almost done mapping out a safe route through the forest. We will make a fortune on selling that thing alone to any nation that wants to colonize the lands down there.” Chase ate a few more chips as Chrysalis drank the milk out of her cereal bowl.

“Do you only care about money?” Chrysalis asked.

“Well, I’ve already spent all the shares I’ve gotten from our past missions-”

“What!?”

“-so I guess you could say I need the money for my own personal project.” Chase said as he opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.

Chrysalis stared at him in shock, “You’ve spent all of the bits that Leon gave you? All of them on one project?... You really are as big an idiot as Alfred says.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, the project is my retirement plan. Now, since you’re done let’s go.” he attached his helmet to his hip and grabbed the chips and water.

Chrysalis put her bowl and spoon into the sink and walked after the Spartan. As the two walked out of the house, Chase’s helmet began to beep, “Take these and go wait near the Warthog.” he said holding out the chips.

With a low sigh of annoyance, Chrysalis did as she was told. The Spartan watched her go before putting the helmet on his head, “Ghost Three here, go ahead.”

“Chase.” Cocoon’s voice came through the radio, “The project that you and Leon asked for is finished.”

“Seriously?” Chase asked a little taken back before a smile spread across his face, “I’ll be by in a little bit to check everything out and pick it up.”

“That is not the main reason I called you though Spartan.”

‘Oh shit, that doesn't sound good.’ “What else did you need to talk about?” Chase asked keeping his voice straight.

“I feel it would be better if we spoke in person. Can you meet me in the castle throne room as soon as you can?”

Chase was quiet for a few seconds as he glanced over at Chrysalis, “Yeah, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Then I shall see you soon.” the line went dead as the Queen shut off the headset she had.

“Well shit.” Chase said as he took off the helmet and walked back to the warthog, “Chryssy, we’re going to have to do the short version cause, I might not be back for a while.”

“Mom find out what you and Pinkie were doing?” Chrysalis ate another chip while sitting in the passenger seat of the warthog.

“I don’t-wait, how do you know about that?” Chase asked as he grabbed the bag from the changeling.

“What else was I supposed to do after I finished work for the day? Mom wouldn’t let me have a TV in my room.” she used her magic to grab another chip out of the bag to the Spartan’s dismay.

“So you stalked me?” Chase rolled up the top of the bag and held it between his arm and his armor.

“Not just you, but I started to more after I saw you and Ethan-”

“Hey hey hey! No one is supposed to know that. Besides there were some special circumstances that made it obvious we had to.” Chase argued as he took off his helmet and attached it to his hip.

“That why Leon doesn’t know?” Chrysalis asked with a smirk on her face.

“Alright since I see where this is going, you don’t tell anyone about that and I won’t tell anyone about the liquor you stole during the party that pinkie through for the hive.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Chrysalis stated as she narrowed her eyes at the Spartan.

“Cute, but I would dare, and I’ll show your mom where you have it hidden.” Chase said with a smile.

The resulting staring contest was won after a few seconds by Chase as Chrysalis looked away, “Fine, I’ll keep it a secret. You got to tell me what the circumstances were though.”

“Later, right now...” Chase said as he hopped into the driver seat of the warthog, “I’ve got to move this so you can see the TV.”

As the warthog started up Chrysalis looked at the vehicle suspiciously while levitating the chips that Chase had set down in the back of the warthog, “I could just move it with magic.”

“No, you couldn’t. Hank, Moony, and me all worked on getting this thing as magic proof as possible. Took a few of your mother’s magi to actually cast the spells, but even if you could pick it up I wouldn’t let you.” Chase said as he backed up the warthog and then pulled the jeep up next to the window.

"What about Josh? If Nightmare was there then wouldn't he of been there to help?" Chrysalis asked before she shoved a few chips in her mouth.

Chase put the warthog in park and looked to the changeling still eating his chips, "Josh isn't allowed to drive this Warthog, or any vehicle, ever. I only allow him near it when it is absolutely necessary."

Chrysalis munched happily on her chips as she asked, "Why? What did he do?"

The Spartan said nothing as he gripped the wheel of the warthog tightly earning a concerned look from it's changeling passenger. Leaning forward a little bit, Chrysalis was able to see Chase breathing deeply through his nose and appeared to be, almost, grinding his teeth. The bag of chips was then neatly folded to keep the freshness and put back into the warthog's troop carrier section.

“I’ll have a cramp in my neck if I watch TV like this.” Chrysalis stated with slight annoyance, deciding that a tactical change of topic was needed, “Why can’t I just watch TV on the little screens on in here?”

“Those are to show that all the systems in this thing are going smoothly.” Chase said, gesturing to the middle screen, his previous mood seemed to of disappear entirely, “I have the three of them linked up to show whatever the locked on Spartan’s HUD shows. The two on the sides shows the same picture in night vision and thermal respectively.” Chase stated pointing to the screens which now just showed the UNSC emblem slowly rotating.

“What about this one?” Chrysalis asked looking up to the screen where a rearview mirror would be.

“That’s the motion tracker.” Chase said as he looked at the small screen.

“So there’s no way of watching TV? This Warthog of yours sucks.”

‘Oh I am going to make your life hell when we're training tomorrow.’ Chase thought with a smile before addressing the changeling’s concerns, “Get over it.”

Chrysalis growled, “Just tell me what I’m supposed to do.”

Chase looked at the console and the nine buttons that adorned it from ‘A’ to ‘I’, “Alright, now if either team were to call in an emergency all you have to do is press this button and it will open a comm channel to me and you can tell me to get what’s going on.” Chase pointed to a button labeled with the letter ‘C’.

“Is that really what that’s for?” Chrysalis wondered out loud.

The Spartan shook his head, “No, but I rewired it to do that.” Chase smiled at his own handy work, “Now the moment you press that button press this one.” Chase pointed to the button labeled ‘G’, “It will put you on an open channel with whatever team called in the emergency. Try and get them to talk and remember everything that they say.”

“What if you can’t make it?” Chrysalis asked as she was using her magic to turn the tv and the entertainment center towards the window.

“Then press this button.” Chase said gesturing towards the 'H' button, “It will open a channel to Queen Cocoon’s headset. Tell her what’s happening and she should act accordingly, Leon’s filled her in on most of our contingencies and codes.”

The Changeling nodded as she lifted a bunch of pillows off of the overturned couch and towards the warthog, “And if she-”

“Then you press the last button.” Chase said cutting her off. He pointed to the ‘I’ button, “Once you hit that button a warning will pop up on the middle screen. If you select to send the signal it will alert all the Spartans that there is an emergency and it will send out the Warthog’s position. You are to only press that if you can’t get a hold of anyone on your headset.”

“I have a headset?” Chrysalis asked as she turned to look at the Spartan.

“I got to find the parts and make it still, we just talked about this in the kitchen.” Chase stated, looking at the changeling with confusion.

“I’m still waking up, so I tend to drown out a few things if someling is talking.”

Shaking his head Chase continued, “It’s easy to use and you can switch between the Spartan you’re talking to with a button on the side. Like I said easy, I’ll teach you when I get back and put one together.” Chase said as he pressed a few things next to the steering wheel. The engine died, but all the screens and systems stayed on.

“When will you be telling me about those special circumstances? The reasons you and Ethan are training that insufferable pink mare?” the changeling asked as she rearranged the pillows to try and get comfortable.

“Later, business first.” Chase stated as he got out of the warthog, “Just make sure not to hit the buttons on accident... and you can eat some chips, but don’t eat all of them.”

“Just go already, it’ll be fine.” she stated with a casual wave of her hoof.

As chase walked out of the cave he turned back to see Chrysalis levitating a remote and looking at the tv with a bored expression, ‘...She'll be fine. What's the worst that-' Chase froze and shook his head, “Glad I caught that before I thought it.” he continued towards the tunnel to the main chamber of the Hive.

****

Chase looked around at the surrounding paintings as he walked through the halls of the Changeling castle. Most depicted fighting between Changelings and Minotaurs, a few with other races, even a few that didn’t have fighting at all. Just like all the other corridors in the castle, there was always at least one painting that showed Changelings fighting some enemy. They truly were a race of survivors.

‘Just like humanity.' Chase though as he came to the door to the throne room, ‘Why couldn't Leon stay here and deal with this political shit. Lucky bastard, getting to go to the edge of the known world'

The Spartan opened the door and saw Queen Cocoon levitating a glass of water down to her side, “Ah Chase, it is good that you were able to make it so quick.”

“Alright, I would like to state that the prank in the guard barracks was not me.” Chase said as he stopped halfway to the throne.

Cocoon smiled, “I’ll make a note of that, but this is about a more serious matter.” the smile dropped, “We’ve lost contact with a mining operation in the San Palomino Desert. It’s two days travel to the west on hoof, passed the pony town of Appleloosa.”

A folder was levitated in front of the Spartan, “This is the exact location and a copy of all the information on the mine. I wanted you to look over it and go see why they’ve gone quiet.”

“It says that the mine is connected to the Deep Caverns?” Chase asked as he looked through the file, “That why you want me to look into it?”

“No, I’ve lost contact with the changelings I sent to investigate why everything was quiet. I’m reluctant to just throw more of my changelings at the problem till one survives to tell me what’s going on. I was hoping you could investigate and report back to me over my comm channel.” Cocoon finished as she took a drink of her water.

“I won’t have to go through the Deep Caverns to get their, right?” the Spartan questioned as he looked up from the file.

“No, you’ll take the Western Valley exit. It should fit your Warthog.”

“Thank god, I’d rather not get lost down there.” Chase looked over the file in thought, “It’s close enough that I could still act as the go between for Leon and Ally, but if it’s a mining operation then I’d need someone else to stay with the Warthog.” flipping a page and looking at another, Chase continued, “I’ll have to put the cave security on lethal as no Spartan would be here to look after our equipment.”

“I’ll increase the security to the entrances of your cavern. Your equipment will be safe.”

“So you’re letting me take your daughter out into the field?” Chase asked looking up from the folder, “This might be nothing, but I need her to stay with the Warthog while I go under ground.” ‘It'll also make sure she doesn't set up camp on the couch again.'

Queen Cocoon let out a sigh, “I knew what I was doing when I put her on your team. My little Chryssy can take care of herself.”

“Alright then.” Chase said as he shut the folder, “I’ll take your word that the project is done and I’ll leave as soon as I inform Leon and Ally what’s going on.”

“Thank you for this Chase.”

“If that’s all you needed then I’ll take my leave.” Chase said, giving a mock salute.

“Good luck Spartan.” Cocoon said as Chase took his leave through the doors.

“Yeah yeah, I’ll see ya when I get back.” Chase called back as the doors shut. He looked over the papers again before shutting them and continuing down the hallway.

Soon Chase opened up a comm channel to Leon, “Ghost Three to Ghost One, can you hear me.”

There was a moment of silence before Leon’s voice came in over the radio, “Ghost One receiving, go ahead Ghost Three.”

“I was just made aware of reports of an entire changeling mining operation going missing in a nearby location. Me and Ghost Eight are going to investigate. Standard protocols apply.” Chase stated as he walked to the castle exit looking over the file.

“Roger that Ghost Three. When’s your check in time?”

“Six. I’ll be on the move soon enough. Headquarters will be on code orange lockdown.”

“Roger that Ghost Three. Confirm with Ghost Two and you have green light to go. Ghost One out.”

The line went dead and Chase had to stop in confusion, “Yeah by to you too.” Chase shook his head as he continued back towards the cave, ‘He must be in a rush, I didn't even get to ask how things were going down south... and he didn't ask anything about the mission...' Chase thought to himself as he walked across the drawbridge to the castle.

Quite a few changelings waved as he went by. He, of course, waved back and turned down a few who wanted to start a conversation, he had work to do, ‘I’ll worry about Leon when I get back.' Chase decided as he moved to the cavern and opened Alfred's comm channel.

****Canterlot Castle, Equestria****

Alfred looked over the chess table in front of him and with a happy smile on his face. Across from him was a large batpony with the Lunar guard armor on his chest and an aggravated look on his face. With an unsure hoof, the grey pony grabbed a knight on the board only to glance at Alfred’s smiling face and move his hoof away again.

The two of them were concealed in the shadows of a secret room near Princess Luna’s bedchambers. Even through the walls, Alfred was able to monitor the Princesses vital signs and confirm that she was sleeping. It was a little secret that, once they had gotten enough base data, the Spartans were able to keep track of both the Princesses’ vitals from up to twenty-five meters away. It will be kept a secret as well to keep any embarrassing talks from being had about a few... incidents.

As it was most evenings though, Alfred and Captain Echo sat in a small, secret room, no bigger than a closet, as close to the Princesses’ bedchamber as they could without the guards seeing, “Why did I agree to play this with you again?” Echo asked as he looked over the board at all the pieces Alfred had and the few he had left.

“Because Spear said he has a better chance taking on Ethan in checkers than chess when Celestia is asleep.” Alfred said as he waited for Echo to make a move.

“I really wish we had something else to play.” Echo said sadly as he moved a bishop across the board.

“Yes, beating you at chess lost it’s splendor after the third time tonight.” Alfred said as he looked over the board.

“This is our third time and you-”

“Checkmate.” Alfred interrupted as he took one of Echo’s rooks with his knight. The Lunar Guard Captain looked over the board in shock before letting out a groan of aggravation. This was scene was interrupted however as Alfred’s helmet comm came to life.

“Ghost Three to Ghost Two, can you read me?”

Alfred held up a finger to Echo signalling for the guard to be quiet, “Ghost Two receiving, go a head Ghost Three.”

“Ghost Eight and I are going to be checking out a mine that’s gone dark. We will still be able to act as a go between, headquarters will be on code orange lockdown, and our check in time will be six. Did you get all that Ghost Two?”

“Affirmative Ghost Three. Can you send a data packet?” Alfred asked as he noted that Echo was tensed up and ready to fight.

“Secure data packet comin at ya.” Chase said as Alfred got a small notification in the corner of his vision, “Please confirm you got the packet.”

“Confirmed. Anything else Ghost Three?”

The line was silent for a few seconds before Chase’s voice came back, “I say this with caution, but... Ghost One might be code sixty-six.”

Alfred seemed taken back by this, “Ghost Three, please confirm. Did you say that Ghost One might be code sixty-six.”

“Yes, or affirmative. Ghost’s Four, Five, and Seven have noted weird behavior from him since he recovered from being sick a few weeks ago. I forgot about the data packet and he never asked for it when I spoke to him, but he did sounded like he was in a rush. Spread word to Ghost Six just to be safe.”

“Affirmative... Good luck on your mission Ghost Three.”

“Good luck to all of us. Ghost Three out.”

Alfred looked over at Echo who had his muscles still tensed and ready to fight, but showed no sign of it on his face, “What was that all about?”

“One of my team members are about to go out on another mission, he was confirming his check in time with me.” Alfred answered before looking down at the board, “If you can find us another game please do, I’ve got to update Ethan on what’s going on.”

Echo nodded and began to put the chess pieces back into the box as Alfred opened up a comm channel to Ethan, “Ethan, can you hear me?”

****

The office of Princess Celestia was not one that most would think of, it wasn’t basic and plain either. She had a sturdy grand ornate desk, a comfortable swivel chair with wheels on the bottom, a proud looking pegasus guard standing in constant vigilance at the left side of her desk, and an armored bipedal alien sat in a chair to the right. Though the last one is more than just decoration.

Celestia had the curtains to the windows behind her closed and in front of her was a nice respectable lunch. A large rose petal and lilly sandwich with a little bit of cheese for added flavor. To her left her solar guard hadn’t ordered anything, despite her assurances that it was fine to do so. On the right side of her was a helmetless Ethan, eating a large salad.

It had taken eight weeks to get the Spartan to trust her and today she was hoping to get more about his past, “So Ethan, yesterday you showed me with that chip thing what happened in the Gryphon Kingdom. Do you have any videos of before that? Ones you’re aloud to show me?”

“Yes, preferences?” he stated as he grabbed his helmet.

Before Celestia could answer though a voice came in through the helmet, “Ethan, can you hear me?”

The Spartan was quick to pick up his helmet and put it on his head. The resulting conversation was lost on Celestia though as the Spartan muted the conversation. As the two Spartans continued in there silent conversation Celestia relented and continued to eat he sandwich.

“Princess Celestia, permission to speak?” Lieutenant Spear asked, not moving a muscle or breaking his thousand yard stare to look at her.

“Granted, if you relax for just a few seconds that is.” she stated with a smile as she sipped her tea. No whisky today since she hadn’t had to go to any meetings and the court cases are starting to slow down.

“It’s been eight weeks your highness, have you given any thought to who your new guards will be?”

“I have thought about it and I’ve made my decisions. The offer still stands if you want to come back.” Celestia said, already knowing his answer.

“No thank you Ma’am, my wife is going crazy as is with me back for this little bit.” he stated as a smile broke across his face.

Celestia chuckled as she took another small bite of her sandwich. A few seconds later Ethan beside her took off his helmet once more and resumed eating. Celestia took note that the usually neutral and analyzing look on his face was now more forced, “Is something wrong Ethan?”

Ethan was quiet as he swallowed his food, “Nothing pertaining to you or your sister’s safety.”

‘Something bad must of happened.' “If something is wrong feel free to say it and I’ll help if I can.”

Ethan was quiet for a moment before he grabbed his helmet again, “One moment.”

Celestia waited as the Spartan seemed to be asking permission from Alfred or maybe consulting him on the subject. Celestia noticed the small look that Ethan got from Spear before the stallion continued his thousand yard stare. Another bite of her sandwich disappeared before Ethan removed his helmet once more.

“I’ve been told to wait for dinner and Alfred will explain.” Ethan said before returning to his salad.

“What will Alfred be explaining to my sister and I?”

“He’ll tell you what the code sixty-six contingency is.” Ethan said before he finished his food. The plate was put back on the service trolley that had been left in the room.

‘This just had to happen two days before the meeting with the Duke and Duchess of Maretonia in the Crystal Empire.' Celesia thought as she drank the last of her tea, ‘I knew I should've spiked this. I'll not make that mistake twice'

****Changeling Empire, Badlands****

Chrysalis sat on the edge of the warthog’s passenger seat as she watched the TV. On the television screen were two identical looking stallions who were talking to each other and seemed to be about to fight. She levitated another chip out of the bag in her hooves and watched on in complete concentration as the two yelled at each other and the situation began to escalate quickly.

That is, till the TV was suddenly turned off, “Hey!” she turned to see Chase holding the remote, “What’s the big idea!? Those two were long lost twin brothers and they just found out they were dating the same gryphon!” she was absolutely pissed.

Chase held up a ‘U’ shaped device that had a microphone coming off the left side, “Made you a headset.” he hopped in the warthog and started the engine, “Now I’ll have to tell you how to use it on the way there, but it shouldn’t be that hard.”

Chrysalis was now looking at the Spartan with her full attention, “Way there? Are we going somewhere?”

“Yes actually. Your mother wants us to go check out a mine in the San Palomino Dessert. Apparently the entire operation has gone dark and the first team she sent to investigate hasn’t reported back.” Chase said as he started tossing pillows through the open window of the stone house.

Chrysalis looked at the Spartan as if he was insane, “I don’t have any combat magic training. I guess I’ll have to stay here and hold down the fort.” she stated as she started to get out of the warthog.

“Oh no you don’t.” Chase grabbed her by the shoulder and sat her back down into the seat, “I have just the weapon for you in the back. No one else is using one, so the ammo will be yours to use and I used to use it so I can tell show you how.”

Now Chrysalis was torn. On one hoof she really wanted to stay and find out if one of the brothers kills the other on TV or if the gryphon comes out says she's actually in love with their evil bastard of a father. On the other hoof though, she would finally get out of the Hive and get to learn how to use and alien weapon. She gave it a few moments of thought before she relented, “Fine, I’ll come with you on your mission.”

“Ah, it’s cute you thought you had a choice.” Chase reached over Chrysalis, grabbed her seat belt and secured it, “Really though, you need to get out more. If I didn’t have air filters in this thing I know I would be complaining about your need for a shower.”

As Chase slowly pulled the warthog away from the house and lined it up with the smooth slope of the pelican tunnel Chrysalis began to get a worried look in her eyes, “Then maybe I shou-”

“Too late!” Chase shouted as he put the gas pedal to the floor board. The warthog took off towards the slope in front of them, leaving skid marks on the floor as Chrysalis screamed in terror. The vehicle easily climbed the slope easily and Chase never let off the gas petal.

The warthog’s engine was roaring with power as they ascended up the large, sloped tunnel. Chrysalis had her eyes shut as she pushed both of her hooves against the dashboard. With her teeth almost chattering out of her head, Chrysalis opened one of her eyes to see a solid wall far ahead of them in the tunnel.

“We’re about to hit a wall!” she screamed in obvious terror.

“I know!” Chase then began to laugh as Chrysalis tried to move from her restraints.

Before the changeling princess could think about what her last thoughts would be, she watched in horror as the warthog... passed through the wall. So dumbstruck by the fact she wasn’t dead, Chrysalis almost didn't notice they were in the air in time to scream... almost.

Seconds after the scream left her mouth the warthog connected with the ground and took off into the Badlands. Looking around then back at the solid wall that was left behind them, Chrysalis opened and closed her mouth trying to think of a question. She didn’t have to though as Chase already thought to answer.

“Did you really think we would just leave a huge hole in the wall to practically scream ‘secret base over here’? It was just a hologram that Ethan set up using some spare pieces of equipment we had.” Chase stated as he used his helmet to remotely activate the cave's Code Orange defense system.

As she listened to him, Chrysalis boiled with anger, “You did that to scare me!”

“Thank you Captain Obvious, would you like to use your powers of hindsight to tell me which part was funnier? When I got the video of you screaming in terror in the cave, or the video of you screaming with landscape open behind you?” Chase laughed as he slowly turned the warthog.

With a frown still present on her face, the changeling couldn’t help but take a deep breath of the air that was around her. Chase noticed this and spoke up, “The air of freedom. That must feel like paradise with how long you’ve been cooped up in the caves. Given a few more months and a lot more Changelings will be able to know exactly how you feel.”

The smallest of smiles graced Chrysalis’ muzzle as she thought of her people finally being allowed to go out into the world and experience the same sensation she was feeling. Feel the freedom that came with watching the sun set. They’d be able to fly with the winds far above the land-

“Now, do you want to see how to do a donut in one of these things?” Chase asked, making her small smile disappear entirely.

“No! I don’t know what that is, but I’d rather not find out.” Chrysalis stated as she looked out across the barren landscape.

“What’s got you all riled up? The road trips just getting started.” Chase said with his usual happy tone, “We’ll have to go sightseeing on the way back and not the way there of course, but I still call this a road trip.”

“... Can we at least rob something on the way back?” Chrysalis asked with a sour tone.

“Now Chryssy that's not how we do things.” the changeling gave a sigh of disappointment, “Unless, of course, you can use your magic to make me look like a gryphon. I could totally see us robbing someplace like that.” Chase finished.

“As long as we do something to make this trip memorable, I don’t care.” she said before resigning to looking out across the expanse of the land.

Author's Notes:

What? What's this? Another chapter so soon? Yes, yes it is. I never thought I would reach this day, but I have ran out of stuff to read on this site. Well, stuff that's updated within the past two to three months and has a word count over 85000.

Anyways, guys, please comment. I don't care if it's as little as saying if the chapter was good or not or quoting your favorite line. Seriously, I was randomly inspired to do this on a whim and if I get at least fifteen comments from fifteen different people, I'll work on the next chapter as hard as I worked on this one. Meaning it should be out with in five to fifteen days after we hit that mark.

Also, just to sate my curiosity, is there a 'sweet time' to post a new chapter? I've just always been curious if there was that special time of day that gave you more of a shot to hit the bottom three slots on the featured list when you update. Just food for thought though, on to the:

Community question: Are you a World of Warcraft player?

My answer: Yes, I am a WoW player and I'm not ashamed to admit my favorite class is the Blood DK (Death Knight). I am ashamed though that I do more Battlegrounds than raiding.

The Horror Movie Senario

View Online

Chapter Eighteen

****Everfree Rainforest****
Night time

As the heavy downpour of rain drowned out most of the usual sounds the rainforest made, Josh and Nightmare looked upon the sleeping form of Hank. A quick glance at the squad health monitor told them that Leon was also asleep on the other side of the cave. That was a small miracle in itself.

They had just gone to sleep and Josh had first watch, not that the spartan would get much sleep now anyway. Taking another deep breath and looking around the cave, Josh tried to think of anything to get out of what he had to do. Thankfully he had somepony to set him straight.

“I know they’re your friends Josh, but we need to leave now.” Nightmare stated as Josh slowly looked to the cave’s exit.

“I can’t leave them here Moony.” Josh stated as he leaned back against the rock wall, “We don’t ever leave anyone behind. We just need to solve what the hell is going on.”

“Something is messing with their heads, we can’t do anything ourselves with Leon controlling all the comm traffic. That should of been our first warning right there.” Nightmare stopped for a second as Josh looked back to the sleeping form of Hank, “Then he got sick just like Leon and now he hardly talks and moves like he’s a zombie... We need to get out of this forest and tell the others before we’re next.”

It was sound logic and Josh hated every bit of it, “... Can you fly the Pelican if we can reach it?”

“No... I don’t think we could make it that far anyway. Once they wake up they’ll go straight for the Pelican, it’s the most obvious choice we could make. We need to do something unexpected, something they wouldn’t think of us doing...”

“It doesn’t matter what we do. They’ll still be able to track us if we’re within a mile of them.” Josh said sadly as he stood up, “We need a faster means of travel than running. Something discrete...”

“I can block your signal, it’s simpler than you think, but we better start thinking on our hooves. We need to leave now to put as much distance between us and them before the next shift.” Nightmare stated as Josh began to move out the cave.

Josh stole one last look at the two before he entered the dense jungle foliage, “You don’t think the others are in trouble... do you?.”

“No, or, not right now at least. Chase contacted Leon yesterday over something but he has called just because he was bored before.” Nightmare was quiet for a few seconds, “He’s in the middle of the Changeling hive and the others are in Equestria, they should be safe.”

“I hope he’s fine, otherwise it’s going to be a long trip to warn Ally and Ethan.” Josh said as he tried his best not to leave a trail behind him as he went. Something easier said than done with somewhere around a third of a ton worth of armor.

Nightmare was quiet for a few seconds as Josh moved through the dark, wet, and dreary canopy. The rain hammered them relentlessly as Nightmare voice came broke the monotonous sound, “They’ll get their before us... What are we going to say when they inevitably mark us as enemies?”

“The truth.” Josh sadly stated.

“With my old track record before I joined-”

“That doesn’t matter to Chase, Ally, or Ethan. You’re one of us and you’ll get the same treatment no matter what happened before you joined. If, and I can’t stress that enough, if Leon and Hank go back to label us as the enemies, we’ll just turn ourselves in. I trust Chase and the others to give us fair trial.”

Nightmare sighed inside Josh’s helmet, “I’m afraid I don’t have as much faith in our friends as you. We need a real plan.”

“I think you do. If you come up with a plan though, or, hell, anything be sure to tell me.” Josh said, ending the conversation.

As the spartan moved through the dense foliage, and into the night, something much different was happening in the cave. Something much darker.

Leon stood over Hank, having watched Josh walk out the cave entrance with a smile. That spartan was too big a risk with that spirit in his helmet, but his leaving couldn’t of been timed more perfectly. They’re comms were blocked and weren’t receiving the signal, but he was getting it clear as day.

Pulling up the squad health monitor for the entire team he saw one of the images flashing red. Above the spartan’s silhouette was a name and three lines of words that brought a smile to the spartan’s face: CHASE BLAKE, Last known status: INJURED, No longer receiving signal. The words were like an artists painting and the sounds of the fighting earlier that day was the beautiful orchestra.

The spartan smiled under his helmet as he looked upon the helpless form of Hank. He had work to do for the King.

****San Palomino Desert****
Earlier that day

The San Palomino Desert. A place almost truly devoid of life. At the bottom of a large sand dune a snake rested in the sand from the heat of the mid-day sun. Soon it would begin to hunt for whatever little vermin lived in the desert with it. Such is what would've happened, had Chase not wanted to re-enact the Dukes of Hazzard and raced past the little creature with music blaring.

“Wha who!” the spartan screamed as he ramped the large sand dune with the warthog just as an explosion went off behind him. Duct taped to the front of the warthog was the spartan’s helmet, catching everything on video.

In the passenger seat was Chrysalis holding a bow in her magical grasp, a stetson cowboy hat on her head, and shouting in fun as they flew through the air. She had no idea what the Dukes of Hazzard was, but Chase had let her shoot an arrow with a lit stick of dynamite on it. She was happy to finally do something exciting, but sad they paid for the explosives instead of stealing them like she wanted.

The look on the Appleloosans’ faces when they drove up in front of the hardware store though, that was priceless. As was the resulting one stallion police chase as she was still wanted for the whole wedding thing.

As they came to a hard landing and the warthog slowed to a stop, Chase turned off the music just as it sang ‘The mountain might get 'em, but the law never will’, “Chryssy can you get my helmet? I don’t have a magical bandana to cover my mouth like you.”

With a secret smile under her bandana, Chrysalis levitated the helmet off of the hood and gave it to the spartan, “How much longer till we get there. Not all of us come with a built in bathroom.”

Chase took off his ten gallon hat and opened a compartment on the front, outside edge of the door frame. After wedging the large hat into the smaller space and shutting it, he donned his helmet and grasped the wheel, “Looks like we’ll be there soon.” he looked around at the mountains to his right and the rock formations in the distance to the left, “The entrance is supposed to be right by where the water runs underground and we’ve been followin the river for a while now.”

The changeling cast a glance at the water at the base of the mountain quite a ways to their right. She couldn’t see the water, but she couldn’t wait to take a dip in the cool refreshing water when they finally stopped, “So, what do you think made the miners disappear?”

“Hard telling.” Chase said as he floored the gas pedal, “I would of guessed a cave in, but that doesn’t explain the recon team going missing too.”

A slight feeling of excitement began to creep into the changeling’s stomach, “You think it’s something got them?”

“Not li-...” Chase stopped for a second before he continued, “Considering I’m a firm believer in Murphy’s Law, it’s probably something serious. With Ally and Ethan on the train to the Crystal Empire and Leon a probable sixty-six with the other three members of our group, it’s ripe for something bad to happen.”

Chrysalis looked a the spartan with a smirk under her bandana, “Do you think you can handle whatever it is?”

The spartan glanced at her, but his smile was not seen because of his helmet, “Of course I can, I’m a Spartan. Whatever evil thing that’s more than likely waiting to ambush us will not succeed with me around. I even have a surprise for you in one of the side compartments to keep you safe.”

“Ooh, considering your last gift was your old shotgun, do I get an old set of your armor?” Chrysalis smiled as Chase shook his head, “Oh well, can’t blame me for trying... You know it’s a good thing you brought me along. I’ll have to make sure you don’t do anything too stupid.”

“Yeah, you’ll be in the safe Warthog and you’ll be able to watch me while I’m having the time of my life shooting anything that isn’t a changeling down there.” Chase gloated, “What are you going to do without your tv in the middle of the desert for the hours it’s probably going to take me to search for the mine?”

Chrysalis looked at the spartan as the warthog went down the sand dune smoothly. He stopped the engine and put a finger to his helmet to shush her. Looking out ahead of them and when she turned to look she could easily see why he had gotten cautious.

In the middle of the sand she could see a crevice that the water poured into at a ‘T’ angle with the water being the middle line. The wide gap in the sand proposed the first problem, Chase would have to climb down into the place before he could start his search. From the discarded equipment nearby, half buried in sand, to the small broken crane on the side of the gap, the entire place gave off an eerie feeling.

Chase climbed out of the warthog with his MA5D assault rifle raised and Chrysalis levitated her M45D shotgun. The little headset that was fit snugly on her head suddenly came to life, “In the compartment on front of the doorway by you, put on what’s in it.” the changeling wasted no time in levitating a black bundle of clothing and armor from the compartment and putting her bandana and Stetson inside.

Leaving her to figure how to put on the armor, Chase moved towards the small canyon with caution. He looked around the open desert and at the nearby mountain, but saw no sign of anything to warrant any suspicion. That is, besides the pickaxes and shovels haphazardly dropped in the sand.

As Chase neared the neared the edge he noticed the distinct sound of falling water. Looking over the edge he saw the tell tale green construction of the changelings forcing the waterfall from the edge to a cave on the other wall. The water had some force behind it as it flowed quickly down the ling-made canal and gushed over the side’s a little bit.

Chase opened up a com channel to Cocoon as he looked into bottom of the crevice, “Ghost Three to the Hive, Ghost Three to the Hive, do you read me?”

“I read you, what’s wrong?” Cocoon’s voice answered back.

“Nothing, but we’ve reached the mine and have found tools scattered around in the sand, but no signs of any bodies yet. Hopefully we’ll have more information when we check in later. Do you have any questions?” Chase said as he looked towards the sand on the other side of the hole in the ground. Even as he looked around, Chryssy's dot was always visible in on his motion sensor.

“Only one, how is Ghost Eight faring?” the spartan looked back to see Chrysalis was struggling with putting on her armor. It was similar in appearance to ODST armor, but lacked most the technology. The chest piece was on correctly and she was trying to figure out how to put on the armor for her rear legs.

“Well armed and protected. Any other questions?” Chase said honestly.

“No, that will be all, Hive out.” Cocoon said before the line went dead.

Chase shook his head as he looked around. Not a thing moved for miles except the wind picking up sand off of the dunes. Looking back towards Chrysalis, the spartan just shook his head in disappointment. Somehow she had gotten the leg armor on backwards.

“And you’re the one that’s gonna make sure I don’t do anything stupid?” Chase said as he walked back towards her, “How did you get those on backwards? I thought it would be pretty straight forward with the hole for your tail.”

The changeling opened her mouth to reply only to shut it and growl a few curses. The spartan paid no mind to the words and continued looking around the area for any movement as Chrysalis readjusted her armor. Something was wrong here, Chase could see that much.

“No signs of fighting.” he whispered as he looked at the discarded tools.

Chrysalis looked up, “What are you talking about? There’s shovels and picks everywhere. They would make the best makeshift weapons-”

“But there’s no blood.” Chase stated, “No bodies from changelings or whatever attacked them... This whole situation looks like something out of a horror movie.”

Chrysalis looked around as she fitted the armor on her legs. The spartan was right, no signs of a struggle were in sight other than the discarded tools, “... So what do we do?”

The spartan looked at the Changeling, “The plan remains the same, though I think when they check in I’m going to tell Ally and Ethan to get the hell down here. This is a bit more important than playing nice with the ponies.”

Chrysalis nodded as she put her shotgun in the back of the warthog. Slowly, she began to stretch her limbs and see how flexible the armor was. On the outside the armor looked like it only covered a few key places, but Chrysalis could feel between the two layers of fabric were armored plates.

Weight didn’t seem to be an issue as Chrysalis had no doubt the entire thing had been magically lightened. Shaking her head in approval she felt the fabric only restricted her back legs a little bit. To top it all off, her wings were able to fold out nicely from the two little slits in the armor on her back.

It was almost perfect, “Where’s the helmet?” she asked Chase who seemed to be standing still.

He turned to look at her, “What? Oh, the helmet is still being made. Got to get Ethan to do the wiring in it.” he turned back to the crevice, “I’m going down, you remember how to set up the monitors like I showed you?”

“Yes yes, it’s not exactly that hard.” she climbed into the warthog as the spartan moved to the front of the vehicle. A short clang sounded and Chrysalis watched as Chase moved towards the hole in the ground with the tow line of the warthog in his hand.

Sand crunched beneath each step as Chase moved towards the hole in the ground. So badly he wanted to just turn and go back to the Hive with how many red flags this mission sent up, but someone had to save those changelings. Silently he wished that someone wasn’t him though.

A bit of rock crumbled down into it’s depths as he looked over the edge and into the shadowy depths. After putting his weapon on his back, the spartan crouched down and sat on the edge while pulling the tow line from the warthog. The hook at the end of the line slowly made it’s way down into the murky depths of the cavern.

As he watched the hook disappear he talked over the open comm channel to Chrysalis, “You remember all the stuff I showed you in the hog, right?”

“Yes, it’s all pretty straight forward. I’ve already got the three different screens showing what your visors are seeing.” the changeling answered back.

“Good, good.” a small little cling signaled that the hook had hit the bottom, “Alright, lock the wench.”

“It’s locked.” with a small pull on the line to confirm Chrysalis’ statement, Chase got ready to descend. To get ready he lowered the shield strength on his hands and maximizing it on the soles of his feet. Afterwards, the spartan began to slide down the rope into the abyss. Taking it slow and steady, so the warthog above wouldn’t lose traction in the sand.

The only sound that greeted the spartan as he slid down the rope was the whistling of wind through the caves, giving the cavern an eerie sort of ambiance. The entire place just hit every nerve in Chase for inducing fear. Without a sound, thanks to his shields, the spartan touched down on the rocky floor.

Immediately the shields on the bottom of his feat and around his hands returned to normal strength. His assault rifle was in his hands and pointed around to look at the walls of the cave. Then his sighted the nearest cave, “Chryssy, how's it looking up there?”

“Thermal, night vision, and basic filters are all looking good.”

“Alright then, get in the driver side seat just in case something happens. Oh, but if you move that Warthog and your life or the hog’s not in danger, you will never sit in the front seats again. Just like Josh.” Chase stated before he began to move towards the cave.

The channel was quiet for a few seconds, “... Oh-kay, sure.” she replied awkwardly.

“Just wanted to make that cle-” something moved across the edge of Chase’s radar, “Contact. Going silent.”

While Chase began to move towards the dot that had disappeared, eight eyes looked from the darkness of another cave, but never moved. This cave’s entrance was covered with light from the afternoon sun, holding it’s secrets at bay. Soon though the first pair of eight eyes was joined by eight more and then another eight. Behind the first eyes an army of others opened and watched together as the spartan ran off.

Just like an unsuspecting fly into a spider’s web.

****

Chrysalis watched as Chase moved lower into the caves, following a mine cart track. Rocks where all she saw though as there was no sign of whatever had caused the blip on his radar. Occasionally he came across dead ends and such a search went on for an hour, till Chase came upon a large drop off at the end of the last tunnel. Lights came turned on from either side of the spartan’s helmet.

“Looks like it’s a little ways down, not to far. I’m coming back, we can check this out tomorrow.” Chase’s voice came in over the radio, slightly distorted.

“Your voice sounds messed up, but it’s barely getting dark out, why not search more?” Chrysalis asked as she saw the sun begin to move down in the sky, “Celestia’s only now lowering the sun, it won’t be dark for another hour or two... You’re not scared of the dark are you?”

“I’m fully in the dark now, it’s just with the night vision that I can see around me. I’m not risking your life out in the middle of the desert after the sun falls.” the spartan answered back, “Your voice is kind of distorted too, I’m marking the depth for tomorrow.”

Chrysalis just nodded as she looked around the surrounding desert. Besides the sand dunes and the occasional tumbleweed, there really was nothing to look at. A sudden beep caught her attention. Looking at the three monitors, it didn’t appear to come from Chase’s side as he was still just looking around the cave.

Narrowing her eyes in confusion, Chrysalis looked up at the monitor fixed to the inner roof of the warthog. Her eyes widened as she saw a single red dot moving towards her, “I’ve got a contact on the Warthog motion sensor.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Chrysalis saw Chase take off down cave, “Do you got a visual?”

Chrysalis looked out in front of the warthog where the blip was slowly moving towards her from, “No nothing.” slowly it got closer. Not taking any chances, Chrysalis spread her wings and took off out of the Warthog, “I’m in the air now, but I still don’t see anything.”

“Good thinking, just wait for me to-” the rest of what he said was cut off as a searing pain shot through Chrysalis’ left wing.

She gave a cry of pain as she fell to the ground, closer to the crevice than before. Looking over, a black crystal the size of one of her legs was impaled into the sensitive tissue of her wing. As she tried to ignore the pain and look for her attacker she felt the ground shake under her.

She quickly rolled away just as another black crystal spike shot up from the ground where she had been. With in a second she was on her hooves and looking around for her attacker. Nothing but sand and the black crystal pillar could be seen.

The ground under her shook again, but she had plenty of time to move out of the way from the black pillar of crystals. Another glance around and she spotted something, tracks in the sand. A trail of hoof prints that she never made.

Quickly, she lowered her head and shot a condensed beam of her green magic at the concealed attacker. She silently cursed that she had left her shotgun in the back of the warthog and was forced to use her magic wastefully like this instead. Though her aim was true, the spell around the hooved assailant shimmered in the air and came down.

Standing with a smirk on his face was a grey unicorn with a black mane and a curved red horn. Her moments hesitation to identify her target gave Chrysalis’ enemy the perfect opportunity to sneak in a strike.

From the black pillar she had just avoided, a spike shot out and tore into her side. Chrysalis gave a pained shout as she was forced off her hooves and into the sand some distance away from the sheer force of the blow.

“Pathetic.” Chrysalis heard the deep voice of her attacker before she found herself hit back up into the air. This time, she did not land in the soft sand.

As she tried to look around to brace for landing, she collided with the warthog. Draped over the roof, Chrysalis’ head was swimming with confusion and pain. Though the armor had done it’s job and nothing penetrated, she felt like her insides were all in the wrong places.

It had felt like the energy had been drained out of her from the moment that second black spike hit her. The motion sensor on the warthog beeped and Chrysalis was able to turn her head to see the slowly approaching red dot. Growling, the changeling moved her hoof to the last button on the front console.

With one push a warning came up on the top screen, one Chrysalis immediately hit the confirmed option. A small box appeared over the screens showing Chase’s view of the crevice. ‘LIVE BROADCAST ACTIVATED’

“This is Ghost Eight, the mine was an ambush. Send help imm-” Chrysalis stopped as the entire warthog shook as the sound of glass breaking filled the air. From her view though, the changeling saw that it wasn’t the windshield that had broken.

Fear gripped her as she flipped forward over the seat as the warthog being lifted up, letting her see the unicorn, “You’re not worth the magic to control.”

“Freeze mother fucker.” Chrysalis heard Chase shout before she felt the warthog fly through the air and impact something and slammed her against the console, hard.

“Gah! You bitch!” Chase shouted over her own cries of pain. Warnings popped up on all of the screens showing Chase’s armor as Chrysalis felt herself starting to fall.

A few seconds. That’s all the fall was, but to the changeling it felt like eternity. Her chest hurt, she had an aching pain in her head, and Chase was still shouting profanities as they fell. Then it all came to a stop as the warthog hit the ground, and she was knocked out cold.

****

Chase was pissed, and that was putting it lightly. His armor was blaring warning after warning from three of his ribs being either cracked or broken, to his breaking of the safety parameters to use the thrusters on his back to slow his descent.

None of that compared to the absolute hatred he held for the unicorn that looked down on him with a sadistic smile, “Your fear should feed them nicely.”

Chase raised his assault rifle, but the unicorn was already gone, ‘Last time I turn somepony away for sounding crazy.’

Shaking his head, the Spartan went to the warthog to see Chrysalis’ beaten form, never once lowering his rifle. She had a line of green blood coming from the side of her head and dripping onto the seat. The only silver lining was that she was still breathing steadily, no sounds of it being labored.

As fast as he could while still being careful, he moved the changeling into an upright position in the passenger seat. With one arm holding his assault rifle towards the open crevice, Chase used his robotic left arm to fasten the seatbelt on the changeling. Pulling it all the way out and letting it lock into place before letting go.

A glance in the back of the warthog shocked the Spartan, as he saw Chrysalis’ shotgun resting on the floor, ‘A stroke of luck I will not question.’ Chase thought happily as he grabbed it and put it on his back.

A small chattering sound made the Spartan turn and look to the other side of the warthog, assault rifle raised. In the dark cave on the other side of the light from the soon to be setting sun, a horde of yellow eyes watched him, ‘Horror movie situation, I hate being right sometimes.’

Chase slowly moved around the warthog, never taking his sights of the creatures. He climbed into the warthog and watched all the eyes follow his every move. For the first time, Chase looked down at the warthog’s screens and saw that the distress signal was on.

No such signal had reached Chase though, ‘Signal jamming? You'd need a Spartan to...’

Suddenly, everything lined up and Chase’s anger boiled ten fold as he started up the warthog, ‘Fucker got Leon...’

With a snarl, Chase floored the gas pedal and spun the warthog to face the cave he had come out of earlier, 'I'm gonna make him wish he was never born.’ the warthog lurched forward and into the cave.

Behind him the army watched as he took off. Soon the sun would move away from the cave’s entrance and the hunt would begin.

Reestablishing Contact

View Online

Chapter 19

****UNKNOWN****
Early Morning

In the darkness of some random cave, a deep laugh could be heard, “He has finally entered the border. Spartan, start broadcasting the signal and unblock the comms.”

“At once, my King.” Leon said as he lowered his head and held his fist over his chest. In his helmet, Leon began to play the signal Chase’s warthog had tried to send out the previous day, “They should be receiving it shortly.”

The King smiled, “Everything is finally coming together. Now all that remains is for that brute to make enough noise...”

****Outer border of Maretonia****

In the early morning light Josh’s armor did not shine or glisten. In fact the Spartan hardly moved except for the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest. After running for the entire previous night, the Spartan felt like this rest was well deserved.

Both Nightmare and Josh had received no troubles as they’re journey took them along the border edge of the country of Maretonia. From the maps stored in Josh’s helmet, Nightmare was actually able to come up with a plan. It just involved illegally hitching a ride on certain dignitaries’ private train.

Today was the scheduled day for some meeting between the Maretonians and Equestria. It had been scheduled for the past few weeks ahead of time. One of the few things Nightmare had overheard Chase tell Leon.

To stow away on the train, it all relied on stealth, the one thing that Josh would openly admit he was not the best at. It would also mean trying to find the city that the train took off from which would take longer than they had on time. So the plan had been tweaked a bit.

Since getting on the train while it was still at the station would be close to impossible for Josh, he was going to have to get on it after it had left the station. This presented another problem though. They didn’t know when the train was leaving the station.

This would all bring us back to why Josh was currently sleeping next to some train tracks, half buried in sand. Nightmare, meanwhile, had diverted power from Josh’s shields to enhance the range of their sensors and was waiting for any sign of the train.

To preoccupy herself, she was playing one of the games that Josh had installed into his helmet. It was called Super Mario World and she was starting to experience something a lot of video game players experience at one point or another.

Rage.

“To Tartarus with you and your damned turtle shell!” she yelled as she was killed by a red turtle shell that she had thrown herself... for the second time in a row.

Nightmare growled and turned off the game before looking at the others that were held inside the Spartans helmet. Anything to keep her mind from wandering to the future was more than welcomed.

Suddenly alarms began to go off inside Josh’s helmet, rousing the Spartan from his slumber, “W-wha... What’s going on?”

“The train is coming down the tracks, get ready.” Nightmare said as she closed out of the files in Josh’s helmet and began watching everything through Josh’s helmet cameras.

Josh yawned and brought his hands up to his helmet to rub the sleep out of his eyes, seeming to of forgotten about his helmet being in the way, “Train? What train?”

As if on cue a train whistle blew in the distance drawing Josh’s attention down the tracks. A monstrosity of grey metal and golden flare was quickly approaching. It was such an awful mix of the gold and grey coloring that it was almost painful to look at.

“Maretonians have awful taste.” Nightmare commented as the train was almost upon them.

“And Equestrians are any better?” Josh countered as he began to feel the rumble of the train.

“While most of Equestria is still too bright for my tastes,” she began as Josh started to run down the tracks in the direction the train was going, “It is most certainly better than wherever this abomination came from.”

Josh didn’t answer as the train began to pass by him. Just as the locomotive was about to pass him, the spartan jumped onto the side of the engine and landed behind the railing. After checking both ways for anything that could of seen him, Josh sauntered onto the front of the small walkway.

“Now we just wait till we get to Macintosh Hills, then jump off and make our way to the Hive.” Josh said as he laid his back against the front of the locomotive.

“I still believe this plan of action to be foolish.” Nightmare stated as she searched for another game in Josh’s helmet.

“Like I said, you get a better idea, feel free to-”

The comm channel suddenly exploded with life with a warning message popping up on the team roster, “This is Ghost Eight, the mine was an ambush. Send help imm-” Chrysalis’ voice was cut off by the sound of glass breaking.

Both Josh and Nightmare listened intently to the sounds of the fight being had in the message. They heard everything from Chrysalis’ strained voice to Chase revving the warthog’s engine and taking somewhere, eventually losing signal.

The emergency message began to repeat again while Josh stared at the roster. Chase’s armor was highlighted red around his midsection making Josh stand up fully. With internal injuries like that Chase wouldn’t be able to go on for more than a few days.

“Josh.” Nightmare said slowly, making one of the features of the message stand out. It was the timestamp, “This was recorded yesterday, before we even left Leon and Hank...”

The Spartan stared at the open desert in front of them. It would take the hours to even reach their destination. They didn’t have that kind of time.

“Hello? Can anyling hear me?” Cacoon’s voice came through the comm channel next.

“Cocoon!” Josh exclaimed as he gave a fist pump, “This is Josh, we’re on-” the comm suddenly cut off.

“Don’t give her our location.” Nightmare stated before opening the comm back open.

Josh took a deep breath, “Cocoon, did you hear the distress beacon?”

“Yes... please, tell me you and the other Spartans are on their way to help.” she said in a very tired sounding voice.

From the sound of her voice it was obvious that she hadn’t gotten that much sleep, more than likely worrying over Chrysalis, “No, we...” Josh took a deep breath, “Leon and Hank are Code Sixty-Six. Something in the forest, it messed with their heads. Moonie and I were on our way back to get some help.”

Silence reigned over the channel as Cocoon absorbed the information. The train the two were on continued to make its way down the tracks, kicking up sand and making a lot of noise.

“Cocoon,” Josh started, “Have you heard anything from the others?”

“No, the last we heard from them-”

“They were in the Crystal Empire, possibly out of comm range.” Nightmare interrupted, “I was able to listen in on a few of Leon’s comm channels.”

"Wow, thanks for telling me..." Josh muttered as Cocoon continued.

“I have already sent a small group of changelings to the city to check in with the Spartans. We haven’t dared go towards the mine since... since they disappeared.” Cocoon stated sadly.

“If you’ve already got Changelings going to get Alfred and Ethan, we’ll come to the Hive as soon as we can.”

“It would be best if you did. A pony is currently locked up in our dungeons, yelling about how time is running short.”

“We don’t have time to worry about a crazy pony.” Nightmare said.

“He’s been yelling for the past few hours about what happened to Chase and... Chrissy.” just the sound of the sadness in her voice as Cocoon said her daughter’s pet name was almost unbearable, "I have my best trying to get answers out of him, but from what they told me he sounds completely insane."

“I think it is unwise to continue talking about this on an open comm channel.” Nightmare interrupted, "We'll speak more when we arrive."

“Cocoon, I know this is tough right now, but you need to get some changelings down there and get some answers out of that pony. We are running low on time. Wherever they are, Chase is with her. He is damn near unkillable.” Josh decided to leave out that Chase was injured and probably in more danger than Chrysalis.

“I... I will. Just please get here quick.”

“We will.” the line went dead, and to the two of them, it seemed things were just going to get worse.

The Lost Spartans

by DauntedSuperior

Nothing is ever simple

Exposition, Fighting, and Explosions

On the run from the law

The Princess and the Sniper

Meanwhile on the Ring of Doom

To short for title

Flood vs Spartans on the Ring of Doom

Operation: Ponyville

Depending on how you look at it, things either went exactly to plan or FUBAR

Introductions and Planning

The hunt begins

A SPARTAN's way of restoring order

Under the Magical Dome

Spartans vs Elements

Skipping Time and Catching Up Pt. 1

Skipping Time and Catching Up Pt. 2

Stuff is Starting to Happen

The Horror Movie Senario

Reestablishing Contact