A Surge Of Energy

Boom

"That one's for Kat!"

Boom

"That's for Jorge!"

Boom

"That one's for Carter!

Boom

Emile sat at the massive driver emplacement, blowing up every Covenant ship he sees to kingdom come. Emile was never one for emotions, he always hid his with some humor. But something inside him snapped. At this very moment, he couldn't hold back anymore. The Covenant killed his only friends. It seemed only fair that he does the same.

"ALL OF YOU WILL FUCKING DIE!" Emile roared, continuously firing at the alien ships.

After he cleared the platform, he opened his comms.

"Six, you still there? Get the package to Keyes. I'll cover your escape." Emile explained, knowing fully that if he stayed behind he'll surely die.

There seemed to be a brief pause, before he heard a reply.

"Affirmative. Noble Six out."

He then got an alarming message from Captain Keyes.

"Cruiser, adjusting heading for the Autumn! Noble Four I need fire on that cruiser or we're not getting out of here! Do you copy?"

Emile looked out to the horizon and saw the approaching Covenant cruiser, its shadow looming over the barren wasteland.

"You'll have your window sir." Emile replied.

As Emile prepared to fire at the cruiser, a Covenant dropship appeared and rained fire on one of the two evac Pelicans. One went down. Emile, scared for the safety of his possibly last surviving teammate, paused firing and looked for him at the platform. As he saw Six crawl away from the burning wreckage of the downed Pelican, he failed to notice that the Covenant dropship was right on top of him. By the time he did notice, it was already too late. Two Elites, Zealot class, landed on the massive gun emplacement. Emile reached for his M45 Tactical Shotgun, shouted out a war cry, and fired at the nearest Elite. As the Elite fell over and hung limply, Emile crawled out of the gun and paused to look at the Elite. He was undeniably hurt now, hanging unto life by practically a thread. Oh, how Emile despised his kind. He pushed the barrel of his gun to his chest and fired, ending his miserable life.

"Who's next?" Emile yelled out, completely unaware of the danger behind him.

All he knew next was that an Elite grabbed him and stabbed him in the chest.

Emile looked at his body, and saw the Energy Sword protruding out of his chest. But instead of pain, all he felt was rage. All thoughts he had beforehand were dispelled , and only one thought remained.

Nobody. Fucks. With Emile.

As the Elite pulled out his sword, Emile pulled out his kukri.

"I'm ready! How 'bout you?!" Emile yelled defiantly, before he proceeded to stab the Elite in the neck.

The Elite was completely caught unaware. Fueled by rage and adrenaline, Emile kept stabbing and stabbing and stabbing the Elite, until he knew for sure he was dead. After his rage fueled stabbing spree ended, Emile slumped down, slowly bleeding out from the stab wound so generously given to him by the recently deceased Elite Zealot. As his life slowly ebbed away, he looked at the two bodies in front of him. He smiled at the sight. Truly it was a work of art.

"You... you fucking bastards... you think you own us... you think you're going to win..." Emile halfheartedly chuckled.

No answer.

"Well news flash bitches" he proclaimed with a smile.

He forced his head to look at the dead Elite to his left.

"You didn't win."

He moved his head to his right.

"And you didn't win." He taunted.

Emile chuckled, before scowling.

"Did you hear me? YOU DIDN'T FUCKING WIN!" He declared defiantly.

Emile slumped even lower, and as he relaxed, he muttered out his final words before falling into a very deep sleep.

"You didn't win..."

"Hey Twilight!" Spike called out.

No answer.

"Twilight..." Spike continued to call out.

Still no answer.

"TWILIGHT!" Spike yelled.

The lavender mare with a book metaphorically glued to her face yelped in surprise.

"Spike! What was that for? You didn't have to yell at me!" Twilight scolded.

Spike groaned in exasperation, but he guessed it was expected. Whenever Twilight focuses on one thing she's stubbornly oblivious of her immediate surroundings.

"Look Twi, I was just going to say that I'm going out today to hang out with the CMC. They said they needed my help in cooking, or something." Spike explained.

"Oh, well, good luck then!" Twilight exclaimed. As her number one assistant walked out the door, Twilight called out.

"And be careful, you know how dangerous their antics can be!"

"Alright, mom." Spike joked as he closed the door of the library.

Twilight smiled. Now finally alone in the library, she can read her book quietly, with no distra-

A surge of energy washed over her. She felt like she just drank a thousand cups of coffee. She felt like she could run a marathon. She felt like she could do anything. But her new sensation departed as quickly as it had arrived, leaving the alicorn mare in a fatigued state.

"Woah..." Twilight mumbled, suddenly feeling dizzy. "That was... weird."

Twilight shook her head in an attempt to regain her equilibrium and immediately set out to find anything about sudden surges of energy in her books. Maybe one of them holds the answer...

"Hey Twiiiiiliiiiiight!" somepony called out in a sing-song manner.

Twilight groaned. She immediately knew whose voice it belonged to.

"Not right now Pinkie! I'm busy!" Twilight called out.

Twilight awaited a reply, but none came. She assumed the party pony left her alone, and continued her search for answers.

Knock knock knock

"Twilight"

Knock knock knock

"Twilight"

Knock knock knock

"Twilight"

The alicorn groaned. She knew it was too easy. Nevertheless, she had no time to talk to Pinkie right now. Her best bet was to ignore her. Maybe she'll leave after a few knocks...

108 knocks later...

Knock knock knock

"Twilight"

Knock knock knock

"Twilight"

Knock knock knock

"Twilight"

"Arggghhh! I can't take this anymore! I can't think straight with all her obnoxious knocking!" Twilight thought to herself. Giving up on ignoring Pinkie, Twilight used her usual calming technique to quell her growing migraine and opened her front door.

"Hello Pinkie! What brings you here to- oh, hello everypony" she greeted.

This was unusual for her. Pinkie wasn't the only one on her front door. Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were here too.

"Umm... what brings you all here?" Twilight asked.

"Didn't you feel it Twi?" Applejack asked.

Twilight didn't immediately catch what the farmer was asking until it dawned on her.

"Oh yeah... that energy rush... you guys felt it too? Twilight guessed.

"That's right' Applejack answered. "For I second ah felt like I could run around Equestria without breaking a sweat!" Applejack beamed, but her body language sagged immediately afterwards. "But then ah got dizzy afterwards. Ah felt like I couldn't stand on my own four hooves!"

"Same here. Did anypony else other than us felt it?" Twilight asked.

"We asked everypony else but us, but they said that they didn't feel a thing." Rarity answered.

"Well, did anypony see anything unusual lately? Anything that could lead us on what happened." Twilight asked again.

"Now that you mention it..." Rainbow Dash thought loudly, "I was trying to do an awesome trick I've been working lately, but then I saw this bright flash of light in the Everfree Forest. It was a pretty big flash, I could see it from where I was. After that, I felt the energy rush."

Twilight pondered at this. Whatever it was, it probably wasn't a good sign, especially if it was in the Everfree Forest. She needed to make a decision.

"Alright girls, here's the plan. We're going to investigate what Rainbow Dash saw in the Everfree Forest." Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow, we need you to show us where you saw the flash while it's still fresh in your memory."

"Aye aye, cap'n!" Rainbow replied enthusiastically.

Twilight turned to the others. "Everypony else, follow her lead."

"Before we go Twilight, don't you think we need the Elements of Harmony?" Pinkie questioned. "I mean, whatever it was, it was powerful enough to affect us and only us."

Twilight smiled at the thought, but immediately shook her head afterwards.

"We can't Pinkie. While we're still connected to the Elements, we don't have them anymore, remember?" Twilight explained.

Pinkie Pie's mane deflated at the thought. "Oh yeah, the whole "Invasion of the Everfree Forest" thing..."

The party pony seemed sad at first, but immediately perked up faster than anypony could blink.

"Oh well! We might not need them anyway! Whatever it is, I'm sure it's something we can handle on our own!" Pinkie encouraged.

Twilight smiled at the pink pony in front of her. You could always count on Pinkie to lighten the mood.

"Now that that's settled, are we all set?"

"We're all ready Twi!" Applejack answered .

"Oh, actually, um, can I, uh, stay back, because, I need to, um... Fluttershy stuttered.

"Then let's go!" Twilight exclaimed enthusiastically, trotting off to the general direction Rainbow Dash headed off to.

Everypony else followed Twilight, and with them they carried the poor, socially awkward pegasus on their backs, completely oblivious to her quiet cries of protest.

First Impressions

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“Striking fear into all he encountered
While wielding the wrath of a crumbling planet.
Equally vicious and strong,
His blade sharpened by battle.
He fearlessly cut through enemy forces,
Instilling hope in an entire race.
Marked by the skull scratched into his helmet,
He was the last his enemies ever saw of this world.
In recognition of this, his warrior's spirit,
We honor him as the merciless wrath of Noble.”

-The Monument to Noble Team

"Ughh... are we there yet?" Rarity complained for the umpteenth time. "My precious hooves can't take much more of this icky muck."

The rainbow maned pegasus groaned in exasperation. She was starting to grow irritated of the fashionista's incessant whining. Actually, scratch that. She was growing tired of the fashionista's incessant "complaining". A few Diamond Dogs already made that mistake, and with her growing headache, more "complaining" from her was the last thing she needed right now.

"Rarity, for the last time, the flash I saw was really far in the Everfree Forest. I already told you it might take us while to get there"

"But-" Rarity started.

"Rarity. We are good friends. And good friends listen to each other, right?" Rainbow asked.

"I... suppose?" Rarity answered in a questioning tone.

Before she can ask Rainbow to elaborate, the cyan pegasus proceeded to inch closer to her.

"Then listen very, very carefully to what I have to say." she demanded.

She inched closer and closer, until she was face to face to Rarity. Rarity shrunk under the hard glare given to her, courtesy of Rainbow Dash. Before she could ask what was her problem, the cyan pegasus muttered out two words, two words nopony has ever said to her before...

"Shut. Up."

Rarity huffed in annoyance, obviously peeved to hear that. Twilight could feel the tension in the air. It was so thick she could cut through it with a knife. She needed to end this if she didn't want animosity between the the two. Twilight walked next to Rarity, who was pouting at the uber-athlete's statement.

"Don't worry Rarity, after all of this blows over, I'll make sure you get the best treatment possible at the spa." Twilight assured.

That seemed to do the trick, as Rarity immediately perked up.

"You'll do that? For me? Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" Rarity squealed gleefully before wrapping the lavender alicorn in an almighty bear hug.

"Rarity... can't.... breathe...

Rarity, sensing that her friend is suffocating, pulled back from the hug and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Erm.. sorry about that dear." Rarity apologized.

Before Twilight could smile and accept her apology, she was rudely interrupted by Rainbow Dash, who tugged at her wings to get her attention.

"Hey Twilight, were here."

The alicorn mare was practically beaming after hearing that.

"That's wonderful! What did you see?" Twilight asked.

The cyan pegasus scratched the back of her head, obviously picking her words carefully before answering.

"Actually Twi... I'm not sure what I saw exactly..." she stated before trailing off.

"What do you mean? What did you see?" Twilight asked again.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "I said I don't know what it is.. and I'm pretty sure I can't explain it. I think you have to see it for yourselves."

She motioned for Twilight and the others to follow her. Using her hoof, she moved the thick foliage in front of her and showed everypony what was so hard to explain to them. As they looked on, they immediately noticed that the area in front of them was a clearing. But that wasn't all. What piqued their curiosity was that on the other side of clearing, there was a metal object just sitting there. It was large and bulky, and it had wings too. Next to it was a smaller metal object, with wheels and something sitting on its back. Twilight deduced that the latter was some sort of land vehicle, but she was curious of the thing next to it. It was probably a vehicle as well, but it had wings instead of wheels. How was something as big as that supposed to lift off the ground?

"Hey girls! Look at the middle! They're so... shiny." Pinkie exclaimed.

In the center of the clearing, there were three figures. Two of them were colored purple, with sleek heads. The other was colored grey with a hint of red, with a round-ish sort of head. By the looks of it, none of them were moving.

"Whaddaya make of them, Twi?" Applejack questioned.

"I don't know Applejack. They look like a new species to me..." Twilight answered.

"Oh, a new species! That's awesome! Maybe I can throw a party for them when they wake up! "Welcome to Ponyville Recently Discovered New Species!" Yeah, that sounds about right. But wait, what if they're aliens? Ooh, then I can throw them a "Welcome To Ponyville Recently Discovered Aliens!" party! Wait, what if they're aliens AND a new species? That's even better! Then I can-"

"We get it Pinkie." Rarity interrupted the pink party pony. "Besides, I don't think you'll be able to throw a party for them. I think they're..." Rarity paused before looking at the the three. "Dead."

"What made yah say that Rares?" the farmer pony replied sarcastically. "Was it the fact that one's filled with holes, the other's got a knife sticking out its neck, and the third one ain't movin', or was it something ah missed?"

Twilight rolled her eyes at the farmer's sarcasm. But by the looks of it, she was right. Twilight confirmed Applejack's observations to the others. The first one literally had holes, mostly around the chest area. The second had an intimidatingly large knife sticking out of its neck. The third didn't even look like it was breathing, much less moving. The group grimaced at the sight before them.

"Twilight, I think it's best if we go back. Maybe send a letter to Princess Celestia perhaps?" Rarity suggested.

Twilight nodded in confirmation. "You're right. C'mon girls, let's head back."

The group began their leave. Fluttershy was the last one to move, still looking at the clearing. She was about to turn to leave, until something caught her eye. She gasped at the sight, her eyes widening in fear. The group noticed the absence of one member, and looked back at where they came. They saw Fluttershy, still staring at the clearing.

"C'mon Flutters! What are you waiting for?!" Rainbow Dash yelled.

No answer.

"Um, Fluttershy?" Twilight called out.

Still no answer.

Twilight picked up on her friend's lack of response and trotted up next to her. She waved a hoof in front of her to capture her attention, but to no avail.

"Fluttershy? What's wrong?" Twilight asked, concerned for the wellbeing of the animal caretaker.

The timid yellow mare, looking like she saw a ghost, held up a shaking hoof and pointed at the clearing.

"I th-think the gray one just moved."

Darkness.

That was all Emile saw. He was floating aimlessly in darkness. Nothing was in sight for miles.

Was this death? Was he to spend an eternity here, with nothing but himself and his thoughts to keep himself company? Was there anyone else here? And most importantly...

Does this spell the end of Emile's Covenant ass-kicking spree?

These questions, however, will have to wait for later. As Emile pondered at his own questions, he spotted something. A minuscule point of light was shining in the distance, earning Emile's curiosity. It was like looking at a lone star in the middle of the night. Emile cocked his head sideways, wondering how that light came to be. But then, the light began to grow brighter.

And brighter.

And brighter.

The light grew so much that Emile had to turn away, as even his visor couldn't block the resulting glare. It was like staring into the sun, face-to-face. As the light began to envelop his body, he felt a surge of energy wash over him. His senses went hyperactive, his heartbeat fast and erratic. So much energy was in him, traveling through his veins, surging in and out of his heart. He felt like he had the power of a god. Emile would've liked this feeling. To feel like the sun, ever-so radiant and powerful. Yes, Emile would've, no, should've liked this feeling.

If it wasn't so excruciatingly painful.

As powerful as he felt, it was like drowning in a vat of acid. Every fiber of his body felt like it was melting away. There was too much power. He couldn't handle it. It was too painful.

"Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop..." Emile droned on in his head. Never before had he felt so much pain.

"Someone make it stop, please..." he kept pleading, hoping that someone, anyone, could hear him and get him out of this hellhole.

The pain multiplied tenfold, adding to Emile's dismay. His eyes began to water, his head felt like it was about to explode. He was practically paralyzed in pain. All hope of stopping it vanished. With nothing left to do, Emile took a deep breath...

And nothing happened.

Emile slowly opened his eyes, and saw that he was floating in darkness once again. Not a single ray of light in sight. He exhaled, relieved that the pain had stopped.

"That ...was fucking intense..." Emile thought. He replayed the events in his head, before chuckling to himself.

"Oh my God, I was going to scream. Good Lord, I was going to actually scr-"

A bright, white flash appeared before he could finish that thought.

Darkness.

That was all Emile saw. Complete darkness. But this was a different darkness. This wasn't the "floating in darkness" type of darkness. It was the "my eyes are closed and I can't see" type of darkness.

Emile slowly opened his eyes, not really knowing what to expect if he opened them. The first thing he saw was the sky. The blue sky, complete with a noon sun and rolling clouds. A gentle breeze was blowing, he could feel it blowing through him. Emile took in a deep breath, immediately noticing that his nostrils were invaded by a surprisingly pleasant smell. It didn't smell like burnt glass. It didn't smell like burnt flesh. Hell, nothing smelt burnt. This was a first for the SPARTAN, considering his line of work had him work closely with weapons that spit out fire and metal. With blue skies, warm temperature, cool breeze and pleasant smell, it was a relaxing day out. He exhaled, before thinking to himself.

"Fuck... my head hurts."

Emile twitched his fingers, not knowing if he can still move, before groggily sitting up. He felt strangely fatigued. With tired eyes, he surveyed the area around him. He was in a clearing, that much he could guess, but where was he? Wasn't he back in Reach, where his final act of defiance was yelling at a couple of corpses? The even bigger question however, wasn't he supposed to be dead? Emile examined himself, looking for any sign that he was hurt. But he found none. Not a single blemish in his armor. Not even a dent. Emile further surveyed his surroundings, before is eyes fell at the two figures in front of him. It was the two Elite Zealots who tried to, no, succeeded in killing him. Emile instinctively reached for his knife, before realizing it wasn't there. He looked around before he found it...

...lodged in the neck of the Elite to his right.

Emile was confused at first, until he replayed the recent events in his head. He smiled. Yes, the Elites had managed to kill him, but with the cost of themselves. If the SPARTAN was going to go down, then he'll be damned if he didn't bring his enemies down with him.

Wait a second...

He just said the Elites succeeded in killing him. Yet the SPARTAN was still here, alive and kicking, and they're dead. That means...

The Elites didn't win. He did.

He won.

Emile busted an ear-to-ear grin, before slowly getting on one knee.

"You... you think you're so fucking great. All high and mighty in your little throne, trying to kill us, one by one..." Emile chuckled before standing up. He looked at both corpses, and in an instant, his giggly demeanor was replaced with with an angry scowl. He approached the nearest corpse and gave it an almighty kick to the side, sending the body flying a few meters away from him.

"Well guess what motherfuckers..." he snarled, before picking the other corpse up by the neck. He angrily glared at it, pushing his visor to its lifeless face.

"YOU. DIDN'T. KILL. ME!" he roared, tossing its limp body next to the other corpse.

"I'M STILL ALIVE YOU SONS OF BITCHES. I'M STILL ALIVE! AHAHAHAHAHA!" he yelled out, a maniacal laughter escaping his lips. He kept laughing until his knees gave out under him. Replaying the past events in his head, Emile's booming cackle slowly turned into a small chuckle, and then breaking down into a quiet sob. This was so unlike the Emile everyone knew. He was supposed to be the battle-hardened merciless wrath of Noble Team. Whenever Emile had to deal with emotions, he would either mask them with humor or he would channel it into anger, utilizing it as a weapon. But after the events of Reach, he felt like he had nothing. His team, his friends, gone. Just like that. And at that moment, he wasn't humorous of his predicament or even angry at the Covenant.

All he felt was an ache in his heart and warm water running down his face.

As the SPARTAN wallowed in self-pity, Emile noticed something. Call it gut-feeling, but Emile could tell something was wrong. He looked at his motion sensor, paying attention to anything it can pick up.

The motion sensor was a standard for every SPARTAN, and with it it can pick up either friendly allies, which will show on the radar as yellow dots, or it can pick up enemies, such as the Covenant, and they would show up as red dots. However, when the suit's systems pick up movement that belong to neither friend nor foe and cannot decide which is which, they will ultimately show up on the sensor as grey dots. From there it is up to the SPARTAN to decide whether they are friend or foe. Emile eyed his motion sensor, paying very close attention to it. He might've just been imagining things, as he himself was questioning his mental stability after his breakdown. He was about to ignore it, until the motion sensor picked up something. He looked at it and saw...

...three grey dots, moving slowly towards him from behind.

Emile slowly turned around, being careful not to startle whatever was sneaking up behind him. He expected whatever it was, it was probably some civilians, or it could be the natural fauna looking for a bite to eat. It was probably the latter. As Emile turned a full one-hundred and eighty degrees, to say he was baffled was an understatement.

In front of him were what looked like three wolves, but what confused him the most was that they were composed entirely out of wood. A foul smell entered his nose, and Emile realized he was smelling their breathe.

"I swear to God if I'm just fuckin' hallucinating right now..." Emile thought to himself.

As the wolves continued to approach him, Emile assessed his situation.

"Alright, I'm in an unknown location and currently facing wooden wolves. I've got no help, no means of communication and worst of all..." he paused.

No. Weapons.

"This is so fuckin' great..." Emile inwardly groaned, before coming to a realization.

"Wait, my kukri!" he smiled at the thought, before groaning again. The knife was still in the Elite's neck, just painstakingly a few meters away. He also noticed a Pelican and a Warthog at the edge of the clearing. How he missed that the whole time, he didn't know.

"Way to go Emile..." he scolded himself for his stupidity. This was exactly the reason why Kat was the intelligence specialist.

The wolves began to circle the SPARTAN, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Emile readied a battle stance, ready to defend himself from any harm. The first wolf, in an attempt to surprise his prey and to help its pack members bring their very-soon-to-be food down, went in to bite its arm from behind. It clearly underestimated what the SPARTAN was capable of. Emile sidestepped inhumanely quickly and punched the wolf in the back of its neck, the wolf dropping faster than a sack of potatoes. It attempted to get back up, but Emile held it down and proceeded to brutally punch its face to the ground, each punch harder than the last. After Emile stopped, the wolf's face was hardly recognizable. The wolf's green eyes began to flicker before dimming out, the wolf's body collapsing into a pile of wood.

"Interesting..." Emile thought, before turning to the other two.

"So, who's next?" Emile asked with a cocky demeanor.

The other two wolves looked at each other doubtfully, before turning to the SPARTAN. They can't take this thing down alone. If they were going to bring it down, they needed to work together. At the same time, they both pounced at him, their fangs bared, ready to bite down at their prey.

Big mistake.

Emile both caught them by the neck mid-pounce. The wolves squirmed under his grip in an attempt to escape, but he was too strong. Emile simply smiled at them.

"You think you could kill little ol' me?" he asked rhetorically. "Well then, Mr and Mrs Wolf, I guess that you two deserve exactly what's going to happen next."

The two looked confused, until they felt the pressure around their necks growing tighter. They squirmed harder now, thrashing about in a desperate attempt to get away from this monster. Emile watched them, his eyes gleaming in anticipation.

"That's right, loosen the grip, make them think they have a chance, and then..."

SNAP!

That sound echoed throughout the surrounding woods. The eyes of the wolves began to dim, and then their bodies collapsed, leaving a pile of wood at Emile's feet. Emile smiled again.

"Little fuckers think they can kill me?" he thought to himself. "Well, two can play that game."

Emile looked around, half expecting more wolves, but none came. He assessed the situation at hand again.

"Alright, no more hostiles, but still in unknown location with no communications and no weapons, save for one knife." he thought to himself before ripping his kukri out of the Elite's neck and sheathing it at its rightful place.

Hold on...

Emile turned to the Pelican at the edge of the clearing. Every Pelican has an emergency distress beacon, a survival kit and most important of all...

...a weapons rack.

Emile sprinted to it, and hastily opened its back compartment. As it slowly opened, Emile made a plan. If he was going to survive out here, he needs to send out a distress beacon, make a camp, ration all of his items...

Emile didn't get to finish, as he began to gawk at what the Pelican had inside. What he saw made sure that if he was going to die right here, right now...

...he would die a very happy man.

Inside the Pelican was a weapons rack, but it was modified to hold even more weapons than usual, at the cost of space in the back. Emile didn't care however. He was still gawking at the sight before him. Other than being the assault specialist of the group, he was also a bit of a weapons fanatic.

Emile silently thanked whoever blessed him with this gold mine before scolding himself.

"Dammit, Emile. Focus! Gotta send out a distress beacon first."

Emile forced himself to walk past the ever-so enticing M45 Tactical Shotgun E-model, and went to the front seat. He pushed a button on the control panel, held it and recorded a message.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is SPARTAN-A239 of Noble Team requesting immediate evac. Prioritization code sigma zero two dash seven dash echo alpha two three nine."

He let go of the button and the message repeated itself over and over again, showing his beacon was transmitting.

"Alright, now that's in order, gotta clean up my mess if I want to make camp. Don't want to attract more animals with rotting lizard" he added, looking at the Sangheili corpses. The question though, was how was he going to get rid of them? No way he was going to bury them, they don't deserve that. He then looked at the piles of wood, courtesy of the wooden wolves. He could make a campfire with those, he just needed some matc-

The idea hit him. Yes, it would do. He went over to the survival kit and rummaged inside until he found what he was looking for.

"This would do very nicely."

Ten minutes later

Emile has gathered the rest of the wood and placed them all into one pile. Then, he grabbed the dead Elites and threw them on his shoulder. He proceeded to dump them in the pile as well.

"What a fitting way to say goodbye" Emile thought, proud of his brilliance.

He pulled out the matchbox and took out a match. He struck it on the matchbox's side and it caught fire. Before he threw it in though, he looked at the bane of humanity at its lifeless eyes, one last time.

"See you in hell." Emile snarled.

He threw the match in. The leaves at the bottom of the wood pile immediately caught fire. In no time, the small flame turned to a raging inferno, burning the Elites into cinders and ashes. Emile smiled. It was a sight to behold.

As he relished in the fire's warmth, his motion sensor picked up six grey dots behind him. However, they were moving away from Emile, and at a fast rate too.

"Must've been the rest of the pack" Emile thought. "Good, I scared them off."

Emile walked back to the Pelican with a little skip to his step, eager to assess the weapons inside.

Twilight and her friends rushed back to Ponyville as fast as their hooves could carry them. They were all completely terrified of the monster they had seen, Fluttershy even more so than the others. They have been running nonstop, away from the Everfree Forest, away from that...thing. It was already in the afternoon when they all made it back to Twilight's tree house. Exhausted, they all hunched over, panting and heaving.

"Monster... it's a monster..." Rarity murmured between breathes.

"Yeah it's a monster!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Didn't you see what it did? It obviously killed those purple guys, then it killed those Timberwolves by pulverizing the first and then snapping the other two's necks. And then he used the dead Timberwolves to burn the dead purple guys! And you know what's worse?! It looked like it enjoyed it for Celestia's sake! It could even talk!"

"Rainbow, calm down. We're safe now." Applejack assured. "But still, we need to deal with this properly. What if it find its way to Ponyville? How do we stop it then?"

Twilight tried to suppress her growing headache. There are too any questions going around and not enough answers. She looked over to her friends, who all looked as worried as she was. Well, almost all of them. Fluttershy didn't look like she was worried. She looked downright frightened . Ever since they got into the tree house, the yellow pegasus curled up into a ball, rocked back and forth and refused to come out. Every so often they would hear a small whimper, but that's about it. Twilight walked over to Fluttershy and tapped her very lightly on the head, as to not startle her.

"Fluttershy... are you okay?" Twilight asked.

Fluttershy recoiled at the touch, rocking back and forth even faster now. Upon closer inspection, Twilight could see she was crying. She hated seeing her friend like this. Something needed to be done. Quickly.

"Twilight...*pant*...aren't you going to...*pant*...write a letter...*pant*...to Princess Celestia?" Rarity asked, still panting.

Twilight did not give Rarity's suggestion a second thought. She immediately conjured a piece of paper and a quill, and started to hastily write a letter.

As everypony reflected about the events that transpired, Spike walked in, carrying a bag of gems with him.

"Hey guys! I didn't know you'd all be- woah..." Spike greeted before abruptly stopping. Before him was the Main Six (as he would call Twilight and her friends) in an exhausted and worried state. Rarity looked like she ran a marathon and her mane was a mess. Rainbow Dash was currently throwing a fit, with Applejack trying to calm her down. Fluttershy looked like she was in a state of shock, Twilight was writing a letter, not even bothering with neatness and Pinkie's mane was flat and straight, a frown adorning her face as well. If the party pony's mane was flat and straight, it was a never a good sign.

"Twilight, what's the matter?"

She did not answer.

Spike assessed what was happening before realizing the gravity of the situation. Something must've happened to cause all this. Something bad. As he tried to figure out what's going on, Twilight gave him the letter she just wrote.

"I need you to send this to Princess Celestia immediately."

Spike looked at her, all signs of cheerfulness gone, replaced with a serious face and a grim tone.

Spike looked at the letter, then at her again before nodding his head.

"Consider it done." he said, as he blew his flames at the letter, sending it away.

Meet The SPARTAN - Part One

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Princess Celestia sat in front of the fireplace, enjoying herself with a very generous helping of chocolate fudge cake. It was the finest cake she had ever tasted, even better than the last cake she had. The princess always wondered how the bakers managed to create such masterpieces. She closed her eyes and savored the bite, making sure to taste every single, last crumb. Using her magic, she decided to grab another piece of cake, only to find her saucer devoid of any.

"Aww... no more cake..." Celestia frowned. She turned to her grandfather clock, noticing it was almost time for her to lower the sun so that her sister, Princess Luna, can raise the moon. Ever since the Nightmare Moon debacle, Celestia could not express her happiness with words, knowing that her sister was brought back to her. Now, everyday no longer seemed to be a reminder that she was alone. Her sister was with her, ruling Equestria side-by-side, together.

All because of Twilight and her friends.

Celestia reminisced the time when Twilight was but a filly. She was very intellectual and hardworking for her age, but she was humble about it. She never bragged about her status as a student of the princess or showed off her prowess to others. That made Celestia very proud. It was a mystery to her how Twilight managed to not make any friends during her time as a student, but that all changed when the princess sent her to the small town called Ponyville. From there, she managed not only to gain friends and realize her position as an Element of Harmony, but reunited her with her sister. And for that, she was eternally grateful.

However, that was not, in Celestia's opinion; Twilight's proudest moment. Nor was Discord's Defeat, after he had somehow managed to escape, and neither was Twilight's intervention in Cadence's and Shining Armour's wedding; revealing that Cadence was actually the Changeling Queen, Chrysalis. No, in her opinion; Twilight's proudest moment was the time when she completed a spell that she had given her, something not even the famed Star Swirl the Bearded could do. Using everything that Twilight had been taught and learned about the Magic of Friendship, she completed the spell, returned her friend's Cutie Marks to their rightful ponies, created new magic, and thus, was deemed ready. Twilight Sparkle was no longer going to be Princess Celestia's student.

She was deemed ready, to be a princess.

Celestia smiled at the thought of her student surpassing every challenge, every obstacle and every hurdle that was thrown at her, some quite literally. While she was proud of her former student, she could not help but feel lonely again, knowing that Twilight has duties of her own now.

"It'd be nice to hear from her again... she sighed.

As if on cue, a green flame appeared in front of her, and a letter materialized from the flames. Celestia was somewhat startled at first, before realizing it was Spike's signature message flame.

"Heh... you always had a knack with timing."

Celestia opened the letter, expecting good news, a greeting, or anything of particular interest that would compel her former student to send her a letter. The letter was of particular interest. But not the good kind.

Dear Princess Celestia,

It has come to my attention to inform you of recent events here in Ponyville. I, as well as those connected to the Elements of Harmony, have felt a powerful energy rush at the same, exact moment in time, and it was only us who felt it. Rainbow Dash informed me that a bright flash appeared in the Everfree Forest prior to the energy rush. This brings me to the conclusion that this was of magical means. We came to the Everfree Forest to investigate the source of energy before we found it, however, we were confused at the sight. We found three beings in a clearing, whom we believed were dead. We turned to leave and inform you of this, before one of the beings moved. It was different from the other two, as it was shorter and of a different color. However, the most surprising thing I have found was that this being was sentient. It was perfectly capable of speaking fluent Equestrian, despite the fact that this creature has never before been recorded in history. It was composed of what looks like metal, which leads to the theory it is some sort of machine. However, this is not the reason why I'm writing to you. While it was sentient, we have evidence that it might be insane, as it began yelling and kicking at the corpses of the other two. This might seem like an act of fear, but it was clearly aggressive at the corpses, yelling insults and vulgar language at them. We decided to leave it alone, until we saw what it was capable of. A pack of Timberwolves attacked it soon after, but they were quickly dispatched in a horrific way. The being moved with incredible speed and strength. It pulverized the first Timberwolf, before snapping the necks of the other two. The being was what I believe, giggling at the last two Timberwolves before it proceeded to kill them. That's not all. The being gathered the remains of the Timberwolves and gathered them all to one pile before it dumped the corpses of the other two beings with it. It then proceeded to set them on fire. And the whole time the fire burned, the being just stared at it. We left immediately and sent this letter to you, in hopes of advice, and, if necessary, help, if the being decides to wander and unleash its wrath on Ponyville.

Your loyal friend,
Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Celestia read the letter very carefully before putting it down, simplifying what she had read in her head.

"A fully sentient metal being, both powerful and insane, is running around in Equestria, with possibly nopony to stop it." she thought.

Seems like it going to be one of those days again.

As she continued to ponder at her former student's predicament, Princess Luna, her sister, walked into the room.

"Sister. Art thou ready?" she asked.

Celestia looked at her with a raised eyebrow before replying.

"You're slipping again."

Luna did not understand, before she realized what she just said. Flustered, she covered her mouth with her hoof, going through different shades of red.

"S-sorry Tia. I kind of forgot for a moment that we don't talk like that anymore." Luna stuttered, embarrassed at herself.

Celestia chuckled at the sight. It was nice to poke some fun at your siblings from time to time.

"Don't worry, its alright. By the looks of though, your conversation lessons are going great! However, I'm sure you have some important business to do other than to chat."

This time, it was Luna's turn to raise an eyebrow. Had she seriously forgotten it was time for her to lower the sun?

"Tia, did you seriously forget it?"

"Forget what? I'm sure I've finished all my jobs today..." Celestia put a hoof to her chin, deep in thought.

Luna's jaw dropped. Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria, raiser of the sun, had forgotten one job; possibly her most important.

The sun.

"Hello? Celestia? Raiser of the sun? Whose job is to raise AND lower the sun?"

"Raise and lower, raise and lower... oh! The sun!" Celestia exclaimed, the thought returning to her.

"Looks like we have a winner..." Luna thought, as she and her sister walked towards the balcony. Together, they stared out into the horizon. Focusing on their magic, Celestia used hers to dip the sun into the horizon, whereas Luna used hers to raise the moon, reigning in the night.

Several minutes of strenuous magic using had passed. Together, they returned to Celestia's room tired; Celestia even more so than her sister.

"Tia, what's wrong?"

Celestia looked over to Luna. She had a worried expression on her face.

"What do you mean what's wrong?" she asked.

"Tia, you almost forgot to lower the sun. Something must be wrong if its enough to distract you from lowering the sun." she elaborated.

Celestia continued to stare at her, before bowing her head and sighing.

"Yes, something has come up. Twilight sent me a letter today."

Luna's expression brightened.

"Twilight? We haven't heard from her in ages! What did she say in the letter?" she asked in a foal-like manner.

Celestia grinned. That's what she thought as well. She looked at her sister before returning to her stoic expression.

"It said that she and her friends felt a rush of energy and discovered it was by magical means. They located the source of the energy, and they found a sentient being made of metal."

Luna looked confused.

"A sentient being made of metal? I have never seen a living thing composed out of metal entirely. That is of course, if I haven't read about it yet..." she pondered.

"Don't worry." Celestia assured. "There has never been a living being made entirely out of metal ever recorded in history."

Luna seemed even more confused now "Does that mean... it could be a new species?"

Celestia nodded her head. "However, that is not all. Twilight reported that it was powerful in strength and speed. It was able dispatch a pack of Timberwolves without a scratch."

Luna was still baffled. "Alright, so Twilight Sparkle and her friends discovered a new species. I still do not see what's so wrong that you need to worry about it."

Celestia shook her head. "Well... Twilight did say that the being may be... a little bit... insane."

Luna shot her a questioning look. "Insane? Like, how insane?

"How does "kicking corpses and yelling insults at them, giggling while snapping Timberwolf neck and burning them all in the end." sound to you?"

"Yeesh." she cringed. Whatever happened, it must've not been a pretty sight.

While Luna continued to think, Celestia made a walk towards the door.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Celestia groaned before turning to her younger sister.

"Luna, this is an important matter. The creature seems dangerous. I'm going to Ponyville and ask Twilight to lead me to it. From there, I'll decide what to do."

Luna looked at her sternly.

"Tia, you're tired. You just returned from your business trip from the Griffon Kingdoms and you just lowered the sun. You're going to exhaust yourself at this point. Besides, its not like we haven't handled dangerous being before."

Celestia wanted to retort, but she was interrupted immediately by Luna.

"Do not fret, sister. I'm more than capable of handling the situation!" Luna stated with confidence, puffing out her chest and standing straighter.

Celestia looked at her incredulously, as if to ask if she was serious.

"What? You doubt me?" Luna deflated, obviously put off by Celestia's lack of confidence in her.

Celestia began shaking her head sideways vigorously, a desperate attempt to keep her sister from feeling depressed.

Luna beamed at her signal. "Does that mean I can go?"

Celestia began to shake her head again, but was cut off by Luna's reaction.

"Tia, I can handle myself. I'm younger than you, but I'm not a filly anymore. Whatever this creature is, I can handle it. I promise. Besides, I need to get out more. I can't just stay in here until Nightmare Night now, can I?"

Celestia continued to give the "are you serious?" look. However, in many ways; she was right. While she was younger, she was by no means defenseless. She could handle herself very well should the need arise. And, in truth; she really was exhausted. She gave Luna one last look before sighing.

"Alright Luna, you can go. I trust you that you can handle the situation"

She could tell Luna was overjoyed, but she somehow managed to keep a straight face.

"Thank you." she said, albeit a little too quickly; her excitement clearly showing.

Luna darted past her sister, giving Celestia no time to speak her mind. She felt like she needed to go after her, but she simply felt too tired. Maybe she was right after all. Using the last of her energy, she walked to her bed and unceremoniously plopped down on it; drifting off into a peaceful slumber...

... that was rudely interrupted by a returning Luna.

"Oh, and by the looks of it Tia, you need to get out more as well. All that cake goes straight to your hips, you know."

Celestia gasped at her sister's implications. She was going to give her a piece of her mind, if she hadn't gone already.

"LUNA!!!"

Princess Luna snickered, giggling as she walked down the hallways of the castle.

It really was nice to poke some fun at your siblings from time to time.

"Wait a second. So you're telling me, a weird metal guy that you thought was dead, got up, yelled at a couple of dead purple guys that you think it killed, killed a pack of Timberwolves, and then it burnt them all together in a raging inferno for no particular reason?" Spike questioned.

"Yeah it did! I swear, it was giggling while it killed them!" Rainbow Dash answered.

Spike cringed at the newly-formed image in his head.

"Gee, and I thought I've seen crazy when Twilight's friendship report was going to be late."

"Hey!" Twilight retorted. "It wasn't that bad!"

Spike shot her a disbelieving look.

"It wasn't that bad? It wasn't that bad!? Twilight, you enchanted your doll so that everypony in town would fall in love with it!"

Twilight shuddered at the thought.

"Alright, I did go overboard on that one."

Spike smirked and crossed his arms in victory. This lasted for a second however, as he had another question in mind.

"Alright, so the thing's insane. What's the big deal? We could always leave it alone." he suggested.

"We can't, Spike. What if it comes here? Whatever that thing was, it's dangerous. It killed the Timberwolves without a scratch with its... erm... thingies!" Applejack exclaimed.

Spike was unamused of Applejack's lack of a better term.

"Thingies? Don't you think you could be a little bit more... I don't know... exact?"

Applejack rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Well Spike, ah don't really know what he had. It kinda looked a hoof, I think, but it had five pointy things stickin' outta it. Sorta like your claw there." She said, pointing at Spike's claw.

"Five pointy things... wait a second. Was it walking on twos by any chance?" he questioned.

"It did, actually. How did you know that Spike?" Rarity asked.

Spike continued to wander in his thoughts before turning towards Twilight.

"Twilight, by any chance do you think it was human? By the way you guys talked about it, it kind of sounds like one."

"Human? You mean those people you met back at the portal?" Rarity guessed.

Twilight shook her head. "I'm very sure it wasn't a human Rarity. It was too fast and strong. It didn't look like a human either."

Pinkie Pie, listening in on the conversation, popped in front of Twilight, waving her tail in front of her face.

"Hey Twilight, look! My tail's a twitchin'! My tail's twitchin'!" Pinkie stated excitedly.

"Twitchy tail? EVERYPONY, DUCK FOR COVER!" Spike shouted.

Everypony in the library, having accustomed to the Pinkie sense, ducked under the nearest furniture they could find. They waited something to fall, but they only heard the sound of something outside the library. Nothing happened next, until the door opened, revealing Princess Luna and two bat-ponies, presumably her guards.

"Hello? Anypony home?" she asked no one in particular.

One by one, the Main Six, including Spike, moved out of cover and bowed their heads in front of her.

"Welcome Princess Luna, its a pleasure to meet you here." Twilight said as she rose.

Luna smiled. "Likewise, Princess Twilight Sparkle." she looked at the others, still bowing their heads.

"Rise, my little ponies. I apologize, Princess Celestia is currently unavailable at the moment. I'm here because she received a letter regarding an unknown being." She turned her head towards Twilight. "Is that correct?"

Twilight nodded. "Yes. We found an unknown being that is sentient and powerful, yet insane. We ask for your advice, as it can pose a danger to Ponyville."

Luna pondered about what to do. If she was to determine if this being was to truly pose a threat, she needed to assess it herself.

"Alright. Twilight, I need you and your friends to lead me where you last saw this creature. From there, I shall decide what to do."

She looked over the six ponies. Twilight and Applejack kept a stoic expression. Rainbow Dash was trying to suppress a growl. Pinkie still had her happy expression, saying something along the lines of "better bring the Party Cannon..." and Fluttershy visibly shuddered.

"Will she be alright?" Luna asked, looking at Fluttershy.

"She's fine, princess. It's just that when we saw the thing firsthand, it sorta... left an impression on little ol' Flutters here." Rainbow answered.

Luna raised an eyebrow before looking at Fluttershy again. "I see..."

"This thing must be extremely dangerous if it was able to shake these ponies."

She remained skeptical of bringing her with them, before making up her mind.

"Well, everything seems to be in order. Twilight, lead the way please."

Twilight nodded her head. "Yes princess."

Everpony walked out the door. Spike moved to follow them, before he was stopped by Rarity.

"Spike, you cannot possibly consider joining us. It's too dangerous."

"What?! Then who's going to protect you then?" Spike whined.

Rarity chuckled at his innocence. Seriously, times like these just make him so adorable.

"Don't worry Spikey-wikey, we can handle ourselves. Besides, I have an important job for you!" she exclaimed.

"Really Rarity? What is it?" Spike wanted to know. Anything for somepony as beautiful as her.

"I need you to warn everypony when the creature decides to come to Ponyville. You can do that Spike, can you?" she questioned.

Spike stood straighter and saluted. "Yes ma'am!"

And with that statement, she began to join the others; ready for their journey through the Everfree once more.

The forest was quiet. Eerily quiet; save for the odd chirp of a cricket or the hoot of an owl. Anypony in their right minds wouldn't dare to go into the forest; especially in the night, when the forest becomes dark. It's as if the forest had any light anyway, even in the day. Yes, everything was quiet. But if you listen very, very carefully, you could hear a faint voice, echoing in the distance.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is SPARTAN-A239 of Noble Team requesting immediate evac. Prioritization code sigma zero two dash seven dash echo alpha two three nine."

"This is getting annoying." Emile thought. He had been here for hours now, sitting in the Pelican on his own. The first few hours had been bearable, with him cleaning out and inspecting every single weapon inside.

Then he continued to look for anything of interest. He found the survival kit, MRE's, health packs and even some armor abilities. Upon seeing them, Emile immediately took the nearest Armor Lock. He tested all of them out, until he eventually grew bored and decided to camp out in the Pelican. He stayed in there since, twiddling his thumbs and listening to his distress call play out over and over again.

He looked out the window, and sure enough the fire he had started outside had shrunk into embers, barely letting out any light. The Elites were hardly recognizable; you could still see some purple, but their bodies were mostly charred to a black lump.

Emile grimaced at the sight; not because he hadn't seen sights like this before, but because of the presence of purple. Fighting the Covenant led him to a growing distaste of the color; one of the rare things he had in common with a certain heavy weapons specialist.

Upon reminiscing a deceased member, his thoughts wandered towards Reach. What happened after he died? Did the Pillar of Autumn escape? And what about Six?

Theories and thoughts continued to swirl in his head, until two possibilities became present. One: Noble Six will join Captain Keyes aboard the ship and attempt to make their escape. Highly unlikely, given the fact that they have a Covenant CCS-class battlecruiser on their tail. So, this leads to a second, more likely possibility. Noble Six will take his place on the gun emplacement, ensuring the Pillar of Autumn's safety.

Knowing Six, he'd probably pick the second option and stay behind. But that means he's going to die too.

Emile frowned. Then he smiled. While Six's report was covered in black ink, not all of it was covered. According to the file, Six was more of a hyper-lethal vector than a soldier; he's made entire militia groups disappear. If Emile knew one thing, it's that Six is going to be one hell of a pain in the arse for the Covenant before he's going down anytime soon.

He continued to think, before his gut-feeling went at it again. Emile came to trust this feeling; it's helped him out of sticky situations before. He slowed his breathing; using his senses to tell him if anything, if at all, was amiss.

His ears picked up something faint. There were voices, and by the sounds of it they were at the edge of the clearing. They weren't even trying to be quiet.

"Civilians? Maybe they can tell me where I am!" Emile thought. He looked out the window, zoomed in at the source of the sound with his visor and activated his night vision.

He was given the most bizarre sight of his entire life.

From what he could see, there were nine creatures that resembled technicolor horses. There was a white one with a curly purple mane; a horn on her head as well. There were four with wings; although there were two with armor and leathery wings, like a bat's. There were another two with both a wing and a horn; the navy blue one however is taller than the rest; it was almost six feet tall, including her horn. Then there were the last two. They had no special appendages on them, but they certainly were unique; especially the pink one. It was constantly bouncing along with the others.

This may have been a weird sight for the SPARTAN, but that isn't what got his attention.

What got his attention was that they were talking.

In perfect, fluent English.

Emile racked his brain for an explanation. Was he in an alien world? Was this a dream? A nightmare? So many questions and not enough answers.

All this thinking was becoming unhealthy for Emile; this type of stuff was more of Kat's specialty. Nonetheless, he had only one, rational explanation for this.

He must have overdosed on the combat stims again.

His thoughts were interrupted by a collective gasp. He looked out the window again, this time he saw the group shocked to find his little campfire; the yellow one with wings looked like it was close to crying on the spot.

Out of nowhere, the pink one was somehow in a fireman uniform. It approached the fire with a little bounce in its step, pulled a fire extinguisher out of its hair, and sprayed the pile with a white foam.

"All done!" it exclaimed with a squeaky, feminine voice.

"What the fuck is going on..." Emile thought. He was going to have an aneurysm at this point.

The tall, blue one however, turned stern. It walked up to the center of the clearing, and took a deep breathe.

"MONSTER OF THE EVERFREE FOREST. COME OUT THIS INSTANT AND SHOW YOURSELF!"

"Jesus Christ, that thing is fucking loud!" he cringed.

"I SHALL REPEAT. COME OUT THIS INSTANT!"

"Alright, alright! Jesus, that thing's going to burst my ears!"

He grabbed a M45 Tactical Shotgun E-model and a M6G PDWS; placing them on his back and his hip respectively. He pulled out his knife, checking it if it was in tip top condition before re-sheathing it in its rightful place. He pressed a button on the control panel; the back compartment slowly opening. He positioned himself in front of the mechanical door, steeling himself for what was about to come.

He was ready for anything.

Meet The SPARTAN - Part Two

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Twilight Sparkle was not happy.

She, along with her friends, Princess Luna and her bat-pony guards have been trudging along the Everfree Forest, again - with the exception of the Princess and her guards. While Twilight was with no doubt perplexed about the creature, she would have very much preferred if she had the ability to study it from a distance; away from her or anypony else to be exact.

"Ughh... are we there yet?" Rarity complained for the umpteenth time. "My precious hooves can't take much more of this icky muck."

Twilight groaned inwardly. Being stuck in Rainbow Dash's earlier position, Twilight herself had to suppress an urge to tell her to shut it.

"Don't worry Rarity, we're almost there!" Twilight assured. "I hope..."

With the night reigned in, the forest was darker and creepier than usual. It was placing a heavy toll on the others' nerves; with the exception of Pinkie Pie, Princess Luna and her guards. The latter ponies, well, they're basically the embodiment of anything night-related. It was no surprise they weren't bothered.

Meanwhile, Pinkie was being Pinkie; bouncing along, giggling and pointing at anything that was remotely funny.

"Hey look at that tree! It looks weird; hunched over like that. Wait a minute, why are all trees in the Everfree Forest like these? Are these trees playing copycat? Oh! Maybe they're all brothers and sisters playing together and this whole forest is a family and maybe they had a meanie brother who was crooked and stuff and every tree else ju-"

Pinkie never got to finish her ramble. She was too preoccupied on the overgrowth to realize that Princess Luna was right in front of her. Pinkie bumped into her, promptly stopping her in her tracks.

"Heya Princess! Watcha standing around for?"

"Shh." Luna shushed.

"Whatever is the matter, Princess?" Rarity asked.

"SHH." Luna shushed again; more forcefully this time. "Listen."

Everypony held their breath; listening very carefully of their surroundings. All they could hear was their own heartbeats and the natural fauna. Crickets were chirping, owls were hooting, someone was saying Mayday, wolves were ho-

"Mayday?"

The group stayed completely silent; straining themselves to hear the mysterious voice.

"Mayday... Mayday... SPARTAN-A239... Noble Team... evac... Prioritization... sigma... echo... three"

"Is that the creature you speak of?" Luna asked.

Twilight nodded in confirmation. "That's it alright, but something's off. Why does it keep repeating that?"

Everypony in the group strained to gather a theory, but Pinkie bet them to the punch.

"Maybe it's some sort of of mind control spell! EVERYPONY HIDE!" Pinkie gasped. She grabbed a cardboard box out of nowhere and stuffed herself inside; yelling at the others to do the same.

Twilight rolled her eyes at the scene in front of her. Pinkie can be so random when she wants to be.

"It's not a mind control spell Pinkie. Whatever it is, we're getting closer to it."

Twilight looked over to the Princess, who nodded her head in confirmation. They continued to trek the forest whilst talking among themselves; trying to make the best of the situation at hand.

It felt like hours had passed, but they have finally reached the same clearing they had encountered the creature. However, said creature was nowhere in sight.

"What's that smell?" Luna asked, sniffing the air. "It's like something's..."

"...b-burnt?" Fluttershy answered.

"Why, yes Fluttershy. How did you..." Luna trailed off. She turned to the direction Fluttershy was facing and immediately her jaw went slack, a horrifying sight entering her eyes.

Meters away from them was what looks like a small campfire, but upon closer inspection they could see two bodies burnt along with it. The bodies were reduced to a charred, black lump with spots of purple; hinting its original form. The group gasped and instinctively moved away; resisting the urge to vomit at the sick image. Even Luna's bodyguards - ponies who remain stoic all the time - flinched at the scene. The only one who seemed unaffected was Pinkie Pie. Optimistic as ever, she had somehow turned up in a fire brigade uniform. She grabbed a fire extinguisher out of her hair - the logic behind that still eludes Luna - and proceeded to spray the fire with the white foam, effectively putting it out.

"All done!" Pinkie squeaked, standing straight while doing a salute.

That seemed to remedy the tension. Pinkie's distraction from the image was working; everypony began to relax. However, Princess Luna was still tense. Her facial expression turned stern; the possibilities of this creature running around unopposed was a terrifying thought. Whatever it was, she needed to stop it, now. She walked to the center of the clearing. From there, she took a deep breathe.

She wondered how she herself hadn't gone deaf after using the Royal Canterlot Voice for so long.

"MONSTER OF THE EVERFREE FOREST. COME OUT THIS INSTANT AND SHOW YOURSELF!"

...

"I SHALL REPEAT. COME OUT THIS INSTANT!"

This time, Applejack opted to yell out to Luna.

"Princess! I don't wanna be rude or anythin', but ah don't think it's here. Maybe we can try again tomorrow?"

Luna weighed her options. The creature must have surely left by now. All she had were the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony; who did not have their Elements, two of her personal guards and herself to handle it. On the the other hand, they can come back with reinforcements in the morning; the Royal Guard can help sweep the forest for any sign of the being.

She decided that the second option was probably for the best. While she was a powerful alicorn, it was better to be safe than sorry. She turned to the group, ready to head home.

Whiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrr

The ponies snapped to attention and turned towards the source of the noise. They could see two large metal objects at the other side, but they could not get a clear sight; the shadows of the trees obscuring their view. The whirring continued to drone out of the larger object before coming to an abrupt stop.

There was a moment of silence. Luna and the others seemed confused. What was that whirring noise about?

Clang

Thud

Out of the large object, a figure jumped out and crouched over, staying in that position for a moment. Slowly, it stood up and angled its head towards the group; bringing a chill to their spines.

Thud

It walked towards Luna, time seemingly slowing down as its footsteps made a distinct thud on the grassy ground. Fluttershy cowered behind Rainbow Dash, who was gritting her teeth. Pinkie was somewhere in the background, watching the scene play out whilst eating popcorn. Luna and Twilight readied their magic, should things make a turn for the worst.

The figure continued to walk towards them until it was at the edge of the shadows of the trees. It seemed hesitant at first to show itself, but it proceeded to step out of the shadows; the moonlight illuminating the figure.

Luna was interested of this creature and took note of its features. It was taller than her; at least nine to ten inches taller. Twilight was right, it was completely covered in metal from head to toe. There were two items attached to it back and its hip, their purpose was unclear to her. What interested her, however, was its face. It was made of glass, but there was a carving of a skull etched to it.

The creature did not move or make a sound. It just stood there, staring at the group. The silence began to be unnerving; the only noise present was Pinkie eating the popcorn at a much faster rate.

The creature looked at Pinkie with interest, before turning towards Luna again. This time, Luna snapped out of her stupor and introduced herself.

"I am Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria and Princess of the Night. State your name and business." she commanded.

The creature did not answer. Luna questioned whether it could understand her, before it answered in a voice she presumed was male.

"Designation: SPARTAN-A239."

Luna was perturbed. What kind of name was that?

"What is you business here?" she ordered.

It didn't answer. Luna huffed in annoyance.

"Very well. Under my command, you will be placed in custody and you are to be taken to Canterlot for questioning."

"Not a chance." it barked.

Luna remained unfazed at the tone of its voice.

"Whatever you are, you are considered a threat to this nation and its inhabitants." She readied her magic, her horn glowing with a blue aura. "We can do this peacefully and avoid any unnecessary violence, or we can do this your way."

The creature continued to stare at her; silence reigning once again. Luna prayed this didn't have to end horribly.

"You think that I will just take orders from someone like you?" it replied with a hostile attitude. It glared daggers at Luna, almost as if it was scrutinizing her very presence. Luna retaliated by glaring back.

The two went at this for a while, facing each other with looks that could kill. Then, the creature lowered and shook its head, sighing while doing so; as if it was disappointed in something.

"Well then, Princess." It said in a mocking tone. "I've made my decision."

It firmly planted its feet to the ground, crossing its arms.

"I'm. Staying."

Luna sighed. That's how it going to be then.

"Very well, creature. Guards, take it into custody."

Luna's guards approached the creature with caution, sizing up their target.

The creature snapped to attention. It grabbed the object from its hip, threateningly aiming it at the group of ponies.

Twilight instantly reacted. Using her magic, she grabbed the object and flung it away, far from its reach.

Capitalizing the creature's apparent confusion, the guards charged; intent on subduing this thing.

Like the wolves before them, they underestimated the creature's capabilities. The first bat-pony attempted to buck the creature, but his hooves only connected with the air. The creature backpedaled, leaving the pony's midsection exposed. Taking advantage, it brought its foot to the guard's chest. A wet snap was heard, the guard sent literally flying a few meters.

The other guard tried an even more daring approach; he was going to charge at it headfirst. The creature rewarded his bravery with a backhand to the muzzle.

Upon seeing her personal guard knocked out of action so quickly, Luna began to charge her magic; the energy building up in her horn. A blue ball of energy had materialized, slowly getting bigger and bigger every second.

"Do not make me do this! Surrender now!"

The creature ignored her warning and made a beeline for her; intent in doing her harm.

Luna did not give this reaction a second thought. Using all the strength and willpower she could muster, she aimed the her horn at it and fired the bolt of energy. The last thing Luna saw was the creature crouching over and slamming the ground. As if that was going to save it from the attack.

The bolt hit its target dead on. The resulting blast knocked everypony off their hooves. Luna caught the worst of it, being so close to the blast.

As the ringing in everypony's ears began to subside, Twilight walked up to Luna; bewildered at the show of power.

"Princess! *cough* What was that? I've never seen a *cough* spell like that before!" she exclaimed.

Luna had doubled over, visibly panting. Whatever the spell was, it took all of her willpower to create.

"That was my most powerful spell, Twilight." Luna had recomposed herself; her breathing returned to normal.

Twilight looked over to where the creature stood, only to find clouds of dust blocking her view.

"What happened to it?" she asked.

Luna hung her head and sighed, somewhat saddened of what she was forced to do. She turned to Twilight, frowning.

"I didn't want to do what I did, but the creature left me with no choice." she said. "It's gone now. Nothing could survive a blast of that magnitude."

"A BIT TOO EARLY FOR THAT, DON'TCHA THINK?!"

Luna froze. No, it wasn't possible.

She turned to the source of the voice. As the dust began to settle, she saw the creature in a crouching position, covered in a blue light. It stood up, unscathed and as menacing as ever. A yellow light began to engulf the creature, but it flickered on and off like a faulty light bulb. The creature seemed perturbed by this, muttering something along the lines of "what the hell is wrong with my shields...".

With timing that couldn't have been any more perfect, Pinkie Pie materialized behind the creature; a remote control with a big red button in her hooves.

"GOGOGADGETPARTYCANNON!" she blurted in one breathe.

Slamming her hoof on the button, the remote control transformed into her signature party cannon in the blink of an eye. Aiming it at the creature, Pinkie pulled the rope, spewing confetti and streamers at the metal being.

The creature was hopelessly confused by now. It gawked at the pink paper that covered its body, as if it could not truly believe that just happened. Time seemed to slow down for Luna as she assessed the situation. Attempting both a mind-reading spell and a sleep spell was a very risky move, both spells only working on living things. If the creature truly was a machine, this could end very badly for her. There was only one way to find out.

Exploiting this window of opportunity, Luna teleported right in front of the creature. It was too preoccupied at the situation at hand to even notice.

"Moment of truth, Luna"

She tapped its head with her horn, her consciousness entering the creature's mind.

Time to see what's in store.

Twilight watched with fascination at the scene. After sending Applejack and Pinkie Pie to carry Luna's unconscious guards to the hospital, she began to observe the two. Princess Luna and the creature looked like they were in a trance; neither were responding to any outside stimuli.

Rainbow Dash -who was controlling her anger the entire time - decided that now was the best time to vent her anger towards the metal being. It was nice to know that on that night, Twilight had learned at least seven new and colorful words; courtesy of yours truly.

"You ain't going anywhere near my friends, you hear me?! I'll turn you into MINCEMEAT!"

"Rainbow, please calm down. You're going to pop a vein if you keep this up." Rarity pleaded. It took the combined efforts of her and Fluttershy to hold her back, preventing any further harm that could happen.

"As if Rainbow could do any harm to it." Twilight thought. "It shrugged off Luna's attack like it was nothing."

Twilight wondered how it was able to come out unscathed. Alicorn magic was very powerful; the creature must've had something of equal or greater power to be able to defend itself from magic as powerful as hers.

She walked towards the object she had separated from the creature. It was vaguely L-shaped; also made of metal. There was what looks like a trigger mechanism on its underside and a hole on one end. She remembered how the creature threateningly aimed it at them. It was probably the best to leave it for now.

Twilight heard a sudden wheeze behind her. Turning a full one hundred and eighty degrees, she saw the Princess had collapsed; looking worse for wear after the excessive use of magic. The same had happened to the creature.

Everypony immediately rushed towards Luna, worrying for her health. Luckily, she didn't have any injuries; she was just exhausted beyond belief. She stood up; albeit groggily, and exhaled.

"Are you okay Princess?" Fluttershy asked, worried sick for the princess. "You look awfully tired."

Luna turned to her and smiled.

"I'm fine, Fluttershy. Thank you for your concern."

"Princess, what happened?" Twilight quizzed. "You were sort of staring out into space for a while"

"Do not fret, Twilight. I simply used a mind-reading spell on him." she answered.

"Him?" Rarity inquired. "Are you referring to the creature?"

"Yes. I went into the recesses of his mind to read his intentions, but he was actively blocking me out while I was trying to access his mind. I could only catch glimpses of information." she recounted. "Don't worry. I put a sleep spell on him before I left his consciousness. He won't be waking up anytime soon."

The group of ponies looked at this him. He was sprawled on the ground, lying face up; the only sign of life was the rise and fall of his chest.

"What do we do with him, Princess?" Fluttershy questioned. "We can't just leave him here."

"We need to bring him in to Canterlot. From there, my sister and I can decide his fate."

Using the last of her magic, Luna created a translucent blue sphere around the sleeping figure; effectively trapping it inside. Before doing so, Luna detached the other item strapped to his back and his knife, placing them in a separate sphere. She strained at the simple use of magic, exhaustion quickly catching up to her. She stumbled a bit after finishing before quickly recomposing herself.

"Let's go, my little ponies. We all deserve some rest after tonight."

Luna levitated both spheres, having it both follow her as she and the rest made their way back to Twilight's treehouse.

A pair of eyes followed the group, its red eyes the stalking their every move. The manticore had followed them ever since they stepped a hoof in its territory, intent in killing them for trespassing and disturbing its sleep. This was, of course; before recent events have transpired. After the show of power from both the tall, blue one and that thing, going after them was a decision only a fool would make. As soon as the group left, the manticore opted to return to its slumber.

Manticores are proficient hunters; their sense of smell, hearing and sight run unparalleled; making them the most vicious and efficient predators of the Everfree Forest. Nothing could get past the beast without alerting its many senses.

Yet the manticore was unaware of one thing. It didn't sense it or even feel like something was wrong. It was a mystery how this abnormality had gone unnoticed by such an excellent hunter of the wild, but you couldn't blame it. After all, who ever pays attention to their own shadow?

Emile is Not Happy

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"Thank you so much for coming at such short notice, Cadence."

Celestia approached Cadence, the ruler of the Crystal Empire. She was still groggy from just waking up and raising the sun, but there are more important matters that needed to be tended. One that concerns a certain metal being. They both bowed their heads to each other in respect before hugging each other; ceasing formalities.

"Don't worry, Celestia. I'm sure my husband can take care things on his own while I'm gone." she assured as they both let go of each other. But then again, he did set the pool on fire while she was gone. It still boggled Cadence how such a disaster had occurred, the only explanation Shining could give at the time was "it's a long story". She inwardly snickered at the face he made whilst trying to explain himself to an angry Cadence. If only she took a photo.

Together, they walked towards the throne room. This is where the matter of the creature shall be discussed.

"Well, Cadence. I'm sure you have been brought up to date of recent news with my Royal Guard. Are you nervous?"

Cadence smiled at Celestia. Her adoptive aunt could be worrisome at times.

"I'm fine, Celestia. Actually, I'm a tad excited to meet it. It's not everyday you meet a possible new species; especially if it's sentient."

"Remember Cadence, this thing is also very powerful in its own right. We need to make sure it isn't some sort of power-hungry maniac dead set on overthrowing Equestria into... whatever it is power-hungry maniacs do." she stated, finishing the last part of her sentence quickly.

"Celestia, don't you think that's a bit unfair?"

Celestia sighed. She guessed from everpony else's perspective, she's biased in the decision of this creature's fate.

"I know, I know. But the thing is we don't want another incident where we have to deal with life-threatening problem and have it fixed at the last minute. This is just a precaution, don't worry. I'm sure we can clear everything up." she reassured.

Cadence seemed satisfied with her answer. However, she was still uncertain of one thing.

"I still don't understand why I'm needed here. By the sounds of it, you've got it in the bag."

"I need you here because I am afraid my biased views of this creature will hinder my ability to pass a just decision. My sister and I need a third party in this."

They had reached the throne room. The guards stationed at the bottom of her throne stood straighter; their expressions as stoic as always. They saluted as Celestia and Cadence passed them towards the thrones allocated for Celestia and Luna.

"Also, I need you to read its emotions. Knowing what it feels may help us get some insight of its intentions." she added. "I take it you are still able to read the emotions of others?"

"Of course. While finding love and helping others find theirs is my specialty, I am still able to read other emotions. Besides, its not that hard really. Don't worry, I won't let you down."

Celestia smiled at her reassurance. They sat together, idly chatting about recent fashions, gossip, the likes. They waited patiently for Luna to arrive, but she began to run late. Celestia began to worry before she heard very faint voices, past the doors to the throne room. Both Celestia and Cadence strained themselves to hear the commotion outside.

"Hey! That sounds like Luna!" Cadence exclaimed. "Who's she talking to?"

By the sounds of it, Luna and presumably an unknown male were having a pleasant conversation from the far end of the corridor leading to the throne room.

"When I get out of this bubble, I'll fucking rip you in half, you hear me?!"

"For the love of Celestia, will you please shut up!"

"Well I'm sorry to rain on your royal parade, Princess Mooncheeks, but not everyone likes having someone poking around in their fucking head!"

Alright then, maybe these two were having a somewhat hostile conversation.

"Let me out you stupid bitch, LET ME OUT!"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?! YOU'RE GETTING ON MY NERVES!"

"GOOD!"

Scratch that, calling this a conversation was a gross understatement.

Celestia and Cadence continued to listen to the two bicker; unsure of what to do. As the argument went on, both princesses were dumbfounded at the amount of vulgar language the male voice was able to fit in one sentence. They were equally dumbfounded when they heard Luna's voice retaliate with her own vocabulary; losing her regal tone in the process. Celestia took a look at her guards. They stood as still as statues, but the small tinge of pink on their faces gave away their flustered expressions. Sure, their drill instructor would yell obscenities at them from time to time, but this is a whole new level of angry.

The yelling came to an abrupt stop just outside the doors. Slowly it opened, revealing an exhausted Luna. Celestia and Cadence rushed to her.

"Oh my. Auntie, are you okay?" Cadence asked. "You look awful."

"Thanks, Cadence." Luna answered sarcastically. "I'm fine, just tired, that is all."

She turned her head towards the levitating blue sphere behind her, Celestia and Cadence following suit. They were surprised to see the bipedal being for the first time, but they decided it'll be best to leave their curiosity for later.

Luna exhaled, exhausted from the trip. She clearly needed some well-deserved rest, but her duty as a princess of the nation was her motivation to keep going. Together, all three princesses moved towards their respective thrones. There was a simple chair next to the thrones; serving as a temporary seating arrangement for Cadence. They all sat down, the blue sphere hovering in the middle of the room. The guards approached it with caution and stood next to it; preparing themselves should this creature have any funny business. Confident that they were in no danger, Celestia cleared her throat, ready to speak.

Judgement begins.

Emile was many things right now. Shocked, confused, groggy; these were his current feelings . Any reasonable person would have said feelings, considering they suddenly find themselves in a blue sphere floating above the ground that's following a pony princess after blacking out for no particular reason. However, one emotion ran amok in his head; controlling his actions and thoughts.

Anger.

Emile had never felt so angry in his life. During the fight, his world suddenly warped when that pony princess tapped her horn onto his head. He no longer was in the forest, but instead in a room. It's walls were a dull, metallic grey and it was filled with monitors as well as various buttons on a control panel. He had no idea why, but he knew exactly where he was, what kind of place this was and its purpose; despite having no memory of being in there. He just knew.

He was in his own head.

He approached the monitors, curious of what they showed. Each monitor was showing a camera feed of a single room. Each room was labeled with names such as Subconscious or Early Memory. There was even one labeled Imagination. It all felt surreal, yet strangely familiar; like this place was sitting in the back of his head the whole time.

He continued to monitor the cameras, taking note of the different rooms of his head.

Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!

A blaring siren rang; the room illuminated by an eerie red flashing light. Emile's attention was brought to a monitor with the intruder alert warning plastered on its screen. He watched the camera feed labeled Personal Life. He peered in closer; the only occupants in the room was a filing cabinet full of folders and a horse.

Wait a second.

She's in his Personal Life. His personal life. Personal Life

"Aw hell no!" he yelled. He can forgive being ordered around by a horse. He can forgive being attacked by said horse. He can forgive being shot with confetti. But this? This is uncalled for.

He had no prior experience of the control panel of the room, but somehow he knew what every single button's function was. Pushing these here and there, he managed to jettison the pony princess out the room and slammed the door shut. He rewarded himself with a smirk as he saw the confusion on her face at what just happened, but immediately dropped it when he saw her running down several hallways; each one leading towards a different room in the deep recesses of his mind. He mashed the buttons faster now, determined to keep her out. One by one, the doors were slammed shut just before she could enter, much to her dismay. It wasn't very long before all the doors were shut. He exhaled, knowing that the contents of his mind were safe.

"Would've done me some good to have a big red button that closes all doors."

A big red button poofed into existence, sitting squarely in the middle of the control panel along with the other buttons and keys. Written on it was PRESS TO CLOSE ALL DOORS in a thick text. Emile deadpanned the button's sudden existence.

"How did it- oh right, this is my head."

Emile looked at the camera feed once more, but was put off by what he saw. The camera feed showed the pony princess staring right at him, a smirk evident on her face. Strange, he should be the one smirking right now. Similar to her earlier attack; albeit scaled down, a blue aura surrounded her horn and shot it at the camera. The camera feed went dark.

"Hey! That's my camera you-"

He didn't even get to finish. The other camera feeds followed suit; blacking out like the first one. Emile conjured a computer in front of him and began to furiously type on it; a desperate attempt to bring the cameras back online, but to no avail. One by one, all the cameras blacked out and the room lost all power; leaving a very bewildered Emile alone in the dark.

Apparently, when the lights go out, so do you.

So yeah, that's the gist of it. He was stabbed at, died, transported to a different world inhabited by some really weird shit and had his mind read without his consent. Even worse, he fought a horse and lost. And to top it off, he was taken prisoner. By the same horse. Who also happened to be a princess of an entire nation of horses.

Jun would have a field day if he ever found out about this.

He'd just recently woken up from a dreamless sleep only to find himself trapped inside a blue bubble; following the pony princess closely behind. At first, punching through it seemed like a good idea, but he was only rewarded with sore knuckles for his efforts. With no weapons, no Noble Team to the rescue and no hope of escape, he chose the only option available.

Taunt the enemy.

Boy, was that princess pissed. It didn't even take long for him to get on her nerves. Both continued to bicker openly, earning horrified expressions from ponies around them. All the while, Emile took note of his surroundings. He was in some sort of castle similar to those back on Earth in medieval times. He was being led through a hallway; its walls adorned with stained glass windows. Each depicted a certain picture, but a recurring image for most of them were the same six technicolor ponies he saw the night before. His attention was still on the princess, intent of annoying her to death when they both came to an abrupt stop. In front of them was a large double door. All attention the princess payed to him vanished; instead taking a deep breathe and closing her eyes. Calming herself down, she opened the double doors, leading the two into a massive room. Emile took notice that there were two guards stationed here; both with horns on their heads. Behind them were two more ponies; both were similar to the pony princess. One was a head taller than him, with white fur and a constantly flowing mane. The other was a head shorter than him; the only difference this one had compared to the two was that her mane wasn't flowing. He presumed that from the features these two had, they were both females.

As the two rushed towards the pony that held him captive, Emile sat down and leaned back. He droned out their conversation, but he did notice the two turn their heads toward him. They nodded to each other before all three of them motioned towards their seats, the bubble following them before stopping in the middle of the room. The two guards moved to his sides; albeit hesitantly. All three sat down, the white one letting out an audible ahem before speaking.

"Greetings, creature. I am Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria and raiser of the sun."

"Raiser of the sun?"

"This is Princess Cadence, ruler of the Crystal Empire." She motioned her head towards the smaller one to her left. "I believe you have already met Princess Luna."

Emile could only grumble as a response. Yeah, they've been... acquainted.

"I'm sorry we have to meet at these circumstances, but lately we've had to deal with nationwide threats. Multiple times. In the past year." she added. "We're just making sure that our citizens will not be harmed. To start us off, what is your name?"

"Is that how its going to be?" he thought. There was no way he was going to tell them his entire life story. But then again, if he doesn't say anything, they'll probably throw him in the dungeon or something. So little options.

"Well, we're waiting." Luna said impatiently.

He had no choice but to tell the truth. It was either that or his head goes straight to the chopping block. Well, he assumed that would happen, given these ponies' level of technology and their attitude. His gung-ho style was probably going to land him into deeper trouble than he already is. So he chose the next best thing.

He'll play along, Noble Six style.

"My name is Emile-A239."

The two were amazed to hear him for the first time, but both were confused. What kind of a name was A239?

Tell us, Emile, what are your intentions?" Luna interrupted, a spiteful tone evident in her voice.

Emile was not very happy with that. He glared daggers at her, signalling he had not forgotten their latest scuffle. He turned towards the other two. This "Celestia" held a stoic gaze, but the pink one looked at him not with fear or with anger, but with curiosity. He tilted his head; weighing his options.

"My intentions are to leave this planet."

All three were visibly confused with his statement.

"Leave this planet? Why?" Celestia asked.

"I do not belong here."

"So you're saying you're an alien?" the pink one said in a questioning tone.

"Yes."

They lost him. This was just a multitude of information to handle. An alien? Really?

"Well, how did you get here then?"

"I died." Emile said flatly.

Alright, this is just getting downright ridiculous.

"Enough with the games! Tell us the truth or you shall suffer the consequences!" Luna bellowed.

If he wasn't wearing his helmet, Emile would have given her a bored expression. Since he was, he could only reply in a monotone voice.

"I am telling the truth. I received a fatal stab wound through the abdomen and bled out shortly after. I died, and the next thing I knew I woke up in the forest you found me in."

Celestia turned to Cadence, who only shook her head. His story was completely absurd, but by the way he says it sounded real enough. She only hoped that it wouldn't get more confusing the more questions she asks.

"What is your species called? We've never had your kind before."

There was a brief pause. Emile pondered whether to tell them the name of his species or not, but decided to just go with it. Besides, by the sounds of it, these ponies have never even heard of humans before. What could possibly go wrong?

"My species are called humans, otherwise scientifically known as Homo sapien.

"Humans?" Cadence thought. "Didn't Twilight meet them through the mirror?"

She turned her head towards Celestia. She motioned to have a discussion together. Getting the signal, Celestia addressed Emile.

"Very well. My associates and I will discuss the matter together." With her magic, she created a binding spell on Emile's hands and feet; similar to handcuffs. He tested their strength, only to find them extremely hard to break. Even his increased strength was unable to snap whatever was binding his hands and feet. Satisfied, she de-materialized the bubble he had resided in; ungraciously dropping him onto the ground. The guards were on him instantly, their magic ready to fire at a moment's notice. Emile stood up, only to find his movement restricted. The most he could do was walk slowly.

"Guards, take him to the holding cell."

Both unicorns ushered Emile forward; presumably towards the holding cells. They made their way past the doors, disappearing from sight as soon as the closed shut. The three princesses found themselves alone in the room; ready to begin their private discussion.

"I do not trust him, sister." Luna hissed.

Cadence looked over to her. Luna was visibly growling; obvious she no intention of believing his story. Celestia stayed still, deep in thought. She turned to Cadence.

"Cadence, what information did you get from this?"

Cadence paused. His story sounded absolutely ridiculous; only an over-imaginative madpony sitting behind a typewriter with nothing else better to do could conjure such nonsense. However, something at the back of her mind was tugging the other way; prompting her to take his side and believe it. A gut-feeling, if you would.

"As absurd as his story sounds, I think it's true."

"What!? How could you possibly believe such nonsense?" Luna retorted.

"Hear me out Auntie. I just, feel, like he's telling the truth. And the name of his species, too."

That statement perturbed Luna. What has that got to do with anything?

"He says that his species are called 'humans'. Didn't Twilight meet them during the mirror incident?"

Celestia replayed the events in her head. Sunset Shimmer stealing her crown. Twilight going after her. Yes, it was still fresh in her memory.

"Yes, Twilight has mentioned these humans. What of it?" Luna mentioned impatiently.

"Well, firstly, Twilight is the only pony who can verify that Emile is a human. Also, since she's met them before and has understood their behavior, she's our best bet in coaxing any more information out of him."

Luna opened her mouth to retort, but found herself speechless. Cadence was right, Twilight could probably find out more about this creature in a span of a few days than all three princesses could in weeks.

"It's decided then. We shall let Twilight Sparkle... study him." Celestia finished, pausing for a brief moment to find the right word to describe the situation.

"Sister, are you sure this is wise? I have seen and tested what he is capable of." she mentioned. "He is a threat, and he should be dealt with accordingly."

"Auntie, we cannot just go around and arrest anything that seems like a danger. We have to make sure it is a danger in the first place. He's cooperating now, and besides, if what he says is true, then we can help him leave. The sooner he's gone, the better, right?" Cadence replied cheerfully.

Luna again found herself losing a battle of logic. Sighing, she decided to go along with their plans.

"If you feel it is alright... then it is alright with me as well."

All three nodded in approval. However, there was still one matter that needed to be taken care of.

"Who's going to send him to her?"

Cadence stared out the window, the scenery changing ever so quickly in the train carriage she had resided in. It was her personal one; specifically tailored to suit her every need. Need a manicure? Two doors down where she was. Full blown massage? Just a door further than that. A Jacuzzi? Back of the train. All of this and more. It was flattering to see her subjects create such a thing.

Personally though, she preferred to just catch a normal train like everypony else. But to avoid hurting her subjects feelings, she decided it was best to just play along. She had, however, made plans to renovate the train to accommodate more purposeful things.

Sitting directly in front of her was Emile; once again trapped in a sphere. This time, however, it was colored pink. Emile's grumblings of the color could be heard from where she was.

"Honestly, they could've picked any color. Any color, and they chose pink." he grimaced. His newfound hate of the color emerged when he was reminiscing how exactly he had been dispatched in the forest.

"Pink"

That lunatic had somehow gotten behind him. She had even got past his motion sensors. And if things weren't confusing enough, she shot him. With confetti. And - surprise, surprise - it was also pink. Why is everything in this god-forsaken land pink?!

His grumblings eventually stopped; leaving an awkward silence between the two. They were the only ones in the train. Attempting to start a conversation, Cadence spoke up.

"Erm.. nice weather we're having, huh?" she mentally slapped herself. Could she sound any lamer?

"Too colorful."

Cadence was surprised to hear him reply to her awful conversation starter.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't quite catch that. What did you say again?"

"I said this place is too colorful."

What an... interesting way of describing Equestria. Cadence decided to press on.

"How are you holding up?"

"I got beaten up by a horse just hours after getting here. What do you think?"

"Alrighty then." she thought. Her mind wandered a bit before asking a question.

"You said you died before coming here. Could you elaborate?"

He did not answer. Cadence wasn't sure whether he heard her or not. She was going to ask again before he heard him sigh.

"I received a fatal stab wound through the abdomen by enemy forces. I dispatched them, but the damage was already done. I bled out slowly and blacked out. Then, I woke up here."

This was practically the same words he had used in the throne room. Still, the curiosity of Emile's origin would not leave.

"Where were you born?"

"Luxor, Eradinus II"

"Are humans always like you?"

"Some are like me, but most humans aren't."

"What's your job?"

This time, Emile barely stopped himself from answering. Cadence thought she had spoken about a touchy subject of his and decided to quickly move on.

"Well, what's your favorite thing to do?"

Again, Emile did not answer. Cadence was curious to why Emile refused to answer such questions. Maybe it was a touchy subject, or was he hiding something?

She had more questions to ask him, but screech of metal signaled they had reached their destination. The train conductor went in to address Cadence.

"Princess, we have arrived. Do you need any assistance?"

Cadence shook her head politely. Standing up, she walked out the door; Emile following closely behind in his large, floating pink bubble. He was initially worried that he had no way of fitting through the opening. As he neared the door, the bubble literally squeezed through it; leaving him claustrophobic as the walls of his pink prison suddenly contracted. As soon as the bubble squeezed through, it poomfed back into into its original shape. Emile touched its walls, confirming that they were solid once more.

All the while, Cadence stood by with interest. From what she saw, humans seem to have no prior experience or even contact with any form of magic. It bewildered her how he was able to stand hoof-to-hoof against Princess Luna without magic.

"Ahem"

He turned towards her. Once confident she had his attention, Cadence decided now was the best time to formally introduce him to their world.

"Welcome to Ponyville, home of Twilight Sparkle and the Elements of Harmony. Please follow me."

Emile slumped down in his pink prison. As if he had a choice.

Welcome to Ponyville - Part One

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"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"NO."

"Pretty please with a chimi-cherry-changa on top?"

"..."

"No."

Discord walked along the path with the energetic Pinkie Pie, contemplating how exactly he was roped into this situation. He wasn't exactly very grumpy of the situation, it's just that he had so many better things to do. Take his cotton candy clouds for example. Those poor things needed a chocolate refill. But alas, poor Discord had been coaxed by Fluttershy to spend some time with her friends. Get to know them, have some fun, all that jazz.

In all seriousness, he would've much preferred it if he was turned into stone again.

But, this was Fluttershy we were talking about here. Sweet, innocent and frail Fluttershy. There was no way he was going to let down his new friend, much less her. It would break her poor heart into millions of itty-bitty pieces; something Discord really did not want to see. In the end, he reluctantly said yes.

Over the days he's been spending time with the rest of the Elements of Harmony. Initially he believed that spending a day with Rainbow Dash was going to be the longest day of his life. That was, of course, before he discovered her love of pranking. She even had the audacity to challenge him in a prank-off. Him, the god of Chaos! Of course he was going to accept. Together, they spent the day participating in a number of harmless yet funny pranks in an attempt to outdo each other. They ended the day with her as winner; something Discord found extremely hard to believe. What could he had possibly done to lose prank points? Hmm... maybe that carton of milk to the face of a sleeping stallion was a bit much. Even he thought that was more harm than fun; especially the look on the groggy stallion when he woke up to find himself covered in an unknown white substance. Those kind of glares could kill on the spot.

While they had their fun, Rainbow kept a very close eye on him. Probably looking out for any fishy activity. Oh well, at least he's getting somewhere.

The next day, he had Applejack. She was suspicious of him, but payed him no mind as she continued to work on her farm. She did mind, however, when the pigs started to grow wings and fly around aimlessly.

Boy, was she peeved. Don't blame him though; it wasn't his fault that the adynation of flying pigs could be so amusing in real life. He was literally kicked out of the farm; courtesy of Bucky McGillicuddy and Kicks McGee, otherwise known as Applejack's back hooves. They did say sorry though. Poor things were jus4 misunderstood.

For the remainder of that day, he spent some time with Rarity. She too was suspicious of him, no surprise there. However, upon learning that Fluttershy sent him here, she actually made an effort to get to know him. Strange, were ponies always this trusting of one another? Perks of friendship, he guessed.

She showcased him the dresses she had made recently; Discord was thoroughly impressed with the design. She even made him a spiffy new suit, and by the heavens did he look fabulous in them. He even had a matching hat to go with. True to her Element, Rarity was the most generous pony Discord has ever had the pleasure of meeting.

A few hours earlier from today, Discord's next pony on his ~~(hit)~~ friend list was Twilight Sparkle. He gingerly made his way to her tree house; preparing himself for what was probably an entire day of history lessons. He was going to knock to let her know he was here before he saw the note on her front door.

LIBRARY CLOSED TODAY
RETURN TOMORROW

We apologize for any inconvenience

"So Princess purple and her pet are gone for today." he thought. "Good. Her ramblings could probably drive me up the wall faster than the time I had an itch as a statue."

He shuddered at the memory. Being a statue in Celestia's garden was not a very pleasant experience. Especially those birds. Those damn birds, thinking they could just take a dump anywhere they want. The whole world was their bathroom. And apparently; he was some sort of god-toilet to them. Oh, sweet Celestia, that was the worst time to ever had his mouth stuck wide-open. He gritted his teeth at the memory of one particular sparrow; forever the bane of his taste buds.

"I don't know who you are," he gritted. "But I will find you. And I will kill you."

He remembered his promise to himself ever since that hellspawn used his mouth. So far, he had little success on finding said sparrow, but his burning passion for revenge pushed him forward.

"Hiya Discord! Why so glum?"

Discord spun at the new voice; only to find himself looking at Pinkie Pie - Element of Laughter. Good, he can finally rid himself of that distasteful memory; even for only a short period of time.

And that brings us to the present. He and Pinkie idly chatted and exchanged their own jokes as they made their way to Sugarcube Corner. Well, that was just a few minutes ago. Now, Pinkie was practically begging to have one of Discord's favorite cotton candy chocolate rain. The interaction between the two slowly transformed from a simple chat into plead and refuse; pleading in Pinkie's case and refusing in Discord's.

"PLEASE MR. DISCORD!"

He sighed in exasperation. What was he thinking, pitting himself in a battle of willpower and annoyance against Ponyville's resident Pinkie Pie? He knows what she was capable of; they were practically in a stalemate when it comes to such things. And yet here he was.

He moved his mouth to retort, only to find himself unable to do so. His attention was turned elsewhere; specifically a pink alicorn and the bubble following her. He was not surprised to see Princess Cadence in Ponyville; he was surprised with the big metal thing in the pink bubble that's following her. It somewhat resembled that Iron Will fellow; albeit smaller, made of metal and a hell of a lot quieter.

"Hey Pinkie, could you care to tell me who that is?" Discord asked, pointing his paw at Cadence's general direction.

"Oh, him? That's Emile! We met him last night in the Everfree Forest with Luna and then he tried to kill her and got pretty close too! Then I came in all 'SURPRISE!' and blasted him with my party cannon. He didn't get hurt, but I think I distracted him so Luna could move in and read his mind and put a sleep spell on him. And then Luna put him in this shield thingy and went with her all the way to Canterlot. And then we all went back home an-"

Discord gently pushed his talon into her face; signalling he had heard enough. Even so, she still kept on talking; her ramblings dialled down into incoherent mumbles. Oh well, Pinkies will be Pinkies, he guessed. He turned his attention to it again. Able to stand toe-to-toe against an all-powerful co-ruler of the nation; check. Most likely had an audience with Princess Sunbutt herself; check. Finds way back here; check. Headed towards Twilight's treehouse; check. While still in custody; check. Everything seemed to be in order. That means there was only one explanation.

This thing was going to go under the reformation process.

Discord realized something in his realization (realiception?). If the reformation process works on this guy, he can have someone to relate to. A once baddie turned into a somewhat trustworthy ally. He could have another friend. Hey, they could be the best of buddies, as thick as thieves, the dynamic duo! Oh, he can already imagine the fun they'll have together. The chaos they'll wreak! Yes, that will be his quest. Forget the sparrow, forget anything else. Right now, he needs the reformation process to work on him. He needs him to be his friend!

"Pinkie Pie, listen to me very carefully. I need to get to 'Emile' right now. My senses tell me that we shall become best friends and share smores in the future."

"You can walk to him, silly-billy!" Pinkie giggled at Discord's sudden behavior change.

"Pinkie, have you been taking drugs? One does not simply 'walk' towards a bad guy. You have to do it with style, with finesse with-" he glanced at Pinkie, looking confused at his display of drama. His grin grew wider as an impossibly wonderful idea materialized in his magnificent brain; Pinkie started to grin as well, probably thinking of the same thing. What was that saying again? Great minds think alike? Yeah, that was the one.

"You have to do it, with a cannon."

Emile never knew one could ever get tired of grumbling. It was a natural thing to grumble from time to time; everyone does it. If he was finding the act tiring, it must be a clear cut sign that he's overdoing it. Actually, he could not give a damn whether he was tired or not. He just wanted to go home. To just sit back, relax and kick Covenant ass once more. His trigger finger was getting awfully twitchy at the lack of a gun's presence. It seems like it was only yesterday that he tore a very big new one on a certain Elite. Oh wait, that was just yesterday. Damn, was it really that long?

He sat down in his floating pink prison, following a pink princess to this "Twilight Sparkle", who was probably pink as well. Or purple. He couldn't really choose which one he hated more. Cadence started to have a conversation with him, but it was mostly one-sided. He did listen in on some stuff she said.

Apparently, there were four types of ponies; something Emile scoffed at. One type of pony was enough, thank you very much. Actually, one type of pony was one too many.

There were the alicorns, which had both wings and a horn. Only four existed as of now. Princess Cadence, Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight and her.

Then, there were the pegasi. Like human mythology stated, they had wings on them. One addition to being a pegasus was the ability to control the weather. Emile wondered how they were able to fly with those wings. Maybe they were built like birds; having hollow bones and all.

Next was the unicorn. Their distinctive feature was their horn. Apparently they can also control "magic". According to Cadence, magic was something unicorns and and alicorns are able to do; their magic manifests through one's emotions, specialty and experience. Cadence's magic for example is able to manifest through the power of love.

"Oh my God, could things sound any more girly here?" Emile bitterly thought.

Finally there was the Earth pony. Emile initially believed they ended up with the short straw of evolution, until Cadence explained their most distinctive trait. They were easily the strongest ponies in terms of physical strength. They could easily shrug off blows that could cripple or even kill unicorns and pegasi. Still, Emile thought they were a bit dull. Except that pink one.

Emile's mind wandered towards magic. The entire concept of it was unusual to say the least; there was no such thing as magic. None whatsoever. That belief, however, was completely shattered in less that three seconds when Cadence transformed a rock into an apple right in front of him. He even crushed the apple to confirm it was not just some sort of illusion. Emile has seen a lot of stuff in life; marines eviscerated by Elites, a Jackal brutally biting into a small child's frontal lobe, walking in on his parents. He's seen enough to consider these normal, but magic? That type of shit was not normal. Not at all.

His thoughts were interrupted by a resonating bang. He turned his attention to the sound; only to find a red, blue and white blur whiz past him; just inches away from his bubble. It went too fast for Emile to discern any noticeable features of what was shot at him; only seeing a series of mismatched body parts. It was probably some sort of crash dummy. Emile turned to the pers- pony who shot him. Immediately his jaw went slack.

It was that same pink pony from last night.

"Ah Jesus, not you again." he groaned. He knew it was futile; seeing how she just attempted to shoot something at him. It seems, however, that the person upstairs was feeling merciful today. The pink one just waved at him and promptly trotted towards a different direction. Emile exhaled; thankful he was spared from her. He turned to Cadence again. She hadn't even noticed the events that had transpired in the vicinity.

As they made their way through the town; Emile earned many fearful gawks and stares from the public. He guessed that was to be expected; he obtained the same stares whenever he was with civilians back on Reach. If he was scary to them then, imagine what these ponies were thinking of him now. They were probably transfixed by his helmet. They better be, he carved that skull with pride and joy.

One group that caught his attention was a trio of mares. Out of all of the general public, these three were the most... "fearful" of him. They all fainted. At the same time. In a very over-dramatic manner. Better keep an eye out of them for the meantime.

They had finally reached their destination; the dreaded "Twilight Sparkle". Much to Cadence's annoyance and Emile's glee, the place she called home was empty; the note on her front door confirming their suspicions.

"Huh, she's not here today. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to wait. I know this little bakery down the road. Maybe we can continue our conversation there?"

Emile inwardly groaned. Great, now he's going to have another conversation with her. A real one this time. He's going to have a heartfelt conversation with a pony.

"Oh God, kill me now."

"Dang, that stings"

Discord groggily sat up, eyeing his surroundings. He was very lucky to crash into a stand selling pillows; he was even luckier to have to pony supposed to man it on a lunch break. He could only imagine the earful he would receive if he stayed any longer. Fixing his red and blue star-spangled helmet and jumpsuit, he quickly fled the crime scene. Pinkie's a terrible shot, but that's not going to stop him. If anything, he was now more determined to meet this Emile character. He wasn't going to give up.

Not until he made a new friend.

Welcome to Ponyville - Part Two

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Welcome to Sugarcube Corner

Cadence approached the bakery; Emile following closely behind her. The shop's sign said welcome, but Emile could not help but feel put-off by it all. It could be his sociopathic tendencies at fault; his distrust of anyone other than his fellow SPARTANs were probably acting up again. Or it could be because the building simply looked too outlandish and unusual. His mind gave him a multitude of reasons why he should be on guard at this point, yet his logic erased those reasons in a heartbeat.

Emile took a double take, replaying what he had just conjured in his head. Did he really just felt threatened by a gingerbread house lookalike?

"This place is getting to me."

Emile chastised his growing anxiety; he was beginning to sound more akin to a marine greener than grass than an actual SPARTAN. If his team was here, they would've both reassured and berated him for such behavior. They were good guys like that.

Sadly, they were most probably all dead. And unlike Emile, they were - most likely - going to stay dead. Good God, he missed all of them. Even Jorge.

...

"Fuck, this place really is getting to me"

The question of today was, where was this paranoia coming from? Everything screamed sunshines and rainbows and happy fun times; it made him sick to the core. There were no traps, no ambushes, no objective, nothing. For once, there weren't even any Covenant to deal with. As of right now, nothing could possibly be dangerous to his health.

Except the wildlife. And the all-powerful princesses that see him as a matter of national security. And The Pink One That Shall Not Be Named; who, in fact, was one of the main factors of his capture and imprisonment.

Maybe keeping an eye out for danger at all times isn't such a bad idea.

They both entered the building; Emile's floating pink prison once again squeezing through the doorway with ease. It seemed like a slow day for Sugarcube Corner; there was not a single customer in sight. In fact, the place would've seemed empty if it weren't for the clattering of pots and pans and the sound of voices in the back room.

Cadence approached the empty counter and rung the bell for service.

"Hello? Is anypony here?" She asked no one in particular.

"Back the fuck up, did she say anypony?"

There were no responses, other than the clattering of cutlery continuing its noise. Cadence rung the bell again, just in case no one heard.

"We'll be right there in just a moment, dear! CARROT! WHAT DID YOU NOT UNDERSTAND WHEN I SAID HOLD THE THING STILL?!"

Emile could only flinch at the volume of the voice. If every single pony he meets in the future were this loud, then he can kiss his eardrums goodbye.

More shouting could be heard from the kitchen; intensifying in volume as two voices argued back and forth. It took a while before the doors swung open; revealing a blue Earth pony covered in flour and other ingredients used in baked goods. She was short and pudgy, complete with pink hair. She looked worse for wear; her body language and the bags under her eyes say so.

"Welcome to Sugarcube Corner." She announced in a monotone voice. "How may I-"

She didn't even get to finish her introduction. It seems that she had just realized that the pony standing right in front of her counter was none other than Princess Cadence; ruler of the Crystal Empire. Sugarcube Corner has been graced by the presence of a royal, and she was woefully unprepared for her arrival.

The mare darted back into the kitchen, this time talking in hushed tones with another unknown individual. Minutes had passed before she came out of those doors again. This time, she was accompanied by a tall and lanky yellow stallion. Somehow, they had cleaned themselves of any traces of flour on them; leaving them squeaky clean, and at a short timeframe too. They had smiles on their faces, but they were obviously very nervous. Both were practically sweating up a storm.

"Welcome to Sugarcube Corner!" The blue mare announced again; this time in a more cheerful voice. "This is my husband, Carrot Cake." She motioned her hoof towards the lanky stallion. "And I'm Cup Cake. How may we help you today?"

Both flashed a smile, but the beads of sweat running down their faces betrayed them. They were incredibly itimidated by the authorative figure; acting as if the princess would order their execution the moment they make a mistake. Some would say they were overreacting; none of the princesses had ever ordered out an execution in centuries. The Cakes, however, can never be too careful.

"Erm... this seems like a bad time." Cadence said, craning her neck to see past the Cakes. She could see that the entire kitchen was in disarray; flour, pots and pans littering its floors. A giant cake stood smack centre of it all; confirming Cadence's suspicions. The Cakes were working on something, probably for an important event. "I think I'll come back later. When you aren't busy with things."

"NO!" Cup shrieked. Shunning a princess from their bakery? Never! No one has left the bakery unsatisfied ever since Sugarcube Corner's grand opening, and Tartarus can freeze over before that ever happens!

She looked up, only to realise that everyone's eyes were on her. Her outburst had caught everyone's attention, much to her dismay.

"Ahem, I mean, we aren't busy today! It's not like we can't serve customers while baking a cake, right Carrot?"

She turned to her husband, only to find him dozing off; probably because of exhaustion. She nudged her elbow at him, gently reminding him that he was in the presence of a royal.

"...huh, what now?" Carrot jolted awake, slightly groggy from his rude awakening. " I mean, yep! Sure thing. Whatever you say dear."

For a moment, Cup turned to her husband with an unamused expression. This expression, however, went away as soon as she reminded herself of her current situation.

"Erm... okay then. Those cookies over ther-" Cadence started.

In an instant, Cup zoomed off and returned with a fresh batch of cookies in hoof.

"Oh! Alright then. Um... what about a mango mil-"

In a similar fashion, Carrot appeared with a mango milkshake; moving at a seemingly impossible speed to grab said milkshake.

"Uh... okay. I think that will be all." She stated. "May I ask, what's the cake for? You seem to be awfully busy with it."

"Oh, that? We're just working on a birthday cake, that's all. This place is reserved for a birthday party this afternoon. Normally we'd have Pinkie to help us, but she's helped us so much the past few weeks that we thought that it's best if she had a day off today, right Carrot?"

She turned to her husband, only to find him dozing off again. She elbowed him; much harder this time.

"...eh, what? Oh yeah, right. She said that she's going to hang out with that Discord fellow, then she was going to the The Castle of the Two Sisters, something about testing the organ there or something."

Cadence nodded in understanding. "Okay, I guess this all I want right now, so- oh wait! I completely forgot! Emile, did you want anything?"

Cup could only look at her with confusion.

"I'm sorry, princess, but who exactly are you talking to?"

Cadence moved the pink orb containing him; placing him beside her. It seems that the Cakes had been so focused on Cadence, they had completely missed the fact that there was a giant metal thing behind her.

"Oh my..." Cup could only stare in fear. She was unsure how to act, but Cadence seems to have the situation under control. After all, it was trapped. Still, its presence warranted a feeling of unease; the air that surrounded it just seemed... off.

"Would you... like something... sir?" She stuttered.

Emile's lack of a response only added to the tension. The Cakes were downright frightened; their knees were wobbling uncontrollably, ready to buckle underneath them at any second.

"He'll have what I have, thanks." Cadence quickly intervened.

The Cakes sighed with relief. They grabbed another set of Cadence's order and placed both orders on the counter. Cadence payed for it, then went to an empty table in the far corner of the bakery; Emile and the baked goods following closely behind. She sat down the table, while Emile simply sat down in his prison. She levitated the plate of cookies and milkshake to him; the baked goods phasing throuh the bubble. Emile could only stare at it levitating goods blankly.

"Well, aren't you going to eat it?" Cadence asked.

Emile continued to stare. Cadence worried whether he heard her or not, before he answered.

"If this is some sort of trick, I swear-"

"No, no tricks. I just thought you were hungry. You have to eat sometime, don't you?" she reassured.

Emile continued to deadpan her. Cadence began to think that the extended pauses were going to be a habit.

Emile was not confident whether to trust her or not, but really, he did not have a choice. He distrusted these ponies with all his heart, and while SPARTANs were able to go for weeks without food or water, it did not mean that such experiences were pleasant. He was a bit hungry after all; he could use the extra energy.

With a heavy sigh, Emile slowly placed both of his hands on the side of his helmet and unclasped it. A small hiss came out; signalling that the helmet was ready to be taken off. With a deliberate slowness, he took off his helmet, revealing his face.

It was Cadence's turn to stare at him. He had a shorter muzzle compared to poniess, a dark skin tone, green eyes and a cropped mane; almost to the point of completely shaven-off. His facial expressions seems to be stuck on "scowl" at all times. However, none of those were Emile's most notable features. Scars, and lots of it, adorned his face. Some were small and could go unnoticed, others were unnervingly large; running across his face. He grabbed the cookies and gingerly started eating.

"Is there something on my face or what?"

It seems Cadence had been observing him for a while now. She looked away, flustered.

"Sorry, it just that..."

"You wanted to know how I got my scars." he finished. Cadence meekly nodded.

Emile just shrugged. "Line of work."

As they ate their snacks, the Cakes began to set up decorations for the birthday party they had mentioned. Once in a while, they would look in Cadence's direction. They would smile warmly at her, while they would look at Emile with an expression of fear and uncertainty.

It did not take long for both to finish their snacks. As soon as they had finished, Emile quickly put on his helmet again. Cadence felt sorry for him; she had noticed the reactions that the public had been giving him. They were nice and were normally accepting of strangers, they just needed to know him better.

"I'm sorry, I know these ponies have been looking at you weird lately and-"

"Don't patronize me." Emile spat. "The last thing I need right now is your pity."

Cadence flinched. Apologizing is out of the question, then. She decided that the best course of action as of now was to keep asking him questions. She was, however, interrupted. Said interruption came in the form of a torrent of colts and fillies entering the bakery.

"Hey guys!" Carrot exclaimed. "Pinkie isn't here, but don't worry! We have a very special pony that's going to be here today! I'm just going to grab the food and the cake, so just hold on to your hooves, 'kay?"

The little ones didn't even notice him, they were much too hyped for the party to listen.

Carrot gave them all a smile. He returned to the kitchen, but behind his cheerful demeanour was a very stressed out baker. Once again, he started sweating profusely.

"Oh Celestia, where is that freaky clown pony when you need him?!"

As the fillies and colts waited patiently, one of them noticed something. Particularly a pink alicorn princess.

"Hey guys, look! It's Princess Cadence!"

All eyes turned to her. The tension in the air was thick as the fillies and colts slowly comprehended her presence. It wasn't long before a chorus of statements came out.

"She's here? Is she the special pony for the party?"

"I knew it! Told you a princess would come!"

"Dude, I bet you can't stick an entire hoof in your mouth."

"Oh yeah? You're on!"

Cadence could only smile at the spectacle in front of her, Emile on the other hand scoffed at their behavior. Both thought the same thing.

"Kids"

Cadence approached them, and instantly she was bombarded with questions by the mob of foals. Emile watched with disinterest as Cadence patiently sated their curiosity.

As he observed, he noticed three fillies break away from the group. All three approached him cautiously; he pretended he didn't notice them.

"What... is it?" the white unicorn asked anxiously.

"Ah don't know, but I saw it talking to Cadence earlier. It's face is pretty creepy." The one with a ridiculously large bow on her head answered.

"Gee, that's a nice thing to say to someone you meet."

"Naw, I think it looks cool." The pegasus with the fuchsia colored mane interjected. "Terrifying, yet radical."

Emile could do nothing but smile from that.

"Should we say something?"

"Have ya been hit on the noggin with a frying pan lately? What if it goes all psycho on us?"

"I don't know, it seems harmless enough. Besides, doesn't Cadence practically have this thing on a leash?"

"I can hear you."

All three jumped back in surprise. They looked around for the source of the voice, only to turn in Emile's direction. They looked at him with a mixed expression of surprise and confusion.

"Are you... talking to us?"

Emile rolled his eyes. Were these three actually serious?

"Yes, I'm talking to you. Now what do you want?" He asked indifferently.

The three fillies looked back, only to find the group they were part of still crowding around Cadence. They did not expect for it to speak, much less acknowledge their presence.

"Hey mister! Are you an alien?" The pegasus asked bluntly.

It was Emile's turn to jump back in surprise; metaphorically speaking. He half-expected the three to bolt as soon as he spoke.

"They are probably very brave or very stupid. Maybe both."

"Yeah, you could say that."

Again, Emile expected them to look at him in horror; just like the civilians back home. Instead, they looked at him with awe.

"That is so cool!" The white unicorn exclaimed. "Wait, if you're an alien, what's your Cutie Mark?"

For what he believed was for the hundredth time that day, Emile stared blankly.

"Cutie what now?"

"You know, Cutie Mark? Mark of yer destiny, it comes up when ya find yer special talent, all that jazz?"

Emile was scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. What the hell were they talking about?

"Cutie Mark, Cutie Mark..." he thought about these two words extremely hard whilst rubbing his chin. These three mentioned a mark that these ponies earned somewhere in there life, so it must be so-

The realization hit him like a wrecking ball.

Cutie Mark

"You call that-" he pointed at the image on Cadence's flank. "-a Cutie Mark?!"

"Well, yeah! Don't you have one?"

"What? No!" Emile yelled incredulously. These ponies receive some sort of mark of significance in their life, and they have the audacity to call it a "Cutie Mark"?!

"These ponies need serious help in naming things."

Emile exited his thoughts and turned to the three. They had a facial expression that was akin to that of a child who had just been told that Santa Claus didn't exist. Seems like his answer has had more of an effect than he had originally imagined.

"Whaddaya mean ya do-"

Cadence rushed in, cutting them short.

"It's been fun guys, and I had fun too! But I have to go now, I have some very important princess business to take care of. Sorry."

A collective "awww" rang out, putting Cadence on the guilty feels chair. She hated seeing crestfallen ponies; she needed something to change the mood.

"Hey look, the cake's ready!"

Welp, that was easy. Carrot had presented the cake just in the nick of time. Another pony followed him, and by God it was the scariest, most terrifying sight Emile had ever seen in his life. It was something that would make hardened veterans flee in terror, something that would horrify the monstrous Hunters, something that would make the legendary SPARTANs think twice about facing it. This monster could only be named in two, measly words.

A clown.

"Who wants to play pin the tail on the donkey?"

A deafening chorus of cheers was their response. Luckily for Emile's sanity, he and Cadence had already begun their leave. Unbeknownst to him, three fillies planned their next move.

"Didja hear 'im girls, he doesn't have a Cutie Mark!"

"Do you think..."

"Sweetie, it's an alien. If we can help it find its Cutie Mark, then it definitely has to be our special talent!"

"What, helping others find theirs?"

"Well, yeah. Besides, it won't hurt to try."

"Does that mean we gonna hafta let it join us?"

All three looked at each other. Slowly, but surely, a grin made its way to their faces; rivalling that of Pinkie Pie's. They thought and said the same thing; a testament of their like-mindedness. They nodded in confirmation and yelled at the top of their lungs.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, ALIEN HELPERS! YAY!"

"We're here."

Emile snapped to attention. Both have been travelling through the Everfree Forest, as these ponies call it. Nightime had fallen; only the glow of Cadence's horn as their source of illumination. Cadence deduced that if this, "Pinkie Pie", was in this so-called "Castle of the Two Sisters", then this "Twilight Sparkle" must be with her, along with the other "Elements of Harmony".

Never before had Emile used so many air quotes in one sentence.

Thet have arrived at their destination; a rickety old castle. Its tattered tapestries hinted its original glory, but now only serve as reminders of an older time. Debris were scattered everywhere; littering the castle grounds. This place must have been magnificent once, but now it was nothing but ruins.

From afar, it would seem that the place was devoid of life. Far from it, actually. Cadence and Emile can both hear the chatter of voices while inside. They followed the source, intent to find the speaker. Well, Cadence was anyway. Emile just wanted to get it over with.

They stopped in front of a large double door. The voices were much clearer now; the individuals in the room seem to be idly chatting with one another. Cadence pushed the doors, entering the room.

It was a library of sorts; dusty books were lined along the walls and on the floor. Among it all, six ponies of different colors turned to Cadence. A purple one with wings and a horn looked overjoyed.

"Cadence!"

Both ran and gave each other an almighty hug. Before Emile was given a chance to be disgusted at the sign of affection, both mares did something unexpected.

"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!"

Emile blinked.

"What the fuck did I just witness?"

As all seven conversed, Emile observed quietly. He could not hear what they say as they talked in hushed tones, but he kept a close eye anyway.

The first one he noticed was the pink one with poofy hair. His eyed widened with realization; rage washing over him. However, he kept his emotions in check. In due time, he will have his revenge. All he needed to do was plan and wait. She'll get what's coming to her.

The next was the purple one. He overheard that she used to be Princess Celestia's personal protégé; a gifted student who surpassed her teacher. She was also supposed to be incredibly smart and a keen learner.

Then there was the rainbow. Once in a while, she would shoot him dirty looks. Emile shot some back. Clearly this one didn't like him. If the incredulous shouts of "what in the name of gravy is he doing here?!" wasn't a sign of hostility, then what was?

Next in line was the white unicorn. She looked reminiscent of the filly he met earlier in the bakery; the only difference was she was far more elegant in her movement and she had curly, purple hair. She also had a distinctive accent.

Blondie was next. She had an orange coat and for some reason a Stetson on her head. She also spoke in an accent, but it was completely different from the unicorn's. It sounded akin to that of a country farmer. Like the rainbow, she would give him a look. Unlike the rainbow, it was less glare, more suspicion.

Finally there was the coward. She had been hiding behind a chair this entire time, avoiding eye-contact with him at all costs. She was shaking in fear; every time she would peek out and look at him, she would squeak and hide again.

It wasn't long before all seven approached him.

"Great, more introductions."

"Emile, I'd like you to meet the Elements of Harmony." She motioned her hoof to the rest of the group.

"This is Fluttershy; Element of Kindness, Pinkie Pie; Element of Laughter, Rarity; Element of Generosity, Applejack; Element of Honesty, Rainbow Dash; the Element of Loyalty and Twilight Sparkle; Element of Magic. Did you get all of that?"

"Doormat, Lunatic, Snob, Inbred Hick, Skittles and Egghead. Should be easy enough to remember. And what is it with these weird titles?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Under orders of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, you are hereby decreed to stay in custody of the Elements of Harmony until further notice. You will be both studied and accepted as their own. You will be kept under watch at all times. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Stay with ponies, kept under watch, blah blah blah..."

Emile's consciousness kicked in; the horror of the situation was beginning to unfold. He was going to live with ponies, for God knows how long, and studied like some sort of lab rat. And that's not even the worst part. During his stay here, unless he keeps up his scary demeanour, these ponies will - most likely - attempt to become his friend.

This was much worse than he could have possibly imagined. He had sealed his fate, and now he was frozen in shock. His mind, however, told a different story.

"No!"

"We have an extraterrestrial roomie? Awesome! We'll be friends, hold slumber parties..." Pinkie went on and on of the horrors Emile will inevitably face. Every passing second was hell; Emile wasn't sure he could last any longer.

"No, God please no!"

"Twilight, are you sure you can handle this?" Cadence asked.

"I'm sure I can handle it." Twilight reassured.

"And-" Rainbow interjected "-she's got us to back her up. Don't worry Cadence, if he becomes a problem, we can take him on. Just like we always do, eh Twi?"

"No! NO!"

Twilight was practically beaming after hearing that. Slowly, she made her way to Rainbow Dash and gave her an almighty bear-hug.

"Thanks guys. I'm so lucky to have all of you."

"Yay! GROUP HUG!" Pinkie exclaimed. In an unnatural manner, she grabbed all six ponies in one fell swoop and wrapped them all in a massive group hug. As they all shared a moment of friendship, Twilight glanced at Emile. He had remained motionless ever since Cadence had announced he was staying with them for her to study. She knew how humans acted and reacted during certain situations, so she was baffled to see him not react at all.

"He's taking it well."

Unbeknownst to her, Emile was far from stoic. Deep inside his complex mind, was a mini-him. This figure Emile had conjured in his head represented his consciousness. Right now, mini-Emile dropped to his knees and shook his fists at the sky; his wails of anguish could be heard from the heavens above.

"NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Will Emile triumph in this ordeal, or will the ponies wear him down, enough for him to consider them - dare he say it - friend? Find out later in the next segment of this fic that I will so originally call...

Emile VS The Magic of Friendship!

Author's Notes:

Greetings, my ~~(minions)~~ friends. It is I, Wolfram Alpha, and I have returned! (Metaphorically speaking. I'm still in vacation.) I apologise for the lateness of this chapter; I have three ~~(excuses)~~ explanations as to why this is so late.

1. I'm using a tablet, not a computer. You guys have no idea how fiddly these things are.
2. It's hard enough to spell words right with a computer, but add it with the fiddliness of a tablet? It's revision hell, that's what it is.
3. Lately, I've been caught up in a 100+ chapter fic that I've been reading non-stop. I only started doing this chapter after I've finished it. Kudos if you know which fic I'm talking about.

On that note, I hope you liked this chapter as much as I did. See you next time!

P.S I've been testing out different internet names for me lately, so don't be surprised if I suddenly have a different name. Oh, and expect more chapters for this fic to be a little late, I've been recently hit by the rock of inspiration and have other ideas that I am compelled to work on.

Emile VS The Magic Of Friendship: The Nightmare Begins

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Dawn.

That is the time when the sun has begun its rise and the time when the moon has begun its set. Despite the beauty of a sunrise, there are many who dislike this time of day; it signalled that the end of their sleep and the departure of their warm, snug bed was coming very soon. It was understandable that these individuals dislike waking up at dawn. Their willpower to leave the bed is greatly diminished; the lack of energy plus the comfyness of a bed are major contributing factors. Thus, these individuals choose the easier option; they return to sleep, in hopes that their peaceful slumber can continue for just a little while longer.

Twilight Sparkle is no such individual.

As a filly, she picked up the habbit of being an early morning pony. Every day, she would wake up early, organize her agenda for that day and then wake up her parents. She found that by waking up early, she could do more as she had more time on her hooves. Often her parents complained that it was "too early" or they plead "just five more minutes." Nonsense, it was a perfectly reasonable time to get up and enjoy the day. Now, she just had Spike to deal with. The only problem was he was more difficult to persuade than her parents when it comes to getting up.

On this particular day however, Twilight Sparkle had woken up extra early. The sun hadn't even begun to rise yet. She could barely hold her excitement; a chance to study an alien gave her a sense of giddiness. While dubbed as an unofficial "human expert", her knowledge of them is as you imagine; severely limited. She only had a miniscule amount of time to observe humans, as she had to focus on getting her crown back from Sunset Shimmer. Combined with a limited timeframe, Twilight was left with next to nothing when it comes down to them.

She could learn so much from Emile; he was practically a gold mine of information. Admittedly, she was quite interested about him as well. With the possibility that he's going to be stuck in Equestria for a very long time, Twilight made it her personal goal to get to know as much about him as possible.

Cadence mentioned that he "died". It was a scientific impossibilty, but Emile insists that's how he got here. Grabbing a notepad and a quill with her magic, she began to write down her thoughts.

"Subject Emile insists that his sudden arrival in Equestria is directly linked to his 'death'. Will ask him later to elaborate."

And that's where the problem arises. Emile outright refused to talk to anypony after what had transpired in the Castle of the Two Sisters. Strange, because Cadence reported that he was just fine with answering some of her questions. Though, most of the answers he gave were very vague. Other than that, he remained silent for the entire duration. Maybe Twilight could squeeze out more answers from him. Humans weren't much different from ponies after all; psychologically speaking.

Twilight has woken up at this time of hour because of two reasons. One, because her sheer excitement prevented her from a peaceful sleep. Two, so that she could observe Emile. He was sleeping in the living room; making himself comfortable inside the bubble he currently resided in. Cadence relinquished control of the bubble and gave the responsibility to Twilight; turning the bubble from pink into a vibrant shade of purple. Strangely enough, Emile reacted strongly to this. He begun shaking his head and groaning as soon as the bubble changed colors.

"Subject Emile has a visible dislike of the color purple. Will investigate more to why."

Slowly, she tip-toed her way to the staircase as to avoid any excessive noise. She passed by Spike, who was snoring peacefully in his basket bed. For once, she'll let him sleep in. Science was calling, and they needed Twilight.

Eventually, she had reached the staircase. From there, she had an ariel view of the living room; Emile's bubble was placed dead centre. She took out the notepad and quill; ready to record anything of interest. Particularly, she was going to wait and see if Emile has any behavioral patterns; as to help her understand him better.

Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours. Twilight deduced that she had been on that staircase for a lengthy amount of time, because the sun had begun to rise. By now, ponies like Applejack and Fluttershy would be wide awake; as to tend to their duties as a farmer and as an animal-caretaker respectively. Many would say she was wasting her time; Twilight began to believe she was. But - despite her doubtful thoughts - she pushed on. Even with its complex and sensitive nature, science can be boiled down in two words.

Observe and report.

She soon found what she was looking for. It was a small thing; barely noticeable. But from there, it began to snowball into something much larger.

It started with his breathing.

"Subject Emile's breathing has increased exponentially at approximately-" she looked at the clock. "-6 AM."

Then, he began to stir in his sleep.

"Following Subject Emile's erratic breathing, he has begun to move in his sleep. It has started from light twitching, into tossing and turning."

Finally, he began to talk in his sleep. His murmurs were very quiet; just below the volume of a whisper. The strings of Twilight's heart twanged as she heard his pained groans.

"Combined with his erratic breathing and movement, Subject Emile has also begun to talk in his sleep. I cannot decipher what exactly he is saying, he is too quiet while doing so."

Twilight put the pieces together. Laboured breathing, tossing and turning, talking whilst sleeping; Emile was displaying all the signs. It has to be the only explanation. Despite their many differences, humans and ponies weren't much different from each other; psychologically speaking.

Emile was having a nightmare.

"You're on your own, Noble. Carter out..."

"We gotta hurry!"

"Where does he get off calling a demolition on a priority one- FCHINK!"

"3... 2... 1... NOW!"

"I'm ready! How 'bout you?!"

"No!"

"We made it, didn't we? We made it. "

"Please don't go."

Emile jolted awake. He did not scream. He did not shout. He did not make a sound. Instinctively, he grabbed the dogtags around his neck and clutched it tightly. In his head, he began to monologue.

"My name is Emile-A239. I am a SPARTAN-III commando of the UNSC Special Warfare Command, attached to Special Warfare Group Three. I fought in the Battle of Reach with Noble Team. Noble Team is dead. I died. Now I'm alive. I live with ponies..."

The last statement put Emile to a halt. The surreality of it was ridiculous; enough to snap Emile out of his alarmed state.

That nightmare... it was no ordinary nightmare. Emile knew it too well, too vividly, to call it a simple nightmare.

It was a memory.

Recollecting his thoughts, he berated himself. He was a SPARTAN, for God's sake! Such petty things shouldn't be a problem for him! That memory was supposed to be buried, buried so deep, he was sure that it would never see the light of day again. But it comes back. In the corner of his eye. His thoughts. His dreams. It always comes when he least expects it, and it frustrated him to no end.

It was always like this since that fateful day. He would receive that same nightmare over and over again; taunting him, pushing him towards the border of his sanity. With the death of Noble Team, Emile could only assume that it will grow worse. Much worse.

SPARTANs were living war machines; made for war and nothing else. They were human, but at the same time, they weren't. Often, they lose their very being in the process of becoming a SPARTAN. They are broken; no longer considered human in the eyes of many. In the end, they become the soldiers humanity needed them to be, at the cost of themselves.

That's what frustrated Emile. A part of him - a single shred of his humanity - still lives.

Normally, one would object to discarding their past. To Emile, however, he would gladly forget it in a heartbeat. Memories of his past, his life before a SPARTAN; it brought him nothing but pain. And that pain was beginning to become a distraction.

Over time, he had learned how to hide his "predicament" with sleep. Waking up before anyone else does. Sleeping a minimum distance away from others. He has even managed to conceal it from the rest of Noble Team. Only Carter knew of this. He too, was plagued with nightmares once. It never bothered him anymore, but he showed Emile the technique he used to cope. To this day, Emile still uses that technique.

Emile shook his head sideways. All this reminiscing was beginning to take a toll on his very confused brain. No use wallowing in the past now. He began burying his thoughts, suppressing them just as he had done before. Satisfied with the depth he buried them in, he then focused on what was important.

The present.

He eyed his surroundings carefully. It was kind of strange, actually. He had imagined Hell would have a lot more fire. Not that he could complain, Equestria was Hell; in a way. If he closed his eyes, the lush environment can be the fire, the ponies can be the demons, and any one of the "Elements of Harmony" can be Satan.

Why does that thought terrify him?

In truth, it wasn't the whole "living with ponies" thought that scared him. He could probably stomach that down in the meantime. Probably.

No, it was the fact that he was stuck here. The thought alone almost put him into a spiralling depression. If he was permanently staying here, what would he do? What can he do?

Jun always said that Emile says he wants to win the war, but really, he just wants the enemy to die. He meant it as a joke; to portray Emile's overly aggressive behaviour towards the Covenant. Or any enemy in particular. What Jun didn't know, was that sentence was Emile's exact thought of the war. He doesn't want to win it, and neither does he want to lose it. For his own selfish reason that he kept to himself and only himself, he wants the war to drag on for as long as possible; so as to continue his job as a SPARTAN.

Because he was afraid.

He was afraid of what will come to him when the war ends. What will he do then? Go back to fighting Insurrectionists? If humanity does win the war, then the Insurrection won't stand a chance; now that the UNSC had SPARTANs at their disposal. A few skirmishes here and there, BAM! No more Insurrection. And then what? Live normally?

All he knew in life was to fight, shoot, kill, repeat. He never imagined himself ever stopping that cycle; he believed he would die before that cycle stops. He believed he would never see the day that he - Emile-A239 -would stop fighting for once, and settle down on other things.

Panic started to seep through his head. His whole life revolved around being a SPARTAN. The prospect of stopping the life of a soldier; it's like telling Emile not to breathe. He lived and breathed war. Anything else, and it might as well be poison to him.

Emile quickly pulled off his helmet and slapped himself; hard. It was enough to put all the spiralling thoughts of panic in his head to a stop. He grabbed his dogtags again and grasped them tightly.

"Gah! Goddammit Emile! Get. A. GRIP!"

Blindly panicking was not the answer; it will do his situation no good. What was he thinking, of course he's not stuck here! These ponies have magic, or whatever strange force these ponies seem to have control over. Surely one of them knows how to send him back home.

Right?

Calming himself down - and slapping himself again for good measure - he placed his helmet on his head. He instinctively made a grab for his kukri; as to sharpen it on his shoulder. Anything to get his mind off the situation. Sadly, it was not in its usual place. Emile panicked, but instantly remembered. He groaned, as he just realized who exactly was in possession of his equipment.

"They better not mess around with the shotgun. I've only got a couple of those E-models lying around."

He shook his head, realizing the futility of his wishful thinking.

"Who am I kidding, of course they're messing around with my stuff!" he grumbled. "I bet they're tinkering with them as I speak."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Of course this is, Celestia! We need to know what Emile is capable of with his weapons! I could barely contain him without his equipment; who knows what damage he'll do the moment he turns on us?"

"Are you even sure he will turn on us? He knows we have him outmatched; he's bold to attack you, I'll give him that, but he's not exactly stupid."

Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were currently discussing the matter of Emile's weapons in an empty room. Three other individuals were with them; two stallions and a mare. All three were garbed in a white labcoat and each had a quill and notepad in hoof.

Opposite of the group was a large, see-through window that led to another room. The experiment was to be taken in that room, while the princesses can safely watch from the other side.

"Do not fret, this is a precaution. Don't tell me you're not interested in this experiment?"

Celestia wanted to retort, but found no words to use. Truth be told, she was curious in Emile's equipment. A little testing here and there couldn't hurt.

Right?

"Dr. Star? You may begin." Luna announced.

Celestia, Luna and the scientists walked towards the window, ready to observe the experiment from the other side. Like the room they were in, the experiment room was bare; save for a pedestal in the middle. On that pedestal was a glass box containing a small, green orb they had "borrowed" from Emile.

An barrier enchantment surrounded that same room; courtesy of Luna's magic. It worked differently depending on who or what interacts with it. Ponies or items can enter and exit that barrier, but only if they were given proper clearance by Luna. Otherwise, said pony or item are either kept in, or out.

For example - Luna gave the proper clearance to the small, green orb; allowing it to enter the barrier and by extension, the room. She takes the clearance away as soon as it is inside, trapping it. Thus, the orb cannot leave the room, and neither can the possible danger that it can spawn.

Dr. Star, however, is given clearance at all times; allowing him to enter and exit as he pleases. Should the orb pose a danger to him, he can escape safe and sound, while the danger is effectively controlled by the barrier.

Unauthorized personel are given no clearance at all, preventing them from entering the room at all times. Simple as that.

A figure entered the room. It was hard to tell who it was or even what gender the figure is, it was covered in layers upon layers of protective padding. Large goggles covered its eyes, and its mouth was covered as well. The only visible body part was its horn. Celestia assumed this was Dr. Star; head of the science division. With all the padding on him, he looked like he had been inflated with a pump.

With great caution, he approached the pedestal - or rather, waddled. He eyed the green object warily; as if he might trigger it through sudden movement. With a deliberate slowness, he lifted the object; levitating it inside its box with his magic.

"Alright everypony. Start taking notes." he ordered, albeit a bit muffled. On cue, the three scientists raised their notepads and quills. Celestia and Luna continued to observe.

"Weapon #1 is a small orb, colored green with a handle containing a small red button." he announced. "9.25 cm in diameter, weighing about 0.4 kilograms."

He spun it around, making sure to take in every, single detail.

"Interesting. Weapon #1 has the words 'M9 HE-DP' imprinted on its side."

All three scientists scribbled away, copying Dr. Star's exact words. While they wrote down their notes, he attempted to scratch his chin; just like how a clichè scientist would. He was, however, prevented from doing so. Thanks to the padding, his movement was restricted.

He spun it around one last time, before looking at the princesses. He was silently asking their permission to continue. They both nodded.

"Here goes nothing. Pressing the small, red button in 3..."

Small beads of sweat started to form on his forehead.

"...2..."

The princesses leaned towards the window in anticipation.

"...1..."

It was now or never.

"CLICK!"

Dr. Star instinctively flinched as much as he could; preparing for the worst.

But nothing happened.

Slowly, he opened his eyes. The green orb was still inside its glass box; levitating as per usual. He approached the box again in confusion. Something should've happened at least. He spun it, shook it and spun it again, but no avail.

"Huh. Seems harmless enough." he assumed. "Hard to see what all the fuss is about."

Slowly, he placed the green orb down. He was about to order his team of scientists to go fetch another one of the green orbs, as he believed the one he had was a dud. Placing the orb down, however, would prove to be a mistake.

A small spark escaped the orb.

"Eh?"

BOOM!

The resulting explosion was both blinding and deafening at a close proximity. The princesses shielded their eyes, surprised at the sudden explosion of light. Slowly, they opened them. As the smoke began to clear, the only remaining thing in the room was debris and shrapnel were the orb should've been. To their horror, Dr. Star was nowhere in sight.

"Dr. Star?!" Luna yelled out in panic.

They began to look around frantically for any sign of him. The only thing that stood out was a giant, equine-shaped hole that was now present in the door that lead to the room.

Wait...

"Let's go!" Celestia urged. All five ponies rushed out of the observation room and into the hallway. They found Dr Star lying prone on the ground; an unnervingly large crack in the wall was above his position. The explosion of the orb burnt most of the padding away, but it was still intact. His goggles were cracked, and the odd shrapnel was embedded into the padding. It seems the worst injury he had sustained was the crash against the wall.

The princesses needed to be sure. They rushed him; looking for any hidden injuries.

"Medic!" Celestia yelled. "We need a medic!"

As she shouted for help, Dr. Star's eyes fluttered open. Before anypony could say anything, he slowly raised a hoof, and pointed it at his scientists.

"Write that down." he ordered, before fading into unconsciousness again.

It was quiet

Too quiet.

It was so unbelievably quiet, it was maddening.

Chirp!

"Oh God, thank you."

Emile began shuffling in place; unable to find a comfortable spot in the bubble. He was growing incredibly antsy from the lack of stimuli. With no knife to fiddle around with, it was hard not to grow impatient.

Looking out a window, he saw the sun rise. Judging from its position, it was about seven or eight in the morning.

An hour. He's done nothing for one hour and already he was uncomfortable of his situation. How does he hope to survive this world?

His ears perked up. A sound came from upstairs; it sounded like a yawn. Emile listened carefully for any more sounds.

Footsteps. Something was awake upstairs. He followed the sound with his ears. The source of the sound moved from the upstairs level, to the staircase, and finally to the living room; where Emile can see whoever made those footsteps.

It was short in stature, and looked reptilian in nature. Its scales were a shade of purple, and its spines were green. Judging by its facial expression and half-lidded, bloodshot eyes, it wasn't fully awake yet.

Emile realized that this was Spike, the baby dragon who lived with Twilight. He encountered him in the Castle of the Two Sisters, along with the other six Elements of Harmony. He stayed back the entire time, staying out of sight. The only time Emile actually saw him was when he walked along his bubble on the way to Twilight's home.

As he passed by his bubble, Spike let out a strange half croak, half groan. Must've been his way of saying good morning.

He walked towards the kitchen. Some clattering could be heard, before he appeared in the living room again. In one claw, he had an open milk carton of chocolate milk. In the other claw, he had a ruby.

He took a massive swig with the milk carton, wiping his mouth with his other arm and sighing with content. Once again, he passed by Emile's bubble on his way to the stairs. As he walked up, Twilight went past him.

"Morning, Twi. Fridge is empty, by the way." he croaked.

"Good morning, Spike." she replied; adding a very unconvincing fake yawn between her words. With her body language and her ham-fisted attempt to pretend she was still sleepy, Emile theorised that Twilight has been awake for some time now.

He paid it no mind. Twilight greeted him as she walked towards the kitchen.

"Morning Emile! Had a good sleep?"

Bad question. Bad, bad question. She mentally slapped herself; of course he didn't have a good sleep! She just witnessed him have a nightmare!

Emile only grumbled in response. Twilight sighed with relief, happy that she had avoided a touchy subject. She walked towards the kitchen; intent in betting some breakfast. She opened the fridge, but only found a couple of gemstones and a half-full carton of chocolate milk. She looked disappointed at the lack of food; there weren't even any leftovers. She went through the cupboards as well, but to no avail.

Groaning, Twilight grabbed a bag of bits from the counter. She was going to buy some groceries from the market; it should be open at this hour. At the same time, she was going to get some breakfast; preferrably some glazed donuts from Sugarcube Corner. Maybe a coffee from Starbuck as well. Before she walked out the door, however, she announced she was leaving.

"Spike, I'm leaving to get some breakfast and groceries. Hold down the fort for me while I'm gone, okay?"

He replied with an okay from his position in his basket bed. Satisfied, she stepped outside her home and closed the door behind her.

"Where is everypony?"

Twilight thought to herself as she walked down the path to Sugarcube Corner; a steaming hot cup of coffee levitating beside her and a bag of groceries on her other side. She tentatively took a sip, trying to avoid scalding her tongue from the hot liquid. Thankfully, it had cooled down a bit; allowing her to take small gulps.

The first thing she had noticed upon exiting her home was the presence of everypony - the lack of it, to be exact. It was like the town had been deserted overnight; she even swore she just saw a tumbleweed pass by her on the way to the market. Thankfully, the market was open, but something was obviously wrong. The vendors were there and willing to sell their products, but their eyes darted back and forth; as if they were on the lookout for something.

The same could be said for Starbuck. The baristas who worked there were incredibly wary; periodically checking the windows from time to time.

As she continued to walk aimlessly, her train of thought had been derailed; particularly by a voice calling out to her.

"Psssst! Twilight! Over here."

Twilight turned, looking for the source of the voice. Her eyes fell on Sugarcube Corner; a pink hoof from the door was motioning her to come closer.

Twilight approached with caution. As soon as she was in range, the hoof grabbed her and pulled into the store.

"What the- Pinkie!" she scolded. "What was that for?"

"Shhh!"

"But-"

"Sh!"

"You-"

"SHH!"

Twilight immediately closed her mouth, giving up her attempt to talk to Pinkie. She decided it would better if she let her talk first.

Pinkie shushed her for one last time, and then proceeded to look out the door. Satisfied to see no one saw or heard them, she turned to Twilight again.

"Twilight, what were you doing out there?! You know it's dangerous with that big scary monster out there prowling the streets!"

"Big, scary, monster?" she questioned. For some reason, a strange sense of dèjá vu washed over her.

"Yeah! The one the Flower Trio talked about?"

"Flower Trio?" The situation felt awfully familiar...

"Big, metal monster guy? Tall, has a scary skull face? Doesn't ring a bell?"

"Big, metal mon-" she didn't even need to finish. She buried her face into her hooves so fast, Twilight worried that she had accidentally bruised her forehead.

"Of course." she muttered. This was the Zecora incident all over again.

She lifted her head drom her hooves, and saw Pinkie flashing her signature grin. Twilight just looked unamused.

"The Flower Trio caught wind of Emile?"

"Yup."

"Started rumours about him?"

"Uh-huh."

"Now everypony's hiding from him?"

"Mm-hm"

"And you're joining them because you think it's fun."

"Correctomundo."

Twilight suppressed the urge to groan. This was exactly the Zecora incident all over again. Only difference was, Twilight and her friends had already met the "big, scary metal monster".

"Pinkie, you already know Emile. He's not scary." she said. "Most of the time..."

"I know. It's just fun hiding from something again!" she explained. "He doesn't talk much, but I just know he's super funnerrific when he wants to!"

Upon saying those words, Pinkie giggled to herself.

"Heh. Fun and terrific. Funnerrific. I'm such a genius."

Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Look, Pinkie. I'm just here to get a dozen glazed donuts. Can you do that for me?"

"I already have!"

Somehow, she had a box of donuts on her hoof; despite not moving an inch since the start of the conversation. Paying it no mind - as it was Pinkie just being Pinkie - Twilight gave her the sufficient amount of bits and turned towards the door.

"Wait! Let me come with you!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"I haven't thrown Emile a 'Welcome to Ponyville and by extension our world' party!"

That same eyebrow only went higher. Twilight would've normally objected, but thought twice. While there was a good chance Emile hates parties - given his latest attitude towards anypony - if the public gets word of Pinkie attempting to get chummy with him, it might just help improve his image from "big, scary metal monster who wants to kill everypony" into "big, scary metal monster who wants nothing to do with everypony and is relatively harmless unless provoked".

Twilight just shrugged, motioning Pinkie to come along. The Cakes, who have been hiding behind the counter this entire time, waved from their position as Pinkie left.

As the two ponies idly chatted whilst walking, a small rumble was heard. Twilight - believing it was from her stomach - grew embarassed, and decided to take a bite of a donut.

The rumbling continued, steadily growing louder by the second. By now, Twilight realized the sound wasn't coming from her stomach. Looking around, she tried to find the source. Her discovery, however, would compel her to widen her eyes in horror.

A stampede- no, an army aproached from the horizon; a large dust cloud in their wake. But, this was no ordinary army. No, this was much worse than your average army. Journalists, reporters and cameras as far as the eye could see. It seems that news of Emile's existence and arrival travels fast.

Canterlot Sun, The Vanhoover Advertiser, Cloudsdale Express; you name it, they're there. And they were charging full force, ready to poke, prod and invade Twilight's privacy for what was most probably the biggest scoop in news history. Squinting her eyes, Twilight could see a mint green unicorn leading the charge.

Twilight trembled in fear. She had had her fair shair of paparazzi ever since her coronation; she barely lasted their assault of questions and flashing cameras. She could handle a small group one at a time, but an army?

It was suicide.

As she and Pinkie turned tail, a bright flash appeared in front of them. Half-expecting an assault of questions and microphones, she closed her eyes, preparing for the worst.

None came. She opened them, and was surprised to see a familiar draconequus in front of her.

"Discord? What-"

"No time. You two need to go. Now."

"But-"

"Don't worry about me, Twilight. I can handle these savages." he assured. As he spoke, a small smirk slowly became apparent on his face.

"Besides. You have no idea how long I've wanted to do this."

Twilight smiled. At that moment, she was both proud and grateful of him.

"Fluttershy really turned you around, huh?"

"Pfft." he scoffed. "Was there any doubt?

"Yeah, there was a lot of doubt." Pinkie answered.

Discord clutched his heart, as if he was physically hurt. His mock expression of pain slowly turned into a warm smile.

"Go on, get out of here. I have a scene to re-enact."

Both nodded, and dashed towards the other direction as fast as their hooves could carry them. As soon as they disappeared from sight, Discord turned to the army. They were much closer now; their rumblings were much louder. With a snap of his talon, he was instantly garbed in a grey robe, with a matching grey wizard hat. In his paw, he held a wooden staff. As the army grew closer, his grin grew wider.

"You!"

The army grew closer.

"Shall not!"

He raised the staff.

"PASS!"

Twilight and Pinkie slammed the door behind them. Paying Spike and Emile no attention, Twilight darted back and forth; making sure the windows were locked and closing all the blinds as fast as possible. Once the deed was done, Twilight leaned against the wall for support; exhaustion finally catching up to her.

"Hey Twilight!" Spike greeted. "Let me get those groceries for you."

Grabbing the bags, he walked towards the kitchen. He greeted Pinkie as he passed by her.

"Hi Pinkie. What brings you here?"

She wasn't paying attention; she was too transfixed in her attempts to start a conversation with Emile. Emile, however, had both his hands on the sides of his head. It was apparent he wanted to tune her out as best as he can.

Spike was surprised to see Emile for the first time, to say the least. He was even more so when Cadence said that he was actually human.

His first instinct was to disbelieve it. However, Cadence was hardly a liar.

So, Emile was human. Spike still found it hard to believe, so he made up some explanations in his head to why Emile looks like his current state.

His most prominent theory was that Emile was wearing some sort of protective clothing; a suit of armor, if you will. It would certainly explain all the metal, as humans were supposed to have skin made of flesh. Knowing it was the most likely theory to be true, Spike believed that Emile just doesn't bother to take off any part his armor, if at all.

As Spike disappeared into the kitchen, Emile believed he was having the time of his life. The worst time, that is. Pinkie had been attempting to talk to him the entire time, never stopping for a single second to breath in air.

"She... just... doesn't... stop." Emile thought to himself in broken words, unable to think straight with Pinkie's continous chatter. He couldn't believe it, but Emile found somebody - or rather, somepony, as the natives insist on using - who had a mouth that ran faster than Jun's.

"I'll do what's necessary, sir. Good luck."

Flashes of Jun leaving Noble Team to escort Dr. Halsey appeared before his very eyes. His headache grew tenfold, leaving a very bewildered Emile behind.

Why now? Of all the times it could happen, why was this happening to him now? Emile had no problems when it comes to masking his emotions before, so what brought this on?

The memories with Noble Team. The reminiscing. That must be why. It has to be the only explanation. The random flashes must be directly linked to Emile's wallowing in his past.

He knew what must be done. Emile began to bury any thought of Noble Team in his head; locking away the memories and throwing away the key. No more reminiscing. No more wallowing. No more Noble Team. He will move on; just as he had always done.

"A fat lot of good that's done to you." his subconscious whispered. "You haven't even moved on from-"

"SILENCE"

It was such a simple word. He didn't even yell that word in his head. It was all it took to end all traitorous thoughts; effectively shutting up his subconsciousness. That simple word had been laced with an undeniable rage; his mind had no trouble registering that emotion. However, his mind also registered something else. Something potent. Something supressed.

A hint of sadness.

"-and I haven't even thrown you a 'Welcome to Ponyville and by extension our world' party yet!"

What.

That sentence was enough to snap Emile out of his stupor. Before he could demand her to explain, Pinkie gasped.

"Oh my gosh! I haven't thrown you a 'Welcome to Ponyville and by extension our world' party yet!"

In the blink of an eye, she grabbed Twilight from the couch and Spike from the kitchen.

"Everypony out! NOW!"

She quite literally shoved everyone out the door; Emile's bubble included. Before Twilight could protest, Pinkie closed the door behind her and locked it.

"Pinkie! Open this door!"

Sounds of construction could be heard from inside. Only three seconds had passed since their rude shoving before Pinkie called out to them.

" ~Okay, you can come in now!~ " she replied in a singsong voice.

Twilight and Spike walked in; Emile was merely ushered in due to the fact that he cannot go anywhere unless prompted by Twilight. At first, the place was dark. It was hard to see anything, and Pinkie was nowhere in sight.

CLICK!

"Surprise!"

Emile jumped back in shock. As soon as he had registered his surroundings, he just stood there, dumbfounded.

Indeed, he was surprised.

The entire library had been decorated with streamers, balloons and - much to Emile's chagrin - confetti. Tables had been set with an assortment of food, music was playing in the background and to top it off, a large banner hung above everything; the words "Welcome to Ponyville and by extension our world!" were plastered on it.

Three seconds. Pinkie has turned a library into a full-blown party in less than three seconds.

"But, but how? HOW?!"

To make matters worse, the rest of the Elements of Harmony were with Pinkie. Each one of them just looked as confused as he did.

"What the..." Twilight started. "Fluttershy? Rainbow Dash? Rarity? What are you.. how did you-"

"Sugarcube, ah have..." Applejack ran her hooves across her body, trying to make sense of it all. "...no idea."

"What are you all waiting for?!" Pinkie exclaimed. "LET'S PARTY!"

By now, everypony had grown used to Pinkie's antics; no matter how strange or outright crazy. Pinkie could practically start a one-pony stampede across town and no one would bat an eyelid.

Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy simply believed that it was going to be one of those days again. Giving each other a nonchalant shrug, they just went with the flow and joined in the festivities. As they conversed with each other, Emile continued to stare at the spectacle in front of him.

"Hey... Spike, was it? Does this... happen a lot?"

"More often than you think." he replied. "Now if you'll excuse me, the Pin the Tail on the Donkey champion has to defend his title."

As he walked off, Emile looked even more confused. This was a normal occurrence?

Suck it up, Emile. Today's going to be a long day.

The "party" Pinkie orchestrated for Emile had ended, leaving Twilight and Spike to clean up the mess.

Applejack was the first to leave, as she had duties as a farmer to attend to. The next was Rarity and Fluttershy; Rarity needed to work in the Boutique and Fluttershy promised to help her with her dresses. Rainbow Dash was next; she was called in for a weather emergency. Finally, Pinkie made her leave. By then, it was late in the afternoon.

While Pinkie devised the party for Emile, he stayed out sight for a majority of the day. Twilight only noticed him once, and that was when she gave him something to eat. Emile took off his helmet that time, allowing Twilight to see his face. Now, Twilight had no doubt that he was human; that scratches off one problem on the list. Moving on to the next problem.

How does she send Emile home?

Her first thought was the same way she went to the human world; the portal that leads to there. Of course, that was completely out of the question. The portal had closed weeks ago, and it's going to take another thirty full moon cycles for it to open again.

She racked her brain for another solution, but none came to mind. There has never been a spell that could send somepony to a different world ever made; the only pony who comes to mind that can do that is the legendary Star Swirl the Bearded himself. Of course, that's another dead end. Star Swirl is dead, and most of his studies faded away over the centuries - much to Twilight's dismay.

"You know, Emile-" Spike started. "-you're pretty different from other humans I met before. For starters, you're pretty tall. Like dang, man, you're huge. And the metal. I haven't seen anything li-

"Stop right there." Emile interrupted. "You said 'other humans'. Explain, now."

Twilight immediately stepped in. She was going to tell Emile the news at a better time; preferrably when he is better acquainted with Ponyville, as to avoid his wrath. Spike, however, unwittingly let the subject fly prematurely.

"What Spike meant to say was, erm, he's never seen anything like you before!" Twilight said, attempting to steer the subject towards a different direction. "I mean, you're the first human here, and-"

"Stop lying to me." he growled. "Explain, NOW!"

"Hey!" Spike yelled. "You can't talk to Twilight like that!"

Spike and Emile glared daggers at each other; Emile growing irritated by the second. Before Spike could say anything, Twilight put a hoof in front of him.

"No, Spike. He has every right to know."

She sighed. There was no avoiding the subject now.

"Weeks ago, Spike and I went into the human world; Earth. The reason to why is not important right now. We used a portal to get there."

Twilight had Emile's full attention. His eyes widened, and for the the first time since waking up in the forest, he smiled. A full, genuine smile. A way home, he had a way home! The thought alone almost wanted him to jump in joy.

It did not last long.

"You have to take me to the portal. Please, you have to take me! They need me back there!"

Losing all form of seriousness, Emile put on pleading tone and begged her to take him to the portal. The idea of home, the nostalgic feeling of warzone, the thought of being able to fight again. Emile will do anything to get that. If his past self saw him right now, there was a good chance he'll be ashamed at the sight in front of him. But Emile couldn't care less. He just needed to get through that portal, contact UNSC forces, and all of this will just be a bad memory that needed to buried with the others.

"I'm sorry. The portal only opens once every thirty full moon cycles."

Emile was confused. He grinded some numbers in his head; converting thirty full moon cycles into something more manageable to understand. After he finished his equation, he felt as if someone shot him in the heart.

Two years. Thirty full moon cycles was approximately that long. It would take another two years before the portal would open again. Two years, before he could get home.

He went into shock. He leaned against the inside of his bubble for support, before finally slumping down. The gravity of the situation was kicking in; whatever confidence Emile had conjured this entire time, it went away as fast as it had appeared. Behind his helmet, he had a small frown; the feeling of despair finally blossoming in him.

He wanted to scream. To shout. To yell at Twilight to do something about it. Home was within his reach, so why can't he go home?

He did none of these. Instead, he reached for a familiar metal accessory from his neck. He yanked it, letting his dogtags settle in his open palm. He stared at the accessory longingly, before grasping it firmly. Fearing for his sanity, he knew he needed it more than ever now.

"Emile, are you okay?" Twilight asked, slightly worried that she had incurred his wrath.

He gave no response. Twilight was going to ask again, but she was interrupted by Spike, who placed a claw on her shoulder.

"I think it's best if we give him some space, Twi."

She wanted to retort, but the rational and sympathetic side of her agreed with him. She had just told Emile that he cannot return home for a very long time; if she was in his position, she'd want some space too.

Twilight and Spike moved away from him, continuing to clean the library in silence.

Darkness, his faithful companion.

He hid from sight, far away from prying eyes. No one in their right mind would ever come near the forest at this time of hour; if at all. It was the perfect base of operations.

He was known as many things; some of the names were creative, others were just plain simple. The King of Shadows, The Tyrant of the Crystal Empire, the list went on and on. As nice as they were, he preferred his name; the name that once spread terror throughout the Crystal Ponies.

King Sombra.

He stood at the edge of the Everfree Forest, his green eyes surveying the area. It was nighttime, his favorite time of all. One by one, the lights of the houses went out; putting Ponyville into a deeper state of darkness. He wanted so badly to move through the shadows again; to spread terror once more.

But that would go against the plan.

Behind him stood eight manticores; one male and the rest female. He found the male a few nights ago, prowling on its own in the forest. It was a fine specimen, clearly the alpha male of a pack. It would've been easy to corrupt its mind right there, but Sombra needed more.

So he followed it. The male unwittingly lead him to the rest of the pack; their numbers were still no match for Sombra's dark magic. They were mindless beasts; corrupting them and bending their weak minds to his will was relatively easy.

A wise pony once said that the eyes were the windows to the soul. If you looked into the eyes of the manticores, you will find none. Their eyes were jet black; no white or any form of coloration in their eyes were present.

Sombra would've loved it if he could send out the manticores now. But again, that was against the plan. It was much too early; allowing the cats out of the bag prematurely would mean disaster. For now, all he could do was spread fear as inconspciously as possible. Sombra had been given a second chance; he will not waste that chance. He thought he would never see the sunlight again, after that little hiccup with the Crystal Empire.

It was that blasted dragon's fault. He had that unicorn right where he wanted her, and then he came along. And then there was that Princess. She even had the audacity to take his throne.

No matter. They will all die in the end.

"Only if you were competent enough to see the plan through."

He shook his head, dispelling any lingering doubt. He will succeed. He will get his revenge.

He will not fail Master again.

Emile VS The Magic Of Friendship: Haunted Pasts and Failure Lasts

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Nightmares

Now that was something Emile was familiar with. Isolated nightmares are normal; waking up once in a while from a bad dream is expected, and some physicians argue that it is healthy for the victim; even going as far as saying that a few nightmares might help in working through traumatic events.

Of course, this wasn't the case for our deadly SPARTAN. He was haunted with recurring nightmares; often it left him with severe anxiety and a feeling of strong terror afterwards. He was practically border-lining a mental condition called Nightmare Disorder. He keeps his emotions in check constantly, but that doesn't change anything. No one knows of this, no one must ever know, and he was thankful that Carter wasn't willing to pry in on what was bothering him when he found out.

Closure was what he needed; a way to move on. But, as fate would it, the closest he could ever get to closure is denial. He refuses to come forward for help; he believes there are others who are in more need of help than he does. As a means of coping, he denies that particular memory had happened. He buries himself in his work; he wanted to forget, to never again continue to feel the pain that ate away at him everyday. He had denied it for so long, he wholeheartedly believes that denial was the only way he could ever move on; to finally have some form of peace within his soul.

He pretends to be okay, for the sake of everyone around him. Like he said, there are others who were more deserving of help. He did not need anyone's pity; not from a psychiatrist, not from his friends, and certainly not from the ponies either. He will cope, he will find a way, and he will move on, just like everyone else has. Like Carter said:

"Just remember. If you want to move on, you gotta let go of the past first."

Letting go. That was the magic word. Emile knew how to let go. It's just that "knowing" how to let go is a lot harder than actually doing it. It's like he has a pure inability in doing so.

His fears, his worries, his memories; all were bundled up and multiplied by ten whenever he sleeps. There were a lot of things that fueled his nightmares; the death of his friends, the death of him, a Covenant victory. And yet, they paled in comparison to the one memory; the one that brought him an unimaginable amount of regret and sadness. The longer he dwelled in his past, the more painful it became. It was like his mental state was ready to give; Emile had been carrying that heavy load in his heart for far too long. His nightmare forced him to relive the awful, most devastating moment of his life, and it was completely all his fault.

His nightmare, was a failed promise.

Emile jolted awake. The sheer suddenness of waking up disoriented him; his vision was blurry and all he could hear was a persistent ringing noise in his ears. His nose detected a faint smell of smoke, and his entire body was wracked in pain. From what he could feel around him, he was sitting down on a seat. On a pilot seat, to be exact.

His hands fell on a control panel in front of him. He grunted in pain as he moved; instinctively, he put his hands on his sides, seemingly the source of his misery.

The blurriness went away, but the ringing had not. He looked around; albeit with small difficulty. Despite the small haziness, he was able to discern small details. He was currently in a crashed Pelican. Exposed wire stuck out in every direction, dangerously sparking from time to time. Looking back, Emile spotted a giant, gaping hole where the ship's left wing should be. Parts and debris were scattered everywhere; it was a mess.

The ringing in his ears persisted; this time, Emile began to grow irritated of its presence.

"Can't... hear... shit."

He attempted to get up, but he did it too suddenly, leading him to clutch his side as pain shot throughout him.

"Fuck! Need... to... get up!"

He attempted it again, but found himself unable to due to the pain. Sitting back down, he put the hand he was clutching his side with to his face. It was covered in blood.

"Need... a medkit."

He looked around again, searching for a medkit to use on himself. It didn't help that he felt woozy, but he managed. Turns out, there was already one in front of him.

He grabbed the medkit on the controls and popped open the lid. He grabbed the biofoam from the kit . Aiming the nozzle at his injured side, he sprayed the substance unto the wound.

True to many people's word, the stuff was extremely painful to put on. It was like a thousand fire ants were crawling inside, biting at every bit of exposed flesh on him. He squirmed in place as the foam's numbing effects quickly took action. It felt like a bitch, but with every passing second, Emile began to breathe easier.

As the blurriness and the ringing went away, his mind began to process the events happening around him.

"I was... commandeering a Pelican. Then I crashed."

He tried to remember anything else before the crash, and he was met with a painful headache.

"Great. I got amnesia. Dammit..."

He holstered the biofoam in in one of his extra pouches, just in case he needed it again in the future. As his strength returned, he got up and grabbed a pistol from the floor. He pushed a button on the control, opening the Pelican's back hatch.

"At least that's still working."

As it slowly opened, he analyzed his surroundings, and he was presented with a familiar eerie sight.

Oh, this sight was far too familiar for Emile's liking.

"L-Luxor? But... Eridanus was glassed years ago! This can't be!"

He was frozen in place, surveying his current environment. Apparently, he was in his home city. It was in shambles; everywhere there was smoke, fire and destroyed buildings as far as the eye could see. It was like the entire city was set alight, burning brightly and with vigor. It was almost beautiful, in a way, like it was a piece of art, should one not count the debris and the dead.

Emile was astounded to say the least. The city looked exactly like the way he left it all those years ago, when he was but a child. And by the looks of it, it hadn't changed one bit.

He made his way out, and then began to travel along the deserted streets with no sense of direction. He could hear the sounds of distant gunfire, but other than that, he was alone. Bodies; both Covenant and human, littered the ground. He gave the Covenant corpses nothing but a look of contempt; they were monsters, they always have been, and they should be treated as such.

His HUD began to fill with static; none of his usual indicators were showing. He slapped the upside of his helmet; hopefully returning his HUD to its normal working state. First, the ammo indicator for his pistol slowly came to view; followed by his shield indicator, health indicator, grenade indicator and motion sensor. Emile began to breathe easier, knowing his motion sensor did not pick up any enemies; his pistol only had two clips to begin with.

Suddenly, another component of his HUD came to life. It was a friendly indicator; usually it shows when a friendly tag is nearby. It pointed to the east, and to say Emile was surprised was an understatement. The tag not only gave Emile the rough location of a friendly, it gave him a little hope.

B-312

"That's Six's tag!" he thought.

Emile ran to the tag's location, overjoyed beyond belief. For all he knew, Six was the only remaining SPARTAN alive in Noble Team. He pushed himself to run as fast as he can; an impossible grin plastered on his face. He practically flew past the wrecked vehicles and even more bodies, but he did not care. He was too preoccupied on seeing a familiar face once more.

He rounded a corner, and found himself standing in front of an entrance to a park. Six's tag has not yet moved into a different location, meaning he must've been hunkered down somewhere in there.

"Gotta be careful. Park's an open space; easy to get surrounded in."

He replaced his happy demeanor for a cautious one. One wrong move, and he may find himself in a trap. He aimed his pistol in front of him, and slowly he walked down the set path of the park. It had rows of rows of pine trees. It was a lush environment; a peaceful one, but now all of it just stood there; barren, burnt or both. Either way, it gave Emile the creeps; the destroyed trees seemingly gave off an aura of discomfort.

As he walked towards Six's position, he'd check over his shoulders; just to check if something was behind. He grew more paranoid for every second that passed; the trees looked more sinister, the air grew colder, the shadows grew longer. It wasn't night, but it might as well be with the dark clouds overhead, blocking most of the sunlight. He had a lingering feeling of fear on the back of his head, but he dispelled it. His duty as a soldier and to the remainder of his team overcame his needless paranoia. Still, he kept his guard, mindful that this place was potentially dangerous. Wherever the Covenant went, death followed them very closely.

What intrigued Emile at this point was the casualties the Covenant sustained while he made his way to Six. As he approached the center of the park - in which he assumed was Six's position - the number of dead alien bodies grew. There were even a few wrecked Wraiths lying around. Wherever Six was, he must have had some crazy firepower or at least some form of support with him.

If that was the case, then why were there no human vehicles, or even human bodies to begin with? Not that he was a pessimist, but to have no casualties in a skirmish with the Covenant was unheard of.

He finally reached his destination; the center of the park. As the trees cleared, his eyes widened in surprise.

It was a massacre; scores of dead aliens littered the open field. Elites, Grunts, Jackals and even a few Hunters lay there, devoid of any life. Dumbstruck, Emile walked past these corpses; examining them down to the last detail as he passed by. Whoever did this, they did it with frightening amount of brutality and efficiency. Some had stab wounds; it was obvious that they were killed swiftly. Some had long, deep gashes that ran across their bodies; their innards spilled unto the open ground. Some of the corpses weren't even in one piece at all; they were chopped up like they were placed in a blender. On one occasion, Emile knelt next to a dead Elite Zealot. It lied with its face down on the ground; the pool of blood underneath him had already dried up, hinting this one had been dead for a while. Its head was also completely severed; it was lying a few meters away from the body. A clean cut, by the looks of it.

In the middle of it all stood a Covenant Anti-Air Gun, destroyed beyond recognition. It looked like had been forcefully ripped in half; the main gun had fallen off the the foundation and laid uselessly on the ground.

Emile eyed every single detail of his surroundings; undoubtedly awestruck at the spectacle. It was nothing short of a massacre. Once again, he failed to find any human corpses lying around. Emile racked his brain for an explanation, but none came to mind; or rather, no reasonable one did.

There weren't any explosives residue on the ground, other than the decrepit AA gun's immediate area, ruling out the possibility that this place was bombarded with explosives to kill them. Besides, all the wounds the dead had suffered were made by a melee weapon of sorts, but that just made it more confusing. The only weapon capable of doing such damage to the body was an Energy Sword, but it was even more unlikely that the Covenant would turn on their own. Plus, even if the Covenant did fight each other, then why did they all suffer wounds from a melee weapon? Surely a Grunt or a Jackal would have used their plasma weapons, and Emile wasn't even sure a Hunter would even consider wielding a melee weapon; they already have that big shield that they carry around. That thing would crush you, not inflict deep slash wounds.

All points suggested that one figure did this, on his own, and probably with a melee weapon of sorts. But that was ridiculous, one man cannot possibly hope to counter such a force; with a only melee weapon no less. Emile wasn't even certain that a SPARTAN could do this. They were war machines, yes, but even they had their own limits; as powerful as they were.

Unless...

He was so caught up in the bodies, he didn't even notice that he had already reached his destination. His HUD displayed that Six's tag was right in front of him, yet the SPARTAN himself was nowhere to be found. His realization was delayed, and now he wished he didn't find this tag in the first place.

His held his breath; preparing himself for what was to come. He begged - pleaded even - that it wasn't true. He wanted to deny it, but the facts were right there. He forced himself to look down to his feet, where his tag indicator pointed towards.

He was greeted with the sight of an empty assault rifle, some dogtags, and an empty, broken helmet; belonging to none other than Noble Six.

Emile sank to his knees, and sighed in defeat. He stared at the helmet blankly; the helmet stared back. He wasn't particularly sad, or mournful, or even angry. He was just... tired. He was tired of fighting, he was tired of running, he was tired of seeing his friends disappear, never to be seen again. He considered his friends - Carter, Kat, Jun, Jorge, Six and even Thom - the original Noble Six, all of them were his brothers and sisters. They were family to him. They were all he had left when the Covenant took away everything he held dear when he was a child. Seeing them die, just like that... it can really take its toll, even to someone as broken as Emile.

He wanted to be sure. He grabbed the empty helmet and grabbed its memory chip; found at the back. Taking out his own memory chip, Emile inserted Six's chip into his helmet; intent on seeing Six's last moment in life. Did he die a quick, meaningless death, like Kat did? Or did he sacrifice himself for the greater good, similar to Jorge and Carter before him? Did he live? Was he still alive? He needed to know.

Once the memory chip had synced with his helmet, Emile searched the video archives for anything recent. Everything a human soldier sees is recorded; a method implemented by ONI as a means to retrieve and collect data from the battlefield when a soldier is debriefed from a mission. So, it was a surprise for Emile to find that there was only one recording in the archive. He asked himself if he truly wanted to see his friend's fate, before proceeding and pressing play.

The video started off quite normally. Six was piloting a Hornet, along with two marine gunners. Emile could see other squadrons composed of Hornets and Pelicans flying with Six. Everything seemed to be going smoothly.

Then Six reached for something. Some shuffling noises could be heard in the background. The shuffling noises ended, and Six held up whatever he was looking for and put to his face; examining the objects in his hands. It was all five of his team's dogtags, including Emile's. He seemed to be staring at them wistfully; he hadn't uttered a single word yet since the start. With a heavy sigh, he put the tags away, and once again, Six was left alone to his thoughts. Finding no valid reason to keep watching, Emile fast-forwarded the video.

As the video forwarded, his mind had finally caught up to speed with his situation. According to the video, he was dead; Six had his tags, as well as all the rest of Noble Team. He reached for his collar, only to find nothing. And most importantly, his... location. Eridanus II was glassed years ago; Emile had witnessed it himself in his childhood.

"I must be dreaming..."

He couldn't bring himself to believe that thought. He could still feel fatigue, still feel pain; everything seemed much too real for it to be a dream.

His thoughts were cut short as he paused at a random interval, playing the video once more. From Six's perspective, the surroundings have changed; no longer was he flying through the clouds, but rather he was flying through the city. Six masterly flew his Hornet; destroying small gun placements and Banshees as he traveled from place to place; completing small objectives given to him by a commanding officer. Destroy a jammer here, save a couple ODST's there, he knew the drill. The Marines that were with him whooped in joy for every Covenant structure they destroyed, and often the group received thanks from ground forces below for relieving some pressure off of them.

//Thanks, Lieutenant. Thought we were fresh meat from that Banshee if it weren't for you.//

Six silently acknowledged them, and went on his way. As another objective appeared, Emile could hear the two Marines on the gunner seats conversing. He could only listen in, as Six was facing the windscreen.

"Whoo! Did you see that? I just destroyed a motherfucker with another motherfucker!" one exclaimed.

He heard the other one scoff, obviously in amusement.

"That was dumb luck, Jermaine. How could you possibly know that the Banshee you destroyed would crash straight into the other one?"

"Who fucking cares? That was awesome! Momma would be proud..."

"Yeah, yeah, just shut the fuck up, wouldja? You'd be doing my ears a favor. Keep an eye out, too. These buildings are pretty damn close to us."

"Yeah? Well, why don't YOU shut the fuck up, focus on YOUR gun, and then we can all go home, have a cup of tea, an-"

The conversation was cut off abruptly. Following the interruption was a garbled sound, and then silence. Six turned his head to the side, trying to listen in on the commotion in the back. When nothing was heard, Six faced forward, and presumably resuming to fly the Hornet to his set objective.

He was presented with a Stealth Elite on his windscreen, with an Energy Sword in hand; poised to strike.

The Elite lunged at Six, his sword breaking through the glass. Startled, Emile held his breathe, expecting the worst. Six twisted sideways; barely dodging the searing blade. He grabbed the pistol from his side and aimed it at the broken windscreen.

The Elite was nowhere to be found.

He kept the pistol aimed at the windscreen, just in case the Elite had stealthed itself. He needed to act quickly; an invisible Elite was a dangerous Elite, and it was somewhere in his vehicle. He sat down on the pilot seat, and to his dismay his control panel and dashboard were destroyed; no doubt it was from the sword aimed for him. Before he can even think about finding a way of fixing this mess, a loud noise found its way to Emile's ears. It was akin to that of long fingernails scraping across a chalkboard, only much, much louder. He winced at the intensity of the noise, and Emile could see Six was alarmed as well; he was using what remains of the control panel to find any form of damage in his ship.

Suddenly, the vehicle lurched to the side and spun uncontrollably; Six was practically holding on to his life and to his seat. Despite the video spinning uncontrollably, Emile could discern a torn Hornet wing falling past the windscreen.

"That fucker tore off the wing?!"

It would seem to be the reason why the Hornet was falling. Six tried his best to at least level the Hornet, but to no avail. The Hornet continued to spin, and then crash into a building. Six was tumbling all over the cockpit at this point. With the the ground mere meters away from him, Six locked his armor and hoped for the best.

The video cut off; replaced with static, the audio was the only thing working. Emile cringed as he heard loud sounds of metal smashing into concrete, as well as Six's grunts of pain. The noises dispersed, and then eventually stopped altogether. Emile grew increasingly worried as the silence continued, until the static slowly cleared, and Emile could see through Six's perspective once again. The video had returned to its normal state, showing a broken windscreen and some smoke. The vehicle stayed stationary; disoriented from the crash, Six unlocked his armor, and began to finally move from his awkward position in the cockpit. Finding the controls unresponsive, Six forcefully kicked the hatch, allowing him to get out. He did some stretches, and then he examined his crashed Hornet.

It was definitely never going to fly again. The right wing was gone, and by the looks of it, it was from the Stealth Elite's sword. He looked up, curious to how the Elite managed to get on the Hornet. As Six thought quietly, the gears in Emile's head turned; he too was trying to solve this puzzling event.

"Keep an eye out, too. These buildings are pretty damn close to us."

That was it. Six flew too close to a building, and one of the more zealous of the Covenant must've jumped on when the opportunity presented itself. Six shook his head and sighed; disappointed in his own ignorance.

As he looked around, he found a dead Elite nearby; chopped in half. In his overzealous attempt to take Six's life, the Elite lost his own. Both Six and Emile payed it no mind; they see gruesome images like these all the time.

As Six went inside the wrecked Hornet to salvage anything of use, his radio crackled to life.

//Mayday, mayday, mayday! This is Pilot Lachlan Khan of a civilian evac ship requesting assistance! There's a Covenant Type-38 Anti-Aircraft Cannon out there, and it's dropping our ships like flies! Does someone copy?//

As Six pulled an Assault Rifle from the debris, the speaker's voice grew more desperate.

//Anyone?! Please! I have civilian families on my ship, and I can't take off without that gun taken out! There are Covenant are pushing to my position right now! PLEASE, CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?!//

After examining the gun for a few moments - and ensuring that it worked properly, Six activated his comms.

"Pilot Khan, this is SPARTAN-B132 of Noble Team, ready to assist." he responded.

//A-a SPARTAN? Oh, thank God! There's a Tyrant Anti-Aircraft Cannon in East Pines Park, and it's preventing me from taking off!//

"Stay calm. I'll get rid of it."

//Oh, thank you, thank you! Please, hurry! I don't think the Marines here can hold out much longer!//

Six cut his comms and rechecked his gear. Knowing that he was all set to go, he ran to the city's park; East Pines.

Once again, Emile fast forwarded the video. This was it; Six was heading to the park, where his helmet was last seen. Maybe, just maybe, he was still alive. There just had to be a reason why Six would take off his helmet. It was possible, wasn't it?

He played, and waited at the metaphorical end of his seat. Six was now in the park, and was currently in a firefight. He could hear a deep rumble in the distance; Emile presumed that it was the Covenant cannon the pilot was so desperate about. Six had engaged a small scouting party, as well as... a Wraith? This can't be good.

With no suitable cover, Six dodged and weaved the Wraith's mortars, but the open space proved to be easy for the infantry to take pot shots at him. Six needed to take them out quickly, otherwise his shields would give out from the pressure.

He switched to his pistol and aimed for some heads, but found himself unsuccessful in his efforts. The Elites dodged and weaved - as always, the Jackals hid behind their shields - as always, and the Grunts hid behind both of them - as always. Despite being the most expendable and easiest-to-kill units in the Covenant Empire, these ones were doing a pretty good job of staying alive.

His efforts were futile; Six was wasting precious ammo. He hid behind a dead tree for a breather, as well as stalling to formulate another plan.

He was given none of these, as another mortar shot was fired. Six barely had enough time to dodge it, and once again he was out in the open. More plasma shots came his way; his helmet began to emit a ringing noise, signifying his shields were done for.

Then, he saw his opportunity. A Grunt had strayed a small distance from the group; it was right out in the open. Six aimed with his pistol, but to Emile's bewilderment, he put it down. Instead, he grabbed a blue grenade, and threw it.

It all ended too quickly. The plasma grenade stuck to the Grunt's forehead. It panicked, and it ran towards its group for help. He detonated dead center of the group, taking out all the other Grunts, the majority of the Jackals, and the Elite's shields. With the group scattered and dazed, Six took advantage of their confusion.

He dropped them, all in one clip.

Emile was impressed. If he was in Six's shoes, he would've just shot the stray Grunt and continued to whittle away at the enemy with what ammo he had left. It was a gamble, and Six hit the jackpot; he counted on the Grunt's cowardice and inexperience to do his work.

The roar of an incoming mortar caught Six's attention, and once again he dodged the giant ball of plasma. Initially, this video had Emile's curiosity. Now, it had his attention. He wondered how Six would face the Wraith. He had nothing powerful enough to destroy it, and he would run the risk of being run over if he gets too close. Decisions, decisions...

Six dodged every shot, slowly making his way to the Wraith. As soon as he got too close, the vehicle suddenly lurched forward; its driver intent on squashing him like a bug on a windscreen. He dodged to the right; the Wraith missing him by mere millimetres. The driver was too slow to react; Six climbed onto its back and primed a grenade. He jumped off, and it was all over. As he dusted himself off, Emile himself was smiling.

"Top job, Six." he thought.

Still holding on to his pistol, he examined it, only to find it with three bullets left. He approached the slain Elite and took its weapon; replacing his pistol with it. Its charge was less than half, much to Six's dismay.

"Less than half Plasma Rifle, and an empty Assault Rifle." he muttered to himself.

He sighed; he'll just have to play along with the cards dealt for him. As he holstered the alien weapon, his comms came to life again.

//SPARTAN, you there? Have you taken out the gun yet?//

"I'm almost there." he replied. "Don't take off until you get my signal."

//Got it! Just hurry!//

He ran to the center of the park, where the gun placement resided.

"This is it." Emile thought. "The moment of truth."

He dreaded this part. On one hand, Six was alive and well. On the other hand...

He dreaded that part especially.

Six had finally arrived. Right there in the center, stood the cannon. It fired bolts of superheated plasma to the sky, swivel in another direction, and repeat the process over again. With his mission in sight. Six cautiously approached the gun placement.

Something was wrong. The entire field was empty. No Covenant, no defenses, nothing. It's like the only living soul in this park was Six. There were defensive positions around the gun, but no-one to man it. It's like they just went up and abandoned the enormous weapon.

The entire place screamed "trap", but Six went in nonetheless. The SPARTAN knew his duty, and knew the consequences of failure to complete that duty. He was determined to see it through; Emile could only hope for the safety of his well-being.

Six had reached the centre of the gun, where its core resided. Six knew the drill. He punched at its energy shielding, exposing the vulnerable power source. Using his second-to-last grenade, he threw it in the chamber and ran.

The gun immediately stopped firing. Loud, blaring sirens came from the inside, but it was overshadowed by the sounds of metal snapping and breaking as its systems began to fail one by one. Six made it out, and just in time to witness it burst into flame; the gun was snapped in half from the resulting explosion, and it fell uselessly to the ground. As Six watched the inferno and the destruction, Emile felt a small chill in his spine.

He didn't feel it, he just knew something was terribly wrong, the moment Six had stepped foot into the field.

"Six, get out of there!" he warned; he was so caught up in what he saw, he momentarily forgot that everything was recorded, and that he cannot do anything to change the events.

Six opened his comms and spoke.

"Pilot Kahn, the gun is offline. Proceed to exit now."

As soon as he said those words, he turned to see a ship taking off. Six could see why the pilot could not take off; the Covenant placed the gun nearby the take-off and landing platforms of civilian transport ships. From his position, the ship was just a few blocks away. As Six watched it take off, Emile was screaming in his head.

"Six! Get the fuck outta there! Get out!"

Crack!

Six turned sharply, startled at the noise. He put the Plasma Rifle in front of him; he was in a compromising position. In a clearing, surrounded by trees with no cover, should one not count the wrecked Tyrant. He kept an eye out for anything.

Then, he saw movement. Directly in front of him was a large group of Covenant, marching from the treeline. Six backed away from them; he was in no position to be in a firefight with what little he had. He turned, only to see another group of Covenant; this time, a pair of Hunters marched with them. He looked all around him; Covenant broke away from the trees, marching towards his position.

As Emile had predicted, it was a trap.

"Goddammit listen to me! Run!"

But there was nowhere to run. Six was completely surrounded, with no help and almost no ammo. The situation was dire.

Strangely enough, the Covenant did not fire any of their weapons at him. They all stopped a small distance; creating a circle around him and cutting him off from any escape. Six aimed his weapon at all of them, but it did nothing to ward them off.

Every second unnerved Emile. They made no sound, they made no move, they did not fire. They just stood there and stared, scrutinizing every bit of movement Six made.

One member stepped forward; an Elite Zealot. It walked towards Six in an eerily confident manner; Emile couldn't help but feel that the Elite was smiling like a child on Christmas morning under all that armor.

It stopped in front of Six, who still kept the Plasma Rifle aimed at it. It made no sudden movements; instead, it grabbed something from its sides. With a press of a button, it revealed them to be two Energy Swords. It held them in both hands, displaying them right in front of Six.

He gripped the rifle tighter; his breathing grew quicker. Six was getting nervous; he was at a clear disadvantage. A small bead of sweat rolled down Emile's face as he continued to watch; anticipating the last showdown. Both stared off, before the Elite did something unexpected.

It turned off one of the Energy Swords, and threw it at Six.

Six reacted quickly; he holstered the rifle and grabbed the object from midair. Emile could tell Six was confused; he stared at the deactivated Energy Sword and tilted his head. He looked at the Elite again. This time, it raised its arm and aimed the sword at him. From there, Emile put the pieces together.

The Elite was challenging Six to a duel.

"Of course." Emile realized.

According to the eggheads back on Earth, the Elites followed a code of honor similar to the Bushido code; a code of honor followed by ancient Japanese samurai. This one, apparently, wanted the honor of besting a SPARTAN in a fair match. The surrounding reinforcements are just to assure that no matter the outcome, whether the Elite wins or it dies, the SPARTAN is made sure to never leave alive.

There has been one report of a SPARTAN seen surrounded and horrendously outnumbered by enemy forces, only to find themselves challenged by an Elite to fight it with an Energy Sword. That report has also listed the SPARTAN in question as MIA.

Things just keep getting better and better.

Six had readied himself, also aware of the challenge. The Elite let out a dark chuckle as Six activated his sword, as if it was waiting for this moment its whole life.

"The exact moment that I fall, do not hesitate to kill the demon." he commanded to the others.

Moving attention from Six almost proved to be a fatal mistake. The small lapse in time where the Elite faced the crowd around them was more than enough for Six to close the distance and attempt a quick kill. By instinct, the Elite blocked, only for Six to send him tumbling away with a boot to his chest quickly after. Six then ran full speed towards the Zealot, intent on ramming him with his shoulder. With his mass and the speed he's going, something's bound to be broken.

Six stopped, and just in time. The Elite had recovered faster than he had expected; he got up and aimed the sword right at Six. If he hadn't stopped charging, he would've been impaled.

Taking advantage of Six's sudden stop, the Elite lunged at him. Six parried the blow, albeit a little clumsily. The Energy Sword was the only weapon any SPARTAN has yet to master, mostly because finding one in the firing range was practically non-existent; in the battlefield even more so, as the Elite think of their swords as a "holy weapon" that mustn't fall into enemy hands. The only real practice Six has had with the weapon is whenever he grabs one from the ground, and it doesn't help that the sword itself doesn't last very long. The Zealot must have had years of training with the Energy Sword, while the only strategy Six has with it in combat is "lunge, hack, slash, repeat".

The two clashed against each other; energy crackling in the air as plasma met plasma. Neither could gain an upper hand; both combatants had an advantage of their own. Six was stronger and faster, but the Elite had more a lot more experience in this field. Emile silently prayed for a deus ex machina, as Six began to lose more and more ground in the fight for his life.

The Zealot sliced downwards, forcing Six to put the sword up to block the attack. With Six too preoccupied with blocking, the Elite used his free hand and slugged a punch to his guts, properly knocking the wind out of Six's lungs. With the latter busy trying to get his breathe back, the Zealot once again put his weapon up, ready to strike the final blow.

In a last, desperate attempt, Six grabbed his holstered Plasma Rifle in one hand and unloaded the entire thing at the Elite. Seemingly knowing Six's move before he even did it, the Zealot put the Energy Sword in front of him, blocking every plasma bolt shot.

"I didn't know you could block projectiles with that." Emile thought.

Six kept firing until his gun overheated. Rendered useless, Six attempted to charge again, but the Elite effortlessly swatted his sword away. He gave Six an almighty kick, sending him to the ground. Before he could even get up, the Elite grabbed Six by the neck and pulled him up to the air. The Elite was at least two feet taller than Six; he grabbed hold of the Elite's arm, trying to stop him from strangling him and to make him let go. The Elite only scoffed in amusement.

"I have bested you, demon." he spoke. "Now, you die."

He raised his sword mere inches from Six's face, poised to strike. Six squirmed even harder, desperate to escape the Elite's clutches.

"No, NO!" Emile begged.

"On the blood of our fathers, on the blood of our sons, we swore to uphold the Covenant!" the Elite roared. With those words, the Elite had roused the Covenant around them into a frenzy; they were cheering loudly, demanding blood.

As the Elite pulled its arm back, Emile closed his eyes from the video. He couldn't bring himself to witness the death of another close to him. He could already hear it; the noise of plasma cutting through metal, the sound of Six dying, the absence of-

"SNAP!"

"Was that a... twig?"

Emile slowly opened his eyes, unsure of what would be presented. From the video, Six was taking in gulps of air, trying to recompose himself, while the Elite was clutching onto the arm he used to grab Six. Said arm was bent in an unnatural angle; the bone had broken the skin, and it was protruding out his arm. It took a moment for Emile to realize what Six had done to save himself. Out of shock and surprise, the Elite had dropped his own sword.

With the Elite screaming in pain, Six wasted no time. He immediately made a grab for the Elite's fallen sword, and it all happened too quickly.

Six dashed to the Elite, spun for momentum, and sliced his head off clean from the body.

The result shocked the surrounding onlookers; the quick turn of events had frozen them in a state of disbelief. A fatal mistake on their part, as Six capitalized on their confusion; he grabbed the other Energy Sword he dropped, and dove right into the crowd.

What happened next was a mass of confusion and a frenzy of violence, as Six turned into a whirlwind of death; hacking and slashing at everything in his range. Emile watched in awe as Six mowed down the Covenant forces, with the latter unable to properly repel their attacker. They were too bunched up; the lack of space proved difficult for anyone to raise their weapon - save for Six himself; he didn't need to worry about hurting any allies. This was his last stand, and Six was determined to bring down as many as he could.

As awed as he was, Emile could not help but hold a small measure of fear as Six let loose his full lethality. Six did not laugh at the carnage, he didn't taunt the enemy nor did he say any final, desperate words. As he killed, he just.. stayed silent. And honestly, the silence was far more frightening than anything Emile had heard in his life. It was like Six was no longer there, and a monster had taken his place. A silent, cornered monster, who's only objective was to survive, no matter the cost.

Seconds have passed, but it felt like hours for Emile. He had lost himself in Six's perspective, in utter shock and awe at the gory spectacle. His mind was unable to form coherent thoughts as his vision was filled with the screaming, the dead and the dying.

As Six plunged the sword on his left into yet another Hunter, the sword flickered before dying. Six groaned in annoyance as the Covenant forces finally managed to maintain some distance from him, allowing them to finally fire their weapons freely and without fear of hurting allies. Six lunged an Elite and took his rifle, but Six just wasn't as efficient as before. His shields gave out as he was hailed with a spray of plasma bolts from all directions, and still he continued his rampage; lunging from enemy to enemy as fast as he could.

The sword on his right finally gave out as well, leaving Six with only a Plasma Rifle against the army. He continued to fight for his life, even through the hailstorm. His helmet began to crack under the pressure; Six's movements became more sluggish and heavy as his suit was showing signs of malfunctioning. As more cracks appeared in his vision, Six ripped off his helmet and cast it aside; in his haste, he had grabbed his dogtags and threw that away as well.

Emile watched in horror as Six grabbed another Plasma Rifle from the ground and began to fire wildly, whilst under the pressure of Covenant fire. Anyone that got too close to Six was immediately met with plasma; bodies started to fall closer and closer to Six. Because he had discarded his helmet, Emile was forced to watch from the sidelines, as Six was tackled from the side by an Elite Minor. Six wrangled away from the Elite's grasp and unloaded everything on him, only then to find both weapons empty. With his luck finally run out, he grabbed the empty assault rifle from his back and swung wildly; bashing heads and crushing skulls. It was a miracle he had survived this long, but not even another one can save him.

"Jesus..." Emile finally managed to think.

It all fell apart. Six was once again tackled from the side by another Elite. Six attempted to get away, only to be stopped by other Elites. They all piled on him, rendering him trapped. Six was still fighting, but Emile could no longer see him amidst the mass of bodies holding him down.

Then, he saw his hand. It shot out from the mass, holding a very familiar blue grenade.

"The last grenade!"

With no option left, Six crushed the blue orb in his hand. The plasma grenade exploded instantaneously, filling the video with a brilliant blue light. Multiple explosions followed, and Emile shielded his eyes as the video became too bright for his liking. Once he opened them, an empty spot was all that's left of the Elite pile on, with smoldering bits of flesh in the sidelines. By detonating his own grenade, Six had detonated the Elites' grenades as well.

Emile ended the video, and removed Six's memory chip from his head. He placed it in his spare pouches, and then he was left alone to his thoughts.

That was it. Without a doubt, Six was dead. He went out fighting, just like so many other SPARTANs out there. The last man in his team was dead, and Emile couldn't help but feel like he should be too.

He continued to sit there, continuously staring at Six's empty helmet, caring not for who saw him or for the danger around him. He couldn't care less, he just wanted everything to end. What use was he, now that everything he knew was gone?

As he watched the empty helmet, he remembered Six's onslaught. He remembered how he didn't back down, how he didn't allow himself to go down silently. Six knew he would die, and yet he fought like he had never fought before.

And that's when he realized.

Six, Jorge and Carter, they didn't back down. They didn't run. They did what they had to do. They did their job, and that was being a SPARTAN. They stared down death, fought it and embraced it. They didn't give up.

And neither would he.

Emile got up, ashamed at himself for even considering... that. How dare he give up? His team died for a good cause, and here he was, thinking about throwing his own life away. What was he thinking?

A wave of regret washed over him, but so did determination. His purpose was clear. He would live on and fight, to honor the memory of Noble Team. While he can do nothing to bring them back, he knows now that he must never lose hope that one day, he will bring them peace.

"I'll keep going, only because you'd want me to, Noble."

As he was deep in thought, he suddenly heard footsteps approaching behind him. Emile acted quickly; he whipped around, raising his pistol and facing his assailant . Whether it be a Grunt or a Hunter, his would-be attacker will be the first amongst many who will die under Emile's hand, in memory of his late friends.

So, it was surprise for Emile to find that his "would-be attacker" was a little girl.

Emile lowered his gun, slightly disappointed that he did not get to kill anything. Through observation, Emile noticed that the girl had a dark complexion like he had, with long, curly black hair. She had green eyes, as well as visible tear stains that ran down her face. She looked no older than four years of age. A pink shirt with overalls was all she had as clothing, and she wasn't wearing any shoes. She had gone through a lot, based on the slightly ripped clothing she wore and some traces of dust and grime on her face. She looked absolutely terrified; Emile was unsure whether it was from whatever she had endured or from the fact that he basically dwarfed her.

Both faced each other without saying a word. Emile wasn't known for being good with civilians; that was Jorge's job. With the big man gone, Emile had to make do with the skills he had.

He approached her slowly, as to avoid frightening her even more.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he kneeled down to her level.

She didn't answer; she just continued to look at him.

"Maybe she'll respond to a different question." he thought.

"Are you hurt?"

Thankfully, she answered with a simple shake of the head.

"Alright, where are your parents?"

She shook her head again.

"Are your parents... gone?"

Nod.

"Are you lost?"

Nod.

"Well, that's all I've got." Emile thought to himself. "Hmm... one more thing."

"Can you speak at all?"

Head shake.

"Great, she can't even talk."

Emile sighed, unsure of what to do. He was lost as well, and he had little to defend himself. His only option now was to look for any UNSC presence in the city, if there were any left.

As he pondered his options, the little girl had approached him. She tapped at his armor, capturing his attention. Opening one the pockets on her overalls, she grabbed a small object and gave it to him.

"What's this?"

It was a simple keychain, with a little nametag attached to it. The words on it were crudely written, but Emile could make out most of it.

ANNIE

"So, your name is Annie?" he enquired.

She nodded, a small smile forming on her lips.

"Annie..."

Emile looked at Annie, observing her again. She was just that - a little lost girl, and yet Emile could not help but feel he had known her before.

"Just who are you, Annie?"

The dark complexion. The long, frizzy hair. The green eyes. The pink shirt with overalls. The fact that she couldn't speak. He definitely knew her, but he had no clue why. What was it about her that unnerved him so much? Who was she?

Annie

He backed away from her; troubling memories he had worked so hard to bury over the years had resurfaced in matter of seconds. The world around him spun, and he felt sick to his stomach as fear settled in his mind. Scenes of the past flashed before his eyes, overloading his senses and sending his body into a nervous breakdown. He had curled up into a ball, trying desperately to regain control and compose himself.

"It can't be. It's impossible. She shouldn't be here she shouldn't be here SHE SHOULDN'T BE HERE WHY IS SHE HERE?!"

He was babbling nonsense, unable to think clearly as anxiety took a hold on him. He was so confused, so afraid. He had no control. Everything was wrong.

Something was shaking him, trying to get his attention. He looked up, only to see Annie kneeling next to him with a mix of confusion and concern etched on her face. As he saw her, more flashes appeared, sending him spiraling down into madness again. Unable to gain a response from him, she grabbed his hand and allowed it to hold hers.

If Emile didn't know any better, this girl was trying to help him.

He didn't know how long he was in that state. It could've been minutes, hours, or even just seconds. He just laid there on the ground, holding on to nothing but the little girl's hand. Over time, his breathing slowed, and fear and anxiety released its grip from him; allowing him to finally calm down.

He sat up, feeling like he had been rolled over by a Scorpion tank. He felt numb; his mind was still reeling from the shock he received from his panic attack. He looked at the girl who tried to help him. She sat next to him quietly, seemingly content that he was back to normal.

She was the cause of his shock, and still continued to be. He was afraid of her, because of his failure that cost her. She had haunted him in his dreams, and now here she was, sitting next to him.

"Is it really you?" he whispered.

She tilted her head, puzzled at his strange question. When he received no response, he asked a different question.

"Annie... did you have a brother?"

She gave a simple nod.

"Is he... around?"

A frown was her reply, as well as a look of deep sadness. She sighed and shook her head. He must've meant a lot to her.

"He's here you know."

She looked at him, confused. Before she could even ponder over Emile's cryptic answer, he removed his helmet; earning a gasp from her as he revealed his face.

"It's me."

She was confused, and proceeded to inch closer to him to study him better. A moment had passed, and once again she gasped. She gave the biggest, brightest smile Emile had ever seen, and hugged him.

He was caught off-guard with the act of affection, but he returned it nonetheless. He was overjoyed beyond belief; tears of joy streamed down his face as he hugged her as hard as he could, afraid of letting go.

"I'm sorry! I won't ever leave you again, you hear me? I'll keep you safe, I promise. I'm sorry." he cried between his choked sobs.

"I'll protect you. I won't ever let them get you. Not again, I promise. I won't let them get you. I won't let them."

He didn't know how this happened; how all of this was real. All that mattered was Annie was safe, and words could not describe the feeling he was having. A person he originally thought lost, was here in front of him, in the flesh. The one person he had cared most about was alive again. He had another chance.

"I swear, on my life, I will keep you safe, no matter what."

Minutes have passed since their teary reunion, with figures having done nothing but cry and hug since their meeting. Time had passed much quicker than he had anticipated, as the sun was already setting in the distance.

As the sun continued to set, a loud screech was heard. The noise startled both of them, causing Emile to jump up into a defensive stance with his pistol.

"Annie, get behind me." he muttered. Nothing short of absolute hatred dripped from his voice, as he looked around for hostiles. He failed his promise to Annie before, and he is hell-bent on never letting history repeat itself.

It was already getting dark, making it hard for him to see anything past the treeline. He squinted his eyes, attempting to make anything out in the distance. The darkness obscured his vision, causing him to turn on his HUD's night-vision mode.

A figure walked into view. It was jet-black, and its eyes glowed an eerie red. It was far away from both of them, and yet Emile could not help but feel disturbed by its presence. It definitely wasn't human, but he couldn't make out any other features. Gritting his teeth, Emile began to line up his pistol to its head, preparing himself. Covenant or no, this... thing looked like a threat.

It screeched.

If he had any doubts before, he definitely didn't have any now. It was unlike anything Emile had ever heard of. The noise pierced his ears, causing him to cry out in pain while Annie tried her best to cover hers. It kept on screeching, and if Emile didn't shut him up, he feared he may lose his hearing, or worse, attract other potential hostiles. Lining up his shot again, he aimed and fired.

The bullet flew straight and true; right between the thing's eyes. It fell forward with an audible thud, effectively ending its shrill cry. Emile sighed in relief, believing it was over. He kneeled down to Annie's level, checking her for any injuries.

"You alright? Can you still hear me?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Good. We need to get out of here, I've got a bad feeling about this place."

Another screech.

Emile shot up, looking all around him for the source of the new noise. Then another screech, coming from a different direction. More and more similar screeches were heard, and it sounded like they were coming from all directions.

He was being trapped.

"Annie! Get over here, quick!"

She did as she was told; she ran to him, confused and startled from the chorus of screams around them. Emile was too, but he put his fears aside, letting his rational side take over.

"We gotta get out of here."

Without warning, Emile holstered his pistol and grabbed Annie; carrying her in his arms. With everything in check, he ran from the direction he came.

He ran as fast as he could. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, but the screeching continued. Something was following them, something bad, and it was coming for him and his sister. As he ran, Emile made the mistake of looking back.

The Covenant were chasing him, but they looked... different. More vicious. More terrifying. They all wore jet-black armor and had glowing, red eyes. A whole entire army was charging towards Emile with reckless abandon; their feral cries filling the air. It was like they all went mad, as even the disciplined Sangheili looked nothing more than savage beasts. They were more akin to wild animals than soldiers, and the thought alone made them all the more frightening.

They wanted blood.

Emile strengthened his resolve, forcing himself to run even faster. He looked down at his passenger; Annie had her hands on her ears, trying to block out the noise.

"I won't let them get you. I won't let them."

He remembered his promise, the one he made to her all those years ago, before he was a SPARTAN. He failed, and the cost was her own life. Now, here he was in that position again; he was the deciding factor whether she lives, or she dies.

He was given another chance, and he was determined to make it right this time.

He exited the park with his sister in tow, and ran without direction. Sprint, turn right, turn left, sprint again. He sprinted as hard as he could, desperate to get his only family left to safety. On the sixth turn he made, he looked back again.

There was no-one in sight. He sighed in relief; believing he had lost them.

He turned forward, only to see a pair of Hunters a long distance away from him.

Startled, Emile began to run the other direction; away from them. To his shock, another pair of Hunters were in front of him.

"How did they get here so quickly?"

He was on a two-way street, with a pair of Hunters on both ends. He had been surrounded, with no idea how the massive aliens have managed to catch up with him while the others could not. They were similar to the ones chasing after him; jet-black armor and glowing red eyes.

Emile could easily dodge them and their projectiles, if he didn't have a child in his arms. Nonetheless, his life as well as hers depended on it. He'll have to try.

He believed the Hunters would start firing by now, but they haven't moved an inch yet since their unexpected arrival. Knowing from past experience, Emile expected the worst.

He didn't expect this, though.

The Hunters began to vibrate; what started out as small shaking snowballed into an uncontrollable seizure. Heavy clanking of their armor was heard as they looked like they have been possessed. They suddenly stopped altogether, and collapsed in a heap.

Emile instinctively backed away; unnerved by the actions of both pairs of Hunters. As he looked around for an exit, he thought he saw something move in the Hunter's empty suit of armor.

Like some sort of snake, the Hunter's body slithered out, leaving behind a trail of slime. Emile remembered that the Hunters, or rather Mgalekgolo, were a colony of Lekgolo; orange, worm-like creatures. Together, the worms create the mighty Hunters, but Emile had never seen them behave like this. All four Hunters' Legkolo wormed their way in front of Emile, building mass and reforming themselves. Emile was frozen in place, in complete fear of the thing right in front of him. The Legkolo had joined together into one body; turning four Hunters into one, giant, armorless Hunter staring down at them. Slime dripped from its body, falling onto the ground a few centimeters from where Elite stood. As the final worms slithered their way to it, it let out a primal, guttural roar.

Emile decided he had seen enough.

He ran away from the hulking creature, avoiding the massive fists trying to squish him and his sister like a bug. He was running the way he came, and he knew full well that he was taking the risk of meeting the savages wanting to tear them apart again. But as of now, all he could do was hope for the best.

He lungs burned as he sprinted, and adrenaline fueled him as he ran from the giant monster, who somehow had managed to keep up with Emile. He saw an intersection in front of him, and to his horror, the Covenant army was there. One of them saw him, and let out an ear-piercing screeches. Multiple screeches followed, and once again they gave chase to the SPARTAN. Joined by the enormous monster, more Hunters shed their armor and joined in, further increasing its mass. It was a giant now, completely dwarfing Emile.

Emile felt like he couldn't run anymore. He was reaching his limit; he needed rest. But one look. One look at his sister in his arms, terrified and afraid of the events happening around them, was more than enough motivation to keep him running.

Their feral screams grew closer; resembling distorted and demonic laughter. As they neared, they all drew their weapons and fired. Emile used his body to shield Annie from everything, grunting under the pressure.

He needed to get away. He can't outrun them, and he can't fight them. He can't run forever. He needed to lose them.

Upon rounding another corner, Emile laid his eyes on an empty house. He ran to it as fast as he could; charging shoulder first through its door. Putting Annie down, he instructed her to stay away from the doors and windows. Closing the blinds, he went down and stayed silent; telling Annie to do the same.

The screeching grew louder, and thunderous footsteps approached from the street. Emile prayed, pleading that the horrific masses did not see them run into the house. The screams grew louder, and then began to dissipate; signifying that they passed the house without a second glance.

Emile sighed; letting out a breathe that he didn't know he held. He was safe. Annie was safe. He can rest.

Thud

As if fate was taunting him, he held his breathe again. Something was walking towards the house, making clicking noises as it stepped closer and closer to the door.

He looked at Annie, who was hiding behind a couch. He signaled her to stay down, while he positioned himself behind an overturned table.

The thing had reached the door and stepped inside, sniffing the air. It was a Jackal, complete with black armor and red eyes. It made clicking noises in its throat every now and then, searching for any intruders. Emile positioned itself in his hiding spot, able to see the Jackal, while the Jackal could not see him.

The Jackal sniffed the air again, and it turned its attention to the couch; the one Annie hid behind. It sniffed again, and made a clicking noise as it aimed its Needler at the couch.

The Jackal has found Annie.

Emile burst from his hiding place, just as the Jackal had began to fire. As Emile held it down, the Jackal kept its finger on the trigger, firing wildly in all directions. Grabbing its neck with both hands, Emile snapped it, effectively breaking its neck.

The Jackal stopped firing and let go of its weapon. Emile stood up, as the danger had been eliminated. He surveyed his surroundings, taking note of the damage the Jackal had caused with its reckless spray of Needler rounds.

There were four holes on the couch.

Emile's eyes widened, and in haste, picked up the couch and threw it aside. He hoped it wasn't true, or that the rounds have all but missed.

His worst fears came true, as Emile looked down at Annie, who had been pierced in the side by a Needler shard.

"Oh shit..."

He crouched down; his mind in a panic. She was breathing, but barely.

"Annie, can you hear me?! Stay with me, okay?"

He didn't know if she heard him. She must be in so much pain, she could not even whimper. She only cried in silence.

"Annie, I'm going to help you, but it's going to hurt. Stay with me."

He grabbed the biofoam he had used on himself. There was only half left, but it would have to do.

"Annie, this is going to help. Just breathe, okay? I'm going to pull it out. Just bre-"

The shard exploded.

Her eyes glazed over; her shirt slowly growing a red stain as blood seeped into her clothing. The shock stopped Emile in his tracks, as Annie's body slumped over.

Emile caught her before she hit the floor. They stayed there for who knows how long, just holding her dead body, as Emile could not fathom the event.

She died. She died and it was all his fault.

"Annie? Wake up..." he whispered as he shook her.

He rocked her back and forth, cradling her like a little baby.

"I promised you. Please... wake up."

Tears streamed down his face, and he was on the verge of breaking down again.

"Please, come back to me. I promised you. Oh God, please wake up. Please." his voiced cracked as he begged.

He was given no answer. Gently, he hugged her frail body, as he tried in vain to hold back choked sobs.

"I promised..."

He no longer held back. His mournful wails could be heard from the heavens, as he held in his bloody hands the only family he had left. The world around him fell into darkness, and Emile grew cold as he lost himself to his grief. His heart felt nothing but misery, and minutes had passed, just sitting there, holding on to his dead sister.

"Please... don't go."

He too, fell into darkness.

He awoke with a start. His breathing was ragged, and he was shivering. He looked around him, and found himself inside a purple bubble, in Twilight's library. It was barely morning; the sun had not even begun its rise.

"Another one..."

He forced himself to calm down, yet he could not stop his shaking. He was visibly shook up, as none of his nightmares had been so... clear. As he adjusted himself to what was real and what was fake, he swore he heard a deep, dark laughter.

He shook his head, attempting to pull himself out of his delusion.

Far away from the tree, a dark mist materialized into its physical form; a smile on his lips.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Emile."

Emile VS The Magic Of Friendship: The Calm Before The Storm

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"Another one."

Twilight Sparkle sighed, as she witnessed Emile forcefully squirm and wrangle himself free from his nightmares. She felt pity for the human; she wanted to help him, comfort him, tell him that everything was okay. She wanted to do something to make him feel better.

But, then he'd know that she was invading his privacy; observing him like this in the wee hours of the morning. Considering his moody behavior, she was quite afraid of incurring his wrath.

It's been two days since Twilight told him the news. Two days since she told him that he couldn't go home for two years. Again, she felt saddened for him; he must be so lonely, and she could not even imagine how worried sick his friends and family were.

Over the days she's had him, Emile had done nothing but stare blankly at the wall, ignoring everything around him. He barely touches the food given to him; it was like he wasn't even there. His body had shut down, and he must've been lost in an endless sea of thoughts.

She continued to observe him from the staircase, purely out of sheer curiosity. She wanted to know what he has been doing, what he was thinking, and what he was feeling. She wanted to know everything there is to know about him, and the only thing stopping her was his erratic temper.

The clocked ticked away, and when Twilight looked out of the window, the sun had already risen. Once again, time had already passed much too quickly for her liking.

She heard a groan from behind her, as well as the rustling of sheets. Twilight smiled; Spike had awoken, this time without the need for her to endlessly tell him to wake up.

He stood up and yawned; he was still sleepy. He did some stretches to get some blood flowing through him, and then proceeded to stumble his way to the stairs. His movements were sluggish at best; almost resembling one who's had too much to drink.

"Morning, Twi." he greeted with a croak. Despite his stupor and lack of balance, he's managed to get downstairs relatively unharmed.

He passed by Emile, and greeted him a good morning as well. Emile only continued to stare. Given no response, Spike shrugged and went to the kitchen.

"Might as well get some breakfast too."

She headed downstairs, trying her best to pretend like she was exhausted as well. She believed she was doing a good enough job of acting, as Emile had not confronted her about this.

"Good morning Emile!" Twilight greeted him.

"Hmm... too much pep, not enough 'bleugh'."

"Ahem. Good morning, Emile." she said again, this time with less vigor behind her words.

Strangely enough, she had gained a response from him; Emile looked in her direction. He said nothing, and just looked at her blankly.

Time passed with him just silently looking at her, and Twilight began to fidget on the spot, growing uncomfortable under the scrutinizing gaze he was giving her. He didn't stare at the wall anymore, but now he was staring at her.

"Does he know?"

Seconds passed, and Twilight panicked as Emile kept staring into her; devouring her with his gaze.

"HE KNOWS! HE DEFINITELY KNOWS! I'M DONE FOR!"

Her eyes darted back and forth, desperately looking for a reason to get away. As she looked to the kitchen, she saw Spike pouring some milk in a bowl of gems. He still wasn't fully wake; his bloodshot, half-lidded eyes were proof of that. Once done, he capped the bottle of milk, sat down, and proceeded to dunk his face in the bowl.

Perplexed and relieved at the same time, Twilight began to back away from Emile's bubble and towards the kitchen.

"Hey, nice talk, but... um... Spike's drowning... in his cereal right now. I think I'll just... um... save him. Give me a minute."

She flashed a nervous smile, and then bolted. She pulled Spike's head out of the bowl, properly waking him up in the process. She sighed in relief; for both Spike's safety and her own. Granted, she wasn't in any danger, but Emile's ominous and silent glare was enough to tell her otherwise.

Twilight felt nothing but silent hatred whenever she was around him; her stomach did flips, and a small bead of sweat would roll down the moment she steps a little too close to the bubble. If Twilight could describe it, Emile has an aura around him that says 'back off, or else'. Even if he was confined in a prison, Twilight wasn't willing to find out what 'or else' meant.

She prepared two bowls of oatmeal; one for her, and one for Emile. She knew humans were omnivores; capable of eating anything. While Twilight has nothing on the meat department to give him, she knew that what she had in her kitchen was sufficient to feed him; she just needs a substitute for meat to supply his body's need for protein.

She went into the living room again, levitating the bowl of oatmeal and a spoon beside her as she walked. Using her magic, she set down Emile's floating bubble to the floor and changed its shape; turning the sphere into a cube. Once again, Twilight felt goosebumps appear the closer she approached him. Gulping away her needless paranoia, she stepped forward.

"Hey... um.. I have breakfast. I hope you'll eat it this time."

She passed the food to him; the bowl of oatmeal effortlessly phasing through the cube's walls. She set the food down on the floor, right in front of where Emile was sitting. He made no action whatsoever.

"I'll be going now. If you need anything, don't be afraid to ask me, okay?"

Silence.

With nothing left to do, Twilight backed away to the kitchen. Before she could, however, she spared one last look at him.

He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, his head hanging low. He looked absolutely miserable.

Something tugged at her heart, as Twilight fought the urge to try and comfort him. She wanted to help him so badly; she just knew that behind that helmet was someone in despair. Someone who desperately needed help. She needed to say something; anything.

"We'll get you home. I promise."

Her form of comfort were only a few measly words, but hopefully he heard the sincerity behind it.

Nothing.

She sighed; it was like she was talking to a wall. Giving up, she turned and walked away.

"Wait."

Her eyes widened; her ears perked up in the process. She whipped around, only to find Emile in his same sitting position.

"I'm sorry... what was that?"

She half-expected that her imagination was running wild, and that he didn't actually say anything. That is, until he spoke again in a clear voice.

"Come closer." he beckoned.

Twilight's eyebrow raised at his strange request. Nonetheless, an opportunity presented itself for her to converse with him, this time without a feeling of hostility permitting the air. First things first, however...

"Okay... but you have to eat first."

This time, it was Emile's turn to look perplexed.

"You haven't been eating. Please."

A moment of pondering had passed, and Emile shrugged nonchalantly. He removed his helmet and put it down; beginning to eat the contents of the bowl. Twilight sat in front of him, waiting patiently for him to finish.

It was done fairly quickly; he put down the bowl and wasted no time to put his helmet back, masking his face again.

Twilight retrieved the bowl and put it in the sink. She returned, converted Emile's cube into a sphere, and sat down in front of him again.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

Emile was in his previous sitting position, looking as stoic as ever. He was deep in thought; choosing his words carefully.

"When... you went to Earth, did you know what the date was? Did you come across any calendars?"

Twilight looked strangely at him, baffled. Out of all the questions he could ask about her and her world, he chose the one concerning her and her trip to another dimension.

"Maybe he's just curious."

Twilight decided to humor him, and began to think long and hard to find an answer for his question. In all honesty, her experience in the human world was quite literally a blur; she had no time to fuss over small details such as the date. While her world's time ran parallel with the human world, she could not remember the exact day she went in based on the human calendar.

"C'mon Twilight, think! You must have glanced at a calendar once..."

She reminisced her overnight stay in the school's library. When everyone was gone, Spike made a bed out of books for her to sleep on. Maybe he knows what the date was.

"Hey Spike!" she called out. "Do you know what date it was when we went in the portal? In human standard please."

"Umm... I think so." he called back. "When I was picking out a couple of books for the bed, there was this calendar on the counter. I think it said... the twenty-third of September."

"Do you know what year?"

"Uhh... yeah. I'm pretty sure it had 2013 at the end."

Twilight turned to Emile, happy she has an answer for him.

"There you have it! The last time we visited, it was the 23rd of September, 2013 on Earth."

She expected for him to do something, but none came. He simply just looked at her; the blank expression of the skull etched on his helmet hiding his true expressions.

"...twenty...thirteen?"

"Yup!" she replied in an exuberant manner. "And by my calculations, the portal will open again in an estimated two years, meaning you'll be returning in the year 2015!"

Again, a blank expression. Twilight gave him some time for her information to sink in, and waited for some sort of reaction from him.

Emile slowly backed away from her and sunk down in his bubble. He buried his hands to his face, and sighed heavily.

Again, she was baffled. By the looks of things, he was deeply upset about her answer.

"Hey Emile? Is everything alright?" she asked, concerned.

She was given no reply. Twilight knocked on the bubble for good measure, but nothing.

"He's cut himself off again."

She turned to the kitchen, knowing it was impossible to get a word out of him in his current state. However, she was determined to find out what she had done to distress him.

Twilight mulled over her conversation with Emile whilst she absentmindedly ate her breakfast. He specifically asked for the date, and she could not come up with a reasonable conclusion to why.

"There has to be a reason. What did I say? Am I missing something?"

Her train of thought had been derailed, as an audible sound made its way to her ears - specifically someone knocking on her door. She looked down, and found that she had already finished her bowl of oatmeal. She snapped herself out of her thoughts and brought herself back to reality, wondering who could be up at this hour to knock on her door.

"Twi? You there?"

The voice was unmistakably Applejack's. With her waiting at the door, Twilight began to clean up after herself.

"I'll be there in a minute!"

Twilight placed her empty bowl in the sink, and made herself look presentable. Then, she approached the door and opened it.

"Good morning, Applejack. What brings you here?" Twilight asked.

"Hey Twi. Sorry for being a bother, but Ah'm just here to check up on ya. See if yer still alright and all." Applejack replied.

Twilight smiled at her friend's concern.

"Applejack, there's completely nothing to worry about. I assure you, I can handle myself."

"Ah know, Ah know. I just wanted to make sure."

"Well, if that's all, then-"

"Hold on a second." she interrupted. "Ah'm also s'possed to pass on a message from the princesses. Said they were going to visit you."

"What? Why?" Twilight questioned.

"Ah guess they had the same idea."

"Well, when are they coming?"

"Ah just saw them in town a few minutes ago; that's when they told me to tell you that they were coming. They stopped by Sugarcube Corner for sum' breakfast, but they should be here right about..."

A carriage led by four Royal Guards landed gracefully behind Applejack.

"...now."

The carriage door opened, revealing themselves to be Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Both stepped out and stood to full height. Twilight and Applejack approached them and bowed out of respect.

"Good morning Princess Celestia, Princess Luna. I understand you are here to discuss a few matters?"

"You are correct, Twilight Sparkle." Luna nodded. "My sister and I are here to assure ourselves of your well-being, as well as to check on your guest's status."

"Now that we are sure you are safe and sound," Celestia began. "Let's get down to business. I trust that Emile has caused no trouble?"

"Of course not. He hasn't so much uttered a word in the past two days." Twilight replied. "Although, that part's beginning to worry me."

"Worry you? How so?" Luna asked out of curiosity.

"Well, like I said. He quite literally hasn't said or done anything in the past two days. He just sits there and stares at the wall; ignoring everything."

"Hmm... that is quite worrying. Do you know the cause of this behavior?" Celestia inquired.

"It's mostly my fault, actually. Two days ago, Emile overheard of us going to the human world. He wanted to be brought to the portal we used, but I explained to him that it only opens every thirty full moon cycles. After that, he just sort of... stayed quiet."

"Ah suppose being told that you weren't gonna go home anytime soon can upset anypony, Twi. Heck, I'd be down in the dumps too if somepony told me I can't see Apple Bloom or Big Mac no more." Applejack spoke. "Just give 'im some time. He'll adjust."

"I don't think so." Twilight started. "If anything, I think I just made him worse."

Applejack, Luna and Celestia looked at each other confused, then looked at Twilight; their expressions were begging for an explanation.

"This morning, he wanted to talked to me. He asked me the date Spike and I went in the human world, and I told him that it was the 23rd of September, 2013 in human standard. I thought he'd be satisfied with that answer, but if anything, he's more miserable than before."

"Do ya know the reason?" Applejack asked.

"No, he went quiet again before I could get another word from him."

Celestia and Luna looked at each other. They both nodded, and faced Twilight.

"That settles it then. My sister and I will talk with him."

"Erm... I don't know, princess. He's been really quiet these days." Twilight protested. "I'm not sure if that's such a good idea."

"We're not going to do anything drastic, Twilight." Luna replied. "We just want to talk."

Celestia and Luna walked inside her house. Twilight and Applejack followed closely; the former had an expression of worry. Twilight knew that the princesses had no ill-intention of Emile, although it could be different on Luna's part. Both probably still resent each other, and all she needed right now was to drive a deeper wedge between what little tolerance Emile had with ponies.

Spike walked out of the kitchen with a little skip in his step. He had finished his breakfast, and he was ready to fulfill his daily duties.

"Hey Twilight! You got any- oh. G'morning princesses! Didn't expect any company today."

"Morning to you too, Spike. We're just here to visit."

Celestia and Luna approached Emile, while Spike followed behind; joining Applejack and Twilight. They knocked on his bubble's walls, capturing his attention.

"Princesses." he addressed.

"Good morning, Emile. I trust that you have been behaving yourself?"

"I'm not a child." He tilted his head, seemingly offended by Celestia's remark.

"I apologize, I wasn't implying that."

An awkward silence fell, leaving Twilight a small window of time to think.

"He willingly talks to Celestia, but not me?"

"I understand that you've been quiet these past few days, and yet here you are, willing to talk to me. Can you tell me why?" Celestia inquired.

"Simple. I don't trust purple princess over here."

"Oh, and why not?" Luna asked.

"I don't know, maybe she hasn't been watching me sleep, and maybe she hasn't been trying to act innocent."

All eyes turned to Twilight, who looked away in embarrassment.

"Dude, that's creepy." Spike commented.

"Forgive my former student; I'm sure she was only curious of you."

"Oh, I can tell by the heavy scribbling she does at almost six in the morning. It was pretty amusing; I'd wake up, then I'd pretend to go back to sleep to see what she'll do. But yeah, it's annoying and I want it to stop."

"Twilight has also told me that you've been... distraught over something."

"Has it got something to do with my sleep?"

"Uh... no. She's been worried that you've stayed silent and refused to eat these few days."

"Oh, that's much easier to explain."

"Right. Care to tell us what's been bothering you then?"

"And why do you care all of a sudden?"

"We just want to help you."

Emile scoffed, humored of the idea that these ponies act like they care for him. Celestia still continued to stare expectantly, so he decided to just go with it; he had nothing to lose anyway.

"Fine. If you're so desperate to know my dilemma, then by all means."

He sat down in his bubble and got himself comfortable; everypony and Spike sat down as well.

"Look. You probably already know the portal to Earth only opens every two years. With things going from bad to worse, I got low. I couldn't see a way out, and I pretty much ate away at myself the past few days thinking like that; just me and my worst-case scenarios. The one that bothered me the most was the idea that the portal would send me to the wrong timeline; it seemed like the most likely one to happen. I wanted to settle things once and for all, so-"

"So you asked me the date I went into Earth." Twilight finished.

"Bingo. And what do you know! It was the wrong timeline. Whoop-de-fucking-doo."

"How far off are you?" Spike asked out of curiosity. "Maybe Twilight can make a spell to send you back to your time?"

"The time on Earth runs parallel with the time here, am I right?"

"I think so."

"Then can your Twilight fast-forward that portal five centuries into the future?"

Everypony's eyes widened with surprise, confirming Emile's worst fear.

"Exactly what I thought."

Emile leaned back to lie down. He relaxed himself and sighed in a defeated manner.

"Welp, I don't know about you, but the idea of never coming home is pretty heavy on me. I think I'd like some privacy."

"You seem to be taking this well into stride." Luna pointed out.

"I'm actually distressed beyond comprehension right now, but as you can see, I'm doing a good job of keeping it together. It's REALLY gut-crunching, but the sooner I accept that I'm probably going to live in this prison indefinitely, the better it is for me."

"You know, if you can tell us the full story of how you got here, we could find a way." Twilight suggested.

"I died. How hard is it for you to understand that?" Emile retorted exasperatedly.

"There's has to be more to it, Emile. We need full details."

"You want details? Fine. After I got impaled, I found myself floating in nothing. Literally, nothing. I was floating in the dark, in a place filled with nothing. Then, there was this bright light that showed up. It disappeared, then a flash, and then I wake up in the forest. That's all there it to it."

Twilight and Applejack looked at each other; Emile's story was adding up with Rainbow Dash's sighting of a flash of light in the Everfree Forest. Luna noticed their reaction, and beckoned the entire group away from Emile to discuss privately.

"Has something come up?"

"Yes, actually. Prior to Emile's arrival, Rainbow Dash spotted a flash of light in the Everfree Forest. That's where we found him."

"At least his story's true then."

"That's not all. Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, Rainbow, Twi and I felt this rush of energy at the same time just after the flash. Can't be a coincidence." Applejack added.

"You think his appearance has something to do with the Elements of Harmony?" Spike queried.

"Ah think so. We're the only ones connected to the Elements, and us six were the only ones to feel like we've been drained that day."

"Your right, that does sound fishy." Celestia commented. "Hmm... alright, this is what's going to happen. Luna and I will check on the Tree of Harmony; see if anything's up. As of now Twilight, I want you to do some research. See if there's been record of anomalies like this in the past. And as for the rest, I want you to keep a close eye on Emile."

All nodded in agreement. Twilight immediately dove for her books for research, while Applejack and Spike moved to accompany Emile; even though it was clear cut he didn't want any company. Celestia and Luna walked to the door, ready to venture into the Everfree to check on the Tree.

They opened the door, expecting their carriage in front of them. Not that they needed it, but rather they wanted the guards pulling it to accompany them.

Instead, they were presented with a very battered and bruised Discord.

Both princesses jumped back in surprise, catching the attention of everyone in the library; including Emile. Discord looked worse for wear; as said before, he was in immediate need of medical attention. Black and blue bruises were in places black and blue bruises shouldn't be, and he had an unreadable expression on his face.

"Discord, what happened to you?" Luna exclaimed. "You look like you've been trampled on by a stampede!"

He said nothing; seemingly oblivious to the world around him. The only response he could elicit was pointing a talon towards Twilight Sparkle.

"You... you owe me." he said, before he fell face-forward with a heavy thud.

Everyone rushed to his aid; everyone except a SPARTAN and a dragon.

"So... what the hell is this?" Emile quietly asked Spike.

"That's Discord, God of Chaos. He used to be a bad guy, but now he's good. I think."

"No, I meant why does he look like he's Frankenstein's pet."

"Who now?"

"Never mind."

Meanwhile, all three princesses and Applejack attended to Discord's injuries.

"Applejack, get Fluttershy in here!"

"On it!"

She rushed out the door to find her friend. Soon after, Twilight locked all the doors and windows, and shut the blinds tightly.

"Discord, what exactly did you do when the media was after us that day?" she asked whilst running back and forth.

He forced himself to sit up, careful not to hurt himself even more through sudden movement.

"Oh, nothing much. Just held off an entire army of rabbid reporters with my bare talon and paw. In two days. Seriously Twilight, how do you manage with this hero business?"

He winced as he tried to throw some hand signals into the mix, remembering his broken state. "They're animals, I tell you..."

"Reporters?" Luna questioned.

"Haven't you heard? Your 'friend' is the biggest gossip in Equestria right now. They really want a piece of big guy over here."

Discord turned to Emile, extending a paw to him with small difficulty.

"Hi, I'm Discord."

"Fuck off."

"Alrighty then."

Discord turned away with a blank expression; hiding his disappointment. He had hoped that the entire one-draconequus stand against an army for Emile's name was enough to get good side.

Not even a minute had passed, and Applejack returned with Fluttershy. The latter was in a nurse's uniform and had a stretcher in tow; she looked worried to death.

"WHERE'S MY BABY!?" she bellowed, her volume rivaling that of the Royal Canterlot Voice. Everypony leaned back in surprise; Spike had recovered the fastest and pointed in the general direction. Wasting no time, she had laid him on the stretcher, strapped him on and was already on their way out.

"Now don't you worry a hair on your head, I'll get you home safely."

"Fluttershy, honestly! I can take care of myself. Let me out of-"

"Shhh... no screaming. Only dreams now."

She pushed him out the door, ignoring his shouts of protest. Twilight made sure to shut the door; quickly straight after she left.

"Twilight, calm down." Celestia assured. "Nopony's after us. Here, I'll prove it."

She walked towards a window with tightly-shut blinds, and enveloped its cord with her magic. She turned to Twilight, who was waving frantically for her to cease.

"Look. I will open these blinds, and nopony will be there. Everything is alright."

She smile warmly as she opened the blinds, and multiple flashes of light filled the room. Celestia shut the blinds in an instant; her smile and posture never faltering.

"I stand corrected. It seems we are surrounded by what seems to be the entirety of Equestria's media outlet." she stated. "If we don't handle this, the situation may grow out of hoof."

"And," Luna joined in. "If the news of my arrival reaching all of Equestria has taught me anything, it's that reporters grow more rampant if we avoid them for too long."

"So, we're going with the second-best option we have. We sate the masses, and hopefully it would be enough. Does anypony have any objections?"

Emile raised his hand, but Celestia promptly ignored it.

"I don't think your vote counts, Emile." Spike whispered.

"I got the memo, dragon."

"I have a name, you know."

"I know. And I don't care."

Spike crossed his arms and huffed in annoyance.

"Spike, please write a letter that I need two platoons of guards here; one from the Royal Guard and another from the Night Guard." Celestia requested.

"Sure thing."

He grabbed a quill and a scroll of paper and started scribbling.

"Only two, sister?" Luna asked worriedly. "I don't think that's enough to hold off the number of ponies outside."

"No, it's not. But I can't leave Canterlot defenseless. Our guards will only act as security for us when we formally introduce Emile to the world. Spike, are you finished with that letter?"

"Almost there. Just need a seal of approval or a signature."

"A signature's enough."

She signed it, rolled it up and tied it with a ribbon.

"Now, I can give this to the guards that brought us here and they can send it to Canterlot. Until then, we have to keep the crowd occupied until more guards arrive so that we can start a formal introduction of Emile to the populace."

"But aren't your guards outside?" Spike questioned.

"Yes."

"Where all the reporters are?"

"Yes."

"And you have to go through them to get your letter sent?"

"Ye- oh." Celestia realized. "Dear me, I haven't thought this through."

"We'll help ya get through them, princess." Applejack said. "We can survive a couple of cameras."

"Much appreciated, Applejack."

Everyone nodded in approval, and went to the door not only to deliver a message, but to face an army of rabbid reporters; hopefully, they would restrain their cameras and incessant questions with the presence of three royals. Before they went outside, Celestia conjured with her magic five pairs of sunglasses. Two for her and Luna, and the rest for Twilight, Applejack and Spike.

"Awesome! I always wanted a pair. What are do we need these for?" Spike asked.

"These are to protect your eyes. I was almost blinded by the multitude of cameras when I returned to Canterlot after my subsequent fall from grace." Luna responded as she placed the shades onto her eyes. "Let's get this show over with."

They all stepped out of the door and shut it behind them. The sound of the closing thud of the door was soon followed by scores of clicks and flashes, as well as howls of pain.

"My eyes!"

"It burns! It burns!"

"Why aren't these working?!"

"Sunglasses, why hast thou forsaken me?!"

And thus, Emile - who had done nothing but observe - buried his face into the palm of his hand, exhaling heavily.

"Imbeciles. I'm surrounded by imbeciles."

Emile leaned back, tired from both the stress and from the idiocy called the pony.

He closed his eyes, and sleep came quickly.

Deep breaths.

"In, and out. In, and out."

Sombra sat in the Everfree, deeply meditating. His body was relaxed, and his mind was clear of pesky thoughts.

"In, and out. In, and out."

He chanted to himself in his mind; he was one with the environment. It was amazing what he could hear from his silence. Nothing but the sounds of nature filled his ears, and he felt himself free from stress and anxiety.

Days have passed since he had acquired his manticore servants. They grow restless; they have not tasted blood in days.

"Just a little more time, my pets. You will feed soon enough."

Over the course of the two days, Sombra had worked to improve his skills; he had grown rusty after so many years in the ice. He taught himself to shadow-walk once more, as well as to create dark clones of himself. It felt good to practice his dark magic again.

At this rate, he'll be back to full power in days. He smiled, as the thought of Master wiping this place of his enemies came to his mind. He was called crazy, insane - a fanatical mess. Only because he found his one, true god - the one who truly had the right to rule this world. His Master had opened his eyes and set him free, and since then Sombra had been his first and most devout follower.

He banished his stray thoughts and returned to meditating; he really shouldn't be counting his eggs before they hatch. He focused on nothing; letting the sounds of his breathing fill his ears.

"In and out. In, and out."

"..."

His ears perked up; he thought he heard something. The entire forest grew silent, and Sombra strained to hear the voice.

"..."

His eyes shot open, as he recognized the owner. It sounded old, frail... but make he made no mistake.

"Master?" he called out.

A pause, before it called out again.

"..."

The voice was projecting into Sombra's mind, just as he had always done.

"..."

"Of course, Master."

Sombra knew he referred to Ponyville, where Emile resided. He made his way through the foliage and made it to the forest edge. From there, he could see a trails of ponies walking towards Ponyville - most likely they have been lured in by the news of an otherworldy being on their planet.

In a distance, a small group of guards - both the Royal and Night Guard - were making their way to Ponyville; the pegasus guards pulling the chariots that carried their unicorn and earth pony comrades through the air.

"..."

Those words echoed in Sombra's head, and it took him a moment to realize that this was the signal. The guards will be spread thin; they could not hope to protect everyone with their numbers. It was the perfect opportunity, and he smiled wickedly as he envisioned the number of dead once this was done.

With a glow of his horn, the eight corrupted manticores leapt to his side, ready for action. Sombra had specifically tailored them for this situation; not even the alicorn princesses would know what hit them.

He faced the town, and visualized it ruined; reduced to nothing but rubble. That future was far off, but this will be the first step leading to its demise.

"On my command, you will exterminate them."

A chorus of roars was their response, and Sombra grinned like colt on Hearth's Warming morning; his eyes twinkling with delight. He anticipated a battle, and fully expected that Emile will be thrown right into the middle of it.

"Let's see why Master's chosen you, shall we?"

Emile VS The Magic Of Friendship: Test of Strength

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"So, ya spied on him, for two days?"

"Yes."

"And ya wrote everything he did while asleep?"

"Uh-huh."

"Every detail?"

"Yep."

Applejack looked incredulously at her friend.

"Okay, one last thing. WHY?"

"I thought he was interesting."

A temporary stage had been set up in front of Twilight's home, and the two ponies were behind the curtains, conversing idly. With them were Celestia and Luna, who were organizing their guards to keep order in the town. That proved to be difficult, given their small numbers. Out of the twenty-five of Celestia's Royal Guard and twenty of Luna's Nigh Guard, ten of them stayed with their respective princesses, while the rest formed a wall in front of the stage, to make sure the crowd doesn't trample them in a stampede.

Beside them were four other ponies Twilight didn't recognize. Two were carrying a podium on their backs, while the other two was carrying wires and speakers with them; courtesy to Vinyl Scratch, Ponyville's resident DJ. She stepped forward to donate her sound systems when she overheard Twilight worrying over how Celestia and Luna would be drowned out by the crowd's chatter.

"Hey Twi. Where're the others? Thought all of us are supposed to be here."

"Rainbow's outside making sure the weather stays in check today, Fluttershy's tending to Discord, and I don't know where Rarity and Pinkie are. They should be here in a couple of minutes. I'll just go an prep Emile for this. I'll be back in a second, okay?"

"Alright, but Ah think you better hurry. Announcement's 'bout to begin soon."

"Right, thanks."

Twilight stepped down from the stage and walked towards her front door. Immediately, she was swarmed by ponies - no doubt they wanted answers. She would've been washed away by their sheer numbers, if it hadn't been for Celestia's guards. The moment she had stepped on the ground, five armored ponies had dropped down and formed a circle around her.

"Get back! I said, GET BACK!" one of them shouted.

They pushed the ponies away from Twilight, grunting under the pressure. Twilight made a dash for her front door, and the guards made sure she met no resistance on the way.

As soon as she was inside, she locked the door behind her and sighed in relief.

"Honestly, ponies go crazy over the smallest things nowadays." she thought to herself.

Of course, this was no small thing. She was talking about an extraterrestrial being living in her house; that would definitelydraw unwanted attention to her.

She approached Emile's bubble, right where she left him. It looked like he was asleep; he was on his back, snoring softly.

Twilight knocked on the bubble's walls softly, careful not to scare him awake.

"Emile?"

She knocked a little harder; this time, it was enough to elicit a response from him. He stirred from his sleep, and yawned loudly.

"Emile? Can you wake up please?"

He removed his helmet and rubbed his eyes. As soon as he was awake, he groaned at the sight of her.

"Ugh, it's you. The hell you want from me now?" he asked with disgust.

"Sorry. It's just that... it's time for your announcement."

"My what?"

He was going to demand her to tell him what was going on, before he heard the roar of a crowd outside the house.

"Oh. That. Whatever, just get it over with." he grumbled. He couldn't care less what these ponies did to him. He was done resisting. He was done with everything. The chances of him ever escaping his confines were slim to none, and he's running out of hope real quick.

"Emile, are you alright?" Twilight asked inquisitively.

"No, Twilight. I am certainly NOT alright." Emile snapped.

"Emile, I-"

"Oh my God, PLEASE spare me your sympathetic bullshit. Just get on with whatever the hell you want me to do, or I swear to God I'm going to KILL myself. Or someone else. I really don't care which."

Twilight flinched at his tone of voice, and decided best not to communicate with him for the time being. He huffed and sat down with crossed arms; Twilight couldn't help but feel he had a cross expression as well.

Loud, electronic feedback found their way to her ears, and everything outside quieted down. She heard the muffled voice of Celestia outside, telling her the introduction has already started. With a sense of urgency, she walked towards the door with Emile in tow.

She opened the door, half-expecting she would be jumped on the second she stepped out. Her anxiety was put to ease when some guards formed a wall, splitting the ocean of ponies in front of her to form a straight path to the stage.

"You ready?" she asked, just before she would pull him out of the door.

"Whatever, just go." he said indifferently.

With a pull of her magic, she brought Emile out in broad daylight, where everypony in the vicinity could see him. They all stopped whatever they were doing and stared wide-eyed; some had their jaws hanging out. Even the mixture of Celestia and Luna's guards - the ones who made up the wall to create a path for Twilight - briefly held an expression of surprise, before returning to their stoic state. They pretended not to be affected, but even Twilight could see they were put-off by his presence.

Emile looked around him as Twilight slowly walked to the stage. Everywhere, there were eyes staring at him, judging him. It sickened him.

"Stop looking at me." he thought spitefully.

He looked at one pony at random; like the others, he stared at him with a mixture of fear and awe. Emile stared back with heated intensity, making sure this stallion knew that he was looking at him. He broke eye-contact immediately and meekly shied away.

Emile repeated this process, switching from pony to pony. The moment he locked eyes on a particular one, they'd suddenly find an interest in the ground, or in the sky, or to the pony next to them.

Twilight and him had finally stepped up to the stage, where on the other side Celestia and Luna were reassuring the populace that Emile wasn't a threat to anyone. The farmer and Twilight's dragon joined them, waiting patiently for Celestia to call them.

"Hey Emile. You nervous?" Spike asked out of the blue.

Emile - still sitting down in his bubble with his arms crossed - looked at him, and grunted in response.

"I'll... take that as a yes?"

He grumbled again, only more pronounced to show that he didn't want to engage in any chit-chat.

"...so, if you could, please give our first extra-terrestrial guest a very, warm welcome."

That was Twilight's cue. She looked at Applejack and Spike; the former just shrugged and the latter gave her a double thumbs-up as reassurance. Taking a deep breathe, she and her companions stepped out the curtain, putting Emile out in full view of the public.

The little town was packed. Not just the place around them, but the entire town was packed. Not a single camera wasn't flashing its lights, and reporters and journalists everywhere were shouting out a question or a statement, competing against each to have their voice heard.

But the moment Emile came into view, the amount of flashing lights significantly lowered. Ponies close enough to see him slowly lowered their cameras; some even dropping them, as they were caught in both wonder and fear by him. They all stopped and stared, and Emile could feel his blood beginning to boil.

"STOP LOOKING AT ME!"

"Well, Emile. Would you like to say a few words?"

Celestia handed him the microphone; the object phasing through his bubble and levitating right in front of him. He figured that the faster he got this over with, the less time the crowd gets to gawk at him like some sort of freak show, and faster he can get back to some peace and quiet. Or the closest thing to it.

He grabbed the microphone, and gave the end a few taps. Static feedback was his reply, and he looked up; the crowd was looking at him expectantly.

"Uhh... hi."

"Real smooth. 10/10."

"My name's... uh... Emile-A239. I'm a human - that's what my kind are called - and uh... yeah, I'm an alien. I... honestly don't know how I got here, so... uh... I'm stuck here for the time being."

He paused for any reaction, but nothing from the crowd; the silence was painfully awkward. He looked at Twilight, but she only motioned him to keep things going.

"Erm... so, if you have any questions-"

An immediate uproar was their response. The cameras flashed brightly, and everyone was simultaneously shooting him questions left and right. He couldn't even hear himself think as the princesses and their guards tried to return order to the place.

His irritation grew as he caught tidbits of conversation from the loud mess in front of him. Crazy theories were thrown about, spiteful comments directed at him, stuff he expected when he grabbed that mic and spoke. He looked to Twilight behind him; she was busy calming ponies down, making sure a riot doesn't happen in the middle of everything.

He banged at the walls of his prison to get her attention, but to no avail. He was getting frustrated, and he felt a migraine coming on; Emile just wanted to get away from the annoying crowd and their endless chatter.

"Arghh... my head. I fucking hate these ponies."

He decided his time was up. Emile wanted out, but of course no-one's giving him any attention. No matter how hard he banged the walls and shouted, not a single pony - princess or otherwise - turned around to face him.

"What do I do now?"

He looked down, noticing how he had been holding on to a microphone all this time. He stared at it, before finally registering the fact that the microphone wasn't his first idea to capture someone's attention and banging on the walls of his prison was.

"I know I'm not the smartest in Noble, but this is just stupid."

After criticizing himself for his one-track mind, he inhaled deeply, and let out a common phrase used widely amongst his people.

"EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

That grabbed their attention. Everyone fell silent, with expressions varying between shock and disgust. Silent murmurs went around, but Emile promptly ignored them.

"Right then. Princess, am I done here, or what? Because-"

A ferocious roar erupted out of nowhere, stopping Emile in his tracks. Everyone looked around, confused at the interruption.

"What the hell...?

More came, seemingly coming from all directions. Emile could not help but feel like he was being cornered; surrounded on all sides. The populace began to speak in hushed tones, terrified of the predatory sounds.

"Everypony, please stay calm," Celestia announced. "Do not panic. We will investigate this immediately."

She faced her guards, who already knew what Celestia wanted. Two pegasi in golden armor flew to the skies and disappeared from view, looking for the source.

A boom of thunder was heard, and Emile looked to the skies. Dark clouds were rolling in; a downpour was only minutes away. Several pegasi rushed to the scene, attempting to push away the thick clouds.

"There ain't no thunderstorms s'posed to happen this week..." Applejack muttered. "Hey, wait! Stop!"

She caught the attention of a pegasus, with charcoal fur and a blue-silver mane.

"Thunderlane, what the hay's going on up there?!" Applejack shouted worriedly.

"I-I don't know! These clouds just came outta nowhere! We called in the entire weather team to push 'em back, but they ain't budging!" the pony named Thunderlane responded. He zoomed away, helping his fellow teammates control the weather.

The crack of thunder mixed with the roar of a predator, sowing fear amongst the crowd. Many grabbed their young and held them tightly, assuring them their safety, while others began to look for a way out.

A horrifying scream filled the brief silence, followed by a body flying through the air and crashing into the crowd. The ponies backed away instinctively and gasped, while Celestia rushed to her guard's aid. It was one of the two pegasi who were sent to investigate; his armor was shredded, and he had long, deep slash marks across his body.

Before Celestia could even get a word in, he whispered to her one word.

"M-m...manticores..."

Celestia's eyes widened with disbelief. It wasn't possible; it couldn't be. But she could not shake the feeling he was telling the truth as he slowly fell into unconsciousness. Before she could even try to control the alarming situation, the other guard had shown up in the distance. He was running to her as fast as he could with a bad limp, and his left wing was broken.

"Princess! We got manticores closing in! Get 'em all out of he- argh!"

A manticore pounced on him, grabbing a hold of him with its jaw. The manticore thrashed the guard about like a dog would with a chew-toy, before violently throwing him against Twilight's library. He crashed through a window, where his fate was left to question. It licked its lips, savoring that small residue of blood in its teeth, before growling at the crowd in front of it. They all stared in shock; suspended in a state of disbelief of what just happened. The mythical creature reared up on its hind legs, and let out an ear-splitting roar.

Its call was echoed out, most likely by others of its kind. The giant monsters stalked their prey from the roofs of the town's houses, boxing everyone in like sheep, while the crack of thunder from the overhead clouds did not help to ease their nerves.

Even if their minds hadn't caught up yet, the ponies' instincts kicked in. And it was telling them to run fast, and to run far.

Too bad their instincts didn't tell them exactly in what direction they should run. They up and went without direction, screaming in terror and fearing for their lives. They might as well run in circles; that's the farthest that they're ever going to go at this rate.

"Celestia!" Luna called out from screams of terror. "Get our subjects to safety! My guards will buy you some time!"

"Right! Royal Guards, to me!"

Celestia's guards came to her position to aid the evacuation, but only the pegasus guards could move freely. The unicorn and earth pony guards on the ground had great difficulty moving through the crowd, but they still tried their best to assist anyone they could. Twilight stepped down the stage to help Celestia, while Applejack went with Luna to join the fray.

All around him, Emile could only see pure, unadulterated chaos. He watched calmly as ponies panicked, while the manticores only watched silently from the rooftops of houses.

It reminded him of a warzone.

As nice as the nostalgic feeling was, he noticed one of the manticores make a move. It laid its eyes on a small colt, lost and confused at the happenings around him. As he called out for his parents, the manticore aimed, and pounced from above.

Emile knew he was a goner as soon as the manticore landed on him. He expected the colt to be dead, but to his surprise, the colt was nowhere to be found. It seemed that the revelation of missing its lunch both confused and infuriated the beast; it growled angrily and stomped the ground.

A bright light erupted, and Emile covered his eyes from the sudden burst. As soon as his eyes adjusted, he saw Twilight, holding on to the colt that was supposed to be dead beside his bubble.

She set him down, before Emile saw another potential victim. As one of the manticores jumped, a bright flash of light, and its prey was gone; standing right beside Emile instead of its open jaws. Twilight seemed to be teleporting ponies away from danger one at a time, saving them from the messy death of being someone's meal.

She couldn't hold out for long. Whatever she was doing, Emile could see that her actions were taxing her heavily. Every time she would come back, she had this strained expression that would grow more serious the more she moved back and forth.

After she had brought in a mare, Twilight looked like she was close to collapsing. But it didn't stop her. Once again she was gone, and when she appeared, she didn't even have enough energy to teleport back instantly. Twilight just shoved a stallion out of danger's way, and took the manticore's attack full-force. She was knocked aside, and tumbled a few meters before coming into a complete stop. The stallion she saved came to her aid, and by then she had gathered up enough energy to teleport her and him right next to Emile one last time.

Twilight collapsed immediately, earning the attention of the ponies she had saved.

"The princess, she needs help!" one exclaimed.

"C'mon, we gotta get her to a hospital. She won't last long with the venom in her!" another said worriedly.

Emile took a closer look; indeed, she was stung by the manticore's stinger. It was only a small, open wound to her side, but dark lines started to grow and spread throughout her body, and a small, black, crystalline substance started to sprout from her horn.

"Whoa... what is that?"

"I dunno. Never seen manticore venom do this before..."

"Who cares, she's wasting away by the second! Let's go already!" a mare interrupted.

The small group all shared the load and helped carry Twilight with them. They stepped down on the stage, catching the attention of some guards. A small portion broke away from Celestia's squadron and immediately went in to assist and defend Twilight from danger on the way to the nearest medical facility.

All the while, Emile watched everything with a mixture of confusion and deep fascination. Celestia and her guards were doing the best they could to get everyone to safety, while Luna and her platoon of guards combated the monstrous creatures. Unlike the others, Luna's guards looked like a mix between a pony and a bat; on their forehooves were what looked like detachable claws, most likely their main weapon.

As he looked on, he heard something different. Aside from the screams of ponies running around like headless chickens, he thought he heard glass crack. It continued its noise, and Emile eventually found the source.

Just above him, there was a minuscule crack in his bubble prison, slowly growing bigger by the second. His eyes widened, and immediately scrambled to get a closer look. The downpour from the dark clouds above finally came, slightly distorting his view, but that crack was definitely there.

"This is my chance!" Emile thought excitedly.

Pulling his arm back, he aimed his fist straight at the crack, and punched it as hard as he could.

His knuckles stung like hell, and he hissed at the pain. But it worked. The crack grew larger. Strengthening his resolve, he punched again. The crack spread farther. He decided that his legs would have more force. Positioning himself, he used both of his feet to kick at the walls of his prison. The crack spread throughout the bubble, ready to shatter into a million pieces. Filled with the hope of freedom, he put all his power to his legs, and kicked.

The bubble shattered like glass, and Emile fell with a thud to the ground. He got up immediately, and ran towards the direction of the Everfree Forest.

"I'm free! I'M FREE!" he thought with glee. He ran unopposed; either the ponies were too busy trying to save themselves, or they saw him as a danger and dove out of the way. He sprinted as fast as he could; the water from the harsh downpour of rain splashing against his visor. The ground softened into mud underneath him, but it did little to stop his advance. He ran with joyous fervor, passing by houses, vaulting over obstacles. The number of ponies he would pass by started to thin, meaning he was beginning to reach the edge of the town.

He ran for ages, until he rounded a corner and a long, narrow dirt road was laid out right in front of him. It forked into two directions; one was to a small cottage, and the other was to the forest.

He continued to run, making a beeline for the forest edge. He was so close. So close to leaving this place.

What he didn't know, was the pair of yellow eyes following him, from the end of the road all the way to the edge of the forest.

"That's weird. Thunderstorms were scheduled next week."

Fluttershy grabbed a yellow raincoat from the towel rack and slipped it on.

"Discord? I'm going to town to get some more first-aid; I used up the last bandages on you," Fluttershy called from the door. "Are you going to be alright alone?"

"Yeah, sure. Angel and your other pets can keep me company."

The click of a closed door echoed throughout the house, before the bandaged-up Discord decided to make a move.

Emile had been sprinting for a whole minute, but to him it felt like hours. He followed the trail of hooves, leading towards his vehicles and equipment. He didn't know how the equipment came with him to this world and why, but frankly, he didn't care. It was here, and the tiny details can be examined later.

He reached the clearing where he was found, and everything was right there where he left it. The loaded pistol on the ground, the Warthog and the Pelican side by side, even the burnt bodies of his victims from days ago. Emile stopped to take a breather, letting the rain from above splash against him. This was his moment, he was going to relish in it.

Satisfied, he walked towards the loaded pistol on the ground and picked it up. Holstering it, he ran towards his open Pelican and went inside. Everything went largely untouched, except for the box of rations. Some kind of furry wildlife were trying to crack it open, probably because they liked the smell of its contents.

"Hey! Shoo, shoo! Get outta here!" Emile exclaimed, slapping them away from his box. They hissed at him, before running out of the vehicle.

"Okay, time for an equipment check."

He examined the contents of his vehicle closely. Medical supplies were stocked up, his REM's were still good to go, weapons were untouched.

"Good, good."

The Pelican housed many of the UNSC's standard guns, with the exception of heavy weapons such as the Rocket Launcher or Spartan Laser. Although, there was a minigun modified to be carried around by hand, but that was empty. Grabbing the last E-model shotgun from the rack, he examined the weapon.

"You little beauty..."

Indeed it was. Packing more firepower than the standard M45 model, and is able shoot more accurately than the equally-powerful M90 CAWS, the M45E-model Shotgun in his hands was both a sight to behold, and a force to be reckoned with.

At one corner, there was a rack that only had knives. Emile gave that section a good look, until he found what he wanted. He grabbed the largest knife he could find, and examined it. It was the same size and shape as his original kukri; only this one wasn't dull from all the times he's stabbed someone with it.

There was a small speck of dirt on the knife he was holding on. He opened the med pack and took from it a small piece of cloth. He wiped the knife tenderly, making sure not to scratch the surface.

As he finished, he saw his own reflection. The image of a skull stared back at him. He remembered why he carved that skull. To invoke fear into the hearts of his enemies. To terrify them, just before he'd take their life.

But those days were over now. There was no way out of this miserable rock. Hell, he didn't even know if he was on the correct galaxy. He just stood there, staring at his reflection, reminiscing of home.

"I do hope you're not leaving so soon."

In an instant, Emile flicked the large knife horizontally towards the source of the voice. It stuck to the wall Discord was leaning against, just missing him by millimetres.

"HA! You missed!" Discord chuckled.

"Check again."

Discord grinned, and went to stroke the tuft of hair on his chin for added effect, but his paw found nothing by air. His eyes widened, and found the the knife had cut it.

"Gah! Not the goatee! That was my best feature!"

Snapping his talon, he conjured a bottle of glue while he grabbed the fallen tuft of white hair from the ground. Dousing the hair with the glue, he messily stuck it back into his chin. Somehow, the hair stuck and retained its original appearance.

"Whew, that's better," he wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Now, I know I'm in no position to say this, but I think you're making a huge-"

The moment Discord stepped forward, Emile faced him with the shotgun aimed at his face.

"One more move, and this thing's going to make a nice, red painting at the wall behind you with your brains."

Discord put his arms to the air, maintaining innocence. He slightly winced as the bandages around his body moved, but he kept his composure.

"Hey now, we're all friends here..."

"We are NOT friends." Emile growled.

"Be that as it may, I'm not sure the princesses would take it very well if you leave them hanging."

"Do you think I give a damn?"

"Not really, but they'll still be mad at you nonetheless. So I'm here to... persuade you to come back," Discord stated, putting heavy emphasis on the word persuade.

"Persuade?! You want me to come back to... to be imprisoned, studied and gawked at like some sort of circus freak?!"

"No, I want you to come back to your only chance of getting home."

Emile lowered his gun for a second at the mention of home, before keeping the shotgun aimed at Discord.

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Look. I can't claim that the princesses know a way to get you back from where you came from, but believe me when I say Twilight and her crew are your best chance. I promise, I'll even look into it myself. But the choice is yours. Get off the grid and throw away your only chance, or stay with us."

"They don't trust me. And they'll never trust me once they find out I'm gone."

Discord looked genuinely confused.

"Hold on, they don't know you're gone yet?" he asked. "Alright, after this whole, messy debacle is finished, you have to tell me how you managed to sneak past an entire crowd unnoticed."

"No, that's not it. Some kind of attack on the town. I escaped in the middle of it."

Discord's expression dropped into sickly white, like he saw a ghost.

"What? An attack? On the town?! Oh no! I have to get back!"

He started to pace back and forth, worried out of his mind.

"Out of all the times she could go to town, she goes in when there's a monster attack?! Knowing her, she's probably trying to help her friends! I gotta get back, now!"

He tried to run, but fell face forward to the ground.

"OW! For the love of..."

He conjured a pair of crutches, and shakily stood up with them.

"I hate being sore. Bruises are terribly inconvenient."

"You just can't teleport back?" Emile asked.

"The more complex the magic, the more energy you use. Same thing applies if you use it too much. And I used the last of mine getting here."

He started to walk back to Ponyville, but he looked back only to see Emile still standing in the Pelican, still aiming his weapon at him.

"Come on! We're wasting time, let's go!" he yelled, but Emile did not move an inch.

"Did you seriously not listen to a word I just said?! They're your only chance of getting home, Emile! Trust me, if you help them now they will be forever in your debt, and they will help you."

There was a pregnant pause, with Discord standing in the rain, extending a talon out to Emile. For every passing second, he feared that he didn't convince Emile good enough.

The agonizing wait continued, and Discord knew he was wasting his time. He turned away, disheartened.

"Wait."

Discord's ears turned to Emile, who lowered his weapon and had holstered it on his back. He stepped out into the rain, and pushed his helmet's visor against Discord's face with an accusing finger pointed at his chest.

"I'm going to hold out on your claims, Discord, otherwise you and I are going to have a very serious talk."

"Yes, yes of course! Now let's go!" he urged. "Fluttershy might be in serious danger right now!"

"Hold your horses," Emile interrupted Discord, while at the same time feeling slightly perturbed from using that particular statement. "I got a faster way."

He pointed at the Warthog, and Discord turned to face it.

"What is that? Is that a vehicle? If it is, I CALL DIBS ON THE DRIVER SEAT!"

Discord went to Emile's Warthog as fast as his crutches could carry him in an almost childlike manner, while Emile was left standing in the rain; the thought of running away conflicted with Discord's promise.

This leap of faith was highly distressing, and he wasn't really sure if he was even making the right decision; trusting his future to a stranger was not reassuring in the slightest.

But it was a chance. As minuscule as it was, it was a shot to get home. One he was willing to take.

"Hey! You alright there Emile?" Discord called.

The sound of a honking horn snapped Emile out, and he ran to his Warthog.

"This better work."

"Keep it busy! Surround it, but avoid the stinger!"

Luna directed her guards, helping them combat the manticore while doing her best to assist them. There were eight of the beasts running amok, and she and her guards were scattered across the place, defending the town from the invaders.

She only had two of her guards with her, as she ordered the others to find the remaining manticores - who had separated from the beginning - and prevent them from hurting any others. Luna and her bat-pony guards have been combating this one for minutes; much longer than she had anticipated. Her mane was drenched from the rain above her, and her hooves were caked in mud and dirt.

"Okay, one more time!"

With a glow of her horn, she shot a concentrated blast of magic at the manticore. The projectile hit its mark, creating magical barriers around the beast and ensnaring it in place.

"Guards, now! Before it escapes!"

The prowling bat-ponies pounced on the trapped manticore; fangs bared and metal claws extended. Once climbed on, digging its weapons deep into its back, while the other made a move for its throat.

The manticore lashed out, breaking free from the magical prison with relative ease. Luna's concentration on maintaining the barrier immediately broke, and the animal hit the bat-pony aiming for its throat with enough force to make anyone cringe. Incapacitated, the manticore grabbed the limp guard's body and tossed it aside, hitting the wall of a nearby house with a heavy thud.

Then, the manticore reached for its back, grabbing the other bat-pony whose claws were lodged deep into its skin. In one swift motion, it threw the guard straight at Luna. It was done so quickly, she didn't even have time to move out of the way. She was knocked back by the force of the throw, sending her to the muddy ground.

"Why... why isn't my magic working?" Luna thought to herself, as she shakily stood up to meet her opponent. It seemed to be resistant to magic; her snares and bolts did little to stop it. Physical blows were definitely felt, but whether or not it actually hindered her opponent was the question. Luna wasn't sure whether the beast felt the pain dealt by her and her guards, or treated it as a minor annoyance.

Luna ran to the guard the was thrown at her; he was lying on the ground, hacking and spitting out blood as he unsuccessfully tried to get up. She tried to help him stand, but he shakily warded him off, breathing heavily.

"Broken... ribs. Can't... move. Argh, it hurts..."

With her last guard too hurt to even move, she nervously faced the manticore herself. She must stay strong; even in the face of adversity.

"I am Princess Luna, raiser of the moon and co-ruler of Equestria!" Luna declared. "And you will not hurt my subjects any longer!"

A roar of defiance was its answer, and Luna grit her teeth.

"So be it."

The two stared off intensely, the tension high in the air. Neither dared to make the first move; beads of sweat rolled off of Luna's face, as she concentrated on making another ball of-

Ba-da ba-da, dat! Ba-da ba-da, dat! Dat, da-da-da-da-da-da!

Luna and manticore both lost their concentration; bewildered at the strange sound.

"What was that?" she thought to herself.

Ba-da ba-da, dat! Ba-da ba-da, dat! Dat, da-da-da-da-da-da!

There it was again. Luna was completey baffled as the sound grew closer, accompanied by a rumble of an unknown origin.

"Oh yeah! That is my jam! Arrrrrrriibaaaa!"

"Hey! What the fuck did you do to my horn?! Wait... Discord, that's a hou- DISCORD WATCH OUT!"

The exact moment she heard that, a massive object crashed through a house behind the manticore. She dove out of danger's way as the object rammed the manticore, sending it flying.

As Luna got up, she managed to see what exactly crashed into her assailant. She could discern from the debris that it was a vehicle of sorts, and Discord was on the wheel.

"Woohoo! Let's do that again!" Discord cheered.

In the back, Luna recognized a very familiar human dragging himself out.

"Ugh... next time, I drive and you can man the gun. Wait, that's actually worse..."

Luna' eyes widened as Emile stood to full height, wiping the debris and mud off of himself. She failed to take into account of how tall he was before; he almost stood at the same height as her sister.

Most importantly, however, was the fact he wasn't contained.

"You! Stop right there!" she commanded.

Emile eyes widened as he turned to face her, followed by an angry demeanor.

"Aw, hell no! You want me back in that hamster ball? Then you better kiss your sorry ass goodbye!" he replied, grabbing the shotgun from his back and aiming it at her.

As Luna readied her magic, Discord appeared between both of them with a stern look.

"Hey, HEY! As much as I want to see a princess duke it out with an alien - and I really do, we have bigger problems here. So why don't we just put our weapons down, and relax? How about it?"

"Yeah right." Emile barked. "And when I put mine down she'll zap me."

"No, Emile. She won't. Isn't that right Luna?"

Discord turned to Luna, but she made no move to drop her stance.

"Luna, please. He's not here to hurt anyone. He's here to help. You can argue with him as much as you want when all of this is over, but I'm begging you, don't do anything drastic."

Luna eyed both of them suspiciously. Rarely did she trust the god of Chaos himself - if ever, and she never trusted Emile in the first place. Her instincts screamed at her to follow what they're saying, but even she could not deny the feeling of doubt within her. Luna could feel Discord's sincerity, and it disturbed her greatly.

With great reluctance, she stopped channeling magic through her horn and dropped her stance. She readied herself for any tricks, but none came.

"Good, good. Now Emile, it's your turn. Drop yours." Discord said.

A moment passed, before Emile sighed. He dropped his shotgun to the ground and crossed his arms; eager to get this temporary truce implemented already.

"There. Are you happy?"

And then he was kidnapped by a manticore.

The manticore Discord crashed into came to and tackled Emile, and before anyone could react, carried him away by his leg. Discord and Luna gave chase to the fleeing manticore, but it was already too late. Another manticore came in a grabbed a hold of Emile's other leg, and together, they soared. Discord and Luna watched with their mouths agape as they flew higher and higher into the dark and rainy sky, with Emile in tow.

Just after Discord told him to drop his weapon.

"That's... that was some terrible timing." Discord mused.

He was blindsided.

He couldn't believe it. The manticore Emile crashed into, crashed back. Before he could even comprehend what the hell just happened to him, he was airborne, rapidly going up higher and higher into the sky as two manticores held on to him by his legs.

Thing's probably couldn't get any worse, if he didn't drop his shotgun in the first place.

"Note to self: work on environmental awareness."

The manticores flew closer and closer to the dark, stormy clouds in the sky; he was whipped around by strong winds and rain, and the boom of thunder grew deafeningly close.

He suddenly stopped ascending, and through the water on his visor he could see the manticores have stopped going anywhere. They flew in place and looked around, as if they were waiting for something.

Emile decided he wasn't going to find out anytime soon. Grabbing the pistol on his hip, he fought against the wind and aimed upwards.

CRACK!

Something massive hit his back; it felt like a grenade exploded just behind him. Emile reeled in shock from the blast as his HUD momentarily fizzed, before coming back to life with a blaring alarm.

It didn't take Emile long to the equation together and realize how fatal his situation was.

"Storm x High Altitude x (Metal + Me) = HUMAN BARBECUE."

Emile squirmed and struggled, and aimed his pistol at his attackers as best as he could, as fast as he could. He just fired wildly upwards, hoping he'd hit his target.

His first three shots went in the manticore on his left - two in its body, and one in the eye. It let go of his leg in shock of losing its depth perception, and through the panic, Emile could see that both manticores' fur were singed; obviously from the bolt of lightning that struck him. What's strange, however, was the fact that they were still even breathing. The bolt should've incapacitated them at least, given that he has energy shielding and they don't.

As he aimed at the other manticore holding on to his leg, another bolt of lightning struck him.

"GAAAAHHH!"

He definitely felt that one. As elelctricity coursed through him, he caught a glimpse of the last manticore holding on to him. It didn't even flinch as more of its flesh and fur were burnt off, and showed no signs of letting go as it struggled to carry his weight.

Emile planned to change that. Through the pain, he aimed the pistol, and fired his last two rounds into the manticore's face.

Blood spurted from its forehead, and it died immediately. The manticore let go of Emile, and soon after he was in a free-fall.

Holstering his pistol, he quickly surveyed the ground below him. It was closing in fast; Emile was literally seconds away from turning into a recipe for mashed SPARTAN.

He saw a lake, just at the edge of the town. He streamlined his body to fall forward; it's going to be a rough landing, but it's the safest one he could think of.

5...

Suddenly, something hit him hard from behind, altering his trajectory. He half-expected it to be a bolt of lightning, until it tried to bite him.

...4...

Emile whipped around, and saw a manticore - the one he shot in the eye - trying to rip through his armor. It was bleeding profusely from its eye-socket, but it kept going - clawing his chest and biting his shoulder.

...3...

It was too late to aim for that lake now; it's too far to close the distance. In a last-ditch attempt to save himself, he swung a punch at the manticore's snout and grabbed the manticore, switching positions. Now he was on top, and the manticore's back was to the ground.

...2...

With a makeshift cushion in the form of a vicious animal with him, Emile locked his armor, and prayed in that split-second to make it out alive.

...1.

They crashed through a roof, and immediately met the hard ground. The manticore's body softened the blow, but it still hurt as he landed on his shoulder; the manticore still beneath him as the debris fell and the dust settled. Emile rolled himself off the body and laid next to it, staring through the hole of the ceiling he just busted through.

He ached everywhere, but he was alive.

Emile muttered a string of curses as he sat up, as well as a sarcastic thanks to the manticore for being a meat-shield. It was definitely dead; its chest cavity had collapsed, and he most likely crushed most of its vital organs during the landing. Unsurprising really; Emile did weigh half a ton with the suit on. He quickly examined his surroundings; the house was beautifully adorned, and the room was filled with clothes, costumes and mannequins. Such a shame he had to crash through this particular one.

Clutching on his right shoulder, Emile limped his way to the door and stepped outside.

It was a madhouse. Ponies everywhere ran, screaming and shouting in terror as they looked for shelter. Manticores dive-bombed houses, crashing straight through the roof and driving out anyone inside into the open, while more of Luna's Night Guard fought, chased and preoccupied them as best as they could. Their effectiveness was lacking, given that the guards were spread thin, and there were simply too many to protect at the same time.

Something rustled behind him, and Emile whipped around in disbelief. The manticore - the one he literally flattened, was crawling to him. Blood gurgled out of its ruptured eye as it dragged itself across the floor, leaving a trail of blood along the way. Emile crushed the damn animal under his own weight; logically, it should be dead.

What's more astounding however, was the fact that the manticore completely ignored the pain it was experiencing. It crawled to him; growling in anger, instead of writhing in pain. It's like it wasn't even aware that it should be dead by now.

Emile stared as the manticore crawled to him, stopping at his feet as it finally succumbed to its wounds. As it died, dark mist exited out its mouth and its eyes turned from a soulless black into a milky white.

"What is this..."

A high-pitched scream cut his thoughts short, and Emile turned to the door. Whoever it was, they were close by. Deciding to investigate the matter of the manticores later, he ran towards the source.

The scream repeated, and Emile continued to follow. He rounded a corner, to find another manticore giving chase to mint green unicorn with a lyre for a Cutie Mark. Emile charged in head-first, literally. He tackled the manticore right before it pounced on the poor unicorn, and crashed through another house in the process. Emile rained down punches at the animal, but it ignored the blows and subsequently kicked Emile off.

Emile stood up, wiping the mud and rain covering his visor. He unsheathed his knife, waiting for the manticore to jump out from the house.

As expected, the manticore jumped out. It landed right in front of Emile, lunging with its stinger. Emile acted quickly, and narrowly deflected the blow with his knife.

Back and forth they traded, with Emile on the defensive and the manticore wildly swinging and stabbing. Granted, this is definitely one of the weirdest fights Emile has partaken in, but it was still a fight he can lose. He needed to find an opportunity, and fast.

As the manticore lunged with his stinger once more, Emile ducked. Time slowed down, and the perfect moment came.

Emile grabbed the stinger, and held it down with his right arm. Before the manticore could even react, Emile plunged the knife into its tail.

He twisted and pushed the knife as far as he could, until he lost his grip on the stinger. Emile backed away and witnessed the fruit of his labor. The manticore raised its tail, ready to lunge him again, but found itself to be unable to. The manticore looked back, only to find its scorpion tail snapped in half; the stinger dangling uselessly.

Capitalizing on its shock, Emile rushed the manticore and swung with his fist, catching it completely off-guard. Again, Emile kept its tail under his right arm, and with a giant swing of his knife, chopped the tail in half.

Blood spurted from the ends, and Emile dropped the tail into the ground. That's one less appendage to be worried about.

Ignoring the fact its tail is missing, the manticore pounced; a final act of desperation.

A final act indeed, as Emile plunged the knife into its chest. He pushed it deeper into its heart, and twisted it as much as he could.

Blood began to flow freely from the wound, and the manticore's hold on Emile slowly softened. As its life slowly ebbed away, Emile made an effort to look it in the eye as he continued to twist the knife. He had done so to many of his foes; the ones who were unfortunate enough to get too close. It was his way of bidding them farewell; making sure that the last image they see - the one, last image before he takes their miserable life, will be the skull scratched on his visor. Emile has done this numerous times as a tradition - this manticore was no different.

Only, it was.

As he looked into the manticore's eyes, he began to experience violent hallucinations; his mind felt like it was being torn in half, and he began to hear deep, dark voices. Voices of people he used to know.

Emile pushed the manticore off of him, and subsequently pulled his helmet off and rubbed his eyes. As he finished, he looked at the manticore again. Its eyes turned from black into milky white, and a dark mist exited out of its mouth.

He forced himself to calm down; he won't allow such petty things to get to him. Retrieving his helmet, he dislodged the knife from the manticore's chest and turned to the mint-green unicorn with the lyre Cutie Mark.

She sat there, frozen; probably from the shock. After all, she just witnessed a bloodbath right before her eyes.

"Hey there! You alright?" he asked.

She could only mutter out something unintelligible, but otherwise she sat still in the mud. Emile walked towards her, and offered her a hand up.

"Need a hand?"

This time there was a reaction. Her eyes widened significantly - almost bulging out of her head, and her breathing quickened.

"Uh... you okay?"

She fainted.

Emile wondered what he did wrong, before remembering that he wasn't exactly what you'd call normal in a world full of ponies.

"Heh. Figures."

Sheathing his knife back into place, he began to go and look for other dangers. He climbed the house he first crashed into up to the rooftop, hoping to get a better vantage point of the town. Emile squinted his eyes through the harsh rain, trying to discern the place in front of him.

From what he can see, ponies in golden armor have joined in with the bat-ponies to combat the remaining manticores. Two have already been subdued successfully; both were tied in rope, and an orange mare with a Stetson on her head was tightening the grip on the second one. If he remembered correctly, he counted eight manticores when all of this went down. He shot down one of the manticores who kidnapped him, crushed the other one, and killed another just minutes ago.

"Three to go..."

His eyes scanned the environment from his position, looking for the remaining three. He's bound to find them eventually.

Emile found his target; another manticore took to the skies, swiping and attacking the pegasi and bat-pony guards in the air. The guards seemed to be trying to get to something, but were blocked off by the one manticore.

He jumped off his perch, and landed on another house. He ran quickly, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, making his way to the fray as fast as he could.

The manticore was flying low enough; Emile could easily catch it off-guard. Just one more jump...

His eye caught something. Below him, there were a crowd of ponies in a dead end, cowering in a corner. Two manticores were slowly closing in; they would have already attacked them, if they weren't so busy fighting over who gets the first pick.

It didn't take long for Emile to realize the situation.

The civilians were the top priority. The guards can't reach them, but he can. Changing direction, Emile jumped off the rooftop and landed right on top of one of the manticores on the ground. As he rode on its back, Emile unsheathed his knife and stabbed downwards; towards where he assumed its spinal cord would be. His aim was to incapacitate it first; there were at least three of these animals, and one was already hard enough to finish off.

Unfortunately, Emile's knife missed its mark as the manticore tried to shake him off; it was plunged in deep into its back, but it missed the spine just by millimetres. One violent jerk to the side would be enough to paralyze the manticore.

Large, furry paws grabbed Emile before he had the chance. The other manticore lifted him up, and slammed him down into the muddy ground. Emile hit the dirt hard, and he grunted from pain. Before he could recover, the manticore raised its two giant paws and brought them down on Emile's chest. With the wind properly knocked out of him, the manticore picked him up, and threw him away.

Emile was sent flying, only for his back to crash into a metal pole. He hissed at the sudden contact as he fell face first into the ground; Emile tried to get up, only for something large to hit him on the back of the head.

"OW!"

He rubbed the back of his head, and looked up to see the pole - or rather, lamp post - he crashed into fell on him. The lamp post was reminiscent to an 18th century street light back on Earth; made of heavy cast-iron with oil as a fuel source. It was slightly taller than him; unsurprising, given he was twice as tall as any normal pony.

Emile pushed himself up, a little dazed from the blows he received. The manticores turned their attention back to the cornered crowd; Emile's knife still lodged into the back of one was promptly ignored. Emile reached for his pistol, only to find that he only has one extra clip for it. All the ammo he had on him was meant for a shotgun.

A shotgun he lost, again.

With a bloody massacre seconds away and with no clear shot for an instant take down, Emile racked his brain for an idea. His eyes fell on his pistol, and then the lamp post on the ground.

"I must be crazy..."

Grabbing the lamp post from the ground, he carried the heavy object in one hand, and aimed his pistol with the other.

The first two shots successfully distracted the two manticores; one in the hindquarters, and the other in the snout. The other three shots, he fired at the manticore flying in the air; two of the bullets tore through its wings, and the third hit its side.

Now that he made it clear that he'll keep interrupting their meal, three pairs of eyes fell to him.

"Okay, that's step one. What's step two?"

The two manticores charged at Emile with their fangs bared, while the other made a straight dive at him from the air.

"Oh right... step two. RUN!"

He went the other direction, holstering his pistol while running as fast as his legs could carry him through the weather. He ran across town with the lamp post in his hands, looking back to make sure that the manticores were still chasing after him. Once he was far away enough, he'll have to face them alone.

Emile stopped as he reached a wide area; it was the town center. The place was empty and devoid of life. Emile looked behind him, and the manticore he stabbed in the back was the only one there. The other two took to the skies, and positioned themselves to surround him.

Emile gripped the lamp post in his hands, second-guessing why he picked it up in the first place. It wasn't exactly a weapon, per se, but it was definitely a more viable option than using his own fists. He would've preferred his knife, but that was still lodged in one of the manticore's back.

He didn't like his odds.

All three rushed him at once; Emile steeled himself for the fight. Gathering his energy, he swung the lamp post in a massive loop around him, praying to whatever god that exists that he'll hit something.

Miraculously, the lamp post hit all three, with varying effects. The first manticore it hit shattered the glass holding the oil, resulting in a manticore with a face-full of broken glass shards. The second manticore it hit had the lamp's oil spill into its eyes, temporarily blinding the animal as the oils burned. Finally, the last manticore had the pleasure of knowing what his heavy-duty cast-iron lamp post tastes like. Judging by its reaction of spitting out chipped fangs, its doesn't taste very well.

Capitalizing on their confusion, Emile targeted the one with the glass shards stuck to its face - the one with his knife still in its back. Emile rained down blow after blow with the lamp post; he was both amazed at himself, and in disbelief at the same time.

"Normal? What is this 'normal' you speak of? Hmm... I believe I used to know what normal once was, but now I have forgotten what normal is, probably because HOLY SHIT I'M FIGHTING A CREATURE OF MYTH WITH A STREET LIGHT!" he screamed to himself, grinning like a madman as he repeatedly twirled and brought the lamp post down on the creature's face.

With him on the upper hand, Emile went in for the finishing move. Gripping on the end of the hefty pole like a baseball bat, Emile twisted his body, and swung with as much force as he could muster.

The manticore ducked; the swing was going to miss by a mile. But its head wasn't what Emile was aiming for. As the lamp post traveled through the air, Emile aimed his swing to hit the handle of the knife sticking out of the manticore's back.

The blow connected, and the knife was violently jerked sideways. A sickening crack was heard, and the manticore fell - either paralyzed or dead.

Emile doubled over to catch his breath, dropping the lamp post in the process. There were a few dents on the end of it, but Emile's makeshift weapon generally held up nicely.

"Huh. Surprisingly durable."

Unfortunately, his brief pause for rest meant he was distracted. One of the other manticores swiped his legs, and Emile fell to the ground. He tried to grab the lamp post, but he was already dragged away.

Emile twisted his body to look at his attacker, but the manticore brought him up and slammed him down into the ground. It happened again, and again, and again. After the fifth time, the manticore let go of Emile, and allowed him to writhe in pain in the mud.

Emile's vision was dazed, and his body felt like it had been hit by a tank. He tried to crawl away, but the manticore flipped him over, pinned him down and brought its face to his visor; allowing Emile to see nothing but the empty darkness of its eyes.

The head-splitting aches returned, and a persistent ringing filled Emile's ears. He felt like he was losing his grip on his sanity. Fueled by panic and adrenaline, he wildly kicked the manticore off of him.

As he stood up, the world around him changed. Every time he blinked, the scenery shifted from Ponyville to the burnt Eridanus II from his nightmares, and back again. Emile felt sick to his stomach as dark, twisted scenes of his life played before his very eyes every time he blinked, no matter how hard he tried to get rid of them.

The manticore bit Emile's shoulder, and once again his vision was shifted back to Ponyville. Emile punched the manticore's snout, but it didn't budge. As Emile fought, the other manticore - the last one, pinned him down again, and forced Emile to look into its eyes.

The ache grew painfully, and the ringing was all Emile could hear. He struggled and squirmed, for the pain became unbearable.

Until it stopped altogether.

Everything stopped. The world shattered like glass around him, and the pain and the ringing ceased. Emile sat up quickly, confused as he could not discern what was real anymore. His breathing quickened, and fear settled in his mind as nothing made sense to him. Just a minute ago he was in Ponyville, and now he was alone in the darkness.

"Not for long."

Emile whipped around, looking for the source of the new voice. He spun in place, until his eyes fell on a figure, standing a few meters away from him.

It was a girl, with black hair, and the same green eyes he had.

He broke.

"Come on! They went this way, follow me!"

Applejack led the group of nine guards with her, galloping to the town square as fast as the wind. According to some of the guards, three manticores were led there by somepony. She decided to get there before they could escape, or before they could hurt the pony that led them there in the first place.

They reached their destination; the three manticores were definitely there, but things were different. One laid still on the ground; a knife lodged in its back, while two others were unsuccessfully mauling something.

"Is that... Emile?"

As soon as she and the guards appeared, the two manticores turned their attention to them. They picked up Emile's limp body and threw him at them, landing in the mud just in front of them.

"Go, get 'em already!" Applejack ordered. The mixture of Celestia and Luna's guards nodded, and moved to confront the animals.

As they fought, Applejack tended to Emile. She flipped him over and shook him, but no response. Suddenly, Luna and Discord appeared behind her; Luna was covered in mud and bruises, while Discord was covered in bandages. He was carrying something with him; a black object with a trigger on it.

"Oh no... oh no, oh no, oh no! Please tell me he's okay! I haven't had smores with him yet!" Discord panicked, dropping the object on the ground and kneeled next to Emile's body.

"Quit yer worryin', Discord. He's fine; he's still breathing. Come on, help me get him outta here."

Applejack, Discord and Luna all nodded, and moved in to help carry him.

He sat up.

The three jumped back in surprise at the sudden movement. Emile faced them slowly; first at Applejack, then to Luna, then to Discord.

"Hey Emile? You alright?" Discord asked, waving his talon in front of Emile's face.

He then turned his attention to the scene in front of him. The Earth Pony and Unicorn guards forced the manticores' attention on them, while the Pegasus and Bat-Pony guards attacked them from the air with their weapons.

Emile tilted his head, before suddenly picking up the object Discord was carrying. Without uttering a word, he silently stood up and walked slowly towards the battle.

Applejack and Luna moved to stop him, but Discord got in their way.

"Wait. Just... let him."

As Emile came closer, one of the manticores shifted their attention to him. Growling, it charged at him.

Emile stopped. He raised the object in his hands, and aimed it at the manticore.

"Wait, what the hay's he doi-"

BANG!

CHK-CHK

A loud noise filled the area, and everypony fell silent. The charging manticore fell to the ground a few meters away from Emile, tripping as a bloody stump was all that's left of its right paw.

Emile moved forward.

BANG!

CHK-CHK

It's tail was gone, replaced by another bloody stump. As the manticore tried to get up, Emile stomped his foot on its left paw, and aimed at its face.

Applejack closed her eyes, unable to look at what was to come.

BANG!

CHK-CHK

As she opened them, all she saw was the manticore's face - bloody and unrecognizable, and a giant splatter of red on Emile's armor.

The other manticore roared, and advanced on him. Nopony but Emile moved; they were at a complete shock and awe. As it came, Emile placed the object on his back, and instead grabbed a fallen lamp post. In one go, he snapped the pole, leaving him with two, sharpened pieces of metal.

As the manticore pounced, Emile swung. His fist connected, and the manticore landed on the ground. Before it could react, he shoved the piece of metal through its paw, and into the ground.

The manticore lunged in retaliation, but found itself stuck in place. Emile literally nailed its paw into the ground; no matter how hard it pulled, the piece of metal didn't budge.

Infuriated, the manticore swung with its other paw, reaching out to hit Emile. He simply grabbed it, and held it down as he plunged the other half of the lamp post through its paw and into the ground.

The ponies around him watched in horror as Emile stood up and backed away. The manticore was stuck in place, with both paws nailed down.

"It... it doesn't feel it. The pain... it doesn't feel pain..." Applejack muttered, as the manticore tried to pull itself free, ignoring the damage it was doing to itself in the process.

Emile slowly turned to her, and small chills went up her spine as he did. He chuckled darkly, finding humor in her statement.

"I am sorely disappointed in all of you, you know. All this trouble, just because of... this," he motioned his hand the manticore, still struggling in place.

"Whatever they are, they are still animals. Just because they cannot feel pain-"

In the blink of an eye, Emile placed his hands on the manticore's mouth, and snapped its jaw.

"-does not mean they cannot die."

The sickening crack echoed out, and Applejack couldn't get the awful sound out of her head.

Everyone backed away from Emile. He turned and set his eyes on Luna, and slowly walked towards her.

"Now, let me be clear on this, Princess Luna. There was a threat to this town, and I personally removed that threat. Do you understand what that means?"

Luna's expression darkened, as Emile stopped just in front of her.

"What is it you wish, Emile?" she asked, saying his name with derogatory.

"Oh, Luna. You act like I am asking you the sun and the moon! It's just a simple request."

Emile paused, and Applejack just knew that he was grinning under that helmet.

"All I want... is a deal."

To be continued...

Prophecy of the Six - Earlier Than Expected

by Wolfram Alpha

A Surge Of Energy

First Impressions

Meet The SPARTAN - Part One

Meet The SPARTAN - Part Two

Emile is Not Happy

Welcome to Ponyville - Part One

Welcome to Ponyville - Part Two

Emile VS The Magic Of Friendship: The Nightmare Begins

Emile VS The Magic Of Friendship: Haunted Pasts and Failure Lasts

Emile VS The Magic Of Friendship: The Calm Before The Storm

Emile VS The Magic Of Friendship: Test of Strength