I must say that I'm mighty impressed with the formal deductions being made about this story, although at the same time your giving me ideas on how to further improve on the story. It was one persons comment which caused a spark in my brain which quickly spawned an answer to a problem I found I had with the story's plot for later. I would like to thank you all for the mostly positive feedback and would like to assure you all that I have no intention of making this like every other 'Halo:HiE'. I'm not saying there aren't good ones. Just a few of them seem to stand to an invisible set of rules about how Celestia and Luna must be the most powerful beings blah blah blah and so on. Things are going to enter a small dull stage with little action but this is just a build up, trust me on that. On another note I am now oddly having dreams about my story. While they do seem fun at first my mind has warped them to stuff you would pee your pants in fear about. Luna's nightmare became my nightmare. LOL. Keep reading and writing people.
-Super Intendant
Chapter 4: So I Heard You Like Hands.
It was 4a.m in the morning and a light breeze wafted the brilliant smell of apples as the wind carried into town from Sweet Apple Acres. The sun still had quite some time until it needed to be risen from its peaceful slumber and all ponies followed suit as they rested throughout the night in their small beds, one pony was not in her bed. One small, mint green pony should not have even been out and about while the sky was so dark but still she ventured on. Lyra pressed her muzzle against the window of Twilight's house and peered inside. Surely enough she could make out the faint silhouettes of all the ponies she knew well but that wasn't what she was looking for. Scanning the other side of the room she made out her target. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth and began salivating down the window. She pushed her tongue back into her mouth with her right hoof and began looking around for an entrance into the building without alerting anyone. She trotted clockwise around the outside of the building looking some way to gain entrance and quickly found her eyes settling on an open window leading out to a balcony one story above her. Focusing all her magic into her horn she teleported up to the balcony with a soft 'pop' and pulled the window open gently before creeping inside. Looking around the room she discovered that this must have been Twilight's bedroom, thanking Celestia that Twilight wasn't in here she continued on her way through the house.
~~
Aidan sat there in total silence as his mind wrapped all its processing power around the events that had transpired that night. He had slept for little under an hour which wasn't the best amount of sleep to have when you needed to be sharp and alert but his chemically enhanced mind took it well as it drew conclusions on how to deal with it all. The ponies seemed peaceful enough and it would be best to keep it that way. He sat there and watched as the blue Princess pony Luna thrashed and turned in her sleep letting out soft whimpers. She was obviously having nightmares but Aidan thought better of it not to wake her up and interfere with a delicate balance. He mentally reprimanded himself for his actions against her earlier. While she had been quite brash and ignorant of someone who clearly would have a better understanding of space than her, it was him who had went over the top by pinning her to the floor with his knife. He was never brilliant at negotiating and any time he was assigned to field interrogation the subject would often end up dead before any information could be spilled. People said he was too rough but god damn it, he was a Spartan not a diplomat. It was his job to be excessively violent to the opposition not open nice and peaceful talks with them.
He sighed gently and attached the Storm Rifle to its magnet clamps on the left side of his back. He pulled the Magnum side-arm from his right thigh plate and began studying it for damage. Nothing serious had been dealt to the weapon other than a few scratches and Aidan was happy with that. He wouldn't be able to resupply his weapons so every bullet counted. A broken Magnum would mean a third of his ammunition was wasted. He had packed two extra power cells for the Storm Rifle and one cell was equivalent to how much a marine could carry of AR ammo, so he was probably going to be relying on that the most. 'Pop'
Aidan's eyes shot up in an instant as he heard the sound and grew even more edgy as his motion tracker picked up one lone red blip coming from above and behind him. He knew this house worked a bit like a studio apartment so most of the house was connected without walls. He also knew that he had his back placed firmly against the wall which also housed the stairs that ascended above him. His mind came to the logical conclusion that something was trying to get the drop on him. He didn't move and tried to suss out what it was through sound alone. Nothing. He couldn't hear anything, yet the red blip was still there, moving around just enough to be picked up and then 'poof' the red blip was gone. Aidan was about to rise and face the potential threat when a small owl swooped into the room and landed near Twilight and the small purple dragon. Aidan's mind was assuaged by the revelation that it was just an owl. He still hadn't moved a muscle other than swapping weapons and still looked as though he was sleeping so the owl continued to ignore him and nestled in-between Twilights forelegs and sat there.
Satisfied in his knowledge that the commotion was caused by the small bird Aidan closed is eyes and relaxed. He sat there for a few more minutes in pure silence until the micro fibres in his left glove relayed the sensation of warm moisture dripping over his hand. His eyes opened immediately and observed as a thick yet clear liquid ran down from above and drizzled all over his left hand. Slowly but surely Aidan pulled the hammer back on his Magnum in his right hand without the disturbance noticing the change in his position he prepared himself to spin and shoot. The drizzle grew more intense and Aidan took that as his cue to act. Jumping from the floor rather explosively he brought the handgun up and fired a few shots upwards in random trajectories to confuse the creature that had decided to drool all over him. A blur of mint green shot from over the edge and landed right on his helmet but quickly shifted position as it clawed its way down his right arm. Aidan now realised it was another pony and refrained from trying to kill it but he still needed to dislodge it from his arm. He shook like a bucking bronco but the pony held tight and continued edging its way down his arm until it was right in front of his hand. The pony darted its head around the hand to observe it from all angles before pulling a hacksaw out of nowhere.
“Shit!” Aidan yanked it off his arm and threw it across the room, waking all the other ponies up, who had yet to fully awaken, rather violently. They were all groggy and terrified as they saw the pony fly across the room and land with a 'thump' against a bookshelf. It tried to rise but was then buried in an avalanche of books. Celestia was the first to act as she lifted the pile of books off the mint green pony while Twilight levitated the pony in a purple aura. The green pony thrashed and twisted in the aura before pointing over at Aidan.
“No fair, I called dibs on those hands!” The green pony pouted as Aidan pulled his hands behind his back. The small pony was obviously deranged and absolutely stark raving mad. Twilight floated the green pony to her meet her face and talked with a soft tone to appease the green unicorn.
~~
“Lyra, what were you trying to do?” The hacksaw made it painstakingly obvious but Twilight wanted to make sure. Lyra blushed and started twiddling with the hacksaw.
“Uh, y'know... getting some... uh hands.” She finished the last part with a sheepish grin and Twilight just rubbed her temples before walking over to the front door.
“Lyra, now is not the time to be goofing around. I'll talk to you about this tomorrow.” She deposited Lyra outside and she tried to reply but Twilight slammed the door in her face. She walked over to the rest of the group and closed the window which Lyra had originally climbed in from, with her magic. With all entrances closed she settled down.
“Darling, what you did to Lyra there was quite rude!” Rarity didn't seem to understand just quite what had happened and only saw that whole fiasco as unnecessary rough housing.
“Ugh... Rares I'm just not going to bother going through all the explaining it would take to make you understand.” Rarity let out and easily audible 'hmmph' as she laid down again. Twilight turned around to face 42. He didn't seem to disturbed by the random attack from Lyra but she thought that he grasped that she was completely psychotic. He sat down with his smaller 'L' shaped weapon and his knife in hand this time and just sat there rather than trying to sleep. 'Great, we've spooked him', was all Twilight could think as she rested her head against the pillow and faced in his direction. He seemed to be looking around the place with noticeable movement of his head until he settled his vision on Luna who had been staring at him for quite some time now. He waved his hand to gauge her attention as she seemed to be a bit zoned out and she snapped right back before blushing visibly and lying back down but facing away from him. Twilight didn't think anything of it.
~~
Hours passed and Aidan just sat there not moving a muscle as his mind was in a state of conscience limbo. He could observe everything that was going around him and he could snap out at any moment but time flew in this tranquil state. He wasn't taking any more chances with the potential threat of more deranged ponies being nearby. Something rustled in the corner of his vision and he snapped out the trance to identify who was moving. The tall white one known as Celestia got up and stretched before opening her mouth and yawning. She looked over at him and cocked her head as she figured out whether he was sleeping or not. Thinking he was still asleep she set of up the stairs to his left and escalated to the second floor which housed the balcony.
Now she was out of sight, Aidan jumped to his feet and scaled the wall silently and hoisted himself over the edge and onto the second floor which was, what he presumed to be, Twilights bedroom. He stood up and walked behind Celestia like a phantom as she stepped out onto the balcony and began emitting a brilliant, almost blinding glow from her horn and pointed it at the moon which had almost sunk completely over the horizon. She discharge the building energy as a translucent beam which connected with the moon and she tugged her head downwards dragging the moon in her general movement. Aidan's mouth swung open inside his helmet and he had to physically shut himself up before his brain said something stupid. Celestia then pulled her head back up and the sun began making its own ascent across the sky as a yellow tone of light came with the brilliant sunrise. Celestia turned around with a mildly happy smile stretching across her lips. She noticed him standing there and walked up to him.
“Ah, 42. I hadn't realised you were up yet, if I had known you were awake earlier I would have invited you to watch but you seemed to have observed it for yourself. Care to tell me what you think.” Aidan stood there without saying anything for several moments. What he had just observed broke almost every simple law of physics. To hell with it, these ponies in general seemed to be able to break the simplest laws of reality in general.
“I... uh... no... but............... how?!” He stammered out several different questions before cutting them off and finally reaching the one word. Celestia chortled in a very regal manner.
“Oh dear, I seemed to have confused you slightly. No matter, me an Luna meant it when we said we could raise the sun and moon. On another note I think it would be best to wake the other and continue with our introduction to each other. The town must be made fully aware of your presence and adjusted to it so you can walk about without being herded off by an angry mob.” Aidan snapped out of it and mentally reprimanded himself for such a stupid reaction to such a critical matter. It still amazed him though, someone should really get the Pope on the line, asap. Walking down the stairs with Celestia at his side they soon discovered most of the others had awoken now and were going about their own various tasks. Twilight was searching through an encyclopedia on mythical animals. Rainbow Dash ans Applejack were arm wrestling while Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rarity talked quietly in a corner. The only one who wasn't awake was Luna, though she seemed to be rolling in her sleep. Something in her head was definitely rustling her jimmies.
Celestia walked over and started to lightly shake the blue pony with her right fore-hoof. Luna continued to mumble in her sleep and suddenly bolted upright with a shout of terror. She was sweating profusely and Celestia rested a foreleg on Luna's shoulder.
“Sister, are you alright?” Luna shifted her gaze from the floor to Celestia.
“Oh its, ah...” She shifted her gave to Aidan and her eyes visibly widened. “Nothing, nothing really. Just a bad dream.” Celestia wasn't buying it but she left it for now.
“Well then sister we best prepare for another 'interesting' day.” Celestia walked over to her own sleeping bag before pulling four hoof cups, a chest piece and a crown of the floor. She put them on and gave her man a flick to sort lose strands in the right direction. Luna did likewise but with much less grace and Aidan planted his back against the wall while he waited for the group to finish their morning preparations.
“42, would you care to join us for breakfast?” Celestia seemed genuinely interested in having a meat eater like himself at the breakfast table but he had to decline.
“Thanks but no thanks. I need to go and do some 'shopping' as it were, if I want to eat like a Spartan should.” None of them seemed very happy about what he was implying, especially Fluttershy. Aidan made a step for the door but Fluttershy bolted in front of him and stood her ground.
“No I wont let you kill little animals.” Aidan looked down at her and she visibly shrunk under his gaze. “That is if you let me stop you.” Aidan didn't like being told what he could and couldn't eat by this small yellow pony but he would have to suck it up and deal with it for now if he wanted the peacefulness to last between the two groups.
“Ugh, fine I wont hunt any animals this time. But let me past so I can fetch a nutrient stim from my supplies.” She jumped with joy, defying gravity and latched onto my chest plate with a big hug before realising what she was doing and instantly let go. She scurried off towards her friends and Aidan stepped out of the door and into the cool morning air.
~~
Twilight and the others turned around and headed into the kitchen/ dinning room. It was the only part of the house which was walled off from the other areas. They all sat around a particularly high table by pony standards and sat on separate stools. Spike and Owloysius had already prepared the mornings breakfast of oatmeal made of the finest ingredients to satisfy the princesses, refined taste. Large bowls filled with the food was passed to each pony and they happily dug in. Some acting rather civilised in the manner they ate, others... not so much. 42 entered shortly with a small bag in his hands. He took up the last available stool as it groaned under his weight and sat bolt upright. He still towered over them despite sitting down, the only person now level with him was Celestia herself. Twilight was intrigued as to what was in the bag but Rainbow beat her to it.
“Hey 42, what's in the bag?” 42 opened the flap and pulled out several large injection needles with incredibly long prongs. Rainbow Dash freaked out and ducked under the table before slowly rising over the table and letting out a nervous laugh. “Uh, just ignore that happened.” Twilight and the other ponies laughed gently in unison at the comedy which had just ensued and all turned their attention back to 42 as he sifted through them. Some held clear liquids, others had various purples, greens and blues. Picking one with a blue liquid inside he proceeded to tap the device on his wrist again and small sparks erupted from his armour as some sort of invisible energy barrier dissipated around him. 42 reached up to his neck and unbuckled a few clamps. Peeling open a section of his suit around his neck he was revealed to have no fur and rather just a fleshy coloured surface that was probably his skin. Large red and blue veins could be seen lightly under the surface and a jagged scar was visible that stretched down and to the right across his neck, slowly approaching his shoulder blades.
“Uh what are ya doing with that needle?” Applejack stated as she observed him rubbing his skin. “Ah'm just saying it looks a little too big to even...” She was cut off as 42 jammed the needle into his neck and pushed it in deeply. Rainbow and Rarity fainted and fell of their stools while 42 pushed down on the plunger and injected all the liquid into his blood stream. Twilight and the others stared with mouths agape at such a large display of courage. Most people hated needles on this planet and no one would inject themselves but 42 had just done it like it was no big deal with a needle longer than a dagger. “Wow.” Applejack whispered to herself while Twilight looked over at Rainbow and Rarity as they were helped off the floor by Pinkie and Fluttershy. Fluttershy looked very green in the face but had managed to keep the contents of her stomach in its place while she re-cooperated herself. His red veins temporarily turned blue and the blue ones stood out even more but their original colours quickly faded back. 42 didn't seem to give two bucks as he clipped the patch back up and looked down at the others across the table.
“What?” He asked in a confused voice. Twilight and the others all looked away a little before turning back with less stunned faces. Luna was the first to talk.
“Was it necessary for thou to use such a large needle?” 42 shrugged at this.
“Hell if I know, they're supposed to be applied through injection ports in the armour but direct application always works better.” Luna was content with this answer but had lost her appetite as she pushed away the remains of her food with a queasy look on her face. Celestia was the only pony who continued eating after the strange event as all the others including her had done likewise. Twilight had to give her mentor props, she had an iron will, and stomach, when she wanted to. The small device on 42's left wrist beeped twice with a blue light and started talking with a metallic voice.
“Nano serum has completed basic scans. Blood dilation, optimal levels. Poisons in system, zero percent. Ion and nutrient levels, low. It is advised that you take a high nutrient meal immediately to reduce risk of body crash.” 42 tapped the screen and sighed.
“Thanks for stating the obvious tacpad. That was a waste of supplies, oh well.” 42 fished around inside the small pouch once again and pulled out several small bars wrapped in plastic. The plastic was grey and had no images or text on it whatsoever other than a small logo which looked like a pyramid with a circle going around the outside. Twilight was the first to pick up it was food and another small problem.
“Uh 42.” He looked up at her before setting down the bars. “How are you going to eat those exactly?”
“Simple.” He put his hands up to his helmet and clicked several buttons around the rim that met the neck and gave a soft yank as he slowly pulled the helmet off.
~~
Now Aidan would usually be very hesitant towards taking off his helmet in unknown territory but these ponies had proven to be very peaceful, mostly peaceful anyhow, and he was confident that if anything so much as even tried to attack him he could put a bullet through its brain no problem without the reticule on his HUD. He also needed to eat very badly. The physical exertion from the previous night had proven to have took a bigger toll on his body than he previously thought, so nutrition would be a good way at staving off the feeling of shit he would inevitably have to deal with. He reached up to his helmet and undid the clips before slowly yanking it off.
~~
Twilight and the others watched with peaked curiosity as 42 yanked his helmet off and brushed a hand through his short and fuzzy mane. The skin on his face was obviously of identical colour to his neck apart from small areas of red scar tissue as a testament to the battles he had been in and won. His eyes were comically small compared to ponies but then again, he probably thought the other way around with their eyes being to big compared to his. He did bear a slight resemblance to a monkey but most of his features gave of a civilised air. Looking at him gave you the impression of a celestial explorer, not a battle hardened soldier. He had faint red skin over his lip area and when he smiled a small amount of pure white canines would show through. His eyes were a light auburn which mixed well with his black mane which went over the top of his head like any normal ponies but he also had two thin strips of it above each eye as well. Since his muzzle was flat he had this rather strange shape at the bottom of his head which twilight assumed to be his chin, rather similar to a primate in that respect.
He ignored their gazes and opened the wrapping around one of the bars before taking a large bite, enveloping over half the bar with one swift action. He chewed and swallowed before putting the other half in his mouth and threw the wrapper across the room and into the bin.
“Tastes like shit to be honest. But it's exactly what I need.” He devoured another one while everpony else just sat there and watched him devour the small yellow bars. He finished about twenty seconds later and picked up his helmet but before he could snap it back on Rainbow Dash pointed something out.
“Say 42, where did you get that neat scar.” 42 set down the helmet once more and pointed at his face.
“Which one?” Dash leaned closer and pointed to the one which ran all the way across his left cheek but had a gap in the line. “Oh that one, well. I guess you've proved trustworthy enough to be told but I'm not going to go too far into details.” Rainbow looked excited and shifted in her seat to get a more comfortable position while listening to him. “Well it all started on a planet known as Faragon.”