In the Darkness, The Lone Blades Light the Way

by New Lunar Eclipse


Chapter Four: This World is Strange

* Italics signify that it is being spoken in the species’ native language, or in the universal language of the Covenant, and that this is the closest possible translation.        The Ultra, Kig-Yar, and the Unggoy were in the barn with the six mares and small reptile. The three Covenant were sitting together, speaking quietly to each other, whereas the locals were chatting quietly amongst themselves. The Covenant soldiers were on the stages of planning how to proceed from this point.

        “*What now, Boss?” The Unggoy looked expectantly to the Ultra, hoping for guidance from the larger species. The Ultra straightened and raised his head, preparing for a speech.

        “*Brothers, we are marooned on this backwards planet. Both our corvette and our mighty carrier are lost. But we will find a way to return. To return to the Blessed Path. This planet will not be our terminus, and perhaps -”

The Ultra didn’t get to finish his declaration, as he was cut off by the pink Equine suddenly letting out a loud and high pitched gasp. The Ultra turned to the pink mare, obviously vexed by her interruption. He could only stare at the pink mess as she jumped and seemed to suspend in the air, her legs flailing in all directions.

        “I completely forgot!” She yelled, as she fell, her hooves finally hitting the floor.”I forgot to throw you all a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party!”

        “We do not-

        In  the blink of an eye, the pink pony was suddenly brandishing a large, primitive cannon, aimed directly at the squad. The Ultra was only beginning to reach for his sword while parting his jaws in a roar when the mare pulled a string and fired. Instinctively, he dived out of the cannon’s line of fire, expertly rolling and popping back up, brandishing his Energy Sword. Ready for intense combat after that ambush, what had actually occured caught the took the Sangheili by surprise

As the ringing from the cannon fire died down, he saw the entire barn was redecorated. There were streamers everywhere, falling from the ceiling,  pastries galore, and things hung up on the wall that the creatures may think of as games.

And there was the Unggoy. Running around screaming, his arms flailing wildly in the air comically, freaking out due to a small artillery piece being fired at his face.

“Ooooh! Oooh! Tag!” The pink pony announced excitedly, and began to chase the panicking Unggoy around the area. This only served to terrify the already hysterical alien, and the Ultra was reduced to watching a member of an elite Spec Ops squadron being chased by a technicolor pony shorter than him.

After a few moments, the Ultra decided that the ponies weren’t attacking them, and this was indeed the “party” the pink one had claimed, and that a member of his squad was making a mockery of himself. He waited until the Unggoy made its way to him, still running around. As the Unggoy passed the large Sangheili, the tall alien reached out and grabbed the top of its harness with his left hand, lifting it a few feet into the air. The pink Equine skidded to a stop in front of him, and then wandered off, pouting. After all, he ruined her fun game of tag!

        

The Ultra heard the sound of laughter coming from the main group, and he saw the purple one make its way to him. He dropped the now calmer Unggoy and gazed around, looking for the cannon, which he had lost sight of in all the streamers. He deactivated his energy sword and stood as tall as he could. *How dishonorable. A drawn weapon demands blood...

Er-hem.”

The Ultra turned, but saw no one. He stood in confusion, before realizing that he was being addressed from below him. The tall alien tilted his head downward, just enough to see the purple mare in the bottom of his vision, in a clearly practiced manner. Typically, he addressed Unggoy in such a superior and dismissive manner, but saw no reason to do so otherwise with these primitives.

Their height difference had a visible effect on the pony, who barely reached his waist. Her mouth was agape, as if she was in the middle of speaking, and the Ultra had no doubt she was a moment away from excusing herself and hastily vacating the area. In the end, Twilight never would have to make that choice, as the Ultra spoke first.

“Speak.” His tone wasn’t a request, but a demand.

Twilight was quick to regain her composure, shifting to stunned bystander to inquisitive bookmare in a heartbeat. “Oh, um, I guess I never introduced myself. I’m Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?”

“As I have said, I am the Ultra.”

Twilight raised her eyebrow quizzically. “I know, but I’m asking for your name, not your title.”

“If I wished you to know my name, would I not have given it already?”

“I just thought you were... shy?”

There was a silent moment between the two (at least as quiet a moment in a party-throwing barn could be), as the purple mare internally chastised herself for such silly a reason. The Ultra, meanwhile, crossed his arms, no doubt in annoyance.

Twilight continued. “Well, I guess ‘the Ultra’ will do for now. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions? You see, I’m a scholar, and I think it’s important that we both get to learn about each other, to help foster good relations between our species.”

The Ultra pondered her words. Few of his kind held scholarly positions, as their culture dictated military service was seen as the most honorable of paths a Sangheili could pursue. Nonetheless, the importance of these fields was not lost on the Ultra, as San ‘Shyuum often turned to this field, which was honorable in its own right. He decided to oblige the mare, somewhat due to lingering respect of the Prophets and their enlightened path, but mostly due to the desire to leave such a hectic locale.

The Sangheili gave a curt nod, which brightened Twilight’s mood immediately, as she broke into a smile. She turned to the barn door, opened it with magic, and strode out casually. The Ultra stopped in surprise. Did the mare just make such a primitive door open by flashing her horn? He strode out, giving the lock mechanism a cursory glance as passed it. As he did so, he failed to notice the streamers that Pinkie quickly hung from the back of his ornate headdress.

Soon the two found themselves standing near the side of the barn. Twilight was still a little intimidated by the tall and scary member of a warlike, dogmatic, genocidal alien race, but she steeled for what had to be done. An new, intelligent species had been discovered, which meant an entire treasure trove of knowledge that she would be the first to find. What new technology could the aliens bring with them? What new cultures were there to investigate? What new planets were there to journey to? So, with those questions in mind, Twilight began her groundbreaking investigation with the simplest of questions.

“Soooo...” Twilight started tentatively. “What species are you?”

The Ultra narrowed his eyes, and replied gruffly, “Sangheili.”

“And what world are you from?”

“Sangheilos.”

“Sangheilos? Oh, I get it! Your species name, and your planet’s name, and...” Twilight trailed off as the Ultra shifted his weight while giving his mandibles a click. She could practically feel the Ultra’s scowl deepen, despite his face being concealed. The mare chuckled sheepishly.

Twilight continued questioning the Sangheili. “...So, what’s your culture like?”

“Honorable.”

“Honorable?”

“Honorable.”

Twilight gave an internal groan. She was getting nowhere. At the same time, the Elite clicked his jaws together impatiently. Couldn’t the primitive realize he cared little for her questions?

The purple pony made up her mind to continue, if only for the sake of science. She remembered the Sangheili’s weapon display less than an hour ago, how that beam incinerated an apple. And what was that glowing blade that came out of the metal canister he had on his hip? Was it magic? Technology? Both? It was worth investigating.

“What’s your species’ technology like?”

“Advanced.”

Twilight’s eye twitched.


Bok looked around new stimuli bombarding his senses. One was a smell... A kind of smelly smell. A smell that smells... good. He moved his head to the left and to the right, trying to pinpoint it and- *There it is... He made his way to a nearby table that was playing host to many types of pastries and breads. There was a large circular one, his senses told him that it had a suicidal amount of icing on it. He clutched it in his claws, and opened his mouth wide. He closed his eyes and was about to eat the entire cake in one gulp.

The weight in his hands suddenly disappeared as his jaws snapped closed on thin air. He opened one of his eyes to see the pink four-legs with her entire face was covered in icing, save for her eyes, which stared happily at him. He awkwardly closed his jaws and slowly picked up another cake, smaller this time. His eyes not leaving hers to make she she would not steal his food again, he slowly brought the cake up to his jaws and swallowed it whole. The pink four-legs immediately let out another gasp and ate the icing off her face.

“I challenge you, to an eating contest!!”

“*What?” He cocked his head to the side, giving her a questioning glance.

*I challenge you to cake eating contest!” She made movements with her hoof and motioned to the food.

“*Did you just-”

“*Yep! But why don’t you talk in Equestrian like the big one can?”

I am not like the Sangeheili, I can only speak my language, the language of the Kig-Yar. The others just use translators”

“*Well that stinks .” She pouted at this and crossed her forehooves. She perked up immediately, however. “*Good thing I know bird!

“*So, food challenge?”

“*Yep! Lets go!”

He jumped up and looked at the now suddenly cake-full table. The pink four-legs landed next to him, mouth open and ready to receive the cake laid out in front of her. He opened his own jaws, and lined up with a single line, just as she had.

“*GO!”

Bok decided then and there he wasn’t going to eat this pony.


Pip-Pap was sitting behind a bale hay in the barn, well away from the crazy pink pony who fired artillery into people’s faces. He had mostly calmed down by now, but still refused to go near the pink monster, nor any of the other monsters, who were all as tall as himself without his harness. He wanted to make himself look as small as possible, so they would look over him. So far the plan was a success, with only one snag. Most of his methane tank and harness were poking well out behind the bale.

He looked over to the main group, the large Elite leaving, and the mean Kig-Yar stuffing down food faster then the Unggoy had thought possible. His gaze traveled back to the main group of the ponies. They were standing around, speaking to each other. Good. He lowered himself back down and looked at a piece of straw between his stubby fingers.

There was some giggling to his right. He stopped moving and breathing, his ears searching for the sound. After a moment of no other noises, he continued to play with the straw in his hand. Then he felt a tapping on his methane tank with a whisper, “What’ya think he’s got in here?”

He jumped up, and turned around as fast as he could. There stood the three little monsters that they had first met. He looked at the three of them with his beady eyes, watching them for any sudden movements.

“Ya’ll okay there?”

Of course! He could understand the language of the humans, as well as speak it, but when he spoke it.. it felt unnatural and sounded horrible, and he sounded like a high-pitched infant when he did so. He simply nodded in response.

The one with purple hair and a white coat spoke next. “If we scared you, we’re sorry. We thought our Cutie Marks mighta had to do with sneaking or something,” The Unggoy simply nodded, though he was confused as to what a ‘Cutie Mark’ was.

Pip-Pap sat down again and eyed the three curiously. It was rare that he found something or someone smaller than himself. It made him feel tall... he didn’t like it that much. “What... cutie mark?” he asked, his head tilting to the side.

“It’s what all ponies get when they find their special talent!” replied the small monster with an orange coat and purplish hair.

“Special... talent?”

“Yeah! Like how AppleJack’s special talent is bucking apples from trees, thus her cutie mark is apples!”

The Grunt thought back on his life, what might be his special talent... he concluded its one of a couple of things; running away, getting shot at, breathing methane, lucky grenade throws, and last but not least, killing a demon with said grenade throw. And then getting shot at again. That was the luckiest he had ever been in his entire life.

“Do you have a special talent?”

He shook his head to clear his mind, and looked back to the group. His reply came slowly, “No... I do not.”

“Ya wanna join our group to help ya find your special talent?” Inquired the yellow one with read hair.

“Okay!” Pip-Pap was genuinely excited, he might not get a mark, but he would like to know what his real special talent is. Would it have to do with the war, or would it be something different, like maybe it involved building things, or sleeping? Oh, a sleeping Cuite Mark would be perfect. He took a deep sigh, but found it was hard to catch his breath. *What the.. He turned to look at the dial on his tank, and saw that it was almost low enough to cause alarm. He stood up quickly. “Excuse...me.” He ran outside to the armored beast that was his commander.


Despite over a half-hour passing, Twilight had gleaned only a few scraps of knowledge from the stubborn alien. So far, all she had known learned that they came from space, they were part of a multi-species union called “the Covenant,” that they were fanatically religious, and the names of the two other species twilight had met. Such little net gain frustrated Twilight, but as she remembered the meteorite storm from earlier, she realized she still had another card to play.

“Hey, Ultra, I know your ship crashed-”

The Ultra straightened. “Who informed you of that.”

The purple mare tilted her head and smiled. “You just did.”

The Ultra growled, and took a threatening step forward. Twilight lost her smugness immediately, and instead jumped to the next part of the plan. “Wait, I know you’re stuck here, but maybe we can help you?”

That gave the alien pause. “Help? What we require goes far beyond what a town your size could provide.”

Twilight smiled again. “I know we can’t, but I know someone who can. I’m actually the personal student of Princess Celestia!”

The Ultra didn’t seem impressed. “Who?”

The mare’s tone went from confident to sheepish. “Oh, right, you don’t know... Well, what you need to know is that Princess Celestia is the ruler of Equestria, she’ really old and wise, and she raises the sun every day.”

The Sangheili Officer scoffed at the last tidbit of information. Even in all their fanaticism, the Sangheili still understand that gravity and the rotation of the planet controls the sunrise, no matter what mystics or despots claim. Except for, perhaps, the gods. Still, talking with this ‘Princess Celestia’ would be a good start on the way back to the Blessed Path

The Ultra lowered his head. “Very well. We will meet your Princess.”

Twilight beamed. “Great!”


        After Twilight wrote a letter to her princess, and then excused herself to to go send it, the Ultra summoned the rest of his companions outside. When the Kig-Yar stumbled out with a comical swell in his abdomen, his superior was quick to scold him. To the revulsion of the ponies around him, he simply turned and emptied his stomach into a nearby bush. The white one gasped, pulled a futon out from... somewhere, and promptly fainted upon it. Bok simply chuckled in amusement at the reaction he garnered.

The Unggoy waddled over to his superior, and tugged on his leg. When the Ultra looked down, the Unggoy motioned to his harness, and stated “*Low.” The Ultra nodded. While he didn’t exactly hold Pip-Pap’s species in high regard, he wasn’t keen on letting someone under his command asphyxiate.

The Ultra opened up a comm channel with his brother Sangheili, who was still guarding the downed Phantom. He didn’t respond. He waited a minute, and tried again, but still nothing. Three minutes later, on the third try, he finally got a response.

“*What is it, brother?”

“*For what reason did it take so long to respond?”

“*Some of the local wildlife wandered too close. I dealt with them. I didn’t dare answer as I was engaged.”

Remembering the timberwolves, the Ultra’s concerns were abated. “*Very well. Has your search of the Phantom bore fruit?”

“*Yes, Ultra. In hidden compartments, I have found a variety of weapons.”

“*Good. Take what you can carry. Also, try to salvage methane canisters from the fallen Unggoy. Pip-Pap is running low on his supply.”

“*Bending over for that wretch? It would be more honorable to die than breathe another on this pathetic planet.”

The Ultra was annoyed at the Minor’s tirade, but he had to admit he wasn’t too fond of these ponies, or their planet. However, ‘pathetic’ wasn’t a word he would use to describe either. “*I’d rather trust an Unggoy than these aliens, so, yes, bring what you can.”

“*Very well, sir.”

“*Good. We shall meet in a few hours at this waypoint. A chariot will be there to escort us to the leader of these ‘ponies.’”

There was a pause on the other end. “*Brother, are we seriously negotiating with these worms?”

The Ultra growled at this. “*Yes, Minor. This is the best chance we have so far at getting off this rock, so yes. Obey my command.”

“Yes, sir.” The link cut abruptly.

The Ultra scowled, though none could see it. The Minor was beginning to be a nuisance for him to deal with.


        The Immortal Solar Princess sat in her room, pondering. Many of the recent events weighed heavily on her mind. Particularly, the meteor shower of yesterday.Typically, meteor showers were actually a scheduled event, in which she hurled a large rock and shattered in it high orbit, allowed small chunks to disintegrate harmlessly in the atmosphere. The end result was only bedazzled ponies, not large chunks of debris making a new clearing in the Everfree forest. It was possible that Celestia miscalculated the energy of blast, but the Princess was wise enough to know that something was amiss.

A second development that weighed on her was the disappearance of a team sent to scout the Everfree for meteorite shards, and assess the damage they caused. All teams except for one reported back in without a delay, at least from what Shining Armor had reported to her. Celestia authorized Shining’s request to send a search team out immediately, but it would be at least tomorrow before they would report back. If they did...

Did she just send another squad of ponies to their doom? Celestia had worked hard to achieve peace in Equestria, and for the past thousand years, all her ponies and species that resided nearby enjoyed the benefits of Pax Equestria. She had no wish for this state to end anytime soon.

A third development occupied her thoughts, one that she became aware of less than 10 minutes ago. Apparently, her faithful student met several aliens, and requested the chance for them to meet with the Princess. Celestia knew Twilight had a habit of exaggerating events, and this could turn out to be nothing less than an obscure Equestrian species she found, but recent events made this story seem plausible.

        Celestia looked back to the letter she received, and looked back out of her window. She let out a deep sigh, hoping something like this would never have happened in her long life time. She looked up into the sky, which was a brilliant azure as her sun passed its zenith. She said aloud, seemingly to herself, “Why must it be now... Custodian? Are you there?”

        Over the millennia Celestia had ruled, she had amassed a large collection of trinkets, trophies, awards she was gifted (She once won the Cowbel Peace Prize for 51 years in a row), or ancient artifacts that nobleponies gifted her to elicit her favor. However, when these words were spoken, a simple metallic pyramid trimmed with onyx, one of her oldest pieces, hummed and came alive with a blue light. Above it, a curious metal ball materialized, translucent and tinted blue as if it were some ghostly projection.         

The voice that answered was soft, yet reverberated as well, adding to the spectral illusion. “Yes, I am here. It has been a 10351367 minutes and seven seconds since we last conversed, Celestia.” The intensity of the apparition fluctuated with each enunciation, as in some mimicry of actual projection.

        “Indeed it has” She replied, still gazing at the night sky. “I have a report from my student, Twilight... She said aliens have come before her and the such. They claim to be from ‘Sangheilios’.”

        “Ah yes... It is great that another space faring species has finally come into contact with us. It has been a very long time since the Creator’s demise”

        “But they may not be friendly. They came in an apparent meteorite, and the squad of ponies I sent out to investigate has yet to report in.”

        “Is your student missing as well?”

        “No...”

        “Then they must not have arrived with bad intentions. According to our previous conversations, the Everfree Forest has difficult terrain, and the team could simply have gotten themselves lost. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions, now, should we?”

        Celestia tilted her head in thought. “Perhaps...”

        “There! Now, I do believe you have some wonderful new guests to greet.”

Celestia sighed. “Very well, I’ll make the arrangements. I suppose nothing too horrible could come of this. That’ll be all, my old friend.”

The apparition bobbed slightly as it replied. “Ta-ta, Celestia Daybreaker. As always, I will be here when you need me.” The hum cut off abruptly.

        “Farewell, Custodian.” Celestia replied, as she levitated a small plain parchment with her magic, and beginning to pen her reply to her student.