//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: What's A Four-Runner? 
// Story: Halo:Trapped In A Wonderland 
// by SuperIntendant 
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Next Chapter. Hoooraayy! Guess I don't have much to say this time so enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 6: What's A Four-Runner?

The morning sun beamed brilliantly through the kitchen window of Twilights house and reflected off the varnished surface of the central table. Cupboards lined nearly all the walls and a sink sat at one end of the room. Occupying the central table was a rather odd group of beings. Eight brightly coloured ponies sat in a 'U' shape around the table with another, even more peculiar creature seated at the other end. The creature reached for the small glowing screen on its wrist and tapped a few symbols which proceeded to cut off the feed from his camera/projector that jutted from the side of his helmet.

“Well, now you know how I got the scar.” 42 stated simply as if the scene he observed had not affected him in any way whatsoever. The other creatures which were aptly named ponies were all acting in a rather diverse array of reactions to the gruesome video they had seen. Celestia turned to observe her sister and subjects as they all grappled with what they had saw. Twilight looked queasy but was scribbling notes down furiously with a quill on a scroll of parchment. Luna appeared to be one of the least affected of the group but even then she had edged herself away from the alien guest, only now fully realising the threat is possessed to her and all those around it. Fluttershy finally lost her composure and emptied her breakfast on the floor before apologising to Twilight and tried to clean it up. Twilight on her part had not even noticed and merely mumbled an acknowledgement as she continued to furiously scribble down her thoughts and observations. Rarity hid her horrified expression behind a large cloth she used to cry into while Applejack tried her best to comfort her along with Pinkie Pie. The only ponies who were not completely distressed were herself and the brightly coloured Rainbow Dash. Celestia had never seen something so violent happen so quickly in all her years as ruler of Equestria. Sure she had seen plenty of combat in her early years as princess, but what she had just witnessed in fifteen minutes put over thousands of years of experience to shame.

“THAT. WAS. AWESOME!” Rainbow pounced over the table and floated right in front of 42's face, who seemed completely undisturbed by the close proximity of the cyan coloured Pegasus. Rainbow Dash hovered around the creature before she noticed the weapon that 42 had acquired in his brutal experience. “You've gotta teach me to fight like that.” She proceeded to grab the blade and try to yank it from the aliens blue hip late but it held strong and she retreated before scratching her head and trying again. “What the? It wont come off.” 42 swatted her hooves away and turned to face her as she floated in mid air.

“Of course it wont. I haven't disengaged the magnetic clamps. It would take a grizzly bear to pull it off by sheer force.” 42 sounded very agitated but seemed to refrain from letting it escalate. “I would also appreciate it if you would not touch my personal and incredibly dangerous weapons.” Rainbow Dash understood what he was getting at and sat herself back down immediately. He grunted her a thank you for her compliance and then turned to face the rest of the group. “So does anyone else have any questions about my various scars or did that suffice?” he was met with a symphony of various responses all detailing around the key idea of having enough information and a good idea on how each scar was obtained. 42 stood up and left the room to set about his own tasks while they all attempted to re-cooperate from the harrowing scene they had witnessed. All except for Celestia who stood up and followed 42 out of the room. Moving through the arch-way, Celestia quickly noticed that the blue Spartan had simply vanished into thin air. She looked around the room before stepping further in through the arch.

“42, where did you go?” She took another hesitant step forward as if to test the ground for traps. She knew he was sentient and could think beyond his instinct but Celestia still couldn't shake the fact that he was a predator. The projection hadn't done much to comfort her either when it came to his capabilities. She had already had a run in with him once and had no intention of repeating the scenario. She physically shuddered at the thought. At that moment off time where he was above her with his fists raised. Celestia could remember the sensation of realising she was mere centimetres away from death. He had bested her using superior athletics, skill, and above all, new found abilities which he proclaimed to not be magic and in fact was technology. Celestia could see benefits of technology but she never presumed it would one day reach a point where it would best magic in any way at all. Realising how stupid it all sounded now that she had something to disprove her, she groaned and flopped onto the closest object, which happened to be a fairly large armchair. Letting her face sink into the soft, cushiony goodness, she rested for a moment and thought about what had transpired so far. Not the actual events but rather what she had learned scientifically from this Human.

“Something on your mind?” Celestia shot up and swivelled her head on her neck at a good speed to observe the entire room. Looking around she saw nothing until a slight blur in the air caught her attention. The blur shimmered there for a moment before it began to turn opaque and eventually spat out the images of 42. He was leant against the wall with an oily rag in one hand and his largest grey weapon in the other. Celestia sighed, being alive for thousands of years normally left her with an answer to any situation but this whole scenario left her with no plan and no idea on how to even approach a conclusion. She didn't want to bog down 42 with needless worrying issues.

“Ah, no nothing really.” 42 pushed himself from the wall and threw the oily rag onto the nearby coffee table.

“Y'know I can tell when your lying.” Celestia blushed at his statement as she attempted to hide her shifting eyes. Most ponies could never see through her poker face but this Human, could read her like a book at times. No to mention he had only known them for a few hours. Celestia was about to answer her rebuttal but he held his hands up. “If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine by me.” Celestia immediately closed her mouth before she said something which would reboot the particular topic of discussion. Setting her fears aside she walked over to where 42 had thrown his oil rag and picked a piece of paper up off the small table. It was the diagram that he had drawn for them to show the ponies the proper mechanics of the solar system. She repeatedly tried to wrap her had around it but she couldn’t figure out how the model would work if she was responsible for raising the Sun and Luna, the Moon.

“I believe you mentioned something before about your species having no ability to raise and lower the Sun, or Moon. Isn't that correct?” He walked up next to her and she cringed a little from his close proximity but whether he didn't noticed or he chose to ignore it, she would never know.

“Yeah. Why do you ask?” His voice didn't betray his emotions at all. She imagined his training allowed him to give the air of a soulless killing machine, definitely something to be feared on the battlefield. She moved the diagram closer and scrutinized it as though the closed distance would reveal something she had missed before. He cut in before she could ask another question. “It's probably best you don't question this kind of stuff at the moment. Physics seems to have hauled ass from this solar system a long time ago.” He was probably right; there was no point in questioning this stuff right now. The quizzical agenda could wait until the main issue had been sorted. The main issue was what to do with 42 now that he was supposedly stranded here.

“So 42, what do you think of Equestria so far?” He mauled it over a moment before giving his response.

“I think I've never been to a weirder place in my entire life. Even documentations of Forerunner...” He cut himself off quite quickly and Celestia picked up on this instantly.

“Forerunner?” He tensed a bit and she knew that she had him in a tight spot. He quickly recovered himself and walked away from the table at a brisk pace, talking as he did so.

“Nothing. Don't worry, it doesn't matter.” Celestia cocked an eyebrow at his rather odd behaviour. Then again he was alien. Maybe this was normal for him, but she severely doubted so. It was at this moment that Luna, Twilight and the rest of the group, chose to emerge from the kitchen, having recovered mostly from the rather horrifying adventure they had witnessed. Twilight caught 42 leaving through the front door and called over to him.

“Mr 42. Where are you going?” He closed the door without saying a word and Twilight's ears deflated slightly, he had just left without saying where he was going. Mere seconds went by before 42 walked back in.

“Uh, Celestia. I think we may have a small problem outside.” 42 pointed towards the door with his thumb and cracked it open slightly. Several blinding camera flashes followed shortly through the small crack in the door. “I think your mint green friend tipped them off.” 42 pushed the door closed against the mass of ponies outside. Celestia began to panic a little and 42 turned his head in her direction. “What exactly did you tell them last night?” Celestia stopped pacing after she realised she had crossed to the other side of the room.

“I didn't exactly tell them you were an alien.” 42 nodded slowly and continued to hold the door closed. He gestured for her to go on. “Well I briefly explained to them you were a new prototype magical entity. Nothing but basic animated armour that went a little loopy. They seemed content with the answer and left. Obviously Lyra didn't buy it and now she has all of Ponyville on our doorstep.” Celestia physically calmed herself and turned towards the kitchen as a loud groan could be heard. Luna was just about to check when the two royal guard members entered through the doorway. Celestia let out a sigh of relief which was short lived as one of the two guards pounced at 42. The guardsman landed on 42's chest plate and pushed him against the door even further. Celestia couldn't gauge 42's reaction under his helmet but she would guess that he was easily surprised if one of her royal guards had managed to grapple him without so much as even a reactive strike from 42. 42 quickly recovered his senses as the pony shackled his wrist to the pony's hoof using a handcuff. Growling quite menacingly 42 reached out and snapped the chain connecting the two entities and proceeded to throw the shocked guard across the room. The other guard was about to assist his comrade but was cut off just before the leap by a booming voice emanating from princess Luna.

“Guards! Thou will cease and desist all hostilities towards the creature currently under our protection, AT ONCE!” Both guards replied with a dull 'yes ma'am'. She smiled at her small victory and motioned towards Celestia. “Sister dearest. Would thou care to join me in rectifying the pandemonium which has plagued our little ponies.” Celestia beamed at her sisters ever present calm demeanour to which she responded to everything with; normally. Both sisters walked up to the door and Luna gently nudged 42 out of the way before stepping through the door. Twilight watched 42 as he pressed his helmet up against the door and listened. Twilight, deciding to do likewise, also pressed one of her ears against the door and listened intently. The second Luna had stepped out the crowd had quietened to a deftly whisper. A few screams could be heard from the smaller children and Luna's close proximity to the door made it easy to hear her grumbling under her breath. Some muffled conversation went on for no more than twenty seconds and then there was a tap on the door. 42 took that as his cue to appear and opened the door before stepping into the morning sunlight. Twilight and the other Elements of Harmony, along with Spike, stepped out through the door. The first thing Twilight heard next was Princess Celestia's voice ring out through the air in a raised yet still gentle tone.

“My little ponies. I would like to introduce you to our newest guest in Ponyville.” 42 stepped from behind Celestia and was met with various gasps as the various multicoloured ponies got their first proper look at him. All eyes in the crowd shifted up and down his body in one, swift, tidal motion. Celestia couldn't help but think to herself. 'Well... this is going to be interesting'.