The sounds of birds and rustling leaves filled the air as a lone figure, covered in black armor walked through the forest. She had been walking for several more hours, after her encounter with the manticore, through this forest. The bush was thick, needing to be cut through at several points to stay on track.
Instead of using her knife though, she thought it prudent to get some more practice in manipulating her wings. After proving that they could be used as a weapon even if she lost her knife meant that unless they got amputated or heavily injured, Six was never unarmed.
During her trek, she tested out multiple different ways she could move her wings in such a way to be lethal to anything they may come in contact with. Be it more of those creatures or some Covenant elites, these wings would cut through them like butter. And trees, as Six cut straight through one during her testing of different slashing motions.
Soon, however, the forest started to become easier and easier to traverse signaling to the Spartan that she had almost reached her destination. Leaving the forest, Six could see the source of the artificial lights she saw last night.
It was still quite far away but it would take an hour at most for the Spartan if there weren’t any interruptions. Six did however let a small huff of annoyance leave her lips when she realized option B wasn’t going to happen. ‘Lazy bastards’ Thought Six with a grumble.
The city was completely fine. No burning buildings or stray plasma fire was visible, and that smoke she had been following since she got here? It was emanating from some sort of factory on the outskirts of town.
‘Whoever is in charge of ONI here will not have a good day when I find him’ went through Six’s mind as she looked for any more points of interest on the path towards the city.
A light brown line cut through the green fields to her left indicating that it must be some type of road leading towards town. Six didn’t want to get spotted yet by the local human population. Getting shot on sight by her comrades in arms was not on the agenda for this Spartan.
Focusing back on the city in front of her, Six used her helmet's magnification to try and get an idea of what she would be dealing with. Small dots were visible against the blue sky, flying from building to building. ‘Just how big is the wildlife here? Those birds must be huge to be visible from here.’ Thought Six as she tracked the flying figures.
Getting all the information Six could obtain from her current position she began to make her way towards the city, making sure to stick to the surrounding tree cover so as to not get spotted yet.
She’d rather be found on her own terms than that of the colonists and local marines.
But as she got closer and closer to the city Six noticed something was off about the architecture of the place. They looked old… outdated even by current human standards. And then came the flashing lights and…
‘Oh my god, out of all the places to be nearby it has to be a Las Vegas Knock-off’ Six groaned inside her helmet. Even after 500 years of human history the original Las Vegas was still going strong back on Earth and was subsequently copied by most of the human colonies.
One didn’t have to be a hyper lethal Spartan, like Six, to recognize the telltale signs of a casino among the rest of the flashy architecture. But Six did have to give them a bit of praise as some of the buildings looked like they were made out of clouds.
Some of them even looked like they...were...floating.
Six couldn’t help but stare at the floating buildings made of clouds. They were sitting among the local cloud cover, hiding them from Six’s earlier scouting. And those dots she saw flying around? Not birds… but small horses with wings just…like...Six.
‘Well, option C it is then. Time for a change of plan’
Thought Six as her eyes following the different multicolored flying horses as they went from building to building. Six was now confirmed not only to have been brought back from the dead but that she was also transported onto an alien planet and made to look like the local population.
Six was, in simple terms, trapped here. With the UNSC fighting a losing war and her status as a Spartan III making her expendable whilst also being transported an unknown distance away from UNSC or Covenant space, going back was another impossibility now. The full reality of the situation she was in, came crashing down on her.
Unconsciously falling down to her haunches, Six retreated into her thoughts. All her life she had been wanting to become a soldier and help defend her fellow man. Now she was a soldier without a way to do exactly. She wasn’t even the same species as the people she swore to protect and die for anymore. She needed some time to think before she began to remember something.
‘The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing -Albert Einstein’
Six thought back on that quote as it was one of the reasons that motivated her to join the Marines. She signed up because she could not stand to do nothing, as the insurrectionists tore her planet apart. She didn’t want to sit and watch, she was a soldier through and through, it is all she ever dreamt about when she was young.
Then it hit her.
Just because this had happened to her didn’t change a goddamn thing. She would protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. She was still the same person. STILL the same Spartan and Spartans don’t get to retire, and Six certainly wasn’t going to now.
First things first she needed more information about the local culture/government. She was one of them now so she wouldn’t stand out much. But her armor would still draw some unwanted attention. The species she turned into, was capable of verbal communication so that wouldn’t be a problem for the Spartan.
Once she had more information, she could then decide her next move. If these flying horses were secretly part of the Covenant, Six wanted to know. Getting back to the war was impossible now, but a soldier's duty is not only to wage war but to once again protect those who cannot protect themselves no matter what they look like. Six hated the Covenant, not aliens in general.
Deciding that now would be a good time to start her new reconnaissance mission, Six began to make her way towards the road she had spotted earlier. Entering town through a road is a lot less suspicious than coming out from behind some back alley.
After ten minutes of walking Six stepped out onto the dirt path before heading towards the city. Other than the singing of birds and the heavy hoof steps of the several hundred kilo Spartan, the trip was rather quiet. And only after several more minutes of walking a checkpoint of some sort was visible further down the road.
As she got closer and closer to the checkpoint Six could make out two figures wearing some sort of white and gold armor on either side of the road. They very much had the same body structure of Six only shorter and missing the pair of wings attached to her sides.
One of the pair even looked like he had some type of horn sticking out of his head whilst the other one lacked both. A large sign was hanging over the pair which read ‘Welcome to Las Pegasus’
‘Well that’s… interesting’ thought the Spartan, eyeing the message hanging above the pair. One of the two figures seemed to have noticed her as he quickly said something to his partner drawing both of their gazes at the approaching Spartan.
Approaching the checkpoint Six now identified the two figures as some sort of guards. Their spears and armor fully confirm her theory as one of them start speaking. But seeing this level of technology only beat the fact she wouldn't be returning to the UNSC even further into her mind.
“Halt! in accordance with article 5 subsection b of the Equestrian code of law, Non Military personnel are prohibited from entering any city whilst wearing any type of armor and or weapons. Unless you have a valid mercenaries/bounty hunter’s license, please surrender the prohibited items.”
The guard finished looking up at the much taller pony standing across from him. She was at least a head taller than the guard. Thinking over what the guard just said, a small smile grew on Six’s face.
‘Only non-military personnel huh’
“What’s your name and rank soldier?” Came Six’s voice through her helmet speaker, surprising the guard in front of her. “U-um Corporal Sword, why do you ask?” Six smirked underneath her helmet at the guard’s nervous response.
“The law states that non-military personnel is prohibited from wearing armor and or carrying weapons, fortunately for me Corporal, I am in the military. So, please move aside.” Six’s said professionally, it wasn’t lying if what she said was partly true. Hearing the authority in Six’s voice brought back some unpleasant memories for the Corporal, and not wanting to accidentally anger another superior officer again, he signaled his subordinate to move aside, allowing the Spartan to pass.
The duo gave a quick salute to the Spartan as she gave a small nod in return, before moving past them and through the checkpoint itself. Leaving two very confused and one sweating guard behind as Six entered the city of Las Pegasus.
‘Heh...still can’t get past that name’