Ashley and Richard lost their grips on the Longsword.
As Ashley tumbled through the air, she could hear Richard shouting out a mouth full of swears. "How unprofessional." She thought. She felt a small gust of wind hit her side, which was enough to knock her off course from Richard. "Oh. So this is going to be one of those drops."
She curled up into a ball the best she could and readied herself for when she hit the ground. She was heading straight for a forest. She crashed through a few trees and finally skidded to a halt in the dirt on her back.
Ashley gave a groan and steadily got up on her feet. She looked around. She seemed to be the only living thing in the general area. She was alone.
Alone...
Ashley shook her head. She couldn't afford to reopen old wounds now. She had to focus on getting back together with X Team.
She looked up. "Okay so if I landed here, then the Longsword was heading over there." She looked Northwest. "And then Richard landed over there." She looked West.
She opened a com channel. "This is Warrant Officer SPARTAN- 090, do any UNSC forces read me over? X Team, are you there?" She only got static in reply. "Dammit. Com's broke."
Ashley debated her options. She could either A: Search for Richard first and then find the others. B: Search for the Longsword first and then find Richard. And finally C: Abandon her squad and take over the world.
She settled for option A, as it would most likely be best if the two isolated SPARTANs found each other first and joined up with the others later.
She looked at her weapons. A knife, a magnum, and an Assault Rifle. The AR was busted, but the knife and magnum were in acceptable condition. But she only had two clips of ammo for the magnum.
Ashley started her trek westwards, after shaking off a sore muscle in her back.
**********
Ashley had been walking for a few hours now. During her time in the forest she had seen a diverse plethora of plant life and animals. Some were familiar like the occasional daisy flower or squirrel. While others were not, such as the strange bulbous insects with adorable faces, or the obviously carnivorous plants that snapped at whatever came a little too near.
One plant decided to have a taste of Ashley, and clamped down on her leg. She responded by uprooting the plant from the dirt.
Overall the forest was very strange and lively, but there was one particular trait about it that especially stuck out to her.
The forest was dark. Very, very dark.
Dark...
"That is enough!" She scolded herself. "Get a hold of yourself Ashley! Dammit, you're a SPARTAN for crying out loud!"
Ashley tried to force the thoughts out of her head, but the analogies were too great. She was alone, in a dark environment, and more than likely surrounded by hostiles. She had to get out of the forest soon.
**********
It was midnight. Ashley had stopped to rest in a small open clearing that was at the edge of what appeared to be a chasm. On the other side were more trees, and at the bottom, more trees. The SPARTAN had set up a small fire about ten feet from the edge. Over the fire were two slabs of cooking meat. Said meat was from a deer she had hunted with her combat knife. Ashley picked up her canteen and took a small gulp of water.
A bush rustled.
She whipped out her gun and pointed it at the bush, expecting a Covenant Elite to jump out at any moment.
Nothing came, but that didn't stop Ashley from only getting a few hours of rest.
**********
Ashley was walking through the woods. It had been a few hours since she had left her camp, but she wasn't exactly sure of the time. She couldn't see anything through that damn thick canopy.
Ashley grabbed onto a low tree branch and used it to hoist herself up. She climbed the relatively small tree until her head poked through the top. She had to squint for a few seconds until her vision adjusted to the bright sunlight. She had been in that dark forest for too long.
The weather in the area was ideal. Sunny with a few clouds. She looked up at the sun. It was about half- way across the sky. "Noon".
She dropped down to the ground.
"Gggrrrrrr..."
Ashley tensed and looked in the direction of the growl. Past a thicket of bushes she could see a pair of glowing yellow eyes in the darkness. Then there was more growling. At least a dozen more of the creatures had surrounded her.
The growling reminded Ashley of the wolves that Deja had taught her and the other SPARTANs about. That plus the apparent pack pretty much confirmed that wolves were exactly what Ashley was dealing with.
The wolves slowly came closer, and revealed themselves.
"What the hell?" Was all Ashley could think.
The "wolves" were made of tree bark. Timber wood, in fact.
Ashley face palmed. "Oh I get it. Timber. Timber wolves. Ugh."
A timber wolf that was larger than the rest, the Alpha, Ashley assumed, leaped at her, and bit down on her arm. Before she could shake the predator off the rest of the pack swarmed in on her. They clamped their jaws around her, pulling at her limbs as she tried to shake them off.
So there Ashley was, alone, in a dark enclosed area, at the mercy of enemies with superior numbers, just... like... THAT... ONE... TIME!!!
**********
*Flashback within a flashback lol*
2536- Random generic colony world- 2300 hours
Ashley was running through the pitch black jungle. Her weapons were either lost or useless, all of the marines she had been tasked with helping out were dead, and she was tired.
Oh, and three Phantom dropships, six Banshees, a Wraith tank, and about five Elite strike teams were on her ass.
The Wraith fired a massive blob of burning plasma at her. Fortunately the tank's driver had a shitty aim and missed her by about twenty feet to her left. The Phantoms and Banshees fired plasma bolts down upon the lone SPARTAN, and also missed, but were a little closer to home.
A pink needle shot past her. That wasn't good (No shit). It meant that the Elites were close enough that they could afford to risk slowing down to fire. She had to be faster.
She failed to notice a small rock in her path, causing her to trip over it. She hit the dirt and scrambled to the nearest cover: a large tree. She pressed herself against it, hoping that the Covenant would bypass her.
She felt something in her chest. A strange feeling, something she had not felt in a long time.
Fear.
"NO! SPARTANs do not feel fear!" Ashley thought to herself. And yet she could not but help tremble a little as she heard the Elites crashing through the dense jungle, searching for her. The pressure was starting to get to her.
ONI always did consider X Team to not be as psychologically tough as the other SPARTANs...
The sounds were coming closer. Ashley did not dare to even breathe. Then all was quiet.
She dared to take a peak around the tree. Nothing. She turned back around-
-only to come face to face with an Elite Zealot.
The Zealot snarled and swung his glowing energy sword at her, which she dodged. Ashley grabbed onto its wrist and forcibly twisted it, causing the Elite to give a pain filled roar. It smacked her aside and momentarily focused on nursing its broken wrist.
Ashley took this as her chance to escape, but no sooner had she gotten up was she knocked back down by an Elite Ultra. Several more Elites arrived and swarmed her. They punched her, kicked her, and she fought back, but they eventually grabbed hold of her legs and arms and held her steady.
"What are they doing?" Ashley frantically thought. Her vision was blurry, disoriented, but it soon began to clear.
She looked forward and got her answer. The Zealot from before was approaching her, its sword in the hand she didn't twist. It stopped in front of her as its comrades held her in place. The Zealot seemed to give a smug smirk, then raised its sword.
So, this is it? This is how she is going to die? Well, nothing she can do about it now, might as well-
"No..."
Huh?
"RRRRRAAAAAAWWW!!!!!!!!!"
What the hell?! Holy shit Ashley's gone batshit insane on those Elites! Oh my- OH MY GOD! That is freaking nasty! Oh my, oh my- OH. I can't help but feel sorry for those Covenant. I mean I know that their #1 goal is to exterminate the human race, but, damn. Sweet monkey jesus this is just plain horrific! Is she really gonna... EEEWWWWW!!! Good god Jason Voorhees himself would consider this overkill. Oh god I think I'm going to be sick, I'm barely holding back my lunch. Ashley. Ashley don't you dare do to that Elite what I think you're gonna- HURBLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. *cough- cough* Okay, okay I think it's over. Is it over? *Looks at impossibly gory scene of carnage.* Yeah its over. Ugh, okay, let's see what Ashley's up to for the rest of the flashback.
Ashley jumped onto the Wraith tank and ripped off the entry door. The pilot- a grunt- screamed in terror as the blood covered SPARTAN crushed its skull in her fist-
OKAY let's all get back to Equestria everybody!
**********
Ashley was beginning to spaz out a little as the memories flooded her mind. Then the wolves pinned her to the ground. Too similar. The Alpha approached her from the front. WAY TOO SIMILAR. The Alpha smugly smirked down at her.
Okay I barely survived witnessing one Ashley massacre, alright? So you wanna know what I'm gonna do? I'm going to pick up my universal remote, change the channel, and occasionally switch back to this fic to see if the beat- down is over yet.
Ashley picked up a timber wolf over her head and ripped it in half-
*TV static*
- and just like most women in real life, once the female Black Widow Spider has mated with the male, she murders him and inherits all of his possessions-
*TV static*
- Ashley punched her hand into a timber wolf's chest, and ripped out its ribcage-
*TV static*
- Batman held the crook up to his face.
"W- who are you?" The crook fearfully asked.
Batman narrowed his eyes. "I'm Batman. NANANANANANANANANANA-"
*TV static*
- a timber wolf tried to crawl away, but its attempts were futile as Ashley grabbed its legs and began dragging it back-
*TV static*
- tapped his friend on the shoulder. "Hey, you alright?"
"Huh? Yeah, just got a few things on my mind."
"Like what?"
"Well, yesterday I saw my dad's johnson."
"WHAT?! That's horrible!"
"Not really actually."
"Why not?"
"Well, I guess I'm just glad that I inherited by mom's huge-"
*TV static*
- Ashley stood triumphant over the pile of sticks and tree sap.
Most of the timber wolves had given up and run away, but Ashley knew there was still one other opponent.
She twirled around and grabbed the Alpha by the neck as it jumped at her. She pinned the struggling animal to the ground and broke its jaws in half King Kong style.
Ashley gave the brief thought that perhaps she had broken it too far, as the top half of the Alpha's head broke off from the rest of the body. She knelt down and picked up the piece of wood. Sap oozed from the breaking point. A sick thought went through her mind. She mounted the half- head on her left shoulder and held it there. The sap hardened, essentially gluing the piece to her armor.
She stood there for a moment, contemplating that she had just lost control of her emotions, had just let the pain come back to her. She felt a tingle in her chest. It wasn't fear, or anger, no, it was something else. She couldn't properly describe it.
It was times like this when Ashley did not feel like the highly trained killer she was now. Right now, she felt like the scared little girl in boot camp whom she used to be. Right now, she really needed a friend to comfort her...
**********
It was sundown. Ashley was now in a bog, trudging through thick mud. Earlier she had managed to catch a couple of trout, which she was carrying in one arm, from a river she crossed, but now she needed a campsite. And frankly, there wasn't much solid ground.
She heard something move through the muck. She looked. Nothing.
Then, the mud in front of her exploded.
Ashley looked up to see a gigantic serpentine monster with four heads and orange scales staring down at her.
"A hydra. You've got to be shitting me." Ashley thought.
The hydra let out a loud roar, reared back its heads to strike, and-
Ashley whipped out her magnum and fired four shots, one into each of the hydra's heads. The beast seemed to freeze for a second, then toppled over into the mud. Ashley passed by the hydra's corpse as if nothing happened.
Well, that was anti- climatic.
**********
Ashley had finally managed to find a piece of dry land to camp out on. It was a small hill that was almost completely covered in trees, save for the middle, which was clear. Ashley set up a fire pit and put the fish she had caught over it. She went to sleep. She would cook her food in the morning.
**********
Ashley woke early. First thing she focused on doing was starting a fire and cooking the fish. But for this fire, she made sure that it created a lot of smoke. She was hoping that maybe, just maybe, another SPARTAN would see the smoke.
**********
Ashley was sitting on a tree branch above the campsite, waiting. Then, her motion tracker picked up something. She looked down to see a SPARTAN in blue Recon armor. She smiled.
**********
"- and the rest is the same as what Richard told you." Ashley said.
"I see." Braden responded.
"So now can we focus on freeing James, Rose, and Kenny?" Richard inquired.
"Yes." Braden said. "SPARTANs, listen up, here's the plan. We are going to infiltrate Canterlot, and free our teammates, no matter the opposition. Simple as that."
"Are we allowed to use lethal force against the ponies?"
Braden sighed. "At this point I should say yes, but my gut is telling me no. If we start killing them, they'll only bother us even more. It's best that we simply get the message across that we are not to be trifled with."
"So... no killing ponies?"
"NO KILLING PONIES."
"There's just two problems with your plan, sir." Ashley said.
"What?" Braden asked.
"Do we even know where Canterlot is?"
"...No."
"And from the looks of things we have only one way of obtaining that information..."
The three SPARTANs were quiet for a moment, then Richard said "Aw... shit."
Braden face palmed.
"...We have to ask."