//------------------------------// // Abduction // Story: Halo: Into a Darker Storm // by Slaphappy16 //------------------------------// “You did WHAT?” Celestia raised her voice at her sister. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know!” “How could you not know that was the thing that killed six of our guard and beat the shit out of another seven, RIGHT IN FRONT OF US?!” Celestia yelled. She was, to say the least, pissed. “Well, it didn’t try to kill me! So I thought maybe it was a different one.” Luna said, much calmer than her older sister. “What do you mean? There is only one here! We only locked up one! You think we had a civilization of killer aliens in our basement?” Celestia questioned. “Well, this is your fault anyway!” Luna accused. “WHAT? MY FAULT?” “Yes, if you hadn’t threatened it the moment it touched down with your guard, you wouldn’t of angered it!” Celestia though that over. It was true, and it probably wouldn’t of done much if her guards hadn’t sat there pointing swords and what not at it. “Well, you didn’t order them to stand down either!” “They weren’t my guards. I’ll bet you my Lunar Guards would’ve waited for orders before doing something so stupid!” “Ugghh, you piss me off so much sometimes!” Luna sighed. She remembered the last time she saw Celestia angry. “Calm down sister, I’ll have my Lunar Guards find it. Don’t worry.” “Are you saying my guards can’t?” Celestia said challengingly. “Yes. Yes I am. My Lunar Guards are much better trained and can see better in the night than your Guards can during the day. Not only that, but they will be sneakier while they are at it.” It was now Celestia’s turn to sigh. “Fine, I will trust you. If you need me, I’ll will be in my room. There are a few things I must do.” Luna watched Celestia walk away. She hoped her guards could find this monster. *** Alice continued to sit there for a moment, catching her breathe. There was a sharp pain in her chest as she was reminded that her fall came with consequences. She opened a small bag with a red plus on it and pulled out a can of bio-foam. Inserting it into a cavity specifically for this purpose on her chest, she squeezed the trigger. She could feel an icy liquid spill through her chest, and then quickly harden. That should keep it for a nice long while. She slid down into a slumped position, her back scraping against the wall. How long had it been anyways? She couldn’t of been sleeping for too long. She looked up into the sky. The sun was making its journey down-wards. She checked her mission clock. Oh, wow. One day had gone past. She evaluated the situation. First off, it would appear that she was now at war with a bunch of ponies. How comical. Second, she had to get to her pod. She couldn’t wait to hold her beloved machine gun. It was probably the only reason she survived the Shield World. Third, she was as far as she could get from human-controlled space. That definitely wasn’t good. Fourth, she had no idea where Jerome or Douglas were. She sighed. She was in one giant piece of shit. Standing up, she stretched for a moment, and then slowly moved to the edge of the building. She spied a few guards walking amongst the civilians, secretly looking for her. Looks like they were trying to cover her up. She wasn’t surprised. Random alien walking through town killing everybody? Chances are, some people would freak out. Alice was fine with that, it made it much easier to sneak her way out of here without a bunch of pony’s running around looking for the even the slightest suspicious thing. As she sat there, a back door opened a few feet from her. Alice froze, keeping her eye on the door. A pony walked out and threw something away, then walked back inside. Well that was random. But, it told her she shouldn’t stay to long, or risk being caught. She slowly lifted herself from her crouched position, cracking her back a few times on her way up. She walked towards the corner the guards flew around, away from the castle. Looking around the wall, she spied a darker alley across the street. She waited for a small break in the crowd and ran across the street in four strides. She nearly bumped into a pegasus. As she stopped in her new alley, she turned around. The pegasus sat there for a moment, as if trying to figure out what just happened. It simply shrugged and kept going on with its daily chores. She turned her attention back to her new temporary home. No back doors or windows. She would be entirely shrouded in shadows. She again rested on the ground and looked up into the sky. There was a little chariot flying across the blue ocean of air. Huh. Wonder where they’re going. She brought her attention back to… well, nothing really. Guess she can ponder about anything as of right now. She would be the first Spartan to say they took time to think about something other than strategy behind enemy lines. Oh boy, what an honor. She sat there for a moment, trying to think about what to think about. She could think about thinking. How do people think? Does thinking really even exist? I mean, really, no matter how much she knew about the human body, it always seemed a mystery. Just then, she had the most cliché thought she had ever had. It made her facepalm just thinking about it. What is life? How does life truly exist? Really, it just does not make sense. It never will in her mind. It’s one of those things you can’t explain… you just think about it. She sat there for quite some time just thinking. She eventually dozed off thinking about cake. *** When she woke up, it was night-time. She checked her mission clock. 9:43. Time to move. She slowly got up and walked to the end of her alley. She peered around the corner, checking for any movement. She saw nothing. No guards? Nobody trying to find her? Man, they were making it to easy. She silently slipped around the corner and stalked her way up the sidewalk. As she moved away from the castle, there was a bare flicker on her radar. She looked around, but saw nobody. Yet, her radar flickered once more. If she had learned anything from the flood, it’s that you should look up. She applied this skill and, well, looked up. On the roof across the street from her, a dark figure stood, looking away from her. As it turned, scanning the area, two golden eyes came into view. They passed right over her. It looked like a bat-pony-thing. It also had some kind of armor. Some kind of night guard? Probably. She would have to keep her eye out for them after all. Either way, she had her cloak up, she would have to be right next to them or bump into them for them to actually notice her. Too bad she wasn’t going to let that- She turned around, and met another pair of golden eyes, but extremely close to her faceplate. She really hated herself sometimes. * Night Stalker had just gotten done checking an alley. The Princess never told them exactly what to look for, just some weird-looking thing standing on two legs. So far, they had found a bird, some mint green pony, and a squirrel that was eating a nut. He doubted they would find much else. He stopped for a moment to ask his friend up on the roof if he had seen anything, but didn’t. His eyes were focused on a strange shimmering object in front of him. The shimmer was moving a bit, then moved a lot, then froze completely. He could still see the wall distorted behind the thing, so it still must be there. He picked up his hoof and was about to poke it, but pulled back, remembering what happened to the last guard to poke something they had never seen before. “Hey, Night Stalker! Watchya doing?” His friend, Night Walker, asked. “Oh, uh, nothing. Heard anything from Night Talker?” Night Stalker asked. The three, Night Stalker, Night Walker, and Night Talker, were Luna’s attempt at naming all of her guards. She couldn’t decide anything past Night Talker that started with Night and ended with alker, so she stopped there. Night Stalker was a pretty cool name, and Night Walker was kinda weird, but Night Talker obviously got the worse of the three. “Nope, just been standing here. I wonder where he is anyway.” Night Walker asked. “I’m right here!” Night Talker said as he walked around the corner. “Oh, hey Night Talker!” Night Stalker said. “Sup Night Stalker! You see anything?” Night Talker asked. “Nope. How about you?” Night Stalker answered. “Me either. How about you Night Walker?” Night Talker asked Night Walker. “Nope, just been standing here.” Night Walker repeated himself. “Nice night isn’t it?” Night Stalker asked. “Yep, sure is.” Night Talker replied. “Luna did a good job!” Night Walker said. "Of course, she always does!" Night Stalker exclaimed. * Alice was getting annoyed. They were just standing there, talking. They brang stupidity to a whole new level. The one, apparently called Night Stalker, forgot entirely about her. She couldn’t move, or else she would undoubtedly be seen by one of them. She didn’t want to shoot them, to loud and a waste of ammo. And what was up with the names? Night Stalker? Night Walker? Night TALKER? She didn’t have time for these ponies. She looked further down the road. There, her ticket out of this place. Now it’s just a matter of getting to it. Shouldn’t be too hard. She jerked forward and punted the pony, Night Stalker, out of her way. The shimmer ran down the road towards her target. She heard the others yelling behind her. That would undoubtedly get the attention of more guards. Oh well, that wouldn’t matter for what she was about to do. * Octavia made her way down the street, cello in its case around her neck. She had just finished up with a rather late practice session. She had to admit, Lyra was beautiful with her lyre. As fun as it was, she was tired. She couldn’t wait to get home and flop into bed next to a certain white unicorn. She smiled at the thought of her special some-pony. She passed a small intersection and heard some other ponies talking. She ignored them and kept walking, too tired to bother listening. For a moment though, the talking changed to yelling. Huh, something must be happening. She continued to ignore it, she would probably read it somewhere in the newspaper in the morning. Suddenly, she felt something wrap around her neck and cover her muzzle. It pulled her into the air, and she felt something push into her head. She tried to yelp, but nothing came through whatever was covering her muzzle. She looked around and notice six Lunar Guards bolt around from different sides. She looked down at her nose. There was a shimmering. It slowly changed, revealing a green, gauntleted hand pushing her jaws shut. * Alice watched the guards make a half circle around her and her chosen pony. Counting her hostage, there were seven ponies. She took her pistol away from the grey ponies head for a moment and showed the guards it. “You remember this don’t you?” The guards stared at it, knowing looks in their eyes. “Damn straight you do.” Alice pushed it back into the grey ones head. “And you come any closer, there’s gonna be a hole in this one’s head.” To be honest, Alice would never hurt a civilian. Even though she could count these ponies as an enemy, it was only the guards that really posed any threat. But they didn’t know that. “Now, I’m going to get out of here. And this pony is coming with me. You try anything stupid, and you’ll regret it. Am I clear?” The guards looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Four of them nodded, the others just kinda sat there. “You bet I am. Now back off.” The guards all moved backwards slowly, but still kept their eyes on her. “You all have a nice evening now.” With that, Alice picked up her hostage and started to run. The pony bounced back and forth in between her arms. She didn’t really know where she was going, but she just kept running. She did, however, have an objective. Get to her pod. And as far as she knew, that was at the top of the mountain. She remembered a series of train-tracks running through the area. Maybe one led to the top? Her question was answered as she found the train station, one track leading directly up and into the mountain. Well, she knew where she was going. *** Three Days Ago Seke Kar’ Chavree sat in his captains’ chair, barking out orders to his crew. “Full power to reverse thrusters! Get out of that collision path!” He yelled. “100% to reverse thrusters complete.” One of the Elites before announced. The Spirit of Fire raced towards them, content on smashing them to bits. Meanwhile, tiny pods ejected from its hull. “Scramble the Seraphs! Take out those pods!” Another Elite immediately tapped an icon and started typing in Seraph intercept commands. “Sir! The humans are changing route; they are setting for another collision! It appears they have shut down nearly everything and are blasting their engines, we cannot outrun them!” An Elite yelled, a hologram of the Spirit of Fire in front of him. Seke growled to himself. This one ship was proving to be tricky. One ship for another? Its worth was lost in Seke’s eyes. Why would they prefer such a dishonorable suicide than stand and fight, allowing the true victor to fight another day? He would never understand these humans. The least he could do was take out the pods. “Update on the destruction of the pods?” “They have set up defensive AA guns; they are destroying our Seraph’s. Three are getting away!” “Track them! If we cannot take them, then may our brothers find what we have lost.” Outside of the hull, the shield let down for less than a second to allow the three tiny missiles out. They streaked, basically invisible, to their targets. Behind them, the two ships collided. The shock wave did nothing but speed the trackers towards their target. They latched onto the side and back. Inside the tiny structure, small signals were set off. The tiny waves set out their own journey through space. The Arbiter of the Holy World would be avenged, no matter what the cost.