//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Learning Experience // Story: Halo: On the Wings of Angels // by Gyvon //------------------------------// Chapter 7 Learning Experience “You alright there, Sparky?” Twilight looked up from her plate of half-eaten eggs. By any objective standard, she looked terrible. Her bloodshot eyes seemed to struggle to remain open, and her mane was a frizzy mess. She had barely even touched her breakfast. “I’m fine; I just didn’t sleep that well last night.” “Yeah, I know that feeling,” said Tony. “My first night away from home was rough. Hell, I bet I got less sleep than you did.” Twilight couldn’t hold back a tired laugh. She recovered in a few seconds, only for the inquisitive part of her mind to take over. “I’ve been meaning to ask, where are you all from?” “Oh, wanna know our history?” asked Tony. “Well, as for me, I’m Earthborn. Grew up in the rich jackass part of Venice.” “I am Earthborn as well,” added Sergei, “Siberia to be precise. Winters were hard, but they made me into the man I am today.” “Eridanus II for me,” Frank said. “Place was glassed years ago, though.” “I’m from the city of Côte d'Azur on Sigma Octanus IV,” Samantha said wistfully. “I miss the beaches there." “Madrigal here,” Weber stated matter-of-factly. “My family owned an orange grove until the Covenant arrived.” “Jericho VII,” Lin added sadly. “I was still a kid when it was glassed. Lost my entire family.” Tears began to well up in her eyes. Twilight feared a repeat of yesterday, but Tony was on the ball and redirected the conversation. “Ya know, boss, you’ve never told us where you came from.” “I grew up on Reach,” George said tersely. “Got in a big fight with mom one day and ran all the way to Arcadia.” “When was this?” asked Twilight. “Back in ’25. A few months before the war started, actually,” he replied. “I don’t like talking about it that much. Too many… unpleasant memories.” “Ever thought about seeing your mother again?” Twilight asked innocently, only to receive a venomous glare in return. “Considering I promised her that I’d put a bullet in her skull if I ever so much as saw her again, no,” he spat, punctuating his declaration with a bite of sausage. “Yeah, I’m bitter.” An awkward silence fell upon the group. Twilight’s ears drooped considerably as she realized just how sensitive a subject George’s past was. Never before had she met anypony so angry with their parents. Her inquisitive side was starting to tell her to prod until she found out the whole story, but she held the urge down as much as possible. “So, Twilight?” asked Sam. “Why not tell us about Equestria? Does your Princess really raise and lower the sun each day?” “Kinda,” replied Twilight. “I mean, she doesn’t actually force the sun to move. She just gives the planet a little shove each morning and evening to keep it rotating. Luna, however, does affect the moon’s revolution.” “Why would something so… contrived exist naturally?” asked Weber. Twilight took a deep breath before answering as she consciously switched over to lecture mode. “That’s the thing. Despite what everypony says, it isn’t really natural,” she said, drawing questioning looks. “Thousands of years ago, at the tail end of the first great pony civilization, a cataclysmic event struck Equis. Since then, we’ve had to use magic to control everything. Seasons, weather, even the rotation of the planet; everything’s managed by ponies.” “What happened?” “Nopony knows,” Twilight answered ominously. “Most of the records from that time have either been lost or destroyed, and not even the Princesses were alive at the time.” “Is that the whole world, or just Equestria?” asked Frank. “A little of both,” Twilight answered. “Ponies, specifically pegasi, are rarely found outside of Equestria, and therefore the weather in other nations is not so carefully managed. However, at the same time, weather systems that start in Equestria eventually spread across the globe. Also, any nation with diplomatic ties to Equestria is given their own dedicated weather teams as a token of friendship.” George gave off a low whistle. “That’s a lot of power for one nation. Seems to me that anyone that pisses off your Princess could be in for a world of hurt come harvest season.” “Yes, and she knows it,” replied Twilight. “She’s even used that threat a few times when the Gryphon Empire has seriously threatened Equestria.” “A shrewd statesman,” commented Sergei. “Well, barring a few border skirmishes, it’s kept us out of any major conflict for the past five centuries, so I’d say it works,” Twilight added. Further discussion was interrupted as a loud klaxon sounded off over the loudspeakers. For a moment, Twilight thought they were under attack again. However, that fear was laid to rest as soon as the ship’s AI began to speak. “All hands, we are entering Slipspace in one minute. I repeat, T-minus one minute to jump.” Twilight heard an almost imperceptible humming sound. To her, it sounded almost as if it came from everywhere, and yet nowhere at the same time. It was barely at the edge of her hearing, and she doubted any of the humans could hear it with their small ears. Approximately thirty seconds after Joy’s announcement, the ship began to rumble. It was only a slight tremor, and Twilight doubted she’d even notice were it not for the fork clattering on her plate. At the one-minute mark, Twilight felt a sharp, disorienting lurch through her horn, as if something grabbed it and gave a hard tug. Her vision swam and she felt a debilitating wave of nausea, but the sensations passed momentarily. Blinking rapidly to clear her vision, Twilight could sum up the experience with only one word. “Whoa.” “Yeah, entering Slipspace can be a trip.” Further conversation was interrupted by another announcement from Joy. “All non-essential personnel, report to your assigned cryobay. I repeat; all non-essential personnel, report to your assigned cryobay. The galley exploded into activity as various humans hurried to finish their meals. By contrast, Angel squad didn’t seem to be in any hurry. Twilight considered asking what the rush was for, but she knew that she’d be drowned out by the noise in the rest of the galley. She was amazed that it only took three minutes for the rest of the humans to clear out, leaving her and the Angels alone. She doubted that anything besides an army of Pinkies would do it any quicker. “What was that about?” she finally asked as the last human left. “Well, it’s like this, Twi,” said George. “To save on resources, all personnel not needed to actually run the ship during Slipspace travel are cryogenically frozen during the jump. Essentially, they’re put into a deep sleep where they don’t need to eat, sleep, or even breathe.” Twilight thought she’d already been blindsided by human technological advances enough to be numb to the feeling, but apparently she was wrong. Only now did she realize that she’d just scratched the surface. “That… makes a lot of sense, really. Why waste food and water on people that aren’t actually doing anything?” Still, one question remained. “Who exactly are the non-essential personnel?” “Damn near everyone,” replied George. “Hell, if we weren’t supposed to be ‘guarding’ you, every one of us would be headed for the freezer right now.” “So… how do we pass the time?” “Oh, read, exercise, watch old movies,” Tony replied. “Really, though, it’s gonna be a boring two weeks on the way to Reach.” “Says you!” Frank exclaimed. “I just got a reprieve from the freezer, and brother, I’m gonna enjoy it.” “You say that now…” Tony muttered, shaking his head before returning to his breakfast. Despite her dark mood, Twilight felt her spirits lifting just observing their antics. They reminded her so much of her friends. Oh sure, they weren’t perfect analogues, but they didn’t need to be. She doubted any of her friends could stay sane after going through what they had. “All right, pack it in guys,” George said. “Let’s finish breakfast quickly and get some PT and weapons drills done. I don’t want us getting soft during our downtime.” “Aye aye, sir,” everyone chorused as they resumed eating. Twilight joined in, attacking her eggs with renewed vigor. In less than three minutes, everyone was finished with their meal. On their way out of the galley, Twilight had one more question to ask. “What’s PT?” Twilight felt silly for asking what PT was as the squad entered the gym. Her brother’s in the Guard for crying out loud, she should’ve at least picked up a few of the terms they used. Then again, it wasn’t like she expected an alien military to use the same lingo as the Royal Guard. It was yet another strange parallel between the two societies. Machines lined the wall of the room, most of which had functions that were easily identifiable. George, Weber, and Lin made a beeline for weight machines, while Sergei, Tony, and Sam each got on a treadmill. Frank was the odd one out, and began doing pull-ups at a horizontal bar. Not knowing where to go, Twilight just stood in the doorway. None of the exercise machines were designed with quadrupeds in mind, and she knew that she could hurt herself if she wasn’t careful. What she didn’t realize, however, was that standing in the doorway could be just as hazardous. She realized her mistake when she felt someone nearly trip over her. “Wah!” “Oh, I’m sorry,” Twilight exclaimed, turning to see Helen stumbling forward. “It’s all right, Twilight,” Helen replied, quickly recovering from her near tumble. “Just try not to stand in the middle of doorways from now on.” “I’m sorry,” she repeated, her ears drooping even lower. Helen simply chuckled, shaking her head in amusement. “So, what brings all of you down here?” “PT,” George answered as he lifted weights. “What about you, Doc? I thought you’d be riding in the Freezer.” “I wish,” she replied. “I’ve got too much paperwork to do. Plus, I need to get started analyzing that artifact you brought me.” “Think you’ll get anything off of it?” “I sincerely doubt it,” admitted Helen. “At first glance, it appears more Forerunner than Covenant, and Halsey’s the expert on that particular subject, not me.” Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight thought she saw George tense up. It was just for a moment and she didn’t have a clear view, so she filed it away as just her seeing things, possibly due to lack of sleep. “So, are you going to use one of the machines, Twilight, or are you just gonna stand around watching?” Helen asked. Twilight mumbled something under her breath. “What was that?” “I don’t know how to use the machines,” she replied. “Oh, no worries then. Here, let me show you.” She led Twilight over to a treadmill and motioned for her to hop on. Her muzzle was just high enough for her to see the control panel. A few minutes later, after Helen showed her how to work the controls, Twilight was cantering along at a good clip while Helen jogged on the treadmill next to her. Occupied with a task, Twilight began to feel better about herself. Sure, she’d need a nap later, but at least she wasn’t focusing on the negatives. “So, Helen, what’ll happen once we get to our destination?” She was silent for a moment as she formulated her answer. “I’m… honestly not too sure, Twilight,” admitted Helen. “We’ve never had any contact with an intelligent, friendly alien life form. Expect a lot of initial hostility, especially from Ackerson if the bastard’s there.” Twilight’s mood deflated a bit, but she was thankful for the warning. “How bad is he?” With a grunt of exertion, George cut in. “Colonel James Ackerson’s the meanest, most heartless son of a bitch in the entire UNSC,” he said. “But, at the same time, he’s one of the most brilliant tactical geniuses in the Army. With his record, I don’t know why ONI put him behind a desk. Any ideas, Doc?” “No.” Even Twilight could tell that Helen was a little too quick with her answer. Still, she thought it best not to question it, no matter how curious she was. She didn’t want to get off on the wrong hoof by being accused of spying. An hour and a half later, Twilight was staring intently at the broken-down weapon on the table before her. She had to admit an almost morbid fascination with the device, despite its intended purpose. “You have anything like that on your planet?” Frank asked as he worked on reassembling his rifle. “No, not quite,” she replied, never turning her gaze away. “I mean, the Royal Guard has cannons, but they’re limited in number. They mainly use swords and spears.” Having answered his question, she returned her full attention to the submachine gun in front of her. She didn’t know why it was a submachine gun, but she’d find out later. Every single part was inspected closely. Twilight felt a bit of awe at the meticulous craftsponyship that went into the device. Every part had a purpose, and they all came together into a beautifully designed machine. After what seemed like an eternity, she began levitating parts. For a moment, Twilight envied Rarity’s eye for detail. But, she pressed on, slowly and carefully reassembling the weapon. Twilight was amazed that she’d convinced Frank to let her inspect the device, but apparently he couldn’t resist her charms. George chose this moment to walk into the room, and he gaped at the disassembled weapon floating in midair. “Frank, why, exactly, did you let her have a weapon? Do you even realize how many regulations you’re breaking?” “Sorry, boss,” he replied dejectedly. “I tried to tell her no, but she has the ‘puppy dog eyes’ down pat. Plus, I cleared it with Joy. She said it was alright.” George just stared for a moment before speaking up. “Is that true, Joy?” “Yes, Captain,” the AI replied. “I gave Corporal Grimes permission to allow Miss Sparkle to examine a standard issue M7. The design is not a military secret. Additionally, if she was a threat to the ship, Miss Sparkle could easily put a hole through the hull with her magic.” Twilight was not exactly happy with Joy’s analysis of her. George groaned in annoyance. He knew that, even if the AI gave permission, Zhang would ride his ass hard if word about this got out. Angel Squad was in enough hot water as it was, and he didn’t need a Smart AI to put even more heat on him. “We’ll discuss this later. Twilight, once you finish there, could you please head outside? Tony will escort you to our hallway and show you how to work a datapad. We’ll join you in a moment.” “Yes sir,” she said as she finished with her task. Frank took the weapon from her magical grip and began inspecting it, allowing Twilight to leave immediately. Once Twilight was out the door, she spotted Tony leaning casually against a bulkhead. “Took ya long enough,” he said playfully. “What, were you seeing how our weapons worked?” “Yes.” Her response threw Tony for a loop, and he could only stare at the unicorn. “Oh… that’s cool. C’mon, let’s get back to the ready room. I’ve gotta set up for movie night.” “All right.” Tony began walking down the hallway with Twilight close behind. It took them a few minutes to reach the elevator, and they had to wait for the platform to reach their level. They stood in awkward silence after Tony called the elevator, neither of the pair wishing to speak up. But, once the elevator dinged, announcing its arrival, Tony had to speak up. “Something wrong, Twi?” “I… think George is mad at me?” she replied. “Oh, what for?” Twilight filled him in on the exchange between Frank and George back in the weapons locker. “Ah, I see. Don’t worry about it too much. The Captain’s just being a little too cautious with regs. He doesn’t want Colonel Zhang to get too bitchy when he wakes up.” “You don’t like him very much, do you?” “He’s a fucking coward,” Tony snapped, startling Twilight. “Sorry about that. The Colonel doesn’t exactly have an exemplary record.” Twilight’s curiosity peaked as they stepped on the Elevator. “What did he do?” Silence was her only answer as Tony pressed a button. At first, Twilight thought that he was simply avoiding the question. But, as soon as the lift started moving, he spoke up. “I heard this second hand, but I trust the source with my life. It happened when the Covenant attacked Jericho VII. We were on the other side of the planet, but a pilot I know saw it happen. “The Colonel was at an evac center, directing efforts to get civilians off-world and out of harm’s way.” He paused for a moment before speaking again. “Now, I’ve seen Zhang’s record. His service up to that point had been exemplary. However, something about Jericho VII caused him to snap. “When the Pelicans arrived, the Covenant were already trying to break in. The Colonel pushed his way towards the front of the crowd and onto a Pelican. He then ordered the pilot, my friend by the way, to take off immediately.” “Oh my.” “Yeah. Anyways, my friend tried to tell the Colonel to calm down and let him load the civilians, but all Zhang did was hold his sidearm to my friend’s head and repeat his order.” Twilight was stunned. “You mean… he just left innocent civilians behind?” “Eeyup,” Tony replied. “Shortly after that, the Covenant barged in. There were no survivors.” “That’s…” “Horrible? Yeah, it is,” agreed Tony. “Too be fair to him, though, Colonel Zhang knows how badly he fucked up, and he’s taken it very hard. Nowadays, it’s rare that you see him without a bottle of Alt Burgundy in his hand when he’s not on duty. One time, I walked in on him staring down the barrel of his sidearm. He took one look at me and I knew he was about to pull the trigger. I managed to talk him down, but that just made him drink even more. I honestly feel bad for him. “But, he lost a lot of respect that day, and he has yet to do anything to gain it back.” The lift dinged, announcing their arrival, and Twilight felt a twinge of sympathy for the Colonel. What he did was horrible, but he was still suffering for his mistake. “Hey,” Tony said, interrupting her thoughts. “I don’t like leaving bad vibes in the air. Wanna hear another story to cheer you up?” “S-sure.” “Ok, this one also took place on Jericho VII. It was just Sergei, the Captain, and I. This is when we confirmed just how crazy George is…” The Pelican sped over the streets of the city, just below rooftop level. The dropship’s destination was a mall where Marine forces were holed up and under attack by Covenant troops. Inside the troop bay were three ODSTs who had long since dropped on the planet; they’d been on the ground for over three days. Hanging off the back of the Pelican was a Warthog fast reconnaissance vehicle. The ODSTs didn’t need the vehicle for their mission, but the only Pelican available already had it, and they saw no reason to drop it off. Suddenly, the Pelican began to shake. One look out the back and anyone could see why. A half dozen Banshees were following them and taking potshots with their plasma cannons. “Hang on!” the pilot yelled as he bled altitude and turned sharply, trying to shake their pursuers. Two of the Banshees turned too wide and crashed into a skyscraper. The rest remained on the Pelican’s tail, and no matter how hard the pilot tried, he could not shake them. After two minutes, one of the ODSTs stood up. “Oh fuck this shit!” George shouted, just before running towards the back door. When he reached the edge, he took a flying leap, and landed on the hood of the Warthog. Taking a moment to get his bearings, George slowly climbed over the ‘hog, headed for the gun on the rear. “You two coming, or what?” Hesitantly, Sergei and Tony looked at each other and just shrugged. Whatever the Captain was planning was fucking insane, but he’d yet to steer them wrong. They stood up, and made the same leap as George, one after the other. Tony crawled up and climbed into the driver’s seat, while Sergei took shotgun. Not knowing the plan, Sergei and Tony unslung their rifles and took potshots at the Banshees, while George opened up with the main gun. With their combined firepower, they managed to destroy the pursuing Banshees with relative ease. However, they didn’t have much chance for respite, as even more Banshees took their place, and were joined by anti-air fire from Covenant ground forces. “Twenty seconds,” the pilot called over the radio, his voice all business. “LZ is hot! I repeat, LZ is hot!” “Take us over the roof!” George ordered. “There should be a skylight!” Sergei perked up when he heard George. “Captain, what are you planning?” Only silence and gunfire answered the Russian as George fired upon the Banshees. Tony and Sergei shifted their fire to ground based targets, focusing on Shade turrets and anything with a Fuel Rod Cannon, thanking providence that the Covenant made the deadly weapons so damned flashy. The mall came into view, and soon the Pelican was hovering over the large skylight, something that seemed to be standard to malls all across the galaxy. Through it, Tony and Sergei could see Covenant forces engaging Marines on the upper level who were defending civilians. How George planned to get them inside was anyone’s guess. “Prepare to drop!” Wait, what? All three ODSTs felt their stomachs jump up into their throats as the Pelican released the vehicle. With a loud crash and the tinkle of shattering glass, the Warthog dropped through the skylight. They landed hard in between wide-eyed troopers and Covenant. Judging by the sickening crunch, they also landed on top of an Elite. George and Sergei fired on the Covenant as Tony began driving. He didn’t have much room to maneuver indoors, but he didn’t need to go far, just over a staircase and near the line the Marines were holding. Their added firepower allowed the defenders to push the Covenant back, if only temporarily. They’d be back, but hopefully not before evac. An officer came running up to the ODSTs as they dismounted from their vehicle. “Glad you boys could drop in.” It was a terrible joke. Simply horrible. Twilight knew it was too. It was an objective fact of the universe. But, despite all that, Twilight couldn’t help but laugh. “I swear to god, I wanted to smack him for that horrible joke,” said Tony as he tried, and failed, to suppress chuckles of his own They had reached the door to the ready room by the time both could form coherent sentences again. “So,” Twilight started to say, “what happened next?” “Well, the Covvies threw a few more waves at us, but we managed to hold them off with minimal casualties until the evac shuttles arrived. Once the civvies were on their way off world, we continued on fighting until we were ordered to retreat.” He didn’t say that the Covenant had started glassing the world before the retreat order was given. Twilight’s mood didn’t need to be dragged down again. “So, now that we’re here, let me show you how to access the onboard library.” Twilight almost stopped herself from squealing. Almost.