//------------------------------// // The Night Mare // Story: Halo: X Team in Equestria // by The Good Dark Lord //------------------------------// The sun hanged low in the sky. The Mane Six(and Lyra) had been sent back to Ponyville just a few hours prior. Canterlot was currently cleaning up after the Spartan's assault. Luna nervously stood off to the side with Cadence, Blueblood, and the leader of her Night Guard- Captain Amazing Originality- as Celestia stalked back and forth across her room's outside balcony, fuming. As unorthodox as it was to have a meeting on Celestia's personal balcony, the usual meeting place- the throne room- was, for lack of a better term, trashed. Plus they were all a little paranoid about the Spartans at the moment, so they all at least wanted to be somewhere that would at least give the illusion of security. But that wasn't why Luna was nervous. "They must be stopped!" Celestia viciously said to herself. Her eyes were bloodshot and foam was forming at the corners of her mouth. "The nerve of them to break into my palace and one- up me! ME! I am justice incarnate! I'm always right! I never lose!" "This isn't you, sister," Luna thought to herself, "Something is affecting you, but what?" "IDEAS! NOW!" Celestia yelled at them. Caught unawares, Luna, Cadence, Blueblood, and Amazing Originality shifted their eyes to one another. Cadence dared to speak up first. "I, uh, I suggest we, uh, uh..." Celestia zoomed up to her. They were snout- to- snout now."YES? YES?" Beads of sweat were rolling off Cadence's head. "W- We, w- we, uh... surround them from all sides?" Celestia blankly stared at Cedence. Then, she slowly put both of her hooves to the sides of Cadence's head, firmly holding her delicate skull in place. "Cadence..." Celestia said in a cold, icy tone, "You..." "Oh no, it has finally happened! Celestia's snapped and become the Solar Tyrant!" Cadence frantically thought to herself. "Are..." "I'm screwed!" "A..." "Goodbye cruel world!" "GENIUS!" Celestia then drew Cadence into a tight hug. "I never took you for a tactical mastermind! Of course the simplest first step is the best one! Eh heh! EH HEH HEH!" Although she was calmed by the fact that her skull wasn't going to be crushed, Cadence was nevertheless still frightened of her aunt's recent strange behavior. "I... I just want to avenge my husband. Who's still in the hospital. Why again can't I visit him?" "Yeeesss, let your hatred for the humans flow through you!" For those of you out there who are wondering why nopony is asking what a "human" is, Celestia told them all from what little she understood from Braden's mind earlier. That and I'm just a lazy ass of a writer. Celestia suddenly pointed at Blueblood. "BLUEBLOOD! Surely you too are seeking revenge? I need a follow up plan for our attack!" Blueblood was in a wheelchair with all of his legs in casts and had an eye patch over his black eye. Nopony expressed it, but they all thought his situation hilarious. Blueblood gave an arrogant snort that could have only been done after years of practice. "In my high opinion, we should swarm them, take them alive, and then torture them to death." "I knew I should have done more than just knock him out." Luna thought to herself. "BRILLIANT!" Celestia yelled out. So loudly, in fact, that Blueblood's chair tipped over backwards. "AGH! MY BACK!" "And you, Captain Amazing Originality? What say you?" Amazing Originality cleared his throat and began speaking. "Well your Highness, in my professional military opinion, our best of action should be to-" "OH WHY AM I LISTENING TO YOU? YOU'RE JUST ANOTHER RANDOM- ASS ORIGINAL CHARACTER WHO WILL NEVER BE SEEN, HEARD FROM, NOR MENTIONED AGAIN!" Celestia then shifted her attention to Luna. "And what of you, Luna? You've been awful quiet lately. Tell me, why were you with the Spartans earlier? Where do your true loyalties lie?" Luna was both miffed and filled with fear. She had to make up a cover story, quickly. "Sister, I was only on their side during the battle because I worried for the safety of our citizens." "Oh?" "Yes. I thought it best to appease them and let them leave before things got too serious." Celestia's eyes scanned over Luna, searching for any deception. Fortunately, Luna had told her the truth, albeit only half of the truth, but the truth nonetheless. Celestia nodded. "Very well. Now then, we must-" Luna interrupted. "Sister." Celestia gave an uncharacteristic snarl. "WHAT?" "The time has come when you must set the sun and I must rise the moon. Perhaps we should postpone our plans for retaliation in the morning? You know, to build up energy?" "Every second those monsters run amok my kingdom, the more I endanger my little ponies. But, I cannot deny that your logic is sound, and so I must agree with you." Celestia's horn started glowing. The sun began to descend more rapidly overhead. "Take care, sister. The rest of you are dismissed. I will see you all in the morning." Cadence helped Blueblood back into his chair and soon both were out of Celestia's room. Captain Amazing Originality trotted off into obscurity. The sun disappeared over the horizon. Luna's horn glowed. Seconds later, the moon appeared. "I must be off." Luna said as she spread her wings and prepared to take flight. "Oh Luna, one more thing?" Celestia sweetly asked. Luna froze, and slowly turned her head back to Celestia. "Yes?" "Perhaps you could use your time tonight to do some recon?" "Wait, what?" "Oh you know, get inside the Spartan's dreams, see what they're thinking, that sort of thing." "... I understand, sister." Luna jumped off the balcony and flew off. It took all off her willpower to look casual and not flap her wings faster and make it look like she frantically wanted to get away from Celestia and raise suspicion. "The red Spartan was right! Celestia has been corrupted... but by what?" ********** Luna had taken the form of a blue mist. She silently moved through the trees of the Everfree Forest, searching for the Spartan's base. After a couple of minutes of searching, she found it. She stared in awe at the huge bulk of the wrecked "ship" that Twilight had spoken of. But just as she began to move in closer, she recoiled back into the foliage. She had noticed the base's sole guard just in time: The Colonel. Braden was simply sitting there in front of the main door cross- legged. The only movement he made that indicated that he was awake was his continuous sharpening of his sword against a stone. Otherwise he was just sitting there... still... silent... waiting... Luna shivered, and decided that it would be best to not reveal herself to the Spartan who almost broke Celestia's mind. She circled around the base, and approached the main door above and behind Braden. Although she was currently just a wisp, she didn't want to risk making even the faintest noise, so she sneaked past slowly. She got to the door. She dared to take a peek back at Braden. Despite only being a few feet away, he had not noticed her yet. Yep, Luna's just that good at sneaking around. Luna returned her attention to the door. It was closed. But that wasn't a problem, because MIST! Luna can slip through the tiniest of cracks and spaces. She was inside the Longsword now. Slowly and cautiously, she moved through the halls. It wasn't long until she found the cockpit. She curiously looked at the complicated controls and was tempted to investigate further, when she heard mumbling. Luna backtracked until she traced the noise to a doorway she had passed on her way in. Blocking her was another closed door. She slipped through the bottom and looked around the inside of the room. She found the other five Spartans sleeping in a series of bunks. Knowing full well that she was treading on thin ice here, Luna quietly entered the room. She saw what she had come here for: Kenny. He was asleep at the far end of the room. She moved to approach him, but then stopped. She looked to the other four Spartans. Luna's curiosity to know what they were dreaming about was practically killing her. ... "Surely a quick peek before we get to business wouldn't hurt?" Luna reasoned. Luna then entered the dream of the Spartan who was nearest to her: Richard. ********** Richard Luna found herself seated in an auditorium. Surrounding her, also seated, were hundreds of humans. Some were unarmored officers, some were marines, some were ODSTs, and some were even Spartans. There was a stage a few rows ahead of her. On the stage stood a proud looking elderly human male. Suddenly, a light from up above was turned on, and was pointed at one specific person in the row right in front of Luna. The light's target was Richard. Richard expressed genuine surprise as the people around him clapped and the old man motioned to him to come onstage. Richard stood up from his seat, filed his way out of his row, and walked onstage, the light following him the entire way. The fact that he was fully decked out in his armor while in this dream amused Luna. Richard was now standing in front of the old man on the stage. He saluted. "Fleet Admiral Hood, sir!" Hood returned the salute. "At ease, Spartan. Major Richard- Zero Forty Six, you are here on this day to be honored and rewarded for your outstanding performance in the service of the UNSC." Richard stood up straighter. "I am honored, sir." "From this day forth. you are no longer Major Richard." Hood said as he put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a shiny gold medal. He pinned the medal on Richard's chest armor. For some odd reason, it stuck. "Congratulations, Spartan. You have been promoted... to janitor." Luna did a double take. "... What." Richard deadpanned. Hood gave Richard a cheeky grin. "Here's your mop." Hood then pulled a mop out of his ass and thrust it into Richard's arms. Richard looked at the mop he was holding. Then to Hood. Then back to the mop. Hood. Mop. Hood. Mop. Hood. Mop. Hood. "... WHAT?" He repeated. "There was a drinking contest earlier in the mess hall today, so you might want to get down there and clean up all that vomit and shit. Oh, I almost forgot, here's your bucket of water." Hood placed a bucket of water at Richard's feet. "... WHAT!" Hood saluted Richard. "Make us proud, soldier." The audience applauded. Richard smashed Hood over the head with the mop and continued to club him with it. "YOU GODDAMN JACKASS I'M GOING TO BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU YOU STUPID MOTHERFU-" Luna quickly left the dream before things got any uglier. ********** Ashley Luna found herself in a dark room. She pulled a 360 degree spin, hoping to find some light, but to no avail. Then, she heard crying. A child crying, to be exact. Suddenly, no more than thirty feet away, a light shone down from up above(Don't worry this won't be a recurring theme or anything), and spotlighted a small figure. It was the figure who was crying. Luna cautiously approached it. It was facing her, but it was sitting down in a fetal position with its face tucked into its curled up arms and legs, sobbing away. "It... it appears to be a child. A human child." Luna thought to herself. Then she remembered she was in a dream of one of the Spartans. "What demons could plague a warrior as fierce as this one to dream of a child in distress? Yeesh, and I thought I had problems." Luna was now just in front of the child, looking down on her. "Um, hello, little one?" The child immediately stopped crying, and looked up at Luna. Luna physically recoiled from seeing the child's eyes. Dear god, THOSE EYES. What Luna saw in those eyes was a sick and perverted combination of sadness, loneliness, violence, and fear. Those eyes were the eyes of someone who had seen some serious shit. "W- who a- are y- you?" The child stuttered. From its voice Luna realized that "it" was actually a "she". "I am Luna." Luna answered in a sweet tone accompanied by a sincere smile. She kneeled down on all fours so that she was eye level with the little girl. "What is your name?" "... Ashley..." "It's nice to meet you, Ashley. Why are you crying?" "... Because... It's just me..." "What do you mean?" "I just want to be with people... but then the monsters come..." "Monsters? Little Ashley, if you are crying because of the monsters, all you need to do is-" "I kill the monsters." "... Ah." "But when I kill the monsters, people get scared, and they run. I don't want them to run, but I like killing the monsters." "You want friends... but everypony is too scared of you to return the feeling?" Little! Ashley looked to Luna with big watery eyes, and then nodded. "... So then stop fighting." Luna offered. "W- what?" Ashley sounded legitimately surprised. "Just stop fighting the monsters, Ashley." "But, but what if they come back?!" "They won't come back, I promise you." "That's what everyone says. But they always come back, always." "These monsters you speak of, who are they? And why do you fear them if you claim to slay them?" "They are the Covenant. They come to our planets. They burn all, kill all, obliterate all. We fight back. Sometimes, we win, but more just keep coming. I... I'm tired. I'm sick of fighting." For a moment, Luna had no idea what to say. Oh sure she counseled a guard every now and then when they had a nightmare, but this was a legitimate case of a soldier having PTSD or something for crying out loud! Besides, as if the Equestrian Guard ever actually saw any action that warranted such a need for help. HA. And then the obvious solution hit her like a freight train. She smiled. Odds were it wouldn't work, but it was worth a shot. "Ashley, what if I told you... that you could have both of your wishes?" "What do you mean?" "You want a life free of war, and to be accepted into society by others. Such things exist here, in Equestria." "I... no. The Covenant will come." "The Covenant are not in Equestria." "I must stand vigilant! It is my duty as a Spartan!" Ashley at this point was slightly foaming at the mouth and had a small twitch to her eyes. Luna took a few cautious steps back, even though she was only in a dream. "Is this why you cannot move on? Because of your fear of the Covenant?" "I'M NOT AFRAID! I'M NOT!" Luna wasn't buying it. "Who are you lying to, Ashley? Me, or yourself?" Ashley huffed and looked away. "You must face your fears, warrior." "Another time." "... Tell them that." Luna's voice now had a nervous edge to it. Ashley looked up at Luna. Luna was staring at something behind Ashley, her eyes wide in fear. Ashley turned around to see what it was, but she already knew. Barely twenty paces away was a massive horde of Covenant. No, it was not just any Covenant horde. Elites. Lots of them. And at the head of the group was a very familiar Zealot wielding an energy sword, arrogantly smirking at her as if he knew he was going to win. Ashley's breathing sped up. Her pupils turned to pinpricks. Her knees buckled. A cold sweat rolled down her face. "You must face your fear..." Luna said. Ashley turned around, but Luna was gone. She was alone again... helpless... ... ... ... "... No... I'm... NOT." Ashley stared defiantly at the Elites. They roared at her and bared their teeth and menacingly brandished their weapons. Ashley was only vaguely aware that her subconscious form was transforming from a defenseless little girl barely seven years of age to a seven foot super soldier clad in high tech armor. Ashley took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled. "Alright... let's finish this." ********** James Luna found herself standing in the middle of a creepy living room. Wood walls, old smelly furniture, cobwebs on the lamp and clock, a stack of Uwe Boll DVD's in the far corner... Luna nervously shifted her eyes. "Um, okay, I'm disturbed." She turned around and found an exit. She walked through said exit and looked around. She was now in the weird part of the house where you walk in, but it's neither a hall or a room and it's connected to the rest of the house. Basically she was by the front door now. *CH- CHK* Luna felt something press against the back of her head. "Don't move." A harsh voice growled. Luna stayed still. "Turn around. Slowly." Luna slowly turned around, and came face to face with... James. And the barrel end of a UNSC shotgun. "Oh, it's you." James deadpanned. He pointed the gun away from Luna's face and walked past her, seemingly forgetting about her. "WHAT WAS THE MEANING OF THAT!" Luna demanded. James ignored her. "ANSWER ME!" James returned his attention to her. The Spartan walked up to her, and leaned over so that he was eye level with her. Luna could tell that underneath that helmet he was giving her a scrutinizing look. "How the hell did you get in here?" James asked. Luna blinked. "Well I-" "I have every door and window barricaded with wood planks and nails, so I'm going to ask again. How the hell did you get in here?" "I, uh, teleported?" "... Hm, fair enough, Luna." "Very well, misterrrrrrrr- uh, Spartan." "Huh?" "N- Nothing." "... You forgot my name, didn't you?" "No I didn't!" "Don't lie to me." "But our meeting in Canterlot was so rushed and chaotic and there were so many of us and-" "Stop. For future context, it's James, forgetful bitch." Luna decided to change the subject. "If you don't mind me asking, but where are we?" James stood back up to his full height. "We're in an abandoned mansion in the middle of nowhere." "And why, pray tell, did you barricade the doors and windows?" "So that... they don't get back in." "They? They who?" James did a quick tilt of his head to the nearest window. "Look out there." Luna carefully approached the window. Four large wooden planks served as a barricade. She peeked through one of the spaces between the planks to take a look. It was nighttime, trees surrounded the house they were in. Luna didn't know why, but she suddenly felt compelled to look at the actual window itself. She then looked at the other windows. The windows looked incomplete, as if... "Where are the shutters?" Luna asked. "Torn right off the hinges during the first attack. After that I boarded the house up. It's been a while, so no doubt they'll be back soon." Luna nervously eyed the outside darkness. *DOOM* "What was that?" Luna asked. James tightly gripped his shotgun. "They are coming." The drumbeats continued. *DOOM* "What do we do?! What do we do?!" *DOOM- DOOM* "Take this," James handed a magnum to Luna, "Make yourself useful." *DOOM- DOOM* "I am ROYALTY! You will not speak to me in such a disrespectful manner and respect my authority!" Banging was suddenly heard on the barricades, accompanied by the scratching of sharp claws. Luna quickly took the magnum with her magic and aimed it at the noise. "I'm holding this the right way, right?" "No. Flip it the other way around before you blow your goddamn head off." Luna flipped the gun around. James walked up to one of the windows, put his shotgun between a pair of planks, and fired off a round. *BANG* "YOU BITCHES READY FOR ROUND TWO? ARE YOU? WELL, ARE YOU?!" James fired another shot. *BANG* Suddenly the front door exploded into splinters, allowing their attackers entry. The moment Luna saw the first one walk in, she pressed herself against the wall away from the vile creature and had to physically restrain herself from vomiting. "SWEET MYSELF WHAT THE BUCK IS THAT ABOMINATION?!?!" "That, Luna," James answered with utter disgust, "Is a FURRY." More furries swarmed into the house. Cats, dogs, mice, foxes, rabbits, and more, all of them inconceivable horrors that were never meant to exist. They all stretched their hands/ paws toward James and Luna and began chanting. "LOOOOVVVVE UUUUUUUSSSSSSSS. LOOOOVVVVE UUUUUUUSSSSSSSS." But James would have none of it. He fired his shotgun. *BANG*. "Come on! I'll take you all on!" *BANG* "I'm not turned on by animals, dammit!" *BANG* "You're not misunderstood, you're just weird!" *BANG* "Go outside!" *BANG* "Get a life!" *BANG* "And for god's sake GET A GIRLFRIEND!" "Who are you talking to?" Luna asked as she took pot shots with her magnum from behind a lamp. "I'm talking to... aw crap, I think Kenny's metaness is starting to rub off on me." James fired his shotgun again. But instead of a *BANG* there was a *CLICK*. "Shit! Outta ammo!" A tiger furry in a skimpy bikini suddenly rushed up to James and pinned him against the wall. She seductively stroked the chin of his helmet with a claw. "Are you sure you wanna kill us? I mean, we could have fun upstairs..." James stopped struggling and stared into her eyes... And then he punched her face off. The tiger furry's faceless corpse fell to the ground. "Sorry babe, I ain't into beastiality." James triumphantly said. He then pulled a machine gun turret out of nowhere, "Now it's furry killing time," and let out one long continuous burst of gunfire. The horde of furries never stood a chance. Meanwhile, Luna was huddled up in a corner. "Can I go now?" She asked as blood splattered the walls around her. "Huh? Oh, yeah, sure, go ahead," James replied without taking his eyes off the massacre, "You'd only be in my way if you stuck around anyways." Luna immediately left James' dream. The bullets in the turret finally ran out. James noticed. "What the? Oh, damn." Another wave of dozens of furries were running towards him. In response, James pulled out a flamethrower. Then, James started singing. "Do you believe in magic? In a young girl's heart, how the music can free her whenever it starts~..." ********** Rose Luna was standing on the sidewalk of what she assumed was the street of a human city. There were lots of trippy flashing lights and strange driver- less vehicles going around. She heard footsteps. She turned her head to see Rose strutting down the street toward her. Rose looked happy and content. "Isn't this great?" Rose asked Luna, completely unfazed at Luna's sudden appearance. "Look at all this cool stuff I get to screw around with! And it's mine! All mine!" "You do know that you are a rather shallow and undeveloped character, do you not?" Luna questioned. "Pft, like I care!" For a whole whopping five seconds, Luna was certain that she would not have to experience another traumatic nightmare. And then a television fell out of the sky and landed between Luna and Rose, completely undamaged. Rose stopped mid- strut to look at the curious box while Luna was simply baffled as to what the buck this thing was. The screen turned on to reveal an anchorman sitting at a desk. "This is Ron Burgundy with breaking news!" The anchorman said. "Today in ten seconds there will be a galaxy- wide conversion to 1920's technology! Hide your alcohol!" Suddenly there was a big wave of... something, and now everything was 1920- ish. Rose took in her new surroundings with a look of sheer horror. "No... No!" A man wearing a silly mask walked up to Rose. "Excuse me ma'am, but would you be interested in buying the latest in cutting edge technology? Like this phonograph!" "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Luna facehoofed and hightailed it out of there. ********** "Okay, enough messing around," Luna thought to herself as she left Rose's mind and entered Kenny's, "Onto business! Though given that the red one is a bit more eccentric than the others, I do worry that he may also be having a bizarre dream. But no matter! Given what I have just seen from his comrades, there is nothing that I'm not prepared for! Nothing!" ********** Kenny Luna was not prepared for this. And then it was all gone. Luna was left standing in black nothingness, alone... "Was that not a great show?" A voice behind Luna said. Luna jumped, gave an "Ah!" and twirled around. Standing before her was Kenny. "Oh! Oh, it's you," Luna said, relaxing a little, "You told me earlier in Canterlot that you wished to speak to me in private tonight?" Kenny nodded his head. "That is correct, your Highness." "Before we proceed, I have to ask, what was that nonsense I just saw?" "Oh, just a little something I conjured up for my amusement. Looney Tunes powers have their perks in dreams too, ya know." "Rrrriiiiiight..." "Alright, enough fun and games. Luna, listen to me. Shit's going down, and the only way we can all get out of this alive is through very careful and precise planning." "Just how serious is the situation?" "If we fail, Equestria will burn, and everypony and everything you love will be destroyed." "... And you think Celestia is going to be the cause of this?" "No, not Celestia herself. I am one hundred and twenty percent certain that she has been possessed." "Possessed?! By whom?!" "That's the problem, I don't know. Which is why we have to do this as carefully as possible." "Can't we just shoot it with the Elements of Harmony?" "We could, but I doubt it would work. Most villains you ponies face typically go down in less than twenty four hours, but this doucher we're dealing with has been running amok in Celestia's body for the past few days, meaning that he is without a doubt far more powerful and competent at villainy than anything Equestria has seen before." Luna gave Kenny a deadpan look. "No offense." "None taken. But what do we do about this?" "Don't worry, I've got a plan that will totally not backfire on us." ********** As per Kenny's orders, Luna was flying as fast as she could to Twilight's. She was taking deep, long breaths. "Breathe, Luna. Don't panic! Just breathe." She reached Twilight's library. ********** Twilight was on a romantic dinner date with the Canterlot approved edition of the Equestrian Dictionary. The table they sat at had a nice clean white cloth over it. The candle sitting in the middle of the table gave off a pleasurable aroma. The room they were sitting in was a comfortable deep red. Classical music was playing. The scent of delicious fancy food drifted through the air. "Kiss me, you fool." Twilight seductively said to the Dictionary. She puckered her lips, closed her eyes, leaned over, and- "Twilight Sparkle." An all too familiar voice said. Twilight froze in place and opened her eyes. She looked to her right. Luna was standing right next to her. "Twilight. You, me. Taking down Celestia. Now."