//------------------------------// // Unwelcome Guests // Story: Halo: Into a Darker Storm // by Slaphappy16 //------------------------------// The morning had finally ended, and the green pony started to calm down. Anders was relieved, to say the least. She wanted to get a move on just as much as Jerome and Douglas. She looked into the distance. The mountain was close. Today, maybe even during the afternoon, they would come up to it. She hoped during the afternoon. Behind her, the two Spartans looked off into the distance, probably talking to each other. The pony sat up farther behind, yawning and stretching over-dramatically. Finally, the Spartans moved forward. “Are you ready?” Jerome asked he stopped next to her. “As ever.” Anders replied with a sigh. As much as she wanted to go, it was gonna be a long walk. And they were rushing to get to the mountain, too. Anxiety and worry was starting to build up. They had to find Alice, and then find a way off this rock. The longer they spent enjoying the sights, the more they had on their plates. Not to mention the pony, who was becoming more and more resentful of being around them. She didn’t blame him. They attracted danger like a moth to a bright light. Between the Krensamijiggles… Kensur? Krenshar, that was it. Between the Krenshars, the Diamond Dog incident, the fact that Douglas took down 4 dragons single handedly, not to mention they had smashed him with a giant metal door, and finally, let’s face it, the Spartans looked like humongous green behemoths, they were rather intimidating for a pony race who hasn’t known war for hundreds of years. Yep, she sure as hell couldn’t wait to meet the princess… * Legs. They were required for walking, driving, standing, and plenty of other tasks. But they were birthed by the devil and cast down onto all living beings, just so they could feel the pain when using a necessary tool for too long. Legs were hell in a neat little hand basket with the words ‘Have fun’ written on a little bow on the top. And Anders was feeling the burn. They had been walking forever. She could see why pegasi evolved with wings, so they could fly. Or why fish grew fins, so they could glide instead of walk. And the way penguins waddle? Oh man, the energy they save with that. But humans, nnnoooo, they had to fight in the war against gravity to get where they needed to go. Anders always hated Physics. But, as a necessary tool promised, it came with great rewards. The endless walking had finally brought them to their destination: the bottom of a mountain. And now, she had a lovely poem made up for gravity: I hate you. Now, she had to climb the mountain. And then walk across the mountain. And maybe fight on the mountain. A new line for the poem: I hate you, and I hate mountains. Next to her, the pony lit up. “Oh no! How will you ever get me up there? Guess you have to bring me home now…” He said; a sarcastic frown on his face. “Nonsense. We got a backpack.” Douglas replied as he half-heartedly tossed down the brown bag. “Just squish in between the explosives. Be careful though, you don’t want to blow a crater into the side of the mountain!” Wind Storm looked on in horror at the bag of death. “Or would you prefer to go home by yourself?” Douglas added bluntly. It was kind of necessary; they had no other way to bring him up unless he sat on their heads. Carefully, the green pony wriggled into the bag, careful not disturb the plastic explosives. Obviously, they wouldn’t go off without the detonator, but Anders noticed a very different thing going on between the Spartans and the pony. It was weird; she had always viewed the Spartans as dead-set on objectives, no messing around, straight to the point. But even during the battle on the Shield World, as they battled their way through hordes of covenant and flood, they would spark up little conversations about the strangest things and competitions on who could get somewhere faster or who could shoot down the most enemies. Nothing like the ODST’s, who would often played with their alien counterparts and were clumsier and less worried about getting the job done right. But it did seem as though the Spartans had never left behind the smaller bits of mischief from their childhoods. Anders shook her thoughts away and scrutinized the rather steep mountain. “How am I supposed to get up? I can’t necessarily fall a couple hundred feet and brush it off, and I’m not a great climber.” Jerome thought for a moment, scanning the area. “Stormy here knows more about this place than me. Any suggestions?” He said as he turned to the pegasus in the Blast Pack. “Well, there is a train station in a town a ways away. Take ya right up the mountain in no time at all. But of course, that would include walking right into the train as everybody stares at you, blowing your cover.” Wind Storm replied. “Cover? What cover? My plan was literally to walk up to the Princess and say hello. Better now than ever, right? Lead the way.” Jerome said as motioned him to step ahead. Anders looked confused. “That’s your plan? Just let us be known to an underdeveloped civilization? In case you forgot, 500 years ago Earth made the pact of not interfering with underdeveloped sentient beings! In case you haven’t noticed, these guys don’t look exactly space-age!” Douglas pointed to Wind Storm. “What about him? What about our pod debris? What about Alice landing on the castle? What about getting home? We honestly don’t have much of a choice here Anders.” Anders grumbled to herself but otherwise stayed quiet. With that, Wind Storm happily hopped out of the Blast Pack backpack and started to march towards the town. “So, tell us more about the town?” Douglas said as they followed. “Well, it’s called Ponyville. Don’t know much about it. But I do know it has a train station!” Wind Storm replied. "I stopped their once on a trip to Canterlot. Let me tell ya, best cider I've ever had, and I've had some of the best Istallion cider." “And it’ll take us to the top of the mountain?” Jerome followed up. “If ya want, but it also stops at the castle.” Wind Storm added matter-of-factly. Jerome ignored the comment. Finally, they were going to meet these Princesses. Just a little more walking and a small train ride. And the sun was barely at its apex. “So, uh, when we get there, I can leave, right? Just drop me off, and I’ll be on my way!” Wind Storm cautiously asked. Jerome thought about that. He was sure they could find the castle easily; it was the largest part of the city. “I don’t see reason as to not.” Jerome said with a shrug. The pegasus visibly became happier. “Man, nobody is gonna believe me when I tell my story!” Wind Storm continued to skip along, the three humans in tow. “So, how far away are we?” Douglas asked as he looked up at the sun. “Only about an hour!” Wind Storm replied. Anders gave a dramatic sigh, and the Spartans walked in silence. * “Well, here it is!” Wind Storm said, ecstatic that he could finally leave the group. The Spartans looked over the town from the top of the hill as Anders gasped at the sight of so many pastel ponies. “How do they even create such works of architecture with hoofs? I mean, the unicorns you mentioned, surely they can’t do everything?” She asked in wonder. “Very carefully.” Jerome replied sarcastically. “There’s the train station.” Douglas said, pointing towards the terminal. “How do we get on without a ticket?” Anders asked. “Certainly not by force, that wouldn’t help for a global appearance, so to speak.” “We won’t need one. We’re an alien species, I’m sure they will let us go to the princess to talk politics.” Douglas guessed. “Politics? I’d hardly call it that. If anything, they’ll think we’re here for world domination.” Anders shot back. “And in the end, isn’t that what politics truly is?” Douglas countered. Anders thought that over. “Well said 042, well said.” Wind Storm waited impatiently. “Hey, I want to go home. Can we continue?” “He’s right. I don’t want to waste any more time.” Jerome mused. They continued walking down the hill. A couple heads poked out from the clouds. Jerome and Douglas talked silently in their helmets as Anders gazed back at the colorful faces. “How do you suppose they stand on those clouds? Obviously they are not solid, or we would’ve crashed during our flight in-atmosphere.” Anders wondered out-loud. Douglas looked up at the white balls of fluff. “Magic. Feels good to be able to explain something with one word." “Well, how does magic itself work? It’s like asking ‘what is life’!” Anders continued. “And now, we can answer that question. Magic.” Douglas repeated. Anders sighed inwardly. “There is science to be done, and yet, I’m stuck on my way to a train.” A couple of the pegasi flew toward the town. When they arrived, the streets were empty. Little white balls peered through windows. I thought this town was covered with ponies just a minute ago..." Jerome said as he peered around the empty town. “What would be the term for this? Down-scalated? Did that down-scalate quickly?” Wind Storm asked, talking to anybody who would listen. “How did they get inside so fast? This place was just filled…” Anders said while walking ahead. In the background, Douglas shook his hands spookily in the air. “Magic!” Jerome elbowed him. “Stop with the magic thing.” Anders walked up to one of the doors. “Helllloooo?” she called out, knocking on the door. “I can see you in the window!” She exclaimed, leaning towards the glass pane to her left. Immediately, curtains closed, leaving nothing but white and pink flowers for Anders to look at. “OK, close the curtains. You can’t see me, I can’t see you.” Anders grumbled. “You’re scaring the villagers, ma’am.” Douglas called out. “Don’t restart that ma’am crap. It’s annoying.” Anders said as she continued walking through the road. Douglas and Jerome quickly caught up. “I think we should just find the train and get going.” Jerome suggested, searching for the station. “Hey, where did Wind Storm go?” Douglas asked. “Eh, he probably ran off. We don’t need him anymore, we were just gonna let him go.” Jerome answered. “Say, where was that station?” Anders thought back from the hill. Next to her was a little deli that she saw when they were scanning the area. “Should be right around this corner.” She said as she continued walking down the sidewalk. Sure enough, as she rounded the building, they were met by a wooden sidewalk running alongside a pink train. A small wooden building sat in the middle. “What kind of train is that?” Jerome asked. “The kind of train that will take us to the castle. Cmon.” Anders stated bluntly. She walked up the wooden building. Peering inside, she found a brown pony hiding under a blanket. It only covered his back and head. “Uhh, hey. Can we get on the train? We kinda want to talk to the princess.” Anders called down. From under the blanket, a hoof shot out and placed three tickets onto the table. “Oh, thanks. Have a nice day…” Anders said wearily as she grabbed the tickets. She walked back to the Spartans, handing each a ticket. “I’m pretty sure we don’t need a ticket, but we’ll play along.” The three filed into the train. The moment all three had walked into a cabin, the doors slammed shut and the train started up. Outside, ponies popped out of their houses and started to celebrate. “Didn’t expect them to be so glad to see us off. Denial can be an ugly thing.” Douglas commented as they chugged off. Douglas turned back from the door and looked around. Anders found a seat while Jerome preferred to stand. On the far side of the cabin, a group of three ponies stared blankly at them. He noticed Anders slowly scoot in their general direction. This was going to be a long lecture filled ride. * An hour had passed before the train slowly stopped at the city on the mountain. The sun still lay high in the sky. The three ponies were surprisingly cooperative when Anders started asking questions, one of the ponies, a unicorn, was a scientist himself. The two had gone on and on about molecules, sharing information about this and that. “Anders.” She continued on about the tearing of space the shaw-fujikawa drive made just before a jump. “Anders.” Particles were superheated to a point that they moved at the speed of light. “Anders.” Even at such speeds, it could take weeks to get to the nearest solar system. “Anders.” “What?” Anders asked, slightly irritated. “We’re here.” Jerome pointed out the door that Douglas had already gone through. “Oh! Good, we can finish this whole mess.” Anders waved goodbye to her friends and followed Jerome off, gasping at the architecture. “How do they do it? Hoofs just can’t make this kind of stuff!” Anders exclaimed. Douglas looked expectantly at Jerome, an answer in mind. Jerome simply shook his head. "Don't even think about it." The direction to the castle was pretty straight forward, just walk ahead. Ponies stared, some hid, a mint-blue one foamed at the mouth and fell over, but mainly, they stared. They passed a coffee shop when Douglas stopped, gazing at the castle. “Jerome.” Douglas said over his helmet, a waypoint suddenly appearing. Jerome followed it and froze as he stared at an all too familiar transporter. “Anders, stay here.” The two broke into a run, leaving Anders behind. She looked over at the coffee shop. “Huh. The Coffee Crave. Catchy.” She admired the name as she walked towards it. * “Douglas, get a charge set. Make it small, this is medieval stage, they’re still on wood doorways, maybe weak metals.” Jerome ordered. Douglas complied, reaching behind him as they ran. There was a noticeable lack in guards or cops or any of the such. They reached the stairs in no time, bounding up seven steps at a time. Jerome got to the left of the door. Just as he suspected, the door was bolted shut. Douglas set the charge and got to the right. “Ready?” Jerome asked, a chill in his voice. “Ready.” “Blow it.” *** Celestia sat in her room, massaging her temples. She worried heavily for Luna. Somepony knocked on her door. “Come in.” A unicorn guard walked in. “Celestia, we have a problem.” “Oh boy. Where?” Celestia asked bitterly. “Front of the castle, right near the entrance” the guard replied. “Don’t tell me what it is; I’m in the mood for surprises. Maybe it’ll give me a bit of cheer.” The goddess said as she stretched before standing and walking out the door. The guard nervously followed close behind. Down the stairs, through a door, down some hallways, nod to him, nod to her. Nobody seemed to be in a panic. “How fast did you alert me?” Celestia asked, curious. “I teleported the moment I saw.” He answered. They came to a door. “Well, it can’t be too important judging by everpony’s lack of screaming.” She said with a small laugh. With a bout of magic, the door opened. Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash were all in the room. Something held Rainbow Dash by her neck as she fought back. Applejack stood back yelling curses at the creature while Rarity hid behind one of the guards. Two large blue creatures roared in response to several guards bolting the doors. Three shark-headed aliens stood in the room. The shark holding Rainbow turned towards Celestia and dropped the cyan pegasus. “You! Where is the demon?” It growled. The entrance door exploded, sending wood splinters flying through the air. *** Jerome burst through the smoke and splinters, Douglas close behind. Two hunters faced them. One swung a shielded arm at Jerome. He quickly fell onto his back and slid under, a knife in his left hand, SMG in the right. The knife sunk into the shin of the hunter as his SMG exploded into fire at the closest Elite, which had a blue pegasus at its feet. The bullets pinged off its armor, forcing it to find cover. As he completed his slide, Jerome pulled up with his left hand. The Hunter tripped over and slammed into the ground. To his right, Douglas tackled his Hunter dead on, shoving the beast down onto its back. As it hit the ground, he pulled the pin of a grenade and shoved it up underneath its chest plate. Worms flopped to the ground as he pulled his empty hand back out. Douglas quickly jumped to the side. The Hunter bellowed as it grabbed at its chest before it exploded, sending chunks of worm and blue armor through the air. Jerome leaped for the Elite he had previously attacked. An Energy sword burst to life as the Elite gave a battle yell. The solid plasma swung downward towards him. Jerome sidestepped and smacked the hand away. A small dagger burst to life from the Elites second wrist as the Hunter behind him rose up. The Elite swung wildly at him as Jerome dodged and retaliated with his own knife. He could hear the Hunter raise its arm as the cannon gained energy. At the last possible second, Jerome grabbed the Elite by its waist, twisted it around and kicked it into the Hunter. A giant glob of green plasma flew through the air and exploded into the Elite, sending a heat wave that rippled over Jeromes' shield. The Elite disappeared. The Hunter charged in a mindless rage towards Jerome. Just before it hit, Jerome rolled out of the way as he whipped out his sniper. With two loud bangs, half of the Hunters midsection blew away; splattering worms all of the ground. As quickly as they left, more worms filled in the space. “Douglas, hit the Hunter.” Jerome ordered through his mic. He turned to watch what else happened around him. Douglas finished tearing a hole in an Elites stomach before he turned, a Rocket Launcher already flying into a ready position. The last Elite dueled with two ponies as more arrived to help. The Elite was winning. He glanced to an open doorway to match a tall, regal, pure white pony, its head adorned with a crown. Its horn glowed with the light of the sun. He could hear two explosions across the hall, but he wasn’t focused with that. The only thing he was worried about was that the glowing horn was pointed towards him. *** Anders walked into the coffee shop. A pony sat at the front desk, staring at her, mouth half open as a ding sounded from the cash register. The pony in front of him looked confused and turned to see. His jaw dropped at an unnatural level. She would have to check that out. She walked through, admiring the architecture and different colors of the ponies. None of them seemed interested in her sitting with them, until she came upon a pink earth pony and a butter-yellow pegasus. The pink one gasped at the sight of her. “OOOHH! What are you? Come here, sit with us! Please! Are you an alien? I don’t know what kind of animal you are, and I know ALL the animals in Equestria, even the parasprites, and not even Princess Celestia knew what those were!” Anders smiled warmly down at the excited party pony. It disappeared for but a second when she noticed the seven empty cups of coffee. The pegasus didn’t say anything, just hid itself in its mane. “Of course, seeming as how I’ve been rejected by all the others, why not?” Anders replied, taking a seat across from the two ponies. The butter-pony looked up for half a second, squeaked, then leaned in close next to the pink ponies head. “Uh… Pinkie, we’ve been here for at least five hours now… I think we should go…” “Go? Why would we? I’m not even buzzed!” The pink pony said, her voice one of disbelief at the thought of leaving. Anders thought over that last sentence. She had to say otherwise. “Besides, our friend just got here, don’t you think we should chit-chat?” She suggested as the pegasus bit her lip. “Well, that’s exactly why we should leave. Don’t you remember what attacked the castle?” She whispered urgently. Anders frowned when she heard that. “Attacked? What do you mean?” She heard an explosion in the distance. Pinkies left ear started to twitch uncontrollably. “What are they doing?” Anders said out loud as she slowly rose from her chair. “Woah boy, this one hasn’t come by for a while!” The earth pony exclaimed as her ear started to twitch faster. “Uh, what does it mean?” The pegasus asked, a small amount of alarm in her voice. “If I’m not mistaken, it means somebody is about to fall a really long distance!” Two more explosions. “What do you mean?” Anders said suspiciously, her eyes on the rising smoke at the castle. A blinding flash came from the castle, a loud explosion that drowned out the previous two. A huge beam of light for a split second. A green figure tumbled head over heels next to the shop, going… going… and right off the edge. Her tac-pad buzzed. One of the Spartans had received heavy damage and was going into an automatic armor lock. She looked at the statistics. He just flat-lined... She looked at the name. She looked back at the broken rail at the edge of the mountain town. “Jerome?”