//------------------------------// // Warning! Hitchhikers May be Escaped Convicts // Story: Apple Bloom's Huragok Helper // by Vigilance //------------------------------// Three Days Ago The remaining intact plasma turrets on the Assailing Divinity flared red and expanded outward, jettisoning superheated plasma into space towards the approaching Jiralhanae cruiser. Not having enough time to maneuver out of the way, the ship was hit with beams of destructive power. The ship’s shields flared white and flickered uncontrollably. Despite the harsh hit, the Jiralhanae craft’s shielding held together and the ship pushed on towards its target. “Successful hit Shipmaster!” The Sangheili at weapons control shouted. “Enemy cruiser is still intact however.” Shipmaster Veer flexed his jaw and shuffled a bit in his armor. “Bastards… They’ll come flying at us with no care to their own ship. I’d be impressed at their resolve if not for the fact Jiralhanae have no honor to base respect off of.” The large Sangheili turned to Corun. “What of Gelik? Have we gotten word from him?” Corun shook his head. “No Shipmaster. Since the Jiralhanae shot his Phantom down there’s been no communications from him.” “Mostly likely died in the crash.” The Shipmaster grunted. “Unfortunate. But once we are done with these Jiralhanae fools we’ll search for him and the Huragok. “Shipmaster! The Jiralhanae cruiser is charging up its plasma cannons!” “Evasive maneuvers!” Veer shouted. “Keep us out of their firing range! Corun, get a targeting solution on their plasma turrets.” “Yes brother!” Veer turned to look at the virtual screen that showed the approaching ship outlined against the black of space. “Let’s make sure that no matter who wins this engagement the Jiralhanae do not get their filthy paws on the Huragok.” ~~~~ Canterlot, Royal Bedchambers Inside the confines of her own room, the Alicorn Princess Celestia finally believed she could relax and take her mind off the ever troubling subject matter of ruling a country. Unhooking her golden neck brace and equally golden boots and crown, the mare sighed in happy contentment. She turned and walked up to her large sun-adorned circular bed and readied for a good night’s sleep. She usually finished up undone projects, read, or contemplated things after a long day’s hard work of princess duties, but today had been especially hard so a good long sleep was in order. Wiggling under her bed’s sheets and resting her regal head onto the golden colored pillows, the alabaster princess began to shut her eyes and escape her earthly troubles for the (almost) never-ending peace of the dream world… “TIA!!! TIA! TIA! TIA!” As the large double doors of her bedroom burst open, Celestia could not help but think that she should have expected this. Payback was indeed a hard mistress, and certainly in Luna’s tastes, even if she didn’t mean it. Banish a pony one time… The Diarch groaned as she sat up and turned to her younger sister as Luna rushed her. “Goodnight Luna, and what may I ask brings you here?” “Celestia, it’s terrible, an atrocity! I know not how it happened or why, but it did and I fear the citizens of Equestria shall hate me once again for it!” The Lunar Princess frowned heavily. “What happened?” Celestia asked as she stretched to remove some numbness in her back. “You didn’t proclaim eternal night again did you?” Luna huffed and pouted. “Sister, this is serious! A falling star flies towards the Everfree, a star I did not command to do so nor had any inclination for!” The Solar Alicorn cocked an eyebrow at her sister. “And how is that going to cause the citizens of Equestria to hate you again?” Luna rolled her eyes. “Well, how can they trust a Princess who allows such things to occur? I am the Stewardess of the Night! I am supposed to know anything and everything about it! What will the ponies think if they hear I did not know of this event?! Anger, Tia, ANGER!” Celestia plopped her head back onto her pillow and rolled her body to face away from Luna. “Little sister it’s fine, our little ponies will not hate you for not knowing this event occurred.” “But…” Luna began. Celestia twisted her head to look at her sibling. “Luna, is the star landing in a populated area?” “No…” “Is it landing in an area that could cause an economic disaster?” “No…” “Is anything besides its landing zone going to be affected by this?” “I… well I don’t know… but it’s really small so I think…” Celestia smiled brightly. “There you go sister mine, there’s your answer: our ponies won’t hate you. As long as you’re not trying to plunge the world in eternal night or beginning a tyrannical rule of evil, it’ll all be okay Luna, trust me. It’s just your nerves, nothing more. Everything will be fine.” The white mare turned her head back around and fell into sleep. Luna wanted to argue more on the point, but knew Celestia was stubborn in her resolve. The mare took a deep breath, Tia was right, it was just nerves and that’s all. Turning, the nighttime Princess left her sister’s chambers feeling slightly better, if not still frightened by the fact she had not seen this falling star coming. ~~~~ A silver coated manticore brushed aside the bushes as it walked into this rare open area of the Everfree forest. This particular spot just so happened to contain a small lake and the lion creature with bat wings and a scorpion’s tail enjoyed this waterhole above all others. Despite being near the middle of the night, many other creatures of the Everfree were also about, doing this and that. The manticore’s ears perked, it could hear the rustling of a pack of timber wolves in the foliage nearby. The beast would need to watch its back; those wooden wolves could be dangerous if not taken seriously. Walking to the water’s edge and leaning down, the manticore took its first few laps of water. The beast made sounds of relief; the water was fresh and had a superb taste. The manticore continued its drink, even as the dark sky above lit with fire. None of the beasts around the small lake, the manticore included, barely had the time to flee in fear as the chunk of burning metal dropped itself into the lake. Many lives of the creatures of the Everfree were silenced instantly as the shockwave and wall of fire from the falling star’s impact ripped through the forest, slicing apart trees and flesh like tissue paper. The crash and shockwave had taken all of ten seconds, but in those ten seconds the forest that had been there before was gone, replaced by charred land and the few remaining flicks of fire that weren’t snuffed out by the instant lack of oxygen. The area suddenly became deathly quiet, with only the crackling of fire to keep one company. ~~The Next Morning~~ The fires around the impact of the falling star had subsided, leaving behind a large area of charred and broken land. In the epicenter of this destruction lay the fallen star: a mangled chunk of blackened purple metal that was still smoking. No animal in the Everfree dared to go near it, lest it shell out more fiery death. A shuffling sound suddenly came from inside the fallen star, dashing away its inert nature. Seconds later, two pointed barbs of sizzling energy burst from shell of the Phantom’s hull. The metal seared and melted away as the twin barbs were twisted this way and that. The hull was soon red hot from the continued plasma searing and this is when the barbs disappeared back into the hull. The hull shot outward as something inside rammed against it. Again, a third time, a fourth, and finally as the creature inside slammed against the hull for the fifth time it gave way. Gelik the Sangheili, barely alive, burst from the Phantom’s broken cockpit onto the charred earth below. The huge biped thudded against the ground and cried out in pain, rolling around like a dog from the intense agony. Eventually the pain endured was too much, and, content with at least being out of the ship, Gelik slumped into unconsciousness. An unknowable amount of time passed until the Sangheili fluttered its eyes open, groaning the entire time. The alien cocked its head to look down at itself, despite the intense pain this caused. His body and armor were charred and black, Gelik could see the cuts that had been cauterized by the flames and had made sure he didn’t bleed out, now that would have been an ignoble death. Letting his head fall back down, the Sangheili thought back to what had happened: while caring the Huragok to safety his dropship had been shot by the Jiralhanae ship. As they were falling however, the Huragok had entered the cockpit and began interfering with Gelik’s piloting. That’s about when the ship began to break apart and when Gelik blacked out. The Sangheili was still working out how he had survived; perhaps the Huragok had done something to the ship before the crash. As if it mattered, Gelik was alive and that was good enough for the Sangheili. Only fools think about good luck rather than celebrate it. Rolling onto his belly and pushing himself up, the Sangheili winced in pain but fought through it. The warrior had fought through worse, fought with worse. Getting on his own two legs, the Sangheili wobbled and grabbed his torso. Under the exact same circumstances, most creatures would have died from that crash; Gelik took pride in that fact. Still, the Sangheili did not forget the Huragok’s contribution, without it he would certainly have died no matter what. Taking his first few wobbly steps away from his crash, the Sangheili checked his gear. His armor’s camouflage systems were scorched to hell and his plasma rifle was a loss. Luckily, his two energy swords were intact and almost at full charge. So he wouldn’t be weaponless on this strange planet, which was definitely a bonus. This world might hold a great deal of dangers but with weapons they can be combatted. Speaking of dangers, Gelik brought his head up when a growl ripped through the quiet of the crash site. Before the alien was a pack of quadrupeds that looked to be made out of wood. The one at the front of the pack growled at the large creature before it. Gelik spread his legs apart and readied himself into a combat stance, these things looked like they wanted one thing: his flesh. The Sangheili’s assumption was proven correct as the nearest timber wolf jumped for him, jaws wide for a chance to sink into his blackened skin. Gelik sidestepped and caught the timber wolf by the throat. Using his impressive Sangheili strength, Gelik tightened his grip on the wolf’s neck until a loud crack was heard and the beast went limp. Bringing his arm back and then thrusting forward, the Sangheili threw his timber wolf into the next nearest one. The wooden bodies slammed together and tumbled away. This early exertion proved costly, as Gelik winced and fell to one knee as his injured body nearly gave out on itself. The timber wolves took the opportunity and jumped on their target, two of them latching to the alien’s back and another getting his right arm. Gelik swallowed his pain down like a true warrior and punched the wolf attached to his arm. With his right arm freed, the Sangheili used it to grab one of the wolves on his back and hold it at arm’s reach even as it pawed and bit at him. The alien rose to his feet as he snatched up the other timber wolf and threw it to the ground. Bringing his huge left foot up, the massive biped slammed down on the wolf’s head, causing it to crunch and spill splinters all around. Still holding on to the wolf in his right hand, Gelik took his left one and firmly held on to the wolf’s head as he twisted and snapped the neck. Throwing the corpse on top of others, Gelik roared out at his remaining opponents. The timber wolves back away in fear of the massive creature before them. Gelik grinned in triumph, but it was slowly extinguished as the remains of the fallen timber wolves began to twitch and move. The Sangheili watched in disbelief as the wood fell back to one location and condensed, pulling together into one massive timber wolf. Rarely did Sangheili have to look up to meet the gaze of their enemies, but Gelik craned his neck to look at the beast before him. The beast roared and charged its prey. Gelik met the challenge, grabbing for his belt. The electronic swish of energy forming into blades coursed through the air and two blazing white-blue double barbed swords jutted out from Gelik’s massive hands. The Sangheili stood his ground and waited for the beast to pounce and glide towards him, a moment when its path would be unchangeable. Just as expected, the wolf jumped in the air at the Sangheili. Gelik squatted down, his torso touching his knees. The wolf was three meters away, two, one – THRUST!! Gelik fell back as his swords plunged into the bottom of the wolf’s head, burning and melting the wood instantly. The Sangheili hit the ground with his back but certainly fared better then the massive timber wolf, the big beast landing behind the alien and slumping lifelessly. The other timber wolves backed away, their largest member slain. Gelik getting up, his swords still pulsing with lethal energy, was the final motivation the wolves needed to flee with their tails between their legs. Whimpering and running, the wolves tripped over themselves but were quickly righted in their attempts to flee the stronger creature behind them. Gelik huffed as he watched the wolves run. Instead of sitting on his laurels however, the Sangheili made sure to check the large timber wolf to confirm its deceased status. Squatting down and inspecting the beast, the alien was confident that it was dead. Another quick stab with his sword to make sure, and Gelik finally collapsed. The Sangheili stayed like that for an hour, simply lying next to the corpse of a big timber wolf until he felt strong enough to fight off the great pain he still felt from the crash. Getting up and shaking off body-wide soreness, the warrior went for what was left of his Phantom. A quick check confirmed that the communication systems were offline, no way to call for help then. Gelik bit his lip; there was no way to call the Assailing Divinity for an evacuation. Gelik wouldn’t be able to contact his Shipmaster to tell him he was alive. Gelik couldn’t fix the system, that wasn’t the job of a warrior like him. It’s the job of a Huragok, the Sangheili concluded. Flexing, the alien warrior jumped down from his ruined ship. It now seemed that the Huragok was not only his main mission, it was also his only way to contact the Divinity. That meant Gelik’s path was clear: find the Huragok. That was the Sangheili’s one and only goal on this foreign world. Gelik glanced down at the dead timber wolf, his grip tightening on his swords… And nothing was going to get between him and his goal.