//------------------------------// // First Contact // Story: Clash of Worlds // by Gunner59524 //------------------------------// Lasky looked out the bridge view-port of his downed vessel, eying the snowy terrain before him. The ship was largely intact, damage had been focused on the engines and some weapons systems but the shields came back online just in time to save them from a deadly crash. The last covenant ships had vanished once it was apparent that the Infinity was going down. Lasky continued to ponder these things until.... "Sir, I'm getting an incoming signature on sensors," Roland warned, "Aircraft, unarmed, roughly the size of a Pelican." Lasky turned to Roland, snapped out of his thoughts and ordered, "Display it on the holotable." Roland complied and gave them a 3D image of the approaching craft. It seemed to be a VTOL capable aircraft with four thruster engines, two on top of the wings, two underneath. The speed readout indicated Mach 5 as the object's current velocity. He looked out the viewport, which was facing south due to how the ship turned that way while it skidded across the snow covered surface. Out there, above the snow and the trail left by the crashed vessel, he could make out the glint of metal as the unidentified aircraft approached. "Have Commander Palmer and Fireteam Majestic meet me outside..." Lasky ordered as he stepped of the bridge. Roland nodded compliance to the commanding officer and sent the data to the corresponding soldiers. ========================================================================== Gunnar pulled on a lever to throttle down the craft, slowly coming to a halt before the hulking metal mass before them and descending for a landing. Twilight and her friends, no longer ill or discomforted by the ride if they were, stared in awe at the massive superstructure. It was surprisingly largely intact, indicating that whoever built it was extremely advanced. The way it had survived such an impact declared the strength of the metal surface dominating most of the structure. The Phoenix Dropship touched down and Gunnar turned off the engines before turning to check on his passengers. "Everypony okay?" he asked. They all nodded silently, still awed by the massive machine. Gunnar chuckled as he donned his helmet and slung his weapon, then opened the hatch in the back of the transport, stepping outside. The girls, quickly donned their winter garb and followed him out. "Eyes pealed, we don't know what's out here," Gunnar warned as he drew his weapon and swept the area. The wind blew lightly, but the falling snow still hindered their vision just a bit. No fog thankfully. Despite this, everypony felt a growing sense of unease. Gunnar suddenly heard a faint sound in the snow behind them and held up a hoof for everypony to stop. He turned and went behind the group of girls, sweeping his weapon from side to side, not seeing the faint shimmer pass him by and go right for the group. The form decloaked to reveal a massive figure with double hinged legs and four mandibles for jaws in gleaming armor. It snapped out and grabbed Twilight by the throat, lifting her up into the air and soliciting a cry of pain from her along with frightened screams from the others. Gunnar wasted no time turning to see what it was, pausing for only a fraction of a second, not believing his eyes. He held up his weapon and fired off three beams of superheated light and gas, causing a field of energy around the creature to shimmer brightly before dissipating. This enraged the creature, causing it to throw Twilight into the group and lunge at Gunnar, drawing and activating a two pronged energy weapon. The stallion rolled, dodging, and raised his weapon again, his blue visor gleaming with a certain malice towards this hostile alien. The beam fired and went through the creature's skull, dropping it. His satisfaction was short lived when he was hit hard in the side by another decloaking figure, and sent flying. He hit the hull of the Phoenix Dropship with a loud grunt of pain before falling to the ground. There was a dent in the hull where he hit too. Gunnar wasted no time. He recovered fast and lunged forward, targeting the beast only to be dodged and have a searing hot blade penetrate his armor and graze his back. He cried out in pain and rolled, resulting in worried gasps from the others. He recovered quick and rolled to his hooves before charging again, this time lighting up his horn to make a magic strike. The resulting explosion sent the unawares alien into the air, dropping its weapon which became inert, the energy blades vanishing. Before Gunnar could do anything to finish it off however, a white streak came from above and traveled through the creature's skull, spattering purple blood on the snow and killing it. Everyone turned to see the source, a humanoid figure holding a long weapon, still aiming at the elite, was on top of the massive superstructure that had crashed here, barely visible due to distance. Identifying the newcomer as a friendly, Gunnar deemed it safe to run to Twilight's side and check her condition. She was unconscious and slightly bruised, but otherwise unharmed and alive, allowing him a sigh of relief. He provided some basic medical assistance to ease any pain for her and eventually revived her. She looked up at him, vision blurred for a moment before her eyes focused and saw him standing above her, applying some final treatment to the bruises so that they wouldn't worsen. "W-what happened...?" she wondered out loud. Gunnar responded by taking his helmet off, frowning sadly at her, and pointing a hoof at the alien corpses. "I...I think I'm gonna be sick..." she said, sounding like she would after seeing the dead aliens. "At least they can't hurt you anymore" Gunnar responded, giving her a small smile and placing a reassuring armored hoof on her shoulder. She couldn't help smiling back at him before looking around and seeing different kinds of humanoids approaching them. "Who are they?" she asked. "I hope they're friendly...." Fluttershy added, trembling from the short but bloody ordeal. "We are," the one in the middle without armor but with a military uniform said in perfect basic English, which caused the girls to gasp and Gunnar to raise his brow in surprise. "Forgive me. I'm as surprised as you are to find that we both speak the same language... wonder what could explain that though.... Anyways, I'm Captain Thomas Lasky of the UNSC Infinity. Who are you?" Gunnar helped Twilight up before stepping forward with her to respond. "I'm Twilight Sparkle," she said before pointing to the others as she said their names, "This is Gunnarmain Steelhoof, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie." "Howdy," AJ greeted with a more relaxed smile. "H-hello there..." Fluttershy greeted, shyly, but more surely now. "HI THERE!" The bubbling Pinkie Pie said, now enthusiastic about the prospect of new friends. "How do you do?" Rarity greeted, just managing to maintain a ladylike composure despite the bloody incident minutes ago. "Sup," Dash said, then pointed at one of the armored figures in the group, one with gray armor and a thin blue visor that looked familiar, "Hey, aren't you the one who got that last alien?" "Yup," the figure said in a female voice before removing her helmet and looking at Dash. "The name's Commander Sarah Palmer." "How did you do that anyway?" "This thing ain't just for show. It's a sniper rifle," Palmer explained as she hoisted the weapon, "suppose to let me kill the badguys from afar." "Yeah the killing part doesn't really agree with me..." "Me neither....." Fluttershy admitted timidly. "Unfortunately....." Gunnar frowned sadly and regretfully, "It's sometimes a necessary evil if you wish to protect the innocent...." This caused everyone to look at him. Twilight was giving him a sad and worried look along with Lasky and his entourage. The other ponies became just a bit more wary of the stallion with that. "How do you....?" Dash started. She was interrupted however by the sound of another igniting energy blade. All the ponies turned and stared at the newly arrived alien in fear. Lasky and his group seemed determined not to let their new acquaintances come to any harm. The large creature started to advance as four more decloaked behind it. "THAT'S OUR CUE TEAM MAJESTIC!" one of the beings in blue armor yelled, and the whole blue armored team sprung into action. The one who yelled ignited his own energy blade and clashed with the lead alien, They locked blades for just one moment before the blue armored figure pushed hard as he spun, attempting to swipe at the enemy while breaking the lock. It worked as far as breaking the lock, and it caused the alien to trip over his form when the blue one wound up crouching as part of the maneuver and missing with the blade. The blue figure wasted no time, standing and going for the downward's swipe, but the alien was fast. It blocked the move and rolled out of the way, only to get reengaged in combat by the blue figure. It tried to go for his throat in a rage induced downswing only to have its sword hand cut off and then be impaled by the blue figure's energy blade. The sizzling sounds accompanied a rather nasty smell of burnt blood and flesh. He pulled the blade out and the alien fell, dead. One of the other blue armored team had instantly decapitated another with a sniper rifle of their own. Another had cloaked and managed to get behind the remaining three distracted aliens while the air filled with bullets and plasma. The ponies were immediately ushered into cover by Gunnar, who did the same, taking a defensive posture to protect them. The cloaked figure decloaked and stabbed one of the aliens in the back of the throat with a small metal blade, causing the other two to turn and face him with anger in their eyes. Before they could advance though, they were dropped, shields flaring and popping in an instant in a flurry of bullets before they themselves were torn up by the hail of hot lead. "Stand down Majestic, threat neutralized," The one with the energy blade said as he put the weapon away. "Who.... the buck.... are you guys....?" Gunnar asked warily while the girls comforted a frightened Fluttershy. Twilight trotted up next to him, having to hear this. "We're humans. United Nations Space Command is the faction we hail from," Lasky explained, "Those aliens you just witnessed us take down are part of a hostile faction that have been attacking our kind for decades. There are many species in that faction but the ones you saw are known as Elites, or Sangheili. This group they're in is called the Covenant.... they waged war against us before, starting a genocidal campaign that nearly destroyed humanity simply because they thought their gods deemed it fit to do so." "That's pretty stupid of them," Gunnar grimaced, "How did that turn out?" "Humanity came out on top... barelly. But only because there was ancient alien technology found all over the galaxy that influenced the outcome and even led to a civil war amongst the Covenant," Palmer explained, "This alien technology belonged to the Forerunners, the Covenant's supposed gods." "And here when I thought religions couldn't get any stranger, one drives multiple alien races to commit genocide...." Twilight muttered. "Tell me about it.... I'd rather stick to the beliefs of our nation thank you," Gunnar replied. "Glad somepony agrees," Twilight smirked. "Anyways, who are those blue armored guys, and how did they dispatch the Elites so fast?" Gunnar asked, directing the question at Lasky. "These guys are Spartans, supersoldiers of the UNSC. You're looking at Fireteam Majestic right now," Lasky said, giving them the details afterward. "What in the world.... how do you get away with this sort of thing?" Twilight asked in disgust, "The first Spartan Programs sound like outright crimes, kidnapping children and altering them like that!" "The scientist who brought about its success and led the program was arrested as a war criminal actually," Lasky said, thinking back on the events involving Doctor Halsey, but he didnt share details considering how sensitive the information was. "Whatever, it was still wrong," Twilight muttered, "Should have at least let them volunteer for that program like Gunnar volunteered for his early age training...." "He's a supersoldier?" Lasky asked, bewildered. "Of sorts," the stallion replied, "I just have special lightweight armor and weapons, with enhanced training. I don't think I would have stayed if I heard about augmentations.... even I have to admit, that was cruel." "Lasky," Palmer started, "These sentients are more peaceful than most, as far as I can tell, the only real military strength they have is set in the hundreds if not less. Maybe we should change subjects.... Or introduce them to the Spartan IV's, at least we did that project right. It was mostly a volunteer based program anyway." "Not a bad idea actually.... but sir.... they're talking ponies.... Isn't this a little odd?" the Majestic leader asked. "A little, but they're the first sentient beings who haven't attacked humanity outright. Diplomacy seems to be the course to take now," Lasky explained. "What about the three hingehead ships still in the system?" Palmer asked. "Get the Infinity up and running first, then we'll deal with those vessels. The covies don't get mercy on this one. They already attacked one of these creatures and they aren't getting away with any more homicidal or genocidal campaigns. Is that clear?" Lasky detailed. "Yes sir!" Palmer yelled with a salute before running back to the ship. "Majestic, helmets off, there are no threats here," Lasky ordered. "Sir I..." Majestic leader started. "Paul DeMarco, I gave you a direct order, please follow it," Lasky looked at him. "Yes sir, you heard him Majestic, helmets off," DeMarco said to his team, and they all obeyed the order. Twilight and the others were genuinely surprised to see that they too were full on humans with obvious mixtures of regular emotions on their faces. These Spartans still had a regular semblance of sentience, it was pretty obvious. "Well this is my team," Paul pointed to each one as he named them, "To my left are Tedra Grant and Carlo Hoya, and to my right are Anthony Madsen, and Gabriel Thorne." "Anyone else find it weird that we're talking to a bunch of candy colored horses?" Madsen chuckled. "First contact Madsen, any case of that is weird," Hoya stated. "Uh... we're ponies, not horses," Twilight told them matter-of-factly. "I for one think you're very interesting ponies at that," Grant complimented with a small smile. "We'll you should never judge a book by it's cover, but I have to agree with you there Grant. They seem like a friendly bunch," Thorne started, "So, Twilight was it? Do you know anywhere we could get some supplies or start diplomatic relations by any chance?" "Well, nearby is the Crystal Empire, but I'm not sure they'd like to see strange humans in their city, even if I was accompanying them," Twilight started, "My brother Shining Armor and sister-in-law Cadence are in charge over there so there could be a chance. As for diplomacy, I'll need to notify Princess Celestia before that starts up. She's the monarch of this land, and my teacher." "Monarch? Last monarchy's on our homeworld didn't end well because of corruption and distrust," Lasky mused. "Celestia is a fair ruler, she isn't distrustful and she's certainly not a tyrant. She's ruled here for many millenia," Twilight explained to them. This caught the humans off guard. "Are you saying shes been ruling here for thousands of years?" Lasky asked, bewildered. "Mhmm," was Twilight's only response as she smiled and nodded. "Celestia is an Alicorn," Gunnar started to explain, "And the most powerful one at that. Alicorns are practically immortal. Don't get me wrong, she wouldn't be in a seat of power anymore if she wasn't the fair and kindhearted leader we say she is. Her subjects adore her, and for good reason." Twilight couldn't help but smile at Gunnar's complimentary speech about her beloved teacher. "Well, then it seems diplomatic relations and an alliance would be in her interest," Lasky began to explain, "We can offer protection too, and wouldn't be corrupt about it for that matter. The humans have taken the Forerunner's place as caretakers of the galaxy practically so.... well, most of us would feel it to be our duty to defend your kind once news of the discovery got out. I'll just have to talk to my superiors in fleet command. First though... we have a bit of a problem. We engaged and destroyed most of a massive Covenant battlegroup before we were forced to make a crash landing. As far as we know, there are three Covenant ships left, a corvette, a battlecruiser, and a supercarrier. You may want to notify Princess Celestia of the threat they pose. The sooner talks start, the sooner we can get repairs to our ship done and assess the threat." "I can agree with that," Gunnar smiled and nodded, "Glad to meet a new and friendly species." "Likewise," Lasky said with a smile, offering a hand. Gunnar shook hooves/hands with Lasky and they nodded to each other. Twilight smiled. She found herself becoming fascinated by the humans and the UNSC. She also found herself becoming more and more impressed with Gunnar. "Despite being a soldier, hes diplomatic, shows kindness, and he cares about the safety of his charges. I don't know what it is.... but.... He's alot like me in alot of ways. I want to get to know him better," Twilight thought silently to herself with a small smile. There was something else she felt too. She didn't know what it was and it was so small she almost didn't notice, but it was there, and it made her question herself to some degree. The entire group standing in the snow started socializing, her friends wanting to know more about the Spartans of Majestic team. Fluttershy seemed to get along very well with Thorne, who showed a strong sense of kindness and understanding underneath all that armor and training. These Spartans definitely weren't among the UNSC's mistakes, but rather, a welcome force of security and of peace that had immense strength and yet showed extreme compassion towards each other and the innocent. These impressions made Twilight smile even more, then she went to join Gunnar in a conversation with Lasky, and a tour of the Infinity that the others followed in.