The four Princess of Equestria, the remaining bearers of the Elements, the Captain of the RoyalGuard met with Lieutenant Spartan-254 and the Corporal in the basement of the library. Twilight,didn't even dare to look at Alex, after what he said to her about her friends. She was angry with him and wanted him to stay as far away from her as possible but, now she had to deal with him.
“Princess.” Said the Spartan to start the meeting. “I know our first impression wasn’t great but
now we need to get serious. You have a Forerunner Ship hidden in the mountain.”
“Yes, the High Powers Tower has been inside ever since before I was awakened.” She responded.
“Now, I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. You’re going to have to meet with my superiors and discuss studying the vessel so fess up now, and this time I mean it.” He growled.
“Are you threatening me?” Celestia responded glaring at the Spartan.
“It’s for the safety of you and your people.” Luna chipped in.
“I understand a meeting of politics but, why studying?”
“Princess do you know how dangerous Forerunner technology is? Not long ago a Halcyon-class light cruiser. The UNSC Pillar of Autumn discovered a ring. It was basically an artificial planet; atmosphere, water and plants. I won’t give you too many details of what we found besides the Covenant, and trust me you don’t want to know. Anyway, a Spartan known as Spartan-117 discovered the ring was a weapon that was used to destroy all forms of life.” Everyone was shocked, including Alex. He had escaped Reach before the Pillar of Autumn but, he had no idea about what went on after. Luna and Celestia looked at each other. The elder sister slowly opened her mouth and stopped for a second.
Celestia began. “Lieutenant…I am aware of your reasons but…the Tower holds history of our past. Luna and I have been protecting the caves for years and kept it in secret. We…we can’t just allow you to take it.”
“I never said anything about removing the ship from its place.”
“What about the neighboring countries? We are still fighting the Griffins and now we’re forced to spread our troops around the borders of Equestria. Cadence was barely able to bring enough troops to aid us. The Griffins already know about what was in the caves.” The ODST and SPARTAN looked at each other and back to the natives.
“Celestia. You just said you kept the ship in secret for hundreds of years.” Alex inquired.
“Yes we have until recently.” Celestia responded.
“Then tell me, how was it that they knew where to strike?” He asked.
“Kid’s got a point. One of them fuckers said that they finally found what they were looking.
for.” 254 added, the mood of the room went from concerns to suspicion.
“A-are you saying we have a spy?” Luna asked.
“Could be, tell me how many guards know about the cave?” Alex asked.
“A small handful.” Luna responded.
“I think you should investigate on that. If the prick gave out information once he’s bound to do it
again.” Alex advised, Luna gave a nod before turning to her sister.
“Sister do you have anything else to say?”
“Yes. Cadence has requested the aid of the Elements and the two of you. The Knights are becoming more aggressive. Melee combat has reemerged since the Crystal Empire is low on ammunition.”
"Melee combat? You mean like swords?" 254 questioned even with all his training the Spartan never thought he would fight enemies with swords that weren’t plasma.
"Precisely, we may have firearms but we still use melee weapon as much as guns."
"O...kay. To be honest melee weapons haven’t been essential on the battlefield for centuries as our enemy uses primarily plasma base weapons, but don’t worry Alex and I will help to ensure the Forerunner ship remains secure.”
“Thank you warrior. Now if you may excuse us we must discover this spy.” The princess left. As they left the room Shining stood from his chaired and glared at the two soldiers.
“If you think I’m giving you two the liberty to cause any real damage then forget it. I won’t have two heartless aliens destroy our home!” He growled.
“You heard your officer 'Captain' besides your home has already been plenty destroyed by the Griffins” The spartan responded before turning to Alex. “Corporal you and Twilight take the Hog to the city.” Twilight shouted.
“WHAT! I’m not going with him.”
“I don’t really care your ‘highness’ you have your orders. The rest of us will give this area one more patrol before heading off to the Empire. I expect you two to be within the city by then with a full report on the situation.” The spartan proceeded to leave with the rest following behind leaving Alex and Twilight alone in the room. The two stared coldly at one another before the ODST shook his head and left the room. Twilight was left alone thinking about what Alex said and how it seemed to be true. Her friends didn’t even look at her once during the entire meeting. A single tear fell from her eye and fell down her cheek.
Outside as he readied the Warthog Alex kept thinking about what he said to Twilight. It was true he might get into some serious trouble but he never should have talked to her the way that he did. It was then he heard the library door open.
“Twilight?” She didn’t even stop. She placed her weapon on the back of the LRV and took her.
seat not even giving him a sideways glance. Alex stared at her for a long minute before putting on his Helmet and climbing into the Warthog
It had been nearly two hours since they left Ponyville and neither had said a single word to the other.
“Twilight?” The ODST said breaking the long silence and turning to her.
“What?” she responded still looking down
“How are you feeling?” he asked trying to get through to the stubborn princess.
“What do you care?” she responded coldly. Alex took a deep breath trying to avoid another argument with the princess.
“Come on Twilight. Look…I-I’m sorry for what I said ok. I was in no place to speak to you like that. I was just angry.” The ODST apologized after a brief silence Twilight gave a deep sigh.
“Alex what you said really hurt me.” She looked up from the ground but still refused to make eye contact with the ODST
“Twilight...” Alex
“Look I know that you’re trying to-LOOK OUT!” She screamed; the ODST looked up and saw a large boulder in front of him he maneuvered to the left. The warm sunny terrain abruptly changed to a dark frozen blizzard wasteland as the Warthog began skidding out of control.
“What the hell is going on!?” Alex shouted as he struggled to regain control.
“We’re up north Alex! The weather here is colder.” Twilight responded.
“Yeah, gradually I didn’t think it would be an immediate change from warm and sunny to cold and dark!” he shouted back as he finally regained control of the vehicle.
“Good thing the Warthog is all terrain. Or we would had been dead by…” he stopped when the blizzard made the road to be difficult to see, even with his helmet he could barely see a thing.
“We need to stop! The last thing we need is to have a car accident!” Twilight shouted.
“Is there a nearby town!?” He yelled stopping the Warthog.
“Yes but I don’t recommend staying there!”
“Why?!”
“Trust me.”
“Twilight the temperature is dropping we’ll freeze if we don’t find a warm place to stay!” the ground under them dropped a foot lower. “The ground is giving in!” Twilight conceded.
“Alright alright! Turn right.” Alex turned the hog trying to escape the sinking ground but even when they left the trembling area it smashed into a cliff. The front of the Warthog had billowing white smoke escaping from the hood. Thinking fast the ODST pulled out an emergency thermal blanket and placed it over Twilight while he checked the damage.
“Blown out water pump. And damaged cooling system. This thing isn’t going anywhere.” The Warthog is able to withstand the force of a plasma grenade explosion but the cover of the water pump or the cooling system wasn’t made of the same alloy the body is. As it would have made the vehicle too heavy and tamper with it’s performance. Twilight hopped off the Warthog and approached him.
She asked trying to hide the worry in her voice. “Alex what about you, won’t you freeze out here?”
“The underskin keeps me warm as long as it doesn’t get too cold.” He responded.
“And if it does?”
“If I fall you go on and get to the Crystal Empire.” He said turning away from Twilight.
“What?! NO!” She shouted grabbing the soldiers arm.
“It’s not a choice.” he responded still facing away from her.
“Would you stop being two dimensional!?”She yelled using all her might to spin the ODST around to face her.
“What the hell does that mean!” He roared back.
“Stop acting tough around us. We may not be part of your 'colony' but we are Homo sapiens like you. You are no different than we are. Let me help you even though you don’t need it, but if you keep this attitude up then we’re both going to die.” She said glaring into the ODST’s visor.
"Then let me die. I treated you like shit. I doubt you want me around anyways!"
"That's not true!"
"Don't lie to me Twilight!"
"I'm not! What you said to me really hurt me Alex but, I don't want anything bad to happen to you! We're in this together." His eyes widened in shock, even after all the horrible things he said to her she would still stand by him.
He conceded “Alright.”
“Good. Now the town should be a mile north. When we reach the town I need you to be on you
guard.”
“Why?” the ODST raised his brow.
“I’ll explain to you when we find a place to stay.” the princess responded nervously.
“Fine. All I need is the name.”
“Cavern Hollows.” The ODST nodded and activated a beacon and the name of the town.
“Let’s go.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The winds of the blizzard were hard on Twilight. Alex on the other hand had little struggle. The two entered a large hole with in a cliff filled with lights and buildings. Now that he could take a good look at the city Alex realized why Twilight didn’t want to be here. The roads were filthy, trash everywhere. Homeless laid under there cover made of a worn out sheets, quilts, or cardboard. Women stood around under light posts that flicker every few seconds waiting for their next customer. The soldier even saw a lone law enforcer chasing a delinquent down the street.
The two finally found an INN and Twilight rushed inside covering her face with the thermal blanket. Alex looked around the area. a few tables were set around with people drinking alcohol. Twilight quickly returned with a key to a room she checked out the two found their room and locked the door behind them.
“Finally. We’re safe.” She sighed removing the blanket from her head and threw it on the bed.
“I think I see why you didn’t want to come here and being a princess makes it even worse.”
“I already know that. So what know?”
“We wait until tomorrow afternoon. If no help has arrived then we find a way to reach the Empire.”
“How? The civilians here are muggers or murderers. Worst of all they all know that I’m a princess!” She knew that if it was discovered that she were here there criminals would be crawling out of every seedy hole to take her ransom, or worse.
“Yeah well they don’t know how you have an ODST with you.” he said trying to calm her down.
“Well, can we just stay in here for the day? I know you know have MREs in your life pack. Risking the chances of having our food poisoned is something I don’t want to take.”
“Sure whatever you say. We need to keep a low profile so I need to remove my armor. Dig into my life pack and pull out my regular clothes while I remove this. Please.”
“Sure.” she motioned towards the pack and began searching inside. Alex removed his right shoulder armor pad and placed it on a chair. While he removed the left padding Twilight pulled out a rectangular device showing a photograph of eight armored ODSTs without their helmets within the group was Alex. “Alex?”
“Hmm?” he turned around placing his torso armor on the floor.
“I…is this your…team?” He looked at the photo.
“Yeah. It is.”
“I never knew you were in a team.”
“We call them squads actually.”
“Ok so…who was in charge?”
“That would be Lieutenant Andrews. Tall guy with the Mohawk.”
“There was a girl in your squad?”
“Yeah women fight in combat like here.”
“Well to be honest. Women just received the right to fight in combat since the beginning of the war.
“Oh.” With how many women he’s seen compared to men and female rulers he figured it was always a thing for women to fight in the army.
Twilight finally pulled out a shirt with large bold words that said ODST and a pair of military pants. She tossed them to Alex who had removed every piece of his armor.
“Well I’m going to take a shower if we are to stay for the night. I might even finish the story on your device.” Twilight said standing up.
“Do what you want. I’m going to the bar and buy a bottle of whiskey.”
“You’re really going to drink?” Said Twilight with a disapproval attitude.
“Why not.” She shook her head.
“Fine. Do what you want.” As the princess entered the bathroom. Alex turned his attention on the photograph. Through a small gap of the door Twilight peaked to see what the ODST was doing.
The soldier looked at his dogtag for a moment before he removed his undersuit and changed into his reserve clothes. Twilight stared as Alex removed the black under suit. Realizing what she was doing she looked away.
‘What the hay am I doing peeking at Alex. What am I a peeping tom.’
She walked away from the door are entered the bathtub. As she turned for the shower head she
heard the door close.
__________________
Meanwhile
Spartan-254 was approaching the Crystal Empire with five of the Elements, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. The Spartan was expecting the ODST to be posted with in the area, but no call of any kind was received. The Pelican was nearing the palace. Applejack looked at the ground and noticed the damage from the battle. Not as bad as she initially thought but the city was still hurting. When the Pelican shook she quickly held onto the seat. Across from her Rainbow Dash chuckled.
“Still afraid of flying AJ?” she asked smugly.
“Shut up Rainbow Dash!” she hissed back gripping onto the seat for dear life. The rainbow haired female laughed loudly. Cadence though was on her phone trying to contact Twilight.
“Damn it pick up already Twilight you should be at the palace by now.” The Princess said to herself. Shining Armor noticed his wife was worried.
“Is something wrong Cadence?”
“Twilight hasn’t called or answered my calls. She and the ODST should be in the Empire at least an hour ago.” Shining thought for a moment. Twilight always contacted them when she was away.
“Give me a minute.” His wife nodded. The captain stood up from his seat and walked to the cockpit. “Lieutenant?” the Pelican slowly descended to the ground.
“Yes Captain.”
“Is there any way you can contact your ally?”
“The ODST should be around the area right but he hasn’t contact me. I’ll give him a call.” The ship finally made contact with the ground. “Corporal Garcia. This is Lieutenant Spartan-254 what is your position?” Static was the only response he got. “Corporal what is your position? Over.” This beeping sounds followed after.
“What does mean?” Asked the Captain.
“Nothing good Captain. That sound means that the Warthog has crashed.”
“Crashed!” He yelled.
“Don’t worry give me a second.” The super-soldier changed frequency.
“Corporal Garcia this is Spartan-254 what’s your position?” there was static for a second before a voice came through the communications.
“This is Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
“Princess? Where’s the ODST?”
“He went out for a bit.”
“Princess we tried contacting you on the Warthog but…”
“Weather turned ugly and the ground caved in on us."
"Caved in huh. What’s your position. I'll go get you."
"We're fine Lieutenant. Right now i need you to help the Empire. Alex and I will find a way to meet up with you. Give us about 24 hours."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Tell my brother that i'm ok."
"Wilco. Spartan out.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Few hours later
Twilight looked outside the window still trying to keep her face hidden. Deciding the area was clear she walked over one of the two beds. She looked at the clock across the room and asked herself.
'Where the hell is that ODST? He's been gone for almost four hours!'
She threw herself on the bed and looked at the ceiling. Alex did try to apologize to her before they
crashed. Maybe she could work things out but then again maybe not.
The door swung open forcing a yelp out of the princess. A man fell through the open door way clutching two bottles of Whiskey, one empty and the other unopened. It was then Twilight recognized the intruder.
"Alex!" She yelled causing him to stand up
"The...one and only beautiful.” he swayed from side to side trying to keep his balance. The drunk soldier took another drink from the empty bottle. When Alex noticed the bottle was empty he tipped the bottle upside down and shook it a few time to make sure it was empty. He then tossed it to the side and burped.
"Alex what the hell are you doing!? You said you were going to be back and what do you do?! You go out and get drunk." he leaned on one of Twilight's shoulder and said.
"I only...had a few sips." She quickly pushed away from Alex as the foul breath of the alcohol entered her nostrils.
"Alex stay away from me." She said a dangerous edge in her voice.
"Why? It's... not like I'm...going to have my way with you." Alex slurred falling on his hands.
"That's exactly what I'm afraid of." backing further away from the drunk soldier.
"You know something Twilight...I always thought that you are a great person." He nearly tipped over the bed but fell on his bottom. "You're really smart...funny and..." he let out a burp. "...and beautiful."
Twilight blushed a bit but the fact that he was drunk was still scaring her. She had encountered a
drunk in her past and it wasn't pretty. If it weren't for Rainbow Dash being in the it wouldn’t have ended well.
"You know something Twilight." His speech becoming clearer and less slurred.
"What?"
"I'm sorry for...what I...said. C-c-can you forgive..." the ODST choked out before stopping mid sentence. Thinking for a minute she liked having him around and keep her company
"I forgive you Alex. But why were you drinking?"crouching down and getting closer to him.
“Alex.” he mumbled in response. She looked at him and cocked her head to the side. "Alex?"
"Just let me die already."
"Ohhhh no. Come here." she picked the ODST up taken back at first with how much heavier he was then he looked. She placed him on the bed and removed his boots to keep him comfortable. Keeping her distance she laid beside him closing her eyes to get some much needed sleep when she felt his arm wrap around his waist. He pulled her towards him in a close embrace, Twilight tried to pull herself away from the ODST but found him too strong. Resigning she would be sleeping like this tonight Twilight looked at Alex. This was the closest she had ever been to his face. She stared at his lips and closed in when she was but an inch away she stopped.
"No...i can't." she turned her back towards the ODST. Sleep didn't come till hours later.