Great...another one.
Buck and his ODSTs had reached Canterlot the day after the Rookie had witnessed the dragon slaying at the hands of the Covenant. Buck thought it to be the next day but time had been eluding him due to the state of the constant night they been enveloped in since they touched down on Equestria. They hadn't run into any other Covenant since then but Buck hadn't started counting his blessings just yet. He learned from the Rookie that the dragon had, indeed, destroyed a Phantom. Even though it had died it was somewhat comforting news. If there were more dragons (Twilight had revealed that she had one as an assistant, albeit was only three feet tall) they might want a crack at the Covenant assuming they had any kind of camaraderie within their species.
This new princess was wholly different from her sister, Celestia, in both her physical attributes and her speech. While Celestia was white and radiant and glowed as if the very sun was contained within her, this Luna herself was darker and her mane shown of the night sky, as if a galaxy was contained within it; Buck thought of it as a nebula, nothing less. She was a pale navy blue and instead of a caricature of a sun like her regal sister, Luna's cutie mark (another phrase he had added to his verbiage as of late) was of a crescent moon on an ink splotched background. It reminded Buck at once of the coloring of a dog but he kept this comment to himself. Luna had been most displeased with their presence on Equestria and had made it known when they entered the castle proper. Herein lay the second difference between the two sisters of day and night.
The walk through Canterlot was mostly uneventful. A few ponies stopped and stared but most of the streets were empty, due to the continuous night sky or if it was really late night or early morning Buck could only guess at. They passed several armored pegasi when approaching the castle and received many reproachful looks. When they stepped through the doors a voice boomed in their ears. His ODSTs and every pony winced as the voice demanded an immediate audience with all of them and that they were to waste no time. She also spoke in a very old way of talking, replacing 'I' with 'we' and other such honorifics. Twilight had mentioned something about Luna being loud, but Buck couldn't say for sure whether or not his ears were bleeding until he took off his helmet in Luna's presence; examining his reflection in his VISR proved his eardrums were intact.
Where Celestia had a commanding but gentle tone about her this Luna had a voice akin to a loud speaker that was more demanding than authoritative. Her tone made her seem that she had already made up her mind about the ODSTs and that worried Buck a great deal. There was an actual rhetoric between he and Celestia back on the Covenant battle cruiser She had let him lay out his arguments and actually listened to what he had to say. Luna sounded like she had already ground the ax and was calling for the chopping block. Buck heard Dutch let loose an audible gulp. He thought of reprimanding him later but realized he was borderline terrified, too. He had seen what Celestia could do on the battle cruiser and she had had a level head, but what of her sister? Buck decided to speak VERY carefully in the upcoming talks.
"WE ARE GRATEFUL THAT YOU HAVE RETURNED OUT SISTER TO US. WE HEARD YOU SAVED HER LIFE AND BROUGHT HER DOWN TO EQUESTRIA AFTER SHE WAS INJURED ABOARD THE COVENANT VESSEL. HOWEVER..."
What an awful word... Buck thought squeamishly.
"WITNESSING THE EVENTS THAT OCCURRED ABOVE EQUESTIRA BETWEEN YOURSELVES AND OUR SISTER, WE FIND THAT THY BAND WERE THE CAUSE OF HER MISFORTUNE." Buck mustered some courage and ventured a response.
"Your highness...I don't think..."
"SILENCE!!!" Luna boomed. Although she wasn't much smaller than Celestia she was still a tad taller than Buck or any of his ODSTs. She wasn't as physically imposing as Celestia, either, but her voice might as well have made her fifty stories high. "YE HUMANS DISTRACTED OUR SISTER WITH THY BANTER AND DEMANDS FOR THIS...THIS PROPHET!!! HAD THEE NOT BEEN ABOUT OUR SISTER WOULD NOT BE IN HER PITIFUL CONDITION!!!"
"Princess Luna?" Buck turned, wide eyed to see Twilight Sparkle speaking up to the princess. He expected another deafening demand for silence but it didn't come. Apparently the ponies were on friendly terms with the two sisters. A mass of pink and yellow caught his eye when he turned to Twilight. Fluttershy had dropped to the ground and was at present trying to curl into a ball as best she could. Her head was tucked behind her mane as well as her tail. Buck was hit with a wave of infectious adorableness and had to stop himself from reacting out loud, although it was an extremely cute sight.
"Could you lower the volume? You're scaring Fluttershy." Luna tilted her head at this request. She raised her head, peering over Buck's shoulder to see the pink maned pegasus shaking with fright. Luna was suddenly uncharacteristically abashed.
"Oh, dear Fluttershy. I do apologize if I frightened you. Please forgive us...I...We are very stressed at the moment with our sister's predicament. The rule of Equestria has temporarily fallen to me and we are trying our best to compensate in our sister's absence. Invaders from other worlds and now these ruffians we have heard so much from our sister has greatly upset us."
Buck had to mentally adjust his hearing to Luna's new, quieter voice. Buck hadn't thought it possible that she could speak in such a soft voice. Now she sounded somewhat...timid. A complete one eighty from her previous imposing dialogue.
"HUMANS! WE DEMAND..." Princess Luna looked towards Twilight who held her hoof aloft and lowered it slowly, a forced smile on her face. Luna blushed and cleared her throat. "We demand that you tell us what happened. We saw that our sister, Celestia, was engulfed by a blue ball of fire but knew nothing of our sister's condition until she arrived with you and your humans. YOU," she pointed her hoof towards Buck, "will explain what occurred after our we lost contact with our sister." Buck inhaled and took a step towards Luna and away from the group.
"Your Highness...we may have, somewhat...unintentionally...accidentally..."
"GET ON WITH IT!!!" Fluttershy, who had just barely begun to compose herself, shrunk into a ball once more. Luna, seeing this, put a hoof over her mouth and blushed some more. Buck lowered his leg which he had raised in an involuntary defensive motion at Luna's outburst. He sighed. He couldn't fancy it up with any more adjectives. He and his ODSTs had been a distraction, but they had saved Celestia in the long run, hadn't they?
"We did distract your sister. Honestly, we had never seen anything like her, save in our bedtime stories and old legends back on Earth. The Rookie here actually saved her when we were first talking to her." The Rookie gave a deep nod to the Princess of the Night. It looked like a show of respect to Buck. "There was a firefight shortly after we had the discussion with Celestia over what to do with the Prophet, then one of the Grunts..."
Luna cocked an eyebrow.
"Err...aliens threw a grenade...that blue fireball you saw, at Celestia. It blew off a portion of her wing and pretty near knocked her unconscious." Unbeknownst to Buck, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had huddled together and were stroking their wings as if they were things that needed physical comforting.
"We picked her up and escaped. That's all there is to tell, really..." Something was tapping on Buck's shoulder. It was Dutch, who had the most scared look on his face. Buck honestly thought his bladder could go at any second. Dutch whispered something in Buck's ear, but instead of relaying the message, Buck decided to torture Dutch a little.
"Princess, may I present Corporal Taylor Miles, better known as Dutch." Dutch's pupils shrank and the color seemed to drain from his face. Buck stole a glance at his nether regions to see if it had leaked out. Thank God it hadn't. "He'd like to ask you a question about our escape from the Covenant."
Dutch turned to run but Mickie and Romeo stopped him, spun him around, and Romeo gave him a swift kick to the rear, shoving him forward. Dutch heard Mickie snicker in the background. After this mission was over, Dutch would savor breaking Mickie's pinkie finger for that.
"Um...your highness?"
"THY LEGS TREMBLE."
Dutch looked down and sure enough, his legs were shaking as if there was an earthquake reverberating within the throne room. Everyone got a laugh out of that, even the ponies. Dutch noticed Luna's demeanor had lightened somewhat and she cracked a small smile. This gave the big man the courage he needed.
"Ma'am, well, I was wondering. What was that, well...rainbow that came from your planet and saved our asses..." Dutch clamped his hands over his mouth. He had just profaned in front of royalty. He cursed his rough and tumble livelihood and his inability to filter profanity in everyday speech. Luna simply cocked an eyebrow again.
"Asses? Thine enemies hath mules aboard their vessel?" It was the other ODSTs now who clamped their hands over their mouths. Not in shock or fear but from the building laughter that was trying to escape their lungs. Only Dutch lacked the urge to laugh; he was relieved to know that harsh language was something ponies and humans didn't share.
"Forget what I said, Princess. The rainbow that saved us?"
"Oh, yes. We used the Elements of Harmony to save thee as well as my sister. When thee left the Covenant vessel, we noticed the magical aura of our sister engulfing a smaller vessel. We had to act quickly. Unfortunately, we were only able to muster about one tenth of the power of the Elements. If yon ponies had wielded the Elements," she motioned towards Twilight and the other ponies, "then the Covenant would not be inhabiting our planet as we speak."
One tenth? Buck couldn't imagine that these six little ponies were capable of the power Luna had unleashed, let alone that power tenfold. Buck pat Dutch on the shoulder who jumped, still wound up after facing his fear.
"So, Princess Luna. What's to become of me and my men? Both you and your sister have shown great ability when dealing with the Covenant, but in her condition I doubt she'll be of much use in the coming battle."
"BATTLE?! Surely thou cannot be suggesting that these...things pose a serious threat to us? Their vessel is crippled...surely..."
"Princess Luna?" Twilight stepped forward. "A small group of these aliens killed a dragon, and a pretty big one, too. I don't think it is wise to take them lightly."
"Actually," Buck interjected, "It was just one. A Brute Chieftain, we think..." Buck turned to the ponies. "Do you have gorillas or monkeys here?" Fluttershy looked at Buck and nodded. "Basically its a giant gorilla, about ten feet tall. We ran into one of the Chieftain variety back on Earth. Killed a few men and damn near killed Romeo."
"Put a big hole in my lung. I could show you, if you'd like." Buck tilted his head back at Romeo's response. Couldn't he understand that they were talking to a princess? Luna furrowed her brow.
"Thy visual aid shan't be necessary, human. This...giant gorilla killed a dragon, you say? By itself? That is no easy feat. What would you suggest in this situation, Gunnery Sergeant?" Buck grinned. He didn't admit it but he enjoyed when someone referred to him by his rank in a questioning manor.
"Well, your highness. If its all the same to you, how about we let these little ponies here wield the...Elements of Harmony, is what you called them? Wipe out the remaining Covenant? It should be easy from what you've told us about their power." Luna sighed.
"Unfortunately, when we used the Elements, they became...inert."
All the ponies let out audible gasps.
"Princess, how can that be? We've used the Elements on a few occasions and they've always worked before..."
"Twilight Sparkle, as thy recall, our sister and I once wielded the Elements together to battle Discord. Soon after, once we became..." Luna was physically struggling to get the next words out. "Nightmare Moon...our sister used the Elements to banish me to the moon. When one pony, no matter how strong or gifted they may be, wields the Elements by oneself, the Elements become inert for a long period of time so there power may not be abused."
"So...how long will they be inert? A few days?" Buck ventured.
"Several months, we're afraid..." Buck place his hand on top of his head.
"Well, there goes the cakewalk..."
Pinkie Pie gasped. "Cake? I LOVE cake! Nopony said we were having cake! I wish somepony would have told..." Rarity had inserted her hoof into Pinkie Pie's mouth, silencing her rampant cake talk. Rarity blushed.
"Its best not to mention sweets around her. She gets a tad...excited."
"Duly noted. So," Buck turned towards the Princess. "I guess its up to my ODSTs to handle the situation. I doubt you could afford to get hurt in the same way your sister was on a venture to stop the Covies."
"Nonsense. We are capable of handling things ourselves. We shall accompany thee on thy quest against the Covenant. What does thou require of us?"
"Well, for starters, we'll need our weapons back. We also could use a fix on our other weapons that were dropped from our own ship before we landed on Equestria. We have devices in our helmets that let us find them but something in your planet's atmosphere is interfering. Is there any way you could find out where they might be?" Luna grinned cockily.
"This is a minor problem for the Princess of the Night! Everything the moonlight touches we can see! A few moments is all that is required for us to locate thine supplies." Luna's horn began to glow a dim blue and suddenly the landscape of Equestira was laid out in front of them like a movie projection. It was like the most vivid hologram Buck had ever seen. Everything looked real enough to touch, yet transparent at the same time.
The landscape was beginning to rush by at blinding speed. Grassy plains and forests zoomed by and eventually gave way to sand and desert.
"THERE!" Luna exclaimed.
Buck could barely believe his eyes. They were now looking at a town that could only be described as something out of the Wild West. There was a saloon, a clock tower, several wooden buildings...it was an unbelievable sight that Buck had only seen in old movies that were centuries old.
"Boy, howdy, that's Appleloosa! Mah cousin Braeburn lives there! Its only about a day's travel by train from Ponyville!" That was good news from Applejack, Buck thought.
"Thine weapons and supplies appear to be on the scattered beyond outskirts of the town. They have been undisturbed by the looks of things. We shall accompany thee to Appleloosa. We have never been and thou will need us to locate thy supplies as they are scattered over a fairly large area."
A small murmur of hope began to well up amongst the ODSTs. They were clapping each other on the back and muttering words of encouragement to one another.
"Now, we shall all head out at once. We shall rest on the train ride in to Appleloosa. We haven't a moment..."
A solid beam of light melted a hole through one of the Throne Room's windows and came within inches of Princess Luna's head. It tore a hole in her mane and a small tuft of smoke (or gas, Buck couldn't rightly tell) from her nebulous hair. The ODSTs were already sprinting for cover while Luna was feeling her mane, utterly dumbstruck.
"SNIPER! Away from the windows!" The ponies had darted a second or two after the ODSTs had but Dutch still had to grab Fluttershy who had frozen in place once the calamity had broken out. The Rookie sprinted towards Luna who had barely enough time to register that she was being shoved down to the ground by a human when another shot burned through the window, this one bouncing harmless off the floor but still mere inches away from Luna's form.
Luna, finally aware that her life was in danger, flapped her wings with plenty of force to slide herself and the Rookie across the floor and out of the sniper's line of sight just as another hole was singed the floor where the human and alicorn were moments before.
"Our thanks, human." Luna smiled at the Rookie, who simply nodded and ran over to his squad mates. The Princess was safe at that angle unless there was more than one sniper. Considering that all three shots had come through the same window pane, the Rookie didn't feel there was more than one sniper. Probably just a solitary scout.
"Princess, we could use our guns."
Luna acknowledged Buck immediately. "Guards, return their weapons to them, QUICKLY!" The guards did as they were bade. The ODSTs had their weapons back within seconds and quickly began to discuss amongst themselves how they were going to deal with the sniper, if it hadn't bugged out already. Romeo hissed at one of the guard ponies.
"Hey, buddy! Slide me your helmet!" The guard regarded Princess Luna who immediately nodded urgently. The guard slid his helmet to Romeo who had positioned himself underneath the sniper's window. Romeo gingerly lifted the helmet up to the window, and a short instant later a glowing hole was punched through it and it skittered across the floor. The guard pony harumphed and Romeo simply shrugged.
"Well, its still out there...any ideas?"
"We could sure use a distraction..." Dutch suggested.
"Leave it to me!" The rainbow maned pony showed great courage, but Romeo wasn't about to let her do anything reckless.
"Rainbow Dash, I can't let you do that. If that sniper hits you, you will die." Rainbow gulped.
"Pfft...that's IF he can hit me. I'm the fastest flier around. He couldn't hit Princess Luna when she standing still; how's he gonna hit me?" She did have a point. Romeo had a good idea where the sniper was. Rainbow Dash would only be out in the open for a few seconds at the most while he lined up his shot.
"...fine. Twilight, open the window on the far right when I give the signal. Rainbow, you fly out the window as fast as you can. Fly straight up. I should be able to get him within three seconds. Can you handle that?"
"No sweat."
"Alright Twilight...NOW!"
The tall window glowed pink as Twilight's magic radiated from it. It flung open as Rainbow Dash took off, quite literally, like a bullet. Romeo was in awe for a split second at the pony's sheer speed. He made a quick mental note to ask her how fast she could actually go. Romeo slid into a seated position on the Princess' throne and instantly spotted the sniper.
It was a jackal. Its long beak accentuated its even longer rifle. A beam rifle did devastating damage at long range and it was insanely accurate. It didn't have to deal with wind resistance like his own metal bullet did, but Romeo didn't let that stop him. He judged the angle and squeezed the trigger, the rifle making a boom similar to Luna's voice just minutes before. Sure enough, the shot was wide. The glass affected the supersonic round only slightly, but he had gotten the sniper's attention. It turned its attention away from the flying Rainbow Dash and focused on Romeo. This time, Romeo had to make the shot, and with the window pane broken away, it would be an easy shot.
Click
The rifle didn't make another deafening report. Romeo had subconsciously noted that there had been no metallic clatter of the shell casing hitting the floor upon the rifle's discharge from the last shot. Romeo couldn't remember the last time his weapon had jammed but cursed himself for not clearing the chamber. He had had a whole second before the jackal had turned to face him...plenty of time to correct the mistake. Still looking down his magnified sights, he saw the jackal take aim. He was dead to rights.
A pink bubble formed around him as he saw the bright flash from the jackal's beam rifle. He braced for the incoming shot but noted it bounce harmlessly off this new cotton candy colored shield. Romeo noticed Twilight's horn was glowing once again. He'd have to thank her, later. Romeo started fidgeting with the bolt to loose the empty shell from the chamber when Applejack spoke up.
"Whoa, Nelly! Look'it her go!"
Romeo barely had time to look out the window when he saw a rainbow flying straight towards the sniper's position. The bullet casing was lodged in the chamber tighter than he thought. He stopped and looked through his scope. What he saw both amused and worried him. Rainbow Dash was flying circles around the jackal sniper. While it was firing wildly into the air, missing every shot, Rainbow was literally flying circles around it. Romeo's grin turned to a grimace once he realized that he wouldn't have a clear shot if Rainbow Dash kept circling the jackal.
Rainbow Dash saved him the trouble of taking a second shot when she bucked the jackal off of the tower it was perched on. It fell off backwards, out of site. The ponies gave a loud cheer and Romeo lowered his rifle. He approached Twilight's magical pink bubble and poked it with a finger, finding it quite solid. He grumbled.
"Um, Twilight? Mind lowering your bubble shield?"
Twilight, still cheering for Rainbow Dash, didn't hear Romeo. The ODST sighed and looked up at Rainbow Dash, who was hovering in place and milking her victory with an assortment of poses. He squinted when he saw movement behind the cyan pegasus and raised his rifle. The jackal hadn't fallen off the tower but rather had just slid down the back of it. It had lost its rifle but now leveled a plasma pistol at Rainbow Dash. Romeo slammed back the bolt, ejecting the jammed shell and shouted at Twilight.
"LOWER THE SHIELD, NOW!!!"
The bubble popped, whether from Twilight's conscious action or being startled broke her concentration, Romeo didn't know or care, but he noticed yet an event more urgent problem. Rainbow Dash was completely unaware of the danger she was in. What was worse, she was more or less directly in front of the jackal. He could barely make out the jackal save through Rainbow's wing flaps. There wasn't time to think. He'd just have to take the shot and hope he didn't clip her wing in the process.
The 14.5 x 114mm round exited the sniper rifle's barrel with a loud roar. The other ponies had no idea what was going on but the first sight they saw was Rainbow Dash plummeting immediately following the report from Romeo's sniper rifle. Romeo only saw the florescent blood from the jackal's head after his shot hit home, no red blood from Rainbow Dash (assuming these ponies had red blood.) He cocked his head and wondered why the pegasus pony was dropping like a stone when he was tackled by several of Rainbow's compatriots.
"WHY'D YOU DO IT?" Applejack demanded. "YOU SHOT RAINBOW!"
Fluttershy, visibly distraught and fresh tears streaming down her cheeks, bolted out the window towards the falling pegasus. She was incredibly fast, Romeo observed; she usually fell behind when flying during the trek to Canterlot so it was impressive to see her speed away like she did. Pinkie Pie and Rarity had joined the fray and were about to help Applejack throttle Romeo when Buck came to his sniper's rescue.
"GIRLS! That Covie Rainbow bucked off the tower came back and was about to shoot her! Romeo was trying to save her..." Buck's voice wavered at 'try,' indicating him seeing the ponies' point of view. Buck had seen the jackal didn't have Romeo's advantage of a scope to see the finer details but had not the bullet's impact. Buck had honestly assumed the bullet had passed through Rainbow Dash and hit the jackal sniper. He had still doubted that was the case, due to Romeo's prowess as a sniper. Still, there was no denying Rainbow Dash plummeting immediately after the shot, a tell tale sign of being shot.
"I'm telling ya I didn't hit Rainbow! I shot the jackal, nothing more!"
Twilight suddenly disappeared in a flash of pink and reappeared outside near where Fluttershy had caught Rainbow Dash. She reappeared a few seconds later, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash in tow. Rainbow Dash was wide eyed and frozen, but had no visible bullet wound.
"See?! I told you I didn't hit her!"
Romeo's voice broke Rainbow's paralysis. She flew over towards Romeo, knocking AJ, Pinkie Pie and Rarity away. She was in his face again, just like during the manticore incident.
"YOU! YOU ALMOST HIT ME, YOU JERK!!!" Romeo, undaunted, pushed the pony off and rose to his feet, the rainbow maned pony hovering in front of his face the whole time.
"And if YOU hadn't have been showboating so much I wouldn't have had to make that dangerous shot! You should be grateful! I saved your life!"
"You saved MY life? You missed the first go round! I knocked him off! If I hadn't come along you'd have been dead!"
"Twilight saved me! If you had knocked the jackal off right the first time we wouldn't be having this shouting match!"
"EEENOOOUUUGH!!! Lightning filled the skies outside the throne room when Princess Luna made herself heard. Her voice was more deafening than ever, and Buck's ears were ringing, even through his helmet. He wondered if his eardrums really would have been shattered had he not put it on after the sniper's first barrage.
"BE STILL YE FOALS AND HUMANS!" Luna soon noticed everyone's wincing faces and covered ears and lowered her volume.
"An attempt has been made on our life and the Covenant has dared to enter our kingdom of Canterlot. We believe it would be best if we stayed here and guard the kingdom whilst thee venture to Appleloosa and claim thy weapons. This night's events have made it clear to us that you humans are better versed in the ways of conflict than we are. We...humbly ask for your assistance in dealing with the Covenant."
Romeo slung his rifle on his back and walked by Rainbow Dash who was still huffing after their argument. He joined his fellow ODSTs and turned to face Luna. He spoke for the group.
"Your highness, it'd be our pleasure."