It's been six days since Octavia called for the war council between the major leaders of lone team. More accurately, those in charge of their respective armies, with Octavia representing lone team. Right now, they were talking about how to kill Plasma's enforcers, as none of them knew any other way to free them from his control.
"What we do, once they're in the field," Octavia said, wearing her standard issue lone team armor, "is seperate them from one another, and take them out as soon as possible, starting with Solar flare, and making our way down to Harvest."
"And what do we do with her," Saphira, queen of the dragons, said.
"We use, with your permission, Saphira, the strongest dragon mages you're brining with you to hold her in the air, leaving her vulnerable to our archers and gunponies."
"And if that doesn't work," Lightning, general of the entire changeling army, asked. "What then?"
"Then we're screwed," Messenger said. "Most likely, the only refuge we'll have is here, the Library. And that's if we survive, which is low enough if Plasma himself doesn't get involved in the fight."
"He's right," Midnight said. "If half the legends about Plasma's power is true, then we won't stand a chance."
"And why should we trust you," Lightning said. "You are ex-Brotherhood, after all."
"Because I could have easily led them here so that they could slaughter you all, but I haven't, nor will I."
"We can talk about this later, Lightning," Saphira said. "Hermit vouched for her and those that came with her, and she helped out Lone and his brother."
"Who were killed upon facing Plasma, who knew they were coming," Lightning retorted. "If Lone was here, and vouched for her, I'd still be apprehensive, but I'd trust her, barely, if only because Lone trusted her."
"And that's the issue," Octavia said. "The fact you barely trust anypony that Lone doesn't trust. You need to make descions on who to trust for yourself."
"I did, and look at what happened three years ago in the hive. My aunt was nearly killed by one of my friends because I let him into the capitol building. So I'm sorry if I'm not that trusting," Lightning said sarcastically.
"Look, we can argue about this later," Saphira said. "Right now, we need to discuss the battle plans."
"Agreed," Octavia said before returning her attention to the map that illustrated Plasma's castle, which was in the field between Ponyville and what had been Canterlot. "We know that Plasma's planning on executing those he took prisinor three months ago tomorrow, and we already have people in the ruins of the Canterlot, as well as the everfree, so we already have a few position."
"Yes, but what about all of the guards Plasma's employed, not to mention those ships he has in orbit," Saphira said. "His forces now have the weapons only we had three months ago. I'm begining to think that he already had some of these aliens in his group when Lone and the others went to their old base. It's the only way to explain how they got so many weapons this quickly."
"Agreed," Messenger said. "What do you know about them, Midnight?"
"Nothing. The first I heard of them was when they arrived on the planet. I don't think most ponies in the Brotherhood knew about this, in all honesty."
"Well, the fact remains," Lightning said, "if we don't play this smart, we. Will. Fail."
"Then how do you propse we take those ships out. No unicorn alive can teleport all the way to orbit and still have enough energy left to fight," Saphira said. "The only way we're going to take those ships out is if we get some of our own, which isn't going to happen."
"So it's going to be a suicide run?"
"Does it matter," Octavia said. "We joined this team to help protect ponies, griffons, dragons, every species on Equis, regardless of the fact if they're sentient or sapient, and I know that's what me and the other members from Canterlot are going to do."
"As will the dragons," Saphira said.
"The changelings too, but that still leaves out how we're going to beat them. There's no cover from those ships," Lightning said.
"Yeah there is," Vinyl said, speaking up for the first time. "Inside the castle itself. I doubt they'd try to fire on it. That is, unless they want to piss off their god."
"How are we going to get in there, though," Midnight said. "They have more then enough guns to wipe us out before we even get halfway there."
Vinyl just chuckled a little, and lit her horn. "What, you haven't heard of magic before?"
Plasma's Castle; dungeons
Rainbow was in immense pain. She hung from the dungeon walls, held by rustic chains that she knew were made to be tight on hooves. She had cuts, welts, and bruises from numerous beatings all across her body. She considered herself lucky that she hadn't been raped. She hadn't seen Saber, her stallion friend, since they were captured, and she knew that the two of them, as well as the others, were to be executed soon. But the thing that hit her the hardest, even though it had been three months since it happened, was knowing that Metamorpha and Chitinia, two of her best friends, as well as Celestia, Luna, Applejack, and Cadence, had become Plasma's enforcers, and she knew he had used some kind of magic to make them so.
The only ponies she saw on a regular basis were Metamorph, or, as she called herself, Twilight Slade, and Chitinia, or Nightmare Rarity, as she was called by the other enforcers and as she called herself, when they came to taunt her about her loss and failure as their friend, and Element of Loyalty, for not joining them. But she knew this was an attempt to break her so Plasma would have a seventh enforcer, and she wouldn't break due to that.
If that were the case, she would have been the same as Fluttershy in flight camp, but she didn't let the taunts break her then, and she wouldn't now. The two of them had just left from doing just that, actually. Trying to taunt her and break her.
"Damn you Plasma. Are you really that much of a coward to use my friends?" she whispered to herself.
"Oh, no. I simply gave them guidance, and I still offer it to you, Rainbow Dash," she heard, and she knew instantly that Plasma was listening.
"Then why execute me and the others?"
"I wish I did not have to, truly, but I would rather get rid of a problem before it becomes one. After all, a preventitive measure is an effective measure."
"Then why not prevent me and the others from becoming problems?"
"Oh, I did try. Do you not remember Tirek? It was I who lured Cerberus away from Tartarus, allowing him to escape. What destroyed that plan was Harmony, and her Elements." There was a pause, which, Rainbow guessed, meant he was taking a deep, calming breath. "It is no matter, though. Three of the bearers are imprisoned, and the other three have are loyal to me."
"You freed Tirek?" Rainbow asked angrily.
"Yes, and the one who made him wait until the ponies were at the greatest peace, which meant a lowered guard, which should have meant an easy take over. I suppose I should have thanked Lone Shadow for making my daughter, Celestia, or Solar Flare, as she prefers now, smarter about defensive decisions. Aftre all, it was under her command a griffon rebellion was taken down."
Rainbows eyes widened, to which Plasma's voice replied, "Your friend, Gilda,is still alive, I assure you. She had no hand, or, claw, as the case may be, in it, and I made sure no innocents were harmed."
"Why?"
"Because there was no reason to harm those who didn't fight back. The war, the devesation lone team says I brought with me, is because of them and my, admitadaly, overzealous followers. I am aware of different beings having different faiths, and hold no anger to those who don't follow me. The extremists, who take violent action to dethrone me, I will hunt down and punish. I am not one for violence."
"Then why is it I heard Ken say you wiped out all of thse Forerunners?!" Rainbow yelled.
"Because the Forerunners attacked my kind first. They believed they would be wiped out because they were not found worthy of the Mantle of the Universe. A fear that, while grounded in fact, was not to come true. We would have left them alone. It was in their attacks, actually, that the seed of their destruction was planted.
"The Flood.
"You see, Rainbow Dash, it was the actions of the Forerunners that led many of my fellows to enter a kind of stasis, where their bodies became a powder-like substance that was meant to regenerate their bodies, but the Forerunners hunt, it's length, made the powder inert. Broken, for a technical term. It was, ironically, the Humans, those my kind deemed worthy of the Mantle, who found this powder. They tested it, and discovered it to have, at the time, benign, even harmless effects on the Pheru, a dog like species that ancient humans at the time favored. Over time, the powder produced genetic defects, unsightly growths on the Pheru, and even a need for cannibalism, keeping in mind that the Pheru are, were, herbivores.
"Humans then became infected, starting with those that ate the Pheru as food. Through various means, the Flood infected numerous planets. At this time, the humans were engaged in a war with the Forerunners, which further cemented the fact Forerunners were unworthy of the Mantle, as the humans had been fleeing from the Flood.
"It then began to make it look like humanity had a cure, and began to recede from the galaxy, only for the Forerunners to discover it on one of the only natural worlds left from those they settled. They eventually created the Halos, and the rest is history."
"Then why try to kill Ken and the others," Rainbow asked, surprised at this information.
"Because it was a UNSC solider, Marcus Shay, who found out about the Brotherhood in that dimension in 2551, and believed the humans of it to be traitors for allying with Sangeheli, even though he did the same, and tried to expse them. I told my followers to prevent this, but they decided to kill him and his allies, though it failed, as Mark and his allies eventually discovered me to be in the body of a moniter by the name of 549 Hopeful Punishment, the moniter for installation 07, where they were located, and tried to kill me. What I did was in self defense. As for Ken, I was trying to give human rebels, who simply wanted to live under their own rules, but knew the UNSC wouldn't allow it, a chance at liberty and freedom, but the UNSC decided to send out a team of two Spartans, Ken and Lily, to stop me. They eventually found the remains of my base on 07, as well as a message from The Librarian, a Forerunner.
"It told them that I was a threat to the galaxy, and had to be killed. They failed, but they found Maruco soon after, and the three of them created a galaxy wide lone team. It wasn't until 2557, five months after John-117 was found, that I actually wanted them dead. I had my followers on the UNSC Infinity take as many Mantis suits as possible, which was for the same purpose as what happened in 2551, but they went all out, literally, and took every single Mantis on board. The UNSC HIGHCOM, high command, then sent Spartans Hogan and Miller after me. Ironically, Hogan was a part of the Brotherhood, and had to betray Miller, his friend. He did not do so lightly, and I do applaud him for that.
"After that, there were many incursions between lone team and the Brotherhood, which came to a head two years ago when Ken, Maruco, Lily, and Miller fought their way onto my ship and destroyed it, thinking they had killed me."
"What happend to you between then and three months ago?" Rainbow asked, a little curious.
"I discovered that quite a few universes are linked together, and do you want to know what all had in common?"
"No clue."
"War. Every joined universe was at war with it's partner, It was then, only four months ago, that I decided to try to take over every universe, as having a single ruler would prevent such a thing, and I wished to try it with what had been a smaller version of this problem twenty thousand years ago. Equis. I also made, and started, other plans to grease the wheels, one of which even involves an alternate to this universe, and it has worked so much better than I expected, but that's off topic. Needless to say, I'm doing this to bring peace to the multi-verse. There is only one universe I can not touch, but I still sense it."
Yeah, well, fuck you too, Plasma.
"And there's the most troublesome one of that universe. If you'll excuse me, Rainbow, I must try to find him so I can take away his powers."
Good luck with that.
"I will find you." It was here that Rainbow felt a pressure coming off her mind she didn't know she had, which meant Plasma was gone from her mind, for now. The odd thing? She could have sworn she heard a third voice those two times.
Ruins of Canterlot; a mile from the lone team camp
Seven figures, each as tall as Plasma in his human form, cloaked in shadows, walked among the ruins of the once great city, looking for something.
"Are you sure it's here?" One, a male, asked.
"She said it'd be here," a second, also male, responded as he couched down to investigate some tracks
"How can you, or she, be certain that they'll be here!?" a third, the one female of the group, asked a little loudly.
"Keep it down, would you," a fourth said, slapping the woman to keep her quiet. "We're still close enough to those camps."
"I'm just saying," she responded defensively.
"Both of you, lock it down," the fifth said with an authoritave tone. "We need to be as quiet as possible."
"Why are we even looking for Timberwolves?" the sixth said with an annoyed tone.
"You know that as well as we do," the seventh said, his shadow having the faint shape of a bow and quiver along the back. "It's the same as with the Thestrals three days ago. We need a sizable army.
"Would all of you please shut the buck up," the second said, the clear leader of the group. He then pointed in the direction of the closest part of the Everfree, which, fortunatley, was a fair distance out of the way of Plasma's castle. "They went that way." He then pointed to the woman. "Shadow Dancer: get back to the Thestrals and wait for my word to move in." He pointed to three of the other males. "Legend, Jumper, Pshyco: report back to the Nexus, and wait for her to say the word to go to the fleet." He pointed at the one with a bow. "Hood: wait outside the Repository for the ones there to leave, then head inside. You know what to say."
"Hood" nodded, as much as could be seen, and ran off, disappearing into the shadows.
"Turncoat, you'll remain with the wolves, once we're good with them."
As the others left, "Turncoat" said, "What about you, though?"
"Easy," the leader of the group said. "I'm going to play diplomat, fun style." He then pulled out two curved pieces of metal, and pushed a button as the two fit into his palms, and, on each, two blades popped into existence, the third closest to the ground being as red as blood, the middle third being lime green, and the third closest to the hilts being as black as night. "It's been a while since I used these, after all."
UNSC Infinity meanwhile
"Admiral, are you sure this is a good idea?" Captain Lasky asked Admiral Hood. "Coming to a virtually unknown part of space, and with insurectionist ships being at our flanks, I mean."
"Indeed I am, Captain," Hood said as he looked out the window on the bridge. What he saw was the one thing no one ever thought was possible. A large fleet of UNSC, Covenant, and insurectionist ships not firing at one another, some even connected via towing clamps, sharing power, each waiting for his word to move, though only a few out of the overall here knew what was really going on, or at least knew what Hood knew, and that was that The Librarian needed all of them. "It's not everyday a Forerunner calls for the help of just about every ship in the galaxy." Lasky was one of those few.
"True," Lasky replied, "but I still don't like it, if only because the insurectionists could shoot us in the back."
"Something only a fool would do, Capatin. The rebels that don't know what's going on at least know that Rtus 'Vadum's forces are with us, and would be stupid to try to shoot even one of his or our ships in this fleet, and those that do know what's going on to the same degree you and I do know that we aren't the real threat."
"Plasma is, if he's even still alive," Lasky said.
"He is, I'm certain of it," Hood said. "You can't just kill an eons old being with the equivalent of a Havoc nuke."
Before Lasky could respnd, the door to the bridge opened, and Dawson Stubel walked in, his armor on, and a BR-55 in his left hand, as he was one of the relative few who was left handed dominat when it came to weapons handeling, and saluted. "Admiral, Alpha-Nine's arrived and is waiting for you in hanger."
"All of them?"
"Yes sir."
Nodding, Hood said, "Take me to them," then turned around. He folled Dawson out of the bridge and ot the nearest hanger bay, which was where the four former ODSTs who made up the Alpha-Nine that had been in New Mombassa and survived to current day were waiting.
He arrived ten minutes after leaving the bridge, and saw that all four of them were waiting. The two still a part of the UNSC, Sergeant Buck, as he was normally called, and his second in command, Lieutenant Romeo, again, as most called him.(1) Both were now Spartan fours, but Buck had, with some complaints from his higher-ups, strapped gear from his ODST armor on his Spartan armor, including ammo pouches he had on his legs, an ODST standard combat knife, and an ODST chest piece and helmet. Romeo had standard armor, but customized with various parts. He still had an ODST helmet, but his shoulder plates were scout on his left, and none on his right, which went wirh how his ODST armor looked. He had a wetwork chest piece, and had countoured greaves and leg armor.(2)
The next one had been a Spartan as well, but was now considered a traitor. His offical name had slipped Hood's mind, but his nickname had stuck. "Mickey." He had been the demolitions expert of Alpha-Nine, but had turned traitor a few years after New Mombassa. He was currently being guarded by one Spartan-IV in completely white defender armor and a single Sangeheli in a ranger kit, his coloration being the red and white of the "Swords of Sanghelios", the faction of Sangeheli that had been loyal to Thel 'Vadam during the Elite uprising during 2552, also known as the Great Schisim, and afterwards.
The last had left the UNSC military shortly after the events of Draco-III that had cost them a man. Like Mickey, Hood had forgotten the man's offical name, though both were simply due to the events of the past few days. "Dutch" is what his old team mates called him, and, even with out Spartan enhancements, none of which he had, you would mistake him for one of the smaller Spartan-IVs, and with good reason, as he was taller then the rest of Alpha-Nine before they got the augments.
Hood walked down to the Pelican they were in front of, and the three Spartans, one ODST turned civilian, and one Sangeheli saluted, Buck saying, "OFFICER ON DECK!"
"At ease," Hood said. He then looked to the one Defender Spartan and Ranger Sangeheli guarding Mickey. "Release him," Hood said, getting surprised looks from everyone in the area, including Mickey.
"But sir, he's-" the Defender Spartan began before Hood cut him off
"A hero who's seen more combat from the war than most of the soliders of his time, and I'll treat him with the respect he deserves. Besides, there are two other Spartans here to take him down if he becomes a problem. Now, release him."
"Yes sir," the Spartan said in a defeated tone before handing his rifle to his opposite and keying in the release codes.
Once they had come off and Mickey began to rub his wrists to remove the discomfort, Hood said, "Leave us," to which both the Spartan and Sangeheli did so. Once thye had left, he stood in front of Mickey and asked, "How are you doing?"
"You're asking me that when I'm on the crown jewel of the UNSC fleet and I'm considered a terrorist and a rebel?" Mickey shot back, but not making any moves.
"I meant considering," Hood replied in his trademark calm under fire voice.
"Well, if it's considering, the answer would be: Pissed, confused, and honored at once. Pissed because I'm on the I'm here. Confused because I'm here in the most advanced UNSC, possibly the most advanced, ship in the galaxy and the ranking officer on it ordered the two soldiers who were to be my escorts to release me, and honored because I'm finally meeting Admiral Hood."
"Good," Hood said as he backed away, keeping an eye on Mickey. "And what about the rest of you?"
The remaining three responded with, "Fine, sir." Aftre a second, Buck said, "Sir, if I may ask, why are we all here?"
That's a good question, Lieutenant," Hood said. "Artemis, mind helping me fill them in?"
"Not at all, Terrence," Artemis said as her holgram appeared, which got a whistle from Romeo, which earned a slap upside the head from Buck and Dutch, though the three of them and Mickey then chuckled as it brought back old memories.
"As you four know," Artemis started, "this is the largest mobilization of ships in the galaxy since Reach. The reason why is because of this." At Artemis' stop a voice came over the speakers of the hanger.
"To any and all human vessles, I am the Forerunner once known as the Librarian. I require your help to save what my people, the Forerunners, have worked towards, and that would be your species taking the Mantle of responsibility. There is a great threat to this plan, one only all of humanities military and that of it's allies can stop. Embeded in this message are coordinates that will lead you to the area of the galaxy the fight will begin, should you choose to follow this warning." This was just a modified version of the original message, though it had the same meaning.
"In other words," Hood said, "all four of you are needed to combat this threat. On a more personal note, I wish to extend an intite to the four of you, and amnesty to you, Mickey, should you accept the invite, to a special task force that is made up of members of every race in the galaxy, both from the military and civilians. This is something ONI doesn't know about, but I won't blame you if you say no because of fear of reprisal from ONI. If you do, though, you'll have access to just about every file you can think of, but if you betray the UNSC or it's allies, or the few rebel cells that are made up of people from this task force, then we will hunt you down. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir," was the response from the four fromer ODSTs in front of Hood, though Mickey was lacking in enthusiasim.
Hood nodded, and looked to Dawson. "Stubel, would you mind leading the four of them to the armory. Artemis will be watchng, so you don't have to worry about anything. Artemis?"
"Yes sir."
"I want you to tell Alpha-Nine everything about the team, as well as why we're actually here."
"Yes sir," Artemis said as her hologram disappeared and Dawson led the four former ODSTs to the armory, which, in his opinion, was a bit of a stupid move, but he'd faced worse than a possible hostile Spartan in the ideal position to snap his neck before he could know, so he wasn't worried.
Just as the five left, the Infinity's AI, Roland, came over Hood's communicator. "Uh, Admiral, we have a. . . well I'm not sure what to call it."
"What is it, Roland?"
"Lone range sensors from the ships at the edge of the fleet just picked up a ship, and you'll never guess as to what the transponder says. I'm not kidding. If we were in some kind of story, it'd be a massive plot twist."
"What ship, Roland?"
"Hold on, getting a message from it. Holy shit."
Before Hood could respond, Roland played the message, saying, "This isn't a recording by the way." The messgage then played.
"This is Sierra 117 of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn . We're on station, ready to assist."(3)
Citadel task fleet command-SSV Normandy; War room
"There's nothing here," Admiral Smith, leader of the Citadel task force said, looking over a holo-projection of the system they were in for the tenth time. He had arrived in system four days ago, three days after the Normandy had arrived to check if it wasn't a trap. Ever since then, the fleet had been waiting for something.
Smith was a man in his late fourties with a military standard haircut of red hair, with blue eyes. He had a scar on the left side of his face running from just above his eye going across it, resulting in him being blind in that eye, and went down to his jaw bone. He was also missing his left arm from the elbow down.
The fleet was heavily armed, having ten dreadnaughts from each race capable of producing them at a good rate, resulting in eighty of these fearsome ships. There were ten human fighter carriers, each carrying fifty fighters and seventy-five interceptors, as well. There were five cruisers from each race as well. But the real number and punch of the fleet were the well over thousand total frigates, the hit and run ships that, in numbers like these, could match a dreadnaught in fire power but beat it in manuverability. Hell, they could easily take a Reaper down with these numbers.
The reason why this fleet was so well armed was because the message the Citadel Council had revieved seven days ago, which reportedly, somehow, came from Commander Shepard, said that Reapers would be involved. Smith was sure this was a hoax, but it had been on a frequency that only Shepard's squad used, and had contained info only Shepard would know, which was something that had been kept from Smith, but he knew only those two things would convince the council to at least humor who ever this was.
Besides, a fleet like this, you'd better be a special kind of lucky to pull off stealing a ship of any class, or even an interceptor.
"Sorry, Admiral," the Normandy's pilot, Joker said. "But the council said we needed to be here, and we both know it's best to just go with it"
"I know, Joker, but still. I don't see why any message would have us come here, just ofr nothing. It's close ot a relay system, so we can get anywhere pretty much instantly."
"Yeah, that'll be useful," Joker said. "Y'know, if someone's stupid enough to attack the citadel again," he added in a bored tone.(4)
"Joker, lock that talk down. Your last commanding officer might have let it slide, but I won't."
"Right, sorry, sir," Joker said over the comm before saying to himself, with it not going over the intercom, "Hardass. Javik was better then you. He, at least, had a reason for being a dry rock of humor."
"True enough, Joker," Ensign Cambell said. Cambell, or Hazard, as her firends called her due to how dangerous she is with a weapon, or when she was drunk, whichever one they knew her best with, said. She was a woman in her mid-twenties with red hair and amber eyes, with slightly green lips from a condition that was common where she came from, the colony of Camelot.
It was named by a scientist who had an unatural fascination with old stories from earth before spaceflight was achieved, especially ones from the medival period, and the scenery reminded him of common descriptions of the fantasy city.
The condition came from a special kind of pollen. It wasn't fatal, obviously, but it caused some slight discoloration with the blood, causing it to, more often then not, change to a light green or blue, or, rarely, a dark shade of black. There weren't any health effects that could be considered negative from this. In fact, some people with this condition often had sharper senses, and many became hunters on the colony, which was one of the few lucky ones to get through the Reaper war with out much conflict, as it was lightly colonized, but everyone there knew how to hide and survive in the wilderness.
"Yeah, maybe, Hazard. Too bad he isn't here now," Joker remarked.
"At least we don't have to deal with his grim attitude. What's he doing now, anyway?"
Joker shrugged. "I don't know, maybe becoming king of the Hanar. You know they consider his people their gods. Hell, there was one crazy Hanar who followed the Reapers because the Collectors were Protheans, and they served the Reapers."
"And that's why I'm atheist," Hazard remarked, getting a chuckle from Joker.
"I don't know, better not let Ash hear you use that reasoning. She's, what's it called again, Christan?"
"Yep. And I don't care. Most people on Camelot are Christan, and I got along just fine with them."
"Fair enough," Joker said before his terminal lit up. "Hold on, getting something." He tapped the part of the console that lit up, and a status report came up. "Increased gravity. . . oppposite side of the system. . . oh shit!"
"What!?" Hazard asked.
"Picking up a Reaper signature, as well as, and I'm not kidding, a wormhole, opposite side of the system," Joker said in a panicked tone.
"You sure?"
"Definitely," Joker said as he sent this to Smith in the War room.
"Joker, are you sure this is right," Smith said over the comms once he read it.
"Yeah, I'm sure, sir. I know what a Reaper signature looks like."
Hazard was about to retort when a communication request came into her terminal, as she monitored communications. From, of all things, the Reaper. "Uh, sir, communication request coming from the Reaper."
"Copy that. Joker, get the firewalls up. Hazard, once that's done, accept it so we can tell it to go to hell, not to mention find out how it survived the Crucible two years ago."
"SIR!!" they both replied. A minute later, Joker said, "Firewall's up."
"Copy that," Hazard said. "Accepting the communications request." She pressed the button on her console that would allow for communication between the Noarmandy and the Reaper. Once she did so, a voice that everyone on the ship recognized came over the intercom.
"Citadel task force, this is Commander Shepard," Shepard said. "I promise I'll explain everything later, but now, I need you guys to get into the wormhole, now."
Plains between Plasma's castle and what remains of Canterlot; the next day
Lightning stood in front of the changeling army, looking over the space seperating them and the Brotherhood's forces, which consisted of ponies, changelings, griffons, humans, sangeheli, jiralhanee, and kig-yar. He then looked to the sky, and saw numerous ships that he recognized from the stories he had heard from Garrus in Canterlot as Reapers, giant, insect like sapient ships that were pretty hard to destroy, ships that Thel, Hades, and Sawn described as covenant corvetts, frigates, and even a single super carrier. He also saw what had been described to him as UNSC frigates and carriers; even a few destroyers.
"There's no way we're going to survive this," he said ot himself as he looked back ot the Brotherhood's ground forces. If those ships can see us, though, he thought, then why aren't they firing on us.
He was brought out of his thought when he heard flspping beside him. He turned and saw Nova landing beside him. "Hey, Lightning," Nova said. He wore his combat armor, as did Lightning.
"Hey, Nova," Lightning replied. "Figured you wouldn't want to be near me or my army, seeing as how we're changelings."
Nova shrugged. "So? We're going to war, and it's doubtful we'll survive. I don't see a reason to let little things like that get in that way. Besides, it was your aunt and Lone who rescued me that day. You and I, we have more in common that one would think, Lightning. We're both orphans, our parents killed, and both brought inot lone team by those we consider family, and, through lone team, discovered old, long-lost family members. You: Metamorpha and Chitinia. Me: my adoptive brother, Spike."
"That we have, Nova. That we have." Lightning then looked back at the force in front of him. "Even with out those ships, we'll be lucky to survive. They have better weapons, better armor, even better comunications, for the most part. They have less numbers, but what use is that advantage when they have better tech. If anything, they have the advantage."
"True, true," Nova said. But we have one thing they don't, or will ever have."
"What?"
"A spirit to survive. They don't have that, as I'm certain they're willing to die, would fall on their own blades if they thought they had a chance to gain Plasma's favor if they wished."
"Agreed," Lighting said as the large doors to Plasma's castle opened, and Lightning saw those Plasma had captured marching out, bound by chains and surrounded by guards, with, of all beings in the Brotherhood, Green Mist at the front, flanked by Solar Flare, Eclipse Bringer, and the rest of the enforcers.
"Well, this complicates things," Lightning said, "but, unfortunately, we're already here, and dedicated, so we can't pull back."
"Sadly, you're right, Lightning," Nova said. "Just one enforcer wiht tems makes it impossible, but all of them. We'll need a miracle to survive, let alone win, this fight. Well, I'll see you on the battle field." The dragon then flew off, rejoining his mother and the dragon army.
. . .
Rainbow was, officially, having a very crappy day. She woke up early, something she had gotten used ot while on the run, did her usual early morning stretches, and, once she had finished those, ate her, ironically delicious, meal that the guards gave her every morning. She was then hauled out of her cell just a few minutes ago, and brought her out here, along with the others, to be executed. She didn't know whether to be flattered or insulted, honestly. Flattered because Plasma had ordered his enforcers to guard her and the others. Insulted because "Twilight Slade" and "Nightmare Rarity" were beside her, intentionaly, talking aout their memories of before the whole thing had started.
She had managed to tune them out, but she saw her and the others being led to an open area, with a single member of Thel's and Hades' race, the sangeheli having an energy sword, the jiralhanee having a gravity hammer. Blade down.
Talk about old school, Rainbow thought.
They reached the open area, and Rainbow felt her legs become bond by magic, keeping her from moving. She looked around, and saw none she recognized. She heard footsteps from behind her. She turned her head as much as possible, seeing the Brotherhood members bow, and saw Plasma, walking to them in the same armor he wore the first day she had seen him. He walked around them, causing Rainbow to have to look foreward again. He walked to Rainbow, and, in a surprising show, kneeled down to look her in the eyes. She was forced to look in his, and, along with anger, saw something in there. Hurt. Pain, maybe. It was something.
"I give you one last chance to join your other friends, Rainbow," he said in a voice loud enough for the others ot hear. "I will spare the one you love should you choose to. I am not a heartless monster. All you must do is pledge your alliegance to me. Why would you fight someone who simply wants peace?"
"Because if you really wanted peace," Rainbow said, "you wouldn't be trying to take over so many worlds. That only leads to pain for those who don't want change to come so suddenly, and leads to the one thing you're trying to prevent. War."
Plasma smiled. "How profound of you, Rainbow Dash. You have indeed come a long way since you joined lone team. But you have not answered my question: Will you join your other friends, not only saving yourself, but Crystal Saber as well, or die, knowing there was a way out."
Rainbow just chuckled. "I think it's obvious, Plasma." She stared into Plasma's eyes, his face having gone back to a neutral expression. She smiled, a cocky grin that said, You can't change my mind, nor can you break me.
"No."
A saddned look came to Plasma's face. "So be it," he said. He then got up, and moved to stand at the front of the crowd.
Green Mist cleared his throat, and began to speak. "My brothers and sisters, we are here today to witness the execuitons of the heretics who dared to try to prevent Plasma's rising four months ago, those who have joined us have repented their sins, and brought to the light!"
. . .
"I can't watch this," Lightning said. He looked to the dragons, and to where Octavia and the others were standing, and he saw the banners that showed they were ready in the air. He nodded to his carrier, and his banner rose as well, signaling he and the changeling army were ready. He raised his black sword, a symbol of command in the changeling army, and pointed it towards the Brotherhood and, along with the other group leaders, shouted three words that were felt in the heart of those who spoke them.
"FOR LONE SHADOW!!" was the yell, and, with that, three armies charged.
UNSC Infinity- a day earlier
"Roland, did I just hear that right?"
"Affirmative, sir, and I'm just as surprised at the ship name as you."
"Can you get me a connection with the ship?"
"Yes sir." After a second, Roland said, "You're good, sir."
"Right," Hood said. He cleared his throat, and spke into his personal radio. "This is Admiral Hood of the UNSC Infinity, if you really are Sierra-117 on a ship that was destroyed, give me something that proves it, aside from transponder data, which is easily faked."
"Yes sir," the voice that claimed to be John. "When you offered me the position of Admiral, I replied by saying, 'Admiral doesn't roll off the tounge as easily as Master Chief.' As for the ship, I can not give you anyhting other than the fact that, out of all the damaged ships from the battle of earth, the only damage on the Dawn, which wasn't severe enough to be put on official logs, or even noticed, was that a picture consisting of people I assume to be close friends of yours that died in battle, the frame was cracked, even though it was upright, and you never said anything."(5)
Hood's eyes widened. "Master Chief, you mind telling me what you and that ship are doing here?"
"It's a long story, sir. In fact, it's the last part of they story so far that's the reason I'm here. Permission to come aboard?" John said.
"Granted," Hood said.
"Thank you, sir," John said. A second after, a pop was heard behind Hood. He jumped in surprise and turned around, and, to his amazement and confusion, John stood there, arms behind his back, his armor in perfect condition, if you disregarded the scar in it on the upper right chest piece, but, really, some would assciate that with him, and with good reason, as well as, strangely enough, a man in steel gray ODST armor, no modifications, with a gray stripe along the top of the helmet. The odd thing? One, the man had what looked like hooves for feet and he had a horn coming out from just above his forehead. Aside from that, the armor was the exact same as another ODST Hood knew. One who had been in New Mombassa. The one who died on Draco-III.
The Rookie.
Both John and the one with a resemblance to the Rookie, who's real name was Jameson O'neal, saluted, and said, "Admiral."
It took Hood a second to process everything, and, once he did, he regained his composure and said, "Just how the hell did that happen, and why does he have a horn sticking out of his head?"
"That's a part of the story, sir," the horned man said. "Oh, and I guess I should mention I changed my name since Draco-III. It's Nightengale now." Under his helmet, Nightengale was smiling in amusment.
SSV Normandy
"Shepard, is that you?" Joker asked.
"It is, Joker, and I know you have a lot of questions-"
"Yeah, you're damn right I do."
"But I'll answer them later. I will say why I'm contacting you from a Reaper though. Long story short, it's the only way I can survive here for long, and do what I need."
"What do you mean, Commander," Smith said as he walked up to the bridge. "'Here', as in the system?"
"No, sir, Admiral. I mean this universe. Basically, after the Crucible fired and I died, I was brought to a place that those who made a large impact in their universes go to when they die, and I've been there since then. Right now, they decided to break protocol in not interfering directly, as an old threat of their, ours, had reemerged, and plans on taking control of who knows how many universes."
"And just how do we know you aren't a Reaper trying to lure us into a trap?"
"Joker, back when the Normandy was a Cerberus ship, I was the first one to point out that you had stopped referring to EDI as an 'it', and began to say 'she' and 'her' instead."
"It's him, Admiral," Joker said. "I never told any one that."
Smith raised an eyebrow, but said nothing to Joker. "Alright, Shepard, you have my attention. Why did you send the message ot the council if there aren't any Reapers here? Hostile ones, that is."
"Just go through the wormhole, sir, and you'll see."
Smith brought a hand to his chin and thought about what he should do, weighing the pros and cons. After a solid minute, he said, "Flight Lieutenant, take us through that wormhole. Contact the captain of the Destiny Ascension, tell her that she's in charge of the fleet if I don't come back in an hour, or otherwise contact them."
He directed the last part to Hazard, who said, "Aye, aye, sir."
Joker did the same, and the ship began to move towards the wormhole.
"You sure about this, sir," Joker asked.
"Not entirely," Smith responded.
A few minutes later, the ship srrived at the wormhole. "Last chance to turn back, sir," Joker said in a slightly nervous tone.
Hesitating, Smith said, "Go through it, full speed."
"Aye, sir," Joker said, just as the ship entered the wormhole.
UNSC Infinity
"I guess we should start with where we were while we were missing," Nightengale said. He, John, Lasky, and Hood, as well as Alpha-Nine, at Nightengale's request, were in the bridge of the ship, so that Artemis, who had connected with another fragment of herself from John's armor, could help explain.
"Yeah," Dutch said in a somewhat aggravated tone, "how about starting where we thought you died?"
Nightengale chuckled a little. He had his helmet off, on the table at the center of the bridge, and it revealed he had the same colored coat from when he was a full pony. His helmet had been modified in shape to allow fr his horn and muzzle, and his hair, or, rather, mane, was the same situation as his coat, only cut to UNSC standards. "That's just it. I did die."
"What," Romeo said in a dumbfounded way. "But you're right here. How can you be if you're dead?"
"Guess I should rephrase that. I did die, but, just after I took a bullet to the brain, I met with the Libarian, and she's the one who gave me a second life, only this one is in another universe. One that needs help."
"From what?" Hood asked.
John, Artemis, and Nightengale responded at the same time. "Plasma."
"What? Artemis, you knew?"
"Just the more recent fragment, sir," Artemis replied. "Turns out, AIs can go to the Nexus as well, and the core of me is there. Anyway, when John and the others disappeared, it was due to a portal created by one of the beings residing in that universe. Since then, most have been captured by Plasma, and John and Maruco are the only ones from the Spear who got away, which brings us to the fleet."
"Right," John said. "Somehow, Plasma was able to bring his followers from this universe through to where we were, as well as some of his creations from a third universe."
"That explains why she wanted the whole fleet, but why not have one of your allies come and help you explain. And how is it you got on the ship, anyway?" Hood said.
"The first one would be that one's waiting for us back in that universe now. The second one would be, and keep in mind, different universe, different rules of physics, even if slightly, magic."
This got the rest of Alpha-Nine laughing, though they stopped when they saw the glare from their former team mate.
"And just how do we get to your allies location," Lasky said.
Nightengale smiled, and put on his helmet. "Just hold on to something," he said as his horn lit up, and those on the bridge, as well as Artemis, who was in John's armor, vanished.
Fields between Plasma's castle and Canterlot remains
The attack was failing miserably.
It hasn't even been ten minutes, and the allied forces had taken heavy casualties. Lightning was currently fighting a changeling member of the Brotherhood. If there was one positive thing about this, it's that Rainbow and the others had been freed and fighting, though, even wit them in the fight, it didn't look good.
Lightning threw his sword up, keeping a grip on it, and spun around, the momentum causing the sword to go through the changelings chitin. It was a heart shot, and killed him instantly.
Lightning pulled his sword out, and he was instantly attacked by a pony in a black cloak.
"You will die for the sins you have committed this day, heretic," he said as he slashed his sword horizontally. Lightning avoided it by jumping up. He delivered his own vertical slash, but it was blocked by a second sword from his right. He glanced quickly, and was rewarded with a punch to the face. He skidded across the ground, his sword coming loose from his grip. When he stopped a few feet away, he looked around, and saw changelings, dragons, and members of lone team falling, either wounded or dead. This battle was, with out a doubt in Lightnings mind, the bloodiest in lone team's history, as there had only been one battle like this, and it was a wipe, lone team winning it with few, if any, losses. He saw Octavia, just a few meters away, take a bullet to the leg and fall down, blood coming from the wound. He also saw Saphira, Nova, an Spike being fired on by Brotherhood members with plasma weaponry. He could feel that his nose was broken from the punch, and he was bleeding.
He looked back the way he had come, and saw a human wearing what looked like leather, with pouches across it's waist, it's helmet looking something like a skull. He reached down to his thigh and pulled out what Lightning recognized as a magnum pistol and cocked it. He walked up to Lightning, and held the pistol up to his head.
"Now," he said, "you will be cleansed."
Lightning closed his eyes, waiting for the end, as a loud BANG!! was heard across the battlefield.