//------------------------------//
// Chapter 15: Two Spartans and an Astartes (pt 2) 
// Story: For the Emperor and the UNSC! (Old version) 
// by Titan Commander Sebaste 
//------------------------------//

*3rd person POV*

“CHURCH!”

Sebaste looked in shock at where both fleets had been in the sky.

“Sebaste, there's nothing we can do right now, we need to focus on these guys!” Sebastian said as he fired an assault cannon into the remaining enemy squads.

The Spartan nodded and turned his attention to the ongoing battle.

“You messed with the wrong planet!” He snarled as he bisected a jackal with a Hayabusa katana before summoning a gauss turret and blasting an Elite off its feet.

“DEATH TO THE COVENANT XENOS!” Sebastian roared as he smashed aside another Elite with his power fist then gutting another with a burst of assault cannon fire.

The sky was darkened, with ashes falling down to the ground and parts of supercarriers crashing into civilizations. Still, there was no sign of Church.

“Damn it, This gonna take weeks if not years to repair this…” Sebaste swore.

Soon, the remaining Covenant and flood were wiped out, both the displaced and Celestia looked upon the devastation left in the battle’s wake.

“I’m sorry this happened, we tried our best not to involve your people in our fight” Sebastian said, gesturing to the bodies of fallen Royal Guard, “But it seems inevitable…”

A familiar looking pelican was seen falling from the sky, if one had taken the time to look. And it was falling, straight towards the outer edge of Equestria.

“Wait, is that…” Sebaste muttered, then his eyes widened.

“That’s his Pelican!” He yelped then opened up the comms.

“Incoming transmission. Playing.” An electronic voice said from the energy sword used to signal Church.

++We did it! We took them out! The warp storm was successful. Take us back down to Ponyvi- We’re hit! We’re going down. We’re losing her! Activate emergen- AHHHHHHH-. Warning, gravity controls down. Artificial life support disabled. Impact protection system offline. All crewmen in critical condition. Brace for impact- *Static*++

++Church, if you can hear me, you need to pull up, I repeat, pull up!++ Sebaste said

++-*alarms blaring and static with warnings* Warning: Terminal velocity has been re-++

“Come on Church…” Sebaste muttered

Almost immediately, the pelican impacted a mountain, and exploded, causing a huge shockwave to rip the mountain apart.

“Throne! We need to get over there!” Sebastian yelped, before summoning a Thunderhawk, “Come on!”

The remaining guard, Sebaste and Celestia quickly entered the gunship and the Astartes started up the engines and blasted off to the crash site.

When they arrived, Sebaste jumped out and started looking for Church’s body.

They were not prepared for what they saw. Dead bodies of marines, crewmen and Spartans littered the ground, clutching their weapons and bloodied.

“The hell happened…” Sebaste muttered.

++Did you find him?++ Sebastian asked over the comms.

++Negative, found a bunch of bodies though…+++ Sebaste said.

++How are there dead bodies here, when everything was robotic?!” Sebastian asked in confusion.

++ *static* This is Victor Company number- I repe- Does anyone copy?- We’ve cra-++
 
++Church, are you there? If you are, then you’re a Fragging Elite turd!++ Sebaste broadcasted through the comms,++ and your family uses your boots as popcorn buckets!++

The pelican’s emergency lights flickered and flashed before another dead body hit the floor. Gunshots were coming from inside.

Sebaste summoned a Gauss turret and walked inside the Pelican. What he saw when he went inside was a dead elite, with a giant hole in its chest, surrounded by dead grunts and jackals.

“Church, you in here?” Sebaste called out,” If you are, you’d better get your A.I. rear in gear and help with repairs!”

The only responsible was mechanical whirring before boots hit the ground and a figure crawled in.

“You certainly took your time!” Sebaste snarked, “I thought I’d end up ‘crashing’ the party you were having here!”

The figure collapsed, dropping their ODST helmet and revealing a bloodied white human face with dark black hair.

“Church? Is that you?” Sebaste asked in shock.

‘Church’ barely managed to nod.

“The hell happened to you, old timer?” The other Spartan asked, “I know the crash was bad, but how could it have hurt you?!”

“T-That crash would’ve killed a Spartan. If...not for armorlock.”

“Did you try activating the mag clamps on your boots then using armor lock? I did that when the ship I was on crashed.”

“You can’t use mag clamps when your armor fails.”

“Ouch…, so what exactly happened after you activated the warp storm?” Sebaste asked, after notifying his friend of his status.

“My systems failed. I can fix this ship. And then I’m leaving.” Church didn’t sound so sure of himself though.

“The hell you’re leaving, you can barely even stand up! You need to rest, and that’s an order!” Sebaste said, “We’ll deal with the repairs, you just need to rest and recover.”

“I’m not resting!”

“With all due respect, yes you are, you need to recover from that crash and if you don’t comply, I’ll have Sasha knock you out with a thunder hammer!”

“And risk killing me?” Church retorted.

“Oh for…!” Sebaste swore and landed a blow that knocked Church unconscious. Blood started pooling where Church’s head hit.

He then walked out of the wreckage with Church over his shoulder.

Church’s hologram left the body when Sebaste wasn’t looking. Or so he thought.

“Church, I know that trick of yours. Get back in your body.” Sebaste said without even looking at him.

Church didn’t answer and kept moving.

++Church, worry about your Pelican later, right now Celestia wants to speak with you++ Sebastian spoke up over the comms.

Church immediately starts running. Before Sebaste could do anything he was already gone. Not even a minute later, the ship’s lights turned on and cloaked itself as Church walked out in a new but bloody set off Blue MJOLNIR Mark VI Gen 2 armor.

“Seriously?” Sebaste deadpanned.

“What? Gotta be close quarters.” Church says as he holds a kinetic sentinel SMG and a Nornfang.

“Well, Celestia wants to speak with you, so you’d better get your mechanical rear to the Thunderhawk” Sebaste said, gesturing to the transport.

“Fine. Whatever.”

As both Spartans walked up, Celestia approached them.

“So you’re the one that caused the panic in the first place?” She asked sternly.

Church just stared at her.

“I’d answer the question…” Sebaste said.

Church turned around and walked away, saying, “I didn’t sign up for this shit.” Before he turned on his armor’s antimagic field to prevent him being attacked or picked up in magic.

“Celestia, at least open a portal to his universe.” Sebaste asked.

“That won’t work.” Church interrupted, “I won’t allow it.”

“Do you have a better way of getting to your own dimension?” Sebastian asked the A.I.

“I wasn’t there in the first place.” Church replied.

Both Displaced looked at him in confusion.

“My universe? In tatters.”

“Then where do you reside?”

“In hell. Also known as space. Floating. Never to be found. Much like the Master Chief for four years, seven months, ten days.

“Don't you have anyone you care about other than yourself?”

“They’re all dead.” Church muttered. “Except one.” He whispered. Though he wasn’t heard.

“Well, if you want, you can have a permanent base here, we need someone with your kind of experience, and you’ve seen more battles than we have.”

“You’re going to have hell trying to store my fleet.”

“With Celestia’s permission, you should be able to keep them in orbit.”

“That fleet you saw? Wasn’t even a tenth of the amount of ships I have. Your citizens are going to have nightmares.”

“At least bring in some of your fleet and keep the rest in reserve.”

“No can do.” A huge portal opened up above Equus and an uncountable amount of ships flew out of it of all sizes and varieties, unsc, covenant and insurrectionist.

“Throne, you weren't kidding… “ Sebastian said in awe.

Celestia cleared her throat and said, “As long as you help protect this universe, you are welcome to stay Church.”

“Define ‘protect’.” Church said cheekily.

“The last time we met Ahriman, he made it clear that he won't stop until we’re dead, and we both fear that he plans on attacking our world.”

Church aimed his pistol at Sebaste before pulling the trigger, resulting in a clicking sound as he laughed. “Ha! You got scared!”

That was the last thing he knew before getting a ceramite covered fist in the chest and was sent flying into a boulder.

Another identical looking Church walked up from behind and then past them  and stared at his hologram, “Huh. So that’s what would happen.”

They both looked at Church in annoyance, then busted out laughing.

“Pretty realistic hologram. Right?” Church said to the duo and Celestia.

“Yep. It was…” All three agreed.

Delta’s voice piped in from Church’s armor, “It was successful then. I calculated that our reflexes would assist as per our reaction time of .0000001 seconds. There was a 99.999% chance of success.”

“Hello Delta, expected you to pop up sooner or later.” Sebaste said.

“From a statistical and analytical standpoint, your eagerness was obvious.” Delta said bluntly.

“Wiseass” Sebaste muttered, “Out of curiosity, what is Project Overlord? I saw it on your flagship.” He asked Church.

Church laughed, “Project Freelancer. Think hard.”

“I had only gotten to the first part of the Chronus trilogy, so don't blame me for not recognizing it!” Sebaste retorted.

“It’s not in the Chorus trilogy.”

“Ahh, forget it…”

“By the way, for helping us, both Sebaste and I think you deserve something.” Sebastian said before summoning Shrike’s talons and handing them to Church.

“These are the fabled lightning claws worn by Shrike himself, use them well, and they will serve you as long as you live.”

“I don’t know about that as long as you live part. I’m not alive.” Church put the lightning claws on before humming, “Could still use something…” His armor suddenly changed to the last thing anyone wanted to see. The Meta.

“Frag!” Sebaste yelped.

“Throne!” Sebastian swore, before summoning his own pair and standing in front of Celestia, ready to defend her if an attack was made.

Church did the exact opposite. He broke down laughing his ass off and smashing his fist on the ground.

“Church, you piece of tin plated hardware!” Sebaste swore.

Church laughed still.

The Orbital walked up to him and slammed him into the ground. Well, if he were lucky he would have anyway, Church just jumped over him just as he slammed the spot where Church was.

“Nuh-Uh!” Church said, as if he was giving a prize away for a lowered price. He dodged and ducked under every punch and kick thrown his way faster than they could connect.

“*pant* Alright, you win, ya bloody wanker!” Sebaste panted, “At least you gave me a nice workout.”

Church chuckled, “I can’t get tired you idiot.”

“Eh, I figured.” Sebaste said to him, then asked, “Would you like an escort to your ship?”

“No. It’s right above us.” Church said simply.

They looked up to see the flagship above their location, soon afterwards a transport beam appeared near where they were standing.

“Looks like your ship awaits.” Sebastian said to Church.

Church sighed, “And so does she…”

“She? Who is she?”  Both Sebaste and Sebastian were confused as to who Church was talking about. 

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

“What’s her name?”

“Amor.”

“Amor? but that’s Cadence’s name!” Celestia exclaimed.

“She is...in a way...Cadence.” Church said vaguely.

“And her name is Amor not Amore. Amor is portuguese. Amore is Italian.” Delta corrected.
 
“Will we see you again?” Sebaste asked.

“I thought you wanted me to stay. Make up your mind.” Church said.

Sebaste snickered, “Just pulling your leg, mate!”

“You obviously haven’t met Loki.”

“Actually, we have. He was on the ship we had fought on.”

“Let me guess, he’s on the Alliance. Or neutral.”

“Neutral”

“What was he doing in the ship?

“Keeping an eye on things, I also met another Neutral, a Displaced who’s now Asphyxoius from Warmachine”

“There’s someone coming down.” Sebastian said pointing at the beam.

Church sighed, “Well… It was inevitable.”

“Let me guess, she gives you hell?” Sebaste smirked.

“More like she’s overprotective…” Church said hesitantly.

“Sounds like a certain stallion with his sister.” The Orbital remarked.

The pony descending using the beam became glaringly apparent. She was an alicorn with a cyan coat, a wild pink and white mane, and a shielded heart as her cutiemark.

“Is that… Cadence?!” Sebaste asked in shock.

“It is… if you combined Vinyl and Dashie with her.” Sebastian said. 

“Uh...No...Not anymore at least...Um...It’s a long story…” Church said.

“What exactly happened?” Sebaste asked Church.

Amor glared at Church before screaming, “WHERE THE BUCK HAVE YOU BEEN, DAD?!”

“DAD?!” Both the duo and Celestia looked at Church in shock.

“I think you have some explaining to do…”

“Nononono.” Church said in a very Twilight manner.

“This is gonna be a long night…” Sebastian muttered.

“Nope.” Church said before he did something. All of a sudden, memories flooded the duo and Celestia. All of the memories.

When they woke up, Church and Amor were gone. And they were in a hospital bed. 

“Well, hopefully Church will stay…” Sebaste said. It finally occurs to them that the window near them, wasn't actually a window. It was an airlock.

“The hell are we?” Sebastian muttered.

“I’m guessing we’re in Church’s ship…” Sebaste replied.

The words, “UNSC SKYWARD UNTO HEAVEN” were engraved on the side of the ship and on a panel in front of them. Right next to that, it said health bay and airlock.

++Church, you there?++ Sebaste commed

Church walked in, sporting a nasty looking bruise on his arm with Amor following him in and glaring at him.

“Ouch, that’s gotta smart!” Sebaste said, wincing at the sight of the bruise.

“Would you like me to heal it for you?” Celestia asked Church.

“...” Church just nodded at Celestia.

“Never abandon me that long again!” Amor seethed.

Celestia’s horn glowed as she healed the bruise.

“Why exactly did you help us? You have the firepower to take over Equestria, yet you helped these two defend our world. What made you decide to help?” She asked as she continued healing him.

“Sometimes...All y-you need...is a l-little kindness…” Church quoted.

“Hmmm, wise words” Sebastian said, “I’m guessing you never had that yourself?”

“I wouldn't have ended up like this.”

“Well, now you have that chance.” Celestia said, “We all appreciate the help you gave us, and we hope that with time, you will reconcile with yourself and come out of the shell you’ve created.”

The Displaced duo nodded before a flash of teleportation catches their attention.

“What the…, Twi!” Sebastian exclaimed to the purple unicorn as she and the girls ran up to them, “The hell are you doing here?!”

“They probably noticed my glaringly obvious fleet of over 100,000 ships.” Church said bluntly.

“We were so worried when we saw what had happened” Twilight said.

“I didn't do it.” Church said almost immediately.

“Who’s this guy?” Dash asked.

“And what’s with Cadence?” Twilight asked.

“Shh…” Church shushed them, “I wasn't here…” he said as he activated his active camo.

“The guy that just disappeared is Church, while the Cadence lookalike is Amor.” Sebaste said, glaring at the hidden Spartan.

“I don't own the Princess Robot Bubblegum racecar!” Church said way too quickly to be truthful in Caboose's voice. They finally noticed the NASCAR that had Princess Robot Bubblegum on it.
 
Everyone in the room except for Pinkie and Amor facepalm\hooved.

“Seriously, dude?” Sebaste asked in exasperation.

“OOOOH!” Pinkie squealed, “I want it!”

“IT'S NOT PINK! IT'S LIGHTISH RED!” Donut said from in Church's armor.

“SHUT UP DONUT!” The rest of Red team said from in his armor.

“He’s as random as Pinkie…”  Sebastian muttered.

A hologram of Donut left Church's armor, “I don't know. What kind of random are you talking about?” Donut then proceeded to make a very bad sexual pun.

“Can it, Donut!” The Astartes said 

“You're not my mom!” Donut said as he gave the bird to the Astartes.

“Church! You’re gonna regret this!” Sebastian snarled before going into his Dreadnought form.

++Now you know why it’s never wise to piss off an Astartes, especially one who can turn into THIS!++ Sebastian boomed

“You know. I don't really see how this is my fault. You should really work on your anger management.” Church said as he became intangible.

++Sure, like you didn't piss off Washington a lot…++

Church sighed, “There are children here.” He gestured to the mane six.

++Well you flipped the bird!++

“No. Donut did.” Church said 

++Donut was from you, ya tin can!

*No. He is a memory. I can't control what I remember you insipid brute.”

++Faulty A.I.!++

Amor glared at the Astartes.

++Sorry Amor ++ Sebastian said.

“You should know better than to let anger control you. Especially over something so...so...petty.” Amor said sincerely.

++ Astartes weren't exactly known for having a cool head when their anger was roused, especially those of the Dark Angels ++

“Well, I'm sure Twilight would be willing to help you with that. Getting angry that easily can make you easier to take advantage of in combat or in everyday situations.” Amor lectured.

Sebaste deadpanned, “Which is why I usually do the talking for the both of us.”

“I'm surprised none of you have asked how Church got THIS many ships…” Amor said hesitantly.

++ I don't even want to know… ++

“Well. I stole them all. Took me 10 years. Was worth it though.” Church said as everyone looked at him incredulously. I mean, he did just say he stole over 100,000 ships in mint condition.

“Well, we’ll see you tomorrow, hope you don't mind patrolling!” Sebaste said, “Celestia, would you mind teleporting us back to Canterlot?” She nodded and in a flash of light, Celestia, the Mane 6, Sebaste and Sebastian vanished.

“They do realize that the kind of patrolling I'm going to be doing is not actually the helpful kind right?“ Church asked.





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