//------------------------------// // Chapter Three: We Move Unseen // Story: In the Darkness, The Lone Blades Light the Way // by New Lunar Eclipse //------------------------------// *Italics signify that this text is the closest possible translation of what they say in their native tongue. The Ultra looked back at his lone cloaked brother and said softly to him, *“stay here and search the remaining wreckage. Find what you can salvage, and do so.” Then even softer and under his breath added, *“Prophets know how useful a Huragok would be right now…” The Minor shook his jaws somewhat violently, causing the light that was being bent around the cloak to move and reshape itself again. The Ultra turned back around to see the three young equines had disappeared. His eyes moved to the bottom left of his HUD and saw three small white dots alongside two yellow ones about fifteen meters away. The Ultra started off after them, but upon reflection came up with a better plan. He moved off to the left a little ways and was soon moving parallel to the group, all the while keeping them on his radar. He pushed through the dense underbrush of the forest, taking care to keep pace with the group for a couple of minutes. Finally, they hit the edge of the forest. The Ultra looked out, still cloaked, and noticed a large village or town. He couldn’t estimate the size of it from his position, but he was confident in the Kig-Yar’s ability to traverse it undetected. After all, he’d much rather have the sniper watching his back than his Sangheili brother. The Ultra shook his head in an attempt to forget some unpleasant memories concerning the Minor. The Kig-Yar, Bok, stood atop an elevated branch in one of the trees along the edge of the forest. The small (and tasty looking!) four-legged creatures were underneath him, along with the stupid Unggoy. His gaze shifted from the ground to the scene before him. Sprawling across the horizon was what appeared to be a small town consisting of about a hundred structures or so, none of which looked the same. Already his sensitive nose was going to work, splitting the smells into ‘tasty’ and ‘not tasty’ categories. *No. Need to follow orders. No time for food.  He looked back to the small group, which was starting to move forward again. His gaze traveled to the nearest building, located a good thirty feet away. He took a small step back on his large branch and tensed his legs. Taking a brief running start up the branch, he leaped into the air, thrusting his right foot forward and using his left to propel himself. His right foot landed solidly on the rooftop, but his left fell short, causing his body to hit the roof with a soft thud. He pulled himself over the edge slowly, so as to not gain any more attention. He perched on the chimney, his Focus Rifle at the ready. Looking around, he saw the three multicolored four-legs and the cloaked Unggoy moving along a nearby street that was surprisingly crowded. Bok jumped off the chimney and onto the roof of another home, flattening himself against it in an effort to avoid detection. He aimed down his rifle sights, zooming in a little to better observe the situation. He saw them take a right around a corner. Lowering his Focus Rifle, Bok looked towards the building closest to the group. It was only across the street, a distance of twenty feet at most. Looking back to the ground to make sure none of the larger four-legs were watching, he leaped across the gap with ease. Bok landed with a soft thud on the roof of the building. With his sensitive ears, he heard the beating of wings…*wait, wings? He dived into the shadow of the chimney and looked up. In the air floated one of the larger four-legs. It was a greyish sort of color with a yellow crest on its head. He readied his rifle, but didn’t look down the sights, waiting to see if the creature made any sudden movements. Finally, the flying one turned and slowly flew away, swerving somewhat and diving by accident every now and again. They had wings and could fly? The sniper looked back to the square, taking note of the different types there were. He counted three separate kinds: those with wings, those with a horn, and those with neither. This was going to make a very interesting report to the higher ranking Sangheili. The ones with wings had the ability to fly while the other two didn’t. Could the horned ones do something special? What about the third kind? He turned back to the small group only to see the tail of the winged one disappear behind another corner. He jumped onto three different buildings in quick succession before he saw them heading into an organized looking forest. The smell of it was driving him crazy! It smelled like…apples. His memory cast back to the first time he was on a human ship. He had eaten some of their food, and apples had been his favorite. The small fillies were happy they found some new friends (and tough ones at that! Or in Scootaloo’s terms: ‘cool’). They trotted down the roads and alleys without a care in the world. Or at least until they saw a dark shadow jump over them, followed by a very salty smell. They had a feeling it was one of their new friends, but they still felt uneasy. It was as if it was not only following them, but hunting them, while at the same time just playing. When they finally made it to Sweet Apple Acres, the presence was gone but the smaller invisible one was still beside them. They began the long trek back to Apple Bloom’s house, but met Applejack and her friends halfway there. “Heya little ones. Didja watch th’ meteor shower?” Applejack asked, putting down a small basket of apples she had brought to the hilltop. Sweetie Belle was the first to reply. “Sure did! We also found some new friends!” “You did? Where are they? This would make a great report to Celestia!” Twilight Sparkle said, excitement growing on her face as she anticipated the upcoming report that was due that night. “Well…we’re not quite sure,” replied Apple Bloom. “We saw ‘em a couple minutes ago, they shoulda been followin’ us.” “Well, where did you last see them?” “Promise ya won’t be mad?” “I promise.” Twilight stated professionally, as if she did it all the time. “Weeeelll…we kinda met them…in th’ Everfree.” Twilight’s eye twitched, Rarity and Applejack following suit.  “…At the meteorite crash.” “You met friends…in the Everfree Forest…at the site of a crashed meteor?” Twilight asked, taking a very long time to choose her words. A single strand of mane hair twitched itself out of place. “Yep!” replied Scootaloo happily. “What th’ hay were y’all doin’ in th’ Everfree?” Applejack asked, controlling her temper to the best of her abilities. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS METEORITE RECOVERY! YAY!!!” all three yelled in unison, the force of their outburst blowing Applejack’s hat right off her head. “Don’t y’all have any idea what coulda-” Applejack started, only to be interrupted by Rarity. Applejack harrumphed loudly and stooped to retrieve her hat. “Well, what do your new friends look like?” “Well…they all stood on two legs, and two of them were huge! They could’ve been taller than Celestia herself! One was a dark black and the other a dark red. There was a shorter brown one, about half the size of the larger two with glowing wrists and an almost bird-like appearance. Then there was this cute little one that was orange, and he followed us here! Although, I can’t see him right now…” answered Sweetie Belle, looking around in confusion at the end of her explanation. Twilight had been trying her best to not freak out about the Everfree, but now she had to put up with the fact that the three small fillies found LIFE she had never heard of and somehow BEFRIENDED these life forms! “The large black one saved us…there were at least a bazillion Timberwolves coming at us, and he made all but one burst into fire! It was totally awesome!!” Scootaloo enthused. That shook Twilight to her core. The creature defended the fillies from harm, but at the cost of Timberwolf lives? What did these new creatures have that the ponies didn’t, and vice-versa? Could they use magic, and if so why didn’t they teleport them all out? “Hmm...those don’t sound like any Everfree creatures I’ve ever heard of. Have you ever heard your animal friends mention anything like this, Fluttershy?” The butter pegasus ‘eeped’ in surprise at being addressed, but soon recovered and shook her head demurely. “No, I haven’t. I’m sorry Twi, but I don’t know what they’re talking about either.” Suddenly, there was a loud gasp heard from within the group, it’s source soon revealed to be a wildly bouncing ball of pink energy. “OMIGOSH!! Do you guys know what this means?? There are new friends in Ponyville, and that means I have to throw a super-awesome-fun Pinkie Pie Welcome to Ponyville PAAARRRTYY!! *GASP* OMIGOSH!! And because they’re new life forms we’ve never ever ever ever ever ever heard of I’ll have to throw a party for that too!! It’s going to be a WELCOME TO PONYVILLE NEW CREATURE FRIENDS PARTY!! WOOHOO!!” Reaching down to her basket, Applejack deftly picked an apple and stuffed it into Pinkie’s mouth. “Now hold yer horses, sugarcube. We don’t know nothin’ ‘bout these fellers, and until we do Ah don’t want ya scarin’ ‘em off, ya hear?” Pinkie chomped down on the apple in one bite and swallowed. “Fine,” she pouted slightly, folding her forelegs and sitting heavily on the ground. “I still think we should throw them a surprise party...” Spike rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Hehe, yeah sure Pinkie. I’m sure that’ll work out just fine.” Rainbow Dash, ever the bold one, asked the next question, one that was on everypony’s mind. “So, where is the large black one now?” “Right behind you,” replied a very deep and heavy sounding voice from directly behind the group of mares. The resulting chaos was quite amusing to the Ultra, who looked on as the larger six equines and smaller bipedal creature turned around, searching frantically for the source of the voice. The rainbow colored one was yelling out, “show yourself! I’m not scared!” “As you wish. But heed this warning: do not attack me. The little ones told you already; I’ve slain many of these ‘Timberwolves’.” “I bet you’re not nearly as tough as they say you are! If you’re too cowardly to show yourself then there’s no way you could’ve fought off even three Timberwolves!” Rainbow Dash called out brashly. Under her breath she added, “and don’t even think about hurting my friends.” “Me? A coward? Many have thrown that insult, and few of them still draw breath,” the Ultra replied, somewhat amused. He slowly let his concealment drop, allowing the lights to show themselves before the rest of his armored form came into view. Ignoring the startled gasps (and eeps) from the equines, he grabbed an apple from Applejack’s basket and tossed it high into the air. A low whine sounded from across the orchard and intensified as a blue-gold beam of energy shot out and incinerated the thrown apple. The mares gaped when they saw there was not even a single speck of the original apple left to float down while the Ultra casually shifted his gaze to the source of the Focus Rifle beam. On the other side of the farm itself was the dark outline of a Kig-Yar. The Ultra stared unamusedly at the rainbow colored one before finishing what he had been saying. “I had my own allies to help me fight. As for hurting your friends, if I had to do so it would have been done.” There was a tense silence, so tense it was almost tangible. Finally, the purple one with a horn spoke up. “So, err…what’s your name?” “You may refer to me as Ultra for now.” The Minor couldn't believe it! Here they were, stranded on an unknown world with equines that could speak, let alone speak as HUMANS do! Releasing a roar of rage, he violently punched the wreckage that used to be their Phantom. They should be fighting on the front, not retreating to the Glory Upon Salvation! They should be fighting the honorable war, gaining honor with each kill! His nostrils ached for the smell of humans alight with plasma fire, his ears for the screams of their pain, his eyes for their pathetic lack of honor and skill. He may only be a Minor, but war was his life. Who was the Ultra to command him to stay behind and watch the clearly useless burning Phantom? Who was the Ultra to command him at all? He lost his honor when he was too cowardly to board the ship; too cowardly to stop the Demon from activating the device. Instead he had retreated like a wretched Unggoy. He needed to be slain. There needed to be a new Commanding Officer. But alas. He was only a Minor, and did not have the experience needed to even consider challenging the Ultra…not yet, anyways. He let out another roar of frustration and slammed his fist into one of the few segments of the Phantom’s hull that wasn’t burning merrily, the flames almost mocking him with their jubilance. The resulting sound was a residual, hollow ringing. He stepped back for a moment, eager to confirm his suspicions. He examined the hull more closely and saw a latch that was barely noticeable in the firelight. He wrapped his large hand around the latch and pulled, taking a large square of the hull with it. Of course, he knew of the weapons locker, but what this one yielded was of great fortune. *Not so useless after all. There were two energy swords and a plasma battery capable of charging both those and all the other weapons they had. But two energy swords…he picked one up and looked at it closely. It fit in his hand perfectly. He quickly opened up a small compartment in his armor and stashed it inside, and then grabbed the other and held it tightly. *My own blades…I will find my honor on this pitiful world yet. His thoughts were interrupted by the voices of equines steadily drawing closer. He cloaked quickly, and watched the sources of the voices from the shadows. There were seven of them, all donning eloquent golden armor, with four possessing wings and three with horns. They seemed to be military, their armor not unlike that of the Prophet’s Honor Guards, minus the prominent pauldrons. They seemed organized enough, with the winged ones floating while the horned ones were somehow carrying crossbows, weapons even more primitive than those of the pitiful humans. *Too easy. With a devious smirk, the Minor ignited his blade. Edited by Shanenator. Written by Poptard and Solar Eclipse. A/N: Huragok is an Engineer in the Halo universe.