Clash of Worlds

by Gunner59524

Grim Outlooks, High Risk Ops, and Familiar Veterans

Ponyville, Equestria; Twilight's Library

Twilight thought back on the past twenty four hours. In twenty four hours, she and the stallion she loved had been rescued by their friends, the diplomatic summit in Manehattan had been canceled, and Celestia had sent her some extremely harsh news.

Gunnar was being called back to duty, and this time, Twilight was being asked to stay behind for her own safety, along with Rainbow Dash and Applejack. In just twenty four hours, the Covenant had grown exponentially more dangerous. Infinity and the 'Human/Vadam Joint Operations Armada', as the leaders of the friendly military groups had come to call it, were now bogged down in orbit with wave after wave of Covenant assaults. On top of that, with every wave, another Covie ship got by. There was now a small group of Covenant Corvettes and a Destroyer in extremely low orbit above the planetary north magnetic pole, and the majority of the Covenant forces had all friendly vessels pinned down, all but one: Infinity. Along with the Covenant's activity, their Promethean allies had grown more bold by the minute. Appleloosa was now under threat from the machines and the UNSC could only spare enough troops for a small garrison: one hundred troops and a pair of M808 'Scorpion' MBTs. The Prometheans were growing bolder though and soon that wouldn't be enough.

With everything that was going on, plus Gunnar being recalled to active duty AND Twilight and her friends being forced to stay put in Ponyville due to their VIP status and high risk conflict, the mare's mind was in absolute chaos. Gunnar was upstairs, in the guest room, prepping his armor and equipment. Spike was at her side, trying to help her cope. The UNSC, Equestrians, and Sangheili House Vadam were caught in the vice. Now the leaders were taking cover in what was once the UNSC's forward operating base in Ponyville. Said base was now a Joint Operations Fortress. Twilight and her friends were being called to the Fortress along with Gunnar. They would be watching him and Majestic perform a new op that the brass had quickly cooked up in order to counter the Covenant infiltrators and maybe even deal with the Prometheans in the process.

However, something about it all had Twilight more on edge than ever. She was afraid, and not for her own life. She had this unnerving feeling that the op could go any number of ways, very few of them good. When they had received word of the op and the diplomatic summit's cancellation on the Pelican, the feeling had started.

Since when do things ever go well when there is an escalation like this?

Never, and you remember what happened at your brother's wedding.

It was true, Twilight remembered in full detail. Security had been escalated exponentially in Canterlot during that period of time. That should have been her first clue that something was way off, that something terrible would happen. Something terrible did happen that day, when the Changelings attacked and Cadence had been revealed to have been kidnapped and replaced by the queen of the shape shifters herself: Chrysalis. Now security was escalating again, and this time, there were genocidal Covenant squatters involved. Twenty four hours and everything had gone from good, to bad, to worse.

I'm afraid.... what will happen if we lose?

Twilight teared up.

What will happen to Gunnar........?

The fear dominated her now. She worried about her friends, her teacher.... and her love. Then something else came to mind.

He's a strong stallion. He was trained to be a soldier practically from the start. Plus, he's got Fireteam Majestic at his back, one of the UNSC's finest Spartan teams. It won't matter who is in command in the field at the time either, whether it's Gunnar or DeMarco. They'll come out on top.

Twilight felt a small bit of relief at those thoughts. Gunnar and Paul had decided that the Spartan fireteam leader would take field command of their squad for this op, and Twilight trusted Paul to take care of his whole team, Gunnar included.

There's still the matter of those robots, the Prometheans. Will he be able to handle them?

Twilight felt the fear strengthen again, taking hold of her once more.

He has Majestic with him, and they've dealt with the Prometheans before. Gunnar will come home safe.... he has to....

Plus he's had years of training compared to you, Dash, or AJ. He could easily adapt to this new enemy, like he was born to do. He will come out on top.

I suppose....

The UNSC trusted him enough to allow Celestia's request to make him leader of your squad during Operation Back Breaker. He obviously knows what he's doing if the UNSC would allow that, even if it was for the sake of 'good diplomacy' at the time. He's a years in the making fighter, you're just a two month trainee. Up against the Prometheans, all you would do is get in the way.

I can't argue with that logic....

You better have the Elements on hoof. You may need them before this is over.

I'll need Gunnar too.....

No argument there.....

Despite everything that had just ran through her mind.... despite the knowledge that Gunnar was an excellent fighter, Twilight couldn't shake the feeling that something was gonna go wrong.... that something bad would happen. She prayed that she was wrong. Still the tears came.

"Twilight....?" Spike tried to get her attention... in vain though.

"Spike, maybe it's better if you let me talk to her before I go," Gunnar said as he started coming down the stairs.

Twilight turned her head upon hearing his voice. She saw the stallion she loved.... question was, would she ever see his face again? Spike had shrugged and nodded before turning to leave, figuring Gunnar was right, and had missed when Twilight ran up to the soldier stallion and threw her forelegs around him. She broke down in tears.

"Twilight.... hey, hey," Gunnar started gently as he placed a hoof on her cheek, getting her to look at him. He gave her a reassuring smile. "I won't be gone long. I promise you, I will do my absolute best to come back to you. I'll be sure to give those Covies and shinies plenty of trouble for keeping me away from you too."

"B-but.... what if you don't come back?"

"If that does happen..." The stallion sighed sadly, trying to find the right words for a moment. "If that happens.... you need to promise me that you won't grieve for too long.... that you won't give up."

"I can't do that!!!"

"You can, you have too! I'm a soldier... It's possible I may not come back at all."

Twilight broke down in tears again.

"Hey, Twilight, listen.... you need to promise me.... This is for my sake as much as it is for yours. If I don't come back.... you have to promise me you won't give up. You need to keep going... to live a happy life."

The mare sighed and took a moment before looking up at him. The sorrow in her eyes was heart-wrenching for him. He hated doing this to her. Moments like these made him hate himself for becoming a soldier in the first place.... because it was causing the mare he loved to suffer. What happened next filled him with a strong sense of melancholy.

"I....I promise.... but you better try as hard as you can to come back...."

"I promise you, I'll try as hard as i can."

"I know you will," she said sadly, "I'm just so scared."

"I get that you're scared, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't.... but you need to stay strong." He had gently placed a hoof under her chin and lifted her gaze to meet his as he said this. "They may not be allowing you to fight at my side physically for this.... but you'll always be there in my heart, right there in spirit." He smiled warmly at her as he said those words.

They shared the next few minutes in each other's embrace, neither wanting to let go of the other, but they both knew that, for now, they would need to endure this time apart.

There was a knocking at the door before Thorne stepped in.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you two," Thorne began, "but.... it's time for us to go Gunnar. Briefing starts in ten mikes.

Gunnar looked at the Spartan and gave him a nod before reluctantly letting go of Twilight.

"I'll be back."

"You better be."

"Hey," Gunnar chuckled lightly, "It's me you're talkin' to, not some grunt."

Twilight felt a melancholy smile grace her features before seeing the stallion leave with Spartan Thorne. This next string of ops would be the hardest to endure.... and she couldn't participate physically because of those damned Prometheans. All she could do is watch from a hybrid fortress.... and it tore her apart. They were soon out of sight.... and she never felt more alone.

=====================================================

Joint Operations Fortress, Ponyville, Equestria; Briefing Room A-5

"Thank you for coming," a UNSC officer said, the decor on his uniform screamed ONI, "Take a seat."

The Spartans of Fireteam Majestic and Gunnar took their seats. Behind them was a group of five ODST's in highly customized armor.

"As you may already know from the quick spread of news," the ONI spook began, "there is currently a small force of Covenant in an extremely low orbit above the north magnetic pole of the planet." He pulled up a display showing the latest images from recon flights and seismic scans, creating a highly detailed map of the operations area. "This is the area beneath the Covenant starship cluster."

"Quick question," Madsen piped up, "Why can't our boys in orbit take these vessels down?"

"Our boys, save the Infinity, are bogged down side by side with the Arbiter's forces, trying to hold back a Covie onslaught. The Infinity will be providing local support distracting the enemy vessels while you sneak in," the ONI spook explained, "You're probably wondering why Infinity doesn't blow them up outright. I'll explain why not. It is obvious that this group is a vanguard force, intended to set up a foothold for when their friends in orbit break through. Infinity is the only ship capable of destroying them in record time, and the only one that can destroy them on her own. But, she's holding back in favor of an intel gathering op. That's right, you're going in to hack computers and interrogate splitjaws, whichever you prefer. The flagship of this group is identified to be the RPV-class Light Destroyer among the group. This ship is currently linked to the surface via a gravity lift. Your infiltration will involve stealthy insertion into the area, followed by infiltration of the ground base where the bottom end of the grav lift is located. You will then use this lift to infiltrate the ship directly. The ODST's behind you have experience with hijacking Covie dropships, which is the chosen means of exfil for this op. Defend them with your lives till you reach the ship, then your teams will split up, one for the hijack, one for intel gathering. Majestic, including their new Equestrian team member, will move to gather intel from the bridge. If you can capture living members of the ship's command structure, great. If not, the computers are your targets. The ODSTs will go for the hangar to make the hijack. That's pretty much the gist of the mission."

"What intel are we after?" DeMarco asked.

"ID of the Covie Commander's in charge of the current attacking force, ID of their flagships if possible, locations of their resource bases and supply routes, and any details on their invasion plans. The more you get, the higher our advantage. Make sure to cut of the ship's outward communications till you're sure they can't call for help or alert the main fleet, then find a way to access the information. I don't care how it's done, just get it done. Here's a datapad with everything you need to access and manipulate Covie computer tech." The agent hands DeMarco the aforementioned datapad, which the Spartan team leader proceeded to inspect.

"How are these ODST's so experienced in hijacking Covenant craft?" Hoya asked curiously.

"You remember New Mombasa during the Human/Covenant war and their invasion of Earth?" the ONI agent asked in response.

"Yeah.... wait a minute.... NO WAY!"

"Yes way. Gunnery Sergeant Buck, is your team ready?"

"Ready as ever pal," the lead ODST spoke up, "We are green, and we are very, VERY mean."

"Good, your Pelican's are waiting on the airfield, pad twelve. Operation Sly Serpent is a go. Good luck everyone. You leave in thirty, dismissed."

The soldiers all stood and filed out. Without a single word, they made their way to the Pelicans, but not before going to the armory to pick up their gear, which the techs had outfitted for subzero temperature ops. Even Gunnar's armor had a slightly increased bulk to it. He looked to see one of the ODSTs adjusting what looked like a silenced M7S Caseless SMG while they were in the armory, with what looked like a thicker variant of standardized ODST armor, all pitch black with a blue visor. The call sign that appeared in Gunnar's helmet visor when he looked at the ODST was 'Rookie'. He was looking at this ODST now on the Pelican as they waited for takeoff. When Rookie noticed the stallion's gaze on him, he gave the Equestrian soldier a silent nod before looking back out the hatch. The last to board were DeMarco and Buck. The hatch closed, and they were away.

Author's Note:

Say WUUUUUT! Halo 3 ODST references :D BUCK AND TEAM ARE IN THE FIELD AGAIN YA'LL! Let's face it, I don't know what happens to the team after the interrogation of the Virgil Huragok. This seemed like a great opportunity to bring them back in an epic way. Will Gunnar and Twilight be reunited? Will the op be a success or will it be botched? Will Buck and DeMarco be able to get along and share command of the mission? Stay tuned to find out yall! PEACE!!!

Comments

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

*record scratches to a halt* NO FREAKING WAY!

[Dive Bomb]

7093425 buck is a sp 4 sooooooo.... ?