Clash of Worlds

by Gunner59524

Party Turned Hellstorm

Canterlot, Equestria; Royal Palace, Celestia's Bedroom Balcony.

The regal princess Celestia thought back on recent developments. She had recieved news from her star pupil and metaphorical daughter Twilight Sparkle two days ago of Lasky and his crew and the encounter with the Elites. The Elites threatening her people disturbed her. But the potential of an extraterrestrial ally in the UNSC brought hope to her heart. In the letter she had recieved then, Twilight had given vivid details of those horrifying moments when that Elite had its bone crushing grip around her neck. Reading that part had made Celestia experience shivers down her spine. When Twilight had detailed how Gunnar had saved her life, the princess felt overwhelming relief and made a note to express her extreme gratitude to the soldier stallion, despite the fact that he had no choice but to kill the enemy, which was not common at the moment for any Equestrian soldier. What gave Celestia pause however was when Twilight expressed that she was experiencing confusing feelings and emotions around the stallion. What could Twilight be referring too that was so confusing to the young Element. Celestia had some idea what it meant, and a sudden warm feeling filled her heart, accompanied by pride in her student. Something was happening that would make the young student and Defender of Equestria even stronger than ever.

As her sister Luna finished putting the last of the stars in the night sky, a sudden distant blue flash caught her attention. It wasn't long before smoke started rising from where the flash had occurred It had come from Ponyville.

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

Ponyville, Equestria; Sugarcube Corner

Ten minutes before Celestia sees the flash

Gunnar was enjoying the party with his newfound friends, having the time of his life. He had danced and conversed, ate treats and even received the gift Rarity had promised: a forest green uniform with a matching beret to wear on his head. She added a few touches of her own like solid gold buttons. It was a perfect military uniform. He had thanked the fashion mare with a hug and a few sincere words of appreciation. He was outside now, looking up at the stars with a joyful smile on his face. He was feeling more joy than he had ever felt and it was because he had enough friends to make his life so much more worth living. Twilight stepped outside to join him.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Happier than I've ever felt before. I've never had so many friends, much less a party like this. It's good to have ponies who care about me in my life...." he began to reply, "ponies i can care about in return. My life is more worth living than it has ever been before. I'm sitting out here thinking about how thankful i am for these blessings... and its all thanks to you Twilight." He looked at her with a sincere and grateful smile that made her blush a bit, and she blushed even more when he hugged her. "Thank you so much.... for everything," he whispered before letting go.

"Y-you're welcome," Twilight said, surprised, but extremely happy about what she had done for him. She couldn't begin to imagine how much this must really mean to him, and how she had played such a major role in it only made her feel even better. She had done right. She knew Celestia would be proud of her, and more importantly, she knew she had gained a valuable friend. She smiled and leaned against him as they watched the night sky.

"Rainbow, look," Fluttershy whispered to her oldest friend, pointing out the front door at Gunnar and Twilight.

Even the cocky, competitive athlete couldn't help but smile at that sight.

It had been only five minute before a glowing blue glob caught Gunnar's eye as it flew towards them. His mind went into overdrive and he realized what was about to happen only seconds before it was too late. He grabbed Twilight and pulled her inside, falling on the floor with her and kicking the door shut just as the glob landed right where they were. The explosion came a few short seconds later, small puffs of plasma and smoke seeping through the cracks around the door and scorching the outside of the walls and the door itself. All the girls turned their attention to Twilight, Gunnar, and the door they had heard the loud explosion on the other side of.

"BUCK!!!" Gunnar yelled out, "Pinkie is there a back way out!?"

The pink mare quickly nodded.

"Alright i need everypony t..." he started to stay before he heard a loud bang on the door and panicked screams of ponies out in the village. He quickly pulled Twilight to her hooves and led everypony towards the back. But before they could get out of sight, the door came off its hinges to reveal an angry elite in crimson/orange armor, wielding the all too familiar two pronged energy blade. "Everypony behind me," Gunnar said with calm determination in his voice and expression as he stepped forward to face this enemy. Without his armor though... it was likely he would die. But at least he could slow it down. He charged out, unleashing two bolts of concussive magic force at the elite, the first knocking the blade from the creature's hand, the second making it stagger. He headbutted it, making it stagger more but only for a second. It came too and lay down a downward punch on Gunnar's head that forced the stallion into the ground harshly.

"GUNNAR!!!" Twilight cried out, worry dominating her features.

The elite picked him up before he could recover and tossed him into a nearby table, breaking the furniture and injuring the stallion further. This elite was after him alone. The elite picked up the fallen energy sword and the mares watched in horror as the elite got ready for the downswing to end Gunnar's life. It didn't expect him to recover quickly enough to use his hind legs and kick the creature off. He rolled over, stood up, and bucked the alien in the face, knocking it down and sending the energy sword clattering away. Gunnar was angry now and approached the Elite. Using magic to keep it down with concussive blasts. "You come in here, throwing an explosive at me and my friends, kicking down the door, trying to kill me and scaring my friends, AND YOU EXPECT ME TO LET YOU GET AWAY WITH IT THAT EASILY!?!?" The stallion yelled. The response was a large alien foot to the face that send Gunnar into the wall and knocked him unconscious.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!" Twilight cried out, fearful determination on her face.

Before the elite could deliver the downswing after picking up his energy sword. An unseen force stopped the blade short of Gunnar's neck. It saw a purple aura around the blade and handle of the weapon, and then looked to see the same aura around Twilight's horn. The mare was had fear in her expression sure, but there was no small amount of anger either. She threw the elite clear across the room with her magic and slammed it on the wall. Causing it to stagger. Gunnar lost all signs of consciousness after that, causing the fear in the others' hearts to double.

Just then, a brilliant flash of white light blinded everyone, including the elite, for a second. Standing there in the middle of the room, where the flash had occured, was none other than the land's beloved Princess Celestia, staring at the Elite with a menacing look of distaste.

"You have threatened my subjects for the last time. I have informed the UNSC Infinity of your activities here. Did you think we were unaware of your little ploy?" She seethed as she held the elite too the wall Twilight had slammed him against earlier, using her more powerful alicorn magic.

The Elite let out an evil guttural chuckle. "To ally yourselves with the human's is to invite the doom of your race," It said in practiced but imperfect English, "I am Ragas, servant of the Sangheili house R'aggamee, servant of the Didact's hand, and herald of the Gods. I am Covenant Zealot. You are nothing."

Celestia only smirked, "Empty words for a being part of a doomed faction. The humans already have you beaten and yet you fight on for a lost cause in the name of false gods."

"BLASPHEMY! You shall perish a HERITIC'S DEATH!!!"

"You fail to understand. Your terror attack on this village is being repelled as we speak. We are aware of the weak state of your forces. Lasky told us everything. You are the "Heritics" for believing in false prophecies and using them as a means to justify the murder of innocents. Now you will pay for your crimes."

With that, Celestia threw him out through the front wall of the building. Ragas tried to move after he landed in the street, but he couldn't. Celestia was in the air, outside the gingerbread house style sweets shop and glaring down at the menacing elite. All around him, Ragas saw Pelican Dropships leaving behind Scorpion Tanks and Warthogs with compliments of Marines and ODST's. One Pelican in particular caught his eye when he saw Spartans in blue armor step out of it. They walked over and put binders on the elite's wrists with Celestia's aid, then knocked the elite out to reduce his ability to resist to nil.

"Thank you for coming Fireteam Majestic. I'm glad to see my message got through." Celestia said.

"We are too your highness. This particular elite is a troublesome splitjaw that needs to be put in his place along with his superiors. I guess we can both call this a double win. Criminal elite caught, and the enemy advance blocked," DeMarco chuckled.

"Indeed." Celestia watched as the UNSC soldiers pushed the Covenant back into Everfree Forest.

"They have a compound in that forest according to the sensors on Infinity. Roland ran a sensor sweep soon as your message arrived and Lasky read it out loud. Still not used to magic based letter deliveries but, it was helpful all the same."

"What will you do with this one?"

"Put him behind bars in Infinity's brig and interrogate the splitjaw bastard. Lasky also wants to speak with you." With that, DeMarco put down a small device and when it activated, a lit up holographic image of Lasky appeared, looking at the Princess.

"Captain Lasky, a pleasure."

"The pleasure is mine Princess Celestia," the captain said with a respectful bow, "Unfortunately, the pleasantries are gonna have to wait. We've managed to push the Covenant back into the Everfree Forest but they will be back. I've ordered Broadsword Fighter squadrons to make scouting runs but I'm not letting them drop explosive ordinance without your permission. I'd rather not risk a forest fire. The enemy forces are currently scattered and will probably fall back to regroup over the next couple weeks. We've picked up a growing compound in there so we're gonna have to ask for some help. Is Gunnar in good enough shape to accompany Majestic for an op?"

"I'm afraid not. The Elite Ragas injured him severely before I arrived. But he gave the creature quite the thrashing before going down. He should be fine in about a week though as far as i could tell... im not sure."

"We can postpone the op till then. This needs to be a joint operation for a good number of reasons, primarily to scare the covenant and hopefully make them think twice about attacking two allied forces. Make sense?"

"Perfect sense."

"Glad you agree," the captain said with a smile, "We'll await word for when Gunnar is combat ready. I'll have my troops patrol the borders of the Everfree in the meantime. I probably don't have to suggest this, but you should probably get to comforting your subjects now that this is in the open. We don't want a panic."

"Understood on all counts. I'll keep you informed. Be careful Captain. It seems the Covenant are growing bold."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks Princess. We'll send forces to provide security for Canterlot as well. Nothing major, just a couple other spartan fireteams. I don't want to start an occupation here."

"I understand completely Thomas, and thank you for your help. I'll notify my subjects right away."

Lasky bowed his head in respect and gave a salute before his hologram disappeared.

"We've been assigned to your command Princess," DeMarco informed her, "Awaiting orders."

"Would you be so kind as to watch over the Elements of Harmony and their keepers then?" Celestia asked, gesturing to the Six mares standing outside and gawking at the power of the UNSC's military strength. They were extra surprised when a Mantis walker trundled by, unleashing a volley of explosive rockets into one of the alien vehicles near Everfree's border.

"Yes ma'am. We'll protect them as long as necessary." DeMarco bowed his head, then smirked, "We'll be sure to give the splitjaws your regards if they come knocking."

"I would expect nothing less of soldiers of your caliber." Celestia smiled, "You have my thanks, and my blessing."

She turned to Twilight and her friends. "Twilight, given recent events and the circumstances... I'm placing Gunnarmain under your care," she informed her pupil, "Can i count on you to keep him in good health?"

At first Twilight was shocked, but then she smiled and nodded, responding by saying, "Yes Princess.... and... thank you..." A soft smile graced her features before she looked at Fireteam Majestic, then at her friends. Each nodded to her in turn, her friends' determined expressions apparent since they weren't wearing helmets. But, she knew Majestic was just as determined as she and her friends were. Then remembrance dawned on her, Gunnar was still critically injured and unconscious inside the shop. Without a seconds thought she bolted back inside and galloped over to Gunnar. The sight of how broken he looked broke her heart. He was battered and bruised, his coat and mane were messed up, and there was blood coming from his nose and a cut on his head. He was barely breathing. She knew what she had to do though. Her horn glowed with the familiar violet aura and soon the same aura surrounded Gunnar. His cut healed, his nose stopped bleeding, most of his bruises were gone... while the pain and injuries were partly healed, she couldn't help him all the way in one go without exhausting herself, but she did not care. She didn't know what pushed her but she pressed on, all bruises vanished and finally, Gunnar was breathing normally again.

Twilight broke the spell just in time to keep herself from passing out. Her breathing was ragged and heavy now. But the sight of Gunnar's pain mostly alleviated warmed her heart and made her smile, despite her near exhaustion. Majestic and her friends were at the door, watching.

"Why would she exhaust herself like that for him...?" Rarity wondered quietly whispering to the others.

"It's not obvious by now.... she feels something for him," Rainbow whispered back.

"If so.... she has good reason too by now.... he's done nothing but protect her and us at the risk of his own life despite all odds. I can think of nopony better for her," Rarity whispered.

The other's nodded in agreement. Majestic looked at each other after nodding in agreement to Rarity's statement, then nodded to each other. It was time to get outside and help mop up the last of the Covenant. They stepped out. Soon after, gunshots and plasma discharges were heard at sporadic intervals as they located and cleared out any hiding Covies that may remain in the city.

Twilight payed no heed to any of it. She willed herself to pick Gunnar up on her back and carry him home, back to the Library. She noticed a broken leg on him so she was careful not to irritate that wound. The girls followed her without a word or moment's hesitation.

Author's Note:

This story is focused primarily around Twilight, Gunnar, the other Elements, and Celestia. So there will be no chapters detailing the arrival of the letter or the deployment of the UNSC's forces here in any chapters for this story. Those will come in the sequel.
Yes there will be a sequel telling you what happened on the UNSC's side of the story, or more accurately, Lasky's, Palmer's, and Majestic's side of the story. Basicly its a point of view type thing.

As for what just happened. This is a known tactic when your forces are somewhat evenly matched. A crashed UNSC ship that can still operate as a military command center unhindered AND the covenant with only three ships and the armies within them. Spartan Fireteams on the Infinity easily balance them out. So the Covenant went for terror tactics and intimidation. Only, it failed.

Lasky obviously has his A-game on when commanding military forces huh? XD
As for Twilight and Gunnar. I would have figured it was obvious before now but if it wasn't, well it is now.
To find out what happens and see the op, stay tuned.

Comments

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Ouch, never piss off a unicorn in love, especially if said unicorn also happens to be the Element of Magic!

[Armageden]

Agreed.