Noble Six

by InfinitySlayer

Invasion

Noble Six stood in denial for a few seconds. There was no possible way that the Covenant were actually on this god forsaken planet. As much as he might've willed against it, the deadly Covenant cruiser did not stop its decent. Nor did it disappear as a dream. The cruiser existed. The Covenant were on the planet.

If given a choice, Noble Six would much rather fight millions of pony guards than thousands of Covenant troops. Now he had to fight both. Perfect.

As the cruiser continued it's decent towards the city that he had just escaped from minutes before, Noble Six's denial turned into blinding rage. How on Earth did the Covenant find him? Why were they so determined on ending his life? Would they follow him to the end of the universe just to end his miserable life?

Since Reach, and the training previous, his life had been nothing but a nightmare. Noble Six hadn't seen much more than death and destruction in his entire life, since he was a boy training to be a spartan on Onyx. His drill sergeants had been merciless beasts designed to make his life as terrible as possible. Even after surviving initial training, the chemicals they injected into him to make him stronger, faster, and generally better than the average human had been so indescribably painful that it hurt him to think about it.

After he was transferred to Reach, he got to see billions murdered, his entire fellow team of Spartans killed, and planet Reach burnt to a crisp. Was that life? Was his entire life going to contain nothing but blood, death, and destruction?

Then again, Noble Six thought, his entire life wasn't going to be that long. The Covenant were quickly moving towards the castle, probably searching for him. If the Covenant found him, there was no way that he could beat them all alone. Armed with nothing but a half empty Plasma Rifle, a Plasma Pistol, and a nearly drained Energy Sword. It was an impossible task to undertake alone, without any cover besides a scraggly forest and a couple of rocks.

This is it, Noble Six thought. The day I die.

He wouldn't go down without a fight. Noble Six will never go down without a fight. Every Covenant he killed was one less for the rest of humanity to deal with. Every single Covenant death meant another human lived. His own death was meaningless compared to the rest of humanity. What was meaningful was that humanity survived the Covenant onslaught.

Noble Six thought about his options. The forest he was standing in front of now would give him absolutely no cover whatsoever. Nor was there any other defensible location nearby. Except one. The castle he had just escaped from.

If I go back, Noble Six thought, I'll have to deal with ponies on one side and Covenant on the other. Noble Six could see no other option. The city was full of defensible positions and ambush locations. He could pick of a lot more Covenant there rather than standing in the middle of an unprotected forest.

He quickly made up his mind and began sprinting back to the city he had spent hours trying to escape from.

---

Zin'Onon stared at the pathetic excuse for a fortress through the huge monitor that filled most of his command center. His comrades were also busy gawking at the strange and impractical fortress-thing that they had discovered. This wasn't at all what they were expecting. Zin'Onon and his fellow crew were expecting to come upon some abandoned, lifeless world in the middle of space. The ship's sensors picked up millions of life forms inhabiting the strange world. Those sensors also detected huge bounties of mineral riches, more then any known world contained. The world was bursting from the seams with gold, precious stones, and geothermal energy.

Claiming this world would not only boost Covenant economics, but get Zin'Onon promoted to Fleet Admiral in a heartbeat. Initial scans reported that the inhabitants of the rich planet hadn't even reached the Industrial Age. It would be too easy to glass all their strongholds and get rid of every last one of those creatures. Zin'Onon would start with the biggest stronghold his ship's sensors detected. Even though it was the largest one, it was still laughingly pathetic. Made out of stone, Zin'Onon could easily just burn it with his ship's cleansing beam. But, he needed a command post to begin his conquest of the world. More often then not, it paid to have two bastions rather than one. Just in case any surprises show up.

"General Tash'Bin, how close are we to the alien fortress?" General Tash'Bin, who was busy checking the internal workings of the ship for the millionth time, reported, "Thirty kilometers and closing, sir."

"Excellent, general." Zin'Onon turned on the intercom of the ship so all fellow crew could here his orders.

"Followers of the Great Journey, we have finally arrived on our luck. This world in ripe for the taking, plump with riches beyond measure. Protected by small, pathetic creatures, it will be beyond simple to take this planet in one quick strike. Prepare your weapons, we begin our assault in six minutes."

Zin'Onon put down the intercom and checked the scanners again, just to see if this perfect situation was a dream. The scanners had picked up multiple life forms and precious metals. The purple, digitized screen had a list of what it had found.

MULTIPLE LIFE FORMS DETECTED:

/Plant-based life forms, estimated count: 1000000000000000
/Oxygen-breathing/Animal-based life forms, estimated count: 100000000000
>>>SPECIFIC READINGS:<<<
/Equine-based life forms detected, estimated count: 100000000
>>>INTELLIGENT
/Reptile-based life forms detected, estimated count: 100000
>>>INTELLIGENT
/Insect-based life forms detected, estimated count: 1000000000
>>>/PARTIALLY INTELLIGENT/

None of this particularly interested Zin'Onon. He had seen many worlds with similar amounts of life. However, another reading suddenly appeared at the bottom of the screen.

>>>ALERT!!!<<<
/HUMAN LIFE FORMS DETECTED, ESTIMATED COUNT: 1
>>>ADVISE IMMEDIATE CLEANSING

Zin'Onon stood completely still, awestruck. There was no possible way humans had reached this planet. That screwed up everything. Humans had a habit of getting in the way, to the point of completely denying the fulfillment of the Great Journey. Sure, lighting the Rings would lead to galaxy-wide extermination, but that was nothing compared to the riches that lay in the life beyond.

Zin'Onon ran a systematic check to confirm the readings. They were true. The Night Stalker's navigation system had even pinpointed the human's exact location. Zin'Onon ran another test to find out the abilities of the lone human.

>>>ALERT!!!<<<
CONFIRMED, HUMAN OCCUPATION: SPARTAN III
>>>ADVISE IMMEDIATE CLEANSING

Zin'Onon was about to order the Night Stalker to turn headlong around back towards the Covenant home world, but stopped himself. It was just one Spartan. There was nothing to fear. It would be simple to blast the human with all the plasma they could muster. Zin'Onon ordered his Unggoy brethren to put live feed of the Spartan on the huge central monitor for all to see. The Spartan appeared on screen, running towards the structure they were about to capture. His fellow followers were quite surprised to see a Spartan on this unexplored planet. None of them flipped out, however. They had dealt with the strongest Spartans before.

Zin'Onon, however, thought the Spartan seemed familiar.

His mind flashed back to the fall of Reach. He was in the ruins of one of the destroyed planet's many cities. He had just finished killing a Spartan III completely clad in gray armor with a skull on it's visor. He drew his Energy Sword out of the dead Spartan's chest. That was four down, two to go to finish of the infamous Noble Team. The only two Spartans that remained were a deadly sniper called Jun, and a mysterious, shadowy Spartan known only as Noble Six.

Spartan Jun's location was unknown, and remained so indefinitely. Noble Six was felling Elite after Elite with his weapons. The Spartan was unstoppable. Zin'Onon desperately wanted the privilege to kill the strong warrior. However, he was denied the possibility of doing so, as he was called back to High Charity as a hero of war. His accolades and awards for the destruction of Reach were uncountable. He was a hero. However, he always lived with the nagging thought that he was unable to kill the last of Reach's strongest protectors. It haunted his dreams.

And now the Spartan was here. Noble Six. One of the demons of mankind. Zin'Onon would have the personal privilege of ending it's life. It was far to good to be true. The Prophets had finally blessed him. After many years of consistent service after Reach with few rewards, he had chanced upon the opportunity of a lifetime. It was too good to be true.

"Tash'Bin, ETA?" Zin'Onon asked the General. Tash'Bin was busy preparing his armor and weapons. He wielded his signature Energy Sword that had brought him the deaths of hundreds of humans. His golden armor gleamed in the purple light of the Bridge. The General was thirsty for blood. He would have all he could drink. However, the human belonged to Zin'Onon. It was his prize.

"Two minutes and closing, sir." Tash'Bin answered, his voice growing more and more excited no matter how hard he concealed it. They were all excited. Everybody aboard the Night Stalker was going to be rich and powerful beyond measure once they took the world before them.

Zin'Onon hefted his Fuel Rod Gun to his shoulder. With it, he would lead the Covenant charge against the pathetic stronghold. It would be a swift battle. His Fuel Rod Gun would tear apart everything, including the Spartan.

Now, the inhabitants of this world would burn. Most of all, the Spartan would die.

---

Princess Celestia was more than a little bit confused by the purple thing growing closer towards her castle. She, her subjects, and everything on the globe had never seen the likes of it before. It was kind of like a ship, only it floated in air. A revolutionary concept, indeed.

Celestia did not think it was a friendly...whatever it was. After the recent turn of events with Noble Six, Celestia deemed anything coming from outer space not friendly.

The human had killed twelve of her loyal soldiers. Twelve. It was an unbelievable massacre. Over all of Equestria's history, maybe two or three ponies had been killed forcibly. This was unprecedented.

The time for mourning would come later, Celestia decided. Now she had to deal with this new threat. It had not been a very good day at all. Celestia thought that it wasn't about to get any better.

She was right.

Celestia was standing in the open courtyard of her castle, along with all the soldiers she could muster. She had in her command about two hundred Royal Guards. It was probably the highest concentration of Equestrian Armed Forces since the war against Nightmare Moon. Hopefully, it would be enough.

She, of course, had no idea what the floating craft was planning to do. Celestia hoped that, perhaps, it was some sort of a diplomatic mission from outer space. Most unlikely indeed.

After about another two minutes, the craft hovered directly above Canterlot. For a few anxious seconds, it did nothing. Then, Celestia and her troops spotted little purple dots coming towards the city.

The citizens of Canterlot, by the way, were pretty much so panicked by everything that it was a completely hopeless endeavor to calm them down. Celestia decided not to spend her energy trying to do so, and put up with the mob's screaming and running around in circles.

The purple dots swiftly grew closer. Celestia and her troops were growing more nervous by the second.

"Princess, what are those things?" Celestia was surprised to hear Twilight's voice coming from behind her. Without Celestia's knowing, Twilight and her friends had assembled in a group behind her. They looked just as nervous as she did.

"I honestly don't know, Twilight. Whatever it is, I doubt it is friendly." Twilight and her fellow friends nodded in somber approval. Celestia was probably right.

Celestia was proven right when the purple dots that turned out to be smaller purple ships started blasting the city with burning purple energy.

The crafts descended upon the city quickly, not stopping their ferocious purple magic blasts from toasting the city and it's citizens. The ships were like phantoms as they swiftly glided through the city, blasting at the closest thing they could find. They were unchallenged until they came upon Celestia and her troops.

"Unicorns, FIRE!!!" Celestia ordered loudly as the ships approached. Every unicorn in the formation, including Twilight and Rarity, started blasting the ships with powerful magic blasts. Surprisingly, it worked. The ships, strong as they were, began to crumble before the powerful magic the unicorns were blasting into them. Pieces of the crafts were torn apart and blown to smithereens, and eventually every single ship, seven in all, either exploded in a great ball of blue fire or crashed to the ground in front of the formation.

Every pony in Canterlot opened their mouths to cheer, but that cheer never came. Suddenly, several more ships began dropping troops and other cargo around the entire city. Canterlot was completely surrounded.

Strange, alien creatures converged on the city from every side. For a few minutes, nothing happened. There was complete silence, besides for the screaming mob running around in circles, so there was of course no silence. Then, an ear deafening roar split Celestia's ears. For a few moments, Celestia could hear nothing but a high pitched ringing. She could see nothing but blue and white light. Then, her vision and hearing returned, and Celestia saw the horror of what had just happened.

The alien invaders had planted powerful explosives around Canterlot's walls and blew them up. There was nothing left but ash and chunks of blackened stone. Nothing stood before the aliens now. Celestia and her troops could see them quickly moving towards their group.

Every citizen who stood before the invaders were brutally killed in ways that nopony in Equestira could imagine. It was not worth thinking about. Celestia and her remaining warriors faced the oncoming storm charging towards them.

Celestia's troops were terrified. Celestia couldn't deny the same about herself. However terrified, they needed to work together to survive. No matter what the cost, Equestira must go on.

"Friends, Equestrians, countrymen, lend me your ears. Today we fight against hell itself. If these aliens want a fight, their sure as hay getting one!" Celestia said, rallying all her troops to her side. All of them, now motivated, stood in a compact circle, completely surrounded by alien forces.

The first alien to fire was a red armored, huge bipedal creature that terrified Celestia more than any other alien thus far. It fired from a huge weapon a green shaft of light that sped quickly towards Celestia's head. It came to suddenly for her to do anything. After all that, she was going to die by this?

Suddenly, something sprinted in front of Celestia. It stood directly between her and the green shaft of light. It took the death blow for her.

The creature flew backwards into the crowd of ponies behind her. All of them parted as it landed with a crashing thud. It took Celestia two seconds to realize that the creature that saved her was Noble Six. She was completely awestruck.

Noble Six lay in a crumpled heap, his face blackened by the explosion the weapon had caused. Somehow, it was still breathing. Miraculously still, it weakly spoke,

"The lives of your soldiers are repaid."

Comments

[ComatoseVEVO]

oh holy shiiiiiiiiiiiiit

[Dawn Fury]

Shit just hit the fan

[South Park Fan]

BET YOU'RE FEELING BAD, HUH EQUESTRIA!!???

[CMD]

SHIT just got real!

[Tyler-B003]

"Heroes are remembered" Spartan-II ones, anyway. No-one even knows the Spartan-IIIs even existed.

They only won because of him, yet only Halsey knew about what 6 did. Sucks to be a Spartan-III.

[Dawn Fury]

4212055
My point exactly

[The Rookie]

4212052 Don't forget the suicide missions nearly every spartan in Alpha and Beta companies died on.

[Hekate Sketch]

4212052

Um, you do realize that Halo: Reach is a prequel, right? the planet Reach was glassed as the first game started. Spartan IIIs don't come around until Halo 3.

[Tyler-B003]

4247972 Yes, I do know. I have the game, so I've seen the first game intro at the end. I also know the Spartan-III program has been around since 2531, around 21 years before both Reach and Halo 3.

[Hekate Sketch]

4248036

oh. Hmm, I *May* need to read the Ghosts of Onyx again......

EDIT: I decided to look at the halo wiki. Yup, Six is an S-III, I did not know that. I always thought him and the rest of Noble Team were S-IIs. boy, don't I feel like a dick.

[ComatoseVEVO]

4163261 nope Six id going to fight the Covenant 'cause Of he does not he Will die

[Godiswithus3]

Noble Six lay in a crumpled heap, his face blackened by the explosion the weapon had caused. Somehow, it was still breathing. Miraculously still, it weakly spoke,
"The lives of your soldiers are repaid."

I tip my hat in respect.

[Shameless Autism]

Really. JUST SHOOT THE FUEL ROD U IDIOT!!!!!!!

[GordonFreebrony]

Why would the covanent speak using human slang? Why would noble six save Celestia? He wouldn't care, not how you painted him previously.

The motivations of every character in this story seem... False. As if they are just going through the motions you set them rather than the motions they would take in those circumstances...

[fargo11]

"Princess Celestia was more than a little bit confused by the purple thing growing closer towards her castle. She, her subjects, and everything on the globe had never seen the likes of it before. It was kind of like a ship, only it floated in air. A revolutionary concept, indeed."

"It was kind of like a ship, only it floated in air. A revolutionary concept, indeed."

"kind of like a ship,floated in air. revolutionary..."

EQUESTRIA HAS AIRSHIPS!
SEASON 2 EPISODE 9
Rarity at one point in the episode does the whole, "breaking the wine bottle over the bow of the ship to launch it thing."
Not very revolutionary.

[Luna is back]

Zin'Onon was about to order the Night Stalker to turn headlong around back towards the Covenant home world, but stopped himself. It was just one Spartan. There was nothing to fear. It would be simple to blast the human with all the plasma they could muster. Zin'Onon ordered his Unggoy brethren to put live feed of the Spartan on the huge central monitor for all to see. The Spartan appeared on screen, running towards the structure they were about to capture. His fellow followers were quite surprised to see a Spartan on this unexplored planet. None of them flipped out, however. They had dealt with the strongest Spartans before.

Ahem MASTER CHEIF DESTROYED MULTIPLE FLEETS ON HIS OWN.
But that hasn't happened yet.