Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
Adam maneuvered the pelican through Equis’s atmosphere, breaking through the cloud layer around the area that Twilight that pointed out to him. As soon as the puffy white walls of the cloud layer ended, Adam came out flying over a large mountain range. He turned his head back to address Twilight.
“So where exactly is this city?” he asked her. She pointed a hoof out of the window.
“There,” she said. Adam turned back around, and was surprised to see a massive city wrapping around the middle of one of the mountains. It seemed to wrap around the entire spire, meaning it must have been fairly large, as opposed to Ponyville, which was only about a kilometer in either direction. Adam flew the pelican closer, until he began to see banners emblazoned with symbols of the sun and moon. That must be the palace, he thought. Now where are the gardens? Almost reading his mind, Twilight called out from the troop bay.
“The palace gardens are further to your left, on the lower levels of the palace.” Adam nodded, and turned the pelican to the left. It was very early in the morning, as they had only been on Lightning for a few hours, so there were very few ponies up and about. Even if they were awake, however, the pelican was painted a rather dark color, so even without the active camouflage upgrade, they still remained mostly hidden. Adam looked out the window, and spotted a massive green courtyard, filled with many pieces of flora. The center of the courtyard had a large fountain, and ahead of that was a long, wide walkway. This walkway was plenty large enough to accommodate for the pelican, so Adam maneuvered the pelican down, and hovered to the ground, back hatch facing the palace entrance.
Adam stood up from his seat, and walked into the troop bay. He helped the ponies out of their harnesses, and they all stood up and stretched briefly, before Adam walked over to the back hatch, and opened it up. Standing outside were two guards, both with very stern expressions. One stepped forward.
“Their highnesses have been expecting you,” he said. “Please, follow me.” He then quickly spun around, as did the second guard, and began walking towards the palace doors. Adam cautiously followed behind, the other ponies following closely. They were led through several massive hallways, with sets of guards flanking the walls every several meters. Finally, they came to a set of large doors, and the guardspony knocked on them three times. The door was enveloped in a golden aura, and quickly opened, revealing a room whose starkness was an exact opposite of the grandiose hallways. In the center of the room was a large circular table, with a well-drawn map of Equis set on it. One part in particular was highlighted red, and several flags were planted in and around this area. One set of flags were blue, and the other was red, with the red ones outnumbering the blues by five times. Surrounding the table were Princesses Celestia and Luna, as well as several guards. One guard appeared to be fairly young. He had a long, electric blue mane, and decorated purple armor. He glanced upwards at the newcomers, and, at the sight of Twilight Sparkle, he smiled and his face lightened up.
“Twily!” he yelled, running towards her.
“Shining!” she yelled back, and she ran to meet him halfway. When they met, they embraced, happy to see one another. They disconnected from one another, and Twilight turned to look at Adam.
“Adam,” she said. “This is my brother Shining Armor, captain of the guard.” Adam nodded politely, and Shining regarded him cautiously, sizing him up. The Spartan did not want any trouble, so he took the initiative, and stepped forward, extending his hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Adam said. Shining stared at his hand for a few moments, evaluating the threat, before he cautiously extended his hoof into the Spartan’s awaiting palm. Adam closed his hand around the hoof, and they both shook. They were interrupted as Luna coughed, attempting to get their attention. Shining Armor immediately shot his hoof back, and stood straight, awaiting instructions. Adam turned to face the two alicorns, and then regarded the map.
“What’s the situation?” he asked. Princess Luna approached the map, and moved all of the blue flags around the highlighted area, and all of the red flags across the Equestrian border, into Griffon territory.
“You remember I told you about the… difficulties that we have been having with one of our neighboring countries?” she asked him. Adam nodded, and Luna slowly began moving the red flags towards the blue ones, and the highlighted region.
“Earlier, when I was alerted while aboard your ship, the Griffons moved forward, and drove our guards from the ruins.” As she spoke, the red flags moved forward, and surrounded the area that must have been the ruins, and the blue ones retreated, several of them falling over.
“Many have already died, Adam,” she said, her eyes full of sadness. “And we do not know if we can drive them back. Our military is skilled, yes, but against the might and size of the Griffons… We need help.” Adam nodded, and looked up at her.
“What do you need me to do?” he asked, his tone serious. Celestia stepped forward.
“We wish for you to scare them away, Del- er… Adam,” she said. “We do not want all-out war with the Griffons over a dispute such as this, but if they will not cooperate, then we must react.” Adam nodded once more. He understood what they were trying to do. He knew better than any of the ponies in the room that war was something that was best when it never happened. Adam stepped back from the map table, and began walking out of the room. Before he exited, he turned around.
“Give me the coordinates, I’ll upload them to my pelican,” he said. He then turned back around, and exited the room.
As Adam flew his pelican high above the green Equestrian landscape, he thought about his current predicament. The coordinates provided to him pointed him far to the northwest of Equestria, right on the border of the nation. His briefing had been quick, but it provided him with his objectives: clear out the Griffons using as little violent force as possible, and secure the interior of the ruins. It was fairly easy in comparison to the other missions that the UNSC had sent him on over his time as a Spartan-IV. With any luck, the Griffons would recognize his technological superiority, and his battlefield experience, and leave without incident. However, based on the short description he had received about Griffon behavior, he doubted that this would happen. If push came to shove, he hoped that he wouldn’t have to kill too many of the creatures. The princesses didn’t want a war, and he understood their reasoning. And as such, it rested upon him to prevent the Griffons from trying anything.
As plains turned to forest, and as forest turned snowy, his mind wandered to the short conversation he had had with Ulysses, Lightning’s old AI. While most of what he had said had been garbled, two things had been made clear: his appearance in Equestria was not a coincidence, and there was at least one Forerunner structure on the planet. Adam didn’t know all that much about Forerunners. Anything that was uncovered by the UNSC or ONI was usually kept rather hush-hush. In the three years that he had been in the Spartan program, only two missions had involved the Forerunners. One was a set of ruins that Insurrectionists were trying to exploit, and he had been sent to wipe them out. The second was simple reconnaissance of a set of Forerunner structures on an old human colony, but once he had reported that the area was clear, a team with much higher security clearance than his was sent in.
Other than those two missions, and the limited information granted to him for being a Spartan, he knew nothing about the ancient beings. Adam checked the Pelican’s radar, and saw that he was quickly approaching the Equestrian military’s encampment near the Griffon-occupied ruins. A visual check out the window confirmed this, and he set the ship down in a large clearing that had been prepared for him. He powered down the engines, and entered the troop compartment. Filling every seat of the bay was a royal guard. Princess Celestia had seen fit to send reinforcements to the camp, and since he was the fastest way there, she sent them with him. They all undid their harnesses, and filed out into the camp before him. He followed behind, and looked around for the pony in charge. Celestia had instructed him to report to the commander, a pony by the name of “Iron Hoof”, so that he could inform the soldier who he was, and that he was there to deal with their Griffon problem. He scanned the camp, and at the far end, he saw a large pony with a purple crest on his helmet. Adam walked up behind the pony, and coughed to get his attention. The pony turned around, annoyed, but lightened up upon seeing Adam.
“You must be the ‘surprise’ that her highness sent to help us out,” he said. Iron Hoof eyed Adam up and down, clearly trying to assess the threat level. “I honestly can’t say I’ve ever seen anything like you, but if her majesty trusts you to do this, that’s enough for me.” Iron Hoof jerked his head towards a tent, and began walking towards it. Adam followed behind him, and pushed the flaps open, revealing a table not unlike the one at Canterlot palace. The only difference was that the map, rather than showing the whole world, only showed the region that they occupied. Borders of the hot zone had been outlined in red ink, and troop placements were shown in much finer detail. Iron put his forehoofs up onto the table, and sighed, shaking his head.
“The Griffons attacked without warning,” he began. “One moment we were patrolling the perimeter, the next I had already lost two squads…” He lowered his head sadly. “I had no choice… We had to fall back to the camp. No sooner had we evacuated the area than the Griffons had occupied the entire ruins. They outnumber us heavily…” Adam looked over the placement of the Griffons around the ruins. Most were organized into two or three rows of about fifteen soldiers per row, and some were in perimeter defense positions, with only a soldier or two. Adam looked at the rows of soldiers, and realized that they were using very old firing line tactics. It made sense, really. If their primary ranged weapon was the bow and arrow, then they would likely stay in static positions, and barrage the enemies from further back. Guerilla warfare would mean nothing to them, then. If he was forced to fight them, he would have an advantage.
“Prepare your soldiers,” Adam said, still scrutinizing the map. “If I can’t talk them down, I may need some… backup… Just wait for my signal.” Adam turned and began to walk out of the tent.
“What’s the signal?” asked Iron Hoof, stepping towards him.
“You’ll know it when you see it,” Adam replied as he continued walking. Adam made for the edge of the camp, in the direction of the ruins. The walk was short, as only about 400 meters separated the camp from the ruins. For a Spartan, that was a brisk walk in the park. As he neared the area that the ruins (and Griffons) occupied, he began to see movement ahead in the forest. They were likely only sentries, but just to be safe, Adam activated his active camouflage. He then equipped his MA5D, and turned the safety off. Adam walked forward another few meters, and then entered the clearing. Before deactivating his cloak, he looked around, examining the Griffon soldiers. They were all quite large, much larger than the average pony. By his estimates, most ponies were only about 3 feet 8 inches tall, with some of the larger ones reaching four feet. The Griffons were about 6 feet each, making it clear to Adam why the ponies had lost the ruins. Even if the ponies had outnumbered the Griffons, they still would have lost due to simple strength.
As the map had shown him, most of the Griffons carried short bows on their backs, and remained in firing line positions. Each firing line contained about 30 soldiers (15 per row), and he counted four such firing lines, meaning that there were at least 120 hostiles there. However, there were isolated pockets of sentries and perimeter guards, and there were likely more firing lines further back that he couldn’t see. Adam frowned. He didn’t like going in with so little intel, but when one’s enemy was relying on bows and arrows to eliminate their enemies from afar, he realized that his chances were much greater. One more visual scan of the area gave him the location of the commander in charge of these soldiers, a large Griffon with extremely dark feathers, and a heavy set of chainmail armor covering most of his body. He carried a large spear on his back, and next to that, a large bow. Adam noticed that his energy levels were going down, so if he was to reveal himself to the Griffons on his own accord, now was the time to do it. He stood up in the center of the clearing, and deactivated his cloak. Immediately, dozens of spears and arrows were pointed right towards him, and he responded in kind by aiming his assault rifle at the Griffon commander. The Griffon commander cautiously looked over Adam, then he scowled.
“Whoever you may be, you would do best to leave this area immediately!” he shouted angrily. “If you do not leave, we shall open fire!” Adam smirked.
“These ruins do not belong to you!” Adam responded. “Leave, and nobody has to get hurt…” The Griffons all laughed at this, underestimating the great threat that stood before them.
“You think you can hurt us!?” the Griffon commander shouted back. “You and what army?”
“I am an army…” Adam said. He pointed his assault rifle in front of the Griffon’s large talons, and fired off several shots. The dirt in front of the Griffon exploded upwards as the 7.62x51mm armor piercing rounds impacted into it, and forced the Griffon to move backwards. He looked at the ground, surprised, then back to Adam, and snarled.
“A show of force, hmm?” he asked, taunting Adam. “Very well. Squad one, ready!” One of the firing line squads to Adam’s left pulled back on their bows, aiming directly towards him.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Adam warned, and pointed to his rifle. “This thing does a lot more than make noise, it can and will kill you. Stand down, and leave.” This only seemed to amuse the Griffons even further, and the commander chuckled.
“Fire.”
The first firing line released their bowstrings, sending thirty arrows soaring through the air. A few missed, but most made their mark, impacting directly on the Spartan. The crude arrows did little to no damage to his shields, only taking the bar down by ¼. The golden glow of his shields causing the arrows to bounce away from him surprised the Griffons, and the commander’s eyes widened. He commanded the second squad to fire at Adam right as his shields were recharging, so no damage was taken, once again. This only enraged the Griffons and their commander, and the large Griffon took a step forwards.
“Whatever magic you are using, it will not work forever!” he screamed. He then pulled the large spear off of his back, and hefted it above his head. He pulled his arm all the way back, then shot it forward, releasing the spear at incredible speeds. It flew towards Adam, and hit him square in the visor, taking the shield down to 1/3 strength. The spear hitting so close to his face caused him to blink, but this was not visible to the incredibly angry Griffons. The Griffon commander was not one to give up, it seemed, and he then proceeded to pull a wicked knife out of a belt around his midsection. Adam’s eyes widened at this. While things like arrows and spears could be deflected at range, knives at close range could cut through the shield and, if angled properly, could go right through the black undersuit. This knife was not nearly as effective as the standard issue UNSC combat knives, but it could still possibly do some hurt. Either way, Adam didn’t want to find out. The Griffon began rushing right for him, knife raised above his head, so Adam raised his MA5D, sighted in on the Griffon’s head, and let loose five consecutive shots. Each one made their mark, and a second later, the Griffon fell to the ground, dead. Blood oozed from the wounds in his head, and the Griffon soldiers faltered. Adam raised the assault rifle high in the sky and fired off half of the magazine. The Griffon’s looks of determination were now replaced with looks of fear, and they slowly began backing off. Adam heard rustling in the trees behind him, and saw that the ponies had interpreted his ‘signal’ of killing the commander. The pony force stood strong behind him, spears held menacingly at the ready. The Griffon soldiers took several steps back, before they all launched themselves into the sky, and fell back.
Once they were out of sight, Adam heard the ponies begin to cheer behind him. He reloaded his magazine, and turned to look at the ponies.
“Fortify the ruins,” he said. “From what I’ve heard, the Griffons aren’t ones to give up so easily. They’ll be back.” The ponies all nodded in agreement, and marched forwards, beginning to fortify the area. The pony commander, Iron Hoof, approached Adam, smiling.
“Well done!” he said. “Please report back to the princess that we will not let these ruins fall.” Adam nodded, and walked back to his pelican at the pony encampment.
He entered the troop bay, and closed the back hatch. He then proceeded into the cockpit, strapped himself in, and started up all of the systems. As he looked from one side of the control panel to the other, his eyes quickly ran across the scanners. Normally he would have kept moving on to the other side of the panel, but something caused him to do a double-take. On the scanners, right over the ruins, was a flashing green symbol. It was not just any symbol, however. It was the symbol used by the UNSC to indicate possible Forerunner signatures. His eyes shot open as he realized he had found the structure that Ulysses has been talking about. He began shutting down systems, ready to go investigate, when he thought about what Iron Hoof had said. Somebody needed to let Celestia know that they had been victorious at the ruins, and that more reinforcements would likely be needed in order to hold them. But he would also need some help with the ruins. If these Forerunner signatures were accurate, then he would need some help exploring them. He turned the various systems back on, and lifted off, heading in the direction of Canterlot.
Adam set the pelican down back in the castle gardens, this time not caring for stealth (it was late evening, his options were limited), and he stalked back into the castle. As he entered the doors, he was met by a guard.
“Follow me,” the guard said. “I will take you to Princess Celestia.” He began walking down the hall, in the direction of the war room that he had been taken to before. Finally, they reached the large set of doors, which opened to reveal the stark room once again. Surrounding the table were the two Princesses, and Shining Armor. Adam noted the absence of Twilight and her friends, but figured that they had either left for Ponyville, or were elsewhere in the castle. Celestia smiled as she saw Adam enter.
“Adam!” she said happily. “I would assume then that your mission was a success?”
“Yes,” Adam nodded. “The ruins are once again under pony control, but another detachment should be sent if you want to keep it that way.” Celestia nodded, then looked to Shining Armor. He saluted, and ran out of the room.
“Thank you, Adam,” said Celestia. “Were it not for you, I fear that we would have lost the ruins permanently, and would have had to give up the land to the Griffons.” Adam nodded, and looked at the map.
“Something else troubles you…” Luna said cautiously. “What is it?” Adam sighed.
“You remember what the AI said? About finding Forerunner structures?” he said. Luna nodded.
“Yes, I meant to ask you,” she replied. “What exactly is a ‘Forerunner’?” Adam thought about what the best explanation was. His knowledge was quite limited, but he knew the basics.
“In my story about the Human-Covenant War, you remember that I said they were doing all of the killing for their gods?” The two princesses nodded. “They believed that the Forerunners were their gods. In reality, they were an incredibly highly advanced alien race that died out a hundred thousand years ago. What remains of their civilization is embodied in the various ruins and structures that dot the galaxy.” Celestia’s eyes widened as what Adam was saying clicked in her mind.
“So you are saying that one of these structures is located within the ruins?” she said. Adam nodded.
“Yes, the AI aboard Lightning was the first to tell me, but I haven’t done much about it,” he began. “That was, until I was just leaving the ruins. My ship scanners picked up Forerunner signatures beneath the ruins. I believe that these are the ones that Ulysses was talking about.”
“And you are requesting our permission to explore them” Luna asked. Adam nodded, and clasped his hands behind his back. The two princesses looked at one another, then nodded.
“Very well,” Princess Celestia said. “Though I would like to send someone with you.”
“That would be welcome,” Adam said. “Forerunner ruins are quite large, I could use the help.” Celestia smiled.
“Then I shall send Twilight and her friends to assist you. I shall also send reinforcements, though they can go separate. For now, please, come with us,” Celestia and Luna exited the room, Adam in tow. They lead him throughout several corridors, until they stopped at another very large door.
“You must be very hungry,” Celestia said. “We shall eat.” Adam began to refuse, opting rather to eat in his pelican, when he thought back to his rations. All of his rations had been left on the old pelican, and he had had no time to stock up the new one with them. He had no food. Therefore, Adam conceded, and stepped inside.
The dining hall, for that is what Adam assumed it was, was massive. The walls were at least 50 feet high, at were adorned with intricate paintings while grandiose chandeliers hung from the ceiling. The table was twice as long as the walls, and had enough chairs to seat dozens of ponies. He noticed that the chairs were all much smaller, and more shaped to fit pony anatomy. All of the chairs were like this except for one, which was much larger and seemed to be made for him. It was at the end of the table, right next to a large throne. Already seated were Twilight and her five friends, as well as Doctors Gazer and Skychaser. Luna and Celestia took seats at their thrones, and Adam took a seat in the one that was intended for him.
“Hello Adam,” Twilight said. “Did you secure the ruins?” Adam nodded.
“I did,” he said. Twilight was about to press on when Celestia spoke up.
“Before the waiters arrive, I’m afraid that none of us are versed in human dietary habits,” she said. “What exactly do humans eat?”
“Pretty much anything,” he said. “We’re omnivorous. Except things that you eat like hay, we can digest just about anything edible.” Luna looked at Adam nervously.
“You’re… omnivorous?” she asked. Adam nodded in the affirmative. “So, you consume meat?” Adam was about to say yes, when he realized that he had never seen a single pony eat meat. As he thought on it, it made sense. Most animals here seemed at least to be more intelligent than their earth counterparts, and while not all could speak, they seemed to understand a bit more. Because of this, it made sense to Adam that the ponies would not eat them. But still, he decided that being honest and clearing it out of the way now was best.
“Yes, humans eat meat,” he said. “But don’t worry, we don’t eat pony, and if it is a part of your laws, I will not eat any meat while I am here.” This seemed to relieve the ponies in the room, as Adam could clearly hear several of them let out a breath. Adam thought over his promise of no meat. It wasn’t impossible for humans to survive on a vegetarian diet, but for a Spartan who needed plenty of protein and calories, it would be more difficult. Oh well, Adam thought. Maybe they have protein bars. A few minutes later, a pony with a white chef’s hat walked out of a door in the wall, which lead to what Adam assumed was the kitchen, and took everyone’s order. He decided to go with a simple salad, no hay or anything on it, and water to drink.
The food came out quickly, and they all had conversations while they ate. Adam had to, of course, take his helmet off, and while most of the ponies had already seen his face, it was new for Celestia. She spent most of their dinner taking in most of his features, getting an idea for human facial anatomy. The conversations that they had mostly devolved into simple questionnaires for Adam, so he had to answer several more questions about humans and human culture. They talked late into the night, and when a guard finally led Adam to his guest quarters, his helmet chrono read 030. He was exhausted from his long day, and he flopped down on the bed. Celestia had said that the next day he would fly himself and the Ponyville group out to the ruins to find the entrance to the Forerunner section, and then explore them. As he lay in bed, the thought back on his day. He had walked right on in to a Griffon encampment, killed their leader, and then scared the rest off. He had probably just made a new enemy today, but right now, he didn’t care. He was too tired, so he simply closed his eyes, and let sleep wash over him.
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Please!... Continue...
Awesome. The story is moving along nicely. Keep up the good work!
Another amazing chapter! Keep up the awesome work!
One thing I would like to ask is why Adam keeps giving away UNSC secrets so casually?
To the author cos I'm lazy your information gathering of halo is very bad hence this story is bad everthing else is fine its just your information gathering of this fic needed more more work
That probably didn't make any sense but watever
Not eating meat eh well fuck off
@SpartanD014
Adam's unprovoked attack against the gryphons was a huge blow to my ability to suspend my disbelief, no soldier is going to just attack another nation without orders like that, it's a serious violation of military law (not to mention common sense). Honestly, I had been enjoying this story, but the repeated blows to simple common sense has shattered my suspension of disbelief and now I can't read it without thinking just how purely contrived everything seems. I don't normally hand out down-votes, but as this story is, I cannot give it an up-vote.
If you would like more specific feedback - for example to consider a rewrite - feel free to message me, I would be happy to offer my two-cents. After all, I think this story had promise, it just needs some serious TLC.
4589472 Some of it isn't as classified as it used to be.
4807319 I agree, ZE MUST BE SHOW ZE CARNIVOROUS SIDE OF HUMANITY
6362810 CORRECT, after the end of the war some shit was made public, on of them being the Spartans, except not to the ponies, they're too innocent
No no no no no no no NO THE FREAKING FLOOD BE IN THAT U MORON!!!!!!!!!!!
