Chapter 18: Once More, With Feeling
“Still getting warmed up?”
Twilight blinked stars from her eyes, too dazed to respond.
“I must say, that was an impressive show of talent. Even against somepony of my caliber, you managed to stave off my efforts for quite some time now.”
Struggling to her hooves, the unicorn reached out to her friends’ minds, finding slight relief in finding signs of life. Her eyes slowly drifted towards an icy blue hoof invading her vision.
“Pity that our time is running short. My beloved is on her way, and I can’t have you still here when she arrives!” An appendage made entirely out of ice gripped Twilight’s throat, slowly lifting her into the air.
“Be honored that with your death, you will save somepony else’s life.”
Twilight kicked feebly, drawing in a single ragged breath before speaking. “You… You…”
“Speak up, young lady. It is rude to mumble!” The Archmage cackled.
“How… How do you know she wants… She wants to come back..?”
“How? How, you say?” The appendage wrenched itself to the side, tossing Twilight several yards away. The unicorn gasped for breath, breaking into a fit of coughing.
“It is because she told me.” His tone was exaggeratedly sarcastic, as if it were obvious.
Twilight struggled to prop herself up with her forelegs. “T-told you…?”
The Archmage’s voice trembled as his mind tread on painful memories. “She told me before she died. She whispered to me… that she wasn’t ready. She said that she wasn’t ready to leave. And yet…”
The Archmage glared hatefully at Twilight through tussled bangs. “And yet, she died right there, in the poisonous light of my mentor’s morning rays.”
Twilight could feel herself being lifted by telekinesis. Her limbs began to go numb, starting at her hoof-tips. Her head was turned to face his. “Don’t… D-don’t do this,” she pleaded, tears welling in her eyes.
“I’ve come so far…” The Archmage whispered. His mouth curved upwards slightly. “Why stop now?”
The numbness had enveloped Twilight’s extremities. It was now accompanied by a bitter cold, which bit into her eyes after every blink. Her sight faded to black, before her senses abandoned her altogether.
There was a muffled thump and a sudden rush of energy as air returned to Twilight’s burning lungs. Instinctively, Twilight coughed and retched as she hyperventilated, the feeling slowly returning to her limbs. Wincing as thousands of tiny needles jabbed into her appendages, the unicorn struggled to her hooves for what seemed like the hundredth time.
Cortana dropped the smoking weapon and helped the beleaguered unicorn the rest of the way. “Good; you’re still alive,” she mused casually.
Twilight scoffed at her uncaring tone, but decided not to retort with something unpleasant upon remembering why she was still alive. “Somehow. I m-must be quite lucky,” she managed.
“I’ve discovered something quite interesting, and I think it will work to our advantage,” Cortana continued, ignoring Twilight. “You see, your friends are obviously not your real friends, correct?”
“Of course they’re my real friends!” Twilight replied angrily, although she immediately regretted her decision when her aching body screamed out in protest.
“No, that’s not what I meant,” Cortana groaned. “I mean your real friends are out there, somewhere. Not in your head, unless you’re clinically insane,” Cortana explained. “It’s so simple; I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. Our rescue—or, your rescue—was all around us the whole time.”
“And what might that be?” Twilight asked, annoyed at the construct’s cryptic explanation.
“Remember where we are. I hadn’t realized that this guy was in control of your body until you showed up here, and when you brought out those reflections of your companions into this… abstract dimension, for lack of a better term. We’re inside your imagination; it is your head, after all.”
“Then how did you get that?” Twilight asked, nodding towards the green device that Cortana had used earlier.
“Since we’re inside my firewall, I have joint control over those powers of creation I mentioned earlier, which gave me an idea to get you out of here.”
After a few seconds of piecing everything together, Twilight could see where this was going. “What, no. There’s got to be a way to get us both out. We just need to think this through. It’s my head, so I should be able to force him out if I want to, right?”
“What do you think we have been trying to do this entire time?” Cortana asked. “We haven’t exactly been pussyfooting around with this Arch-Bastard.”
A few more seconds of rationalizing and logical reasoning later, Twilight could see no sure-fire way to get them both out of there. However, it did rise another question. “But why me? Why do I get to leave? I’ve only just arrived. You’ve been stuck with him for much longer, right?”
“Do I have to spell everything out for you?” The AI sighed before continuing. “There is a reason why he didn’t just stick with me; why he wanted to control you as well. I was just a temporary asset. I don’t know what he’s up to, but he couldn’t do it with just my body and abilities. He had to have your capabilities to do… something. Although I don’t know what that ‘something’ is, I sure as hell am not letting him get what he wants.”
Cortana’s eyes shifted to the dust cloud in the distance. “We don’t have much time. He’ll be back soon. And mad as hell,” she added. “We’ve got to execute this now.”
They stood in silence for several seconds. Twilight broke the quiet with a sigh. “John really wants to see you again.”
For a brief moment, Cortana smiled.
“I know.”
The shifting of marble slabs wiped the expression off of the construct’s face as the dust cloud grew. “Leave your friends here. I’m going to need the extra firepower.”
Nodding, Twilight closed her eyes in concentration. After a soft pop, a clone of herself appeared next to her, its eyes fixated on the dust cloud. Twilight took a moment to admire her handiwork before turning back to Cortana. “What should I tell John?”
“Tell him… Tell him not to make a promise that he can’t keep.” Cortana replied without turning. The cloud of dust began to settle, an outline of a figure visible within. “Now move.”
The unicorn nodded, closing her eyes once more to prepare a teleportation spell. With a flash, she disappeared as the dust parted, revealing a very angry-looking colt.
“I’M GOING TO CUT OUT YOUR FILTHY LITTLE INNARDS!” The Archmage howled.
Cortana smirked, raising her left hand towards the bodies of the clone and Twilight’s friends. They all glowed white, floating upwards before setting down upright. The light faded, revealing six color-coded MJOLNIR armor sets and gold faceplates. The six equines turned to face the Archmage, their determined gazes made invisible by the polarized visors.
Another flash, and a heavy clank followed. Climbing into the Mark I prototype suit, Cortana held up a single finger in a rude gesture before closing the hatch. Stepping in front of the clone, Cortana leveled the six-barreled chain gun at the livid Snowflake. Without hesitation, she pulled the trigger.
***
“Oh, horseapples! Everypony down!”
The enormous golem swung its right arm, which was transmogrified into a deadly, curved blade. The five ponies dropped to the floor, instinctively covering their heads with their forelegs.
After the blade had passed, Applejack was the first to stand up. “Everypony!” She barked. “Scatter! We can’t let ‘im get lucky and take us all out at once!”
The golem swung its other arm in an overhead smash, narrowly missing the group as it spread out across the massive hangar around it.
“W-we can’t fight it!” Fluttershy sobbed.
“Well, beats getting smashed by doing nothing!” Rainbow exclaimed, flapping her wings rapidly to avoid getting grabbed by a massive hand.
“But we’re not helping Twilight like this!” Rarity cried, struggling to yell in spite of her burning lungs.
“Don’t stop for anythin’! Even if it does seem pointless!” Applejack shouted, skidding across the crystalized floor after attempting a sharp turn. “We’ve got priorities!”
“Argh! How long does it take to put a few rocks together?!” Rainbow roared in frustration.
The golem suddenly whirled on the totem in the corner, zeroing in on the motionless Solar Princess, who had her eyes closed in concentration. With a mighty bellow, it charged, brandishing its sword.
“P-Princess Celestia!” The five girls cried in unison.
As the golem neared the Princess, a metallic whine filled the air, followed by a triplet of chirps. After a handful of thumps, a salvo of Anvil-II missiles slammed into the back of the golem, weakening the crystalline elemental. Forced forward by the sudden explosion, the creature collided with the hangar floor, shattering into large chunks.
Five pairs of eyes turned to face the rear of the hangar, their gazes settling on a crippled Pelican dropship, its missile pods still smoking from their recent action. A gold faceplate and olive-green armor could be seen in the forward cabin.
“Woo-hoo! That was amazing!” Pinkie cheered.
“I was wondering where he went,” Rainbow muttered.
“You do realize there is more where that came from?”
The crystal chunks on the floor trembled, pulling themselves back together. The grating noise of rocks grinding against one another filled the room as the giant was reassembled. Rising from a one-knee crouch, the golem stood to its full height, now turning on the immobile Pelican dropship.
“You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me!” Applejack cried exasperatedly.
Before the golem could advance, however, a piercing cry rent the air. After a few seconds of looking around, the group could see that it wasn’t coming from any of them. They raised their heads, staring at the single floating unicorn in the middle of the hangar.
The farmpony cocked her head. “What in tarnation…?”
“N-No! How is this—?!”
“It’s over, Snowflake.”
The Princess approached the writhing unicorn, a calm expression on her face and her eyes afire with sunlight.
“What…?! How did you—?”
“I didn’t do anything. You merely underestimated my student’s abilities,” Celestia corrected.
Snowflake could only snarl angrily as he fought to keep control.
“You have nowhere to turn to; nopony else to use as your shield. And I will certainly not allow you to roam free after this incident,” the Princess boomed. “But, before I seal you away, there is something you must know.”
“No, Princess. There is something that you must know,” the unicorn croaked, a single crazed eye glaring underneath its bangs. “I may have lost this vessel, but you’ve forgotten I still have one more!”
As Celestia opened her mouth to respond, whiteness enveloped the unicorn, expanding rapidly to encompass the Princess, as well as everything in the immediate vicinity.
The five ponies blinked the blindness away, the only thing audible being a thrumming noise and the clomping of heavy metal boots approaching.
“Chief? Is that you?” Rarity ventured nervously.
“What’s going on? Where did they go?” he asked, leveling his assault rifle at the sphere of white.
Before Rarity could explain, the sphere expanded outwards again, disappearing entirely. A figure flew out from the light, crashing into the five blinded equines. Despite the polarized visor, the light was still bright enough to put the Spartan in a hard squint. As the whiteness faded, a familiar form was now added to the collection of horses that lay before him.
“Twilight? Are you… you?”
“Girls..? I’m not dreaming, am I?”
A brief pause before all six of them embraced each other tightly. A flurry of excited cheers and affectionate pleasantries were exchanged.
“Girls! You’re real!”
“Twilight, we’re so glad yer okay!”
“Whee! Twily’s back! Twily’s back!”
“It’s so wonderful to have you back, darling!”
“We thought we’d lost you!”
Amongst the happy cries, a single male voice pierced the conversation.
“Where is Cortana? Did you find her?”
Twilight struggled to her hooves. “Yes; she was with me. She helped me escape.” She frowned at the super-soldier. “She stayed behind so I could regain control; I’m sorry…”
John was already in motion, sprinting towards the sphere of light, which was fading rapidly.
A pained grunt followed by a deity flying out from said sphere knocked the Spartan onto his back.
“I’m sure you won’t mind if I take my leave, since I’m obviously not welcome here!” the Archmage cried as he ran to the crippled Pelican.
“I’ll be back, though. You can count on that much!”
Twilight moved to help the Princess off of John, who was already beginning to do it herself.
“Ungh… I’m sorry; I didn’t know he…”
“It’s okay, Princess. It’s over now.”
Master Chief frowned. “No, it’s not.”
Twilight looked up at the Spartan. “Chief, I know it’s hard, but she wanted me to tell you to not make any promises you can’t keep. She knew that she wouldn’t be leaving. I’m sorry.”
John paused, his arms drooping slightly.
“She said that?”
“I wouldn’t ever lie to you; especially about something this important.”
The super-soldier watched as Cortana’s figure jumped in the Pelican, whose forward engines began to spur up. To his surprise, the craft had little trouble taking off. He noticed two large chunks of crystal were pasted to the rear engines, providing some sort of unseen thrust and allowing the bird to function normally. He must’ve gotten the schematics from Cortana.
A realization hit him like a powerful right hook.
“I can’t let him go off-planet.” The Chief started towards the Pelican.
The Princess stopped his forward progress with an outstretched wing. “Your companion requested you stay here; as hard as it is to accept, we can’t beat him without possibly killing her.”
Twilight decided to add to her mentor’s argument. “I know closure may be important to you, Chief, but…”
“No, it’s not about that.”
The Princess frowned at the Spartan. “Is there something you’d like to tell us, John?”
There was another long pause, the only noise being the whirring of the Pelican’s engines.
“If I don’t go, we all die.”
“You can’t be serious…?” Twilight started.
“No; the Archmage did say he would return. The question is with what? More humans? Or perhaps your enemies?”
“Worse." And with that, the Spartan was off. If Snowflake escaped, there were limitless possibilities. The Covenant, Halo, or worst of all, the Flood. The thought spurred him on as he sprinted towards the Pelican. Luckily for him, the troop bay door was jammed open. With a powerful leap, he vaulted himself skyward, gripping the lower half of the broken hatch. Putting the MA5D on his back, he hoisted himself into the troop bay, moving quickly towards the forward cabin door.
Before he could rip it open itself, it fragmented, sending razor-sharp titanium shards flying everywhere. The majority bounced off of his armor, while a few buried themselves into the bullet-resistant under-armor. Knocked backwards by the force of the blast, he managed to stay on his feet.
A crystallized fist materialized out of the smoke, which he narrowly dodged. Instinct taking over, he hopped back, trying to create some distance between him and his unseen target. Cortana’s figure emerged, her face contorted into a scowl that wasn’t very befitting.
“You just don’t give up, do you?!” she cried in a voice that was not her own.
John stayed silent, keeping a good distance between himself and the construct. They circled for a few moments as the Pelican’s autopilot continued the ascent of the craft.
The Spartan moved quickly, ducking under another powerful swing and gripping the construct in a bear hug under its arms, smashing it against the wall separating the forward cabin and the troop bay. As Snowflake moved to try and release himself, John brought himself back a foot, and followed up with another crushing ram.
Snowflake responded with an elbow to John’s back, and then an overhead smash with both fists. The screaming of metal ripping and the cracking of something in his back caused the soldier to flinch, loosening his grip on Snowflake; this allowed the construct to get his hands between the soldier’s body and his, pushing him back with a mighty shove. John stumbled back a couple of steps before stopping himself at the rear of the troop bay. He took a few steps forward before bringing up his arms again.
The construct smirked. “Oh, John. Always in over your head. I’ve seen everything, you know. Your past successes; they always seemed to be completely hopeless in the beginning. However, there is something you must realize.”
Snowflake gestured to the empty troop bay. “You are alone. You’ve usually had someone to pull the heat off of your haunches while you finish the job. Blue team, Johnson, Cortana, the Arbiter; the list is a long one. This time, though…” Snowflake’s right hand balled into a fist as crystals sprang from the appendage, converging into an evil-looking spike. “It looks like you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, and there is no one to help with the leftovers.”
Ignoring the threat, John feigned a forward charge before stepping back, tempting the Archmage forward. Leaning back to avoid a jab of the spike, John parried with his right hand, twisting his wrist to wrap his hand around his opponent’s forearm. The construct countered with a solid punch with its free hand, which the Spartan deftly caught in a powerful grip. John smashed his helmet against the construct, hoping to stun it. Snowflake responded with an even more powerful headbutt, severely cracking the left half of John’s visor.
Abandoning that strategy, John released the construct’s fist and gripped the back of its neck. Pinning the other arm against its side, he brought his knee into Snowflake’s midriff, managing to get two strikes in before the construct planted its left hand on John’s visor, shoving the soldier into the wall of the troop bay and forcing him into one of the seats.
Shaking his head to clear his vision, John jerked his head to the left to avoid a skull-crushing punch. Keeping low, he kicked out at the construct’s legs, knocking them out from under it. Pushing himself upright, he quickly brought his boot down on the construct’s face. He felt something slow his foot, eventually stopping it. Suddenly, it pushed upward, flipping him backwards, towards the forward cabin. Falling into the doorway, the Spartan’s eye caught a pistol sitting on the console in the cockpit. Rolling onto his stomach, he started to push himself upright before he was pushed back down.
Struggling to see over his suit’s backpack, he could see Snowflake had taken a knee on John’s back. Before he could reach back, a hot poker ran through his right shoulder before his arm went completely numb. He glanced over, eyes widening slightly at the spike that impaled his arm to the deck. The automatic biofoam injectors sputtered to life, causing immense pain in his shoulder, but his arm still felt quite numb.
“I told you…”
The screeching of tearing metal filled John’s helmet speakers. He felt the backpack come off, and the thud of it landing a few feet behind him. Warning lights popped up on his HUD, indicating that the suit had a breach, as well as a power shortage.
“You are in over your head!”
The Spartan’s one good arm was wrenched backward, neatly tearing the metal shoulder-plate clean off. More warning lights popped up on his HUD.
“Your armor cannot withstand my might!”
John felt something grip his helmet beneath his chin and begin to yank upwards. Desperately, he grasped at the arm responsible, trying to hold it down. Alarms began to go off inside his helmet as the seals began to tear from the brute force of the pulling. It wasn’t long before he lost the power-struggle. The lights faded as their connection with the suit was forcefully severed, the HUD darkening and disappearing. The roaring of the wind filled John’s ears as a blast of desert heat entered the temperature-controlled space within his helmet. The soldier’s head jerked backwards as the helmet was ripped off, bouncing once off of the rear of the troop bay and out the door of the Pelican.
“Your strength cannot match my own!”
Cold crystal gripped John’s head, squeezing it uncomfortably tight.
“And now, you will die at the hand of your own companion. How rich!”
John’s one good arm reached feebly at the offending appendage, his senses beginning to fade, one by one.
“I will find this Halo, and the universe will feel my wrath.”
“Not if we have something to say about it!”
John felt himself suddenly lighten as the construct was knocked off of his back. A screech followed as the spike in his left shoulder was removed, sending a wave of pain through his body. It woke him up, sobering him of any lethargy received from blood loss. He rolled over, glancing at what had saved him.
A familiar cyan Pegasus struggled to lift a familiar purple unicorn, who lifted a familiar-looking ARC-920 Railgun, whose barrel was smoking.
“You WENCH!”
Snowflake hurled John’s shoulder pad at the Pegasus, clipping her left wing and causing something to snap. The two plummeted towards the ground, screaming the whole way.
As Snowflake turned, the Spartan noticed several cracks on the construct’s back and chest. His eyes darted to the backpack at the back of the troop bay; the rear hatch was ripped off and the small fusion reactor exposed, heat waves rippling from the small compartment.
“Now, let’s finish what we started, shall we?” Snowflake began to limp forward towards John, a wicked smirk on the construct’s face.
The Spartan retreated inside the forward cabin, trailing biofoam and blood-filled gel leaking from his armor. Drunkenly, he grabbed the pistol, whirling on the construct and taking aim.
It was John’s turn to smirk. “Yeah. Let’s.”
John fired, the bullet passing the construct and hitting the miniature fusion reactor. There was a spark, drawing Snowflake’s attention away from the Spartan. The shockwave from the ensuing explosion shattered the construct into tiny pieces.
The cold touch of liquid mercury filled his head for a moment.
***
"You've found me."
The Spartan's gaze fell on the figure huddled in the center of the projection table. The construct flinched, curling herself into an even tighter ball.
“So much of me is wrong… Out of place… You might be too late,” she finished.
John knelt. “You know me. When I make a promise,” he started, staring expectantly.
Cortana looked up, smiling weakly. “You… Keep it.”
They shared a moment of casual bliss, bathing in the warmth of each other's grins.
“I do know how to pick ‘em.” Cortana added.
John’s eyes closed for the last time. The world around him blossomed into flame.
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The epilogue is out already... So I guess I'll read it first thing.
wow, that was weak...
..........
The prototype! Man I loved that thing! Xd
Once again I find a piece of work getting terminology mixed up.
A chaingun DOES NOT have more than one barrel while a minigun/rotary cannon/gatling gun DOES have more than one barrel.
GET. IT. RIGHT. PEOPLE.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_gun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatling_gun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_cannon