Halo: Ponies and Clouded Pasts

by Blazer

REWRITE 3: Authorized Princesses Only

Something was different.

It was as if someone had searched her room and attempted to hide signs of their tampering—leaving a subtle feeling of change and unease.

An unfamiliar presence lurked in her astral domain, and Princess Luna was going to find out what it was.

Riding her incorporeal wings through the gentle updrafts of her ethereal realm, the lunar regent scanned the thousands of dreams populating the space surrounding her like stars in a night sky. So far, the dreamers had all been her loving subjects. Berry Punch successfully rescued a filly princess from the evil dinosaur, Derpy Hooves managed to open her first muffin store, and Big Mac had the misfortune of showing up for a hectic morning of chores only to realize he had been missing his pants for the first hour... Whatever that meant.

That lingering unease remained despite all signs denying anything out of the ordinary. Some dreams visited darker territories and themes but even these didn't warrant her growing dread.

She left the outskirts of Ponyville, gliding through the rolling hills at breakneck speeds. In her astral form, however, she felt no resistance or other side effects of flying beyond the safer speeds she normally did in the material plane. With the mental acuity afforded her from thousands of years of practice, she leapt from dream to dream with lightning speed—effectively skimming each one like a lakeside falcon taking a mid-flight drink. Images of the woodland creatures' various fantasies flitted through her consciousness, the repetition of these simplistic dreams quickly burning through her thinning patience.

While she was capable of maintaining saint-like fortitude regarding important matters, this was a pursuit that she alone was forcing upon herself. Nopony would be disappointed in her if she abandoned her search prematurely. To go so far as to search outside the cities for this mysterious something progressively seemed more and more obsessive rather than logical. Perhaps she was thinking too hard about—!

There it was. For a split second, she had seen something different. Something foreign.

Alien.

Screeching to an impossibly quick halt, she expanded her consciousness to the nearest dreaming creatures.

A family of squirrels. A pair of sparrows. A fox in a borrowed burrow.

There.

She stopped above the ancient oak, her eyes alight with curiosity. At the tree's base lay a single figure. It was slumped over, its abdomen rising and falling with gentle breaths. As she moved around to the front of the tree, she gasped in shock.

It was a human.

A human in Equestria?

Questions raced through her mind as she approached, her eyes studying the creature's face—the obscured visage exposed thanks to the projection of its astral form in Luna's astral domain.

It bore short-cropped salt-and-pepper hair and a clean shave. It had a heavy brow that gave its face a grim, almost irritated appearance that partially cast its closed eyes in shadow. A square jaw and the turned-down corners of its mouth enhanced the dark expression of its upper face to frightful effect. Wrinkles had spread into the tops and sides of the soft cheekbones and edges of the eyes, indicating a lengthy life.

Who is this, she wondered. A tiny spark of triumph burned at the back of her mind—her premonition had been dead-on.

She glanced at the orb above the creature's head, her jaw setting with determination. Whatever questions she had, most if not all of them would be answered by entering the creature's dream. Bowing her head, she tapped her horn against the glowing sphere. Warmth flooded her appendage as her vision swam white, momentarily blinding her.

***

The acrid stench of smoke stung her nostrils as she came to, blinking rapidly as her eyes adjusted to the chaos below her.

A city sprawled before her—thousands of narrow buildings crowding together like a bundle of cast-iron needles stretching to the sky. Lit windows twinkled on each one, creating a stunning tapestry of light that stretched to the distant horizon. It would have been beautiful if it weren't for the smoke.

Hundreds of pillars of thick black smoke choked her view of the city, an occasional explosion ringing out and birthing yet another smokestack to join its inky predecessors. Frightened cries and bizarre sounds peppered her like flies crowding a corpse as she drank in the familiar ambience.

War. A grand war on a scale she had only seen once before.

She closed her eyes as she seeked her dreamer—immediately finding it a scant handful of miles away. Willing herself to join her quarry, she opened her eyes again as she studied the interior of her new surroundings.

She was inside a metal box, several bipedal creatures similar to her dreamer conducting some kind of inspection.

More humans. She had never seen so many in one place before!

A series of clicks and metallic snaps filled the silence as these humans wordlessly prepared themselves. They moved with practiced smoothness probably achieved from endless drills and rigorous training. Soldiers. She noticed one of the humans wasn't moving—sitting completely still by the edge of the box.

Her dreamer was enormous in comparison to the other helmeted bipeds—almost three heads taller than any of the other creatures sharing the space. It wore olive-green plates on top of its darkened skin, covering most of its body. Its visored helmet stared straight ahead, rocking gently as the box seemed to jump and heave from outside stimuli. It cradled a strange device in its hands—not unlike the ones the other humans were busily inspecting.

A door appeared on one side of the box—the wall lowering and serving as a ramp as it revealed the battle-scarred city the Princess had seen before.

"Pile out! Go, go, go!"

In an instant, the flying box as emptied as all seven humans leapt out—hitting the ground running as they moved towards a cluster of tents set up at the foot of a larger building.

"I'll circle back for the wounded. Keep me posted, Cortana."
"Of course, Sergeant."

She spied her human standing before a smaller human. Unlike the ones in the flying box, this one wore an open-faced helmet.

"...company. CP's this way."

The two dashed off towards the tents. Luna followed like a silent spectre, keeping her ears open for any and all possibly significant details.

Another familiar smell made her wrinkle her snout as they approached the tents. Blood. Lots of it. Her eyes narrowed as they passed a couple of triage tents. Worryingly few medical staff moved between dozens of blood-soaked cots—each and every one occupied by a wounded soldier. Some cried out in pain, others pleaded for death and a few remained quiet and still.

"The Lieutenant got hit as soon as we dropped in."
"Who's in charge now, Corporal?"
"Sergeant Banks, ma'am. He's pinned down up front. Come on, I'll show you."

Luna blinked, appearing at the top of a large staircase. Three humans crowded around a larger version of those elongated devices her human was carrying. The tip of the barrel belched a stream of fire, the ratatatat interrupted by the frantic discussion of the soldiers.

"No, no, no, behind that S-T! Yeah, yeah, yeah."
"Three more, comin' left!"
"I'm runnin' low, man!"

She looked to her right, her human moving out onto a large balcony.

"Friendlies moving out! Covering fire!"

The humans moved to the edge of their vantage point, aiming their devices into the space below. They jerked and jumped as each device began to bang and pop with what could only be described as small explosions. As the Princess moved to the edge, she caught her first glimpse of the enemy.

What had once been a cornerside plaza was now the site of a ferocious battle. Dozens of strange creatures swarmed the courtyard below, roaring and screeching in a language Princess Luna couldn't quite make out. They wielded strange objects that glowed a variety of blues, greens and purples, launching salvoes of white-hot blobs back at the humans on the balcony. One human was hit—falling backwards as he screamed in agony. His wound bubbled and sizzled as the blob melted into his chest cavity, his screams devolving into panicked gurgles as blood filled his lungs.

As another human dragged the dying soldier away, Luna looked back just in time to see her human leap over the edge, a heavy WHUMP punctuating its landing below. It raised its device—the barrel flashing three times. Three of the creatures fell forward, leaking vibrant fluids from large holes that appreared on what would be their foreheads.

The barrel blazed several more times—an equal number of the creatures prostrating themselves as the life left their bodies. The remaining creatures began to make a break for the cover of the ruined building across the street, crying out in horror.

"The demon is here! Retreat," they screamed, hoofing it into cover.

Seemingly satisfied, her human raised its device, a large box ejecting out of the back of the weapon. Rummaging in a pouch at its belt, it removed an identical one and slapped it where the other once resided.

"When I asked for reinforcements, I didn't think they'd send a Spartan."

Behind the human, a wounded soldier crouched against the wall holding his side—the armor there burned black. Crimson spilled over the soldier's fingers as he spoke.

A sudden explosion shook the plaza as the balcony the humans had descended disappeared into a bright blue blaze. The Princess's eyes traced the source—a massive purple structure sitting in a gap between two buildings overlooking the plaza.

"We gotta take that thing out. Cover me!"

Her human nodded, standing upright and moving to a strange device set up against the railing.

"Enemy counterattack! Across the street! Down low!"

The device blossomed into flame, a withering hail of projectiles arcing towards the doorway of the building. It fired in short bursts, the barrel of the weapon starting to glow red from the constant use.

Something moved into the doorway below—a bright blue pair of translucent ovals barring the path of projectiles. The strange barriers flashed as her human's efforts were diverted harmlessly to the sides, more of the creatures breaking out behind the shields and moving to cover at the left and right of the building.

"Dammit, HQ! Is anybody on this freq?!"
"Sergeant, this is Major Eavesly. Hang tight. We're inbound."

A wail echoed above her as a pair of fish-like machines flew overhead, something falling from their undercarriages and landing atop the large cannon in the distance. It disappeared in an orange-blue inferno.

"Verify delivery of ordinance on-target."
"Head-on, major! Target neutralized!"

Her human glanced down at the soldier.

"Take my weapon! You'll need it," he panted. He slumped against the railing, coughing a couple times. Then he lay still and didn't move anymore.

Her human stood there for a moment as it hefted its comrade's weapon. Then, drawing a second one from its side, it charged into the ruined building ahead—at least a dozen humans following behind. The Princess glided down to follow, following the trail of projectile-riddled corpses and smoking craters left in her human's wake.

It was dark inside the building, the only illumination coming from the flashes of each combatant's weapon. Her human moved with incredible speed, dispatching any opposition with ruthless efficiency. Not a movement was wasted in the dance of death, the dervish of destruction mowing through the enemy with frightful alacrity.

A pair of clicks synced with the temporary cessation of the deadly advance. Throwing its arms out to the sides to deposit the spent weapons, it removed the one on its back and resumed its homicidal efforts.

It had only been half a minute before they arrived on the other side, having crushed all enemy opposition within the building.

"Look! In the sky!"
"Oh, shit...!"

She followed the gaze of the other humans, her eyes widening as a massive flying object flew overhead with blinding speed. Thick, brown-green smoke billowed out the sides as it descended—large fleshy chunks flopping all around them.

For the first time, her human spoke.

"No..."

There was a blinding flash as she felt herself being pulled upwards by the scruff of her neck—!

***

"Is she going to be...?"
"You've nothing to worry about, Miss Sparkle. While she's lucky she didn't suffer from any additional side effects, Rainbow Dash should be good to go once we're done here."

The girls all sighed in relief.

"Thank you, doctor."
"Don’t mention it. Feel free to wait in the lobby. We'll wheel her out as soon as she's done."

Taking seats facing each other, the five mares began discussing their next move in hushed tones.

"I'm sorry, girls. We should have left this one alone."
"S'alright, Twi. We underestimated that thing."
"I'm just glad Rainbow's going to be okay..."
"Ooh, I can't wait to get my hooves on that thing! We only needed to talk!"

Twilight glanced at the abnormally quiet Pinkie Pie.

"You okay?"

The earth pony shook her head.

"...We need to talk to Rainbow as soon as possible."

Her friends watched her warily as she looked up, eyeing each of them with a concerned expression.

"We need to find out if it's the real Rainbow, or if it's a replacement created by the Pony Snatcher!"

Their gazes rested upon Pinkie for a half-second before their conversation resumed without missing a beat.

"Wonderin' if we should keep goin' after it."
"The question would be 'where do we start,' as Rainbow was our only hope of tracking it."
"I'll be informing Princess Celestia of everything that's transpired. She'll know what to do next."
"In that case, I will save you some time."

Five gasps echoed around the waiting area as the solar princess stepped into the fluorescent lights. Two gold-armored pegasi flanked her, their steely gazes looking straight ahead.

"I came as soon as Luna informed me what was going on."

Twilight bowed her head.

"Princess Celestia, I'm sorry. We were right there and... it got away from us. There's no telling what mischief it could be up to now."

The Princess smiled, approaching her student.

"Do not worry yourself, Twilight. You and your friends have done all you can."

She nuzzled her snout affectionately against her pupil's, her smile making the purple alicorn melt into her.

"We will work together on this one."

Twilight looked up, excitement welling uo in her chest as she spoke, "We're working alongside you?!"

The Princess's expression darkened.

"First, I need you all to promise me something."

The five mares leaned in expectantly, jumping slightly when they heard Princess Celestia’s voice in their minds.

"What I am about to tell you, you must not tell another living soul. Can you promise me this?"

The five friends shared a hesitant glance before nodding.

Comments

[Calmflame]

Loving the re-write so far.

[carlos1802]

11391309
Me too, waiting the next chapter

[Bossypants]

Alright... lookin' good.

[DrCygnus]

11391309
a fucking greed the rewrite is infinitely better