Warriors

by PseudoFiction

“Sorry, I’m still getting the hang of the landings.”

They re-emerged into real-space within the blink of an eye. Only instead of finding themselves weightless the passengers of the SCALPEL transitioned into gut-wrenching gravity that span all around them. The spaceplane rolled hard to right while the nose bobbed up and down like they were out of control.

Ishmir quickly corrected with thrusters only to find nothing happened. The jets puffed out gas but there was no force countering their roll. He immediately slammed his fist onto the flap controls and deployed the air-brakes.

The roll suddenly stopped as air howled around the airframes. Moisture dappled the canopy and clouds raced past them.

“Damn nav-computer isn’t calibrated! We were dumped us half a system from where we’re supposed to be! We re-entered in-atmo!” Ishmir reported loudly as he struggled to flip systems into in-atmopshere flight mode as quickly as possible. “Hang on, this’ll be bumpy!”

Tracers were dragged from wingtips, arching as the spaceplane turned and weaved. They started tracing elegant S-shapes through the air, descending at an angle reserved for insanity but weaving gently to shave off as much speed as possible. Cloud cover parted and swirled around the craft as the SCALPEL disappeared into a greyish murk...

Then exploded out the other side dragging with it wisps of visible vapour.

When the clouds separated and Ishmir got a view of what was ahead of him he felt his eyes widen at the sight of something his sensors hadn’t picked up. The altimeter put them way too high for any mountains or landmass to be anywhere nearby, so they relied on thermals to navigate through cloudcover.

But reptiles were cold blooded, and the enormous gold-scaled dragon drifting in the air in front of them didn’t show up on thermal scanners.

They rolled over upside-down and Ishmir pulled hard on the yolk. The SCALPEL’s win surfaces flexed with the stress as they dropped under the creature’s belly then righted with another head-spinning one-eighty-degree roll.

The surprised looking dragon howled right over their heads and vanished from view, left in the SCALPEL’s wake.

“Oh, fuck! Next time I’m driving!” Marko screamed still reeling from that last roll.

The pale pony in his lap didn’t say anything, her eyes clenched shut, gut tight and breathing hard. This was worse than those rollercoasters at the Canterlot amusement park.

“Ishy! Don’t you think you should… y’know… apply the brakes!?” Marko commented.

“Stop backseat flying,” Ishmir retorted as he pulled them into the next set of tight turns.

Up ahead he made out the landmasses of Equestria. Bright colours dominated the land even with the layers of winter snow settled over the landscape. He hadn’t even looked down at himself to realise he had re-acquired the same soft outlines as when they had first visited.

They buzzed high and quiet over the golden towers of a marble city plastered against the side of a mountain and curled around the outskirts of a picturesque town in a valley of rolling hills. Ishmir finally dropped them low over a recognisable sprawl of wild woodland. The Everfree Forest was dusted with snow and ice like everything else. And it didn’t take Ishmir long to lock on to the familiar clearing with the standing stones from where they’d left last time.

“I’m going to circle the ell-zee, air-braking all the way down. Hang on!”

They rolled a quart to one side then pulled into a hair-rising turn. The world whirled around them as they circled, circled and circled like they were plummeting down a train. Marko was so disoriented he had no idea how Ishmir was keeping them oriented on the landing zone. He followed the princess’ example and slammed his eyelids shut.

Ishmir wished he could say he wasn’t feeling sick from the spinning, but he couldn’t afford the luxury of keeping his eyes closed. Looked out the side he watched the LZ spin below them, hand hovering over the thruster controls. He tweaked the pedals, nosing them closer to the clearing as they dropped in.

And then one of the wingtips clipped the forest canopy, throwing a cloud of snow, sticks and leaves into the air. Debris rattled against the hull and the canopy while Ishmir threw the thrust control forward.

The underside nacelles lit up with fire and heated air. The nose lifted up, they rotated on the spot and then settled abruptly right above the clearing of snow between the widely spaced standing stones.

Easing the throttle back with a sigh, Ishmir settled them down among the stones until the landing skids touched down and took the full weight of the SCALPEL.

“Graceful,” Marko commented sarcastically as the engines and other systems began to power down with a low whine.

“No,” Ishmir admitted, tapping an armoured finger on the analogue fuel gauge. “But it was efficient. We have enough fuel to wage a short dog-fight if we have to.”

“How short?”

“Depends on you, porker. How much weight do you think you can lose?”

“It’s all muscle, bro,” Marko assured as he clambered out of the cockpit and thudded into the snow beside the spaceplane.

The airframe groaned and clicked as the hull cooled down. But as far as Marko could see there was no evident damage. They hadn’t lost anything at least.

Twilight Sparkle leaned over the side of the cockpit and hesitantly spread her wings before hopping clear. Her wings fluttered, but with a spray of purple feathers she dropped like a rock. Thankfully Marko had seen it coming and caught her.

“Sorry,” Twilight blushed sheepishly as Marko put her down on solid ground. “I’m still getting the hang of the landings.”

“Yeah, you and Ishmir both.”

While Ishmir closed up the spaceplane and retrieved their bags with gear Twilight Sparkle trotted around the standing stones and took a long deep breath of that fresh Equestria air. It felt good to be back. Part of her thought she might never see Equestria again.

As she was happily shivering in the frigid snow, Twilight absent mindedly charged her magic and levitated up a rock out of the snow. She smiled broadly, dropping it as she bounded back to headhunters who were checking their gear.

“My magic’s back!”

Ishmir turned with a cocked helmet. “Must be something in the air,” he said, smiling by the sound of his voice.

Their little moment flipped when a rustle in the woods caught their attention. But before Twilight could see what it was both Spartans had drawn steel and stood ready. Marko rose from where he’d been going through the duffel bags and shouldered his shotgun while Ishmir stepped in front of Twilight with his pistol gripped in both hands. They were both probably still in combat mode. Then again, they were Spartan-III’s. When were they not in combat mode?

Eventually the vegetation started moving and was pushed aside, but no other-worldly beast came charging from the treeline like they had been expecting. Instead, out trotted a barcode printed pony. The zebra had a pink scarf wrapping the gold rings around her neck and a pair of saddlebags of much more traditional design compared to the princess’ adorning her sides.

“Zecora!” Twilight Sparkle cried as she floundered around Ishmir and ran to her friend, just happy to see a relatively pony face. She’d had her fill of Covenant for the day.

“Greetings to you, Princess Twilight,” Zecora rhymed with a smile before looking to Ishmir and Marko. “And good to see you headhunters, you’re a comforting sight. When I saw that unusual bird in the sky,” she nodded to the SCALPEL and continued to say, “I thought to myself; those two Spartan warriors must have learned to fly.”

“You knew it was us?” Marko scoffed disbelievingly.

“A lucky guess, I do admit. But you have to say, the shoe does fit. Equestria used to be a quiet place. Then you two blundered in to mix up the daily pace. Since last night aliens and doom have loomed. But thankfully thanks to you we will not be consumed.”

“You know about the approaching Covenant ship as well?” Twilight Sparkle asked.

“Last night I read what the stars had to say; but that is a story for another day.” Zecora craned her neck and rifled through saddle bags to produce a pair of gold and glass bottles that she dropped in front of the Spartans. “I mixed these brews especially for you in my pot. They should mask your true appearance for your journey to Canterlot.”

Twilight inquisitively levitated up one of the bottles and gave it a sniff. Eyes widening with surprise she smiled. “These are transfiguration potions! They’ll turn Marko and Ishmir into ponies.”

While Zecora was nodding in confirmation, the headhunters looked at each other for a while… and then both burst out into hysterical laughter. The pony and the zebra looked crestfallen as Marko doubled over, then collapsed into the snow.

“Sorry, sorry…” Ishmir managed to apologise. “But, um… why would we need that?”

“We need to travel through Ponyville and to Canterlot. The fastest way is by train. Can you imagine how many ponies we pass just to the train station? If they see you we could cause a panic before the Covenant even land!”

The Spartan contemplated for a moment then nodded. “Actually, Marko, she’s right.”

The other Spartan suddenly sat bolt upright. “Wait, what!?”

“Think about it. Walking around Equestria as we are introduces a lot of unknowns,” Ishmir reasoned picking up one bottle and throwing the other to Marko. “Why waste time dealing with all that when we could just disguise ourselves and walk right up to Princess Celestia’s front door. We’re here to convince Equestria’s leaders that the Covenant are not to be trifled with. We can’t do that if we’re struggling to put out fires our appearance may cause.”

Looking at the potion he’d caught, Marko rose to his feet and sighed. “Fuckin’ hell, I hate it when you’re right. Just please tell me this is reversible?”

Zecora nodded and the headhunters shrugged.

“Fair enough.” Marko and Ishmir clinked the bottles together and lifted their helmets. “Bottoms up.”

Ishmir closed his eyes and knocked back the liquid. He wasn’t sure why but he’d expected a bitter, horrible brew. But it was actually kind of pleasant, like warm milk and cookies before bedtime. It brought Ishmir way back to before the Spartan-III programme. On Onyx it was all go. There had been no time for the pampering and spoiling Ishmir had been accustomed to as an only child.

He’d almost forgotten all about the silly little childish comforts. With the Covenant attack on his homeworld, the rough year in the orphanage and the training on Onyx Ishmir had been forced to grow up as quickly as possible.

Reminding himself, Ishmir clung to the memories and swallowed. The potion warmed him like a cup of hot tea on a cold night and when he eventually lowered his head he looked at the empty bottle. Tucking his helmet under his arm the teenager cocked an eyebrow to his comrade.

Marko flung the empty bottle over his shoulder and slid his helmet back down over his face with a long belch.

“I don’t feel anything.”

But even as Marko said it he fell. Straight forward, no holds barred, face down into the snow he landed with a loud ‘thud’ of armour.

“Marko?” Ishmir took a step forward to check on his fellow Spartan.

The moment his foot landed his knees buckled and his leg muscles gave out. He hit the dirt on his knees, head rolling drunkenly. His vision blurred as the world tilted and span. He saw the horizon, then the sky, then the undergrowth in the treeline up ahead.

The world tilted sideways, and before he could even hear the comforting ‘thud’ of his own landing it all went black. And he swam in inky darkness.

Flintlock will return…

Comments

[spetsnaz pinkie pie]

Yes!!! A SEQUEL!!!

[spetsnaz pinkie pie]

MORE!!!

[Requiem17]

Awesome!

[DauntedSuperior]

This story and it's predecessor both seem like they would be better suited as arcs in one single story rather than they're own individual ones. Just something I thought I'd point out, but I love them regardless and can't wait to see how you handle the next one.

[spike the mustache]

The song you gave fits so well with the crash landing

[blackjack416]

Well written and captivating. I agree with DAUNTEDSUPERIER in that each story is more of an arc than a full fic.

Keep up the good works, m8!

[Bronzer]

6493273

Yeah, I agree. But, hey, at least it isn't at the level of the author who was convinced by some fool to take down his awesome fic and repost it with each chapter being posted as a separate fic. Utterly moronic and the author refused to believe his readers when everyone told him it is stupid. Then he abandoned his fic.

The moral of the story is to be glad this series is split into arc-fics instead of chapter-fics.

[NotShadowLotus488]

6587163 tru dat

I LOVE THIS SERIES!!!!!

[Bluzerker]

The link is destroyed. Do you know what kind of song you tried to link?

[Blazer]

Marko reenacting that scene from Back to the Future 3.

"How many did he have?!"
"Just the one."
"...Just the one?"