Halo: Mane team

by NocturnalEagle

Chapter 4: First test

HALO: MANE TEAM

<<TRANSMISSION START>>

Chapter 4: First test

With the door behind me gone, I had no choice but to move forward. The Mark.5 powered up.

>>Systems Interface Check
>>Matrix initializing
>>Auto-Doc spell ready
>>Warning. Shield will now manifest.

The air around me suddenly moved with a crackle. Was it working? I didn't know.

>>Inventory Checker Spell online
>>Weapons Handling Spell online
>>Green Across The Board
>>Keep It Clean
>>Suit Checks Complete

>>Next waypoint set

The helmet's HUD shimmered to life. A motion tracker appeared on the bottom left hoof corner. An arrow appeared on the HUD, pointing to a target not too far away. Trotting at a brisk pace, I moved to the designated area. I could see a vague outline of a pon... scratch that, a unicorn lying on the ground facing the city. The HUD tagged and tracked the prone figure.

Moving close, I finally realized that it definitely Rarity. "Hello sunshine. You're a bit late." The stealth dissolved to show a white colored Mark.5 armor. "Sorry, my toaster wasn't working." I replied with a bit of sarcasm. She laughed. Oh boy, that laugh sounded like fine china tinkling in the breeze. "Updated your HUD, darling. Shall we move in?" she said.

I took a look at our position and the halfway target.

"Let's move."

~~~~~

The crack of my sniper rifle was loud.

Five hundred meters down the street, an Elite cried out. It fell, my bullet blowing its brains out the back of its helmet. "Way forward is clear." I reported to Rarity.

"Understood. Moving." She replied. I watched closely as the white armor advanced and took cover behind a destroyed truck.

"Steady. I spot covenant armor, up on the bridge." I swiveled and watched as the Wraith stopped dead center on the top of the bridge.

Well crap. That Wraith was sitting on top of our next waypoint. I targeted the secondary gunner. Six hundred meters? I wasn't sure I could hit it, and I didn't want to alert it to our position. "I think we should call this in." I told Rarity. She agreed, and opened a line to Rainbow. "Targets marked, oh and Rainbow? Try not to blow up the bridge. We need it." I heard over the inter TEAM COM.

"Fox 1, I hear ya Rarity." The answer was to the point. Seconds later, the Wraith disappeared in a cloud of smoke and dust. "Target destroyed."

"Good shot, Rainbow."

"My pleasure."

~~~~~

We advanced to the halfway point without too many problems. There, we met two of our compatriots, as promised.

"Howdy there, mates. How was your trip?"

"Better than most." I replied. "I'm almost outta ammo. Got any?"

"We stand right on top of an armory. What do you think?"

"Yes."

~~~~~

After a trip to the armory, I had an extra twenty clips of sniper ammo, and I also reloaded my Colt. Rarity loaded up on SMG ammo, Pinkie grabbed flamethrower canisters and Applejack got rockets. Celestia knows how the suit can carry so much ammo, but I wasn't gonna complain. We advanced down the abandoned streets with caution.

"Be advised, Extraction team. Radar detects a giant group of covenant armor approaching LZ. Advise on destroying the suppression fire so we can come get you." Twilight's voice came through my radio. The HUD updated itself.

>>New objective received: Destroy covenant AA gun

The arrow pointed towards my left and upwards. I stopped and looked in its approximate direction.

I didn't like the tallest building in the city anymore.

~~~~~

One hundred and forty five levels filled with what was once covenant patrols but were now either burnt or mutilated corpses later, we reached the top of the building. The AA gun was right there, ready and ripe for destruction. But we hit a... slight snag.

We encountered a pair of Hunters. My armor was still smoking from where it took a direct hit from their cannons. Our cover was slowly breaking with the constant pounding from their guns. "Pinkie! You have the hologram ability right?" I shouted over the din of exploding fuel rods.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Can you use it to distract them? I have a plan." With that, Pinkie twisted around the wall, just long enough to launch the hologram the right way. I activated my stealth and followed right after it. Just as I predicted, the Hunters took the bait and turned to attack the hologram. It gave me enough time to charge up to the first one and climb up its back. Unsheathing my knife, I proceeded to gut the mass of worms that formed its head. Gooey, orange worm bits covered my armor. The remaining worms wailed, and it fell over.

Then I realized my mistake. I shouldn't have been on its back. The carcass fell directly on top of me, pinning my leg down. My shield crackled once, and failed. The dead hulk still had enough mass to break my hindleg's bones. I screamed once, long and loud. What the hell? It was a dream! Its not supposed to hurt! The Auto-Doc spell kicked in and placed my broken leg in a stasis spell. It also administered an anesthetic to my leg so it wouldn't be so painful anymore. It would have to do for now.

The other problem was that my stealth spell had dissolved, so I was now in plain sight. The other Hunter noticed me. The worms comprising its face flexed in an approximate feature of a smile. It swung around and pointed its fuel rod barrel at my visor. I could see the round, sitting inside its gun. I stared cross-eyed and gulped as the barrel glowed brighter in preparation to fire.

Then, two things happened. Applejack popped out of cover and launched a rocket directly at the gun barrel of the Hunter. The explosion knocked the barrel away from my visor and the Hunter staggered.

The other thing was the fuel rod round meant for me flew towards the AA gun instead. It exploded in a flash of purple smoke and debris.

The Hunter recovered and charged towards Applejack. Too fast to maneuver, it couldn't evade the 105mm shaped charge she fired off. Flaming bits of hunter started raining from the sky. The three of them rushed over to me. "Get this thing off of me." I mutter through gritted teeth. The three of them look at each other and shrug. They push the body off of my injured leg.

Applejack made the call. "LZ team, objective complete. Awaiting extraction. Be advised, we have wounded."
"Roger that. Warming up the engines. Hold for five minutes, you hear? Five minutes."

More waiting. Yay?

They shifted me into a sitting position, stretching my injured leg out in front of me. "Man, that was dumb." I whisper in a horse voice. "Yes. It was both brave and dumb." Rarity replied.

"Heads up. I'm getting an increase in enemy activity down below." Applejack said.

Suddenly, Pinkie freezes. Her tail starts to twitch
"You might want to hold on to something. Preferably sturdy. And anchored to this roof." She said before grabbing a pipe.

"Pinkie, what is going to fall out of the sky now?" Applejack asks with a hint of...was that fear?

A deep rumble echoed from the building. "What was that?" Rarity echos my thoughts.

The building, almost imperceptibly, began to slant. I felt it first. The fallen pieces of debris started to move to one side of the roof.

"Well... most probably us."

"What was that? Run that past me again?"

"We are gonna fall."

~~~~~

I crawled over to the side of the roof and peered down. After getting over the vertigo, I see the source of the problem. There was a big hole on one side of the building. Banshees? There were four of the things orbiting the building. The building slowly cantered past 50 degrees

"Don't move. There are four Banshees, slowly orbiting this building." I whisper over the COM.

"LZ team. What's your status?" Applejack calls.

"Moving to your location now. We can see you." The Raptor was visible off in the distance.

"How tall is this building?"

"145 levels, or figuring about ten meters every level, 1450 meters. Why?"

"Cause if they don't get here now, they're gonna have to catch us."

I look upwards at the figure hanging above me."No. Really?" Sarcastic little me.

"LZ team, Your gonna have to catch us, clean and easy."

"Roger. I can do that."

"Here goes nothing and everything!" Applejack shouts as she lets go. Halfway down, I let her past before letting go and following her. "Yee Haw!" Pinkie shouts as she also falls.

"I don't like this." Rarity complains before following us into the foggy clouds.

Free falling through the skies, I spread my legs out in a X-shape. Taking stock of the situation, I immediately start to look for the three different armor colors that should have fallen with me. I see Applejack's orange armor and Rarity's white armor. No pink?

Just as I think about it, a curled up ball of pink zoomed past me. I check Pinkie's biosign. "Pinkie! She been knocked out!" I hear Rarity's shocked voice over TEAM COM. Dammit, her biosignature agrees to that.

Seeing no other choice, I dive after her. Behind me, the Raptor catches both Rarity and Applejack, then zooms to get me. I fall fast, evading debris while keeping that ball of pink in my FOV. 'Come on!' I wished I could go faster, but I had already reached my terminal velocity.

"Lance! Break off!"

"I can't! She's my teammate!"

"Its just a dream test remember? She will be fine! Now pull out! That's an order!"

Crap this. I spread eagle and watch as Pinkie fell faster than me. I try to avert my eyes as she hits a... Banshee? Her biosigns peaked as she became aware again. Aware enough to hijack the Banshee.

"I'm fine." She calls out over the radio. I breath a sigh of relief. The Raptor pulls ahead of me, and I fall into its welcoming embrace. "All people secure. Let's head home." Twilight announces.

Fluttershy pushes the throttles of the transport to full and does a sling shot up into the air.

She halves the throttle and lets Rainbow's Avenger fighter plane and Pinkie's Banshee catch up. Flying in formation, the trio fly towards a rip in the sky. As they enter, I suddenly feel the urge to sleep. Giving into the sense, I hit the deck and fall fast asleep. Around me, I also hear thumps as the ponies got ready for a transition...

~~~~~

... Back to reality.

The tubes opened and the seven of us stumbled out.

"That was fun! Can we do it again?" Pinkie screams.

"Unfortunately, no. The system has denatured, so it can't be used again." Scootaloo replied.

"Just when I was getting used to that suit." Rarity whines.

"They're just next door. While you dreamt, our nanobots were hard at work developing the same suits you had in your dreams." Applebloom calls over her shoulder as she walks through a door.

My mind was reeling. Where had ponykind developed such things? In the twenty years we were gone, we had become so technologically advanced. I could also see Twilight was having the same problems.

"Something troubling you, Twilight?" I had to ask.

"No. Its... its just that everything seems to be moving much more quickly now. The suits, the war and now these, what do they call them?"

"Covenant?"

"Yeah. Lance. Do you think we are moving too fast?"

"The whole universe is moving too fast, Twi. I think we're just trying to keep up."

Just as I finished my sentence, alarms began blaring in the chambers.

"Sound like the Covenant found us, eh Lance?" She looked at me

"Suit up guys! We are gonna bring the fight to them!" Fluttershy shouts.

<<TRANSMISSION END>>

Footnote:My other story is on track and steaming. Special thanks to Jolttix, MarineMarksman, Da Dr P3PP3R, DashWithRainbows and John Smith for the names that helped the story soar.

Abilities upgrade :

Pain resistance Upgrade level 2

Thanks to that Hunter, Melee damage is reduced by 20%

I would have owned either My little pony or Halo, but then I took an arrow through the knee
Please support official releases

Comments

[BryntningJarn]

Love this story, very well done. Also lol skyrim reference

[Jolttix]

Well thank you. All I really did was point you tward the books. It's all you man. Well done. I love this and I can't wait for more. Also if you need any help just ask. :)

[Moon_Fire]

thank you mysterious hunter for falling on my leg!

[Gigabyte]

One snag. You never said lance landed on the pelican.

So he should still be falling. Fuck.

[NocturnalEagle]

365804

I said that :
"The Raptor pulls ahead of me, and I fall into its welcoming embrace."

Problem solved.