10: Threat Neutralized
Canterlot Caverns
30 November 2551, 1900 MST
Canterlot, Equestria
Securing the city had only taken a few hours, and the changelings had fallen back with a commendable effort at tracelessness. The only area where they even made an attempt to hold was the Royal Palace, where they were attempting to make off with a set of intricate jewelry, consisting of five amulets and a tiara. Supposedly, in the hooves of the right ponies, those items could unleash tremendous magical power. Considering that most of the changelings carrying them had surrendered after the first few casualties, the marines considered it somewhat unlikely.
Now that the surface was secure, however, several strike teams were pressing into the caverns through the same ‘secret’ tunnels the changelings themselves had used to move around the city. The changelings had, of course, taken down any lights in the tunnel in an effort to slow the advance down and Private Montgomery Soamns was eternally grateful that all combat helmets came equipped with a flashlight, and that his unicorn magic included night-vision. The dank passageways contained treacherous footing, and even with the lights, there had already been a couple of close calls on some loose rocks.
They were in a large chamber overrun with stalagmites and stalactites, when the pony on point suddenly held up his hoof, signaling a stop. The rest of the team started casting their lights around and listened closely for whatever had set off their squadmate’s alarms. A couple readied their weapons, the arm-guns letting out a quiet clack more to signal that they were armed than for any mechanical purpose. As the tension deepened more marines followed suit, until all six of them were following their lights with their guns, including a harness-mounted flamethrower.
This had been going on for about a minute when, as if by some signal, the whole chamber erupted with buzzing wings and chittering voices.
In the next chamber, one chosen for being the point of convergence for many of the tunnels beneath the city, High Commander Blackfang waited eagerly in the dim, green light of a single gem-torch. When he had heard that the newcomers had been foolish enough to send in such small groups of ponies, he had hurried to set up ambushes for each of them. Now one of those groups had reached its trap, and was about to be beset by more than a score of his soldiers. They were ordered to bring at least one of their victims in free-willed for interrogation, of course, but the rest were to be cocooned for love-production and packed with the rest of the prisoners to be taken back to the old hive. Even if the Collective lost control of Canterlot, it would be a long time before any changeling went hungry.
The sudden cacophony of noise in the adjoining cavern caught the high commander off guard. The familiar buzzing of wings was being drowned out by deafening bangs, and an occasional fwoosh that was accompanied by a wave of heat. That’s new. Those peace-loving ponies would never have the shell to play with fire like that, so one of my soldiers thought of it. Whoever it is had better be careful not to damage a potential food-source. And just what exactly are those bangs? Are they trying to disorient their prey to take them out easier? I might just have to promote whoever is behind that one.
After less than a minute, the noise slowed to a stop. Soon, Blackfang heard approaching hoofsteps and saw the bright light his scouts said each of the new ponies could project. Strange. Why would my soldiers permit that? It would ruin their darkvision. And why can’t I hear their buzzing wings? He had just come to the conclusion that something was wrong when six equine figures stepped into the chamber with him.
It took him a moment to recognize them as ponies. He’d never seen a pony dressed in the dark olive green armor these wore, and their body language was completely different. Normal ponies, however well trained, still carried themselves like prey. These ponies however were predators themselves, sizing him up like some cornered deer. Judging from the way two of them were grinning, he didn’t measure up very well.
The fear these creatures instilled multiplied drastically as he took in more details of the group before him. Each of them was splattered with the green ichor of changeling blood, and coated with a light dusting of soot. His attention caught on one in particular, carrying a large tank of some sort with a hose attached to its helmet. A glowing ember was held in front of the nozzle by a short stick. Fire and blood. Did they drive off my ambush in less than a minute? How many of my soldiers did they kill doing it?
Suddenly, the buzzing of changeling wings could be heard echoing from one of the other surrounding tunnels. All six of the ponies turned their attention to the noise, three of them pointing their forelegs towards the tunnel with a menacing clack. Blackfang used the distraction to take off, flying down the tunnel which led to the main complex. I must warn the queen. We can’t possibly fight these things.
His escape did not go unnoticed, however. Roaring flames licked at his heels, and several deafeningly loud bangs sounded behind him in rapid succession, the surrounding rocks cracking and braking as unseen projectiles hit them. The runes on his armor flared as the enchantments carved into the metal struggled to deflect each impact. With each hit, another symbol sparked and died, until eventually, just as he was about to make good his retreat, one of the shots broke through. Metal splintered, chitin cracked, and pain flared through his leg like nothing he had ever felt before.
Despite his swimming vision, he managed to keep going. He quickly put the cave walls between him and the ponies and sped unsteadily down the passageways to warn his queen of the coming death.
Within moments of the armored changeling slipping out of view, one of the squad members voiced what they were all thinking. “What the hell?! Did that thing have energy shields?”
Before the question could be elaborated on, another changeling rushed into the room, chattering in the changeling tongue. It froze as soon as it saw the blood-splattered ponies, which were upon it before it could run. The squad leader, a mauve Pegasus with steely-grey mane and eyes, stared the cowering creature down for a few seconds. “Do you understand this language?” he asked. He grinned at the nod and vague affirmative noise it gave “Good. You are going to go back to your buddies and tell they that the ambush is off. They are to either remain in their hiding places and let the squad pass, or better yet simply show themselves and surrender. If they attack, they will be killed. Understand?” The changeling nodded again, and with a final kick, was sent on its way.
Canterlot Castle
30 November 2551 1900 MST
Canterlot, Equestria
On the balcony of the royal suite, the princesses had a grand viewpoint of the frantic energy with which the UNSC ponies went to work on the city. Already the craters potmarking the streets had been filled in, though the material used, a rapidly-hardening black sludge the humans called “asphalt,” left the roads looking even more scarred that the craters themselves had. In addition, all of the rubble that had accumulated over the weeks of battle had been cleared away to make room for the vehicles now speeding around the city, and any bridges on said roads were reinforced with steel girders, despite the strengthening runes used in their construction being more than sufficient to support the trucks and tanks.
The castle itself was being turned into the command center for local forces, and was rapidly filling with electrical equipment of various functions, as well as the technicians to use it. The remaining guardsponies were understandably wary about so many strange ponies running around doing Celestia-knows-what to the place, but did not want to risk upsetting the ones responsible for returning the princess to them. Especially not after they were given a demonstration of what their weapons did to some old suits of armor that were found lying around.
In the room behind them, the tense staring contest between the royal guards and ODST was interrupted by a firm knock on the door. After being extended an invitation, the pony on the other side entered the room. Celestia recalled him as being one of the higher military officers aboard the Guam, though the name that went with his turquoise fur and violet mane eluded her. Why do humans have to have such strange names? It’s like they’re just throwing letters together.
“Ma’am.” The officer interrupted her thoughts before she could follow them anywhere. “One of my patrols recently apprehended a strange pegasus mare flying around the city. We’ve already confirmed that she’s not a changeling, and she claims you know her.” The last sentence was an obvious, if unstated question as to what to do about her.
“Describe her, please.” Celestia already had a fairly good idea of who it was, but wanted to make sure.
“Sky blue with a rainbow mane, and acts like she’s a household name. She calls herself -.”
“Rainbow Dash?” the princess interrupted. “Yes that sounds like her. Please, send her in.”
Within a minute of the pony leaving, Rainbow Dash was bowing before the princesses, a stoic marine to either side of her. Once the formalities were out of the way, Rainbow started talking. “It’s good see you again, princess.”
“And it’s good to see you too, Rainbow Dash. It’s a shame Twilight has already left for Ponyville. I’m sure you two have plenty to catch up on, what with the changelings getting in the way.”
“Pfft. I was visiting Twi almost every day up until the changelings attacked. What about you? You’ve been gone for almost a month! And then you come home with the coolest ponies I’ve ever seen! Speaking of which,” She looked at the armored ponies scattered about the room, “They’re the ones I actually came here to talk to.”
This caught Celestia off guard. “Really?” she asked, glancing nervously at the elite soldiers of… questionable social capabilities.
“Yeah,” Dash replied, oblivious of Celestia’s worry. “Did you see the way they just fell right out of the sky? I’ve got to try that for myself.” In a flash, she was across the room and in the face of one of the ODST. “Common, just once. Please?”
Those stunningly bright and hopeful eyes were the only reason Omar didn’t reflexively clean her clock for getting in his face. He had almost forgotten the last time he had seen such child-like innocence. How long ago was that now? Nineteen years?
Wrenching himself away from the past, he instead focused on the enthusiastic face currently fogging his visor. Fortunately, he was spared having to tell her off when the lieutenant cut in, literally pushing the two apart as he spoke. “Sorry, but drop pods are strictly for ODST use only. No civilians.”
“So let me join,” she replied, her excitement not so easily dampened. This was of course met with a collective “What?!” from the ODST, marines, and even Princess Celestia, who actually knew what joining the ODST entailed.
“No no no no no!” Kyle stuttered before Rainbow could respond again. “You can’t just join the ODST! There are key requirements that you need to meet, both official and unofficial. You have to be a veteran of a verified Special Forces unit before they even let you sign up! There’s no way you could qualify.”
Not noticing the princess’s shock, Rainbow disregarded their opposition with a huff. “Please, I’m one of the Elements of Harmony. We’ve saved the world twice. That’s about as special as forces get. So what are the other requirements? Those “unofficial” ones you mentioned?”
The squad suddenly became very quiet, and the marines immediately turned and left to wait outside the door. It took a few more moments before Lt. Johnson managed to break the silence. “Right. I forgot you don’t actually know what we are. The Orbital Drop Shock Troopers is strictly a volunteer service, because our lifestyle is not a two-way street. You can still go through the ranks like any other soldier, but when you see the kind of combat we see, as often as we see it, you don’t come away unscarred.” For emphasis, he nodded towards Omar’s prosthetic leg. “Add to that the fact that a mechanical failure in one of those pods is almost one hundred percent lethal, and most people who have a civilian life to retire to don’t even try to sign up.”
For once, Dash seemed truly stunned. She had never thought about what being a soldier entailed. After all, changelings aside, it wasn’t like Equestria ever went to war, right? The only ones who would even try were the gryphons, and they had a whole ocean to cross just to get there. But seeing that metal leg, that unnatural hunk of machine replacing something lost made her realize that what these ponies did was not foal’s play.
There were a few ponies in Ponyville that used prosthetics of some sort, but they were clunky wooden contraptions that were barely articulate, and their owners almost never talked about where the original went. This one, however, was so well-crafted that, once she recognized it for what it was, she realized that she had seen more than a dozen of them on her way here, sometimes multiple on the same pony. “Woah. That’s hardcore.”
Much to her surprise, one of the ODSTs, a pegasus, chuckled at that. “That’s why they call us ‘Helljumpers.’ We do the missions normal soldiers can’t and SPARTANs aren’t available for. Trust me when I say that this place is heaven compared to what we’re used to, shape-shifting buggers and all.” He approached her with a quick flap, and ruffled her mane, which refused to mix colors despite the forceful noogie. “I like you, kid. You’ve got an honest face, and I can tell that you could make one hell of a trooper if you needed to. I hope things never come to that, but if they do, the UNSC is always looking for new recruits.
“But for now, you should probably head back home. The captain’s on his way with some questions for the princess, and you’re not exactly supposed to be here in the first place. The marines outside will escort you out of the city. Then you can make your own way to wherever it is you live from there.”
As she left, Dash glanced back at the armored ponies that now seemed slightly less tense towards her. “See you around?” she called back.
“Only in Hell,” the Pegasus replied amusedly.
The unexpectedly macabre response only further cemented Rainbow Dash’s opinion that military life was not for her, particularly that of these new ponies. And I almost signed up for that?
Contact Point Alpha
30 November 2551, 1945 MST
Mt. Canterlot, Equestria
Scouting reports had revealed that the strike teams had done their jobs. The changelings’ plans for retreat had moved forward far more rapidly than any force that size could keep organized, and all of it was headed for the far side of the mountain from the city, where several significantly larger forces waited at every cave entrance seismic scans had shown.
Pegasi and Hornets prowled the skies, ready to gun down anything that tried to escape to the open air. Below, the rocky slopes, too uneven for Pelicans to drop off anything heavier than infantry, proved to be something of an issue for ground vehicles. Fields of small boulders provided uncomfortably tight quarters for the Warthogs to weave through, and though the Scorpion tanks could climb over the larger stones, a few had become mired in loose gravel, requiring heavy assistance to lift them out.
Fortunately, everything was in place before the leading edge of the swarm made its way out to the waiting guns. As the first changeling emerged from the supposedly-hidden entrance, it froze at the sight of hundreds of the strange ponies that had driven off the High-Commander and his forces, and the monstrous machines that stalked the skies by the dozens and surrounded the cave mouth with a veritable wall of rumbling steel. On instinct, it flashed the sight through the hive-mind in the vain hope that some changeling could do something to save it. This only served to halt the advancing column as the changelings still in the caves struggled to comprehend the firepower before them and how it had gotten there so fast in the first place.
Before most of the swarm could shake off the shock of their sudden entrapment, a set of speakers affixed to one of the Scorpions crackled to life. “Attention invading changelings,” they boomed. “You are surrounded by overwhelming force. Send forth your queen so that she may offer your unconditional surrender. We will not ask again.”
The lead changeling, seeing a chance to remove itself from the line of fire, ducked back into the cave. Queen Chrysalis was, of course, already on her way, but these new ponies apparently didn’t know about the hive mind, so there was a small amount of extra time to formulate a response. The only problem was that there were only two options: surrender or die. If they fled back into the caverns, the killer ponies would pursue with their weapons of fire and death. If they attempted to rush past the forces here they would have to leave their food-ponies behind, and the few who made it out would likely starve.
And so, with a heavy heart, Changeling Queen Chrysalis walked out before the watchful ponies, and bowed down to the tank from which the command had been issued. “You have defeated us utterly, and we surrender before your might and wit. Please, have mercy on my people.”
For a moment, the only sound was the multi-toned rumble of engines. Then, the voice behind the speakers spoke again. “Good. As our prisoners, we will need information on how to house you all: Diet, intolerances, and other such things. For now, however, we just need your people to…”
The process of setting up secure housing for the prisoners would be difficult. After all, neither the Equestrians nor the UNSC had had any need to house large quantities of prisoners of war, but if there was one thing ponies as a whole specialized in, it was setting things up fast.
Author’s Notes: This chapter took longer than expected, mainly because I kept getting distracted by an old computer game I dusted off, and also partially because I’ve been brainstorming another piece of pony crossover, which I may or may not take up.
And yes, the UNSC ponies just beat the Changeling swarm in a matter of hours. The poor buggers just aren’t on the same scale as they are used to dealing with.
Normally, I just ask you to tell me what needs fixing, but that doesn’t seem to get much of a response. So this time, I’m also asking what you like about this little bit of crossover. Why do you read my work when there are so many other stories out there that I can almost guarantee are better?
And yes, you should still tell me if I did something wrong, and like and/or favorite, depending on what site you’re reading this on. ‘Till next time!
Post-revision notes: Little bit added on at the end to clear up confusion.
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Curse you and your cliffhangers!
Nice update, but damned cliffhangar.
1124348
What cliffhanger? The changeling issue is all but dealt with. Sure the whole "We eat love" thing will be kinda hard to work around, but cool as the buggers are, they're not going to make a whole lot of difference in the long run.
Also:1124869 Wow.
You're the first person I've seen in the featured box to actually read this thing.
Any advice?
1124985 It's the whole cut off of the last sentence.
1124992
That was just a bunch of management stuff I didn't want to bore you with. Meaning It would have delayed the chapter another day or more while I tried to come up with something that would have been easier to explain after the fact next chapter.
...Die.
1125177
Nah. I'd rather have cake
But seriously. What was that about?
1124985
Never be afraid to ask for help. Other than that, just keep on keeping on.
good chapter cant wait for the next hope the UNSC and Equestria become allies
1125183 the clifhanger
1125528
1125555 Ah, I get it now.
1138628
I know! There's, like, twice as many favorites as likes!
1143844
Really? I've already tried once, and the pre-reader only read chapter one before sending it back.
It's actually why I completely revised Chapter 1, as that is the only real criticism I'm ever had on this thing.
1147884
you're going to have to explain that one to me...
EDIT: Oh wait, now I remember. That was, what? Chapter 2?
Another awesome chapter, and I one reason why I read this and like it is because it's a unique idea and has a whole lot of potential and stuff. Plus I like Halo/MLP crossovers as well as the possibilities that they have.
I almost expect rarity to make a fashion comment about their armor
1163495
Rarity's still in Ponyville.
1163728I'm saying if she sees a soldiers uniform and it seems inevitable that a base will be set in Ponyville or the general area
1163752
Sorry. musta misread your comment.
And yes, Rarity will probably have trouble getting used to the form-over-function style of military dress.
Heh, out gunned. Also, quick thought, if the shipboard A.I. recognized the increase in energy from the ONI care package of so many chapters back, would it also be able to pick up the magical disturbance of the Nightmare on board. The Nightmare is on her ship, she should be furious if she finds out.
2506603
The "package" tried to take the wheel right out of her digital hands, while the Nightmare is using all of its eons of experience to stay hidden when she doesn't even know it exists, let alone has stowed away.
But yes, if she ever gets her subroutines on that creep it is going to suffer.
Of course, that seems to be a common reaction among its acquaintances.
Damn, I'd surrender myself if I was surrounded by that much heavy weaponry!
6905526
I would honestly just walk off saying: "NOPENOPENOPENOPEALLTHENOPESFUCKTHISNOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPESEEYAINHELL!