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Contact

He watched for a moment before he stepped back and began to walk towards the table.

“Do you have a map?” He asked, Luna then levitated a piece of parchment from a shelf to him, he took it and rolled it out. Kisara scanned the map and then Ken stepped back and a 3D model appeared on the table along with Kisara.

“Where will the ship's touch down.” Ken asked.

“Here” she pointed out. A red dot indicated the point on the map.

“Where is this?” He asked looking at Celestia who was overlooking the detailed map along with several others.

“That is the Undiscovered west. It lies outside Equestria and also said to be the territory of unknown changeling nests.” She said.

“What have to deal with that cruiser before we leave.” Ken said as the map disappeared.

“You plan on leaving so soon after arriving?” Luna asked.

“I am a Spartan and my job is to defeat all humanity's enemies whether they be foreign or domestic. I cant do it here, I have to report back to my superiors.” He said. Luna looked at him understanding then stepped forward.

“We will send a company with you, we have to defend ourselves as well, we can't rely on you. No offense.” Luna said and Ken simply nodded.

“Have your men ready to go in 10 minutes after that we go to the Condor to load up and head towards the crash sight.” He ordered and strode towards the door. Twilight hurried after him along with Applejack and Rarity.

“Ken, we plan on coming we are protectors of Equestria after all.” Twilight said stubbornly.

“From the information I gathered there are six elements of harmony.” He said walking into the throne room.

“Yea there are but Rainbow, Fluttershy and Pinky are doin a friendship quest in Vanhoover. We should pick them up on the way.” Applejack stated. Ken shook his head as Kisara spoke up.

“We will have our hands full. I don't need several inexperienced civilians coming along. If you don't think you can kill I don't recommend you coming along.” Kisara's voice explained.

“Have you ever killed another creature?” She asked simply and all three of them were simply quiet.

“There will be blood and death. That is a Spartans trade.” Ken said as he stopped at the bottom of the steps that lead to the castle doors and looked at them.

“If you're not prepared to kill I can't use you.” He stated. Applejack stepped forward fearlessly.

“Ah ain't afraid to get my hooves dirty.” She said confidently, Rarity looked uncomfortably at Twilight who seemed to swallow her fear and nodded.

“I promise I won't get in your way.” Twilight promised and Rarity sighed in defeat.

“Oh I can't not go if my friends are going.” She said. Several of the guard showed up fully geared up in armor and carrying arrows and bows. All of them were unicorns which made sense to him. He began to walk to the train when several chariots pulled by pegasi glided down coming to a stop. One meant for Celestia had six pegasi while several others had one or two. Ken looked over his shoulder and saw Luna adorned in battle armor as Celestia stood beside her.

“It would be quicker if you use my chariot.” She offered. Ken nodded and looked at the 10 ponies he was now responsible for.

“Mount up.” He ordered and stepped onto the chariot and took a knee gripping the sides to hold himself. All the remaining unicorns took up positions, Luna got onto a chariot that had two ponies that looked like they were a mixed breed of bat and pony. Then together with the beat of their wings the chariots began to move and they were in the sky in moments. In ten minutes they were flying into the skies over Ponyville. Several civilian pegasi were shocked by the spectacle and he lifted his right arm and pointed down at the forest. The lead pegasi nodded his head and like a flock of birds they descended quickly sailing over the trees. In thirty minutes they arrived at the field where his Condor was and he signaled for them to go down. The group landed and Ken spent no time dismounting and heading to the Condor. Kisara activated the engines and the ramp came down, Ken was inside loading up as the rest of the troops landed and began to disembark. Assault rifle to his back, magnum to his thigh. He outfitted himself with two grenades and looked back to see the rest of the ponies who were forming up. Ken came out of the Condor.

“All of you, get in and find a seat.” He ordered. Luna went in first followed by Twilight, Applejack and Rarity who were just following the group as the filed into the Condor. Their looks of bewilderment hard to hide on their faces he saw several pegasi unhitch themselves and arm themselves with spears.

“Who is your commanding officer.” He asked and a grey coated white maned pegasus stepped forward.

“Cumulus Sky.” He introduced himself. Ken stepped into the Condor a moment and removed a simple marine helmet and took out the comms unit. He placed it on his ear and stepped away.

“Can you hear me?” Ken said and Cumulus’s ears perked up and he nodded.

“Yes I do.” His voice over the radio said.

“Good, like this we can coordinate an offensive if it comes to it. Are your troops ready?” He asked and Cumulus nodded.

“Yes, the others will take back the chariots. There will be twenty pegasi armed with spears and swords.” He notified. Ken stepped into the Condor and the gate closed behind him as he stepped passed a cramped crew. Several of the ponies had taken seats meant for UNSC marines. He looked back and it seemed an almost comical sight before he took the pilot's seat. He initiated the take off sequence and then they were airborne. He looked out his side window and to his surprise the pegasi were keeping up, he looked forward.

“ETA to crash sight?” He asked.

“One hour and fifteen minutes. Recommended you touch down and go in on foot.” Ken nodded.

“Kisara take control.” He said as he stood up and walked to the back. All the eyes looked to him.

“We will be landing two kilometers from the crash sight and walking. Take care and do not engage the enemy. I will initiate any combat. We have one hour till we get to our drop off point.” He said before turned around and sitting in the pilot seat.

“Ponies we are going into a situation where we are vastly under prepared. Listen to the Spartan and make Equestria proud.” Luna said and the soldiers gave a hurrah before they became silent and thought about the fight to come.

The hour passed by quietly and two minutes out he stood and walked back and did a weapons check. The ponies simply watched him as he walked to the ramp hatch and waited.

“Were here.” He said loud enough to be heard and the door opened. His feet touched the ground and his rife was automatically in his hands scanning for contacts. He jogged several feet and knelt keeping his weapon up.

“Out and fan out!” Luna ordered and the ponies clamored out of the Condor as quickly as they could but it looked sloppy. He didn't have time to train them but then again they didn't really have the a thumbs to do what human could. Once all of the ponies were out the door closed and the ship took off.

“I'll keep it at a holding pattern should you need air support.” Kisara said.

“Who's flying the ship?” Twilight asked amazed.

“Kisara. Cumulus, on me.” He said and the pegasi that were circling above them all landed. Twilight was simply amazed by everything which Ken didn't really care about.

“We move Cumulus, you stay here and be ready to bring a fight. Understood?” He ordered and Cumulus gave a salute and went to relay what was happening to his company group. Ken stood up and looked at his own group.

“Let's move.” He said as he made a gesture with had hand and they knocked an arrow into their bows then they set out.

It took them an hour walking toward the smoke bloom in the distance. Reaching the newly made scar in the forest they made their way down the newly formed treeline till they saw several grunts and elites salvaging what they could from their crashed ship. He looked at the ponies who looked at the aliens nervously before they made their way to a distance of one hundred meters. A large antenna had been set up and it looked like that they were beginning to get their communications up to relay information back to the damaged cruiser still in orbit.

“Cumulus, stand by for attack.” Ken ordered and a crackle on comms.

“Understood.” was all that he replied with. Ken looked at Luna who lift up a sword with her magic and Ken raised his hand blocking her.

“Stand by, and wait for my signal. We need to take out their communications or else we won't survive if they call in reinforcements from the other ship in orbit.” He said.

“What signal?” She asked.

“Look for an explosion.” Kisara said. Ken stood up slightly and jogged to the far right of the position he was in before. He waited and as the grunts stopped a moment to talked to one another he broke into a sprint with his assault rifle going to his back as he pulled out his knife. His heavy footfalls made the grunts turn around to see him just before a knife slammed into one on the lefts brain as he grasped the left one's head and as he ran past gave a twist snapping it's neck. The other grunts cried out in alarm and removing the knife and putting it back into its sheath with his right hand and with his left pulling out the energy sword and he plunged the sword into the communications array causing it to spark. He felt the hit of two plasma blasts as he pulled out a grenade and put it under the array and he jumped behind a covenant barricade before it detonated. With the explosion a chorus of cries came from the forest as arrows and bolts of magic. The grunts looked around in confusion as arrows pierced unprotected areas of their armor.

“For Equestria!” Luna cried as she cleaved a grunts head from its body. A roar was heard and Ken looked to see several elites light up energy swords and charged. The first elite stood his ground as he was charged by a pegasus’s spear, as it hit the elites shield it dissipated and the elite swung upward with its sword cutting the pony in half. Soon the conflict became chaos like most conflicts did. Ken stood up quickly and ducked under a swing of a sword as he elbowed the elite and unloaded six bullets into its chest. Magic turned out to be as effective as plasma weapons, the unicorns after seeing their arrows were useless against the elites had switched to magic based attacks. Luna swung upward with her sword to block an attack and the energy blade cut through it. She was only able to put up a magical barrier in time to stop the attack and beat her wings taking to the sky unleashing aimed beams of energy at elites. Ken caught an arm of an elite and tossed him over his shoulder and unloaded a clip into its brain.

The conflict lasted ten minutes at most. Ken ended the last elite with a snap of it's neck it dropped. He looked up and saw several ponies bodied scattered about amongst the dead covenant. There were more wounded than dead which was a positive. Cumulus had a cauterized cut from a plasma sword across his muzzle.

“Kisara, bring the Condor.” Ken ordered.

“Gather the dead and wounded. We will head to Canterlot.” Luna ordered. She approached Ken, her armor was scared by plasma burns but it was all superficial damage.

“You did well considering.” Ken said.

“1/4th dead over half the rest wounded some beyond our means to care for. This was too costly.” She said angrily.

“The Covenant are more technically advanced than even humans. Every loss is a lesson. I thought the outcome would have been worse. Surprise was on your side this time but if this were a full out assault, we would have heavier loss's.” Ken said looking at her.

“These Covenant are a formidable force indeed.” She said coldly as the Condor sailed over the treetops and landed as wounded were helped to the Condor as the dead were collected and placed by the trees. Luna looked at them with a pained expression.

“We don't have room for the dead highness.” Cumulus said to Princess Luna.

“I'll stay here with a small group and wait for the Condor to return.” Ken said, Luna looked and him.

“I don't have anything to offer but my thanks.” She said as Cumulus stepped by his fallen comrades. Twilight was beside Applejack whose hooves were covered in blood, gore and was shaking with her eyes downcast as Rarity was looking forward by with alien blood splattered on her face. Ken approached them and Twilight looked up at him her eyes were tired and looked like they had seen things she wish she hadn't.

“How are you holding up?” He asked.

“How…” was all she could say before her voice died in her throat.

“This is a job I was raised in. I cannot understand what it must be like for ones not used to combat. Get to the Condor.” He ordered and Twilight was able to get both her friends to the ship. Luna stood on the ramp as it began to close and the ship took off.

“Cumulus. Set a perimeter. We may come under attack again.” He ordered, Cumulus nodded and ordered the other three unicorns and four pegasi to get into the treeline.

“Will they attack you figure sir?” He asked over the comms.

“Plan for the worst, then think it can get even more bad then that.” He said.

“I don't know if it could get worse than that.” He said almost to himself.

“Cumulus, it always gets worse before it gets better.” Ken said and he was met with silence.

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