Ponyville was quiet. This was not uncommon for the town after dark; while some cities like Canterlot or Manehatten were known for their great night lives, Ponyville’s rural setting meant that almost everypony was already in bed. Everypony, save for a certain purple unicorn.
Twilight Sparkle was looking through her telescope, observing the heavens, when she heard an impatient sigh behind her. Rolling her eyes, she turned away from the telescope to regard the small purple-and-green baby dragon behind her.
“C’mon Twilight.” He said crossly, a piece of parchment in one claw, a quill in the other. “Why do we have to be doing this? It’s past midnight, for crying out loud!”
Twilight smiled at the baby dragon’s exasperation, stepping away from the telescope to lecture her young assistant. “I’ve already told you, Spike. Now that we’ve moved here to Ponyville, my star charts are no longer accurate. We need to redraw them, or else they’ll all be wrong!”
Spike sighed again. It had been four days since he and Twilight had moved to Ponyville, three days since Nightmare Moon had attacked, and Twilight, along with her newly acquired friends, (including the lovely Rarity) had defeated her, becoming the Elements of Harmony in the process. Over the course of the next few days, Twilight had been adjusting to her new life in Ponyville, as well as getting to know her five new friends. Unfortunately for Spike, this hadn’t done much to hamper her obsessive attention to detail, and when she had noticed earlier tonight while stargazing that her old charts were just a little bit off, she had immediately dragged Spike out of bed to help her draw some new ones. “Twilight, Canterlot can’t be more than a few miles away from here! How different could the star charts be?” Twilight groaned in exasperation, turning back to the telescope.
“That’s just it Spike, these few miles could mean our charts will be off by centimeters! Not just millimeters, whole centimeters!” From her position facing the telescope, Twilight was unable to see the dragon smacking his face with a claw.
Unaware of her assistant’s chagrin, Twilight gleefully called out; “Alright, so, Achernar is on grid point 13-“ She was suddenly cut off as a bright flash winked past the image in her telescope. Gasping in surprise, Twilight quickly whipped the telescope around, trying to find the mysterious flash again. “Spike!” She called, not taking her eye off the skies. “Did you see that? I think it was a shooting star! But Princess Celestia didn’t announce any shooting stars for tonight. Although, I suppose now that Luna’s back, she would take over the whole shooting star thing, wouldn’t she?” She was rambling now, unaware that Spike’s attention was now focused entirely on the rapidly expanding ball of light, heading straight toward Ponyville.
“T-T-Twilight…” Spike said, shakily raising a claw to point at the light, which at this point was now larger than the moon hanging in the sky. Unfotunately, Twilight was still focused on looking through her telescope, which was focused entirely in the wrong direction.
“Not now Spike!” Twilight said dismissively. “This shooting star has to be here somewhere, I just-There! I…found…it.” Twilight trailed off into silence as she finally found the object, only to discover its great increase in size. Neither Spike nor Twilight said anything as the ball of light went shooting just above their heads.
As the mysterious light passed directly overhead, Twilight suddenly gasped in pain, clutching her hooves to her head in an attempt to quell the massive headache that suddenly took hold. Despite the pain overwhelming her senses, Twilight’s analytical mind was able to identify the source of this agony: Pure, unadulterated magic. The pain was so intense, Twilight could only barely make out the thunderous BOOM as the object landed.
“Twilight? Twilight!” Spike had seen his friend’s distress, and immediately rushed to her side. “What’s wrong? Are you alright?” Slowly, Twilight got to her hooves, shaking off the last remnants of her headache.
“I’m fine, Spike.” She said, slowly lifting her gaze to where she had last seen the object. “Where did that thing go?”
“What, the shooting star?” Said Spike, his tone still tinged with concern. “I think it was headed for the Everfree Forest.”
Twilight shook her head, turning toward where the baby dragon had indicated. “I don’t think that was a meteor, Spike. I think-“ Twilight suddenly paused as the once dormant town beneath her began to light up, ponies switching on their lights and filing out their doors, curious to see what had roused them from their slumber.
“What was that?” Twilight heard one pony shout.
“Some sort of blast!” Another answered.
“We’re under attack!”
“Run for your lives!”
“The Horror, the Horror!”
Seeing how quickly the situation was escalating into one of full-blown panic, Twilight quickly rushed back into her house, shouting over her shoulder, “Spike! I’m going to see if I can help calm everypony down! Stay here and watch the library!”
Seeing the opportunity to finally get some sleep, Spike saluted smartly, and the second Twilight disappeared through the door to the Library, he promptly dove back into his basket and fell asleep.
------
Consciousness returned to Carter slowly, not in one brief burst of clarity, rather through a gradual fade into existence. His eyes fluttered, and he groaned involuntarily. Years of military training forced him drunkenly to his feet. Unfortunately his balance proved to be off as he found himself crashing back down to all fours. Whipping his head around to shake off the haze over his vision, he slowly looked down to see what the problem was.
Carter’s initial reaction was one of surprise. Surprise at the fact that he was on all fours. Surprise at the fact that he was comfortable on all fours. A great deal of surprise at the fact that he had somehow ended up in the middle of a dark, foreboding forest. But the most surprising thing of all was the fact that he was still alive.
You’re on your own, Noble. Carter out.
Those were his last words. The last thing he had said before he crashed the Pelican into the Scarab. He had felt the wounds on his body, had seen the blood. He knew he was dying, and so when he had seen the Scarab had cornered Emile and Six, he knew what had to be done.
The last pass over the Scarab had been the longest moment in Carter’s life. The purple behemoth thundered beneath him, soft booms emanating from each step. He had steered the Pelican in a wide arc, until he finally faced the beast. It turned to face him, and for a brief moment Carter felt as though he was meeting its gaze. As the Scarab grew larger in the Pelican’s windshield, he reflected on how he could easily just pull up now. The Scarab was focused on him now, Emile and Six were safe now that he held its attention. He didn’t have to die here.
He pinned the throttle.
And now he was here. How had that happened? He by all rights should be dead. Hell, he still could be. Carter had never been a spiritual man, but he would be the first to admit he didn’t know what lay beyond death. Was this some sort of afterlife? Carter had no idea, and a throbbing pain in his head interrupted any further thought on the matter.
Carter groaned, bringing a hand to his head in an attempt to quell the pain, only to have it bounce off his helmet. Wait, his helmet? He had taken off his helmet in the Pelican. Now he was very confused. What little he knew about the afterlife didn’t say it brought clothes with the deceased, let alone a combat helmet he had taken off before dying.
What was more, Carter felt a distinct lack of feeling in his hands. Bringing the appendage in front of him, his jaw dropped. Instead of the five-fingered hand he was used to seeing, in its place was only an armored stub, thick plating on the bottom connected to a diamond-weave mesh around his wrist. He flexed the limb and was shocked to find it respond to his commands. For the next few minutes he simply flexed his arm experimentally, trying to comprehend its transformation.
Eventually he lowered his arm and looked up, examining the area before him. He appeared to be in a dense forest, but what surprised him more was the immediate area around him. He found himself in the center of a large crater, at least thirty yards in diameter, and several yards deep. The entire area was bathed in a rich moonlight, allowing him to make out four other shapes before him.
Each one of the shapes was lying prone in the dirt of the crater, unmoving. The closest one was the smallest, about head shorter than Carter himself at first glance, though it was hard to tell. It was covered head to toe in cyan armor, with a helmet featuring a wide, T-shaped silver visor. Oddly enough, from the center of its forehead, sprouted an unarmored spiraled horn, the same cyan color of its armor. Carter could tell at a glance that the creature was a quadruped, with four equal-length legs beneath its body. From its rear, unprotected by its armor, grew a large, raven black tail. What drew his attention though, was its right foreleg. It was entirely mechanical, with a thin, skeletal frame and a constantly shifting rotor set in the elbow. This, combined with the color and design of the creature’s armor, caused a single thought to insert itself in carter’s mind. That armor… could it really be- He banished the thought before it was finished, instead focusing his attention on the next figure.
This figure was larger than the last, about Carter’s size, and like the first figure was clad entirely in armor. Its armor was a shade of olive green, and its helmet featured a large brow and a thin, amber visor. Across this figures back was a web of thick netting stuffed with various bits of grass and other plant matter, and strapped to the figure’s left foreleg was a small clip of rifle rounds; to its right, a combat knife. Its tail was a solid blue similar to the stripes across the figure’s arms, just beneath its attachments. From its back sprouted two other limbs, folded against its sides, and covered in a black mesh similar to his own bodysuit.
Now noting the marked similarities between the figures, Carter looked to the next with a gradually building sense of dread. The first thing he noticed was its helmet. Its amber visor was large and bulbous, and would have looked ridiculous if not for the roughly hewn skull carved into its front. Casting his gaze downward, Carter noted the figure’s steel gray armor, highlighted by its overly large right shoulder pauldron, colored red with white stripes, and sporting an intimidating kukri knife strapped to its frame. Dangling from the figure’s chest were two long bandoliers of what Carter recognized as M139 IGL rounds. From its rear sprouted a blood red tail. Carter was at this point perfectly aware of what he was seeing, yet couldn’t help but examine the final figure.
Given one word to describe it, Carter would have said massive. It was nearly one and a half times his size, and covered in a varied hodgepodge of armor. Its rear legs, up to its stomach was colored olive, while its chest was a garish orange, and had what looked like an oxygen tank embedded in its front. From the left side of its neck was a strip of protruding red metal, and on each shoulder was a thick oversized piece of metal, each of them shaped differently. Its helmet was narrow, with a wide amber visor that covered only the top half of its face, and thick armor plating covered its lower jaw. Finally, its tail was striped orange and red.
As Carter observed the four armored figures before him, his augmented mind quickly made the connections. Unless it was something else underneath that armor, these four quadrupeds were all of the other members of Noble Team. Well, almost all of them, as he was still missing-
His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a low growl coming from behind him. Whipping around, Carter found himself face to face with the oppressive darkness of the forest. Through the pitch black however, Carter was able to make out two glowing yellow eyes. Carter shifted into a combat stance, uncertain on four limbs, but entirely prepared to fight under any condition, and waited for the hidden enemy to strike.
He didn’t have to wait long, as not a second later the shadowy figure lunged from the protective darkness of the forest straight towards Carter. Carter tensed, prepared to dodge out of the way of the tackle, but he wasn’t prepared for what came next, as the figure was thrown to the side by a gray blur.
Carter followed the collision as the two figures smashed to the ground, rolling in the dirt attempting to gain leverage over another. Within moments, however, the gray figure had managed to pin the other, and Carter was able to examine the both of them for the first time.
The first figure, the one pinned face down beneath the other, was about Carter’s size, and shaped remarkably like a wolf. In fact, Carter would have believed it to be a wolf, if not for the fact that it was made entirely out of wood. Its skin was clearly composed of barks and bits of twig, and upon closer inspection its eyes looked remarkably like glowing sap. This didn’t seem to hamper the creature any, as it continued to thrash beneath the steel-armored figure above it.
The figure was slightly smaller than the creature it had pinned to the ground, but clearly had no difficulty in holding the beast at bay. Its armor was much more barren than that of the other four, with its only defining feature being its helmet, with a sloped top and a heavy brow, as well as a T-shaped, sickly yellow visor. Its armor was the same steel gray as the figure with the skull's, minus the red highlights, and its tail was a pitch black. On its back were two objects that after a moment Carter recognized as a flared pair of wings.
No sooner had Carter finished his observation than the figure wrapped its legs around the snarling wolf’s head, carefully avoiding its snapping jaws. Then, in one swift motion, jerked its legs roughly, producing an audible crack as it broke the poor beasts neck.
As the body beneath it went limp, the figure slowly got to its feet, panting slightly from exertion. It then looked up, and seemed to notice Carter for the first time. It immediately snapped to attention, its wings clapping to its sides as it raised one leg in a crisp salute, and said in a sharp, and disturbingly familiar voice, “Commander, Sir.”
Carter could only stare dumbly for a few seconds before nodding and responding slowly, “Noble Six.”
Author’s Note: All right, so welcome to The Noble Guardians! I cannot wait to see how this story plays out, but bear in mind it will mostly follow the episodes timeline, with Noble Team acting as additional characters, though in NO WAY fading into the background. I will also be posting original chapters in which Noble Team will be the exclusive focus (usually) and will provide them with their own background storyline of their own. I hope you enjoyed the intro, and expect more in the future!
Also, in case any of you were worried, this story will not be taking any focus away from King of Serpents: Concord’s Dawn. I will be working especially hard to make sure that both these stories get the attention they deserve. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this so far, and I’ll see you in the next chapter!
The writing is good, but I kind of gave up on this as soon as you specified you turned Carter into a pony. Sorry, but I wont be tracking this, but I wont down vote simply because I don't like the concept.
Nicely written, interesting concept. I'm not entirely comfortable of Carter being a pony, but, I'll track to see where you take this.
932282
Yeah, I'm sorry you feel that way. Personally, I'm on the opposite spectrum. I hate HiEs only because they're almost always still human when they arrive. I still perfectly understand that some people prefer the characters to remain human, and I don't blame them for that. Thank you for your feedback.
932319
I would still prefer they remained human, but oh well, I can live with it.
Also write a crossover between FIM and 60's spidey.
932319 Turning them into ponies directly upon arrival in Equestria instantly kills the mood, and I just plain hate it. But that's my opinion. So yeah, I won't be tracking this either, but I won't dislike. Keep writing!
I'm perfectly ok with Spartans turning into ponies. Actually I'm comfortable with anything simply because its easy to put into my head.
Thank you, now that's the attitude I was hoping for! Love and Tolerance!
OK, I'll tolerate the changing of the Spartans into ponies because your writing is better than the majority of the people that post Halo/MLP crossovers. Plus, I love Halo so win/win
I love this because it's the only one that I've seen where it has ALL of Noble Team and they are ponies! I have not seen a spartan turned into a pony fic yet! So by all standards this is original at least a little bit!
You know what, I am actually interested to see how this plays out. I'm a bit of a Halo fan but I haven't read any that features all of Noble Six and I am interested to see how you will incorporate them into the episodes. Keep up the good work.
Jorge is now the most adorable bundle of death ever seen by pony eyes. I also nominate Jorge as Fluttershy's body guard. Come at her now Gilda! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!
Okay, new rule. This is NOT a Spiderman thread. I love the 60's Spiderman memes, but this is not the place to post them. You post them here, and I will delete them. Anyway on a lighter note I'm glad to be getting all this feedback, and I hope you all enjoy the chapters to come.
932768
I say ONE THING, and now the story becomes a 60s spiderman thread.
932822
No no, not you! You may not have seen them, since I deleted them, but there were like three of those Spiderman meme pictures. I was not attacking you, honest. Some idiot immediately posted after yours that this had officially become a Spiderman thread. I promptly deleted it.
i like it so far wish it was longer... :D but i like the idea behind it
Why would you write about Reach! It's not even fully Halo canon!
932994
I just... I don't even know how to respond to that. I guess the only response I can think of is that the fine folks at Bungie would beg to differ. I believe that the developers' canon overrules the canon of some expanded universe novels, and that any deviations from said novels is completely within the rights of the games' developers, because they came up with the original idea of the Halo universe in the first place. To any who disagree you're totally entitled to your opinion, but just know that I share a different one.
Spartans into ponies? Aww.. I would've loved this, but then I see comments about ponification. Sorry, but that's not my forte. Won't down-vote but will up-vote just for originality.
932994 cuz it gives us 6 people (now ponies) to relate with instead of one (an ODST or Chief) and instead of having a set of people to learn about, we get to have 6 characters we already know and (may) have feelings or sympathies for. any way to take this it comes out (so far) so AWSOME
gotta admit, this is some seriously awesome stuff. To add not just one piece of noble steam, but all of them is a brilliant idea. Keep goin and stay golden^^
faved/liked can't wait for the next update.
encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRbNgIvezR5Z_eox6WDsHZwMhKh_l4TCsE_LpgOqYvLSyj4LImveg
I'm favoriting this for now. I've read quite a few Halo Pony crossovers and they sucked. I'm curious to see if this will be good.
I'm sorry if my previous comment offended anyone. It was just my own opinion that Fall of Reach fits better into the storyline than Halo : Reach.
933235
Too bad that you're wrong.
Bungie, the creators of the Halo franchise (including Reach) have stated that, with regards to canon, games > books.
933299
Yes, but in every other source I could find, the Covenant DO NOT INVADE! They arrive en masse in system, destroy any resitence in orbit, glass the planet, and leave. The only deviations were when they were surching for something, and even then they only avoided glassing the sections that might hold what they were looking for. For that reason, the novel fits better then the game.
I would suggest increasing the space between the paragraphs, but otherwise...
MOAR please.
sounds interesting. will track...for now. Don't dissapoint me
Dear GODDESS MOAR!!!!!!!!
Bada Bah BA Bah I'm lovin this.
Please continue this story, I don't really care one way or the other on ponification (except if you had made them all Alicorns that shot Spartan Lasers out of their horns) and I would really love to see this continue. I'm hoping that since you plan on making this parrallel to the MLP timeline the new chapters will be up quickly, but don't feel rushed. I still haven't updated my story in about a month after posting the first 5-6 chapters in about two weeks and leaving it with a massive, possible-character-death cliffhanger, so even if you decide to quit writing this story, you've already put a fond picture in my head.
Also:
"Then, in one swift motion, [it] jerked its legs roughly, producing an audible crack as it broke the poor beasts neck."
[youtube=vYKIAGKIB9g]
I don't write comments often and when I do the story either has impressed me or really disapointed me... you Sir managed the former with just mentioning that ALL of noble Six enters Equestria. I was a first curious ahy you didn't have the human tag active but after reading this Chapter it's crystal clear.
Poor Emil, I can't imagine how he'll use his knife now.... unless he's a unicorn then he could still use it, but either I missed the description of his horn or you made him an earth pony (which would fit him better I think)
So... so far we have as follows
Carter Noble One is Unknown what he is, I would guess Earth Pony
Kat Noble Two is a Unicorn and seeing as how she's the Tech of the Team I think it fits
June Noble Three is a Pegasus, Now a sharpshooter needs good eys and I guess while flying he can keep on the lookout for threats more easily
Emil Noble Four most likely Earth Pony, now I don't know what you have planned for him but he really impressed me in the Game (Yes I have it and played it through) So do his (and ereryone else's) Heroics justice and you'll have a fine piece of fiction.
Jorge Noble Five is an Earth Pony no question about that. I Bet he could give Big Mac a run for his money in the size department.
And last but not least Noble Six (keep him nameless that way people can insert their own choosen name in their imaginatiuon, just a thought) he's a Pegasus no surprise there, what with his flying skills with the Saber.
Now I'm curious, will you pair them of with the elements of harmony or not? And if yes then who will end up with whom? Based on their Pony forms I can hazard a few gueses but I don't want to spoil the surprise for the others.
When might we see the next chapter?
933360
Its called a retcon. You don't get to pick and choose canon to your liking. It is how it is and unfortunately there's nothing anyone but the staff of 343 studios can do about it.
934086
I'm actually almost done! Expect it sometime tomorrow, maybe even sometime late tonight!
I too was kinda peeved, but I am not downvoting. Sorry.
two words describe what im thinking right now
I've got 2 tips for you.
First: Type your authors note with bold lettering. This will help distinguish between it and the actual story.
Second: Instead of writing out 'Authors Note', you should instead use this abbreviation: A/N.
As for the story... I believe this unique emote says it all
dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Rainbow_dealwithit.png
Legit.
There are 2 types of crossovers on this website. The first are the ones with good writing, a good premise, etc., and ponified characters, whose transformation can never be reversed, even by two goddesses, who are occasionally implied to be the creators of the universe. (ಠ_ಠ) Then, there are ones that are bad in every way, and have characters that remain humans.
932282 Clarified for you.
...so it begins...
Is Six wearing the classic armor? The one you start off with?
932323 Lawl already been done its called 60s era Spider Man invades Equestria
Yeah I know very original
Ok, Spartans into ponies? No.
Spartans should not be ponies
I would prefer if Noble Team had remained human, but I'll keep going and see how I like it.
It's going to be interesting to see how things will turn out for Noble as ponies, seeing as I've seen how things would happen had they remained human (Halo: Ponies and clouded pasts)
i'm already liking it
I just don't like it when a reader decides to forgo any and all all "logical" reaons as to why/how they entered Equestria and somehow turned into ponies instantly on arrival... It's every terrible HIE scenario thrown together when the author was just too lazy to say otherwise or come up with a decent start to the story.
I will however, continue reading because of how good of an audience this story has received. So it must be good, right?
2737227 You mirrored my thoughts quite closely. I too am reading this mainly because it has high ratings and views. I'm not really a fan of ponification but if it's done right I can like it, so we'll see where this takes me.
Isn't the whole idea of a spartan in Equestria fic, is that the spartans should be human?
To make them seem detached from the cute an cuddly pony thing.
2935827 No one would expect a four foot tall creature that looks adorable to be able to kill you in one hundred and seventeen ways with their bare hooves now, would they? That adds to the excitement.