Ms. Princess Celestia, Our New Boss
Jennings was marched through a maze of corridors, flanked on both sides by an inordinate number of guards. The excessive security was probably due to him mouthing off to the Head Honcho—the one referred to by the other guards as Shining Armor. It appeared that they were intentionally trying to misdirect him, as he passed by various landmarks repeatedly. It worked too, he had a general sense of where to go, but the individual turns he needed to take became muddled in the half hour trek through endless hallways.
Finally emerging into the sunlight, he noticed how serious everyone was being about this. Soldiers—in what appeared to be the pony equivalent of riot gear—were blocking off the streets, clearing a straight path towards what he guessed was the Princess’ office. It actually looked more like a cathedral than a building suiting the executive branch of government.
The road before him was barren of all activity, populated only by the stones paving the path and soldiers in armor. A quick glance confirmed the presence of ‘snipers’ as it may be. In reality, it was just an assortment of guards with bows and arrows or javelins ready to be thrown. Essentially, they just had ranged weapons. He had no idea how precise they may or may not be at significant distances. Ponies crowded the streets, just on the other side of the riot-prepared guards, craning their necks to get a peek at what was causing this hubbub. As soon as he stepped outside, gasps arose from the crowd, his alien body towering above his guards.
Cameras flashed as he was escorted down the street towards the ruler of Equestria. It was obvious that this was going to be major news for the next few millennia or so. Reporters scribbled down things in their notepads, feverishly asking guards for more information. Those capable of flight swooped as low as they could (before being forcibly removed by the guards), each one vying for the best camera angle on the new, biggest story in Equestrian history. Aliens! Bipedal aliens! What did they want, where did they come from? Why was it under armed guard? Was it convicted of a crime? Every single question was received the same non-answer response.
“I have no information for you at this time.” While it certainly felt like the guards knew a lot and were refusing to tell anypony, in actuality they knew about as much as the public did. Only a select few knew what had happened in Ponyville and what events had transpired to bring this strange being to Equestria.
He was finally at the base of the steps that led into the cathedral… building… office… thing. For some reason, he felt like being cheeky and decided to stop, turn, and wave to the masses like a famous politician. There was no real reason behind it; he just felt that it was appropriate. He had spent his military career operating behind enemy lines, forever away from the press, fame, and fortune. Now, he at least had the attention of every single pony in the audience. Grinning, he spun around, waving to the crowd. The guards did not appreciate his stopping, and roughly pushed him inside the giant wooden doors, closing them behind Jennings with a thunderous boom.
He slowly faced the interior of the building, noting that the ceiling was a lot taller than it had looked from the outside, and that the hall was lined with massive pillars and stained glass windows. His description of it as a cathedral was becoming more and more accurate. However, what caught his attention the most was the pony in the middle of the room. This had to be the princess they were referring too. She stood head and shoulders above all the other ponies, and it would probably been more accurate to refer to her as a horse. A tall horn stood on her head, at least twice the size of any horn he had seen prior. And while she definitely stood head and shoulders above any other pony and was bore monstrous wings proudly, the most noticeable feature about her though was the hair.
Lots and lots of hair. He couldn’t quite count how many colors she had in her mane, as it appeared to be constantly in motion. He half expected to feel hurricane-force winds blowing throughout the room, but the air was strangely still. And yet, the mane kept waving. He noticed that all the other ponies were bowing. I guess that would be appropriate, given the apparent royalty before him. Maybe it was their form of saluting? He bowed rather stiffly, as he was not accustomed to bowing at all.
“You must be the alien that has been the source of conflicting reports,” Celestia said, walking over toward Jennings. He couldn’t help but notice that despite the fact that he was standing next to her, there still wasn’t a breeze. How was it still waving?
“Uh, yeah. That’d be me. Wait, conflicting? What was conflicting?”
“Well,” said Celestia, in a smooth, very calming voice, “Some ponies have been saying that you were causing disruptions in the area, and instigated the fight on these ‘Covenant.’ Other reports say that you defended Ponyville from invasion. You can see why we need to get to the bottom of this,”
“You think I instigated the fight, and dragged Equestria into a war,” Jennings stated matter-of-factly.
“Essentially, yes. Did you kill them without warning?” Celestia asked, arching an eyebrow. Jennings shrugged.
“More or less.”
“So you did start the fight,” she asked, sounding slightly alarmed.
“In the same way that you see someone drawing back for a punch and you punch them before they punch you.”
“So you’re saying that you started the fight—after they initiated the intent to fight?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“You do realize that that’s awfully hard for any sensible jury to go for? How can you prove that?”
“Ma’am, I’m no lawyer. I’m not a politician. I don’t speak with a silver tongue. You ask me a question, I give you an answer. You give me a lawful order and I follow it to completion, no matter the cost. I’m just a soldier.”
“Fair enough,” she said, turning to look out a stained glass window. “So you’re defense is only that you think they were about to attack?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“And do you have any evidence for this?”
“Nothing tangible, Ma’am.”
“But you do have some evidence, even if it isn’t a physical indicator of innocence? What evidence do you have?”
“Only my memories and experiences. They were bringing their weapons up, and I’ve fought enough Covenant in the past to know what their intentions were.”
“Your memories?” Her voice struck an odd tone.
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Do you remember your battles against the Covenant vividly?”
“Ma’am, I haven’t been able to get sleep in who knows how long. Vividly doesn’t begin to describe it,” he said, the hardened edge to his voice momentarily vanishing as he relived the destruction of a planet in a split second.
“If I were to view these memories, would it bother you?”
“As long as the process doesn’t damage me in any way,” he paused for a second, deep in thought. “I guess it’s ok.”
“Agreed. I will cast a spell that allows me to see into your mind, and if you could be so kind as to remember a few things I will see if your experiences align with what you say.”
“Alright,” he said, with a slight hesitation. He generally tried to avoid remembering. But if it would help prove innocence, that would be fantastic. Her horn glowed brilliantly, causing sunspots in Jennings vision. In a flash, he teleported back in time.
He tried to give her a complete history of his military career, so she would fully understand where his position was. It was odd to be sharing a mind and memories with another entity. He could sort of feel her presence in the memories. Sort of. He just could sense a change of her emotions, for instance he could tell when she was empathized with him, when the sights made her angry, and when she felt pained by what was happening.
He started off in Basic Combat Training, going through the shark attacks, the smoking, the pushups, the pain. Drill Instructors coming from seemingly nowhere to apply pain and suffering when it was least expected. He jumped ahead to ODST school, showing the length and suffering all the Troopers went through during their immensely long training program. He finished off the memory with him and Naber being pinned with their shiny new ODST wings.
He jumped up to his first deployment, a Covenant invasion of another outer colony. He could feel Celestia grow anxious during his first combat drop, as the pod grew hotter and hotter, shaking violently as it feel at supersonic speeds from orbit. Celestia could feel Jennings’ horror as he faced down Covenant for the first time. She watched through his eyes as an Elite tore a human in half with its bare hands. Blind terror gripped the two of them as the Elite turned and started charging towards Jennings. The BR thumped rhythmically into his shoulder, accompanied by a feeling of overwhelming relief when the shields popped on the Elite. Another burst to the head dropped the massive foe. One of his squad mates ran towards Jennings. Celestia’s relief turned to shock as the man’s head exploded with the impact of a sniper rifle, coating Jennings visor in a red mist and grey matter.
He moved forward a few battles, to an infiltration mission, far behind Covenant lines. His squad was moving in to plant a bomb in a Covenant facility, and things weren’t going to plan. They had gotten into the structure no problem but an alarm had been triggered when they were leaving. Special Ops units of Covies had been dispatched to take out the humans. Celestia could feel the fear felt by every man in the unit as they hunkered down in the darkness, hunted by invisible Elites. Every few hours or so, a strangled cry could be heard as an ODST was found and killed. Usually the troopers were able to take one of the Spec Ops elites with them, but not always. Right as day was about to break, an Elite found him, and he fought for his life desperately, firing his suppressed SMG into the chest of the Elite. As the weapon was batted away, he dove desperately for the arm of the Elite that grasped the sword. He was able to keep that dangerous weapon from stabbing him, and immediately spun back around to stab the Elite in the throat with his combat knife.
He cut rapidly between the deaths of each of his squadmates. His squad leader and Joey died defending damn politician’s transport. Like politicians were helpful in a conflict like this. He remembered the exact sight and sound of his squad leader’s replacement as he screamed for help while bleeding out on a battlefield far from home. One by one, his squad mates died that day by a covenant weapons of some type or another. Plasma rounds, energy swords, grenades, etc. until only Naber and Jennings were left. Finally, brass decided to give them some air support. Nice how they got it after everyone had died defending a piece of ‘mission critical terrain’ from enemy hands. Here came the hard part.
Celestia felt Jennings’ gut wrenching agony as his last friend bled out on the floor of some bar, on Earth’s surface. She watched Jennings jump into combat attached to a brand new squad. Then the plasma round hit and he was sent through the slipspace rupture, landing in Equestria. He attacked Twilight out of confusion, and the two spent a long time discussing everything related to Earth and human culture. Rainbow Dash showed him around Ponyville, and he ran into the Covenant again. As soon as he heard them, he brought his weapon up, killing them as fast as he could. And just like that, the memory sharing was over.
Jennings grunted, dropping to a knee. He was soaked in a cold sweat, and spent a few moments trying to re-bottle all of the memories he had reopened, and were now wreaking havoc with his psyche. Celestia stood still for a few seconds, blinking in a daze. She finally shook her head, trying to process and push away the sudden brutality.
“Now I understand why you did what you did,” Celestia said in her signature, smooth voice. She had regained her composure remarkably fast.
“So you’re clearing me of the charges?”
“Yes, I am.”
“That’s great! By the way Romeo over there,” Jennings gestured over his shoulder, thumb pointing at Shining Armor, “was treating me, I assumed I was already guilty.”
“Really?” Celestia said, intrigued. “And how did he treat you?” Shining Armor’s shoulders drooped, knowing what was coming.
“Oh, he said almost verbatim that the reason my soldiers and friends died was because I was an incompetent and terrible soldier,” Jennings features darkened, then abruptly returned to normal as the wave of anger passed.
“Is this true?” Jennings noticed that Celestia was no longer addressing him, but instead, talking to Romeo. He also noticed that Celestia seemed to be towering over Jennings. Maybe she was irritated at his disrespect or still a little rattled by the vivid recounting of the deaths of his compatriots. Who knew. Needless to say, all Jennings wanted at this moment was some popcorn. And maybe a sofa.
“Well, uh, technically yes, but…”
“Please, tell me what you mean by ‘technically,’” Celestia said, focusing intently on the answer of the blue-maned stallion.
“Well I did say it. But the only reason I said it was because I was angry that he acted dismissive of my wife, and he endangered my sister by bringing the Covenant to Ponyville!” Celestia did not seem impressed. Jennings gave her some serious kudos for how calmly she addressed him.
“Until I have decided what role Sgt Jennings will play in our fight, I feel that your presence may just make proceedings go a lot slower, it is obvious that you and our guest do not seem intent on getting along. I will call for you when I need you next.” Shining Armor slunk out of the room, obviously angry at this alien getting his way.
“Thanks,” Jennings said.
“You’re welcome. Whose fault the altercation between you two was must be decided at a later time, we have more pressing matters to address now.”
“Like fighting the Covenant?”
“More like preparing for the worst. Hopefully it won’t come to that, but I refuse to let my nation be unprepared.”
“Alright, what do you need from me?”
“I will direct you to the General in charge of our military. I’d like you to coordinate with him, in order to discover what weapons and tactics we have currently that will be most advantageous. Also, I’d like for you to design a course like the one you went through. Obviously there would be many differences, but a course that challenging could only serve to improve our military strength.”
“That’s kind of an odd request, but ok.”
“Do you not want to do it?”
“Nah, I can do it. I just was not expecting it.”
“Good,” Celestia said, her smooth voice never wavering. Jennings felt suddenly unnerved. It wasn’t that he found Princess Celestia to be a threat, it’s that he didn’t. He treated everything as a threat. Until it had been proven beyond a doubt that it didn’t mean him harm, he always regarded new people, new things, and new situations with extreme caution, as his life often depended on it. But there was something different about Celestia. Her voice was disarmingly smooth; it felt kind and heartwarming just to listen to. At the same time, all you had to do was listen to her for a few seconds before you got the impression that she was extremely wise, and had earned her position as ruler time and time again.
“Alright then, I’ll go and talk to this General. Which way?” Celestia gestured down a hallway, and provided him brief instructions on where to go and who to ask for. Jennings disappeared down the hall, greeting the General appropriately, immediately beginning discussion about what was necessary for preparation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“How could this have happened?” Lo’Vadomir was not pleased with the reports of his scouts. His fist slammed against a wall hard enough to dent the alloy and cause his shields to flare. The Kig-Yar under his command were keenly aware that their next words could mean the end of their life.
“Sir, we only discovered their graves from scent alone. When we dug them up, they were all killed by either a blade or a human weapon.”
“But there was only one human!” Lo’Vadomir roared.
“Maybe there were more that we didn’t see,” suggested one of the cowering Kig-Yar. A blast from a plasma rifle silenced him forever.
“There was only the one pod! Though I suppose it is possible that there were some that came in after we fell through.” Lo’Vadomir issued out some final orders. “Begin thorough scouting of the town. I want to know how many heretics we are dealing with, and what their strengths are. As soon as I know what we’re facing, we’ll wipe them from existence!”
A/N: Is there any specific day that you would prefer chapter releases? Due to Labor Day weekend, I was able to get a chapter ahead. That being said, this only offers me the luxury of choosing what day I put out the chapters. I don’t want to put them both out, because inevitably something will come up and I won’t be able to finish a chapter, so I want to have some buffer.
Also, the next chapter is probably the worst writing I've done in a while. The ending is absurdly rushed. However, I won't have time to edit it for a while. Let this go as a warning to you, that the next chapter may suck. A lot. I will fix it as soon as I can.
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ooohhh shit
no
Damn, them covies are PISSED!
1231225 well whay do you expect, their covies
Things are about to get interesting..er ...
Thursdays are as good of day to release. Kinda towards the weekend and everything.
1233099 But is Thursday better than Fridays or Saturdays? I can release it whenever, I am just trying to figure out when would make the most sense. Or does it even matter?
Any day is good man.
1233605
I really don't think it matters. Today is Thursday, so I went with Thursday
I guess for me, it was nice to see one of my favorites update after a meh-day.
i think Thursday or Friday would be good
1231208
?
why no?
All I ask is that you please upload more. It doesn't matter what day, any day, whichever day is fine with you. Just please, upload atleast 1 more chapter. Please?
1255334 If you’re willing to help edit the chapters, I can get them out quicker. Right now, it takes multiple increments of writing late at night to get a chapter done, and then another few to edit it. If you can help out with that, I can crank them out a bit quicker. For example, I have the next one and a half chapters written, but haven’t had time to edit anything, due to the fact that I have three tests tomorrow (Physics, Calc II, and Micro Economics), starting at 0830 and going until noon. And two papers by the end of the week. I’m pretty sure there’s a Russian quiz, and an Econ problem set in there too. Speaking of which, I must get back to studying.
1255478 Happy to help any way I can, if it helps you make the chapters and dish them out to people quicker. Now, if you're actually serious about already improving perfection, where do I get started? I don't really have any experience with writing, but I'm stuck up about grammar and spelling. I could spell check, help improve grammar, and help to make stories look better overall. (If I sound like a dick, sorry. I tend to do that by accident.
)` Also, you don't have to include me anywhere. I just like to help. (I'm being serious, you could make yourself look better by keeping editors a secret. Once again, if I sound like a dick, sorry.)
1255537 I honestly don't care if anyone knows if I have an editor. I'm fairly certain that all actual authors use a series of editors, so there's no shame in it in my opinion.
1246531 yur avytar, SOOOOO CCUUUUUTE
From a certaint stand point, without knowledge of playing Halo 3: ODST and my own Halo story, I'd find the idea of one ODST taking down that many covenant ridiculous. But my group of ODST are going to go through worst
10262256
A little plot armor, and he is supposed to be a badass so its not completely unbelieveable