Helljumpers

by CommanderApplejack

Chapter 12: Homeworld

Scootaloo was walking around the hallways of the frigate she was currently calling home, small piles of bullet casings still lay strewn around and the walls still showed burn marks from the boarding attempt. Crew that was previously occupying cryotubes were slowly flowing into the hallways as they were being awakened to prepare for the arrival to the Sol system.

"Oi! Scoots!" A voice called out from behind her, turning around she could see a marine walking up to her. "MacGregor!" She said as she saw one of the marines she had befriended before the boarding. "How's Hopper? He didn't get himself killed did he?"

The Scottish man chuckled, "Nothin' too bad lass, we got off with a few light burns." He said, looking over at Scootaloo. "You seem to have gotten a lot worse than any of us laddy."

Scootaloo grimaced a bit before replying, "Yea, I got lucky. If Lucy hadn't seen it I would have been a goner." A light shiver ran down her spine, "Anyway, are you and the other guys up for some exercises with my crew?"

The marine shook his head, "Sorry kid, I'm gettin' off this ship the moment we get to Earth orbit. I've got some kin I want to visit down planetside."

Scootaloo sighed, "Well, have fun then. I'd like to go down to the planet but we have to report to Cairo station and I don't think brass would let me down to the surface anyway being an alien and all."

"If they do let you and your friend come down then you're welcome to stay over at my place." MacGregor said while heading down another hallway.

"I'll keep it in mind!" Scoots shouted before continuing walking towards the quarters that Twilight had gotten as 'lab' for her search for Equis.

Along the way, she was keeping an eye out for Zoey as the pilot had been designated as non-essential and had been in cryo for the duration of the trip. Scootaloo grinned a bit as she thought back at the movie marathon, Lucy had pulled out a series of films called Lord of the Rings, a bit violent by pony standards but then again it wasn't like the orcs had a scratch on the covenant. The doors to Twilight's room slid open revealing the purple alicorn sleeping on a desk covered in paper and multiple data pads.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and walked over to Twilight, it hadn't been the first time that she had fallen asleep while working in the last two weeks. "TWILIGHT!" Scootaloo screamed into her ear. Twilight shot up from the table screaming, "Scootaloo! what did I say about screaming in my ear!" she shouted back, trying to get her heart-rate back under control.

"We've arrived in the Sol system, we'll be at Earth in about three hours and report to Cairo station, I take it you haven't looked at your messages since you managed to sleep through the alarm signaling the exit from slipspace." Scootaloo told twilight who immediately grabbed one of the datapads and used a pencil to look up through her messages, "Did your orders tell why we were going to Cairo, Scoots?" she asked turning a bit pale.

Scootaloo looked a bit confused,"No, it only stated that we had to report to Cairo in our dress uniforms, I assume that we're going to meet with some brass."

Twilight hoofed the tablet over to Scootaloo who quickly read Twilight's version of the orders, "Lord Hood." Scootaloo slowly said as she finished reading, "Fleet admiral Lord Terance Hood wants us to come to Cairo?"

Twilight retrieved her datapad and put it back on the table,"We should get dressed as soon as possible so we're immediately ready when we arrive." Scootaloo nodded in agreement and the two ponies rapidly made their way to the storage locker where they had stored their black uniforms.

"So you have no idea what this is about then?" Mack asked while escorting Twilight and Scootaloo to the airlock connecting to the crippled frigate to the defense platform. "No, other than that it's on the admiral's request absolutely nothing." Twilight replied as the group reached the door connecting the ship to the space station.

"Then good luck with whatever, we didn't get the invite so you two are on your own." Mack told the two before turning around and heading back into the ship. Twilight looked to Scoots and proceeded into the station where several marines were waiting, "Private Sparkle, Private Hurricane, if you would follow us." the lead marine said, Twilight and Scootaloo nodded and the group made their way to the station's transport system. Along the way, they got a few glances from bypassers but mostly they seemed to be too preoccupied to care about the ponies. One of the things Twilight liked about the station over the ship was that there were windows literally everywhere allowing for a good view of space and bits of Earth, as where the warship only had armor and any view outside was via camera's on the hull. The group stepped into the train to the command center and settled down, "They said you two were on Reach when the Covenant attacked." one of the marines -a corporal- said as the door of the train closed.

"Yes, Sir." Twilight replied to the marine and to their credit none of them flinched at hearing Twilight speaking, although that was probably due to them being better briefed than previous escorts.

"Do you two know how hard New Alexandria got hit? I had family there and I don't know if they got out." He asked hoping the ponies knew anything about what the situation on the ground was on Reach.

Scootaloo spoke up first,"Discord would be proud at the shitshow, I mean we got a very large portion of the civilians out but the city got attacked by brutes so there were still a lot of casualties." She told the marine who looked to be glad to get new information from Reach. The train stopped and the marines formed up again and moved quickly to the command center. Walking into the command center the ponies saw a lot of booths where operators were busy and at the front of the room, a large screen was present. At the large screen, an old man was present tapping some commands into a console. "Sir!" The group stood at the ready as the admiral turned and saw the ponies, "You're dismissed marines." he told their escorts who saluted and headed out the room, "Now since ONI has been a bit overzealous about keeping any and all information about you off any network, so the orders you got probably told you next to nothing." Lord Hood said, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Private Sparkle, please step forward."

Twilight took a step forward and stood up on her hind legs to get closer to the height of the admiral, she noticed an officer carrying a box had stepped closer from the side. "Private Sparkle, due to your actions on the Stalward Dawn the ship avoided capture. Even though the reports tell me the way you did it was in your own opinion 'less than satisfactory' the fact still remains that by your actions the crew of the Stalwart Dawn is still alive today. As the first alien to receive an award from the UNSC, I hereby present you with the bronze star for your extraordinary act of bravery. You have done the UNSC proud Private." The Admiral pinned the star on Twilight's chest and saluted, a gesture Twilight gladly returned.

"As a second order of business private Sparkle, I have an admission to make."Lord hood started," When we first decided to allow for you and your companion to join the corps the intention was to keep you in reserve while you searched for your homeworld, but when the Covenant attacked Reach we had no choice but to deploy you two into battle. Don't get me wrong, your actions on the battlefield are valued highly but you're of more value to the UNSC alive than dead."

Twilight pondered for a moment but she could see the reasoning behind the idea, without her the chances of possibly getting an alliance would be a lot slimmer than if she were there. "I understand, Sir." She replied.

The admiral nodded, "You may report back to the Stalward Dawn." He said, turning back to a console but before Twilight could leave Scootaloo stepped forward, "Sir, permission to speak freely."

Lord Hood turned to the pegasus, "Granted." He simply stated.

"Sir, we have been stuck on spaceships for a large amount of time in our stay here and when we weren't on a spaceship we were either training or fighting. Is there a possibility we could get authorization for shore leave on the planet, Sir?" She asked, Lord Hood immediately answering. "I will run it by the Office of Naval Intelligence, but I'm afraid I wouldn't know where you would be able to stay while on Earth."

"There's a marine from the Dawn who offered to give us a place to stay in Scotland." Scootaloo added, Lord Hood thought about it for a moment. "Take a pelican and notify that marine to pick you up, I'll keep ONI off your backs."

Scootaloo and Twilight saluted again and made their way out of the control room, "That was incredibly reckless." Twilight stated after they got out of earshot of the command center, "You know you just asked the Fleet Admiral to do you a personal favor, right?"

Scootaloo grinned, "It worked didn't it?"

Twilight shook her head unable to suppress a smile, "Call your friend that we're coming, might as well make the best of it while it lasts. I'll ask if Mack and the others can get leave too."

Scootaloo went ahead and called the number she had gotten from MacGregor while Twilight called Mack, Fifteen minutes later the Two got approached by a pilot and were heading down to the planet minutes later. The pelican they had gotten reached Scotland within the hour and set down at a small airport, ONI had managed to get a request to the ponies to stay in the pelican to prevent too much exposure so they waited until MacGregor reached the airport.

"So, since you managed to get us leave I take it you also have an idea what to do down there." Twilight asked to which Scootaloo just shrugged, "Anything is better than being cooped up in a spaceship, I for one want to practice flying on my own for a bit." Twilight groaned and turned her gaze outside where she could see a car approaching, "I think your man is here Scoots." She said as the car came to a halt at the ramp of the pelican and the Scottish marine stepped out.

"Didn't you say you didn't think you would get leave, lassy." He said with a smile, "C'mon get in, I had an appointment with the local pub before you called me."

Twilight grimaced as she heard the were going to a bar, "Going to a bar might not be the best of ideas." She told MacGregor, "Last time Scoots nearly electrocuted someone, I'd like to not repeat that."

"Don't worry lass, They're all buddies of mine, they won't do a thing." He reassured Twilight, "Get on in, we've got a bit of a ride ahead of us"

"One does not simply walk into a bar without drinking, MacGregor." Twilight said as she entered the car which caused Scootaloo to snicker, "Nerd." she said before also getting into the car.

About one and a half hours later the car came to a stop in a parking lot in the middle of the village MacGregor called home, The village itself reminded Twilight of Equestria, the houses weren't the concrete blocks she had seen in the cities or military bases but wooden ones with stone bases. MacGregor told them the houses were build to resemble an old building style while still having the same utilities as a regular house.

"When we get to the bar you two should let me introduce you two," MacGregor's voice breaking Twilight's train of thought. Both ponies nodded, they were still wearing their black dress uniform so they were probably going to get some strange looks. The Scottish marine opened the door to the pub, immediately after which music started pouring through, MacGregor looked around before spotting a group of three civilians at the back of the bar. Quickly making their way over to the table, surprisingly they didn't get as many looks as she had expected although that could be chalked up to some of the Scotsmen being too drunk.

"Ey Alec, you're late!" One of the three shouted the moment he saw the marine walking towards them.

"Had to do something for the lads upstairs." Alec Responded sitting down at the table with the others, allowing for Scoots and Twilight to also take a seat.

"What the hell did you guys give me?" one of the three friends asked, "I think I'm hallucinating." he added while studying the liquid in his glass.

"Uhm, hi?" Twilight said smiling weakly, the surprise causing Alec's female friend to do a spit-take.

"We can't all be hallucinating the same thing at the same time can we?" She asked the others who were also staring at the ponies, before they could theorize any better further Alec interfered. "Willie, Kirsten, Ronald, meet Twilight and Scootaloo." He said pointing to the respective ponies. "They're with the 65th shock troop division."

The three friends looked at each other silently trying to decide their course of action, what they came up with surprised Twilight.

"Hey Barkeep! Get these two aliens a beer!"

Twilight was in the back of MacGregor's car with Scootaloo, the pegasus had had a couple of beers herself back at the bar but due to never having drunk alcohol in her entire life in combination with her smaller body the liquid had a severe effect on her. The night itself had gone pretty well no-one had bothered them, a few people had asked some things about what they were or where they came from but mostly Twilight had opted to tell them that that was classified so she wouldn't get into trouble for that with ONI. She looked over Scootaloo who was peaceful sleeping feeling a pang of pity for the pegasus that would have to suffer a hangover the next morning.

The car came to a stop at a house outside the village, Twilight loaded Scootaloo on her back after she got out of the car. The house was dark indicating that the inhabitants were already asleep.

"I'll show you a room. I wanted to surprise my kin so didn't tell them I was coming to visit them, so could you lads stay in that room tomorrow morning until I come and get you?" Alec asked, Twilight nodded. Alec opened the door and they silently made their way to a guest room where a neatly made bed stood. Twilight put Scoots under the blanket on one side of the bed as she claimed the other, "See you tomorrow, MacGregor. Thanks for letting us stay." She whispered

"My pleasure, Sparkle." He responded closing the door behind him. Twilight lay down in the bed, moaning in pleasure as she found it to be incredibly soft unlike the bunks in the Stalwart Dawn that felt like they were made from concrete. Settling into the bed it didn't take long for the alicorn to start drifting to sleep.

Twilight was standing on a grassy hill, feeling a bit disoriented she looked around. Down the hill about two hundred meters in front of her, she could see a familiar village in the distance.

Ponyville.

She tried to move but she couldn't, putting all her strength into raising a leg didn't help a single bit. looking down at her legs she found nothing amiss, studying her surroundings she suddenly heard a sound coming from the sky. Looking at the source of the sound made her blood go cold, a covenant CCS-class battlecruiser was looming over the village with its main glassing beam charging.

"HEY, ANYPONY! GET OUT OF THE VILLAGE!" She screamed out the top of her lungs in panic, she could see ponies wandering not knowing the danger they were in.

"NO!" She screamed as plasma was flung from the bottom of the spaceship obliterating the town in hellfire, she could see pegasi falling down from the sky with burned wings and unicorns and earthponies with their hides ablaze crawling from the collapsed houses near to the edge of the town. Twilight collapsed crying trying to crawl forward but whatever cruel force was acting on her didn't allow for her to go forward. Unannounced to Twilight the dream started to slow down and eventually froze entirely, it took a few moments for the alicorn to realize that the dream had stopped in its tracks and the moment she noticed she looked around in confusion. In the corner of her eyes, she spotted something mostly sky blue but it also had a rainbow mane. Turning around completely she found her body grow cold at the sight of the pony.

"Rainbow?"

"Twilight?"

Rainbow was once again in the dream world only this time she wasn't accompanied by the princess of dreams. she had been tasked to identify nightmares and if they weren't too severe stop them, up to this point no real nightmares had plagued anypony in Equestria. Sure there were the occasional dreams of ponies worried about various things but interfering with every bad dream would one be impossible and bad for the ponies themselves too.

But without any nightmares Dash was very bored, she felt a little guilty as she wished for a nightmare to give her something to do. Not long after her wish got granted, she felt a tug on her body as it detected a nightmare and a strong one at that. Rainbow followed the feeling to the dream-bubble of origin, her eyes widening as she saw where it was located.

The large scar that Discord had made according to the Princess, a bit deeper into the scar she could see a red dream-bubble indicating a nightmare. Remembering the things Luna had told her about the scar she turned away so she wouldn't get trapped by it. As she turned Rainbow felt another tug pull her towards the bubble, looking back at it Rainbow could feel the desperation coming from it.

"Buck it." Dash said and sprinted into the scar, Black tentacles sprung out of the nothingness flying towards the blue pegasus trying to restrain her. realizing her mistake Dash tried to get back out of the scar but the tentacles had already reached her but just before they touched her they smashed into a red barrier and dissipated. The confused pony looked at the barrier that had formed around her body that was keeping the blackness in check, a red lightning bolt adorned her chest flaring up every time a tentacle smashed into the barrier and dissipated.

The element of Loyalty.

Whatever chaos magic Discord had used was unable to beat through the barrier made by the element of harmony, grinning widely Dash set off deeper into the scar towards the nightmare. Around her various dream bubbles floated but every time she tried to get a better look a tentacle popped the bubble denying the pegasus a chance to investigate, but the general feeling of fear was ever present indicating the dreams could not be pleasant ones.

She arrived at the nightmare she had sensed and looked at the bubble, out of nowhere another black tentacle sprung out and launched out at the bubble.

"No, you don't!" She shouted and tried to jump in between the tentacle and the bubble. She almost made it but the black goo managed to speed up at the last moment, but just before the tentacle hit a magenta barrier adorned with a six-pointed starburst sprung up. Rainbow Dash's heart skipped a beat, "Twilight" she whispered. Rushing over to the bubble she entered through the shield and the element of Loyalty and Magic's shield mixed to allow Dash through, Dash immediately got to work at getting through into the dream which didn't take long and she felt the now familiar feeling of slipping into a dream.

Dash reoriented herself the moment she entered the dream, "NO!" somepony screamed causing Dash to flinch and jump around. She saw Twilight Standing a small distance away from her looking down a hill at Ponyville.

At least.. the remains of it.

A large beam of fire from a strange metal ship was burning the village to a crisp, ponies burning alive, Rainbow tried to regain her composure determined to stop the dream. Concentrating on stopping the depiction of Twilight's mind she went to work, waves hit rainbows consciousness trying to get the foreign entity out of the dream bubble but Rainbow persisted. No-one was going to stop the element of loyalty from helping her friend, even that friend herself. Slowly but surely the dream came to a halt, Rainbow stopped after the dream wasn't moving in the slightest and looked at Twilight. The alicorn was wearing some sort of black armor and a bit further away from her a helmet with a slot for her horn lay in the grass. Twilight by this point had stopped sobbing and looked around confused and shortly after noticed Dash and turned to her.

"Rainbow?" She asked.

"Twilight?" Dash replied not believing her eyes.

Before any other action could be taken Twilight tackled Rainbow in a hug, "Is it really *snif*
you Rainbow?" she asked her eyes tearing up again.

"Y-yea, it's me Twilight." Dash stuttered trying to find words to say while also holding Twilight in a tight hug.

Twilight released her hug and looked at Rainbow, "This isn't real, is it? It's just a dream." she said dejectedly.

Rainbow also released her hug a bit, "Wait, what! I mean yes it's a dream but I'm really here Princess Luna is teaching me how to dreamwalk!"

Hearing this a smile formed on Twilight's face and she hugged her pegasus friend again, Rainbow took the time to look at her dream in detail. "What the hay is that thing Twilight?" She asked looking up in fear at the cruiser bombarding Ponyville.

Twilight followed Rainbows gaze up to the cruiser, her heartbeat increasing again but she soon remembered that it was just a dream. "It's a CCS Battlecruiser." She spat the words as if they were poison, "It's the second most used ship in the Covenant fleet after the corvettes."

Rainbow stayed silent for a moment in awe of the ship, it had to be over one and a half kilometers long. "Why is it attacking ponyville and who are the Covenant?" She asked.

"The Covenant are a collection of aliens that have set out on a campaign of genocide, they would kill everything that opposes their religion." Twilight said with a dark tone in her voice.

"Wait, what! Did you say aliens?" Rainbow said looking at Twilight in disbelief. Twilight kept looking at the ship in the sky while answering, "We're not alone out there Rainbow, there are so many more worlds and wonders out there you wouldn't even be able to imagine them."

The Dreamworld started to ripple causing Twilight to spring into action levitating the helmet onto her head, Rainbow watched in awe as the transparent visor turned opague obscuring Twilights face and lights sprung on on either side of the helmet.

"What's going on Rainbow?" Twilight asked ready just in case anything jumped them.

"You're being awoken, I'll try to find you next time you sleep!" Dash quickly said.

Twilight in a moment of clarity managed to say two more words before she got pulled out of the dream world, "Send Dragonmail!"

Rainbow got booted back into the dream world as Twilights bubble became dormant due to being awake, it didn't matter to Rainbow, she knew where it was and what she had to do. Rushing out of the chaos scar into the regular dreamscape, just to be safe, she concentrated on waking up.

She had a message to send.

Author's Note:

It's been a while last week I've been on vacation in Germany and didn't take time to write anything and because I didn't want to wait for next week Saturday to release this.
Anyway, I visited Gamescom on Wednesday and Thursday, which was amazing, but the high point of the vacation was Xbox Fanfest Thursday night for sure.
The 405^th Halo cosplay meetup was a blast so I hope I can be there next year!

If you meet any of these guys at a con around Germany say hi to them! they're awesome! (I'm the chief in the top right.)

Also, school is starting again so I don't know if I can finish the next chapter on time, it depends on school.

Comments

[dvdspires]

join the corpse

corps

I take it you also have an Idea what to do down there

idea

Didn't you say you didn't think you would get leave, laddy

I know scoots isn't very feminine, but shouldn't that be lassie

Going to a bar might not be the best of Ideas

ideas

I'll Show you a room

show

I'm surprised you let these minor typo's get through. Sounds like you had a good time, shame about school though. Only weird people truly like school.

[CommanderApplejack]

9133992
Fixed! I miss some of my own mistakes so every now and then
And yes, Vacation was a complete blast!

[SonicStreak5344]

When will they meet Master Chief?

[Zergly]

great chapter can't wait for the next

[Earthpatriot117]

Whoo! Great to finally see equestria starting to get involved, and glad they finally found twilight and scoots. Xd
Next chapter!

[Teraunce]

Ya know I'm kinda sad that in that pic you weren't cosplaying as a pony cosplaying as a Halo marine.

[Foxtrot315]

"Oi! Scoots!" A voice called out from behind her, turning around she could see a marine walking up to her. "MacGregor!" She said as she saw one of the marines she had befriended before the boarding. "How's Hopper? He didn't get himself killed did he?"

Any time I hear that name I think of call of duty 2

[Black--Soul]

"One does not simply walk into a bar without drinking, MacGregor." Twilight said as she entered the car which caused Scootaloo to snicker, "Nerd." she said before also getting into the car. About one and a half hours later the car came to a stop in a parking lot in the middle of the village MacGregor called home, The village itself reminded Twilight of Equestria, the houses weren't the concrete blocks she had seen in the cities or military bases but wooden ones with stone bases. MacGregor told them the houses were build to resemble an old building style while still having the same utilities as a regular house.

Nice Lord of the Rings reference

Spike, the most important forgotten character of the canon series.