Halo Equestria: The Long War

by Demon_Imp_Spartan

14- Acceptable Losses

[center]14January 12^th, 2552

Undisclosed location, Fillydelphia, Equis

A young Unicorn named Sparker leaned back in his wooden chair, his hooves crossed and resting on the table in front of him, arms crossed. To his left sat two other Equestrians: one Earth Pony, one Pegasus. Representatives from each of the subspecies of Equestrians. Behind them stood a group of Equestrians, looking somewhat nervous. Some clutched stolen UNSC weapons. Across the table sat three Griffons. Large, imposing, and serious. They looked down their beaks at the Equestrians as though they weren’t sure what to make of them.

“Do we have a deal?” asked the Earth Pony, a stallion named Willey, leaning forward over the table. “We’re willing to agree to your terms.”

The three Griffons stared at them for a moment. Sparker wondered what they would say. For the most part, he had thought their little meeting had gone well. He and the rest of the Equestrian Freedom Society didn’t approve of the humans coming and essentially laying claim to their world. Putting it under their ‘protection’ without so much as a warning and even without asking permission.

Yes, there was all this talk about ‘the Covenant,’ but Sparker had never seen any proof that such a thing existed. There was the information, images, and videos that the humans had provided, but again, that was all information that the humans had given to them. There was nothing as of yet to say that this was just another tool that they were using to gain the upper hand over them. They had even gone so far as to say some kind of alien space ship had been spotted near them and that they had destroyed it. Once again, without any proof.

No, he did not like the humans.

The Griffons – a species known for being fiercely independent and highly proud – also clearly had a large population that had taken offense at how quickly the humans had sucked them into their sphere of influence. As far as Sparker knew, no human civilians had made the trip to attempt to live among the Griffons as they had the Equestrians, but he knew the UNSC was helping to set up a base of operations near Griffonstone; a ‘shipyard’ or something like that.

And many of the Griffons didn’t appreciate that. They too, believed that humanity was asserting itself where it did not belong.

“We agree,” said the lead Griffon in a deep, gravelly voice. His name was Lord Godric, and according to past meetings the EFS had with him over the last month, he was the main leader of the Griffon Resistance Movement – an outfit that had been protesting the arrival and assimilation of the humans in a very similar way to the EFS. They’d attacked convoys, seized weapons, and destroyed human outposts. None of these were things the UNSC and Equestrian Royalty were falling over themselves to address. So, for now, the GRM was fairly under the radar in terms of public knowledge.

That was about to change, though.

“Excellent!” said the Pegasus next to Willey - Flyby - her wings flaring in excitement. “Should we shake on it? Or write up a treaty? Or –”

“A shake will do,” said Lord Godric, waving one clawed hand. “Griffons do not go back their word.”

He held out the same claw that he had waved. Flyby instantly placed her hand over his. Willey went next, and finally, Sparker placed his hand over the others’. They shook. Everyone retracted their hand.

“So . . .” Flyby said. “What now?”

“Now,” Willey said, his jaw set. “We can forge a joint effort to kick the humans off our planet. With more members in our cause we should be able to organize things on a larger scale. Give the Royals a real fight.”

“Yes,” Lord Godric growled. “But do not forget: we are partners. The Griffons are not subservient to your will. We will have equal say in all that we participate in.”

“None of us will use you like that,” Sparker assured him. “We’re not like the Royals. That’s the point.”

“Should we try to expand further?” Flyby asked. “Get the Yaks involved? The Dragons? The Changelings?”

Lord Godric frowned. “I will not work with Changelings.”

“I know that the Yaks are too peaceful to get involved,” said Willey, shaking his head, “and the dragons have not responded to either side thus far, so we can only assume we will get no help from them.”

“Maybe we should look elsewhere,” Sparker suggested. “There’s plenty of other species.”

“Maybe,” Willey nodded. “For now, we should focus on building stability between us and the Griffons. We can expand later if we need to.”

“I agree,” nodded Lord Godric, his stern eyes focused. “Perhaps we should discuss our next move.”

“Yes, we actually –”

There was a sudden fizzle and the lights cut out.

“Oh, Tartarus,” someone swore.

Sparker sucked in a startled breath. Uh-oh. Even the faint light of the moon shining in rays from the few windows around them weren’t enough to provide sufficient light. Slowly, small lights of varying colors winked on as Unicorns' horns blinked on.

Sparker kicked himself mentally for not thinking of that. He concentrated for a moment and his own yellow light blinked to life on his forehead. In the new relief that had been thrown onto the scene, he saw that everyone had stood and was looking around the room, jittery.

“This isn’t good,” Willey said, his voice low and worried. “Something’s wrong.”

“You don’t say,” Sparker heard one of the other Earth Ponies mutter.

“Shut up, Soil,” Sparker admonished. Now wasn’t the time for backtalk. They needed to do something fast.

“Firefly, Red Cross,” Willey ordered. “Go with the Griffons and make sure they get out of here.”

“Yes, sir!”

One of the other lights winked off and Sparker saw the two in question move over to the Griffons and start to leave the room. On the way out, Lord Godric nodded at them.

“We shall not forget this, Pony,” he said in his low voice. “We will find a way to contact you once we are safe.”

And they were gone.

“What do we do, sir?” asked one of the Pegasi.

“We need to go out a different way,” Willey said. “We can’t draw too much attention to ourselves, or –”

There was a sound like a small explosion and suddenly one of the windows shattered. There was a spray of blood and one of the Unicorns fell to the ground. A thin contrail of smoke hung in the air for just a moment before dissipating.

“Oh!”

“She’s dead!”

“Turn the lights off!” Willey ordered.

They’d been so stupid – the lights had made them bright targets for anyone to see. Sparker concentrated for a second time and his light flickered off.

“We need to move,” he said. “Everyone, keep your weapons up!”

The door on one side of the room burst open, revealing two hulking figures with human rifles pointed into the room.

“Everyone freeze!” ordered a gruff voice. “It’s over.”

“Fire!” shouted Willey.

The sudden, deafening burst of weapons fire erupted in the small space. The two figures in the door, jumped backwards. To Sparker's shock, several rounds connected with them, and yet the figures just flashed a bright yellow and the bullets bounced off toward the ceiling and ground.

“What in Tartarus?” he shouted.

“Fall back!” Willey ordered. “We have to get out of here.”

At that moment, another window shattered and this time a Pegasus fell to the ground, twitching and bleeding as the contrail of smoke dissipated.

“They can see in the dark now?”

“Get to the back door!”

Sparker and the rest of the remaining ten or so rebels scrambled to the opposite side of the room. They had, of course, been smart enough to prepare an escape route in the event of something such as this coming up. Ambushes were just part of the deal when you were trying to ‘illegally’ fight to free your country. It had simply been the norm for the past few months. Of course they were prepared.

Sparker surged through the door ahead of the others and was the first to break into the small, cramped hallway on the other side. He bolted, his hooves echoing on the tile floor beneath him. From behind, he was sure he could hear Willey’s much heavier Earth Pony strides. He couldn’t worry about the others. There wasn’t time and he would only put himself in more danger going back to make sure everyone made it out. They all had to fend for themselves in the event of an ambush. That’s just how it was. That didn’t mean that Sparker had to like it.

The door just ahead of them – their way out – burst open and in stepped another one of those tall, menacing soldiers; a SPARTAN, no doubt. Uh-oh. That meant that their escape was compromised. Still, they had no choice. They had to get out and this was the only way.

Before the SPARTAN even half-realized they are there, Sparker had raised his hand. For a moment, he collected all his focus, then released. A sharp, bright light jolted out from his hand and struck the soldier, knocking them backwards off their feet, and sending them further down the hallway.

“Keep moving!” he urged, and rocketed into the doorway that the SPARTAN had just emerged from.

The face of Death was waiting for him, bright and reflective in the dim lighting.

“Boo.”

There was a deafening explosion.

Sparker lost consciousness.

_ _ _

[b]Undisclosed location, Fillydelphia, Equis

“Four, Six; report.”

It was hard to think. What ever he had been hit with passed right through his shields; they hadn’t even activated until he’d hit the floor ten feet from where he’d been standing. God damn Magic. SPARTANs didn’t train to fight that.

“Four, Six. Do you copy?”

“Four here,” came a second voice. “We got ‘em. One dead. One unconscious. A bunch cornered. Gave up when they saw we had their exit covered and made an example of one of their leaders.”

“Solid copy. We're on our way. Keep the prisoners guarded. We need to hold position until others get here to clean up the mess.”

“Copy. Four out.”

And then he was standing above him, one arm outstretched for him to take, easily recognizable by the imposing skull he’d carved into his own visor.

“C’mon, Thom. Get up. We gotta take these clowns back to the main area.”

SPARTAN-III Thom-A293 reached up and took Emile’s hand, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. “Thanks,” he said, nodding at him. His head felt a little clearer now that he was standing upright. He glanced up at his shield indicator to see that they had already fully recharged. “Son of a bitch got me good. My shields didn’t even react.”

Emile-A239 turned away from Thom, lazily keeping his shotgun trained on the group of ten or so prisoners they had suddenly acquired. “Magic,” he said, his voice dripping with distain. “Our equipment doesn’t know how to handle it . . . yet.”

“Can’t wait ‘til they figure that one out,” Thom quipped, mirroring the other SPARTAN by keeping his assault rifle pointed at the Equestrians.

At that moment, the lights in the building flickered back to life and the door on the opposite side of the hallway – the one through which the rebels had entered – swung open. Two other SPARTANs stepped through. The first was Carter-A259, the leader of Noble Team. The second was the huge-even-by-SPARTAN-standards form of Jorge-052, carrying his signature chain-gun.

“What’s the situation, sir?” Emile asked, keeping the conversation on a private radio channel so as not to alert the rebels in front of them.

“Kat’s almost finished rewiring the light system; she’ll be joining us shortly,” Carter reported. “Jun’s keeping overwatch to make sure no one pays us a surprise visit. I’ve already called in for evac and a prisoner transport. We just need to babysit until they show up.”

“Jun see what happened to the Griffons?” Thom asked. Part of the reason they had been pulled in for this exact op was because it sounded like the Equestrian rebels were trying to expand their operations – something that the UNSC and Equestrian Royalty were not eager to allow. So, they called in the best of the best.

Them.

“Negative.” Carter shook his head. “There must be some passage out of here that we didn’t know about. Command’s not gonna happy about that.”

“There might be some consolation,” Emile said. He gestured to the body on the ground. “That’s Willey; one of their leaders.” He was a little hard to recognize with half his torso missing. “That’s Sparker, another one.” Sparker was a Unicorn, and he lay on the floor as well, though he appeared to simply be unconscious. “And that’s Flyby, their third leader.” Flyby stood with the other prisoners, hands raised slightly in a gesture of surrender but still looking mutinous.

“Sparker and Flyby’ll be good for interrogation,” Thom supplied. “I’m sure ONI or the Royal’s will be . . . persuasive.”

“They wanted all three,” said Jorge, his tone flat. “If I recall correctly.”

“Two outta three ain’t bad,” Emile said, matching him. “Better than none. Besides, the only good rebel is a dead rebel.”

Thom grinned inside his helmet. That was Emile, alright. He might be callous, but he did have a point. They’d all read the reports on what happened in the Crystal Empire. These rebels were just as bad as their innies. They should be dealt with accordingly.

“They’re still people,” Jorge said.

“Strictly speaking?” Thom asked.

“You know what I mean.”

“We can have this discussion later,” Carter said. Thom buttoned up. He was only willing to put a toe over the line of ‘acceptable’ conversation. Unlike Emile. “What’s done is done. It’s better we captured two and killed a third than captured none at all. If this happens again though, Emile, we might be bringing Rosenda next time.”

“Sir.” Emile nodded, clearly knowing better than to argue.

“Now let’s clean this mess up. I’m sure there’s more important work we could be doing.”

Author's Note:

Welcome to Act 2, y'all.

Comments

[Mkchief34]

Noble Team makes it in!

Great job!

[Armageden]

Ooooooooooooooooooh crap.

[Armageden]

Goddamnit this things on hiatus............FUCK!!!

[Bronzer]

Ambushes were just part of the deal when you were trying to ‘illegally’ fight to free your country.

It'd be funny if someone asked them how they can free their countries when the UNSC has no control or authority over their countries. All that's been happening are deals, not control. Either they'd stumble trying to imagine justifications or they'd stare stupidly. Perhaps not comprehending or perhaps realizing how dumb they are.

Before the SPARTAN even half-realized they are there, Sparker had raised his hand. For a moment, he collected all his focus, then released.

No offense, but him having reactions faster than a Spartan is just not believable even with suspension of disbelief. Let alone having such reflexes that he can process the Spartan's appearance, raise his hand, and cast a spell before the Spartan can register his eyes seeing him. Especially a Spartan III, whose augmentations are arguably superior to the IIs.

These rebels were just as bad as their innies. They should be dealt with accordingly.

Finally, an author who remembers the Insurrectionists are terrorists and pirates trying to pretend to have a just cause for the sake of publicity. Instead the weird popular revolt 343i pretends they are (yet still has them being brutal oppressors on worlds they control, so at least there's that).

[Tyler-B003]

“They can see in the dark now?”

If only they knew; Spartans could always see in the dark (even if games tend to forget that ability).

[Comet_Chaser]

Was about to read this, but....

1. On hiatus since 2020
2. Author hasn't been on or said anything since 2020 as well

Yeah, it's dead, ignore and move on, don't waste your time.