It had been a somewhat quiet week for the Venator since his…encounter with the, well for lack of a better term, ghost that remained by his side. Her presence is always foreshadowed by the light pain in the back of his mind and the red tingeing of his vision. When he would next open her eyes she would be standing somewhere in the room, her gaze fixated on whatever random object had decided to catch her interest.
Sometimes it was a book, other times it was a lamp. There was even one time where the ghost seemed absolutely fascinated by a lightbulb of all things during one of the many trips to various libraries and archives since her first appearance. Communication was still an issue, however, as it was purely one-sided. Mobius could converse with her but not the other way round, and even then her answers were unclear. There is only so much one can convey through body language and charades alone. Especially when it came to such questions as ‘Who are you?’
An interesting reaction however was when it came to the Panssari. She couldn't touch anything. Her holed hoof would simply phase through it as if it weren't there. But when it came to the armor Mobius wore it was a far different story. Where she touched, he could feel. Wherever she stood, the armor would pulse towards her as if she were calling to it in a silent siren's song.
It didn't take a genius to realize that the two shared some sort of connection. Could she perhaps be the manifestation of the Panssari and her Empress's will? If that were true it must be a cruel joke at his expense. How was he meant to interpret his Empress’s will when the damned ghost was more interested in lightbulbs than carrying out the Empresses will?!
It would all come to a head however during the many visits the caretaker of the Halls had given him since the ghost's appearance and his…’ experience’ in the void where the Empress resided. He was the first to be told about what had transpired and about the existence of the ghost that followed him. He was sworn to help the Venators and so he did by going on his own search to discover what this meant.
It was late at night in the grand Hive of the Great Swarm and the Venator had just returned from yet another dead-end in his quest to understand this ghost his Empress had thrust upon him. He had just entered through the great ornate doors that guarded the Halls when the familiar pain and tinge made themselves known. After blinking a few times, he looked around the halls to try and find where she had appeared this time.
‘Greeting Venator are you looking for something?’
Came the familiar voice of the Caretaker within his aura. Looking to his side he found the Caretaker approaching him, the ghost walking beside him with her features studying the Changeling intently.
“Not anymore caretaker.” Answered Mobius before turning to face the Caretaker.
‘You seem to be doing that a lot since she appeared.’ Responded the Caretaker before stopping just before the Venator. ‘She’s here now isn't she?’
“Yes, she’s standing right next to you actually.”
‘Ah… What is she doing?’
“The same thing as usual. She’s just… staring at you, muttering something I cannot decipher.”
The ghost in question briefly glanced back towards the Venator before waving her hoof at him absentmindedly.
‘Well then let us decipher her. I’ve found something I believe will help solve the communication problem’
Both Mobius and the Ghosts’ Attention were fully focused on the caretaker now. The ghost, especially as a smile, grew on their face.
“Really? You have found something?”
‘Something indeed. I had to dig through the ancient archives quite a bit to find it. What you are experiencing is not the first time this has been said to occur... But it is the first time for it to manifest so strongly within a Venator.’
“So my predecessors have experienced this as well?”
‘Predecessor, dear Venator. Only one other is said to have experienced this ghost. But not in the same way you describe it.’
“Who was it?”
‘Venator Panem of the Xeris Hive. One of the first Venators after the fall of who the ponies call Nightmare Moon.’
The ghost's ears perked up at that name, her face becoming one of distant recognition. Like one was remembering something from days long past.
“I’ve heard of her… didn’t she die in disgrace? Executed for attempting to overthrow the Queens?”
‘The very same… A shame she betrayed the Hive again, from the records of my own predecessors she was one of the best Venators of the time and a pleasure to fight alongside with.’
At the sending of that answer, the ghost looked to the ground in what appeared to be...regret?
“So she saw this ghost as well? Should…Should I be worried, Caretaker?” Questioned Mobius worriedly. He was loyal to the Queens and the Empress! He would never attempt to challenge them! He swore an oath!
‘We shall see… Come, I have found a ritual that will allow us to converse with it… then we may finally get some answers. Should anything happen, I will handle it. Matters of the aura are my specialty after all'
The Venator followed whilst the ghost remained standing. Her form faded once more before vanishing along with the red tint in his vision.
After a short walk, the pair of Caretaker and Venator entered one of the hall's ritual rooms, where all sorts of special prayers and sermons were conceived and prepared. The walls were a deep crimson and covered in various religious paintings regarding the Empress. At the back of the room stood its most important treasure.
It was a large stone statue of the Empress herself protecting several smaller hooded changelings. Her blade was drawn and bared between her fangs. Her large wings resembling that of a dragonfly were proudly bared in defiance. This was the image of the Empress everyling knew. The ruler that defended her swarm, and made the rivers run red in the blood she spilled to create the first changeling nation. To create the Great Swarm.
The headache returned again and the ghost made another appearance. This time she was floating before the muzzle of the statue, her wings buzzing silently. Mobius ignored the ghost this time and followed the Caretaker into the room before being motioned to sit down before him.
Mobius did as asked as the Caretaker moved to place his hoof against the pulsing Panssari’s helmet.
‘I am going to try and create a bridge between your aura and that of the Panssari. I will place myself as the intermediary to prevent any actions that ghosts might take against you.’
“I understand”
‘Good then take a deep breath and touch your aura to mine. I will do the rest. Should anything go wrong I will break the link immediately.’
Mobius nodded and did as was told. His aura began to brush against that of the Caretakers as a connection was formed. Once that was done the caretaker reached out with his own towards that of the Panssari. The aura resisted at first but then it receded and allowed the tendril to connect.
Instantly a flood of red suddenly began to feedback into the tendril. Its Power threatens to overwhelm the caretaker. That didn't stop him though. With a silent grunt, he steeled his resolve and worked to control the energies and turn them into something comprehensible by the changeling Psyche.
It started off slowly for the pair. At first, it was small differences as the energies began to be decoded. The light buzzing of wings was one of them. Said buzzing was definitely not coming from one of them. Then came the red that tinged their sight. It too began to recede as something coherent began to resonate through their senses.
‘-il you’
The Caretaker removed his hoof from the Venator. He would no longer need the physical connection anymore, his job was done. His mind can take it from there. Stepping back, the pair both took a deep breath.
‘Are you two done… oh why do I even bother asking. You can’t hear me anyways’
‘Correction dear Spirit. We can hear you just fine now.’
The ghost froze before turning their head to see both the caretaker and Mobius looking directly at her. Both of their eyes a deep crimson. She then proceeded to huff.
‘Took you long enough.’
CE is changing Expectations BTW from our pal K.K Slider
And the ghost is a Tsundere. Ha!
I guess the Red is the Empress and Chrysalis her Ursurpering Daughter/ Niece?
Perhaps she is the goddess of Change guiding Changeling kind and will declare Chrysalis being no longer best Bugwaifu
Her Name is Marksaline the Changelings Bugwaifu Queen. The Venator must make a great Journey to free her sister Fluffelpuff to unseal the Red Marker and make Fluffelpuff and best Bugwaifu Chrysalis one again.
It will be a long and dangerous journey but if he successfully unite them than he get 'exclusiv Pillow Cave of fun time' with both of them.
THE SNUGGEL SHALL BE DOUBLED ♡
The Venator successfully united them in the end ~♡
The Venator is already waiting for snuggels inside
Than Cadance married them all in a Herd / Swarm.
The - End ~♡
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Was worth a try to predict the story ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I feel sorry for the Venator not getting double snuggel time in the pillow cave of fun...
Chrysalis giggle was positivly epic ♡
So random thought:
"What if the Empress turned out to be a nerdy shut in who was so horrible at dealing with people that she created the whole Empress persona to try and deal with others and then things just rapidly spun out of control from there until she ended up worshiped as a god"?
Clearly she wants you to get her a lightbulb
Ah, you told her something, something that made her turn her blade against the Queens
You sure about that, what if you learned something, like say that the Queens had betrayed and trapped the Empress... would challenge them then?
time to shatter a worldview
So Chrysalis is Truth. Seeing way too many parallels to the conviant again.
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Okay now even I’m confused here. I hardly mentioned chrysalis at all this chapter. How did you arrive at this conclusion?
Peeks in
Mesa like
fades away
Good chapter man, didn't know you had the sanity left to write this XD
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Kickstart my heart is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be…unnatural.
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Yeah, that sounds like something written by someone who utterly failed to realize that transplant/implant rejection is an immune response. It is literally your immune system recognizing the new pieces of you as foreign, wrong, “dOeS nOt BeLoNg!” A stronger-responding immune system would actually make that worse. In fact, it does make life worse for many people when it starts rejecting perfectly valid and original bits of said people. We call that an “autoimmune disease.”
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just the hints lying around. the last one like him that could see her to this degree betrayed Chrysalis and died. and the looks she gave the statue. Chrysalis spread a lie to have the power she does. She literally pulled a prophet of Truth move here. Hiding the truth with lies.
I am predicting right now that are changeling here is going to do an Arbiter and that Chrysalis lied to them all and start a rebellion. somehow Six and this guy will team up and with Equestria's help beat Chrysalis. That is halo 2 and 3 right there. I wanted to see Six and Equestria deal with each other and for the most part I am getting that. His story and the changelings are the issue.
From the start of the changeling perspective after the battle the Changeling hive just screams Covenant Placeholder. His trial is straight up form Halo 2. his armor and role are straight up the Arbiters. Chrysalis is clearly taking Truth's place with the other two prophets removed. The ghost is clearly the sign of a very big lie done to the hive to get them to obey and once the lie is revealed it's going to lead to a rebellion with this guy being a key leader of it. Maybe and avatar to the true Empress's will.
You said the the hive would not become a second hand covenant. yet 90% of them SCREAMS covenant. You have changed the religious fervour of the Forerunner's to the Empress and the Swarm. both groups current form was made through war and bloodshed.
right now it looks like you lied to us that were concerned about this. We want Six to deal with MLP and it's issues. not for a replay of the Human Covenant war with Equestria standing in for the UNSC and the Hive for the Covenant. Frankly scrap this changeling character. I am not insterested in him. i am interested in Six and her intereactions with the MLP world. I checked my previous comment on this issues and I got several thumbs up which means I am not the only one with this issue.
You have a good story here with Six. it is weight down by the Covenant Hive stuff which you don't need.
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Then I guess you’ll have to stick around to realize what I said was no lie.
Fate had us meet as foes…
…And there will be no ring to make us brothers
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You make ot hard to stick around. Why can't we just have a story on Six without this guy. If its a spolier then PM me. Right now i see no reason for this guy as another protaginist.
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The Nobel sin is female the Venator is male. There are fan story of a female Spartan and a male Sangheli become a item. I think that will be it.
Would also fit the Cadance avatar theme
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How about lovers
What more romantic than Six and Venator laughtering their way trough enemy lines. Tanking hit for one another
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*Shrug* Something something gene editing something something its classified something something super science bullshit
From what I recall, there were 10 (I think?) gene markers that allowed for reduced chance of rejection of genetic editing and cybernetics. Spartans required all ten, otherwise rejection (and thus death) was guaranteed. Even then, the original Spartan-IIs had something like a 90% failure rate. Spartan-IIIs had a much lower failure rate, but it was still in the double digits. And that was before they got to the cybernetic enhancements. The Spartan program was brutal.
One of those genes allowed for an enhanced immune system. An enhanced immune system they might not have had until after modification. We're not really given too much info, canonically.
It kinda makes sense though, if you apply a bit of handwavium, with the idea that the enhanced immune system was designed to supplant the existing immune system (which may have been a bit stronger than normal, and thus an indicator for ONI to abduct the kid as a potential candidate) to allow the body to accept the modifications. Which then might explain the high fatality rate if the gene edited initiates were, instead of rejecting the implants and gene mods, rejecting their old bodies.
Me: *Sees the Changaling ghost* HANZ GET ZEE FLAMINVEIRHER
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How about no romance for a change?
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How ironic to see that comment from a user with you'r avatar and name
Especially with that in mind!
Quarian in video is the female Nobel six and the Turrian is the male Sangheli/Changeling!
100% MATCH!
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Um.....ok??
And is it really that shocking that someone who has Tali as their avatar doesn't want romance?
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Yesss. It's a universal law to like it
The Tali x Shepard Inquisition might visit you'r planet to ask you to change you'r mind. Non Compliance might lead them to be sad and sing a beautyful song that blows you'r mind..
( Disclaimer: The Tali x Shepard Inquisition will not take any responsibility if the mind blows alongside the skull. Also it will not compensate the individual with more than a copy of the sing along movie and two tubs of popcorn. Have a nice romance filled universe standard time day )
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Umm... projecting much? I get it. There's a lot of fanboys on the site who worship Spartans. But what you need to remember is that these are professional soldiers who fight to protect those who can't protect themselves. All these horrible things they're predicting Six could do... she never did these things in the games. She never even suggested she did these things. She's a consummate professional, who wouldn't stoop to torture, or random acts of excessive violence just to express personal rage. They don't do that. That's what separates real soldiers from bully boys with guns.
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It's happened before
Cough
princess lunacoughSo this Scarlet Ghost is the changeling equivalent of a Spartan AI while the Pannsari is a change if equivalent to Spartan armor, albeit being more biological in nature… interesting
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I said what she can do. Not what she would do. Do not mistake my intent. I read the Halo Books and have been an avid Halo player since I was 13 back in late 2006. I loved Reach and playing as Six, and I know the only reason a Spartan would ever attack Celestia and Luna (Standing Orders for all Spartan II's and III's) is if they get in the way of them defending humanity, or become a threat to humanity themselves. The ponies are a bigger problem than Six, she is being a professional but they are becoming paranoid and are looking at someone that needs reassurance that she did good, that she did more than anyone could imagine, and that she died well. (Hell in the Reach flash forward and in the Legendary Edition version of the game it is suggested that all of Noble Team receives a monument dedicated to them on Reach and that the surviving civilians that got to see Six in New Alexandria never forgot her/him. )
It's about time... 🚬
Welcome back title