“You did WHAT?” Celestia raised her voice at her sister.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t know!”
“How could you not know that was the thing that killed six of our guard and beat the shit out of another seven, RIGHT IN FRONT OF US?!” Celestia yelled. She was, to say the least, pissed.
“Well, it didn’t try to kill me! So I thought maybe it was a different one.” Luna said, much calmer than her older sister.
“What do you mean? There is only one here! We only locked up one! You think we had a civilization of killer aliens in our basement?” Celestia questioned.
“Well, this is your fault anyway!” Luna accused.
“WHAT? MY FAULT?”
“Yes, if you hadn’t threatened it the moment it touched down with your guard, you wouldn’t of angered it!”
Celestia though that over. It was true, and it probably wouldn’t of done much if her guards hadn’t sat there pointing swords and what not at it. “Well, you didn’t order them to stand down either!”
“They weren’t my guards. I’ll bet you my Lunar Guards would’ve waited for orders before doing something so stupid!”
“Ugghh, you piss me off so much sometimes!”
Luna sighed. She remembered the last time she saw Celestia angry. “Calm down sister, I’ll have my Lunar Guards find it. Don’t worry.”
“Are you saying my guards can’t?” Celestia said challengingly.
“Yes. Yes I am. My Lunar Guards are much better trained and can see better in the night than your Guards can during the day. Not only that, but they will be sneakier while they are at it.”
It was now Celestia’s turn to sigh. “Fine, I will trust you. If you need me, I’ll will be in my room. There are a few things I must do.”
Luna watched Celestia walk away. She hoped her guards could find this monster.
***
Alice continued to sit there for a moment, catching her breathe. There was a sharp pain in her chest as she was reminded that her fall came with consequences. She opened a small bag with a red plus on it and pulled out a can of bio-foam. Inserting it into a cavity specifically for this purpose on her chest, she squeezed the trigger. She could feel an icy liquid spill through her chest, and then quickly harden. That should keep it for a nice long while.
She slid down into a slumped position, her back scraping against the wall. How long had it been anyways? She couldn’t of been sleeping for too long. She looked up into the sky. The sun was making its journey down-wards. She checked her mission clock. Oh, wow. One day had gone past. She evaluated the situation.
First off, it would appear that she was now at war with a bunch of ponies. How comical. Second, she had to get to her pod. She couldn’t wait to hold her beloved machine gun. It was probably the only reason she survived the Shield World. Third, she was as far as she could get from human-controlled space. That definitely wasn’t good. Fourth, she had no idea where Jerome or Douglas were.
She sighed. She was in one giant piece of shit. Standing up, she stretched for a moment, and then slowly moved to the edge of the building. She spied a few guards walking amongst the civilians, secretly looking for her. Looks like they were trying to cover her up. She wasn’t surprised. Random alien walking through town killing everybody? Chances are, some people would freak out.
Alice was fine with that, it made it much easier to sneak her way out of here without a bunch of pony’s running around looking for the even the slightest suspicious thing.
As she sat there, a back door opened a few feet from her. Alice froze, keeping her eye on the door. A pony walked out and threw something away, then walked back inside.
Well that was random. But, it told her she shouldn’t stay to long, or risk being caught. She slowly lifted herself from her crouched position, cracking her back a few times on her way up. She walked towards the corner the guards flew around, away from the castle. Looking around the wall, she spied a darker alley across the street. She waited for a small break in the crowd and ran across the street in four strides. She nearly bumped into a pegasus.
As she stopped in her new alley, she turned around. The pegasus sat there for a moment, as if trying to figure out what just happened. It simply shrugged and kept going on with its daily chores.
She turned her attention back to her new temporary home. No back doors or windows. She would be entirely shrouded in shadows. She again rested on the ground and looked up into the sky. There was a little chariot flying across the blue ocean of air. Huh. Wonder where they’re going.
She brought her attention back to… well, nothing really. Guess she can ponder about anything as of right now. She would be the first Spartan to say they took time to think about something other than strategy behind enemy lines. Oh boy, what an honor. She sat there for a moment, trying to think about what to think about. She could think about thinking. How do people think? Does thinking really even exist? I mean, really, no matter how much she knew about the human body, it always seemed a mystery.
Just then, she had the most cliché thought she had ever had. It made her facepalm just thinking about it.
What is life? How does life truly exist? Really, it just does not make sense. It never will in her mind. It’s one of those things you can’t explain… you just think about it.
She sat there for quite some time just thinking. She eventually dozed off thinking about cake.
***
When she woke up, it was night-time. She checked her mission clock. 9:43. Time to move. She slowly got up and walked to the end of her alley. She peered around the corner, checking for any movement. She saw nothing. No guards? Nobody trying to find her? Man, they were making it to easy. She silently slipped around the corner and stalked her way up the sidewalk. As she moved away from the castle, there was a bare flicker on her radar.
She looked around, but saw nobody. Yet, her radar flickered once more.
If she had learned anything from the flood, it’s that you should look up. She applied this skill and, well, looked up. On the roof across the street from her, a dark figure stood, looking away from her. As it turned, scanning the area, two golden eyes came into view. They passed right over her.
It looked like a bat-pony-thing. It also had some kind of armor. Some kind of night guard? Probably. She would have to keep her eye out for them after all. Either way, she had her cloak up, she would have to be right next to them or bump into them for them to actually notice her. Too bad she wasn’t going to let that-
She turned around, and met another pair of golden eyes, but extremely close to her faceplate. She really hated herself sometimes.
*
Night Stalker had just gotten done checking an alley. The Princess never told them exactly what to look for, just some weird-looking thing standing on two legs. So far, they had found a bird, some mint green pony, and a squirrel that was eating a nut. He doubted they would find much else. He stopped for a moment to ask his friend up on the roof if he had seen anything, but didn’t. His eyes were focused on a strange shimmering object in front of him.
The shimmer was moving a bit, then moved a lot, then froze completely. He could still see the wall distorted behind the thing, so it still must be there. He picked up his hoof and was about to poke it, but pulled back, remembering what happened to the last guard to poke something they had never seen before.
“Hey, Night Stalker! Watchya doing?” His friend, Night Walker, asked.
“Oh, uh, nothing. Heard anything from Night Talker?” Night Stalker asked.
The three, Night Stalker, Night Walker, and Night Talker, were Luna’s attempt at naming all of her guards. She couldn’t decide anything past Night Talker that started with Night and ended with alker, so she stopped there. Night Stalker was a pretty cool name, and Night Walker was kinda weird, but Night Talker obviously got the worse of the three.
“Nope, just been standing here. I wonder where he is anyway.” Night Walker asked.
“I’m right here!” Night Talker said as he walked around the corner.
“Oh, hey Night Talker!” Night Stalker said.
“Sup Night Stalker! You see anything?” Night Talker asked.
“Nope. How about you?” Night Stalker answered.
“Me either. How about you Night Walker?” Night Talker asked Night Walker.
“Nope, just been standing here.” Night Walker repeated himself.
“Nice night isn’t it?” Night Stalker asked.
“Yep, sure is.” Night Talker replied.
“Luna did a good job!” Night Walker said.
"Of course, she always does!" Night Stalker exclaimed.
*
Alice was getting annoyed. They were just standing there, talking. They brang stupidity to a whole new level. The one, apparently called Night Stalker, forgot entirely about her. She couldn’t move, or else she would undoubtedly be seen by one of them. She didn’t want to shoot them, to loud and a waste of ammo.
And what was up with the names? Night Stalker? Night Walker? Night TALKER? She didn’t have time for these ponies. She looked further down the road. There, her ticket out of this place. Now it’s just a matter of getting to it. Shouldn’t be too hard. She jerked forward and punted the pony, Night Stalker, out of her way. The shimmer ran down the road towards her target. She heard the others yelling behind her. That would undoubtedly get the attention of more guards. Oh well, that wouldn’t matter for what she was about to do.
*
Octavia made her way down the street, cello in its case around her neck. She had just finished up with a rather late practice session. She had to admit, Lyra was beautiful with her lyre. As fun as it was, she was tired. She couldn’t wait to get home and flop into bed next to a certain white unicorn. She smiled at the thought of her special some-pony.
She passed a small intersection and heard some other ponies talking. She ignored them and kept walking, too tired to bother listening. For a moment though, the talking changed to yelling. Huh, something must be happening. She continued to ignore it, she would probably read it somewhere in the newspaper in the morning.
Suddenly, she felt something wrap around her neck and cover her muzzle. It pulled her into the air, and she felt something push into her head. She tried to yelp, but nothing came through whatever was covering her muzzle. She looked around and notice six Lunar Guards bolt around from different sides. She looked down at her nose. There was a shimmering. It slowly changed, revealing a green, gauntleted hand pushing her jaws shut.
*
Alice watched the guards make a half circle around her and her chosen pony. Counting her hostage, there were seven ponies. She took her pistol away from the grey ponies head for a moment and showed the guards it.
“You remember this don’t you?”
The guards stared at it, knowing looks in their eyes.
“Damn straight you do.” Alice pushed it back into the grey ones head. “And you come any closer, there’s gonna be a hole in this one’s head.”
To be honest, Alice would never hurt a civilian. Even though she could count these ponies as an enemy, it was only the guards that really posed any threat. But they didn’t know that.
“Now, I’m going to get out of here. And this pony is coming with me. You try anything stupid, and you’ll regret it. Am I clear?”
The guards looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Four of them nodded, the others just kinda sat there.
“You bet I am. Now back off.”
The guards all moved backwards slowly, but still kept their eyes on her.
“You all have a nice evening now.”
With that, Alice picked up her hostage and started to run. The pony bounced back and forth in between her arms. She didn’t really know where she was going, but she just kept running. She did, however, have an objective. Get to her pod. And as far as she knew, that was at the top of the mountain. She remembered a series of train-tracks running through the area. Maybe one led to the top?
Her question was answered as she found the train station, one track leading directly up and into the mountain. Well, she knew where she was going.
***
Three Days Ago
Seke Kar’ Chavree sat in his captains’ chair, barking out orders to his crew. “Full power to reverse thrusters! Get out of that collision path!” He yelled.
“100% to reverse thrusters complete.” One of the Elites before announced.
The Spirit of Fire raced towards them, content on smashing them to bits. Meanwhile, tiny pods ejected from its hull. “Scramble the Seraphs! Take out those pods!”
Another Elite immediately tapped an icon and started typing in Seraph intercept commands.
“Sir! The humans are changing route; they are setting for another collision! It appears they have shut down nearly everything and are blasting their engines, we cannot outrun them!” An Elite yelled, a hologram of the Spirit of Fire in front of him.
Seke growled to himself. This one ship was proving to be tricky. One ship for another? Its worth was lost in Seke’s eyes. Why would they prefer such a dishonorable suicide than stand and fight, allowing the true victor to fight another day? He would never understand these humans. The least he could do was take out the pods.
“Update on the destruction of the pods?”
“They have set up defensive AA guns; they are destroying our Seraph’s. Three are getting away!”
“Track them! If we cannot take them, then may our brothers find what we have lost.”
Outside of the hull, the shield let down for less than a second to allow the three tiny missiles out. They streaked, basically invisible, to their targets. Behind them, the two ships collided. The shock wave did nothing but speed the trackers towards their target. They latched onto the side and back. Inside the tiny structure, small signals were set off.
The tiny waves set out their own journey through space. The Arbiter of the Holy World would be avenged, no matter what the cost.
ALRIGHT, you know the drill. Tell me if anything seems out of place.
God dammit, Covies always fuck shit up.
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/284/096/b13.jpg
Poor Alice, she is going to find out the hard way that is cake is a lie.
1477626 Exactly what I was thinking about when I wrote that
1477595 Not sure if that's good or bad....
1477640
Also I LOL'd at the beginning, Luna PWND Celestia
I'm impressed so far with this story, is it to early to get an ETA on the next chapter?
1477731 Hopefully within a week. Unfortunately, school is back to kicking my ass, and recently (though guilty about it) I have been procrastinating by playing black ops
This story is awesome. I just have one little qualm about the last line. I sort of picture the elites saying more along the lines of "holly relic" rather than actually calling it a shield world which is more of the human designation.
1477755 hmmm... agreed. I shall change that right now.
and now its over the covies are there.
Oh yes she can, at least in this situation. All Spartans can, it would just leave a bad taste in their mouths.
How I reason this is because they were built from the ground up for counter Insurection, and the Insurrection was made up of average civilians who could easily blend in with the local population, it just make sense that the problem of civilian casualties might come up.
Nitpicking of a cannon fanboy aside, this was a good chapter.
1477651 I was saying the covies are cliche enemies in halo X overs with MLP.
1477919 Well, what did you expect? Sure, there's the flood and all, but that would imply that Equestria is some kind of shield world or other forerunner structure. I was actually thinking up another story making that a possibility, but then again, that would mean the entire world would already be infected or something, mainly because of the ponies mining and stuff.
But really, what other antagonists could i have? A new alien species or something?
1477941 The humans had military instillation on the Shield World of Onyx and had no idea that forerunner structures lay beneath the surface. Also when containment protocols and security systems have not degraded to shit the flood remain securely locked deep within the instillation that house them... until someone pokes the hornet nest.
Ill be more interested if the inserrectionists are involved i thought this out of nowhere
This is not something the character of Celestia would ever say, even with what has happened. She would be upset of course, perhaps angry even, but I find it hard to imagine that she would sound like a high school student after a bad day. Other little instances of OoC appear throughout this fic; I'd advise having someone with a critical eye help you go over this to correct these issues.
1467554... I like to see authors hurt him. I don't like him.
1477742 HERETIC
How did the elites know about the death of the arbiter?
Didn't the covies all die on the shield world when the SoF set off the minisun?
1478399 Think about it. Its a shield world, and entire forerunner world, a prophet was there. Everybody in the entire Covenant army/fleet/race is going to know about it.
Oh, the suspense.
You need an editor.
Finish reading chapter... current feelings: God Damn Covenant
OK loving the stoogieness (its a word) of the night guards in that chapter
I've said this once tonight already and here it is again: You are having the covenant attack a planet that has not one, but two magical beings that can move the fucking Sun and Moon... I'm pretty sure that when Celestia and Luna are done with the ships they will look like they will look like they were just in a fight with a can opener and lost very badly. But if your not going for that then there also the fact they could just magically place a bomb in the gut of there ships, or at least push them into the fucking sun.
I will continue to look out for this in hopes you do something more original than making the planet a battle ground.
1485280 Understandable, but what will that do for the plot? Covenant comes, Celestia blows them up, the end. Apparently Celestia isn't as powerful as we think, either, or she would have won the battle against Queen Chrysalis. I'm pretty sure that if a beam of light like the one she used on Chrysalis is all she's got then the battle wont last long.
1485557 You prove a good point, yes the plot would be awful I will admit that, but that is why you wouldn't set things up for that. As for the Queen Chrysalis situation... I'll be honest, the princesses dropped the ball... big time. I mean it is one thing to lose to a bitch that's been feeding off the power of all those who love the pony she is impersonating, that includes the captain of the guard, but for Luna to not even be notified on what the hell was going on...
I'm getting off topic here, the point of the matter is there powerful, but oh OH, so
stupidno careless that if an invasion did happen they would probably get there ass whooped. There one and only shot is if the Spartans actually help out and kill the covies instead of sitting back and watching the two sides go at each other, but even that will have backlashes to them.I'll give it to ya straight, I will keep watching this and the only thing that can stop me from doing so is if you either
A: Make the whole thing to complicated by bringing in the entire UNSC
or
B: Kill off any of the Mane 6
Though I am but one reader and a lot of your other readers probably don't even care about either thing I said nor will they. In the end it is your story and you decide, but will you be able to look back from future chapters and think 'I made the right choice.' or will you regret doing it.
It is all up to you to decide.
Celestia proving more why I hate her ...
Alright, I just sat down and read all your current chapters, and all I've got to say is;
"WHAT THE F*CK ALICE? Ever heard of stealth? Or is kill it and kill it deader, all you can do!?"
Now that's out of my system...
I am curious, why did Alice start killing every pony she came across? In the first fight, she only injured them (though she tried to kill Shining Armor), but now that she is under less of a threat, she decides that they all have to die?
I also think that Celestia and Luna were at least a little OoC in the beginning of this chapter. I just don't see either being that, harsh, to the other. Just my opinion...
Finally a little food for thought... Since this takes place during the 2530's, the survivors of Red Team would be wearing Mjolnir Mk IV armor, and despite what the game (Halo Wars) says, the Mk IV does not come with an energy shield. That was a new feature on the Mk V, deployed in 2551, reverse engineered from covenant tech.
All that aside, I am really liking this so far. I look forward to seeing how you deal with Alice and her murders effecting UNSC/ Equestrian relations?
...and I hope to see more dead diamond dogs and/ or dragons! Dead ponies...I've had my fill, thank you.
1509144 Well, she had two options: Kill whatever gets in her way of freedom and reuniting with her team, or attempt standing right next to the guards. They would undoubtedly notice her standing RIGHT THERE, even a grunt would.
BLARGH! Why does everybody keep saying something about the shields? I have given an explanation multiple times now!
1477554 Alright then! I got to this story from your comment on the other Halo story and now I'm here to say...
GOOD JOB! I like this, a couple of minor grammar errors here and there but nothing story killing.
If there is one thing I'm curious about, it's the Sangheli reactions to Cutter crashing the Spirit Of Fire into their ship. I don't know if you've read any of the novels, but the Sangheli would probably be impressed with Cutter's spirit, knowing his ship cannot fight them conventionally and is going down anyway; Cutter decides to buy his comrades time and try to take as many of the Sangheli with him; the epitome of 'Fighting to the bitter end'.
Just a though
1509856
I have read all the books except Halo: Glasslands and i think one other, and yet again i thought which would be more 'honorable', following the Elites code to beat the shit out of anything they can before they're killed themselves. I figured this was more appropriate, like the humans were saying 'I killed your buddy, but your not worth my time. That said, it will somehow make it worth it to smash into you, killing us both '.
1509217 I suppose that is one way to look at things (concerning Alice). Personally, I adhere to the fact that no Equestrian weapons would be able to damage Mjolnir armor period - though perhaps magic could? However that is your choice, and I can respect that.
As for the armor, that was my bad, I failed to read all your responses, and thus failed to see that response. I would like to point out two things regarding that, however...
One. Halo Wars is technically non-canon. Both the Mk IV appears with shields (which it is stated specifically not to have) and the Spartan-Laser appears (which I cannot confirm the date on, but appears to be a development of the late 2540's, or early 2550's, as a part of the Gungnir project).
Two. The Mjolnir Mk IV/G is the only variant of Mk IV in Halo: Reach (Which was a "testbed" for the Mk V's shield system), all other armor (Save the experimental Mk VI permutation and Gungnir) is Mk V. The 'default' armor is Mk V/B; which like the Mk V/M entered service in 2551, and were made by non-ONI manufacturing companies. (Super Halo-Nerd moment) Eventually in 2552, the Mk VI/A would also be produced by independent companies...
I can see the issue, since the shields are apparently a plot device and essential to the story. If you need them to have shields, maybe make a mention to them using the Mk IV/G(?), since I have never seen a date for those tests...Just a thought...?
1511510
Indeed.
1511491 Halo: Glasslands? Fuck I need to find that, I had no idea there was a new one, the last new one I read was Cole Protocol
Well, all of my hope in this story was effectively quenched
1513348
Is that good or bad?
1515246
Bad.
1515849 What did I do wrong :?
i think you should add a comedy tag because this is very funny and BTW Luna logic skills FTW
1519483 I was thinking about that because I like the small comedic element I have in there, but I didn't deem it necessary.
1519350
Covenant
1519594
... You dont like the story because of the Covenant being involved?
1519638
Yep, never turns out well.
This story sucks i could honestly not find a perfect story to laugh at with all my brony friends. i would change it to the name to Hurricane: it's great when it starts but ends in disaster.
Damn what is with the hate on this story? It's fucking awesome...
Just.. Stop, please!
Those names!
Yes... The smell of OctaScratch...
*leans into computer*
Yesssssss...
1823902 You're comment is insulting, it hurts people's feelings when the purpose of MLP is to love and tolerate, and you should feel REALLY FUCKING ASHAMED of yourselves!