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- >The shrieks and groans of tortured metal and failing superstructure greet your ears as you come to
- >The stasis pod hatch opens, and you immediately exit
- >She wouldn't wake you unless the situation is dire, or rescue arrives
- >You're guessing the former
- Cortana, what's the situation?
- >"It's bad, Chief"
- >You grab your assault rifle out of its cradle as a female figure appears before you
- >"We are currently experiencing re-entry in the atmosphere of an unknown planet"
- >You place your hand upon the pedestal
- In
- >Cortana obediently jumps to the chip in the back of your helmet
- >Good
- >Now for your exit
- >You make your way back down the hallway and to the gaping maw of the open cargo bay
- >Lucky for you, the Dawn is plunging prow first into the atmosphere
- >A final few steps and a lunge are all it takes to launch you free of the doomed ship
- >Now for the fun part
- >Your armor begins to glow as the speed and friction of the air heat it up
- >Re-entry without a ship
- >For anyone else, it would be sure suicide
- >For you, it's an unpleasant reminder
- >"Damnit Chief, one of these days you're gonna land on something as stubborn as you are"
- >The line plays through your head as you plummet
- >Johnson...
- >Now's not the time
- >He died doing his duty
- >You can only wish for the same
- >You look down
- >The world looks almost like Earth
- >You can see dense, green forests, mountains, oceans and savannahs
- >Although the landmasses are no-
- >A purple glow over your visor derails your train of thought spectacularly
- Cortana, are you seeing this?
- >"It's all over your body"
- >You watch the accelerometer in amazement as your downward speed slows
- >Whatever aliens occupy this world, they must have insanely advanced technology
- >Although you saw precious few cities on your way down...
- >Maybe they all live underground
- >By now you are roughly 100 feet off the ground
- >The forcefield carries you off over a forest
- >Your targeting arrays must be out of wack again
- >All the colors in this place glow with an intensity you rarely see outside your regenerating energy shields
- >Up ahead, you can see lights in the night
- >It appears to be some sort of village...
- >And fairly primitive at that
- >The building construction is primarily wood, with the occasional brick and mortar
- >There are no people about either
- >The purple glow carries you out over the village
- >You find yourself hovering 5 feet off the ground in front of a tree with a door and several windows
- >In front of you stand six...
- >You wrack your brains to find an accurate comparison
- >They look like horses you saw in a holo-text once
- >But they are much too small
- >And the proportions are off
- >Their heads are fairly oversized, with short snouts and massive eyes
- >Two of them are normal looking, one orange with a blonde mane and wearing a...
- >You remember from your childhood
- >It's a stetson
- >The other is pink with a deeper pink, curly mane
- >it seems to be vibrating slightly
- >Two of them appear to have wings
- >Although they are much to small to render any sort of actual flight
- >One is a light blue with a rainbow colored mane
- >The other is yellow with a pink mane that partially obscures its face
- >Finally, two of them appear to have horns sticking out of their heads
- >One is white and has a curly purple mane
- >The other is purple with a deeper purple mane
- >This one's horn is glowing with the same purple glow that currently supports you
- Cortana, are you getting this?
- >You say inside your helmet, carefully making sure the external speakers are disabled
- >"I am, Chief."
- Anything in the logs of known alien species?
- >"Nothing"
- >"See? I told you it was a meteor!"
- >The sound seems to have come from the purple horse thing
- >"That's a mighty odd looking meteor if ya ask me"
- >This from the orange one
- >Did they just talk?
- >You've seen many things in your years
- >but you've never seen talking horses
- >You reach up and tap your audio relays, just in case
- >Your sudden motion startles the horse things in front of you
- >The yellow one emits a quiet "eep!" and makes for the tree house
- >"DID IT JUST MOVE?"
- >"WHAT THE HAY"
- >The cyan one flies up in front of you
- >Despite having wings too small to fly
- >At this point, you're not sure anything can surprise you anymore
- >"What the hay are you supposed to be? Can you hear me?"
- >It taps on your visor with a hoof
- Cortana, recommendations?
- >"They seem to be friendly. I suggest greeting them"
- >Well, it's not like you have anything to lose
- >You enable your external speakers
- I am Master Chief
- >The rainbow maned horse nearly falls out of the air in front of you
- >All the others react with varying degrees of shock
- >Except the pink one
- >"I knew there was somep0ny in there! I'm Pinkie Pie, nice to meet you!"
- >p0ny
- >That's the word you were searching for
- >The purple one shakes its head
- >"Pinkie has the right idea. I'm Twilight Sparkle"
- >"Ah'm AppleJack" says the orange one
- >"You may call me Rarity" Says the white one
- >"And I'm Rainbow Dash!" Finishes the cyan one
- >You file their names away in your head and mark their radar blips as friendly
- Could you let me down?
- >"Oh. Of course! I forgot" says Twilight
- >The purple aura disappears and you land with a THUMP, flexing your knees slightly
- >These p0nies really are tiny
- >They barely come up to your thighs
- >You immediately remove your assault rifle from your back and scan the area visually for threats
- >Finding none, you turn back to the p0nies in front of you
- >They haven't taken any hostile actions against you
- >And were kind enough to save you the trouble of smashing into the ground at terminal velocity
- >You're not quite sure how to continue however
- >The blaring of your armor's proximity alarms saves you that indignity
- >"Chief, there's hundreds of them!"
- >You address the purple horse
- >She seems to be the leader of the small group
- Twilight, I am picking up many, many approaching life forms on my long range radar.
- Are they hostile?
- >"That would be the changelings."
- Changelings?
- >"They're moving to take P0nyville right now. The whole place has been evacuated, except for us"
- >"Princess Celestia is on her way to pick us up personally, but I don't know if she'll make it in time..."
- >"Chief, we don't know how long we'll have to stay here"
- >This from Cortana
- So I need to stay on the good side of the beings in power
- >That settles it then
- >You are a soldier first and foremost
- >You will protect these p0nies
- >You need an equalizer
- >A choke point, if possible
- I see. Is that your house over there?
- >"Yeah..."
- Does it have a basement?
- >She seems to understand
- >"It does"
- Then go. I will cover you
- >"Come on everyp0ny! To the basement!"
- >They all file through the doorway
- >For your part, you crouch through the door
- >The place appears to be a library
- >Old fashioned, though
- >Instead of holopoints there are shelves and shelves of books
- >There's hardly enough room for you to stand
- >But you manage to do so
- >They all file into a door on the left
- >Except the one called Rainbow Dash
- >She flutters to the upper level, and begins cajoling something
- >"Come on Fluttershy, the Changelings are coming, we need to get in the basement..."
- >You activate the lights on your helmet
- >Hiding under a bed is the yellow p0ny from before
- >There is no time for this
- >The blips are coming too quickly
- >You flip the bed off the cowering p0ny
- >Then you seize her in your arms and run for the basement
- Come on, Dash!
- >you crouch down the stairs and place Fluttershy next to her companions
- >Then you run back up the stairs
- >The basement door stands closed behind you
- >You flick the safety on your assault rifle off
- >This will be interesting
- >The blips on your radar slowly circle the housbrary
- >Then, as one, they advance
- >The first one breaks through a window
- >It it completely black, with a pair of instectile wings
- >There are holes in both its jet black legs and its horn
- >A well aimed burst from your assault rifle ends its miserable life
- >But another pops in to take its place
- >They begin pouring in through the windows and the door
- >You fire and fire, and soon your assault rifle clicks empty
- >You slam in a fresh mag and resume firing
- >All to soon, your last mag runs dry
- >You put the assault rifle back on your back and smack your fists together
- >Now the real fun starts
- >The tide surges toward you
- >You choose a target, put all of your considerable might behind your armored fist in an exploratory punch
- >It more or less explodes
- >Things just got easier
- >These changlings are weaker than Grunts
- >You fall back on the training and experience that has carried you through countless firefights and twice as many melees
- >You swing your arms and kick your legs, snapping extremities and pulping torsos like so much balsa wood
- >Your shields eventually go down under the constant poke of jagged horns
- >But they don't seem to be able to penetrate your armor
- >Gore coats the floor as you fight on
- >Eventually, the horde becomes too much to hold at bay
- >You could survive yourself
- >But they keep getting past you to kick at the door
- >With one arm, you sweep the changelings at the door off
- >With the other, you draw and prime your last and only grenade
- >You open the door and toss the grenade over your shoulder
- >Then you jump through the door and slam it shut behind you
- COVER YOUR EARS
- >A muffled BOOM shakes the house
- >You head back into the main room
- >Ever inch of the place is covered in gore
- >On your radar, the main body of blips has retreated from the tree
- >Instead, a single, larger blip approaches
- >It enters the door
- >You see...
- >The thing that walks through the door
- >It looks very much like Cortana
- >"John..." It says
- >You reach your hand out towards it
- >"CHIEF, THAT'S NOT ME!" screams Cortana through your neural link
- >And then you feel it
- >A presence in your mind that is neither yours nor Cortana's
- >The moment you notice it, it shrinks away
- >how dare it
- >After all you've been through
- >HOW DARE IT IMPERSONATE CORTANA
- >You're seeing red
- HOW DARE YOU
- >There is no force, idea or object that can save this thing from you now
- >It realizes its folly
- >It morphs and twists until before you stands a larger version of the changelings from before
- >This one comes up to your chest plate, and has sickly green hair and a blueish sash
- >It lowers its head and charges
- >You sidestep the thing's horn and catch its neck in your arms
- >It keeps pushing, skidding you across the gore-slick floor and into the basement door
- >The door, already weakened by changeling assault and frag grenade, gives behind you and you both tumble down the stairs
- >At the bottom of the stairs, you come out on top
- >You transform into a blizzard of vicious punches and kicks
- >It gets in a few jabs with its horn and kicks with its legs, but they serve only to increase your wrath
- >If your helmet was off, you would be biting it
- >Without pause, you rise
- >Then preform an elbow drop on its torso, which results in a sickening CRUNCH
- >Finally, you seize the neck with one hand and the horn with the other
- >Then you pull
- >The head comes away with a wet ripping sound
- >You dash back up the stairs with it and run outside the house
- >You wave the head at the army of changelings and roar your fury, your external speakers on max
- >They respond by turning tail and fleeing
- >Just like Grunts
- >You chuck the head at them, impaling one
- >Then you shake the bloodlust out of your eyes
- >"Chief, are you alright?"
- I'll live
- >You turn around and go back inside
- >In the basement, the six p0nies sit in various states of shock
- >Fluttershy is crying, with Rainbow cooing to her
- >"Master Chief, ya saved us..."
- >"But that was brutal"
- I am a soldier. It is my calling
- >There's nothing more to say
- >Another alarm goes off
- >Two large blips are approaching from the air
- I think your princess is about to arrive, Twilight
- And she has company
- >The six immediately get up and head for the stairs
- >You join them
- >Outside, you can see two winged p0nies approaching
- >They both have horns
- >One is white and has a stylized sun on its flank
- >Its mane flows in the wind, rippling various shades of green and purple
- >The other is slightly smaller and a deep blue
- >It has a crescent moon on it's flank
- >And its mane is deep black with twinkling stars, just like the night sky
- >They both land in front of you and the p0nies
- >These ones also come up to your chest plate
- >The white one's horn glows, and you find yourself floating in the air once more
- >You can't say you blame her
- >If you saw a gore covered alien standing next to some civilians you wouldn't be friendly either
- >Twilight takes it upon herself to make introductions
- >"Master Chief, this is Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, co rulers of the land."
- >"Princesses, this is Master Chief. He protected us from the oncoming changeling swarm and... did away with Queen Chrysalis."
- >You simply nod at them
- >"That's... quite an accomplishment"
- >"But I have no way of knowing if you're not Queen Chrysalis her self. Save one..."
- N-
- >A golden beam of light shoots out of her horn and impacts the front of your helmet, silencing your protest
- >There's another being in your mind
- >It must be this... Celestia
- >On the other end of the link you can sense a vast intelligence
- >And yet, somehow so naive
- >It takes control and begins to play back your memories
- >All of them
- >It starts in your childhood
- >And goes over your abduction into the ranks of the UNSC
- >Where they gave you metal bones, and strength to match
- >Your training with your squad of fellow SPARTAN IIs
- >Then shipping out as the war against the Covenant worsened
- >Their deaths, one by one, at the claws and mandibles of the Covenant until you were the only one left
- >The atrocities and war crimes of the Covenant
- >Your meeting and acquisition of Cortana
- >Your friend and comrade, the one bright shining star that kept you going
- >And then your loss
- >After that, the grunts came up with a nickname for you
- >"Demon" they called you
- >You agreed with them
- >Allying with the elites
- >And recovering Cortana
- >The death of Johnson
- >And the final, desperate flight to avoid the destruction of the Flood
- >Then, settling into stasis
- >And waking up here
- >All this happens in less than a second
- >When she finishes, Celestia withdraws back across the link
- >And begins sobbing openly
- >"Oh, John..."
- >She releases you, and tackles you the moment you touch the ground
- >Is...
- >Is she trying to hug you?
- >"WHAT HAST THOU INFLICTED UPON OUR SISTER, FOUL CREATURE?"
- >Luna's yelllng now
- >She preforms a similar mind scan
- >It's not a pleasant experience
- >Now you have two Princesses sobbing on your gore covered chest plate
- >And you have no idea how to react
- >"Hug them back, John"
- What?
- >"You've had your entire life to come to terms with your troubles. They both absorbed them in an instant."
- >"Now Hug. Them. Back"
- >You end up with an arm around each of them
- >You are a soldier
- >You aren't good with this touchy-feely stuff
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