>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