Chapter 3

Daniels watched from behind as Young removed her helmet, letting her blond hair fall over her shoulders, her kind hazel eyes looking at the unicorn

Harvest followed suit, with his black hair wasn't cut recently and was commonly called 'shaggy', it fell over his blue eyes

Daniels sighed, and proceeded to take his helmet off, letting his brown hair fall out, and focused his green eyes, the air didn't seem toxic and seemed significantly sweeter than when he had lived on Reach

[…]

Twilight looked at the creatures, it seemed that they were wearing armor not robots. But the question lied in the fact of why they wore armor anyway, there wasn't many dangers in Equestria.

She wasn't sure why she hadn't bolted yet, the first one to remove its helmet was observing her

It turned around and made the strange form of speaking that they did, the one behind her just 'Actual aliens, and they aren't eating my face off.' Twilight mused

[…]

Young turned to face Daniels, "Where do you suppose we are?"

Daniels shrugged

He looked around the forest, the feeling of being watched wasn't leaving him, he peered into the trees of where it felt the strongest

[…]

The elite minor walked into the bridge, he ignored the brutes that were manning the weapons systems, and approached the supreme fleet admiral

"Admiral, we have located the Artifact" he said

"Are you certain?" the Admiral didn't turn around

"Yes, we are certain that the filth have not tainted it either." The minor answered

"The filth is there?"

"Miniscule" the minor said, "However the humans may be able to get close, let us not waste time."

"Set a course!" the Admiral ordered the brutes, "We will acquire the Artifact! Then the Great Journey is secured!"

[…]

Daniels looked to Harvest, "What do we do?"

"Until I can either make a satellite or repair the pelican" Young sighed, "We're stuck here."

Daniels looked around, "Well, I don't think it end well if we stuck around this forest."

"Good point" Harvest said, "Did you see any cover anywhere?"

"I think we passed a village on the way down" Young suggested

"Alright, let's get out of here." Daniels nodded

The three ODSTs checked their armor and weapons, then motioned for the creature to follow

Harvest kneeled by the ground, "This looks like a path to me, let's follow it to see where it goes."

Daniels simply grunted

[…]

Twilight watched the creatures closely, they checked their strange items and then one of them made a gesture, she guessed it wanted her to follow them

One of them spoke to that one, she guessed the one with the green was the one in charge

The strange metal golems walked down the path to Ponyville, she wondered why exactly they were headed there

'Are they going to attack Ponyville?' she asked herself, 'No, they wouldn't need me, they'd be able to find it easily.'

The fauna of the Everfree began to thin out, she was able to see lights of early dawn coming over the horizon

It was then that the young mare saw something that made her instantly scared

[…]

Daniels saw some pastel colors in the distance, he used his VISR to zoom in. There were a group of pastel ponies on their way to the forest, and didn't seem to notice the squad just yet.

"You see them Harvest?" Young asked

"Yeah, let's drop of this horse and find a way home." Harvest said

"Right" Daniels agreed, "Let's get to work."

Once they got within visual range the purple pony, as Daniels dubbed them, met up with the others

A small team of armored horses jumped out of nowhere, spears went flying at the troopers

Daniels and Harvest went back-to-back, blocking and snatching spears out of the air, while Young fired her DMR

A few of the horses dropped, until one of them raised a hoof and they stopped attacking

It stepped forward, and looked directly at Daniels

He made the universal gesture of 'come at me'

Daniels laughed, stepping forward in this one on one fight

[…]

Twilight was shocked when the royal guard attacked the golems, but she was even more so when two of the golems easily took down the entire flurry of spears

One of the guards stepped forward, challenging the lead golem

It laughed, and then assumed a battle stance

"What are the guards doing here?" Twilight asked

"We were worried about you" Rainbowdash said, "And what are those things?"

"I don't know" Twilight said, "But they didn't seem to be hostile until the guards showed up and attacked!"

[…]

Daniels assumed his fighting stance, the horse made a move and Daniels ducked under it, delivering blows to the unarmored stomach

The horse fell backwards before attempting to strike again, to which Daniels jumped back, causing it to overshoot, the ODST then flung out his boot, hitting it in the lower jaw

There was an audible crack, and the horse flew and landed in a heap, unmoving

Daniels eased out of his combat stance, "That wasn't hard at all"

"Careful what you wish for" Young pointed to something behind Daniels

He turned around and saw what looked to be an even larger horse, with wings and a horn. It wore a tiara and some strange necklace

"Someone's calling out the big guns" Harvest noted

The horse's eyes began to shine with a bright light, and its mane became spiky

Daniels took a step back, unsure of what was going on

It swiped with a hoof, Daniels was barely able to avoid the hit, Harvest and Young let loose with their rifles.

Daniels attempted to get a few hits in, but was mainly avoiding because he wasn't quick enough to hit and run, the horse then made a twist, Daniels jumped to the side, but was blindsided by a blast from the creature's horn

The ODST went flying, slamming into a tree. His HUD flickered, he nearly blacked out, but was able to hold onto his pain and remain conscious.

His HUD read his bodily functions as in critical state, he gritted his teeth

[…]

Twilight was shocked at the princess for knocking the golem into the tree the way she did. She was typically honorable and kind, this kind of behavior was beyond her

When the golem slammed into the tree all went silent, Twilight held her breath

The golem stirred, and it stood up, it removed the helmet, and the look of rage in its eyes was tangible

Rainbowdash looked at Twilight, "What?"

"It's not a metal monster, it's just a suit" Twilight explained, "I think the magical blast shorted out whatever was going on inside."

[…]

Daniels removed his helmet, there was nothing it could say that he didn't already know. He reached to his side and found the one thing he needed at this point

With a flash of light the ODST drew a blade of pure energy, Daniels assumed a fighting stance yet again

"This time, there will be no mistakes." He vowed

Young tried to get his attention, but Daniels ignored her

The horse gave a snort, and charged up another beam

Daniels braced himself, ready to take it

A single shot rang out

Harvest was holding a DMR, and the horse's horn appeared to have been the target

"No more mistakes eh?" he smirked

Daniels simply grunted

He turned back to the group of horses

The assailant flared its wings, and flew towards the ODST

Daniels held the sword tightly, then jumped into the fray