The grass was cold, pain was coursing through every limb and organ in his body, he could feel the air coming in and out of his lungs Slowly, the memories began to return, his identity, his rank, his name He is Lieutenant Joseph Daniels of the UNSC Scavenger, leader of the Delta Squadron and defender of magical pastel horses His mind paused, magical pastel horses? As it began to piece together the memories came in snaps, the Artifact, the Covenant, Morris and Qualomee, the crash; everything was here now His eyes flew open, his mission timer stated he'd been out for five hours, but five hours didn't turn autumn into early spring Adrenaline forced its way through his veins, he had to check the area His body responded a lot faster than his mind did, as he rose he could see two other forms laying on the ground Right, Harvest and Young were here too. The wreckage of the Phantom sat, rusted and old "Hang on…Rusted?" Daniels' voice came out scratchy, but upon inspection the phantom was not five hours after Harvest was sitting up now, holding his head, helmet on the ground next to him "I can't believe there was a way in Hell that worked." Young rolled over onto her back, "Can we go back to sleep for five minutes?" "Not until we're sure of the situation" Daniels asserted, despite how wonderful sleep sounded "Our armor is as good as gone by now" Harvest observed, looking at Young Daniels looked his suit over, shoulder pads and knee pads dented or outright missing, the chest piece was gone and his VISR was shattered He looked at his weapons, just a rifle for each of them, ammo was limited, this was not good Daniels picked the assault rifle, Harvest grabbed the DMR and Young took the Battle Rifle "We should get back to the Scavenger" Daniels looked around, then looked up, "Jesus Christ." The reaction was well stated, they were inside of a Spire Shield, Covenant technology "It wasn't five hours…" Young said bluntly […] A lone Brute Chieftain strutted through the purple corridors, moving quickly, not at all burdened by the information carried Upon reaching the main chamber he found that the Prophet of Carnage was waiting for him, eager to hear the news The Chieftain kneeled, showing his respect "Great Prophet, the populace is now subjugated." "Perfect, I understand that the Artifact will render a flare of energy upon return." The Brute nodded, "I have taken the liberty of setting the alarm to your personal quarters, you will be the first to know." "I approve of your plans, I am sure you will be pleased to hear that you are to be leading the hunt for the artifact?" Carnage let its claw rest on the arm of its chair The Brute smiled, or whatever it was that passed for a grin in his species, before turning and leaving Carnage sat still for a few moments, plotting what was to be done with the ones who had taken the Artifact from him, surely it would involve pain of excruciating degree A small light began to flash on the arm of his chair, turning to see it the Prophet was pleased "It appears the hunt will begin sooner than expected." […] "Alright, let's not panic." Daniels said, "The Scavenger is still inside the shield, we should be able to get armored up before we try to take the Spire." "Then let's get out of this clearing" Young looked around, "It won't take the Covenant long to find out we're back." Harvest clicked a new magazine into his DMR, "Next stop, anywhere but here." The walk to Ponyville gave them time to ponder what had happened, and how long it had taken for these events to transpire "Accessing…UNSC Databanks…" Tatyana's voice weakly chirped in the damaged COMM systems of Daniels' helmet "Good to see we're not without UNSC intelligence here." Harvest said, "But we need to fix the helmet before you try to use the COMMs to talk." Daniels looked to his right and saw a small cottage, the empty birdhouses and henhouse on the outside signified this to be the home of Fluttershy, however the pegasus was not in sight "Let's see if we can find some supplies in there" Daniels suggested, "If we're lucky we might find something to eat." As the trio approached the shadows inside the small home moved, out of some form of habit Harvest knocked Unexpectedly, the door actually opened, revealing a rather unkempt Fluttershy, while Harvest didn't flinch Daniels stiffened, something was wrong with her, he could see it Instead of speaking, the yellow pony simply turned around and walked inside, allowing the trio to enter The interior of the cottage wasn't well kept at all, as there were strange stains on the walls, smashed and broken items strewn about the floors, only the candle on the coffee table was lit The way she moved was off, it was maddeningly familiar yet he couldn't yet tell what had happened, but it had to have been crippling Fluttershy sat down, looked over the ODSTs and picked up a cold cup of tea, "You're the first to knock." Not a stutter, not even a quiet tone, she sounded tired; as if she'd been through this before "What happened here?" Young got to the point, "This place was demolished." Fluttershy nodded slowly, "Seven years." "There's no way we were gone for seven years." Harvest asserted, "That can't happen, can it?" It dawned on Daniels, "You're saying you've seen us come in before?" Fluttershy frowned, nodding again, "Seven years." 'Seven years again…' Daniels stopped, "I think I'm starting to get it now." "What's wrong?" Young looked puzzled "Fluttershy's cottage is right next to the crash site" the ODST explained, "That means she must've been here for when the Phantom hit." "How that must've felt" Harvest understood, "She was there when we 'died'." "What we're seeing here is Fluttershy telling us that she's been…" Daniels took a deep breath, ready to break the news, "After seeing that, it must've been traumatic. That means that she's been seeing hallucinations of us." "'You're the first to knock'" Harvest repeated "They're going to be looking for you" Fluttershy warned, "If that's okay, I mean…" Daniels looked at the pegasus, "Thanks for the help, we'll be going now." Daniels motioned for the squad to vacate, and they came out into the fields The path to town was straightforward, and without any updated maps they had no choice but to follow the road […] She watched them leave, the way they all left. Something was different about them, they seemed much more current than the others Maybe… but that was impossible, they've been dead for seven years They weren't the only ones Despite these facts she couldn't help but follow them, at a distance as to not startle them She saw them first, the group of armored vultures, here to feast […] "You know she's following us right?" Harvest asked "It shouldn't matter" Young said, "Heads up, we've got bogeys." What descended upon the trio of troopers wasn't anything they'd seen before, three equines wearing purple armor stood before them "Of course, Covenant Equestrians." Harvest held up his rifle "Hand over the Artifact and make this real easy on yourselves." The one in front said, his armor laced with golden veins obscured any real defining properties Daniels just eased into a combat position, "That's not going to happen" The troopers formed a triangle, rifles facing outward, the scouting squad did the same. A stalemate ensued, neither team moving, until the pegasus leader struck Plasma threatened to envelop the ODST, Daniels put his forearms out to protect himself, the Titanium-A bubbling and melting at the touch Gritting his teeth to avoid a cry of shock and pain, he lashed out with his boot, striking the advancing adversary in the throat As Harvest and Young broke off to fight the other two pegasi, Daniels and the scout leader squared off "The little dog with the nasty bite" it taunted Ignoring the jeering Daniels placed his rifle on the ground, prompting the scout leader to do the same, as he held up his gauntlets the pair began to circle one another As the scout captain lashed out full-force Daniels ducked and swept his boot under the equine's legs, knocking the shocked pony to the ground The ODST brought his boot down on the equine's skull, splattering blood over his armor. He hadn't noticed blood at first, likely because killing the Covenant was something he was so used to; however this time the blood was red. […] Harvest rolled backwards, snapping his rifle and scoring a shot into the visor of the nameless pegasus, watching out of the corner of his eye as Daniels began to take down the leader Young had jumped on the back of the last pegasus, tearing the wing out of its back, the screams of pain resounded, before Young delivered a battle rifle shot to the temple Harvest stood up and brushed the dust off of his armor, "Let's get some burn cream on that plasma burn then eh?" Daniels removed the wrist armor, but when he observed the forearm he found that he wasn't burned, instead there was some rather old plasma scarring "Are you sure you got burned?" Young asked "Yeah, right here." Daniels gestured to his forearms, "But this plasma scarring is several years old, at least." Harvest looked at his best friend, "I don't think our trip was cost-free."