Chapter 10: A Strange Day

August 5, 2558
2330 hours
Canterlot
The Royal Castle Throne Room

“Owww…” groaned Ogden as he lay dazed on the floor. “What just happened?”

“I dunno Jenkins,” said Gunnery Sergeant Alvarez solemnly. “First we land on a planet filled with talking ponies, then find that they need our help, and now three Spartan-IVs just got vaporized before our very eyes!”

“B-but, but*cough*,” stuttered Private Eugene Phillips. “Spartans don’t die! I-I thought that…*cough* ju-Spartans don’t fucking die goddammit!”

“Oh god*cough*,” said Sergeant Alex Thompson. “Shifty, let`s just get something straight here. Now I know you’ve grown up to be brainwashed into thinking Spartans are invincible, but here`s the thing: Spartans die. They do, alright?! They aren’t completely invulnerable! But they only die physically. When people say that ‘Spartans don’t die,’ they mean that their legacy lives on, that they`re never forgotten.”

“Oh,” Shifty responded nonchalantly. “That makes a lot more sense.”

“But how this happened remains a mystery,” said Captain Lasky as he walked away from the throne towards the Spartans` remains, pointing his pistol at the glowing green ashes. “We need to get Infinity Science on this right away. For now, get these ponies untied Icebreaker.”

“You mean unglued sir?” said Alvarez.

“Yeah.”

Gunny pulled out his combat knife. “Aye, aye, sir,” he said.

He walked over to unglue Twilight as the rest of his marines went to unglue the others. All the while Captain Lasky was radioing the Infinity to send down Dr. Halsey and Dr. Glassman.

“How?” Twilight nearly whispered as she stared at the body of the dead changeling behind her.

“Excuse me?” said gunny.

“How could you? How can you just effortlessly end a life without thinking?”

“`Cause we`ve been doing this for a long time sweetheart,” said Sergeant Thompson as he cut the green goo binding Celestia`s front hooves and began working on freeing her wings. The marines all chuckling in agreement.

“Yeah,” said gunny as he got behind Twilight and started cutting her front hooves free. “All our lives we`ve been shooting at and killing alien life forms. These guys were no different to us.”

“What were these things anyway?” asked PFC Jenkins as he finished freeing Cadence and Shining Armor.

“They call them changelings,” said Lasky.

“Oh! These are the changelings that every pony out there was talking about,” said Shifty. “Wait, but how`d you know that sir?”

“Private, what did you think I was doing this whole time up here in the Princesses` palace?” the Captain responded. “Don’t answer that.”

All the humans exchanged whole-hearted laughter, Celestia and Luna both blushing, while Twilight remained silent, deep in scolding thought.

They just killed ten living things, thought Twilight. And they`re laughing. Laughing as if something so tragic never happened.

She then looked down at the dead and bleeding bodies of the changeling soldiers, the stench of their rotting flesh beginning to surface.

It`s as if they had never lived at all. I know I should be grateful to them for saving my life, but still…it just seems wrong; it just doesn’t feel right to me that they`re acting this way.

She then looked back up to the humans and noticed something.

“Wait!” she said, now relieved of any green goo restraining her limbs. “I remember now! I have seen your species before!”

“What?!” said all seven humans in unified response to her claim.

She had, in fact, seen humans before, in her quest to find and take back her crown from Sunset Shimmer.

The lavender alicorn now knew why she hadn’t recognized the human species before: they simply looked different. The humans she had encountered at Canterlot High School were young, skinny adolescents, most of them female; on top of that, their skin color varied through virtually every color of the rainbow, their hair more elongated and fashioned. These humans were mostly male adult soldiers covered in combat gear and armor, their hair in crew cuts. They were also more muscular than the Canterlot High teenagers, and their skin color only varied through black, white, and various shades of brown with the occasional red.

“Uh, marines?” said Lasky. “I think you`d better head back to the party; you`ve earned it.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” said gunny. “Come on men. Good work.”

“Also, while you`re there, spread the word about this. All marines need to be notified right away: they`re going to the front lines now, not the Spartans.”

“You got it sir.”

As they left, Lasky radioed for a pelican from the Infinity.

“It`s already been too long,” he said. “Three of my Spartans are dead and FLEETCOM still has yet to be informed of this planet`s existence. Also, I'm not sure if I can convince them on my own to let me utilize any military force on this planet.”

“So, how do you plan to convince them?” asked Luna.

“Well, I'm going to need all of you with me talking to them as well.”

“You want us to go up there?!” asked Cadence incredulously.

“I can only radio them from my ship; so yes, you`re going up there.”

“Oh boy,” said Shining Armor. “Here we go.”

. . .

August 5, 2558
2342 hours
Canterlot Square

As Icebreaker reentered the party, it seemed crystal clear to them that it would continue on well after midnight. The music was still just as loud and the partiers were still just as lively as ever before.

The six-man Fireteam broke up once again, and Ogden decided to revisit the table where he thought Rainbow Dash would still be sitting at. When he found that she wasn’t there, he resolved to just go and sit at the bar, order a few drinks of cider maybe, for he was far too tired to go looking for her. Fortunately for him, he wouldn’t need to, for Rainbow Dash had already beaten him there.

“Hey there,” said Ogden as he sat down on the stool next to the one she was sitting on.

“Hey,” she responded with but a cursory glance in his direction. “Did Twilight make it safely to the castle? Like I already don’t know the answer.”

Realizing that she had no idea of what had just happened up there, Jenkins decided to change the subject while putting her mind to ease.

“Oh yeah. Don’t worry, she made it,” he said back. “Uh, how`s the cider?”

“Strong as ever,” she responded before taking a sip of her glass, grimacing as she struggled to swallow. “Ugh, how is it so easy for you to just scarf this stuff down?!”

“I dunno. Evolution?” he said as the bartender passed him another bottle of the strong cider.

As he opened the bottle, two male pegasi walked up to the cyan mare from behind. One was covered in a brown coat with a dumbbell cutie mark while the other had a tan coat showcasing a cutie mark of three basketballs.

“Well, well, well, look who we have here,” said the brown one.

“Oh Celestia no,” groaned Rainbow.

“Flirting with a human Rainbow Crash?” joked the other before they both burst into a bullying laughter.

Rainbow could only hang her head and ears as she let bullies harass her. Meanwhile, Jenkins faced towards the front of the bar, pretending not to listen.

“Hey bartender,” he said. “Get me a glass.”

As the bartender passed it to him, the brown-coated pegasus trotted up next to him, between him and Rainbow.

“Who is this human anyway?” scoffed the stallion. “Interact with your own kind, alien.”

Ogden casually poured some of the cider from his bottle into the glass.

“Hey?!” continued the pegasus as he thumped an arm down onto the bar table in front of the marine. “Didn’t you hear me? Get off my seat.”

The marine then firmly pushed him a few inches back, holding his hand on the stallion`s chest and then looking up to his face.

“Hold your horses,” Jenkins said. “I'll get up.”

“Horse?!” exclaimed the pegasus as Jenkins began to drink the cider from his glass. “For your information, alien, I'm a pony.”

At the word alien, Jenkins accelerated his drinking and in half a second the cider was gone from the glass. Then at the word pony he stood up and smashed the now empty glass against the brown stallion`s temple.

It had all happened in a flash, and now Jenkins stood towering above the once pompous now bleeding and groaning pegasus; his tan-coated partner having stepped back in shock, the look on his face matched only by that of Rainbow`s (and everypony watching as well).

“Her name,” said the PFC slowly. “Is Rainbow Dash. And you will NOT, speak to either me or her in that way do you understand?”

“Okay! Okay!” pleaded the brown one, continuing to hold a hoof to his head as he backed away on the floor and began to stand.

Once he was up, Jenkins got right up into the stallions` face.

“I suggest you show a little more respect next time. We`re here to save your asses, so the least you can do is be a little more grateful! Understand?!”

“Y-yes! Yes! Okay!” stuttered the bleeding stallion.

“Just leave us alone!” said his buddy before they both ran away through the crowd.

As Jenkins sat back down, Rainbow finally managed to shake her trance and speak.

“Wow,” she said. “Nopony`s ever stood up for me like that. In fact I don’t think anypony`s ever stood up to those two before!”

She then stared at the drink in her hoof and consumed it like a shot of beer.

Wiping her mouth, and with a drunken smile, she said, “Thank you.”

“Yeah,” said the bartender. “Though that was kind of violent, I like what you did human. You`re the first I've ever seen stand up to those two.”

“Oh don’t mention it guys,” said Ogden. “I hate bullies, and there were a lot where I grew up.”

“You poor thing,” Rainbow slurred slightly. “But you know, you're a pretty cool guy, Ogden. I like you.”

“Aw, you don't mean that,” Jenkins replied, a faint shade of red coming to his cheeks.

“No, I do. You're really cool,” Dash reaffirmed, making sure the PFC got it this time.

“Thanks, that means a lot coming from you.”

“Of course it does! I`m the coolest pony in Ponyville, after all,” the Pegasus boasted once more.

“Yeah, uh, you said that already.”

“You know what? Why don’t you rest at my place tonight?”

Now recognizing her new demeanor, Ogden turned his head to look straight into her eyes.

“Are you drunk?” he asked.

“Well yeah,” she responded, well, drunkenly. “Didn’t you know this stuff made us tipsy all the time?”

“I should probably walk you home, then. Just in case.”

“Hah, you think I walk home?” she said as she flared her wings.

“Wait, what? Where`s your house?”

“It`s a cloud-house. Only pegasi like me can get there.”

“So, you want me to ride on your back?”

“Uh-huh.”

“But you`re drunk.”

“So?! There`s nothin` I can run into in th`air, and I ain`t that impaired.”

“You`d better hope so, you and me both actually.”

“C`mon, it`s gettin` late.”

Rainbow hopped off her seat at the bar and began her long trek to the party exit, stumbling drunkenly back and forth as she slowly made her way. Jenkins got off his own stool and walked after her. Once he had caught up he tried to keep her trotting in as much of a straight line as possible. All the while he wondered how non-alcoholic cider could intoxicate any living thing this much.

Once out, Rainbow spread her wings and beckoned for Ogden to climb aboard. Once on, he proceeded to cross himself and then bend down and hug her neck tightly.

“All good back here,” he said as he patted her side.

“O-kay, here we go!”

With one, big flap of her powerful wings, she took to the air, flying near mach-1. Ogden had to duck his head down to keep the wind and G-forces from tearing his face off. He kept his helmet on his head with one hand while holding onto the rainbow-maned pegasus with the other.

“Hah HAAA!!! THIS IS UNREAL!!!!!” yelled the young marine happily over the roar of the planet`s atmosphere rushing past his ears as he and the young mare rocketed toward Cloudsdale.

. . .

August 5, 2558
2350 hours
The UNSC Infinity

Aboard the Infinity, all Canterlot royalty marveled at all the advanced technology that surrounded them, particularly the young, lavender alicorn, whose scientific origins were putting her in seventh-heaven right now.

“This technology is amazing!” she exclaimed. “And I see how it works now: because you don’t have magic, you used electricity instead! However, I find it unbelievable that you could go farther with electricity that we could go with magic.”

“Well, you see,” said Lasky. “And me and Celestia have been over this, correct me if I'm wrong, but due to relativity, our species has existed longer than yours. Therefore, we had the time to do all this.”

“Ah,” said Twilight in understanding.

“So you said you’ve seen humans before. How?”

“Well,” started Twilight before speaking of her journey through the mirror.

“Wow. That is just incredible,” said Lasky. “But why would there be humans, or at least humanoids, beyond the portal?”

“Beats me,” Twilight responded. “It must have been a sign.”

“Maybe,” said Thomas as they entered through the doors to the bridge.

“Captain on deck!” barked a naval officer before everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to stand up and salute their ship commander. They all then briefly looked strangely at the entering group of equines following their Captain before his signal of “at ease” sat them all back down to continue their work.

“Well here we are,” said the Captain to everypony as they walked to the front of the room, where a large window lay between them and the endless vacuum beyond. “This is the bridge, where I command everything that goes on both in and outside the ship.”

As he spoke, Roland`s hologram appeared above the turquoise-blue hologram table just behind the group.

“Ah,” said Lasky. “Everypony, this is Roland, the ship`s artificial intelligence program, or A.I. for short.”

“Pleasure to mee-” he started before giving a confused look. “Wait, sir? Did you just say everypony?”

“Well, yeah,” said Thomas as he gestured to the equines behind him.

“Uhhhhmmmmmm…Oh, kay? Pleasure to meet you all,” he said, before turning his attention back to Lasky. “Captain, Admiral Osmond from FLEETCOM is on the line.”

“Oh really? I was just about to call her myself; I guess it has been too long. Put her through, Roland.”

“Yes Captain.”

As Lasky turned to the window, straightening his shirt collar, it doubled up into its own TV screen as the symbol of the UNSC appeared in the center. The image then melted away digitally to reveal a woman in her early thirties sitting at a desk in an office of some kind. This was Admiral Osmond, and she was not happy.

“Captain Thomas Lasky!” said Osmond on screen. “I have been trying to reach you fo– what the hell are those things behind you?! What have you been keeping from me Captain?!”

“Kind of pushy isn’t she?” said Celestia as Twilight hid behind her.

“Oh yes,” said Lasky.

“Wait, what? D-did it just speak?” said the surprised Admiral. “And did you just respond to it?!”

“Ma`am, I know this must be coming as quite a shock to you,” Lasky responded. “Everything will be explained in due time. I realize that I've kept quiet for a time longer than what was expected of me and kept a lot of information from you, and I apologize for that. But right now I need to explain myself; that`s why you called isn’t it?”

“Very well,” said Osmond, still clearly in a slight state of shock at the talking creatures on her screen as she shakily sat back in her chair. “The floor is yours, but I'd like you to start by telling me what in the universe these creatures are.”

“Yes ma`am, let me introduce you to Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence and her husband Prince Shining Armor, and Princess Twilight Sparkle,” he pointed to each royal equine as he listed their names. “They are all alicorns, except for Shining Armor, he`s a unicorn. They are all the royal monarchs who rule over their country, not ironically named Equestria.”

“Oh my.”

“I know this is a lot to take in ma`am,” said Lasky. “But don’t worry, it`s been a weird day for all of us.”

“Well alright, I guess we`ve all seen our fair share of aliens.”

“I agree ma`am.”

“But what about the forerunner artifacts? What about the mission?”

“Well, we warped to this planet because the Janus Key identified six forerunner artifacts on it.”

“Yes, I was informed of that. I'd like to hear more about them.”

“Yes ma`am. They call them the ‘Elements of Harmony,’ and the good news is that they`ve agreed to share them with us. However, before they do so, we have to do them a small favor.”

“What kind of favor?”

“Princess?” said Lasky as he stepped aside to allow Celestia the floor. “Would you please?”

. . .

As Rainbow stumbled towards her bed, Ogden followed close behind, still reeling from his ride up here.

“That was amazing,” he exclaimed as he took off his helmet, revealing his black hair. “You ponies are all just…amazing! Really, you are!”

“Thanks,” said Rainbow, putting her bedcovers over herself before beckoning for the marine to follow. “C`mon in.”

Jenkins immediately started backing away, once again realizing just how drunk the cyan pegasus was.

“Oh no, I can`t,” he said.

“Why not?” asked Rainbow playfully.

“Well, I can, but I, just, thought I'd sleep on the floor tonight.”

“Oh come on now!” she laughed. “You`re hurting my feelings.”

Realizing that she most likely wasn’t going to give in, Ogden decided to give her what she wanted.

“*sigh*Okay,” he said as he reluctantly walked up to the bed. “If you say so.”

. . .

Captain Thomas Lasky exited the bridge through its electronic sliding doors with an enthusiastic fist-pump.

“Yes! Score!” he almost shouted. “I now have full military jurisdiction in Equestria, time to do whatever it takes to protect this place from the changelings. Thank you all so much for talking to her; you did great!”

“’Twas no problem at all,” said Luna.

“I'm actually quite surprised that Osmond was so lenient about my losing three of my Spartain IVs,” said Lasky. “Maybe what happened on Requiem made this look like a smaller mishap.”

“So what`s your plan?” asked Celestia.

“Well, first things first,” started Lasky. “Since I can`t use Spartans anymore, I'll have to resort to using only my marines. I'll have Castle Company be on 24/7 guard of Canterlot along with your royal guard, Shadow Company on the front lines 24/7, and Gypsy Company split half-and-half: part-time guarding Cloudsdale and Ponyville, and part-time on the front lines.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Shining Armor.

“But before I send any marines out to fight, they need to be trained.”

“Trained? What do you mean?” asked Twilight. “Haven’t they already been trained and combat experienced?”

“Yes, but they still need to get used to this planet`s gravity. I've noticed that it`s slightly less than our norm and needs a little more getting used to. I'll have my men run a few combat training exercises against each other, so they can get used to fighting under this planet`s conditions.”

“But where exactly?”

“Well, before we were ambushed, Celestia and I were talking about what you call the ‘Everfree Forest’ near Ponyville. Apparently you`re all scared of it because the plants grow all on their own, the animals care for themselves all on their own, and the clouds move, all on their own.”

“Well yeah, most ponies are going to be scared of that because that`s just not natural around here. In Equestrian borders, excluding the Everfree Forest of course, plants don’t grow unless earthponies water them, clouds are moved around by weatherponies, and, at least in Ponyville, Fluttershy has to take care of all the animals.”

“Wait, so you`re saying that outside of Equestria, things thrive independently as well? Similar to the Everfree Forest?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then. Well, here`s the thing. Where humans come from, places like the Everfree Forest are natural. The clouds that move on their own water the plants which then grow on their own. Those plants are then eaten by the animals themselves. It`s all its own cycle.”

“Wow. You humans really are the warriors we need.”

“You said it sister. Also, my men only know how to fight humanoid alien species as well as other humans. They also need to learn how to fight equines, or an equinoid species if you will. From what I've seen, that`s what these changelings are aren’t they? Equinoid?”

“You hold a valid point,” said Luna. “What are you proposing?”

“Well, these changelings are basically equines with spears aren’t they?”

“Correct.”

“So I thought, well, aren’t your royal guards equines with spears as well?”

“Ah.”

“Exactly, so I'd like your permission to allow my marines to train with your royal guards in hand-to-hoof combat, so that I can be sure that if they ever get into close quarters with the changelings, that they`ll still be confident enough to take them on.”

“Permission granted,” said the alicorn princesses of the sun and moon in unison.

. . .

August 6, 2558
0050 hours
Canterlot
The Royal Castle Throne Room

Captain Lasky had finally come back down from the ship to see what Infinity Science had come up with regarding the Spartan`s greater vulnerability than that of the marines.

By the time he had reached the place, there were already about a dozen scientists in white lab coats analyzing the scene, utilizing all sorts of different gadgets and gismos, the radiation detection equipment being amongst the many. Dr. Catherine Halsey and Dr. Henry Glassman were among the scientists, both hard at work analyzing the still glowing green ashes of the three super soldiers that once were.

“Sorry for keeping you all up so late,” was the first thing to exit Lasky`s mouth as he walked in through the throne room`s two massive double doors, the princesses trailing behind.

“Oh it`s no problem, sir,” said Dr. Glassman. “All our internal alarm clocks were screwed up from the start anyway. Although, *yawn*it is pretty dark out.”

“Have you reached a verdict?” asked Lasky.

“Yes sir. I think we`ve figured it out. Care to explain Halsey?”

“Well,” started the elderly scientist. “Our radiation equipment seems to have picked up some sort of ambient or radiant energy left over from the attack; I can only guess, as much as I hate to admit it, that this energy is some sort of magic. I'm sure one of the Captain`s pony friends can attest to this. Moving on, the Spartans must have been affected by this magic because their energy shields were also a fine source of a similar radiant energy which then mixed well with the changelings` projectiles. This leads me to assume that, since the magic is under the changelings` control and the changelings wanted the Spartans dead, well, let`s just say the magic had no choice but to give the changelings what they wanted. The marines however, have no recumbent or ambient energy of the kind that this projectile can affect to cause this Vaporization, because, unlike the Spartans, their armor isn't powered by any energy; it's just plain Kevlar armor with crystal coated and imbedded Titanium. This means that the marines had armor that not only deflected the magic, but also dispersed the searing heat of the fireball that would have otherwise burnt them to a crisp had the projectile made contact with bare skin. I'm sure that ODSTs, with their similar armor, will also have similar resistance.”

“This is a lot of useful information Halsey,” said Lasky, kneeling down next to the ashes. “Good work team. Why don’t you all go get some rest back on the ship? You`ve earned it."

. . .

August 6, 2558
0600 hours
575 miles southwest of Equestrian borders
The Changeling Grand Palace

“My queen,” said General Hives as his leader groggily sat up in her bed. “Sorry to wake you so early.”

“What is it Hives?” said Chrysalis as she rubbed her eyes. “What could it be that is so important as to interrupt my beauty sleep?”

“We have lost contact with our spies.”

“What?! How?!”

“I don’t know, your highness, but before they went they gave me information that is all that we`ll ever need.”

“What?”

“They told me the plan is falling into place. Our approaching troops are serving as the perfect distraction. The foolish equines and their ally have no idea that–”

“Wait,” Chrysalis cut off. “What ally?”

“Some alien species my queen. They said that the ponies called them humans, but our spies informed me that they shouldn’t be a challenge.”

“Very well, continue.”

“As I was saying, your majesty, the foolish equines have no idea that they currently have more than one enemy.”

Author's Notes:

Hey guys, sorry it took so long.

Tell me in the comments if any of the links don`t work K?