A Noble Death
by LSTS Connor
First published
Spartans never die, they go missing in action. Now armed with a new body the 'Hyper-lethal Vector's' journey hasn't ended yet
Spartan-B312 A.K.A Noble six. The unsung hero and the only other Soldier designated as 'Hyper-lethal' of the Human-Covenant War. Were it not for her actions on Reach, the events that lead to victory over the Covenant and Flood would never have happened.
But that victory had a cost heavy price with Noble team dead and Six left on Reach as the Pillar of Autumn made for orbit.
Alone against the Covenant she was doomed. But she wasn't going to go down without a fight.
For three whole days, she fought. For three whole nights, she struggled against the full might of the Covenant on Reach. And on the third and final day, she fell.
Exhausted, battered, and beaten she was finally overwhelmed and presumably killed from what the helmet cam footage shows, the only thing remaining of the Spartan after the glassing of Reach was a broken helmet. But even after that, there is one constant that is never broken.
Spartans never die...They just go missing in action.
Now armed with a new equine body and armor to boot in a barren wasteland resembling the one she had just left behind, Six's Journey hasn't ended yet.
Holy wow Featured within the first 6 hours
I-I have no words to express how happy this makes me
Halo: Reach Crossover (And yes my Noble Six is female)
Character tags shall be added as the story progresses
Chapter 1
The crack of gunfire and the breaking of an energy shield followed shortly by the thump of a body hitting the ground were sounds that the covenant knew all too well after these past few days of nonstop combat. Reach had fallen to their might and their glassing was continuing as planned all human resistance had been eliminated well...all but one.
The footsteps of a Zealot behind her were all the information Six needed as she swiftly connected elbow to torso, shattering the elite’s shield and knocking him to the ground, his energy sword flying out of reach. The last thing seen in his alien eyes being the calm and collected but equally rage-filled face of the human he had tried and failed to eliminate. The Humans armor was covered in plasma burns and it had just abandoned its helmet looking the elite in the eye before pulling her magnum and putting one between his eyes.
Given only a moment’s rest before three more elites opened fire, charging at the exhausted soldier. Their plasma bolts hit true as they burned through the human’s black exposed titanium armor. With her helmet broken and armor now incomplete, her shields are unable to form their protective barrier as she grimaced in pain from the plasma burning into her.
She returns fire swiftly felling another elite only for two more to take its place. She needed more firepower as she began duel-wielding her magnum in one hand and her rifle in the other.
Six knew that her end was inevitable after the Pillar of Autumn left Reach...her home before the UNSC and the Spartan III program. The last of Noble team. One of the last humans left on Reach.
‘Ironic’ Thought Six as the Covenant began to converge on her position the Pillar of Autumn only a spec in the sky. Carter had told her that they were a team and to leave that Lone Wolf stuff behind. And now here she was, a Lone Wolf once again clutching the dog tags of her fellow Spartans ‘No...friends’ went through her mind as she looked down at the dogs-tags she held. She had managed to meet up with the last holdout of marines on Reach before all hell broke loose when the Covenant attacked with everything they had.
What followed were three days and nights of hell for Six and the Covenant alike.
The elite’s rushed Six, her ammo running dry as one crashed into her launching her backward before pouncing on her, energy sword at the ready. Just as the elite moved in for the kill Six swiftly kicked him away shattering his shield and dazing him before an elite zealot came from the side energy sword already swinging. Six reacted in-kind by hitting the sword out of its hand before firing her last magnum rounds into the elite’s face. The Zealots’ shield held, the force of the bullets hitting his shield only staggering him briefly. But before Six could capitalize on that the elite from before, now no longer dazed jumped back on her pushing her against the ground, breaking some of her ribs in the process and driving the air from her lungs.
The Zealot pulled his energy dagger out, rising it high. Six struggled below them, gasping for air whilst trying to grab her knife before pain exploded throughout her abdomen as the Zealots energy dagger impaled her. Thinking that the Human was dead the elites released some of the pressure they were exerting against the Human underneath them. That was a mortal wound the elites thought. And they were right, Six knew this too but that wouldn’t stop her, with elite’s atop her letting their guard down she used the opportunity to grab her knife from her thigh and plunged it into the Zealot’s neck, piercing his shield and dooming the Zealot to choke on his own blood. Then while the other elite was still in shock from the sudden attack with the last of her strength she forcefully removed the energy dagger stuck in her gut and plunged it as deep as it could go into the other elite’s torso.
It fell down to the side dead as Six collapsed back to the ground her energy spent. She felt so very tired, the days of combat taking its toll on her as she looked up into the brown sky. Her vision began to darken as she felt more footsteps approach her position. She tried to grab her magnum but her arm wouldn’t obey her commands.
She looked back up at the sky as her life began to flash before her eyes. From her childhood on Reach to the time she signed up to fight the insurrectionists. Her entrance into the Spartan III program and her takedown of multiple militia groups singlehandedly becoming the personal ‘Grim-reaper’ of her C.O . And finally, her return to Reach as a part of Noble. Jorge’s sacrifice to destroy the Covenant carrier. Kat’s sudden death by sniper fire at the start of the glassing. Carter’s death, taking a Scarab out with him. Emile’s stand against the Zealots whilst Jun and Six held the covenant off. Jun...the only member of Noble to make it off of reach. She may not have known them for long but they would always be in her memory as friends instead of fellow Spartans.
A shadow loomed over her, a slight blue hue from the elite’s energy sword covering her as the elite plunged his sword into her chest. The sneering face of the elite above her being the last Image she saw before a dark void consumed her vision.
But even then, one thing will always remain true.
Spartans never die...They just go missing in action.
Something was wrong.
Six hadn’t even opened her eyes yet and she knew something was wrong. Well, for one thing, she was awake which in turn meant she was alive.’ That’s impossible’ she thought, an energy sword to the heart is not survivable no matter how far technology had come. By all accounts being alive let alone waking up should an impossibility for the Spartan. But she was alive and no amount of saying it was an impossibility is going to change that.
Opening her eyes another impossibility greeted her. She was wearing her helmet, the familiar blue light of her H.U.D, and completely intact visor filling her vision. Her shields and armor integrity were reading as full. Outside her visor, however, she was met with a deep blue sky, devoid of any clouds in contrast to the brown sky of Reach after the Covenant glassing.
‘What the he-?’
The sudden appearance of a red marker on her Motion tracker meant no time for questions as something potentially hostile was approaching her position. Acting on auto-pilot Six sprang up instinctively reaching for her rifle, finding empty air she went for her magnum...nothing.
She moved for her knife...Bingo
Holding it out in front of her ready to face whatever was in this desert she now found herself in with her. Six’s mind was calm and collected, different battle strategies running through her mind. There were several rock formations around her with dead shrubbery dotted between them. But before she could look for an advantageous defensive position, Six promptly lost her balance and began to fall forward before catching herself with her ‘arms’.
Once she caught herself she didn’t see her arms in front of her she saw two armored cylindrical limbs instead. But before she could question what the hell had happened to her body the marker was now 10 meters out and approaching slowly. ‘Questions about strange body later, deal with hostile now’ Thought Six grabbing the knife and lowering her posture as if she were a tiger ready to pounce. A small bout of confusion quickly arose as to how she was holding the knife without any fingers with a small eyebrow raise but it was quickly put aside as the hostile was seconds away from turning around the rock it was behind.
Six tensed up ready pounce both literally and figuratively at the opposing... Lizard?
She released the breath she was holding before tagging the lizard as neutral through her neural implant, turning the red marker into a greyed out one. Now that there were no more threats nearby Six could now get a good look at what the hell happened to her body.
Needless to say, she wasn’t ‘herself’ anymore as her body looked more equine instead of a human. Her armor looked the same only it seemed to be changed to adapt to her new body. But what really took the cake were the two black armored wings on her back and the black tail with a single streak of white, attached to her ass.
‘Or would that be flank now?’ Thought the Spartan, amused, as she examined her new body, testing the multiple new muscles her body now possessed. First came her legs as she tested their new range of movement. After several tries, Six was no longer immobile, the cost being the sand now covering part of her armor after several failed attempts at movement. Next came her wings. Six doubted she would be able to fly as her armor weighed several hundred kilos’ at least but as a trade-off, the armored feathers looked pretty damn sharp.
One last thing remained however as Six reached up to remove her helmet, the hiss of a pressure seal being broken startling the nearby curious birds of their pearches. Removing the helmet she turned it around in her hooves, long since accepted that they somehow grabbed stuff as long as she thought of them as arms with hands.
Her face reflected in the golden visor of her helmet as she looked down at it. Her face was still as scared as ever from countless injuries during her time taking down insurrectionists. Her fur was a light grey with a short jet black mane with white highlights on her head. The expression she held was one of calm and collected but yet curious as to why all of this had happened.
Any normal person would have freaked out by now at the prospect of changing species but after literally returning from death and now longer finding herself on Reach, Six was at least happy she got to keep her armor, scars, and memories after this ‘reincarnation’ as she would put it. Plus, as a Spartan, there is no time to panic, if you are still combat effective it doesn’t matter whatever happened to you. It’s one of the first lessons they beat into your brain during the Spartan III program training course.
The ‘Deal with it’ protocol as some Spartans liked to call it.
But now with that out of the way, Six was alive and there was still a war to be won and she would stop at nothing to return to UNSC Space (If she wasn’t already in it that is) and make the Covenant pay dearly for what they’ve done to humanity…
To Reach…
...To her.
Putting her helmet back on and returning her knife to its sheath, she made her way to higher ground before scanning the horizon for any signs of life. At first, there was nothing only desert for as far as the eye could see with large rock formations poking over the horizon. She scanned and scanned but there was nothing until...
...Bingo smoke on the horizon to her south-east.
Be it from a campfire, burning wreckage, or a forest fire, it would get her one step closer to civilization and finding out where the hell she was now located. So with a destination in mind, Six began her trek towards the smoke unknowing of what would await her on this planet but knowing that no matter what happened to her, when she got back the Covenant will pay dearly for what they had done.
Author's Notes:
I want to get at least a few chapters finished before I submit it.
I lied
Hope ya enjoyed it :D
Chapter 2
Six had been walking for several hours now through this desert , her pace never wavering even under the scorching sun. Well on the outside the ambient temperature read as a sweltering 40 degrees centigrade but inside her armor, it was a cool as a cucumber. If Six hadn’t already thanked her armor designers for the built-in cooling system after a particularly challenging solo operation to take down an Insurrectionist Cell in the deserts of Durisdeer, she would be thanking them now. Well... not that she needed to anyway, as it came standard issue with the armor, but she did so anyway after the ambient temperature exceeded 60 degrees during her tracking of the cell through the desert.
The trek had been uneventful allowing Six time to think about her current situation as well as get more acquainted with the new body she found herself in. The fact that she could still use her armor meant that her neural interface was still there but what about the other modifications? She didn’t feel any different and her reflexes seemed to have improved a little as well... or a lot. It’s hard to tell how your modifications meant for combat were holding up if there was no combat to test them with.
‘Well, there are some birds in the sky. And some food just in case wouldn’t hurt’ Thought Six stopping in her tracks whilst looking up at the birds circling high above her. ‘Vultures huh... well it’s better than nothing’ Six pulled her knife from its sheath on her shoulder, it’s blade reflecting the one-way golden visor of Six’s helmet. She looked up at the birds above, her helmet calculating their distance from six.
‘Target range around 100 meters, medium to large size...Should be a piece of cake’ Thought Six moving to stand on her hind legs, flaring her armored wings out as a counterbalance to prevent herself from falling. ‘Heh... well at least they’re useful’ Went through Six’s mind in amusement, before focusing her gaze back on the bird above her.
Momentarily flipping the knife as to grab the blade, Six once again wondered how the hell she was holding the knife through her armored limb, once again, crossed her mind. She could feel the knife’s warm steel as if she were holding it with her bare hand. Unless her armor got an upgrade (Which she doubted massively) this was seriously weird.
The ‘Deal with it’ protocol went through her mind once again as she was reminded that it didn’t matter in the long run. She could hold a knife, which meant she could fight and that meant that this bird was dead meat as Six threw the knife at the flying bird (or moving target, whatever you prefer).
*Squawk*
Bullseye.
‘Heh... I still got it’ Thought Six a small grin on her face as she followed the falling form of the bird, her knife glinting in the sun, as it fell to the ground stuck to her target. It landed nearby with a small *thump* kicking up some sand into the air with its ‘landing’. Walking up to the corpse of the bird she saw her knife glinting in the sun as she went and removed it, wiping the blood off before sheathing it. Picking up the bird for later she tucked it under her wings before tightly pressing them against her barrel, keeping the bird in place before resuming her journey towards civilization.
Or again, what she hoped was Civilization and not some random forest fire or burning wreckage in the middle of nowhere.
After about roughly another hour of walking, daylight was beginning to fade as the Desert got progressively colder and darker as time went on. Six needed to find some shelter for the night and luckily a small rocky overhang was visible on the hill in front of her. A large pillar made of rock extending into the sky serving as the overhang’s origin. Several other of these pillars were visible in the distance and had been for several hours now. If they were natural occurrences or not Six couldn’t tell, but night was beginning to fall on the desert as Six made her way underneath the overhang.
Dropping the bird off on a nearby rock Six moved to the nearby edge of the hill she found herself on. Since night had fallen the smoke she had been following had vanished into the dark sky, but what it left in its place was exactly what Six was looking for.
Just on the horizon lights could be seen. These weren’t just any lights, of course, they were far too bright and spread out to be anything natural. These lights were artificial meaning a town was nearby. Six allowed a small smile to grace her features before turning around and going to gather some wood to start a fire for the night.
After a few minutes of gathering dry sticks and shrubbery, a small fire was now burning, lighting up the overhang she now found herself under. Sitting down on her haunches six removed her helmet with a *hiss* of the pressure seal being broken cutting through the otherwise quiet atmosphere. Setting the helmet down on the stone underneath her she grabbed the bird and began to prepare it for consumption.
As she began cooking the meat on the tip of her knife another thing became clear. Could she still eat meat? Her body seemed quite herbivorous, but whenever she looked at the piece of meat she was cooking, her mouth couldn’t help but water a little, after eating little to nothing during her three-day last stand, her body was crying out for sustenance. Plus with the uncontrollable response of a watering mouth at the sight of meat, it was safe to say that she could still eat it.
Taking a bite out of her meal and not gagging instantly confirmed that meat was still on the menu for this Spartan. Now with that question out of the way, Six hungrily devoured the rest of her food, getting as much off of the bone as possible. Leaving nothing but an exposed skeleton and feathers.
After burying the stripped bird carcass in some nearby sand and now no longer starving six grabbed her helmet and went to tinker with its radio. Putting her helmet back on she changed to the standard ONI frequency. ‘Rather get the spook’s involved after what happened to me. I doubt the marines will hear me out before shooting on sight’ Six thought with a small chuckle. She really couldn’t blame them for such a reaction, as the only other alien species they know wants to wipe them off the face of the galaxy.
ONI was a safe bet for the Spartan turned alien, sure they would poke and prod her, maybe even lock her in a cell until they confirmed her identity but they for sure wouldn’t shoot her on sight, as a live alien prisoner is too rare an opportunity to pass up for the ONI Spooks.
After tuning the radio, Six began to speak.
“Local ONI contingent, this is UNSC Sierra-B312 callsign Noble-Six respond.”
Nothing but empty air and static is what she got in response from her radio. Six tried once again…
Still nothing.
Deciding to take the risk she transmitted her message on the standard UNSC Marines channel.
She was once again met with only static and empty air.
Thinking this over there were several possibilities for such a situation. Either she was A: Inside a covenant jamming zone or B: the soldiers stationed on this planet had become way too comfortable. There was a third option however and that would be that whatever brought six back from the dead, transported her to another planet.
Saving answering those possibilities for once she reached civilization Six set her message to repeat on both channels for the duration of the night before she lay her equine body down on the smooth cold rocks underneath her.
Putting her helmet back on, Six adjusted her position, laying on her side, forelegs tucked close against her body.
‘I feel like such a cat right now’ Six thought in amusement with a small chuckle, adopting the position of a cat laying down for a nap, her black and silver tail covering her back legs. Lying there, staring into the fire Six allowed her eyes to close as the crackle of her campfire and the static from her radio lulled her into a dreamless sleep.
Author's Notes:
‘I feel like such a cat right now’
Meowble Six :3
Chapter 3
The feeling of consciousness began to return to the sleeping Spartan. The buzz of an empty radio frequency and the crackle of faintly burning embers filling the silence of Six’s camp. Faint sounds of birds flying overhead could be heard as Six gently began to open her eyes.
Her visor's field of vision was completely covered in black and white thread. Yawning, Six moved her head upright revealing that it was her tail which was covering her visor. It seems that during that night six had tucked her head right against her barrel and subsequently her tail.
Six chuckled slightly at the mental image of a hyper lethal and battle-hardened Spartan sleeping like a common house cat before getting up fully. After briefly stretching the knots out of her body, Six looked towards the glowing embers of her campfire before kicking some nearby sand onto them, extinguishing it.
The sound of empty radio frequencies was still audible inside Six’s helmet, prompting her to turn it off. If she hadn’t got any response after 8 hours, she wasn’t going to get one now over her radio.
Moving to the edge of her makeshift camp, Six scouted for any points of interest. The smoke was back on the horizon to her south-east and the lights of civilization were no longer visible without the help of a night sky.
Six estimated that the trek into the visual range of the town/city would take roughly two hours from what she could tell. Once Six has a line of sight to the town she would scout it out first, making sure it was either
A: Filled with a bunch of lazy ass ONI Operatives who couldn’t use a radio to save their lives from behind their cushy desk jobs.
Or
B: Occupied by Covenant forces.
And the unlikely third option.
C: Filled with aliens that looked like her or vice versa.
Personally she was hoping for option B, oh how she wanted to make the Covenant pay for not killing her properly. Now with nothing left for her to take with, she abandoned her makeshift camp, once again trekking through the desert towards civilization… or the Covenant, either option worked for the Spartan turned alien.
Two hours of walking later it became obviously clear that Six’s estimates were off...way off. But on the plus side, however, she had found a river. The sandy environment around her turned into a lush green forest instead. It was a welcome change of scenery for the Spartan, she had been in enough barren wastelands on Reach.
Unfortunately, the river was blocking her path. There were no obvious land bridges in visual range and she didn’t want to waste any time looking if a bridge was located somewhere. The river was a clear blue and moving rather calmly. The perfect conditions for a crossing, but first things first as Six hadn’t drunk anything for a while now.
Without her cantine, gathering some water for later wouldn’t be possible but as for right now, Six needed to drink something. Although Spartans are able to be effective longer than normal humans without food or water, they still had their limits and Six was reaching hers. The water was running down from a nearby mountain into presumably a nearby ocean or lake meant it was fresh and as such safe for consumption by the Spartan.
Quickly checking her motion tracker and it coming up empty, Six removed her helmet. Another hiss of her armor’s pressure seal being broken, scared a few nearby curious critters into hiding, as Six bent her head down to the running water before eagerly beginning to drink her fill.
It might have just been dehydration speaking but it was the most satisfying quenching of thirst Six had ever experienced. Her eyes widening after the first droplet reached her mouth. The freshness of the water combined with the abundance of minerals not found in the standard-issue water rations was simply Dev-.
That’s when Six realized something was wrong. It was quiet, deathly so. The sounds of birds chirping in nearby trees were gone. The only sound about being the running water and Six’s eager gulps of said water.
A predator was stalking her.
Ceasing in her drinking of the river water, Six swiveled her ears focusing her hearing whilst slowly grabbing her helmet. Six was careful not to make any sudden movements before she got her helmet on. Keeping her head low to the water, Six equipped her helmet.
Checking her motion tracker she saw a greyed out marker to her left. Slowly pulling out her knife and getting into a low combat stance, she changed the target's motion tracker marker to red. Now facing the direction of the hostile she saw a rustling come from the nearby bushes.
The animal stalking her now realizing it had been made, moved out of its hiding place revealing itself to its prey.
‘The hell are you?’ Thought Six as the creature fully revealed itself to the Spartan. It was big, much bigger than her and looked like a mish-mash of a Lion, bat, and scorpion if the wings and tail were anything to go by.
It growled and snarled aggressively at its prey, it’s claws extended, green venom dripping from its tail, his sharp teeth glinting in the sun at the Spartan in front of it. For the manticore, this pony seemed like an easy kill, as it lowers itself into an attack stance as well.
It was a stare off before both creatures began to slowly circle each other, their stances held low. The Manticore growling and snarling in an attempt to intimidate its prey. Six however was as calm as ever, her eyes studying the Manticores every movement and weakness she could exploit. The wind was calm, a few stray leaves falling in-between them before being dragged off by the surrounding breeze.
The sounds of armored hooves hitting the ground and the manticores snarls filling the air.
They both stopped in their circling, neither of them backing down.
A fight was inevitable now, but a question still remained unanswered.
Who was the predator and who was the prey?
With a violent roar, the manticore pounced at Six at a blinding speed intent on ending this fight in a single blow.
Already anticipating such an action, Six waited until the last second before rolling off to the side. Narrowly avoiding the manticore’s attack before slashing at the creature’s hind legs eliciting a howl of pain from the creature.
Snarling in rage the manticore swung his tail, catching the Spartan off guard as her shield’s flared from the impact before getting thrown several feet away.
Hitting the ground with a small roll, Six used her momentum to land back on her hooves.
Her shields had taken minor damage and she would not be underestimating that tail again as the manticore turned to face her once again, limping very slightly from her attack, before charging at her.
Dodging, Six once again avoided the manticore’s sharp claws as they slashed against the ground where she once stood.
Not wanting this fight to drag on any longer, Six jumped at the manticore’s now exposed neck using her agility to climb up onto the manticores back.
Thrashing wildly, the manticore tried to throw the Spartan off only managing to knock the knife out of Six’s grip causing it to fall to the ground with a thump.
Six held around the manticore's neck even tighter, intent on trying to either break its neck or choke it out.
This did nothing as the manticores gave off another enraged snarl before trying to stab the Spartan with his tail.
He hit his mark as the Spartans shield’s flared gold once again, only to immediately cry out in pain as the still intact shield began burning his stinger.
With Six unable to choke the manticore out and her shields now at half strength she would need to get creative.
Her knife now somewhere on the ground and the manticores thrashing getting ever stronger she wouldn’t be able to stay up there for much longer unless…
Flaring her wings out to their full length Six kicked herself off of the manticores back up into the sky.
The combined strength and weight of the spartan jumping off the manticore slammed it into the ground, kicking up dirt and breaking a few of the creature’s ribs leaving it dazed.
Now above the manticore, Six reoriented herself head first, before pulling her wings in front of her face, razor-sharp feathers facing outwards.
Before long gravity began to take its course, pulling the Spartan back towards the ground.
‘I hope this works!’ Thought Six as she came falling onto the manticore below her, her sharp feathers creating a low whistling sound as air rushed past them.
The sound of flesh and bone being cut tore through the surrounding air, as a gurgled roar escaped the manticores bleeding moar before collapsing to the ground, dead.
Six let out a relieved breath from atop the now dead manticore before pulling her now blood-soaked feathers from the manticores back. Jumping off of the corpse, Six got a good look at her handiwork before glancing back at her still flared wings.
‘Well... I guess there is another use for you bad boys after all’ She thought with a small smile and laugh looking at her extended limb, her feathers now no longer black but a dark crimson. She was definitely noting that technique down for later as it basically made her into a living missile.
A consequence of this, however, would be the sudden literal bloodbath her armor was subjected to. Now with that out of the way, and thirst now no longer an issue for the Spartan, Six looked for the shallowest part of the river to ford it.
She debated on taking some meat with her for later but decided against it as if she were spotted by someone whilst holding a slab of meat under her wings would be the textbook definition of ‘a bad situation to be in after changing species when dealing with an unintentionally xenophobic race’.
She did, however, consider maybe taking some samples for the local biologists as Six didn’t recognize this species and it could be one that had yet to be discovered by the local scientists but decided against it. Finding out which planet she was on came first, before discovering new species.
The hum of her shield regenerating back to full strength brought Six’s mind back to the issue of fording this river before picking up her discarded knife as it glinted in the sun nearby. Sheathing it, Six began walking downstream looking for such a path, and after several minutes, she found it in a nice and shallow in a calm part of the river.
Wading into the water Six slowly began to make her way across, making sure her armor was thoroughly soaked by the river washing most of the blood off of her. A red streak was now visible in the water behind her as her armor turned black once again, the blood running downstream.
Having now crossed the river, Six continued on her journey once again now no longer surrounded by desert and sand but grass and trees.
Author's Notes:
Leave comments!
absolutely love to hear what you think about my stories
Till next time!
Chapter 4
The sounds of birds and rustling leaves filled the air as a lone figure, covered in black armor walked through the forest. She had been walking for several more hours, after her encounter with the manticore, through this forest. The bush was thick, needing to be cut through at several points to stay on track.
Instead of using her knife though, she thought it prudent to get some more practice in manipulating her wings. After proving that they could be used as a weapon even if she lost her knife meant that unless they got amputated or heavily injured, Six was never unarmed.
During her trek, she tested out multiple different ways she could move her wings in such a way to be lethal to anything they may come in contact with. Be it more of those creatures or some Covenant elites, these wings would cut through them like butter. And trees, as Six cut straight through one during her testing of different slashing motions.
Soon, however, the forest started to become easier and easier to traverse signaling to the Spartan that she had almost reached her destination. Leaving the forest, Six could see the source of the artificial lights she saw last night.
It was still quite far away but it would take an hour at most for the Spartan if there weren’t any interruptions. Six did however let a small huff of annoyance leave her lips when she realized option B wasn’t going to happen. ‘Lazy bastards’ Thought Six with a grumble.
The city was completely fine. No burning buildings or stray plasma fire was visible, and that smoke she had been following since she got here? It was emanating from some sort of factory on the outskirts of town.
‘Whoever is in charge of ONI here will not have a good day when I find him’ went through Six’s mind as she looked for any more points of interest on the path towards the city.
A light brown line cut through the green fields to her left indicating that it must be some type of road leading towards town. Six didn’t want to get spotted yet by the local human population. Getting shot on sight by her comrades in arms was not on the agenda for this Spartan.
Focusing back on the city in front of her, Six used her helmet's magnification to try and get an idea of what she would be dealing with. Small dots were visible against the blue sky, flying from building to building. ‘Just how big is the wildlife here? Those birds must be huge to be visible from here.’ Thought Six as she tracked the flying figures.
Getting all the information Six could obtain from her current position she began to make her way towards the city, making sure to stick to the surrounding tree cover so as to not get spotted yet.
She’d rather be found on her own terms than that of the colonists and local marines.
But as she got closer and closer to the city Six noticed something was off about the architecture of the place. They looked old… outdated even by current human standards. And then came the flashing lights and…
‘Oh my god, out of all the places to be nearby it has to be a Las Vegas Knock-off’ Six groaned inside her helmet. Even after 500 years of human history the original Las Vegas was still going strong back on Earth and was subsequently copied by most of the human colonies.
One didn’t have to be a hyper lethal Spartan, like Six, to recognize the telltale signs of a casino among the rest of the flashy architecture. But Six did have to give them a bit of praise as some of the buildings looked like they were made out of clouds.
Some of them even looked like they...were...floating.
Six couldn’t help but stare at the floating buildings made of clouds. They were sitting among the local cloud cover, hiding them from Six’s earlier scouting. And those dots she saw flying around? Not birds… but small horses with wings just…like...Six.
‘Well, option C it is then. Time for a change of plan’
Thought Six as her eyes following the different multicolored flying horses as they went from building to building. Six was now confirmed not only to have been brought back from the dead but that she was also transported onto an alien planet and made to look like the local population.
Six was, in simple terms, trapped here. With the UNSC fighting a losing war and her status as a Spartan III making her expendable whilst also being transported an unknown distance away from UNSC or Covenant space, going back was another impossibility now. The full reality of the situation she was in, came crashing down on her.
Unconsciously falling down to her haunches, Six retreated into her thoughts. All her life she had been wanting to become a soldier and help defend her fellow man. Now she was a soldier without a way to do exactly. She wasn’t even the same species as the people she swore to protect and die for anymore. She needed some time to think before she began to remember something.
‘The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing -Albert Einstein’
Six thought back on that quote as it was one of the reasons that motivated her to join the Marines. She signed up because she could not stand to do nothing, as the insurrectionists tore her planet apart. She didn’t want to sit and watch, she was a soldier through and through, it is all she ever dreamt about when she was young.
Then it hit her.
Just because this had happened to her didn’t change a goddamn thing. She would protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. She was still the same person. STILL the same Spartan and Spartans don’t get to retire, and Six certainly wasn’t going to now.
First things first she needed more information about the local culture/government. She was one of them now so she wouldn’t stand out much. But her armor would still draw some unwanted attention. The species she turned into, was capable of verbal communication so that wouldn’t be a problem for the Spartan.
Once she had more information, she could then decide her next move. If these flying horses were secretly part of the Covenant, Six wanted to know. Getting back to the war was impossible now, but a soldier's duty is not only to wage war but to once again protect those who cannot protect themselves no matter what they look like. Six hated the Covenant, not aliens in general.
Deciding that now would be a good time to start her new reconnaissance mission, Six began to make her way towards the road she had spotted earlier. Entering town through a road is a lot less suspicious than coming out from behind some back alley.
After ten minutes of walking Six stepped out onto the dirt path before heading towards the city. Other than the singing of birds and the heavy hoof steps of the several hundred kilo Spartan, the trip was rather quiet. And only after several more minutes of walking a checkpoint of some sort was visible further down the road.
As she got closer and closer to the checkpoint Six could make out two figures wearing some sort of white and gold armor on either side of the road. They very much had the same body structure of Six only shorter and missing the pair of wings attached to her sides.
One of the pair even looked like he had some type of horn sticking out of his head whilst the other one lacked both. A large sign was hanging over the pair which read ‘Welcome to Las Pegasus’
‘Well that’s… interesting’ thought the Spartan, eyeing the message hanging above the pair. One of the two figures seemed to have noticed her as he quickly said something to his partner drawing both of their gazes at the approaching Spartan.
Approaching the checkpoint Six now identified the two figures as some sort of guards. Their spears and armor fully confirm her theory as one of them start speaking. But seeing this level of technology only beat the fact she wouldn't be returning to the UNSC even further into her mind.
“Halt! in accordance with article 5 subsection b of the Equestrian code of law, Non Military personnel are prohibited from entering any city whilst wearing any type of armor and or weapons. Unless you have a valid mercenaries/bounty hunter’s license, please surrender the prohibited items.”
The guard finished looking up at the much taller pony standing across from him. She was at least a head taller than the guard. Thinking over what the guard just said, a small smile grew on Six’s face.
‘Only non-military personnel huh’
“What’s your name and rank soldier?” Came Six’s voice through her helmet speaker, surprising the guard in front of her. “U-um Corporal Sword, why do you ask?” Six smirked underneath her helmet at the guard’s nervous response.
“The law states that non-military personnel is prohibited from wearing armor and or carrying weapons, fortunately for me Corporal, I am in the military. So, please move aside.” Six’s said professionally, it wasn’t lying if what she said was partly true. Hearing the authority in Six’s voice brought back some unpleasant memories for the Corporal, and not wanting to accidentally anger another superior officer again, he signaled his subordinate to move aside, allowing the Spartan to pass.
The duo gave a quick salute to the Spartan as she gave a small nod in return, before moving past them and through the checkpoint itself. Leaving two very confused and one sweating guard behind as Six entered the city of Las Pegasus.
‘Heh...still can’t get past that name’
Author's Notes:
Leave comments!
I always love to read them and what you guys think of my stories.
Till next time!
Chapter 5
‘I knew I was tall but this is just ridiculous’ Was the first thing to go through Six’s mind as she entered the city itself. Six was already used to looking over the tops of people’s heads but the species here were only reaching up to her shoulders maybe halfway up her neck. It was almost comical if it weren't for the occasional taller than average alien.
All around her was the classic hustle and bustle of any human city. Only instead of humans, it was a bunch of shoulder height, multi-colored horses with either horns, wings, or neither going about their daily routine.
She could even spot the many tourists out of the crowd as they snapped pictures of various sights and attractions. Six also couldn’t help but appreciate the sights as well. This city very much relied on its tourism with the amount of flashy and impressive architecture that was on display here. And that’s not even mentioning all the casino’s Six could identify with scores of different ponies entering and exiting the almost seizure-inducing light show on display. Six was honestly quite thankful for her helmet right now as she walked along the street.
She was currently looking for some type of library or information stand to guide her to said library. Even in such a flashy town as this, there would be a library somewhere. After turning several corners six had found just the thing she had been searching for. Since she had entered the city proper she had gone relatively unnoticed by the crowds of ponies, the ones who had noticed her just stared, whispered a bit, and stayed out of her way.
Walking up to the small information stand, Six grabbed one of the many maps of the city. To say the stand’s attendant was confused is a massive understatement, as this huge armored creature started looking at one of her maps. She didn’t know whether to be scared or confused. Should she call the guards? She didn’t have time to answer that question when the creature put the map under its wings and walked off.
Now with a map under her wing and its contents in her memory, Six began to make her way towards the Las Pegasus Public Library. It was around midday when Six entered the building luckily not drawing much attention to herself on her way there. Sitting behind a desk in the lobby was a lone librarian doing some paperwork. The several hundred kilo Spartans approach didn’t go unnoticed by the pony as she looked up from her work. Only to be met with the emotionless golden visor of Six’s helmet looking at her from the other side of her desk.
“U-um how may I help you?” Asked the librarian nervously one of her hooves slowly moving towards the silent alarm button under her desk. Anypony entering any sort of building covered in armor with a knife sheathed on their shoulder couldn’t be there for something legal. So the response she received from the armored creature in front of her thoroughly threw her through a loop.
“I am looking for information regarding general and military history as well as information pertaining to our government” Came Six’s voice through her helmet’s speakers. Short and straight to the point, just how Six liked it. Processing Six’s response, her hoof stopped in its track towards the alarm but still kept it close, just in case.
“U-um first, please remove your helmet as I cannot allow creatures who hide their face to enter.” She said pensively. Six stared at the pony in front of her, debating on whether removing her helmet and thus making herself vulnerable was worth the risk of getting the information she needed. After a short internal debate and an audible sigh through her speakers, Six reached up and grabbed her helmet.
The hiss of the pressure seal being broken startled the librarian slightly as Six removed her helmet with a small twist revealing her scar-filled face. To say that the librarian was surprised that it was a fellow pony under that helmet instead of some type of monster was a massive understatement. Six just stared expectantly at the receptionist urging her to now tell her where the information she was looking for is located. Seeing this snapped the receptionist out of her trance.
“Oh uh yes!” She scrambled through the notes on her desk briefly. “Follow me please” Six nodded and attached her helmet to her hip as the pony in front of her stood up and walked through the double doors behind her, Six following close behind. Passing through the doors and into the library itself Six noted that it looked just like any other library she’d seen before.
After a few minutes of walking and book grabbing by the librarian Six was lead to a small seating area where several other ponies were also reading. Placing the gathered books on the table the librarian turned to the Spartan and spoke. “If you need anything else I’ll be back at my desk” With the librarian now walking back the way they came. Watching the helpful librarian leave Six noticed the mark on her flanks. It had the shape of an open book with a small bookshelf sitting behind it.
Curious Six looked towards the other ponies sitting nearby as they quickly ceased in their not so hidden staring at Six. They also had similar marks on their Flanks only containing different symbols. Noting it down to check whether she had one herself under her armor Six opened one of the books the librarian had grabbed and started reading, opting to stand as she doubted the wooden chair could hold her weight
Hours pass as Six gathered all the information she could about the local government and its history. Good news first, these ponies were not part of the Covenant opting to instead treat their rulers as gods who control the Suna and moon through magic. Speaking of magic, once Six first read about such a force she wrote it off but as it got mentioned more and more in battles, strategies, and general use, Six didn’t write it off anymore. With this new apparently magical force discovered by the Spartan, Six focused on learning as much as possible about it.
And after reading a book on magical theory, Six had found a whole new respect for the rulers of this country. If they controlled the Sun and Moon they must be incredibly powerful and after reading about the military history of Equestria, they were also brilliant strategists and soldiers, leading multiple successful campaigns against their enemies.
Six had gathered all the information she could, and now armed with the intel she needed for a plan, she grabbed her books and went to return them back to their shelves.
Walking back towards the lobby, Six could hear the sounds of conversation through the double doors she had entered through. Opening the door the sounds became audible words.
“-an you lead us to the individual ma'am?” Said a gold and silver armored unicorn guard to a confused librarian. Deciding to face the guards that were probably here for her directly, Six stepped out and into the lobby itself, her heavy footfalls drawing the attention of the guard and the librarian. Both of them stared at the Spartan, the librarian glancing between the guard and SIx as a small “Oh Celestia” escaped her lips before she slowly began to back up away from the staring pair.
“Can I help you?” Asked the Spartan her tone stern, as she looked down at the smaller soldier in front of her. The guard cleared his throat before his horn lit up slightly, Six tensed up at the glow. “We have received reports of an armed individual creating a disturbance in the area” The guards eyes locked onto the sheathed knife on Six’s shoulder. “So if you could please surren-”
The sound of a faraway explosion snapped the guard's attention away from the Spartan and towards the exit behind him. The muffled screams of running ponies could be heard outside.
Seconds later a pair of guards were thrown through the door. Their armor beaten and damaged, black figures flying in shortly afterward, weapons at the ready.
Within the blink of an eye, Six had drawn her knife and jabbed it into the closest figures neck, a spray of green blood splattering against her still unprotected face.
The other figure was in shock at the speed his battle-buddy was just dispatched. He tried to slash Six, the weapon floating in his green magic.
He let out a battle cry as his sword swung through the air intent on retting revenge for his fallen comrade.
Only for a gargled cry to escape his maw as Six flipped over the back his injured comrade, her extended wings feathers slashing into his neck.
Both figures soon fell to the ground dead, a green pool of blood gathering underneath them. Wiping the blood off of her knife and face, Six reequipped her helmet and turned to face the three guards staring at her in shock. They had just witnessed her take out two armored pony-sized individuals in less than 15 seconds. As far as they knew nopony was that deadly in the guard.
“What’s the situation outside?” Six asked the two injured guards. They didn’t respond. “Give me a SITREP now!” Six ordered forcefully. That seemed to have done the trick as one of the injured guards began to speak.
“We...We were attacked by an unknown force...F-form what we could tell... we are losing...bad” The guard responded in a strained voice as the uninjured guard began to look them both over.
‘Great guess the action never stops...not even after death’ Thought Six as she blocked the door with a nearby broom. It wouldn't hold them off for long, but it would do for now. Looking around the room, Six’s eyes fell upon the librarian cowering in the corner. Tears were streaming down her face as she was muttering something to herself over and over again.
‘Poor woman’ Six thought. There hadn’t been any major wars to affect Equestria for a few hundred years and violent crime was so rare it was practically unheard of. But as for right now, they needed to make sure this building was secure and that all its inhabitants were safe, and she had the information Six needed.
Walking up to the mare, Six crouched down in front of her, bringing her to eye level with the mare. “Don’t worry.” Six said softly, her voice being broadcast though her helmets speakers.
“Everything will be alright, you will make it through this. I will make sure of that. Now what's your name”
“...Lily” Came the weak reply from the mare. “Lily... Right now you are the only one of us with the most knowledge about the layout of this building. I need to know if there are any other entrances and or exits” Asked Six.
“O-only one other. I-its a fire exit at the back of the building. I-i-t leads out to the back alley” Responded the terrified mare. “Thank you, now where do you keep your First-aid kits.”
Lily pointed at one of the draws of her desk. Six walked over to the drawer and opened it, grabbing the kit inside before walking over to the guards.
“How are they?” Six questioned the uninjured guard handing him the First-aid kit. “Not too great they got banged up pretty badly and…. hey, wait a minute just who the Tartarus are you?!” Yelled the guard in anger
“Lieutenant Sierra-B312 Callsign Noble Six. Now stay here and lock the door behind me while I go secure the other exit. Do not open the door unless it is knocked six times.” Six walked back over to the cowering librarian. “Lily know you're scared, but I need you to go help treat the injured we have okay?”
“...*sniff* o-okay”
“Good” Responded Six moving through the door back into the library itself. The sound of it locking behind her heard over the muffled sounds of battle outside.
‘Time to get to work’
Author's Notes:
‘Time to get to work’
And 'get to work' she shall.
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Chapter 6
The sounds of a distant battle were sounds that Six knew all to well from her time on Reach. Only instead of gunfire and plasma its swords and magic. And walking through the seemingly abandoned library, those muffled sounds of warfare were all too audible to the Spartan. They were in a warzone now, and that’s just where Six was at her best. Right now the first thing on the agenda is making sure this building is secure by finding and barricading all other entrances and exits. Once that was done Six could search the building for any stray hostiles and or Civilians.
Once that basis was covered, they could begin to plan a way to Evac the Civilians out of the city before going on the offensive. Walking through the maze of bookshelves the silence of the library became obviously clear. Her motion tracker wasn’t picking anything up, it was totally empty and Six didn’t like that one bit. Soon, however, after walking through the maze for several minutes Six had reached the other side of the library. The green exit sign and door visible on the far wall.
Walking up towards it, Six grabbed as much nearby furniture as possible and used it to barricade the door. Once she was satisfied that it was secure, Six went to clear the rest of the building. Since this building wasn’t very large it didn’t take long for Six to check every room. The building was clear, it’s only habitats now confirmed to be Six, Lily, and the three guards, two of which were injured. It wasn’t the best situation to be in but it had to do for now.
Walking back to the entrance to the lobby she knocked on it six hopefully signaling to the rest of her group that it was her and not an enemy soldier. The door soon unlocked with a terrified looking Lily on the other side. She let out a sigh of relief when her eyes identified the figure in front of her as Six. “A-are we the only ones in the building,” Asked Lily. Six inturn gave a nod as another sigh of relief exited Lily’s mouth before moving to the side allowing Six to enter.
The guards had been moved onto the couches adjacent to the wall, the uninjured one having done his first aid. The guard now taking stock of their current situation from what Six could tell as he looked over the map Six had left behind. Walking up to the guard Six could see he was marking it with different information.
“What’s the Situation?” Asked Six as she walked up behind the guard. His horn stopped glowing as he looked back towards Six, seemingly wary of her presence.
“Well… from what I’m getting over the communication spells is that currently, we are here.” He gestured towards a black X on the map.” And by what command is saying this” he pointed towards a black line going through several city blocks all the way from one side of the map to the other.” Is what the current frontlines look like.”
The line he had drawn was on the other side of town meaning they were deep in enemy-occupied territory. They needed to get the Civilians and the injured back to friendly territory, and that wasn’t going to be easy. The hostile had the element of surprise and speed on their side by the looks of it.
“Just who are you?” Came the question from the guard bringing Six out of her thoughts.” You come out of nowhere, order my guards to move aside when I was out on patrol. You are as tall as Princess Luna, wear armor I have never seen before, and take out two soldiers in less than 20 seconds. You say you are a lieutenant ‘Sierra-B312’ but what does that even mean?! Just who and what are you?!”
Six just stared at the guard after he had finished his rant, panting slightly. Seconds pass as Six just looks at the soldier, weighing her options. Now, however, was not the time to disclose classified information.
“The Soldier that’s going to get you all out of this war zone” Replied Six before looking back at the map. “Now does this city have any evacuation routes?”
“Fine don’t tell me but if we get back into friendly Territory, we are going to have a nice long discussion.” Said the guard before looking back at the map. “This city as well as every other has an underground evacuation tunnel network leading out of the city limits. The closest entrance to the tunnels is here, roughly two hundred meters north. Unfortunately, that is also the same way as the front line and the city hall. This area is probably heavily defended, there's no way for us to get there unseen. And that’s not even counting the injured who will undoubtedly make us easier to spot.” The guard finished with a sigh.
The Situation seems hopeless for the guards, but for Six this was just another day in the office. All they needed was a distraction to draw the hostiles away from the tunnel entrance.” Alright here’s the plan.” Began Six grabbing everypony’s attention.
“We are going to make our way to this building here” Six gestured towards a building on the opposite side of the tunnel entrance. “Once we are there I will go out and create as much noise as possible, drawing the guards away. You will then use this opportunity to get into the tunnels and back to friendly territory.”
“B-but that s-suicide!” interjected Lily from across the room. Six couldn’t help but let a small smile creep onto her face underneath her helmet. She looked towards the guard.
“What’s your name and rank soldier?”
“Staff Sergeant Spear. Our Pegasus over there is Private Pixy.”
“At your service.” Came a weak feminine reply from the other guard Lily wasn’t currently looking over.
“And finally that’s Private Sparrow.”
“What Pixy said.” Cane the strained reply from the other guard.
“Good, call me Six, now Spear, grab that sword” He looked a bit confused at her request before grabbing the dead combatants sword with his telekinesis. “And hit me with it, as hard as possible”
“What!?” Came a chorus of shouts from the three of them.
“Just do it Staff Sergeant, and that’s an order!” Said Six her tone one of finality.
And do it he did as the sword swung through the air it’s arc putting its target as Six’s shoulder, much to the protest of the others.
A sound unfamiliar to the ponies was soon heard as a golden shield enveloped Six, stopping the sword in its tracks. Then suddenly the sword was pushed away, out of the soldier’s magical grasp before falling to the floor, it’s blade looking slightly singed.
They all stared slack-jawed at the display before they were knocked out of their stupor by a low humming sound and the golden shield shortly reappearing over Six’s armor.
“H-how did you do that? You're not a Unicorn! A-and it takes a unicorn of incredible power to keep a passive shield up. Such armor development is still only theoretically possible!”
The hiss of Six taking her helmet off interrupted the Sergeants rant, revealing her smirking face. “Do it again, same target.” Said the Spartan, too much more protest. Spear hesitantly grabbed the sword once again before swinging it at Six’s shoulder once again.
The clang of metal scraping against metal soon filled the room when the sword made contact before harmlessly sliding off of Six’s armor. The Spartan unmoving under the assault. Not a single dent was visible where Spear struck, once again sending their jaws to the floor as Six’s smirk grew slightly. “Still seem like suicide now?” Said Six with a small laugh as she reequipped her helmet.
Walking past the stunned Sergeant, Six moved to the injured guards.
“Can you two walk?” Asked the Spartan. Pixy responded by rolling off the couch and onto her hooves, cringing slightly before looking up and giving a determined nod. Sparrow, however, wasn’t so lucky as when he rolled off he let out a yell of pain before falling to the ground holding his foreleg tightly against his chest. ‘Broken...Not good’ Thought Six.
“Okay...Lily, think you can support him?” Question the Spartan, looking towards the worried librarian.
“I-I think…” She took a deep breath “Yes I believe I can” Stated Lily in a determined voice.
“Good. Now we don’t have much time. Right now the hostiles have spread themselves thin, with the speed they have moved through this city. If we wait any longer they will cement their hold on the city and make our escape even harder. We need to make our way towards the evac tunnel as soon as possible.” Six finished walking towards the door.
“Pack everything you think you’ll need, we move out in Twenty”
Author's Notes:
Repeat Equestria has been invaded! Repeat Equestria has been invaded! The Summer Contingency protocol is now in effect!
Chapter 7
Opening the door Six was met with an empty street. The ground looked scorched in several areas as a fire burned in one of the buildings across the street. This was a scene Six knew all too well from her time against the Covenant. Checking her angles for any more hostiles, she came up empty.
They had spent the last twenty minutes searching the building, gathering supplies, and making makeshift armor for Lily. They were going to move through hostile territory and being caught defenseless by a patrol is the definition of a bad idea. Six had taken different pieces of metal from the soldiers she had killed and used her enhanced strength to bend the surprisingly weak metal into usable armor for the smaller pony. Her actions only surprised them slightly as they slowly learned to just stop questioning everything Six did.
This was met with much protest from Lily about wearing armor that belonged to a dead soldier but after an ultimatum from the Spartan to either put on the armor herself or she would force her into it, Lily reluctantly complied. She was not going to let a civilian go out into an active war zone without protection if she could help it.
Now with Lily no longer naked, she went to support Sparrow onto his hooves whilst muttering about having an hour-long bath when they got out of this. Once he was up and on his hooves, his forelegs holding onto Lily for support, they were all set.
“Okay, let’s move”
They needed to cross through several streets if they wanted to make it to the evac tunnel before somebody came looking for the pair Six had eliminated. With the street clear, Six signaled back to the guards behind her as they moved out onto the street itself. The cover was sparse with the ponies having no type of automobile widely available and parked in the streets with only the occasional destroyed carriage in its place.
The group stuck to the sidewalk, making sure to run from building to building, alley to alley looking for any more supplies and or civilians. They found supplies but there weren’t any civilians. It was completely abandoned, unnerving the group. The Covenant left bodies these guys didn’t leave anything, only splatters of red and green blood.
The sounds of distant fighting were still audible although its intensity had begun to weaken. This could mean multiple things. The first one being that the front was now stable and the guard had put up a successful Defence. The other much worse option would be that the hostiles had won and were beginning to eliminate the last of the Equestrian resistance.
It went without saying that they hoped it was the former and not the latter.
Quickly moving through an alley a type of chittering could be heard from the street in front of them. Quickly signaling the group to take cover as Six listened for the patrol’s hoofsteps. Her motion sensor showed two hostiles stopped just at the entrance to the alley. Seemingly having some type of conversation in their chittering language.
Behind her, Six could see the rest of the group getting agitated as the seconds passed. But after a minute of listening to the conversation, none of them could understand, the two markers continued past the alley. With the obstruction out of the way, Six peeked out of cover confirming that they had in fact left.
Using her hoof she signaled the group to follow her in silence. She then moved up to where the patrol had just been seeing them further down the street to her left. Staying low the group sprinted as quickly as possible across the street and into another alley. Six’s eyes checking her tracker periodically for any more movement nearby.
After moving through several more buildings and streets dodging patrols and even quickly taking one out in less than the blink of an eye when Lily and Sparrow weren’t fast enough, they had reached the target building overlooking the City Hall. Patrols were beginning to increase, they needed to leave the city soon before stealth became impossible and the bodies they left were discovered. Now out of the street, Six could do some scouting of the city hall.
Needless to say, It was filled with combatants. The city hall looked like it had only taken minor damage from their takeover of the building as flags were already being hung from its windows. The white flags with a grey and blue symbol in the center of it waving slightly in the wind. The courtyard was filled with foot soldiers digging trenches, placing barricades, and putting up command tents. They were clearly making themselves at home with their construction of a FOB.
It even seemed as if someone important was going to arrive soon when Six spotted several soldiers with brooms sweeping around the entrance to the building.
And right in the middle of it was a small manhole cover that Spear said led to the evac tunnels. By the looks of it, they would have a straight shot at the entrance if it weren’t for all the guards blocking the way. Six had asked whether the tunnels could be occupied by the hostiles as well. Spear, however, told her that the tunnel’s actual entrance was located in the sewers, behind magically locked walls. So there wouldn’t be any danger of it also being occupied by the invading forces.
From her scouting, she could count a whole platoon’s worth of soldiers scattered about down there. Taking them all on at once would be hard but not impossible. Six did take on an entire Covenant army of thousands singlehanded in her last stand. But with this being an unknown enemy who, by the looks of it, could fly and use magic this wouldn’t be easy. But when is there ever something ‘easy’ for a Spartan.
Six didn’t want to risk getting swarmed. And without any ranged weapons, she was going to have to go toe to toe with the soldiers. That’s when it hit her. Her feathers were sharp, perhaps even sharper than her knife. If she concentrated and moved in a specific way.
She wouldn’t be surrounded… no, she’d be in a target-rich environment. Now taking on that many targets and getting swarmed didn’t seem so bad anymore. Sure magic would pose a problem but from Six’s time in the library, it became known that it takes a lot of concentration to use effectively. This meant that anyone that had glowing horns would be prioritized, and taken care of as soon as possible.
Fear was also going to be a great ally here. Unlike the covenant elites, if Six was seen taking them all on single-handedly and winning it would destroy their morale. That’s the beauty of fighting non-religious fanatics, their morals could be broken.
Now, however, it was time for Six to show them just how big of a mistake they made by invading Equestria.
“Okay get ready to move once I draw them away. When you reach the tunnels, do not wait for me. Just get back to your unit.” Said the Spartan as she made her way to the door.
“Wait.” Called Spear stopping the Spartan in her tracks.” Six… we may not have known each other for long. And, honestly, you’ve been a massive pain in my flank since you first arrived.” A snort was heard from the Spartan. “But if we make it out of this because of your distraction and you don’t.” he raised his foreleg in a salute. “It’s been an honor. Lieutenant.” Six nodded in response.
“P-please… d-don’t d-die” begged a shaking Lily, her form rattling under the improvised armor they had given her.
Six simply gave a small laugh in return as she made her back to the exit before calling over her shoulder.
“Spartans never die, we go missing in action”
Author's Notes:
Time to make the boys in green proud
Chapter 8
If you asked any marine and or ODST whether the Spartans had it easy with their high tech armor and superhuman augmentations they would of course answer yes. But if you asked the same question to any Spartan they would most likely ignore you and go off and on what normal people would call a suicide mission and come back with more kills than you could count.
So when it came down to the imminent battle Six would undertake where she was massively outnumbered, outmagiced, and deep behind enemy lines with little to no hope of getting reinforced and or extract. Six was wondering just how many bodies it would take before the enemy started thinking of her as a demon instead of a soldier.
‘Heh… just like 117’
Having left the group behind, Six was all on her own now moving along the street, looking for a way in. She circled the compound like a stalking wolf, her strategic mind going over every possible entry-point and way to hunt her prey. There were guards everywhere along the outskirts of the compound, each one armed with a spear and or sword. Six couldn’t help but a little sorry for them as she doubted they could even scratch her armor if they even got past her shield.
But one should never underestimate your enemy as many cocky soldiers lost their lives that way and Six was not planning on joining them. And after several minutes of circling, she had found her entrance.
The main entrance to the compound.
The heavily fortified and manned entrance to the compound with patrols, sandbags, and what looked like crossbow armed air support in the form of a flying object approaching the town hall. It was the perfect place to draw attention to herself
‘Time to kick the door down’
And kick the door down she did as she lunged at the closest guard her wings once again in front of her face. The guard barely had time to scream before the spark of life had already left his body, leaving the guard to collapse to the ground dead.
His partner was barely able to sound the alarm with a yell before a knife was embedded into his skull. It had really hit the fan now as the sound of running hooves filled the air, the sound of a siren going off following shortly afterward.
Six had kicked the hornet’s nest... but when had overwhelming odds ever stopped a Spartan?
“Who knew Equestria would be this easy to invade? '' Was all that Kommandant Mobius of the 4th Infantry Battalion ‘Ribbon’ could think having been given the all-clear that the city had been taken and was safe for him to enter. He had just arrived above what was supposed to be the new HQ for the region of Las Pegasus or soon to be renamed to mnemonica Martynova. With the Equestrian military pushed out of the city and the Queen herself leading the takeover of Canterlot victory seemed assured, all that was missing was the piece of paper saying so. But when he had entered the city's airspace and began his final approach to what would be his ticket up in the ranks the alarm siren could be heard.
Deciding to watch whatever was happening from above until it was dealt with he laughed out loud when he saw a lone figure with two dead lings lying behind them surrounded on all sides by his glorious Changeling Heer. His troops had steamrolled through the local garrison in only an hour, one more suicidal guard wouldn’t stop them. If anything it was free love for his troops and revenge for killing two fellow lings. Then what could only be described as a nightmare incarnate was witnessed by the Kommandant.
A single private stepped forward, an angry scowl on his face upon seeing the two bodies, fangs glinting in the sun. “Pony! We have you surrounded! Surrender now or be annihilated!”
The said nothing in response, the only sound cutting through the air being the dripping on green blood off of their wings. The Kommandant ordered his carriage closer, he couldn’t recognize the armor that the pony was wearing from any VOPS intelligence reports he had read through.
He wanted to understand his enemy and having a pony in unknown armor decide to attack his base alone, did not bode well. It was either a really stupid mercenary or a secret weapon. After all, although it could never be confirmed by any VOPS operatives, there was a rumor of a highly trained and elite Unit in the Equestrian military. They were just rumors however but the Kommandant didn’t completely dismiss the idea that they may be dealing with this unit. If they even existed in the first place.
The seconds dragged on as nopony or ling moved as the Kommandant got closer to the stand-off.
The ponies' menacing unmoving statue began to slowly unnerve soldiers. The sound of dripping blood still being the only thing breaking the silence.
Drip...Drip...Drip
A ling stepped forward, hoof cuffs in hand. The Pony remained unmoving.
Drip…
The soldiers tightened their grip on their weapons as the Kommandant’s carriage was floating just above them, it’s shadow surrounding the Spartan.
Drip…
The lone ling stood in front of the Spartan, her only movement being the slight tilt of her head to look down at the smaller soldier. The imposing statue of Six looking down at him caused an involuntary shaking in fear to manifest itself.
“Boo”
Then as if the very heavens themselves had just split open a massive *boom* was heard as the eastern horizon turned a light shade of pink.
The soldier standing just in front of the Spartan yelped in fright before being cut down in one fell swing of the Spartans wing. The other soldiers and the Kommandant were brought out of their staring at the pink horizon by the sound of the soldiers’ body hitting the ground.
“Attack!” Yelled the Kommandant before he started sending message after message trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.
Meanwhile on the ground below the battle had just begun. They attacked from all directions, weapons poised to strike a killing blow. With revenge and rage flowing through their green blood they would annihilate this pony who dared to kill their comrades.
Six however didn’t move, her stance still low and her wings extended. A renewed green shade covering her armored feathers.
The sheer amount of hooves impacting the ground as they charged at Six caused the ground to shake as if an earthquake were upon them.
Then as if time itself stood still, the Spartan made her move.
She jumped right towards the approaching soldiers.
Then what only could be described as a bloodbath soon followed.
Every movement was calculated. Every flap of her wings was lethal. It was the combination of years of combat and training which led to this perfect movement of death.
The edge of her feathers cut through their chitin as if it were butter. The sounds of bodies hitting the ground never ceased as she moved through the swarm with the occasional sound which sounded like glass being struck filling the air as the pony was surrounded in a golden glow.
This wasn’t a battle. It was a nightmare.
10...30...50
The bodies kept piling up and all the Kommandant could do was watch in horror as his beautiful battalion was cut down by this demon of a pony. He and his troops had led the defense of the capital during the darkest days of the changeling civil war. Because of his leadership, his soldiers lead the changeling race to unity and glory. They had faced overwhelming odds against the Veltix swarm of the north and won. And it was all coming undone right before his dark blue eyes. And all the while one message from the queen herself was heard.
‘Retreat’
It was weak...strained...broken. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened. Their attack had failed.
Their Queen was defeated.
The ponies had won… and there was only one last thing to do before any more needless changeling lives were lost. So with a heavy heart, Mobius gave the order for only the second time in his career.
“RETREAT!”
Two steps left, horizontal strike
Another body hits the ground.
Duck under the sword, continue strike into the exposed chest.
Another soldier gives his life.
Horn glowing, prioritize caster. At range, throw dropped Spear.
More fear instilled into their hearts. This was the cycle Six had created. From soldier to soldier, body to body. Her heart was heavy, this isn’t a fight between soldiers... it’s a massacre. Every hit to her shield was weak and swiftly dealt with. Their magic bolts were about as strong as a Covenant plasma pistol, but every time one hit her shield their caster was swiftly dealt with.
Is this how it felt to be the Covenant? To have an overwhelming advantage. It made Six sick to her stomach. All this bloodshed. Some may have called her hypocritical for she had fought against an entire army alone and slaughtered thousands. But there she was against an enemy that wanted nothing more than genocide because of their fanatical beliefs.
These people...these insectoid soldiers weren’t like that.
Just give up already
Six would still fight, she would still kill in Defence of others but at this point she wants them to run. Just like when she took down those militia groups. Fighting the Covenant was one thing, fighting fellow humans who had the option and the will to surrender was another. And she hoped these guys would do the same and just give up.
So when she heard the insectoid shout above her and saw the soldiers start running. She was glad to see them run and she doubted they would return. And soon the sky was filled with retreating soldiers, their buzzing wings carrying them away from the Spartan once they had retreated a set distance away from her.
The stomps of retreating hooves were music to her ears as it meant an end to this pointless bloodshed.
The ground was littered with bodies and her armor was covered in green blood, she doubted that most of them would ever forget the image of her covered in their comrades' blood. The carriage above left her line of sight as more marching hooves could be heard in the distance.
From the front line behind her, she had however realized after following the sounds. Had her attack done more than just distract or was it the fading pink in the sky? Perhaps both or maybe they were calling for reinforcements. Whatever it was she would be ready as she lowered herself back down into a pouncing position.
She watched her motion sensor like a hawk. The seconds ticked by as the marching got closer then after an agonizing wait, a yellow marker appeared at the tracker’s edge.
Well I guess it’s option one then
Standing back up straight Six made her way back to the main entrance stepping over the bodies she had made.
Did she feel guilty about what she had done? No, this is war there is no time for guilt. If anything she felt sorry for the soldiers that they were sent against her to die.
Did she regret her actions?
Maybe...
Chapter 9
The Sun was still high in the sky as a report from the E.A.F (Equestrian Armed Forces) was put in front of Princess Celestia. The changelings had been driven from Canterlot and Princess Cadence was rescued from her imprisonment. She was staring out from one of the many balconies overlooking the city from her Castle. All across the land, she could see the tell-tale markers of a battle haven taken place across the horizon. The changelings had attacked every major population center in Equestria.
But with their main attack repelled by Shining Armor and Cadence’s love with the help of the element bearers, the threat of war had for the time being been neutralized. Not that there would be a proper war with open conflict anyway as Chrysalis had hidden her territory well and such a counter-attack was impossible until her Hive was found. The best she could do is increase security across the nation and set up checkpoints to uncover disguised lings.
Reports were still coming in of small skirmishes taking place but one thing was abundantly clear. The changelings were retreating. With their plan to occupy all of Equestria in one fell swoop decimated with their leader Queen Chrysalis defeated in the battle for Canterlot, Celestia allowed herself to feel a small sense of satisfaction at having defeated another threat to her little ponies. The reconstruction of Canterlot was already underway bringing a small sense of normality. But that feeling dissipated when she looked down at the report put in front of her.
Celestia had been in many wars and battles over the centuries, but no matter how accustomed she was to war and conflict she always hated seeing this report be put in front of her. The report that said just how many ponies she had failed to protect.
A Casualties Report.
Oh, how she hated this report with all her heart but no matter how much she wanted to burn it she simply needed to know how many of her ponies had fallen. With a heavy heart, she took the folder into her golden aura and opened it. And for the first time in centuries, a smile graced Celestia’s features whilst reading such a report.
Not a single Death to her little ponies.
But then just as quickly as the smile appeared it quickly vanished once she saw the next column: Missing Ponies.
Over a thousand of her soldiers were unaccounted for, and since not every changeling military presence had been driven back those numbers could still rise. And that’s only soldiers. The Civilian numbers were still unknown and injuries were high across the board. It seems as if the enemy were trying to only knock her soldiers unconscious instead of outright killing them. A small note even said that soldiers witnessed unconscious soldiers being dragged out of the combat zone, never to be seen again.
Not if I have anything to say about… Thought Celestia determined to find those missing ponies and bring them home no matter what.
Turning the page containing Changeling casualties she was surprised to see a red marking across the changeling K.I.A column. Only around 100 changelings had died with a small number of changelings having been captured the rest having retreated and or blended into the population. Celestia could only stare at those numbers in shock. Over a thousand ponies were missing whilst the changelings lost almost nothing in comparison!
Celestia didn’t really know what to feel at that realization. She knew her ponies had never known war but this really showed just how underprepared they were in case they were ever attacked. Luna would have blown a vein if she saw this Report without any prior warning.
Hell even then, the military high command and herself wouldn’t be safe from her sister's anger at the state of her once-great military. Celestia made a huge note to massively reform the military ASAP. Shortly after doing that, her eyes were drawn to the red text underneath the Changeling K.I.A column.
The shock of her military failure now gone, the solar princess read through the message which was marked with S.M.I.L.E’s insignia.
Only for a completely new shock to overtake her at what it said.
This has to be wrong… there is no way one of my little ponies could do such a thing…
Thought Celestia in denial whilst reading through the message.
Apparently, over 90-95% of those around 100 changelings dead was caused by a lone pony in Las Pegasus. Furthermore, the message read that so far very little was known about this individual other than she called herself ‘Six’ and that she was wearing some type of armor never before seen in Equestria with her currently under discreet surveillance by S.M.I.L.E as her actions had caused the local guard to think of her as some type of hero among them.
So it was decided by Military Division Head Skyline, that since her presence was increasing morale among the troops in Las Pegasus, discreet surveillance and intel gathering would be put in place until further notice unless told otherwise by her majesty herself. And that a full report would be available in 24 hours.
Having finished reading the message, Celestia was torn. Should she order this apparently very dangerous pony to be arrested for questioning and possibly risk a massive drop in morale among a division of the E.A.F or wait until more was known about this individual before making a move?
Celestia thought about this for several minutes, her gaze having shifted towards the western horizon, the city of Las Pegasus barely visible. And as small the columns of smoke died out leaving the western sky clear, Celestia made a decision.
She would inform her sister Luna first and foremost regarding the situation in Las Pegasus and get her to send some of her elite agents to keep an eye on ‘Six’ for the time being, before summoning her to Canterlot after a day of surveillance. Although she didn’t like leaving her ponies with a potentially very dangerous individual, it would have to make due for now until she meets this ‘Six’ face to face.
It was a compromise Celestia had to make for now. Reading through the rest of the report, she had little time to breathe before another one was put in front of her. This one labeled ‘collateral damage’ report.
Looking down at the city below her and seeing the once great structures of Canterlot in such a state, Celestia sighed heavily before making a vow to herself.
A vow that she would find those taken by Chrysalis, and to never allow such conflict to harm her little ponies again. For if a single one of her ponies were hurt, Chrysalis would face the wrath of her Sun.
Author's Notes:
Tell me if I messed up pls as I don't want to have a severe case of Deja vu from the first draft of The Interlude in My little sunspot
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And if you want the full experience Listen to this while reading as this is what I listened to while writing this chapter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWh9l8RSkPk&feature=emb_logo
Also Happy SPOOKTOBER!
