It was midnight on the moon of what used to be Madrigal before the Covenant glassed it. An ODST prowled through the cliff face until he found the Sangheili sniper watching over their target. Garrett Archer tackled the alien down to the ground, and it writhed as he lay on top of it. Finally, he plunged his knife into its helmet. After one violent jerk, the alien died. A silent kill. He was on cue in the join-operation with the squad headed by Captain Drake Locke. His team was composed of Jerome, the main sharpshooter, Michael, the explosives expert, and Douglas, a well-respected veteran who was the weapons expert.

The ODST deployed the bi-pod of his sniper rifle on top of the dead alien and loaded armor piercing rounds. He had a perfect view of the factory. It was a spire forty stories high that stood on a massive crater. The top of it was barely seen from the outside of the crater. One bridge going down was the only connection to the outside world. It emitted pulses of energy from the spherical shield surrounding the crater, making it impossible to destroy from orbit. He looked down on the bridge through his scope, then he radioed the troopers.

"Reporting in. I'm inside the shield and in position."

"Copy that, Archer. We're moving out," replied Drake. "It'll take us a while to reach the bridge. We'll radio back once we're near."

"Roger that."

"Why wasn't I assigned to be the main marksman? I'm sure as hell better than this rookie," came Jerome's voice.

"Command said something about him being a pretty good lone wolf because he took the extra mile and enrolled in more training than the average. Aced them pretty well, too," said Michael.

"And it's because I forgot to bring my leash," added Drake coolly.

"Woof. Woof," taunted Jerome.

As much as he hated to admit, Jerome was right. He was a rookie. He only did one mission in his career, with this being his second. He didn't need to be so cocky about it, though, he thought to himself. The ODST decided to pass the time by marking targets for him and the squad to take out when they charge in. Hanging off from his neck, his dog tags screened his name.

GARRETT S. ARCHER
MALE
2ND LIEUTENANT
UNSC MARINE CORPS
BLOOD TYPE: O+
SERIAL NUMBER: 09374-26518-GA

"Archer, we're at the bridge, and thanks for marking targets. We want you to take out anybody that goes through the factory doors. High profile targets only, no grunts or jackals."

"Affirmative."

"On my mark."

Garrett lined his sights with a Sangheili pair on a guard tower at the far end of the bridge.

"Three."

Get ready for all hell to break loose.

"Two."

He placed his finger on the trigger, senses becoming so tuned that he could hear his own heartbeat.

"One."

It's now or never.

"Mark."

He squeezed the trigger twice in two seconds. Out of the corner of his eye, Garrett spotted the ODSTs charging through the bridge. Plasma bolts were flying through the air, aiming straight at them, and they happily returned the welcome with shredder rounds. He continued his orders and took out two more elites before needing to reload. The grunts squealed and scattered as their squad leaders fell.

Garrett took a peak at the squad. Everyone, except for Jerome, was up front fighting in close quarters. Douglas was raining lead on a group of grunts with a massive chain gun, even cutting some groups literally in half with bullets. Drake and Michael were both fighting elites in close quarters. Michael was shooting elites in the chest at point blank with his shotgun. Purple stains splashed onto his armor after every shot he took. Every round Jerome shot from his sniper rifle was to the head.

An elite thrust its spear to Drake. He dodged it with a quick jump to his side, grabbed the spear, and bashed the alien with his shoulder. The alien let go of its spear, stepping back as it absorbed his attack. He then plunged the spear into the the elite, and it fell with a loud thud without having a moment to realize what happened.

"Wow, you guys are good," commented Garrett. I definitely need to remember that move.

"Thanks, and stay focused," replied Douglas. "You're doing good so far."

Garrett continued taking down elites with his sniper rifle. As he loaded a fresh clip of ammo, a phantom drop ship zoomed past his view and landed on a platform slightly lower than where he lay. From the doors of the spire, the Prophet of Retribution emerged, scared and escorted by three elite guards. He rushed through the platform to the phantom to take him out of the battle. Well, hello there, the trooper thought as he shifted his position. The ODST lined his sights with the prophet, took aim, and fired. The alien's chair crashed down as its owner collapsed from the gunshot. The elites roared in anger as their dead leader lay down on the platform. Garrett wiped out the three guards, and the phantom flew away. Have a good day in hell, you floating bastard.

"Rookie! Where's your sniper support?!" yelled Jerome over the radio.

"Sorry about that. I just found a target which was begging for a bullet to the head."

"Yeah?" And what target would be so important to disobey orders?" taunted Jerome. "The guy who stole your lollipop?"

"The Prophet of Retribution, corporal."

Jerome kept his mouth shut, giving Garrett a sense of pride. He could not resist giving a smirk.

"Heard you had a really tight grudge against him," said Michael.

"Pity, actually. We were such good friends."

"Should have invited us for drinks!" chuckled Douglas.

"Yeah... margaritas and martinis for everyone. Would have been on me."

Garrett and the squad continued their onslaught, and with all their firepower, numbers of alien bodies were piling up. He had only one magazine of ammo left. Four bullets were enough to take down four elites. However, there were two targets that the trooper was never prepared for, and they made a shock shoot through his spine. Out from the doors came out two massive aliens, each twice as tall as a human, each armored with bullet-proof metal, each armed with a shield on the left arm, and a fuel rod cannon on the right. The pair were charging through the war zone. Smoke was blocking the squad's view. They never saw them coming.

"Heads up! Hunter pair incoming!"

The ODSTs leaped to cover as the aliens materialized through the smoke. the hunters fired their fuel rod guns, missing them, but pinning them to the wall. As the aliens brought up their shields to crush the humans, Garrett saw the opportunity. He took the shot, firing two bullets into each of the aliens' "neck". Orange mist floated on where what used to be the aliens' "head". The two behemoths crashed down with loud clunks to the purple floor.

"Thanks, Archer. I guess command was right when they said that you're a good shot," said Drake over the radio. "Hell, maybe you're even better than Jerome."

"Oh, up yours! Up yours, sir!" snarled Jerome.

Garrett spotted Douglas gesturing him a thanks-for-saving-our-lives-salute with two fingers. He gestured back.

"Hate to break up the party, but I'm dry now," said Garrett, disappointed that he had to abandon a good view.

He loaded a hook lined with a cable which he got from his rucksack onto his rifle's muzzle, then loaded a special round into his gun. He fired at a pillar closes to the landing platform where he killed the prophet. The hook landed firmly into position. He tied the cable around a boulder, then hooked his line onto the cable. Before he began sliding down, Garrett brought with him the dead elite he killed with his knife. As he slid down the cable, he positioned the elite in front of him, with its front facing him. The other ODSTs raised their eyebrows under their helmets.

"Hey, trooper," said Jerome as Garrett continued to zip down the line, "why the hell are you bringing with you an eli--"

The ODST hit the pillar hard, but the dead alien cushioned his impact with a loud thump.

"--oh."

"You know, Jerome," said Douglas, "you could learn a thing or two from this guy."

Garrett slung his sniper rifle and brought out his silenced submachine gun. I really need to get a raise or a medal for having to deal with this 'Jerome' guy. Note to self: pull rank on him next time he acts like that.

"Are we gonna blow this place to bits or what?"

"Remember your objective up there?" asked Drake.

"Find any good intel and Covenant gear that's still intact while you go in and plant the bomb."

"Good. When we're halfway to the bomb zone, we'll radio in for you to start searching for intel."

"Hoorah."

The squad charged into the spire's base entrance. The sound of alarms went off and echoed to Garrett's ears. After fifteen minutes, Drake's voice came over the radio.

"Alright, Archer, go inside."

"Roger that."

Garrett opened the door and sneaked through the corridors, apparently finding no Covenant at all. He breached the wall to the command center with an explosive, charged in, and found them waiting for him. Every alien inside was a grunt covered in plasma grenades and containers. They laughed like maniacs as they primed their explosives, even jumping up and down.

"Crap!"

Garrett's heart raced as he ran away from the grunts which chased him on all fours. Every second felt like an eternity. He tripped over a weapon box, making it spill out its contents. He could hear the plasma grenades hiss through the corridors, getting closer and closer. Without looking, his hands snatched an object and stuffed it in his rucksack. He reached the ledge of the spire, but not before the grenades detonated. The force of the explosions lifted him up into the air, causing him to free fall to the ground. The entire top floor of the spire blew up in a pile of blue fire. After gaining enough distance and after stabilizing himself, he opened his parachute.

"What the hell was that?!" yelled Douglas.

"For once, that wasn't me!" added Michael.

"Archer! Where the hell did that explosion come from?!" barked Jerome.

"The top floor was rigged with explosives. Learn how to give some respect, corporal! They knew what I was going to do. I had to get out!"

"Damn, so much for getting intel," growled Drake. "Okay, we'll finish up here. You go ahead back to your ship."

"I still don't get why command made a rookie become a lone wolf and give him his own ship," said Jerome.

"Santa knows that he's a good boy," said Douglas.

After landing on the rock and packing up, Garrett climbed up to his old sniping point and collected the cable he used to reach the spire. He looked back at the spire and saw the squad leave the structure. Right on cue, the entire spire exploded, lighting up the night sky so bright it was as if it was day. After jogging for a few minutes, the ODST reached his mongoose ATV. He mounted the vehicle and drove back to his Longsword interceptor waiting for him.

The inside of the ship had all the things needed for a lone wolf. A small armory and a parking space for the mongoose lay after the main door. Up the ramp there was an automated operating table, a cryo-tube, lockers with a mirror, a computer, and a cockpit. The ship itself was modified to be able to use a slipspace drive.

He stripped off his equipment, and underneath his armor was casual clothing, or whatever was casual in the UNSC. He looked at himself in the mirror, and a tired man with crew cut hair looked back at him. He wore a black shirt with the UNSC insignia on the top left corner, and the words "ODST" printed on the center, accompanied by black pants and black boots. Garrett looked back at his armor bundled up together in a corner of the ship next to the lockers. The main color was the standard ODST grey camouflage. The entire armor, from torso to legs, had extra pockets for added storage. The rucksack had a detachable parachute at its rear. He picked up the helmet, unpolarized the silver-blue visor, then threw it back to the pile.

A knock from outside the ship echoed to Garrett's ears, followed by Drake's voice. "Next time, Archer, don't forget to close the lid after you enter." He walked up the ramp and looked at him.

"Noted. Is there anything else, sir?"

"There's something I need to talk to you about." Drake opened a small bag and revealed a 1st lieutenant patch, a ribbon, and a new set of dog tags engraved with Garrett's name. He tossed it over to the newly promoted trooper. "Sorry for the informality. Congratulations."

"Thank you, sir."

Drake extended his hand. "Your old tags."

Garrett handed them over and placed on his new ones. "Umm... sir?"

"Yeah?"

"What's with the fast promotion? I was just promoted to Second Lieutenant a few weeks ago, and I"m still considered a rookie if you count my time in service after training."

"Hell if I know. My guess: we're running out of heroes that aren't spartan. You may be a rookie, but you're a good one. Keep up the good work, and you may be leading a squad soon."

Garrett nodded.

"Stay green and mean, trooper," said Drake as he left the ship and closed the airlock.

The computer beeped to life as someone from UNSC command was calling Garrett. He tapped the monitor, and an officer in his sixties wearing a white uniform appeared on screen.

"Colonel Stanford, sir!" said Garrett as he stood straight and gave a salute.

"At ease, and congratulations on the new promotion. Found any intel in that spire?"

"Thank you, sir. The Covenant rigged the floor to explode when I got in. There's some good news, though. I was able to take down the Prophet of Retribution, and Captain Locke's team was able to complete their objectives."

"At least it's not all bad. Alright, we're moving you back to Earth to regroup with the Eighth ODST Battalion. your lone wolf operation with the squad is now over. After you meet up with the Eighth, you'll do one more patrol and receive some time off. You deserve it."

"Thank you, sir."

"Go to cryo sleep for the meantime. We'll wake you up when you're here."

"Affirmative."

The tired marine signed off from the computer. The engines roared as he sparked them to life. Once he was out of atmosphere, he set the course of the slipspace drive for a random location, then for Earth. Home, he told himself, smiling, I'm going home. The joy in him was quickly destroyed as a squad of four banshees flew out from the moon's shadow and charged in a flying V formation right at him.

Garrett released the mines from his ship, and he watched carefully as the interceptors slowly came into range. The first banshee hit a mine and exploded in flames. the Second banshee had a mine detonate by its side, causing it to crash into the third banshee. The resulting explosion destroyed the fourth one.

Idiots, he laughed to himself as he made the slipspace jump to Earth, then he proceeded to the cryo-tube. He lay down on the metal freezer and watched as the canopy covered him. 1st Lieutenant Archer... I like it. His vision started to blur, and he relaxed as the ice slowly encased him.

Amidst the rubble of alien craft, one more banshee came out of cover. It fired a banshee bolt as Garrett's ship opened the slipspace stream. The bolt came in contact with the ship right before the stream closed.

Twilight Sparkle lazily opened her eyes. the light seeped in through the window and shined right on her face. her head was resting on the table, softly cushioned in a pillow of books. Another night where I fell asleep studying, she thought to herself. She slowly wiped away the salive dripping from her lips and proceeded downstairs for breakfast.

Spike already finished setting up two hot bowls of oatmeal on the table. "Morning, Twilight!" he cheered with an enthusiastic smile.

Well, at least he's up an running. "Good morning, Spike," she yawned. Twilight sat down on her seat and, still feeling too drowsy to even think, used her own hoof on the spoon to eat her meal.

As she scooped an overflowing amount, Spike felt a sensation quickly crawl up to his throat. Before he was able to do anything, his loud belch caught her off guard and sent the spoon full of oatmeal to splatter all over her face. A hot breakfast of oats and condensed milk to the face finally did the trick to wake her up.

"Oops, sorry," he said, blushing slightly in embarrassment.

"It's alright," replied Twilight gently as she wiped off the mess on her face. She finally decided to user her magic and opened the letter her assistant delivered.

To my faithful student,

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

It has been a long time since we have spoken face to face. Luna and I are inviting you to come over to Canterlot with your friends for afternoon tea and dinner. We hope you can come. -Princess Celestia

Time flew by, and Garrett woke up from cryosleep. He saw no one else in his ship, so he checked the clock. He was asleep for two days, and his journey to Earth would have taken longer. The data showed that the ship already jumped from the random location. Something was wrong. Alarms were going off as the ship came out of slipspace and into orbit around a planet. He quickly strapped himself to the cockpit. He took a look on where he was, but the scanner showed up negative for any confirmation of his location. A violent jerk was enough to wake him up, quicken his heartbeat, and understand the scenario.

He was lost, his ship was breaking up, and he was being pulled into the planet. The friction of the atmosphere was tearing his breaking ship apart, and he was closing in on a mountain, fast. As a last ditch effort, Garrett recorded himself to an S.O.S. probe.

"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is Garrett Archer of the Eighth ODST Battalion. My Longsword has taken damage, and I'm crashing into an unknown planet. To any UNSC vessel that can hear this, please send help! I've transmitted my coordinates into this probe!"

Garrett prayed that someone would hear his signal, but before he was able to launch the probe, his ship violently impacted the mountain and knocked him unconscious.

The moon shined brightly in the night sky. The stars were as clear as reflections on still water. Equestria fell silent as its residents went to bed. Luna, Celestia, and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony watched as the night sky glittered with stars in the castle observatory.

"You did an amazing job with the night sky tonight, your highness," commented Twilight.

"Thank you, Twilight," replied Luna with a smile.

"Sometimes it's just nice to slow down and absorb the peace and quiet of the night," said Celestia.

"I agree," added Rarity. She pointed to a streak of light flying in the sky with her hoof. "What a beautiful shooting star."

Pinkie Pie's tail began to shake uncontrollably. She raised an eyebrow. "Hmm..." A sudden jolt traveled through her, and her eyes opened within a fraction of a second. "Twitchy tail!"

"What in the hay is that doing?!" Applejack pointed to the fire, which was no longer a shooting star falling from the sky. The burning object impacted off the side of a mountain, then crashed down outside the princesses' castle, screeching to a halt after leaving a long trail in its wake.

"Come with me," said Celestia in a serious tone as she rushed to the door. Outside, there stood the captain of the guard, a unicorn.

"Your highness, something has crashed nearby!"

"I know, Captain Galea. That's why I want you and the other guards to join us in looking at what that thing is."

The broken wreckage lay smoking in the place of impact as the group approached it. Several guards were already on the scene securing a perimeter.

"What is this thing?" Twilight etched even closer.

Pinkie Pie was jumping about. "I think it's a Longsword!"

"What? How do you even know that?" asked Twilight.

"It says right here on the side!" Pinkie Pie galloped to the wing and pointed out the scorched text labeled LONGSWORD.

"Look!" Rarity pointed to the bay door slightly opened beneath the nose of the ship.

The guards pried it open, and the group slowly entered the alien craft. They slowly looked around the spacecraft. "Sure is tight in here," commented Rainbow Dash as they went up the craft.

"What kind of pony would live here?" Pinkie Pie raised an eyebrow. "It's so boooooring."

Twilight moved next to the cockpit chair, inspecting the pilot. She felt a shock travel through her spine as she yelped and jumped. "I don't think a pony lives here!"

"Why? What's heppenin'?" asked Applejack as she and the others joined Twilight near the chair. On it, unconscious and slumped over the controls, was a human still strapped to the seat.

"Oh my word! What is this... thing?" Rarity gasped.

"It is still alive!" exclaimed Luna.

Pinkie Pie approached the human and poked him in the face. "Helloooooooo? Anypony home?" No response came.

Celestia straightened up. "Captain!"

"Yes, your highness?"

"Bring this wreckage to storage room one, and bring his alien to the medical room."

"Understood."

"And one more thing, don't tell anypony about this other than the guards. This is now a tier one secret."

In the darkness of the night, another hid in the shadows and watched the group adore the night sky. Soon, Equestria will be min-- what the?

He watched as the burning object fell form the sky, crashed into the side of the mountain, and came to rest near the castle. Curiosity overcame him, and he teleported inside the ship, finding the unconscious alien. What is this thing? It's definitely not from here. When it wakes up, perhaps I may be able to make it join my side. The sound of the bay door being pried open by the guards interrupted his trail of thought. He quickly teleported out of the ship and into the safety of the shadows.