Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy nervously got out of their carriage as it landed in front of Canterlot Castle. The emergency letters they received offered no explanation, saying that it was prefered for them to talk personally. The entire building looked like it was in lockdown. Guards were patrolling everywhere, making sure that nothing was to slip by unnoticed.

“He did what?!” They yelled in unison to the guard posted on the main door.

“Even I can’t believe it myself,” he said as he opened the door. “I’ll lead you to them. Whatever you do just... be careful. Though the influence, the grey stuff on him, isn’t seen, we still need to be cautious.”

Despite being low in rank, many other royal guards, including officers, stepped aside to allow the escort and the five others to pass through. Not a single murmur was heard. Everything was so quiet it was easy to hear a pin fall. The deeper they got into the castle, the more the guards seemed edgy and serious. It was as if the word “cheer” was a myth.

They finally came to the door, and they stepped into an atrium which was composed of three floors. It was filled with countless numbers guards pointing crossbows, spears, and magic storm clouds at one thing: a stone table in the middle of the room. It had a body, stripped of its armor and weapons and in black pants, boots, and shirt. It was bound to the rock by the ankles and wrists with metal cuffs and chains. Applejack, Luna, Celestia, and a tall mirror were the only things next to it, silent as the night.

“Your highness...” Twilight managed.

“He’s unconscious,” Celestia said. She motioned them to come closer with her hoof.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershly quickly went to Garrett’s side. Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Rarity nervously approached Celestia.

“I need a report,” Celestia ordered.

“Thankfully, nopony was killed,” Galea said with a relieved sigh. He rubbed his bruise with his hoof. “However, every guard who did fight him has either a case of broken bones, bad bruises, the aftereffects of the anesthetics, or a combination of all three. At a time like this, your highness, I think we should send a message to Captain Shining Armor and Princess Cadence and call back more forces.”

“I understand your concern, captain, but they need to stay and aid the griffon kingdom. We can’t afford to leave them after that terrible earthquake and tsunami.”

“W-why did he do this?” Fluttershy murmured as she tried to fight the urge to comfort Garrett, knowing that he was still a possible danger. “H-how did he come to this?”

“The feller that attacked th’ princesses ain’t Garrett, sugarcube,” Applejack mumbled. “He was corrupted.”

“The only way I could have stopped him was to... to tap into his soul,” Luna muttered. She switched her attention to Celestia. “Sister... they were there.”

Celestia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her face buried in thought.

“Who’s there, princess?” asked Twilight.

“Discord and Nightmare Moon,” replied Celestia. Several guards started murmuring among themselves.

“And they are in his soul,” she added. “Whatever they’re up to, we need to stop them. We can’t afford to waste anymore time.” Her horn started to glow.

“Whatever happens, just make sure that you are ready with the Elements of Harmony,” Luna said as she made her horn glow.

“Your highness, I don’t understand,” Twilight called out. “How do spells and souls work?”

“When I incapacitated Garrett,” Luna said, “I did not, in any way, harm him physically. I enchanted his knife with a spell that would have gone into his spirit. That was where my attack went, weakening the corruption in him.”

“B-but... what was on th’ knife?” Applejack asked, her voice slightly shaky on the topic. “W-was it blood?”

“Yes, there was blood on the knife,” Luna confessed. “But it was only half of what was truly present. The other part is actually the essence of his soul. The white vapor that it emits is also part of the essence, and those were exactly what covered the blade when I pulled it out of him. That small sample was enough for me to know just who was inside him. Soul essence runs alongside an individual’s blood. Conventional methods can not extract, tap, or even detect it. Only those with the power equivalent to alicorns can perform spells involving one’s spirit.”

“What will you see inside his soul?” Twilight asked again.

“The interior of a soul is capable of taking the form of anything, from gardens, to castles, to boats afloat in the middle of the ocean, to airships amidst clouds, and even more.”

She switched her attention to Celestia. “Are we ready?”

Celestia nodded. “Let’s do it.”

The two princesses transformed into small, glowing orbs. They then floated to Garrett and sunk into him. Whatever was going to happen would have been seen by everypony via the mirror, which was already forming images. Knowing that Galea and the guards would willingly handle the problem on their own terms, they could not afford to fail.

The interior of Garrett’s soul took the form of a large room. The floor was carpeted. A massive, comfortable-looking couch was against the wall, and a black, wooden coffee table was in front of it. Beyond it, a massive screen was mounted on the wall.

In the corner was a mini fridge. A mirror hung on the wall, and it was showing Garrett’s physical body in the real world.

“What kind of place is this?” Luna asked.

Her question needed no answer as two laughs emerged from somewhere, making it sound like they were surrounded. The screen turned on, and two figures came into view, a draconequus and a black alicorn with teal slits for eyes.

The draconequs opened his arms in a welcome-to-my-home fashion. “Hello, everypony,” he greeted with a smirk.

The alicorn looked at Luna and smiled. “Oh, Luna, I missed you.”

Luna gritted her teeth. “Nightmare Moon,” she hissed while holding back the urge to destroy the screen with a blast of magic.

“Welcome to where Garrett’s soul has taken form,” the draconequus continued, “otherwise known, in human terms, as a home theatre. This place features a massive screen. I’m still trying to figure out what it does. It comes with a system known as surround sound. Also, trying to figure out how it works. Refreshments are offered in the small contraption called a ‘mini fridge’ in the corner. Heck, there’s even more stuff I still have no clue-”

“Enough!” Celestia snapped. “How did you escape, Discord? How are you still alive, Nightmare Moon? And what is it that you both want to achieve through this?”

Discord and Nightmare Moon exchanged looks and smiles.

“Ladies first,” Discord said as he motioned her with a bow.

Nightmare Moon took a hoofstep forward. “After the Elements of Harmony had been unleashed on us, you-” she shifted her attention to Luna. “-weren’t the only one who had magic restored. As time flew by, I regenerated and grew stronger as well, but I have one problem. I am incomplete. I still need more power.”

“But that still doesn’t answer our question!” Celestia shouted. “How are you back?!”

Discord leaned on Nightmare Moon with his elbow. “And now it’s my turn. It was simple, really. Back when I was having fun in Ponyville, I found it sorta boring to be hogging it all to myself. So, I decided to bring back ol’ Moony over here” -he poked her- “to also get a share of entertainment. Making her was easy. All I needed was a small sample of Luna’s magic, her bitterness, and a teeny-tiny bit of Nightmare Moon’s soul.

“Making her was a tough one, but, hey, Chrysalis was more than willing to lend us a helping hoof. I mean, she can breed almost anything, right? The changelings that crashed Cadence’s wedding were my personal favorite, but those flying serpents and the werewolf hybrid thingy a while back were also perfect examples. So, she agreed to help make a body of an alicorn. It costed us a lot of our powers... and ‘volunteer’ changelings, but we did it. We made Moony come back.

“How did I get the essence, you ask? As Luney was still recovering from the ‘incident’ that happened back in those dusty, old ruins, much of the power she was using to heal herself was leaking out. Still not good enough? Well, Nightmare Night had more than enough opportunities for me to get it. I’ll give you the perfect moment. It was when she decided to play her little prank on the ponies. I admit, despite me enjoying your little show, I was there for another purpose, and there was just the right amount that I needed. After that, we had everything required: soul, magic, and personality. Of course, it took a lot of time to have Mooney’s power regenerate.

“After your little Elements did their thing on me, I was still having power. Once Nightmare Moon had sufficient magic and busted me out, things got a bit... complicated. In the end, we came to a new, simple agreement. Both of us need power, and we both want some payback. Well... she wants payback more. I just want to cause some chaos again... with a dash of payback.”

“Speaking of which...” Nightmare Moon said. She turned to Discord, and she slowly turned herself into a fine, purple mist.

Discord then opened his arms wide, closing his eyes while he was at it. The shadowy mist swirled around him like a whirlpool, sending surges of power everywhere to the point where Celestia and Luna were able to detect it. He absorbed it, and once the last bit came in, silver armor that had Nightmare Moon’s cutie mark slapped on formed around his torso. Lastly, a helmet took shape on his claw, and he slowly placed it on his head. Once he opened his eyes, he revealed that they were teal slits which glowed and gave off a sinister bluish-green essence.

“Much better,” Discord said. “Anyway, time to get back on topic. We and a few other friends were about to... bargain with other nations to fight against you, but then, bam!-” he pointed to Garrett “-he came. Oh, life became so much easier! Both of us had the most fun turning him against you!”

Discord held his hand out. A glass casing that contained a small, glowing orb appeared on his palm.

“It’s interesting, really. His soul seems so powerful, full of opportunity.” He began stroking the glass like it was some sort of pet. “It’s funny how easy it was to make him hate you. I mean, a simple book was all that was needed. If I can do that much with just a few papers..."

A grin etched onto his face. “...This will be interesting. Imagine Equestria under my rule, with him being head of security. He’ll be something like my knife. All I have to do is show him to everypony, and they’ll stay in line.”

“HE IS NOT A WEAPON!” Celestia’s voice boomed with so much volume to the point where being shouted at with a megaphone would have been less painful.

“Oh, what do we have here?” Discord taunted calmly with a crude smile. “Some fiery emotion... I like it. I can’t wait to see your reactions when I change him.”

“But you are wrong, Discord!” Luna snapped. “You can not change his personality with magic! Deep inside, a soul will always stay the same, no matter how much magic is used. He knows us as his friends. You have already failed.”

Discord smirked, shook his head, and carefully disposed of the glass casing. “I know that, my dear Luna, but that doesn’t remove my chance to have a little fun. I’m staying right here, right inside Garrett’s precious soul.”

Celestia growled. “First we have Dissenso, then we have-”

Discord cut her off with a laugh. “Sacrebleu, mademoiselle! Haven’t you figured it out by now? Dissenso? Dissension? Discord? Honestly, princess, I. Am. Disappointed!”

The screen turned off.

Luna nudged Celestia and whispered to her ear, “I think we should leave, bring the Elements of Harmony, and come back-”

Luna was cut off as a popping sound reached their ears. They turned around and found Discord leaning against the mini fridge with a can of soda in one hand. He took a sip of the drink.

“Human soda... pretty good, actually,” he said, nodding in approval.

Luna was the first one to act by grabbing hold of Discord with magic and pinning him against the wall.

“Woah,” Discord calmly said. He made a mockingly defensive posture. “Hold your horses, sister. You just got pop all over my armor.”

“ENOUGH!” Luna yelled as she gave a short jolt of electricity.

Discord gave no sound of pain, but it could be seen in his face that he felt it.

The images on the mirror began showing another scene. Garrett’s body was jerking violently like he was in some sort of spasm. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and several other guards panicked and retorted to pinning him down in an attempt to make him stop.

“W-what just happened?” Luna asked, staring at Garrett’s image in the mirror with shock and confusion.

Discord gave a pained laugh. “Oh, have you forgotten?”

He shifted his attention to Celestia. “Or have you failed to teach your own sister the basics of magic and souls? That will reflect badly on the reputation of your school and of yourself, being a teacher and all, you know.”

The gaze of Discord switched back to Luna. “Anyhoo, the laws of the soul are very simple. If others, such as us right now, were to go into a soul, then we would attach ourselves to the host’s. The ‘guests’ can do anything they want to the host, as long as it’s big. For example, I’ll punch him.”

He raised his fist, made it glow with magic, and gave a straight punch to the air.

Garrett’s image on the mirror jerked again and was gasping for air, breathless as he felt a blow.

After drinking the remaining ounces of soda and giving a disgusting belch, Discord continued. “On the other hand, if a guest soul were to do something big or harmful to another guest’s, it would have to travel through the host and to said receiver. The perfect demonstration was what you did earlier.”

“You forgot another one,” Celestia said. “Magic is limited inside a soul, and the host is the most powerful of souls. Why not just leave and be free of the restraints?”

Discord shrugged. “I’m not leaving. I know your little Elements are waiting out there. I’m staying.”

He opened the mini fridge. “Oh, he has root beer in this thing...”

The two princesses had enough. Luna readied lightning bolts, and Celestia prepared spears. They forced him away from the fridge and down to his knees with their magic.

“This ends now!” Luna yelled!

Discord, however, was still calm. “Oh? Going to kill me? I guess that means that both of you forgot the final, golden rule. A guest soul can only be removed if he willingly leaves, if the host soul forces him out, or if another guest soul kills him, destroying the host in the process.”

He looked at Luna. “Look at you. You’ve got the power. How does it feel like to have so much of it right now? How does it feel like to know that you’ll kill your friend to stop your enemy? In fact, the escape plan is easy.”

Luna gritted her teeth.

“You’ve been hiding in your sister’s shadow. She still calls the shots. Now is the perfect opportunity for you to show just how much power you’re capable of handling. You can kill me and end Garrett’s life. Then, your sister will be amazed by how much you can do. She’ll become scared and agree to be silent about this little ‘incident.’ After that, it’s you who can start giving the orders.”

He switched his full attention to Celestia. “How about you do it instead? You’re no stranger to extreme actions. Remember your Nightmare Moon incident? A thousand years... Wow, Sister of the Century right there.”

Celestia gave a breath that was somewhere between a hiss and a growl.

“You can easily end me and kill Garrett. Then, you can silence Luna by sending her to the moon again, saying that she also became corrupted. Then poof! Happiness everywhere, and you’ll be claimed as a hero by everypony-” he shot a look at Luna and chuckled “-almost everypony.”

He opened his arms wide. “Go ahead! Who will strike first and brand themselves as a cold-blooded killer?!”

Celestia and Luna stood there, pointing their weapons at Discord. He was right there in their grasp. They could stop him at the spur of the moment, end it all in one go. He was unarmed, yet he outgunned them by mere words.

Celestia shot a look at Garrett’s physical body. “...Sorry, Garrett,” she murmured, fighting ever so hard to resist putting on a face of shame and failure.

Luna was silent and was fighting an internal war with herself as she got rid of her lightning bolts.

“I knew it,” Discord smiled. “Sit back and enjoy the show, ‘Inside Garrett’s Mind,’ directed by yours truly.” He gently shoved them to the couch with his magic. With a clench of his fist, he formed chains that wrapped themselves around Celestia and Luna, trapping them. He brought out a six-pack soda from the mini fridge and placed it on the coffee table. He took a seat next to the princesses. With a snap of his fingers, a massive bowl, which was overflowing with popcorn, magically appeared on his lap.

“And don’t try anything funny,” he added as he showed them the glass casing that held the glowing orb. “One wrong move, and this thing shatters.”

The screen turned on.

Garrett opened his eyes. He tried to breathe, but there was something in his throat. Lime-flavored mucus? he thought to himself. That means... He swallowed the enzymes and saw his canopy open.

“Thanks, troop-- ‘captain?’”

“Congratulations, sir. You got promoted while on ice. Command apologizes for the informality. On a side note, we’re getting briefed in the hangar.”

“Got it. I’ll see you there. Just... just give me some time to think.”

“Roger that, captain.” The ODST walked down the hall and away from Garrett.

Garrett stood there, buried in thoughts. Every time he tried to think of an answer, another question popped into his head. Captain... How long have I been here? What’s happening to Equestria now? ...Does it even exist?

He proceeded down the hall, remembering every corner and recognizing each corridor. The Burning Frost was still laid out exactly as he recalled, giving him more doubt and questions. He finally reached his locker and opened it wide, finding his armor sitting within. It still had Philomeena’s feather and an ace of spades attached to the left pauldron. So they did exist... his thoughts murmured.

Garrett felt a hand pat his shoulder. “Nice feather and card.”

He turned. “Johnny...”

“Something wrong?” Johnny asked with a smile.

“I thought... you died.”

Johnny laughed. “Captain, cryo-sleep can give you weird as hell dreams, so I think it would be a good idea if you just put all of those thoughts behind you. Let’s go get the rest of our weapons and get to the hangar.”

“But I’ve experienced a lot of things before... my memory doesn’t seem right anymore.”

Johnny shrugged. “It ain’t easy explaining the crap we get in cryogenics. Hell, I remember forgetting one of my memories and having it replaced with some other kind of experience.”

Garrett was silent as both of them walked down the hall. He recognized many familiar ODSTs, and his thoughts and questions were still ever present. Even the ones he remembered fighting with back in his first engagement were alive.

After settling settling himself with a rocket launcher, grenades, a few packs of plastic explosives, a MA5C assault rifle, and a M6G magnum, Garrett, accompanied by Johnny, reached the main hangar. Numbers of ODSTs and marines filled the area. The soldiers were in the various stages of setting up and chatting with others. Deckhands were checking the vehicles for final preparations.

“Ready for some action again, lieutenant?” Dante asked Garrett.

“That’s ‘captain’ now.”

“Damn, so I’m not the only one.”

“So, you also got promoted?”

“That’s right. Remember our first mission? We charged head-on with a group of Covenant and blew up their firebase.” Dante chuckled. “They never stood a chance. Lucky for us that no one died that day. After that, you got your solo op while we did another run. Long story short, command’s been promoting like no tomorrow.”

“What’s the plan for today?”

“Colonel Stanford gave a simple plan. He’ll be busy commanding other forces in a different location, so both of us are in charge of this op.” Dante held out a tablet. With a tap, it came to life and showed a large red dot on the side. “This is our target.”

With another tap, smaller, yellow dots appeared, and they formed a wall in front of the red dot. “Our orders are to stop whoever’s calling the shots. ODSTs go in and take out their six AA defenses, the yellow dots. At the same time, another group will be doing a special job of hitting another place, but that’s none of our concern. After that, the landing force comes in, then we push to the main objective. ONI said that the planet’s in good shape and that this is the heart of the Covenant presence. Take it out, and the rock’s going to be ours. Also, intel says that the plasma batteries are still offline. It’ll be good if we hit them before they go online so frigates can move in and provide fire support.”

“In short, drop in with pods, blow up AAs, and raise a flag on the main stronghold,” Garrett summarized.

“That’s the problem. They’ve got a lot of fast fliers out there, and our drop pods can’t go in fast enough. The solution? Go in a bit slower but with more firepower by using Pelicans. We’ll be spearheaded by Sabres and Longswords. On the ground, we’ll be assisted by Hornets.”

“Makes sense to me.”

Colonel Stanford’s voice echoed through the speakers. “Troopers, get to your Pelicans and prepare for combat.”

Dante gave Garrett a small nudge. “I’ll see you on the ground.”

He walked away and boarded a Pelican.

Garrett got on the same one. A marine was on the rear-mounted machine gun. In total, there were nine ODSTS, four of which were Dante, Garrett himself, Jenny, and Johnny.

“Nice to see you again, captain,” Jenny said, shaking his hand.

“Opening doors!” yelled a deckhand.

The hangar doors opened wide, filling the area with fresh air. Garrett was able to catch a glimpse and saw that it was the dead of night. The Burning Frost was right above the cloud layer. A small light near the hangar exit blinked to life with red. The deckhand raised his hand and showed his fingers. “Green in five...”

Garrett and all the troopers were feeling the rush of adrenaline take effect.

“...Four...”

The three Pelicans hovered above the floor, accompanied by the escort of twenty Hornets.

“...Three...”

The Longswords and Sabres dove past the view provided by the hangar entrance.

“..Two...”

Here it goes... Garrett thought to himself.

The deckhand closed his hand into a fist, and the light flickered to green. “Go! Go! Go!”

Garrett’s Pelican was the first one out. The moment the entire aircraft was clear out of the hangar, the pilot made it go into a steep dive.

“Not as bad as using drop pods, right, Archer?” Johnny called out with a laugh.

“At least dropping this way comes with guns!” Garrett replied before easing back on his chair. He could hear the Longswords, Sabres, and Hornets firing their main guns against their targets. Missile explosions and booms were echoing passed the sounds of the Pelican’s engines.

“I have visual contact!” yelled the pilot before opening fire with the Pelican’s rotary cannon. “Incoming!”

With the limited view he got from his seat, Garrett saw a purple mass zoom passed the line of sight of the Pelican’s cockpit, but he was unable to make out what it was.

“Approaching cloud layer,” the pilot announced. “Might get a little bumpy.”

The ODSTs held tight as the turbulence rocked the aircraft slightly. They quickly broke through the clouds.

“We have a visual on the target,” the pilot said.

Garrett got up and entered the cockpit. He felt his blood run cold as he realized just what the UNSC was attacking. He barely held back the gasp. N-no... H-how? he asked in thought and disbelief, but there was no escaping the fact that their target was Canterlot.

Right outside the main gate of the town lay the eight anti-air defenses, which, by a stroke of luck, were still offline. Canterlot itself was bearing heavy influences of Covenant presence such as weapon crates in between houses every now and then. Several small structures such as bunkers had been erected. The bridge to the castle was replaced with one that had a plasma line running under it.

Garrett recognized the AA defenses. They were the same ones he recalled seeing on the videos about the operation where Noble Team had to destroy the Spire in Reach. At the same time, he remembered how it was able to mask the presence of the Covenant Supercarrier Long Night of Solace, sending more thirst for vengeance into his system.

Sabres, Longswords, and Hornets were dogfighting with Banshees, dragons, and pegasi guards that were different compared to the ones Garrett grew accustomed to. Missiles, tracer rounds, plasma bolts, and thunder bolts littered the sky.

The closer the Pelican got to the first AA, the faster and harder Garrett’s heart pumped. Why? he asked in thought. What happened to Equestria? Why are they fighting us?

“Woah!” yelled the gunner.

Garrett turned and found a guard attempting to grab the gunner with his hooves. At that moment, he was finally able to take a close look at the differences these ponies had. The armor was purple, his coat was grey, he had cat-like, yellow slits for eyes, a black tail, and bat-like wings.

“Get him off me!” the gunner shouted as he tried to break free of the lunar guard’s grasp.

Dante pulled out his magnum and shot the guard’s head.

Garrett’s jaw was hanging in disbelief as he watched the body fall out. “What the hell was that?! I thought we were fighting Covenant!”

Dante kept his magnum. “When the Covenant found this place, guess which side they chose!”

Lost in an ocean of doubt and questions, Garrett was silent. I trusted them as friends, he thought, and they rewarded me with this? The princesses-

“We’re at the first AA!” the pilot announced.

Dante and two other ODSTS prepared their weapons and jumped off. Garrett managed to hear their boots hit the floor of the structure.

The AA that he was about to destroy was the nearest to the gates to Canterlot. Garrett’s mind snapped back into the situation. Knowing his priorities, he pushed his questions aside. The grunts and jackals on the building began opening fire with deployed plasma cannons. Near the structure, a Phantom was powering up, its engines flickering to life and its systems still disabled.

“LZ is too hot!” the pilot shouted again.

“Destroy the Phantom, and drop us off there!” Garrett ordered.

“Got it, sir!” the pilot snapped before firing two rockets.

The first blew a massive hole on the cockpit, followed by the second which disintegrated whatever was left of it. Then, the Phantom violently tipped forward and crashed into the earth, skidding to a halt some distance away from the AA.

As the Pelican descended to the downed alien ship, its side doors popped open. Several grunts and jackals scrambled to get out of the wreckage and open fire upon the approaching vehicle, only to be put down by machine gun fire. Garrett, Johnny, and Jenny jumped off and engaged the enemy.

Loud booms echoed to their ears. They turned and found the other seven AAs turn into fireworks that lit up the sky. Blue fires acted like different suns, each contributing to brighten the dark sky.

“Captain, why isn’t yours going off?” Dante asked over the comms.

“Believe it or not, they’re putting up resistance,” Garrett replied. “We could use some help.”

Jenny’s voice suddenly shouted in the radio. “There’s a wave of them incoming!”

Garrett turned to see a large group of jackals, grunts, and skirmishers charging from the gates of Canterlot.

“Double time, troopers!” Garrett added.

Acknowledgment lights winked in his VISR, signifying that the other troopers got the message.

Garrett opened fire with his assault rifle, easily bringing many down. Three skirmishers, however, were able to dodge enough bullets to get to the Phantom. He managed to throw one down to the bottom of the fuselage, finishing it off with three bullets to the head.

Something managed to kick him in the back, forcing him to the floor. He turned and found the second kig-yar wielding a spear. It then leaped to the air and thrusted its weapon at him. He brought up his arm-guard to deflect the weapon right on time, the metal polearm scraping against his armor. Garrett then grabbed its face and twisted its neck. He kicked the body away, making it hit the fuselage with a satisfying thud.

After getting back on his feet, Garrett heard a bark behind him. He turned around and found the last skirmisher raising its spear high. Before he could have reacted, a loud bang reached his ears, followed by the top part of the kig-yar’s head exploding into a purple cloud.

“Damn... aimed too high.”

Garrett turned to find the owner of the voice and breathed a sigh of relief to find out that it was Dante standing outside the Phantom in the company of the other twenty ODSTs.

“Someone needed a call for help?” Dante asked before he and the other troopers climbed to the top of the wreckage and took positions.

Garrett replaced his magazine. “Perfect timing.”

“We aim to please.”

“Incoming wave!” yelled one of the troopers.

Dante and the other ODSTS took their positions, aimed their weapons at the gate, and opened fire.

Garrett, however, refused to even touch the trigger when he realized what the next wave was composed of. A small legion of unicorn and earth pony lunar guards were charging at them, growling and yelling battle cries that scared none.

“We’ll handle this,” a pilot of announced.

Right on cue, a Hornet hovered above the Phantom wreckage and opened fire, cutting through the lunar guards like butter.

...Why? a voice in Garrett’s head echoed.

More Covenant forces and lunar guards charged out of the gates. This time, however, the ponies were all unicorns with their crossbows drawn via magic. The ODSTS in the downed Phantom repositioned themselves and reloaded with fresher ammo. Several set up debris for extra cover. The two factions opened fire upon one another.

The soldiers on the side of the UNSC showed no mercy. Garrett, however, only targeted the alien forces because his disbelief still kept his finger off the trigger whenever he aimed at the guards. Bullets, plasma, and bolts of magic littered the air. The heated firefight continued to the point where it looked like it was a stalemate.

“LOOK OUT!” a trooper yelled out loud.

Garrett felt his heart skip a beat. Out from the cover of a mountain, a Scarab crawled into view, its crew scrambling to mounted guns on the sides. He saw Johnny move over to Jenny’s side.

“I’ll need your bomb,” Johnny said.

Jenny passed her pack of explosives to him

“Johnny, what are you doing?!” Garrett asked, suspicion growing in him like a waking fire.

“I’ll get to the AA and fire the gun at the Scarab, then I’ll blow the battery sky high.”

He planted his foot and prepared to jump, but Garrett pulled him back.

“Stay in cover!”

Johnny discarded his assault rifle to lighten his load and pulled out his magnum. “Sir, I’m one of the fastest runners in the battalion.”

“I don’t care!” Garrett barked. “We’ll find another way.”

“Boss, it’s that or get blown to bits by that Scarab. It’s the only way... You know what? Let’s make a deal. If I make it back, you owe me a Sweet Williams cigar. If I don’t, I’ll reserve a seat for you in the bar of the afterlife. Deal?”

Garrett turned, watching the Scarab etch its way even closer. Several Hornets were trying to slow it down with heavy machine gun fire and missiles but to no avail, and a few Sabres and Longswords attempted to strafe it to the ground, also to no use.. “...I think I still have a spare Sweet Williams in my locker, but Jenny and I will go with you, understand?”

Johnny nodded, and Garrett and Jenny inserted fresh ammo into their assault rifles.

“You heard the captain!” Jenny shouted to the other ODSTs. “Give us some covering fire!”

Dante gave the command. “Three! Two! One! Suppressing!”

With adrenaline pumping in every blood vessel in his body, it was as if Garrett felt time slow down. the three of them jumped out of the wreckage and charged towards the AA. The suppressing fire from the other ODSTs managed to silence out every other noise that was in the battlefield. A Hornet decided to offer help as well. It was following Johnny as its pilot was shooting down whatever tried to come close to him. Four more gunships flew into view, and they began distracting the Scarab to keep its attention away.

Living up to his title, Garrett saw Johnny sprint faster than he thought was possible. He and Jenny barely managed to keep him on their sights as they were keeping the Covenant from flanking their bomb carrier, but he looked like he was doing fine by himself by sidestepping and ducking right on time. Despite the incoming threat, the forces at the AA were pointing to another target that was to their side.

Out of the corner of Garrett’s eye, one energy spear-wielding jackal managed to get within striking distance. It thrust its spear forward, but the trooper managed to jump to the side right on time and grab hold of the weapon. He used the momentum to flip it over, finishing off with thrusting the polearm through the torso.

Why aren’t the Covies in the AA shooting at us anymore? Garrett asked himself. A loud explosion from the side made Garrett’s head turn. His eyes managed to out that the aliens on the plasma battery were focusing their attention on shooting another target that was ninety degrees from where the trio of ODSTS were coming from. Black smoke was rising in between what was between him and whatever was getting shot at, but somehow, his VISR managed to highlight six figures. His eyes managed to see six pieces of gold before the view became obstructed again.

Amidst the plasma fire and suppressing gunfire, Garrett managed to hear a loud roar that made him snap back into attention. A berserk brute was charging right at him, bashing other Covenant forces away as it closed the distance.

Garrett, however, kept calm. He pulled the spear out of the jackal, positioned himself like how a foot soldier would when fighting cavalry, and waited for the right time. Right before the brute was about to hit him, he jammed the energy weapon right through it, the end sticking out of the other side, but it was not enough to stop it. It staggered and quickly slowed down, allowing him to jump to the side in time. Finishing it off, he pulled out his assault rifle and shot its head.

The two of ODSTs continued following Johnny as he ran towards the AA. By that time, all the aliens guarding the battery were all dead, and the bomb carrier was a mere dot in the horizon.

“Incoming at two o’clock! Get down!” Jenny snapped.

Garrett and Jenny quickly rolled to cover. He managed to see a dragon swoop down and burn the ground in front of them with a breath of fire, followed by several pegasi.

With the odds leaning towards his favor, Garrett saw Johnny unscathed. His relief was short-lived as a lighting bolt struck the bomb carrier, making him collapse, motionless on the ground.

“Johnny!” Garrett shouted into his radio before he and Jenny broke into all-out sprints.

Garrett saw that Johnny managed to get his head off the ground. He then managed to drag himself through the entrance of the AA and into the main terminal.

Despite being assaulted by four Hornets, the Scarab was able to push its way through, with its attackers still opening fire upon it. The vehicle so close to the AA that it had a clear view of the downed Phantom, Garrett, and Jenny. Its main gun was already blinking to life, charging up to fire.

Johnny pressed on the terminal. The AA gun spun around and aimed at the Scarab. The plasma battery fired, hitting it spot on the center and spreading debris everywhere. It fell right on top of the structure, breaking apart. He then pulled out a set of explosives and tossed them next to the main reactor. After bringing out the detonator, he sat with his back against the wall.

“Jonathan Kestrel! Don’t you dare press that detonator!” Garrett shouted as he and Jenny were only a short distance away from the AA.

The crew members of the Scarab, mainly jackals and lunar guards, began crawling out of the wreckage and into the AA, determined to see some human blood spilled on their accounts. One jackal gave a bark and pointed towards the inside of the structure. They knew there was an injured soldier inside.

Johnny unpolarized his visor. “Whatever it takes to win, sir,” he said over the radio.

One unicorn scrambled down the ramp, came up to Johnny, pinned him to the ground with his hooves, and grabbed hold of an energy spear with magic. He raised it high and brought it down.

Johnny jerked and screamed in pain. With whatever strength he had left, he pressed the detonator. Garrett and Jenny took cover behind a large piece of rubble. The explosion lit up the night sky, bringing sparks to onlookers and nearly dropping debris on top of the two of them.

After the display ended, Garrett stood up and stared at what was left, which was nothing more than a massive, blazing fire.

“Johnny! Damn it! No!” Garrett shouted. He was about to sprint, but Jenny held him back by the left shoulder.

“Don’t go in there!”

Garrett tried to shrug her off, but she still held tightly. “Damn it! Let go of me! I’ll get him out of there!”

Jenny pulled him back and forced him to her level, back to crouching on the ground. She placed her other hand on his right shoulder, and she unpolarized her visor so Garrett had a clear view of her face. “Sir! He’s dead! You saw it yourself!”

She lowered her head. “He’s gone...” she murmured.

Colonel Stanford’s voice came through the radio. “Archer, the landing party’s coming in. Start the push to the target.”

“...Roger that,” Garrett replied. He used his radio to contact all the soldiers on the ground. “Regroup at the gate before making the push.”

Acknowledgement lights winked. Garrett switched his attention to Jenny, who was still silent. He was the one leading the operation. He knew that there was no time for weakness. “We know our priorities...”

She polarized her visor, stood up, and gave a wink of an acknowledgment light.

Dante’s voice said in the radio, “There’s another wave coming out of the gates. Sadly, they’re only low-profile targets.”

“Meet them head-on,” Garrett replied before he and Jenny started charging to the gate.

Grunts and jackals met them, but they easily killed the aliens that stood in their way. Many tried to run once the they cut through half of the group.

“Imp! Imp! Imp!” many of the grunts squealed as they fled on all fours.

“Wraith at two o’clock!” Jenny shouted in the radio.

Garrett reached for the rocket launcher attached to his rucksack, but before he had full grip of the weapon, something smashed into him, sending him to a heap eight meters away. When he landed, he was facing up and managed to see the landing party still in the middle of bringing the marines and vehicles. Pelicans upon Pelicans were descending in the atmosphere.

Feeling a small amount of pain on his ribs, Garrett raised his head to see who hit him. He felt his heart skip a beat when he realized that it was Downburst clad in lunar guard armor. He was staring down at him, his face blazing with rage.

He formed a storm cloud and made it hold out a lightning bolt, aiming it straight at Garrett’s head.

“Downburst... why?”

Downburst snarled in return. He fired the lightning bolt, and it was as if time slowed down when Garrett saw him do his thing on the cloud.

“NO!” Garrett heard a voice shout.

He saw Jenny jump in between him and Downburst, receiving the full force of the bolt with a bang. Her body was blasted back and landed on him.

“Jenny!” Garrett quickly took her helmet off, inspected her face, and shook her. “No...”

Her eyes were slowly closing shut, and a small, dying smile appeared on her face.

“Damn it! Stay with me!”

“...At least I get to see my brother again...” she whispered right before her head hung back.

Downburst shook his head. “Oh well, at least I’ll end up with six.”

Garrett shot him a look. “What the hell is that suppose to mean?”

“You see, all of us officers decided to make a... friendly competition to give us more encouragement to kill you humans. Turbulence got a head start by getting rid of that idiot bomb carrier who dragged himself to an AA.”

Betrayal stabbed Garrett like a blade. “She...” he growled. “She’s the one who shot Johnny?!”

Downburst prepared another lightning bolt for Garrett. “You’ll make the perfect kill to make me first place. Your head counts as five.”

Garrett saw a green mass dash passed him and kick Downburst so hard that he was lifted up into the air, then he crashed to the ground, screaming in pain. The massive figure stomped a boot on top of him and shot his head with a shotgun.

“Wraith!” said the green figure.

Another armored, green soldier picked up Garrett’s rocket launcher and fired upon the enemy tank twice, destroying it beyond recognition.

Garrett felt a massive hand grab him by the rucksack. It forced him back to his feet and shoved his assault rifle onto his hands.

“There’s always time to mourn the dead, but now’s not it, sir,” said a voice. “We still have a battle to win.”

Garrett looked straight at the eyes of the owner, and he finally realized why the six golden pieces he saw earlier looked so familiar. “I know what I need to be doing, spartan.”

He stooped down and recovered Jenny’s dog tags.

JENNIFER H. AVES
FEMALE
CORPORAL
UNSC MARINE CORPS
BLOOD TYPE: O+
SERIAL NUMBER: 5842-13496-JA

The six squad members stood straight, presenting themselves. “Gallardo Team, waiting for orders, captain,” the one in front said.

“I’m Gallardo One.” She began pointing to her other squadmates, introducing them. “Gallardo Two, Three, Four, Five, and Six.”

Garrett looked at Gallardo Three, the one who wielded the shotgun and killed Downburst. “I guess I should thank you for saving my life.”

Three shrugged. “All in a day’s work, captain.”

Gallardo Five, the spartan that had his now empty rocket launcher, offered it back to him.

“Thanks,” Garrett growled before reloading it with fresh rockets.

“I know you’re mad, but don’t vent it out on me,” the spartan added.

“Whatever,” Garrett grumbled. “Let’s just move out.” Jenny... damn it, a voice in his head whispered.

The six spartans nodded. Together, they all regrouped with the other ODSTS and freshly landed marines waiting just beyond the bridge to the gate. Two Scorpion tanks were in position as well.

“...Spartans?” Dante asked. “Does command really want this rock this badly?”

“Yes, trooper. They do,” replied Gallardo Four. He switched his attention to Garrett. “What’s the plan, captain?”

“At least they still know who’s in charge,” Garrett commented. “ODSTs and spartans will crouch down a bit and go into a formation behind the Scorpions. We’ll be using them as mobile cover as we slowly push our way.

Once the gate is gone, charge in. I want the Scorpions to go first. Once you get through, get to the buildings for cover or use the tanks as protection and help push.”

Gallardo Three pointed to Canterlot. “What the hell?”

Everyone turned and found a massive dome covering the city. It flickered purple like an energy shield. A Sabre flew by and fired a barrage of missiles upon it, but the barrier absorbed the damage without a scratch. Another shield formed around the gate.

Garrett opened up his comms. “Colonel Stanford, a shield just popped up. We can’t break through.”

“Got it,” Stanford replied. “Sending in the frigates.”

Right on cue, two flashes of light punched through the cloud layer and quickly crashed into the barrier. The combined fire was just enough to destroy it, shattering the shield like glass. Afterwards, a pair of UNSC frigates materialized through the fogginess and took position right above Canterlot, opening fire on the ground with their point defense guns.

“Archer,” Dante said, “did a scan on that gate earlier. We can’t blow it off with our current explosives, but if one of us scales the wall, he can blow up the generator on top. On the plus side, there’s a blind spot next to the doors.”

“I’ll handle that part,” Garrett said. “I’ve got a cable and a launcher with me.”

“What about the shield?”

“Remember that Saber earlier? It couldn’t punch through that dome, and it wasn’t getting shot at.” Garrett stood up, exposing himself to the soldiers stationed on the gate. He saw them aim their weapons, but they did not fire. “See what I mean? Nothing goes in or out. Just like the MAC blasts earlier, we’ll use the Scorpions’ main guns to fire at the same time. It’s a smaller size, so I’m pretty sure it’s weaker. I want smoke deployed right as the hole is made so I can sneak in through without being noticed. Everyone else, you know your roles.”

Acknowledgement lights winked. The humans got to their positions, with Garrett being on the left corner.

“Mark!” He shouted.

The two Scorpions aimed at the same spot and fired at the same time. Simultaneously, the ODSTs pulled out their smoke grenades and threw them, covering up the freshly made hole.

Utilizing the new cover, Garrett quickly dashed through the opening and went to the blind spot undetected. He aimed his cable high and fired. It flew over the top and hooked on. He climbed up, discovering that the hook was on the rooftop. He brought out his plastic explosive, tossed it through a window, and pressed the detonator.

Garrett heard the humans on the bridge break through the gate. Looking over his shoulder, he found the two Scorpions charging through the open gates, followed by ODSTs and marines. They fought head-on with the lunar guards and the Covenant.

The unicorns tried to shoot them down, but the Scorpions and buildings gave the humans more than enough cover. When some of the two groups of foot soldiers came to close quarters combat, Garrett actually felt sorry for the lunar guards and Covenant. Shotguns and assault rifles fitted with bayonets were up against energy weapons and magical crossbows.

There’s no hope in trying to fight an ODST and a marine with CQC in this situation, a thought in Garrett’s head whispered.

However, squads of pegasi began flying by and strafing into the battle at a small reward of destroying a tank and a handful of humans. Garrett felt a small knot in his gut as he saw them murdering his own soldiers without holding back. Sabres and Longswords moved in and intercepted them.

Garrett heard the Dante’s voice over the radio. “Archer, it’s time to make the push to the target. We’ve got vehicles down here.”

“On my way,” Garrett replied before sliding down the rope.

Outside, before the gates and the raging battle, a group of marines, a few ODSTS, and the six spartans on Warthogs and Mongooses waited.

Gallardo One and Five were on a Warthog and were offering him the passenger side. The other four and Dante were riding mongooses.

Garrett accepted the seat and pulled out his rocket launcher. “Move out!” he barked.

They all floored it and sped through the gate. The vehicles easy navigate through the chaos, mainly by running over anything that was not UNSC.

“Incoming!” yelled Dante. “Twelve o’clock! Up high!”

A massive wave of Banshees and lunar pegasi were flying in, firing plasma and lightning bolts.

The convoy returned fire with their machine guns and rocket launchers, but they were not enough to stop the airborne targets.

“Split up! Regroup at the castle entrance!” Garrett shouted, with a response of acknowledgement lights and half of the convoy turning to a different direction. He locked onto a Banshee and fired, easily destroying the vehicle.

Before he could have targeted a second Banshee, something rammed into the side of the Warthog, forcing his sights off of the aircraft.

“Ghost! Three o’clock!” Gallardo One shouted before ramming the alien vehicle by the side, forcing it away.

Garrett recovered himself and fired a rocket, ridding the convoy of another distraction. “Damn it! only got four left!” he cursed after reloading.

Dante’s group regrouped and followed them.

“Twelve o’ clock! Bridge!” Gallardo Five snapped.

Garrett turned, realizing that they were already at the castle. Two hunters stood in the middle and on guard, growling and preparing their fuel rod guns, but he beat them to it. He fired his two rockets, killing the two behemoths and exposing the plasma lines.

“Two Banshees! Six o’clock! Up high!”

Garrett reloaded and turned, shooting the last rockets at the two Banshees. Amidst the explosions, he saw other massive bolts of blue plasma flying in the air, aiming straight at them on the bridge.

“Incoming Wraith mortars!” Garrett yelled. “Step on it!”

As ordered, everyone accelerated, pedal to the medal. They were just in time to miss the explosions, and they halted right in front of the gate, with no enemy firing upon them.

“Everyone accounted for?” Garrett asked after breathing a sigh of relief, knowing that he escaped death.

“Look!” an ODST shouted. He pointed to the bridge.

Garrett felt a knot form in his gut when he realized that it was Dante on the bridge, his mongoose destroyed and his passenger dead. He crawled his way out of the wreckage and into the open. Behind him, lunar guards were sprinting towards him, spears raised and ready to gut him.

“Dante!” Garrett shouted, breaking into a sprint in an attempt to get him out on time, but the ponies would have beaten him to the trooper.

As a last act, Dante unpolarized his visor, pulled out a plastic explosive, and set it next to the hunters’ fuel rod cannons and exposed plasma lines.

Garrett froze. He felt helpless, seeing his friend prepare for the end and knowing that even if he tried to shoot them down, it would not have been enough. Damn it! Not you too!

One lunar guard came to a halt and raised a spear high with magic.

“Goodbye, Archer,” Dante whispered through the radio, his voice mixed with grim determination. He pressed the detonator, engulfing half of the entire bridge in a mixture of blue, green, and yellow flames.

Garrett fell to his knees, shaking his head.

He felt a spartan’s hand grab him by the rucksack and force him back up. “The mission comes first, captain,” Gallardo Six said.

Garrett nodded. “I need another weapon.”

An ODST reached over to the passenger seat of a Warthog and brought out a spartan laser. He passed it to Garrett.

“What’s the plan now, sir?” Gallardo One asked.

Garrett took a deep breath. Those princesses better have a damn good reason for all of this. “A while back, some guards told me about underground tunnels that are hidden under this castle. I’ll sneak my way through using those. The problem is that it’ll probably be hard to not attract attention.”

The ODSTs and spartans nodded.

“You know what to do,” Garrett added. “Be loud. I’ll be the one who stops... whoever is doing all this.”

The UNSC forces took up position on the gate. They blew the door open and charged in, opening fire upon the lunar guards and Covenant forces inside.

Garrett rappelled down to the side and found plasma lines going into a hole. He climbed in and found himself in the caves beneath the castle. Vast amounts dust gathered on the long-forgotten mining equipment. Crystals on the walls and ceilings reflected the light emitted from the blue, glowing pipelines, dimly brightening up the dark caverns. The muffled sounds of the on-going battle barely made it to the inside.

“Damn... Cadence must have had one hell of a tough time in here,” Garrett murmured. “Never thought that I’d actually have to be using this place.”

He followed the plasma lines as silently as possible, knowing that they would have led him somewhere into Canterlot Castle and into Covenant and lunar guards. However, as he went deeper, he could hear buzzing and ticks, much like an insect’s.

Garrett froze as he heard movement ahead of him. He ducked into cover, his grey combat armor camouflaging with the crystals and rocks.

Two lunar guards came into his view, scanning the area.

The sound of another set of hoofsteps came into Garrett’s ears, and it sounded like the owner was in a hurry. He himself had his VISR highlighting them in red.

A third guard came up to the pair. “The humans have breached the perimeter. They’re held up in the courtyard. The princess has ordered all available guards to move up and fight them.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, the three teleported out of Garrett’s sight.

“...Teleportation? Seriously?” Garrett grumbled before continuing on. As he slowly crept through the shadows, the ticking and noises were becoming so loud to the point where he could have barely heard himself think. To add to that, a foul, rotten smell reached his nostrils.

Once he finally came into an opening that was three stories high, Garrett finally realized just why the smell and ticking noises were impossible to miss, and the illumination from the plasma lines on the bottom added to the scenery.

“...Hot damn...” he murmured.

An entire hive of drones was hanging off from a massive stalactite. The insects were still asleep, buzzing and making ticking noises like bees drugged from smoke. The smell was at its strongest point.

Garrett pulled out his spartan laser, aimed at the stone at ceiling, and held the trigger, watching the reticle charge up. With one blast of the energy weapon, the stalactite melted off from the rock. The entire hive crashed into the running plasma lines below, exploding into a blue fire that extinguished the need of a light to see in the dark caves. Drones tried to escape and fly out, only to be fried by the blue death awaiting for them.

“...Needs more garlic,” Garrett commented before securing his helmet, sealing off the burning smell. He felt a cheer inside him that was dancing with joy, knowing that his need for revenge was getting its serving. However, it did not satisfy, and he knew exactly what his instincts demanded and what his conscience refused.

Looking up to where the nest used to be, the rest of the stalactite fell off, revealing a small shimmer of light, a way out.

Garrett pulled out his line launcher and used it to get through the opening, finding himself in one of the lowest points of Canterlot Castle. Using the shadows, the aid of his VISR, and his knowledge to his advantage, he snuck his way through, easily avoiding the detection of lunar guards and Covenant forces, who were all too busy directing their attention to the UNSC forces fighting them in the courtyards. ODSTs easily picked off targets from cover while the spartans and marines were the main forces returning fire.

After what seemed like an eternity of keeping his finger off of his assault rifle trigger and hiding in the dark to wait for a group of enemies to pass by, Garrett finally made it to what he knew as the entrance to the royal chambers, where he knew that someone would be inside.

Two lunar pegasi were posted right passed the secured door, preventing him from entering.

“I need a distraction,” Garrett whispered to his radio.

Almost immediately, an explosion blew through a wall, revealing a Hornet. The pegasi on the doors sprung into action, opening their wings and flying through the hole to fight the aircraft.

With all distractions pushed aside, Garrett pulled out his spartan laser and blasted the door open. He quickly switched it with his assault rifle and charged in, his pulse quickening.

Garrett quickly scanned the room. Several terminals lined the walls, and piles of Covenant supply crates lay scattered all throughout. The room appeared to be empty, with the occasional light of a tracer round, plasma bolt or streak of lightning passing by the windows.

“I was wondering when you would show up,” a voice said, making the hairs on the back of the Garrett’s neck stand. From the shadows of above, a figure flew into his view and landed in front of the throne. Her cobalt mane flowed like it was being blown by a non-existent wind. It sparkled with stars and matched well with her dark jewelry.

“...Luna,” Garrett breathed, his weapon pointing at her and his body as stiff as a statue.

The moon princess tilted her head to the side like a curious dog. “What is the matter with you? Are you too afraid to do what you came here to do?”

Garrett was silent, his hands lost on what to do.

A small smirk etched itself on to Luna’s face. “You are shaking, Garrett. Tell me, why did you become so soft?”

“...That’s because I want answers. First of all... why? I trusted you.”

Luna fired a lightning bolt, blasting the assault rifle out of Garrett’s hands.“You are more stupid than I thought,” she scoffed, “considering that you have infiltrated your way here.”

It was easy to see her gritting her teeth, holding off the temptation to just kill him on the spot. “First of all, you attacked the royal guard without hesitation, threatened my life, and shot and nearly killed my sister. Through my eyes, it was now clear what path you have taken and what choices we needed to pick.”

Garrett felt his guilt nearly make him choke.

“Once the Covenant found Equestria... let me put this in words that I am sure you will understand. When you join a war, just make sure you ally yourselves with the enemy of your own enemy.”

Garrett clenched his fist. “Don’t do this. There’s still a chance to stop this situation from turning into a deeper hellhole. Don’t listen to the Covenant bullcrap.”

His voice was raising. “I told you how violent they are! They only leave a path of scorched earth and death everywhere they go!”

“Are you any different?!” Luna snarled back.

Garrett fell silent, lost. He remembered how he tortured the elite earlier, how his own men shot down Equestrians with no mercy, and how the frigates were destroying Canterlot. “Luna... let me explain-”

“Oh, do not waste your breath and time,” Luna hissed. “I know why you did it. You attacked me and my sister because you just wanted to go home, correct? To force and torture others, including your friends, to have things go your way?!”

“No... it’s not like that... you know the UNSC needs every soldier they can get.”

“When will you understand, Garrett? One human out of billions will never make a difference! You are just one, insignificant man who can easily be replaced!”

Garrett’s sense of betrayal was turning into rage. “I just wanted to protect the things I hold on to!”

“Liar!” Luna spat. “You just want to die an honorable death in a tomb that you were born in, you selfish monster!”

“It’s not like that!”

“Then give me a good explanation that would justify why you nearly killed us!”

No words came out of Garrett’s mouth.

“Tell me!” Luna demanded.

Silence was her answer.

“...This will only end in destruction for both of us,” Garrett finally said.

Luna shook her head. “Your destruction is the will of the hierarchs...”

Her horn glowed, and her entire body was encased in white. Her form began growing, increasing in size slightly. The light around her faded away, revealing her new coat of black, dark violet mane, teal slits, a helmet, and sharpened fangs.

“...and we are their instruments,” Nightmare Moon finished, floating out two curved objects with magic.

That was the last straw for Garrett. His instincts switched from ‘try to negotiate’ to ‘hostile detected.’ Whoever it was that had the moon cutie mark, it was not the Luna he used to know. He placed his hand on his holster, gripping the magnum. “My orders are clear.”

“You’re a fool, human.” Nightmare Moon tossed him one of her curved objects. She activated her hilt, unleashing the blades of plasma.

Garrett caught the hilt and activated the energy sword. “A fool who’s about to have one helluva fun fight!”

Charging at full sprint, Garrett was the first to act. Nightmare Moon fired a lightning bolt, but he deflected the attack on time.

Garrett swung in a small arc, but Nightmare Moon blocked it with a swing of her own, their blades pressing together and giving off small sparks. With the brute force of magic, she overwhelmed him, but he managed to force the floating weapon down and narrowly dodged it. He brought up his elbow and gave a blow to the side of her neck, forcing her back.

That blow gave space in between them. They circled each other, blades raised high.

Nightmare Moon charged and fired a lightning bolt from her horn. Garrett sidestepped and quickly brought his blade back, anticipating her attack. She thrust her blade forward, and he parried it to the side.

Before he could have forced his sword down for the fatal strike, the Nightmare Moon shot another lightning bolt out of her horn, forcing Garrett to move to the side again. They both jumped back at the same time, allowing each other to plan for another attack.

Time and time again, they dueled furiously, dodging and slashing brutally yet precisely. They were like two ends of the swordfighting spectrum, like a samurai against a knight. Whenever one nearly came to the killing strike, the other either parried or dodged on time.

Garrett charged again and thrust his energy sword forward. Nightmare Moon had the same intention, doing the exact same attack. The two sets of blades interlocked into each other in mid-air, preventing any more attacks.

However, Garrett needed no sword to fight. He twisted his wrist, forcing the weapons out of his and her grasps, disarming both of them. Leaping to the air, he sent his fist into the side of her helmet, followed by his other hand. Next, he grabbed her by the head and forced it down as he lifted his knee high, resulting in a loud thump. He continued barraging Nightmare Moon with multiple punches, elbows, knees, and kicks.

After finally having enough, Nightmare Moon found a small opening to fight back. She did so with a jolt of electricity, making Garrett yell in pain. She then blasted him away with magic.

Garrett felt something like an elite gave him an uppercut, flipping him over and making him land on a pile of supply crates, spilling the plasma weapons from within.

After recovering himself, Garrett pulled out two smoke grenades and threw them to his sides, engulfing the room with a thick fog. He quickly blended into the grey, picking up the closest weapon his hands found while he was at it, a plasma pistol.

“Garrett!” Nightmare Moon shouted. “Show yourself!”

Pulling out his spartan laser, Garrett searched for the heat source with his VISR. Nightmare Moon was like a red dot on paper when he found her, her head scanning like a dog looking for its toy. Using his other hand, he overcharged the plasma pistol and fired the EMP. Immediately after the plasma exited the side arm, he grabbed hold of his heavy weapon with both hands, charging it up.

The overcharged bolt hit Nightmare Moon square in the chest, making her flinch. The laser, on the other hand, cut through the smoke like butter landed on the same spot, knocking her back. She yelped in pain, stumbling to regain balance. She began firing lightning bolts at the general direction, destroying parts of the floor.

Garrett easily dodged the attacks, remaining still and quiet as Nightmare Moon raged on. She finally came to her senses and flapped her wings with so much power that the room was cleared of the smoke, exposing the human.

“There you are!” Nightmare Moon spat, electricity coursing around her like an overloaded energy shield.

Garrett fired another overcharge at her, and she fought back with more lightning bolts. He circled around her, charging up his spartan laser. He fired again, yielding the same result, this time with an even louder yelp.

Looking to his right, he found a fuel rod cannon, lying and waiting on the floor. Before any more actions could have been made, Garrett felt another blow that was the equivalent to a fist land on his temple, making him drop his spartan laser. He then felt something like a rope tighten around his throat and lift him up in the air, making him choke.

“I’ve had enough of your toys,” Nightmare Moon hissed, bringing him closer and pressing him against the glass wall. She rubbed a hoof at one of the areas Garrett punched her at. “As barbaric as you are, I have to commend that you make interesting duels.”

There was no hope in trying to use muscle against magic. Garrett was beaten and overwhelmed. He looked straight into the eyes of Nightmare Moon, who was smirking victoriously. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Philomeena’s feather, their supposed symbol of friendship, still on his left shoulder pauldron. The memories of him with Luna were flooding back into his mind. He remembered how he laughed along with her and how she stayed with him when he was down. In there, he knew that deep inside, his friend was beneath all the shadow, armor, and hate. He could not hold it back.

“Before you do it... I just wanted to say... I thought you were my friend...”

Nightmare Moon slowly shook her head in disapproval and disappointment and brought him closer to her. “If we were friends, I wouldn’t be doing this.”

She blasted him with magic, making him smash through the glass wall and go into a free fall.

Garrett felt time slow down around him. The view of Nightmare Moon went out of his sight with each meter he travelled. He angled himself to falling straight down. “Anyone out there! I need a ride! ASAP!” he shouted in the radio.

Right next to him was a lunar pegasus, flying straight down as well to chase a Saber. The two of them looked at each other for a split moment, then a Pelican zoomed passed Garrett and slowly decreased the distance between it and him. The back door opened, revealing a marine extending his hand to catch him

Garrett looked again at where the lunar pegasus was. This time, however, the guard was gone. He looked up and found him flying the opposite direction, to the hole on the glass window up in the high tower of Canterlot Castle.

“Crap...”

Angling himself to be as straight as an arrow to go down, Garrett quickly closed the distance between him and the marine’s hand. When the two of them were mere inches away, the soldier holding on to the vehicle suddenly looked passed him. Shock was easily seen just by looking at his eyes.

“Look out!” he shouted.

Garrett felt something ram into his side, forcing him away. It grabbed hold of him tightly, and he punched and kicked to fight it. He then realized that it was Nightmare Moon, grasping him with magic and her four hooves.

Nightmare Moon sent a powerful jolt of electricity to Garrett, making him scream in agony. Every cell in his body shouted in pain, begging for it to stop. Once it ceased, his body felt weak and numb. She then started to fly back up, returning to the throne room. Several Sabers intercepted and chased after her, firing their main guns. Using her superior flight to her advantage, she easily dodged the tracer rounds and out maneuvered the aircraft all the way to the glass wall that had the gaping hole.

Garrett felt a force that was the equivalent of a bull’s rear legs smash into his chestplate, making him crash to the floor. He groaned in pain, clutching his upper torso.

“If a fall hundreds of meters off the ground won’t kill you, then I will!” Nightmare Moon shouted.

Garrett turned and found her flying up to the ceiling while holding two energy swords with magic, and he easily saw her plan. She was going to turn in an arc and gut the blades right through him.

With the last ounces of strength remaining in him, Garrett clawed his way and dragged himself to the closest weapon he could find. He heard Nightmare Moon yelling as she got closer, bringing his doom along with her.

Gripping the trigger of the weapon, Garrett held it tightly. With only a second left to spare, he quickly rolled over and faced Nightmare Moon, who was a mere five meters away. Immediately after he had a clear shot at her, the spartan laser finally fired, sending the last bolt of the energy weapon straight to her chest. Combined with the weakened effects of repeated overcharges, the pulse literally forced her back.

Garrett heard an ear-splitting cry of agony, followed by a bright light which appeared so fast that his visor was not able to polarized fast enough, forcing him to close his eyes.

When he came to, Garrett was relieved that he was still alive. He tossed away the dead spartan laser. Groaning and unpolarizing his visor, he slowly got to his feet. In front of him lay a body, who was no longer the monster Nightmare Moon. Instead, it was Luna.

Garrett got to his feet and limped his way to her. She was motionless, making him worry. He lowered himself to one knee and gently pressed to fingers on the side of her neck. Relieved, he felt a slow, steady pulse that quickened.

Luna gave a gasp and came to, heaving for air afterwards. Her eyes fluttered open and was looking straight at Garrett. She could not hide her sense of defeat and shame, and she looked too weak to do anything.

Garrett activated his radio. “Command... their leader is down.”

He turned around and found Gallardo Team opening the door and entering the room, securing the area.

“We’re done here, spartans. Pack up, and move out,” Garrett announced, feeling accomplishment restore energy back into him.

Gallardo One came to his side and looked at the fallen Luna. “Not just yet, captain.”

She reached for Garrett’s holster and pulled out his magnum, offering it to him grip first.

Garrett felt his heart skip a beat. He stared at the weapon, then at Luna. “No... look at her!” he protested. “She’s down, weak, and has had enough! It’s over!”

“Captain,” Gallardo One said, “You’ve seen what kind of danger she was. She’ll just recover and become just as powerful as before. If she gets to Earth, a lot of soldiers and people will die. You said it yourself that you’ll stop it right here, right now. If you can’t do it” -she pulled out her knife- “us spartans can do it for you. She’s with the Covenant now. You know what needs to be done.”

“If I kill her, I’ll be putting an entire race to suffering! There are still innocent beings out there that don’t deserve this! This is madness!”

“Madness?” Gallardo Three snarled. “This is war, where the first casualty is innocence. Since the dawn of humankind, when our ancestors first discovered the killing power of rock and bone, blood has been spilled in the name of everything, from justice to simple, psychotic rage. Even now, war... war never changes.”

With a slightly shaking hand, Garrett got the magnum and went to Luna. He slowly raised the weapon, aiming at her head.

Luna was looking at him fearfully, her breathing faster than ever.

Garrett felt all his memories flood back again. His friend was there, yet he knew what side she chose, and he understood where his loyalty lay. After giving an even tighter grip to the weapon, the shaking stopped.

“I’m sorry...” Garrett murmured.

He closed his eyes, polarized his visor, turned his head away, and pulled the trigger, hearing the loudest gunshot he ever heard in his entire life.

When Garrett opened his eyes again, he found himself walking away. He could not bear looking at the body. Instead, he focused his attention to the broken glass wall, where a spartan was setting up the UNSC flag, and a Pelican hovered passed the hole, waiting.

Garrett felt something under his boot. He looked and found Nightmare Moon’s black alicorn feather. After stooping down and picking it up, he added it to Philomeena’s feather and the ace of spades on his left shoulder pauldron. I had my orders... his thought reminded himself. “Let’s get back to the Burning Frost,” he ordered the spartans. “We’re done here.”

As ordered, the seven soldiers got on the aircraft, with Garrett being the last one. He spotted Gallardo Four holding an incendiary grenade.

“What’s that for?” Garrett asked.

Four pulled the pin and primed it. “Cleanup.”

He threw it out of the aircraft, and Garrett felt a knot in his gut when he found out that the grenade landed on Luna’s body to cremate her. He closed his eyes right before the canister detonated.

As the Pelican flew away, it was easy to see the UNSC forces down below cheering and celebrating, knowing that they were victorious. Other troop transports also took to the air, returning to their ship, and the rest who stayed behind were cleaning up the last pockets of resistance. Garrett fell back to a seat and took off his helmet, elbows on knees and forehead on palms. It was only then that everything was coming to him. We waged war on Equestria... we spilled blood on their own home... and I killed my own friend... where the hell have we gone wrong?

Discord finished yet another can of soda, crushed the piece of metal, and threw it to a trash bin like a basketball. He smiled as he discovered that the two princesses stopped struggling against their chains. “One down. One more to go,” he chuckled.

Garrett felt a tap on his shoulder, making him snap back into reality. “Captain, you may want to take a look at this,” Gallardo One said. Her voice was stern.

He placed on his helmet and went to the cockpit, which was already stuffed with the pilot and Gallardo Team. Once Garrett finally got a space for a clear view of where the Burning Frost would have been, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand.

“My God...”

Instead on being up in the air, the Burning Frost lay on the ground with its portside being supported by a mountain and the lower areas being on the earth. To everyone’s relief, the spacecraft was generally intact, save for a few sections of the hull that were in contact with the land.

Garrett heard the pilot open communications with the bridge. “Burning Frost, what’s your situation?”

Static and silence greeted them.

“UNSC Burning Frost, respond.”

Another empty response.

Gallardo One tapped Garrett on the shoulder. “Captain, the other Pelicans are waiting for orders.”

Garrett activated his radio. “Land on the aft deck, near the airlock that’s closest to the bridge. Be ready for anything. I’m not liking this at all.”

The Pelicans landed on the Burning Frost. The ODSTs and spartans jumped off, weapons loaded.

Garrett took the position to breach the airlock while the others readied themselves to storm in. Before he could have placed an explosive, a spark, much like a welder, began cutting through the doors.

Every soldier slowly watched the small flame make its way to the bottom. When it touched the floor, the doors blew open, and almost immediately, every human felt something wrap around his entire body, constricting them and forcing them to the ground. Several yelled in agony while others fought to resist, but it was useless.

“Well, what do we have here?” came a voice through the opened airlock.

Garrett felt his body become stiff like a statue once he realized that he recognized that tone.

Through the smoke, Celestia, escorted by golden armor-cladded solar guards and sangheili, came into view. Her horn glowed brightly, still casting the spell.

The aliens and solar guards quickly stripped them of their weapons. Once it was done, the humans stopped having the magic constrict them.

“First Luna... et tu, Celestia? Why?” Garrett asked, unpolarizing his visor.

Celestia shot him a look, and just one second of staring at her was enough to let Garrett know that she hated him, despised him. “You crossed the line, Garrett. You betrayed and attacked me and my guards, killed my sister, and harmed my subjects.”

She pointed to Nightmare Moon’s black feather on his left shoulder pauldron. “You’re even wearing her feather as a trophy. It’s my duty to do justice and to protect my ponies from more threats like you.”

An elite announced. “Holy Prophetess of Harmony, what do we do with these humans?”

Garrett’s jaw fell. “‘Prophetess?!’”

The image of Celestia being a friend was burned away in Garrett’s mind. Philomeena’s feather meant nothing to him anymore, and Nightmare Moon’s turned into a symbol of what every member of the Covenant Hierarchy deserves. Members now included Equestrians.

Celestia avoided Garrett. “Do what we did to the crew of this ship. Give them an example to show what happens if they don’t cooperate, just like last time with that aged colonel.”

Garrett felt his blood run cold. “You... you killed Stanford?!”

Still ignoring him, the elite smiled with its mandibles. It forced a human down to the ground and activated its energy sword.

Garrett felt a flashback hit him, remembering Johnny’s supposed sacrifice of taking a sword that was meant for him. “Wait!” He shouted, making everyone turn to him. “Wait...”

He got to his feet. “Before we started fighting, I told my men to remember one thing if they forgot their orders: victory at any cost. That means that we would have let nothing get in our way to winning and destroy whatever... whoever tried to stop us...”

Celestia gritted her teeth, growling.

“In other words,” Garrett continued, “I ordered my men to shoot your guards...

He took a deep breath.

“...And I ordered Luna’s execution. On the ground, these men were under my command... I hold the responsibility of their actions. If you promise not to harm them, you can do whatever you want to me. Be it kill me now or rip my limbs off with your own magic, I’ll accept... just don’t hurt my soldiers.”

Garrett extended his arm, opening his palm. “Do we have an agreement?”

Everyone was silent, staring at him. Celestia slowly made her way to Garrett. She extended her hoof and shook his hand. “It is settled, then,” she said.

Before he knew it, Garrett felt Celestia’s magic wrap around himself and slam him against the hull of the ship with enough power that it sounded like a bang when he collided.

He screamed in agony, pain reaching points where it was a wonder why his bones have not broken yet. The magic wrapped around him loosened up, making him fall down to all fours.

“Captain!” an ODST shouted. She tried to run and help Garrett up, but a pair of solar guards stopped her. She struggled and tried to fight free. “Damn it! I’ll kill all of you alien bast-”

“Stand down, soldier!” Garrett ordered with a pained groan. “That’s a damn order!”

She stopped struggling to get passed the guards, fighting to hold back the urge to help him. Just by looking at body language, Garrett saw that the other soldiers, even the most disciplined spartans, were barely managing to resist the instinct to give him aid.

Celestia picked Garrett up again with magic and smashed him again against the ship’s hull. He screamed, this time a weaker groan.

She pulled him back again and slammed him for the third time on the ship. She released him, letting his back slide against the wall and making him fall to his knees.

Garrett barely moaned, and somehow he saw the ground rush up and meet him before his world faded to black.

When he came to, Garrett found himself being dragged across a dark hallway with purple floors and blue lights from the walls as a source of light. Two elites were holding him by the arms. In front of him were Celestia, Galea, and Turbulence. Muffled cheers from a door ahead reached his ears.

“Holy Prophetess of Harmony he has regained consciousness,” the elite carrying Garrett’s right said.

“Right on time,” the other sangheili commented.

The door opened, and the cheers became crystal clear. Ahead of them was a stadium several stories high. Garrett was being dragged to the stage, where a pair of floating cuffs awaited. The crowd of Covenant aliens and Equestrians roared in excitement as he came into their view.

They fixed his arms to the pair of cuffs floating in the air, just high enough for his feet to touch the ground, and they restraint them as well. One elite ripped off Garrett’s shirt, exposing his upper body.

“Why do that?” Garrett taunted. “What’s the point of eating sushi if all you’ll do is undress it in the end?”

“You have drawn quite a crowd, human. I hope they will enjoy the show,” the sangheili murmured to Garrett’s ear.

“I aim to please,” Garrett spat back.

“We will see,” replied the same elite. The two of them turned and left, chuckling amongst themselves.

Celestia turned to him, facing him with two feet separating their faces. “After everything I did for you... after I had to be forced to cope with what you did in first hour we met, you reward me with this. Is this how you treat everyone you meet? Take advantage of them for your own personal use then throw them away when you’re done? Just like what you did to my sister? I thought you were more than that.”

Garrett glared eye to eye at Celestia, anger in him reaching to a boil. “I had no choice!”

“You always had a choice!”

“I tried, damn it!” Garrett shouted. “ I did everything I could have-”

Celestia cut him off by slapping him in the face with magic. “Your words mean nothing to me anymore! You failed to protect us from threats like your own self! Luna is dead! Canterlot is destroyed and is under human rule! My ponies are suffering because of your so-called ‘fight for survival’!”

She took a deep breath, clearing her thoughts. Celestia grabbed hold of Garrett by the neck with magic. “Whatever connection formed in between you and I has long been forgotten and destroyed. You’re dead to me now, and that’ll never change.”

Celestia let go of him. “Do what is needed,” she ordered Turbulence and Galea.

Galea came up to Garrett’s front, brought up his hind legs, and kicked him square in abdomen.

Garrett felt the blow make him breathless. “That all you got?” he taunted.

Galea trotted away and glanced at Turbulence. “I’ll let you have the pleasure of delivering justice.”

Turbulence nodded. “Thank you, captain.”

She formed a storm cloud and gently rested on top of it, hovering right in front of Garrett. “You know, you still have a way out of this,” she said to him.

“Thanks, but no thanks.”

“Despite your bravery, your agreement to take the punishment of your other soldiers is downright foolish.” Turbulence made the cloud hover higher to allow the crowd to have a view of Garrett.

“What could I say? They’re my friends? Besides, I’m human. We don’t make the most perfect of things,” Garrett commented.

Turbulence leaned over the cloud. “You and I have different opinions on what makes a good friend.”

“Agreed.”

“This is for Downburst and my friends,” she hissed.

Garrett growled and forced a smile. “You can’t kill me.”

“I can at least try.”

Turbulence lifted both of her hooves up high and smashed them upon the cloud, sending two streams of lightning into Garrett’s floating cuffs, channeling into him.

Gritting his teeth, Garrett shook in pain, fighting hard to avoid screaming and giving in. Every inch of his body wailed in agony. The crowd cheered even louder, watching him suffer.

The volt kept on going to the point where Garrett thought that he was becoming cooked by it. Wave after wave of lightning bolts entered his body, with him still desperately fighting to not scream. When it felt like he was about to die, Turbulence finally stopped electrifying him. He hung limp from his restraints, gasping for air.

Garrett weakly raised his head. Turbulence was back on the ground and returning to Celestia’s side. Captain Galea was holding up a strange, massive object with a flat end. He offered it to the princess.

Celestia accepted it by holding it with magic. She then went to Garrett’s front, showing off the flat end that glowed red-orange, and he finally realized what it was for.

They were going to burn a brand onto his own flesh using the iron.

“Is this how justice is done in Equestria?” Garrett asked.

“This is how justice is done in the Covenant,” Celestia said. She pressed it on the left side of his chest, and the crowd cheered even louder.

Garrett tried to fight on, resisting to scream amidst hearing the hiss of his own skin cooking. He shook violently and finally gave into the pain, yelling a howl so powerful it cut through the crowd’s cheer like butter.

The final torture process was a horror on the mirror which nopony could have forgotten. Many cringed and looked away. Even more tried stuffing their hooves into their ears, hoping to prevent the sound from registering to them, but no matter how hard they tried, it was impossible to prevent them from hearing Garrett’s real body also shaking and screaming in agony, his chains clinking against each other with every movement.

Even Captain Galea was recoiling in horror. He crouched down to his knees, covering his ears with his hooves. “Make it stop... Make it stop... Make it stop...” he begged in faint whispers, shaking.

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy, the heroes of Equestria, were not capable of doing anything but grip onto one another, drawing back and with tears dripping out of their eyes.

Feeling himself come to, Garrett gasped for breath. He felt a cold, hard floor on his back and heard several whispers around him. Realizing that his suffering ended, he grunted and groaned as he tried to get to a sitting position, his body aching.

“Dear God... he’s still alive,” Garrett heard a voice breath in shock. More murmurs echoed into his ears.

Opening his eyes, Garrett found himself alone and in a cell, with other ODSTs, marines, and the six spartans grouped together in other units. They were all in their armor but stripped of any weapons and gear, staring at him.

Garrett found his armor piled together in a corner, with Philomeena’s and Nightmare Moon’s feathers still there. He felt a sharp pain in his left chest, a wound pulsing. He looked at the damage and nearly cursed. Still, there was no way to hide the fact that Celestia branded him with a phoenix’s feather.

“Captain...” an ODST said. “We’ll make them pay-”

“Spare me the lecture. Why are all of you in armor?” Garrett interrupted, getting to his feet. He directed his look to the spartans. “...Especially you six. You can easily just punch through these bars and cause a storm.”

“We can’t. They cast some sort of spell,” Gallardo Two said. He brought up his fist and smashed the bars, only to have a sudden barrier form and absorb the damage. “Salt to the wound right there. It only activates if we try to break it.”

“Anything you overheard while I was out?”

“Celestia ordered the Burning Frost to be looted of pretty much all of her weapons and vehicles and to load them to this assault carrier. She said something about wanting pony scientists to study our more ‘primitive’ equipment to allow Equestrians to develop their own gear. Other than that, it was mostly talk of your torture and how much of a show you put up.”

“Boss,” a marine said, pointing to Garrett’s scar. “What’s that suppose to be?”

“Insult to injury,” Garrett replied, heaving a sigh. “A... friendly reminder about the sides we take in this war and how there are no exceptions. It’s complicated.”

“We’re willing to listen.”

“All right. This mark is a phoenix’s feather. A while back, these ponies, believe it or not, saw me as a friend. Celestia’s royal pet, a phoenix named Philomeena, also accepted me as a friend, so she gave me a feather, a suppossed symbol of our friendship.”

Garrett forced a laugh. “Now that they’ve chosen the Covenant’s side in this war, this fashion accessory has no more meaning. That was until I met the other princess Nightmare Moon. She finally made me understand how war never changes. Celestia burned it on me, thinking that I would break because it was to remind me of my so-called ‘betrayal’ on them, but they were wrong. It hardened me, made myself remember that they’ve become our enemies, and they should get what they deserve. From this day on, I can say that these-” he pointed to the feathers “-can serve as an icon to do whatever it takes to stop them.”

“If it’s something that makes the Covenant pissed,” the same marine added, “I’ll proudly have that as a tattoo on me.”

“Hell, we should all have it inked on us!” another marine shouted, sparking several cheers and raising of fists.

The motivation kept on growing until a discharge of a plasma rifle made everyone fall silent. A jackal came into view, wielding a plasma rifle on one hand and a bottle filled with a red fluid on another. “Silence, humans!” it hissed.

It then opened the cap of the bottle and drank a few drops of the thick fluid within.

“Says the alien with a bottle of ketchup!” an ODST shouted, making nearly every human who heard laugh out loud.

The jackal looked at the bottle, tilting its head slightly like a curious dog.

“Don’t know what it is?” Garrett asked. “Ketchup is fermented blood that’s gone through a special process. Us humans use that to add a little more flavor to our meat and vegetables. In fact, a recent study showed that your species’s blood could be easily converted and be served as a new condiment. Research is currently being done if Covenant prophet blood can be used as well.”

The jackal’s grip on the bottle loosened, making it fall to the floor with a loud clink. It then began to violently spit out the ketchup on Garrett with its half-full mouth. “You... humans... sicken me!”

Galea, accompanied by a doctor, came into view and smacked the jackal’s head with the butt of his crossbow. “Oh, shut up already!” he shouted. “He’s been lying to you! It’s just ketchup! Tomatoes!”

The jackal stumbled and stood straight again, shaking slightly as the thought still lingered in its head.

Galea opened Garrett’s cell and forced him to his knees with magic, binding his legs and hands to the floor. Still staying cautious, he entered with his crossbow levitating in the air, pointing straight at his head. “Do what’s needed,” he ordered the doctor.

The medical pony floated out a vial filled with a green potion out of her saddle bag. She then uncorked it and tipped it at Garrett’s lips, which were closed shut.

“He’s refusing to take it,” the doctor said.

Galea forced open Garrett’s mouth and used his magic to make the green fluid sprint down his throat, nearly making him gag.

Garrett felt all of the pain burn away in him. Strength returned to his system, making him feel better than ever. “What? Celestia’s having a change of heart and decided to play nice?” he choked.

Galea shook his head. “No, it’s to prepare you for your second round.”

The two left his cell, accompanied by the jackal.

All the soldiers were silent, staring at Garrett.

He, on the other hand, managed to slip his arm through the bars and grabbed hold of the bottle of ketchup. “I think it’s time I need to try my hand at art,” Garrett said, inspecting the amount still left.

Fully armored with the exception of a helmet, Garrett sat in the corner of his cell like a rotting corpse. Ketchup was oozing out of his mouth like blood and dripping onto his armor. He was motionless as a new jackal came into view, wielding a plasma rifle.

Once it saw Garrett’s cell, it jumped back and yelped in shock, its hand shaking slightly.

Garrett was fighting the urge to smile and laugh. Not only did he take pride in looking like a dead body, but he was also proud of the message he wrote on the wall. It was composed of two simple words that looked like they were written in blood: KILL CELESTIA.

The jackal opened the cell door and entered, inspecting the writing on the wall. “The prophetess will never accept him dead...”

Garrett quickly stood up, wrapped his arms around the jackal’s neck, and placed his hand to cover the mouth. The surprise made it drop its weapon. Like a python gripping to its prey, he held on tightly until it gave out its very last breath. It jerked, resisted, and tried to scream in the first few moments, but it gave in a few seconds later.

“Nice,” Gallardo Five said, nodding in approval.

Garrett placed on his helmet and picked up the plasma rifle. He quickly scanned the hall, only to find it empty of any guard. He made his way to the door, and it opened upon his arrival.

He found himself entering a command room that was several stories high like a spire. On the center of the ground floor, there was an elevated platform which contained the controls to the prison wing. A team of grunts and jackals was using the terminals.

Holding the plasma rifle by the hip, he gunned them down, one by one. Many were too late and never saw him coming. Those who did manage to react were not given the chance to even reach for their weapons.

After making it cool down, Garrett went up the ramp and reviewed the details of the ship. He then pressed on the terminal to unlock all the jail cells in the prison wing. On the screens, he saw the humans yanking the guards’ weapons away and killing them. Many were forced to the ground and beaten to death with fists and kicks. On the platform, his ears heard the many yells and battle cries as the soldiers were fighting their way to his location, the only way out. He studied the hologram of the nearby areas, taking full notice of the massive hangar near him.

The doors from the other halls began opening, and UNSC soldiers filled up the other sections, armed with either a stolen energy weapon or their own fists.

“Orders, boss?” an ODST asked over the radio.

“Everyone, I want this perfectly clear: if you find a hostile trying to surrender, try to get some words out of them. We’ll need every bit of info we can get. Gallardo Team, there’s a hangar after the door. Take point, and clear out any hostiles.”

The six spartans nodded and made their way through the door. Not long after, Garrett heard a voice on the radio.

“All clear, captain,” Gallardo One announced. “Also, jackpot this place has all the weapons we need.”

“You heard the spartan,” Garrett said to the others with his radio. “Help yourselves.”

All the soldiers made their way to the hangar and got their weapons. The hangar overwhelmed anyone who entered. Crates upon crates filled with UNSC weapons and gear were stacked along the wall. Sunlight seeped in through the massive bay doors, revealing that the ship was on top of a planet. Five Phantoms were hovering off of the second floor, waiting for a pilot and cargo.

Marines and ODSTs were picking their equipment, and Garrett made do with an assault rifle and several packs of explosives.

“...Guys,” a marine said, standing motionless as he stood on the edge of the bay door, “...it’s Earth.”

Everyone fell silent, and Garrett felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight.

“...We’re right above Vancouver,” the same marine added. “I can see English Bay from here... and my own home.”

Garrett clenched his fist. Despite his limited view, he saw another assault carrier come into view and take position next to the ship. “We need to stop them. Right here. Right now.”

“Sir, we did another sweep of the prison wings,” an ODST announced. He pointed to a group of people behind him. They were shaken, fear keeping them silent. “One hall was filled with civilians.”

Garrett’s order came out instantly. “Get them out of here with the Phantoms, then.”

“Understood, captain,” the ODST replied. He made his way up to one of the Phantoms and made it hover down to the bottom floor. The boarding ramp then extended to the ground.

“All right, get on board!” Garrett announced to the civilians, waving them in.

He watched the humans get on board. Men and women, shaken and murmuring amongst themselves, went up the boarding ramps. Their ages ranged from the youngest adult to the aged senior. Garrett took off his helmet and breathed a sigh. At least I could get them out of here, he thought to himself.

“...Garrett?” A gentle but slightly scared voice said, making Garrett feel stunned.

He turned and found a very familiar woman, shaken but alive and well. Garrett recognized her, and he could never mistake her for another.

Garrett ditched his helmet and sprinted forward to embrace her. She, in turn, wrapped her arms around him tightly. Her fear was causing her to shake, making her grip slightly loose. He tightly secured her to him, feeling his sense of loneliness finally go away.

“Garrett...”

“It’s okay, Claire,” Garrett whispered in an attempt to comfort her. “I’m here. No one will hurt you anymore.”

He took a deep breath. “Where’s Sarah?”

“I got her to a transport with my brother. She’s safe.” She gave a tighter embrace. “When they found us... When they started interrogating you... I thought I would’ve lost you... and I was scared that they’d get one of us next...”

“Hey,” Garrett hushed. He reached into his pocket and felt a sense of relief as he knew that his wedding ring was still in there. He brought it out and showed it to Claire. “I’m still alive, and I’m still keeping my promise to you.”

“But--”

“No buts, sweetheart.” Garrett kept his ring. He swiftly pulled out the ace of spades on his shoulder and gave it to her. “Whatever it takes, I swear, you’ll get to someplace better, and I’ll see you again. Soon. Okay?”

Claire nodded.

The two of them let go of each other. Garrett watched her go up the ramp and into the Phantom. The bay door closed, and the engines hummed to life.

The three Phantoms flew out of the hangar and into the open sky. The knot in Garrett’s gut was still there, twisting his insides. “It’s tough letting her go... I haven’t seen her in years...”

An ODST patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, sir,” she reassured him. “She’s safe now.”

“Yeah...”

“Your highness,” an elite’s voice growled through the speakers, “the humans have broken out of their cells and are using the Phantoms to escape. The targets have been identified.”

“Open fire,” Celestia replied.

Garrett felt his blood freeze. The plasma cannons were easy to hear. No one could have done anything as they watched the bolts fly through the sky. They hit the Phantoms, destroying them and leaving no debris left.

Falling to his knees, Garrett placed his hands on his face. “Oh, no... no, sweetheart,” he murmured. “You don’t deserve any of this! I tried to protect you! Damn it! I tried! I... I...”

He shook his head. “Please! No! Claire! Don’t leave me!”

He took a deep breath. “...Please...”

The marines, ODSTs, and spartans stared at the scene, silent. They lowered their heads, each trying to pay respects. It was all quiet minus Garrett sobbing. He may have survived the torture and war so far, but deep inside, he had already been killed. “...I love you so much...”

After what seemed like an eternity of unfathomable amounts of begging, Garrett finally slowed down and blinked a couple of times. He stopped his mourning and started to take deep breaths, much like how a fighter would be before starting a match. He walked over to his helmet, and he slipped it on. “I think it’s time for us to get some payback.”

“Agreed, sir,” a marine said. “I lost my mom and dad on Reach, my brother on Eridanus II... and my sister a few moments ago.”

Garrett stood up. “All of you,” he ordered in growls, “are to separate into teams and are permitted to walk through every hall guns blazing. Attach bayonets if you found some. My orders on prisoners are still clear, but I want Gallardo Team under my command.”

He pointed to massive double doors on the far side of the hangar “You’ve got a special task with me,” he said to the spartans. “Is that clear?”

Acknowledgement lights winked. The marines and ODSTs divided themselves and took the hallways of their choice. Gunfire resonated from each one. War cries were ever present.

“Orders, sir?” Gallardo One asked.

“I’ve went through the map earlier,” Garrett replied. “Passed those doors, we’ll be on the top floor of a massive room that’s about twenty stories high. At the bottom is another hangar bay. I want you to clear out our floor.”

The six spartans nodded and took positions next to the door.

Garrett watched the team burst through the door, engaging in whatever was beyond them. The only things he heard were the sounds of elites screaming and gunfire, followed by the thumps of massive things falling.

“Sir! Hostiles down!” Gallardo One announced.

Garrett made his way through the double doors and checked the area. Just like what he said, it was a massive room that had an enormous elevator that travelled down to another hangar floor. At the bottom, Equestrians and Covenant were in formation, awaiting for Phantoms to pick them up and still unaware of their presence. Gallardo Team was next to a pile of dead elites, checking them for anything useful.

“Well done, spartans,” Garrett commented. “Transfer some heavy weapons to the elevator. Make sure each one of us gets a fair share”.

Garrett brought out a pack of explosives. With a beep, the red light turned on, signifying that it was armed and ready, then he tossed it over the edge. He pressed the detonator right before it would have landed on a Phantom.

The explosion knocked out the alien aircraft, forcing it to crash to the others. The Equestrians and Covenant forces scrambled in confusion and surprise.

“Spartans, how’s all of our gear?” Garrett asked, inspecting the crates stashed at the cargo elevator.

“Enough weapons to feed anyone’s demand, captain,” replied Gallardo Two.

Garrett joined the spartans in the elevator. He pressed the switch and the elevator doors closed. It began descending down the various floors.

“Captain, are you sure about all this?” Gallardo One asked.

“Feet first into hell, spartan,” Garrett replied, picking up a bubble shield projector. “If you don’t want in, I can just stop the elevator right now and let you guys go your separate ways.”

“It’s crazy, sir,” the spartan retorted.

“...But it’s not crazy enough for spartan standards,” Gallardo Two added. The entire team chuckled.

The time for jokes came to an end once the elevator slowed to a halt on the bottom floor.

Garrett and the spartan team stood straight as they hit the hangar floor. The door was still in between them, preventing both the humans and the alien forces from shooting each other. They managed to see the Equestrians and the Covenant forces aiming their weapons at them.

Reaching to the bubble shield projector, Garrett primed it to deploy. The spartans readied their weapons. Sangheili, grunts, jackals, unicorns, and pegasi were growling at them, demanding their blood. The wreckages of the Phantoms were still smoking.

It all happened so quickly. Once Garrett saw the door flinch to open, he threw down the bubble shield projector, surrounding him and the spartans in a protective shield. Each of them then lifted their gatling guns, spun them up, and made the ends of the barrels stick right outside the barrier.

They rained lead on the aliens and ponies. The Equestrians and Covenant tried to fight back, but the bubble shield blocked the damage. The humans, on the other hand, were dropping them faster than flies and with more ease than shooting fish in a barrel with a shotgun. When the protective barrier deactivated, it was still not enough for the UNSC soldiers to get shot at because whoever did try to get up and return fire received a few bullets instead.

The ammo counter on Garrett’s visor finally ticked to zero, right on time as the last target fell. Barrels smoking and ammo belts empty, he and the spartans disposed the gatling guns.

They pulled out their assault rifles and advanced forward, scanning the area. Gallardo Team moved down the sides while Garrett was still checking for movement.

“Sir! Survivors!” Gallardo Two called out next to a downed Phantom.

Garrett and the rest of the team regrouped and aimed their weapons at their newly found prisoners. Two had them against the fuselage of the crashed alien aircraft.

“So, it’s come to this, too, hasn’t it?” Garrett asked, staring at Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack. They each stared at him with mixed emotions of fear, anger, and betrayal. Silence broke out between them as they glared at one another.

“They’re not willing to talk, captain,” Gallardo Two said. “They cast a spell or something to keep their mouths shut.”

They’re your friends, damn it. Garrett clenched his fist, his anger and rage still not finding a way out, yet his gut was still fighting on hard.

...Orders are orders, Mister Archer, a voice which was not his stated in his head.

“You know what I told you, spartans.” He turned his back and walked away, towards the main door out of the hangar. He almost tripped over the bodies of Galea and Turbulence.

“Ready!” Gallardo One shouted. “Aim!”

Garrett did not look back. He kept on going on, attention still on the way out.

“Fire!”

Garrett heard six rifles fire at the same time, followed by six bodies hitting the floor.

Despite all of that, he felt nothing anymore.

A small flame sparked to light in front of his foot, bringing him to a halt. Garrett stomped on it, hoping to extinguish it quickly. Instead, the fire spread out and formed around him. He tried to jump out, only to have a strange force push him back in. The more he remained inside, the brighter the ring grew.

“Captain!” Gallardo One shouted.

The spartan team broke into sprints.

By the time they were only a few footsteps away, Garrett’s vision was completely obscured by the bright flames. The fire kept on burning like a hell around him, yet he was not hurt the slightest.

The flames died down, and Garrett found himself in another place that was completely different compared to the hangar. He was still in the assault carrier and in a large hallway, staring at a door which he was sure to have something important beyond. Despite knowing the obvious trap, he opened the door and went in, assault rifle ready.

“...Jackpot,” he murmured, knowing exactly where he was.

The room was large and with a massive holo table on the center, accompanied by several terminals that lined the walls. The bridge of the assault carrier was dim, making the blue lights flickering on the control panels the sources of light. The place looked deserted until Celestia came out of the shadows and into Garrett’s view.

She came to a halt in front of the holo table, the blue holograms lighting her up. The look on her face was enough to make any individual think that she was facing Discord.

Before Garrett was able to even flinch an inch, Celestia grabbed hold of his rifle and magnum with magic. She then floated them to his front and crushed them like a car compactor.

Next, Garrett felt himself get lifted up. He was brought closer to her, in front Celestia and the holo table, and then he felt her power force him down to his knees, making him clench his teeth as he fought the pain. He looked up at her, and she stared at him with her eyes blazing.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” she said.

“Go ahead,” he spat. “Strike me down.”

“I won’t kill you.”

“Why do that?” Garrett asked back. He unpolarized his visor. “I was leading the operation to attack Canterlot. I ordered my men to shoot your soldiers. I killed Luna.”

The look on Celestia face which spelled out loud that she wanted to destroy him was ever more present.

“I had your lieutenant commander and captain gunned down,” Garrett continued. “I started the prison break... and I ordered the execution of your six helpers. I take full responsibility of all the things that happened to Equestria and on this ship, so why not just end me now and get it all over with? Avenge them.”

Celestia forced his arm up and made him press on the holo table.

Garrett saw the screen create a live feed in front of him. Vancouver lay below them, and a hot stream of plasma shot out of the assault carrier, starting the destruction of the city. His gut turned violently as he watched the buildings collapse and turn into molten glass.

“Dear God...” he breathed.

Celestia lifted him up with magic and threw him aside, making him smash into a wall next to a terminal. Sparks emerged from where he landed. Cables and plasma lines flickered in various locations from the destroyed area.

Garrett felt his body turn numb. His limbs refused to carry out his orders.

Gallardo One’s voice came through his radio. “Captain! We’re getting live feed from your helmet camera. Look at the terminal that you’re right next to... you know what to do.”

“...We know what we signed up for,” Gallardo Two added before communications were cut off.

Garrett raised his head and stared at the control panel to his left. He memorized the symbols from his training, and the ace of spades on his shoulder pauldron made him remember exactly what he could and should do.

Celestia flew to Garrett’s front, looking down upon him. Her face easily reflected the thought of her being victorious.

“Sorry, Sarah,” Garrett whispered, “you’ll have to stay with the cousins for a while.”

His hand found grip on a broken piece of metal from the wall. He quickly stood up and swung the piece of debris, striking Celestia by the side of her head. She gave a surprised yelp and staggered, nearly falling. Tossing away the improvised weapon, Garrett tackled her and slammed her head on the console. His animal instincts were kicking in. Pinning her down by the neck, he mounted position, raised his fists high, and brought down blows that were hard enough to make MMA fighters proud.

“This is for my wife!”

He smashed his fist on her head.

“For my friends!”

Another blow to her face.

“For the humans who died because of your hierarchy!”

The punch landed on her cheek.

“...For my home,” he growled before giving the strongest punch in the set.

Garrett then stood up, tapped the control panel, and gestured the commands. The screen showed the ship ramming into the assault carrier beside it in full engine power, destroying the shields of both of them. The loud crash of metal against metal justified just how hard he made the two hit.

The impact violently rocked the entire ship, knocking Garrett slightly off balance. He took off his helmet and tossed it away, finding no more use for it. He then pressed another set of controls on the terminal, and the screen showed Celestia’s ship opening fire upon the assault carrier with its plasma batteries. Blue flames and explosions erupted on the sides of both of them, travelling through the hulls.

“What are you doing?!” Celestia hissed. “You’re just throwing the lives of you and your soldiers away!”

Garrett grabbed Celestia’s head and made her look at the control room bursting into flames. He wrapped his arm around her neck and tightened, making her struggle to breath.

“What could I say, prophetess?” Garrett asked with grim victory. “I’m just a human. We don’t make the best plans.”

He took a deep breath. “...Never thought it would end like this...”

The flames and explosions reached out, engulfing and wrapping both of them to a fiery end. Amidst all the noise, he managed to hear his final thought, At least it doesn’t hurt this time...

Discord stood up, applauding the ending with a cheer. “Bravo, Mister Archer! Bravo!”

The two chained princesses were locked in each other’s embrace, silent and with their eyes closed in hopes to not see the torture. A thump from near the screen made Luna opened her eyes. She felt a very powerful knot form in her as she saw Garrett with one knee on the ground, his head facing downwards.

For the first time, Luna actually was scared of him. She and Celestia were trapped, Discord corrupted Garrett into hating them, and they were in no position to convince him that it was all fake.

“Hello, Garrett,” Discord greeted, coming to his side.

“Afternoon,” Garrett growled back, still keeping his head down.

“Oh, such anger!” Discord lowered himself to be slightly above Garrett’s head. “You’re just lusting for vengeance right now, aren’t you?”

“That’s right.” Garrett quickly brought his hand up and grabbed hold of Discord’s neck, making him choke. “And I’m starting with you, Picasso.”

He shoved Discord away, making him nearly trip over the coffee table. Garrett finally stood up and slowly etched his way towards him, both fists clench and his breathing heavy like an enraged bull.

“H-hey!” Discord nervously said, getting back up. “I didn’t kill your men! You want revenge on the princesses, and so do I! We’re on the same team!”

Blinded by his anger, Garrett growled like a lion and charged forward. He raised his fist and gave a straight punch to Discord’ face.

When the blow landed, cracks quickly appeared on Discord’s face. They rapidly spread throughout his body. Once they all met, he shattered into pieces like glass. It all happened as fast as how he was lifted off of his feet when he got hit, and the host soul finally had one less guest with him.

Celestia and Luna felt their chains unwrap around them, indicating that Discord was fully out of Garrett’s soul. As much as they would have felt relief, they also felt their fears grow stronger than ever. They turned and found Garrett staring at them with a killer’s set of eyes.

“Garrett, please,” Luna breathed.

Ignoring her, Garrett sprinted to a charge, determined to bring harm to the two princesses, but he was too late. With a flash of light, the princesses vanished and left his soul, leaving him alone.

Celestia and Luna materialized back into the real world. They panted heavily, still shaken by their close call. The scene that awaited them, however, just added to their worries.

There were now twice as many guards in the room, aiming magical crossbows, spears, and storm clouds at Garrett’s body. Several barricades had been set up around the stone table. Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and the rest were being protected by a set of guards that were determined to defend them to their last heartbeats.

“Your highness, we’ve seen what he’s done with the mirror,” Captain Galea announced. He approached the princesses and gently guided them to the safety of the improvised defence. “I’m sorry, but we’ve lost him. We can’t afford to take any more risks, with regards to your safety.”

He lowered his head. “He was a good man... If he hadn’t lost his mind... I would have gladly given him a place in our command...”

“Thanks, but no thanks, captain,” Garrett said.

Everypony felt chills travel down their spines.

By instinct, several guards sprung into action and tried to pin Garrett down. Despite the restriction of movement due to his chains, he was still able to fight them off, forcing them away with powerful pushes.

Turbulence abandoned her helmet and flew to Garrett’s side. She gripped his head with her hooves and made him look at her. “Garrett! It’s me! It’s Turbulence!”

Blinded by the lies, rage, and malice, Garrett roared and smashed his forehead into Turbulence, knocking her back. She yelped and fell to the floor, clutching her head with her hooves.

The room fell silent, save for the sound of Garrett still fighting against his chains. Everypony looked at the scene in disbelief, jaws hanging from their heads. Downburst rushed to the commander’s side and gently helped her up. She looked at him, shock ever present on her face.

“Garrett...” Turbulence whimpered.

“Go to hell!” Garrett snarled. “Burn another mark on me for kicks! I dare you!”

A sphere of magic formed around the stone table, followed by a figure which nopony wanted to see. Discord materialized in front of the stone, rubbing the spot where Garrett’s punch landed. “Perhaps our first encounter wasn’t at the best of times,” he said.

Garrett growled, staring at him.

Celestia, Luna, and the guards began hitting the shield with all their power, but to no avail. Even Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, and the rest joined in. Pinkie Pie utilized her party cannon at full power, the recoil so strong that it blasted her to the wall. She shook it off and fired again, repeating the process.

“Let’s talk business, shall we?” Discord asked. He snapped his fingers, popping open the metal cuffs. Cautiously, Garrett went to a sitting position. “I’ll give you another chance to join me and take down the princesses... together.”

“What’s in it for me?” Garrett asked. “A few shiny coins?”

“Weapons,” Discord chuckled. He made a mirror appear on his palm. The image showed a wall that had enough weapons to feed an army. To name a few, there were daggers, long swords, sabres, lances, longbows, among others. There was even a set of custom-made armor that looked like it was made of dragon scales which were polished to shine. It was capable of striking fear and intimidation to the the hearts of even the bravest of Equestrians.

“I’ll even toss in a special, custom crossbow, just like the training version the princesses gave you,” Discord added. “Only, I’ll see to it that you can set the bolts to do anything you want. Shred, armor-piercing, freeze, stun, set ablaze... you name it, and it’ll shoot it.”

Discord disposed of the mirror and extended his palm. “What do you say? Deal?”

“Don’t do it, Garrett!” shouted Celestia. Everypony else joined in with her, pleading, begging him to not do it.

Garrett looked at everything around him. It was easy to see that he no longer saw the ponies as his companions, nor did he have any interest in even listening to them anymore. Their begs registered to his ears as grunts’ squeals, meaning nothing to him anymore other than another meaningless noise. He extended his hand and shook Discord’s.

Discord smiled. “Glad to see that-”

Garrett cut him off by jumping off the stone table, tackling Discord by the waist, and shoving him to the wall of the sphere. He brought his arm back and unleashed his fists upon him, pounding him. Blow after blow, they came, with each strike being as powerful as the last.

The Equestrian guards cheered as they watched Garrett punch him, and even Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and the rest breathed sighs of relief, assuming that he still knew the difference between right and wrong despite his poisoned mind.

Before he could have given another blow, Discord stopped Garrett by quickly seizing him by the neck. He choked and tried to fight back, but the combined power of the spirit of chaos and Nightmare Moon proved too powerful.

A small smile etched its way into Discord’s face as he looked at Garrett.

“Rule one of playing my games, Garrett.” He brought out a knife, its blade glowing. “I always win!”

Discord jammed the knife into the area of Garrett’s heart.

Garrett’s jaw fell in disbelief, shock ever present on his face.

“No!” Luna cried, starting another onslaught of attacks in an attempt to break the barrier.

Pulling the knife out, Garrett’s wound glowed white, leaking the same mist of soul essence. Discord brought him to the stone table and laid him out. He conjured the vapor to take the form of the special glass casing that held the orb, the same one he threatened Celestia and Luna with. It gingerly took shape on top of the human’s chest.

The two princesses felt shock travel down their spines. Panic-stricken, everypony felt hopeless as they saw the scene unfold before them, and they were powerless to stop him.

With a smile, Discord raised the knife high and brought it down, breaking the glass casing into pieces and exposing the glowing object within.

“NO!” Celestia cried.

Luna gasped, feeling her body freeze like an ice cube.

Garrett’s unconscious body gave a grunt that was much like how he would have received a punch. After heaving quick breaths, he lessened down to slow and deep ones. The glowing orb then sank back into his chest, along with the remnants of the once intact glass casing.

“Au revoir, everypony!” Discord cheered with a wave before teleporting away.

The sphere that surrounded the stone table shattered like glass.

Everpony that was not a guard wasted no time and scrambled to Garrett’s body.

Rainbow Dash pressed her ear on his chest and heard is steady heartbeat, flooding her with a sense of relief. “He’s still alive!”

“Princess?” Twilight asked. “What did Discord do?”

“The glass casing you saw was his soul,” Celestia said. “If you destroy the barrier around it, his spirit will go into a place that even Luna and I are unsure of. We have only scratched the surface of what truly happens there.”

“We can not teleport to him,” Luna added. “He is all alone, and none can be in control of what happens. There, he will be given a choice.”

“A choice between what?” Twilight asked.

Before her question was even answered, the mirror’s image began to change.

Garrett opened his eyes and gasped for breath. Instead of being in his combat armor, he found himself in the black shirt, pants, and boots combination, his off-duty clothing. Feeling exposed yet somewhat safe, he stood up and began to tune into his senses, scanning the area.

The room which he was in seemed endless, accompanied by a white marble floor. No walls were found at all. A pair of double doors that looked like they were from seven star hotels lay some distance away. Behind Garrett was a single ODST drop pod, prepped and ready for deployment. No sound was heard other than his own breath.

That was until Garrett heard steps behind him. Instinctively, he spun around and threw his fist forward, only to have it deflected by another male human who was accompanied by a female. Both of them were wearing the same, off-duty clothes that he was wearing.

“Woah, easy there,” the male said. “There’s no need to fight anymore.”

Garrett gasped and dropped his fists. “...Dad.”

“Hi, son. It’s been years, hasn’t it?” his father asked with a smile.

“You’ve really been building those muscles,” his mother said. “Most of them came ODST training, am I right?”

Their questions needed no reply. The three of them thought of the same thing and embraced each other tightly, savoring their moment of being together again.

“I missed you,” Garrett said, breaking the silence.

They separated, looking at each other.

“So did we,” his mother replied.

“Am I dead?” Garrett asked.

“Not exactly,” a fourth voice said.

Garrett turned and found an aged unicorn with a long, white beard that nearly reached the floor. His cloak and pointed hat were colored in various shades of blue, decorated with stars and moons. For some reason, he found no hostility in him.

“Who are you?” Garrett asked.

“Starswirl the Bearded.” The unicorn motioned him closer with his hoof. “We have many things to discuss about, you and I. I promise to answer all your questions.”

Garrett looked at his parents. “You know this guy?”

His father shook his head. “No idea. Doesn’t seem like a threat, though. Go ahead and talk to him. We’ll wait.”

Garrett nodded. He walked forward and followed Starswirl, who lead him out of earshot from the two parents. With a glow surrounding his horn, he conjured two chairs and a large wardrobe mirror.

“Don’t worry about privacy,” Starswirl said, taking a seat. “I’ve cast a spell so that only we can hear each other.”

“How the hell am I suppose to know that this isn’t just some sort of mind trick?” Garrett asked, also occupying a seat.

“You just got soul tapped twice, and in here, no lies or darkness can blind you.”

“That still doesn’t answer my question.”

“Fine, do you feel any suspicion with me?”

Garrett searched his thoughts. He tried to find every possible reason to find him as a threat, yet none were found. Instead, he began seeing him as someone else, a guide. “...No.”

Starswirl smiled. “Now, we’re getting somewhere.”

“First of all, I want to know the truth. All of it.”

“Are you sure?”

“...Yes.”

Garrett watched the image on the mirror take form, starting from when he was corrupted by Discord.

“An old foe of Celestia and Luna, Discord, corrupted you. He was watching you from the start ever since you crashed landed.”

Garrett felt his gut twist as he watched his own self shooting Celestia and her guards.

“Luna had to subdue you with a soul-tapping spell,” Starswirl continued. “Discord was steps ahead and connected his soul to yours. In turn, the two princesses did the same, only to be captured. From there, they were helpless as they watched you give in to the lies.”

Garrett felt his guilt make his body numb as he watched his own self attacking Celestia. It showed everything, from the book with the lie, to him gunning down Equestrians and Covenant with the gatling gun, all the way to him destroying the assault carrier.

“Dear God... what sick monster have I turned myself into?” Garrett asked himself.

After the last image of him being stabbed by Discord’s soul-tapping spell dissolved, Garrett placed his face on his palms, elbows on his knees. An eerie silence blanketed the two of them. “I hurt them... didn’t I?” he asked.

“I’m afraid so,” Starswirl replied, sighing. “They cast a spell on a mirror to watch you as you... changed.”

Garrett fought ever so hard to prevent the guilt from spilling out of him. His sense of responsibility was literally barking at him, accusing him. It took a while, but he finally managed to calm himself down to a point where he was willing to talk again. “Are they still watching me now?”

“There’s a chance.”

Garrett looked up as if there was someone staring at him from there. “Everyone... if you can hear me... I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. Please, forgive me. You don’t deserve what I put you through...”

As everypony watched the Garrett actions and confessions on the mirrors, they sighed in relief, knowing that they had him back at their side. Even Galea looked like he was glad.

After sucking it up, Garrett stood up and proceeded to meet his parents again.

“You all right?” his father asked.

Garrett shook his head. “Didn’t really see the most pleasant of things.”

“You still have a choice, you know,” Starswirl said. He pointed to the drop pod with his hoof. “You can still go back and fix it.”

He motioned the double doors. “...Or you can leave it all behind and go to the afterlife, where you can finally rest.”

“But... I’m just one man...” Garrett muttered. “How the hell am I going to make a difference?”

Starswirl nudged him with his hoof. “That ‘one man’ just blew up two Covenant supercarriers without using a MAC or a nuclear weapon.”

“Wait, he did what?” Garrett’s parents awed in unison.

“I’ll explain to you another time,” Starswirl said to them.

Garrett turned to look at the double doors. “I’m so tired... I’ve caused so much pain... If I can’t protect them from threats physically, I can at least protect them from myself.”

He faced the drop pod. “But... I still have so many things left to do. I screwed up, and I have unfinished business. Discord’s still out there, and I want some payback. That son of a gun deserves more than just an execution.”

Lost between the two choices, Garrett directed his attention to his parents. “What should I do?” he asked.

“Whichever makes you happy, son,” his mother replied.

“It’s okay if you go back,” his father said. “We’re willing to wait.”

“I... I still don’t know what to choose,” Garrett replied.

“All right, then,” his father said. “Ask yourself, what makes you happy?”

Silently, Garrett approached the drop pod. He paused for a long moment, pondering over his choice. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The mirror’s image faded back into a reflection of the room once Garrett’s mind made the choice.

Celestia saw Garrett’s body open his eyes and exhaled, his chest sinking naturally. Relieved, the she turned and also blew out a deep breath.

“Garrett, there are many things that we need to talk about,” she said. “Please, we need you to listen and-”

“Sister!” Luna cut her off.

Celestia spun around and looked at Garrett’s body. He was still staring at the ceiling, motionless, his eyes looking at it as if it was some work of art.

With fear growing in every cell of her body, Luna slowly approached Garrett. She lowered her head and pressed her ear on his chest to hear his heartbeat and breaths. Instead, it was silent.

“No...” Luna gasped. She lifted Garrett’s head with her forelegs and shook him slightly. “Garrett! Please! Not that road!”

She shook him again. “Not that road!”

He was still silent, unmoving. Luna slowly put his head back down and still held onto him, burying her face into him.

Celestia quickly rushed to the stone table and embraced Garrett with her forelegs. “Garrett... Please...” she whispered. “Don’t go...”

“Please...say something...” Luna begged. Tears began to slide down her face, only to get absorbed by the shirt.

Celestia shook him slightly. “Wake up... Wake up...”

Her tears began to fall. She placed her head into his chest, still hearing the silence of his heart. “...Please...”

Garrett’s image appeared on the mirror, looking at a crowd that he was unaware of. “If you’re getting this, I just want to say that... I’m sorry. I’m just one man. What difference can he do out of billions? I really, honestly didn’t want any of you to get hurt,” he said before turning around and, in the company of Starswirl and his parents, opening the double doors.

White light flooded out of the doorway, and the mirror returned into giving reflections.

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy slowly came to Garrett’s side. They held onto him with their forelegs and buried their faces into him, embracing him with tears leaking out of their eyes and begging for him to wake up. Despite all of that, the warmth from his body was still fading away.

Celestia reached over and closed Garrett’s eyes with her hoof. “At least... at least you found peace again... and you’re not feeling alone anymore,” she said before the tears took control of her.

All the guards in the room took off their helmets and lowered their heads, silent. Each closed their eyes, quietly bidding him farewell.

“Goodbye, Garrett,” Turbulence said, her eyes watering.

“He... was a good...” Downburst lost his words, shaking his head. He switched his attention to Celestia. “Your highness, what do we do now?”

Celestia heard Garrett’s voice in her head. ‘I’ll only sleep in one of two places...’

“I think I know where he would like to be laid to rest,” she said.

“...This is actually pretty nice,” Garrett said, looking at the view. “Reminds me of Earth.”

The four of them just passed the doors and came into a view from high up a mountain. At the base were beaches with white sand accompanied by various buildings that looked like they were rated with seven stars, all of which were beachfront property. Beautiful, tropical trees were everywhere, with bike paths that welcomed anyone who wanted to get some fresh air. Further away were even taller mountains that provided the best looking places for snowboarding. A perfect blue sky finished it all, cloudless.

Numbers of humans were on the beach enjoying the sun. Gliders flew from above, savoring the view and being free.

“I take it back,” Garrett said again, “pretty nice is an understatement.”

“The afterlife has even more than this, son,” his father said. “The staff here is nice. You know, friendly smiles all day. There are nice caves, rivers for whitewater rafting, excellent reefs for scuba diving, and even more. There’s even a race track that allows you to drive whatever car you want. Name it, and this place’ll probably have it. Above all, there is a special place for us UNSC only.”

Garrett sighed. “I still don’t know if turning around at the last moment was the best of choices.”

His mother placed her hand on his shoulder. “Ask yourself, do you feel happy?”

“Hmm...” Garrett lowered his head. I’m no longer a threat to Celestia, Discord can’t use me anymore... and I’m protecting them from my own self. “...Yeah, I’m quite satisfied.”

Starswirl cleared his throat. “You still have a choice to go back. I’ll be waiting near here if in case you change your mind.”

His horn glowed with an aura, and he teleported away.

Garrett turned to his parents. “...Are my wife and child here?”

His father shook his head. “We haven’t seen them in here. That means that Earth’s still putting up a resistance, or they got a transport out. Either way, they’re still alive.”

Garrett sighed in relief. At least that’s one thing which is still right,

Right on cue, a civilian Warthog drove up the road and parked right next to the trio. The driver, clad in an expensive tuxedo, popped his head out of the window. “Need a ride to the Garrison, troopers?”

They entered the vehicle. The Warthog drove off and followed the road while Garrett stared out of the window, looking at his new home. He spotted various birds that were covered in overwhelmingly beautiful colors. Once they entered the city, he noticed that the people were always in high spirits, happy and cheerful, knowing that there was nothing that could have ruined the day.

“No more Covenant,” Garrett murmured as a smile formed on his face.

The Warthog came to a halt in front of a large, cylindrical building that was five stories high. The glass architecture was sure to capture anyone’s attention. It overlooked the white beach, and as far as Garrett’s eyes saw, only UNSC soldiers, out of their armor, were inside. The sun was just starting to set, painting the sky.

The trio entered the building, and in the middle was a bar that held numerous bottles of drinks, many of which he had never seen or heard of. Tables lined the windows, allowing any group of friends to enjoy a nice view and a good set of cocktails, and the design still looked like it was seven star worthy. Men and women from the UNSC, from legends to army rookies, were smiling at each other, savoring their personal spot in the afterlife.

“Hot damn...” Garrett whispered under his breath.

“Welcome to the Garrison, son,” his mother said. “Let’s go get some drinks. We have a lot to talk about.”

Garrett nodded and approached the main bar on the center.

“I’ll have a margarita,” he told the bartender.

“Sure thing,” he replied.

Garrett felt a small nudge on his side. He turned and found another UNSC soldier sitting on a barstool next to him. “I don’t think I’ve seen you here before...”

“I just came to this world a few moments ago,” Garrett admitted. “I’m an ODST, you?”

“Spartan.”

Garrett’s eyebrows raised in surprise. Somehow, he was not intimidated or angered by that fact. He actually saw the spartan as another fellow soldier who had a share of the war.

“So, how’d you get here?” the spartan asked.

“Well... I’m pretty sure I didn’t go out with a bang as big as you did.”

The spartan shrugged. “I don’t care. I still want to hear it.”

The bartender appeared again with a margarita in his hand. He passed it to Garrett.

Garrett took a sip. “Hot damn... this is probably the best margarita I’ve ever tasted.”

“The best drinks are really in here, trooper,” the spartan said with a friendly smile.

“What are you planning to get?” the bartender asked the spartan.

“A pint of that vodka and chocolate infusion,” the spartan replied.

“Sure thing,” the bartender said before getting to work.

Garrett nearly choked on his drink. “Are you kidding me?”

The spartan chuckled. “In here, you can have all the fun effects of alcohol except getting drunk, having a hangover, and destroying your health. Plus, we’re already dead, so you don’t have to be scared of dying again.”

Garrett’s parents came and took their seats on the bar stools next to him, armed with cocktails of their own.

“I’ve never sat down like this before...” Garrett said to them. “No Covenant... Just peace... no war at all. Hell, I knew this war nearly all of my life... It feels strange to have it gone... strange, but good.”

“That’s the spirit,” his mother smiled.

“Archer? Is that you?” Garrett heard a familiar voice ask. He turned and found Dante and Johnny.

“It sure is,” he replied with a calm smile.

The two friends smiled and came to his sides, ordering drinks while they were at it.

“So, about how you came here...” the spartan nudged again.

Garrett shook his head a bit. “I don’t know... it’s not as special as the legends in this place.”

“Come on, son,” his father said. “It’s a tradition to let the new guy tell his story to everyone. From the rookies who died first, to the hardcore vets, we’ve listened to them. Now, it’s your turn.”

Looking around, Garrett saw all the soldiers directing their attention to him, eager to listen to his tale. He spotted legendary commanders and officers also wanting to know his story. The building was falling silent as even the ones on the upper floors began leaning over the edges to hear him better. The bartender set up a sensor on the edge of the table to pick up his voice and magnify it with the speaker system.

Garrett stood up, leaned with his back against the table, and took a sip of his margarita. "It all started right after the funeral..."