Author's notes: This is my first story and if it is well received it will be one of many. I'm going to deviating quite a bit from the official facts of both Halo and MLP in this fic, I haven't decided on everything so please excuse me if there are any inconsistencies in the story.
The first part of the story is very long, but please try to bear with me. It's not too important to the story though, so if you want to skip ahead I'll put a line breaker when the actual story starts.
Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic or Halo, they belong to their respective owners and this or any other fics I write were not made for any monetary gain whatsoever.
Earth was burning.
Not that this was entirely new concept; any human still alive would have told you that at this point that it was almost expected. That with all the various threats over those final years something would have been able to carry out the deed. That humanity would one day not be able to beat back her enemies and that Earth would share the same fate that all planets that sheltered them faced. That they were doomed and that there would be nothing they could to stop it.
Indeed, there were points before during the war when some had thought that this moment had come long before now.
Some had thought that it was the end when they encountered the religious coalition of alien species known as the Covenant in what would be known as the first and perhaps the worst tragedy of the soon to follow Great war.
The colony Harvest had been shocked when a fleet of five Covenant ships came out of slipspace and destroyed the small UNSC security fleet in orbit. After this there was nothing to stop the alien forces from completely eradicating the colony.
The local main system UNSC fleet had gone to investigate the distress signal and then subsequent silence of the colony and engaged the now outnumbered Covenant forces.
The following battle and the destruction of the colony resulted in over six hundred thousand casualties and the loss of ten UNSC warships. This seems to be an insignificant loss compared to the future, but it was the greatest defeat the UNSC had suffered in over the past century.
The Covenant ships suffered minimal damage and returned to the process of burning the planet.
When the Covenant ships left the system, they sent a communique to the two damaged frigates that were left of the UNSC fleet they had destroyed. The message was transmitted to the UNSC command and when translated, those that heard felt as if ice had been stabbed into their bodies.
'This was merely the first step in the extermination of your species, the cleansing of your presence from this plane of existence. Humanity will rue the day it set foot out into the galaxy and it will be wiped away as if it had never been. Cower in fear you fools, for the might of the Covenant will crush you as if you were the merest of insects.'
Though at first there was mass panic and despair, the calmer heads reasoned that this would just not be possible. That the empire of thousands of worlds that humanity had formed could never be truly destroyed, that if humanity just simply applied itself to this situation like it has done countless times before that they would undoubtedly succeed against this new threat.
After a few other engagements with the Covenant that were of no real importance some people started to doubt the seriousness of the threat, there were even public cries of derision against this alien proclamation of humanities doom. After all, how could an empire that spanned over hundreds of systems and thousands of planets just simply be destroyed?
Not easily, was the answer.
In a period of twenty eight years the Covenant proceeded to annihilate the once proud empire of humanity, despite the fierce fight that every man and woman in the UNSC would put up in defense of their homes and families. Worlds burned, armies were shattered and there seemed as if there no possibility of victory.
This was not without cost for the Covenant however, they soon realized that even as they gutted their enemy and trapped humanity in a corner, it could still throw out punches that they had to be wary of. Blows that cost the Covenant billions of lives as they continued to exterminate the human population of the universe that numbered little over a trillion.
The most successful of these blows was a super soldier program, a program that had been originally developed to produce anti-insurrectionist agents that would be able to operate and shut down any rebel activities on their own before they became too serious a threat. These agents, known as Spartans, were thrown into situations that any sane person would tell you were suicidal while being told to accomplish the impossible.
Spartans, to this day, have a success rate of over 95 percent.
This achievement, along with many others, was not overlooked and soon the Spartans were thrown into a far more pivotal role in the war.
A few years into the conflict and things were not going well for humanity; over a hundred worlds glassed, dozens of fleets destroyed and billions of lives taken away by a seemingly unstoppable enemy. There were human victories of course, but even though each and every one, no matter their size or importance, was hyped out of proportion this did not change what was happening to the human race, they were losing hope.
To counter this, the UNSC charged ONI with a seemingly simple task; find a symbol. A symbol that reflected what every human had been taught or been made to believe, that Earth was the strongest might in the galaxy and it could face down any challenge, any foe. ONI looked, and they found the Spartans.
The Spartan program was given new importance and was made to expand and improve its production of these super soldiers. Generation 1 Spartans were quickly dispatched and though the results were promising and their actions boosted the moral of the people, they were still not enough to become the invincible sword and shield ONI knew they would eventually need to inspire the people to fight to the end.
A change in the manufacture of Spartans was needed and it was found in one Dr. Catherine Halsey, who replaced the then head of the Spartan program. The doctor implemented the plans to create the soldiers who would become known as the pillars of humanity; the generation 2 Spartans.
Taken as children, they were selected for their exceptional mental and physical physiques and were then put through what one of the instructors called," A little bit of man made hell." The children, though they were only referred to as trainees in the few official reports later revealed to the public, were subjected to brutal and often times even cruel physical workouts and combat scenarios, all the while they were expected to achieve above average understanding of science, mathematics, reading, writing, and military tactics.
They also underwent periods of highly dangerous and experimental procedures to improve every quality they were first chosen for to levels that could only be described as something approaching god-like.
The trainees were instilled with military value and the understanding of war, but most of all they were taught to believe that they were they both something less and more than humanity. They were taught to be humanities protectors, its guardians and its warriors.
The results were spectacular, each one stood over 7 feet tall, possessed the strength of a dozen men and were capable of brushing off blows that would have torn normal soldiers to pieces. They could pilot any vehicle, use any weapon and could assume any position in the army. This combined with the MJOLNIR armor, which included the ability to house AI, gave the UNSC a small army of unstoppable warriors.
A thousand children were kidnapped from various planets that would soon be hit by the covenant and taken to a hidden government training facility on Reach and were put through 14 years of training. Six hundred and twenty four gen 2 Spartans were later deployed. These were considered acceptable losses.
Those gen 2 Spartans, along with the advanced fleets of the inner colonies, fought the covenant to a near standstill until the final years of the war. The extermination of humanity by the Covenant was still ongoing, but now the humans were forcing the Covenant to pay extremely high prices for every world they took, high enough they hoped, that the Covenant would be exhausted by the fight and would not be able to continue the war if Humanity could just hold for a while longer.
These hopes were shattered when the Covenant found Reach and destroyed the last of the gen 2 Spartans.
It was 3 years before the war ended and by this time Reach had become the main stronghold of the UNSC. It was one of the last three fortress worlds still standing and it was the only one besides Earth that had been thought undiscovered by the enemy, and so it was a natural choice for a gathering spot for the one hundred and three gen 2 Spartans that were still left for a major offensive op aimed at grabbing several of the leaders of the Covenant in a desperate attempt to end the war.
The covenant learned of this gathering and saw a chance they could just not let go. It was only week before operation Red light was to begin when the largest Covenant fleet yet seen in the war came out of slipspace in orbit over the planet and commenced what would be the most desperate and bloodiest battle both sides had ever seen, only ever matched by the subsequent battles on Earth and against the Flood.
The battle ended after three days and though only half of the Covenant ships were in any condition to make another jump out of the system, Humanity suffered a greater loss. Not only had all active gen 2 Spartans had been killed, with the notable exception of the one known as Master Chief, all but a few of the future ones at the training facility, over a thousand trainees who would have been deployed in a few years, had been as well.
Humanity reeled at this blow and soon the fire of the Covenant wrath started engulfing worlds at a rate faster than ever. Only through making Master Chief and his actions in the discovering and destruction of the ring construct known as Halo a shining beacon of the might of the UNSC were they able to prevent planet wide riots on every human world still standing.
The UNSC had thought it wise to not mention the Flood in their addresses to the public about Master Chief's soon to be legendary exploits.
There was doubt about resuming the considerably expensive and resource consuming Spartan program after the events on Reach, but these were laid to rest when Master Chief returned from the ring world.
Due to time constraints as well as increasing shortages of materials, the production of gen 3 Spartans resembled the gen 1 process, in that they took pr-existing high quality soldiers who volunteered. The only real difference between the generations was the amount of augmentation they went under. Gen 3 Spartans were put under nearly twice as much augmentation as any other generation in order to try to match the quality of the gen 2 Spartans.
These augments placed a great deal of strain on the body, another reason why they used children due to their being more susceptible to change before and during puberty, and they killed or crippled eighty percent of the volunteers. Only one hundred gen 3 Spartans were declared fit for combat.
ONI, seeing a need for them later, gathered the few remaining gen 2 trainees that had survived the battle of Reach and put them through extreme training in conditions that could only be described as soulless. They fed the trainees ideas in this state, to be what humanity needed, that nothing else mattered but the protection of Earth and it people. The Spartans produced from this process were later called gen 4 Spartans.
Though small in number the Gen 3 Spartans provided the show of force the UNSC desperately needed as the latest war summary before the prophet Regret's fleet discovered Earth in the second last year of the war was given to public; Earth was now the only planet in the fortress world classification out of the original fifty two while only thirty four colony worlds were left of the one thousand, five hundred and fifty three from before the war. Out of the near trillion humans, only twenty eight billion were left.
By the time the main Covenant fleet attacked Earth after they had fled from the flood infestation on High Charity, The situation had only become worse, Only Earth and two other colony worlds were left with only fourteen billion humans left between them.
The invasion by the Covenant, arrival and destruction of the Flood, and the assault on Installation 00 further cut into these numbers.
Even though the situation seemed worse than ever before, there was hope in remnants of humanity. They hoped that if they could stop the prophet Truth in this final battle that the war would finally end.
The destruction of Installation 00 and High Charity seemed to justify these hopes, and the treaty with the former Covenant species of sangheilis gave humanity a cause for both celebration and of mourning.
They had done it, they had survived!
This along with so many other thoughts of joy was crushed when an urgent communique came from the Sangheilis mere months after the war's end, the Flood had attacked their worlds and it was winning. It had infested their worlds just like it had attempted to with Earth and had started to spread throughout whole systems. Though they fought hard, the sangheilis realized they only had one choice, to retreat.
They did so, and it was to Earth.
The two species quickly came to an agreement; humanity would provide the supplies to the sangheilis if they would provide the use of their ships for the evacuation of Earth and her colonies in a desperate inter-species evacuation, they were abandoning their worlds.
Small fleets were sent out with the simple instructions to slow down the advance of the Flood in any way possible. With these fleets went the remainder of the gen 3 Spartans and the UNSC's greatest military power, the gen 4 Spartans.
Each gen 4 had been given a hyper lethal rating of ten, something only Master Chief had accomplished before. The gen 4 Spartans were outfitted with the latest technology, including the Ragnarok armor, as well as nuclear suicide gear with the express orders to use them when necessary. Ragnarok armor was the pinnacle of both doctor Halsey's vision and the Spartan program. These battle groups slowed down the advance of the Flood long enough for most of the evacuation to succeed, most but not all.
The last remaining team of gen 4 Spartans were ordered to do what they could and when all else failed, they were to implement operation Firestorm, the detonation of every nuclear warhead in their sector.
This is the story about one gen 4 Spartan who had been given a different mission, and how it led to him being thrown into a world so different from his own.
This is a story about a shattered hero and those that put him back together.
'Why couldn't the package be silent?'
This was the singular thought of the armored juggernaut known as a Spartan as he ran and stumbled through the ruined building and streets of a once proud city. The roars and warbling cries of the creatures that had once been human echoed from behind him, not falling behind no matter how much he ran.
'I've already explained to it that we had to be silent, why must it insist on making these noises? They are natural sounds to make under these conditions, but their purpose is to attract protection and it already has it'
The Spartan was confused and a little annoyed at his charge, it kept on crying despite frequent warnings from him to be silent. Admittedly it was an improvement over the demands for its parents but it was grating none the less with the pain in his skull that came from a earlier blow to the head.
The Spartan broke out of this chain of thought as he realized that he was hearing more of the same cries that came from behind them now coming from in front of them. The Spartan frowned underneath his helmet, These lapses of concentration were causing difficulty.
Perhaps the head injury was a bit more serious than he had thought.
Quickly deciding that diverting from his course would cost too much time, time they needed if they were to avoid the event. He was not sure what the event was anymore, his mind was getting too fuzzy, it had been since the blood had started moving down his face. All he could make out clearly was three things; the event was something that needed to be avoided, there was a way to do so in the south west ONI complex of the city and that he needed to get ready to fight before he rounded the next corner.
Latching onto the last thought, the Spartan quickly went through the checklist, arm cocked to throw the package? Check. Everything else? Also check.
The package, quickly realizing what the Spartan intended since he had done it a few times already, stopped crying and with a pout on its face uttered the first three clear words it had said all morning," I hate you."
Now smirking underneath the helmet, the Spartan quickly turned around the corner and surveyed the mob made up of various infected species. Seeing over thirty infected humans and sangheili along with nearly a dozen other forms, including an infected hunter in the middle of the pack, all now charging down the road between two half collapsed towards them.
"Too easy", the Spartan muttered.
He threw the package into the air, reaching a height of near fifty feet, over the crush of Flood. 'Ten seconds' the thought bounced around in the Spartan's head. Moving forward and drawing two pistols, they made a continuous report like thunder as he emptied the clips in three seconds into the hoard before him. Holes the size of melons opened up in the infected that had stood in front of the hunter, all of them spraying out a sickly yellow fluid and gas in the place of blood as the custom bullets ripped through them.
The Spartan moved towards the hunter with a speed that defied the eyes and leaped over the over the energy blast that it had sent toward him. He landed on and used the hunter as a springboard to launch himself towards the now falling package, attaching two plasma grenades to the cracked casing of the hunter's arm mounted plasma cannon while doing so. The hunter, who had been forced to the ground when the one ton Spartan had jumped on it, could only stare in as much confusion that was still allowed to it as the grenades glowed brighter and brighter.
The Spartan, who had grabbed the package eight feet above the ground, hit the duracrete of the road and locked his armor down while sheltering the package in front of him by directing his shield to cover it as well in preparation of the expected explosion.
The Spartan was not disappointed.
The grenades ruptured the power core of the plasma cannon, which resulted in an explosion that either incinerated or buried in rubble any Flood still standing.
The Spartan shifted the rubble that had fallen on him off and regarded the surroundings to see if any of them had survived while checking the package. It was alive and now judging by its facial expression sulking when he picked it up again and started to run again. 'Fifteen seconds' mused the Spartan.
This head injury really was more serious than he had thought.
'Or maybe it's to do with not having your squad with you anymore' whispered a little voice in his mind. The Spartan frowned for a few seconds before giving his head a slight shake ," They are with me", he muttered while glancing at one of the pouches on his hip," In there, in me and in this ch...in the package as well."
'Package huh' the voice sounded out snidely,' do you mean the child you are now carrying, the child that your entire squad sacrificed themselves for you to reach believing that it was something vital to the war effort? Only for you to realize after finding only a half dead woman and her child that you had been sent on this suicide mission merely to find a general's family when you should have been assisting with the evacuation.'
The Spartan shuddered as pieces of memory of the day flashed through his mind.
He and his team of marines holding off another wave of the horrors that were spreading across the globe, letting another convoy of civilians make it to the waiting spacecraft.
Meeting General Theo while the team rested and receiving instead of the usual orders they were told to proceed into infested territory to enact a high profile retrieval.
His squad heading to the coordinates in the city, his heart breaking slightly at the sight of this beautiful planet he had devoted his whole being to defending and that was now being destroyed by the Flood.
A loud crash...looking up and seeing Flood pods falling directly towards the team...him shoving the others out of the way...impact ...being throw against a wall and blacking out... hearing gunshots and yells...his team...dying.
When he had come too there had only been two of his team left, standing over his body as they couldn't move it and they had refused to leave him. There was Flood pouring in from all sides and by the time he was back on his feet the last two had joined the rest of the team. He was on his own against hundreds of the creatures.
Few of them escaped.
After his rage lost its edge he gathered the dog tags and video chips of his former teammates and proceeded on with the mission.
'And then you found just the two of them; no data, no weapons, nothing important at all to the war effort. All you retrieved was a single child, versus the thousands you could have been saving.' The voice attempted to continue but the Spartan interrupted.
'If you are trying to tell me that the general had failed in his duty I already know that, he allowed his personal issues to affect his larger view of the war, something that I am seeing too often these days. But this does not change anything for me; my duty is to save as many lives as possible now."
The Spartan kept his mind blank for a few moments as he sorted out his emotions. 'And if that means that the deaths of my comrades were not in vain if I save this girl then so much the better. Remember what they said that one time; that each and every one of them would be prepared to sacrifice their lives if that would ensure the survival of even the smallest bit of humanity.'
The Spartan felt his resolve harden as he formed the words in his head,' She is their little bit of humanity and I will ensure she survives."
'Good answer as always'
'I aim to please', he quipped, smiling for a few seconds until it turned into a frown,' I wish you were still with me Sarah.'
The voice, which had belonged to his AI partner Sarah, did not respond since she had turned rampant a few years ago.
This head wound was seriously messing with him now.
The child, who had noticed that the big metal man that her mother had told her would bring her somewhere safe had not told her to be quiet in last few minutes, was looking at him in concern as she voiced a question in a timid voice," Are you okay?"
The Spartan stared for a few moments and simply saying," yes", before doubling the pace and promising her in his mind that everything would be alright, no matter what.
Okay, that was a bit more writing than I expected to do at first. Anyway, I'm cutting off here for two reasons; one, to make a cliff hanger and two, to see what you guys think of it so far and whether you would continue to read it if I continued to write it.
If yes then I'm probably going to hit the pony side of things in chapter 3, after he gets off the planet.
Also I apologize for any spelling mistakes or such, please feel free to point out any you see.