REVISED A/N: Hello there again everyone! Wasn't AS distracted and occupied (mostly distracted) as usual and was able to get another chapter down. Still some major changes to the storyline and character interaction due to the changes I'm making, so this was a bit harder to rewrite than the earlier chapters. Hmm, well that's about it for this, pretty short this time. Now onto something I've sorely missed, REVIEW RESPONSES!
Newnawn: SORRY I STOPPED!
Vincent: Thanks! Every review means a lot, whether it be compliments or constructive criticism.
Guest: Well I guess I'll knock both of the guest reviews off in one response. If you're the same person, well win-win. To the first one, yes, it's slightly HALO, but only the ships, and some mentionings in the later chapters. To the second, yes I know, I just haven't rewritten that chapter yet.
HYBRID BATTLESHIP INFINITY210: Thanks! I'll try to get these rewrites out as soon as I can. To be perfectly honest, this story was getting close to its end when I hit that hiatus hard. I know it didn't seem like it at the time, but with these rewrites I hope to flow it better to the point I wanted it to be at.
MarioBrosFTW: Thanks! Yeah, the first time it was pretty awkward to write, though I will say that pairing will be dropped. I just couldn't get the romantic in me to write it, and I'm not much of a HumanxPony fan. Sorry.
Well, that's all I got for now, so I won't waste any more of your time. Now ONTO THE RECYLCLED DISCLAIMER!
Disclaimer: I don't own My Little Pony, Blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't own any Halo related items, yada, yada, yada. Don't sue me.
Ch 4: Breaking Protocol
UUA First Fleet
SFG-0041 Under the Shroud
Location: near last known location of FFG-1028 Column of Faith
MV Coord Frequency: 901823.34
Captain Peterson stood on the deck of the currently cloaked stealth frigate looking at the view screen in the ship's CIC. On it, he saw many UIF ships jumping away, though his attention wasn't on them. Those were just complications he saw solving themselves. He was more focused on an area of space where something had been a mere hour before. Key words being HAD been.
After Admiral Michael ordered the small recon flotilla of the first fleet to emergency jump, Peterson had ordered his ship to cloak and to jump back. He wasn't about to leave his Admiral and good friend behind. But, what he saw outside the view screen perplexed him.
Where is the wreckage, he thought.
Out of all the wreckages they had scanned as the enemy fleet jumped, not noticing the stealth frigate, none of them matched the Faith. The UIF wouldn't take ships, and a critical reactor overload wouldn't have completely destroyed the ship. He stood there thinking this and a thought came to mind. "Ensign, scan the area for any readings of MV or slip-space jumps around this area," he pointed out the area the Faith was in before the emergency jump on the ensigns overlay. "Yes sir," the ensign quickly replied and started his task.
The hell I'm going to let you get yourself lost, Preston thought as he awaited the results.
{-}
UUA First Fleet
FFG-1028 Column of Faith
Location: Equis
MV Coord Frequency: 18764.97
I reopened the pelican's rear doors, the hydraulics making disturbing noises of compliant as they slowly lowered the ramp at a pace gravity didn't want to go. It has been a week since first arriving rather abruptly to this planet, now named Equis, and this re-contact with someone on the outside was over-due. The whole week was rather boring seeing I couldn't really do much, with trying to stay undetected and all. Even after a week, those six mares were still keeping an eye out for me and they had enlisted the help of the whole town, making it almost impossible to sneak around to eavesdrop and recon.
"Man, they're persistent,"I said to myself as I powered up the communications on the pelican.
"Michael to Faith, come in Fi," I announced, seeing if Fi had moved the ship into a better position for communications or if the long-range comms were fixed. Apparently one had happened as over the course of the week as the radio came to life.
"I copy. So, how was your week?" Fi questioned.
"Hell. Where do I begin? Broke protocol to save one the pony's life, one named Twilight Sparkle, and now I'm apparently on their most wanted list. They have the whole town near the forest on alert to look out for me. I don't know what they want, maybe to thank me, but I'm not breaking protocol again. I feel like a damn hypocrite, breaking my own rules."
"Did you feel it was the necessary thing to do?"
I sighed and answered, "I know where this is going. Yes I felt was necessary and the right thing to do. Still doesn't help with me feeling like a hypocrite."
"Well, what's done is done. Now I'm pretty sure you want the reports on how repairs are coming," Fi said, helping get off the subject.
"Yeah," I said with a smirk, noticing Fi change the conversation. "Ok, what's new up on your end?"
"Repairs are coming along quicker than expected," Fi started, "All engines are back online at 50% power and the Faith is now re-capable of holding a stable orbit within short range communications. MV and all FTL drives are still offline. Shields are too. Weapons systems are only partially functional. MAC cannon is still offline. Long-range communications are offline. Long-range scanners are back online. Main generator now running independently at 45% power. Backup generators back to full capacity and on standby. And there are still multiple hull breaches that aren't going to get fixed anytime soon. We're also starting to run out of supplies to use for repairs. Matter converters can only do so much."
I thought over this information for a bit before asking, "What parts of the weapon systems are operational?"
"Missile Pods A1 through D3 are online. 2 port batteries and 4 starboard batteries functional. CIWS systems are online. Total munitions are at 70%. I'm guessing you're expecting trouble from a certain group of people who gave us all these nice holes." Fi stated.
"It's a possibility. Doesn't hurt to be prepared." I looked out the front of the pelican, noticing it had gotten quite dark. "Fi," I started, "I'm going to go recon some more. Landing is out of the question. Too many locals would see the Faith, so we'll just have to make due. In the meantime, try getting the MAC cannon and shields online. If any of our friends from the UIF show up, I don't want to be caught off guard."
"Copy that, Faith out."
At that I powered off the radio and headed towards Ponyville to begin my usual night recon.
{-}
Rainbow Dash, in a word, was drunk. Pinkie had held yet another party in the library (much to Twilight's displeasure), and didn't skip out on the alcohol. Rainbow had enough to know to quit, but not enough to leave her really woozy. Before leaving the party, Twilight had offered her to stay in the bed upstairs in the library and the others offered to walk with her home, but she refused, saying she could do it herself. So here she was, walking through Ponyville at night, no one around.
Or so she thought.
She didn't notice the 3 stallions following her as she slowly made her way through the unlit town. And since most all of Ponyville was at Pinkie's party, almost nopony heard her scream as one grabbed her, knife up against her throat, and threw her into an ally, all 3 blocking routes to escape.
Almost nopony, or in this case, no one.
{-}
Well shit, I thought as I saw what just transpired.
I had heard someone coming, so I hid. As they got closer, I noticed it was one of the ponies from a week ago, Rainbow Dash if I remembered correctly. She seemed slightly intoxicated, but not overly so. She wasn't stumbling much, she just seemed….. dazed. I had started to move away when I noticed three figures coming up to her.
Upon seeing them, I decided to stay, curious as to what was going to happen, leading up to the current situation.
This is TWICE now I'm considering breaking protocol, I thought. Well, maybe I won't have to. If they're not going to do what I think they're going to do, I'll just leave it b-. The words I heard come out of one of the figures, now identified as males, mouths made me dump that thought immediately.
"Now you're going to keep your mouth shut and be a good little filly and do what we want you to or you'll find this nice shiny knife across your throat, and we wouldn't want that, right?"
Ah, damn it. I instantly knew what that sentence meant, no matter what species or race you were and my mind was set on my next course of action.
Prevent what was sure to happen next.
{-}
Rainbow was scared. Scratch that, she was TERRIFIED. And she knew what happened next. There was always stories about stallions going around forcing unsuspecting mares to….. you know. But those stories were always from the bigger cities like Hoofington and Fillydelphia. She never thought it could happen in Ponyville, never to her.
She closed her eyes and steeled herself for what was to happen next, when somepony called out.
"Hey! Walk away, and I might not hospitalize you three."
Rainbow opened her eyes to see who had at least stalled her attackers, and she saw one of the last things she expected. The thing they had brought to the hospital a week ago.
The attackers then spoke up, freezing in shock and confusion. "What the hell are you?"
"Well, I'm about to be the guy that puts all three of you into a hospital if you don't walk away and go home. Or don't and resist. Always more fun when you do, and I'll need something to keep the debriefing less boring." the creature said, now deemed a male if the voice is of any indication, with a less than serious look on his face.
One of the other attackers spoke up, "You must be the thing everypony in town's been looking for. Don't look nothing special to me, more like a hairless Diamond Dog. Let's get him first and then get back to business. Might be a reward for bringing the body in."
One of the stallions stayed behind to keep her from running off as the other two squared up to the creature. She was worried to say the least. This was two against one and they had knives. She was about to yell out for him to run, but was completely dumbstruck as to what happened next.
{-}
I slowly prepared myself for what I thought was going to be a short fight. Turns out, I was right.
Two of the three stallions flanked either side of me, obviously confident in their numerical advantage. They certainly didn't expect what happened next.
One charged directly at me, knife at the ready. I quickly sidestepped, grabbed one of his back legs and pulled and twisted, having him fall down on his back. I quickly jumped on him, hitting him in the head, knocking him out. Before the other knew what happened, I had grabbed my knife from its place on my leg, threw it at the other stallion, impaling itself in his leg. As he went to pull it out, I quickly closed the gap and knocked him out, threw his unconscious form against the wall, pulled my knife from his leg and spun to face the third stallion. After a few seconds, he dropped the knife and ran.
The whole event lasted not 15 seconds.
Man, I really want to know what one of these Diamond Dogs look like now, I thought as I turned my attention to the gaping Rainbow Dash.
I proceed to ask, "Are you all right?"
{-}
"Are you all right?"
The question barely registered in her head as her mind tried to grasp what just happened. This thing saved her, making it look like no problem and was now talking to her. Then it hit her mind. He's talking to you.
"Are you all right?" he asked more sternly, making sure to grab her attention.
"Um…ye…..yeah…," she stuttered. "Th….Thank you."
The creature gave her a short nod before turning away, making to leave.
"Hey wait", she managed out, picking herself off the ground.
The thing didn't give much of a pause to the shout before rushing off towards the Everfree.
"HEY! I said WAIT!"
After seeing the creature wasn't going to heed her calls, she quickly gave chase, soon finding herself in the Everfree.
REVISED A/N: Well, there you go, Chapter 4. Got this out quicker than expected. Don't get your hopes up for the next chapters. I had to leave this as a cliffhanger so I could run it through the next chapter, as that one was Twilight's meeting. Since that won't be happening anymore, I've decided to further the first meeting between RD and Michael. So expect a lot different in the next rewritten chap. That's it for now. See you all next time. Arwingmaster1, out.