On their way to the hospital tower, a glowing blue asterisk with a syringe logo on it, Twilight caught a glimpse of the sky. Although, the sun was still out, a wide array of dark smoke clouds painted a large part of the sky.
A large vessel of purple hovered above the burning city. What Twilight presumed to be anti-air bullets, fired up at the large mass of alien metal only to be met with no result. The ship seemed indestructible. Nothing was working. Everything humanity threw at it failed. The cruiser only soaked up the damage.
If this was happening here then she was sure that every other battle on Reach was the same. The sounds of gunfire and explosions was deafening. The howling of the wraith's blasts. Civilians were rushing to the evacuation point, their bags packed and kids clutching to their parents in fear. All of them ignored the six ponies travelling beside them.
Twilight wasn't sure if they should head to the evac point due to humanity already being under fire by a coalition of alien species. Their initial plan was to head to a safe area, somewhere out of the city but when they saw the endless waves of covenant patrolling through the streets and the constant firing of weapons from both humanity and the covenant; the odds of getting out of there with no injuries or deaths was impossible.
She saw a few marines directing the citizens into the buildings, shouting for them to get to the roof. Something along the lines of a pelican ready for take off.
Twilight sighed. "It's now or never, I suppose... is everypony ready?" she asked, turning to her friends.
They all look drained, postures hunched over and dirt all over their fur. Her eyes landed on Fluttershy in particular. Her mane was a tangled mess with blood. A significant amount had been burnt off, she looked the worst out of the group. Nearly half of her body was baked in burns and gashes. She had to be supported by Rainbow Dash to keep her moving.
When the bomb shot out from that covenant aircraft and hit the ground; it left Fluttershy unconscious. There was barely enough time for Twilight to teleport over to her when the aircraft came around again.
When the pegasus came to, she asked about a little girl that she was apparently with to which Twilight had morbidly replied. "What girl?" The pegasus broke down after she asked that. The unicorn never saw a little girl with the pegasus. It was just her.
"I doubt we'll ever be ready..." Rarity replied as she trudged beside Twilight.
Twilight sighed but quickly became unnerved when one of the marines glance at her. A man with a beard. She watched the flash of alert on his face, the fidget of his weapon, it was lowered but still aimed in their direction as he watched them approach. She gave a worried wave. "Uh e-excuse me?"
The marine's eyes widen. "The hell?" He muttered, his face was between a grimace and a disgusted expression. He was still slightly alerted, Twilight could blatantly see that.
"I-I... we were wondering if you could help us?" Twilight took a ginger step toward the soldier.
He looked at her for a moment. "...With what? What even are you anyway?"
"W-we're... we're ponies... sir."
"Okay. What exactly did you need help with?"
"Hey!" Another solider came over, this one was female. She was holding a weapon that had a sharper barrel to it and a scope. "What is that?" She pointed at the ponies.
"Ponies... apparently." The previous marine answered. "They need help."
The female marine sighed in frustration. "Oh lord... we don't have time to save animals. There are civies here, that we need to evac, now!"
"I-I understand that ma'am." Twilight said, stepping toward the marine. "W-we were just wondering if we could... m-maybe come along too?" Seeing the marine's stunned look, she quickly continued. "We aren't from this planet, w-we had a... complication... back at home a-and now here we are." She deliberately gave a broad explanation, too much to explain and not enough time.
The female marine looked at her for a moment longer then at her friends. "What sort of complication?"
Twilight opened her mouth but nothing came out. She glanced at the civilians who were still being directed into the building by a couple of other marines. "I-I... we just need help getting out-"
"Well, until you give me an answer, you aren't going nowhere. For all I know, you could start firing on the civilians the second you walk into-"
"Look, I'm pretty sure they're not covenant." The male marine said. "If they were, they would've done something by now."
"It's not about them being covenant. It's about keeping these aliens rats the hell away from my people." She snapped.
The bearded marine sighed before laying his hand on her shoulder; ushering her away. "Alright, Jan, just focus on getting the civilians out, alright? I'll deal with them."
"Deal with them? As in, 'letting them go to the evac zone' deal with them or...?"
"Just go help out the civies, okay?"
She feigned a smirk. "Okay, sure. I'll do just that." She threw a glare at Twilight before walking away and began guiding the civilians into the building once more.
"Don't blame her... she's lost... a few." The marine explained, looking crestfallen.
"It's okay, we understand."
"It's not exactly my decision, so I'm gonna have to radio command to grant you guys access." Twilight nodded. The marine's hand went to his helmet and he suddenly began speaking as if he were talking to somepony, much to Twilight's confusion. "There's, uh, six non-hostile aliens here. No, they're not with the covenant. No, no, no weapons." After a few moments, the soldier finally nodded before returning his gaze back to the ponies. "Alright, they agreed to let you through. Just go into the building, head to the roof there's gonna be a pelican there waiting-"
He suddenly stopped, Twilight caught the look in his eye. The switch from calm and collected to fear and desperation. She quickly turned to see a large purple metal ship rapidly closing on on their location. Instantly, she knew it was the covenant but the ship was shaped differently. It was in the shape of a long fork, the gap between them had a strange field of aqua-colored energy. "Dropship... Dropship! Covenant Dropship inbound! Everybody get to the roof now!" He barked as he raised his rifle and began firing.
The "dropship" began to descend, a strange object attached to the bottom-front of it pointed in their direction and Twilight immediately got a gut feeling something was about to happen. The unicorn quickly manifested a shield around her friends and the soldier. The object on the dropship began firing it's rounds at them but ended up doing nothing; merely penetrating the shield with heavy force causing the ground beneath them to start shaking.
The soldier turned to Twilight, an expression of utter confusion and amazement. He noticed the aura floating around the unicorn's horn. He turned back to the battlefield that was now scattered with civilians.
The dropship hovered a few feet off the ground, covenant pouring out from the forks of the ship. Brutes and grunts. "Oh lord," the soldier muttered. He saw his fellow squadmates struggling to provide cover fire for the entrance as the covenant began laying down heavy fire.
The shield was now being penetrated by green plasma fire as a few of the grunts began closing in. "Okay, here's what's gonna happen. This shield's gonna come down, as soon as that happens, all of you are gonna run straight into the building. Got it!?" He said, readying his weapon and posture.
"W-what about you?" Fluttershy asked, stepping closer to him; voice hoarse.
"We can't just leave you here on your own!" Rarity added.
"I won't be, my teammates are out there and they need my help. Just do what I told you!" He barked. "Okay, three, two... one. Now!"
As the shield dissipated, the soldier began firing while Twilight and her friends made a dash for the building. Twilight had kept her shield up for them as they ran into the building.
The doors slammed shut, the lobby was empty; a few backpacks were discarded and clothes everywhere. There was an escalator and a set of stairs. They could still hear the gunfire outside. The group went toward the escalator. Once reaching the top, on both sides were four elevators; all in use.
"We just left them out there..." Pinkie Pie suddenly muttered.
"There weren't nothin' we coulda done, sugarcube."
"We need to get to the roof as soon as possible. They could be leaving without us!" Rainbow exclaimed.
Twilight suddenly felt a surge of alert as her pegasus friend pointed that out. She was right. The covenant were here and they were attacking the evacuation zone, they wouldn't wait around for any stragglers if they were being attacked.
The unicorn took another look at the elevators, all of them still in use. She quickly scanned around for any set of stairs or any signs that indicated toward a set of stairs. Her eyes landed on a white sign with a red image of a stickman running up a flight of stairs. "There!"
The muffled gunfire outside the building had stopped but the growls of brutes could be heard. Twilight didn't stop to pay attention.
They continued their way up the stairs, the sounds of brutes, gunfire and plasma fire echoed throughout the building. Twilight prayed that they wouldn't run into them. The worst part was the screaming, families, children all being slaughtered in cold-blood.
Twilight saw a set of doors with tinted windows. She saw a brute holding a struggling human by the neck and a pack of jackals. She burst through the door, using a magic barrier and shoved the brute over to the ledge.
The human fell to the ground, coughing and gasping for air. The jackals were already aiming their weapons at the unicorn but Twilight saw them immediately and manifested a shield of magic to block the incoming bolts of green plasma.
While still keeping the shield up, Twilight managed to levitate the human over to her to keep him from getting shot. As the jackals continued their fire, a flash of Rainbow took one of the jackals out; momentarily leaving the remaining jackals stunned.
Twilight took the opportunity to shove the rest of them off the building, their screams echoing on the way down. She turned back to check on the human only to be shoved harshly into the ground below her; forehead hitting the pavement at full force.
It took a moment to register what had just happened, stunned and confused; she turned to see Applejack engaging into combat with the brute from earlier.
She was holding her own for a few seconds, dodging and offering a few kicks in when one of the brute's hands had connected with her face; sending her to the floor. The brute was a mere second away from finishing her off when he sudden burst of gunfire began hitting the ape.
It turned and saw the white unicorn; a rifle hovering in mid-air firing at him. It began charging toward her at an alarming rate, forcing the elegant mare to back up. It was a few feet away when it suddenly jumped up and was about to deliver a devastating blow to the mare when it suddenly became stuck in mid-way.
A purple aura formed around the brute before it was flung from the building entirely. Twilight panted, struggling to get back up; her head still aching from the impact. Rarity looked at the rifle she had picked up, a little blue interface with the number two on it.
Fluttershy rushed over to the man while Twilight took a look at her surroundings. Bodies, bodies everywhere. Not just the civilians this time but soldiers as well and only the occasional dead grunt.
"All these people..." Rarity muttered, looking at a dead soldier; her bloody rifle next to her.
"If only we got here sooner..." Rainbow Dash muttered.
The rooftop gave them a view of the city. Buildings destroyed, some of them on fire, Banshees firing at the soldiers on some of the rooftops. Covenant aircrafts flying in and out. The large corvette hovering above the city and shooting down civilian transport. The smoke was beginning to cloud the sky, painting it like a canvas coat.
"Where's the... pelican?" Pinkie asked, looking around, a sad look on her face.
"The evac... are they-"
"Destroyed..." The human answered, cutting off Applejack and making everypony turn to him; except Twilight as she continued to stare at the destruction of the city. He had a strange foreign accent and spoke in broken English, he slowly picked himself off the ground, Fluttershy there to support him. "Just like everywhere else." He spat out, looking at the city.
A moment of silence passed, Twilight rips her gaze away from the city; averting it to her friends. "Come on, there's still covenant in the building. We need to leave, now."
"Where are we going this time?" Dash questioned. "We were supposed to be getting rescued here!" She waited for an answer. Everyone looking to the side or staring off into space, a contemplative yet lost frown on their faces.
"We'll look for another evacuation point, somewhere where the military is." Twilight finally answered after a few moments. "I can teleport us across the buildings, hopefully we won't get ambushed by any of the covenant."
The man gave her and the rest of the mane six a confused frown. "Wait, hold on a second... just what exactly a-are you?"
"In short, we're a species called ponies. Pegasi, Unicorn and Earth ponies." She gestured to her friends as she said their sub-species before pointing to her self. "Me, in particular? I'm an alicorn. We have to move before the rest of the covenant finds out we're still here."
The man nodded. "My name is Marq and uh... thank you for saving me... for what it's worth..." he trailed off, looking at the rest of the bodies around him.
Twilight followed his line of sight and felt the wave of guilt come back; wishing she had gotten to the top sooner. "It was the least I could do. Alright, everypony huddle up!" Everyone did so and soon after the group vanished in a flash of light.