Dark Angel hovered over the southern section of the city, looking out for his friend on the ground. Midnight Fury was searching building and streets for any more Covenant and civilians. So far, they hadn’t found anything more than the remains of ponies. The two were members of Princess Luna’s night guard, but as of right now, the Guard didn’t care if you were a night guard or sun guard. With most of the remaining Covenant troops fleeing the city when the cruiser had been destroyed, Shining Armor had ordered all guards to move into the city and search for any left behind civilians. They were looking for them of course, but they were also looking for any sign of their savior; the Spartan Marcus. Dark had had enough with searching by air and went down to his old friend.
“Anything Fury?” The guardspony just shook his head.
“Nothing. No sign of him. I thought I saw something fall this way, but I guess I was wrong. All there is around here is destroyed buildings and rubble.” Dark sighed and looked around him. He had family in Baltimare, but he still didn’t know if they had made it out or not. Midnight walked up to a destroyed building and kicked a brick around, noticing the large pile of rubble from a ruined building. It looked like something and struck it, and made the wall cave in with whatever hit it.
“Hey, Dark; can you get an aerial view of this? I need to know what it looks like from up there.” Dark nodded, and flapped his wings, propelling himself into the air. He hovered a few feet in the air above the building; looking down at the pile of rubble. That’s……Weird.
“Hey, dude, this thing looked like it got hit by something big. I mean BIG.” Fury looked up at his partner.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know dude. All I know is that one of our rounds did NOT do this. Way too big of an impact crater and rubble for that.” Fury looked down on the pile he was standing on.
“Dark, get down here; we need to search this place quick.”
“Ya, got it Fury.” Dark Angel shot down, landing with a thud next to his friend and looking around.
“Where do we start?” Fury shook his head.
“I guess I’ll start going through this pile. You look around the area and check for anything.”
“Got it.” Dark trotted away, searching close allies and smaller piles of rubble. Furry rummaged through the pile of bricks and beams; looking for what he hoped was the Spartan. He pushed aside a beam, and looked down into a crater. It was large, about the size of Celestia's chariot. It was deep, and had a water line underneath that was leaking sewage. It smelled bad. Damn, what did this?
Dark was searching building, stomping out fires where he could, and going through smaller piles of rubble. He was searching a small pile of bricks and wood when he noticed something underneath.
“Fury, get your flank over here now!” Fury galloped over to where Dark was standing, stopping next to his friend.
“What is it? What did you find?” Dark didn’t even speak. He nodded his head towards a pile of wood that seemed to have collapsed recently. He nudged away the pieces of wood, revealing a large, grey helmet. It wasn’t of any fashion of the guard, but both ponies had seen the wearer of it in action.
“Dear Sisters, we need to get back to the Princesses quick Dark. They’re going to want to see this.”
“Damn straight they are Fury. He might still be alive!"
"But how? You saw the explosion! Nothing could've survived that."
"I don't know, but if this is here, then the rest should be too somewhere."Dark grabbed the helmet in his mouth and put it into a bag. Grabbing it with his mouth once more, he took off into the air with Fury following on the ground. There was still hope for the human.
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Fluttershy looked on towards the ruined city. Smoke rose high into the sky, enveloping in it a dark cloudy haze. The sun shone through it, but only barely. Fires still raged, casting an orange glow in the sky. The Covenant ship had crash landed a few miles away. When it crashed, the hull ruptured, and a massive explosion enveloped the whole of the ship. Everything inside was incinerated. Most ponies celebrated, hugging one another and cheering. Tears of happiness ran down the faces, all but Fluttershy. She had tears of overwhelming sadness on hers. The other ponies didn’t know at what cost they had won, but she did.
“Y-you did it, Marcus. You won…..but, but you didn’t come back… You broke your promise.” Her friends had left her to her sadness, knowing she just needed some time and space to collect herself. She sat on a hill, watching the city intently. She could see some pegasi flying over the city, looking for any sign of Covenant or civilians. Some ponies had been found alive, but most who had been left behind died; slaughtered by the hands of monsters. Fluttershy looked down at her hooves.
So many dead, so many gone. Why did you have to be a part of those numbers Marcus? Why couldn’t you come back? Fluttershy sniffed, and looked back up towards the sky. She thought she saw a pegasus flying towards her, and when she looked closely, she saw that it was. It carried something in its mouth.
“Who could t-that be?” The pegasus grew closer, and soon Fluttershy noticed a second pony following him on the ground. They were night guards. Fluttershy knew something was amiss. The guards were only supposed to return when they found something or ordered by Shining Armor to regroup for the return journey home. Fluttershy stood up and waited for the duo to arrive. The Pegasus landed a few feet away, and waited for his companion to show up. Once there, they trotted up to her and dropped whatever it was to the ground. It was in a brown sack.
“Ms. Fluttershy?”
“Yes?”
“My name in Dark Angal. This is my partner Midnight Fury. We are the night guards of Princess Luna. I believe we have something for you and the others to see.” At that Midnight Fury brought up the sack to her and placed it in front of her.
“W-what is it?” The guards smiled and nodded with their heads towards the bag.
“Look for yourself.” Fluttershy gabbed it with her mouth and dumped the object onto the grass. It fell to the ground with a deep *THUD * and rolled a little till it righted itself. It was a large grey helmet the Fluttershy knew all too well.
“Marcus… He’s alive!” Fluttershy grabbed the helmet with her mouth and rushed towards Celestia’s tent where all her friends were. They needed to see this for themselves.
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Princess Celestia stood looking down at a map of Baltimare. Her sister sat to her right, while her faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, sat on her left. Twilights friends from Ponyville sat around the map as well. Shining Armor sat across from Celestia, going over damage reports and other things with her.
“Guards searched the houses on 32nd and Mane. What they found wasn’t much better that any of the other places. Smaller Covenant species remained, with no larger ones anywhere to be seen. Ponies laid dead, and those that still lived where in a state of shock and didn’t move. We had to have the 45th division move in and help with evacuations. The guards from the 34th and 11th fought off the Covenant that was there, with minimal casualties. 2 dead, with 3 wounded. It was mainly Grunts.” Celestia shook her head and looked up at the general.
“How many are we talking about Shining? How many dead?”
“The total populace of Baltimare was around 3 hundred thousand. Out of that, we are seeing only around 100 thousand alive. A third of those are wounded.” Celestia looked down at her hooves, a tear running down her face. Damn it. She shook her head clear and looked to her sister.
“Any news?”
“No, I haven’t been able to find him. If Marcus is alive, I can’t see him.” Celestia nodded her head. This day gets worse and worse. Finally Celestia looked to her student.
“How is she?”
“Bad, I’ve never seen her like this. She really cared for him Princess.”
“I know.” Celestia nodded her head in a finally acceptance.
“Very well. There are measures to be taken, steps to be used. Twilight, you and Rarity will go and help the nurses with the wounded. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, I need you to go and help with the search parties. Split up if you must. Pinkie Pie do……something productive. We could use some bread for these ponies, so baked goods would be great.”
“Yes Princess!” was their response. Well, all except Pinkie Pie, who responded with an ‘Okie Dokie Lokie!’ They were all about to leave when Fluttershy ran into the tent. She ran up to the table and dropped something on the it. It was a brown bag with a large object inside. She was then followed by two night guards who were apparently out of breath.
“Princess, he’s alive! Marcus is alive and I have proof!” They looked on in disbelief. Twilight trotted up to her friend and places a hoof on her shoulder.
“Fluttershy, we all know you miss him, but there was no way he survived that blast. Not even he could have lived from that inferno.” Fluttershy shook her head and looked back at all of them.
“N-No! He is alive, and I can prove it!” At that Fluttershy gabbed the bag and pulled out the object. Out fell a helmet made of materials no one knew of, and covered in dried blue blood. It had a greyish tint, and was dented in the back. A large scratch marked the visor. Luna walked up closer to the table and spoke.
“That’s…that’s not possible. How is this here?”
“You see? He would have needed to be off the ship for this to be here! If the is helmet is here, then the rest of the armor is as well! He’s alive! I know it!” Celestia turned her attention to the two guards present.
'You two; where yo uthe one who found this?"
'Yes Princess!" THey responded, snapping to attention.
"How did you find this?" One guard looked to the other for a breif moment, then stepped forward.
'I thought I had seen something small fall from the ship into the city, so my friend and I went and looked for it. We found a large building with an impact crater in it. The helmet was a few hoofs away." Celestia nodded, and turned to Shining Armour.
“Shining, double the guards searching the city and find him! Fluttershy is right; if this is here he must be as well.” Shining bowed and turned to leave.
“At once Princess!” Shining galloped away, the entrance to the tent flapping in the wind. All eyes turned to the helmet on the table. Celestia looked up to the roof of the tent and offered a silent prayer. Please, dear creator let him be alive. The two night guards shifted uncomfortably, and turned to leave. Midnight looked back to the Princess.
“We’d best be off, Princess. We’ll return to our section of the city and begin to look for any more signs of him.”
“Very well. You are dismissed.” The both bowed and left the tent. Celestia noticed a night guard helmet on the ground, and chuckled to herself. A few seconds later Dark Angel came back flustered. He grabbed his helmet and bowed multiple times, saying he was sorry and something about being a clumsy buffoon. Celestia chuckled and nodded, letting the guard go.
As he left the tent, the light in front of him shimmered. Acting on pure instinct, he grabbed his sword from its sheath and prepared to block the attacker. A force pushed him out of the way, and sent him flying through the air. Dark landed on his back, the air knocked out if his lungs. The light shimmered once more, and there stood a large Elite with blue armor. In one hand it held a plasma rifle; in the other an energy sword. It grinned evilly and took a step forward. Celestia’s eyes burned bright with hate.
“No! You shall not have us demon!” With that she charged her horn, and shot the beast with a powerful blast of magic. It stumbled back, and wiped away blood from its mouth.
“Strong, but not strong enough heretic. Die now in the name of the gods!” At that the Elite raised its sword and charged, yelling at the top of its lungs. It lunged at Celestia but was blown back by a blast of metal and fire. It sailed through the air, landing with a loud *THUMP. It held it side, blood pouring from the wound. Dark awoke with the Elite a few inches away, and charged the downed Elite. He drew back his sword and plunged it into the beast's throat. It twitched violently, then finally died. Shock filled the tent, but one by one all their head turned to look outside of the tent through the newly created hole. Outside stood a metal behemoth, its head down cast. In one hand it held a long unwieldy piece of metal that smoked from the end. The other clutched a wound on its stomach.
“Like hell I’ll let you hurt them hinge head.” It threw the piece of metal into the air and grabbed it by it barrel, pumping it up and down. A plastic shell flew out and landed on the ground. It looked up to the group of ponies through a gaping hole where the round and pierced through the tent’s fabric. Fluttershy stepped forward, tears in her eyes.
“M-Marcus?...” The Spartan smiled at her and dropped his gun.
“H-hey *cough* Fluttershy.” He took a step forward, but grimaced. He fell to his knees, holding onto the wound in his stomach. The group rushed up to him as he fell onto his back, groaning loudly. Celestia asked Rainbow to go and fetch a medic.
“Shit….I haven’t been this banged up in a long time.” Fluttershy lay next to him, nuzzling his head. Marcus’s vision was beginning to blur.
“Hold on Marcus. Hold on just a bit more. The medics are coming. Please, just a bit longer Marcus.” Marcus was dazed and couldn’t focus. He felt something lying next to him, but couldn’t see it. As the medics arrived, Marcus fell into a deep sleep.