Soaring away, the surviving Banshee veered over the mile high waterfall and around the cliff; its work done. Grunts sprinkled the green slope at the tremendous waterfall's edge, along with a sizable part of veteran Elite.
At the very edge of the precipice, the boulder Fluttershy had been using as cover had been reduced to a pile of dusty grey rubble. Atop the shattered rock, the wreckage of the unlucky Banshee teetered over the insanely high drop, the pilot's feet hanging motionless out the back.
The breeze blew, birds chirped, and a blinding blue orb of light shot up into the sky, far off in the distance. With the last Banshee leaving the scene, all was calm by the river...
Rocks shifted around amongst the rubble, causing the destroyed Banshee to slip and fall down the precipice. A green armoured hoof emerged from the rubble, along with Fluttershy's badly scuffed face and messy pink mane.
She gasped for air and coughed, "Aha-aha! Urg! ... Did we do it?"
Twilight would've jumped for joy. "Yes! We did it! You did it! Hahahahaa!"
Surveying the carnage, Fluttershy said, "Oh... my..."
"Terrific work, Fluttershy!"
"I... I can't believe it!"
"Ha! I knew you could do it!"
"But... what happened to the Banshees?" Fluttershy stared up into the sky, seeing the opposite side of the ring world. "They were right over us."
"That plasma grenade did the trick. You took down one Banshee, and the pilot of the other one assumed you were dead, so he left."
As her drained shields recharged, emitting the usual gold light, she freed her other front hoof and heaved herself out of the tomb she denied. Standing unintentionally valiantly, she dusted herself off, the cool breeze blowing in her scruffy pink mane.
"Do you feel ok?" Twilight implored. "Your vitals are telling me you're ok. Still a little starved though."
The armour had protected her body, aside from her exposed head, which had been left battered and bruised from being buried alive. Her whole face ached, and she detected a small cut on her right cheek, bleeding ever so slightly.
Dismissing the cut, she told, "Well, I guess I'm sort of ok."
"Great. We should continue along this slope. Hopefully it'll lead to whatever that is," Twilight suggested, referring to the mysterious blue lights that kept sailing up into the sky.
Reluctantly, Fluttershy sighed, "Ok," and jumped down from the rocks.
So, along the incline she ventured, wary of slipping into the river at her right. She paced by the rocks and trees, listening to the hearty cheeping of strangely familiar birds.
With the towering waterfall left behind, she came up to the base of another, shorter one that splashed down into the coursing river.
As she wondered if the seemingly normal water was safe for drinking, Twilight ordered, "Fluttershy. Hide in that tree," referring to a medium, conifer-like tree, dead ahead. "Quickly."
Fluttershy obeyed, and took up residence within the tree's dry foliage.
Curious, she inquired, "Um, why do I hav-"
"-Sshh!" Twilight shushed. "Don't make a sound, and don't move a muscle."
Tense, Fluttershy took deep, controlled breaths, and became a statue in the concealment of the tree, spying out at the way she came. As she focused on the bridge that was still in view, her ears pricked up at the sound of many footsteps, running closer and closer.
Two Elites stomped by, one blue and one crimson. The blue one kept running as the crimson one paused to beckon a squad of Grunts who rushed by each side of her tree.
One of the orange armoured Grunts tripped and fell flat on his face, right in front of her. Twilight stifled a laugh, and even Fluttershy giggled a little inside.
Picking itself up, the dopey alien joined his brethren and proceeded to the scene of the battle.
A good, long fifteen seconds later, Twilight said, "Ok, it's clear. We should move."
Rustling her way out of the leaves, Fluttershy jogged on past the waterfall, where the slope levelled out and became a canyon between two rising cliffs.
While the tripping Grunt was funny, Fluttershy couldn't help but feel worried.
"Where were they heading?"
Twilight analysed, "It's likely they were drawn to the sound of battle earlier on. I guess no one told them you were dead, haha!" Noting Fluttershy's frown, Twilight added, "Don't worry about them."
Proceeding down the canyon, Fluttershy came to a short drop as the two cliffs began to detract from each other around a left hoof bend.
She was about to hop down, but came up short upon Twilight saying, "Ok, I have good news and bad news."
"What's the good news?"
"There's a lifeboat right around this bend!"
"Oh, that's wonderful!" she elated.
Then she drooped and remembered there was some bad news to be delineated. "And, um, what's the bad news?"
"There's a Covenant drop ship right around this bend too."
Fluttershy's eyes popped. "Oh, that is bad."
"Right, but after your little frenzy by the waterfall, you'll be able to tackle these Covies, no problem!" Twilight encouraged.
Fluttershy wasn't sure. "Oh, I... I don't know about that."
"Sure you can! You'll have help this time."
Thinking about things, Fluttershy didn't answer.
"Come on. Just take a look around this corner. Analysis indicates we're in perfect flanking position."
After a rushed debate, Fluttershy eventually sighed and gave in. "Very well."
Anxiously, she jumped down the rocky drop and crept through the widening canyon. The canyon curved left into a wide open area lined with forest and dotted with rocks and trees.
Peeping around a large boulder at the apex of the canyon's curve, Fluttershy noted the mysterious alien complex at the bottom of the gentle slope before her. A huge structure crafted out of a silvery metal and engraved with peculiar patterns. It sure as hay didn't look like a Covenant facility. The main feature of the building was a tall, two piece spire that tapered up like a triangle with a crack in the middle. Between each side of the spire, an intense blue light grew brighter and brighter, until it zoomed up between the two pieces and rocketed out into the sky with a resonating sigh. Whatever this place was, it was the source of the blue lights.
Between her and the spire, a ginormous Spirit drop ship hovered low off the ground, Covenant troops hopping down from each purple "mandible." Spirits had two bows, theoretically, both connected by a compartment at the back where the cock-pit was situated, along with a heavy plasma turret.
That turret opened fire upon the quadruped figures darting this way and that amongst the towering structure. Two Elites and a group of Grunts advanced on the structure as the drop ship ascended, provided covering fire, and left the battle.
Without the heavy aircraft to worry about, Fluttershy swapped her pistol for the rifle she had scavenged from her lifeboat wreck, and aimed as steady as she could at the back of the Covies. The clattering of other MA5Bs resonated from the Ponies who defended themselves from the nasty Covies and their hissing plasma weapons.
With the Covies focusing their attention on the Ponies around the structure, Fluttershy pulled the trigger, and fired a sustained burst into the back of a red armoured Grunt. It squealed and dropped like a rock, and since the rest of the alien soldiers didn't seem too fazed, she refocused on another Grunt, and fired once more.
The rookie Grunt she was aiming at took a bullet to the leg and stumbled with a yelp. He looked around, confused, until somepony else put him out of his misery with a booming shotgun blast.
"Yeehaw!" the shotgun wielding Earth Pony cheered as she leapt from the cover of a rock to that of a tree, firing two deadly shells into another Grunt and a crimson Elite, ending them both. "Keep it up, y'all! There's only four of em left!"
Fluttershy recognised the marine armoured Mare instantly. Her orange coat and blonde, tied up mane and tail. The freckles on her cheeks. Her brown, trademark cowboy hat. And that unique, deep southern accent. It was her dear friend, Sergeant Applejack.
Fluttershy and Twilight gasped with elation, "It's Applejack!"
Full of motivation, Fluttershy galloped into cover behind a tree, nearing the Covenant.
Applejack and her soldiers had just nailed two more Grunts, leaving one Grunt and a rookie Elite. Fluttershy took aim on the Grunt, just as somepony shot it with a burst of assault rifle fire, leaving only the blue Elite.
Outraged, the remaining alien bellowed a war cry and rolled into cover behind a distant tree, his shields drained by the soldiers' assault rifles. Applejack withdrew a grenade from her saddle bag, bit off the pin as she tossed it into the air, spun, and bucked the explosive into the alien's hiding place.
Surprised, the Elite let out a "Waa!" in time with the grenade's detonation.
His tree cover was stripped of half its bark and branches as he was sent hurtling upwards and crumpling back down to the world.
With all the Covenant floored, Fluttershy ran joyfully towards AJ, who proceeded to feed shells into her shotgun. She came to a sudden halt as a grey Pegasus Mare came to a crash landing right in front of her, prompting her to squeak.
"Herrow!" the blonde maned soldier greeted, her yellow eyes derped out of focus.
"Oh... hello... um-"
"-Fluttershy! Is that you?!" Applejack questioned in disbelief.
Fluttershy stood as strong as she could and smiled at the orange Mare.
"Fluttershy!"
Happily, AJ came bounding over.
"Hi, Applejack," Fluttershy greeted sweetly.
"When did you get here? I don't remember seein' you in ma lifeboat."
"I wasn't in your lifeboat. I was in another that crashed back there," she explained, pointing a hoof up the canyon from which she came.
"My my; what a coincidence," AJ commented, relieved.
Puzzled, the Earth Pony searched around, and eventually asked, "Uh, Fluttershy... where's the rest o' yer team?"
Twilight stole the answer. "We don't have a team."
"Oh howdy, Twilight. Ha, it sure is strange to hear yer voice coming from Fluttershy, hehe!"
Giving AJ the news, Fluttershy added, "N... no pony else survived in my lifeboat."
Neighing in surprise, Applejack spoke, "Really? Yer the only survivor?"
Remembering waking up in a lifeboat full of corpses, she peered down and affirmed, "Well... yes."
Wrapping a hoof around Fluttershy, Applejack comforted, "Aw, gee, I'm sorry, Fluttershy."
"Oh, it's ok," she shrugged off. "That's not even the worst part."
The grey Pegasus got to her hooves as the rest of the Ponies under Applejack's command gathered round.
"What is the worst part?" AJ inquired.
Fluttershy was unsure how to word what had happened to Pinkie Pie on the Filly of Autumn. "Well... y'see, I... Well, um... Pinkie... she, um..." An ache increased in her throat and tears built up in her shimmering blue eyes. "... She... She didn't make iiit! Aha-ahaa!" She broke down sobbing, her tears cutting cracks through the grime on her face.
"Pinkie didn't make it?!" Applejack was shocked. "But... how can that be?!"
Fluttershy couldn't answer, but Twilight could. "She didn't make it onto the lifeboat. Our lifeboat was the last available lifeboat on the Filly of Autumn."
Applejack was speechless. Pinkie Pie was just as big a friend of hers as she was Fluttershy's.
After a while, she hugged the weeping yellow Mare and trembled, "... There there... It'll be fine..." sniff, "... It'll be fine..."
The rest of the Ponies watched on with plucked heartstrings as their Sergeant held on to the yellow Pegasus and squirted some.
At long last, the two friends withdrew, and Applejack stared around at the surrounding, low spirited soldiers.
Holding her hat against her chest, she sniffled and announced, "... Ok y'all... Let's, uuhh... Let's just, uh, wait to see if anypony else homes in on our signal."
"No need," Twilight told. "I've just radioed Rainbow Dash. She should be here in about ten minutes."
"Oh, well... that's just dandy, Twilight... Did ya tell her about... Pinkie Pie?"
"No. It would be better if she found out when she isn't on duty. We wouldn't want her getting teary eyed at the controls of her Pelican."
"... Of course... W-what about Captain Rarity? Does she know? She's ok too, right?" Applejack was worrying too much.
"I can't say at this moment in time, but she's most likely alive. We'll tell her the news in person once we get the chance."
AJ sniffed and said, "... Alright," then got to work ordering her soldiers. "... Everypony! ... I want y'all to hold position atop that there structure!" Pointing at the high spire that had just launched a fresh ball of light out into the sky, AJ added, "A Pelican is on its way."
The soldiers grinned and muttered to each other, glad to know that somepony was coming to help.
Twilight commented, "Great plan, Applejack. The position on this structure will surely give us an advantage."
Puzzled, Applejack queried, "An advantage? Wha'd'ya mean?"
"Oh, there are three Covenant drop ships on approach."
Upon receiving the info, Applejack whickered and complained, "Ya couldn't have told us that sooner?"
"I only just picked up their signals a second ago," Twilight defended, then anticipated, "They'll be here soon. Get everypony on the structure; we can use the spire as cover and rain down fire on the Covenant as they disembark from their drop ships. There are three of them, so they will likely try to flank us. I recommend neutralising the drop ships' heavy weapons before they melt the entire structure. And if we bring at least one of the Spirits down, there's a slim chance we might scare the remaining transports away."
Applejack, Fluttershy and the rest of the squad beat hooves up an external ramp to the top of the blocky, metal structure that held the spire, which proceeded to spit out another glowing orb of blue energy.
Flabbergasted, Applejack grated, "Neutralise their weapons? Bring down a Spirit?! What kinda squad do ya think I have?!"
"A good one," Twilight put simply. "Fluttershy here managed to fend of a Covenant patrol and destroy a Banshee fighter, all by herself, with nothing more than a pistol, some grenades and me yelling in her ear."
Astonished, AJ queried, "Is that true, Fluttershy? Did you do all that?"
Truth be truth; Twilight had been the true hero during that encounter.
She had just started to reply, "Um," when Twilight interjected;
"-Yes. Yes she did," the pride very clear in her tone. "Now bare with me while I think of something." She worked overtime to plot a defence against the inbound Covenant drop ships.
Eventually, she came up with, "AJ, order the Pegasi in your squad to round up some plasma grenades."
The orange farm Pony stalled, "But why?"
"Just do it!"
Applejack sighed as she brought up her radio.
"You should probably do what she says," Fluttershy mentioned to Applejack. "She certainly saved my life."
"Callin' all Pegasi!" the Sergeant bawled. "I want y'all to scavange as many plasma grenades as you can!" Breaking the connection, she muttered, "For some reason."
On top of the alien building, Fluttershy, Twilight and Applejack had a great view of the wide open plains ahead, soon to become an apocalyptic expanse. Just below the balcony, a smaller structure, some industrial style pipes, some rocks, trees and Applejack's crashed lifeboat provided cover on the ground.
"Good," continued Twilight. "How many Pegasi is that?"
"Ugh, yer lucky. I got four."
"Excellent! Post one at the small structure to the right, one amongst the pipes to the left, and two into the canyon behind us."
Unquestionably, Applejack issued the necessary commands into her radio, the Pegasi soaring away to their posts with their bags full of grenades.
"Great. Now when the drop ships arrive, I want each Pegasus to fly up and meet their assigned targets before they can land, using the plasma grenades to disable their weaponry. Once the guns are disabled, the Pagasi at the front of the structure are to team up with the Pegasi at the back, and use their combined collection of grenades to destroy the rear drop ship."
Fluttershy was lost. This is insane!
Pausing before speaking to her troops, Applejack said, "Twilight, one question."
The AI was impatient. "What?"
"How do you know where these drop ships are gonna land?"
Hurriedly, she explained, "Well, I'm not one hundred per cent sure where they'll land, but if I know my predictable little Covies, they will deposit their troops roughly in the areas I have highlighted. Now get on your radio and update your soldiers!"
Applejack wasn't too happy with taking orders, but nether the less, she obeyed the AI Princess and gave her soldiers the lowdown. There was a series of panicked reactions from three of the four Pegasi as the eerie buzzing sound of the Spirits' engines spread over the valley.
Fluttershy, Applejack and four other non-Pegasus Ponies took up positions behind the balcony's "ramparts."
"Ok, I'm detecting that everypony is in position," studied Twilight. "Get ready."
As the droning sound loudened, the three quirky looking drop ships came flying into view, dead set on the alien structure. Within no time, the aircrafts were in range, and sure enough, two of the transports began to slow, while one zoomed ahead, over the spire, and hovered in place.
"Just as I predicted," gloated the AI, pleased, then shouted the signal over AJ's channel. "Now! Take out their guns!"
The Pegasi had already taken off before Twilight gave the signal, meeting the huge alien transports in the air. With little effort, the winged Ponies managed to glue their plasma grenades to each of the drop ships' turrets. Turning tail and fleeing, the Pegasi avoided the ensuing explosions; the Spirits' heavy weapons falling to the ground in blue flaming pieces.
Those heavy plasma cannons were some of the most lethal hardware in the Covenant arsenal, and now that they were gone, the Ponies had a little breathing room.
As for the drop ship at the Ponies' backs, well, the two Pegasi assigned to breaking its gun had succeeded the first part of the task. Now that they were joined by the other two Pegasi, they latched themselves to the ship as the alien pilot skilfully stabilised it in the air.
Using up the entirety of their plasma grenades, the four Pegasi planted eight of the explosives onto the Spirit's weakened central compartment.
Racing away with the speed of a thousand falcons, the winged soldiers were clear of the detonation. The eight combined explosions let off a deafening BOOM and sent pieces of drop ship hurtling through the air; sharp scraps of purple metal lodging into rock, trees and alien architecture. As the Spirit drop ship plummeted to the floor, the remains of the central compartment snapped, the two extended "prongs" drifting apart and thumping to the ground.
Twilight celebrated briefly, "Yes! One drop ship down!" Using Fluttershy's suit's coms system, she ordered, "Everypony, regroup on the balcony, now!"
The four Pegasi touched down on top of the structure and readied their assault rifles.
The remaining Covenant drop ships lowered to the grassy ground, their doors dropping open on each side. Out of the troop compartments came four Elites, two of which were veterans, along with a mixed bag of Grunts, and two aliens that hadn't made an appearance up to now.
Jackals. In terms of threat, the bird-like bipeds were somewhere between Grunts and Elites. They were tall. Shorter than Elites, but still tall. They were thin too. Their beak-like snouts clicked and hissed, communicating. With the hair on their heads styled into mohicans, they looked like mean, rebellious punks. Rumour had it; even the other races of the Covenant had trust issues with these guys.
Like the majority of Jackals, the two soldiers were equipped with glowing energy shield gauntlets. The luminescent circles of ionized plasma originated from a metal device on the Jackals' right wrists, leaving their left claws free to handle their weapons.
One of the Jackals was equipped with a standard plasma pistol, but the other Jackal, who's shield glowed orange as oppose to blue, wielded one of the Covenant's most bizarre hand guns. It resembled a "greater than" symbol, and appeared to be a cross between a beetle and a porcupine. Its top half consisted of a gleaming purple carapace with phosphorescent pink needles protruding up from it. Those lit up needles were its ammo, and they became shorter as the weapon was fired. From the pliers-like muzzle of the strange weapon, the pink shards of crystal streamed leisurely on bending paths through the air, homing in on the Ponies' heat signatures.
Taking cover, none of the Ponies were hit. Good thing too; if one needle stabbed into you, and if it wasn't removed in time, it would detonate, the resulting miniature explosion inflicting evil damage. And that was just one needle; if six made it into one body, the explosion would rival a grenade.
Bullets, plasma bolts and magic pink needles criss-crossed between the Covies on the ground and the Ponies on the building. Applejack had withdrawn her shotgun to use her long distance M6D pistol. Fluttershy felt scared as usual, but with the rest of the squad rallying her on, she summoned the courage to point, shoot and duck.
Those needler rounds were unpredictable as hell. If they didn't strike a target, they would either shatter upon contact with the rampart, pierce the rampart, or ricochet and trail off in the opposite direction.
Two needles smacked Fluttershy in the side of the head, lowering her shields by a small amount and smashing.
"Nng," she grunted, ducking down to let her shields recharge.
The Covies began to drop as they pushed forward. However, a group of the aliens made it beneath the balcony, out of sight, and made their way up the ramp.
Keeping her cool, Twilight hinted, "Applejack, Covenant are heading up the ramp beneath us. You have a shotgun..."
The farm Pony chuckled, "Hehe, yep. I sure do," and whipped out her M90 shotgun with a smirk.
Galloping to the top of the ramp, AJ evaded several plasma bolts. When she arrived, she came face to face with a single, orange armoured Grunt, who jumped back and squealed.
Boom! The eight gauge buckshot blasted the pathetic soldier into a blue blooded mess.
Almost instantaneously, a rookie Elite came pounding up to greet her with a swing of his rifle. AJ reared up and shoved the Elite away, firing another shell, point blank into his belly. The shotgun was so powerful, it tore through the warrior's shields and his flesh, throwing his body back down the ramp and tripping up a crimson armoured Elite. Before the experienced one could rise, Applejack delivered a third blast from her shotgun, taking his head clean off.
She was about to return to Fluttershy's position, but the sight of a vibrant orange circle kept her at the top of the ramp. The needler wielding Jackal had sneaked past their defences and crouched behind his translucent shield like a medieval foot soldier. An eight gauge shell to the shimmering dinner plate only reddened it, and the Jackal behind proceeded to fire his needler from a purpose built nook in the left of his shield.
Skilfully, AJ dove and evaded. With the homing needles chasing her, she bolted around the spire, reluctantly leaving the Jackal for somepony else to take care of.
Luckily, somepony did take care of it. The grey Pegasus Mare sprayed her ammunition all over the Jackal's general area, scoring hits on his exposed flank. As the alien fell, he squeezed his trigger and sent three last needles aimlessly into the air.
Not long later, the rest of the Covies were mopped up, and their defenceless Spirit transports took off and left the battlefield behind them. Applejack had outran the needles chasing her, and at last, the Ponies were allowed to breathe.
"Yeehaw!" hurrahed Applejack, rearing up and kicking her front hooves out in celebration. "Bang up job, everypony!"
"No Covenant life signs in the area," announced Twilight over Fluttershy's exterior speakers and coms system. "Well done."
All the Ponies cheered and whooped, the Pegasi being commended for their destruction or an entire Covenant drop ship.
"We have about two minutes before Rainbow arrives. We should all stock up on ammo," Twilight told the victorious team. Then, privately to Fluttershy, she said, "Now that we're not being attacked, we can finally learn what this structure is."
As the metallic, silvery structure coughed up another ball of blue light, Fluttershy paced closer to the spire.
"Hmmm... interesting," Twilight mumbled thoughtfully.
Curiously, Fluttershy pondered, "What is it?"
"It's emitting portions of energy... into the sky..."
Fluttershy puzzled, "Do you know why it's doing that?"
"I do, I just don't know why..."
Is she confusing me on purpose?
"It's sending energy out to other facilities - that's what the blue lights are. I just don't know what other facilities."
Fluttershy scratched her head.
"Think of this thing as a power station. There will likely be many, many more."
Not sure how to answer, Fluttershy remained quiet until Applejack walked up beside her.
Smiling, she checked, "Ya doin' ok there, Fluttershy?"
"Yes."
"Good." Talking to Twilight, she gratified, "Listen, Twilight, I wanna say thanks for yer help just then. That was quite a plan ya had, and we are all grateful. I can honestly say; we wouldn't be here without you."
The AI giggled modestly from Fluttershy's armour. "Hm-hm-hm. You're welcome, Applejack."
As the two Mares studied the marvellous, energy emitting tower, Fluttershy's tummy rumbled loudly. The hungry Pegasus blushed and squeed as Applejack glanced down and chuckled.
"Hehe! Gee, Fluttershy. You hungry?"
Embarrassed, she replied, "Um... maybe a little."
Opening her saddle bag, Applejack produced a fantastic apple pie and hoofed it over to the shy Mare. "Here, eat this. It's a little cold, but it'll see ya through to lunch, and boy is it tasty!"
Amazed, Fluttershy gasped, "Oh wow! Thank you, Applejack."
"Yer welcome."
During the wait for the evac Pelican, Fluttershy lay on her front and tucked neatly into her scrumptious pie. Applejack lay beside her, chomping merrily on a shiny red apple, the two of them gazing out over the meadow.
The huge orange planet took up the left of the sky. Clouds drifted peacefully in front of the ring that curved up from the horizon. Shining bright, the star playing the sun illuminated the land and spread its glorious warmth.
In addition to the pie, Fluttershy had received a blueberry muffin from the grey Pegasus in AJ's squad. Her name was Derpy, and she just so happened to be the pilot of their lifeboat.
Fluttershy had almost finished her pie when a familiar voice came chortling through her speakers.
"Don't worry everypony, your prayers have been answered!"
"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy cheered with delight.
Quickly finishing off her pie and throwing the muffin into her saddle bag, Fluttershy got up and followed AJ and her squad down the structure and onto the grassy field.
Rainbow Dash's Pelican aircraft came swooping in over the lining forest and circled the spire.
To the Rainbow maned pilot, Twilight drawled, "Rainbow Dash, nice to see you're ok."
Coming to a gentle stop in the air, the VTOL aircraft lowered as the Pony at the controls responded, "Right back at ya... Oh, you are doing ok, right?"
"About as ok as one can be in a situation like this."
Rainbow Dash was the tomboy of the group. She was brash, brave, tough, but she would still cry at the loss of a friend; something they had to consider before telling her what happened to Pinkie. Fluttershy's heart continued to ache over that.
"Hey Fluttershy! You having a nice time on this awesome ring world?" Rainbow quizzed in a hard-core manner.
Fluttershy wasn't having a nice time at all, but the very presence of her friends did lift her spirits a little.
Into the microphone on her collar, she started to answer, "Um..."
"-Oh, hey Applejack! Ha, didn't know you were here! This is great!"
Into her own radio, the Sergeant returned, "Howdy, Rainbow."
"How about Rarity and Pinkie Pie? Are they here too?"
Oh gosh, she was actually asking. But then why wouldn't she?
Smoothly, Twilight answered, "We'll discuss their whereabouts once we have more information."
"Oh, so they're not here?" Rainbow muttered low spiritedly. "Well, I'm sure they'll be coping just fine."
Fluttershy almost started crying again. You have no idea.
The Mare called Derpy also had a radio, and she used it. "Hey Rainbow! It's me! Do you see me, Rainbow?"
As Derpy waved at the descending Pelican, Rainbow responded uneasily, "Oh-oh! Hehe. Uh... hey, Derpy."
A distant droning could be heard from somewhere overhead. Gradually, that droning increased and became a tremendous screech as three lifeboats tore through the sky over Rainbow Dash's Pelican. The lifeboats left fiery trails in their wake as their jet brakes ignited and their chutes deployed. Quickly, the lifeboats disappeared over the treeline.
Twilight observed, "More lifeboats. Once they land, the Covenant are gonna be right on top of them." Then she quizzed, "Y'know what that means?"
Fluttershy had an idea what it meant, but she prayed to be wrong.
Instead, she answered, "Um... I don't know."
"It means we're going to have to search for those survivors. Once we find them, I'll radio Rainbow Dash for evac."
The poor Mare's heart sank. She was under the impression she was going to ride Rainbow's Pelican to... to... wherever base was.
"Oh, Twilight, isn't there some other way?" she pleaded.
"I'm afraid not, Fluttershy. Rainbow needs to take these survivors to safety. In the meantime; we have to secure the rest of the survivors so Rainbow can pick them up without incident. I'm sorry, Fluttershy."
Fluttershy moaned in despair.
"But don't you worry; it looks like Rainbow brought a little something with her that will surely help us."
Peering up at the large aircraft that hovered just off the ground, Fluttershy witnessed it deposit a sizable vehicle onto a crest before hovering backwards and swallowing Applejack's marines like a pelican.
The vehicle was a Warthog LRV. Four chunky tires; perfect for off-roading. Two "tusks" at the front, below its high riding bumper, bracketed a winch. In the truck bed, was a swivelling pedestal, with a large, tri-barrelled M41 light anti-aircraft gun mounted upon it.
Fluttershy gulped at the sight of the beast.
Trotting up beside her, Applejack comforted, "Aw, don't worry, Fluttershy. You n' me are gonna be just fine."
"You're coming too?"
"Well of course I am! Ya didn't think I were just gonna let y'all go out there on yer own, did ya?"
"Oh, right, um... thanks, Applejack."
Leisurely, the Pelican took off; all the troops reclining in the back. Well, all but one. Fluttershy and Applejack stared curiously at the one Pony who stood with her back turned, left behind.
Annoyed, Applejack demanded, "Ugh, Derpy! What are you still doin' here?"
Spinning to face them, the blonde maned Pegasus said, "Oohh, there you are! Haha! I wondered where everypony went." Looking around, she soon realised. "Hey, where'd everypony go?"
AJ sighed with frustration, "You were supposed to be on the Pelican with everypony else."
"I was supposed to be on the what now?"
Face palming, Applejack gave up. "Ugh, never mind. Just hop in the Warthog with us."
Ecstatic, the derped one cheered, "Woohoo! I'm driving!"
Getting in her face, Applejack grated, "After the way you piloted our lifeboat? I don't think so."
Turning to Fluttershy, the Sergeant implored, "So, Fluttershy, where in the Warthog would you feel most comfortable?"
Well... I'm a terrible shot... And I'm an even worse driver... So I guess all I can do is...
Shamefully, she murmured, "Um... the... passenger seat."
AJ looked bewildered for a beat, but she quickly smiled and assured, "Ok, Fluttershy. You can sit in the passenger seat. Heh, I suppose it's a good thing Derpy here stayed behind after all."
"Stayed behind? But I stayed here."
Ignoring Derpy's quirks, Applejack grunted, "Whatever," and climbed into the Warthog's driver's seat.
"How do you know everypony else didn't abandon us?"
Abandon us. Hm. Clever joke.
With ease, AJ strapped herself in and ordered Private Derpy to mount the turret. After trying to explain what "mounting" was, she then decided to just tell her to "get on."
Fluttershy struggled to lift herself into the high-riding vehicle. Once in, she buckled her seat belt and glanced over at Applejack. The orange Earth Pony smirked and fired up the Warthog's mighty engine with a twist of the key. She revved the beast menacingly; the powerful engine rocking the vehicle side to side.
"I hope yer ready for a wild ride."