After their massacre of the Hunters, Fluttershy, Derpy and Amethyst found their way into an extensive, shadowy corridor. The floor was engraved with the same geometric patterns as everywhere else on Halo.
Amethyst had apologised for her behaviour earlier. She had good reasons for her sour mood. Like Fluttershy, she too thought that once the Truth and Reconciliation was under their control, they would immediately jump for Equestria. The fact that they had to stay on Halo for a while longer really kicked her moral down, but at least she'd have a nice, relaxing day on one of Halo's beaches, right? Wrong! Sergeant Cheerlie had ordered her to go on the mission with Fluttershy and Derpy, and miss out on the closest thing to a vacation any war had ever seen.
Once she'd seen her fellow Pony in trouble, she'd snapped out of her grumpiness and tried her darndest to help. The fate of the Pony race rested heavily on Fluttershy and her resident AI after all.
Finally, the three Mares arrived at a small chamber at the end of the corridor. It had a glass floor, and Fluttershy felt somewhat intimidated by the yawning abyss below. Around the edges of the room was a balcony that poked out over the wide, circular shaft.
At the top of this shaft, a large metal lid separated the gloom from the daylight above. Using her instincts, Fluttershy figured she was looking at the underside of the same metal plate that she and her colleagues had fought the first pair of Hunters upon.
In the centre of the room, a small, silvery frame stood with a holographic projection floating within it.
"Use the holo-panel to shut down the security system," instructed Twilight.
Derpy used her wings to hover around the shaft beyond the security room while Amethyst stayed by the shy's side.
Unsure, Fluttershy placed a hoof on the translucent display, allowing Twilight to analyse it and tell her what to do.
After a couple of seconds, she stated, "Ok, the big green square in the middle. Push it."
Fluttershy did just that, and as her hoof met resistance with the green light, a noisy clang echoed around the giant pipe.
Flying back up, Derpy exclaimed excitedly, "The door is open! The door is open!"
Glancing down at the green button that had just turned orange, Fluttershy quizzed, "How do you know?"
"Look!" Derpy pointed down the shaft.
Fluttershy and Amethyst walked over to the balcony and peered down the dull shaft. The room where Pinkie had been separated could be seen through the smashed window on the other side of the vertical tunnel. The floor was still blast scarred and littered with dead Covenant. Hard to see from their position, Fluttershy could just make out an open doorway in place of the locked door.
Also from this position, Fluttershy could see what looked like a diving board extending out over the bottomless well. Mysteriously, a Grunt's breathing mask sat idle at the edge of the metal platform.
Curious, Fluttershy asked, "Where's Pinkie? She should be there."
"Scanning," Twilight announced. "... I... I can't find her."
The three Mares gasped, shocked.
"Oh no! Not again!"
Comforting, Twilight said, "Don't worry, Fluttershy. She's Pinkie Pie, remember? I'm sure she'll be fine." To herself, she grumbled, "If she didn't disobey a direct order from me, we'd know for sure."
At that moment, Derpy descended into the shaft and landed on the sticky-out platform.
Into the dark, narrow corridor ahead, she echoed, "Hello?! ... Pinkie Pie?! ..."
Twilight didn't try to stop her. Instead, she tried to radio the pink Pony herself, repeating, "Pinkie, come in... Pinkie, come in! ..."
There was no answer... or was there?
A deep, serious growl resonated from the corridor before Derpy, and the grey Pegasus shot up into the air to join Fluttershy and Amethyst on the security centre's balcony.
"You're not Pinkie!" she accused.
Hunkering down, the Mares spied an Elite come jogging onto the protruding platform below. He skidded to a halt, raising dust from the ancient alien metal. His armour was gold, identifying him as a Zealot, with a few additions that came with being a Field Master. He wielded a lethal, glowing energy sword.
Staring up at the three spies, he spoke something in his alien language, his mandibles clicking with the pronunciation. Chortling, the high ranking biped turned and walked away, back into the cartographer. Fluttershy's heart thumped in time with the Elite's footsteps.
A moment of silence passed before Twilight sounded, "Uh-oh. This isn't good."
Teeth chattering, Fluttershy trembled, "I know!"
"That was Field Master Isolomee. When he was talking, he was radioing for reinforcements. Then he told us; "You're all going to die.""
Fluttershy groaned with fear.
"I don't wanna die!" wailed Derpy hysterically.
"Calm down," demanded Twilight sternly. "No pony is going to die."
"What about your friend?" pondered Amethyst, referring to Pinkie.
"Pinkie Pie? She doesn't die. She just goes missing in action." With a digital nudge, she added, "Doesn't she, Fluttershy?"
With a trembling lower lip, Fluttershy nodded and hummed, "Mm-hm."
"Everypony just do as I say, and together, we'll find Pinkie, get to the cartographer, and we'll all make it through this."
As a group, the three musketeers marched back down the corridor to the room with the Covenant crates and the Hunters Derpy had killed.
"I know a way to even the odds," Twilight randomly mentioned. On the radio, she hailed, "Rainbow Dash, are you there?"
There was a pause before the pilot answered, "Ugh! ... I'm here, Twilight - woah!"
"What's going on?" puzzled the AI.
There was another wait before the rainbow maned Pegasus replied. "I got a couple o' Banshees on me, hehe! I can loose em, but - oohh! ... It's gonna be a while. Why? Do you need me?"
Twilight sighed, "I was going to ask you to drop off some heavy weapons for us."
Heavy weapons? Fluttershy thought.
Heavy weapons meant the Covenant had a lot in store for them. It also meant loud noises.
Buzzing over the speaker, Rainbow advised, "Helia's still available. You'd be better off calling her."
"Helia?"
"I gotta go now. I'll get back to ya. Good luck guys!"
Twilight and Fluttershy managed to say their goodbyes before Rainbow ended the call.
Inquisitive, Fluttershy asked, "Who's Helia?"
"She's the pilot of the second Pelican," taught the AI. "I'll try contacting her."
A few steps further down the corridor, Twilight beaconed, "Helia? Do you read?"
Almost instantaneously, the Mare on the other side responded, "I'm here."
"Good. We need some heavy weapons. Could you please get some and bring them to us. You know where to go."
"Oh, ok. Sure thing, Twilight Sparkle," the Mare answered merrily.
"Thank you. See you soon."
A tiny burst of static marked the end of the conversation.
To the three Ponies, Twilight justified, "Ok, good. We'll head back to Cheerlie's location and get our hooves on those weapons."
Worried, Fluttershy interrogated, "Why do we need heavy weapons?"
Trying to think of a more delicate way of putting it, Twilight strained, "Because... er... the Covenant are... uh..." Giving up, she eventually stated, "Beefing up their patrols."
Fluttershy sighed and drooped her ears.
At the end of the corridor, the Ponies could either turn right or left into the same, crate filled room. Opting to go right, Fluttershy walked out into the dusky chamber, and her sensitive ears pricked up at the faint sound of murmuring. Abruptly, she stopped, and Derpy bumped into her. She searched around, frightened, her heart rate increasing.
Amethyst stopped by her side. "What's wrong?"
Fluttershy didn't answer, just bit her lip and very carefully backed up.
"Fluttershy?"
"I'm not picking anything up on my sensors," Twilight informed. "Did you hear something?"
Fluttershy daren't make a sound. She just gradually reversed and nodded her head brokenly.
"What is it...?"
What it was sounded its presence with the scraping of its boots on the metal floor. All at once, blue plasma came lashing their way from five different spots in the air. Thanks to the scraping warning, as well as Fluttershy's trusty senses, the team were able to evade the ambush by retreating back into the corridor, just in the nick of time.
"Stealth Elites!" shouted Twilight with shock. "Where did they come from?!"
Fluttershy went squealing along with the others in tow. The corridor was segmented by decorative, silver frames, and Fluttershy dove into cover behind one, as did Derpy and Amethyst.
"Oohh, those sneaky Elites!" Twilight growled angrily. "They're all over my sensors now! They were waiting for us to come out of the security centre!"
"What do we do?!" cried Fluttershy, readying her diamond encrusted pistol.
"We're going to have to fight them!"
Amethyst was hiding behind the opposite side of the frame Fluttershy was using as cover. Derpy hovered above the purple Unicorn, and the two of them shared a glance.
"Get ready!" ordered Twilight. "Two of them are embarking up the corridor! Wait for them to get along side and attack them!" Remembering the Elites were invisible, she added, "I'll tell you when!"
Following Twilight's orders, the soldiers held position behind the second frame down the corridor.
Those mighty alien footsteps could be heard, stomping their way. Fluttershy and Derpy and Amethyst stared at each other from across the way, waiting for Twilight's signal.
Before Twilight bellowed, "Now!" Fluttershy noticed a slight shimmering in the air.
That shimmer was the invisible Elite's body, distorting the light.
All at once, the three Mares bucked the first of the two see-through warriors from the left, right, and above, instantly killing him.
The second stealth Elite made a throaty noise of anger and fired his plasma rifle at them, particularly at Fluttershy. Of course, one plasma rifle couldn't beat two MA5Bs and a magnum, so the Elite strobed into view and collapsed to the floor with many bullet holes decorating his torso.
As terrified as Fluttershy was to take hits from a plasma rifle, she knew it was a good thing the Elite was more posted on her than the other two. Thanks to her shields, she could take some damage without result. As for Derpy and Amethyst; they weren't lucky enough to have Spartan armour, so they would drop out of action upon the first, possibly the second bolt to the body.
Diving back behind the frame, Fluttershy had an idea. She was lacking an assault rifle, giving her no choice but to use Rarity's pistol. However, there were two Covenant plasma rifles lying right before her. As Twilight warned them of two more Elites heading into the corridor, she hastily snatched one of the alien rifles up, put her pistol away, and attached the smooth, blue coloured weapon to her mechanical arm.
Amethyst raised an eyebrow at her, just as a pulsing blue orb landed on the floor between them.
"Grenade!" Twilight shrieked. "Run!"
Further back down the corridor, the Mares ran and flew behind the next frame, avoiding the deadly explosive as it went BOOM, damaging the architecture.
Fluttershy's armour had just recharged when Twilight ordered, "Take them out! Before they throw anymore grenades!"
Derpy and Amethyst immediately started to return fire, and Fluttershy soon found herself joining them. She even tossed out a frag into what looked like thin air.
As the grenade exploded with a deafening BOOM, the two invisible Elites materialised into view and were thrown up against the walls, dead.
"Is... is that all?" Fluttershy palpitated nervously.
"No. There was one more, but he isn't on my sensors. He's either retreated, or is waiting for us."
Fluttershy let out a long, frustrated moan.
Cautiously, she, Derpy and Amethyst crept along the corridor towards the chamber of Covenant crates. Fluttershy and Derpy entered the huge, gloomy room from the left while Amethyst went right.
"Still nothing," Twilight breathed over the coms. "Don't let your guard down."
Fluttershy was way too edgy to let her guard down. She literally spun round and round, checking absolutely everywhere around her, keeping an eye out for the tell-tale shimmer of the invisible Elite.
Ba-ba-bang! Ba-ba-bang! Ba-ba-bang! Amethyst fired burst after burst from her assault rifle. Upon hearing the racket, Fluttershy and Derpy spun their heads to witness the last Elite drop before the purple Unicorn. Panting, Amethyst reloaded her gun and checked on the other two.
"Well done, Amethyst," congratulated the AI. "That was the last of them."
There was a click as Amethyst rammed a clip into the bottom of her MA5B. "Goody."
With the room clear, the three equines trotted on their way out of the grim, Forerunner complex and outside into the beautiful sunlight and fresh air. Fluttershy inhaled and exhaled healthily, relieved to be back outside. The gentle breeze cooled down her feverish head as she took a gulp of water from her flask.
"Good to be outside, am I right?" raised Twilight.
It didn't really matter to the AI if she was inside or outside: She couldn't feel the benefit of fresh air, or the confinement of an alien room.
Nether the less, Fluttershy replied, "Definitely," and proceeded back around the building to get to the Warthog.
Upon entering the first hollow, which was once the second hollow when the Ponies had fought their way to the security centre, Twilight warned, "I'm detecting a Covenant drop ship by the lid of the shaft."
Derpy cheered, "Alright! Another one!"
The grey Pegasus had just launched herself when she came up short upon Twilight's disapproval.
"No, Derpy! We're not going through all that again!"
Landing, Derpy drooped, "Aaww."
Silently, the Ponies shuffled into spying positions where they had a clear view of the silvery lid, and the dead Hunters slumped upon it.
Hovering above them, was the gigantic, horseshoe shaped aircraft. It had just closed its doors and begun floating upwards, its humming engines working hard to lift the purple metal tonnage higher into the air. Once at a decent altitude, the Spirit buzzed away. Now, two Elites, three Jackals and a bag of Grunts searched the hollow and the round plate that indented it.
"Ok. This isn't anything we haven't faced before," observed Twilight. "You all know what to do. Just fire when ready."
Glancing at each other, the three Mares nodded and got to work.
Derpy used her aerial ability to rain down bullets on the umbrella-less Covenant. Firing on full automatic, her shots were terribly aimed, but every now and then, she scored some lucky hits.
Amethyst gritted her teeth and fired in bursts, nailing the Grunts and Jackals. She ducked down behind a rock to avoid plasma fire from the Elites.
Giving the Covenant a taste of their own medicine, again, Fluttershy took careful shots with her acquired plasma rifle. She could feel the heat radiating from the weapon with every blue plasma bolt that flashed away.
Hitting the blue armoured Elite, Fluttershy drained his shields in no time, making him vulnerable to attack from Derpy and Amethyst. He fell under the combined force of the two.
His veteran buddy didn't fare too well either. He suffered the same plasma bombardment from the fearful Pegasus, and then took multiple bullets to the chest and head. Purple blood squirted from the wounds as his biped form flopped over to the grass.
Felicitations came courtesy of the AI once again. "Well done, everypony! The area is secure. Let's get back to the War - oh?" Her words came to an abrupt halt upon a crack of static coming over the radio.
Getting her hopes up, Fluttershy asked, "Is that Pinkie?"
Denying, Twilight answered, "It's Helia," with a hint of confusion.
Why would Helia be calling them?
To the pilot on the radio, Twilight hailed, "Helia? Can you hear me?"
Her only response was a fizz of static, with the pilot's voice barely audible in the background.
"Helia! Pick up!" Twilight yelled desperately. "Come in, Helia!"
More static, and more incoherence from Helia. Behind the droning fuzz, Fluttershy detected a hint of panic in the Mare's drowned out voice.
To the soldiers, Twilight ordered, "Quickly girls, get to the Hog!"
At once, the Mares galloped past the Forerunner lid and hurtled through the narrow, descending ravine to the beach.
On the way to the Warthog, Twilight tried to get a good lock on Helia's signal.
"Helia! We cannot hear you over the interference! Please repeat yourself!"
It was no use; only static answered the AI.
Once at the Warthog, each Mare hopped into their previous positions; Amethyst behind the wheel, Derpy riding shotgun, and Fluttershy on the turret.
"Head down the beach. We can lap the island and regroup with Cheerlie's squad," Twilight instructed before getting back on the radio. "Helia! Are you still there?!"
As soon as the Warthog was under way, a deep, distant roar spread over the island and located the Ponies' ears. With it, Helia's voice became a lot more clearer on the radio. It was still rife with static though.
"... I'm still here... ... -uch longer! ... ... -hit, an..."
"Helia, we didn't quite catch that! What did you just say?!"
Fluttershy knew what Helia was trying to say, and she knew that Twilight knew it too.
That deep, continuous roar grew louder, and Fluttershy looked up to see what it was. In the air behind them, she noticed an approaching Pelican drop ship, trailing smoke from its engines. She screamed at the sight, prompting Derpy to see for herself. The grey Pegasus gawped as the aircraft came tearing closer and closer.
With the sound of the dying engines cutting out and in, Helia screeched, "I'm going down!"
Glancing in the rear view mirror, Amethyst gasped at the fast approaching, burning Pelican, and floored the accelerator pedal.
"Get clear!" bawled Twilight urgently.
With the howling jets popping the Ponies' ears, the Pelican soared right up behind the Warthog. Fluttershy shrieked on and on as the out of control Pelican touched down and tailgated the Hog, carving a lengthy trench into the pristine, sandy beach. She felt the vehicle jump as the nose of the aircraft made contact with the Hog's rear bumper, sending them into a skid. Inside the Pelican's cock-pit, Helia could be seen grasping the controls, her face stricken with terror.
Sliding sideways, the Warthog came to a jarring stop against a large mesa, its wheels paddling in the sweeping surf. That Pelican sliced through the wet sand, Helia unable to stop it, and drew closer to the beached Warthog. Friction soon took its toll on the crashed drop ship, making it slow, but would it stop in time?
Luckily, the enormous aircraft groaned to a halt as its smoking engines lost all power, and ended up just an inch away from crushing the three screaming Mares. Even when it was over, Fluttershy continued to shriek until her lungs were empty, her eyes popped wide with horror.
"It's ok, Fluttershy. You can stop screaming now," Twilight let the yellow Mare know.
Even when Fluttershy had calmed down, the painful groans of discomfort continued from inside the Pelican. Helia lay back in her seat and clutched her chest, wailing in agony.
"My goodness!" exclaimed Amethyst, switching off the Hog's engine and dismounting.
Derpy; "You have goodness?"
Fluttershy and Derpy left the Hog and galloped to the rear of the Pelican.
Thanks to the impact, the hatch had come loose, and Derpy strained to pull it down as far as she could manually. The three of them squeezed through the gap and into the Pelican's troop bay, finding a dozen olive green, UPSC branded crates. Making their way across the slanted, dented deck, they approached the door to the cock-pit, and Amethyst slid it open. The cries of the pilot were a lot clearer now, and it hurt Fluttershy to see a Pony in so much pain.
Helia wheezed, her breath fragmented. "I... I... I think I... broke my ribs..." She coughed, and blood came spitting out of her mouth.
Good heavens!
"Fluttershy, do you know what to do?" quizzed Twilight hopefully.
"Um, yes, but... we should get her outside first."
"Of course," the AI agreed, then hinted, "The lever to Helia's right will lower the gangplank."
With the back of the plane fully open, Derpy and Amethyst began lifting the Pelican's heavy cargo out onto the beach to clear the way for poor Helia. Once those boxes were out of the way, they assisted Fluttershy in carrying the injured pilot clear of the wreckage, and placing her gently on the sand.
When it came to medical action, sand was a blighter. Little grains of the stuff just seemed to spawn within any open wounds, no matter how hard you tried to keep things clean. However, as Fluttershy parted Helia's turquoise coat, she found no cuts, no holes, and no external bleeding. Good? No. There was an expanding patch of purple on the left of the Pegasus' chest, indicating internal bleeding: The worst type of bleeding.
Placing an ear against Helia's chest, Fluttershy could hear and feel her dodgy breathing. If she didn't know any better, she'd say she had a punctured lung as well.
Whipping out her med-kit, Fluttershy fed Helia an anti-inflammatory, along with a few sips of water from her canteen.
She then produced an ice pack and placed it on Helia's bruise, eliciting a wince from the freckle faced Mare. She expertly wrapped bandages around her chest, keeping the ice pack in place. Of course this was just temporary treatment; it would take around eight weeks to heal.
Fighting her shyness, Fluttershy instructed, "Ok, um... just take it easy. Take good, deep breaths." Queue the quick demonstration. "And drink plenty of water."
Heaving, Helia spluttered up some more blood and strained, "Ok... thank you."
"Don't mention it," replied Fluttershy as she helped the patient have a couple more sips from her half full canteen.
Gazing up into the clear blue sky and curving Halo ring, she wondered what on earth had caused Helia to crash.
Amethyst fired up the Warthog and drove it out from between the rock and the Pelican.
Up in the cliffs at the back of the beach, the Forerunner security centre was nestled.
The huge groove that the downed Pelican had scratched into the sand was beginning to fill up with water as the sea lapped up onto the shore.
Amethyst got back out of the Hog and helped Fluttershy and Derpy carry Helia. Gently, they placed her in the passenger seat.
Before mounting the Hog, Twilight suggested, "Wait. We should scavenge the crash site. Helia was bringing us heavy weapons. If we're up against Hunters, and we are up against Hunters, we will need them."
"Oh, sure," answered Fluttershy, trotting over to the cargo.
Derpy hovered after her, and Amethyst slowly manoeuvred the truck into position.
Flipping one crate open, Fluttershy found a tank of water, and immediately refilled her canteen.
"Woah! Check this out!" exclaimed Derpy, struggling to lift something bulky out of a crate.
Putting away her flask, Fluttershy walked up to the derp faced Pegasus and raised her eyebrows at the thing she heaved out of the box. It was an M41 SSR bazooka. Derpy's derped eyes were fixed into their own separate trances at the sight of the massive weapon in her hooves.
She drooled and uttered, "I... call... dibs!"
"No, Derpy," Twilight put bluntly, making the grey Mare frown. "This is going to either Fluttershy or Amethyst."
"Aaww, but why?"
"Because... well..."
"-You're not a very good shot," Amethyst finished shamelessly, face impassive.
The Unicorn pulled out a tissue upon Helia coughing up more blood, and wiped the unfortunate Mare's mouth clean.
Getting back to the twin barrelled rocket launcher, Twilight started, "So, Fluttershy, y'think you can handle this thing?"
"No!" the yellow Pegasus grated. "It's too loud! And too heavy! I bet I can't even lift it!"
Confuzzled, Derpy raised an eyebrow. "But didn't you learn how to use these in sparatum training?"
Spartan training.
"Yes. I was terrible!"
"Oh, you say that about everything," Twilight dismissed. "So far, you've proven to be a terrific soldier. I'm sure you can handle this thing, no problem."
Fluttershy really didn't want the rocket launcher.
Before she could think of a retort, Amethyst raised her hoof and announced, "I'll take it!"
Fluttershy stared at the Unicorn in the Warthog's driver's seat, feeling relieved to have somepony else volunteer to take the weight off her shoulders.
"I wanna take it." Smirking evilly, she added, "It'll be fun."
Accepting, Twilight replied happily, "Well, ok."
Using her Unicorn magic, Amethyst snatched the rocket launcher from Derpy's hooves and fixed it to her mechanical arm.
Fluttershy and Derpy began unloading crates of bazooka ammo cases. The long, brown, rectangular cases were levitated into the Warthog's truck bed and fastened down.
Amongst the spilled cargo, Fluttershy found an MA5B assault rifle. Discarding her captured plasma rifle, she fitted the UPSC weapon to her robot arm and hopped onto the Hog's gun pedestal.
Crammed in the truck bed with all the rockets, Derpy sat by Fluttershy's hooves and took a swig from her own flask.
Helia laid back in her seat and closed her eyes, breathing regularly like Dr Fluttershy said. She'd live.
With the LRV overloaded, Amethyst executed a three point turn between the cliff and the Pelican, and steadily drove the Hog around the island.