//------------------------------//
// Chapter 20: Your Kindness Won't Betray Me 
// Story: Once Upon a Time, on an Alien Ring World 
// by Hi World 
//------------------------------//

In the freezing outdoors, everypony sat down and enjoyed a little break. Trixie sat on the Scorpion's intimidating main cannon, using her magic to lift a luxurious looking chocolate bar to her face. Her mouth became covered in the chocolate as she munched away happily.

Pinkie Pie sat in her hovering Ghost, stuffing her face with candy from a striped paper bag, om-nom-nomming as she chewed.

Caramel, Flitter, Bulk, Blossomforth, Fleur, Lightning and Derpy sat in a line against the side of the titanium behemoth. Fleur de Lis ate one piece of broccoli, and offered another piece to Lightning. The orange maned Mare was too busy downing fizzy pop however, and she rudely smacked the vegetable out of Fleur's magical grip. Scowling, the slender Mare levitated the broccoli back and gave it to Derpy. She then proceeded to disassemble her sniper rifle and clean each part with practiced precision.

With a piece of broccoli in addition to her blueberry muffin, Derpy swallowed the top half of the mini green tree and stabbed her muffin with the stalk. Having just invented the world's newest food fad, "broccoli-muffin," Derpy chortled and proceeded to chomp upon her bizarre creation.

In the Warthog, things were a little deep. Vinyl Scratch and Octavia reclined back in their seats with their heads on their forelegs, gazing up at the twin bridges high above them. The Hog's engine was switched off, and some of Octavia's very own orchestral melodies played softly over the radio.

"So, y'think you'll be able to play the cello again?" asked Vinyl, glancing at Octavia's amputated leg.
Adjusting her light purple bow tie, Octavia replied, "Oh, no doubt about it. In fact, I got to play my cello last night in the Truth's infirmary."
"They let you do that?" Vinyl rose up.
"Of course. As a matter of fact, they encouraged me to play. They said it'd brighten the mood."
"I bet it did. You're an awesome cellist," the white Unicorn complimented as she reclined back.
"Thank you."

"... No pony lets me play my music in hospital," Vinyl mentioned, looking a little downcast.
Octavia flicked her dark grey mane. "Oh, don't they?"
"Nah. I don't see why. I mean, it's not like my wubs aren't relaxing or anything."
Wubs. Dubstep. Not very soothing.

Contritely, the grey Earth Pony chuckled.
Vinyl rolled her head to face her. "What?"
Staring up, Octavia replied, "Oh nothing."
"What's wrong with my music?"
"I never said anything was wrong with your music," answered Octavia truthfully. "I just don't think your particular style of music is appropriate for a hospital. A rave; yes. Your music is really... retro? Is that the right word?" Octavia struggled to think of a fitting adjective. "How about hip?"
Vinyl was grinning throughout, and she soon broke into a chortle. "Hahahaha! Yeah, hip works."
The two buddies shared a laugh.

"Hm-hm-hm! My music's just boring," the grey Earth Pony rolled her purple eyes.
"Your music aint boring, Octy," Vinyl corrected as she sat herself up right. She puffed her chest out like a noble Prince and placed a hoof over her heart as she spoke in an over-the-top, hoity toity accent. "It's just classy and sophisticated."
With her bottom lip protruding, Vinyl caught a glimpse of the great and powerful Trixie, who sat on the tank's main gun, scoffing chocolate and making a mess of her face.
"Hehe! Kinda like Trixie over there."
As the duo giggled on, Trixie, who heard them, grew annoyed and barked, "Hey, shut up!" emitting chocolate spittle from her messy lips.
After a while, the giggles simmered down.

Moving on to a more sensitive topic, Vinyl quizzed cautiously, "... So... how does it feel, not having that leg?"
Her Earth Pony friend frowned and closed her eyes.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean... Y-you don't have to answer if you don't want."
"No, it's fine. It's just..." Octavia paused, thinking. "... I don't know. Physically, it stings and itches, but... that's the least of my woes."
Intrigued, Vinyl asked, "What's bothering you?"

And so, Octavia explained, "Well, I know I can get a robotic replacement easily, and this probably sounds silly, but... I miss my leg. I don't want an ugly robot leg. I want my leg. The leg I was born with."
Vinyl sympathised, "That don't sound stupid. I totally get that. I wouldn't want any part of me replaced by technology either." After a beat, she admitted, "Although laser eyes would be pretty cool."
"Laser eyes?" Octavia laughed.
With a daft grin on her face, Vinyl used the blue aura of her Unicorn magic to imitate laser beams shooting from her eyes. "Pew! Pew! Pew!"

"Hahahaha! Ow!" Octavia's giggles ended with a sudden yelp.
"Octy? You ok?" Vinyl checked urgently.
Octy didn't reply, just winced and bit her lower lip, adjusting her position.
"What's wrong?"
"... It's ok... It's just my leg. I mean my... nub."
"Oh gosh, it's not serious is it?"
Putting on a warm smile, Octavia dismissed, "No, no, it'll be fine. I just sat on it funny."
"You sure?" Vinyl stared worryingly at her battle scarred friend.
Realising just how important it was to the usually insubordinate Unicorn, Octavia confirmed, "... Yes, I'm sure."

Both Mares laid back in the Warthog's seats, and after a fair few seconds, the Earth Pony's tummy rumbled. Vinyl looked at her with an eyebrow raised.
"Well, I'm hungry," Octavia muttered, embarrassed. "Did you bring the sandwiches?"
Vinyl's cerise eyes popped wide open. "Oh... oh yeah... That's what I was supposed to remember."
"You forgot again?"
"Aw, man, Octy, I'm really sorry. I-"
"-Don't be. I knew you'd forget, so I brought some myself," surprised Octavia, opening her saddle bag to expose two professionally prepared sandwiches.

"Oh, nice one!" beamed the forgetful Pony, relieved.
Octavia gave Vinyl a sandwich, and the two of them munched happily.

Feebly, Octavia burped, and she blushed with a squee as Vinyl guffawed. The Unicorn then summoned up a mighty belch that echoed throughout the arctic expanse, putting Octavia's little burp to shame and eliciting looks from the rest of the troops. Stifling, Octavia waved the stench away from her muzzle.

Eventually, Fluttershy sprouted out of the Scorpion tank like a pretty yellow flower and crawled over the titanium bodywork.
"Alright, is everypony ready?" Twilight checked from the shy Mare's armour.
The soldiers nodded and replied, "Yes," some of them still with their mouths full.
Trixie wiped her chocolate covered chops clean and downed some water. "Trixie is ready."

Fleur de Lis had completely dismantled her S2 AM, and she pieced the whole thing back together in almost five quick seconds. Expert.

Still mounting the Ghost RAV, Pinkie squealed, "I can fit! I can fit!" and zoomed the Covenant machine over to the high Forerunner door.
The fringe of her bushy pink mane reached out like a limb and activated the door's simple controls. As soon as the door split, she scraped the vehicle inside the narrow and brilliantly configured metal-glass corridor. She came to a stop and twisted in her seat to spectate the rest of the herd staring at her in bewilderment.

Unfortunately, the Scorpion tank couldn't fit, and Trixie gave the heavy assault vehicle one last cuddle before turning towards Pinkie's blocking Ghost.

The Warthog LRV couldn't fit either, and the three legged Octavia grunted as she lowered herself as steadily as she could to the snow.
Confused, Twilight interrogated, "Pardon me, Octavia, but what exactly are you doing here? I don't remember adding your name to the roster."
"Oh, you didn't. I kinda came out here myself," she confessed sheepishly.

"Wait, wait, wait," Trixie ordered, holding a hoof out. Raising an eyebrow, she boggled, "You chose to come out here? Are you mad?"
Octavia just giggled, "No, I'm not mad. I came because I wanted to help Vinyl."
"You came out here just for her?" Trixie was most bewildered. "Why would you do that?"
"Well, because she's my friend," Octavia simply put. "I like helping my friends. Don't you?"
"Well, erm..." Hesitating, Trixie searched her brain for an answer.

Lightning Dust burst out laughing. "Ahahahaha! Forget it, Octavia. Trixie doesn't even have any friends! Hehehe!"
Under her breath, the gray Earth Pony muttered, "Well, I have no trouble believing that."

"Trixie doesn't have any friends?!" Pinkie gasped, abandoning her Ghost.
Face reddening, Trixie barked, "Shut up! Trixie has lots of friends! After all, who wouldn't want to be friends with the great and powerful Trixie?" She tilted her head up and placed a hoof on her chest elegantly.
Bluntly, Lightning spat, "Me!"
"Me too," Vinyl nodded her head in agreement.
"You two don't count."

Pointing a hoof, the blue Unicorn accused, "Besides, you're the one with no friends, Lightning Crust."
The hovering Lightning threw her hooves up. "That aint true! I got a friend!"
Trixie giggled, "Aha! A friend? As in a single friend? How sad." Pitching her head sideways, she smirked and checked, "Is she imaginary by any chance?"
"No. She just aint here."

Suspicious, Vinyl brought up, "Y'know, Lightning, I've never seen you hanging out with anypony. You sure she aint imaginary?"
"She is not imaginary!" Lightning snapped, loosing her temper. "She just can't join the UPSC. Griffin, y'know."
"You're friends with a Griffin?" Fluttershy questioned, remembering an unpleasant encounter she'd had with a Griffin on Equestria.

"That would explain her bad attitude," Vinyl chortled, snarky.
Lightning retaliated, "Oh yeah? Well then what explains your bad attitude? Are you, like, friends with an Elite or something?"
"Woah, too far."
"It wasn't too far. You're just not going far enough."

The orange maned Mare then returned her attention to Trixie. "Besides, one Griffin friend isn't as sad as having no friends at all, right, Trixie?" She swooped down to give her a nudge.
Fed up, Twilight sighed, "Ugh, we don't have time for this."

Regarding Lightning, Trixie argued, "Why must you accuse Trixie of not having any friends?! Isn't it obvious that everypony you see here is my friend?"
"I'm not your friend," came a certain posh accent from next to the Warthog. Octavia raised her hoof and glanced around nervously at the other Ponies.
"Me neither," Caramel joined in from behind.
More concerned about the respectable Mare than the background Stallion, Trixie pondered, "Um, really?"
"You're annoying," squawked Caramel, getting on Trixie's nerves.
Tittering, Lightning praised, "Well said, Caramel. Well said."

Rotating around, the great and powerful Trixie eyeballed her troops. "I'm annoying?"
Lightning's face was a blur as she nodded ecstatically.

Fluttershy and Pinkie were staring around, watching the scene unfold, not sure what to say. Facing the wrong way, Derpy didn't have a clue what was going on. Everypony else either nodded steadily or looked awkwardly at the snow beneath their hooves.

"Do you all feel this way? Isn't anypony my friend?" She began to stutter. "B-but... I-I don't understand. How can none of you like Trixie? What has she done wrong? She's done nothing but help."
"Against your will," Flitter spoke quietly. Then, even quieter, she muttered to herself, "You weren't around to help my sister."

Comforting, Twilight expressed, "Trixie, we're all grateful for your help. And I for one am very impressed by your magical abilities."
Vinyl cut in, "But man! You're just so full of yourself!"
Joining her friend, Octavia filed, "And to be fair, you only ever help out when you're forced to."
"Yeah," Vinyl pointed to her Earth Pony buddy. "Octavia wasn't ordered to come out here, but she did anyway."
Flitter piped up again, "Where were you when we were boarding the Truth, hm?"

Hopping over, Pinkie encouraged, "Come on, Trixie! Show us some enthusiasm!"
"Enthusiasm?!" Trixie bellowed, her purple eyes boring deep into Pinkie's. "I just found out that no pony is my friend!" Her anger slowly began to descend into sadness, and she croaked, "... Tr... Trixie doesn't have any friends..."

Pinkie questioned worryingly, "Oh no. You're not upset are you?"
Struggling to put on a brave face, Trixie flicked a front hoof and dismissed, "Oh no, I'll be fine. Trixie won't let something as little as that get her down..."

With the tank in the background, Trixie stood wobbly before Pinkie, Fluttershy and the rest, with the fakest smile in the world. Her lower lip trembled and she sniffled as tears built up under her shimmering purple eyes. She tried hard to conceal it, but eventually, it became too much, and she just couldn't hide it anymore.

"Mm... mm-hm... mm-hm-aha-aha-aha-aha-aha-ahaa! Waaa-aha-aha-aha-ahaaa!" she broke down crying, turning her back to burry her face in her forelegs on the side of the tank.
"Trixie?!" Pinkie's voice echoed behind her wailing. She came to the poor Mare's aid.
"Leave me alone!" She twisted and shouted, tears running down her cheeks. "You all hate me! Aha-aha-ahaa!" She continued to babble, the Scorpion providing a shoulder to cry on.

Wow. If sad Trixie was rare, then all out depressed Trixie must be once in generation! Fluttershy never thought a Pony as confident, as powerful, as ignorant as Trixie was even capable of weeping. It hurt to behold such a thing. Was this the real Trixie? Is this what she did when no pony was looking? Was this how she was on the inside? Or was this really a world first? So many mysteries.

Courage fell to concern as Fluttershy placed a hoof over the great and miserable Trixie's back. "We don't hate you, Trixie."
"Yeah, we just don't like you," Lightning mentioned.
Like a teacher, Pinkie demanded, "Lightning! Zip it!"

Despondently, Trixie continued to cry on and on, her piercing sobs resonating through the whole snowy valley and ringing in everypony's ears.
"Oh, Trixie, please stop crying," pleaded Fluttershy, noting how the tables had turned, and now she was the one trying to comfort somepony else.
Mixed in with her tears, Trixie squealed, "Never!"

Fluttershy didn't know what to do. She was the one who always needed comforting, not the other way around.
"Oh. Oh dear. Please?"
Trixie lifted her head to speak, "What does it matter to you? You're not my friend!" then drooped again.

Struggling, Fluttershy articulated, "Well... um... would you... um... like to be friends?"
She just realised what she said, and wasn't sure if she should regret it or not.
"You don't really wanna be my friend," the blue blue Mare condemned. "You're just saying that cos you feel sorry for me. I don't want your pity!"
Fluttershy noticed how Trixie hadn't spoken in third person for a while. Must be her mood.

Getting her word in, Pinkie announced with an uplifting smile, "We're trying to make you feel better, Trixie! Y'know why?"
Wordlessly, Trixie peered up at the pink Earth Pony and sniffed, her bottom lip protruding.
"Because we care about you!"

Sniffling, Trixie wiped a few tears off her face and rasped with a sore throat, "... D... do you really want to be my friends?"
"Sure! We just need to get to know you more!" surmised Pinkie logically. She then suggested, "As a matter of fact, we all do. Don't we, guys?"
Derpy reared up and spun her hooves in excitement. "I'm up for that!"
Contemplating, Octavia said, "Well, I suppose."
Vinyl scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, maybe."
"Huh, how convincing." She had finally let go of the tank and stood on all fours to face the squad. Her squad.

Warm heartedly, Fluttershy proposed, "You don't have to be friends with everypony, Trixie. Just stick with me and Pinkie, if you like."
"And me!" Derpy chirped, jumping in the air.
Fluttershy giggled sweetly, "Right. And Derpy. Hm-hm-hm."
"Are you sure?" Trixie checked, raising a shaky hoof in a non-threatening manner.
Pinkie, Derpy and Fluttershy nodded merrily, and even Octavia grinned and lightly bowed.
Sniffing and wiping away a few persistent tears, Trixie breathed, "... Ok."

Impatiently, Lightning quizzed, "Hey, should we, like, be moving along now?"
"Of course," Twilight affirmed. "Is everypony ready?"
"I think everypony's been ready for some time already," the irritable Pegasus announced.
The AI sang, "Manners, Lightning."

Noting the unstable Unicorn, Twilight nudged, "Come on, Trixie. I'm sure you'll have a great time getting to know Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. I know I did!" Correcting herself, she added, "Well, I know the real me did."

Making up for the extended break, the soldiers hurriedly gathered all their things.

Pinkie was full of enthusiasm, and she bounced around in the glittering white snow. "Yeah! And when we make it back to Equestria, you'll be invited to all my parties! Then you can get to know our other friends! I'll even throw a party just for you! A "welcome Trixie to our circle of friends" party!"
"That... sounds fun," Trixie smiled, adjusting her purple hat.
Getting up in her face, Pinkie prodded, "You bet your life it's fun!" Spinning, she skipped on back to her Ghost. "La-lala, la-lala, la-lala, weee!"

*****

All was peaceful in the Forerunner chamber. Grunts napped on the floor, dreaming about whatever Grunts dream about. Jackals marched amongst them, nattering to each other about the cold weather outside, making snarky comments about the "gas suckers." And a lone veteran Elite watched over all of them.

He twitched his lower mandibles as he picked up the sound of a Ghost's engine, approaching from the corridor to the outside. Curios, he stepped down off the ancient metal incline in the centre of the room and paced around to the tall door.

Placing his ear against the door, he heard the subdued whistling of a friendly RAV, but what was it doing inside? Ready for anything, he drew his needler and tapped the door controls.

"Get out of my way!" a high pitched voice shrieked from behind the controls of the Ghost RAV that had been crammed into the corridor.
With the tips of its fenders scraping each wall, the fast vehicle boosted up into the Elite's face. His dark purple blood stained the Ghost's shiny purple bodywork.
"Or... just... stand there," the pink Pony shrugged. "That works too."

The noisy entrance had alerted the Jackals, and they squawked loudly across the chamber, waking up the sleeping Grunts. Groggily, the diminutive little bipeds rose, scratching their heads and drawing their weapons.

Almost as soon as they were up and ready, Pinkie put them down with her super speedy Ghost, running them over and shooting them with the plasma cannons.

Fluttershy entered the chamber shortly afterwards, along with her new friend, Trixie, and the rest of the team. Luckily for Fluttershy, the Grunts had been awoken, so there was no need to go around cold bloodedly killing them in their sleep. Unfortunately, it also meant she had to get stuck in an intense battle, where Ponies and aliens dove for cover, firing at each other and chucking grenades.

A rookie Grunt leapt out of the rampaging Ghost's way and took cover around a corner. Scared to death, he drew and primed a plasma grenade, and put all his strength in throwing the glowing blue orb at the equine invaders.

Lowering her head in an aggressive manner, the great and powerful Trixie caught the sticky grenade with her magic and sent it back at him.

Hilariously, the orange armoured squeaker ran around with his arms flailing as his own grenade chased him like an over excitable dog. Eventually, it caught up to him and latched onto his triangular methane tank. Frantically, he scrambled to unencumber his life support.
"Not again!" he wailed, implying it had happened before.
Not being fast enough, the grenade detonated, and the Grunt went up in blinding blue light.

Of the two Jackals, only one remained, and he pressed himself up against a wall, holding his stomach in to avoid being flattened by Pinkie's crazy Ghost. Once the vehicle had passed, he stepped out into the open and brought his translucent orange shield into play. Bullets from the MA5Bs ricocheted off his gauntlet and nestled themselves into the Forerunner architecture.

Conveniently, Vinyl had equipped herself with a Covenant plasma rifle, and Bulk Biceps was also armed with a plasma pistol. Together, the two plasma wielding Ponies hosed the Jackal's shield with the superheated substance.

The Jackal's circle of orange light turned to red as it overheated, and soon fizzled away, leaving him exposed on the metal floor. Screeching, he danced with the impact of the many bullets and plasma bolts striking his lanky body. Letting out a final snarl, he fell back to the deck in a puddle of his own purple blood.

As for the rest of the Grunts, they were murdered by a combination of Pinkie's wild Ghost chase and Trixie's god-like powers.

Since Pinkie was still driving her Ghost inside the complex, Twilight had recommended giving the rocket launcher to somepony else. That way, the squad as a whole would be a lot more effective. It didn't make sense to let one Pony have all the power.

Willingly, Pinkie had given the rocket launcher to Blossomforth, making Lightning Dust very jealous. She had been desperate to get her hooves on such a big, powerful weapon, and she constantly glowered at the lucky white Pegasus for her high explosive blessing.

Twilight had stated clear that Lightning shouldn't be given the bazooka. She had proven herself reckless so far, and the last thing the assault force needed was an overconfident yet clumsy Mare like Lightning being granted the power of an M41 SSR.

And so, with Blossomforth lugging the heavy weapon on her back, and all of her rocket cases attached to Pinkie's Ghost by a magical grip courtesy of Trixie, the squad paced on through the now silent chamber.

With all those cases piled up on the back of the Ghost, Pinkie looked like she was delivering pizza. The Ponies certainly did have a special delivery for the Covenant.

Privately, Twilight asked Fluttershy, "How are you feeling?"
Fluttershy's temperature and headache had more or less cleared up, and after the extended break, her stomach ache was finally fading too. The Trixie fiasco had provided the perfect distraction.
"I'm actually feeling a lot better."

Speaking of Trixie, the blue Mare came trotting up beside. "So friend, were you impressed by Trixie's magical abilities?" Trixie smiled cheesily at her, fishing for compliments.
It was annoying things like that that put Fluttershy and just about everypony else off of Trixie.

Showing her gratitude, she answered, "Yes... but... um... just so you know... that doesn't effect my opinion of you."
"How do you mean?" Trixie interrogated. "What is your opinion of Trixie?"

To be honest, Fluttershy found the great and powerful Trixie irritating, along with the rest of her peers.
She knew however, friendship was what the sassy Mare needed and lacked, and like a good friend, she kindly said, "Well, um... you're my friend... so... I like you. Although..."
"Although what?" Trixie spat, not very friendly.
"Um... er..." Fluttershy stalled, feeling a little intimidated by the glaring Unicorn.

Speaking on Fluttershy's behalf, the AI continued, "Although, you can be very boastful at times, and right now, you're scaring me." Correcting herself, she added, "Well, you're not scaring me, but you're scaring Fluttershy."

Trixie thought about this for a second. "... Is that true? Is Trixie scaring you?"
Under Trixie's powerful gaze, Fluttershy nodded sheepishly and replied, "Um... er... kinda."

"Yeah, Trixie!" Lightning hollered from somewhere behind. "You're scaring her with your ugly face!"
Fluttershy gasped and stuck up for her friend. "Trixie isn't ugly!"

Pinkie was also trying to be friends with Trixie, and from her Ghost up front, she yelled, "Stop being such a bully, Lightning!"
"I'm not being a bully!" she countered. "I'm just making an observa-"
-At that moment, a zipper materialised on Lightning's lips and zipped itself closed, shutting the snarky Mare up. Surprised, she pawed at the zip with her hooves, trying to get a good grip and unzip her trap.

Obviously Trixie was the one responsible, and she giggled at Lightning's muffled noises.

Fluttershy wasn't sure what to make of it, so she just kept on walking by Trixie's side, making no comment what so ever.

As the team approached a compact, Forerunner door, Lightning was able to open her zipped chops, and she let out a breath of relief. With it, the zip vanished.
"Eeww! My lips feel so weird," she winged, sticking her tongue out and motioning her jaw. "You jerk!"
Everypony ignored her.

The door in front was identical to the doors that had been encountered at the cartographer; small and compact.

Pinkie used her fringe to open the door and stuff her Ghost inside. The vehicle took up the area of the entire, tube like corridor, and she muttered incoherently to herself as she wedged the Ghost further along it. Vinyl face hoofed at the ridiculous sight.

After the Ghost, the hoof soldiers entered the corridor and soon came out onto a dark metal lift platform. Fluttershy knew what to do; she, Pinkie and Derpy had rode an identical elevator prior to meeting up with the rest of the assault force.

The circular plate was small however, and Twilight ordered the five other Pegasi, besides Fluttershy, to fly up the elevator shaft. Everypony else huddled up around Pinkie's Ghost. The vehicle hogged most of the platform, and Fleur de Lis gave Pinkie an annoyed look as she was squished between it and Caramel. The brown maned Stallion bobbed his eyebrows up and down with a grin, trying to look romantic. Fleur just scowled and rolled her eyes.

Scanning the controls, Fluttershy's memory was a little hazy, but luckily, Twilight was there to guide her.
"Ok, you see the two white dots at the bottom of the holo-panel?"
Fluttershy nodded. "Mm-hm."
"Press the top one."

Upon touching said button, the whole platform shuddered and creaked. It dropped down a little to release itself from its gravity locks, then climbed hastily upwards. Whether the elevator had a weight limit, Fluttershy had no idea, but it seemed to elevate the Ponies and the Ghost just fine.

Squashed up with everypony else, Fluttershy glanced over at Trixie on the other side of the Ghost, and accidently made eye contact with her. The blue Mare smiled and ended up looking away before Fluttershy could smile back. Bless.

Trixie hadn't thanked Fluttershy for sticking up for her earlier on. Rude? Forgot? Shy? Nah, Trixie wasn't shy. She was cocky, and usually not afraid to say anything, even if what she said could be hurtful or taken the wrong way. It was likely down to bad manners, or maybe she just wasn't familiar with gratitude.

From above, an alien scream grew louder and louder. "Waaaaaaaa!"
Thud! A Jackal came plummeting down like a meteor and crunched face first onto the Ghost's bonnet, wobbling the hover vehicle.

Everypony yelped in surprise as the overgrown bird slipped off the purple craft.
"Aaahh!" Frightened, Fluttershy looked up, and saw the Pegasi hovering by a tiny platform that jutted out into the shaft.

Rolling in the air laughing, Lightning mocked, "Bwahahahahahaa! You should've seen the looks on your faces! Hahahaha!"
Everypony stared daggers at the silly Mare.
"Lightning, that isn't funny," Twilight growled.
Folding her forelegs, Lightning told, "Well maybe not for you, but I thought it was hilarious." She then opened another tiny door and flew away through the confining corridor beyond.

Once at the top, the elevator came to a stop with a reverberating creak, and the soldiers clambered over the Ghost to exit. Joining Lightning and the other Pegasi, they waited for Pinkie to bring up the rear in her hovering purple obstruction, and crept carefully up a ramp into an octagonal chamber.

Grunts and Jackals were waiting for them, and were immediately blown up by a couple of well placed frag grenades. The explosion did grab the attention of even more Covies however, and they braced themselves in the central sub-chamber.

Streaking ahead on her Ghost, Pinkie cheered as she mowed down a rookie Elite, but was surprised to see a crimson armoured veteran drop down and land on top of her vehicle. He had excellent footing and excellent grip, and was able to plant himself firmly on the speeding vehicle and thrash away at the pink pilot.
"Hey!" barked Pinkie as she shielded herself and made use of the arm on her soldier saddle to reach into her saddle bag.
She pulled out her side arm, an M6D magnum, and fired round after round point blank into the Elite's unsightly face.

After a fair few shots, the alien's shields popped, and one last round put him out of his misery. Like a ragdoll, he flopped off the Ghost and onto the engraved floor.

Whilst Pinkie got to work on the remaining lesser species, a third Elite that she had missed prepared to bring down a world of hurt on the assault force. A Zealot to be precise.

The golden armoured warrior stood strong and fierce, duel wielding a plasma rifle and a needler. As soon as the Ponies on hoof emerged into the sub-chamber, he let loose everything he had.

Shocked, Fluttershy cowered away behind a wall as the rest of her team darted this way and that, doing their best to avoid the barrage of blue and pink.

Flitter screamed as plasma splashed her weapon and spat onto her armour. Luckily, Fluttershy was able to pull her into cover before any damage was done to the Mare herself.

As for Trixie, she stood defiantly before the Zealot and deflected his shots with a magical shield; not before a needle round could slip in and pierce her saddle bag though. Gritting her teeth, she magiced the glowing pink shard out of her side and sent it back at the Zealot.

The blue Unicorn waited for the opportunity, and once it came up, she wrapped the Elite in her purple aura and levitated him off the ground. She also made sure to confiscate his two firearms before he could retaliate, and telekinetically fought his hands as they tried to reach down to the plasma grenades on his belt.

Just as she was about to smash the helpless Covenant officer into the deck, the deafening crack of a sniper rifle shattered everyone's ears. Fleur de Lis had fired her S2 AM and nailed the gold armoured Elite right in the centre of his forehead. Yoink.

Annoyed, Trixie threw the Covenant corpse to the ground and turned to face Fleur.
"Nnng! He was mine!"
Fleur pretended the angry little Pony wasn't even there and marched away in the direction of Pinkie.
Trotting past her, Vinyl snorted, "Huh, like it matters."
"Why can't you just say thank you?" wondered Octavia as she limped after Vinyl. "We appreciate your work. Maybe you should appreciate ours."
Trixie stared as the amputee made her difficult way across the room, and once she was gone, she let out a sigh.

Lightning flashed by like a low flying fighter jet and joined the rest of the squad, who were waiting by the exit. The area had been secured.

"Thank you, Fluttershy," exclaimed Flitter as she discarded her destroyed MA5B. "You saved my life."
Fluttershy blushed. "Oh, I think you would've been fine without me."
"I doubt it." Flitter trotted away and helped herself to the Zealot's needler, then looted the other Covenant corpses for additional ammo.

Flicking the hooked strand of her mane, Trixie regained her dignified composure and set off walking.
Joining her, Fluttershy checked, "Are you ok?"
"Trixie is fine," the Unicorn affirmed in a monotone accent, kinda like a robot.

Up ahead, Lightning peeped out from behind a wall and pointed at Trixie. "Eeww, look what she's done!"
Pinkie, Derpy, Bulk and a few others popped their heads around to ogle the great and powerful Trixie. Fluttershy stopped to look at her too, not noticing anything wrong, until she saw liquid dripping off of her and leaving a trail on the floor. Immaturely, Lightning snickered behind her hooves.

"What? What's wrong?" Trixie demanded to know, twisting her neck to look at herself. Noticing the wet patch on her saddle bag, she wined, "Oh no, oh no, oh no!" and magically yanked the bag off of her soldier saddle.
Opening the bag, she pulled out her canteen that had suffered a hole going all the way through to the other side. It had leaked all of its water.

"Oh drat!" Trixie spoke angrily. "Must've been the needle."

Yapping at Lightning, Pinkie said, "Stop laughing at her, Lightning! You wouldn't like it if you spilled your water."
"Yeah, but I didn't."
"What did you even think she'd done?" pondered Derpy, scratching her blonde mane.
Lightning just tittered, her smirk bulging her cheeks. "Tss-ss-ss-ss! Oh, nothing."

Cross, Trixie threw her empty flask on the ground. Using her magic, she dried up her soaking wet saddle bag and re-donned it, glancing at the rip.
"Now Trixie doesn't have any water," she grumbled, in a fowl mood.
Lightning provided the ambience of cruel guffawing.

If Fluttershy and Trixie's friendship was going to work, Fluttershy would have to treat her like she would any other friend. With a determined smile on her face, it was time to show Trixie a little kindness.

"Here you go, Trixie," Fluttershy voiced as she hoofed her own water flask over to the Unicorn.
Bewildered, Trixie's eyes popped and she stared undecidedly at the flask being offered to her.
"You can have mine."
Trixie stuttered, "R... really? ... A-are you serious?"
"Mm-hm."
"You're letting me have your water bottle?" Trixie's purple eyes began to shimmer with sentiment.
Fluttershy didn't think it was that big a deal. "Of course."

Trixie then grew suspicious, and she tilted her head. "... Why?"
"Because that's what friends do. They share."

Eventually, Trixie felt secure, and she accepted Fluttershy's water. "Oh my... Thank you so much." Instead of taking a gulp or placing it in her saddle bag, she levitated it aside and wrapped her hooves around the yellow Mare. "This is the nicest thing anypony's ever done for Trixie."
Awkwardly, Fluttershy pronounced, "Oh, um, hehe. Don't mention it."
Seriously, it's not a big deal.

"Aaww!" Pinkie noised as she and the others watched on.
Lightning pointed a hoof down her throat. "Gag!"
"Hey, shut up," Vinyl demanded prior to sharing a grin with Octavia.

Suddenly, Trixie withdrew from the hug and took a gulp of Fluttershy's water. She let out a refreshed gasp before wiping her mouth and sealing the flask away in her saddle bag.
"Are you ready to proceed?"
Fluttershy was embarrassed and put on a quivery smile. "... Sure."

During the walk to the exit, Twilight spoke privately to the yellow Pegasus. "It was very kind of you to give Trixie your water, Fluttershy. I'm proud of you."
Concerned for her own hydration yet glad for Trixie's sake, Fluttershy stated, "Oh, it was no problem at all."