Two Covenant Banshees swirled around the parallel bridges outside. Their fuselages braved the blizzard and the pilots worked hard to fight the strong wind, as well as the attacking Flood.
The Covenant found themselves in an odd situation as they exchanged fire with the rotten disgraces from bridge to bridge. Sending bullets, needles and plasma bolts everywhere, the Flood couldn't aim for squat, and they fell under the power of the Covenant. But they were the Flood, so most of them just thrashed back up.
Thanks to the gap between the bridges that forced the Flood not to come running up into their faces, plus the Flood's terrible aim, and the air support, the Covenant were beginning to look victorious... until something else caught them from the side.
"Hit em!" barked Lightning Dust, flying out over the Covenant occupied bridge with the other Pegasi in tow.
Fluttershy stayed close to the rest of the ground bound Ponies, making use of her assault rifle to take care of a lone Grunt.
The assault force had just had a little tussle with the Flood, for the first time. It had gone well, all things considered. They were all still alive, and there were no casualties. They did have some of their ammo drained though, and some of the more sensitive ones, like Octavia, Flitter, and secretly Lightning, were traumatised.
Surprised by the sudden arrival of Ponies on their bridge, the Covenant took cover and focused most of their attention on them. The Flood were pretty much helpless on the opposite bridge anyways.
"You've got rockets, Blossomforth!" Lightning hinted, zipping around the Covies and scoring a couple of headshots on a Grunt and a Jackal.
Blossomforth had tried to fly, but with the heaviness of the rocket launcher, and the raging snow storm, she decided to play it safe and let her hooves do the traveling. With her right, blue eye peering down the bazooka's sights, she attempted to get one of the Banshees in her crosshairs, but the snow was just too thick, and none of the aircraft were visible. Didn't stop the shrill wail of their engines piercing everyone's ear-drums though.
With her trusty sniper rifle, Fleur de Lis was able to detect the Covies with the heat vision, as well as those Banshees swooping around. It would seem that one Banshee had been assigned to take on the Flood, and the other, to...
Fleur dove for cover, and dragged Vinyl Scratch away with her, just as the alien aircraft discharged one of its ghastly fuel rod projectiles. The green explosion took place in the spot where they had been standing, less than a second after they'd cleared the blast radius.
"Woah! Thanks, Fleur," gratified Vinyl as she dusted herself off.
Fleur didn't speak, just took up position behind an out-cropping of metal and let her sniper rifle talk to the Covenant.
Inside Fluttershy's head, Twilight was dishing out orders in rapid fire mode. "Duck! Take position to the left! Mind the Flood! Use a grenade! Zealot, incoming! Banshee incoming! Flood incoming!"
Like a robot, Fluttershy followed Twilight's instructions as best and as fast as she could. She wasn't so much taking action as she was being dragged through a frantic nightmare.
Puzzled, the yellow Mare checked, "Zealot?"
Oh how she should've gotten her priorities right.
Yes, there was a Zealot, and there was also a Banshee somewhere in the flurry, but the Flood... they were the true problem. They had been stranded on the other bridge, taking lousy shots at both the Covenant and the Ponies, but they soon came up with a plan that'd put them back in the fight. Like an army of green and brown grasshoppers, the mixture of infected Elites, Jackals and Ponies launched themselves through the air, clearing the gap between the bridges, and crashing non-elegantly into the Ponies' and the Covenant's midst.
One of them, a crimson armoured Elite with claws bursting from its stomach and arms converted to swords, landed right beside the shy, and she screamed as the aberration flailed around gurgling.
"Shoot it!" yelped Twilight, prompting Fluttershy to spray the ex-elite point blank with her assault rifle.
The click of an empty magazine startled her, and she hurried to put the weapon away and bring the shotgun to bare, the holed monster rising to its mighty feet.
As soon as the shotgun was up and ready, the infected alien lunged for her, and as soon as it lunged for her, an energy sword penetrated its distorted torso and lifted it off the ground. Disgusting green blood splashed all over Fluttershy, and she backed away to witness a non-infected Covenant Zealot rip the combat form in half, then spin to take the head off of something that used to be a Pony.
"Once he's done with the Flood, he'll be straight after us!" Twilight informed over the clamour of Pony on Covenant on Flood battle. "Take him out now!"
Fluttershy didn't want to kill the Elite. She didn't want to kill full stop, but she knew Twilight was right, so she primed one of her captured plasma grenades and tossed it at the distracted warrior. Terrific throw; Fluttershy was surprised at herself, even if the target was only a few feet away. The glowing blue device latched on to the small of the Zealot's back, and went up with a mighty BOOM, vaporising the Elite and taking a couple of Flood forms with him.
"Well done, Fluttershy!" cheered Twilight. "Keep it up!"
Shaking with anxiety, Fluttershy reloaded both of her guns and took cover behind an island on the bridge. A Banshee fighter screeched overhead, dangerously low, and mowed down an infected Pony as it pounced up with the intent of flattening Fluttershy.
Flitter pulled Blossomforth up to her and pointed at the alien aircraft that came speeding through the inclement weather, green blood staining its purple sheen. "There's the Banshee, Blossomforth! Hit it!"
Letting go of the white Pegasus, she proceeded to fire her stolen needler at a trio of Grunts, then at the diseased Jackal that stole all three of her kills.
Without a word, Blossomforth lead ahead of the Banshee fighter, sticking her tongue out in concentration. Its plasma cannons rang loud as it stitched a line into the Forerunner bridge, aiming at the fleeing Octavia. Luckily, the grey Earth Pony was able to evade, just, and the Banshee pulled up out of its dive. Before it could disappear in the snow, Blossomforth pulled the trigger, and a rocket whooshed out of the tube, kicking back hard enough to make her fall flat on her rump.
The cursed wind blew the rocket off course, and she missed the Banshee by quite a large gap, and instead ended up hitting the side of the opposite bridge, laying waste to an unusual, fat Flood form that hadn't leapt on over.
"Oh, Pony feathers!" she groaned in frustration, throwing her helmet on the floor.
She quickly picked it back up and re-donned it, then sought more rockets.
Derpy tried her best to keep up with Lightning, who soared through the chilly air over the bridge, flanking the Covenant and the Flood.
"Wait up!" she pleaded, not as skilled a flyer as the turquoise Mare.
Lightning didn't respond, just fired more and more bullets all over the bad guys, then let a grenade drop. The blast shook the bridge, and shattered a part of the floor that was made of glass, as well as sending an Elite plummeting down to the valley that was obscured below.
Just then, a Banshee zoomed by, performing an evasive barrel role. The turbulence sent Derpy spinning out of control and she was snatched up in a current of wind.
"Woa-oa-oah!" Thud! She came to a harsh landing on the bridge, and her yellow eyes rolled around inside her head. "Ouch!"
An icky slithering sound caught her attention, and she glanced all around her. She couldn't see a thing. She could hear the battle raging away, but couldn't see a single being on the bridge with her.
Something pink grabbed her derped eyes, and she witnessed a stray needle come drifting out of the snow from her right, followed by a whole bunch more, and some blue plasma too. Uh oh; she was on the wrong bridge.
The sound of slithering increased, and a swarm of tiny, ugly parasites came rolling her way. Behind her, a door hissed open, and something snarled from within the corridor. Multiple footfalls surged in her direction, and put the fear of Nightmare Moon in her.
Straining against the storm, she flapped her aching wings, desperate to escape and regroup with the others.
Back on the bridge of havoc, the Ponies, with a little help from the Flood, pushed through the Covenant's defences. And with a little help from the Covenant, they were able to deduce a number of Flood on the bridge. There was still a great deal to worry about though, like the remaining Grunts and Jackals that had opted to retreat in the same direction as them, the remaining Flood that were still able to overwhelm them, and of course the two Banshees in the sky.
Following the instructions from Twilight, Fluttershy lead the way around a barrier where a door was situated, and came across a rookie Elite, just sat there, hiding. Cowering. It was extremely out of character for a noble Elite to be sat there in fear, but when the terrifying uproar of a ruptured creature intruded the ears of every living thing within a hundred miles, Fluttershy couldn't blame him.
However, he was still an Elite, and he let out a feeble cry before hosing her with plasma. Fluttershy grunted as her shields absorbed the blow, and she answered the Elite with her shotgun, tearing his face off in a gruesome fashion that left her numb.
"Come on, everypony!" Twilight urged. "Through the hatch!"
All at once, the Mares flew and galloped through the tall Forerunner door and out of the blizzard. It closed behind them, and then immediately re-opened to introduce a thing that used to be an Elite, right arm turned to a giant club.
Everypony unleashed their weapons all over the abomination at once, save for Blossomforth who was busy reloading her rocket launcher.
The ex-elite danced with the impacts, and took gradual stomps towards the squad, groaning and shrugging off bullets, plasma bolts, and needles. Well, it didn't so much as shrug off needles as it did collect them, and once enough needles were imbedded in its gangrenous flesh, they detonated in a super-combine and reduced the monster to giblets and blood.
Flitter, the one with the needler, blushed a little as everypony grinned at her. She took the time to reload the alien weapon with one of the unusual magazines she'd scavenged from the fallen Covies.
Interrupting the pants and the sighs, Twilight broadcasted, "Ok, we're in the next section of the facility. The layout is pretty similar to everywhere else in this expanse. It'll take us onto the opposite bridge so we can take the elevator down to the valley floor. If we're gonna get to the next pulse generator, that's where we need to be."
"Alright, you heard the Princess," started Vinyl, eliciting an annoyed glance from Lightning.
After the death of their CO, there had been a fight for power amongst the squad, so tensions were high.
"Let's move!"
"I'm reading the Scorpion's tracking device from up here," the AI happily announced as the Mares trotted and winged along. "It hasn't moved since we left it!"
"Aw great!" whooped Vinyl. "We get some fire-power!"
"Dibs on the gun!" Lightning barked eagerly.
"Dibs on the main gun," Vinyl smirked, knowing Lightning wouldn't react too acceptingly.
"What?! No! When I said "gun," I meant main gun!"
"But you didn't say main gun. I did. That makes the main gun mine."
"No, I-"
"-Girls, please," Octavia interjected mercifully. "We'll decide who gets the main gun when we get there."
"If we get there," mumbled Flitter depressingly.
"Now now, Flitter. That's no way to think."
Observing the bickering troops around her, Fluttershy gasped as she realised something. "Where's Derpy?"
Devoid of answers, the squad fell silent.
*****
Meanwhile, in a corridor with a line of central support columns, two Elites crept nervously along. A veteran and his rookie, who had been separated from the rest of their squad. Well, not separated, more survived the attacks of the Jackals that used to be under their command. They had all been infected now, and all the Grunts had been brutalised and dragged away.
Both Elites were equipped with plasma rifles, and because of the extreme circumstances, the veteran had taken to duel wielding. The crimson one held two plasma rifles out in front of him, scanning the corridor, hunting for parasites.
The blue one opted to hold just one weapon, and after an insubordinate row with his superior, he was allowed to keep it that way. What his superior hadn't thought of, until he was reminded, was the need to throw grenades; something that would be impractical when holding two weapons.
So the veteran relied on the rookie for explosive support, and when a million Flood forms came surging at them from both ways, boy did he deliver.
Plasma grenade detonations took bodies away from the impending Flood, and sent bloody limbs bouncing off the Forerunner architecture.
A form made up of two stubby legs, two wriggling tentacles and a grossly inflated sack came waddling in amongst the reanimated corpses. Plasma fire from the veteran made it explode, and two combat forms went with it.
From the carrier form's burst sack, a number of the little parasites came scurrying along the floor. The Elites were too occupied with the bigger forms to deal with them, so instead they just trampled them when they got close.
An infected Elite entered the fray, armed with a UPSC rocket launcher of all things. It held the heavy weapon in one quivering hand like it were a mere pistol, and sent forth a rocket. The two Elites were shrouded in shrapnel as it struck one of the support columns, destroying it, and an infected Jackal as well. The veteran had been closest to that explosion, and his shields flared, almost drained.
The rookie darted around, hurling grenade after grenade, until he was left with none, and he resorted to pulling grenades straight off of corpses, even when those corpses were still moving around.
"Aarrrgg-WRUUGHAAAHH!" wailed the higher ranking of the two, transforming into one of the beasts right before his soldier's eyes.
His shields had been completely drained, and an infection form had tunnelled its way into his chest.
Letting out a despairing cry, the rookie pointed his plasma rifle at his fellow Elite. Cold-bloodedly, he pulled the trigger, and was forced to hold it as the veteran combat form soaked up the bolts like a sponge.
Once he fell, another infected Elite came up behind and wrapped a tentacle around the rookie's head, giving him a real good mouthful. He also couldn't see. Something began slicing away at his abdomen, breaking through his shields and spraying purple blood everywhere.
With a monumental, double footed kick, the rookie Elite booted whatever disgrace was torturing him, and bent forwards to hurl the ex-elite over his back. That ex-elite had been armed with a UPSC shotgun, and the rookie couldn't figure out where all these primitive Pony weapons were coming from.
Didn't matter though; he snatched the shotgun right out of its tendrils and used it to waste a couple of approaching nightmares whilst stomping the two mutants on the floor into gloop and bone. His plasma rifle took care of those that closed in on the other side, melting their skin and setting them ablaze.
One came close, and he kicked it so hard in the stomach, it almost snapped in half. Another one came up at his back, and he ripped its ugly Pony head off.
The bazooka wielding ex-elite was still present, dragging a huge, swollen leg across the deck, aiming the launcher once more. Catching sight of it, the rookie barged his way past the Flood, taking bites and scratches, blood oozing out of the gash in his belly, and met his infected fellow face to face.
Quickly, he knocked the rocket launcher away, along with an arm that was still clinging on. In place of that arm, a frighteningly large appendage burst out in a cloud of olive paste, and - boom, the rookie shot it dead with the shotgun.
He felt dirty using a UPSC weapon. It was like he was complimenting the equine vermin. But right now, it was saving his life. To hell with how he felt.
With only a dozen or so Flood forms left, the blue Elite fired his plasma rifle until it was dry, fired the shotgun until it was empty, pried new weapons from dead or living claws, even if they were UPSC branded, and killed monster after monster, until the battle finally ended with him blowing the final, reconstructed Jackal into oblivion with a rocket launcher.
He looked around, ready for more, yellow eyes checking every corner, every shadow, every still body on the floor. One attempted to rise, but he quickly flattened it beneath his blood stained boot.
Heaving, he wiped the sweat from his split-lip face, and slumped down against a pillar, exhausted. The stench of the Flood was putrid, regardless of weather they were dead or alive, and it made him gip. He desperately needed a drink to wash the taste out of his throat.
As an Elite in the Covenant, he was trained to ignore pain, but his slashed open gut was impossible to ignore. Neither was the alarming amount of blood that came leaking out. Dropping his weapons, he clutched his wound with both hands, and continued to lay there...
... Click, clack. A metallic sound echoed in his ear, just to the left of him. Wearily, he rotated his head, and found himself staring down the barrel of a shotgun. Its wielder blurred in and out of focus; yellow, pink, and wearing green. He gazed longingly into the healthy Pony's sad blue eyes; he knew what was coming.
"I'm sorry," Fluttershy squeaked, and forced herself to pull the trigger.
Boom! The Elite's brains were blown out all over the silvery metal, and his limp body flopped sideways onto the floor.
"What's to be sorry about?" Lightning questioned un-compassionately. "He's just a nasty little Covie."
Fluttershy and her fellow Ponies had witnessed enough of the fight from around a corner. Guilt washed over the yellow Pegasus in a sea; that Elite had survived the most awful ambush from the Flood, only to be shot down by some weak little Pony.
Comfortingly, Octavia put a hoof over Fluttershy's back and spoke, "We understand, Fluttershy."
Lightning ruined the moment. "I don't."
"You don't understand anything!" Vinyl contributed.
Oh great, another argument, just what they needed.
They had the Elite to thank for clearing the corridor of Flood, and how did they thank him? By executing him and arguing over his body? Fluttershy was most unhappy, and her temper began to rise. Eventually, she just walked off in a huff, knowing the others would follow.
Well, she didn't really walk off. More crept off, careful not to stand on any of the decaying, mutated carcasses. She failed that challenge as soon as she stepped on a severed Pony's head, and the sight of it made her squeak.
"Come on, girls," growled Twilight, impatient for good reasons. "The Banshees have been ordered to destroy the bridges. We'll have to pick up the pace if we're gonna continue."
"If only we all had wings," Lightning theorised snobbishly.
"Hey, if we were all Unicorns, we'd be able to levitate places," retaliated Vinyl. "Maybe even teleport."
"Your not Trixie, Vinyl Scratch."
Twilight joined in. "Y'know the real me can teleport, right?"
Lightning reminded, "Alicorn."
"Oh... yeah."
Octavia, the one Earth Pony, raised her hoof. "Don't mind me. I'm sure I'll get around fine."
"Oh, sorry, Octy," apologised Vinyl.
Under her breath, Lightning grumbled, "Stupid Octavia, slowing us down."
"What was that?"
"I said you're all slowing me down!"
"Go on ahead then! Leave - we don't care! Find the pulse generators, EMP them, fight hordes of enemies all by yourself!"
Sighing, Lightning hesitated before revealing a tiny glimpse of loyalty. "... I'm not leaving."
"That's what I thought."
Behind Fluttershy, everypony flew and trotted to catch up. Everypony but the absent Derpy.
Further along, the herd traversed a corridor, where they came up to a door and went back out into the raging blizzard. The first noticeable thing was the blistering cold wind and whizzing snow that came pouring into the corridor's mild embrace.
The second noticeable things were the screeches of the Banshees that were still swirling around the parallel bridges. Twilight had informed them that the Banshees had been ordered to destroy the bridges, although only one bridge needed to be destroyed to stop the Ponies from progressing, and the Banshee pilots knew that too. Working together, the two aircrafts bombarded the bridge with plasma and fuel rod projectiles, chiselling and melting the Forerunner metal.
"Huh, so much for worship," Twilight muttered dryly.
The Banshees were only a small part of the problem though. From behind the barrier that blocked the view of the bridge ahead, something was returning fire to them. Now who could that be?
Rounding the barrier from the left, right and top, the Mares had a pretty good view of... snow. Pouncing through the snow, two Flood forms made a bee-line for the squad. Figures.
"Alright, time to take out the trash," smirked Lightning, shooting off into the storm.
"We have to cross this bridge as fast as we can!" Twilight called out loud. "The Banshees-"
-Bang! Bang! Bang! A magnum fired, courtesy of Fleur, and she was able to stall one of the combat forms' advance. Assault rifles, a plasma rifle and a needler soon joined her.
Fed up, Twilight continued, "Almost have this bridge destroyed."
This worried Fluttershy.
However, the Flood were indeed in their way, and if the Ponies were going to get off the bridge before it crumbled, they would have to dispose of them, quickly. More than a little edgy, Fluttershy took up a firing position with the others and alternated between grenades and buckshots to aggravate the Flood.
Among the Flood, an infected Unicorn Stallion shambled back and forth, half his face hanging off, exposing the bloodied skull. He, well, it, had a rocket launcher attached to the mechanical arm of its soldier saddle. The thing that was in control of the Stallion's body attempted to get a Banshee in its sights, and as soon as the smooth, silhouetted vehicle materialised in the launcher's crosshairs, it let a rocket off its leash.
Expertly, the Elite pilot performed a dazzling barrel role, and evaded the Flood's rocket by mere inches. He pulled the aircraft up, and missed the opportunity to splatter a healthy Pegasus Pony all over the Banshee's bow.
Lightning, the one who nearly got hit, yelped in surprise as the Banshee soared up and away, swaying in the gustiness.
"Alright," she growled. "Enough is enough!"
In pursuit of the Banshee, she streaked up and disappeared in the snowfall.
Unable to control her own flight in such inclement conditions, Blossomforth kept herself grounded, and jumped up onto a snow-capped island in the centre of the path. A whole lota Flood were milling around ahead, and she gawked at the revolting sight of them, afraid. Most of them were focusing on the Banshees, giving the white Mare the perfect opportunity to deal some hellish damage on the plague carriers with a single rocket.
BOOM! The shaped charge detonated against the hoof of what was once a Pony, and not only did it wipe out the cluster of Flood, it took a chunk out of the bridge as well. Fool. Blossomforth cursed herself for actually helping the Covenant destroy the bridge, and put the launcher away in favour of a pistol she'd acquired.
As Fluttershy scavenged some grenades and ammunition for both her guns from a pile of swiss cheesed Flood forms, Vinyl, Octavia and Fleur joined Blossomforth atop the frosted island, letting loose everything they had. Of course Fleur didn't use her sniper rifle, what with the Flood not knowing how they were supposed to react when getting shot by it, and Vinyl's plasma rifle really added some colour to the muzzle flashes. Flitter dove in with her pretty yet lethal needler, ejecting the alien shards out over the spinning Flood.
Synchronised, the four soldiers ducked down behind their cover to avoid being mowed down by a low flying Banshee. The purple aircraft spat out a luminous green fuel rod projectile, and the whole bridge creaked in response to the explosion, frost being shook off the span and down to the invisible valley floor.
"Something's coming from the left," Twilight gave Fluttershy the head's up. "Get ready."
Trembling with trepidation, the timid Mare held her shotgun tight, waiting for what would likely be a Flood form homing in on her.
Before anything came around to greet her, a very hard-hitting blast caused Fluttershy to jump off the deck, and the entire bridge tilted back... Way back.
Fluttershy began to slide back, her hooves finding absolutely no grip on the frigid metal. The fat carrier form that had been approaching her found even less grip, and the ugly bowling ball went rolling all the way down to the bottom where the bridge had been disconnected from the cliff. The one thing that kept it suspended, just, was a single blue energy tether.
Fluttershy's slippery journey was abrupt as she came to a rest on an outcropping of metal. As for the other four ground bound Ponies, they suffered a longer journey down the broken bridge, but eventually landed hard on another central island. Together, they strained to climb their way up the bridge, Blossomforth flapping her wings, not to fly, just to assist her with that cumbersome rocket launcher.
As Fluttershy tried to make her own way across the steeply inclining bridge, she witnessed many Flood forms sliding on their way down, thrashing and shrieking with hunger for flesh. One of them, a Pony, was kitted out with a rocket launcher, and rather stupidly, it pulled the trigger, creating a massive explosion directly in front of Fluttershy. The yellow Mare's shields were completely drained having saved her life for the billionth time, which was more than what could be said for the Flood Pony; it was on its way to the next solar system.
Despite the slipperiness of the slope, the small parasites found perfect traction, and when they noticed the un-shielded Fluttershy, they dashed straight at her. The young Pegasus screamed and flailed her front hooves, kicking them away into clouds of putrid green spores.
"Don't let them take you, Fluttershy!" demanded the AI determinedly. "We've got a job to do!"
With a little help from the others, Fluttershy was able to eradicate all the bugs, and she joined everypony else in the climb to the top.
Sounding afraid, Twilight cried, "Oh no! There's a Banshee heading straight for the bridge's tether! Get off this bridge now!"
Well, that was everypony's queue to loose their minds and scramble madly to reach the top. However, waiting for them at the top, was a gold armoured Elite with an energy sword.
The Zealot stood strong on his podium, which was really just the barrier to mark the door into the next part of the facility. His chest armour was all cracked and broken, tentacles tipped with red bursting from a hole behind. The Zealot's left arm had been converted to a hulking great mallet of brown flesh and spiked bones. Not sounding anything like an Elite, it howled a terrifying howl, and prepared to launch itself at the panicking Mares.
Just then, one of the Banshees came diving in, low, and damn near clipped the poorly Elite. Upon seeing the Banshee, the high ranking combat form pounced, and got a grip on a part of the aircraft's fuselage. No, wait... That wasn't a part of the aircraft's fuselage... That was Lightning Dust, clenched onto the side of the Banshee, attempting to pry open its sleek purple carapace and sky-jack it, Pinkie Pie style.
"Hey!" she snorted aggressively, then changed her attitude when she saw what was thrashing away on her leg. "Waaa!"
Before the Elite pilot could finish the task of taking down the bridge of his gods, something teamed up with the wind to veer his Banshee off course, and the projectile he sent forth detonated harmlessly against the rock face. He pulled up out of the dive, and had a go at correcting his angle, but something outside was shuddering the whole craft.
Whatever was clinging on to the side of his Banshee, it announced its presence with a throaty roar, and the lower mandibles of a fellow Elite punched through into the cock-pit.
The veteran pilot watched on in horror as an officer of the Covenant ate his way into the vehicle, and proceeded to eat his way through him! Wailing in agony, he lost control of the fighter craft, and it came down vertically onto the bridge he was supposed to destroy.
Twilight barked, "Duck!" prompting the Ponies to do so.
The flaming remains of the Banshee fighter jarred over their heads and down the bridge, wobbling it drastically.
Something impacted Fluttershy's hind, startling her into squealing.
"Get moving, slow poke!" Lightning spoke through gritted teeth, pushing Fluttershy up the slope.
How Lightning had survived the ordeal was... actually quite believable. She's a Pegasus; she can fly on her own accord. A Flood infected Zealot or a Banshee with no pilot, can't.
Flitter leant a hoof to Octavia. Once Octavia and Fluttershy were around the barrier and clambering up to the door, Flitter and Lightning decided to help out Fleur and Vinyl. Fleur however, declined Flitter's assistance, so the Pegasus ended up helping out another Pegasus; Blossomforth.
Soon, everypony was safe inside the narrow corridor, with Flitter and Blossomforth just making their entrance... along with a handful of tiny Flood parasites.
"Get back!" yelled Vinyl over a distant explosion.
An immense creak drowned out the sounds Flitter was making as one of the infectors stabbed into her. With her eyes popping wide and blood spewing from her mouth, her noises were likely unpleasant.
The loud creaking was the mark of the bridge's destruction. The second Banshee had completed the task, and somewhere in the snowy obscurity, it was whirling down to the valley below, the whole bridge heading down with it.
With the creaking replaced by wind, and the wind replaced by Flitter who screamed and roared in front of them, Octavia lunged and held on to the Pegasus as she lost power of her wings.
"No, Flitter! Nooo!"
"Octavia!" cried Vinyl, hanging onto the Earth Pony, who, in turn, held on to Flitter.
Shouting over the gale and the mutant in the making, Twilight bellowed, "Octavia! She's been infected! Let her go!"
Octavia watched in horror as Flitter's face flew apart all by itself, releasing a torrent of red blood and vomit out into the corridor and over the soldiers.
"That's how the Flood work!"
"Let her gooo!" wailed Blossomforth dramatically, tearing up.
When a thin, wiry tendril snaked out of Flitter's cave of a face, Octavia immediately let the sick Mare drop. Flitter's changing silhouette materialised away as she descended through the rapid snow.
Vinyl pulled the despondent Octavia back, allowing Fluttershy to seal the door shut, keeping the weather out.
Tearfully, Octavia squeaked, "... I can't believe it... That was horrible... How can this be a thing?"
Lightning got in her face. "Well it is a thing, alright! Get used to it!"
Randomly, a blob of faint cobalt blue light flashed into existence around Lightning's lips, only to flash back out of existence a couple of seconds later.
"Ow!" yelped Lightning, touching her lips. "What the hay, Vinyl?!"
The blue maned Unicorn had cast a spell on Lightning, or at least tried to. "Darn it! I'm not as good as Trixie."
"Oh, you trying to shut me up, there? Ha! You're a pathetic Unicorn."
"And you're a rotten piece of work! No pony talks to Octavia like that!" Vinyl pushed her face into Lightning's, and they glowered angrily into each other's eyes. "You gotta get through me!"
Turning her head up, Lightning blew a raspberry at Vinyl and hovered in the air. "Pffft! Like you're something. And at least I can tell the blatant difference between a Pony and one of those things."
Octavia sat down, wiping her face of tears, and murmured, "I'm sorry, ok. I've never seen these things before. I thought we could save her."
"Sorry, Octavia," Twilight contributed softly. "But the only way to save her would be to... well... you kinda saved her when you let her go."
She'd let her go, and the memory plagued Octavia like a Flood infection form itself, and she stifled her cries, barely. Vinyl wrapped her hooves around her in a cuddle.
Crammed in the glass-metal corridor, the soldiers reloaded and took drinks, Fluttershy taking a little sip from Octavia's flask. In the background, Lightning nattered on and on to herself like she was crazy, and Fluttershy was worried she actually might be.
With the break over, and the events of the bridges in the past, the herd trudged on through the corridor.
Remembering how easy it had been the first time they'd fought across the bridges, Fluttershy thought to herself, If only Trixie were here.
*****
Sieging the library, the Covenant rolled in. The library was an awkward sort of building. A magnificent one, yes, but not very easy to enter. Especially on foot and with ground vehicles. The entrance consisted of a massive circular door that had cycled open. It was far off the ground, more suited to aircraft, and the Covenant didn't hesitate to send in two Banshee fighters.
To get the ground forces inside, their commander had devised a plan. Their fleet's new flagship, the Honest Mistake, hovered over the library, using its gravity lift and anchor like, well, a lift. The platform came down, but not all the way to the ground; just before the library's entrance, ferrying troops and vehicles.
Ghost rapid assault vehicles went in first, their smallness, quietness and speed providing the perfect recognisance. Once recon was done, the tanks came in, one at a time, until an entire cavalry was born.
Troops and vehicles were still being lowered into the library when the Flood attacked. The cursed parasites were stalling them from retrieving the sacred icon; the talisman they needed to begin their great journey and eradicate the filth from existence.
Multiple attempts had been made to grab the index. The first team didn't even know what hit them. It was a small team of Grunts and Elites, unaware of the Flood's presence, and they'd disappeared without a trace. A second team was sent to investigate, and they all went silent too, but not before one of them could report the findings. With this intel, a battle-ready third team attacked the Flood, and they'd done well, but not well enough; their numbers too few.
After three failed attempts, the commander was determined not to fail again. As he and his army entered the library, the Flood came surging up to greet them. He gave the order, letting his soldiers unleash their arsenal all over the stinking tide. The Wraith tanks wiped out huge groups of the diseased, and the Ghosts chipped away at them, one, sometimes two at a time.
*****
Wondering across the floor, Pinkie Pie and her new friends were almost clipped by two low flying Banshees. Spinning, she and the swarm she was a part of chased after them, right into the chamber that used to house the index. Noticing the missing index, the Banshees retreated, and after a while, so did the rest of the Covenant.
Way up from her position, Pinkie could see the alien soldiers and vehicles leave the library, floating up in the translucent, purple gravity lift of a Covenant starship. The monster she shared her body with saw it too, and it went about climbing the walls. Fellow plague carriers and parasites joined her, the infection forms scuttling ahead, disappearing through one specific crevice in the ceiling.
On the roof of the library, the snot bags waited, Pinkie being the first to emerge, rising up like a corpse from a grave. The top of the library was high up, and the wind blew harshly into her ravaged face.
It was evening, and a red sky made the view of Halo even more breath-taking. Pinkie couldn't figure out why it was called a red sky, because it wasn't really red. It was more of a pinky colour.
The immediate area around the gargantuan library structure was a desert full of jagged rocks, buttes, and lagoons. A beach could be seen, lined with scarce vegetation, and the twinkling ocean lapped up onto the shore. More land could be seen across the pond; more desert by the looks of it. It was beautiful, but the whole experience was kinda ruined by the body-snatching illness. The bug in her chest, the tentacles on her body, the goo in her veins. All of it hurt, and she wailed in excruciation.
Her new friends weren't faring well either; combat forms that were once Ponies and Covies, all of which groaned in distress as they pulled themselves up into the breeze.
Another thing that added to the majesty of the view, was the titanic Covenant Cruiser hovering high above. Very high above; not wanting to get too close to the Flood. A wise move, to be sure, but anchoring the grav lift right by the infested library's entrance? Not so wise.
The anchor would be a tough nut to crack, what with all the Covenant that defended it. However, the monsters that made up Pinkie's platoon decided to just skip that part, and enter the gravity beam without setting hoof, foot or tentacle on the anchor.
Sprinting ached, and Pinkie shrieked. She watched as she and her gang were forced down the library's sloping roof, drawing closer to the grav lift. Once close enough, she pounced, and spent enough time in the air to count to seven. She never landed though. She, well, her monster, had succeeded its goal of getting inside the elevating tube of light. Some of the others made it too.
Flailing around, ex-pinkie swam through the anti-gravity and latched onto an ascending Wraith tank, taking up residence in its main gun. Folding away, the main gun was concealed under its purple carapace, Pinkie hidden inside.