Drawing nearer to the platform, the three heros came under attack from a rather unexpected enemy. The Sentinels. Fluttershy and her teammates had been battling Flood and Covenant for so long, they'd almost forgotten about them. To say they were Halo's security guards, they weren't getting too involved in the conflict. Maybe they had something bigger to deal with, like bringing Halo's pulse generators back online, or getting the Flood back in containment, if that was even possible.
The pesky machines were no match for the two Banshee fighters, and Fleur de Lis and Fluttershy destroyed them all in quick succession.
Now that the landing zone was clear, they touched down and dismounted. Lightning Dust refused to let her hooves touch the ground; her fractured foreleg twinging.
"I still can't believe the ordeal we've been through," spoke Fluttershy, her mane blowing in the wind.
"I know," AI Twilight agreed with a gleeful tone. "That final battle was pretty epic."
"Too epic for my liking."
"Epic is good," cheered Lightning, hooves spread. "Epic - we can brag about - make us look like heroes."
"We are heroes."
"We might be heroes. It all depends on if we get this done."
"We will get it done. We came this far."
"So how much further?"
"Well, I still haven't got a lock on Rarity yet. Once I find her, we'll be straight to her, straight to the Autumn..." She took a soulful pause. "... Straight home."
After drinking some water, or fizzy pop in Lightning's case, the three musketeers were ready to proceed through the tall Forerunner door and along the metal-glass corridor, into the final pulse generator chamber.
"I'm detecting movement inside the chamber," announced Twilight, bringing the soldiers up short in front of the next door.
They couldn't hear a thing on the other side, suggesting they were either up against Covenant or Sentinels.
After a round of nods, Fluttershy opened the door and each Pony entered the room. It turned out to be the airborne mechanisms, and as they instantly traded fire with each other, the Ponies made a discovery.
"They have energy shields?" pondered Twilight out loud as the staccato rip of gunfire thundered around the chamber.
The Sentinels did indeed have energy shields, just like Elites. Just like Fluttershy. They flared pale blue upon receiving bullets, protecting the robots.
This made the annoying machines even more annoying, but Twilight seemed overjoyed at the Sentinels' new additions.
"Oh my gosh. This is perfect! Girls; I want you to keep one of these Sentinels intact!"
"But why?" questioned Fluttershy, taking cover from the hissing orange beams.
"Oh I have my reasons."
Lightning got irritated. "Y'think maybe you can tell us em?"
"I'll tell you later."
Flying off, Lightning fired her pistol and grumbled to herself, "Man, I hate it when she's cryptic like that."
Unsure why Twilight wanted a Sentinel, or how they were even going to capture one, Fluttershy shrugged and chose one from the hovering crowd, and proceeded to not fire at it.
Her shotgun was terrible at such range, but it did inflict damage on the machines. Fleur was using the assault rifle she'd given her, firing bursts like an expert, and bringing down one Sentinel after another.
Lightning only used her pistol if she had to, and focused more on capturing one of the Forerunner devices. She clutched one in all four hooves, wincing with the pain in her broken foreleg, and put full power into her wings to pull the machine down to the ground.
"I've got one! I've got one!" she yelled with accomplishment like she'd just caught her first fish.
It wasn't the one Fluttershy had been saving, but it was as good as any, so the yellow Mare turned and sent long distance buckshots out to the no longer lucky Sentinel.
"Will this do?" strained Lightning, fighting the Sentinel's resistance.
Fleur sent the last Sentinel plummeting to the ground in hot blue flames.
"That's perfect. Well done, Lightning."
As Fluttershy reloaded her shotgun, Twilight ordered, "Now's the time, Fluttershy. Take care of the last pulse generator. Lightning, Fleur, keep that Sentinel restrained; we're going to need it."
Lightning and Fleur shared puzzled glances as Fluttershy stepped up to the blinding pillar of light. Like she had done it twice before, she strode into the pulse generator, and immediately reversed out as Twilight used her energy shields to deliver the EMP, rupturing the light and quaking the deck.
"Final target neutralised. I'm so proud of you, Fluttershy. Proud of all of you."
Fluttershy grinned sheepishly as she joined the other two, three if you count the struggling Sentinel. Thinking of those that had got lost on the way, she murmured, "I'm proud of everypony who's helped me." Her shields recharged in a golden glow.
Lightning and Fleur both sighed, glad for the mission to finally be over.
However, there was a new mission in store, and Lightning acknowledged it by asking, "So I guess we gotta fly to Rarity?"
"As long as that would take, it was the original plan," the AI responded.
Lightning let out an incredible, fed up moan. "Aaawww!"
""Was" was the key word in that sentence."
The Pegasus snapped to attention. "Huh? You got a better idea?"
"Yep. You're holding it..."
As the Mares gazed down at the clunky little Sentinel, Twilight narrated, "There's a teleportation grid that runs throughout Halo. That's how the monitor moves about so quickly. I learned how to tap into the grid when I was in the control centre."
Fluttershy grew confused, and also a little peeved. "You can teleport us? Then why didn't you teleport us to the pulse generators?"
"Because in order to teleport, we need an expenditure of energy. Forerunner energy. That's why I ordered you to capture this Sentinel. We can pull power from its energy shields to make the jump!"
"Oh." Things made sense now.
"If you could just make contact with this Sentinel, I'll be able to hack into its systems and reroute the energy we need."
Fluttershy looked at the Sentinel that buzzed angrily, trying to break free from the Ponies' embrace. "Um, are you sure it's safe?"
"It's a Sentinel," Lightning stated, staring at Fluttershy. "These things can't fight for squat! I'm sure it's safe."
To the brash one, Fleur uttered, "You thought barrel rolling our Pelican was safe."
"Enough with the Pelican!"
Touching the Forerunner drone's silvery sheen, Fluttershy felt her skin tingle as Twilight connected herself to it, working her magic. The Sentinel made a high-pitched drone, sounding much like surprise as Twilight made her presence inside it. To say it was a machine, it was remarkable how it resembled a dog at the vets, not wanting to undergo the treatment it needed.
The pink maned Mare let out an all mighty yawn, tired as hell, assuming hell was tired. She woke up more when Twilight resurfaced.
"Ok. I have the energy we need. I also reprogrammed the Sentinel so it won't fight us!" she sounded delighted at her achievements, and the other three thought it wasn't bad either.
"So we've got ourselves a newbie, huh?" Bawling at the Sentinel like a Sergeant, Lightning gestured and informed, "Alright, freshman, I'm in charge! You gotta take orders from me, got it?!"
"Lightning, don't!"
"Pffft, I'm only messing, yo," she rasped dismissively.
"The Sentinel isn't!"
"Wha'd'ya mean?"
"I mean now that you've said that, it really will take orders from you!"
"Really? Oh sweet! I've got my own Sentinel!"
"Not sweet! We need it to take orders from me if we're gonna keep it intact!"
"You saying I'm gonna break it?"
Fleur chipped in, "You broke our Pelican."
Serious, Lightning ordered, "... Sentinel... burn the tall one."
A worried look formed on Fleur's face as the Sentinel rotated to face her. She dove for cover as it unleashed its sizzling laser.
Furious, Twilight shouted, "Lightning, call it off!"
Lightning was laughing hysterically as Fleur ducked behind a blocky object, the Sentinel scorching the ground near her. "Hahaha! Fine."
Once the irresponsible Lightning got her new toy under control, Twilight spoke, "Ok, group hug, everypony. I'll be able to locate Rarity when we're in Halo's teleportation net."
All together, the three Mares huddled up around the converted device, ready to be beamed away.
Fluttershy had experienced teleportation four times before, and knew what to expect. Fleur didn't, but remained calm and welcoming no less. Lightning was getting all fidgety, and Fluttershy thought that was kinda funny.
Twilight shouted out the countdown, building up the drama. "Teleporting in three! ... Two! ... One! ..."
Golden light swirled around all four figures, and the Sentinel's shields popped as their energy was extracted.
"Now!"
Lightning had just began to moan with discomfort, but her noise soon faded with their bodies. In the blink of an eye, the three Mares and their pet Sentinel were gone, and the chamber was left vacant.
Rarity.
Back in Halo's teleportation net, Fluttershy lost all physical feeling. Unable to feel comfort nor discomfort was actually kinda comfortable, and she would've fallen asleep, were it possible. Teleporting stopped her from doing just that, which she thought was unfair. She needed her sleep, darn it!
All she could see was the swirling vortex. All she could hear was Twilight, Fleur and Lightning marvelling over the sensation.
Lightning had been scared at first, but she soon warmed up and joined in on the fun. "Woah! This is awesome!"
Even Fleur expressed her delight. "Woohoo!"
Even in teleportation, Twilight was eavesdropping on the Covenant battle net. "When the Truth and Reconciliation disappeared from the Covenant's radar, the ship we encountered over the cartographer, the Honest Mistake, took its place."
"Um, what does this have to do with finding Rarity?" Fluttershy puzzled.
"I'll get to that."
"The Honest Mistake became the Covenant's new base of operations. From it, they've been making all kinds of tactical decisions, like finding the control centre, searching for their missing ship, and, ironically, the accidental release of the Flood."
"The Covenant released the Flood?" quizzed Fluttershy, wondering why she was even surprised.
Twilight chuckled, "It was an honest mistake!"
Continuing, the AI droned, "Now, the Covenant network is in absolute discord. From what I've been able to piece together, their leadership ordered all ships to abandon Halo when they found the Flood, but they were too late."
"Stupid Covenant," Lightning spat. "I swear we over-estimate them."
"Maybe sometimes."
"Maybe never."
"The Flood overwhelmed the Honest Mistake and disabled it." She took a breather, which she didn't need to take as an AI.
The fact that the Flood had overwhelmed a Covenant CCS class battle Cruiser sank in though, and Fluttershy would've gulped, were possible in teleportation.
"The Covenant are terrified the Flood will repair the ship and use it to escape from Halo. They've sent in a strike team to neutralise the Flood and repair the ship for immediate departure!"
"Can it even be repaired?" Fluttershy quizzed, not sure if the Covenant should be toiling around trying to save their infested ship.
"I'm not even sure."
"They should just destroy it!" Lightning yelled.
"I agree with you on that. The risk is too big to take, and the Covenant are fools for taking it."
"Why did the Flood even disable the ship if they want it to escape from Halo?"
"The Flood are smarter than you think, buuut they're still pretty dumb."
To Fluttershy, Twilight talked, "Fluttershy, you asked me what all this had to do with Rarity. Well, I've got a good lock on her CNI transponder signal. Three guesses as to where she is."
Fluttershy wanted to gulp again. "Um... the Honest Mistake?"
"Correct!"
Fluttershy was unsure why the AI sounded so enthusiastic to search for Rarity, or what remained of her, on board a Flood infested Covenant warship, but then she added, "And guess what?"
"Umm... err..."
"She's alive!"
"W-what?!" Fluttershy didn't believe her. Couldn't believe her. Couldn't not believe her because she was Twilight and she was right about everything.
The other two had a hard time wrapping their heads around it too.
Twilight laughed with joy, "Hahaha! She's alive! She's in the thick of the Flood, but she's definitely alive!"
"She's alive? That's great! But, um, I don't understand. Why is she alive? How is she alive? Why haven't the Flood infected her? What is she doing on that ship?"
"One question at a time, Fluttershy. The Flood want her alive... for now."
"But why?" Lightning probed. "What purpose could those brainless zombies possibly have with a living, uninfected Pony?"
"The Flood work in mysterious ways, Lightning. They'll be harvesting neuro-systems to form a central intelligence. A decision maker."
"How do you know all this stuff?"
"I did my research, back at the control centre. You taking notes, Fleur?"
The PONI operative simply hummed, "Mm-hm," in response.
Taking on board everything Twilight had said, Fluttershy voiced, "It's great that she's still alive, but, um, if she does get made into a... decision maker... um, will we be able to save her?"
"If she's still alive, I don't see why not."
An awkward silence passed as the team continued to journey through the digital world, and then Lightning announced, "I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with..." She hesitated long enough to prompt Fluttershy into asking;
"Um, beginning with what?"
"I don't know. I don't know what ya call this."
"V for vortex," commented Twilight.
"Thanks... smarty pants."
"We're about to exit teleportation," smarty pants chimed in anticipation. "There's some interference from the Cruiser's damaged reactor. I'll bring us in as close as I can."
Getting some last words in, Fluttershy rushed, "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with I." Before anypony could guess, she broke, "Imminent doom!"
"Aw come on, you didn't even give us a chance."
Exiting the teleportation grid, gold light hogged their vision, and behind it, the view of the inside of a Covenant Cruiser materialised into existence.
"I spy with my little eye, something beginning with P!"
"Purple!"
"Yes!"
The shiny purple architecture was all damaged and stained with blood of many colours. Blue flames flickered away from the walls. It was weird, the flames were wavering down, not up. That's when Fluttershy realised they were being pieced together with their hooves firmly planted on the ceiling.
Uh-oh.
Once the teleportation process was complete, and the gold light dissipated, the three Ponies were left to drop to the deck with a thud. Except for Lightning who hovered just off the ground, laughing at Fluttershy and Fleur. The hacked Sentinel had been teleported too, and it hovered still by Lightning's side like a faithful companion.
Making a realisation, Twilight gasped, "Ahh, I see, the co-ordinate data needs to be-"
-Annoyed, Fluttershy bonked the receptacle on her chest plate where Twilight's AI chip was.
"Right. Sorry."
Forgiving the AI, Fluttershy pondered, "I don't suppose you can call Rarity, can you?"
"It's worth a shot. Bare with me."
Gazing around, all Fluttershy saw was death and destruction. Blood splashed everywhere on the purple metal, but there was a disturbing lack of bodies. She was beginning to get to know the Flood, and she didn't like them at all. Horrible things.
Behind, the corridor was blocked by a long strip of metal panelling that had come loose and formed a purple scrap heap, burning away in blue fire. Flood and Covenant corpses added to the blockage, frightening Fluttershy. She was beginning to wish she were still in the winter wonderland.
Randomly, Lightning chirped, "Hey, y'know when we've rescued Rarity; why do we have to go back to the Filly of Autumn?"
Twilight had explained it already, and Fluttershy and Fleur glared at the turquoise Mare through judging eyes, wondering how she couldn't possibly know.
"Why not just destroy this ship instead?"
... Well, they were stumped. They literally had zero answers for her. It was a good idea. Why not destroy this ship, the Honest Mistake?
But, as always, Twilight came out with her usual, flawless logic. "... To destroy this ship, we would need the Ship Master's neural interface. Think you can hold down a Zealot?"
Lightning shrugged, "Sure."
"A Flood infected Zealot?"
She thought a little. "... Maybe."
"You can't, Lightning," the AI put bluntly. "I can't even find the Ship Master anyway."
Discovering something, the AI inhaled, "Hold on."
Fluttershy asked, "What is it?"
"I'm getting a connection to Rarity!"
A droning buzz crackled out of Fluttershy's speaker, startling all three Mares.
"Rarity? Come in! This is Twilight."
... No answer, just static. Poor connection?
Egging the yellow one on, Twilight nudged, "Fluttershy, say something."
Hesitating, she tried, "Um, Rarity? Are you there?"
... Still no answer.
"Please answer, Rarity."
... Finally, a familiar, long lost voice responded.
"Nnnng! Aaarrg! Urg! ... F-f-f-fluttershy?! ... T-t-twilight?!"
Rarity! She was speaking! Alive! In big trauma, but alive! There was hope for the poor Mare yet.
Happily but still with a business like manner, Twilight reassured, "It's us, Rarity. Hang in-"
"-W-what are you doing heerrre!"
Oh gosh, the way she pronounced "here" was horrendous. Almost sounded like a signature Flood shriek.
She strained her words out, grating with pain. "... You need to get out of here, right... now!"
"Not without you!" Twilight pointed out, only adding to the Captain's woe.
"Nnngaaarrugh-"
"Rarity?!"
... There were no more noises from the white Unicorn. She'd gone.
"Rarity?!" Panicking, Fluttershy's pulse was on the rise, and she glanced at the unsure expressions of her teammates.
Rarity's state was definitely something to be concerned about. If Fluttershy didn't know any better, she'd say she'd already been contaminated.
Twilight reinforced this by declaring, "We should find her before she's completely absorbed! And not just for her sake."
Of course; Captain Rarity possessed Equestria's co-ordinates! There was no way they could fall into the hands of the Flood.
Swinging her good hoof, Lightning urged, "To the hunt!"
Doing as the Pegasus pleased, the team trotted along the haunted corridor. The sounds of Flood on Covenant battle echoed from every direction at once, the deck shuddering every once in a while.
"Oohh," Fluttershy moaned, her tummy ache seemingly worse now than it was before.
Together, the three Mares and their captured Sentinel approached a door. Fluttershy hoofed it open, and a terrifying shriek blasted out from around a corner up ahead. Time for a little slice of hell.
The first thing that came squealing out from one passage to the next was a frightened, orange armoured Grunt. His reason for being so scared was clear; an infected Elite was hot on his heals. They both ran away, out of sight at the end of the shiny purple corridor, but their duet performance continued over the ship-wide ruckus.
Fluttershy gulped with dread and continued to creep down the corridor, Fleur, Lightning and a random Sentinel at her back.
"I'll alert you to any danger," assured Twilight, not really reassuring the timid Pegasus.
"Lightning, keep your Sentinel safe. If it's still intact by the end of our mission, we can use it to teleport again."
"Uh, ok," Lightning answered hopelessly, no experience of command. "Sentinel, stay safe."
Fleur face-hoofed hard enough to make a sound.
Approaching the end of the corridor, the trio turned right, down the path of the Grunt and his infected superior. Numerous blood stains and corpses decorated the Covenant architecture, scarring Fluttershy for life. Some of the bodies weren't even whole.
With the Grunt's squeals gone, the gross sounds of gorging came echoing along the purple walls, greeting the Mares' ears with unsettledness.
Up ahead, the three Ponies and their little robot had only one option; turn left, and that's where the sounds were coming from.
"Waa! Monster!" yelled a distant Grunt, eliciting a fearsome shriek from the unseen combat form.
The pew, pew of plasma weapons answered the shriek in kind, accompanied by determined growls from the Covies.
"Ok. Enemies around this bend," informed the AI, brining the squad to a halt.
Fluttershy was most reluctant to step around, especially first, but luckily, the Sentinel jumped at the chance, and it buzzed gracefully overhead to take the fight to the fighting aliens.
"Where's it going?" Lightning asked rhetorically.
Twilight had just whisper-shouted, "Call it back!" when Lightning flew in second. "Ugh, for crying out loud, this is why I should've been in charge of that thing! Get in there!"
Fluttershy went around third with Fleur at her back.
Within the narrow passage, a team of four Grunts held position at a corner, using a fallen pillar, an overturned crate, and a portable holo-shield as cover. The infected Elite that'd been spotted earlier thrashed its tendrils powerfully across the Covenant firing squad, knocking Grunts dead and airborne.
Like the robot it was, the Sentinel immediately hosed the hideous creature with blazing orange energy, burning it alive and melting its beige skin.
Letting out a puff of stinking breath, the ex-elite fell, and an ex-jackal came hopping around the next corner to take its place.
The Sentinel directed its laser, but the mutant still possessed a blue hard light shield that protected it. With a roar, the beast leapt high off the ground and smashed the Forerunner drone out of the air. With the Sentinel taken care of, it absorbed the hail of bullets that came its way and advanced on the Ponies.
Growing impatient as usual, Lightning gritted her teeth and snarled, "Fall, darn it!" as she hovered below the ceiling, firing her magnum at the damn thing.
"So much for keeping the Sentinel intact!" Twilight moaned. "Now when we're done here, we'll have to fly to the Autumn!"
"Shut up, Twilight!" barked Lightning as she put bullets into the approaching atrocity.
Finally, the ex-jackal relented, and it fell to the deck in a puddle of its own gore, gurgling.
"Nice work... apart from the Sentinel," sighed Twilight as the soldiers reloaded. "There's some more faint contacts around the next bend. Infection forms, most likely. Don't let them get close."
More than a little afraid, and disheartened by the loss of their teleporter, Fluttershy stuttered, "Y-you got it."
Twilight hadn't been joking about the infection forms. As the team made their way through the pile of bodies and Sentinel parts, dozens of the living snot-bags came rolling up to say hello. They even had a carrier form on their side, just standing there, doing nothing.
Saying hello back to the parasites, the equine troopers unleashed their weapons, exterminating each and every abomination in sight. The carrier form exploded in a big way, denting the panels of the corridor and staining the purple with mottled green.
"Good," Twilight said as the last parasite was crushed under Fleur's hoof. "We should keep moving. Never stop for too long. This place is crawling with things that want to kill us."
Biting her bottom lip, Fluttershy proceeded down the corridor, eyes darting from shadow to shadow.
The distant battling continued to ring around the entire ship; Covenant and UPSC weapons arguing with each other, screams from all four types of Covies, and super loud bellows from the Flood that drowned everything else out.
Those noises grew louder as the next right corner grew closer.
"Hostiles behind the door, distant and preoccupied. Don't let your guard down."
"I don't even know how to let my guard down," Fluttershy replied, taking caution as she rounded the corner and spotted the door. "Not in this place."
Not wanting to be in one place for too long, the young Pegasus let her proximity open the door.
"Wraargh!" came the thundering roar of a veteran Elite, just beyond the door.
He and his fellow Covies were hard at work trying to eradicate the Flood from what Fluttershy identified as a hangar. The floor was devoid of equipment, with only a few Covenant crates scattered violently around the massive room.
Twilight barked, "Don't move!" in contrast to her "never stop for too long" advice she'd given earlier.
Looking down, Fluttershy only just noticed the reason why Twilight was being so hesitant, and her eyes widened. A colossal hole had been blasted into the deck. Not just into the deck, but all the way through the Honest Mistake's fuselage!
Pools of strange, glowing green liquid shone in the darkness below, throwing luminosity onto the sandstone. Those pools appeared to be sourced from the ship itself as the liquid trickled down in columns.
"Oh my," whispered the shy, backing away from the gaping hole, noting the raging battle ensuing on the other side of it.
Hovering just above the yellow Pony, Lightning pointed with her good hoof and gawped, "Woah! What in Equestria did that?!"
Even Fleur was a little jaw dropped.
To answer Lightning's query, Twilight announced, "Scanning... ... Seraph crash. One of the last things to get reported before the battle net became tangled. It's how some of the Flood made it on board. Must've been a powerful impact to tear through the ship's hull."
"Y'think the Flood are packin' nukes?" joked Lightning, not laughing, not making anypony else laugh.
"No no. Nukes would do more damage than this," replied the AI, taking the joke seriously.
Conducting a further analysis, the AI added, "All I'm detecting down there is Flood, Covenant and coolant. That's what that glowing green liquid is. Sloppy stuff."
Understanding what the alien fluid was now, and not sure if the information would be helpful in any way, Fluttershy quietly asked, "So, um, what happens now? I don't think I can jump that."
There was a scream as the crimson Elite was thrashed to death by a combat form wearing the blue armour of a rookie.
"I don't think I want to jump that."
"I can jump it," Lightning muttered.
Fleur pointed out, "You can fly."
"Y'know, if you think about it, flying is just a really big jump."
"Oh, hey, Derpy's back."
"I'm not Derpy!"
Fluttershy got in Fleur's face for once. "Derpy's not an insult." She then backed off, lowering her eyes as Fleur looked surprised at her.
"We're sticking together, Lightning," stomped Twilight. "Hold on while I backtrack."
Lightning groaned, "Ugh, we're gonna backtrack a mile."
"Maybe not," theorised Fleur, motioning a hoof. "Maybe we can get into the ducts."
Fluttershy gulped; something she could finally do outside of teleportation. "I really don't want to go in the ducts." She darted her gaze upon hearing an abrupt screech echo around the ship, followed by gunshots.
She then heard some different gunshots, taking place right next to her. Spinning, she found Fleur firing her MA5B back down the corridor, and terrifying Flood noises answered her back.
"Yeah, about backtracking," Lightning hinted as her pistol joined Fleur's rifle.
"Twilight?!" grated Fluttershy, facing the howling Flood with her shotgun shivering. She fumbled in her saddle bag for a grenade, pulling out a sticky. "You f-found a new route yet?!" Squeaking, she let the plasma grenade fly, and it landed on the deck by the Flood's feet.
The blue explosion was loud and tremulous, throwing bodies and scrap into the air.
"Yes, but these parasites are in the way!"
When the freaks got closer, Fluttershy blew them away with her shotgun, squinting and squirming. No matter how many monsters they killed, more and more came gushing through an aperture in the ceiling to take their place.
"Man, forget this!" Lightning spat as the horde refused to thin. "I'm jumping!"
"Aah! Don't leave us, Lightning!" screamed the shy as she blasted an ex-pony.
"I don't wanna leave ya, but if I stay there, I'll die!" she called out as she whizzed into the hangar where there was a lot more air space. "Use the ducts! Scale the walls! ... Jump into the unknown - I don't know! So long!"
This was it. It would seem Lightning was abandoning them. Fluttershy knew she couldn't be trusted. She'd been a help though, and it was sad to say good bye. Especially when she wasn't even dead.
"Waaah!" Her shrill wail grabbed Fluttershy's attention, and she witnessed the traitor fall to the deck, splintering her splint.
An infected Elite had fired a couple of MA5B rounds into her side, and it came sprinting up with arms flailing, only to be diverted by a team of Covenant.
On the other side of the hole, Lightning dragged herself along with her good hoof and gnashed her teeth. Straining, she flapped her wings, and was able to get herself off the floor, just.
"I'm... still... here."
Putting her attention back on the Flood, Fluttershy noticed Fleur had vanished. Firing her shotgun, she squizzed around, but couldn't find the Unicorn anywhere.
"Where'd Fleur go?!" she bellowed over her booming shotgun and shrieking Flood.
A quick glance back revealed Lightning falling to the deck a second time, weak, bleeding.
"I didn't even know she'd gone," came Twilight's worrying answer. "We can't break through this flood!"
Looking back and forth between the swarm and Lightning holding a hoof out, Covenant regrouping behind her, Fluttershy decided to take the traitor's advice. Jump into the unknown.
The yellow Mare had a habit of letting grudges go too early, and she forgave Lightning long before she gave her a taste of her own medicine by leaving her.
She even cried, "Sorry, Lightning!" as if she were the one who should be apologising.
Staring down into the pools of coolant far below, she started having second thoughts, but then plasma struck her front and tentacles struck her hind, causing her to loose balance and go tumbling out of the Honest Mistake.
"Oh no!" worried Twilight, Fluttershy screaming all the way. "Nooooo!"
Splosh! All of a sudden, Fluttershy was floating, and a weird taste grabbed her tongue. Fluid had shot up her nose, giving her a terrible throat ache to add to her list of other aches. She opened her eyes, and they instantly started stinging. Everything was green and blurry. The only thing she could make out were the bubbles that flew out of her mouth and rose up to the surface.
Afraid of drowning in the Cruiser's engine coolant, she held her breath, her cheeks bulging with the little oxygen she had left.
"We're alive!" cheered Twilight, sounding rather surprised.
Fluttershy was surprised too.
"We're alive! My goodness! Ok, erm, swim, Fluttershy! Swim!"
The weight of her armour kept her from doing just that, and she flailed her hooves around until she came to stand on the submerged ground. Using the armour's weight to her advantage, she walked across the pond bed, gagging for air.
"Or just walk... That works too."
After about ten blind steps, the ground started to rise, and the pink maned Mare stuck her head up out of the green coolant with a splash and a tremendous inhale. Boy, it felt good to breathe. She spluttered in a fit, coughing up globules of that foul tasting engine coolant.
She then panicked, "Waa! Th-this stuff isn't toxic, is it?!"
"No, not at-"
"-Am I gonna die?!"
"Sshh," Twilight hushed. "It's ok, Fluttershy, you're not gonna die. This liquid is multi-purpose. The other purpose being a scrumptious dip!"
"It doesn't taste scrumptious to me. Ptooey!" she spat and hacked.
"Well you're not an alien, are you."
Pulling herself onto the shore, Fluttershy did her best to shake herself dry like a dog. There was still loads of coolant lingering in her coat and hair though, so she decided she was dry enough and looked around... were it possible.
Blackness. That was all she could see. Just blackness shrouding whatever there was to shroud. The pool of coolant provided very limited illumination, and peering up, she could see the slight metallic tint of the Mistake's purple hull. She could also see the interior lighting through the hole she'd just tripped down, and a flailing equine sporting tentacles came squealing out of it. With fear, Fluttershy watched as the creature faded away into the darkness and splattered all over the unseen place.
Hushed but urgent, Twilight ordered, "Fluttershy, quick, flashlight!"
She fiddled with her shotgun until she found the light switch and flicked it, revealing a huge puddle of green blood and Pony body parts strewn all over the dirt.
The soggy Fluttershy could clearly make out a head, and she shielded her eyes from the repulsion. She'd seen enough of it to know that it wasn't Lightning or Fleur, which was good. In fact, the battle above could still be heard raging on, and the Covenant's muzzle flashes flickered on and on inside the Cruiser.
"Fleur, Lightning, come in," Twilight attempted to establish radio contact. "Fleur, Lightning, come in!"
... There was nothing. Fleur had disappeared, and Lightning was probably dead.
The ship's name seemed like even more of a bad joke now than it did before. Falling through the hole had been an honest mistake, and Fluttershy prayed for Lightning and Fleur.
As soon as the clamour ceased, Twilight got back to communications duty. "Fleur? Lightning? Are you there?"
... No answer.
From within the downed Cruiser, the Flood continued to babble, and Fluttershy witnessed them vaulting high over the hole to meet the Covenant in the shuttle bay on the other side. Lightning was lying on the floor of that shuttle bay, so Fluttershy figured she'd pretty much had it, and dismissing her recent betrayal, she wept. She also wept for Fleur, the non-traitor who had gone without a trace.
"... They're gone."
After all they'd been through, Fleur and Lightning would assist her no further, and Fluttershy's heart transformed into a rock. She'd been getting attached to those two, and had been hoping to hang out with them back home. Without their help, home was looking further away.
With her priorities in order, Twilight spoke softly, "We have to find a way back on board the Honest Mistake... Follow these canyons, and be careful; you know how bugs like lurking under rocks."
Tearfully, the last Mare standing gulped and croaked, "Ok," before creeping nervously along, wiping her tears.
Her flashlight was her only means of vision, except when a pool of coolant came up. All the coolant could illuminate was itself though, so she kept her shotgun's flashlight on at all times.
The spotlight was a single eye that searched the shadows for trouble, picking out nothing more than orange rocks, scarce plants, pieces of the alien warship, and mangled bodies. None of the Pony bodies that Fluttershy's flashlight happened upon were clean, but some of the Covie corpses were free of infection.
The ship wide conflict was still audible from outside, much to Fluttershy's surprise, and the violent cacophony resonated within the deep crevices of the desert plateau.
"Hold up," Twilight motioned, making the lone Mare stop. "... Enemy contacts ahead. Tread carefully."
Frightened, Fluttershy breathed, "Um, y'think maybe we should just wait?"
"I don't know how long we'll be waiting, or who we're even waiting for. Tip-hoof on, and if I need to reassess the situation, I will."
Well, orders were orders, so much to her dismay, Fluttershy took the gentlest steps she could ever take and turned off her flashlight.
She saw more coolant oozing from the ship above, forming a lagoon in black oblivion, so she decided it'd be a good idea to stick close to it. She wouldn't have to rely so heavily on her flashlight, and if trouble came, she could hide under its surface.
If trouble came. Ha! Trouble always came, and the Pegasus was startled to hear the throaty roar of an Elite. Grunts and Jackals sounded off with him, and Covenant weapons began to spit their vibrant glowing ammunition.
At first, Fluttershy thought she'd been detected, and she braced herself for a dive into the coolant, but then Twilight informed, "Don't worry, they're not shooting at you."
A flock of pink needles flashed over her head, almost ripping through her mane.
"Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure," came Twilight's answer. "They're fighting the Flood."
A Flood combat form chose that moment to deafen Fluttershy with its warped bellow that sounded like a cross between a Jackal and something never heard of before.
"Oh, they're fighting the Flood? That's even worse!"
Taking in one deep breath and holding it, Fluttershy closed her eyes and dove into the coolant with a splash. She'd be safe there, right?