//------------------------------//
// Chapter 45: Light Fuse, Run Away! 
// Story: Once Upon a Time, on an Alien Ring World 
// by Hi World 
//------------------------------//

Like they were on a conveyor belt, the Flood kept running to the Covenant, only to be destroyed. The mutant horde was thin, and the Covenant platoon was dense. Hunters took care of most of them, but the Elites and Grunts got their fair share of kills too. So did the Sentinels.

Those Forerunner mechanisms were purpose built for taking on the Flood, but they were down and out in a matter of seconds. At least they'd cleared up the majority of infection forms.

The Covenant were getting bored. The fight had been frantic at first, but now it was starting to drag as combat forms came staggering up one by one, claiming their prizes of plasma bolts and needles. The officer in command ordered the Hunters to stop using their fuel rod cannons; the ammunition and jarring explosions not really worth it.

Things began to heat up again when a quadruped form emerged from the shadows of the maintenance access ways and blasted one of the Hunters dead with a UPSC shotgun. Bellowing commands, the lead Elite pointed at the three narrow openings on the left wall, informing his squad of the threat and allowing the remaining Hunter to use its fuel rod gun.

Unbeknownst to the team leader, another shotgun levitated on its own in the air behind him, and without warning, it fired. His spine shattered into a million pieces upon receiving the buckshot, and he was pushed forwards by the sheer power, falling flat on top of a frightened Grunt.

Two Elites, three Grunts and one Hunter were all that remained. Well, all that remained of the Covenant. The Flood were still present, and they were able to swamp two of the Grunts in the confusion. In order to throw the Flood out of the equation, the Hunter turned to vaporise them, leaving its rear weak spot exposed to whatever was lurking in the vents. Boom! It followed the same path as its bond brother, and was floored by yet another eight gauge shell.

The remaining Covies became unnerved, and the last Grunt fled the scene, wailing all the way down the corridor. One of the two Elites barked after him to come back, but the little methane breather was just too scared, and he disappeared around a corner.

Forgetting about the cowardly Grunt, the Elite turned his attention back to the Flood, and came face to face with an orange Earth Pony Mare with green eyes.
"Howdy," she greeted, right before shooting his face off with a deafening buckshot.

One final Elite was still standing, and he spun to face the three Ponies closing in around him. He aimed his needler, alternating between Colgate, Applejack and Fluttershy. If he shot one, he'd be floored by the other two, and he knew that. His obsidian green eyes darted around while his brain worked hard to come up with a plan. Luckily for him, something else came up with one.

From an aperture in the ceiling, a huge, misshapen Pony dropped down between them, and the Elite took the opportunity to backpedal into a branch corridor, firing his needler at Colgate. Those needles flew on their own accord though, and they veered into the side of the ravaged beast that howled and stomped its way towards the equines. All three Mares were armed with shotguns however, and the malformation was dropped in an instant.

"The Elite took cover in the branch corridor!" informed Twilight from Fluttershy's speaker. "It can be accessed from two sides. Split up and flank him!"

Applejack and Colgate teamed up while Fluttershy ventured through the right doorway by herself, albeit with her fancy armour and Twilight. Sure enough, the black armoured Elite had been waiting for her, and it hosed her with vibrant pink needles. Frightened, she shielded her face from the flurry as her shields began to droop, but then a loud boom rang around the corridor, cutting off the needle assault. AJ stood on the Elite's corpse, reloading her shotgun, Colgate at her back.
"Oh, thank you, Applejack," Fluttershy grinned, brushing shards of crystal off herself.
"Yer welcome, partner."

Things had been pretty awkward between the soldiers as of late. And the AI. After what happened to Aloe, and seeing a similar thing happen to Lyra a while back, Fluttershy wasn't too confident in Applejack's leadership. She was a true, honest friend who could be trusted, but her soldiers being left behind or committing suicide was becoming a pattern.

They'd discussed the issue when they were in hiding. Applejack became offended. Her abilities, her career, even her psyche had all come into question. The Staff Sergeant was just... upset. Stressed. Afraid. No pony could blame her for that.

As for Colgate, well, she was just a tag along. A random squaddie along for the ride. She'd been there, watching the discussion take place in front of her. Fluttershy wondered what she made of it all, or if she even cared.

Now, the troops took sips of water from their canteens, reloaded their shotguns and scavenged the Flood and Covenant bodies for grenades.
"This should be enough," Twilight said as everypony kitted themselves out with full supplies of grenades. "More than enough. The fusion reactors won't stand a chance."
"Great then." Applejack adjusted her hat. "Y'all ready?"
Nervous nods from Colgate and Fluttershy made Applejack pause for a moment.
She shook her head clear of whatever was haunting her. "Let's be movin' then."

Everywhere in the Autumn had been a mess. If something wasn't stained with blood or littered with bodies, it was scorched, cracked, dented, or even on fire. But as the survivors entered another branch corridor, they found themselves in a spotless haven. Everything was clean and undamaged, and the lighting was fully functioning. The floor sparkled beneath their hooves, and Fluttershy looked down at their reflections, noting the mess of her face and the hideous shiner on her right eye. 

Distracted, she almost tripped over something, and it startled her. It turned out to be nothing more than a mop that had been left behind by some crew pony. There was a bucket sat there too, and it still contained water. It hadn't spilled or dried up, implying that whoever left it there, left it there after the crash.

Gazing around the squeaky clean corridor, Fluttershy got the shivers. It was too clean. It didn't make sense. Why would anypony go to the trouble of cleaning this place after the crash? She had a vision of it painted in blood after some horrible bloodbath, then somepony, some Covie even, returning to do a spot of spring cleaning.

AJ didn't trust the perfect cleanliness either, and she scowled around, waiting for a vent to pop open, or something to come crashing through a wall, the floor, the ceiling.

A sudden brushing noise made Fluttershy and AJ jump, and they darted their gaze back at Colgate, who proceeded to brush her teeth. The Unicorn paused and acknowledged her colleagues' disapproving stares, but didn't stop, just brushed slower. To rinse, she took a swig from her flask, her cheeks bulging with water. Not knowing where to spit, she uneasily swallowed.
"Sorry. Had a little something on my teeth." Licking her teeth, she announced, "Actually I think it's still there," and whipped up the toothbrush once more.
"Don't..." Applejack growled, serious.
She and Fluttershy carried on walking, leaving Colgate to stow her brush, paste and canteen and trot to catch up.

At the end of the sparkling corridor, Fluttershy opened a door, and foisty air came to meet them. The room on the other side was huge, almost as clean as the corridor, and completely devoid of life.
"This is the engine room."
"Oh my. I've never been in the engine room before." Fluttershy stepped out onto the shiny floor, her clopping hooves echoing around the chamber.

A central wall split the vast room in two, and large consoles dotted the floor. The squad had entered the room from the right side, and a second floor balcony overlooked them from the far right wall. Up the wall in the middle, a third floor balcony was situated even higher, consoles positioned on it.

Just below the third floor balcony, three long, thick beams of durocrete stretched out and bridged the gap between the central wall and the far right wall, resting on top of the second floor balcony. Wondering what they were, Fluttershy stared up at them in bewilderment. To say it was Pony engineering, it all seemed just as alien to her as the Covenant. And the Forerunners.

Sensing that Fluttershy was eying the beams, Twilight lessoned, "Yep. Those are the fusion reactors. There's more on the other side."
"My gosh," Fluttershy gasped, a lump in her throat. "They're pretty high up."
Applejack gave her a comforting nudge. "Aw, don't fret. They aint that high."

Twilight continued her lecture. "In order to destroy the Autumn, and Halo, we have to blow them up. That's what all your grenades are for. I trust you've been saving them?" Knowing exactly what Fluttershy was hauling, she was asking Applejack and Colgate.
"Yeah, we've been savin' em alright."
"Although we may have used some to get here," Colgate added with a blush.
"That's fine. You being here is more important than the grenades."
Applejack nodded in agreement.

"So," Fluttershy started, looking up at the fusion reactors. "... How do we do this, exactly?"
"Well, it will require care, thought, and most of all, teamwork," listed the AI. "We should get to the top floor and open the fusion reactors for Applejack and Colgate."
Gulping, Fluttershy's pupils shrank. "All the way up there?"

"Applejack, you've got a good throw," theorized Twilight. "Y'think you can get onto the beams and throw the grenades into the fusion cores?"
"Sounds like a game o' ring-toss," the mustang shrugged. "Shouldn't be a problem."

"What do I do?" Colgate queried, clueless.
"You stay with me n' keep any nasties off ma back," informed Applejack, placing a hoof on her, not wanting to loose her last soldier. "Hopefully it won't come to that."

The engine room was dead; not a single sign of life... or death, for that matter. It was like looking at a clear blue sky, seeing zero storm clouds, knowing it was going to be a beautiful day.

However, the engine room wasn't a sky. It was a room; four walls and a ceiling, and a storm cloud came in the form of a distant, approaching shriek that echoed from the corridor behind.
Fear stricken, Colgate quivered, "Sounds like it will come to that."
"Hurry," prompted Twilight, and the three survivors galloped across the engine room floor and away into a passage that would take them higher.

Once on the second floor balcony, Applejack and Colgate held position, clambering up onto one of the durocrete beams.
"Get along now, Fluttershy," AJ called out. "We're ready n' waitin'."
Struggling to get on top of the chunky beam, Colgate fell on her haunches, and got up to try again. With a little help from AJ, she was able to do it.

Fluttershy had ran off into the next passage that would take her up to the third floor, her three legged running echoing up and down, sounding odd to her. As she rounded a corner, she was shocked to bump into a trio of hideous Flood that gargled upon her arrival.
"Aaaahh!"
She squinted and fired her shotgun into the carrier form. It detonated and sent sloppy green blood in every direction. The two combat forms that were with it were devastated in the explosion, and their bodies crumpled up against the walls, sliding to the floor.

"They weren't moving," Twilight sang; her excuse for not detecting them. "Sorry!"
Understanding, Fluttershy had only herself to blame for not taking caution. She battered through the little parasites, even using her broken leg, which ached like hell.

Out of the stinking passage and onto the top balcony, the little Pegasus had a great view of the floors below. Applejack and Colgate waved at her, distant.
"Go ahead, Fluttershy!"

Approaching a console, the young Mare scanned the telemetry, no clue how to use it.
Twilight directed, "Hit the big square button to the right."
Fluttershy did as told, and a sudden beep startled her. The deck shook beneath her hooves and an immense groaning noise reverberated all around the engine room.
Scared, she pondered, "What's going on?"
"That did it!" came the AI's exuberant answer. "AJ has a clear shot into the fusion reactor!"

Peering over the console, Fluttershy witnessed the beam of durocrete move away from her, receding into the far wall. Still mounting it, Applejack and Colgate paced steadily along the jumbo treadmill, approaching the end.
"Nice work, Fluttershy!"

Just then, a grating shriek resounded over the engine room. It seemed to come from every direction at once, and did a great job frightening the living daylights out of Fluttershy.
Through a sore throat, she yelled, "Now, Applejack! Throw the grenade!"

Further announcing their presence, the Flood howled and banged at the doors. They banged until the doors broke and fell, and the infestation came pouring in on the bottom floor. Their stink came with them, and they left filthy prints on the clean deck.

Sweating, the orange Earth Pony drew and primed a frag grenade, tossed it in the air, spun and bucked the rounded device.

The fusion reactor consisted of two rectangular letter boxes that lit up red from within. Applejack's grenade soared through the air, looking promising, but when it hit the metal strip with a clang and bounced into the gathering Flood, she became frustrated.
"Oh, dang nab it!"

Taking out a grenade of her own, Colgate opted, "Here, let me try."
The grenade the Unicorn levitated easily over to the fusion reactor was a captured plasma grenade, and it shone bright and blue as its fuse dwindled. With no effort at all, Colgate was able to magic the explosive into one of the two letter boxes and keep it there, where it went off with a loud BOOM and sent Fluttershy off her hooves.

"Ha! Nice one, Colgate," praised Applejack, giving the blue one a high-hoof. "I never thought of cheatin', hehe."
The blue Mare grinned. "Hey now."

After rising shakily to her hooves and regaining her composure, Fluttershy watched the durocrete beam come sliding back.

Even as the Flood went racing up the passage that would lead to the second floor, they continued to enter the engine room via the two main doors. They formed a sea of tentacles and body parts, and AJ and Colgate had to hop across to the third beam, mindful of what awaited them should they slip up.
"Come on, Fluttershy!" encouraged Twilight. "Next console's at the other end of the balcony!"

Making her way across the steel grating, Fluttershy was jumped by what used to be a Jackal that came pouncing out of a fiery channel. She screamed and blew its face off, then blew its arm off when it failed to die.
Close by, Applejack checked, "You ok there, sugar cube?!"
"Um, yes?!" she responded, unsure.

Moving on, and wondering how that fire even started, she limped up to the next console and used her nose to tap the exact same button as before. The same old beep and shuddering of the deck marked the beam's journey back into the far wall, exposing the fusion reactor somewhere beneath her.

The two Mares on the moving slab were better prepared this time, and could probably just place a grenade in the reactor with their hooves, but Colgate still decided to use her telekinesis to plant a frag in there.

Remembering last time, Fluttershy made an effort to get clear, and accidently squished an infection form she didn't even know was there. More parasites came slithering up, and she expended a couple of shells on them, pocking the metal deck.

Doing more damage to the Autumn, Colgate's grenade laid waste to the second fusion reactor, and random explosions started to rock the whole ship, the engines becoming dangerously unstable.
"The engines are startin' to decay!" Applejack hollered over the havoc.
"Dearie me! Should I get my toothbrush?!" panicked Colgate.
"Not that type o' decay!"
"Two to go, girls!" Twilight broadcasted. "Keep it up, you're doing great!"

As Applejack's and Colgate's beam slid back into position, the second beam in the middle began to pull away, exposing a vent that deposited a heck of a lot of steam. Through that steam, a blue armoured Elite hurtled right at them, flailing his arms. As Colgate screamed, Applejack blasted the abomination in the gut, and the whole creature was ripped in half. As it plummeted to the mayhem below, new tentacles could be seen bursting from under its severed torso, and it continued to wail piercingly.

A crash indicated the door to the second floor being destroyed, and the Flood pushed eagerly past each other, hungry for their pray.
To Colgate, Applejack demanded, "Get on up!" as the fusion reactor sealed up.
She gave the Unicorn a boost onto the third floor balcony where she joined Fluttershy. Expertly, she pounced up after to regroup with her team, not needing help from anypony. It was difficult to keep balance when the whole ship was quaking.

Catching them off guard, a familiar voice warbled around the chamber. "Oh no you don't!"
At that moment, an orange laser hissed through the air, straight as an arrow, and burned a line along the deck, up Colgate's foreleg and onto her face.
"Aaaaahhh!" she screeched, skin bubbling.
Fluttershy cried out, "Colgate!" and lunged for her as she toppled off the balcony and disappeared into the swarming Flood.
Dramatically, Applejack wailed, "Nooo!"

The voice that had spoken came from 343 Guilty Spark himself, and the little round ball came floating in with a platoon of Sentinels.
"Destroy my installation, will you?!"
Until now, the Sentinels had been nothing more than an annoyance. A prod in the side. A bunch of flies that needed swatting. But now they'd actually killed a Pony, and that changed things. These pesky little mechanisms were a true threat.

Urgently, Twilight shouted, "Take shelter!"
Shelter. When dealing with Flood and Covenant, all they needed was cover, but when you had flying enemies, cover, or shelter, was a lot more difficult to find. The only safe place Fluttershy could think of was the burning channel that connected this side of the engine room to the other, where an infected Jackal had emerged from not long ago.

She ran frantically on her three good legs into the heat of the corridor, Applejack behind her, and squealed as she ran straight into another Pony. Patches of green coat were still visible behind the hideous fungus, and tendrils burst from the ex-mare's chest. It let out an agonising whinny, but was cut off by Applejack and her trusty shotgun.

Both Ponies panted and reloaded their weapons.
"I... I can't believe it," wheezed AJ, using a hoof to shade her face from the flames. "That was my last soldier... I lost em all... I failed."
"Oh, come on now, Applejack," comforted Fluttershy. "You-"
"-What kind of a Sergeant am I?" She was really sad, and a tear rolled down her freckled cheek.

Looking at Fluttershy, she noted her broken foreleg and black eye. The sweet little veteran looked like she'd seen some stuff. Putting on a brave smile, she used that foreleg to wipe AJ's tear away, then winced with the twinge, then flinched at the sound of a groaning mutant, chest heaving. Afraid, Fluttershy's brave act didn't last very long, but it was a wake up call none the less.

"Well I'm not gonna let you down." She gritted her teeth with determination.
A close explosion made Fluttershy jump out of her skin. "Gah! ... And I... won't let you down!"
At least I'll try.

"Aha-ahem!" the AI cleared her non-existent throat quite forcefully.
Sheepishly, Fluttershy muttered, "Oh, come on, Applejack!"
Applejack adjusted her cowboy hat. "Guess it's just you n' me."

The duo ran out onto the third floor balcony on the other side of the central wall, the next row of durocrete beams stretching out before them.

The Flood continued to bellow, and the Sentinels proceeded to laser them down. However, the Flood rebelled, and they were able to knock a couple of machines out of the air.

Getting to work on the other side of the engine room felt like a fresh start. Most of the pandemonium was taking place behind them.

As a team, Fluttershy and Applejack were able to repeat the same procedure on the third fusion reactor, and just as AJ rode the motioning slab back to the balcony, a ravaged Elite dropped down from above and thrashed its lumpy, tentacle equipped arm. With a quick jump to the middle shaft, the farm Pony evaded the lethal blow.
"Careful, Applejack!" yelled Fluttershy over the hullabaloo and increasingly destabilising engine.

When the Elite that was no longer an Elite came leaping after AJ, the orange Mare bucked it, sending it down into the repulsive mass.
"Well done! Keep going!"

Sweating in the rising heat, Applejack jumped on over to the final reactor, using the beams as stepping stones, a grenade at the ready. One of Spark's Sentinels came baring down on her, and Fluttershy toiled madly to swap her shotgun for her longer ranged pistol.

As soon as the diamond encrusted side-arm was fitted, she fired directly up into the miniature robot's hull, and watched as it burst into blue flames and came crashing down right beside Applejack. The Earth Pony hadn't even realised it was there, and she looked puzzlingly at Fluttershy. Cowardly but trying to be brave, Fluttershy gave her a wink, then spun to tackle some infection forms.

Ridding the deck of parasites, she put the shotgun back on her armour's mechanical arm and staggered over to the final console, grunting with every step. She hit the button, and the last column sailed away with a beep and shudder, Applejack riding it. After spitting a frag into the letter boxes, AJ backed up and waited for the detonation.

BOOM! It went off. BOOM! Something else went off. And something else. And something else! Everything was exploding around the sole Ponies.
"Yes! We did it!" celebrated Twilight. Noting exactly what was going on, her mood flipped over. "I mean; uh oh! We did it!"
Terrified by all the explosions that constantly took place around the entire Cruiser, Fluttershy warbled, "Um, Twilight?! What do we do now?!"
"We get to external access junction 4C where Rainbow will pick us up!" the AI shouted, voice drowned out by the ringing in the yellow Mare's ear.

Applejack hopped up onto the balcony as the middle beam pulled away, allowing the engine to vent steam, which turned out to be roaring fire and ugly black smoke. The Mares coughed and spluttered, and AJ took a break to blast a stray combat form into oblivion.

"Follow my directions!" Twilight grated loudly. "And be fast!"
Just as they turned to run, 343 Guilty Spark descended behind them. "You... how dare you!"
Fluttershy and Applejack hesitated.
"How could you just blow it all up?! My home! The legacy of my makers!" Were Spark sentient, he'd be tearing up, and Fluttershy felt guilty.
Guess that's why he's called Guilty Spark.
They really were destroying his home. She wouldn't like it if someone destroyed her home. She certainly didn't like it when the Covenant destroyed Reach.

Explosions and shrieks snapped her out of it, and she galloped uneasily through the burning channel, that was now full of even more fire, and even an infected Elite that came to retrieve a buckshot.

Sympathetically, Applejack paused to utter the words, "Sorry, sugar-sphere," to the sad monitor, then hurried to catch up with Fluttershy, leaving him alone in the burning, infested engine room.

Together, the Pegasus and the Earth Pony braved the wavering flames and came back out onto the third floor balcony in the first half of the chamber. A contaminated Pony came shrieking up from the right, still possessing a soldier saddle and MA5B. Fluttershy aimed the shotgun and blew the disgrace apart.

A second shotgun blast came courtesy of Applejack, who tore the head off of another contaminated equine.
"Which way?!" she demanded to know, debris raining down on her from a nearby explosion.
"Door on the left!" Twilight yelled. "Follow the corridor to the service elevator!"

Something roared from behind and came scrambling through the flames, dragging a long, fat tail behind. It suffered through two devastating shotgun shells before slumping to the deck in a pile of bloody organs, letting out a dying moan.
"Move, girls! Move!"

In a frantic rush, Fluttershy and Applejack ran to the door, the former tapping it open. On the other side, another door waited, no more than ten metres away. Time was consumed as the Ponies waited for it to scrape halfway open, when it became jammed, and they squeezed their way through, one at a time.

The corridor beyond was ablaze, and the orange fires were oh so hot. Once it had been traversed, the Mare's took the only available door on the right, and were forced to make their way through a series of tightly packed doors.

A terrifying uproar rolled up behind them, along with heavy footfalls and the clanging of doors being pushed down.
Huffing and puffing, Fluttershy inquired, "P... please tell me... the elevator's... waiting for us!"
"It's on its way down now!" Twilight answered.
"Oh, phew!"
"But we're not the ones riding it!"
Fluttershy gulped.

Applejack beat Fluttershy to the next ruined door.
"C'mon, Fluttershy!" she beckoned, attempting to pry the door open. "Lend me a hoof!"
All of a sudden, the door was wrapped in a fiery explosion, thanks to the ship's disintegrating engines. Applejack was wrapped in the explosion too, and the unlucky Mare screamed somewhere within the dust.
"Applejack!" shrieked Fluttershy, heart full of dread.
Coughing and spluttering came from behind the dust cloud, and as it faded, Applejack could be seen laying on her side, fresh red blood drenching her head and torso.

The Pegasus rushed over. "Oh my gosh! Applejack! Are you alright?!"
Before the injured Pony could respond, Twilight announced, "Here they come!"
True to the AIs words, the elevator descended into view in the shaft beyond the next chamber. It came to a halt with a piercing creak, and a whole Covenant spec-ops team was stationed on it.
Wide eyed, the pink maned Pony gasped, "You've got to be kidding me!"

Her first instinct was to seek cover, so she scanned around... There was no cover... Ok, plan B; fire everything! Knowing there was no turning back, she wailed and pranced up to the hard-core Covenant specialists, firing buckshot after buckshot into their faces, her shields absorbing way too much plasma and needles.

After successfully defeating three of the four Grunts and taking the shields off of one Elite, she dove and rolled to the side where a wall provided her with protection, shivering with shock.
There is cover after all. So long as the Covies stayed on the elevator, that is.

But of course, Covies had minds of their own, and as she waited for her shields to recharge, the second Elite, who's shields were full, came running out into the battered chamber, firing his plasma rifle as he bolted in Applejack's direction. Every single plasma bolt found its mark on Fluttershy, and her shields popped completely. The green metal plates of her armour started to take damage themselves, corroding in the immense heat.

"Take cover on the elevator!" squealed Twilight in panic.
The petite Mare screeched and skidded her way onto the elevator platform where the Elite couldn't hit her. However, the other Elite with drained shields and the last Grunt were there to keep her company, and they immediately opened fire.

Since she lacked a helmet, Fluttershy spun and turned her back to the alien soldiers, keeping her head hidden behind her own body. She could feel the plasma burning through the armour on her flank. She'd hate for any plasma to burn through and claim her cutie mark. After everything she'd been through on Halo, she couldn't even remember what her own cutie mark looked like anymore.

Despite facing the opposite direction, the robotic arm on her armour could flex a full one-eighty. Of course she couldn't see where she was aiming, but Twilight could.
"Fire!"
With her shotgun pointing squarely in the Covenant's faces, she pulled the trigger.

"Waa!" squeaked the black armoured Grunt as he collected all the ball bearings in his chest.
With the fierce spec-ops Grunts dead, all that was left were the two mighty Elites, and-

-A deafening, alien shriek, crossed with a neigh, resonated from the chamber, and the Elites turned their attention to whatever it was. They fired their plasma rifles at it, and it fired its own plasma rifle back. Vivid blue flashes flickered in the chamber before the elevator, and the unseen Elite cried out in pain. As for the other Elite that shared the elevator with Fluttershy; he ran out to help his buddy, his shields on the recharge.

Fluttershy should've waited for her own shields to recharge too, but Applejack was still out there, so she peeked out into the chamber and saw that... Oh goodness...

Making a stunning return, a certain pink coated Earth Pony Mare with blue eyes and a poufy pink mane and tail stood in the chamber with a beaming great smile and enthusiastic wave.
"P... Pinkie?" Fluttershy blinked.
She'd been hallucinating. That wasn't Pinkie. Not even close to Pinkie. Not Pinkie anymore.

Taking care of the Elites, "Pinkie" snarled and thrashed about. Her mane was in tangles, her coat was scruffy, her armour was fractured, and gruesome tendrils supplemented her misshapen body. She was one of Fluttershy's very best friends. She'd been sad to see her go, but now she was back, and that was actually worse.

To the rescue, Pinkie roared an alien roar and drove a blade of flesh into the throat of an Elite.
"No. Not Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy whimpered, tears on the way. "Why Pinkie Pie?"

The Elite that had been on the elevator crouched and took careful aim, firing his plasma rifle at the beast that was once the universe's happiest Pony, but Pinkie didn't have time to react to the plasma striking her body, so she flung a really long tentacle up and knocked the plasma rifle clean out of the Elite's hands.

Fluttershy looked through the fray at Applejack, and Applejack looked back. She would be clear of a grenade detonation, so since the chamber was full of hostiles, Fluttershy let one fly. It was a plasma grenade, and it landed softly on the deck by the two bad guys and one sick friend who was in desperate need of "help."

Upon noticing it, the Elite that wasn't being stabbed screamed something in his language. In an instant, he punched Pinkie away and grasped his friend by the collar with one alien claw, throwing him into the safety of the elevator... The elevator where Fluttershy was standing, and her shields had just regenerated.

The black armoured warrior was a real mess. He landed on his back at Fluttershy's hooves and looked at her, gagging, clutching his throat as purple blood squirted out of it. His face was concealed behind his sleek, black helmet.

Sorrowfully, Fluttershy pulled the trigger, and whatever expression he had was converted to mushy purple brains and fractured black helmet.

That last Elite took cover in the elevator not long after he'd flung his buddy to his fate, and he kept his back to the wall of the shaft, flinching as Fluttershy's grenade detonated and shook the platform. He looked at Fluttershy, looked into the chamber, made a surprised grunt and looked back at Fluttershy. He was the one who'd sprayed her with plasma, so to him, Fluttershy was a ghoul, back from the dead.

Another ghoul back from the dead was Pinkie, and the grossly malformed Mare leapt onto the elevator with an ear-splitting howl, rocking the platform. The tentacle that had replaced her left foreleg was ridiculously long, and it smacked Fluttershy about, trying to get a grip on her.

Pinkie wasn't leaving the Elite out either, oh no; Pinkie could multi-task, and while she continued to wriggle her four metre long tentacle around Fluttershy, she fired her plasma rifle at the biped warrior.

The spec-ops Elite was fast on his feet, and he sprinted around, dodging the plasma fire, firing his own rifle back at the cluster of tentacles and Pony parts.

Crying, Fluttershy pointed the shotgun at Pinkie. "I'm so sorry!"
Boom! She fired directly into her friend's side, making her bleed, but nothing more. Before she could fire again, ex-Pinkie got a hold of her shotgun and yanked it away. In perfect timing, the Elite yanked the plasma rifle off of ex-Pinkie, and the living nightmare simply put Fluttershy's shotgun in its place. Smart.

Without her shotgun, Fluttershy withdrew Rarity's pistol, pushing herself far back against the shaft to avoid Pinkie's python appendage.

The Elite noticed Pinkie's new weapon, and immediately dove out of the way, narrowly avoiding a deadly eight gauge shell. However, he had two plasma rifles now, and he fired both of them into the thing that was once Pinkie.

Rotten skin boiling, Pinkie dipped and extended her tendril, overstretching it until it bled, and scooped up Fluttershy in one quick motion. With the little Pony out of the equation, she then wrapped the same tentacle around the Elite, squeezing them together cosy and shaking them violently, banging them against the walls and floor until they dropped their firearms.

The noble Elite pressed his hands against Fluttershy's mane, and Fluttershy felt the alien impression on her head. He pushed himself up and out of the Flood's clutches where he eagerly ran for its shotgun and snatched it off.

He fired, BOOM, and blew a huge hole into Pinkie Pie's torso.

Dying, the distorted pink Mare lost power, and she let out a faint moan that sounded too much like good ol' healthy Pinkie. "WRAAGH-oohh-riegh-luttersh-AAGH!"
Traumatized, Fluttershy was shaking like a washing machine on spin cycle. Did... she just... talk?!

As her cherished friend flopped to the deck, the tentacle around her slackened, and she was able to pull herself free. She found herself staring down the barrel of her shotgun, the Elite at the other end. Despite facing her demise, she was grateful that he'd been the one to give Pinkie her treatment.

She flinched when the Elite pulled the trigger. Click. Empty. A chance.

Furious, the black armoured biped snapped the shotgun in half over his knee and drew his scaly fists. One v one. One spec-ops Elite vs Fluttershy. Who would win?

BOOM! A shotgun blast rang around the arena, and the Elite had his left leg shorn clean off. He screamed with pain and fell over, squeezing the area around his severed leg.

"Huh?!" grunted Fluttershy, confused.
She turned to see Applejack laying half on, half off the elevator, holding her shotgun out at the screaming alien. Mercilessly, she let a second shell fly, and made a mess of the Elite's chest. His purple gore splattered the elevator platform and shaft.

Hurrying to the orange one's aid, Fluttershy helped pull AJ onto the platform. "Oh, Applejack!"
"Get us outa here, Fluttershy," came AJ's stern tone with a seriousness that turned Fluttershy's blood cold.

Fluttershy was really worried about Applejack. She was in a terrible condition. But AJ's health would have to wait; the Filly of Autumn was literally tearing itself apart, and explosions bloomed all over the Halcyon class Cruiser.

Hopping up to the control panel, Fluttershy asked hectically, "Which floor, Twilight?!"
"Top floor! Top floor!"
She hit the necessary button, and the shaft sealed itself up, just in time as the chamber on the other side became completely destroyed in a massive explosion that rocked Fluttershy off her hooves.

She got back up, paced over to Applejack, retrieving her pistol on the way, and knelt beside her as the elevator began to climb, explosions throwing debris out on top of them.

"I can't believe it," breathed Twilight. "Pinkie Pie... she-"
"-Twilight... hail Rainbow Dash," interrupted the broken Applejack.
Mind elsewhere, Twilight responded, "I'll... I'll get on it."

With Pinkie's revolting corpse joining them on the elevator, Fluttershy and Applejack gazed at her in despair. Up the exploding shaft, the elevator climbed, and climbed, and climbed, the two Ponies cuddling each other.

"Rainbow Dash, this is Twilight, come in!" Twilight hollered over the radio.
Static answered her, but no voice.
"Rainbow Dash, this is Twilight, come in! ... ... Rainbow Dash, come in! ... ... Rainbow Dash!"