Chapter 18: Warning: Hitchhikers May Be Escaping Convicts
>Celestia 1616 hours
The Bridge of the Red Horse was silent as the crew went about their duties. A faint murmuring from the staff and the humming of machinery provided a soft ambience.
Obliterating the peace, Discord’s voice echoed from the many speakers. “Good news, Celestia! Major Trixie is safely on board the Red Horse, and since you insist, Spitfire and her team have locked her away in solitary, just for you!” His voice bounced around the Bridge, the crew hard at work, ignoring him.
“Oh, and the good news keeps on coming! A Shiva missile has been armed and is ready to fire at the Pony Lisa, on demand. I suppose the only bad news there is to report is that your sister is doomed to a demise that doesn’t involve being reincarnated as a flesh-eating monster… although that is really a good thing. You should be grateful, Celestia. Oh, and I almost forgot, there’s a humongous Griffin capitol ship bearing down on us, haha! But I wouldn’t worry about that-” He materialized before an empty space where Princess Celestia should have been standing. “We’ll be long gone before… it… arrives?”
Realising he had been talking to nopony all this time, he looked around the Bridge in confusion.
“Celestia?” He called.
No answer.
“Celestia?”
“Hang in there my sister,” Celestia prayed to herself behind the controls of a Pelican drop ship. “I will not let you down this time.”
With practiced ease, she manoeuvred the drop ship through the constantly moving debris field, avoiding all the flotsam and jetsam that was once a majestic, alien ring world. Up ahead, the Pony Lisa was nowhere in sight; too much debris. Neither was the Griffin capitol ship, which she presumed was somewhere above.
Peeking at the rear view monitor to her right; the Red Horse vanished behind multiple portions of the Halo super-structure.
I wonder how Discord is going to react, she contemplated.
And speak of the devil:
“Celestia! What in the world do you think you are doing!?” The AI's voice buzzed angrily over the radio.
Into the microphone on the headset she wore, she told, “I’m rescuing my sister, and you cannot stop me.”
The Draconequus made those groaning noises he made when he was frustrated, which was a rarity.
“Fine, just make it quick!” He gave in, not quite. “If you are not back before that Griffin ship is in position, I’m firing the Shiva and bailing.”
“That is a risk I am willing to take.”
“Oooo, how noble," he reacted sarcastically.
Discord then notified, "Also, take heed; I’ve detected a spike of energy coming from within the Pony Lisa. It seems the slip space engine has been ruptured, and could blow completely at any time.”
The bad news just kept coming. Nether the less, Celestia knifed the Pelican between a tree and a mysterious, alien structure that came with a chunk of Halo's debris, and rocketed towards the Pony Lisa's co-ordinates.
“Then I have no time to lose.”
“Of course. Farewell Celestia. ‘Twas nice knowing you.” He broke the connection.
Good riddens.
Her plan was to scoop up Luna’s, and of course Private Derpy's escape pods once they had been ejected, then blast back to the Red Horse if Discord could get the better of his impatience, and she’d order the AI to make a jump for home. For Equestria. Still a warzone, but still home.
She had total faith in her sister. Luna could take on this Flood no problem, right?
The image of Luna infected that Discord had subjected her to slid through her mind.
What if she couldn’t fight the Flood? And even if she could, what about PONI? Discord had mentioned that he’d persuaded a Pony to clean up any “messes” at the end of the op, should there be any messes, which there definitely was. Which Pony? Was he or she still alive? What did he mean by “messes?” Victory against the greatest threat to Ponies since the Griffins, only to be defeated by one of their own. Not on her watch.
>Rarity 1616 hours
After prudently placing the grenades and running like mad, Rarity thought she heard Celestia say; “Good luck.”
The words lingered around her ears. She’d always admired Celestia. Always stuck up for her when the other Ponies complained about her in the mess hall. And now, all she had to show for it was; “Good luck. So long. Nice knowin’ ya.” She felt sick to her stomach. Violated even.
This was it. This was the end to the nightmare. The grande finale. The ship was about to blow up, the Flood where on their tails, and they had an escape plan. This was where the mission was won or lost. The final run.
Spike clenched his claws around Big Mac’s muscly neck as he charged by Rarity’s side like a run-away locomotive. Gilda flew above them, not leaving them like she could have easily done.
“If we can… just make it to the pods… we’ll be ok!” She panted over their noisy progress.
The blood-curdling sound of a million Flood forms rolled up from behind them. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say they had the entirety of the infestation hot on their hooves.
Emergency red lighting strobed on and off, and an alarm wailed as the whole ship shook and rattled; the engines tearing themselves apart.
She had no map, no schematic, no Twilight Sparkle, and intersections went flashing by.
“Which way is it?!” The Griffin demanded, firing a burst from Fluttershy’s rifle at something behind them.
“I don’t know! I’m just looking for signs!” Rarity shouted back.
The Griffin grumbled, "You've gotta be kiddin' me."
“Spike… If you need to defend yourself… Just use… your flame breath,” she ordered the Dragon over the bellow of the Flood.
Spike just held onto his Stallion for dear life as they shot along. “Waa! Er… yes, my lady,” trying to sound magnanimous, to no avail.
They hastily approached a right pointing green arrow on the ground with the words “Pod Bay” stencilled onto it in white, and a severed Griffin's hind leg left unattended in a puddle of blood just next to it.
"Look! There's a sign!” Exclaimed Spike, aiming a finger at the print.
Out of breath, Rarity panted, "Oh...! So there is...! This way...! Well done Spikey... Wikey."
Celestia saying “Good luck.” Her brain was cursed with the thought.
Was there really nothing she could do to save them? Commander Princess Celestia, Princess of the sun, co-ruler of the Pony race; and she can’t even keep her own subjects alive. Not even her own sister, Luna.
At least Luna, the other co-ruler of Ponies and Princess of the night, was there for them. The Sarge would have a plan. The Sarge always had a plan. But the increasing volume and ire of the tentacle mob behind them might just foil those plans. The Flood had certainly foiled a lot on this mission.
Back to Celestia; she had always had grace and elegance, more so than Luna, a tad bit less than her niece and previous AI of the Red Horse; Cadence. She would always join them on leave, usually on the side-lines, laughing as Luna and her subjects frolicked around on the beach, splashing the surf of the sea, stuffing their faces with ice cream.
Ah, the ice cream, oh how she couldn’t wait to unite with Luna and share a tub. After they’d escaped this hell hole of course. And after they had got cleaned up; the Griffin blood she had been rewarded with in the hanger had turned hard and was cracking like the plate tectonics of a planet, leaving stains on her white coat, along with sewage from the recycling plant, and her tail which was still tipped with sick.
Unfortunately, when leave came, not all her friends would be there to play and eat ice cream with this time.
Playing on the beach and eating ice cream. Does that even exist anymore?
>Luna 1620 hours
After their massacre of the Flood waiting outside the Bridge for them, Luna only had one grenade left. Derpy had none at all.
Lyra had crumpled her head against the door so hard, and so many times, it had been reduced to, well... nothing.
The headless Lyra and the many Ponies and Griffins that were on her side had blown up into bloody ribbons, and still half of them got back up. Hopping, crawling, or simply running on regenerated appendages at them, failing as gunfire converted them into Swiss cheese, and the blast from Derpy’s last grenade threw them up against the walls and ceiling.
Now, as a variety of Flood forms came between them and their destination, Luna reluctantly used her last grenade, then reloaded her weapon as Derpy provided covering fire.
“Do not let them close, Derpy! Or thou shall turn into one!”
Derpy didn’t respond, just gritted her teeth and took to her wings to avoid the biological blade of what was once a Pony. The Pegasus Mare snarled and bucked it into the ground.
There was a mighty bang as Luna’s last grenade exploded, sending mutilated corpses in many directions.
One of the abominations slithered up from behind Derpy. A tentacle, morphed with a heart two thirds of the way up, shot out of it's mouth and wrapped tightly around Derpy’s rear hoof.
“Aarrgg! Luna! Help me!” The Mare cried in fear; the thing dragging her to the ground.
Even as more living dead came howling out of the vents in a frantic rage, Luna flew up on her wings and nose-dived the horrid ex-pony off of her precious star.
A clump of flesh impaled on her horn. Magic soon fixed that, as well as sending out a pulse wave that knocked all combat forms within the vicinity off their feet.
“Get up Derpy! We are almost there!” She encouraged.
Taking flight once more, the unlikely duo raced down the corridor, battering the rising Flood on their way. Turning right; Luna and Derpy raced down a lengthy stretch of clear, open corridor and approached an elevator.
Luna's magic pried the doors apart like a crowbar. Checking to see if the coast was clear; she poked her head through the doors and peered down the empty elevator shaft that plunged into green mist.
"It looks clear for-"
-Crack! The elevator came scraping down from above and struck Luna in the skull. She felt her head being squeezed as it got caught between the shaft and the tonne of metal. Her horn twanged like a ruler over the edge of a table once the elevator had passed. The impact was so heavy, it caused her vision to black out, and her magic to fade; the elevator doors slamming shut. Luckily, Derpy was there to pull her away from the trap.
Crash! The elevator made it to the bottom floor.
"Oh my gosh!" Derpy shrieked, assisting her. "Princess! Are you ok?!"
Rolling on the deck; Luna screamed in agony, hooves holding her bloody head. "Aaaaaarrg-ngahaaaa! Oww! Nnnnnguh!"
Panicking, Derpy pleaded, "Princess! No! Don't go! Please!"
Luna gritted her teeth and winced with the trobbing pain in her head. "Nnnng...! I am not going... anywhere, Derpy."
Unsure if she had suffered brain damage from having a whole elevator clip her head, Luna tossed her crowbar spell at the doors, only to discover her magic wasn't working. She tried it again and again, praying that her magic would return, but it just wouldn't work.
To heck with it.
"Are you gonna be ok, Princess?" Worried the last star as Luna reversed back the way they came.
Spindly shadows crept around the end of the corridor.
"Princess, where are you going? We just came that way, didn't we?"
With a distance between herself and the elevator doors, Luna galloped at the maximum speed she could conger up, leaped, and shoulder barged through the steel doors, Flood style.
Derpy exclaimed, "Holy muffin!"
Hovering in the shaft, Luna looked up to make sure no more elevators would rain down on top of her, then back to Derpy and a background consisting of Flood.
"Quickly, Derpy! Down here!" She ordered, shooting down the shaft, blood streaming off her head.
Derpy zipped away after her.
>Rarity 1620 hours
A dull boom that indicated a grenade found her ears over the rumblings of a disintegrating engine and the disharmony of the Flood hounding after them.
“That must be the Princess!” She gasped, both in excitement and out of breath. “Come on!”
A misshapen form possessing a beak and Lion parts rolled out before them from a junction. Rarity cut it off at the knees with her BR85 while Big Mac punctured it’s chest many times, and a final club from Gilda’s bat took its head clean off.
Rarity couldn’t remember the last time she’d ever run so fast, ever been so zealous to get away.
An open hatch set flush into the deck, and a Pony in prison clothes came scrambling up it, head split vertically and sporting teeth. A trio of weapons grinded the atrocity into bloody scraps, only enraging it. Pressed for time, the herd stampeded past the flailing monster, Big Mac stomping on it and Spike torching it afterwards. It wailed and jarred back down the hole in the floor.
Rounding a right turning corner, something huge crashed through the ceiling and dented the metal deck. Rarity, Big Mac and Spike bumped into the mutant as Gilda soared over it's head. Correction: She soared over it's heads. A Pony and a Griffin, sharing the same, malformed body; their heads fused together along with the rest of their bodies, and their two mouths joined as one. The freaky couple almost seemed to strain, "Kill us," as the warped monster they had become shrieked and lunged for them, a second mouth full of tendrils spanning both of their chests.
Spike screamed with terror.
"No!" Wailed Rarity as she reversed and fired at the behemoth with Big Mac, the pursuing Flood getting closer with every shot.
Rarity witnessed Gilda return from behind the combat form, and clobber it with her cricket bat as it pivoted to face her.
With it's back turned, Big Mac seized the opportunity to push down on the rear of the Flood form and stomp it down, flattening it until it was nothing but a door mat; a door mat that was still alive and wriggling.
The two Ponies jumped over the cur to join Gilda, Spike setting it ablaze with his green flames, and the four of them double-timed it through the red lights of hell.
Scrambling after them, the burning ex-pony/griffin was accompanied by the arrival of hundreds of furious Flood, who trampled over their wounded freak of a friend and - Boom! The Pony Lisa's engine decay very kindly decided to set off an explosion in the Flood's wake; killing some, blocking the rest.
Well its about time something broke our way, Rarity thought, tempted ease down their pace so she could catch her breath.
That would be a silly thing to do though; the Flood were already pushing against the debris that blocked them, and no doubt there would be even more Flood on the ship already embarking on separate routes.
"Sorry I left you guys for a sec," Gilda apologised as she flew by Rarity and the other two. "I didn't realise y'all were in trouble 'til I was about to turn this corner right here."
Rounding said corner to the left, Rarity and Big Mac skidded with their consistent speed.
"No worries, Gilda... Thank you - aha-aha!" Rarity gagged.
"Your welcome, Pony."
“I am reloading my gun!” A familiar voice fizzed in through her radio.
To the mic that protruded from her saddle bag, Rarity yelled disbelievingly, “Derpy...?! Was that you!?”
“Rarity!?” Luna’s voice wheezed.
“Princess...! Oh... you would not believe... how good it feels to... hear your voice!” The joy in her heart was uncontainable, even when she was running from the life absorbing Flood.
“Likewise, fair Rarity," returned the Princess. "Who is with you?”
“Big Mac.” She hesitated, eying the Griffin as she booted an infection form down the corridor, scoring a goal in the doorway ahead. “… And some survivors.”
How am I going to explain Gilda to her? She isn’t going to like this. Not one bit.
The Princess enquired, “You know where thou art heading?"
With her lungs working over time, Rarity answered, "Yeah... Escape pods on the lower deck... right?"
"Right. Keep moving, fair Rarity. That ice cream is not going to eateth itself.”
That was certainly reassuring.
“Oh of course Princess...! Heehee!”
Supreme happiness filled her motive, making her run even faster. She had never been so relieved to report for duty. They were going to make it! They were going to get off this ship. If she could just persuade the Princess to spare the Griffin.
Clang! An air vent on the right broke open, and something with swords for hooves and a missing lower jaw scraped its way out, slashing Rarity’s side with a spray of blood. Her blood. She neighed with excruciating pain and went hurtling into the opposite wall. Shock and fear consumed her as what appeared to be Thunderlane roared at her, blowing hot, stinking breath into her face, and came slashing her way.
Thunderlane. How could you do that to me?
As Gilda hosed it with bullets, Big Mac shunted into the living cluster of knives and tentacles, stomping it out, and Spike baked the once dashing Stallion with his fire.
Sinisterly, the only Pony she had left, who she often thought of as a friend; the Stallion who always had her back and always helped her when she was in need, turned to point his rifle at her.
“B… Big… Macintosh?” She huffed weakly in shock. “Y-You wouldn’t… would you?”
Twilight, Fluttershy… You might.
Her stomach lurched as something tucked her under its belly, and the breeze of its vast wings cooled down her ever rising temperature.
Gilda scooped her up, flew over Big Mac and Spike, and kept going.
>Luna 1620 hours
Whilst waiting for Rarity and her gang; Luna had attempted to build a force field in the entrance to the pod bay, but no matter how hard she tried; she just couldn't get her magic to work. It made her frustrated beyond the pale.
Her head had been dripping with blood after the whole elevator incident. A fair bit of scrubbing with multiple face clothes had removed a alarmingly large amount of blood from Luna's face and head. And the pain. The pain. Luna was skilled at ignoring pain, and experienced, but she just couldn't ignore her pounding head. It felt like her brain was trying to break free of her skull.
Anywho; she was about to reunite with Rarity. And Big Mac. And that made her so delighted, she was literally jumping around in circles.
“Rarity lives! Rarity lives! Rarity lives!” Luna could barely contain her excitement.
Neither could Derpy who jumped around in circles with her inside the life pod bay.
“Wait,” Luna halted, Derpy slamming into the back of her. “Two pods… Two of us… Some of them…”
“I suppose we’ll have to split the pods in half, like what we did with the muffin,” suggested Derpy.
“Actually, some of us may have to share. It’ll be a tremendous squeeze; these pods are only built for one.”
Looking the two open pods up and down, the contours of her face expressed her concern. She was an Alicorn. A large Alicorn. It would be a squeeze for her even without a buddy. And Rarity said she had Big Mac with her; a hulking great Stallion, plus some survivors they’d picked up.
What to do, what to do.
“Priiinceeess…” Derpy strained, rifle pointing out of the air-lock and down the corridor beyond.
Multiple forms came surging around the corner.
“Griffin!” Alarmed Derpy, ready to pull the trigger with Celestia’s permanent magic.
“Hold your fire!” Luna barked at her, witnessing the Griffin flying towards them:
Assault Rifle in one talon, cricket bat in the other, and Rarity cradled beneath. Not even the strangest thing she’d seen all day.
“Derpy. Do not take your mind off thy trigger,” she spoke out the side of her mouth, bringing her DMR up with Derpy’s MA5D.
The thing that stopped her from mincing the Griffin was Rarity, who cried out to her, holding out a hoof, pleading her not to do what she had been trained to do.
“Princess…! Don’t shoot…! Gilda’s good… really… just please… don’t shoot!”
Against the Griffin, and with Big Mac and a rider coming into view, the Unicorn looked tiny. Red, green and brown stains shrouded her coat, mane and tail. Her BR85 was gone, but she still wore a soldier saddle.
Hastily, the Griffin screeched to a mid-air halt with a, “Whoa!”
Rarity continued to babble, “Her name is Gilda…! She’s friendly… ish… And is no threat to you…! Don’t shoot!”
Gilda, huh?
“If thou say so, fair Rarity. Come hither!”
She really didn’t trust this Griffin, but Rarity trusted it enough to hand it an MA5D Assault Rifle, and it hadn’t killed her. Judging from the elongated, fresh gash in Rarity’s side, it had saved her from what must have been one of those ugly things. Or tried to save her, at least. Luna had been so glad to regain two of her stars, but it looked like one of them was going to leave her for definite pretty soon. What about that ice cream? What about all that time she had dreamed spending time with her and the many Ponies who weren’t present, in the future?
Hopping down from Big Mac’s back; a teeny purple Dragon stared at her like butter wouldn’t melt, then rushed over to Rarity and the hovering Griffin.
“Oh my gosh! Rarity! Are you ok?!” He asked desperately.
Hold on… a Dragon?! A Griffin and a Dragon? What is a Dragon doing on this ship?
The Dragon had a round head with a mohican of green spines, and had the voice of a young Colt; not the threatening monster she remembered from way back.
Two escape pods, some of them. Who was it to be? Her and Derpy? A dying friend and a ghost of a Stallion? Some random little Dragon and her worst enemy by default?
Increasing, the stomach-churning pandemonium of the Flood billowed into the pod bay like the foul stench that ruled the ship, along with the dull explosions of engine decay. What had Rarity been doing?
The Griffin hovered in the air, looking around impatiently, holding Rarity in one cricket bat wielding arm like a rag doll.
“What, pray tell, is this worthless cur doing here, Rarity? Thou said survivors.”
“Hey! Who do ya think ya callin’ cur? Cur!” The Griffin piped up, offended.
Big Mac; “She didn’t mean it.”
Everypony, Griffin and Dragon flicked their heads at the Stallion who never spoke. Not enough time for that jumpsuit wearing Dragon however, as Big Mac pressed the muzzle of his rifle against its head, and fired a sustained burst.
“Spikey Wikey!” Rarity cried weakly in anguish.
Gilda the Griffin stared puzzlingly at the red farm Pony and said, “What the heck, dude?! Why’d ya do that?!”
Shifting her aim from the Griffin to her star, back to the Griffin, back to her star, Luna had no idea what to do, and went to work saving the other star that had stood by her throughout this arduous journey.
“Derpy, get in a pod. Flee, and get back to thy Red Horse. Save yourself.”
Protesting, Derpy stuttered, “B-but… w-what about you?”
“I can take care of myself, fair Derpy. Now go.”
“But-”
“GO!”
Glaring down her DMR at Big Mac, who alternated between the four targets, she heard the sounds of Derpy prepping an escape pod. Big Mac’s rifle pointed at the true star behind her.
“Don’t even think about it, Big Macintosh.”
He switched to the Griffin, who continued to hover and hold the poor, whimpering Rarity, pointing its own rifle at his head.
A hiss, then a clack as Derpy’s escape pod armed and jettisoned itself free of the ship. One star saved.
Victory?
>Rarity 1623 hours
Just audible over the fast approaching Flood, wailing alarm, and the Pony Lisa tearing itself apart, was the hypnotic voice of Discord seething out of a nearby speaker.
“Shiva missile is armed, will fire when convenient. The Pony Lisa’s slip space engine has been tampered with, and shall detonate… oh I don’t know, soon. A Griffin capitol ship is moving in on us, we will be leaving shortly... Bravo to anypony listening who managed to survive up to now. Bravo.” There was a pause as Discord breathed a sigh of regret, something Rarity never thought she'd hear from the AI. "... It was never meant to end this way," he stated sombrely. "... I am so sorry, Luna."
Oh... Celestia does care... Haha... How about that.
If there was any voice fitted to sealing your fate, it was Discord’s, and Rarity could feel the life evacuating her body. Her blood dripped down to form a puddle on the deck. Gilda’s feathery embrace felt like a warm, comfy bed that Rarity just wanted to fall asleep in.
Staring at her Stallion partner who blurred in and out of focus, who held a gun at her and the Griffin, she picked up the Princess's voice saying, “You’re with PONI… Aren’t you, Big Mac?”
Closing his eyes briefly and tilting his head up, Big Mac replied, “Eeyup.”
“PONI?” Rarity questioned, mind boggled.
The Princess interviewed, “Pray tell; what purpose do thou serve with PONI, Big Macintosh?”
“It’s nothin’ personal. There were never meant to be any survivors,” the Earth Pony spoke in his calm, seldom voice.
There was a crash as more Flood forms joined the hunting mob; they could come shrieking around the corner at any moment.
“Did Discord put thou up to this?” -Luna again.
A long suggestive pause, and then, “Nope.”
The Princess sighed as Big Mac glowered into Rarity’s eyes.
“Rarity, get down. You can walk,” he directed at her.
She doubted she could even stand, let alone walk, and she always thought Big Mac knew that kind of stuff. Now, she wasn’t entirely sure she even knew him anymore.
Staring daggers at the Griffin, he demanded, “Gilda, put her down.”
“Ugh, fine!” Gilda grunted, lowering her to the ground.
Rarity hunkered down, front hooves feeling like jelly, felt like she was going to be sick, noting the sick that tipped her tail that she had wiped off of Big Mac prior to their trip through recycling.
And this is the thanks I get.
Footfalls came strong and a-plenty from the Flood hurricane somewhere beyond the air-lock.
Closer...
Closer...
“Gilda can have my ice cream,” Rarity whispered.
Using all the energy she had left, Rarity reared up and wrapped her hooves around the huge Stallion, just as the ocean of Flood came crashing around the corner. Squeezing her eyes shut, she staggered back toward the army of twisted and warped bodies, pulling Big Mac with her, his rifle firing in all directions. Using her rear hoof, she tripped Big Mac over, and they rolled ever closer to their howling fate.
The Flood washed over the two of them. Engulfed them. Roaring and gibbering whilst Luna and Gilda set their guns blazing upon the Flood. Upon them. It didn’t really matter. A bullet lodged itself nice and cosy in her side. Luna would never mean to hurt her, and neither would Gilda, right?
Big Mac screamed with pain. Screamed with terror.
“Don’t let them take meee!” He bawled.
She had never seen Big Mac scared before, and she had hoped never to see him scared in her life. Still, it felt kinda good to be scary; must be what it feels like to be Princess Luna.
It felt sad to kiss her leave good bye. All the fun and laughter she would’ve shared with Luna and Derpy and possibly Gilda. All the reminiscing. All the ice cream. All down the drain.
As Flood forms continued to stab and scratch and bite, Rarity looked back at Luna and Gilda, who stood, framed by the doorway, shooting into the horde that she would soon be a part of. They were safe.
Relief washed through her, and she closed her eyes.
>Luna 1624 hours
Luna was getting really tired now, but her heart was racing like a trip-hammer as she fired bullet after bullet into the plague of claws and tentacles.
Gilda shrieked like the Eagle she partly was and fired her MA5D on full automatic, point blank into the Flood.
Rarity was in there somewhere, and Luna reviled the idea that some of their bullets were hitting her, then thought the better of it; hopefully she won’t come back.
The same could be said for Big Mac, but after his betrayal and the murder of an innocent Dragon, she didn’t really care much for him anymore.
You think you know somepony. Discord must hath had something to do with this, surely. It has him written all over it, she thought.
She also thought Zebra Zecora was PONI's operative. Still, there could have been two operatives; one that her sister wouldn't tell her about. Didn't matter now though.
Hungry, Flood forms climbed over their fallen and barged past each other, gurgling and screeching. Eventually, there was a click as the Griffin ran out of ammo, and she hurled her rifle hard enough to knock an infected Pony off its hooves. The Griffin then raised its cricket bat.
Luna inserted her last magazine into her DMR and opened fire methodically.
“Rarity! Big Mac!” She cried out over the hullabaloo of the Flood and Bang! Bang! Bang! Of her DMR.
Pointless. Stupid. All her stars were gone. She could only hope that Derpy would make it back to the Red Horse safely, and in good time.
Across the ceiling came the nasty little blighters, dead set on infecting them and transforming them into the hideousness that scrambled into their bullets. One by one, she shot them in the air as they launched themselves at Gilda; their squid-like bodies dissipating into puffs of green spores.
Luna screamed as one landed on her head, but it was knocked off immediately by Gilda’s bat.
Retreating deeper into the room, Luna slapped the controls with a hoof, slamming the doors shut on an infected Griffin. Beating away at her fellow Griffin, Gilda splintered her cricket bat, grunting furiously with every hit. With the poorly Griffin reduced to a pulp and sliding back into the gathering crowd, the door could finally close.
Safe?
No: A cluster of the head-sized parasites had made it inside. The snot-bags zoomed around the floor, walls and ceiling, evading some of Luna’s precision shots. One got close, so she jumped, spun a full three sixty, bucking the parasite in the process, and landed facing where she was originally facing; a move that came from Rarity herself, surprisingly enough.
Pushing Luna aside; Gilda went all epic on the disgraces, batting two into oblivion with a single blow, catching one with a back lash, jabbing the bat forward into one that leaped for her. She punched the last one so hard against the wall that the panel dented, her Eagle fist dripping with sickly green paste. Reeling her beak, she waved the spores away from her face. Safe.
As the two titans among species stared at each other, the whole room shook under the force of the Pony Lisa crumbling away, and the evilest creatures in the galaxy pounding at the door. It wouldn’t hold for long.
Buzzing over a speaker once more, Discord said, “Farewell my darling little Luna. I will miss you so.”
Gilda’s shoulders lowered. The air-lock door dented inwards with a super loud bang, eliciting a flinch from Luna and the Griffin.
The corpse of the Dragon that Rarity had called "Spikey Wikey" lay face down on the deck. A dark red tunnel going through the side of his head leaked blood onto his orange jumpsuit and onto the floor.
The Flood went mental all over the doors, pounding a gap into the middle of them. A hulking mass of tentacles that resembled a Griffin attempted to squeeze through the miniature opening, but became wedged half way. A thin, wire-like appendage burst from it's eye socket, tipped with what could only be described as a poorly venus flytrap, which proceeded to flail and snap around wildly.
Stood at a fair distance from their howling fate, the two survivors turned their heads away from the Flood, even as the infected Griffin slowly scraped it's way through, and more gaps appeared in the flimsy doors for the little parasites to come slithering in.
Luna stared into the Griffin’s eyes, and the Griffin stared back. They understood how it was all going to end.
'Tis a big bad universe, and Griffins are not thy worst of it.
As the two mortal enemies ignored the crashing and roaring of the Flood breaking their way through the door, Luna yanked her soldier saddle off with her teeth, tossed it aside, and gazed deeply into the Eagle eyes of Gilda. The Griffin looked around, came to a decision, and threw her crooked bat away. A tear rolled down Luna’s face as she smiled at the Griffin, and Gilda’s eyes even started shimmering as she smiled back.
Closing their eyes, the Pony and the Griffin reared up, cradled each other snug, and cuddled.
United in total harmony.
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Lov it!
3699624 Thanks. Means a lot.
3699720 your welcome I've always loved a good halo based story
Its always the quiet ones that you have to look out for...
Amazingly well done. I can't wait for the CE crossover!
3716222 Lol thanks
And thanks for the watch too.
The Halo CE crossover will take a ridiculously long time, but I've already started work on it. I'm on chapter five and they still haven't left the Philly of Autumn lol!
If Johnson were there he'd say: "This is it, baby. Hold me."
3945888
Lol yeah. They actually don't hug in the original Mona Lisa, but I though this was better. Thanks for readin'
N' if you're interested; the complete Ponification of Halo CE is on its way!
SO, that's it? Luna and Gilda buy a farm during a Wildcat explosion of the Shaw-Fujikawa star drive? How sad…
4082206 Well just like in the original, we don't see the ending, only in the original, they don't hug, they just start to fight, but then the story ends. I can only assume they die lol. But since Celestia is on her way, and she's got her badass Alicorn magic at her disposal, maybe things will turn out differently... or not
4583971 Lol thanks. It's been a while since this was published so it's great to know that it's still gettin' at least some attention lol.
I know it's not my place to question or ask, but could you do a little epilogue? Just like, to let us know the ending?
4583999 Lol I love elites, and I love Gilda. I had a lot of fun writing her in his role.
4584068 Lol thanks a bomb!
4584106 I don't mind you asking :) Answer's no tho. I was gonna have an epilogue, but I couldn't think of anything good. It would take away from the mystery too.
4584106 Also thanks for fave. Chapter 1 of OUaT,oaARW has been published today if yer followin' it.
4583971 I just realised; you knew what Fleur said. You french or something lol? (I need google translate to help me write her
)