My Little Pony: Apocalypse

by Randepic

Chapter 1: The Portal

ONI Orbital Facility, Earth
November 16, 2552
14:56 hours

Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck gazed out of the viewport. On Earth below, the last bastions of humanity were fighting valiantly against the unstoppable Covenant. Even from space, he could see large fires covering large portions of the planet. The Covenant ships had been glassing sections of Earth for nearly an entire month. The initial invasion occurred only within the vicinity of New Mombasa in East Africa. After the Prophet of Regret jumped away, the new Covenant fleet that arrived immediately after set their sights on the rest of the planet. Battles have followed suit in North and South America, Australia and even Antarctica.

Dozens of cities have been reduced to rubble; New Mombasa is nothing more than a memory now. Millions of people have died on Earth alone. But that does not compete with the billions the Covenant have killed over the course of 27 long years. Buck has been involved with this war for most of his life. He served on Harvest, fought on Reach during its last days, and now could only watch as Earth, humanity’s last hope, burns beneath him.

Buck sadly sighed. He could only imagine the thousands of people suffering and dying at the hands of the enemy. He longed to be able to fight on the ground and save them. However, he was needed on this space station. He, along with the rest of his squad, had managed to capture a Covenant Engineer in New Mombasa on the second day of their invasion. The Engineer had downloaded New Mombasa’s Superintendent class A.I., designated Vergil, into its “core” before they had found it. As such, the Engineer has been designated “Vergil”.

It was not easy to get Vergil out of the city. The Covenant did not take kindly to their Engineer defecting so willingly. They sent an entire battalion of troops to kill the Engineer. Unfortunately for them, they underestimated the superiority of a small team of ODSTs. Buck was still contemplating how they managed to pull that off. Truthfully, he thought it was thanks to the Rookie that they escaped from the city, let alone captured the Engineer.

Ever since that day, almost a month ago, ONI has assigned Buck and his team to guard the Engineer. A simple, yet important task… so they say. Buck has hated this detail. He’s a fighter, always has been. The others were getting irritated with this task as well. Romeo has been complaining like an old lady for the past week. Dutch has been trying to keep him under control. Mickey, too, hasn’t been overly thrilled about guarding the Engineer. The Rookie, on the other hand, never complained once. Then again, he doesn’t talk much anyways.

The only “exciting” thing that has happened recently was when Sergeant Major Johnson came to interrogate the alien. The interrogation went well. The Engineer was more cooperative than Buck had thought. It took several hours to interpret what it was saying, but the UNSC now knows what the Covenant are after on Earth: something called “the Ark”. That’s what the Covenant are currently excavating for on the ground. From the sounds of things, they’ve nearly fully uncovered it. The destruction of New Mombasa finally made sense; “the Ark” was buried beneath the city.

But regardless, Buck’s team was not going to be a part of the defense of Earth anymore. He turned away from the viewport. Behind him was one of the space station’s laboratories. The Engineer was working on some sort of project involving a Slipspace drive. Several ONI scientists were assisting it in its “project”. No one truly knows what the alien is attempting, but ONI thinks it could help them win the war. Vergil hasn’t done anything dangerous as of yet, but Buck wasn’t putting his money on that this “project” was perfectly safe. Slipspace drives can have unpredictable results if misused.

Buck watched Vergil take apart several components on the Slipspace drive with its four tentacles. The Engineer rearranged the components into new locations on the Slipspace drive. It also attached other seemingly useless junk to the drive. It pulled wires out of the drive and fixed them to the new parts. Buck watched in amazement at how fast the alien was able to completely modify human technology. He didn’t know if whatever Vergil was doing would work, but the alien sure seemed confident in itself. The scientists working with it appeared to be just as perplexed as Buck was.

The Engineer turned its long slender head to look at one of the computer monitors hooked up to the Slipspace drive. It blinked its six eyes and hovered one of its tentacles over the terminal. Its cilia spread out over the controls and easily penetrated the computer. One of the scientists protested the Engineers actions. A second scientist stopped him and insisted that they allow Vergil to continue its work.

Buck chuckled and walked away from the lab. He casually walked down one of the station’s corridors and once again thought about the fight on the ground. He wondered how the fight was going. There was not much fighting happening in space for the time being. There were rumors circulating that ONI and High Command were planning something big for the Covenant gathered around the Ark. He hoped that he’d be allowed to take part in that. He was dying for some action.

Bridge of the CCS-class Battlecruiser Righteous Condemnation

Shipmaster Leonius stared at the holo-monitors in front of him. The human space station was in his ships sights. He could easily order a barrage of plasma torpedoes to annihilate the pathetic excuse for station, but he had orders straight from the holy Prophet of Truth himself. The humans had one of their Huragok and the Covenant wants it back. Apparently, this was the same Huragok that had betrayed the Covenant to the humans in the city called “New Mombasa”. Leonius would rather have the Huragok killed for its treachery, but the Prophet of Truth believed that it could still have potential uses. He didn’t care. All he cared was that this operation would succeed swiftly; he wanted his ship present once the holy prophet activated the Ark portal.

“Shipmaster, Chieftain Barrackus here,” a rough voice spoke over the cruiser’s COM.

Leonius turned his attention to another terminal. “What is it?” the Jiralhanae barked.

“We are ready to board the station. Begin diversionary attack,” the Chieftain ordered.

“Understood, Chieftain,” the gruff shipmaster replied. He ended the COM. He strolled over to one of his ship’s gunners. “Prepare to fire on the stations defenses!” The gunner barked a confirmation. The shipmaster turned his attention to another bridge officer. “Launch all fighters to cover our Phantom boarding parties!”

“Yes, Shipmaster!” the subordinate answered.

Leonius fixed his gaze at the main view screen. “All cannons: FIRE!” The Righteous Condemnation’s frontal plasma cannons opened fire on station. He grinned in satisfaction when that section of the station engulfed in flame. Multiple Seraph fighters shot out of the cruisers main hangar followed by waves of Phantoms. Each Phantom contained a few dozen Jiralhanae, Unggoy, Kig-Yar, and Mgalekgolo. They would find the traitorous Huragok and either capture it, or ensure it can never help the humans again. As for the humans, they have no chance against the assault teams.

The human station launched their own response fighters to engage the Seraphs. Those ships were fast, but Covenant Seraphs were more powerful. They have shields and their plasma cannons deal more damage than human missiles. Several Seraphs began to strafe the station dodging the station’s defense turrets. Some turrets got lucky and took out a few Seraphs, but losing a few pilots was insignificant to the shipmaster. Those pilots gave their lives for the Great Journey, and he would see them again once they’ve attained godhood.

The first few Phantoms reached the closest hangar of the space station. Leonius smiled a wicked grin. How he wished he could be attacking the station. He loved to kill humans and he always hated missing out on the fun. Before he departed the cruiser, Leonius asked Chieftain Barrackus to bring him back a human for later. He was getting hungry, and human was on the menu.

ONI Orbital Facility
15:19 hours

Buck had just entered the station’s lounge. BOOOOOOM!!!!! The entire station shook from an explosion. The ODST lost his balance and grabbed the wall rail for support. He looked up. “What the hell was that?”

“Alert, all hands! The station is under attack!” someone shouted over the station’s intercom. Buck shot to his feet. This wasn’t good. The Covenant had not attacked the station before, what could’ve made them attack now? “Covenant boarding craft are inbound! All combat teams are to repel boarders!”

“I have to find the squad!” Buck sprinted towards the armory. He passed by several technicians and security officers along the way. The security was most likely trying to escort the station’s technicians someplace safe. Buck got onto his COM: “Squad! Get to the armory! On the double, troopers!”

The first to answer was Dutch. “Gunny, Romeo and I are on the way!”

Mickey responded second. “Already there, Gunny.” Buck ran past more security and maries who were in preparing defenses in the corridors. Some technicians were welding blast doors shut. Buck wondered where the Rookie was. He didn’t reply, which wasn’t something new, but he was a dedicated soldier. He was sure the Rookie was heading for the station’s armory. Unless he’s asleep, again.

A few minutes later and Buck found himself at the armory. Mickey was waiting for him. “Gunny,” the private saluted.

“Mickey, have the others got here yet?” Buck inquired. Mickey shook his head. The two ODSTs entered the armory. The walls were lined with all types of weapons: pistols and magnums, assault rifles, shotguns, battle rifles, SMGs, grenades, sniper rifles and even a few rocket launchers. There was even an M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle (aka a Spartan laser). ‘I think Dutch will want that,’ Buck thought. Despite the ONI station being a research facility it sure was well stocked in firepower. Buck grabbed an MA5C assault rifle, an M6C/SOCOM magnum, and several grenades. Mickey opted for a suppressed M7 SMG and an M41 rocket launcher.

Buck stared at the private. Mickey looked at him and shrugged. “What? We’re gonna need the firepower.”

‘That’s a little too much firepower, Mickey,’ Buck said to himself. He returned his attention to the assault rifle and resumed stocking up on ammo. He could hear multiple footsteps coming down the corridor. The blast door opened and Dutch and Romeo entered the armory. “Lock and load, troopers!” Buck shouted to them. They both quietly grabbed their weapons of choice: Romeo picked up an SRS99D-S2 AM sniper rifle and Dutch, unsurprisingly, chose the Spartan laser.

Romeo slapped a fresh magazine into his sniper rifle and looked at Buck. “It’s about time we get to see some action,” he cheered. “Let’s kick some ass.” Romeo turned and started coughing. Dutch ran over to his side. Romeo had his lung punctured by a Brute Chieftain’s gravity hammer back in New Mombasa. Though he’s made a full recovery he still has moments when he coughs uncontrollably. Romeo coughed some more and waved off Dutch. “I’m fine, Dutch. I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Dutch asked.

“Hell yeah I’m sure,” Romeo coughed. As long as he was combat ready, Buck believed him.

“Have either of you seen the Rookie?” Buck queried.

Dutch shook his head. “Negative,” he answered.

‘Where are you, Rookie?’ Buck wondered. BOOOOOM!!!!! Another explosion rocked the station.

“Covenant troops have entered the station!” someone shouted over the intercom. “Repeat, Covenant troops have entered-” the line was cut off. Buck could hear the distant sounds of plasma and gunfire.

“Okay troopers, let’s move,” Buck shouted to the team. They all nodded and left the bolted out of the armory. Stepping out of the blast door, they ran right into the Rookie. Buck stared at the silent ODST. “What took you so long, Rookie,” he demanded. The Rookie quietly shrugged. Buck slapped his palm against his visor. “Never mind. Lock and load Rookie. We have to defend the station.” The ODST nodded and entered the armory. Buck looked at Mickey, Dutch and Romeo. “Spread out and secure the station.” They all nodded and went down different corridors. ‘I think we’re in for a helluva fight.’

ONI Orbital Facility
15:59 hours

The Rookie fired his suppressed SMG down the hall. Squads of Grunts were advancing in standard formation firing plasma pistols back at him. The Rookie ducked as an overcharged bolt flew past him and struck the wall. The wall fizzed and melted from the plasma. The Rookie switched to his automag and shot the closest Grunt in the head. Light blue blood sprayed on the wall behind the Grunt. The Rookie continued to shoot the advancing aliens. One by one they dropped. But they continued to advance.

Two marines of the Rookie’s original fifteen man squad remained. The others were all killed. A Brute Captain emerged in the hallway behind the Grunts. He pointed his right paw and barked an order to the Grunts. The front pair immediately ignited plasma grenades and hurled them at the humans. The trio scattered in the corridor. The grenades exploded leaving black scorch marks on the floor. One of the marines tossed one of his own grenades at the aliens. The Grunts screamed and tried to run. Two were caught in the explosion. Their limp bodies tossed through the air like ragdolls.

The Brute Captain barked, “Forward you whelps!” The remaining Grunts continued to fire their plasma pistols down the hall. The bolts harmlessly flew past the Rookie and the marines. The Rookie finished the last of the Grunts with a pair of headshots from the automag. The Brute Captain holstered his spiker and charged at the humans in frenzy. The marines opened fire with their assault rifles. The Brute’s shields flickered and died. The alien stopped in his tracks in surprise. The Rookie put him down with a headshot.

One of the marines breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay,” he said happily. “This sector is clear.” He looked at the Rookie and the other marine. “Let’s move on and-” A projectile erupted through the side of the man’s head. The marine crumpled to the floor.

A group of Jackals appeared armed with carbines. The bird-like aliens fired the projectiles at the Rookie and his last remaining marine. A carbine round stuck the marine in the stomach. He yelled in pain and fell to the ground. The Rookie knelt to help him. The marine pushed him off. “Get the hell out of here, trooper!” the wounded man shouted. The Jackals continued to fire in their direction. “You… have to… leave me!”

The Rookie shook his head and tried to pick up the marine. The marine pushed him off again. “You have to fall back, trooper! I’ll handle them,” he said weakly while grabbing a couple grenades. The Rookie slowly nodded. The ODST quickly stood up and sprinted further down the corridor. He heard the marine taunt the Jackals seconds before the hallway behind him exploded.

Not sensing anymore immediate danger, the Rookie took a moment to check and reload his weapons. He took spare ammo from the numerous dead marines that littered the hallway. This section of the station was hit the hardest in the Covenant’s attack. The corridor’s floor and walls were covered in red blood. Bullet holes and plasma burns speckled the walls around the deceased humans and aliens. Unfortunately, there was not nearly as many dead Covenant as there were humans.

The Rookie’s automag was out of ammo and he couldn’t find any on the fallen soldiers. He swapped it for a BR55 battle rifle. He slapped a new magazine into the battle rifle and continued down the long corridor. He couldn’t hear any other noises. ‘The battle must be over in this part of the station,’ he thought. Stepping around a corner, he barely had time to dodge a swinging gravity hammer.

Diving to the floor he rolled onto his back and looked up at a Brute Chieftain. The Chieftain was not alone. There was a pair of Hunters flanking him. The Chieftain slammed his gravity hammer on the floor. The shockwave sent the Rookie flying against the wall. Pain shot through him as his back slammed into the wall. The Brute Chieftain sprinted towards him. The Rookie dove to the side and quickly got back to his feet.

The Chieftain swung his hammer at the wall where the Rookie was. The ODST turned and fired a three-burst round from the battle rifle. The rounds harmlessly reflected off the Chieftain’s power armor. The Brute glared at him and appeared to smile at his attempts. He barked something and the two Hunters approached his rear. The Chieftain backed up behind them. The Hunters crouched into their battle positions; their fuel rod cannons began to glow. The Rookie did not have the firepower to take on the Hunters. He turned and sprinted away. Fuel pods exploded around him as the two Hunters pursued him.

As he rounded a corner he heard Buck over the COM link: “All squads, fall back to the laboratories! The Covenant are coming for the Engineer! We must protect the asset!” The Rookie was pretty far from the labs, so he ran even faster to get there. He looked over his shoulder to see if he was still being followed. There was no sign of the Hunters; those monsters were big but they weren’t very fast.

Eventually, he could hear the sounds of gunfire again. He entered a large rotunda where several marines were making a stand against the Covenant. On the sloped pavilion below, dozens of Grunts, Jackals and Brutes were throwing everything they had at the human defenders. The Rookie looked at the mass of Covenant and spotted a bronze-colored War Chieftain. He was near the back and seemed to be in command of the assault.

Over the sounds of battle he could hear the Chieftain bark, “Forward! Grind their bones beneath your feet!” At that command, the aliens marched up the incline. A marine on a mounted machine gun turret let them have it. A few Grunts and Jackals fell from the barrage of bullets. A Jackal armed with a particle beam rifle emerged from cover and sniped the marine on the turret.

A sniper rifle rang out and the Jackal sniper toppled. The Rookie looked behind him and saw Romeo on an upper ledge in the rotunda. Romeo aimed the rifle and shot three more Jackals. The Rookie ran up the rise towards the marines. The rest of his squad was dug in with the others.

Buck spotted him and waved him over. The Rookie took cover next to him. “Rookie, were you able to secure your section of the station?” the gunnery sergeant asked. The Rookie shook his head. “No matter. We need to hold the line. The Covies are here for the Engineer, that’s why they didn’t destroy the station.” The Rookie nodded and moved away from Buck.

He got behind a large planter box and readied his battle rifle. Leaning around the corner he sighted a Brute charging forward with a brute shot. The Rookie aimed at his head and fired. The Brute’s shields flickered as he returned fire. The grenades from the brute shot detonated close to the ODST. He was struck by some shrapnel which dented his armor. He leaned out from cover and shot the Brute again. This time the Brute’s shields went down. The Rookie quickly followed up with a burst to the head. The Brute fell over backwards firing several grenades in the air.

The Covenant were not fazed as they sent more troops up the rotunda. A rocket soared through the air and exploded in a small group of Grunts and Jackals. “BOOM! That’s the way!” Mickey cheered. A second rocket blasted away a pair of Brutes. The firefight continued for several minutes with both sides dealing damage to each other. The marines were not lasting very long against the enemy. It seemed that the Covenant were receiving reinforcements as they just kept coming. Dutch's Spartan laser whined to life before blasting a deadly hole through several Brutes lined up in a row. He cheered before tossing it away; it was most likely out of battery.

Eventually, only one marine was left standing amongst the ODSTs. The soldier took control of the abandoned turret. The barrels spun to life and ripped apart a cluster Covenant. Blood of all colors splattered the walls and floor as the turret mowed down a dozen Grunts, Jackals and Brutes. Romeo and the Rookie supported the marine with their ranged weapons. At once, the Covenant halted in their tracks and took cover. 'Why did they all take cover at once?'

BOOOM!!! The turret and the marine exploded in green inferno. The marines severed limbs dispersed leaving behind a bloody carcass. The Rookie looked towards the hall he came from. The Hunters had finally caught up. They were already firing their fuel rod cannons at the ODSTs. The Rookie retreated from his cover and proceeded further up the rotunda. Mickey fired a rocket at one of the Hunters. The monster crouched behind its gauntlet. The rocket exploded on the defense shield and did little damage to the Hunter. It resumed firing alongside of its companion.

“Fall back! Fall back!” Buck shouted. The Hunters slowly advanced up the hill firing their fuel rod cannons. Buck lobbed two grenades at them. The Hunters stopped and shielded themselves from the small explosives. The grenades exploded. A small patch of orange blood splattered on the ground beneath the Hunters’ enormous boots. Beyond that, they were not daunted. Romeo took a shot from his sniper rifle. The bullet ricocheted off the armor of one of the Hunters. With no sufficient firepower, the ODSTs retreated further into the station.

The Covenant emerged from cover and followed the Hunters up to the top of the rotunda. From his position in the rear the War Chieftain Barrackus let out a triumphant howl. The aliens trailed the fleeing humans.

The ODSTs entered the lab where the Engineer was still modifying the Slipspace drive. Dutch sealed the door behind them and sabotaged the controls. Despite all the violence, the alien was still content working on the Slipspace drive. Only one scientist was in the lab. The others had fled, and were likely dead. Upon seeing the troopers the scientist whimpered, “What’s going on out there? Is it safe?”

Buck shook his head, “Negative. The Covenant have overrun us.”

The scientist panicked. “W-w-what are we going t-t-t-to do?” he stuttered.

Buck looked around the lab. There was no way to properly defend it. The only cover would be a few monitors and other equipment whose functions he didn’t know. The Covies would be arriving in seconds. He was down to his last mags and did not have any grenades. ‘This will be a very short fight,’ he moaned to himself. Dutch, Romeo, Mickey and the Rookie all looked at awaiting orders. The sounds of the Covenant were getting louder. “Okay. We hold our ground and give them everything we have.” It wasn’t the best plan, it was the only plan.

“Gunny,” Mickey spoke up, “this is not a fight we’ll win.”

“Nor one we’ll survive,” Dutch added. The scientist shook in fear.

Buck nodded. “I know,” was all he said.

The ODSTs all silently stared at one another. Finally Dutch said, “It’s been honor, everyone.”

“Amen brother,” Romeo said. He lifted his sniper rifle and put his final magazine into the chamber. “Let’s give them hell!”

“We’ll make them regret the day they blew up our squad,” Mickey cheered, pumping his fist into the air. The Rookie nodded in agreement, silently raising his SMG into the air.

The scientist looked pale. Hearing that this would be his last day of life wasn’t sitting too well for him. His face turned as white as his lab coat. The ODSTs wanted to die just as much as the next guy, but they weren’t going down without a fight. Buck handed the man a suppressed SMG. The scientist hesitated before accepting the weapon. The Covenant were closing in on the lab.

“Okay squad,” Buck declared. “We make our stand and take out as many of the bastards as we can.” Vergil whistled at the humans. They turned their attention to the Engineer. It was typing something into the nearest terminal with its cilia. Buck walked up to the terminal. Vergil had typed a message: If you can delay them long enough, I can save us. Buck’s eyes widened. He looked at the floating squid. The Engineer’s blue slender head looked at him. Its six eyes blinked. “How can you save us?” he demanded.

The Engineer waved its tentacles across the console. A new message appeared: My creation is almost finished. It will save us. “What’s going on, Gunny,” Dutch questioned.

Buck didn’t know what the Engineer was getting at, but he decided it meant his squad’s survival then he trusted the alien. “How much time do you need?” he asked Vergil. The Engineer typed another reply: Several minutes. That wasn’t a good enough answer. But he decided it was best to quit questioning the Engineer and allow it to continue its work. The gunnery sergeant looked back at the others. “This is what we’re going to do. We defend the Engineer at all costs!”

Romeo’s visor depolarized. He gave him an odd look. “Why do we need to do that?”

Buck shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. But I have confidence that whatever “pinky” is doing, it will help.”

Romeo looked unconvinced. “If you say, sweetheart,” he said sarcastically. The Covenant had arrived began pounding on the blast door. Everyone turned to look at it. It was sparking from the other side. Buck could hear the sounds of plasma rifles and plasma pistols shooting it.

“Spread out and cover the door,” Buck ordered. Romeo maneuvered to the furthest point from the door and readied his sniper rifle. Mickey and Dutch took up position near the Engineer. Buck and the Rookie each positioned themselves behind some crates. The scared scientist nervously held his SMG and took cover next to Romeo. The Covenant continued to fire at the laboratory door. “Soon as that door opens,” Buck said leveling his assault rifle, “let ‘em have it!”

The several moments that passed while the Covenant worked on breaching the blast door felt like an eternity. Buck began to nervously sweat under his helmet. He waited and waited. Finally, the blast door blew open. The first Covies to enter were Grunts. The squad opened fire on them, dropping the aliens instantly. The next Covies to enter were the nimbler Jackals. Assuming a phalanx formation, the lead Jackals crouched behind their shields while others shot over them.

The scientist wildly fired his SMG at the Jackals’ shields. The bullets harmlessly deflected off the defense gauntlets. The Jackals in the rear of the formation were wielding carbines. Romeo chose not to use his last four sniper rounds on them. He took shots with his automag sidearm on those Jackals. The Rookie fired his battle rifle at the weak spot on the Jackals’ shields to expose them. As the Jackals flinched from being shot in those openings, Mickey and Dutch dropped them with their SMGs.

Eventually all the Jackals had fallen on top of the Grunts. The Brutes charged into the opening next. Romeo fired his first round at one of the Brutes. The bullet dropped his shields and passed through his skull, dark blood and bone fragments sprayed the Brute behind him. The other Brutes immediately fired their spikers at Romeo. He took cover.

The scientist foolishly continued to stay out in the open desperately firing his SMG missing nearly every shot. One of the Brutes took aim and shot him with a spike. The spike punctured his throat and exited through the back of his neck. The scientist dropped the SMG and fell to the ground grasping the spike in complete shock. As he hit the ground he coughed up blood which covered his whole face. He flinched and died.

Romeo quickly fired a sniper round through the skull of the murderous Brute. The beast hit the dirt. The other ODSTs finished the remaining Brutes. This was taking longer than Buck liked. It was now just down to himself and the other four ODSTs. He quickly glanced at the Engineer who was continuing to strip components off of the Slipspace drive and reattaching them elsewhere. ‘How much longer will this take?’ he desperately asked himself.

The next wave of Covenant was a mixture of Grunts, Jackals, and Brutes. They swarmed through the opening as the ODSTs continued to fire. The front pair of Grunts lobbed a couple of plasma grenades into the lab. One of the grenades landed near Buck and the Rookie, forcing them to dive for cover. As they did so, a Brute armed with a brute shot fired in their direction. Romeo used his next sniper bullet on that Brute. The beast continued to fire the grenade launcher as he toppled, much like the brute shot wielder before. However, one of the grenades detonated next to a Jackal. The explosion merely disoriented the alien. Dutch took it down with the SMG.

The other Covenant still in the room quickly fanned out to engage the humans. A Grunt Ultra armed with a needler and a Brute Captain wielding a pair of maulers challenged Mickey and Dutch. The Grunt unleashed a salvo of the explosive crystals in Mickey’s direction. The trooper dove to the ground but the explosives continued to track him. Frantically, he rolled around like he was on fire to throw off the needles. The pink crystalline objects struck the ground all around him before harmlessly bursting. Mickey rapidly fired his SMG at the Grunt Ultra before it could reload.

Dutch, meanwhile, was swiftly backing away from the Brute which was shooting both maulers simultaneously. One of the rounds struck him in the shoulder. Dutch collapsed grabbing his shoulder in excruciating pain. He looked at his palm which was covered in blood. The Brute’s mauler had easily penetrated his armor. The ape-like beast stood over the fallen ODST and chuckled in its alien language. It aimed one its maulers at Dutch’s head, ready for the kill.

At that moment, Mickey lunged into the Brute from the rear. The startled beast fired its mauler wildly, completely missing Dutch. The Brute turned and swung its arm to backhand Mickey. He ducked underneath the swing and fired the suppressed SMG into the Brute’s chest. The bullets reflected off the power armor. The Brute wickedly smiled and aimed both maulers at Mickey. Dutch shook off the pain in his shoulder and leapt onto the Brute’s back, wrapping his arms around its neck. The Brute dropped its maulers and tried to grasp the human. Mickey snatched up the maulers and unleashed all their ammo into the alien. The first two rounds dropped the Brute’s shields, the last two killed it. Dutch nodded at Mickey in thanks. He picked up the fallen Grunt Ultra’s needler and resumed the fight.

On the other side of the lab Buck and the Rookie were dealing with a pair of Jackals. The bird-like aliens were crouched behind their orange shields and shooting needlers at the pinned ODSTs. A Brute Major armed with a red brute plasma rifle was flanking them. Buck quickly leapt out from cover and fired a short burst from the assault rifle at the Brute. The Brute’s shield flickered. A Jackal shot a few needles at the gunnery sergeant. Buck ducked back behind cover. He loaded his last magazine into the assault rifle. He now only had 32 rounds, no sidearm, and no grenades. If he or the Rookie could just grab an alien weapon…

The Rookie leaned around the crate he was behind and fired off a few bursts from the battle rifle. One of the Jackals was killed. Suddenly a spike grenade landed next to the Rookie. He shot to his feet and sprinted away just as the grenade exploded sending spikes everywhere. One spike struck the wall right next to Buck’s head. ‘If that had just been an inch to the left…’ he didn’t want to think about it. It was now or never. Buck jumped out from cover and fired the entire clip into the Brute. It took the full 32 rounds just to drop its shield.

The Jackal attempted to shoot Buck with the needler, but was stopped dead by the Rookie’s battle rifle. The Rookie turned his rifle on the Brute and dropped the beast. Another wave of Covenant was down.

Buck tossed his assault rifle away. “Squad, ammo check!” he yelled.

“I’ve only got one shot left,” Romeo shouted.

“I’m out,” Mickey called.

“Me too, gunny,” Dutch replied.

Buck looked at the Rookie. The trooper silently shook his head and dropped his battle rifle on the ground; he was out of ammo too. Buck sighed. He picked up a dropped plasma rifle and spike grenade. The Rookie grabbed a needler. Mickey and Dutch both already had Covenant weapons of their own. Buck glanced at the Engineer who seemed oblivious to the events that transpired. He hoped it was almost done with its “project”. A loud stomping emanated from the corridor. The ODSTs turned to see the Hunters enter the room. The walking tanks entered their battle stances and charged their fuel rod cannons.

Buck didn’t even have a chance to shout “Take cover!” before the Hunters unleashed hell. The laboratory was enveloped in green explosions. Computer terminals shattered, paperwork containing graphs and other data flew into the air, crates burst open spilling their contents, the Engineer wailed in alarm. The ODSTs were all thrown off their feet. Buck, lying on his stomach, slowly looked up to see the Hunters walk into the room followed by a pair of Brute Chieftains. One was the War Chieftain. Many more Brutes, Grunts and Jackals entered the lab behind them. The other aliens kept their weapons aimed at the humans but did not shoot.

Buck looked around and saw the Rookie, Mickey and Dutch were, likewise, flat on the ground. There was no sign of Romeo. The War Chieftain strolled up to the Engineer. Vergil gave a frightened wail as the beast got close to it. “We finally have you, Huragok,” the War Chieftain proudly said. “Now you will see what happens to traitors of the Covenant!” The Engineer hissed at the Chieftain.

The second Brute Chieftain spoke, “We should let the Yanme’e tear this creature apart.”

The War Chieftain nodded in agreement, “First we see what secrets it has learned of the humans. Then we have it killed.” The War Chieftain looked at the Slipspace drive the Engineer was working on. “Well, what have you been up to?” he inquired. The Brute snatched the Engineer’s blue head in his paw. Vergil let out a high-pitched wail. A sniper bullet stuck the War Chieftain in the head. The shield instantly failed causing the Brute to stagger backwards, releasing Vergil who immediately floated back to the Slipspace drive. The War Chieftain angrily turned towards the source of the shot.

Buck rolled over to see where he was looking. The Jackal watching him squawked but didn’t fire its plasma pistol. Romeo was standing a few yards away with his sniper rifle. He slung his now empty sniper rifle over his back. The War Chieftain roared at the ODST as he charged forward and grabbed him. The insidious Brute brought Romeo up to eyelevel. He stared at him for a moment before snarling, “You’ll be the one I bring back to the Shipmaster. He loves his meat fresh.”

“I hope he chokes,” Romeo retorted. The War Chieftain laughed, as did the other Chieftain. This was it for Buck and his team. They gave it their best, but now it’s all over.

The Engineer happily whistled. Suddenly the room was engulfed in a bright pulsating light. The Covenant looked around the lab in confusion, as did the ODSTs. Immediately after, a loud humming noise vibrated all along the walls and ceiling. The War Chieftain dropped Romeo and threw his paws over his ears, as did the other Chieftain. All the Covenant began to shriek and grasp their heads as the noise grew louder and louder.

Buck, too, was experiencing the sensation in a negative way. He slapped his hands to his helmet in pain. The other ODSTs did the same. ‘What’s going on?’ he asked himself. Buck rolled around feeling light-headed as the field around him grew brighter and brighter. He felt like he about to pass out. The Hunters appeared to be in a stage of panic. They were flailing their arms and staggering around the laboratory. The Grunts in the lab ran around in circles in total panic. The gunnery sergeant shut his eyes.

He thought he heard a voice shout: “Pinkie Pie! What’s happening?”

“It’s working, Twilight! I’m saving them! Vergil and his friends are coming!” another voice said.

The humming grew louder and louder. The light intensified and suddenly Buck could no longer feel his body. The light faded and the humming ended. All in the room had vanished.

Comments

[Cone of Wonders]

Sounds like a good opening to me. Can't wait for the next chapter :D

[The dragon hunter]

This story is really promising, good work

[Tactical Genius]

Lookin' good, can't wait for more!

[Another_Dead_Account1109]

But Equestria has more to fear than the Covenant, as a far greater threat descends upon their planet... The Flood

[Aslatiel]

3484094 That's just exactly what I was thinking. This story deserves more recognition.

[Another_Dead_Account1109]

3512942

Cool.

[Stereotypical Englishman]

*Finishes reading first chapter*
The Halo 3 ODST crew minus Captain Dare eh?
ODSTs+'Vergil'+Ponies+Covenant arse holes=explosions, Ponies (again) and other possible stuff.
This is 'gonna be epic...

[Frostbite4]

Rookie is the best in my opinion can't wait to see how the mane six act around him lol and him just staring through his helmets HUD like da hell

[Black Jack]

I really like this song far keep up the good work