Once Upon a Time, on an Alien Ring World

by Hi World

Chapter 18: Rolling Thunder

With all the Covenant in the valley silenced, Vinyl Scratch drove the LRV steadily through the soft snow. Pinkie Pie brought up the rear in her captured Ghost.

Ahead, there was an obscene rock formation topped with snow, creating a natural stunt ramp. Vinyl decided to take the Hog around it, while Pinkie boosted straight up it and performed a spectacular front flip.
"Weeee!"

Coming up was a drop off. The duo of vehicles jumped down and entered the next canyon. The Ghost glided smoothly over an iced up lake while Vinyl wrestled with the wheel to bring the Warthog under control. Its four wheels slipped and skidded on the reflective surface until she finally brought it up onto a snow bank.

In the new valley, an island stood in the frozen lake, dotted with trees and rocks, and dominated by an enormous M808B Scorpion main battle tank. It rested on its four caterpillar tracks, still and unmanned, with its back presented to the equines.

At the far left of the canyon, a Pelican drop ship had crashed and ended up on its roof. Parts of the aircraft had broken off and scattered, and a trench had been dug into the earth. The ice had been smashed open as well.

And as Fluttershy would expect, survivors were present, taking up resistance within a tiny gathering of trees and one boulder. They fired weapons at the invading Covenant, and the Covenant fired back, intent on securing the tank before anypony could gain access to it.

"Get the hay away from Trixie's tank!" bellowed an obvious voice.
Yep, the great and powerful Trixie was there, working her magic and flinging the Covenant soldiers into the air, letting gravity do the rest. She even managed to lift a whole Ghost RAV high into the sky and send it crashing down to the ice. This ice was particularly thick however, and the impact only caused a feeble crack, nothing more.

Also under the Unicorn's control, was the energy sword she'd acquired from the Truth and Reconciliation. Like a majestic eagle, it swooped here and there, piercing, slicing and beheading the Covies.

Trixie had an MA5B fitted to her soldier saddle, but it was hard to see why. She never used it, and was far more efficient without it.

Under Trixie's command, was the slender, white Unicorn Mare that Fluttershy had met in the meadows; Fleur de Lis. She used an elongated S2 AM sniper rifle to pick off any nasties that hadn't been swept up by her great and powerful CO.

In no time at all, the valley was secured, and neither Pinkie nor Fluttershy had fired a single round from their vehicles. The yellow Pegasus was glad to see that Trixie and her squad were coping fine... ish.

"Yes! This is my tank!" celebrated the great and powerful Trixie.
She brought back her energy sword, clicked the blades away, and placed the silvery hilt into her saddle bag. Turning around, she caught sight of the late arrivals for the first time.

"Oh, you're here," she uttered without enthusiasm, eying Fluttershy on the LAAG. "Greetings."
Vinyl gave her the evils from behind the wheel.
"Hello, Trixie. Nice to see you're doing well," Twilight rang from Fluttershy's speaker.

Before Trixie could reply, a turquoise Pegasus Mare with fiery orange eyes and hair came swooping in and contradicted, "Doing well? Haven't you seen the state of my Pelican?!"
Seriously, the Mare pointed at the crashed Pelican drop ship at the back of the canyon.
Fluttershy recognised the Mare's voice from the radio.

"Ah, you must be Lightning Dust," Twilight calculated.
"Yes, she is," Trixie answered for Lightning. "And she's the lousiest pilot in the universe." Patronizingly, Trixie stroked Lightning's chin with a hoof. "Aren't you, Lightning Crust?"
Annoyed, Lightning shoved Trixie's hoof away and declared, "No I aint! I'm the best pilot in the universe!"
"Err, what?!" Pinkie joined in, riding her Ghost amongst the bickering pair. "I think you'll find that Rainbow Dash is the best pilot in the universe!"
Hovering in the gentle snowfall, Lightning motioned her hoof and rasped dismissively, "Pffft, please. She's such a wimp."

Fluttershy was outraged, and her head and stomach ache intensified in the stress of it all.
She jumped down from the Warthog and grated, "Excuse me?! That is my friend you are talking about, and she's no wimp!"
Lightning just folded her forelegs and stared at Fluttershy, taken aback by the burst of confidence, not wanting to get into an argument with her resident AI.

Speaking of which; "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your Pelican?"
Lightning opened her mouth, but before any words came out, Trixie answered, "She failed a barrel role, ok. She thought it would be fun to put on a little air show, but she forgot how crumby she is, and she crashed right into the snow."
"That aint what happened!" protested Lightning, flinging her hooves in the air. "I was brought down by enemy fire!"
An amber coated Earth Pony Stallion with brown hair and blue eyes chirped, "You were brought down by enemy fire whist doing a barrel role!"
"Exactly!" Lightning returned. "I would've been shot down even if I didn't do a barrel role!"
"Trixie begs to differ."

All of the Ponies, including Vinyl, Derpy and Pinkie, roared in argument, although Pinkie just seemed to be barking like a dog, and Derpy didn't have a clue what they were arguing about. The only Ponies not taking part were Fluttershy and the ever silent Fleur de Lis, who just face-hoofed.

Curling up in the snow, Fluttershy groaned with the ache in her tummy and the throbbing in her head. This quarrelling was doing the polar opposite of helping.

From behind a tree, a grey Earth Pony Mare emerged and pondered, "Ugh, what is everypony arguing about?"
Vinyl Scratch stopped arguing at that point and turned to face the Mare. "Octavia!" she cheered, turning off the Hog's engine and running over to her friend.

Fluttershy remembered Octavia from the Filly of Autumn, and from the meadows. She remembered her hellish injury too.

Rising to her hooves, Fluttershy walked over to Vinyl and Octavia. "Hello, Octavia."
"Oh, hi, Fluttershy," the posh Mare replied contritely.
"So, how are you? Um... how's your leg?"
"Oh... um..." Embarrassed, Octavia blushed and walked fully out from behind the tree, giving Fluttershy a real good eyeful.

Her left hind leg had been the injured one, and as Fluttershy observed, she saw that it was completely missing. In its place, there was a stubby, bandaged nub. Fluttershy had never beheld such a thing, and she gawped at the sight of it. It was heart breaking, especially when Octavia brushed a front hoof in the snow and put on a shy smile.

"Oh goodness!"
Octavia drooped, and Vinyl comforted her.
Stuttering, Fluttershy apologised, "Oh, I'm sorry, I just..."
"It's ok," Octavia chuckled warmly. "I know it's bad, but the doctors said it would've been a lot worse if you hadn't come along." She bowed, "Thank you, Fluttershy."
Vinyl nodded in agreement. "Yeah, thank you so much!"

The white Unicorn then produced a flask and helped Octavia take a drink.
Octavia just giggled, "Hehehe, Vinyl, I'm not a baby. I can drink my own water myself."

Fluttershy grinned at the two friends, touched. She then took a swig from her own flask and turned to face the rest of the herd, who were still bickering.

"Uhh, they're still at it?" the AI sighed. At maximum volume, she shrieked, "Quiiiieeet!"
Ceasing with the arguing, each Pony turned to face Fluttershy.
Pinkie; "-And then he said; the only way to stop them, is to starve them to- ... oh."

"We are not gonna get anywhere by arguing!" stated Twilight, frustrated. "Now come on! Let's scavenge the Pelican-"
"-That you crashed," Trixie whispered to Lightning over Twilight's speech.
Lighting just stared daggers at her.
"-Fire up the tank and move out!"

Putting their quarrels on hold, the troops marched on over to the upside-down Pelican, passing three dead teammates on the way. A tonne of bazooka ammo was pulled out of the aircraft and strapped to the outside of the tank. There was also a vast amount of MA5B ammo, pistol ammo, and glorious sniper rounds for Fleur de Lis, not to mention grenades, water, snacks, and medical supplies.

Topped up on ammunition, the squad trotted back to their vehicles. Pinkie reunited with her Ghost, and Vinyl got behind the wheel of the Warthog, the three legged Octavia riding shotgun and Lightning Dust taking control of the turret.

As for the Scorpion, Trixie flipped open the hatch and plunged into the murky interior. Her purple, star spangled hat came off on the hatch, and she eagerly snatched it up and threw it back on her head.
"Trixie will handle the main gun," she proclaimed, plonking herself down on a seat that hung from the ceiling and pulling a periscope over her eyes.

"Fluttershy..." Twilight started shiftily. "You know me and you will be so much safer inside the tank, right?"
Unsure of where Twilight was going, the pink maned Mare replied, "Um, yes," and lowered herself into the armour plated behemoth.
"Trixie's on the gun, so you know what that means..."
Oohh, now Fluttershy was getting the message.

Sadly, she sighed, "Yes," and reluctantly sat herself down in the Scorpion's driver's seat.
"Don't worry, Fluttershy. If you can handle a Wraith, you can handle a Scorpion no problem!"

Impatiently, Trixie got out of her seat to close and lock the hatch. "Come on, come on. We don't have all day."

On the outside of the tank, Derpy fluttered down into the seat for the Scorpion's secondary gunner with a goofy grin on her derped face. Fleur de Lis and Caramel sat atop the tank's front track pods, their weapons at the ready.

Inside the tank, Twilight directed Fluttershy, "Turn the key to start the engine."
Fluttershy obeyed, and was startled by the thunderclap of the tank's godly engine. The whole vehicle shuddered as the engine revved, raring to go.

"Hold on, hold on!" demanded Trixie as she got out of her seat once more and opened the hatch.
Come on. We don't have all day.
Sticking herself out of the hatch, Trixie got her horn working and sent a purple flash out over the tank. The light took the form of a dome, surrounding the entire machine, then faded away.
"Invisible force field," the Unicorn told, climbing back down and screwing the hatch shut. "Let's see the Covenant stop us now."

Somewhat relieved by the extra protection, Fluttershy wiped a drop of sweat from her pounding head and followed Twilight's instructions.
"Use the gear stick to put the tank in first gear. When we're moving, I'll tell you when to change up or down."
Fiddling with the gear stick, she heard a piercing grinding noise come from the tank's gear box. The noise stopped abruptly as she was able to get it in gear.

"Now pull back on the two levers in front of you. These are the controls for the right tracks and the left tracks."
The shy pulled back on the levers until they emitted an alarming click.
"Good, the earth brake is disengaged. Now push the two sticks forward and gently push down on the accelerator pedal."

UPSC Scorpions had only one pedal, and as Fluttershy pushed the two levers forward, she very carefully nudged it with her right hind hoof... The tank didn't move.

Trixie grew more tetchy. "Give it some more welly!"
The timid Pegasus pushed her hoof harder into the pedal, and the sixty six tonnes of pure destruction jumped forward, jostling all who rode it.
"Well not that much welly."
Fluttershy's gut growled, and the poorly Mare winced with pain. "Nnng... Sorry."

Through the snow, the tank trundled, leaving huge imprints in its wake. It was actually carving its tracks into the ground beneath the snow.

Nervously, Fluttershy drove the tyrannical assault vehicle across a patch of ice. The frozen water creaked and cracked under the immense weight, but they soon made it to the other side, perfectly fine. The Warthog and the Ghost followed.

On the other side of the lake, the assault force had two choices: Turn right through a cave, or go forwards through a ravine. They were both choke points, and according to Trixie, they both lead into the same valley.

Before anypony could make their mind up, Twilight alerted, "Covenant, coming for us through both ways!"
"So?" Trixie grunted as she used the controls on her periscope to swivel her seat.
Turns out her seat was hanging from the turret above, which rotated to focus on the advancing cave Covies.

BOOM! The sound of the tank's main gun was deafening, and Fluttershy clamped her hooves over her ringing ears as the MBT rocked with the kick of the cannon.

The tank shell was fast! Easily faster than sound, and it met its target just as instantly as Trixie had fired it.

The cavies consisted of Grunts, Jackals, and two Elites, one of whom was riding a Ghost. The earth shattering explosion caused a cave in, so if any Covenant did survive the tank shell, they would have to settle with being buried alive.

As for the Covenant in the ravine, Pinkie had already got to work on them, ridding the alien squad of one of its Elites. The other Elite had also brought a Ghost to the party, and as soon as the Scorpion tank had completed its auto-reload, Trixie sent a shell straight at it.

The hostile Ghost was destroyed with another loud BOOM, and the surrounding foot soldiers were caught up in the explosion.
Trixie laughed manically, "Muhuhwahahahahaa!"
She's certainly enjoying herself, Fluttershy thought.

Continuing the quest for Halo's control room, Fluttershy drove the Scorpion through the Covie corpse filled ravine, Pinkie's Ghost and the Hog hugging the tank's rear.

*****

In the next valley, the Covenant braced themselves. The commanding officers had dispatched a search and destroy team to eliminate the equine threat in the yonder valleys. When that team went silent, two more teams were sent to investigate, but they just fell silent too.

The only hint as to what was happening came from two rumbling explosions that quaked the snowy ground beneath their alien boots. Whatever the UPSC were packing, it was big, and it was heading their way.

At the back of the Covenant secured valley, was a deep decline that lead down under a mountain. A massive blast door sealed off the tunnels below, and two Hunters had been assigned to guard it. Those tunnels lead to the other side of the mountain, where they had set up an air base on top of a ginormous Forerunner tower.

Beyond that air base, was another Forerunner facility that lead to the holy ring's control room, and that room had to be protected at all costs.

Back in the valley, the Covenant had two Shades, two Ghosts, two Wraiths, and even a Banshee at their disposal, along with a scattering of foot soldiers. With the entrance to the tunnels defended to the teeth, there was no way in hell anypony could get past...

BOOM! A huge UPSC Scorpion tank came rolling out from around a narrow ravine and instantaneously blew a Ghost into purple smithereens. Backing up the tank, two more vehicles came speeding into view; a Warthog, and one of their Ghost's that had been captured. The Covenant felt violated that the equine vermin would actually steal and use their own equipment against them.

The Wraiths fired plasma mortar at the Scorpion's position. As for the second Ghost and the foot soldiers, they retreated, unnerved by the enemy tank that proceeded to bombard their position with high explosive, high velocity shells.

Inside that Scorpion tank, Trixie cackled like an evil witch as she utterly decimated the first Wraith with two shots.
"Hahahahahahaa! Take that you Covenant scum! The great and powerful Trixie is unstoppable!"

Twilight ordered Fluttershy to reverse the tank, so she did, and avoided multiple rounds of piping hot mortar. Well, almost avoided. One ball of the stuff landed directly on top of them, rattling the whole vehicle and heating up the interior like a microwave. Luckily, Trixie had taken the precaution of surrounding the tank with a force field, so no pony was injured.

As the force field died, Trixie spat, "Oh Pony feathers," and hurriedly popped out of the hatch to reinforce the invisible, protective dome.
Climbing back in, she locked the hatch and plonked herself back down in her seat.

The three Ponies in the Warthog; Vinyl, Octavia and Lightning Dust, ganged up on the remaining Ghost. They chased it around the arctic expanse as it zigzagged left to right, dodging the fatal bullets that Lightning sent out from the heavy gun.

Pinkie zipped around on her own Ghost, strafing the fleeing foot soldiers with plasma and running them down, laughing with the fun of it all.

Trixie made crisps out of the two Shade turrets with the Scorpion's main gun, and then got to work on the second Wraith tank that had been placed on top of the entrance to a tunnel. The first shot she directed at it was a miss, and she grumbled angrily to herself.

"Push forward!" commanded the AI.
Fluttershy followed and sent the heavy assault vehicle further out into the open.

As for the bad Ghost that was still on the run from the Warthog, it came racing around a tree, and the alien driver hadn't anticipated the goliath Scorpion tank. Like a stray animal, his speedy vehicle was pulled under the tank's treads and converted to a crinkled piece of purple paper.

"What was that?" puzzled Trixie, the Scorpion's buck throwing her aim off and making her miss the last Wraith a second time.
From the tank's controls, Fluttershy whispered, "Er, we just ran over a Ghost."
As driver, the Elite's blood was on Fluttershy's hooves, and she frowned about it. However, Trixie and her teammates outside laughed at the silly Ghost pilot, who looked like a fly that had been thumbed against the white icing of a bun.

Two more tank shells later, and the final Wraith was a hatched egg, giving birth to wild blue flames and ugly black smoke.
"Is it clear?" pondered the shy, not seeing anymore targets.
"No!" yelled the AI. "There's a Banshee right above us! Move!"

Yelping, Fluttershy jumped the tank forwards and avoided the green explosion of the alien aircraft's fuel rod projectile.
"Woah!" exclaimed Trixie as she swivelled her seat, bringing the main gun around.

In the air, the Banshee shrieked over the three vehicles and barrel rolled to avoid sniper fire from the thin white Unicorn riding on the Scorpion's track pods.

"Look, Lightning!" Vinyl pointed out from behind the wheel of the Hog. "He did a barrel role without crashing!"
On the LAAG, Lightning demanded, "Shut up! You weren't even there!" and got to work, rounds from the tri-barrelled gun disintegrating the Banshee fighter.

Derpy made use of the Scorpion's secondary gun to make it rain upwards, contributing to the destruction of the craft.

Eventually, just as the Banshee pilot had banked his craft around, blue flames began to trail from the flying vehicle, and it came streaking down to the snowy ground. Smashing into a patch of ice, the Banshee broke through and became submerged in the sub-zero water.

"Now the area is clear," Twilight elated as the Ponies commenced celebrating.
Fluttershy smiled and took a quick sip of water.

Outside noises were subdued inside the tank, and that helped ease her aching head. Sitting upright wasn't doing her stomach pains any good though. Hopefully they'd go away on their own soon.

Giving the Ponies the low down, Twilight explained, "Ok, there is a tunnel leading from this valley to the next. You'll find the door at the bottom of this pit."
Getting the tank in motion, Fluttershy peered through the tiny, armoured windscreen at what appeared to be a cross between a trench and a cave. It lead down into the ground, back into the cliff.
"The tunnel's full of rats, if you know what I mean," Twilight added.
"Beats climbing," commented Trixie dryly.

Into the cave, the vehicles drove, out of the light snowfall. Two Hunters had been waiting for them at the bottom. Those mighty titans, those fierce monsters, those dead bodies, went flying up into the air with a single shell from the Scorpion's main gun.
"Ha! Who says Hunters are the worst? Trixie found that easy," the blue Mare gloated.

Coming to a stop on top of the dead Hunters, the convoy reached a huge, square door that blocked the tunnel ahead.
After a few awkward seconds, Lightning asked, "So... we gonna blast our way through it?"
In the Hog's passenger seat, Octavia turned to face her up and down. "That's your solution to everything."
Next to her, Vinyl thought up, "Y'know, we probably could blast our way through."
Octavia sighed and shook her head.

There was a random creak as the tank's hatch flipped open and Fluttershy squeezed her way out.
"We'll open the door," announced Twilight as the yellow Pegasus made her way to a Forerunner control panel.

The Scorpion's main gun began to spin in circles like a merry-go-round.
"Wee," said Trixie impassively as her seat spun under the turret.
Lightning began to copy, spinning the Warthog gun around and around, yawning as she did so.

Pinkie's Ghost could rotate too, and she didn't hesitate to spin the alien hover vehicle and pump a hoof in the air.
"Wooohooooo!" she laughed, loving it.

Clunk! Fluttershy unlocked the door, and the four metal panels parted in opposite directions, revealing the inside of a Forerunner tunnel.

The yellow Mare turned to face her platoon, and was confused by the all the spinning that took place before her. Derpy acknowledged her expression and raised her hooves; she had no idea.

"Uh, we're ready to go?" said the AI, ceasing the spinning.
Pinkie was disheartened. "Aaww."

Lethargically, the still poorly Fluttershy climbed up onto the Scorpion and lowered herself inside, remembering to lock the hatch afterwards. She moaned as she sat herself back down in her uncomfortable seat and set the tank in motion.

The tunnel was of Forerunner design, so naturally it was made out of the same old silvery, engraved metal. It also had blue lights racing along the skirting, and featured some right angled corners, and huge speed bumps that made the tank wallow up and down, up and down, playing harshly with Fluttershy's gut. She felt like she was going to be sick.

The Warthog caught air over the bumps and made jarring landings each time, eliciting grunts from the tripod passenger.
"Ow. Vinyl. Gently please," Octavia requested.
"Oh, sorry, Octy," apologised the blue maned chauffeur as she steadied the car's advance.

Having a whale of a time, Pinkie sped the Ghost up and over the inclines, clearing whole gaps between bumps. She laughed and cheered and even turned back around to put on a stunt show for the slower vehicles. One time, she got so high, she almost took off.

After a minute of careful trundling, the assault force entered a colossal cavern full of Covenant. Two platforms lined each side, and between them, was a gaping chasm with no visible bottom. A couple of bridges spanned the gap, linking the two platforms.

On each platform, there were a number of mysterious, blocky objects that the aliens used as cover, as well as thick pipes that stretched out of the metal ground and arched into the high walls.

The top of the chamber couldn't be seen either, but dim lights cut through the darkness to illuminate the whole area. It kinda reminded Fluttershy of the cavern she'd explored with Applejack and Derpy, back in the meadows. She missed Applejack.

Just as instantly as the vehicles made their appearance, the Covies shot all sorts of brightly coloured stuff at them, including the nasty purple tri-bolts from four Shade turrets, and the deadly green explosives from a couple of distant Hunters.

"Rolling out!" squeaked Pinkie as she shot ahead in the Ghost, picking off the Covies one by one.
The Warthog did likewise, taking care of the right side of the platform.

As Fluttershy parked the Scorpion on the metal floor, Trixie discharged the main gun and completely demolished the bridge to the right, laying waste to an incredibly large amount of Covies. The aliens who survived the blast were the unlucky ones; they had to live as they fell down and down into the bottomless gorge.

Annoyed, Twilight grated, "Trixie! What have you done?!"
"What have I done?" repeated the hat wearing Unicorn. "I've just saved us a whole lot of trouble, that's what I've done!" She fired another shell at the Covenant on the opposite platform, killing a Hunter.
"You destroyed a bridge!"
"So? There's another one."
"Well you better not destroy that one too!"
Trixie purred, "Don't worry; I won't. Hahahaha!" Once more, she fired, and the whole tank shook with the force.

Trixie was making a real mess of the Forerunner architecture; blasting holes into the engraved metal and bringing down pipes. The Covenant must have been absolutely livid at her. The Unicorn Mare couldn't care less however, she just howled with laughter like a dramatic megalomaniac, reigning chaos.
"Fear the wrath of Trixie! Muhuhwahahahahahaa! Muhwha! Muhuhwahaha!"
Jeeze Louise! If she didn't calm down, she'd have a heart attack! The power really had gone to her head, and she twitched like a crazy Pony, sending shell after booming shell into the helpless alien warriors.

On the Ghost, things were a lot more obliviously innocent as Pinkie giggled and snorted, mowing down the Covenant. She even decided to play a game of bumper cars with one of the stationary guns, ramming into it and pushing it closer to the edge of the platform.
The Grunt operator squealed, "Waa! No! Please!"
"Oh ok," Pinkie spared. "But only because you said please." Rotating her Ghost, she whizzed away.

"Phew," wheezed the Grunt, wiping sweat from his forehead.
His Shade was just a centimetre from plunging into the depths. Before he could get back to shooting, the Warthog drove by, and the gunner nailed him with a burst of ammo.

The LRV's tires screeched as Vinyl performed an impressive handbrake turn and floored the accelerator. She glanced at Octavia who was holding on to the dash board, using one hoof to keep her helmet on.

The Unicorn driver splattered a blue armoured Elite and sped out in front of the advancing Scorpion, prompting Fluttershy to hit the brakes with a yelp.
From the tank's secondary gun, Derpy caterwauled, "Coming through!"

In a flash, Pinkie's Ghost shot out in front of the Hog, and Vinyl ended up hitting the brakes herself.
"The other side looks clear!" she observed, wrestling with the wheel to bring the Hog onto the remaining bridge.
Doubtfully, Octavia checked, "Are you sure, Vinyl?"
"Pretty sure." Bringing up her radio, she deliberately grated, "We should cross before Trixie decides to destroy this bridge too!"
Lightning laughed out loud.
Annoyed, Trixie responded, "Don't tempt me!"

Glancing back, Octavia noticed the Scorpion's main gun turn to point at them as Fluttershy manoeuvred the thing towards the bridge. Trixie wouldn't fire. She was just trying to intimidate them into showing her respect, and for that, Octavia didn't respect her. And she wasn't the only one.

One final Hunter was all that remained, and as it turned to aim at the speedy pink Pony, it was sniped in the back by Fleur de Lis. Damn! Even riding on a moving tank, Fleur had excellent aim!

On the opposite track pod, the Stallion called Caramel found himself to be along for the ride, and he looked around awkwardly. He accidently locked eyes with Fleur for a second, and he quickly turned away, hoping she wouldn't see him blush. She continued to stare at him, wanting him to see her expression of disapproval.

With the chamber secured, Fluttershy crossed the bridge in the sixty six tonne Scorpion and brought it to a standstill by the next door. The Ghost and the Warthog pulled over next to it.

"Wha'd'ya call that?!" Vinyl raged at Trixie down the radio.
Still in the tank, Trixie rotated the main gun so she could see the angry Mare.
"What do I call what? You're not even pointing at anything."

Vinyl didn't seem too fazed to be talking up close and personal to a tank's main cannon, and neither did Lightning who shared the Warthog with her, but Octavia seemed a little unnerved.

Pointing at the bridge Trixie had blown up, Vinyl snarled, "That!"
The tank turret turned to face the ruins, then turned back to face Vinyl.
"Oh, I'd call that a job well done on my part."
"We were gonna cross that, and you nearly killed us!"
"Good thing Vinyl's too good a driver," Octavia contributed. "She stopped the Warthog from flying off the edge, just in time."
"Thanks, Octy," Vinyl muttered to her passenger before suggesting, "Y'think ya can give us a heads up next time, Trixie?"
"Oh, the giant explosion not "heads up" enough for you, hmm?"
Lightning got involved. "The giant explosion is what you'd be giving us a heads up for!" Then she just had to add, "Idiot."

Offended, Trixie popped up from the tank's hatch and gasped, "Trixie is no idiot! Take that back!"
Lightning folded her forelegs. "Nope."

Spitefully, the great and furious Trixie reminded, "You crashed our Pelican! Trixie would say that you are the idiot!"
Vinyl groaned with frustration. "Urg! You're both idiots!"

Not really arguing, Derpy advertised, "According to my old Sergeant, I'm an idiot too!"
"Your new Sergeant agrees," Staff Sergeant Trixie delivered in a dead pan tone.
All at once, the Ponies erupted into a volcano of quarrelsomeness; pointing hooves and blaming each other. Only Octavia, Fleur and Fluttershy couldn't be bothered arguing. Pinkie Pie spun around in the Ghost making silly noises as loud as she could, not arguing, but contributing to the ruckus all the same.

"Oh!" Trixie popped in surprise as something inside the tank touched her hind legs.
"Oops, sorry. Excuse me," Fluttershy spoke from underneath her.
Rolling her purple eyes, Trixie lifted her whole self out of the tank to make way for Fluttershy. The pink maned Pegasus clambered out and jumped to the metal floor.

"Ponies! Stop your arguing!" demanded Twilight, her voice echoing around the cavern. "Don't you all remember why we're here?!"
There was a silent pause before Derpy answered, "... Well it is one of life's great mysteries."
"We're here to get to the control room before the Covenant! And the more time we spend bickering, the more chances the Covenant have of winning!"

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "You say that like it's a race or something."
"That's because it is a race," the AI educated.
"Oh. I love a good race."
"The Covenant are still trying to get through the door. If we stop arguing and hurry, we can get to them before they make it inside!"
Out loud, Trixie moaned, "Something that would be a lot faster if we still had our Pelican."
"Trixie!"

Quietly, Fluttershy paced over to a Forerunner control panel and placed her hooves over it, ready to open the door. Her head ache and sweltering temperature had faded a little; not much, but a little. The big bad tummy ache was still hanging around though, and it hurt to move.

"Ok, is everypony ready?" Twilight checked, the Ponies no longer arguing.
Together, they all nodded and hummed, "Mm-hm."
"Good. Hit it!"
Fluttershy hoofed a button on the translucent display and rushed to re-join Trixie in the Scorpion, the huge door grinding open.

With all the little niggles set aside, for the time being, the three vehicles proceeded out of the cavern and through a second tunnel.

Author's Note:

USE MEDIUM DARK BACKGROUND.

Octavia! What have they done to you! Bless her three cotton socks :3

Lol I love making Ponies argue. Did y'all pick up the RvB reference?

9th May 2014. Tomorrow is the season 4 finale. You excited? Of course yer not, cos by the time this gets published, it'll 'av already aired. Did you like it? I don't know if I liked it or not cos this is the past. Hello future! Did the apocalypse happen yet? No? Aw, too bad :(

19th October 2014 Publishing Day. Well it's the future now, so I can say I loved the season 4 finale, and the apocalypse hasn't happened xD Anywho, proud o' this chapter, and this mission is probably Trixie's best outing.

"Hey Trixie, you need some butter? Oh never mind, you'll just eat it!"

Comments

[Hi World]

5148836 Mares like superior firepower Which is ironically the title of the next chapter