Chapter 30: The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe
Two Betrayals.
All was quiet in the world of teleportation, until Fluttershy started, "Um, is there anything you can tell me about the Flood?"
"Nothing you don't already know," Spark returned.
Ugh, not this again.
"Ok... Well, er... let's pretend I don't know anything," she craftily articulated. "What can you tell me about the Flood? Where did they come from? Why are they so... so... mean?"
"Mean?" boggled the monitor. "Oh no, the Flood aren't mean."
"They tried to kill me."
"Of course. They-"
"-They actually did kill P-p-pinkie Pie!"
Crying in teleportation felt different to crying out of it. Because she was currently without a body, she couldn't really squirt tears. All she could do was make noise. Noise that 343 Guilty Spark couldn't identify with.
"Why do you make these noises, reclaimer? Moaning will not solve anything."
"I know," she babbled, trying to sniff, but unable to. "I'm just sad. Pinkie was my friend. I just can't believe she's gone."
After a beat, the monitor mentioned, "... Not completely gone."
Fluttershy was confused. "Huh?"
"The Flood will certainly put her body to use."
"Ohh!" She would've put her hooves over her mouth. "Ohh! That's even worrrse, aha-aha-aha-ahaa!"
Had Guilty Spark been trying to comfort her? Because he'd done the polar opposite. It was almost as if he was saying; "it's ok, she may be dead now, but the Flood will bring her back. Yay!" Fluttershy would rather see Pinkie's passing go undisturbed, and uncorrupted. Actually, she'd rather see Pinkie's passing not happen at all, and still have the living, laughing fluff ball by her side. Unfortunately, she couldn't turn back time.
Moving on, Spark droned, "Yes, were you not the reclaimer, I could see how you would think the Flood are mean." He paused, allowing Fluttershy to whimper. "But the consumption of life is simply their nature. Their survival as a race is dependant upon it."
Nature: Nature's best excuse. Fluttershy was into nature. She loved all animals. Crocodiles, lions, bears, and many more predatory species. A bear killing a fish for food wasn't evil; it was just nature. The Flood killing her friends for the same reason, well, it was hard to say, but that wasn't really evil either. It was just nature. And this was the first time Fluttershy ever hated nature.
"Their origins are unknown," Spark continued. "They came to us from another galaxy. They spread fast and strong, retaining all useful information from their hosts. That knowledge is shared with every existing Flood form. A hivemind, if you will."
Fluttershy knew all about hiveminds with insects, and she felt a shiver run up her spine.
Realising what Spark had said before bringing up hivemind, Fluttershy quieried, "W... what do you m-mean by... "retaining information?""
"I mean what I say," he answered plainly. "Any knowledge possesed by a host is accessed by the Flood. If they find something useful, they keep it to themselves, like how to use weapons, and where to find more food. Things they don't have any use for, such as memories, are discarded, never to be thought of again."
"Oh goodness!" she gasped. "Is this true?"
The nightmare that is the Flood was hard to believe on its own, but now she had to stomach the fact that they could rob the brains of all who became infected? No wonder the Covenant were so afraid of the darn things!
Replying to the shy, Spark affirmed, "Yes, it is true. Magnificent, isn't it?"
"Magnificent?"
"How it works. It is truely impressive." Guilty Spark be trippin'.
Fluttershy knew where he was coming from, but she wouldn't use words like "magnificent" or "impressive" to describe what was quite possibly the greatest peril the galaxy had ever faced.
Every time she had encountered the Flood, the combat forms had been made from Ponies, Jackals and Elites, but not a single Grunt.
It confused her, and prompted her to ask, "Do you know why Grunts can't get infected? Is there some sort of prevention?"
"Grunts?"
"Yes. You know; short, high pitched, breathe methane..."
"Oohh, you mean the Unggoy."
"Unggoy?"
"Grunts? That's a funny name," Spark chuckled before continuing. "Anyway, Unggoy can't get infected because they are deemed too small, so instead, they are just absorbed for nourishment and knowledge. A host must be big enough to support the virus."
Exiting teleportation, Fluttershy felt herself being stitched back together, and behind the golden flare, Halo's control room came into view.
"Which means that any organism of sufficient mass and cognitive capability is a potential factor."
Ha, he was starting to sound like Twilight. Speaking of which, the array of Forerunner telemetry shimmered away at the end of the spectacular glass extension, Twilight somewhere within.
Not sure if she should tell Guilty Spark about the UPSC AI, Fluttershy looked around sheepishly, watching the gold light fade away. Finally, she was able to cry properly, but she'd cried enough in teleportation, so all she ended up doing was sniffling.
"Is something wrong?" projected the Forerunner machine.
"No... nothing."
"Splendid. Shall we?" Now he was sounding like Rarity.
Oh Rarity, that was another friend lost to the Flood, and it triggered her crying again.
Whizzing over to the control panel carefree, the monitor sang, "La-lala-lala-lala-lala!"
This was uncanny. First he sounded like Twilight, then Rarity, and now Pinkie Pie? To say the Flood harvested knowledge, Spark was doing a pretty good job harvesting her friends' personalities. He also did a good job putting images of those friends in her head, and she sulked as she trudged on over to Halo's controls.
Weariness grew within her, and she yawned on her way across the eerie abyss, wanting to take a drink of water, but forcing herself to conserve the tiny drop she had left.
"Unfortunately," the Forerunner AI began, matter of factly, "My role in this particular endeavour has come to an end. Protocol does not allow units from my classification to perform a task as important as the reunification of the index with the core." Twilight surfaced in his mannerisms again. He zipped around to float beside the yellow Pegasus. "That final step is reserved for you, reclaimer."
Wiping her tears, she pointed to herself. "Me?"
Spark nodded.
Wow. She had been on the journey from hell, and it all came down to this. She was about to do something that may have not been done in over a hundred thousand years. She, Fluttershy, was about to fire Halo, the mighty Flood killing machine, and save the galaxy from a demise most dreadful. The weight on her shoulders was enough to crush her, but the weight of the index that Spark deposited on her hoof was very light, and using her mouth, she slotted the device into an obvious looking receptacle. What happened next caught the monitor off guard.
A slow motion tornado of blue light rose up from the console, and a pleasant tingling noise resonated around the gigantic chamber. Suddenly, the spiralling blue light disappeared, as did the noise. Aside from all that, nothing really happened.
Awkward silence befell Fluttershy and Spark.
"Um... was that it?" the pink maned Mare puzzled.
Spark had gone silent.
"Did we do it? Are all the Flood gone now?" Having a good idea what the answer would be, Fluttershy went ahead and asked anyway, "Don't suppose it cures anyone who's been infected, does it?" just hoping there would be some good news for Rarity and Pinkie.
"No," Spark eventually spoke.
Fluttershy sighed, "Thought so."
"No, no, no." On about something else, he whizzed around, almost as if he were pacing. "That wasn't meant to happen. In all the one point two trillion simulated tests, my installation has fired without incident!"
Fluttershy hadn't expected to see the little round robot vent emotion, yet here he was, panicking.
"So... Halo isn't working?" she asked, disappointed, scared.
"Oh, I'm going to get to the bottom of this," Spark declared, and would've stomped a foot. "I will fire my installation!" Correcting himself, he rotated to Fluttershy and got close, talking in a serious tone. "You will fire my installation."
Backing up, Fluttershy felt intimidated. Must've been payback for the stare she'd given him in the library.
"Oh no she won't!" came a loud, recognisable voice.
Making her grand return, AI Princess Twilight Sparkle fizzled into existence and towered over the console, over them.
"Twilight!" cheered Fluttershy with elation.
She had been excited to reunite with Twilight, and seeing her now put a smile on her tear-streaked face.
This was the first time 343 Guilty Spark had met Twilight, and her surprise appearance left him lost for words. "Oh... oh my."
Now that was Fluttershy in his tone. All he needed to say now was "awesome" and "sugar cube" and he'd have the full set!
Joyfully, the petite Pegasus announced, "Oh I'm so happy to see you, Twilight! You wouldn't believe-"
"-What, in Equestria, do you think you are doing, Fluttershy?!" grated Twilight, staring at Fluttershy like she had been naughty.
The outburst took her by surprise.
"Well, I-I'm stopping the Flood," she told innocently.
"Oh, that's what he told you?"
"Well, yes," she nodded. "He's the monitor of installation 04."
"And thanks to him, you almost wiped out all life in the galaxy!"
"I did?!" The yellow Mare was shocked, and her eyes shot wide open.
Warming up, Twilight smiled and chuckled, "Mm-hm. Good thing I was here to stop you."
Mind blown, Fluttershy stuttered, "B-but, I... I don't understand. He said-"
"-He said what? That bringing the index here would make all the monsters go away?" Twilight then went into sarcastic impression mode, mocking the monitor, and Fluttershy couldn't help but feel a little mocked too. ""Yeah, let's just fire Halo! It's as simple as that!" Pffft! Give me a break."
Rising up, 343 Guilty Spark let the discovery of Twilight sink in, and drawled, "A construct? In the core?! That is absolutely unacceptable!"
"No!" Twilight shouted back. "What's unacceptable is taking advantage of Fluttershy here and making her do your dirty work!"
"What impertinence! I shall purge you at once!"
"Ha! You can't purge me! Look what I have!" Making her Alicorn horn glow, Twilight brought up a digital representation of the index and all the data stored in it. "You purge me, I'll delete the index!"
Stammering, Guilty Spark was livid. "Oh... H... how dare you! I'll-"
"-Do what, hm? Send your little Sentinels after us? Surely you've seen what Fluttershy and I are capable of."
"Oh, please stop arguing," moaned Fluttershy, dropping to her belly and covering her aching head. "And please tell me what is going on!"
"Oh, I'll tell you what's going on alright," Twilight stated, a smirk on her translucent, purple face. "Do you know why the Forerunners built this place?"
Peering up, the meek Pegasus articulated, "Um... I thought I did. Guilty Spark told me it was built to defeat the Flood."
"Lies! Lies! Lies!" chanted the AI, pointing at Spark with every syllable. "It was built to defeat their food. Ponies, Covenant, whatever. We are all equally edible. The only way to stop the Flood is to starve them to death, and that's exactly what Halo is designed to do: Wipe the galaxy clean of all sentient life."
Dumbfounded, Fluttershy stared up at the artificial Alicorn with gaping blue eyes and a wide open mouth. She was almost responsible for setting the apocalypse in motion.
"Don't believe me? Ask him."
Twilight pointed at Spark yet again, and Fluttershy nervously pivoted to face him, her dislike for him growing. "Um... is this... true?"
"... More or less," came his answer, not sounding guilty at all. In fact, he sounded rather merry, and it gave Fluttershy the shudders. "This installation has a maximum effective radius of twenty five thousand light years, but once the others follow suit, this galaxy will be quite devoid of life, or at least any life with sufficient biomass to sustain the Flood."
The others? wondered Fluttershy. More than one doomsday device with a doomsday taking place on its surface was worrying.
Resuming, Spark paused before stating, "But you already knew this. I mean, how couldn't you?"
"Left out that little detail, did he?" Twilight spat from the side of her mouth.
Rambling on, Spark said, "We followed outbreak containment procedure to the letter! You were with me each step of the way as we managed the process."
As per usual, Fluttershy didn't have a clue what he was on about.
Twilight spoke up uneasily from behind, "Fluttershy, I'm picking up movement."
In response, the little Mare gulped, looking around.
"Why would you hesitate to do what you have already done?"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Fluttershy, yank me, we need to go."
Hastily, the pink maned Pegasus ejected Twilight's chip from the console, glancing back between it and 343 Guilty Spark.
"Last time you asked me, "if it were my choice, would I do it?" Having had considerable time to ponder your query, my answer has not changed."
Fluttershy couldn't remember asking Spark anything of the sort.
A flock of those flying zapper machines that Twilight had called "Sentinels" arrayed themselves behind the ranting robot, daunting Fluttershy. She backed up, her rump against the controls, eyes darting from one Sentinel to the next.
"There is no choice. We must activate the ring."
"Are... are you sure there is no other other way?" stuttered the shy.
"I'm afraid not, reclaimer. To prevent the Flood from spreading, its sustenance must be exterminated."
Afraid, Fluttershy swallowed.
"If you are unwilling to help, I will simply find another. Still, I must have the index. Give your construct to me, or I will be forced to take her from you."
Out of Fluttershy's speakers, the construct in question countered, "That's not going to happen, buster!"
The monitor sighed with disappointment, "So be it." Then, addressing the Sentinels, he ordered, "Save her construct. Dispose of the rest." And with that, he produced his arm of electricity, reaching out for the defunct index that was nestled in the console, and once he had it, he vanished in a cylinder of golden light.
His four airborne Sentinels focused on the sole Pony, who quivered with fear before Halo's control panel.
"Uh oh."
In unison, the Sentinels fired. Fluttershy squealed and darted around on the glass floor, nowhere to hide, lasers burning her shields.
"Take em out, Fluttershy!" encouraged Twilight. "Your shields will drop! Try and take down two of them before they do, then take cover!"
Shields decreasing, the yellow Pegasus fired her spray gun up at the Sentinels. Small and airborne, the Sentinels were like little flies - no; wasps. Flies were harmless, but wasps could sting.
The lasers the machines fired were quiet, only making hissing noises. Fluttershy's assault rifle on the other hoof, was very loud, and it thundered over the Sentinels and her screams as she ran about, firing bursts at them.
Eventually, she was able to bring one down, and it hit the deck in a flurry of blue flames. However, a shrill alarm indicated her shields low, so she had to abort early.
Although the extended glass platform had no railings, the circular end did feature a series of high glass panels, and Fluttershy made like a bee behind one. Those super-heated Forerunner lasers began melting lines into the glass. It became a race; Fluttershy's recharging energy shields versus the Sentinels melting away her glass protection.
Luckily, her shields were victorious, and Twilight commanded, "Get back out there," as she leapt out from behind the window, just as one of the lasers broke through.
The ringing chatter of her MA5B tore around the control room, and the bullets started chipping away at the airborne mechanisms.
Baring the brunt of the lasers, Fluttershy soon made one Sentinel combust into blue fire and crinkled metal. The remaining two kept on bombarding Fluttershy with piping hot energy.
Taking cover behind another glass panel, Fluttershy reloaded, sweat pouring from her brow as her shields bleeped and the Sentinels gradually sizzled their way through the glass.
With shields back to fully charged, MA5B reloaded and the glass cover vandalised, Fluttershy took Twilight's orders and got back to work, sending one Sentinel down, down, down into the echoic abyss.
She ran at the last one, taking a whole lot of laser to the face, and succeeded in shooting it down before her shields were completely drained.
Taking a breather, she reloaded, wiped the sweat from her head, and stopped herself from drinking the last drop of water. Panting, she gradually approached the huge exit door, shocked at the Sentinels' attack. When she'd first seen them taking care of the Flood in the swamp, she'd been glad to have met new allies, but since she and 343 Guilty Spark had reached a disagreement, those allies became enemies at the flick of a switch, and whatever laid ahead for her was bound to be ten million times harder.
As her shields regenerated, Twilight spoke out loud, "We can't let the monitor activate Halo."
"Well, he can't, can he?" Fluttershy figured. "We have the index."
"We both have the index."
"There's two indexes?"
"Two halves."
As Fluttershy took shaky steps, Twilight explained, "We have the index's data. He has the icon itself. Both are needed to activate Halo. Backups can be made at the library, but only if the current index is destroyed. As monitor, he can't let harm come to the index, hence why he wants me intact, and he sure isn't gonna destroy the icon he holds."
Rubbing her eyes, Fluttershy tried to keep up. "So we just keep the data and the icon separate? And we're safe?"
"No," Twilight denied. "Remember what he said? He will simply find another."
"... Another what?"
"Another reclaimer, like you, to help him. He can't destroy the icon, but he can persuade someone else to, then a brand new index will be his."
"Oh no," the Pegasus moaned, realising Halo was still a threat. "What... what do we do?"
"We do the one thing we can do." The AI took a dramatic pause before stating seriously, "We have to destroy Halo."
Fluttershy was flabbergasted. "Destroy Halo?!"
Her original orders to keep Twilight safe on the ring world had been tough. Getting to Halo's control centre; herculean. And now it was up to her to destroy the entire ring world?! The odds were so impossibly high, she almost fainted.
Reaching the door, she took a breather and enquired, "H... h-how are we supposed to do that?!"
Twilight's answer was unexpected. "The Filly of Autumn."
"The Filly of Autumn?" the doubtful Fluttershy double checked. "But... I thought it crashed."
"It did crash. We'll be detonating what's left of it. Her fusion reactors going critical will be enough to destroy Halo."
Not liking the idea, it took a while for Fluttershy to answer. "Ok then."
"For now, we should buy some time so the monitor and his second reclaimer don't activate Halo before we blow it up."
"Third," Fluttershy corrected, giving Twilight a taste of her own medicine.
"Huh?"
"Third reclaimer, whatever a reclaimer is... Th... there was one other before me."
When Fluttershy and Pinkie had left Twilight at the control centre, it had been to find Applejack and Rarity. However, the pink maned Pegasus had returned alone, and now it was time to share her experience with the AI.
"Oh," sounded Twilight, surprised. Thinking nothing of it, she continued, "Well while the monitor and his third reclaimer go through that whole "ten door thing" in the library, we should destroy Halo's three phase pulse generators. They will need to be repaired before Halo can be used, giving us plenty of time."
Now that the AI had shut up for at least a second, Fluttershy could get in, "Twilight, the first reclaimer... It was Pinkie."
"Pinkie Pie?"
"She's gone." Fluttershy was developing tears again.
"Aw, don't worry, Fluttershy. She'll turn up somewhere," Twilight attempted to soothe, misunderstanding. "She's Pinkie Pie, remember?"
"No," stomped Fluttershy, voice croaking. "I saw her... She won't be coming back this time."
With a gasp, Twilight started, "You mean...?"
Slumped against the massive door, Fluttershy nodded and bit her lip, and soon, she had to put up with the AI crying in her head.
Gazing around the beautiful control room, Fluttershy thought there were worse places to break down, and her mind went absent with the majesty.
Eventually, Twilight trembled, "What about Applejack and Rarity? What about Rainbow Dash? Tell me they're safe. Tell me they're..." She drifted off into hushed sobs.
"Well." Sniff. "Applejack and Rainbow Dash were alright when I last saw them."
"... Rarity... You didn't say Rarity. What does that mean?"
"You... you probably know."
"Oh no!" And that set her off again.
The giant, holographic projection of Halo rotated gracefully, showing off a bunch of flashing red lights on its surface that weren't there before. It confused Fluttershy. Frightened her. What could those red lights represent?
After a while, the AI picked up where she left off. "Right... where was I again... Oh, the pulse generators, yes." Her voice was unusually quiet. "We destroy the pulse generators, destroy the Autumn, Halo... And then... Then..."
Continuing, Fluttershy got up and breathed, "... And then we go home."
With an end to the nightmare somewhere below the horizon, Fluttershy selected a button on a small control panel, opening the gigantic Forerunner doors, exposing the wide, metal-glass segmented corridor and four more Sentinels.
"Take cover," demanded Twilight, still quiet, but just as urgent.
The little Pony ducked down behind the teeniest out-cropping of metal, barely covered.
Before those flying machines could locate her, a familiar sound entered the enormous corridor. A sound Fluttershy felt she hadn't heard in ages, and would normally turn her blood cold, but after the horrors she'd faced with the Flood, she found herself welcoming it. The Covenant.
A collection of fit and healthy Grunts, Jackals and Elites fanned out into the cavernous corridor in the usual Covenant formation, meeting the Sentinels, and were instantaneously fired upon.
"Why are they fighting each other?" whispered Fluttershy, confused. Pleased, but confused.
"I'm not sure," came the AI's answer. "Could be something to do with them releasing the Flood." Forcing a chortle, she added, "Or maybe they're so stubborn about their beliefs, they won't even let their own gods stand in their way, hm-hm."
Watching safely from the sidelines, the Pony witnessed Sentinels burning Covies to the ground, and the Covies answering in kind with their variety of alien weapons.
Soon, two Elites and one Sentinel remained, and oddly enough, Twilight suggested, "We should help that Sentinel."
"Help it?"
"It'll make taking care of those Elites much easier. Once they're taken care of, we'll take out the Sentinel."
Fluttershy understood, and uneasily, she stepped out and closed the gap between herself and the ensuing fight.
Her MA5B temporarily joined the Sentinel beam in taking out the Elites' shields. Once they were vulnerable and trying to run for cover, a burst from her rifle floored one, and the Sentinel took care of the other. Now that all the Covenant had been disposed of, she fired straight up, taking no time at all to send the Forerunner device hurtling to the deck with a crash.
Immediately, she reloaded her gun, and decided to take that last sip of water now. She was thirsty, ok. But she was nowhere near as thirsty as she was tired, and a big yawn came sounding from her mouth.
"Tired, Fluttershy?"
Rubbing her eyes, the Pegasus affirmed, "... Uh-huh."
"We've got a long journey ahead of us. I doubt we'll ever get time to rest," informed the AI apologetically. "I'm sorry."
"Oohh," Fluttershy groaned, then sighed, "... No need to be sorry, Twilight. You haven't done anything."
Traversing the corridor, Fluttershy came up to the door leading back outside into the arctic wilderness.
"Friendlies are waiting for us outside," broadcasted Twilight instructively. "The assault force, to be precise."
Tapping the Forerunner controls, Fluttershy parted the massive doors, and an all mighty whistle came blowing in, along with ferocious snow and ice cold wind. She shielded her face from the harsh weather, her mane and tail blowing in the strong gustiness.
"Wow! The weather's gotten pretty bad!" shouted Twilight, drowned out by the blizzard.
Fluttershy didn't quite catch her. "What?!"
"I said!" Switching to private chat, Twilight could speak at a normal volume, and Fluttershy could hear her perfectly in her brain. "-The weather's gotten pretty bad."
Not sure what to say, Fluttershy yelled, "Oh, it has, hasn't it!"
"Hellooo?!" echoed a distant voice, its sorce not visible. "Who's theerre?!"
Onto the coms, Twilight responded, "Vinyl Scratch, is that you?"
There was a buzz as the hidden Pony answered her radio. "Oh, hi, Twilight! Yeah, it's me. Fluttershy with you?"
"Yes."
"Well duh," snorted another voice. It was familiar, but Fluttershy was so tired, she couldn't quite put her hoof on it.
In retaliation to the voice, Vinyl snapped, "Shut up," and then resumed, "Alright, we're sending a couple of soldiers down to escort you up."
"Thank you, Vinyl."
Ah, the assault force. A sight for sore eyes. If only Fluttershy could see them.
True to Vinyl's words, two silhouetted Pegasi came swooping down, fighting the storm. One of them crashed face first into the deck while the other managed to land on her hooves. As Fluttershy approached them, they faded into view through the snow; Derpy and Flitter.
"Hi, Fluttershy!" Flitter greeted loudly, her light blue hair whirling in the gale. "Follow us!"
Crossing the top of the Forerunner pyramid, the three Mares entered a stripped out tower and ascended the winding ramp all the way to the top where everypony else was waiting. The snow was still trickling inside, but not by much.
The assault force huddled around a camp fire that crackled away over an assortment of fire wood. Vinyl Scratch and Octavia were next to each other, the latter sleeping peacefully in a thin blanket. Fluttershy sure could go for a nap right about now.
Fleur de Lis was there, and she was cleaning all the components of her sniper rifle. No surprise there.
Sharing a snack of what looked like pine leaves, the bazooka-hauling Blossomforth and the brash Lightning Dust munched away, taking sips from their flasks every now and then.
Everypony was shivering in the cold, bunching up to each other around the fire to keep warm.
"Hi, Fluttershy. Nice to see you back," welcomed Vinyl in a hushed tone, showing consideration for her sleeping friend. "How did the search go?"
As everypony, well, most of the Ponies, leaned in to listen, Fluttershy began, "Um... about that..."
*****
Meanwhile, in the bowels of the library, Pinkie Pie's body laid still and silent. Other bodies were scattered with hers; rotten, infected.
The entire complex was silent, the only audibleness coming from the pulsating column of light that raced up through the chamber where the index had once been.
... Clang! Something pierced the eerie stillness, and the Flood were spurred into action. All around the library, infection forms, combat forms and carrier forms took hunt as something made its entrance. On the bottom floor, a thin line of daylight grew and grew, lighting up the gloom.
Dead bodies were resurrected by parasites, squealing and howling and thrashing back up to their feet. Pinkie had been responsible for their previous deaths, but now, she was just another body on the floor. A hungry infection form slithered up to her and latched on.
*****
Having heard it all from the shy's mouth, and from her AI, the assault force had mixed reactions to mixed subjects. There was confusion over Halo, the index and the Sentinels, fear over the Flood, and sorrow for those who hadn't made it. Well, Lightning Dust and Fleur never expressed sorrow. Lightning didn't really give a hoot about anything, just labelled everything that wasn't equine "bad" and wanted to kick its butt. And Fleur always acted like she had something to hide, never speaking and stuff. Her interest in the actual intel was clear though.
Another Pony who didn't react, was Octavia, who was still fast asleep, oblivious to the conversation, probably dreaming something sweet. Good for her.
Destroying Halo was a lot for the assault force to stomach, especially now they were down four. The two Stallions, Bulk and Caramel, weren't present for some reason. And of course the squad's two best soldiers, Pinkie and Trixie, were KIA. Even as a group of eight, it was a mountain of a task.
Doubtfully, Vinyl pronounced, "Uhh... this sounds... risky."
"Maybe for you," Lightning spoke, styling her fiery orange mane. "But I think it sounds easy peasy."
The nervous warble in Lightning's tone was laughable. Why didn't she just admit she was nervous? Not brave enough?
"Oh it's risky alright," agreed Twilight, ignoring Lightning. "But it's this or nothing."
"Well why don't we just do nothing?" Derpy pondered daftly. "Surely that'll be easier."
Face-hoofing, Vinyl groaned, "For crying out loud, Derpy, doing nothing won't destroy Halo."
"But Twilight said we could."
"Tell ya what, Derpy," Lightning got involved. "How about you stay here and do nothing while the rest of us, mostly me, take credit for saving the universe."
Derpy hesitated, then huddled up. "... Please don't leave me."
Eager to get going, Twilight checked, "So... is everypony ready?"
There was a nod of acknowledgement from Fleur, but then she looked surprised when Octavia made a grunting noise in her sleep.
"Vinyl?"
Doing Vinyl's job, Lightning yelled at Octy, "Rise and shine, Princess!" and shook her vigorously.
Vinyl shoved the arrogant Pegasus away. "Hey, knock it off!"
With a snort, Octavia woke up and glanced around, eyes half shut. "Huh? Wha-?" She noticed Fluttershy. "Oh, hello, Fluttershy." Yawn. "When did you get back?"
"Um, just now."
To Octavia, Vinyl muttered, "We gotta move. We've got a mission to do."
Groggily, the Earth Pony Mare rubbed her eyes and wondered, "Uh, what mission?"
Having slept through the entire debrief, she listened carefully as Vinyl explained it all to her.
Twilight advertised, "Ok. I'm having trouble getting a lock on the Filly of Autumn's location. Bad weather, y'know. I'll find it soon enough. As for Halo's phase pulse generators, they're dotted around these canyons. The first one is high above us."
"Above us?" queried Blossomforth, looking up at the ceiling. Shrugging her rocket launcher, she asked, "You want us to fly up there and destroy it?"
"Won't work. Me and Fluttershy need to be there to deliver the EMP."
"Emp," Derpy chirped. "It... it's emp... Just letting you know... Yeah, it's definitely e-"
"-Shut up, Derpy."
Puzzled, Fluttershy asked, "But, how are we supposed to get up there?"
"Easy. Remember the last time we were here?"
She remembered being carried to the top of the pyramid by a certain great and powerful Unicorn, and she strained, "... Tr... Trixie?"
"... Pinkie."
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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Urg, that scene about Pinkie is annoying, and I swear to God, if she turns out to be alive, or is unable to be infected by the flood, I will murder someone.
5492396 Don't worry, Pinkie aint alive or immune. Bringing her back alive and healthy would be silly lol.
5492717 Good, that's Sergeant Johnson's shtick.