• Published 29th Dec 2013
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Once Upon a Time, on an Alien Ring World - Hi World



Halo CE crossover. Follow the mane six and friends as they crash-land on Halo, and end up fighting for more than just survival.

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Chapter 4: Frightened Pegasi and AI Constructs First

With a pack of Grunts waiting for them outside the air-lock, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie made their appearance, and hosed all three of them down like it was nothing.

Inhaling, Pinkie whooped, "Wooo! You go, Fluttershy! You dropped two of those things!"
Disbelievingly, the meek Pegasus questioned, "Did I? I... I don't think I did."
"You did, Fluttershy," confirmed Twilight proudly. "You're really improving. Keep it up, and soon, you'll be able to take on whole armies!"
Fluttershy knew she was joking about that last part, so she brought a hoof to her mouth and tittered, "Hm-hm-hm. I don't know about that, Twilight."

Trotting around the corner where the dead Grunts laid, the two Ponies ran into a sealed containment door.
Twilight answered the question Fluttershy was about to ask. "Look right. Do you see the maintenance access way?"

To the right, was a compact opening. It should've been sealed shut, but the doors were stuck open for whatever reason. The maintenance access way was more like an air vent; off the ground, narrow, and very, very dark.
Sticking her head into the gloomy shaft, Pinkie sang, "Piiickle barrelll!"
Her pronunciation of "pickle barrel" echoed for two and a bit times before drifting away into eerie silence.

"Oooh, spooky... Let's go!" Pinkie squeezed into the duct and shot along.
"Pinkie! Wait!" cried Fluttershy before clambering into the minuscule shaft, scraping her way through.

It was so dark in the shaft, she might as well be blindfolded. It was cramped too; her armoured body filling the square tunnel. Hyperventilating, she drowned in in a sea of claustrophobia, hearing nothing but scurring from up ahead, which she could only assume was Pinkie.

Clang! The door behind her slammed itself shut; no turning back.

"It's ok, Fluttershy," soothed Twilight. "There's nothing to be afraid of."
Fluttershy didn't answer; too busy huffing and puffing, sweat beading her forehead.

The AI then shouted, "Pinkie Pie!" prompting a startled squeal from Fluttershy.
Increasing, a heavy clang clang clang clang came pounding in Fluttershy's direction. She dropped her face into her hooves and quivered as the source of the racket came to a stop right in front of her, and pushed its face against her mane.
"Yes, Twilight?"
Oh, it's just Pinkie. Phew... I knew that.

Talking to Pinkie, Twilight said, "Fluttershy is scared. She has no flashlight. I happen to know you have one on your gun. Could you please use it and help her through these tunnels?"
Pinkie replied, "Aw, of course I will," prior to switching the flashlight on on her rifle, illuminating her excited face. "There there, Fluttershy. It's ok," she reassured, lifting Fluttershy's shivering face. "Just follow me." Crawling backwards, she lead the frightened one through the shafts, beaming optimistically back at her.

Catching her breath, Fluttershy sniffled, following the reversing Mare, who proceeded to drone, "Beep... beep... beep... beep..."

Fluttershy and Pinkie continued to stare at each other as they progressed deeper into the maintenance access ways. Randomly, Pinkie started making funny faces, derping her eyes and waggling her tongue, making silly noises. Stifling, Fluttershy chortled at Pinkie's antics as Twilight directed them left and right, left and right through the maze.

Just as she was starting to calm down, something slammed into the Filly of Autumn, rattling and creaking the complex of tubes.
"Aaaarrg!" she shrieked, hiding her face in her hooves again.
"Ssshh-sh-sh-sshh. It's ok, Fluttershy. We're almost out of here," comforted Pinkie before checking with Twilight, "We are almost out of here, right?"
"Yes, the exit is just ahead."
"See. Told ya so."

With the weight of her fear, Fluttershy continued on after Pinkie, until Twilight ordered, "Stop!" There was a brief pause before the AI stated, "I'm detecting Covenant movement outside the exit."
Whimpering hopelessly, Fluttershy's face descended into her hooves for a third time.
"I recommend taking the next right; we should be able to sneak up behind them."
Do we have to fight them? Fluttershy pondered, too afraid to ask it out loud.

Veering away from the exit, Twilight and Pinkie brought Fluttershy into an equally dark room. At least Fluttershy didn't have cramped quarters to worry about now.

The torch on Pinkie's MA5B scanned around the entire room, until it revealed a half open door. Fluttershy approached the door, just as a looming black figure rose up in front of her and sent her screaming into a corner.
"Pinkie!" yelled Twilight as the Earth Pony cast a shadow puppet in the shape of a chicken on the door.
"Oops! Sorry," she apologised, putting an end to the bird.

Nervously, Fluttershy approached the door once more as Twilight analysed, "The door controls are offline, but it's taken a lot of damage. You should be able to buck your way through, no problem."

The two Mares looked at each other. Fluttershy's Spartan armour enhanced her strength, which was useful considering how delicate she was.

Putting her armour to the test, she decided make herself useful, and delivered the most powerful, double hooved buck she could summon.
"Good. One more."
Any other Pony would have done it in one, she believed.
Delivering a second buck of the hooves, she successfully demolished the malfunctioned door.
"Well done," commended the other two.

On the other side, was a well lit corridor. Fluttershy had to shield her eyes after the darkness she'd been subjected to. Boy, it felt great to be in a nice, open, lit up area, and she sighed with solace, Pinkie switching off her torch.

Making their way down the corridor, Twilight warned, "The Covenant are holding position in the main corridor, two left turns from here."
Well, that solace didn't last very long.

Preliminary to taking the first left, Pinkie Pie stopped and held out a hoof to block Fluttershy. Wordlessly, she tip-hooved around the corner by herself, only to return exactly one second later, donning a Grunt's breathing mask.

Whispering through the muffling device, she told, "Ok. There are three Elites, and a million Grunts."
"A... million?" trembled the shy.
"There's not a million, Pinkie," Twilight disagreed.
Whisper-shouting, Pinkie stated, "I exaggerate, but you get the idea!"

Getting down to business, Fluttershy debated, "So, um, how do we plan this?"
"Well, I would advise-"
Twilight's logic was interrupted by the pink one's nonsense. "-Easy! We go in, guns blazing! Hehahaha!" snort.
And away Pinkie raced, back the way they came and into the maintenance access ways.
"Pinkie! Ugh! Get into position, Fluttershy," grated the stressed out Princess, who then began muttering incoherently to herself.

Rounding the left hoof corner, Fluttershy came across a dead, red armoured Grunt laying sideways on the deck. His breather was missing, exposing his tiny little mouth. The whereabouts of his mask were pretty obvious.

This was the first time Fluttershy had ever seen a Grunt with no mask, and she couldn't say she liked the sight of it. She'd always thought the Grunts were cute, and that they were just being influenced by the other races of the Covenant, but the miniature teeth in this Grunt's mouth looked kinda... well... evil.

Still, she wouldn't be who she was if she was judgemental. Back on Equestria, she used to take care of all sorts of creatures that others may have found frightening. Bats, snakes, bears - you name it.

In the main corridor, the Covenant held position, when all of a sudden, the thundering sound of an MA5B assault rifle grabbed their attention.

Spying into the wider corridor, Fluttershy watched as Pinkie, who still donned the Grunt's breather, flashed out of a maintenance access point, fired a burst, flashed back into the shafts, and just as quickly reappeared from another hatch, firing another burst. She repeated this over and over, confusing the alien soldiers as they aimed their weapons here, there, everywhere. The Elites bellowed in anger whilst the Grunts howled in pain.

"Come on, Fluttershy, do your part!" Twilight egged on.
Dubiously, the yellow Mare edged out into the chaos to get a better shot. Thanks to the lightning fast Pinkie-sault, only two Elites and one Grunt remained.

Tackling the easiest target first, she grudgingly put the Grunt down with three shots from her diamond encrusted pistol. Now all that was left were those mighty Elites.

The remaining alien warriors spun to face her, but she managed to retreat into relative safety before any of their plasma bolts could find their mark.

Pinkie sprang out of the tunnels and latched onto one of the blue armoured Elites.
"Yeehaw! Ride em cow-lien!" she laughed as she rode the biped monster, firing her MA5B at the other one, draining his shields.

"Now's your chance, Fluttershy! Aim for the Elite on the left!"
Stepping back out into the corridor, Fluttershy fired her pistol at said Elite, hitting him in the chest.
"Urg!" he grunted with the penetration, clutching his chest in agony.
A second bullet struck his chest again, just below his hand, then a third made it into his shoulder.

There was a snapping sound as Pinkie took care of the other Elite.

Fluttershy fired one more bullet, hitting the rookie in his stomach. On his last legs, the alien kneeled on the ground, purple blood leaking out of him at a fast rate. He wheezed and looked up to behold his murderer; a petit little Pony with a long pink mane, and blue eyes that shimmered with sorrow. Probably not the most threatening adversary he'd expected.

Puffing out one last breath, he slumped flat on his front, never to get back up.

"Aaah! Oh my gosh! I... I can't believe I just did that!"
"What's not to believe?" puzzled Pinkie as she reloaded her gun. "You defeated an Elite before, remember?"
"Well, yes, but... um..."
Bouncing around, she reiterated, "Remember? Remember, Fluttershy? Remember?"

She did remember; the Elite outside the Covenant boarding craft, but she didn't want to remember. She didn't want to remember any of the lives she'd seen lost.

Nether the less, she mumbled quietly, "I remember, Pinkie," and set off walking, Pinkie bouncing in tow.

Pinkie had donned the Grunt's breather up to now, when she finally decided to put it away in her saddle bag with a humorous giggle. "These things are funny!"

On exterior speaker, Twilight pointed, "Take a right down here. This will take us through cryo two's observation theatre. From there, we can take another shortcut, through the maintenance access ways. The lifeboats will be near. We'll have to be quick though; one of them's just launched!"
"Oh dear!" Fluttershy worried, hoping they wouldn't all launch before they reached the air-locks.

Picking up speed, she and her pink bodyguard took the opening on the right, just as a lone, rookie Elite came charging up from the far end. He was at quite a range, but he roared and fired his plasma rifle whilst running at them, scoring some hits on Fluttershy's shielded face.

The duo retreated back into the wider corridor, Fluttershy screaming to the right of the opening, and Pinkie Pie taking cover on the left. Fluttershy's shields were low, but not completely drained, and her vision was all messed up after the doses of plasma to the face; seeing double and everything.

As the Elite's tremendous footfalls came nearer and nearer, Twilight mentioned, "We are in perfect flanking positions."

Using this knowledge, Fluttershy and Pinkie jumped up and spun, bucking the alien in the head as he emerged with enough force to drain his shields and send him writhing on the floor, holding his head in agony. A burst from Pinkie's rifle put the guy out of his misery.

"Well done, girls," Twilight congratulated with pride. "We may continue."
Raising a hoof, Fluttershy glanced at the most recently deceased Elite, thinking, and then turned after Pinkie.

Between the corridor they were trotting down and the next one, was the observation theatre. Cryo two's observation theatre, to be precise. The booth where the Pony called Vinyl had awoken her, overlooking the cryo bay and the icy bed where she'd once slumbered.

Gazing out of the glass, she got a great "Vinyl eye view" of the floor below. The cryo pod that she had occupied was still wide open, calling for her to climb back in and escape this nightmare. Well, truth be truth, she'd just end up dreaming another nightmare in cryo sleep. She certainly did last time.

"Enemy contacts, on the deck below," alerted Twilight, hushed. "Get down."
Fluttershy and Pinkie crouched down and peered curiously through gaps in the consoles. Three Elites came storming into the cryo bay and spread out. The two rookies went to work smashing the glass lids of each cryo pod, while the veteran of the pack simply stood and examined the one open one in the centre. Bringing a claw up to his lower mandibles, he grumbled puzzlingly, and deliberately turned his head towards the observation theatre.

The two Mares ducked as far down as they could, Fluttershy squeaking like a mouse as they did so. Her heart beat a little faster as the crimson Elite barked orders at his soldiers, followed by hurried footsteps.

About five seconds later, Twilight resurfaced, "They're gone."
Wiping the sweat from their foreheads, Pinkie and Fluttershy puffed, "Phew," in unision.
"That was closey wosey!"

Afraid and hungry for answers, Fluttershy asked Twilight, "Um... Were they looking for... me?"
Twilight began arranging the pieces of her puzzle. "It's likely they were looking for the Spartan who's armour you're wearing. I guess the Covenant are still under the impression he's alive and on this ship."
"But... if I'm wearing his armour, then... won't they think I'm the Spartan they're looking for?!" Panicking once again, she quivered and wheezed.
Twilight thought hard for a moment. "... Well... er... I'm sorry, Fluttershy, but it's likely they will."
"Oh no!"

She was ready to cry on the deck; a few little tears starting to break through, when Pinkie Pie got a hold of her head and shook it.
"Hey! Don't let it get to you, Fluttershy! No pony will let them take you, and I'm no pony." Thinking to herself, she realised, "Wait, that can't be right..." She shook her head before she went too far off topic. "Anyway, er, yeah. We're here to help you through this, Fluttershy. Aren't we, Twilight?"
"Definitely," the AI stamped.

Rising up, Fluttershy sniffled as Pinkie wiped a tear off her face with a tissue.
"Who knows: Maybe things will be different on the ring. We can even have a nice little picnic when we get down there. And we'll invite all our friends."
"Oh... ok," she whimpered and attempted to smile.
"Now come on! Let's get to those lifeboats before the whole ship goes up in a horrible fiery explosion!" she squeed with a grin and skipped merrily along, Fluttershy trudging after her.

Just about to leave the observation theatre, Fluttershy and Pinkie took cover to each side of the exit; an Elite standing at the end of the next corridor. There was also a scattering of dead Grunts and one dead crimson armoured Elite. The dead Elite appeared to be badly beaten, and the Grunts had suffered hellish plasma burns.
So this is what Vinyl did, Fluttershy pieced together.

All they had to do was get to the end of this corridor, where they would go for another round of weaselling in the Autumn's maintenance access ways, but the dumb Elite at the end of the corridor just wouldn't move. This called for some long range combat... or would it?

Surprised, Pinkie spun her head to fix her eyes to her own fluffy pink tail, which began to twitch like it had been possessed.
Gasping, she predicted, "My tail's twitching! My tail's twitching! Something's gonna fall!"
This was Pinkie Pie's "Pinkie sense;" something Fluttershy was very much aware of. If Pinkie says something's gonna fall; something's gonna fall.

Uneasily peeping out into the corridor, they spied the Elite. There was a stupendous explosion that shook the whole deck, and the Elite looked up, just as a flaming, striped barrel came crashing through the ceiling and crushed him like a bug. Upon landing, the barrel burst into flames.

Pinkie attempted to hold in her laughter... to no avail. "Bwaahahahahaha! Waahahahaha! Haa-" Her laugh stopped abruptly and she stated in a serious tone, "We must continue."
The pink Earth Pony walked on towards the inferno, Fluttershy trotting to catch up.

The narrow corridor emerged into a wider one that had suffered a lot of explosions; all scorched and dented out, and just as the two Mares were about to enter it, Pinkie came up short upon her tail twitching again.

An all mighty BOOM made Fluttershy's ears ring, as well as send a platoon of Grunts shrieking through the air, exploding the methane they carried in their tanks. They were the closest things to fireworks since fireworks themselves.

Unable to control herself, Pinkie rolled around on the deck, howling with laughter.
Unwilling to spend any more time around the hot zone, Fluttershy suggested, "Uh, maybe we should keep moving before anything else explodes, maybe..."
"Fluttershy's right," Twilight agreed. "This section of the Autumn is highly unstable. I recommend double timing it through the maintenance access ways."

Skipping into the smouldered area amongst the burnt Grunts and flickering flames, Pinkie Pie approached a sealed hatch in the left wall. Head-butting the controls, she opened the hatch and dove into the echoic gloom of the maintenance access way.

Hesitating, Fluttershy stood and stared into the shadows, one hoof raised, and gulped. Snapping her out of it, the whole deck began to rumble.
"Quickly, Fluttershy! Into the hatch!"
Into the howling darkness she plunged, the hatch closing itself behind her, just as a deafening explosion dominated the corridor and shook Fluttershy around in the vent.
She screamed with fear as Twilight commented, "Wow. That, was a close one."

An intense source of light clicked on and illuminated the glum shaft: Pinkie Pie hadn't left, and she was facing Fluttershy as before, her flashlight blinding her.
"I'm here, Fluttershy," she whispered, grinning. "Follow me." And just like before, she reversed along, leading Fluttershy on a journey.

As the Mares crawled on and on, Pinkie joked, "Now I know what a TV dinner feels like. Teeheehee - oo!" Abruptly, she stopped, Fluttershy bumping heads with her.
"... Um... Pinkie?"
The pink one bit her bottom lip and quizzed, "Err... You're not somehow in front of me and behind at the same time, are you?"
"Nooo," the yellow Pegasus answered with her panic on the rise.
"... Then... who's behind me...?"

"Hehe. Peek-a-boo!" came the mischievous, squeaky voice of a Grunt.
Fluttershy shrieked and began to scramble backwards while Pinkie giggled, "Oh! It's just Grunts. Hehahaha!" snort, "Not. A. Problem!"

As the shy buried her face and shivered in anxiety, she listened to the sounds of violent clanging, agonized screaming, and Pinkie laughing.

After a short while, Pinkie shuffled over to her and lifted her head.
"It's ok, Fluttershy. They're gone now."
Twilight commended, "Well done, Pinkie. Sorry my sensors couldn't pick them up. Like I said; I can only track movement."
"It's ok, Twilight. Not even you can predict the immediate future all the time." Then, to Fluttershy, she motivated, "Now come on! We've got a lifeboat to catch!"
Progressing, the two Ponies crawled on their way.

A fair bit of crawling later, Twilight demanded, "Stop."
Stop they did.
"... There are two exits. One to the left and one straight ahead. There are Covenant outside, and I'm also picking up some friendlies, advancing from the right."
In acknowledgement, Fluttershy shakily nodded.
"If we both take the left exit, we can flank the Covenant."
"Sounds like a plan!" Pinkie said excitedly. "Ready-set-go!" With that, she bolted out through the left exit, the sounds of gunfire and angry aliens following instantaneously.
"Wait!" begged Fluttershy, who began making her cautious way in Pinkie's tracks.

Upon exiting, she found herself amongst a pile of dead Covies. She squealed at the sight and uneasily trod around them.
"Pinkie?!" she called out, but the pink one had vanished once again.
"She's making her way to the lifeboats!" Twilight yelled over the stomping of soldiers hurrying past her. "Follow these soldiers and we'll catch up to her!"

The whole ship rumbled as Covenant weapons struck her hull. Fluttershy and the soldiers stormed on and on through recently deceased Covenant. Bullet holes and plasma burns dotted the walls.

Up ahead, a blue armoured Elite groaned and keeled over to the deck in a pool of his own purple blood. The reason for this was unclear, but as a speedy pink blur shot away down the corridor, it started to make at least some sense.

The corridor veered left, and as Fluttershy and the soldiers hurtled around the corner, they found themselves blocked by a couple of fallen storage units.

A dozen grenades had been rolled onto the floor, spilt from their containment, and the Pony in charge ordered, "Use em!"
He and his squad pulled the pins off some of the frags and hurled them at a batch of Covenant, right by the air-locks.

The grenades detonated, sending Grunts, an Elite, and some of the corridor's panelling flying loose through the air.

There were three air-locks, one of them vacant, the other two occupied by waiting lifeboats. There was an incredible blast as one of the lifeboats couldn't wait any longer, and fled the Filly of Autumn.
"Oh no! There's one last lifeboat! Get aboard before it launches!" Even Twilight was starting to loose her cool.

Desperately, Fluttershy searched around for Pinkie, but all she saw were Covenant and other Ponies.

Taking cover by the last lifeboat's air-lock, was a veteran Elite, who fired his plasma rifle back and forth at the Ponies closing in around him.
In order to get to the lifeboat... gulp... He's gonna have to go.

As the firing squad subdued the alien with covering fire, Fluttershy noticed one last frag grenade laying beneath her, and took it upon herself to bite the pin off, aim shakily at the Elite, put all her strength into her right foreleg, and throw the explosive as hard as she could.

Ducking down, she didn't bare witness to its effect, but the ensuing BOOM indicated its detonation. Peering up, she noticed the Elite, unfortunately, still standing.

Sighing with the failure, she saw the veteran Elite get dropped by a burst of MA5B ammo; her grenade had taken its shields down, at least.
Well, I suppose it wasn't a complete failure.

"Hurry, Fluttershy!" panicked the AI, prompting her to leap over the fallen grenade cabinet.
Another blast rocked the Autumn, almost sending Fluttershy into the deck.
"Where's Pinkie Pie!?" she pleaded. "Pinkie?!"
"I don't know, Fluttershy! Maybe she's waiting for us in the lifeboat! Now go!"

Galloping to the further most air-lock, Fluttershy was beaten by a pale pink Mare with a light green mane, who fell over as the Autumn absorbed yet another impact. Scrambling to her hooves, she jumped through the doors of the waiting lifeboat where everything was cramped and illuminated by red lights. Fluttershy hastily followed, entering the compartment where Ponies sat on their bellies, strapped in along each side.

Urgently, Fluttershy scanned around the lifeboat, but not one of the Ponies on board was Pinkie.
"Twilight?! Can't you find her?!" she begged, worried sick about her friend.
"There are lots of yellow dots outside the air-lock. Any one of them could be Pinkie!"
Fluttershy moaned with dread, "Oohh!"

Knock-kn-kn-knock-knock! Knock-knock! Came a tuneful knocking on the lifeboat's sealed glass door.
Fluttershy spun to find a certain pink Mare with her front hooves pressed against the glass.
"Pinkie Pie!" Fluttershy cried, placing her own hooves on the glass with Pinkie's.

Pinkie Pie had looked afraid, mouthing Fluttershy's name, but she soon closed her eyes and smiled warmly. Stepping down from the door, Pinkie waved farewell to Fluttershy, and mouthed the words "good luck."

Fluttershy's heart ached, and she opened her mouth - when the lifeboat suddenly rocketed away at an insane speed, lurching her stomach. Not strapped in, the sad Pegasus fell to the deck, and watched on as the little pink Pony in the air-lock shrank and shrank, until she turned tail and pranced out of sight.

At a distance, the entirety of the Filly of Autumn quickly zoomed out into view, streaking flames and being bombarded by Covenant weapons. One of those blue laser beams struck the air-lock, creating a hole, and the bodies of Covies and Ponies, some dead, some flailing, were sucked out into the vacuum of space.

As the gravity began to wear off, Fluttershy found herself floating up off the floor.
"I'd take a seat if I were you," Twilight advised emptily.
One last seat was available by the door, so she lay on her belly with her hooves tucked in and used her teeth to pull the harness down over her back and across her chest, whimpering as she did so.

"P... P... Pinkie Pie," she trembled, tears rolling down her cheeks.
She was embarrassed to be seen crying in front of all these Ponies, but the loss of Pinkie Pie shoved those little concerns aside.

In an attempt to comfort her, Twilight breathed, "I... I'm so sorry, Fluttershy. I wish I could say she'll be ok, but... I'm afraid to make that promise... Don't give up on her though... she is Pinkie Pie after all."
"Sh... she was my... my friend..." she sniffled and shut her eyes tightly.

If there was a chance Pinkie could survive, it was about as slim as the gap between the pages of a closed book. Pinkie would be missed, and forever in their hearts.

Every step of the way.

Author's Note:

Use medium dark background.

Finally! They're off the Autumn! Well, Fluttershy and Twilight are. Expect the start of a new mission on the surface of Halo next week!

29th April 2014. Thanks to my editing skills, it now takes four chapters to get off the Autumn, not six.

And because this is the end of a mission, I must ask; where'd Berry Punch go? She just randomly disappeared, but where to? Will we see her again? Ima ask that question at the start and end of every mission. Place bets on which mission she'll come back, if she even does.

And for that matter, where'd Pinkie go lol? She still alive?

13th July 2014 publishing day. There's a piece of cover art for each mission. Since the next chapter's gonna be the start of the second mission, I can either update the cover art now, later, or next week when I publish chapter 5, So Many Wonders.

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