• Published 21st Jul 2019
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Halo, Equestrian Covenant - Shady Steps



Twilight Sparkle and her Covenant forces fight a bloody battle against the Human transgressors as a dark thing stirs deep below.

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Chapter Seven

September 20th 2552.

Roaring waves and sun cracked earth, there must have been beauty to the desert bordering the vast ocean at least in the eyes of the Forerunners but Twilight could not see it. A great black trench had been cut from the water's edge to the still miraculously intact human ship, a testament to its unreasonably resilient superstructure.

Covenant presence on the ship was sparse given the relatively small forces available to the fleet and represented more of a token garrison rather than a real deterrence to assault. With the human forces localised to a continent on the other side of the expansive ocean any forces the humans could deploy had to be done so via the few dropships they had or any they could steal.

Jacob looked at the dropship display screen showing the Pillar of Autumn impassively as they approached, he turned towards Twilight and opened his mouth to speak before frowning.

“You still have it?” he cocked his head as the mare followed his eyes. In her front pocket was the pipe, the same pipe she distinctly remembered dumping into the recycling shoute with her ruined uniform.

“I do” Twilight confirmed as she pulled it from her pocket and regarded the Human artifact floating in her magic trying to remember how it got there.

“May I have it back?” Keyes held out a hand.

“No, I think I will keep a hold of it for now” She replaced the pipe in her pocket. “If you show yourself worthy of trust then I might reconsider.” Keyes let out a non commital grunt and turned to look back at his ruined ship. Turning away from the Human, Twilight began to speak in Sangheili

“There have been reports of mobilisation at the captured base, however we are unable to track human dropships so long as they maintain a stealth profile in low altitude of Halo”

“The Humans could deploy a large number of infantry unnoticed, however they only have a few vehicles. Reports indicate that the Pillar of Autumn has a large number of scouts and artillery class vehicles in a stockpile, the condition of such vehicles is unknown.” Tath Kem tapped her eyepiece after she loaded her carbine.

“I think a greater concern is not the spoils the Humans can win here but the forces we have present. Anti Air emplacements have been deployed around the Truth and Reconciliation in response to a Human raid the Prophet is trying to keep quiet, apparently Demons stole the third task force’s entire wing of Phantom gunboats and two dropships.” N'tho 'Sraomee let out a chuckle. “It is unsurprising that this Prophet of Stewardship finds himself outplayed by the humans in this war given the resourcefulness of our enemy, this is a situation that calls for a Sanghili not a Prophet!” The Major let out a sigh. “Regardless with the fool relocating anti air emplacements to the Truth and Reconciliation he has left other outposts unprotected from air assets, there are also reports that the Prophet has found a control room and is demanding forces from other task forces to protect it including the only Scarab Platform.”

“How did the Humans manage to gain the initiative here?” Tath let out a frustrated yap. “We need to isolate the Humans and disperse our larger forces not concentrate them and let the Humans go wherever they like!”

“Its this Prophet! The Supreme Admiral is trying to gain control of the situation but the best he can manage is restricting the Prophets access to assets in his own Assault Carrier, but doing that is making it harder to combat the Humans!” N'tho did not meet the eyes of the much smaller Tath instead content to fiddle with his primed and ready pair of plasma rifles.

“Regardless of the reason we do have a considerable disadvantage in dealing with Human air assets, if they deploy the Gunboats here we will lose our own dropships.” Twilight tapped a hoof on the ground deep in thought.

“We are capable of acting as an anti air emplacement” The trio turned towards Twilights Honour Guard Champion who was testing the weight of the colossal rifle in her talons. Nodding, N’tho turned back towards Twilight.

“They should be able to deny the Humans air support, however we should still remove our own dropships from the battlefield, destroying even one of them would be a considerable victory for the Humans.”

“We will have them return to orbit and shut down most systems, there is no sense risking them when the humans have displayed an interest in stealing or destroying our dropship capacity.” Twilight turned back to the screen as Major Dash made her final approach towards a staging ground just outside of the Pillar of Autumn.


Stepping onto the dry, cracked earth Twilight turned to regard the empty expanse around her, the horizon broken only by the colossal human ship and the ring itself. A Sanghili stood with his arms clasped behind his back close to the dropships gravity lift.

“Inquisitor, I am Dosa 'Trasumee and I was told to expect reinforcements.” He looked past the mare at the Griffons as they dropped silently behind Twilight and fell into line. “I have always been curious to see an Equestrian actually fight, millenia old stories are hardly a substitute for one's own eyes.”

“The forces will be deployed in a few hours, this is my honour guard. I will be inspecting the crash site and your forces before we will meet and work together to devise a plan to prevent Humans gaining control of this structure.”

“I have been in communication with the Prophet. He has bidden me to give you my full cooperation and has asked me to convey his appreciation for your service Inquisitor.” Twilight raised and eyebrow but did not comment, she turned as Keyes boots touched the cracked earth followed by Tath and N’tho.

“I will begin my inspection of the ship now.” Twilight smiled at Dosa who moved aside and extended an arm towards the Pillar of Autumn.

“Please, I will arrange rations and a room with atmospheric controls for you Inquisitor. Consider yourself as a guest.” The Dosa bowed his head in respect drawing a chuckle from N’tho.

“It would be best for you to remember your place 'Trasumee, we all serve as the arm of the Covenant. It is unbecoming to disrespect the beating heart of our union.” Dosa’s head snapped up and the Sanghili puffed up his chest.

“And who are you to challenge me in such a manor! I am clearly showing deep respect for the Inquisitor and our Equestrian sisters!”

“Stop! You can measure mandibles later.” Tath cut in darting between the two males. “I am sure that any disrespect from either party is unintentional.” There was a pregnant pause as the two Sanghili Majors stared each other down before Dosa shrugged.

“Yes, I am sure this was a misunderstanding. Please Inquisitor excuse me I have preparations to make.” Dosa bowed his head towards Twilight again before turning away and stalking towards the crashed ship.


Twilight and Jacob walked together through the ruined ship, the great structure groaning under the weight of gravity it was never built to withstand. The screeching of twisting and compressing metals formed a strange rhythm.

“A Hexagonal structure”

“Pardon?” Jacob looked down at the Unicorn, his thumbs in his trouser pockets.

“The ship's superstructure is hexagonal and is built in a throughline manor, the hexagonal design likely has cutouts for the reactors and the cannon but the rest of the ship was built over the frame one deck at a time.” Twilight nodded her head at a diagonal support strut jutting out from the middle of a hallway from the ground to the ceiling.

“Clever, we call it honeycomb.”

“It's a very odd design, expensive but effective when dealing with your primitive missiles or a plasma based weapon. It would not stand up well when dealing with one of your own main cannons. That must be why this design is so rare in Human ships, a Human civil war?” Twilight glanced Keyes who shrugged.

“You are the expert it seems.”

“You may not want to believe me but I am acting in your best interests” Twilight let out an annoyed nicker “Regardless of your heresy there is still value in Humanity, a chance to atone after we pass beyond in the Great Journey.”

“Geoncide is acting in the best interest of humanity? You are a lunatic, what heresy are we even accused of?”

“A concerted galaxy wide effort to destroy and desecrate the artifacts and structures left behind by the Forerunners.” Twilight lectured feeling her pulse quicken as she tried to quell her anger.

“Forerunners, the people who made this ring?” Jacob shrugged. “I never knew about any Forerunner artifact or structure before encountering the ring, how can I be guilty of something I was ignorant of? How do I know if any Human actually damaged anything these Forerunners made?”

“You are being disingenuous, the heresy of Humanity is a crime so great because of its scale and while not all Humans are guilty of directly committing heresy your governments and leaders are absolutely heretics. The only way to protect what was left behind for us is to force Humanity to capitulate, only then can Humanity begin to repent.” Twilight sighed. “It honestly is the only way.”

“So because we are accused of breaking some ancient alien stuff we need to have our worlds glassed and populations genocided until we surrender to the aliens that are glassing our worlds and genociding us?”

“The Covenant does not Genocide or bombard planets from orbit, you are being tricked by the Human covert govenment, you call it the Office Of Naval Intelligance, they have been distributing anti Covenant propaganda to Humanity and engage in altering documents and data to cover up the truth.”

“Bullshit, I have seen the Covenant...” Jacob suddenly stopped walking causing Twilight and her guard to stop and turn towards the Human and pointed at Twilight. “You were at Reach.”

“Yes, my duty is to investigate the Crusade against the Humans and ensure that wartime law is observed.” Twilight nodded at the hallway “We still have a long walk, no stopping.”

“Reach is the only planet that was not targeted by orbital weapons and the only planet where the civilian structures were avoided by ground forces.” Jacob started walking again, “This is the first time your species has been encountered by Human forces and suddenly the Covenant cares about Human Civilians, how many battles have you personally observed?”

“Just Reach” Twilight glanced at the man walking beside her and let out a low nicker “I see what you are trying to do but that does not prove anything! I have direct reports and sources at other battles as well as automatically recorded ship logs.”

“Reports and logs that could have been doctored, can you honestly say that all the reports you have seen have been nothing but the truth?” Twilight was about to turn and snap at the Human before the fresh memory of her own little modification of the truth filled her heart with insidious doubt. She tried to push it aside, but if she could change what the records say, change the truth. What made her so sure that Thel 'Vadamee had not done the very same thing?

“Shut up we are almost there” Twilight increased her pace causing her bipedal followers to fall behind somewhat as she tried to push lies and doubt from her mind.


The bridge had been a pointless waste of energy, any data left on the ship was hidden outside of systems accessible from the main computer. With the potential of a raid at any time Twilight had opted to simply drop off her Keyes with one of her Guards in a Human bunk room turned holding cell and meet with Dosa 'Trasumee to coordinate the defence of the ship.

Twilight, N’tho, Tath and Dosa were sat awkwardly on seats made for humans in one of the many conference rooms that dotted the colossal ship. Dosa spoke first.

“The Prophet has sent me a recording that we have managed to decrypt, the Humans are not as clever as they think they are, with your advanced grasp of the Human language Inquisitor I can think of no one better to interpret the communication.” Dosa tapped a holographic display in front of him and two voices filled the room.

“-orts that Red five has taken a Banshee and gone AWOL over” The first voice was masculine, less so then Keyes but each word was carefully spoken and to Twilight's ear, had impeccable pronunciation.

“Say Again, Sierra Bravo three-twelve is AWOL over?” The second was Feminine and seemed to have a more confident tone.

“Affirmative, Sierra Bravo three-twelve AWOL, looks like Red Team is down one, Silva is still giving a go ahead on the op over”

“Copy that, what is status on Blue Team over?”

"Foe-Hammer is dropping them off now, they get a lovely little tropical island, hope you are not feeling jealous McKay"

“Nah I’m a desert kinda girl anyway, pilot is telling me to break, I will radio in when the op is green, out.”

The recording ended at the two Sangheili and lone Kig Yar turned to look at Twilight.

“It's a communication between an unknown person and someone called McKay” Twilight began leaning forward and frowning. “This McKay is leading an operation in a desert and was being told about a member of a ‘Red Team’ being absent, she then asked about a ‘Blue Team’ and was told they were being sent to a tropical island”

“The Prophet discovered an important Forerunner structure on an island, this could be the target of ‘Blue Team’” Dosa clicked his mandibles in thought. “How the humans discovered this I have no idea and the implications are troubling.”

“This McKay is no doubt the one coming here, your instinct was correct Inquisitor the Humans do intend to raid this ship for supplies.” N’tho congratulated Twilight.

“So the matter of defence is not a speculative one, with the Supreme Admiral withholding assets from deployment we will have to rely upon the ship itself for defence.” Dosa sighed “I will inform the Prophet of an impending attack on the Forerunner structure after our meeting”

“So we have six hundred troops, twenty two scouts and a tank? And the enemy have to get inside the ship? I say we could hold off anything short of a Demon pack.” Tath reclined, clearly enjoying the Human ships chairs more than the rest of the rooms occupants.

“We will be deploying my Honour Guard to the top of the ship to act as an anti air emplacement, they will be able to destroy dropships with the rifles they carry.” Twilight looked over a holographic map of the area with a frown. “We will spot them from miles away no matter where they come from.”

“In this matter our eyes are more valuable than most of our Equipment, it seems the ring itself is dulling our shipboard sensors of its surface, a defence measure by the Forerunners?” N’tho looked towards Twilight.

“It could be any number of things, understanding the minds of the Forerunners is difficult enough for the Prophets let alone us.” Twilights words were met with a collective murmur of agreement.

“We know the Humans will attempt to attack the stockpile of vehicles as a primary objective, they will leave with scant few supplies if they do not” N’tho changed the subject with the grace Sangheili where well known for.

“So the bulk of our forces will be defending that stockpile, it is a large space and will allow us enfilade fire on any Human force that pushes into it” Tath grinned at the thought.

“We will also deploy a large number to the top deck of the ship, no doubt they will fiercely contest that area, if they win it they will be able to control the area around the ship with ease.” Dosa tapped the desk “The Inquisitor and her Guard will be at the top of the ship, I would recommend roughly one hundred troops deployed up there for her protection. I will lead our scouts from my mortar tank and vanquish any humans in ground vehicles”

“Did the Human offer any useful information?” Dosa asked Twilight, there was a pause as the mare stared blankly at the holographic map before her.

“No, nothing yet.”

The meeting concluded Twilight left to find something to eat, something to distract herself from the bile that filled her and the screaming heresy that the Human had poisoned her mind with.

The prospect of battle suddenly paled compared to the idea that Twilight had been ignorant of a great many crimes. That Twilight may have been instrumental in recording a lie that would be known as truth.

Was that not itself a sin that would stay her hooves upon the great journey?