> Once Upon a Time, on an Alien Ring World
>  by Hi World
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Things to expect. (No real spoilers).
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

What to expect.

Oh boy, it's good to be back. Anywho, this a' here's another MLP/Halo crossover, so expect... erm... Halo stuff, I suppose. It's a crossover with the original Halo CE/Anniversary so expect everything from that game, plus more as I have added my own original little twists, alternates, plot devices, and even a sub-plot or two that do impact the story.

29th March 2015 Update. As I was updating the cover art, I saw that "Halo crossovers with same plot, scenes n' dialogue" are not allowed. Either that's a coincidence, or there's a judgemental moderator out there who hasn't read my story who is out to get me lol xD Just making it overly clear that I have touched the plot up a lil bit, included my own scenes, edited the ones that exist, banished some, made all dialogue original (except some dialogue I kept to keep that Halo feel, or MLP feel, or outside references which are in MLP itself).

Instead of just turning the Halo CE cast into Ponies, I have written characters from the show into the roles of Halo's cast, just like in The Pony Lisa. I'm not just replacing names; I have bared in mind that Rarity would handle things a lot more differently than Captain Keyes, and likewise for the rest of the cast. If you'd like to find out which Ponies are playing which characters, check out the next "cast" chapter. Or you could just find out who's playin' who when you read the story.

What else should you expect? Well, there's gore. There is no swearing, no sexual content, and no shipping. There will be comedy and sadness but not in a conflicting way.

The Ponies are going up against the actual Covenant, with Elites n' Grunts n' Hunters n' stuff. Not like in The Pony Lisa where the Griffins were playing the role of Covenant.

The Ponies wear soldier saddles powered by Celestia's permanent magic; something I came up with when writing the Pony Lisa. It's how they use guns. It will be talked about in the story.

Most chapters are around 3,000 - 7,000 words long, with a few exceptions. The Prologue is short at just over 1,000 words, and the epic finale is touchin' 10,000. I asked you all how long you like yer chapters to be and you said roughly this long. It takes more than one chapter to finish a mission, apart from The Library which is wrapped up in one tiny chapter.

The cover art will get updated as the story progresses. There is a picture for each mission.

You don't have to read the author's notes but I would like it if you did. I try to keep em brief, entertaining, and even tease a funny sub-plot.

Beware of gore.

Halo isn't a particularly gory game when you compare it to things like Dead Space, but it still involves death, blood and violence, and when the Flood are unleashed, things definitely become more gruesome. Grim-dark, even. Ponies (and Covies) get infected, they mutate, there's blood n' guts, they turn on their friends, so expect all that at some point. Bad things may happen to your favorite characters.

For the best read.

I strongly recommend a medium dark background as it helps with text colour. As for size and font, I use normal sized Times New Roman, but I suppose it doesn't really matter. Whatever works for you :)
> Cast. (Very mild spoilers).
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

List of characters.

So, you wanna find out who plays who? Well it just so happens that Halo CE has a very short cast list. With that, I had to improvise.

Each character's dialogue will be in the colour as seen below. As for rookie Grunts, veteran Grunts, black clad Grunts, Jackals, rookie Elites, veteran Elites, stealth Elites, Zealots, black clad Elites, Hunters, Flood and 343 Guilty Spark, their dialogue/noises will be in the colours I have just listed them in. Other soldiers are played by a mixture of support characters and background Ponies, and their dialogue will be the appropriate colours.

Fluttershy - Master Chief

A questionable decision, no doubt, which is why I'm gonna take the time to explain why I chose the roles that I chose. Fluttershy is the least Master Chief-like character in MLP, which is what makes her perfect for the role of Master Chief, in my mind. The shenanigans will be crazy. She's scared all the time, and now she has to keep AI Twilight safe from the Covenant on the alien ring world? How's she gonna cope with the discovery of the Flood?!

Twilight Sparkle - Cortana

Just so you know, it's Twilicorn, but she aint no Princess. She's an AI... which is of course based on the real Princess Twilight Sparkle who is else where in the universe. Expect some story as to why the real Twilight isn't on the Filly of Autumn. Twilight and Cortana. They're both smart and they're both purple. Well, Cortana seems a lil blue these days, but she used to be purple. These characters are an ideal match.

Rarity - Captain Keyes

So, why is Rarity Captain Keyes? Well Applejack is more suited to Sgt Johnson in my opinion, and Pinkie Pie... she was a really difficult character to cast, but she sure as hell aint no Captain Keyes. Keyes has style, and that's exactly why I'm gonna hand his role over to Rarity.

Rainbow Dash - Foehammer

Almost forgot about Rainbow Dash lol. How could I?! She's the most "in your face" character since Pinkie Pie. Anywho, similar to The Pony Lisa, RD is playing the pilot.

Applejack - Sgt Johnson?

Sgt Johnson wasn't a main character until Halo 2. He was just an NPC who died multiple times, but had a voice and personality that stood out. I figured AJ would be good at filling Sgt Johnson's boots cos of her unique accent, her hat, and how she doesn't fuss around and just gets things done.

Pinkie Pie - Pinkie Pie

So... what other main characters are there in Halo CE? Well, I've already done Master Chief, Cortana, Captain Keyes and Foehammer. There's Sgt Johnson - oh wait, Applejack's playing Sgt Johnson. Hmmm, what to do, what to do... I've got it! Pinkie Pie will be a common accruing NPC like Sgt Johnson. Fluttershy will meet AJ n' PP occasionally, and occasionally they will help her with her quest. It's Fluttershy; she'll need help more than anything. Expect AJ n' Pinkie Pie to tag along with some of Fluttershy's adventures on Halo.

For the best read.

I strongly recommend a medium dark background as it helps with text colour. As for size and font, I use normal sized Times New Roman, but I suppose it doesn't really matter. Whatever works for you :)
> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prologue.

Ah, the Filly of Autumn. Gracious thing to behold. Unfortunately for Captain Rarity and the thousands of Ponies aboard her, the only ones beholding the Filly of Autumn were the Covenant. Yep, them Covies had a nice little fleet waiting for them just off the Autumn's slip space exit vector.

The Filly of Autumn was a very nice warship, as nice as warships go. No pony wanted to call any ship their home, but when given no choice, those aboard the Autumn were proud to call such a magnificent vessel their home.

She was big too. Very big. Not the biggest ship in the UPSC fleet, but at over three kilometres long, she wasn't exactly medium. This size made it possible to house many features, like multiple Pelican and Longsword hangars, mess halls, armouries, external access junctions, airlocks, rec rooms, barracks, cryo bays, and, much to the Captain's delight, a spa.

On the outside, the Filly of Autumn was quite slab sided. And she was grey. She kinda looked like a giant brick with boosters at the back. None of this stopped the Filly of Autumn from widening the eyes of those that witnessed her soaring by, though.

Captain Rarity was honoured to be in charge of such a ship, but as she saw images of the nearby Covenant counterparts popping up on the main view screen in the bridge, she couldn't help but feel a little envious. Covenant CCS class battle Cruisers were sleeker, giving up height for length and width. They were also crafted out of a naturally purple, glittering metal. Protruding down from under their curvy bows, were four "fangs." Rarity had no idea what they were. Either they acted as a front spoiler to help the ships' performance in a way that only Twilight could explain, or the Covenant were massive show offs... Or it was something entirely alien. The Covenant are aliens after all.

As for the interior, well, Rarity could only imagine how they looked on the inside. She half wanted to know and half didn't want to know. She wanted to know because she figured they would be even more bedazzling on the inside, and didn't want to know because it would mean having to actually board an enemy vessel; something she definitely didn't plan on doing.

On the outside of the Covenant ships, no windows could be seen. Rarity wondered where the bridges were, and how the Covies could see out.

The Filly of Autumn's bridge was situated at the bow, under a large overhead compartment that stuck out like the brim of a baseball cap. The huge glass windows were easily visible from outside, and an easy target, but the views that came with them were so spectacular, Rarity thought it was worth the risk. Especially the view she and the bridge crew were seeing now.

Nebulae transformed the black, star filled space into purple and turquoise. An orange coloured gas giant dominated the entire left hoof side of the view. One particularly close star shone bright and white, playing the role of sun. In orbit around the gas giant was a large, grey moon, as well as the immense object that caught the attention of everypony on the bridge. A vast, silver ring. So vast, its inside surface was made out of... planet? No, that couldn't be right.

"Twilight?" Rarity hailed.
The top of a chest-high pedestal to the right of the view screen shimmered as the AI within responded, "Yes, Rarity?" Her voice was ever so slightly synthesized.
"Be a dear and zoom in on the ring's inside surface, won't you?"
"It would be my pleasure."

Twilight complied and opened a new window on the screen with an image of the colossal ring. In a second, the picture zoomed in on the inner surface. And what was the inner surface made of? ... Planet. The close up revealed a wide open desert that became very rough and rocky the further up the ring. As Twilight used the Autumn's imaging gear to scroll up, new planetary features descended into view. Sea, islands, mountains, jungles, more sea, ice land. There were even clouds floating above the variety of terrain, casting shadows, and in some areas, raining or snowing. 'Twas mind bogglingly beautiful.
"Wow," Rarity gasped, breathtaken.

Having never seen or heard of such an object, the white Unicorn turned to Twilight again. "What ever is this thing?"
"Oh, this is fascinating," Twilight stated, distracted. "We've stumbled upon something new - nothing in my records about it. Judging from its architecture, it doesn't belong to the Covenant."
This surprised Rarity. ""Doesn't belong to the Covenant?" You mean to say there's something else out there?"
"I'm not sure."
Twilight's not sure? That's a first, Rarity thought to herself.
"How can you not be sure?"
"Well, the diagnostic indicates that whatever this ring is, it's very old. Not sure how old. Whoever made it may not be around anymore!" In a change of subjects, Twilight added, "Besides, we have more important things to worry about right now."

A blinding flash before the window snatched Rarity's eye as one of the Autumn's escorting Lonswords blew a tiny Covenant Seraph fighter into free-floating molecules. Disappearing under the Autumn, the wide, black Longsword retreated to evade the arrival of four more Seraph fighters.

"Oh. The Covenant. Right." The discovery of the ring had pushed everything else out of her mind.

With the image of the ring on the view screen minimized, Twilight enlarged the image of the Covenant battleships listing into position.

Scowling, Rarity uttered, "What are they even doing here?"
Sadness entered Twilight's tone. "They... they followed us, Rarity."
Rarity sighed and closed her eyes. "How?" she quizzed. "How did they follow us? How did they get here first? How did they-"
"-They followed us through the hole we tore in sub-space. No one could've missed it," Twilight interjected. "As for tracking us all the way from Reach; at light-speed, our manoeuvring options were limited."

Rubbing her brow, Rarity glanced at Twilight's glowing terminal, then scanned a new image on the view screen that depicted the path the Covenant ships had taken to get to the ring before them.
"They were waiting for us on the far side of planet."

A rock formed in Rarity's stomach. The reason they'd made the blind slip-space jump was to escape the largest Covenant armada as it burned the Pony colonized planet, Reach, to a cinder. And they exited slip-space at the randomized co-ordinates only to find more Covies here!? The Filly of Autumn couldn't seem to catch a break.

Still, Twilight mentioned that the ring world didn't match Covenant engineering. Whoever its creators were must have been very powerful to conger up such a work of art. Rarity wondered if they were still around, and if they were friendly.

Attempting to asses the situation at hand, Captain Rarity asked, "What's happening now?"
"Our Longsword escorts are getting rid of the Seraphs now. They were just the reconnaissance," Twilight replied. "I've identified multiple CCS class battle groups closing in. Make that three capital ships per group."
There was no answer from the Captain as she thought long and hard, studying the screen.
Twilight then added, "In about ninety seconds they'll be all over us."
Oh, that takes the pressure off, Rarity thought sarcastically.

A good eight seconds passed, and just as Twilight was about to speak up, Rarity ordered, "Well this is it then... I want everypony at their station."
The AI questioned, "Everypony?" and unintentionally made Rarity doubt herself.

Twilight was the most advanced AI the UPSC had ever made. Partly because she was based on the mind of one of the most advanced Ponies that had ever lived; her friend, the Alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Sadly, the real Princess Twilight Sparkle wasn't there to join her on the Filly of Autumn. She was a Princess, and had to stay and rule Equestria with the other three Princesses.

Twilight had been desperate to get out there and help her friends, and her subjects, but the UPSC wouldn't allow it. The UPSC weren't like the royal gaurds who took orders from royalty, so none of the Princesses had a say, and even if they did, the other three Princesses agreed it was for the best that they stay and defend Equestria... should the Covenant juggernaut locate Equestria, that is.

And so, Twilight came up with a solution as to how to help her friends and stay in Equestria at the same time... AI. Princess Twilight copied her brain into the form of an AI construct and sent it to Captain Rarity and the Filly of Autumn. 'Twas the idea of the centenary as the other three Princesses; Celestia, Luna and Cadence, followed suite.

With Twilight as the ship's AI, the Autumn was unstoppable.
Not long from now, the Autumn will have stopped for good.

Standing by her word, Rarity affirmed, "Everypony," and before Twilight could stall her again, she added, "Oh and Twilight? Could you please order Spartan 117 to the bridge? I need him to do us a favour."
The news from Twilight was just as surprising as it was disappointing. "Oh, haven't you heard? Spartan 117 didn't make it."
Loudly, Rarity gasped, "You mean...?!"
"I'm afraid so," Twilight confirmed apologetically. "Sorry, Rarity."
Frustrated, she groaned, "D'oohh! How can this be possible? I thought Spartans never died."
"You've been taking those motivational posters too seriously, Rarity. Unfortunately, everypony can die."
Fed up of bad news, the white Unicorn tilted her head up, her curly purple mane swishing in tow. "Hmph."

Informatively, Twilight said, "... Y'know, Rarity: I know why you want the assistance of a Spartan."
Rarity looked back at Twilight.
"At least I think I do. And while there may not be any Spartans on this ship, we did manage to salvage Spartan 117's armour, minus the helmet."
Instantaneously, Rarity declared, "If you're suggesting I don 117's armour, you can forget it. Not only would it not suit me, but I am most unqualified."
"I know you're not qualified. I wasn't thinking of you."

There was a small purple flash on the terminal as Twilight's avatar appeared. A tall purple Alicorn with wings spread wide, and a neat, blue, fringed mane with a violet and rose stripe. Her mane parted to make way for her horn. With eyes of purple and a cutie mark of stars, the miniature, translucent AI Twilight looked almost as fabulous as the real thing... Almost.

Picking up where she left off, Twilight mentioned, "I had somepony else in mind."
> Chapter 1: Sleeping Beauty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Filly of Autumn.

The cryo bay. Well, a cryo bay. This particular cryo bay was home to the pod that held the one Pony who was qualified to use Spartan armour, despite not being a Spartan.

The Pony in question had been forced to do Spartan training against her will. Why? Because somepony wasn't paying attention when they made a typo on the Spartan candidates roster.

Luckily, she didn't receive the risky genetic engineering or augmentations; the rest of the Ponies in Spartan training had been through that long before she'd been wrongfully placed amongst them.

She'd tried to speak up. Tried to get out. Tried to explain it was a mistake. But those big, gruff high ranks were extremely strict, so all they did was shout and bawl and put her through a type of hell that was designed to be hell for Spartan super soldiers. It damn near killed her. She would've been stuck in the Spartan programme forever, were it not for the invention of AI Twilight Sparkle.

Princess Twilight was stuck on Equestria, and sent forth an artificial version of herself as it was the only means a Princess like her was allowed to help. Once the AI Twilight was assigned to the Filly of Autumn, she found her friends sad and lacking one Pony. After a bit of digging, and a tiny bit of hacking, Twilight discovered the whereabouts of her friends' missing link.

Twilight and her friends were able to pull her out of Spartan training, and locate the Spartan that their friend had replaced: A particularly lazy Mare who's idea of relaxation was training with the puny non-spartans.

And that is how the Pony in the cryo tube knew how to use Spartan armour. But then why was she still in cryo when everypony else on the Autumn was prepping for battle? Simple: Spartan training had had a catastrophic effect on her physicality and her psyche. It had taken a lot out of her. Doctors said her sleep patterns may never be the same again, and for that reason, she was allowed a little extra time in bed. A well rested soldier is a useful soldier after all.

In the cryo bay, cryo tubes leaned against the walls on both sides. There were four more that leaned back to back on a central pillar. Also in the cryo bay, were two Spartan armour testing stations; one for the HUD on a Spartan helmet's visor, which wasn't applicable since the recovered armour had no helmet, and one that tested the efficiency of energy shields.

Silence and emptiness was the current state of the cryo bay. Each cryo pod had clear glass lids, soft foam padding visible within, apart from one of the four in the middle where "the chosen one" laid. Its lid was encrusted with frost from inside the chilly embrace. The Pony within; nothing more than a blur.

In front of this frosty pod, and up one level, were the windows of the observation theatre. Light flickered on and illuminated the many consoles and telemetry inside as a white Unicorn with a neon blue mane and tail and a black musical note on her flank galloped hurriedly to the centre-most console and spoke into an intercom.
"Hey Octy, you there?" her deep voice echoed from multiple speakers mounted around the cryo bay.

A dark grey, posh looking Earth Pony with a purple treble clef for a cutie mark had just jogged through one of the two doors and onto the metal deck of the cryo bay.

She wore something called a "soldier saddle:" A saddle bag that hung on the left and a mechanical arm tucked away on the right, both connected by a padded, steel band that rested on the Mare's back. The mechanical arm was designed to hold, fire and reload weapons. It also had a telepathic link with any Pony who donned the saddle, courtesy of Princess Celestia herself, who had enchanted each and every soldier saddle with her permanent magic. Well, it was called permanent magic, but truth be truth, it lasted exactly two years. Not permanent, but everypony called it permanent anyway.

The saddle bag on the left looked over loaded, and the grey Pony leaned to one side with the weight. The robot arm whirred as the Pony used her mind to tell it to un-hitch the heavy saddle bag. Once it was released, it dropped to the deck with a loud clang, and the Pony almost fell over in the opposite direction with the sudden lost of weight.

Huffing, she called up to the Unicorn Mare in the observation theatre, "I'm here, Vinyl." Her voice was just as posh as her appearance.
"Oh there you are, Octy. Haha, you camouflage really well down there!"
The Earth Pony chuckled, "Hm-hm. Come on, let's thaw her out."

Vinyl murmured as she set to work on the central console, "Alright. So I just tap that button... Open that tab... Click there... Press start... Watch the instructional video..."
"Vinyl!" Octy shouted up at her, annoyed.
"What?"
"We don't have time to watch videos! The Covenant are on their way!"
"Hey, I gotta do this right, ok!"
"I thought you already knew how to do this."
"Yeah, I kinda forgot. Hehe," Vinyl laughed sheepishly.
Octy grunted, "Ugh. I'll walk you through it."
"Ok."

Instructing her friend, Octy told, "Press the big blue icon that says "thaw.""
The Unicorn in the theatre complied. "Uh-huh, done that."
"Now there should be a list of numbers. Is there a list of numbers?"
"Yep." Her eyes widened a little. "Oh boy, that's a lot o' numbers!"
"Ok, don't panic. Just click on number twelve, and then press "confirm.""
Vinyl squinted at a readout as she opened number twelve, uttering it to herself. "Unseal the hushed casket." Shrugging off the weird caption, she proceeded to hit confirm, and then asked aloud, "Ok, now what?"
"Now we wait."
"What, that was it? That was easy!"
"Yep, and you still managed to forget."
"Hey, come on, gimme a break! I was up all night DJ-ing Moon Dancer's birthday party!"
Octy chose to ignore Vinyl.

A fair amount of time passed as the frost on the inside of the occupied cryo tube began to gradually clear, revealing a bit of yellow within.
"... So what makes this Pony so special?" Vinyl eventually asked.
"She's the only Pony on the Autumn who can use Spartan armour," informed Octy.
"Oh, so that's what's in the bag."
Peering down at said overfilled saddle bag on the floor, Octy replied with a simple, "Mm-hm."

*****

Into the mind of the cryo pod's occupant, a dream was unfolding. A sky filled with so much black smoke, it created the illusion of night. Tall flames stretched up, providing a burning ambience. She witnessed devastation spread across what was once a cheerful little village called Ponyville. Ponies ran here and there, screaming as plasma bolts and needle rounds put them down.

She looked around, frightened, no clue what to do. Them Covies could be seen lurking in the smoke at each side of her. The short Grunts, waddling forth with their triangular methane tanks on their backs. The bird-like Jackals leaping away with their glowing energy shield gauntlets. And the mighty Elites; the most cunning of all the Covenant species, duel wielding plasma rifles as they charged by, their two toed feet crunching the debris.

The Mare looked down to behold a white rabbit, laying still before her. Her yellow hoof stroked the rabbit's head gently. It didn't move. Didn't react. Just laid there on its side with its eyes closed... It didn't even breathe.

Craning her head up from the rabbit, she came face to face with a purple metal behemoth that dominated her vision. The giant Covenant war machine took up the mass of about four houses in Ponyville. Its chunky legs kept it high and firm off the ground. At the mouth of the walking tank, was an intense glowing orb, with what could only be described as a tarantula's feelers bracketing either side.

Those feelers spread open as the light in its mouth intensified, building up energy, a deafening, increasing drone as it did so.

The light shot out of the machine, burning her, popping her ears with a tremendous roar.

Her piercing scream reverberated around the cryo bay as she rose up terrified from what felt like an icy coffin. The pupils of her wide open blue eyes were reduced to dots, and sweat ran down her forehead as she huffed heavily and scanned the room.

Octy had covered her ears when she screamed, and proceeded to check, "Oh dear. Are you ok?"
"Where am I?!" the awoken one frightfully inquired.
Giving her the lowdown, Octy explained in her most reassuring voice, "It's ok. You're in cryo two, on the Filly of Autumn."
The yellow Pegasus Mare fell back into the padded cryo tube and rubbed her eyes. Tilting her head back and relaxing with her eyes shut, she ran her hooves through her long pink mane and let out a long breath of relief.

"You are Private Fluttershy, correct?" quizzed the Earth Pony.
The Pegasus opened her eyes and sat up. "Yes..."
"Captain Rarity wants to see you on the bridge, and she wants you to wear this."

Octy undid the straps of the saddle bag on the floor and lifted the underside up with her teeth. A suit of green, MJOLNIR mark 5 armour clanked out onto the deck.

With her front hooves now resting on the base of her cryo pod, Fluttershy examined the armour puzzlingly.
"Spartan armour?" she wondered aloud. "But why?"
"I don't know," admitted Octy. "Twilight said you would be debriefed when you got to the bridge."

"You are qualified to use that stuff, right?" the second voice echoed from the speakers, startling Fluttershy.
"Who said that?!"
Vinyl tapped on the glass of the observation theatre, an impassive look on her face.
"Oh. I didn't see you there." Getting to the Unicorn's question, she answered, "Well, kinda. It was all-"
"-How can you be qualified to wear Spartan armour?! You're not even a Spartan!"
Fluttershy stuttered, "Oh, um... I... I was placed into the Spartan programme by mistake... It... it's a long story."
Sighing, Vinyl announced, "Ok, whatever, we gotta get you in that armour and send you out to the bridge, right away."

Another voice entered the room via the ship-wide com. It was one of Fluttershy's friends, the AI Twilight. "Covenant boarding craft are on their way, everypony. Ready yourselves."
"Boarding craft?" Fluttershy squeaked with upward worry.
Impatiently, Vinyl demanded, "Aw, man, er... Ok, Fluttershy, just get in the armour and get to the bridge, ok. Me n' Octy gotta get ready."

Octy helped Fluttershy out of the chilly cryo tube and called back to the Unicorn, "Wait, Vinyl! We're not leaving Fluttershy until she's battle-ready."
"Then what are you waitin' for!? Get her in that armour and let's go!"
Quickly but calmly, Octy spread the Spartan armour out on the floor like a shed skin.

Before Fluttershy began suiting herself up, she took a gander at her own cutie mark. 'Twas three butterflies with bodies of blue and wings of pink, arranged in a natural way. Regret entered her heart; she had a feeling she wouldn't be seeing her cutie mark in a long, long time.

Wordlessly, Fluttershy did as Octy told her, fitting her hooves down the sleeves with ease, and zipping up the front of the metal plated body suit, thus waving goodbye to the thing that symbolised who she was.

Placing the chest plate face down on the deck, Octy said, "Now lay down on top of this. You know how to do this part, right?"
Nodding, Fluttershy hummed, "Mm-hm," in confirmation.
"Oh good, because I haven't the slightest."

The back half of the upper plating lay just next to Fluttershy and the front half. With her hooves keeping the front half against her, she rolled over onto her back, on top of the back plating, and heard the tell-tale hiss and clack that signified the two pieces locking together. Her wings were cramped in there, and she didn't like not being able to use them.

Getting up, Fluttershy searched the area for the suit's helmet, and when she couldn't find one, she nervously asked Octy, "Um... where's the helmet?"
"There isn't one," she revealed plainly.
"What?! But, how-"
"-The Spartan Pony who was originally wearin' that armour got beheaded just before he entered the ship," delivered Vinyl in a dull, rushed tone.
"Oh my gosh! That's-"

-BANG! BANG!
The sudden noise made Fluttershy yelp.
"Oh gosh! They're here!" yelled Vinyl in the observation theatre, quickly hiding behind the central console, against the window. She pulled the intercom's microphone down to her level.
"Vinyl!" wailed Octy, a hoof reaching out.

Another tremendous BANG sent the door to the observation theatre flying, and in stepped one Covenant Elite. The Elite wore the crimson armour of a veteran, and had a smooth, blue plasma rifle ready in one hand. Fluttershy's pupils shrank once again, and her jaw dropped as she inhaled.

Into the mic, Vinyl, who was out of the Elite's sight, whispered, "Don't let him know I'm behind him."
Upon hearing this, the alien warrior spun round and pointed his plasma rifle back down the corridor he came from. Vinyl seized the opportunity, leaping at the back turned Elite, spinning a full three sixty and delivering a powerful buck to his spine. The two of them tumbled out of Fluttershy's and Octy's view, but they just couldn't take their eyes off the elevated window. The sounds of a determined Vinyl and a loosing Elite could be picked up from the intercom.

Eventually, Vinyl returned with a smudge of purple alien blood on her cheek, and the Elite's plasma rifle under the power of her Unicorn magic.

"Octavia!" she called with a hard-core expression on her face. "Meet me at the armoury!"
"Certainly! But... what about Fluttershy?!"
The yellow Pegasus' head alternated between the two Ponies, when Captain Rarity's voice came buzzing over the ship-wide com. "Fluttershy? If you can hear me, I want you to get to the bridge as soon as possible!" She sounded incredibly urgent.
"You heard the lady!" Vinyl directed at Octavia, then to Fluttershy, she ordered, "Fluttershy, get to the bridge, ASAP!"

A dull boom shook the whole ship as something on the outside made an impact. The Ponies wobbled but managed to keep standing.
Reluctantly and trembling, Fluttershy answered, "Ah! Ok!"

Vinyl fired her plasma rifle down the corridor, the high pitched sounds of dying Grunts answering back. She took off out of sight and down the corridor as Octavia re-donned her soldier saddle and hurried over to the door she'd used to enter the cryo bay.
"Over here!" she hailed, beckoning Fluttershy with a hoof.
The young Pegasus ran over to Octavia as she pushed the open button to make the doors part.

"Get to the bridge, and be careful," the grey one emphasized. "I have to meet Vinyl at the armoury. Whatever reason the Captain has for your presence, it must be pretty important." And with that, Octavia spun right and went galloping down the corridor.
"Wait! You're just leaving me?!" Fluttershy called after Octavia. "... Alone?"
The grey Mare disappeared through the door at the end of the corridor.
"... On this... big... easy to get lost in... being boarded by Covenant... warship?"

Scanning the corridor left and right, not a Pony, nor a Covie was in sight. Gulping, Fluttershy turned right out of the cryo bay, and crept steadily down the corridor.

The sounds of Pony on Covenant warfare echoed around the whole ship. Bullets from Pony weapons being fired. Covenant plasma weapons firing back. Explosions that varied in volume and distance. And a mixture of Pony and Covenant war cries and dying cries. Home had become hell.

Passing a couple of pipes with another corridor on the other side, Fluttershy cautiously approached the door Octavia had galloped through, when something exploded behind it. Fluttershy screeched and backed up as fire came racing up against the door, smashing the two, tiny windows on each half and destroying the controls. Her ears rang as the corridor continued to rumble.
I hope Octavia was clear of that, she thought as she bit her bottom lip and searched around.

Noticing the other corridor on the other side of the pipes, she decided to uneasily climb over them. She would've simply flew over, but there were two problems with that. The first being that she was scared, and when scared, her wings would uncontrollably lock up. The second; even if her wings didn't lock up, this particular suit she was wearing wasn't made with Pegasi in mind, so all her wings could do was fill her armour.

Wearing the Spartan armour brought back a sea of memories she had when she was dragged through Spartan training. She'd spent a full seven months with those genetically enhanced super Ponies. Seven! And no pony thought to question her presence while she was there. Not until AI Twilight made it to the rest of her friends on the Filly of Autumn.

Well, now it was time to meet up with her friends AI Twilight and Captain Rarity. But would she make it with the invading Covenant standing in her way?
Probably not.
> Chapter 2: The Chosen One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy checked behind her, then focused on a door in front. It was identical to the door that got destroyed in the parallel corridor, which worried her.

As she paced nervously towards it, she came up short upon remembering something vital: Her armour's energy shields. She hadn't had time to bring them online or have them tested, and she decided now would be better than never.

Using the basic knowledge she could remember of the armour, she felt around for a cord in the armour's collar, and when she found it, she plugged it into something she had received from Spartan training; a neural interface.

The neural interface was a small, ugly chunk of metal that had been implanted in the back of her skull. She'd gone crazy with panic when she learned she was going to have the thing installed. However, the Ponies in charge were strong, and they just wouldn't let her escape. She'd been gassed into unconsciousness, and when she woke up, she found the atrocity secured under her mane. The purpose of the neural interface was to link the armour to it's wearer. To become one with the armour.

Now that she had successfully paired herself with her suit, she flipped open a panel on the metal plating of her wrist, revealing a miniature, touch screen gizmo. Being the quadruped she was, Fluttershy used the tip of her nose to open the settings menu, and bring the suit's shields online.

Golden motes of light circled up her four legs, along her body, and much to her surprise, around her helmetless head. Feeling reassured, she flipped her wrist screen closed and continued towards the door.

She used a hoof to press the door's "open" button, thus opening it. On the other side, was another boring stretch of corridor with the same old door at the end, only there was a small fire burning on the right, and the sounds of gunfire and screaming were much louder than before.

Advancing, those noises grew louder and louder with every step: Something was going down on the other side of the next door. She would've turned tail and tried to find a different route, but she had to get to the bridge, and this was the way to go.

As Fluttershy walked reluctantly past the fire, the shaking of the deck intensified. Whatever was behind that fire exploded, point blank into her ear, and without a helmet, her hearing transformed into intense ringing.

Not hearing herself shrieking with the shock, she hunkered down and shivered with hooves on head and eyes squeezed shut as debris pinged off her shields.
"Please don't hurt me!" she cried, thinking the Covenant were responsible.

A few more seconds cowering on the floor, listening to an ensuing battle, Fluttershy peered up and looked around, breathing heavily. There were no Covies. She was alone. The fire to the right kept burning in a big, smoking hole in the wall.
"... Pull yourself together, Fluttershy," she supported herself, rising to her hooves. "It's just a little blast."
Recharging, her energy shields repeated the trick with the golden lights that spun around her body.
"A blast that would've killed anypony else."

Without a helmet and a visor, Fluttershy didn't have access to a heads up display, where she would've been able to see the charge level of her shields, as well as a motion sensor that would probably be full of the red dots of enemies right about now. She was also missing out on an ammo counter, although that wouldn't be applicable at this moment in time; she had no weapon.

In order to tell if her shields were down or on their way back up, she would have to rely on the suit's faint indicators and warning alarms.

Having just been saved from an explosion by her fancy armour, Fluttershy felt a little lucky to be the one wearing it. Still, she didn't like the idea of walking through explosions that would put an end to anypony else. She wasn't a Spartan, so who was she to deserve such good fortune?

Leaving the explosion in the past, she trotted over to the next door and opened it.
BANG! BANG! Somepony fired a pistol to her left, and she jumped back and wailed in surprise.
"Aaah! Yikes!" came the cowardly whine of a nearby Stallion.

Curiosity made Fluttershy peek around the corner, where she saw a much wider main corridor that featured support columns and equipment; plenty of places to hide.

Reversing down the centre of the corridor, was a frightened Stallion. He wore standard marine armour; olive drab plating over grey camo clothes, and a matching crash helmet with a mounted eye screen, along with a compulsory soldier saddle.

With a scared look on his face, he fired his pistol back the way he came, a series of helping MA5B muzzle flashes originating from somewhere behind him. In return came lashings of blue plasma and the bellow of Covenant Elites.

Wanting to help, Fluttershy beckoned to him. "Pssst! Over here," she whisper-shouted, when wham!
The soldier took a plasma blast to the face and crumpled to the deck. His face burned off and steam sizzled from the wound as deep red blood leaked onto the metal floor.

Fluttershy screeched with dread over an Elite's chortle and receded back into the smaller corridor. Tapping her hooves rapidly on the floor, she spun right to left, right to left in a panic.
"D'oohh, that was horrible! I can't do this!"
Her panicked hoof tapping came to a stop as she collected herself and gulped.
Forcing herself to peer around the corner once again, she told herself with a shaky voice, "I have to get to the bridge."

Back in the wide open corridor, Fluttershy couldn't see or hear any gunfire. Well, she could hear gunfire from elsewhere, but nothing close.

Stepping fully out into the bigger corridor, she looked down sorrowfully at the dead Stallion, squinting at the sight of his no longer existent face.

The sound of knocking made Fluttershy's heart jump, and she turned to face its source: The Elite's were blocked by a thick containment barrier that had been closed by one of the the Autumn's technical staff. Judging from their banging and bawling, they weren't too pleased about it.

A murmuring could be picked up from further down the corridor, so Fluttershy crept further out to discover who it was. Soldiers, talking amongst each other whilst they reloaded their assault rifles.

Taking a glance back at the large door with the Elites raging behind, she trotted in the soldiers' direction.
"Um, excuse me, I-"
"-They're right behind us!" a frantic Mare shouted and came bolting around a corner further on.
The light green Pony jumped through the shrinking gap of a second containment barrier that began to close and came to a sliding stop within the squad of soldiers. Those soldiers pointed their rifles in the direction from which she came.
"Wait for me!" another Mare pleaded as she came rushing around after, two blue armoured Elites hot on her hooves.

The heavy door slammed shut, and there was a thud as the Pony on the other side crashed head on into it, followed by plasma fire and evil Elite laughter.
"Nooooo!" cried the surviving Mare in anguish.
Fluttershy commented lamentably, "Oh... oh dear!"

As the soldiers tended to the tearful Pony, Fluttershy wasn't sure whether to ask for their help. Hell, she wasn't even sure they'd noticed her.

Silently, she approached them, debating whether or not to ask for assistance. In the end, she decided they had better things to do, so she left them and went through a door on the left. When she passed through it, it slid shut behind her, plunging the area into inky blackness.
"Ugh. Why must it be so dark?" Fluttershy moaned, walking deeper down the branch corridor.

A Covenant Elite could be standing right in front of her and she wouldn't even know it, or worse; she could get startled by something, try to defend herself with her performance enhancing armour, deal some serious damage, and then find out she'd just clobbered a Pony. 

Thud! She grunted as she bumped into something solid, straight and metal; a door. Wiping her hooves against it, she seeked the "open" button. However, before she could find it, the door parted to reveal a less dark section of the corridor and a towering, blue armoured biped form that jumped back with surprise.
"Huh?" it sounded with its deep, alien voice.

Fluttershy screamed with terror, something she figured would become a recurring theme, and attempted to buck the rookie Elite. It didn't work; the alien warrior was out of reach of her armoured hooves by an embarrassingly large gap.

Growling, the Elite lunged at Fluttershy and clenched her long pink tail in his three fingered hand. Fluttershy squirmed with trepidation, her hooves flailing like mad in a desperate attempt to escape the Covie's clutches. He lifted her up off the ground and dangled her like she was nothing but a mouse.

Laughing menacingly, the biped alien gave Fluttershy a real good eyeful of his face. It was ugly, and the closest Fluttershy had ever gotten to an Elite. His mouth was made up of four mandibles lined with little sharp teeth, and his eyes were green with black, beady pupils. The front of his blue helmet was smooth and rounded while the top part was quite jagged.

Her heart raced, and her lungs had gone into overhaul.
"Nnng! Heeelp!" she sobbed, praying that somepony would hear her. "Heeelp! He-he-heelp!"

Just as the Elite brought his plasma rifle to Fluttershy's face, something whizzed past in a pink blur, creating a gust of wind. Confused, the alien looked around with those big green eyes of his, his stinking breath venting onto Fluttershy's face.

When nothing happened, the Elite shrugged and re-aligned his plasma rifle with her forehead - but then the speedy pink blur returned, only this time it was on the ceiling! It shot down the lit part of the corridor, and the Elite actually tried to shoot it. Heat radiated from his weapon as he fired a limited burst, white-blue plasma splashing the ceiling and leaving sizzling scorch marks.

Frustrated, he spun his head to stare intently at Fluttershy, who still hung by her tail in his strong, alien hand. That plasma rifle deliberately moved into position once more, Fluttershy's eyes widening in the build up to it all.
Out of ideas, the trembling Pegasus squeaked, "... P-please..."

An increasing growl accompanied the returning blur as it blasted into the nasty Covie like a giant pink bullet. The Elite was knocked out of his boots, and the pink flash hit him so hard that the two of them broke through a sealed door on the right. Without the Elite's grip on her tail, Fluttershy leapt away and watched in wonder as the two beings tussled in the shadows.

Taking the pain, the Elite howled. The volume of his screams was cranked up when a raging fire suddenly lit up the darkness.

Jaw dropped, Fluttershy watched as the Elite wailed and burned, wondering who her hero was. Pink blur? Super fast? Defying physics? ... Fluttershy had a pretty good idea of who she was working with.

Like a lightning bolt, her hero appeared before her from the inferno and took a second to grin in her face.
"Helloooo, Fluttershy!" Pinkie's voice rang loud and cheerful.

The pink Earth Pony wore standard marine armour and a helmet that compressed her wild pink mane. The weapon on her soldier saddle's arm, which was currently tucked away, was a standard MA5B assault rifle. With beaming blue eyes and the most cheerful smile in the universe, Pinkie's expression elevated Fluttershy's spirits.

"Oh! Pinkie Pie! Oh, I'm so happy to see you!" she exclaimed, full of joy.
Pinkie Pie shot back, "I'm happy to see you too!" and squeezed the life out of her in a hug. "Sooo happy!"

"Oooh, pretty armour!" she analysed, zipping around Fluttershy to study it from multiple angles.
Getting her breath back, Fluttershy wondered, "Oh, you like it?"
"Yeah! Twilight told us all about it!" Pinkie answered merrily.
Puzzled, Fluttershy asked, "Us?"
"Yeah! Me, Apple-Dash and Rainbow-Jack!"
"You mean-"
"-Oops! Hahaha!" snort, "Silly me. Applejack and Rainbow Dash of course! Heeheehee! Oh!" The pink one stopped herself and put her hooves on her head. "I was meant to remember something."

As Pinkie scrolled through her memory, Fluttershy stated, "Um, Pinkie? I kinda have to get to the bridge. If it's not too much trouble, would you be able to-"
Pinkie Pie inhaled excitedly, "-The bridge! That's it! I remembered it! Rarity wants to see you on the bridge!"
"I know. That's what I-"
"-You want me to help you get there?!" Enthusiastically, the pink one wagged her poufy tail.
"Oh, yes please, Pinkie. I would really-"
"-Ok, let's go!" With the speed of a thousand gazelles, Pinkie zoomed away.
"Pinkie!" Fluttershy called out as she galloped after her, not wanting to be left behind.

A quick left - right later brought the duo to another main corridor, where a fire fight raged on. A firing squad took cover behind a block they had made out of ruined equipment and fired their weapons at a handful of Covies down the corridor. The Covies consisted of three Grunts and one Elite.

Grunts were weird little things. They were short and lumbered around with bulky, triangular tanks of methane on their backs. Why? Because they breathed the darn stuff! Their muzzles were obscured by their breathing apparatus, making them look like cute little squirrels with over-stuffed cheek pouches. It was a real shame they were a part of the Covenant though. Fluttershy figured the other races in the Covenant were bad influences on them, but what would she know. Their voices were high-pitched too, which a lot of Ponies, including Pinkie Pie, thought were funny. Fluttershy just thought they sounded like innocent little Foals.

She took no pleasure in fighting the Grunts. Well, she took no pleasure in fighting at all. She hated violence; it made her upset. But she took the least pleasure in fighting the Grunts, which was convenient, considering they acted as cannon-fodder for the rest of the Covenant. It was almost as if the Covenant wanted the Grunts to die. The other species certainly didn't seem to care when one or a hundred Grunts fell.
Poor Grunts.

Between the firing squad and the Covies was a containment door, which, like the other two containment doors Fluttershy had gone past, began to close.
"Quickly! Y'gotta get em all before the doors close!" Pinkie encouraged as Fluttershy dragged herself across the floor behind the makeshift fort.
She heard one of the Grunts squeal as somepony's bullets found it, then another Grunt squealed in the same manner.
Closing her eyes, she shut out the vision she was having of the Grunts laughing and playing in an alien version of Ponyville, and told herself,  It's ok. They're just Covenant.

Pinkie informed ecstatically, "Bonus points for the big one!"
The Elite that Pinkie was referring to as "the big one" roared fiercely at the Ponies, who covered each other as their soldier saddles reloaded the weapons. It was deafening. The sound of the weapons were deafening. The whole Filly of Autumn rattled as she absorbed another hit from outside, and that was also deafening.

Fluttershy didn't like these loud noises. Not one bit. She was a peaceful Mare, often a little too peaceful, as her name would imply. And now she was in the middle of a warzone.

Sighing, she made it to the other side of the corridor with Pinkie Pie, just as the containment door sealed.
As the squaddies took a breather and reloaded, Pinkie said, "Aaww. No pony hit the big one. Oh well, better luck next time!" After saluting the squad, she flashed away into a large, open room. "Come on, Fluttershy!"
The pink maned Pegasus trotted in after.

The room was long and had another door, jammed open, at the end, with what appeared to be an identical corridor on the other side. To the left, there was an assortment of weapons lockers, all of which had been either busted open, or just plain opened. No weapons were in sight, and with the Covenant boarding the Autumn, it was quite obvious where they were. The right of the room appeared to be "solid shield heap," where UPSC branded, titanium shields were scattered around and carelessly piled on top of each other.
How can somewhere so bare be so messy, she pondered.
Oh wait, it got messier...

As Fluttershy trotted past the lockers and shields, she discovered some Ponies. They were laying ever so peacefully in huge pools of red that soaked the deck. Some of them had steaming holes in their bodies where plasma bolts had struck.

Appalled, she came to a gradual stop and brought a hoof to her mouth. Her lower lip trembled and she could feel her eyes watering up. Standing in the middle of it, she noted death everywhere. It surrounded her - drew her in. The blood invaded her sight and her nose, and the back of her throat too.

One of the bodies that was laying against a shield lifted its head up and made eye contact with her. A pale pink Mare with piercing green eyes and a ruffled, two tone purple mane. Wheezing heavily, she turned her vacant stare to the bloody ground she was laying on and closed her eyes.

Debating whether to lend a hoof, Fluttershy yelped as something exploded by the door ahead.
"Pinkie!?" she called out, worried. "Pinkie!"
"Fluttershy!" came the awaited response from Pinkie Pie, who stuck her head out from around the doorway.
Letting out a breath of relief, Fluttershy trotted up to Pinkie Pie, glancing back at the fading Mare, just as she faded away. Oh how awful she felt.

"Stay back, Fluttershy!" the pink one cautioned, mischief entering her tone. "It's plasma grenade central right here!"
Quiet and confused, Fluttershy mouthed, "Plasma... grenade... central?"
The hyper-active Earth Pony cheered, "Woohooo!" and bounced happily past the doorway, just as a million plasma grenades landed directly in the spot she had just occupied.
"Gah!" Fluttershy ran back and took cover behind one of the many shields in the room.

Plasma grenades were nasty. Small, pocket sized explosives that shone bright and blue when ignited. Thanks to a marvel in Covenant engineering, plasma grenades would stick to anything that was considered a target, like a Pony, an animal, or a vehicle. They wouldn't however, stick to non-targets, like trees, walls, or rocks. And worse, they would never explode until they'd stuck to a target or come to rest on the floor. The reason they behaved this way was so mind boggling, not even the super smart Twilight could figure out how they worked. Could the Covenant be packing magic?

Those grenades sizzled away for a good two seconds before they finally detonated into a sun of glowing blue heat. Melting metal debris spewed everywhere as the clattering of assault rifle fire and booming Covenant faded in.

It wasn't long before the clamour ceased and Pinkie Pie returned to the doorway with her usual, gleeful smile. "All done!"
Amazed, Fluttershy made her way to the door. "It's clear?"
"Yep! The way to the bridge is ours!"
Gratefully, she told, "Oh, thank you, Pinkie Pie. I wouldn't have been able to get here without you."
"Nooo problem!" Pinkie replied with a playful salute.

Feeling fairly safe, Fluttershy trotted left down the corridor and passed trough a door on the right. It wasn't until then she realised Pinkie Pie was bouncing after her.
Confused, she questioned, "Oh, you're coming with me?"
"You bet! Whatever Twilight and Rarity have planned for you; it's something big!"
Fluttershy grew nervous. "Um... planned?"
"Yeah! Why do you think they ordered you to put on that fancy armour?"
"Um..."
"Or get to the bridge?"
"Um..."
"They're planning something big alright! Who knows; maybe the fate of the universe will rest on your shoulders!"
"Oh, I hope-"
"-Oorrr..." Entering rapid fire mode, Pinkie predicted, "Maybe you'll be ordered to keep Twilight safe from the Covenant whilst exploring an alien ring world that turns out to be a weapon designed to wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy that you have to stop being fired by a floaty talking ball whilst fighting a hideous life absorbing parasitic infection!"

Fluttershy thought that was one of the most silly and random things Pinkie Pie had ever told her.
Laughing a little, she humoured, "Alien ring world? What alien ring world?"
"Duh! That alien ring world!"
The two of them had arrived at the bridge, and Pinkie Pie pointed her hoof at the view from the window.

Spanning thousands of kilometres and housing terrain on the inside surface, a leviathan, slowly rotating, silver ring stole the view from the Filly of Autumn's bridge. It appeared to be in orbit around an orange gas giant, along with a large grey moon.

Those cute blue eyes widened in disbelief and shimmered. Her jaw hung at the sight of such daunting majesty.

Speechless, Fluttershy just made near inaudible whimpering noises, unable to put together a sentence.
"Wh-wh-wh... H-h... Th... Th... Y-you weren't kidding about the alien ring world!" she eventually grated. "Oh, oh my! I... I've never seen anything so... so..."

"-Alluring?" Captain Rarity continued as she approached from the left.
"Impressive?" added the AI Twilight as her avatar spawned atop her terminal.
"Mysterious?" guessed Pinkie with a spooky voice, leaning in.
"Oh, hello, Rarity. Hello Twilight," greeted Fluttershy.
"Hi guys!"
Rarity and Twilight welcomed the two Ponies in kind.

Rarity spoke, "Fluttershy. So glad you're here. And you brought Pinkie Pie too!"
She brought me.
"I was hoping we could all get together before we abandon ship."
"But what about App - abandon ship!?" Fluttershy gawped.
"Yes, I know, it's a shame to say goodbye to this rusty old thing, but the Covenant are boarding the Autumn as we speak," the Captain squeaked. "I hope they didn't give you much trouble on your way over here."
Remembering the Elite that snatched her up, Fluttershy answered dryly, "Oh, I hardly knew they were here."

"I hate to do this to you, Fluttershy, but I have a task that only you can accomplish."
Fluttershy worried, Something only I can do? This sounds bad.
She then wondered out loud, "Only me? Are you sure there's no pony else who can do whatever you want me to do?"
Twilight affirmed, "Positive."
Sighing, Fluttershy looked sadly at the ground.
"We're very sorry, Fluttershy, but you're our only hope."

Getting down to business, Rarity explained, "Twilight here needs to be kept safe from those dreadful Covenant. If they capture her, they'll learn everything, including the location of Equestria! And we all saw what happened to Reach." She grumbled that last sentence. "The Covenant can not get their filthy claws on Equestria!" Voice getting a little high, she added, "It's all we have left."

This was a mountain of a task, and Fluttershy felt like she was being crushed by the weight of it. "You want me to protect all of Equestria?!"
Rarity and Twilight stared at her through hopeful eyes that put pressure on the poor Mare.
"Oohh! I'll never be able to do this! I'll probably fail the moment I set hoof off the bridge." Glumly, she peered at the deck.

Out the side of her mouth, Rarity whispered to Twilight, "Twilight, are you sure there is no pony else up to the job? I don't want to risk throwing our friend into the deep end."
"You and me both," the AI replied. "I've been through the records. Fluttershy is the only Pony on the Autumn who can use that armour: The only means of transporting me and the knowledge I have. If only there were some other way."

"Why would you want it any other way?" Pinkie Pie asked, genuinely bewildered. Stepping forward, she draped a foreleg over Fluttershy's back. "Fluttershy can handle this mission, no problem."
"No I can't."
"Yes you can!"

Unsure, Twilight asked, "Are you sure about that, Pinkie Pie?"
"Of course I am! She's been doing a great job so far!"
"No I haven't."
"Yes you have! Stop that!"
"But when you found me, I was being held up by an Elite." She slinked out from under Pinkie's foreleg. "If it's that easy for the Covenant to capture me, then what chance do I stand?" Fluttershy's head drooped again, and she closed her eyes.
She re-opened them to focus on Pinkie who motioned her right hoof.
"Duh, a big chance, silly! Because I'm going to help you, every step of the way!"
Every step of the way.

Twilight brought a hoof to her chin before suggesting, "Y'know what: Maybe a little moral support is all you need, Fluttershy. I'll literally be in the same suit as you, where I'll be able to guide you and give you instructions."
Joining in, Rarity mentioned, "And don't forget; I will be in command, where I can personally order eveypony on the Autumn to help you in any way they can." Having a short think, she decided, "Hmm, I think I'll do that now."
"No need. I've just sent a message over the ship wide com informing everypony of the situation. I'm sure Applejack and Rainbow Dash will have picked it up too," the Alicorn AI informed.

Smiling happily at Fluttershy, Pinkie inquired, "So wha'd'ya say, Fluttershy? Are you up the challenge?" Queue the wink.
Unsure, Fluttershy hesitated, "Um... I don't know. I..." She gazed around her surrounding friends, who's warm smiles served to reassure her. "... I..."
Even some of the bridge crew turned in their seats to grin friendly in her direction.
Sighing, she came to her decision. "... I'll try."

"Woohoooo!" celebrated Pinkie Pie, jumping around and blowing a party whistle she'd produced from nowhere.
Gratifyingly, Rarity and Twilight worded, "Thank you, Fluttershy. That's all we can ask for."
"Thank you, Fluttershy. This is an amazing thing you're doing for us."
Pride entered Fluttershy's soft tone as she stated, "Anything for my friends."

With a warm smile and shimmering blue eyes, Rarity hummed and turned her attention to the AI. "Are you ready, Twilight?"
"One moment," Twilight delayed. "I just want to tell you that once the Filly of Autumn is within nine hundred thousand kilometres of the ring's atmosphere, my sub-routine will take full control, allowing you and the bridge crew to escape in lifeboat number one that I have locked down on reserve, just for you."
"Why thank you, Twilight. That was very thoughtful of you."

"I have also plotted the Autumn's course in my sub-routine to bring her down to the surface of the ring in the safest way possible. She will be rendered inoperable, but should otherwise survive the impact, and we will be able to raid her on a later date."
Later date? concerned Fluttershy. How long would their vacation on the ring world be?

"Exellent work, Twilight. Thanks again," Rarity bowed respectfully. "Now are you ready?"
Twilight took a long pause to get one last gander of the bridge before sighing, "... I'm ready." It could very well be the last time she'd see this place.

Peering at an obscure control panel on the side of Twilight's terminal, Rarity used her Unicorn magic to push the necessary buttons. A bleeping came with every button push until Twilight's Alicorn avatar fizzled away. Once she had completely disappeared, Rarity magiced up a teeny computer chip and levitated it onto Fluttershy's hoof.
"Here you go, Fluttershy. You know how to install her, yes?"
Fluttershy nodded, then hesitated for a beat before inserting the Twilight chip into a receptacle to the right of her chest plate.

Wincing, she felt an icy sting in the back of her head where her neural interface was implanted as Twilight made herself at home.
"Hm... It's nice in here," Twilight's voice sounded quietly in her brain.

Before the yellow Mare could speak, Rarity announced, "I'd also like you to take this," and levitated a diamond encrusted pistol towards her.
Impressed, Pinkie swooned, "Oooh, sparkler-ific!"

The pistol floated over to the armour's built in mechanical arm. Sensing the weapon, Celestia's permanent magic made the arm take hold of the gun.

Fluttershy was astonished. "You're giving me your gun? But... how will you-"
"-Oh, I'll be fine, dear. I've never had to use it anyway. It will be better off in your hooves than mine."
"But-"
"-I can just order somepony to give me their gun if I need one."
"Oh. Well that..." Fluttershy caught herself before she voiced her opinion: She didn't want to come across as ungrateful, after all.

Simply, she expressed, "Thank you, Rarity," and accepted the fabulous M6D magnum.
Heartily, the Captain said, "The pleasure's been mine, hm-hm... The best of luck to you."
Rarity brought Fluttershy and Pinkie in for a cosy group hug that lasted a good long while.
"I'm gonna need it."
> Chapter 3: Army of Pink
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity nodded at Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie before rotating to the main view screen, and Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie nodded back before trotting on their way, out of the bridge.

"You still in there, Twilight?" Fluttershy checked as she trotted along.
The AI's voice entered her brain through the neural interface. "Yep. And I must say, this armour is amazing! I have access to your shield status, weapon status, health status, and even a motion tracker!"
Fluttershy was amazed. "You can see all that?!"
"Yes. Of course you can't see it because you're lacking the helmet, but that's why I'm here. I'll keep you updated as we proceed."
"Oh, that would be helpful. Thank you, Twilight."
"No problem."

"No problem!" mentioned Pinkie, who couldn't hear the AI in Fluttershy's head. "By the way, my name's Pinkie Pie."
Fluttershy giggled contritely, "Hm-hm-hm. I know, Pinkie. I was talking to Twilight."
Playing confused, Pinkie said, "Well that's strange. I don't hear Twilight."
Buzzing out of the armour's exterior speakers, Twilight's voice questioned, "Do you hear me now?"
"Hey! Twilight! I can hear your voice coming from Fluttershy!" laughed the pink one. "Did you two have a brain switch?"
Twilight chuckled, "Hm-hm. Oh Pinkie Pie."

As Pinkie bounced her way into the wide corridor ahead, Twilight told Fluttershy, "Y'know, the gun Rarity gave you only has one magazine. You might want to find some ammo."
"Oh, ok. I'm not quite sure where to-"

"-Wah! Shoot Pony!" came the high-pitched voice of a Covenant Grunt from up ahead.
Pinkie had just entered the main corridor, and she laughed loudly over the plasma fire, "Bwahahaha! You Grunts crack me up!"
"Pinkie Pie!" Fluttershy panicked, running into the corridor to join the pink one.

As soon as she entered the corridor, the plasma fire ceased. One of the Grunts had just flopped over onto the deck with two others, and Pinkie Pie rolled around on the floor, unable to contain herself.
"Hahaha!" snort, "Waahahaha! Di... did you hear that thing?! Hahaha!" snort, ""Shoot Pony! Shoot!" Bwahahahahaha!"
"I'm glad to see she's ok," Twilight commented dryly.
"Oh, me too. Please be more careful, Pinkie. We'd hate for something awful to happen to you."
Rising to her hooves, Pinkie assured, "Aaww, don't you worry your pretty yellow head about pink little me." She gave her a playful nuggie that messed up her mane before hopping over to a sealed door on the other side of the corridor. "Mama Pinkie's got it all under control."

Using her nose, Pinkie opened the door, and the clamorous chatter of MA5B assault rifle fire came thundering out, playing hell with Fluttershy's sensitive ears.
"Alright! Pony buddies!" Care free, Pinkie disappeared into the mess hall.
Twilight moaned out loud, "Oh Pinkie, not again!"
Cautiously, Fluttershy went in after.

There was a real battle going on in the mess hall. UPSC soldiers took cover behind tables, firing eagerly at an assortment of Grunts and Elites to the right of the hall, who answered them with blue and green plasma.

Similar to Fluttershy's Spartan armour, Elite armour had energy shields that rippled as bullets ricocheted off them.

One of the Elites suffered a buck from Pinkie Pie, who zipped around the room like lightning, dodging every bullet and plasma bolt. The blue armoured biped looked around frantically, and sought cover to avoid fire from the Pony firing squad. Unfortunately for him, he took cover in a place where Fluttershy could get a clear shot on him. Fortunately for him, Fluttershy was still Fluttershy.

"Go ahead, Fluttershy! Take the shot!" encouraged Twilight.
Full of anxiety, Fluttershy questioned, "But, what if I miss?"
"You haven't got to think like that, Fluttershy. Just take aim, and fire."
After a beat, the timid Pegasus took a breath and answered uneasily, "Alright... Here goes..."

Aiming at the Elite, the mechanical arm on her armour shook with her nerves. She kept aiming...
aiming...
aiming...
until blue motes of light circled the Elite, marking his shields fully charged, and he sprang back up from hiding to return fire at the Ponies.
"Oh," Fluttershy murmured with disappointment. "Sorry."
"Better look next time, Fluttershy."
Fluttershy knew Twilight was trying to comfort her, but she wasn't sure if she detected a bit of annoyance in her tone, or if she was just making that up.

Back to the battle, Pinkie Pie hopped on the back of a red armoured Grunt and yelled, "Hi-ho, Grunt! Awaaay!"
She rode that Grunt around in circles, with two blue armoured Elites in the middle. After firing a full magazine of MA5B ammo, and with help from the soldiers, she successfully defeated the alien warriors.

All the Grunts in the mess hall had already been dropped, minus the one Pinkie harnessed. Bringing the squeaker to a stop, she hopped off the diminutive alien and bucked it out of sight.

"Great job, everypony!" she sang out across the mess hall. "You've earned yourselves a round cupcakes!"
Her soldier saddle's arm reached into her saddle bag and replaced her MA5B with another MA5B, only this one was pink and covered with stars. She fired it towards the firing squad, who watched in confusion as cupcakes came spewing out at a fully automatic rate, landing perfectly on a nearby table.

Licking their lips and beaming, the Ponies claimed their scrumptious treats.
"Thank you, Pinkie Pie!" gratified the Stallion in charge with a grin.
Pinkie swapped her cupcake gun for her real MA5B, and trotted to the exit.

Galloping through the hall to catch up with Pinkie, Fluttershy heard Twilight talking in her head.
"Ok, I've just accessed the ship's lifeboat chart," she started. "The boats are leaving one by one at a hasty rate. If we hurry, we should be able to catch one."
"Ok. Which one's the closest?" Fluttershy asked in return as she exited the hall with Pinkie.
"Well, the closest is lifeboat one, which is reserved for Rarity and the bridge crew. After that, it's lifeboat two."
"Ok, um, lead the way."

Coming to a sudden halt, Pinkie bent down and examined a pistol's magazine on the floor.
"Hey, Fluttershy! I found some ammo for you!" she called out with a sense of accomplishment, waving the clip in the air.
"Oh, thanks, Pinkie."

Fluttershy opened a black saddle bag on the left of her armour with her mouth, flipped the ammunition inside, and closed it up. With two loads of pistol ammo, she roamed through the Autumn, Pinkie at her side.

Leading them through the ship's corridors, Twilight directed them left and right, and gave them a heads up when an enemy was detected lurking around a corner. In no time at all, Pinkie raced around to meet the alien, which turned out to be a lone veteran Elite. The mighty biped grunted as she beat it down.

Giving the all clear, Twilight allowed Fluttershy to proceed. The young Pegasus beheld Pinkie standing heroic and victorious over the Elite's prone form.
"Nice one, Pinkie," Twilight commended.
Fluttershy would've said something too, but it was hard for her to applaud murder. In the end, she just said, "Thanks," and the two of them continued on their way.

Approaching the end of the corridor, two other soldiers hurried into view. The further most was a light purple Earth Pony Mare with cerise hair and eyes. She stumbled over and fell to the deck.
"I'm ok," she assured from somewhere around the doorway.

Glancing back at her clumsy friend, the other Pony was also an Earth Pony Mare, only she was khaki with a vibrant orange mane and green eyes.

"Hey. You're the Pony Twilight told us to protect," the standing Earth Pony said, pointing at Fluttershy.
From Fluttershy's speakers, Twilight answered, "Yep, she sure is."
"Well in that case; let us escort you," she offered as her light purple friend wobbled to her hooves with a hiccup.
"Yeah, let us... Lettuce... Cabbage... Uh... Hic! ..."

Concerned, Fluttershy quizzed, "Is she ok?"
As the hiccupping Mare swayed around behind her, the khaki Pony explained, "She's fine. Berry's just a little... tipsy."
"She must be one hay of a party rocker!" Pinkie theorised humorously.
The khaki Pony rolled her eyes. "Ugh, don't even go there."
"Go where?"
"Shut up, Berry."

Turning her attention to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, she beckoned, "Come on. The lifeboat's right around here," and turned to run down a wider corridor. "Come on, Berry," she grated, loosing her patience.
All together, the four Ponies galloped down the corridor, turning left and - wow! Lifeboat two really was close.

Huddling around the air-lock, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Berry waited as the orange maned Mare typed away at an activation panel.
"... Hold on..." Twilight said with growing suspicion. "... Oh gosh. Get back!"
Everypony fled the air-lock, and thanks to Twilight's warning, they narrowly avoided being blown to smithereens as the air-lock door blew open, and a horde of Covenant came pouring out.

"What the... How did they get in the lifeboat?!" boggled the orange maned Mare as she fired her MA5B assault rifle at the mixture of Grunts and Elites.

Like a rocket, Pinkie Pie blasted her way into the air-lock, scoring a strike on the Covenant bowling pins, giving the khaki Pony the chance she needed to spray them all with bullets. She used up an entire mag, just as she'd got the shields down on a crimson armoured Elite.
Unable to shoot as she reloaded, the Mare strained, "Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!" as the veteran Elite regained his composure and raised his plasma rifle.

"Quick, Fluttershy! Shoot that thing!" pressured Twilight urgently as Fluttershy hid behind a support column.
Groaning, Fluttershy popped up from cover and shakily aimed her diamond encrusted magnum at the Elite. Pinkie was nowhere in sight, but she could still be heard fighting away at a second Elite in the air-lock.

POW! The Elite fired a single bolt of plasma from his curvy blue rifle, and the khaki Mare dropped like a rock. A rock with a face that had been burnt off.

Shock and horror consumed Fluttershy as she whipped herself back behind the column and took deep, panicked breaths.
"Oh no! I didn't save her!" she pined as Twilight bellowed:
"Fluttershy! That Elite is still on the loose! You need to stop him before his shields recharge and he does that to us! Or Pinkie!"

Peering tearfully from behind the column, Fluttershy spied the murdering Elite, standing with his back turned to the dead khaki Mare and staring fiercely into the air-lock where Pinkie and another Elite tussled away.

Semi-consciously, Fluttershy motioned her mechanical arm and pistol into position, and pulled the trigger. The ear-splitting bang and kick-back of the shot was enough to make her jump. 'Twas also enough to rock the Elite back, and he grasped the bloody gunshot wound she'd inflicted on his right arm, making him loose grip on the plasma rifle.

"Good! Hit him again!" ordered the vengeful Twilight, prompting Fluttershy to approach the Elite and fire shot after shot into his torso.
She whimpered with unease as she drew closer to the target, not at all comfortable.

The Elite's blood was purple, and it dripped out onto the floor. Weakly, he slipped onto his back where Fluttershy stood frowning over him, watching as the life faded from his red eyes. She couldn't believe what she'd just done, and she slumped to her haunches in guilt.

Softly, Twilight checked, "Fluttershy... are you ok?"
With a sniff, Fluttershy answered, "No."

In an instant, Pinkie Pie returned, unharmed and with a big smile on her face. "I'm here, Fluttershy! How are you - woah!" Her blue eyes widened upon seeing the floored Elite. "Did you do that? Nice job!" Pinkie squeezed Fluttershy with a cuddle. When Fluttershy didn't cuddle back, she pulled away and looked puzzlingly at her, noting her frown. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Sniffling, Fluttershy whimpered, "Look," and pointed at the dead khaki Mare who lay still on the floor.
"Oh dear... That's not you're fault, Fluttershy," comforted Pinkie meaningfully, nuzzling up to her.
"I could've saved her," sniff, "But... I... I didn't. If I had just been braver..." she trailed off, squeezing her eyes shut with grief.

"No pony can blame you for being afraid, Fluttershy," Twilight tried to comfort. "You have every reason to fear the Covenant."

After squeezing out a few tears, and another long hug from Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy sniffled and got up. A grenade detonation sounded close by, followed by the pitched scream of a Pony. Fluttershy was a statue for a while, before she wiped away her tears and scanned around.

Twilight and Pinkie were right. They were in the middle of a war, and stuff like this just sort of happened. There was no time to play the blame game... but she blamed herself for the khaki one's death so hard right now.

Searching around sheepishly, she wondered, "Where'd the other Pony go?" refering to the tipsy, light purple Mare who had accompanied the khaki one.
Pinkie thought for a moment before stating, "I have no idea."
"Oh. Um... What about the lifeboat? Can we still use it to get off the Autumn?"
Resurfacing, Twilight said, "You should take a look for yourself."

Pacing over to the air-lock, Fluttershy got a gander of glittering purple metal and one dead rookie Elite inside. She instantly recognised it as Covenant design, and its very presence made a lump form in her throat.

"What is this thing?" she puzzled with a croaky voice.
"This, is a Covenant boarding craft," explained Twilight. "They're docking them in our lifeboat air-locks. It's clever."

Gulping, Fluttershy thought aloud, "I... guess we have to find a new lifeboat... right?"
"Right. I'll give you the directions."
Accepting, she mumbled, "Ok... Come on, Pinkie Pie."
The two of them left the scene.

Images of the encounter continued to haunt Fluttershy's mind. Another thing that haunted her mind was; what on Equestria happened to the tipsy Pony? No body, living or dead, had been found. No trace of where she went. No clue as to who was responsible for her disappearance. The mystery was enough to scare Fluttershy.

Following Twilight's directions through the maze, Fluttershy and Pinkie traversed a blackened corridor, and soon stumbled upon a conflict between the UPSC and the Covenant. Working with the squad of equine soldiers, they were able to flank the Covenant.

Fluttershy scored a head shot on a cute little Grunt, which she immediately dismissed as nothing more than a fluke. She didn't like killing that Grunt, and she especially didn't like Twilight's praise for it. She did appreciate her intent, though.

Now that the cramped quarters were secure, Pinkie shot along, Fluttershy trailing behind.
"Hey look!" the Mare in charge of the firing squad hollered and pointed at Fluttershy. "You must be Fluttershy. Thanks for the assist, Fluttershy."
Stopping in her tracks, she stopped to wave sweetly at the soldiers and said, "Oh, you're welcome."

In her head, Twilight plotted, "Fluttershy, you have only one bullet left in your pistol. I recommend you ask these soldiers to spare some ammo for you."
"Oh, that would be kinda rude, don't you think? It's their ammo, not mine."
"Fair enough. Allow me..."

Twilight switched from private chat to loud speaker and grabbed the attention of the firing squad. "Listen up, everypony! Fluttershy here is running low on ammo, and we would very much appreciate it if you could lend her some."

Kind heartedly, the blue Mare in charge obliged, "Absolutely, Twilight," offering five whole magazines. "Here you go, Fluttershy. I hardly use my pistol anyway."
Blushing, Fluttershy muttered, "Oh, thanks, but there's really no need to-"
"-Oh, pish posh!" the soldier interrupted, waving a hoof. "You're the Pony keeping the Autumn's AI safe, and we must help you in any way we can."
Fluttershy felt uncomfortable accepting favours, but since they insisted, she opened up her saddle bag and let the Mare drop off her pistol ammo. The other three Ponies under her command did likewise.

"Eighteen clips in total!" Twilight calculated. "Wow! Thanks, everypony. This will surely help."
Full of gratitude, Fluttershy told the squad, "Thank you. Um... I'll just be on my way now," and trotted away, reloading her gun.
"Take care now!" the Mare called after her.

Into a wider main corridor, Fluttershy met another team of Ponies, along with some dead Covies sprinkling the floor... but no Pinkie Pie. After checking with one of the soldiers, she learnt that Pinkie was responsible for the Covenant casualties, and that she'd just vanished as soon as they'd been taken care of. Sounded believable, so she continued exploring the twisting corridors, seeing similar, tell-tale scenes of dead Covies and soldiers moving out.

Galloping in Pinkie Pie's hoof steps, Fluttershy listened to an irritated Twilight.
"Ugh! I can't believe her! Doesn't that Pony know the meaning of "stay close?""
"I just hope she's ok," admitted Fluttershy.
Twilight sighed, "Me too."

After emerging in a darkened section of main corridor clustered with striped barrels and a raging fire at one side, Fluttershy ducked under a half closed containment door and into another section of main corridor, where yet more dead Covies were strewn, along with two surviving crew Ponies.

To the Ponies, she fished desperately, "Have you seen a pink Pony anywhere? I've lost one."
The Unicorn of the two began to reply, "Oh, yeah we saw one alri-"
"-Hi, Fluttershy!" bellowed the fluffy pink Pony who flashed in with a huge smile.
Fluttershy let out a deep sigh of relief. "Oh, Pinkie Pie! I'm so glad you're safe!"

Giving her a hug, she continued, "I've been worried sick! We've been looking everywhere for you!"
Sternly, Twilight buzzed, "Pinkie, you need to stop abandoning us like this. If one of you got hurt, the other one wouldn't know about it."
Laughing and snorting, Pinkie Pie revealed, "Hehaha! I'm not abandoning you! I'm just clearing a path for my bestest friends! Duh!" Wiping her hoof across the scene of the Covie corpses and two confused crew Ponies, she interrogated, "So, I do good?
Struggling, Twilight began to answer, "Well... I guess, but..."

The Unicorn Mare who spoke before announced, "If Pinkie here didn't show up when she did; we would have been shot by these Covenant! We owe her our lives."

Something struck the outside of the ship, making the whole deck quake. The other, Stallion crew Pony fell over with a grunt, but everypony else managed to keep their composure.

Sighing, Twilight pronounced, "I suppose you did a good job, Pinkie. But do you think maybe you can do a good job close to us?"
"Please?" Fluttershy added, looking at Pinkie like a sad puppy.
Eventually, the pink one decided, "Sure," and joined Fluttershy in the next branch corridor.
Left by themselves, the two crew Ponies ran off in separate directions.

After a few minutes walking, and an ardours fire fight in one of the Autumn's stair wells, Fluttershy and Pinkie ventured down a main corridor, where they immediately caught sight of a collection of Covenant. The two Mares dove into cover behind one of those UPSC shield placements.

Puzzled and frightened, Fluttershy queried, "Twilight, are those Covies not showing up on your sensors?"
Her reply was worrying. "What Covies?"
The two Ponies rose their heads up from behind the shield to get a second look at the Grunts and Elites.
Descending back into cover, Fluttershy whispered, "Those Covies."
"I can't see them, Fluttershy. And the sensors in this armour only track movement. Are they all staying still by any chance?"
Taking a third look, Fluttershy and Pinkie noticed numerous Grunts who held position, aiming their plasma pistols around as if they were expecting an ambush. Three mighty Elites stood amongst them too; two blue and one crimson.

Murmuring something in the alien language of Elite's, the crimson one pointed to an area just off the Ponies' hiding place, and one of the blue ones crept over in the direction.
The crimson ones order the blue ones, Fluttershy observed before slinking back down.

"Ah!" noised Twilight, giving Fluttershy a scare. "I have one red dot, heading in our direction."
The blue one.

Fluttershy searched desperately through her brain for options, but she figured none of them would work. Her heart beat heavily in her chest as the Elite's intimidating footsteps grew louder and louder. Lost, she stared at Pinkie Pie, who looked confused for a second, until a light bulb pinged on over her head.

Opening her saddle bag, Pinkie stashed the light bulb, and produced a small, round, green fragmentation grenade in her mouth. With the pin in her teeth, she yanked the explosive free and jumped up to hurl it at the alien crowd.
"You might wanna cover your ears this time," advised Twilight, prompting the two Mares to do so.

There was a subdued BOOM that sent the blue armoured Elite soaring over their heads, and set the rest of the Covenant off like car alarms.

Pinkie Pie jumped into the centre of the corridor and sprayed the survivors with bullets, save for the veteran Elite who fled the scene to let his shields recharge.

With the rest of the Covenant lying on the floor in pools of their own purple and blue blood, Pinkie went racing after the running dog.
"Get back here you!" she thundered as it disappeared into a blackened section of corridor.
"Pinkie! Wait!" Twilight pleaded.
The pink one screamed back, "No! You hurry up!" and dashed away into the shadows.
Frustrated, Twilight groaned, "Ugh! Come on, Fluttershy!"

Following Pinkie and the Elite, the yellow Pegasus sped away through the blacked out area, holding position at a corner where the darkness surrendered to light. A fire crackled away over some barrels to her right, and the heat made her forehead shine with sweat.

Peering ahead, Fluttershy discovered the crimson Elite standing behind a translucent Covenant shield placement, and Pinkie Pie snarling at him from the other side.

Panting, the monstrous biped darted his blue eyes from side to side, sussing out the situation. Circling the alien, the blue lights of armour recharge ascended and fizzled away. Evilly, he laughed, and smirked menacingly at the blue eyed Earth Pony, who now started to bark at him.

"Woof! Rrr-woof! Grrrr!"
"Pinkie! What are you doing?!" Fluttershy begged to know.
Twilight: "Fluttershy, I recommend standing by Pinkie's side. Together, you can flank him!"
Terrified, Fluttershy grated, "What kind of soldier do you think I am!?"
"A soldier who want's to help her friend when she's in danger, perhaps?"
Twilight couldn't point right now, but if she could, she'd be pointing at Pinkie, who continued her staring contest with the huge, veteran Elite.

Twilight was right though; she always was, and the more Fluttershy thought about it, the more she realised how selfish she was being.

Upon seeing Fluttershy run up to join Pinkie, the Elite grunted in surprise, those piercing blue eyes darting around once more, reassessing the situation.

Twilight hissed over the exterior speaker, "On the count of three. One..."
The Elite examined the Ponies, confused as to where the third voice was coming from.
"... Two..."
Locking eyes with Fluttershy, the Elite rumbled, making Fluttershy feel small.
"... Three!"

At once, the Earth Pony and the Pegasus swung round each side of the shield and sandwiched the Elite with bucks. His shields dropped, as did his plasma rifle, but he still managed to punch Fluttershy in the face. Luckily, her own shields bought the brunt of the attack, thus dropping.

"Get your head down!" alarmed the Alicorn in Fluttershy's head.
Hunkering down and protecting her head, she avoided another swing from the Elite, who was pulled back by Pinkie, and anti-climactically shot in the face.

"Woohoo! Now that's what I call teamwork!" celebrated Pinkie Pie, blowing the smoke from the barrel of her MA5B.
"G... great job, P-pinkie," Fluttershy congratulated, huffing and shivering.
Twilight corrected, "Great job, everypony."

Golden light swirled around Fluttershy, catching the attention of Pinkie.
"Oooo! Golden-y," she observed in awe.
Embarrassed, Fluttershy giggled and blushed. "Hm-hm. That's just my shields recharging."
"Cool!"

As soon as the recharging sequence was over, the Filly of Autumn jostled as she absorbed yet another blow, followed by Captain Rarity's voice on the ship wide com.
"Brace for impact!"
Annoyed, Twilight moaned, "Oh Rarity. She's supposed to say that before the impact!" Changing her tone, she proceeded, "Keep following this corridor and you'll get to the lifeboats."
"You got it!" Pinkie acknowledged, and the duo galloped onwards.

At the next right turn, they came up to a large window with a deceased Pony laying next to it, and a decent view of space and the side of the Autumn.
Eyes fixed to the equine corpse, Fluttershy gasped, "Oh my gosh!"

Wordlessly, Pinkie began salvaging ammo from the unfortunate Mare, stocking up on MA5B ammo for herself, and offering two more clips of pistol ammo to Fluttershy. Knowing where the magazines came from, she reluctantly took them in her mouth and spat them into her saddle bag.

POW! There was a spectacular flash outside the window. Pinkie squashed her face against the glass whilst Fluttershy yelped and hunkered, peeking through her trailing pink mane at the sight of gigantic blue laser beams striking the ship's exterior.
"Woah!" gawped Pinkie Pie, the lasers reflecting in her widening blue eyes.

A separate noise; a louder, deeper boom, vibrated the metal deck as a lifeboat blasted free from the Autumn and sailed quickly out into space.
As the Ponies watched on, Twilight urged, "The lifeboats are launching! We should hurry!"
Jumping up, Fluttershy agreed, "Oh, of course! Come on, Pinkie!"

At full speed, the Mares ran around the window and to a row of three air-locks. The further most had housed the lifeboat that they'd seen launch, so they huddled into the closest air-lock, just as the lifeboat docked there went rocketing out of the ship.

Both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie inhaled with panic, and bolted on over to the next lifeboat in seconds, only to witness its booming departure. Looking on in grief, the two of them had their jaws dropped as the lifeboats sailed away; Ponies nice and safe inside... Or were they?

Blue laser beams continued to punch into the Autumn's plating, and there was a blinding, fiery explosion as the last lifeboat was struck by one.

Screaming, Fluttershy turned away and shielded her eyes.
"Oh no! We're never gonna get off this ship!" Pinkie pined.
Quietly, Twilight noted, "The Covenant are destroying the lifeboats. They really don't want us on that ring!"
"But why?" Fluttershy pleaded.
"I don't know why." She paused, leaving Fluttershy in doubt. "... But I'm sure we'll find out once we're down there. Bare with me while I locate more lifeboats..."

Crammed into the tiny air-lock, Fluttershy and Pinkie heard the high-pitched, trademark mumblings of Grunts making their way up the corridor.

"... There. I have located three lifeboats on the starboard side," Twilight eventually returned. "They're quite a ways off, but it's either them or the ones that are over two kilometres away, hehe. Err, I do know a couple of shortcuts, however. We'll have to go through the ship's maintenance access ways."
Not knowing what the maintenance access ways were, Fluttershy breathed, "Ok," her hopes low.

Before she and Pinkie peeped around the corner, Twilight added, "Oh, and guys? There are some enemies to your left. We can all hear them, but I thought I'd reassure you that my sensors are working."
> 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.
> Chapter 5: So Many Wonders
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Halo.

Fluttershy had set herself a goal; stop crying by the time they reached the ring world's surface. But every time her sobs started to fade, the memory of Pinkie Pie would come bouncing into her mind, setting her off again.

Twilight had cried too, something she never expected from an AI, but when that AI was based on the real life Twilight Sparkle, it all made sense. Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie; a circle of friends to the end, even if one was just a cloned mind and holographic representation. Too bad the real Princess Twilight couldn't be there with them, but hey, she's a Princess; she's got Princess stuff to do.

The mood in the lifeboat was awkward as Fluttershy whimpered away at the back end.

On their way down, the pink Earth Pony with the green mane had introduced herself, and tried to lift the spirits of the depressed Pegasus... It didn't work. The only thing that would cheer her up now would be if Pinkie was confirmed alive and well.

Staring vacantly out the back window, Fluttershy saw the blackness of space transform into cool blue sky with wisps of white clouds. Up ahead, the window was blocked by the lifeboat's pilot; a pink Pegasus Mare with a blonde mane.

The lifeboat jostled as the pilot deployed the air brakes and activated the resistance jets. Lifeboats weren't designed for extended atmospheric use, hence the lack of wings. They didn't come with landing gear either. They were really just pony-made asteroids, with Ponies inside. This meant landing was very dangerous, since every landing would inevitably be a crash. Luckily, they had been designed to withstand the impact, depending on what they impacted, of course.

Fluttershy never liked flying. Not even when she used her own two wings. She preferred to keep her hooves on the ground. The whistling sound of turbulence and screaming jet brakes, along with the sight of the air brakes detaching and the snowy peeks of mountains ascending into view, Fluttershy felt incredibly uncomfortable.

She had to tell herself; It's ok, Fluttershy. It's ok. These are all routine things. Get a hold of yourself.

The lifeboat didn't appear to be slowing. In fact, it actually seemed to be getting faster.
Over the lifeboat's speakers, the pilot announced in a frightened tone, "Ah! W... we're picking up speed! Th-the chutes deployed too early!"

There was a panicked "Waa!" from the rest of the Ponies as the craft hurtled across the sky and descended amongst the mountains.

"I'm loosing her!"
Lungs heaving in and out and heart beating like a possessed hammer, Fluttershy covered her eyes and bleated consistently, "Oh my goodness - oh my goodness - oh my goodness - oh my goodness!"
"Brace for impact!"
Everypony in the lifeboat screamed, the ground racing up to meet them.

First came the impact. Whatever happened next; Fluttershy never witnessed as her vision snapped to black...

"... -luttershy! ... -luttershy, can you h - m..." Twilight's voice faded.
Fluttershy's hearing gradually returned, as well as her vision which blacked out and blurred back in.
"Hnnng," she groaned with the throbbing pain in her head.
"Oh, at last. I didn't think you were ever gonna wake up!"
Fluttershy didn't answer, just groaned again.
"Boy, am I glad you're ok."

Fluttershy rubbed her head with a hoof. "Uuhh, my head." The hoof came away with blood.
Upon realising the extent of her head injury, Fluttershy... didn't scream. Instead, she just sighed and slumped to the deck of the lifeboat, which was now dented out of shape.

"Fluttershy, get up!" urged Twilight.
"Uuhh, I can't," she wheezed in response.
"Fluttershy, the Covenant are surely on their way. We need to move!"
"The Covenant? Urrnnng, not the Covenan..." she trailed off, weak.
"Get up!"
"Ah, ok... ... Ok." She strained to her hooves and began to weep, both in distress and in woe for Pinkie.

Looking around in the lifeboat, Fluttershy found herself surrounded by the corpses of everypony on board. She was too dazed to react, but she disliked the scene all the same. Strolling out of the lifeboat and onto the singed ground, she took a deep breath of fresh air.

The scenery outside was beautiful. The lifeboat had carved a trench into a grassy meadow dotted with trees and rocks. A huge waterfall thundered down a grey rock face up ahead and into a river that separated the meadow from a steep, grassy incline, that eventually became a cliff. More trees and rocks were scattered around that incline.

Gasping with awe, Fluttershy gazed around, seeing the gigantic orange planet filling most of the sky, the shining sun, and something she never counted on seeing in her life. She was on an alien ring world, and tapering up from the horizon, she saw the world arch high above her head and swoop back down to complete itself behind her. It had her in a trance for a long while, until she felt her warm blood running down the side of her head.

"Fluttershy, I'm detecting multiple items of significant importance, scattered around the wreckage," droned Twilight informatively. "First thing's first; there should be a med pack by your hooves."

Blinking frequently, Fluttershy looked down to see that there was indeed a med pack laying right in front of her. The med pack was a white, plastic, octagonal box with a red letter "H" printed on the lid.

"You suffered a nasty concussion. You should really fix yourself up."
Opening the med pack, Fluttershy asked, "Twilight?"
"Yeah?"
"Why am I the only survivor?"
"Simple. Because you were the only Pony wearing MJOLNIR mark 5 armour. It saved your life, Fluttershy."
The yellow Pegasus sighed with guilt, feeling that somepony else was more deserving of her fortune.

Tiredly, she cleaned some of the blood away. Whipping out a plaster from the med pack, the ache in her head intensified, and she winced as she flattened it over the wound.
"That should do," muttered Twilight.

With her vision becoming less blurry by the second, Fluttershy searched around the area just outside the lifeboat's open door. Three Ponies from inside the lifeboat had been thrown free of the wreckage and flung onto the dirt, along with their rifles, grenades, and the med pack that Fluttershy decided to keep in her saddle bag.

Salvaging four fragmentation grenades, she listened to Twilight, who told, "There should be a helmet camera on one of these soldiers. There's a slot on your armour's collar for installing one in the event of a missing helmet."
"Ok. I'll see what I can find."

Uneasily checking the helmets of the three bodies, she eventually came across a camera on the helmet of the green maned Earth Pony. Fitting the device was easy; just extract it from the marine helmet and insert it into the slot in her armour's collar.

"Wow! I can actually see now!" swooned Twilight, wonderstruck. "Oohh, this place looks amazing! I can't believe we're actually here, on an alien ring world. No pony has ever seen, or even heard of such a place! Ooh, I can't wait to learn more about this place! Can you?!"

Fluttershy couldn't remember the last time she'd heard Twilight so excited. To be honest, Fluttershy didn't care for learning about this place. The Covenant were on it, and she just wanted to go home.

Nether the less, she humoured the AI, and said dryly, "Oh, yes... I... can't wait..."
There was an elevated, "Teehee," from the AI Twilight as Fluttershy used the mechanical arm of her armour to inspect an MA5B assault rifle.
"Ah, good thinking, Fluttershy. We will need this weapon for whatever lies ahead."
Nervous, Fluttershy asked, "Will we really need it?"
To which Twilight replied, "Most likely."
Fluttershy swallowed, dreading whatever required her to pack an MA5B.

Rummaging through the scene, Fluttershy acquired a decent amount of MA5B ammo, which she kept in her bag with the med pack, Rarity's pistol, and four grenades.

Randomly, Twilight asked, "Fluttershy? When was the last time you ate?"
"Oh, um... well... it was before I went into cryo sleep," she admitted, knowing Twilight wouldn't react too happily.
"Oh goodness! I knew you hadn't eaten in a while, but my word! You must be starving."
She was right, she was starving, and her tummy groaned, as if in reply.
"I suggest that you eat something, right away."
"Sure. Um, is there any food lying around?"
"There will surely be a canteen lying around so you can take a drink. As for food; look around! What do you see?"

Fluttershy had noticed an olive green flask abandoned on the floor. When she picked it up, she found it was empty. Not to worry; there was a flowing river nearby.

As for food, well, Fluttershy gazed around her, seeing nothing but trees, rocks, and grass... Grass! Of course! With the canteen secured in her saddle bag, she roamed away from the crash site and began grazing like the Pony she was on glorious grass.
After swallowing her first mouthful, she stated, "Mmm, this grass is delicious."

Just as she was about to take her second mouthful, a distant blowing noise startled her, and she looked up to behold a ball of blue light rocketing up into the sky at a perfect, vertical angle, leaving a faded trail as it shrank away.

"Wow!" whispered Twilight in amazement.
Fluttershy felt unnerved. "W... what was that?"
"I don't know, but I sure hope we'll get a chance to find out."
Not liking the idea, Fluttershy gulped.

She tried again to take a second mouthful of grass, only to be interrupted once more.
"Warning; I've detected a Covenant drop ship on approach."
Fluttershy almost screamed, but instead, she just nickered and desperately sought advice from the AI. "Oh no! W... w... what should we do?!" The thought of the Covenant aircraft zooming closer and closer every second sent her heart into overdrive.
"Take it easy, Fluttershy. Just run to the hills. There's a bridge you can use to cross the river."

Not sure how she could possibly take it easy in such a dire situation, Fluttershy galloped towards the fast flowing river. If it wasn't for the Covenant drop ship, she would've filled up the canteen she'd acquired.

Upon arriving at the bridge, Twilight alarmed, "Banshees, moving in!"
"Banshees!?" Fluttershy was in disbelief.
Not twenty seconds ago, she was peacefully grazing, but now she had the Covenant air force moving in to annihilate her. Drop ship, Banshees; how much were the Covenant willing to expend on a single Mare? Things had turned hectic fast. Too fast.

The stomach churning sound of alien engines came resonating over the hills. She knew the aircraft could be anywhere over her head.

Before her, a long, metal bridge connected the meadow to a sloping ledge. Between them, the river coursed into a second waterfall that bellowed under the bridge and dissipated before reaching the bottom of the mile high precipice. It was terrifying, and to make matters worse, the bridge didn't even have any railings.

Fluttershy stared down for a while, petrified, when Twilight ordered, "Fluttershy! Move!"
"Ah! Ok!" she squealed, and set off cautiously down the narrow bridge over the never ending waterfall.

Not sure if it was her imagination, Fluttershy swore the bridge was wobbling under her weight. She had to stop half way across to reassure herself, panting in fear.

A large shadow drifted over her as the humming of a Covenant engine reverberated in her ears.

Impatiently, Twilight grated, "Alert; the Covenant drop ship has detected us. I order you to seek cover amongst the boulder to your left."
Fluttershy didn't answer, just regained her composure and continued her quaky way across the infinity foot high bridge.

Once at the other side, she edged her way around the boulder Twilight mentioned, the daunting drop to her left, and hunkered down between it and a cliff face.

Shivering, she heard the arrival of the Banshees living up to their name, screeching overhead. Peering over the rock, she got a gander of them; their sleek, purple fuselages, and each wing made up of two metal beams tipped with golden light. Hanging below the noses of the aircrafts were their weapons; two heavy plasma cannons and one big fuel rod cannon. These vehicles could inflict hellish damage upon wherever they fired.

In total, there were two Banshees, and one leviathan drop ship. A Spirit, to be precise. There were many ways to describe the bulky, Covenant drop ship; the letter "U," a two pronged fork, a horseshoe, but the only word coming to Fluttershy's mind was "scary."

As the giant purple horseshoe hovered in place and lowered over the lifeboat crash, the two extensive doors that lined the outside of each "prong" fell open, exposing the aliens within. Hopping to the ground, the foot soldiers consisted of two Elites, one crimson and one blue, and a pack of Grunts.

Fluttershy watched on as the Covies spread around the crash site, the Spirit drop ship levitating upwards and buzzing away. They were quite far out of range on the other side of the bridge, but Fluttershy managed to make out the veteran Elite as it stood still and stared ghoulishly at her from across the way.

Too scared to think of what to do, she couldn't take her eyes off the biped soldier, until Twilight yelled, "Take cover!" and plasma splashed against her energy shields.
Screaming, she ducked down beneath the boulder, her shields had just popped. One of the two Banshees pulled up from it's dive having been the culprit, and banked around.

Taking deep breaths, Fluttershy pined, "H... h-how am... How am I suppose to survive thi-hi-hi-hiiis!"
"Be strong, Fluttershy. I'll walk you through this," came Twilight's response. "I'm picking up one enemy contact, crossing the bridge. Use the more accurate pistol Rarity gave you and open fire on him."

Sniffling, the despairing Mare swapped her MA5B for Rarity's diamond encrusted M6D pistol, and unwillingly poked up from behind her rock, just as her shields recharged.

The lone Covie crossing the bridge was the blue armoured Elite, who had been ordered by the veteran to carry out the necessary execution. He just came belting over the bridge at full force, dismissing the bridge's height, wobbliness, and lack of railings.

"Fire! Now!" encouraged Twilight as Fluttershy pointed her gun shakily at the running alien, who was still at quite a distance.

Hastily, she fired, and missed completely. Trying again, she pulled that trigger, and missed a second time. The warrior was too far away, and moving too fast, and Fluttershy was too concerned about the Banshees overhead.

As the rookie Elite came nearer and nearer, she fired four more shots, and this time, she actually managed to hit him, three times in fact. It wasn't enough to drain his shields, but it was enough to rock him out of balance.

Loosing his footing, the Elite slipped off the bridge and went screaming all the way down what had to be the tallest waterfall in the universe.

There was no time to celebrate, not that she would've celebrated, as Twilight bawled, "Take cover!"
The Pegasus ducked back under the boulder in time to avoid the deadly blue rain of the Banshees' plasma cannons. She shrieked with dread as the plasma bolts melted away at her rocky cover.

After they stopped firing, Twilight updated, "Now all the Covenant are crossing the bridge!"
Fluttershy moaned helplessly as the Banshees wailed around in preparation for their next assault.

With some sort of scheme in her artificial mind, Twilight checked, "You have exactly four grenades, right?"
Timidly, Fluttershy sniffed and whimpered, "Mm-hm," with a shaky nod of her head.
"Excellent."

Crossing the bridge, the diminutive Grunts waddled along first, with their master in crimson armour taking up the rear. Upon arriving at the other end where Fluttershy's rock was, a round green frag grenade came arching over the boulder and rolled into position amongst their flat, alien feet.

BOOM! Grunts went flying everywhere; down the waterfall, back onto the bridge. One even came to a rest before Fluttershy, who yelped in surprise.

"Well done, Fluttershy!" the AI cheered. "There's only one contact left, most likely the Elite. Incoming!"
A horrible green explosion took place on the cliff face, sprinkling her with debris and piping hot green substance: The Banshees had returned, and one of them decided to use it's heavy weapon; the fuel rod cannon.

The explosion had blasted a miniature cave into the cliff and sent small rocks tumbling down the precipice. Heat and radiation seethed her way as she shook her head clear of stars. Her shields had taken damage, but fortunately, they hadn't dropped completely.

Those bullying Banshees banked around once more, lining up for another strike.

Roaring monstrously, the remaining foot soldier pounded onto the grassy slope and approached the boulder.

Urgently, Twilight commanded, "Leave a live grenade right here and run around the rock! Now!"
Unquestionably, Fluttershy obeyed her friend and bit the pin off one frag, placing it gently in her spot, and hurriedly squeezed between the boulder and the immense drop.

She had no idea why Twilight ordered her to do such a thing, but when she noticed the veteran Elite climbing over the rock and looming over her spot, she understood it all.

The grenade detonated with an ear-splitting BOOM, sending chunks of rock and alien into the air.

As the pieces came raining down, and her shields began to recharge once more, Twilight shouted, "Quick! Look for some plasma grenades and get back behind the rock!"

Unable to catch a break, the strained out Pegasus darted around for the tiny blue balls. One of the dead Grunts kindly gave up two of the lethal little devices.

With the salvaged Covenant grenades taking up storage in her cheeks, she took the recently deceased Elite's path and pranced over the rock, avoiding two blasts from the Banshees' fuel rod cannons and taking hits from their plasma weapons.

Seeking shelter under the rock, she figured her shields were a smidge from being fully depleted, and she spat the Covenant grenades out into the roofed crater she'd made with her frag.

"The Banshees are circling back around," informed Twilight. "By the time they're in position, your shields will be fully charged. When they swoop in for the kill, I want you to throw one of those plasma grenades right at it! Get your aim right, and-"
Hopelessly, Fluttershy wailed, "-Oh, I can't throw worth my life! Aha-aha-ahaa!" sniff.
This was a crazy plan, and Fluttershy wasn't sure if Twilight had lost her mind.

"We can't let the Covenant win, Fluttershy! Either destroy the Banshees, or... or..." Twilight seemed frustrated, reluctant to finish her sentence.

Fluttershy knew what she was getting at anyways, and as she peered out over the precipice and it's beautiful view of the ring world, she felt a little... inclined. However, she was better than that, so she placed one plasma grenade in her bag, balanced the other one on a front hoof, waited for the golden lights of her armour's recharge system to fade away, and rose up from the nook.

Them Banshees were streaking at her like iron fillings to a magnet.
"Oh no," she squeaked, feeling sure this would be the end. "Please work - please work - please work."

The first of the two aircraft swooped down into range, and as it fired a luminous green projectile at her, she squinted her eyes with fear, bopped the alien activation button on the grenade with her nose, and hurled it as hard as she could at the Banshee's smooth, shiny front end.

Plunging into the concealment of the rock, she missed the result of her actions, and when the Banshee's fuel rod projectile exploded against her shelter, making the whole boulder crumble on top of her, she was likely to never find out if her grenade did the trick, especially when a second projectile slammed into the rubble, courtesy of the second fighter.

Fluttershy lay still beneath the crushing weight of her tomb.
> Chapter 6: Flawless Cowpony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soaring away, the surviving Banshee veered over the mile high waterfall and around the cliff; its work done. Grunts sprinkled the green slope at the tremendous waterfall's edge, along with a sizable part of veteran Elite.

At the very edge of the precipice, the boulder Fluttershy had been using as cover had been reduced to a pile of dusty grey rubble. Atop the shattered rock, the wreckage of the unlucky Banshee teetered over the insanely high drop, the pilot's feet hanging motionless out the back.

The breeze blew, birds chirped, and a blinding blue orb of light shot up into the sky, far off in the distance. With the last Banshee leaving the scene, all was calm by the river...

Rocks shifted around amongst the rubble, causing the destroyed Banshee to slip and fall down the precipice. A green armoured hoof emerged from the rubble, along with Fluttershy's badly scuffed face and messy pink mane.
She gasped for air and coughed, "Aha-aha! Urg! ... Did we do it?"
Twilight would've jumped for joy. "Yes! We did it! You did it! Hahahahaa!"

Surveying the carnage, Fluttershy said, "Oh... my..."
"Terrific work, Fluttershy!"
"I... I can't believe it!"
"Ha! I knew you could do it!"
"But... what happened to the Banshees?" Fluttershy stared up into the sky, seeing the opposite side of the ring world. "They were right over us."
"That plasma grenade did the trick. You took down one Banshee, and the pilot of the other one assumed you were dead, so he left."

As her drained shields recharged, emitting the usual gold light, she freed her other front hoof and heaved herself out of the tomb she denied. Standing unintentionally valiantly, she dusted herself off, the cool breeze blowing in her scruffy pink mane.

"Do you feel ok?" Twilight implored. "Your vitals are telling me you're ok. Still a little starved though."
The armour had protected her body, aside from her exposed head, which had been left battered and bruised from being buried alive. Her whole face ached, and she detected a small cut on her right cheek, bleeding ever so slightly.

Dismissing the cut, she told, "Well, I guess I'm sort of ok."
"Great. We should continue along this slope. Hopefully it'll lead to whatever that is," Twilight suggested, referring to the mysterious blue lights that kept sailing up into the sky.
Reluctantly, Fluttershy sighed, "Ok," and jumped down from the rocks.

So, along the incline she ventured, wary of slipping into the river at her right. She paced by the rocks and trees, listening to the hearty cheeping of strangely familiar birds.

With the towering waterfall left behind, she came up to the base of another, shorter one that splashed down into the coursing river.
As she wondered if the seemingly normal water was safe for drinking, Twilight ordered, "Fluttershy. Hide in that tree," referring to a medium, conifer-like tree, dead ahead. "Quickly."

Fluttershy obeyed, and took up residence within the tree's dry foliage.
Curious, she inquired, "Um, why do I hav-"
"-Sshh!" Twilight shushed. "Don't make a sound, and don't move a muscle."

Tense, Fluttershy took deep, controlled breaths, and became a statue in the concealment of the tree, spying out at the way she came. As she focused on the bridge that was still in view, her ears pricked up at the sound of many footsteps, running closer and closer.

Two Elites stomped by, one blue and one crimson. The blue one kept running as the crimson one paused to beckon a squad of Grunts who rushed by each side of her tree.

One of the orange armoured Grunts tripped and fell flat on his face, right in front of her. Twilight stifled a laugh, and even Fluttershy giggled a little inside.

Picking itself up, the dopey alien joined his brethren and proceeded to the scene of the battle.

A good, long fifteen seconds later, Twilight said, "Ok, it's clear. We should move."

Rustling her way out of the leaves, Fluttershy jogged on past the waterfall, where the slope levelled out and became a canyon between two rising cliffs.

While the tripping Grunt was funny, Fluttershy couldn't help but feel worried.
"Where were they heading?"
Twilight analysed, "It's likely they were drawn to the sound of battle earlier on. I guess no one told them you were dead, haha!" Noting Fluttershy's frown, Twilight added, "Don't worry about them."

Proceeding down the canyon, Fluttershy came to a short drop as the two cliffs began to detract from each other around a left hoof bend.
She was about to hop down, but came up short upon Twilight saying, "Ok, I have good news and bad news."
"What's the good news?"
"There's a lifeboat right around this bend!"
"Oh, that's wonderful!" she elated.

Then she drooped and remembered there was some bad news to be delineated. "And, um, what's the bad news?"
"There's a Covenant drop ship right around this bend too."
Fluttershy's eyes popped. "Oh, that is bad."

"Right, but after your little frenzy by the waterfall, you'll be able to tackle these Covies, no problem!" Twilight encouraged.
Fluttershy wasn't sure. "Oh, I... I don't know about that."
"Sure you can! You'll have help this time."
Thinking about things, Fluttershy didn't answer.
"Come on. Just take a look around this corner. Analysis indicates we're in perfect flanking position."
After a rushed debate, Fluttershy eventually sighed and gave in. "Very well."

Anxiously, she jumped down the rocky drop and crept through the widening canyon. The canyon curved left into a wide open area lined with forest and dotted with rocks and trees.

Peeping around a large boulder at the apex of the canyon's curve, Fluttershy noted the mysterious alien complex at the bottom of the gentle slope before her. A huge structure crafted out of a silvery metal and engraved with peculiar patterns. It sure as hay didn't look like a Covenant facility. The main feature of the building was a tall, two piece spire that tapered up like a triangle with a crack in the middle. Between each side of the spire, an intense blue light grew brighter and brighter, until it zoomed up between the two pieces and rocketed out into the sky with a resonating sigh. Whatever this place was, it was the source of the blue lights.

Between her and the spire, a ginormous Spirit drop ship hovered low off the ground, Covenant troops hopping down from each purple "mandible." Spirits had two bows, theoretically, both connected by a compartment at the back where the cock-pit was situated, along with a heavy plasma turret.

That turret opened fire upon the quadruped figures darting this way and that amongst the towering structure. Two Elites and a group of Grunts advanced on the structure as the drop ship ascended, provided covering fire, and left the battle.

Without the heavy aircraft to worry about, Fluttershy swapped her pistol for the rifle she had scavenged from her lifeboat wreck, and aimed as steady as she could at the back of the Covies. The clattering of other MA5Bs resonated from the Ponies who defended themselves from the nasty Covies and their hissing plasma weapons.

With the Covies focusing their attention on the Ponies around the structure, Fluttershy pulled the trigger, and fired a sustained burst into the back of a red armoured Grunt. It squealed and dropped like a rock, and since the rest of the alien soldiers didn't seem too fazed, she refocused on another Grunt, and fired once more.

The rookie Grunt she was aiming at took a bullet to the leg and stumbled with a yelp. He looked around, confused, until somepony else put him out of his misery with a booming shotgun blast.

"Yeehaw!" the shotgun wielding Earth Pony cheered as she leapt from the cover of a rock to that of a tree, firing two deadly shells into another Grunt and a crimson Elite, ending them both. "Keep it up, y'all! There's only four of em left!"

Fluttershy recognised the marine armoured Mare instantly. Her orange coat and blonde, tied up mane and tail. The freckles on her cheeks. Her brown, trademark cowboy hat. And that unique, deep southern accent. It was her dear friend, Sergeant Applejack.

Fluttershy and Twilight gasped with elation, "It's Applejack!"
Full of motivation, Fluttershy galloped into cover behind a tree, nearing the Covenant.

Applejack and her soldiers had just nailed two more Grunts, leaving one Grunt and a rookie Elite. Fluttershy took aim on the Grunt, just as somepony shot it with a burst of assault rifle fire, leaving only the blue Elite.

Outraged, the remaining alien bellowed a war cry and rolled into cover behind a distant tree, his shields drained by the soldiers' assault rifles. Applejack withdrew a grenade from her saddle bag, bit off the pin as she tossed it into the air, spun, and bucked the explosive into the alien's hiding place.

Surprised, the Elite let out a "Waa!" in time with the grenade's detonation.
His tree cover was stripped of half its bark and branches as he was sent hurtling upwards and crumpling back down to the world.

With all the Covenant floored, Fluttershy ran joyfully towards AJ, who proceeded to feed shells into her shotgun. She came to a sudden halt as a grey Pegasus Mare came to a crash landing right in front of her, prompting her to squeak.

"Herrow!" the blonde maned soldier greeted, her yellow eyes derped out of focus.
"Oh... hello... um-"
"-Fluttershy! Is that you?!" Applejack questioned in disbelief.
Fluttershy stood as strong as she could and smiled at the orange Mare.
"Fluttershy!"

Happily, AJ came bounding over.
"Hi, Applejack," Fluttershy greeted sweetly.
"When did you get here? I don't remember seein' you in ma lifeboat."
"I wasn't in your lifeboat. I was in another that crashed back there," she explained, pointing a hoof up the canyon from which she came.
"My my; what a coincidence," AJ commented, relieved.

Puzzled, the Earth Pony searched around, and eventually asked, "Uh, Fluttershy... where's the rest o' yer team?"
Twilight stole the answer. "We don't have a team."
"Oh howdy, Twilight. Ha, it sure is strange to hear yer voice coming from Fluttershy, hehe!"

Giving AJ the news, Fluttershy added, "N... no pony else survived in my lifeboat."
Neighing in surprise, Applejack spoke, "Really? Yer the only survivor?"
Remembering waking up in a lifeboat full of corpses, she peered down and affirmed, "Well... yes."
Wrapping a hoof around Fluttershy, Applejack comforted, "Aw, gee, I'm sorry, Fluttershy."
"Oh, it's ok," she shrugged off. "That's not even the worst part."

The grey Pegasus got to her hooves as the rest of the Ponies under Applejack's command gathered round.

"What is the worst part?" AJ inquired.
Fluttershy was unsure how to word what had happened to Pinkie Pie on the Filly of Autumn. "Well... y'see, I... Well, um... Pinkie... she, um..." An ache increased in her throat and tears built up in her shimmering blue eyes. "... She... She didn't make iiit! Aha-ahaa!" She broke down sobbing, her tears cutting cracks through the grime on her face.
"Pinkie didn't make it?!" Applejack was shocked. "But... how can that be?!"
Fluttershy couldn't answer, but Twilight could. "She didn't make it onto the lifeboat. Our lifeboat was the last available lifeboat on the Filly of Autumn."

Applejack was speechless. Pinkie Pie was just as big a friend of hers as she was Fluttershy's.
After a while, she hugged the weeping yellow Mare and trembled, "... There there... It'll be fine..." sniff, "... It'll be fine..."

The rest of the Ponies watched on with plucked heartstrings as their Sergeant held on to the yellow Pegasus and squirted some.

At long last, the two friends withdrew, and Applejack stared around at the surrounding, low spirited soldiers.
Holding her hat against her chest, she sniffled and announced, "... Ok y'all... Let's, uuhh... Let's just, uh, wait to see if anypony else homes in on our signal."
"No need," Twilight told. "I've just radioed Rainbow Dash. She should be here in about ten minutes."
"Oh, well... that's just dandy, Twilight... Did ya tell her about... Pinkie Pie?"
"No. It would be better if she found out when she isn't on duty. We wouldn't want her getting teary eyed at the controls of her Pelican."
"... Of course... W-what about Captain Rarity? Does she know? She's ok too, right?" Applejack was worrying too much.
"I can't say at this moment in time, but she's most likely alive. We'll tell her the news in person once we get the chance."

AJ sniffed and said, "... Alright," then got to work ordering her soldiers. "... Everypony! ... I want y'all to hold position atop that there structure!" Pointing at the high spire that had just launched a fresh ball of light out into the sky, AJ added, "A Pelican is on its way."
The soldiers grinned and muttered to each other, glad to know that somepony was coming to help.

Twilight commented, "Great plan, Applejack. The position on this structure will surely give us an advantage."
Puzzled, Applejack queried, "An advantage? Wha'd'ya mean?"
"Oh, there are three Covenant drop ships on approach."

Upon receiving the info, Applejack whickered and complained, "Ya couldn't have told us that sooner?"
"I only just picked up their signals a second ago," Twilight defended, then anticipated, "They'll be here soon. Get everypony on the structure; we can use the spire as cover and rain down fire on the Covenant as they disembark from their drop ships. There are three of them, so they will likely try to flank us. I recommend neutralising the drop ships' heavy weapons before they melt the entire structure. And if we bring at least one of the Spirits down, there's a slim chance we might scare the remaining transports away."

Applejack, Fluttershy and the rest of the squad beat hooves up an external ramp to the top of the blocky, metal structure that held the spire, which proceeded to spit out another glowing orb of blue energy.

Flabbergasted, Applejack grated, "Neutralise their weapons? Bring down a Spirit?! What kinda squad do ya think I have?!"
"A good one," Twilight put simply. "Fluttershy here managed to fend of a Covenant patrol and destroy a Banshee fighter, all by herself, with nothing more than a pistol, some grenades and me yelling in her ear."
Astonished, AJ queried, "Is that true, Fluttershy? Did you do all that?"
Truth be truth; Twilight had been the true hero during that encounter.

She had just started to reply, "Um," when Twilight interjected;
"-Yes. Yes she did," the pride very clear in her tone. "Now bare with me while I think of something." She worked overtime to plot a defence against the inbound Covenant drop ships.

Eventually, she came up with, "AJ, order the Pegasi in your squad to round up some plasma grenades."
The orange farm Pony stalled, "But why?"
"Just do it!"
Applejack sighed as she brought up her radio.
"You should probably do what she says," Fluttershy mentioned to Applejack. "She certainly saved my life."
"Callin' all Pegasi!" the Sergeant bawled. "I want y'all to scavange as many plasma grenades as you can!" Breaking the connection, she muttered, "For some reason."

On top of the alien building, Fluttershy, Twilight and Applejack had a great view of the wide open plains ahead, soon to become an apocalyptic expanse. Just below the balcony, a smaller structure, some industrial style pipes, some rocks, trees and Applejack's crashed lifeboat provided cover on the ground.

"Good," continued Twilight. "How many Pegasi is that?"
"Ugh, yer lucky. I got four."
"Excellent! Post one at the small structure to the right, one amongst the pipes to the left, and two into the canyon behind us."
Unquestionably, Applejack issued the necessary commands into her radio, the Pegasi soaring away to their posts with their bags full of grenades.

"Great. Now when the drop ships arrive, I want each Pegasus to fly up and meet their assigned targets before they can land, using the plasma grenades to disable their weaponry. Once the guns are disabled, the Pagasi at the front of the structure are to team up with the Pegasi at the back, and use their combined collection of grenades to destroy the rear drop ship."
Fluttershy was lost. This is insane!

Pausing before speaking to her troops, Applejack said, "Twilight, one question."
The AI was impatient. "What?"
"How do you know where these drop ships are gonna land?"
Hurriedly, she explained, "Well, I'm not one hundred per cent sure where they'll land, but if I know my predictable little Covies, they will deposit their troops roughly in the areas I have highlighted. Now get on your radio and update your soldiers!"

Applejack wasn't too happy with taking orders, but nether the less, she obeyed the AI Princess and gave her soldiers the lowdown. There was a series of panicked reactions from three of the four Pegasi as the eerie buzzing sound of the Spirits' engines spread over the valley.

Fluttershy, Applejack and four other non-Pegasus Ponies took up positions behind the balcony's "ramparts."
"Ok, I'm detecting that everypony is in position," studied Twilight. "Get ready."

As the droning sound loudened, the three quirky looking drop ships came flying into view, dead set on the alien structure. Within no time, the aircrafts were in range, and sure enough, two of the transports began to slow, while one zoomed ahead, over the spire, and hovered in place.

"Just as I predicted," gloated the AI, pleased, then shouted the signal over AJ's channel. "Now! Take out their guns!"

The Pegasi had already taken off before Twilight gave the signal, meeting the huge alien transports in the air. With little effort, the winged Ponies managed to glue their plasma grenades to each of the drop ships' turrets. Turning tail and fleeing, the Pegasi avoided the ensuing explosions; the Spirits' heavy weapons falling to the ground in blue flaming pieces.

Those heavy plasma cannons were some of the most lethal hardware in the Covenant arsenal, and now that they were gone, the Ponies had a little breathing room.

As for the drop ship at the Ponies' backs, well, the two Pegasi assigned to breaking its gun had succeeded the first part of the task. Now that they were joined by the other two Pegasi, they latched themselves to the ship as the alien pilot skilfully stabilised it in the air.

Using up the entirety of their plasma grenades, the four Pegasi planted eight of the explosives onto the Spirit's weakened central compartment.

Racing away with the speed of a thousand falcons, the winged soldiers were clear of the detonation. The eight combined explosions let off a deafening BOOM and sent pieces of drop ship hurtling through the air; sharp scraps of purple metal lodging into rock, trees and alien architecture. As the Spirit drop ship plummeted to the floor, the remains of the central compartment snapped, the two extended "prongs" drifting apart and thumping to the ground.

Twilight celebrated briefly, "Yes! One drop ship down!" Using Fluttershy's suit's coms system, she ordered, "Everypony, regroup on the balcony, now!"

The four Pegasi touched down on top of the structure and readied their assault rifles.

The remaining Covenant drop ships lowered to the grassy ground, their doors dropping open on each side. Out of the troop compartments came four Elites, two of which were veterans, along with a mixed bag of Grunts, and two aliens that hadn't made an appearance up to now.

Jackals. In terms of threat, the bird-like bipeds were somewhere between Grunts and Elites. They were tall. Shorter than Elites, but still tall. They were thin too. Their beak-like snouts clicked and hissed, communicating. With the hair on their heads styled into mohicans, they looked like mean, rebellious punks. Rumour had it; even the other races of the Covenant had trust issues with these guys.

Like the majority of Jackals, the two soldiers were equipped with glowing energy shield gauntlets. The luminescent circles of ionized plasma originated from a metal device on the Jackals' right wrists, leaving their left claws free to handle their weapons.

One of the Jackals was equipped with a standard plasma pistol, but the other Jackal, who's shield glowed orange as oppose to blue, wielded one of the Covenant's most bizarre hand guns. It resembled a "greater than" symbol, and appeared to be a cross between a beetle and a porcupine. Its top half consisted of a gleaming purple carapace with phosphorescent pink needles protruding up from it. Those lit up needles were its ammo, and they became shorter as the weapon was fired. From the pliers-like muzzle of the strange weapon, the pink shards of crystal streamed leisurely on bending paths through the air, homing in on the Ponies' heat signatures.

Taking cover, none of the Ponies were hit. Good thing too; if one needle stabbed into you, and if it wasn't removed in time, it would detonate, the resulting miniature explosion inflicting evil damage. And that was just one needle; if six made it into one body, the explosion would rival a grenade.

Bullets, plasma bolts and magic pink needles criss-crossed between the Covies on the ground and the Ponies on the building. Applejack had withdrawn her shotgun to use her long distance M6D pistol. Fluttershy felt scared as usual, but with the rest of the squad rallying her on, she summoned the courage to point, shoot and duck.

Those needler rounds were unpredictable as hell. If they didn't strike a target, they would either shatter upon contact with the rampart, pierce the rampart, or ricochet and trail off in the opposite direction.

Two needles smacked Fluttershy in the side of the head, lowering her shields by a small amount and smashing.
"Nng," she grunted, ducking down to let her shields recharge.

The Covies began to drop as they pushed forward. However, a group of the aliens made it beneath the balcony, out of sight, and made their way up the ramp.

Keeping her cool, Twilight hinted, "Applejack, Covenant are heading up the ramp beneath us. You have a shotgun..."
The farm Pony chuckled, "Hehe, yep. I sure do," and whipped out her M90 shotgun with a smirk.

Galloping to the top of the ramp, AJ evaded several plasma bolts. When she arrived, she came face to face with a single, orange armoured Grunt, who jumped back and squealed.

Boom! The eight gauge buckshot blasted the pathetic soldier into a blue blooded mess.

Almost instantaneously, a rookie Elite came pounding up to greet her with a swing of his rifle. AJ reared up and shoved the Elite away, firing another shell, point blank into his belly. The shotgun was so powerful, it tore through the warrior's shields and his flesh, throwing his body back down the ramp and tripping up a crimson armoured Elite. Before the experienced one could rise, Applejack delivered a third blast from her shotgun, taking his head clean off.

She was about to return to Fluttershy's position, but the sight of a vibrant orange circle kept her at the top of the ramp. The needler wielding Jackal had sneaked past their defences and crouched behind his translucent shield like a medieval foot soldier. An eight gauge shell to the shimmering dinner plate only reddened it, and the Jackal behind proceeded to fire his needler from a purpose built nook in the left of his shield.

Skilfully, AJ dove and evaded. With the homing needles chasing her, she bolted around the spire, reluctantly leaving the Jackal for somepony else to take care of.

Luckily, somepony did take care of it. The grey Pegasus Mare sprayed her ammunition all over the Jackal's general area, scoring hits on his exposed flank. As the alien fell, he squeezed his trigger and sent three last needles aimlessly into the air.

Not long later, the rest of the Covies were mopped up, and their defenceless Spirit transports took off and left the battlefield behind them. Applejack had outran the needles chasing her, and at last, the Ponies were allowed to breathe.

"Yeehaw!" hurrahed Applejack, rearing up and kicking her front hooves out in celebration. "Bang up job, everypony!"
"No Covenant life signs in the area," announced Twilight over Fluttershy's exterior speakers and coms system. "Well done."
All the Ponies cheered and whooped, the Pegasi being commended for their destruction or an entire Covenant drop ship.

"We have about two minutes before Rainbow arrives. We should all stock up on ammo," Twilight told the victorious team. Then, privately to Fluttershy, she said, "Now that we're not being attacked, we can finally learn what this structure is."

As the metallic, silvery structure coughed up another ball of blue light, Fluttershy paced closer to the spire.
"Hmmm... interesting," Twilight mumbled thoughtfully.
Curiously, Fluttershy pondered, "What is it?"
"It's emitting portions of energy... into the sky..."
Fluttershy puzzled, "Do you know why it's doing that?"
"I do, I just don't know why..."
Is she confusing me on purpose?
"It's sending energy out to other facilities - that's what the blue lights are. I just don't know what other facilities."
Fluttershy scratched her head.
"Think of this thing as a power station. There will likely be many, many more."

Not sure how to answer, Fluttershy remained quiet until Applejack walked up beside her.
Smiling, she checked, "Ya doin' ok there, Fluttershy?"
"Yes."
"Good." Talking to Twilight, she gratified, "Listen, Twilight, I wanna say thanks for yer help just then. That was quite a plan ya had, and we are all grateful. I can honestly say; we wouldn't be here without you."
The AI giggled modestly from Fluttershy's armour. "Hm-hm-hm. You're welcome, Applejack."

As the two Mares studied the marvellous, energy emitting tower, Fluttershy's tummy rumbled loudly. The hungry Pegasus blushed and squeed as Applejack glanced down and chuckled.
"Hehe! Gee, Fluttershy. You hungry?"
Embarrassed, she replied, "Um... maybe a little."

Opening her saddle bag, Applejack produced a fantastic apple pie and hoofed it over to the shy Mare. "Here, eat this. It's a little cold, but it'll see ya through to lunch, and boy is it tasty!"
Amazed, Fluttershy gasped, "Oh wow! Thank you, Applejack."
"Yer welcome."

During the wait for the evac Pelican, Fluttershy lay on her front and tucked neatly into her scrumptious pie. Applejack lay beside her, chomping merrily on a shiny red apple, the two of them gazing out over the meadow.

The huge orange planet took up the left of the sky. Clouds drifted peacefully in front of the ring that curved up from the horizon. Shining bright, the star playing the sun illuminated the land and spread its glorious warmth.

In addition to the pie, Fluttershy had received a blueberry muffin from the grey Pegasus in AJ's squad. Her name was Derpy, and she just so happened to be the pilot of their lifeboat.

Fluttershy had almost finished her pie when a familiar voice came chortling through her speakers.
"Don't worry everypony, your prayers have been answered!"
"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy cheered with delight.

Quickly finishing off her pie and throwing the muffin into her saddle bag, Fluttershy got up and followed AJ and her squad down the structure and onto the grassy field.

Rainbow Dash's Pelican aircraft came swooping in over the lining forest and circled the spire.
To the Rainbow maned pilot, Twilight drawled, "Rainbow Dash, nice to see you're ok."
Coming to a gentle stop in the air, the VTOL aircraft lowered as the Pony at the controls responded, "Right back at ya... Oh, you are doing ok, right?"
"About as ok as one can be in a situation like this."

Rainbow Dash was the tomboy of the group. She was brash, brave, tough, but she would still cry at the loss of a friend; something they had to consider before telling her what happened to Pinkie. Fluttershy's heart continued to ache over that.

"Hey Fluttershy! You having a nice time on this awesome ring world?" Rainbow quizzed in a hard-core manner.
Fluttershy wasn't having a nice time at all, but the very presence of her friends did lift her spirits a little.
Into the microphone on her collar, she started to answer, "Um..."
"-Oh, hey Applejack! Ha, didn't know you were here! This is great!"
Into her own radio, the Sergeant returned, "Howdy, Rainbow."

"How about Rarity and Pinkie Pie? Are they here too?"
Oh gosh, she was actually asking. But then why wouldn't she?
Smoothly, Twilight answered, "We'll discuss their whereabouts once we have more information."
"Oh, so they're not here?" Rainbow muttered low spiritedly. "Well, I'm sure they'll be coping just fine."
Fluttershy almost started crying again. You have no idea.

The Mare called Derpy also had a radio, and she used it. "Hey Rainbow! It's me! Do you see me, Rainbow?"
As Derpy waved at the descending Pelican, Rainbow responded uneasily, "Oh-oh! Hehe. Uh... hey, Derpy."

A distant droning could be heard from somewhere overhead. Gradually, that droning increased and became a tremendous screech as three lifeboats tore through the sky over Rainbow Dash's Pelican. The lifeboats left fiery trails in their wake as their jet brakes ignited and their chutes deployed. Quickly, the lifeboats disappeared over the treeline.

Twilight observed, "More lifeboats. Once they land, the Covenant are gonna be right on top of them." Then she quizzed, "Y'know what that means?"
Fluttershy had an idea what it meant, but she prayed to be wrong.
Instead, she answered, "Um... I don't know."
"It means we're going to have to search for those survivors. Once we find them, I'll radio Rainbow Dash for evac."

The poor Mare's heart sank. She was under the impression she was going to ride Rainbow's Pelican to... to... wherever base was.
"Oh, Twilight, isn't there some other way?" she pleaded.
"I'm afraid not, Fluttershy. Rainbow needs to take these survivors to safety. In the meantime; we have to secure the rest of the survivors so Rainbow can pick them up without incident. I'm sorry, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy moaned in despair.
"But don't you worry; it looks like Rainbow brought a little something with her that will surely help us."

Peering up at the large aircraft that hovered just off the ground, Fluttershy witnessed it deposit a sizable vehicle onto a crest before hovering backwards and swallowing Applejack's marines like a pelican.

The vehicle was a Warthog LRV. Four chunky tires; perfect for off-roading. Two "tusks" at the front, below its high riding bumper, bracketed a winch. In the truck bed, was a swivelling pedestal, with a large, tri-barrelled M41 light anti-aircraft gun mounted upon it.

Fluttershy gulped at the sight of the beast.
Trotting up beside her, Applejack comforted, "Aw, don't worry, Fluttershy. You n' me are gonna be just fine."
"You're coming too?"
"Well of course I am! Ya didn't think I were just gonna let y'all go out there on yer own, did ya?"
"Oh, right, um... thanks, Applejack."

Leisurely, the Pelican took off; all the troops reclining in the back. Well, all but one. Fluttershy and Applejack stared curiously at the one Pony who stood with her back turned, left behind.

Annoyed, Applejack demanded, "Ugh, Derpy! What are you still doin' here?"
Spinning to face them, the blonde maned Pegasus said, "Oohh, there you are! Haha! I wondered where everypony went." Looking around, she soon realised. "Hey, where'd everypony go?"
AJ sighed with frustration, "You were supposed to be on the Pelican with everypony else."
"I was supposed to be on the what now?"
Face palming, Applejack gave up. "Ugh, never mind. Just hop in the Warthog with us."

Ecstatic, the derped one cheered, "Woohoo! I'm driving!"
Getting in her face, Applejack grated, "After the way you piloted our lifeboat? I don't think so."

Turning to Fluttershy, the Sergeant implored, "So, Fluttershy, where in the Warthog would you feel most comfortable?"
Well... I'm a terrible shot... And I'm an even worse driver... So I guess all I can do is...

Shamefully, she murmured, "Um... the... passenger seat."
AJ looked bewildered for a beat, but she quickly smiled and assured, "Ok, Fluttershy. You can sit in the passenger seat. Heh, I suppose it's a good thing Derpy here stayed behind after all."
"Stayed behind? But I stayed here."
Ignoring Derpy's quirks, Applejack grunted, "Whatever," and climbed into the Warthog's driver's seat.
"How do you know everypony else didn't abandon us?"
Abandon us. Hm. Clever joke.

With ease, AJ strapped herself in and ordered Private Derpy to mount the turret. After trying to explain what "mounting" was, she then decided to just tell her to "get on."

Fluttershy struggled to lift herself into the high-riding vehicle. Once in, she buckled her seat belt and glanced over at Applejack. The orange Earth Pony smirked and fired up the Warthog's mighty engine with a twist of the key. She revved the beast menacingly; the powerful engine rocking the vehicle side to side.
"I hope yer ready for a wild ride."
> Chapter 7: Let There be Light
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mashing the pedal into the hoof-well, Applejack manoeuvred the four wheel drive beast up a hill. Rooster tails of dirt were flung up by the Warthog's chunky tires as it dug muddy grooves into the ground.

Coming over the hill, the vehicle caught some air. Fluttershy's stomach lurched as she screamed, Applejack and Derpy whooping.

Fluttershy didn't feel very comfortable, so she attempted to reason with AJ. "Um, Applejack? Is it ok if-"
Spinning the steering wheel, AJ sent the Warthog into a skid and drifted easily around a rock.
"-Aaaahh!" Giving up, Fluttershy bit her lower lip and held on for dear life to the dashboard.

The Warthog sped down a dusty slope, rock faces rising up at each side. They emerged into a large, dry wash where they stopped before the gaping mouth of a cave, if that's what it was called.

The "cave" appeared to be made of the same metallic metal that the energy emitting spire was made out of. Tall and wide, the poorly lit tunnel could probably squeeze in a Pelican drop ship. Dim blue lights travelled along the tunnel's skirting, providing the only illumination, until Applejack flicked on the Warthog's headlights.

Observing, Twilight analysed, "This cave is not a natural formation. Someone built it, so it must lead somewhere."
"Um... ok," Fluttershy warbled, glad that the Warthog was no longer moving, but daunted by the gargantuan alien cave.
Even Applejack seemed a little unnerved. "Well." Gulp. "I guess we gotta go through it, right?"
Twilight didn't seem fazed at all. In fact, she was rather excited. "Of course! Isn't that great?"
"Uuhh..."

Straining, Derpy attempted to pronounce, "-Alright! Let's go spereh... lerunkah... keke-rereh... muffin peluffin!" almost as excited as Twilight, only for a more "oblivious" reason.

Cautiously, Applejack drove the Warthog into the cave at a steady speed that Fluttershy was totally ok with.
Twilight mentioned to Derpy, "I believe the word you're looking for is "spelunking.""
"Spe-what-ing?!"
"Hm-hm, never mind."

Further down the tunnel, the three Mares lumbered over what resembled a speed bump. The Warthog LRV's bouncy suspension shook the Ponies in their seats.

On the walls, the Warthog's headlights swung across whilst rounding a bend. The only noise in the gloomy tunnel was the constant growling of the vehicle's engine.

The mood in the Warthog was plain; Applejack and Fluttershy too spooked out by the howling glumness. There to lighten the mood however, was Derpy.
"Hey Applejack!" she called from the rear mounted chain gun. "Did your brother make it off the Autumn ok?"
Distracted, the driver answered, "Uh... yes... Yes he did."
Are you sure? Fluttershy wondered.

"Cool! Y'think he'll be waiting for us on the other side of this tunnel?"
"I don't know, Derpy. It'd be nice if he was, but... I don't know."
The Warthog took a right turn, rode over a speed bump, and turned left.

"How is Big Macintosh?" the AI nosed.
As AJ swung the Hog down a descent on the left, she told, "... He was fine when I left him. He got on a lifeboat. I would've got on it too, but... it was full. I ordered him to stay on it while I looked for another one."
At the bottom of the descent, Applejack veered the Warthog left.
"Well I'm sure wherever he is, he's doing just fine."

A fair bit of driving later, and the Hog of Ponies came out into a massive, artificial cavern. Like the tunnels, it wasn't very well lit. A bottomless chasm kept the left wall separate from the metal ground, as well as splitting the floor in two. To the right, an incredibly steep incline held a ledge that ran along the wall.

The "road" that led out of the tunnel cut an elevated line across the flat surface. The surface at either side of the road featured unexplained, blocky objects. Some of the objects were simple, chunky, box-like things, while others were tall, slanted spires. With gentle blue lights running up and around them, the objects were arranged into neat little clusters.

The gap in the road was bracketed by two tall, triangular frames that stood at each side of the chasm.

Out of the clusters of strange objects, the multi-coloured Covenant emerged and began shooting at the vehicle. Green and blue plasma bolts flashed through the air. Glowing pink needles curved eagerly towards them. And a plasma grenade detonated on the road ahead.

"Oh no!" worried the shy as Applejack hit the accelerator. She had been praying not to encounter any monsters down here.
"Get to it, Derp!" the driving Mare ordered, spurring the gunner into action.
"I'm already at it!"
BABABABABANG, chattered the Warthog's heavy machine gun, spewing out whopping anti-armour rounds at a rapid rate.

AJ sped the Hog to the edge of the chasm, skidding the vehicle around and back the way they came, Derpy firing and firing into the Covenant troops at either side of the elevated road.
"Keep hittin' em, Derpy!"
Derpy sprayed those bullets everywhere like she had lost control of a fire hose, scoring nothing but lucky shots on the evil aliens, killing most Grunts instantly.

Fluttershy just kept her head down while Derpy and Applejack did all the work, praying it would be over soon.

Up ahead, a lone Jackal crouched behind his blue shield in the middle of the road. His plasma pistol came into view through the notch to the left of his translucent circle. Shaking, the pistol summoned up a super bright green light; he was overcharging the weapon.

"Applejack! Look out!" yelled Twilight as the Jackal set his overgrown plasma bolt free.
Applejack swivelled the wheel, sending the automobile sliding down the elevation and flattening one Grunt who had the poor judgement to be in their way.

Derpy ducked to avoid the sizzling ball of green plasma, and opened fire upon the Jackal as the Warthog climbed back up onto the road. Taking two bullets to the skull, the bird-like alien was thrown to the ground.

Once the Hog arrived at the tunnel they'd come out of, Applejack drifted them around and drove back down the road. She repeated this; going back and forth, back and forth, allowing Derpy to pick off the Covies one by one, until one blue armoured Elite remained.

Taking cover behind one of the blocky objects, he fired his needler at the approaching vehicle. Shards of pink crystal shattered against the turret's armour as Derpy fired the LAAG, converting his block of metal into a block of Swiss cheese.

Flashing abruptly, the alien's shields popped, leaving him vulnerable, so he fled up a narrow, built in aperture that lead up to the ledge on the right wall.

Turning off the road and parking by the aperture, the Warthog screeched to a stop as Applejack unharnessed herself and jumped down to the engraved floor.
"Derpy, stay in the Warthog! Fluttershy, yer on me!"
Still in the Hog, and feeling quite scared, Fluttershy grated, "W-what?! W... where are we going?!"
Twilight stole Applejack's answer. "If there's someway to cross this chasm, it will likely be where that Elite just ran!"
"C'mon, Fluttershy!" AJ beckoned.
"Oohh! Can't I just stay here?" protested the disinclined Mare.
"No, Fluttershy!" Twilight projected. "I will be needed to interact with the alien technology. Now go after that Elite, before his shields recharge!"

Unstrapping herself and climbing down from the Warthog, Fluttershy whimpered, "Oh no - oh no - oh no!" and galloped over to the advancing Applejack, Derpy watching over them.

"Twilight?" Fluttershy trembled with upward worry. "Is the Elite on your sensor?"
The AI's reply was worrying. "Not anymore. He ran to the top of this ramp and around the corner, and that's when he disappeared. So unless he's moved really slowly away, he should be waiting for us right around the bend."

Fluttershy peered up the narrow ramp and at the left hoof corner at the top. Knowing there was big ugly alien around that corner wanting to kill her was enough to make her knees give.
"I... I really don't want to go around there!"
"Why would ya have to?" asked Applejack, puzzled. "He's round there in them close quarters, and we're down here." Retrieving a round, green frag from her saddle bag, she added, "With grenades."

Fluttershy watched on in trepidation as her friend bit the pin off the grenade and sent it on its way. It ricocheted around the corner, prompting a surprised grunt from the waiting Elite. With an all mighty BOOM, the grenade exploded, sending the Elite screaming high into the air. He thudded down into the corridor, his limp form slumped against the wall.

"Ha! Well done, Applejack!" announced Twilight gleefully. "The area is secure."
Rearing up and spinning her front hooves in celebration, Applejack laughed, "Alrighty then! Let's find a way to cross this chasm! Yeehaw!" Up the ramp she galloped, Fluttershy trailing behind.

Around the corner, the corridor inclined less steeply. It was preposterously narrow; barely enough room for two Ponies to walk side by side.

Forced into a one by one formation, AJ and Fluttershy trotted along. The rising corridor levelled out into the ledge. It carried on for quite a while, out over the yawning abyss, where it came to an end with a holographic panel framed by metal.

Semi-transparent, the control panel looked quite similar to AI Twilight's Alicorn avatar. The two Ponies gazed at it, marvelled by its light and shifting displays.

"Analysing," Twilight informed, studying the translucent display. "Hmmm... These are controls... to extend a bridge."

Thoughtfully, Fluttershy questioned, "Are we allowed to use it?"
AJ turned to stare at her.
"What if the creators of this world don't want us to use it?" Her imagination began to run away from her. "What if they don't want us here at all? What if they team up with the Covenant to fight us off this ring?!"
Applejack plainly countered, "Now why would they team up with the Covenant? Surely they'd rather team up with us, right? We're the nice ones."

"Regarding your first question," Twilight started, bringing Fluttershy back down to earth. "I've been analysing the ring world's architecture for some time now. I didn't want to come to a final verdict without more intel, but the pattern is uncanny."
Fluttershy and Applejack listened on, confused.
"This ring world is over one hundred thousand years old."

Astonished, the two Mares whickered, and Applejack asked, "You sure about that, Twi?"
"I'd like to gather more evidence to back this up, but all the structures I've examined so far have been at least one hundred thousand years old. The bridge, the energy emitter, this place. These are all individual structures though: The ring could be even older!"
"Oh my gosh!" gasped Fluttershy, dumbstruck.
"So to answer your question; yes. Unless the creators of this place have life spans that last over one hundred thousand years, I'm pretty sure we can use these controls without getting into trouble."

One hundred thousand years! That was amazing! Aside from the Covenant, the crew of the Autumn were likely to be the first beings to set hoof on this ring in, well, one hundred thousand years! As daunted as Fluttershy was, she couldn't help but feel immensely privileged, especially as she was about to interact with the millennia old bridge controls... if she could figure out how to use them.

Scratching her head, Applejack quizzed, "Uh, Twilight? How exactly do we use these controls?"
"Another good question. Fluttershy, please make contact with the holo-panel."

Touching the ancient gizmo, Fluttershy felt like she was making a giant leap for pony-kind. She felt like all eyes were on her, and that made her feel slightly intimidated.

Nether the less, she easily placed a hoof onto a random spot on the controls.
Reading, Twilight explained, "Aha! Press the orange button to the lower left. That will extend the bridge."

Obeying, the yellow pioneer gently tapped said representation with the tip of her hoof, and darted her gaze around the colossal cavern upon hearing a deep rumbling echo all around. At first, she thought it was an earthquake, or they were being bombarded by Covenant weapons from above ground, but there were no tremors to confirm these.

In the gap below, beautiful stars began to twinkle. The rumbling died down and made way for a magical, sparkly sound. More stars appeared in the gap, their combined light intensifying. Smoothly, the light took the shape of a magnificent bridge, spanning the gorge.

"Whoa nelly," commented AJ as the two Ponies were sucked into a trance.
Derpy's voice could be picked up from the distant Warthog. "Wow!"

Snapping them out of it, Twilight cheered, "Great! Now we can cross the chasm and locate the lifeboats!"
Together, Applejack and Fluttershy trotted back to the Hog.

When they arrived at the Warthog, Derpy enquired, "Is that the bridge?"
"Yep, that's the bridge alright!" Twilight returned. "Ahh, I can't wait to cross it! Can any of you?"
Scratching the back of her head, Applejack hesitated, "Well, uh..."
Fluttershy spoke dead-pan, "I can wait."
"Oh come on! Let's test it out."

Into the Warthog, the Ponies heedfully approached the semi-transparent bridge. Applejack didn't bother harnessing herself in as she parked the car in front of the light and dismounted. She stood before the blue, luminous crossing, unsure.
"Go ahead," Twilight pushed. "Give it a stomp. I assure you, it's quite safe."

Applejack did go ahead, banging a hoof onto the hardened light. It was as if she were treading on tiles.
Dumbfounded, Applejack wondered, "How in tarnation is it doin' that?"
"The excited photons have displaced the air around the path of light, making it coherent." Remembering that not everypony was an AI, Twilight added the synonym, "Solid."
Derpy pondered, "What's a photon? And why are they all so excited? Is it somepony's birthday?!"
Non-sequirters like that reminded Fluttershy of Pinkie Pie.

Wordlessly, AJ hopped back into the driver's seat and harnessed herself in.
Before she hit the accelerator, she checked with Twilight, "Can this fancy bridge take the weight of a Warthog? When I think o' heavy liftin', I don't think of light."
""Can it handle the weight of one Warthog?" Ha!" Twilight laughed superiorly. "This bridge can handle the weight the whole Filly of Autumn!"
AJ raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I may be exaggerating a little there, hehe."

Disengaging the LRV's hoofbrake, Applejack checked on the shivering yellow Pegasus. "You ready for this?"
"No!" came her frightened reply as she hid her face behind her hooves.

In a gentle tone, Twilight assured, "It'll be fine, Fluttershy. Trust me." Then to Applejack, she commanded, "Hit it!"
The farmer gulped before stomping on the pedal, the Warthog's wheels spinning in response.

The Hog screeched onto the holo-bridge and sailed over the bottomless chasm on nothing more than a beam of light. AJ kept her hooves fixed to the steering wheel, and her eyes fixed to the view ahead. A grin touched her lips.

As Derpy breathed, "Whoa," Fluttershy peeked out from her mane.
Peering over the vehicle's side skirt, she gazed at the glittering, mesmerizing road of light whizzing by beneath her. It was breath taking. Stars reflected in her eyes and she gasped with wonderment. An awe inspired smile grew on her face as the dazzling light raced by.
There's nothing to be afraid of.

Safely and soulfully, the three Ponies and their vehicle made it across the chasm.

Speeding through the network of tunnels, the Warthog LRV skidded left and right, the headlights wiping across the ancient walls. The image of the beautiful light bridge was still fresh in Fluttershy's mind, and she wouldn't be forgetting it for a long, long while.

Over her armour's exterior speaker, Twilight informed, "I have good news and bad news, regarding Captain Rarity."
The two Ponies up front glanced at each other.

"Good news is; Rarity's still alive."
Applejack and Fluttershy sighed with relief, before the latter enquired, "And the bad news?"

"The bad news is; she's being held on a Covenant Cruiser; the Truth and Reconciliation."
Applejack nickered with surprise.
"A C-c-covenant Cruiser?!" stuttered the shy, unable to imagine what horrors Rarity could be going through on a Covenant ship.
"Yes. Her lifeboat landed safely at a far away section of the ring world. I sent a Pelican pilot to evac her and the bridge crew, but when she got there, the Covenant were marching them into one of their Spirits."

The Hog's tires screeched as AJ put the vehicle into a power slide and rounded a corner.

"But, why would they take 'er alive?" Applejack asked, bewildered. "The Covenant never take anypony alive."
Twilight theorised, "Well it seems they've changed tactics. She's the Captain; she knows where to find Equestria. I'd imagine they're interrogating her."
"Woah boy, that aint good."

Derp-struck, the gunner interrogated, "How do you know all this?"
Giddily, the AI giggled, "Teehee, I hacked into the Covenant battle net! They're actually broadcasting on unencrypted channels! They have no idea who they're dealing with."

Jostling, the Warthog ascended an incline topped with a left turn.

Applejack seemed rather impressed. "Eavesdroppin' on the Covenant, eh? Hehaha! Nice work, Twilight."
"Your welcome," replied the AI. She then mentioned, "Fluttershy, I'm using your suit's trans-com system to monitor their chatter."
Paranoid, the yellow Mare pondered, "Oh, there's no way they can trace us, is there?"
"Not a chance."

Around the left bend was another slope, and as the car easily powered itself up it, sunlight spilled into the cave. The warm light found Fluttershy's face, and she enjoyed every bit of it.

Exiting the underground complex, the Ponies rode the Warthog onto the lush green grass and up a rolley-polley hill.

Fluttershy remembered how she was scared the moment she'd sat herself down in the Warthog, but after exploring those murky, cold caves, she didn't really care anymore. Applejack was a great driver, and Fluttershy would trust her with her life.

Not huddled up anymore, the yellow Pegasus let her graceful yet grubby pink mane blow in the cool, refreshing breeze. She closed her eyes and inhaled, the clean air feeling fantastic in her lungs.

Jumping up over the top of the hill, the Warthog caught some air, and Derpy cheered, "Weee!"
It lifted Fluttershy's spirits, and she subsequently let out a tiny, "Woohoo," of pleasure.

Her lips were parched, in need of water, and to her surprise, she got some. Lovely spring water splashed up into her face, wetting her mane. Applejack had just driven through a shallow stream. The farm Pony chuckled at the sight of a confused, wet Fluttershy. The two of them giggled.

Stopping by the river, the three Mares dismounted, and Fluttershy hurried over to the flowing, clear water.
Taking her empty canteen out of her saddle bag, she gratified her Earth Pony friend for the rest stop. "Thanks for stopping, Applejack. I haven't had a drink since before cryo. I'm so thirsty."

Whilst filling her canteen with the running water, she heard Applejack say, "I didn't stop for the water."
Fluttershy looked back at her. "Huh?"
"I stopped for... that!" She and Derpy were standing on top of a crest, and she pointed at something on the other side.

Putting her thirst on hold, Fluttershy walked up beside Applejack and Derpy to behold a crashed lifeboat. It had carved an arrow straight trench into the ground. No pony, dead or alive, could be seen in the vicinity. Odd.

Whoever had been in the lifeboat had moved on, and left a little something behind: An elongated S2 AM sniper rifle. The long black weapon lay in the trench with one clip of ammunition. Its thin barrel stretched out and was tipped with a silencer. Below the barrel, a bipod was tucked up, out of the way. A spectacular scope sat atop the main body of the weapon, capable of incredible zooming.

Regarding the lack of Ponies, Twilight conjectured, "Any survivors will have likely sought refuge in an area easier to defend from the Covenant."

The lifeboat lay between the stream and a rock face, and from the other side of that rock face, one of those blue orbs of energy soared up into the sky.
"Oooo," swooned Derpy.
From her own experience, Applejack surmised, "Aha! I bet they took cover at that there alien thingy!"
Twilight agreed, "You're right. We should get there."

"Alrighty then!" Applejack collected the abandoned sniper rifle and its clip. "Fluttershy, Derpy, get some water down y'all n' saddle up! We've got survivors to rescue."

Fluttershy ran back to the river and scooped up enough water to fill her flask to the brim. After twisting the lid on, she chucked it into her bag and took five rushed laps of water from the stream.
Wiping her mouth, she let out an "aahh" of refreshment, and hurried back to the Warthog.

AJ and Derpy had drank from their own flasks, and were waiting in the Warthog for her. Once she'd strapped herself into the passenger seat, Applejack offered her the sniper rifle.
"Here ya go, Fluttershy."
"You're giving this to me?" she asked, flattered, but not really wanting it. "But why?"
Applejack catalogued, "Well I figured since I'm drivin', n' Derpy's gunnin', you could offer us some sniper support."
"But... I have terrible aim."
"Aw shoot, ya can't be any worse than Derpy," chortled Applejack, nodding her head at said Mare.
With her odd facing eyes, Derpy defended, "Hey! My aim is just fine! I'm so good at aiming; I can aim everywhere at once!"
"Hehe, yeah. I noticed."

Joining in, Twilight encouraged, "Go on, Fluttershy. It only has eight bullets. You might not even have to use them."
Staring around at the two visible faces, Applejack's full of hope and Derpy's derped, she came to a decision, and grunted, "Ugh, fine," grudgingly accepting the sniper rifle.

"Way'd'go, Fluttershy," Twilight said happily as Applejack set the Hog in motion along the stream. "Now let's find those survivors."

The Ponies came up over a hill sandwiched between two cliffs, and beheld a second energy emitting spire, identical to the one Applejack and her herd had been using as a base. A scattering of pipelines and mini structures were situated in a similar fashion, along with the usual rocks and trees. Over the horizon, the gigantic orange gas giant provided an amazing view.

From the ancient alien spire, another ball of blinding energy was sent on its way.

From their position on top of the hill, Fluttershy, Applejack and Derpy spied a large number of Covenant troops searching around the installation.

"Y'know, Fluttershy, now would be the perfect time to try out that sniper rifle o' yours," hinted the driver with a grin.
Looking down at the sniper rifle she clutched in her little hoovesies, Fluttershy gulped, and was just about to respond, when a new, barely familiar voice bellowed over the landscape.

"Yoohooo!"
The three Mares in the Hog and every Covenant soldier flicked their heads towards the voice's unseen source.

Once their attention had been grabbed, six of the Covies were suddenly levitated into the air. Frightened and helpless, the Grunts, Jackals and Elites struggled for release from whatever had them in its grasp. Higher and higher, the aliens rose, until they were way above the spire.

The Hog squad watched on in wonderment, perplexed by whatever they were seeing happen.
Just as astonished as the sentients, Twilight remarked, "I'm detecting Unicorn magic... That's some powerful Unicorn magic!"

Taking it upon herself, Fluttershy leaned out of the vehicle and telepathically made the arm of her soldier saddle switch her MA5B for the sniper, not to snipe the enemies, just so she could get a better look at whatever the hay was going on. She noticed a faint, purple, tingling aura surrounding each alien, similar to the real Twilight Sparkle's Alicorn magic.

The aliens' ascent began to slow as they reached some sort of climax, the three different species screaming in horror. They hung suspended for a beat, the energy emitter coughing up another huge energy ball.

Unexpectedly, the Covies were dropped - no. They weren't dropped. They were slammed directly into the ground. Their fall was faster than if gravity alone were responsible.

All of them died immediately, their blood and internals spilling out all over the dented field, save for one unlucky veteran Elite, who's shields had absorbed at least half the impact. The crimson warrior frantically dragged himself to a couple of rookie Elites who hadn't been lifted, screaming like a little school Filly.

In an instant, he was captured once more by the Unicorn's spell, as well as the two blue armoured bipeds, and all at once, they were tossed up like toys. The three bugs splattered against the side of the spire and slid down to the balcony, leaving gruesome purple blood in their wake.

From a crevice in the cliff to the left, came a stampede of marine armoured Ponies. The remaining Grunts and Jackals were simply mowed down by a barrage of MA5B ammo, M6D ammo, and funnily enough, S2 AM ammo.

Amongst the rampaging Ponies, was a big red Stallion with a short orange mane and tail. His eyes were green and he had freckled cheeks. He was the one with the sniper rifle.
"It's ma brother!" hurrahed Applejack, pumping a hoof in the air. "Yes! Come on!"

Over the moon, Applejack put the Warthog into a steady descent down the hill and amongst the complex. Once she'd moved the Warthog into the soldiers' midst, one last Covie jumped out in front of them; a blue Elite.

As quickly as he appeared, Applejack's big brother, Big Mac, arrived and bucked the armoured monster with both back hooves, killing it instantaneously.

Switching off the engine, Applejack leapt from the Warthog and ran over to her brother. "Big Macintosh!"
Fluttershy and Derpy watched from the Warthog as the two Earth Ponies greeted each other with a hug.
"Oh, I'm so glad yer safe, big brother! You doin' ok?"
Pulling out of the hug, the bulky Stallion smiled warmly and replied, "Eeyup."

Fluttershy knew Big Mac. She didn't know a lot about him, but she knew enough to call him a friend. He was a very reserved Stallion, probably more so than herself. He rarely spoke words other than "eeyup" and "nope," but she had heard him say other things plenty of times before. Also, he was immensely strong, as he'd demonstrated with putting down a fully shielded Elite with a single buck.

Dismounting the Hog, Fluttershy paced over to the two siblings, the rest of the troops walking around gratifying each other.
"Hello, Big Mac," Twilight's voice came out of Fluttershy.
Confused, Big Mac looked at the yellow Pegasus, who waved sheepishly.
"It's me, Twilight. I've been uploaded to Fluttershy's armour."
"... Ehehehehe," he chuckled, his sister standing merrily by his side. "Hi."
I knew he could say other things.

Getting down to business, Twilight quizzed the Stallion, "So, where's your commanding officer? And for that matter, who pulled off that amazing magic trick?!"
"Uhh..." Big Mac stepped aside and pointed to a darkened crevice in the cliff.

Applejack and Fluttershy gazed into the black hole curiously, where a shadowy figure in standard armour lingered. As the Pony stepped slowly out of the shadows, a purple, pointed hat strewn with stars came into view upon her head. The blue coated Unicorn's horn creased the hat's brim. Her white-blue mane hung down and styled into a neat little hook. Those dull purple eyes narrowed as she smirked and approached the group.

Twilight gasped and uttered, "Trixie," distastefully.
Applejack didn't sound too pleased to see her either. "You."

Laughing, Trixie spoke in third person, "Ahahahaha! What's wrong? Are you not overjoyed to have found Trixie?"
"I don't trust you," revealed AJ, pointing at the blue Mare.
Big Mac glared at Trixie.

Walking over to Big Mac, Trixie queried, "Now what reason could you possibly have to not trust Trixie? It's not like she ever mistreats or outshines anypony, right?"
Carefree, Trixie hauled herself up onto Big Mac and took a seat, her rear hooves dangling over his side. The red Stallion looked quite cross.

"Trixie!" bellowed Applejack. "I order you to get down off ma brother immediately."
Trixie laughed back, "Ha! Order me all you like, hayseed. Trixie outranks you." She turned her nose up at the Earth Pony.

"You don't outrank me!" AJ protested sternly. "I'm a Staff Sergeant!" She showed off the insignia on her armour's chest plate, identifying her as the Staff Sergeant she was.

Patronizingly, Trixie revealed, "And Trixie is also a Staff Sergeant."
"No yer not," spat the orange Mare.
Wordlessly, the blue Unicorn pointed to her own insignia, grinning smugly. She was indeed a Staff Sergeant.

Frustrated, Applejack grumbled, "Ugh! How could somepony like you become a Staff Sergeant?!"
Getting in her face, Trixie exclaimed, "Did you not see what the great and powerful Trixie just accomplished with nothing more than her own magic?! Trixie earned her promotion by being the incredible and heroic Mare that she is."

Applejack sighed. "Twilight, help me out here."
"Listen, Trixie, you may ha-"
"-Twilight?! Bwaha! Is that you?!" Looking down at Fluttershy from her Big Mac sofa, she spoke, "Oohh, and this must be the Pony who's gonna lead us to victory." She motioned her hoof at the yellow Mare.
"That's right. And if it's victory you want, then you better do as you're told and help her in any way you can."
"She needs help, huh? Thought so," Trixie mocked, reclining back on Big Mac's mane and slurping from her flask through a swizzle straw.
Shamefully, Fluttershy looked at the ground, ears drooped.

"I'll have you know; Fluttershy here defeated an entire Covenant search team, and one Banshee, all by herself," Twilight stuck up for her friend. "Without flying, and without using magic."
"A search team and a Banshee?! Don't make me laugh."
"Well she did. Oh, and if you're waiting for somepony to outrank you, you can count me."

Trixie didn't buy it. "Ha! You're not even real. You're just a digital representation of a high and mighty Princess, who's too cowardly to join her precious friends on the battlefield."

Outraged, Fluttershy asserted, "It's not like that at all. Staying in Equestria is her royal duty, otherwise she would definitely be here in person." Her nerves kicked in, and she checked with Twilight, "Um, you would, wouldn't you?"
"Yes. Yes I would," came Twilight's confirmation. "And as AI of the Filly of Autumn, I am the Captain's counterpart. If I give you an order, you have to follow it as if it were issued from Rarity herself," she lectured. "Now I order you to get down from Big Mac this instant."

Snookered, the blue Unicorn rumbled, relenting. "Fine!" Displeased, she hopped down off Big Mac.

"And now, I'm ordering you to take Derpy's place on the Warthog gun."
The responses were cloned amongst the Ponies.
"What?!"
"What?!"
"What?"
"What?!"

The AI reasoned, "You all heard. As much as I hate to admit it... ugh... Trixie is a very talented Unicorn."
Smugly, said Unicorn beamed and agreed, "Hm-hm, yes, she is, isn't she."
"Don't let it go to your head."
I think it's already gone to her head, Fluttershy thought.
"With Trixie's magic, rescuing the remaining survivors will be a synch."

"But... I was having fun," whinged Derpy, who sulked over the Warthog's LAAG.
"And Trixie just wants to go home. Well, to base. There is a base, right?"
"Yes," unveiled Twilight. "Lieutenant Commander Zecora and her team have captured a decent little outpost in the desert."
Fluttershy felt her moral go on the boost, and she noticed the mouths of the other soldiers crease into smiles.

Uneasily, Applejack mentioned, "Uh, beg pardon, Twilight, but, I don't really wanna roll with Trixie."
"Trixie doesn't want to roll with you even more!" the Unicorn outdid childishly.
"What about me?" Derpy derped.
Growing impatient, Twilight snapped, "Ugh! This isn't about yourselves! This is about the soldiers who need our help! Now I order you, Trixie, to mount the turret."

Accepting responsibility, Trixie trudged over to the rear of the Warthog LRV and looked the sizable gun up and down. 
"Hmph! Why doesn't Fluttershy man the turret? Trixie will be far more effective using her magic in the passenger seat."
"Because Fluttershy's not a good gunner," Twilight broke plainly.

Fluttershy became downcast once more, feeling like nothing but a great big liability.
"Sorry, Fluttershy," the AI whispered to her privately.
Frowning, she thought, ... It's ok...

Back to the exterior speaker, Twilight demanded, "Now come on! There's no time to loose! Covenant drop ships are on the look out for survivors!"
"Ugh, fine!" grunted Trixie, then to the grey Pegasus who still stood on the LAAG pedestal, she growled, "Move over, bubbles."
Speechlessly, the derped one dismounted and hurried over to Big Mac and the rest of the Ponies whilst Trixie took her place on the vehicle.

With a hint of sarcasm, Twilight informed, "Oh and Trixie, since you're so concerned about your soldiers, a Pelican will be arriving to pick them up in about... now."
Excellent timing. The evac Pelican made its noisy presence over the installation and proceeded to lower itself down to the ground.
"Hey guys! What's happening?" came Rainbow Dash's voice over multiple radios.
Trixie muttered forcibly, "Thank you, Twilight."
"You're welcome."

Climbing into the Hog's driving seat, Applejack murmured to herself, "I can't believe this." Once she was strapped in, she waved to her brother and called, "Bye, Big Mac! I'll see you at... base."
He waved in return. "Bye!"

As Big Mac, Derpy and the other survivors made their way to the Pelican, Applejack conducted a U turn and took her passengers away from the spire.
> Chapter 8: The Last Roundup
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Warthog's gun rattled with fully automatic fire, the three barrels spinning rapidly. After leaving the ancient alien spire, Applejack, Fluttershy and Trixie were ambushed by a Banshee fighter. Fluttershy wondered if it was the surviving Banshee of the two that she'd faced when she'd landed.

The evil Covenant aircraft fired a deadly, green, fuel rod projectile at the evading Hog, and would've scored a direct hit, were it not for the great and powerful Trixie, who quickly conjured up a force field to protect them. Harmlessly, the projectile detonated against the magic.

As the Banshee pulled up out of its dive, Trixie let loose with the LAAG, chipping away at the vehicle's starboard wing. Even with one wing, the alien vehicle remained intact and airborne, and proceeded to shriek around and fire a round of plasma bolts.

Those blue bolts scorched the side of the Hog as it drove through a shallow stream, and Fluttershy screamed as some of them began to drain her shields.

Keeping the heavy gun locked to the Banshee fighter, Trixie was able to grind up the craft's fuselage, writing it off, and sending the wreckage down to the stream with a splash.

"Ha! I believe you have Trixie to thank for us all still breathing," boasted the Unicorn Mare.
Fluttershy was breathing, quite laboriously.
"Yeah yeah, ya saved our lives. We're eternally grateful," Applejack droned unsentimentally.

As AJ manoeuvred the Warthog through a shady, confining canyon, Fluttershy took a few swigs of water from her flask. It sploshed around and into her face as the Hog rode over some rough ground. She could feel her dodgy sleeping patterns becoming a problem. In need of rest, she hoped the search and rescue mission would be over soon.

Once out of the canyon, the LRV came upon a third energy emitter with Covenant soldiers searching the area, and a crashed lifeboat just to their left. No pony was in sight: Not good.

Charging the vehicle into the enemy, Applejack splattered a Jackal and two Grunts whilst Trixie holed a rookie Elite.

Provoked, the Covenant bellowed at them in their array of voices, and proceeded to open fire on the vehicle.

Trixie subdued the aliens, successfully ending the veteran Elite in charge, and making the remaining Grunts and Jackals flee. Now it was like shooting fish in a barrel.

As Applejack piloted the Hog through an assortment of rocks and trees, and Trixie shouted insults at the cowardly Covies, Twilight announced over Fluttershy's speakers, "Survivors are hiding up in the hills above the structure."
"Well alright then, let's go lend em a hoof!" grinned Applejack as she ran over the last of the Covenant.

The hill behind the tower was steep. Very steep. Almost vertical. But the off-road Warthog and its enormous wheels climbed the grassy incline like it was nothing.
"Yeah, ada'boy," AJ spoke to the vehicle through gritted teeth as they came over the top of the hill and approached a group of surviving Ponies.

Once the Warthog was parked, the three heroes hopped out, and were approached by a frustrated, blue maned Unicorn Mare. Fluttershy recognised the Mare; she was the Pony in the observation booth when she awoke from cryo sleep on the Filly of Autumn. Unlike before, Vinyl was fully armoured in the standard green.

To Fluttershy, she desperately fished, "Yo Fluttershy, you got Twilight Sparkle with you, right?"
"... Yes," she answered uneasily.
"Oh good! We're in a bad way; we got wounded here."
Just then, an agonised wail resounded from behind a distant rock where several Ponies gathered round.
Turning tail and galloping to the source, Vinyl yelled, "I'm coming, Octy!"
Octy?

Rushing after Vinyl, the three Ponies came to the rock where Octavia lay. The dark grey Earth Pony was the first Pony to greet Fluttershy when she woke up in cryo two. Now she was dressed in the usual green armour, only her left hind leg was red.

"Oh goodness!" Fluttershy gawped. "What happened to her?"
Applejack, Trixie and the rest of the Ponies huddled around the distressed grey Mare whilst Fluttershy and Vinyl knelt by her side.

Ignoring the Pegasus' concerns, Vinyl demanded, "Have Twilight send a Pelican to our location, now!"
"Oh, um-"
"-I already have," Twilight affirmed. "Stand by for evac."
"Oh, thank you," the worrying Unicorn bowed.

During Spartan training, Fluttershy just happened to learn medical skills, meaning she was a qualified medic. Examining Octavia's injured leg, she noted how the flesh had been stripped from the bone, like bark from a tree. She squinted her eyes as her squeamishness began to kick in, summoning up that apple pie she'd eaten earlier.

Using what she'd learnt from Spartan training, she was able to put her issues relatively aside, and inspect Octavia's wound.
"Hey, wha'd'ya think you're doing?!" snapped Vinyl, shoving her away.
Nervously, Fluttershy stuttered, "Ah! ... I... I was just... I was only... I... um..."
Thankfully, Twilight suddenly stated, "Vinyl, I suggest that you let her take a look. She's a trained medic, and might be able to help."

Fluttershy was curious as to how Twilight knew Vinyl's name, then remembered she was an AI: She likely knew the names of everypony on the Autumn.

In response to Twilight, Vinyl said, "Oh, you're sure? I didn't know."
An apology would be nice, Fluttershy thought as she took a closer look at Octavia's ruined leg.

It appeared to have suffered explosion damage, but it was too small a scale to have been inflicted by a grenade or a fuel rod projectile. There were also three minor chips in the bone that had been caused by sharp objects... like needler rounds. Fluttershy diagnosed that Octavia had taken at least three needle rounds to her left hind leg. Gosh, it was gruesome.

Fluttershy could treat it and fix it temporarily, but what Octavia needed most was a real doctor.

"Uh-oh! I'm detecting a Covenant drop ship, coming in fast!" alarmed Twilight.
Everypony mumbled worryingly amongst each other. The Covenant couldn't have chosen a worse time to attack.

Full of hope, Twilight asked, "Vinyl, can you snipe?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Good. Take Fluttershy's sniper rifle and be ready for when the Covenant disembark."
"But... what about Octavia?" the Unicorn stalled.
Twilight reassured, "Don't worry. Fluttershy and I will keep her safe."

The sniper rifle Fluttershy had acquired was still being held by her mechanical arm, and Vinyl soon snatched it off with her magic and attached it to her own arm. Still, no "thank you" from the Unicorn, but Fluttershy was glad to be separated from the heavy, specialized weapon.

Continuing with the orders, Twilight said, "Applejack, Trixie, you two get back on the Warthog and be ready to ambush the Covenant once they're off the ship."
"Abso-tivly!" came the farm Pony's reply.
Trixie was being unusually quiet for once, gazing up at the silvery metal spire as it sent up a ball of energy... A ball of blue... sizzling... piping hot energy.

"Everypony else, take up positions on the structure and be ready to attack."
Nodding, the troops hurried to their posts.

As Fluttershy tended to Octavia, the imminent buzzing of the Spirit drop ship grew louder and louder.

Octavia gnashed her teeth and darted her eyes around in fright, sweat beading her forehead. Fluttershy felt like she was looking in a mirror.

Thinking of reassuring words, the yellow Pegasus breathed, "Um, it'll be ok, Octavia... Um... you'll be fine..."
The injured Earth Pony didn't respond however, just sighed and whimpered, her downcast face dripping tears onto her armour.
Fluttershy felt quite awkward; she usually played the crying one.

Taking action as the drop ship closed in, she took out her med kit and produced some bandages. Before getting to work, she quickly placed a hoof on Octavia's neck and checked her pulse.

The poor Mare closed her eyes and winced as Fluttershy withdrew her hoof. Her pulse was running slow, and her breathing came out fragmented.

As the yellow Pegasus gently wrapped the leg in silky white bandages, Octavia strained, "... Thank you..." and put on a brave face for her temporary nurse.
"It's ok," Fluttershy smiled warmly.

Her smile faded when the noise of the Spirit's engines intensified, and a shadow passed over the two of them. Glancing up, she caught sight of the huge purple horseshoe floating around into position. Taking a deep breath, Fluttershy calmed herself, sort of, and continued to wrap Octavia's leg without rushing.

To her surprise, she heard Applejack's voice shouting near by. Peeking over Octavia's rock, she noticed that the Warthog hadn't moved, and Applejack was yelling at Trixie, who was just standing there, gazing up at the ancient structure.

"Trixie! What are ya doin'?! Ya gotta get in the Hog!" urged Applejack, beckoning her to the vehicle.
"Waaaiiit," Trixie strained, keeping her eyes glued to the spire.

That Covenant drop ship circled the spire and slowed to a mid air stop, ready to lower and deposit the Covies within.

Honking the horn, Applejack bawled, "Trixie! You get in this Hog right now! The Covenant are here!"
"Waaaiiit!"

A good few seconds passed as Trixie fixated on the alien tower. Applejack and Fluttershy stared at her, confused.
Worried, Twilight started, "Trixie...?"
The Covenant drop ship began its descent.

Out of the spire, another blast of energy shot up into the sky, and that's when Trixie got into action. She fired a spell from her horn at the fast moving energy, getting a hold of it in her telekinetic grasp.
"Nnnngg!" she tensed, gritting her teeth and groaning with effort.

Struggling, she waged a tug of war with the resisting body of pure energy. It was attempting to soar up - she was pulling it down. Sweat poured from her head and the glowing aura around her horn increased. Winning, she gradually pulled the orb out of its path, sparks spitting from her overworked horn.

All the Ponies, even the wounded Octavia, widened their eyes with awe, jaws hanging low.

Afraid, the Spirit pilot put his aircraft into a hasty climb in an attempt to flee the glowing blue kill-ball.

As Trixie directed the energy in the Spirit's direction, rays of light cut out from her horn at various angles. She grunted and groaned with the immense labour of harnessing the orb, and her grinding horn began to hiss and pop. Was she going to explode?!

Fortunately, the only one exploding was the Covenant drop ship. The pilot had just rotated the thing when Trixie's captured energy caught up to it and set it ablaze with blue fire. The flaming aircraft hurtled into a cliff face and crumbled to the ground. If any alien survived the impacts, they would have to settle with being burned alive.

Not knowing what to do with her great and powerful smoulder ball, Trixie angled her head at a cliff to the right, sent her weapon lethargically over it, out of sight, and let go.

Gasping for air like she'd nearly drowned, the blue Unicorn collapsed to the ground and panted. Everypony came galloping her way, cheering. Even Applejack whooped and honked the Warthog's horn in celebration.
"Woowee! Nice work there, Trixie!"
"That was awesome!" came the glorifying voice of Vinyl. "How'd ya do that?!"

Fluttershy spectated the party from behind the rock, as did Octavia who twisted her neck to watch.
"Oh my gosh," murmured Twilight. "I hate to say this about Trixie, but... that was really impressive! I knew she was powerful, but not that powerful!"

Wheezing on the floor, Trixie warbled, "... Oh my... That... that really takes it out of Trixie... Phew..."

Remembering her patient, Fluttershy raised Octavia's bandaged leg, and she kept it raised for fifteen seconds, Twilight instructing the grey Mare to apply pressure to the area just above the wound.

Once that was done, Vinyl came bounding over to check on her.
"Is... she ok?" she asked.
"Well..." Fluttershy was a little unsure, and felt more uncomfortable around Vinyl.
Luckily, she had Twilight to handle it. "She'll live, but she'll need further attention from the highest level doctors."

"Ok," accepted the radical Unicorn. To Octavia, she asked, "... Octy? ... A-are you feelin' ok?"
To which Octavia heaved, "... Not... q-q-quite," and proceeded to cough into her hooves.

As those two kept each other company, Fluttershy paced over to the great and powerful Trixie, who really was great and powerful as it turned out. The overpowered Unicorn stood noble and wobbling, using AJ's Warthog to lean on.
"Remind me never to do that again," she joked with a raspy voice prior to clearing her throat.

"Trixie. That was..." Twilight hesitated, debating whether or not to compliment the big headed Mare.
"Go on," Trixie encouraged, knowing what was coming.
Regrettably, the AI sighed and said, "That was amazing."
Trixie chuckled smugly. "Hm! Hm-hm-hm! Hm! Yes, it was, wasn't it, hm-hm! ... Everything Trixie does is amazing."
Well, that was predictable.

"Ok, what the hay was that big glowing thing?!" Rainbow Dash's voice made Fluttershy jump.
"Ha! Big glowing thing you say?" Twilight quizzed in reply. "I... think we know what you're talking about."
Sheepishly, Trixie grinned at Fluttershy, and the two of them shared a giggle.
"Well whatever it was, it nearly blinded me. I'm not surprised I didn't crash, but if somepony else was flyin', they might have!"
Ah, just what they needed; another egotistical Mare.

The majestic Pelican drop ship came whizzing overhead and descended in good time. Merrily, the soldiers made their way to their ride and hauled themselves on board. Vinyl and Fluttershy carried the injured Octavia down the slope and carefully laid her down in the Pelican's troop compartment.

"Oh, I believe this is yours," said Vinyl, offering Fluttershy her sniper rifle back.
"Oh it's ok, you-"
"-Oh, of course! Take it, Fluttershy!" Twilight interrupted deliberately loud.
If you insist.

Fluttershy really wasn't bothered about the sniper rifle. Snipers were meant to be skilful; something she was not. Nether the less, she accepted the sniper with her mechanical arm and turned to face AJ and Trixie in the Warthog. She came up short upon hearing Vinyl's voice.
"Thanks for your help. All of you."
It's about time.
"Your welcome," Fluttershy answered along with Twilight and Applejack.

Into the sky, the Pelican took off.
Over the radio, Rainbow Dash played, "Uhh thank you for flying with Rainbow Dash air lines, uhh this is your pilot, uhh Rainbow Dash. Uhh estimated time of arrival at base is about, uhh twenty minutes."

Twilight, Fluttershy and Applejack chortled while Trixie looked on sadly.
"Oohh! I wanted to be on that Pelican," she wined, slumped over the LAAG. "Ugh! I'm exhausted."
"Don't worry, Trixie, we'll all be boarding the next one," informed Twilight, brightening everypony's face.
"Good. Let's get this over and done with."

Into the passenger seat, Fluttershy strapped herself in. Each of the three Ponies took a drink from their flasks before Applejack hit the accelerator. She sped the Warthog trough a gap in the rock face on the other side of the energy emitter, which had just fired another deadly sphere of energy.

One final lifeboat was all that remained.

Applejack drove the Warthog LRV through a shallow river at the bottom of a beautiful waterfall and up a steady incline.

Trees and boulders dotted the area just outside an arch of rock. Amongst them, was a small assortment of Grunts, Jackals, and one Elite.

"Open fire!" ordered Applejack, prompting the great and powerful Trixie to let loose the LAAG.
The Elite was floored in no time, leaving just a couple of stubborn Jackals and some fleeing Grunts.

As Trixie mowed them down, Applejack put the Warthog into a power slide and hit one of the Jackals. The bird-like biped crunched on the impact and was moulded out of shape by the truck's spinning tires.

With all the aliens dead, Applejack manoeuvred the vehicle under the rocky arch and through a dry, stony canyon.

Fluttershy was tired. She yawned and reclined back in the passenger seat, her eyelids beginning to close.
She was briefly startled out of fatigue upon Twilight announcing, "I'm picking up reports that the Covenant have secured the Filly of Autumn's crash site."
Not sure what to say to that, Fluttershy murmured, "Oh dear."
"It's a shame, I know."

Laying limp over the gun turret, Trixie groggily muttered, "Wake Trixie," yawn, "When you need Trixie..."
The spell she'd used to harness the energy sphere had really taken its toll on the little Mare.

With Fluttershy and Trixie developing bags under their eyes, Applejack was the only awake Pony in the Hog. Good thing too, since she was the driver and all.

Fluttershy couldn't wait 'til they were done, and she could finally board Rainbow's Pelican and have a nap.

As Twilight informed, "I'm reading a lifeboat signal ahead, as well as three Covenant drop ships," Fluttershy became more alert.

"Trixie, we need ya!" hollered Applejack, waking up the drowsy Mare.
Trixie woke up with a snort. "Huh? Wha...?" yawn, "... What's happening?"
Repeating Twilight, AJ updated, "We're coming up on a lifeboat n' three Covenant drop ships."
"Oh good. Looks like we'll be at base soon."

Annoyed, Applejack accused, "All ya care about is you gettin' to base, donchya?"
There was no reply from Trixie.
"Here you are; the most powerful Unicorn for light-years, n' yer so reluctant to help."
"All Trixie heard was "most powerful Unicorn," so thank you."

Sighing, AJ sped the Warthog out into an open, grassy area. There were a few of the usual trees and rocks lining the surrounding cliffs. There was a huge rock slide dominating the area; massive boulders forming a dusty maze. Just beside the rocks, a lifeboat had dug a trench into the field and ended up against a tree.

The most notable things in the area were of course the three Covenant drop ships. They had just deposited their troops and were now leaving. Their whirring engines struck fear into Fluttershy who cowered behind the Warthog's dash.

Once the Spirit's were out of sight, the Warthog emerged from behind a couple of trees and went to work on the Covenant foot soldiers. The aliens were in the process of advancing into the rocks when the large UPSC vehicle growled into their midst and made road kill out of three Grunts and an Elite.

Trixie did her best to regain focus, and managed to put an end to one Elite and one Jackal with the lethal 12.7x99mm rounds.

Reaching the downed lifeboat, Applejack spun the wheel and swerved the Hog back the way they'd come, around the rock slide. Up ahead, a blue armoured Elite crouched behind a rock, and before Trixie could get a decent shot on him, something cracked through the back of his head and hurled his limp body out into the open.
"Survivors detected!" whooped Twilight as a poor little Grunt suffered the same fate. "Ponies are concealed in the rocks!"

Amongst the boulder field, a tall, thin, white Unicorn had taken a vantage point, and she skilfully picked of the stupid Covies one by one with her S2 AM sniper rifle.

The Covenant were screwed. Between the sniper in the rocks and the Warthog on their ground, what chance did they stand?

A Jackal rolled out of the way of the speeding Hog, only to be shot from behind by a Pony with an assault rifle. Oozing out of the rocks, the Pony survivors pushed the horrible alien soldiers back into the Warthog's arena, where the sniper had a much better view, and the four wheeled beast rampaged on.

Covies were riddled with bullets, flattened by the Warthog, sent air born by the ferocious sniper rounds, and blown up by grenades. It was hell for them, but the Ponies were relishing in it, except for Fluttershy. She didn't care that they were winning; a fight was a fight, and she just wanted it to be over.

Luckily for her, the fight didn't last very long at all. The Covies were unusually low level, and Fluttershy felt sure that the next time she came into contact with them, they would have a lot more to throw at her.

Winding their way out of the rock slide, the surviving Ponies laughed and celebrated the defeat of the Covies.
"Well done, everypony! A Pelican is on its way!" broadcasted Twilight out loud.
If the Ponies had been happy before, they were beaming with delight now; stomping their hooves on the ground and cheering.

"Hello!" greeted a deep pink Earth Pony Mare with a pale pink mane and tail and green eyes.
She beckoned the Warthog over.

Bringing the truck to a rolling stop, AJ killed the engine and greeted in return, "Well howdy there, Cheerlie!"
The three Mares on the Warthog dismounted and approached Cheerlie.

Sergeant Cheerlie was once a teacher back in Ponyville on Equestria. As her name would imply, she was a cheerful character... Not as cheerful as Pinkie Pie, but still.

"Thank you for your help just now," gratified the grateful Cheerlie. "I don't know what we would've done without you!"
In return, Applejack figured, "Hehe, I reckon you'd've done just fine without us, what with a sniper as skilled as that. Hehe."
"D'oh, I suppose Fluer de Lis is quite a good shot."
"Good shot?" Twilight laughed. "She was amazing!"
Trixie grumbled to herself, "Trixie would've done better."

The Mare in question came pacing down to Cheerlie's side. None of the Ponies knew anything about the white Unicorn, just her appearance, and that she was very good with a sniper rifle.

Standing next to Cheerlie, Fleur had a thin smile on her face.
"Well done... Lance Corporal Fleur," researched Twilight.
The model Unicorn didn't speak, just nodded her head respectfully.
"She doesn't talk much," Cheerlie mentioned, like a parent introducing a teacher to a shy Foal.

Whilst waiting for their ride, the soldiers sat around the Warthog, eating, drinking and talking.

The extremely thin Fleur de Lis passed on the food break to take great care of her sniper rifle; taking it apart, wiping every single component clean, and scrubbing the inside of the elongated barrel.

Applejack and Cheerlie sat together and caught up on their adventures. They were happy at first, but when Cheerlie asked about Pinkie Pie, Applejack became downcast. Cheerlie was shocked at the news. Comforting each other, the two Ponies hugged.

In the Warthog, Fluttershy relaxed in the passenger seat, staring up at the vibrant blue sky and the beautiful ring world arching above. Next to her, Trixie reclined in the driver's seat, nibbling on her half of the blueberry muffin Fluttershy shared with her. Fussily, the Unicorn used her magic to pull the blueberries out of the sponge and chuck them carelessly out of the vehicle. Once the muffin was finished, they each took swigs from their canteens.

"Is it here yet?" yapped the great and powerful Trixie.
"ETA; two minutes and thirty seconds," came Twilight's super accurate answer.
Neither of the two Mares reacted, just continued to gaze up at the ring world.

After two minutes of trying to stay awake, Fluttershy was alarmed by Rainbow's voice fizzing out over her speaker.
"Hello, everypony! I'm here to pick you all up and transport you to base!"
A big smile appeared on Fluttershy's face: Home time at last.

The squaddies gathered their things as Fluttershy and Trixie yawned and dismounted the Hog. Glancing at each other, they accidently made eye contact, and both immediately peered up to see the Pelican listing into position. It came down and lowered the gangplank for the soldiers to hop aboard.

Once everypony was inside the aircraft, Rainbow manoeuvred the Pelican's elevated hind over the parked Warthog and made use of an insanely powerful, magical magnet to secure the heavy vehicle to her vessel. Baring the extra weight, the Pelican wobbled vertically upwards and soared away.

Taking a quick glance into the troop bay behind her, the rainbow maned Pegasus waved ecstatically and beamed, "Hi Fluttershy! Hi Applejack!" Refocusing her glimmering cerise eyes at the sky ahead, she added, "Man, it's great to see y'all safe aboard my bird!" Yapping on and on, she said, "You're gonna love it at base! Zecora and her elite team - uh, elite as in hard-core, not elite as in stupid aliens. Yeah, she n' her team snatched up a pretty big alien facility, kinda like the ones dotted around here, heh!"

"That's very nice, Rainbow," spoke the AI Twilight. "But don't get too comfortable. As soon as we arrive, we need to devise a plan to rescue Captain Rarity from the Truth and Reconciliation."
Boggled, Rainbow asked, "The what and whaty-whaty-what now?"
"The Truth and Reconciliation. It's a Covenant battle Cruiser."
"The Covenant are holding Rarity on a battle Cruiser?!" Rainbow was appalled. "Well, we need save her right away!"
Agreeing, Twilight nudged, "Yes, after we've come up with a plan. We're not just gonna go flying in head first, are we, Rainbow Dash?"
"Wha...? Oh, er... no... of course not, hehehe. Just... hurry up, ok."
"Oh, I will. In fact, I think I already have a plan."

Everypony in the Pelican's troop bay laid on their bellies and diagonally faced the rear hatch, much like the inside of a lifeboat, only Pelicans were a lot more spacious.

As the Pelican continued its smooth flight, the great and sleepy Trixie nodded off, snoring loudly. Applejack, who laid next to her, rolled her eyes.

On the other side of AJ, Fluttershy had drifted into a blissful sleep of her own.
> Chapter 9: Nightfall
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Truth and Reconciliation.

Upon arrival at the makeshift base set up amongst a fantastic, alien complex, Fluttershy, Applejack and Twilight had told Rainbow Dash of the sad news regarding Pinkie Pie. Rainbow kept telling them she'd be fine, and that they shouldn't fret, but eventually, the worry got a hold of her, and she lamented away in her Pelican's cock-pit. A group hug helped ease the pain, but didn't really fix anything.

After the lengthy tear shed, the four of them reported to Lieutenant Commander Zecora's quarters to piece together a scheme to snatch the Captain from the Covenant's filthy claws.

The rhyming Zebra was wise, and had already come up with pretty much the same plan as Twilight: Board the vessel via its main gravity lift, free Captain Rarity and the rest of the Filly of Autumn's bridge crew, and evacuate the warship.

Rainbow Dash would be responsible for depositing the soldiers, as well as dropping off any necessary reinforcements, and evacuating the team and Rarity back to base.

AI Twilight Sparkle would be responsible for directing the Ponies with her constantly updating scan of the alien ship's layout, and hacking into the Covenant systems to locate Rarity, as well as monitor enemy chatter.

Fluttershy would be responsible for transporting Twilight... nothing else.

And Applejack was in charge of the squad, and would be responsible for keeping her soldiers in check.

As the necessary preparations were made, and as the Ponies waited for nightfall, Fluttershy had an invigorating sleep.

Now, the four of them, plus some others, were heading straight and true towards the three and a bit kilometre long Covenant battle Cruiser. A foe as monstrous as that could easily flick a microscopic little Pelican away with zero effort, however Twilight had identified the ship as one she'd damaged during the ship to ship battle above the ring, prior to her extraction from the Autumn's systems. She was adamant that she'd damaged it in such a convenient way, that its radar and tracking systems were offline. However, if the Covies were able to bring them back online at the right time, everypony in the Pelican would be dead... or at least very sick and jostled: Rainbow Dash was their pilot after all, and she was an artist at flying the thing. There was certainly a chance that she could evade whatever the nine million, six hundred thousand tonne flying war vehicle could throw at her.

It was night time on the alien ring world. The blue-black sky twinkled with stars. Shining full, the moon cast its blue glow upon the land. That huge orange planet shone bright and close as well. Lazily, shadowed clouds shifted across the star filled sky. The night was so beautiful, so pristine, that Princess Luna would be jealous.

In the Pelican, Fluttershy and Applejack were joined by Corporal Big Mac, along with a bunch of other soldiers, one of whom Fluttershy remembered from one of the crashed lifeboats.

Trixie wasn't with them, and there was a reason for that. Twilight decided to reward Trixie for her help in the meadows by giving her a choice, as oppose to just ordering her to do what she wanted her to do. She could either help Fluttershy and Applejack rescue the Captain, or she could stay at base, and of course Trixie, being Trixie, decided to kick back and relax.

Twilight had growled with regret, thinking she should've just rewarded her with something else, or at some other time.

It was a shame; the great and powerful Trixie was a huge asset. An asset that was just chilling at base. The rescue mission would be a heck of a lot more difficult without her.

Lieutenant Commander Zecora, the Zebra in charge until Rarity got freed, was also quite cross at Trixie's decision, but a deal was a deal, and that was the end of it.

"So how are you gonna get inside the ship if it's in the air?" pondered the pilot.
Twilight explained, "The Covenant use a gravity lift to ferry troops and supplies between the ship and the surface. That's our ticket in."
"The gravity lift? Isn't that, like, walking in through the front door?"
"Kinda. But it's either that, or you fly us into one of the ship's hangars."
Rainbow didn't seem fazed by that option. "Well... I'm up for that."
"Well I'm not," Twilight revealed sternly. "I know the Covenant. The hangars will be some of the most fortified places on the ship."
"If you say so," RD shrugged. "Just, y'know, be careful n' stuff."
"We will, Rainbow."

Anchored five hundred metres above a desert plateau, that goliath Covenant vessel reflected the moon light off its sleek, purple body. The warship was so intimidatingly huge, even the brave and brash Rainbow Dash gulped at the sight of it. A lot of Covies were inside that thing... and so was Rarity.

Fluttershy's stomach floundered as Rainbow swooped the Pelican in low under the battle Cruiser's four fanged bow and over a flat patch of sand and orangey sandstone.

Rainbow spun the Pelican and lowered the gangplank. Sand wisped up and out from under the aircraft's belly as it hovered just a metre or so off the ground.

"Alright, everypony out!" ordered Staff Sergeant Applejack.
Two by two, the troops jumped down from the back of the Pelican, leaving horseshoe impressions in the gritty sand.

Fluttershy was the last to disembark, and as soon as she was free of the drop ship, Rainbow raised the gangplank and took off.
Into the radio, Twilight spoke, "Thank you, Rainbow. Stand by for reinforcements."
"Sure thing," came the pilot's reply, her Pelican soaring away into the night. "Good luck!"

Nervously, Fluttershy scanned the area. There were plenty of rocks, and a small amount of thin trees and bushes. Taking up most of the sky, was the titanic Covenant Cruiser, swaying ever so slightly in the breeze. Her ears drooped as she gawped at immensity.

Twilight schooled, "Ok, there are Covenant around the bend. They don't know we're hear, so let's take care of them quietly, shall we."
Everypony listened on.

"Fluttershy, you have a silenced sniper rifle. I recommend you take up position by the rocks you see ahead of you. You'll have a great view of the Covenant from there. However, if you feel uncomfortable and would rather hoof the sniper duty to somepony else, that would fine."
Fluttershy felt slightly relieved to have a choice in the matter. "Oh, good. I'm not that good a sniper."
"Ok then," the AI chirped, then checked with the squad, "Who here is good with a sniper rifle?"
No pony answered, just looked around awkwardly, Big Mac rubbing the back of his head.

Impatiently, Twilight asked, "Anypony...?"
"Mah brother's ok with a sniper rifle, aren't ya, Big Mac?" Applejack announced, giving the large red Stallion a nudge.
He began to answer, "Uuhh-"
"-Perfect!" Twilight jumped at the opportunity. "Big Mac, you take Fluttershy's sniper rifle and head on over to the vantage point."
Sighing, Big Mac replied, "Eeyup."

After Big Mac retrieved the elongated fire arm from the meek Pegasus, he crept up to a cluster of rocks atop a ledge that overlooked the Covenant congregation.

Everypony else hid behind the orange rock face, ready to charge around into the open, Covenant filled area should things turn ugly.

A moment of silence passed before there was a muted pop, marking the first shot of the sniper.

Fluttershy was scared; what if the Covenant caught on to the sneak attack, and raised the oversized devil above? Twilight mentioned that the ship's tracking systems were offline, but all the Covies had to do was radio the ship with their coordinates, and they'd all be glassed out of existence, as simple as that.

It was then when she realised that the fate of the squad depended on the sniper being able to snipe the aliens quickly and efficiently. It made her feel both glad and guilty. Glad to no longer have the fate of the squad resting on her shoulders, and guilty to have passed that burden onto somepony else.

There was another high-pitched pop as Big Mac fired another deadly round from the sniper rifle. Two more pops followed before he reloaded and continued his stealthy work.

Silencers never really silenced a weapon. The sniper rifle was still quite loud, just a little high, like it had been sucking on helium. Fluttershy had no idea where the Covies were, but the fact that she never heard them scream or bellow suggested they were out of the noise's range.

Concentrating, Big Mac narrowed his eyes as he peered down the scope. Sweat beaded his head and he held his breath before taking each shot... Pop!
"Wort wort wort!" That was an Elite.
Big Mac took another quick shot.

Gasping with dread, Fluttershy stared up at the Truth, waiting to see if the Elite had reported them, and the Cruiser would wipe them from existence... It never happened.

There was a long, silent pause as the big red Stallion scanned the area around the sandstone with his sniper, until he beckoned for the Ponies to advance.

"Alright, let's move," Applejack ordered in a hushed tone, being the first to creep around the cliff and into the area beyond, Fluttershy after her.

In the sandy bowl, Covenant soldiers laid here and there, hellish bullet wounds marking their carcasses. Some of the alien soldiers were even missing limbs... or heads. It was revolting, and Fluttershy didn't like the scene one bit.

Amongst the dead Covies in the depression, were a few sandy rocks, some light foliage, and two Covenant stationary gun emplacements called Shades. The Shade turrets packed the same heavy plasma weapons as the Spirit drop ships. Crafted out of the usual, gleaming purple metal, the weapons stood on three legs. The operator would've been sitting behind the barrel in a rotatable, levitating dish over the stand, if he hadn't been shot out by Big Mac's devastating sniper assault, that is.

The sniping Stallion walked over to join the rest of the Ponies in the rocky depression.
"Nice work, Big Macintosh," AJ commended, giving her brother a playful nudge.

"Nice work indeed, now get ready," Twilight got down to business. "I'm detecting more Covenant around the ledge."

Advancing along said ledge, the team pressed on, Big Mac stopping half way to take up position behind a boulder and a bush where he had a decent view of the rock dotted ledge ahead, as well as a short mesa with a vacant Shade standing upon it. Below this mesa, the team hid, two Jackals patrolling above them.

Getting to work, Big Mac let loose with his sniper rifle, firing four shots, reloading, and firing three more. The sound of a frightened Grunt could just be heard from around the mesa, but it was soon silenced by an eighth round from the sniper.

Checking the area behind them, Fluttershy noticed the path extend back into a small canyon within the sand stone. It was dark in there, and Fluttershy could have sworn she saw a looming, biped shadow. Squinting her eyes, she inspected closer, seeing a cloud of breath vent from under two, glowing green eyes in time with a faint grunt.

She gasped in horror and tapped AJ urgently on the back. "Applejack!" she whisper-shouted. "Th-there's something right there!"
Applejack followed Fluttershy's shivering hoof and witnessed a crimson armoured Elite come stomping out of the darkness, his plasma rifle aimed at them.

"Enemy contact, in the cliffs!" Twilight outdated.
The veteran Elite hosed Fluttershy with plasma fire, draining her shields rapidly. She screamed shrilly, but was drowned out by the sound of everypony's MA5B's and Applejack's shotgun.

Caught in the shells and bullets, the crimson armoured alien attempted to dive behind a miniscule outcropping of sandstone, but was minced before he could be concealed.

Fluttershy's shields had been completely drained.

"Phew! That was close," remarked Twilight as Big Mac came bounding over, his work done, for now.
Fluttershy didn't comment, just curled up and whimpered on the floor as her shields recharged.
Concerned, Applejack surveyed, "You ok there, sugar cube?"
Trembling, the terrified Mare replied, "No!"
"There there, it's ok. That nasty Elite's gone now." Applejack gave her a pat on the back.
Big Mac; "Eeyup."

Peering up at the soldiers, Fluttershy asked Twilight, "Um, Twilight? ... D-did the Covenant hear any of that?"
As Fluttershy and the others looked up nervously at the purple beast floating above, the AI answered, "Yes, and the Covenant have sent a small team to investigate."

So they had heard the ruckus, but were choosing not to use the star ship's weapons. That was good, but also quite perplexing. After a bit of thinking, Fluttershy figured it was because they were too close to Covenant foot soldiers... Either that or none of the aliens had gotten around to reporting them.

Proceeding, the soldiers moved up to the foot of a hill, while Big Mac shuffled up to the top of it and peered through his sniper's scope.

Shimmying around the next ledge, three Grunts and a rookie Elite came into view, and were instantaneously dropped by Big Mac's precision shots, their bodies flailing down to the jagged rocks below.

Big Mac did have a few misses though. He wasn't as skilled a sniper as that Mare in the meadows, but he was better than Fluttershy by a "long shot."

As Fluttershy had a quick, shaky drink of icy cold water from her canteen, Twilight mapped, "Ok, the ledge ahead will bring us around to another area like this, directly under the Truth and Reconciliation. Expect more Covenant."

To her troops, Applejack drawled, "Y'all heard the Princess. Let's get a move on!"
To the ledge, the Ponies journeyed.

Fluttershy squeezed up to the cliff edge as far as she could. The drop off to her left was dizzyingly high, and jagged rocks waited for her at the bottom.

Applejack was on point, in front of Fluttershy, and she wrestled her way through a blocking shrub. The ledge made a sharp right immediately after the plant.

Once Fluttershy had made her uneasy way through the scratching branches, Big Mac came around, trampling the thing to make it easier for everypony else.

After that sharp right bend, the ledge widened significantly, allowing enough room for two Warthog LRVs to park side by side. Like before, it wrapped around a mesa. The mesa was divided by a slope that lead up to the top of it.

Upon of the rocky platform, a blue armoured Elite paced back and forth, and two Jackals sat talking to each other further down the ledge.

Quietly over Fluttershy's external speaker, Twilight plotted, "Ok, here's the plan: Fluttershy, Big Mac, Blossomforth, and Amethyst; you all make your way along the ledge to the far side of the mesa. Once you're in position, Big Mac will do his wet work. If things get too hot, I'll give Applejack and her squad the signal. They'll come up the central slope, and together, we can flank the Covenant. Everypony ready?"
"Um, no-"
"-Excellent. Away we go."

Big Mac took point, the mentioned Ponies following him. Applejack and the rest of the soldiers waited patiently.

On their way to the far side of the mesa, Big Mac had successfully nailed the Elite and the two Jackals.

The ledge began to incline on its way around the mesa, and once the first squad came to the top of it, they were in position. They could see on the other side of the mesa; a large sandy bowl bridged by a bizarre yet magnificent arc of sandstone. An assortment of trees, bushes and rocks in the corners of the hollow, along with a trio of unmanned Shades.

The Covenant were milling around down there as well. Two Elites chattered to each other, one of them leaning on a tree. A couple of Jackals patrolled up and down the bridge of rock, their luminescent shields glowing bright and beautiful in the night. And a pack of Grunts played around in the centre like little Foals.

Fluttershy had never seen the Covenant so peaceful, so unthreatening, so like everyday life on Equestria.

One of the Grunts, a red armoured one, produced three plasma grenades from his belt and put on a sweet little juggling act for his comrades. The squeaky little creatures cheered for him, and laughed when he dropped them. It was adorable, especially when the rookies offered to - pop!

Big Mac fired his sniper rifle, killing one of the two Elites. A second shot put an end to the other one.

The Grunts were unaware of the assault that was taking place, until Big Mac nailed a Jackal on the bridge. The bird-like alien's corpse fell down amongst them, elicting screams. The rookies ran around aimlessly, their arms flailing in the air while the red armoured veteran tried his darndest to get his troops under control.

And just like that, one pull of the trigger, and Big Mac put down the red Grunt. Fluttershy watched on in horror as her friend picked off the panicking Grunts, one by one, as well as the remaining Jackal.

She couldn't help but see a bit of herself in the Grunts: They were pretty useless soldiers and were frightened easily. A part of her wanted to lower Big Mac's rifle, but she hesitated long enough to allow him to take down each and every Covie in the area. The Stallion blew smoke away from his rifle's barrel.

Twilight had given AJ the signal, prompting her and second squad to come charging up the central slope and regroup on the mesa, overlooking the blood bath.

Surveying the carnage, Applejack commented, "Boy howdy! I'm glad I aint the one cleanin' up that mess! Hehe! Great job, Big Mac."
The rest of the Ponies cheered for him too. All but Fluttershy.

Privately, Twilight wondered, "Why so glum, Fluttershy?"
The lowly Pegasus didn't want to answer; she thought her reason for being glum was silly, and maybe even a little treasonous.
Sighing, she breathed, "... I don't want to talk about it."
"It's ok, Fluttershy, you can tell me anything. Now what's on your mind?"
Twilight was insistent, but still, Fluttershy refused to tell. "I... I... don't wanna talk about it."
"If you don't tell me, I can't help you."
"Oh, i-it's nothing... really."
Twilight sighed, "Well, when you're ready to talk, just talk. I'm here to help you, Fluttershy. We all are."
"I know."

After a short water break, the soldiers were ready to continue.
"Alright everypony, listen up!"
Fluttershy awkwardly stood before the troops as the AI in her armour filled them in.
"The next section of canyon is through the pass behind us."

Everypony craned their necks to get a glimpse of said pass. It was narrow and cluttered with rocks and plants.

"In there, we will find the Truth and Reconciliation's gravity lift, along with another platoon of Covenant."
"Well I'm ready. Are y'all?" asked Applejack, determined to get a move on and rescue Rarity.
Everypony nodded while Big Mac answered, "Eeyup."
"Alright then, let's get to it."

Marching through the confining canyon, Fluttershy looked up and around. The beautiful night sky had been replaced by the shiny purple hull of the vast Covenant ship. Branches protruded out from the surrounding sandstone and twanged back when each Pony pushed them aside. It was dark too; the Truth casting its shadow over them and blocking out the moon. Applejack ordered the Ponies to use their flashlights, however they were soon able to switch them back off as the canyon spat them out into another large hollow.

At the mouth of the canyon, a pack of Grunts slept ever so peacefully amongst some rocks. Two Jackals sat amongst them, whispering to each other. Around the edge of the depression, four Shades stood unmanned. A blue armoured Elite, accompanied by a mixture of Grunts and Jackals, walked by at the far side where the surrounding cliffs gave way to a drop and a patch of starry sky.

In the centre of the depression, was a tingling purple platform. A translucent cylinder of purple light reached up from the pad and into a large circular hole in the middle of the Cruiser's belly. This had to be the grav lift.

"Ok," began Twilight, assessing the situation. "Big Mac, you stay here and use your sniper rifle as soon as these Grunts have been dealt with."
"Eeyup."
"Everypony else, quietly take out the Grunts, and the Jackals."
Fluttershy felt a shiver run up her spine. We're killing them in their sleep?
"Once the Covenant here are taken care of, I'll call for reinforcements to board the Truth and Reconciliation with us. From there, I'll be able to lock on to Captain Rarity's neural interface. The signal will lead us right to her."
Well, anything to get my friend back.

Fluttershy knew Rarity had a neural interface, only hers was fully concealed beneath the skin on the back of her head. Nowhere to plug a set of Spartan armour, unlike Fluttershy's ugly device.

Getting to work, Applejack crept into the rocks, followed by the rest of the squad, save for Big Mac. Popping up behind the two awake Jackals, she banged their heads together, knocking them out cold, letting the squad breathe easier as they scampered from Grunt to Grunt, twisting their heads and rendering them defunct.

What am I doing here? wondered Fluttershy, gazing around at the sandstone, the Covenant battle ship, the sleeping orange armoured Grunt in front of her.
Studying the Grunt, she saw him twitch a little, as if he was dreaming. She wondered what he was dreaming about, and was reluctant to be the one to end it.

Pushing her, Twilight said, "Go on, Fluttershy. It's easy."
This was insane! She wasn't made for this! She was Fluttershy; the kind and cowardly Mare who literally wouldn't hurt a fly, and here she was, being told to snap the necks of sleeping creatures.

Sternly, Fluttershy refused, "No."
"No?" Switching to private chat, Twilight pointed out, "But Fluttershy, he's the enemy."
"He's an innocent creature."
"Innocent creature?!" The AI had never been so flabbergasted. "If he was awake, he'd be shooting at us!"

Fluttershy looked down at the diminutive, peaceful Grunt, and tried to imagine what his life was like before he joined the Covenant. He didn't look particularly evil. Odd; yes. Evil; no.

"Of course he'd shoot us. It's his job in the Covenant. If he weren't in the Covenant, he'd just be another cute little creature that needs taking care of."
Fluttershy then wondered if there was any Covenant soldier out there that thought the exact same thing about Ponies.

"Do you have any evidence to support this?" Twilight pried.
Fluttershy knew Twilight knew the answer. "Um... no."
"Thought so."
Fluttershy sighed.

"Remember when we were on the Filly of Autumn?" reminded Twilight. "And we took a trip through cryo two's observation theatre?"
"Um, yes."
"You saw three Covenant Elites smashing the cryo tubes. They were gonna kill you in your sleep," the AI rubbed in.
"Yes, but... they were Elites."
"Doesn't matter; they were Covenant all the same."
Fluttershy couldn't help but feel a little patronised, but she tried not to take it to heart: Twilight Sparkle was her friend, and would never mean to upset her.

Applejack sprang out from behind a rock and suddenly snapped the sleeping Grunt's neck, as easy as that. She elicted a yelp from the startled Fluttershy.

Glancing at the Grunt, then at Fluttershy, Applejack puzzled, "Something wrong, Fluttershy?"
"Um..."
"It's nothing to concern yourself with, Applejack," interrupted Twilight over the external speaker. "Fluttershy and I were just addressing a few... issues."
"Well... alright then," said the farm Pony, suspicious. "All the Grunts have been taken care of. Now all that's left is for Big Mac to take out the Covenant at the far side o' the hollow."
Pop! Big Mac opened fire.
"He's already on it."

Nodding, Applejack trotted away with her troops and took up position behind an outcropping of sandstone.

Back into private chat, Twilight lectured, "I know this is tough for you. It's tough for all of us. But we need to do this. For Rarity. For Equestria. Surely you understand."
For her friends' sake, Fluttershy sighed regretfully and whispered, "Yeah, I guess so."

After a series of popping sniper shots, Big Mac had successfully wiped out all of the remaining Covenant.

Everypony regrouped on an elevation, just to the side of the lift platform.
"Great job, Big Mac," Twilight spoke. "Now everypony bare with me while I call Rainbow Dash."

Staring vacantly up at the leviathan star ship, Fluttershy noticed the sparkly purple gravity lift tilting with the vehicle's loose buoyancy. She wondered if the turbulence would be an issue once inside.

Two other things she noticed, were a couple of bulky figures descending steadily down the cylinder of purple florescence. Twilight noticed them too.
"Hunters! Everypony take cover!"
Panicking, the Ponies ran here and there, seeking hiding places.

Those blue armoured behemoths came to a gentle landing on the gravity lift's anchor and proceeded to stomp their way into the Ponies' midst.

Hunters were extremely unusual creatures. They were actually made out of orange, alien worms that got together to form the hulking bipeds. A devastating fuel rod cannon, the same armament that Banshees had, was integrated into the armour on their right arms. On their left arms, they were equipped with incredibly durable metal shields that could bare the brunt of even the most powerful explosions. On their backs, they had a set of spines that kinda made them look like giant porcupines. Since Hunters were made from worms, they didn't really have a true head or face, but they still wore flat little helmets atop their forms.

Hunters were easily the most dangerous of all the Covenant species. Their armour rivalled that of a tank. They did have a weak spot though; an exposed patch of the orange worms at their lower backs. Fluttershy had no idea why they didn't just put armour over the weak spot, but figured it might have something to do with the worms' respiration or something.

Fluttershy and one other Pony had run off towards the cliff edge. She hid behind a tree, feeling the ground quake beneath her hooves; the Hunters were advancing. To her left, the other Pony sat in one of the Covenant Shades, and began to fire at the near invincible brutes. No pony else was in sight.

"We need to get behind them!" demanded Twilight.
Fluttershy was stuck behind her tree, and had no idea if the walking tanks had seen her take cover behind it.

Glancing to her left, she saw the Pony on the Shade take fire from one of the Hunters' fuel rod cannons. The vibrant green explosion wrapped around the Covenant stationary gun, melting it and the Pony on its seat.

Horrified, she screamed and panted franticly, eyes darting around, looking for a place to run.

Those super heavy footfalls came thundering her way.
"Fluttershy! The Hunters are closing in! We need to move! Right now!" Even Twilight sounded agitated.

Coming to the only available decision, Fluttershy braced herself for running out into the open, praying she didn't get hit. Just as she was about to do that however, she heard the deep, warbling cry of a Hunter, directly behind, and saw it collapse into the sand right next to her.

The second alien howled in anguish, and she heard its stomping feet charging away from her. Taking a cautious peek out from behind her tree, she watched the Hunter run vengefully towards the rocks and dead Grunts at the other side of the ditch; Big Mac and the rest of the Ponies taking cover by the mouth of the narrow canyon.

Determinedly, Twilight urged, "Go on, Fluttershy! Now's our chance! Aim for its weak spot!"
Did Twilight really think Fluttershy had it in her to kill a Hunter? Evidently she did.

Sure of failure, Fluttershy stepped out from behind the tree and fired short bursts at the alien's flank. It was quite a ways off, and only one bullet found its way into its exposed back, eliciting nothing but a grunt from the massive tyrant.
"Get closer, Fluttershy!"

Obeying, Fluttershy forced herself to gallop after the murdering monster as it fired its fuel rod cannon into the rocks. She heard somepony shriek with the resulting explosion and witnessed a Mare's mutilated body go flying up into the air. With widened eyes, she gawped, and soon found herself within descent range of the Hunter.

Applejack leapt out from the rocks and shouted, "Over here ya no-good sack o' worms!" and fired two shotgun shells into the Hunter's chest armour, making it angry, but nothing else.

In fact, the Hunter seemed dead set on the sniper, Big Mac, who Fluttershy assumed was responsible for the death of its bond brother. Hunters always worked in pairs, and if one of them dropped, the other one would express both anguish and the need for revenge.

With the massive alien not falling for AJ's distraction, it was all down to Fluttershy.

Big Mac and the others peered up over the rocks to see the beast still advancing, charging up its fuel rod gun. In a panic, they each began to run away, screaming. One of them even ran all the way back down the canyon. The Pegasi took to their wings to avoid the immanent green discharge.

Shaking with nerves, Fluttershy pointed her MA5B assault rifle at the Hunter's back and peppered the orange worms with ammunition. Loosing energy, the intensifying green glow on the fuel rod cannon faded, and the armoured monster caterwauled in its deep, thundering voice.

Tumbling down like a demolished sky scraper, the Hunter met its end, quaking the whole ground. Vibrant orange blood leaked out of its many entry wounds and onto the floor as Fluttershy reloaded her gun.

Like a game of whack-a-mole, the surviving Ponies' heads popped up from behind the rocks. They each scanned the area and looked at Fluttershy, surprised.
"... Wow," Big Macintosh finally gasped.

The rest of the team celebrated and came over to congratulate the meek Mare. The Pony who'd retreated down the canyon, as well as the Pegasi, also returned to gratify their timid little heroine.

"Way'da go, Fluttershy!"
"Yeah, that was awesome!"
"You saved our lives!"
Blushing and rubbing her foreleg, she smiled contritely and mumbled, "Hm... you're welcome."

Applejack raced up from the right and gave her a huge hug. "Oh my stars, Fluttershy, you did it! Ya saved my squad and my brother! I owe you big time!"
Uncomfortable with being owed, Fluttershy told, "Oh, there's no need for that, Applejack. It's just what friends do."
Withdrawing from the hug, Applejack enthused, "I know, I know, but what you did was amazin'! We're all so proud of ya, aren't we, Big Mac?"
"Eeyup."
"Well done, Fluttershy," contributed the AI. "You really are a better soldier than you think."

A fair bit of celebrating later, as well as mourning for the two soldiers who didn't make it, Rainbow Dash made her appearance by swooping her Pelican in under the Covenant Cruiser and lowering the gangplank.
"Good evening, everypony! Did ya miss me?"
Applejack laughed, "Actually, we did. Hehehe!"

With an aerial view of the destruction, Rainbow pondered, "Are... are those... Hunters?!"
"Yep," AJ confirmed. "Big Mac killed one of em, n' you'll never guess who killed the other one."
Bluntly, the pilot said, "Fluttershy."
"Oh, I guess Twilight told ya already, huh?"
"Nope. You said I'd never guess, and I'd never guess Fluttershy, so naturally it had to be Fluttershy and - oh my gosh! Fluttershy?! You killed a Hunter?!" Rainbow's explanation quickly devolved into a rave.
Meekly, the young Mare answered, "Yes, I did."
"Oh my gosh, that is so awesome!"

As Rainbow Dash managed to contain her excitement, she lowered her aircraft's altitude and deposited some fresh marines.
"Hi Applejack! Hi Fluttershy! It's me!" came a familiar voice.
The grey Pegasus Mare who's voice it was beamed and waved, her yellow eyes derped.
"Oh, hiya Derpy. Heh, wasn't expectin' to see you on this mission," Applejack greeted half heartedly.
"Me neither!"

As Rainbow Dash flew away into the night, she called over the radio, "See ya later, everypony... with the Captain!" She then added, "So long, Hunter killer!"
Obviously "Hunter killer" referred to Fluttershy, who was embarrassed, but amused by the nickname.

Now it was time to get inside the Truth and Reconciliation.

The rescue team huddled together in the centre of the expansive, purple disc, inside the tube of light, Fluttershy in the middle. For a moment, nothing happened, until one of the Ponies exclaimed, "Woah!" and was pulled up the shimmering light tube.

One by one, the soldiers levitated up into the Covenant Cruiser.
Derpy laughed on her way up. "Weee!"
Applejack seemed to be enjoying the floating sensation too. "Yeehaw!"

Eventually, everypony except Fluttershy was hauled aboard the gargantuan alien vessel. Confused and scared, she gazed up at the sky filling craft, her ears drooping. Soon, she was picked up by an invisible talon and sent on her way up. She closed her eyes in fear as her stomach lurched with the weightlessness. She disliked the feeling. It was like a roller coaster that went straight up, only she wasn't strapped in, and had nothing to hold on to. She also didn't like it because she knew where it was taking her.

Into the belly of the beast.
> Chapter 10: Please, Make Yourself at Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside the Truth and Reconciliation, the rescue team fanned out around the large lift room. The gravity lift was sealed by quarters of silvery metal plates, forming a neat, sizable disc on the deck.

Everywhere was purple and shiny. Fluttershy never thought she would find such pretty colours so intimidating. She'd always thought evil would come in the colour of black, or maybe red, or maybe black with red stripes or something. Not glittering purple! But hey, the Covenant were aliens, and they didn't think like Ponies. Maybe they thought black and red were for sissies.

Within the strange, alien room, there were some stylish purple crates, and some holographic control panels. There were four gigantic, heavy doors at each end of the room. Four smaller doors bracketed the deck on the two other opposing walls.

Unmanned vehicles were present. A couple of Covenant Ghost rapid assault vehicles. Speedy little devils they were. They were like purple hover bikes with plasma cannons.

And the Wraith... The Wraith! A huge Covenant battle tank, sat on the deck of the Cruiser, looming over the squad. The bulky, blubbering vehicle had tremendously thick purple armour that could withstand almost any impact. Its main armament, a devastating plasma mortar launcher, was concealed under a rear mounted carapace. Its secondary weapon was a simple plasma turret.

The Wraith was an ugly beast to behold, and it prompted a nervous gulp from the yellow Pegasus. Even Applejack seemed quite uncomfortable to have an enemy hover tank in such close proximity.

Confusion befell the squad as they scanned the room... There were no Covies in sight.
"Were is everyone?" Applejack rang aloud.
Derpy surmised, "I guess nobody's home!"

Unnerved, Fluttershy asked her armour's resident AI, "Um, Twilight... where are the Covenant?"
"Scanning," chirped the AI. "...  Hmmm... Aha! I'm picking up one Covenant contact. He'll be arriving from the corridor to the far right."

Everypony took up positions amongst the alien cargo, their guns pointed at the mentioned door. Big Mac had holstered his sniper rifle and drawn out his M6D pistol. Applejack hid just to the side of the door, her shotgun at the ready.

Clueless as of where to go, Fluttershy spun around, seeking cover, until she eventually hunkered down behind one of the Ghost RAVs.

With a hum, the doors parted, revealing... nothing. Just a stretching purple corridor and floating energy sword... Oh gosh, a floating energy sword!

Energy swords were lethal blades of ionized plasma that cut and burned through all sorts of material with ease. They glowed blue and sizzled, sparking miniature lightning bolts from their two prongs every now and then.

The Spartan armour Fluttershy had acquired came from a decapitated super soldier. Odds are it was one of these murdering blades that was responsible for his death. Would Fluttershy be next?

Why was the energy sword floating though? Simple; it wasn't. The Elite holding the weapon was equipped with an active camo device. In other words; he was invisible.

He grunted with surprise upon seeing the Ponies, and his glowing blue sword marked his movement behind a stack of purple metal crates.

With her shotgun at the ready, Applejack crept after the invisible alien.

Fluttershy was too anxious to look, but as AJ disappeared behind the crates, and a booming shotgun blast echoed around the massive room, she felt pretty sure victory had gone to the Earth Pony.

From behind the containers, Applejack appeared, and told, "He's taken care of."
Everypony let out a breath of relief.

"Uh oh," Twilight alarmed. "I'm picking up multiple Covenant contacts approaching from all four of the personnel corridors!"
Panicking, everypony spun around, glancing at each of the four small doors that surrounded them.
"They're closing in!"

Screaming and tapping her hooves on the deck, Fluttershy squalled, "Ah! What do we do?! Where do we go?! Ahah-haaah!"
Twilight worked at the speed that only an AI was capable of to think of a plan, and eventually, she came up with, "Fluttershy, mount the tank!"
Ceasing her panic-tapping, the shocked Pegasus squawked, "W-what?!"
"Do it now! Everypony else, gather in one corner and focus on the closest door! Do not enter the corridors!"

As the soldiers homed in on Applejack and the door from which the stealth Elite had entered, Fluttershy gawped at the Covenant Wraith.

The door that the squad was posted on opened, exposing a team of Covies. Since everypony was focusing their fire down that one corridor, the Grunts, Jackals and Elite were mopped up quite easily, but soon, another door opened at the other end of the room, revealing a second fire team.

Twilight shrieked, "Get in the tank!"
Fluttershy had never heard her sound so desperate. Groaning, the frightened Mare scrambled up to the Wraith MBT's top situated hatch. She had never operated a UPSC tank before, never mind an Covenant one!

The hatch was a simple circle with a notch at the front, and using her common sense, she dug her hooves into that notch and pushed as hard as she could, sliding the lid away. Beneath, was a tiny cock-pit where an Elite operator would sit, only this time, a Pony would be filling the space.

A third door to the chamber opened to introduce more Covies, and upon noticing the snivelling Mare committing grand theft auto on one of their tanks, they all directed their fire at her.

She squealed with terror as her shields began to drain, but soon she was within the confines of the tank and sliding the hatch over her head.

With the Covenant focusing on the tank, they were left vulnerable to a sniping assault from Big Mac, who took it upon himself to draw out his S2 AM once more. The rest of the Ponies continued to wreak havoc on the Covies that closed in on either side.

Inside the Wraith tank, Fluttershy heard the sounds of plasma and needles striking harmlessly against the exterior of the vehicle. She even heard a plasma grenade detonate against the tank's surface, jostling her and making her ears ring, but otherwise doing nothing. It was dingy in there; the only light coming from her recharging energy shields.

"Fluttershy, make contact with the controls! I can analyse them and tell you how to use this thing!"
That was the AI's plan, and Fluttershy wasn't sure if Twilight had descended into rampancy.

Obeying, she wrapped her front hooves around a joy stick and placed her rear hooves on a couple of pedals. As a puny quadruped, sitting in the seat made for Elites was extremely uncomfortable, and she had to stretch as far as she could to reach those pedals.

Her ears pricked up at the sound of battle raging outside the impenetrable alien tank. Ponies and Covies screaming as they were being plucked out of existence. Numerous Covenant weaponry impacting harmlessly against her acquired Wraith.

"Got it!" exclaimed Twilight. "There's a holo-symbol to your right. Turn it counter-clockwise."
Searching, Fluttershy came across said holo-symbol: A faint blue circle with a red dot in the middle. Rotating the thing, she saw the red dot turn green, and yelped in surprise as the Wraith burst into life.

The whole vehicle lurched upwards, giving Fluttershy the butterflies. Its alien engine revved thunderously, thrumming with the effort to levitate the sixty three tonne battle tank off the deck.

"Good!" Twilight celebrated briefly. "Now use the joystick to control the tank's movement!"

As Fluttershy pivoted the Wraith, the mass of Covenant soldiers became intimidated. Grunts ran around wailing, Jackals hurried this way and that with their shields over their heads, and Elites tried their best to restore order amongst the troops.

Giddily, Twilight laughed, "Haha! Look at them run!" and then she taught, "Ok, there are four pedals. The one on the right will engage the Wraith's main gun. Push it again, and you'll fire! Just be careful not to shoot too close to yourself, or any of our friends."
Like a lap dog, Fluttershy followed Twilight's instructions, opening up the Wraith's carapace and raising what looked like a giant purple tulip.

"Excellent! The two pedals to the left adjust the elevation of your aim," commented Twilight, prompting Fluttershy to play with the reticule on the centre-most view screen.

Making use of the Wraith's pivoting, Fluttershy lined up the reticule with the two Ghosts where a couple of Grunts were hiding. Disinclined, she gently pushed the right pedal, and her heart skipped as a huge orb of hissing plasma streaked from the blooming tulip atop the Wraith. It was very similar to the balls of light from the energy emitting towers she'd encountered in the meadows, only these ones were smaller, arced through the air, and exploded on impact.

Landing dead on the Ghosts, the plasma mortar transformed the vehicles, as well as the Grunts behind them, into flaming debris. The metal deck creased like cloth as the mortar melted a steaming black hole into it.

"Oh my goodness!" wailed Fluttershy behind the tank's controls, unable to believe the chaos she was reigning.
Never in a million years did she think she'd be driving an alien tank to blast aliens inside an alien space ship over an alien ring world. As far as madness went, this was off the scale.

Getting the better of her astonishment, Fluttershy was able to rotate the giant purple monster and let loose a second ball of plasma mortar, vaporising two Elites and a large pack of Grunts who took cover behind an assortment of crates.

"Woowee!" came Applejack's excitable voice over the radio. "Way'da one up em, Fluttershy!"

Before Fluttershy, there were three screens. The big one in front was the view ahead. The one to the left just had Covenant gibberish scrolling up it. And the one to the right kinda looked like a radar. One pink Wraith shaped dot in the centre indicated herself, and a cluster of green dots to the right represented the Ponies. Pink dots advanced towards them and blinked away as they were shot dead. Behind the Wraith, another big bunch of pink dots grew closer; Covenant sneaking up behind.

Another crazy yet simple idea came courtesy of Twilight. "Fluttershy, when I give you the signal, I want you to reverse into the Covenant behind us."
"Ok!" she trembled, bracing herself.

The pink dots on the Wraith's radar made their way out of the corridor and into the room of doom.
"Reverse!"
Pulling the joystick towards her, Fluttershy sent the floating tank backwards into an Elite and his Jackals, knocking them dead.
"Nice work, Fluttershy! Only three contacts remain! They're coming from the heavy door to the left!"

The silvery heavy doors were much bigger than the regular doors; they had been built for vehicle access. With a hiss, they parted, introducing two mighty Hunters and one gold armoured Elite armed with an energy sword. Fluttershy and the others must have really shaken the hive to prompt a Zealot to come snooping, as well as his supporting Hunters.

Pointing at Fluttershy's Wraith, the golden armoured Elite bellowed a command and dove away behind some ruined containers. Instantaneously, the two huge Hunters fired their fuel rod cannons upon the tank.

As the green explosives rattled the vehicle and slowly burned away at the Wraith's thick front armour, Fluttershy squealed and tried to get her reticule down on the Hunters. The two behemoths ran out in their separate ways. The gold Elite sprang from his hiding place and raced down one of the smaller corridors.

Hastily, Fluttershy fired a single panic shot, sending one of the Hunters soaring through the air. It crumpled to the deck, dead.

The second Hunter had ran straight past Applejack and her squad, unaware that they were there. All at once, the troops opened fire, AJ's shotgun and Big Mac's sniper rifle killing it instantly.

"Two Hunters down in under ten seconds!" exclaimed Twilight, delighted that things were going their way. "That has to be a record! You really are a Hunter killer, Fluttershy!"
Quaking behind the controls, Fluttershy reasoned, "Well I... do have a ta-"
"-Scanning."
"And... everypony else killed the oth-"
"-One contact remains. The Zealot, most likely. He's coming down the corridor behind us."

Fearful, Fluttershy manoeuvred the Wraith into the centre of the lift seal, clumsily knocking over some purple crates. Rotating, she lined her reticule up with the door, which had just closed.
"Huh?"

Something scratched around on top of the Wraith, and Fluttershy yelped as she witnessed an Elite's claw tear the hatch clean off with one mighty yank.

Growling fiercely down on her, the Zealot grasped her by the throat and hauled her out of the tank. She tried to scream, but her airway was being crushed by the mighty hand of the high ranking warrior.
"Oh no! Where did he come from?!" Twilight pined.

Quickly raising his energy sword with disregard to suspense, the mighty Elite came up short upon something latching onto his arm.
One of the PFCs, Derpy to be exact, strained to keep the Zealot from driving his sword into Fluttershy's body.

Tossing the pink maned Mare aside, the Elite threw half his strength into removing the derp faced Pegasus from his arm, sending her face first into the deck.

Another Pegasus Mare came swooping in for an assault, firing her MA5B point blank into the Elite's shields. With one swift swing of the sword, the biped alien sliced her in half, eliciting a cry of anguish from somepony in the squad.

Leaping up onto the still hovering Wraith, Applejack delivered one tremendous blast from her shotgun, converting the golden Zealot's chest into a purple stew.

Coughing and wheezing on the deck, Fluttershy broke into sobs. Her neck was sore where the Elite had grasped her, leaving a hideous red mark.

Helping her to her hooves, Applejack worried, "Fluttershy! You ok?!"
She could barely breathe, let alone answer.
"Come on y'all. We gotta move."

In private chat, Twilight spoke sombrely, "I'm so sorry, Fluttershy. He was on my sensors, but... I guess I misjudged his speed... I'm really really sorry."
Voice breaking, the tearful Mare croaked, "W...w-will it e-ever happen ag-g-gain?"
"I promise, it won't happen again."
Fluttershy spluttered before stating, "D-d-don't... make me a promise... if you kn-know y-you can't keep it."
"But I know I can keep it, Fluttershy. Trust me."

Unsure, Applejack pronounced, "Uh, I don't know if I'm interuptin' here, and a really hope you'll be fine, Fluttershy, but... I think we should get goin'. We are inside a Covenant ship n' all."
"Applejack's right," Twilight agreed. "We shouldn't stay in one place for too long. More Covenant will definitely be here soon."

Derpy pulled herself up from the ground and perched on top of the thrumming Wraith. "Will we be needings this?"
"We'll be taking the vehicle corridor into an expansive cargo bay, similar to this place. The tank would still be an asset," came Twilight's thought out reply.
With that, Derpy manned the secondary gun. "Woohoo!"

As Fluttershy's sobs began to wither, she took a quick few gulps of water from her canteen and eyeballed the tank she'd just been pulled from. With its hatch missing, she would be a little, tiny bit exposed.

"Go on, Fluttershy," Twilight said, egging her on. "You saw what we're capable of in that thing."
Joining in, Applejack cheered, "Yeah! Let's give them varmints a taste o' their own medicine!"
It was another one of those situations where everypony was smiling around her, hoping she would do something she wasn't too sure of.

Coming to the only decision available, she croaked, "... Ok," and made her way to the Wraith's driver's seat.

A round of muted celebrations resonated around the purple metal chamber, and as they died down, a new sound echoed up from behind them. A pale purple-blue Pegasus Mare sat alone by the head half of the Pony who'd been unfortunately, and disturbingly, cut in two. She cried over her, eliciting apologetic frowns from the rest of the herd.

Applejack approached the distant Mare and patted her on the back. "Now now, Flitter. I'm awfully sorry about yer sister."
Sister?!
"But we gotta move... Come on y'all."
Obliging, the despondent Mare rose to her shaky hooves and walked by AJ's side, sniffling and wiping her tears away.

There was a moment of silence before Twilight spoke softly over the fire team com. "Get behind the tank. We'll go in first."

Normally, Fluttershy would be freaking out over being on point, even if she was in a Wraith tank, but her heart went out to the Pony who'd just lost her sister, and that left her in no mood for whinging. Tank or no tank, she was willing to go first if it meant protecting the rest of the herd... she tried convincing herself.

*****

Covenant held their positions in one of the Truth and Reconciliation's cargo bays. Support columns, boxes, Ghosts and a Wraith provided plenty of cover for the aliens. Up high, a balcony was lined with Elites and Jackals, ready to provide fire from above should the Pony intruders make it past their Zealot leader and his Hunters, which was unlikely.

Upon receiving reports, and hearing the sounds of a tremendous battle raging in the Truth's lift chamber, the commanding Zealot elected himself and the two Hunters to take care of the situation. It would be easy; the gold armoured Elite didn't get to his rank by loosing. He could probably take out the entirety of the Ponies all by himself, never mind with backup from the hulking Hunters.

The Covies in the cargo bay had listened on to the explosion fest in the lift chamber, and once it died down, they never heard a peep from their commanding officer. He was probably just walking on his way back to the cargo bay to deliver the news of victory in person. It wasn't the kind of thing a Zealot would do, but it was certainly more believable than him failing. He was a Zealot! What could possibly go wrong?

The answer came in the form of a humongous Wraith tank crashing through the sealed silver doors in a fiery blue explosion. Their own tank immediately began launching massive balls of piping hot plasma mortar at them, destroying everything in the cargo bay.

One Grunt remained on the bay floor, and was subsequently splattered by the thick armoured vehicle.

Up on the balcony, the terrified Covies attempted to flee the Wraith's wrath, but were all reduced to nothingness as the slow moving yet deadly comets cut them off. All but one blue armoured Elite, who was lucky enough to leap through an exit, just as the balcony came crashing down in blue flames and twisted purple metal.

With the cargo bay temporarily secure, the rest of the Ponies fanned out into the chamber in Fluttershy's wake of destruction, checking the remains of the alien freight.

Powering down, the huge purple tank lowered to the deck, its droning engine fading away. The tulip-like main gun folded away under its protective carapace. Fluttershy popped her head out from the Wraith's cock-pit and rested her hooves on its shiny armour. The secondary gunner, Derpy, hopped to the floor and whooped.

Applejack and the rescue team drew closer to the shy, roaring with celebration, aside from the Mare called Flitter who was too busy stewing over her recently deceased sister.
"Great gallopin' galoshes! Yer a natural in that thing, Fluttershy!"
"Oh, not really," admitted Fluttershy, not caring for credit. "I'm just following Twilight's instructions."
"And you're following them really well," Twilight's voice fizzed happily through the exterior speaker. Entering private chat, she added, "Better than some of the other Ponies would."

After a rushed sip from her flask, AJ said, "I'm guessin' there's more Covenant on their way."
"You know it," Twilight answered. "We should move. I suggest taking the first door on the left."

Said door was proximity activated, and it slid open when Private Derpy hovered near it.

Hauling herself out of the tank, Fluttershy joined the team in a quest through the Covenant warship's maze of corridors.
> Chapter 11: The Hornets' Nest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack's shotgun really came into play in the Truth's corridors. She blasted an unsuspecting Jackal in the face, transforming his head into a bloody fountain.

Big Mac had put his sniper rifle away and used his pistol to pick off the Grunts.

Elites were riddled with MA5B ammo, their corpses falling into pools of murky purple blood on the deck.

A few expended clips later, the herd came to a door, and as it opened, the intense buzzing of a Covenant drop ship entered their ears. They had entered a hangar, and one of the Covenant's weird Spirits was just departing.

The hangar was huge; big enough to daunt Fluttershy, who gulped at the sight of the incredible room. A vast open floor strewn with Covenant containers was split by a chunky purple wall topped with a platform that a couple of Jackals and one Elite patrolled. That platform connected to a balcony at the back of the hangar, currently being guarded by Grunts. Above the balcony, was an even higher balcony, with no visible Covies.

The hangar's main doors were just to the Ponies' left, and were colossal. They were two square, translucent force fields that shimmered and rippled. They were both separated by a thick column that stretched up to the ceiling. When the Covenant drop ship left, it simply fazed through the weapon proof window.

Big Mac prepared his sniper rifle before Twilight even gave the orders.
"Big Macintosh, you stay here and snipe the enemy. Be sure to take care of the Covenant on the balcony first. If things get too dicey, retreat into this corridor. Comet and Sprinkle will back you up."
"Eeyup," came the Earth Pony's reply.

"Everypony else, split into two groups and proceed around the central wall. I'm detecting another Wraith tank on the other side that we can use."
Not again, thought Fluttershy.

"Roger that, Twilight," Applejack saluted. "Fluttershy, yer on me. Now let's get you in that tank! Yeehaw!" She reared up and spun her hooves before charging out into the hangar, Fluttershy and everypony else following her.

Once amongst the purple crates that scattered across the deck, the Ponies began to take fire from the Covenant from almost every direction at once. Fluttershy screamed as she dove behind a crate and listened to Applejack bawling at the Covenant, letting her shotgun off its leash.

The limp body of a Jackal fell before her, prompting a squeal of fear from her. When she realised it had been shot dead, she still didn't feel any less afraid.

The aliens roared, and the Ponies roared back, their weapons vibrating the whole hangar and deafening her ears. She watched as Big Mac plucked the Covies off the balcony as best he could, one at a time.

Before taking a bullet from Big Mac's sniper rifle, an orange armoured Grunt hurled a plasma grenade down onto the equines. One of the soldiers wailed as it latched onto the top of his head, and he sprinted eagerly away from the firing team and towards a couple of Jackals at the back of the hangar. They shot him down before he could get too close, the grenade detonating and killing no one but himself.

Those two Jackals soon got their comeuppance as a live frag grenade rolled between them, sending them flying in opposite directions.

A veteran Elite snuck up behind a tan Unicorn Mare, and with ease, he snapped her neck. Using his crazy needler weapon, he fired an insane amount of crystal needles into the side of one Earth Pony Stallion. The multiple knives stabbing into him killed him long before they detonated, tearing his body in half. Blood and guts spilled onto the pristine, metal deck.

It was a nightmare, and Fluttershy just wanted to wake up.
"Fluttershy!" Twilight urged. "There's an enemy squad coming your way, around the wall!"
An explosion sent shrapnel and red blood raining down upon the yellow Mare's head.
"Get ready to attack!"

Doing her best to hold in her terrified sobs, she aimed her shaking rifle at the end of the hangar's central wall where the nasty monsters would emerge. Once they came into view, she screamed feebly and fired her assault rifle on fully automatic into the lead Elite. It fired back at her, his plasma shots draining her shields as her bullets drained his.

Luckily, her shields beat his, and victory went to the whimpering Pegasus. The Elite had a Jackal and a Grunt with him though, and as soon as he dropped, they spun to face her.

The red armoured Grunt landed one shot of green plasma onto the frightened Mare's shields, draining them completely. Before he could fire again, a lethal sniper round sent him flying.

The remaining Jackal was armed with a needler, and he fired it at Fluttershy.
"Take cover!" howled Twilight in alarm.
As Fluttershy scrambled her way to the other side of the container, she heard those needle rounds smashing against the purple metal. A second sniper round from the big, red guardian angel put an end to the bird-like biped.

On the other side of the alien container, Fluttershy came face to face with the veteran Elite. With her shields down, the crimson armoured warrior could smash her dead with a single blow.

He growled in her face, but thankfully, Applejack stopped him from doing anything by bucking him to the ground. A following buckshot sent alien blood and brains spattering up into the farmer's already freckled face.

To Fluttershy, Applejack demanded, "Fluttershy! Follow me! I'll take ya-"
-BOOM! A grenade detonated, and an increasing yell followed it. Landing between the two Ponies, Derpy crashed into the deck with a thump. Soot and blood decorated her grey coat and blonde mane and tail. Jumping to her hooves, she shook it off, her lazy eyes rattling in her head. With a grunt of what could either be pain or determination or both, the Pegasus shot off into the air, plasma bolts and needle rounds criss-crossing after her.

"Where's she going?!" gasped the panicking Fluttershy.
"I dunno!" Applejack replied hectically. "But we gotta get to the Wraith so you can put an end to this riot!"
Applejack ducked in time to avoid an overcharged orb of sizzling green plasma. She fired her shotgun repeatedly in the direction it came from, eliciting a cry from an unseen Grunt.

Once the golden lights began to surround Fluttershy, charging her shields, she set off with the orange Earth Pony and a handful of other soldiers from the rapidly dwindling squad.

On the other side of the wall, it was as if they had entered a different world. It was still the inside of a Covenant ship, with purple metal everywhere, the Wraith tank sat vacant on the deck, and an unmanned Spirit drop ship looming over the vehicle, but there were no Covie soldiers here, and all the gunshots were muffled by the thick central wall.

Unbeknownst to anypony, Twilight sent Big Mac and his defenders a message, telling him to make his way to the other side of the hangar.

AJ paused to call back to the few Ponies in the bad half of the hangar, beckoning them to follow. She winced at the sound of a dying Pony's cry and a needler super combine explosion.

Nearing the tank for the taking, Fluttershy came up short upon hearing something creak loudly overhead. The leviathan Covenant drop ship spurred into life and wobbled dangerously in the air. She gawped at the huge aircraft above as it swung around and scraped its two hulls across the central platform, destroying alien telemetry and making purple boxes come raining down. Fluttershy had to jump back to avoid being crushed by a crate that spilled what appeared to be some sort of alien fruits around her hoovsies.

With its bows resting on the platform, the rear of the Spirit began to loose altitude.
"W... what is that thing doing?!" Fluttershy begged to know, frightened by the noisy alien vehicle.
It was as if the pilot was drunk.

Gaining altitude, the drop ship lifted itself up off the platform and leaned dramatically to one side. It almost crashed into the pillar separating the two force fields, but the pilot sent it leaning the other way, and caught it again before impacting the back wall.

Over the fire team channel, Derpy's voice warbled, "How do I fly this thing?!" as the Spirit rocked around like a boat on a stormy sea.
"Derpy?!" grated Twilight, mind blown.

The AI groaned with increasing frustration before ordering, "Blossomforth, get to the Spirit and take over from Derpy! Land that thing safely! Fluttershy, get in the tank! Applejack, you're on the turret!"
There was a quaky, "Yes mam," from Private Blossomforth, who flew up on her wings to the unstable Covenant aircraft.
"Sure thing, Twi," responded Applejack, leaping up into the seat for the Wraith's secondary gunner.

Fluttershy crawled up to the Wraith's hatch and used her hooves to slide the lid open. Just like before, she jumped down into the seat, pulled the lid over her head, and made contact with the controls.

"Do you remember what you did before?"
"No!" Fluttershy broke.
"Ugh! Turn the holo-dial to your right!"
Following the AI's instructions once again, Fluttershy fired up the alien tank, and felt it rise up off the floor.

This was insanity! She had only driven a vehicle once in her life, and that was a long time ago. She hated driving; thought she was dreadful at it. Was told she was dreadful at it by her superiors at Spartan training. And now she was about to drive a Covenant tank for the second time in one night, inside a Covenant ship.

The Ponies' numbers were falling; only seven soldiers remained, and if the overwhelming Covenant forces didn't kill them, they'd all end up in one hell of a plane crash.

Flitter and a Unicorn Mare called Amethyst came bolting around the wall and dove into hiding amongst some Covenant crates. Trailing blood, Big Macintosh dragged himself across the floor, gritting his teeth.
"Big Macintosh!" cried Applejack, worried sick.
In an instant, she pounced out of the gunner seat and rushed to help her brother.

"Applejack!" Twilight shouted after her, but the orange Mare didn't listen. "Nnnng! Flitter! Man the turret!"
As said Pegasus manned the Wraith's turret, Applejack hauled her big brother over to Amethyst, who held her position within a square of Covenant crates.

The captured Covenant drop ship actually started to rise instead of fall, getting closer and closer to the hangar's ceiling. The two Pegasi inside could be heard panicking over the radio; no clue what they were doing.

Around each end of the central wall, Elites, Jackals and Grunts came pouring in, firing their array of alien weaponry at the surviving Ponies.

A door opened up behind the Wraith, introducing two tyrannical Hunters to the show.

Fluttershy was in a tank...

Using what she'd learned from her previous experience, as well as following Twilight's directions, Fluttershy sent an orb of plasma into a large pack of Covies to the right of the wall, eliminating most of them. The two surviving Grunts ran away as fast as they could, screaming with terror.

The batch of Covies at the other end of the wall became wary of the tank, and those Hunters soon ran lethargically into cover by a support column.

As Applejack, Big Mac and Amethyst kept their heads down, Fluttershy pivoted the MBT and hurled another blue, fiery mortar at the aliens at the end of the wall. Flitter on the secondary gun fired away at the Covenant soldiers.

Unfortunately, as Fluttershy did this, she had the Wraith's back turned to the Hunters, who proceeded to bombard her with fuel rod projectiles.

Inside the tank, Fluttershy screamed as she was jarred around by the green explosives.
"Turn the tank around, Fluttershy!" demanded Twilight, concerned.
She began to swivel the vehicle around to face the giant aliens, however she had taken a lot of damage to her tank's back plating, and smoke began to billow out of the holes and cracks in its purple armour.

As soon as she made it around to face the dreaded Hunters, the Wraith stalled and plonked to the deck with a jostling thud. A shrill alarm wailed within the confines of the vehicle.

Exposed, Flitter shrieked and fired the Wraith's plasma cannon left and right, left and right at the behemoths. She was a sitting duck.

Charging up, the Hunters' fuel rod guns glowed green, and as the climax came to a near, an incredibly loud groaning noise echoed around the hangar.

Derpy and Blossomforth screamed over the radio from behind the controls of the Covenant drop ship. That drop ship came plummeting down to the deck with a CRASH that shook the whole Truth. The two "prongs" of the alien troop carrier had straddled a support column and converted the two monstrous Hunters into blue armoured pancakes, with what looked like south west sauce.

The craft's central compartment, where the cock-pit and armament were situated, had come down hard on top of the Wraith's main gun, reducing it to a scrambled mess of purple metal. Safe inside the broken down tank, Fluttershy was shivering like a young chick missing its mother's wing. Flitter was doing ok too, barely; her exposed head just millimetres away from the underside of the Spirit.

A moment of silence passed before Twilight stated, "All is clear... for now."
The Unicorn called Amethyst muttered, "I hope the Covenant are insured."
Derpy chortled from within the Spirit wreck.

No time to loose, Fluttershy, Flitter, Derpy and Blossomforth hauled themselves out of the wreckage and regrouped on Applejack, Big Mac and Amethyst. The Stallion was injured and hissing with pain. A plasma bolt had found his side.

Applejack cuddled her brother whilst everypony else looked on in worry.
"Oh dear!" exclaimed Fluttershy.
"Fluttershy, yer a medic! Can you please help ma brother?!" AJ pleaded, placing her front hooves together.
All eyes were on Fluttershy.

Silently, she drew out her med-pack and got to work. The plasma bolt that had struck the red Earth Pony had melted through his sniper rifle, soldier saddle, and his armour. Removing the equipment, she saw the steaming patch in his scorched skin.

"Sorry to interrupt," Twilight stated. "I'm just letting you all know that Rainbow Dash is on her way."
"Oh good!" Applejack breathed out, wiping sweat off her brow. To Big Mac, she mentioned, "Looks like you'll be getting flown outa here, to safety."

"Of course. She will also be dropping off reinforcements," Twilight informed. Then, in a sad tone, she added, "We definitely need them."
This worried Fluttershy. "Reinforcements?"
"Yeah."

After the mass slaughtering of Ponies in the hangar, Fluttershy felt certain the mission would be called off. Boarding a Covenant ship was a stupid idea. There was no way in heck they could succeed. She didn't want to give up, she just didn't want to die, and she didn't want other Ponies to die either.

As she soaked a cloth with her drinking water and held it in place on Big Mac's wound with a bandage, she thought if all the suffering was worth it... The Covenant were keeping her dear friend Rarity prisoner on this ship. Of course it was worth it.

The thought of the reinforcements being mowed down as easily as everypony else was demoralising. However, the fact that Rarity needed their help more than ever spurred her on.

"She'll fly straight into this hangar and deposit the marines on the second level," Twilight explained, still talking about Rainbow Dash. "We have to get up there to meet them. We can use the corridor behind us."
"Well alright then," Applejack pronounced, glancing at the door Twilight was referring to. "Once Big Mac's ready, we'll be on our way."

Precious time was consumed as Fluttershy worked the bandages around Big Mac's torso. Time that Applejack killed by ranting at Derpy.
"And you," she started, pointing a hoof. "What in tarnation were ya thinkin', Derp?!"
Confused, the grey Pegasus answered, "Oh, just now? I was thinking about pretty birdies!"
"Not just now! I'm talkin' about the drop ship!" She pointed at the wreckage behind them. "What on earth possessed ya to get in that thing?!"
"I thought I could help you."
"Yeah? Well now look!"

All the Ponies, save for Fluttershy, stared at the crashed Covenant drop ship. Its stern had come to rest on top of the broken down Wraith, and its bows laid on top of two dead Hunters at each side of a purple metal pillar.

"Yer lucky Fluttershy n' Flitter were in that there tank, otherwise ya'd've squished em like bugs!"
"I... I'm sorry, Applejack," Derpy trembled, looking downcast at her hooves.
The Sergeant sighed and looked around before growling, "... I accept yer apology."
Over the moon, the derped one leaped up and cheered, "Yay!" giving AJ a constricting hug.

Growing impatient in the bowels of the Covenant Cruiser, Applejack asked, "Fluttershy, ya done yet?"
"Just about... There!" the yellow medic exclaimed with accomplishment, pulling away from the bandaged up Pony. "He'll be fine. He just needs plenty of rest."
"Oh, thank you kindly, Fluttershy. Don't know what we'd do without you."
"Happy to be able to help."

To her injured brother, the hat wearing Earth Pony checked, "You feelin' alright there?"
Straining himself off the floor, Big Mac wheezed, "Eeyup."
"Good. Don't you fret; I'm sure you'll recover in no time."

Flitter was still heartbroken over her sister, and she sat sniffling, looking down, being comforted by Blossomforth.

Raring to proceed, Applejack asked Twilight, "Alright, so... that door right there?" and pointed at a door to the side of the hangar.
"Yep," came the AI's reply. "Although, there is a second way."
"And which way's quicker?" Applejack demanded.
"Which way's safer?" Fluttershy wondered.
"Which way's fun-er?" Derpy derped.
"The second way's quicker, the second way's fun-er, and we're on a Covenant ship, so there is no "safe.""
Frowning, Fluttershy hung her head.

The soldiers muttered, confused. What was this quick, fun way to get to level two?
Twilight; "Y'know, this Spirit drop ship is still operable."
Fluttershy gasped. "Oh no... You don't mean..."

And so, into the Covenant drop ship it was for the seven remaining base invaders. Much like the Wraith, Fluttershy sat in her seat and made contact with the controls so Twilight could find out how to fly the damn thing. Only difference this time was; Fluttershy was in the co-pilot's seat. Applejack had opted to do the work, both to take the strain off of Fluttershy, and to make doubly sure control wouldn't be delegated to the derped one... again.

Like a trainee, Applejack followed Twilight's guidelines, and successfully brought the damaged yet intact Spirit up to level two. Lined up with the platform on top of the hangar's central wall, AJ dropped one of the long side doors open, allowing everypony to exit.

Twilight told Applejack to engage what must be some sort of alien parking brake that kept the troop ship still in the air, even when the engines were switched off. With the giant, horseshoe-like vehicle floating in position, Applejack and Fluttershy could dismount.

"Aahh, perfect timing," Twilight spoke. "Look outside."
Gazing through the semi-transparent hangar doors, the Ponies witnessed a Pelican speeding towards them through the starry night, its red and green strobe lights blinking like odd coloured eyes.

"Alright, I gotta make this quick!" mentioned Rainbow Dash over the radio, sounding a little uncharacteristically frazzled.
Fluttershy couldn't blame her though; she was literally going to fly her UPSC Pelican inside a Covenant battleship.

"Here goes!" the pilot tensed as she throttled her aircraft through the alien force field and spun the drop ship as quickly as she could, the gangplank already lowering.
Now there's a talented flyer.

As soon as the Pelican was in position, Rainbow yelled, "Go! Go! Go!" in an effort to get the new arrivals to disembark quicker.

Once the Pelican's troop bay was empty, Big Mac hoisted himself into one of the waiting seats with a grunt, and only had about one second to wave farewell before the gangplank was raised and the Pelican was shooting its way out of the hangar, free of the Truth and Reconciliation.

Well, that was quick. The new soldiers looked around nervously, not liking the idea of being inside one of the enemy's warships. One Pony however, didn't seem to care. Amongst the reinforcements, a bulky, gruff Unicorn Stallion stood with an irritated expression on his face. Sitting side saddle on his back, was a certain Mare...

"... Trixie?!" Twilight's voice rang from Fluttershy's armour. The AI couldn't display her avatar right now, but if she could, she'd be gawping along with the others. "What are you doing here?!"

Trixie the Unicorn continued to sit on her Stallion, her hind legs dangling over his side. "Why do you think I'm here, genius? Trixie is here to help," she stated, tilting her head up.
"Really?" puzzled Twilight, disregarding "genius." "Well... glad to see you've come to your senses. We could really use your help."
"We could a' used her help from the start," Applejack grumbled, annoyed at the late arrival.
Flitter, Derpy and Amethyst nodded in agreement.

Concerning Twilight, Trixie lectured, "The great and powerful Trixie was already at her senses. Lieutenant Commander Zecora ordered Trixie to come here against her will." Glowering at Fluttershy, she stomped a hoof and added, "She didn't hold up her end of the deal."

"Oh, so yer not here cos ya wanna help us? For a second, I thought you were here cos ya wanted to help us!" Applejack was being sarcastic. "Hahaha! How silly o' me! I should've known that the only reason you'd be here would be because somepony made ya. Not because ya care about anypony but yerself or anything like that, hehehe!"
Trixie didn't answer, just gave AJ the evils.

"Trixie, it's great that you're here. I'm sure this rescue mission will be a whole lot easier with your help," Twilight back scratched in hopes of motivating the extremely powerful Unicorn. "I'm sorry Zecora broke the deal, but to be honest, she broke it for the greater good."
Thinking for a while, Trixie recognised the compliments. "... Hm, she did, didn't she."

Moving on, Twilight adjured, "Now that you're here, can you please help us?"
Trixie sighed, "Hmph. Of course I will." As her Stallion began walking, she muttered under her breath, "It's not like Trixie has a choice or anything."

"Oh and Trixie?" Applejack piped up.
"Yes?"
"Get off that Pony."
Annoyed, Trixie sighed and hopped down from the Unicorn Stallion.

The blue Unicorn still donned her pointy hat, as well as marine armour and a soldier saddle. She gazed around her surroundings. The gleaming purple walls. The scattered Covenant containers. The banged up Spirit floating in place.

Surveying the devastation below, she pondered, "Oh my. What were you doing here?!"
"Loosin'," answered Applejack distastefully.

"Alright, to get to the third level, we can just use the Covenant drop ship again," Twilight informed, prompting Fluttershy, AJ and the rest to make their way to the open Spirit.
"Wait! We're getting in that thing?!" Trixie seemed mind blown.
Unwilling to waste anymore time, Twilight shot back, "Yeah. You got a better idea?"
Trixie thought for a beat before revealing, "... Yes! Yes I do."
"Well as much as I'd love to hear your idea, we don't have ti - woah!" The AI was cut short by her transporter being lifted up into the air, as if in a gravity lift.

Fluttershy yelped with shock as she and everypony else began to levitate up off the deck and towards the third floor. A faint purple aura tingled around each Pony, and Trixie's horn emitted an intense purple light that hissed with her effort.

The blue Unicorn gritted her teeth and squinted her eyes as she performed her magic, placing everypony safely onto the top balcony at the back of the hangar.

Once the hooves of each Pony were safely on the deck, the light around Trixie's horn died, and she panted.
Between breaths, she said, "... Easy... peasy..."
The rescue team cheered and whooped, with the exception of Flitter.
"Wow! Thanks Trixie! That was very helpful!" celebrated Twilight.
"Yes," Trixie replied with the air of a celebrity talking to an irritating fan. "Now where do we go?"
The AI directed, "Right, Rarity's signal seems to be getting stronger the closer we get to the ship's bow. There's a door at the end of this balcony, on the back wall. We should go through it."

The Ponies had just broken into a run when Twilight resurfaced, "Woah, hold on. I'm detecting Covenant forces closing in on each side of the balcony!"
Gasps echoed around the hangar.
"Oh no!" panicked Fluttershy. "We're trapped!"
The great and powerful Trixie just chuckled, "Hahaha! No problem."

In the centre of the third floor balcony, the Ponies stood back to back, aiming their weapons out at where the Covies would emerge from. Fluttershy shivered with trepidation, her MA5B and soldier saddle rattling. Applejack had pulled out a frag grenade, ready to pull the pin and throw. Not really caring, Trixie sat on her haunches and smirked.

Making their appearance, the Covenant troops came spilling out of two doors; one ahead and one behind. The Ponies were well and truly flanked on the balcony.

Along with the immediate clattering of everypony's assault rifles, AJ tossed her grenade into the group of aliens up front.

Trixie set her horn in gear once more, flinging the Covies at the rear off the balcony. Screaming, they fell to their deaths on the hangar floor.

No sooner had Applejack's grenade detonated than Trixie began focusing her attention on the Elite, Jackals and Grunts ahead. She sent the rookie Elite off the balcony first; the blue armoured biped howling all the way down.

Picking up two Grunts at once, she laughed manically as they squealed with fright, and she sent them flailing on their way.

One of the Jackals had already died, leaving just one Jackal and one Grunt. Before any of the aliens could fight or run, Trixie snatched them up, and just like all her other victims, she carelessly flung them over the edge like the garbage they were.

The magic show was getting Twilight all giddy. "Woohoo! Way'da'go, Trixie!"
"Yeah, you made that look easy," admired the soldier called Amethyst; she clearly hadn't met Trixie before.
"Trixie makes everything look easy."
Fluttershy and Applejack rolled their eyes.

Getting on with it, Twilight stated, "Ok, the coast is clear. Let's continue."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Derpy hinted.
"Oh? Why not?"
"Last time I was at the coast, it wasn't clear at all. It was all rainy and full of boats and seagulls!"
> Chapter 12: Taking Candy From an Alien Juggernaut
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally, the fire team were leaving the hangar behind them. Fluttershy would've sighed with relief, but since they were still on board a Covenant battleship, there was nothing to be relieved about. Still, it felt good to leave that giant chamber in the past. It had been a blood bath in there. So many Ponies had lost their lives, and scenes of the bedlam were still fresh in her mind.
Just more nightmare material.

Proceeding through the purple labyrinth, Fluttershy and the others didn't bump into any more resistance. It was creepy, like the Covenant had evacuated the Truth for self destruction. She wouldn't be surprised if that's what they'd resorted to doing, what with the amount of soldiers they'd lost at the hooves of the Ponies. Or maybe she and the Ponies had cleansed the entire ship of Covenant! ... Nah, that couldn't be.

After winding through the alien corridors, the herd came upon a proximity door that slid open to reveal a large room with a round, central podium lined with holographic telemetry. A handful of veteran Elites worked at various light consoles, and one gold armoured Zealot stood, arms folded, in the centre of the podium.
"The bri-" Fluttershy was hushed as a couple of fellow soldiers covered her mouth and pulled her back.

Reversing, the team got clear of the door's sensors, allowing it to close before any of the Covenant spotted them.
Shoving the muffling hooves away, Fluttershy could finally gasp, "Twilight?! Was that the bridge?!"
"It would appear so," the AI observed. "I knew there was a room of significance behind this door, but I didn't think it would be the bridge!" In admiration, she explained, "It seems the Covenant build their bridges deep within their ships, where they'll be safe from external attack. It's clever."

"You know what else is clever?" Trixie asked, a mischievous smirk creasing her blue coated face.
"Uuhh-"
"-Taking this ship for ourselves!" With that, the Unicorn Mare charged headfirst into the bridge.
"Trixie!"

Trixie didn't listen, just galloped in through the door and skidded to a halt before the gold armoured Shipmaster and his crew.
"Get the hay off my ship!" she bellowed, striking surprise into the Elites.

Laughing menacingly, the Zealot withdrew a small, silver device from his belt and thrashed it, making a deadly blue energy sword materialise in his hand. His crimson armoured cronies turned deliberately, wielding a mixture of plasma rifles and needlers.

Just as menacing as the sword wielding Zealot, Trixie laughed and beamed up her horn. The rest of the rescue team arrived just in time to see the blue Mare use her telekinesis to send the Zealot and his troops rocketing. Concentrating, she angled her sweating blue head this way and that, smashing the alien warriors off the walls, off the floor, off the ceiling! It wasn't so much a battle as it was a game of pinball, the screeching Elites ricocheting at crazy angles around the bridge.

Eventually, all the aliens were dead; their crumpled corpses lying in puddles of purple Elite blood. However, before Twilight could call the all clear, a red armoured Grunt entered the room and spoke.
"Greetings, Shipmaster! Me here to tell you that - er - waaa!"
Noticing the Ponies, he screamed and turned to flee, but was dragged over by Trixie's magic.
Getting in the Grunt's face, Trixie purred, "I am your new Ship Mistress. I believe you have some news for me...?"

"Trixie!" came Twilight's disapproval.
Fluttershy wasn't happy either, but for different reasons.

Stuttering, the nervous little alien replied, "Oh... um... er... H-hello... Sh-ship Mistress, hehe... Uh... Me here to tell you... that... er..." Being held in the air, the poor little squeaker was shaking in his armour.
Trixie was loving it, though. "Spit it out!"
"Aah! Um... ok... Um... Truth and Reconciliation's's tracking are now online."

The whole reason Rainbow Dash had been able to fly her Pelican up to the Cruiser was because the ship's tracking systems were offline. Now that they were online, their escape plan was foiled.

Twilight called Rainbow Dash from Fluttershy's armour's coms system. "Rainbow, stay clear of the Truth and Reconciliation. The Covenant have got its tracking gear working again."
The Pelican pilot replied, "You gotta be kiddin' me! How are y'all supposed to get outa there now?!"
"Well, I can think of-"
"-Get out of here?!" exclaimed Trixie, gawping. "Why would we get out of here? We own this ship!"
"No Trixie, we don't own this ship. The Covenant are still in command here."
"Not anymore! Look at this place!" Still keeping the Grunt in her magical grasp, Trixie swept her hoof across the scene of the empty bridge and the slaughtered crew. "This is our ticket off this ring!"

Everypony stared at the blue Mare, gone out.
"Trixie, that's very nice, but-"
"-But nothing!" she grated, getting up in Fluttershy's face. "Fluttershy, be a dear and upload Twilight Sparkle into the Truth's systems."
"But... why?" Fluttershy puzzled, glancing at the alien telemetry.
"Wow," Twilight resurfaced before Trixie could answer. "What a great plan! Why didn't I think of that?"
"Because Trixie's smarter than y-"
"-Trixie, you're a genius!"
"That's what Trixie was saying before you inter-"
"-Fluttershy, do what Trixie says," ordered the AI. She sounded very excited.
Complying, the yellow Mare paced over to the central, elevated podium and replied, "Alright."

Applejack was just as confused as Fluttershy, and she joined her troops in following the yellow Mare up the command deck. Trixie dragged her new pet Grunt up there with her.
"Oh my. We Unggoy are never allowed on the comman-"
"-Be quiet!"

Scanning the holographic displays, Fluttershy asked, "Um... where do I..."
"Try that magnetic field to the lower right. You'll have to uninstall the current AI. Just knock it out."

The current Covenant AI was a cluster of stars held in position between two translucent triangles. Applejack used a front hoof to smack the orb free from its embrace like a golf ball. It hit the purple wall and flashed away into nothingness.

Now that that had been taken care of, Fluttershy could eject the Twilight chip from its nest in her chest plate. Using her mouth, she uneasily placed the tiny chip between the two pink triangles of light.

A bleeping noise ran throughout the system prior to Twilight's Alicorn avatar materialising into view on a view screen. It felt good to actually see her AI friend.
"I'm on a view screen?" the shimmering purple Alicorn puzzled. "Huh, I expected better."
"How do you feel, Twilight?"
Twilight's response was full of delight. "I feel great! There's such a wealth of information here! I can't wait to access it all! Teeheehee!" She clopped her front hooves together and beamed.

Seriously, the great and powerful Trixie asked, "Can you convince the Covenant to leave?"
"Scanning," came Twilight's reply. She made the eyes of her avatar scroll back and forth, as if reading a book. "Aha! I can! Bare with me."

As the squad waited, Fluttershy stared at the captured Grunt in Trixie's grasp. He looked back. She smiled at him. He... was wearing a breather, so she couldn't tell if he was smiling back. She hoped he was, but then why would he, after the amount of his brethren that had fallen during the war?

Suddenly, and alarm wailed throughout the entire ship, making Fluttershy jump. An automated voice boomed out over the ship wide com in Elite language.
Translated, it said, "Warning! Slip space engine has been tampered with! All personnel have ten minutes to retreat to minimum safe distance!"
Fluttershy thought the message was over, but then a new one warbled out.
"Please leave all prisoners in their cells!"

Over the wailing alarm, Fluttershy asked, "Um, Twilight? What did you just do?"
"I sent a message out around the ship, ordering the Covenant to leave." Laughing, she added, "They think the slip space engine's gonna blow! Hahahaha!"
Everypony else laughed along with the AI.

"Ok, I'm locking the doors to the bridge so no Covies can disturb us on their way out."
Whilst Twilight was saying that, a synthesised grunt was heard coming from the chamber's four doors, signifying their locking.

A second screen flickered into existence next to Twilight's avatar and cycled through the Truth and Reconciliation's on board cameras. Covenant could be seen hurrying through corridors, jumping down the grav lift, boarding Spirit drop ships. The equine hijackers watched on in astonishment as the Truth and Reconciliation gradually became theirs.

During the ten minute wait, Twilight called Rainbow once more and told her, "Hey Rainbow, guess what."
"What? This better be good news."
"The Truth and Reconciliation is now a part of the UPSC fleet! How's that for good news? You can land in the hangar I'm highlighting for you."
Rainbow's response was full of disbelief. "W-wait, what?! You captured that thing?! Oh my gosh, that's awesome news! How'd ya do that?!"
"We'll explain later, now hurry up! The sooner you land in the ship, the sooner we can take off!"
"Oh, of course! On my way!"

The connection ended, and Twilight patched into one of the cameras overlooking another huge hangar. It was a different hangar to the one they'd fought through; much cleaner and calmer, and no broken down Wraith sitting on the floor. Once Rainbow's Pelican swooped into the hangar and touched down on the bottom floor, Twilight directed her to the bridge.

On the monitors, Fluttershy spied the lone, rainbow haired Pegasus fly up to the top floor and wonder through the maze of Covenant corridors.
"What's with the alarm?" the pilot perplexed, looking around.
"Oh, that's just a phony distress signal I used to evacuate the Covenant. I'll turn it off now."
And just like that, the droning alarm ceased.

Not long later, the gravity lift was sealed up, the hangar force fields intensified to stop things from entering, and the bridge doors were unlocked.

Into the bridge, Rainbow entered. "Hey guys!"
It was weird seeing her out of the Pelican and hearing her voice in person.
"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy beamed.
"Hello Rainbow," greeted Twilight with a big wave.
Applejack waved her hat at the pilot. "Howdy Rainbow!"
Private Derpy galloped over to Rainbow and gave her an enthusiastic hug. "Yay, Rainbow Dash!"
With straight eyebrows, Rainbow said, "Ugh, hi Derpy," unsentimentally.

Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, all reunited, except they were missing two. One was waiting for them in the brig. The other... well, they each shared a soulful, silent cuddle in regards to the other one.

Moving on, Rainbow told, "It's great to be joining y'all for once! As much as I love flyin' my Pelican, I always wanna get in on the action!"
Applejack touched Rainbow's shoulder for a second. "Great to have ya here, RD."

Getting down to business, Twilight demanded, "Fluttershy, upload me into your armour again. We need to find Rarity and the rest of the Autumn's crew before the Covenant get suspicious. Once we've found them, we'll come back here for dust off."
"Where are we gonna go?" quizzed Rainbow, her big cerise eyes staring expectantly at Twilight.
"We'll head for base to pick up everypony else."
"And then we're going home right?" Trixie questioned with a raised eyebrow, still levitating the veteran Grunt. "... Right?... Back to Equestria?"
There was a long pause before Twilight said, "... Well... I guess so."
Closing her eyes and smiling, Trixie mouthed the word "good."

Quickly, Fluttershy retrieved Twilight and reinstalled her in her armour. She felt that icy sensation again as the AI made herself at home.

"Everypony, stay here. Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and I will search for the Captain."
"Yes, Twilight!" the herd answered in unison.
Trixie glowered evilly in her Grunt's face with a smirk, making him whimper.

All together, the three Ponies and one AI left the bridge.

Trotting through the purple corridors, the friends conversed with each other.
"So... what do you think this ring world is?" started Rainbow.
"Oh, I have no idea."
"I reckon it's some sorta farm."
"A farm, AJ?"
"Yeah. This ring would be a great place to grow food n' raise cattle. I wouldn't be surprised if this was some great, intergalactic farm where all the different types o' aliens come to, y'know, do farm stuff."
"If this ring were a farm, how come we haven't encountered any farms yet?"
"I dunno. Maybe we're lookin' in the wrong places."
"This is a big ring world after all."
"Oh Twilight, don't tell me you think this is a farm too!"
"I don't think it's a farm. I'm just not ruling it out."
"What do you think it is, Twilight?"
"It's alien, so the possibilities are endless. It could be a play ground, or a training ground, or, y'know, just a home."
"This sure would be one fancy shmancy home."
"Or it could be a ring that goes on the finger of some big, giant alien."
"Giant alien?"
"Ok, I gotta stop you there. There is no alien big enough to wear a ring this size around their finger."
"You don't know that! There's lot of life out there in the universe!"
"Yeah, we found it already. It's called the Covenant."
"You ever think there might be more life out there besides the Covenant?"
"I gotta tell ya, this conversation's gettin' pretty deep for me now."
"Me too, and the giant aliens scare me."
"There are no giant aliens!"
"If there is other life out there besides the Covenant, I sure hope they take our side."
"Me too."

Following their trot along conversations, the three Ponies soon arrived at one of many Covenant brigs. The sizable chamber was constructed of the usual purple metal and featured two support columns. At the end of the long room, a short platform was situated with a control panel upon it. Prison cells lined each side of the room, Ponies laying inside. Instead of bars, the cell doors were made out of the same force fields that made up the hangar doors.

"Hello, everypony!" cheered Rainbow out loud. "We're here to rescue you!"
Overjoyed, the POWs whooped and jumped up and down.
"Woohoo!"
"Yeah!"
"Oh, thank you!"

Making their way to the controls, the three musketeers trotted past the captured bridge crew. They checked each of the eight cells on their way, but none of the super happy Ponies was Rarity.

One of the last cells they walked by contained an Earth Pony Mare who stood on hind legs and pushed her face against the force field.
"Hi, Rainbow Dash! Hi, Applejack! Hi, Fluttershy! Did you miss me?!"
Fluttershy couldn't believe her eyes. She stared at the fluffy pink Pony, jaw dropped. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were just as shocked.
"Pinkie Pie?!" they all shouted, minds officially blown.
Pinkie grinned. "Yep, that's me!"

Running up to her cell, Fluttershy placed her hooves over Pinkie's on the other side of the force field.
"Oh, Pinkie! I'm so glad you're ok! I thought we'd lost you!"
Pinkie laughed, "Me?! Lost?! Hahahaha! Could you imagine?!"
"We did imagine!" Twilight joined in. "Quick, Fluttershy, release them!"
"Oh, of course!"

Hurriedly, Fluttershy galloped over to the controls and worked with Twilight to open the cells. After interacting with a holographic slider, the force fields faded away.

"Yipee!" whistled Pinkie, flying out of her cell like a rocket from a launcher and tackling Applejack and Rainbow to the ground with a huge, suffocating hug.
The other captives exited their cells as well, full of delight.

Tearing up, Applejack croaked, "Oh, Pinkie Pie, I just can't tell ya how happy I am to know that yer safe."
"Me too," added Rainbow, her eyes shimmering.
Fluttershy joined them, and together, they shared a lengthy group hug. The rest of the Ponies watched on, moved.

After a while, Pinkie asked, "Hey, where's Rarity?"
"We're looking for her now," Twilight informed, then interrogated, "Do you know where she's being held?"
"I have no idea," came Pinkie's response.
The AI wasn't fazed. "Not to worry; I can still track her neural interface."
"Alright then, let's save the Captain!" Rainbow bellowed as she took to her wings, motivating the rest of the Ponies.

Exploring the Covenant ship's corridors, the soon to be complete circle of friends lead the way, the other prisoners following close behind them.
"Where are all the Covenant?" one restless Mare inquired, her eyes scanning the area.
Rainbow called back, "Oh yeah, we forgot to mention: Welcome to your new base!"

"Whaaaa...!" yawped Pinkie, boggled.
"Hehe, you heard."
Twilight began describing the situation to Pinkie, loud enough so that everypony could hear. "We came here for Rarity and the bridge crew, and also you, although we didn't know you were here. On our way to the brig, we stumbled into the ship's bridge. Trixie is waiting there. It was her idea to take the ship. You all heard the alarm, right? That was just a ruse to get the Covenant to leave."
"Oh, so the slip space engines aren't gonna blow? Phew!"
"Wait, how do you know what the message said?" Applejack interrogated.
"I guessed it," revealed Pinkie with a cheesy grin.

Rainbow resurrected their previous discussion. "So , Pinkie, what do you think this ring world is?"
"Uh, duh, obviously it's a giant hoola-hoop!"
"A giant hoola-hoop for who?"
"Don't say giant aliens - don't say giant aliens - don't say giant aliens-"
"-For me!"
"Phew... Wait, what?"
"Ahahaha! Pinkie, how are you gonna hoola this hoop?"
"Just watch me." Pinkie reared up and began swinging her hips, as if hoola-hooping.
Everypony else paused and looked at her in bafflement.
"... Twilight, is anything happening to the ring world?"
"Well if something is happening, the Covenant aren't talking about it."
"In other words; nothin'."
"D'oh! It works better when I'm in the middle. Hey, Rainbow, y'think you can drop me off there?"
"I don't think so, Pinkie."
"We've lost you enough times."
And it's so great to have you back.

Not long later, the herd arrived at a second brig.
"Rarity's signal is strong. She must be in here," theorised Twilight.

"Hello?!" Rainbow Dash squawked, her voice echoing through the cold brig.
"Hello?" came a responding voice that wasn't Rarity's.
One of the other Ponies recognised it though. "Lyra!"
"Bon Bon?!"

As those two had their moment, AJ rang around the chamber, "Rarity! Ya here?!"
"Yoohoo!" came a reply from further back.
That definitely sounded like Rarity.

The friends galloped over to the cell that emitted the "yoohoo," and found Captain Rarity laying on her side before them, a pleasant smile on her white face.
"Rarity! Oh, I'm so happy to see you!" stated the yellow Pegasus. "Bare with me." She ran off to open the doors.

Once the force fields had vanished, she joined her friends inside the cell and smothered Rarity with a humongous group hug.
"Ooh, be careful darlings," the Mare winced. "I'm a little sore after the Covenant interrogations."

Her luscious purple Mane and tail were frazzled, and she had bags under her eyes. Scuff marks ruined her pristine white coat, along with a few blood stains. Her lips were parched; nothing to drink.

Kindly, Fluttershy offered her the remainder of her water.
"Thank you, Fluttershy," the Captain gratified, accepting the canteen and taking sweet little sips. "Is Twilight still with you?"
The answer she sought buzzed from Fluttershy's speakers. "Right here."
"Oh good. Excellent work, Fluttershy. I knew we could count on you."

Fluttershy wasn't too sure. She was still a hopeless Mare in her mind. If anything, Twilight was the one protecting her.
Nether the less, Fluttershy said, "Thanks," and smiled at the Unicorn.

Moving on, Rarity demanded, "Twilight, what's the... um... word I'm looking for?"
"Status?"
"Status - yes."
"Lieutenant Commander Zecora and her team have set up base atop a butte in the desert."
"Lovely."
"However, the Truth and Reconciliation is under our full control!"
Rarity raised an eyebrow. "The... what...?"
"The Truth and Reconciliation: This ship we're on now."
Rarity blinked, mind numbed. "... Ooohh! You captured this ship?! Oh my gosh, this is amazing news! We have a ride home!"
The celebrations were tremendous.

"Ponies," Rarity put on her "let's get down to business" face. "Take me to the bridge."

Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. The circle of friends was complete, inside a stolen Covenant CCS class battle Cruiser of all places.

Trotting merrily through the corridors with the bridge crew in tow, the six friends gossiped.

Giggling, Pinkie Pie howled, "Hey Rarity! You'll never guess what! Hehahaha!" snort, "Our friends thought they'd lost me forever! Hahaha! Can you believe it?!"
"Is this true?"
"Well, I heard it from Fluttershy n' Twilight," told Applejack.
"And I heard it from Applejack and Fluttershy and Twilight," Rainbow informed.

Twilight gave the explanation. "Fluttershy and I saw Pinkie get left behind on the Autumn. All the lifeboats had been ejected, save for lifeboat number one that I had on reserve for you and the bridge crew. There was no way she could've made it all the way back there in time."
"Well she did!" revealed Rarity. "Pinkie and I rode the same lifeboat to the surface, but as soon as we landed, we were captured by those icky Covenant!" She shuddered, grossed out by the aliens.

"Well all that matters is that you're both safe," Twilight stated warmly, Fluttershy nodding in agreement.
Hovering along, Rainbow exclaimed, "And now that we have a ship; we can head on home!"

Home... Fluttershy liked the sound of that. She couldn't wait to leave the ring and land her hooves on good old Equestrian sod.

She was getting thirsty, and she had no water left. Hopefully she would get to refill her canteen when they picked up the rest of the survivors from the makeshift base.

Something was on her mind, so she spoke up, "Um, Rarity?"
"Yah?"
"You said the Covenant interrogated you."
"Oh, yes, I did say that."
"What about?"
"Are you ok?"
"You didn't give them Equestria's location, did you?"
"Oh, of course not, Rainbow Dash, don't be silly. I didn't give them anything... Well, except for headaches of course, teeheehee!"
"Ya sure about that, Rare?"
"Girls, please, you know I would never put Equestria in danger. You have no need to worry, really."
"How did you avoid telling them? I doubt I'd've lasted ten minutes with those aliens."
Everypony glared at Fluttershy.
"Oh, sorry."
"Every time they asked me something I didn't want to answer, I just wailed and moaned until they gave up. Although sometimes, when they gave up... it hurt."
The rest of the mane six looked at Rarity with worried expressions.
"But it was totally worth it. For Equestria, haha!"
"... Ok, now I'm worried."
"I was already worried."
"Girls, I'm serious, I didn't tell them anything."
"We're worried about you! Sounds like they really put you through heck!"
"Yah, they did, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. They wanted to keep me alive, so they couldn't give me their worst. For if they did, I fear I would not be standing here right now."
"You don't have any serious injuries, do you?"
"Oh, no. If I did, I'm sure I'd be aware."
"Well, alright. But I'm gonna have you examined by a proper doctor, just to be safe."
"Ugh, if you insist, Twilight."

Entering the Cruiser's bridge, the Ponies gazed around at the glistening Covenant architecture and the dead Covenant bridge crew. The rest of the rescue team were sat around waiting for them, and as soon as they noticed the Captain, they jumped for joy. Except for Trixie of course: She sat in the centre of the elevated podium and shared a conversation with the red armoured Grunt she'd kidnapped. No longer under her spell, the defenceless little biped sat and talked, quaking with unease.

"I'm here!" sang Rarity, delighted to be back.

Using her own initiative, Fluttershy made her way up the podium and reinstalled Twilight in the Truth. On the same screen as before, Princess Twilight's avatar appeared with a smiley face.

"Ok everypony, listen up!" she bawled. "I want the bridge crew to report to their assigned stations!"
Miniature view screens fizzled into existence over each station with written titles and instructions, courtesy of the AI.
As the bridge crew murmured, unsure of flying a Covenant Cruiser, Twilight stated, "We're going to pick up the rest of the survivors at a captured alien facility. I'll put the co-ordinates up on the navigator's screen. Once we have them , I'll teach you all how to initiate the ship's slip space drive so we can make a jump for home! For Equestria!"

A round of celebrations echoed around the chamber as the crew ran over to the various stations atop the podium. They each gave Trixie and her pet puzzled glances, and Trixie retaliated by scowling back.

Captain Rarity stood proud in the centre of the podium, next to the blue Unicorn and her Grunt.
Bewildered, she implored, "Pray tell, Trixie; what are you doing with that vile creature?"
The Grunt was offended. "Hey!"
"This is Trixie's new assistant. His name is Babs."
"Actually, my name Pubab."
"Well it's Babs now, so shut up!" Trixie snapped.
The squeaky Grunt cowered. "Waa! Yes Ship Mistress! Please no hurt Pubab - oh, er, me mean Babs."

Perplexed, Rarity questioned, "Ship Mistress? ... You're not the Ship Mistress - I am!"
Irritated, Trixie argued, "No! Trixie found him first! Trixie stole this ship!"
"And Rarity out ranks Trixie."

At that moment, the entire ship lurched. The deck swayed and some of the Ponies fell over. Pinkie Pie rolled around like an out of control ball, giggling as she did so. The bridge crew worked hard to get the hang of the alien controls, manoeuvring the nine million, six hundred thousand tonne space craft up and away from the desert plateau.
"Well done, Ponies! Keep this up!" supported the AI.

Fluttershy was standing by Twilight's terminal and watched on as Rarity and Trixie continued their quarrel. Rainbow and Applejack had come up to watch the show too.

"As Captain, I order you to throw that thing over board," Rarity stomped her hoof, eliciting a yelp from the Grunt.
"Trixie worked hard to rescue you. Isn't she entitled to little reward?" countered the crafty Unicorn.
Twilight interjected, her expression meaning business. "Trixie! Rarity and I are both ordering you to get rid of that Grunt. The Covenant are nothing but trouble."

Speaking up, Babs the Grunt squeaked, "But if you get rid me off ship, you not know where treasure are buried."
"Treasure?" Trixie, Rarity and Twilight implored.
That little veteran Grunt nodded. "Yes. In exchange for life, me tell you where treasure are buried."
Rarity and Trixie scratched their chins thoughtfully.

Butting in, Rainbow bawled, "Hey! I thought we were going back home!"
"... Rainbow's right," Twilight agreed. "Once we have the other survivors, we are..." she trailed off, the purple eyes of her avatar scanning whatever information she was accessing. "Wait..."
"We are what?" Derpy sounded.

Bringing the Grunt debate to a pause, the Ponies looked up at the confused AI.
Applejack raised a hoof. "Uh, Twilight? Something wrong?"
Pinkie rolled up beside AJ in a pink flash and laughed upon seeing the Grunt.

Twilight read on, muttering to herself. "... Holy light... ... Cleanse the galaxy? ... ... Halo... ... Upon activating the holy ring, we shall wipe out our greatest foe!"
"What does that mean?" quizzed the boggled Fluttershy.
"... Oh, oh no. We can't leave this ring!"
All the equines in the bridge collectively shouted, "What?!"

And so the lesson began. "This ring world is called "Halo," and it is a weapon. A weapon of vast, unimaginable power!"
"Like Trixie?" the blue Unicorn chipped in.
"It was built over one hundred thousand years ago by an ancient race of beings called "the Forerunners." The Covenant worship these guys, and the holy relics they have left behind, like Halo."
In the background, Babs whispered, "Forerunners be praised."
"The Covenant believe they can wipe their greatest foe from existence by firing Halo."

Frightened by the news, Fluttershy asked, "And who is their greatest foe?"
"Who do you think?"
The yellow Pegasus gulped.
"Do the Covenant even have any other foes?" Applejack raised.
"Gosh, I could never have too many foes!" Pinkie made known. "I mean friends! Friends! Hahaha! But that has nothing to do with anything, so..."

Shiftily, Babs darted his eyes side to side, twiddling his scaly thumbs.

The Truth and Reconciliation swayed as she sliced through crosswinds like a knife.

Facing each of her friends, Applejack searched for ideas. "Well what are we gonna do, y'all?"
Twilight read on through the Covenant database. "The Covenant are looking for Halo's control room. They haven't found it, but not long ago, they did find something that they're calling "the silent cartographer." They say it's a map room that will show them the location of Halo's control centre."

"Oh no! This is bad!" panicked Rarity, her hooves spreading across the deck. "If the Covenant get to Halo's control room... We're all doo-hoo-hoo-hoomed!"
AJ leaned in and whispered, "Uh, Rarity? Yer the Captain, remember?"
"Oh. Of course." Rarity eyed her troops, who stared at her through worried eyes. "Uh, don't panic, everypony. My friends and I are in full control of the situation, ahahahaha!"
Trixie rolled her eyes. "Real convincing."

"Well then what are we waitin' for?!" yelled Rainbow, taking to her wings. "Let's pick up the other soldiers and beat those sorry Covenant to Halo's control room!" Whizzing over to a Stallion working at a station, she demanded, "Come on, pilot! Double time!"
"Uh, I'm not the pilot."

"It's not as simple as that, Rainbow," Twilight informed, bringing out the leash. "This ship is our base now, and it's our only way back home. It is not expendable."
The Rainbow haired Mare came to a landing and puzzled, "What does that mean?"
"It means that if we're gonna make it off this ring world alive, we're going to have to hide the Truth and Reconciliation from the Covenant. No doubt they'll come looking for it."

"And how are we supposed to hide this thing?! It's, like, a million miles long or something!"
"Easy. Once we've picked up the other survivors, I'll update the co-ordinates to take us to a mountain range. It's quite stormy there; lots of clouds. You and the other Pegasi can conceal the Truth within those clouds."

Dumbfounded, Rainbow gawped, "... That... is actually a really good idea."
"I know!" Rarity joined in.
"Thanks. I suggest you all prepare for the mission ahead. Once the Truth and Reconciliation is concealed, I want Rainbow and one other Pelican pilot to transport me, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Applejack to this "silent cartographer." Once we have the location of Halo's control room, we are to be flown there immediately, hopefully before the Covenant. Trixie and her squad will meet us there."

Fluttershy sighed and slumped to the purple deck. She'd felt one hundred per cent sure they were going to make a jump for Equestria, but now they had to stay?! To fight more Covies?! The fate of the entire Pony race on their shoulders?! Was this nightmare ever going to end?

She couldn't take it anymore, and she sulked on the deck. The faces around her looked on in sorrow.
"Wow. That Pony sad," chirped the high-pitched little Grunt by Trixie's side, pointing at Fluttershy.

Exhaling, Rarity knelt by the snivelling Pegasus. "Oh I am dreadfully sorry, my dear Fluttershy. But you heard Twilight. We must do this for the billions of Ponies back home."
"If there were any other way, we'd take it. But we're all stuck here now, and we're stuck in it together," boosted Applejack, walking to the shy's side.
"Yeah, Fluttershy! You got this," Pinkie Pie smirked.
Rainbow Dash hovered over and winked. "And with me on your side, what could possibly go wrong?!"

Comforting the glum Pegasus, the five Ponies shared a cosy group hug.

Twilight; "You've gotten me this far, Fluttershy. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here. We wouldn't have this ship... Don't worry, I'll be with you every step of the way."
Every step of the way.

Sniffling and wiping her eyes, Fluttershy thought about speaking, couldn't decide on the right words to say, and instead, just brought her friends back in for another cuddle.

Sitting on her haunches and folding her forelegs, Trixie smiled at the group of friends, until her captured Grunt nudged her in the side.
Whispering in her ear, Babs inquired, "So... since you stay now, you want know about treasure?"
The great and powerful Trixie shook her head, her pale blue mane swishing back and forth.

*****

During the flight, Fluttershy had found a Covenant barracks, complete with stupendously comfy beds and an en suite bathroom with running water. She was amazed by the shiny purple taps and their holographic handles, and the basin she used to wash herself. The water did have a slight metallic tang to it though, but who was she to complain? Water was water.

Of course washing herself and getting into bed meant taking off her armour. Forgetting she was a Pegasus, it felt sooo good to finally spread her beautiful wings. She exercised them a little, hovering off the deck, enjoying her own ability of flight.

She also got to see her own cutie mark; something she hadn't seen since she was in cryo two on the Filly of Autumn. She loved the butterflies on her flanks, and she smiled at them.

She had just pulled a poufy pink duvet over herself in one of the Covenant beds when Captain Rarity burst in.
"Fluttershy darling, are you awake?"
Rolling over to face her friend, the yellow Mare yawned and replied, "No."
The two Mares giggled.

Approaching Fluttershy, Rarity informed, "I found the Shipmaster's bed chambers, just down the hall. I was going to designate it as my bedroom, but I figured you deserved it more."
Touched, Fluttershy said, "Oh Rarity, it's ok. These beds are actually quite comfy."

Inspecting the duvet, Rarity observed, "Yes, the Covenant really do have style... But I assure you, the Shipmaster's bed is at least a million times better!"
Huddling up to the duvet, Fluttershy voiced, "That sounds nice, but it's ok, I'll just-"
"-Fluttershy. I am not taking no for an answer. Now I insist that you get some sleep in the Shipmaster's room." Rarity stomped a hoof and grinned at Fluttershy.

Rolling out of bed and getting her things, Fluttershy expressed, "Oh, well if you insist, Rarity. Thank you."
"No problem at all my dear." The purple maned Unicorn helped her with her belongings and walked out of the barracks. "This way."

Once at the Shipmaster's quarters, Fluttershy gazed around at the usual purple walls and a huge, rectangular bed in the centre of the room.
"Beautiful isn't it? Despite their brutishness, the Covenant are turning my eyes positively green with envy. All this luscious pink and purple."
"Normally I'd agree with you, but after what the Covenant have done, I don't think I'll ever look at the colour purple in quite the same way."
"I know what you mean. Perhaps my mane can redeem it for you, ahahahaha!"
Fluttershy joined Rarity in chuckling.
"Ah, well, I must return to the bridge." With a smile, she added, "Have a nice sleep."
"Thanks, Rarity."

She was just on her way out when she remembered something.
"Also, I thought you should know that Applejack won't be joining you in your mission to the silent cartographer."
Confused, Fluttershy asked, "What? Why?"
Rarity explained, "I shall be embarking on a separate mission of my own, and I have required Applejack's assistance."

Curious as to what mission Rarity had in store for herself, Fluttershy pronounced, "Oh, ok... Not a problem... What are you doing?"
"The Grunt that Trixie captured told us of the most amazing treasure on this ring. Priceless, ancient, alien art and artefacts! Soon, they shall be ours!"
"Oh, I see," Fluttershy sighed. She then warmed up and giggled, "Hm-hm. Good luck with your little treasure hunt."
"And good luck with finding Halo's control room."
The two Ponies shared a glance before Rarity bid her farewell and trotted away.

Into the Shipmaster's bed she climbed. Rarity was right; it was a million times comfier than the beds in the barracks. Curled up under the duvet, she closed her eyes and drifted into the land slumber.

*****

Dawn broke over Halo as the Truth and Reconciliation soared over a gigantic patch of murky grey storm clouds. The sleek purple space ship reared up in deceleration and shuddered with the resistance. Dropping down below the clouds, things became windy, and the three and a bit kilometre long vessel rocked about violently in the storm. Rain pelted off its smooth purple body as it became obscured in the clouds. There was no need for the Pegasi to move the clouds over the ship at the moment, but if the storm ever decided to move, they would be called upon.

As the Truth's anchor was engaged, the ship came to the steadiest stand still it was capable of in the strong winds and torrential rain.

Inside the Covenant craft, things were much less extreme. It was warm, and the swaying of the vehicle was quite relaxing. Zecora and the rest of the survivors had been picked up, and the Ponies worked hard to clean the ship's interior following the blood bath that the rescue team had been through to find the Captain.

It was funny; when Lieutenant Commander Zecora saw the Covenant Cruiser listing towards them, she and the soldiers had gone berserk with panic. When they heard the voices of Twilight and Rarity on the commandeered vessel, they couldn't believe the astounding feat that had been accomplished.

All was silent in the Shipmaster's bed chambers as Fluttershy slept easy, snuggled up in the warm, toasty sheets.
> Chapter 13: A Day at the Beach
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Silent Cartographer.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, and the ocean sparkled in the light. Alone in the sea, there was an exotic island that featured a few silvery, ancient alien structures. The rocky haven was surrounded by a lovely white beach and was littered with plants. The birds whistled their song and flew through the clear blue sky.

Up from the horizon, the ring world, or "Halo" as it was now known, swept up into the sky and arced all the way around to complete itself at the opposite horizon.

The moon wasn't visible, but the orange gas giant, Threshold, could easily be spotted, just off Halo. Its vast orange body was tinted blue in the sky.

With the birds chirping, and the calm noise of the waves washing up and down the shore, all was peaceful on the tropical island...

Roaring over the ocean, two Pelican drop ships closed in on the resort. Their gangplanks lowered, revealing full sets of Ponies riding within.

In Rainbow's Pelican, Fluttershy sat closest to the open hatch. Gazing out, she saw the ocean racing by underneath. She enjoyed the pristine water spraying up in her face, courtesy of the low altitude.

Normally she'd be freaking out over hanging at the back of an open, speeding Pelican, but Pinkie Pie was sat just opposite her, beaming giddily at her, then at the view, then at her, then at the view. Besides, after what she'd been through on the Truth and Reconciliation, she knew what real fear was.
There's nothing to be afraid of.

Prior to suiting up for battle and catching the Pelican to the mission site, Fluttershy had enjoyed the most peaceful sleep she'd had in ages. The lack of nightmares surprised her: Must be something to do with reuniting with all her friends, she theorized. She'd enjoyed a lovely bowl of cereal in the Covenant ship's mess hall, along with an icy cold glass of milk. She'd had one last look at her cutie mark, and one last flap of her wings before hiding them away in her armour.

Donning her Spartan armour, Fluttershy had Twilight installed, and the AI rang out over her armour's speaker. "The Covenant believe that what they call "the silent cartographer" is somewhe-"
"-Why's it so silent?" Pinkie interrupted. "Is it shy?"
Flutterhsy snickered contritely.
"Pinkie," Twilight growled.
"Sorry."
"As I was saying; the Covenant believe that the silent cartographer is somewhere under this island."
"It's silent and it's hiding underground? Ok, it's definitely shy."
"Hahaha. Y'know, Pinkie, I'm shy, but I never feel the need to hide underground because of it. Maybe if I was scared."
"So the silent cartographer is the scared cartographer? I wonder what it's so scared about."
"Well, I'd be pretty scared if the Covenant were searching for me."
"Girls, please, the cartographer is a map room that will show us the location of Halo's control centre. It doesn't have emotions."
Interested, the troops listened on.
"The island has multiple structures and installations. One of them contains the map room."

Fluttershy stared out of the Pelican, seeing the second Pelican, and a silvery metal structure whiz by. The structure looked like some kind of arch in the side of a cliff.

As the vehicles kept flying over the spectacular beach, she saw a small amount of Covenant soldiers clustered amongst some purple crates and holo-shield placements atop a sandy crest.

She had enjoyed the Pelican ride, but as soon as them Covies came into view, her heart sank. In a few seconds time, she would be fighting.

"We're here!" Rainbow cheered over the radio, sure of herself and the soldiers. Hovering the Pelican a couple of metres off the soft sand, she bellowed, "Touchdown! Hit it, Ponies!"
"Go-go-go!" Pinkie shot out of the troop carrier like a bullet and let loose all over the Covenant.

Fluttershy gently lowered herself to the beach as everypony else charged out of the Pelican, barging past her, neighing and whinnying with determination.

"The Covenant are outnumbered for once," Twilight informed with high spirits. "Together, we can overwhelm them."

The Pelicans' jets blew sand in graceful wisps through the air. Watching the second drop ship deposit its troops, and hearing gunfire ringing in her ears, Fluttershy sheepishly joined the rest of the soldiers with her MA5B at the ready.

Further up the beach, the Covenant bawled at the invading equines and fired their plasma weapons and needlers here and there. A Jackal with a blue shield was bucked down the crest by a lightning fast Pinkie, who then fired her assault rifle into a red armoured Grunt.

Cheerlie and Derpy were there too.
Private Derpy yelled, "Down in front!" before hurling a grenade amongst a couple of Elites.
Chortling, the veteran of the warriors picked up Derpy's grenade, pulled the pin out, and was about to throw it back when Pinkie bucked it out of his claw. It landed between two Jackals, sending them screeching through the air.

The rookie of the Elites attempted to snatch Pinkie, but before he could, she flashed away and fired a burst behind her at the veteran. She'd drained the veteran's shields when she'd bucked him, so the bullets took him down quickly.

Panicking, the Grunts squealed and ran, being shown no mercy by the Ponies who mowed them down with little effort.

One last Covie remained; the blue Elite. He retreated to the mysterious arch structure and took cover behind a boulder underneath it. As the Ponies closed in around him, he popped up and fired his plasma rifle, hitting one unfortunate Stallion in the face. The victim had no time to scream - just collapsed to the sand, his face melting.

Cheerlie chucked a grenade behind his rock, and before the Elite could react, it detonated. In a cloud of fiery debris, the murderous biped was tossed off the ground and dropped on the rock, dead.

"The area is... clear?" Twilight sounded surprised. "Already? Wow! That was fast!"
In celebration, the soldiers howled, save for a group who mourned the passing of that one Stallion. The death made Fluttershy upset too.

To the point; the beach had been cleared mesmerizingly fast! Rainbow Dash and the other Pelican were still in sight, flying away over the sea.

Radioing the pilot, Twilight requested, "Rainbow, can you please bring us a Warthog?"
"Sure thing. I'll be a jiffy!" came Rainbow's response as the two Pelicans picked up speed and shrank away.

A camp had been set up on a separate island, and that's where Rainbow had to go to collect the Warthog LRV.

Over the fire team channel, Twilight surmised, "Thanks to that lightning fast sweep of the beach, we should have at least ten minutes to spare while we wait for Rainbow to return."
Before Fluttershy could answer, Pinkie Pie popped in from above. "Fantastic! Ten minutes of beach party! Wooo!" She fell back down to Halo.
Liking the sound of it, the Ponies muttered happily to each other.

And so, in the wait for Rainbow Dash, the Ponies kicked back and relaxed.

Pinkie had laid a towel down for Fluttershy, who laid on her belly and looked around, sipping sweetly through a swizzle straw from a glass with a mini umbrella in it.

The pink Earth Pony then pitted herself against five other Ponies in a game of volleyball, and she wasn't loosing.

Derpy had taken up residance in a huge sand castle she'd built, her derped yellow eyes shifting suspiciously.

In addition to her exotic drink, Fluttershy had also received an ice cream cone with a flaky stick of chocolate protruding out of it. Licking the vanilla flavoured treat, she smiled with delight. It was a pleasant day at the beach on Halo. The sublime rays of the sun reflected off her long pink mane and the kind warmth found her face. She felt like she was back on Equestria.

Luckily, no Covies decided to ruin their picnic. Fluttershy laughed at the thought of the alien monsters enjoying their own little beach party.

In the distance, a spec appeared in the sky and grew closer.
"Rainbow Dash in bound. I take it the beach is still ours."
"It's been glorious," Twilight replied. "Not a peep from the Covenant."

As the Pelican drew closer, a Warthog LRV tucked under its tail, Fluttershy got up off her towel and reported to a boulder.

Pinkie had just won her game of one on five volleyball, and she zipped away to join Fluttershy at the Warthog's drop off point.
"Derpy! You're with us!" the pink Private demanded, prompting the grey Pegasus to come galloping their way, obliviously demolishing her own masterful sand castle.

Raising her digital eyebrow, Twilight checked, "Your choosing Derpy?"
Pinkie Pie spread her hooves. "Of course! Derpy's our friend, aren't you, Derpy?!"
The blonde maned Mare rushed over and cheered, "Yay!" Her eyes rolled around as if they weren't connected to anything.
Unsure, Twilight accepted, "Well... ok." She switched to the radio. "Cheerlie, you and the rest of the squad stay here."
"And enjoy the rest of your day!"
"Oh, of course we will," the Earth Pony Mare nodded. Waving, she called, "Hope you find what you're looking for!"

Rainbow Dash swooped in over the beach, blowing sand everywhere, and deposited the Warthog LRV onto the soft terrain.
Taking off, she told, "Have a blast!" and rocketed away over the glittering sea.

In an instant, Pinkie shot over to the green vehicle and shrieked, "Dibs on the driver's seat!"
Sat behind the wheel, Pinkie beamed with excitement and turned the key, summoning a mighty roar from the powerful engine. The whole vehicle shook as she revved it up.

Twilight started, "Fluttershy, I recommend you-"
"-Dibs on the gun!" Derpy copied the pink Pony, and flew up onto the Warthog's gun.
"Nnng! I was going to say you should go on the gun," the AI grated to Fluttershy, frustrated.

"Well, I don't mind sitting in the passenger seat," Fluttershy stated, more than a little passably. "I'm really not good at gunning... or driving."
Bluntly, Twilight reminded, "You handle a Wraith tank pretty well."
"Oh, yes, but... um..."
"But what?"
The pink maned Mare sighed, "... But nothing."

To Fluttershy's dismay, Twilight demanded, "Derpy, I order you to get in the passenger seat. Fluttershy can handle the turret."
"Aaww!" moaned the derped one. Complying, she murmured, "Fine."
"Thank you."

Now that Derpy was in the passenger seat, Twilight encouraged, "Go on, Fluttershy, it's easy. If you can handle a Covenant tank, you can handle anything. I'll walk you through it."

Wordlessly, Fluttershy paced over to the rear of the truck and hoisted herself up into the bed. Rearing up, she wrapped her front hooves around the handlebars and placed her back hooves on the two horseshoe prints on the swivelling, circular gun platform. It was kinda like riding a scooter.

"You ready?" checked Pinkie with a smirk.
"Not quite. Let me-wahaaaa!"
Without warning, the pink Mare floored the gas pedal and sent the Hog speeding down the beach. Rooster tails of sand were flung up from under the vehicle's fat tires, and grooves were left on the beach. Making use of the vehicle's hoofbrake, Pinkie skidded the Hog around a curve, leaving the beach party behind. Cheerlie waved after them until they were out of sight.

*****

The Covenant relaxed on the beach. Atop a flat rock, three Jackals sunbathed and chirped to each other. Grunts sat around, cross legged on the sand, munching away at their picnic. And one blue armoured Elite watched over them all like a lifeguard.

The joy was erased when the Covies noticed a Warthog skid to a halt, just by the surf of the sea. They stared at the three Ponies in the vehicle, and the Ponies stared back.

"Um, should I shoot them now?" Fluttershy asked anypony in general.
The answer came from the Covies, who set aside their vacation to engage the equine troopers.

Fluttershy let loose with the LAAG, its thundering fire rattling her bones. At the wheel, Pinkie whooped and drove the Hog straight at the aliens, intending to run some over. And Derpy stood up in the passenger seat, emptying her MA5B all over them.

Aiming at the Jackals on the rock, Fluttershy overheated their shields and cut them down, then went to work on the blue armoured Elite. It wasn't long before his shields became depleted and he fell to the sand with a gurgle. Using the Warthog gun was surprisingly easy.

Laughing all the way, Pinkie drove the Hog into the centre of the squealing Grunt congregation, and commenced doing doughnuts. The side of the car crunched the aliens' bodies, and pulled them under its spinning tires. Fluttershy held tightly on to the gun, afraid of falling off in the g-forces.

As soon as the beach was cleared, Derpy reloaded her rifle, and Pinkie continued to speed the Hog further around the island.

Pinkie stared back over her shoulder. "You doing good back there, Fluttershy?"
"Kinda," the yellow Pegasus replied, her mane blowing in the wind.
"Terrific!" She turned to face the view ahead and swerved to avoid a tree in the nick of time.

"You did a great job on those Covenant just then," Twilight flattered Fluttershy. "Keep it up."
However, Fluttershy wasn't proud of herself at all.

All of a sudden, an upbeat tune started blaring from the Warthog's stereo. Fluttershy spun her head to face the vehicle's cock-pit.
"Alright! This is my favourite jam!" exclaimed Pinkie, bobbing her head like a pigeon in time with the beat.
"Pinkie!" shouted Twilight, annoyed.
"What?"

"This is my favourite jam," Derpy mentioned, producing a jar of blueberry jam.
As Pinkie sent the Warthog climbing up a hill, Derpy opened the jar and began licking away at the contents.

"Accessing the Covenant battle net," announced the AI. "... There's a Forerunner structure ahead. The Covenant believe that the silent cartographer is somewhere inside."
"Well then let's beat them to it!" Pinkie yelled, speeding up the Hog.

The structure Twilight mentioned soon came into view. It was nestled within a cliff and featured a large balcony that jutted out over the beach below. The entrance consisted of a long corridor that extended back into the cliff, and two other access points at either side.

Patrolling the balcony, were a handful of Grunts, three Jackals, and six Elites. Even more dauntingly, a massive Covenant drop ship was hovering just above the balcony, dropping off a few crates full of supplies. Thankfully, it hadn't noticed the musical Hog, and as soon as the crates were deposited, it pivoted in the air and buzzed away.

With the aircraft gone, Pinkie zoomed the car onto the Forerunner balcony and made road kill out of one Elite and some Grunts. The tires screeched as she drifted the Hog and drove back and forth in front of the ancient building's entrance.

Fluttershy spun this way and that on her gun pedestal, pounding the Covies with bullets. Her face was stricken with concern as the LAAG chattered and put holes into the silvery metal architecture. She felt bad for vandalising the gracious alien building, and figured Twilight wouldn't be too pleased either.

It couldn't be detected in her voice however, as she stated, "The Covenant are retreating deeper into the facility."
Pinkie saluted. "Roger that!"
"Who's Roger?"
"I ask myself that every day."

Fluttershy had just popped a veteran Elite's shields, and Derpy finished him off with a burst from her assault rifle, when Pinkie drifted the Hog sideways and accelerated straight inside the Forerunner facility.
"Pinkie?! What are you doing?!" demanded Twilight, alarmed.
The pink one just giggled, "I'm driving, silly."

Screaming, Fluttershy fired the big gun dead ahead at the shocked Covenant.

The corridor was segmented by protruding walls to either side, and the Covies dove away behind them. Not all of them however. The Warthog bucked as it rode over a couple of Grunts, and Fluttershy managed to take down an over-confident Jackal. Two rookie Elites attempted to roll away, but they had left it too long, and were sandwiched between the truck's grill and the back wall.

To the right, Fluttershy saw a veteran Elite ushering a group of the smaller races rush away, down a steep ramp. They disappeared before she could get a lock on them. Leaping out of the Warthog, Pinkie zoomed after them.

"Wait up, Pinkie!" called Derpy, unharnessing herself and rushing after the pink one.

Fluttershy took fire from behind, prompting her to shriek. Franticly, she spun the turret and put down the surviving Grunts and Jackals. With smoke leaking from the LAAG's three barrels, Fluttershy heaved, looking around. Her ears pricked up at the sound of gunfire coming from deeper inside the building.

Quickly, the panting Pegasus jumped down from the Warthog and galloped down the ramp after Derpy, Pinkie and the aliens. The ramp was so steep, she lost her footing, and tumbled head over hooves to a level platform where the ramp continued down to her left. She grunted with the landing, picked herself up, and continued to run after her friends. Gold light swirled around her as her shields recharged.

The whole building shook with the force of a frag grenade detonating around the next left.

Worried sick, Fluttershy slowed her sprint, careful not to trip up again, and peeked around the corner. She saw a narrow room strewn with dead Covies, a smashed window on the right, some shifting light displays on the left, and a scorch mark on the floor, Derpy sat in its centre. Through the smashed window, there was a spectacular, dimly lit shaft leading down into the abyss.

In the room, there was no Pinkie Pie.

Rushing over to Derpy, Fluttershy begged to know, "Where's Pinkie Pie?!"
The grey Mare just shrugged and hummed an "I dunno" at her.
Thankfully, Twilight was there to reveal, "She's right there!"

Of course, Twilight couldn't point, so Fluttershy had a little difficulty finding "there." "There" was a sealed, Forerunner door with a red light on each half, marking it as locked. A tiny window was nice and snug between the silver metal, and peering through it, Fluttershy came face to face with her happy pink friend.

"Pinkie Pie!"
Pinkie called out Fluttershy's name on the other side, but it was muffled by the thick metal that separated them. Fortunately, they could speak via radio.

"Oh, Pinkie! How did you get there?" enquired Fluttershy, her hooves placed against the door.
"I just ran!"
Twilight joined in. "Pinkie, can you open the door from your end?"
Searching around the poorly lit corridor on the other side, Pinkie answered, "Not that I can see. Should I look around more?"
"Please. I've scanned the entire area on this side, but I can't find the controls anywhere." Abruptly, Twilight announced, "Accessing the covenant battle net."

Fluttershy and Pinkie waited as Twilight intercepted the enemy com channel. Pinkie's smile was unusually heartfelt, like she was actually trying to convince Fluttershy and Derpy everything would be ok.

Returning from her snooping, Twilight stated, "There's a security centre on the island. The controls to open the door will be there, according to Field Master Isolomee."
Puzzled, Pinkie asked, "Who's Field Master Isolomee?"
"Some high ranking Elite. It seems he locked the door so he and his troops would be safe and uninterruptable  inside the cartographer." In brackets, she added, "Where you are."
Facing back, Pinkie observed, "So this is the cartographer, huh? Neato!"
"Yes, and Field Master Isolomee is in there with you!"
Pinkie didn't seem fazed at all.

"Pinkie, you stay here. Fluttershy, Derpy and myself are going to find the door controls and get this thing open."
Grinning, Pinkie sang, "Okie dokie lokie!" Switching to a more "down to business" tone, she then questioned, "Y'sure you don't want me to go ahead n' find the map on my own?"
"Pinkie, sweetie, you're trapped in there with a Field Master and his army. He has Hunters with him too. You should stay low."
Pinkie brought a hoof to her chin. "Hmmm. Stay low, huh?"

Fluttershy contributed, "Oh Pinkie, I was so happy to find you on the Truth. I don't think I could bare loosing you again."
"Aaww, it's ok, Fluttershy," Pinkie responded, touched. "Don't worry; I'm going to do what Twilight says, and get low." With that, she dropped down from the window.
Fluttershy tried to look down on the other side of the door, but the glass prevented her from getting her head in the right position.
Pinkie Pie popped up and made Fluttershy jump, shrieking, "I'm still here!"
The two Ponies shared a laugh.

Still on the radio, Twilight hailed, "Rarity?"
The Captain's voice fizzed back, "I'm here, Twilight. Have you found the control centre?"
"I'm afraid not. The Covenant have impeded our progress."
"Im - peed?"
"Hampered."
"Oh. Oh for crying out - What did they do?"
"They locked the door."
"Oh, is that all?" Rarity didn't think that was much.
"Yep. We just gotta open it, but it isn't going to be easy."
"How "not easy?""
"We're going up against Isolomee and his army."
"Um, who's Isolomee again?"
"The Elite in charge of the operation! Don't you ever listen, Rarity?"
"I do listen, I just forgot as all. These Covenant have ridiculous names. There is no need to be rude."
"Sorry."

It was a while before Rarity resurfaced with a change of subject. "Is Fluttershy alright?"
"Fluttershy's just fine, aren't you, Fluttershy?"
The meek Mare replied, "Um... I guess so."
"Good," said Rarity gladly. "That's good to know."

She then let them know, "I'm still en route to my objective. I shall have my hooves on that treasure in no time!"

Fluttershy didn't care much for Rarity's desires; thought there were more important things to be concerned about right now, so she was surprised to hear Twilight getting all giddy about it.

"Y'know what; I'm actually looking forward to seeing that treasure. I bet it'll unlock so many secrets Halo has to offer!"
Well that was Twilight's reason for wanting the treasure. What was Rarity's?
"... Yes. Or maybe it will just make for some wonderful décor."
Twilight chuckled, "Hm-hm-hm. Oh Rarity."
"What?"
"Nothing."

Unsure what to think, Rarity changed the subject once more, addressing something that Fluttershy thought was more important, and far more dangerous.
"Whatever. I want you to use any means necessary to find Halo's control room."
"Yes, Rarity."
"We have to get there before the Covenant. Failure is not an option."
Fluttershy sighed, wishing not to bare the burden. "We'll be right on it."
Before breaking the connection, the Captain spoke, "Call me once you've got its location and I'll give Trixie the all clear. Good luck, everypony. Talk to you later."
"Talk to you later!" Twilight and the three Ponies hollered together.

Getting down to business, Twilight ordered, "Ok everypony - well, Fluttershy and Derpy, let's get this door open."
Derpy whooped with enthusiasm, "Woohoo!"
"You go girls!" Pinkie contributed from behind the locked door.
Waving, Fluttershy bid, "See you later, Pinkie Pie. We'll be right back," and ran away up the steep ramp with Private Derpy by her side.
Pinkie continued to gaze and smile out of the tiny window.

On their way to the Warthog, Twilight proposed, "We could do to have a third Pony in the Hog. Get back to Cheerlie; I'm sure she can donate somepony."
"Of course," strained Fluttershy, dragging herself up the insanely steep ramp. Too bad she couldn't use her wings like Derpy.

Once back at the Hog, Twilight asked, "So, who's driving, and who's-"
"-Me drive!" Derpy eagerly jumped into the driver's seat.
"Well, I guess that settles that. Hop on the gun, Fluttershy."

Somepony had to drive, and somepony had to gun. Fluttershy didn't want to do either. She hated inflicting pain on others, even if they were marauding aliens. But she just didn't have the confidence in her to be responsible for the lives of her fellow Ponies, which she needed in order to get behind the wheel. Ponies like Pinkie and Derpy who just hopped into their preferred positions made her decisions that much easier.

Wordlessly, Fluttershy hauled herself up to the gun pedestal once more.
"Now Derpy, I want you to follow my directions exactly, ok?" Twilight requested, not too confidently.
"Oh kay!" came the derped one's reply.
"Do you know how to drive this thing?"
Derpy shrugged. "Of course I do!"
"Ok good. We need to reverse out of here and turn left."
"Ok, let's try that..."

Pinkie had left the engine running, so all Derpy had to do was put the car into reverse, take off the hoofbrake, and act gently on the gas pedal.

There was an awful grinding noise from the vehicle's clutch as Derpy strained to get the hang of it.
"Oops, hehe!"
Then the Warthog's horn let out a loud honk.
"Woops, found the horn."

Fluttershy started, "Um, on second thought, maybe I should - woah!"
The Warthog LRV shot backwards, pushing Fluttershy up against the heavy machine gun. She flailed her hooves as she lost grip, but soon managed to get a hold of the gun's handle bars.

"Then I turn left."
Still reversing, Derpy spun the wheel left, steering the Hog out of the complex and up on two wheels. Fluttershy was a screaming flag that flapped from the LAAG.

Not slowing down, the Hog landed back on all fours and reversed all the way back down the beach.
> Chapter 14: We're Off on the Road to Rodeo Island
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sergeant Cheerlie laid on a towel reading a book whilst the Ponies under her command relaxed or played on the beach. She had just finished reading the third chapter of "Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny," when the drone of an engine grew louder and nearer.

She and her troops took a break to stare down the beach at the returning Warthog. Looking closer, she realised it was reversing all the way over to them.

Upon arrival, the Hog skidded to a backwards stop, jostling the two Ponies on board; Derpy the driver and Fluttershy the gunner.

Cheerlie walked up to the vehicle an greeted, "Hello again. That was fast." She then looked around. "... Where's Pinkie Pie?"
Derpy provided the answer. "She trapped on other side of door."
In affirmation, Fluttershy nodded.

"What door?" Cheerlie raised an eyebrow.
It was Fluttershy's turn to speak up this time. "The door to the cartographer."
Explaining further, AI Twilight surfaced, "The Covenant have locked themselves inside, and Pinkie is in there with them."
"Oh goodness!" Cheerlie gasped. "That doesn't sound good."
"In order to open the door, we have to get to the island's security centre. We were hoping you could spare somepony to tag along with us."

Nodding, Cheerlie stated, "Well, I'd be happy to tag along."
Twilight thought otherwise. "Nope. You're the Pony in charge. You should stay here. This beach is sort of our HQ."
"Oh... ok, sure."
"Just lend us a Pony and we'll be outa here."

Rotating to study her troops, Cheerlie rubbed her chin and narrowed her eyes. "Hmmm... Amethyst!"
The Unicorn Mare called Amethyst glanced around before pointing to herself and asking, "Me?"
"Yes, you. Do you think you can help Fluttershy with her mission?"

Fluttershy looked at the sand by Amethyst's hooves, careful not to make eye contact. She didn't have a problem with Amethyst, she just didn't know her that well, and that made her shy.

Answering Cheerlie, Amethyst mumbled, "Sure," and came trotting over.
Amethyst had a light pinkish purple coat and purple eyes. Her mane and tail were a darker, two tone purple. Her cutie mark couldn't be seen under her regulation green armour.

"Thank you, Cheerlie," Twilight expressed her appreciation, then commanded, "Derpy, move over and let Amethyst drive."
As the derped one grumbled and shuffled over into the passenger seat, Twilight checked with Amethyst, "You know how to drive this thing, right?"
"Uh, of course I do," she answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Great, hop aboard! I'll be your sat-nav. You can call me Twi Twi!"
"Twi Twi?" Amethyst quizzed as she climbed into her seat.
"Yeah, y'know, like a Tom Tom, only it's Twi Twi."
"... Was that supposed to be funny?"
"Aw come on, that was plenty funny!"
"If you say so."

Changing gear, Amethyst sent the Hog on it's way.
"Good luck!" waved Cheerlie.
Derpy and Fluttershy both bid, "Bye Cheerlie!"

As Amethyst continued to drive the Warthog down the beach, Fluttershy asked Twilight, "Can you radio Pinkie Pie?"
"Sure, I'll do that now."
There was a crack of static from Fluttershy's armour as Twilight connected them to the trapped pink Pony.
"Pinkie, do you read?"
Pinkie's delightful voice replied, "Every now and then."
"Oh, hello Pinkie! Are you ok?"
"You bet! It's kinda cold though, but I can't complain."

Randomly, Pinkie joked, "Hey Fluttershy, knock knock!"
With a giggle, the young Mare replied, "Who's there?"
"Why did the chicken cross the road?!"
Fluttershy was unsure who was more confused; herself or Pinkie. "Uh, why did the chicken cross the road - who?"
"Why did the chicken cross the road to get to the other side! Get it?! Hahahaha!"
A grin emerged on Fluttershy's face and she soon began to laugh. "Oh, Pinkie."
"Tee-hee!"

"Bare with us, Pinkie," Twilight interjected in a happy tone. "We're working on setting you free."
"There's a bear with you?"
Amethyst scowled.
"No, Pinkie," giggled Fluttershy. "She means we'll be a while."
"I know. I was just messing. But if there ever is a bear, I left some honey in the glove compartment."
Out of curiosity, Derpy clacked open the glove compartment, revealing a bee-hive accompanied by many buzzing bees. Derpy hurriedly slammed the compartment shut, a nervous expression on her face. "She wasn't kidding about the honey!"

"Well, I guess we'll see you soon, Pinkie," Fluttershy spoke. "Goodbye. Take care now."
"You too!" Pinkie chimed back, and with a click, the connection ended.

It was quite a long drive before they happened upon a canyon leading towards the centre of the island. Lots of trees and rocks were clustered around the mouth of the canyon, and multiple Covies scurried around amongst them.
Twilight suggested, "We should explore this canyon. If the Covenant are here, it probably leads somewhere."
"You're the boss," replied Amethyst, weaving the Hog through the trees and rocks, running over several Jackals.

After a quick skirmish, the Covies had been silenced, and the three Mares could dismount the Warthog. Fluttershy took the time to take a swig from her flask.

With their MA5Bs at the ready, the Ponies stood before the narrow, inclining canyon. It daunted Fluttershy into gulping, but she'd been through worse, so she set off walking with the other two by her side.

Whilst ascending the canyon, Derpy started, "So, Amethyst, how's Li-"
"-Don't talk to me," Amethyst snapped.
Well that was rude.
"I was only gonna ask how Liza was doing... She is called Liza, right? I didn't get the names mixed up again?"
"Yes, she's called Liza, and she's none of your business."
"... Who is Liza?"
"Didn't you hear what I just said? She's none of your business!"
Fluttershy drooped and kept quiet. She glanced over at Derpy, and the two shared an expression of uncertainty.
In private chat, Twilight soothed, "Never mind her, Fluttershy. She's just a little cranky."

Amethyst reached the end of the canyon with Derpy, where a line of tall trees was situated.
Impatiently, she tapped her hoof. "Come on, come on."
"Patience, Amethyst," sang Twilight as Fluttershy came up, disregarding the Mare's frown.

Fluttershy trotted past Amethyst and out of the canyon, when she immediately heard a deep, ferocious roar. She yelped and zipped back into the canyon.
"Twilight?" she shivered.
Derpy and Amethyst looked quite spooked too.
"It's Hunters," Twilight informed. "I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads up. They weren't moving, so I couldn't track them on my motion sensor."
"Hunters?!" exclaimed Amethyst and Fluttershy.
Derpy just stared at Fluttershy, gone out.
"Yes, and they're still not moving. They're really committed to their position."

Turning, Amethyst stated, "Welp, guess we gotta find a different way."
"Not so fast," ordered Twilight, making the purple Mare stop. "These are Hunters."
"Exactly," Amethyst delivered, dead pan.
"The Covenant use them for things like heavy demolition, and the guarding of things they consider vital. Since they're not chasing us, they must be guarding something."
"So?"
"So, they're probably guarding the security centre! That's where we need to go to open the door."
Amethyst moaned dramatically, "Uuhh! So we have to fight them?"
"Yes."

Devising a plot, Twilight adjured, "Derpy, I want you to fly over to the other side of the Hunters. That will distract them long enough for us to sneak up behind them and take them out."
Derpy grinned. "Aw, you're taking them out? That's sweet. Anywhere nice?"
"Derpy!"
"What?"
"Can you please do what I told you?"
Derpy nodded, "Sure." With that, she took off into the sky.
"Not now!"
It was too late; the Hunters roared at the grey Pegasus gliding overhead.
"Ugh! Come on, girls!" Twilight pushed Fluttershy and Amethyst to gallop out of the canyon.

The area beyond the canyon was a small hollow, and there appeared to be a second hollow beyond. Between that hollow and the canyon was a large metal disc that indented the earth. Like some sort of tone-arm for a giant record player, a Forerunner structure arched over from the grass and touched down on the centre of the disc.

Standing on the silvery circle were the two hulking Hunters. They had their backs turned to the advancing Fluttershy and Amethyst, their spines raised. Their attention was focused on Derpy, who flew around evasively through the air, dodging their deadly green fuel rod projectiles.

As soon as Fluttershy and Amethyst set hoof on the mysterious alien platform, Twilight commanded, "Fire, now!" making the two Mares unload their assault rifles into the monsters' exposed backs.
The Hunters had no time to turn around as the bullets tore into the clusters of worms, punching holes and making them bleed orange, curdled blood. United they stood, together they fell.

With the huge aliens taken care of, Derpy came to a steady landing by Fluttershy and Amethyst who were reloading their rifles.
"Nice job, guys!" she beamed.
"Don't mention it," spat the moody Amethyst.
Fluttershy rubbed her foreleg.

Without consultation, Amethyst carried on walking towards the next hollow.
Twilight shrugged, "Well, I guess we keep moving. Great job on those Hunters by the way."
"Thanks."
Breaking into a trot, the two Pegasi caught up with the Unicorn.

Traversing a second canyon, the herd came up to a blocky, silvery structure that played the same roll as the cliffs; making up one side of a narrow canyon.

Before proceeding through the cramped crevice, Fluttershy had a quick drink of water and followed the impatient Amethyst, Derpy in tow.

"So, Derpy, what's your story?" Twilight pondered as the Ponies paced on.
Amethyst rolled her eyes, unable to express her grumpiness direct at the AI.
Answering Twilight, Derpy started, "My story? I thought I told everypony. I live in a pet shop where all the-"
"-Where all the animals can talk, I know," Twilight carried on. "The Autumn's ship wide com wasn't meant for you, or story telling."
"Yeah... I got yelled at."

"But... what's your real story?"
Looking confused, Derpy repeated, "My real story? Why would you want to know?"
"Just starting conversation," articulated Twilight. "I hope I'm not touching a nerve here, but, why are your eyes all... y'know?"
"Googly?" Derpy finished, taking the pressure off. "It's ok, you can say it."
Phew. Fluttershy had looked worried when Twilight brought up the subject, afraid that it'd upset Derpy.
However, Derpy didn't seem upset in the slightest.

"Hehe. I was born this way," she revealed with a grin. Pointing to her right eye, "I got a lazy eye here." Pointing to her left eye, "And a lazy eye there. Lazy, lazy everywhere."
"I see," remarked Twilight, intrigued.
"I see too. I can see enemies coming from any direction, hehehe!"

Pacing through the canyon of rock and metal, Fluttershy noticed the sea come back into view up ahead. They emerged upon a ledge, crossed with a silver balcony, that overlooked the beach and a small, rocky mesa.
It was a very nice view, and Fluttershy would've gazed longer at it, were it not for Twilight warning them, "Covenant are exiting the building."

As well as the ravine that had just deposited them, the entrance to the ancient alien building was situated just behind the trio, and a group of Grunts came waddling out of the murky interior. The three Mares mowed them down like it was second nature, although Fluttershy still had the guilt of murder and the fear of danger stricken on her face.

Whilst reloading, the Ponies gazed into the structure's entrance, now littered with Grunt bodies. It was dark in there, and Fluttershy didn't like the dark. Not one bit.

Shakily, she asked, "W-we... have to go down there?"
Amethyst rolled her eyes and replied, "Well yeah. We didn't fight our way over here for nothing."
"What are we fighting for?" wondered Derpy, sat on her haunches with a daft grin on her derped face.

Amethyst came up short upon Derpy's question and twisted her neck to look at the grey Pegasus. Fluttershy stared at Derpy as well. Silence befell them, and Fluttershy and Amethyst looked glumly at the silver floor.

Slowly, Fluttershy and Amethyst made their way down the steep ramp at the mouth of the Forerunner complex, stepping around the fallen Grunts. Derpy got up and fluttered in after.

At the bottom of the ramp, a doorway lead left into a large cavern. Natural rock formations made up the ceiling of the metal room and lush green foliage crept down over the walls. The only light in the room came from a crack in the rock above, where sun rays cut into the darkness like a knife left in a wound.

Forming a maze on the cavern floor, was a collection of purple Covenant crates. Anything could be hiding amongst them, and Fluttershy swallowed with trepidation.

Giving the necessary requests, Twilight whispered, "Derpy, can you fly over these crates and tell us if you see anything?"
"I can," came Derpy's answer.
Derpy continued to stand and smile at Fluttershy before Twilight eventually asked, "... Can you please do that?"
"Oh, ok."

Fluttershy watched as Derpy hovered away over the crates. She wasn't taking fire, which was good.
"Do you see anything, Derpy?" Twilight fished over the radio.
Shouting back, Derpy informed, "Yes! I see purple boxes! And the floor! And if I look up, I can see the walls and ceilings! No wait, there's just one ceiling!"
"No Covenant?"
"No Covenant! I can also see you! Hi!" Derpy waved enthusiastically.

"No Covenant... so far," Twilight thought aloud. "We should be careful." Back on the radio, she requested, "Derpy, I want you to guide us through this maze. Do you think you can do that?"
Fluttershy and Amethyst sighed together, not liking the idea of being directed through a maze by Derpy of all Ponies.
Even Twilight apologised in private chat, "Sorry, but it's the only way."

In answer to Twilight, Derpy cheered, "Yay! Of course I can does that!" and went about directing her teammates through the Covenant maze in the Forerunner chamber.

After a while of dilly-dallying and being lead to dead ends and around in circles, Derpy mentioned, "Ok, you're close to the end now!"
Turning left, Fluttershy and Amethyst exited the maze. Confused, they looked around.
"... This is where we started!" grated the light purple Unicorn, sighing with frustration.
Fluttershy dusted the ground with her hoof.
"Oops. Sorry," Derpy apologised sheepishly.

Just then, the whole room quaked to the sound of heavy footfalls coming from the other side of the containers. Squealing, Derpy shot through the air and hovered over the other two.
"Enemies! On the other side of the crates!" alerted the AI. "There's two of them! They're big! You know what that means!"
"Oh no!" cried Fluttershy, darting around with consternation.

On the other side, the two Hunters roared and began crashing their way through the containers. Fluttershy looked up and saw those purple crates being flung into the air like toys.

Unsure, Amethyst eyed the exit, wanting to flee.

"Waa!" yelped Derpy as she dodged a fuel rod projectile.
The green ammunition detonated above the exit, blasting a hole into the alien metal.

"Derpy! Fly behind them and flank them!" bellowed Twilight assertively.
Wordlessly, the blonde maned Pegasus flew over the maze of crates and the two monstrosities that smashed their way through it, carving two destructive paths.
"Hey! You're cheating!" complained Derpy, who began firing her MA5B into the back of one of them.

The behemoth grumbled and turned to protect its weak spot. Rumbling together, the two masses of worms communicated, and the second Hunter moved into position at its brother's back. They had each other covered, and that made it extremely difficult to get a clear shot at either of their weak spots.

"Oh no," the AI moaned. "I don't know how we can separate them!"
Twilight didn't have a plan?! Things just went from bad to super crazy terrible. Twilight always had a plan!

Amethyst glanced back and forth between the exit and the shifting congregation of containers. "Um, maybe we should get out of here?!"
Hyperventilating, Fluttershy froze as Derpy swooped around in the air, avoiding shots from the explosive weapons. She could hear Twilight in her head, trying her hardest to think of something.

Before the AI could conjure up a plan, Fluttershy screamed and dove into the madness. Shocked, Amethyst ran in after her.
"Fluttershy! What are you doing?!" demanded Twilight.
"I don't know!" Fluttershy wailed back, tears of fear leaking out of her eyes.

Urgently, Twilight shouted, "Get back!"
Skidding to a halt, Fluttershy narrowly avoided being hit by a crate that was smacked out of place by one of the Hunters. The massive creature stomped through the purple boxes and turned to face Fluttershy. Petrified, the yellow Pegasus backed up, not taking her eyes off the giant.

As its bond brother continued to fire at the airborne Derpy, the Hunter raised its indestructible metal shield.
"Fluttershy!" howled Twilight in horror.
Shrieking piercingly, Fluttershy jumped aside as the Hunter's shield came crashing down to the floor with a tremendous bang, leaving a dent and crack in the metal, right where Fluttershy had been standing.
Acutely, the AI bawled, "Run! Run!" prompting the shy to turn tail and sprint.

Running around a container, she bashed head to head with Amethyst. After the two Mares shook the stars from their heads, the Unicorn gawped at the towering beast behind Fluttershy.

Before the pink maned Pegasus could turn or run or do whatever, there was a strident bellow from the stalking Hunter, and it came tumbling down like a sky scraper and landed right on top of her. Her shields popped under the dead Hunter's crushing weight, and she could feel the gross texture of the worms in her mane. Beneath the fallen titan, Fluttershy couldn't breathe, and she gasped for air as her front hooves flailed around in panic.

Amethyst came to her aid as the sounds of battle continued to rage. The Unicorn combined her magic with her physical strength to drag the suffocating Mare out from under the armoured sculpture of worms.
"You ok there, Fluttershy?" worried Amethyst.
Fluttershy just wheezed and coughed, unable to grasp her own voice.

Suddenly, Amethyst leapt over her and galloped away, her MA5B joining Derpy's in the fight against the last Hunter.
"There there, Fluttershy," comforted Twilight, a hint of shock in her synthesised voice. "Just breathe."
The Pegasus eventually regained her breath as her energy shields began to recharge.

Her MA5B rifle had been converted to a crispy metal pancake by the Hunter's fall. Whirring, the mechanical arm discarded the destroyed weapon and reached into her saddle bag, wielding the diamond encrusted pistol Rarity had given her back on the Filly of Autumn.

Frightened, she poked her head around the crate and saw the last Hunter flop to the ground with a groan prior to celebrations from Derpy and Amethyst.

The two soldiers hurried to Fluttershy to deliver the news.
Derpy; "The Hunters are down."
"And they carved a path for us," added Amethyst.

Inspecting Fluttershy, Amethyst checked, "You sure you're ok?"
She'd certainly changed her tune, and Fluttershy liked it, but as she stood shakily before the two Ponies, she still couldn't get over the encounter.
In reply to Amethyst, she said, "Um... I'll be fine."

Sounding a little angry, Twilight drawled, "Fluttershy! What were you thinking?!"
"Um."
"Just running into the maze with the Hunters like that! You could've been killed!"
Stammering, Fluttershy uttered, "Um, I know, but... I-I just... Well, y'see, um... I... I..."
Derpy and Amethyst stared at her, curious.
"... Derpy was in trouble, and I just didn't want anything bad to happen to her," she eventually revealed.

Twilight gasped. "Fluttershy, that's very noble of you, but you need to think about your own safety. And mine."
"I know, but I... I... I always rely on you for a plan, but... you didn't have one, so... I... I just didn't know what to do, and Derpy was being attacked, and I just wanted to help her!" The poor Mare had broken down during her speech, and her two teammates came to comfort her.
Amethyst even produced a tissue to wipe her tears.
"Some help I was." She sat herself down on the floor.

"Fwuttershy, you were a great help!" cheered Derpy, her forelegs spread.
Fluttershy shook her head. "I didn't even do anything."
"Sure you did! You distracted the Hunter!"
She'd heard this many times before, and was starting to get rather fed up of it. "Oh, distract, distract, distract! That's all I ever do! I'm just the bait."

"Speak for yourself, Fluttershy," Derpy giggled. "I've been playing bait longer than you've been alive!"
"I'm a year older than you."
"Bait's my middle name. Derpy Bait... uh... uh..."
"Doo."
"Doo! Thanks Twilight."

"Remember the Truth and Reconciliation?" the once moody Amethyst reminded. "You were the Hunter killer!"
Smiling, Derpy stated, "And by helping me kill these Hunters; you keep that title!"
So Derpy killed both of the Hunters? Fluttershy could hardly believe that.
"Are you sure?" she questioned, not too fond of that title, but touched by the intent behind Derpy's and Amethyst's words.
The two soldiers nodded and hummed, "Mm-hm," their manes bouncing over their happy faces.

The AI spurred, "Now come on! Do you remember why we're here?"
Fluttershy wiped her face, pulling her tired eyelids down, exposing the pink area beneath her eyeballs. "... To free Pinkie Pie?"
"Yes!"
"To find Halo's control room."
"Right!"
She stood up. "To save the Pony race from extinction."
Twilight and the two troops cheered patriotically.
"Let's go!"

Motivated, Fluttershy downed some water, and trotted with Derpy and Amethyst through the Hunters' wake of destruction, deeper inside the Forerunner facility.
> Chapter 15: Charlie Foxtrot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After their massacre of the Hunters, Fluttershy, Derpy and Amethyst found their way into an extensive, shadowy corridor. The floor was engraved with the same geometric patterns as everywhere else on Halo.

Amethyst had apologised for her behaviour earlier. She had good reasons for her sour mood. Like Fluttershy, she too thought that once the Truth and Reconciliation was under their control, they would immediately jump for Equestria. The fact that they had to stay on Halo for a while longer really kicked her moral down, but at least she'd have a nice, relaxing day on one of Halo's beaches, right? Wrong! Sergeant Cheerlie had ordered her to go on the mission with Fluttershy and Derpy, and miss out on the closest thing to a vacation any war had ever seen.

Once she'd seen her fellow Pony in trouble, she'd snapped out of her grumpiness and tried her darndest to help. The fate of the Pony race rested heavily on Fluttershy and her resident AI after all.

Finally, the three Mares arrived at a small chamber at the end of the corridor. It had a glass floor, and Fluttershy felt somewhat intimidated by the yawning abyss below. Around the edges of the room was a balcony that poked out over the wide, circular shaft.

At the top of this shaft, a large metal lid separated the gloom from the daylight above. Using her instincts, Fluttershy figured she was looking at the underside of the same metal plate that she and her colleagues had fought the first pair of Hunters upon.

In the centre of the room, a small, silvery frame stood with a holographic projection floating within it.
"Use the holo-panel to shut down the security system," instructed Twilight.

Derpy used her wings to hover around the shaft beyond the security room while Amethyst stayed by the shy's side.

Unsure, Fluttershy placed a hoof on the translucent display, allowing Twilight to analyse it and tell her what to do.
After a couple of seconds, she stated, "Ok, the big green square in the middle. Push it."
Fluttershy did just that, and as her hoof met resistance with the green light, a noisy clang echoed around the giant pipe.

Flying back up, Derpy exclaimed excitedly, "The door is open! The door is open!"
Glancing down at the green button that had just turned orange, Fluttershy quizzed, "How do you know?"
"Look!" Derpy pointed down the shaft.

Fluttershy and Amethyst walked over to the balcony and peered down the dull shaft. The room where Pinkie had been separated could be seen through the smashed window on the other side of the vertical tunnel. The floor was still blast scarred and littered with dead Covenant. Hard to see from their position, Fluttershy could just make out an open doorway in place of the locked door.

Also from this position, Fluttershy could see what looked like a diving board extending out over the bottomless well. Mysteriously, a Grunt's breathing mask sat idle at the edge of the metal platform.

Curious, Fluttershy asked, "Where's Pinkie? She should be there."
"Scanning," Twilight announced. "... I... I can't find her."
The three Mares gasped, shocked.
"Oh no! Not again!"
Comforting, Twilight said, "Don't worry, Fluttershy. She's Pinkie Pie, remember? I'm sure she'll be fine." To herself, she grumbled, "If she didn't disobey a direct order from me, we'd know for sure."

At that moment, Derpy descended into the shaft and landed on the sticky-out platform.
Into the dark, narrow corridor ahead, she echoed, "Hello?! ... Pinkie Pie?! ..."
Twilight didn't try to stop her. Instead, she tried to radio the pink Pony herself, repeating, "Pinkie, come in... Pinkie, come in! ..."
There was no answer... or was there?

A deep, serious growl resonated from the corridor before Derpy, and the grey Pegasus shot up into the air to join Fluttershy and Amethyst on the security centre's balcony.
"You're not Pinkie!" she accused.

Hunkering down, the Mares spied an Elite come jogging onto the protruding platform below. He skidded to a halt, raising dust from the ancient alien metal. His armour was gold, identifying him as a Zealot, with a few additions that came with being a Field Master. He wielded a lethal, glowing energy sword.

Staring up at the three spies, he spoke something in his alien language, his mandibles clicking with the pronunciation. Chortling, the high ranking biped turned and walked away, back into the cartographer. Fluttershy's heart thumped in time with the Elite's footsteps.

A moment of silence passed before Twilight sounded, "Uh-oh. This isn't good."
Teeth chattering, Fluttershy trembled, "I know!"
"That was Field Master Isolomee. When he was talking, he was radioing for reinforcements. Then he told us; "You're all going to die.""
Fluttershy groaned with fear.
"I don't wanna die!" wailed Derpy hysterically.

"Calm down," demanded Twilight sternly. "No pony is going to die."
"What about your friend?" pondered Amethyst, referring to Pinkie.
"Pinkie Pie? She doesn't die. She just goes missing in action." With a digital nudge, she added, "Doesn't she, Fluttershy?"
With a trembling lower lip, Fluttershy nodded and hummed, "Mm-hm."
"Everypony just do as I say, and together, we'll find Pinkie, get to the cartographer, and we'll all make it through this."

As a group, the three musketeers marched back down the corridor to the room with the Covenant crates and the Hunters Derpy had killed.

"I know a way to even the odds," Twilight randomly mentioned. On the radio, she hailed, "Rainbow Dash, are you there?"
There was a pause before the pilot answered, "Ugh! ... I'm here, Twilight - woah!"
"What's going on?" puzzled the AI.
There was another wait before the rainbow maned Pegasus replied. "I got a couple o' Banshees on me, hehe! I can loose em, but - oohh! ... It's gonna be a while. Why? Do you need me?"
Twilight sighed, "I was going to ask you to drop off some heavy weapons for us."
Heavy weapons? Fluttershy thought.
Heavy weapons meant the Covenant had a lot in store for them. It also meant loud noises.

Buzzing over the speaker, Rainbow advised, "Helia's still available. You'd be better off calling her."
"Helia?"
"I gotta go now. I'll get back to ya. Good luck guys!"
Twilight and Fluttershy managed to say their goodbyes before Rainbow ended the call.

Inquisitive, Fluttershy asked, "Who's Helia?"
"She's the pilot of the second Pelican," taught the AI. "I'll try contacting her."

A few steps further down the corridor, Twilight beaconed, "Helia? Do you read?"
Almost instantaneously, the Mare on the other side responded, "I'm here."
"Good. We need some heavy weapons. Could you please get some and bring them to us. You know where to go."
"Oh, ok. Sure thing, Twilight Sparkle," the Mare answered merrily.
"Thank you. See you soon."
A tiny burst of static marked the end of the conversation.

To the three Ponies, Twilight justified, "Ok, good. We'll head back to Cheerlie's location and get our hooves on those weapons."
Worried, Fluttershy interrogated, "Why do we need heavy weapons?"
Trying to think of a more delicate way of putting it, Twilight strained, "Because... er... the Covenant are... uh..." Giving up, she eventually stated, "Beefing up their patrols."
Fluttershy sighed and drooped her ears.

At the end of the corridor, the Ponies could either turn right or left into the same, crate filled room. Opting to go right, Fluttershy walked out into the dusky chamber, and her sensitive ears pricked up at the faint sound of murmuring. Abruptly, she stopped, and Derpy bumped into her. She searched around, frightened, her heart rate increasing.

Amethyst stopped by her side. "What's wrong?"
Fluttershy didn't answer, just bit her lip and very carefully backed up.
"Fluttershy?"

"I'm not picking anything up on my sensors," Twilight informed. "Did you hear something?"
Fluttershy daren't make a sound. She just gradually reversed and nodded her head brokenly.
"What is it...?"

What it was sounded its presence with the scraping of its boots on the metal floor. All at once, blue plasma came lashing their way from five different spots in the air. Thanks to the scraping warning, as well as Fluttershy's trusty senses, the team were able to evade the ambush by retreating back into the corridor, just in the nick of time.

"Stealth Elites!" shouted Twilight with shock. "Where did they come from?!"
Fluttershy went squealing along with the others in tow. The corridor was segmented by decorative, silver frames, and Fluttershy dove into cover behind one, as did Derpy and Amethyst.

"Oohh, those sneaky Elites!" Twilight growled angrily. "They're all over my sensors now! They were waiting for us to come out of the security centre!"
"What do we do?!" cried Fluttershy, readying her diamond encrusted pistol.
"We're going to have to fight them!"
Amethyst was hiding behind the opposite side of the frame Fluttershy was using as cover. Derpy hovered above the purple Unicorn, and the two of them shared a glance.
"Get ready!" ordered Twilight. "Two of them are embarking up the corridor! Wait for them to get along side and attack them!" Remembering the Elites were invisible, she added, "I'll tell you when!"
Following Twilight's orders, the soldiers held position behind the second frame down the corridor.

Those mighty alien footsteps could be heard, stomping their way. Fluttershy and Derpy and Amethyst stared at each other from across the way, waiting for Twilight's signal.

Before Twilight bellowed, "Now!" Fluttershy noticed a slight shimmering in the air.
That shimmer was the invisible Elite's body, distorting the light.

All at once, the three Mares bucked the first of the two see-through warriors from the left, right, and above, instantly killing him.

The second stealth Elite made a throaty noise of anger and fired his plasma rifle at them, particularly at Fluttershy. Of course, one plasma rifle couldn't beat two MA5Bs and a magnum, so the Elite strobed into view and collapsed to the floor with many bullet holes decorating his torso.

As terrified as Fluttershy was to take hits from a plasma rifle, she knew it was a good thing the Elite was more posted on her than the other two. Thanks to her shields, she could take some damage without result. As for Derpy and Amethyst; they weren't lucky enough to have Spartan armour, so they would drop out of action upon the first, possibly the second bolt to the body.

Diving back behind the frame, Fluttershy had an idea. She was lacking an assault rifle, giving her no choice but to use Rarity's pistol. However, there were two Covenant plasma rifles lying right before her. As Twilight warned them of two more Elites heading into the corridor, she hastily snatched one of the alien rifles up, put her pistol away, and attached the smooth, blue coloured weapon to her mechanical arm.

Amethyst raised an eyebrow at her, just as a pulsing blue orb landed on the floor between them.
"Grenade!" Twilight shrieked. "Run!"
Further back down the corridor, the Mares ran and flew behind the next frame, avoiding the deadly explosive as it went BOOM, damaging the architecture.

Fluttershy's armour had just recharged when Twilight ordered, "Take them out! Before they throw anymore grenades!"
Derpy and Amethyst immediately started to return fire, and Fluttershy soon found herself joining them. She even tossed out a frag into what looked like thin air.

As the grenade exploded with a deafening BOOM, the two invisible Elites materialised into view and were thrown up against the walls, dead.

"Is... is that all?" Fluttershy palpitated nervously.
"No. There was one more, but he isn't on my sensors. He's either retreated, or is waiting for us."
Fluttershy let out a long, frustrated moan.

Cautiously, she, Derpy and Amethyst crept along the corridor towards the chamber of Covenant crates. Fluttershy and Derpy entered the huge, gloomy room from the left while Amethyst went right.

"Still nothing," Twilight breathed over the coms. "Don't let your guard down."
Fluttershy was way too edgy to let her guard down. She literally spun round and round, checking absolutely everywhere around her, keeping an eye out for the tell-tale shimmer of the invisible Elite.

Ba-ba-bang! Ba-ba-bang! Ba-ba-bang! Amethyst fired burst after burst from her assault rifle. Upon hearing the racket, Fluttershy and Derpy spun their heads to witness the last Elite drop before the purple Unicorn. Panting, Amethyst reloaded her gun and checked on the other two.

"Well done, Amethyst," congratulated the AI. "That was the last of them."
There was a click as Amethyst rammed a clip into the bottom of her MA5B. "Goody."

With the room clear, the three equines trotted on their way out of the grim, Forerunner complex and outside into the beautiful sunlight and fresh air. Fluttershy inhaled and exhaled healthily, relieved to be back outside. The gentle breeze cooled down her feverish head as she took a gulp of water from her flask.

"Good to be outside, am I right?" raised Twilight.
It didn't really matter to the AI if she was inside or outside: She couldn't feel the benefit of fresh air, or the confinement of an alien room.
Nether the less, Fluttershy replied, "Definitely," and proceeded back around the building to get to the Warthog.

Upon entering the first hollow, which was once the second hollow when the Ponies had fought their way to the security centre, Twilight warned, "I'm detecting a Covenant drop ship by the lid of the shaft."
Derpy cheered, "Alright! Another one!"
The grey Pegasus had just launched herself when she came up short upon Twilight's disapproval.
"No, Derpy! We're not going through all that again!"
Landing, Derpy drooped, "Aaww."

Silently, the Ponies shuffled into spying positions where they had a clear view of the silvery lid, and the dead Hunters slumped upon it.

Hovering above them, was the gigantic, horseshoe shaped aircraft. It had just closed its doors and begun floating upwards, its humming engines working hard to lift the purple metal tonnage higher into the air. Once at a decent altitude, the Spirit buzzed away. Now, two Elites, three Jackals and a bag of Grunts searched the hollow and the round plate that indented it.

"Ok. This isn't anything we haven't faced before," observed Twilight. "You all know what to do. Just fire when ready."
Glancing at each other, the three Mares nodded and got to work.

Derpy used her aerial ability to rain down bullets on the umbrella-less Covenant. Firing on full automatic, her shots were terribly aimed, but every now and then, she scored some lucky hits.

Amethyst gritted her teeth and fired in bursts, nailing the Grunts and Jackals. She ducked down behind a rock to avoid plasma fire from the Elites.

Giving the Covenant a taste of their own medicine, again, Fluttershy took careful shots with her acquired plasma rifle. She could feel the heat radiating from the weapon with every blue plasma bolt that flashed away.

Hitting the blue armoured Elite, Fluttershy drained his shields in no time, making him vulnerable to attack from Derpy and Amethyst. He fell under the combined force of the two.

His veteran buddy didn't fare too well either. He suffered the same plasma bombardment from the fearful Pegasus, and then took multiple bullets to the chest and head. Purple blood squirted from the wounds as his biped form flopped over to the grass.

Felicitations came courtesy of the AI once again. "Well done, everypony! The area is secure. Let's get back to the War - oh?" Her words came to an abrupt halt upon a crack of static coming over the radio.
Getting her hopes up, Fluttershy asked, "Is that Pinkie?"
Denying, Twilight answered, "It's Helia," with a hint of confusion.
Why would Helia be calling them?

To the pilot on the radio, Twilight hailed, "Helia? Can you hear me?"
Her only response was a fizz of static, with the pilot's voice barely audible in the background.
"Helia! Pick up!" Twilight yelled desperately. "Come in, Helia!"
More static, and more incoherence from Helia. Behind the droning fuzz, Fluttershy detected a hint of panic in the Mare's drowned out voice.

To the soldiers, Twilight ordered, "Quickly girls, get to the Hog!"
At once, the Mares galloped past the Forerunner lid and hurtled through the narrow, descending ravine to the beach.

On the way to the Warthog, Twilight tried to get a good lock on Helia's signal.
"Helia! We cannot hear you over the interference! Please repeat yourself!"
It was no use; only static answered the AI.

Once at the Warthog, each Mare hopped into their previous positions; Amethyst behind the wheel, Derpy riding shotgun, and Fluttershy on the turret.
"Head down the beach. We can lap the island and regroup with Cheerlie's squad," Twilight instructed before getting back on the radio. "Helia! Are you still there?!"

As soon as the Warthog was under way, a deep, distant roar spread over the island and located the Ponies' ears. With it, Helia's voice became a lot more clearer on the radio. It was still rife with static though.
"... I'm still here... ... -uch longer! ... ... -hit, an..."
"Helia, we didn't quite catch that! What did you just say?!"
Fluttershy knew what Helia was trying to say, and she knew that Twilight knew it too.

That deep, continuous roar grew louder, and Fluttershy looked up to see what it was. In the air behind them, she noticed an approaching Pelican drop ship, trailing smoke from its engines. She screamed at the sight, prompting Derpy to see for herself. The grey Pegasus gawped as the aircraft came tearing closer and closer.

With the sound of the dying engines cutting out and in, Helia screeched, "I'm going down!"

Glancing in the rear view mirror, Amethyst gasped at the fast approaching, burning Pelican, and floored the accelerator pedal.

"Get clear!" bawled Twilight urgently.
With the howling jets popping the Ponies' ears, the Pelican soared right up behind the Warthog. Fluttershy shrieked on and on as the out of control Pelican touched down and tailgated the Hog, carving a lengthy trench into the pristine, sandy beach. She felt the vehicle jump as the nose of the aircraft made contact with the Hog's rear bumper, sending them into a skid. Inside the Pelican's cock-pit, Helia could be seen grasping the controls, her face stricken with terror.

Sliding sideways, the Warthog came to a jarring stop against a large mesa, its wheels paddling in the sweeping surf. That Pelican sliced through the wet sand, Helia unable to stop it, and drew closer to the beached Warthog. Friction soon took its toll on the crashed drop ship, making it slow, but would it stop in time?

Luckily, the enormous aircraft groaned to a halt as its smoking engines lost all power, and ended up just an inch away from crushing the three screaming Mares. Even when it was over, Fluttershy continued to shriek until her lungs were empty, her eyes popped wide with horror.
"It's ok, Fluttershy. You can stop screaming now," Twilight let the yellow Mare know.

Even when Fluttershy had calmed down, the painful groans of discomfort continued from inside the Pelican. Helia lay back in her seat and clutched her chest, wailing in agony.
"My goodness!" exclaimed Amethyst, switching off the Hog's engine and dismounting.
Derpy; "You have goodness?"
Fluttershy and Derpy left the Hog and galloped to the rear of the Pelican.

Thanks to the impact, the hatch had come loose, and Derpy strained to pull it down as far as she could manually. The three of them squeezed through the gap and into the Pelican's troop bay, finding a dozen olive green, UPSC branded crates. Making their way across the slanted, dented deck, they approached the door to the cock-pit, and Amethyst slid it open. The cries of the pilot were a lot clearer now, and it hurt Fluttershy to see a Pony in so much pain.

Helia wheezed, her breath fragmented. "I... I... I think I... broke my ribs..." She coughed, and blood came spitting out of her mouth.
Good heavens!

"Fluttershy, do you know what to do?" quizzed Twilight hopefully.
"Um, yes, but... we should get her outside first."
"Of course," the AI agreed, then hinted, "The lever to Helia's right will lower the gangplank."

With the back of the plane fully open, Derpy and Amethyst began lifting the Pelican's heavy cargo out onto the beach to clear the way for poor Helia. Once those boxes were out of the way, they assisted Fluttershy in carrying the injured pilot clear of the wreckage, and placing her gently on the sand.

When it came to medical action, sand was a blighter. Little grains of the stuff just seemed to spawn within any open wounds, no matter how hard you tried to keep things clean. However, as Fluttershy parted Helia's turquoise coat, she found no cuts, no holes, and no external bleeding. Good? No. There was an expanding patch of purple on the left of the Pegasus' chest, indicating internal bleeding: The worst type of bleeding.

Placing an ear against Helia's chest, Fluttershy could hear and feel her dodgy breathing. If she didn't know any better, she'd say she had a punctured lung as well.

Whipping out her med-kit, Fluttershy fed Helia an anti-inflammatory, along with a few sips of water from her canteen.

She then produced an ice pack and placed it on Helia's bruise, eliciting a wince from the freckle faced Mare. She expertly wrapped bandages around her chest, keeping the ice pack in place. Of course this was just temporary treatment; it would take around eight weeks to heal.

Fighting her shyness, Fluttershy instructed, "Ok, um... just take it easy. Take good, deep breaths." Queue the quick demonstration. "And drink plenty of water."
Heaving, Helia spluttered up some more blood and strained, "Ok... thank you."
"Don't mention it," replied Fluttershy as she helped the patient have a couple more sips from her half full canteen.
Gazing up into the clear blue sky and curving Halo ring, she wondered what on earth had caused Helia to crash.

Amethyst fired up the Warthog and drove it out from between the rock and the Pelican.

Up in the cliffs at the back of the beach, the Forerunner security centre was nestled.

The huge groove that the downed Pelican had scratched into the sand was beginning to fill up with water as the sea lapped up onto the shore.

Amethyst got back out of the Hog and helped Fluttershy and Derpy carry Helia. Gently, they placed her in the passenger seat.

Before mounting the Hog, Twilight suggested, "Wait. We should scavenge the crash site. Helia was bringing us heavy weapons. If we're up against Hunters, and we are up against Hunters, we will need them."
"Oh, sure," answered Fluttershy, trotting over to the cargo.
Derpy hovered after her, and Amethyst slowly manoeuvred the truck into position.

Flipping one crate open, Fluttershy found a tank of water, and immediately refilled her canteen.

"Woah! Check this out!" exclaimed Derpy, struggling to lift something bulky out of a crate.
Putting away her flask, Fluttershy walked up to the derp faced Pegasus and raised her eyebrows at the thing she heaved out of the box. It was an M41 SSR bazooka. Derpy's derped eyes were fixed into their own separate trances at the sight of the massive weapon in her hooves.

She drooled and uttered, "I... call... dibs!"
"No, Derpy," Twilight put bluntly, making the grey Mare frown. "This is going to either Fluttershy or Amethyst."
"Aaww, but why?"
"Because... well..."
"-You're not a very good shot," Amethyst finished shamelessly, face impassive.
The Unicorn pulled out a tissue upon Helia coughing up more blood, and wiped the unfortunate Mare's mouth clean.

Getting back to the twin barrelled rocket launcher, Twilight started, "So, Fluttershy, y'think you can handle this thing?"
"No!" the yellow Pegasus grated. "It's too loud! And too heavy! I bet I can't even lift it!"
Confuzzled, Derpy raised an eyebrow. "But didn't you learn how to use these in sparatum training?"
Spartan training.
"Yes. I was terrible!"
"Oh, you say that about everything," Twilight dismissed. "So far, you've proven to be a terrific soldier. I'm sure you can handle this thing, no problem."

Fluttershy really didn't want the rocket launcher.
Before she could think of a retort, Amethyst raised her hoof and announced, "I'll take it!"
Fluttershy stared at the Unicorn in the Warthog's driver's seat, feeling relieved to have somepony else volunteer to take the weight off her shoulders.
"I wanna take it." Smirking evilly, she added, "It'll be fun."
Accepting, Twilight replied happily, "Well, ok."
Using her Unicorn magic, Amethyst snatched the rocket launcher from Derpy's hooves and fixed it to her mechanical arm.

Fluttershy and Derpy began unloading crates of bazooka ammo cases. The long, brown, rectangular cases were levitated into the Warthog's truck bed and fastened down.

Amongst the spilled cargo, Fluttershy found an MA5B assault rifle. Discarding her captured plasma rifle, she fitted the UPSC weapon to her robot arm and hopped onto the Hog's gun pedestal.

Crammed in the truck bed with all the rockets, Derpy sat by Fluttershy's hooves and took a swig from her own flask.

Helia laid back in her seat and closed her eyes, breathing regularly like Dr Fluttershy said. She'd live.

With the LRV overloaded, Amethyst executed a three point turn between the cliff and the Pelican, and steadily drove the Hog around the island.
> Chapter 16: The Hyper-Active Cartographer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Driving smoothly over the sand, the Warthog LRV drew closer to Cheerlie and her squad.
"Hang in there, Helia," Amethyst the driver told the wounded Pegasus in the passenger seat.
Helia just closed her eyes and respired deeply.

Cheerlie and the soldiers under her command didn't seem too relaxed this time. No pony was sun bathing, no pony was playing, and no pony was smiling. They just stood and watched as the over encumbered Warthog approached and came to an easy stand still before them.

"We saw two Covenant drop ships fly by," mentioned Cheerlie, pacing over to the vehicle. "They didn't seem to care about us, so we figured they were posted on you."
From atop the gun pedestal, Fluttershy stated, "But we only saw one drop ship."
"Just the one? Well we definitely saw two."
"Maybe the Covenant sent one to reinforce the cartographer," Twilight calculated.
Fluttershy grew worried. "Oh no! Pinkie Pie!"

Continuing, the deep pink Earth Pony informed, "We also heard Helia's distress signal. Is she ok?"
"Um, not quite," admitted Fluttershy, stepping down from the Hog. "She's broken a rib - maybe two. And I think she's punctured a lung."
"Oh dear!" gasped the ex-teacher. "That sounds awful!" Trotting around to Helia, she asked, "Helia? How are you?"
The blonde maned Mare just wheezed, her eyes closed and tongue hanging out.
"She'll be fine," Fluttershy taught, coming around to Helia's side. "She just needs some TLC."
Cheerlie nodded. "Of course."

"I've been talking to Rainbow Dash," chirped Twilight over the exterior speaker. "She says she's still having Banshee trouble. I'm willing to bet those Banshees were responsible for Helia's crash." Taking a pause, she added, "Rainbow won't be able to evac her or anypony else until she's lost them."
"Oh, it'll be ok," Cheerlie said, putting on a cheerlie face. "We'll keep her safe until evac is available."
"Thank you, Cheerlie," Twilight gratified.
Cheerlie worked with Fluttershy, Amethyst and Derpy to lift Helia out of the car and carry her gently to a deck chair on the beach.

With the injured pilot under the wing of Cheerlie and her platoon, Amethyst, Fluttershy and Derpy got back in the Hog.

"We opened the door, by the way," Twilight mentioned, almost forgetting.
Cheerlie had forgotten too by the sound of it. "What door?"
"Y'know, the door to the cartographer."
The Earth Pony blinked. "... Oohh, of course! Hehe, I forgot. So, I guess you'll be on your way now?"
"Yep. See you soon," Twilight bid as Amethyst set the Hog in motion.

As the Warthog drove away, the troops riding it and the troops stationed on the beach exchanged their goodbyes.
"Get well soon, Helia!" Fluttershy called out, unsure if anypony even heard her.

With Helia gone, Derpy could take her spot in the passenger seat again. She stuck her head out to catch the breeze and the spray of the glistening ocean.

Contemplating what Cheerlie said about the two drop ships, Twilight announced, "This isn't good. If the Covenant sent a drop ship to reinforce the cartographer, that means Pinkie Pie is trapped!"
Concerned for her friend, Fluttershy pleaded, "Oh, can you please try radioing her again?"
"I'll give it a shot."

Before the AI could try hailing the pink Pony, a giddy, familiar voice fizzed through the speaker. "Hellooooo! Can you h-meeehh?!"
"Pinkie!" Twilight and Fluttershy gawped.

"Oh good, you can hear me! I was getting bored of talking to myself... and worried."
"Pinkie, where were you?!" demanded Twilight. "We tried contacting you earlier!"
"And I tried contacting you earlier!" Pinkie answered, then she paused to think. "Hmm, maybe I got too low."
"Too low?" Fluttershy perplexed.
Twilight sighed. "Oh, let me guess: When I said "stay low," you thought-"
"-I should get as looow as possible!" finished Pinkie.

"You are not gonna believe this!" she moved on. "I found the cartographer!"
Correcting, Twilight shot back, "You were already in the cartographer."
Counter-correcting, Pinkie informed, "No I wasn't, silly. I was in the building that housed the cartographer. The cartographer itself is right at the very bottom!"
"As low as you could go?"
"As low as I could go."

Excitedly, Twilight interrogated, "Did you find the location of Halo's control centre?"
Unfortunately, Pinkie's answer was, "Nope. I tried messing around with the cartographer, but I can't quite get the hang of it. Come to me, and I'll lead you to it!" Her voice was distorted as she bounced up and down.

Curious, Fluttershy asked, "What about the Covenant? Are they still in there?"
"One of them is, but I took care of the rest. Now it's just a game of hide n' seek with the last Elite," she revealed. "Or is it cat n' mouse? ... Hide n' mouse?"
Joining in, Derpy suggested, "Cat n' seek?"
"Killed it!" Pinkie squawked.
Derpy got angry. "No I didn't!"

Talking to Pinkie all the way, the three Ponies finally arrived at the Forerunner building that housed the cartographer. Pinkie was waiting for them on the enormous balcony, killing time by killing Hunters.

When the last titan fell, the pink one beamed and waved ecstatically. "Hi!"
The Warthog's tires screeched on the ancient metal as Amethyst hit the brakes, bringing the vehicle to a jostling stop. The Unicorn switched off the engine and placed the key in her saddle bag before dismounting.

Fluttershy leapt from the LAAG and ran over to her pink friend. "Hello, Pinkie!" she greeted, glad she was safe.
Pinkie rocked with the impact of Fluttershy's hug.
Interrupting, Amethyst checked, "Uh, will I be needing this?"

Pinkie noted the big heavy rocket launcher Amethyst was wielding. It was a very weighty weapon, and the Unicorn took the pressure off her robotic arm by resting the twin barrelled bazooka on her back.

Shaking her head, Pinkie replied, "No no. All is clear in the hood."
"What about that one Elite?" Fluttershy reminded.
"Oh yeah. Forgot about him. Hahaha!" snort.

Inquisitive, Twilight fished, "Pinkie, was the Elite's armour gold by any chance?"
"Yeah, how'd y'know?"
Fluttershy, Amethyst and Derpy looked at each other. They knew.

"I knew it!" Twilight exclaimed. "Isolomee!"
"Oh, was he the Field Master?" Pinkie tilted her head in question.
"Yes!"
"Oh."

Sighing, Twilight reassured, "Don't worry. It's one Elite versus four of us... We'll bring the rocket launcher, just in case."
"Ok, good," Amethyst said, her question answered. "I'll need some help with all this ammo though." Placing her front hooves on the Warthog's tailgate, she eyed all the rocket cases. "I don't think I can carry it all on my own."

"Allow us!" came the response from Derpy, who got to work unloading the long brown cases, Fluttershy and Pinkie helping.
"Thanks," Amethyst delivered.
"You're welcome!"

Awkwardly, Derpy, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Amethyst secured a case each on their backs. They were damn heavy, but Pinkie was able to handle two of them. Five cases in total, and each case contained two rockets. That brought the total number of rockets to ten. Twelve if you counted the rockets that were already in the launcher.

With the ammo on her back, Amethyst made use of her Unicorn magic to help her mechanical arm hold the anti-vehicle weapon.

Lugging around an explosive cargo, the four Ponies and one AI began their spelunk into the ancient alien structure. Before turning down the ultra steep ramp, Fluttershy stared out at the lush blue sky and shinning sun, and the Warthog parked within the distant square of outdoors. Bidding farewell to the view, she wondered when, and if, she would ever see it again.

Passing through the once locked door, Pinkie lead them down... and down... and down. Some areas of the complex were gloomy. Others were well lit.

The first chamber they'd cautiously passed through featured a Covenant computer terminal, hooked up to the Forerunner systems. Twilight had analysed that that was how Field Master Isolomee was able to lock himself inside.

Everywhere in the complex was littered with Covenant bodies and their multi-coloured blood. Bullet holes, plasma burns, and blast scars made an addition to the hellish scene.

Pinkie had fought well. Really well, considering she was on her own and was up against an entire battalion. They even went by a couple of Hunters, just lying on the floor, so peaceful and silent.

Plunging deeper into the bowels of the cartographer facility, the explorers scanned every area they passed, keeping an eye out for the gold armoured Zealot.

Fluttershy had a really bad feeling in her gut. She felt like she was being watched. Stalked. Like the Elite's eyes were boring into the back of her skull. It made her twitchy, and she kept flicking her head this way and that, checking behind, above, in front, behind again.

Breaking the tension, Twilight started, "Soo, Pinkie... You just shot your way to the cartographer?"
Bouncing happily, the pink one confirmed, "Yes indeedy!"
"Was it hard?"
"Not really. Well, the Hunters were a challenge, and there were four Elites guarding the cartographer itself. That's where I saw Isolomee!"

Puzzled as to how the Field Master had survived, Fluttershy stammered, "And... h-he just ran away?"
"Nah, he put up a fight. I tell ya; those energy swords are deadly! But when he found out what I did to all his cronies, he was running faster than a snail... y'know... with rockets attached. Hehahahahaha!"

A low growl sounded from the shadows of a corner. Fluttershy stopped in her tracks and stared shakily at the emptiness. Pinkie came up to her and followed her gaze. There was nothing there.
"You ok, Fluttershy?" she asked, concerned.
Hastily, the yellow Mare took a swig from her canteen and wiped her mouth. "Yes, I'm... fine."
Pinkie grinned a joyful grin at her before bouncing on with the others, Fluttershy creeping after them.

After a long time exploring the magnificent yet confining Forerunner complex, Pinkie brought them to a particularly dark room with a glass floor, similar to the security centre. Three dead Elites were strewn around the see-through deck, two veterans and one rookie. Leading out of the room, was a thin, dripped trail of purple blood.

In the centre of the small dark room, was a short pedestal with a holographic representation of the Halo ring floating above it. In front, was a usual, semi-transparent, Forerunner control panel.

Presenting the display, Pinkie narrated, "This, is the cartographer... At least I think it is."
"It certainly looks promising," Twilight commented. "Fluttershy, you know what to do."
Uneasily, the shy Pegasus glanced around and gulped. "Yes."

Pinkie, Derpy and Amethyst watched on in anticipation as Fluttershy made contact with the millennia old controls and did as Twilight said.

Using both front hooves, Fluttershy widened an orange icon at the top of the holo-panel, and in response, the image of Halo expanded. An enchanting sparkling noise came from the translucent model of Halo as it broke up into neatly organised segments, like the whole ring was one big jigsaw puzzle.

Numerous icons flashed into existence, pointing to various landmarks on the Halo ring.
"Wow!" Twilight gasped in awe, understanding things that no pony else could. Explaining, she droned, "Ok, we are at the flashing icon. Halo's control centre is located... there, the big green one."
Fluttershy eyeballed the big green icon.
"Hold on while I get the co-ordinates."

Waiting, the troops eyed the array of alien glyphs dotted around the image of the ring world. There was a flashing blue one, the big green one, a big red one, a medium yellow one, and many more little ones.

Randomly, Twilight muttered, "Huh, this place has a library. I'd love to go there."
"A library?" Derpy pondered.

Finishing her work, the AI stated, "All done. Let's head back to the surface and call for Rainbow Dash."
"Oh good," breathed Fluttershy, glad that the mission was almost over. She still didn't let her guard down. "I can't wait to be out of here."
"Me too," agreed the bazooka wielding Amethyst.

"Y'think Rainbow will have lost the Banshees by now?" pondered Derpy.
"I'm sure she will have," Pinkie smiled confidently. "She's the best pilot in the UPSC!"

Back the way they came, the herd began their journey back to the surface.

Pinkie was on point, and she had just slid open a Forerunner door, when the unmistakable sound of a snarling Jackal echoed around the chamber beyond. Whereas anypony else's first instinct would be to take cover, Pinkie's first instinct was to race out into the open, eliciting surprise from the Covenant. Plasma and needle fire ensued.

"Oh no! Where did all these Covenant come from?!" wailed Fluttershy as she kept safe behind the doorway, Amethyst and Derpy squeezing past.
"Isolomee must have called for back up!" the AI conjectured. "I haven't been able to access the Covenant battle net from this deep underground!"
"Oh no!"

Pushing herself, Fluttershy poked out of the doorway and witnessed Pinkie zipping around at the speed of light, playing her usual tricks on the enemy soldiers.

Derpy flew through the air with great skill, until she crashed face first into a solid wall. Unsticking her face from the silvery metal, she continued her aerial assault on the attacking Covenant.

Amethyst took cover behind a support column, unable to get a good enough aim on the aliens with her rocket launcher.

Helping, Fluttershy fired her new MA5B into a Jackal's hip, sending him to the ground. Screeching, the bird-like biped dragged himself away into cover behind another support column, quivering to bring up his shield and deflect more bullets from Fluttershy's gun. As soon as he was obscured, somepony rolled a frag grenade in after him, and the following explosion sent him screaming into the air.

Now that the enemy fire was beginning to die down, Amethyst grew the confidence to emerge from hiding. Combining her mechanical arm and her Unicorn magic, she hoisted up the launcher and peered through the sights. Getting a good lock on an Elite and his Grunts up on a balcony, she pulled the trigger, and was almost sent to her haunches by the kick of the immensely powerful weapon.

From one of the two tubes, a rocket streaked across the chamber with a tail of fire and smoke. Amethyst had been aiming for the general area where the Covies were situated, but she was lucky enough to actually strike the blue armoured Elite in the head. The explosion was deafening, and sent shrapnel and alien body parts fountaining over the floor.

Regaining her composure, Amethyst panted and allowed time for the launcher to vent some excess heat.
Looking at Fluttershy, she chuckled and said, "After I've used my next rocket, I'll take your case, ok," referring to the case of rockets on the yellow Mare's back.

Further on, the equine quartet ascended a U shaped ramp and came out into another large room, only this one had a lower ceiling and no vantage points for them mean old Covies. This was the room with the dead Hunters, and this time, two live Hunters were waiting for them, along with two Elites and a mixed bag of Grunts and Jackals.

Immediately, Amethyst sent the last rocket in her launcher whooshing through the air and detonating against one of the huge Hunters. As the four Mares ducked down, the giant alien wailed and fell to the deck, its bond brother howling with rage.

"Fluttershy! Rockets!" demanded Amethyst, ejecting the spent tubes.
Hurriedly, Fluttershy plonked her case of explosives on the floor of the ramp and clacked it open, helping Amethyst reload.

Pinkie and Derpy shot off into the Covenant occupied chamber, wreaking havoc and provoking the aliens. Grenades blew Jackals to shreds, bullets converted Grunts to rag dolls, and an Elite was bucked to death by both Mares at once.

As for that Hunter, it came stepping closer to Amethyst and Fluttershy, its fuel rod gun at the ready and its thick metal shield covering its front.

With the launcher fully loaded, Amethyst sent forth another 102mm HE anti-tank shaped charge, and struck the second Hunter on its shield. Baring the brunt, that incredible shield took a tiny amount of damage from the prodigious explosion, keeping the Hunter alive and moving.

Frustrated, Amethyst quickly fired off the second rocket, aiming at the Hunter's feet this time. A second before the rocket detonated, blowing one of the Hunter's legs off with an ear splitting BOOM, the Hunter fired a single fuel rod projectile back at the rocket jockeys.

Fluttershy and Amethyst screamed and ducked in time to avoid the deadly green object as it soared over their heads and exploded against the wall behind, washing them with humidity and shuddering the ground.

As Derpy and Pinkie continued to pick off the remaining Covies one by one, Fluttershy and Amethyst worked together to reload the launcher.
"Thanks," Amethyst smiled over the sounds of angry Covenant and gunfire.
"Thank you," returned Fluttershy, grateful for Amethyst's help throughout the entire ordeal.

In a flash, Pinkie appeared before them, Derpy hovering up behind her.
"It's clear!" she beamed, her four hooves patting on the metal ground excitedly. "It's all clear! Let's move!" And away she shot.
"Come on girls," encouraged Twilight as the other three raced to catch up. "We're almost at the top!"

Sliding open a door, ascending a winding ramp, and exiting another door, the fire team arrived at the chamber where the Covenant had set up a computer terminal to hack into the Forerunner systems.

Hastily, Fluttershy and Amethyst sprinted up to a balcony and beat a Jackal to death, Fluttershy squeezing her eyes shut with discomfort.

Pandemonium raged below as Pinkie zigzagged amongst the enemy troops, knocking them down, shooting them, chucking grenades and laughing. She even stole some of the Covenant's plasma grenades and used them, sticking one to a crimson Elite's helmet. The biped warrior roared and attempted to remove the head gear, but by the time he'd got it free from his ugly alien head, the grenade detonated, vaporising him and two other Elites in a ghastly blue explosion.

Derpy took flight and made it hail bullets on the determined Covies. Her aim was completely off, but the aliens simply could not dodge all the 7.62 x 51mm armour piercing rain drops.

Eventually, the room was cleansed of Covies, and the army of four could run on.

Making their hasty way through a narrow, dark corridor, Fluttershy spied the colossal shaft up ahead, and the strange metal platform extending out into it, the Grunt's breather still sat idle on the edge. To the right, the corridor split and lead into the room with the smashed window and the door that she'd opened at the security centre; close to the exit.

Rounding that corner, a gold armoured Zealot sprang out with his glowing blue energy sword, and rammed the blade directly into Amethyst. The Unicorn Mare wailed as the Elite lifted his sword, Amethyst impaled upon it like a kebab.

The three Mares squealed with horror as Amethyst whimpered into death.
"That's Field Master Isolomee!"

Like the Truth and Reconciliation's Shipmaster, Field Master Isolomee was no ordinary Zealot. His helmet featured a couple of demonic horns that looked like angry eyebrows to Fluttershy. His shoulder plates were also more squared and elongated than those of a regular Zealot.

Immediately, the golden Zealot elbowed Derpy in the face, sending her tumbling to the ground.

He thrust his sword, removing the dead Unicorn with a horrible splash of blood.

Pinkie leapt and latched onto the Field Master, growling with uncharacteristic anger and firing her MA5B point blank into his unsightly face. Unfortunately, he had strong energy shields, and before Pinkie could pop them, he shoved her off.

"Quick! Overwhelm him!" bellowed the AI franticly.
Shrieking with terror, Fluttershy ran at the Elite's legs in an attempt to trip him up. Instead, she just banged her head against his armour, as if she'd just ran into a lamp post.

Laughing, the Zealot picked up Fluttershy by the scruff of her neck and tossed her over his shoulder like she was nothing more than a piece of garbage. The yellow Mare screamed as she scraped along the protruding platform. Her whole body dangled over the edge as she held on for dear life. Scrambling desperately to get back up, she knocked the Grunt's breather down into the abyss, and she never heard the sound of it hitting the bottom.

Cruelly, Isolomee booted Pinkie while she was down, eliciting little grunts from her. Derpy came to her aid, but Isolomee just backhanded her across the face, making her bleed.

Enough messing around; the golden Elite pinned Pinkie to the deck with his boot and raised his sword.
Despairing, the dangling Fluttershy screeched, "Piinkiiee!"

"Hey!" Twilight shouted from Fluttershy's armour. "Isolomee!"
Coming up short, Isolomee stopped his sword from slicing into Pinkie's body and twisted his neck to face Fluttershy, who gritted her teeth with the effort of keeping herself from falling for an eternity.

What Twilight said next was a surprise to everyone. "Khaka'um jedowah cre'oo'eon vrerchils hal ha Pinkie Pie!"
Everypony and Covenant Field Master was utterly bewildered by the language from Twilight.

She kept shouting at Isolomee in the Elite language.
Translated, she said, "I am the AI with Equestria's co-ordinates! You want me?! Come and get me!"
It was a good thing Fluttershy couldn't understand a word she was saying; she would've flipped.

Putting Pinkie and Derpy on hold, Isolomee made his deliberate way along the platform, towards Fluttershy. The yellow Mare's front hooves shook with the strain of keeping her above the bottomless pit, and her teeth chattered in trepidation. She began to sweat, and her hooves were starting to slip.

Drawing closer to the daunted Pegasus, the Elite halted upon hearing Pinkie's voice at his back.
"Yoohoo!"
Like lightning, Isolomee drew, primed, and threw a plasma grenade into the corridor behind. Derpy shot away into the next chamber while Pinkie stood on hind legs, wielding Amethyst's rocket launcher.

She fired, and sent a deadly rocket streaking straight and true towards the Elite on a column of smoke and fire. The Field Master had rotated to face Fluttershy, spun back to face the rocket, and only had a fraction of a second to watch it come up and meet his face. BOOM! Golden armoured body parts flew everywhere and bounced off the platform, falling into the echoic abyss.

Half heartedly, Pinkie performed a double backflip that ended with her flopping to the deck. She was clear of the plasma grenade detonation.

Exhausted, she left the rocket launcher on the ground and staggered over to Fluttershy. Derpy flew out of the broken window and into the shaft where she could push up on Fluttershy's hanging hind legs. With Pinkie doing the pulling, Fluttershy was safely hauled onto the platform.

Together, the three remaining Ponies laid and panted on the warm, blast scarred metal. Pinkie was covered in hideous bruises, and Derpy had suffered a black eye, as well as a dribbling of blood from her mouth.

They each gulped down water from their canteens as they caught their breath, regained their composure, and let the encounter sink in.
"... You ok there... Fluttershy?" Pinkie checked, heaving.
Fluttershy panted back, "Yes... What about you?"
Pinkie broke out a smile, and instantaneously brightened the mood. "I'm fine... Derpy?"
Squinting her blackened eye and wiping her mouth, the derped one informed, "I'm good... I'm good."
"That's more than what can be said for Amethyst," mentioned Twilight.
The remainder of the herd looked back at the nearly in half Pony laying still on the floor behind them, her guts on show and a disturbingly large pool of blood.

Getting around to her usual congratulatory self, Twilight announced, "Well done girls. You did it. You defeated Field Master Isolomee."
The celebrations weren't too celebratory. Pinkie and Derpy just put on grins while Fluttershy looked full on downcast, saddened to have lost a helpful and relatable teammate.

Moving on, Twilight said, "Come on. Let's return to the beach, call for evac, and stop the Covenant from activating Halo... Let's do Amethyst proud."
Just as they got up and left, Pinkie wondered, "Hey, none of you have seen my Grunt mask by any chance, have you? ... I was going to wear it next nightmare night."

"Twilight to Rarity," the AI hailed, waiting for a response from the Captain. "... Twilight to Rarity. Come in, Rarity..."
There was no answer, only static.
Irritated, Twilight spat, "Shoot!" and then tried, "Twilight to Cheerlie. Come in, Cheerlie..."
It was odd; Cheerlie wasn't picking up either.

Twilight needed to call Rarity to tell her the co-ordinates of Halo's control room. Rarity would then pass those co-ordinates on to Sergeant Trixie so she and her squad could meet them there.

She didn't need to call Cheerlie, but felt like she should let her know that the mission was done and they were ready for dust off.

Worried, Fluttershy asked, "Why is no pony answering?"
"I don't know," grumbled the AI. "I can only assume Rarity is out of range. As for Cheerlie; I have no idea why she isn't picking up. I've got a bad feeling about this."
Fluttershy gulped. Whenever Twilight had a bad feeling, she would rarely feel the need to make it known.

At the top of the ramp, Fluttershy shielded her eyes as the square of daylight blinded her. She could see the Warthog LRV waiting for them at the exit, beckoning them to take it for a spin.

The Ponies began to approach the vehicle, and once they emerged outside, something caught their eyes.

Gazing up and drooping their ears, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Derpy gawped at the sight of a gargantuan Covenant CCS class battle Cruiser, hovering in position above the tropical island.

"Please tell me that's the Truth and Reconciliation!" whistled Fluttershy, petrified by the town-sized vehicle.
"Oh my gosh! No, that is not the Truth and Reconciliation!" Twilight denied, voice full of dread. "That's the Honest Mistake!"
"The Honest Mistake?!" Fluttershy repeated, gob smacked.
"Another ship in the Covenant fleet of particular justice! What is it doing here?!"
If Twilight didn't know; no pony knew.

On her own, the AI began to figure it out. "Oh no! Isolomee must have called for it when we were deep inside the structure! I haven't been able to monitor the Covenant's chatter from deep underground!"

"Cheerlie!" Pinkie Pie cried.
The reason for Cheerlie not answering was blatantly obvious now.

Remembering Helia, the pilot that she had worked hard to nurse, Fluttershy bit her lip and tried to hold back her tears, to no avail.

"Accessing the Covenant battle net," Twilight advertised. "... The Covenant are talking. It's confirmed... Cheerlie and her squad are gone."
Fluttershy sobbed despairingly. Cheerlie, Helia and all the rest. Just gone.

"We should be relatively safe though." Twilight conjectured in a sad tone. "For now. The Covenant are hesitant to fire directly at one of their gods' creations. No doubt they'll send troops after us though."
"What about Rainbow Dash?!" Fluttershy begged to know, worried sick for her pilot friend. "Is she there?! Is she still alive?! How can she pick us up?!"
"Bare with me," announced the AI as she attempted to get a lock on Rainbow's signal. "Rainbow Dash, do you copy?!"

Over the radio, Rainbow Dash responded, "I'm still here, Twilight! You've got a Covenant Cruiser on you!"
The three Mares let out a long breath of relief at the sound of their rainbow haired friend.

Concerning the Mistake above their heads, Twilight told, "I know, and we need to get to Halo's control centre, right away!"
Rainbow sounded unsure. "I'm not sure how I can pick you up with that thing there! Should we call Zecora to bring in the Truth?"
"No," Twilight denied stubbornly. "I have a better idea."

Revealing her plan, Twilight promulgated, "I'll call Zecora and give her the co-ordinates of an underground access point, near the control room!"
Underground access point?
"She'll forward those co-ordinates to Trixie."

Repeating the yellow Mare's thoughts, Rainbow wondered aloud, "An underground access point?"
"Yeah. When I was at the cartographer, I found that Halo has a network of underground tunnels, spanning the whole ring. There's an access point here on this island, another one near the control room, and hundreds more dotted around the installation."
Piecing the puzzle together, Rainbow questioned, "Oh no. Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
"We can get to a landing platform inside the shaft from our position, and if I can re-hack into the Forerunner systems, I can open the lid in the centre of this island! That, is where you'll fly in!"

Lacking confidence, which was unusual for Rainbow, the blue Pegasus started, "Yeah, as much as I-"
"-I'm sending you the co-ordinates now," Twilight interrupted with disregard.
"Twilight-"
"-See you underground!" She broke the connection.

Noting the pilot's unease, Fluttershy began, "Um, I don't think she-"
"-Doesn't matter; she's doing it. Now get back inside. You remember that Covenant computer terminal?"
"Well, vaguely, but-"
"-Take me to it!"
Wow, Twilight was on an interrupting spree!

Dismissing the AI's manners, Pinkie frightfully sang, "Okie dokie lokie!" and galloped back into the ancient alien building.
Hearing a deafening groan from the buoyant Covenant warship, Fluttershy yelped, "Ah! Oh my goodness!" and whizzed in after Pinkie and Derpy.

Once in the chamber that housed the Covenant computer, Fluttershy placed her hooves upon the blocky machine. It was really just a purple Covenant crate that got wider at the top, featured a screen of gibberish and perplexing buttons on an oval keyboard, as well as a three pointed antennae blooming from the top like a weed. Connecting the console to an even bigger, blockier, Forerunner object, were three glittering blue holo-cables.

"Just upload me into it," ordered Twilight. "It'll be faster."
Doing as the bossy one demanded, Fluttershy retrieved the AI chip from her chest plate and mouthed it between a couple of holo-triangles to the lower right of the Covenant computer.

Once installed, Twilight's avatar materialised on the screen. Her fringed mane was frazzled, indicating stress, explaining her late rudeness. She poked her tongue out in concentration as she made her hooves tap against a keyboard that didn't exist in her digital world.

She didn't have to tap her hooves, or stick her tongue out, or make her mane frazzled, but chose to anyway to emphasise the fact that she was working hard. It also made the AI seem more life like. Not as life like as the real Twilight Sparkle of course, but still life like.

A distant clang echoed from behind, and Fluttershy's heart skipped a beat. "What was that?!" she grated, paranoid.
"I just locked the door behind us," the AI taught. "It was difficult, considering what we did in the security centre. Opening the lid will be even harder though. Hold on..."

The trio waited and waited as Twilight fought against the Forerunner systems in cyber-space. Fluttershy imagined Rainbow Dash in her Pelican, swooping around the island above, avoiding all sorts of fire from the Covenant Cruiser.

Speaking of which: "I'm coming up to the island now! I'm directly alongside the Cruiser! Oh boy!"
"Tell her I'm still working on getting the lid open!" Twilight snapped, stressing out over the difficulty.
Complying, Fluttershy spoke, "Um, Twilight is still trying to open the lid."
The pilot was outraged. "It aint open yet?!"
"No."
"Well it better be when I get there, cos I aint stopping!"

Pushing her face into Fluttershy's armour mounted radio, Derpy yelled, "Do all those evasive things that you do!"
"I'm already doing them!" Rainbow shot back. "How do you think I'm still talking?!"

To say she was dodging everything the Mistake was willing to expend, Rainbow was keeping her cool very well. That was one of many reasons she'd earned her reputation as the best pilot in the UPSC.

Eventually, a mighty loud scraping echoed around the complex.
"Yes! It's open!" Twilight exclaimed with elation. "Phew!"

Fluttershy took it upon herself to hail Rainbow. "You can come down now!"
"Alright. Get ready; I'm coming in hot!"

The extremely noisy sound of the Pelican's jets resonated throughout the facility, vibrating the ancient metal surfaces.
"I'm in! Seal it!" squawked Rainbow over the coms.
Immediately, Twilight worked her magic to re-seal the shaft, and the sounds of crashing thrummed in the Ponies' ears; persuing Banshees impacting the closed lid.

With the shaft and the cartographer suite sealed up tight, Twilight ordered the shy to eject her from the Covenant computer and fit her back in her Spartan armour.

She then told the squad to destroy the computer, just in case. Pinkie used a captured plasma grenade to reduce the chunky piece of alien tech to a sprinkling of purple shrapnel.

Like the wind, the trio ran through the confining corridor where Amethyst's devastated form lay, and out onto the platform where Field Master Isolomee had met his end. Pausing, Pinkie went back to flip the discarded rocket launcher onto her back with her two cases of ammo.

Hovering just off the platform with its gangplank down, was Rainbow's Pelican, and the soldiers leapt aboard.

Once each Ponies' hooves made contact with the metal deck, Rainbow raised the gangplank and sent the aircraft into a hasty descent, deeper underground.

"Wooo! We made it!" cheered Derpy, pumping her hooves in the air.
Pinkie flung the rocket launcher and all its ammo into the overhead netting. She then produced a party blower from her saddle bag, and prior to blowing it, she panted, "Paarr... tyy!"

Glancing back over her shoulder, Rainbow laughed, "Y'know, Twilight, you've had your fair share of crazy ideas in the past, but this one takes the cake! Hehahahaa! We're flying underground!"
Pinkie and Derpy looked alert.
"Cake?!"
"Cake?!"
"Uh, I mean, uh - there is no cake... It's just an expression."
"Aaww."
Twilight chuckled contritely.

Fluttershy on the other hoof, wasn't quite as gleeful. Getting to the cartographer had started out as a wonderful day at the beach, and it just became more and more nightmarish the further they'd progressed. If she didn't have a bad dream when she'd slept on the Truth and Reconciliation, she would be in for a doozy of a nightmare the next time she drifted off, and as she yawned, she felt like it would be soon.

There was some food and water on board the Pelican, so Fluttershy helped herself to a miniature meal to feed her aching tummy.

She got an eyeful of the view ahead; ancient silvery metal and dim purple and blue lights leading down the shaft. Eventually, the vertical tunnel emerged into a horizontal one, and Rainbow made use of the throttle to fly the aircraft gently forward. To look out the windscreen of an airborne Pelican and see the inside of an underground tunnel was a sensation Fluttershy never thought she'd experience.

After her tasty salad sandwich, the yellow Pegasus downed her entire flask of water, laid on her belly, and strapped herself in. Once again, she yawned as slumber beckoned her in. Peacefully, she rested the side of her head on her forelegs, and closed her eyes.
> Chapter 17: I Would Have Been Your Mommy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Assault on the Control Room.

Food, sleep, and post-trauma really don't mix, as Fluttershy discovered. It was still day time when she fell asleep, making her nightmare a daymare, but that sounded silly, so she just thought of it as a bad dream.

She'd found herself in a strange half world made up of different locations. Ahead of her was a beach. Turning around, she'd find herself in the gloom of a Forerunner structure. Blink, and she'd suddenly be aboard the Truth and Reconciliation.

Covenant danced around her like some sort of tribal celebration, singing, laughing, mocking. The bellow of their bullying resonated in her twitchy ears and burned into her mind.

Loud noises droning on and on made her head throb, like she was being constantly hit on the brain with a hammer.

When her dream ended, she was pulled up out of the circle of chanting Covies and away from the land of sand, silver and purple. Her vision snapped to white, and that's when she woke up with a ghostly moan, that quickly escalated into a full on scream.

Confound her nightmares, and confound her Spartan training for screwing up her sleep and psyche like this.

Panting and sweating, Fluttershy lay her chin on the cold metal deck and frowned. Her head was aching, her stomach was aching, and the swaying of the Pelican was making her feel queasy.

"Everything ok back there?" Rainbow Dash concerned from behind the Pelican's controls.
Weakly, Fluttershy croaked, "I'll be fine."
"You sure, Fluttershy?" Pinkie Pie double checked, walking up to her whilst munching on a cinnamon bun. "You sound like... something's wrong."
Shaking her head, Fluttershy repudiated, "Oh, nothing's wrong, really. I just had a bad dream as all."

Laying on her belly with her back legs crossed in the air, Pinkie propped her head up with her forelegs and pried, "Tell?"
Still reposing her chin on the deck, Fluttershy breathed, "Oh, I'd rather not."
"Well, ok! But if you ever wanna talk about something, we're hear for ya!" Pinkie grinned at her, cheering her up.

Derpy was still with them, laying on her back with her hooves in the air, not strapped in. She snored, having what looked like a much nicer sleep than Fluttershy. Not strapping herself in however, came at a cost. Rainbow brought the Pelican to a mid-air halt, sliding Derpy across the deck and slamming into the bulkhead. She woke up on the impact and shook her head.
"Muffin warriors assemble!" she screamed before taking in her true surroundings, Pinkie and Fluttershy staring puzzlingly at her. "Oh."
Over the intercom, Rainbow announced, "We're almost there," and sent the Pelican into a vertical climb.

Frailly, Fluttershy lifted her head and peered out the windscreen ahead. She saw that they were ascending a shaft, similar to the one at the cartographer. There would probably be a platform further up where they would disembark.

Not feeling hungry in the slightest, Fluttershy passed on her second breakfast of the day and took a teensy sip from her flask, and prepared herself for whatever she had in store.

Pinkie and Derpy gorged down some delightful looking baked goods before drinking some water.

Putting her MA5B assault rifle away behind her saddle bag, Pinkie attached the rocket launcher to her mechanical arm and hoisted two reloads onto her back. The third case was strapped to Derpy.

After a fair few minutes, Rainbow stated, "This is as far as I can go."
Gazing through the windscreen, Fluttershy spied a batch of Grunts retreating into a tall, Forerunner door at the back of a large platform.
"Covenant are here," Rainbow grumbled irritably. "... Well, I guess this is it."

Buzzing through Fluttershy's speaker, Twilight gratified, "Thank you, Rainbow. We'll hoof it from here. Good luck finding your way out of these tunnels."
The blue Pegasus glanced back to salute the squad before rotating the craft and lowering the gangplank. "You need luck more than me, Twilight. Good luck beating the Covenant to the control centre."
"We don't need it," Pinkie corrected, Fluttershy silently disagreeing. "But we'll take it anyway."
"Hoarder," joked Rainbow.

One by one, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Derpy hopped out of the Pelican, their hooves clopping loudly against the silvery metal floor.

Raising the gangplank, Rainbow spun the Pelican to face her friends and give them a final wave. "Bye, guys!"
Waving back, the Mares bid, "Bye, Rainbow Dash!"
Descending back down the shaft, Rainbow and her bird disappeared.

Surveying the expansive platform, Fluttershy noted two Covenant Shade turrets and two holo-shields, arranged symmetrically on each side of the tall door.

Getting a gander around the shaft, she beheld a massive support column stretching from the domed ceiling, all the way down into the abyss, pretty blue lights strobing up it.

Hypothesizing, Twilight told, "We saw Grunts on this platform. They'll either return with back up or wait for us further on."

As the three Ponies paced towards the door, Twilight alerted, "Looks like they're taking the first option. Fluttershy, Derpy; man the turrets."
Hurriedly, the two Pegasi galloped over to the Covenant Shades.

Shades were easy to use. So easy that anypony could use them without instructions from an AI. You just sat in them, pointed, and fired.

The pink Earth Pony stood between the two Shades with her rocket launcher at the ready; she knew what to do, and she had a determined smirk on her face.

As soon as that huge metal door parted and two Elites made their appearance along with the returning Grunts, Pinkie pulled the trigger and utterly decimated both of the towering bipeds. She conserved her ammo by letting Fluttershy and Derpy clean up the remaining Grunts.

On the Shade, Fluttershy found the seat to be incredibly comfy, but she was feeling too under the weather to really appreciate it. The hotness of the purple plasma radiating from the gun wasn't helping her overheated temperature.

In a jiffy, the Covies were silenced, with the Shades wreaking havoc on the ancient alien architecture.

"Well that was easy!" broadcasted Pinkie.
"It might have been easy," Fluttershy replied in a withered tone as she climbed down from her Shade. "But it still wasn't fun."
"I thought it was fun!"
Dismounting her own Shade, Derpy joined in, "You think everything is fun!"
Together, the team trotted through the door and into the corridor beyond.
"Well duh! If I didn't have fun doing my job, then I wouldn't be having fun... doing... my job?"
"Kinda lost your train of thought then, didn't you," Twilight stated humorously.
"Maybe a little."

The corridor they were following was shaped like a tall, tapered hexagon, and the walls and floor were striped with two different materials. First there was the usual, silvery, Forerunner metal. Then there was glass. Metal, glass, metal, glass, metal, glass. The pattern went on and on, taking right angled corners and leading all the way to an identical door at the end.

Closed, the door had a green light on each half. Pinkie touched one of those green lights with a "Boop," and made the door part, revealing an octagonal chamber. Take a guess as to what material it was made out of...

... Yep; metal. Silver, engraved metal. Everywhere Fluttershy had been so far was made out of metal; no tiles or carpet or wood or stone. Just metal - metal everywhere. She was getting bored of it. She was also getting bored of the Covenant, who took up positions... behind the metal.

To be fair, there was more to the chamber just metal. It was an octagon room within an octagon room. This meant there were three ways to cross it: Go around the right, go around the left, or go through the inner octagon in the middle.

Three ways and three Ponies. Working together, the team were able to flank the Covenant, and one rocket and a tub of ammo later, the area was clear. As soon as Fluttershy and Pinkie had reloaded the bazooka with Derpy's rockets, a trio of Grunts entered the room and let loose with their plasma pistols. The Grunt firing squad put up the fight of an annoying fly, and were quickly deceased by Fluttershy and Derpy.

"So," Fluttershy began. "If the Covenant are here, I'm guessing the control room is near by." She spoke as if it were a question.
Twilight answered, "The exact opposite of that, really."
Fluttershy drooped. How far was the control centre, and how much Covenant were standing in their way?

"Then what are they doing here?"
"Accessing the Covenant battle net."
If Twilight didn't have an answer, she would access the Covenant battle net to find one. She never really checked if any of her friends had answers.

"Well the Covenant did see us enter the underground tunnel," Pinkie pronounced as they exited the room and went back travelling another glass-metal corridor. "All they had to do was send guards to the... I don't know what they're called, so I'm just gonna call em "rabbit holes," cos that's what they remind me of."
"You mean the access points?" Twilight quizzed.
"Yeah! Those!"
"I prefer rabbit holes," announced Derpy.
"Me too!"
"So do I."

Keeping up with the Covenant chatter, Twilight said, "Terrific idea, Pinkie; the Covenant have just confirmed that."
"Yay! Where's my prize?"
Quickly, Derpy rummaged through her bag and held out a blueberry muffin with an excited grin on her face. Pinkie swallowed the whole thing in a second, burping out the casing.

"Uh oh," the AI worried.
Derpy; "That sounds uh oh."
"The Covenant are already at the control centre!"
The three Mare's shouted, "What?!" in unison.
"Oh wait, they're just at the door to the control centre," Twilight realised. "Sorry girls. It seems they're having trouble getting it open." Giggling, she added, "Good thing they don't have AIs like me on their side!"

Discomposed, Fluttershy quizzed, "Um, how long do you suppose it will take for them to get through?"
"I don't know," the AI admitted. "But based on these reports, it may take a while. The Covenant are unwilling to blast their way in, and the computers they use to hack into things are painfully slow. Field Master Kilkakamee is getting frustrated." To further comfort the shy, she commented, "We'll have plenty of time!"
"Oh, ok. If you say so, Twilight."

Advancing, the three Pony firing squad trotted along until they reached the door at the end.
Pinkie used her face to hit the "open" button, and when the door parted, it revealed something most unexpected.

Snow - glorious snow! It swirled leisurely down through the air and settled on what appeared to be a bridge before them. With the door wide open, the wintery weather blew in and made contact with Fluttershy's feverish body, cooling her down and refreshing her, kinda.

Beyond the bridge, a cliff of grey filled the view, gathering the magnificent white snow in its crevices. Gazing up, Fluttershy discovered they were in some sort of canyon... A very deep canyon.

"Interesting," murmured Twilight, fascinated by the wonderful snow. "Halo's weather patterns seem natural, not artificial. I wonder if the ring's environment systems are malfunctioning... Or if the designers wanted the installation to have inclement weather."
Confused, Fluttershy pondered, "Why would they make it snow here?"
"I'm not sure."

"Why wouldn't they make it snow here?!" Pinkie exclaimed, throwing her hooves in the air. "Snow is fun! Maybe they wanted to build snow Ponies and have snowball fights and sing hearth's warming carols and give each other presents and wrap up winter!"
"Um, I don't think the Forerunners had hearth's warming," Fluttershy speculated. "Or winter wrap up."
"How would you know?"
"Well, sounds a little familiar, don't you think?"

Just then, Fluttershy's tummy ache intensified, and she clutched her gut, groaning with agony. "Nnng!"
Pinkie and Derpy stared worryingly at her and she hated the attention.
Before they could ask, she squeaked, "... I'm fine."

Back to the debate, Pinkie theorised, "I get what you mean, but what if; the Forerunners were just Ponies like us, from a reeeaaally long time ago?"
"Pinkie, that's crazy," Twilight labelled disbelievingly.
"Is it? Or is it?" quizzed the pink one with suspicion.
Twilight answered bluntly, "Yes, it is."
Pinkie just laughed, "Oh. Hehaha!" snort.

Stepping out onto the bridge, the squad came up short upon the approaching noise of a Pelican drop ship. Rainbow Dash couldn't have possibly found her way out of the tunnels by now, could she?

As it turned out, no, it wasn't Rainbow Dash.
"This is Lightning Dust! Who's that on the bridge?!" the pilot's voice shouted frantically over the radio. "Twilight?! Flutter-thingy?! Is that you?!"
Twilight replied calmly, "Yes, it's us."
Flutter-thingy?

On the bridge, directly in front of the door, was a barricade that could be rounded on each side. It obscured the view of the bridge ahead, but as the Pelican roared through the snow filled air, plasma and needle rounds streaked up after it, originating from the bridge.

A Warthog LRV was tucked under the Pelican's tail, and it swayed in the gustiness.

"Oh darn, I'm taking fire!" snarled Lightning Dust as she sent the Pelican into a dive, below the bridge. "Meet us on the ground, ok!"
It wasn't Lightning's position to tell them what to do; it was Twilight's. However, there was no argument from the AI.
"Sure thing, Lightning. We're on our way."

Rounding the barrier, Fluttershy saw an organization of blocky objects on the bridge, providing cover.

To each side of the barrier, there were two Shade turrets. Covenant lined the long stretch of bridge ahead, peering down at the descending Pelican. Without Twilight's input, Fluttershy, Derpy and Pinkie nodded at each other and took up positions. Fluttershy and Derpy manned the alien turrets while Pinkie braced the rocket launcher.

Since the Covenant were too busy eyeballing the Pelican, they were totally caught off guard by the Ponies' assault.

The plasma from the Shades was at least forty per cent more powerful than that of a standard plasma rifle or pistol. The two Pegasi unleashed waves of the stuff and cut down the Covies like grass, their alien bodies burning and melting and being hurled back by the force. Parts of the bridge itself even began to disintegrate as the purple plasma sizzled into the engraved metal.

Pinkie hadn't fired a single rocket yet. There was no need; the Shades were taking care of business just fine. To use a rocket would be to waste ammo. It was also risky, considering how powerful the bazooka was, and how ancient the bridge was. Wouldn't want to bring down the whole structure, would she?

Soon, the Covenant presence on the bridge was no more, and the Shades could be dismounted.

On closer inspection, Fluttershy realised that the bridge was multi-story. It featured two levels; the top one they were on, and another one below. Ramps were situated opposite each other along each side of the bridge, leading down to that lower level. On the top level, there was some decorative glass panelling on the floor where the lower level could be spotted. Some of the glass had been smashed in the battle, so the quadrupeds had to be wary of the rectangular holes as they made their way across.

The end of the bridge was symmetrical to the beginning. A familiar barricade stood before the same old door, and even a couple more Shade turrets had been set up to either side.

A couple of steps later, and Twilight alarmed, "Elite approaching! Dead ahead!"
"Oh no!"
In an instant, the Mares braced themselves. They had passed all the metal islands on the bridge and were left without cover. Standing in the open, Pinkie and Fluttershy aimed their weapons at the barrier.

Derpy took to her wings and hovered in the gentle, snowy breeze, ready to make it rain. When the tall door slid open, she immediately opened fire on the target.

With the speed of a hundred cheetahs, a golden Zealot came skidding around the barrier, energy sword in one hand and his shields rippling. The mighty warrior hadn't anticipated Pinkie's 102mm HE surprise, and was easily blown apart by a single rocket. The whole bridge shuddered with the explosion, and snow and icicles were shaken loose.

The wobbliness left Fluttershy frozen. However, it didn't register with anypony else as Pinkie and Derpy trotted merrily onwards into the next corridor.
"Don't worry, Fluttershy," Twilight soothed. "It'll take more than one little rocket to bring this bridge down."
Somewhat reassured, Fluttershy swallowed and paced after her teammates, leaving the snow behind.

After a lengthy fight in a second octagonal chamber, the three soldiers had made it to a lift. They had faced the usual Elites, Jackals and Grunts, but also a couple of Hunters. Things had been hectic as Pinkie put an end to one of the huge, blue armoured tyrants, and had to reload the launcher before she could take out the second. Reloading a rocket launcher was serious business; it took time, effort, and if you weren't blessed with the gift of Unicorn magic, it was extremely fiddly.

Nether the less, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Derpy had taken the Covies to the cleaners, and had been able to reach a much needed elevator.

It wasn't a grav lift, like what the Covenant used, but it wasn't a simple box with tethers either. If anything, it combined the two. 'Twas a dark grey, circular platform that held position at the top of the shaft by floating. Gravity tethers kept it in position, and once the elevator was under way, those invisible tethers would be responsible for its descent.

As for actually getting the elevator to move, Fluttershy did the usual trick of placing her hooves on the controls and having Twilight analyse them and tell her what to do.
"Ok, press the small white button at the very bottom of the display," the AI instructed.
Following, Fluttershy pressed said button, and a loud creak of ancient metal vibrated her eardrums. She winced as her head ache intensified.

Her throbbing head wasn't the only part of her that suffered. Her stomach was still aching, and it lurched as the elevator hovered up out of its gravitational lock and dropped down at a rapid rate. Funny noises rumbled within her, eliciting stares from the other two. Flustered, she hid her face behind her long pink mane and tried to conceal her agony.

*****

Meanwhile, in an octagonal chamber, a large platoon of Covenant Grunts sat cross legged on the metal floor and slept. Two Jackals patrolled through the ranks, and two Elites sat upon an unexplained Forerunner object, their long, muscly legs hanging off the ground.

The veteran and the rookie bantered with each other, guffawing every now and then.

The higher ranking officer held an odd fruit in his alien claw and munched upon it happily. Juice drooled down from his mandibles, and he quickly wiped the mess off his crimson armour with his hand.

He had just retrieved a second fruit and offered it to his blue armoured colleague when a faint scraping noise was picked up, just beyond the chamber. One of the Jackals stopped and looked at the Elite in charge and cheeped a question at him. Declining, the veteran held a fruit wielding hand out and shook his head, and then ordered his rookie buddy to investigate. Gormlessly, the Jackal watched as the rookie Elite marched passed him and on his way to the elevator.

Blue boy took no caution in walking past the sleeping Grunts, and the little aliens shivered as he stomped by.
One of them actually yelled something in his sleep. "She's here!"
Well, he was certainly having a bad dream.

Passing through a small, Forerunner door, the massive Elite ducked and kept his head down as he made his way through a compact vent of a corridor.

Sliding open a second door brought him to the elevator shaft, and the lift platform resting before him. It was odd; the platform had been sent up. What was it doing back down? Did his brethren stationed in the room above send it down? Why would they do that? There wasn't even anyone on it.

Suspicious, he brought up his radio and contacted the squad above... or at least he tried to. No one was answering. Spooked, the rookie Elite turned and headed back to the chamber so he could deliver the news to his commanding officer.

Upon arriving back in the chamber, he was greeted by the sight of dead Grunts. Dead Grunts everywhere; killed in their sleep. Drawing his plasma rifle, the biped crept through the devastation, checking behind him every few seconds. He proceeded, and came across the two Jackals, dead, just like everyone else in the room.

The centre of the room was where he and his superior had been sitting, and as he emerged into the inner chamber, he beheld the crimson armoured warrior slumped on his back over the blocky, Forerunner object. His head and arms dangled loosely off the ground, and blood and juice dripped from his mouth. His half eaten fruit wobbled on the floor, as if it had just been dropped.

With an increased heart rate, the rookie glanced all around, ready to take on whatever he was facing. He pointed his plasma rifle at every shadow, every cranny, every potential hiding spot and vantage point.

His tiny ears picked up the sound of something rolling on the floor, and he looked down to witness a full fruit wheel its way between his legs and come to a teetering stop right before him.

Behind him, something breathed down his neck, and he heard the disgusting gurgle of poorliness echo around the cold chamber.
Prior to spinning to face his adversary, he growled, "Helecaktu frima'aa!"

Before completing his spin, he was knocked dead by a powerful buck from three Ponies, all at once. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Derpy each sighed with relief after clearing the entire room in stealth mode.

"Wow! That was very impressive everypony!" Twilight celebrated joyfully.
She said "everypony," yet Fluttershy hadn't contributed at all. Well, apart from bucking that blue Elite of course. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't find it within her to put an end to such cute, peaceful, sleeping creatures.

She groaned as her belly ache took a turn for the worst, low grumbling noises coming from inside her.

Derpy jumped and quizzed, "What did he say?! What did he say?!"
It wasn't clear who she was talking to, or referring to, but Twilight stepped in and asked, "Who? You mean the Elite?"
"Yeah!" Derpy nodded.
"Well, I didn't quite catch it," processed Twilight. "I think he said "loathsome parasite," or some other such nonsense."
"Parasite?" Fluttershy wondered, confused by the Elite's choice of insult.
"We're not parasites! We're Ponies!" yelled Pinkie, offended. "What a mean Elite!"
"Whatever he said isn't important," Twilight cut in. "What is important is that we meet up with Lightning, Trixie and the rest of the squad." She then guided, "They'll be outside. There's a door at the other end of the room."
There was no need to reload guns this time, so Pinkie and Derpy had a little drink from their canteens and trotted onwards with the ill Fluttershy.

Making their way through another amazingly configured corridor, the trio exited the Forerunner complex and walked out into the twinkling snow. The fresh, freezing air sure helped ease Fluttershy's temperature, and her head ache. However, the Covenant had provided a counter.

To the left, a Grunt fired his stationary turret at some targets across the valley. The noise his Shade was generating, as well as the penetrating ba-ba-bang of Derpy's assault rifle, kept her head pounding hard and hurtful. The burst from Derpy did the trick however, as she nailed the Grunt in his methane tank, and the poor little thing suffocated to death. Clear? Was it heck.

At the far side of the valley where the Grunt had been directing his fire, there was the Warthog LRV that had once been secured to Lightning's Pelican. Where the Pelican was now, was a mystery. The Warthog lay on its side for whatever reason, and two Ponies took cover amongst a nearby copse of trees, returning fire to the attacking Covies.

So what exactly were the Covenant expending this time? Well, there were a few Grunts. A few Jackals. A rookie Elite whizzing around in a Ghost rapid assault vehicle. Oh goodness! The Covenant were throwing vehicles at them!

That small purple hover vehicle zoomed around, spewing super heated bolts of plasma at the Ponies amongst the trees. Damn, it was fast! It could strafe too; levitating sideways to get a better shot at the targets.

The Ghost wasn't the only thing the Ponies had to worry about though. Oh no, the Ghost was measly compared to what else the Covenant had brought with them... A Wraith tank. Fluttershy knew about Wraith tanks all too well. She'd even had experience driving one on the Truth and Reconciliation, and was well aware of the damage they could do.

At the far right of the valley, the Covenant tank hovered over a frozen pond next to a mesa and hurled plasma ball after plasma ball at the trees. On top of the mesa, another Shade was situated, and the Grunt at the controls fired purple plasma in rapid succession at the tree cover.

"Oh my gosh - a Ghost!" Pinkie screamed, and flashed out towards the mentioned vehicle.
"Pinkie!"
After her buddy, Fluttershy galloped, Derpy flying by her side.

The snow wasn't too deep; only an inch or under. It crunched as Fluttershy's armoured hooves came stomping down, leaving horseshoe impressions in the glittering whiteness.

She gawped as she spectated a Wraith mortar round arcing high on its climactically steady way towards the trees. The two Ponies hiding amongst them gasped and ran for their lives before the hissing blue orb came crashing down with a mighty BOOM! Hitting a tree, the plasma set it ablaze, and the high, redwood like plant creaked as its splintered trunk gave way, and the burning tower of wood tumbled to the snow, quaking the ground on impact and squishing one unfortunate Jackal.

Rushing into the trees, Fluttershy was almost run over by the speedy purple Ghost.
"Hi, Fluttershy! Look what I got! Teeheeheehee!" giggled Pinkie from behind its controls.
Bewildered, Twilight gasped, "Pinkie! How-"
"-Oop! Gotta run!" Like an expert, the Ghost riding Pinkie spun the vehicle and raced away, guns blazing.

"Fluttershy!" came a familiar, deep, female voice. "Twilight! Oh, thank Celestia you're here!"
A white Unicorn Mare with a retro blue mane and tail and cerise eyes came bounding over with a captured plasma rifle fitted to her soldier saddle.
"Vinyl?"
"We're in a bad way," Vinyl began. "Trixie sent us to pick you up, but we weren't expecting to see all these Covies! Lightning got jumpy and flew off in the Pelican, and did a great job putting our one Warthog down!" She rolled her eyes at "great." "The tank has us pinned!"

Having taken in every word Vinyl Scratch had just pronounced, Twilight said, "Don't worry, we'll help you. First thing's first; let's get that Warthog on its wheels."
As soon as Twilight finished speaking, a Wraith round detonated in the background with a heart stopping BOOM! The group shot their eyes in the direction of the explosion and witnessed a Unicorn Stallion get perished by the insane heat, along with a large patch of snow and land.

Furious, Vinyl stomped her hooves in the snow and bellowed, "Grrr! Gosh darn it! That's my second teammate down!"
As the three Mares ran and flew over to the overturned Hog, Pinkie zoomed about on the Ghost, fending off the Covenant foot soldiers, laughing and whooping all the way.

On their way to the Hog, Fluttershy almost tripped over the burnt corpse of a Pegasus Stallion, half masked in the snow, and shrieked with horror at the sight of him.

Over the radio, Twilight requested, "Pinkie? Little help?"
Pinkie's happy reply came buzzing through Fluttershy's speaker. "I'm on my way!"
"Great!" Off the radio, she commanded, "Everypony, get a hold of the Hog and push!"

The light recognisance vehicle was resting on its right side, and Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around its front mounted tow cable. Vinyl got to the rear of the vehicle and used her magic to help her in turning the three and a bit tonne truck onto its wheels. In the air, Derpy pushed hard against the Warthog's top side, flapping her grey feathered wings and straining with the effort. The combined strength of the equines only succeeded in making the Warthog tilt a little.

As another Wraith bomb exploded against a tree's branches over their heads, Pinkie arrived in her Ghost and nudged the beached LRV.  She made use of an alien boost drive to utilize the Ghost's maximum power, and with help from the other three, she was able to flip the Warthog the right way up.

"Yes! Nice one, Pinkie!" Vinyl cheered. "I'll drive! Hop in!"
Once again, driving had been taken out of the question for Fluttershy, and the yellow Mare was thankful for that. But now, as huge rounds of mortar came hurtling down around them, and purple tri-bolts of plasma lashed their way, it was no time to argue over who went where.

With that in mind, Fluttershy did what she knew Twilight would have her do, and manned the turret, leaving the passenger seat for Derpy.

Using a key, Vinyl fired up the Hog's engine and sent the vehicle speeding forwards. The chunky off-road tires slipped and sliced through the soft white snow, kicking up rooster tails of the freezing stuff. Skidding around the trees and catching some air on a hill, Vinyl sent the Hog in the Wraith's direction.

Pinkie drove her faster purple Ghost along side the UPSC vehicle, beaming at them and motioning her hoof up and down, up and down. Vinyl caught sight of her, rolled her eyes and tittered before honking the Warthog's horn. Giggling, Pinkie raced ahead, killing the Shade turret's occupant with a burst of plasma.

Closing in on big fat tank, Fluttershy and Pinkie opened fire, as did Derpy who sprinkled the Wraith with MA5B ammo. The rifle bullets just ricocheted off, utterly harmless. However, the rounds from the bigger, tri-barrelled LAAG did seem to pock the Wraith's frontal armour. As for Pinkie's plasma, it sizzled and burned shallow marks into the Wraith, blackening its shiny purple sheen.

"Hit it from behind!" bellowed Twilight over the coms. "That's where it's weakest!"
Acknowledging, Pinkie strafed the Wraith, and Vinyl drove away before they were consumed by a hellish ball of plasma that the tank conjured up.

Since the tank driver was more concerned about the three targets in the big green vehicle, he pivoted around the iced up pond to focus on them, sending bomb after bomb through the air in their direction.

Considering the compact little Ghost was at the back of his mind, he definitely didn't expect a rocket to be fired from it. The shaped charge hit his tank's back plating, eliciting puffs of black smoke from the bulky vehicle. This made him vexed, and he tried to rotate his tank after the pink Pony. Unfortunately for him, the Ghost was too quick, and he simply couldn't catch up, not even when he stopped to spin the other way.

Unfortunately for Pinkie, the rocket she'd just fired was the last one in the launcher, and she had to retreat behind the mesa so she could get out and reload.

"Wait a minute," Fluttershy muttered as Vinyl spun the Hog back around and towards the Wraith for a second salvo.
She eyed the patch of ice under the Wraith tank... The very heavy Covenant Wraith tank.
"... The ice!" she exclaimed.
Vinyl and Derpy grunted, "Huh?"
Fluttershy was too shy to explain, so instead, she just demonstrated by firing at the frozen pond, making it crack and fragment.

Catching on, Twilight gasped, "Oh! Of course! Why didn't I think of that?! Fluttershy, you're a genius!" Calling Pinkie, Twilight ordered, "Pinkie! Save your rockets and shoot the ice!"
"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie replied.

Quickly, the pink one returned and began pounding the ice with super heated plasma, melting it away. Fluttershy and Derpy helped by chipping away at it with bullets.

Unaware as to what was going on, the Wraith held its position and continued to destroy Halo's gorgeous environment with tremendous plasma blasts.

Finally, the hole in the ice became big enough to swallow the hulking great hover tank. It fell backwards through the hole with a big splash, the front end protruding out. From the icy purple wreckage, a crimson armoured Elite popped out, and was instantly shot down by none other than Fluttershy.

"Well done, Fluttershy," came Twilight's commendations. "Good thinking on your part."
"Yeah," agreed Vinyl who brought the Warthog to a standstill and turned in her seat to smile at her. "You got brains, girl."
"I got raisins, if anypony's interested," derped Derpy, producing a pile of raisins from her saddle bag and chewing on them.
"I got cupcakes!" sang Pinkie as she pulled over in her Ghost. She was about to retrieve her specialised, cupcake spewing MA5B, when she thought better of it and shrugged, "I think I'll save those for our big victory later."

Fluttershy giggled. Her head ache was still present, as was her tummy ache, and her temperature, and she felt guilty for killing, but the Ponies surrounding her were a joy to be around. She took the opportunity to take a sip of refreshing water from her canteen.

With the Wraith tank down, the valley belonged to the UPSC.
> 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.
> Chapter 19: Mares Like Superior Firepower
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Atop a ridiculously high Forerunner structure, the Covenant had set up an air base. Only two Banshees and one Spirit were present on the rooftop however. This was because the majority of aircraft had been assigned to different spots in the arctic wilderness with the objective of stopping the UPSC from gaining access to Halo's control room, which was proving to be a devil to open.

Snow swirled around the Spirit drop ship as it rose up from its landing pad, carrying two Ghost RAVs between its twin bows. Those bows also housed a batch of soldiers who weren't too enthusiastic about journeying to the foot of the tower.

There was access to the tunnels from down there, via a yawning, rocky cave, and the Covenant knew the UPSC had taken a tank into those tunnels. It was only a matter of time before the monster resurfaced and laid waste to everything.

In the valley below, two more Ghosts had already been placed, and they patrolled around the incredible skyscraper. There was also a Wraith tank; that'd give the Ponies something to worry about, right?

Just in case, the Zealot in charge ordered the two Banshees into the air to provide support. The Ponies were coming, and they were coming strong.

Just as the Spirit drop ship came levitating down to the ground with its doors open, a tremendous explosion reverberated out from the giant, natural cave. One of their own Ghosts zoomed around the cave floor, laying siege to a team of Covenant that were stationed there. It wasn't friendly fire. It was a pink coated UPSC soldier that had stolen the vehicle, and she drove it in all directions, shooting and splattering and generally causing chaos.

Along with the captured Ghost, came a Warthog LRV, skidding around the bend and weaving between rocks and Covenant while the gunner fired the turret on full automatic.

And of course, backing them up, was the giant, armour plated beast. Shell after shell thundered against the cave floor, totally dominating the Covenant.

Afraid by the tank's very presence, the drop ship pilot sped away into a hasty climb, spilling his load of soldiers and Ghosts.

Witnessing the clumsiness, Vinyl Scratch pointed from behind the LRV's wheel and announced, "Hey look! He did a Lightning Dust!"
The turquoise Pegasus on the back snarled through gritted teeth, "Shut up!"

Trixie caught sight of the fleeing drop ship in her periscope.
"Oohh, what have we here?" She smiled demonically and pulled the duel triggers.
BOOM! A direct hit on the Spirit's stern, and the horseshoe shaped aircraft split in half. The two purple bows came crashing down to the ground, creating wide splashes of snow.
"Wapow!" bellowed Trixie, deafening Fluttershy more than the explosion itself. "Hahahahahaaa! That's what you get! Look at you now!"
The blue Unicorn gnashed her teeth as she spun the main gun to fire at Covie after Covie, and Fluttershy was starting to worry about her.

"Hey look!" Vinyl squawked, pointing at the downed drop ship. "He did a Lightning Dust again! Haha!"
"Shut up!"

Emerging from the cave, Fluttershy parked the tank right on top of the two Ghosts that had been dropped by the Spirit, and let Trixie have her fun. She took care of an active Ghost, then lifted the cannon up to fire at a diving Banshee. She missed, the Banshee didn't, and its fuel rod projectile detonated harmlessly against Trixie's force field.

"Ha! Try again, looser!"
She lead ahead of the airborne target and let off another powerful tank shell, hitting the Banshee with an all mighty BOOM, and sending its debris sprinkling to the ground with the rest of the snowflakes.
"Ha! I hit it!" Trixie gasped with elation. "I can't believe I hit it!"
Fluttershy glanced back and raised an eyebrow at her.
"Oh, I mean, um... Trixie totally called that," she corrected herself, not too convincingly, and got back to work.

The Scorpion took the right side of the immense tower, and the Ghost and the Warthog teamed up to tackle the left.

The two smaller vehicles had a Shade turret and a group of aliens on foot to deal with. That Shade was mounted way up on a tall mesa, and it was extremely difficult for Pinkie to raise the Ghost's plasma cannons that high. Instead, she just evaded all the sizzling plasma that streaked at her and concentrated on the ground troops, running them over and giving them a taste of their own medicine.

While she did that, the three Mares in the Warthog took it upon themselves to take out the strategically placed Shade.
"Aim high!" advised Octavia as Lightning pulled back on the LAAG, elevating its line of bullets.

Like a snake, bullet holes curved up the mesa towards the Shade stationed on top, and proceeded to puncture the purple alien weapon. Eventually, one round found the Grunt operator's skull and sent him tumbling out of his seat.

"Well done, Lightning," Octavia commended in her ever so posh accent.
"Wow, thanks!" The rowdy Pegasus seemed new to praise.

Mopping up the remaining Covies, the Ghost and the Warthog passed the mesa and came to the other side of the building, where a huge frozen lake dominated the snow covered field, and a Covenant Wraith tank hovered over the solidified water.

And if that wasn't bad enough, a Banshee fighter came screeching in and stitched the snow with plasma bolts.
"Y'think ya can take that down, Lightning?" pondered Vinyl as she spun the wheel and drove the Warthog away from the Wraith's mortar.
Nobly, Lightning placed a hoof on her chest and stated, "Of course I can," before aiming the gun as high as she could and spewing armour piercing rounds all over the aircraft.

That Banshee pilot was smart though, and he sent the fighter into a half loop, following it up with a half barrel role, and speeding back the other way, dodging most of Lightning's bullets.

What the Banshee pilot didn't anticipate however, was the wrath of Trixie, who blew the Banshee fighter to Timbucktu with an earth shattering tank shell.
"Ha! That's two Banshees down!" laughed Trixie, her face glued to the periscope. "This is easy peasy Trixie squeezy!"

Fluttershy positioned the tank on top of a small mesa, crushing the swiss cheesed wreckage of a Shade turret that Derpy had nailed. From the vantage point, the tank crew had an incredible view of the Wraith ahead, that was currently posted on Pinkie's super fast Ghost.

Pinkie purposefully sped around the back of the frozen lake, turning the Wraith so its back plating would be presented to the Scorpion. Once the Scorpion completed its reload sequence, Trixie pulled the triggers, and blasted the Covenant tank into purple scrap and pretty blue flames.

The explosion had taken its toll on the ice too. Luckily, the ice was thick enough to support the dead Wraith, but the shock wave had cracked the surface, and the longer the Wraith burned, the quicker the ice melted.

From the far side of the lake, Pinkie yelled, "Uh oh! Porcupines!" and disappeared into a narrow ravine, fuel rod projectiles being shot out of it.

Going as the crow flew, the Scorpion drove down the mesa and cut tracks in the snow as it approached the frozen body of water.

As a fight continued to rage on in the ravine, Twilight got on the radio and suggested, "We should cross this lake one at a time."
Pulling up next to the tank, the Warthog crew braced themselves.
"Vinyl Scratch, you take the Warthog across first," ordered the AI, prompting a nervous gulp from Octavia.

Steadily, the blue maned Unicorn dawdled the three tonne truck onto the iced up water. Loosing traction, the Hog's wheels slipped and skidded, but Vinyl expertly brought it under control, giving the destroyed Wraith a wide berth and safely making it to the other side.

Immediately, Vinyl hit the gas and joined Pinkie and the Covenant in the ravine, Lightning going wild with the turret.

... Then it was the tank's turn.
"Ok, Fluttershy, just keep the tank moving steadily and steer clear of the Wraith," instructed Twilight. "Whatever you do, don't stop."
"Ok," trembled Fluttershy as she pushed the two levers forward and gradually brought the sixty six tonne tank onto the ice.

Its caterpillar tracks, combined with its sheer weight, were able to keep the Scorpion on track. However, the treads were dealing a frightening amount of damage to the icy surface, leaving impressions and making it crack. Fluttershy panted in the intensity as she heard the sound of the tortured ice creaking under the massive vehicle. How deep was the water? If they broke through, would they be paddling or drowning?

On the outside, Fleur, Derpy and Caramel watched nervously as the groaning ice passed by beneath them.

Luckily, Fluttershy was able to bring the Scorpion, as well as those aboard it, to the snowy bank at the other side. After a big sigh of relief, she followed the other vehicles into the ravine.

The ravine was confining and littered with the corpses of Covies, including two Hunters, or porcupines as Pinkie had called them. The vehicles were parked just beyond on what appeared to be a wide ledge. Having cleared out all the Covies, the occupants drank and nibbled at snacks whilst waiting for the tank.

"Well it's about time!" exclaimed Lightning with her mouth full, pointing to an invisible watch on her right hoof.
Sticking up for Fluttershy, Pinkie yapped, "Hey! Tanks are slow! Deal with it!"
"Whatever."

"Hellooo!" a distant voice echoed in the wind.
The squad became alert and fell silent, waiting to hear it again... except Pinkie.
"Hellooo! Who are yoouu?!"

A couple of hooves held on to the side of the ledge, and a head slowly popped up like a slow motion whack-a-mole. It was a Mare, and Fluttershy recognised her. She had a pink and green mane and blue eyes, along with a few freckles on her white coated face. Blossomforth.

Upon noticing the convoy, Blossomforth let go of the ledge and kept herself airborne with her wings.
To somepony below her, she yelled, "Hey guys! The tank's here!"

Excitable murmurings originated from somewhere below the ledge, and two more Pegasi flew up to join Blossomforth.

Another recognisable Mare called Flitter. Fluttershy remembered her from the meadows and the Truth and Reconciliation. She also remembered what happened to her sister, and found it hard to put on a welcoming smile. Fortunately, she was in a tank, so no pony could see her anyway.

The other Pegasus in Blossomforth's company was a huge white Stallion. He looked particularly muscly, like a true Spartan, and had ghastly red eyes. His trimmed mane and tail were a dark blonde, and he featured a gold earing on each ear.

"What?!" squawked Trixie as she got out of her seat. "This can't be!"
She wasn't the only Pony to be surprised; Fleur, Caramel, Vinyl, Octavia and Lightning were all gobsmacked to see these three Pegasi.

"What happened to you guys?" Vinyl quizzed, amazed.
"Where'd ya go?" Lightning demanded to know.
Trixie squeezed half way through the Scorpion's hatch and repeated, "Where'd you go?"
"I just asked that!" spat Lightning.
Trixie ignored her.

Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Derpy were new here, and therefore had no idea what was going on. Neither did Twilight.

Telling the story, Blossomforth explained, "Well, remember when our Pelicans were separated? Our Pelican touched down in the next valley. We found some of those mysterious structures, but were hesitant to explore them. After a while, the Covenant arrived, and they just killed everypony." She began to croak, saddened by the loss. "Flitter, Bulk and myself were the only ones who managed to escape." Quietly, she added, "Wings, y'know."

"Aha! I'm not the only pilot who crashed!" exclaimed Lightning, not caring for Blossomforth or her survivors. To Vinyl, she challenged, "Mock me now."

"Crashed? We didn't crash," revealed Blossomforth. "We sprung a fuel leak and our pilot had to make an emergency landing."
With her moment stomped out, Lightning stared at the white Mare through wide orange eyes and responded, "... Oh."

"You crashed," Vinyl whispered to Lightning, smirking.
Grumpily, Lightning folded her forelegs and turned away, her bottom lip sticking out.
"Vinyl," Octavia whinged, keeping the Unicorn in check. "Stop it. We all make mistakes."
That had to be the only slice of comfort the arrogant Pegasus had received, and she tilted her head slightly.

New to the situation, Pinkie announced, "Well, it's good to see that you've made it."

"Didn't you try contacting them?" Twilight interrogated Trixie.
The blue Unicorn told, "We tried, but we couldn't get through to them. Trixie just assumed the worst."
"We tried once," Caramel stated bluntly.

"We've been trying to contact you every second, nearly," Blossomforth informed, Bulk and Flitter nodding their heads in agreement. "You only tried once?"

Stuttering, Trixie replied, "Yes, well, ahem. We, er... we... had a lot to deal with. What with the Covenant and having to pick up Twilight and what have you. Trixie's been very busy..."
Suspiciously, Blossomforth eyed the Mare in the tank and shook her head. Bulk and Flitter glowered at Trixie; they could smell it too.

Moving on, the white Pegasus spoke, "Whatever. Let's just get to the control room," and sat herself down on one of the Scorpion's two rear track pods. Bulk did likewise, his captured plasma pistol at the ready.

Looking around awkwardly, Flitter found herself with nowhere to sit.

Still sprouted out of the tank like a big blue weed, Staff Sergeant Trixie ordered, "Lightning, get off the Warthog. You can wing it."
Outraged, Lightning yelled, "What?! No way! This is my seat!"
Talking down to the Pegasus, Trixie sang, "Lightning, who's in charge?"
"Ugh! Why?!"
"Because..." Trixie thought hard, trying to avoid saying anything too complimentary. Eventually, she ended up saying something not complimentary at all. "Because; you're terrible. Let Flitter man the gun."

Lightning threw her hooves up, offended. "What?! I'm not terrible!"
"She's actually done ok so far," Octavia joined in. "But I understand; Lightning would be much better in the air."
Out the side of her mouth, Vinyl whispered, "Octavia. Why do you keep cutting her so much slack?"
"Do you want her off the Warthog or not?"
The two Mares in the front of the Hog peered thoughtfully up at Lightning, who stared at them, confused.

Finally, Lightning sighed and took off into the snow filled air, leaving the Warthog gun available for Flitter. Wordlessly, the greyish blue Pegasus fluttered down and took her position on the LAAG, wiping sweat off the handle bars.

"Oh, I get it now!" Lightning realised, smiling. "You think I'm a good flyer! That's why you want me to fly!"
Trixie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that must be it." She vanished into the tank, slamming the hatch shut after her.
The hatch then reopened for a sec as her hoof returned to snatch up her daft pointy hat that had scraped off yet again.

Vinyl snickered away in the Warthog's driver's seat.
Irritably, Lightning barked at her, "She wasn't being sarcastic!"
"No pony said she was," chuckled Octavia.
Lightning folded her arms whilst hovering, turning her nose up at the Warthog crew and embarking on her journey through the gentle snow.

Just before the vehicles followed her, Twilight alarmed, "Covenant drop ship, inbound!"
"Hahaha! Why the alert tone, Twilight?" the great and powerful Trixie cackled.
Fluttershy twisted her neck to look at the purple eyed Unicorn.
"We have a tank, remember?"

The Covenant drop ship wasn't the only thing the Ponies had to worry about. There were two Hunters marching up the valley, below the ledge. From there, they could advance up a beautiful, natural, winding slope topped with glittering snow, and attack them... if they were stupid enough to mess with a Scorpion tank.

As soon as the Spirit came howling into view, Trixie blasted it apart with a single, high velocity shell, and roared with malicious laughter as the troop transport burned and crunched into the side of the ledge, making a mighty tremor in the ground.

With the Spirit out of the equation in a second, the vehicles advanced down the slope.

Those Hunters could be seen, stepping slowly back from the approaching reign of UPSC terror.

Fluttershy was extremely heedful of the drop to either side of the spiral slope, and took great care in manoeuvring the oversized death machine down and around. The tank was almost as wide as the snowy decline itself, and Twilight was constantly alerting her to the treads overlapping on each side.

Eventually, the Scorpion reached the bottom and crushed the burning wreckage of the Spirit. Fluttershy pulled the left lever towards her and pushed the right one forwards, pivoting the tank. Trixie fired just the one round from the main gun, blowing the two Hunters out of existence, but not before one of them let off its fuel rod gun. The fiery green explosion would've vaporized Caramel, if it weren't for Trixie's force field.

"Hold on," ordered the blue Mare as she left her seat to stick herself out of the hatch.
Effortlessly, she sent a purple flash of magic from her horn and reinforced the invisible dome of protectiveness.
"There."

Before she could duck back inside, a horrible clunk reverberated from underneath, and the whole vehicle sunk a little. Inside, Fluttershy screamed the canyon down.
"What was that?" Trixie demanded to know, eying the troops, feeling that anypony but herself was at fault.
From Fluttershy's armour, the AI informed, "Shoot! We've gone through the ice."
"We're on ice?!" wailed Fluttershy hysterically.
Trixie sighed before dismounting all together.

"Should I get out too?"
"Not just yet," Twilight replied, her attention elsewhere. "I think Trixie's going to fix it."

Back outside, the hat wearing Unicorn stood by the rear of her tank, where its hind, port caterpillar track had broken through the frozen lagoon and left the heavy assault vehicle stuck. The Hog and the Ghost held position behind the tank, Vinyl reversing the LRV off the ice and onto the foot of the spiral incline.
"I aint sticking around on there."

Like Fluttershy, Trixie hadn't noticed that the surface beneath them was ice until now. This particular canyon was deep and narrow, and the light was a lot dimmer, and most of the ice was concealed beneath lush white snow.

As she inspected the damage, Lightning hovered down to her level.
"Aw, look what you've done," she "helped."
"Trixie did not do this!" the Unicorn shot back. "She isn't even driving!"
"I never said you were driving. You're just so fat you broke the ice!" The harsh Pegasus proceeded to chortle, rolling around in the air.
Offended, Trixie gasped, "Trixie isn't fat! ... Is she?" Consciously, she checked her torso. "... No, she isn't!"
Lightning just snickered.

Disregarding the silly Pegasus, Trixie beamed up her horn and gritted her teeth. The tingly purple aura surrounding her horn faded into view around the Scorpion's sunken track pod. Blossomforth was sat upon it, and to make things easier, she hopped off and slipped ungracefully on the ice.

Trixie didn't engage her maximum effort, but the sixty six tonne tank took a lot of strength to lift, and after some intense groaning, she was able to hoist it out of the hole and push it away, allowing Blossomforth to take her position on the track pod again.

Once the tank was unstuck, Trixie let out an exhausted breath and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
"Phew! ... Piece o' cake."
That would've been the perfect time for Lightning to make another fat remark, but after witnessing her rescue a whole tank with nothing more than her own, unenhanced, telekinetic abilities, she felt enough was enough, and simply stated, "Wow," before flying away.

"Trixie, you never cease to amaze me," Twilight commented, impressed.
The great and powerful Trixie lowered herself into the tank, snatched up her hat that came off again, and screwed the hatch shut.
"Trixie knows," she grinned smugly, slouching back down at the main gun controls.

With the Sergeant safely on board, Fluttershy got the Scorpion in gear once more and drove for a mere fifty metres before stopping in front of a confining cave featuring rocks and Forerunner support columns. There was no way the tank could fit through.

"Well, I guess we leave the tank now," stated Twilight, prompting Fluttershy to turn the key and switch off the beast's engine.
With the engine turned off, the Scorpion stopped growling.
"Oh good," Fluttershy sighed, relieved. "This seat is really uncomfortable."

As she rose up, clutching her aching tummy, Trixie exclaimed, "What?! We can't leave the tank here! We have to press on!"
Apologetically, Twilight told, "Sorry, Trixie, but we have no choice. There's no way we can fit through this cave."
Thank Celestia Lightning couldn't hear that.

Contemplating, Trixie rubbed her chin and narrowed her eyes. "Hmmm... Trixie thinks we can."
"Trixie, we are not blasting our way through," Twilight declared. "We could cause an avalanche, or a cave in, or both!"
"Ugh! Who said anything about blasting our way through?! Trixie isn't reckless like Lightning Dust, Twilight. She has a big brain." The Unicorn tapped her head.
Confused, Twilight started, "Wait... what are you..." and drifted off.
"Fluttershy, be a dear and start the tank, would you."

Annoyed to be sitting upright in that uncomfortable driver's seat for a while longer, Fluttershy obeyed and fired up the tank, it's fearsome engine roaring and rattling the titanium body work.

Outside, the Ghost and the Warthog convened around the huge tank. The occupants, as well as Lightning and the five Ponies riding on top of the tank, watched as the hatch flipped open yet again and that hat wearing Mare squeezed herself half way out.

"What are we doing?" questioned Derpy from the Scorpion's secondary gun.
From behind the Warthog's wheel, Vinyl chirped, "Uh, Trixie? The Scorpion won't fit through there."
Trixie just laughed. "Ha! You're going to look so silly in a minute."
Raising an eyebrow, the white Unicorn stared at the blue one.

Inside the tank, Twilight spoke to Fluttershy. "Oh my gosh. I think I know what she's gonna do!"
"What is she gonna do?"
"Drive the tank into the cave and see for yourself."
Noticing the tiny opening in the frosty rock face, Fluttershy reminded, "But... we can't fit in the cave."
"Oh, we will."

As the Scorpion made its sedate way forwards, Trixie took out her canteen and gulped a whole lot of water. She let out an invigorated sigh as she put the flask away and got down to business.

Her horn lit up again, and she squinted her eyes with the exertion.
"Nnnnnnngg!" her groan increased through her gnashed teeth as she made a large patch of purple light appear on the cave's entrance.

"Woah boy!" Derpy sounded, looking a little intimidated by the slowly approaching light.
Blossomforth wondered aloud, "What is she doing?"
Pinkie was just dazzled by the display. "Ooh, pretty!"
Trixie however, was working too hard to appreciate her own talent.

"Full steam ahead, Fluttershy!"
Pushing the two levers as far forwards as possible, Fluttershy sped the Scorpion tank into the portal, if that's what it was.

The luminosity emitting from Trixie's horn built up to a critical level, and sparks spat out onto the tank's armour. Rays of light cut the air into shapes as they shot out from the Unicorn's over worked horn.

The Scorpion fazed through the light and entered the minute cave. The whole inside of the cave glowed purple as it was bathed in Trixie's magical aura, and stars twinkled prettily through the icy tunnel. Fluttershy realised that the Scorpion was literally passing through the rock and Forerunner columns like a ghost. The vehicle just fazed through the cave at a decent speed and soon emerged into an open pit at the other side.

Once out of the cave, the spell died, and so did Trixie. Well, she didn't really die, but boy was she knackered. Panting heavily, she rested the side of her head on her hooves. Her hind legs dangled limp inside the Scorpion. She closed her eyes and strained herself to bring up her canteen and refresh herself with a lovely drink of ice cold water.

The Ghost and the Hog scraped their way through the cave afterwards, and the soldiers riding them cheered.
"Wow! That was amazing!" commended Blossomforth, beaming at the worn out Unicorn.

Lightning Dust just hovered in the air, her face impassive.

Caramel boggled, "How did you do that?!"
Frailly, Trixie wheezed, "Uuhh... I'm a Unicorn."
"Well so am I, but I don't think I could do that!" praised Vinyl joyfully.
Trixie didn't care for Vinyl's praise. "Uuhh... I'm a better Unicorn."
"Hey!"

Like a dead snake, Trixie slid down the hole and inside the tank. Fluttershy took the liberty of retrieving her pointless, pointy hat and sealing the hatch.
"Wow. That was really good, Trixie," she mentioned, conquering her shyness and placing the starry hat gently atop the blue one's head.
Trixie didn't answer, just trudged over to the main gun controls and reclined in her seat.

"I know I shouldn't say this, but... that was the finest magic spell I've ever seen!" Twilight giggled. "Well done, Trixie!"
Heaving, the Unicorn squeaked, "Fazing magic... I learnt that before I even... made it to kindergarten."
Was that true? Fluttershy had no idea.

Trixie then uttered, "Trixie's magic is gonna be the death of her..."

After a lengthy breather, the blue Mare was straightened in her seat and ready to go.

The three vehicles were all huddled together in the snow filled pit, and as the equines looked around, they saw no obvious way out.

Crackling over the coms, Lightning queried, "Hey, Trixie! Ya gonna do another magic trick to get outa that pit?"
Trixie answered, "Hmmm... nah," and pulled the triggers to set a tank shell loose.

No pony was ready for the sudden explosion. The ones riding the Scorpion shielded themselves from debris, and Fluttershy squealed with the resonating blast.
Trixie had blown a crater into the earth, and she ordered, "Drive," to the timid yellow driver.

"Trixie! What did you do that for?!" Twilight demanded an explanation.
The explanation came in the form of Fluttershy moving the tank up the carnage and out of the pit, into a vast, snowy valley.
"Oh..."

In the valley, a huge Forerunner structure dominated the area, and more of their architecture could be seen blended into a cliff to the right. The covenant had set up position here, and they defended a door with two Shade turrets, two Ghosts, one Banshee, and a team of troops.

As for the Forerunner structure in the centre of the valley, it appeared to be some sort of shelter over a trench that dipped down low and re-emerged at the other end. It couldn't have been too dry in there though; the shelter consisted of six metal beams spaced evenly apart, and nothing else. It kinda looked like a tent frame with no canvas.

At the very back of the valley, a Pelican drop ship had landed and been subsequently destroyed. No doubt it was the Pelican Blossomforth and her survivors had been aboard.

Way up high, Fluttershy noticed two Forerunner bridges spanning the gorge, side by side. She wondered if she would ever cross them.

No time to wonder about stuff though; the Covenant had been alerted by Trixie's pit solution, and they were spurred into action upon sight of the three vehicle convoy. Plasma splashed against Trixie's invisible protection bubble, and bullets shot across the valley in return.

A single tank shell took care of a Shade turret, as well as an Elite and a couple of Jackals. A second shell took care of the other, plus a group of Grunts.

Pinkie became engaged in a one on one Ghost battle. The second enemy Ghost was chased around by the rowdy Warthog crew. The two Ghosts strafed each other and began to disintegrate under the force of the blue plasma. Funnily enough, Pinkie was a better Ghost pilot than the Covenant Elite, and she pulled off manoeuvres that left the alien scratching his helmet.
"Oh no you don't!" she yelled as she pulled whatever the hovercraft equivalent of a wheelie is, and clipped the Elite's head with the underside of her vehicle.
Suffering a concussion, the rookie Elite fell out of his vehicle and laid limp in the snow.

Without a pilot, the Elite's Ghost lost power and came to a gentle rest on the ground, looking like a purple dalmatian with all the black spots of plasma burns. Pinkie's Ghost was in a similar condition, and she giggled at the idea of riding around on a big spotty doggy.

As for the other enemy Ghost, it continued to evade the deadly rounds that Flitter sent after it from the Warthog's LAAG. Flitter was an ok gunner, although Lightning was probably a teensy tiny bit better. Still, Vinyl and Octavia would take anypony over the insufferably vain Lightning Dust. Well, maybe not Trixie.

Trixie was mind blowingly powerful, and one of the biggest assets to the UPSC, but damn she was full of herself.

Lightning and Trixie had a lot in common, and that was why they didn't get along. It was also why no pony cared much for either of them.

A Banshee fighter whirled through the cold air, snowflakes hitting its purple sheen and melting away into water that streaked along the aircraft's fuselage. It was abruptly brought down by a very well aimed shell from Trixie; just more accomplishments for her to brag about.

Plummeting to the earth, the burning wreckage almost hit the airborne Lightning.
The turquoise Pegasus narrowly avoided it with a, "Woah!" and watched as it came to the most convenient landing ever; directly on top of the remaining Ghost.

"Bwahahahahaha!" Trixie laughed meanly. "What do they call that? Two birds with one high velocity tank shell? Hm-hm-hm-hm-hm-hm! Trixie totally called it."
The thought of two innocent little birdies being blown out of existence by a tank was enough to make Fluttershy bite her lip.
It's ok, it's just a metaphor, she told herself.

With Trixie, Pinkie howled with laughter at the Ghost and Banshee crash, only she was a little less mean.

"The valley is clear!" the AI broadcasted, full of glee. "We should proceed through this door."
Fluttershy eyed the tall, hexagonal door that had been built into the side of the cliff. She wondered if it was necessary for Trixie to perform her fazing spell once again.
According to Twilight, it wasn't an option. "This is an ancient complex of chambers and corridors. We can't take the tank with us this time."
Sulking, Trixie sighed, "Well, it was only a matter of time. Trixie's earned enough points in this thing anyway."
Accepting, she abandoned her seat and popped out of the tank.

Fluttershy's tummy ache had worsened thanks to the Scorpion's driver's seat, and after switching off the engine and placing the key in her saddle bag, she flopped onto the cold metal deck. Subdued light entered the tank via the compact, square hatch, and the chilly weather felt refreshing on her face.

Twilight worried, "Fluttershy? Are you alright?"
Curled in a feeble, yellow ball, Fluttershy responded over her grumbling stomach, "Hrrr... ugh... I'm fine, just, nng... give me a minute."
Fluttershy had experienced these stomach pains many times before, and after her Spartan training, they had been more worse, and more frequent. This was proving to be one of the longest tummy aches she'd ever had, but she was still adamant it would fade away soon.

Slowly, her eyelids closed.
> Chapter 20: Your Kindness Won't Betray Me
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the freezing outdoors, everypony sat down and enjoyed a little break. Trixie sat on the Scorpion's intimidating main cannon, using her magic to lift a luxurious looking chocolate bar to her face. Her mouth became covered in the chocolate as she munched away happily.

Pinkie Pie sat in her hovering Ghost, stuffing her face with candy from a striped paper bag, om-nom-nomming as she chewed.

Caramel, Flitter, Bulk, Blossomforth, Fleur, Lightning and Derpy sat in a line against the side of the titanium behemoth. Fleur de Lis ate one piece of broccoli, and offered another piece to Lightning. The orange maned Mare was too busy downing fizzy pop however, and she rudely smacked the vegetable out of Fleur's magical grip. Scowling, the slender Mare levitated the broccoli back and gave it to Derpy. She then proceeded to disassemble her sniper rifle and clean each part with practiced precision.

With a piece of broccoli in addition to her blueberry muffin, Derpy swallowed the top half of the mini green tree and stabbed her muffin with the stalk. Having just invented the world's newest food fad, "broccoli-muffin," Derpy chortled and proceeded to chomp upon her bizarre creation.

In the Warthog, things were a little deep. Vinyl Scratch and Octavia reclined back in their seats with their heads on their forelegs, gazing up at the twin bridges high above them. The Hog's engine was switched off, and some of Octavia's very own orchestral melodies played softly over the radio.

"So, y'think you'll be able to play the cello again?" asked Vinyl, glancing at Octavia's amputated leg.
Adjusting her light purple bow tie, Octavia replied, "Oh, no doubt about it. In fact, I got to play my cello last night in the Truth's infirmary."
"They let you do that?" Vinyl rose up.
"Of course. As a matter of fact, they encouraged me to play. They said it'd brighten the mood."
"I bet it did. You're an awesome cellist," the white Unicorn complimented as she reclined back.
"Thank you."

"... No pony lets me play my music in hospital," Vinyl mentioned, looking a little downcast.
Octavia flicked her dark grey mane. "Oh, don't they?"
"Nah. I don't see why. I mean, it's not like my wubs aren't relaxing or anything."
Wubs. Dubstep. Not very soothing.

Contritely, the grey Earth Pony chuckled.
Vinyl rolled her head to face her. "What?"
Staring up, Octavia replied, "Oh nothing."
"What's wrong with my music?"
"I never said anything was wrong with your music," answered Octavia truthfully. "I just don't think your particular style of music is appropriate for a hospital. A rave; yes. Your music is really... retro? Is that the right word?" Octavia struggled to think of a fitting adjective. "How about hip?"
Vinyl was grinning throughout, and she soon broke into a chortle. "Hahahaha! Yeah, hip works."
The two buddies shared a laugh.

"Hm-hm-hm! My music's just boring," the grey Earth Pony rolled her purple eyes.
"Your music aint boring, Octy," Vinyl corrected as she sat herself up right. She puffed her chest out like a noble Prince and placed a hoof over her heart as she spoke in an over-the-top, hoity toity accent. "It's just classy and sophisticated."
With her bottom lip protruding, Vinyl caught a glimpse of the great and powerful Trixie, who sat on the tank's main gun, scoffing chocolate and making a mess of her face.
"Hehe! Kinda like Trixie over there."
As the duo giggled on, Trixie, who heard them, grew annoyed and barked, "Hey, shut up!" emitting chocolate spittle from her messy lips.
After a while, the giggles simmered down.

Moving on to a more sensitive topic, Vinyl quizzed cautiously, "... So... how does it feel, not having that leg?"
Her Earth Pony friend frowned and closed her eyes.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean... Y-you don't have to answer if you don't want."
"No, it's fine. It's just..." Octavia paused, thinking. "... I don't know. Physically, it stings and itches, but... that's the least of my woes."
Intrigued, Vinyl asked, "What's bothering you?"

And so, Octavia explained, "Well, I know I can get a robotic replacement easily, and this probably sounds silly, but... I miss my leg. I don't want an ugly robot leg. I want my leg. The leg I was born with."
Vinyl sympathised, "That don't sound stupid. I totally get that. I wouldn't want any part of me replaced by technology either." After a beat, she admitted, "Although laser eyes would be pretty cool."
"Laser eyes?" Octavia laughed.
With a daft grin on her face, Vinyl used the blue aura of her Unicorn magic to imitate laser beams shooting from her eyes. "Pew! Pew! Pew!"

"Hahahaha! Ow!" Octavia's giggles ended with a sudden yelp.
"Octy? You ok?" Vinyl checked urgently.
Octy didn't reply, just winced and bit her lower lip, adjusting her position.
"What's wrong?"
"... It's ok... It's just my leg. I mean my... nub."
"Oh gosh, it's not serious is it?"
Putting on a warm smile, Octavia dismissed, "No, no, it'll be fine. I just sat on it funny."
"You sure?" Vinyl stared worryingly at her battle scarred friend.
Realising just how important it was to the usually insubordinate Unicorn, Octavia confirmed, "... Yes, I'm sure."

Both Mares laid back in the Warthog's seats, and after a fair few seconds, the Earth Pony's tummy rumbled. Vinyl looked at her with an eyebrow raised.
"Well, I'm hungry," Octavia muttered, embarrassed. "Did you bring the sandwiches?"
Vinyl's cerise eyes popped wide open. "Oh... oh yeah... That's what I was supposed to remember."
"You forgot again?"
"Aw, man, Octy, I'm really sorry. I-"
"-Don't be. I knew you'd forget, so I brought some myself," surprised Octavia, opening her saddle bag to expose two professionally prepared sandwiches.

"Oh, nice one!" beamed the forgetful Pony, relieved.
Octavia gave Vinyl a sandwich, and the two of them munched happily.

Feebly, Octavia burped, and she blushed with a squee as Vinyl guffawed. The Unicorn then summoned up a mighty belch that echoed throughout the arctic expanse, putting Octavia's little burp to shame and eliciting looks from the rest of the troops. Stifling, Octavia waved the stench away from her muzzle.

Eventually, Fluttershy sprouted out of the Scorpion tank like a pretty yellow flower and crawled over the titanium bodywork.
"Alright, is everypony ready?" Twilight checked from the shy Mare's armour.
The soldiers nodded and replied, "Yes," some of them still with their mouths full.
Trixie wiped her chocolate covered chops clean and downed some water. "Trixie is ready."

Fleur de Lis had completely dismantled her S2 AM, and she pieced the whole thing back together in almost five quick seconds. Expert.

Still mounting the Ghost RAV, Pinkie squealed, "I can fit! I can fit!" and zoomed the Covenant machine over to the high Forerunner door.
The fringe of her bushy pink mane reached out like a limb and activated the door's simple controls. As soon as the door split, she scraped the vehicle inside the narrow and brilliantly configured metal-glass corridor. She came to a stop and twisted in her seat to spectate the rest of the herd staring at her in bewilderment.

Unfortunately, the Scorpion tank couldn't fit, and Trixie gave the heavy assault vehicle one last cuddle before turning towards Pinkie's blocking Ghost.

The Warthog LRV couldn't fit either, and the three legged Octavia grunted as she lowered herself as steadily as she could to the snow.
Confused, Twilight interrogated, "Pardon me, Octavia, but what exactly are you doing here? I don't remember adding your name to the roster."
"Oh, you didn't. I kinda came out here myself," she confessed sheepishly.

"Wait, wait, wait," Trixie ordered, holding a hoof out. Raising an eyebrow, she boggled, "You chose to come out here? Are you mad?"
Octavia just giggled, "No, I'm not mad. I came because I wanted to help Vinyl."
"You came out here just for her?" Trixie was most bewildered. "Why would you do that?"
"Well, because she's my friend," Octavia simply put. "I like helping my friends. Don't you?"
"Well, erm..." Hesitating, Trixie searched her brain for an answer.

Lightning Dust burst out laughing. "Ahahahaha! Forget it, Octavia. Trixie doesn't even have any friends! Hehehe!"
Under her breath, the gray Earth Pony muttered, "Well, I have no trouble believing that."

"Trixie doesn't have any friends?!" Pinkie gasped, abandoning her Ghost.
Face reddening, Trixie barked, "Shut up! Trixie has lots of friends! After all, who wouldn't want to be friends with the great and powerful Trixie?" She tilted her head up and placed a hoof on her chest elegantly.
Bluntly, Lightning spat, "Me!"
"Me too," Vinyl nodded her head in agreement.
"You two don't count."

Pointing a hoof, the blue Unicorn accused, "Besides, you're the one with no friends, Lightning Crust."
The hovering Lightning threw her hooves up. "That aint true! I got a friend!"
Trixie giggled, "Aha! A friend? As in a single friend? How sad." Pitching her head sideways, she smirked and checked, "Is she imaginary by any chance?"
"No. She just aint here."

Suspicious, Vinyl brought up, "Y'know, Lightning, I've never seen you hanging out with anypony. You sure she aint imaginary?"
"She is not imaginary!" Lightning snapped, loosing her temper. "She just can't join the UPSC. Griffin, y'know."
"You're friends with a Griffin?" Fluttershy questioned, remembering an unpleasant encounter she'd had with a Griffin on Equestria.

"That would explain her bad attitude," Vinyl chortled, snarky.
Lightning retaliated, "Oh yeah? Well then what explains your bad attitude? Are you, like, friends with an Elite or something?"
"Woah, too far."
"It wasn't too far. You're just not going far enough."

The orange maned Mare then returned her attention to Trixie. "Besides, one Griffin friend isn't as sad as having no friends at all, right, Trixie?" She swooped down to give her a nudge.
Fed up, Twilight sighed, "Ugh, we don't have time for this."

Regarding Lightning, Trixie argued, "Why must you accuse Trixie of not having any friends?! Isn't it obvious that everypony you see here is my friend?"
"I'm not your friend," came a certain posh accent from next to the Warthog. Octavia raised her hoof and glanced around nervously at the other Ponies.
"Me neither," Caramel joined in from behind.
More concerned about the respectable Mare than the background Stallion, Trixie pondered, "Um, really?"
"You're annoying," squawked Caramel, getting on Trixie's nerves.
Tittering, Lightning praised, "Well said, Caramel. Well said."

Rotating around, the great and powerful Trixie eyeballed her troops. "I'm annoying?"
Lightning's face was a blur as she nodded ecstatically.

Fluttershy and Pinkie were staring around, watching the scene unfold, not sure what to say. Facing the wrong way, Derpy didn't have a clue what was going on. Everypony else either nodded steadily or looked awkwardly at the snow beneath their hooves.

"Do you all feel this way? Isn't anypony my friend?" She began to stutter. "B-but... I-I don't understand. How can none of you like Trixie? What has she done wrong? She's done nothing but help."
"Against your will," Flitter spoke quietly. Then, even quieter, she muttered to herself, "You weren't around to help my sister."

Comforting, Twilight expressed, "Trixie, we're all grateful for your help. And I for one am very impressed by your magical abilities."
Vinyl cut in, "But man! You're just so full of yourself!"
Joining her friend, Octavia filed, "And to be fair, you only ever help out when you're forced to."
"Yeah," Vinyl pointed to her Earth Pony buddy. "Octavia wasn't ordered to come out here, but she did anyway."
Flitter piped up again, "Where were you when we were boarding the Truth, hm?"

Hopping over, Pinkie encouraged, "Come on, Trixie! Show us some enthusiasm!"
"Enthusiasm?!" Trixie bellowed, her purple eyes boring deep into Pinkie's. "I just found out that no pony is my friend!" Her anger slowly began to descend into sadness, and she croaked, "... Tr... Trixie doesn't have any friends..."

Pinkie questioned worryingly, "Oh no. You're not upset are you?"
Struggling to put on a brave face, Trixie flicked a front hoof and dismissed, "Oh no, I'll be fine. Trixie won't let something as little as that get her down..."

With the tank in the background, Trixie stood wobbly before Pinkie, Fluttershy and the rest, with the fakest smile in the world. Her lower lip trembled and she sniffled as tears built up under her shimmering purple eyes. She tried hard to conceal it, but eventually, it became too much, and she just couldn't hide it anymore.

"Mm... mm-hm... mm-hm-aha-aha-aha-aha-aha-ahaa! Waaa-aha-aha-aha-ahaaa!" she broke down crying, turning her back to burry her face in her forelegs on the side of the tank.
"Trixie?!" Pinkie's voice echoed behind her wailing. She came to the poor Mare's aid.
"Leave me alone!" She twisted and shouted, tears running down her cheeks. "You all hate me! Aha-aha-ahaa!" She continued to babble, the Scorpion providing a shoulder to cry on.

Wow. If sad Trixie was rare, then all out depressed Trixie must be once in generation! Fluttershy never thought a Pony as confident, as powerful, as ignorant as Trixie was even capable of weeping. It hurt to behold such a thing. Was this the real Trixie? Is this what she did when no pony was looking? Was this how she was on the inside? Or was this really a world first? So many mysteries.

Courage fell to concern as Fluttershy placed a hoof over the great and miserable Trixie's back. "We don't hate you, Trixie."
"Yeah, we just don't like you," Lightning mentioned.
Like a teacher, Pinkie demanded, "Lightning! Zip it!"

Despondently, Trixie continued to cry on and on, her piercing sobs resonating through the whole snowy valley and ringing in everypony's ears.
"Oh, Trixie, please stop crying," pleaded Fluttershy, noting how the tables had turned, and now she was the one trying to comfort somepony else.
Mixed in with her tears, Trixie squealed, "Never!"

Fluttershy didn't know what to do. She was the one who always needed comforting, not the other way around.
"Oh. Oh dear. Please?"
Trixie lifted her head to speak, "What does it matter to you? You're not my friend!" then drooped again.

Struggling, Fluttershy articulated, "Well... um... would you... um... like to be friends?"
She just realised what she said, and wasn't sure if she should regret it or not.
"You don't really wanna be my friend," the blue blue Mare condemned. "You're just saying that cos you feel sorry for me. I don't want your pity!"
Fluttershy noticed how Trixie hadn't spoken in third person for a while. Must be her mood.

Getting her word in, Pinkie announced with an uplifting smile, "We're trying to make you feel better, Trixie! Y'know why?"
Wordlessly, Trixie peered up at the pink Earth Pony and sniffed, her bottom lip protruding.
"Because we care about you!"

Sniffling, Trixie wiped a few tears off her face and rasped with a sore throat, "... D... do you really want to be my friends?"
"Sure! We just need to get to know you more!" surmised Pinkie logically. She then suggested, "As a matter of fact, we all do. Don't we, guys?"
Derpy reared up and spun her hooves in excitement. "I'm up for that!"
Contemplating, Octavia said, "Well, I suppose."
Vinyl scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, maybe."
"Huh, how convincing." She had finally let go of the tank and stood on all fours to face the squad. Her squad.

Warm heartedly, Fluttershy proposed, "You don't have to be friends with everypony, Trixie. Just stick with me and Pinkie, if you like."
"And me!" Derpy chirped, jumping in the air.
Fluttershy giggled sweetly, "Right. And Derpy. Hm-hm-hm."
"Are you sure?" Trixie checked, raising a shaky hoof in a non-threatening manner.
Pinkie, Derpy and Fluttershy nodded merrily, and even Octavia grinned and lightly bowed.
Sniffing and wiping away a few persistent tears, Trixie breathed, "... Ok."

Impatiently, Lightning quizzed, "Hey, should we, like, be moving along now?"
"Of course," Twilight affirmed. "Is everypony ready?"
"I think everypony's been ready for some time already," the irritable Pegasus announced.
The AI sang, "Manners, Lightning."

Noting the unstable Unicorn, Twilight nudged, "Come on, Trixie. I'm sure you'll have a great time getting to know Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. I know I did!" Correcting herself, she added, "Well, I know the real me did."

Making up for the extended break, the soldiers hurriedly gathered all their things.

Pinkie was full of enthusiasm, and she bounced around in the glittering white snow. "Yeah! And when we make it back to Equestria, you'll be invited to all my parties! Then you can get to know our other friends! I'll even throw a party just for you! A "welcome Trixie to our circle of friends" party!"
"That... sounds fun," Trixie smiled, adjusting her purple hat.
Getting up in her face, Pinkie prodded, "You bet your life it's fun!" Spinning, she skipped on back to her Ghost. "La-lala, la-lala, la-lala, weee!"

*****

All was peaceful in the Forerunner chamber. Grunts napped on the floor, dreaming about whatever Grunts dream about. Jackals marched amongst them, nattering to each other about the cold weather outside, making snarky comments about the "gas suckers." And a lone veteran Elite watched over all of them.

He twitched his lower mandibles as he picked up the sound of a Ghost's engine, approaching from the corridor to the outside. Curios, he stepped down off the ancient metal incline in the centre of the room and paced around to the tall door.

Placing his ear against the door, he heard the subdued whistling of a friendly RAV, but what was it doing inside? Ready for anything, he drew his needler and tapped the door controls.

"Get out of my way!" a high pitched voice shrieked from behind the controls of the Ghost RAV that had been crammed into the corridor.
With the tips of its fenders scraping each wall, the fast vehicle boosted up into the Elite's face. His dark purple blood stained the Ghost's shiny purple bodywork.
"Or... just... stand there," the pink Pony shrugged. "That works too."

The noisy entrance had alerted the Jackals, and they squawked loudly across the chamber, waking up the sleeping Grunts. Groggily, the diminutive little bipeds rose, scratching their heads and drawing their weapons.

Almost as soon as they were up and ready, Pinkie put them down with her super speedy Ghost, running them over and shooting them with the plasma cannons.

Fluttershy entered the chamber shortly afterwards, along with her new friend, Trixie, and the rest of the team. Luckily for Fluttershy, the Grunts had been awoken, so there was no need to go around cold bloodedly killing them in their sleep. Unfortunately, it also meant she had to get stuck in an intense battle, where Ponies and aliens dove for cover, firing at each other and chucking grenades.

A rookie Grunt leapt out of the rampaging Ghost's way and took cover around a corner. Scared to death, he drew and primed a plasma grenade, and put all his strength in throwing the glowing blue orb at the equine invaders.

Lowering her head in an aggressive manner, the great and powerful Trixie caught the sticky grenade with her magic and sent it back at him.

Hilariously, the orange armoured squeaker ran around with his arms flailing as his own grenade chased him like an over excitable dog. Eventually, it caught up to him and latched onto his triangular methane tank. Frantically, he scrambled to unencumber his life support.
"Not again!" he wailed, implying it had happened before.
Not being fast enough, the grenade detonated, and the Grunt went up in blinding blue light.

Of the two Jackals, only one remained, and he pressed himself up against a wall, holding his stomach in to avoid being flattened by Pinkie's crazy Ghost. Once the vehicle had passed, he stepped out into the open and brought his translucent orange shield into play. Bullets from the MA5Bs ricocheted off his gauntlet and nestled themselves into the Forerunner architecture.

Conveniently, Vinyl had equipped herself with a Covenant plasma rifle, and Bulk Biceps was also armed with a plasma pistol. Together, the two plasma wielding Ponies hosed the Jackal's shield with the superheated substance.

The Jackal's circle of orange light turned to red as it overheated, and soon fizzled away, leaving him exposed on the metal floor. Screeching, he danced with the impact of the many bullets and plasma bolts striking his lanky body. Letting out a final snarl, he fell back to the deck in a puddle of his own purple blood.

As for the rest of the Grunts, they were murdered by a combination of Pinkie's wild Ghost chase and Trixie's god-like powers.

Since Pinkie was still driving her Ghost inside the complex, Twilight had recommended giving the rocket launcher to somepony else. That way, the squad as a whole would be a lot more effective. It didn't make sense to let one Pony have all the power.

Willingly, Pinkie had given the rocket launcher to Blossomforth, making Lightning Dust very jealous. She had been desperate to get her hooves on such a big, powerful weapon, and she constantly glowered at the lucky white Pegasus for her high explosive blessing.

Twilight had stated clear that Lightning shouldn't be given the bazooka. She had proven herself reckless so far, and the last thing the assault force needed was an overconfident yet clumsy Mare like Lightning being granted the power of an M41 SSR.

And so, with Blossomforth lugging the heavy weapon on her back, and all of her rocket cases attached to Pinkie's Ghost by a magical grip courtesy of Trixie, the squad paced on through the now silent chamber.

With all those cases piled up on the back of the Ghost, Pinkie looked like she was delivering pizza. The Ponies certainly did have a special delivery for the Covenant.

Privately, Twilight asked Fluttershy, "How are you feeling?"
Fluttershy's temperature and headache had more or less cleared up, and after the extended break, her stomach ache was finally fading too. The Trixie fiasco had provided the perfect distraction.
"I'm actually feeling a lot better."

Speaking of Trixie, the blue Mare came trotting up beside. "So friend, were you impressed by Trixie's magical abilities?" Trixie smiled cheesily at her, fishing for compliments.
It was annoying things like that that put Fluttershy and just about everypony else off of Trixie.

Showing her gratitude, she answered, "Yes... but... um... just so you know... that doesn't effect my opinion of you."
"How do you mean?" Trixie interrogated. "What is your opinion of Trixie?"

To be honest, Fluttershy found the great and powerful Trixie irritating, along with the rest of her peers.
She knew however, friendship was what the sassy Mare needed and lacked, and like a good friend, she kindly said, "Well, um... you're my friend... so... I like you. Although..."
"Although what?" Trixie spat, not very friendly.
"Um... er..." Fluttershy stalled, feeling a little intimidated by the glaring Unicorn.

Speaking on Fluttershy's behalf, the AI continued, "Although, you can be very boastful at times, and right now, you're scaring me." Correcting herself, she added, "Well, you're not scaring me, but you're scaring Fluttershy."

Trixie thought about this for a second. "... Is that true? Is Trixie scaring you?"
Under Trixie's powerful gaze, Fluttershy nodded sheepishly and replied, "Um... er... kinda."

"Yeah, Trixie!" Lightning hollered from somewhere behind. "You're scaring her with your ugly face!"
Fluttershy gasped and stuck up for her friend. "Trixie isn't ugly!"

Pinkie was also trying to be friends with Trixie, and from her Ghost up front, she yelled, "Stop being such a bully, Lightning!"
"I'm not being a bully!" she countered. "I'm just making an observa-"
-At that moment, a zipper materialised on Lightning's lips and zipped itself closed, shutting the snarky Mare up. Surprised, she pawed at the zip with her hooves, trying to get a good grip and unzip her trap.

Obviously Trixie was the one responsible, and she giggled at Lightning's muffled noises.

Fluttershy wasn't sure what to make of it, so she just kept on walking by Trixie's side, making no comment what so ever.

As the team approached a compact, Forerunner door, Lightning was able to open her zipped chops, and she let out a breath of relief. With it, the zip vanished.
"Eeww! My lips feel so weird," she winged, sticking her tongue out and motioning her jaw. "You jerk!"
Everypony ignored her.

The door in front was identical to the doors that had been encountered at the cartographer; small and compact.

Pinkie used her fringe to open the door and stuff her Ghost inside. The vehicle took up the area of the entire, tube like corridor, and she muttered incoherently to herself as she wedged the Ghost further along it. Vinyl face hoofed at the ridiculous sight.

After the Ghost, the hoof soldiers entered the corridor and soon came out onto a dark metal lift platform. Fluttershy knew what to do; she, Pinkie and Derpy had rode an identical elevator prior to meeting up with the rest of the assault force.

The circular plate was small however, and Twilight ordered the five other Pegasi, besides Fluttershy, to fly up the elevator shaft. Everypony else huddled up around Pinkie's Ghost. The vehicle hogged most of the platform, and Fleur de Lis gave Pinkie an annoyed look as she was squished between it and Caramel. The brown maned Stallion bobbed his eyebrows up and down with a grin, trying to look romantic. Fleur just scowled and rolled her eyes.

Scanning the controls, Fluttershy's memory was a little hazy, but luckily, Twilight was there to guide her.
"Ok, you see the two white dots at the bottom of the holo-panel?"
Fluttershy nodded. "Mm-hm."
"Press the top one."

Upon touching said button, the whole platform shuddered and creaked. It dropped down a little to release itself from its gravity locks, then climbed hastily upwards. Whether the elevator had a weight limit, Fluttershy had no idea, but it seemed to elevate the Ponies and the Ghost just fine.

Squashed up with everypony else, Fluttershy glanced over at Trixie on the other side of the Ghost, and accidently made eye contact with her. The blue Mare smiled and ended up looking away before Fluttershy could smile back. Bless.

Trixie hadn't thanked Fluttershy for sticking up for her earlier on. Rude? Forgot? Shy? Nah, Trixie wasn't shy. She was cocky, and usually not afraid to say anything, even if what she said could be hurtful or taken the wrong way. It was likely down to bad manners, or maybe she just wasn't familiar with gratitude.

From above, an alien scream grew louder and louder. "Waaaaaaaa!"
Thud! A Jackal came plummeting down like a meteor and crunched face first onto the Ghost's bonnet, wobbling the hover vehicle.

Everypony yelped in surprise as the overgrown bird slipped off the purple craft.
"Aaahh!" Frightened, Fluttershy looked up, and saw the Pegasi hovering by a tiny platform that jutted out into the shaft.

Rolling in the air laughing, Lightning mocked, "Bwahahahahahaa! You should've seen the looks on your faces! Hahahaha!"
Everypony stared daggers at the silly Mare.
"Lightning, that isn't funny," Twilight growled.
Folding her forelegs, Lightning told, "Well maybe not for you, but I thought it was hilarious." She then opened another tiny door and flew away through the confining corridor beyond.

Once at the top, the elevator came to a stop with a reverberating creak, and the soldiers clambered over the Ghost to exit. Joining Lightning and the other Pegasi, they waited for Pinkie to bring up the rear in her hovering purple obstruction, and crept carefully up a ramp into an octagonal chamber.

Grunts and Jackals were waiting for them, and were immediately blown up by a couple of well placed frag grenades. The explosion did grab the attention of even more Covies however, and they braced themselves in the central sub-chamber.

Streaking ahead on her Ghost, Pinkie cheered as she mowed down a rookie Elite, but was surprised to see a crimson armoured veteran drop down and land on top of her vehicle. He had excellent footing and excellent grip, and was able to plant himself firmly on the speeding vehicle and thrash away at the pink pilot.
"Hey!" barked Pinkie as she shielded herself and made use of the arm on her soldier saddle to reach into her saddle bag.
She pulled out her side arm, an M6D magnum, and fired round after round point blank into the Elite's unsightly face.

After a fair few shots, the alien's shields popped, and one last round put him out of his misery. Like a ragdoll, he flopped off the Ghost and onto the engraved floor.

Whilst Pinkie got to work on the remaining lesser species, a third Elite that she had missed prepared to bring down a world of hurt on the assault force. A Zealot to be precise.

The golden armoured warrior stood strong and fierce, duel wielding a plasma rifle and a needler. As soon as the Ponies on hoof emerged into the sub-chamber, he let loose everything he had.

Shocked, Fluttershy cowered away behind a wall as the rest of her team darted this way and that, doing their best to avoid the barrage of blue and pink.

Flitter screamed as plasma splashed her weapon and spat onto her armour. Luckily, Fluttershy was able to pull her into cover before any damage was done to the Mare herself.

As for Trixie, she stood defiantly before the Zealot and deflected his shots with a magical shield; not before a needle round could slip in and pierce her saddle bag though. Gritting her teeth, she magiced the glowing pink shard out of her side and sent it back at the Zealot.

The blue Unicorn waited for the opportunity, and once it came up, she wrapped the Elite in her purple aura and levitated him off the ground. She also made sure to confiscate his two firearms before he could retaliate, and telekinetically fought his hands as they tried to reach down to the plasma grenades on his belt.

Just as she was about to smash the helpless Covenant officer into the deck, the deafening crack of a sniper rifle shattered everyone's ears. Fleur de Lis had fired her S2 AM and nailed the gold armoured Elite right in the centre of his forehead. Yoink.

Annoyed, Trixie threw the Covenant corpse to the ground and turned to face Fleur.
"Nnng! He was mine!"
Fleur pretended the angry little Pony wasn't even there and marched away in the direction of Pinkie.
Trotting past her, Vinyl snorted, "Huh, like it matters."
"Why can't you just say thank you?" wondered Octavia as she limped after Vinyl. "We appreciate your work. Maybe you should appreciate ours."
Trixie stared as the amputee made her difficult way across the room, and once she was gone, she let out a sigh.

Lightning flashed by like a low flying fighter jet and joined the rest of the squad, who were waiting by the exit. The area had been secured.

"Thank you, Fluttershy," exclaimed Flitter as she discarded her destroyed MA5B. "You saved my life."
Fluttershy blushed. "Oh, I think you would've been fine without me."
"I doubt it." Flitter trotted away and helped herself to the Zealot's needler, then looted the other Covenant corpses for additional ammo.

Flicking the hooked strand of her mane, Trixie regained her dignified composure and set off walking.
Joining her, Fluttershy checked, "Are you ok?"
"Trixie is fine," the Unicorn affirmed in a monotone accent, kinda like a robot.

Up ahead, Lightning peeped out from behind a wall and pointed at Trixie. "Eeww, look what she's done!"
Pinkie, Derpy, Bulk and a few others popped their heads around to ogle the great and powerful Trixie. Fluttershy stopped to look at her too, not noticing anything wrong, until she saw liquid dripping off of her and leaving a trail on the floor. Immaturely, Lightning snickered behind her hooves.

"What? What's wrong?" Trixie demanded to know, twisting her neck to look at herself. Noticing the wet patch on her saddle bag, she wined, "Oh no, oh no, oh no!" and magically yanked the bag off of her soldier saddle.
Opening the bag, she pulled out her canteen that had suffered a hole going all the way through to the other side. It had leaked all of its water.

"Oh drat!" Trixie spoke angrily. "Must've been the needle."

Yapping at Lightning, Pinkie said, "Stop laughing at her, Lightning! You wouldn't like it if you spilled your water."
"Yeah, but I didn't."
"What did you even think she'd done?" pondered Derpy, scratching her blonde mane.
Lightning just tittered, her smirk bulging her cheeks. "Tss-ss-ss-ss! Oh, nothing."

Cross, Trixie threw her empty flask on the ground. Using her magic, she dried up her soaking wet saddle bag and re-donned it, glancing at the rip.
"Now Trixie doesn't have any water," she grumbled, in a fowl mood.
Lightning provided the ambience of cruel guffawing.

If Fluttershy and Trixie's friendship was going to work, Fluttershy would have to treat her like she would any other friend. With a determined smile on her face, it was time to show Trixie a little kindness.

"Here you go, Trixie," Fluttershy voiced as she hoofed her own water flask over to the Unicorn.
Bewildered, Trixie's eyes popped and she stared undecidedly at the flask being offered to her.
"You can have mine."
Trixie stuttered, "R... really? ... A-are you serious?"
"Mm-hm."
"You're letting me have your water bottle?" Trixie's purple eyes began to shimmer with sentiment.
Fluttershy didn't think it was that big a deal. "Of course."

Trixie then grew suspicious, and she tilted her head. "... Why?"
"Because that's what friends do. They share."

Eventually, Trixie felt secure, and she accepted Fluttershy's water. "Oh my... Thank you so much." Instead of taking a gulp or placing it in her saddle bag, she levitated it aside and wrapped her hooves around the yellow Mare. "This is the nicest thing anypony's ever done for Trixie."
Awkwardly, Fluttershy pronounced, "Oh, um, hehe. Don't mention it."
Seriously, it's not a big deal.

"Aaww!" Pinkie noised as she and the others watched on.
Lightning pointed a hoof down her throat. "Gag!"
"Hey, shut up," Vinyl demanded prior to sharing a grin with Octavia.

Suddenly, Trixie withdrew from the hug and took a gulp of Fluttershy's water. She let out a refreshed gasp before wiping her mouth and sealing the flask away in her saddle bag.
"Are you ready to proceed?"
Fluttershy was embarrassed and put on a quivery smile. "... Sure."

During the walk to the exit, Twilight spoke privately to the yellow Pegasus. "It was very kind of you to give Trixie your water, Fluttershy. I'm proud of you."
Concerned for her own hydration yet glad for Trixie's sake, Fluttershy stated, "Oh, it was no problem at all."
> Chapter 21: 'Tis But a Scratch
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trekking through a glass-metal corridor, the team followed Pinkie's Ghost and muttered to each other. The Ghost was a vehicle. A small vehicle, yes, but none the less, a vehicle. These rooms and corridors were built for personnel, so the purple alien craft was nothing short of an obstruction.

"Hey Pinkie!" Lightning hollered, fluttering over the squad's heads. "Why did ya bring that Ghost with ya? Can't fight without it? Hahaha!"
Oddly enough, Fluttershy answered before Pinkie had the chance. "You clearly don't know Pinkie Pie," she said, remembering the devastation Pinkie had wrought on the Filly of Autumn, and at the cartographer.

Now eying Fluttershy, Lightning grunted, "Why would I even want to know her?"
"Um-"
"-Because she's nice," interrupted Twilight, taking the words right outa Fluttershy's mouth. "And funny and friendly."
"And a bit dim?"
Finally, Pinkie got her word in. "I am not dim! I'm a very vibrant pink!"

Since Pinkie was giving her a chance, Trixie had a go at something she probably hadn't done before, and stuck up for her. "Hey! Don't talk that way about my friend!"
"Pah! She's only being friends with you cos she feels sorry for you."
"That's not true!" Pinkie spoke up.
"Pffft, don't lie, Pinkie. If she hadn't've thrown her little tantrum, you and Fluttershy wouldn't give two hoots about her." Lightning brought a hoof to her chin. "Maybe I should throw a tantrum, then I'd get some more respect."
Already dreading it, Vinyl pleaded, "Lightning, for the love of Cadence, don't-"
"-Boohoohoo! Look how miserable I am!" Lightning mocked hysterically. "I'm so miserable and lonely and have no friends. Oh, woe is me! Won't anypony be Lightning Dust's friend?! Boohoohoo!"

Leaning towards the blue Unicorn, Vinyl whispered, "Yo Trixie, can you do that spell that zips her lips closed?"
"I can do a spell that zips her wings closed and throw her off the next cliff."
"That actually sounds better."
"No it doesn't," corrected Octavia. "Zipped lips would do just fine."

*****

Outside, two bridges ran parallel with each other. Covenant were stationed on both of them, and they patrolled up and down.

Snow fell gracefully down and swirled around the hissing blue energy tethers, settling on the Forerunner metal.

Like the two story bridge that Fluttershy had crossed prior to meeting up with her team, these two bridges featured elevens of glass panelling in the deck, and a variety of walls and islands that could be used as cover.

Fully aware of the equine threat heading their way, the Covenant braced themselves. Three Elites stuck together and ducked down behind a low barrier, needlers, plasma rifle and plasma grenades prepared. The mass of Grunts and Jackals checked their weapons and took up defensive positions: They were ready.

Beyond a high, protective barrier, the hexagonal door parted, emitting nothing but an eerie silence.

Confused, the Covies were left scratching their heads for a while as whatever waited behind the barrier didn't make an appearance. Eventually, a veteran Elite barked an order to a couple of Jackals and sent them to investigate. Gulping with trepidation, the two alien birds crept towards the barrier and whatever was hiding behind it.

Before the Jackals could say "squawk," a Ghost RAV drifted sideways out from behind the barrier and boosted forwards, shooting one Jackal dead and running down the other.

After the Ghost, a certain blue Unicorn jumped out and set her horn in gear. Retaliating Covies were caught off guard as they were plucked off the bridges by invisible hands and flicked away like insects. Grunts, Jackals and Elites screamed all the way down to the valley floor below.

Lightning came out, and Trixie levitated a timid little Grunt up to her.
"See this?" she spoke.
Lightning scowled at the quivering, orange armoured Grunt.
"If you don't get your act together, you're joining him." And just like that, she let the alien drop, but a second after he'd been released, a slug caught him in the chest.

Fleur de Lis had stolen the kill, again, and she continued her work, her sniper rifle being the loudest weapon in the valley.

Smug, Lightning purred to Trixie, "You were saying?"
The Unicorn growled, "Grrrr. The tall one is getting on Trixie's nerves."
"You're just jealous cos she's not as fat as you."
"Trixie is not fat!"
Chortling, Lightning flew away and gave the Covenant some bullets.
Trixie's self consciousness kicked in again and she checked her torso, looking a little embarrassed.

"You ok, Trixie?" came the soft voice of Fluttershy, surprising her.
A plasma grenade detonation occurred, and the Mares ducked as Pinkie's Ghost summersaulted over their heads, spinning like an out of control washing machine, Pinkie "woo-woo-wooing" in the spin cycle.
With a fake smile, the blue one resumed, "Trixie is fine."
"Don't listen to Lightning. You're not fat at all."
"Trixie knows that," she sounded a little irritated, and Fluttershy backed away a little. "She doesn't need telling."
As Trixie walked on grumbling to herself, bringing out her energy sword to vent some steam on the Covenant, Fluttershy sighed and aimed her MA5B around.
"She doesn't mean to be rude," Twilight comforted.

The rest of the Ponies made their appearance, but there was really no need; Pinkie and Trixie had pretty much taken care of everything. Blossomforth eyed the rocket launcher she hauled under her wing, wondering if there was really any need for it.

Wrapping things up, Twilight broadcasted, "Well done, Pinkie and Trixie. At this rate, we'll be at the control room in no time."
Trixie's flying sword came back to her, and she thrust away the twin plasma blades and concealed the silvery hilt in her saddle bag.

Remembering the steaks, Fluttershy checked with the AI, "Are the Covenant still outside the control room?"
"Yes," replied Twilight, putting at least some of her fears at ease. "They're really stressed out with the door. They say it's one of the hardest things they've ever had to hack. I'm not sure how long it will take for them to get through, but they've been at if for quite a while now. I suspect it'll be soon."
"Not if we have anything to say about it!" declared Lightning enthusiastically.

Explaining on, Twilight told, "The way to the control centre is through the door behind us, on the second bridge."
Everypony turned to face said door.

Lightning, Blossomforth, Bulk, Flitter and Derpy had no trouble flying over to the second bridge, but if the ground bound Ponies stood a chance of getting there, they would have to navigate another Forerunner complex... or would they?

"Trixie, you know what to do."
"Using Trixie for her magic again, huh, Twilight?" Trixie smirked and chuckled. "Hm-hm-hm-hm! It's ok; Trixie enjoys it." The blue Mare winked at Twilight, which is to say she winked at Fluttershy.

Bright light glared from Trixie's horn once more as those who hadn't been blessed with the gift of flight, plus Fluttershy, were bathed in her tingling, purple aura. Fluttershy's stomach lurched as she was hoisted up off the bridge and carried across the ultra deep gap. Petrified, she covered her eyes and shivered.

Pinkie on the other hoof was relishing in it. "Weeee! Ahahahaha!"
Along with the rest of the Ponies, Trixie had lifted the whole Ghost, and she floated it on over.

Placing herself and her troops down on the second bridge, Trixie wiped her forehead and grinned smugly.
"Awesome!" whooped Pinkie as she spun her Ghost around and around in celebration.

Placing a hoof on her chest, Trixie announced, "I believe you have Trixie to praise yet again."
Vinyl rolled her eyes and sighed, "Aw sheesh, you're actually seeking compliments?"
"But of course. How else is Trixie going to get the respect she deserves?"
"Uh, by shutting up n' letting the compliments come to you?"
Octavia chirped in, "Modesty."
"Trixie doesn't know what that word means. And the compliments never come to Trixie."
"Because if they do, it'll go to your head, and you'll start bragging like you always do," revealed Vinyl, carefree.

Trixie shrugged. "So? Trixie likes to celebrate her own accomplishments. What's wrong with that?"
"There's nothing wrong with being proud of yourself," Octavia made intelligible.
Vinyl continued, "But rubbing it in everypony's face is just annoying."

Like a seagull, Lightning squawked, "Yeah!"
"That applies to you too, Lightning," Vinyl aimed at the egotistical Pegasus.
"Hey, you brag too, Vinyl Scratch!" countered Lightning, pointing at the white Mare.
"No I don't!"
"She really doesn't," Octavia supported calmly.

Bringing the subject back to herself, Trixie checked, "So... no cheers for Trixie?"
Shaking her head, Vinyl said, "Nope."
Her three legged friend was no where near as harsh when she spoke, "I'm not cheering, but you do have my gratitude." Taking a bow, she added, "Thank you for your help, Trixie."

It would seem that Octavia had inspired not just her friend, but some of the others to show Trixie a little gratitude too.
"Oh yeah. Thanks, I guess," Vinyl muttered grudgingly for Octavia's sake.
There were multiple "thanks" from around the herd.
And of course, what kind of friend would Fluttershy be if she didn't express how grateful she was. "Thank you, Trixie."

Not sure what to make of it all, Trixie scanned the faces before her, and her face eventually creased with a smile.
Tilting her head up and setting off walking, she pronounced, "You're welcome," and disappeared behind a barrier.
The rest of the assault force followed her around, and through the next door.

This ardours journey through Forerunner facilities and winter wonderland had been going on for hours, and Fluttershy's dreaded fatigue was creeping back into her fragile system. She yawned and shook her head to stop her eyelids from closing. Hopefully, the mission would be over soon... hopefully.

Proceeding through a usual metal-glass corridor, the squad entered another hexagonal chamber full of Covies, and one quick battle later, and a usual argument, they were ready to continue.

The way out was quite unique. An incredibly narrow corridor declined a little and deposited the troops in a cramped room. In the centre of the tiny room, something that could only be described as a ramp sat on the floor, and a glass panel at the foot of the ramp revealed a deep, unexplained well leading down and down into a spooky green abyss.

Pinkie's Ghost had endured a clumsy slimming technique, and parts of the side fenders were chipped off so the vehicle could scrape through. Upon seeing the ramp, Pinkie's blue eyes dazzled and she immediately sent the RAV up it, catching some air... although the Ghost was a hovercraft, so she was always on air... but it didn't matter to Pinkie as she laughed in the exhilaration.

The hoof soldiers rounded the ramp at each side, and saw that behind the ramp, there was a much higher, wider corridor leading up a short incline and to the right.

Fluttershy rounded the corner first; her Spartan armour offering enough protection to withstand an overcharged plasma bolt to the face, and crept timidly along the corridor, Trixie at her back.

The Pegasi, except Bulk and Blossomforth, hovered silently over, their wings creating a chilly breeze.

The Forerunner corridor didn't match the configuration of any other Forerunner corridor encountered so far on Halo. It was all engraved metal, no glass, and featured something that kinda looked like a silvery, shallow trench running along the left hoof side. Support columns stood like spaced out teeth, separating the trench from the main floor. Anything could be hiding amongst them.

If anything was staying still behind those pillars, Twilight wouldn't be able to track it. Not until it started moving.
So when Twilight alerted, "Watch out!" it was already too late.

At that moment in time, the air shimmered, and that could mean only one thing; stealth Elites. Blue bolts of plasma spawned from what looked like nowhere, and flashed down the corridor at the advancing equines.

Fluttershy screeched as the plasma splashed all over her shields, and without a visor, her vision blurred in the blinding light.

As for the others who weren't lucky enough to be granted such advanced armour, they were too far in the open, and ended up... surviving? Trixie had immediately magiced up a semi-transparent shield to fend off the rounds of plasma. Maybe it wasn't too late after all.

Keeping behind the square of protectiveness, the squad reversed hurriedly back down the corridor and around the bend from which they came.

Huddled up, the Ponies murmured worriedly to each other.
"Oh no! Not stealth Elites!" moaned Twilight, fed up.
"Anything but stealth Elites!" Derpy contributed dramatically.
Trixie bared, "With the Elites being invisible, I won't be able to perform my usual spells on them."

Thinking, Twilight theorised, "Kilkakamee must have sent them here specifically for us!"
"Trixie is flattered."

The AI got down to business. "Ok, I have a plan."
"Trixie has a better one."
"You haven't even heard my plan."
Trixie nodded. "And let's keep it that way."

Raising a hoof, the bazooka wielding Blossomforth questioned, "What exactly is your plan?"
Showing her the answer, Trixie got to work with her horn. Making it look easy, she made herself turn invisible! The air shimmered where her rolly polly body moved about, and her magical aura sparkled dimly around her invisible horn.
"Just watch me," Trixie's voice sounded from nowhere.
"How can we watch you? You just turned invisible," complained Lightning. She yelped when she was slapped across the face by an undetectable hoof. "Ow!"
Up on her wings, Derpy shivered and informed, "I'm scared but I don't know why."

Not knowing where on earth Trixie was, Fluttershy cautiously poked her head around the corner and spied the shifting air. She had no idea what she was witnessing. How would Trixie be able to see the Elites? How could the Elites see each other in the first place? How could Trixie take down one without alerting the others? Some of the other soldiers took a peek.

Whatever the answers were, an energy sword flashed into existence in mid air. Its handler took a mighty swing and gruesomely chopped the head off an invisible Elite. Now that the alien was dead, his camo generator failed, and a whole, pale blue armoured Elite fizzled into view and collapsed to the deck. Score one for the Pony.

A roar of outrage was heard from a second Elite. The great and invisible Trixie shuffled into cover behind a support column and thrust the big blue glowing blades away. Without the bright shining blades, she was able to gallop out of cover, the sound of her clopping hooves echoing up and down, striking the Elite with confusion.

Tense, the rest of the squad spectated, and there was a crunching as Pinkie gobbled some popcorn from a red and white striped paper bag.

Out of nowhere, Trixie's energy sword appeared again, and also out of nowhere, an Elite appeared on the end of it. He grasped the prongs of ionised plasma that protruded through his gut. His claws were smothered in purple Elite blood and he gurgled as he fell to the deck, dead.

Materialising into view, Trixie stood proud and withdrew her sword. In an attempt to be modest, she laughed, "No need to thank Trixie. It was nothing." Still carried the air of smugness to it though.

Beating everypony to a response, a third stealth Elite announced his presence with a blood curdling war cry. "Rrraaaarg!"

Startled, Trixie jumped off the floor, and before she even landed, she was lanced through the torso by the Elite's blade. She neighed with agony, so loud, she almost screamed the whole facility down.

"Trixie!" wailed Fluttershy in despair, reaching a hoof out.
The soldiers were spurred into action and they charged and flew at the see-through biped, not firing their guns in case they hit Trixie, who was now lifted completely off the ground, impaled on the Elite's sword. Her purple hat had come off, and it lay still by the Elite's mighty boots.

Trixie continued to scream until she was gasping for air. Blood oozed out of her wounds and bubbled next to the sizzling sword of energy, running down her quivering body.

Prior to being side swiped out of his two toed boots by a lightning fast Lightning Dust, the Elite grasped Trixie by the throat, yanked his sword out of her punctured torso, and hurled the dying Mare violently into the wall. There was a disgusting crunch as Trixie crumpled into the wall like an accordion and dropped to the metal floor in an increasing pool of her own red blood.

As for the Elite, he was tackled to the ground by the fastest Pegasus. Everypony else, other than Fluttershy, came to gang up on the stupid alien, joining Lightning in beating him to death. To finish him off, they stepped aside and allowed Pinkie to run the Ghost at full speed into his kneeling, bruised form, sandwiching him against a support column. What a way to go.

Sitting beside the wheezing Trixie, Fluttershy covered her mouth with a hoof and tears began to build up under her vacant blue eyes.
"Oh no!" Twilight pined, observing the poor Unicorn.
"Tr... Trixie?" Fluttershy breathed, nudging her as gently as she could.

The herd convened around their injured leader. Pinkie had abandoned her Ghost in the trench, out of the way.
Tenderly, Fluttershy rocked Trixie's foreleg and squeaked, "Trixie?"

A brooding drone emitted faintly from Trixie's half open mouth, along with a dribbling of blood.
It grew louder until it became a full on screech. "... Aaaahh! Aha-aha-aha!" She coughed and spluttered, blood spitting from her lips. "Aaaaarrgg! Hnnnngg!"
Fluttershy gasped and stroked Trixie's mane meaningfully. "Oh, it's ok, Trixie. You'll be ok."

Did this count as surviving? Had Trixie truly survived being impaled by an energy sword? Fluttershy wasn't sure. Trixie looked like she could leave them any time soon. Nether the less, she hastily whipped out her med-kit, forced it open, and got to work.

Trixie continued to wail on and on. "Uuhhh-huuhh! Hnng! I... I... I can't... I can't..." She coughed up a portion of blood. "I can't mo-ho-ho-hoove! Aaaarr!"
Fluttershy couldn't begin to imagine how much pain Trixie was in right now.

"I can't move!" bleated the fading one.
"Now now, settle down, Trixie. You can be fixed," Fluttershy did her best to convince Trixie, to convince herself.

First thing's first; get Trixie out of her armour. Taking great care, Fluttershy undid the straps of Trixie's green armour plates and soldier saddle, removing them and tossing them aside. Once the Mare was wearing nothing but her own blue coat, Fluttershy got a real good gander at the extent of the damage.

The energy sword had gone all the way through Trixie's abdomen, leaving two hellish entry wounds and a couple of smaller yet still just as important exit wounds. Because the sword had been crafted out of ionized plasma, the wounds were singed, and steam trailed out in thin wisps.

Trixie tried squealing something, but hyperventilation made her sound like a stuck record. "Ih-ih-ih-it hurts so muuuch! Aaahhh-aha-aha-aha!" She kept gasping for air, her screams draining her lungs of vital oxygen.

Her screams weren't the only culprit. Since the sword had gone all the way through, it had torn along the wall of one of her lungs, leaving a disturbingly large gash in the organ.

To stop the bleeding, Fluttershy recruited Pinkie to apply pressure to Trixie's devastated torso.

And while she was doing that, Fluttershy pulled a white canister out of her med-pack. With the canister in her mouth, she shook her head vigorously, rattling the canister like spray paint. Once it was well shaken, she steadily aimed the nozzle into Trixie's horrific wound and sprayed. White, bubbly bio foam spewed out and filled the tunnel in Trixie's chest. Fluttershy kept applying the foam until it overlapped the wound.

The point of this was to keep everything cool and in place. What Trixie really needed was a nice comfy bed and surgery, but here, in a Forerunner facility in the arctic wilderness of an alien ring world, surgery just wasn't available. The sooner Trixie got to the Truth and Reconciliation, the better.

With the foam clogging up her insides, Trixie's panicking breaths became jumpier, and her veined, purple eyes popped wide open. Her foam and blood covered chest heaved as her ruptured lungs worked hard to gather the necessary oxygen.

"Give us some room," Twilight demanded, making everypony back away and watch on in fret.

Taking it upon herself, Pinkie produced a cloth and wiped as much blood off of Trixie's scuffed up blue coat. "Oh, you'll make it through this, Trixie."

"F... F... Fluttershy?" Trixie strained weakly.
Fluttershy placed a hoof over her patient's mouth. "Ssshhh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sshh. Try to be quiet, Trixie. You need your breath." Withdrawing her hoof, she rummaged through her med-kit for bandages.

Persistant, the blue Mare trembled, "B-b-but... F-Fluttershy."
"Trixie, rest yourself," Twilight advised.
Trixie wasn't having any of it, and she continued to whimper, "I... I just want to say... th-th-thank you... for-" she spluttered, and blood came out.
Fluttershy found the bandages she sought, and before applying them, she listened to what Trixie had to say.
"F-for b-b-being m-my... friend."

Gazing deep into Trixie's half closed eyes, Fluttershy felt touched to have gifted Trixie with her friendship. She smiled expressively at her, but unfortunately, Trixie was too weak to smile back. Instead, she just closed her eyes and rolled her head onto its side.

At that moment, Fleur de Lis leaned in with a flask in her magical grip and offered it to Fluttershy. It was actually Fluttershy's own flask that she had given to Trixie earlier.

Having not received any words from Fluttershy, Trixie doubted and croaked, "F... Fluttershy?"
"Yes, I hear you, Trixie," the yellow Pegasus reassured as she doused the bandages in water. Glancing back and forth between what she was doing and her needy friend, she spoke solemnly, "I like being your friend. And I can't wait to spend more time with you. I just know that a Unicorn as great and as powerful as you can live through this."
"Tr-Trixie doubts it."

"Come on, Trixie, this isn't you!" exclaimed Pinkie.
Even Vinyl offered support. "Yeah, where's that fighting attitude?"

Gazing distantly at the wheezing Trixie, Lightning hovered off the deck and kept quiet. Really, really quiet.

Soon enough, Trixie was all wrapped up in cool, moist bandages. With that taken care of, Fluttershy packed away her medical supplies and water flask, and then wondered what to do next.

Trixie was paralyzed and unable to move, meaning she would have to be carried. If she had sustained damage to her spine, she would have to be kept in as flat and as straight a position as possible. Unfortunately, none of the soldiers were equipped with stretchers, and that meant only one thing... They'd have to make one.

"Pinkie, can you take the hood off your Ghost?" the AI requested. "We're going to need it."
Saluting, the pink one replied, "Yes sir mam sir!" and galloped on over to her stolen vehicle.

With a little help from Bulk Biceps, she was able to tear the shiny yet Covenant blood stained body panel free of the Ghost, exposing the vehicle's engine and various other mind boggling, alien components.

Together, Pinkie and Bulk trampled the purple sheet of metal until it was as flat as they could make it.

With the makeshift stretcher complete, Fleur de Lis used her magic to carefully roll the great and powerful Trixie onto the clean side of the bonnet. There was a narrow slit in the hood where one of the Ghost's components used to jut out from, like the blower of a hot rod. Trixie's short blue fur stuck out of the slit as she rested flat on her back and was lifted off the ground by the two squad Stallions, Bulk and Caramel.

Providing extra assurance, Fleur and Vinyl, the two Unicorns still in action, lent some magical aid to the transportation of poor ol' Trixie, making sure she didn't roll off, and taking some of the weight off of the Stallions.

Just as they set off, Fluttershy came up short upon feeling something soft at her hooves. She looked down and saw Trixie's friendly looking star strewn hat. Picking up the head wear and getting a gander at it, Fluttershy bit her bottom lip, and started to cry. She stuffed the item into her saddle bag, and still whimpering, she hurried to walk alongside Trixie.

With Pinkie back on her stripped Ghost, Fluttershy talking sensitively to Trixie, and Lightning looking as regretful as a Pony could ever look, the squad resumed their mission to Halo's control room.
> Chapter 22: If I Had a Super Weapon...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Blurrrg!" gurgled the Hunter as it fell to the deck, dead.
With Pinkie playing distraction on her stripped Ghost, the bazooka wielding Blossomforth had wasted both of the behemoths with two quick rockets.

Pinkie parked the Ghost by Blossomforth's side so she could grab a case of rockets and reload, Flitter helping her.

The room was clear, and Pinkie hollered down the radio, "You can bring her through now!"

Steadily bringing up the rear, Bulk and Caramel paced into the octagonal chamber, carrying the half dead Trixie between them on a scrap of Covenant metal. Fleur and Vinyl walked behind, using their magic to keep Trixie stable on the Ghost's hood. And alongside, Fluttershy offered moral support, whispering meaningfully into Trixie's ear.

"It's ok, Trixie. We're almost done, aren't we, Twilight?"
"Almost," the AI in her armour responded. "The control centre should be through the next corridor."
"Great." At last, the end of the mission was in sight, and home time would be coming real soon. Tired, Fluttershy yawned, then spoke to Trixie. "Once we're done, you'll be taken to the Truth and Reconciliation, where you'll get all the treatment you need. You'll be up and well in no time." The yellow Pegasus wasn't sure if she believed herself, and if she didn't believe her, who would?
"Nnnng," groaned the bandaged up Trixie in return.

"How is she, doc?" Lightning pondered.
Doc?
LD and Trixie had been quarrelling almost constantly throughout the endeavour, as had Vinyl, but none of that mattered to them now. All everypony wanted was to keep their leader safe and alive, and all their leader wanted to do was rest.

Answering Lightning, Fluttershy told, "She's not good."
Thinking to herself, she thought, She might not make it, and had to stop herself from crying.

Lightning sighed and continued on, catching the eye of Vinyl and sharing a frown with her.

Taking out her flask, Fluttershy took a sip of water, wiped the top, and offered some to Trixie. The Unicorn's head was sideways, and Fluttershy lightly poured a trickle of water as best as she could into her mouth.
With her eyes closed, Trixie lapped up the water and swallowed. "Th... thanks..."
"Don't mention it."

Crossing the Forerunner chamber, the squad passed through a tall door and made their way through a metal-glass corridor. Pinkie's Ghost went first. Fluttershy and Octavia escorted the great and powerful Trixie, as well as her carriers, at the back of the line, and everypony else marched or winged in between.

Arriving at another high door at the end of the corridor, Pinkie hit the controls with her mane and parted it, revealing the great outdoors and its marvellous snow.

Outside, the assault force were about to enter a valley full of Covenant. The door deposited them on a divine arc of frosty, snow covered rock. The natural arc bridged the entire valley and lead to an identical door on the other side. Icicles hung down from the underside of the bridge like hearths warming decorations. The top side of the arc featured a scattering of boulders that would provide decent cover for the Ponies, and the Covies that patrolled up and down.

To the squad's right, a monumental, frozen waterfall left a reflective streak carving down the cliff from somewhere so high, it couldn't be seen. It came to end in an iced up lake that made up a quarter of the valley floor, bracketed by trees and boulders. A solidified river lead from the lake and down a spooky dark hole in the ground.

Also disappearing down that hole, was a gigantic arm of Forerunner metal, running straight and true down the front of a picturesque pyramid structure. The magnificent building looked like an Aztec pyramid, but from the future, crafted out of the same old silvery metal.

Upon the pyramid's summit, a high tower stood tall and firm, and metal frames trailed all the way up the cliff and out of sight like some sort of exterior elevator.

The entire valley was owned by the Covenant. They had a Banshee fighter in the air, a Wraith tank and two Ghosts on the ground, personnel decorating the face of the pyramid, and a huge platoon stationed on top with two Shade turrets at their disposal.

"Analysing," chirped the AI. "... The control centre is at the top of that pyramid structure," she informed. "Subtle."

One thing the Covenant weren't using, for whatever reason, was a second Banshee fighter that sat idle ahead, guarded by Covies.

The Covies didn't register with Pinkie though as she kicked the rocket cases off her Ghost and onto the floor.
"Oh-my-gosh-a-Banshee!" she shrieked. The only thing matching the speed of her words was the speed of her Ghost as she blasted away.
Annoyed at Pinkie for carelessly kicking the high explosives onto the floor, Blossomforth yelled, "Be careful!"
"What is she even doing?" Flitter wondered out loud.
What she was doing was genius.

Upon boosting the hoodless Ghost straight out over the natural bridge, Pinkie caught the Covies' attention, and splattered two Jackals and a rookie Elite. She wasn't aiming for them; they just happened to be in her way. What she really cared about was the Banshee.

Over the coms, Twilight shouted, "Pinkie! What are you doing?! You can't fly a Banshee!"
How can she even drive the Ghost? wondered Fluttershy, dismissing it as Pinkie's usual, unexplainable antics.

Pinkie didn't listen however, just snorted with laughter as she scored a strike on a team of Grunts.

Alerted to the pink menace, the Covenant countered, directing all their fire at the pink and purple blur. Pinkie was too fast for them, and avoided almost every plasma bolt and needle that came flashing her way.

Just as she approached the empty Banshee, a crimson armoured Elite jumped into the aircraft and immediately took off. She refused to give up though.
"Oh no you don't!" she bellowed at the pilot from behind her Ghost's controls.
What happened next left the audience lost for words.

As if wanting to commit suicide, Pinkie sped her Ghost straight off the edge of the frosted arc. The Ghost was a rocket loosing power as it tore through the snow filled air and plummeted. Pinkie however, wasn't on it. Not anymore. Now, she was latched onto the airborne Banshee's starboard wing, waving enthusiastically to her friends that gawped at her from the doorway.

"Holy cow!" gawked Vinyl in disbelief.
Fluttershy watched on in concern as her pink friend beat at the aircraft's fuselage.

Without a driver, Pinkie's Ghost came to a landing on the valley floor and broke apart. An Elite Zealot stationed down there had to dive out of the way as a particularly large piece of Ghost threatened to knock him down.

Inside the Banshee, the veteran pilot felt the thudding on the outside of his craft, and noticed an increase in weight. Knowing what was responsible and shocked at it, he sent his fighter into a barrel role.

"Woahoahoahoahoah!" sounded Pinkie as she spun around and around, clinging on to the Banshee, stubborn not to let go.

With the frozen waterfall coming up fast, the Elite ceased his barrel roles and sent the Banshee into a vertical climb. Incredulously, the Elite watched as the tip of a pink crowbar pierced its way into the cockpit, creasing the purple metal.

Growling with strength, Pinkie used her poufy pink mane to pry open the Banshee's carapace and present herself to the pilot with a mischievous grin.

Reaching into the cockpit, she pulled at a control yoke and pitched the Banshee until it was upside-down. With the carapace wide open, gravity took its toll on the Elite, and he slipped right out like a greasy fish and screamed all the way down.

Pinkie didn't have time for gravity, but she did have time to wave and bid, "See ya!" to the decommissioned pilot.
Laying on her belly on the floor of the aircraft, she pulled the long, smooth carapace down over her until it clicked, offering her comfortable back support.

Having just ditched her Ghost for a Banshee, Pinkie rolled the alien aircraft around and kept it steady. The first test included being in a dog fight with the other Banshee, and Pinkie worked hard to guess the controls and put up a fight.

"She... she's done it!" Lightning exclaimed, jaw dropped. "I can't believe it!" Snapping herself out of it, the turquoise Mare stated, "Well, of course I would be able to do that too."
"Oh please," Vinyl rolled her eyes. "You can't even fly a Pelican."
"Hey! I ca-"
"-Ssshhh!" interrupted Fluttershy, stroking Trixie's pale blue mane. "Please, be quiet."
"Oh, sorry," Vinyl apologised.

Some of the soldiers gathered up the rocket cases that were scattered on the floor. Suddenly, the crispy fried wreckage of a Banshee thumped down onto the bridge, right beside them. Lazily, it teetered over the edge and dropped down to the ground.

Another Banshee was still in the air, and the Covenant screamed in the distance as it laid siege to them. It was obvious who'd won the dog fight.

To the left, a rumbling noise echoed around the snowy valley. Fluttershy spun her head to witness a gigantic Forerunner door on top of the pyramid slide shut, the Covenant platoon behind.
"Oh no! The Covenant are inside!" fretted Twilight. "There's no way we can make it in time!"

Everypony except Trixie gasped with fear. If the Covenant were inside Halo's control room, they had the power to erase all Ponies from the galaxy.
"Oh no!" panicked Fluttershy, shivering and bringing her hooves to her mouth.
Dramatically, Derpy wailed, "It's all over!"

Pinkie chose that moment to perform an air strike on the Wraith below, bombarding it with plasma and fuel rod projectiles. Explosion after explosion quaked the ground beneath the Ponies' hooves, and icicles began to drop from under the graceful arc of rock.

"It's not over yet!" Twilight stomped her digital hoof. "I have an idea."
Rolling her head on the uncomfortable alien bonnet, Trixie groaned, "Uuhh, Trixie has a better idea."

Giving the squad a fly by, Pinkie almost clipped the head off Bulk Biceps as she piloted her stolen Banshee at great speed over them, the engines whistling loudly and resonating in their ears.

Twilight addressed the critically injured Mare, "Trixie, sweetheart, whatever your idea is, it - waa!" The AI yelped as an invisible hook wrapped around her carrier and lifted her off the ground.
"Woah!" Fluttershy squealed in surprise, her stomach floundering.

All the other equine troops, minus Pinkie and the Pegasi, were wrapped in a faint purple aura and hoisted into the air as well.
Caramel pronounced, "What the..."
Pointing at Trixie, Octavia exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! Trixie, you're doing it!"

Trixie was indeed doing it. Even when she was lying wheezing and broken on death's doorstep, she had abandoned her makeshift stretcher and was emitting intense light from her horn, performing another incredible feat of magic. She gnashed her teeth and groaned with the effort, purple sparks sputtering from her horn like a wild fire.

Flying amongst the wingless troops, the Pegasi whistled in celebration and escorted them across the valley, towards the control centre.
"Way'da go, Trixie!" Lightning hollered, a smile on her face to cover up her shame.

"Wowzers!" Pinkie cheered as she swooped the Banshee over them, annihilating a group of Covies on the face of the pyramid.

Shuffling in the air, Vinyl chanted, "Go Trixie! Go Trixie! Go Trixie!"
"Just a little further!" commented Octavia, in awe.
"You're almost there!" Derpy contributed.

Eventually, everypony joined in with Vinyl's chant. "Go Trixie! Go Trixie! Go Trixie!" Even the ghostly silent Fleur de Lis was moving her lips.

"Just keep swimming! Just keep swimming!" Pinkie sang, beholding a spectacular view of the pyramid and the magical floating Ponies.

On the pyramid, a Grunt shuffled and copied, "Go Trixie! Go Trixie!" with a little too much enthusiasm.
A Jackal trudged up behind and snarled, slapping him over the head and firing his plasma pistol upwards. The gas sucker took the hint and joined him with his needler. Pinkie dived her Banshee to take care of them with a fuel rod projectile, the green explosion providing an epic backdrop for Trixie and her precious cargo.

Having mopped up the entirety of the Covenant, she slowed down the Banshee fighter's speed and flew elegantly alongside her floating team.

"Almost..." Twilight strained as they drew closer and closer to the top of the pyramid.

Going way past her limit, Trixie's horn began to discharge steam and arrow straight rays of light. The sparkling noise of her magic increased and began to fragment, and the purple aura of her horn built up to a dangerous level. It was really taking a lot out of the little Mare. Normally, the spell would be easy, but the energy sword to the torso had taken its toll, and sweat came bucketing down her forehead.

Now hovering over the flat summit of the pyramid, Trixie cut off the spell, and each soldier landed on the engraved floor with a clunk.

With the spell finally broken, Trixie reared up and let out an all mighty gasp like a fish out of water, with enough volume to rival the engines of Pinkie's Banshee. Fainting, she flopped over on her tummy with a thud and lay heaving on the cold metal surface.

The assault force were overjoyed, and they all applauded by stomping their hooves on the floor, creating a tremor. They cheered, whooped, hurrahed, and just plain celebrated.

"That was stupendous!" acclaimed Derpy, spreading her hooves out with delight.
Loop de looping, Pinkie stated, "I had a great view!"
Vinyl beamed and commented to Octavia, "I just don't know how she does it."
"Truly amazing," Octy nodded her head in agreement.
"Yeeaah!" came a rowdy and passionate cheer from Bulk Biceps.
Caramel simply hollered, "Woohoo!" and laughed with glee.

Blown away, Twilight questioned rhetorically, "Is there anying she can't do?"
"Oh, well done, Trixie," expressed Fluttershy, turning to behold who was, at this moment, the most fantastic Pony in the universe. "That was..."
... Trixie wasn't breathing.

Motionless on the floor, Trixie laid on her side with her head resting nice and snug on her forelegs, like she was sleeping. The Mare was ever so tranquil as the pretty snowflakes ballet danced over her body and tenderly touched down on her blue coat, melting away.

Fluttershy's praises trailed off, and she stared at the silent Trixie, shakily bringing a hoof to her mouth.
"Oh no," Twilight spoke with a tone of dread.

As the rest of the unaware squad cheered on, Fluttershy approached her peaceful friend and knelt down by her side.
"Trixie?" she checked, praying with all her heart for a response... When it never came, she gave Trixie a gentle nudge and squeaked, "Trixie?"
... Still nothing.

Placing her ear against Trixie's bandaged chest, she listened carefully over the ruckus for a heart beat, felt for rising lungs, desperately sought any sign of life... But there was nothing. Trixie was completely silent.

Trembling and sounding tearful, Twilight announced, "She... she's gone."
Fluttershy's teeth came down on her lower lip as she tried hard to stifle her cries... to no avail. The tears rose under her shimmering blue eyes and cut cracks down her face.
"Oh no... No," she whimpered miserably, cuddling Trixie's cold body.

Wrapping up their celebrations, the other squaddies' cheers faded, and Fluttershy's distant whimpers echoed in their place.

"Oh my gosh," Octavia said, realising.
Everypony else soon discovered the tragedy that had befallen their herd, and drew in breaths with the shock of it.

At once, the herd hurried over and gathered around Fluttershy, gazing emptily at their one and only Trixie. Respectfully, everypony fell silent...

... It was a long thirty seconds before a noise other than whimpering or breeze interrupted the funeral. Everypony flicked their heads to the sound of knocking coming from the door, only to witness Fleur de Lis leaning over the control console, tapping it with her hoof. Her eyes darted around, unsure, knowing she was interrupting. Knowing she had to.

"Alright," Twilight started with a sniff as Fluttershy rose up. "... Alright... let's do Trixie proud... Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy's only response was a sniffle and a wipe of the tears.
"Open the door. Everypony else-"

Before Twilight could finish, Fleur hit the controls and galloped for the tower that topped the pyramid, pounding up the ramps.
"What the... Fleur! How do you... We're not even ready yet!"
Popping her head over a balcony situated halfway up the tower, Fleur gritted her teeth and growled like she wanted to say something but couldn't. Her eyes were serious, and they glowered upon the entirety of her teammates.

Since Fleur was refusing to talk, she required something to speak for her, and funnily enough, something did. The massive blast door scraped open, and the distinctive grumblings of various Covenant species originated from beyond.

"Up the tower!" Twilight bellowed, prompting everypony to hurry and join Fleur up there.
Pinkie continued to circle the installation in her Banshee. She had been quiet for too long.

Halfway up the tower, the troops peeped over a low wall and spied the large platoon of Covies come pouring out, ready for action. Amongst them, Fluttershy picked out a golden armoured Field Master Elite. Twilight had named him before, but she couldn't quite remember his name.

Speaking of Twilight, the AI broadcasted, "No plan here; we have the advantage. Everypony just fire everything you've got."
No plan? This was a new strategy for Twilight. Well, a new non-strategy. Had she thought it through? Or had Trixie's passing caused her to slacken?

The AI did make a valid point though; they were up high, so they could rain down hell on the nasty Covies with a variety of weapons: Bulk's plasma pistol, Vinyl's plasma rifle, Flitter's needler, Fleur's sniper rifle, Blossomforth's rocket launcher, Pinkie's Banshee and everypony else's MA5Bs.

There was little to no cover at the mouth of the control centre, and the Ponies were armed to the teeth. Grunts and Jackal's were blown apart by a combination of Blossomforth's rockets and Pinkie's Banshee.

Pinkie actually flew the aircraft inside the gaping corridor, banking around and clipping the Covies with the vehicle's wings.

The Field Master skilfully dived out of the blast radius of one of Blossomforth's shaped charges, then dove again to narrowly avoid being splattered by crazy Pinkie.

Defiantly, the Field Master stood and drew out his energy sword, ready to make a dash to the tower and slaughter those that had taken up resistance upon it.

He set off running, and - bam! He was caught in the stomach by a lethal sniper round. On his knees, he clenched his bleeding gut and craned his neck to behold his enemies on the balcony. Time slowed down for him as the surrounding ruckus became muffled, and he locked eyes with Fleur de Lis.

The professional sniper peered down her scope at the Field Master, and was surprised to see him toss away his sword. The Elite looked longingly into her eye; he was ready.

Cold bloodedly, Fleur kept the crosshair over the Zealot's head, and pulled the trigger. The piercing crack of the sniper rifle converted the Field Master's head into a purple fountain, and his body flopped over to the deck with the rest of the aliens.

It didn't take long to decimate every last Covie on top of the pyramid, and once the coast was clear, the fire team descended the tower and re-grouped around Trixie.

"Everypony stay here and guard the entrance," ordered Twilight, still with a touch of sorrow in her voice.
Fluttershy nuzzled Trixie's soft blue mane for a while, and Derpy gave her a pat on the back.
"Me and Fluttershy are going in."
Lifting her head, Fluttershy's shimmering eyes inspected the gaping corridor. It was huge. It was daunting. It was full of Covenant bodies.
"Ok," she croaked as she rose to her hooves. "Here we go."

Inside, the enormous cave of a corridor featured the usual glass and metal stripes. Her hooves clopped solidly on the silver metal and hollowly over the glass.

Droning over her speaker, the AI informed, "The Covenant have set up another terminal by the second door."

Fluttershy had noticed the Covenant terminal from a mile off, and as she approached it, she veered right towards a Forerunner control panel, just next to it. She was tired, and she yawned as she placed her hooves over the ancient alien light display. Filing through her fuzzy memory for how she'd opened the door to the cartographer, she hesitantly pushed the blue square of light in the centre of the display.

"If you can upload me into the Covena - woah!" Twilight's directions were cut short by the sound of noisy scraping.

That massive Forerunner door deliberately parted, revealing a longer stretch of cavernous, metal-glass striped corridor.
"What did you do?!" asked the AI, alerted.
Stuttering, Fluttershy explained, "I... I don't know. I just touched it."

Whatever Fluttershy had done, it had done the trick, and the whole door was soon scraped out of the way.

The Covenant had spent hour after hour trying to hack their way through, and then Fluttershy shows up and just taps it open, easy as pie. How? Neither Fluttershy nor Twilight had an answer.

"Huh, that's odd," muttered the AI. "Almost as if it prefers Ponies..."
Fluttershy thought about that for a second, not sure if it was a joke or a speculation. She had noticed Fleur de Lis open the first door with a simple tap of the controls. It was puzzling. Very puzzling.

Pacing forth, the yellow Mare directed her gaze all around the fabulous corridor, admiring the design.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" quizzed Twilight, relishing in the Forerunner architecture more than the sentient one.
Staring up at the striped ceiling, Fluttershy yawned with fatigue and replied, "Kinda."

"I can't believe we're actually gonna enter Halo's control room," elated Twilight, full of exuberance. "This is so exciting!"
Fluttershy and Twilight definitely had different ideas of what was exciting.

Traversing the length of the corridor, the lone Pony approached another huge door with the same old control panel at its side. Like before, she pressed the big blue square in the centre of the panel and watched as the goliath blast door grated open, ringing in her ears.

"Perfect," Twilight congratulated, ready to get down to business. "Well done, Fluttershy. We're finally here."

On the other side of the door, a vast, circular chamber stretched out before them. Blue and purple lights provided excellent illumination in the oversized quarters.

The entire room had no floor; just a howling funnel, and Fluttershy shivered at the thought of falling down it. It didn't help that the platform extending far out over the abyss was made entirely of glass, or that there were no railings, or supports. The daunted Mare just kept as perfectly in the centre of the see-through path as she could and walked on, heedful not to look down.

The end of the platform was the eye of a giant glass needle, and within the loop, a holographic representation of the gas giant, Threshold, and its moon, floated motionlessly in the air. Between the two, a tiny ring represented Halo.

Expanding far out beyond the platform, almost touching the walls of the cavern, was a monumental, holographic image of Halo, a great view of its inside surface.

In awe, Twilight justified, "This is it... Halo's control centre."
"Wow!" Fluttershy swooned.
"I know."

Nearing a widened array of shifting lights and semi-transparent controls, Twilight guided, "That terminal, try there."
Fluttershy had no idea what Twilight was referring to as "that terminal."
Helpfully, the AI added, "Inside that orange tube."

Identifying said tube, Fluttershy ejected Twilight's chip and grabbed it with her teeth. Her long pink mane cascaded on the glass floor as she lowered her head to insert Twilight into the Forerunner systems.

As soon as the chip was sucked into the orange light tube, Twilight's Alicorn avatar materialised over the console, and continued to grow until she was life sized.

"Woah!" exclaimed the surprised hologram.
Fluttershy was just as taken aback by the life sized Twilight Sparkle floating before her, the Forerunner console providing a sort of stage for the Princess.

"Oh goodness!" she gasped. "Are you alright?"
With a grin emerging on her digital face, Twilight announced, "Never been better, Fluttershy. It's amazing in here. It's like a gold mine of data! So much information!"
With her eyes half shut, Fluttershy let out another tired yawn and spoke softly, "It's good to know you're enjoying it in there."

Twilight's enlarged avatar was so life like, Fluttershy felt like she was talking to the real thing. Almost reached out to hug her.

Since they were at the control room, they could focus on saving the entire Pony race from extinction. The yellow Mare scratched her head as to how they were going to do that. Was there some way Twilight could render Halo unusable from within its network?

"Give me a second to access," the Alicorn uttered, placing a hoof on her straight fringe and assessing the data in front of her.

Standing silent, the worn out Mare took a swig of water from her canteen and stared wonderingly at her artificial buddy.

Purple eyes reading back and forth, Twilight opened her mouth ever so slightly. Gradually, her open mouth grew into a gawp, and she cringed as she processed whatever she was processing.

Worried, Fluttershy asked, "Twilight? Is something wrong?"

Twilight looked up and gazed out over the control room. Her eyes were fixated on something behind Fluttershy, but when the yellow Mare turned around, there was nothing there.

"... Oh no," she eventually murmured.
Dying to know, Fluttershy quizzed, "What is it?"
Sussing things out, Twilight frowned and shook her head. "No, no, no, no... We... we've got it all wrong." She peered down to read something, then looked back up at Fluttershy through narrow eyes. "We're not the Covenant's greatest foe." There was a dramatic pause before she revealed, "Something else is."
"But what?" asked Fluttershy, leaning forwards. "Who?"
"I don't know. All the information on them is in a different file. I'm having trouble accessing it."

Fluttershy was growing weary. Ever since the Covenant had boarded the Filly of Autumn, she'd been struggling for survival, and was just plain desperate to go back home and leave this dreaded ring world behind.

In an attempt to wrap things up, Fluttershy questioned, "Do we still need to stop Halo from being fired?"
Looking closely at the data that was invisible to Fluttershy, the translucent one taught, "According to the record; Halo was built to exterminate a different, specific target. Not Ponies."
"Oh, so we were safe all along?" Fluttershy started to get the impression that they'd fought and died to get to the control centre for nothing. "Does this mean we can go home now?"
Does this mean we could've gone home before now?
"Hold on," Twilight barked, taking a thoughtful pause and resting a hoof next to her elongated horn.

After a while, the AI muttered, "Oh my gosh."
It caught Fluttershy's attention, and the Mare brought her tired blue eyes up to watch Twilight's panicking avatar.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!"
"What is it?"
Fluttershy had never heard AI Twilight scream the words "oh my gosh" over and over again. It disturbed her.

Answering Fluttershy, Twilight bawled, "The Covenant!"
The Covenant had always been a problem. Fluttershy wasn't sure what Twilight was getting at.

However, whatever she was getting at, she was getting at it very angrily. "Ugh! Those fools! Didn't they think?! Didn't they see the signs?!"
Fluttershy raised a hoof lightly. "Um, Twilight?"
"Locked doors are locked for a reason! To say you worship the Forerunners, you don't have much respect for their privacy! Ugh!"
AI Twilight had never been so livid, and Fluttershy was nonplussed by the sudden outburst.

Finally getting her word in, the yellow Pegasus informed, "Twilight, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh, sorry, Fluttershy," Twilight apologised, straightening herself. Clearing her throat, she gave Fluttershy a more clear low down. "Ahem... The Forerunners buried something in this ring, something horrible, and now the Covenant have very cleverly dug it up. Whatever it is, it was the Forerunners' greatest foe, and they had to build this super weapon in order to take it down."
This whole place just for their enemy? Fluttershy was dumbstruck.
Either the Forerunners had one powerful enemy, or they really liked overkill.

Rambling on, Twilight lessoned, "It is also the Covenant's greatest foe, and now that it's on the loose, they're scared."
Fluttershy gasped, "The Covenant are scared?"

The Covenant were the nastiest, mightiest force in all the known universe. They laughed in the face of danger, showed no mercy, burned planets to molten slag, and they were never, ever scared.

But according to Twilight, they were. "Yep. And now there's no..." she trailed off, distracted. "... Wait a minute..."

Gazing up at the life sized projection of her friend, Fluttershy saw Twilight's lips moving, like she was mouthing something. The pink maned Pony wasn't a good lip reader however, so she stood looking around the incredible control room until Twilight finally projected her voice. What she said caught her off guard.

"Fluttershy, you have to stop Applejack and Rarity!" The purple Alicorn of light lunged forward, reaching a hoof out, as if Applejack and Rarity were right there.
"What?! Why?!" shrieked Fluttershy, mind boggled.

"The treasure they're looking for, it's not really... We can't let them find it!" Twilight stomped her hoof, putting extra emphasis behind her words.
"I-I don't understand."
"They're walking right into a trap! You have to stop them! Right now!"

Panicking, Fluttershy shot her head around, trying to come up with something to say. "Oh, um, er-"
"-Leave me here," Twilight dictated sternly. "If anyone tries to activate Halo, I'll need to be here to stop them."
"Oh, but, I... I thought-"
"-Just go!"
"B-b-but, I can't-"
"-Goooo!" Twilight yawped at the top of her artificial lungs.

In an instant, Fluttershy spun and galloped as fast as she could out of the control centre, whimpering with worry all the way.
> Chapter 23: Well Enough Alone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

343 Guilty Spark.

Once reuniting with the assault force, and leaving Twilight behind in Halo's control centre, Fluttershy informed everypony of the situation as best she could. Everypony would stay and guard the control room while Fluttershy went in search for the Captain and Applejack.

Well, not everypony. Pinkie had been most insistent to tag along, and she brought her Banshee to a rather undignified landing to join Fluttershy on her little search and rescue op. And she wasn't the only one.

Contact had been re-established with Rainbow Dash by the time Fluttershy exited the control centre, and the Pegasus in the Pelican came swooping in to pick her and Pinkie Pie up from the summit of the Forerunner pyramid.

Leaving Twilight and the rest of the troops behind, the three Mares bid farewell and took off out of the winter wonderland.

Twilight had mentioned that Applejack and Rarity were walking right into a trap, and Fluttershy's stomach sank despairingly. Part of her knew it would be too late, but a bigger part of her hoped to reunite with her friends.

During the flight to wherever Applejack and Rarity's last known location was, Fluttershy strapped herself in in the Pelican's troop bay, laid on her belly, and fell asleep.

She would've kept herself awake with worry, but thanks to her Spartan training, she often fell asleep as quick as a whip, even in dire times like these.

Another side effect of Spartan training was nightmares, and after the events of the Truth, the cartographer and the control room, and her imagination running wild over AJ and Rarity, she was in for a doozy of a semi-conscious trail.

*****

So the dream started off alright. She was prancing merrily through a meadow full of pretty flowers, and there was laughter all around. All her friends were there; Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and even Twilight's little dragon assistant, Spike.

Since Spike the dragon wasn't equine, and since he was too young, he wasn't allowed to join the UPSC, and Fluttershy was glad about that. Better keep him safe on Equestria with the real Princess Twilight and the other three rulers. She really missed them though.

So as she and her friends danced around in the flowery field, having a ball, a distant voice echoed something. Dreamy, Fluttershy couldn't make out what the voice said, but whatever it said, it was unthreatening.

She turned to face the source of the voice, and she saw the great and powerful Trixie standing alone on an engraved metal platform, just beyond the flowers. While the weather in the meadow was bright and sunny, grey clouds provided Trixie with a murky ceiling, and snow blew around the sole Mare in a blizzard.

Trixie was donning her cheerful purple hat, along with a cape of the same star strewn design. The whacky clothes blew in the wind. She smiled sheepishly and lifted a hoof, wanting to play.

Pleasantly, Fluttershy nodded her head, and Trixie beamed with delight as she came bounding over, out of the darkness and into the light. With her, she brought a new laugh to the circle.

Trixie had a weird laugh, like she was practicing laughing, like she was new to it. Sweet.

Full of glee, Fluttershy, Trixie and her friends frolicked in the flowers.

... It was then when things went dark...

Blackness surrounded Fluttershy, and she looked around for her friends, but they had faded away. Everywhere she looked, it was just black, black, black... until she came face to face with Rarity, and found herself never wanting to see that face again.

Like it was being pushed against cling film, Rarity's fear stricken face was moulded to a wall of vile, green flesh. Fluttershy screamed at the sight, but couldn't turn away, couldn't close her eyes, was forced to watch as Rarity's face crumbled like old cheese, and a gaping hole was born in the Unicorn's head, revealing a half dissolved brain.

*****

As Fluttershy whimpered away in her sleep, Rainbow Dash nudged her and tried to wake her up. "Pssst! Fluttershy... Fluttershy, wake up!"
Once awoken, Fluttershy wailed and kicked her front hooves out, shooing her visions away. "Aah. Aaaahh!"
"Sshh!" Rainbow shushed her. "Be quiet."

Groggily, Fluttershy rose up and rubbed her sweating head. "Huh? Whu... where are we?" Noting Rainbow standing right in front of her, her eyes popped and she grated, "Who's flying?!"
Rainbow shushed her again. "Sshh! No pony's flying. We've landed."
"Oh."

Whispering agitatedly, the rainbow haired Pegasus interrogated, "Hey, do you have any idea what happened to Pinkie Pie?"
"Pinkie Pie?" Fluttershy puzzled.
She scanned around the whole troop bay, and there was no sign of the fluffy pink Pony.

Growing concerned, she asked, "Where is she?"
"That's what I'm asking. She just disappeared."

Fluttershy called out for her missing friend. "Pinkie?"
No answer.
"Pinkie?!"
"Sshh!" Rainbow pushed a hoof against the yellow Mare's lips.
Fluttershy shoved the hoof away. "Why do you keep shushing me?" she demanded.
Glancing around nervously, Rainbow reasoned, "Because I really don't like where we've landed."

Over the sound of their conversation, there was a constant pitter patter of rain coming down on the roof of the Pelican.

"Where have we landed?" Fluttershy pondered, curious.
"Applejack and Rarity's last known location."
There was a pause as Fluttershy thought for a moment.

"Listen, Fluttershy, I was flying us over here, and Pinkie was just rambling on to herself about something," Rainbow began, the sadness clear in her bright cerise eyes. "I wasn't paying much attention, so I don't know what she was on about. And then, all of a sudden, this bright gold light shone in the troop bay."
Listening carefully, Fluttershy widened her eyes in fascination.

"When it disappeared, so did Pinkie. I have no idea what happened. I've got a real bad feeling about this."
"She just vanished?" inquired Fluttershy, both eyebrows raised.
Rainbow nodded. "Yeah. I've searched everywhere in the Pelican for her, but I can't find her anywhere. She isn't picking up on the radio or anything."

Fluttershy's concern escalated into fear, and she stammered, "Wh... what do you think happened?"
Still whispering, Rainbow grabbed Fluttershy's shoulders and said, "Dude, I have no idea. Don't suppose you know anything?"
"N-no. I... I've just been sleeping. This is news to me," Fluttershy responded broodingly. "Oh, I hope she's ok."
Letting go of Fluttershy, Rainbow breathed, "Me too."

"We shouldn't be too worried," Fluttershy preached hypocritically, briefly placing her own hoof on Rainbow's chest in a meaningful manner. "She's Pinkie Pie. She disappears all the time, and she's always turned up fine in the end."
"I know," Rainbow sighed. "But when she's not here, I just get worried."
Fluttershy could relate to that all too well.

"What if she isn't fine?" questioned Rainbow, full of doubt. "What if Applejack and Rarity aren't fine either?" The worry in Rainbow's voice began to increase. "What if..." She stopped herself and let out a long breath to calm herself down. To herself, she talked, "Get a grip, Rainbow. I'm sure they're all ok."

Noticing the door to the cockpit shut, Fluttershy wondered, "Why have you sealed up the cockpit?"
"Because of the outside, man," came Rainbow's shaky answer. Zipping over to the cockpit and opening the door, she added, "Take a look for yourself."

Intrigued, Fluttershy crept into the Pelican's cockpit with Rainbow and gawped out of the window.

The drop ship was surrounded by mist, and the rain was bucketing down rapidly, making visibility very poor. Fluttershy could still make out the shapes of nature though. Looming trees standing off the ground on spider-like roots and huge leaves hanging out over the swamp. The leaves twitched as the rain pelted down on them. Luminescent insects scribbled their way through the fog with no sense of direction.

Looking down, Fluttershy saw that Rainbow had landed the Pelican in some murky, shallow water full of lily pads and vegetation. The water rippled like mad with every drop of rain that shot down through its surface.

Getting a gander up, Fluttershy noticed banners of sweeping green vines hanging between the spooky trees, and patches of cloudy night sky just visible through the jungle canopy.

"Oh... oh my," Fluttershy began, intimidated by the eldritch wilderness. "This is Applejack's and Rarity's last location?"
"Yeah," replied Rainbow, her eyes glued to the view. "It's creeping me out. Just looking at it makes me itch."
Fluttershy caught herself scratching her mane as she said that.

Absent minded, Rainbow muttered, "... Someone was watching me... I know it."
Turning to stare at her pilot friend, Fluttershy saw that Rainbow was in some sort of trance.
"I couldn't take it anymore, so I locked myself in the troop bay with you and... With you."

A moment passed as the two Pegasi goggled out at the swamp.
"Sure gives the Everfree forest a run for its money, huh? Hehe." Rainbow's laugh was nervous and broken.

Suddenly, Rainbow pointed at an arrangement of boulders and urged, "Oh and look. Look, look, look, look. Right there. Do you see it?"
"I... I'm not sure," replied Fluttershy, squinting her eyes at the boulders. "What am I looking at?"
"That, is Rarity's crashed Pelican."

Looking closer at the boulders, Fluttershy saw that they weren't boulders at all. They were in fact a downed Pelican. The aircraft had come to a hard landing at the side of a mossy hill with its nose flexing a glum looking tree.

Fluttershy widened her eyes at the crash site, her heart thumping with bother. What if Applejack and Rarity hadn't survived the crash, and their bodies were waiting for her inside?

She couldn't bring herself to speak, just stood there gazing far out into the mist, covering her quivering mouth with a hoof.

"There's a crashed Spirit near by too," commented Rainbow. "This place is like a drop ship grave yard." She took a beat in contemplation and then came out with, "What if I'm next?"
Fluttershy looked over at Rainbow. "Oh Rainbow, I'm sure you won't be next," she comforted unsurely. "You're the best pilot in the UPSC, remember?"
"... You're right," Rainbow remembered. "I am the best. I got this... I got this."

Out of nowhere, Rainbow pulled Fluttershy in close and aimed a hoof out at something in the fog.
"What's that?!" she cried, forgetting her own rule of whispering. "Did you see that?"
"Um... no," Fluttershy responded honestly, her eyes scanning the view.
"What was it?" Rainbow was spooked, and she held onto Fluttershy like a precious teddy.
"I didn't see it," reminded the shy, still searching.

There was a long, awkward pause as Rainbow continued to hug Fluttershy, her whole body shaking and her eyes darting around.
"I really don't like this place."
Wow, since when did Rainbow get so scared. Being scared was Fluttershy's job.

The yellow Mare was still just as frightened as Rainbow, despite not seeing whatever she'd seen, and she faced the pilot.
"Lucky for you; you don't have to go out there." Looking back out the window at the wet, rainy swamp, she gulped and trembled, "I do."

Without Pinkie, Fluttershy was going alone. Rainbow was desperate to join her, but there were rules and reasons that forbid it.

"Oh, Fluttershy, I'd really love to help you. You know I would. I really want to, but I can't just leave our Pelican unattended."
Fluttershy understood, and to be honest, having a choice between a helper and a guaranteed evac, Fluttershy would choose the evac. Without evac, she'd be stranded, just like Applejack and Rarity.

Rotating, the two Ponies receded into the Pelican's troop bay, and Rainbow made sure to slide the door shut after them.

"If only Pinkie were still here. She'd brighten the mood."
"You really have no idea where she went?"
Back to whispering, Rainbow repeated, "No. Like I told you, she just vanished in a flash of light."

A low rumble sounded throughout the troop bay and startled Rainbow. "Waa!"
The rumble sounded again, and Fluttershy peered down at her tummy as it growled in hunger.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at the embarrassed Pegasus and let out a sigh of relief. "Hehe. You should probably get some food in you," she suggested, turning to an on board storage unit. "There's some sandwiches in here."

Having retrieved a couple of fresh salad sandwiches, Rainbow and Fluttershy shared a quiet little picnic on the Pelican floor, listening to the continuous tapping of the rain outside.

After swallowing a mouthful of bread, butter and greens, Rainbow spoke, "Listen, Fluttershy, the best way I can help you is if I circle the area in my Pelican. This thing's got great tracking gear. I can guide you, and give you a heads up whenever danger approaches."
Fluttershy took a bite out of her sandwich and chewed contritely as Rainbow talked on.
"I know it's not much, and I really wanna be on the ground with you, but-"
"-It's ok, Rainbow," interrupted the shy, gulping down the nutritious food. "That's a good idea, and I'm grateful for your help."
"Right. Ok. I just wish there was more I could do." Sulkily, the rainbow maned Mare took another bite from her sandwich.
"Your guidance will be enough."
"Are you sure?"
Not at all sure, Fluttershy took a suggestive pause before answering, "... Sure."

Once the food break was over, Fluttershy gathered up her gear.
"Ok, you ready to go?" checked Rainbow.
"Just a minute," responded Fluttershy as she placed her canteen in her saddle bag.

She noticed Trixie's hat crammed in there with it's heart warming design, taking up quite a bit of room. The sensible thing to do would be to leave it behind, but she decided to keep it for now.

After looking at it for quite a while, Rainbow put a hoof on her shoulder and said, "Sorry, Fluttershy."
Hastily, Fluttershy stuffed her canteen in her bag and zipped it closed, sniffling.

It would've been terrific to have Trixie join her on this mission. The experience would've certainly helped their friendship strengthen, and her great power was rallying.

Rainbow went through the checklist. "You got water?"
"Yes."
"Ammo?"
"Yes."
"Grenades?"
"Yes."

Having ticked everything, Rainbow articulated, "Well, I guess this is it." Affectionately, she wrapped her hooves around the shy Mare in a hug and wished, "Good luck... Watch yourself out there."
Hugging back, Fluttershy returned, "You be careful too now."

The two friends withdrew and shared a glance before turning their backs to each other; Rainbow entering the cockpit to lower the gangplank, and Fluttershy facing that gangplank, ready to embark on her journey through the spooky swamp.

Once the ramp came down with a splash, putrid, moist air came billowing into the Pelican's troop bay. Fluttershy wrinkled her muzzle with the nauseating stench and marched forwards, out into the pouring rain.

Stepping off the metal ramp, the muddy swamp water sploshed up her armoured legs. It was strangely warm, like she was paddling in fresh blood.

She couldn't begin to imagine how Rarity must have reacted. The muck, the water, the gasses; these were all things the purple maned Unicorn detested.

A tremendous roar spread around the swamp, jumping Fluttershy's heart. Rainbow brought the Pelican's noisy thrusters to life and sent the VTOL into a climb. The water was pressed flat under the drop ship's belly and the liquid wisped under the pressure of the powerful jets.

Over the radio, Rainbow said, "I'll guide you as best I can, but it's really hard to see in all this fog."
Fluttershy watched as the Pelican's altitude increased and the whole craft wobbled in the extreme weather, pushing its way up through the moist foliage.
"I'm relying mostly on radar."

Facing the other Pelican that had crashed, Fluttershy waded her way through the water. She coughed feebly with the thick, humid air that intruded her petite snout.

"Fluttershy, you still there?" pondered Rainbow having not received an answer.
Acknowledging, Fluttershy responded, "I'm still here. Aha-aha! Arg!" She began hacking in the swampy odour.
"Ok good," Rainbow sighed with relief. "I'm picking up Covenant, but they're quite a ways off. I'll let you know if it gets serious," informed the pilot, eyeing the red dots on her radar. She then proposed, "You should search the crash site. See if there's any clues."
Fluttershy flinched at the sound of a twig snapping.
She froze for a good few seconds before replying, "... Um, yes, Rainbow. I'll do that now."

Squelching her way out of the water, Fluttershy came up on a springy bank and brushed the leaves and lilies off her legs.

The crashed Pelican was a lot more identifiable now, and as Fluttershy drew closer to it, her ears pricked up at the sound of hurried footsteps running by. Petrified, she stood stiff and darted her head this way and that, focusing on the surrounding trees. She knew where Rainbow was coming from when she said she was being watched.

Tremulously, the jittery Mare spoke through her collar mic, "Um, Rainbow? A-are you sure the Covenant are a ways off?"
"Positive," she affirmed. "Why?"
After four seconds of nothing but the pattering of the rain, Fluttershy squeaked, "No reason."

Unsettled, Fluttershy hurried under the shelter of the crashed Pelican's tail, where she found a scattering of crates. One of the crates had been cracked open, and had spewed its contents out onto the moist earth: An M90 shotgun, identical to the one Applejack used, and a few cases of eight gauge shells.

"Ya see anything, Fluttershy?" Rainbow's voice fizzed over the radio.
The Pony on the ground reported, "Well, there's a shotgun, and some shells, but-" She pivoted, and came up close and personal with the bloodied corpse of a Pegasus Stallion. "Gah!"
"What is it?!" implored Rainbow urgently.

The slaughtered Stallion was slumped on top of a moss covered rock. Burgundy blood stains crept over him and snaked down the rock like roots, forming a red mote on the floor. There were no visible plasma burns, stab wounds or blast scars on his pale blue body. It was likely he died in the crash.

Horrified, Fluttershy's eyes were bolted to the body, and she panted in anxiety.
"Talk to me, Fluttershy!" Rainbow pleaded from the circling Pelican.
Fluttershy began to weep a little. "Oh, oh Rainbow Dash! There... there's a dead body right here!"
"Oh no! It's not Rarity or Applejack is it?!"
Sniffling, Fluttershy swallowed and answered, "N-no."
To herself, Rainbow whispered, "Oh, phew," and then droned, "Still bad news, but at least it's not them. Just gather up that shotgun and its ammo, ok. I've used a shotgun before. Trust me; they're very effective."
Trying to keep the unfortunate Stallion out of her vision, Fluttershy quivered, "Ok," and got to work salvaging the crash site.

Giving up some of her MA5B ammo, Fluttershy filled her saddle bag with a decent amount of eight gauge shells. With the assault rifle attached to her mechanical arm, she slung the shotgun between her saddle bag and herself and entered the crashed Pelican's troop bay.

"Keep searching the wreckage," instructed Rainbow. "And don't worry about the Covenant; they're all busy doing something."
What could the Covenant be busy doing here? the shy wondered.
If Rainbow didn't receive an answer, she would grow restless, Fluttershy noticed. Keeping this in mind, she spoke softly, "Ok, I'll see what I can find."

The metal deck of the Pelican's troop bay was cracked and dented, and the door to the cockpit was jammed half open. With a little help from her state of the art armour, Fluttershy was able to push the door aside and squeeze her way into the pilot's quarters.

Inside the cockpit, the rain filtered in via the smashed windscreen, dampening the two seats and ruining the controls. The nose of the aircraft had come up against a tree, and a leafy branch invaded the vehicle.

Conducting a thorough investigation, the blue eyed Mare discovered a small, portable coms system tucked away under the dashboard, safe from the weather.

"There's a radio here," Fluttershy informed Rainbow, sounding unintentionally vacant. "I think it still works."
"Alright," Rainbow pronounced back. "There any messages?"

Fluttershy got up on hind legs to pick up the clunky metal box. She ogled the various different buttons on the face of the radio, no idea what to do. She knew the triangular button meant "play," so she pushed it with her nose and was startled by a loud crack of static from its single, square speaker.

"Ah!" she yelped, holding the device out in front of her, mindful to keep it out of the rain.
"What is it?" Rainbow asked curiously over the buzzing static. "Is there a message?"
There was a message, and it began to play the moment Rainbow stopped talking.

"Howdy. This is Staff Sergeant Applejack o' the UPSC. We came in search of... ugh... treasure... but our Pelican crashed on account o' something jamming the thrusters."
Applejack! The last time they'd heard Applejack's voice was back when they were on the Truth and Reconciliation, but it felt like forever.

A new voice entered the broadcast, and Fluttershy had difficulty deciphering it.
"Applejack! Come on! We need to move!"
"I'll be with ya in a sec, y'all!"

Since it was an audio message, there was no way to see who else was with Applejack when she'd recorded it. There was also no facial expressions or body language to read, so Fluttershy let her imagination come up with all that.

"Applejack, what are you doing?"
Rarity! Rarity had been standing right here with Applejack! It felt so good to hear their voices, but then Fluttershy remembered it was a message that had been recorded some time ago. Things could have gone majorly down hill from then.

Answering Rarity, Applejack said, "I'm leavin' a message so that if anypony comes to look for us, they'll be left in no doubt."
"I doubt I'll last another second in this icky swamp. Urg! There's mud everywhere!"
Ah Rarity. Always fussing about mud. Fluttershy grinned for a fraction of a second.

The audio continued.
"Well ya should o' thought about that before you decided to come down here."
"I knew what I was getting myself into, Applejack. And I also knew that it would so be worth it."
"How can ya' be so sure? None of us have even seen this treasure yet. What if there is no treasure?"
"Babs said there would be treasure, and thus, we shall claim it!"
"Babs? Y'mean that little Grunt feller? He's a Covenant, Rarity! How can ya believe him so easily?"
"Applejack, I am fully aware of the possibility that this is a trick, but if there's a chance to obtain some priceless alien artefacts, you bet I'm going to take it!"
"... Ok Rarity. Yer the Captain... Lyra, what are you doin'?"
"This is Applejack... And this is Rarity. She's a Captain."
"... Ok, I gotta wrap this up. If anypony's listening, there's a structure a few hundred metres from this here wreckage. That's where we're headin'."
"Oh my gosh! What happened to So-"
And that's when the transmission, rather abruptly, ended.

Uncertainty washed over Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.
"A structure?" the blue Pegasus wondered aloud.
"Can you see a structure?"
"Not from this position; too much fog," Rainbow explained. "It might be where all the Covenant are hanging out at though."

Tucking the coms system back under the Pelican's dashboard, Fluttershy noticed a readout on a tiny screen. It said; "message recorded 12 hours ago."
Twelve hours! She was flabbergasted.
A lot could happen in twelve hours.

She grew doubtful. If there had been no word from AJ and Rarity in over twelve hours, what did that mean?

Getting down to business, Rainbow drawled, "Well, we got somewhere to go."
Fluttershy frowned at the coms system, the rain pelting her head and wetting her mane.
"You ready to move?"
Turning her back on the device and exiting the cockpit, Fluttershy affirmed, "Uh-huh."

Back outside, Fluttershy trudged through the sloppy mud, giving the dead Pony a wide berth. She slogged insecurely along through the torrential rain and eerie mist, listening to the sound of water hitting plants and buzzing insects whizzing aimlessly through the humid air.

The fog, combined with the rain, created a curtain of obscurity. Something, anything, whether it be a Covie or a Pony, could be standing right in front of her, and she wouldn't see them until she was a mere few feet away.

One thing she definitely didn't count on seeing, fading into view as she drew closer, was a downed Covenant drop ship. The massive purple Spirit leaned upside-down on the side of a steep hill, engulfed with brambles. Its two hulls had straddled a thick trunked tree, bending and splintering the wood.

Like the UPSC Pelican, the Covenant Spirit had spilt its cargo, and a number of dead Covies laid around the crash site in all manner of disturbing positions.

Fluttershy delineated the incident to her eye in the sky. "Um, Rainbow? There's a Covenant drop ship here."
"I know," came the return. "I told you about it."
"You did?"
"Yeah, I did," Rainbow repeated bluntly.
The forgetful Mare scratched her wet pink mane. "Oh, sorry. My memory isn't quite what it used to be."
"No need to be sorry, yo."

The rainbow maned Pony then stated, "Just so you know, we're coming up on the Covenant now."
Reminiscing about Twilight and how she'd walk her through the craziest of situations, Fluttershy trembled, "Oh, ok. Please walk me through this!"
"I will, I will," came Rainbow's reassurance.

Pressing onwards, Fluttershy rounded the massive Spirit, blue eyes gazing up at the thing in wonderment.
How did this happen?

She faced ahead and saw a huge, fallen tree. A large branch extended up from the sideways trunk and split up into two smaller branches. Leafy vines hung decoratively from the branches, and the silhouette of an Elite stood idle between them, holding what looked like a couple of wires.

"Aah!" Fluttershy yelped, bringing her MA5B to bare, when the shadowy figure vanished in the blink of an eye.
"What's up?" wondered the air support.
Fluttershy just stood shakily in the ferocious rain, doubting herself. Had she seen an Elite, or was her imagination getting the better of her? Right now, she didn't know which option she preferred.

Urgently, Rainbow checked, "Fluttershy, are you still there?"
"... I'm here, Rainbow," the yellow Mare eventually responded. She continued walking towards the fallen tree, her long tail dragging across the floor and gathering dirt. "I just thought I saw something, but I didn't, so it's fine."
"You sure you didn't see anything? Cos you're getting awfully close to the Covenant. They're in a pit on the other side of that gap."
What gap?
Fluttershy clambered up onto the trunk of the fallen tree and saw that it bridged a wide body of murky, rippling water.
Oh, that gap.

Steadily, she crossed the tree, fearful of the drink below. The tree's bark was slippery and covered in moss, and Fluttershy lost her hoofing. She ended up on her belly with her four legs wrapped tightly around the tree, and as she looked up, she saw two shaded figures in the rain filled mist.

She recognised them both as a Shade turret and an Elite. Just like before, the Elite appeared to be carrying wires in his left claw.

The Pegasus froze, praying that the Covies hadn't detected her, and snuggled up to the tree like the prettiest little urchin.

Shivering, she peeped up at the Covies, and witnessed the Elite shamble away, out of sight. She also realised that the Shade turret was unmanned.

With all threats no longer visible, Fluttershy resumed her undignified way forward, shuffling herself along the soggy tree trunk.

She knew she'd seen an Elite, but what was he doing carrying wire around with him? They were wires, right? It was hard to see in all the mist. Maybe it was rope to tie things down, like supplies... or hostages...

Spurred on by the idea, Fluttershy made it to the other side of the lagoon, her armour smeared in filth. The hairs of her tail were clogged with mud, and there were also a few splats of the stuff in her mane and under her chin.

"Great, you're on the other side now," announced Rainbow as she circled over in the Pelican.
What's so great about that?
"I see the entrance to a building too. It must be the structure Applejack was talking about."
Fluttershy looked up at the vacant Shade turret, inspecting it.

"The Covenant are defending it - no, wait," Rainbow interrupted herself. "... They're not defending it."
"Then what are they doing?" Fluttershy was confused. "Why else would they-"
"-They're aiming inside the building. Looks like they don't want someone to leave."

Remembering what Twilight had said about AJ and Rarity walking into a trap, Fluttershy swallowed the lump in her throat. Uh oh. They must be trapped inside.

Plainly, Fluttershy informed, "There's an empty Shade turret right here," wiping her hoof across its smooth, purple surface.
"Is there?" checked the pilot. "Cool. Er... yeah, use it... if you like."
If I like?

When working with Twilight, there was very rarely an "if you like." Twilight posted Ponies wherever she felt they would be most useful, regardless of how they felt.

And now here she was, being directed by the sentient Rainbow Dash, and she was been given choices. Fluttershy didn't know what to choose. Rain down hell in the Shade? Sneak past the Covies without fighting them? Test out her new shotgun? What was she to do?

Favouring stealth over violence, Fluttershy put away her rifle and whipped out the shotgun, just in case, and whispered over the radio, "I'm going to try and sneak past them," not sure if Twilight would approve.
"Thought you'd do that," Rainbow responded humorously. "I'll give you a heads up if any Covies get too close."

Hauling herself up to the top of a slope, Fluttershy had about as good a view as anypony could get in this weather. In the pit below, trees, bushes and various other plants sprouted out of the mushy ground, creating a creepy arena of nature.

Grunts of red and orange hid amongst the foliage, plasma pistols and needlers at the ready. A number of Jackals possessing blue and orange shields were mixed in with the diminutive methane breathers.

To the right of the pit, Fluttershy spied the gaping entrance to an underground Forerunner facility, blue lights situated above, illuminating the area in front. Before the entrance, a twitchy Grunt sat on a Shade turret, facing inside the building.

Just as Fluttershy began her slippery way down the soaking embankment, gunfire came thundering out of the building and muzzle flashes dazzled her eyes.

"Woah! What's going on?!" Rainbow demanded. "Is that them?!"
Unable to think of who else could be firing UPSC ordinance at the Covenant, Fluttershy gasped, "I think so!"

In an attempt to hail the unseen Ponies, Rainbow hollered, "Rarity! Applejack! Come in!"
"I'll lend them a hoof," Fluttershy announced and made her uneasy way down the decline.

Grasping vines and plants in her teeth, Fluttershy lowered herself about half way down the slope, when the stalk in her mouth snapped and she slid down the mud, into the pit.

Coming to a jarring stop in a thorny bush, Fluttershy yelped with the sting, and poked her head out to witness a frag grenade detonate, blowing the active Shade and its operator to smithereens. The explosion shook leaves from the trees and sent soggy debris flying up into the air to fall down with the rest of the rain.

In the thorny shrubbery, Fluttershy's armour offered her body protection from the nasty little spikes. However, she had no helmet, and her face was scratched raw as she poked cautiously out of the brambles and surveyed the swamp around her.

A panicking Grunt came running her way, squealing and flailing his arms in the air. With the brambles tugging at the barrel of the shotgun, Fluttershy pulled the trigger, and was subsequently deafened by the savage buckshot.

As for the Grunt, a portion of his body was converted into gloopy blue wallpaper paste, and what was left of him fell to the mud with a splosh. Repulsion and guilt washed over the young Mare.

"Run away!" cried another Grunt, fleeing through the trees with the rest of the aliens and retreating up a steep slope.
Fluttershy observed as all the Grunts and Jackals charged straight up the hill and disappeared over its apex.

Well this was certainly strange. The Covenant had just run away! It wasn't like them. Grunts were scared easily, and could be intimidated into fleeing, but when they were in a sizable pack, and with Jackals at the aid, they would stand and fight. So what had them so spooked?

To find out, Fluttershy dragged herself out of the thorns, came up short as her hind leg was entangled in the brambles, yanked it free, and paced up to the entrance of the Forerunner facility.

"Hahaha! Check it out!" Rainbow laughed. "The Covenant are retreating!"

Fluttershy stood before the facility. Her face was scratched and sore, and her mane and tail were covered in mud.

The building's entrance looked like a gaping mouth, ready to swallow anyone who got close. The two lights above it were piercing blue eyes, watching over the swamp and judging all who stood before them.

The chattering gunfire had stopped completely, allowing the sound of the rain to fill Fluttershy's ears.

Also entering Fluttershy's ears was Rainbow's voice. "Uh, Fluttershy? I saw the muzzle flashes, and I saw the Covenant get owned by them, but..." the pilot paused to scratch her mane and adjust her headset. "... I never picked up any friendly contacts on my radar."
"No friendlies?" Fluttershy puzzled. "But then who scared the Covenant away?"

"Do you see anypony in there?"
Focusing her eyes inside the structure, Fluttershy couldn't see anypony at all.
Steadily, she set off walking into the yawning mouth of Forerunner metal. "I'll have a look."

Out of the harsh rain and toxic air, Fluttershy announced her presence inside the building. "Hello?"
... There was no answer.

She examined the interior of the facility. The metal floor declined shallowly and levelled out into a wide open room. A couple of support columns halved the ramp, and two more columns in the middle of the room stretched up to the ceiling, bracketing a long, octagonal hole that lead down into blackness.

Next to that hole, a Forerunner control panel shimmered away, indicating an elevator.

The Covenant had set up shop in this chamber, and their muddy boot prints lead the way to a cluster of purple crates.

Observing the mud, Fluttershy identified horseshoe prints, leading into the chamber and disappearing at the central hole. Following those horseshoe prints, was a long line of muck that trailed along like a snake... Like rope being carried by an Elite.

Fluttershy was getting incredibly freaked out. Why were there no Ponies here? What did the Elite have planned with his rope? Her imagination was running wild, and she had to switch herself off for a moment before she drove herself berserk.

"Hellooo?!" she called out a second time, praying for somepony to answer her.
... But there was nothing.

"Oh Rainbow, I can't find anypony," she whimpered over the coms, worried sick.
"There's no pony there? Then what happened?" puzzled Rainbow.
Fluttershy gazed up and around the spacious chamber, seeing if there were any clues on the ceiling. "I haven't a clue."

After a while, Rainbow stated, "We gotta keep searching. Can you get any deeper inside?"
Fluttershy shook herself like a dog, mud flying off her mane and tail and freckling the Forerunner metal.
Bringing a cloth up to the bleeding scratch marks on her face, she responded, "Well, I could, but - waa!"
The sudden sound of groaning metal came as a shock to the frightened Mare.
"Fluttershy, what is it?" Rainbow desperately inquired. "Fluttershy?!"

Before the yellow Mare, an elevator platform surfaced neatly in the shaft, and on it, there was... no one... No Ponies or Covies or anything.

"Oh. H-how strange," remarked the pink maned Pegasus, creeped out. "An elevator just surfaced right in front of me." Gulp. "With no one on it."
Thinking hard, Rainbow theorised, "Maybe somepony sent it up for you."
"Um, maybe, but..." Fluttershy didn't think that idea really fit.

Stepping up onto the platform and its glass floor, she declared, "Ok, I'm going to use this elevator."
"Alright," Rainbow nodded. "Just so you know, I can't see anything underground. I can pick out heat signatures with my radar, but that's about it."
Unnerved by the gloom under the platform's glass floor, Fluttershy optimised, "Oh, ok. That helps better than nothing at all, I guess."

Before touching the Forerunner control panel, Fluttershy stared out at the swamp she was leaving behind. The rain was really coming down hard, and the pattering noise it made had been providing an eerie ambience.

"Can you activate the elevator without Twilight?" pondered Rainbow.
Scanning the familiar light display, Fluttershy articulated, "I think so. I just have to remember..." Her voice difted as she searched her memory.

Feeling pretty sure of herself, she pressed a tiny white dot of light at the bottom of the display, and her stomach faltered as the whole platform rose out of its gravity locks and creaked down the shaft.

"Ah! I'm going down!" she exclaimed, staring up at the shrinking ceiling.
Rainbow's response was quite alarming. "Fluttershy, you're breaking up."
"Rainbow, can you hear me?!" she implored desperately, dreading the idea of being stuck in the Forerunner complex with no pony to talk to, to reassure her.

Static came oozing out of her speaker, and Rainbow's fragmented voice buzzed behind it, barely audible. "... -lutter... -I ca... -a... -hink that I..."
"Rainbow! Rainbow, please answer me!" the terrified Mare pleaded. "Please answer me, Rainbow!"
Rainbow didn't answer her. The signal had been lost.

"Rainbow! Nooo!" She curled up on the descending platform as the darkness consumed her.

Reduced to tears, she whimpered, "Rainbow, come in... Rainbow, come in!"
It was no use; she was gone.
"No-ho-ho-hoo! P-please don't leave me... Please answer me."

In the darkness, the elevator scraped to a halt, the lonely little Pony balled up on its centre.
> Chapter 24: Step Aside, Let the Mare Go Through
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy looked around. All she could see were shadows. All she could hear was her own raspy breath. If she didn't know any better, she'd say she was alone.

Nether the less, she took heed as she tip-hoofed off the elevator and across the metal floor.

She stopped, debating whether or not to just turn back, hop on the lift, and ride it back up to the swamp where she could communicate with Rainbow Dash. She really needed a friend right now.

However, as she contemplated, she heard a hushed shuffling come from somewhere in front of her. It startled her, but she didn't scream. She almost did, but instead, she just bit her bottom lip and froze in place. She may have been a statue on the outside, but inside, her heart was beating a million times a minute.

The wall in front of her stood separate to the main wall of the lift chamber, and that's where the noise came from. Close.

What was the petrified Mare to do? Turn and flee? Call "hello?" Go in guns blazing? The noise could've been anything. It could've even been Applejack and Rarity.

With that in mind, Fluttershy opted not to turn and flee, or go in guns blazing, but she didn't try communicating either. There was still the possibility of there being Covenant behind that wall, so she crept over as silent as a mouse, and peeked around.

Immediately, she receded back around the wall, teeth coming down on her lip and sweat beading her head. On the other side of the wall, there was a door, and something was clustered around it... They weren't Ponies.

Huddled around the compact door, the Grunts and Jackals shivered, eyes darting all over the place. None of them had caught sight of the pink maned Pony though, which meant Fluttershy still had the element of surprise.

A hollow rolling sound made the Grunts flinch. It sounded like a bowling ball rolling slowly along, only on a smaller scale.

Looking down, one of the rookie Grunts widened his eyes at the little green "bowling ball," and barely had enough time to squeal before it exploded and sent the whole congregation flying.

With the cramped quarters blackened and blood stained, Fluttershy took another peek and surveyed the carnage. Her frag grenade had done the trick, so she paced onto the blast scarred deck and approached the door. Almost tripping over a severed Jackal's arm, she squirmed and stepped tenderly over it.

Before she touched the door controls, she got back to contemplating whether or not to go back. She had just successfully wiped out an entire squad of Covies, single hoofed, with no directions from Twilight or Rainbow. Could she keep this up? Should she explore deeper into the facility? Maybe she'd find her friends. Either way, she was scared to the bone, and the more she debated, the more time passed. Time that a trio of Jackals on the other side of the door used to run up and make their surprise appearance.

"Aaaah!" she screeched, turning her head away as she raised her shotgun, deafening herself by sending one devastating buckshot on its way.
Before the first Jackal could duck behind his orange shield, he was mutilated by the ball bearings, and his gore-streaked body was flung to the floor.

Instantly, the two blue shielded rookies rolled out of the way in opposite directions and crouched behind their circular gauntlets, firing their plasma pistols at the frightened Mare.

That was it; Fluttershy decided to evacuate the brooding facility. However, before she could run, a plasma grenade sailed up from a lower floor, behind the Jackals, arced through the narrow doorway and landed right underneath her.

Shrieking with panic, she dove away and scrambled forwards, unintentionally between the two Jackals. As the grenade detonated with a tremendous BOOM, Fluttershy rolled and blasted the left hand off the Jackal to her right.

As he fell and wailed in pain, the Jackal to her left sprinted and smacked Fluttershy over the head with his shield. In terms of strength, Jackals were roughly at the same level as Ponies, and a small portion of Fluttershy's shields was drained.

Before the yellow Pegasus could get up, the bird-like biped pinned her to the ground with a boot and squawked angrily into her ear. She winced as the alien's bad breath found her nose and his icky spittle found her cheek.

Luminous green light built up around the tip of the rookie Jackal's plasma pistol and bathed their bodies in a vibrant glow. He was overcharging the thing. One overcharged bolt of plasma would be enough to completely drain her shields, so she flailed madly under the evil alien, screaming, desperate to be free.

Fortunately, she was able to slip out from under the Covie's boot and flip him like a pancake. Unfortunately, he managed to get a grasp of her tail, and he hung from it over the edge of the balcony they were on. Below, the bottom floor wasn't that far down, but a bunch more Covenant commanded it.

The young Mare squealed, feeling the weight of the Covenant soldier pulling her down and stretching her tail. Shining bright and green, the overcharged orb of plasma was still raring to be fired, and as the Jackal lifted his pistol, Fluttershy swivelled her shotgun. It was a race, and it was interrupted by the other rookie Jackal who'd lost his hand. He staggered over and stomped down hard on Fluttershy's hooves.

With an abrupt yelp, Fluttershy was plucked from the balcony, and she and her Jackal trailer fell to the floor below.

Halving the floor, a built in trench ran from one end of the chamber to the other. It kinda looked like a storm drain. Whatever it was, the Pony and the Jackal landed in it, the latter breaking the former's fall.

Under Fluttershy's weight, the biped soldier accidently fired his overcharged plasma pistol, directly into his own face. His features burned off and dropped to the floor in bubbling blobs like a melting polythene bag. It was a gross sight, and one that Fluttershy had to turn away from, gipping.

However, there was no time to be squeamish as the Covenant on the floor came hurrying up to line the top of the trench.

As plasma and needles came down on her in a rainbow coloured shower, the quivering Mare backed up behind a thin support column and made use of a grenade. She just so happened to pull a plasma grenade out of her bag, and as she ducked around the pillar, she never witnessed it stick to a Grunt's leg and lay waste to the entirety of the squad.

The dust settled, and as Fluttershy's shields recharged in a flurry of golden motes, she spied shakily around her cover at the remains of the Covenant hanging over the long pit. The only thing breaking the silence was the wounded Jackal above, who proceeded to moan in anguish and pain. He was miserable, and it was all her fault.

She stepped out of the gutter and up onto the level floor, her hooves ringing against the surface. She looked up to see the Jackal getting all teary eyed and clutching his severed wrist.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she apologised, knowing Twilight would tell her not to. "I didn't want to hurt you. I just... If you can come down here, I might be able to help you... if you'll let me."

Being alone with the Covenant gave her the opportunity to try to communicate with them, instead of just shooting them all the time. Perhaps treating this Jackal's wound and making friends with him would be the start of a peaceful end to the war.

Unfortunately, the Jackal didn't feel the same way.
"Em pleh uye tel I doo iy?" he cried, pointing a finger. "Em ot sith did uye! Sd'nerf im dellik uye! Fo zub!" And with that, he turned to exit, into the lift chamber, clutching his bleeding wrist.
Fluttershy hadn't a clue what he'd just said, but his tone was clear, and she could understand the alien's refusal.
Poor guy, she sympathised, feeling very guilty. I'm sorry.

Once she'd reloaded the shotgun, scavenged the Covie corpses for grenades and taken a sip of water, the young Pegasus searched around. The door to the elevator that the sad Jackal had just gone through was way up on the balcony, out of reach. Purple Covenant crates were scattered messily on the floor at the far end, like they had just been thrown into position. And two compact doors bracketed the chamber; one open, one locked.

Seeing no obvious way to get back up to the balcony, Fluttershy sighed and grudgingly trudged over to the one open door, exploring the complex further.
I guess I don't have a choice.

Behind the door, Fluttershy had two choices; right or left. Opting to go left, she rounded a square piece of architecture and found that it didn't really matter which direction she chose; they both re-connected at the next door.

On the other side of that door, a large chamber lit up by sickly green light waited for her. A sizable holding tank dominated the centre, an inaccessible balcony ran along the perimeter of the chamber, and three nervous looking Jackals stood around the next door.
"Oh no," Fluttershy whispered to herself.
More killing.

The Jackals were easy. It only took a small expenditure of MA5B ammo to put them all down. Fluttershy still hated herself for it though. It was odd for the Covenant to be this unprepared... or scared.
I wonder what they're afraid of, she thought, staring at the floor just next to their bullet ridden corpses.

Whatever had the Covenant so spooked, it was probably responsible for the mess that greeted her on the other side of the door.

Just like before, she was given the choice to go left or right... or backwards, which was where she really wanted to go. Vivid Grunt blood turned the silvery metal blue, and the twisted, sliced up carcass of the methane breather sat atop a mountain of spilt organs. Fluttershy had never seen so much blood in one place, and she put a hoof over her mouth to stop whatever she felt coming up. It was as if the corridor had been painted.

It stunk too. Stunk of gore and methane; two foul odours that, when combined, created the worst stench in the universe.

Backwards was her preferred direction, but she knew there was no turning back now, so against her will, she forced herself to creep down the left, clean route. She shuddered, grossed out, knowing the mess was still behind her.

Traveling through the confining corridor, the fearful Pegasus came to the next door and tapped it open.

All was ghostly and quiet in the Forerunner chamber. There were no signs of life, Covenant or otherwise. Nothing but a constant humming and what sounded like breeze in a cave reverberated around the cold quarters.

Fluttershy had entered the chamber from a side door. She looked around for trouble, but found no immediate threat.

A gutter, identical to the one she'd found two chambers ago, cut across the metal deck before her. Columns stood strong, holding up two separate balconies at both ends of the room.

Bracketing the central gutter, were two, unmanned Covenant Shade turrets. They stood on their three legs, facing across the room at a solid metal wall.

Behind those Shades was another compact door. It was situated on a platform hovering over the gutter. It was separate yet perfectly level with the main floor, and sandwiched by a couple of struts.

A Covenant crate had fallen over below the platform, spilling its cargo of needler ammo all over the metal grating. The ammo cartridges were very peculiar. They just looked like pink balls that glowed from within. A needler weapon had its crystal shards on show on the top of its carapace. The crystals laying in the gutter however were just clumps of shiny pink.

The bright pink reminded Fluttershy of Pinkie Pie, and she pondered where the pink one had vanished to, and when she'd see her again. If she'd see her again. It was as if Halo was a living being, and it had a plan to torture Fluttershy by taking her friends away and forcing her to explore its bowels by herself.

Fluttershy's hooves clopped solidly on the metal floor as she stepped out into the dead room. She came across more blue Grunt blood leaking from one of the Shades and down into the gutter. There wasn't nearly as much blood as there was in the corridor earlier, but still enough to make the shy bring a hoof to her mouth in fret. Maybe that's what the gutters were for; draining the blood that would inevitably be spilled.

Peering down disgustedly at the blood, Fluttershy realised something... there was no body. She wondered if the Grunt that had bled the blood had survived whatever had caused him to bleed, but looking around, she couldn't see any footprints or evidence to back that up. Mysterious.

Touring further into the Forerunner complex for Applejack and Rarity, Fluttershy put some distance between herself and the miniature platform over the gutter, and galloped at it. Reaching the edge of the gutter, she sent all her strength to her back legs, and propelled herself through the air to come to a decent landing before the only open door.

She slid it open, and found herself in the usual narrow tunnels that split and re-joined each other in a square. She opted to go right, and when she opened the door at the other end, she was most unready for what waited for her on the other side.

BANG, went the M6D pistol as it discharged a round into the wall just to the side of Fluttershy. The yellow Mare yelped and receded back into the corridor.

"Stay back!" a shrill, female voice cried from the chamber.
A second bullet was fired from the magnum, and it chipped a hole into the wall.
"Stay back! I'll shoot you if I have to! Don't think I won't, cos I will! I will!"
The voice was fragmented and full of terror.

Reasoning, Fluttershy begged, "Oh, please stop firing! I need to talk to you! Please let me talk to you!"
The crazed Pony wasn't having any of it, and she fired another round into the corridor. "Oh no! No no! I won't let you! You're not turning me into one of those things! Go away!"
BANG!
"Leave me alone!"
BANG!
"Find your own hiding place!"

Fluttershy couldn't believe it. She was being shot at by her own kind! She couldn't judge the Pony too harshly though; something had driven her mad, and all she needed was to be calmed down. Some reassurance. Fluttershy wouldn't mind a little reassurance herself.

Trying to settle the disturbed Mare's nerves, Fluttershy persuaded, "Oh, if you could just let me talk to you. I can help you. And you can help me."
"I'm not falling for that!" wailed the unstable Mare. "I'm not letting you in! I'm not letting you anywhere near me!"
"But, I'm a Pony just like you," Fluttershy informed, sticking her head out as unthreatening as possible, proving her point.
The pale cyan Unicorn with a light two tone mane sat opposite her wasn't taking any chances though.

A gunshot rang out with a resonating BANG, and Fluttershy was rocked back as the bullet hit her square in the eye. She would've died were it not for her shields.

"Aah!" she screamed with shock as she hid away in the corridor. "Y... y... you shot me!"
"Darn right I did!" spat the Unicorn fiercely. "I'll do it again if you show yourself! Leave me alone! You horrid monster!"
The mad Mare's words hurt more than the bullet.
"But... but... how could you?" whimpered Fluttershy, tearing up.
The cyan Unicorn just broke into sobs. "Go awaaay! Leave me alooone! Waa-aha-aha-ahaah! Aaarr!"

This Pony's very presence was an indicator that she was on the right track.
"I have to proceed," she told herself, waiting for her shields to recharge. "I have to proceed."
"Proceed somewhere else!" bellowed the edgy soldier. She then decided to empty her lungs with a piercing scream, as well as fire another bullet into the corridor.

She would've fired more, but when she pulled the trigger again, all it did was click. Empty. Fluttershy's ears caught the sound of it; now was her chance.

Picking up the sound of another magazine being fed into the M6D, Fluttershy shouted, "No!" and charged out at her fellow equine.

Before the cyan whacko could resume fire, Fluttershy snatched the pistol out of her magical grip with her teeth and put away her shotgun so she could keep the small firearm secured to the mechanical arm of her soldier saddle.

Desperate for her gun back, the Unicorn Mare squirmed on the blood stained floor and powered up her horn, pulling on the robotic arm. Her magic wasn't powerful enough though, and she was unable to retrieve her weapon.

"Stop that right now!" demanded Fluttershy, astonished by her own courage. "I am not your enemy!"
The Unicorn on the floor snarled, spittle coming off her lips. "You will be! You'll turn, just like everypony else!"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Oh, you don't know, do you? You don't know." The cyan Mare leaned forward, her light orange eyes boring deep into Fluttershy's blue ones. "You'll find out soon enough."

Perplexed as to what the insane Mare was on about, Fluttershy simply began, "Listen, um... what's your name?"
"They call me Lyra," said Lyra, leaning back against the metal pillar, a Covenant crate just next to her.
"Nice to meet you, Lyra. I... I'm Fluttershy," the yellow Pegasus introduced herself in a friendly manner. 

"Listen... Lyra... I... I need your help. I'm looking for Applejack, Rarity, you and the rest of your team. If... if you could come with me... I'd be very grateful, but, if you'd rather not come with me, then, I guess that's ok too," Fluttershy spoke in a soft voice, trying to soothe the fear crazed Lyra. "Do you know where they might be?"
"Where they might be? Bwaha - Where they might be - Aahahahahahaha!" Lyra laughed with insanity. "I like how you said that, as if there's still hope."
Well that was melodramatic.

Loudly, Lyra blathered, "Don't you get it?! There is no escape! We are all trapped down here."
"No! There's an elevator! We can ride it to the surface! There's a Pelican waiting for us... probably," Fluttershy assured, wondering if Rainbow was still somewhere above them, trying to contact her.

"Probably? Even you know your Pelican is as good as scrap!" Lyra pointed at her accusingly. "You saw the wreckages!"
Fluttershy shook her head. "No! Rainbow Dash is - wait," she came up short upon realising what Lyra had just said. "How do you know I saw the wreckages?"
The wreckages being referred to were the crashed drop ships that Fluttershy had discovered in the swamp above. One Pelican and one Spirit.

"We crashed here!" shouted the Unicorn, throwing her hooves up. "... The Covenant crashed here too... And now all of us are doomed," she moaned despairingly, facing up with her eyes closed.

"Oh, we can't be that doomed," Fluttershy surmised, shrugging. "I fought my way down here all by myself. The Covenant were hardly a-"
"-The Covenant?" questioned Lyra rhetorically, looking at Fluttershy like she was stupid. "We're trapped down here, and your biggest concern is the Covenant?!"
Thinking of her friends, Fluttershy began, "Actually, I'm more concerned that-"
"-Ahahahahaha! Who cares about the Covenant?!" Lyra interrupted, laughing manically and holding her sides. "No! No, no, no! The Covenant aint got nothing. The Covenant did not do this!" She gestured around the surrounding chamber.

Fluttershy hadn't got a good look around yet, and she was shocked to see such destruction surrounding her. Multiple blast scars had been introduced to the deck and walls, along with massive blood stains from Ponies and Covenant. Bullet holes and plasma burns stitched lines into the ruined Forerunner architecture, and the surrounding balcony had collapsed in the far left corner. In that corner, a fire burned away, singeing the metal and turning the corpses of Ponies and Covies into crispy black skeletons.

Like one of the previous chambers, this one had a glass holding tank in its centre, and that glass had smashed, clumps of rotten skin hanging from the shards.

It was like a nightmare, and Fluttershy just wanted to wake up. She gawped around at the devastation, perplexed as to what had happened.

Gulping, the Pegasus started to ask, "Um... what happen-"
"-Or this," Lyra interrupted, lifting her right hind leg with her front hooves.
She gritted her teeth with agony as she exposed a horrific bite wound on her leg. She had kept it hidden under her other leg until now, and Fluttershy could see scraps of flesh dangling from the missing chunk. Even more alarmingly, she could see a gap in her bone where it had been bitten away, and the two pieces scraped against each other inside Lyra's ravaged leg.

Despite the bite wound, Lyra didn't give into the pain, and she winced as tears cut cracks down her grimy face.

As Fluttershy's eyes were fixated to the huge gap in the Unicorn's leg, Lyra plonked the leg down like a heavy log and stated, "Ponies did this!"
Shocked, Fluttershy gasped, "Ponies?! But I-"
"-You and anypony else in this Celestia forsaken heeeck hooole!" Lyra howled like a wolf at full moon, and blood spat from her parched lips.

Wishing to be quiet in the haunted facility, Fluttershy urged, "L-Lyra, please, I-"
"-You should have seen them," the twitchy Mare butt in again, pushing one widened, bloodshot eye into Fluttershy's face. "You should have heard them." She slumped back and stared longingly up at the underside of the balcony in a daze. "Their bodies... lying on the floor... oceans of blood... And then... they got up."

Listening on in fascination, Fluttershy took out her med-kit and glanced back and forth between it and the mumbling Lyra.
"Some of them... they grew hands," she whimpered with a sniff. "... They grew hands!"
She'd caught Fluttershy's attention, and the yellow Mare looked bewilderingly at her.
"I don't want hands anymore. Oh no! No, no! Not at that price! Not at that price!"
You wanted hands? Fluttershy wondered in her head.

Not fully understanding, and still not liking her volume, Fluttershy grated, "I don't understand. Please-"
"-Oh, you'll understand soon enough, Fluttershy," a creepy grin creased Lyra's scuffed, cyan coated face from ear to ear, and Fluttershy got the shivers when she pronounced her name.

Narrowing her orange eyes, Lyra uttered in a deep voice, "Now if you'll excuse me, I refuse to live in the same universe as these monsters!"
Catching Fluttershy off guard, she beamed up her horn and yanked the pistol off the yellow one's mechanical arm. She cackled as she pressed the barrel against the side of her head.
Fluttershy lunged at her. "Lyra! No! Don't-"
-BANG! ...

... Fluttershy was appalled. She took a deep inhale and brought a hoof to her gaping mouth.
"... Oh my gosh," she breathed in disbelief. Breaking down, she wailed, "... Oh my go-ho-ho-hosh! " Abandoning her med-kit, she curled up on the ground before the dead Lyra, her weeping echoing around the desolate room of destruction.

In fear and sorrow, she cried for just under a minute... then it was time to push on.

She brought herself to her trembling hoovesies and wiped the tears from her face. With the med-pack back in her saddle bag and the shotgun wielded once more, she left the defunct Lyra slumped against the wall, and paced out into the battle scarred chamber.

"I... have to find Rarity... and Applejack..." she whispered to herself as she traversed the damaged metal deck. "... I... I have to continue..."

She was startled to come into contact with something loose at her hoof. Peering down, it turned out to be nothing more than an abandoned plasma rifle laying beside the sea of blue, purple and red blood. She also picked out a plasma pistol and an MA5B assault rifle discarded carelessly on the blood soaked floor.

Giving the blood a wide berth, she continued to support herself. "I can do this... There is still hope... There is still hope."
It was hard to convince herself, and she squeaked with misery as she came up to the raging fire.

What had Lyra seen that had pushed her so far over the edge? What had inflicted that horrible bite wound on her leg? What had happened in this destroyed chamber? The mysteries were piling themselves up high in Fluttershy's mind, and the more she thought about them, the more she started to believe that the whole mission was a farce.

She'd gotten a gander around the room, and the way she saw it, there was no other way to proceed on the bottom level, leaving only the top level to be explored. However, the only way to get up there was to climb the burning scrap heap, and as determined as she was to find her friends, she was a little nervous about walking through fire. She knew however, her Spartan armour would offer her protection from the flickering flames.

Hastily, she leapt up onto the blackened metal, and the flames immediately wrapped themselves around her and burned away at her shields. She could feel the intense heat, and her shields shimmered gold as the fire began to lower them.

Before they could be popped, Fluttershy took another courageous leap and ended up dangling over the swirling inferno. Her front hooves scrambled to lift her up onto the broken balcony and slipped in a thick liquid that had been spilt.

Fluttershy caught a glimpse of the liquid on her hoof, and found that it was some sort of slimy, olive green substance that reeked of something that could only be described as indescribable. She wrinkled her muzzle and gagged with the stench, doing her best to keep her sandwich down, and hauled herself up onto the higher deck.

Quickly galloping to a spot away from the fire, she pulled out a cloth to wipe the sickly green mucus off her hooves, threw the cloth away, and wondered what on earth that stuff was.

With her hooves clean... ish... she wiped the sweat from her forehead, took a sip of water, noting that it was a little warmer, and trotted on her way along the elevation as her shields recharged. And then it hit her... In the chamber, there was blood, there was weapons, but besides the crispy fried skeletons and Lyra, there were no bodies.

She came to another small door above the one she'd used to enter the chamber, and she shuddered knowing that Lyra's body was somewhere directly below her. Banishing her discomfort, and failing at it, she tapped the door open and journeyed through the same old split corridor layout, only this time, the floor was glass, and she could see the lower level under her hooves.

Exiting the tunnels, the pink maned Pegasus re-emerged in the chamber with the gutter, the Shade turrets, and the Grunt blood, only this time she was on the upper level. On the balcony with her, there was a Forerunner control panel, and Fluttershy spied another one on the opposite balcony.

Wondering if Twilight would tell her to activate it, and seeing that the only open door she hadn't been through was on the opposite balcony, Fluttershy placed her front hooves on the shifting lights and puzzled over how to use them.

The controls were all alien to her, and there was no obvious indication how to activate whatever she would be activating. Judging from the two separate balconies and the activation panels on each side, she'd take a guess that she was trying to extend a bridge.

Trying to recall the bridge of hard light that she had activated with Twilight and Applejack back in the meadows, she unsurely hovered a hoof over an orange button to the lower left, and pushed it.

A sudden cling startled her, and she witnessed a narrow footbridge of solid blue light materialize before her, connecting the two balconies.

Double checking that it was solid, she stomped a hoof three times on the shimmering girder of light, and once she was fairly satisfied that she would be safe, she set off trotting over it, looking down at the gutter beneath.

She soon made it to the other side, and since she was feeling a little paranoid, she touched the controls to make the bridge disappear.
Good, she thought, watching the beautiful bridge fade away. Now nothing can follow me.

With her back turned to the chamber, the lone Pegasus passed through a mini door and immediately entered a dark room with two ramps forming a V under a central metal canopy.

Opting to take the left ramp, she halted abruptly at the gruesome sight of a dead Pony, and a monumental pool of red blood joining it.

Fluttershy was truly afraid, and she had to try hard to stop her sandwich from coming back up again.

The Pony was a real mess. 'Twas a Unicorn Stallion with a teal coat and black hair. He had been gutted, and his intestines had spilled out into a pile on the bloody floor. Both his eyes were missing, and - no. Fluttershy couldn't look at him. It was too violent for her innocent little heart. Instead, she turned and galloped the other way, taking the right ramp, and even then she could still see a patch of his blood.

The grossed out Pegasus remembered Lyra, and how she took her own life. She'd been so afraid to wind up suffering the same fate as that poor Stallion, and Fluttershy couldn't blame her. If she had a choice between suicide and whatever happened to that Stallion, well, let's just say she'd take the less frightening option.

Speaking of the Stallion, what in Equestria had happened to him? Lyra said the Covenant weren't responsible, and when Fluttershy was at Halo's control centre, Twilight had mentioned the Covenant having another enemy. Could it be possible that the war was gaining a third faction? Some sort of brutish, cannibalistic tribe? Fluttershy didn't have a clue, but like Lyra said; she'd find out soon enough.

Now, as she stood in front of a Forerunner door with a UPSC gadget stuck on it, she got the dreadful feeling that she was about to meet her howling fate. The crashed drop ships, the jittery Covenant, the messed up corpses, the insane Lyra... it all lead to this.

The device fitted to the door was a UPSC hack box. It could be used by anypony to hack into any system. It was nowhere near as advanced as Twilight though, and it would've taken Applejack and Rarity some time to crack the door open.

Just as Fluttershy reached a hoof out to open the door, she was made jump by the stomach churning sound of slithering. She spun to face behind her, feeling eyes boring into her from every direction at once, but the noise faded away, and Fluttershy saw nothing at all.

The Mare's heart raced with suspense, and she panted heavily, eyes flashing this way and that, checking every nook and cranny. Shivering, she rotated to face the door again, swallowed, and quickly tapped it open.

The doors parted, and a corpse came falling through.
"Aaaahh!" screeched Fluttershy as the limp body came flopping down on top of her.
Huffing and puffing with a fragmenting voice, she hoisted the corpse off of her, backed up, and was sad to see it was another Pony.

The murdered Mare was a Crystal Pony, and she had a light blue coat and a purple mane and tail. Her eyes were closed peacefully, and she had suffered a shotgun blast to her abdomen.

Wait a minute... A shotgun blast?! Could Lyra have been right? Were the Ponies turning against each other? Applejack was almost always armed with a shotgun. Could she have done this? Why would Applejack shoot another Pony? It couldn't have been her. There had to be another explanation. Applejack would never do something so horrible.

Leaving the motionless Mare on the floor, Fluttershy entered the chamber, and boy was she in for a shock.

Blood. It was everywhere. Deep red Pony blood, painting the silver floor, and a million spent shell casings created a carpet. If there had been a lot of blood surrounding the dead Stallion earlier, there was a great deal more of the stuff wetting the floor in this chamber.

Would Fluttershy's sandwich make a return? ... No, she was able to keep it inside of her with a big gulp.

Darn, the gore stunk. It stunk out the whole room, but there was another stench as well. The same stench that Fluttershy's nose had been subjected to in the room that Lyra had been in. The sloppy green paste. Fluttershy could even see a few specs of that mysterious green liquid on the floor, mixed in with the red blood.

As for the chamber itself, it was quite unique in comparison to the other Forerunner chambers encountered thus far. It was long, and featured two metal, sloping islands topped with glass. Beneath that glass, was a dizzying abyss. There were also support columns stretching up to the ceiling, and six miniature doors arranged like formal dinner goers sat around a long table. The first door on the left had been busted open, and parts of it lay broken on the floor.

The trembling Fluttershy got a gander around, her head sweating and heart thumping, terrified that something would jump out at her at any moment.

On the ground next to the ocean of blood and shell casings, Fluttershy discovered a camcorder laying unattended. If it had been recording, maybe she could find out exactly what happened in this creepy labyrinth.

The yellow Mare sat on her haunches and picked up the camera with both front hooves. She stuck her tongue out as she inspected the device, trying to figure out how to work it. Luckily, the camcorder was in a very good condition, with only a single scratch on its pink casing.

A video was already up and ready to play at her command, and the still picture in the tiny screen was that of Lyra the Unicorn. She was in the back of a Pelican and her face was beaming with excitement.

Raring to have her mysteries solved, Fluttershy had a sip of water, checked the closed door and deceased Mare behind her, took a deep breath, and pressed play.
> Chapter 25: Judgement
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rec.
The image of Lyra burst into life. "Hi! I'm Lyra Heartstrings!"
"And I'm Bon Bon!" a yellow-cream Earth Pony Mare with pink and blue hair and blue eyes joined Lyra in the frame, their excited faces squishing together.
Together they cheered, "And we're in the back of a Pelican!"
"Wooo!"

Lyra's horn was glowing, indicating she was levitating the camera in front of their faces.

Fluttershy watched on, remembering her encounter with Lyra, and astonished at how different the Lyra in the video was to the Lyra she'd met.

"Well it's nice to see somepony's lookin' on the bright side," came a deep southern accent.
The camera rotated to point at Applejack. The orange Earth Pony sat in the Pelican with her cowboy hat shading her eyes.

"Yeah, we're making the most of it," announced the Mare called Bon Bon, the camera panning to face her.
From behind the lens,  Lyra stated, "I don't even know where we're going, but I don't care! I just wanna test out my new camera. You ready for your close up, Bon Bon?"
The picture zoomed far up into Bon Bon's embarrassed face. "No, Lyra. Haha, Lyra, stop it!"
"Simmer down, Lyra," AJ's voice ordered off screen.

And then, another recognisable voice cleared its throat, and Lyra spun the camera to focus on Captain Rarity herself. 
"Ahem! I'm ready for my close up."
The white Unicorn Mare was donned in the same green UPSC armour as everypony else.

"Ok, let's get a close up of Rarity. Pose for the camera, Rarity!"
Rarity pouted, and her sparkly blue eyes gazed right out of the screen and into Fluttershy who watched on in captivation.
The Unicorn holding the camera giggled. "Hahaha! Fabulous!"

Faintly in the background, Applejack checked with another soldier, "You doing ok there, Big Mac?"
"Eeyup."
Lyra focused on Applejack and her brother. He was still wearing bandages over the injury he'd sustained on the Truth, but he seemed to be doing just fine. Fine enough to be back on the field.

"Something's wrong, isn't there?"
Big Mac shook his head. "Nope."
Applejack kept staring at him, knowing he thought something was wrong.
Eventually, he sighed and gave in. "I got a bad-"
-There was a deafening bang, and the whole Pelican started to rattle, the troops screeching and holding on to anything they could get their hooves around.

"Something's in the thrusters!" another panicked voice buzzed over of the Pelican's intercom. "We're loosing altitude! I can't control it!" It was a male voice, and as the sound of the dying engines began to whistle away, it yelled, "Brace for impact!"
A couple of seconds later, the Pelican's interior jumped as the aircraft came down hard, and the picture snapped to black.

Immediately after, the picture returned, and groaning droned all around the Pelican. Fluttershy identified it as the crashed Pelican she'd entered in the swamp.

"Ow!"
"Arg!"
The film camera turned to face the upside-down Bon Bon.
"You ok there, Bon Bon?"
"Yeah... You?"
"Yeah."
"How about the camera?"
"Yeah, it's fine."

"Everypony ok?" AJ checked woozily. "Rarity?"
The purple maned Unicorn coughed and gawped at the sight of her hoof. "Aahh! I chipped a hoof!"
"Yer fine, Rarity."

The camcorder shot over to the cockpit door that scraped open, and a pale blue Pegasus Stallion made his appearance. "I'm ok."
That was the Stallion Fluttershy had found dead outside.

Rarity; "Oh my!"
"What's the matter, Rarity?" Applejack walked up beside the Unicorn, ogling out the back of the Pelican at the gloomy swamp and bucketing rain.
"Look where we've landed!"
"Yeah. It's a swamp. You knew we were headin' to a swamp."

Rarity got in Applejack's face. "We've crash landed in a swamp! How are we supposed to get out of here when our Pelican is laying broken on the ground?!"
"Oh, I see yer point."

Rotating to face the pilot, Rarity asked a question that Fluttershy already knew the answer to. "Soarin', is the Pelican still flyable?"
"Well, everything checks out in the cockpit, but the starboard thrusters got jammed up pretty bad."
"I like jam," Lyra spoke in a silly accent.
Rarity's blue eyes widened. "Excuse me? Did you just say jammed?"
"Yeah. Don't know what's jamming them. I'll take a look." With that, Soarin' galloped out of the Pelican and disappeared outside in the pouring rain.
"Be careful, ya hear!" Applejack called after him.

"Oohh, what are we going to do?" moaned Rarity. "What if the Pelican will never fly? Isn't there any way we can contact somepony?"
Shaking her head, AJ told, "Sorry, but I tried contactin' Twilight n' Fluttershy when we were in the air, and there was no signal."
"What about the Truth and Reconciliation?"
"She aint pickin' up on any frequency."
On her knees, the white Unicorn stretched her hooves up and dramatized, "We're doomed! Doooomed!"
Applejack tapped her on the shoulder and whispered, "Uh, Rarity? Yer the Captain, remember?"
"Oh... of course... I should probably take action."

Poking his head back into the troop bay, Soarin' advertised, "If it's of any use, I saw a building before we went down, not far from here."
Everypony rubbed their chins thoughtfully.
"We could shelter there," suggested a blue Earth Pony Mare.
"It is likely where the Covenant are guarding that Forerunner treasure," Rarity surmised, motioning a hoof. "We shall go there!"

Taking on a more Captain-like attitude, she commanded, "Everypony, saddle up! Aloe, Lotus, I believe you have umbrellas, yes?"
"We brought an extra one, just for you, Captain!" the pink Earth Pony called Aloe beamed, whipping a huge pink umbrella out of Lotus' saddle bag.
The umbrella was mounted on a pretty saddle, and Rarity instantly accepted it, placing it on her back over her soldier saddle. 
"Excellent! Thank you, dearies."

The Mare using the camera randomly proclaimed, "I'll just go around and introduce everypony." She angled the camera at Bon Bon. "As you know, I'm Lyra, and this is Bon Bon." There was an awkward pause as Bon Bon looked irritated at the camera.

Lyra then aimed at a couple of large Stallions, one of which was Big Mac. "Over here, we've got Big Mac and Joe. Tough guys." Another frame wipe, and, "This is Rising Star."

Fluttershy recognised Rising Star as the corpse just outside the chamber she was sat in.

"Lyra, put that away. Now is not a good time," Bon Bon counselled from somewhere out of shot.
"Hold on, Bon Bon, I'm just letting everypony know who's with us."
"Everypony? Who's everypony?"
"My viewers, of course!"
"Oh no. Lyra, you can't upload this."
"Why not?"
"Because it's a violation of the UPSC rules and regulations!"
Lyra filmed Rarity who paraded around with her umbrella. "Our Captain has a bright pink umbrella. Your point is?"
Bon Bon sighed and gave up. "Ok, fine, go nuts. Film everything."
"Tss-ss-ss-ss-ss! I will," snickered Lyra, posting the camcorder on Bon Bon's annoyed face. "Did I mention that her name is Bon Bon? She's my best friend."

Pointing at a dark grey Pegasus Stallion, Lyra commented, "That there is Thunderlane. He's pretty awesome." She then aimed the camera directly at the Pelican's interior wall. "If you can see through walls, you should be able to see our pilot, Soarin'. He's out there somewhere."

Spinning the camera, a new Pony came into view. A blue Earth Pony Mare with purple hair and narrow blue eyes.
"That there is Autumn Gem. She's a Crystal Pony." The quirky Unicorn waved, "Hello, Crystal Pony!"
Autumn waved back sheepishly, "Hi."

Autumn Gem. Crystal Pony. The dead body that lay right behind Fluttershy.

"Aw, aint she sweet," Lyra moved on. "Over here we have Aloe and Lotus. They're twins. Creepy."
Aloe and Lotus carried small, camouflage print umbrellas on their backs. One of the Mares was blue with pink hair while the other one was pink with blue hair, and they both had the same blue eyes. They both had their forelocks pressed back by white headbands. Almost identical to each other, the two Mares looked puzzlingly over at the camera wielding Lyra.
The blue of the two started, "What's so creepy abou-"
"-Creepy," labelled Lyra as she spun to capture Applejack and Rarity.

Staff Sergeant Applejack was speaking into the portable coms system Fluttershy had discovered, Rarity watching over her.
Taking a break from recording her message, the orange Earth Pony pondered, "Lyra, what are you doin'?"
"This is Applejack," Lyra informed her viewers, ignoring Applejack. "And this is Rarity. She's a Captain."

AJ raised an eyebrow for a beat before resuming. "... Ok, I gotta wrap this up. If anypony's listening, there's a structure a few hundred metres from this here wreckage. That's where we're headin'."
"Oh my gosh! What happened to Soarin'?!"
Ending the recording, Applejack whickered and yelled, "Soarin'?!"

Lyra joined Applejack, Rarity and everypony else running out of the Pelican to behold Bon Bon and Soarin'. Soarin' was laying on his back next to a rock, and a huge hole had been torn into his upper torso.
"Oh gracious!" grated Rarity. "How did this happen?!"
"Uh, I should probably turn the camera off now." Upon Lyra's last words, the picture blacked out.

Fluttershy remembered seeing the Stallion called Soarin' laying over a rock, yet in the video, he was next to it. How and why had he been moved? She also remembered seeing no wounds on him, but she did see an awful lot of blood leaking from his carcass. The wound that was clear in the video was on his front, and when Fluttershy saw him, he was laying on his front. If she'd have checked underneath him, she would've witnessed the nastiness with her own two eyes, and it would've scared her right back onto Rainbow's Pelican.

Flickering back into existence, the video resumed, and Lyra was filming her own nervous looking face as she trudged on and on through the wet, misty swamp.
"Hi. This is Lyra Heartstrings. I'm back. I had to turn the camera off cos, well, y'know, I caught a glimpse it. I just have no idea what happened. He went outside to check on the Pelican's thrusters, and then Bon Bon wondered out, and the next thing I know, she's screaming."

Gulping, she continued, "Soarin' had his chest ripped open. It was disgusting. We placed him on a rock like it was some sort of... plinth, or a stage if you will, as a tribute."
Suddenly, Lyra flashed her head to the left, her wide orange eyes locked onto something out of frame. After a while, she began talking again.

"What's weird is, no pony heard him scream when he was getting attacked. He never shouted for help - never cried in pain... We didn't realise what had happened until it was all over. And whatever did it to him never showed its face, or at least not yet... I don't blame it. We all wanna avenge our pilot."
Lyra kept looking around the swamp, fretting and twitching a little.

Frowning, she informed, "Something doesn't feel right, y'know. The other Ponies have been saying it too. It's as if we're been watched... I could feel eyes boring so hard into the back of my head it made me itch... We've all been getting jumpy, saying that we're seeing things that probably aren't even there... I wonder if my camera will pick anything out." Suddenly sparking into a joyful tone and pasting a big smile on her face, Lyra trumpeted, "Let me know in the comments below!"
"Sshh! Lyra," hissed the unseen Bon Bon.

"Oh, and this is definitely worth a look. Check it out," Lyra nodded, rotating the camcorder to film the downed Covenant drop ship that Fluttershy had passed. "The Covenant crashed here too. It got us thinking about what happened to Soarin'. It didn't really match Covenant behaviour... I think..." She swallowed. "... I think there's something else out here... All the Covenant we've encountered so far have been hiding - cowering. But they're not hiding from us... I think they're in the same boat we a-"
"-Aahh, what is that?!" Rarity interrupted sharply.
The camera angled this way and that, searching for whatever Rarity was screeching at.
"Where? Where?!"
"Aaaahh!"

The film turned black as the camera was switched off yet again, and Fluttershy could've sworn she'd seen the same Elite that she herself had seen creeping around the swamp with the rope in his hand.

Fortunately, the film was still rolling, and the image of Lyra riding the elevator downwards fizzled into view.
"Ok, we're back, and-"
"-Lyra, stop filming," Bon Bon entered the frame.
"This is an important documentation, Bon Bon. I can sell this video to PONI."
"PONI won't buy it, they'll just take it from you."
"I won't let them."
"Or they'll just watch it for free when you upload it."
"Oh yeah. Didn't think about that."
"So stop filming!"
"No! This is important."
"Lyra-"
"-Do you wanna be that one Pony in the video who's all like; "stop it, Lyra, stop it! Stop having fun and sharing your experiences with the world, Lyra!""
"You're having fun?"
"I'm trying to."
Bon Bon sighed and turned her back to the Unicorn.
"That's what I thought."

A moment passed as a rather regretful looking Lyra glanced back and forth between the camera and the upset Bon Bon.

Eventually, she turned and pronounced, "Oh, Bon Bon, um, I can tell you're mad, so, I just wanna let you know, that, um, you are my best friend in the whole wide world, and I think you're super awesome."
Turning around, Bon Bon rolled her eyes and started to giggle. "Ugh, not this again."
Lyra grinned. "Yes, this again."
"Hm-hm-hm! You know just how to get to me each time."
"Hehehe! Hehehe!"

"Hey, you two wanna keep it down?" Applejack suggested as the lift came to a screeching halt.
Lyra pointed the camcorder at Applejack, Big Mac by her side.
"We're at the bottom."
"Oh, ok. I'll just turn the camera off now... Oh, before I do." Lyra began filming herself again. "I just wanna say that the thing Rarity saw in the swamp was an Elite... or at least we think it was an Elite. It was hard to tell in all the rain. Anyway, yeah, that's all. I gotta turn the camera off for a sec. See you in a millisecond!"

One millisecond later, the image changed to that of the inside of a chamber, but not just any chamber; it was the chamber where Fluttershy first met Lyra in person, and she'd witnessed her traumatic end.

The Crystal Pony, Autumn Gem, spluttered away in Lyra's background. "Arg! Ptooey! Urg!"
"Hello again, I'm Lyra Heartstrings, well, you all know that by now, but hey, it's my intro, so shut up!"
I never complained, Fluttershy thought as she watched on in anticipation.
"Uh, we skipped through quite a lot of the structure. There wasn't really anything interesting though... Applejack actually wanted me to film this part. It's really spooky, and we're all confused over it. What do you guys think?"

It was then when Lyra showed off the chamber, and Fluttershy learnt that the balcony had been broken and burning before Rarity's squad had even found it. What got to Fluttershy most of all though, was the bodies. Elites and Jackals laying on the floor, slaughtered in the most gruesome manner. But when Fluttershy had passed through that chamber herself, there weren't any bodies at all.

Lyra tilted the camcorder down to capture a blue armoured Elite laying at her hooves, a gaping hole in his armoured chest... just like Soarin'.

Continuing, Lyra snorted, "Gross, huh? ... Autumn actually stepped on it, and it scared her half to death. She's been sick in the corner - poor thing. She'll be fine. Anyway, I don't wanna focus too much on the bodies cos they're gross, and you probably don't wanna see em, so let's focus on this thing over here, shall we?"
Lyra was right; Fluttershy didn't like looking at the twisted Covie corpses.

As for "this thing over here," Lyra approached the devastated balcony and the never ending fire.
"What in all manner of things happened here? There's Covenant blood everywhere too. Bodies, blood, this. What happened here? I'm driving myself crazy just trying to think of an answer... Bon Bon, what do you think?"
The camera whizzed to focus on the Earth Pony.
"I'm just as stumped as you are. It's as if the Covenant turned on each other, but why would they do that?"
"Beats me."
"I really don't like it here."
"Me neither."
"I hope somepony comes looking for us soon."
"I'm sure everypony will know when we're missing. We have the Captain, remember?"
"Yeah, and it was her idea to come down here, where there's no radio signal."
"She does say it'll be worth it."
"Worth it? For some stupid treasure? I'd rather stay on the Truth. Hay, I'd even help Fluttershy with finding Halo's control room. That's a more important mission than this."

Fluttershy felt grateful that somepony she didn't know too well actually cared.

"Yeah, I gue-"
"-The fate of the galaxy rests on Fluttershy's shoulders, and here we are just exploring some creepy underground maze in search for pointless artefacts that no pony cares about."
"Wow, you're really upset, aren't you?"
"Sorry, Lyra. I just... I just don't think we're using this time constructively. And it looks like some of the Covenant thought the exact same thing."
"I don't get it. How does it look like... Oohh... Jeeze, Bon Bon, that's not a nice thing to think."

Fluttershy didn't get it.

"Only our leader, Lyra. Only our leader."
"Yeah but still."
"But still nothing. Let's just move on, ok." Bon Bon stomped away in a foul mood. "And you could've turned the camera off earlier."

Fluttershy attempted to piece together Bon Bon's puzzle. Not using their time constructively... Covenant thought it too... But the Covenant are dead... Turned on each other? ... Only our leader? ... She drew in a breath and shuddered, afraid.
She'd solved it.

Before Lyra switched off the camera, she filmed Big Mac standing over one of the mutilated Elites.
Rarity, their leader, approached him and voiced sarcastically, "Ew... Real pretty... Friend of yours?"
The big red Stallion shook his head. "Nope."

The picture flashed black as it cycled onto the next scene. Lyra's hooves clopping down on the light bridge as she and the team cantered across it.
"I just wanted to show you all the light bridge. Isn't it amazing? Wow!"
And then it went black again. That was quick. Fluttershy could totally understand Lyra's fascination with the light bridge though.

The next part of the video took place outside a certain door, and Fluttershy gulped nervously, heart in mouth. The door in question was the door to the chamber that she was in right now, watching the video. The chamber full of Pony blood, shell casings, and a dead Mare. She twisted, almost expecting the door to open and deposit Lyra and her team.

"Hi, we're back, also... I'm Lyra Heartstrings, teehee!" Lyra giggled, looking just a little bit cuckoo.
Bon Bon; "Why are you filming now, Lyra? What's so interesting about this door?"
"It's locked. Who knows what secrets lie in wait on the other side."
Bon Bon face hoofed. "You don't think there's treasure behind this door too, do you?"
"Well, there's only one way to-"

At that moment, Rarity interjected, "-Bon Bon, sweetie, there most likely is treasure behind this door. Why else would the Covenant have worked so hard to lock it down? They're obviously hording all the treasure for themselves."
"Or, maybe they locked it to make you think exactly that."
"Oh, I doubt the Covenant are that smart. Aloe, you have the hack box, yes?"
"Yes, Rarity."
"Lovely. Get to work."
Aloe attached the little black box to the Forerunner door and began tapping in codes with a faint bleep bleep.

Wow. Fluttershy never took Rarity for a fool, but that line; "I doubt the Covenant are that smart," she ended up disagreeing with her Unicorn friend quite strongly there.

On camera, Bon Bon grumbled to herself, "I swear, if this lead turns out to be a dead end, I'm gonna..." she stopped herself and shook her head vigorously. " No, no, no, no, no, no. No. Bad thoughts. That is not how a good girl is supposed to think."
"Uh, Bon Bon? Are you ok?"
"Yes. Perfect."
"No you're not."
"Who are you to say how I feel?" snarled Bon Bon, gaining some of the other troops' attention. She got real close to the camera, showing off her veined blue eyes.

In answer to Bon Bon, Lyra spoke softly, "Your friend who knows you? And knows when something's wrong?"
"... Whatever. I've had enough." The Earth Pony turned to walk away, calling out, "I can't take this anymore. I'm leaving."

Lyra and Applejack called after her. "Bon Bon!"
"Bon Bon!"
"No. I'm not walking through that door. I'm not staying with her." She pointed a trembling hoof at a stunned Rarity. "I want to live, thank you very much."

What on earth was happening to Bon Bon? She was acting like she was possessed. Fluttershy could understand her feeling, but it wasn't enough to drive a Pony to insubordination... or repressed murder.

The yellow Pegasus looked away from the video to scan the surrounding chamber. There was something dodgy with this place. It felt haunted, like there was some sort of surrounding, all seeing presence. Every surface had its own pair of judging eyes, and they intimidated all who entered, toying with their minds.

Back to the video, Rarity pointed to herself and grated, "With me? Whatever did I do?"
"She thinks you're wasting our time," Lyra informed bluntly.
"Wasting our time?! That is ridiculous!"

The curly maned Unicorn stomped her hoof. "Bon Bon! I would normally turn away from you, tilt my head and hmph, but I am the responsible Captain, and I order you to come back at once!"
Bon Bon just paced up the ramp, snubbing the Captain.
"Please come back, Bon Bon," tried the camera Mare.

Rarity commanded, "Somepony stop her!"
Obeying, Applejack ran after Bon Bon and grabbed her pink and blue tail in her teeth, pulling hard to bring the AWOL Pony back.
"No! Get off me! Let me go!"

With a mouthful of tail hair, AJ stated, "Sorry, Bon Bon, but orders are orders. I totally see where yer coming from though."
No longer struggling, Bon Bon twisted and asked, "You do?"
"Yes. We'll talk about it later, when Rarity's not around."

"When I'm not a... What do you have to hide from me, Applejack?" The Captain stared at the Staff Sergeant through narrow, accusing eyes.
"I'll tell ya when we're done here and are back on the Truth."
"Maybe I want to hear it now."
"Maybe now isn't a good time."
"Maybe I'm ordering you to tell me now."
"Maybe I'm refusin' to tell you now."
"Maybe I'll have you court martialled!"
"Maybe I'll pay no attention to it!"
"Maybe I'll have you shot on sight!"
"Maybe I'll... Rarity?" AJ's green eyes popped and shimmered upon registering what her friend had just said.

"D... did you just say that?" She was truly hurt.
Realising what vile words had been spewed from her lips, Rarity gasped and looked sorrowfully into the downcast Applejack.
"But... I'm your friend."

Rarity would never say such a thing. Not to anypony. It was incredibly out of character for her, and as Fluttershy watched on with a gaping mouth, she could see that Rarity knew it too. The facility was speaking.

"Oh my goodness... I... I'm so sorry, Applejack. I... I don't know what came over me."
"I'll tell you what came over you," Bon Bon started. "This darn facility. It got to the Covenant and now it's getting to us."

Apologetically, Rarity placed a hoof on Applejack's back. "Applejack, I'm so dreadfully sorry. What I said was awful, just awful, and I hope you know that I would never do such a thing. Not even in my wildest dreams."
The hat wearing Mare sighed and peered up at Rarity. "It's ok, Rarity... I forgive ya."
The two of them shared a cuddle, and Lyra moved the camera so she could do likewise with her bestie.

After the long lasting hug-fest, Rarity pulled away and brushed her hoof on the floor. "Hm. I suppose none of us really need that treasure... Should we get out of here?"
"Are ya sure? I mean, yer the Captain n' all."
Rarity nodded. "I'm sure. We should leave before we suffer the same fate as the Covenant."

The same fate as the Covenant?

Applejack began, "That sounds like a good pla-"
"-It's open!" signalled Aloe with triumph, sliding the door open at last.

The herd stood silent before the open chamber, staring inside in a trance. As soon as the door had been opened, a cold shiver ran along everypony's spine.

Even Fluttershy felt her blood run cold, and she could've sworn she saw herself in the video, sat on the floor watching, well, the video. But that would be impossible, and she shook her head to get back on track.

"... Ya still wanna get out o' here?"
"... Yes... Yes I do."
Just then, screams of horror pierced the atmosphere from a nearby Elite. "Arg! Aaarrg! Aaruugh!"
Accompanying them, came a shriek. A shriek that wasn't Pony, wasn't Covenant, wasn't anything anypony had ever heard before.

"What was that?" wondered Applejack.
Shivering, Rarity trembled, "I'm scared."

As the Elite died, the shriek sounded off again, only louder, and a heart-stopping bang resonated in the ears of the frightened herd.

Very slowly backing up into the chamber, Rarity muttered, "I know I said we should leave, but we should probably find a different way... Away from whatever that is."
"I hear ya, Rare," Applejack agreed. "Everypony, in the chamber, now."
Hastily, the equines pushed through the doorway and into the chamber, Aloe standing by and closing the door.

Lyra's camera swivelled around until it came to focus on Bon Bon. The Earth Pony had strayed from the squad and was sat atop one of the chamber's two glass-topped islands, gazing silently down.
"Bon Bon?" Lyra voiced, pacing up to her. "Bon Bon, what's wrong wrong?"
Suddenly, the fear stricken Bon Bon spun and spoke to the camera. "D... d... don't you hear that?"
"We hear it alright," Rarity answered, the banging muffled on the other side of the door.
Bon Bon listed, "No, not that. That awful buzzing! The squirming! The footsteps! The voices."
The soldiers took a break to listen, but there was nothing but banging. Fluttershy couldn't pick anything up either.

"... We should definitely keep moving," Rarity declared.
The Ponies trotted around the whole room, trying to be quiet, but trying to be fast as well.

The camera approached a door with red "lock" lights on it, and the Mare holding the camera attempted to open it.
When it didn't relent, she called out, "This door's locked!"
"So's this un!" broadcasted Applejack, along with some of her troops.
"And this one!"
"Eeyup!"
"Locked!"

From somewhere unseen, Aloe informed, "Uh, guys? This door's locked too."
The soldiers gathered to see Aloe standing by the door she'd hacked open not two minutes ago.
"And the hack box is on the other side."
"So, we're trapped?" Lyra quizzed panicky. "Is that what you're saying? That's what you're saying, right?"
Aloe shrugged and sighed, "I guess we are... I'm sorry."

Everypony grumbled amongst each other, annoyed. Looking guilty, Aloe brushed her hoof on the engraved metal surface.
AJ spoke tenderly, "Don't fret, Aloe. No pony's blamin' ya."
"I am!" Lotus announced, looming angrily over her twin.
"Lotus, don't start!"

Noting that all the doors had locked for the squad, Fluttershy's eyes widened in fear and she craned her neck to look around. She noticed all the doors had locked for her too, including the one she'd just passed through. Her gut sank and her lungs accelerated.

"Rising, Joe, Lyra, Rarity! Y'all are Unicorns! Is there some way y'all can magic yer way through?"
Rarity; "We can try, but I'm not exactly Twilight Sparkle-"
-The same slithering, squelching noise that Fluttershy's ears had been subjected to earlier resonated around the squad, spooking them all out.

"What was that?"
"I have no idea."
"Ssshhh, there it is again."
Hushed, the Ponies listened on to the weird, wet noise.

"... Please tell me I aint the only one hearin' this," muttered Applejack, the panic in her southern accent increasing. "Please tell me I aint the only one hearin' this!"
"It's ok, Applejack, I hear it too," Rarity reassured. "Either that sound really exists, or we're both going bonkers."
"Do you hear it too, Big Mac?"
The massive Stallion hunkered down, assault rifle at the ready. "Eeyup."

"Doh, we should've just left when we had the chan-"
Rarity was cut off by a heart stopping thud that originated from the right of the camera. Lyra spun to capture the moment when a door was pounded into scrap, and something Fluttershy had never seen before came pouring out.

"What in Celestia's name are those?!" Rarity yelled, pointing at the things.
The things were tiny little creatures that slithered around on tentacles. Their bodies were bulbous and their flesh was an ugly brown-beige colour. They had no visible eyes, or any facial features for that matter, but they did have three particularly extensive tendrils that stretched forward off the ground, playing the role of antennae. Tipping those tendrils, vivid red gristle brushed through the air.

The scariest thing about these creatures was not their appearance, or the noise they made when they scuttled across the deck, but the sheer amount of them. There were hundreds of the little things, and they came bucketing out of the door like water from a burst dam.

A horrendous shriek came from Aloe who flailed around on her back with one of the tentacle aliens latched to her stomach. "Arughhuughh-wraaahh!"
"Hold still! Hold still!" strained Lotus as she tried to remove the bug from her sister, dismissing her annoyance at her.

She was able to yank the bag of snot free from the pink Mare with a splash of red blood, but then the nasty little thing turned its attention to her, and she held it as far out in front of her as she could, its flailing tentacles stretching, caressing her panicking face. As for Aloe, she laid on the deck in an increasing puddle of blood, convulsing.

"Fire everything!" boomed Rarity as she brought her MA5B up and fired fully automatic into the tide of alien parasites.
The rest of the fire team obeyed, their weapons chattering and converting the things into scraps of wet flesh and olive green blood.

However, there were too many of the darn things, and every time one pod popped, a dozen more came to take its place.

"What are these things?!" boggled Lyra as she multi-tasked from her position atop a metal island, Bon Bon at her side.
"We dunno! Just shoot as many of em as ya can!" Applejack replied hastily over the thundering battle, her shotgun wiping out the miniature beasties in large doses.

Despite all this, the horrid alien life forms just kept coming, like they were on an infinite spawn.

"Aaarrg!" came the unexpected squawk of a Covenant Jackal.
Lyra panned the camera to find that a team of three Jackals had opened the door from the other side and stumbled into the intense Pony - unidentified enemy conflict.

Not caring about whatever threat the Jackals would pose, Lyra noted the open door and exclaimed, "We're free!"
Bolting over to the door with Bon Bon in front of her, Lyra filmed the Jackals as they turned and fled; they were just as afraid as the Ponies.

"Ugh!" the aquamarine Unicorn grunted with pain as something slammed into her back, knocking her to the floor.

She dropped the camera, and it landed right where Fluttershy had discovered it. It was then when the horror movie ended with a black flash, and the image on the screen cycled back to that of the joyful Lyra riding in the back of the doomed Pelican.
End Record View.

This was it then. Fluttershy had learnt the terrifying truth as to what happened to Rarity, Applejack and all the rest, and had never felt so afraid in all her life. There was blood in the room, but only one remaining body; some of the Ponies must have made it out alive, right? ... Right?

Chucking the pink camcorder in her bag, she galloped frantically to the locked door behind her, noticing, for the first time, a stain of dried Jackal blood.
"Heeeelp! Heeeeeelp!" she cried, banging strenuously on the Forerunner door.
Her teeth gnashed within her creasing mouth and tears spilled from her frightened blue eyes.

"He-he-he-heeelp! Pleeaase, somepony heeeelp! Some Covenant heeeelp! Aha-aha-ahaa!"
It was pointless; there was no pony around to help her, and the Covies sure as hay wouldn't assist a Pony, but Fluttershy just wanted rescuing so bad, she'd willingly hoof herself over to the Covenant if it meant an escape.

Sobbing on the deck before the door, Fluttershy curled into a feeble ball... and that's when the clanging began.

One of the other doors in the chamber started to dent outwards; something behind fighting its way through.

Heart skipping with every powerful thud, Fluttershy rose and darted her eyes around. She spied the door that had been broken down in the video, only to deposit an infinite supply of the unknown hostiles.

Chancing it, she sprinted for that door, slipping on the lake of Pony blood and shell casings. Skilfully, she kept herself on her hooves, and resumed her dash through the destroyed door.

Clunk! The creatures had entered the chamber of doom, and Fluttershy could hear them wriggling and writhing, hunting for her. What's worse, the door she'd taken lead her into a tiny box room with no exit. Trapped.

Quivering with distress, she hunkered down, swapped her shotgun for her assault rifle, and kept it pointed directly at the tiny room's one and only entrance. With her lungs working overtime, she waited...
and waited...
and waited...
> Chapter 26: The Flood
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

... And waited...
and waited...
and waited...

One full hour had passed, and she was still just waiting, and she was still just cowering there.

Fluttershy could hear the writhing swarm just outside the broken hatch of what she'd decided to call "her cell." She daren't move lest she make too much noise and the awaiting evils would come flooding in.

She'd seen what had happened to Aloe in the video. A single bug had drawn blood from her. A lot of blood. When Lotus had yanked it free, Aloe had gone down. Spasmming, but down. She wasn't here now though. Had she got back up? Carried away? Eaten?

With all sorts of nightmarish thoughts running through her psyche, Fluttershy stifled her cries and refused to take her eyes off the door, her mind off the trigger, and waited in utter silence...

The sound of the swarm was still lingering outside. She couldn't stay here forever. She'd sooner die of old age than get sniffed out by the parasites. At the very least, she had to try to escape.

Swallowing, Fluttershy tip-hooved out of the corner and across the confining room, coming up to the main chamber. She poked out her head, and immediately zipped it back in. Her ears weren't deceiving her; a huge number of the ugly little aliens left no patch of silver floor visible.

How oh how, in the wide wide world of Equestria, was she supposed to live through this? ... The same way she lived through the Covenant, that's how.

Come on, Fluttershy. You can do this, she supported herself. It's nothing I haven't done before.
Shakily, she drew a frag grenade, bit the pin, and tossed it out into the chamber. Before the device detonated, she took out a second grenade, a plasma grenade to be exact, and used her nose to bop the activation button. With the plasma grenade, or "sticky" now glowing blue, she hurled it out after the frag and backed up with her rifle at the ready.

Once the explosions pierced her ears and shook the whole deck, Fluttershy peeked out into the chamber to find that most of the tentacle horrors had been reduced to green goo and soggy skin. Some were still alive though, and they slithered around in confusion, even going up the walls.

With the majority of the creatures taken care of, Fluttershy stepped out into the enclosure and fired her MA5B.

The creatures heard her, and immediately scuttled in her direction, not bothering to take cover or anything. More of the curs made their appearance from the ceiling; dropping down like diseased rain and increasing the mass of sickly green tentacles.

Fluttershy didn't realise there was still so many of the little bugs left, and she ended up with more than she'd bargained for as she fired her magazine empty at the approaching wave of terror. She backed up, buying herself more time to reload her gun, and once a new clip was in place, she resumed firing on full automatic.

The pods dissipated in clouds of green blood and spores as the bullets tore into their tiny, fragile bodies. Eventually, only two remained, and Fluttershy was ready for another reload.

Before she could eject the spent magazine, both of the surviving creatures sprung off the floor and flew up to meet her face.
"Aaaahh!" she screeched, shaking vigorously and jumping around, terrified of the hideousness that latched onto her.

One of them landed directly over her eyes, giving her a real good eyeful of its vile appendages. One of those wiry limbs was tipped with an organic blade, and it whipped against Fluttershy's face in an attempt to slice her. Luckily for her, she had energy shields, and the impact backfired on the monster, bursting it and showering the terrified Pegasus with mottled olive blood.

The other creature had landed on her neck, and it suffered the same fate as its partner, drenching Fluttershy with its disgusting fluids.

Fluttershy reeled her muzzle and gagged, squinting her eyes and waving the clouds of spores away from her. She could taste the stuff, could feel it clogging her nose and throat.

The green liquid dripped off her splattered face, leaving neat little splotches on the engraved floor. Taking out one of her two remaining face cloths, she wiped herself clean and discarded the soaked material on the ground. She then took the opportunity to reload her assault rifle, and the weapon rattled as she shivered with nerves.

A drink of water would be the best thing right now, so she scanned the area for anymore threats, saw that the door she'd used to enter was wide open, and inhaled. Freedom!

It was strange; the door could only be opened from the other side, which meant something must have entered the chamber. The small parasitic aliens couldn't have worked out how to use the hack box, could they? So far, they had proven themselves dumb; not registering pain or danger or the possibility of death. They couldn't have opened the door.

Eager to leave, Fluttershy decided to quench her thirst later and run for the exit. She saw that the door was emitting sparks. Whoever opened it must have broken it open, and now it was refusing to close.

Fluttershy also noted the trail of red and green blood leading out, and the dead Crystal Pony, Autumn Gem, nowhere in sight. What could that mean?

The frightened Mare stopped thinking about it, and focused more on her escape. Just as she came to the open door, a deafening shriek came rolling out with enough volume to vibrate the walls.

Skidding to a halt, Fluttershy uneasily reversed, keeping her MA5B posted on the sparking doorway. Heavy footsteps came thudding deliberately from around the corner, and straight away, Fluttershy knew it wasn't a Pony. Whoever was making their way down was biped, which was to say Covenant, and Fluttershy doubted the Covenant would agree to a truce. Not even in the insanity of this haunted maze.

Frantically, she drew the shotgun, and pushed herself up as far as she could against the wall, just next to the door, waiting in ambush. Waiting in fear.

Those intimidating footsteps grew louder and nearer, and Fluttershy could hear gurgling, like the approaching being was rinsing his mouth out. That gurgling then morphed into gipping, and Fluttershy had a vision of a sick Elite spewing his guts up. With all the blood in this room, and the appearance of the new enemy, Fluttershy could sympathise.

Soon, the alien that was hunting her fell silent, just as it reached the hatch, and Fluttershy could see red tipped antennae edging out from behind the doorway. The quivering Pegasus had no idea what to expect. She thought she'd be up against a Covie, what with the footsteps, but those swaying strings of flesh belonged to the new guys. What was waiting for her around the corner?

Crunch! An Elite's hand made its appearance, grasping the door frame with enough strength to crush the metal, and its usually smooth grey skin had been converted to a rough brown. That wasn't the only change. Extra long tentacles grew from the alien wrist and wrapped around the wall like rope... Rope! When in the swamp, Fluttershy thought she'd seen an Elite carrying rope! What extended from the Elite's arm was no rope however. Far from it.

In an instant, the Elite made his entrance, and sent Fluttershy running away screaming. That was no Elite... That was no damn Elite... What that was, was an abomination. A freak of nature. An ex-elite.

The Elite that wasn't an Elite anymore was equipped with his own set of whip-like tendrils that sprouted from his own gangrenous arm. His flesh had gone mouldy and rotten, and more alarmingly, beige. A disgusting beige that matched the colour of vomit, something Fluttershy felt she'd be emitting soon. An enormous growth modified his chest, and an irregularly shaped hole indented the surreal protuberance, the red tipped antennae flailing creepily out of the cavity.

Thanks to the remaining parts of his damaged gold armour, the reanimated Elite was still recognisable as a Zealot. His Elite head hung limp down his back, his mandibles twitching as if he were trying to speak.

Squealing with fear by the likes of which she'd never felt, Fluttershy galloped all the way to the other end of the chamber, and her heart stopped at the tremendous sound of the Elite roaring a roar that no Elite could make. The ground shook as it gave chase.

Coming up to the blank wall, Fluttershy spun to witness the poorly Elite sprinting at her on broken legs at an insane speed, his arms thrashing wildly. An increasing howl warbled out of the Elite's throat, along with purple blood and bits of flesh.

The petrified Pegasus screamed and fired a buckshot directly at the ravenous nightmare, sending it flying onto its back. Even when it was dead, she screamed on, and had to stop herself to allow time to breathe.

Her lungs heaved and her teeth chattered. What is this thing?! How did it come to be?! What happened to the Elite to make him like this?!

Noting the antennae that hung from the gaping hole in the Zealot's chest, Fluttershy pieced the puzzle in her mind. Those antennae were identical to those of the small critters that came in swarms. Whatever those little things were, one of them had gotten inside this Elite, taking up residence within his chest and transforming him into the grotesquery that lay before her.

The sight was revolting, and Fluttershy's blood ran cold, giving her the shivers. Not only that, but she could feel something making its way up her oesophagus, and her cheeks bulged as she tried her best to keep it down. Unfortunately, she failed this time, and she gipped as the vomit came spewing out of her mouth. It was only a matter of time really. In the same way that she could vaguely recognise the mutated creature as an Elite, Fluttershy could just identify parts of her sandwich in the mess she'd made on the floor.

Wanting to conserve her last face cloth, she wiped her chops with a hoof, rinsed the taste out of her mouth with water, and checked her saddle bag. She only had three grenades left. Reluctantly, she inspected the corpse of the infected Zealot, discovering two plasma grenades to build up her collection.

As soon as those grenades were purged, the corpse groaned and its skin shifted around. Much to Fluttershy's horror, the form lifted itself off the ground and spun to face her with a gruesome snort.

The yellow Mare screeched and sent a second buckshot into the alien's torso, blasting it open with a vile splash of mottled green blood.

It came back?! How could it come back?! She'd floored the beast with a shotgun blast, and it just rose up off the floor! Despairingly, Fluttershy sat and stared vacantly at the devastated Elite. If this could happen to a Zealot, what chance did she stand?
What chance do my friends stand?

She dreaded the thought of coming across anypony infected like this, and prayed that, for whatever reason, equines would be immune. Remembering what Lyra had said, what she'd seen in the video, and the dead Crystal Pony that had mysteriously disappeared, her prayers were likely pointless.

Moving on, the shy gathered herself as best she could, and trotted back to the pried open door. Finally, she exited the room, and crept on up the ramp, shotgun constantly pointing forwards.

Her caution was justified as she picked up multiple, biped footsteps originating from somewhere up ahead. Full of fear, she nervously backed up, and much to her shock, she bumped into something that wasn't there before.

Whatever blocked her retreat snarled like a wild animal and beat her over the head with the glowing blue shield of a rookie Jackal.

Squealing, Fluttershy bucked the sneaky Jackal to the floor and rushed up the ramp, not even bothering to look at it. Upon reaching the top, she came face to what she assumed was a face with another beast. Like the Elite, the beast had whipping tentacles protruding from ragged holes in its decaying skin. This wasn't an Elite however. It was shorter, thinner, and had an elongated beak. Jackal.

With a high-pitched scream, Fluttershy reared up and pushed the freaky bird away, bringing up the shotgun and blasting his anorexic body into oblivion.

As soon as that was dealt with, the other infected Jackal came shrieking up to tackle her to the ground. On top of the pink maned Pegasus, the sick alien widened his jaw until it dislocated like a python's, exposing his waggling tongue and something that definitely didn't belong there. The Jackal's mouth was dominated by the new appendage that came shooting out, wrapping four boneless fingers around the Mare's face.

Fluttershy's screams became muffled, and she strained to push the Jackal off her. However, the infected Jackal seemed to have gained super strength in his transformation, and he pulled his beak down over her head and began chomping away.

She wailed in agony as she was being eaten alive; the beast's sharp, irregular teeth ravaging her yellow coated flesh, and her own blood began to ooze out of the bite marks.

Flailing around frantically under the form, Fluttershy managed to roll over; now she was on top. That didn't matter though; the form still had her head locked in its jaws, and there was nothing Fluttershy could do to pull herself away, and that gave her an idea. If she couldn't pull herself away, she'd push herself in. This was a tactic she'd used before the war when dealing with grumpy pythons, only she felt less inclined to hurt the big, cuddly snakies.

Closing her eyes on the Jackal's howling mouth that was full of all sorts of fluids, Fluttershy put all her strength into head-butting the ill creature, grunting with effort. Since the infection had taken its toll on the Jackal's solidity, she was able to smash his lumpy head into a pile of mush, thus freeing herself from its embrace.

Disturbingly, the infected Jackal didn't need his head, and his decapitated form continued to writhe and gibber. Before it could get back up, Fluttershy got to a safe distance, and she put the mutated Covie out of his misery with a reverberating buckshot.

Glancing around to see if anything else would try to kiss her, she decided the area was relatively safe, and slumped to her haunches. Her own blood masked her pretty yellow face, and tears soon came to join it. She'd thought fighting the Covenant had been a nightmare, but no. She was wrong. This was a nightmare.

Whimpering on, she took out her med-kit and flask so she could clean her filthy face with disinfectant. After the quick wash, she took a sip of water, packed up her things, fed shells into her shotgun, and crept off.

She opened a door, and the sounds of battle came billowing through. Covenant Grunts and Jackals screeched with fear as plague carriers bellowed and sprinted their way, absorbing their plasma bolts and needles.

Hunkering down on the balcony, Fluttershy spied as the healthy Covenant and the sick Covenant fought on and on. The warped, zombified soldiers were extremely vicious. They consisted of three ex-jackals and one ex-elite. They had no weapons other than their own twisted bodies, and they were up against a squad of un-infected Grunts and Jackals who had plasma weapons, needlers, grenades and two Shade turrets at their disposal. Oddly enough, the freak show was winning.

Fluttershy witnessed the infected Elite take needle rounds to the face and chest, and keep fighting like it was nothing. Before he went up in a super-combine explosion, he was able to smack two Grunts dead and rip a Jackal in half.

The Grunts on the stationary guns were the easiest targets, and they drowned in seas of the small infectors.

Soon, the battle was over, and two infected Jackals were all that remained. Gnarled tendrils hung from their limbs and left trails on the blood covered floor. They hooted and gibbered, their former Jackal accents just audible behind the discorded babbling.

If Fluttershy was to escape the facility, she would have to retrace her steps. That meant going through the door on the bottom floor, where the infected ones convened.

Because the plagued aliens were quite a ways off, Fluttershy decided to make use of the pistol Rarity gave her. Providing she made it out of here, she would treasure that pistol forever.

The M6D magnum was a surprisingly powerful weapon, but Fluttershy's aim wasn't up to scratch. The first shot hit one of the beasts in the foot. Feeling everything but the pain, he, it, came bolting over to her with its buddy by its side.

Alarmingly, the beasts were able to leap super high off the ground. So high in fact, they were able to cling to the edge of the balcony with their tendrils.

"Aah!" yelped Fluttershy as she stomped eagerly on the thin tentacles that clung to the deck. "Shoo!" she cried. "Shoo!"
Now that the Jackals were at such close range, she put away her pistol and took out her trusty shotgun.

BANG! Click-clack. BANG! Click-clack. BANG! The M90 shotgun rang out, destroying the Jackals' new limbs. However, as the infected, bird-like aliens landed on the floor below, new new limbs came bursting out of their skin.

One of them jumped up and wrapped a fresh tentacle around Fluttershy's foreleg, pulling her off the balcony and down into the gutter. The young Mare screamed all the way down and grunted upon the harsh landing. Conveniently, she had crushed the combative form with her weight, leaving only one beast to be dealt with.

As soon as the final ghoul came shrieking at her, she pulled the trigger, and slayed it with a hellish round of shotgun diplomacy.

After a moment of silence, that actually turned out to be full of noise courtesy of Fluttershy's hyperventilation, the lone Pony's shields recharged, and she reloaded the shotgun. Picking herself up and dusting herself off, she climbed out of the gutter and onto the level floor.

Before making her way to the door, she surveyed the carnage, and realised that none of the infected Covenant were Grunts. This raised an interesting question. Were Grunts immune? If they were, could it be possible for other species to be immune too? Like Ponies? Fluttershy held on to that thread of hope as she approached the compact Forerunner door.

Thud. Thud! THUD! Something angry came stomping into the chamber from the balcony above. With it, came a voice. A voice so fragmented yet recognisable it stole Fluttershy's breath. It let out a mighty roar that could scare the living daylights out of anyone, no matter how tough they were.

Frightfully, Fluttershy peered up and gawped at the quadruped figure that loomed over her, tentacles growing like weeds from its partially coated, cyan body. One orange eyeball dangled like fish bait from its socket, and clumps of pale mane and tail trailed from its misshapen head and hind quarters.

With a single horn, a gunshot wound in the side of its head, and a bite wound on its leg, Fluttershy could tell who it was, and she couldn't believe what she'd become.

Lyra Heartstrings.

With an alien shriek, Lyra the Unicorn pounced off the balcony, and the bones in her legs crunched upon landing. Her left front hoof had stubby, finger like protrusions jutting out, forming a hand.

She began charging at the retreating Fluttershy, wailing like a sick Pony, but shrieking like a horrible monster at the same time. "WRUUGH-aaah-AAARRGG-WRUAA!"

Fluttershy never thought she'd be pointing a shotgun in the face of a fellow Pony, yet here she was.
"Lyra! Stop!" she squealed, terrified of the fast approaching equine. "Please, stop!"
Lyra didn't stop; something else had control of her now.

"Don't make me do this!" warned the fear-stricken Mare, aiming the shotgun squarely at the combat form's forelegs.
It was no use; Lyra just kept coming.

Out of options, Fluttershy did what she was most reluctant to do, and shot Lyra directly in her legs, ripping them off. Fluttershy couldn't believe what she'd just done. That was a fellow Pony, and she'd just shot her down.
No. That isn't a Pony, she told herself. Not anymore.

Feeding a shell into the shotgun's chamber, Fluttershy was taken aback by Lyra's prone, ravaged form that gurgled and started shifting along the floor. With no front legs, her torso was scraped along while her back legs did all the work. The combat form didn't care one bit about her missing limbs, but Lyra's agonized accent that could still be picked up behind the thing's snarling told otherwise.

Even more alarmingly, a lump began to form around her Unicorn horn, and her whole face was stretched up like elastic as her head was transformed into a huge, segmented limb. Using the horn as a foot, as well as a wild stabbing weapon, the tripod Lyra made her impractical way towards Fluttershy.

With her heart beating so fast it could power a city, Fluttershy screeched and let loose a second shell from the shotgun, tearing Lyra's head-limb away in a bloody mess and putting an end to her movement.

The atrocity lay on the floor with its stolen rump in the air. It continued to leak both green and red blood all over the metal, and the liquids trailed down into the gutter where they were drained away.

It took two shotgun blasts to kill what was once a Pony. A Pony! The same thing Fluttershy and her friends were. The yellow Mare was left in shock. If she'd felt guilty every time she killed a Covie, she felt a great deal more from killing her own kind. And that thread of hope she'd been holding onto, that "Ponies are immune" thing: It had just been snapped.

After topping up the shotgun with another eight gauge shell, Fluttershy took a drink, and the water in her flask sloshed around as her hooves trembled. Once she was done, she set off creeping through the mini Forerunner door to retrace her steps, and hopefully make her way out of this Celestia forsaken heck hole.

*****

Meanwhile, in a different chamber, the Covenant were hard at work battling the Flood. The non-infected took up positions on a balcony, firing down into the torrent of mottled flesh and broken bones. Elites, Jackals and a single Pony were among the infected, raging away in the gutter below and leaping up to meet the Covenant head on.

One of the infected Elite's actually made it up onto the balcony, absorbing everything the terrified Covies could throw at him. His left arm possessed hideous tentacles that whipped this way and that, smacking Grunts hither and yonder.

Pink needles came streaking his way, piercing his gangrenous flesh and making him look like he was having acupuncture. When the needles detonated in a super-combine, the cannibalistic Elite was torn apart, and blood and guts showered the defending aliens.

The battle raged on, and soon, the mutants prevailed. Well, one of them did. A single Elite with a wriggling mega-scythe growing out of his stomach like a carnivorous plant. He limped along the balcony, moaning with discomfort, a huge quivering blob attached to the side of his neck and the red tipped antennae stretching out.

Unbeknownst to the sick alien, Fluttershy was tip-hoofing directly below him on the bottom floor, cheeks bulging at the tens of mashed up bodies strewn all over the deck. She had to get up onto the balcony if she was going to take the elevator back to the swamp.

She remembered how she had been afraid of the swamp, but right now, she was looking forward to exploring the wet, misty wilderness once again. Sure as hay beat roaming around down here with these monsters.

Covenant crates stacked messily provided a way to climb to the balcony, and as soon as her hoof made contact with the purple metal, the contaminated Elite was shrieking her way.
"Aaah!" Fluttershy screamed as the combat form launched itself at her.
She pulled the trigger of the shotgun and successfully blew him in half.

Hastily, she continued her climb up the Covenant storage, and soon scrambled her way up onto the balcony. From there, she activated a light bridge and crossed to the opposite balcony that she had fallen off when first making her way through the facility.

Slinking through the passage into the lift chamber, Fluttershy found that the elevator platform wasn't there. She remembered injuring a Jackal on her way down here, and witnessing him enter this very chamber. Maybe he rode the lift to the surface.

"GRULURGHURRRG!"
Startled, Fluttershy jumped and spun to face the noise, and found a ravaged Pony barrelling in her direction. Knowing that there was no way to reason with the transformed Ponies, or any of the infected for that matter, she pointed the shotgun and converted the monstrosity into lumpy green mush. Lumpy green mush that was still alive and wriggling. One of its tentacles wrapped tightly around the yellow one's leg, causing her to screech. A second deafening buckshot later, and the half Pony - half lump of clay was silenced.

Red veins emerged on the whites of Fluttershy's wide open eyes as she shook the severed tentacle from her leg with a squirm. Her rapid heart beat was almost audible, and her panicked breaths came out shaky. Glancing around, she took out her flask for another sip of water, wiped her mouth clean, and proceeded to the elevator controls.

It was time to escape. Time to survive. She could hardly believe the solo ordeal she'd been through. First she'd fought her way in through teams of Covenant, and now she'd fought her way all the way back out, against the evilest things she'd ever seen. She dreaded the thought of these things breaking free and wondering about the rest of Halo, and just wanted to go home more than ever.

She wept over Applejack and Rarity's absence. There was a chance they were both still alive, but after what she'd seen down here, she wouldn't be surprised if they weren't. Still, she had made it this far, and she was pretty useless. Maybe there was a bigger chance for them than she thought. But if not, she'd rather not see their faces when they had been warped by the parasites; it'd break her heart, if her heart didn't break itself first with how fast it was beating.

Anywho, time to leave and team up with Rainbow Dash. Oh how she couldn't wait to hear the tomboy's voice coming through her speakers again.
Don't get your hopes up, Fluttershy, she told herself, remembering the crashed drop ships that were scattered up there.

Holding her memory like a cat that wanted to flee, she remembered the controls, and touched the Forerunner light panel with the tip of her hoof.

BOOM! An all mighty explosion vibrated the walls of the chamber, and the pink maned Pegasus squizzed around in overwhelming fret.

Scraping down the shaft, multiple pieces of elevator platform came rocketing down, trailing fire. The smoke made Fluttershy cough as the burning fragments faded into the darkness below.

Imitating the elevator itself, Fluttershy's heart sank as deep as it ever had. Her ears flopped and her jaw hung in despair. That was her escape route. Her way to the surface. Her exit from the living nightmare. And it had just crumbled right before her eyes.

It was hopeless, and the isolated Mare just broke down weeping on the cold floor. "Aha-ahaa! No, no, nooo! No-ho-ho-hooo! Waa-aha-aha-aha-ahaa!"
Her cries were interrupted by the dreaded sound of slithering.

Holding in her melancholy, the tearful Fluttershy stood on her trembling hooves and braced the shotgun. The passage from which she came deposited a swarm of the little parasites, and they came rolling her way like a lake that had spawned consciousness.
"No!" she bellowed, firing the shotgun into the mass of flesh and tentacles.
BANG!
"Go away!"
BANG!
"Leave me alone!"
BANG!
She found herself quoting Lyra. "You're not turning me into one of those things!"
Along with the writhing bugs, Fluttershy's sanity began to dwindle.

When all of the living snot bags had been dissipated, Fluttershy reloaded the shotgun and set off galloping, back into the chamber with the light bridge. Since her only choices were to give up or try, the frightened Pony decided to seek a different escape route, assuming there was more than one way out of the facility.

At the opposite side of the chamber, there was an open door. She'd noticed it before, but hadn't gone through it because she had been retracing her steps. However, now that the elevator had crumbled, she had no steps to retrace, and that meant making some new ones.

She was full on sprinting, afraid of being a sitting duck. Journeying the length of the glimmering light bridge, she speedily passed through the door, and immediately lost traction, slipping on the deck and landing on her hind quarters with a thump. That's when she noticed the massive pool of red Pony blood spread like butter on the metal floor, along with a whole bunch of shell casings. She gasped at the sight, multiple visions flashing through her mind.

Hoisting herself up, she twitched and muttered incoherently to herself, making her slippery way across the gore and taking a compact door on the left.

After traversing a stretch of corridor with weird, electricity emitting Forerunner machines, the yellow Pegasus emerged in a promising chamber. If she was ever to find a way out of the complex, she figured it would be much later, but the enclosure she was in now appeared to be a lift chamber, identical to the one she'd just left. Happily, a lift platform was already present, and she didn't hesitate to hop aboard.

Surveying the controls, Fluttershy was made jump by an ear-splitting roar of non-covenant, non-pony origins. The ground shook as what sounded like a hundred of the freaks came stampeding up the corridor, towards the elevator.

Fluttershy panicked, and sweat beaded her brow as she scanned the controls. Before, she had been holding her memory like a cat that wanted to flee, and now, as the infestation came tearing ever closer, the cat leapt away.

Out of options, the frantic Mare tapped repeatedly at a button on the control panel, urging the elevator to ascend... but ascend, it did not.

As she gazed eagerly up at the elevator shaft, she noticed it was shrinking, and the platform was in fact descending, deeper into the tomb. Fluttershy lost her breath, drowning in a sea of misery as the platform dropped lower and lower. The shaft had been painted with blue and purple blood, and the further she plummeted, the denser the commingled fluids became. It wasn't long before there wasn't a single patch of silver metal visible beneath the vivid alien blood.

Gawping and rotating around and around, Fluttershy was mortified by the sight. It consumed her, and she found herself in a swirling vortex of Covie blood. Dizzy and devoid of hope, she curled up and squeezed her eyes shut, whimpering frailly all the way down to the bottom, where everything became pitch black.

The elevator screeched to a halt, and from somewhere in the darkness, a voice croaked, "Lyra? ... Is that you?"
> Chapter 27: Last One Out, Hit the Lights
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"H... hello?" the distant voice sounded off again, somewhere in the shadows.
The entire chamber was pitch-black, and Fluttershy couldn't even see her own hoof in front of her face.
In reply to the voice, Fluttershy squeaked, "Who's there?"
"It's me, Bon Bon... Who are you?"

Bon Bon. Fluttershy had seen enough of Bon Bon in the video to know who she was talking to. She sounded like a clean Pony; hadn't flipped out and attacked her yet.

Fluttershy fumbled with her shotgun in search of its built in flashlight, and when she found it, she unintentionally blinded poor Bon Bon.
"Aarg!"
"Aaah!"
"Aaah! What is it?!"
"Oh, nothing. Y... you startled me."
"Oh."

In the light, Fluttershy could see a big ugly bruise on the centre of Bon Bon's forehead, encrusted with dry blood. The Earth Pony Mare stood shakily in a corner, knees bent, veined eyes darting side to side. Attached to her mechanical arm was a captured plasma pistol.

Remembering the events of the video, Fluttershy quizzed, "Um... are you ok?"
"No!" broke Bon Bon. "My head hurts, my best friend is missing, I'm on my own. I'm terrified! I don't know what to do! Thank goodness you're here though." She then stared at Fluttershy through narrow eyes. "... Why are you here?"
"Oh, well-"
"-You're Fluttershy," she pointed. "Shouldn't you be at the control room, saving us all from Halo?"
"I... I've already been there. Twilight says Halo was built to take on a different threat; not us Ponies."
"Oh. Well that was a waste of time." To herself, she grumbled, "Not as big a waste of time as what we've been through." She began twitching, then shook her head clear.

"I actually didn't mean to come down here," revealed Fluttershy. "I pressed the wrong button. Good thing I did, right?"
"Ha! You made the same mistake we made."
"Well... I doubt it's that big a problem. We can just ride the elevator back up to the surface."
"Uh, Fluttershy? You might wanna point your flashlight over there." Bon Bon aimed a hoof behind Fluttershy, and the Pegasus pointed her torch in the direction.

Illuminated in the eye of light, the remains of a Forerunner control panel stood crooked and sparking.
"Oh no!" gasped Fluttershy in sadness.
"Yep. We've got those things to thank for that."

Turning to face Bon Bon, Fluttershy lifted a hoof and pleaded, "Is there any other way out of here?"
"How am I supposed to know?" grunted Bon Bon. "I haven't moved from this corner."
This made Fluttershy puzzled. "Well why not?"
"I'm waiting..."
An awkward silence lasted a couple of seconds before Fluttershy pried, "Waiting for what?"
"Lyra."
Oohh.

Good gosh. How long had Bon Bon been waiting for a dead Mare? Fluttershy almost cried. Refusing to leave this infested complex without her friend was true, Rainbow Dash degree loyalty.

"How long have you been waiting?" she asked.
"I dunno, I haven't been keeping track of time," shrugged Bon Bon. "About... nine hours or something, maybe."
Nine hours. Wow.

Fluttershy knew there was no need to wait for Lyra now. All that was left to do was find the others and escape. Keeping in mind "the others:"

"Where's everypony else?"
Bluntly, Bon Bon replied, "Gone."
"Gone?!"
"Separated, I mean," she rephrased, calming the yellow Pegasus.
"Oh, right."

"Well, some of them actually are gone. Soarin', Autumn, Rising... But last time I saw Applejack, she was alive. And I just know Lyra's in here somewhere."
Just then, a loud monster snort echoed throughout the complex, making the two Mares flick their heads around the room. Using her flashlight, Fluttershy scanned the shadows, but nothing could be picked out.

Eventually, Fluttershy resumed in a hushed tone, "So, um, how did Lyra go missing?"
Bon Bon had been aiming her plasma pistol about, but she soon lowered it and told, "She ran off into a chamber where we weren't heading. We would've gone after her, but the things were attacking us at the time. I still would've gone after her, but then Applejack said it was too late, and that she was gone. But I knew she was still alive. I tried to go looking for her, but AJ dragged me away. Rotten little so n' so."

Fluttershy was most intrigued. She hadn't expected to hear that AJ had turned her back on one of her troops. As Bon Bon continued, it turned out that Lyra wasn't the only soldier to get left behind.

"She left me behind too. We'd just ridden the elevator down by mistake. I was crying over Lyra, and over the descent, and over the monsters in general. I may have been a little dramatic, I'll admit, but..." she drifted off, looking longingly into the darkness. "... I was just... I was scared, y'know."
"I know, Bon Bon," Fluttershy sympathised. "I was scared too, and I still am. More than ever." With a nervous giggle, she added, "I'm always scared."

After a timid chuckle of her own, Bon Bon continued, "Lyra was a good friend. She meant a lot to me. How could I just give up hope that easily?"
Fluttershy remembered her encounter with Lyra. Both of them, in fact. She wasn't sure whether she should tell Bon Bon what had happened.

"I refused to get off the elevator. I prayed that Lyra would summon it, and together, we could escape. Because I was being a liability, Applejack and the rest left me behind."
Unsure, Fluttershy mentioned, "Well that doesn't sound like Applejack."
"Ah, that's because it wasn't," Bon Bon stated, confusing the shy. "I know Applejack. You know her better. We both know she wouldn't leave anypony behind, even if they cried "I'm not moving, I'm not moving.""
Fluttershy nodded. "That's right."
"It's this place, y'know. These walls, these shadows, these monsters. Tampers with your mind. Same applies to the Covenant... She left us cos she was afraid... I can't blame anypony for being afraid down here."

Another growl belonging to the creatures cracked into the soldiers' ears, frightening them. They searched around again, not moving, Fluttershy aiming the flashlight everywhere.

"... So," she edgily moved on, wide eyes focusing on her spotlight. "You ready to move?"
"Move?" Bon Bon was confused. "Why would I move?"
Fluttershy looked at her.
"Haven't you listened to a word I said? I'm waiting for Lyra." She began creeping over to the elevator platform.
"But..."
On the platform, Bon Bon planted herself, a stern expression on her cute, dirty face.
"... Why weren't you on the elevator when I rode it? You said you'd been waiting for nine hours. I thought you were just leaving."
"... I can't believe it. It's Applejack all over again. Lyra is my friend, ok. I'm not giving up on her. She's still in here!"
"No!"

This was it. By saying "no," Fluttershy had let something slip, and as Bon Bon stared deeply into her, she knew it was time to tell it.

Quieting down, she breathed, "No."
Bon Bon went blank. "What do you mean "no?""
Fluttershy swallowed. "Listen, Bon Bon. Lyra, she..."
"Oh no."
"She-"
"-No!" Sniffling, Bon Bon's breath became raspy, and she paced hastily back and fourth on the glass platform, looking down. "Don't do this to me, Fluttershy. Don't do this to me!"
"I'm sorry, Bon Bon," bleated the yellow one, coming around to Bon Bon's aid. "I'm so sorry."

Bon Bon had got the message. She sat down on the elevator and wailed. Loudly. Tears leaking like dodgy plumbing onto the glass.
"Ssshhh," Fluttershy shushed as she gave her a warm cuddle, both to soothe the Earth Pony, and to try lowering her volume. Noise was their enemy in this labyrinth.

Tearfully, Bon Bon gazed into Fluttershy's eyes. "Wh... what was she like?"
That question made things complicated. Fluttershy's first encounter with Lyra hadn't been pleasant. The encounter with the thing that used to be Lyra - even less. How would Bon Bon react to hearing that it was her who had put her best friend out of her misery?

She thought for a while, wondering if she should lie and just blame those other guys, the Covenant. But in the end, she decided to just tell the truth. She could do no wrong telling the truth, and if somepony didn't like her for being honest, that would be their problem.

"Well, the first time I saw her, she was alive, and-"
"-She was alive? I knew it!"
She sounded awfully surprised to say she knew it.
"Gosh, I hate Applejack so much right now!" she grumbled, putting her hooves together.

"If she was alive, why isn't she here? What happened to her? I want to know what happened to her."
Fluttershy's scared-o-metre began to rise again, and she backed away from the jittery Bon Bon ever so slightly.
"You better not have done an Applejack and left her!"
"Of course not!" she gasped, mildly offended. "I would never leave anypony!" Just audible under her breath, she mumbled, "She's the one who left me."

"She left you?" Bon Bon double checked. "Then she's still in here!"
Shaking her head, Fluttershy placed a hoof meaningfully on Bon Bon's chest. "No, Bon Bon, you don't understand. She left me." Her voice started to croak and her eyes started to shimmer. "She left all of us."
"She made it outside?" No pony had ever been more in denial than Bon Bon.
"Bon Bon, she shot herself!"

Shoving Fluttershy's hoof away, Bon Bon cried, "No! No! Oh gosh, no! Th-that doesn't make any sense! Why would she do that?! You said "the first time you saw her." What other times did you see her?! How could you have seen her again if she'd done that?!"
"How do you think - you've seen these monsters!"
During Fluttershy's answer, Bon Bon broke down and commenced sobbing again. These were all things that she knew deep down. It just took somepony to tell her to make it sink in.

"My... my Lyra," she squeaked. "My poor, dear Lyra."
"I know it's hard to loose a friend, Bon Bon," sympathised Fluttershy, remembering parting with the great and powerful Trixie. "Lyra's not coming back."

A few seconds were spent being mournful on the elevator before another beasty advertised its existence in the Forerunner maze. A frighteningly loud shriek, too close for comfort. It would seem something had been drawn to the sound of crying.

Shakily, Bon Bon stood up, sniffling and looking around. She brought up the plasma pistol and declared, "I'm going to do Lyra proud."
Fluttershy admired her spirit. It was a spirit she herself doubted she had.

Wordlessly, Bon Bon trudged off the lift and approached the room's exit, just visible at the end of Fluttershy's flashlight's range. Catching up with her, Fluttershy broke into a trot, glancing back every now and then.

Once through the passage, Fluttershy and Bon Bon found themselves in pitch blackness; the only illumination besides the torch was a malfunctioning, flickering light bridge.

A horrifying shriek tore up from behind the muted hissing of the bridge. A shriek that contained a jaggedness and the warble of an Elite. A beasty was somewhere in the vicinity, but everywhere Fluttershy looked, she couldn't pick anything out in her spotlight. With her ears however, she could pick up the sound of heavy footfalls growing louder.

Bon Bon's safety was important to Fluttershy, so she checked behind her, turning her back to the bridge. Bad timing, as something suddenly appeared behind her in the on - off illumination, scaring the daylights out of Bon Bon.

As the Earth Pony screamed and fired her plasma pistol, Fluttershy spun around with a yelp and blasted a leg off the reanimated Elite.
"ARUGHU!" it belched, tumbling down like a sky scraper.

This was the first monster encountered to be armed with a weapon, and Fluttershy was surprised to see that the thing knew how to use it. Luckily, it was no expert. The prone form stretched out its right, blue armoured arm and fired a plasma rifle on full automatic. Of all the bolts that zapped out of the alien weapon, only one found Fluttershy, and her shields absorbed it nicely.

Bon Bon continued to hit the ex-elite with her own plasma, burning off its face, until Fluttershy ended it all with a second round of shotgun.

Both Mares panted, speckled with green blood, gawping down at the atrocity. A sudden click elicited a startled glance from Bon Bon, but it just turned out to be Fluttershy, reloading her shotgun. Another sound served to startle both of them; multiple monster shrieks, drifting through the facility. If Bon Bon's crying had alerted one combat form, how many combat forms would a gunfight attract?

Approaching the decaying corpse, Bon Bon lowered to swap her pistol for its rifle. "Y... you still think we can make it out of here?"
Looking unintentionally hard-core, Fluttershy pumped the shotgun and swung her frazzled pink hair. "Um... I don't know." Not exactly the most inspirational answer anypony had ever given.

"How do you suppose we'll cross this?"
Coming up to the shy's side, Bon Bon gazed at the light bridge that flashed in and out of existence. Every time it lit up, parts of the chamber became just a little bit visible, including the gutter beneath. Corpses were spectating from that gutter. Covies and beasties, all drenched in multi-coloured blood. Not a very welcoming safety net.

Bon Bon brought a hoof to her chin and contemplated. "Hmmm." She began looking around. "Where'd I put my plasma pistol?" Once the weapon had been found, she picked it up in her chops and flung it out onto the light bridge.
It bounced off the light, just as it died. The light returned as the pistol came down, and it bounced a second time before coming to a sliding stop. When the light faded again, it dropped, becoming lost in the garbage below.
There was a pause before Bon Bon quizzed, "... How good are you at acrobatics?"
Fluttershy gulped.

Understanding Bon Bon's plan, Fluttershy figured it would be just like hopping across stepping stones.
"Ok, if we're gonna do this, we should do it together," she notioned. "On three?"
"On three."

As one, they counted, "One... Two... Three!"
They leapt, and the bridge just disappeared. The tactic was to jump as high and as far as possible; more air time to give the bridge a chance to respawn. Luckily, it did, and as soon as the Mares' hooves hit the light, they were straight up again, hopping over the bridge. The bridge didn't die again until Fluttershy and Bon Bon sprung off it a second time, and they yelped, afraid they would fall through. However, luck came their way as the light bridge reappeared beneath them, saving them from the awaiting mess.

Quickly, the duo made it to the other end. Well, almost. Fluttershy landed on the solid metal platform just as the bridge vanished, but Bon Bon only succeeded in getting her front hooves to safety, her back hooves on the dangle.
"Gah! Help, Fluttershy!" she barked, straining to pull herself up.
As fast as possible, the yellow Pony grasped the khaki one's foreleg, hoisting her up onto the metal floor. Just in time too; the light bridge returned for a brief second. Fluttershy had no idea what would've happened if Bon Bon was still hanging there, but she didn't want to find out. She pictured it being messy.

One thing she knew to be messy, was the creatures, and as Bon Bon dusted herself off, a handful of them shrieked around the chamber before she even had the chance to say thanks.

There were two doors on the balcony, one to the left and one to the right, and two tentacle zombies squeezed their way through the left one. A third form began shifting amongst the corpses below, rising to its feet and craning its antennae.

Bon Bon screeched, "Look out!" and began firing her plasma rifle at the two on their level.
Those two sprinted straight at them, catching most of the blue plasma, not letting it stop them. One of them had been a Jackal, and it shrieked as the plasma eventually became too much to bare.

The other, Elite form pushed on through the burning hail, not a care for its fallen comrade, and proceeded to return fire with a needler. Yawping, Bon Bon hid behind the terrified Fluttershy, allowing her shields to protect them both. Once the ex-elite was in range, the pink maned Mare pulled the trigger, and it dropped to the deck with a howl.

All that was left now was the creature below, and it launched itself straight up at them. The light bridge continued to flicker, and the thing that used to be a Jackal lost its legs as it didn't time it quite right, just as Fluttershy had pictured. However, while having both legs chopped off by solidified light would've killed anyone else, the ex-jackal hadn't seemed to notice, and it scrambled eagerly towards them.

Together, Fluttershy and Bon Bon trampled the cur, blood splashing up their bodies. Once it fell silent, the couple's jittery breath filled the enclosure, and Bon Bon was made jump once more by the sound of Fluttershy reloading her shotgun.

After experiencing traumatising events every second, the yellow Mare laid on her belly and whimpered.
"Hey," Bon Bon purred in a soothing manner. "Come on, Fluttershy. We've gotten this far."
"I know," she responded with a sniff, glowing gold as her shields recharged. "I'm not giving up... I just... need some time."
Bon Bon pulled away. "Well we don't have time. The more time we spend down here, the less chance we have of surviving. You know that."
The Earth Pony's words were true and cold. "Yes... I know."

Helpfully, Bon Bon lifted her off the floor and angled her head towards the door that the two ghouls had come from. "I think Applejack went that way."
Fluttershy lit up the door with her torch, bringing some bloody horseshoe prints and spent shell casings into illumination.

As the two crept on their way, Fluttershy interrogated, "Who else was with Applejack?"
Applejack was a tough cookie, and Fluttershy wouldn't be surprised if she'd fought all the way out on her own... Oh wait, they were up against more than just Covenant. She would be surprised.
"Well, there was her brother, that's for sure," the Earth Pony began listing, referring to Fluttershy's friend, Big Mac. "And there was Joe, Thunderlane, Aloe, Lotus."

Forced into a one by one formation, Fluttershy took point and lead the way through the door and the tight corridors beyond. 

Fluttershy taking point? Well there's something that didn't happen everyday. The young Pegasus was doing the right thing though; she had the armour, the shotgun, the luck, and she would hate to see anything bad happen to the one living Pony she'd found. Besides, whoever wasn't on point was on rear, and that was just as bad.

"Aloe?" she puzzled, remembering seeing Aloe get dropped by a bug in the video.
"Yeah, Aloe," repeated Bon Bon blandly. "You... sound surprised."
"Oh, do I?" Nervously, she giggled.

Bon Bon wasn't giggling though. Her expression was serious, and she stomped her hoof as she refused to continue. Halting, Fluttershy twisted to face her.
"What are you hiding?" she pried accusingly.
Fluttershy stammered, "I... I'm not hiding anything."
A distant roar made her glance around, but Bon Bon continued to glower at her.
"If you've got nothing to hide, then you won't mind telling me why you're so surprised that Aloe was alive."

Staring into Bon Bon's focused blue eyes for a few seconds, Fluttershy sighed and rummaged through her saddle bag. Curiously, Bon Bon peered over her, and gasped upon seeing what the shy brought out.
"Lyra's camcorder?"

The little pink device balanced on Fluttershy's hoof.
"I saw what she'd filmed. The Pelican crash, the first encounter with the creatures."
Gently, Bon Bon cradled the camera in her hooves, her eyes gazing upon it like suns.

"I saw one of those bugs stick to Aloe, and when Lotus pulled it off, she fell... and I never saw her get back up."
Bon Bon flipped open the little screen, revealing the picture of Lyra in the back of the Pelican, beaming happily at her audience. Eyes shimmering, she stroked the image with the tip of her hoof.

"When I entered that chamber myself, she wasn't there. I thought she'd been turned into one of the monsters."
"... No," Bon Bon eventually whispered. "No, she... she didn't turn... She just got wounded." She had been thinking of something else whilst talking, and as she mouthed the name "Lyra," it became clear where her mind was.

Getting a move on, Fluttershy reached out her hoof. "Um..."
Silently, the khaki Mare folded away the screen and gave Fluttershy the camera back. She had just concealed it in her bag when something biped sprinted by on the other side of the next door.
"... Ready to continue?" she checked, barely keeping together.
Bracing her plasma rifle, Bon Bon replied tearfully, "Mm-hm," and the two soldiers tip-hooved into the next chamber.

*****

Meanwhile, in a separate, well lit chamber, a team of three Covenant Elites, and one surviving Jackal they'd picked up, steadily traversed a balcony. A gutter split the bottom floor in two, and the plague were present down there. Also down there, was a single Grunt. His colleagues had been slaughtered by his redesigned, well, colleagues. He hid behind a support column, listening to the grotesque sounds of gurgling.

The Elites and Jackal on the balcony were only trying to escape, and they figured it would be best to try to do so sneakily. However, the elevator they sought was beyond a door on the opposite balcony, and a light bridge had to be activated to get there. While the Forerunner bridges were dazzling, they had one flaw. Transparency. There was no way to cross the see-through bridge without being spotted by the combat forms beneath.

Whispering to each other, the three Elites and one Jackal devised a plan. The veteran of the pack turned to mumble something private to one of his rookies, then muttered the same thing to the other blue clad Elite, singling out the Jackal. Paranoid, the left handed alien scanned his team, alternating between their mischievous faces.

The rookie to his left rose a hand, and he flinched at him, giving the rookie to his right the chance he needed to grasp him by the throat. With his airway cut off, he couldn't squawk. He wanted to squawk to get payback. He knew what the Elites were doing, and he was appalled at it. One loud squawk should be enough to alert the diseased, and the high and mighty Elites would be joining him.

Half heatedly, the soldier that held him off the ground uttered an apology, and hurled him like a javelin into the stinking crowd. Finally, he could squawk.

As the carnivores enjoyed their poultry, the veteran Elite punched the necessary button on the Forerunner control panel and summoned the holy bridge. Across it, they sprinted, their adversaries too distracted to notice.

"Pssst! Over here!" beaconed the red armoured Grunt, not too loud to alert the horde, loud enough to alert the Elites. Well, one of them.
One of the rookies looked at him as he ran by, then looked forward again, still on the run. Cowardly Elites. The little methane breather was almost as furious as he was frightened.

However, those Elite warriors soon got their comeuppance as they made it to the other side and the veteran tapped open the door. A contaminated Pony came stampeding out with a collection of ex-covenant. Instantly, the veteran drove his fist into his face, only for the shotgun wielding combat form to blast him in the gut. Dying, he fell, and now his rookies were on their own.

The buckshot had also alerted the others, and they came pouncing up to the balcony, leaving what looked like a Jackal's skeleton half buried under a pile of organs.

UPSC shotguns were one of the most deadly weapons the equine vermin had up their sleeves, making the infected Pony the biggest threat in the room. Knowing this, one of the rookies made a grab for it, only for something else to make a grab for him. An infected Elite came up from behind and pulled him away, letting the ex-stallion fire another deadly shell into his alarmed face.

Two down, one to go, and boy did he go. Straight across the bridge in fact. The damn monsters were blocking his escape, so he decided to lure them away.

Dire for him, two uninfected Ponies had appeared at the other end of the bridge since he and his team were last there, and the yellow one was pressured by the khaki one to hit the controls. His stomach sank, and he leapt epically off the hard light, a hand reaching out.

Too bad, he didn't make it, and he plummeted before the Ponies, smashing into the gutter and draining his shields. Whether he felt pain or not, he got up and spun to face his attackers. They came swarming at him, howling and gibbering. His plasma rifle was able to bring a couple of them down, and a sticky grenade certainly took its toll, but it wasn't long before he was engulfed in their rotten flesh, and he wailed as he became torn apart.

Turning back into the lift chamber, the shotgun wielding ex-stallion shambled away from the scene.

Fluttershy and Bon Bon had seen him. The remains of his armour, red coat, orange mane and tail. He even had bandages wrapped around his waist. The Pegasus remembered wrapping bandages around the waist of a friend on the Truth and Reconciliation, and it broke her heart to see him in such a way.

A close explosion struck the Mares with fear, and a group of mutant corpses rolled across the gutter.
"What was that?" trembled Bon Bon.
A high-pitched voice squealed up before Fluttershy could think of an answer. "Down here! Help! No shoot!"
Grunt. Unthreatening. Needy.

Having just wiped out the remaining horrors with a plasma grenade, the veteran Grunt waddled out from hiding and waved up at them. "Yoohoo!"
Growling, Bon Bon rose her plasma rifle, but then Fluttershy lowered it.
"No," she ordered. "Let's save him."
"Save him?" Bon Bon was dumbstruck. "We're looking for survivors, and you want to waste time saving him?!"
"He is a survivor."
"He's an enemy. Why, he's no better than these things!"

"Hey, me remember you!" the Grunt called out in his odd voice, pointing directly at Fluttershy. "You that sad Pony from Truth and Reconciliation!"
"You... remember me?" Fluttershy was shocked that a Covenant soldier would actually remember her.

She tried to think, too much madness going on at one time, and finally came out with, "Babs?!"
"Hey, it's Pubab, unless mean one are here." Pubab twiddled his thumbs, holding on to a needler.
Mean one? ... Oh, Trixie. Poor Trixie.

"Hold on." Holding a hoof out, Bon Bon shook her head. "You two are friends?"
"No."
"Yes!"
"No! He's just that Grunt Trixie captured on the Truth. You remember?"
Having being held captive on the Truth and released by Fluttershy and her besties, Bon Bon could vaguely remember. "... Oohh. Yeah, I remember." Then, to Pubab, she snarled, "You're the one who lead us down here!"
The Grunt had made a mistake. "... Oh... yeah."
"You said there was treasure. You call this treasure?!"

Getting real nervous, the diminutive alien started to sweat, looking back and forth at his needler and the Ponies. "Um... er... Me changed!"
Aiming down her plasma rifle, Bon Bon spoke, "What do you think, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy thought what Pubab had done was despicable. He was the one who gave Rarity the false information, sending her, Applejack and the others down here into this crypt. Still, Pubab said he'd changed, and Fluttershy, being Fluttershy, tried hard to say;
"Well... he says he's changed, so I think we should give him a secon-"
-POW-POW-POW! A quick burst from Bon Bon's plasma rifle interrupted Fluttershy, and the retched little "Babs" was no more.

Cross, the Earth Pony grated, "You were seriously gonna forgive him!"
"Well... he... He..."
Leaning over, Bon Bon pressed a button on the Forerunner control panel, lighting up the bridge. "I can't believe it," she grumbled through gritted teeth. "Such a lil goody four shoes."

About halfway across the bridge, she stopped and turned to yell, "Covenant - evil! Us - good!" pointing at Pubab's body, then at herself.
She set off walking again, just as Fluttershy argued, "The Covenant are not evil!"
Coming up short, she twisted and growled, "What?"

Fluttershy stood stubborn. "They just oppose us. Good and evil are just made up concepts. If we forgave and rescued Pubab, we could have gained the Covenant's respect, and we could team up to take on these things."
"No bad or good, huh? What are these things then, Fluttershy? Cos they sure as hay aren't good!" She started walking again.
Fluttershy hurried to catch up. "This is a virus. You can't reason with a virus. It's nature."

Once at the other end, Fluttershy deactivated the bridge and stepped over the fallen Elites, nearing the door.
"Oh and Bon Bon?" she piped up just before tapping it open.
"What?"
"You said Applejack was still alive."
"She was. So was Bic Mac, Joe, Thunderlane, Aloe, Lotus."
"Right."
"And me."
"Uh-huh."
"And Lyra."
Fluttershy paused to listen.
"But of course all you care about is your bestie, Applejack."
"It's not like that at all!" she gasped. "I came in search of all of you, and I'm so glad to have found you. Believe me, I did everything I could to save your best friend."
Sighing, Bon Bon drooped, biting her lip.

Truth be truth, Fluttershy wanted to know where Rarity was, but that wouldn't be a good question to ask now, so instead, she craftily articulated, "So who else was with Applejack?"
Gulping, Bon Bon croaked, "... That's it... There was no pony else... Just those four - five."
Unable to hold it in longer, she finally implored, "... Rarity?"
Pushing something else out of her mind, the khaki Mare revealed,  "She was the first to go."

Suddenly, the door slid open, and the infected Pony with a shotgun ambushed. It wasn't just anypony either. As had been observed before, the combat form was a large red Stallion with orange hair and a bandaged waist. Up close, Fluttershy could see his green eyes, barely focused. Big Macintosh.

The ill Stallion braved Bon Bon's plasma attack and launched high into the air, roaring fiercely. With the shotgun, Fluttershy shrieked, ducked, and blasted him in the side.

Also possessing a shotgun, Big Mac shrieked, landed, and blasted Bon Bon in the side. Since Bon Bon hadn't had the misfortune to get infected, she ended up with the misfortune of dying.
"Nooo!" cried Fluttershy in anguish as the one survivor she'd rounded up collapsed to the floor and bled. 
How could you?

With tears streaking down her cheeks, Fluttershy fired shell after shell into Big Mac, dead-set on vengeance. Dead-set on survival. Dead-set on finding her friends.

It took three shells to put the big guy down, and when she did, she looked on at both deceased equines in despair. The loss of Bon Bon was one thing, but to have pointed a shotgun in the face of Big Mac and shoot him was something else. Big Mac had been a friend of hers for a while, and he was Applejack's brother. What if she found Applejack alive and well? How would she deliver the news?
Oh, hi, Applejack. How you doing? Just so you know, I killed your brother.

Reloading, she made her way into the lift chamber, whimpering as she came up to the elevator. Reading the controls, she was careful not to make the same mistake twice, and she took her time to identify the correct button.

She doubted herself, but soon pushed the top-most of three white buttons at the bottom of the display. Thankfully, the elevator didn't drop, and it actually started climb, higher and higher towards Halo's surface, leaving the tomb below.

Fluttershy collapsed on the rising glass platform and broke into tears. Her cries and hyperventilation interrupted each other as she curled up in an armoured ball and scenes of the event flashed through her mind. The video she'd seen, Lyra, Bon Bon, Big Mac. And the news about Rarity. She hadn't had time to stomach it yet.
The first to go?

Remorseful, she wept whilst trying to catch her breath, and the sounds she made echoed around the gloomy, descending shaft. She took a sip of water to quench her thirst, as well as wash that horrible taste out of her mouth. A sudden buzzing caught her attention and caused her to look around in dread. Was she still not out of it?

The buzzing grew louder and louder, until, "... -luttershy! Is that you?!" Rainbow Dash's voice came through her radio.
Rainbow Dash!
"Fluttershy! Come in!"
Oh, thank Celestia Rainbow Dash was ok. Her tomboyish voice was enough to make Fluttershy's heart sore for all the right reasons.

"Rainbow Dash!" she croaked, wiping away her tears. "I'm here! Oh, I'm so glad you're ok! How are things up there?"
"How are things up - Fine! How are things down there?! That's the big question! I'm tracking movement all over the place!"
"Oh, you wouldn't believe me if I told you," Fluttershy replied, her voice grim. "And believe me, you don't want to know."
"But... I really do though."
"Well I... I... I don't know what just happened. I don't know what those things were down there, but whatever they were, they were awful, just awful! They took the Covenant, they took the Ponies, and they just... just... transformed them! Turned them into monsters!"
Rainbow had a hard time wrapping her mind around the concept. "You mean to tell me, there's something else on this ring? Something worse than the Covenant?"
"They..." Sniff. "They tried to eat me, Rainbow Dash!"
"Oh gosh, for real?! We gotta get off this ring!"
"Definitely."

"Did you find Rarity and Applejack?" Rainbow inquired.
"No," came the bad news. "I found a couple of soldiers from their squad though. One of them was Bon Bon. She said... She said Applejack was still alive, and..." She stalled, remembering the rule of telling Rainbow the worst news while she was piloting.
"And?"
"And... I mean... But... that was a long time ago."
Smooth.

"You found Bon Bon down there. If she and Applejack were both still alive, why weren't they together?" Rainbow continued to fish. "It aint like Applejack to abandon her troops."
"She said they were separated."
"And now I'm back!" came a familiar voice from above.
Fluttershy wasn't sure if she'd actually heard it or if she was loosing her marbles.

"Wait, did I just hear Applejack?"
Oh, Rainbow heard it too. Maybe she wasn't loosing her marbles.

Reaching the top of the shaft, the elevator screeched to a halt, and Fluttershy found herself before the orange Earth Pony herself.
"Applejack!" she cheered, overjoyed.
"You found her?!" There was a tonne of joy in the pilot's tone.
"Fluttershy! What in tarnation are you doin' here?!"
The two Mares shared a quick cuddle. Behind Applejack, three other Ponies could be seen against the wall, one of them bandaged up. Also behind the farm Pony, a square of distant jungle and pattering rain.
Outside at last!

"I found her, Rainbow," the yellow Mare delineated. "And some survivors." Hopefully Rainbow would classify Rarity as "some survivors."
Alone in her Pelican, Rainbow pumped a hoof and whooped.

Pulling back from the hug, Applejack smiled and gasped, "Rainbow's here?"
"She sure is," grinned Fluttershy. "We came to rescue you."
AJ put a hoof on her heart. "Aw, my stars, Fluttershy. Thank you so much. We got ourselves in a bit of a pickle down here, heh." Turning to what was left of her squad, she hollered, "Y'hear that, guys! We're gonna be rescued!"
A round of relieved sighs and "thank goshes" came from the exhausted trio.
One of them cheered, "Everything is gonna be good forever!"

Over Fluttershy's speaker, Rainbow resurfaced, "Is Rarity with them?"
Ah, looks like she wasn't classing Rarity with "some survivors."
"Hold on, Rainbow," Fluttershy put the blue Pegasus on hold. Muting her radio, she quizzed Applejack, "What happened to Rarity?"
"I wish I knew, Fluttershy. I wish I knew." AJ removed her hat and held it to her chest; bad news. "She got pulled up into the ceiling by them darn monsters. We heard her screamin'... we heard her stop... we saw blood dripping down."

Repulsed, Fluttershy brought a hoof to her mouth. The only information she'd had until now was; "she was the first to go." Not very detailed, and the Ponies seemed to have a habit of separating this night. But now, she had an accurate, mental image of what had happened to the Captain. She could picture Rarity, screaming, reaching for assistance, being pulled up, up and away into the ceiling by the bloodthirsty freaks. Her screams fading as her red blood came down like rain.

"I think we're just gonna have to live with the fact that our dear Rarity just aint comin' back."
There was a moment of silence for the Unicorn. Unlike Pinkie, Rarity didn't have a habit of disappearing into the howling dark and returning bright as can be. She was Rarity, and if she went missing in a Covenant infested facility, odds are she wouldn't come back. This facility was infested with something even worse than the Covenant, so what chance did she stand?

Getting down to business, Applejack sniffled and said, "Listen, I hear RD. How ya doin', RD?"
"I'm dying to know if Rarity's ok. You gonna tell me?"
Scrunching her face, the freckled Mare attempted, "Uh... she, uh... she's fine... right?"
One of the three soldiers behind Applejack face-hoofed and shook his head. AJ never lied, except when she did, and she was terrible.

"Was that supposed to convince me?" grunted Rainbow. "I know Rarity, Applejack. You can hear that Mare a million miles away!"
In an instant, one of AJs troops stepped up and faked a posh accent. "I'm still here, darling!"
Imposter Rarity here was actually Lotus, sister of Aloe, as seen in the video. Speaking of Aloe; Aloe was there. She was the one in bandages.

Buying it, Rainbow got giddy. "Is that you, Rarity?!"
"Why of course it's me, um... um..." Lotus eyeballed Fluttershy and Applejack, motioning her hoof for help.
"Rainbow Dash," they both whispered.
"-Rainbow Dash. Who else could it be?"
"I dunno."
Lotus winked at the uncertain faces around her. "So, will you be picking us up now?"
"Hay yeah I am!" she cheered enthusiastically. "There's a neat little spot a few hundred metres from you, right by a tower. You'll know it when you see it."
"Lovely! We'll be there in a jiffy."
"See ya there!" And that's when drama class ended.

Fluttershy announced, "I can't believe she fell for that."
"I feel awfully bad for lying to her like that," advertised Applejack, looking a little guilty.
To Lotus, Fluttershy wondered, "How'd you do such a good impression of Rarity?"
"Oh that Mare's been coming into my spa since before the war," revealed the blue Earth Pony with a smirk. "I know how to do a good Rarity."
"Our spa!" Aloe coughed from behind, being comforted by the other survivor, Thunderlane.
"Right."

"How ya doin', Aloe?" checked Applejack, leading Fluttershy and Lotus over to her.
The pink Mare spluttered, "Aha-aha! ... Fine."
"She got stabbed by one o' the little ones," she explained to Fluttershy. "I'm sure you'll'a seen em."
"Yes. Too much of them," she replied, remembering seeing what happened to Aloe in the video.

"We applied disinfectant, filled her up with bio-foam n' bandaged her up. We do good, Dr Fluttershy?"
Ha, Dr Fluttershy. Nice to see AJ still had her sense of humour in these dire situations.
In reply, the good doctor confirmed, "That's what I would've done."
Lotus muttered to her bandaged up twin, "Told you so."
"I never argued."

After a swig of her own water, Applejack pondered, "Oh, and Fluttershy? You didn't happen to run into ma brother, did ya?"
Uh oh; Big Mac. Fluttershy sure did see Big Mac down there; transformed into one of them.

Gulping, she whispered, "Well, kinda."
"... I hope he didn't give you much trouble. I saw what happened to him."
Oh phew. She had been worrying over how to break the news.
"Oh, he... was... maybe a little trouble." Her hesitations implied her actions.
Applejack picked up on this and spoke, "Well... I'm proud o' ya for doin' the right thing." She paused, and her lower lip started trembling. "I... I could really use a hug right now."

Comforting, Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around her friend, patting her back as she fought hard against her tears, to no avail. Fluttershy may have lost a friend, but Applejack had lost a member of her family. Both of them had lost Rarity, and that equalised their sobs.

Eventually, AJ withdrew from the hug and sniffled, wiping her eyes. "Alright then... I guess we're ready to-"
"-Uh, guys? You might wanna be careful," Rainbow's voice interjected through Fluttershy's coms. "There's a lot of heat signatures in the swamp, and they sure don't look like Covenant."
Dread filled Fluttershy's system. They're free.
> Chapter 28: I'm a Pony, Get Me Out of Here!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saddled up and ready for battle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Thunderlane, Aloe and Lotus were quaking with fear. Who they were battling, well, according to their eye in the sky, they weren't Covenant. A rock formed in Fluttershy's gut as a tell-tale shriek tore through the air.

Regarding that shriek, Applejack talked to her squad, "Alright, y'all know what that means. Whatever the hay these things are, they've made it outside. We gotta be careful if we don't wanna turn into em."

Getting in Thunderlane's face, she checked, "Thunderlane, how much ammo you got?"
The dark grey Pegasus was still equipped with his assault rifle, whereas Aloe and Lotus were armed with nothing more than their pistols.
"Uh, not a lot." He shook his head.
AJ sighed, "Well you've still got yer pistol, right?"
"Yeah."
"Good. I want you to take to yer wings n' watch over us." The Staff Sergeant turned to face everypony else. "Y'all ready?"
There was no answer.
"I'll take that as a yes." Making for the exit, she pumped her shotgun. "Let's move!"
And so, into the mist filled swamp, the Ponies ventured.

The pitter-patter of the rain half-masked the gurgling of the stalking beasts as the four Mares slogged through the sloppy mud. Taking point, Applejack scanned the area ahead. Fluttershy was on rear, and she constantly rotated to check their backs. Sharing middle, the spa Ponies twitched and shuddered. And Thunderlane hovered over them all.

Even higher, Rainbow Dash's Pelican could be heard circling the swamp, and the Pegasus behind the controls updated them over the radio. "They know you're there. They're hiding in the bushes, waiting to ambush."
Fluttershy was the one with the radio, so she inquired, "Where abouts? Which bushes?"
"... All the bushes."
Swallowing the lump in her throat, she spun to face everywhere, picking out plants and branches that, at first glance, looked a lot like the ghouls.

Wading through a body of murky, knee deep water, Applejack brought the survivors to a stand still. "Y'all hear that?"
The team fell silent, listening out for whatever spooked their leader.

Splash-splash-splash-splash! Something was running at them through the water. Its crashing footfalls became increasingly loud. Whatever it was, it let out an ear splitting shriek. It seemed to come from every direction at once, so that's where the soldiers looked. Nothing could be detected though.

A second roar unfurled over the swamp, then a third, then a forth, then a dozen more. Something whispered in Fluttershy's ear, but when she spun to face it, she found there was nothing there.

Lotus became twitchy. "I can't take this any more!" She reared up and spun her hooves. "Run away!" Pulling on her wounded sister, she broke into a sprint.
"Lotus!" Applejack called after them as they disappeared in the fog. "Oh for Pete's sake!" She began running aswell, Fluttershy and Thunderlane in tow.

As Aloe and Lotus were absorbed by the fog, two different figures materialised in their places, one biped, one quadruped.
"Uh oh."

"They're behind us!" Thunderlane thundered, bringing up his assault rifle and firing the first shots of the fight.
More of the mutants came closing in, pushing through the shrubbery and running through the fog. Mud and water sploshing with every stomp.

Fluttershy and Applejack backed up against each other.
"You watch my back, I'll watch yours," the farm Pony uttered out the side of her mouth.
Fluttershy was too scared to answer, just pointed her shotgun outwards and tracked the stalkers.

She saw one skid as it changed direction, kicking up a rooster tail of water. It grew as it drew close, arms flailing, dead head flapping like a flag. Boom! She fired, but it was out of range, and the ex-elite just kept coming.

Applejack went wild with her shotgun, tearing holes the size of dinner plates into the decaying bodies.
One of those bodies had belonged to a Pony, and she stated, "Oh gosh, I recognised that one! That was Joe!"

Monster after monster came howling out of the fog, sploshing the dirty swamp water and making all sorts of gruesome noises. A handful of the little ones came slithering through the muck, and were shot out of action by the airborne Thunderlane.
"Well done, Thunderlane, keep it up!" praised AJ over the soundtrack of battle. "You too, Fluttershy! Yer doin' terrific!"
Neither Thunderlane nor Fluttershy responded; too busy trying to stay alive.

An Elite came dragging himself through the water, his legs moulded together as one big tail tipped with a spike. Fluttershy pumped the shotgun and pulled the trigger, taking his ugly alien head clean off. She was alarmed to see that the infected warrior wasn't even fazed, and it just kept scrambling towards her. Click, click, she was out of shells, and she hurried to reload.

Once one shell was in the weapon's chamber, she immediately discharged it into the alien's neck hole, triggering a vile explosion of olive blood inside its chest.

Once he, well, it, was dealt with, she resumed reloading her weapon, shuffling sideways with AJ at her back. The cowboy hat wearing Mare grunted with every kick of her shotgun, laying waste to all that came close. The parasites jumped up at her, and she reared up and kicked them away, coughing and waving the spores clear of her face.

Fluttershy's radio cracked as Rainbow pronounced, "Er, guys? You might wanna get to where Aloe n' Lotus are. They're in a spot of trouble. Keep it up! You're looking great on my monitors!"
"Ugh, dang nab it!" Applejack grunted in return. "Come on y'all, we need to push forwards!" A combat form leapt up, and she denied it's assault with a booming buckshot.

"Oh, where are Aloe and - gah!" She stopped herself to shoot down a sly ex-jackal that had crept up beside her. "Nng... Aloe and Lotus?"
"They're right by the tower - not far from you. They're hidden for now, but there's a lota bad guys surrounding them."

Back to back, the shotgun sisters shuffled through the water and into a narrow pass lined with weeping trees. A fearsome growl reverberated from somewhere behind, and a Pony came galloping through the rain to meet them. The Mare was still donning a soldier saddle, and a plasma pistol was attached to the mechanical arm. Her mane and tail had been reduced to only a few strands, and tentacles supplemented various parts of her misshapen body.

The infected Mare commenced firing its plasma pistol, and Fluttershy yelped as some of the green bolts sizzled against her shields. 

Thunderlane came swooping in and rained bullets all over the living distortion, delivering a mighty buck to its head as he soared by. It was still standing though, and as Thunderlane came whooshing back down for a second strike, it leapt up to an impossible height and met him in the air, greeting him with a whip of the tentacles.

The Pegasus grunted and crashed to the soggy floor, the ugly little Mare looming over him. Before it could do anything, AJ stepped up and blasted the abomination into oblivion.
"Uh, thanks," gratified Thunderlane woozily.
Applejack helped him up. "Don't mention it, partner."

All of a sudden, Thunderlane yelped, and one of the small parasitic creatures tunnelled its way inside him. "Aaarrg!"
"Thunderlane!"
The Stallion fell to the mud and rolled around in agony.

Fluttershy was well aware as to what was happening, but she was too busy fighting off the never ending crowd all by herself.
"Applejack! Help!"
"I'm on ma way!"

Comingled red blood spewed from Thunderlane's chops. "Uurrguraahhaaa-RAAAAGH-"
-Boom! Applejack shot her own soldier in the face, just as a huge appendage burst out of his wrist in an explosion of green goo.
Lowering her head, she breathed, "Bless yer soul, Thunderlane."

With that problem taken care of, Applejack re-joined Fluttershy in fending off the next ninety nine problems.
"Applejack! What did you do?!" trembled Fluttershy, mind as blown as the next combat form's head.
"I did what I had to, Fluttershy," the cold blooded Mare answered. "He became one of em."
Fluttershy understood, but it still wouldn't sink in. She had seen things like this happen in nightmares, and horror movies that her friends would push her to watch. She never thought such a terrible thing could exist in reality.

Friends pushing her to watch horror movies - ha! It was her friends who had pushed her to join the UPSC, and now here she was, living a horror movie.

Eventually, the mindless zombie army began to thin, and Applejack and Fluttershy could run on through the narrow pass, exiting the choke point just as it started to rain head-sized parasites. Noticing the swarm, Applejack paused to chuck a grenade behind her, not even bothering to look, and sprinted on as it went off with a mighty BOOM!

Making their splishy-splashy way onwards, the two Mares gazed up at the looming structure Rainbow had told of. The base of the tower was circular, with half-rounded supports protruding from the sides. Further up, jutting out from the column itself, were wing-like platforms. Their purpose wasn't clear, but the same could be said for the whole structure. The top of the shaft was lost in the mist.

Those misshapen creatures were running rampant in the surrounding sludge, searching, hunting. Their pray came in the form of Aloe and Lotus, who held on tightly to each other, concealed between the Forerunner structure's supports. They were hidden, for the time being.

Aloe and Lotus had a funny sort of strategy. Instead of fighting their way to their destination, they just ran there, too afraid to fight, and huddled up in the best hiding place they could find. Fluttershy couldn't blame them; these monsters were horrifying. Problem was; not fighting left the hostiles alive and free to overwhelm them.

Fluttershy and Applejack proceeded to shoot their way to Aloe and Lotus' position, ripping limbs off of their attackers with the shotguns. Some of the creatures were able to get back up, and more ammo was expended on putting them down again.

Thwack! Something struck Fluttershy hard enough to trigger her shields and knock her to the submerged floor. Rolling over, she beheld a monstrous Elite standing over her, left arm converted to a whip, right arm converted to a massive cinder block with spikes sticking out.
"Aaaah!" she squealed, aiming the shotgun at the atrocity's belly.
One deadly buckshot tore it in half, and not even that killed it. The top half flailed around screeching in the water, the Elite within wailing in excruciation. Putting the poor guy out of his misery, Fluttershy squirmed up and executed it, sending green blood up onto her face.

"Eeeww," she moaned, spitting the stuff out of her mouth. She screamed as another monster launched itself at her.
Squeezing the trigger, she put the disgrace down, but was jumped by a third combat form. The two of them rolled in the water, fighting to get on top, Fluttershy wailing with fright.

Kitted out with an MA5B assault rifle, the infected Jackal fired fully automatic into the dirt right by Fluttershy's head. A sudden jerk, and those bullets were tearing directly into the shielding of her face. Even though the shields were able to prevent damage befalling the screeching Mare, she could still feel each and every bullet impact her face, and boy did it hurt. She covered her face with her hooves, whimpering, bringing the shotgun around to cease the torture.

The shotgun was powerful enough to throw the dead Jackal off of her, just as her shields popped, and she shakily rose to her hooves, delivering a second buckshot to make sure it didn't get back up. Teeth chattering, she spun around, yelping every time she was forced to pull the trigger.

Applejack wrestled an infected Jackal, hoof to tentacle, and was able to stomp it dead on the floor. Another ex-jackal lunged at her, and she blew it away with her shotgun. Out of shells, she reloaded, bucking all sorts of nasty creatures that came to interrupt her. Talk about multi-tasking.

Soon, her shotgun was full of shells, and she was able to let'a rip once more, serving up two buckshots to silence what used to be an Elite, then a third to bring devastation to a cluster of wee infection forms.

"Aloe! Lotus!" she hollered. "Snap yerselves out of it n' help us!"
Trembling, the sisters held out their magnums and took pot shots at the horde, eliciting some attention. AJ and Fluttershy galloped over to defend them with their scatter guns, providing the best offence against the creatures.

"What were you thinkin', just abandoning us like that?!" demanded Applejack, taking breaks to let her shotgun talk. 
Firing her pistol at a charging form, Lotus retaliated, "You abandoned Lyra and Bon Bon!"
"For the last time, they abandoned us! Lyra ran off, and Bon Bon chose to stay behind!"
Aloe joined in. "And you let them?!"
"They're responsible for their own actions, and quite frankly, I'm sick n' tired of everypony just leavin' us!"
Two wriggling parasites sprung up onto AJ, and she instantly flicked one off, letting Fluttershy shoo away the other.

"Y'know, if you hadn't o' left us, Thunderlane might still be here!"
"Thunderlane's down?!" the twins gasped in unison.
A shrill screech echoed around the swamp, and the beasty that emitted it pounced into view, being torn apart by the two shotguns.
"Yes, he is!" Queue the sarcasm. "Too bad you weren't there to see it!"
On the verge of tears, Aloe and Lotus cuddled, lips trembling.

Getting angry, Applejack bawled, "Why aren't you shooting?!"
Proceeding to sob, the twins commenced firing their pistols at the more distant of the horde, missing most. Applejack rolled her eyes. Even Fluttershy was keeping it together better than them... kinda. When a contaminated Elite fell at her hooves, the first thing she did was cry.

Fluttershy's speaker buzzed as Rainbow contacted them. "Uh, guys? There's er... There's a bunch of flying robots heading your way."
Flying robots?
"They saw me, but they left me. They could be friendly, I dunno. They're not Covenant, that's for sure."
What on earth was Rainbow Dash on about?

What she was on about, was the boxy, floating mechanisms that descended through the mist. Fins and rudders supplemented their silvery metal bodies, and faint blue lights shone like mystical fireflies.

"What are those things?!" queried Aloe, unsure whether or not to shoot.
In response, Applejack started, "Hold up-"
-A creature possessing a Jackal's beak and a Jackal's light shield but wasn't a Jackal launched itself high into the air with a drone. AJ blasted it out of existence.
"-Let's see what they do."

What they did was pleasantly surprising. Each little flying machine whizzed around through the rain, projecting orange, super heated lasers onto the impending horde. The abominations of nature wailed and howled as, one by one, they started to drop, rise, and drop again.

One of the airborne janitors was pulled down by what had once been an Elite, and was subsequently pummelled to scrap. Blue flames flickered from the wreckage, igniting the monster. That monster didn't care however, and proceeded running on over to the equine quartet, where he met his fate at the end of Applejack's shotgun.

"Hm-hm-hm-hmm-hmmm, hm-hm-hm-hmm-hmmm," came the tuneful sound of humming from somewhere above.
Everypony looked around in confusion.
"Who on earth is that?"

Gold light spiralled around Fluttershy, her energy shields recharging. No, wait... this was something else. The golden light didn't just spiral around her. It consumed her. Cocooned her like a caterpillar changing into a butterfly, until her startled form was hidden from view.
"Fluttershy!" shouted Applejack, taking a moment to slaughter an infected Pony that strayed too close.
"Applejack!" the Pegasus squealed back, afraid of whatever was happening to her.

Fluttershy's vision snapped to white, and she felt her body dissolve into a billion pieces from the hooves up. Almost straight away, those billion pieces began to reconnect, and her vision returned to an elevated view of the swamp and the battle between the mutants and the machines. Her hooves were on solid metal ground, and she rotated to find herself standing up on one of the platforms up the Forerunner structure. It would seem that the olive green blood on her face hadn't been teleported with her, which was a pleasantry.

"Hello," a synthesised voice greeted, friendly but strange. It startled Fluttershy.
Peering up, the yellow Mare saw a metal ball with a bright blue glowing light in its centre, like a single eye. Like the rest of the machines, it floated down through the rain and bobbed in the wind.

Whatever it was, it came across as well read, kinda like Twilight, and proceeded to introduce itself. "I am 343 Guilty Spark. I am the monitor of installation 04."
343 Guilty Spark? Installation 04?
Fluttershy had plenty of questions for this robot, but being the shy Mare that she was, all she ended up saying was, "Um... hi."

A booming shotgun blast from below rang out loud around the water logged swamp, followed by Applejack's distant southern accent. "Fluttershy! Where are ya?!"

To Fluttershy, the glowing metal orb mentioned, "Someone has released the Flood."
"Um... the Flood?"
"Yes, the Flood."

Rainbow's Pelican generated a sonorous drone as it lowered steadily through a gap in the foliage, ready to pick up the Ponies.
"Ok, I'm coming down. Get ready."

Trying to sound polite, Fluttershy told the talking, floating ball, "Well... it's been nice meeting you, Mr Spark, but, um... I really should get going."
"Ah, I couldn't agree more," he replied, misunderstanding. "If we are going to prevent the Flood from leaving this installation, we must go to the library at once."
"Huh? Oh, no, that's not what I-"
"-Fluttershy?" Rainbow's voice cut in, sounding very curious. "What is that thing?"

Fluttershy twisted to realise Rainbow was hovering her Pelican at her level, watching her through the windscreen.
"Um, I-"
"-We don't have time for this, reclaimer," Mr Spark declared. "Come, this way." With that, the same gold light that had encased her before wrapped around her and the rounded machine.
Fluttershy protested, "Wait! No! I can't-" and just like that, she and the monitor disappeared.

It all happened right before Rainbow's eyes, and the blue Pegasus gawped at the empty space where Fluttershy had been talking to the weird little play-thing. The golden light reminded her of whatever had happened to Pinkie Pie when she was flying them over here.
"Fluttershy! Where'd you go?!" she yelled into the radio, praying for a signal. "Fluttershy! Fluttershy!"
No use; Fluttershy had disappeared without a trace.

As the hovering machines continued to wage war on the parasites, Rainbow shed altitude using the control collective to her left, and lowered the gangplank.
The sound of hooves on the metal deck rang into the cock-pit, and as soon as the last Pony embarked, Applejack stuck her head into her quarters and ordered, "Get us airborne."

Sealing up the Pelican and gaining altitude, Rainbow asked, "Did you see what happened to Fluttershy?!"
"It's mighty good to see ya, Rainbow. And yes, I did see what happened to Fluttershy." Over her shoulder, the orange one checked, "Y'all doin' ok back there?"
"I... I guess," came the uneasy response from Lotus, followed by a cough from Aloe.

Rainbow ranted, "She just vanished right before my eyes! Something similar happened to Pinkie Pie, or at least I think it did. What the hay is going on?!"
"I wish I knew, Rainbow, but I haven't the foggiest."
"Please, Applejack, I'm not in the mood for puns."
"I aint making no puns! I just wanna find Fluttershy. Aint she comin' up on yer sensors?"
Tapping said sensors, Rainbow answered, "Nope. She's gone without a trace."
"Con sarn it!"

There was a long pause as Rainbow took the Pelican high into the sky, keeping close to the Forerunner structure.
"So... what happens now?" raised Applejack, a look of worry on her freckled face.
"Well... I guess we circle the area and search for her. She can't have gotten too far, right?"
AJ didn't answer, just stood in the doorway and stared out at the view ahead. Well, thanks to the fog, there wasn't really a view, but still.
Under her breath, she pondered, "Happened to Pinkie Pie?"

"... So... is Rarity back there?" Rainbow eventually sounded, gaining Applejack's attention. She gestured her head towards the troop bay. "I can't hear her."
Looking down, Applejack muttered, "Oh, yeah, that."
Rainbow's face went from gloom to dread. "What?"
"I should probably tell ya when you aint flyin'."
> Chapter 29: Tools, Guns, Keys to Super Weapons
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Library.

Fluttershy looked around in confusion, seeing nothing but white. She couldn't even see her own body. Couldn't even use her own body. She was nothing more than a presence. A presence in nowhere.

There was another presence too, and it spoke to her. "I'm actually quite excited. It's been too long since any sort of event has happened here, and it's good to finally be doing something. Don't you agree, reclaimer?"
"Um, I'm not really sure what you're talking about."
"Yes you do. You're the reclaimer."
"I don't even know what that is."
"Yes you do."
Fluttershy was growing irritated. "... No, actually, I don't."
"Stop fooling around, reclaimer. We have much to do."

Accepting her new title of "reclaimer," the young Mare wondered, "Like what?"
"Like activating Halo's defences and destroying the Flood. To do that, we must retrieve the index... But you know this already."
No, I don't know this already. Fluttershy decided to keep her disagreements to herself for now, and just play along with whatever Spark wanted her to do. Hopefully it wouldn't involve any killing.

One thing she couldn't keep to herself, was her curiosity. "Um, did you just say, we need to activate Halo?"
"I did."
"And that will destroy... the Flood?"
"Mm-hm."
"And the Flood, they're those things. Those, um, monsters, aren't they?"
"Not monsters, but a disease. A disease that can only be eradicated upon activation of the great ring."
Aha! So that's what Halo does. It doesn't wipe out Ponies or Covenant; it was built to take on this "Flood." She wondered if Twilight had discovered this yet.

A strong tingling sensation befell her as she was pieced back together in a tube of gold light. Her vision returned, and she gazed around to observe the bowels of some brooding, Forerunner structure. Everywhere was huge, like it had been built for giants. Maybe the Forerunners were giants... Nah, they couldn't have been; some of their corridors were so confining, they were like air vents.

The swirling motes of light faded away as she was deposited onto the cold, hard floor. Spark was spat out into the air where he hovered and whirred. Fluttershy couldn't help but notice the engraved patterns on his metal body, nor the fact that he was "the monitor of installation 04." It was likely that he was an AI that his creators had left behind, and installation 04 referred to Halo, which he was the monitor of. His design certainly matched that of the Forerunners.

In regards to this specific place, the yellow Pegasus asked, "Where are we?" Staring around in wonderment, she eyed the vivid blue and orange lights, and mysterious, blocky objects.
"Oh, don't you recognise this place? This is the library," informed the AI.
"The library?" It reminded her of Twilight and her love of books.
Spark nodded, "Yes, the library."

The vast interior of the library daunted Fluttershy, and she was even more unnerved when she heard a distant shriek from somewhere within the complex. Scanning the area ahead, she picked out the shapes of bodies, laying still on the floor in puddles of blood. The blood was green, and disturbing protrusions decorated each and every corpse, identifying them as the monsters. As the Flood.

Exploring this giant, grim facility with no company other than a quirky alien AI didn't sit well with her, and she turned to face the monitor. "Index. You said we need something called an "index" to activate Halo."
"Not a index. The index, for there is only one."
"Yes. Um, where is it? Can we just get it and go?"
"Oh no. The index can only be reached by an elevator on the top floor. We are on the bottom."
Another monstrous bellow warbled around the gargantuan cavern, raising Fluttershy's pulse. Panting, she took a swig from her flask, and found that she was running low on water. One more swig and she'd be out.

She was about to respond with a question, but then she noticed something distant walk onto the floor. It was shaded by the darkness, but whatever it was, it was biped. All two-legged aliens encountered so far were hostile, so naturally, Fluttershy got jumpy. Her assaut rifle rattled as she shakily brought it out, replacing her shotgun, and aiming it at the creature.

Stepping into the light, the creature could be identified as something unidentifiable. It was Flood, to be sure, but whatever it had once been was a mystery. Its legs were short and stubby, kinda like a Covenant Grunt's. Unlike a Covenant Grunt, the form was hideous, and grossly inflated. The top half of its body consisted of a big fat bladder with a couple of long, wiry tentacles attached. That bladder pulsed and quivered; something alive inside.

Freaked out by the walking mushroom, Fluttershy fired a burst at it, and caused it to explode, releasing the cluster of infection forms within. What a disgusting way to travel.

She was able to mop up the parasites with her MA5B. Well, all but one. One managed to burrow into one of the prone combat forms, thus resurrecting it. It had once been a Pegasus, and it came galloping in her direction, one wing limp, the other replaced by a blade of flesh.

With a scream, Fluttershy emptied her MA5B into the front of the equine, but it just kept coming. Tension built as she withdrew the rifle and unlimbered the shotgun. As soon as it was out, the monster was up in her face, howling like no pony ever could. One shell was all it took to end the abomination, but Fluttershy decided to give it a second one, just in case.

Fluttershy was hyperventilating again, and her knees were starting to give.
The monitor dismissed her state with a tut and mentioned, "That could have gone better."

Something had heard the ruckus, and it let an incredible shriek tear through the library.
Jittering and sweaty, Fluttershy reloaded her weapons and pleaded, "Um, can you please do that teleporting thing to take us to that elevator you mentioned, please? I-if it's not too much trouble, that is." 
"Well, I could, but I'd like to see if you're worthy first."
Derpstruck, Fluttershy paused before raising a hoof. "... Um... I beg your pardon?"

"Activating my installation is a very prestigious task indeed. No random mortal can just waltz in and activate it. It is something you must earn the right to do."
"Really?" Fluttershy was bewildered, and also quite fed up. She was tired too. "But, I've already been through so much on this ring. Is... isn't there some way you can just... um... bend the rules... just a little... please? I... really need to get back to my friends." She inhaled when the shriek sounded off again, closer.
"Rules?" the floating ball sounded quite puzzled. "Oh, it's not in the rules that I do this. I'd just like to get to know who is activating my precious installation."
"It... it's not in the rules?"

This Guilty Spark guy made it clear that stopping the Flood was the number one priority, and here he was, saying that he'd like to watch her roam the bowels of his infested library to "see if she's worthy." It wound her up, and she gritted her teeth behind her mouth.

"Well if it isn't in the rules, then why are we doing this?" she snorted aggressively. It was amazing what violence and sleep deprivation could do to a Pony.
"It's my own little test," answered Spark, oblivious to the Pony's annoyance.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but we don't have time for little tests!" She wasn't shouting, but the anger in her tone was very clear. "You said we have to stop the Flood, and now we're messing about doing little tests?!" It took a lot to get Fluttershy angry, and the Mare stretched her neck to get up close and personal with the talking machine.

"Er..."
"Ever since I landed on this ring, I've faced all sorts of danger, and I've always come out on top! I think I'm worthy! Now if you don't mind, I'd really like to regroup with my friends!" Her eyes drilled deep into the monitor's lens as she stared into him.

It wasn't just any stare; this was the stare she used to set disruptive animals straight. She had no control over it, it just sort of happened when she got mad. She also wasn't sure if it would work on a Forerunner AI, but judging from the way he lowered and cowered under her piercing glare, it was doing the trick.

"So I'm asking you nicely; please teleport us to the index so we can activate Halo, stop the Flood, and then me and the rest of my kind will be on our way."
Were Spark organic, he would be sweating in buckets. "Um... er..."
"Well?" She loomed over him.
"I... I can't take you directly to the index, but I can take you as far as the other reclaimer."
Backing off, she raised an eyebrow. "Other reclaimer?"
"This way."
Once again, that gold light encased the two of them, and Fluttershy's vision turned to white, just as she saw a whole lota shadows run up on the far wall.

A few seconds later, she found herself beholding a massive Forerunner door, somewhere else inside the library. As the gold light disipated, she realised she was surrounded by the corpses of the Flood. They lay twisted and distorted, huge protusions sticking up like plants from their gangrenous bodies. Ponies were among the infected, and it puzzled Fluttershy almost as much as it scared her.

Randomly, 343 Guilty Spark announced, "In order to retrieve the index, all ten doors must be opened. Luckily for you, the other reclaimer managed to open nine of them. This is the final door you see here."
"What happened to the other reclaimer?" Fluttershy quizzed.
For the record, what is a reclaimer?

Answering Fluttershy's question, the monitor said, "She came this far before being defeated by the Flood. A pity; she'd done so well."
She...? Uh oh. Things were starting to piece together.

Rainbow Dash had mentioned that Pinkie Pie had dissappeared in a golden flash, and as Fluttershy looked around, she could see the trail of destruction often left in the pink one's wake. She'd done it on the Filly of Autumn, at the cartographer, and it would seem she'd done it here too.

Stammering, Fluutershy asked, "Um... she... How... What happened to her exactly?"
Hopefully there would be no body. When it came to Pinkie, no body meant no death, and she would just be MIA again.
But then the monitor zipped around to hover over a body in the corner. "See for yourself."
That made Fluttershy gulp.

As she aproached the body on the floor, she noticed a patch of short pink fur under the ruined UPSC armour. The pink quadruped laid on her side in a large puddle of red blood, and her blue eyes were open wide, as if still seeing, still experiencing the pain of whatever had reduced her. One of her forelegs had been sliced off, and it laid seperate to her.

Fluttershy cried, "Pinkie!" and knelt down by her side, wrapping her hooves around her. "Oh, Pinkie... Why... Aha-aha-aha-ahaa!" Her lamentation echoed solefully around the cold library, and tears ran down her face to drip onto Pinkie's scuffed up coat.
In the background, Spark asked, "What are you doing?" as if he had no concept of feelings.
Fluttershy ignored him and cuddled up to her silent friend, taking a moment to close her eyelids.

This really was Pinkie. She had been presumed dead before, but this was the real deal. There was no guessing, no possibility that she could still be alive, and no hope. She was here, and she was dead, end of.

A sudden clang made Fluttershy jump, and she flicked her head to face the huge opening door behind her. Parting, it revealed intense blue light racing up in a concentrated beam through a hole in the centre of a vast metal disc. Forerunner patterns engraved the disc, and were illuminated in blue.

Humming a tune, 343 Guilty Spark whizzed away into the incredible chamber, leaving the despondent Fluttershy on her own. Not knowing what to do, she held onto Pinkie, nuzzling her fluffy pink mane and stroking her, shuddering with every sob.

"We have no time for this, reclaimer," Spark chirped, waiting for the shy. If he had feet, he'd be tapping one on the ground. "The Flood must be stopped."
Giving Pinkie one last cuddle, which lasted longer than planned, Fluttershy trotted after the one who'd lead her friend to her fate, feeling a rational hatred rooting into her veins like weeds.

She felt bad just leaving Pinkie's body behind, but what was she to do? She couldn't carry her everywhere. And she felt even worse when she realised Pinkie's body would likely be recruited by the Flood. Pausing, she turned to give her dearest friend one last look, teeth on lip, and actually waved goodbye.

Back to following the monitor, she shielded her watering eyes in the vibrant blue light. Sunglasses would be a blessing here.

Hovering over the giant platform, Spark explained, "The energy barrier surrounding the index will deactivate when we reach the ground floor."
Unsure, Fluttershy stepped up onto the platform, and felt a jerk as the whole thing dropped down. It was one big elevator, as it turned out.

The elevator descended slowly, giving Fluttershy some time to reflect on all the things she'd been through with Pinkie Pie. The happy pink Mare cheered her up when she was down, reassured her when she was in doubt, protected her when she was in danger. They'd grown up together in Ponyville, hung out almost everyday, shared smiles, laughs and happy tears. And now she was gone. The only tears coming from Fluttershy were of sorrow, and she hunkered down with her face buried in her hooves and mane.

Riding the platform down and down into the library, the young Mare peered up at the centre of the platform where the monitor was floating, and witnessed a compact block rise up through the central hole. The elevator came to a harsh stop, and the mysterious block held its position.

Sniffling, Fluttershy got up and made her jittery way towards the thing. Observing, she discovered the block was made up of multiple blocks that shifted and orbited around a "T" shaped icon.
"You may now retrieve the index!" elated Spark, bobbing up and down in the air.

Getting up close to the whirring formation of silver metal, Fluttershy witnessed the blocks lock in tight around the T, like they were unwilling to let anypony take it. That T then rose up out of its tubular sheath, beconing to be taken.
"Th... this is the index?" she questioned, voice warbling, still in a state. She'd expected more. "This is what we need to stop the Flood?"
Spark sighed, "Yes, reclaimer. You know this."
Do I? What else do I know?

Inspecting the glowing green talisman, Fluttershy grasped it with her teeth and yanked it free. She was just about to conceal it in her saddle bag when a sudden spark of electricity shot into her mouth and scared the living daylights out of her. 343 Guilty Spark was the culprit, and the zigzags of light acted as an arm reaching out to grab the index right out of her chops.

Storing the object somewhere in his round metal casing, he spoke patronisingly, "As you know reclaimer, protocol requires that I take possession of the index for transport. Your organic form renders you vulnerable to infection. The index must not fall into the hands of the Flood before we reach the control room and activate the installation."
"Oh, we're going to the control room now?" A miniscule drop of delight dripped into her weary, sorrowful soul as she wiped away a tear. Her other friend, Twilight, would be at the control room... unless something bad had happened to her too.

"Indeed," Spark replied joyfully. "Now come! The Flood is spreading further by the minute!" He engaged his teleporting ability.
Fluttershy wondered how far the Flood had spread, if her friends were ok, if the Truth and Reconciliation was safe. The Covenant finding their stolen craft was bad enough, but the thought of the nightmares getting on board made Fluttershy panic.

Just like before, golden light consumed her, and her body faded away into nothingness.
> 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."
> Chapter 31: Breaking Stuff to Look Tough
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After gathering up their things and bringing Octavia up to speed, the assault force made their way down the tower and onto the pyramid in the aggressive snow storm.

Vinyl had told Fluttershy that the two missing soldiers, Bulk and Caramel, had disappeared on two separate harvesting trips. Those trips were what had earned them their meals of tree bark, pine leaves, and water from the frozen lake. The Ponies who had been with them when they'd disappeared said they never saw a thing - just heard screaming, found blood, and nothing more. Fluttershy thought it was pretty obvious who the culprits were, and she shivered, knowing that "they" were here.

Further signs of the Flood were the missing bodies on top of the pyramid. A whole lota Covies had died here, but now, not a single body was left. Not only had Covies fallen, but this was also the spot where the great and powerful Trixie had gone to rest. Not even her body remained. It made Fluttershy sick; the thought that Trixie had been resurrected and transformed into the hideousness that had attacked her in the bowels of Halo. She really hoped she wouldn't find her.

When Fluttershy had asked Twilight how to get to the pulse generator, all she'd said was "Pinkie." Typical, cryptic AI. What was Pinkie to do? She was... dead.

Pushing through the snawfall, the sleek shape of an abandoned Covenant Banshee fighter came into view.

Of course! The Banshee that Pinkie had hijacked the last time they were here!
Quietly, Flitter muttered, "Even in death, your friend guides us all."

Approaching the purple aircraft, Fluttershy looked up at it, running her hoof over its smooth fuselage. Her eyes were big, as if she were about to make some sort of big commitment.

The soldiers backed her up, and one of them, Vinyl to be precise, quizzed, "Y'think you can fly that thing?"
Fleur opened her mouth, about to speak words for the first time in forever, but she was interrupted by Twilight. "With me in her head, she can fly anything."

Fluttershy didn't know. She'd driven Wraiths with the AI's guidance, but this was an aircraft. From somewhere, she'd gotten the idea that aircrafts were harder to control. Especially alien ones.

Without a word, she pulled herself in, bringing down the carapace. Some of the squad cheered half heartedly until an increasing drone sounded from the Banshee, and all its exterior lights flicked on. The squad ran away as white dust was raised from the snowy pyramid, Fluttershy getting the Banshee off the ground. Her squeals were drowned out by the shrill, high-pitched engines.

Inside the vehicle, Twilight ordered, "Push the control yoke forward."
Afraid of pushing it too far, the Pegasus trembled, "H... how far forwar - yaa!" Too far.
Like a rocket, the Banshee blasted off, strong enough to create a gust in the opposite direction of the current wind. She'd gone low over the squad, and their manes and tails flapped around.

"Covenant are on the pyramid, and on the valley floor," stated Twilight over the coms. "I want all the Pegasi to join our Banshee in providing air support for the ground troops."
"Piece o' cake," Lightning Dust shrugged.
Derpy became excited at "cake," sticking her tongue out and panting like a dog.

If driving a Scorpion had been difficult, driving a Wraith had been crazy, and if driving a Wraith had been crazy, driving a Banshee had to be the single most barmiest thing ever.

The blizzard was harsh and unforgiving, and Fluttershy could really feel the aircraft get blown sideways.

Visibility was poor too; obstacles only coming into view when she was perilously close to crashing into them. She did have heat vision though, and she could pick out her colleagues advancing heedfully down the structure, as well as the Covenant embarking up it.

For the Ponies on the ground, conditions were bad. Their faces reddened as they walked blindly down the ancient alien architecture, weapons at the ready.

The airborne Pegasi had every right to complain too. It was freezing, and the cold temperature stung every part of their bodies that was exposed.

When the Banshee opened fire ahead of them, they were more than a little afraid, and had to remind themselves that it was on their side. The Covenant could be heard, screeching as the Banshee and the Pegasi tore apart their formation.

Everything was blurred in the snow. Muzzle flashes were easily detectable, especially the blue and green ones that came from the big, flying silhouette. Biped silhouettes on the ground danced on impact and disappeared. As the squad continued their slippery way to the valley floor, they passed the alien bodies, riddled with bullets, plasma burns, or just blown apart by fuel rod projectiles.

"At the left of the valley, there's a passage into the cliffs," drawled Twilight over the radio. "It shall take you up to the ice bridge."
"Acknowledged, Twilight!" responded Octavia, shouting over the howling wind.
Vinyl stayed close to her, catching her whenever she slipped. It was more difficult for Octy than anypony else, what with her missing leg and all.

Hell reigned on the valley floor as Fluttershy and the winged Ponies assaulted the Covenant from the air. Blossomforth's bazooka sent booming rockets into the armoured alien horde, utterly decimating them. It was hard for her to keep herself and that heavy weapon airborne in the gale, but she managed.

The three ground bound Ponies held position, and Fleur de Lis made use of the heat vision scope on her sniper rifle to silence the Covenant soldiers. One of the Elites in the mix was a Zealot; a mighty warrior, but he didn't even know what hit him when a sabot discarding slug caught him in the heart.
"Can you even see what you're shooting at?" questioned the plasma rifle wielding Vinyl, who didn't have a heat vision scope.
Fleur took a break to nod and got straight back to sniping through the mask of snow. After each crack of the rifle, a Covenant scream would answer in kind.
"You're a pretty good sniper," Octavia complimented, eliciting a faint smile from the silent one.

Soaring through the blizzard, Lightning strained the muscles in her wings to fight the major turbulence. If she was having difficulty, there was no telling how the rest of the Pegasi were coping.
"Woah!" she yelped as she was almost clipped by Fluttershy's clumsy Banshee. "Watch where you're going!"

After the Banshee, the sound of sizzling plasma grew louder, and Lightning witnessed a big blue light shine through the storm, arcing in her direction. She quickly dodged the ball of plasma, and bit her lip upon realising what they were up against. Somewhere below, obscured by the snow, the Covenant had a Wraith tank.

"Wraith!" wailed Twilight in alarm. "Get us high!"
Using the control yoke, Fluttershy sent the Banshee fighter into a steep climb, almost smashing into the pyramid.

Like the beginner she was, she levelled off and banked the aircraft around, its engines shrieking like a, well, Banshee. Looking for the biggest blob of heat on her screen, Fluttershy identified the Wraith, and bombarded it with everything she had.

It would seem that the Wraith had heat vision too, and the operator of the thing sent orbs of hot blue plasma arching high up into the blizzard to meet her.
"Dodge right! Dodge left!" commanded the AI frantically.
Fluttershy was terrified as she kept the Banshee diving down towards the angry tank, using the weapons to make it angrier. Plasma corroded its chunky armour, and a couple of FRPs made it rock, but it stood strong and valiant, and as she drew closer to it, she was forced to pull up, bank around, and try again. It reminded her of the Banshees she'd faced when she'd first landed on Halo, and she felt as if she'd stooped down to the Covenant's level.

Preparing for a second strike on the tank, Fluttershy, with plenty of input from Twilight, realigned the Banshee with her target, but before she could move into range, she saw Blossomforth fly ungracefully over the tank, and fire a rocket. The shaped charge hit the ground right at the Wraith's rear, and the prodigious explosion was enough to destroy it.
"That'll keep him warm," Twilight joked dryly.

Blossomforth herself had gotten carried away in the wind, and the only landing she could pull off was a crash landing, straight into the snow. Thankfully, the snow cushioned her, and she shook the stuff off with a "Burrrr."
"Holy smokes, Blossomforth," Flitter spoke with a chuckle. It was nice to see her gradually getting over what had happened to her twin sister. "You alright?" She helped her back into the air.
"I'm fine," the white Pegasus shivered. "Just a little... c-c-cold."
"If only you had fire for hair like Lightning."
"Ugh, that one's got fire for a brain."

"Uh, guys?!" Derpy piped up over the channel, sounding a little spooked. "I... I found something!"
"What is it, Derpy?" inquired Twilight.
"I... I don't know!"
Fluttershy could see Derpy on her screen, so she decided to give her a flyby and see if she could see what she was seeing.

The other Ponies regrouped around Derpy, pushing strong in the gale. A series of responses came over Fluttershy's speaker as they came across Derpy's discovery.
"Eewwww!"
"Oh my gosh!"
"I think I'm gonna be sick!"

Curious, Twilight started, "What is-"
"-Is this your Flood, Fluttershy?!" Lightning interrupted.
"Flood?"
"Urg!"
Octavia took over. "This thing - urg! It used to be an Elite," cough, "But... not anymore. It's all rotten and has tentacles, and it looks like it was armed with a rocket launcher."
"A rocket launcher?!"
Blossomforth muttered in the background, "Surely this thing wasn't alive."

Around the dead Flood form, the Ponies covered their muzzles and gagged.
"Yeah, I can see a rocket launcher, all bent out of shape. There's a couple of reloads too."
"Oh no! If the Flood are here, this is bad!" stated Twilight worryingly.
Having actually faced the Flood first hoof, Fluttershy corrected, "If the Flood are anywhere, it's bad."
"True."

Confused, the AI quizzed the squad, "Where could it have gotten a rocket launcher from?"
"Oh, I guess they forgot to tell you," Octavia started. "We were contacted by Zecora shortly before the storm. She said she was sending reinforcements to help defend the control centre. We haven't had any reinforcements though, and there's been no word about them over the radio."
Frustrated, Twilight grumbled, "Shoot! If your reinforcements have gone down, and the Flood are out there, then... oohh! This is a disaster!"
"Tell me about it," snorted Lightning. "At least now I aint alone in the club for Pelican pilots that have crashed."
Vinyl barked, "No pony cares!"

At a low altitude, Fluttershy soared the Banshee fighter over the team's heads. She failed to get a glimpse of the Flood corpse, but then wondered why she would even want to see it anyway. If she couldn't see it, then lucky her.

"Uh oh. I've just realised something." Twilight's voice was full of fear.
"What?"
"You know how the Flood steal the knowledge from all their hosts? If somepony trained in heavy weapons is infected, they'll know how to use rocket launchers!"

Over the coms, Octavia asked the good question; "What if somepony who knows Equestria's co-ordinates is infected?"
The team were silent in the blizzard, contemplating.
Fluttershy gasped, "Rarity!"
"Oh no! You said the Flood had taken her! They'll know how to get to Equestria!"
Vinyl Scratch stomped a hoof. "We can't let them get there!"
"Too right! We're going to have to move quicker than ever! We have to destroy this ring before the Flood get off it!"

Impatiently, Lightning hovered up off the ground, then set herself down again when the gustiness threatened to blow her over. "Right, let's go then!"
"Get moving, everypony," Twilight directed. "Through the passage. Fluttershy and I will take care of the first pulse generator; should be done by the time you get to the bridge." She then requested, "Lightning, Flitter? A little peg-assistance?"

All together, Vinyl, Octavia, Fleur, Blossomforth and Derpy waded through the white snow, leaving the contaminated Elite behind. The two bazooka reloads were added to the supply, and Blossomforth took the necessary time to reload her launcher. The rest of the brown cases were carried by each other Pony. Even the three legged Octavia opted to pull her weight.

Upon finding the tall Forerunner door in the icy rock face, they passed through it, leaving Fluttershy, Lightning and Flitter behind.

Having directed Fluttershy to fly the Banshee straight up, Twilight took the opportunity to plot and analyse. "Ok. We have three generators to destroy. We can't fly to each one of them because, above these canyons, the storm is much worse. I wouldn't be surprised if it was responsible for the reinforcements crashing."
"Oh, those poor reinforcements," Fluttershy responded wearily, keeping the alien fighter craft in control. "They must be freezing and hungry and scared... or worse."

The winter wonderland was a lot darker now than it was before, telling Fluttershy that it was night. Looking up though, no moon or stars or night sky were in sight; too much snow.

Twilight continued, "I'm really struggling to find the Filly of Autumn. The snow is interfering. I should be able to find her soon, though. As for Rarity, we'll need her to enact the Autumn's self destruct sequence, but you said she was taken by the Flood." She took the AI equivalent of a breather, remembering the curly maned Unicorn. "... What we need is her neural interface. Only with that can we rig the Autumn to blow. I'll try to get a lock on her CNI transponder signal as well, once the snow thins out."
There was no answer from Fluttershy. She was too sad, and too tired.
Twilight sighed apologetically, "It will be over eventually, Fluttershy."
The yellow Pegasus noted how she said "eventually" instead of "soon." The AI's truthfulness was more admirable than the truth itself.

In a vertical climb, the pink maned pilot felt herself hanging within the cock-pit, and she held on to the control yoke for dear life. She knew she wouldn't fall out, but it sure felt like she would. The aircraft braved the battering winds and shooting snow, swaying in the current.

As for the two helpers, Lightning and Flitter, they put maximum effort into flying up through the storm. Lightning Dust was doing pretty well, but the nice one was struggling, and it never dawned on Lightning to help her out.

Eventually, a Forerunner landing platform emerged in the snow, jutting out the side of the cliff. Fluttershy performed a sloppy landing on the platform, denting the Banshee and the silvery material. Snow had settled on the landing pad, and it crunched beneath Fluttershy's hooves as she dismounted the vehicle.

Lightning soon joined her on the landing pad, and after a fair bit of encouragement, Flitter was up there with them. Below, the valley floor was lost in the blizzard. The Ponies on the ground could be getting attacked by one of the three factions right now, and they wouldn't even know. They certainly couldn't hear anything over the raging wind.

"Why does it have to be so cold?" whinged Fluttershy, shivering.
Lightning and Flitter were probably more freezing than she was, and the former muttered through chattering teeth, "Quit being a baby."
Ah, now there's the mean old Lightning Dust she remembered from before.

Slightly upset from Lightning's remark, Fluttershy lead the way into one of those high corridors that was made out of glass and metal. Oh, she remembered this architecture all too well. She remembered the Covenant, and how they'd so ruthlessly murdered Trixie. Fluttershy didn't like it here, nor did she like her cursed fatigue, draining her attention, and she yawned as she proceeded with the other two.

Once the corridor had been traversed, Fluttershy, Flitter and Lightning entered one of those familiar "octagon within an octagon" chambers. The only noticeable difference, and it was very noticeable, was the column of blinding white light racing up from the floor and away into the ceiling. The three Mares shielded their eyes in the intensity of the light, and the air crackled around them.

"I take it that's the pulse generator," Fluttershy guessed.
"Yep," Twilight replied. "Oh boy, how wonderful! It's a shame we have to break it, but we've gotta do what we've gotta do - to save the universe."
"Thanks for reminding me," murmured Fluttershy dryly, feeling the weight on her back. "So... how do we do this thing?"
"I know I say a lot of things are simple, but this really is simple," lectured the AI. "All you have to do, is walk into it."
Fluttershy gulped, squinting at the piercing light. "I... have to walk into that thing?"
"You'll be fine, Fluttershy. I guarantee it."

The nervous Pegasus stepped forward and stopped upon Twilight adding, "It will drain your shields though."
Backing away with a yelp, Fluttershy grated, "You could've told me that sooner!"
"She could've not told her at all," Lightning whispered to Flitter out the side of her mouth.
Flitter didn't react, just adjusted the pretty pink bow she wore in her mane.

"It's ok, Fluttershy. Your shields will recharge almost instantaneously," the AI spoke reassuringly.
Lightning stepped in to offer the opposite of reassurance. "Yeah, just get in there!" She pushed Fluttershy face first into the blinding light of the pulse generator, making her squeal.
"Lightning!" shouted Twilight and Flitter.

BOOMF! A loud noise drummed out of the ray of light, and the whole ground shook. Panicking, Fluttershy scrambled back out of the angry, hissing light and gave Lightning the evils. The orange maned Pegasus didn't react however, just gawped with Flitter at the over-flowing energy that pulsed up into the ceiling.

"That did it!" elated Twilight happily. "We brought the first pulse generator offline! Well done, Fluttershy!"
I'm not the one you should be congratulating.

As her energy shields recharged with a golden glow, Fluttershy could feel her skin stinging, like she'd been sunburnt. She was thirsty too, and she brought up her canteen, only to be reminded that it was empty.

Putting the canteen away, she asked Twilight, "So, where now?"
"To the next pulse generator!" she yelled enthusiastically. "We'll regroup with the others on the bridge and head on back through the facility."

Oh no. The facility. Fluttershy knew what facility Twilight was on about. The one where Trixie had met her fate. And now, she and the survivors of the assault force had to journey all the way back through it.

Sighing, Fluttershy trudged past Lightning and Flitter towards the room's only door, back to the Banshee. However, before she reached the door, something else opened it from the other side.

Sentinels. Sentinels came hovering through the door and into the chamber. Flitter and Lightning took off immediately and opened fire. Those robots returned fire with their deadly, heated lasers, scrawling black lines onto the engraved metal.

As for Fluttershy, she took cover as fast as she could, switching from her shotgun to her assault rifle. Once the spray gun was braced, she joined the other two Pegasi in destroying the Forerunner machines.

There were four of them, and Flitter had already taken down one. Another one was ripped apart by Lightning's MA5B, and the turquoise Mare moved on to the next, flying up and catching it in her hooves. Like some sort of wild animal, she bit pieces off of the alien machine and spat them onto the floor, until it made a whirring noise and lost power. Lightning let it drop, and it hit the deck with a resounding clang.

That left only one, which Fluttershy took pot shots at. In the end, Flitter was the one who brought it down with her acquired needler.
Reloading the alien weapon, she swooned, "I love this thing."
Lightning rasped, "Pffft! It's the fruitiest weapon I've ever seen."

With all the Sentinels taken care of, it was time to move on.

*****

"Waa! Gululululu! Bwah-bwaah!" Making the stupidest noises, Derpy did all sorts of zany things with her face, right at Fleur de Lis.
Like a royal guard, the model Unicorn didn't bat an eyelid, just paced along with the rest of the herd.

"Leave her alone, Derpy," Vinyl demanded, leading the pack through the Forerunner corridor. "She's a robot. She can't interact with living Ponies."
"Don't be silly, Vinyl," chirped Octavia. "Fleur's not a robot."
"She must be. It's the only logical explanation. Why else would she never talk to anypony?"
"Maybe she's just shy."
"Y'know who else is shy? Fluttershy! And I can still hold a conversation with her."
"Well maybe Fleur's shyer than Fluttershy."
"Shyer than Fluttershy? Can you even be shyer than sompony who's got "shy" in their name?"
Octavia giggled, "I'm sure you could if you tried."

Joining in, Blossomforth hinted, "If she is shy, she probably doesn't like being the centre of attention."
"Centre of attention? Before the war, I'd see her posing on the covers of all the top selling beauty magazines in Canterlot! I think she likes attention."
Getting back in Fleur's face, Derpy questioned, "Hey, Fleur! Do you like attention?!"
Scowling, Fleur shoved her away.
"That looked like a no to me," Octavia observed with an unsure look.

Just then, her radio emitted a fizz, which soon morphed into AI Twilight's voice.
"... -ilight to ground team, come in."
Halting, all the soldiers watched as Octavia brought the radio up to her mouth.
"We're here, Twilight."
"We're done with the first generator and are on our way to the ice bridge."
"Alright, we're almost there."
The connection broke.

Octavia shared a nervous glance with Vinyl. The bridge connected the facility they were in now to the facility where Trixie had been ambushed, and a trip down memory lane wouldn't be enjoyed.

Pacing up to the door and hitting the controls, Octavia opened it, allowing the ferocious snow to come billowing in. The freezing air swept across their faces, and their manes and tails blew wild in the howling wind as they forced their way through the weather.

About halfway across the bridge, the silhouettes of Lightning, Flitter and the Banshee faded into view in the snow filled sky. Then a frightened, high-pitched scream faded into audibleness as Lightning and Flitter motioned for the vertically descending Banshee to slow, but it looked like the aircraft had no one controlling it anymore.
"What's going on?!" Octavia gawped.
She and her group started running to the weird scene, Fleur taking a moment to sigh and face-hoof.

Not stopping, Fluttershy's Banshee plunged right past Lightning and Flitter and crashed directly onto the bridge in a horrific, fiery explosion. Fragments of Banshee fountained into the air leaving smoke trails, and Flitter let out an all mighty scream.
"Fluttershyyyy!"
"Oh my gosh!" bellowed Vinyl, wide eyed. "Holy cow!"

Reaching the crash site, they found pieces of flaming Banshee, and much to their surprise, and relief, Fluttershy was sat there quivering. She'd bailed out in time, hit the ground hard, and her shields had to charge back up.

"Oh, phew," breathed Octavia with a warm smile.
Vinyl put her foreleg around the shy to comfort her. "Fluttershy, what happened?"
Twilight was the one to answer. "Rickety piece of junk ran of fuel - can you believe it?! Poor Fluttershy here's traumatised!"

"Traumatised?" pondered Lightning as she fluttered down with Flitter. "So in other words; she's fine. She's fine, people! Nothing wrong here! Let's keep going, save the universe, y'know."
"Hey," grunted Vinyl. "She just survived a plane crash! Cut her some slack, would ya?"
"No pony cut me slack when I survived my plane crash!"
"Because you're an idiot! It was your fault you crashed!"

Stuck in the middle of a much missed argument, the shivering Fluttershy eventually projected, "Um, y-y'think maybe w-we can argue ins-s-side, where... i-it's not so... cold... please?"
The Ponies shut up and helped the yellow Mare back on her hooves, and as a unit, they proceeded into the Forerunner facility.

Making it to an octagonal chamber, the assault force encountered the Covenant, taking up positions. Two Elites and the usual bag of Grunts and Jackals. They had set up shop on the other side of the room, which meant the Mares were in for a little long range combat.

Range was Fleur's friend as she peered down the scope of her S2 AM and sniped the first Elite. She quickly fired a second round at the second Elite, and cursed herself as it evaded and dove out of sight. Taking aim on the lesser Covenant species that weren't really worthy of her expensive sniper ammo, she held her breath and continued firing.

Lightning didn't really get range. Her strong suit was altitude. Death from above. She flew around the room, high above the Covies that were posted on the more visible targets, and made it rain bullets all over them. Grunts and Jackals fell quickly, but some of the bird-like ones were able to take shelter under their ionized plasma brollies and shuffle away.

The one rookie Elite roared as his energy shields flared, and he ran for cover, firing his needler back at the Pegasus. Those deadly pink needles came streaking in Lightning's direction, tracking her like they were being controlled, and the Mare had to pull back to evade them.

"Catch this!" yelled a Grunt as he hurled a plasma grenade as strong as he could.
The explosive came to a drop a mere few feet away, and the Grunt and his buddy had to retreat to get clear of the blast.

The ensuing explosion rattled the whole chamber, and Fluttershy had to put her hooves over her ears.
Lightning soared past her, being chased by a flurry of pink crystal shards. "Get in the game, would ya!"

Lightning was right; she was being a liability right now. None of this whole "oh, I'll never survive" nonsense. She'd fought the Covenant single handed and won, back when she'd found the Flood. She'd also beat them on her own. With that in mind, Fluttershy rose up from cover and contributed to the deafening melody of battle, her rifle vibrating with every shot.

A whole lot'a bullets and a frag grenade later, the UPSC had prevailed, and Covenant corpses littered the chamber floor. Among those corpses were the two Hunters that had been killed when they'd fought their way to the control centre. They brought back the memory of Trixie, who had been carried through the room on a stretcher fashioned out of a Ghost's hood. And that, in turn, brought back the memory of Pinkie.

Speaking of Trixie, they were about to enter the corridor where she'd actually been wounded by the stealth Elite.
"Come on, slow pokes, hurry up!" commanded Lightning, not in her right.
"Hold on, Lightning," Twilight spoke up. "Is everypony ready?
There was a click as Fleur de Lis inserted a fresh clip into her sniper rifle and walked up to join the rest, nodding her head once. No pony else answered, just looked around to see if others were ready.
"Alright then, we may proceed."

Gulping, Fluttershy fell in line with the others, marching on down the narrow tunnel and up to the dreaded corridor that lead away to the left. The central support pillars provided plenty of hiding places for any Covie, invisible or otherwise. They could also hide the Flood, which funnily enough, was even more worrying. So worrying, that it was actually frightening.

Another thing that was frightening, was the fact that the bodies of the stealth Elites that had been killed the last time they were here had vanished. Replaced by huge pools of purple alien blood. There was also vomit, green Flood blood, and some of Trixie's blood that had been spilt from before, plus her armour, soldier saddle and pack.

The Ponies were silent as they tip-hooved across the metal floor, eyes scanning the area for trouble. Fluttershy strained to keep her tired eyes open as she looked carefully for the shimmer of stealth Elites. She couldn't pick out anything though. If there were any stealth Elites, hopefully one of the other, better rested Ponies would locate them.

Making it safely to the other end, Fluttershy realised something: Nothing had attacked them. The corridor had been devoid of threat, unless... She checked behind, making sure nothing had slipped past them. Still nothing in sight.

Octavia sighed and wiped sweat from her forehead. "Phew. That was tense-"
-A roar reverberated from every direction at once, containing a fragmentation and sickness. A roar that Fluttershy recognised all too well, and her stomach roiled as the terrifying sound faded away.
They're here.

*****

Things were a tad bit worse in Pinkie's world. Her left foreleg had been chopped off, but that wasn't the problem. It had been replaced by a big, long tentacle. The cause of the tentacle's growth, as well as every other modification that'd been made to her body, was the problem. She had died, but now she'd come back, and sure enough, she wished she hadn't. She moaned in despair, but it came out fragmented, louder than intended, and mixed with a new, alien sound she couldn't make before. It also came with blood.

Most of her old blood had been flushed out to make way for the new blood, but some of it remained, and it spattered what was left of her coat, hair and armour.

Intruders in the library had set the Flood off, and now that she was one of them, she was forced into a sprint. Three legs and a tentacle weren't ideal for running about on, but she managed. Well, it managed. She was just along for the ride. A passenger in her own vehicle. A prisoner in her own body.

A horrendous Flood outcry blasted around the library, and Pinkie couldn't believe that the vile creatures emitting these outcries were her teammates, nor that some of her teammates were once Covenant.

Regarding the Covenant, they were still the enemy, and they were the intruders. Before Pinkie had been brought here by the monitor, or "Ball Twilight" as she'd called him, the Covenant had staged multiple attacks. Fighting the Flood for possession of something they saw vital. Pinkie knew what they were after. She'd been after it herself. It was her sole reason for being here. But now, someone else had it. Couldn't have been the Covenant, otherwise they wouldn't be here. Didn't matter though; whether the Covenant or the UPSC activated Halo, it would wipe out the Flood, herself included, and put an end to the nightmare.
> Chapter 32: Battle of the Bridges
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two Covenant Banshees swirled around the parallel bridges outside. Their fuselages braved the blizzard and the pilots worked hard to fight the strong wind, as well as the attacking Flood.

The Covenant found themselves in an odd situation as they exchanged fire with the rotten disgraces from bridge to bridge. Sending bullets, needles and plasma bolts everywhere, the Flood couldn't aim for squat, and they fell under the power of the Covenant. But they were the Flood, so most of them just thrashed back up.

Thanks to the gap between the bridges that forced the Flood not to come running up into their faces, plus the Flood's terrible aim, and the air support, the Covenant were beginning to look victorious... until something else caught them from the side.

"Hit em!" barked Lightning Dust, flying out over the Covenant occupied bridge with the other Pegasi in tow.
Fluttershy stayed close to the rest of the ground bound Ponies, making use of her assault rifle to take care of a lone Grunt.

The assault force had just had a little tussle with the Flood, for the first time. It had gone well, all things considered. They were all still alive, and there were no casualties. They did have some of their ammo drained though, and some of the more sensitive ones, like Octavia, Flitter, and secretly Lightning, were traumatised.

Surprised by the sudden arrival of Ponies on their bridge, the Covenant took cover and focused most of their attention on them. The Flood were pretty much helpless on the opposite bridge anyways.

"You've got rockets, Blossomforth!" Lightning hinted, zipping around the Covies and scoring a couple of headshots on a Grunt and a Jackal.

Blossomforth had tried to fly, but with the heaviness of the rocket launcher, and the raging snow storm, she decided to play it safe and let her hooves do the traveling. With her right, blue eye peering down the bazooka's sights, she attempted to get one of the Banshees in her crosshairs, but the snow was just too thick, and none of the aircraft were visible. Didn't stop the shrill wail of their engines piercing everyone's ear-drums though.

With her trusty sniper rifle, Fleur de Lis was able to detect the Covies with the heat vision, as well as those Banshees swooping around. It would seem that one Banshee had been assigned to take on the Flood, and the other, to...

Fleur dove for cover, and dragged Vinyl Scratch away with her, just as the alien aircraft discharged one of its ghastly fuel rod projectiles. The green explosion took place in the spot where they had been standing, less than a second after they'd cleared the blast radius.
"Woah! Thanks, Fleur," gratified Vinyl as she dusted herself off.
Fleur didn't speak, just took up position behind an out-cropping of metal and let her sniper rifle talk to the Covenant.

Inside Fluttershy's head, Twilight was dishing out orders in rapid fire mode. "Duck! Take position to the left! Mind the Flood! Use a grenade! Zealot, incoming! Banshee incoming! Flood incoming!"
Like a robot, Fluttershy followed Twilight's instructions as best and as fast as she could. She wasn't so much taking action as she was being dragged through a frantic nightmare.
Puzzled, the yellow Mare checked, "Zealot?"
Oh how she should've gotten her priorities right.

Yes, there was a Zealot, and there was also a Banshee somewhere in the flurry, but the Flood... they were the true problem. They had been stranded on the other bridge, taking lousy shots at both the Covenant and the Ponies, but they soon came up with a plan that'd put them back in the fight. Like an army of green and brown grasshoppers, the mixture of infected Elites, Jackals and Ponies launched themselves through the air, clearing the gap between the bridges, and crashing non-elegantly into the Ponies' and the Covenant's midst.

One of them, a crimson armoured Elite with claws bursting from its stomach and arms converted to swords, landed right beside the shy, and she screamed as the aberration flailed around gurgling.

"Shoot it!" yelped Twilight, prompting Fluttershy to spray the ex-elite point blank with her assault rifle.
The click of an empty magazine startled her, and she hurried to put the weapon away and bring the shotgun to bare, the holed monster rising to its mighty feet.

As soon as the shotgun was up and ready, the infected alien lunged for her, and as soon as it lunged for her, an energy sword penetrated its distorted torso and lifted it off the ground. Disgusting green blood splashed all over Fluttershy, and she backed away to witness a non-infected Covenant Zealot rip the combat form in half, then spin to take the head off of something that used to be a Pony.

"Once he's done with the Flood, he'll be straight after us!" Twilight informed over the clamour of Pony on Covenant on Flood battle. "Take him out now!"

Fluttershy didn't want to kill the Elite. She didn't want to kill full stop, but she knew Twilight was right, so she primed one of her captured plasma grenades and tossed it at the distracted warrior. Terrific throw; Fluttershy was surprised at herself, even if the target was only a few feet away. The glowing blue device latched on to the small of the Zealot's back, and went up with a mighty BOOM, vaporising the Elite and taking a couple of Flood forms with him.
"Well done, Fluttershy!" cheered Twilight. "Keep it up!"

Shaking with anxiety, Fluttershy reloaded both of her guns and took cover behind an island on the bridge. A Banshee fighter screeched overhead, dangerously low, and mowed down an infected Pony as it pounced up with the intent of flattening Fluttershy.

Flitter pulled Blossomforth up to her and pointed at the alien aircraft that came speeding through the inclement weather, green blood staining its purple sheen. "There's the Banshee, Blossomforth! Hit it!"
Letting go of the white Pegasus, she proceeded to fire her stolen needler at a trio of Grunts, then at the diseased Jackal that stole all three of her kills.

Without a word, Blossomforth lead ahead of the Banshee fighter, sticking her tongue out in concentration. Its plasma cannons rang loud as it stitched a line into the Forerunner bridge, aiming at the fleeing Octavia. Luckily, the grey Earth Pony was able to evade, just, and the Banshee pulled up out of its dive. Before it could disappear in the snow, Blossomforth pulled the trigger, and a rocket whooshed out of the tube, kicking back hard enough to make her fall flat on her rump.

The cursed wind blew the rocket off course, and she missed the Banshee by quite a large gap, and instead ended up hitting the side of the opposite bridge, laying waste to an unusual, fat Flood form that hadn't leapt on over.
"Oh, Pony feathers!" she groaned in frustration, throwing her helmet on the floor.
She quickly picked it back up and re-donned it, then sought more rockets.

Derpy tried her best to keep up with Lightning, who soared through the chilly air over the bridge, flanking the Covenant and the Flood.
"Wait up!" she pleaded, not as skilled a flyer as the turquoise Mare.
Lightning didn't respond, just fired more and more bullets all over the bad guys, then let a grenade drop. The blast shook the bridge, and shattered a part of the floor that was made of glass, as well as sending an Elite plummeting down to the valley that was obscured below.

Just then, a Banshee zoomed by, performing an evasive barrel role. The turbulence sent Derpy spinning out of control and she was snatched up in a current of wind.
"Woa-oa-oah!" Thud! She came to a harsh landing on the bridge, and her yellow eyes rolled around inside her head. "Ouch!"

An icky slithering sound caught her attention, and she glanced all around her. She couldn't see a thing. She could hear the battle raging away, but couldn't see a single being on the bridge with her.

Something pink grabbed her derped eyes, and she witnessed a stray needle come drifting out of the snow from her right, followed by a whole bunch more, and some blue plasma too. Uh oh; she was on the wrong bridge.

The sound of slithering increased, and a swarm of tiny, ugly parasites came rolling her way. Behind her, a door hissed open, and something snarled from within the corridor. Multiple footfalls surged in her direction, and put the fear of Nightmare Moon in her. 

Straining against the storm, she flapped her aching wings, desperate to escape and regroup with the others.

Back on the bridge of havoc, the Ponies, with a little help from the Flood, pushed through the Covenant's defences. And with a little help from the Covenant, they were able to deduce a number of Flood on the bridge. There was still a great deal to worry about though, like the remaining Grunts and Jackals that had opted to retreat in the same direction as them, the remaining Flood that were still able to overwhelm them, and of course the two Banshees in the sky.

Following the instructions from Twilight, Fluttershy lead the way around a barrier where a door was situated, and came across a rookie Elite, just sat there, hiding. Cowering. It was extremely out of character for a noble Elite to be sat there in fear, but when the terrifying uproar of a ruptured creature intruded the ears of every living thing within a hundred miles, Fluttershy couldn't blame him. 

However, he was still an Elite, and he let out a feeble cry before hosing her with plasma. Fluttershy grunted as her shields absorbed the blow, and she answered the Elite with her shotgun, tearing his face off in a gruesome fashion that left her numb.

"Come on, everypony!" Twilight urged. "Through the hatch!"
All at once, the Mares flew and galloped through the tall Forerunner door and out of the blizzard. It closed behind them, and then immediately re-opened to introduce a thing that used to be an Elite, right arm turned to a giant club.

Everypony unleashed their weapons all over the abomination at once, save for Blossomforth who was busy reloading her rocket launcher.

The ex-elite danced with the impacts, and took gradual stomps towards the squad, groaning and shrugging off bullets, plasma bolts, and needles. Well, it didn't so much as shrug off needles as it did collect them, and once enough needles were imbedded in its gangrenous flesh, they detonated in a super-combine and reduced the monster to giblets and blood.

Flitter, the one with the needler, blushed a little as everypony grinned at her. She took the time to reload the alien weapon with one of the unusual magazines she'd scavenged from the fallen Covies.

Interrupting the pants and the sighs, Twilight broadcasted, "Ok, we're in the next section of the facility. The layout is pretty similar to everywhere else in this expanse. It'll take us onto the opposite bridge so we can take the elevator down to the valley floor. If we're gonna get to the next pulse generator, that's where we need to be."
"Alright, you heard the Princess," started Vinyl, eliciting an annoyed glance from Lightning.
After the death of their CO, there had been a fight for power amongst the squad, so tensions were high.
"Let's move!"

"I'm reading the Scorpion's tracking device from up here," the AI happily announced as the Mares trotted and winged along. "It hasn't moved since we left it!"
"Aw great!" whooped Vinyl. "We get some fire-power!"
"Dibs on the gun!" Lightning barked eagerly.
"Dibs on the main gun," Vinyl smirked, knowing Lightning wouldn't react too acceptingly.
"What?! No! When I said "gun," I meant main gun!"
"But you didn't say main gun. I did. That makes the main gun mine."
"No, I-"
"-Girls, please," Octavia interjected mercifully. "We'll decide who gets the main gun when we get there."
"If we get there," mumbled Flitter depressingly.
"Now now, Flitter. That's no way to think."

Observing the bickering troops around her, Fluttershy gasped as she realised something. "Where's Derpy?"
Devoid of answers, the squad fell silent.

*****

Meanwhile, in a corridor with a line of central support columns, two Elites crept nervously along. A veteran and his rookie, who had been separated from the rest of their squad. Well, not separated, more survived the attacks of the Jackals that used to be under their command. They had all been infected now, and all the Grunts had been brutalised and dragged away.

Both Elites were equipped with plasma rifles, and because of the extreme circumstances, the veteran had taken to duel wielding. The crimson one held two plasma rifles out in front of him, scanning the corridor, hunting for parasites.

The blue one opted to hold just one weapon, and after an insubordinate row with his superior, he was allowed to keep it that way. What his superior hadn't thought of, until he was reminded, was the need to throw grenades; something that would be impractical when holding two weapons.

So the veteran relied on the rookie for explosive support, and when a million Flood forms came surging at them from both ways, boy did he deliver.

Plasma grenade detonations took bodies away from the impending Flood, and sent bloody limbs bouncing off the Forerunner architecture.

A form made up of two stubby legs, two wriggling tentacles and a grossly inflated sack came waddling in amongst the reanimated corpses. Plasma fire from the veteran made it explode, and two combat forms went with it.

From the carrier form's burst sack, a number of the little parasites came scurrying along the floor. The Elites were too occupied with the bigger forms to deal with them, so instead they just trampled them when they got close.

An infected Elite entered the fray, armed with a UPSC rocket launcher of all things. It held the heavy weapon in one quivering hand like it were a mere pistol, and sent forth a rocket. The two Elites were shrouded in shrapnel as it struck one of the support columns, destroying it, and an infected Jackal as well. The veteran had been closest to that explosion, and his shields flared, almost drained.

The rookie darted around, hurling grenade after grenade, until he was left with none, and he resorted to pulling grenades straight off of corpses, even when those corpses were still moving around.

"Aarrrgg-WRUUGHAAAHH!" wailed the higher ranking of the two, transforming into one of the beasts right before his soldier's eyes.
His shields had been completely drained, and an infection form had tunnelled its way into his chest.

Letting out a despairing cry, the rookie pointed his plasma rifle at his fellow Elite. Cold-bloodedly, he pulled the trigger, and was forced to hold it as the veteran combat form soaked up the bolts like a sponge.

Once he fell, another infected Elite came up behind and wrapped a tentacle around the rookie's head, giving him a real good mouthful. He also couldn't see. Something began slicing away at his abdomen, breaking through his shields and spraying purple blood everywhere.

With a monumental, double footed kick, the rookie Elite booted whatever disgrace was torturing him, and bent forwards to hurl the ex-elite over his back. That ex-elite had been armed with a UPSC shotgun, and the rookie couldn't figure out where all these primitive Pony weapons were coming from.

Didn't matter though; he snatched the shotgun right out of its tendrils and used it to waste a couple of approaching nightmares whilst stomping the two mutants on the floor into gloop and bone. His plasma rifle took care of those that closed in on the other side, melting their skin and setting them ablaze.

One came close, and he kicked it so hard in the stomach, it almost snapped in half. Another one came up at his back, and he ripped its ugly Pony head off.

The bazooka wielding ex-elite was still present, dragging a huge, swollen leg across the deck, aiming the launcher once more. Catching sight of it, the rookie barged his way past the Flood, taking bites and scratches, blood oozing out of the gash in his belly, and met his infected fellow face to face.

Quickly, he knocked the rocket launcher away, along with an arm that was still clinging on. In place of that arm, a frighteningly large appendage burst out in a cloud of olive paste, and - boom, the rookie shot it dead with the shotgun.

He felt dirty using a UPSC weapon. It was like he was complimenting the equine vermin. But right now, it was saving his life. To hell with how he felt.

With only a dozen or so Flood forms left, the blue Elite fired his plasma rifle until it was dry, fired the shotgun until it was empty, pried new weapons from dead or living claws, even if they were UPSC branded, and killed monster after monster, until the battle finally ended with him blowing the final, reconstructed Jackal into oblivion with a rocket launcher.

He looked around, ready for more, yellow eyes checking every corner, every shadow, every still body on the floor. One attempted to rise, but he quickly flattened it beneath his blood stained boot.

Heaving, he wiped the sweat from his split-lip face, and slumped down against a pillar, exhausted. The stench of the Flood was putrid, regardless of weather they were dead or alive, and it made him gip. He desperately needed a drink to wash the taste out of his throat.

As an Elite in the Covenant, he was trained to ignore pain, but his slashed open gut was impossible to ignore. Neither was the alarming amount of blood that came leaking out. Dropping his weapons, he clutched his wound with both hands, and continued to lay there...

... Click, clack. A metallic sound echoed in his ear, just to the left of him. Wearily, he rotated his head, and found himself staring down the barrel of a shotgun. Its wielder blurred in and out of focus; yellow, pink, and wearing green. He gazed longingly into the healthy Pony's sad blue eyes; he knew what was coming.

"I'm sorry," Fluttershy squeaked, and forced herself to pull the trigger.
Boom! The Elite's brains were blown out all over the silvery metal, and his limp body flopped sideways onto the floor.

"What's to be sorry about?" Lightning questioned un-compassionately. "He's just a nasty little Covie."

Fluttershy and her fellow Ponies had witnessed enough of the fight from around a corner. Guilt washed over the yellow Pegasus in a sea; that Elite had survived the most awful ambush from the Flood, only to be shot down by some weak little Pony.

Comfortingly, Octavia put a hoof over Fluttershy's back and spoke, "We understand, Fluttershy."
Lightning ruined the moment. "I don't."
"You don't understand anything!" Vinyl contributed.
Oh great, another argument, just what they needed.

They had the Elite to thank for clearing the corridor of Flood, and how did they thank him? By executing him and arguing over his body? Fluttershy was most unhappy, and her temper began to rise. Eventually, she just walked off in a huff, knowing the others would follow.

Well, she didn't really walk off. More crept off, careful not to stand on any of the decaying, mutated carcasses. She failed that challenge as soon as she stepped on a severed Pony's head, and the sight of it made her squeak.

"Come on, girls," growled Twilight, impatient for good reasons. "The Banshees have been ordered to destroy the bridges. We'll have to pick up the pace if we're gonna continue."

"If only we all had wings," Lightning theorised snobbishly.
"Hey, if we were all Unicorns, we'd be able to levitate places," retaliated Vinyl. "Maybe even teleport."
"Your not Trixie, Vinyl Scratch."
Twilight joined in. "Y'know the real me can teleport, right?"
Lightning reminded, "Alicorn."
"Oh... yeah."

Octavia, the one Earth Pony, raised her hoof. "Don't mind me. I'm sure I'll get around fine."
"Oh, sorry, Octy," apologised Vinyl.
Under her breath, Lightning grumbled, "Stupid Octavia, slowing us down."
"What was that?"
"I said you're all slowing me down!"
"Go on ahead then! Leave - we don't care! Find the pulse generators, EMP them, fight hordes of enemies all by yourself!"
Sighing, Lightning hesitated before revealing a tiny glimpse of loyalty. "... I'm not leaving."
"That's what I thought."

Behind Fluttershy, everypony flew and trotted to catch up. Everypony but the absent Derpy.

Further along, the herd traversed a corridor, where they came up to a door and went back out into the raging blizzard. The first noticeable thing was the blistering cold wind and whizzing snow that came pouring into the corridor's mild embrace.

The second noticeable things were the screeches of the Banshees that were still swirling around the parallel bridges. Twilight had informed them that the Banshees had been ordered to destroy the bridges, although only one bridge needed to be destroyed to stop the Ponies from progressing, and the Banshee pilots knew that too. Working together, the two aircrafts bombarded the bridge with plasma and fuel rod projectiles, chiselling and melting the Forerunner metal.
"Huh, so much for worship," Twilight muttered dryly.

The Banshees were only a small part of the problem though. From behind the barrier that blocked the view of the bridge ahead, something was returning fire to them. Now who could that be?

Rounding the barrier from the left, right and top, the Mares had a pretty good view of... snow. Pouncing through the snow, two Flood forms made a bee-line for the squad. Figures.
"Alright, time to take out the trash," smirked Lightning, shooting off into the storm.

"We have to cross this bridge as fast as we can!" Twilight called out loud. "The Banshees-"
-Bang! Bang! Bang! A magnum fired, courtesy of Fleur, and she was able to stall one of the combat forms' advance. Assault rifles, a plasma rifle and a needler soon joined her.
Fed up, Twilight continued, "Almost have this bridge destroyed."
This worried Fluttershy.

However, the Flood were indeed in their way, and if the Ponies were going to get off the bridge before it crumbled, they would have to dispose of them, quickly. More than a little edgy, Fluttershy took up a firing position with the others and alternated between grenades and buckshots to aggravate the Flood.

Among the Flood, an infected Unicorn Stallion shambled back and forth, half his face hanging off, exposing the bloodied skull. He, well, it, had a rocket launcher attached to the mechanical arm of its soldier saddle. The thing that was in control of the Stallion's body attempted to get a Banshee in its sights, and as soon as the smooth, silhouetted vehicle materialised in the launcher's crosshairs, it let a rocket off its leash.

Expertly, the Elite pilot performed a dazzling barrel role, and evaded the Flood's rocket by mere inches. He pulled the aircraft up, and missed the opportunity to splatter a healthy Pegasus Pony all over the Banshee's bow.

Lightning, the one who nearly got hit, yelped in surprise as the Banshee soared up and away, swaying in the gustiness.
"Alright," she growled. "Enough is enough!"
In pursuit of the Banshee, she streaked up and disappeared in the snowfall.

Unable to control her own flight in such inclement conditions, Blossomforth kept herself grounded, and jumped up onto a snow-capped island in the centre of the path. A whole lota Flood were milling around ahead, and she gawked at the revolting sight of them, afraid. Most of them were focusing on the Banshees, giving the white Mare the perfect opportunity to deal some hellish damage on the plague carriers with a single rocket.

BOOM! The shaped charge detonated against the hoof of what was once a Pony, and not only did it wipe out the cluster of Flood, it took a chunk out of the bridge as well. Fool. Blossomforth cursed herself for actually helping the Covenant destroy the bridge, and put the launcher away in favour of a pistol she'd acquired.

As Fluttershy scavenged some grenades and ammunition for both her guns from a pile of swiss cheesed Flood forms, Vinyl, Octavia and Fleur joined Blossomforth atop the frosted island, letting loose everything they had. Of course Fleur didn't use her sniper rifle, what with the Flood not knowing how they were supposed to react when getting shot by it, and Vinyl's plasma rifle really added some colour to the muzzle flashes. Flitter dove in with her pretty yet lethal needler, ejecting the alien shards out over the spinning Flood.

Synchronised, the four soldiers ducked down behind their cover to avoid being mowed down by a low flying Banshee. The purple aircraft spat out a luminous green fuel rod projectile, and the whole bridge creaked in response to the explosion, frost being shook off the span and down to the invisible valley floor.

"Something's coming from the left," Twilight gave Fluttershy the head's up. "Get ready."
Trembling with trepidation, the timid Mare held her shotgun tight, waiting for what would likely be a Flood form homing in on her.

Before anything came around to greet her, a very hard-hitting blast caused Fluttershy to jump off the deck, and the entire bridge tilted back... Way back.

Fluttershy began to slide back, her hooves finding absolutely no grip on the frigid metal. The fat carrier form that had been approaching her found even less grip, and the ugly bowling ball went rolling all the way down to the bottom where the bridge had been disconnected from the cliff. The one thing that kept it suspended, just, was a single blue energy tether.

Fluttershy's slippery journey was abrupt as she came to a rest on an outcropping of metal. As for the other four ground bound Ponies, they suffered a longer journey down the broken bridge, but eventually landed hard on another central island. Together, they strained to climb their way up the bridge, Blossomforth flapping her wings, not to fly, just to assist her with that cumbersome rocket launcher.

As Fluttershy tried to make her own way across the steeply inclining bridge, she witnessed many Flood forms sliding on their way down, thrashing and shrieking with hunger for flesh. One of them, a Pony, was kitted out with a rocket launcher, and rather stupidly, it pulled the trigger, creating a massive explosion directly in front of Fluttershy. The yellow Mare's shields were completely drained having saved her life for the billionth time, which was more than what could be said for the Flood Pony; it was on its way to the next solar system.

Despite the slipperiness of the slope, the small parasites found perfect traction, and when they noticed the un-shielded Fluttershy, they dashed straight at her. The young Pegasus screamed and flailed her front hooves, kicking them away into clouds of putrid green spores.
"Don't let them take you, Fluttershy!" demanded the AI determinedly. "We've got a job to do!"

With a little help from the others, Fluttershy was able to eradicate all the bugs, and she joined everypony else in the climb to the top.

Sounding afraid, Twilight cried, "Oh no! There's a Banshee heading straight for the bridge's tether! Get off this bridge now!"
Well, that was everypony's queue to loose their minds and scramble madly to reach the top. However, waiting for them at the top, was a gold armoured Elite with an energy sword.

The Zealot stood strong on his podium, which was really just the barrier to mark the door into the next part of the facility. His chest armour was all cracked and broken, tentacles tipped with red bursting from a hole behind. The Zealot's left arm had been converted to a hulking great mallet of brown flesh and spiked bones. Not sounding anything like an Elite, it howled a terrifying howl, and prepared to launch itself at the panicking Mares.

Just then, one of the Banshees came diving in, low, and damn near clipped the poorly Elite. Upon seeing the Banshee, the high ranking combat form pounced, and got a grip on a part of the aircraft's fuselage. No, wait... That wasn't a part of the aircraft's fuselage... That was Lightning Dust, clenched onto the side of the Banshee, attempting to pry open its sleek purple carapace and sky-jack it, Pinkie Pie style.

"Hey!" she snorted aggressively, then changed her attitude when she saw what was thrashing away on her leg. "Waaa!"

Before the Elite pilot could finish the task of taking down the bridge of his gods, something teamed up with the wind to veer his Banshee off course, and the projectile he sent forth detonated harmlessly against the rock face. He pulled up out of the dive, and had a go at correcting his angle, but something outside was shuddering the whole craft.

Whatever was clinging on to the side of his Banshee, it announced its presence with a throaty roar, and the lower mandibles of a fellow Elite punched through into the cock-pit.

The veteran pilot watched on in horror as an officer of the Covenant ate his way into the vehicle, and proceeded to eat his way through him! Wailing in agony, he lost control of the fighter craft, and it came down vertically onto the bridge he was supposed to destroy.

Twilight barked, "Duck!" prompting the Ponies to do so.
The flaming remains of the Banshee fighter jarred over their heads and down the bridge, wobbling it drastically.

Something impacted Fluttershy's hind, startling her into squealing.
"Get moving, slow poke!" Lightning spoke through gritted teeth, pushing Fluttershy up the slope.
How Lightning had survived the ordeal was... actually quite believable. She's a Pegasus; she can fly on her own accord. A Flood infected Zealot or a Banshee with no pilot, can't.

Flitter leant a hoof to Octavia. Once Octavia and Fluttershy were around the barrier and clambering up to the door, Flitter and Lightning decided to help out Fleur and Vinyl. Fleur however, declined Flitter's assistance, so the Pegasus ended up helping out another Pegasus; Blossomforth.

Soon, everypony was safe inside the narrow corridor, with Flitter and Blossomforth just making their entrance... along with a handful of tiny Flood parasites.
"Get back!" yelled Vinyl over a distant explosion.

An immense creak drowned out the sounds Flitter was making as one of the infectors stabbed into her. With her eyes popping wide and blood spewing from her mouth, her noises were likely unpleasant.

The loud creaking was the mark of the bridge's destruction. The second Banshee had completed the task, and somewhere in the snowy obscurity, it was whirling down to the valley below, the whole bridge heading down with it.

With the creaking replaced by wind, and the wind replaced by Flitter who screamed and roared in front of them, Octavia lunged and held on to the Pegasus as she lost power of her wings.
"No, Flitter! Nooo!"
"Octavia!" cried Vinyl, hanging onto the Earth Pony, who, in turn, held on to Flitter.
Shouting over the gale and the mutant in the making, Twilight bellowed, "Octavia! She's been infected! Let her go!"
Octavia watched in horror as Flitter's face flew apart all by itself, releasing a torrent of red blood and vomit out into the corridor and over the soldiers.
"That's how the Flood work!"
"Let her gooo!" wailed Blossomforth dramatically, tearing up.

When a thin, wiry tendril snaked out of Flitter's cave of a face, Octavia immediately let the sick Mare drop. Flitter's changing silhouette materialised away as she descended through the rapid snow.

Vinyl pulled the despondent Octavia back, allowing Fluttershy to seal the door shut, keeping the weather out.
Tearfully, Octavia squeaked, "... I can't believe it... That was horrible... How can this be a thing?"
Lightning got in her face. "Well it is a thing, alright! Get used to it!"

Randomly, a blob of faint cobalt blue light flashed into existence around Lightning's lips, only to flash back out of existence a couple of seconds later.
"Ow!" yelped Lightning, touching her lips. "What the hay, Vinyl?!"
The blue maned Unicorn had cast a spell on Lightning, or at least tried to. "Darn it! I'm not as good as Trixie."
"Oh, you trying to shut me up, there? Ha! You're a pathetic Unicorn."
"And you're a rotten piece of work! No pony talks to Octavia like that!" Vinyl pushed her face into Lightning's, and they glowered angrily into each other's eyes. "You gotta get through me!"

Turning her head up, Lightning blew a raspberry at Vinyl and hovered in the air. "Pffft! Like you're something. And at least I can tell the blatant difference between a Pony and one of those things."
Octavia sat down, wiping her face of tears, and murmured, "I'm sorry, ok. I've never seen these things before. I thought we could save her."
"Sorry, Octavia," Twilight contributed softly. "But the only way to save her would be to... well... you kinda saved her when you let her go."
She'd let her go, and the memory plagued Octavia like a Flood infection form itself, and she stifled her cries, barely. Vinyl wrapped her hooves around her in a cuddle.

Crammed in the glass-metal corridor, the soldiers reloaded and took drinks, Fluttershy taking a little sip from Octavia's flask. In the background, Lightning nattered on and on to herself like she was crazy, and Fluttershy was worried she actually might be.

With the break over, and the events of the bridges in the past, the herd trudged on through the corridor.

Remembering how easy it had been the first time they'd fought across the bridges, Fluttershy thought to herself, If only Trixie were here.

*****

Sieging the library, the Covenant rolled in. The library was an awkward sort of building. A magnificent one, yes, but not very easy to enter. Especially on foot and with ground vehicles. The entrance consisted of a massive circular door that had cycled open. It was far off the ground, more suited to aircraft, and the Covenant didn't hesitate to send in two Banshee fighters.

To get the ground forces inside, their commander had devised a plan. Their fleet's new flagship, the Honest Mistake, hovered over the library, using its gravity lift and anchor like, well, a lift. The platform came down, but not all the way to the ground; just before the library's entrance, ferrying troops and vehicles.

Ghost rapid assault vehicles went in first, their smallness, quietness and speed providing the perfect recognisance. Once recon was done, the tanks came in, one at a time, until an entire cavalry was born.

Troops and vehicles were still being lowered into the library when the Flood attacked. The cursed parasites were stalling them from retrieving the sacred icon; the talisman they needed to begin their great journey and eradicate the filth from existence.

Multiple attempts had been made to grab the index. The first team didn't even know what hit them. It was a small team of Grunts and Elites, unaware of the Flood's presence, and they'd disappeared without a trace. A second team was sent to investigate, and they all went silent too, but not before one of them could report the findings. With this intel, a battle-ready third team attacked the Flood, and they'd done well, but not well enough; their numbers too few.

After three failed attempts, the commander was determined not to fail again. As he and his army entered the library, the Flood came surging up to greet them. He gave the order, letting his soldiers unleash their arsenal all over the stinking tide. The Wraith tanks wiped out huge groups of the diseased, and the Ghosts chipped away at them, one, sometimes two at a time.

*****

Wondering across the floor, Pinkie Pie and her new friends were almost clipped by two low flying Banshees. Spinning, she and the swarm she was a part of chased after them, right into the chamber that used to house the index. Noticing the missing index, the Banshees retreated, and after a while, so did the rest of the Covenant.

Way up from her position, Pinkie could see the alien soldiers and vehicles leave the library, floating up in the translucent, purple gravity lift of a Covenant starship. The monster she shared her body with saw it too, and it went about climbing the walls. Fellow plague carriers and parasites joined her, the infection forms scuttling ahead, disappearing through one specific crevice in the ceiling.

On the roof of the library, the snot bags waited, Pinkie being the first to emerge, rising up like a corpse from a grave. The top of the library was high up, and the wind blew harshly into her ravaged face.

It was evening, and a red sky made the view of Halo even more breath-taking. Pinkie couldn't figure out why it was called a red sky, because it wasn't really red. It was more of a pinky colour.

The immediate area around the gargantuan library structure was a desert full of jagged rocks, buttes, and lagoons. A beach could be seen, lined with scarce vegetation, and the twinkling ocean lapped up onto the shore. More land could be seen across the pond; more desert by the looks of it. It was beautiful, but the whole experience was kinda ruined by the body-snatching illness. The bug in her chest, the tentacles on her body, the goo in her veins. All of it hurt, and she wailed in excruciation.

Her new friends weren't faring well either; combat forms that were once Ponies and Covies, all of which groaned in distress as they pulled themselves up into the breeze.

Another thing that added to the majesty of the view, was the titanic Covenant Cruiser hovering high above. Very high above; not wanting to get too close to the Flood. A wise move, to be sure, but anchoring the grav lift right by the infested library's entrance? Not so wise.

The anchor would be a tough nut to crack, what with all the Covenant that defended it. However, the monsters that made up Pinkie's platoon decided to just skip that part, and enter the gravity beam without setting hoof, foot or tentacle on the anchor.

Sprinting ached, and Pinkie shrieked. She watched as she and her gang were forced down the library's sloping roof, drawing closer to the grav lift. Once close enough, she pounced, and spent enough time in the air to count to seven. She never landed though. She, well, her monster, had succeeded its goal of getting inside the elevating tube of light. Some of the others made it too.

Flailing around, ex-pinkie swam through the anti-gravity and latched onto an ascending Wraith tank, taking up residence in its main gun. Folding away, the main gun was concealed under its purple carapace, Pinkie hidden inside.
> Chapter 33: Backseat Driver
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Riding the compact elevator, the soldiers descended. It was a lot less cramped this time around, for all the wrong reasons. No Caramel, Bulk, Derpy or Flitter. No great and powerful Trixie. And no Pinkie Pie, hogging the space with a Ghost.

Prior to catching the elevator, the herd had fended off a year's supply of Flood, and were knackered from fighting for so long.

In that chamber, Fluttershy and the other Mares had found some pretty disturbing things. Covies being devoured by the Flood was the least scariest thing they'd happened upon. A pool of red Pony blood and clumps of blonde mane and tail hair; that was something to be worried about. Derpy had blonde hair.

Another thing that got the troops spooked was the aftermath of a Covie on Flood battle. Purple and green blood joined together to form a massive stain on the floor, and parts of Zealot Elite were strewn around the chamber. As for whatever the Elite had fought, it had moved on, but not without leaving behind a clue. A single, purple, Pony eye. Of course lots of Ponies had purple eyes, and Trixie was one of them.

Fluttershy had gulped, frightened of running into "her." Lightning Dust looked a little sad too, which was rare, but she soon cheered herself up by swishing the dead Zealot's energy sword around with her teeth. The Pegasus became disappointed when the silent Fleur de Lis had snatched the sword from her chops: Better in a Unicorn's control.

Now, as the assault force rode down to the ground floor, Lightning sat and folded her forelegs, grumpy. "It's not fair."
No pony took notice of her.

Octavia was being unnaturally quiet, sitting on her haunches while Vinyl tried to comfort her.
"Aw, don't worry, Octy. We'll make it through this."
Still no words from Octavia, just a sniffle.

Soon, the lift made it to the bottom of the shaft with a groan, and the Mares hopped off to venture through a narrow tunnel and into the final chamber of the facility.

Coming up to the shy's side, Blossomforth hesitantly quizzed, "So... do you think Derpy will be ok?"
"I hope so," she responded. "I really hope so."

"This is Derpy we're talking about," chirped Lightning, probably about to say something mean. "That Mare's as dumb as a rock." Yep, there it is. "She's a Pegasus, and she probably fell to death!"
"Enough, Lightning," Twilight warned, serious.
Not finished, Lightning continued, "Or maybe," she put on a spooky voice and waved her hooves around. "She turned into the Flooood-"
"-Shut up!" cried Fluttershy loudly, taking the herd by surprise. "Shut up, shut up, shut uuup!" She started to weep.

Derpy and Fluttershy had been through a lot together. The meadows, the Truth, the cartographer, the control room. And now she was gone. Not dead, not alive, just... gone, with no trace other than some red blood and blonde hair, which could belong to anypony.

As the group continued to walk, Blossomforth and Vinyl offered the teary Pegasus some healing hugs.
"There there, Fluttershy, we get it," Vinyl spoke, then stared at Lightning. "Ignore Lightning."

Just then, Fluttershy's hoof made contact with something loose, and it rolled across the floor. It was a flask, lying abandoned, and as it rolled along, it sounded like it was full.

Halting, the herd watched the flask come to a rest by a trail of red blood leading away into the shadows.

Just off the blood, a soldier saddle and pieces of fractured UPSC armour were scattered around. Taking heed, the soldiers tip-hoofed and fluttered over the mess, eyes scanning the area. Clearly, somepony had been dragged away, and judging by the freshness of the blood, it was recent. Whatever was responsible could still be lurking. The victim could be lurking too.

Approaching the saddle bag, Fleur opened it up and had a little rummage, finding some ammo and grenades for the squad to top up on.

Fluttershy discarded her empty flask and examined the full one. It appeared to be in good nick, and a quick check confirmed that the water within was safe to drink. But who did it belong to? Fluttershy shuddered at the thought of drinking water that had been dropped by a combat form.

Silent as usual, Fleur took something out of the saddle bag and held it up. It was pony tags, and inscribed on them, was the name "Derpy."
Beginning to cry, Fluttershy was interrupted by Twilight. "It's ok, Fluttershy. Don't worry. She might still be out there."
The pink maned Mare spied past the "in denial" faces of the squad and at Lightning, who mouthed to herself, "Who are you kidding?"
For once, she found herself agreeing with her.

Stifling, she paced on, stowing Derpy's canteen. The rest of the Mares followed, staying alert, disheartened by the discovery.

Exiting the chamber, the Ponies progressed along a corridor, and they passed through the door out into hell's Lapland. Strong wind whistled through the canyon, drafting snowflakes into their faces.

The noises of the Covenant could be picked up behind the storm, and not just any noises. There was a Banshee somewhere, likely the one that had destroyed the bridge above, which was now lying in pieces around the valley like giant crumbs. The humming noise of a Ghost's engine whizzed by, close. And somewhere further away, a Wraith was hurling plasma mortar, at what though? Had the Covenant already spotted them? In this blizzard?

Somewhere ahead, a Grunt waddled by, crying, "Get it off! Get it off!"
And another obscured Grunt replied with plasma pistol fire, silencing his panicking friend.

Getting the impression that the Covenant weren't the only peril lying in wait, Fluttershy trudged through the deep snow, shielding her face. The snow was a lot deeper than before.

"Scorpion tank's dead ahead," informed Twilight.
"Huh, I like how you said "dead" ahead," grunted Blossomforth with a fake smile. "Almost as if you're foreshadowing."

With the rest of the soldiers in tow, Fluttershy approached the massive shape of the Scorpion tank, sitting abandoned in the blizzard. A Ghost laid just next to it on its top-side. Whether it was intact or not, she had no idea.

"Dibs on the gun!" called out Vinyl, picking up the pace.
Lightning flew just off the Mares, and she leaned in to say, "Dibs on the main gun," with a smug look on her face.
"Oh darn it."
Octavia chuckled contritely, making Vinyl cheer up a little.

As Fluttershy clambered up onto the idle tank, Blossomforth quizzed, "Wasn't there a Warthog before?"
"I believe there was," Octavia responded, then asked, "Twilight?"
Before lifting the hatch, Fluttershy stood and let Twilight surmise, "Well it's not here anymore. I don't know where it's gone. Perhaps some of your reinforcements survived and took it to take on... whatever they were taking on."
"Sure hope it served em well," shrugged Vinyl, jumping up and raring to go. "I miss that thing though."

As soon as Fluttershy pried the hatch open, a monstrous shriek came blasting out, and two thin tendrils whipped around, frightening her. She screamed, and before she could slam the hatch shut, those tentacles wrapped around her forelegs and pulled her inside.
"Fluttershy!" cried many Ponies, and they raced to enter the tank.
Too late; the Flood form within reached out a disgusting hand of slimy green skin and closed the hatch. Not only did it close it, but it also spun the wheel, locking it. Desperately, the squad tried everything they could to lift the Scorpion's lid and save Fluttershy.

Within the tank's red glowing interior, Fluttershy found herself face to face with a cluster of red tipped tentacles. Above those flailing plants, a Unicorn Mare's head hung limp to the side, revealing one purple eye and one vacant eye socket. Beneath some bandages, parts of blue coat hung to the ex-pony's diseased flesh in clumps, and a lot of her mane and tail were still present. Her - its forelock hung down in a strand, and the tip had been fashioned into a hook.

Further identifying the changed Mare, a wicked snarl tore out of its throat, along with some dead flesh, and it almost seemed to shout Equestrian language at her in a voice Fluttershy would recognise anywhere.
"SCRREEEE-yy-riieeen-gurr-WRRAAAAGH!"
She had been hoping never to see her this way, but she was locked in with her now.

Twilight urged, "Oh gosh, shoot it!" just as Fluttershy pulled the trigger.
A foot wide hole was punched into the chest of what was once a friend, but that didn't stop it, just made it angrier.

With all the strength of a crane, the thing hauled Fluttershy off the tank's deck and smacked her into the ceiling, taking a chunk off her shields. Another tentacle wrapped around her shotgun and yanked it off, discarding it to the side, out of reach. Clever.

The ex-unicorn slammed the screeching Pegasus down to the floor, and that's when she decided to gnaw away at her. Fluttershy shrieked with a pitch so high, it would attract dogs, as her own friend gnashed at her face, her crooked teeth picking the flesh off her cheek bone.

Frightened, Twilight yelled, "Push her off us! Quick!"
It was no good though; Fluttershy couldn't move under the weight of the great and powerful monster.

Blood ran down Fluttershy's face. Her blood. She was being eaten right now. Eaten by Trixie. The excruciation was impossible to ignore, and she wailed shrilly as her face became ravaged.

Thinking hard under the pressure, Twilight came up with, "... I've got it! Pull her close!"
Was she mad, or was she insane? Fluttershy had no idea, but since she was gonna die anyway, she thought "why not," and instead of pushing the cur away, she embraced it.

With Trixie's decomposing body held tightly against her own, her shields started to recharge, not that that would help with being eaten... or would it? The golden light swirled around her as usual, but unlike usual, an electronic hum emitted from her suit, growing louder and louder, until it finally ended with a subdued blast, and Fluttershy felt a shock of electricity. The monster that had once been Trixie felt a whole lot more; gold electrical bolts zapped from her misshapen form, and she spasmed like a fish out of water on the deck, howling in pain. The alarm signifying that her shields were fully dropped buzzed on in the yellow one's head.

"Shotgun, Fluttershy!" Twilight demanded, keeping her cool very well. "Any day now!"
Weakly, Fluttershy dragged herself over to where the shotgun laid, trailing blood from her face onto the floor.

When she snatched the scatter gun up with her mechanical arm, she rolled onto her back to see ex-trixie rise over her, twitching and gibbering. A second dose of buckshot tore into Trixie's abdomen, ripping it apart, but she still didn't fall. A third one did the trick, and the mutated Unicorn's head rolled leisurely into Fluttershy's lap, the rest of her body flopping limp to the floor in a pool of green blood.

Exhausted, Fluttershy didn't register the severed head on her lap, and just leaned back against the bulkhead, wheezing, coughing as Trixie's great and powerful BO intruded her muzzle.

Now that the Flood form was dead, she could finally hear the wind outside, and the other Ponies banging against the hatch in a desperate attempt to get in. Kicking away the bloody, stray soccer ball, Fluttershy strained to her hooves and wobbled on over to the hatch, spinning the wheel and pushing it open. Once it was open, and snow came filtering in, she fell back with a grunt and laid on her side.

"Great job, Fluttershy... Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy didn't answer, just closed her eyes and rested, her vision blurring. The rest of the team entered the Scorpion one by one, rushing to the weary Pony's aid.
"Fluttershy!"

*****

Fluttershy floated through a swirling red vortex, surrounded by the distorted faces of her friends. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, the real Twilight Sparkle. Even Spike the Dragon, the great and powerful Trixie, and Vinyl Scratch and Octavia were among them. They moaned eerily into her ears as she drifted by, being sucked into a black hole; a black hole that got further away the closer she got.

From that black hole, vines crept out to meet her. The multiple stems wriggled around slowly, and as one of them wrapped tightly around the puny Pony, one big one emerged from the hole, looking more like a flexing trunk than a vine. Its skin was veined, and imprints of faces were pushed up against it from inside. It even had a mouth, painted in blood and sporting huge, sharp teeth that looked to have been thumbed in at random.

Whatever this overgrown venus flytrap was, it was Flood. A gargantuan mass of Flood that Fluttershy screamed at, petrified. It stretched over to her, groaning loudly as its mouth opened wide enough to swallow a hippo. To her shock, words came out in a loud voice, low and rumbly.
This one is cowardly and weak, and will go out - not with a bang, but with a squeak.

"Aaaah!"
"Fluttershy! You're awake!" the familiar voice of Octavia sounded from Fluttershy's right. "Good."
She looked around wearily to behold the grey Earth Pony kneeling to the right of her, Blossomforth to her left, Lightning swivelling in the seat that hung from above, and Fleur de Lis peering over her shoulder in the Scorpion's driver's seat. The hatch creaked open, and Vinyl squeezed in, closing it on the gustiness after her.

"How do you feel, Fluttershy?" AI Twilight quizzed thoughtfully, accidently startling poor Fluttershy.
The Pegasus rubbed her eyes. "Uh... tired," yawn. "I just wanna go home."
"Home time will come, Fluttershy."
"Where are we?"
Octavia answered in her soft, soothing tone, "We're still in the valley."
"We took the tank. Did a number on the Covenant... and the Flood."

Getting a nose full, Fluttershy could smell the charming scent of... strawberries. It was a lovely smell, and it put a faint smile on her face. Whatever happened to the stench of the Flood? Well, Vinyl had an answer for that:
"Fleur de Lis here sprayed the tank with her air-freshener. She doesn't go anywhere without it."
The slender white Unicorn saluted and wordlessly got back to manoeuvring the tank. Its vibrating engines and rumbling treads jostled Fluttershy.

"It was also Fleur who treated you," mentioned Octavia. "She sure knows her stuff... At least we think she does; she never talks."
Still not talking, the tank driver beamed up her horn to levitate a sign over her shoulder. It was a picture of a hand giving a thumbs up.

Weakly, Fluttershy croaked, "Th-thank you, Fleur."
Upon the thank you, Fleur withdrew her funny sign.

Octavia brought a canteen to Fluttershy's dry lips, hydrating her with glorious, cold water. More gratitude from the Pegasus as the tank rolled to a stop and Fleur switched it off, walking over to Fluttershy and putting the keys in her bag.

As Fleur silently touched up Fluttershy's face, checking her, Octavia narrated, "She cleaned your wound with disinfectant and put a plaster over it. Was that the right thing?"
As Fleur nodded, Fluttershy confirmed, "Um, yes."

Fluttershy was worried. This was the second time she'd been bitten by a plague carrier. She knew that to become infected, one of the small parasites had to get inside her, but what if the virus could be spread by biting too? She didn't want to turn into one. She didn't want to suffer the pain, of have to see herself lash out at her friends. It'd be a nightmare.

After her bad dream, she was left over-heated with an aching head, and an aching tummy. What luck; she'd been cursed with these symptoms the first time she was here, and now she was re-living it, only she had the Flood to worry about now. At least she ended up getting a chance to sleep, even if it only lasted about twenty minutes; not enough to re-energise her.

Groggily, she got to her hooves and noted Lightning watching her through half-closed eyes, resting her head on her folded forelegs. She wasn't tired, she was just plain bored.

"The cave ahead is too small for the tank, and we don't have Trixie to faze us through like before," mentioned Twilight. "We're gonna have to hoof it from here... Unless Fleur and Vinyl have any spells."
The squad's two Unicorns shook their heads, Vinyl sighing, "Nah, Lightning's right; I aint as good as Trixie."
"Darn straight."
"And she's not as good as Rainbow Dash," the bazooka wielding Blossomforth chipped in.
"Yeah - hey!"

Fluttershy remembered the last time they were here, and how the un-infected Trixie had fazed the MBT through the cave with her remarkable magic. What a shame she wasn't here.

Before the Ponies disembarked from the tank, Twilight checked, "Are you ready to go?"
Swallowing, Fluttershy nodded slightly. "Mm-hm."
"Alright then. Let's get moving."

Out of the gigantic Scorpion, the herd pushed hard and strong through the harsh weather, following a crater down into a pit, where they came up to the cave. The inside of the cave was a little less wintery, with not as much snow making its way in.

The trek through the cave lasted less than a minute, and the assault force were soon back out in the snow storm.

Two dead Hunters could be seen sticking out of the snow. Fluttershy remembered them, as well as the Covenant drop ship that would be somewhere up ahead. She wondered if Hunters could get infected. They were made out of worms, so if a Hunter were to get infected, each individual worm would have to get infected too, right? Didn't matter; Grunts couldn't get infected because they were deemed too small. If Grunts were too small, then what were worms?

Pressing on through the monster of the storm, an odd shape soon faded into view. An over-turned Warthog LRV, resting on its side on the icy lagoon. Two corpses were present too; one of a healthy, rookie Elite, and one of an infected Pony. The diseased Pony was gross; its neck twisted a full one eighty so its face was constantly staring behind.

"Well, there's my car," spat Vinyl.
"Our car," Octavia reminded.

"What do you think happened here?" Blossomforth questioned, puzzled.
That was a very good question, and Fluttershy wanted an answer almost as much as she wanted to find the next pulse generator.

As was becoming a more common thing on Halo, Twilight didn't have an answer. "I don't know. This is definitely our Warthog. Maybe the Elite and the Pony formed some sorta temporary alliance, then an infection form got in, and... Or maybe the Elite was on his own, he stole the Warthog to get away from something, and was ambushed by-"
"-Give it a rest, Twilight," Lightning cut in, hovering by. "No pony cares what happened."
Raising a hoof and an eyebrow, Vinyl pondered, "You're seriously talking to Twilight like that?"
"All that matters is that we've got the Warthog, and while she's wasting time coming up with stories, she could be telling us where to go."

"... Very well," Twilight eventually grated, not happy accepting defeat by such an ignoramus. "I suppose you're right. Just one more thing I have to say."
"Ugh, what?"
"Dibs on the gun."

Having been the gunner the last time, the turquois Pegasus became confused, then annoyed. "Wha? Hey! You can't take the gun! You're an AI!"
"I know. Fluttershy's taking the gun."
"Aw come on!"
"Don't argue with me, Lightning. You and I both know you'd be better off in the air."
Lightning folded her arms and grumbled, "Yeah, I guess."

"Um, don't I get a say in this?" piped up Fluttershy, raising a hoof.
"Oh Fluttershy, I know you're not feeling well, so I got us a place on the Warthog," explained the AI. "Octavia gets the passenger seat, so it's either shoot or drive."
In the background, Vinyl declared, "Dibs on driving!"

Understanding the AI's reasoning, Fluttershy shrugged and walked through the blistering cold to approach the back of the side-ways Hog. As predicted, she saw the crashed Spirit drop ship fade into sight.

The LRV rocked as the Ponies, minus the moody Lightning, attempted to push it over onto its wheels. Even without her help, the remainder of the team were able to right the Warthog, no problem.

Now that the Hog was the right way up, Vinyl hopped in, yelping as she planted herself in a seat full of freezing snow. Octavia swept most of the fluffy whiteness out of the vehicle before lifting herself into the seat, wincing as she didn't quite clear all of it.

Once Fluttershy was standing on the gun pedestal, groaning with the pain in her gut and rubbing her throbbing head, Blossomforth and Fleur crammed into the back. Lightning was a good flyer, so whether she liked it or not, she would have to tag along side.

Vinyl had the keys to the Hog, and she fired it up, smirking awesomely at Octavia. "Aw yeah!"
Octavia just smiled and rolled her eyes.
Checking behind, the radical Unicorn asked, "You gals ready for a wild ride?"
Fluttershy began to reply, "Um, no - wahaa!"
Vinyl hit the gas.

"Ok, the next pulse generator is close," announced Twilight. "Looks like we've got a Covenant air-base to take on first, though."
Dreading it, Fluttershy gulped.
"Rodger that," Vinyl grinned, spinning the wheel to bring the Warthog around. "Y'hear that?! We got some fun coming our way! Hehe!"

Taking care, but not much care, Vinyl sped the Warthog up the winding ridge and through the narrow gorge, into the next canyon. The canyon that was dominated by a magnificent, towering, Forerunner structure. If there were any Covies, or indeed Flood waiting for them, they were impossible to see in the snow.

As the jeep made its slippery way across the frozen lake, Twilight droned, "The pulse generator is located way up high, almost level with the top of this structure. This structure is what the Covenant are using as an air-base. If we're gonna get up there, we're gonna have to take one of their Banshees."
Afraid, Fluttershy pondered, "And how do you expect me to do that?"
"The Covenant have two Banshees grounded on the valley floor. They say they're being repaired. If we can secure them, I can find out what needs to be done and I'll walk you through it."
Walk me through it? Twilight had said those words enough times to make it her catch phrase.

Advancing through the thick snow, the overloaded Warthog came up to the two idle Banshees. A mesa, some trees, rocks, Covenant crates and portable plasma shields were dotted around the area to the left of the building. Three Elites and a Grunt on a Shade turret had been assigned to guard the Banshees, and Fluttershy opened up on them as soon as they were spotted, disliking the thundering LAAG.

One of the Elites was mowed down by the Warthog, dragged under its chunky, off-road tires. Vinyl sent the Hog into a power-slide, and slammed the rear fender into one of the other Elites.

Two Elites down in an instant; one more remaining. The Grunt on the stationary gun remained as well, and he opened fire upon the Warthog. The devastating, purple plasma bolts melted the snow and corroded the Hog's green body work. It also drained away Fluttershy's shields.

Shifting her attention from the hiding Elite to the Grunt, the screeching Fluttershy tore away at the Shade, the armour-piercing slugs cutting through the shiny metal and finding the little alien behind.

Now it was time to take on the last Elite, and as Fluttershy swivelled the LAAG to deliver the stream of bullets, she witnessed Lightning zip away behind the same crate the Elite was hiding behind, performing a spectacular buck. The rookie Elite screamed with pain as he fell to the freezing snow, holding his head in agony. Hovering in the gale, Lightning fired a burst from her rifle, putting him out of his misery.

"Well done, but it's not over yet," said Twilight, raising curiosity. "The Covenant have-"
She was interrupted by a sizable, blue explosion from behind.
Sighing, she continued, "Ugh, a Wraith."
"D'oohh."
Vinyl gritted her teeth. "Oh good! For a second there, I thought it was over!"

On the way to the Wraith, which was somewhere hidden in the snow, Fleur tapped Blossomforth's shoulder and motioned her head for her to get out.
Blossomforth was unsure though, so she just sat there and asked, "Why?"
Fleur whispered in her ear, and Blossomfoth's facial expressions told a story.

In the end, Blossomforth stated, "Uh, Twilight? Is it ok if I defend Fleur while she fixes the Banshees?"
"Fleur? What would she know about-"
Twilight stopped as she detected Fleur abandoning ship and galloping away.
"What?! Fleur! Get back!" Stressing, the AI growled, "Grrr! The last thing we need is Ponies doing their own thing!"
From behind the wheel, Vinyl queried, "Should I go back for her?"
It took a while for Twilight to answer, and a plasma mortar detonated nearby, curtsey of the Wraith. "... No. Blossomforth, you catch up with Fleur. Keep her safe, got it? Lightning, you go with Blossomforth."
Without question, Blossomforth took uneasy flight, weighed down by the bazooka, Lightning streaking ahead of her.
"Let's see how this goes."

The distance between the Hog and the Wraith closed, and the lumpy looking vehicle soon emerged in the dense snowfall. Fluttershy leta rip, sending bullets pinging off the monster's thick armour.

Octavia was leaning dangerously out of the Hog, waiting for the tank's hind to come into view so she could offer it a few grenades. 

Wrestling with the wheel, Vinyl drove the car around the pivoting beast, and the wind blew it up on two wheels. Everypony screamed, but Vinyl's brilliant driving skills were able to bring it back down on all fours.

The Wraith operator was clever, and he backed the tank up to a copse of trees and rocks, stopping the Warthog crew from getting a view of his vehicle's rear.

It went on for ages; the Warthog making a run for the Wraith and subsequently retreating because the rounds from the heavy gun just weren't enough to penetrate the bulky front armour.

After a long while, the Mares in the Hog were blessed with a spot of luck.
Twilight hollered, "Banshee, incoming!" eliciting fret in the three Mares.
As Vinyl drove the Warthog back, the Covenant aircraft screeched by overhead, and "accidently" fired everything it had at the Wraith, destroying it and killing the single occupant. Vinyl cheered, pumping a hoof in the air while the other two just contemplated, confused.

"Wait," murmured Twilight, analysing. "... That Banshee... It's a friendly contact."
Fluttershy was perplexed. "Friendly? Then... who is it?"
She thought of the three Ponies who weren't currently present. Fleur, and how she never talked, like she was hiding something. The over confident Lightning, who had tried to steal a Banshee before, back on the bridges. And Blossomforth, the one she least expected.

"Bring us back to the Banshees," Twilight ordered Vinyl. As the Unicorn skidded the Hog around, Twilight got on the radio and hailed, "Twilight to Banshee. Who are you?"
... No response.
"Do you read?"
After a while, a voice returned. A voice Fluttershy had never heard before.
"Yes."
It was a Mare's voice; posh and chill. It sure as hay didn't belong to Blossomforth or Lightning. That meant...

"Fleur? Is that you?"
The responding voice sounded somewhat irritated. "Yes."
"Well... it's nice to hear you talking." Briefly coming off the radio, Twilight murmured, "For once." Back on the radio, she asked, "How do you know how to fly a Banshee?"
... There was no answer.
"Hellooo?"
"Hellooo."
"I said; how do you know how to fly a Banshee?"
... That's it; Fleur was choosing not to answer.
Twilight groaned with frustration. "That Pony's hiding something."
Sarcastically, Octavia spoke, "Oh, you think so?"

In a jiffy, the Warthog full of Mares arrived back at the two Banshees. Well, one Banshee, since the other one was in the air. Lightning's hind quarters could be seen sticking out the back of the one that was left, her tail flicking every now and then.

Blossomforth was there too, and she tapped Lightning on the back. "Uh, Lightning?"
"What?" she pulled out of the alien aircraft to follow Blossomforth's pointing hoof at the parked Warthog.
Vinyl and Octavia glared disapprovingly at her through the windscreen whilst Fluttershy just raised an eyebrow.
"Aw man! Please let me fly the Banshee!"
Fluttershy jumped down off the LAAG and waded through the snow over to the fighter craft.
"No, Lightning," Twilight denied. "You've got wings. Use them."
Muttering incoherently to herself, Lightning flapped her wings and lifted off.

"Fleur fixed the Banshees," informed Blossomforth, just as Fluttershy was about to enter the purple vehicle. "And then she just got in one and took off."
"Excellent, but how would she know what to do?"
"Me and Lightning asked her the very same thing, but she just wouldn't answer."

Twilight sighed, then ordered, "Blossomforth, if you could man the turret while we take care of the pulse generator, that'd be great."
Grinning, the pink and green haired Mare replied, "Sure thing, Twilight," and ran over to the Warthog, taking Fluttershy's place on the gun.

Sealing herself inside the Banshee, Fluttershy paid attention to her AI.
"Do you remember what to do?"
Worried, Fluttershy shook her head and babbled, "Oh, I haven't got a clue what to do."
"Understandable. I'll walk you through it." Ha, she said it again.

The pink maned Pegasus followed the AI's instructions once more, getting the Banshee into the air to join Lightning and Fleur, and two other fighters as well. Those two fighters came swooping in at high speed and unleashed their plasma cannons on the airborne trio.
"Evasive manoeuvres!" yelled Twilight. "We're in for one hay of a dog fight."

The beginner pilot did as told by Twilight, performing a variety of loops and spins to dodge the hail of plasma. The turbulence was atrocious, and she almost crashed into the side of the Forerunner tower. The g-forces weren't that helpful either; they played a game of football with her stomach, and the ill Mare felt real queasy, her cheeks bulging as she held it in.

Fleur was a phenomenal pilot, for some reason. Like a pro, she looped her Banshee around and made use of both the plasma cannons and the fuel rod cannon, rendering one enemy Banshee destroyed. The burning wreckage plummeted to the valley below.

Fleur almost crashed head on with the second one, and she hurried to bank her craft around, as did the Elite. Lightning was flying amongst the dog fight, and she withdrew a captured plasma grenade from her saddle bag and hurled it at the Banshee.
"Oh, wait!" she squeaked, reaching out as if the grenade were the one she was talking to.
All the Banshees looked the same, and she was worried she'd just stuck one of her colleagues.

In a flower of blue fire, the Banshee was defeated, and it hurtled back down to Halo in many pieces. Since the two Banshees that were still active were no longer trying to kill anything, she'd say she'd just taken out the bad guy's Banshee, and she gave herself a pat on the back.

Now it was time to move up, and together, the two Banshees and one freezing cold Pegasus soared up through the blizzard. Fluttershy and Fleur decided to leave Lightning behind; she wouldn't wait for them.
"We're almost there." The tone of Twilight's voice increased in the tension.

On the view screen, Fluttershy watched as she raced vertically up the side of the Forerunner tower; the top lost in the blizzard. Soon, it came into view, and she rocketed the Banshee straight up past an army of Covies milling about on the roof.

On the roof, a huge alien symbol glowed in the dark, like it was lit from within. The Covies were silhouetted in the storm, but their heat signatures were perfectly clear on the monitor. One of the Covies was a Zealot, and he wielded two plasma rifles at once, firing up at the stolen aircraft. Joining the Zealot, three Shade turrets sprayed the air with sizzling purple plasma, and something new began to fire up into the air.

Originating from the Grunts, ghastly green fuel rod projectiles flew through the snow, being blown off course by the gustiness. The same weapons that Banshees were equipped with. The same weapons the Hunters were equipped with. Squinting her eyes, Fluttershy saw that the Grunts were carrying some sort of bulky, shoulder held weapons, like alien rocket launchers. It was interesting, but also quite daunting.

Three parked Banshees were sat on their landing pads atop the structure, and an Elite jumped into one, setting off immediately and coming straight for Fluttershy.
"Oh why me?"
"Quickly, Fluttershy! Get him!" encouraged Twilight as the yellow one moaned.

Fluttershy banked the Banshee fighter and played a game of chicken with the Covenant pilot. Both crafts hosed each other with blue plasma, and dodged each other's FRPs. As they grew perilously close, they each pulled up from their paths and whirled around, trying to get sight of each other whilst trying to stay out of the other one's sight.

Fleur had been busy blitzing the Covenant air-base, killing the Zealot in charge and making sure the other two Banshees couldn't join the fight. Leaving the Shade turrets for later, she made a bee line for the Banshee dance party.

Lightning finally made it up to their level, and she ducked to avoid being splattered by one of the three Banshees.
"Who's who?!" she demanded to know, all the Banshees identical.

From behind the Covenant occupied Banshee, Fleur dived and scored a direct hit with the fuel rod gun, sending the enemy fighter spiralling out of control, trailing fire. It came to a spectacular crash atop the tower, squashing a fuel rod cannon wielding Grunt.

With the skies devoid of enemies, the Ponies bombed the hay out of the Covenant air-base, reducing the landing pads to mere rubble. One of the Shade turrets was knocked off the side of the tower, and the Grunt that was still alive at the controls squealed all the way down until his high-pitched tenor was lost in the storm.

Utter obliteration had befallen the Covenant this night, and Fluttershy was neither happy nor sad; just really poorly. The skin of her tortured face was stinging like mad. She wasn't gonna turn into the Flood, was she? Either way, she'd been subjected to enough g-forces to tear her face off, and as she started to gip behind the Banshee's controls, she just had to pull over and let it out.

Twilight directed her to a landing platform sticking out of the cliff, just off the Forerunner tower and its devastated roof. Her landing was rushed, and she ended up smashing the vehicle into the silver metal. About to blow, she thrust the carapace open and galloped to the edge of the platform.
"Hurrg-"

From below, Lightning whinged, "Ew, gross!" She came up to land by Fluttershy's side, not even bothering to pat her back or comfort her or anything.

Landing her Banshee more elegantly, Fleur dismounted and approached the sick Mare. She gave her a pat on the back, and even offered her a face cloth to get cleaned up with.
"Nng... Th-thank you," trembled Fluttershy, feeling empty, literally.
Silently, Fleur nodded.

"Are you ready to continue, Fluttershy?" Twilight checked.
Impatiently, Lightning pointed at the non-existent watch on her wrist.
"The pulse generator's just through this door."
Taking a swig of water from her canteen, well, Derpy's canteen, she answered feebly, "Y-yes," and forced herself to her hooves, groaning with her aching tummy.

Twilight knew she wasn't really ready, but in order to stop Halo from being fired, as well as stop the Flood from escaping it, she had to push on.
"Ok. In we go."

As the three soldiers paced through the tall door, out of the blizzard and into the corridor, Twilight interrogated, "So, Fleur, if that is your real name, what's your story?"
As per usual, the stick thin Unicorn didn't answer.
"What are you hiding?"
... Nothing in return.

"Darn it, Fleur, what's with you?!" started Lightning, getting in the tall Mare's face. "Why won't you speak?!"
Tunefully, the AI sang, "Fleur, if you don't answer me, I can have you court-martialled." That earned her a shocked look from Fleur. "Y'know, for disobeying me. I may be an AI, but I'm still superior to you."
This wound the model Mare up, and she gritted her teeth, not wanting to speak, knowing she had to. Eventually, she erupted.

"Nng! Fine! I'm talking! What do you want to know."
Fluttershy was taken aback by the silent one's outburst. So was Lightning.
"Oh my gosh, you're talking! Like... for real talking! I knew you could talk! Huh, they said I was crazy."
Fleur pointed a hoof at Lightning. "You are crazy, ok. Let's get that straight."
"Oh, surprise surprise, it's another jerk. You can't call me crazy when you never speak a single word!"
"Ugh, why do I have to talk to you?" Fleur was being rhetorical, but also quite crafty.

Cutting off the argument before it got out of hoof, Twilight asked, "So, Fleur, since you're talking now, how'd you like to share with us your secrets?"
Raising an eyebrow, Fleur pondered, "My secrets?"
"Yeah, like how you can fix and fly Banshees?"
There was a long hesitation from Fleur.

"Wait a minute," Lightning murmured, sussing things out. "... Are you a spy?"
Fleur sighed, "... Yes."
"Kill her!" thundered Lightning dramatically, bringing up her assault rifle.
Jumping between the two, Fluttershy croaked, "No!" and held out both forelegs.
"But she's a spy!" the trigger happy Lightning emphasised. "She's working for the Covenant! That's how she knows how to fly Banshees!"
"No I am not working for the Covenant!" Fleur stomped her hoof. "I am working for-"
"-PONI!" Twilight interjected.
"You got me."

Fluttershy knew about the Pony Office of Naval Intelligence all too well. They were the ones that had been in charge of the Spartan programme, and were responsible for the mistake that gave her her much detested Spartan training. What had a PONI operative been doing on the Filly of Autumn?

Asking the question that Fluttershy was thinking, Twilight enquired, "What are you doing here?"
"Research and evaluation," Fleur answered shamefully. "Just like PONI's always done."
"Well, you must be delighted to have found Halo with us."
"Yes and no. Yes; I'm delighted to have found Halo. No; I'm not delighted, I want to get off Halo right now."
Sympathising with the PONI operative, or the "spook" as Ponies called them, Fluttershy commented, "Me too."

Resurfacing, Lightning begged to know, "Ok, seriously, what the heck is PONI?"
No pony answered her, but she did get a response from the other side of the door they were approaching. 'Twas a monstrous shriek that could strike fear into even the toughest of warriors, and the Ponies' hearts sank with dread.
The Flood.

*****

Lurking in the shadows of the Honest Mistake's interior, Pinkie and some other Pony lied in wait. She and the Earth Pony Stallion had made it undetected on the ship, all their other buddies killed. If the Flood was going to spread across the universe and clear Halo's radius, they would need a ship, and this one would do nicely.

Of course two combat forms would be no match for the Covenant army, so that meant having to convert a few of the alien soldiers. Combat forms couldn't do that; only infection forms could, and that meant finding a suitable host to reproduce.

Footsteps and nattering caught their attention, and Pinkie Pie peeped through a gap in the panelling to spy two Covenant soldiers marching their way. While the monster controlling her wanted to take the ship, spread over the universe and consume everything in its path, she wanted the universe to be safe. Not even Covies deserved her fate, and especially not her friends.

"All me saying is, not all Jackals suck, but a lot of them do," came the high-pitched squeaking  of a Grunt.
Normally, Pinkie would be laughing at the ridiculous alien, but all she could do was burble.
"Ereh t'nemugra on," replied the second alien in Jackal language.

As a part of the Flood, Pinkie and all other hosts were connected by a hivemind. Jackals had been infected, so she could understand what the overgrown bird was saying, and it made her laugh. Well, she didn't really laugh. More snorted. Snorted a gruesome snort that echoed around the corridor, and emitted her own green blood from her nostrils.

Coming up short, the Grunt whispered, "You hear that?"
In an instant, the odd couple drew out their plasma pistols, backing up and scanning around.

This was a pretty secluded part of the ship, and these were the first living organisms to venture down here in ages. Pinkie, or more precisely, her monster, was damned if they were going to get away.

Taking even herself by surprise, Pinkie broke through the panelling, her partner in tow, and raced up to the Covies like a runaway train. Them Covies screeched and fired their weapons, green plasma splashing Pinkie's decaying flesh. Two plasma pistols weren't enough to bring her down however, and she and her companion took a host each, discarding their weapons, and dragging them back into the shadows, not caring whether they were dead or alive.
> Chapter 34: The Tunnels Below
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside the pulse generator chamber, the Flood and the Sentinels were battling. The little flying machines whizzed through the air, zapping the mutants with their lasers. The Flood returned fire with a variety of confiscated UPSC and Covenant weapons, scrapping the robots.

One of the monsters was kitted out with a bazooka, and it fired it straight up into the ceiling, the explosion wrapping all but one Sentinel in flames.

As the last Sentinel continued to fry the melted forms below, an ex-jackal leapt up from behind and smacked it into scrap with its tendrils.

Now that all the machines had been taken care of, it was time to move on to the next threat, which entered the room via the only door. The UPSC.

Fluttershy, Fleur de Lis and Lightning Dust fanned out, hurling grenades at the gurgling crowd and shooting them down. Fluttershy and Fleur stayed close, covering each other's backs as the monsters surrounded them.

The tiny parasites were killed upon receiving bullets, whereas the repurposed Ponies and Covies absorbed much more ammo.

Carrier forms; the inflated, plodding monstrosities, were relatively easy to detonate, and when they did, they took a few of the other forms with them. However, they did introduce new infection forms to the world, and they scampered determinedly around the silvery floor, eager to hijack the Ponies' bodies.

Lightning was zealous not to let any of the bugs take her, and she kept herself high off the ground, providing air support for the other two. Her assault rifle blared loud in the Ponies' ears as she converted the Flood to holed mush.

Fleur favoured her pistol over her sniper rifle; the 12.7x40mm rounds actually doing damage against the damn things. With her Unicorn magic, she snatched a needler out of the claws of what was once a Jackal, and used it against him. Against all of them.

The deafening clamour of Fluttershy's shotgun echoed around the infested chamber, decimating all that ran into its path. Green blood and ravaged body parts flew up into the air, raining down over everyone's heads.

The rocket launcher wielding Elite came sprinting up, thrashing his limbs manically, shrieking through his limp mandibles with enough volume to drown out the gunfire.

Discarding the needler, Fleur wrapped her faint pink magic aura around the rocket launcher and pulled, succeeding in tearing the ex-elite's stubborn arm off. Shaking the hand loose, she let the single rocket loose, and with her precise aim, she put a stop to the madness.

"Well done, everypony," applauded Twilight as Fleur threw away her empty launcher, the jarring clang startling Fluttershy. "The chamber is secure."
The trio reloaded their guns and took a few seconds to down a little water, or fizzy pop in Lightning's case. 

After a loud burp, the orange maned Mare motioned her hooves and pushed, "Go ahead; do your thing."
Fluttershy gulped and stood before the blindingly bright pulse generator, knowing her shields would drain upon entering the beam of light, paranoid of more Flood showing up. Staring at the luminosity increased her dreadful headache, so she closed her eyes and just walked straight in.

BOOMF! She backed away and looked up to behold the overflowing column of white light, hissing and quaking the deck. Just like before, her energy shields were completely drained, and the audible alarm wailed on and on in her brain.
"Yes! That's the second pulse generator down!" celebrated Twilight enthusiastically. "Keep this up, girls, you're doing great!"
To her colleagues, Fluttershy breathed, "One more to go," and the three of them set off.
However, something didn't want them to leave.

Like a downed plane, a torrent of Flood came crashing through the ceiling, sending loose scraps of metal everywhere. They howled with such intensity, it almost stopped Fluttershy's heart.
"Oh gosh! Where did they come from?!" Twilight seemed genuinely shocked. "Back away, girls!"
The Flood were literally gushing into the chamber, and the three Ponies stepped back, firing everything at them.

Even as more and more bodies came bucketing through the ceiling, the stinking zombies rose to their feet and charged at the Mares, tendrils flailing and weapons firing in every direction.

Drawing out her energy sword, Fleur sliced and diced the crimes against nature into bloody pieces, their innards spilling out all over the place in swatches of ugly green fluid.

Thankfully, Fluttershy's energy shields recharged in a spiral of gold light.

Grenades blew the Flood into oblivion, but more and more just came pouring in to take their place.

In the end, Twilight just bellowed, "There's too many! Take the chamber's border and get out of here!" and the three Mares went galloping and flying around the chamber and through the tall door, a million furious Flood forms at their backs.

With the speed of a thousand gazelles and the determination of a mouse being chased by a cat, Fluttershy, Fleur and Lightning raced through the glass-metal corridor, the thundering Flood smashing down the doors and stampeding after them. Their roars tore up past them and bounced off the sealed door ahead, providing the terrifying illusion of more Flood in front.

In quick time, Lightning reached the Forerunner door and tapped it open.
She hovered in the snowfall, beckoning for Fluttershy and Fleur to hurry up. "Come on! Come on! Hurry!" Her impatience was understandable, for once.

After Lightning, the Unicorn and the ground bound Pegasus came skidding around the corner, along with the uproar of an entire infestation. Once they were back inside their stolen Banshees, Lightning was gone, soaring down and away from her colleagues and the impending horde.

With all the experience of a Zealot, Fleur took off into the blizzard, her Banshee fading away behind the snow.

Fluttershy was a little less experienced, and her Banshee was still grounded on the platform as Twilight frantically fed her the instructions.

CRASH! The Forerunner door dented outwards, the Flood beating it open from within the corridor.
"Hurry! Hurry!" pressured Twilight.
Sweat poured down Fluttershy's throbbing head as she glanced from control to control, trying to get the aircraft online.

As soon as the Flood broke down the door, Fluttershy was airborne and whirling away, leaving the swarm behind. An infected Pony actually attempted to leap onto her fleeing Banshee, but luckily, she got away, and the equine specimen plummeted to the obscured valley floor, shrieking all the way.

Fluttershy panted heavily, wiping sweat from her feverish brow. "Phew! ... That... that was close."
"Too close. I'd've thought you'd've got the hang of flying by now."
Growing bitter, she almost told Twilight to shut up, but instead, she just muttered, "Sorry, Twilight. I've got a lot on my mind. Not all of us are naturals like Fleur."

As she took a breather behind the controls of her Banshee, she noticed another craft come swooping in, and it scared her. Twilight assured it was just Fleur, so Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief, still catching her breath.

Slowly and calmly, she sent the Banshee down the edge of the Forerunner tower, Fleur flying along side. The snow had actually thinned out, and Twilight took the opportunity to locate the Filly of Autumn.
"Ok, let's see," she mumbled to herself, scanning the digital world she lived in. "... I found it! I found the Filly of Autumn!"
Fluttershy's panting was punctuated with a long, tired yawn. "... Great... Where is it?"
"She touched down twelve hundred kilometres up spin. Energy readings show her fusion reactors are still powered up!"
Exhausted, Fluttershy didn't react. She wasn't even sure what fusion reactors were.

As the blizzard began to intensify once again, Twilight snorted, "Oh, shoot! I've lost signal! I need signal to locate Rarity!"
That woke Fluttershy up. "Rarity? But... I thought-"
"-I know, I know, there's a big chance she's... y'know. But we have to find her, or her neural interface to start the Autumn's self destruct sequence."

Unsure whether the Flood were willing to keep Rarity alive and well, Fluttershy teared up a little and pondered, "C-can't you start the self destruct sequence?"
"I'm afraid not," came the AI's sad response as the ground came up to meet them.
Fluttershy pulled up and levelled the Banshee off, gliding gracefully along side Fleur.
"AI's don't get access to star ships' self destruct sequences, as a precaution against rampancy."
"Oh, I see."

The scenery faded into existence in the snow, then faded out of existence as the Banshees drifted by. When a part of that scenery turned out to be the Warthog with Vinyl Scratch and Octavia riding up front, the aircrafts banked around and circled the vehicle like vultures.

"Octavia, do you hear me?" implored Twilight over the coms. "The second pulse generator is down. It's time to take care of the last one."
It took a while for Octavia to answer, and when she did, she sounded terribly glum. "Oh, ok... Last one..."
Fluttershy had her turn on the coms. "Um, Octavia? Is something wrong?"
"You could say that, yes."
"What is it?"
"... It's Blossomforth..."

Slowing her speed and shedding altitude, Fluttershy gave the Warthog a flyby, focusing intently on her view screen to see if she could make anything out. She noticed that the back of the Warthog was all burnt and smoking, and the turret had melted like a wax candle. There were steaming holes in the snow where sizzling fragments had come to rest, along with the hulking corpses of two Covenant Hunters.

Octavia and Vinyl could be identified in the front of the truck, and Lightning stood next to the vehicle, looking up at the passing aircraft.

A moment of silence went by before Twilight spoke, "We understand... Could you salvage anything?"
Octavia whimpered, "No. Everything's just been melted."
"Ok. Hold on to the rocket reloads; we might be able to take a launcher from the Flood later... For now, it's time to keep moving... Vinyl, you remember the way?"
The Unicorn behind the wheel replied numbly, "Uh, yeah. We uh... we go through the... cave."
"Yep... Lead the way."

Lightning hopped into the back of the burnt out Hog, riding it through the raging blizzard. She winced with the lingering heat that radiated from the twisted metal. It was a marvel how the Warthog was still operable, and Fluttershy gave good reps to the manufacturer. She also gave respects to Blossomforth.

The Spirit drop ship that had been tanked the last time they were here was laying still in the snow. Its disintegrated purple fuselages were half-masked beneath a blanket of the crunchy white stuff, looking like a real piece of art.

Materialising into view, the cave yawned before the trio of vehicles, and into its murky embrace, the team explored.

The cave was rife with Covies and Flood. The alien military stood their ground, fighting off the parasites, slowly loosing.

The Warthog LRV ran down a couple of Grunts, along with a reshaped Pony, and sped down the gloomy cavern, deeper into Halo.

Soaring overhead, the two Banshees took ground fire, but were otherwise unharmed.

On the floor ahead, two infected Elites came staggering around the corner, shrieking loud enough to mask the thrumming of the convoy's engines. They both held out bazookas with single hands, one UPSC branded, the other; Covenant. The Covenant bazooka, or the fuel rod cannon, fired in unison with the M41, up at the stolen aircraft.
The sizzling green projectile was on a collision course with Fluttershy, and Twilight yelled, "Bank left!" prompting the newbie pilot to evade it.

Hitting the ceiling, the blast sent debris tumbling down, as did the resounding second explosion from the M41.

In the Hog, Vinyl spun the wheel right, and successfully splattered both forms against the vehicle's rear fender.
"Aw yeah!" she whooped, smirking as she drove the truck up a sizable speed bump.
Riding in the burnt out back, Lightning commented, "Y'might not wanna celebrate just yet," and pointed behind at the two resurrecting Elites.
Vinyl glanced back, then forwards again, fast. "Aw, you goatta be kiddin' me!"

Before the Ponies could see whether the two diseased Covies would follow or make for the healthy Covies further up the cave, the vehicles turned left down the tunnel, which was now made out of the silver, Forerunner metal.

Journeying along the zigzagging tunnel, Vinyl got on the radio and pondered, "So what's the deal with Fleur? She talking now?"
"Only when she wants to," answered the AI, keeping the silent Unicorn's secret under wraps.
Doing the opposite of keeping the secret, Lightning blabbed, "She's working with PONI."
"Lightning!"
"What? Aw come on, what did I do?"
"That was a secret!"
"I didn't know! No pony told me to keep anything secret!"

Octavia piped up, "That was pretty thoughtless."
"Shut up, Octavia!" snarled Lightning. "You weren't even there!"
"She's right though," Twilight defended.
Taking everypony by surprise, Fluttershy stated, "She's wrong."
Collectively, the herd sounded, "Huh?"

"Lightning's right; no pony told her to keep it a secret. No pony told me either, and I would've let it slip," confessed the weary Mare as she flew her Banshee steadily behind the Warthog. Realising she was siding with Lightning against Octavia, she apologised, "Oh, sorry, Octavia."
"Oh it's fine, Fluttershy," the amputee shrugged. "Like Lightning said; I wasn't there."
"Wow," gawped the loud mouth. "I guess I'm in the right for once."

Continuing, Vinyl drove around another bend, leading the alien fighter crafts deeper into the tunnel. "Yo Fleur, you got any words to say?"
Having spoken enough, Fleur didn't respond, just steered her Banshee left and right, left and right, as if shaking her head, generating an incredible howl from its engines.
"Hehehe, thought so."

Soon, the assault force made it to the huge, four panelled blast door. Well, they weren't really an assault force anymore. There was only five of them left. Trixie, Pinkie, Caramel, Bulk, Derpy, Flitter, Blossomforth; all had bought the farm, unless Derpy was still alive somewhere. Staring at the looming door, Fluttershy gulped, getting the feeling she'd be bidding goodbye to another on the other side.

Like an expert, or more precisely, like a PONI operative, Fleur brought her Banshee to a gentle landing. She stayed inside the craft as Fluttershy smacked her Banshee into the ground just next to her, breaking something. Bringing up the rear, Vinyl, Octavia and Lightning arrived in the Warthog.

It was Fluttershy's job to open the monumental door before them, so she left her Banshee and trotted over to the controls. She came up short upon her curdling stomach growling.

Smirking, Lightning rubbed her hooves together. "Oh boy, remember last time we were here, and we totally kicked the Covenant's butts?"
"Yes," Octavia answered. "You were quite the gunner, Lightning."
"Yeah, I was, wasn't I."
Vinyl and Octavia giggled with each other.

"Too bad we don't have a gun this time," whinged the egotistical Pegasus. "Seriously, what kind of car doesn't have a massive cannon on it? "
"A regular car, maybe?" Octavia raised.
"Pffft! Regular cars are for the feeble," rasped Lightning. "Unless it's super fast. When I get back home, I reckon I'll've earned enough reward for saving the universe, and I'm gonna get me a Ponysegg PPX!"
"What on earth is a Ponysegg PPX?"
"Oh, y'know, only the fastest, slipperiest, awesome-est sports car Ponies have ever made!" she described with great passion. "And it'll all be mine. Mine!"

"Cool dream, yo," Vinyl smiled. "When I get home, I'm just gonna throw a massive party!"
Just like Pinkie would've done. All this talk of home was cheering Fluttershy up. Being reminded of lost ones cheered her down, and she still had a feeling not all of them would make it home. Including herself.

Gently, she tapped the door controls.

BOOM! Something exploded from above, and fiery shrapnel came sprinkling down. Fluttershy squeaked, eyes fixated to the door as it slowly parted. One of the four panels had been sheered loose, and it rested uselessly atop one of the other panels. The scraping noise was unbearable, and everypony blocked their ears until the doors stopped moving, leaving a teeny gap that was just big enough to allow a Flood carrier form to come waddling through.

Fleur made use of her Banshee's plasma cannons to detonate the lumpy parasite, and then mopped up all the little parasites that came slithering out of its deflated sack.

"Oh no! The doors are broken!" moaned Twilight disappointedly. "The vehicles can't fit through."
"Aw man. Well we're gonna have to hoof it," declared Vinyl, turning off the Hog's engine and jumping out.
Rushing around the front of the vehicle, she helped Octavia climb down from her high-riding seat.

Annoyed, Lightning let out a deep sigh and hovered out of the Warthog. "Ugh! This sucks so much!" She was becoming more agreeable by the minute.

The moment Fleur had exited her Banshee and her four hooves clopped on the metal floor, a crackling uproar ripped through the shaft and cascaded fear all over the five survivors. It originated from behind, where the Flood had been fighting the Covenant.
"... Speed is of the essence," Octavia shivered.

Leaving the vehicles behind, the soldiers squeezed through the gap, one by one, and emerged into the colossal cavern. It was still in a state of devastation from last time, when Trixie and her Scorpion had ultimately laid waste to the Covenant, and the Forerunner architecture. She'd completely destroyed the left bridge, leaving only one bridge to cross the infinity metre deep trench that divided the two platforms within the cavern. The perfect choke point.

Surveying the still chamber, all the squad managed to pick out was an infected Elite, sprinting straight at them with arms flailing. It snarled gruesomely as bullets and plasma bolts tore into its decaying body, not doing much to slow its advance.
"Drop you monster!" Vinyl growled through gritted teeth, firing her plasma rifle fully automatic into the ex-elite's chest.

Once the monster was within shotgun range, Fluttershy let'a rip, taking a leg off. Everypony shot it some more while it was down, making sure it wouldn't get up.

After a round of reloads, Twilight pushed, "Hurry, girls! The Covenant we passed on our way down here have all been infected, and now they're coming for us!"
"Ok, we just gotta make it through that door n' slam it shut on em," Vinyl theorised as they set off galloping, nodding her horn to the door on the far side. "It's easy."

Lightning bawled, "Double time!" and rocketed away over the bridge, the others running along beneath her. "Woah!" she yelped, screeching to a mid-air halt and flying higher. "The Flood are here!" She proceeded to spray the bridge with bullets, exterminating many parasites that wiggled out from hiding.

"D'oohh, these Flood are blocking us!" the AI moaned, impatient. "The infected Covenant will be here in no time!"

Grenades did the grand task of cleansing the bridge of pests, and once the way was clear, the group charged on to the other side, where they met a horde of combat forms.
Fluttershy screamed as Twilight pondered aloud, "Ugh, where do these Flood keep coming from?!"
Determined to get out of the tomb and evade the pursuing Flood, the equines charged head first into battle.

Setting up camp, Fluttershy took cover and waited for the plague carriers to come to her, where she'd introduce them to Dr Shotgun. The buckshots were their medicine, and they were blown apart in clouds of icky green blood and wet flesh, leaving stains on the deck.

A transformed Pony came speeding up over her metal cover and instantly threw her high into the air. Screaming, she latched to the side of the bridge, her body dangling over the chasm that faded into blackness. The infected Pony dragged itself over to her, snorting and groaning, its muzzle painted with blue Grunt blood.

Under the force of Vinyl and Octavia's plasma rifle and assault rifle, the thing that was once a Pony was floored, and Lightning came swooping down to shove Fluttershy back onto the bridge.
"Oh, thanks guys," expressed Fluttershy, grateful.
Lightning had blasted off before the yellow one spoke, and was hard at work taking it to the Flood, as were Scratch n' Tavi.

Remaining behind her cover, Fluttershy reloaded her shotgun and continued her strategy, hoping nothing like that would ever happen again.

Back at the broken door, Flood forms began squeezing their way in, scraping off armour and skin. They howled and gibbered, adding to the ruckus that thundered away on the other side of the cavern.
"They're here!" alarmed Twilight. "We can't break through this ambush; we're gonna have to fight them too!"

Glancing back, Fluttershy witnessed the mass of infected Covenant worm through the gap and come stampeding their way. They were well and truly flanked.

Vinyl and Octavia stood back to back, firing into each half of the Flood army.
"S-stay with me, Vinyl," warbled the Earth Pony, voice punctuated by assault rifle fire.
"I aint going nowheres, Octy."

Fleur crouched next to the two buddies, firing her pistol one way, reloading, spinning and firing it the other way. She used her magic to levitate her energy sword around her, stabbing and slicing the infected soldiers.

Zooming around on her formidable wings, Lightning opted to take care of the pursuing Flood at their source, and flew away from the others to hover above the gap in the door. As soon as the follow-ups emerged, she shot them down, then shot them down again as they rose back up.
"You want some more of this?! Huh?! Do ya?!"
Bababababang!

Grenades served her well here, and she used up two of the little things, then found that she'd run out. Continuing to hole the contaminated soldiers with bullets, she soon ended up running out of MA5B ammo too. She was empty.

One of the Flood forms that entered the fray was the infected Elite that had been armed with a fuel rod cannon, and Lightning decided it would be a good idea to follow through with what she knew was a bad idea.

Like a bullet, she shot down to the thing that used to be an Elite, and snatched the fuel rod gun out of its twisted hand. The Elite jumped for her, and managed to get a hold of her orange tail.
"Hey! Get off me!" she snarled aggressively, flaring her nostrils. She kicked the poorly alien a million times over with both back hooves. "Get off me!"
One final buck sent the melted action figure spinning down the chasm with a clump of tail hair, its monstrous roar echoing around the chamber.

With that dealt with, and a new toy to play with, Lightning flew up out of reach, discarding her assault rifle, and attempted to get the hang of the Covenant fuel rod gun. She had no idea how much ammo the thing was storing, so she limited her use of it.

Vinyl fired her plasma rifle until it was dry and unusable. Tossing the weapon away, she used her magic to pry a plasma pistol from the clutches of what was once an Elite, and used the weapon against it. Holes were burned into its fetid skin as it advanced. The combat form didn't register the pain - the Elite within did, and he cried in agony as his stolen body was forced ever closer to the blue maned Unicorn.

Eventually, he dropped, and Vinyl could focus on an ex-pony that hopped in to take his place. When the abominated equine was deceased, she restarted work on the Elite that had risen back up.

"Waaah!" Octavia screeched from behind, stealing the Unicorn's attention.
"Octy?!" she called, refusing to let the shambling split-jaw live.
Once he was dead again, she spun to face an empty space where Octavia had been standing.
Dread consumed her, and she glanced around in overwhelming worry. "Octavia?! Octavia?! Where are you?!"
"I'm over here!" the Earth Pony's voice grated from over the side of the bridge.

Before Vinyl could run to the rescue, an infected Jackal landed in her path, and she didn't hesitate to smash it aside with her bare hooves, staining her white coat with gross green blood. The big stinking bird was still alive, but she decided to let it fall victim to Fleur and Fluttershy as she rushed to Octavia's aid.

"Heeeelp!" Octavia cried, her hooves hanging on for dear life.
Her mouth was set and she scrambled around, eager to haul herself back up.
As Vinyl arrived, she reassured, "I'm here, Octy!" and held onto her hooves.

Somewhere below the dangling Octavia, a long wire of green skin stained in red blood came slithering up the grey Mare's neck, through her mane, and met Vinyl. Looking down, Vinyl could see an infected Jackal latched onto Octavia's single hind leg. It shrieked and bellowed, clawing its way up Octavia like she were a rope.

Octavia was terrified. "Help me, Vinyl!"
Vinyl never let go, and she pointed her plasma pistol down at the snapping beast. "I've got ya, Octavia! Hold on!"

It was at that moment the Jackal decided to chew on Octavia's back, and the grey Mare screamed in immense pain, her flesh being ripped from her bone. Fresh red blood poured from the shrieking Octavia like a waterfall, smothering the ex-jackal's beak, and more of the stuff came spitting out her chops.
"Octaviaaa!" wailed Vinyl, firing her pistol at the hateful creature that nibbled away at her friend.

The combat form took plasma bolts to the head, and reacted by extending its thin tendril and whipping Vinyl's face, giving her a bleeding scar.
"Oh, you-" the rest of Vinyl's sentence was reduced to incoherence as emotion took over.
Eventually, the beast was killed, and it slipped off of Octavia with a final gip and spew, disappearing into the abyss.

Blood continued to spill from Octavia's back, her skin getting pale and her eyes closing.
"Vinyl," she murmured, barely audible.
"Hold on, Octavia."
"I'm done, Vinyl..."
"What? No!" refused Vinyl with determination, putting all her strength into hauling Octy back up.

"This aint over, Octavia!" She took a second to boot an infection form away. "You're getting outa this alive!"
With a drooling of blood, Octavia denied, "N-no, I'm... not..." Loosing energy, she whispered, "... Goodbye."
And that was it. That was the moment Octavia shut herself down, and she slid gracefully out of Vinyl's grasp, drifting silently away into the yawning darkness.

Vinyl watched as her best friend in the whole universe faded out of existence, tears building up under her shimmering cerise eyes. She froze, jaw slightly dropped, ears folded down.
Solemnly, she mouthed the name, "Octavia," and a tear cut a crack through the blood and grime on her face.

Fleur regrouped with Fluttershy, refusing to give up on the gibbering disgraces. The energy sword under her control swept through the gangrenous bodies like butter, slicing them into uneven halves... or thirds.
Over loud speaker, Twilight shouted, "You planning on leaving at any point?!"
Fluttershy squealed and pulverised an ex-pony with her shotgun. "Easier said than done!" she quivered.

Green explosions rattled the bridge, Lightning making use of her fuel rod gun, for about three shots.
"Oh, darn it!" she spat, annoyed, throwing the weapon down hard enough to trigger a carrier form's detonation.

Like a hawk, she swooped low and lifted an infected Jackal off the ground. The ill alien was armed with an MA5B assault rifle, and Lightning instantly yanked it free, letting the Jackal fall to his death. With the UPSC ordinance fitted to her mechanical arm, with who knows how many bullets left in it, she soared over the pungent Flood and took pot shots at them.

"GRRWWRROOOUGH!" roared a beastie, leaping up impossibly high and smacking Lightning in the foreleg.
"Youch!" she yelped, wincing with pain.
She fought her way through it and kept herself airborne, not realising the protruding bone and leaking blood on her right limb.

The culprit had once been a stealth Elite, and as the half-armoured monster proceeded to push through Fleur's and Fluttershy's hail of bullets and shells, he was caught off guard by the Pony that came charging into him from his left.

Vinyl returned, and she shook the impaled flesh from her horn, snarling with untamed fury and punching the ex-elite to death.
"Come on!" she roared, tears and blood streaking her face. Spinning to fire her plasma pistol at another threat, she proceeded, "You want more?!" She floored an ex-jackal. "You want some of this?! Come oo-aho-aho-ahoon!" She was crossed between rage and sorrow as she sobbed and screamed, taking the fight to the Flood.

"Where's Octavia?!" Fluttershy fretted, not seeing her anywhere.
Twilight bared the news. "She's gone, Fluttershy!"
"Oohh, oh nooo!" She wept, being interrupted by the AI:
"If we don't get out of here, she won't be the only one!"

"Vinyl, be careful!" warned Twilight the wise. "Don't get too close to them!"
Vinyl was in a blind frenzy, and she literally pounced into the shrieking mass, tackling them hoof to tentacle, letting her plasma pistol have a say every now and then.

There was a hiss as her overheated pistol vented steam, and she ducked in time to survive the blast of a sick, shotgun wielding Elite. She clenched her teeth around the barrel of the weapon and yanked it off, replacing her plasma pistol, and delivered one mighty buckshot to turn the nightmare into nothing more than a pile of mush with limbs and bones sticking out.

Fighting on, Fluttershy and Fleur stood back to back, fending off the horde. Fleur's sword came gliding back, and the slender Mare shook the scraps of carrion from its prongs.

There was a click as Fluttershy ran out of shells, and she frantically reloaded, feeding shell after shell into the shotgun's chamber. It took an eternity, and she had to stop half way to take care of a nasty carrier form. Once it was fully loaded, she got back to work, fear stricken on her face.

Lightning ran out of MA5B ammo in no time, so she proceeded to do her trick of snatching a gun from the infected.

An Elite came hopping along on one leg, and she noticed a needler wrapped in its fingers. Magazine fed weapons would run out quickly; she didn't have time to scavenge for extra mags. However, she also didn't have time to be picky, so she swooped down and stole the needler in quick succession, wincing with the stubborn pain in her foreleg. With the needler, she fired short, conservative bursts at the horrors. Hopefully she'd find a plasma weapon soon.

In the centre of the horde, Vinyl danced around, bucking the Flood, punching the Flood, shooting the Flood.
"No, you're not gonna take me, hehehe! You're not gonna take me!"
One wrapped its arm around her neck, and she even resorted to biting it. She ripped the limb off with her teeth and spat it out onto the floor. Couldn't have tasted very nice.

A ragged ghoul with an M6D magnum dragged a leg across the bloodied floor. Without really aiming, it pointed the gun in Vinyl's general direction and fired.
"Aarrg!" she whinnied as the bullet found her foreleg.
Lodged in her body, the tip of the bullet protruded through her skin on the other side of her leg.

Fluttershy wailed, "Vinyl!" and galloped over to the Mare's aid.
Vinyl grunted in discomfort, pawing the bullet in her leg. As the Flood kept coming, she decided to copy them, pretending there was no pain, there was no bullet, and she brought herself around to smack the head off of a quadruped combat form.

Fluttershy arrived at Vinyl, and proceeded to fire away at the impending army of freaks. Fleur came reversing up with her, firing back at all sorts of shrieking monstrosities.

"Ugh!" came a loud, agonised grunt from Vinyl.
Fluttershy spun to see a sizzling black hole corrode the Mare's armour and flesh, burning away at the exposed muscle structure of her side. The Unicorn dropped and panted, loosing energy, eyes half closed.
"Vinyl! Get up!" pleaded Fluttershy, desperate not to loose anypony else.

The plasma rifle wielding creature that had been responsible transformed into a pink, sparkly porcupine as Lightning sent a barrage of needles into its hunched shape. It had enough time to let out one last shriek before going up in a powerful, pink explosion.

Its plasma rifle went hurtling through the air, and Lightning caught it with her bad foreleg.
"Ow!" she grunted, dropping it.
She quickly dove to collect it with her good foreleg and swap it with her needler.

Boom! Click-clack. Boom! Fluttershy blasted a distorted Elite into scraggy scraps with two shotgun shells.
Beside the fallen Unicorn, she begged, "Oh, Vinyl, please get up!"
Vinyl winced and strained to her hooves, and immediately continued her rampage against the Flood. 'Twas a miracle. The blue haired Unicorn's shotgun reverberated with Fluttershy's around the cavern, tearing the Flood apart.

Buckshot after buckshot laid siege to the Flood, and after an eternity, and a life time of ammunition, their numbers started to decrease. There was still plenty of the darn things to go around though, and amongst them, an Elite and a Pony staggered side by side, united by the Flood.

Getting a real bird's-eye-view, Lightning saw the rocket launcher the ex-pony was carrying, and a mischievous smirk touched her lips.
"Nice," she whispered to herself, diving to obtain the weapon that her orange eyes were glued to.
Her right foreleg had gone limp and it flapped around in the turbulence, making the Pegasus' eyes water.

Next to that bazooka wielding ex-pony, the needler wielding ex-elite went stomping off towards the other three, absorbing everything that got thrown at it, firing needles in all directions.

Things kept getting worse for Vinyl as one of those stray needles found her chest, and she neighed out loud over the bedlam.
As the soldier fell, Fluttershy lunged for her. "Vinyl!"
Still alive, Vinyl growled with vengeance, wrapping her blue magic aura around the crystal shard. But she was weak, and her magic started to die.

Taking it upon herself, Fluttershy grasped the long, pink crystal in two hooves and yanked it free, throwing it away before the small yet deadly explosion could do any harm.

"Stay with us, Vinyl!" Twilight offered. "Let's do Octavia proud!"
Fluttershy announced, "We're almost out of here!"
Vinyl was too busy heaving to answer.

"Fluttershy, watch out!"
The yellow Mare rotated to see the needler wielding Elite leap high into the air. She pulled the trigger of her shotgun, and the corpse came landing right on top of her, knocking her down.

The Elite wasn't dead though, and he jumped back up to his feet, lashing Fleur de Lis across the face. The hushed PONI operative let out a moan as she gained a horrific scar across her pretty face, blood dribbling out of it. Whip-lash had taken its toll too, but she was in too much peril to stew over her aching neck.

Fleur reared up and pushed the monster away, Fluttershy pulling on it, closing her eyes at the sight and stench. Once the beast was clear, and posted on the yellow one, Fleur levitated her energy sword and pierced it. A swish of the blade, and the Flood infected Elite was history.

Panting, Fluttershy checked herself, and quickly got back to taking on the Flood at the front. The Flood at the back were still a problem too, and since Fleur's attention had been diverted, a pool of parasites had flowed in close.

Disgusted at the snot-bags, Fleur swept her energy sword through them like a broom. She even used her bare hooves, splattering green blood all over the place. There soon became too much to handle though, and a couple of them stuck themselves to her and stabbed her with their spiked tendrils, making her screech. As fast as possible, she pulled the bugs off and flung them out, clenching her bleeding chest.

The Flood had been decreasing, but from behind, they seemed to be increasing.

Not talking was Fleur's thing, but as the ocean of disease began to overwhelm her, she leaned into Fluttershy and uttered, "We need to escape."

Like a titan, Vinyl forced herself up off the ground, drooling blood, some of it hers, some of it the Flood's. How much torture could one Mare take?
"Come on, Vinyl!" hollered the shy, taking the abused Pony's hoof.

Just then, Vinyl bent, clutching her gut, making gipping noises as if she were going to puke. "Hurgh! ... Hurgh! ... Hurgh-aaaaah! Aaaaah!"
"Fluttershy! Let her go!" demanded Twilight.
For the first time ever, Fluttershy found herself outraged at Twilight. "What?! I'm not letting her go!"
Sick, Vinyl vomited all over the deck. In the vomit, big clots of blood stood out like slugs on a pizza.
"Hurgh! ... Hurgh-uuu-WWRRAAAAAAAGH!"

Dumbstruck, Fluttershy stammered, "W-wha...?! H-how can...?"
An infection form must have snuck by in the chaos. A million more of the things were rolling over, and they washed over Vinyl, hiding her gruesome transformation.

Sounding desperate, Twilight grated, "Get out of here, Fluttershy!"
The yellow Mare backed up, and was spun around by Fleur. The two of them galloped away onto the platform, trampling dozens of vile corpses.

The massive blast doors that lead out of the chamber were up ahead, closed. Fluttershy and Fleur rushed to get to the door, cursing the other, broken door for making them ditch their vehicles. The swarm gave chase.

One of the dead Flood forms got up with a roar and galloped at the Ponies, only to be side-swiped out of existence by Lightning Dust.
"Oh no you don't!"

As Lightning continued to beat away at the wailing repulsion with her three intact legs, Fluttershy placed her hooves over the Forerunner door controls, scanning the light display, sweat beading her head.

Thanks to Twilight's guidance, she was able to open the giant door. With the wide open exit beckoning, she and Fleur ran through.

The yellow Pegasus rushed up to the controls in the vast passage on the other side, ready to hit the switch.
"Wait! Lightning's still in the chamber!" Twilight broadcasted, stopping Fluttershy.
Fleur stood in the doorway and resorted to emitting her seldom voice once more. "Lightning! Get over here!"

Lightning was busy pummelling something that used to be a Pony, and she flicked her head around when hearing the PONI operative. Seeing the gaping exit from the underground nightmare, the turquoise Pegasus shot off towards it, an infinite supply of Flood in her wake leading all the way back to the other, broken door. One of those Flood forms leapt up, showing off its neon blue mane and tail.

Before Lightning even made it through the door, Fluttershy hit the activation switch, and the four panels began to close. The gap shrank to a mere few inches wide, and Lightning scraped her wings upon zooming through. She crashed hard into the cold, engraved road. The sound of her impact and yelp was drowned out by the doors slamming shut, and the rampant thrashing of an entire Flood army.
"It's locked," stated the AI with a gloomy tone. "Well done..."

Not a "yay" nor a "woo" came from any of the soldiers' mouths. They were all too tired, too hurt, too demoralised to respond at all.

As the Flood continued to howl and rage behind the sealed door, Twilight suggested emptily, "We should take a break somewhere more peaceful."
"Peaceful?" panted Lightning. "Where, on this ring, is peaceful? What even is peace?!" She squinted with agony. "Ow, my leg."
In answer to the injured Pegasus, Twilight uttered, "There are a few little pockets. There's one at this tunnel's entrance - not far."

Valiantly, Fleur marched away with a stern expression, forcing the other two to follow. Fluttershy was whimpering, and as she glanced at Lightning, she realised she wasn't the only one.
> Chapter 35: Final Run
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the Honest Mistake, hell was just starting to break loose. The bodies of the Grunt and the Jackal had been enough to mould into biomass that grew up the walls of the corridor. The growth rooted into the ship's mechanics behind the panelling, cutting off something vital. As a result, she was rendered inoperable, but was still within repair, should the Covenant be foolish enough to keep the Flood hive thriving.

The biomass had been spawning waves of infection forms, and the slimy little parasites had claimed more than a hundred souls. With the Flood's numbers increasing by the second, even more Flood began homing in on the ship from all around Halo.

A Covenant Seraph fighter shot up to the Mistake like a bullet. Also like a bullet, the advanced air and space craft punctured the Mistake's belly, creating a gaping hole in the deck of a hangar. The remains of the tiny craft sprinkled down to the desert plateau like snowflakes. It had deposited four combat forms, a carrier form and a swarm of infection forms into the superstructure, and the crew worked hard to flush them out, to no avail.

Another hull breach was made on top of the war machine. The Mistake was really taking a battering. A Spirit drop ship plunged vertically through the vessel's roof, setting off hot blue fireworks. Out of the troop carrier, Flood made their entrance, slashing through Covies and shooting them with stolen weaponry. Working together like some form of civilisation, the infected Covies and Ponies squeezed something large and bulbous out of the Spirit. Whatever it was, it whimpered, but the whimper wasn't warped. It was female. It was weak. And it was clean.

*****

In the hangar that had just been impaled by a Flood controlled Seraph, the Zealot in charge barked orders. He had been just about to set off on a separate mission, and now, as the loathsome parasite continued to board the fleet's new flagship, it wasn't going to change. 

Reports from Covenant stationed around the holy ring's control room pointed that the UPSC were still in the fight, and were vandalising Halo. The nerve! Specifically, they were rupturing the ring's pulse generators, taking away Halo's ability to fire and cleanse the galaxy of the parasite that invaded his ship. Why? Because they were non-believers. They didn't want Halo to be fired. Temporarily disrupting the pulse generators wouldn't be enough to stop Halo from firing forever. The only way to do that would be to destroy it.

Shivering as hatred crept into his veins, the Zealot ran along the balcony towards his awaiting Spirit. If the nasty little animals were going to destroy the precious relic, they would likely do it with a bang. A very big bang. The kind of bang a starship made when its fusion reactors went haywire. Of course they wouldn't use the Truth and Reconciliation; they would need that to escape, and that left only one option: The big ugly tub they'd used to get here.

Covenant were already stationed there to prevent the UPSC from returning, and there had been word of minor Flood encounters. And Sentinel encounters. The holy warriors of the sacred rings turning hostile towards the Covenant was heart-breaking. Still, they hadn't taken sides, so the Zealot just thought they weren't trusting anyone. Covenant patrols there would have to be beefed up if they were going to take on all three factions at once.

Entering the Spirit, the Grunts got twitchy, yelling at the pilot to set off. A battle started in the hangar, and the sounds of shrieking Flood and dying Covenant were loud enough to rattle the walls.

Falling in line with a team of rookie, veteran and stealth Elites, the Zealot glanced over his shoulder to behold a group of Flood give chase. A stealth Elite at the back of the line was wrapped up in tendrils, and the pink Pony possessing those tendrils rode him like a bucking bronco, chewing through his armour and flesh. An infected Jackal joined the Pony in ending the soldier, leaving him to be claimed by the parasites.

Hopping inside the drop ship, the Zealot bellowed an order, and the pilots closed the door and backed the vehicle out of the Honest Mistake.

As the flying lunchbox pulled away, Pinkie and her cronies drew closer, closer, and pounced.

*****

Silence filled the gloomy tunnel. Silence that was broken by Lightning Dust's wailing. She, Fluttershy and Fleur de Lis, the last three survivors, huddled around the next door. The door that would lead outside into the treacherous blizzard.

The scars on Fleur's face and chest were easily treatable. Luckily, the infection forms hadn't gotten in deep, so Fluttershy just cleaned the wounds thoroughly with disinfectant and slapped plasters over them.

Lightning was in a much worse condition though. Her right foreleg had been broken, and a sharp shard of bone protruded through her ripped skin.

The wounded Pegasus had been ignoring the pain in order to fight, but now that the fight was over, all that pain came crashing down on her like a tidal wave, and she moaned in agony. Not at all like the tough and cocky Lightning Dust they all knew and "loved."

The wound was gopping to look at, and Fluttershy squinted squeamishly as she examined the extent of the damage.
"C-c-can you h-help me, Fluttershy?" Lightning squeaked, her fiery orange eyes watering.
Fluttershy and Fleur knelt to each side of the laying Mare, worried expressions on their faces.
"Well... I'll try," Fluttershy said, not sounding too confident.

With her med-kit out and set, Fluttershy washed the area surrounding Lightning's injury, then called on Fleur to help her in repositioning the bone back where it belonged.

Biting down on the arm of her own soldier saddle, Lightning shrieked in torture. The strong muscles in her foreleg fought to keep the bone where it was, and it took a lot of effort, not to mention a hell of a lot of screaming, to put it back.

Wheezing, the normally aggressive Pegasus actually started to cry. She wasn't sad, she was just in so much discomfort, and it had become too much for her to bare.

The bone may have been pushed back in place, but it was still loose and open, and as Fluttershy applied the bio-foam and got her bandages ready, she wondered where on Halo they could find a splint. They'd have to fashion one out of wood from the trees outside, where three big, evil factions were settling their differences.

"Ok, um, we need a splint to support the leg," she pitched, finishing off her bandage wrapping. "If we can go outside, take some sticks from the trees, we should be able to make one."
Lightning started to protest. "I don't need a splint."
"You do, Lightning," argued AI Twilight. "I know what you're thinking; that you can just hover off the ground, but you can't keep off the ground forever."
"I can keep off the ground long enough."
"It's going to be a very long while before we catch a break. I doubt you can."
"You saying I'm weak?"
"No, not at all, Lightning. We're just watching out for you."
"Yeah right, why would you watch out for me?"
Fluttershy answered her. "Because you're a part of this team. We need you."

Lightning's frown increased. "Y'know, when I first got here, I dropped our Warthog, crashed our Pelican, treated you and all my other teammates like dirt... I bullied Trixie into crying, and she died before we could even make amends... I don't deserve to be here. If I were you, I'd just leave me behind."

Back when they were fighting to the control centre, Fluttershy had discovered a depressed part of Trixie she hadn't expected, and now it seemed to be Lightning's turn.

She was about to say something to lift the glum Pegasus' spirits, when Fleur butt in and spoke bitterly, "Good thing we're not you." She looked down her muzzle at the lowly Lightning, then moved on to the door controls, her clopping hooves echoing around the tunnel.
Shamefully, Lightning hung her head and let out a long breath.

The sniper rifle was still on Fleur's back, but because they had been fighting the Flood, she hadn't expended much ammo. She still had her magnum and energy sword too.

Lightning had stolen a rocket launcher from the Flood, but not a lot of ammunition had survived up to now. And since she had been sufficiently weakened, Twilight opted for her to trade with Fleur. Wordlessly, Fleur magiced her pistol and ammo over to Lightning, giving them to her like spare change to a tramp, and Lightning, in turn, hoofed the launcher to Fleur. Now Fleur had two power weapons, yet her enthusiasm never shone through.

After drinking plenty of water, and lamenting over the loss of Vinyl Scratch and Octavia, the last Mares standing were ready to force themselves to be ready. Fluttershy's headache was persisting, but not as much as her tummy ache, and her stomach growled as she rose.

With whatever knowledge she'd gained as a PONI spook, Fleur pressed the appropriate button on the translucent controls, and the doors emitted a loud clank! They scraped open, and as the cold air drifted in, the Mares drifted out. For good measure, Fluttershy closed the door, and as one, they ran and fluttered up through the snow and into the open outdoors.

Lightning may have injured her leg, but her wings were still functional, and they carried her through the snowfall like machines being operated from elsewhere. She hung from her feathered protrusions, not looking very confident, for once.

The tunnel had spat them out into a trench with an ascending gradient, and as the Ponies charged up and out of it, the snow became worse. However, it seemed to have thinned out a little, and visibility was pretty decent. Decent enough for the team to see the battle taking place atop a hill up ahead.

Epic battle. The Covenant had returned, much to Fleur's delight, and she instantly halted to bring up her sniper rifle.

The Covenant were fighting the Flood of course, and the damn monsters came surging up like a tide around the hill on which the Covenant stood. The rainbow armoured warriors fired their alien weapons down at the surrounding crowd. Green and blue plasma and pink needles lit up the dullness, along with plasma grenades, fuel rod projectiles, and the purple plasma from a couple of Shade turrets.

Milling around amongst the Flood, a Grunt piloted a Ghost here and there, shooting the curs down, running them over, squealing dramatically at them.

Just like that, he was silenced by a lethal round from Fleur's sniper rifle, and his Ghost dropped to the ground and slid through the snow, coming to an elegant standstill.

That Ghost wasn't the only vehicle; the Covenant had a Banshee up their sleeves, and it looped around through the air, diving and performing spectacular air-strikes on the Flood.

"Hide in the trees," requested Twilight, referring to the miniature forest to the Ponies' right.
Trees; just what they needed to fabricate a splint. Fluttershy and Lightning made their way to the trees, Fleur taking a moment to take the hat off an Elite.

*****

So a Ghost pilot and a rookie Elite had just gone down, and the Zealot in charge was most befuddled. He wanted to investigate, but the Flood wouldn't let him. They surrounded his troops on the hill and plucked them away. A Shade was devoured by parasites, a Jackal became infected, and an Elite was shot dead by a monster with a UPSC assault rifle.

The Zealot stood on the apex of the hill, sword in one hand, plasma rifle in other, and denied the attacks of any monster that came too close.

Firing on and on, his plasma rifle took a break to vent some excess heat, giving the Flood time to regroup. A whole swarm came running up, battering a few Grunts out of the way, and the Zealot backpedalled, knowing he couldn't take them all on. Thankfully, the Banshee was at his aid, and it blasted all but three combat forms out of existence with a fuel rod projectile. Swiftly, the Zealot sliced one form, booted another, bonked the third one with his rifle. Simultaneously, he stabbed and shot the remainders to death.

More kept coming though; they were originating from a cave, and one of them was able to wound the last Shade operator with a bolt of green plasma. As the Grunt fell to the snow squealing, hands clutching his chest, the second Ghost RAV moved in, strafing the Flood with super heated plasma.

The Grunt pilot was given the shock of his life when a redesigned Pony pounced on top of him and growled. Its head split vertically; the two halves acting as jaws lined with nasty little teeth. A single bite took the little alien's head clean off, and a fountain of blue blood left a trail as the Ghost lost control, and it came to a jarring stop.

Moving on, the equine nightmare galloped towards the Zealot, but was ripped apart by a barrage of needles a surviving Jackal sent after it. All of a sudden, that Jackal was caught in the head by a fatal sniper round.

Noticing someone was sniping the ground troops, the Banshee pilot decided to take care of the problem. Based on the direction the soldiers flew when they were sniped, the culprit was hiding in the trees somewhere.

Getting over the trees, he gained altitude, corrected his angle as the cursed wind blew him off course, and scanned the area on his view screen. Sure enough, three healthy Ponies could be spotted, one of them gazing up at him, backing away. Of the other two, one was treating a wound on the other one's leg, and they glanced up to see his Banshee circling them.

Another thing he spotted, was a Flood carrier form waddling up to them, and he laughed as it scared the living daylights out of the yellow one. Just as the yellow one burst the sack and swept up the parasites, he pitched his Banshee down and dropped an FRP on their hapless heads.

Quickly, the Ponies evaded the explosion, and he grumbled angrily to himself for missing. As the trees grew closer, he had to pull up and give the Flood some attention before they swamped his brethren, leaving the cursed sniper alive and free to wreak havoc. And havoc is exactly what she wrought.

With soldiers dwindling and the Flood massing, the Zealot became afraid, and he had just ordered a retreat when a discarding sabot slug claimed his life. His body tumbled, being swarmed upon by hungry infection forms, his soldiers fleeing the field of battle, the Flood stalking them.

Also on the run, the Banshee swooped and fired, taking a chunk out of the tailing horde. However, the pilot didn't realise the infected veteran Elite jump up and hang on to his vehicle, and he unknowingly took the beasty with him into the next valley.

*****

"Like my new look?" smirked Lightning, fighting the pain, strutting through the snow, her right foreleg being kept straight by the splint of branches and string she now wore.
Fluttershy giggled contritely, pleased to see Lightning getting back into the groove, surprised to see herself pleased to see Lightning at all.
"You look very formidable, Lightning," Twilight replied cheerfully.
"What do you think, Fleur?" continued Lightning as she took to her wings. "Am I worthy of your old magazines?"
Fleur simply shook her head and walked on.
"What do you mean no?! I'm more deserving of fame than you! I've got words to say."

Fleur had sniped a Grunt out of his Ghost earlier, and standing atop the battle scarred hill, Fluttershy noticed a second hover vehicle, laying abandoned in the snow with a blooming great mess splashed around it.

Suddenly, Twilight announced, "Ghosts. Perfect. We can use these to reach the Banshees we need to get up there."
"Um, up where?" pondered Fluttershy, gazing around.
Twilight couldn't point at the moment, so she directed, "Look up," and Fluttershy looked to behold a landing platform attached to the side of the cliff. "That's where the last pulse generator is."
The last? She'd lost count.

It was hard to believe how far they'd come, and Fluttershy yawned wearily. After this mission, she would be tasked with finding Captain Rarity, even if she had been infected, and that wasn't something to look forward to.

However, going home was something to look forward to, so she put on her determined face and plonked herself in a Ghost. The Grunt gore that was left in the seat squelched under her armoured hind quarters, making it extremely uncomfortable, both physically and mentally.

Fleur had taken the other, cleaner Ghost, and they regrouped atop the hill. Parts of golden Zealot armour and a plasma rifle laid there, standing out in the snow, and a trail of green and purple blood lead away towards the next canyon.

Hovering and showing a face that expressed agony, Lightning asked, "Uh, so we're following them?"
Twilight told it straight. "We have to."
"Ugh, why is there always bad guys where ever we go?"
Fluttershy was taken aback. "I thought you liked fighting the bad guys."
"Yeah but," she paused to do something Fluttershy had been doing since the start of the mission, and let out a mighty yawn. "I'm getting tired."

Hot dang. If the gobby, energetic Lightning Dust was reaching her limits, Fluttershy must've exceeded hers long ago. Fleur was showing no signs of fatigue though, minus the faint bags under her eyes. She'd expected less from an ex-model.

Into the next canyon, the survivors continued, the two Ghosts' engines whirring ghostly like... ghosts. Fluttershy remembered the last time she was here, when she had met up with Trixie and her tyrannical tank. Oh how she wished she had both of those right now.

At the back of the canyon, the crashed Pelican was still present, turned to white with glittery frost. Lightning had been responsible for it crashing, and Fluttershy only just remembered that the Pegasus above her was a pilot. Pilots had a habbit of not surviving plane crashes, never mind surviving up to now.

Coming to a steady stop, Fleur looked up and smiled patronizingly at Lightning. Her purple eyes alternated between her and the Pelican wreck.
Getting at what Fleur was getting at, Lightning yelled, "Hey, knock it off!"
Softly, Fleur chuckled and spoke, "Sorry."

The gentle humming of the Ghost's engines was shattered by a gunshot. Darting their heads around, the trio tried to locate the source. Nothing could be found though.

Bang! It sounded off again, echoing through the valley and making Fluttershy's heart skip a beat. Again and again, the UPSC weapon fired, and an Elite cried with it.
"Over there," Lightning pointed, shielding her face from the blizzard.
Following Lightning's hoof, Fluttershy and Fleur squinted, observing an injured rookie Elite slumped against the cliff, surrounded by Flood and Covenant corpses. He used the pistol to kill a diseased Jackal, then took pot shots at a bunch of infectors. Unfortunately, he ran out of ammo, and the parasites overwhelmed him. When the snot-bags moved aside, something that wasn't an Elite rose to its feet, scooped up a needler that had been dropped by one of his fellows, and ran away.

Without a word, Fleur marched off to the side towards the mouth of a cave.
"Fleur?" puzzled Fluttershy, unnerved by that infected Elite that was still on the loose. "Where are you going?"
Once at the cave, the slender Unicorn kicked the frost off of a case of rockets that had been left abandoned there. More rocket cases and ammunition for other UPSC weapons were scattered around too, shrowded in fluffy white snow.

"Aw sweet!" Lightning smirked, lightly touching her broken leg. "How'd you find those? PONI secret?"
All Fleur did was gaze up, and as the Pegasi followed her gaze, they noticed the big red "X" scrawled over the cave's entrance with dried Pony blood.

"Oh my," quivered Fluttershy, not a fan of blood.
Not bothered, Lightning snorted, "X marks the spot, huh."
"I suppose we have your missing reinforcements to thank for this," the AI rang as the soldiers ventured inside, looting as much ammo they could hold like pirates.
"I suppose our missing reinforcements lost their minds-"
"-Waa!" Fluttershy yelped, coming across an equine corpse.
The others gathered round.

It wasn't contaminated, but it wasn't pretty either. It was a grey Unicorn Stallion, his grey coat making his red blood stand out more. He'd taken two bullets to the head, and the devastating damage of needler rounds left messy holes in his flesh, revealing bones and organs.

Turning away, Fluttershy whimpered, noticing the massive pools of blood deeper in the shadows of the cave, and an odd bump where a mutated corpse laid.
She spun and walked away. "Can we please leave this place?"
With a nod, Fleur gathered up as much sniper ammo she could carry and distributed the rockets evenly amongst them. Lightning and Fluttershy filled their saddle bags with pistol and assault rifle ammo, and now that they were armed to the teeth, Fleur and Fluttershy hopped back onto their Ghosts and drove away, Lightning flying over them.

"Your reinforcements left us quite the booty," commented Twilight. "I thank them."
"Me too."

The Ghosts strained as they were manoeuvred up a step of rock and through a narrow passage, into the next valley... and boy were the Ponies in for a show.

The Flood were there, willing to squander countless bodies, but the Covenant had a lot more at their disposal. The usual Covenant foot soldiers took up defensive positions amongst the rocks, trees and portable shields at the very back of the valley. They were hard to make out; too far away, too blocked by the Flood and the snow, but two of them were very bulky, and they emitted luminous green fuel rod projectiles. Hunters.

Hunters weren't the only thing the Flood had to put up with: Two Shade turrets spewed purple plasma all over the nightmares, melting the snow, but they weren't the Covenant's biggest presence either. What the Covies were using to completely dominate the Flood hovered at either side of their platoon, hurling massive orbs of blue plasma over the tentacle crowd. Wraiths. Two of them.

It was pretty obvious who was gonna win this time, but Twilight still stated it.
She then stated something that got the Mares' minds in a fuzz. "We have to fight this time."
"What?" gasped Fluttershy.
Lightning threw her good hoof up. "Have you seen what the Covenant are packing? We'll never beat them!"
"And neither will the Flood!"

The two Ghosts parked atop a sloped mesa where the survivors had the best view of the glorious battle.
They dismounted the vehicles and stared on as Twilight continued, "The Banshees we need to reach the last pulse generator are behind the Covenant."
Fleur peered through her sniper's scope, spying two Banshee fighters parked, or more precisely, dumped in the snow.
"If we're gonna have a shot at getting through them, we're gonna have to team up with the Flood."
"Listen, smarty pants, I don't know if you've noticed, but the Flood don't really take sides."

Fluttershy didn't appreciate Lightning calling her friend "smarty pants," but the AI in question didn't seem to take it to heart as she said, "I know. We'll have to be careful." Then came the time to dish out the orders. 

"Fluttershy, trade your rifle with Fleur's rocket launcher. We're on tank duty."
Dumbfounded, the young Mare stuttered, "W-w-wha... Bu... h... Why am I on tank duty?"
"Because Fleur's the sniper and Lightning's in no state to use a rocket launcher!"
As proof, Fleur got to work with her lethal S2 AM, its shots piercing the wind.

As opposition, Lightning declared, "I am in a state to use the rocket launcher! Come on, Fluttershy, give it to me."
Fluttershy almost did just that, but Twilight forbid it. "No, Fluttershy. The launcher is yours."
Not wanting the loud, heavy weapon, Fluttershy stammered, "B-but... Lightning says-"
"-Doesn't matter what Lightning says; she's wrong."
"Gosh darn it, I'm not wrong!"

-Crack! Fleur took care of another Covie, and she levitated her bazooka in wait for Fluttershy. The yellow Mare groaned and reluctantly accepted the weapon, giving Fleur her MA5B and ammo. Not taking her eyes off the sights, Fleur magiced the ordinance into her bag.
"Well, you know what your doing," Twilight diminished, pleased.

"Well, I guess I'll just fly around and use this stupid pistol," grumbled Lightning, eying her M6D like it was a little toy.
Fluttershy responded, "Y'know, one of those "stupid pistols" saved my life once."
"Only once?"

With each Pony given a specific task, Twilight ordered Fluttershy to hop back aboard her Ghost and drive on over to a much larger mesa, to the right of the valley.
"Good luck, Fleur," the pink maned Mare bid before speeding off, as if she was the one who needed it most.
With a sigh and an incoherent mumble, Lightning shot away into the snowfall.
Now that no pony was present, Fleur muttered out the side of her mouth, "Good luck yourself."
> Chapter 36: Winter Wrap Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy journeyed behind a tall mesa and dismounted her Ghost.
"Ok... this is a good position," Twilight enunciated.

She remembered the first time she'd arrived in this valley with Pinkie Pie and Derpy, and how there had been a Shade turret stationed atop this particular mesa. She also remembered hearing Lightning Dust's voice for the first time as she soared her Pelican over the bridge above, and meeting Vinyl Scratch with her overturned Warthog. Flipping the Warthog over to take on a Wraith tank.

Taking on a Wraith was exactly what Fluttershy was doing right now, only she didn't have a Warthog at her aid, and as for teammates, well, they were all busy doing their own thing.

From her position behind the frosty rock, Fluttershy spied the first of two Wraiths, pivoting to launch plasma mortar at the attacking Flood. Those plague carriers could be heard clearly in the valley, shrieking and roaring and returning fire with stolen weapons.

Fluttershy had never fired a rocket launcher outside of her accidental Spartan training, and the pressure was overwhelming. So was her fatigue.

Shuddering under the weight of the anti-vehicle weapon, and in the freezing cold, she kept the aiming reticule pinned to the purple alien tank, and as soon as Twilight yelled, "Fire!" she let a rocket go streaking out towards the side of the vehicle.

BOOM! Direct hit, but the tank was not destroyed. One side of the vehicle had become immobilized and sunken into the snow. The other half was still hovering off the ground, and the tank was still able to pivot to face her.
"Aaaah!" Fluttershy screamed, galloping away as a blue ball of hissing plasma came arcing after her.
It detonated against the rock with a bone-rattling explosion, shaking snow from the high cliffs.

"Yoohoo!" sang a recognisable voice from somewhere in the sky. "Over here!"
"Lightning's got their attention!" exclaimed Twilight, full of competitive joy. "Take another shot!"
"Oohh," Fluttershy moaned, the ache in her gut intensifying.

She had five rockets left with her, and two more back with Fleur de Lis. One of the rockets was already in one of the bazooka's two tubes, and as she repositioned her crosshairs on the alien tank, she emptied the weapon.

The tank had its entire hind presented as it attempted to take down Lightning, who could be seen whizzing around in the air like an orange and turquoise wasp, killing Grunts with her pistol. The rocket hit the floor just under the Wraith's rear, and the explosion was enough to destroy it.
Fluttershy actually ended up smiling at the win, and she cheered, "Yay," with all the volume of a mouse.
Twilight was a little more enthusiastic. "Woohoo! Great shot, Fluttershy!"

The celebrations were short lived however as almost every single Covie rotated to put fire on her.
"Uh oh!" Twilight chortled like a mischievous school girl, Fluttershy on the run. "We got their attention!"
Fluttershy didn't find it funny at all.
"Get back on the Ghost! Now it's time to take out the second Wraith."
"Oh goody," Fluttershy said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
Once properly seated in the little purple Ghost, she summoned its alien engine and zoomed back the way she came.

*****

Meanwhile, in Fleur's world, all was relaxed as she laid on her belly... and sniped the hell out of every Covenant scoundrel that had the misfortune to stand in her crosshairs. Blood and limbs went flying off the armoured aliens, splashing the pristine white snow.

As for the Flood; they couldn't care less if her sniper slugs were passing through their spongy bodies. They were too busy fightning the Covenant, and simply didn't have time to fall at her hooves.

She had taken out the two Shade operators, but Grunts and Elites kept coming to take their places. Still, they didn't move around as much on the stationary tripods, so that made them easier to assassinate.

After four lethal rounds had been ejected from the S2 AM's elongated barrel, she had to reload, but before she did, she caught sight of a Flood infected Elite beating away at thin air. The weirdest thing about that was that the air actually bled purple blood, and the stuff splattered all over the sick Covie.

Multiple flashes of blue plasma and pink needles came materialising out of nowhere, and the combat form was dropped. Then a row of chunky, two toed boot prints imprinted the snow, marching straight up to Fleur's position. Stealth Elites. The Covenant must have had enough with her, and the officer in command had sent a stealth squad to eliminate her. She couldn't blame them; she was a pretty hard-core sniper, and a faint smirk touched her lips.

With practised ease, she reloaded the sniper in under five seconds, and peered through the sights once again, trying to relocate the approaching footprints. She noticed the snow splashing up from the ground where the invisible warriors were running, and she aimed roughly seven or eight feet up from them.

Crack! She took the first shot, and hit the first invisible Elite, taking his head clean off in a fountain of purple blood. His headless body faded into existence as his life faded out, and he collapsed to the snow.

She had never sniped a stealth Elite before, and it was a true test of her abilities. With every kill, a drop more elation filled her spirit, and her faint smile soon grew into a huge grin. She was having fun.

Taking aim just above the last set of footprints, she witnessed Fluttershy's Ghost whiz by and splatter the invisible Elite all over its hood. She heard a startled squeal from Fluttershy echo all around the canyon, and she had to stifle her giggles.

Soon, she didn't have to stifle her giggles, because she saw the Flood infected Elite become re-infected by a lone parasite, and the resurrected corpse came flailing in the direction of the stealth Elites. In the direction of her.

Knowing her sniper rifle would be useless on the beast, she unlimbered the MA5B Fluttershy gave her, and waited for it to come within range.

*****

Things weren't going so well for the Covenant. The Flood were the biggest problem, but now they had a team of Ponies prodding them in the side. Come to think of it, the Ponies were using their brains, rather than their numbers, and had successfully defeated one of their Wraiths. They were the biggest threat now.

"Hey! Look at me!" one of them shouted, flying over their heads and shooting the Grunts and Jackals dead.
The Zealot in charge knew it was just a ruse for their cursed sniper, and he ordered the Hunters not to turn around.

However, since the Hunters were keeping their backs hidden from the sniper's view, that left them exposed to the distracting winged Pony, and she discharged rounds from her pistol into one of their flanks.

The Hunter in trouble reared and howled, spinning to protect his bleeding behind, and then a sniper round put him down.

"Wraaargh!" the Zealot thundered with fury, thrashing out his energy sword.
The blade would be useless unless his targets were within stabbing range, so he marched up to one of his Jackals and yanked a needler out of his claws. Scooping up some needler ammo from a dead combat form, he rushed off to the side of the valley where the towering mesa offered him plenty cover, and called back over his shoulder. The remaining Hunter nodded and refused to turn his back to the sniper. As for the annoying little Pegasus, a team of Grunts and Jackals came to defend the last Hunter's rear, letting loose their array. Yelping, the Pony shot off, being chased by many pretty colours.

*****

Taking cover behind a large boulder topped with snow, Fluttershy crouched and reloaded her bazooka. Discarding the empty rocket case, she was left with four rockets; two in the launcher and two in the other case.

She poked her head out from behind the boulder, using her left hoof to support her mechanical arm in holding the weapon. She had a good view of the second tank, and the Covenant foot soldiers that defended the thing with their lives, but then something else entered the shot.

A Jackal went surging up to the Wraith, dragging a fuel rod gun through the snow. His head hung down his back and his eyes hung out his sockets. As he and his fellow freakazoids absorbed the blow of a dozen Covenant weapons, he pounced high into the air, firing FRP after FRP at the lumpy purple tank.

After being shot to death by the Covenant ground troops, his mutated carcass found its landing spot, right in the Wraith's main gun. The troops yelled and waved their arms at the Wraith, shouting for it not to fire, but it was too late. The operator pushed the pedal, and the top of the Wraith bloomed open like a spring flower. Blue flames wavered around in the breeze, burning away at the purple metal.

Puzzled, the spying Fluttershy brought up a hoof to shield herself from the heat, hesitant to pull the trigger. "... Oh, good, it's down. One less job for me, hm-hm."
"Think again, Fluttershy," pronounced the AI. "It's still operable."
"Huh?"

Fluttershy didn't need to look down her scope; she just needed to wake up more. The Wraith MBT was indeed still on the move, with massive blue fire reaching high into the air. The secondary gunner had been pulverised, but a rookie Elite came jumping up to take the dead Grunt's place, firing down into a swarm of Flood. Once he was seated, the driver did the only thing he could do, and used the burning hover tank as a battering ram.

A Jackal was submerged in a sea of the ruptured beings, but luckily for him, he didn't have to suffer the fate as the Wraith surged into the gathering at full velocity, completely massacring everything in its path, including a tall tree that toppled over under the Wraith's power. It shook the snowy ground as it came crashing down, crushing three hapless combat forms. One of their arms twitched under the tonne of lumber, still alive.

Taking careful aim, Fluttershy kept the reticule locked to the Wraith, and let a rocket fly. But the Wraith moved out of shot, and her rocket flashed past every single Covie and Flood, only to detonate harmlessly against the mesa at the opposite side of the canyon.
"Oops."
Unbeknownst to her, she'd almost hit the Zealot, and the gold armoured Elite shielded himself from tumbling debris.

As she turned to take up a new position on the other side of the boulder, Twilight alarmed, "Enemy contacts, in the corridor behind us! There's a lot of them, so you know what that means!"
Giving the Wraith a break, Fluttershy spun back around to point the launcher at the high Forerunner door in the cliff to the left. 'Twas the door she'd exited to gain access to the valley the first time she was here.

Too dumb to use the controls, the obvious hostiles pounded at the metal door, denting it outwards and cracking it, revealing their hideous tentacles.
"As soon as that door opens; let em have it!"

A piercing crash marked the door's destruction, and sure enough, the Flood came out to play, and were immediately under fire from the Covenant. Fluttershy's rocket put all the plasma guns and needlers to shame however, as she succeeded in eliminating over a third of the gibbering horde.

But that was the last rocket in the chamber, and she relied on the Covenant to divert the Flood's attention as she reloaded.
"Hurry, hurry!" Twilight strained, not helping her nerves.
She sweated as she dithered about ejecting the spent tubes and adding the new ones. The last ones. Not unless you counted the ones Fleur was keeping back at her sniper nest.

With two fresh rockets in the tubes just raring to be fired, Fluttershy pointed the bulky weapon at the pouring Flood and blew them all into scraps. Scraps that came raining down over her head and wetting her pink mane with horrible green blood.

As she swished her scruffy hair in an attempt to shake the pieces of rotten flesh out, Twilight spoke, "That's that taken care of, but now the Covenant have our location! Fall back!"
Panting, the yellow Mare dashed back to her stolen vehicle, powered it up, and abandoned the boulder, just as a Jackal announced his presence and needler rounds smashed into the back of her shielded head, making her grunt each time.

Out in the open on her teeny Ghost, Fluttershy had many problems to deal with. She was in the thick of the Flood, and they came leaping up to crush her, firing Covenant and UPSC weapons in her general direction. Two infected Ponies launched themselves up and bumped into each other mid leap. Together, they fell back down to Halo, and were splattered to death by the rogue Wraith.

"Aaaaah!" Fluttershy screamed, speeding through the snow, the Wraith right on her tail.
"Don't worry about the main gun!" shouted Twilight over the clamour. "Just don't let it run you over!"

The Ghost was faster than the Wraith, and Fluttershy was able to get clear of the flaming titan easily enough. However, when the secondary gunner opened up with the plasma cannon, things became a little complicated.

She screamed as her Ghost was hit by the plasma bolts, and her shields began to flare as well.
"Evasive manoeuvres! Evasive manoeuvres!" urged Twilight, making the frightened Mare zigzag the Ghost left to right, left to right, slowing it, letting the Wraith catch up.

Up ahead, the mesa came up fast, and Fluttershy performed whatever the equivalent of a power-slide is for a hovercraft. Hitting the pedal, she was able to squeeze out from between the rock and the Wraith before being converted to a sparkly purple and yellow pancake. She almost ran down the gold armoured Elite that'd strayed away from his army, and instead ended up making his life easier by running down a Flood infected Pony.

The pursuing Wraith crabbed sideways whilst rotating after the Ghost, allowing it to stay in the chase. The Flood came racing up to latch on to the tank, and the secondary gunner lived a nightmare as he was forced to murder what had been his own brethren.

Using the plasma cannon one handed, the rookie Elite used his other hand to grasp the invaders' appendages and hurl them off the tank. This was helped by the driver suddenly hitting the brakes, and most of the malformations went tumbling to the snow. Before they could rise and make a second run on the tank, he hit the gas, and ran them all over. Any Flood that were left on the burning vehicle were tossed overboard by the secondary gunner.

Fluttershy had gotten away, and was safe for now. She parked up by Fleur, who was still humiliating the Covenant in front of the Flood.
Panting, she reloaded the rocket launcher and asked, "How's it going, Fleur?"
The stick thin Unicorn didn't answer; hard at work. Her sniper's reports echoed all around the canyon, ringing in their ears.

Wordlessly, Fleur used her magic to give Fluttershy the last case of rockets, making her have four rockets in total.
"Thanks, Fleur," she gratified before hopping back onto her Ghost.
As she drove away, Twilight hollered, "Keep it up, Fleur, you're doing terrific!"

The AI's praise didn't register much with Fleur; she just kept her head down and did her thing. One thing that did register with her though, was the deep grumble that came from somewhere behind her. As soon as she glanced back, the golden Zealot lashed out at her with his energy sword.

*****

As for Fluttershy, she was back in the thick of the Flood, that just seemed to spawn in the crevices of the cliffs and rush into the middle of the valley.

The Wraith was still her top priority, and as it hurtled by in front of her in a burst of speed, making road kill out of a couple of combat forms, Twilight broadcasted, "We won't get a chance to take position and destroy the Wraith. If we're gonna take it down, we're gonna have to fire a rocket while we're on the move."
The idea didn't sit well with Fluttershy. "Um, Twilight? You're not going rampant, are you?"
"No, Fluttershy, I'm not going rampant. This is a good idea."
A good idea? Really?

Fluttershy wasn't sure if she could pull off what Twilight was getting at, but then the AI said, "Pinkie Pie did it," and made Fluttershy think for a sec.
The late pink Earth Pony was notorious for breaking physics, but some of the stuff she did was actually doable. Was firing a rocket launcher whilst driving a Ghost doable? There was only one way to find out.

The Wraith MBT spun on its axis, the blue firenado swirling around on top. A Flood form jumped up on the tank, but only succeeded in burning itself to death within the mobile inferno. Facing Fluttershy's Ghost, the Wraith boosted, and the secondary gunner sprayed her with plasma once more.

Dodging, Fluttershy steered, and the whole vehicle leaned into the turn, her hock brushing through the snow. Fear became pasted to her face as she was back playing cat and mouse with the all-marauding Wraith.

Twilight jumped at the opportunity that Fluttershy didn't even know was there. "Now's our chance! Aim back and take it out!"
Not sure if now really was their chance, the young Pegasus twisted her torso as much as she could without hurting herself, putting extra strain on her aching stomach, and drove the Ghost one hoofed, with her head turned away. Could things get anymore dangerous?

Of course they could, according to the Flood. One of their Jackal forms came to a landing on the Ghost's hood, shrieking a shriek that no Jackal could make.
"Quick, Fluttershy! T-" the rest of Twilight's words were drowned out by Fluttershy's panic fire.
She set a rocket loose, and it streaked back on a column of smoke, straight past the lumbering Wraith.

The driver of the tank took the hint, and veered off course to tackle the Flood. He'd be back.

Facing forwards, Fluttershy was face to face with the rude hitchhiker, and she screeched at the sight of him. His lower jaw was no longer existent, and the front of his throat and torso had dissolved due to excessive puking, revealing his set of ruptured organs and the parasite nestled within, its tentacles stretching out around his body.

There was no way she was going to use the rocket launcher on a target this close. Clueless as of what to do, she let go of the Ghost's controls completely and thrashed her hooves around, closing her eyes, screaming, praying to knock the Jackal off.

Swooping down from the heavens, Lightning swiped the poorly Covie off the speeding Ghost. "Gochya!"
"Huh?" Fluttershy opened her eyes, confused as to where the ex-jackal had gone.

"Fluttershy! Watch out for that tree!" squealed Twilight frightfully, and Fluttershy's vision blurred in and out of focus on a tree that seemed to be getting closer.
She yelped, "Wah!" and wrapped her hooves around the controls, putting all her strength into hitting the brakes and steering.
Crash! She failed of course.

Smashing head on into the tree, Fluttershy was flung off the Ghost and up against the brown bark, splintering it. Her head became lodged within the wood, and it took a lot of effort to pull herself free. Once her head was out of the trunk, she dropped down onto her dented Ghost. Her shields had been fully depleted, and now she had to wait for them to reach fully charged.

"You ok there, Fluttershy?" checked Twilight, worried.
Shaking the stars free from her mind, the young Mare replied, "Uuhh... I... I think so. Ow!" A delayed twinge made her bring a hoof to her head.
"Good... The Flood are on their way."

Problems, problems, problems. Was there ever not a problem? However, the AI was right, and a whole bunch of the evils came staggering through the snow, raging and twitching.

Not enough time to switch weapons, Fluttershy made use of the last rocket in the launcher and got back on her Ghost without spectating the results.

Her rocket did wipe out a few of them, but there was still much more that came hooting over. Now, it was just a race between them and Fluttershy being able to get the Ghost started. With every turn of the switch, the Flood grew closer, until they were right at her back.

Thanks to whoever was watching over her, the Pegasus was able to get the Ghost RAV up and running, and she spun to mow the lawn with the Flood, heading back to Fleur's position so she could reload. In a flurry of gold light, her shields recharged.
"That was close."
"Can we please not do that again?" whimpered Fluttershy.
"Not unless we have to, and we do have to."
Fluttershy was disconsolate, and she wept a little on her way back to Fleur.

Once she got there, she found that a pitched, one on one death match was underway between Fleur and a Zealot Elite. The Unicorn magiced her sword around in the air, trying to get a stab on the alien, but he was too skilled, and just blocked every attempt she made. Her sniper rifle had been smacked to the ground, so there was no way she could cheat.

"What in the world!"
Twilight didn't have to say anything else for Fluttershy to boost the Ghost right at the Elite. She tensed, bracing for impact, bracing for the guilt of murder she would feel.

Hearing the approaching RAV, the Zealot ducked and side stepped, avoiding both the Ghost and a swing from Fleur's sword.
He even had the cheek to boot Fluttershy out of the Ghost, and she went tumbling to the snow with an "Ouch!"
She landed beside a needler that lay abandoned in the snow, and her shields beeped in warning. That had been one powerful kick!

Continuing the sword fight, the two combatants snarled, trying to kill each other, unwilling to let themselves get killed.

To the second rescue attempt, Fluttershy brought up the shotgun, and pranced over Fleur's parked Ghost to get into position. Boom! She fired. She missed! The Elite had smacked her shotgun aside, and he now held the yellow Pony against his armoured chest with his left arm.

After bonking her on the head with his fist, draining her shields, he moved his sword into position by Fluttershy's throat, threatening to cut her. An evil grin touched his four mandibles, and his teeny sharp teeth were on show for all to see.

Fleur stopped herself before the Zealot and his hostage.
"Kalkeh he'amun ul muno," she demanded in Elite language, stomping her hoof.
The Elite replied back in the same old gibberish, Fluttershy not understanding a word of it.
Terrified, she started, "Um... T-t-twilight? C-c-can you - aah!" the Elite moved his energy blade closer to her skin, and she could feel the heat singing the yellow coat on her neck.
"I can't EMP him; our shields are fully down!"
Twilight sure knew how to read minds.

*****

So, Lightning Dust had just bucked the hell out of an infected Elite, when she turned to check on Fleur. She saw her, along with the Zealot and Fluttershy in his embrace, and grew an uncontrollable urge to crash the party. She heard a slithering sound, and looked down to behold a couple of infection forms crawling out of reach. They gave her an idea.

*****

Back on the mesa, Fleur and the Elite continued to exchange weird alien words. The Unicorn was trying hard, bargaining for Fluttershy's life. She would've learnt how to speak Elite with PONI. Lucky Mare.

"Come on, shields, recharge already," strained Twilight, gagging to unleash an EMP that'd throw the Elite off.

Just then, Lightning sounded her dramatic entrance. "Hey, split-lip!"
The Elite looked up. "Huh?"
Clutched by the tentacles in Lightning's hooves, a Flood infection form struggled for release, being tortured by the amount of food that stood before it.
"Eat this!" She let the parasite drop, and it wrapped its tendrils around the Elite's shiny golden helmet.

Panicking, the fearless Zealot of the Covenant threw away his pink maned doll, just as her shields started to recharge. He swung his sword over his head in an attempt the kill the parasite, but he was miles off. The thing scuttled around his body, and he whimpered affrightedly as he flailed around, trying to remove it.

Since he was distracted, Fleur seized the opportunity to stab him in the gut, and the alien biped howled in agony, falling to the floor. He wasn't howling over the stab wound though. He was howling over the nasty little bug that shot a tendril down his oesophagus and wormed its way through his mouth and inside of him. He choked on the little monster, gipping, unable to puke, until it all came spewing out in commingled purple lumps.

His throaty Elite cry morphed into a horrific Flood shriek, and he sobbed away helplessly as his body became redesigned. His durable gold armour cracked and flew apart to make way for new body parts that the Flood felt he needed.

"Kill him!" cried Twilight urgently.
Fleur raised her sword, but then Lightning stopped her and said, "No! Let him suffer."
"Are you insane?! Kill him now, before his transformation is complete!"
That was enough to motivate Fleur into slicing the mutating pile of flesh, organs and alien armour into two bloody pieces.

Once her messy work was done, Fleur put away her sword, retrieved her sniper rifle, and gave Lightning the evils. "Let him suffer? Are you kidding me?"
"Hey, he was a Covie, alright!" Lightning motioned her braced hoof and winced with the pain. "Seeing Covies suffer makes me all warm n' fuzzy inside."
"What's wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me?" Lightning repeated, getting in the thin one's face. "I lost half my family to the Covenant, and you think there's something wrong with me for wanting to see them suffer?!"
"I lost family too, but you don't see me toiling with the parasite." Fleur gave the Flood corpse a kick. "Do you have any idea how dangerous these things are?"

Nervously, Fluttershy gratified, "Um, thank you for saving me."
"Does it matter?! We saved Fluttershy!"
"You told me to wait. If I'd've waited any longer, that thing could've killed all three of us, then there'd be no pony left to stop Halo, the Flood."

Fluttershy awkwardly turned away from the row, and saw the burning Covenant Wraith heading straight for them.
She gasped as Twilight articulated, "Uh, guys? Y'might wanna move out of the way."
"Pffft! That thing wouldn't have killed all three of us!"
"You are a fool."

The Wraith tank grew closer and closer to the snowy mesa, on a collision course with the three Mares.
At the top of her artificial lungs, Twilight cried, "Everypony diiive!" thus catching the attention of the arguing duo.

Noticing the boosting Wraith, Lightning and Fleur joined Fluttershy in leaping epically to each side. The heavily armoured behemoth blasted by, exploding the two Ghosts on impact. The top half of the infected Zealot had just risen, three gross wires sprouting from its sheered torso. It became vaporised in a cloud of its own green and purple blood as the burning tank rocketed off the top of the mesa and nose dived into the ground with a jarring crash.

It performed half a front flip before coming to a rest on its roof, crushing the secondary gunner. As for the driver, he punched his way through the hatch and fell to the snow, dragging himself free of the wreckage. He moaned on and on in his language, miserable, trailing blood, holding a hand out.

As the Ponies regrouped atop the mesa, Lightning brought up her pistol, but then Twilight stopped her.
"Let him be."
Glowers from Fluttershy and Fleur made the turquoise Pegasus obey, and she lowered the pistol.
"You wanna see Covenant suffer? There you go."
Watching the miserable Elite sob away was quite depressing, and Lightning said, "Yeah, I don't really wanna watch this."
Fleur turned her head to look at Lightning. "Why not?"
Before the Pegasus could answer, Fluttershy announced, "I'm glad you said that. We're running out of..." yawn, "... Time."

Putting all that bickering behind them, the three musketeers trudged slowly away, leaving the Wraith driver crying to death.

During the walk  to the pile of rocks at the back of the valley where the Banshees had been very sloppily landed, Fluttershy reloaded the bazooka. Two rockets left.

The last batch of Flood came running up. One rocket left.

A lone Hunter was the only Covie to still be alive, and he guarded the Banshees. No rockets left.

Well, that was the end of the rocket launcher, and like a fallen soldier, Fluttershy bid it farewell and left it in the snow.

"One of these Banshees was in an adjacent canyon," Twilight lectured. "A Flood got on board, the pilot lost control, and he crashed into the other Banshee just as it was taking off."
"And they're both still intact?"
"Yep. You'd be surprised at how durable the Covenant's toy box is."
With the encounter with the burning Wraith fresh in her memory, Fluttershy spoke, "Maybe not that surprised."

At once, Fluttershy and Fleur climbed into their chosen aircraft and joined Lightning in the sky. After a calm flight through the snowy canyons, they came up to the landing platform that marked the last pulse generator. The end of the mission.
> Chapter 37: Under New Management
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Drawing nearer to the platform, the three heros came under attack from a rather unexpected enemy. The Sentinels. Fluttershy and her teammates had been battling Flood and Covenant for so long, they'd almost forgotten about them. To say they were Halo's security guards, they weren't getting too involved in the conflict. Maybe they had something bigger to deal with, like bringing Halo's pulse generators back online, or getting the Flood back in containment, if that was even possible.

The pesky machines were no match for the two Banshee fighters, and Fleur de Lis and Fluttershy destroyed them all in quick succession.

Now that the landing zone was clear, they touched down and dismounted. Lightning Dust refused to let her hooves touch the ground; her fractured foreleg twinging.

"I still can't believe the ordeal we've been through," spoke Fluttershy, her mane blowing in the wind.
"I know," AI Twilight agreed with a gleeful tone. "That final battle was pretty epic."
"Too epic for my liking."
"Epic is good," cheered Lightning, hooves spread. "Epic - we can brag about - make us look like heroes."
"We are heroes."
"We might be heroes. It all depends on if we get this done."
"We will get it done. We came this far."
"So how much further?"
"Well, I still haven't got a lock on Rarity yet. Once I find her, we'll be straight to her, straight to the Autumn..." She took a soulful pause. "... Straight home."

After drinking some water, or fizzy pop in Lightning's case, the three musketeers were ready to proceed through the tall Forerunner door and along the metal-glass corridor, into the final pulse generator chamber.

"I'm detecting movement inside the chamber," announced Twilight, bringing the soldiers up short in front of the next door.
They couldn't hear a thing on the other side, suggesting they were either up against Covenant or Sentinels.

After a round of nods, Fluttershy opened the door and each Pony entered the room. It turned out to be the airborne mechanisms, and as they instantly traded fire with each other, the Ponies made a discovery.

"They have energy shields?" pondered Twilight out loud as the staccato rip of gunfire thundered around the chamber.
The Sentinels did indeed have energy shields, just like Elites. Just like Fluttershy. They flared pale blue upon receiving bullets, protecting the robots.

This made the annoying machines even more annoying, but Twilight seemed overjoyed at the Sentinels' new additions.
"Oh my gosh. This is perfect! Girls; I want you to keep one of these Sentinels intact!"
"But why?" questioned Fluttershy, taking cover from the hissing orange beams.
"Oh I have my reasons."
Lightning got irritated. "Y'think maybe you can tell us em?"
"I'll tell you later."
Flying off, Lightning fired her pistol and grumbled to herself, "Man, I hate it when she's cryptic like that."

Unsure why Twilight wanted a Sentinel, or how they were even going to capture one, Fluttershy shrugged and chose one from the hovering crowd, and proceeded to not fire at it.

Her shotgun was terrible at such range, but it did inflict damage on the machines. Fleur was using the assault rifle she'd given her, firing bursts like an expert, and bringing down one Sentinel after another.

Lightning only used her pistol if she had to, and focused more on capturing one of the Forerunner devices. She clutched one in all four hooves, wincing with the pain in her broken foreleg, and put full power into her wings to pull the machine down to the ground.
"I've got one! I've got one!" she yelled with accomplishment like she'd just caught her first fish.
It wasn't the one Fluttershy had been saving, but it was as good as any, so the yellow Mare turned and sent long distance buckshots out to the no longer lucky Sentinel.

"Will this do?" strained Lightning, fighting the Sentinel's resistance.
Fleur sent the last Sentinel plummeting to the ground in hot blue flames.
"That's perfect. Well done, Lightning."

As Fluttershy reloaded her shotgun, Twilight ordered, "Now's the time, Fluttershy. Take care of the last pulse generator. Lightning, Fleur, keep that Sentinel restrained; we're going to need it."

Lightning and Fleur shared puzzled glances as Fluttershy stepped up to the blinding pillar of light. Like she had done it twice before, she strode into the pulse generator, and immediately reversed out as Twilight used her energy shields to deliver the EMP, rupturing the light and quaking the deck.

"Final target neutralised. I'm so proud of you, Fluttershy. Proud of all of you."
Fluttershy grinned sheepishly as she joined the other two, three if you count the struggling Sentinel. Thinking of those that had got lost on the way, she murmured, "I'm proud of everypony who's helped me." Her shields recharged in a golden glow.

Lightning and Fleur both sighed, glad for the mission to finally be over.
However, there was a new mission in store, and Lightning acknowledged it by asking, "So I guess we gotta fly to Rarity?"
"As long as that would take, it was the original plan," the AI responded.
Lightning let out an incredible, fed up moan. "Aaawww!"
""Was" was the key word in that sentence."
The Pegasus snapped to attention. "Huh? You got a better idea?"
"Yep. You're holding it..."

As the Mares gazed down at the clunky little Sentinel, Twilight narrated, "There's a teleportation grid that runs throughout Halo. That's how the monitor moves about so quickly. I learned how to tap into the grid when I was in the control centre."
Fluttershy grew confused, and also a little peeved. "You can teleport us? Then why didn't you teleport us to the pulse generators?"
"Because in order to teleport, we need an expenditure of energy. Forerunner energy. That's why I ordered you to capture this Sentinel. We can pull power from its energy shields to make the jump!"
"Oh." Things made sense now.

"If you could just make contact with this Sentinel, I'll be able to hack into its systems and reroute the energy we need."
Fluttershy looked at the Sentinel that buzzed angrily, trying to break free from the Ponies' embrace. "Um, are you sure it's safe?"
"It's a Sentinel," Lightning stated, staring at Fluttershy. "These things can't fight for squat! I'm sure it's safe."
To the brash one, Fleur uttered, "You thought barrel rolling our Pelican was safe."
"Enough with the Pelican!"

Touching the Forerunner drone's silvery sheen, Fluttershy felt her skin tingle as Twilight connected herself to it, working her magic. The Sentinel made a high-pitched drone, sounding much like surprise as Twilight made her presence inside it. To say it was a machine, it was remarkable how it resembled a dog at the vets, not wanting to undergo the treatment it needed.

The pink maned Mare let out an all mighty yawn, tired as hell, assuming hell was tired. She woke up more when Twilight resurfaced.
"Ok. I have the energy we need. I also reprogrammed the Sentinel so it won't fight us!" she sounded delighted at her achievements, and the other three thought it wasn't bad either.

"So we've got ourselves a newbie, huh?" Bawling at the Sentinel like a Sergeant, Lightning gestured and informed, "Alright, freshman, I'm in charge! You gotta take orders from me, got it?!"
"Lightning, don't!"
"Pffft, I'm only messing, yo," she rasped dismissively.
"The Sentinel isn't!"
"Wha'd'ya mean?"
"I mean now that you've said that, it really will take orders from you!"
"Really? Oh sweet! I've got my own Sentinel!"
"Not sweet! We need it to take orders from me if we're gonna keep it intact!"
"You saying I'm gonna break it?"
Fleur chipped in, "You broke our Pelican."
Serious, Lightning ordered, "... Sentinel... burn the tall one."

A worried look formed on Fleur's face as the Sentinel rotated to face her. She dove for cover as it unleashed its sizzling laser.
Furious, Twilight shouted, "Lightning, call it off!"
Lightning was laughing hysterically as Fleur ducked behind a blocky object, the Sentinel scorching the ground near her. "Hahaha! Fine."

Once the irresponsible Lightning got her new toy under control, Twilight spoke, "Ok, group hug, everypony. I'll be able to locate Rarity when we're in Halo's teleportation net."
All together, the three Mares huddled up around the converted device, ready to be beamed away.

Fluttershy had experienced teleportation four times before, and knew what to expect. Fleur didn't, but remained calm and welcoming no less. Lightning was getting all fidgety, and Fluttershy thought that was kinda funny.

Twilight shouted out the countdown, building up the drama. "Teleporting in three! ... Two! ... One! ..."
Golden light swirled around all four figures, and the Sentinel's shields popped as their energy was extracted.
"Now!"
Lightning had just began to moan with discomfort, but her noise soon faded with their bodies. In the blink of an eye, the three Mares and their pet Sentinel were gone, and the chamber was left vacant.

Rarity.

Back in Halo's teleportation net, Fluttershy lost all physical feeling. Unable to feel comfort nor discomfort was actually kinda comfortable, and she would've fallen asleep, were it possible. Teleporting stopped her from doing just that, which she thought was unfair. She needed her sleep, darn it!

All she could see was the swirling vortex. All she could hear was Twilight, Fleur and Lightning marvelling over the sensation.
Lightning had been scared at first, but she soon warmed up and joined in on the fun. "Woah! This is awesome!"
Even Fleur expressed her delight. "Woohoo!"

Even in teleportation, Twilight was eavesdropping on the Covenant battle net. "When the Truth and Reconciliation disappeared from the Covenant's radar, the ship we encountered over the cartographer, the Honest Mistake, took its place."
"Um, what does this have to do with finding Rarity?" Fluttershy puzzled.
"I'll get to that."

"The Honest Mistake became the Covenant's new base of operations. From it, they've been making all kinds of tactical decisions, like finding the control centre, searching for their missing ship, and, ironically, the accidental release of the Flood."
"The Covenant released the Flood?" quizzed Fluttershy, wondering why she was even surprised.
Twilight chuckled, "It was an honest mistake!"

Continuing, the AI droned, "Now, the Covenant network is in absolute discord. From what I've been able to piece together, their leadership ordered all ships to abandon Halo when they found the Flood, but they were too late."
"Stupid Covenant," Lightning spat. "I swear we over-estimate them."
"Maybe sometimes."
"Maybe never."

"The Flood overwhelmed the Honest Mistake and disabled it." She took a breather, which she didn't need to take as an AI.
The fact that the Flood had overwhelmed a Covenant CCS class battle Cruiser sank in though, and Fluttershy would've gulped, were possible in teleportation.

"The Covenant are terrified the Flood will repair the ship and use it to escape from Halo. They've sent in a strike team to neutralise the Flood and repair the ship for immediate departure!"
"Can it even be repaired?" Fluttershy quizzed, not sure if the Covenant should be toiling around trying to save their infested ship.
"I'm not even sure."
"They should just destroy it!" Lightning yelled.
"I agree with you on that. The risk is too big to take, and the Covenant are fools for taking it."
"Why did the Flood even disable the ship if they want it to escape from Halo?"
"The Flood are smarter than you think, buuut they're still pretty dumb."

To Fluttershy, Twilight talked, "Fluttershy, you asked me what all this had to do with Rarity. Well, I've got a good lock on her CNI transponder signal. Three guesses as to where she is."
Fluttershy wanted to gulp again. "Um... the Honest Mistake?"
"Correct!"

Fluttershy was unsure why the AI sounded so enthusiastic to search for Rarity, or what remained of her, on board a Flood infested Covenant warship, but then she added, "And guess what?"
"Umm... err..."
"She's alive!"
"W-what?!" Fluttershy didn't believe her. Couldn't believe her. Couldn't not believe her because she was Twilight and she was right about everything.
The other two had a hard time wrapping their heads around it too.

Twilight laughed with joy, "Hahaha! She's alive! She's in the thick of the Flood, but she's definitely alive!"
"She's alive? That's great! But, um, I don't understand. Why is she alive? How is she alive? Why haven't the Flood infected her? What is she doing on that ship?"
"One question at a time, Fluttershy. The Flood want her alive... for now."

"But why?" Lightning probed. "What purpose could those brainless zombies possibly have with a living, uninfected Pony?"
"The Flood work in mysterious ways, Lightning. They'll be harvesting neuro-systems to form a central intelligence. A decision maker."
"How do you know all this stuff?"
"I did my research, back at the control centre. You taking notes, Fleur?"
The PONI operative simply hummed, "Mm-hm," in response.

Taking on board everything Twilight had said, Fluttershy voiced, "It's great that she's still alive, but, um, if she does get made into a... decision maker... um, will we be able to save her?"
"If she's still alive, I don't see why not."

An awkward silence passed as the team continued to journey through the digital world, and then Lightning announced, "I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with..." She hesitated long enough to prompt Fluttershy into asking;
"Um, beginning with what?"
"I don't know. I don't know what ya call this."
"V for vortex," commented Twilight.
"Thanks... smarty pants."

"We're about to exit teleportation," smarty pants chimed in anticipation. "There's some interference from the Cruiser's damaged reactor. I'll bring us in as close as I can."
Getting some last words in, Fluttershy rushed, "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with I." Before anypony could guess, she broke, "Imminent doom!"
"Aw come on, you didn't even give us a chance."

Exiting the teleportation grid, gold light hogged their vision, and behind it, the view of the inside of a Covenant Cruiser materialised into existence.
"I spy with my little eye, something beginning with P!"
"Purple!"
"Yes!"

The shiny purple architecture was all damaged and stained with blood of many colours. Blue flames flickered away from the walls. It was weird, the flames were wavering down, not up. That's when Fluttershy realised they were being pieced together with their hooves firmly planted on the ceiling.
Uh-oh.

Once the teleportation process was complete, and the gold light dissipated, the three Ponies were left to drop to the deck with a thud. Except for Lightning who hovered just off the ground, laughing at Fluttershy and Fleur. The hacked Sentinel had been teleported too, and it hovered still by Lightning's side like a faithful companion.

Making a realisation, Twilight gasped, "Ahh, I see, the co-ordinate data needs to be-"
-Annoyed, Fluttershy bonked the receptacle on her chest plate where Twilight's AI chip was.
"Right. Sorry."

Forgiving the AI, Fluttershy pondered, "I don't suppose you can call Rarity, can you?"
"It's worth a shot. Bare with me."

Gazing around, all Fluttershy saw was death and destruction. Blood splashed everywhere on the purple metal, but there was a disturbing lack of bodies. She was beginning to get to know the Flood, and she didn't like them at all. Horrible things.

Behind, the corridor was blocked by a long strip of metal panelling that had come loose and formed a purple scrap heap, burning away in blue fire. Flood and Covenant corpses added to the blockage, frightening Fluttershy. She was beginning to wish she were still in the winter wonderland.

Randomly, Lightning chirped, "Hey, y'know when we've rescued Rarity; why do we have to go back to the Filly of Autumn?"
Twilight had explained it already, and Fluttershy and Fleur glared at the turquoise Mare through judging eyes, wondering how she couldn't possibly know.
"Why not just destroy this ship instead?"
... Well, they were stumped. They literally had zero answers for her. It was a good idea. Why not destroy this ship, the Honest Mistake?

But, as always, Twilight came out with her usual, flawless logic. "... To destroy this ship, we would need the Ship Master's neural interface. Think you can hold down a Zealot?"
Lightning shrugged, "Sure."
"A Flood infected Zealot?"
She thought a little. "... Maybe."
"You can't, Lightning," the AI put bluntly. "I can't even find the Ship Master anyway."

Discovering something, the AI inhaled, "Hold on."
Fluttershy asked, "What is it?"
"I'm getting a connection to Rarity!"

A droning buzz crackled out of Fluttershy's speaker, startling all three Mares.
"Rarity? Come in! This is Twilight."
... No answer, just static. Poor connection?

Egging the yellow one on, Twilight nudged, "Fluttershy, say something."
Hesitating, she tried, "Um, Rarity? Are you there?"
... Still no answer.
"Please answer, Rarity."
... Finally, a familiar, long lost voice responded.

"Nnnng! Aaarrg! Urg! ... F-f-f-fluttershy?! ... T-t-twilight?!"
Rarity! She was speaking! Alive! In big trauma, but alive! There was hope for the poor Mare yet.

Happily but still with a business like manner, Twilight reassured, "It's us, Rarity. Hang in-"
"-W-what are you doing heerrre!"
Oh gosh, the way she pronounced "here" was horrendous. Almost sounded like a signature Flood shriek.
She strained her words out, grating with pain. "... You need to get out of here, right... now!"
"Not without you!" Twilight pointed out, only adding to the Captain's woe.
"Nnngaaarrugh-"
"Rarity?!"
... There were no more noises from the white Unicorn. She'd gone.
"Rarity?!" Panicking, Fluttershy's pulse was on the rise, and she glanced at the unsure expressions of her teammates.

Rarity's state was definitely something to be concerned about. If Fluttershy didn't know any better, she'd say she'd already been contaminated.
Twilight reinforced this by declaring, "We should find her before she's completely absorbed! And not just for her sake."
Of course; Captain Rarity possessed Equestria's co-ordinates! There was no way they could fall into the hands of the Flood.

Swinging her good hoof, Lightning urged, "To the hunt!"
Doing as the Pegasus pleased, the team trotted along the haunted corridor. The sounds of Flood on Covenant battle echoed from every direction at once, the deck shuddering every once in a while.

"Oohh," Fluttershy moaned, her tummy ache seemingly worse now than it was before.

Together, the three Mares and their captured Sentinel approached a door. Fluttershy hoofed it open, and a terrifying shriek blasted out from around a corner up ahead. Time for a little slice of hell.

The first thing that came squealing out from one passage to the next was a frightened, orange armoured Grunt. His reason for being so scared was clear; an infected Elite was hot on his heals. They both ran away, out of sight at the end of the shiny purple corridor, but their duet performance continued over the ship-wide ruckus.

Fluttershy gulped with dread and continued to creep down the corridor, Fleur, Lightning and a random Sentinel at her back.
"I'll alert you to any danger," assured Twilight, not really reassuring the timid Pegasus.

"Lightning, keep your Sentinel safe. If it's still intact by the end of our mission, we can use it to teleport again."
"Uh, ok," Lightning answered hopelessly, no experience of command. "Sentinel, stay safe."
Fleur face-hoofed hard enough to make a sound.

Approaching the end of the corridor, the trio turned right, down the path of the Grunt and his infected superior. Numerous blood stains and corpses decorated the Covenant architecture, scarring Fluttershy for life. Some of the bodies weren't even whole.

With the Grunt's squeals gone, the gross sounds of gorging came echoing along the purple walls, greeting the Mares' ears with unsettledness.

Up ahead, the three Ponies and their little robot had only one option; turn left, and that's where the sounds were coming from.

"Waa! Monster!" yelled a distant Grunt, eliciting a fearsome shriek from the unseen combat form.
The pew, pew of plasma weapons answered the shriek in kind, accompanied by determined growls from the Covies.

"Ok. Enemies around this bend," informed the AI, brining the squad to a halt.
Fluttershy was most reluctant to step around, especially first, but luckily, the Sentinel jumped at the chance, and it buzzed gracefully overhead to take the fight to the fighting aliens.
"Where's it going?" Lightning asked rhetorically.
Twilight had just whisper-shouted, "Call it back!" when Lightning flew in second. "Ugh, for crying out loud, this is why I should've been in charge of that thing! Get in there!"
Fluttershy went around third with Fleur at her back.

Within the narrow passage, a team of four Grunts held position at a corner, using a fallen pillar, an overturned crate, and a portable holo-shield as cover. The infected Elite that'd been spotted earlier thrashed its tendrils powerfully across the Covenant firing squad, knocking Grunts dead and airborne.

Like the robot it was, the Sentinel immediately hosed the hideous creature with blazing orange energy, burning it alive and melting its beige skin.

Letting out a puff of stinking breath, the ex-elite fell, and an ex-jackal came hopping around the next corner to take its place.

The Sentinel directed its laser, but the mutant still possessed a blue hard light shield that protected it. With a roar, the beast leapt high off the ground and smashed the Forerunner drone out of the air. With the Sentinel taken care of, it absorbed the hail of bullets that came its way and advanced on the Ponies.

Growing impatient as usual, Lightning gritted her teeth and snarled, "Fall, darn it!" as she hovered below the ceiling, firing her magnum at the damn thing.
"So much for keeping the Sentinel intact!" Twilight moaned. "Now when we're done here, we'll have to fly to the Autumn!"
"Shut up, Twilight!" barked Lightning as she put bullets into the approaching atrocity.

Finally, the ex-jackal relented, and it fell to the deck in a puddle of its own gore, gurgling.
"Nice work... apart from the Sentinel," sighed Twilight as the soldiers reloaded. "There's some more faint contacts around the next bend. Infection forms, most likely. Don't let them get close."
More than a little afraid, and disheartened by the loss of their teleporter, Fluttershy stuttered, "Y-you got it."

Twilight hadn't been joking about the infection forms. As the team made their way through the pile of bodies and Sentinel parts, dozens of the living snot-bags came rolling up to say hello. They even had a carrier form on their side, just standing there, doing nothing.

Saying hello back to the parasites, the equine troopers unleashed their weapons, exterminating each and every abomination in sight. The carrier form exploded in a big way, denting the panels of the corridor and staining the purple with mottled green.

"Good," Twilight said as the last parasite was crushed under Fleur's hoof. "We should keep moving. Never stop for too long. This place is crawling with things that want to kill us."
Biting her bottom lip, Fluttershy proceeded down the corridor, eyes darting from shadow to shadow.

The distant battling continued to ring around the entire ship; Covenant and UPSC weapons arguing with each other, screams from all four types of Covies, and super loud bellows from the Flood that drowned everything else out.

Those noises grew louder as the next right corner grew closer.
"Hostiles behind the door, distant and preoccupied. Don't let your guard down."
"I don't even know how to let my guard down," Fluttershy replied, taking caution as she rounded the corner and spotted the door. "Not in this place."
Not wanting to be in one place for too long, the young Pegasus let her proximity open the door.

"Wraargh!" came the thundering roar of a veteran Elite, just beyond the door.
He and his fellow Covies were hard at work trying to eradicate the Flood from what Fluttershy identified as a hangar. The floor was devoid of equipment, with only a few Covenant crates scattered violently around the massive room.

Twilight barked, "Don't move!" in contrast to her "never stop for too long" advice she'd given earlier.
Looking down, Fluttershy only just noticed the reason why Twilight was being so hesitant, and her eyes widened. A colossal hole had been blasted into the deck. Not just into the deck, but all the way through the Honest Mistake's fuselage!

Pools of strange, glowing green liquid shone in the darkness below, throwing luminosity onto the sandstone. Those pools appeared to be sourced from the ship itself as the liquid trickled down in columns.

"Oh my," whispered the shy, backing away from the gaping hole, noting the raging battle ensuing on the other side of it.
Hovering just above the yellow Pony, Lightning pointed with her good hoof and gawped, "Woah! What in Equestria did that?!"
Even Fleur was a little jaw dropped.

To answer Lightning's query, Twilight announced, "Scanning... ... Seraph crash. One of the last things to get reported before the battle net became tangled. It's how some of the Flood made it on board. Must've been a powerful impact to tear through the ship's hull."
"Y'think the Flood are packin' nukes?" joked Lightning, not laughing, not making anypony else laugh.
"No no. Nukes would do more damage than this," replied the AI, taking the joke seriously.

Conducting a further analysis, the AI added, "All I'm detecting down there is Flood, Covenant and coolant. That's what that glowing green liquid is. Sloppy stuff."

Understanding what the alien fluid was now, and not sure if the information would be helpful in any way, Fluttershy quietly asked, "So, um, what happens now? I don't think I can jump that."
There was a scream as the crimson Elite was thrashed to death by a combat form wearing the blue armour of a rookie.
"I don't think I want to jump that."
"I can jump it," Lightning muttered.
Fleur pointed out, "You can fly."
"Y'know, if you think about it, flying is just a really big jump."
"Oh, hey, Derpy's back."
"I'm not Derpy!"
Fluttershy got in Fleur's face for once. "Derpy's not an insult." She then backed off, lowering her eyes as Fleur looked surprised at her.

"We're sticking together, Lightning," stomped Twilight. "Hold on while I backtrack."
Lightning groaned, "Ugh, we're gonna backtrack a mile."
"Maybe not," theorised Fleur, motioning a hoof. "Maybe we can get into the ducts."
Fluttershy gulped; something she could finally do outside of teleportation. "I really don't want to go in the ducts." She darted her gaze upon hearing an abrupt screech echo around the ship, followed by gunshots.

She then heard some different gunshots, taking place right next to her. Spinning, she found Fleur firing her MA5B back down the corridor, and terrifying Flood noises answered her back.
"Yeah, about backtracking," Lightning hinted as her pistol joined Fleur's rifle.

"Twilight?!" grated Fluttershy, facing the howling Flood with her shotgun shivering. She fumbled in her saddle bag for a grenade, pulling out a sticky. "You f-found a new route yet?!" Squeaking, she let the plasma grenade fly, and it landed on the deck by the Flood's feet.
The blue explosion was loud and tremulous, throwing bodies and scrap into the air.
"Yes, but these parasites are in the way!"

When the freaks got closer, Fluttershy blew them away with her shotgun, squinting and squirming. No matter how many monsters they killed, more and more came gushing through an aperture in the ceiling to take their place.

"Man, forget this!" Lightning spat as the horde refused to thin. "I'm jumping!"
"Aah! Don't leave us, Lightning!" screamed the shy as she blasted an ex-pony.
"I don't wanna leave ya, but if I stay there, I'll die!" she called out as she whizzed into the hangar where there was a lot more air space. "Use the ducts! Scale the walls! ... Jump into the unknown - I don't know! So long!"

This was it. It would seem Lightning was abandoning them. Fluttershy knew she couldn't be trusted. She'd been a help though, and it was sad to say good bye. Especially when she wasn't even dead.

"Waaah!" Her shrill wail grabbed Fluttershy's attention, and she witnessed the traitor fall to the deck, splintering her splint.
An infected Elite had fired a couple of MA5B rounds into her side, and it came sprinting up with arms flailing, only to be diverted by a team of Covenant.

On the other side of the hole, Lightning dragged herself along with her good hoof and gnashed her teeth. Straining, she flapped her wings, and was able to get herself off the floor, just.
"I'm... still... here."

Putting her attention back on the Flood, Fluttershy noticed Fleur had vanished. Firing her shotgun, she squizzed around, but couldn't find the Unicorn anywhere.
"Where'd Fleur go?!" she bellowed over her booming shotgun and shrieking Flood.
A quick glance back revealed Lightning falling to the deck a second time, weak, bleeding.
"I didn't even know she'd gone," came Twilight's worrying answer. "We can't break through this flood!"

Looking back and forth between the swarm and Lightning holding a hoof out, Covenant regrouping behind her, Fluttershy decided to take the traitor's advice. Jump into the unknown.

The yellow Mare had a habit of letting grudges go too early, and she forgave Lightning long before she gave her a taste of her own medicine by leaving her.
She even cried, "Sorry, Lightning!" as if she were the one who should be apologising.

Staring down into the pools of coolant far below, she started having second thoughts, but then plasma struck her front and tentacles struck her hind, causing her to loose balance and go tumbling out of the Honest Mistake.

"Oh no!" worried Twilight, Fluttershy screaming all the way. "Nooooo!"
Splosh! All of a sudden, Fluttershy was floating, and a weird taste grabbed her tongue. Fluid had shot up her nose, giving her a terrible throat ache to add to her list of other aches. She opened her eyes, and they instantly started stinging. Everything was green and blurry. The only thing she could make out were the bubbles that flew out of her mouth and rose up to the surface.

Afraid of drowning in the Cruiser's engine coolant, she held her breath, her cheeks bulging with the little oxygen she had left.

"We're alive!" cheered Twilight, sounding rather surprised.
Fluttershy was surprised too.
"We're alive! My goodness! Ok, erm, swim, Fluttershy! Swim!"
The weight of her armour kept her from doing just that, and she flailed her hooves around until she came to stand on the submerged ground. Using the armour's weight to her advantage, she walked across the pond bed, gagging for air.
"Or just walk... That works too."

After about ten blind steps, the ground started to rise, and the pink maned Mare stuck her head up out of the green coolant with a splash and a tremendous inhale. Boy, it felt good to breathe. She spluttered in a fit, coughing up globules of that foul tasting engine coolant.
She then panicked, "Waa! Th-this stuff isn't toxic, is it?!"
"No, not at-"
"-Am I gonna die?!"
"Sshh," Twilight hushed. "It's ok, Fluttershy, you're not gonna die. This liquid is multi-purpose. The other purpose being a scrumptious dip!"
"It doesn't taste scrumptious to me. Ptooey!" she spat and hacked.
"Well you're not an alien, are you."

Pulling herself onto the shore, Fluttershy did her best to shake herself dry like a dog. There was still loads of coolant lingering in her coat and hair though, so she decided she was dry enough and looked around... were it possible.

Blackness. That was all she could see. Just blackness shrouding whatever there was to shroud. The pool of coolant provided very limited illumination, and peering up, she could see the slight metallic tint of the Mistake's purple hull. She could also see the interior lighting through the hole she'd just tripped down, and a flailing equine sporting tentacles came squealing out of it. With fear, Fluttershy watched as the creature faded away into the darkness and splattered all over the unseen place.

Hushed but urgent, Twilight ordered, "Fluttershy, quick, flashlight!"
She fiddled with her shotgun until she found the light switch and flicked it, revealing a huge puddle of green blood and Pony body parts strewn all over the dirt.

The soggy Fluttershy could clearly make out a head, and she shielded her eyes from the repulsion. She'd seen enough of it to know that it wasn't Lightning or Fleur, which was good. In fact, the battle above could still be heard raging on, and the Covenant's muzzle flashes flickered on and on inside the Cruiser.

"Fleur, Lightning, come in," Twilight attempted to establish radio contact. "Fleur, Lightning, come in!"
... There was nothing. Fleur had disappeared, and Lightning was probably dead.

The ship's name seemed like even more of a bad joke now than it did before. Falling through the hole had been an honest mistake, and Fluttershy prayed for Lightning and Fleur.

As soon as the clamour ceased, Twilight got back to communications duty. "Fleur? Lightning? Are you there?"
... No answer.
From within the downed Cruiser, the Flood continued to babble, and Fluttershy witnessed them vaulting high over the hole to meet the Covenant in the shuttle bay on the other side. Lightning was lying on the floor of that shuttle bay, so Fluttershy figured she'd pretty much had it, and dismissing her recent betrayal, she wept. She also wept for Fleur, the non-traitor who had gone without a trace.
"... They're gone."

After all they'd been through, Fleur and Lightning would assist her no further, and Fluttershy's heart transformed into a rock. She'd been getting attached to those two, and had been hoping to hang out with them back home. Without their help, home was looking further away.

With her priorities in order, Twilight spoke softly, "We have to find a way back on board the Honest Mistake... Follow these canyons, and be careful; you know how bugs like lurking under rocks."
Tearfully, the last Mare standing gulped and croaked, "Ok," before creeping nervously along, wiping her tears.

Her flashlight was her only means of vision, except when a pool of coolant came up. All the coolant could illuminate was itself though, so she kept her shotgun's flashlight on at all times.

The spotlight was a single eye that searched the shadows for trouble, picking out nothing more than orange rocks, scarce plants, pieces of the alien warship, and mangled bodies. None of the Pony bodies that Fluttershy's flashlight happened upon were clean, but some of the Covie corpses were free of infection.

The ship wide conflict was still audible from outside, much to Fluttershy's surprise, and the violent cacophony resonated within the deep crevices of the desert plateau.

"Hold up," Twilight motioned, making the lone Mare stop. "... Enemy contacts ahead. Tread carefully."
Frightened, Fluttershy breathed, "Um, y'think maybe we should just wait?"
"I don't know how long we'll be waiting, or who we're even waiting for. Tip-hoof on, and if I need to reassess the situation, I will."
Well, orders were orders, so much to her dismay, Fluttershy took the gentlest steps she could ever take and turned off her flashlight.

She saw more coolant oozing from the ship above, forming a lagoon in black oblivion, so she decided it'd be a good idea to stick close to it. She wouldn't have to rely so heavily on her flashlight, and if trouble came, she could hide under its surface.

If trouble came. Ha! Trouble always came, and the Pegasus was startled to hear the throaty roar of an Elite. Grunts and Jackals sounded off with him, and Covenant weapons began to spit their vibrant glowing ammunition.

At first, Fluttershy thought she'd been detected, and she braced herself for a dive into the coolant, but then Twilight informed, "Don't worry, they're not shooting at you."
A flock of pink needles flashed over her head, almost ripping through her mane.
"Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure," came Twilight's answer. "They're fighting the Flood."
A Flood combat form chose that moment to deafen Fluttershy with its warped bellow that sounded like a cross between a Jackal and something never heard of before.
"Oh, they're fighting the Flood? That's even worse!"
Taking in one deep breath and holding it, Fluttershy closed her eyes and dove into the coolant with a splash. She'd be safe there, right?
> Chapter 38: Into the Belly of the Beast
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Under the coolant, Fluttershy held her breath, cheeks bulging. It was a good hiding place, but she knew she'd have to resurface soon for air.

She wasn't the only one going for a swim. She could feel the coolant ripple as numerous unseen Flood forms thrashed and splashed their way through the liquid, climbing up onto the shore and rushing the Covenant. The sounds of conflict were subdued to Flutter-sub; something she didn't know if she should be pleased or worried about. Good, she couldn't hear the horrible noises. Bad, she wouldn't be able to hear if something came running at her.

Something irregular splashed around on the surface, fading into view. Fluttershy could just make out a set of hooves on the thing as it drew closer, emitting clouds of vile green blood as the Covenant shot at it.

Eventually, the beast lost power, and floated on the surface with drooping limbs. In slow-motion, it collided with Fluttershy, and the young Pegasus floundered desperately to get the creature away. She got a terrific eye-full of its ravaged Pony face; split open at the side to make way for a new set of sharp gnashes.

The corpse drifted away, and bubbles began to vent out of Fluttershy's nostrils. She needed air, and she needed it now.
Twilight picked up on this. "Get to the other side of the lagoon, hugging the shore. I'll alert you to any danger."
Doing as the AI said, Fluttershy crept uneasily across the under-coolant floor, trying to keep in the bubbles.

Many sedate steps later, Twilight spoke, "Ok, here's good. Take a breath, be quick, quiet, and don't show your whole head."
Nodding, Fluttershy approached the surface, her lungs pleading for air. She poked her muzzle out of the water, careful not to make too big a splash, and inhaled deeply.

A  deafening shotgun blast echoed up the tightly packed cliffs, followed by the wail of a dying Elite. No more clamour followed, but Fluttershy could just pick up the sound of footsteps running away.
"... Is it safe now?" she whispered, spitting as she accidently swallowed some of the sloppy coolant.
"It is," answered Twilight. "You can get out now."

"Is it safe, boss?" the high-pitched voice of a Grunt echoed, distant and hushed.
It startled Fluttershy, and she glanced around, paddling in the coolant, seeing nothing but shadows.
"It look safe," replied "boss" with a similar, squeaky accent.
A luminous green glow lit up the cliffs to Fluttershy's left, high over a crest.

"Grunts," Twilight grunted. "Be careful."
Nervous, Fluttershy moaned, "I don't want to fight them."
"We're not going to," revealed the AI. "Conflict will only alert the Flood. We'll need to be stealthy."

Fluttershy was good at stealth, even when she wasn't trying to be stealthy. Ponies would often not notice her, hanging at the back of the crowd like a ghost.

Using her quietness to her advantage, she crept away, silent as air, into a narrow canyon.

Before Twilight alerted, "Enemies coming through the canyon," Fluttershy heard gurgling and a heck of a lot of footsteps.
Hiding from the crowd, she crouched behind a rock, watching tonnes of dark forms shamble by, listening to their rumbles and screeches. They were close. Real close. And one actually brushed through her wet mane.

"Sshh. You hear that?"
"Me hear it alright," the Grunts spoke.
The veteran had just come over the crest, overcharged plasma pistol serving as a green torch, when he jumped and squealed in surprise as the horde of Flood went staggering to him.

Letting the overcharged bolt loose, he brought down one combat form, and spun to flee, but was shot dead by a monster with an MA5B assault rifle. His rookie ran like the wind. Wind with a tank of methane on its back. And the Flood followed him all the way into the next canyon.

After the last Flood form waddled past Fluttershy, Twilight hissed, "Ok, go," and the yellow Pony dashed through the tight canyon. It wasn't so much a canyon as it was a crack, and the petite Mare had to squeeze to get through.

When the weaselling was over, she came up onto a ledge overlooking a sizable lake of yet more coolant, bleeding from the dead ship above. Carrier forms marched out of the lake like over-weight soldiers, and combat forms leapt down from a rock arc, all intending to deliver pain and hell to a squad of healthy Covies on the limited patch of dry ground. However, when two of those Covies were Hunters, things were complicated, for both the Flood and Fluttershy.

The two gigantic aliens rotated back to back, handing out fuel rod projectiles to any ghoul in sight. The Elites, Grunts and Jackals held position behind the thick armoured monstrosities, assisting them by taking pot shots at anything ugly. Well, anything uglier than themselves.

Something squelched under Fluttershy's hooves.
"Huh?" She looked down to behold a Flood corpse, twisted and chewed up, sporting gnarly vines and a gaping cavity with bones inside.
It frightened her, and she backed away with a yelp, tripping over something and hitting the dirt with a thud.
Twilight reassured, "It's ok, Fluttershy."
Getting up, the yellow Mare realised she'd tripped over an S2 AM sniper rifle, just laying there, abandoned in the dirt.
"They haven't noticed us..."

*****

In the fray below, the Hunter brothers fed destruction to the hungry horde, blasting them away with their integrated fuel rod cannons. A carrier form got close, but was smacked high into the air, going on a home run.

With the death of every carrier form came the birth of plentiful infection forms, and they scurried up to the biped titans in a wave of tentacles. The ones that weren't shot by the smaller Covies were able to latch on to the Hunters, creeping up their armour and locating the soft, orangey spots of their worms. It became a game of bugs versus bugs as the parasites jabbed at the Hunters with their scythe tipped tendrils, and the Hunters twisted to scrape the disgraces off, with no luck. Vivid orange blood began to squirt from the Covenant soldiers, and individual worms were flung free.

Coming to the Hunters' aid, the other Covies stepped up. Grunts and Elites manually yanked the parasites from their massive brethren, while the Jackals used their expert aim to shoot them off. The Jackals had the best idea though, as the Grunts and Elites were now equipped with the life-absorbers. Life-absorbers that stretched eagerly to claim their pray.

While Grunts couldn't be infected, they still served as a threat and a nutrient to the Flood, and they were all taken out of battle in no time. Of the two Elites, one freed himself from his stinking burden, fired his plasma rifle into an approaching carrier form, mopped up more parasites, and rushed to his fellow's assistance. But it was too late.

Thanks to a mysterious crack of a sniper rifle, the rookie of the two had had his shields drained, and the infection form ripped his chest open and proceeded to worm its way inside. The Elite howled in agony, and then howled an obscene howl that no Elite could make as his head exploded in blood and new tentacles, and an elongated blade burst from his left wrist.

Another sniper round came flashing through the shadows to do nothing to the infected Elite, then a third round punched into the healthy split-jaw's foot, taking his shields out too. Panicking, the veteran limped away, trailing purple blood, shooting back at his transforming friend.

Now that the last Elite had retreated, the remaining Jackals and Hunters fell into disarray, and all hell broke loose. There was no one there to command, so every Covie ended up doing their own thing.

Jackals tackled the infected rookie Elite and used their bare talons to rip him limb from limb, and bloody organs flew into the air. A carrier form snuck up from behind and flopped to the ground amongst them, its bulbous sack inflating like a balloon.

The bird-like bipeds squawked and ran as the weird organism grew to ridiculous proportions and exploded, showering the Covenant with more infection forms. Some of those forms came to perfect landings on the Jackals and instantaneously turned them into mindless space zombies.

Now the Hunters were alone, and they fought like hell to survive the Flood onslaught. Deadly FRPs shattered the rock arc, and huge boulders came tumbling down with plague carriers. One particularly large rock landed right on top of a Hunter, but the alien warrior was strong, and it held the boulder high above its head, putting all the force it could summon to hurl it into the advancing carrier forms. It landed in the coolant with a mighty splash, and started a chain reaction of carrier form explosions.

Crack, rang the unnoticeable sniper, and a weary groan resonated from one of the Hunters. The other Hunter spun to face its bond brother, just in time to see it fall to the earth, dead.

The surviving Hunter let out a passionate cry of sorrow for its fallen comrade, and went into all out beast mode. Its metal shield gauntlet brushed through the Flood. Its heavy boots stomped down on them. And it fired projectile after projectile into the torrent, kicking up coolant and vaporising the misshapen bodies.

Soon, the battle was done, and the last Hunter kept itself braced, checking this way and that. Fighting could be picked up from every direction at once, courtesy of the Flood invading the ship, making it hard to hear if anything was close. This gave it a disadvantage as a yellow Pony head with a trailing pink mane rose out of the coolant behind it.

With all the volume of nothing at all, Fluttershy tip-hoofed up behind the surviving Hunter, shotgun at the ready, and pulled the trigger.

Boom! Orange Hunter blood joined the coolant in painting Fluttershy a new colour. The ground shook beneath her hooves as the spiny mammoth dropped like a rock. She felt bad taking the Hunter's life after all he'd been through, but was doubly proud of herself for coming out on top against the walking tank, even if spines weren't required to do what she'd just done.

Having used up all four bullets in the sniper rifle, she left it back where she found it atop the ledge, hauling only her shotgun and pistol. The pistol Rarity gave her, so long ago.

"Yuk," she moaned, noting the blood and coolant that shrouded her yellow coat.
Like a dog, she shook herself as dry as she ever could, lacking the towel she so desperately wanted.

Taking a drink of water, she accidently guzzled down a bit of Hunter blood that was still on her lips. To her surprise, it didn't taste all that bad. Didn't taste nice either, but still, she didn't feel the need to cough and splutter. Made her feel like some sort of vampire, drinking the blood of fallen Hunters, and a demonic, fanged smile formed in her mind.

Moving on, she pried a plasma pistol from the hand of a dead ex-jackal and kept on walking through the dark warrens.
"You did a terrific job, Fluttershy. Keep this up and we'll be back on board the Mistake in no time."
She just had to reference its name, didn't she.

Neither chaos nor victory soothed her belly ache, but being caught up in a fray certainly took her mind off it.

With a growling gut and a plasma pistol tucked under her saddle bag, the lone Mare wondered on through the darkness, using the flashlight on her shotgun to pick out the rocky passages and bloodied litter.

A rather narrow passage spat her out into an area that curved around a hair-pin outcropping of sandstone, dotted with rocks and a tiny few plants. Another luminous lake of coolant was formed under the Mistake's leaking hull, and Flood came wading through it like soldiers in sludge.

At first, Fluttershy thought they were coming after her, but then she heard the Covenant presence on a hill to her right, hosing the Flood with plasma and needles. Purple plasma came courtesy of the Shade turret that had been set up, and the veteran Elite that'd fled the previous battle was seated at the controls. The Grunts and Jackals fired their plasma pistols and needlers at the emerging mass of mottled flesh, tearing them apart, not really stopping them.

"You know what to do by now, right?"
Fluttershy nodded and hummed, "Mm-hm," prior to ducking down behind a rock and waiting it out.

The clash of the aliens didn't last that long, and Fluttershy peeked up from behind her rock to see a group of Flood standing idle by the Shade, which was now empty. Parasites wormed their way into the fresh corpses of the Elite and Jackals, recruiting them into their mutant army.

Almost startling Fluttershy, Twilight announced, "There's more Flood around the bend. Use grenades to take out this group of Flood, then take control of the Shade turret."
Having just witnessed the Elite Shade operator join the ranks of the Flood, the doubtful Fluttershy enquired, "Um, are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Don't worry, Fluttershy, it'll work. The Covenant already took care of most of them."
Gulping and stepping out from hiding, Fluttershy whimpered, "If you say so."

Upon noticing Fluttershy, the tentacle horrors came staggering over, shrieking in fits of rage. Their shrieks were silenced by two powerful frag detonations, and only two beasties had the fortune to get back up.

On her way to the Shade, Fluttershy blasted an ex-pony in the face, wondering what kind of life that fellow Pony lead before being infected.

In a jiffy, she was seated in the Shade and firing purple devastation.

The second surviving form, an ex-jackal, sprouted a spare limb from the dripping nub of his torn off leg and sprinted for her. He avoided being hit by the plasma, but Fluttershy could still use her shotgun whilst operating the Shade. The poorly Jackal flew apart under the force of the buckshot, and gross green goo splattered the little Pony's face.

Thanks to the ruckus, the additional Flood came surging around the corner, gibbering loud enough to fill Fluttershy's ears.

Struck with fear, Fluttershy's mouth creased at the sides and her eyes widened as she hosed the Flood like they were a huge, singular fire.

Just as lethal against Flood as they were against Ponies, the Shade's purple plasma converted the converted soldiers into nothingness. 

An infected Elite took two blasts, six if you count the fact that each bolt came in threes. The whole upper half of his reconstructed body was engulfed in the sizzling heat and completely melted away, leaving only two sturdy legs. Horrifically, a trio of tentacles fashioned out of the Elite's intestines burst from their base and touched the floor, turning the half-elite into an oversized bug. Fluttershy screamed as she shot it down, as she shot the next one down, as she shot them all down.

Soon, after expending a heck of a lot of plasma, the Flood ended, and Fluttershy was free to dismount.
"Well done, Fluttershy. Keep moving."

Heedful not to tread on any of the mangled and melted corpses that now carpeted the floor, the pink maned soldier rounded the bend and disappeared into the shadows.

*****

Within the bowels of the Flood infested battle Cruiser, the bedlam raged on. Flood and Covenant fought hand to tentacle inside the purple walls of the labyrinth.

Cowering under a bed in the barracks, Fleur de Lis was as silent as ever, praying that the surrounding Flood would just leave her alone already. They sniffed and snorted, hunting for the lone Mare, clambering over the Covenant furniture.

She'd lost contact with Fluttershy not long ago. And as for Lightning Dust, well, she hadn't a clue where she'd gone. None of them were picking up on their radios though, so Fleur presumed the worst until proven otherwise.

Under the impression Fluttershy and Lightning weren't coming back, she decided it was up to her to save the galaxy, so she waited...
and waited...
and waited...
Until...

The Flood chose to forget her and chase some other, Covenant threat in the corridors. Once they were gone, she crawled out from under the alien bed, assault rifle at the ready, and continued to explore.

*****

Back on Halo's surface, Fluttershy was having a ball, but not the good kind of ball. Mutant after mutant came leaping up a drop off, out of the darkness, and one by one, they were humiliated by the terrified Mare and her lethal shotgun.

"That's the last of them," informed Twilight as the final ex-elite flopped at her hooves, its rough skin and lumpy growths standing out in the spotlight. "Jump down. I promise you'll be fine."
After a swig of water, and feeding the shotgun a meal of shells, Fluttershy stared doubtfully into the howling dark where the Flood had just been coming from. Twilight said she'd be fine, so that meant she'd be fine, right?

Didn't sooth her anxiety, but if it meant saving Rarity, she swallowed her nerves and got all four hooves off the ground. She fell for a longer time than she'd expected, and began to scream as the ground never came to meet her.

When it did eventually meet her, she wasn't ready for it, and she crumpled ungracefully into the dirt, taking a chunk off her shields.
"Ow!"
"You ok?"
"Nng... I'll be fine."
She flexed her sore leg, fighting through the pain, just like a real Spartan. Well, she didn't completely fight through the pain. It was hard to ignore, and she limped a little as she traversed the blackened canyon, hoping not to encounter any nasties.

"WRIIEEGH!" shrieked a nasty, soon to be encountered.
It made a shiver run up Fluttershy's spine. Her shields regenerated, and the golden glow shone all over the sandstone.

Another glow came into view the further she travelled. The green glow of coolant. The pink glow of a needler being fired from a ledge above. The purple glow of a Shade turret answering in kind. Yep, the Covenant and the Flood were rowing once more, and Fluttershy hid behind a piece of the Honest Mistake's fractured hull to spectate the fight.

It wasn't long before the Covenant won; the last carrier form detonating next to the Shade turret, flipping it over. The Elite operator was launched through the air and came to a splash in the pool of coolant. When he emerged, he looked an awful lot different. Sprouting tentacles and everything. Guess the Covenant didn't win after all.

Now that the Covenant had been taken care of, the Flood moved on in the direction Fluttershy had to take. The yellow Pegasus gulped, not wanting to follow them.
"Come on, Fluttershy," Twilight whispered. "Look at it this way: Any Covenant up ahead, the Flood will get rid of them for us."
"But then we're left with the Flood," Fluttershy shot back.
"True."
"I'd rather fight Covenant than Flood."
"As would I."
"I'd rather not fight at all. I'd rather we call truce with the Covenant. I don't think I can take anymore war."
"Fluttershy, we've been through this already. The Covenant-"
"-Are not the worst of it. They're in the same boat we are. It's silly that we're fighting each other when we've got the Flood fighting both of us."
"A truce is only something we can dream of, Fluttershy. I happen to know the Covenant aren't willing to form an alliance, even in these dire times. Just another foolish move to add to their list."

The pain in Fluttershy's foreleg had more or less faded, but the agony in her stomach increased with the stress. She groaned, clutching her tummy. Wordlessly, she continued.

"And do you really want to get pally with the guys that destroyed Reach? Our colonies? Our friends?"
Fluttershy didn't answer.
"All those billions of Ponies, just... gone..."
"The Flood will do worse if we don't do something."
"We're doing something now. We're gonna destroy Halo. And the Covenant sure as hay aren't gonna help us do that."
Hanging her head, she sighed, "I guess you're right."

One narrow, winding ravine later, the yellow Pegasus came out into a rather well lit canyon. The reason for the light was plain to see, as Twilight pointed out.
"We're at the gravity lift! This is our way back in!"
Oh, Fluttershy just couldn't wait to get back inside the Honest Mistake!

Contributing to the light, a whole sea of starship engine coolant swirled around the edges of the canyon, making a sort of island in the middle where the purple column of light cascaded over a tall mesa. The Covenant were staging a last stand atop that mesa, and their alien weapons also lit up the darkness.

There was a fourth light source too; the moon. The glorious moon. Just between the Mistake's hull and the sandstone, a patch of starry night sky was visible, along with the moon and Halo's curving ring structure. Fluttershy wondered if things on that section of the ring were as hectic as things on this section.

If Fluttershy had learnt anything from seeing the Flood and the Covenant fight each other, it was to let them be. Wait for a winner and clean them up after.
However, when Twilight alerted, "Enemies behind us," Fluttershy was forced out into the open by a herd of eager carrier forms.

"D'oh, there's no hiding this time! We've been detected!" moaned Twilight disappointedly. 
"Well, what do I do then?!" cried Fluttershy, panicking.
"Get under the coolant," Twilight ordered. "We have no choice but to take a risk."
Holding her breath, Fluttershy dived gracefully into the green liquid. Oohh, I hate risks.

Catching her off guard, an infected Pony swam angrily above her, generating huge splashes and actually coming into contact with her head. Fluttershy would've screamed were she not under-coolant, but the diseased equine must've dismissed her as a rock or something, and it carried on splashing through the fluid and up the shore.

Fending off the abominations, the Covenant bellowed war cries, firing all at their disposal. Plasma grenades detonated with thundering explosions, and Grunts with shoulder mounted FRCs aimed for the ground at the Flood's feet. All the furore was muffled for Fluttershy though, as she continued her slow way under the surface of the luminous green sea.

Coming up to the shore, the yellow submarine gasped for air, and saw a Grunt run by in front of her, two infection forms prodding him with their tendrils.

"Double time, Fluttershy! Up the mesa!"
The epic battle was still underway though, and Fluttershy hesitated. "Bu- wha- the-"
"-You think the Covenant should be too concerned about the Flood to pay attention to you? Let's put that to the test. Join them up there!"
From behind, the carrier forms rose out of the coolant, and dozens of shrieking freaks zeroed in on her location.
"Now!"
All the way up the mesa, Fluttershy screamed.

Galloping on her way, the Flood continued to drop down in front of her, and she frantically blew them away with her trusty shotgun. The Covenant, who were busy tussling with the Flood, came up fast, and one of the Grunts took note of her, firing its little plasma pistol into her blurred legs. Her shields bought the brunt, plus the brunt of an infection form that pounced into her side.

Unintentionally, Fluttershy ended up striking fear into the Grunt, and the diminutive little alien turned to flee, only for an Elite to accidently kick him off the mesa and into the gathering crowd below. That Elite had just ripped one of his infected brothers apart when he noticed the yellow Pony running up to the grav lift that he and his soldiers were toiling so hard to defend. In one swift motion, he drew and primed a plasma grenade and sent it out at her.

Blind with horror, Fluttershy didn't realise the incoming bomb, but she did witness an infection form mistakenly save her life by catching it for her.

Now that she was standing in the Covenant's midst within the column of purple luminosity, she spun around, firing her shotgun into every living thing she saw, wailing on and on as she did so.
"Beam us up, Scotty!" Twilight yelled to the grav lift itself.
Fluttershy, three preoccupied Elites and a Jackal were all that remained on the high mesa, and the tide of Flood came surging around them. The contaminated soldiers leapt high, only to be ended by the healthy ones.

"Um, Twilight?!" strained Fluttershy. "How are we supposed to get in?!"
One of those Elites decided to turn its attention to her, and she blasted it away with her shotgun, braving the plasma bolts.
"The same way we did last time!" the AI answered.
"What did we do last time?!"
"We just stood in the lift and it took us up!"
"Well these Covenant aren't being taken up! Maybe it's broken, or we're in quarantine - waa!"
Randomly, she was lifted off her hooves by an invisible hand, and she watched as the ground and the Covies and the sea of Flood and coolant shrank away.

An infection form actually started to grow close however, as it latched onto her foreleg and squirmed up to greet her blue eyes. With a scared yelp, she was able to beat it off, and her energy shields recharged as she ascended like an angel to the heavens, or in this case, hell.
"Yes! It's working!" cheered the AI. "Rarity, here we come!"

*****

Unbeknownst to Fluttershy and Twilight, someone had let them in via the Mistake's security centre. Exiting the gore splattered centre, Fleur's pink tail whizzed away.

*****

Fluttershy's hooves clopped on the big metal disk that sealed the grav lift. The Covenant below must've been super jealous that a Pony was allowed to enter their home and they weren't. Now that she was back inside the purple tomb, it was time to resume the search for Captain Rarity. She turned off her flashlight and reloaded her weapon.

Like the Truth and Reconciliation, the Honest Mistake's lift chamber was a huge purple area with plenty of room to move about and breathe. Not that breathing felt any good; the whole ship stunk of disease.

Unlike the Truth's lift chamber that had been rife with equipment, the Mistake's was almost completely bare, with only a few boxes, corpses, and Flood infection forms providing a teeny amount of clutter. Those infectors hadn't noticed her, thank Celestia, and the hushed Pegasus snuck away into a corridor as quietly as she could.

"Bad news," Twilight sounded, tripping Fluttershy's heart. "We've arrived in the Flood controlled section of the ship. This is where the thick of the infestation is lurking."
That almost made the young Mare cry, and she buried her face in her hooves. "Oh, oh no. Oh no. Oh no-ho-hoo."

"I'm trying to piece together the ship's layout, but I can't access it's schematics!" Twilight said that in private chat, which was good, considering how increasingly annoyed she was getting. "The Covenant network is a mess!"
Fluttershy groaned, both with concern, and with her never ending tummy ache.
"My records indicate that a shuttle bay should be... here?"
Getting a gander of the narrow Covenant corridor full of dead bodies and massive blood stains, Fluttershy responded shakily, "Sh-sure is one f-f-funny looking shuttle bay."

Sliding open a door, Fluttershy saw a single Flood infected Elite sprint away around a corner. It's disgusting gurgling echoed loudly around the passage, resonating in the frightened Mare's ears.

She paused, numb, not wanting to continue. Wanting to save Rarity. Forcing herself to walk on.
"I lost that combat form's signal as soon as it disappeared around the corner," taught Twlilight as Fluttershy drew closer to the corner in question. "He should be waiting for us as soon as we turn."

The tension built up within Fluttershy, and she quivered with fear.
One... two... three!
Quickly, she jumped around the corner and fired, the sound of the shotgun tearing up and down the corridor. There was nothing there though; she'd just wasted a shell... and alerted someone to her presence.

As if summoned by Fluttershy's confusion, thundering footfalls came charging up from behind, and Fluttershy spun to find the infected Elite running right at her, roaring with rage, screaming with pain.

Letting out an all mighty screech, Fluttershy blew the ex-elite apart, and was subsequently forced to blow him apart again as he attempted to rise.

"How did he do that?" Fluttershy baffled, then corrected, "How did it do that?"
"I wish I had an answer," sighed the AI, glum.

Pow! An electronic buzz filled the corridor, and just like that, the lights were out. If it had been dark under the Mistake, it was even darker inside; no natural light to rely on.

"Oh, shoot!" complained Twilight, slamming her digital hoof.
Fluttershy's nerves were boiling over the edge, and she hyperventilated in the pitch blackness, listening to distant battles... and closing Flood. "Ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahm scared-T-t-twi-light-"
"-Ok, Fluttershy, just relax, ok," Twilight attempted to soothe. "Turn your flashlight on, and we'll be ok."

At the flick of a hard to locate switch, the torch on Fluttershy's shotgun shone bright, illuminating a single Flood infected Jackal limping up to her, mumbling and dragging its blue holo-shield across the deck.
"Gah!" the little Mare yelped, pulling the shotgun's trigger and killing the hideous creature.

A deafening, monstrous shriek tore up the blacked out corridor and tripped Fluttershy's pulse. She darted the flashlight around, mortified, searching for trouble.

"We'll be oohh-kaay."
> Chapter 39: Nor Hell a Fury
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gunshots, explosions and screams, all echoing around the Honest Mistake, covered Fleur de Lis' hoofsteps as she crept down the corridor. The light flickered, and large swatches of multi-coloured blood painted the purple metal surfaces.

Glancing around, Fleur was braced, just waiting for something to jump out at her. She carried her sniper rifle on her back, her MA5B being more effective in close quarters.

Coming up short, she heard something. Something close. Something muffled. Something...

Crash! Something huge and howling broke through the wall to her right. It fell on the deck with the shrapnel as she jumped back, assault rifle at the ready.

Flailing and spasming, the monster attempted to get back up, but was pinned to the deck by another monster that stepped through the hole. This monster wasn't contaminated. 'Twas a healthy Covenant Elite with blue armour, and he pointed his plasma pistol at what looked to have been his superior.

The crimson armoured combat form let out one final roar before being burned alive by an orb of sizzling green plasma, and the rookie Elite sighed with the loss. That had once been his teammate. His team leader, in fact.

Looking around, he caught sight of Fleur, aiming her rifle right at his head. His shields were depleted; he knew how it was gonna go down, but he wasn't prepared to go down without a fight.

As soon as he launched himself at the slender Mare, firing his plasma pistol, she gunned him down, three bullet holes supplementing his head.

That had been too loud for Fleur's liking, and too close. One of the plasma bolts had hit her radio, destroying it, and she frowned as she stepped over the carcasses and continued, throwing her ruined radio on the floor.

Confirming her concerns, a deafening shriek blasted from up ahead, and a mighty crash marked the entrance of a new combat form. Dropping through the ceiling, a diseased Pony thudded to the deck. The beauty and the beast stared at each other across an intersection, Fleur slowly backing up.

The Flood infected Pegasus could be identified by its patchy turquoise coat, fiery orange hair, piercing orange eyes and makeshift wooden brace.

Prior to charging, the ex-mare snarled like a savage animal, and as soon as she set off, something pounded by the intersection, bumping into her. The running Elite grunted as he continued sprinting down the halls, hundreds of Flood forms chasing him. Fleur took cover in the hole in the wall, spying as the last nightmare flailed by, and the way was clear. Lightning had vanished; joined the rest of the swarm, and Fleur took the opportunity to gallop onwards, leaving the intersection behind.

Checking behind, she noticed a wave of infection forms come slithering over the two Elite corpses, and as she rounded the next corner, the sickening bellows of those corpses resurrecting rang loud over the ship-wide bedlam.

*****

After much navigating through the blackened corridors of the Honest Mistake, Fluttershy emerged on the balcony of a large cargo bay. She switched off her flashlight to avoid being spotted by any nasties that were likely in the vicinity, making it almost impossible to see. However, there was at least some lighting still functional on the ceiling, flickering away, and odd shapes were transformed from invisibility to rapidly flashing figures.

There was the usual Covenant architecture; support pillars stretching up to the ceiling. And on the main floor below, Fluttershy could just make out the shapes of Covenant crates, a couple of Ghost RAVs, and a single Wraith MBT, all unoccupied.

With an eerie vacantness that left Fluttershy numb, Twilight spoke, "We're not alone."
Flickering in and out of visibility, numerous Flood forms trudged about the main floor, dragging their horrendous mutations through puddles of alien blood.

"Look, in the corners."
Concentrating, Fluttershy narrowed her eyes at the two bottom corners of the cargo bay. She saw shady lumps of things that were hard to recognise in the shadows.
"The Flood are gathering bodies here."
Now that Twilight had said it, she was starting to make out the pieces of Covenant armour, the motionless hands, and the glowing eyes of alien corpses, staring right back at her.

It mortified the young Pony, and her heart rate sped up. How could she possibly succeed? Funnily enough, Twilight had an answer.

"Remember when we were on the Truth and Reconciliation?" She was speaking privately so no one but Fluttershy could hear.
However, the pink maned Pegasus wasn't an AI, and couldn't do that, and wouldn't dare risk sounding her position to the body collectors, so she just nodded shakily.
Twilight sensed her movement. "We're going for a door on the bottom floor. To get there, we're gonna have to get past all of these guys."
Noting "those guys," Fluttershy gulped and wondered what Twilight had in mind.
"There's a Wraith parked directly below us. It's still operable. If you can get into it, we can re-enact what we did on the Truth."
Oh, so that's your game.

Fluttershy was still too afraid to make a sound, not that she could argue. It's not like they had any other option. So with a nod of acknowledgement, she stood as strong as she could on the edge of the balcony, looking down on the Wraith that was hardly visible in the gloom.

"Ok... Now!"
That was her queue. With a feeble grunt, she pounced off the balcony and plummeted to the Wraith.

After a long fall, she slammed into the vehicle's closed carapace with a clang, eliciting a choir of snarls from the surrounding beasts. Panicking, she fumbled for the tank's hatch, listening to the shrieks and footfalls that grew nearer with every heartbeat.

"Hurry," strained Twilight as Fluttershy finally slid the hatch open.
Like a bar of soap, the young Mare slipped her way inside and hectically sealed up the Wraith.

The monsters could be heard outside, roaring, gibbering, attacking the Wraith, aware of her presence.

Just like before, Twilight directed the timid Pony through a nightmare. A nightmare where she had a tank.

Controlling the metal behemoth, Fluttershy ran over the Flood and vaporised them with the mortar cannon, blitzing the Mistake's interior. She screamed when an infected Jackal threw itself against the view screen. Crashing into a wall, she was able to remove the splattered bug, and she rotated to splatter even more, firing the cannon into a distant gathering.
"I don't like this!"

Just when she thought it was over, a giant vehicle access door parted at the far side of the cargo bay, and a whole new platoon of Flood shambled in, shrieking in unison. A single round of plasma mortar silenced all but five of them, and Fluttershy engaged the Wraith's boost-drive to sandwich them against the wall, denting it.

Now, it was over, and Twilight ordered her to park by the destined door and exit the MBT. The tank rampage would've been fun to anypony else, but Fluttershy just saw it as slaughter. Still, she'd rather be in the relatively safe confines of a tank than walk the haunted labyrinth of the ship.

Uneasily, she popped out of the lumpy purple Wraith like a daisy, and jumped to the floor, checking for any more hostiles, nerves on edge. A tank rampage wasn't the quietest way to get past the enemy.
"It's clear," Twilight declared, not easing Fluttershy's nerves at all. "This way."

Back into the narrow corridors of the Cruiser, Fluttershy rounded a left bend and saw light projecting up through a hole in the floor.
"What's down there?" she whispered, not sure if she should be speaking out loud, checking all around her.
Twilight laughed, "Ha! The bridge, apparently."
That obviously wasn't true. "Should we go down? There's light down there."
"We might as well. It's not like I know where we're going."
"Then, why did you tell me to come this way?"
"To be honest, Fluttershy, I chose this corridor because it won eeny meeny miny moe."
"Oh."
"If I had a full schematic, I'd be able to make logical decisions, but right now, all I can do is guess."
This worried Fluttershy, and Twilight detected the droop of her posture.
"Don't worry. This way is taking us closer to Rarity's signal."

Coming to a stop and gazing down the lit up hole in the floor, Fluttershy was made jump by a combat form that leapt up to grasp her head with a claw. She screamed, blinded, terrified. She felt herself drop through the hole, and when she landed, something sharp punctured her abdomen, draining her shields and making her squeal.

Squirming underneath her, the quadruped combat form broke off its ruptured foreleg, leaving it nailed to the yellow Mare, who continued to babble in agony.

"Get up, Fluttershy!" urged Twilight.
Baring the pain of the spiked foreleg that was still lodged in her side, Fluttershy rose up, and was immediately smacked back down by the howling beast. A bloody scar crossed her cheek, and the area around her right eye began to swell and go dark purple.

"Shoot it!"
With her back on the ground and blue flames heating her up, Fluttershy brought up the shotgun and pointed it at the infected Pegasus. Boom! Its head flew apart, allowing two serrated limbs to sprout out of its oesophagus like weeds. Those limbs thrashed about, stabbing the deck around Fluttershy, searching for her.

A second shell killed the thing just as her shields regenerated, but more of them could be heard over the crackling flames. The Covenant could be heard too, and Fluttershy recognised the sounds of Flood on Covenant conflict taking place right around the corner.

Fluttershy groaned, "Ugh! Twilight! I... I'm hurt!"
"I know. I know," came the AI's calm response. "Just back up, ok. The Flood are preoccupied at the moment. Hopefully we can sort you out in time."

She dragged herself across the floor that was heated due to the spitting blue fires. Backing up meant going closer to those fires, and Fluttershy was concerned about that. Still, a fiery fate was more appealing than a Floody one, so she used the flames as curtains to conceal herself and slumped against a piece of twisted metal, grunting with torture.

The Flood form she'd just killed laid in plain view before her. She could see what was left of a turquoise coat, an orange tail, and the remaining foreleg that had a brace made out of branches fastened to it.

Well, that gave Fluttershy a whole new hurting feeling, but that pain was soon masked by the pain it took to yank the mutated foreleg out of her side. She screamed through gritted teeth as it was torn free of her flesh, and her blood spilled to join all the other fluids that stained the deck.

Whilst the Flood and the Covenant settled their differences like true monsters, the wounded Pegasus wheezed as she got out her med-kit and proceeded to cleanse her injury. Luckily, it wasn't too serious, and no bones or organs had been effected, so she just pasted a dressing to the scar under the black, non-metal body suit and put her med-pack away.

Wincing, the distressed Mare shakily rose to her hooves and staggered out of the fiery embrace.
"You feeling better, Fluttershy?"
"Nng... N-no."
"There there, you'll be fine. Just think; some day, we'll be home."
"Not all of our friends will be there though."

Stepping over Lightning's changed body and peering around the next corner, all Fluttershy saw was dead Covenant, left in the Flood's gory wake. The fighting could still be heard however, as the Flood encountered more Covies around yet another corner.

"Well, we've found the Covenant, that's a good sign," Twilight informed. "And I never thought I'd be saying that."

Fluttershy decided to take it as easy as was possible in a ghost ship, and hung back to let the Flood clear a path for her through the Covenant. It reminded her of her time on the Filly of Autumn, when Pinkie Pie shot ahead to clear the way for her. Oh how she missed Pinkie, and cursed herself for comparing her to such abominations.

However, those abominations were getting the job done, and soon, Twilight was ordering her to advance through the gore streaked corridors.

One of the Covenant, a rookie Elite, had been left behind by the Flood. Fluttershy thought he was dead at first, and the Flood probably thought likewise. He was drenched in three different colours of blood; blue, purple and green. His left arm was a sleeping cat on his lap; no longer attached to him, and he used his remaining arm to stroke it, as if it really were a cat.

He looked up at Fluttershy, his neck creaking, giving her the hibby-jibbies. What frightened her more was the noise he made, which didn't sound anything like an Elite. He started to gag, drooling purple blood, eyes rolling back, something shifting under his skin.

The nightmare in the making never came out of production though, as the timid little Fluttershy gave him the necessary dose of shotgun and reloaded. Fighting through the multiple pains she was experiencing, she trudged down the corridor, grunting feebly. Feeling her scar skew about under her armour, she whimpered, desperate for a break.

Eventually, she squeezed through a malfunctioned door, emerging in a massive room she recognised from the Truth. A vast main floor below. The second floor balcony she was standing on now with a central walkway that split the room in two. And a third balcony, high above the scattered crates and rallying Covies.
"Huh. Strange. I thought the shuttle bay was back there, ha," Twilight joked sarcastically.

"The Covenant have almost complete command of this shuttle bay," mentioned the AI, sorta putting Fluttershy's fears at ease. "Almost."
That "almost" brought the fear back, and Fluttershy heard the Flood loud and clear all around her. The Covenant heard them too, and were just as spooked as she was.

Whispering merely for dramatic effect, the AI plotted, "Ok. Let's try and get out of here before anything big goes down. The door we're going for is over there."
Fluttershy's stomach growled. "Nng... Where?"
"Far side."
Ah, she found it. Damn; that was a long way away, and Fluttershy wasn't sure she could make it in time.

A monstrous shriek tore up behind her, along with heavy footfalls, and that was enough to scare her on her way along the second floor balcony. Up ahead, she spied a gathering of Covenant soldiers, all jacked up and ready for battle. That was enough to make her stop. With Flood behind and Covenant ahead, Fluttershy didn't know what else to do. Frantically, she searched around, and dove into hiding amongst a cluster of crates and a decorative groove in the wall.
"Yeah, this is a good enough hiding spot," commented Twilight. "We'll need it."

After a heart stopping crash, the Flood announced their presence in the hangar, and the Covenant army instantaneously opened fire.

Fluttershy was a judge on a talent show as both factions took centre stage on the central walkway and fought it out, right before the Mare's concealed eye. Her veined, blue eyes widened in horror as the gnarly plague carriers limped in from her right and jumped down from above to lay waste to the Covies.

Them Covies kept on coming from somewhere to Fluttershy's left, and kept on dying at the hands of what were once soldiers.

She couldn't bare the violence, didn't want to look anymore, but had to, in case something bad happened that would concern her, and of course, it did. A veteran Elite had just shot dead something that had already been his enemy before it got infected, and took cover right where Fluttershy was hiding. The back of his legs squished the petite Mare against the wall, eliciting a tortured groan from her, and he spun to face the Pony he sat on, a shocked look on his ugly alien face.

Fluttershy's first instinct was to bring up the shotgun, and the Elite's first instinct was to grab it. His big muscles were more powerful than Fluttershy's mechanical arm, and he was able to toss the weapon away.
"Aaaah!" screamed the defenceless Pony as she scuttled under the biped's legs.
The Elite grasped her tail in one claw, but luckily she was able to squirm and buck her way free.

Now that she was free from that one Elite, she had dozens of Covies and Flood to attend to, and they came swarming in from both sides, letting loose their array of weapons. Wailing, she was nudged side to side as she was sandwiched by the bullets, needles and plasma bolts.

"You see that Shade?!" blared Twilight in the madness.
The Shade turret was stationed at the very end of the walkway, and a Grunt manned the controls, firing away in her direction, but not at her.
"Get to it!"

Knowing where to go, Fluttershy screeched her way out of the crossfire and galloped straight at the stationary gun. Like a pretty yellow cockroach, she scurried under the machine and hunkered, hooves on head, shivering with fear. Biting her bottom lip, she spectated the brawl as her shields recharged. A clean Jackal was clotheslined by a contaminated Jackal. A Grunt was sliced by a Flood form with five legs. And an Elite was shot dead, only to come back as one of them.

Above the cowering Mare, the Grunt Shade operator sent purple plasma spewing into the cluster of hell, until all of a sudden, he stopped, and his body tumbled out of the Shade to land right beside Fluttershy. She screamed, seeing a long, pink needle sticking out of his eye. She screamed even louder when that needle went poof, spraying her with blue blood and making a cave in the Grunt's skull.

"The Covenant needed this Shade!" Twilight emphasized. "Without it, the Flood will win, and they'll be straight after us!"
"W-what do you expect me to do?!" wailed Fluttershy, eyes darting from one hellish scene to the next.
"I expect you to do what you've been wanting to do and join forces with the Covenant!"

With a tortured groan, the pink maned Pegasus crawled out from under the Shade turret and climbed into its seat. Green and purple blood stained the controls, telling a story.

Fortunately, each side was too focused on one another to care for the little yellow Pony, and the purple plasma she sent forth cut the Flood down like grass.

"Excellent!" cheered Twilight as monster after monster fell under the power of Fluttershy. "Keep this up and we'll be outa here in no ti-"
"-Iiii... I gave you an orderrrrrr, Fluttershyyyyy!"
Good gracious, that was Rarity's voice, seeping out of Fluttershy's radio. She sounded worse than ever.
"Rarity?!"
"Pull out! I say pull... oouut!"
Fluttershy's vigour was renewed. "Rarity, just hang in there, ok! We're coming to rescue you!"
... There was no response from the Captain.
"Rarity?!"
"She's delirious; in pain - we have to find her!"

"SSCHRRIIEEEAAAGH!" an infected Jackal bellowed as it pounced off the third floor balcony, plasma rifle in hand.
It rocketed down to join Fluttershy on the Shade, and the young Mare shrieked in shock. Lacking her trusty shotgun, Fluttershy did have two pistols at her disposal, and she rushed to bring one out of her saddle bag.

The pistol she'd picked was the diamond encrusted M6D magnum Rarity had gifted her with, so long ago.

Before she could point the thing at the redesigned alien, it whipped her in the side of her head, making her grunt and flaring her shields. Thanks to those shields, no damage was done, but she did receive a whole lot of whip-lash, and her delicate neck stung as she regained her composure.

The poorly Jackal didn't play fair however, and he just smacked her again across the other cheek, taking another bite out of her shields. One more hit and they'd be completely drained.

The Jackal raised its arm once more, tendrils bursting from the wrist, and... it came off... It just... came off. Fluttershy was confuzzled, and she seized the opportunity to fire round after round into the grotesquery's upper torso.

The kill was stolen from her by an energy sword that floated around by itself, stabbing the ex-jackal. At first, she thought it was a stealth Elite, but then the sword took off like a majestic eagle. Seemingly on its own accord, it flew around to take the fight to both factions, but mainly the Flood.

"Huh?" Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. "Twilight?! W-what's going on?!"
"It... it's Fl-"
"-WRRUU-IIIEEEEAGH!"
"I can't hear you!"
"I said it's Fleur de Lis!"
"Fleur de Lis?!" gawped the shy, shocked that the PONI operative was still alive.
She glanced all around the hangar, searching for her, but she couldn't see her anywhere.

Wherever she was, she was kicking flank as she levitated the energy sword all around the hangar and chopped up everything that wasn't equine. Well, except for the diseased Ponies, but they weren't really equine anymore.

Trying to hail Fleur, Twilight called through the radio, "Fleur! Come in!"
... Fleur didn't answer.
"Fleur! Can you hear us?! Pick up!"
Fluttershy wasn't sure if Fleur was up to her old "stay silent" act, or if she literally couldn't respond.

*****

Upon the third floor balcony, Fleur crouched and focused on her energy sword, magicing it around and slicing all hostiles. She still carried the sniper rifle on her back, but because it was useless against the Flood, she chose to conserve her ammo and just use the sword. Trixie's sword, to be precise. The Truth and Reconciliation's ship master's sword to be even more precise than that.

She'd lost her radio, unable to communicate with Fluttershy and Twilight... or Rarity even. Just somepony to talk to. Somepony to let her know she wasn't alone.

But now she knew she wasn't alone, and Fluttershy's very presence made a faint smile appear on her face. Maybe there was hope after all.

Hundreds of hollering Flood came stampeding up behind her.

Maybe there wasn't.

*****

Back on the second floor, Fluttershy pounded away at the aliens, and witnessed Fleur's energy blade drop out of the air, impaling a dead Jackal that laid twisted and mangled on the deck.
"What happened to Fleur?!" she cried over the thrumming Shade turret.
"I... I don't know! Her magic just... stopped!"
"Oh goodness! Fleur!"
Fleur might not be in the mood for radioing, but if she had been magicing her sword about, she must be close enough to hear her.
"Fleur! Where are you?!" Her tummy moaned, and she moaned with it.
"We'll look for her later!" shouted Twilight, hard to hear over the epic battle. "But right now, we've gotta stay alive! Look out!"

A whole new wave of Flood came screeching down from the third floor like a waterfall, right on top of the Covenant. The Covies were pretty much screwed, so Fluttershy decided to ignore them completely and tackle the bigger threat.

The Shade's purple plasma was viciously lethal; cutting down Flood forms and melting the Covenant architecture like purple cheese. And one great thing about the turret; it never overheated. Never required reloading. Never ran out of energy. Well, Fluttershy felt certain she'd end up firing it dry at some point, but judging from a readout on the instruments, it wasn't going to be soon... unless that readout meant something else.

Once the Flood had dominated the Covenant, they attempted to do the same to Fluttershy, but their numbers had dwindled, and Fluttershy mopped up the remainder of them, no problem. One last parasite pounced onto her, jabbing her with its appendages, backfiring and bursting into a cloud of goo and spores. Coughing, Fluttershy hid her muzzle from the stink.

A powerful shriek rattled her skeleton.
"Now's our chance to exit!" ordered Twilight desperately. "Quick, more are coming!"
Like a pink and yellow bullet, Fluttershy tore across the balcony, abandoning her Shade, and galloped to the next door. Her sliced side hurt like hell, but the pain was drowned out by her determination to flee. To find Fleur. To find Rarity. What she ended up finding in the narrow corridor however, was neither of them.

A trio of Grunts came running at her. No, not at her. To her. They retreated from the Flood that were right on their tails.

Fluttershy used the Flood as an excuse to spare the diminutive aliens, and she fired her diamond encrusted pistol into the warped beasts. One of those beasts was a carrier form, and it blew up with enough force to detonate a couple of plasma grenades on the belt of an infected Elite.

The whole corridor shook under the explosion, and Fluttershy and the Grunts went tumbling to the floor. Her hearing faded to ringing, and bloody debris splattered her pink mane.

Peering over her shielding hoof, she noticed a lone combat form that had survived the explosion, dragging itself through the devastation, spasming its horned head in an awful frenzy. The fact that it was a Unicorn made Fluttershy pause for a sec before shooting it, seeing if it could be recognised.

Once the unrecognisable ex-unicorn was floored, she spun to face the Grunts. "Excuse me, little, um, Grunts? I'm looking for my friends. Unicorns, white coats..."
"Pony, from the outside," spoke the red one, pointing.
Together, they swooned, "Oooooh."
"What she call us?" one of the rookies squeaked.
The other one wondered, "What are Unicorns?"
"She means Nobles. Y'know, the ones with the horns."
"Nobles?"

"Fluttershy?! What are you doing?!" grated Twilight. "You can't ask these guys for directions, they'll kill you!"
"Need no worry, Lout with two voices," the veteran spoke again.
All at once, the trio chanted, "You saved our lives; we are eternally grateful."
"But, err, we no seen no Ponies. Sorry."

Peeking into the hangar, one of the rookies discovered the devastation, and witnessed a few gibbering stragglers limping around. "Woah! No wanna go that way!" he said as he recceeded back into the corridor, hitching a thumb over his back.

"Come on, boss, enough with Pony," urged the other rookie, opening up a vent in the wall that Fluttershy didn't even know was there. With narrow eyes, he glowered at her and spat, "She filthy."
"Wait!" The "filthy Pony's" "second voice" called out. "The Flood's central intelligence. Where are the Flood keeping it?"
Cool, the leader of the pack muttered, "Pony, me not even know what that is."
"Y'think it could be that big scary thing we saw in the bridge?" thought the nicer of the two rookies.
"The bridge?"
"I dunno," the veteran shrugged. When a powerful Flood screech tore down the corridor, he ushered his troops into the vent. "Now come on, get inside!" Turning his back and entering last, he bid, "Bye bye, Pony!"

Fluttershy was left standing on her own.
"... I can't believe that workerd," gawped Twilight. "To the bridge!"
Ready to push on, Fluttershy faced the stretching corridor. "Right, the bridge... Um, which way, exactly?"
"I have no idea!"
> Chapter 40: The Exploding Corridors
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy reloaded her magnum, found she was low on ammo, and decided to put it away in favour of the plasma pistol she'd picked up a while back. She used it to take care of a few stray parasites, and once there was no living or un-dead thing in sight, she squinted her eyes and carried on through the carrion.

"These corridors are rife with both factions," Twilight piped up. "Grenades are a blessing here."
Frightfully, Fluttershy stuttered, "G-got it," and rounded the next bend.

Grunts and Jackals were in the process of loosing to the Flood when the lone Mare made her appearance. Taking Twilight's advice, she rolled a frag grenade up the inclining corridor and into their midst.

It went off with a resounding BOOM and triggered a detonation from a Flood carrier form, which, in turn, triggered a detonation from a plasma grenade that'd been dropped. The triple explosion sure took its toll on the Honest Mistake's internal structure as metallic purple panelling broke and came loose, blocking the corridor, only a minute gap on the floor providing Fluttershy with a way through.

After shooting a surviving Jackal in the face and feeling bad about it, she hurried over to the hole and scrambled through... until she got stuck. She groaned as she put all her strength into pulling herself through the hole, and the metal scrap creaked in response. The compactness of the hole compressed her stomach, making it ache more than ever.
"Come on, Fluttershy, you can do it!" encouraged Twilight. "Heave!"

Once the rather slim Mare succeeded only in becoming more wedged in the even slimmer hole, infection forms came rolling around the corner ahead, along with a terrifying shriek.
"Oh no, not now!"

Using her forelegs, she battered the little blighters aside, making them dissipate in clouds of stinking green spores. She coughed and gagged, holding her breath, wafting them away.

"Uh, Fluttershy? I don't wanna alarm you, but-"
"-WRUUURRGH!" a Flood form sounded right behind her.
Covering her tearful blue eyes, Fluttershy squeaked, "Oh, you don't have to alarm me, Twilight! I'm already alarmed! Waa-"

-Without warning, the beast grasped her back leg and pulled. The metal pieces fell apart as the Pony was forced out of their embrace and into the clutches of the Jackal she'd shot dead prior to getting herself stuck. The mess she'd made of his face came close to her eye, and she'd swear she'd be scarred for life at the sight of it. She did that. She killed him, and now he was back from the dead to exact his revenge.

His right hand exploded in a cloud of purple and green blood to make way for a new, ghastly, organic blade that continued to grow until it was half the length of Fluttershy's whole body.

Before it could do anything to harm her, Fluttershy brought up the plasma pistol and screamed as she fired bolt after bolt into the part of its body where the parasite's red tipped tentacles sprouted. With the parasite within burned alive, the creature let Fluttershy drop and fainted to the deck, dead.

Hyperventilating, Fluttershy articulated, "Th-that... was... close..."
"Not as close as you think," chimed the AI, just as another warped bellow pierced the yellow one's ears.

The purple scrap heap that blocked her progress shifted and made heart-stopping banging noises; the Flood on the other side attempting to get through.

As soon as Fluttershy screamed and set off running, Twilight demanded, "No! Don't run! They'll clear our path!"
"But, what about-"
"-There's not that many of them! Just be ready for them when they break through!"
"Can't I just hide?!"
"Can you find anywhere to hide?!"

Wordlessly, Fluttershy scanned the area, and soon zipped into cover in a hole in the wall. Pipes and conduits snaked around each other inside the wall, some broken and leaking coolant, or fuel, or red hot steam. An electrical wire snapped around as sparks zapped from its severed end.

Shivering, Fluttershy aimed her plasma pistol out, listening to the Flood trampling the scrap heap. Once the heap crumbled, four combat forms pushed through, and stomped right past the little yellow Pony nestled in the Mistake's mechanics.

"Phew." She'd just wiped the sweat from her brow, when one of the monsters returned with an abrupt grunt. White, unseeing eyes aiming straight at her. "Gah!"

Panicking, she pulled the pistol's trigger over and over again, green plasma scorching the ex-pony. The other three combat forms came sprinting back as Fluttershy scrambled deeper into the tangle of pipes.

She succeeded in killing the ex-pony, but two ex-elites and an ex-jackal remained, and they clawed their way into the metal jungle with her.

Ferocious, the Jackal scratched and bit, its talons screeching the metal. Fluttershy whimpered as she wormed further back, firing her plasma pistol into its face. Eventually, it fell, and was thrown out of the way by the next monster in line.

A horizontal pipe ran along the wall, a jagged hole blown into it. Heat seethed out of it as the terrified Pegasus squirmed her way inside and dragged herself through.
"Bad idea, Fluttershy!"
"Why?!"

The reason why came in the form of smouldering steam that blasted up the tube. The infected Elite had just crashed into the shaft when the steam came up, melting his decaying skin, making him bubble and pop. He was still alive though, and he thrashed his way towards Fluttershy.

With her shields going down in the steam, Fluttershy wailed and weaselled on, the beast on her tail. If the beast didn't kill her, the steam would.

An aperture in the side of the pipe beckoned her like heaven's light. Pink tinted luminosity from the corridor cut into the dark, humid tunnel like a blade. The Mare's eyes widened as she drew closer to the prize.

"Quickly, Fluttershy!" Twilight strained. "Your shields are almost down!"

Snarling, the ugly freak behind her grabbed her tail, stopping her just as her head made it to the hole. She could see the shiny purple corridor, the flickering lights, the stains of blood, looking more appealing than the mess she'd gotten herself in now.

"No!" she shrieked as she was being pulled back, feeling the burning steam. "No! Let go! Ugh!" Madly, she kicked and wriggled, but it was hopeless. What she needed was a hero, and that's exactly what she got.

Her knight in shining armour, or more precisely; her knight in blood stained blue armour, punched into the hole and latched a couple of tentacles to her head, yanking her out of the tube. The forth combat form just saved her, but why? So it could kill her of course! Strong as a rogue rhino, the monster threw her against the wall, draining her shields completely.

The Elite in the pipes had just emerged, hanging out of the wall, looking like a steamed vegetable, when Fluttershy fired a single bolt from her plasma pistol. She missed both beasts, but the steam, or gas or whatever it was, became ignited.

KABOOM! One hell of an explosion rippled the length of the corridor, utterly demolishing the entire side wall. The Flood were perished in the blue flames. Heat and debris were thrown at Fluttershy like food at a bad act. She curled up and shivered, protecting her exposed head. Since her shields were down, she'd have to rely on the metal armour until they came back up.

Soon, the inferno simmered down, and Fluttershy rose from the ashes like a noble phoenix. Well, jittery phoenix in her case. Her teeth chattered and her eyes darted around.
"Twilight? Aha-aha," she coughed as her shields recharged. "Am I safe now?"
"About as safe as you can be in a place like this," answered the AI over the distant fighting. "The way is clear. And the Flood left us a little something."
The mischief in Twilight's tone unnerved Fluttershy. "Um... what did they leave u-"
She'd just set off trotting when her hoof made contact with what looked like an overgrown banana. Faint green lights decorated the banana, and Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion at the object.

"That," Twilight started, "Is a fuel rod cannon."

*****

Meanwhile, a pitched fight was underway within a cramped corridor. An Elite wrestled with what had been one of his soldiers, a Grunt tossed a grenade into the swarm, and a Jackal convulsed as he became repurposed. The gunshots, explosions and war cries spread all around the ship, telling a story.

"Make way for Fluttershy!" a certain synthesised voice sounded as the yellow Pegasus came hurtling into the fray, eyes closed and streaming tears of fear.
The conflict paused as each combatant beheld the Mare, running straight and true, unleashing a barrage of fuel rod projectiles all over their sorry faces. Bright green explosions melted the aliens and smashed the walls.
"Make way for Fluttershy! Make way for Fluttershy, hahahaha!"

Just like that, Fluttershy had vaporised her way through the conflict and charged head on through the green and blue flames, leaping to avoid the radius of a lingering plasma grenade.

The instant she arrived unscratched at the other end of the corpse filled corridor, the ceiling caved in, no turning back, and she whimpered in trauma.
Twilight on the other hoof, was less shaken. "Hahahaha! I know I shouldn't laugh, but, that was amazing! You just charged right through it all! I think somepony's on her way to earning every medal in the UPSC!"
She sang that last bit, and Fluttershy felt a little reassured at the AI's optimism. As for the medals; she couldn't care less.

But of course, something just had to come and spoil the moment, but funnily enough, it didn't come from the Flood, nor the Covenant. It came from a dear friend of hers.

"I told you... not to come heerre," groaned Rarity over the radio, sounding really, really sick.
Fluttershy gasped, "Rarity! Hold on! We're coming!"
Rarity gipped before continuing. "I... can't... be saved!" Her words were slow and spaced apart.
"No! It's not too late!"
"It was... too late... the moment they... caught meee!"
And that's when the connection ended, and Fluttershy started to weep. It sounded like the Captain was right.

"Oh no," whimpered Twilight.
"What is it?"
"Rarity's vitals are fading. Hurry!"
Fluttershy hung her head. "Oh Twilight, it's too late."
"... Not necessarily."
"Huh?"
"Just get to her... and you'll understand."
Sloppily, Fluttershy reloaded the fuel rod cannon with the last five round magazine and trudged onwards.

Emerging out of the exploding corridors and onto the third floor balcony of the shuttle bay, Fluttershy came across a faint trickle of red Pony blood at her hooves. She inspected it. It was still wet and warm. Fresh. Fleur's?

Her pondering was interrupted by the thundering of the Flood that gathered in a doorway, just along the balcony. They huddled around a fallen crate, unaware of her presence.

Using two other Covenant crates as cover, Fluttershy primed and tossed a plasma grenade out into the Flood and covered her ears as it went off with a mighty BOOM! A quick peek through the crack between the purple boxes revealed that the grenade hadn't landed anywhere near the Flood, and only succeeded in grabbing their attention.
Ugh, I'm too tired for this.

Using the fuel rod gun at such close range would be idiotic, so she drew out the plasma pistol and squeezed the trigger, building up an overcharged bolt.

She could hear the carnivorous nightmares, gurgling, screeching, closing in around her. She wasn't sure if she could take them all on with just a plasma pistol.

Just as she was about to bail, a new sound thrummed from outside the Honest Mistake, beyond the translucent hangar doors. Whatever it was entered the Cruiser, and the Flood turned their backs on Fluttershy to attack it instead.

Not sure what to do with the intense orb of green energy she'd built up at the tip of her vibrating weapon, Fluttershy discharged it into an infected Elite as it jumped to land on the source of the new noise: A Covenant Spirit drop ship.

"Thank you, Covenant!" giggled Twilight as the "U" shaped vehicle began to back immediately out of the Honest Mistake. "The Flood are posted on that thing. Now's our chance."
Heedfully, Fluttershy rounded her crate cover and paced along. Her pace soon picked up into a trot, and then into a hurried gallop.

Navigating the ship's corridors once again, Fluttershy came up to a fight scene with the Flood and the Covenant, and proceeded to resolve the conflict with multiple FRPs. However, some of the Covenant survived the bombardment, and the Flood just kept throwing more bodies into the fray, so Fluttershy took her empty banana gun and did what she did best. Hid.

It just so happened, Grunts were pretty good at hiding too, and the first sign the young Pegasus had that she was sitting right next to one was when it reached out and touched her lips.
"Sshh," it breathed, looking deep into her surprised eyes.
Feeling unthreatened yet shy around the little alien, Fluttershy peered over its shoulder to see two more Grunts cowering further up the devastated branch of corridor she'd ventured down. One of them mimed slitting his throat, and the other one just stared at her seriously.

"Wow... Umm..." In Fluttershy's head, Twilight was lost for words.
Fluttershy felt that the time to make friends with the enemy was now.

Over the deafening sounds of battle just around the corner, Fluttershy whispered into the first Grunt's ear, "Hi, um, I'm... I'm Flutter-"
"-Ssshhh!" the Grunt repeated, a little more aggressively. "Shush, Pony."
The last thing she wanted to do was aggravate the aliens. Actually, the last thing she wanted to do was give away their position, so she pursed her lips and gazed awkwardly around the burning corridor, mindful of the war around the corner.

Something exploded and sent a contaminated corpse hurtling right into the secret den, eliciting louder responses from the Grunts than from Fluttershy. That said, when that corpse got up with an infernal shriek, Fluttershy did scream the whole ship down.

As a unit, the Grunts and the Pony opened fire on the ex-elite. It braved the plasma, chopping the heads off two Grunts with a single swing of its serrated appendage. Fluttershy and the remaining Covie were splattered by the vibrant blue fountains that squirted out of the Grunts' neck holes.

"Quick! Take it out!" urged Twilight, prompting Fluttershy to build up an overcharged bolt.
The monster had just turned to face her when she let the green plasma loose, and it burned a hole the size of a dinner plate right through the Elite's upper torso. Blue flames, purple walls and the surviving Grunt could all be seen clearly through the hole, and since the parasite within had been burnt to a crisp, the ravaged Elite body slumped over onto Fluttershy. She moaned as the weight crushed her, and the stench filled her nostrils. It made her gip, and she felt like she was going to be sick again.

Once she'd hauled the ex-elite off of her, she looked up to behold the last Grunt, curled up in a fatal ball in the corner. He shivered and whimpered, and whenever an extra loud noise tore up from beyond the branch corridor, he joined Fluttershy in jolting.

Gently approaching the cowering Grunt, Fluttershy came up short upon Twilight's voice.
"Let him be."
"But, I was just gonna-"
"-Doesn't matter what you were gonna do. Rarity is close, and she needs us more than he does."
Fluttershy hesitated, looking down worryingly at the Grunt.

In the end, she harvested the two dead Grunts and one dead combat form for ammo and grenades, and spied around the corner to see what was what.

The Flood and the Covenant were still at it, so she kept herself hidden and awaited the end of the fight. She even took a much needed swig of water from her canteen, spilling it a little as death and destruction echoed a mere few metres away.

At last, the fight ended, and two Flood forms were left standing. One of them was a carrier form, so Fluttershy tackled that first, watching it explode and send the combat form crumpling into the ceiling. The newly spawned infection forms slithered along the walls and floor, but were soon put down by the shy and her plasma pistol. Well, except for the last one.

The last parasite was lucky, as Fluttershy's plasma pistol simply refused to fire.
Twilight diagnosed, "Uh-oh! Plasma pistol's dry!"
Fluttershy let out a feeble whimper as she reared up and flicked the snot-bag away, killing it on impact.

Now that the area was relatively secure, it was time to check out her arsenal. She had grenades a plenty, an M6D with low ammo, a fuel rod gun with zero ammo, and tonnes of shotgun shells, but no shotgun.

Flood and Covenant bodies carpeted the floor, and Fluttershy didn't have time to go searching through them for what she needed, but a trio of bright green fuel rod magazines caught her eye, and a needler was resting on the body of an un-infected Elite, so she snatched them up, along with a few reloads, and marched up a second branch corridor where she came up to a blood stained door.
I wonder what's on the other side.

What was waiting for her on the other side was quite a shock.

She instantly recognised the chamber with its elevated central podium and shifting, holographic display screens. She was at the bridge!
Not even Twilight had been ready for that. "Wait, what?! How did we..." she trailed off upon noticing something huge and Flood fixed to the rounded podium.

Fluttershy was petrified of the thing, and she froze in place, not taking her eyes off it. She wanted to ask "what is that thing," but the words were stuck in her throat.
"... Approach it."
After a big gulp of anxiety, the yellow Pony took slow, quiet steps towards the podium and the leviathan lump of Flood that stood upon it.

The Flood ball was ginormous! At first, Fluttershy thought it was some sort of giant variant of carrier form, but after noticing the long, spider-web-like spines that stretched up to the ceiling, keeping it suspended, she surmised that it wasn't meant for moving about.

It did move about though, she realised as she got nearer. Odd shapes within pushed up against the skin of the unyielding sack. Some of them were motionless, but others seemed to be struggling for release.

Oh gosh; those shapes resolved into hands! Hands of Covenant soldiers that had been absorbed by this... this thing! Some of their faces pushed up against the thing's skin too, and Fluttershy recognised a Jackal snapping its beak, and an Elite spreading its mandibles, trying to bite their way out, not succeeding. None of them screamed however. More wailed. Cried. Despaired.

Fluttershy screamed though. She screamed until her throat was sore. She screamed until she was cut off by her own gut, sending sloppy vomit up and out of her mouth.

"Oh my gosh," Twilight breathed in disbelief. "This must be the Flood's central intelligence... Still half formed... I... I've never seen anything like it."
A shudder coursed through the Mistake's deck as something exploded far below.
All Fluttershy could respond with was a series of tortured groans. She really didn't feel well. "Nnnguurrg. Gurrg. Urnnng."
Holding her excruciatingly painful tummy, she continued to stare at the gargantuan lump of biomass, tranced by the thing. She didn't even bother wiping her mouth clean.

Since all the bodies that made up the mass of Flood were Covenant, the presence of a Unicorn horn caught her attention. She peered at the horn, trying to locate a face, but she was so weary, and her vision just blurred in and out of focus. She felt like she was going to collapse any second now.

AIs didn't need sleep however, so Twilight ended up locating a Pony's face before she did. Well, not just a Pony's face. The Pony's face.
"Is that Rarity?!"
Dazed, Fluttershy tried to focus her eyes on the Pony's face, and they widened with horror when she made the discovery. "Rarity!"

They'd found her, and she was in a worse state than Fluttershy. One of her eyes was half open, exposing the blue iris. Her mouth was jammed wide open, as if she was still alive and seeing. Witnessing the horror. Screaming at it. Crying for help. Crying for none. Her hind legs dangled from the pile of bodies, and her three diamond cutie mark was just visible under patches of blood and hideous growth.
The skin of her face was actually morphed with the skin of the Flood, like she and the Covenant bodies were all just one big organism.

Fluttershy would've puked again, if she had any left in her, and she hacked violently as she turned away from what her dear sweet Rarity had become.

Hacking not quite over, she laid down on her belly and buried her head in the floor, not caring for the pools of Flood blood left on it, or the possibility of being ambushed. She'd never felt more dreadful in all her life, and she just wanted it all to be over.

Tears broke through her tightly shut eyelids and trickled down the grubby coat of her face, speckling the deck. First Pinkie Pie, now Rarity. Was anypony going to make it off this Celestia forsaken ring?

It got her thinking about Rainbow Dash and Applejack. She hadn't heard a peep out of them since the discovery of the Flood in the swamp, and the strength of worry was crushing. She hadn't heard from the Truth and Reconciliation for an even longer time, and the way things were, she wouldn't be surprised if it had gone down. Gone down or left without her.

"F-fluttershy?" Twilight started with a croaky, tearful voice. "We... we must destroy this ring... We must... For Rarity, for Pinkie Pie... We can't let the Flood win."
To say the Twilight in her head was only an AI, she was acting so true to the real life, sentient Twilight. It was as if she really was Twilight that had shrunk and hitched along for the ride, had the ability to feel, to cry.

Gazing up at the towering monstrosity, Fluttershy's lower lip began to tremble. She'd seen a lot on this ring that would no doubt scar her for life, but this took the cake. There was no way this image was ever going to evacuate her memory.

"... Do you remember why we came here?" The digital Princess even added a sniffle at the end.
Finally wiping the puke off her face, the depressed Pegasus answered, "We came to find Rarity," sniff, "... And we found her."
"Right... or... or her neural interface."
An awkward pause befell the Mare and the AI, and the ship wide battle could be heard raging on and on.

The neural interface was something that an officer in the UPSC, like Captain Rarity, had to have implanted in the back of their skull. Something that would grant them access to important things in a starship, like the self destruct sequence. If they were going to rig the Autumn to blow and destroy Halo and the Flood, they would need it.

"Fluttershy... sweetie... you're not going to like this..."
> Chapter 41: Grave Robber
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The commander's Spirit soared through the night, weaving through magnificent rock formations. The mood inside was bleak. A UPSC Cruiser was not a nice place to be, especially when it was wrecked. Especially when the parasite was on board. But the fate of the ring was imperilled by it. If the Covenant were to stop the Ponies from triggering the armageddon the ship contained, they would have to secure it... again.

It had been secured before to stop the UPSC from scavenging her for supplies, just to make life harder for them. Apparently, there had been very little UPSC action there anyway. Of course the Flood were the biggest threat. The UPSC would show their faces though. And now that the Sentinels were getting in on the action, it looked like a different type of armageddon would be underway pretty soon.

BANG! Something outside couldn't wait though, and it punched its way in, prying the starboard door open with strong claws. The Elites grunted with surprise while the Grunts squealed with fear. Entering the vehicle, an ugly Flood combat form swung its arm left and right, smashing Grunts dead in single blows.

Unable to fire weapons inside the aircraft, the Elites ran up to the form, restraining it and beating it to death. More Elites came in from the port troop bay, and the pilot compensated for the skewed weight distribution. All surviving Grunts cowered at the very end of the un-breached, port troop bay.

The intruder had once been an Elite, and it took a lot to put him down. A lot more than it took to put healthy Elites down, as demonstrated by a second intruder. This one had once been a Jackal, and it ran an organic scythe through the huddled soldiers, killing two and wounding one. The rest of the Elites ducked and tried to beat the thing off of their craft, but it wasn't going anywhere.

Pulling itself inside, the ex-jackal snarled like a wild animal with a megaphone, and singled out one of the Covies. The unfortunate one, a rookie, was mauled within an inch of his life before his teammates managed to pull the mutant off of him, but then the mutant turned on them. Together, the Elites were able to rip the monster apart.

At once, three more combat forms entered the Spirit. The three newbies consisted of a distorted Jackal armed with a shotgun, a warped Elite with an energy sword, and a redesigned Pony that bore no weapon other than herself.

The Elites' energy shields were strong, but not strong enough as they began to fail. Soon, the Grunts showed up, and broke the "no firing" rule, unleashing plasma and needles into the stinking hijackers. The ex-elite gathered a tonne of needles in his lumpy torso, and the following explosion shook the Spirit.

"Keep her going!" the commander bellowed at the frightened pilot in Elite language.
He took out his energy sword and approached the two remaining Flood.

Shoving the rule-breaking Grunts aside, he lunged for the closest monster, the ex-jackal, and rolled in time to avoid the lethal shotgun blast it conjured up. The buckshot tore away at the Spirit's panelling, and the entire starboard door hinged open, introducing a new threat: Turbulence. It tugged at the troop carrier's occupants, and a couple of Grunts actually fell out, disappearing in the night.

As the pilot cautiously shed altitude, the commander grasped onto a railing and booted the ex-jackal in the stomach, sending him flying outside. However, unbeknownst to anyone, it was able to latch onto the aircraft's exterior, braving the wind and g-forces.

The remodelled pink Pony came clanging along the wall, protrusions digging in, and howled in the commander's face. In an instant, he swung his sword, but missed as the cur backed up. Quickly, it sprang out, smacking the commander with enough strength to break his wrist. He dropped his sword, and it went on its journey to the valley floor.

"Retched creature!" he snorted, head-butting the creature back.
Taking the brunt of the blow, ex-Pinkie almost shrugged as if to say "that was nothing," and delivered her own attack, smacking him with a tentacle. The long, slimy appendage struck like a bat on a ball, and the mighty Zealot was thrown overboard, along with the rail he so desperately held onto.

Now, the only healthy life forms on the flight were a quartet of Grunts and the single Elite pilot. With a noise that was a cross between a squawk and a roar, the contaminated Jackal returned, and he and Pinkie had their fun.

Sat on the dirt, the commander rubbed his aching wrist. He'd come to a harsh landing on his tush, and had even left a crater. Shining blue, his energy shields regenerated, and he rose to his feet with a grunt. He gazed up at the starry sky and saw the lopsided Spirit carry on without him, disappearing around the canyon.

He'd lost his energy sword, so the only weapon he had was his plasma rifle, and as a distant shriek bounced off the walls of the canyon, it sounded like he might be needing it.

In the Spirit's direction, he ran, his heavy footsteps and panting echoing up and down.

*****

Eyes fixated to the horribly mutated Rarity, Fluttershy knew what to do. Twilight had been over it with her, and she had refused at first, but if she didn't do this, there would be no hope for the universe, Equestria, her friends.

Here goes, she thought, raising a hoof and pulling it back.
... She didn't do it. Couldn't do it. What she had to do was so unbelievingly vile she just couldn't bring herself to doing it.

Twilight Sparkle had gone quiet; not rushing her. The war between the Flood and the Covenant was still happening in the Cruiser, and could be picked up clearly from every direction. That rushed her.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she forced herself to do the necessary action, and put all her strength into her raised foreleg.

Squelch! Her hoof punched through what had been Rarity's skull and became imbedded in the ex-unicorn's half-dissolved brain. Rummaging blind, she whimpered feebly, searching for the neural interface within her friend's head. All she could feel was soft, squelchy stuff, and the jaggedness of the skull she'd broken through.

Surprise caused her eyes to pop wide open as her hoof came into contact with something loose, square and metal. Determined not to loose it or push it deeper into the big ball of bodies, she felt around carefully, trying to get her hoof behind the device.

Once she had the chip where she wanted it, she squinted once more and sent maximum effort into retrieving Rarity's neural interface.

Her hoof made a popping noise as she yanked it out of the slimy hole, green blood oozing out of it. The interface clanked on the deck.

Shaking the mottled green fluid from her hoof, Fluttershy scooped up the teeny metal device, shook that clean as well, and placed it in her saddle bag.
Sombrely, Twilight muttered, "We're done... We have the codes... We should go."
Crying over what she'd just done, Fluttershy quivered, "We're... we're finally getting out of this place?"
"Yes... Head back to the shuttle bay... We'll find a ride there."
The pain in her gut intensified. "... Ok."

The ill Mare had just started tramping down the bridge's central podium, her back turned to the sack of corpses and the mess she'd made of its diamond, when Twilight spoke up, "Oh and Fluttershy?"
"Yes?"
"Can you hide under the podium for us? Something big's about to go down."
Putting a period to the AI's words, a terrifying shriek ripped through the walls and overflowed Fluttershy's ears. Her face became stricken with fear as she desperately galloped over to the cramped area underneath the command deck and Rarity's coffin.

Just as the AI said, the Covenant entered the bridge via the same door she'd used to get in herself, and they scanned the area for trouble. Something was different about them, but Fluttershy was too tired to put her hoof on it. Then she realised; they were all wearing black. Metallic black armour that shimmered and sparkled. There were no Jackals; just Elites and Grunts, armed with plasma pistols, plasma rifles, needlers and fuel rod cannons.

The deck wobbled like jelly as something else came charging up to the bridge. Something caterwauling. Something obvious. The Covenant knew what they were up against, and they fanned out across the bridge, taking up defensive positions. Well, all but one.

One of the alien soldiers, a black clad Grunt with a fuel rod cannon, stood still in the middle of the lower deck. He wasn't frozen if fear, he just had orders, and those orders turned out to be the smartest decision the Covenant had ever made.

Just as three of the four doors to the bridge were smashed down and the Flood came pouring in, the Grunt fired his fuel rod cannon over and over again into the humongous clot of biomass above, and icky green gloop formed a waterfall, further concealing Fluttershy.

The Grunt managed to let off a full five rounds before being mauled by the Flood. The special Covenant commandos, if that's what they were, hurled plasma grenades into the gathering horde. They fired their weapons, cutting the disgraces down, burning them, melting them. Deadly pink needles stabbed into many Flood forms, and they went up in super-combine explosions. Even larger explosions came courtesy of the fuel rod cannons, and the Flood were transformed into shooting stars trailing green flames.

Whatever department of the Covenant these soldiers were part of, they were hard-core, and they fought brilliantly. Fierce, cunning and experienced, the black armoured tacticians caused a chain reaction of explosions within the Flood. Blinding blue plasma grenades, luminous green FRPs, murky olive carrier forms, and even a couple of UPSC frags quaked the whole Honest Mistake, and once the dust settled, the extent of the damage was insane.

"Holy moley, that's a big holey!" Twilight gawked.
A gaping hole had been blown into the deck, and another floor was visible below. On that floor, there was a separate battle taking place between the Flood and the Covenant, and the aliens glanced up in confusion as debris and body parts came raining down.

The only thing more insane than the damage was the fact that the Flood just kept coming. The Covenant below were converted into combat forms in no time, and they joined the rest of the Flood in the bridge. They leapt through the hole, charged through the doors, wormed through the vents. They came from everywhere, and unleashed a variety of stolen weapons on the black clad Covies.

Loud explosions continued to deafen Fluttershy as the two sides napalmed each other.

The elevated podium that sheltered Fluttershy creaked and tilted.
"Oh no!" Twilight alarmed drastically. "Get clear!"
The yellow Pegasus took a gawp at the falling podium and spun to take one epic leap out of the way.

She crumpled into one of the two built in trenches to each side of the podium, and covered her head as the thing came crashing down, right where she'd been hiding.

"You're gonna have to get clearer than that!"
Fluttershy peeped up to witness the bulbous Flood body bag hanging on its stretching webs above her. Now that was something she definitely didn't want to be squished under.

Manically, she scrambled up and galloped speedily away from the looming flab, not watching as it plopped to the ground. Like a water balloon with a hole in it, it leaked green liquid from its wound, giving rebirth to a few absorbed Covenant corpses. One of those corpses wheezed, its body all over the place like a fried egg. Gross.

Fluttershy took cover behind a thick, purple support column and watched as something detonated, causing an identical column to topple over. A Grunt had taken up position in the column's shadow, and when he noticed it falling towards him, he expertly dove out of the way, leaving the column to smack down on a line of Flood.

Grunts were often laughed about in the UPSC. Not these ones though. These black clad soldiers were professionals, and if anypony else were here now, they'd be taking the cute little squeakers seriously.

However, the black clad Covies were still up against the Flood, and as usual, they... won?! What?! Fluttershy had a hard time believing that, but her eyes didn't deceive her. There was indeed one Elite and one Grunt left standing. A damn sight less than the original platoon, but still, two Covies and zero Flood. Oh wait, one Flood got back up. Never mind, the Elite killed it again.

Now that the fight was over, the Grunt and the Elite regrouped. The taller species brought up a radio and grumbled into it while the shorter one stood and surveyed the carnage.
"Now's our chance."

As the Grunt inspected the hole in the floor and the Elite conversed with whomever was on the radio, Fluttershy snuck up behind them, nice and quiet. She couldn't sneak past them, so she just listened to Twilight's instructions and did as the AI pleased.

After informing his superior of the situation and requesting reinforcements and a repair team, the black clad Elite put away his radio and scanned the chamber. Every surface was drenched with mostly green blood, and scorch marks ruined the shiny purple sheen. The huge potato of Flood biomass lay over the built in trench to the side of the collapsed command deck. He looked at it, puzzled, noting the odd shapes within, the great big hole that one of his Grunts had blasted into it, and the Unicorn Mare's head that had been, rather disturbingly, hollowed out. Who would do such a thing?

Something punched him in the back and stayed there, sizzling away, glowing bright blue. Well, he knew what that meant, and he only had enough time to turn around and see his pink maned assailant before blowing up in blue flames.

Startled by the noisiness, the Grunt spun to fire his needler at Fluttershy, only to find that her shields could bare the brunt. He didn't have shields though, and when Fluttershy unleashed a barrage of her own needles, he squealed in agony as each and every crystal shard punctured his flesh and thick blue blood oozed out of the stab wounds. The super-combine set off a secondary explosion from an abandoned plasma grenade, but the little feller died long before that happened anyway.

After gathering up grenades, needler and fuel rod cannon magazines, Fluttershy took a drink, tip-hoofed around the hole in the floor, turned her head away from ex-Rarity, and went back the way she came. There was no praise from Twilight this time, but she didn't mind. The AI was probably still lamenting over Rarity. So was she, and she wiped a single tear off her scarred cheek.

She slinked through a door, just in time to see an infection form burrow into a dead Jackal's chest. As the bird-like biped began to roar and convulse back to life, Fluttershy used the needler to make him fly apart in a cloud of purple blood and pink dust. She reloaded and continued.

A fresh batch of Flood were waiting for her right around the corner, although they seemed to be focusing on another threat. The doorway behind them lead to the shuttle bay, and Covenant ordinance shot into the corridor from there.

However, Fluttershy had still been spotted, and some of the bodies came shambling up to meet her, roaring all sorts of alien roars. One of the combat forms hissed menacingly and fired a captured sniper rifle aimlessly in Fluttershy's general direction.
"A sniper rifle?!" she strained as she backed up, firing her needler conservatively, not taking her eyes off the nightmares. "Oh no!"
If the Flood had gotten hold of a sniper rifle, that could mean...

The infected Pony that wielded it wasn't a tall, stick thin Unicorn, which provided hope for Fleur, but it did have something unique about it. At first glance, Fluttershy thought it was a Pegasus, but then she noticed it had bat wings. Aside from those creepy, limp bat wings, it had at least half a head, and sharp, irregular teeth stuck out from its skull, a brain hanging underneath. One of its eyes was missing, but the one that remained was orange, and the pupil was a slit, like how it was on a cat's eye.

Fluttershy had been firing at that infected Bat Pony, but an infected Elite pounced in to divert her fire. Once she'd used up a whole magazine on that thing, she primed a plasma grenade and was careful not to stick any of the Flood. If she did, and it got close, she'd be screwed.

Anyway, the plasma grenade detonated with a resounding BOOM, and all the Flood forms, including that ragged old Bat Pony, were history. All at the hooves of sweet little Fluttershy.

"Hold on," Twilight motioned, sounding generally puzzled.
With the memory of Rarity still fresh in her mind, Fluttershy sniffed and stuttered, "W-w-what is it?"
"I've got a friendly contact."
Fluttershy got her hopes up. "Huh? Is it Fleur?!"

"Ah, there it is," a friendly Mare's voice murmured from an aperture in the ceiling.
Much to Fluttershy's astonishment, Fleur de Lis dropped down with a loud thud, knees bent as she absorbed the hard landing.
Seeing Fluttershy, she spoke blandly, "Oh, and there you are," as she magiced up the sniper rifle that the contaminated Bat Pony had been equipped with and took out a cloth to polish its grip.

"Fleur!" both Twilight and Fluttershy gasped, gawping at the model Mare.
Fleur simply nodded.
Fluttershy tried to get control of her words. "Wh - b - h-how..."
"Long story."
"Well it's fantastic that you're here," spoke Twilight. "We could use a friend right now."

Monotone, Fleur interrogated, "Captain. Where is she?"
Twilight activated her sad sequence. "... It's too late for her..."
Bottling up her emotions, Fleur sighed and frowned at the deck. "... Her neural interface?" She was doing a better job at being an AI than the AI.
"Right here," Fluttershy answered, showing off her saddle bag.
"Hm. I underestimated you."
"Yeah, she gets that a lot."

A loud buzz increased from beyond the corridor, and the two Mares peeked into the shuttle bay to see a whole lota Covenant, standing on guard. They also witnessed two Banshee fighters come swooping gracefully into the hangar, banking around and creating a gust of wind. The Elite's piloting those things were extremely skilled as they avoided collision with the balconies and descended to the bottom floor for a smooth landing.

After the Banshees, a much larger aircraft entered the ship. A Spirit drop ship. Its twin bows rose up as it slowed drastically, almost coming into contact with the balcony. Levelling off, the transport stabilised in the air, holding position as the gravity locks engaged, and it bobbed ever so slightly. The long hatch that ran the length of its left hull hitched open, and a whole squad of black clad Covenant came hopping out onto the second floor.

One thing that was strange was; there wasn't a single sign of the Flood. Apart from the dead bodies of course, but aside from that, the hangar was under complete control of the Covenant.

The Covies on the Ponies' level also wore black armour, and upon noticing the equines, they fired bursts from their weapons and hurled a couple of plasma grenades.
"Get back!" yelled Twilight as Fluttershy and Fleur dove away to escape the grenades' blast radiuses.

"D'oohh! These spec ops Covenant are armed to the teeth! It's gonna be tricky getting past them!"
"Why do we need to get past them?" pondered Fluttershy, not wanting to do anything not worth doing. "We're leaving now, right? Can't we leave some other way?"
"We're leaving for the Filly of Autumn, over eight hundred kilometres away. Any idea how you're gonna get there?"
"Um... can't Rainbow pick us up?" She hadn't heard from Rainbow Dash in too long.
"I've tried, but I can't get through to her." Worried, Twilight took a little pause.

"... Plan B."
"We take those escort Banshees," announced Fleur. Probably had the same idea.
"Bingo."
The yellow Pegasus moaned, "Oh, not Banshees again!"
"Yes, Banshees again."

Jumping the gun, Fleur stepped out into the Covenant's view, fired four quick shots from her sniper rifle, and ducked back into the corridor. Covenant bellows and a fuel rod projectile answered in kind, but Fleur was able to get clear of the green explosion.

Annoyed, Twilight wined, "Fleur! We didn't even plan how we're gonna do this!"
Reloading the sniper, Fleur just looked back at Fluttershy and raised an eyebrow, face impassive.

A blood curdling shriek rattled the purple walls and echoed all around the shuttle bay. The Covenant on the floors below filed in, braced for action. The commanding Elites beckoned for the troops to move out, and they disappeared into the Mistake's infested corridors. Well, not all of them. There was still a considerably large amount of Covies defending the hangar, and they stayed alert, expecting the unexpected.

The usual Covenant on Flood fighting sounds were amplified as the two forces met each other, somewhere within the corridors. It was just a question of which side would return to the hangar, and when.

Now, it was time to leave this sunken ship.

"I'll cover you with the sniper rifle, ok," chattered the PONI operative, a stern look on her face. "You just get to the Banshees."
Fluttershy protested, "But, w-what about you?"
"Irrelevant."
"Relevant!" Twilight sang, not at all jollily.
The deck shuddered as something nearby exploded, and a massive Flood outcry pierced the atmosphere.
"I'll be right behind you, ok. Just get to the Autumn and put an end to this nightmare." She ended her sentence by leaping out onto the balcony and firing her magazine empty at a team of unseen, gibbering Covenant.

Following Fleur, Fluttershy crept nervously out of the corridor and into Covenant central. The top balcony was clear, but there was still plenty of Covies on the other two floors below.

The professional sniper reloaded once more and uttered, "You still here?"
"We're not leaving without you, Fleur!"

A particularly large explosion jostled the whole hangar, and a couple of Grunts on the bottom floor wobbled over.

Fluttershy managed to keep her balance, but then Fleur actually kicked her! Sent her plummeting off the balcony and onto the docked Spirit below.
She screeched all the way down and hit the transport's fuselage with an, "Ouch!"

A couple of black clad Elites commanded the second floor balcony where a million Flood and Covie corpses laid, and they instantly poured plasma fire on the frightened Mare.
"As if! Fleur just kicked us!" complained Twilight as lashings of blue plasma peppered Fluttershy's shields.
"Twilight!"
"Oh, er, hurry! Get to the edge of this Spirit!"

Those Elites were super accurate, and Fluttershy worked hard to regain her footing on the Spirit's fuselage. She'd landed on its right bow, and she slipped ever closer to the edge of it, mindful not to fall off.

The crack of Fleur's sniper rifle stabbed her ears, and she heard an Elite cry in return.
"Yes! Fleur's taking care of them!" elated the AI, dismissing her annoyance at the PONI Pony.
A second round cut through the air, and the second Elite keeled over, purple blood leaking from his abdomen.

"The second balcony is clear! Move up!"
As Fluttershy attempted to make her slippery way up the drop ship, Twilight rethought, "Y'know, now that I think about it, we could just take this Spirit!"
The words didn't register with the yellow Mare though; she was too busy loosing grip on the Spirit's smooth surface, and the next thing she knew, she was sliding over the edge.
"Uh-oh. Hold on, Fluttershy!"
"I can't! There's no gri-aaaahh!" And so, all the way down to the bottom floor, the Pegasus fell.

Crunch! She came down hard on a Covenant crate, creasing the metal. She flipped head over hooves and landed flat on the deck, staring up at the hovering drop ship. Her shields had been completely drained from the fall, and she heaved with the stinging she felt all around her body.

"Get up, Fluttershy!" urged the digital Princess. "Get up!"
Sitting on her haunches, the woozy Mare swayed about, rubbing her pounding head. "Uuhh."
"Covenant are talking about you. We need to get off this ship, ASAP!"

Rising to her quivering hooves, she shook the birds free from her head and glanced around in disorientation. Fleur's sniping spree could be heard above, and the Covenant commandos could be heard to her left, behind the central walkway.

Once her shields were up to full, she put her back against the central walkway, waiting for the Covenant clamour to die down.
"There's still some Covies lingering around. Wait for Fleur to pick them off," Twilight susurrated.

From her position, Fluttershy could see Fleur de Lis and her sniper rifle high above, and as soon as the skinny Unicorn motioned her hoof, Fluttershy was charging around the corner.

Dead Covies waited for her on the other side, horrific sniper wounds penetrating their bodies. One of them, a black armoured Elite, had actually lost his head to the white coated assassin, and Fluttershy squinted at the gruesome spectacle.

The two Banshees that had come swooping in were parked neatly beside each other, carapaces open, beckoning Fluttershy to take them for a spin. As soon as she was laying inside the first alien aircraft, a spec ops Elite popped out from hiding behind a trio of crates and opened fire.
"Seal her up!" the AI barked as the fearful Fluttershy reached up and pulled the elongated carapace down over her.
She was sealed in good, but the Elite outside continued to shout and spray the aircraft with blue plasma, stitching the shiny purple fuselage with steaming black spots.

Frantically, Fluttershy followed the AI's instructions, reaching for the many different switches and controls to bring the aircraft online. Once its alien engines burst to life, she took off and used maximum power to escape the Honest Mistake. She blasted out through the hangar's force fields and shrunk away into the starry night sky, leaving the three kilometre long vessel behind. A Grunt on a Shade turret attempted to shoot her down, and the purple plasma bolts joined the blue ones in chasing the stolen vehicle. However, the Banshee was able to get away, and Fluttershy sped up towards the arching ring world. Safe.

*****

Now Fleur de Lis was all alone inside the Covenant warship. She had her sniper rifle, her assault rifle, and a few grenades. She wasn't into "noble sacrifices" or stuff like that. There were two vehicles in close proximity that she knew how to operate, so what reason did she have for not taking one?

She could've just escaped with Fluttershy, but the frail Mare needed all the help she could get if she was going to get off the ship alive, so what better way to help her than to provide sniper support? Fluttershy was the priority; the fate of the galaxy rested on her shoulders, and her survival was paramount. Hence why she laughed internally when she booted her off the third floor balcony. Recklessness like that would've done Lightning Dust proud.

With an escape plan all figured out, Fleur scanned the shuttle bay from her vantage point, backed up, got a good run up, and leaped.
> Chapter 42: ... And the Horse You Rode In On
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Maw.

Fluttershy stood alone in a cemetery, looking down at the graves of Pinkie Pie and Rarity; the only two graves in the yard. The patch of grass she and the graves were situated on floated in a murky grey oblivion. There was no wind or breeze or anything, but somehow, a wind could be heard whistling loud and clear.

Two bouquets of flowers were clamped in Fluttershy's jaws, and she gently placed them down, one over each grave. She tried not to cry, but... aw, who was she kidding. She couldn't not cry at a time like this, and she proceeded to do so over her friends. She cried her way to heaven.

"Fluttershy!" somepony else cried over the sound of non-existent gustiness that seemed to be getting louder. It came from behind, distant.
Fluttershy twisted to face a separate patch of grass, and an iron, barred gate that stood open, with three Ponies standing in it.

The real Princess Twilight Sparkle stood in the middle, with Applejack and Rainbow Dash at either side.
"Fluttershy!"
"Wake up, Fluttershy!"
Their voices echoed in the increasing wind noise, and Fluttershy simply turned away, not a care in the world.

When her floating grassy island began to quake, and a leviathan stalk shot up out of Rarity's grave, she just... sat there... gazing up at the massive green worm. She wasn't afraid. She wasn't afraid because she knew. She knew it was just a dream, and she'd wake up eventually. When the ugly tentacle proceeded to wrap itself tightly around her and pull her into the grave, she knew she'd be waking up in three... two... one...

"Fluttershy? Hello?"
"Oop, she's coming around."
"Hey, Fluttershy! Rise and shine!"
Well that was a delightful trio of voices to wake up to, and Fluttershy glanced around with hope.
... There was no pony there. Was she still dreaming?

Surveying the area, she saw that her Banshee was still there, parked on the edge of the butte she'd landed on prior to falling asleep. She'd been sleeping outside in the noisy breeze, but that didn't stop her from drifting into slumber. She had been so tired, she would've fallen asleep at the Banshee's controls, hence why she had to pull over and rest.

Browny orangey dust clouds drifted lazily by on the horizon, and Halo tapered up from behind them, completing itself above her head.

"She there?" Applejack's southern accent sounded again, and Fluttershy began to worry.
She was hearing Ponies, but she wasn't seeing Ponies. Her psyche must've got up and left.

"Where's that coming from?" she asked aloud to herself.
Twilight's voice answered, "Fluttershy, somepony wants to speak to you on the radio."
"... Ohh!"
Of course! She'd completely forgotten! Damn, she must've been tired. A mere two hours kip wasn't enough to fully re-energise her, and she just wanted to go back to sleep, even if she was just gonna have nightmares. It left her memory all fuzzy too, but it'd soon come back. It always came back.

Once she'd remembered where her radio was, she activated it and spoke groggily, "H-hello?"
"Finally!" Applejack responded from the other end. "We're so glad yer safe, Fluttershy."
"Oh, you wouldn't believe how good it is to hear from you," yawn.
"Oh, we believe it alright," Rainbow Dash entered with her tomboyish tone. "Twilight's told us about everything you've been up to! You got some serious guts, Fluttershy!"
"We're mighty proud o' ya."

The word "guts" reminded Fluttershy of her tummy ache, and she was shocked to find that it had cured. A little rest was all she needed, as it turned out. She let out another big yawn.

"Thanks, girls," she replied, happy to be talking to them, unhappy about the other two friends who weren't there. "Um... did Twilight tell you... about... um..."
"Pinkie Pie and Rarity?" Rainbow hijacked. "Yeah... she told us." She sounded much more despondent now, as did AJ.
"We're so sorry you had to be the one to find em like that, Fluttershy."
Fluttershy envisioned the farm Pony holding her hat to her chest.

*****

Rainbow flew her Pelican through the sky, above the clouds. Applejack stood in the doorway just next to her. Just visible behind the Sergeant, a number of troops rode in the back.

"I can't believe they're gone," Rainbow breathed, tearing up. "How could we just let Rarity walk right into that trap?"
"Oh, we didn't know it was a trap," responded Fluttershy.
"Aw come on, it was obviously a trap! She took directions from a Covie!" Glaring at Applejack, she grumbled, "You took directions from a Covie."
"I didn't wanna go," Applejack shot back truthfully. "I was following the Captain's orders!"

"How is it; you, Rarity and your little squad entered that... that place, and only you, Aloe n' Lotus returned?"
"Things were complicated down there."
"So complicated you lost Rarity, but those twins from the spa are perfectly ok?!"
Growing angry, AJ got in Rainbow's face. "Are you blaming me for what happened to Rarity?! I did everything I could to save her! She did everything she could to save me!" She took a pause. "... And her squad... If it weren't for her, I doubt any of us would've made it outa there alive."
From the Pelican's troop bay, a voice warbled, "She died a hero."

There was a lengthy awkward silence as Rainbow and AJ looked around, glum, the former concentrating on the view ahead.
Eventually, Fluttershy's voice buzzed over the radio, "Is everything ok in ther-"
"-And Pinkie Pie," Rainbow chose her moment to interrupt. "... I thought that Pony was invincible."

*****

Back on the butte, Fluttershy stood strong, her mane and tail blowing in the wind.

After a moment, Twilight joined in with the matter at hoof. "You girls know where you're heading?"
Together, Applejack and Rainbow hummed, "Mm-hm."
"Good. Fluttershy; expect help on this mission."
AJ chipped in, "Our last mission."
"Wait, you're coming with me?" inquired the shy, not sure if that was good or bad.

Help would be much appreciated, and to be with her friends would certainly brighten the experience. But starting from her return to Halo's control centre, Ponies had been getting picked off, one by one, and the last thing she wanted was to loose anymore friends.

"We sure as sugar are!" came Applejack's reply.
Rainbow added, "Ya didn't think we were gonna just let you enter the Filly of Autumn on your own, did you?"
"Oh... no."
"Well we'll meet you inside then!"
"Ok... I'll meet you inside." Then she commented, "Can't wait to see you again."
"Same here. Later!"
"Later!"
"Later."

The connection ended, and Fluttershy was left to gather her thoughts and memories atop the dusty butte. The butte was a good place to relax. It was only accessible by air, so the Flood would have a hard time reaching her. The Covenant still posed a threat though, but Twilight would've woken her up if things got a little crowded.

Crowded. Ha. Fluttershy gazed out over the dusty plains, not seeing a single sign of life, Covenant or otherwise.

Once Fluttershy had taken a drink from her flask, Twilight queried, "So, are you excited to unite with Applejack and Rainbow Dash once again?"
The good and bad still teetered on the scales in Fluttershy's mind.
Nether the less, she put on a feeble smile and muttered, "Oh, absolutely."
"Me too!"

Fluttershy's stomach rumbled, needing food. She hadn't eaten in far too long. Maybe she'd have time to hit the mess hall on the Filly of Autumn.

Delicately, Fluttershy touched her aching face, and winced when she felt a sting. The scars on her face hurt, her black eye hurt, and the wound she'd sustained on the side of her torso also hurt. Everything hurt, but at least she didn't feel sick anymore.

After another yawn and a stretch of the legs that felt real good, Fluttershy clambered back into her Banshee fighter and took to the dawn skies. Time to end this nightmare once and for all.

*****

Fluttershy's Banshee wailed through a narrow valley and out over an arid wasteland. The aircraft's shadow raced ahead as if eager to reach the Filly of Autumn first.

Fluttershy felt the slipstream fold in behind the aircraft's nose and tug at her armour. It felt good to be out of twisting corridors and cramped compartments, but she knew all that was going to come back in the next few minutes or so.

The first sign of the Halcyon class Cruiser's presence on Halo's surface was the hundred metre deep trench it had carved into the sandy terrain. It started where the vessel had first touched down, vanished where it had bounced, and reappeared half a klick further on. From there, the depression ran straight as an arrow to the point where the starship had finally come to rest with its blunt bow protruding over the edge of a massive precipice.

There were other aircraft flying circles around the downed beauty, all of which belonged to the Covenant, and they had no reason to suspect the incoming Banshee.

They made Fluttershy confused though, and she quizzed, "Um, Twilight? What are all these Covenant doing here?" She'd been under the impression the Autumn would be completely abandoned.
"Simple," Twilight started, Fluttershy rolling her eyes as she was about to listen to a whole lecture of un-simpleness. "When the Autumn touched down, the Covenant secured her as fast as they could, thinking we would return. We didn't, but they still guard it, just in case."
Fluttershy thought about that for a moment, wondering why the Covenant didn't just leave and help out with Flood control or locating the Truth and Reconciliation or something.

"Will they be inside the ship too?" she pondered, already knowing the answer.
"Most likely."
"Ugh."

The gargantuan jewel that was the Autumn lit up as the rays of the sun cascaded upon its battered and bruised fuselage.

An abrupt bang made the Pegasus yelp, and she felt a sudden drop of power from the Banshee. It returned immediately, but smoke began to vent from its port side where the fighter had suffered numerous plasma burns. Pieces of the fuselage began to disintegrate, flying back in the slipstream, and blue flames built up over various alien components.

"Aah! This thing is falling apart!" squealed the frightened Mare as she drew close to one of the Autumn's lifeboat bays.
Twilight strained, "It'll hold."
A rather large piece of purple metal broke off, and the Banshee shuddered as its weight distribution was skewed.
"We're not gonna make it!"
"We'll make it." Twilight was certainly keeping her cool.

Just then, another loud bang announced the death of the engines, and they never came back. The Banshee started to shed altitude. Could Fluttershy reach the lifeboat bay before falling too low?

She pulled up hard on the controls, mouth set. To the Banshee, she screamed, "Pull up! Pull up!"
BOOM! Too late...
"... You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

The Banshee had crashed right into the side of the Autumn, and the fiery wreckage went scraping all the way down to Halo. Fluttershy however, was alive and well, and clinging on for dear life to the edge of one of the air-locks. Her shields had been drained by the crash, and as she hauled herself up into the Autumn with a groan, they recharged in a shimmering gold glow.

Breathing heavily, the young Mare lay inside the air-lock that was once home to a lifeboat, and peered down at the scattering of purple debris, far below her.
She caught her breath, and Twilight joked, "Nobody suspects a thing."

The sunlight shone bright through the vast dust clouds, illuminating the lifeboat bay in a luscious gold. Fluttershy let that sun hit her haggard face for a good few seconds before sipping down some water and turning into the Autumn's gloomy interior. When would she see that light again? Would she see that light again?

She was about to exit the air-lock and enter the confines of a burnt out corridor when Twilight piped up, "Hm, seems we already have enemy activity, right outside the air-lock."
Wow, action already? Fluttershy could see where this was going.
"Already? Were... were they waiting for me?"
"No, it's just a patrol," Twilight answered, lowering Fluttershy's nerves by about one per cent. "Roll out a frag and keep that gun of yours close."

Obeying the wise AI, Fluttershy gulped and sent a frag grenade bouncing around the corner. It detonated and shook the whole deck, but nothing responded to it.
"Excellent throw, Fluttershy! You took them all out."
"All of them?" the confused Mare interrogated, thinking it had been far too easy. "Are you sure?"
"Yep, unless someone's staying still. Just step on out. Remember; keep your gun-"
"-Keep my gun close - got it."

Her gun was the needler she'd picked up, and she was prepared to fire it as she stepped out of the air-lock and into the corridor. Not a single body was in sight. However, there was some silvery pieces of scrap metal with the tell-tale Forerunner patterns engraved into them.
"Sentinels?" she wondered out loud, raising an eyebrow.
Twilight was just as perplexed as she was. "What are they doing here?"
"Well if you don't know, what hope is there?"
"Meh, I'm sure we'll find out sooner or later," diminished the AI.
Fluttershy didn't want to find out. She just wanted to go home.

Setting off walking, she scanned around, alert. Much to her distress, the Autumn wouldn't be hers. She'd been upset to find out the Covenant would be on board, and even more so when she'd discovered the Sentinels... What if the other faction were on board too? She couldn't bare the thought of running into them.

The corridor was all dented and burned from the crash, and there were a few specific patches of damage that had been caused in the fight above Halo, like bullet holes and plasma burns. There was also blood but no bodies... That didn't mean the Flood were here, did it? Maybe this section of the Autumn suffered a blow-out before it went down. Fluttershy hoped that was the case.

At the end of the corridor, Fluttershy came to a maintenance access way, and no other available route. She remembered these spooky, tightly packed ducts from the last time she was here with Pinkie Pie. If only that Mare were here now.

Reluctantly, she opened the tiny door and squeezed inside. Every surface was either burnt or dented or both, and Fluttershy had a hard time weaselling through the confining vents. Thanks to the daylight, the entrance to the maintenance access ways had been partially illuminated, but the further she tunnelled, the darker it became, and this time, she had no flashlight to call upon.

Her needler did light up her face with vivid pink, but that was about it. Everything else; she was blind to, and she relied solely on Twilight to direct her through the maze.

Everything was silent, but it wasn't an eerie silence. It was just a normal silence, and Fluttershy liked that. It helped put her fears at ease as she wormed along and came up to an open trap-door that set flush into the panelling before her. Golden daylight shimmered up out of the hole, and a ladder had been deployed, welcoming her to what appeared to be a rather peaceful part of the Filly of Autumn. Oh how wrong that was.

As soon as she arrived at the hole and Twilight said, "Its all clear," a long, sinewy rope caught her neck in a lasso and pulled down, hard. The choking Mare jarred out of the maintenance access ways and into a cluttered section of corridor, full of something she'd been praying not to see. Something she'd been praying never to see again. The Flood.

Yep, everyone in the neighbourhood had been invited, and the Flood had made the least effort to look presentable. All dirty and stinky and full of disease.

The contaminated Pony that had dragged her down wouldn't let go, and its face-mounted tentacle tightened around her throat, blocking her breath. Three more appendages supplemented its wrist, and they thrashed Fluttershy back and forth across the torso, taking chunks off her shields each time.

"Uh oh!" cried Twilight. "Quick! Get it off!"
That's what Fluttershy had been trying to do the moment she'd been snatched out the vents, and she continued to squirm wildly in the ex-pony's smelly embrace, only closing off her airways some more. She wanted to scream, but it wouldn't let her.

Since wriggling around like a big yellow worm didn't do anything, Fluttershy decided to use the little energy she had left and clench the parasite's red tipped antennae in her hooves. The combat form screeched gratingly in reaction as she yanked the bug out of it, and its body lost all power, letting her go and flopping to the deck.

Slamming the head-sized parasite into the deck made it go poof, but then a whole sea of plague came washing over her from behind. She yelped, terrified of the snarling monsters, making out their hideous features much more clearly in the daylight.

Her shields dropped to empty as the horde continued to bite and scratch, and Fluttershy felt herself being slowly torn apart. Her skin made ripping noises, her bones made snapping noises, and her mouth made screaming noises. Her fresh red blood sprayed everywhere, peppering her murderers.
"Fluttershy!" howled Twilight as her friend began to fade. "Fluttershyyyy!"
This was the end.

... Or was it?

Out of nowhere, four orange laser beams hissed and burned the Flood away. The Flood left Fluttershy bleeding on the deck as they turned to take on the Sentinels, but were killed easily by the purpose built machines.

The last combat form, an Elite, got real close to the airborne mechanisms and fired a shotgun over and over again, until only one Sentinel remained. That one Sentinel came out on top as it hosed the beast to the ground with super-heated energy, but then a couple of slippery infection forms sprang out and latched onto it, stabbing it with their tendrils. The anti-flood robot let out a synthesized drone and fell to the deck, exploding into blue flames and taking the parasites with it.

The corridor was empty and still, the smells of disease and ozone sharing the air.

"F-fluttershy?" probed Twilight, voice warbling. "Fluttershy, I know you're still alive."
Twilight knew she was still alive because of the readouts she had access to within her MJOLNIR mark five armour. But if anypony came across her as she was, laying on the deck in a pool of deep red blood, slumped within a bunch of dead Flood, they would be forgiven for thinking otherwise.

Golden light swirled around the motionless Mare as her shields regenerated, but she still didn't react in the slightest.
"Fluttershy, get up... Please get up..."

At last, Fluttershy moved. Her eyelids opened about half way, and her veined, blue eyes were revealed.
"Fluttershy? ... Do you hear me? ... Fluttershy?"
There wasn't a peep from the bloodied Mare. She just laid there, staring up at the ceiling and the hole she'd been dragged through.
"Please answer me, Fluttershy," Twilight croaked tearfully. "I... I can't bare to loose you... Not after all we've been through... We're so close."

Fluttershy's stare was vacant, almost dead. She remembered all she'd been through since waking up in cryo two. Landing on Halo and rallying the survivors. Hijacking the Truth and Reconciliation. Getting to the silent cartographer and the control room. Searching for AJ and Rarity in the swamp, only to encounter the Flood. Being beamed to the library by 343 Guilty Spark and stealing the index. Destroying the phase pulse generators. Retrieving Rarity's neural interface from the clutches of the Flood. She'd come such a long, long way, and she'd be damned if she was going to let it all be for nothing.

Interrupting the AI's woefulness, Fluttershy let out a weak moan.
"Fluttershy?"
She convulsed in her own blood and the rotting carcasses of the Flood, coughing and spluttering. Blood spat from her lips, dripped from her nose, and even trickled out from under an eye.

The AI was delighted to finally get some life out of the seemingly dead Mare. "Fluttershy! Oh, good! Good, good. I'm so glad!"
"Aaaarrrgg!" Fluttershy shrieked in agony.
Her whole body stung, especially her exposed face that had suffered many cuts. The worst pain of all though came from her right foreleg, which was all bent out of shape.
Twilight whispered soothingly, "Ssshhh-sh-sh-sh-ssshhh, it's ok. It's ok, Fluttershy. Just... just get clear of these bodies, and take as long as you need, ok... It's ok."

Fluttershy just wailed shrilly in response, choking on her own blood. She could taste the stuff in her mouth.

"Come on," nudged Twilight, careful not to rush her.
Hissing every breath, the wounded Pegasus pushed herself along on her back with her hind legs, barging past fallen Flood, their tendrils rolling underneath her. She made it to another lifeboat air-lock where the golden sunlight was brightest, and had a spectacular view of the vast, flat plains.

Body quivering and chest heaving, the blood drenched Fluttershy slowly opened her saddle bag and took out the much needed med-pack. It rattled in her shaking hoovsies as she lifted it out and dropped it on the floor beside her.

She lost energy, and just lay there, vision blurring.
"It's ok," Twilight repeated softly. "Take your time... You'll be fine... Just... please don't give up now."
"H... h... h..." came a shaky tone from Fluttershy as she attempted to project actual words.
"What is it?"
"H-how... can I... g-g-give up?" she eventually spat, putting all her strength into just opening her med-kit.
"Well I wouldn't blame you if you did," Twilight said. "You've been through so much. This would break many Ponies."
As she pulled out a clean cloth, Fluttershy replied, "I... I want to... give up, bu... I-I can't."
"Wow. What a trooper," commented the AI as Fluttershy gradually cleaned her blood soaked face. "You wouldn't believe how proud I am of you."

Once her face was relatively clean, with a whole bunch of ugly new scars standing out bold, she slapped on multiple plasters and then moved on to the pain in her right foreleg. She'd been using her left foreleg to do all the work so far, and as she winced at the twang of the two halves of a shattered cannon bone clicking against each other, she knew she'd be relying on her left foreleg a lot more.

"Oh gosh," Twilight started. "Will you be able to fix this?"
The excruciating agony made her eyes squint and water. "... Is there... anypony else... who... c-can fix this?" The stress was taking its toll on her, and she was beginning to get annoyed with Twilight.
"Well, I guess not."
That's what I thought.

She relied heavily on Twilight to give her a heads up about things like lurking beasties. The AI had made honest mistakes before, as does everypony, but nothing too serious. Until now. 
"I'm so sorry, Fluttershy."
An apology was all well and good, and of course Fluttershy forgave her, but Twilight's mistake had cost her her leg.

Her fracture was quite similar to Lightning Dust's fracture, back in the winter tundra. She'd been able to treat that well enough, slotting the bone back together, bandaging it up, and securing it with a splint made out of tree branches. Fluttershy didn't need a splint though; her Spartan armour would play that role no problem. But she did need to put the bone back and bandage herself up, and as she removed the necessary parts of her armour, she braced herself for a world of hurt.

With her right foreleg revealed, she could see the extent of the damage. Unlike Lightning's open fracture, this was a closed fracture; no protruding bone or external bleeding. There was a heck of a lot of internal bleeding though, as indicated by the huge patch of purple under her yellow coat. It throbbed, and the pain stabbed her over and over again, making her grimace.

Although no bone was visible, it was certainly detectable by the disturbing bump that stuck right out of her leg; the bone pushing up against her skin.

She looked unsurely around her, searching for something she could use to bite down on; preferably a stick or a pole or a pipe. In the end, all she found was a piece of Sentinel, and she slotted it between her chops.

Before she could start performing her own operation, Twilight checked, "You ready for this?"
Fluttershy nodded and hummed an, "Nng-nng," at her, muffled by the silvery metal.

As soon as she'd answered, she stretched her damaged foreleg and pushed down hard on the lump where the broken bone stuck up. Her agonized screams were dampened by the metal in her mouth, and she squeezed her eyes shut, tears erupting from behind her eyelids.

The bone still wasn't quite in place, so she pushed harder, gave it compressions, and wailed with every drop more of energy she applied to it.

Biting down hard on the scrap of metal, she felt it crack in her teeth, and she soon ended up crunching through it. She spat out the bits of Sentinel, resuming her weeping chorus, no longer muffled.
"Aaaaarrrgg!" she screeched, forcing the bone back in place.

A final clacking noise, and she felt the two halves of brittle bone lock together, not too comfortably, and she slumped back against the bulkhead, wheezing, sobbing. It really hurt, but she'd been through the wringer now, and all that was left to do was to bandage it up and re-don her foreleg armour.

Even Twilight "ooed," baring witness to all the Mare put herself through. "You'll be ok, won't you?"
Fluttershy knew Twilight knew whether she'd be ok or not, but appreciated the AI's caring nature none the less.
"Well... I-I have my... m-m-my doubts," she grated through gnashed teeth, still feeling mighty sore.

Using her shivering left foreleg, Fluttershy wrapped bandages around her wound and took her time putting her armour back on. She took a good long drink of water from her draining supply, put the canteen and med-pack away, and allowed herself a couple of minutes to just sit and breathe.

"Ugh... Do... do we have a... t-t-time limit?" Fluttershy wondered, hoping Twilight would say something that'd take the pressure off. Craning her neck, she beheld the sandy plains and warm golden sunlight.
"Kinda," Twilight answered uneasily, not taking any pressure off. "We're racing the Flood more than anything."
There was a peaceful pause with only a slight breeze providing an ambience.
"And the monitor."

"... W-why are the - aha-aha-ahagh!" she coughed and spluttered, the taste of blood returning to her sore throat.
"What?"
"Urgh... Why are the... Flood here, anyway?"
"Oh. I wish I had a solid answer, Fluttershy."
"Nnnng..."
"It's possible they came here in search of nourishment and knowledge." Letting the annoyance enter her tone, Twilight grated, "Nourishment and knowledge that wouldn't be here if the Covenant would just get their priorities right and leave this ship alone!"
Fluttershy wasn't in the best of states, and the last thing she needed was an angry little Alicorn ranting in her brain.
Twilight realised this, and apologised, "Oh, sorry."
"... -iz kay..." Fluttershy wheezed.

After a few minutes break, it was time to get up, and Fluttershy groaned along with her tortured skeleton as she rose to her hooves. Her three hooves, to be exact. She kept her injured foreleg off the floor and limped over to the corpse of an infected Elite, trading her needler and its ammo for the shotgun it had been wielding. It was nice to finally reunite with a good ol' UPSC shotgun. They were the best weapons against the Flood. They were the best weapons against just about anything, and Fluttershy felt a teeny bit more confident behind its barrel. She was still scared as hay though, especially when a jagged shriek rolled up the corridor.

Leaving the air-lock and the pile of burnt Flood behind, she staggered on her way, deeper into the ship.

"Just take it easy," Twilight muttered.
The young Mare couldn't imagine taking things easy in a Covenant controlled, Sentinel occupied, Flood infested ship wreck. If she didn't know any better, she'd say the Autumn was more doomed than the Mistake.

She approached a broken door, jammed half open. Just through the crack, she could see nothing but shifting, beige flesh, and she could hear gurgling and gipping.
"Oh." Twilight sounded surprised.
Fluttershy was surprised too. "S-sensors... still not... working?"
"Motion sensors can't track motionless enemies, Fluttershy. They're working fine."

The pink maned Pegasus sighed. It was time to get back to her least favourite activity: Fighting.

She had the shotgun pointing forwards, but since she had enough room, she decided to back up and let her other weapon have some time in the spotlight.
"Er, are you sure about this, Fluttershy?" Twilight protested as Fluttershy unlimbered the heavy thing.
For the first time, she chose to ignore her.

> Chapter 43: Full Circle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Flood barged their way through the door, and were instantly vaporised by two fuel rod projectiles. The Mare holding the cannon staggered through the damaged and corpse littered corridor, keeping a safe distance from any lingering nasties.

Two came surging around the corner, and she converted them to nothingness with the stolen alien bazooka.

A swarm of infection forms appeared, and a fourth deafening explosion took care of all of them.

She had one projectile left in the chamber, but plenty of spare mags to keep her going.

With every step, she grunted in pain, keeping her bandaged right foreleg off the ground. She hoped she wouldn't have to do any running any time soon.

Traversing the corridor, she came up short upon Twilight saying, "Expect trouble ahead."
True to the AI's words, a cluster of snot-bags threw themselves up at a cracked door ahead, attempting to worm through. The last FRP in Fluttershy's cannon did the trick, blasting down the door and wiping out the parasites. After a simple reload, she was ready to limp onwards.

Poking her head out the corridor, she looked left, looked right, receded in a flash. The Flood were embarking on either side, so she reversed down her branch corridor and prepared herself for a quick skirmish. As the Flood grew louder, Fluttershy shivered, terrified.

Howling loud enough to trip Fluttershy's pulse, the creatures came flailing into view, and Fluttershy let the cannon loose all over them. She didn't just mindlessly spray the Flood with her powerful toy; she actually took aim and fired at the right moment each time. She valued the fuel rod cannon and its amazing capabilities, but she knew that if she wasn't careful, the Flood could take those capabilities away.

Having only expended two FRPs, and not seeing a single sign of life from the Flood, she checked behind her and hobbled forwards into the wider section of corridor. As soon as she stepped out, she came under fire from something armed with an assault rifle. Bullets pinged against her flaring shields, and rather startlingly, flicked the fuel rod gun off her mechanical arm.

"There's one left!" strained Twilight over Fluttershy's scream, over the sudden sound of a warped neigh. "And something big, incoming!"
Something big?!

The distorted Pony noise rolled up from her right, and she spun to behold the poorly equine culprit stampeding up, MA5B on the still equipped soldier saddle. A giant tusk morphed with the ex-mare's head, stained with vibrant blue Grunt blood.

With a weakened wail, Fluttershy drew the shotgun and pulled the trigger, but the four legged beast was out of range, and just kept coming, shrugging off the ball bearings.

An earthquake befell the deck as something came charging in from the left. Something heavy with footfalls that thundered tremendously and almost rattled poor Fluttershy off balance. She was able to stay stood up though, and she witnessed something with all the speed and weight of a freight train come crashing through a sealed door, knocking the combat form off its hooves, and splattering it against the opposite wall, denting the metal panel.
"There's the big guy," commented Twilight. "Back up!"

The new comer was huge and wore blue armour over the orange worms that made up its body, and four tapered spines hung from its back. The Hunter's shield gauntlet was painted olive green with the amount of Flood blood now on it, and with the combat form taken care of, it pivoted to face Fluttershy.

Gently backing up, not taking her eyes off the Hunter, Fluttershy's lungs went into overhaul.
"Get him, Fluttershy."
With a nervous gulp, the yellow Mare braced the shotgun, and closed the gap between herself and the walking tank, terrified of the consequences. She became too close for the Hunter to use its fuel rod gun, so it resorted to using its thick metal shield as a crusher.

Fluttershy hopped aside with a yelp, missing the impact of the metal shield hitting the deck. All she needed was a view of the orange worms on its back and she'd be victorious.

However, that patch of worms never showed itself as the Hunter rotated, and its heavy shield came up to meet her eyes instead. It hit her hard, sending her flying through the air and completely draining her shields. The Hunter scored a home run with her, and she shrieked all the way down the corridor until she scraped along the deck, coming to a rest against a fallen Flood form.

The knock left her dizzy, disoriented, and blood pooled under her eye. "Urrnng!"
"Wrruuurrg!" the Hunter bellowed, charging up its fuel rod cannon.
Twilight yelled, "Retreat! Retreat!" desperate not to be ended now.

Fluttershy struggled to her three hooves and hopped away as fast as she could, being chased by green explosions, screaming all the way. Her destination was the narrower corridor she'd exited earlier, but the Hunter stepped in to block her path, and she just ended up drawing closer to it again.
"Ugh! Get out of the way!" grated Twilight in irritation.

The Hunter lunged for Fluttershy, but she was able to duck in time. She barrelled over and slid under the monster's legs, coming out on the other side with the orange weak spot in plain sight. She hadn't planned on this, but since it was there, she quickly brought up the shotgun and sent a devastating buckshot into its unprotected worms.

Having absorbed every last ball bearing the eight gauge shell had to offer, the Hunter let out a low burble and keeled over, vibrating the deck as it came down in a puddle of Flood blood.

Twilight was speechless, not expecting the shy to mop up the Hunter so suddenly. "Wh... what?!"
As for Fluttershy herself, it was as if she hadn't even noticed what she'd just done, and she continued to squeal down the wide, burnt out corridor.
"Fluttershy! Stop! You did it!"
"Aaaaah - huh?" She stopped abruptly, and her shields began to regenerate. "I did it?"
"Well, you did half of it."

At first, Fluttershy was confused, but then a deep howl of anguish resonated from the mess hall, and the second Hunter came stomping out to avenge its fallen bond brother.

Letting out a groan, Fluttershy proceeded to evade the fuel rod projectiles that came blasting her way. They rattled the corridor and broke the metal panelling, leaving destruction in her trail.

After at least five salvos, the Hunter decided enough was enough, and just ran straight at the little Mare. Its massive boot came down on her long tail, and the pink hairs stretched as Fluttershy attempted to run clear.

The Hunter lifted its boot, and her tail snapped back like a spring, flipping her onto her face.

Laying on the floor, she watched as the towering Hunter lifted its boot once more, about to come down hard on her face.
"No!" she snapped, unwilling to accept her demise.
Rolling to the side, she dodged the ultra heavy boot by mere millimetres, and felt her cheek press against the blue armour.

The Hunter flinched, and Fluttershy was able to scramble away in time to avoid having her brains splattered by the alien's shield.

Like a Flood infection form, the frightened Mare sprang up to the Hunter and latched onto it, squirming around as she searched for the best position. The Hunter squirmed too, trying to knock her off, lacking the hands necessary to grab her.

The Hunter was a bucking bronco as it desperately struggled to remove the soft yellow barnacle. But Fluttershy had all three good legs wrapped tight around its armoured body, and she squeezed the thing in a hug, keeping herself firmly secured to its back.

Once there was a lull in the Hunter's movement, Fluttershy's actions raced ahead of Twilight's advice as she primed a fragmentation grenade and imbedded it within the mass of worms.

Frantically, she dove off the giant Covie and ran, not looking as it went up in a flash of flames and sloppy orange blood. The explosion did provide an indicator that she'd won though, so she halted and turned to face the mutilated Hunter, panting in the intensity of it all.
"Fluttershy; two. Hunters; zero," Twilight calculated happily. "Well done, Hunter killer! Keep fighting like this and we'll be back home for brunch!"
Fluttershy caught her breath, feeling bad for killing, and feeling the burn in her fractured leg. "Oh please... no more... fighting... I... hate fighting."

After another sip of water, and worrying over the fact that she'd have only one sip left, Fluttershy trudged past the fallen Hunters and Flood towards the mess hall.
She came up short upon Twilight informing, "There's more Covenant in here too. You know what that means?"
Fluttershy hung her head. "Ugh, more fighting."
"Yeah, sorry, Fluttershy. Be careful."

She swallowed her nerves and took a peek into the mess hall. The Covenant she found in there consisted of Grunts and Elites. She'd fought Grunts and Elites on the Autumn before, and here she was, doing it all over again. These Grunts and Elites were different however. They were armed with the usual plasma pistols, plasma rifles, needlers and plasma grenades, but one of the Grunts was hauling a fuel rod cannon, and their armour colour wasn't quite as pretty as usual. They were black clad, and from her experience on the Honest Mistake, black clad Covies meant business.

The AI wasn't pleased to see them either. "Spec ops? Now what reason could they possibly have to be here? Don't the Covenant have better things to do?"

Since their Hunters hadn't returned, the black armoured Covies were well and truly ready for whatever opposed them. It just so happened that that was Fluttershy, and they immediately opened fire on her.

"Get back!"
Fluttershy got clear of the doorway and the plasma and needles that shot out of it, just in time to witness a plasma grenade detonate and an FRP take out a chunk of the wall.

Fluttershy had a fuel rod cannon, but now it was lying lost and broken amongst the Flood bodies.

"Two Covenant contacts are approaching either side," Twilight told. "Stay hidden. After a re-assessment, I think it would be wise to sneak past them, but get the shotgun ready, just in case."
Ah, sneaking. Fluttershy preferred sneaking to fighting.

Her hiding place was behind a vending machine. A Flood corpse joined her there, much to her fear, and she kept silent as the Covenant communicated to each other and their footsteps grew louder and louder.

She saw one of them enter the corridor and scan around, noting the dead Hunters and Flood. He was an Elite, his face hidden behind his sleek black helmet.

If Fluttershy could see him, then he could see her, so she reared up and pushed herself as far back against the vending machine as she could.

The Flood corpse she was standing on gave under her weight, and her rear hooves sank into its decaying body. She felt all the ruptured organs, jagged bones and slimy blood sloshing around within, giving her the shudders.

Something squelched within the Flood carcass, and Fluttershy closed her eyes, praying the Elites hadn't heard it.

Privately, Twilight whispered, "I'm not picking up movement. They've either stopped or are moving really slowly. Watch your back."
As soon as Twilight said "watch your back," a hand clasped over Fluttershy's mouth, and she was dragged out of cover by one of the spec ops Elites.

The biped that held her chortled and barked Elite language to his partner who came jogging over.

Screeching through the Elite's fingers, Fluttershy was restrained and forced to watch the other Elite pick up speed, elbow at the ready, and drive it forcefully into her gut. He was strong, and the young Mare gagged as all the air was punched out of her. A chunk of her shields had been drained, but they were still up and working.

"Fluttershy! Shotgun!" Twilight squawked.
The Elite that was holding her had failed to get a grip on her mechanical arm, and it whirred as the shotgun's barrel came up to meet the second Elite.

Boom! The black armoured bully was history, but the other Elite still held Fluttershy firmly in his clutches. Her mechanical arm couldn't flex enough to point the shotgun at him, so she groaned and wriggled around helplessly.

Catching both combatants off guard, a distracting whistle projected from just behind the Elite. Before the alien could turn to face it, it was followed up by a shotgun blast, and one of his legs was blown completely off. He fell over forwards, squashing Fluttershy who dragged herself out from underneath him. He was still alive and growling however, so she readied her shotgun and - boom! ... Somepony else took it, and the new Mare's orange hooves came to a stand right before the floored Covie.

Looking up to behold her hero, Fluttershy wheezed, "Applejack?"
The Earth Pony lifted her trademark hat, revealing her green eyes. "Howdy, Fluttershy."
"Oh, Applejack! You came!" Fluttershy's heart sang, and she wrapped a foreleg around the farmer in affection.
"Course I came. Ya didn't think we were gonna leave ya here, did ya?"
Fluttershy pulled away. "We? ... Where's Rainbow Dash?"
"Where'd'ya think? She's on standby in our escape ride," AJ answered, feeding shells into her shotgun's receiver.

Reloading her own shotgun, Fluttershy informed, "Well, I have Twilight-"
"-Hello!"
"And Halo's activation index... And... Rarity's neural interface." The image of what Rarity had become was forever burned into her brain, and it resurfaced as she mentioned her name, making her quiet voice go a little croaky. "We have to get to the bridge."
Applejack nodded. "I know. The rest of us are near there now."
Twilight rechecked with a puzzled tone, "The rest of you?"

A blast rocked the deck, and the two Mares hurried into the mess hall. The remaining Covies were taking heavy fire from a range of UPSC weapons, but some Covenant weaponry was in the mix, and Fluttershy worried if the Flood had returned.
"Yep. That's them," Applejack put the shy one's concerns at ease.

The equine soldiers were distant and blurry, and two of them were armed with shotguns, blasting the Covenant off their feet.

Grenades threw their biped bodies into the air, and a captured fuel rod gun helped. Fluttershy covered her ears, deafened by the storm of explosions that raged away at the far end of the mess hall.

Two other Ponies could be recognised as Aloe and Lotus, the former still sporting bandages, just visible under her armour. She was armed with a plasma pistol, and she used its overcharge ability to drain the shields on the Elites with one shot, leaving them vulnerable to her twin sister who mopped them up with a magnum.

One of the soldiers, a white Stallion with a pale blue mane, was tossed into the air by a Grunt's plasma grenade.
"There goes our last male," one of the Mares uttered out the side of her mouth.
The Mare next to her had the fuel rod gun, and she teared up, biting her bottom lip.

Soon, the mess hall was a mess. A mess devoid of hostiles, and the Ponies regrouped at a table in the centre. Besides Aloe, Lotus and Applejack, two new Ponies had come along for the ride. A cream Earth Pony with rich cherry hair and dull green eyes. The other; a blue Unicorn with a two tone blue mane and tail and blue eyes. They all looked at Fluttershy, smiling at her, unintentionally making her feel uncomfortable.

Twilight didn't feel uncomfortable though. "Oh, thank you for joining us, everypony! We are grateful!" Switching to private chat, Twilight prompted, "Fluttershy, say thanks."
Fluttershy was just as grateful as Twilight, if not more, to have these Ponies give up their time for her. The only reason she hadn't thanked them yet was because of her cursed shyness, and now she was getting paranoid that they thought she didn't appreciate their help.
Thanks to the AI's guidance, she was able to mutter, "Oh, erm, thank you," and put on the fakest smile she could muster.

"You're welcome," a deep voice sounded from just over her shoulder, startling her.
She twisted to find another Pony standing behind her. Well, she wasn't really a Pony, but she was equine none the less. She donned big golden hoop earrings and wore one of those golden necklaces that resembled a slinky toy, along with a same style bracelet on her right foreleg. Her coat was unusual; white with faded black stripes.

"Zecor-... I mean... Lieutenant Commander Zecora?!" gasped Twilight.
"Yes, it is I. Here to help dear Fluttershy," the Zebra rhymed.
The Zebra always rhymed.

"Sh-shouldn't you be running the Truth and Reconciliation?"
Fluttershy wondered the exact same thing.
"We'll need it to make the jump to Equestria!"
Zecora and Applejack shared a chuckle before the stripy one explained, "Now don't you worry, AI Twilight. I appointed somepony else to take the Truth on flight."
"Who?"

Applejack stole Zecora's answer. "Lieutenant Hayseed Turnip Truck."
"Him?! You've gotta be kidding me!"
"Sounds like yer not too confident in ma cousin," accused Applejack, narrowing her eyes. "Any reason why?"
The cherry haired Earth Pony who was new to Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. "Wait, he's your cousin too?"
"Everypony's Applejack's cousin," the Unicorn responded, rolling her eyes.

The orange Mare in question wasn't fazed, and she continued to preach, "I know Turnip Truck aint the brightest o' fellers, but he wouldn't a' got to where he is today if he couldn't handle things."
An uncomfortable silence lasted a few seconds before Twilight finally sighed, "... Are you sure he can run the Cruiser?"
Closing her eyes and nodding, Applejack declared, "I am."
"... Well... ok... You know your cousin more than anypony, so I guess if you say he's up to the job, that must mean he's up to the job."
"Darn tootin'."
"... Um... who's Hayseed Turnip Truck?" Fluttershy questioned, raising a hoof.
Twilight, Applejack and Zecora just chuckled, and Fluttershy was left wondering why.

The Ponies were about to leave the mess hall and head on over to the bridge, which, if Fluttershy remembered correctly, was close by.

Applejack put a hoof on her and said, "Now, Fluttershy, I know you've been on the move non-stop since you came lookin' for us in that swamp. You runnin' low on supplies?"
"Um..."
"You gotta be hungry, right?"
Fluttershy's stomach answered that question with a rumble. She blushed as AJ giggled.
"Hehe. Here, get this down ya." With that, the farm Pony produced a shiny red apple and tossed it gently to Fluttershy.
The starving Mare caught it in her mouth and munched away. She'd forgotten how long it had been since she'd eaten, and the apple in her chops was so juicy and delicious, it made a little smile form between her bulged cheeks. "Mmmm," gulp, "Thanks, Applejack."
"Yer welcome, partner."

Getting a little more technical, Twilight advertised, "She's also low on water and pistol ammo, and she's carrying a few fuel rod cannon magazines. Also, you should probably keep in mind that she's injured her leg."
Peering down, Applejack pursed her lips upon realising the yellow Mare was keeping one shivering foreleg off the ground. "Yer injured? Land sakes, I only just noticed! What happened?"
"The... the Flood got me," she whistled, barely audible, embarrassed to talk about it.
"Flood?" AJ gasped and looked at her suspicious, "Yer not... one of them, are ya?"
"Why? Do I look one?"
"Not really, no."
"I assure you, she's not a Flood," assured Twilight, putting everypony on the same page. "Now do you wanna trade or not?"
"Oh, sure."

Zecora was the highest ranking soldier there. Now that Captain Rarity was beyond rescue, she was officially the highest ranking soldier for light-years, and until they made it back to Equestria and the royal sisters, she would be the leader of Ponies. Despite all this, she kept relatively quite, and guarded the next door as the rest of the troops traded equipment.

Roseluck; the cream Earth Pony Mare who was armed with a stolen fuel rod cannon accepted all the fuel rod magazines from Fluttershy's supply.
"Thanks, Fluttershy," she bowed respectfully, turning to join the Lieutenant Commander at the exit.

Applejack bared pistol ammo and a brand new flask, full of fresh cold water.

Stowing the flask she'd taken from Derpy's abandoned pack, Fluttershy accepted the new one and guzzled some of the revitalising liquid down. She let out a refreshed sigh when she stopped drinking and concealed the canteen in her saddle bag.
"That's good, right?"
"Oh, yes!" the Pegasus exclaimed, licking her lips. "I needed that."

Everypony gathered around the exit, peering out into the next scorched corridor. Lieutenant Commander Zecora opted to take point, and she lead the team out of the mess hall, onwards to the bridge.

*****

"Waaa," the final Grunt bleated, falling to the deck in a puddle of his own blue blood.

The squad of seven Ponies - well, one Zebra and six Ponies, had arrived at the Filly of Autumn's bridge, and boy did it look different. Consoles smashed to hell and back produced smoke, sparking every now and then. The floor, walls and ceiling were all blackened and dented, stained with the blood of Covenant and Flood. A few Flood corpses had been waiting for them, already floored by the Covenant spec ops team.

The vista from the shattered windscreen was beautiful. Sandy desert with odd rock formations, and of course Halo's super-structure swooping up and out of sight. To say it was a weapon, Halo was incredibly beautiful.

"Well, here we are," Applejack shrugged.
Twilight whispered to herself, "My old pedestal," seeing the console that was once her home, cracked and dented next to the main view screen. Right where Rarity used to stand.
Acknowledging, Fluttershy limped on over to the pedestal, looking a question at the weathered little cylinder, unsure if it would even work.

Inserting Twilight's chip into the device and watching her purple Alicorn avatar wink into existence on top was enough to confirm that it was indeed working, and Fluttershy grinned, happy to actually be seeing Twilight for once in a long time.

Gazing around the battered and bruised bridge, Twilight's eyes shimmered.
Motioning a hoof, she sighed, "It kinda breaks my heart to see the Autumn this way."
Applejack leaned in. "Heh, we leave home for a few days n' look what happens."
Putting a hoof to her forehead, the AI smiled. "Hm-hm. Bare with me."

Fluttershy remembered Twilight telling Pinkie Pie to bare with them when they were working on opening the cartographer site. Pinkie had thought the AI meant there was an actual bear with them, and had left a bee-hive of honey in the Warthog's glove box.

A small cupboard was left ajar to the right, and just out of curiosity, the pink maned Pegasus pushed it open. Everypony else was focusing on Twilight, so Fluttershy was the only one who discovered a specially prepared bee-hive. Lifeless, it would seem even the bees had abandoned ship.

Pinkie should've been here, thought Fluttershy as she returned to the group, a frown on her face.

Whispering to her sister, Aloe pointed to Twilight and asked, "What is she doing?"
Lotus just shrugged, but Colgate leaned in with the answer. "Um, she's starting the self destruct sequence."
"What?!" both sisters grated in kind.
"If I'd've known that, I wouldn't've volunteered to come!"
"Me neither! Why is she doing this?!"
"Good grief," Zecora got involved. "Weren't you paying attention during the debrief?"
The two spa Ponies hesitated, unsure, faces reddening.
"Um..."
Shaking her head, Zecora tutted and turned to face the AI.

"There," Twilight announced with accomplishment.
A countdown timer appeared on the cracked view screen, beeping with every decreasing digit. It had started at forty minutes.
"That should give us enough time to make it to an external access junction, get picked up by Rainbow, return to the Truth and put some distance between ourselves and Halo before the detonation."

"Er, y'think you can make it longer, please?" Aloe requested sheepishly, Lotus nodding in agreement.
Fluttershy wanted more time too.
With a blank expression, Twilight stared at Aloe and Lotus, and the countdown timer suddenly flipped up to fifty minutes.
"That's as high as need be," Applejack declared, stopping the twins from protesting further.

Starting for the exit, AJ announced, "Well, I'm ready to move. Are y'all?"
Everypony nodded; Aloe and Lotus nodding more vigorously than the others.
Fluttershy agreed, "Definitely."

The yellow Mare reached down to retrieve Twilight's chip, but then out of nowhere, a different yet unmistakable, synthesised voice intruded the bridge via the surrounding speakers.
"I think that's out of the question really."
"Guilty Spark?!" Fluttershy gasped, searching around.
Roseluck, Colgate and the spa sisters were totally confuzzled.
"Who?" Lotus asked.
Twilight drooped, fed up. "Aw, come on!"

Droning on, the unseen Forerunner AI monologued, "Ridiculous! That you would imbue your warship's AI with such a wealth of knowledge. Weren't you worried it might be captured, or destroyed?"

The Ponies who weren't Fluttershy, Applejack or Zecora glanced around in confusion, weapons at the ready.
"Who is that?"
"Where's that coming from?"
"What is he talking about?"
"Why is there a bee-hive in that cupboard?"
Answering Roseluck's question, Twilight moaned, "He's in my data arrays; a local tap."

*****

Somewhere within the Autumn, 343 Guilty Spark was whizzing around joyfully, humming to himself. The floating metal ball hovered over to a console and connected to it with a conduit of electric blue zigzags.
"You can't imagine how exciting this is! To have a record of all our lost time!" To himself, he muttered, "Luna's banishment? Fascinating."

After a quick levitation upwards to a new console situated atop a balcony, he swooned, "Oh, how I will enjoy every moment of categorisation! To think that you would destroy this installation, as well as this record... I am shocked... Almost too shocked for words."

*****

Having listened to everything the monitor said, the equines contemplated for a while, then had their attention diverted by a loud, abrupt beep from the countdown timer. It read "49:17..." and stayed there.
Dread filled Twilight's tone as she breathed, "He stopped the self destruct sequence."
Even more dread filled Fluttershy's heart.

Twilight let the anger enter her voice. "Spark! Let the self destruct sequence continue! Now!"
"And let you destroy my installation? Let you destroy my home? I think not, construct. This is my home. The legacy of my makers. No way, no how am I going to let such tragedy befall it."

Contributing, Applejack commented, "Twilight, he aint gonna let us destroy his home."
"Ugh, you're right," the AI moaned. "We're gonna have to find him."
Fluttershy gulped, watching what should've been a quick "in - out" mission escalate into a ship-wide hunt.

"Why do you continue to fight us, reclaimer?" Spark demanded. "You cannot win!"
AJ rolled her eyes and motioned her hoof to poke fun at the monitor who just nattered on and on.
"Give us the construct, and I will endeavour to make your death relatively painless, and-" the rest of his sentence never completed as he was cut off by a bleep.
"At least I still have control over the com channels," uttered the holographic Alicorn.
"Well thank Celestia for that. Let me check myself. Ma ears bleedin'?"
Some of the soldiers guffawed.

Shivering with her injured hoof off the ground, Fluttershy checked, "W-we have t-to find him?"
"It's startin' to look that way," AJ answered, not too excitedly. "Where is he, Twilight?"
The translucent Mare thought on, "Hmmm... I'm detecting taps throughout the ship; Sentinels, most likely. As for the monitor..." She paused, searching for Spark.
Everypony relaxed and stared past Twilight at the golden vista ahead.

"... He's in engineering," she eventually located. "He must be trying to take the core offline! Even if I could get the countdown restarted... I don't know what to do." A fretting expression formed on the AI's face.
This was bad. If Twilight didn't know what to do, who did?

Funnily enough, Zecora had a plan. "In order to rupture an engine's shield, how much fire power must we wield?"
Twilight had been facing the smashed windscreen, and she rotated to look at the Zebra. "Not much. A well placed grenade perhaps, but why?"
Producing a frag grenade, Zecora repeatedly tossed the device into the air and caught it, a mischievous smirk on her face. Roseluck leaned in with her fuel rod cannon, pouting and pointing at the alien weapon.
The eyes on Twilight's avatar widened as she realised what the Mares were getting at. "... Zecora... you're a genius." She began typing. "Just let me unlock the fusion reactors with Rarity's interface... There, we're all set. Fluttershy, yank me."

Ready to embark to the Autumn's engine room, the troops waited for Fluttershy to reunite with Twilight, and then braced themselves as the AI alerted, "Look out! Sentinels!"
The wee robots were outside the ship, and they hovered down to fire their lasers into the bridge.

Everypony sought cover and returned fire, Roseluck conserving her fuel rod ammunition.

The pesky Forerunner mechanisms were plucked out of the sky in no time, and after reloading their weapons, the squad left the bridge and explored deeper into the ship.

"I like your thinking, Lieutenant Commander," Twilight mentioned as the soldiers trotted through the ship's battered corridors. "If we can damage the Autumn's fusion reactors, we can trigger a wildcat explosion of the engines. It'll be dicey, and we won't have as much time to escape, but it'll work."
"Um, how not long to escape?" interrogated Fluttershy as she limped hurriedly alongside the others. "And how dicey?"
"I can't say until the damage has been done."
"It'll be like a volcano to tear apart Halo. Luckily for us, we still have Rainbow," rapped Zecora.

Fluttershy, and everypony else for that matter, swallowed. She didn't like the sound of Zecora's plan. She preferred the old plan.

Approaching the armoury, the door was already open, and a huge Elite was stood there waiting for them. Tentacles grew from his twisted limbs, and red-tipped wires flailed out of ragged holes in his chest. Parts of black armour were still attached to the monster, and it held an MA5B assault rifle in one fungal hand.

Everypony screamed, and the monster screamed back, the Elite within experiencing the agony of infection.

All at once, the Ponies opened fire, tearing the ex-elite apart with bullets, shells and plasma. The heavy weapons expert, Roseluck, did the smart thing and refused to fire her fuel rod cannon in such close quarters.

Fluttershy, Applejack, Zecora and Colgate were all kitted out with shotguns, and the normally resilient Flood form was murdered for good upon receiving a buckshot from all four. He had buddies though, and they came staggering out of the armoury, howling and gibbering and raising a chorus of vile snorts.

One by one, the Flood were blasted out of existence, their olive green blood splashing the walls, floor and even the Ponies themselves. It was disgusting stuff, and Aloe and Lotus whined as they attempted to wipe the sticky stuff off themselves.
Even Applejack, who normally didn't mind getting too dirty, had to say, "Yuck," as the mottled liquid dripped off her cheeks.
Zecora still wasn't fazed by her new makeup however, and she put on a stern expression as she fashioned the blood into tribal war paint.

Once everypony was ready to continue, they fanned out into the armoury, stepping over the rotting corpses, scanning the area for trouble. Trouble wasn't the only thing the armoury was devoid of. An extreme lack of weapons worried Fluttershy. All the available ordinance in the armoury were the weapons that had been dropped by the Flood. Still, Flood ordnance was better than none, so she and the squad harvested their bodies for ammo and grenades, and once they were done, they moved on.

Fluttershy remembered passing through this very armoury back when the Filly of Autumn was still in space above Halo. She remembered the red blood that surrounded her. The Pony corpses that looked at her. She saw the same red blood on the deck, dried and burgundy, but those bodies were gone now. All but one.

The last time she was here, she remembered seeing a wounded, pale pink Mare with piercing green eyes and a ruffled, two tone purple mane. That Mare remained, and she lifted her head and made eye contact with her. Fluttershy just stood there, tranced, until Applejack's hoof waved before her eyes.
"Fluttershy?" She looked at the empty, blood soaked place where Fluttershy was staring. "You alright?"

Blinking, Fluttershy shook her head to clear her mind. The wounded pink Mare wasn't really there. Her marbles must've escaped.
"Oh, I'm fine," she replied with a sheepish smile.
Keeping an eye on her, AJ walked on, leading her and the squad through the armoury.

Worried, Fluttershy glanced back at the blood.

"Hold up," Twilight motioned, bringing the herd to a standstill before the next door.
Narrow windows in the door gave the squad a sneak peek into the corridor beyond.

Flood shrieked with rage, and their distorted forms sprinted eagerly to some unseen threat, off to the side. Covenant could be heard, and a monumental chain of green, blue and orange explosions jostled the deck. Flames licked the metal walls, throwing up the flickering shadows of at least one Elite, and at least two Hunters.

The Covies were calm now; no more Flood to kill, and they held position in the corridor.

"Roseluck, how much ammo do you have?" implored Twilight with a hushed tone.
"I don't know. A lot."
"Good. I want you to step out into the corridor and fire everything. Once your magazine is empty, head back to this location and reload. The rest of us will take the fight to the Hunters as you do that."
Nerves built up inside Roseluck. "Oh, um... are... are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Trust me; it'll work. Just go in, out, and we'll be taking it to the disoriented Hunters."
"But, what if they're not-"
"-Roseluck, just go, ok," Applejack interrupted, impatient. "Trust us."
The cherry maned Earth Pony swallowed her nerves and stood before the door. Fluttershy could certainly sympathise with her.

With the touch of a button, Roseluck opened the door, and the noise it made elicited alert grunts from the Covies to the right.

As quick as she could, the Mare stepped out and fired her fuel rod gun over and over again, screaming all the time. She hadn't even got a good sight of the Covies; too afraid to look, but she knew she was firing in the right place.

As soon as she'd spent her entire magazine, the other six galloped in to take her place. She had been successful, and one Hunter remained standing tall. The other Hunter and Elite had been perished in the fuel rod assault, making life a little easier.

Like Twilight predicted, the Hunter was disoriented, and it fired a fuel rod projectile of its own back in the Ponies' general direction with poor aim. As it detonated and a scream followed it, the Ponies rushed to surround the Hunter like some sort of tribal celebration, and released their ammunition. The Hunter didn't stand a chance; nowhere to turn, and it was dropped in quick succession.

"Well done, girls! Keep this up!" Twilight hurrahed, encouraging the Mares... All but one.

Aloe sat on her haunches before the remains of a body. She turned her head away slightly, revealing tears running down her cheeks.
"Lotus!" she cried over what was left of her blue coated sister. "No. No! Why! Aha-aha-ahaa!"
Shocked, Fluttershy brought a hoof to her mouth. "Oh dear!"

The Mares gathered around Aloe and the late Lotus, who was a real mess. Fuel rod damage was never pretty, and Fluttershy found herself turning away in repulsion, feeling disrespectful for it.
"I... I'm so sorry, Aloe," Fluttershy breathed sensitively, placing a hoof gently on the pink Mare's back.
She didn't know Aloe and Lotus that well, but they were her teammates, helping her through this mission. She pined for the loss of Lotus, and even started to cry herself. It was a shame; she'd survived the events of the swamp, only to be taken down now.

Colgate began tearing up and Applejack hung her head, holding her cowboy hat against her chest.

"Aloe? Are... are you going to be ok?"
Fluttershy would've asked that very question, but she was too upset to form words right now.

Just as the despondent Aloe was about to answer, a bone-chilling shriek tore up the corridor, dissolved into a crackle, and faded away. Each and every Pony, including Zecora, had fear pasted to their faces.

"Y-you should get moving," sulked Aloe, shooing the rest of the team away.
"Without you? Not a chance," Applejack declared, shaking her head.
"I don't want to continue... I don't want to move... I just want to stay here with my sister."
After wiping the tears off her face, Fluttershy said, "But we need you, Aloe. You're," sniff, "You're a part of our team."

A second bellow belonging to the Flood thundered all around and filled the Mares' ears.
Twilight strained, "We should probably get moving. Aloe; on your hooves."
"No."
"So what? Yer just gonna sit here n' let the Flood gechya?" grated Applejack. "Is that really what yer sister would want? Come on, Aloe."
Aloe didn't answer - just sat there with her ears drooped.

At the back of the group, Colgate raised, "Er, guys? Have any of you noticed that Roseluck isn't here?"
... Well, that made everypony go quiet.

Zecora reloaded her shotgun and returned to the armoury where Roseluck was last seen heading.
"Roseluck?" she called, searching the bare armoury and its supply of dead Flood.
She looked down to notice a large puddle of fresh red blood that wasn't there before, and hoof prints leading away into a broken air vent. A lot of stomach-churning gurgling came seeping out of that vent, and the metal panelling vibrated as something clawed about inside. There was a splutter, and a mixture of red and green blood sprinkled the metal.

"We really need to move," Zecora started, backing out of the armoury, keeping her eyes locked on the clanging air vent. "I fear Roseluck is in the wrong groove."
A wet gargle echoed out of the air vent, along with loud banging.

"Ok, Zecora's right, we gotta continue," Twilight spoke rapidly. "Aloe, get up. The Flood are coming."
Aloe remained seated on the floor, eyes closed. "I don't care."
Twilight groaned, loosing her patience. "Ugh! Applejack, just grab her!"
Wordlessly, AJ nodded and snatched Aloe's blue tail up in her teeth, pulling hard and making for the next branch corridor.

Flailing dramatically, Aloe sobbed, "Hey! Let me go-aho-aho-ahooh! Didn't you hear me?! I want to be alooone!"
"Sorry, Aloe," Colgate mentioned as she slotted in behind, using her head to help push her along.
Zecora took rear and sealed the door shut, and Aloe squealed all the way down the branch corridor.

"Noo-ho-ho-hoo! Let me gooo!"
"Um, Aloe, could you, erm, please keep it down?" whispered Fluttershy politely as she limped along. "We wouldn't want the Flood to find us, would we."
It was no use; the Earth Pony just wouldn't quit her babbling.

Exiting the branch corridor and entering a main corridor, the Ponies came under attack by a scattering of Flood infection forms, and they came under attack from a flock of Sentinels.

Trying to keep a hold of a wailing, flailing Pony whilst fending off baddies was certainly a challenge for Applejack and Colgate, so Fluttershy tried helping them as best she could. She made herself the easiest target, knowing her shields could take some damage, and used Rarity's magnum to lay waste to both the parasites and the flying droids.

Zecora had just sealed the door behind them and locked it with her Lieutenant Commander privileges, allowing AJ and Colgate to release the crazed Mare.

Aloe bolted for the door, slamming into it, beating at the controls, desperate to run back to where her sister laid. It was no use however; she just couldn't get through the door, so instead, she dove behind a fallen console and continued to sob helplessly as the others fought the Flood and Sentinels.

It was a long range battle; terrible for shotguns, hence why Fluttershy was using the diamond encrusted magnum. It did a decent job on the Sentinels, but an even better job on the parasites.

Applejack also had a pistol as her sidearm, and Zecora had an assault rifle. Colgate had a plasma rifle, and instead of using her soldier saddle, she operated it with her Unicorn magic, keeping a shotgun ready for any unexpected encounters.

Not long later, the floor was carpeted with green blood, severed tentacles and scrap metal. Another Flood on Sentinel battle could be picked up not too far from their location, and a whole swarm of plague carriers generated an increasing hubbub from back the way they came.

"Chop chop!" Twilight pushed, too hectic to praise. "No dilly-dallying. I've calculated a shortcut to the engine room, through cryo two."
"Cryo two?" Fluttershy repeated.

Cryo two was the cryo bay where she had slept when the Autumn made the jump from Reach to Halo. It was where she'd woken up. Where her nightmare began.

However, Aloe was living her own separate nightmare. "I don't wanna continue! I don't wanna go!"
"Aloe, settle down already, would ya?" snapped Applejack, looming over the twitchy Mare. "We're all very sorry for what happened to Lotus, but ya gotta move on! We all gotta if we're gonna have a shot at savin' the rest o' life from Halo - the Flood!"
Not responding, Aloe just curled up in a ball and shuddered. She reminded Fluttershy of Lyra.
"Good gravy, girl! Pull yerself together!"

Breathing heavily, Aloe attempted to get the better of her impulse. She licked her parched lips, wanting water, equipped with water, not wanting to waste time drinking when the Flood could be heard nearby. Fluttershy felt the same way.

Since she wasn't wasting time anymore, she rose shakily to her hooves, sniffed and muttered, "... Ok."
"Alright," AJ grinned, but it soon faded as a horrendous shriek entered their hearing, making some of them flinch. "Come on!"

Considerately, Fluttershy hobbled up beside the woeful Mare, keeping her foreleg off the ground, wincing with every step.

Two by two, the soldiers ducked under a half closed hatch and into the branch corridor beyond.
> Chapter 44: The Hushed Casket
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cryo two... What a heck hole it was now.

The herd had disposed of a couple of infection forms, plus a couple of Sentinels, before jumping over the pipes and entering cryo two. Those enemies were like a sign. A sign that there was more ahead, and Fluttershy cursed herself for not paying attention to it.

The cryo bay was chock-a-block with Flood, and a few Sentinels, but mainly Flood. Normally, Twilight would've instructed them to wait it out, see which side wins and tackle them after, but it was pretty clear the Sentinels didn't stand a chance, so it would be wiser to go in and lend the droids a hoof, even if they didn't appreciate it. Also, more Flood were somewhere behind them, so it would be a good idea to stay ahead.

Despite the assistance, the Sentinels didn't take too kindly to the Ponies' presence, and they directed lasers at them, when they weren't busy lasering the Flood, that is. The Flood were the most dangerous threat, but the Ponies were on a mission, and the Sentinels had orders to stop them.

Cryo tubes lined the walls of the room like an audience baring witness to the frantic show taking place centre stage. Their lids had been smashed by Elites before the crash, glass shards sprinkling the floor.

Four more cryo pods leaned back to back on a central pillar, and one of them was wide open and undamaged. Fluttershy remembered that one; the one she'd slept in, and she almost wanted to crawl back into it... almost. Two hours kip on the butte wasn't enough to stop her from being tired. Three separate armies trying to kill her certainly kept her on the tips of her hooves though.

"WRUURGIIEE!" snarled a crimson armoured Elite with what looked like a giant scorpion's tail attached to his shoulder. It came leaping over, firing a needler down at the squad.
"Waa!" Fluttershy yelped, braving the needles and turning her head in fear, pulling the trigger of her shotgun to convert the ex-elite into a blob of flying mush that came flopping down on top of her.
She fell under the weight and hoisted herself out from underneath its ravaged form, grunting with the pain in her foreleg. The others provided covering fire. Good.

Duel wielding her shotgun and plasma rifle, Colgate the Unicorn burned the Flood across the room and blew them apart when they got close. The long range - short range combination was a good one, and she gritted her teeth in determination as more and more monstrosities came rolling up.

The five Mares shuffled along, covering each other. A ladder at the far end was where they needed to be. It lead up to a balcony that traversed the length of the room and ended close to the smashed window of the observation booth. The observation booth where Vinyl Scratch had been, sooo long ago.

"One at a time!" Twilight advised. "Don't let any Flood close!"
An infected Jackal shrieked as it fell victim to the shotgun squad.

Once they reached the ladder, they took turns to climb up it, Applejack going first. The rest of the team fired out into the swarming ghouls as they closed in, protecting their Sergeant.

Once Applejack arrived at the top of the ladder, an infection form flew straight at her face. She yelped and swung her hoof at it, making it dissipate in a cloud of putrid green spores.

Waving the spores away, she clambered onto the balcony and gazed out over the tumult. A Sentinel buzzed right beside her and accidently nudged into her, so she pulled it down and smacked it against the deck over and over again until it was reduced to a pile of scrap.

Aloe came up after, with Colgate pushing her up, just in case she decided she couldn't be bothered again.

The three high up Ponies had a great view of the main floor and growing amount of Flood, so they fired everything into them, making them bellow and come leaping up. Applejack kept her shotgun handy, allowing the other two to focus more on the distant mutants. Grenades blew them apart with bone rattling explosions.
"Come on up, Fluttershy!" AJ hollered, peering down at the last two Mares.

Fluttershy couldn't take her eyes off the Flood. There was just so many, and she didn't want to turn her back to them. What if one shot her in the back? What if a parasite latched onto her? What if... No time for "what ifs;" she had a job to do, so uneasily, she turned to clamber up the ladder, leaving Lieutenant Commander Zecora down there on her own.

The Zebra was an excellent fighter. When she wasn't using her shotgun, she was jumping about, kicking the Flood, real martial arts style. One of the quadruped combat forms pounced and folded around Zecora's hoof as she booted it in the stomach. Blood, guts and the infection form all came spewing out of its twisted mouth, painting the ladder.

Peering over the ladder, Fluttershy grated, "Zecora! Up here!" reaching a hoof out.

After crushing the infection form between her hooves and blasting another ex-pony in the face, Zecora spun and leaped up to the highest rung of the ladder she could reach, pulling herself up quickly.

Even as the other soldiers rained down fire on the plague, some still managed to get past. A gagging Jackal with no eyes and three legs sprinted straight over to Zecora, only to have its head booted off. But because it didn't know how it was supposed to react to being beheaded, it simply grasped the ladder and raced up it.

Zecora had just made it to the top when the headless Jackal popped up, and Fluttershy cried, "Look out!" before blowing it away with a lethal buckshot.
"Nice work, Fluttershy! I swear I almost died!"
Wow. Praise from such a high ranking officer was like praise from Princess Celestia herself.
"Oh, I'm sure you would've been fine without me!" she shouted over the clamour, shooting a high jumping combat form.

Now that they were on the balcony, it was time to shimmy along to the observation theatre. Sentinels posted on Flood kept blocking their way, and shotguns kept clearing it.

Just like the ladder, the troops took it in turns to hop through the broken window and into the theatre, AJ first and Zecora last. However, as they were about to find out, huddling up in the cramped observation theatre was a big mistake.

Two Sentinels had been waiting for them there, and they were crippled immediately. More Flood entered the cryo bay on the main floor via the door that the herd had used to gain access themselves. There was a lot of them, and even more funnelling through the corridor ahead where they needed to be. There was another corridor behind, but it was blocked by scrap. There was a door that lead to the observation theatre for a separate cryo bay, but it was sealed, meaning the Mares were well and truly trapped.

Assessing the dire situation, Twilight ordered, "Fluttershy, Applejack; you fight them off behind us! Zecora, Aloe, Colgate; you concentrate on what's ahead!"
Following the AI's instructions, the Mares got into position and fired at their appointed targets.

All the Sentinels had been destroyed now, leaving only the Flood to panic about. Those tentacle beasts roared continuously, drowning out the sounds of gunfire. Their horrible odour intruded Fluttershy's nose, and she began wishing she'd never eaten that apple earlier.

Since the Flood preferred to simply jump up rather than use the ladder, most of their corpses came landing in the observation theatre, right by Applejack's and Fluttershy's hooves, forming what looked like a sandbag wall. Some of those sandbags wriggled back up though, and the two friends were forced to expend more shotgun ammo on putting them down.

One of the ravaged Ponies that came hooting up into the observation theatre thwacked Fluttershy across the face, reigniting the stinging in her neck, the aching of her black eye, and fuelling her fear. The yellow Pegasus got a good eyeful of her poorly assailant. It was Roseluck.

Before she could scream and pull the trigger, Applejack bucked Roseluck back down into the gathering mass and reloaded her shotgun.
"You ok, Fluttershy?!" she checked, taking a break from inserting shells into her gun's receiver to expend two on something that was once an Elite.
"Ahh - ahh - I - I - think - so!" Hyperventilating.
"Good! Keep it up!"

After a while, and a tonne of ammo, the cryo bay floor was clear, but the corridor was still jam packed with howling abominations. Zecora and Colgate had had to reload their shotguns four times, and the latter had ditched her plasma rifle due to it running dry. She did pry a plasma pistol from dead claws however, so she was still up to her duel wielding.

Aloe was getting into the fight, firing her magnum into the gangrenous crowd. She sent a carrier form exploding, and the explosion threw a number of combat forms off their feet and hooves. The grenades they possessed went up in chain reaction, throwing warped metal debris around the narrow passage.

Now that Fluttershy and Applejack had joined the others in taking on the Flood in the corridor, the Ponies could... get pushed back? It would seem there was too much Flood to handle, and the Mares were forced into a cramped, adjacent chamber, closer to the blocking scrap and sealed door.

"Where are these vermin even comin' from?!" Applejack demanded to know, shooting a cluster of wall-riding infection forms.
Twilight responded over the ruckus, "All I can say is that they're originating from somewhere further up! Not much help, I know, but it's all I can say!"
AJ grunted as she triggered a carrier form's detonation and vile green blood added more freckles to her face. "There any other way to the engine room?!"
"Not unless we back-track a mile!"
A grenade blast came courtesy of Fluttershy, and the whole deck vibrated in response.

The Flood were being real noisy. The volume of their sounds could only be matched by the volume of their stench. Each Flood form stunk as nasty as the last, and blowing their bodies apart only intensified the stench.

Ammo began to dwindle, along with time, and the soldiers soon began harvesting the Flood for shells whilst they were still fighting them. Luckily, they had Colgate. The squad Unicorn could multitask pretty well; almost at Fleur de Lis' level. Her pale indigo magic aura embraced fallen shotguns and their ammo, and she shared them out to the others. She even provided Aloe with one, just so she could kick more flank. In addition to the shotgun ammo, she also pried a new plasma rifle from the rotting corpses.

"A locked door?" Zecora pondered, just noticing it. "Ponies, cover me!" she commanded as she typed away at the coded lock. "I'll get us out of here in one, two, three!" And just like that, she opened the door.

"Of course!" celebrated Twilight. Privately to Fluttershy, she said, "Why do I forget she can do that?"
"Probably because there's other things on your mind - wahaa!" Fluttershy squealed as she blasted a beasty that got real close. "Y'know, like that!"

Moving on, Twilight ordered, "Everypony, through the door!"
One by one, the troops hopped through, Fluttershy going last and hurling one final grenade. She turned away before witnessing its results, and as soon as she was through the door, Zecora was slamming it shut and locking it. The Flood could be heard on the other side, loud and scary.

As Zecora, Applejack and Colgate worked on getting into the ceiling, Fluttershy stared through the observation window at what must be cryo one. It was completely untouched; all the cryo pods looking as neat as soldiers... except one. One pod contained a Pony. A big Pony with a pale coat... and a missing head.

Looking at her Spartan armour that had been salvaged from a decapitated super soldier - missing its helmet, Fluttershy made the connection, and stared at Spartan 117 in a ghoulish trance...

BANG! The Flood beat at both doors to the observation theatre, snapping her out of it.
She was made jump by a ceiling panel that clanged down right next to her. "Waa!"
"Quickly, y'all!" Applejack called, boosting the soldiers into the overhead opening.
"You last, Colgate!" declared Zecora, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "Seal us in before it's too late!"
An infernal shriek thundered from behind the doors, pasting a mortified look on Colgate's face.
When she didn't answer, Applejack bawled, "Colgate! Do you understand?!"
Uneasily, the Unicorn saluted, "Y-yes, mam!"

"WROOAAARR!" the Flood roared, cracking a door, their talons busting through.
"Fluttershy, yer up!" bellowed the sarge having just flung Zecora and Aloe into the ceiling.
The pink maned Pegasus took one last glance at the headless super soldier that should've been doing everything she'd been doing, wondering if things would've turned out better were he still alive, and jumped onto Applejack's back. Like a catapult, AJ sent her through the hole, where she was pulled up by Zecora.

It was cramped, narrow and dark in the overhead vent. So compact, they couldn't even stand.

Without somepony to give her a boost, Applejack pounced high off the deck. Her rodeo training came in handy as she was able to cling to the edge and hoist herself up, with assistance from Fluttershy.

Colgate however, wasn't a rodeo Pony. She was in fact the Autumn's dentist, and she jumped up and down, up and down, trying to reach the hole and the hooves reaching out to grab her.
"C'mon, Colgate, jump!"
"Jump, Colgate!"
"You can do it!"

Colgate was sweating, teeth gnashed. The Flood smashed a gap into one of the doors, and a hideous Elite gradually scraped through, howling in pain.

With all her strength, the blue Unicorn was able to leap into the clutches of her teammates, and they pulled her up fast. The reason Colgate had to be last was so she could magic the ceiling panel back in place, and she did so, very hurriedly. She panted, exhausted, just cheated death.
"Well done, Colgate."

However, one combat form had seen them, and if one knew, they all knew, and the panelling jumped under the equines' hooves as the Flood pounded at the ceiling.
"Uh oh! Quick!"
Scurrying on, the squad were lead a long way by Zecora, directly over the Flood's heads, to a charred hole.

First, the Zebra dropped down, her hooves ringing the steel deck, MA5B scanning ahead. The Flood were there, but they had their backs turned, still pushing their way into the observation theatre. She signalled the others to come down.

Fluttershy saw the remains of a striped barrel in a corner, and remembered seeing it crash through the ceiling and crush an Elite. It had been something Pinkie had predicted with her Pinkie sense, and as she looked up, she saw that the hole went all the way through to a higher floor.

Silent, the squad tip-hooved along, into a terribly battered section of corridor.
The maintenance access way came to Fluttershy's memory, and she whispered, "Follow me," as she took point and lead the way.

One of the monsters in the ravenous crowd must've had the hearing of a bat as it flinched to the little Mare's words, spotting the group sneaking by. And of course if one knew, they all knew.
Giving up, Twilight moaned, "Oh for crying out loud!" as the group galloped to the maintenance access way, the Flood hounding after them.

In her eagerness to escape, Fluttershy found herself entering the dark and spooky shaft first. She wanted to get out and let somepony else take point. Somepony not afraid. Somepony willing. But the rest of the Ponies were just as zealous as she was, and she felt somepony bump into her from behind, trying to get in after her.
"Come on, Fluttershy! Get movin'!"
Letting out a feeble groan of regret, the shy one crawled deeper into the pitch blackness, grunting as she put strain on her fracture.

With the flashlight turned on on her shotgun, Fluttershy scrambled ahead, keeping her eyes peeled, her ears pricked up. AJ was right behind her, followed by Colgate, Aloe, and Zecora on rear.

"Ok, just keep going," Twilight whispered and proceeded to give Fluttershy directions through the maze of tunnels.
An infernal screech flew up and down the shaft, stopping Fluttershy's heart. Petrified, she halted and buried her head in her hooves, hyperventilating again.
"Don't worry, Fluttershy. The way ahead is clear," reassured Twilight in a calming tone.
Swallowing her nerves, the young Pegasus shuffled on.

After many twists and turns, Twilight suddenly blared, "Enemy contacts! In front and behind!"
The fear overwhelmed Fluttershy, and she began to whimper with dread, getting quieter. "Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no-ho-ho-hoo," sniff.
"Be ready for them, Fluttershy," sang the AI. "It's up to you to take care of the ones in front." Into the coms, she ordered, "Zecora, you be ready for the ones at the back."

Shivering in the suspense, Fluttershy waited as something came banging up from around an intersection. When the source of the noise appeared, she screeched and closed her eyes, tearing the creature a new one.

She opened her eyes, and found that the creature had been a little lost Grunt, donning the new black armour. She had been expecting worse, and as usual with the Covenant, she felt guilty for taking the poor guy's life.

Whatever was at the back of the shaft didn't sound like Covenant. All that could be heard was gross slithering and Zecora grunting as she booted them away. When an agonised scream came from the Zebra, and a horrified scream came from Aloe who was right next to her, Fluttershy had a decent idea of what was going on.

"Uh-oh. Zecora!" Applejack called back. "Zecora!"
Just as Twilight yelled, "Somepony save her!" Aloe wailed;
"Move! Get out of the way! What are you doing?! Move!"
Colgate stuttered, "B-but Z-zecora!"
The pink one wasn't having any of it. "Are you crazy?! Mooove!" She shunted into Colgate, pushing her into Applejack, and Applejack into Fluttershy.

Even when the train got moving, Colgate continued to stall, "It's not too late! She's still-"
"-Aruurghuraa-AAAARR-rurrgh!" came Zecora's howl from behind Aloe, along with a wave of warm Zebra blood.
"Ok, now it's too late."
"Move, move, mooove!"

Fluttershy and Applejack had scampered ahead, and were now waiting in a darkened, closed off section of corridor. The light was provided from both Mares' flashlights and a crackling fire.
Applejack stuck her head into the maintenance access way, her voice echoing, "Colgate! Aloe! Come on!"
A Flood on Covenant on Sentinel conflict could be heard nearby, and the unmistakable sound of Hunters put a stricken look on Fluttershy's face.

When Colgate and Aloe finally regrouped, Applejack slammed the access way shut.
"Might not wanna let your guard down yet, Applejack," Twilight advised as something else came clanging noisily up to the hatch.

The farm Pony bent her knees, shotgun pointed at the access way. Everypony else did likewise, and when the panels were smashed off and Zecora greeted them with a shriek that no Zebra could make, and her head twisted upside-down with a snap, they opened fire.

Four shotgun blasts and a plasma bolt. There was no way the contaminated Zebra could live through that. Nor the wall surrounding the vent which took a considerable amount of damage.

Curled up in a ball, Aloe whimpered, "Oh my gosh - oh my gosh - oh my gosh - oh my gosh - oh my gosh-"
Without sympathy, Colgate glowered down at the spa Pony and snarled, "You could've saved her!"
"When she was infected?! How could I?!" Aloe outraged.

Applejack walked away from the commotion to spy through a crack in the sealed blast door. She could witness the fight between the Covenant, Flood and Sentinels without being seen. There was still the possibility of being heard though.

Aloe and Colgate continued their argument.
"When one of those things landed on Zecora, you just sat and watched! You just sat there and watched that... that thing take her over! I saw it all!"
"But-"
"-All you had to do... was something! Anything!"
"It was infecting her!"
"While it was on her, before it got inside her, you had plenty of time to save her! If you'd've just got off your butt and done something, Zecora would still be with us!"

Aloe winced and brought a hoof to her bandaged midsection. Those bandages were there because she herself once had an infection form latch onto her, even penetrating her flesh. She'd been saved by her twin, the late Lotus. If she'd been saved, surely Zecora could've been saved too, right?

Sitting before the row, Fluttershy's eyes darted back and forth between the two Mares. She didn't know what to make of it all. She knew where Colgate was coming from, but could sympathise with Aloe. Aloe had just been scared. Real scared. Fluttershy had been scared too, and she still was.

She checked on Applejack who was still spectating the three way fray on the other side of the blast door. A crack of light shone through the door, helping the fire and the flashlights illuminate the dim section of closed off corridor they were all in. The light outside flickered many colours. Green, blue, pink; muzzle flashes from Covenant weapons.

"The Lieutenant Commander is gone," Colgate uttered. "Without the Captain, she was in charge. Who's in charge now, huh? Hayseed Turnip Truck? We might as well sit here and let the Flood win already."
Her attention caught, AJ turned and said, "You speakin' bad words about ma cousin, Private?" Of course she had to say "Private;" emphasise the chain of command.
"Don't lie to yourself, honest Applejack. You know he's an idiot."
"I know he's a Lieutenant, n' he wouldn't'a got to where he is today if he couldn't handle things."

Applejack had said those very words to Twilight, and it confused Fluttershy. Who was this "Hayseed Turnip Truck," and why didn't anypony have any confidence in him?

After giving the dentist an intense stare, Applejack turned back to the blast door and watched the battle, thinking about things.

Crying caught Fluttershy's attention, and she looked back at Aloe and Colgate to find that the former had been reduced to tears. Colgate turned her nose up, her expression harsh, but after listening to Aloe's sobs for a little longer, she soon warmed up and sighed. Sympathetically, she placed a hoof gently on Aloe's back.

"There there, Aloe. I'm sorry."
"No... You're right... I'm useless!" Aloe wailed back depressingly.
"Noo, you're not useless, don't say that." In a turn of events, Colgate actually nuzzled up to Aloe comfortingly. "Just... forget about it, ok. It's not your fault."
Aloe peered up at Colgate, tracks running down her grimy pink face. "But it is my fault! I didn't save Zecora. She was our leader."
"It's the Flood's fault, ok," Twilight eventually stamped. "The Flood are what made Zecora what she is now; not you."
As per usual, the AI was correct, and the survivors stared longingly at the remains of Zecora and her new additions that hung out of the access way. Gross.

Turning away from the fight scene, Applejack made her way over, almost tripping over a fallen, uninfected stealth Elite.

The section of corridor made a good spot to get a breather, drink some water, and lament for the fallen Zebra. The fight beyond was quite distracting though. The hissing Sentinels were drowned out by the shouting Covenant, and the shouting Covenant were drowned out by the shrieking Flood. Explosions came courtesy of the Covenant and their Hunters, and debris came filtering in through the crack in the blast door.

"Everypony be quiet," instructed Twilight. "We're in a good place right now. We should just wait 'til things die down in the corridor. Then we can use the maintenance access ways to gain access to it. The engine room isn't far now."
Aloe shook her head. "I don't wanna."
Both Applejack and Colgate face-hoofed.

"Oh Aloe, not this again."
"See! "Not this again!" You think I'm a liability!" she accused, pointing at the orange Mare.
AJ sighed, "No pony said that."
Getting all worked up, Aloe began to twitch, and spittle flew from her lips. "You don't have to! I can see it! You all think you'd be better off without me! I got our squad killed!"
"You didn't get our squad killed, sugar cube."
"I'm talking about the swamp!"
AJ fell silent.
"When we found the Flood, I closed the door, leaving the hack box on the other side, trapping us in. If we had that hack box, we all could've escaped. Even Rarity."

Attempting to cool Aloe down again, Fluttershy denied, "We wouldn't be better off without you, Aloe."
"Actually, we would," grunted Applejack, grimacing at the twitchy Earth Pony.
"Applejack!"
Dismissing Fluttershy with a wave, AJ glowered at Aloe. "Don't lie to yourself, Fluttershy. There is no denyin' that Aloe is slowin' us down. We had to drag her to the cryo bay, and now we're wastin' time arguin' with her here."
Fluttershy grew angry. "So what?! We just leave her?!"
Applejack shook her head. "No, no, no, we don't just leave her. We give her a choice. Either she comes with us, or she stays here while we complete the mission. It's her call."

Remembering her time in the swamp and the Forerunner facility where she'd discovered the Flood, Fluttershy interrogated, "Is that what you did with Bon Bon?"
A surprised whinny came from the orange Mare. "How'd you know about Bon Bon?"
"I met her, remember."

Fluttershy hated arguing, especially with her friends. Applejack was notorious for being honest. A useful trait to have in the military, and being truthful was indeed the right thing to do. Aloe was a liability, but walking on without her simply. Felt. Wrong.

As Fluttershy and Applejack argued back and forth, Aloe was left to sit and behold the rift she'd created between the two friends. She frowned and looked at her shotgun. Her big, powerful, insta-kill shotgun.

Fluttershy's voice was quiet and considerate. "Applejack, I appreciate your honesty, but Aloe is a part of this team."
Applejack's voice was harsh and stubborn. "Well she better pull her weight!"
"Come on, Applejack. You don't really want to leave her behind, do you?"
"Of course not, but it aint about what I want, it's about what needs to be done. We need to get to the engine room, and Aloe's stallin' us."
"Well if we have to drag her kicking and screaming, we should."

"Drag her kicking and screaming;" ha. Fluttershy giggled internally at that. She wasn't one for forcing Ponies to do what they didn't want to do, but she knew that sometimes, she just had to be cruel to be kind.

AJ went quiet, thinking. "... Uh... well, uh...
Joining in, Twilight quizzed, "Applejack, what if Fluttershy were the one stalling us? What if it was one of our other friends curled up on the floor? What if it was a member of your family?"
A sad expression formed on AJ's face as she looked at Fluttershy's broken foreleg that shivered off the ground. She'd lost all the friends Fluttershy had lost, plus her brother, Big Mac. Surely she'd care enough to not leave them behind no matter what, were they still alive, right?

Applejack held her brown cowboy hat close to her chest; something she often did when feeling apologetic.
"... I guess yer right... both o' you... I'm sorry."
"We're not the ones you should be apologising to," Twilight informed.
"Right." She turned to face Aloe. "Aloe-"

The pink Mare held her shotgun to her chin, sweat and tears pouring down her face. Her eyes were wide and veined, shimmering with suspense.
"Aloe!" everypony and AI cried, lunging for her.

BOOM! Aloe's face was blown completely off, exposing the remains of her brain in the back of her skull. Blood and scraps of flesh showered the troops as Aloe's sitting corpse flopped over backwards. The warm red fluid continued to leak out of her head, covering an old stain of blue Grunt blood.

Applejack and Colgate gasped, whereas Fluttershy full on screamed, and a Flood bellow replied to her. A Hunter bellow replied to that, along with an explosion.

Chest heaving, Fluttershy hunkered down and buried her face in her hooves and mane. "Oh my... Oh my gosh, I can't... I ca... I c-ca... I can't do this!"
The other two were speechless, jaw-dropped.

Eventually, Applejack rotated to watch Fluttershy, scrooched on the deck crying. Something hit her heart, and her lower lip trembled. Colgate's lower lip trembled too, and the Unicorn slumped to her haunches, stifling and sniffling.

"Oh my goodness," Twilight started emptily. "She just... she just... I can't believe it."
"That's what Lyra did!" squeaked Fluttershy. She lifted her head to face Applejack and stabbed, "Remember Lyra?!"

Lyra had been in AJ's squad when she went to search for that "Forerunner art," and Fluttershy had witnessed her leave existence in a similar fashion to Aloe.

Not knowing what to do or say, Applejack reached out meaningfully, stopped herself, and turned to walk away. She sat herself down by the blast door, not watching the fight on the other side, just sitting and hanging her head in shame. She joined Fluttershy and Colgate in the waterworks club.

With the thundering ambience of Covenant on Flood on Sentinel warfare, the three surviving Ponies sat separate from each other in the shadows, and wept.

*****

Closing in on the Filly of Autumn, Pinkie Pie and her Flood buddies braced themselves. The Grunt bodies had been converted to parasite spewing biomass, blocking off access to the Spirit's port troop bay. The Elite pilot had been infected, getting the combat forms' numbers up to three. Not a lot, but there were plenty of infection forms to go around.

Now, the one that was once a Jackal was piloting, and Pinkie and the Elite stood strong, knees bent, tentacles flapping in the turbulence.

The monster that controlled Pinkie intended to join a whole infestation on the UPSC ship, and it hurt Pinkie's heart to see what the Halcyon class Cruiser had become. Out of the busted starboard troop bay, she could see the vessel's battered and bruised fuselage, sporting damage from Covenant weapons and the final crash. She was perilously close to plummeting off a gigantic precipice, just teetering over the edge.

Another thing that hurt her heart, was the infection inside her, which had literally moved her heart aside to make room for itself. She didn't need that heart though. The thick fluid in her veins felt like sewage, and the parasite was the one pumping the stuff. Gosh, she felt so sick right now.

Coming up close, two of the Autumn's lifeboat air-locks came into view, and the twitching Jackal at the transport's controls flew straight into them. The wall between the air-locks did a good job of demolishing the Spirit's central cock-pit, along with the pilot. However, thanks to the odd, forked shape of the craft, the two fuselages were swallowed whole by the air-locks, and the long, purple boxes scraped into the Autumn with orange sparks and blue flames.

Out of one troop bay, the ex-elite sprinted away as if nothing had happened, as if he already knew where to go and what to do, leaving Pinkie behind. Yep, the fluffy pink victim hadn't survived the impact, much to her fortune, and her mangled form laid still in what looked like a giant purple coffin.

Unfortunately, the other purple coffin puked out a horde of infection forms, and one of them stopped to inspect her body. Greedy, it replaced the old, destroyed infection form within and burrowed inside, stretched its tendrils around her body and made itself at home.

Back from the dead, Pinkie convulsed, her senses and thoughts rushing back. It hurt. It really hurt. It hurt so much, she screamed, but it came out as a bone chilling shriek. She'd eaten Grunt earlier, and some of the blue blood spat from her chapped lips.

Now that she had landed, she was dragged along by the monster, following the infection forms through the labyrinth. She didn't know why she'd been taken here, or why the Covenant had been trying to get here in the first place, but either way, it couldn't be good.
> Chapter 45: Light Fuse, Run Away!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Like they were on a conveyor belt, the Flood kept running to the Covenant, only to be destroyed. The mutant horde was thin, and the Covenant platoon was dense. Hunters took care of most of them, but the Elites and Grunts got their fair share of kills too. So did the Sentinels.

Those Forerunner mechanisms were purpose built for taking on the Flood, but they were down and out in a matter of seconds. At least they'd cleared up the majority of infection forms.

The Covenant were getting bored. The fight had been frantic at first, but now it was starting to drag as combat forms came staggering up one by one, claiming their prizes of plasma bolts and needles. The officer in command ordered the Hunters to stop using their fuel rod cannons; the ammunition and jarring explosions not really worth it.

Things began to heat up again when a quadruped form emerged from the shadows of the maintenance access ways and blasted one of the Hunters dead with a UPSC shotgun. Bellowing commands, the lead Elite pointed at the three narrow openings on the left wall, informing his squad of the threat and allowing the remaining Hunter to use its fuel rod gun.

Unbeknownst to the team leader, another shotgun levitated on its own in the air behind him, and without warning, it fired. His spine shattered into a million pieces upon receiving the buckshot, and he was pushed forwards by the sheer power, falling flat on top of a frightened Grunt.

Two Elites, three Grunts and one Hunter were all that remained. Well, all that remained of the Covenant. The Flood were still present, and they were able to swamp two of the Grunts in the confusion. In order to throw the Flood out of the equation, the Hunter turned to vaporise them, leaving its rear weak spot exposed to whatever was lurking in the vents. Boom! It followed the same path as its bond brother, and was floored by yet another eight gauge shell.

The remaining Covies became unnerved, and the last Grunt fled the scene, wailing all the way down the corridor. One of the two Elites barked after him to come back, but the little methane breather was just too scared, and he disappeared around a corner.

Forgetting about the cowardly Grunt, the Elite turned his attention back to the Flood, and came face to face with an orange Earth Pony Mare with green eyes.
"Howdy," she greeted, right before shooting his face off with a deafening buckshot.

One final Elite was still standing, and he spun to face the three Ponies closing in around him. He aimed his needler, alternating between Colgate, Applejack and Fluttershy. If he shot one, he'd be floored by the other two, and he knew that. His obsidian green eyes darted around while his brain worked hard to come up with a plan. Luckily for him, something else came up with one.

From an aperture in the ceiling, a huge, misshapen Pony dropped down between them, and the Elite took the opportunity to backpedal into a branch corridor, firing his needler at Colgate. Those needles flew on their own accord though, and they veered into the side of the ravaged beast that howled and stomped its way towards the equines. All three Mares were armed with shotguns however, and the malformation was dropped in an instant.

"The Elite took cover in the branch corridor!" informed Twilight from Fluttershy's speaker. "It can be accessed from two sides. Split up and flank him!"

Applejack and Colgate teamed up while Fluttershy ventured through the right doorway by herself, albeit with her fancy armour and Twilight. Sure enough, the black armoured Elite had been waiting for her, and it hosed her with vibrant pink needles. Frightened, she shielded her face from the flurry as her shields began to droop, but then a loud boom rang around the corridor, cutting off the needle assault. AJ stood on the Elite's corpse, reloading her shotgun, Colgate at her back.
"Oh, thank you, Applejack," Fluttershy grinned, brushing shards of crystal off herself.
"Yer welcome, partner."

Things had been pretty awkward between the soldiers as of late. And the AI. After what happened to Aloe, and seeing a similar thing happen to Lyra a while back, Fluttershy wasn't too confident in Applejack's leadership. She was a true, honest friend who could be trusted, but her soldiers being left behind or committing suicide was becoming a pattern.

They'd discussed the issue when they were in hiding. Applejack became offended. Her abilities, her career, even her psyche had all come into question. The Staff Sergeant was just... upset. Stressed. Afraid. No pony could blame her for that.

As for Colgate, well, she was just a tag along. A random squaddie along for the ride. She'd been there, watching the discussion take place in front of her. Fluttershy wondered what she made of it all, or if she even cared.

Now, the troops took sips of water from their canteens, reloaded their shotguns and scavenged the Flood and Covenant bodies for grenades.
"This should be enough," Twilight said as everypony kitted themselves out with full supplies of grenades. "More than enough. The fusion reactors won't stand a chance."
"Great then." Applejack adjusted her hat. "Y'all ready?"
Nervous nods from Colgate and Fluttershy made Applejack pause for a moment.
She shook her head clear of whatever was haunting her. "Let's be movin' then."

Everywhere in the Autumn had been a mess. If something wasn't stained with blood or littered with bodies, it was scorched, cracked, dented, or even on fire. But as the survivors entered another branch corridor, they found themselves in a spotless haven. Everything was clean and undamaged, and the lighting was fully functioning. The floor sparkled beneath their hooves, and Fluttershy looked down at their reflections, noting the mess of her face and the hideous shiner on her right eye. 

Distracted, she almost tripped over something, and it startled her. It turned out to be nothing more than a mop that had been left behind by some crew pony. There was a bucket sat there too, and it still contained water. It hadn't spilled or dried up, implying that whoever left it there, left it there after the crash.

Gazing around the squeaky clean corridor, Fluttershy got the shivers. It was too clean. It didn't make sense. Why would anypony go to the trouble of cleaning this place after the crash? She had a vision of it painted in blood after some horrible bloodbath, then somepony, some Covie even, returning to do a spot of spring cleaning.

AJ didn't trust the perfect cleanliness either, and she scowled around, waiting for a vent to pop open, or something to come crashing through a wall, the floor, the ceiling.

A sudden brushing noise made Fluttershy and AJ jump, and they darted their gaze back at Colgate, who proceeded to brush her teeth. The Unicorn paused and acknowledged her colleagues' disapproving stares, but didn't stop, just brushed slower. To rinse, she took a swig from her flask, her cheeks bulging with water. Not knowing where to spit, she uneasily swallowed.
"Sorry. Had a little something on my teeth." Licking her teeth, she announced, "Actually I think it's still there," and whipped up the toothbrush once more.
"Don't..." Applejack growled, serious.
She and Fluttershy carried on walking, leaving Colgate to stow her brush, paste and canteen and trot to catch up.

At the end of the sparkling corridor, Fluttershy opened a door, and foisty air came to meet them. The room on the other side was huge, almost as clean as the corridor, and completely devoid of life.
"This is the engine room."
"Oh my. I've never been in the engine room before." Fluttershy stepped out onto the shiny floor, her clopping hooves echoing around the chamber.

A central wall split the vast room in two, and large consoles dotted the floor. The squad had entered the room from the right side, and a second floor balcony overlooked them from the far right wall. Up the wall in the middle, a third floor balcony was situated even higher, consoles positioned on it.

Just below the third floor balcony, three long, thick beams of durocrete stretched out and bridged the gap between the central wall and the far right wall, resting on top of the second floor balcony. Wondering what they were, Fluttershy stared up at them in bewilderment. To say it was Pony engineering, it all seemed just as alien to her as the Covenant. And the Forerunners.

Sensing that Fluttershy was eying the beams, Twilight lessoned, "Yep. Those are the fusion reactors. There's more on the other side."
"My gosh," Fluttershy gasped, a lump in her throat. "They're pretty high up."
Applejack gave her a comforting nudge. "Aw, don't fret. They aint that high."

Twilight continued her lecture. "In order to destroy the Autumn, and Halo, we have to blow them up. That's what all your grenades are for. I trust you've been saving them?" Knowing exactly what Fluttershy was hauling, she was asking Applejack and Colgate.
"Yeah, we've been savin' em alright."
"Although we may have used some to get here," Colgate added with a blush.
"That's fine. You being here is more important than the grenades."
Applejack nodded in agreement.

"So," Fluttershy started, looking up at the fusion reactors. "... How do we do this, exactly?"
"Well, it will require care, thought, and most of all, teamwork," listed the AI. "We should get to the top floor and open the fusion reactors for Applejack and Colgate."
Gulping, Fluttershy's pupils shrank. "All the way up there?"

"Applejack, you've got a good throw," theorized Twilight. "Y'think you can get onto the beams and throw the grenades into the fusion cores?"
"Sounds like a game o' ring-toss," the mustang shrugged. "Shouldn't be a problem."

"What do I do?" Colgate queried, clueless.
"You stay with me n' keep any nasties off ma back," informed Applejack, placing a hoof on her, not wanting to loose her last soldier. "Hopefully it won't come to that."

The engine room was dead; not a single sign of life... or death, for that matter. It was like looking at a clear blue sky, seeing zero storm clouds, knowing it was going to be a beautiful day.

However, the engine room wasn't a sky. It was a room; four walls and a ceiling, and a storm cloud came in the form of a distant, approaching shriek that echoed from the corridor behind.
Fear stricken, Colgate quivered, "Sounds like it will come to that."
"Hurry," prompted Twilight, and the three survivors galloped across the engine room floor and away into a passage that would take them higher.

Once on the second floor balcony, Applejack and Colgate held position, clambering up onto one of the durocrete beams.
"Get along now, Fluttershy," AJ called out. "We're ready n' waitin'."
Struggling to get on top of the chunky beam, Colgate fell on her haunches, and got up to try again. With a little help from AJ, she was able to do it.

Fluttershy had ran off into the next passage that would take her up to the third floor, her three legged running echoing up and down, sounding odd to her. As she rounded a corner, she was shocked to bump into a trio of hideous Flood that gargled upon her arrival.
"Aaaahh!"
She squinted and fired her shotgun into the carrier form. It detonated and sent sloppy green blood in every direction. The two combat forms that were with it were devastated in the explosion, and their bodies crumpled up against the walls, sliding to the floor.

"They weren't moving," Twilight sang; her excuse for not detecting them. "Sorry!"
Understanding, Fluttershy had only herself to blame for not taking caution. She battered through the little parasites, even using her broken leg, which ached like hell.

Out of the stinking passage and onto the top balcony, the little Pegasus had a great view of the floors below. Applejack and Colgate waved at her, distant.
"Go ahead, Fluttershy!"

Approaching a console, the young Mare scanned the telemetry, no clue how to use it.
Twilight directed, "Hit the big square button to the right."
Fluttershy did as told, and a sudden beep startled her. The deck shook beneath her hooves and an immense groaning noise reverberated all around the engine room.
Scared, she pondered, "What's going on?"
"That did it!" came the AI's exuberant answer. "AJ has a clear shot into the fusion reactor!"

Peering over the console, Fluttershy witnessed the beam of durocrete move away from her, receding into the far wall. Still mounting it, Applejack and Colgate paced steadily along the jumbo treadmill, approaching the end.
"Nice work, Fluttershy!"

Just then, a grating shriek resounded over the engine room. It seemed to come from every direction at once, and did a great job frightening the living daylights out of Fluttershy.
Through a sore throat, she yelled, "Now, Applejack! Throw the grenade!"

Further announcing their presence, the Flood howled and banged at the doors. They banged until the doors broke and fell, and the infestation came pouring in on the bottom floor. Their stink came with them, and they left filthy prints on the clean deck.

Sweating, the orange Earth Pony drew and primed a frag grenade, tossed it in the air, spun and bucked the rounded device.

The fusion reactor consisted of two rectangular letter boxes that lit up red from within. Applejack's grenade soared through the air, looking promising, but when it hit the metal strip with a clang and bounced into the gathering Flood, she became frustrated.
"Oh, dang nab it!"

Taking out a grenade of her own, Colgate opted, "Here, let me try."
The grenade the Unicorn levitated easily over to the fusion reactor was a captured plasma grenade, and it shone bright and blue as its fuse dwindled. With no effort at all, Colgate was able to magic the explosive into one of the two letter boxes and keep it there, where it went off with a loud BOOM and sent Fluttershy off her hooves.

"Ha! Nice one, Colgate," praised Applejack, giving the blue one a high-hoof. "I never thought of cheatin', hehe."
The blue Mare grinned. "Hey now."

After rising shakily to her hooves and regaining her composure, Fluttershy watched the durocrete beam come sliding back.

Even as the Flood went racing up the passage that would lead to the second floor, they continued to enter the engine room via the two main doors. They formed a sea of tentacles and body parts, and AJ and Colgate had to hop across to the third beam, mindful of what awaited them should they slip up.
"Come on, Fluttershy!" encouraged Twilight. "Next console's at the other end of the balcony!"

Making her way across the steel grating, Fluttershy was jumped by what used to be a Jackal that came pouncing out of a fiery channel. She screamed and blew its face off, then blew its arm off when it failed to die.
Close by, Applejack checked, "You ok there, sugar cube?!"
"Um, yes?!" she responded, unsure.

Moving on, and wondering how that fire even started, she limped up to the next console and used her nose to tap the exact same button as before. The same old beep and shuddering of the deck marked the beam's journey back into the far wall, exposing the fusion reactor somewhere beneath her.

The two Mares on the moving slab were better prepared this time, and could probably just place a grenade in the reactor with their hooves, but Colgate still decided to use her telekinesis to plant a frag in there.

Remembering last time, Fluttershy made an effort to get clear, and accidently squished an infection form she didn't even know was there. More parasites came slithering up, and she expended a couple of shells on them, pocking the metal deck.

Doing more damage to the Autumn, Colgate's grenade laid waste to the second fusion reactor, and random explosions started to rock the whole ship, the engines becoming dangerously unstable.
"The engines are startin' to decay!" Applejack hollered over the havoc.
"Dearie me! Should I get my toothbrush?!" panicked Colgate.
"Not that type o' decay!"
"Two to go, girls!" Twilight broadcasted. "Keep it up, you're doing great!"

As Applejack's and Colgate's beam slid back into position, the second beam in the middle began to pull away, exposing a vent that deposited a heck of a lot of steam. Through that steam, a blue armoured Elite hurtled right at them, flailing his arms. As Colgate screamed, Applejack blasted the abomination in the gut, and the whole creature was ripped in half. As it plummeted to the mayhem below, new tentacles could be seen bursting from under its severed torso, and it continued to wail piercingly.

A crash indicated the door to the second floor being destroyed, and the Flood pushed eagerly past each other, hungry for their pray.
To Colgate, Applejack demanded, "Get on up!" as the fusion reactor sealed up.
She gave the Unicorn a boost onto the third floor balcony where she joined Fluttershy. Expertly, she pounced up after to regroup with her team, not needing help from anypony. It was difficult to keep balance when the whole ship was quaking.

Catching them off guard, a familiar voice warbled around the chamber. "Oh no you don't!"
At that moment, an orange laser hissed through the air, straight as an arrow, and burned a line along the deck, up Colgate's foreleg and onto her face.
"Aaaaahhh!" she screeched, skin bubbling.
Fluttershy cried out, "Colgate!" and lunged for her as she toppled off the balcony and disappeared into the swarming Flood.
Dramatically, Applejack wailed, "Nooo!"

The voice that had spoken came from 343 Guilty Spark himself, and the little round ball came floating in with a platoon of Sentinels.
"Destroy my installation, will you?!"
Until now, the Sentinels had been nothing more than an annoyance. A prod in the side. A bunch of flies that needed swatting. But now they'd actually killed a Pony, and that changed things. These pesky little mechanisms were a true threat.

Urgently, Twilight shouted, "Take shelter!"
Shelter. When dealing with Flood and Covenant, all they needed was cover, but when you had flying enemies, cover, or shelter, was a lot more difficult to find. The only safe place Fluttershy could think of was the burning channel that connected this side of the engine room to the other, where an infected Jackal had emerged from not long ago.

She ran frantically on her three good legs into the heat of the corridor, Applejack behind her, and squealed as she ran straight into another Pony. Patches of green coat were still visible behind the hideous fungus, and tendrils burst from the ex-mare's chest. It let out an agonising whinny, but was cut off by Applejack and her trusty shotgun.

Both Ponies panted and reloaded their weapons.
"I... I can't believe it," wheezed AJ, using a hoof to shade her face from the flames. "That was my last soldier... I lost em all... I failed."
"Oh, come on now, Applejack," comforted Fluttershy. "You-"
"-What kind of a Sergeant am I?" She was really sad, and a tear rolled down her freckled cheek.

Looking at Fluttershy, she noted her broken foreleg and black eye. The sweet little veteran looked like she'd seen some stuff. Putting on a brave smile, she used that foreleg to wipe AJ's tear away, then winced with the twinge, then flinched at the sound of a groaning mutant, chest heaving. Afraid, Fluttershy's brave act didn't last very long, but it was a wake up call none the less.

"Well I'm not gonna let you down." She gritted her teeth with determination.
A close explosion made Fluttershy jump out of her skin. "Gah! ... And I... won't let you down!"
At least I'll try.

"Aha-ahem!" the AI cleared her non-existent throat quite forcefully.
Sheepishly, Fluttershy muttered, "Oh, come on, Applejack!"
Applejack adjusted her cowboy hat. "Guess it's just you n' me."

The duo ran out onto the third floor balcony on the other side of the central wall, the next row of durocrete beams stretching out before them.

The Flood continued to bellow, and the Sentinels proceeded to laser them down. However, the Flood rebelled, and they were able to knock a couple of machines out of the air.

Getting to work on the other side of the engine room felt like a fresh start. Most of the pandemonium was taking place behind them.

As a team, Fluttershy and Applejack were able to repeat the same procedure on the third fusion reactor, and just as AJ rode the motioning slab back to the balcony, a ravaged Elite dropped down from above and thrashed its lumpy, tentacle equipped arm. With a quick jump to the middle shaft, the farm Pony evaded the lethal blow.
"Careful, Applejack!" yelled Fluttershy over the hullabaloo and increasingly destabilising engine.

When the Elite that was no longer an Elite came leaping after AJ, the orange Mare bucked it, sending it down into the repulsive mass.
"Well done! Keep going!"

Sweating in the rising heat, Applejack jumped on over to the final reactor, using the beams as stepping stones, a grenade at the ready. One of Spark's Sentinels came baring down on her, and Fluttershy toiled madly to swap her shotgun for her longer ranged pistol.

As soon as the diamond encrusted side-arm was fitted, she fired directly up into the miniature robot's hull, and watched as it burst into blue flames and came crashing down right beside Applejack. The Earth Pony hadn't even realised it was there, and she looked puzzlingly at Fluttershy. Cowardly but trying to be brave, Fluttershy gave her a wink, then spun to tackle some infection forms.

Ridding the deck of parasites, she put the shotgun back on her armour's mechanical arm and staggered over to the final console, grunting with every step. She hit the button, and the last column sailed away with a beep and shudder, Applejack riding it. After spitting a frag into the letter boxes, AJ backed up and waited for the detonation.

BOOM! It went off. BOOM! Something else went off. And something else. And something else! Everything was exploding around the sole Ponies.
"Yes! We did it!" celebrated Twilight. Noting exactly what was going on, her mood flipped over. "I mean; uh oh! We did it!"
Terrified by all the explosions that constantly took place around the entire Cruiser, Fluttershy warbled, "Um, Twilight?! What do we do now?!"
"We get to external access junction 4C where Rainbow will pick us up!" the AI shouted, voice drowned out by the ringing in the yellow Mare's ear.

Applejack hopped up onto the balcony as the middle beam pulled away, allowing the engine to vent steam, which turned out to be roaring fire and ugly black smoke. The Mares coughed and spluttered, and AJ took a break to blast a stray combat form into oblivion.

"Follow my directions!" Twilight grated loudly. "And be fast!"
Just as they turned to run, 343 Guilty Spark descended behind them. "You... how dare you!"
Fluttershy and Applejack hesitated.
"How could you just blow it all up?! My home! The legacy of my makers!" Were Spark sentient, he'd be tearing up, and Fluttershy felt guilty.
Guess that's why he's called Guilty Spark.
They really were destroying his home. She wouldn't like it if someone destroyed her home. She certainly didn't like it when the Covenant destroyed Reach.

Explosions and shrieks snapped her out of it, and she galloped uneasily through the burning channel, that was now full of even more fire, and even an infected Elite that came to retrieve a buckshot.

Sympathetically, Applejack paused to utter the words, "Sorry, sugar-sphere," to the sad monitor, then hurried to catch up with Fluttershy, leaving him alone in the burning, infested engine room.

Together, the Pegasus and the Earth Pony braved the wavering flames and came back out onto the third floor balcony in the first half of the chamber. A contaminated Pony came shrieking up from the right, still possessing a soldier saddle and MA5B. Fluttershy aimed the shotgun and blew the disgrace apart.

A second shotgun blast came courtesy of Applejack, who tore the head off of another contaminated equine.
"Which way?!" she demanded to know, debris raining down on her from a nearby explosion.
"Door on the left!" Twilight yelled. "Follow the corridor to the service elevator!"

Something roared from behind and came scrambling through the flames, dragging a long, fat tail behind. It suffered through two devastating shotgun shells before slumping to the deck in a pile of bloody organs, letting out a dying moan.
"Move, girls! Move!"

In a frantic rush, Fluttershy and Applejack ran to the door, the former tapping it open. On the other side, another door waited, no more than ten metres away. Time was consumed as the Ponies waited for it to scrape halfway open, when it became jammed, and they squeezed their way through, one at a time.

The corridor beyond was ablaze, and the orange fires were oh so hot. Once it had been traversed, the Mare's took the only available door on the right, and were forced to make their way through a series of tightly packed doors.

A terrifying uproar rolled up behind them, along with heavy footfalls and the clanging of doors being pushed down.
Huffing and puffing, Fluttershy inquired, "P... please tell me... the elevator's... waiting for us!"
"It's on its way down now!" Twilight answered.
"Oh, phew!"
"But we're not the ones riding it!"
Fluttershy gulped.

Applejack beat Fluttershy to the next ruined door.
"C'mon, Fluttershy!" she beckoned, attempting to pry the door open. "Lend me a hoof!"
All of a sudden, the door was wrapped in a fiery explosion, thanks to the ship's disintegrating engines. Applejack was wrapped in the explosion too, and the unlucky Mare screamed somewhere within the dust.
"Applejack!" shrieked Fluttershy, heart full of dread.
Coughing and spluttering came from behind the dust cloud, and as it faded, Applejack could be seen laying on her side, fresh red blood drenching her head and torso.

The Pegasus rushed over. "Oh my gosh! Applejack! Are you alright?!"
Before the injured Pony could respond, Twilight announced, "Here they come!"
True to the AIs words, the elevator descended into view in the shaft beyond the next chamber. It came to a halt with a piercing creak, and a whole Covenant spec-ops team was stationed on it.
Wide eyed, the pink maned Pony gasped, "You've got to be kidding me!"

Her first instinct was to seek cover, so she scanned around... There was no cover... Ok, plan B; fire everything! Knowing there was no turning back, she wailed and pranced up to the hard-core Covenant specialists, firing buckshot after buckshot into their faces, her shields absorbing way too much plasma and needles.

After successfully defeating three of the four Grunts and taking the shields off of one Elite, she dove and rolled to the side where a wall provided her with protection, shivering with shock.
There is cover after all. So long as the Covies stayed on the elevator, that is.

But of course, Covies had minds of their own, and as she waited for her shields to recharge, the second Elite, who's shields were full, came running out into the battered chamber, firing his plasma rifle as he bolted in Applejack's direction. Every single plasma bolt found its mark on Fluttershy, and her shields popped completely. The green metal plates of her armour started to take damage themselves, corroding in the immense heat.

"Take cover on the elevator!" squealed Twilight in panic.
The petite Mare screeched and skidded her way onto the elevator platform where the Elite couldn't hit her. However, the other Elite with drained shields and the last Grunt were there to keep her company, and they immediately opened fire.

Since she lacked a helmet, Fluttershy spun and turned her back to the alien soldiers, keeping her head hidden behind her own body. She could feel the plasma burning through the armour on her flank. She'd hate for any plasma to burn through and claim her cutie mark. After everything she'd been through on Halo, she couldn't even remember what her own cutie mark looked like anymore.

Despite facing the opposite direction, the robotic arm on her armour could flex a full one-eighty. Of course she couldn't see where she was aiming, but Twilight could.
"Fire!"
With her shotgun pointing squarely in the Covenant's faces, she pulled the trigger.

"Waa!" squeaked the black armoured Grunt as he collected all the ball bearings in his chest.
With the fierce spec-ops Grunts dead, all that was left were the two mighty Elites, and-

-A deafening, alien shriek, crossed with a neigh, resonated from the chamber, and the Elites turned their attention to whatever it was. They fired their plasma rifles at it, and it fired its own plasma rifle back. Vivid blue flashes flickered in the chamber before the elevator, and the unseen Elite cried out in pain. As for the other Elite that shared the elevator with Fluttershy; he ran out to help his buddy, his shields on the recharge.

Fluttershy should've waited for her own shields to recharge too, but Applejack was still out there, so she peeked out into the chamber and saw that... Oh goodness...

Making a stunning return, a certain pink coated Earth Pony Mare with blue eyes and a poufy pink mane and tail stood in the chamber with a beaming great smile and enthusiastic wave.
"P... Pinkie?" Fluttershy blinked.
She'd been hallucinating. That wasn't Pinkie. Not even close to Pinkie. Not Pinkie anymore.

Taking care of the Elites, "Pinkie" snarled and thrashed about. Her mane was in tangles, her coat was scruffy, her armour was fractured, and gruesome tendrils supplemented her misshapen body. She was one of Fluttershy's very best friends. She'd been sad to see her go, but now she was back, and that was actually worse.

To the rescue, Pinkie roared an alien roar and drove a blade of flesh into the throat of an Elite.
"No. Not Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy whimpered, tears on the way. "Why Pinkie Pie?"

The Elite that had been on the elevator crouched and took careful aim, firing his plasma rifle at the beast that was once the universe's happiest Pony, but Pinkie didn't have time to react to the plasma striking her body, so she flung a really long tentacle up and knocked the plasma rifle clean out of the Elite's hands.

Fluttershy looked through the fray at Applejack, and Applejack looked back. She would be clear of a grenade detonation, so since the chamber was full of hostiles, Fluttershy let one fly. It was a plasma grenade, and it landed softly on the deck by the two bad guys and one sick friend who was in desperate need of "help."

Upon noticing it, the Elite that wasn't being stabbed screamed something in his language. In an instant, he punched Pinkie away and grasped his friend by the collar with one alien claw, throwing him into the safety of the elevator... The elevator where Fluttershy was standing, and her shields had just regenerated.

The black armoured warrior was a real mess. He landed on his back at Fluttershy's hooves and looked at her, gagging, clutching his throat as purple blood squirted out of it. His face was concealed behind his sleek, black helmet.

Sorrowfully, Fluttershy pulled the trigger, and whatever expression he had was converted to mushy purple brains and fractured black helmet.

That last Elite took cover in the elevator not long after he'd flung his buddy to his fate, and he kept his back to the wall of the shaft, flinching as Fluttershy's grenade detonated and shook the platform. He looked at Fluttershy, looked into the chamber, made a surprised grunt and looked back at Fluttershy. He was the one who'd sprayed her with plasma, so to him, Fluttershy was a ghoul, back from the dead.

Another ghoul back from the dead was Pinkie, and the grossly malformed Mare leapt onto the elevator with an ear-splitting howl, rocking the platform. The tentacle that had replaced her left foreleg was ridiculously long, and it smacked Fluttershy about, trying to get a grip on her.

Pinkie wasn't leaving the Elite out either, oh no; Pinkie could multi-task, and while she continued to wriggle her four metre long tentacle around Fluttershy, she fired her plasma rifle at the biped warrior.

The spec-ops Elite was fast on his feet, and he sprinted around, dodging the plasma fire, firing his own rifle back at the cluster of tentacles and Pony parts.

Crying, Fluttershy pointed the shotgun at Pinkie. "I'm so sorry!"
Boom! She fired directly into her friend's side, making her bleed, but nothing more. Before she could fire again, ex-Pinkie got a hold of her shotgun and yanked it away. In perfect timing, the Elite yanked the plasma rifle off of ex-Pinkie, and the living nightmare simply put Fluttershy's shotgun in its place. Smart.

Without her shotgun, Fluttershy withdrew Rarity's pistol, pushing herself far back against the shaft to avoid Pinkie's python appendage.

The Elite noticed Pinkie's new weapon, and immediately dove out of the way, narrowly avoiding a deadly eight gauge shell. However, he had two plasma rifles now, and he fired both of them into the thing that was once Pinkie.

Rotten skin boiling, Pinkie dipped and extended her tendril, overstretching it until it bled, and scooped up Fluttershy in one quick motion. With the little Pony out of the equation, she then wrapped the same tentacle around the Elite, squeezing them together cosy and shaking them violently, banging them against the walls and floor until they dropped their firearms.

The noble Elite pressed his hands against Fluttershy's mane, and Fluttershy felt the alien impression on her head. He pushed himself up and out of the Flood's clutches where he eagerly ran for its shotgun and snatched it off.

He fired, BOOM, and blew a huge hole into Pinkie Pie's torso.

Dying, the distorted pink Mare lost power, and she let out a faint moan that sounded too much like good ol' healthy Pinkie. "WRAAGH-oohh-riegh-luttersh-AAGH!"
Traumatized, Fluttershy was shaking like a washing machine on spin cycle. Did... she just... talk?!

As her cherished friend flopped to the deck, the tentacle around her slackened, and she was able to pull herself free. She found herself staring down the barrel of her shotgun, the Elite at the other end. Despite facing her demise, she was grateful that he'd been the one to give Pinkie her treatment.

She flinched when the Elite pulled the trigger. Click. Empty. A chance.

Furious, the black armoured biped snapped the shotgun in half over his knee and drew his scaly fists. One v one. One spec-ops Elite vs Fluttershy. Who would win?

BOOM! A shotgun blast rang around the arena, and the Elite had his left leg shorn clean off. He screamed with pain and fell over, squeezing the area around his severed leg.

"Huh?!" grunted Fluttershy, confused.
She turned to see Applejack laying half on, half off the elevator, holding her shotgun out at the screaming alien. Mercilessly, she let a second shell fly, and made a mess of the Elite's chest. His purple gore splattered the elevator platform and shaft.

Hurrying to the orange one's aid, Fluttershy helped pull AJ onto the platform. "Oh, Applejack!"
"Get us outa here, Fluttershy," came AJ's stern tone with a seriousness that turned Fluttershy's blood cold.

Fluttershy was really worried about Applejack. She was in a terrible condition. But AJ's health would have to wait; the Filly of Autumn was literally tearing itself apart, and explosions bloomed all over the Halcyon class Cruiser.

Hopping up to the control panel, Fluttershy asked hectically, "Which floor, Twilight?!"
"Top floor! Top floor!"
She hit the necessary button, and the shaft sealed itself up, just in time as the chamber on the other side became completely destroyed in a massive explosion that rocked Fluttershy off her hooves.

She got back up, paced over to Applejack, retrieving her pistol on the way, and knelt beside her as the elevator began to climb, explosions throwing debris out on top of them.

"I can't believe it," breathed Twilight. "Pinkie Pie... she-"
"-Twilight... hail Rainbow Dash," interrupted the broken Applejack.
Mind elsewhere, Twilight responded, "I'll... I'll get on it."

With Pinkie's revolting corpse joining them on the elevator, Fluttershy and Applejack gazed at her in despair. Up the exploding shaft, the elevator climbed, and climbed, and climbed, the two Ponies cuddling each other.

"Rainbow Dash, this is Twilight, come in!" Twilight hollered over the radio.
Static answered her, but no voice.
"Rainbow Dash, this is Twilight, come in! ... ... Rainbow Dash, come in! ... ... Rainbow Dash!"
> Chapter 46: Warning: Hitchhikers May Be Escaping Convicts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"... I'm here, Twilight," Rainbow Dash finally responded over the radio.
Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness."
"Ready for that pick up?"

Continuous explosions jostled the whole elevator and the two Mares riding it as it ascended. Each one was louder than the last, and Fluttershy's heart skipped a beat with every blast.

"Definitely," Twilight answered back to Rainbow.
"Junction 4C?"
"External access junction 4C," she emphasised.
"Doh, you know what I mean!"
Twilight took a pause, seeing what Fluttershy was seeing, and Fluttershy was seeing Pinkie Pie, twisted and mangled on the platform.
"... Twilight, you there?"
"... I'm here, Rainbow. Sorry. Yeah, I know what you mean, but I don't wanna take any chances." An explosion interrupted her. "External access junction 4C."
"External access junction 4C," the pilot repeated in confirmation.

*****

Circling the Autumn, Rainbow Dash banked her Pelican around. "I'll be there."

She saw bright orange flowers bloom all over the downed Cruiser's hull, and the distant thunderclaps intruded her ears shortly after.
Full of uncertainty, the rainbow haired Pegasus checked, "Er... Twilight? Things are looking pretty crazy down there. Everything ok?"
The AI's reply was dramatic and punctuated by explosions. "Negative! Negative! We've triggered a wildcat destabilisation of the ship's fusion core! The engines must have sustained more damage than we thought!"

Rainbow was perplexed. "I don't know what a fusion core is. I thought you were just gonna start the self destruct sequence."
"Things got complicated, ok. Spark intervened."
"Spark? Y'mean the guy that took Pinkie to the library?"
"Yep."
"Tricked Fluttershy into activating Halo?"
"Almost."
"Tried to kill you?!"
"Tried to kill Fluttershy. He wanted me intact."
Fluttershy and Applejack began to weep over Pinkie's body.
"Oh, I swear, if I ever meet him, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind!"
"Then you'll be pleased to know his home will be destroyed in a matter of minutes. That's piece of mind enough, don't you think?"
"Yeah, but... it's not really personal."
"It is for us," Fluttershy breathed down the mic.

Rainbow winced as a particularly loud explosion went off over the radio, along with the ear-splitting shriek of something she'd never heard before.
"Aah! We'll talk to you later, Rainbow! See you soon! ... Hopefully."
Before she could reply, "See you soon, definitely!" the connection ceased, and she was left to gather her thoughts. Sighing, she shed altitude and closed the gap between herself and the Filly of Autumn.

*****

Back inside the exploding ship, on the rising elevator, Fluttershy comforted the wounded Applejack.
She was about to get her med-pack out when the orange Pony said, "Th... there's no time for me, Fluttersh-sh-shy. You... you gotta get off this ship."
"Not without you!" She stomped a hoof, reigniting the agony in her dodgy foreleg. "Ow!"
AJ spluttered, "Why not?"
"Why not?" repeated Twilight, raising a digital eyebrow. "Because you're our friend, and we love you."
"And there's no way we're leaving you here."

"Look at me." Applejack motioned her eyes at her blood-soaked coat and armour. "I'm a... liability... I don't wanna hold you back. I... I left Lyra... I left Bon Bon... And I was gonna l-l-leave Aloe... If it's one thing I need, it's a taste o' my own medicine." Holding back her tears, she bit her lip.

"... Perhaps you forgot what I just said." AI Twilight was stern. "You're our friend and we love you! Don't we, Fluttershy?"
"Oh, we do!" The Pegasus gave Applejack a big, warm hug. "We do!"
The orange one burbled, "I... sure am lucky to have... friends like you."
"Likewise, Applejack."

"... Twilight," AJ strained, weak. "Where's the Truth n' Reconciliation?"
"I don't know. I can't contact it now."
Applejack looked down.
In a soothing manner, the AI spoke, "Don't worry. I'm sure it'll be waiting for us in space. Your cousin's got this, right?"
The frown on Applejack's face increased. She didn't answer.
Fluttershy answered for her. "I'm sure he does."

Gazing up the never ending, burning elevator shaft and the debris that showered them, a funny feeling entered Fluttershy's gut. The end of the nightmare was now. Soon, she, Applejack and Rainbow Dash would be back home, with the real Princess Twilight, and Spike. Home sweet home.

"You know you're driving, right?" Twilight randomly projected, breaking the mood.
Confusion washed over the yellow Mare. "What? What do you mean? I thought we were being picked up by Rainbow Dash?"
"We are, at external access junction 4C. That's one point three kilometres away!"
Fluttershy gasped and Applejack spluttered.
"One point three kilometres?! Ahargh - aharg - ugh!" Blood dribbled from the Earth Pony's lips. "Is that even on the ship?!"
"It's a big ship, Applejack," lectured Twilight, voice partially masked by the explosions. "One point three kilometres isn't even half the length!"
Fluttershy didn't understand. "But, how are we supposed to drive there?!"
As usual, Twilight had an answer. "There's a service corridor that runs along the ship's dorsal structure. It'll take us straight to the access junction!"
"Are you sure?"
"Am I sure? Of course I'm sure!"

The corpses of black clad Covenant and one diseased friend kept the Mares company all the way to the top.
Once the elevator came to a jarring halt that flung Fluttershy off her hooves, Twilight directed, "Warthog bay's to the right! Move!"

Regaining her composure, Fluttershy grasped Applejack's collar with her teeth and put all her strength into dragging her off the elevator, keeping her fractured leg off the ground.

A deafening BOOM shook Fluttershy back and forth, and the elevator platform dropped like a rock.

Fluttershy grunted with every step as she hauled Applejack into a parking lot full of Warthog LRVs. A roaring fire burst from the elevator shaft, and a horrific Flood outcry echoed from every direction at once. One of the Warthogs was ablaze, and another had been blown onto its side. Loud and continuous, an alarm wailed, and red lights strobed on and off.

Gradually but desperately, the burdened Mare wobbled over to the closest truck and slumped AJ into the passenger seat. The farm Pony may have been unable to move, but she did manage to strap herself in.

Whilst coasting around the Warthog's grill to the driver's side, Fluttershy was rocked to the ground once more by a couple of nearby explosions. Two Warthogs on the other side of the bay were thrown up by flaming shockwaves and flipped onto their roofs. Infection forms came oozing out of holes in the walls.
"Hurry!" stressed Applejack, peering over the Hog's hood to find Fluttershy getting back on her hooves.

The petite Pegasus hopped into the driver's seat, fastened her seatbelt, and placed both hooves on the wheel. For the first time since her accidental Spartan training, she was actually going to drive a Warthog, and her entire mind-set overflowed with doubt. Back at Spartan training, her superiors had constantly bawled in her face for being such a lousy driver, and now it was up to her to drive herself and her friends to safety? She closed her eyes and took one deep breath.
Here goes nothing.

The key had been tucked away under the sun-visor, and upon retrieving it, she inserted it into the ignition switch and turned it, hard. The engine roared to life, shaking the whole vehicle side to side. Building up enough revs, the little Pony released the hoofbrake and the Warthog shot out of its bay with squealing tyres.
"Oops!"
She was quick with the wheel, and managed to turn the brute out and away from the parking lot.

Outside the vehicle bay, a fight raged on between a Covenant spec ops team and a swarm of Flood. The aliens held position around a burning Warthog that rested on its side, fending off the howling space zombies.

Fluttershy couldn't understand why they were bothering fighting. The Filly of Autumn was about to blow, and take all of Halo with it. They should be doing what she and Applejack were doing. Running.

Because the combatants were daft enough to be fighting in the middle of the road, Fluttershy ran a whole bunch of them down. An Elite rolled out of the way to let a Grunt eat the bumper, and a contaminated Jackal was pulled under the left side wheels, squelching like a jam donut.

Up ahead, was a steep climb, and a million parasites came pouring down like a waterslide. They crunched and popped under the three tonne vehicle. The ones that survived the brutal game of frogger kept bouncing down the slope to join their buddies in overwhelming the Covies. Them Covies really didn't stand a chance now.

Coming over the top of the slope, sunlight came into view through gaps in the Autumn's roof. Gaps that were built for the servicing of smaller spacecraft, like Longswords. It was dazzling, and Fluttershy squinted her eyes in the golden rays of light.

Applejack shielded her vision. "Sure could do with a... p-pair o' s-sunglasses, eh."
"Or a visor!"
"There are sun-visors above the windscreen."
As Applejack pulled down her sun-visor, Fluttershy mumbled, "I meant visor like the kind on a helmet but ok," and reached up to pull the flap down, stretching her aching foreleg.

Illuminated in golden sunlight, the floor ahead was rife with sub-tunnels, ramps, pipes, metal outcroppings, and a whole bunch of other stuff Fluttershy had no idea what their purposes were. It was also rife with Flood, and a couple of combat forms fired plasma pistols at the oncoming vehicle.

Hitting the gas, Fluttershy drove straight at the lovely couple - and disappeared through a sub-tunnel, right beneath them. They probably weren't expecting that.

Something Fluttershy didn't expect was the bone-rattling blasts that tore through the metal panelling and tossed shrapnel into the Warthog, or the two carrier forms waddling up front that she converted to mush by driving over them. The Hog left foul, olive green tire tracks in its wake as it leapt out of the tunnel and landed on the main floor with a thud. A ramp facing the opposite way was directly in front of her, and she spun the wheel frantically to get around.
"Ow!" she bleated as the sting in her foreleg intensified.
Being at the wheel was not going to help her fracture heal any time soon.

Up ahead, a ramp lead up to an elevated platform, high above the infested obstacle course, so she drove straight at it.
"Fluttershy?! What are you doing?!" moaned Twilight hysterically.
Not sure what she was doing, and busy concentrating, Fluttershy just stuttered, "Well, I... I-I'm driving!"

To have Twilight question her decisions in such a baffled tone sure took a knock on the old confidence, and Fluttershy felt her hoof move slowly off the gas pedal. Realising that the ramp and the platform weren't connected, and she'd accidently lined herself up for a stunt jump, she squealed and slammed her hoof back on the gas.

Off the ramp, the Warthog soared, and that funny butterfly feeling entered Fluttershy's stomach.
"Woah!" sounded Applejack, holding on to the dashboard, wide eyed.

The air time was brief, and the Hog came to a perfect landing on the towering platform, out of reach of the noisy Flood. There were obstacles on the main floor that would've required a lot of steering, foreleg pain, and time consumption, but thanks to Fluttershy's little mistake, she was able to fly the LRV over all that.

However, Flood infection forms could scale vertical surfaces, and some were already waiting for them up there, not that they were any match for the Warthog's chunky, off-road tires. They burst under the Warthog's weight, creating a mini green explosion that provided a lame backdrop for the next unexpected jump. The jump had been formed by the platform that had been sheared in half, and upon landing, the vehicle kept going like it was nothing.

Random jumps were all the rage this moment, as the platform came to a drooping end, and Fluttershy sent the LRV plunging down through the air, straight into a sub-tunnel. Three Flood combat forms came running up, and were subsequently splattered all over the Warthog's grill.

Exiting the sub-tunnel, Fluttershy turned the wheel to round a pit, saw the service chamber end with a narrower yet still really wide vehicle corridor that sloped down and out of sight.
"Yep, through there," Twilight affirmed as Fluttershy left the Flood infested chamber behind and zoomed downhill.

The corridor was full of scorch marks and blast scars, but was relatively calm compared to the scene from hell she'd just driven through. It allowed her a moment to breathe and pick up some serious speed. Speed that she was afraid of. Speed that she needed.

"Ugh, w... what gives, Fluttershy?" Applejack's feeble accent muttered from behind the shipwide explosion fest. "I... I though ya said you were... you were bad at drivin'."
"Well, I am!" the driver replied, blue eyes peering over the hood as she sped along. "This is me being bad!"

Applejack made a noise that Fluttershy wasn't sure if it was coughing or laughing. It turned out to be both.
"This is you being a bad driver? He-he-he-ahurgh-urgh! ... I... I'd... love to see what... you as a good driver is like then, he-he-he-aharg!"
"Rest yourself, Applejack," Twilight instructed firmly.
Adjusting her cowboy hat, AJ relaxed in her seat, breathing heavily, eyelids half closed.

To Fluttershy, Twilight mentioned, "She's right, y'know."
"Huh?"
"So far, you've proven yourself to be a world class driver! Ha! And you told us all you were terrible - you big kidder, you!"
"But I am terrible," the shy one protested as she came out into the next service chamber. "My superiors at Spartan training would always tell me off for not being able to drive up to standard!"

She was in a rant, and she paused briefly to steer and pull the Hog's hoofbrake, power-sliding the vehicle to the right and taking out a group of battling Covies and Flood. The tires screeched across the metal surface and left bloody tracks as Fluttershy corrected the angle and sped up for an elevated grating that ran along the side of the chamber. Sentinels fired in her direction, and she serpentined about to dodge the hissing orange lasers.

"They'd throw me in the ring with the meanest, toughest cadets just so I would get smacked around, in hopes that I'd try harder, but no matter how hard I tried, they still told me I was useless!"
Up a tightly narrowed ramp that was meant for pedestrians, not vehicles, Fluttershy drove the Warthog straight as an arrow along the thin metal grating. An explosion occurred beneath, chucking flames and debris up into the vehicle's V shaped hull, making it loose traction. Briefly taking her hoof off the gas pedal, she was able to regain control of the vehicle, and she kept sailing along the sidewalk, knocking over a poorly pedestrian.

The memories of Spartan training filled up her rage-o-metre, and she gritted her teeth, snarling like an untamed animal. "Every time they threw me in the ring, I came out battered and bruised! I always lost! The other cadets used to make fun of me! Pointing and laughing, saying I was weak, saying I was the runt of the litter, and that I wouldn't last two seconds on the battlefield! I never wanted to be on the battlefield, ok!" She was really shouting now. "I only signed up for the UPSC cos I wanted to help my friends, but now they're all dead, so what was the flipping point, huh?! I didn't want to joint the Spartan programme! I wanted to stay in the UPSC, with my friends, or better yet, at home, with my friends, but nooo! You were all like; "let's show the Covenant what we're made of!" "If we can beat the Changelings, we can beat anyone!" "Come on, Fluttershy, we'll have an adventure!" Oh, I've had a whale of an adventure on this Celestia forsaken ring! I'm sure this memory's gonna be cherished forever!" The pain in her foreleg stabbed her. "Nng!"
A contaminated Elite shambled nearby, and Fluttershy actually aimed for it, turning the wheel just so she could run it over.

Coming down off the metal grating, Fluttershy swerved and exited the service chamber via another vehicle corridor. She was fuming, and she breathed heavily with her teeth gnashed and nostrils flared.
"Fluttershy, dear, calm down," Twilight pleaded with a soft tone. "We're all very sorry about what happened to you."
Spluttering back to life, Applejack commented, "And you do realise you just told us all that while you were makin' road kill of all them... them vermin back there."
A common explosion separated Applejack's line from Twilight's.
"Yeah. Whoever was in charge at Spartan training sounds like they were doing their job wrong. If you can remember their name, I can speak to them. Maybe even have them court-martialled."

Taking deep breaths to control her temper, Fluttershy grumbled, "You weren't there. You don't know what my driving was like."
"Well if it was as good as this, you certainly deserved more than being thrown into the ring with the toughest cadets. Oh, left here."

A narrow tube lead away into the left wall, full of fire and Flood, and Fluttershy reacted in lightning fast time to manoeuvre the Hog through it.

"See! You just did it again!"
Fluttershy still wasn't in the best of moods, and she snapped, "Did what again?"
"Displayed the raw skill of somepony that sure knows their way around a vehicle! Although, now that I think about it, you've been doing that since we landed on Halo."
Suspicious, the young Mare raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Remember our little tank rampage in the Truth and Reconciliation?"
Joining in, Applejack croaked, "Th-that was some fancy tankin' there, F-f-fluttershy. Aha-ahurgh!"

Exiting the narrow, flame filled tunnel with a splattering of Flood, Fluttershy swung the Hog left and followed the curving corridor.

A lot of the time, Ponies would tell her things. Things that were good about her. Things that weren't necessarily true, just to cheer her up. She always ended up feeling patronised though, and she rolled her eyes at what Twilight and Applejack were telling her now. She also debated whether they were actually being truthful. Honest Applejack was saying she was a good driver, so that meant she was a good driver, right?

As Fluttershy brought them into another service chamber full of explosions, Sentinels and Flood, Twilight began listing, "You've driven three Wraiths, one Scorpion, four Banshees, and one Ghost, and you've driven them well enough to get here. I can't think of anypony outside of PONI who can put all that on their résumé!"
Applejack patted the yellow Mare's back. "Yer a real wheel Mare, sugar - woah!"
Fluttershy sent the Warthog flying off a ramp, knocking a Sentinel out of the air and coming to a jostling landing.
In a coughing fit, AJ strained, "Warn me next time you - aha-ah - do - aha - that!"
No answer from the pink maned chauffer. She just kept her eyes riveted to the road and scowled.

There was another jump coming up, so Fluttershy did as Applejack wished. "Jump ahead!"

She sped up the ramp, just as the Autumn's clamorous engine decay decided to let off one heck of a firework right in front of them. A surprised yelp came from Fluttershy, and she almost hit the brakes, but she was going too fast now, so she might as well keep her hoof on the accelerator.

The huge, fiery explosion was much more epic than the pathetic, olive Flood-splosion the infection forms had provided her with earlier, and the Mares earned style points as they continued through the flames and landed back on the main floor.

Up ahead, another vehicle corridor curved up and out of sight, and the Warthog LRV zoomed straight up it. Fire roared down from the ceiling, washing the Hog with heat.

"You still there, Rainbow?" Twilight checked, full of hope.
Rainbow's relieving response was instantaneous. "Still here! I'm circling the Autumn now. Where are you guys?"
"We're almost at the access junction. Should be there within two minutes."
"Access junction whaat...?" Rainbow trolled, getting back at the AI for earlier.
"Ugh. Access junction 4C."
"Rodger that. In fact no, Rainbow that. Rodger's lame. It's important to be specific, Twilight."
"Don't you lecture me on being specific!"
Rainbow chortled out loud. Nice to hear her having fun at such a time.

"Whatever. Hurry up, would ya. I don't like being left hanging. Especially in this place." A distant explosion put a period to the pilot's sentence.
"We're going as fast as we can. See you soon, Rainbow."
"See you soon!"
"We love ya, Rainbow!" the runners hollered as the connection ended.

The next service chamber was a biggie, and it stretched far out in front of them. All manner of obstacles and enemies stood between them and the external access junction.

Luckily, it seemed there was a professional stunt driver at the wheel, and she aimed the Warthog for a sub-tunnel. Infection forms lined the metal panelling like wallpaper, and they were spurred into action upon the large green car flashing by. One of them actually managed to get inside the car and latch onto Applejack's face, and the farm Pony screamed in fear. Fluttershy leaned over and punched the snot-bag away, then immediately put both hooves back on the wheel, just in time to correct the Hog's angle after being struck by an explosion. She'd used her right foreleg; the broken one, to knock the parasite off AJ, and it stung harshly.

"Oh, thank you, Fluttershy!" Applejack swooned. "You... you saved me!"
Steering around a pit, Fluttershy grinned, still not taking her eyes off the road. "It was nothing."

Like before, a ramp lead up to an elevated service platform, high ahead, and Fluttershy opted to use it. However, when she got nearer to the top of the ramp, she realised the gap between it and the platform was way too large, and in order to stop herself smashing into the platform's support pillar, she reduced speed and turned the wheel.

It did the trick. Thanks to her good judgement that, according to her old superior at Spartan training, was hopeless, Fluttershy was able to bring the Warthog LRV down to a harsh yet controlled landing, round the pillar, and keep going.

It was then when Fluttershy noticed she'd joined a queue. A queue of black clad Covies rushing ahead on foot. If she didn't know any better, she'd say they were retreating. Good call.

The Grunts got in her way, and she did something she really hated to do: She killed them. Ran them over. Splattered them all over the front of the Warthog. Blue blood splashed up onto the windscreen, and Applejack took the liberty of switching on the wipers. Olive blood came up as well, implying that she'd actually "saved" one of the Covies.

Once the blood was cleaned up, AJ switched off the wipers and Fluttershy constantly honked the horn, not wanting to run over any more squeakers.
"Make way for the Warthog!"
"Warthog comin' through!"
Diving out of the way, the diminutive little soldiers cleared a path for the Warthog, too busy running to shoot.

However, the path for the Warthog was zigzagged. The long, elevated service platform above that Fluttershy had failed to reach still required support columns, and they stood like cones in the centre of the floor.

Frantically, she wrestled with the wheel, slaloming between the struts like a slippery fish, feeling the burn in her damaged foreleg, listening to the explosion party all around her, and the Flood shrieking up, wherever they were.

At one point, she heard an alarming snapping noise. At first, she thought it came from the Warthog, but then she felt indescribable pain in her right foreleg.
"Dear sweet Celestia! Fluttershy!" cried Applejack, pointing at her. "Yer leg!"
Still driving, Fluttershy kept her eyes forward, spinning the wheel this way and that, tears of agony running down her cheeks. She glanced down at her foreleg for a beat, then straight back at the view ahead. She caught sight of it bending. Bending in a place where it shouldn't be able to bend, and a tapered bump stuck out from under the soft part of her armour.
High-pitched, she whined, "Ow ow ow ow!"
"H-how are you still drivin'?"

At last, the sidewinding session was over, and Fluttershy piloted the Hog over smooth, open ground.
There was another large ramp ahead, so she blinked the water from her eyes, if only temporarily, and rasped, "Jump!"
Acknowledging, AJ braced herself and held on to the dashboard.

As soon as Twilight announced, "Covenant drop ship, incoming!" the Warthog was airborne once more, and something dropped down on either side.
That was when Fluttershy realised she'd driven the Hog up between the two prongs of the fork shaped Spirit drop ship.

The transport's turret opened fire, and lethal tri-bolts of purple plasma raced after the flying Hog. The truck vanished down a sub-tunnel, evading the plasma, and re-emerged on the other side, only to leave the chamber via another descending vehicle corridor.

While the truck of Ponies growled along down the sloping corridor, Twilight hailed, "Rainbow Dash! We need extraction now, on the double!"
"Hold your horses," answered Rainbow through Fluttershy's speaker. "I'm coming!"
Just before the transmission broke, Fluttershy thought she heard a crashing noise come from Rainbow's end.

Her thinking was interrupted by an unexpected drop, and she screamed with Applejack as the Warthog fell a few feet before jarring to the ground.
"Sorry," she apologised to her passenger. "Not even I knew that was coming."

Proceeding, Fluttershy and her Warthog LRV sped out onto a platform that bridged one wall to another. The new chamber was gargantuan, and the sun shone through the open roof above, illuminating everything in a luscious gold. There was plenty of room both above and below the bridge for a Pelican to fly. Maybe even enough room for three Pelicans, all at once. Because of the easy Pelican access, that meant...
"Wait! Stop! This is where Rainbow Dash is coming to pick us up!"
Well, Twilight confirmed it, and Fluttershy hit the brakes, bringing the fast moving Hog to a screeching stop. After one heck of a road trip, they'd finally arrived at external access junction 4C.

Things were starting to get really dicey inside the Filly of Autumn. It was like they were inside a volcano. Everywhere Fluttershy looked, she saw huge infernos and tremendous explosions. Chunks of metal crumbled off and fell to the deck, waaay down below.

Hastily, Fluttershy unstrapped herself with her one good foreleg. The other foreleg was hurting so bad, and she wailed in excruciation as she hopped out of the vehicle. She left the engine running; figured it didn't matter since everything was about to go up in flames in a matter of minutes... or seconds. She had no way of knowing. All she knew was that the Filly of Autumn and Halo would be long gone real soon.

She limped around the back of the LRV and its unmanned turret to reach Applejack in the passenger seat. The poor Mare couldn't move, and needed assistance getting out of the high-riding car. Fluttershy herself needed assistance assisting Applejack; the pain in her broken foreleg stabbing her, telling her not to do what she was trying to do.

"Nnnng... Twilight? ... W-where's Rainbow Dash?" quizzed the Pegasus through gritted teeth, working with Applejack to pull her out of the Warthog.
She felt a sickly warm fluid puddle inside her armour, around her fractured leg.

Twilight's only answer was, "Uh-oh."
"What do you mean uh..." she trailed off, gazing up at the Pelican drop ship rocketing towards them, smoke trailing from its engines and two Banshee fighters closing in behind it. "... Oh..."

Voice full of panic, Twilight yelled into the radio, "Rainbow! Look out behind you!"
The two alien fighter crafts spat blue plasma and green fuel rod projectiles at the Ponies' ticket to freedom, and something within the Pelican detonated in a flash of fire and a plume of smoke.

"I'm hit!" Rainbow cried from behind the controls of her Pelican, grasping the control yoke with all her strength. "Mayday! Mayday! I can't control her!"

Gazing wide eyed in despair, Fluttershy drooped her ears and gawped as Rainbow's Pelican lost altitude, passed under the causeway, and swayed ungracefully closer to the ground, leaving a trail of black smoke that made her cough.

The radio became distorted, and Rainbow's voice crackled over Fluttershy's speaker, "Forg-... -i-... -m bailing! I'm bail-"
-A huge flurry of orange flames burst from the cock-pit's window, and more flames spewed out the back where the gangplank had already been lowered, ready for Fluttershy and Applejack to embark.

The two Mares on the bridge shrieked on as they helplessly watched Rainbow's Pelican pitch down, roll over and yaw right. Right into the wall where it met its end in a devastating fireball. If the impact rocked the ship, it was impossible to tell with all the other explosions taking place.

Applejack and Fluttershy continued to stare longingly at the burning wreckage, praying to see the little blue Pegasus rise from the flames like some sort of rainbow phoenix.
"Rainbow!" Fluttershy called, voice echoing, mane and tail blowing in the shockwaves. "Rainbow!"
... There was no response...
"Raaiinboow!"

A sudden gust of wind blew Fluttershy's mane wild as the Banshees whizzed by, low. She didn't care. She and Applejack were trapped. No escape Pelican or anything. When the Banshees came banking around, all the tired Mare did was stand there. She just stood there and welcomed them...

"... Calculating alternate escape route."
That woke her up. "W-what?!"
"Longsword charter says there's a fighter, still docked in launch bay seven! If we move now, we can make it!"

Shaking her head vigorously, Fluttershy snapped herself out of it and hobbled back to the Warthog's driver's seat.
"Banshees!" Applejack stressed with upward fright.
Just as the evil, Rainbow Dash killing, Covenant aircraft opened fire, Fluttershy put the hammer down and left a big number eleven on the platform. The Hog's bodywork suffered plasma burns, and one close fuel rod projectile threw the truck up on two wheels, almost plucking it right off the bridge. Fluttershy was able to bring it under control though, bringing it back down on all fours with a bump.

Once they were out of the access junction and back in a vehicle corridor, they were free from the Banshees' wrath. Safe? Far from it.

The Autumn's disintegrating engine set off explosions here, there, everywhere, and Fluttershy worked hard to avoid each and every one of them. Her shattered canon bone creaked under the stress as she flung her foreleg around, turning that heavy steering wheel in all directions.

"Oh my stars," whimpered Applejack, burying her face in her hooves. "They... they got Rainbow... They got Rainbow!"
Tearing up behind the wheel was dangerous, but she'd already teared up over the agony in her leg. Might as well lament for Rainbow too. She'd pay her a proper tribute when they got clear of Halo. If they got clear of Halo.

As the corridor swooped down, Fluttershy found herself floating out of her seat. The surface levelled off again, and she plonked back down, hard.
Twilight croaked, "Seatbelt, Fluttershy," and the yellow Mare fiddled with her bad hoof to strap herself back in.
Unable to get a hold of anything without screaming in pain, she left it and put both hooves back on the wheel. Helpfully, Applejack leaned over and did her seatbelt for her.
"Thank you," she snorted, sounding unintentionally aggressive.
AJ spoke no words, just blubbered to herself.

A deeply segmented grating came rushing up to meet them, and the Warthog became a boat on rough seas, bouncing up and down as Fluttershy was forced to reduce speed, kill time, and wallow over it. Crashing waves came in the form of explosions, and attacking sharks came in the form of plague carriers, thrashing the vehicle and denting the bodywork.

On Fluttershy's side, a black clad Elite latched on to the vehicle and grabbed the top of Fluttershy's head with a big alien claw. She screamed and lost control, the Hog swerving from side to side.
"Get outa here!" snarled Applejack, blasting half of the monster off of the Warthog and onto the road.
However, a cluster of tentacles sprang from what remained of its lower torso, and they whipped around wildly, slashing Fluttershy's face. A second buckshot served to eliminate the rest of the ill alien, and it scraped along the road, leaving a trail of mottled olive blood.

Catching her breath, and control of the LRV, Fluttershy wheezed, "Oh... th... thank you... Applejack."
"It was nothing... sugar-cube."
"Sugar-cube." That was another one of Applejack's many trademarks, and it made a smile form inside Fluttershy. Never formed on her lips though.

After racing down another steep slope, splattering some spec-ops Covies, and cutting a corner by traveling down a narrow, flame filled tube that Twilight directed them through, Fluttershy skidded the Hog around with a screech. A screech that came from both her and the tires, and kept the vehicle on the straight and narrow.

They had just begun to pitch down a gentler slope when Twilight broadcasted, "Up ahead, there's a gap!"
"We've cleared gaps before," Applejack theorised, rubbing her eyes.
"Not like this one..."
An awkward silence befell the two Mares as they glanced unsurely at each other.
After an infernal shriek of the Flood, the AI added, "At top speed, we should be able to clear it!"

Fluttershy gulped. If Twilight felt the need to bring it up, it must be one hay of a big jump.

She tried to put on her determination face, but her eyes watered and her lip trembled, so she looked, well, kinda ridiculous. Applejack's face couldn't be seen; hidden in her cradling hooves.

Four hexagonal doorways lined the vehicle corridor; two on each side. Furious flames poured out of one and hungry Flood poured out of another. The whole corridor exploded, the blasts shaking the Mares in their seats. A central support column toppled over, and the Hog whizzed under it just before it came crashing down on a mob of gangrenous beasts.

Fluttershy spied the jump ahead. It was indeed something to be concerned about. The gap was wide, likely deep, and the platform she had to reach was cluttered with striped barrels.
Giving AJ the heads up she requested, Fluttershy stammered, "B-b-brace yourself!"
Peering up, the hat wearing Earth Pony noticed the size of the gap, and she yelped in shock, placing both hooves on the dashboard.

Forcing herself to push the gas pedal through the hoof well, Fluttershy drove the Hog closer... closer... closer... straight off the edge.

Time slowed down for the Mares inside the Warthog. Like a majestic bird, the LRV soared through the open space. All the air fled Fluttershy's lungs, leaving nothing left for her to scream out. Her stomach lurched, and the odd sensation of weightlessness coursed through her body.

She glanced at Applejack, green eyes popped wide open as she let out one long scream. Her trademark cowboy hat flew off her blonde, tied up mane, never to be donned again.

Up ahead, the platform with the barrels rose up, and up, and out of reach. The Warthog plummeted down, down, down into the fiery red abyss, the front end tilting forwards as the vehicle did a nose-over. How could she have failed? How could everything come to an end so suddenly? All the stress she'd been through. All the pain she'd suffered. All so she could drive herself and her friends straight off a cliff. At least the Autumn would still blow without her; that'd save the rest of the universe, right? Of course it would. Twilight said it would. Twilight was always right... except when it came to stunt jumps, as it turns out. With her friend by her side, Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut and grimaced. Not a scream nor a cry from the little Pony. Just a whimper...

Clunk! All four wheels impacted hard on a sloping metal surface, jostling Fluttershy's eyes open. She witnessed the jeep swoop along through a scooping sub-tunnel, catch a little more air upon exiting, and land as gracefully as an airplane in another vehicle corridor.

The Pegasus was utterly mind blown. "W-wait, what?! Wha-"
"-Hoof back on the gas, Fluttershy!" demanded Twilight firmly. "We're almost there!"
Doing as told, Fluttershy kept the Warthog in motion, but she was super shaken up after what she'd thought was going to be her demise, and her brain was still unable to comprehend what happened.

"I... I don't understand! We didn't make the jump!"
Quick check on AJ. She was literally gawping in disbelief, wide eyes staring right at her.
A giggle came from the AI. "Haha! I told you it was a big jump!"
"B-b-but, I-I saw it myself!" quick turn of the wheel, "The platform, it just... just... we dropped right before it!"
"Oh, you thought we were heading for that thing with the barrels? Nah. No pony could ever make that!"

Smelly little parasites pounced at the Warthog, and were ultimately knocked into olive green oblivion.
"I... I thought we were going to die." She became a dog whistle at "die."
Coughing up a small portion of blood, Applejack agreed, "M... m... me too!"
Trying not to get distracted by AJ's alarming state, Fluttershy aimed the Hog for the narrow tube up ahead.

"Oh... I probably should've explained where the other side of the jump was."
Unable to see Twilight's avatar, Fluttershy pictured the purple Alicorn grinning sheepishly, blushing with a squee.
"Ugh!" she grunted, both in pain and in irritation.

Squeezing through the tunnel, the Warthog mowed down a cluster of Flood forms and braved the flames that licked it from each side. It was explosion party central, and the Hog was pushed up and down, side to side, and shrapnel intruded the interior. The pieces of hot metal pinged off Fluttershy's shields, flaring them, draining them. A glance at Applejack showed that she wasn't faring well, and the scrap cut her skin, making her bleed.

Once out of the tunnel of explosions, one final blast hurled the Warthog's back wheels up off the ground, and its nose scraped across the metal. It would've corrected itself, but then the road started to decline again, and the whole vehicle just became airborne.

Like a rock that had been thrown, the LRV flipped front over rear, and crashed into a scattering of striped barrels. It landed on its roof, making Fluttershy look like a bat, hanging upside-down from her seat, her shields drained.

Spluttering in the settling dust, she checked, "A... Applejack? You... you ok?"
AJ just gasped for air, blood leaking from many different injuries all over her. "I... I... I can't breathe... I can't move!"
"Oh, hold on, Applejack!" Fluttershy told as she fiddled with her seatbelt. She fell head first to the floor with a thud. "Ow! I'll get you out of there!"
In an instant, her shields recharged.

Outside the overturned Warthog, the launch bay was a warzone. Flood and Covenant traded plasma bolts, needles, bullets, shells and all manner of explosives. Some of them even fought hand to hand, hand to tentacle, sword to lead pipe. Covies were ripped apart like paper. Some Covies actually got back up, but they came with a few "new additions."

Also making an appearance were the Sentinels. Those flying robots cooked all life on the hangar floor, focusing mostly on the Flood.

At the very back of the gigantic chamber, a gaping window of gold sunlight lit up the shadows, silhouetting the large, pointy vehicle that was parked behind all the commotion. The Longsword fighter. That's what they needed to escape the ring world.

As the Filly of Autumn continued to tear itself apart, Fluttershy ran around to Applejack and undid her seatbelt. The Earth Pony thudded to the deck with an agonising shriek.
"Oh, Applejack, come on!" groaned Fluttershy, dragging her out from under the wreckage with her teeth.
Applejack's voice was shivery, and it wasn't cold. "I... I c-... I c-c-... ca-..."

With her limp foreleg on the quaking deck, Fluttershy attempted to lift Applejack, but her leg gave way, twisting at a vile angle as if it were made of rubber, and she collapsed to the deck like a sack of potatoes, wailing in torture.
"Aaaaahh! Ahaaah! Nnnng!"

"F-f-fluttershy?"
Peering over herself, the pink maned warhorse looked into Applejack's luminous green eyes. The Staff Sergeant looked back, deep into her blue ones.
"... Just go," she breathed with the wind.
"... No!" barked Fluttershy stubbornly, and she rose to her hooves to have a second go.
"No... F-fluttershy... l-leave me, ok... I'm holdin' you... b-b-back."
"I'm not leaving you, Applejack!"

As the weak Pegasus gave it her all to hoist her one remaining friend onto her back, Twilight strained, "We've got less than a minute! Flood incoming!"
Almost like second nature, Fluttershy pivoted and fired half her pistol's magazine into the stalking ex-pony, killing it, and proceeded to drag Applejack along.

With a mouth full of tail, she growled, "Nnng! We're both going home!"
"Fluttershy, I'm dying!" AJ bellowed with enough volume to scare Fluttershy. She entered another coughing fit, and the blood that came out was all lumpy. "I'm... slowin' you... da-aha-aha-ahown! Hurrgh!"
The young Mare didn't care. "If you're not leaving here with me, I'd rather not leave at all!"
The reanimated equine she'd just killed thrashed back up, so she expended the rest of her magazine, killing it once more.

"W... what about Twilight?" AJ pondered, blood dribbling from her chops. "The... the... r-real Twilight? ... Spike?"
Fluttershy sure did want to see Twilight and Spike again, and she struggled to think of an answer. "Er..."
Softly, AI Twilight added, "I'm sure the real me would love to see you again."

Stopping in her tracks, Fluttershy looked down at the fading Earth Pony with shimmering blue eyes.
"G-get outa here... with... Twilight, and... t-t-tell... everypony what you saw."
Compassionately, the two Mares held each other's hooves.
"Let... the world... know... exactly what... h-aha-aha-ahappennned... here..." To Fluttershy, Applejack offered her her shotgun, and whispered the final words, "Send me out... with a bang..."
Kneeling by Applejack's prone form, Fluttershy started to cry...

"We were lucky to know you, Applejack," mourned Twilight. "We shall not forget your sacrifice."
Nuzzling up to the orange Pony, Fluttershy babbled, "We'll never forget you..."

A looming, black armoured figure came up to Fluttershy's back.
"Behind us!"
Spinning, the yellow Mare brought up Applejack's shotgun and fired a shell into the reanimated spec-ops Elite.
"Now would be a very good time to leave!"

Chucking Rarity's pistol in her saddle bag, Fluttershy gave Applejack one last look, and galloped away. A piercing shriek tore all around the launch bay, and explosions made debris come down in gales.

Speckled with blood from many different races, sporting a black eye and limping, Fluttershy made her difficult way straight and true towards the Longsword, blasting anything that had the misfortune to get in her way.

A healthy black clad Elite rolled out in front of her, plasma rifle blazing. Shotgun to the face!

A spec-ops Grunt lobbed a plasma grenade at an unseen threat, noticed the lone Pony staggering towards him, and opened up with his needler. Shotgun to the face!

A Flood carrier form waddled up from the side, accompanied by something that partially resembled a Unicorn. Shotgun to the... bloated sack? Yeah.

Hostiles continued to shoot at her from all angles, and her shields dwindled.

Eventually, she cleared the final run and arrived at the massive Longsword fighter. The triangular spacecraft sat on its landing gear, ramp down, beckoning her to hurry inside. With a groan of effort, she hauled herself up the ramp, just as her shields popped, and just as an army of Flood assembled at her six.
"Button to close the ramp's on the left wall!" bawled Twilight. "Do you see it?!"
Fluttershy did see it, but didn't answer, just hobbled up and hit it with her forehead. Hydraulics hissed to bring the ramp up, and it slammed shut on the misshapen, tentacled leg of something that was once equine, crunching it off.

Outside, the Flood went barmy, but then the Sentinels and Covenant came to divert their attention.

"We're cutting it close!" grated Twilight, just as a particularly large explosion rocked the whole vessel, and Fluttershy lost her balance, crumpling to the deck and landing on her broken leg funny.
Screaming, she cursed herself for being so sloppy, and made her three legged way over to the pilot's chair.

With the AI's instructions, she strapped herself in and brought the Longsword online, and the consoles before her lit up with vibrant colours. The humming of the engines increased as they woke up, and it eventually transformed into an ear-splitting roar. Using the throttle, she fed fuel to the engines, lifting the mighty Longsword off its landing pad. The thrust blew Flood out from underneath and sent them flying in all directions.

Trembling with overwhelming nerves, Fluttershy gulped and squeaked, "Here we go."
With the push of a lever, the thrust nozzles turned to face back rather than down, and like a bullet, the menacing looking vehicle shot out of the Filly of Autumn, leaving the Flood, Covenant and Sentinels in the dust, and tore up through the atmosphere. The three kilometre long Autumn shrank away fast; the Longsword going the speed of sound.

*****

Back on Halo's surface, on a hill that had a spectacular view of the crumbling Autumn, two beings slouched back against an overturned Ghost RAV. Corpses of Flood and a single black clad Grunt littered the dusty crest.

As for the two souls who were still alive, they just sat there and watched the show, not a care in the world.

Berry Punch, the deep pink, drunken Earth Pony Mare craned her neck to stare at her new best friend. "You - hic... You think they're still... still - hic... coming for us, man?"
The golden armoured Elite that sat next to her grumbled something slurred. He held a bottle of wine in his right hand.
"You... you don't... you don't sound too confi - hic - dent."
The alien didn't answer, just sighed and looked longingly at the Filly of Autumn and the increasingly large, loud explosions that bloomed all over its hull like fungal protrusions on some poor, Flood infected soul.

As a nice gesture of unity, and with a considerable amount of alcohol down each other, the Elite and the Pony shared a comforting hug.

The sense of peace was interrupted when a large shadow drifted overhead, and a Covenant Spirit drop ship bared down on them, hovering just off the dirt. The two companions watched as the side hatch clanked open, waiting for them to enter.
"Oohh, they came!" Berry jumped up, almost fell over, and snuggled up to the rising Zealot. "Y-you... big kidder, you!"
If it was difficult for the four legged equine to bumble over to the shiny purple getaway vehicle, it was even harder for the two legged Elite, and he fell flat on his face with a dumb laugh.

Getting impatient, the pilot swayed the transport side to side, as if it were shaking its head in disapproval.

After much lolling about, the drunken couple were able to flop onto the unhinged side hatch, and were tossed onto the floor of the vessel when it suddenly flipped closed.

Nowhere near as fast as the Longsword fighter that was long gone, the U shaped Spirit made a hasty climb for the heavens, leaving the ground and the Autumn behind.

Messily, Berry Punch tried to pronounce, "Uh, th-thank you for saving our - hic... our lives, mister Covenant sir! I - burp... ooh, am eternally - hic - grateful!" She waddled on over to the cockpit, not bothered by the fact that there could be a hostile Covie driving, leaving the gold armoured Zealot alone with her wine.

Upon seeing the Spirit's pilot, her dopy smile vanished in a flood of surprise, and her cerise eyes widened. A white coated Unicorn sat at the controls and scowled at her.
The silly grin reappeared on Berry's face, and she giggled heartily. "Huh. Huh-huh. H-huh-huh-hic! ... Uh... who are you?"
The pink maned pilot sighed and shook her head.

"Wrargh! Wort - wort - wort! Hahaha!" came Covenant gibberish from the troop compartment.
Covenant language was even less comprehendible when the guys were hooked on wine.

"Who was that?" the equine pilot eventually spoke.
But Berry was playing difficult, and she just smiled into the new Mare's eyes, making the situation fifty types of awkward.
"I can tell you," she started. "But first - hic... you must tell me your name."
"Fleur," Fleur uttered, no big deal.
Berry adjusted her invisible tie with a goofy smirk. "Right... my part of the deal... hic... Ahem! ... Burp - oops, pardon me, ehe-he... He's a - hic... he's a dinosaur... " She raised an eyebrow to herself, knowing that wasn't right.
Fleur just face hoofed and kept the drop ship on its course, out into space.

Making his appearance in the cockpit, the golden armoured Covie fell on top of Berry, and the two of them chortled for no real reason.
"You there!" Fleur snapped, pointing at the Elite. She then began speaking in Elite language. Translated, she interrogated, "What is your name?"
Upon hearing Elite words come from that Pony mouth, the biped seemingly sobered up in a split second and stared at Fleur with wide amber eyes. "How can you speak Sangheili?"
With draining patience, Fleur locked eyes with the warrior of the Covenant and growled, "You didn't answer my question. What. Is. Your. Name?"

Confused beyond the pale, Berry watched back and forth between the two.

After an uncomfortable pause, the Elite spoke, "Thel Vadam."
An actress' smile lit up Fleur de Lis' face. "Thel Vadam, huh? Great." As the Spirit soared away into the stars, she added ominously, "I've been waiting a very, very long time to meet you."

"... I need to sick," - Berry Punch.

*****

As for the Filly of Autumn, one insanely giant explosion grew over the vessel, taking the shape of a mushroom, and the whole super structure cracked and fragmented. The Cruiser became lost in the ultra-bright light of the final detonation, and a shockwave tore the world apart.

Halo began to disintegrate under the Autumn's destruction, and huge cracks ran along its terrain. Oceans were drained by the gaps, and mountains broke in half like twigs.

Fluttershy's Longsword fighter blasted through space, clear of the alien ring world. Well, it didn't really blast, what with there being no sound in space and all, but if there were, the engines would be howling. They could still be heard buzzing from inside the craft though.

Another noise that could be heard was the constant bleeping of the engine temperature alarm, and the caption "warning, engine temp critical" popped up on a blue view screen.
"Shut them down," Twilight advised. "We'll need them later."

*****

In a lush green woodland complete with a beautiful waterfall and a majestic, energy emitting spire, ugly Flood forms gibbered along, stopping to watch the shockwave draw closer. When it raced over them, they were blown away into the sky, along with rocks, trees and pieces of that Forerunner tower. The hosts behind the infection would no doubt be relieved to finally be put out of their torment.

*****

Sentinels hovered over the beach outside Halo's security centre where a downed Pelican laid, lasering a group of straggling Flood. Palm trees blew in a tropical storm, lightning lit up the sky, and thunder rumbled across the island. The same old shockwave come washing over them with a blast so mighty it drowned out the thunder, a light so bright it drowned out the lightning, and a force so strong it sent the Sentinels tumbling and crumbling through the air, becoming lost in the tsunami of ocean water that engulfed the island.

*****

Covenant ships were anchored here and there on Halo, and the alien soldiers rushed to get them all up into space, regardless of quarantine procedures. Some of the floating purple titanics had just started to lift off when the arc of devastation rippled over them, and the monstrosities were plucked out of the air like insects.

*****

Twilight wondered, "Care to take a look?" as Fluttershy pushed herself out of her seat and limped over to an observation window.
She arrived just in time to see a large chunk of Halo go spiralling gracefully through the vacuum, on a collision corse with the rest of the installation. Silently, it impacted the other half of the world, shearing it in half. Everywhere else on Halo started to tear itself apart, not strong enough to cope with the new weak spots.

It was hard for Fluttershy to imagine what it must be like to still be alive on that ring. To watch the world plummeting down on top of you from the sky. To see the sun, moon, gas giant and stars whirl around like oversized flies as the world beneath your hooves spun.

As Halo's ballet came to an end, Fluttershy looked down at the shotgun Applejack had given her. She opened her saddle bag to see the pistol Rarity had given her. The camcorder Lyra had left behind. The pointed, purple hat she'd salvaged from the great and powerful Trixie. Derpy's empty flask.

Biting her bottom lip and tearing up, the sole Mare turned her back on the window and cried. Twilight chose to be silent for a while, allowing Fluttershy some time to let it all out.

Eventually, the tearful Pegasus rose to her shaking hooves, still in a state, and withdrew Twilight's AI chip. Inserting it into a central pedestal, Twilight's digital avatar flickered into existence, a sympathetic expression on her holographic face.
"Fluttershy, I am so sorry," she croaked. "I wish things didn't turn out the way they did."
Sniffling, Fluttershy got the better of her sobbing, if only for a moment, and ditched her saddle bag.

Section by section, she removed the panels of her Spartan armour. Of somepony else's Spartan armour. Leaving her crooked right foreleg for last, she disconnected the armour from her neural interface and threw it away.

Before undressing her broken leg, she looked back at her own two wings, squashed up against her. She opened them with an aching crack, spread them wide, flexed them, gave them a flap. Boy it felt good to stretch her gorgeous feathered wings, and it helped take her mind off the twinge in her leg.

The mess of her face ended at her collar, where the rest of her body had been covered. It was spotlessly clean, aside from the plastered scar on her side that she'd sustained on the Honest Mistake.

She finally got to see her own cutie mark too. Her three little pink butterflies that she was oh so proud of. She hadn't seen her cutie mark, or spread her wings, since...

"Twilight? ... Where's the Truth and Reconciliation?"
A frown creased the AI's muzzle. "I've been scanning, but I can't find anything. Nothing at all."
The Pegasus laid on her belly and hung her head.
"I'll keep scanning."

While Twilight did that, Fluttershy made a start removing the armour from her right foreleg. The metal plates were easily detachable, but the body-hugging sleeve was a trick. Using her mouth, she pealed the sleeve off, cringing in the excruciation. The sleeve was a watering can, soaking the steel turf with warm red blood.

Now that Fluttershy could see her own foreleg, she saw that her closed fracture had become an open one, and a shard of canon bone protruded from her ravaged flesh and blood stained bandages. It hurt so much, she let out a long, piercing wail that sounded like she was dying.

Gawping at the gory sight, Twilight worried, "Oh gosh. You'll be able to fix that, won't you?"
Wincing, Fluttershy answered, "... Mm-hm."

With nothing but AJ's shotgun to bite down on, and no more bandages left in her med-pack, the wounded Fluttershy got to work.

The AI turned away, but could still see Fluttershy through the eyes in the back of her head. Could still hear her deafening screams resonate all around the Longsword's cockpit. Twilight ended up cringing herself, hating seeing her friend in such distress. Hating not being able to help or comfort. Hating the loud clacking noise her bone made when the two halves were pushed back together.

Fluttershy donned the clean sleeve of her left foreleg on her right foreleg, and re-attached the armour plates, just so she had at least a little support. The waters had burst through her eyes, and the tracks on her cheeks stood out in the grime.

Applejack's shotgun now featured teeth marks on its barrel, and Fluttershy felt awful for vandalising what her treasured friend had given her.

Whimpering, Fluttershy asked again, "You... you found the Truth yet?"
"There's nothing; just dust and echoes. I don't know where it is," the teeny Alicorn Princess explained, tone vacant.
A feeble squeak came from the young Mare.
"I'm hoping it's jumped the gun and is waiting for us at Equestria, but... I... I just don't know."
Head in hooves and hidden behind mane, Fluttershy resumed crying.

Interrupting her sobs, Twilight whispered, "... We did it though... You did it... You beat the Covenant, the monitor, the Flood... You have a story to tell when you get back home, and your story will be told for generations to come."
"Home..." Fluttershy breathed quietly.

A single beep sounded from a console, and Fluttershy strained to check it out.
"Permission to make the jump to Equestria," Twilight Sparkle informed as Fluttershy eyed the readout on the screen. "Accept?"
Wordlessly, the last surviving Pony tapped the "accept" tab and slumped back to the deck on her tummy. She retrieved her canteen and guzzled down a sizable amount of icy cold water.

Curled up on the cold metal deck, Fluttershy let out a mighty yawn. She was sad, lonely and tired, and all she wanted to do right now was fall asleep... and that's exactly what she did. She had no idea what kind of dreams she'd have in store, but she didn't care. The real nightmare was over... or at least for now.

"Halo..." Twilight breathed softly, solemnly arcing her translucent hoof. "... It's finished."
"Nn... no," murmured Fluttershy just before she drifted off.
The Covenant were still out there, and Equestria was at risk.
"I think we're just getting started."