> Helljumpers
>  by CommanderApplejack
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: Experiments
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





"I'm bored." Scootaloo and the other crusaders had been stuck in the clubhouse for the better part of the day trying to figure out what they would try to do next to find out their special talent.

"C'mon Scoots we'll think of something we can do to find our cutie marks!" Sweetie Belle said, trying to cheer up the mood in the clubhouse.

"Seriously Sweetie, look at all the stuff we've tried to do already. I mean, a Cutie Mark in garbage collecting?" Scootaloo held up a shoddily drawn image of a pony dragging a filled trash can.

"Come on Scootaloo, we'll figure out what to do next soon enough. Ah'm sure of it." Apple Bloom said as she grabbed the drawing from Scootaloo's hooves and added it to the —rather large— pile of 'Failed Cutie mark Attempts'.

"And this time we didn't even get covered in tree sap!" Sweetie happily added.

"No, we just got covered in trash which I think is one of the things that are worse than tree sap." Scootaloo said as she got up and headed for the door. "I'm going to Twilight's, I need to do some repairs to my scooter. She has manuals that can help."

"Wait! What?!" Apple Bloom shouted. 

"You are going to voluntarily read books?!" Sweetie Belle followed up after Apple Bloom.

"Who are you and what have you done to Scootaloo?" Apple Bloom said with a baffled expression on her face. 

"Unless one of you two has an idea for finding our cutie mark. Otherwise, it's better than sitting around doing nothing." Scootaloo said as she stepped on to her scooter. "See you tomorrow at school?"

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looking at each other. "Sure thing, Scoots," Apple Bloom finally answered after an uncomfortable silence. "See ya tomorrow!"

And with that, Scootaloo shot off on her scooter towards Twilight's tree library where, unbeknownst to her, Twilight was busy creating a portal using high powered magic.




"Spike, do you have the charged gemstones?" Twilight asked as she was painting magic circles on the floor of the library."I'm almost done with the circles!"

"Are you sure it's safe to do this in the main room of the library Twilight? This is probably the most high powered experiment we have ever done!"Spike shouted from the basement, which, since Twilight had moved into the library, had been converted to a science lab.

"I don't really have any place else to do this Spike, these circles have to be very large and I don't want to do it outside because of thaumic radiation hazards." Twilight said as she walked to the middle of the circle, "Now can you bring the crystals over here please?"

Spike came up the stairs from the basement carrying a box of glowing gems, "Do we have to use these for the experiment, they look delicious!" Spike said while licking his lips.

"No Spike, I got these from Cadance and believe me, they aren't cheap trinkets. These are the most high-quality gems the Empire digs up." Twilight swiftly grabbed the box of gems from Spike and placed the gems in a pre-determined pattern in the magic circles. "Now spike I want you to get up to the second floor, any disturbance down here will probably cause a catastrophic explosion."

Spike, not really wanting to get blown up today, went up the stairs to look at the experiment from the second floor.

"Now what were we trying to accomplish by doing this again?"

Twilight internally sighed a bit. "We're attempting to make a portal between Canterlot castle and the Crystal Spire, to do that we need to be able to make a rift in space and attach it to an object, link the object with another object to create a bridge between them and then make a physical portal that allows for direct travel between the 2 locations"

"Uhm Twilight, I have no idea what you just said."

"Ugh, just stay up there Spike I'll need to combine a few spells to successfully attach the rift to an object."

As soon as Twilight's horn started to glow, tendrils of magic started to come from the crystals and fed into the circles on the ground. After about 10 seconds the magic stopped coming from the crystals and they stopped glowing right as the circles started to light up.

"Let's do this!"




Scootaloo raced through Ponyville, bobbing and weaving through the crowd. The other crusaders stayed behind at the clubhouse. Unlike usual days, she wasn't performing any stunts with her scooter as there was a nasty crack in the board and she hoped that either something in the library could help or that Twilight would know a spell that could fix up the board itself.

As she approached the Library she sped up a bit as the crowds seemed to thin a little bit. As she crossed the final corner in the direction of the library her luck took a turn for the worse. She hit a rock on the road, causing her scooter to break through the middle and launching her at the library door.



'crack'

  

The door was thrown inward breaking the lock and with Scootaloo landed straight into a circle of what looked like some glowing chalk on the floor.

"SCOOTALOO DON'T MOVE!" a heavily distorted voice called out to her, looking over to where the voice came from she found that Twilight was standing in the middle of the room magic floating around her in an intricate pattern. "Scootaloo I need you to slowly walk backwards out of the library." Terror was clearly showing on her face as she tried to keep control of the spell she was casting.

Scootaloo slowly took a step backwards, keeping her vision pointed at twilight, causing her to trip on one of the crystals. The circles on the ground flared around her, the moment Scootaloo belly flopped. The magic tendrils around Twilight slammed into the crystals causing the entire room to light up as bright as the sun momentarily. 

And then everything went silent, not even the sound of the wind blowing through the library's leaves could be heard.

"Twilight, what's going on?" Scootaloo whispered.

"I was making a rift in space to create a portal" Twilight whispered back "There was a lot of magic that went back into those crystals, there is no way that the light is the only side effect from the spell collapsing."

A soft humming started coming from the middle of the room as blue light appeared to come from the center of the room opening up in a black sphere. Twilight had jumped towards Scootaloo and put up a shield before the sphere got the chance to grow to the size of the entire bottom floor, only to collapse moments later. 

As the sphere collapsed in on itself, it left a gigantic gap in the library wall.

And both Twilight and Scootaloo were nowhere to be found.
> Chapter 1: First Contact
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






"Twilight!?" Scootaloo called out.The last thing she had seen at the library was Twilight leaping at her and putting up a shield. But right now she seemed to be in some kind of city. A very large city. Only there were a few major things wrong with this city. For starters, there was no-one around, the city seemed to be completely empty. Also, there where burn marks and fires everywhere and not some small burn marks, no. Very large patches of buildings and roads. There also was rubble everywhere from parts of buildings that had collapsed.

'Okay Scootaloo, you're just dreaming. I mean there aren't any destroyed cities in Equestria are there?'

"Princess Luna! Are you there!?" She sat down and hoped Luna would answer, so that she could wake up from her nightmare, only to sit down in a pool of liquid that felt like water, purple water. She slowly turned around to figure out why the water was purple, only to find a tall creature with a weird jaw made up out of 4 pieces... With holes in its chest... Bleeding

Letting out the most girlish scream she ever had,Scootaloo jumped up and scrambled away from the body as fast as possible, taking cover behind some rubble. Immediately throwing up what little she had in her stomach before starting to freak out.

"Nononononononono, nope! This isn't happening." While panicking behind her little hideout a loud 'Thud' could be heard in the distance along with some other loud noises. Scootaloo looked over to where the noise was coming from only to see a large black cloud forming further up in the city, 'There might be somepony down there, but there might also be more of those creatures there.' "Come on Scootaloo, there are probably ponies willing to help somewhere around there." As the sounds stopped Scootaloo made up her mind, If anypony was here in the city they would be there.

Slowly getting up from her hiding place and trying to avoid the weird body lying in the street,she headed towards the large black cloud further up in the city.




Pain.

The first thing Twilight felt after waking up was the pain, the combination of magic exhaustion and getting thrown into a building as she exited the portal that had seemingly formed in the library.

'Large buildings, smells of fire, definitely not in the library anymore.' Slowly getting up, Twilight studied her surroundings, burning carts of some sort of which she had never seen before, starting to slowly walk around the seemingly abandoned city.

Suddenly she realized something really important. "SCOOTALOO!" She rushed back to the spot where she exited the portal, frantically looking around, trying to find Scootaloo. "Oh, sweet Celestia, Scootaloo where are you?"

Twilight froze as she heard footsteps behind her, quickly jumping into cover behind one of the weird carts scattered around the street, at the other end of the street a group of short bipedal creatures rounded the corner followed by another bipedal creature, this one much taller than the others, wearing some sort of blue armor.

Okay Twilight those things definitely aren't from Equis, just how far did you teleport? Peeking over the edge of the cart, Twilight could see the little creatures scavenging the carts and surrounding area, seemingly looking for something. The tall creature was walking down the street shouting at the little beings, seemingly being in charge. 'At this rate they'll find me in no time, although they might be able to help me find Scootaloo' Twilight deciding to step out of her cover she called out to the tall creature. "Hello!? Do you understand me? I need help!"

The large creature turned to Twilight, his face changing to an expression that looked like confusion to Twilight only to turn to what looked like the most hateful glare Twilight had ever seen. The tall creature shouted to the little ones which all ran back to the street pointing these weird metal tools of some sort at Twilight. After presumably giving orders to the little 'Grunts' he turned back to Twilight and spoke a single word to her: "Heresy"

'Heresy, blasphemy, apostasy, dissent... Oh horseapples, they're religious fanatics!'

Twilight decided that she wasn't going to stick around as the tools that the little grunts were holding started glowing bright green. Performing a short teleport across the street, she looked back at the spot she had just stood, it was burning with green flames.

'They just tried to kill me!' Twilight, now in a full-blown panic started running down the street, away from the group of creatures. Behind her she could hear the large one roaring and start running after her. Just as Twilight rounded the corner, green bolts of fire impacted the ground behind her. She sprinted a bit further down the street before stopping and looking back at the street corner. 'I need to find Scootaloo. If she runs into these things she wouldn't stand a chance.' She lit her horn in anticipation of the tall creature coming around the corner. The moment the 'officer' came sprinting around the corner, she sent a telekinetic wave at it knocking it back across the street into a wagon. Not waiting to see if the officer was ok, she turned back around and started to run further down the street and into an alley, hiding behind some boxes.

'Okay, what do I know? Burning city, 2 species, hostile, possibly religious extremists, could be a war between religious factions. but making this more complicated is that the 'officer' said Heresy, so it clearly knows how to speak common Equestrian' Before Twilight could continue her train of thought, one of the grunts stepped into the alley and started poking around and looking for Twilight. Twilight lit her horn again, but this time she could feel the fatigue running through her body. She hadn't recovered yet from the teleportation spell and everything else that had happened today yet.
She'd risk blowing out her horn if she wasn't careful. She waited until the grunt was on the other side of the box she was hiding behind. The moment he was close enough, Twilight jumped from her cover, bucking the little thing in the chest and sending it straight against a wall. Before the grunt could get up, Twilight sent another telekinetic blast at the grunt, sending a painful sting through her horn and knocking the grunt's head against a wall, knocking him out cold.

She picked up the tool the grunt had been holding and studied it. 'Clearly a claw held device, a switch placed at the top for the uppermost claw acting as a triggering mechanism.' Firing it once, a large green blob came from the weapon and scorched the ground where she aimed.'Holding down the trigger overcharges the thing, good to know' At least she wouldn't have to rely on her magic to defend herself now. Any further train of thought was disrupted by a very loud 'Thud' somewhere further up in the city followed by a few less loud bangs. She quickly took off further down the alley, Scootaloo might be attracted to the loud noise and she had to find her before anyone else did.




The dark cloud Scootaloo had seen from the distance was now only a block away. On the way to the smoke cloud, she had passed the bodies of a few more creatures, only these were smaller and had orange blood. On a few occasions, the loud bangs had returned, making Scootaloo jump into cover. Now, very close to the large cloud of smoke, more fires and burn marks where appearing. There also were these weird grey pod like objects stuck in the ground with their lids blown off. Just one more corner and then she would be at the site of the explosion. Slowly,sneaking from cover to cover, she made her way to the corner.

"Hello!? Anypony here?" Scootaloo called out as she peeked around the corner of the street, only to quickly stumble back to her hiding spot.

Bodies. Lots of different types of bodies. If her stomach wasn't empty already she would have thrown up again. She silently started to cry a to herself.

Further up the street two figures stepped out from cover and started moving down the street, checking if any of the bodies were still alive.

"Lucy to Mack, Alpha-Four's landing got fucked. They're all gone," a voice came from one of the two creatures, causing Scootaloo to snap back to reality.

'There's somepony out there!' She carefully looked over the top of her hiding spot to see who had called out.

"Contact! West!" one of the creatures shouted as both of them dove behind nearby cover, Scootaloo, already being on edge, didn't hesitate a moment and bolted away from her hiding place, starting to run back towards the street where she had come from.

"Phat" 

An intense pain shot through one of Scootaloo's hind legs at the same time the loud sound came from the thing the creature was holding. Faceplanting into the ground, Scootaloo slid forward far enough to reach cover, before getting back up and limping further.

Before Scootaloo could stumble any significant distance one of the creatures came storming around the corner, aiming its tool at her. Falling back down on her stomach, due to dizziness from the pain in her leg, Scootaloo did the only thing she could still effectively do. Shout.

"Anypony, HELP!" Scootaloo shouted causing the creature to flinch and seemingly making it hesitate. Scootaloo still trying to get away, started to feel her head get heavy and her vision starting to black out. The other creature also came rushing around the corner before stopping and staring, before losing consciousness she could hear the new creature say one more thing.

"What the fuck?"




"Anypony, HELP!"

Lucy looked down at the alien in front of her pointing her assault rifle, the MA5C, in its direction, 'Did that thing just scream for help? And in English of all bloody languages?'

At that moment Tyler came sprinting around the corner only to stop dead in his tracks looking over the creature in front of him. "What the fuck?"

"Tyler, Lucy, report! What the fuck is going on?" Mack's voice called out over the radio.

The alien had now passed out on the road in front of them in a small pool of its own blood. "Lucy to Mack, we just encountered some new kind of alien, sarge."

"Alien? Lucy, it's a fucking winged orange horse with purple hair!" Tyler bluntly pointed out.

Lucy walked up to the horse, inspecting the bullet wound she had given it, "Lucy, what are you doing!"

"Filling that bullet wound up with biofoam, if the spooks at Naval Intelligence find out we left an oppertunity to capture an alien they'll rip us a new one." Lucy filled the bullet wound on the 'horse' with biofoam, stopping the bleeding.

"If you two are joking about this, the ONI spooks will be the least of your problems," Mack chimed in over the radio. His voice clearly indicated that he didn't believe his two subordinates.

"We're not Mack, Tyler help me tie her up and gag her." Lucy motioned Tyler over and grabbed a climbing rope from her backpack.

"Her?" Tyler looked thoroughly confused at Lucy who, to demonstrate her point, yanked the horse's tail up. "NOPE! I get it she's a girl!" He shouted as he quickly turned around.

"What's wrong big boy? Never seen a girl's junk before?" Lucy said, grinning widely under her helmet.

They finished tying up the horse and creating a harness for it so they would be able to attach her to Lucy's backpack since Tyler would: 'Under no circumstance carry a live alien on his back.'

"Lucy to Mack, alien is secured and we're on our way to the Rally point," Lucy reported as both Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, ODST's, started jogging towards the rally point.
"Affirmative, I just ran into a sniper from Alpha-Two. We'll be at the rally point in five. Mack out."

"So Tyler, think that thing is covenant? I mean cute and cuddly doesn't really fit their MO," Lucy said while tightening the ropes securely to her armor, securing the alien on her back.

"I have no idea but if it so much as looks at me the wrong way, I'm shooting it." Tyler clearly was not a fan of the alien.

"Really Tyler, look at her and tell me that doesn't look adorable." Lucy turned her back to Tyler so he could clearly see the horse.

"If you want to cuddle with the alien so badly, that's your problem. I'm not letting the thing get anywhere near me. Lets just try getting to the rally point without getting shot, please."

Lucy shrugged. "Your loss."

Both ODST's silently jogged on to the rally point.




Twilight had been traveling from street to street for the last half an hour now, getting closer to where the large cloud had come from. But now there was another obstacle in her way, two new creatures clad in grey armor had set up a small barricade seemingly waiting for more of their friends to arrive.

'I might be able to distract them but if those other creatures are any indication they will probably just try to kill me.'
She snuck in closer and held her stolen weapon ready in her telekinesis. Hearing more footsteps approaching, Twilight quickly got behind some cover. The two creatures she had initially seen, turned to see what was approaching, "You're late," one of them said.

'That thing just spoke Equestrian!'Twilight's mind was now running overdrive, trying to figure out how that could be possible.

"We had a special package we had to take with us, remember?" One of the two new creatures turned around to show something on it's back, Twilight tried to get in a better position to see what the creature had shown to the others.

"Jezus you weren't joking, is it with the covenant?" one of the creatures said to the one with the 'special package' on its back.
"I don't think so. When we spotted her she bolted away from us and screamed for help. That doesn't really sound like covenant, does it?" the one with the package said. Now in a good enough position to peek, Twilight carefully looked around her cover.

"Wait, it spoke English? as in UEG standard English?" Twilight now had a good view of the group of creatures and her heart skipped a few beats as she saw what the 'special package' actually was.

Scootaloo.

She readied the weapon she had stolen from one of the grunts and got ready to charge,
'Okay Twilight, breathe slowly, you need to get Scootaloo away from those things before they can cause her any harm.'

As she jumped from cover, she pointed the weapon at the creature with Scootaloo on its back and held down the trigger.

"LET HER GO!" She flared her wings to make herself look intimidating, only then to notice that her stolen weapon wasn't glowing or making any noise.

The four other creatures were already out of their initial shock also seemed to take note of that fact and all charged her.

Twilight, now panicking, tried to use a telekinetic blast to shove the creatures away only for her spell to just fizzle out on her horn. At this point the closest of the creatures had reached Twilight and tackled her to the ground, immediately after which the second creature also jumped on top of her restraining one of her wings and a leg, grabbing an item from his hip and ramming it into the side of Twilight's head.

"STOP MOVING! OR I'LL BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT!" the creature shouted into Twilight's face.

Twilight, now not moving a muscle, looked fearfully at the mirrored glass of the helmeted creature on top of her as it softly spoke again.

"Now, you're going to answer a few of our questions."
> Chapter 2: Extraction
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





"Name"

"Twilight Sparkle, personal stu-- " twilights muzzle being held shut by the creature that had asked the question

"Simple questions, simple answers. I don't give a damn about your life story so don't tell it." the creature bluntly stated.
"Now what's your species called" releasing Twilight's muzzle again so she could answer.

"P-pony, sub-species alicorn" Twilight starting to tremble tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

"What are the other sub-species?" the creature with Scootaloo on its back asked.

Twilight now crying and sniffling "P-pegasi, Unicorns, a-and Earth ponies are the three major ones." Closing her eyes after answering the creatures question.

A small moment of silence later the creature asked another question, "Why did you attack us? Since your weapon was empty it was practically a suicide charge." The creature seemingly less hostile but still held her weapon firmly aimed at Twilight. 

"I was trying to get Scootaloo b-back and I didn't know the weapon was e-empty." Twilight sniffled

"Scootaloo? You mean the little one on Lucy's back?" the creature that was holding his weapon against Twilight's head asked.
"Y-yes"

The creature looking over to 'Lucy' and then back at Twilight, "Where are you from and how did you get here?"

"E-Equestria" Twilight sniffling a few times before continuing "I was performing a spell binding a spacetime rift to an object when Scootaloo stepped into and disrupted the spell matrix causing fatal feedback making the spell collapse into a portal." Twilight falling into lecture mode before remembering that she was being held by a set of unknown creatures.
"I think." she quickly added.

The Creature on top of her looked briefly at all of his companions and then turned back to Twilight, "Fuck it. Twilight, we're going to release you but if you light your horn you die, if you try to run or fly off you die, if you scream you die. Am I clear?"

Twilight quickly nodded

"Mack is thi-" Tyler began only to be cut off by Mack, "No, but we still have a mission to complete. and we can't carry her along with the kid.

With that, the creatures got off her still wary of what Twilight might do.
"So now what? You don't sound like you're going to stay here" Twilight asked while wiping tears from her eyes.

Getting you to extraction is a secondary objective. "The creature that had held the weapon against her head said."Lucy, you're on guard duty don't let her out of your sight."

"Yes, Sir!" Lucy saluting

"Good, let's get the job done Helljumpers."

After 15 minutes of jogging, the group stopped and took cover behind some debris. Ahead was a large building in the middle of a square and it was crawling with covies.
"Woods get in a good sniping position, Tyler you're on me, Lucy you bring up the rear with Twilight."

"Acknowledged"
"Yes sir"
"Consider it done"
"Wait, What!" Twilight added after seeing the tall and short creatures that had tried to kill her not even an hour before. "Those things nearly killed me!"

Any protest Twilight might have voiced was disregarded as all the ODST's ran off to do their tasks.
Tyler and Mack silently snuck forward to a group of Grunts that were just milling about not expecting any trouble. When two of the little aliens came close enough to the ODST's they jumped from their cover with combat knives. The first of the two grunts fell as Mack knife sliced its throat right as Tyler mirrored the same move on his target, the other grunts now noticing their two dead allies started running around with their arms flailing about. Both of the soldiers drawing their silenced M7's and shooting the leftover grunts.

The moment all the grunts had fallen A large Crack could be heard from a building on the side of the square.
"Split-lip down, there are more of the fuckers coming from the CAA Office Sarge."

All the while Twilight was watching from the back, Horrified at the efficiency with which these aliens were killing the other set of aliens, 'They just killed them all, without even thinking twice about it!' Suddenly getting tackled by lucy only for purple shards to fly past the position where she just stood.
"Get behind cover you Idiot!" Lucy shouted as she peaked over the barrier with her rifle and shot a burst into a creature holding a weapon with purple shards protruding from its top.

Further up Mack and Tyler were engaging two Elites, having dropped all the grunts already.
"Running Low on ammo!" Tyler shouted, Mack reacting by picking up a needler from a fallen grunt and tossing it over to him. "Use this!" A large crack could be heard again as the shields of one of the elites dropped and it staggered a bit. Tyler with his new temporary weapon fired a full burst of needles into it which promptly exploded leaving a large hole in the alien's chest.

The other Elite enraged at this charged Tyler, but with the combined fire from Mack and Lucy it fell before it could get to its target.

With the last of the aliens down Twilight was being ushered forward by Lucy and dropped back into cover the moment they reached the entrance of the Building.
"W-why would they try to kill us?!" Twilight stammered still not having had an adequate explanation of what these creatures were and why they were fighting each other.

Although the visors of the ODST's were polarized she could feel their confused glances at her. "The covies want to kill every single human there is, something about us being a blight upon the galaxy." Mack said being the first to respond to Twilight's outburst.

"What?! hum-" before she could get any further with her sentence she got cut off by Mack.

"We're wasting time now, the server room is in the basement. Woods get down here." Mack then taking point and heading into the building. 

The building was relatively dark as only the emergency lighting was on due to loss of power.
As the ODST squad made its way to the server room in the basement of the building, the servers running were being kept online by backup generators along with a few extra lights in the server rooms. Mack motioning Lucy to stay back with Twilight while he and Tyler cleared the pathways ahead.

"What are we doing down here anyway?" Twilight whispered to Lucy

"We're initiating the Cole Protocol, meaning that we're going to wipe the navigation database still active in the basement here." Lucy explained 

"Wait, you're going to destroy knowledge?!" Twilight blurted out.

"Shhh, stop screaming!"

A metallic clang could be heard from behind them as a door opened, only for an elite with an energy sword to step out into the hallway looking for the source of the sound he had just heard. 

A Zealot. 

Mack and Tyler having already moved ahead wouldn't be able to help against this foe. Lucy now slightly panicked at the sight of one of the most elite soldiers the covenant had to offer. 

"TWILIGHT RUN! MACK, TYLER, ZEALOT!" she screamed as she unloaded a magazine into the elite that now charged at her, but where the shields of the other elites had failed against the human's weapons this one's shield shimmered but stayed up, instead of reloading her assault rifle Lucy threw it beside her to draw her pistol. Scoring a few more hits against the Elite but by that time it had already reached her and swatted the pistol from her grip, grabbing Lucy by the neck and holding her up against a wall with one hand.

All the while Twilight had sat by the side being stunned, 'It's going to kill her! And Scootaloo!'Trying to light her horn for a telekinetic shove but failing miserably as her horn just sputtered 'Ponyfeathers, I burned out my horn.' Almost locking up in fear as the creature picked up Lucy and held her against a wall. Looking around and seeing the pistol that had been thrown out of Lucy's hands, quickly grabbing it and aiming at the elite. "STAY AWAY FROM MY FRIEND!" She shouted as she emptied the remaining bullets from the clip.

The first two bullets hitting the alien's shield being absorbed but the third round cleanly punched through that shield hitting the monster in the neck, the fourth round landing a little higher hit the head of the elite the projectile flying through its brain. As it dropped Twilight just stared at the dead corpse 'I... I killed him. I just killed him. Oh no, Celestia is going to banish me to the moon! But I'm probably already further away than the moon! She might throw me into Tartarus instead!'

At that moment Tyler and Mack came sprinting back into the hallway stopping to look over at the sight in front of them. Lucy having yanked off her helmet coughing and gasping for air, a dead zealot with part of his skull blown out and last, Twilight sitting against a wall with a smoking magnum in her hooves with a horrified gaze looking at the corpse of the elite she had presumably killed. Lucy slowly getting up after having caught her breath slowly made her way over to Twilight "Twilight, could you please drop the pistol?" Receiving no reaction at all from the purple pony in any way shape or form she moved next to Twilight and slowly grabbed the pistol from her hooves. Twilight not resisting just let the pistol go from her grip and started crying into Lucy's shoulder.




For the second time that day Scootaloo woke up in an unknown location only this time she couldn't move. Tugging her hooves only for a painful jolt to surge through her hind leg. Her cries were muffled by the gag,'What the hay? why am I gagged!' Scootaloo's eyes finally snapping open as memories started to return to her, looking around she saw Twilight sitting against the wall with a horrified expression and some kind of metal object in her hooves smoke trailing from the end of it. Turning towards were Twilight was looking she felt the now familiar nausea coming up again as she spotted the corpse lying on the floor. 'S-she killed it? n-nonono she wouldn't! but she was sitting there with one of those things in her hooves!' Getting snapped from her train of thought by soft sobbing, Twilights soft sobbing. Only for the monster to add to the confusion as she let Twilight cry into her shoulder.

"Hey Lucy, your passenger is awake." a new monster joining the group only for it to stop when it took in the scene. "Jesus, what the fuck happened here."

"Twilight just saved my sorry ass from that zealot that's what happened." the monster Scootaloo was attached to told the other one with what to Scootaloo looked like an annoyed frown. Only for a moment later to look over to her back straight at Scootaloo, who again tried to squirm her way out of the ropes in an attempt to get away from it. 
"Kid, stay still." the monster she was attached to said as it slung her from its back and put her down in front of her.

"Lucy what the hell are y-"

"What does it look like Tyler, maybe you haven't noticed but I'm getting the slight impression that they're not with the covenant." She said while pointing at the corpse.

Drawing a knife and bringing it down, causing Scootaloo to cringe and wait for the knife to pierce her skin. Only for the ropes that had restrained her to drop away. Immediately getting up and latching herself onto Twilight looking fearfully a the monsters around them.

"Twilight what's happening" She fearfully whispered. To which Twilight hugged the little filly, "I'll explain when we're in a safer place Scootaloo, I promise." still sniffing and tearing up.

"Sorry to break up the reunion but I'd like to be off planet before the assholes upstairs burn the place down." Tyler cut in from the side.

"He's right, we already wiped the server better to be off planet asap."Mack agreed. "Can you two keep up with us?" looking over at Twilight and Scoots. Twilight nodding with Scootaloo still attached to her.

"Good, I think there was a civilian hog parked upstairs."

"What's a hog?" Scootaloo carefully asked still not trusting the creatures that had hurt her already. But since twilight trusted them they couldn't be that bad right?

Lucy was the first to respond to Scootaloo's question, "Say kid, do you like speed?" A massive grin forming on her face

Initially when the engine had started Both Twilight and Scootaloo had been severely startled but from the moment the warthog had driven off from the facility Scootaloo's fear had been quickly fading to the point that she was now having the time of her life as Lucy had been pushing the vehicle to its limits, "THIS IS AWESOME!" Scootaloo had been shouting similar lines throughout the ride, on the other hoof Twilight had been holding on for dear life and shouting at Lucy to slow down before they crashed into something while the others just laughed at how both ponies were taking Lucy's driving style.

Mack reaching for his radio pressing a string of buttons and started transmitting "Stalwart Dawn, this is Alpha-Three do you copy?"

A few moments passed before the radio crackled to life again."Alpha-Three, this is Stalwart Dawn what's your status sergeant."

"We're green Dawn, mission accomplished. We're in need of a pickup. currently headed South on the main motorway."

"Affirmative Alpha-Three, uploading a waypoint to your VISR. And do you have any word on Alpha-Four sergeant?"

"Destroyed sir, landed in the middle of a hot zone. Casualties complete, I'm sorry sir."

"Damn, few good men in those squads. See you up here in an hour sergeant. Stalwart Dawn out." at that the radio went silent again Mack looking over at the two ponies that now were staring at him. "Uhm, what did I just do?" Mack now looking confused back at the two ponies.

"What? With who where you talking?" Twilight looking baffled at the device trying to figure out how it worked.

Every ODST seemed to be stunned at this statement, "You've never seen a radio before?" Tyler asked.

"Uhm no" Twilight now feeling stupid as it seemed that radios were commonplace here. "Anyway, we should probably introduce ourselves to each other since our initial introductions were Less...  pleasant." Twilight trying to change the subject.

Mack chuckled a bit noticing Twilight's attempt to change the subject but decided to play along. "Well, I'm Mack Cross, I'm the squad leader of these idiots, also the tech expert."

The next ODST to introduce itself was Lucy, "Lucy Turner, I'm the medic of the crew. I patch up these guys after they get shot, or in your case Scootaloo when we shot you." Scootaloo winced a bit at the mention of getting shot, her leg still hurting from the wound."Yeah sorry about that, you looked like a grunt so we just shot you."

"WHOA, YOU SHOT SCOOTALOO!" Twilight jumping up and almost losing balance only for Tyler to catch her and pull her back down to the warthog. "Yea we shot her Twilight, there kinda are a lot of aliens out there that want us dead really badly. Better safe than sorry."
"And we did patch her up afterwards!" Lucy added

"It's ok Twilight, they didn't know. All they knew was that we might kill them." Scootaloo surprising everyone in the hog with her stance since she was terrified of them less than 30 minutes ago.

"Wha-, Fine but this isn't over yet." Twilight relenting

"Well, then I suppose It's my turn. Tyler Savage demolition expert, need something blown up then I'm your man." he proudly proclaimed. Earning a chuckle form everyone.

Twilight now looking at the last ODST who sighed and introduced himself "Andrew Woods, Sniper. I'm not exactly part of this squad but I've got no clue what happened to the rest of mine so I went along for the ride with Alpha-Three here."

"We've got another honorable member of Alpha-Three that we're going to meet in just a bit" Mack added, "Lucy what's our ETA on our extraction?"

"1 minute, we're almost there." Lucy reported stopping the hog in the middle of an open square.

Like clockwork, the radio sputtered to life and a female voice could be heard, 'Alpha-Three, This is Starfire. Heard ya needed a ride.' moments later a pelican dropship came flying over the square landing about 20 meters from the warthog.

Both Scootaloo and Twilight sitting stunned watching the large metal craft touch down. 

"COME ON! THAT THING CAN FLY?!" Scootaloo shouted, "That's so not fair!"

"If you two want a ride I suggest getting in!" Mack shouted over the noise of the engine. "You still need to meet our pilot!"

Twilight and Scootaloo glancing at each other before Scootaloo trotted forward, "Well I'm not going to miss a ride in one of these things." before going up the ramp and strapping into a seat close to the cockpit so she would have a good view of the upcoming flight.

 "You coming too sparkle butt?!" Tyler shouted earning a glare from Twilight before she too stepped into the dropship and strapped in. "Where are we going?" Twilight asked.

To which Mack replied,
"Home."
> Chapter 3: Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





With a thunderous noise, the pelican dropship took off from the plaza square and started gaining altitude at an alarming speed. Scootaloo having a front row seat was gawking at the speed of the metal craft, a few moments earlier it had breached the sound barrier and now she was pretty sure that she was flying faster than Rainbow Dash.

The pilot called out from the cockpit to Mack, "Hey Mack! Mind explaining why I'm ferrying two horses up to the Dawn?"
Twilight groaning and then calling out to the pilot, "Ponies! not horses!" immediately after which the dropship made a small bump. 

"Oh! I'm sorry. Mack Why the fuck am I carrying two PONIES that can TALK up to the dawn!" A mix of anger and curiosity in her voice.

"Zoey, meet Twilight and Scootaloo." Mack told the pilot grinning widely, "Our residential mythical alien creatures."

"Mack, I want an explanation. the quick version." The pilot now clearly in an annoyed state. There were a whole bunch of aliens out to kill humanity so Zoey was understandably a bit apprehensive about taking two live ones onto an active warship.

"We found the kid, shot it, the purple one came across us along the way to the objective, we got the purple one to come with us since it wanted the kid, then the purple one saved Lucy by blowing out the brains of a zealot and we headed to the extraction." Taking a deep breath after having said all that Mack added: "No they're not covenant, they're a third party and yes they speak English."

The pilot staring blackly at Mack and then the ponies before reacting.
"Okay, I'm calling the Dawn, we're going to need to set up a quarantine." 

The pilot clearly annoyed at the fact that now she would probably be stuck in quarantine for a day activated the comms, "Stalwart Dawn, this is Starfire. Do you copy."

Moments later the Dawn reacted to Starfire's hail, "Starfire, this is Stalward Dawn. What's the matter, you're still twenty minutes out Starfire." The radio operator confused to why the pelican would contact the frigate while still being out that far.

"Dawn, you need to set up a quarantined zone, the boys brought two aliens from downstairs." after reporting this the radio remained silent for a moment before a new voice sounded over the radio. "Starfire, this is captain Ross. Did you say two aliens?"

"Affirmative sir, apparently they're not Covenant."

a full minute passed before the captain responded over the radio, "We're readying the medbay for a temporary quarantine, Sergeant if this stunt doesn't pay off I'm court-marshaling you. Dawn out."

"Well, that could have gone worse." Tyler looking relieved,"He's only going to court marshal you if this goes south."

"Are you going to get into trouble because of us now?" Twilight asked Mack, concerned for the human.

"yea, don't worry about me. I've had worse. But I think we should tell you a bit more about our world since you seem completely unaware of our current state of affairs." Mack said, sighing and thinking up a condensed line of events of the war. The mood in the pelican visibly dropping as the other humans already knew what was coming.

"27 years ago humanity made first contact with an alien compact made up from several species. Initially, attempts were made at peaceful first contact but the leadership of this covenant deemed us a blight upon the galaxy and started a war of genocide." stopping to look over at the ponies who both had a look of slight disgust but listening attentively, Mack taking a deep breath and continued. "The first strike came from the Covenant at Harvest a human colony dedicated to farming,... It was completely destroyed, surface burned to glass by the plasma weapons of the covenant ships."

The Ponies now both had horrified expressions on their faces. "T-they destroyed the entire planet?" Twilight asked her eyes wide and her hooves over her muzzle.

"yea, and it wouldn't be the last world to face the same fate. we used to have about nine hundred worlds populated to some degree now we only have a handful left." tears forming in Mack's eyes as memories resurfaced.

"N-nine hundred? h-how many-" Scootaloo stammered as she was cut off by Lucy,"18 billion spread out over about 850 worlds."

The next minutes were completely silent other than the humming from the ship itself. The ponies in shock at the staggering amount of casualties the humans had led, Equis didn't even have one hundred million sentient creatures living on it, almost two hundred times less than what the humans had lost! Twilight's head reeled at the numbers, gaining a bit of an understanding of why these humans would have no problem killing the aliens, if they wouldn't they would all die.

The radio crackling to life as the dropship approached the Frigate, "Starfire, get on board fast. We're detecting a new cluster of covenant ships entering the system." moments later the radio activated again, "At least four capital elements, we're bailing we don't have the firepower to deal with a fleet that size."

Zoey communicating further with the Dawn as she made her approach, Twilight on the other hoof was a bit shocked at the revelation that they were abandoning the colony, "Mack if you have so few colonies left then why are we just leaving this one for the covenant?"

"Like the captain said, we don't have the firepower in the system and we evacuated an as large amount of civilians as possible already. We could stay and fight but that would only delay the inevitable in addition to us dying. None of us like it but in this case, we live to fight another day."

The moment the pelican landed in the hangar bay the occupants of the dropship were greeted by humans in white suits, "If everyone could follow us to the medbay, we have a section locked down for quarantine." One of the suited humans said.

The medbay was a set of interconnected set of rooms with white walls and machines the ponies didn't recognize, as they entered the doors behind them were locked sealing the group off from the rest of the ship. A female human with her hair in a knot and a white coat walked up to the group, "So sergeant, what type of alien did you take with you? Grunts? Elites? The only thing I've heard is that we were getting a visit from two aliens."

"A pegasus and an alicorn." Mack deadpanned, "you know from mythology."

"Mack I'm really not in the mood for jo-" she stopped as Twilight and Scootaloo entered the room, an uncomfortable silence falling over the group.

"Uhm, hello?" Scootaloo being the first to break the silence, "I'm Scootaloo, what's your name?" holding out her hoof to the doctor.

"Wha-, OH. Yes! Hello, I'm Catalina Melton but just call me Cat or Doc." Catalina suddenly overly happy, "And who are you, Uhm miss?"

"Twilight Sparkle, Pleasure to meet you! and yes we're both mares." Twilight shaking her hoof with the doctor, "So I take it you want to do some medical studies?" Twilight as eager as ever to do some science with these humans.

"Ah yes, please follow me. I want to take a few blood and tissue samples and perform a full body scan on both of you." Both Twilight and Catalina happily moved to a scanner in another room as Scootaloo looked up at Mack, "Should I be worried?"

The ODST letting out a hearty laugh,"Yea, you probably should."







Ponyville was a disasterzone.

When the portal in the library collapsed the resulting Explosion had severely damaged the surrounding buildings. Luckily nopony died in the explosion, a few ponies had been hit with shrapnel and had been stuck in their houses. Spike also got lucky, his dragon physique took most of the beating as his scales are nearly indestructible and fireproof. No, the worst damage was done to the library itself as it was almost completely destroyed, the initial portal destroying the ground floor and the explosion and subsequent fire destroyed nearly the entire tree.

But for Rainbow Dash none of that really mattered, She had been searching nearby settlements for any sign of her adoptive sister and best friend.

"SCOOTALOO!, TWILIGHT!" 

Taking passes over portions of the ghastly gorge before heading back to ponyville as she was going to visit Spike the hospital with the other elements after he was knocked unconscious at the library.

Coming to a stop at ponyville central hospital's front gate, a place she was all too familiar with and stepped in to be greeted by her four other friends. To her surprise, both princesses were also present.

"Hello, Rainbow Dash." princess Celestia greeted, "I take it from the look in your face that the search for your friends has also not turned up with any results?" an unusual sadness coming from her voice. 

"No, nothing. They must have teleported a long way away." Rainbow said dejected, Twilight and Scootaloo had not shown up in any of the nearby towns. 

"You might be right, young pegasus." Luna cut in, "We haven't been able to locate my sister's student in the dream world either."

"Don't that make sense? Ah, mean they wouldn't be asleep." AJ asked Luna

"A common misconception, my little pony. Although when a pony is asleep their mind fully merges with the dream world, a  pony that's awake at least still has a presence in the dream world. Twilight Sparkle and Scootaloo Hurricane both completely disappeared."

"So, they are so far away that they ain't showing up in the drea-" Applejack suddenly being cut off by Rainbow Dash, "Princess, did you just say Scootaloo 'Hurricane'? As in the commander Hurricane?"

"Yes, We have found that her magic signature matches that of the old commander, his descendants always had magic attuned to storm clouds and lightning. But that is irrelevant since its actions that make the pony not their ancestors." The princess lectured, "Now we have a dragon to visit" she added as the group arrived at the room Spike was staying in.

Spike immediately brightened as the group entered but turned to a frown as he saw the dejected faces and a distinct lack of purple. "Where is Twilight?" worry evident in his voice.

"Spike darling, Twil-" Rarity getting cut off by Spike, "Where, is Twilight!" he shouted.

"We have no idea Spike, we don't even know if she's alive." Celestia admitted

"I-I need some paper ink and a quill." Spike said getting some confused looks from the elements in the room.

"Spike darling, I know you're upset but what good is that going to do?" Rarity asked Spike

"I can send her a letter, I don't need to know where she is she just needs to be alive to receive it." spike explained, "It's not like I know exactly where Princess Celestia is every time I send her a letter."

"That's, actually a good Idea, If you would allow it I would like to send a letter to my student and fellow princess." Celestia said.

"Uhm, Spike? is it okay if I write a letter to Scootaloo?" Rainbow asked without her usual bravado, "I'd really like to make sure she is okay."

A few minutes later Rainbow and Princess Celestia finished their letters and handed them to Spike, "Moment of truth, I hope you're well." Spike said as he blew fire onto the paper which promptly incinerated itself into black smoke, "YES! She's still alive!" he shouted as everyone except Dash let out a sigh of relief,"Now for Scootaloo" taking another deep breath as he let out another flame also incinerating the scroll, another wave of relief came over the ponies as the scroll flew away to it's intended recipient. "Princess, did you ever teach Twilight how to send messages to me?" spike asked Celestia whose face turned into a scowl, "No, she still has to gain more alicorn magic to emulate dragon magic. So we essentially only have one-way communication." 

"At least we know that they're still alive." Rainbow said, missing her honorary sister. They had set up this wicked training schedule to try and get her to fly, but that all would have to wait now. She just hoped both her and Twilight would be okay.









Twilight and the doctor had been performing medical experiments for almost an hour now as the Dawn had entered slipspace en route to the planet Reach. Scootaloo had also been dragged through a set of tests and scans, of which the results and images were now starting to return.
Most of the tests were to see if either species posed a medical hazard to the other but some of the scans were just to satisfy Cat's curiosity, Needles to say Twilight and Catalina were both ecstatic about doing science.

Scootaloo, on the other hoof, had been hanging out with the ODST's who seemed bored out of their minds being stuck with two eggheads. They had introduced her to a game they called poker, and she was losing badly.

"OH COME ON!, How did you know I was bluffing?" She shouted as she lost another few chips from her ever-decreasing stash, "You guys are way to good at this!"

The group of ODST's laughing at the orange pegasus of which they had already grown quite fond off, "You might want to stop twitching your wings every time you bluff." Lucy told Scoots with a grin.

"Ahhh, come on Lucy we haven't even got all her chips yet." Tyler mock pouted as he started dealing a new set of cards, but Twilight and Catalina entered the room before they could start another round.

"We've got the lab results!" Twilight practically squealed.

"So are we going to die from space-flu or can we finally get out of this medbay?" Tyler asked getting a chuckle from everyone else around the poker table.

after an eye roll, Twilight answered, "No, you're not and neither are me and Scootaloo."  

"Good, Doc can you release the quarantine so we can get some grub in the mess hall?" Mack asked Catalina, "The rest of the crew should be in the freezer now so we shouldn't have to explain to everyone why we're walking around with mythological creatures."

Before the Doc could answer, Twilight inquired about something she had noticed before, "Mack, you've been calling Scoots and me mythological creatures, how much do humans know about my species?"

"I'm probably not the person to talk to about this stuff, but we have some stories about horned and winged horses."

"Mmh, Interesting because we also have myths about humans in Equestria." Twilight stated getting confused looks from the humans around her.

"Wait, so there are myths about humans in Equestria? That can't be a coincidence." Mack replied, "How old are those myths?"

"About 1300 year, Discord was running rampant at the time so dates get a bit wonky."

"Discord? Who the hell is that?" Tyler asked to which Scootaloo answered quicker than Twilight, "The self-proclaimed god of chaos."

Twilight looking over at the filly with confusion not thinking that the small filly would know much about him at which Scootaloo just shrugged. "I had to write an essay about the idiot after we accidentally released him. I know my stuff regarding him."

"Anyway, about 1000 years ago as the renaissance started myths like that started dying out, some mythical creatures were still featured in artwork but that's about it." Tyler continued

"Huh, that might explain the connection. Discord was imprisoned about a thousand years ago, so he might have connected our worlds in some capacity. Maby they still are." Twilight theorized.

"Things to figure out another time but now I think we can all use some food, Cat are we free to go?" Mack asked the doctor. 

"Actually no, Captain wanted to keep you two mostly restricted to the medbay until we arrive at Reach and the five of you have been assigned to guard duty so you also have to stay."

"So, we're stuck here for the foreseeable future." Mack surmized "great, do we at least have some food here?"

Catalina pointing over to another room where a temporary dining room had been set up, "There was some brought over just in case we had to have a prolonged quarantine."

Scootaloo, Twilight and the ODST's digging into the food supplies as they hadn't had any food since they got off planet. Scootaloo somehow managed to wolf down her meal the fastest and stole a package from Lucy's rations, "HEY! Tha-... Uhm Scootaloo?" Scootaloo having already opened the package and taken a bite now was a bit confused as to why the ODST's were staring at her.

"Uhm, what did I do wrong?" Scootaloo now self-conscious of the fact that she probably did something wrong.

"Nothing."
"Have at it."
"Do you like it?"
"Just Tell her, you, twats" Lucy glaring at her squadmates, "You're eating chicken, Scootaloo." 

Scootaloo's eyes widening as she looked at the package in her hooves, only for her to take another bite from the chicken moments later.

"SCOOTALOO!" Twilight shouted as all the ODST's were now crying with laughter as the filly finished eating the chicken and reacted to Twilight with a full mouth, "What? It's Tasty."

Twilight looking at Scootaloo with a blank expression, "I'm going to the lab, there's too much insanity in this room!" she shouted as she walked out back to Catalina who was examining Scootaloo's full-body scan.

"Want to try beef the next time?" Tyler asked Scootaloo with a grin, to which the filly nodded prompting another fit of laughter from the ODST's.

As the Laughter died down a bit Twilight called out to Scoots, "Scootaloo! I think you should have a look at this!"

Everyone at the dining table exchanging curious glances and deciding to join in as they didn't have anything better to do anyway, as they walked into the lab a projection of Scootaloo's full-body scan was projected from a holotable. 

"Cat, can you zoom in on the tissue between the wings?" Cat nodding and magnifying the projection, "And can you put my body scan next to it?" Twilight's body scan promptly appearing next to the one of Scootaloo.

"Now, can anyone tell me the difference between these two scans?" Twilight asked the group who started comparing the two scans, after a few moments, Zoey found a discrepancy between the two holograms.
"Are those black spots tissue attached to the base of Scoots her wings?"

"Indeed! but that's not the strange part! The tissue looks exactly like cornu obstructionum, or horn block. A rare unicorn disorder, as in one in a hundred thousand kind of rare, that stops horn growth and mana pool creation!" Twilight squealed.

"So the reason I cant fly is because a rare unicorn disorder is affecting my wings?" Scootaloo asked with curiosity that Twilight might have figured out why she couldn't fly, "Can it be fixed?" she asked with a hopeful smile.

"Yes and Yes, when the tissue is removed in a unicorn it usually leads to rapid horn growth and increased mana pool creation! so assuming it works the same for pegasi your wings should grow and magic increase!" Twilight in her mind already formulating the procedure.

"Now hold on Twilight, we cant just operate on Scootaloo. Both human and pony leadership would have to give their approval for a procedure like that. Other than that there also is the fact that we also have to figure out what drugs we can safely use on you ponies!" Catalina stopping Twilight's train of thought.

"Well, the pony leadership is already taken care of." Scootaloo said with a grin, "Isn't it Princess Twilight Sparkle."

"Whoa, Twilight?"
"WHAT!"
"No bloody way!"
"Seriously?"
All the humans now staring at the purple pony that immediately started having a Fluttershy episode and clopping her hooves together, "Uhm you see, normally I don't really have any authority other than that I'm technically a Princess but without a direct communications line to Equestria my word has the same authority as Celestia's."

"So you only have to figure out the other two things!" Scootaloo happily said, "Let's not keep the eggheads from doing their job guys, I still need to win a round of poker!" starting to trot off to the side room where the game was set up only to be stopped by a cloud of black smoke that seemingly appeared out of nowhere and spit out a scroll. Looking over at Twilight she could see that she too also had a letter painstakingly levitating in front of her and tearing up a little.

"It's from Celestia."
> Chapter 4: Slipspace
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------








Dear Twilight Sparkle,

As of this moment, we have no idea where you are. All we know is that you're really far away as you and Scootaloo are both missing from the dreamscape. Your friends hope you're doing well along with Scootaloo. The main reason we are sending this message is that if Spike's fire can send these we know you are still alive. I also want you to know that no one got seriously injured when your spell collapsed. I wish we could be of more help from our position here in Equestria. The best help I can think of is to give you permission to use your authority as a princess to it's fullest extent to aid you in returning safely to us, I hope you will return to us soon my student we miss you all dearly.

Princess Celestia Morningstar
Diarch of Equestria 
Guardian of the Sun



Twilight letting out a tear as she finished reading the letter, "I don't even know if I could get us back, there's literally nothing here that gives us a clue as to where home is."

"We'll find some way to get back Twilight, we both know that it's going to take a while but we'll figure it out at some point"
Scootaloo said as she gave Twilight a quick nuzzle before opening her own scroll,



Hi Squirt,

I'm not good with all this sappy stuff but I should be the one to write this letter to my number one fan. I already really miss you and hope you come back soon, I still owe you those flying lessons after all those workouts we've been going through. I know you'll be back at some point, with the egghead you'll figure out a way back in no time. On a side note, Luna told us that your magical signature matches the one of a member of the Hurricane family, so you're related to one of the pegasi's most fierce warriors. Scootaloo Hurricane, that probably makes you the second most awesome pony I know. miss you Squirt, get back soon, please.

Dash



"AWESOME!" Scootaloo shouted, "Scootaloo Hurricane! that's so cool!"

Most of the humans standing around the two ponies not understanding what had just happened, two scrolls had just appeared out of nowhere and were apparently from the ponies homeworld.
"That's cool and all but where the fuck did those scrolls come from!?" Tyler half-shouted

"From Equestria, they were send using Dragonfire. To send messages with it the dragon sending the messages has to have a good connection to the creature it wants to send a message to and most importantly said creature has to be alive."

"Your world has dragons?! Actually why the hell am I surprised, I'm talking to a purple talking pony." Tyler said, "I've had enough weird shit happen to me for one day, I'm going to bed. 

As the group headed off to sleep a device in Mack's pocket started making a beeping sound, taking a glance at the device Mack stopped walking and turned around, "Captain wants to have a word with me, I'll be right back." Before walking out of medical up to the bridge.






The Captain was looking over at the holotable as Mack came walking in and letting off a salute, "You needed me, Sir?"

"At ease sergeant, I wanted to talk about our 'Guests' and some things cleared up." the captain said as he motioned Mack to come over to the holotable, "At 19:47 hours we detected two slipspace ruptures within the city, initially we just thought of them as a system malfunction but with the arrival of our two guests we theorized that this might be the teleport they were talking about." The captain pressing a few buttons and bringing up a map of the city, "These two locations are where we detected the ruptures, these are the locations of your team and this is the location of the explosion caused by alpha-four" The captain explained putting markers on the map at each location.

"So, if those two ruptures where Twilight and Scootaloo and both of them where attracted to alpha-four's explosion" Mack drawing a few paths on the map, "Then we would encounter Scoots at the explosion site and Twilight further up"

"Correct, so if we can verify that their teleporting ability is slipspace related then we can confirm their story about their teleport here in a manner ONI will accept." The captain said as he cleared the holotable, "I want you and your team to keep finding out information about them. If miss Twilight really is a princess having her on our side will help us out massively if we make contact with their homeworld. I also suggest writing up a comprehensive report for the spooks of everything you find out before we arrive at Reach, you got them onboard this ship sergeant like it or not your fates are now linked. Dismissed."

Mack nodded as he let off another salute before walking back to medical.

Getting back to medical Mack found that everyone had found one of the temporary bunks and was now asleep, everyone except Twilight as she seemed to be twisting and turning in her bed muttering to herself. Mack walking over to her and sitting down on her bed, "Twilight?"

Twilight immediately jumped at the unexpected voice before calming down at the sight of Mack sitting on her bed, "Uhm, how did your meeting with the captain go?" she nervously asked.

"Twilight what's wrong? it doesn't take an expert to see something's bothering you."

For the first few seconds, she tried to come up with an excuse only to come up blank "How do you do it?" she asked him.

"I think of all the things they have done to us, all the killing and destruction. If by killing them I reduce the chance of my fellow soldiers getting killed I'll do it. If it wasn't necessary I would've quit this job a long time ago but I'm not going to quit while my brothers in arms are still out there risking their asses to protect us all."

Twilight seemed to think over his explanation before responding with something Mack hadn't expected, "I-I, Mack would it be possible for me to fight?"

Taken aback by the pony that previously hadn't shown any intention to participate in the fighting, "Twilight, that's not a decision I can make, if you really want to we can give you some training but to fight you'll have to get approval from command and why would you even want to fight in a war that's not even yours?"

Twilight sighing, "If I'd do nothing now and the covenant finds Equis it would mean that either the planet gets destroyed and everyone dies or they decide to invade and enslave everyone, I can't let that happen and humanity even though heavily outmatched, still has a better chance of defeating the covenant then anyone on Equis."

"I'll talk about it with the captain, but don't expect anything from it because he doesn't have a say in it either. Also, what are we going to do with Scootaloo? I don't think she wants to be separated from you"

"I know, even though she'll put up a brave face I don't think she'll want to fight. You know, my family actually has a long tradition of being in the military, my uncle served on the frontier with the Griffins, my brother is the commander of the Royal Guard, my mom was a part of the Special Tasks Group or STG before it was shut down due to research into bio-weapons, my dad not being a fighter still worked in command and I could go on with that list. The fact that I didn't pursue a military career actually shocked parts of the family."

"If you really want to then I'll set up some training exercises, but that's the best I can do. You should probably get some sleep if we are going to train you up to our standards."

Twilight lying back down into bed before looking back over to Mack, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it, glad to know that you want to help us out." Mack said as he found a bed of his own.

Unbeknownst to Twilight and Mack, a certain orange filly had been listening to the entire conversation and wasn't planning to be left behind, 'Like Twilight said I don't really want to fight, but like Mack said he also doesn't really want to fight either and if the covenant find Equis the world we know will just stop existing. AB, Sweetie, Rainbow, everyone I know will be at risk.' Now stuck with this conundrum in her head she made the same decision as Twilight, 'If the princess of friendship of all ponies is going to fight then I'm too.' with that everyone drifted to sleep knowing what the next day would bring.





Twilight's night had been anything but restful as images of the dead elite kept haunting her dreams keeping her awake, just as she finally got comfortable an extremely annoying beeping sound started coming from a device in Tylers hand.
"GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE!" Tyler shouted into Twilight's ears who screamed and jumped into the air letting out a wave of telekinesis against the perpetrator and subsequently everyone else in the room.Causing Tyler to fly into the wall on the other side of the room and everyone else to get pushed out of bed, Twilight now trying to get her breathing under control.

"Twilight what the fuck was that." Tyler groaned.

Twilight realizing what she had just done immediately started apologizing, "I'm so sorry you startled me, are you okay?, I might know some healing spells."

"I'm good Twilight, I'm just interested in how you just knocked me six meters away into a wall." Tyler said as he got back on his feet shaking off a little bit of the disorientation.

"Yeah, that was freaking scary Twilight." Lucy added, getting up from her position on the ground.

"That was a telekinetic wave, it's actually the easiest spell a unicorn can perform because it's just releasing a large amount of magic in an as short time as possible. Most unicorns can't create a wave as powerful as the one you just got hit by but you just made the decision to startle the third most powerful mage of Equestria." To prove her point she used her magic to restore the room to its original state even making the beds to perfection, not that restoring the room was something difficult at all but to someone that had no magic knowledge at all it must be an incredibly impressive sight to see. "I need coffee, please tell me humans have coffee." She added before walking out of the room.

"This crap is going to happen more often isn't it?" Zoey said

"You mean getting thrown around or the casual breaking of physics?" Mack groaned.

"Both" Zoey responded, 

"Can we get some food too?" Scootaloo asked the humans as if nothing had just happened, "I remember that Tyler promised me some beef" she added with a smirk.

"If any of you give her meat I'll personally kick your flank off this ship!" Twilight shouted from one of the other rooms.

"Sorry kid, I'm not angering a pony that can probably just teleport me out of the ship." Tyler told Scootaloo, "just have to steal the package again I'm afraid." he whispered in her ear with a smirk on his face.

The group heading off to the temporary dining room, finding twilight sitting at the table with a half-empty coffeepot in her hooves. "Don't judge me, without it I'd be a wreck"

"Just leave some for us, not like we get going without the stuff." Woods said, "Except maybe Tyler but he's an exception."

"Shut up cunt, I'm not doing shit without coffee." Tyler responded, "don't know about you guys but I'm getting breakfast"

At that everyone started eating their rations in relative silence, until Mack broke it again. 

"Twilight, you should tell them. They're going to find out soon enough." Twilight getting a few curious glances, Scootaloo's not among them as she already guessed what this was about.

"You're right, yesterday me and Mack had a talk an-" Tyler cutting off Twilight mid-sentence, "Did you two finally hook up?"

Before he could react Twilight had him hanging upside down in her telekinesis, "Can you just shut up for a moment? Thank you very much." After that, she released her grip on Tyler who smacked into the ground, "It's still too early for this crap" he groaned.

"So like I was trying to say, after Mack and I had a talk I decided I wanted to help with the fighting." Lucy nearly choked on her breakfast the moment Twilight said 'fighting', "You want to fight?! And what and what about Scootaloo? You can't just leave her!"

"She's not, I'm coming along for the ride." Scootaloo said, "Like you said yesterday Twilight if the covenant finds Equis the planet won't last a day. I don't really want to go out there but I'm not going to sit still while everyone I know is unknowingly in danger. So, in short, you're stuck with me if you like it or not."

"Scootaloo! you're only fifteen years old!" Twilight almost shouted back, "You can't just go off to war!"

"Actually I can, Equis has three hundred eighty day years Human years only have three hundred sixty-five days. So in human years, I'm already sixteen meaning that I can apply for the Marines here." Scootaloo stated matter of factly.

"She's right Twilight if you get permission from Command to participate in the fighting she'll also be allowed to go." Mack confirmed,  

"So we're going to be holding a kind of boot camp for the both of them?" Tyler asked to which Mack nodded, "Sweet!"

"So, are you two up for it too?" Lucy asked the ponies to which Twilight glanced at Scootaloo, seeing that she wasn't going to back down she sighed and responded, "All right, we're in."


"This is the bucking worst!" Twilight groaned while lying in her bunk bed, the last week the ODST's had been meticulously drilling her and Scootaloo. Everything from running to strength training had been covered, Tyler even set up an assault course modified for ponies in the hangar bay. To say every muscle in her body ached was a massive understatement. Also being tired didn't help either, since she spent all of her free time learning about various topics like slipspace and astrophysics. Scootaloo, on the other hoof, had appeared to have thoroughly enjoyed herself, saying that she already did a similar training regiment with Rainbow Dash. Needless to say, if Twilight ever got her hooves on the rainbow maned pony there would be Tartarus to pay for dragging a filly through a training schedule like this one.

"Suck it up Twilight, every soldier has gone through this so if you want to be part of the military you'll have to finish it too." Mack stated as he came walking through the door with two packages under his arm, "No training for today, the crew is going to be defrosted for our arrival at Reach. So I got you two a present to make sure the crew Identifies you two as friendlies in the event you run into one of them." He added before tossing both of the packages to either pony. 

Quickly opening the packages the two ponies found a tight-fitting dark-grey bodysuit with name tag and UNSC logo in either package, "Awesome! but why would we need them I mean aren't we staying in medical sarge?"

"Nope, we're going to get front row seats exiting slipspace at Reach. So we'll be present on the bridge meaning the bridge crew is going to see you for the first time, they already heard about you two over the radio when we were on the pelican but they have no clue how you two look like."

Scootaloo accepting the explanation started putting on her suit, a few minutes of struggling later both she and Twilight stood clothed in the suits.

"I don't think I'll ever understand how Rarity can find wearing clothes comfortable." Scootaloo said as she fiddled with the suit.

"You'll get used to it after a while" Twilight assured Scootaloo before turning to Mack who had been waiting, "When are we dropping out of slipspace?"

"In fifteen minutes, but the Captain wants us on the bridge before that." Mack answered, "The others are already up there so let's not keep them waiting for us"

A few minutes of walking and an elevator ride later the group arrived on the bridge. Initially, no-one seemed to notice the new arrivals as they were busy preparing for the arrival at Reach, but as the two ponies got further in the room started to fall silent. 

"Miss Sparkle, a pleasure to meet you." A low-pitched voice said from the front of the room breaking the silence.

Twilight and Scootaloo looking over at the source of the voice finding a tall man wearing a naval uniform with captain stripes on his shoulders.

"Pleasure is all mine, Sir!" She and Scootaloo both responding with the salute Tyler had taught them. 

"At ease Twilight, I just want to ask you and Scootaloo here some questions." The captain said as he motioned for Twilight and Scootaloo to come over to the side with him.

With the entire room now slowly getting back to work and Twilight and Scootaloo in conversation with the captain Mack stepped back to his squad, "Those two are really quite something, aren't they?"

"If by something you mean that they ran the equivalent of a hell week then yeah, they're quite something." Lucy responded, "With proper training of the usage of firearms I sure as hell wouldn't mind if those two were beside me on a battlefield."

"If command approves of their request to fight alongside us that might actually be something that becomes a reality." Tyler added, "Which with this kind performance isn't out of the question."

Any further conversation was cut off as one of the bridge officers called out, "One minute to slipspace exit!" 
Twilight and Scootaloo coming over to stand with the other ODST's, a few moments later the same officer called out again, "Slipspace exit in Five! Four! Three! Two! One!" As the officer reached zero the blackness of slipspace gave way to the star-filled realspace, "Slipspace transition to realspace successful Captain"

"Good, nav what's our location?" The captain asked another officer.

"Drift shot us quite far in system, we're only half a standard AU from Reach." She responded, "10 minutes to visual range."

The following 10 minutes passed in relative silence as the Stalwart Dawn approached humanities main military bastion other than Earth.

"Magnify the planet on the main screen please." The captain breaking the silence with his order and a planet appeared shortly after on the main viewscreen,

"Welcome to Reach."
> Chapter 5: Reach
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





The arrival at Reach had been relatively uneventful, the Captain and crew had maneuvered the Dawn into a repair and refit station for small repairs to the hull and restocking. But it was only a matter of time before the reports on the two new passengers had been processed and when they were the ponies were immediately called down to the surface. Alpha-Three and the ponies now on board a pelican headed to the surface, Scootaloo had once again taken up a seat near the cockpit so she could watch the flight from the main viewport.

"How much information did you put in those reports, Mack?" Twilight asked, "I'd like to know what kind of questions we can expect."

"Pretty much everything, so you should expect questions about things like magic, that medical procedure for Scoots, your willingness to fight, etcetera." Mack answered, "Just answer the questions they ask truthfully and treat them as a superior officer, it'll make you look more serious about joining the military here."

Moments later Zoey's voice could be heard from the cockpit, "Entering the atmosphere, Mind the bump!" After a few seconds, the pelican started shaking violently and flames started licking the fuselage. 

"Zoey! Why is the pelican ON FIRE!" Scootaloo shouted over the noise that the pelican was producing and slightly panicking about the fact that the spacecraft seemed to be on fire.

"Don't worry about it squirt, when you hit the atmosphere at speeds like this the air heats up a lot so these things have heat-shielding to protect them from that. It'll go away when we've slowed down enough!"

"O-okay." Scootaloo stammered as she tightly held on to the safety harness she was secured in but sure enough, the flames died down after a few minutes and gave way to a stunning sight, a city that would make Manehattan look like a small village. Ten minutes later the pelican flew up to the roof of one of the tall buildings and landed on it, as the ramp lowered a squad of armed marines was waiting for them. "Alpha-Three?" A woman dressed in a black suit asked the group that was now standing on the ramp of the pelican.

"Yes, Ma'am." Mack said as he stepped forward from the group.

"Good, follow me. There are some people with some questions for you all." she stated as if that wasn't clear enough already.

The team cleared the ramp with Mack and Lucy in front followed by Twilight and Scootaloo and closing the group were Tyler, Woods, and Zoey. The moment Twilight and Scootaloo came walking off the ramp the soldiers that were supposed to escort them visibly tensed up before relaxing a bit as they saw the two ponies wearing their bodysuit with UNSC logo's printed on them. The group got led through a hallway until they got to what seemed like a waiting room.

"Sergeant Cross, The council wants to see you immediately." the woman said as she pointed to a large door further down the hallway.

"See you guys on the other side and good luck." Mack quickly said before walking off to the door.

Twenty minutes later the woman that had led them off the roof came back to get Lucy who also wished the rest good luck and walked off to the door as well, Twilight had anticipated that Scootaloo would get bored quickly but she seemed more nervous than anything else. Wrapping her wing around Scoots in an attempt to comfort her, "Don't worry, they only want to ask some questions." after finishing the sentence she looked up at the guards that were all staring wide-eyed at the pony that had just talked. "Did you just talk?" one of them asked, apparently the soldiers hadn't been completely briefed on the specifics of their escort duty. 

"Yes, I did." Twilight replied as confidently as she could manage, "You know you can all stop staring, it's kind of freaky." She added with a nervous smile at which the marines regained their composure. Ten minutes later the woman came back but this time she didn't want one of the ODST's to come with her, "Miss Sparkle, the council wants to see you now." 

Twilight giving a comforting last glance at Scootaloo got up and followed the lady to the large door at the end of the hallway, walking through the door she found herself in a large dark room with a lit up podium and on the back side of the room a group of humans sitting in the shadows. 

"Welcome miss Sparkle, it's a pleasure to meet you." A man with a deep voice said.

"Pleasure is all mine, Sir." Twilight replied.

"As you might be able to imagine the council is extremely curious about your species yours being the first to initiate peaceful contact." The man stopping to clear his throat before continuing, "Subjects like the sub-species of ponies you have on your world."

"Yes, of course! I'll also write up a comprehensive report later if you want?" 

"That would be appreciated. If we want a better explanation of any of the subjects that will come up we'll send a request." A woman told Twilight.

"Right, Pony society is made up of mainly three races Earthponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns, there are some sub-races but their numbers are irrelevant with the exception of alicorns. Only four alicorns are currently known to be alive, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza or Cadance, and lastly me."

"So if you're an alicorn you automatically become a princess?" one of the humans asked.

"Essentially yes, but to become an alicorn you have to perform an extraordinary feat of magic. I, for example, was born a unicorn but by discovering a new magic field and finishing a spell I ascended to alicorn status gaining wings." Twilight explained.

"Let's switch subjects, further information will probably be requested on your society in a report." The male voice stated, "We're also interested in how it is you can speak our language and how it's possible your species and other you have described show up in our mythology."

"My understanding of how that's a possibility is still not complete either, my working theory is that a being called Discord made a rift with chaos magic connecting our worlds. I can't verify that theory since it would require me to travel to your homeworld which I would understand you would be apprehensive about seeing the current circumstances." 

"Could you tell us more about chaos magic and magic in general? Since humans don't have access to magic we don't have any understanding of it." One of the humans asked.

Twilight thinking about how to explain magic to non-magic users for a moment, "Magic flows around in a field of some sort, regular magic users can guide the flow of it gracefully to accomplish a task like levitation for unicorns, Flight for pegasi, or extra endurance for earthponies. Note that an alicorn has all three types of magic as we represent all races. Chaos magic, on the other hand, is like brute forcing the magic field to tear up to accomplish tasks, this makes chaos magic really powerful but with the side effects being that it causes the user to go insane. Discord is really powerful with chaos magic which promptly caused him to go insane"

"Could this 'Discord' become a threat sometime in the future." The woman asked her voice giving away a hint of worry.

"As of this moment Discord should be petrified in the castle garden in Equestria's capital held captive by wards placed by Princess Celestia and Luna." Twilight replied trying to quell the worry the humans might have had.

"We'll also ask any further questions about magic in reports, next topic we would like to bring up is your proposed surgery on miss Scootaloo. we presume the disability is magical in nature?" The man asked.

"Yes, the scans of her body you have undoubtedly seen shows two patches of tissue connected to the base of her wings which are restricting magic flow, pegasi wings have similarity with unicorn horns although unicorns consciously manipulate magic pegasi magic is more tied to emotions. Essentially what's happening is that magic can't flow to the wings and without magic the 'spell' that allows pegasi to fly isn't cast. A side effect of this is that the wings also remain under-developed."

"We'll make our decision on this matter after we've spoken to miss Scootaloo herself, thank you for enlightening us on the subject." The man commented, "Now we have one last subject matter to discuss, your request to fight alongside our troops."

Twilight tried to hide her nervousness at this subject as she suspected that this would be the hardest to convince them off, "Yes, I'm sure you've read my justification already but my homeworld has a relatively peaceful society and if the covenant would find our world they could either just destroy it or assimilate everyone on it into the covenant. Neither option is one I would want to see happen since one means death and the other means joining a religious group that wants to kill a species because their gods demand it."

Twilight hoped that explanation would be good enough as the man responded, "We were considering to just deny your request outright but when we looked into your performance in the training regime Alpha-Three had run you two through."

"Excuse me but sergeant Cross hasn't informed us on how we performed in the training compared to humans." Twilight interjected.

"He hasn't?" the man sounded slightly surprised, "Well then, your performance was comparable to that of our top performing ODST's. Although alpha-three did a superb job with their tests we want to more thoroughly train you under real training circumstances, not the rag-tag set up course Alpha-Three gave you. If the results are reasonably satisfactory this council will consider your request to join our military. We thank you for your cooperation, if any more questions come up we'll send an inquiry."

Twilight being led out of the room by the woman that had also led her into the room but instead of the large doors she was led out via side door into a room where Mack and Lucy were waiting, "And the princess joins us! How did it go?" Lucy asked, "hope they weren't too tough on you, Ackerson is known to be a bit of a dick."

"I have no idea who Ackerson is but they were very respectful, they'll probably want a lot more information on my homeworld but that'll come later." Twilight responded before looking at the tablet Lucy was holding, "Lucy what are you doing?"

Lucy looking up from her Tablet, "X-Com: Enemy within" she stated with a grin, at which Mack groaned.

"If anyone would play a five-hundred-year-old game it would be you, wouldn't it." He stated dryly.

Lucy's grin widening even further, "A game about an organization that fights off an alien invasion of Earth, I don't think I can play anything more appropriate."

Twilight looking over at the tablet before starting to ask questions and getting invested in the game with Lucy. Over the next fifty minutes, the other ODST's joined in after they had been dragged through the council leaving only Scootaloo.

"How was she doing when you left Zoey?" Twilight asked the pilot, hoping Scootaloo wasn't too nervous.

"She seemed to be doing a lot better in the end than when you left." Zoey replied, only for Scootaloo to be led into the room the moment the pilot finished her sentence.

The woman accompanying the little filly spoke up, "The council has approved the request to perform surgery on miss Scootaloo, medical teams will be prepped in one of New Alexandria medical facilities after doctor Melton and you miss Twilight have come up with a viable procedure." The woman pausing a moment before continuing, "Your other request has also been approved under the condition that if your performance in training is exemplary. Alpha three, your unit will be sent to a training facility to prepare it for the arrival of the ponies as they will remain here in New Alexandria for the medical procedure. One of your units soldiers will be allowed to remain with the ponies as they wait for the procedure, you'll have to choose among yourselves who remains with the ponies." After finishing her sentence the woman turned around and left the unit to decide who was going to stay behind with the Equestrians.

"So, who's going to stay with our new squadmates?" Tyler asked after the door closed behind the woman.

"Whoa, squadmates? we're no soldiers yet Tyler." Twilight responded surprised at his comment.

At which Mack responded, "I don't know how much they told you about your performance on the Dawn but it was hella impressive, I don't think you two should worry too much about not getting admitted into the ODST's so to us you're already squadmates."

"Thanks, all of you. But we should probably figure out which one of you stays with us."

"I'll stay with you two if you want Twilight." Lucy said before adding with a grin, "Plus you can play video games with me"

After finishing their conversation the two groups split up either in a separate pelican the rest of the team headed towards a training facility and Twilight, Scootaloo and Lucy were being flown over to New Alexandria Medical Center.
Somewhere along the ride, Lucy had introduced Scootaloo to the games on her tablet and they were apparently something that they could do together. Twilight had also been given a tablet but hers had Dr. Catalina's proposed medical procedure on it, having read through it for the third time she had found that the doctor had been extremely thorough. Everything had been accounted for from what type of drugs could be used to adapted surgical procedures for Scootaloo's equine build.

After a short flight, the pelican landed on the roof of the facility where they were greeted by a new squad of marines and doctor Catalina herself, "Hello Twilight!" she happily shouted over the roar of the pelicans engines, "Did you get my notes?"

"Sure did, You've been very thorough!" Twilight replied as they walked into the building away from the roaring pelican with Scootaloo and Lucy hot on her tail, "Do we know when we can perform the surgery?"

"Depends on when Scoots last ate, we need her to have at least six hours without food and two without liquid to safely operate." Catalina explained, "Remember when you last ate something Scootaloo?" 

"About one and a half hours ago" She replied, "So you can operate in four and a half hours?"

"More like five hours to be sure, that'll also give me and the other doctors some time to prepare." Catalina replied, "Just take some time to relax, I'm going to see the team of doctors and brief them so I'll be back half an hour before the surgery." She added before leaving the group to visit the surgery team.

"So, Scoots you nervous?" Lucy asked the filly that had taken a seat on one of the couches in the room.

"What, of course not, they're going to fix my wings! What in Equestria should I be worried about?" She practically squeaked not nervous for the operation at all.

"Just remember that it'll take some time before your magic and wings develop enough to actually fly." Twilight said after picking up a book and using her hooves to flip the pages.

"How are you doing that! I've seen you pick up stuff in ways that shouldn't be possible but flipping pages with hooves is just flat out impossible!" Lucy shouted while trying to figure out how Twilight was flipping the pages of the book.

Twilight chuckled a bit before explaining how she could flip the pages, "Ponies have small telekinetic fields in their hooves to allow them to easily pick up items or manipulate objects like the pages of the book... or pulling the trigger of a gun." The image of the dead elite flashing in Twilights mind.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense in this situation. Anyway, I should probably warn you that Tyler has been thinking up silly catchphrases and unit nicknames so don't be weirded out if he suddenly shouts 'The Cavalry has arrived' when we reach the training fields."

"So we should think up our own nickname then?" Scootaloo asked but immediately getting an idea, "How about we call ourselves the Shadowbolts?"

Letting out a small laugh Twilight replied, "That would be funny if the others agree to it."

"Uhm? First, what are the Shadowbolts and second why would that be funny?" Lucy having no idea what the two ponies were referencing.

"The Shadowbolts were the special forces Luna used in the lunar rebellion, they were the most effective unit Equestria has ever seen. If you became a target of one of their ops you could be sure you were done for, their motto used to be 'Timent ac Tebernas' or fear the darkness as they mainly operated at night and were masters of stealth." Twilight taking a deep breath, "As for why it's funny to me, the Shadowbolts were a unit that fought against my teacher so me being involved in a unit that bears the same name as them is something I find amusing."

"Wow that actually sounds pretty awesome, we should propose that to the rest of the team they'd probably be on board with it." Lucy replied with a smile, " 'Fear the darkness' definitely beats 'the cavalry is here.' Anyway, Scoots want to play a rematch to kill some time before the operation?"

"Oh, you're going down." Scootaloo replied as she hopped on the couch and the two started playing some game together, Twilight, on the other hoof, had found a physics book and was reading up on everything she could in an attempt to gain the knowledge required to find their way back to Equis. The next four and a half hours passed relatively quickly as Scoots and Lucy were playing games and Twilight was studying, twenty minutes before the five-hour mark the Doctor came walking back into the room.

"Are you ready Scootaloo? The other doctors want to meet you first before the operation so we're going to get you prepped a bit sooner than planned."

"Yup! I guess this is it then. See you on the other side after they fixed my wings!" She said to Twilight and Lucy as she walked over to Catalina.

"How long will the procedure take, Cat?" Twilight asked the doctor who was on the verge of leaving with Scootaloo.

"About two-hours if everything goes smoothly, but don't be surprised if it'll take longer." Cat answering Twilight's question as best she can.

"Alright, see you when you wake Scoots. Good luck!" 
At that, the doctor and the filly walked out of the room towards surgery leaving Lucy and Twilight alone again.

The following two hours seemed to drag on forever as Twilight was nervous about how Scootaloo was doing, She and Lucy had some conversations about pony society and their friends. At the two and a half hour mark, Catalina came walking back into the room with a smile on her face, "The operation was a success! Scootaloo should wake up in about half an hour. If you two follow me then I'll take you to the room she's currently in."

The group of three walking over to the room were Scoots was sleeping, "She looks so cute sleeping like that!" Lucy squealed.

"Don't tell her you said that." Twilight replied with a chuckle, "She'd be so embarrassed."

Lucy also chuckling at Twilight's remark, "What? It's true! I can still say that now because she'll be a lot less cute after she's been through training."

Twilight looking over at the filly lying in bed, "One of the many things I'm afraid of Lucy"
Silently hoping that both of them would be ready for the trails ahead.
> Chapter 6: Helljumpers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Slow rhythmic beeping was what Scootaloo heard as she woke up, slowly opening her eyes she found Lucy and Twilight sleeping next to each other. As she tried sitting up she found that there were bandages holding her wings locked to her sides.

"Twilight?"

Moments later Twilight could be seen stirring and opening her eyes before noticing that the little filly had woken up, "Hey Scoots, how are you feeling?"

"A little sore, but nothing I've never felt before."  She answered, "How did the operation go? Did they fix my wings?"

"The operation was a success but you'll have to avoid using them for a while to let them heal and develop properly." Twilight said as Lucy began to stir and wake up.

"Hey squirt, how are the wings?" Lucy asked as she saw Scootaloo had woken up.

"Apparently better than ever! But anyway, when are we going to meet up with the rest of the squad?"

"The doctors want to keep you for two more days to see if any complications arise. After that, we'll be flown over to a training facility" Twilight answered, "until then you should get as much rest as possible, but you must be hungry so we got you some food beforehoof." Levitating a tray of food over to Scootaloo.

The following two days no complications were detected prompting the release of Scootaloo. The three companions were picked up later in the day by Zoey with her pelican to be flown over to the training site.

"You three aren't going to believe what the guys at ONI send over to the training facility" Zoey said as the group entered the pelican.

"I have no idea, but you look like you're going to tell us." Lucy told the hyped up pilot, sitting down and strapping into a seat along with the ponies.

"Yup, I am. By the way, Scoots, want to sit up front with me? just don't touch any of the controls." At which the filly jumped off the chair she had sat down into and sprinted over into the cockpit, being careful not to hit any buttons, and strapped into the co-pilot seat.

"But back to the surprise naval intelligence dropped on us. They didn't necessarily tell us but when we arrived we saw a tall muscular woman, like a head taller than Mack kind of tall, and instead of a name tag she had a service number on her uniform! S-062."

"Holy shit! You mean that they sent a Spartan over to evaluate those two?!"

"Uhm what's a Spartan?" Twilight sheepishly asked before the two of them could go off on a rant.

"Massive supersoldiers, not that much is known about them other than wherever they show up the covenant is going to have a really bad day." Lucy explained, "And they are rare, really rare."

"So me and Scootaloo are going to get training from one of your most elite soldiers?" Twilight asked amazed that the humans would send what was apparently one of the most elite soldiers they had to offer to train them instead of fighting in the war.

"About that." Zoey chimed in from the cockpit, "Brass decided it was a good idea to run every single one of us through boot alongside our two friends here." She told Lucy with a sheepish smile.

"So we're going through that shitshow again only this time our drill sergeant is a Spartan?" Lucy asked now really unamused, "Just the relaxation we needed."

The rest of the flight was filled with discussions about the Spartans and some information about the training, Scootaloo and Zoey went over multiple procedures on how to fly the pelican, like landing and takeoff. Scootaloo also found that the basic flight principles of the pelican didn't really differ from pegasi flight much when Zoey allowed her to make a few turns with the pelican. 

The group arrived at the training site late in the evening as the site was placed in the middle of nowhere as far out of sight of anyone or anything as possible. After meeting back up with the rest of the squad the group headed over to the barracks to get some sleep as they were informed that the next day would be the start of training.







"WAKE UP SUNSHINE!"
A man shouted into Twilight's ear at the same time the rest of the squad got the same treatment.

"Aaaah!" Twilight shouted as she was rudely awakened.

"NO TIME FOR SCREAMING PRINCESS, GET DRESSED AND OUTSIDE ON THE DOUBLE!" Seeing that the ODST's were already rapidly dressing themselves and Scootaloo never undressed from her jumpsuit so she was already groggily running outside.

Rapidly getting in her jumpsuit herself and running outside after the rest of the team and lined up in the courtyard. In front of them was the supposed spartan and a few other people, "Good morning alpha-three. I'm Petty Officer Second Class Maria-062, for the next five weeks you'll be mine to train and mold into the best I can make you. Our warm-up will be a ten-mile hike, Move out recruits!"

Over the rest of the day, the group would be pulled through multiple exercises of stamina and strength. Somewhere in the middle of the day the group got split in two and were made to compete against each other in an assault course, the first group comprised of Mack, Woods, Zoey, and Scootaloo. Leaving the second group to be made up of Lucy, Tyler, and Twilight. Unlike the course that Tyler had created this one had sections where ponies and humans split up to get through different obstacles. In the end, Mack's team finished first as Twilight was a lot slower on the obstacle course than Scootaloo.

At the end of the day, the group was split up again as the ODST's were all called over to speak with a few officers, Scootaloo was retrieved by some medical officers to perform some checkups, and Twilight was taken to a field by the Petty officer and a few other trainers to perform a demonstration of magic.

"Trainee Sparkle, my reports say you're able to perform several feats of telekinesis and you have apparently claimed to be capable of more feats of magic. Is that correct trainee?" The Spartan asked,

"Yes, Ma'am." Twilight replied although uncertainty seeped into her voice as she really felt intimidated by the massive human in front of her.

"Good, in front of you you'll find several weights and targets. Please use your telekinetic wave ability so we can get a benchmark for your magical abilities."

Twilight nodded and turned to the field letting her horn charge, although something was wrong. She felt a nagging feeling in her horn as she charged but ignored it and released the wave, slamming into a target making it fly back about ten meters.

Recharging her horn and repeating the move two more times before stopping due to magic fatigue.

"Problems trainee?"

"Permission to perform a magic field scan Ma'am, my mana pool isn't passively recharging." Twilight asked.

"Granted"

Twilight relit her horn to scan the surrounding area, 'Nothing. That can't be right, can it?'. Relighting her horn to reperform the scan, ''This is bad." she stated after she got the same results as the first scan.

"I can't read minds Trainee, what's wrong." The Spartan said.

"The magic field here is weak, really weak. In slipspace it fluctuated but it was strong enough to sustain pretty advanced spells if necessary, here? levitation and light spells tops, any advanced spells will have to use my personal magic reserves."

"We'll postpone these tests for the moment, but I want a list of viable spells by the end of the week. Is that clear trainee?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Twilight replied

"Good, head over to the mess hall to get some food before evening class starts."

Twilight quickly trotting towards the mess hall so she wouldn't miss dinner.








"Eight days of running and various other exercises, even Rainbow didn't pull me through a hell like this. I probably should have started recording a few days ago when they gave me this tablet but I was to tired out to do anything after a day of training."

"I'll give a summary of the past few days, last Sunday the training began. The first day was mostly made up of exercises which every day since have only persisted. On Monday though we also started taking classes on various topics like tactics, identifying enemy types and other skills we're going to need in the field. At dinner Lucy and Twilight also proposed dubbing ourselves the Shadowbolts, Tyler acted like he disapproved but when we gave him a rough sketch of the Shadowbolt logo he started drawing something on his tablet. The next day we found out what he drew, I'll attach the picture to this log if I figure out how to. otherwise, you'll just have to get it from my tablet which Mack assures me won't be the hardest thing to do." 

 

"The insignia is a match between the ODST logo as the skull and the wings taken from the Shadowbolt insignia, Mack told us he would try to get it official but he also told us to not get our hopes up to high since that could easily be denied."

"For the rest of the week, we got constantly chewed out by the Spartan and other instructors if we did anything wrong or didn't put enough effort into an exercise. My team did beat Twilight's constantly on the obstacle course although it's getting much closer than the first try on day one as Twilight is rapidly improving due to her earthpony magic apparently"

"Anyway, I hope the others at home are well. Tavi and Vinyl must be worried sick and I know Dash is for sure due to the dragon mail. Punishment for breaking curfew by a few weeks are going to be a bitch when I get back and yes I just cussed, no-one here to stop me now is there."

"I better get some sleep, tomorrow we'll apparently be training with real weapons for the first time. Who knows, I might even get my cutie mark in this at this rate. Cutie Mark Crusader ODST, wouldn't that be a shock for the ponies at home."








"The ponies had their first lesson using live firearms, yesterday the entire day was dedicated to maintenance and proper handling of firearms. Call us surprised when Scootaloo just stood up on her hind legs to pick up one of the rifles, apparently learning to stand on your hind legs is something pegasi do to properly learn how to balance themselves. That said she is apparently very good at it because Twilight only managed to do it for periods up to ten minutes before having to fall back on all four legs but that wasn't too big of a problem since she can also use telekinesis to hold rifles"

"In the end, it was decided Scootaloo should get an SMG since to other rifles were too bulky to effectively carry around for her, Twilight got a DMR stating that it was better to be precise than to spray with an assault rifle. In the end, they'll have to learn to fire any of the rifles anyway but the ones they've chosen now are the ones they'll specialize in using."

"They also got to choose what they wanted to specialize in, CQB, Medical, Demolition, etc. Twilight wanted to become a medic, she liked the idea of keeping everyone alive and hoped that she would pick up some things that could help her in the future. Scootaloo was actually much more interesting, she wanted to become a pilot which we kind of expected with the way she acted around anything flying but since we already have a pilot and flying isn't something you can learn quickly it was decided that she's going to do a hybrid course between CQB and flying. The CQB will have priority but all her spare time will be devoted to learning to fly pelicans. It won't make her a full-blown pilot but she'll be able to fly one if necessary."





Nothing was moving on the motion detector, Twilight didn't like it. About an hour ago a the starting signal for the match of capture the flag had been given and the fact that they hadn't encountered Scootaloo's squad yet was unnerving her as
they had expected for Scoots, Zoey, Lucy, and Tyler to attack as quickly as possible. With that in mind, Mack had opted to play defensively and the fact that they had a man less than the other team also played into that decision. But now after waiting for almost an hour Twilight's initial adrenaline was fading and she was starting to lose focus.

'I wonder if with the weakened Thaumic background a portal spell will still be a viable way to get back home.'

Twilight lit her horn briefly to get a reading on the magic field, being careful to not waste her personal reserve. With Twilight momentarily distracted a small camouflaged being moved unseen from one bush to another and kept creeping forward towards the distracted mare.

'Compensating for dilation the-.' Twilights thought process was cut off by a vicious shock to the neck moments after her entire world went black.




Scootaloo was grinning, the last hour had been extremely boring but the payoff was completely worth it. Twilight had eventually lost focus allowing for her to sneak up on her and take her out with a taser in knife form. Tapping the button on her radio twice she signaled the others that Twilight had been eliminated, immediately after tapping the radio she received on tap back from the other members of the squad. Scootaloo had been tasked to move as stealthily as possible to the location of the enemy flag, propping herself up against a ridge she scanned the surrounding area for either Woods or Mack.

PHAT PHAT PHAT

A burst of rounds hit the stone in front of Scoots forcing her back into cover as rounds flew over the position where her head had been a few moments ago, quickly pushing the send button on her radio to relay a message to the others.

"Dagger to Sword, I've been made!" She shouted into her mic, slightly panicking. 

"Copy that dagger, sit tight sword's coming." Lucy's voice coming from the radio immediately after which machinegun fire could be heard to her right as they presumably engaged either Mack or Woods.

But sword wouldn't be able to solve any of her immediate issues, pulling a smoke grenade from an attachment point on her tactical vest and lobbed it over the ridge. After a few seconds of letting the smoke saturate the air, she made a beeline to a large boulder to her right. Detaching her MA37 assault rifle and peaking around the rock to see if she could spot the person who had tried to shoot her, 

PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT

Again the rounds impacted the rock instead of her head but this time she had spotted the muzzle flashes from the rifle,
'Darn, I'm in motion tracker range.' Scootaloo thought as she pondered on how she was going to get out of this situation, at that moment she looked at her own motion sensor and saw that a red dot was moving quickly to her right trying to flank her. With her rifle ready she looked around the rock and could clearly see Woods running to a new position,

PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT

Scootaloo struggled to keep the recoil from the rifle under control as she held the trigger down and pointed the rifle at Woods, all but three of the rounds missed.

But three rounds were more than enough.

The first grazed Woods leg causing him to stumble after which the second and third shit hit him straight in the chest knocking him out cold. Scootaloo now looking at the unconscious body of Woods got a deeply uncomfortable feeling, 'I took out Twilight and Woods without a second thought, is that what I am now? a merciless killer if I need it?' Shaking off the feeling Scootaloo turned to the task at hoof, the flag planted thirty meters away from her position. She could still hear gunfire from the firefight the others were having with Mack, knowing that he wouldn't be able to stop her she made her way over to the flag being careful to not step on any booby traps,

"Dagger to sword, Woods eliminated and objective recovered. Heading back to base." She reported as she started running back to base with the flag.

"Roger that Dagger, we'll meet up back at base."

A few minutes of running later Scootaloo arrived back at the site of their flag and she dropped the captured flag at the base of their own, immediately after which a voice could be heard,

"Red team has captured blue team's flag, match over, please return to the armory."

A few minutes later Scootaloo met up with Tyler, Lucy, and Zoey. Zoey being supported by Tyler as she appeared to have two red dots on her leg from where rounds had hit. 
"You did a damn good job back there Squirt." Zoey said, but she could see that there was something bothering the filly.

"What's wrong Scoots?"

Scootaloo having her questions about herself back in the forefront of her mind, "It's just that when I eliminated Twilight I just sliced the knife over Twilight's neck, no second thoughts nothing. Same with Woods, I'm scared that I might become some mercy less killer."

Lucy stopped walking and kneeled down to Scootaloo's level, "Scoots the fact that your regretting shooting your friends, even though it only was a training match, shows that your not a monster." Lucy giving Scootaloo a friendly nudge, "Let's go see the others, or at least when they wake up after the beating you gave them." she added with a grin.





Two days, it had been two days since she had been tased by Scootaloo and she still had trouble with some spells. In the end, it had been her own fault she had let her guard down for just a small moment which allowed Scootaloo to sneak over and take her out. A mistake she wouldn't repeat again.

But with her magic returning again she had managed to recast the detection spell and ran the calculations, she didn't like the results. Even if the humans had had all the necessary magical ingredients to create the chalk for the magic circles the ambient background magic still wouldn't be able to sustain a portal of the supposed power needed to transport them back to the nearest star, let alone Equestria. Performing the ritual in slipspace where the magic field was much stronger was also out of the question since they had figured out that teleportation essentially was a magic-powered short range slipspace transition, so teleporting in slipspace would drop you out into real-space which would be a quick way to die since that would most likely be in a vacuum somewhere in interstellar space.

With magic not an option Twilight had turned to physics, a subject Equestria had only a limited amount of knowledge since they mostly relied on magic. After getting a good grasp on the basics she had gotten into astrophysics to get an understanding of the movement of heavenly bodies, She didn't like what she found.

you see, even with the smallest stars the habitable zones are a few light-minutes away from the star itself. Meaning that in the hypothetical situation that a being could move a star, the effects wouldn't be seen on the planet until the light from the star had finally reached the planet and that's not even accounting for the gravitational sling the planet would get from moving a star like that. 

In short, there was no way in Tartarus Princess Celestia was moving the star in Equis's system. 

After panicking for about an hour Twilight had run the magical calculations and come up with the same answer, Impossible. Although she had found a workaround, if Celestia used the sun as an anchor to accelerate the rotation of Equis then the magic required would be within passable margins. Figuring all this out was good and all but this discovery meant that there was nothing really special about Equis's system and other than the habitable planet. Which meant there was nothing easily detectable about the system at all, She was back to square zero.

At this point, Twilight decided that it was getting too late and she couldn't afford to have to little sleep. Tomorrow was another match of capture the flag and this time she wouldn't repeat the stupid mistake from last time, she even cooked up a low powered shield spell that could take a couple of hits before dissipating. This time it would be Scootaloo's turn to lose she thought to herself as she dozed off.








The group before her had assembled in the courtyard of the base in front of the Spartan. 

Five weeks of rigorous training behind them, they all had picked up new skills they never thought they would learn.
Twilight with her pathological need for knowledge had read up on every bit of information on healing she could get her hooves on. Her shooting abilities also were also something to be envious of, she was able to hit targets at quite long ranges considering her primary weapon was a DMR. 

Scootaloo on the other hoof had become extremely proficient at close quarter combat, as it turns out that pegasi have better reflexes than regular humans which Twilight speculated was due to pegasi having to make split-second decisions when flying. She even had a few sparring sessions with the Spartan because in the end the ODST's couldn't keep up with her and even though she got beaten every time, the petty officer had still conceded that she held her ground longer than most other soldiers. Other than the SMG which Scoots had also learned to use to great effect in practice matches where she seemingly always managed to eliminate Twilight. Her wings had since the operation grown out a bit but only granted minor improvements in flight capability, still the minor improvement allowed her to jump large gaps and perform powerslides.

"All of you have made extraordinary improvements in your respective fields of expertise and it has been my pleasure to help prepare you for the future trails to come." The Spartan stopped for a moment looking over at the ponies, "Trainee Sparkle, Trainee Hurricane, Step forward"

The two ponies stepped forward as instructed so they were standing in front of the Spartan.

"As of yesterday, high command has approved your request to join the UNSC Marine Corps." The spartan stated and motioned for two of the trainers to come over both of whom were carrying a large package, "Because standard equipment wouldn't fit your unique bodies a custom uniform and armor suit have been made." At that moment the trainers handed over the two boxes.

"Wear those with pride Helljumpers, you've earned them. You'll have to get used to the extra weight from the armor so you'll have to train with it on for the next few weeks. I'll be traveling back to Earth in six hours so that training will be left to the other instructors here." 

"You're all dismissed for the day." Spartan 062 said before turning around and leaving the courtyard.








Eight days had passed since the Spartan had left, the two ponies had been getting used to the extra weight the suits added to their bodies but both ponies found it manageable, also the extra features like VISR and a visual IFF system helped a lot in combat drills. The ponies were waiting to practice for a simulated insertion with drop pods as alarms started blaring.

"All military personnel report to your superior officer for deployment, WINTER CONTINGENCY has been declared. This is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill." The message repeating itself.

Six weeks ago neither Scootaloo or Twilight would have known what WINTER CONTINGENCY meant but after memorizing as many protocols and signals as possible they knew all too well what this meant.

The Covenant had found Reach.
> Chapter 7: Preparations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Exhaustion.

It was something Rainbow Dash had become all too familiar with over the last two months, her job as head of Ponyville's weather patrol and her entry into the Wonderbolt flight academy would have been tiresome for any pegasus. But next to those two things Rainbow also managed to find time to look for her missing sister and friend, she had already scowered the massive area surrounding ponyville and Canterlot and by now she had expanded her search area to the Manehattan coastline.

But even she had need for some rest so after hours of searching she finally headed home. Arriving at her cloud home in ponyville she landed right at the front door and stumbled inside onto a couch.

"Rainbow darling, is that you? A voice with a distinct Canterlot accent came out of the kitchen.

"Yeah, it's me Rarity." Rainbow called back, begrudgingly getting off the couch and walking into the kitchen where she found Rarity sitting at her dinner table wearing a necklace enchanted with the cloudwalking Twilight had made. With the necklace getting into the house would have been easy since Dash had lowered her house and build a staircase for Scoots.

She had been so excited about it.

"I hope you don't mind but I took the liberty to clean your kitchen while I waited for you." Rarity motioned to the rest of her kitchen that now was in a pristine condition, Rainbow hadn't cleaned it in a long time.

"Thanks for that, but that's not why you're here is it." Rainbow said slightly annoyed due to her tiredness as she took a seat across the table from Rarity.

"No, it's not. I'm here for you, I and the others have been getting more and more concerned about your searches. We're afraid that you're burning yourself out completely, you can't even take care of yourself properly anymore! Just look at the state of yourself or the state I found your kitchen in!" Rarity was right, Rainbow looked like a flying disaster. Her mane was completely disheveled, bags adorned her eyes, and her coat had patches of mud stuck in it.

"I'm fine! I'm just really busy!" Rainbow not liking how Rarity had insinuated that she couldn't take care of herself.

"No, you're not! And I'm not the only one who sees it. The Princess also have concerns about you!" Rarity countered.

"So trying to find my friend and sister shouldn't take priority over anything else I do?! Do you even care?!"

"Rainbow Dash! Don't you dare say that I or anyone else for that matter doesn't care!"  Rarity shouted very unladylike, "Tell me do you know when pinkies last party was?"

"I -"

"No, you don't because you haven't been to Ponyville in Celestia knows how long! Pinkie hasn't thrown a party since Twilight and Scootaloo disappeared!" 

"That's not even all, Fluttershy has just about locked herself up in her cottage. She only comes out to feed her animals, I haven't had a spa day with her in weeks! Then there's Applejack, if you thought she was a workaholic before than you haven't seen her now. O and the Crusaders have stopped crusading without Scootaloo. Moving on, then we have Spike! he has been blaming himself for what happened at the library all this time! He hasn't been himself in a long time, he doesn't even have an appetite for gems!" Rarity ranted on and on.

"And then there's YOU! You've been trying your hardest to commit suicide by exhaustion doing something the guard could do ten times more efficient than you EVER can!"  Rarity stopped to let her rant sink into Rainbow.

"I.." Rainbow didn't know what to say, she had let her friends down when they most needed her. What a brilliant element of loyalty she was.

"Rainbow, Princess Luna made a proposal you should take a look at." Rarity pulled a document with the royal seal stamped on it and gave it to Rainbow Dash, "Princess Celestia told me that Spitfire had been complaining about your performance in the academy, but she knows she can't just kick out the fastest flier in Equestria, first mare to produce a sonic rainboom, and element of loyalty. The political backlash would be enormous."

Rainbow put down the document back on the table and looked Rarity straight into the eyes, "So you and the Princess want me to join the Night Guard?" Her voice sounded bitter, "Give up my dream of becoming a Wonderbolt?"

"Read the second document Darling." Rarity said as she levitated the second paper on top, "Princess Luna said you were something called a 'lucid dreamer' it means that you have complete control over your dreams, your ability to fall asleep almost anywhere on command is apparently also part of it." 

"Wait you can't do that?"

"O no, it's apparently a very rare ability and the first step to dreamwalking, which is part of the second proposal. By joining the Night Guard the Princess will teach you how to walk the dreamscape with her so you can search for Twilight and Scootaloo in a place no guard can look, and when you're awake you can be here in ponyville with us since Luna wanted a few night guards alongside day guards to be stationed in ponyville anyway. It would also do wonders for the morale of the others if they have."

"But that still means I have to give up the Bolts Rarity."

"No you won't, Princess Luna assured me that she would release you from your vows if either Spitfire deems you capable for the Bolts or Twilight gets found and you want to quit and if Spitfire deems you capable you'll be transferred to the bolts from the lunar guard with whatever rank you have achieved there." Rarity explained, Rainbow now seriously contemplating if she should take the deal, her searches weren't getting any results and with the night guard, she would get experience valuable for the Bolts.

"What about the weather patrol in ponyville? Who would take over the captains position?"

"Thunderlane has already expressed interest in the position, so if you left he would probably get it." Rarity answered, having already visited mayor Mare to see if Rainbow leaving the weather team would be an issue.

"You don't have to decide immediately, when you've made your decision just come over to the boutique so you can send a message via Spike." Rarity said as she walked to the front door, "you should get some sleep and a shower, you really do look terrible dear."

With that Rarity left the house leaving Rainbow with the documents and a decision to make.




"So we're going to do nothing?!" Twilight almost shouted into Mack's face, after the alarms went off the two ponies had made a beeline back to the barracks to meet back up with the rest of the ODST's.

"The only thing we know is that there's Covenant activity somewhere on the planet, we can't counter an enemy if we don't know what kind of numbers they have or for that matter where they are in the first place. Recon will do it's thing Twilight and after they've finished you can be sure they're going to send us in to kick the bastards off the planet."

To Twilight's annoyance, his argument made sense, "Then what are we going to do?"

"We're heading to Fort York to meet up with a part of the 65th shock troop division." Mack answered, "Departure is in an hour, so have everything packed and ready before then."

"Mack, the little stuff we own is already packed into the saddlebags " Scootaloo stated, "We're good to go at the drop of a hat." 

"Then make sure you don't miss the ride Scoots, I wouldn't want to leave my copilot behind" Zoey responded.

With all exercises dropped the group packed all items they needed and at 1700 hours the loaded pelican took off towards Fort York. 

Scootaloo and Lucy were going over some in-flight procedures while Twilight was writing up some reports for the council.

"15 minutes 'till arrival!" Zoey called out from the cockpit.

"We're going to get a lot of weird looks, aren't we?" Twilight grumbled, not really in the mood to get stared at.

"Cut them some slack Twilight, those guys have never seen aliens that don't want to kill them so it's not like they don't have any reason to be suspicious of you two." Tyler replied to Twilight

After a few more minutes of silence, Zoey started talking to tower control of Fort York and a few minutes after that the pelican touched down at a designated landing zone and shut the engines down before opening the ramp on the back of the craft. at the foot of the ramp, an Officer with a small squad of marines was waiting for the group.

"Sergeant Cross, I've got orders here from HIGHCOM to house two non-hostile aliens on my base I would like to know if they will cause problems here." The officer told Mack.

"Sir, they won't give you any trouble. I'll make sure of that."

"Good, now I want to meet the aliens that have been throwing High command into disarray."

Mack nodded, "Private Sparkle, Hurricane. Get down here!" he shouted into the pelican where the rest of the squad had remained after seeing the officer. The two ponies came trotting down the ramp towards the officer, the marines accompanying him all tensing up.

"Sir!" both ponies snapping a salute and standing at attention.

"At ease ladies, I just wanted to see the first aliens that don't want to kill us. Naval intelligence didn't give us a lot of information on you two so I wanted to see you in person." He told the two ponies, "Anyway, the Marines here will escort you to your designated barracks. Tomorrow there'll be a large-scale exercise to keep everyone on their toes. Meanwhile please try to avoid conflicts on the base not everyone might be as civil with you two due to our current predicament." After which he nodded to one of the Marines and walked off.

''Sergeant would you and your squad please follow us." The particular Marine seemingly happy to see that they weren't alone against to covenant but a few of the others were visibly displeased that they were going to have to play nice with the aliens present.

Although it was getting late in the evening there were still a lot of soldiers walking around and working, only a few spotted Twilight and Scootaloo. Most reactions were just a confused stare but a few looked as if they were disgusted by the ponies.

Arriving at the barracks the group quickly unpacked everything they had with them,

"So what are we going to do now?" Twilight asked 

"We could hit the E-bar." Tyler suggested, "haven't had a good drink ever since we picked you guys up."

"Remember the part where we got told to not look for trouble." Twilight replied, "And I don't really drink anyway."

"Wait, what! You don't drink?! That's going to change tonight" Tyler shouted.

"I agree with Tyler." Lucy also chiming in, "have to have been at least shitfaced drunk once."

"Ugh, Fine. But I'm not going to drink anything." Twilight relented, already thinking up all the possible ways this could go wrong.


"A-and thas when ah weeent back in time to warn myself notoo waste my time only to set off the events that caused me to waste time!" Twilight speech slightly slurred by the alcohol in her blood. The evening had started off as she had planned, keeping away from any alcoholic beverages but with good old peer pressure she had relented and gotten a beer, and then another one, and another one. Up to the point that there was now a small collection of bottles on the table, at some point during the third bottle the group had started to telling stories to each other about various topics which attracted a few other soldiers in the bar that were interested in hearing about an aliens life. 

Scootaloo, unlike Twilight, had been able to stay away from the alcohol had mostly been listening from the sidelines only sharing a story about when the Crusaders had built a very functional catapult which in turn had led to an interesting discussion about cutie marks and their importance in pony culture.

"So the butt-mark is actually a representation of what your good at? I just assumed it was some sort of dye job like humans sometimes have tattoos." Tyler said, surprised at the significance of the cutie marks. "So you're still looking for your mark then Scoots?"

"Yeah, most of the other fillies already have their cutie mark but me and my friends still don't have them. That's why we started the CMC's, to find out what our cutie marks are by doing stuff together." Scootaloo responded, slightly annoyed at the fact that she still didn't have her cutie mark.

"So you could get your cutie mark while you're here?" Lucy asked, "Like in fighting or something?"

"That could happen, although it would be a shock to everyone at home." Scootaloo chuckled to herself, "I don't even know how a cutie mark in killing aliens would look like."

"THE NIGHT SHALL LAST FOREVER!" Twilight suddenly shouted in her best Luna impression as she was clutching a half-empty bottle of vodka she had somehow managed to get a hold of.

"Someone take that away from her before she knocks herself out." Mack said after which Lucy snatched the bottle from Twilight's grasp.

"GIVE ME BACK MY LIQUOR, WELP!" She shouted as she tried to get up only to flop onto the floor.

"I think that's her cue to leave for the night." Mack decided and picked up Twilight, "I'll see you guys back at the barracks."

Tyler, Lucy, and Woods left shortly after Mack to get some sleep before the exercise in the morning leaving only Scootaloo and Zoey in the bar.

"You should also get some sleep Scoots, unlike you I'm not part of the exercise tomorrow." Zoey advised.

"I'll go in just a bit." Scootaloo replied, taking a sip from her soft drink.

With the squad down to two, a group of marines that had been glaring at the ponies from the moment they had entered the bar got up and walked over to the table where Scoots and Zoey where sitting.

"You don't belong here chicken." The leader of the group said to Scootaloo, who instantly turned to the marine. 'Did that bastard just call me a chicken?!' Scootaloo's temper flaring and feeling her anger rising.

"Don't you jerks have anything better to do then bother us?" Zoey told the lead marine while glaring at him.

"Anything better than kicking an alien chicken out of our bar? Nah." One of the other marines said.

With each time Scootaloo was being called a chicken she only became angrier with the marines standing in front of her and as her anger rose, starting to border hatred, her wings were starting to tingling as if something was running through them.

Unseen to either group the barkeeper was calling base security hoping they could break this up before any punches would be thrown.

Scootaloo jumped up onto the table to get to eye-height with the marine, "Go buck yourself. Ponies never did anything wrong to humanity, we're even helping against the Covenant."

"I don't care, all aliens should just fuck off from humanity's worlds chicken." the leader responded.

Scootaloo spread her wings instinctually to look more intimidating but when she did so she felt the tingling sensation leave her wings causing lightning to arc down towards the table, 'Holy horseapples, am I casting this?' she thought before refocussing on the marine.

"CALL ME CHICKEN ONE MORE TIME, DISCORD DAMNED PIECE OF SHIT!"

The group of marines, except for the leader, taking a few involuntary steps back as they saw the enraged pegasus standing on the table surrounded by the light show of lightning, they weren't the only ones. The entire bar was now on high alert as everyone was looking at the small filly in awe.

"I call bluff, chicken." he said teasing her to her face.

Wrong move.

Scootaloo experimented with her wings to see if she could redirect the lightning. 

Eeyup.

pointed her wings forward in a powerful flap and in doing so she felt the energy moving from the core of her body to her wings and out from there.

CRACK

A bolt of blue lightning flying from her wings impacting the marine dead center in his chest, at the same time Scootaloo could feel the energy rapidly leaving her body until none was left suddenly making her feel really dizzy.

The moment the thunderclap had happened a group of MP's had run into the bar thinking someone had fired off a gun only to find a pony with smoking wings, a knocked out marine and the smell of ozone. 
Scootaloo weakly looked over at the new arrivals before succumbing to fatigue and collapsing.




My wings still feel like they are on fire but despite that, I've come off pretty well last night. 

I and the other shadowbolts have been reprimanded but we've gotten off light due to video evidence that clearly showed the other group antagonizing me and Zoey.

After Twilight woke up this morning, without a hangover which surprised us until she explained that she had cast a spell on herself to remove excess alcohol from her blood while she slept. to the envy of Tyler.
We told what had happened at the bar last night, she was understandably upset and disappointed but when we told her that I created lightning Twilight went into an incoherent rant followed by a barrage of questions.

Apparently, I was experiencing magic exhaustion. Yeah, MAGIC exhaustion. In Equestria, it's nearly impossible for a pegasus to get magic exhaustion, but with the low magic here and the fact that I probably used something that would draw a lot of magic I have managed to get it.

It also means that I'm stuck in a hospital, again. The others are probably in the middle of the exercise by now, hope they win.

Anyway, they said I'll be out of the hospital by the end of the day so i'll just have to suck it up for the moment.

I'm recording this now because I don't think I'll have the opportunity later. Four days ago the base got virtually emptied when the UNSC started their counter-attack, our unit, to my and the others annoyance, was held back in reserve just in case we were needed elsewhere.

And as it appears we are, we just got reports from New Alexandria that there are Covenant forces assaulting the city.

There are still civilians there.

Sorry, got to go the others have already loaded the falcons. Sure as hay hope that this won't be my last recording.
> Chapter 8: The Raid of New Alexandria
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






"Listen up Squad!" Mack shouted through his helmet microphone over the roar of the Falcons engines, "A few hours ago the covenant forces started an assault on New Alexandria, evacuations have already been started but they need more time. We're headed to the northern part of the city to stall the Covenant's assault allowing the buildings behind us to be evacuated."

Mack put a few markers down on his VISR and highlighted a part of the city, "Our drop point will be at the red waypoint, as evacuations proceed we'll slowly pull back into the city towards Traxus tower, that's the extraction point. Everyone got that?"

A set of indicator lights in Mack's helmet, one for every member of the team signaling that everyone understood.

"Good, everyone get ready. We're almost there." 

The Falcons raced over the city towards their destination, explosions, and flashes from plasma fire could be heard and seen coming from the streets below. Lowering their altitude the craft came around a building, reaching the square where the group was going to be dropped off.

It was full of Covenant.

"OPEN FIRE!" Mack shouted as the 20mm cannons on the two Falcons opened up on the aliens in the square.

Combined fire from the turrents and autocannons quickly and efficiently cleared the square from any hostiles allowing the squad to disembark.

"Change of plans everyone, Savage, Woods, you're on overwatch. The rest of us are going to check for survivors in the buildings before falling back into the city." Mack ordered, Tyler and Woods staying outside and taking up positions covering any entrances to the square.

Twilight had gone into one of the buildings, Mack on her heels. holding her DMR in telekinesis as she swiftly checked room after room looking for survivors. The only thing they found were bodies, Human bodies. 

As Twilight got to the top floor she heard a sound from a room at the end of the hallway, slowly advancing with her rifle pointed at the open door. That was when she heard the sound of a charging plasma pistol in the room followed by a scream, Cursing herself for being too slow Twilight made a dash into the room finding a Jackal with a shield and the offending plasma pistol facing two humans that were lying on the ground.

PHAT PHAT  

Not giving the Jackal any chances to respond to her presence she shot the creature two times, one bullet in its torso and another in the head for good measure. Quickly she ran past the alien corpse to the two humans, no pulse, they both had taken the full plasma blast straight to the torso.

"Sparkle, Status?!" Mack shouted through the radio as he heard the shots from coming from the floor above.

"Green, found a jackal. The Bastard had just killed two civilians" Twilight replied venom dripping from her voice as she had just come a few seconds too late to save the humans.

"Damn, T-" The rest of Mack's sentence didn't register in Twilight's mind as she heard a noise coming from a closet behind the two dead humans, holding her DMR in telekinesis pointed at the closet.

Quickly yanking the door open and pointing the rifle at the potential threat, an ear defining scream came from the closet as Twilight saw she had a little girl in her crosshairs. As she continued to stare, the girl broke down sobbing thinking that the pony was going to kill her. Twilight, getting out of her little stupor, slowly approached the little girl only causing her to try to sink into the wall further and sob even harder.

Attaching the DMR to a clamp on her armour under her wing before removing her helmet, "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." She softly told the child, moving even closer to the point that she was next to her. 
The kid looked up at her, eyes red from the crying, and suddenly grabbed onto Twilight and started lightly sobbing again, "Mommy and d-daddy said I had to stay in the closet and be quiet." She sobbed. 

Twilight looked over at the parents, they had probably stepped in between the plasma bolt and the closet to save their daughter.

Mack came walking into the room looking around for a moment before spotting Twilight and the girl, "Twilight." He said gaining her attention, "We need to move, if the Covenant already made it this far in then we might be overrun if we stay any longer."

Twilight nodded before turning back to the girl, "Can you walk?"

"Yes" the girl weakly answered.  

Twilight picked up her helmet and put it on again and started guiding the girl out of the building, trying to keep herself between her and any bodies.

Outside they found that the others had already returned. "Found anything?" Mack asked them. 

Lucy nodded, "two squads of marines, they died defending a group of civilians that they were probably evacuating."

"Damn, okay we're going to go to fallback point alpha to see if we can find friendlies to extract her." Mack pointed to the little girl next to Twilight.

After a round of nods, the group got moving at a moderate speed to make sure their civilian charge could keep up. On a few occasions, the group had to hide in buildings as banshees and phantom dropships came flying overhead. Coming up to another square they could hear an exchange of gunfire and plasma fire, Mack taking a quick peek of the square to see what they were up against.

"Well fuck, they have a wraith." Mack said after getting back into cover having seen the floating tank with a large plasma cannon.

"Woods, get a good position and take out any snipers you see. Sparkle you're on marksman duty, kill anything that doesn't die when Woods hits it. The rest of us will push up and try to kill the wraith with grenades." Mack ordered everyone before turning to the little girl, "you stay put over there in that store, we'll come to get you when we're finished." The girl nodded and sprinted into the building she was pointed to, allowing the ODST's to start doing their job.

Woods now in a good position brought up his sniper rifle, aimed at a jackal sniper and fired. The shot alerting the other aliens of the ODST's presence causing a group to turn around to face the soldiers, a group of grunts charged the group spraying them with inaccurate fire. Scootaloo leaned from her cover firing off controlled burst from her SMG taking down two of the grunts before dropping back into cover, plasma flying past where her head was moments before.

Mack and Lucy also popped up from cover putting short bursts into the grunts, Lucy also managed to hit a shielded jackal with her assault rifle.

"The wraith is still firing on those marines!" Twilight shouted at Mack as another shot from Woods's sniper could be heard.

"The fucker is after the civilians!" Tyler shouted back while firing his SMG killing a jackal, "We need to lob a grenade into the thing to kill it, not enough firepower otherwise!"

By this point, the square had been cleaned enough for the marines to return fire between shots from the wraith at their position. Another shot from Woods's sniper could be heard and the shield of the Elite in the gunner seat of the wraith flared, Twilight immediately responded by putting two more rounds down range eliminating the gunner. But this drew the attention of the driver of the tank, the wraith turned around with alarming speed and fired a shot off at the cover where Tyler and Scootaloo were hiding.

"Scatter!" Mack shouted, everyone dashing in a direction away from the blast zone giving the wraith four separate moving targets instead of one stationary one. The remaining grunts and jackals seeing their chance to kill the ODST's started overcharging their plasma pistols, but with the lapse of fire from the wraith and infantry the marines previously held up on the building were now getting out of cover opening up on the remaining aliens mowing them down in seconds leaving only the wraith.

Scootaloo stopped behind a new set of cover hoping the wraith didn't see her stopping. Peaking over her cover she realized the mistake she had just made as she was now the only stationary target for the wraith to fire on, and it was taking it.

A bolt of plasma fire erupted from the artillery piece in the tank arching through the sky towards her, quickly starting to run again. A large wave of heat threw her off her feet as the ball of plasma impacted the street behind her, Scootaloo got back on her feet almost immediately as her armor protected her from any nasty bruises she would have gotten from a fall like that. Shaking off the little daze she had gotten she looked over at where the wraith was,

'Oh horseapples'

The hulk of armor was using its boost to charge at Scootaloo to finish her off. Remembering what Tyler had said She quickly pulled out a grenade and jumped back so the inertia the wraith had wouldn't flatten her. The speed that the tank hit her at still was enough to knock the wind completely out of her but she was able to activate the grenade and drop it into the driver's compartment via the gunner's seat. The movement of the tank immediately became erratic as the driving elite presumably tried to get the grenade out of the tank, seconds later an explosion could be heard from within the tank and plasma fire started erupting from the hull as the grenade took out the driver and important control systems. Scootaloo had already started running towards the marines as she expected the wraith to explode which it did seconds later hurling her towards the marines and hitting the wall of the building they were held up in.

"SCOOTS!" Lucy shouted as she made a quick sprint to Scootaloo, sliding to a halt next to her biofoam at the ready to see if she had any injuries.

Scootaloo having been thrown around by an explosion twice and hit by something the equivalent of a train only felt pain running through every bit of her body, felling her stomach turning she ripped off her helmet and threw up on the street before lying down on her back, "Give me a few minutes." she groaned. 

By this point Mack, Woods, Tyler, and Twilight with the little girl on her back had also reached the building where the Marines were held up.

"Is she good Lucy?" Mack asked, The medic just finishing her inspection for shrapnel or burn marks.

"Nothing external, she is probably the luckiest bastard in the entire galaxy." Lucy answered, "By the way Scoots that move with the grenade was awesome, just please for the love of god never do that ever again."

"Wasn't planning on it." Scootaloo said as she begrudgingly got back on her feet.

While the conversation was happening a few the marines had been staring at the pony that had just taken out the wraith, not believing that they had just been saved by a pony of all things.

"Who's the highest ranking officer here?" Mack asked one of the marines that was staring at Scootaloo.

"Oh, um, Corporal Murray!" he shouted to one of the marines that was getting the civilians prepared to move. The corporal looked over in Macks direction, seeing the sergeant stripes on Macks torso he quickly came over.

"Sir, whaddya need?" He asked Mack.

"For one I want to know where our front lines are, we dropped further North thinking that we were behind our own lines only to find there was Covenant scattered all over our LZ."

"You dropped further up north? Damn, we got hit hard there. Our lines are at least a block further back south if not more."

Mack nodded and activated his radio, "Starfire do you copy?"

Seconds later Zoey's voice could be heard coming from the radio, "Loud and Clear. Need a ride, Sarge?"

"Not me, we need an EXFIL for a group of civilians. Can you swing by with the pelican?"

"Copy that, I'll be there in fifteen." Lucy responded.

Mack put away the radio and turned back to the corporal, "Corporal! Get the square secure, we've got a pelican inbound!" He shouted.

Corporal Murray immediately got the marines securing the square, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the pelican. 

Fifteen minutes later the pelican landed in the middle of the square and loaded the civilians, the troop compartment a little overcrowded but nothing the pelican couldn't handle.

"I'll take them to the starport, they've been loading civilian transports for evac." Zoey told Mack, "I don't know for how long I'll be able to operate, the Covies have been setting up AA turrets on rooftops and banshee squadrons have begun appearing in force."

"Then you better get back up there before flying becomes impossible." Mack said.

"Will do." Zoey answered before spotting Scoots, "Hey squirt! you look like shit." She shouted

"Tends to happen when a Wraith tries to roadkill you!" Scootaloo shouted back.

"WHAT! I've got to hear that story when we have time!" Zoey shouted again as she got back into the pelican and blasting off.


"How are things going in the rest of the city?" Tyler asked Mack as he came back into the room of the apartment the ODST's had hunkered down in to get some rest.

"Shit, Groups of jiralhanae have been entering the city en masse but despite that, we've been able to stop further advances." Mack answered, giving the breakdown of his conversation with local command.

"So the overgrown gorillas have decided to show up, fucking fantastic. Anything else?"

"There's a small Covenant fleet in orbit if they send down ships this city will quickly turn into a deathtrap."

"Well, crap. Was there any good news in there?"

"The CSO supercarrier discovered a few days ago had an 'unfortunate' accident with a slipspace drive and will not be joining any attack any time soon." Mack said with a grin, "Or ever for that matter."

Tyler shared macks grin, "A batshit insane plan like that could only have been attempted by Spartans."

"Probably but they didn't give any specifics, anyway where are the others?" Mack asked not seeing any of the others with the exception of Woods who was posed by the window on overwatch.

"Scootaloo and Twilight are further in the apartment working on Scoots her flying, and Lucy was in the bathroom with a few of the things she got from a store she looted." Tyler answered

Mack nodded and walked to the back of the apartment where Scootaloo and Twilight were practicing.

"Why is this so much harder with bigger wings!" He could hear Scootaloo complaining from the hallway.

"because with bigger wings, you actually have to make a flapping motion, not furiously beat your wings." Twilight answered Scootaloo as Mack stepped into the bedroom the two ponies had requisitioned, all the furniture had been stacked in a corner of the room and pillows and matrasses covered the floor.

"Seriously, I can't even hover anymore Twilight." Scootaloo said as she fell on her haunches and spotted Mack, "Hi Sarge, any useful news?"

"For the moment it's relatively quiet but that could change, Brutes have been flowing into the city." Mack answered, "I suggest that you two get some rest before those bastards inevitably start causing trouble."

Twilight and Scoots nodded and started making a bed as Mack left the room looking for Lucy, finding her in the place where Tyler said she would be.

"Hey Mack, have Scoots and Twilight stopped practicing yet?" She asked as she noticed Mack coming into the room, "I've been meaning to do something ever since I looted that store."

"They just stopped practicing, What is it you want to do?" Mack asked curious of what Lucy had thought up.

"You know how Twilight and Scoots have their wings and tail poking out of their armor? They're massive giveaways when trying to sneak." Lucy said as she grabbed a brush and a bowl of a black substance, "So I thought it a good idea to pick up some black dye to stop them from standing out so much."

"That's actually a good Idea, I'll get them." Mack said as he walked back to the room where Scootaloo and Twilight had bunked in finding the two ponies trying to get comfortable while wearing their armor.

"Can you two come over to the bathroom form a moment before you get some sleep?"

Scootaloo groaned as she had just gotten in a comfortable position. "Fine." she said as she and Twilight walked to the bathroom with Mack.

"Ah, you're here. I've already told Mack what I want to do but you two also have to agree to it." Lucy said as she sat down lowering to the ponies eye level, "I'll be blunt, your tails and wings are too colorful. They're going to give us away if we ever are going to try to sneak. So I got some black hair dye to recolor both of them."

"Okay, how long will it take?" Scootaloo said, surprising Lucy. She had thought that Scootaloo would put up a bit more resistance.

"Uhm, about half an hour. I'd thought you would put up more resistance to the idea."

"I can't even hover right now so it doesn't really matter if the dye interferes with flying since I can't do that anyway right now and my tail can be dyed green for all I care." Scootaloo said as she shrugged. 

"Okay, any objections from you Twilight?" Lucy asked

"I'd rather have black wings and tail than get shot because my one of them stood out too much." Twilight reasoned, also not to bothered by the plan.

"Good, let's start then so that we can all get some rest before we have to move again." Lucy stated as she got the brush out and started dyeing Scootaloo's wings.

Over the next forty-five minutes, Lucy applied the dye and let it sit for a bit, by the end the ponies wings and tails were nearly completely black with the exception of a few spots near the base of the wings but even those were darkened to the point that you wouldn't notice them.

With they dyeing complete everyone went to get some rest with the exception of Tyler who had already got some sleep and relieved Woods from overwatch.


"Wake up you two!" Lucy said as she roughly woke the two ponies, "we've got Covenant activity outside"

The two ponies both shot up from their sleeping space at hearing that there was Covenant nearby, grabbing their weapons and sprinting to the main room where Mack, Tyler, and Woods were standing by the window overlooking the street outside.

"Brute pack, four strong. Seven grunts." Woods said while looking through his sniper scope.

"How are we on explosives?" Mack asked everyone.

"I used one on the wraith so I'm down to one" Scootaloo said.

"I've got two canisters C7 foam but that's for demolition" Tyler followed up to Scootaloo's answer

"Large explosions might attract other brutes nearby, are there no other alternatives?" Twilight asked

"I can take two with my sniper but the others would have to be done by you guys." Woods said.

Mack took a moment to consider his options, "Twilight give a grenade to Scoots and take up a position at another window next to Woods, the rest of us will try to sneak up and lob grenades at their feet. You two kill anything that survives, clear?"

Everyone nodded, Twilight tossed Scootaloo a grenade and took up a position at a window next to Woods as the rest of the group snuck outside, their black suits blending into the darkness, and splitting up in two smaller groups.

Twilight could see Lucy and Tyler take the right side of the road while Mack and Scoots crossed the street to the left side, Woods all the while was giving status updates to where the brutes were at any given moment.

"Shit!" Woods suddenly said, "One of them is smelling the air, he might have picked you up."

Twilight saw that everyone outside stopped moving as they all held a grenade in case they needed to prematurely throw, raising her DMR she picked one of the brutes and lined up a shot waiting for the grenades.
The brute grunted something to his fellow packmates and continued walking down the street, "Twenty meters." Woods announced.

Waiting a few more seconds Mack signaled for everyone to prime their grenades and throw them, the brutes saw four grenades land at their feet and just managed to let out a roar before they exploded.

BOOM 

All four grenades exploded severely wounding the brutes but to Twilight's astonishment, one of them was still standing and immediately charged.

Blam

The skull of the charging brute caved in as Woods fired his sniper rifle, Twilight snapping back to reality took aim at one of the brutes that had tumbled over and was in the process of getting back up and put two rounds into its head.

The others had also popped up from their cover and were shooting at the remaining two brutes finishing them off and followed up by spraying into the crowd of grunts that were panicking.

The entire engagement took less than fifteen seconds.

"Sparkle, Woods get down here. I want to be gone before any more of them show up." Mack's voice came over the radio, Both Twilight and Woods grabbed their gear and ran out of the apartment hooking up with the others outside before running off from the site.


"Damn those Corvettes." Mack said as he was looking up at the sky. The Warships had practically grounded any large transports, which was a problem since they still had a few large transport vessels that needed to clear the city.

The group had traveled to the starport on day five at the instruction of Kilo Dispatch who had been coordinating the forces in the city as the covenant were deploying jammers throughout the city.

"Any word from the Stalwart Dawn?" Lucy asked, the UNSC warship had been remotely helping the forces in the city but due to the three corvettes it was unable to get close in without risking getting shot down.

"She's out over the ocean waiting for the civilian vessels so she can escort them to orbit for evac." Mack answered.

"That's not going to help us here, those corvettes need to buck off before those transports can safely take off." Scootaloo interjected.

"The only thing I'm getting from command is 'we're working on it' so until they deal with those ships we have to defend the transport." Mack told Scootaloo, "Woods, Sparkle, spotted any covenant forces?"

"That's a negative sarge." Woods replied.

"Nothing here either." Twilight reported after Woods, "Wait, I think I saw movement a block away."

A few seconds of silence later Twilight spoke again, "They're here and they brought the big guns! I can see two hunters at least forty brutes and a load of jackals and grunts leading the charge."

Gunshots could be heard from the position where Twilight had set herself up as she and the remaining marines opened fire on the other aliens.

"They're here too! Sarge, they are just going to overrun us within minutes with these kind of forces!" Woods shouted over the radio as fire also started to come from his position.

"Fuck, Twilight, Woods get the marines and pull back to the secondary position!" Mack shouted over the radio, the noise from the firefight starting to get louder.

"Tyler is your surprise ready!?" Mack shouted at Tyler who was sitting further up the barricade.

"Armed and ready!" Tyler shouted as Twilight and a group of marines came running through the hallway of the spaceport that conveniently acted like a chokepoint.

"We lost two of our guys on our way over here and he needs real medical attention soon!" She shouted at Mack while pointing at a marine that was being dragged along by one of his mates.

"Woods where the fuck are you!" Mack shouted as the first grunts came running into the hallway

"Contact!" one of the marines shouted as everyone opened fire on the aliens.

"Almost there!" Woods replied and further up the hallway the group of marines along with the ODST came running towards the barricade.

"Covering Fire!" Mack barked, Twilight and a few of the other marines started to let loose controlled bursts at the hallway the grunts had come from. 

The group of marines got over the barrier and took up a position next to everyone that was already there as the covenant send more grunts to their position.

Twilight looked over at Woods only to find that a large spike was sticking out of his upper leg "Woods! Stay still." She shouted as the sniper slumped against the barricade.

Running up to the downed ODST she removed parts of the trousers around the spike finding that there was a significant amount of blood coming out of the wound causing a small puddle of it to form under the leg.

Quickly checking his heart rate and blood pressure she found that the first had hightened and the second was way too low, "Woods, talk to me!" She said as she started digging through her saddlebag.

"I'm fine Twilight! I can still fight!" he shouted as he tried to get back up only to be pushed back down by Twilight who immediately stabbed him with an anesthetic and took out a tourniquet to block off blood flow to his leg, twisting the device earning a scream from Woods as the anesthetic hadn't taken effect yet.

"Woods is out of the fight and needs medical SOON!" Twilight shouted at Mack.

"HUNTERS!" The shout was followed by a large green fireball cutting through the barricade vaporizing a marine that was standing there.

"TYLER BLOW IT!" Mack shouted, Tyler took out a detonator that he had hooked up to the C7 explosive foam he had sprayed over the support struts lining the hallway.

"HAVE A NICE DAY MOTHERFUCKERS" he shouted while pressing the handle on the detonator, A series of explosions went off taking out the support of the roof collapsing it.

A large cloud of dust blew over the remaining soldiers as the building in front of them collapsed causing all of them to back away from the barricade.

Mack turned his radio on to get intel on the situation around the starport.

"I've got six hundred souls on board, Sergeant Major! I can't wait any longer!"

"Negative, Echo Two, I can't cover you! Do not take off!"

The engines of one of the large civilian transports could be heard from one of the launch pads,
"Dammit!"

The group looked out a window at the transport vessel as it started to make some speed,

KABOOM 

A missile struck the port side of the transport causing it to lose altitude.

"Mayday! Mayday!"

Six Echo Two, can you maintain altitude?

"Negative! We're going down!"

The radio went silent as the transport vessel hit the water and started sinking.

"Dammit, they've reached the civilian transports!" Mack shouted as he saw covenant forces moving up to the remaining transports.

"We're in no shape to fight anymore Sarge." Lucy said pointing at the marines out of the twenty that had accompanied them five had died at the forward positions and another four at the barricade, almost all of them were wounded to some extent and four of those, Woods being one of them, had critical wounds that needed serious medical attention.  

Mack considering his options relented, "Isn't there a military hangar at the east side of the starport?" He asked one of the marines.

"Yes sir, but we don't have a pilot here so I don't see what good that's going to do us." he responded.

"You might not but I do. Scoots! You can get a pelican off the ground, right?"

Scootaloo was sitting on the floor bandaging a flesh wound on her left foreleg as she responded. "If you can get me one sure, but that Corvette will shoot us down if we lift off."

"One problem at a time private." He turned to the rest of the marines, "get the wounded mobile, we're headed for the eastern hangar."

All the wounded were helped up or put on improvised stretchers as they made for the hangar, several more radio messages followed.

"Major, Covenant are banging on my bay door, I got families and wounded onboard. I got to get airborne!"

"Easy, Seven Echo Three. Spartan's going to clear the skies."

A few minutes later another short conversation came over the radio.

"That's it, batteries primed! Now get over to the east complex and fire those missiles!"

"Sergeant Major! The Covies are almost through my door!"

"Steady, Echo Three! That corvette is still up there!"

The group arrived at the hangar finding it nearly empty, "Crap." One of the marines said before spotting something at the back of the hangar "Wait is that a police pelican over there?"

"Yes it is, that's our ride!" Mack shouted as the group made their way to the pelican.

After entering the pelican Scootaloo's rushed forward to the cockpit and started flipping switches and pushing buttons, Mack joined her in the co-pilot seat after he had helped secure everyone in the troop compartment.

"There's the radio." Scootaloo pointed at the radio build into the dashboard, Mack immediately turned it on and turned it to the frequency that they had heard messages on before.

"That's it! They've breached the landing bay!"

"Copy that. It's now or never, Spartan!"

The missile batteries on the shore started firing missiles at the corvette and in a beautiful display the spaceship started venting blue fire from it's hull forcing it to retreat.

"That's our cue to leave Hurricane, punch it!"

Scootaloo carefully pushed the throttles up causing the craft to slowly rise from the floor of the hangar, moving the pelican out of the hangar took Scootaloo a few seconds of careful manoeuvring but when she was outside she switched from hovering to horizontal flight quickly making her way out to the ocean.

"Sarge, could you contact the Dawn for me?" Scootaloo asked Mack who responded by switching frequency and calling for the Stalwart Dawn. While Mack was contacting the Dawn Scootaloo pondered if their efforts of saving as many civilians as possible had paid off, if everything she had done wasn't in vain.
> Chapter 9: Nightmares and Dreams
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Smoke and fires surrounded her, Scootaloo coughed as she inhaled the fumes her eyes furiously prickling. She started to run in an attempt to get out of the smoke and asses her situation, she found a door and bucked it open immediately jumping outside to get some fresh air. Finally outside she looked back at the building that she just jumped out of,

'Sugarcube corner'

She quickly looked around and saw every other building was also on fire, corpses of ponies lay scattered all over the street burn marks over their bodies or in some cases purple or grey bolts sticking out of them.

"Lyra!" She saw the mint colored unicorn perched against a bench with a needler round in her stomach, a quick sprint later and she was sitting next to Lyra trying to quell the bleeding.

"S-scootaloo?" She asked with a frail voice only to start violently coughing up blood, "I don't understand, they just started shooting these weird weapons at us while we only wanted to greet them." She continued. "I'm scared Scootaloo" her voice was losing volume quickly.

"Stay with me Lyra!" Scootaloo pleaded still trying to quell the bleeding, "Lyra talk to me!" 

She didn't receive an answer

"Lyra?" She looked at the unicorn who had slumped against the bench, eyes wide open. She checked for a pulse finding none, she respectfully closed the mare's eyes leaving a streak of blood to cover her face. Scootaloo looked down at her body she found that she had been covered in blood trying to stop the bleeding, the other thing she spotted was a black item perched against the bench.

An SMG.

She picked up the weapon and checked if there was ammo in it, a full clip. A glint of light drew the attention of the filly again holding the gun under her wing she walked over to the spot where the light had come from finding that there was a combat knife embedded in a wooden plank. She pulled it out of the wood and for the time being held it in her mouth since she had nothing on her to safely store the knife.

That was the moment she heard plasma fire followed by someponies scream, she rushed over to the where the scream came from. along the way, more corpses lined the road some of which Scootaloo recognized before arriving at town hall where seven grunts where firing their plasma pistols at the building.

Scootaloo could see ponies in the building desperately trying to barricade themselves in, letting out a growl she grabbed the SMG and opened fire on the grunts. The suppressed weapon only letting out soft sounds as the sub-sonic ammo left the magazine cutting down five of the grunts before the gun clicked signaling that it was empty, throwing the gun aside Scootaloo charged the remaining two grunts keeping the knife in her mouth until she was close enough to use it. The remaining two grunts started panicking at the sight of the charging pegasi, making them easy targets. the first one went down by a slice through the throat cutting off its methane supply. the second one didn't get far either as Scootaloo made another small dash and rammed the blade into the skull if the little alien.

"Coast is clear everypony!" She shouted at the town hall while pulling the knife out of the grunt, the door to the building slowly opened revealing a group of ponies.

Her heart seemed to stop at the sight of who had hidden in the building, the elements of harmony minus Twilight, the crusaders, Octavia and Vinyl.

"Scootaloo?" Applebloom asked carefully, seeing that the filly before her was covered in blood and holding a particularly large blade.

"A-Applebloom?" she stammered tears forming in her eyes.

"MURDERER!" Applebloom shouted causing Scootaloo to flinch and drop the knife.

"w-what?"

"You're no sister of mine!" Rainbow dash followed.

"NO I-"

"We should have just left you at that orphanage!" Vinyl shouted while Octavia stood beside her

Scootaloo started crying at that, "I was just trying to save you!" she sobbed.

"You're not worthy of being a Crusader! We don't want a pony with a cutie mark for murder amongst us!" Sweetie Belle also shouted.

"I-" Scootaloo started but stopped when she heard something behind her and reflexively grabbed the knife and got into a defensive stance,

Standing in the smoke was one thing she never expected to see again,

Discord.

She got ready to charge but stopped when she looked at Discords face, no malicious smile on it like she had seen before.

Sorrow, he looked genuinely sorrowful.

before Scootaloo could ask him why he was there two light blue beams of plasma stuck out of her torso putting her in a state of agony, her vision began to blur as she felt the energy sword twisting in her back looking over at who stabbed her. 

Rainbow Dash.

"Equestria is better off without you." she heard rainbow say before her vision faded to black,

Scootaloo shot up from her bunk, covered in sweat and breathing heavily, looking around the room remembering that she was on board the Stalward Dawn. A glance at the datapad next to her bunk told her that she only had gotten about five hours of sleep, not in the mood to get some more sleep she got out of the bunk and grabbed her black bodysuit that now had the rank of private knitted onto it. After making her bed to perfection, something she would have never done in Equestria, she made her way to the showers. 

The nightmare had not been a singular event, every time she had gone to sleep ever since she had gotten back to the dawn her dreams had been haunted by sights of dead ponies and her friends yelling at her. Although the appearance of Discord had been a major anomaly from the other nightmares. In any case, it was safe to say that the three days she had been on the Dawn hadn't left her particularly rested.

Arriving at the showers she found them empty, which was peculiar since spaceships don't have a day and night cycle so finding any room unoccupied was a rare sight. She got into one of the shower booths and cleaned herself from the sweat, after finishing the shower she put on the bodysuit and made her way to the mess hall. The sight of the pony walking through the hallways wasn't too disturbing for most of the crew of the Dawn, it had been the ship that had picked the ponies up in the first place so the entire crew had already heard about them at some point. The reputation boost from their action in New Alexandria admittedly also helped.

Finally arriving at the mess hall she made her way to the coffee machine, not because we particularly liked the substance but the caffeine was a good way to start a 'day'. She also grabbed a few packets of food from a dispenser, real food was available on the ship for some occasions but the packages were simply a more cost-effective way to store the food.

After finishing her breakfast she made her way to the gym to get some exercises done. The gym was occupied by a squad of 5 marines that were practicing hand to hand combat, Scootaloo ignored them for the moment and started lifting some weights. For the next ten minutes, she could see the marines glancing in her direction so every now and then, to the point that she was getting really annoyed with the soldiers.

"You know I can talk, right?" She said when she caught another one glancing in her direction.

The marines were caught off guard, they had expected to just be ignored by the pony like she had been doing since she had entered the room.

"You're one of the aliens the crew has been talking about aren't you?" One of them asked.

"Yea, so?" Scootaloo responded while continuing with her exercises.

"We just thought the crew was pulling a prank on the new guys."

"You thought the entire crew had banded together just to prank you? Seriously?"

"Uhm, maybe?" The marine scratching his neck.

Scootaloo resisted the urge to facehoof, "you guys seen any action yet?" 

"Nope, we got transferred to this ship right out of boot camp. Apparently, they needed to replace a team they lost." The marine replied, "My name is Nick Zuyev by the way." Holding out his hand.

"Scootaloo." She said, shaking the hand with her hoof, "You boys mind if I train with you for a bit, the rest of my squad's still sleeping."

Nick shrugged, "I'm fine with it. You guys ok with her training along?"

The other four marines grunted their approval, "If you're going to train with us then I want a sparring match with you." One of them said.

"Really Hopper, how are you even going to spar with her different body structure?"

"You'd be surprised." Scootaloo said with a grin as she stood up on her hind legs, surprising everyone with how easy she presumably found it to stand on her hind legs.

"Well, that makes things more interesting. Hopper said with a grin, "you have specialized sparring gear?"

Scootaloo nodded and dropped back on all four of her hooves, no need to give him a chance to study the way she moved on two legs. Walking up to a locker that had Tyler's Shadowbolt logo on it, he had immediately claimed the locker after getting onto the Dawn and made it theirs.

Grabbing padding for her lower legs, wings, and two gloves. The last thing she grabbed was the plastic mouth guard, her teeth already had a few chips missing she didn't need to lose more parts of them because she got hit in the face while training.

Strapping all the protection on she stepped into the ring, Hopper was already standing at the ready in the corner of his side of the ring.

"Ready to get beaten chicken?" He said, Scootaloo's heart rate went up but the look on the marines face told her all she needed to know, he was trying to rile her up so that she attacked him in rage.

Calmed down a bit Scootaloo went into the familiar trance she had whenever she was training hand to hoof combat, the state of mind gave her improved reaction times and simply allowed her more time to analyze her opponent. Maria 062 had compared it to an inferior version of Spartan time, which was still better than that of regular humans by quite a margin.

The side effect of getting that focused was that her face remained completely neutral, which really unnerved the watching marines. 

"Hey, Dawn to Scoo-" The moment Hopper spoke he left a small gap in his defence prompting Scootaloo into a charge, with a mighty flap of her wings she closed the distance between herself and her opponent and threw a few quick punches before quickly retreating to a safe distance so he couldn't retaliate.

"Damn that was fast." Nick said astonished as the speed of the attack. Scootaloo slipping from trance allowed a grin to form on her face, "What's wrong? Chicken too fast for you?"

Hopper by this point had recovered from her quick attack and charged her trying to hit her with a right hook, forgetting that Scootaloo had more than just her forelegs to hit him. Scootaloo ducked under the punch and extended her right wing, turning her body and moving the wing so that it slammed into the marines stomach. 

Getting hit by the wing caused Hopper to grasp his stomach giving Scootaloo the opening to throw a devastating blow with her left hoof to the back of the head of the marine.

Hopper dropped onto the ground of the ring letting out a loud grunt, "I think I'm done."

Scootaloo wasn't completely surprised, if it wasn't for the padding, getting hit by the bone in a pegasi's wing would feel like getting hit by a steel bat.

"Good lord laddy, ya sure know how to fight don't ya." One of the watching marines said.

"Learned from the best, it also helps that my reaction speed is closer to that of a Spartan than a regular human." Scootaloo said, falling back on all fours and closing her wings

"Really, how can you be sure of that?" Hopper asked while massaging his stomach.

"Because I got beaten into submission by one on a regular basis while practicing CQB in training and she noticed that I was able to block several of her strikes that with a normal reaction time would have hit." She explained, "We later tested my reaction time further and found that it was actually nearly as fast as her own."

"Damn, you got to meet a Spartan?! Could you teach us some of her tricks?" Hopper asked excitedly.

Scootaloo chuckled, "I might be able to give you guys some pointers"

The marines and Scootaloo spend the next two hours improving their hand to hand and some knife fighting. In the end, the marines and Scootaloo shared their sleeping roster so they would get another opportunity for some training together.





Rainbow Dash was on her way to Canterlot, for over a week she had been trying to decide if she would take Princess Luna up on her offer to join the lunar guard.

The majority of the week she had spend visiting the girls instead of spending all day flying in an attempt to find the missing ponies. Starting with Fluttershy she had helped her feed the animals and managed to get her into the spa with rarity, without herself that was. To get Pinkie in a better mood she and Dash had gone on a small pranking spree which did wonders for Pinkie, who at the end of that day had a fully inflated mane again. AJ had declined the offer for a competition of some sort so Dash decided to help her with her chores, which inevitably turned into the competition Dash had proposed.

All of which led to Dash's decision, the ability to search for Twilight and Scootaloo while simultaneously being able to spend time with the girls and all that without giving up her chance to join the Wonderbolts.

Getting close to Canterlot Dash entered one of the flying lanes that would lead her close to the castle, at the closest point she broke off from the lane and glided the last part of the journey to the castle.

Coming to a stop at the main gate of the walled-off section leading to the castle she spotted two dayguards.

'No change of the guard yet, must have flown a bit too fast if they haven't rotated yet.' Rainbow surmised.

"Halt, who goes there?" One of the guards said, he probably knew already seeing that she was one of the elements of harmony but was just following protocol.

"Rainbow Dash, element of loyalty. I seek an audience with Princess Luna." Dash responded to the guard.

The guard nodded, "Please step forward." The guard shot a spell at Dash that dissipated on contact. "Sorry for that ma'am, the castle security got tighter after the changeling incident. Proceed to the main entrance of the caste, the guards there can help you further."

Dash nodded and made her way to the main keep where she got directed to a, surprisingly, empty waiting room considering that night court would be starting soon.

"Miss?" An assistant asked, gaining Rainbow's attention, "The princess is ready for you if you would follow me."

Getting led into the throne room she found Luna sitting on the throne looking positively bored, "Your majesty, you there is a citizen requesting an audience."

Luna's head shot up looking for who had come to her night court, "Rainbow Dash! please come forward. I hope this is about my proposal?"

"Yes, princess. I've made my decision." Dash started, "If what Rarity said is true and I can get transferred to the Bolts after we find Twilight and Scootaloo than I accept your offer."

Luna shot up from her throne, "Excellent! Azure Moon night court is closed for today, miss dash and us have a lot to do tonight!"

Luna walked up to Rainbow and lit her horn up, "Are you familiar with long-range teleportation?"

"Uhm I think Twilight once di-" Rainbow got cut off as Luna's horn started shining brightly and a moment later she dropped onto a grassy field suddenly very nauseous.

"This is as close as we can get to our destination." Luna stated, "Mis-"

"Just call me Dash or Rainbow, Princess, calling me miss just makes me feel old." Rainbow said resisting the urge to vomit, "What's our destination anyway?"

"Our old castle, Canterlot is a beautiful city but it doesn't have the facilities for either the forging or specific spellwork." Luna responded, helping the pegasus back on her hooves, "Come, the night is young but We would like to get this done quickly."

"Old castle but that means.." Dash's eyes widened as she looked around the clearing, "We're in the Everfree forest, aren't we?"

"Yes, but do not despair. No foul creatures will attack us as long as we're with you" Luna said, "Now let us go, the rest of the journey will have to be by hoof."

The princess led Rainbow through the forest for about fifteen minutes, after that the duo reached the familiar chasm where Dash had met the illusions of the Shadowbolts and flew over it reaching the castle shortly after. Walking through the castle's main hall luna lit up her horn and a passage opened up on the lunar side of the hall to a room previously hidden.

"Whoa, this room is awesome!" Dash said as the walked into a circular room with a glass dome giving a good view of the night sky, the floor had large arcane circles on them and the walls had murals of warriors of old drawn on them.

" 'tis the room where every other guardian of dreams has given their oath." Luna said while taking in the room, not having been there for a long time, "It has been over a millennium that this room has been used. Dash, before you take the oath I have to warn you, This is not the oath the regular lunar and solar guards take. Theirs is one that verbally states their intent, this one will magically bind you to honor your commitment along with other...  changes."

"Umh, what kind of changes?" Dash nervously asked.

"For one thine hearing and sight will be improved, there might also be some quirks with your speech." Luna explained, "We assure you nothing drastic will change."

Dash relaxed a bit, "So what do I have to do?"

"Stand in the center of the room, the rest shall be up to us. The spell will simply fail if your intentions aren't pure."

Dash walked up to the center of the room waiting for Luna to do her part. Luna's horn lit up once again also causing the circles to glow in a dark blue hue. Tendrils of magic began swirling around attaching themselves to Dash and seemingly merging with her body, as soon as all the magic settled Rainbow got extremely nauseous as she was suddenly able to hear every little sound in the room from a fly buzzing around to Luna's heartbeat. Clutching her ears she dropped onto the floor waiting for the sensations to stop, which it did after what felt like an eternity. Opening her eyes again she looked around, the previously dark room seemed to be lit up as if in daylight. releasing her hold on her ears she could still hear as well as she did moments ago only it didn't feel like her head was about to explode because of it.

Trying to get back on her feet Dash felt a hoof on her back, tensing up she looked over at the princess who was holding a hoof on her back. "My Sovereign, plea-" Dash quickly covered her mouth, "What was that?!"

"That, my little pony, is one of the quirks I feared but do not despair thine can learn to resist the urge to call us sovereign over time." Luna said trying to comfort Dash, "Come there is one more thing we must do."

The two ponies moved down into the underground of the castle where luna once again opened a hidden passage, this one leading to a large forge room that had armor stands lining the walls. The forge itself was also peculiar: blue, smokeless flames where heating it. 

"Uhm my Sove-. Princess, what is this place?" Dash asked looking around in wonder once again.

" 'tis the Lunar Forge. If thine are wondering, the fires are magically powered by the power of the moon. Canterlot, although an impressive city, does not host a forge like this and it will be needed for the creation of an armor set appropriate for a guardian of dreams."

"A what?"

"A guardian of dreams, it's the title dreamwalkers got over a millennia ago. it is tradition that every guardian gets its own custom armor set made by myself." Luna explained while a grin started forming on Dash her face, "If thou have any requests now is the time" Luna added picking up a large plate of black metal.

"Well..."





Twilight Sparkle was angry, for the past few days she had regularly checked the external cameras of the ship to get a view of the surface of reach. The glances revealed that large portions of burned land in Covenant controlled sectors of the planet, having enough of the sight Twilight turned off the tablet trying to focus on finding a way to locate Equis which she had been failing at for over a month now. Not being able to focus she eventually  just gave up and let her mind drift for a bit. Scootaloo had been having nightmares but had been trying to keep them a secret, not that it was hard to figure out with the way she was moving around in her bunk. Not that she herself didn't have any nightmares but those of Scootaloo seemed to be much worse than hers. But not everything was bad news, Woods had gotten very lucky at the spaceport and although he had lost his leg due to extensive damage from the shrapnel he wasn't dead, which was more than most humans could say.

Returning to the tablet to look over Reach again she felt the spaceship lurch forward followed by alarms going off.

"All crew Battlestations! This is not a drill, Prepare for possible enemy boarding attempts!"
> Chapter 10: The Fall of Reach
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





"All crew Battlestations! This is not a drill!!"
The message kept repeating itself over and over again as Twilight ran to the armory, the other crew were also in a rush to get to their posts. Having four legs gave Twilight an edge in speed over any of the humans running through the hallways, finally arriving at the armory she found that Mack and Tyler had already arrived and were quickly putting on their armor.
Twilight levitating her own custom set of armor over and putting it on, "Where are Scoots and Lucy?" She asked while tightening the straps keeping each individual piece of armor in place.

"No Idea, they said they were training with a bunch of other marines." Mack responded as he grabbed a shotgun from a weapons rack and threw it over to Twilight, "Use that, a DMR isn't going to do you much good at close quarters."

Twilight attached the gun to her side quickly grabbing some ammo for it, it wasn't that she liked the shotgun as a weapon but at close quarters it would wreak havoc on enemy soldiers. suddenly feeling a bit nauseous at what she had just thought, 'Did I just analyze the lethal potential of a weapon?' She quickly banished the thought to the back of her mind to think about later, right now she needed to focus.

Twilight finished up packing her equipment as Scootaloo and Lucy came running into the armory, "Nice of you to join the party!" Tyler quipped as he finished reloading the assault rifle he had grabbed for himself.

"Had a bit of a traffic jam in the hallways." Lucy responded quickly donning her own armor along with Scootaloo, "Anyway, I take it that the Covenant finally showed up with a fleet?"

"Don't know but you're probably right." Mack replied, "We're stationed in the aft of the ship to prevent any potential boarders from getting close  to either the Slipspace drive or reactor core."

"So no grenades?" Tyler asked to which Mack shook his head, "Fantastic, that takes all the fun out of it."

"Zip it Tyler, switch them out for smokes and flashbangs. Everyone good to go?" Mack asked getting an affirmative from everyone in the room, "Good, let's get moving Shadowbolts." The group quickly got moving to the aft of the ship, the hallways much clearer as almost all the crew were at their posts, they could feel the ship making course adjustments so every now and then while making their way to their designated defensive position.

Finally arriving at the reactor the group set up some barricades with crates,  "So what now?" Scootaloo asked.

"We wait. If it's a fleet we're facing then there's a good chance the ship will get shot before any boarding craft will be used." Mack simply stated causing a cold chill to go up Scootaloo's spine. The following fifteen minutes the ODST's remained silent as everyone was tensed up. The ship groaned so every now and then alongside the noise of engines, the alarms had been turned off, the only thing signifying Battlestations where red lights. A sudden humming followed by a loud bang startled the ponies, "What was that?" Twilight asked.

"That was the MAC cannon" Lucy calmly answered Twilight, shortly after another shot of the MAC rang through the hull of the frigate.

Twilights breathing started increasing as more sounds came from the ship as archer missiles were fired, "Twilight, calm down there's nothing you can do against this." Lucy said, Twilight looked over at her and weakly nodded starting to do breathing exercises to calm herself down.

Thirty more minutes passed as more sounds from various weapons could be heard coming from the ship, unnerving the ODST's. Space battles are the worst of battles for regular soldiers since you can't see or hear anything unless you're on the bridge, you wouldn't know if your side was winning or losing or if your ship was about to explode or not.

Another few minutes later a loud explosion could be heard and the frigate violently listed to port, recovering moments after. The engines could suddenly be heard running at full power and the group could feel the ship shoot forward,

Twenty dull metallic thumps could be heard as everyone regained their bearings after the sudden movement caused by the explosion and the engines flaring.
"Intruders detected from sector E5 to G7" The intercom suddenly blurted shortly followed by Mack's comms to the bridge, "Sergeant Cross be advised, you have multiple enemy squads bearing down on your position" an operator could be heard saying, "Thanks for the heads up bridge, we'll give 'em hell."

Red dots started appearing on the motion sensors, and grunts started pouring into the hallway. Everyone started opening up on the little aliens who all fell relatively quickly, the next group of aliens turning the corner were jackals with shield flanked by two elites. Plasma fire from the jackals forced The soldier back behind their cover while they slowly moved forward. Tyler fumbled with one of the pockets on his belt retrieving a frag grenade from one, "Really Tyler, remember the part in the armory where I said NO grenades!" Mack shouted at him.

"Thank me later!" Tyler growled back and threw the now primed grenade over the line of jackals, the explosion throwing shrapnel into the backs of the aliens making them stagger. Using the lapse in fire the ODST's picked off the jackals before they could get their shields back facing them again. The two remaining elites now charging down the hallway, trying to reach the barricade where the ODST's were held up. A hail of gunfire impacted against their shields that were already weakened from the grenade blast, one of the two fell before reaching the barricade getting caught in the gunfire from Mack's assault rifle but the second one managed to jump the barricade and aimed its plasma pistol at Tyler.

BANG

Twilight had aimed her shotgun at the back of the elite and fired downing its shield and making it stumble forward, but did not kill it. Tyler not wasting a moment shot up letting out a savage roar and plunged his combat knife into the neck of the elite killing it.

Lucy swooped her assault rifle around the hallway in front of them checking if any of the aliens had survived,  "Didn't they say a full few squads were on their way?"  She asked noting that the body count was relatively low for what they were expecting.

"There must be more of the fu-" Lucy continued but then spotted a disturbance in the light between her and Scootaloo, "CLOAKED ELITES!" She shouted emptying her magazine into the disturbance, the cloak immediately dropping. The elite roared and activated its energy sword slashing at Scootaloo, the pegasus, due to Lucy's warning, tried to get as much distance between herself and her opponent.

Too slow.

The sword impacted the visor of Scootaloo's helmet and left a diagonal slash across it, earning a bloodcurdling scream from the pony. Hearing the scream Twilight's heart stopped beating for a moment fearing for Scootaloo but seeing the elite raise its sword again to finish the filly off lit a bright fire in the alicorn, letting out a roar she called on the limited magic in the area as she pulled the  elite towards herself and rammed the shotgun in its face pulling the trigger. The shield of the elite, already damaged by Lucy, couldn't withstand the force of the shotgun and popped, the shotgun shell blasting a hole into the skull of the alien and letting it drop onto the deck. Tyler meanwhile had pulled a flashbang and threw it into the hallway, immediately after the flashbang subsided the shimmering form of another elite could be seen. Before anyone could shoot it Twilight charged him with an incredible display of speed, smashing the butt of her weapon into it causing it to fall backward turning the weapon back around she fired off four shells into the alien completely destroying its chest armor.

"SCOOTALOO!" Twilight threw the shotgun to the side and ran to the hurt pegasus, who had taken off her helmet and has held her face in her hooves while sobbing. "Scoots let me and Twilight take a look." Lucy said as she joined Twilight next to the filly. Scootaloo slowly let go of her face so the two medics could see what kind of damage the sword had done, the sword left a diagonal streak of burned flesh from her left forehead down to the right side of her muzzle missing her right eye by only a couple of centimeters, "It's not critical but that needs to be looked at by the doc." Lucy observed getting a shot of anesthetic and injecting it into Scootaloo who promptly fell unconscious because of it.

"Sergeant Cross, the boarders redirected their efforts to the bridge we need your squad up here asap they're already banging on our blast doors!" The radio operator told Mack.

"Mack, can you link my comms to the bridge?" Twilight asked with a growl, standing back up and swiftly reloaded her shotgun.

"Why?" He simply replied.

"I've got a plan but they need to jump into slipspace for it to work."

Mack brought up the settings to the comms on his VISR and patched Twilight into the system, "You're live Twilight."

"Captain Ross, sir do you copy?" Twilight asked

"five by five private, make it quick I don't have all the time in the world." The Captain responded.

"Sir, is it a possibility to perform an emergency slipspace jump?"

"We've been on an outbound trajectory for a few minutes now Private, but it's not going to do any good if the bridge gets overrun. We need support up here ASAP Sparkle."

"Sir, the magic field in slipspace is exponentially stronger than the one here in real space, jumping now will mean I gain access to my full repertoire of spells which will give us a massive advantage."

The radio stayed silent but moments later she could feel the magic field strengthening,  "Private get up here soon because the Covies are almost through the blast door and I'd rather blow the Dawn up than give her to these bastards."

Twilight turned back to Mack, "Get Scootaloo to the med-bay for me, please?" Immediately after she lit her horn and vanished not giving Mack a chance to respond leaving only the smell of ozone in her departure.

"Well. Fucking fantastic. Lucy you're carrying Scootaloo." Mack grumbled his subordinates doing as told and the remaining three ODST's started moving.


A flash of light lit the bridge of the Stalwart Dawn as Twilight teleported into the bridge, stumbling a bit from the teleport since the teleporting while in slipspace was something she had only theoretically worked out. Most of the bridge crew was staring wide-eyed at the pony only to get drawn back to reality by the Covenant's attempts of getting through the door.

"Private Sparkle I hope your plan is more thought through than just teleporting onto my bridge." Captain Ross calmly started.

"Not really" Twilight replied while taking off her helmet, getting a confused look from the Captain. "The helmet was interfering with my spellcasting."

"Anyway, could you please open the blast doors, Captain?" Twilight asked while spinning up a new spell, black smoke starting to form around her horn and her eyes turning green with red pupils also a purple mist started leaking from the side of her eyes.
 "I'd like to greet our guests." Twilight's voice disturbing everyone on the bridge as the altered voice seemed to drip with hatred.
Captain Ross recoiled a bit, the pony in front of him sounded more like a demon from hell than the pony he had first met.
Nodding at one of his officers the man got busy typing in the command to open the door, a few loud clicks emanated from the door as it quickly slid open revealing an elite with an energy sword. Twilight, not wasting time, let loose the grip on the spell she had been holding and a large pillar of black crystal grew out of the ground impaling the elite. Casting another spell that made the crystal dissipate into a cloud of black smoke she cleared the entrance route and charged out of the bridge accompanied by an ear defining screech. The sounds of various kinds of plasma weaponry could be heard going off in the hallway outside but in between the noise of weapons, various cracks of bones and splats could be heard. A few grunts managed to shout "Demon!" before the sounds from the hallway stopped and the Officer responsible for the sensors reported, "No more contacts outside the bridge, units in the port hangar are mopping up the last of the boarders right now." 

The bridge stayed quiet after that as everyone was looking out the blast door where a large puddle of blood was forming. The Captain took the initiative and drew his magnum and walked up to the door peaking around the corner of the door into the hallway, his stomach turned at what he saw. Bodies in various states of mutilation scattered throughout the hall, some with severed limbs, blood was covering everything even the walls as some bodies showed clear signs of being thrown against them. At the end of the hall, he saw Twilight, her eyes turning back to their normal colors, looking around as if she had just been woken from a deep sleep. Taking in her surroundings her pupils shrunk to pinpricks as realized what surrounded her, her knees seemed to give away immediately as she slipped into unconsciousness.




It had taken Princess luna almost all night to forge Rainbows armor but in rainbows eyes, it was totally worth it. The armor itself was made up from thick sheets of metal covering her torso from neck to flank, her legs had metal boots and her shins were protected by leg enveloping pieces of armor although the upper part of her front leg was lacking armor to preserve the ability for easy movement. The forging of the plates themselves wasn't the hardest part of creating the armor, Princess luna's spellwork making the armor lighter to the point that the heavy armor felt like mere light armor had taken up most of Luna's time. 

The final thing Dash got was something she didn't expect, the Princess had been hauling a package with her on the way to the castle and had yet to show it to her. When Dash finally was allowed to see what it was it turned out to be a very large longsword, the weapon had initially confused Rainbow as swords, in general, were weapons designed for unicorns, not pegasi, but after explaining that guardians of the dreamworld used to be primarily unicorns so the tradition was started that every one of them would carry a sword with them even the earthponies and pegasi but she assured that Dash would be getting a set of wing blades after reporting to the guard post located in Ponyvilles town hall.


After getting led from the Everfree forest to the plains near to Ponyville the Princess hoofed her a scroll for the guards in Ponyville and said her goodbyes before teleporting back to Canterlot to rest up after spending almost the entire night in the forge with Rainbow. Dash herself also was at the end of her energy reserves as she had foregone her naps not wanting to miss a moment of the creation of the armor, pushing through her drowsiness she flew past her house to town hall to link up with two thestrals that had recently been assigned there bringing the guard total of Ponyville up from five guards to eight, three of whom being night guards.

Arriving at town hall she quickly made her way to the guard section where she found a male and female thestral, both having a typical grey coat and the stallion having blue hair while the mare had white hair, sitting at a table playing a card game.

"Come on! Can't ya at least let me win so every now and then Moonlight!" The mare shouted while throwing her hoof of cards on the table.

"No can do, you just have to outsmart me next time Breeze." The stallion responded as he started shuffling the deck of cards again. Rainbow cleared her throat trying to get the attention of the two ponies, their ears turning into the direction of the sound before they turned their heads.

"You must be that extra set of hooves we got promised! Glad you finally showed up!" The stallion roared. 
"Darn girl ya look like you can take on a manticore in that armor" the mare added, "Ah'm Arctic Breeze." holding out her hoof which Rainbow shook, "Rainbow Dash."

"Hold on you mean you're the Element of Loyalty?" The stallion asked, "I'm Moonlight Spectre by the way." he added also holding out his hoof which Rainbow shook.

"Eeyup." Dash replied in her best Big Mack impression, "My question is how you didn't recognize me, the rainbow mane is pretty distinct."

"Thestrals don't have full-color vision, it's not black and white but there are certain colors we just can't see." Moonlight shrugged, "Although we make up for that shortcoming in the nightvision department."

"Y'all want to join in on our card game?" Arctic Breeze asked, "We've already finished all the patrols for the night so we could use another player."

"Maybe next time, I've been up all day with my friends and night with my Sovereign as she made the armor." Rainbow explained getting two raised eyebrows from the thestrals over how she addressed Princess Luna, "I'm just here to drop off this scroll she gave me before I'm hitting the hay."

Arctic Breeze took the scroll and thanked Rainbow after which the pegasus set off to her cloud home. Landing on her porch she found that the armor didn't hamper her ability to walk on clouds, chalking it up to a spell she walked up to her room and without taking off her armor she dropped into her cloudbed and fell asleep.

Rainbow opened her eyes getting her first view of the expanse of stars around her. One of the other notable things were the tens of thousands of bubbles floating around, each and every one contained a world of its own where ponies roamed and did everyday tasks or where having fun. Another thing that drew Rainbows attention was a large black scar that seemed to tear the skyscape. Dash standing up and starting to walking towards the scar, that was if there was any ground to stand on. Quickly unfurling her wings she tried to keep aloft by flapping, to no avail. Panicking slightly Rainbow flailed around trying to get a hold of anything solid, the first thing she got a hold of ended up being a blue leg. Looking up she found that the leg belonged to Princess Luna who was looking very amused down at the pegasus desperately holding on to her leg, "Thine can let go of our leg, in the dreamworld thou cannot fall." Dash looking up at the princess slowly let go of the leg finding that she just floated in place and didn't fall down. 

"Where are we my Sove-  Princess?" Rainbow asked, mentally smacking herself for falling back to the oldy-speak caused by the spell.

Luna grinned, motioning around the world they were standing in,
"This, my apprentice, is the dreamworld."
> Chapter 11: Fallout
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





*Beep*
A soft beeping rang through Twilight's ears, stirring a bit to try and block out the annoying sound.
*Beep*
"Doctor, I think she's waking up again." 
*Beep*
Twilight could recognize the voice from somewhere but wasn't able to attach a name to it.
*Beep*
"Step away from her sergeant, you there, get the taser ready just in case she goes ballistic again."
The second voice also sounded familiar, what was her name again, Karen? No, it was longer than that. Catalina. Twilight tried to open her eyes, straining at the effort she finally got them open only to close them again as they got assaulted by a bright light.

"Twilight, can you hear me?" Cat asked, Twilight reopening her eyes letting them get adjusted to the light level in the room. Having a good look around she saw the source of the beeping, a medical monitoring station. Around her were a few doctors one of which was Catalina, standing a bit of a distance away was Mack, the door to her room seemed to be flanked by two armed guards.
She tried to move to face Cat but found that she couldn't, taking a glance at her hooves she found that they were being held together by belts which in turn held her strapped to the bed, "Cat? Why am I strapped to the bed?" She asked, Slightly afraid.

"Last time you woke you started thrashing and screaming, you flung two of my assistants into a wall with telekinesis before we managed to stun you again." The doctor said, "We're just taking precautions to prevent you from hurting yourself or anyone around you."  

"Oh." Twilight responded, "I didn't hurt the assistants to bad, did I?" She added feeling guilty about hurting people that were there to help 

"They only got a few bruises, nothing serious." Cat reassured the pony before continuing, "Twilight, what do you remember about what happened in the boarding attempt?"

It took Twilight a moment to dig up her memories of the event, "I remember getting angry after Scootalloo got hit by the elite, by the way, is she alright?"

"We had to perform light surgery and she'll have a wicked scar but she'll be fine."  Cat told Twilight which visually relieved the pony, "Is there anything else you remember?"

Twilight tried to remember what happened after she left Scootaloo and the other ODST's but coming up blank,

A bloodstained hallway, bodies casually thrown around l

A flash of a memory suddenly at the forefront of her mind, her breathing and heart rate accelerated. "Catalina, what did I do." She asked the doctor.

Mack stepped forward to stand next to Twilight, "After you teleported away to the bridge you cleared the hall of all of the alien boarders."

"How?" Twilight asked having a creeping suspicion.

"The bridge crew didn't see but before you charged out of the bridge your horn started smoking and your eyes turned green with red pupils..." 

"..and a purple haze leaking from the side of my eyes." Twilight finished for Mack, "Dark Magic."

"I recall you saying that that was an extremely dangerous form of magic." Catalina said as she remembered what Twilight had told her about magic when they first met.

"It is. Cat, can you bring me a datapad, I have to build something." Twilight replied

"And What might that be Twilight?" Mack asked while Catalina was grabbing a datapad from medical

"Can't say yet, I have to run tests to see if I can even create the needed material." Twilight said while Catalina's medical staff were releasing the straps holding her down, "You'll be the first to know if I figure it out." 




"Is Twilight joining us today?" Lucy asked, "I don't think she has taken a break from that project you said she was doing, Mack." 
The entire group excluding Twilight was sitting in an empty mess hall as the ship was running on a skeleton crew while almost everyone else was in cryosleep, since there still wasn't enough was known about the ponies physiology to risk cryosleep the squad was to be awake for the entirety of the two-week journey.
"She said she had made a breakthrough so she'll probably be here in just a bit." Mack replied glancing over at Scootaloo who was eating her rations. "You know Twilight's going to be mad again if she spots you eating meat again, right?"

"I don't give a crap, sarge." Scootaloo said, the pegasus had been in a foul mood ever since she had woken up from the anesthetic and seen her face.

Twilight chose that moment to walk into the mess hall, Tyler was the first to spot her. "We're deeply honored by your visit, Princess. To what do we owe the pleasure?" 

Twilight rolled her eyes as she sat down at the table with the rest of the squad and revealed a box she was holding under her wing. "I managed manufactured something for Mack."

Mack picked up the box and opened it, revealing five black metal rings, "Twilight, what are these?" he said while he inspected one of the rings.

Scootaloo almost choked on her meal as she saw what Mack was holding, "Is that an inhibitor ring?" she blurted out.

"What's an 'inhibitor ring'?" Lucy asked also curious of what it was what Mack was holding.

"You place it around the horn of a unicorn to prevent them from casting magic out of their horn, the orphanage had a few in case they had to deal with a violent unicorn." Scootaloo explained before turning to Twilight, "Why would you build something like this?"

Everyone looked over to Twilight for an explanation, "Remember how I stopped the boarders Mack?" Twilight asked and Mack nodded, "I used Dark magic even though regular magic should have been powerful enough to stop them. Dark magic corrupts and twists the user over time, If I ever look like I'm going to use it again I want you to place one of those rings on my horn and knock me out, doesn't matter in what order you do it."

Mack put the ring back in the box and closed it again, "Just make sure you don't do it again, Twilight."

"I won't Sarge." Twilight said, "I'm just making sure you can stop me if it gets a hold of me again."

Twilight looked over at Scootaloos meal, her eyes immediately narrowing. "Don't tell me that that's meat."

Scootaloo swiftly grabbed the remaining packages and bolted for the door only to be stopped as Twilight levitated her back over to the table, "Cheater." Scootaloo grumbled while twilight dislodged the packages from under her wing and levitated vegetarian ones over to replace them. 

"So, do we have any training scheduled for today?" Twilight asked while she sat down for her own meal, switching the subject like nothing happened.

"Standard PT to keep physical fitness up but other than that, we'll have some free time." Mack said trying to withhold a snicker as Scootaloo was glaring at Twilight, "Lucy, you had a crapload of 'classic' movies, didn't you?"

A small smile formed on Lucy's face as she started to browse her tablet, "You know you've just doomed us to at least ten hours of ancient movies right?" Tyler deadpanned.

"I know! Isn't that awesome!" Lucy squealed, "I've already got three movies in mind! Meet me in the rec room in thirty and take some snacks!" She shouted while she ran out of the mess hall. 

"Mack, I have projects that need attending! I can't just take a break!" Twilight said as she backpedaled from the table, "I still haven't found a way home!"

"Twilight you have been working non-stop ever since you got here, you've been either training, fighting or studying. You need a break, badly." Mack said while he, unseen by twilight, passed the box with the inhibitor rings on to Tyler.
"I can't stop! I- I have to..." before Twilight could go any further Tyler tackled the pony, She summoned her magic to get him off herself.

Nothing 

Twilight again poured magic into her horn only for it to fizzle out, using her hooves she tried to feel what was wrong with her horn, "You didn't!" She said with a raised voice while looking over at Tyler.

"Had to field test those things at some point and if I'm going to sit through that movie marathon, then you're going too." He said with a grin as he picked up Twilight and started carrying her to the rec room, "You two get the snacks, I'll make sure Twilight gets there." 

Mack looked over at Scootaloo, "You get the snacks, I'll get the alcohol myself. It's best if as little as possible people know about the contraband stashes of the crew." Scootaloo nodded and walked off wondering what Lucy had come up with.




Rainbow was lazily floating through the dreamscape, concentrating on getting into an artificial dream bubble Princess Luna had created to be extra difficult to penetrate. She had been practicing various aspects of controlling the realm around her since the first night she entered the dream world. A few of the necessary skills were: leaving her own dream, entering the dreams of somepony else and actually freezing and changing that dream so that when a nightmare occurs she would be able to stop it.   

As of right now, only leaving her own dream was going smoothly, entering the dream of another pony was already a bit harder since ponies unconsciously tried keeping anypony from entering their mind, and then there was freezing a dream. Luna had allowed for her to attempt to calm a pony having a nightmare once, she got blown away, to put it mildly. To calm a pony having a nightmare you have to overpower their willpower to stop the dream, a panicking pony has a lot of willpower, so much so that Dash got kicked out of the dream and woke up in the real world with a splitting headache.

Outside of the dreamworld, she was being trained by the two nightguards and by training she meant getting beaten into a pulp with sparring wingblades. Having at least been to the Wonderbolts academy she already had the physical strength covered, but since the bolts only got basic combat training she was being thrashed by the two Lunar guards.

Something else The princess had told Dash about was the large Scar in the dreamworld. It was a tear in the fabric of the dreamworld made by discord as a last attempt to spite the Lunar Princess. Other then that The pegasus was told that she wasn't to approach it due to chaos magic running rampant around it.

Refocussing her efforts on the bubble in front of her she felt the barrier keeping her out slipping as she entered the bubble where Princess Luna was waiting for her in the middle of a large plain.

"You have improved again my apprentice, the barrier we put up was much stronger than that of a regular pony" Luna said with a smile as she saw Rainbow entering her dreambubble, "And thine did it quite fast at that. Shall we have another attempt at calming a nightmare before the nights' end?"

Dash winced, remembering the last time she tried. "If you insist, Princess. But I must ask you to not to make it too difficult, I promised the weather crew that I would help them with a weather front that was forming in the Everfree. If I have a splitting headache again it would endanger the rest of the flight crew." 

Luna nodded and a moment later she conjured a burning house, "This should be a relatively easy dream to stop, focus thineself and stop the fire from moving" Dash focussed on the fire trying to will it to stop, although being careful to not lose control so she wouldn't be kicked from the dream. Slowly but surely the fire started moving slower and after a few minutes completely stopped. "Awesome!" Dash cheered as she looked at the now in time frozen house, a ripple went through the dreambubble moments later, "Princess, what's happening now?" she asked looking around at the dream that was rapidly disintegrating around her.

"Thou are being awoken in the real world. We shall see thine tonight again my apprentice, but now you are seemingly needed in the waking world." After the princess finished her sentence the entire world went white for a moment as Dash was pulled from the dream realm.


"Dash! wake up!" Cloud Chaser stood by the side of Rainbow's bed, the mare was panicking a bit. "Sorry for waking you, Cap! We need you out there now, the situation changed!"

Dash not having the ability yet to wake up without being drowsy looked at the mare beside her, "Chaser, for one I'm not the captain anymore. Two What's the situation If you felt the need to pull me from my dreamwalking lesson with Princess Luna."

The mare turned a bit pale at the mention of the Princess, "Uhm, t-the storm has just been upped from a cat three to a cat two and growing." At hearing this Dash threw off the blanket of her bed revealing that she hadn't undressed from the previous day standing fully armored with her wingblades covered in protective padding for practice, "Is there a danger of it becoming a Cat one?"

"If we don't intervene soon, yes." She said eyeing Rainbows armor earning a smack to the back of her head, "Get your head back in the game, Chaser. If you want to stare at my flank you can do it after the job's done." Deciding not to wait for an answer from the blushing mare Dash jumped from her balcony into the air to the rally point the weather crew used when going out over the Everfree, "Thunderlane!" The Grey Stallion turned from the rest of the crew to face Dash, "Glad you woke, we need to act quickly to weaken the stormfront. You take Derpy and Chaser with you to sweet apple acres, we can't have orchard getting too damaged." Dash saluted the stallion, which surprised him. "Chaser! On me!" She shouted at the mare that was just approaching the group. "Yes, ma'am!" She shouted back, reminding Dash that she too had been at the Wonderbolt Academy.

Flying in a V formation the trio raced to the apple farm, "Derpy, You get to the south field to prevent damage to the orchard, Chaser you're making sure the barn doesn't get hit too badly." The two pegasi flew off without question leaving Dash the section of the farm between the Everfree and Ponyville itself, flying at high speed towards the edge of the forest she quickly saw the large mass of clouds rolling towards them. Not waiting for the clouds to get out of the Everfree she shot into the cloud mass and started punching and bucking out the clouds. Lightning arcing through the sky around her as she removed the clouds, a sudden bolt of lightning hit the armor Dash was wearing and made the armor glow blue for a moment. Thanking the princess for including wards that protected against lightning strikes, even though the thought behind the ward was to stop the type of lightning conjured by unicorns. 

After fifteen minutes of fighting the clouds, Dash flew up above the cloud layer to check up on her two wingmares. In the distance, she could see that Derpy had cut a large grid pattern into the clouds making them lose density and in turn lowering their destructive capability. You could say a lot of things about the muffin mare but you could always count on her if there was a weather concern. Looking a bit closer she could see Cloud Chaser had also made the same pattern but seemed to lag behind on progress, Dash with her speed had already cut a decent swath in her region of clouds decided to take a quick look to see if Cloudchaser could use the help. The flight over to the other pegasi's sector was short and Dash began flying a search pattern trying to find the wake of her teammate, finding nothing.

"CLOUD CHASER!" Dash rapidly descended below the cloud cover into the storm below looking down at the Everfree to see if she could spot a crash site. Taking a few passes she suddenly heard the howl of a timberwolf from the forest behind her, coming to a stop that would have torn the wings off of most pegasi she looked over at the clearing where the sound came from. Cloud Chaser was lying at the edge of it with a burned wing and multiple wolves bearing down on her, not hesitating a moment Dash ripped the protective padding from the wingblades and made a dive-bomb on the lead wolf. The Wolf too focussed on the downed pegasus got his head cut in half by Rainbows wingblade, immediately moving on to the next wolf she managed to score a deep cut on its torso making it too collapse into firewood. The remaining three wolves took their distance from Dash before starting to circle the two mares, Dash quickly stood up on her hind legs and drew her longsword and stuck it into the ground before falling back on all four of her hooves. "Use that! Don't try anything fancy just point it in their direction to stop them from jumping you!" 

One of the two wolves focussed on Dash surged forward making dash roll to the side and slashing at the wolf, the Timberwolf saw what dash was doing and tried moving to the side but wasn't fast enough. The wingblade cutting deep into the side of the wolf making it the third of Dash's casualties. The fourth wolf was still keeping its distance but Rainbow had had enough of the fight and charged it, the wolf raised its claws and took a swipe at the armored pegasi. Rainbow tried to dodge the claw but like her previous prey was too slow although in her case the swipe left her with three gashes on her neck. Remembering something Moonlight had quickly drilled in her mind was to get up immediately after getting hit, otherwise, your opponent might get the opportunity to finish you off. Something the thestral had already done all too often in the few lessons she had already had. The timberwolf not prepared for the lightning-quick response from the pegasus got to see the sharp edge of Rainbows wingblade moments before it lost part of its skull.

Hearing a scream from behind her she quickly turned to see Cloud Chaser sitting on her haunches with the longsword embedded in the rotten remains of the timberwolf that had jumped at her. "You okay, Chaser?!" she shouted at the other mare, "Y-yea, thanks to you." the mare stammered, "Dash! You're bleeding!" She shouted as she saw the claw marks on Dash's neck.

"Just a flesh wound." Dash replied even though she had no Idea how bad the wound was, 'At least it's not bright red, so no veins got damaged.' Dash thought, thanking the bolt academy for the first aid lessons. Dash grabbed the longsword from the remains from the wolf and resheathed it, "You're out Chaser, I'm bringing you to Ponyville central. That wing is pretty screwed up." Picking up the downed pegasi, who didn't protest, and lifted her up above the cloud layer out of the storm, making a beeline for Ponyville. She spotted a pegasus surveying her sector, presumably Thunderlane trying to find out why Dash was behind on clearing the clouds. She rerouted a bit to attract his attention, which worked as the Grey Stallion came up alongside her. "Thunderlane! you need to send reinforcements to my and Chaser's section! I'm taking her to the hospital!"

"She's not the only one Dash! how in Tartarus did you get those gashes!" He shouted at Rainbow. "Timberwolves! Now get working on the storm before sweet apple acres gets hit and check up on Derpy." Rainbow shouted back, the stallion nodded and broke off to get his own fellow squadmates. Rainbow corrected her course again back to Ponyville Central, feeling herself become a little drowsy as adrenaline started leaving her body and the blood loss was starting to take its toll on her. 

Crashing through the front door of the hospital she scared the life out of the receptionist, Dash putting all her remaining strength in her legs she stood up and faced the startled mare, "My friend needs medical attention." She said pointing at Cloud Chaser, after she said that her eyes rolled back in their sockets and Rainbow collapsed on the hospital floor.
> Chapter 12: Homeworld
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Scootaloo was walking around the hallways of the frigate she was currently calling home, small piles of bullet casings still lay strewn around and the walls still showed burn marks from the boarding attempt. Crew that was previously occupying cryotubes were slowly flowing into the hallways as they were being awakened to prepare for the arrival to the Sol system.

"Oi! Scoots!" A voice called out from behind her, turning around she could see a marine walking up to her. "MacGregor!" She said as she saw one of the marines she had befriended before the boarding. "How's Hopper? He didn't get himself killed did he?"

The Scottish man chuckled, "Nothin' too bad lass, we got off with a few light burns." He said, looking over at Scootaloo. "You seem to have gotten a lot worse than any of us laddy."

Scootaloo grimaced a bit before replying, "Yea, I got lucky. If Lucy hadn't seen it I would have been a goner." A light shiver ran down her spine, "Anyway, are you and the other guys up for some exercises with my crew?"

The marine shook his head, "Sorry kid, I'm gettin' off this ship the moment we get to Earth orbit. I've got some kin I want to visit down planetside."

Scootaloo sighed, "Well, have fun then. I'd like to go down to the planet but we have to report to Cairo station and I don't think brass would let me down to the surface anyway being an alien and all."

"If they do let you and your friend come down then you're welcome to stay over at my place." MacGregor said while heading down another hallway.

"I'll keep it in mind!" Scoots shouted before continuing walking towards the quarters that Twilight had gotten as 'lab' for her search for Equis.

Along the way, she was keeping an eye out for Zoey as the pilot had been designated as non-essential and had been in cryo for the duration of the trip. Scootaloo grinned a bit as she thought back at the movie marathon, Lucy had pulled out a series of films called Lord of the Rings, a bit violent by pony standards but then again it wasn't like the orcs had a scratch on the covenant. The doors to Twilight's room slid open revealing the purple alicorn sleeping on a desk covered in paper and multiple data pads. 

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and walked over to Twilight, it hadn't been the first time that she had fallen asleep while working in the last two weeks. "TWILIGHT!" Scootaloo screamed into her ear. Twilight shot up from the table screaming, "Scootaloo! what did I say about screaming in my ear!" she shouted back, trying to get her heart-rate back under control.

"We've arrived in the Sol system, we'll be at Earth in about three hours and report to Cairo station, I take it you haven't looked at your messages since you managed to sleep through the alarm signaling the exit from slipspace." Scootaloo told twilight who immediately grabbed one of the datapads and used a pencil to look up through her messages, "Did your orders tell why we were going to Cairo, Scoots?" she asked turning a bit pale.

Scootaloo looked a bit confused,"No, it only stated that we had to report to Cairo in our dress uniforms, I assume that we're going to meet with some brass." 

Twilight hoofed the tablet over to Scootaloo who quickly read Twilight's version of the orders, "Lord Hood." Scootaloo slowly said as she finished reading, "Fleet admiral Lord Terance Hood wants us to come to Cairo?"

Twilight retrieved her datapad and put it back on the table,"We should get dressed as soon as possible so we're immediately ready when we arrive." Scootaloo nodded in agreement and the two ponies rapidly made their way to the storage locker where they had stored their black uniforms.






"So you have no idea what this is about then?" Mack asked while escorting Twilight and Scootaloo to the airlock connecting to the crippled frigate to the defense platform. "No, other than that it's on the admiral's request absolutely nothing." Twilight replied as the group reached the door connecting the ship to the space station.

"Then good luck with whatever, we didn't get the invite so you two are on your own." Mack told the two before turning around and heading back into the ship. Twilight looked to Scoots and proceeded into the station where several marines were waiting, "Private Sparkle, Private Hurricane, if you would follow us." the lead marine said, Twilight and Scootaloo nodded and the group made their way to the station's transport system. Along the way, they got a few glances from bypassers but mostly they seemed to be too preoccupied to care about the ponies. One of the things Twilight liked about the station over the ship was that there were windows literally everywhere allowing for a good view of space and bits of Earth, as where the warship only had armor and any view outside was via camera's on the hull. The group stepped into the train to the command center and settled down, "They said you two were on Reach when the Covenant attacked." one of the marines -a corporal- said as the door of the train closed.

"Yes, Sir." Twilight replied to the marine and to their credit none of them flinched at hearing Twilight speaking, although that was probably due to them being better briefed than previous escorts.

"Do you two know how hard New Alexandria got hit? I had family there and I don't know if they got out." He asked hoping the ponies knew anything about what the situation on the ground was on Reach.

Scootaloo spoke up first,"Discord would be proud at the shitshow, I mean we got a very large portion of the civilians out but the city got attacked by brutes so there were still a lot of casualties." She told the marine who looked to be glad to get new information from Reach. The train stopped and the marines formed up again and moved quickly to the command center. Walking into the command center the ponies saw a lot of booths where operators were busy and at the front of the room, a large screen was present. At the large screen, an old man was present tapping some commands into a console. "Sir!" The group stood at the ready as the admiral turned and saw the ponies, "You're dismissed marines." he told their escorts who saluted and headed out the room, "Now since ONI has been a bit overzealous about keeping any and all information about you off any network, so the orders you got probably told you next to nothing." Lord Hood said, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Private Sparkle, please step forward."

Twilight took a step forward and stood up on her hind legs to get closer to the height of the admiral, she noticed an officer carrying a box had stepped closer from the side. "Private Sparkle, due to your actions on the Stalward Dawn the ship avoided capture. Even though the reports tell me the way you did it was in your own opinion 'less than satisfactory' the fact still remains that by your actions the crew of the Stalwart Dawn is still alive today. As the first alien to receive an award from the UNSC, I hereby present you with the bronze star for your extraordinary act of bravery. You have done the UNSC proud Private." The Admiral pinned the star on Twilight's chest and saluted, a gesture Twilight gladly returned.

"As a second order of business private Sparkle, I have an admission to make."Lord hood started," When we first decided to allow for you and your companion to join the corps the intention was to keep you in reserve while you searched for your homeworld, but when the Covenant attacked Reach we had no choice but to deploy you two into battle. Don't get me wrong, your actions on the battlefield are valued highly but you're of more value to the UNSC alive than dead."

Twilight pondered for a moment but she could see the reasoning behind the idea, without her the chances of possibly getting an alliance would be a lot slimmer than if she were there. "I understand, Sir." She replied.

The admiral nodded, "You may report back to the Stalward Dawn." He said, turning back to a console but before Twilight could leave Scootaloo stepped forward, "Sir, permission to speak freely."

Lord Hood turned to the pegasus, "Granted." He simply stated.

"Sir, we have been stuck on spaceships for a large amount of time in our stay here and when we weren't on a spaceship we were either training or fighting. Is there a possibility we could get authorization for shore leave on the planet, Sir?" She asked, Lord Hood immediately answering. "I will run it by the Office of Naval Intelligence, but I'm afraid I wouldn't know where you would be able to stay while on Earth."

"There's a marine from the Dawn who offered to give us a place to stay in Scotland." Scootaloo added, Lord Hood thought about it for a moment. "Take a pelican and notify that marine to pick you up, I'll keep ONI off your backs."

Scootaloo and Twilight saluted again and made their way out of the control room, "That was incredibly reckless." Twilight stated after they got out of earshot of the command center, "You know you just asked the Fleet Admiral to do you a personal favor, right?"

Scootaloo grinned, "It worked didn't it?"

Twilight shook her head unable to suppress a smile, "Call your friend that we're coming, might as well make the best of it while it lasts. I'll ask if Mack and the others can get leave too."

Scootaloo went ahead and called the number she had gotten from MacGregor while Twilight called Mack, Fifteen minutes later the Two got approached by a pilot and were heading down to the planet minutes later. The pelican they had gotten reached Scotland within the hour and set down at a small airport, ONI had managed to get a request to the ponies to stay in the pelican to prevent too much exposure so they waited until MacGregor reached the airport.

"So, since you managed to get us leave I take it you also have an idea what to do down there." Twilight asked to which Scootaloo just shrugged, "Anything is better than being cooped up in a spaceship, I for one want to practice flying on my own for a bit." Twilight groaned and turned her gaze outside where she could see a car approaching, "I think your man is here Scoots." She said as the car came to a halt at the ramp of the pelican and the Scottish marine stepped out.

"Didn't you say you didn't think you would get leave, lassy." He said with a smile, "C'mon get in, I had an appointment with the local pub before you called me."

Twilight grimaced as she heard the were going to a bar, "Going to a bar might not be the best of ideas." She told MacGregor, "Last time Scoots nearly electrocuted someone, I'd like to not repeat that."

"Don't worry lass, They're all buddies of mine, they won't do a thing." He reassured Twilight, "Get on in, we've got a bit of a ride ahead of us"

"One does not simply walk into a bar without drinking, MacGregor." Twilight said as she entered the car which caused Scootaloo to snicker, "Nerd." she said before also getting into the car.

About one and a half hours later the car came to a stop in a parking lot in the middle of the village MacGregor called home, The village itself reminded Twilight of Equestria, the houses weren't the concrete blocks she had seen in the cities or military bases but wooden ones with stone bases. MacGregor told them the houses were build to resemble an old building style while still having the same utilities as a regular house.

"When we get to the bar you two should let me introduce you two," MacGregor's voice breaking Twilight's train of thought. Both ponies nodded, they were still wearing their black dress uniform so they were probably going to get some strange looks. The Scottish marine opened the door to the pub, immediately after which music started pouring through, MacGregor looked around before spotting a group of three civilians at the back of the bar. Quickly making their way over to the table, surprisingly they didn't get as many looks as she had expected although that could be chalked up to some of the Scotsmen being too drunk.

"Ey Alec, you're late!" One of the three shouted the moment he saw the marine walking towards them.

"Had to do something for the lads upstairs." Alec Responded sitting down at the table with the others, allowing for Scoots and Twilight to also take a seat.

"What the hell did you guys give me?" one of the three friends asked, "I think I'm hallucinating." he added while studying the liquid in his glass.

"Uhm, hi?" Twilight said smiling weakly, the surprise causing Alec's female friend to do a spit-take. 

"We can't all be hallucinating the same thing at the same time can we?" She asked the others who were also staring at the ponies, before they could theorize any better further Alec interfered. "Willie, Kirsten, Ronald, meet Twilight and Scootaloo." He said pointing to the respective ponies. "They're with the 65th shock troop division."

The three friends looked at each other silently trying to decide their course of action, what they came up with surprised Twilight. 

"Hey Barkeep! Get these two aliens a beer!"

Twilight was in the back of MacGregor's car with Scootaloo, the pegasus had had a couple of beers herself back at the bar but due to never having drunk alcohol in her entire life in combination with her smaller body the liquid had a severe effect on her. The night itself had gone pretty well no-one had bothered them, a few people had asked some things about what they were or where they came from but mostly Twilight had opted to tell them that that was classified so she wouldn't get into trouble for that with ONI. She looked over Scootaloo who was peaceful sleeping feeling a pang of pity for the pegasus that would have to suffer a hangover the next morning.

The car came to a stop at a house outside the village, Twilight loaded Scootaloo on her back after she got out of the car. The house was dark indicating that the inhabitants were already asleep.

"I'll show you a room. I wanted to surprise my kin so didn't tell them I was coming to visit them, so could you lads stay in that room tomorrow morning until I come and get you?" Alec asked, Twilight nodded. Alec opened the door and they silently made their way to a guest room where a neatly made bed stood. Twilight put Scoots under the blanket on one side of the bed as she claimed the other, "See you tomorrow, MacGregor. Thanks for letting us stay." She whispered

"My pleasure, Sparkle." He responded closing the door behind him. Twilight lay down in the bed, moaning in pleasure as she found it to be incredibly soft unlike the bunks in the Stalwart Dawn that felt like they were made from concrete. Settling into the bed it didn't take long for the alicorn to start drifting to sleep.

Twilight was standing on a grassy hill, feeling a bit disoriented she looked around. Down the hill about two hundred meters in front of her, she could see a familiar village in the distance.

Ponyville. 

She tried to move but she couldn't, putting all her strength into raising a leg didn't help a single bit. looking down at her legs she found nothing amiss, studying her surroundings she suddenly heard a sound coming from the sky. Looking at the source of the sound made her blood go cold, a covenant CCS-class battlecruiser was looming over the village with its main glassing beam charging.

"HEY, ANYPONY! GET OUT OF THE VILLAGE!" She screamed out the top of her lungs in panic, she could see ponies wandering not knowing the danger they were in.

"NO!" She screamed as plasma was flung from the bottom of the spaceship obliterating the town in hellfire, she could see pegasi falling down from the sky with burned wings and unicorns and earthponies with their hides ablaze crawling from the collapsed houses near to the edge of the town. Twilight collapsed crying trying to crawl forward but whatever cruel force was acting on her didn't allow for her to go forward. Unannounced to Twilight the dream started to slow down and eventually froze entirely, it took a few moments for the alicorn to realize that the dream had stopped in its tracks and the moment she noticed she looked around in confusion. In the corner of her eyes, she spotted something mostly sky blue but it also had a rainbow mane. Turning around completely she found her body grow cold at the sight of the pony. 

"Rainbow?"

"Twilight?"





Rainbow was once again in the dream world only this time she wasn't accompanied by the princess of dreams. she had been tasked to identify nightmares and if they weren't too severe stop them, up to this point no real nightmares had plagued anypony in Equestria. Sure there were the occasional dreams of ponies worried about various things but interfering with every bad dream would one be impossible and bad for the ponies themselves too.

But without any nightmares Dash was very bored, she felt a little guilty as she wished for a nightmare to give her something to do. Not long after her wish got granted, she felt a tug on her body as it detected a nightmare and a strong one at that. Rainbow followed the feeling to the dream-bubble of origin, her eyes widening as she saw where it was located.

The large scar that Discord had made according to the Princess, a bit deeper into the scar she could see a red dream-bubble indicating a nightmare. Remembering the things Luna had told her about the scar she turned away so she wouldn't get trapped by it. As she turned Rainbow felt another tug pull her towards the bubble, looking back at it Rainbow could feel the desperation coming from it.

"Buck it." Dash said and sprinted into the scar, Black tentacles sprung out of the nothingness flying towards the blue pegasus trying to restrain her. realizing her mistake Dash tried to get back out of the scar but the tentacles had already reached her but just before they touched her they smashed into a red barrier and dissipated. The confused pony looked at the barrier that had formed around her body that was keeping the blackness in check, a red lightning bolt adorned her chest flaring up every time a tentacle smashed into the barrier and dissipated.

The element of Loyalty.

Whatever chaos magic Discord had used was unable to beat through the barrier made by the element of harmony, grinning widely Dash set off deeper into the scar towards the nightmare. Around her various dream bubbles floated but every time she tried to get a better look a tentacle popped the bubble denying the pegasus a chance to investigate, but the general feeling of fear was ever present indicating the dreams could not be pleasant ones.

She arrived at the nightmare she had sensed and looked at the bubble, out of nowhere another black tentacle sprung out and launched out at the bubble.

"No, you don't!" She shouted and tried to jump in between the tentacle and the bubble. She almost made it but the black goo managed to speed up at the last moment, but just before the tentacle hit a magenta barrier adorned with a six-pointed starburst sprung up. Rainbow Dash's heart skipped a beat, "Twilight"  she whispered. Rushing over to the bubble she entered through the shield and the element of Loyalty and Magic's shield mixed to allow Dash through, Dash immediately got to work at getting through into the dream which didn't take long and she felt the now familiar feeling of slipping into a dream.

Dash reoriented herself the moment she entered the dream, "NO!" somepony screamed causing Dash to flinch and jump around. She saw Twilight Standing a small distance away from her looking down a hill at Ponyville.

At least.. the remains of it.

A large beam of fire from a strange metal ship was burning the village to a crisp, ponies burning alive,  Rainbow tried to regain her composure determined to stop the dream. Concentrating on stopping the depiction of Twilight's mind she went to work, waves hit rainbows consciousness trying to get the foreign entity out of the dream bubble but Rainbow persisted. No-one was going to stop the element of loyalty from helping her friend, even that friend herself. Slowly but surely the dream came to a halt, Rainbow stopped after the dream wasn't moving in the slightest and looked at Twilight. The alicorn was wearing some sort of black armor and a bit further away from her a helmet with a slot for her horn lay in the grass. Twilight by this point had stopped sobbing and looked around confused and shortly after noticed Dash and turned to her.

"Rainbow?" She asked.

"Twilight?" Dash replied not believing her eyes.

Before any other action could be taken Twilight tackled Rainbow in a hug, "Is it really *snif*
you Rainbow?" she asked her eyes tearing up again.

"Y-yea, it's me Twilight." Dash stuttered trying to find words to say while also holding Twilight in a tight hug.

Twilight released her hug and looked at Rainbow, "This isn't real, is it? It's just a dream." she said dejectedly.

Rainbow also released her hug a bit, "Wait, what! I mean yes it's a dream but I'm really here Princess Luna is teaching me how to dreamwalk!"

Hearing this a smile formed on Twilight's face and she hugged her pegasus friend again, Rainbow took the time to look at her dream in detail. "What the hay is that thing Twilight?" She asked looking up in fear at the cruiser bombarding Ponyville.

Twilight followed Rainbows gaze up to the cruiser, her heartbeat increasing again but she soon remembered that it was just a dream. "It's a CCS Battlecruiser." She spat the words as if they were poison, "It's the second most used ship in the Covenant fleet after the corvettes."

Rainbow stayed silent for a moment in awe of the ship, it had to be over one and a half kilometers long. "Why is it attacking ponyville and who are the Covenant?" She asked.

"The Covenant are a collection of aliens that have set out on a campaign of genocide, they would kill everything that opposes their religion." Twilight said with a dark tone in her voice.

"Wait, what! Did you say aliens?" Rainbow said looking at Twilight in disbelief. Twilight kept looking at the ship in the sky while answering, "We're not alone out there Rainbow, there are so many more worlds and wonders out there you wouldn't even be able to imagine them."

The Dreamworld started to ripple causing Twilight to spring into action levitating the helmet onto her head, Rainbow watched in awe as the transparent visor turned opague obscuring Twilights face and lights sprung on on either side of the helmet.

"What's going on Rainbow?" Twilight asked ready just in case anything jumped them.

"You're being awoken, I'll try to find you next time you sleep!" Dash quickly said.

Twilight in a moment of clarity managed to say two more words before she got pulled out of the dream world, "Send Dragonmail!"

Rainbow got booted back into the dream world as Twilights bubble became dormant due to being awake, it didn't matter to Rainbow, she knew where it was and what she had to do. Rushing out of the chaos scar into the regular dreamscape, just to be safe, she concentrated on waking up.

She had a message to send.
> Chapter 13: Surface
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Dash jumped from her bed the moment she opened her eyes and rushed to the bathroom, her armor was neatly laid out on the floor where she had put it the previous night. Quickly putting on the dark blue undersuit and attaching all the individual armor parts before turning to the mirror and fixing her mane to the regular rough state it was in. Taking a better look at her reflection she could still see three lines in her neck where the timberwolf had grazed her, If it weren't for Cloud Kicker donating blood immediately she would be in a much worse shape. Shrugging off the uncomfortable feeling she ran downstairs foregoing breakfast and making a break to the door, a quick glance at the clock on her wall showed that it was nine o'clock in the morning. The front doors of her house flung open with force as the blue nightguard charged through and jumped off the cloud not bothering to close the door, nopony in Ponyville would rob her anyway.

Normally she would enjoy the wind blowing around her body but today she was too focussed on getting to her destination to care. Carousel Boutique was getting bigger and bigger in her vision as she approached the place where Spike was residing. Rainbow smashed down in front of the door startling a few ponies that were strolling around, rather than knocking on the door Dash opted to just walk into the building.

"Rarity! Are you here?!" She shouted up the stairs

Rarity stuck her head from the bathroom upstairs, her makeup only half-done. "Rainbow, darling. A lady doesn't just barge into someone's house and demand to speak to the owner!" She shouted down at the pegasus.

Dash waved her hoof dismissively, "Where is Spike? I need to speak to him, stat."

"He went to stay with the princess for a few days, he shou-" Dash never heard the rest of Rarity's sentence as she made a beeline for Canterlot. Fifteen minutes at a breakneck speed later the white palace was getting really close, pushing herself even harder a Mach cone was forming before her hooves and moments later an explosion of color appeared behind her but the sound of the explosion never made it to her ears as she was outspeeding it.

Rainbow aimed for the chariot bay beneath the palace as a landing place, she could see a few panicking guards get out of her trajectory in the distance. Deciding she had approached close enough she lightly flared being careful that she didn't dislocate a wing, at these speeds that would be disastrous, quickly closing the distance with the hangar she increased her flare losing even more speed until her armored hooves hit the floor and a trail of sparks was left behind her. Reaching the middle of the hall she slowed down enough to close her wings and run ahead to the stairs up to the palace proper leaving stunned guards behind in the hangar.

A quick sprint later the throne room came into view, a small line of nobles stood in front of it waiting for the princess to hear their grievances, not caring about the protests from the highborn of Equestria as she ran past them to what she presumed to be Princess Celestia. Dash slowed down to a trot to catch her breath before entering the throne room where she found a noble whining about some law or another.

"Rainbow Dash, it's nice for you to visit but right now is a very inopportune moment. If you would like to come back at lunch I would happily speak to you." Celestia said as she noticed the pegasus.

Rainbow thought her replied through for a moment because officially Twilight was on a 'Diplomatic mission far away'.
"I've got an update on Twilight's situation." She replied hoping to get the princess one on one, Celestia's iron mask broke slightly as she heard what Dash said.

"What kind of update might that be?" she asked

"A message." Rainbow replied, Celestia's eyes widened ever so slightly. 

"Court is adjourned for today, Captain wake my sister and escort her to the situation room." She told the guard next to her who immediately took off to the lunar tower, "Private Dash, follow me." She ordered Dash who stayed close on the princess's tail, they made their way into a room that had a map of the entire planet Equis on a massive table. Luna teleported in with the captain of the guard, "My sovereign." Dash said while bowing, she saw Celestia give her sister a glare as she heard Rainbow talk in the old tongue.

"Thine has news on our sister's student and fellow Princess?" Luna immediately asked.

"Yes, Princess. I found her dreambubble." Dash replied, "I spoke to her for a few moments but she got woken up."

This made Luna look strangely at Dash, "You mean to say you found her where I couldn't?"

"I.."

"Show me." Luna said as she lit her horn, Rainbow nodded and a tendril of Luna's magic touched Dash's head looking at her memories the tendril dissipating moments later. "YOU IDIOT!" She shouted in the royal Canterlot voice, "WERE WE UNCLEAR WHEN WE TOLD THINE NOT TO ENTER THE CHAOS BURN!"

Dash cowered before the enraged Princess, some might say that it looked uncool but when an over millennium-old pony is shouting at you in a voice that was rocking the foundation of the palace anypony would be afraid.

LUNA! Celestia thundered after her sister, "Would you please explain to me what you saw and what the chaos burn is." She calmly added.

Luna sighed and lit her horn once again, above the table a sort of portal like mirror appeared showing Rainbows point of view from back in the dream world. Celestia followed Rainbows actions closely from when she found Twilight's bubble to when she entered, She gasped a little when she saw the devastation Twilight had dreamed up. The magic viewing portal collapsed after Dash got kicked from Twilight's dream.

"I'll go get Spike." The captain said as he also watched the dream and walked out of the room at speed.

"Lulu, you owe me an explanation about that scar in the dream world." Celestia told Luna the latter of which sighed.

"When we banished Discord he opened up a tear in the dream world as a last attempt at spiting us, to this day I never found out why he did it but it's there." Luna told her sister.

"Why didn't you close it?" Celestia asked.

Luna suddenly looked really sad before replying, "Nightmare Moon."

"We had started repairing the damage but with our weakened connection to the elements we didn't make any significant progress before our banishment."

Celestia got Luna in a wing-hug comforting her before looking over at Dash who still looked terrified of the Princess of the night and gave her sister a nudge. Luna looked over at Rainbow who was standing at the ready with slightly shaky legs, seeing the state of her student Luna felt a bit of remorse for the pegasus.

"Rainbow Dash, come over here." She told Dash who complied, walking up to luna something she didn't expect happened.
Luna included her in the wing-hug.

"Rainbow you must understand that I'm only mad at you because I don't want to lose you. You've quickly become to me what Twilight is to my sister, my first student in almost eleven-hundred years."

Spike chose that moment to walk into the room with the captain, "What's all the fuss about, Princess? He's not telling me anything." Spike said while pointing at the captain. "And what are you three doing?" He added seeing the group hug.

"We were giving each other some moral support." Celestia replied releasing the hug and levitating a piece of parchment to herself scribbling something on it, "We need you to send something."

Spike shrugged, "I don't get why I needed to be picked up by the captain of the guard for that."

"Send this to Twilight." Celestia told Spike who got a bit pale.

"D-did you find her?" The little dragon stuttered. "Not her location but Rainbow found her dream-bubble, please send the message I'll fill you in in just a bit." Celestia answered and turned to Luna and Rainbow, "You two need to get more information from Twilight so we can find out where she and Scootaloo are."

The two nodded and walked off to Luna's tower as Celestia heard Spike send the letter to Twilight.

"We're going to get them back Spike, it's only a matter of time."




"Twilight wake up." Scootaloo faintly heard through a splitting headache, quickly pulling a blanket over her head to block out the sound and go back to sleep. She felt the alicorn stir beside her and shoot up, dragging the blanket with her exposing Scootaloo to an assault of sunlight.

"Send Dragonmail!" She shouted, Scotaloo cringed and curled up in a ball covering her ears. 

"Whoa, lass. Calm down." Alec told Twilight who looked around the room remembering where she was, her eyes falling on the curled up pegasus. Scootaloo heard her magic buzzing and soon after the pounding on her head was much lighter, still there but manageable.

"I probably should have done that last night." Twilight said sheepishly to Scootaloo as she also got up from the bed.

"Whatever, what was that about Dragonmail when you woke up." Scootaloo asked her companion who lit up before stopping herself, "I'll tell you if it happens, for all I know it was just a dream."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes but didn't push any further and turned to the marine, "Is your family up already?" She asked, the time on the clock being 6:27.

"My kin always had a habit of getting up early." MacGregor shrugged, "C'mon you two, I've already told them a bit about you two"

The two ponies got up from bed Scootaloo's uniform was neatly stacked on the dresser beside her, Twilight must have got it off while she was out last night. both ponies foregoing putting on their dress uniform and following Alec down the stairs to his family. In the kitchen, a man and a woman sat at a table both seemingly in their sixties, also at the table was a girl with red hair probably in her early twenties.

A few flashes of movement later and the girl was in front of Scootaloo holding her in a hug. "IT'S SO CUTE!" She shouted, squeezing even harder. "Can I keep it!"

Scootaloo could hear Twilight laughing at the smaller pegasus but she was too preoccupied with trying to get some breath, "Air." she croaked through the girls iron grip who immediately released the pegasus, "sorry" she sheepishly said.

"I think our guest would appreciate not being strangled, Jannet." The elderly woman told the girl. "Now, would you two lassies like some toast."

The next half hour was spend eating breakfast and sharing stories once again. Alec's sister, Jannet, wanted to go out with Scoots while she tried flying again so she had made a lunch pack for both of them. Saying goodbye to the group still at the table eating breakfast Scootaloo followed Janet outside into the fields where the girl knew of a secluded spot out in the field where they could practice without anyone seeing them.

"So you've never been able to fly?" Jannet asked while they were making their way over to the spot where Scootaloo could practice.

"No.. Well, a bit." Scootaloo said, "I used to be able to hover with my smaller wings by just beating them really quickly but I can't do that now since they've grown."

"Must be hard to learn all this without anyone other than Twilight to give you pointers."

"It is. Twilight really wants to help but she herself isn't that good a flyer by any means." Scootaloo replied, "I'm going to try a few of the things Rainbow taught me, she always went on about how the feeling of freedom she has when in the sky." Scootaloo happily flapped her wings twice and lifted off for a moment and dropped back down, Scootaloo totally oblivious due to remembering prior conversations with Rainbow Dash but Jannet was grinning, it was going to be an interesting afternoon.
 



Scootaloo and Jannet walked out of the house while the rest of the group was still finishing up eating, Twilight was levitating her own plate over to the kitchen counter having finished her own breakfast. "So, miss Sparkle, do you have anything planned for the day?" MacGregor dad asked.

"I want to run a few tests on the background magic of this world, I can feel it's stronger than the one on Reach but there's something off about it that I can't put my hoof on." Twilight replied, "Is there a room I can us__" A scroll materialized from black smoke and slapped Twilight on the side of the head, The purple alicorn immediately levitated it in front of her as a smile slowly formed on her face and she started laughing.

"They got the message!" Twilight shouted while bunny-hopping around the kitchen.

"What was that!" Alec said, echoing the sentiment of the other humans in the room.

"Dragonmail! It's a quick note from Princess Celestia." Twilight said, clearing her throat. "To Twilight, Rainbow has notified me and my sister she has found you in the dream world. She'll be in contact, hopefully, she and Luna will find a way to let others talk to you soon. We miss you, Princess Celestia." She finished reading.

"The attic is mostly empty, you could use that if you wish." The old lady told Twilight, the pony nodded happily and made her way up the stairs. The attic only had a few boxes throw around which Twilight neatly stacked at the back of the room so she had some space. sitting in the middle of the room she closed her eyes and started concentrating on the magic flow around her, drifting into a trance.

Chaos, although not pervasive it was present but there was also something else, something familiar. filtering out the chaos and the weak natural magic of the planet she was left with a small warm stream of magic as if the sun itself was flowing through her mind, only one place she knew of had magic like that. Equestria.

Feeling a tap on her nose brought Twilight back to reality, Scootaloo was in front of her hopping up and down. "Weren't you going out to practice your flying?" she asked.

Scootaloo looked confused at the alicorn, "It's past seven in the evening Twilight, you've been up here the entire day according to the others downstairs."

Twilight slapped herself for being so stupid, she had managed to get into such a deep trance that she lost track of time. Looking back at the pegasus who had a large smile on her face she remembered what Scootaloo had set out to do. "How did your flight practice go?"

Scootaloo stopped hopping and instead of telling Twilight she started flapping her wings rising into the air, beads of sweat forming on her forehead as she exerted herself, seconds later she finally dropped onto the floor again with increased breathing. "It went great!" she squeeked, her mood dropping immediatly for some reason. "We got new orders." She said hoofing over a tablet to Twilight.

Twilight read the orders, "That sucks." She commented, "It was fun while it lasted, c'mon Scoots pack your stuff orders are orders." She told the pegasus, giving her back the tablet that told them they had to return to the Stalwart Dawn.

"Already did, also packed your stuff it was only your uniform anyway." Scootaloo replied, "a pelican will pick us up in fifteen."

Twilight nodded and the two made their way downstairs thanking the humans for their hospitality, fifteen minutes later a pelican landed in front of the house and the ponies boarded.

"Strap in tight Twilight, and Squirt, get up front I want my co-pilot next to me." A familiar voice came from the cockpit.

"Zoey!" Scootaloo shouted as her mood improved again at seeing the pilot that had been in cryo for the last month. She strapped into the seat up front and immediately started checking systems.

"Heard you flew a bird out of New Alexandria, sorry by the way for not visiting sooner I had my hands full at Reach." Zoey said as she pushed the power on the engines up, propelling the pelican into the sky. "You two already made quite a few ripples in the media by the way. There's word of two talking horses at a bar in the media, all of which is being denied by officials as hallucinations of drunk Scotsmen and that video footage has been tampered with by conspiracy theorists to put weight behind their claims." She chuckled, "Of course those people are making up the entire story wouldn't you two agree? I mean two alien talking ponies that can use magic, what kind of lunacy is that?"

Scootaloo and Twilight chuckled, "I assume we're on ONI's shitlist now with us making their life a lot harder." Twilight asked.

"Don't know, probably. The others got denied shore leave and you were down there for a grand twenty-five hours so they're probably not that happy with you two." Zoey replied looking over the instruments on the pelican, "Coming up on the Dawn" She stated.

The frigate was docked at a Repair and refit station, Neither Scootaloo and Twilight had had a good look of the warship when they had left for Earth. The entire starboard hangar was gone due to the hits from the plasma torpedo's at Reach burn marks covered the entire surface of the ship with the exception of the places where it was clear repair crews already finished their work.

"She's a mess." Scootaloo commented as they approached.

"No kidding. We got lucky as well, had those torps hit anywhere else we'd have been molten metal around Reach." Lucy said typing in commands to get access to the docking bay of the repair station, with Scootaloo helping to monitor the sensors they quickly managed to dock the pelican.

"So, did they replace the flight sim yet?" Scootaloo asked Zoey who shook her head, "Dammit, I was hoping to get to do some practice."

"Language Scootaloo." Twilight said from behind the two, "I'm not having you go around swearing willy-nilly."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes, it wasn't like Twilight had expanded her own vocabulary in the last few months.

"They have a flight-sim in the station here we can use." Zoey told Scootaloo, getting the conversation back on track. "Two to be exact, want to try to beat me again?" She said, "Or are you scared I'm going to kick your ass." Zoey added with a grin.

"O you are on!" Scootaloo replied the two making their way over to the simulators while Twilight continued to report to the Dawn. The airlock of the Dawn, being connected with the repair station, was open and allowed for Twilight to walk through it without cycling. A few crewmembers were walking around the hallways, giving nods to Twilight as they passed, reaching her quarters she opened the door and flopped into bed realizing just how fatigued she was. 
Quickly she fell asleep to her dreams, only this time there was no rainbow maned pony to stop the nightmares.
> Chapter 14: Feet First Into Hell
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





"TWO MONTHS!" Twilight shouted as she pummeled a punchbag, "I told them that I need to be on planet to make contact with Equis and EVERY BUCKING TIME they've told me that they're running through paperwork to get us cleared to go down to the surface!" falling down on all four of her legs Twilight rotated 180 degrees and bucked the bag, causing it to tear off from the chain it was attached to.

"Calm down Twilight, they can't keep you up here forever." Mack tried to reason, "And there's something going on that they're not telling us, the battle cluster around here has only been growing."

"I KNOW! That means the window of opportunity  I have to make contact with home again is most probably shrinking!" Twilight fumed as she moved on to the next punchbag, "I mean look at the pile of parchment over there, since they now know we can receive dragonmail they've been updating us and asking why I haven't been able to contact them again!"

Mack remained silent having nothing to bring against Twilight's point. The pony punching and kicking the living shit out of the current punchbag, she had been at it for at least one and a half hour by this point.

"You done yet? I'm pretty sure any of the other soldiers that train here would appreciate not having all the equipment destroyed." Mack said, Twilight momentarily looked at the punchbags she had already gone through and decided that the sarge was right. Kicking the current bag one more time for good measure, she got her towel and made her way over to the showers.

A quick shower later she was back in the hallway, fully armored up due to orders from brass that they had to be ready at all times. Having run every test she knew of at least three times over in the past two months she was anxious to get down to the surface again since the magic connection in space seemed to be too weak to allow Dash to dreamwalk.

Walking into the drop-pod bay in the lower part of the ship she found Scootaloo, Lucy, and Tyler along with some other ODST's playing a card game.

"Raise by twenty." Scootaloo said as she pushed two chips forward, the pegasus had become quite a bit better at the game than when she started. Having won on a few occasions, at least, when Twilight wasn't playing with them.  Twilight took up a seat against a wall grabbing the science book about advanced slipspace theory she had been reading.

She'd been keeping notes on the concepts lined out in the theory, they had a lot in common with how teleportation worked. The alicorn was lazily flipping through the book to the place she left off, never making it to the marked page as alarms started sounding.

"All hands, Battlestations!"
Every ODST present shot up and Rand to a weapon rack loading their preferred weapon into a pod, Twilight levitated a suppressed magnum and a DMR into her pod as Scootaloo slammed a suppressed magnum and SMG into hers.

"Sparkle!" Mack called out to the alicorn getting her attention, "take a sniper instead of a DMR, without Woods we don't have anyone for long range!"

Twilight begrudgingly pulled the DMR and it's ammo from the pod and replaced them with the long gun and its ammo. Stepping into the pod she strapped herself in, cursing the fact the seats were designed for humans.

"Listen up ladies!" Mack shouted over the COM, "there's a fleet massing just outside the kill-zone of the super-MAC's if one of the bastards makes it to the surface it's our job to kick them right back into their ship." Mack continued, he clearly was getting a feed of tactical information.

"I don't have to remind anyone here that this is Earth. There's no planet we can fall back to if we lose here, we either win here or we lose and also lose the war and will all die. Since I'm quite happy with my life right now I'd rather win, don't you all agree!"  Mack shouted into his mic.

"Yes, sergeant!" Twilight and the others shouted in unison.

"Damn right we're going to win, strap in everyone. If the Dawn gets hit the captain will fire the pods to save as many crew for the fight down below as possible."

The pods sealed, ready to eject at any point if necessary. Inside them, Twilight was reading out the information on the monitor. Two Carriers and thirteen battlecruisers had jumped into the system onto Earths doorstep, out of those ships three battlecruisers were already destroyed by fire from the UNSC home fleet. "One of the carriers is charging for the planet! At current bearing, it will come down over New Mombasa." Twilight said as she was quickly trying to interpret the data available to her. New orders from the bridge appeared on the display before her, which got relayed by Mack. "Everyone hold on tight! We're dropping into the city down below" Mack said as he started up a countdown on the screens in the pod.

"Thirty seconds!" He called out

"Fifteen!"

"Ten!"

"Five!"
"Four!"
"Feet First!" Mack shouted at Three.
"Into Hell!" The other ODST's replied as the pods started firing in rapid succession, Twilight felt the G-forces on her body as she was hurled from the bottom of the ship by electromagnets.

She quickly checked every instrument to make sure nothing was off and the pod was working correctly, finishing just before she hit the atmosphere. "Nice and toasty out there!" she heard Tyler said over the COMs, the temperature rising inside as well due to the heat.

"Shut up savage, no time for your BS in a drop." Mack told him.

The fire around the pod died off as they bled off enough speed, that was the moment that Scootaloo reported in.

"Sarge, I'm getting a bit of shimmy on my pod." She reported, "Scratch that, I'm spinning now!" Scootaloo immediately shouted afterward.

"Deploy your airbrakes, Hurricane!" Mack shouted to Scootaloo who was now drifting off course severely.

"Not responding!" Scootaloo shouted back, her voice strained as the G-forces on her pod were increasing. "Firing the retrograde Thrusters!"

The rockets on her pod ignited, trying to slow her down but while it did succeed in slowing the pod down it also increased the rotation immensely putting a lot of stress on the drop-pod. Finally reaching its breaking point the door to Scootaloo's pod ripped off soon followed by the rest of the pod disintegrating.

"SCOOTALOO!" Twilight could only watch as in the distance she could see the debris from the pegasus her drop-pod raining down to the city. Her own airbrake had engaged by this point only seconds away from touchdown. The rockets on her pod fired reducing the speed even more to an acceptable landing velocity. The pod smashed into the ground knocking Twilight into her chair, her head buzzing from the sudden deceleration. Dazed she opened the door of the pod and levitated the sniper rifle next to her checking for any hostiles finding that none were present. Further up in the street she could see Mack and Lucy standing in front of their pods, having also determined there were no enemy contacts at the landing site.

"Sarge, Scoots went down a few klicks north of here. We could make it there in an hour with some luck." Twilight said over the COMs.

"Negative, Sparkle. If she made it out she'll be long gone by that point, we have our orders to start pushing the covies back. Hurricane is a might be small but she's tough as nails, she'll be fine on her own until she can find a unit to hook up with."

"But she__"

"We're going east to hook up with other UNSC forces, that's an order Sparkle." Mack sternly told the alicorn, "Savage landed a bit further up, we'll hook up with him and move on city centre. Get a move on helljumpers."





Scootaloo was frantically pushing buttons in an attempt to deploy the airbrake, moments before she had fired the thrusters on the pod to try and slow down that way. The pod suddenly shrieked as if metal was tearing off unnerving the pegasus even more, pulling the emergency released for the airbrake she finally heard the brake come out but before she could cheer the pod hit another bump causing the door to fly off along with the airbrake. The sudden drop of pressure dazed Scootaloo and before she knew it she was flying through the air in free fall as the safety harness had come loose from the pod. Below her she could see her pod disintegrating, now being out her pod she rapidly decelerated to a manageable speed.

"O crap." Scootaloo unfurled her wings and beat them furiously, in the past two months she had regained the ability to hover and even have short flights but nothing coming close to sustained flight. But then again, with practicing flight there wasn't the fact that she was going to be turned into mush if she didn't figure it out soon. Remembering all that Dash and Twilight had learned her, The feeling of weightlessness Rainbow had described when she was flying and Twilight's lessons on how to flap wings. Trying to concentrate on the feeling of weightlessness she felt something moving from her chest to her wings, something that felt warm and comforting to the pegasus. The moment the feeling spread throughout her wings she started uncontrollably jerking in random directions with each flap. 'Flap your wings in a controlled fashion.' Twilight's voice echoed through her mind. Scootaloo changed her strategy from furious flapping to a controlled wingbeat and got immediate results, instead of dropping like a brick she got in a controlled nosedive.

Checking on how much time she had left she quickly saw buildings coming up to meet her, going into a flare she tried slowing down to landing speed but even with the increased drag she was still going to fast.

Scootaloo smashed down into the roof of a building skidding about a dozen meters before coming to a stop, groaning in agony from the impact she stayed on the floor for a moment. After the initial pain subsided a little she checked her body,'Nothing broken, Thank Celestia for pegasi bones.' She thought, hoping that she didn't have internal damage because that would be a death sentence in this situation.

Checking her equipment she found that the armor plates were still in place and secure but when checking her radio she found the transmitter to be completely thrashed, "Well, bucking fantastic!" She shouted, turning the radio on to try and catch a signal. In the distance, she could see a frigate called the In Amber Clad and three pelicans coming over in her direction. Tapping into their communication she listened in on their conversation

"The message just repeats, regret, regret, regret." the voice of a lady came over Scootaloo's radio

"Catchy. Any idea what it means?" another lady asked, in the meanwhile, Scootaloo was looking over the roof to find a way down into the street not wanting to try her luck with flying again. She got distracted as a male voice answered the two ladies.

"Dear Humanity. We regret being alien bastards, we regret coming to earth and we most definitely regret the core just blew up our raggedy-ass fleet! Hoorah!" The conversation went on but Scootaloo missed that part as she was too pre-occupied laughing, if she ever met the guy she would get him a beer.

Suddenly hearing the sound of buildings coming down she jumped up and saw a scarab walking through a pair of buildings and shooting down the three pelicans, one of them getting hit by the main cannon probably instantly killing everyone inside but the other two got hit by the aa gun on top of the walker and making a crash lander on either side of the scarab respectively. Immediately jumping into action she jumped off the roof in a controlled glide this time, touching down on the pavement below she looked back at the building. she smiled under the helmet as she ran further towards the crash site, she had just successfully flown further than she ever had before that point.

A few minutes of running through the narrow streets later, being motivated by gunfire, she reached the crash site where the burning remains of the pelican was located. Again she heard the sound of gunfire coming from a hallway a bit further, pushing herself around the final turn towards the soldiers that had crashed. The bodies of several covenant assault waves littered the ground but when she saw what was attacking the marines her blood went cold.

Hunters.

Scootaloo reached for her SMG, finding nothing. She cursed as she checked her armament to see what she did have. Two grenades and her combat knife. Looking at the two aliens she saw they had their backs turned to her, taking a few deep breaths she jumped from her cover and charged forward. Neither hunter took notice of the pegasus as they were blasting the marines in the building, Scootaloo grinned beneath her helmet as she rammed a primed grenade into the first hunter's lower back.

"See you in Tartarus!" She shouted as the alien turned his head in time to see the pony backing off. Seconds later a dull explosion went off and the individual worms that made up the hunter flew in every direction.

The second hunter let out an enraged roar and charged Scootaloo, her eyes widened as she made a quick roll out of the way. Not a second too soon as the shield from the alien slammed down on the concrete where she had been moments before. In the corner of her eyes Scootaloo could see something green moving swiftly towards the other hunter, her eyes widened as she recognized the armor as the same armor as that of Maria.

Mjolnir, there was a Spartan here.

She watched in awe as the armored super-soldier nimbly got up on the back of the final hunter and emptied a clip of assault rifle ammo into its neck, the alien roared but didn't go down. Scootaloo got out of her moment of awe and also charged the hunter, latching onto the lower back she repeatedly stabbed it with her knife. Finally having taken enough punishment the hunter collapsed into a heap and died.

Another gunshot rang out and a bullet hit the armor plate on Scootaloo's chest, ignoring the pain she jumped behind cover.

"STOP FIRING AT THE TROOPER YOU SON OF A BITCH!" The male voice from the radio called out.

"Sarge, it's an alien." The marine who shot said.

"I don't care if it's an Elite wearing the trooper armor of my glorious core, the last time I checked only soldiers fighting with us got a set of that stuff. Come on out soldier."

Scootaloo carefully peaked around her cover, most of the soldiers had already come down and out of the building. A black Sergeant Major strode forward from the group towards her location, Scootaloo emerged from cover standing in front of the man, "private Hurricane, 65th shock troop battalion." She said saluting with her wing, keeping her hooves on the ground so she could jump for cover.

"Not anymore. Congratulations private, you're now part of this unit. Someone get him a weapon!" he said, a few seconds later she caught an SMG thrown to her by one of the marines. It wasn't a suppressed one but it would do. The squad moved into the courtyard next to the one they were in, killing a jackals sniper along with a few shielded ones as quickly as they could after arriving. A pelican lowered into the courtyard as the radio crackled alive once again, "Sergeant, I need you on that bird."
"Ma'am?" The sergeant asked.

"My Pelicans are going to start airlifting armor and reinforcements into the city. They'll need an escort that isn't afraid of a little hostile ground fire." The lady explained.

"Understood. I'll keep an eye on 'em. Chief ... good luck." He said but before he could climb in Scootaloo had come forward.

"Sarge, permission to join. I can fly a pelican if necessary and have the balls needed to fly one under heavy fire." She told him

A grin appeared on the sergeant's face, "Hop on, private."

Scootaloo jumped into the pelican with the flap of her wings and took a seat, the pelican blasting off towards the frigate.
getting the small reprieve Scootaloo took the time to inspect her chestplate to see if it wasn't critically damaged, only finding two dents she was happy to see that the integrity of the armor wasn't compromised.

"So, what inspired a fairytale creature to join the military." The sergeant asked, Scootaloo took a good look at him reading his nameplate for the first time.

"Got accidentally teleported to a different planet after which I got shot by a trooper who I later befriended and joined up shortly after I heard about the covenant, I despise bullies." She grossly summarized, "Nearly got stabbed in the face by an elite along the way." She added, pointing at the scar running across her muzzle.

"Seems to me that that didn't keep you down for long."

"Hell no sarge." She replied as a pilot called out from the cockpit, "In Amber Clad has two pelicans loaded and ready for deployment when you arrive, Sergeant." 

"Good, tell them I brought my own pilot." Johnson said to the pilots who relayed the message.

"It's current pilot won't be happy about that, Sarge." Scootaloo said in an offhoof manner, "He can take his issues and shove them up his arse for all I care, you're my pilot for the moment" The sergeant told the pegasus as the pelican landed in the frigate's landing bay, the two made their way over to one of two pelicans that had a warthog and a scorpion attached to the back but got stopped by a pilot. "Sir, why have I been pulled off the flight." He bluntly asked.

"Because I found a natural born flyer." He said pointing at Scootaloo as he pushed past the pilot to the pelican. The pegasus, who still had her helmet under her wing, shot the pilot an apologetic glance as she followed the sergeant. A few marines gave her a weird look as she walked forward to the cockpit, although by this point Scootaloo was far beyond the point of caring about their opinions of her, she had a pelican to fly. 

Scootaloo reset the chair so she had easier access to the control panels and started the engines, "Cockpit is a go, just give me some coords, Sarge."

A set of coordinates appeared on screen along with a COM link with the bridge. "Get those vehicles to the Chief, Johnson." The female captain said, "We need him to take out that scarab." 

"Will do, Captain."Scootaloo immediately punched the throttle forward shooting out the hangar, the other pelican hot on her tail. The sergeant leaned forward and pushed a few buttons on the computer starting a tune "ETA, ten minutes!" Scootaloo shouted out back over the noise the moment the computer finished the calculations.
Flak started peppering the two pelicans, Scootaloo quickly adjusting course by small fractions every couple of seconds to throw off their aim. Seeing the flak the pilot of the second pelican started getting cold feet, "This flack is too heavy to fly through, Sergeant. we have to break off!"

"Negative, soldier! Keep your ass on the current bearing!" Johnson shouted but the pelican was already changing course, moments later getting hit by the flak having its port engine exploding, "I'm hit Mayday, Mayd__" The craft exploded before the pilot finished his sentence, "Dammit. Hurricane, what's our ETA?" 

"Sixty seconds!" Scootaloo called out back, turning the pelican behind a building out of the range of the covenant flak cannons. Lowering the pelican down and releasing the Scorpion, giving the controls to her co-pilot she walked out back to the ramp of the pelican where she saw Johnson walking up to a soldier.

"Where's the rest of your platoon?" He asked.

"Wasted, Sarge." The lady replied, the other marine speaking up immediately after. "And we will be, too, sir, if we don't get the hell outta here!"

The sergeant stopped him in his tracks, "You hit, Marine?"

"N-no, Sir." The marine stuttered, "Then listen up!" Johnson said, "Usually the good Lord works in mysterious ways. But not today! This here is sixty-six tons of straight up, H-E-spewing dee-vine intervention! If God is love, then you can call me Cupid!" He said ending with a smile on his face.

"What about that scarab?" The female asked again.

"We've all run the simulations, they're tough, but they ain't invincible. Stay with the Master Chief, he'll know what to do." He told her, "Hurricane! Stay with the Chief as backup."

"Thanks for the tank. He never gets me anything." The voice of an AI came over the COM while Johnson was climbing back into the pelican, "Oh, I know what the ladies like." he said with a smirk while cocking the machinegun turret at the back of the transport craft.

"What are you? I can't find any known records of your species in any databases outside of mythology." The AI asked, her name and service number showing on Scootaloo's HUD. CTN 0452-9, aka Cortana.

"I'm a pegasus. As for how its possible for my species to appear in your mythology, you'd have to ask an egghead. I believe Twilight had a theory on that." The cannon on the Scorpion fired once, hitting a wraith up further on the bridge.

"Interesting." Cortana replied, staying silent afterward. In Scootaloo's peripheral vision she could see two banshees approaching, "Marines! focus on those banshees!" She shouted getting the attention of the two marines who promptly fired a rocket each at the two flying craft. "Score!" Scootaloo shouted as two burning hulks, the marines keeping the tactic of shooting the flying craft while the chief focussed on the bridge. The group made it over the bridge relatively quickly blowing up two wraiths at the end of it that were waiting for them. The tunnels weren't that much more of a problem with the scorpion tank as the Chief just blasted through any resistance with High Explosive shells. At some point in the tunnel, they encountered a barricade which prevented the tank from going any further. The spartan nimbly climbed out of the tank and moved up past the barricade, dispatching all enemies behind it at a speed that made the pegasus extremely envious.

Moving up through a sewage out of the highway tunnel they entered a courtyard filled with covenant soldiers. The Chief snuck forward to a sniper jackal and snapped his neck, relieving it of his weapon. A warthog drove around the courtyard coming over to where she, the chief, and the soldiers were located. "I could use someone on the gun here!" The soldier driving the warthog called out, Scootaloo seeing her chance lept off the ridge and glided onto the back of the car. "Give me a moment to lower this thing!" She told the Gunnery-Sergeant driving the hog, "Get it done quickly because we have incoming!" He shouted back pointing at two ghosts moving towards the hog, Scootaloo quickly rotated the gun around having lowered it down a bit. "Eat lead, motherbuckers!" She shouted as she fired the Gauss cannon, the warthog slid a bit from the recoil of the gun but the ghost she was targeting flew apart in an awesome spectacle. She turned the cannon towards the second ghost but it dodged out of the way right as she fired, "Dammit!" Scootaloo shouted, adjusting her aim. The ghost backed around and boosted towards the hog with the intention of ramming it, Scootaloo grinned as she saw the vehicle coming towards them In a nearly straight line. She pulled the trigger and the second ghost also was consumed by a purple fireball.

To her right, she could see the chief running over to the hog and jumping in having finished clearing the courtyard.

"Go." He curtly ordered the sergeant who floored the accelerator driving towards a tunnel system, clearing a wraith and a few ghosts along the way, before driving into the city where they with the help of other UNSC forces destroyed a few more vehicles.

"There are Marines trapped inside that building, Chief. Concentrate on the Wraiths, they're the biggest threat." Cortana told the chief as they made their way to a square, "There is a Marine Command Post in that building. We'll need to help them deal with that Scarab." she added, putting a waypoint at the building the wraiths were targeting. The Spartan deciding not to waste time jumped off the warthog and sprinted to the wraith on the right, seeing this Scootaloo focussed on the second one. Peppering the tank with shells she got its attention, it fired one of its slow-moving plasma bolts at the warthog that the sergeant easily evaded. Readying another volley scootaloo cursed as she saw a ball of plasma coming from the other wraith but paused as she saw it arching towards the wraith she was firing at. the plasma engulfed the second tank moments later, Scootaloo shot it one more time for good measure before disembarking and joining the master chief who had already reached the front door.

"Sir! Corporal Perez, A-Company! CP's this way! The Lieutenant got hit as soon as we dropped in." A corporal greeted, looking past the chief at Scootaloo.

"She's with us." Cortana said before he could ask, "Who's in charge now, Corporal?"

"Uh, Sergeant Banks, ma'am. He's pinned down up top. Come on, I'll show you." The corporal replied initially stuttering a bit, he led them up a flight of stairs past a few checkpoints to a balcony facing the square.

The sergeant was hunkered down with another marine who was manning a heavy machine gun, he looked over at the new arrivals and jumped up walking towards the Chief. "When I asked for reinforcements, I didn’t think they’d send a Spartan." He looked over at Scootaloo, "Nor did I expect a pegasus."

Scootaloo couldn't reply as the scarab they had seen on occasion came lumbering around the corner of the end of the street, "We got trouble!" The sergeant shouted, a scorpion that had just been dropped in fired two shots before being destroyed by the main plasma cannon of the scarab walker.

"See this look? It's terror!" The marine behind the heavy machinegun shouted, "Marine, did I give you permission to bitch?" The sergeant shouted back at him as the marine opened fire.

"I don't think it's stopping; get your heads down!" The sergeant shouted as the scarab just walked over the building completely ignoring the soldiers on the balcony, "That thing is really starting to PISS ME OFF! Marines, time to kill us a Scarab!"

"It's over here, sir!" A marine called out over the COM, the chief running to the back of the building where the marine had called out from with Scootaloo right on his tail. Out back there was a walkway where a lot of marines were perched shooting down at the approaching scarab. The chief grabbed a Shotgun and waited for the scarab to walk under the overhang,

"What's the plan, Sir." Scootaloo asked him while grabbing a shotgun of her own, instead of replying the Spartan looked over the ledge at the scarab below him and jumped down.

"Give 'em hell Spartan!" A marine shouted, a few others giving the same sentiment. Scootaloo looked down at the spartan who was blasting a few elites that were on the deck of the scarab, "I'll be damned if I let you do that alone." Scootaloo muttered under her breath and attached the shotgun to a magnetic pad under her wing, jumping after the Spartan. A small glide later she hit the deck besides the chief, "Duck!" Cortana shouted prompting Scootaloo to fall down on her stomach, the Chief firing a shell over the pegasus down the stairs nailing an elite in the face.

The chief made a few motions with his hands signalling the Scootaloo were to take left while he would take right. The pegasus nodded and the pair made their way down the stairs taking their respective turns,

BANG

The Chiefs shotgun went off hitting an elite at the far side of the room, Scootaloo followed immediately afterwards by shooting a grunt. Moving up a bit another elite Showed its face and both the Spartan and the pegasus put a shotgun shell into it.

A grunt panicked and ran into the open where the two UNSC soldiers quickly took it down. "One more target on motion tracker, Hurricane." Cortana reported to Scootaloo since her helmet lacked a motion tracker.

"Copy that." Scootaloo acknowledged, slowly creeping forward with her shotgun pointed in the direction of the front. The sound of an energy sword being lit stopped both the Spartan and Scootaloo, the two waiting for the alien to reveal itself. The elite jumped from cover on the chiefs side receiving a buckshot shell center mass from the Spartan but with its stronger shields it kept charging the chief who had to dive out of the way of the swipe. Scootaloo in turn also fired a shell into the torso of the alien, straining the shield even further but also getting its attention. The alien tried to charge but got is feet swiped from under it by the chief who was already back up, Scootaloo fired another shell into the alien finally popping its shield allowing the chief to finish it off with a magnum. Scootaloo took a deep breath as she realized she was holding hers for the entirety of the last engagement, "How do we kill this thing?" She asked.

"You head up top, private. I've got this." Cortana ordered her. Scootaloo swiftly running up top, moments after she reached the top fire and explosions started erupting from the hull and a shriek later the scarab was a collapsed burning corpse. The chief casually came walking up the stairs and walked out front looking towards the now fleeing super-carrier.

A pelican came hovering behind them, sergeant Johnson standing in the cockpit and using the external speakers.
"That's right you mothers. RUN!"

"Not if we can help it sergeant. Extract the chief and return to In Amber Clad." The captain of the frigate ordered Johnson.

"Roger that." Johnson answered, the pelican moving to the front with the ramp down so that the Spartan and Pegasus could board.

"Get us to the In Amber Clad, stat." Johnson ordered the pilot before moving into the back, "Good to see you two made it out on one piece."

Scootaloo wanted to reply but saw the carrier open a slipspace portal in front of itself, "Sweet Celestia, they're jumping!" She called out in shock as the pelican reached the frigate and docked.

"Get to the drop-pods and prepare for the possibility of a quick jump!" The sergeant ordered, the three soldier running out of the pelican towards the bay where the pods were stored, ready to launch at any moment. Sealing herself in so she would be shielded in the event of a jump. Her mind jumped to Twilight for a moment making her feel incredibly cold for a moment, she would leave the system without her companion truly being the only one of her kind wherever she'd end up. A tingling sensation crept up her wings making her thought a reality, the ship had just jumped.




Twilight let off another shot with the sniper rifle she was carrying, the squad had slowly been driving back covenant forces towards the super-carrier. That was until the carrier started moving away from the city.

"What the Fuck?Are they retreating?" Tyler asked from his position further up in the street.

"They wouldn't, they must have left a lot of assholes for us to clean up." Lucy responded as she emptied another clip into the advancing covenant soldiers.

Twilight took aim at another jackal down the street but got distracted by a magic fluctuation to her right, trying to locate the disruption her eyes fell on the super-carrier. Her blood running cold as she saw what it was doing, Twilight quickly ran the numbers through her mind to get a rough estimate of the damage a collapsing slipspace portal would cause. 'very bad. very, VERY BAD!'

"EVERYONE, GET OFF THE STREET INTO THE UNDERGROUND! THE CARRIER IS JUMPING!" She shouted into her helmet, jumping from her vantage point and gliding down to the street running to the entrance of the subway. The others having already reached the entrance were giving her covering fire. Two grunts had taken cover nearby behind a car and lobbed two grenades to the group, Twilight saw the ordinance coming and in a desperate attempt to stop them she put up a spherical shield blocking the grenades. The two explosives stuck to the outside of the shield and both detonated simultaneously, Twilight having reached the group suddenly felt the feedback from the shield taking the hit and her magic reserves almost completely emptied in an instant. 

"AAAAARGH" she screamed, shriveling up into a ball her entire body burning from the lack of magic.

"Sparkle!" Mack shouted, dragging the pony down into the subway. "Stay with me, soldier."

Mack removed Twilight's helmet, a cut running on Twilight's forehead was seeping blood along with a trail of it coming out the corners of her eyes and nose. The rest of the squad had moved down by that point and was shooting up the stairs to prevent the covenant coming down too. A loud explosion suddenly came from the surface and a wave of blue energy rushed by throwing the ODST's of their feet. Twilight's horn was violently sparking magenta energy as it adsorbed the magic radiating from the energy-wave caused by the slipspace rupture, finally having had enough Twilight's eyes rolled back and she fell into unconsciousness.




Rainbow sat on her haunches looking at Twilight's dream-bubble, her friend had managed to contact her about two months ago once and after that her bubble had just remained dormant. This bothered the life out of Rainbow since she had seen a snapshot of the world Twilight had to survive in.

Suddenly a fluctuation in Twilight's bubble happened, putting Rainbow on edge. The fluctuation remained for a moment but soon died down again, Dash released a breath she was holding at the return of the status-quo but shot up again as the bubble went active. Leaving the dreamscape she ran down Canterlot castle where she was staying for the moment to the throne room, in the throne room she found Rarity and Fluttershy talking to Princess Celestia. Rainbow stopped for a moment as all the heads in the room turned in her direction, the princesses had decided to not tell the other bearers about Twilight since they hadn't been able to re-establish contact with the alicorn.

"Rainbow, Darling. We were just talking about you." Rarity said. Rainbow shot the princess a look trying to communicate that she needed to talk to her in private, Celestia immediately picked up on Rainbows intention and already guessed what the subject was about.

"Rarity, Fluttershy, Please follow me and Rainbow Dash." She curtly asked the two oblivious ponies, "Is it active again?"
The princess asked as she and Rainbow made their way to a back room with Rarity and Fluttershy on their tail.

"Yes, Princess." Dash answered quickly, Princess Luna was already in the back room looking into a portal that allowed viewing into the dreamworld. Dash quickly bowed as she saw the princess, "My Sovereign. Uhm, I mean Princess."

Dash's weird behavior surprised the other two bearers, "Are you feeling okay Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked

"Rainbow Dash is under the effects of an oath she took with my sister." Princess Celestia glared at the blue alicorn, "She'll be released after she's finished the task she set out to do."

"Speaking of that task, we have already prepared the viewing window into the dream realm." Luna continued, "My apprentice would thee please open the dream-bubble, we will be indisposed keeping the spell running on this side."

Rainbow nodded and put herself into a trance, entering the dreamworld.

"Princess, would you please be so kind to explain what's happening?" Rarity asked, being utterly confused about what was going on. Through the viewing portal the ponies could see Dash meddling with a dream-bubble opening it for everyone to see. The world she landed in was completely white with a pony clad in black armor lying in the middle.

"Twilight?" She asked, the pony in the dream stirring and raising her head to face Rainbow. Seeing her friend again tackled tackled Dash into hug. "We've got an audience, Twilight." Rainbow said pointing at the other disruption in the dreamworld that showed Princess Celestia, an astonished Rarity, and Fluttershy.

"Girls?" She asked realizing she still had her helmet on and levitated it off. The ponies on the other side gasped as she set the helmet down, Twilight realized her mistake immediately. She still resembled how she looked while awake so she had cuts running along her face and blood pouring from her nose.

"Darling, is that you?" Rarity asked not believing her eyes. "You look absolutely awful."

"Tends to happen when you get hit by the magic discharge from a collapsing slipspace portal." Twilight said, Turning back to Rainbow afterwards. "The covenant have located Earth, we've pushed them back for the moment but more will come. I don't know how long I have until I regain consciousness."
"I'm sorry, but what's the covenant and why does it sound like you're fighting?"
"I also need to you to send a letter to Scootaloo, we lost her in the drop I have to know if she made it." Twilight said, Rainbow's eyes going wide. "Scootaloo is also involved?!"
Twilight?
"She made the decision on her own and she can take care of herself, Dash. In some respects she's a better fighter than me."
"HOW CAN YOU BE SO COLD ABOUT ALL THIS TWILIGHT!" Fluttershy shouted on the verge of tears.

"BECAUSE IF I BREAK DOWN NOW I'LL DIE!" Twilight shouted back at the shy pegasus, her eyes full of tears.

The dream-bubble started to ripple indicating that Twilight was waking up again, "I'm sorry, Fluttershy. I just can't right now." Twilight said, tears freely flowing. "Please send that letter. I'll probably be back soon anyway, I'm going to be down on the planet for a while." With that The dream-bubble became passive again as Twilight awoke, leaving five astonished ponies in her wake.
> Chapter 15: Delta Halo - part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Scootaloo jerked to one side of the pod she was in as the ship decelerated from slipspace, her comm immediately came to life as it was still connected to Johnson's.

"Report!" The captain shouted. An operations officer quickly checked his systems and responded, "Both engine cores have spun to zero. We're drifting."
The weapons officer reported in immediately after, "Archer pods are cold. I'll need to re-key the system."

"Do it, and find out where we are." The captain ordered her bridge crew, turning her attention down to the sergeant-major afterward, "Sorry for the quick jump, sergeant. You in one piece?"

"I'm good. Chief? Hurricane?" The sergeant replied,

"We're fine." Cortana replied for the Spartan. "I'm green." Scootaloo reported in after her.

"Ma'am, there's an object. Coming into view now." An officer in the bridge said, pulling the captain's attention away from the comms again. 

"That... is another Halo." Cortana answered for the operator. The sergeant chocked on his cigar for a moment, "SAY WHAT?!"

"So this is what my father found... " Keyes pondered, "I thought Halo was some sort of superweapon." She asked after.

"It is. If activated, this ring will cause destruction on a galactic scale." Cortana summarized, baffling the pegasus. "Wait, that thing is a weapon?!" she asked amazed, looking at the massive ring on a holo-screen in front of her.

"Yes, it is." Cortana answered her question.

"I want all the information you've got on the first Halo. Schematics, topography, whatever. I don't care if I have the clearance or not." Keyes ordered the AI, getting a confirmation from her. "Where's our target?" She asked the communications officer, "The enemy ship has stopped above the ring, ma'am. We're going to pass right over it."

"Perfect. Given what we know about this ring, it's even more important that we capture the Prophet of Regret. Find out why he came to Earth, why he came here. Chief, take First Platoon. Hard drop, secure a landing zone. Sergeant, load up two flights of Pelicans and follow them in."

"Aye aye, Ma'am." Johnson replied getting out of his pod knocking on Scootaloo's and Chief's pod, both knocking back in confirmation. 

"Until I can move and fight I'm going to keep a low profile. Once you leave the ship, you're on your own."

"Understood." the chief answered. "Hurricane, reset your bio-monitor. It's giving off impossible readings." An operator on the bridge told the pegasus. "The monitor is working fine, sir. I'm just not a human."

"Over the target in five..."Another crewman announced.

"Come again, Hurricane." The first operator asked but before Scootaloo replied Cortana cut in, "I forwarded the relevant data to the bridge for review, Luitenant."

"Now hang on to your helmet!" she added as the drop-pods were being fired from the ship.

Scootaloo's heart rate immediately shot up as the pod accelerated being reminded of her last drop. The pod shook as it hit the atmosphere of the ringworld, "Mind the bump." Cortana commented as she felt the airbrake engage properly. Her monitor started displaying warnings indicating enemy fire but by that point, the pods were too close to the ground for that to matter anyway. 

Just before the pod smashed into the ground the retrograde thrusters fired slowing it down to a point where it wouldn't kill the passenger. Scootaloo quickly hit the release on the door which flew off with an explosive bang, grabbing her SMG she jumped out to scan the immediate area for hostiles. A cloud of smoke suddenly burst into existence next to her dropping a scroll, not having the time to read it she stashed it into a pocket to read it later. The Chief was beside her shouldering a SPNKR rocket launcher. Alongside a few other ODST's and the Spartan, she pushed up towards the temple like structure further up on the cliff. Clearing the building and waves of reinforcements that came after two pelicans came in, one dropping a warthog.

"Saddle up! We're movin' out!" A marine called out as he jumped into the driver's seat, Scootaloo jumped into the passenger's side while the Chief took place on the gun. Driving up the ridge they got a view of a large structure sitting in the middle of a lake, "Whoa...it's like a postcard! 'Dear Sarge: kicking ass in outer space, wish you were here.'" Their driver commented.

"I heard that...jackass!" Johnson replied over the radio causing Scootaloo to snicker.

They drove back down the ridge to a bridge that the covenant had taken control of and cleared it, killing a wraith on the other of the ravine in the process with an airdropped scorpion. The Chief slowly rolled through a temple-like structure and blasted anything in his way while Scootaloo and a few marines were catching their breath on the side of the tank, 

"So. What kind of ONI experiment are you?" One of the marines asked the pegasus who rolled her eyes under her helmet. 

"The how to integrate aliens species into the UNSC marine corps experiment." She told him, severely annoyed at the question. "Seriously, I'm just doing whatever the hell I can to survive and hand the covenant their asses."

The marine held up his hands in a defensive posture, "Don't get mad at me, I'm just glad someone's on our side."

Chief stopped the scorpion and left it in what looked like the middle of the temple,  "They're all pouring out of the middle! Let's get in there." Cortana shouted, the Chief and taking point with Scootaloo on his tail. Clearing their way through the internal of the structure they left the marines to secure the site and headed into a cave. At the end of the cave, they found themselves at the top of a waterfall with a jackal sniper pointing away from them looking over the valley. The Spartan snuck forward and plunged his combat knife into the back of the sniper and disarmed it. Tossing over the energy weapon to Scootaloo he pulled the human counterpart to the weapon from his own back, the two silently sat on the edge of the waterfall scoping out all the enemies in the small valley, "Eliminate all snipers on the left side of the valley on my mark." The chief told the pegasus, Scootaloo aiming the rifle at the first jackal who was casually standing around.

"Mark," the chief said, a beam of plasma coming from Scootaloo's rifle at the same time a shot rang out from the rifle the chief was holding. The beam tore apart the first jackal with ease, allowing Scootaloo to switch targets with a jackal further up in the valley. The second sniper was in the process of lining up a shot to hit the chief as Scootaloo got the scope on point,

"Not today." She said as the beam of plasma hit the second jackal, melting a hole in its head. The chief having taken care of his targets jumped down onto a ridge below, firing a few more shots as he spotted them. Scootaloo was about to jump down after the Spartan as she heard the loud buzzing of insect wings, "You always bring me to such nice places." Cortana commented dryly as she also detected the swarm. Dropping the sniper Scootaloo pulled a knife and took to the air, a few unstable flaps later she impacted an unsuspecting drone and plunged her knife into its carapace. This naturally attracted the attention of the other drones who weren't used to see enemies in the air, Green blobs of plasma began being lobbed at the pegasus who immediately started flying in an evasive pattern. 

The chief meanwhile also opened up from the ground steadily dropping the drones from the sky, Scootaloo got her hooves on another drone who didn't get out of her way in time and plunged the knife into its spine, dropping it from the sky. She suddenly saw a green bolt in the corner of her eye, turning just in time for it to hit the main plate of her chest armor she let out a small yelp and dropped back down to the ground. The Chief finishing off the last drone who had hit Scootaloo, "Hurricane, Status." he asked, looking at the ridge where Scootaloo had gone down. The pegasus was inspecting the main plate of her armor that had partially boiled away, "I'm good, It hit the armor plate." She said as she hopped down to the chief.

The pair made their way up to the back of the valley were chief once again took point and destroyed a squad of jackals supported by two elites. moving up through another cave they ended at the edge of the lake that had the big structure in it, a few weapons pods were stuck in the ground near where they exited the cave. 

"Good, still no word about In Amber Clad on the Covenant battlenet. It's odd, the Covenant knew we made landfall, but they don't seem to consider us a very serious threat. Boy, are they in for a big surprise." Cortana said, reporting on the state of the Covenant's communication.

The chief grabbed a battle rifle for the spent sniper he was carrying while Scootaloo grabbed one of two SMG's so she was back to her preferred weapon. The Chief scoped out the roof of the building ahead and picked off two snipers before signaling Scootaloo forwards.

They entered the main structure and slowly turned the corner, "Watch yourself! Honor Guards!" Cortana shouted as the in red and yellow clad aliens noticed the two. Both UNSC soldiers opened fire on the closest of the two Sangheili who had already lit his sword and charged the two, the first one went down just shy of the two but the second one by that point was also almost upon them. Getting off a few shots at it before it got in a swipe forcing Scootaloo and Chief apart, the Elite backhanded the pegasus into a wall and focused on the chief. Not out of the fight completely Scootaloo jumped back at the elite clamping herself around the sword-arm of the alien, slowing it down and giving the spartan time to empty the clip of the battle rifle into the head of the elite making it collapse.

Scootaloo went limb, letting go of the arm of the elite catching her breath. The chief picked up the energy sword and activated it indicating that Scootaloos short reprieve was over, she picked her SMG back up and reloaded the weapon.
The two re-entered the main room and scanned for more enemies, another honor guard dropped down from the first floor and also charged the pair but this time they were ready. Scootaloo emptied the clip of her SMG weakening the shield of the elite giving the Chief the opportunity to stab it with the sword he had taken from the other honor guard.

"The last one is on the balcony, I recommend using grenades." Cortana told the two, who both promptly lobbed all their grenades on the balcony hearing the elite scream as shrapnel ripped through its body.

The two started walking past the chanting hologram of the prophet of regret as they were stopped by the AI.
"Wait, go back." Cortana said.

The chief inserted her into a holoprojector and she appeared in front of the two, "That's what I thought he said. The Prophet of Regret is planning to activate Halo!"

"Are you sure?" The chief asked echoing Scootaloo's sentiment. Cortana snapped her fingers and the chanting translated to English, "I shall light this holy ring, release its cleansing flame, and burn a path into the divine beyond!"

"Pretty much." She smugly said as she snapped her fingers again, freezing the hologram.

"Commander, we've got a problem." Chief said, opening a comm link to the In Amber Clad.

"So I hear. But from what I understand, the Prophet will need an object, the Index, to activate the ring. I've located a Library similar to the one you found on the first Halo. If the rings work the same way, the Index should be inside." Keyes surmised.

"I'll bet the Covenant are thinkin' the exact same thing." Johnson Chimed in.

"Then, we'd better beat them to it, Sergeant. Extract your men, and meet me at the Library." The captain ordered Johnson.

"Yes, ma'am." He replied, disconnecting his feed to return to the In Amber Clad.

"I'll secure the Index, Chief. You take out the Prophet. He's given us all the intel we need." She said before also disconnecting her feed. 

"Hurricane, on me." The chief ordered Scootaloo, the two of them heading out the structure towards the prophet's location.

The two made their way over the balconies of the structure towards the main platform, Scootaloo focussed on the close range enemies with her SMG while the chief alternated between sniping and supporting Scootaloo at close range. A relatively short fight later the two reached the platform they were gunning for and they could see Phantom on approach. The two took cover from the cannons that were mounted under the dropship and waited for it to drop its troops and leave.
They heard Two loud thumps as the dropship unloaded its passengers, "Buck. Hunters." Scootaloo murmured as the dropship flew away. She looked at the chief who ended up with an energy sword alongside a plasma sniper as loadout after their fight to get to their position. 

"I'll distract them while you cut them in half with that thing." Scootaloo said, pointing at the sword on the Spartans hip. He nodded approving of the plan and headed to the other side of the cover, waiting for Scootaloo to start the distraction. The little pegasus Suddenly burst from her position into the air, firing a few rounds in the direction of the two giants to get their attention. "HEY! OVER HERE MOTHERBUCKERS!"

The two hunters turned and started to light their cannons, Two streams of superheated plasma flew closely past the pegasus as she clumsily dodged them being only a novice flyer. The chief burst from cover, energy sword lit, towards the first hunter who never saw the Spartan coming as the sword ripped through the unprotected back. The second one saw what happened to its mate and took a furious swipe at the Spartan with its shield. The chief nimbly slit under the Swipe and jumped up the front of the hunter and stuck the energy sword in the 'head' and down into the body of the alien, landing behind it and firing a shot with the beam rifle into its back for good measure.

Scootaloo landed beside the two corpses as the Chief retrieved the energy sword that blinked out moments later due to being depleted. A pelican came overhead carrying weapons pods with it,

"Cortana, the Covenant are getting nosy. I don't want to give away my position, so I'm rerouting a few stragglers back to you. I apologize these Pelicans are all the support you're gonna get." Keys called in over the radio.

"Understood, ma'am." Cortana replied as the pelican dropped its payload and flew off again.

"A gondola's launching from the far towers. Big surprise, it's full of Covenant reinforcements." Cortana added as a gondola started heading over to their platform. The chief swiftly headed up to the weapons pods and grabbed a shotgun and a sniper. Scootaloo went up to two pods with SMG's in them and attached a second SMG to the magnetic holster under her wing, Dual wielding was nearly impossible for her due to having to have her second hoof on the foregrip to stabilize when firing but having a second full weapon to quickly switch to would be beneficial.

The chief took up a sniping position and fired a few shots at the gondola, the two elites that were on there dropping before they even got in range to get off a shot. As the gondola arrived the Two UNSC soldiers burst aboard, eliminating the few jackals and grunts that were still present. "Well, they were nice enough to bring us a ride." Cortana commented as the chief activated the gondola so they were moving towards the large structure in the middle of the lake. The familiar buzzing of drones came from their backs and the two quickly occupied themselves shooting down the small pack that had flown over to the gondola. After killing the drones the Chief noticed a second gondola coming towards them, taking out the sniper again he waited for a shot to present itself. Scootaloo having none of it took off and prematurely landed on the other gondola, rolling her last frag grenades down the ramp into the lower section of the structure, she could hear the aliens screaming as the shrapnel tore through their bodies. She heard Chiefs sniper fire a few times as she headed down into the hold, checking if there were any survivors.

Looking around at the mutilated bodies she stopped to reflect for a moment, a tear rolling from her eyes at the carnage she had caused. She shrugged off the feeling, they were the enemy... weren't they? Remembering that ponies also did stupid things when they were stuck in a religious belief system. Her thoughts got interrupted as Cortana called out to her, "Hurricane, the gondola's are moving again. We're going to have to leave you behind if you stay on there."

"Copy that, Ma'am. I'm on my way back." Scootaloo replied running back up the gondola and took flight once again up to the chief's position. The chief used his sniper to shoot the jackals off the roof of the large structure before the gondola even arrived and switched to his shotgun as they headed into the structure, clearing the single internal room from drones and jackals.

"Ah, now I see. There's a submerged section that connects these towers to the outlying structures. Looks like we're going down. Unless you'd... prefer to swim." Cortana said as an elevator was coming up.

"Company." Scootaloo said as she looked down the shaft into the elevator. The chief held a plasma grenade in his hand as he waited for it to arrive. The moment the doors opened he lobbed it inside and held his shotgun at the ready, one jackal jumped out to avoid the blast of the grenade and promptly got a shotgun shell to the face while the others got caught in the blast from the grenade.

Heading down into the water below with the elevator Cortana started picking up covenant transmissions, "I've intercepted a secure transmission from Regret's Carrier to something called High Charity. It seems to be a formal apology to the Prophets of Truth and Mercy. Apparently, Regret jumped the gun when he attacked Earth. He's asking the other Prophets to 'forgive his premature arrival', arguing that 'no human presence was foretold.' That explains why there were so few ships in his fleet. But it's odd that a Prophet would have such bad intel about his enemy's homeworld." Cortana finished as the two re-emerged into an underwater section of the building. the two quickly cleared the first passageway of grunts before heading on into a larger room, the chief dispatching an honor guard as they made their way through the room. Two hunters revealed themselves as the soldiers reached the halfway point, "Not again! god dammit." Scootaloo said as she noticed the two hulks, "Engage or avoid?" She asked the Spartan.

"Engage" He replied, jumping in between the aliens with an energy sword he had retrieved from the honor guard. Scootaloo jumped after him onto a hunter, planting a plasma grenade into its neck. The hunter managed to shrug the small pegasus off and used its shield as a bat to knock her away into the door at the far end of the room, it aimed its plasma cannon but before it could fire the grenade detonated, killing the alien. The chief dealt with his opponent moments later and ran over to Scootaloo to check on her injuries, "No broken bones? peculiar." Cortana commented as she read out the data from Scootaloo's bio-monitor.

"I've got flexible bones. Dash once explained that it helps pegasi in the case of high-speed impacts." Scootaloo recalled, "Hopefully there's no internal damage because that would be a problem."

"Nothing on the scanner, you should be good private." Cortana replied, "We should keep moving."

The chief and Scootaloo headed further into the building where they encountered another hallway, seeing a few disturbtions in the light Scootaloo hoofed her second SMG to the chief who held it in one hand while the sword rested in the other. Saturating the hall with SMG fire the two walked forward, every time they dropped the cloak of an enemy the chief would shoot forward and kill it with the sword. making their way over to the other end of the hallway they found another elevator and took it. Along the way, Cortana intercepted another transmission.

"Regret's carrier just received a response from High Charity. A very well encrypted message from the Prophet of Truth. Listen to this: 'Your haste has jeopardized the fulfillment of our Covenant, threatened our grand design. That you shall be spared a public display of our contempt is thanks only to Mercy and his wise counsel.' Truth, Mercy, Regret. Three Prophet Hierarchs. Killing Regret should shake up the Covenant leadership. But frankly, it sounds like you might be doing Truth a favor."

The elevator came up to a structure again and the two quickly made their way through it to the outside, assassinating two honor guards along the way. clearing the outside structure as well they grabbed another gondola and headed over to the temple the Prophet of Regret was located in. Along the way, they took out another gondola that had a few elites on it before continuing to their final destination. 

"How's it going, you two?" Captain Keyes asked as they approached the temple. "So far, so good. We're approaching the main temple now." Cortana replied.

"Roger that. I'm as close to the Library as I can get. There's some sort of ... barrier. We're trying to find a way around it. I'll keep you posted." Keys said cutting off the comms.

The chief used a sniper once again to kill the majority of the grunts and jackals before they arrived and the rest quickly fell as they stepped onto the building, their gaze was drawn upwards as they saw a massive covenant fleet exiting slipspace.
"That's the largest Covenant fleet I've ever seen... the largest anyone's ever seen." Cortana commented aghast at the size of the fleet. "Get inside the temple and kill Regret, before it can stop us!"

"That thing is massive!" Scootaloo said as she saw a huge space station materialize from slipspace.

The two quickly made their way inside of the structure clearing a few elites along the way and entering the main room.
"The Covenant fleet has launched multiple waves of Phantoms. Too many for me to track... we don't have much time." Cortana said urging the two to work faster. Taking out two honor guards as they entered they quickly moved to the prophet's location.

"There's the target, take him out!" Cortana shouted as they got a visual on Regret.

"You dare to interrupt my sermon?!" He shouted at the Chief and Scootaloo, the pegasus took a shot at him but the bullet bounced off a shield that was being projected by his chair, "Warriors! Attack! The Demon and that other heretic must die."

Not having any of it the Chief jumped from the balcony, evading a blast from the chair and in an impressive display of speed he latched onto the chair and started beating the living shit out of the prophet. Not being able to withstand the power of the Mjolnir armor he slumped in his chair and died. "Bad news, the Phantoms are turning around. The fleet is preparing to fire on our position. We need to get out of here!" Cortana reported in, Scootaloo's blood ran cold as she knew what that meant.

Any fatigue she had vanished in a flash as the two ran outside, a large carrier was preparing to open up on the structure. The two ran as fast they could away from the beam that was steadily closing in on them. The chief jumped off the building into the water as the beam was almost upon them. Scootaloo jumped after him, nearly knocking herself out due to the speed she hit the water at. Her eyes began to feel heavy as fatigue set in with a vengeance, before blacking out she felt something wrap around her barrel and she heard a voice in the back of her head.

"This is not your grave..."

"But you are welcome in it."





Scootaloo sat up and looked around, she was in some sort of colorful land with various floating buildings and objects scattered about the landscape.

And it was raining.

Chocolate milk...

"I must say it's nice of you to drop by. Not that you had any choice in it that is." A voice came from behind her, Scootaloo spun around to the voice, her eyes going wide. "DISCORD!" She shouted with malice in her voice, she checked if she still had her weapons.

She did.

Pulling her SMG she pulled the trigger... only for water to come out the end of it. Discord was yawning at the futile display Scootaloo was giving. Angered at this Scootaloo threw away the SMG and let magic seep into her wings, lightning springing up from them again.  "Generating lightning out of anger, now that's something only a Hurricane would be able to do." Discord said, looking at the display Scootaloo was giving. Lightning arched over to the draconequus as Scootaloo roughly guided it.

"You know any violence is pointless in the dream world." He pointed out as the lightning just bounced off him. Scootaloo let out a scream of irritation and sat down, "What do you want? Tell me I've become some murderer? Or to tell me how much chaos I've been causing?"

Discord chuckled, "Although you've not disappointed in the slightest on those fronts but that's not why I'm here now." He walked up to Scootaloo and snapped his fingers, the environment changed so that they were now floating in space in the distance they could see a Halo floating with the Covenant fleet in orbit alongside it. "You see there is this superweapon that has, among other planets, Equis in its sights and there are some idiots that want to fire it."

Scootaloo's brain ground a few gears and she came to a conclusion, "And you are not immune to the effects of this weapon."

"No, I'm not." Discord frowned as he looked at the Halo in front of him. "I planned to send some help to the humans in the form of Twilight Sparkle, but then again, who plans anything with chaos magic and expects it to go as he wants."

"Wait but Twilight made that portal on Princess Celestia's request? How were you going to send her to human space?" Scootaloo asked, still suspicious of the draconequus.

"Who do you think gave the Princess the inspiration for that idea." Discord said with a grin, "I left Luna a present in the dream world that I can use to manipulate the minds of ponies. Also, that portal would have collapsed anyway and although you weren't planned you did a marvelous job of destabilizing it even faster."

Scootaloo scowled at hearing that information, "So why are you telling me all this now?"

Discord snapped his fingers again, the scene around them turning back to the initial chaotic landscape, "Because I can't contact Twilight Sparkle due to the Element of Harmony blocking my access to her mind and she isn't in a position to help stop the firing of this ring anyway."

The dreamscape rippled in a sickly green, Discord suddenly panicked unnerving Scootaloo. "Don't Trust it! It is as dangerous as the ring itself!" He shouted as the dream collapsed around them, pulling Scootaloo back to reality.



Scootaloo opened her eyes and looked around, she was being dragged by some sort of tentacle, alongside the chief who was also being dragged along. The two were being dragged into a large chamber where they were held up by the tentacles as a large mess of meat and bones rose up to meet them. Scootaloo ending up paralyzed with fear.

"What...is that?" Cortana said as she saw the monstrosity.

"I...? I am a monument to all your sins." It replied in a warped voice, sending a shiver up Scootaloo's spine. An elite was being dragged towards the pair by two more tentacles and eventually held in place.

"Relax. I'd rather not piss this thing off." The chief told him as he struggled against the creature. The elite took notice of the chief and immediately responded, "Demon!"

The abomination huffed and brought the chief closer,  "This one is machine and nerve, and has its mind concluded." It said, running a small tentacle over the chief's helmet before proceeding to bring the Elite closer to him. "This one is but flesh and faith, and is the more deluded."  it said playing around with the other alien. Finally turning to Scootaloo it looked over at her, "Capable of manipulating neural physics but yet so primitive."

"Kill me or release me, parasite. But do not waste my time with talk!" The elite bluntly said.

"There is much talk. And I have listened. Through rock and metal and time. Now I shall talk, and you shall listen." It replied bringing up two more tentacles, one with a prophet embedded into it and another wrapped around some sort of machine.

"Greetings! I am 2401 Penitent Tangent. I am the Monitor of Installation 05." the machine said, indicating it was some sort of AI.

"And I am the Prophet of Regret, Councilor most High... Hierarch of the Covenant!" The prophet said, baffling the pegasus since she had seen him die in the temple.

The monitor adorned with a red 'eye' floated up to the Chief, "A Reclaimer? Here? At last! We have much to do. This facility must be activated if we are to control this outbreak!"

"Stay where you are! Nothing can be done until my sermon is complete!" The prophet shouted at the monitor, prompting an argument.

"Not true. This installation has a successful utilization record of 1.2 trillion simulated and one actual. It is ready to fire on demand."

"Of all the objects our Lords left behind, there are none so worthless as these Oracles! They know nothing of the Great Journey!" The prophet shouted.

"And you know nothing about containment! You have demonstrated complete disregard for even the most basic protocols!"
"This one's 'containment'...    And this one's 'Great Journey'... are the same." The creature lowered the two tentacles holding the prophet and the monitor.

"Your Prophets have promised you freedom from a doomed existence, but you will find no salvation on this ring. Those who built this place knew what they wrought. Do not mistake their intent, or all will perish as they did before."

The chief turned to the Elite who had stopped struggling against the creature, "This thing is right. Halo is a weapon. Your Prophets are making a big mistake."

"Your ignorance already destroyed one of the sacred rings, Demon. It shall not harm another." The elite replied with religious zeal prompting the abomination to speak again.

 "If you will not hear the truth, then I will show it to you. There is still time to stop the key from turning, but first it must be found. You will search one likely spot."It said pointing at the chief And you two will search another. Fate had us meet as foes, but this ring will make us...brothers."

"Wait, what!" Scootaloo shouted as she was paired with the elite, but before she could say or do anything else she and the others got teleported.
> Chapter 15: Delta Halo - part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Scootaloo got thrown out of the portal and skidded to a stop. Behind her another portal opened up kicking out the elite, checking if she still had any weapons she found she only had her knife and pulled it.
The elite quickly grabbed a plasma rifle that lay on the ground near a pool of blood and pointed it at Scootaloo.

Tensing up, the pegasus got ready to get in close if the elite opened up. But instead of firing the elite started studying the blood that stained the rifle, Scootaloo curious as to why they weren't fighting also looked at the blood. It was blue indicating that it belonged to an elite. The silver armored elite lowered the plasma rifle, prompting Scootaloo to sheathe the combat knife.

"The parasite would have its reasons to send you with me instead of with the Demon." It said, "You won't survive without support from your ship. If you choose to support me then I'll make sure none of my brothers will fire upon you."

Scootaloo eyed the elite suspiciously through the visor of her helmet but knew that without the support from fellow marines or the In Amber Clad she wouldn't last long. "You don't leave me much choice." She said, standing up on her hind legs and taking off her helmet, "Swear it and you'll have my support until I can get back to UNSC forces."

"On the blood of my ancestors." He replied, "What may I call you, little one?"

Scootaloo relaxed a bit since she knew that the elites valued their honor so this one wouldn't attack her. "Scootaloo Hurricane, I'm a pegasus."

The elite nodded, "My title might not mean much anymore but you may call me arbiter."

The Arbiter turned to the chasm in front of them and started moving, "Stay close to me" he told Scootaloo. 

Not that far into the chasm, they found the body of a fellow elite that had an energy sword lying next to it, the arbiter picked it up and knelt down next to the corpse. Saying a few words in Sangheili and removing something from the arm of the dead warrior. 

"Hold out your left foreleg." The arbiter ordered, Scootaloo hesitantly held it out since her left leg was the one she used to hold her knife. The arbiter attached a flat module on the armored lower leg and activated it, a small energy dagger the likes she had seen on Reach shot out.
"It will only last for a few strikes and will recharge over time. Use it wisely, it might save your life once." The arbiter said standing back up and moving further down the chasm, Scootaloo was shocked that the elite would give her a weapon like that. She heard the scream of a brute get her attention and she rushed forwards to help the arbiter only to find that he had already cut them down. The arbiter let out an angry scream and rushed even further ahead, leaving Scootaloo to catch up again. Finding a group of four brutes he went around slashing the large ape-like aliens, Scootaloo picked up a plasma rifle and started shooting one of the brutes killing it at the same time the arbiter finished off the last of the three he had engaged. 

Nodding to the pony the arbiter moved up to a ridge where another elite came from a structure, "By the Prophets ... what have these Brutes done?" He said as it saw the carnage the brutes had caused. He knelt down next to a corpse that lay on the edge, "They have shed our brothers' blood... and for that, they must die!"

He then spotted Scootaloo who only then got up to the ridge, "What is the meaning of this, Arbiter?"

"She fights on our side, Brother." He reassured the other elite. A wave of drop-pods came down revealing another squad of elites, The arbiter by that point probably marked Scootaloo as friendly because when the reinforcements came up to meet them they only looked at her like she didn't belong there but said nothing. Moving up through the underground they cut down any Brute that got in their way with a viciousness that scared the pony, the further they got the angrier the elites got as they found more bodies of their fellow warriors. Eventually they found their way outside again and boarded a few ghosts after clearing the brutes that were guarding them, not being able to pilot one of the Covenant vehicles Scootaloo took to the air flying alongside the machines as the elites piloted them down the chasm. 

After clearing a few checkpoints set up by Brute forces they found themselves coming up on a central structure perched on the side of the chasm's walls. A wraith appeared from a little further up and attacked the squad of Elites plus pony, Scootaloo having held back for the majority of the time since she wasn't sure that she wouldn't be shot in the back finally decided to throw herself into the mix. Charging the tank she latched herself onto the access hatch and started beating with all her might, creating a small opening that allowed a grenade to be thrown in, Jumping of the tank it made a few jerks around before the grenade exploded killing the pilot.

A few of the elites that were also focussing on the wraith roared in approval of the kill, moving up past the structure they saw another wraith charging its main cannon. Quickly running into a passage to get out of its line of fire they dispatched two more brutes they found a stockpile of weapons, including human ones. Scootaloo swiftly ditched the plasma rifle in favor of a shotgun, in the corner of her eyes she saw a large two tubed rocket launcher.

"Jackpot!" She said, clumsily dragging it along with her. Moving out of the building again the elites took down two jackals that were waiting outside of the door, Scootaloo shouldered the SPNKR and fired the two rockets in quick succession at the wraith making it blow up spectacularly. Moving down the structure further they killed another group of brutes, this time with the help of the pegasus who happily helped the elites take them down.

Leaving the squad of elites the arbiter and Scootaloo went into a cave, running into a brute on a ghost but due to a quick plasma grenade from the arbiter it didn't even get a shot off at the pair. Walking out of a large door into a wider field outside they saw another wraith approaching, but instead of charging its main cannon it slowly floated up to the two and powered down. out came an Elite with white armor that was missing two jaw mandibles, "By the rings, Arbiter!? The Councilors! Are they -"

"Murdered... By the Brutes." The arbiter responded, enraging the white-clad elite. 

"Vile, insolent beasts! The Prophets were fools to trust them!" He shouted, Two phantom dropships flying overhead to a large nearby structure.

"What is that place?" Scootaloo asked the elite.

"Where the Councilors were meant to watch the consecration of the Icon. The start of the Great Journey." He answered, his tone hardened a slight bit. The arbiter stood still for a moment letting a few thoughts run through its mind, "I must get inside." he finally said.

"Then mount up, Arbiter. I know a way to break those doors." He said, closing the hatch on the wraith and reactivating it. Using the tank to annihilate brute forces they made their way to a docked Scrab,

"There, Arbiter. That Scarab's main gun will break the Control Room's door. At the far end of the beach there's a passage into the cliff. It'll take you up to the Scarab." The elite told the arbiter and Scootaloo, the group easily clearing the outside of enemy fighters due to the support from the wraith.

"The Brutes control the cruiser, Arbiter. I'll remain here, make sure no reinforcements get in behind you. Then, I'm going to take the cruiser back!" The elite said as the unusual pair walked towards the passage in the cliff, inside the building they found two Hunters and another elite. 

"The Arbiter? I thought he was dead! Hold your fire. The Hunters have come to our aid, Arbiter. They will stand by our side." the elite said as he saw the arbiter. Scootaloo walked past the three aliens, confident that they wouldn't shoot her by this point. "We need all the help we can get, I take it that the brutes have fortified the hallways?"

The elite looked funnily at the little pegasus in ODST armor, "Have the humans taken our side in this conflict?" He asked confused.

"It's complicated." The arbiter answered, "Hunters, Take point."

The hunters brought up their shields and moved through the structure, the few hard points the brutes had set up quickly fell as they couldn't pierce the thick armor of the hunters from the front while the hunters' plasma cannons burnt through everything they shot at. Eventually, the group came up to a bridge that was fortified by a group of jackals, killing them quickly and entering the building on the other side. The arbiter cloaked himself as he walked into the main chamber where a group of brutes where holding two elites and two other hunters captive, instead of assassinating one of the brutes the arbiter chose to destroy the filed projectors that were keeping the hunters and Sangheili captive quickly gaining the upper hand with their help.

Moving on to the final door to the scarab the hunters took point again and formed a shield wall, on the platform there were three human soldiers being held captive one of which Scootaloo recognized as Sergeant Johnson.

"SERGEANT!" Scootaloo shouted Charging the Brutes holding the three soldiers, distracting the brutes long enough for the soldier to break free and start fighting them.

"Go, Go, Go!" Johnson shouted at the other marines as he ran towards the scarab, A quick firefight later all the brutes were downed. 

"Hold your fire!" Scootaloo shouted at the two marines as they turned their attention to the elites and hunters, the arbiter doing the same on his side. The scarab than stood up and pointed its main cannon at the arbiter, "Listen, you don't like me and I sure as hell don't like you." Johnson said over the speakers, "But if we don't do something, Mr. Mohawk's gonna activate this ring. And we're all gonna die."

"Tartarus has locked himself inside the Control Room." The arbiter answered the sergeant.

"Well, I just happen to have a key. Come on. Grab a Banshee and give me some cover. He's gonna know we're comin'." The sergeant said as he started moving the walker towards the control room, the arbiter grabbed a banshee and gave air support to the scarab. Scootaloo sat on the scarab as her wing muscles were on the verge of exhaustion, taking a short flight towards several gun emplacements to take them out so the arbiter could focus on other banshees. The scarab eventually reached the end of the chasm and stopped taking a firing position.

"Stay clear of the doors!" The sergeant shouted over the comms at the arbiter, "Hey, bastards, knock knock!" He added as he fired the main cannon at the door, melting through it. Scootaloo took flight and landed in front of the door as the arbiter set down his banshee as well.

"I've got your back." Scootaloo told the Sangheili as she flicked her wrist with the energy dagger twice, activating and deactivating it. The arbiter nodded and headed inside, they stealthily snuck underneath the brutes and burst up behind them, stabbing them with energy blades and sticking plasma grenades to their bodies. Having cleared the room they could hear that Johnson was trying to park the scarab close to the door, knowing that he would soon join them the two made their way to the central chamber where they finally encountered the brute chieftain.

"Come, human, it is easy. Take the Icon in your hands.... And do as you are told!" He shouted at captain Keyes who was stubbornly refusing.

"Please, use caution! This Reclaimer is delicate." The monitor advised.

"One more word, Oracle, and I'll rip your eye from its socket! Which is nothing compared to what I will do to you." The Chieftain roared.

"Tartarus, stop." The arbiter calmly said, Scootaloo still hanging back a bit in the shadows.

"Impossible!" the brute said as he saw the arbiter.

"Put down the Icon." The arbiter continued, as the brutes stirred.

"Put it down? And disobey the Hierarchs?" He questioned the arbiter.

"There are things about Halo even the Hierarchs do not understand." The arbiter said, a few brutes stepped forward but were waved back by the chieftain.

"Take care, Arbiter. What you say is heresy!" He growled at the elite.

"Is it?" The arbiter gently asked. "Oracle, what is Halo's purpose?"

"Collectively, the seven—" The monitor started but was interrupted by the brute, "Not another word!" he shouted at it.

Scootaloo saw Johnson walk up from the entrance with a beam rifle, "Please ...   Don't shake the light-bulb." A few brutes stepped forward growling and wanting to start a fight. Scootaloo angrily let her magic freely flow into her wings having it generate lightning in the same way she had managed to do with Discord. "How about you boys chill out a bit." She threatened, stepping into the light, electricity arching down to the floor. The Chieftain ordered his brutes to back off once again.

"Go ahead. Do your thing." Johnson said to the arbiter.

"The Sacred Rings, what are they?" He asked the monitor who responded in kind, "Weapons of last resort, built by the Forerunners to eliminate potential Flood hosts, thereby rendering the parasite harmless."

"And those who made the rings? What happened to the Forerunners?" The arbiter inquired further. The monitor not missing a beat in its answer, "After exhausting every other strategic option, my creators activated the rings. They and all additional sentient life within three radii of the galactic center, died, as planned."

"Would you... like to see the relevant data?" He added innocently.

"Tartarus. The Prophets have betrayed us." The arbiter told the brute, the chieftain thought for a moment but then threw the monitor at Johnson and forced Captain keys into putting the index into the control mechanism.  "No, Arbiter! The Great Journey has begun. And the Brutes, not the Elites, shall be the Prophets' escort!"

The machinery in the control room started moving and Scootaloo suddenly felt a magic field starting to generate. A REALLY strong magic field, so strong that she started to feel her feathers start tingling. Deciding to make use of it she allowed the outside magic to flow into her own and let it out in the form of lightning. "YOU BUCKING IDIOT! YOURE GOING TO KILL US ALL!" She shouted in rage as she fried half the brutes next to Tartarus. The arbiter and Johnson springing into action as well killed the rest allowing the group to focus on Tartarus.

"Charging sequence initiated. Primary generators coming online." The monitor reported. "Well, shut them down!" Keyes shouted at it.

"Apology. Protocol does not allow me to interfere with any aspect of this sequence." The monitor said to the great annoyance of the captain, "Then how do I stop it?" She asked.

"Well, it will take some time to go over the proper procedures, I—" Keyes interrupted the AI, "Quit stalling!"

"Under more controlled circumstances, I would suggest the Reclaimer simply remove the Index." It finally said. "That's it? Johnson, I'm on it!" She shouted at the sergeant.

"Hang tight, ma'am! Not until that Brute is dead!" He shouted back as he knocked out Tartarus's shield, "Hey, Mohawk! How'd that feel?" He shouted, the arbiter getting in a swipe with his energy sword before the brute's shield went back up.

"Secondary generators charging. All systems are performing well within operational parameters." The monitor reported in.

Scootaloo swore under her breath as she felt the magic field strengthening to a level that almost started to hurt.
"There goes his shield!" Johnson shouted again as he hit the brute, the arbiter swooping in again to get a hit with his energy sword.

Putting all the excess magic in the area into her lightning she hit the brute hard, downing its shield in one hit. The arbiter once again took this opportunity to get a hit on the brute.

"Power generation phase complete. The installation is ready to fire. Starting final countdown." The monitor reported, "Firing sequence initiated. And may I say, Reclaimers, it has been a pleasure to serve you both. Goodbye."

The magic field suddenly spiked to a level that Scootaloo couldn't bear and she collapsed onto the ground, screaming in agony. Seeing this the arbiter rushed in towards Tartarus, evading a blow from his hammer, and started ferociously cutting into him with his energy sword.

"Come on, Arbiter! Kick that guy's ass!" Johnson shouted, taking pot shots at the brute while hauling the screaming pegasus away from the battle. Tartarus's shied finally collapsed and the arbiter stuck his blade deep into the brute, killing him on the spot. Seeing this captain Keyes jumped onto one of the rotating platforms in the room, ducking so she wouldn't get hit by one of the platforms that were rotating in the other direction. Jumping down onto the main platform of the control room she made a quick sprint to the center where she pulled the index from the main energy beam right as the last pulse charged.

It fired into the center of the ring where the rest of the energy was stored and moments later dissipated the cloud. The magic field suddenly also lost a lot of its strength, giving Scootaloo a reprieve from the painfull oppressive feeling. In the center of the control room a hologram appeared signaling something,

"What's that?" Keyes asked the monitor.

"A beacon." It replied prompting further investigation from the captain, "What's it doing?"

"Communicating. At superluminal speeds with a frequency of—" The Monitor started rambling but got cut off by Keyes, "Communicating with what?"

This question surprised the AI a bit, "The... other installations."

"Show me." Keyes ordered, the hologram changing to show seven rings, one marked red.

"Fail-safe protocol: In the event of unexpected shutdown, the entire system will move to standby status. All remaining platforms are now ready for remote activation." It explained.

"Remote activation? From here?" Keyes asked, stunning the AI even more. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Listen, tinkerbell, don't make me..." Johnson cut in, gently being stopped by the captain. "Then where? Where would someone go to activate the other rings?"

This question truly stunned the AI, "...Why, the Ark, of course." 

The arbiter also walked up to the holograms, carrying the exhausted pegasus in one arm, "And where, Oracle, is that?"
> Chapter 16: New Mombasa
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Twilight opened her eyes, her entire body felt sore in combination with a splitting headache.

"Welcome back to the waking world, sunshine." Someone said to her right, turning her head she found that Tyler was sitting down next to her and eating rations.

Looking out the window she saw the sun had already set, "How long was I out for?" She asked the ODST, sitting up despite the fact that she felt like crap.

"About six and a half hours. We've been dragging you along looking for a safe spot until you woke up." He explained, "After that wave hit us you started screaming and thrashing about as if you were burning from the inside out, Lucy was having serious doubts about if you'd wake up without professional help."

Twilight was silent for a moment, she remembered her magic reserves being drained due to the shield she had cast being hit and afterward the shockwave immediately overcharging it to a point where she fell unconscious. "Where are the others?" She finally asked.

"They're out on overwatch, we've been rotating shifts to get small bits of rest." He said picking up his helmet and activated his radio, "Zero one Charley to Alpha and Bravo, zero one Delta has awoken."

"Roger that Charley. Bravo return to the safehouse." Mack's voice came over the radio.

"Copy that, I'm en route. Bravo out." Lucy answered. She came walking into the room moments later followed by Mack. "How are you doing, Sparkle?" Mack asked the pony who had gotten up and was stretching out.

"Feel like crap, magic reserves are fine but my horn is still recovering from the fluctuations of magic levels I experienced. All in all, just a regular day in a war zone." Twilight answered while levitating her sniper rifle experimentally.

Mack nodded, "City's gone to hell. A second fleet arrived and started mopping up the remains of the homefleet. The ONI HQ got blown up, possibly to deny the covenant the asset, and the city is being flooded by enemy elements." Mack told the alicorn, "we were hoping to use the darkness to bug out of here and link back up with other UNSC forces."

He grabbed a paper map from his backpack and a marker, "These routes have been overrun by grunts in the past hour." He marked a few streets red alongside the ones he had already marked red. "We're going to cut through the city to the coastal highway towards the shipyards and hopefully hitch a ride from there. Move out in five."

Tyler re-packed the few things he had taken out of his backpack while Twilight checked the ammo count on both her weapons, fifty rounds for the rifle and seventy for the suppressed magnum. Satisfied with the amount of ammo she attached the weapons to magnetic clamps on either side of her barrel. Putting on her modified helmet she activated its systems again.


"Can anyone hear me? This is Captain Veronica Dare!" The team's radio came to life again.

"This is alpha three, Captain. What's your situation?" Mack immediately responded, the other three members of the team rushing outside as well.

"My beacon is active - need immediate assistance! Someone, please respond!" The captain continued, not having received Mack's transmission.

"Dammit." Mack swore while putting a new waypoint into his visr, "We're going to assist the captain. Sparkle, can you fight?"

"Yes, sir." Twilight responded, she only felt slightly sore by this point but her horn would need some serious rest before she would be able to cast anything more complicated then levitation.

The squad exited their temporary safehouse onto the street, traveling down towards the beacon the group took out a few grunts who were sleeping. "Is that beacon coming from the underground around the city's data complex?" Twilight asked as she traced the signal to its location.

"Looks like it." Tyler answered, "last reports we heard there was a high concentration of drones around that location."

"So the quick buggers then." Lucy grunted, checking the remaining ammo for her assault rifle. No-one replied to Lucy's comment but they all shared the sentiment. Moving down the street under the cover of the darkness the night provided the team made quick ground towards the elevator that connected to the underground complex, Tyler being at the front of the group turned the last corner and stopped.

"We're late to the party guys." He said as the rest caught up to him, the courtyard in front of the building that housed the elevator was littered with corpses from a previous engagement. Mack ordered the squad to spread out and investigate,

"Bodies show signs of bullet wounds, SMG rounds to be specific." Lucy noted as she looked at the wounds on one of the corpses.

"Then more of our guys have come to that distress signal." Mack said, "Get to the building, we might be able to catch up to them if we hurry up a bit." 

They quickly made their way to the large building that contained the entrance to the sub-levels. When they arrived at the elevator shaft they found it pried open with the lift being somewhere down on a sublevel, "I can fly you over to the cable so you can rappel down." Twilight said as she saw the drop down.

"What's the fun in that?" Tyler replied, Twilight could see the grin on his face from under his helmet. "Tyler if you..."

"GERONIMO!" He shouted as he made a quick sprint towards the shaft and jumped, grabbing the elevator cable that was hanging in the middle of the shaft. By that point Tyler had stopped his fall Twilight was doing breathing exercises to slow her heartbeat down. Lucy looked down at her fellow ODST and turned to Twilight, "Is that offer still standing? Not everyone of us has a deathwish."

Twilight nodded and unfurled her wings, a few beats later Lucy was also hanging from the cable followed by Mack moments later. The three humans slowly slid down the shaft followed by the alicorn who had been carefully flapping her wings in the shaft to avoid hitting the cable and the wall. Finally having reached the level of the shaft where the elevator got stuck, Twilight set down. "Sub-level seven. The beacon is coming from level nine." Twilight said as she checked the location of the beacon again. 

Mack nodded and made a hand signal towards one of the doors, The group making their way into the hallways found nothing short of a massacre. Bodies, both human and alien, littered the floor. Checking the police officers they came across for any signs of life. "Poor bastards never had any chance with their weaponry." Lucy observed as she picked up a low caliber pistol from one of the dead officers.

"Whatever they were down here for I'd bet my hide that that captain knows more." Twilight responded as she respectfully closed the eyes of the deceased humans as she passed them. They made their way down to a large open shaft that led down a level, a couple of drones lay dead on the ground. "Guess the other guy made it at least this far in." Tyler commented before jumping in, making a roll on impact with the lower floor. "More bodies from drones down here." He reported as the others also went down the shaft, "He's taking all the kills from us at this rate."

Rolling her eyes Twilight moved ahead into the once again similar hallways of sub-level eight, but instead of the usual silence she heard the faint sound of gunfire from somewhere up ahead, "You guys hear that?" she asked.

"Sounds like fire from an SMG." Mack said as he also picked up the sound, "We've almost caught up with our guy. Let's move!" The squad began running down the shaft towards the gunfire, passing bodies of brutes, grunts, drones and jackals alike they finally heard someone talking.

"WELCOME. ACCESS GRANTED." The voice of an AI came from up ahead, followed by the voice of a man.

"Go ahead trooper, raise the stack." He said as the group heard a data-stack rising from the floor. Moving into the circular room that had the hole towards sub-level nine they found an NMPD officer alongside an ODST. the trooper immediately had his weapon trained on the squad of new arrivals as they entered but lowered it as he saw they were fellow operators.

"More re-enforcements! you guys mind going ahead for me? I'm not as heavily equipped as you are." The officer asked the ODST's.

"Hell yeah! you guys have been clearing the route for us, taking all the fun out of it." Tyler responded, nodding to the other ODST who nodded back and jumped down the shaft at the same moment as Tyler. 

"Well you know what they say." Lucy said, "Feet First!" She said as she also jumped followed by Mack and Twilight. As all the ODST's landed a door opened revealing a swarm of drones.

"You hear that? Buggers! Down at your level." The NMPD officer shouted before he noticed that there were also drones on his level. "Oh no! They're up here too! Coming out of the damn vents!" He shouted as the Data-stack closed up again, "Get back! No! Ahhh!" They heard him shout before the opening completely sealed.

"CRIME DOESN'T PAY!" The AI announced as the squad eliminated the drones.

"What the hell?!" Lucy said, "Did the AI just kill the guy?" She asked, scared at the prospect of an AI that might or might not want them dead.

"It did." Mack answered, "Just another mystery to add to the list of things that need answering."

Making their way to the beacon's location they found themselves in a familiar hallway again only this one was frosted over as the cooling was put on overdrive. Up ahead they could hear Brutes mulling about, spreading out they readied their weapons for the inevitable engagement. Shouldering the Sniper rifle, with some support from levitation magic, Twilight took aim at the first Brute that showed its head. Pulling the trigger an ear-deafening bang rang out through the hallway as the sound had nowhere to go. The brute's skull caved in on itself as the 14,5 mm round impacted on the head of the alien, the other packmates that were with the brute charged forward but were cut down by the combined fire from the other ODST's who were waiting in an ambush for the large apes.

"All targets down." Tyler reported from up front. The others moved up with him down the hallway, "Buck? Who knows if he can hear me but... I'm sorry. I should have told you more about this mission, more...about everything." The radio came alive again with the voice of the captain. 

"Dammit, we need to hurry up. She sounds as if she's about to get hit." Mack said as the group picked up the pace once again, crossing through a couple of hallways they found a swarm of drones led by a brute. Firing another round from her sniper Twilight dropped the large beast before switching to her magnum to help take out the obnoxious drones buzzing around the room.

After having cleared the room the squad went up to the door that the aliens were trying to break through, "WELCOME. ACCESS GRANTED." The AI called out, opening the damaged door. Moving through the small hallway that lay behind the door the lone ODST took point with Mack, Twilight and Lucy following after and Tyler covering the rear. They came up on another closed door and took defensive positions facing the way out as the lone ODST knocked on the door twice. A few seconds passed before the door opened, a female standing in the opening with a drawn pistol.

"It's you! I thought..." She said before eyeballing the other ODST's her eyes stopping at Twilight, swirling her pistol around to the pony as she Identified it as an alien. Twilight having none of it used her sniper as a bat and hit the little firearm before the captain could fire it at her, pulling her pistol she aimed it at the captain.

"WHOA, Chill out everyone!" Mack shouted as he jumped in between the two soldiers, "We're all on the same side here."

"Are you sure we can trust it?" The captain asked Mack, "I've got a tier one asset here that I can't afford to lose."

"She's been with us since reach with another one of her species, Ma'am. We fought together in New Alexandria, I'll vouch for her character any day." Mack told the captain who relaxed a bit until she heard the sound of drones coming from the hallway. "Inside! Now!" She shouted, all the ODST's rushing inside as the captain closed the door behind them. 

"This way, and stay quiet!" She ordered, picking up and holstering her magnum, "Some idiots blew the building at the top of the shaft. Woke the whole hive." She explained while she led the group into the AI core, walking up to a window. "Down there? That's the Superintendent. The AI that runs every system in the city. My mission — ourmission, is to secure the Superintendent's data."

The view showed drones buzzing around in the room up ahead, "Problem is, there's only one way in from here...right through the hive. It would've been suicide to go alone, and I was hoping for more backup. I guess you guys will do the trick just fine."

She walked up to the door that led down the hallway to their destination, "You guys good to go?" She asked one final time.

"Let's get this done with so we can get out of this forsaken city." Lucy said, the captain nodded and opened the door. Charging through, the group took out a few grunts and jackals. quickly making their way through the hallway towards the end of the hallway into the large chamber they had seen before. The entire roof was plastered with some sort of hive structure the drones had made. Captain Dare led them up a level in the chamber and moved towards their ultimate objective, about halfway there buzzing started coming from the hive.

"The bastards spotted us!" Lucy shouted as she opened up with her assault rifle.

"Just run!" The captain shouted as the squad ran after her picking off any drone who came to close for comfort. Twilight saw a red drone landing on a catwalk ahead and aimed her sniper at it, after firing her shot she saw it ripping through a shield that was projected around the drone, killing it instantly.

"Red ones have shields!" She reported as they ran past the corpse.

"Shouldn't matter that much now, we're almost there!" Dare shouted back, "There! That door!"

The group rushed in, the door closing behind them. "God I fucking hate those buggers." Lucy said as she reloaded her rifle, "Anyone need a medic?"

No-one answered as none of them had any wounds that needed treatment, Dare took point again and the team made their way into another large room just as a phantom started flying away.

"It won't be long before they smash through that door. Let's take them out, now!" She shouted as the group split in two, Twilight remained on the high ground while the other five approached the brutes that had been dropped off. Firing her first shot at one of the brutes the group began their familiar routine of having Twilight blow out the shield while the others took down the brute with overwhelming firepower.

That was until the brute chieftain charged in.

Being the only hostile still alive Twilight fired a round into its chest but to her surprise, the thing didn't even as much as flinch as the bullet bounced off the energy shield. The rest of the squad tried to get away from the chieftain but the large alien was already in the midst of swinging his gravity hammer. 

A sickening crunch later, Tyler's body hit one of the support beams. Twilight's world slowed to a crawl as she saw the body falling limp, aiming the sniper in between the eyes of the brute she pulled the trigger. This time the bullet had its intended effect and downed the shield before penetrating into the brute's skull.

With the last enemy down Twilight attached the rifle to her side and jumped down towards Tyler's motionless body. Lucy was already at work stabilizing the ODST as the alicorn arrived, "I need your biofoam cannister Twilight." Lucy Told Twilight who immediately passed her cannister to the designated medic, "His left lung has collapsed and he probably broke every rib on that side of his body as well but his vitals are stable right now." Lucy said, putting a valve on Tyler's chest over the left lung to draw out false air so the unconscious ODST could breathe.

Grabbing the downed ODST by a handgrip on the back of his armor she dragged him along to the door.

"WELCOME. ACCESS GRANTED." The AI said as it unlocked the door. The group continued through the hallway towards the main AI core, Twilight stayed close to Tyler as he got dragged along by Lucy. Having reached the end of the hallway they finally entered the AI core

upon entering the main core the power to the lights went out, everyone lit up their flashlights and activated their nightvision. The core itself seemed to be missing some components as something had buried itself into it.

"Don't shoot!" Dare told everyone as they had already raised their weapons at the hole in the core where an alien had just poked out its head.

"We've seen them before on other ops, but we've never gotten this close." she continued, the others lowering their weapons as Dare put her own magnum on the ground.

"Why should we trust it? Unlike Twilight it's with the covenant." Mack asked the captain.

"Best we can tell? They're prisoners, or slaves. Either way, they don't like the Covenant any more than we do." Dare explained as she walked forward, the floating alien came forward to meet Dare, "I spotted this one in the tunnels, watched it access comm lines, cameras, traffic control, you name it. Eventually, it holed up here"

Dare removed a metal piece that got stuck to the alien from its body, "ONI calls them engineers, we think they're some sort of biological supercomputer. If I'm right, this one's taken the Superintendents data and combined it with its own."

"Everything we need to know about the Covenant, what they're looking for under the city is right...in...here." She finished as she patted the engineer on its head. An alarm went off and the engineer floated over to a console, activating a camera feed that showed brutes landing in the large room next to the core.

"Damn! Buggers must have raised the alarm." Dare said as the camera panned to the door outside of the data core, revealing another ODST.

"Buck!" She shouted into the comm.

"Veronica? Where the hell are you?" The ODST replied, looking around his immediate area to see if he could spot her.

"Data Center, but we're coming out." The captain replied, motioning the others to take point.

"We?" Buck inquired.

"The rookie and another ODST squad along with another asset. Whatever you do, do not. I repeat, do NOT shoot anything pink." She replied

"Whatever you say, just come on!" Buck answered, eager to get out of the underground.

Dare picked up her pistol again, "Those Brutes are here for the Engineer. They'll kill it if they get their chance." She turned to the engineer, "You. Stay behind me. Okay?" 

The rookie activated the door and the growing group exited the door, Tyler being dragged along by lucy at the back of the squad alongside the engineer. "The Engineer still has shields, but they won't last long in a firefight. Take point, clear a path to Buck." Dare ordered.

Killing a couple of brutes and other aliens over on their way to buck wasn't too hard, Lucy had switched to tylers SMG so she could shoot bursts with one hand while Twilight had ditched her pistol in favor of Lucy's Assault rifle.

"This is our exit Troopers. Head through the door." Buck shouted as the group arrived at his location, quickly heading through the door they sealed it behind them, "About this uh, asset. Feel free to fill me in whenever."

"Not now, Buck!" Dare replied as they moved through hallways to find a locked door at the end.

"Door's locked, Damn!" Buck swore as he found the door.

"Don't worry, we have a key." Dare said as the engineer floated to the door and went to work.

"I've seen hundreds of these things today! Why is this one so important?" Buck asked while he waited for the engineer to do its job.

"This Engineer knows what the Covenant is after. If I could safely capture more of them I would. What they know can win the war!" Dare replied, Buck simply replying with "Oh."

"You haven't...killed any of them, have you?" Dare asked.

"NO!" Buck replied but after a small pause added, "Well, maybe one or...two."

"Nice job." Dare said sarcastically. "How was I supposed to know?" Buck replied as the engineer finished working on the door. Up ahead where sleeping drones, ignoring them they headed to an elevator at the end of the hallway. After entering the elevator buck took off his helmet,  "Whew! Lord, that thing stinks. Kinda reminds me of my-" He didn't finish his sentence as a fist hit him straight in the face.

"What was that for!?" He asked the captain.

"Abandoning the mission." Dare replied.

"What mission? You dropped off the grid! My squad was scattered-" Buck got kissed before he continued further, making the scene really awkward for everyone else in the elevator. "And that?" Buck asked as Dare released the kiss.

"For coming back." She answered.

After Dare finished her sentence she realized that the entire elevator was awkwardly trying to ignore the pair.

"You guys did good, no doubt. But we're not out of this yet." Buck said getting back on track, the elevator doors opening behind him. The group moved out into the street on their way to the shipyards.

"Captain, how about you hang back? Let us clear a path." Buck said as he turned a corner.

"Agreed. I'll stay with the asset, give it close cover." Dare replied, Lucy staying close to the captain as she was also dragging along Tyler. Coming up on a square that was being guarded by brutes alongside grunts and jackals they began a quick but ferocious firefight. 

"Where are we going exactly?" Dare asked Buck, who was leading the way.

"Waterfront Highway! Fastest way out of the city." He replied as they made their way through the streets as quickly as they could. Finding another elevator at the end of the street in a building. "Sit tight. We'll need the alien to power on the switch." Buck said as the engineer started working on the elevator door, opening it moments later as it wasn't really a challenge for the alien. 

The elevator opened up top on the highway, Covenant cruisers swarming in the sky above.
"When did this happen?" Dare motioned to the ships as she clearly hadn't seen them yet.

"They were starting to arrive when we went underground to find you, captain." Mack replied.

"And you waited until now to tell me that?" She raged.

"Oh, I'm sorry, we were a little busy. Making sure perfume over here didn't take a round and blow us all up!" Buck said, pointing at the engineer who made a sad sound and floated off towards a large nearby vehicle.

"Eddie Buck, always thinking with his gun. You haven't changed one bit!" Dare shouted at Buck. Twilight meanwhile was trying to stop herself from shouting at the two superior officers.

"Me? What about you? Oh, so full of big ONI secrets, couldn't even give a guy a yes or no answer!" Buck continued.

"ENOUGH!" Twilight shouted, "I've got a friend here that needs medical attention and you two are screaming at each other with your personal problems. We have a mission to complete!"

"At least someone gets it." Dare muttered, A cruiser exited slipspace above them. "We need to move. Now. Were you too busy to plan our exit?"

"I stole a Phantom. Yes. Thank you. I hid it in the shipyards down the highway. But I only have room for two, so...that thing's gonna have to sit on your lap." Buck replied, still annoyed at the captain.

Dare looked at where the engineer had been and realized that it wasn't there, "The Engineer, where did it go?" she asked, everyone looking around trying to spot the floating alien. The engine of the large vehicle the engineer had flown int revved and a tentacle from the engineer motioned for them to come over to it.

"Keep me covered. And try to keep up." Dare told Buck as she ran up to the vehicle and climbed in. Twilight and lucy also got in as mack took the wheel of a warthog that stood nearby as Buck climbed onto the turret and the rookie jumped into the passenger's seat.

In the large vehicle, Lucy and Twilight started working on making a more thorough scan of Tyler's injuries.
"He's cracked pretty much every rib on the left side of his body as well as a few on the right." Twilight mentioned as she scanned the ODST's ribcage.

Lucy nodded, "You get up top, I'll keep him stable for the moment."

Twilight hesitated for a moment, "Twilight, up top. Now." Lucy said with a commanding tone, reminding Twilight that she was, in fact, a corporal and outranked her.

"Buck, Scarab!" Dare shouted from up front as Twilight was climbing to the roof.

"I see it. Must've dropped out one of the cruisers. Just keep driving, it hasn't spotted us." Buck replied, Twilight opened a hatch on top of the vehicle and put down the bipod on the sniper.

"How the hell did you make it down this highway in one piece?" Dare asked from below her. 
"There weren't that many Covenant last night!" Buck said as he blasted a group of grunts with a shot from the gauss cannon mounted on the hog.

Driving down the highway further they eventually came across a scorpion tank which the three ODST's on the hog commandeered for their own. 

a bit further up an assault carrier came drifting out of the clouds, "Assault Carrier! Ten o'clock high! Look at the size of that thing!" Buck shouted.

Twilight spotted the glassing beam starting to power up, "It's targeting the City!" She shouted, the carrier starting to glass the city in the distance.

"Damn it, no! They're gonna burn this city and then glass the whole planet! Covenant bastards! It's just like Reach all over again!" Buck shouted at the sight, Twilight and the others sharing his sentiment.

"We made it out of there. We'll make it out of here. You can do this, Buck." Dare told Buck in the hope of motivating him.

"Right. Yeah. Okay." He replied activating his long-range radio, "Mickey, you read me? Change of plans. You're coming to us."

"Sky's kind of crowded, Gunny." His squadmate replied over the radio.

"There's no other way. Covenant just wasted the highway. We're gonna keep rolling as far as we can. Get airborne, fly the Phantom to my beacon." Buck told him.

"Understood." He replied cutting off the communication again.

Twilight meanwhile was firing her sniper at various targets on the bridge, knocking out shields or straight up killing them. looking out over the water on the side of the highway she saw a disturbance starting to come from the water, "Oh ponyfeathers." She said as she saw a purple walker rising from the water. "THERE'S A SCARAB!" She shouted down at Dare.

"We're going too fast, I can't stop!" She shouted back while the scarab was charging its main cannon. Twilight jumped back inside and closed the hatch behind her. Tumbling down the stairs she suddenly felt the vehicle heat up immensely as the scarab fired, smoke coming in from everywhere as the plasma burned through components.

"Veronica! Talk to me!" Buck shouted through the comms.

"The asset...it's all right." Twilight heard Dare replied from next to her, jogging down to the cargo hold to check on Lucy and Tyler she found that there was only a small amount of smoke in the cargo bay.

"Tyler's still stable." Lucy said as she spotted the alicorn.

"Get your injured man ready to move, we're bunkering down until we can be extracted by the rest of alpha-nine." Dare Shouted down into the cargo bay. Twilight and Lucy dragged Tyler out of the vehicle towards an open courtyard where the other ODST's and the engineer were already present.

"We should hold up in that building at the back." Buck pointed out, the rest swiftly agreeing. Dragging Tyler to a safe spot in the back with the engineer Twilight and the others geared up with any weapons that lay scattered about. "Phantom inbound." Twilight reported as she saw a dropship headed their way.

"It's not our guys." Buck replied, chambering a bullet into his assault rifle. Brutes coming from the dropship quickly got killed in a hail of gunfire as the group had all the ammo they needed. They killed the occupants of three phantoms before the covenant sent in mechanized reinforcements, "Wraith on the highway!" Mack shouted.

"Ah, hell." Lucy swore, "brute jump pack inbound! One of them is a chieftain."

"WHAT!" Twilight shouted, unseen to the other ODST's black smoke started forming around her horn. "The same type of motherbucker that hit Tyler?" She asked.

"The one and only" Mack replied, looking at the the alicorn. "O, fuck." He swore as he saw what Twilight was doing. While the others opened up on the brutes Mack charged the pony standing besides them. "LAY STILL." He ordered, Twilight tensed up for just long enough to allow Mack to slide an inhibitor ring over Twilight's horn, cutting of the magic flow to her horn.

"What was that for?" Lucy asked but then saw the ring on the ponies horn, "Oh that. Nevermind, how about you two pick up a gun and help out!"

Mack immediately picked up a rifle and started shooting but Twilight sat motionless for a moment, she had tried to use dark magic...

Again...

Disgusted with herself she clumsily picked up a SMG and helped finish off the last brute.

In the distance a new phantom appeared, 
"Whoo-yeah! Line 'em up boys!"

Bucks squadmate called out over the radio as the phantom bombarded the wraiths into oblivion.

"Everyone get to the parking lot!" Buck shouted as Lucy once again dragged Tyler along, going up the gravity elevator into the phantom.

"Are those two safe?" An ODST asked as he pointed at Twilight and the engineer.

"As safe as an ODST and a floating ball of methane can get." Buck replied.

The ground shook as a CAS carrier exited slipspace almost on top of them, the engineering froze up with fear and refused to move. With some 'careful nudging' the group managed to get the engineer into the phantom and took off.

Twilight looked back at the city as the CAS started glassing, a tear rolling from her eye.

"You okay Twilight?" Mack asked as he sat down next to the pony. 

"No, I am not. I tried to use dark magic again and the little filly that was my responsibility might be somewhere in there." Twilight replied, pointing at New Mombasa.

"Scootaloo is smart and has the ability to fly both with vehicles and by herself. She'll be out there somewhere and after she gets in touch with command it'll only be a matter of time until she gets back to us." Mack comforted his squad mate.

"I hope you're right, I wouldn't know what to tell Rainbow if I lost that filly." She sobbed, her head beginning to feel heavy.

"Just get some rest Sparkle, we'll wake you when we get somewhere safe." Mack said as he stood up to check on Tyler. Twilight lay down on the floor tired from a day of running, being knocked out for six hours didn't really give her any serious rest so it didn't take long for her to drift asleep.

Now she just had to explain all this to Rainbow.
> Chapter 17: Progress
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Twilight woke up in the plain she had first met Dash, in the distance she could see the portal that gave a view into the real world, Luna had apparently managed to make it self-sustaining.

"Thine are troubled Twilight Sparkle." Luna's voice came from behind her, if Twilight hadn't expected either her or Dash to appear she might have been startled.

"It's hard not to be Princess, the situation here isn't very accommodating to say the least." Twilight responded sitting down on her haunches.

Luna walked up to the fellow alicorn and also sat down, "If it makes a difference, the letter that we sent to thine pegasus companion went through fine."

Twilight let out a sigh, if she made it out of the drop she'd at least had a chance of survival. Twilight started shaking slightly as she had a chance to reflect on herself, "I'm tired, Luna. Everything I thought I stood for just got thrown out the window when I got here." She stated as tears started flowing while she was staring into the infinity beyond. "It's kill or be killed out here. You know I looked into how this war started, do you want to know how?" She asked Luna, who nodded.

"About three decades ago humanity lost contact with one of their colonies, Harvest, it was one of their main farming colonies. When the UNSC sent a recon mission consisting of three ships they found the planet's surface burned to glass and a strange ship in orbit. Out of the three ships the UNSC sent only one escaped the engagement with that ship."

Twilight looked straight into Luna's eyes as the princess was listening intently, "There were three-hundred thousand humans living on that world. It's a testament to human perseverance that only fifty thousand of them died that battle instead of the entire colony."

"Only fifty thousand!?" Dash's voice came from the side, Twilight looked over at the pegasus who had joined in as Twilight was telling her story. "How many lives have been lost if FIFTY THOUSAND is only a small number!" She shouted as she looked slightly pale.

"Over eighteen billion and if Earth falls that number will spike to over twenty-five billion." Twilight said, Rainbows wings dropped as she tried to process that number.

"Don't bother trying to visualize that amount of death, Rainbow." Twilight told her, "You can't. No-one can."

Everypony in the dreamworld looked over at the portal into the real world as they heard a scuffle. They could see the doors flying open and Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity storm into the room.

"TWILIGHT!" Pinkie screamed as she ran into the portal, hitting a wall as the portal wasn't traversable. Slowly sliding down the mirror before making a backflip, coming to a standstill in front of it. "OhmyghoshTwilightIvemissedyousomuchandIwanttothrowapartyrightnowbutyouwouldntbeabletoeatthecakeand *Gasp* yourenotreallyonthisplanetapperantly..." Pinkies ramble was cut off as AJ stuffed her hoof into Pinkies mouth, "What Pinky wants tha say that we're all mighty glad you're okay." She said.

"How much did you tell them?" Twilight asked Rarity and Fluttershy, "Because they deserve to know."

"We thought it best if you told them yourself, darling." Rarity said, AJ and Pinkie looking confused at the fashionista.

"What in tarnation is she talking about, Twilight?" AJ asked sitting down next to Pinkie in front of the portal. Luna stepped forward to stop Twilight from having to go through her story again.

"The world our Twilight Sparkle currently inhabits is involved in a terrible conflict which my fellow princess has gotten involved with." Luna explained, Rainbow meanwhile had walked up To Twilight and held her in a tight hug. "You're still our egghead Twilight, you may be a bit busted but you'll always be my friend."

"uhm, Twilight? Have you found Scootaloo yet?Fluttershy asked, Twilight turned to the animal caretaker. "I've only just managed to get out of the city, I'll know more after I hook up with command but they're going to be in disarray with the covenant here on Earth so it might take a while."

"Oh, okay." Fluttershy said as she hid behind her mane.

"I'm sorry for screaming at you Fluttershy, I wasn't in a safe location at the time. I still aren't really" Twilight said while holding a hoof on the portal.

"I also should have blamed you, I might not fully understand why you're doing what you're doing but I know you'd have thought about it." Fluttershy responded, holding her hoof against the portal in the same spot Twilight was holding it.

"This is all well and good but this all doesn't 'splain ah thing to me and Pinkie." Applejack said as she still looked puzzled while Pinkie's hair deflated by half.

"I'm currently in the middle of a warzone AJ. A day ago the covenant started a planetary assault and in their initial attack landed units in a city down here. I'm part of the QRF that was tasked with driving them back into their ship." Twilight explained, AJ mouth opens slightly in awe. "Initially it went quite well but after the first time I spoke to you girls everything went to Tartarus. After I woke up I found out a second fleet had arrived and we were trying to bug out the city."

Twilight began tearing up again as she remembered the city in flames as the covenant vessels started glassing.

"They destroyed it all." She said sobbing, "It's just like what happened at Reach."

AJ stayed silent as she had no Idea what to respond with.

"Methinks it's best if we let Twilight rest for a bit, just as you might want to process this information." Luna said, while turning to Rainbow, "that means you too my apprentice." 

Rainbow nodded and faded out of the dream world as Luna closed the viewing portal. "We have made slight progress in locating the planet you're residing on but as it stands now we wouldn't be able to create a stable portal to bring you back due to the extreme distance."

"We have slipspace capable spaceships here, Princess. I can just make a jump back home provided that we can figure out the coordinates and we don't lose the war, which isn't that Farfetched." Twilight responded.

Luna nodded "Than we shall focus on simply determining thine location. Rest well Twilight Sparkle, we shall guard your dreams to the best of our abilities." She said fading from the dream, allowing Twilight the rest she would need.

Twilight was sneaking through the underbrush of the jungle where a hidden base was located, her sniper loaded with specialized rounds for extreme range engagements and her armor covered in a gilly suit she made steady progress to a ridge to achieve a firing position. It had been twenty-seven days since New Mombasa and the covenant hadn't been sitting still in that time, they had been digging a very large hole, uncovering a very large buried structure. 

Sneaking up to the ridge she had navigated to she deployed the bipod on the sniper and started scanning the area, a small squad of grunts accompanied by a brute were mulling around about five-hundred meters away. focusing further out she could see the CAS-assault carriers working on their excavation sight, snapping as many pictures as she could while at it she finally spotted her target about one and a half kilometers out. Another Brute wearing honor guard armor was standing around screaming orders at more grunts who were hastily performing the random tasks given to them.

Twilight made the mental calculation taking windspeed, bullet-drop, Earths location, air-density, and air-humidity into account as she lined up the shot. She felt the telekinetic field in her hooves take hold of the trigger as it slowly compressed.
"May Celestia guide you to the fields of Elysium."She whispered.

BANG

The recoil pushed the pony back a couple of centimeters as she tracked the bullet that seconds later hit the head of the brute, the bullet punching through the shield it possessed and buried itself into the brute's skull. Attaching the sniper to the magnetic clamp on her armor she turned around and sprinted back into the jungle, behind her she heard a few grunts shouting but she knew they wouldn't be able to catch up let alone see her if they did.

Running for almost an hour Twilight stopped for a break and set up the radio she was also carrying. She smiled a bit internally, she could probably beat Rainbow and AJ in one of their 'Iron Pony' competitions if she wanted.

"Stardust to Starfire. Target eliminated and visual reconnaissance complete, returning to extraction. Over." She said over the radio.

"Copy that Stardust, Starfire out." The Zoey responded, Twilight packed up her radio ate some food and headed off again. She had managed to find some marines claiming to have seen a pegasus fighting in the streets of New Mombasa but after the carrier jumped there were none, Dash initially didn't take well to this news but after they had sent a small sliver of paper to the filly they at least knew that she was alive.

The other thing that was occupying her mind was Tyler, the ODST was still in an artificially maintained coma as the doctors had repaired as much of the damage in his body as they possibly could. That said he would probably not wake up for some time as none of the doctors wanted to risk waking him up.

Twilight saw a beacon light up on her HUD as she got close to the pelican hidden pelican that was to extract her. Jogging the last hundred meters through the thinning underbrush she entered a small clearing where the pelican was hidden.

"Get on board, Sparkle. Someone is coming by some ONI space station to talk with the Engineer and they want everyone who helped extract him to be present." She said from the ramp of her pelican.

"Let me guess." Twilight said, "A spook?"

"Doesn't seem like it." Zoey responded while strapping into the pilot's seat, "Some sergeant major, with the approval of Lord Hood that is."

Twilight's ears perked up at that, "When is he arriving?" She asked while strapping in herself.

"About the same time as us getting there." The pilot responded as she whirled up the engines and took off, staying close to the jungle's roof to get some distance from the dig site before heading to orbit. Two hours of flight later they docked at the space station and Twilight made her way over to the rest of the squad while Zoey stayed with the pelican.

As she entered the room she saw the Engineer fiddling with a camera as the other ODST's were sitting around the room doing whatever.

"How was your day, Sparkle?" Mack asked as he saw Twilight enter. 

"Shot something, took some pictures, and got my flank away from there as fast as possible." Twilight replied, "How's Virgil?"

The Engineer let out a few happy squeaks as he continued fiddling with the camera. "He's been entertaining himself by repairing and mucking about with everything we give him." Buck answered, a door opened behind them and Dare alongside her the visiting sergeant major. "Does it have access to the covenant battlenet?" He asked

"Limited but yes, we're not entirely sure how it manages a remote connection to the.. Whoa!" Dare said but got cut off when the sergeant threw a lighter at the engineer. Time seemed to slow for Twilight as she focussed on the lighter and stopped it with her levitation.

"Stand down!" Buck shouted as the other ODST's twitched while the engineer picked the lighter from Twilight's magic aura.

"Told ya, She'd do that." Scootaloo's voice came from the door. Twilight immediately turned towards the grinning pegasus and without warning tackled her to the ground in a crushing hug.

"Twilight, air." Scootaloo gasped, Twilight giving her slightly more space. "Did you get a hugging course from Pinkie in the time I was gone or something?" She asked, getting a chuckle from Twilight.

"No, but I can ask her when I get down planetside again." Twilight responded, "Rainbow has been worried sick about you, you know."

Scootaloo grabbed a piece of parchment from a pocket in her armor, which Twilight observed to be burned badly. "Yea, I know. She sent me a message while I was dropping onto Halo." Scoots replied, finally managing to get out of Twilights vice grip. She looked at the other ODST's of her squad but found something amiss. "Where's Tyler?"

Twilight's smile dropped as she had to tell what happened, "He got hit by a gravity hammer. He's in a coma right now."

Scootaloo's smile also dropped, "Damn, is he stable?"

"Yea, he's been recovering and he still has brain function but we'll only know the damage if he wakes up." Lucy said as the group separated itself from Johnson and the other ODST's.

"He'll make it." Scootaloo said, "He's too stubborn to die."

The mood lifted a bit at Scootaloo's comment as everyone agreed with her sentiment, Johnson finished with the engineer and walked over to the group. "Sergeant Cross, get your squad ready you're going down with us."

"Yes, Sir!" He said, Johnson walking off towards the hangar bay. Scootaloo also got up and walked after the sergeant major, "I'll go scare Zoey for a bit, you guys gear up." Scootaloo said as she hobbled off to the pilot. "Oh yeah, we're going to hook up with a Sangheili deserter down there." She mentioned before turning the corner.

Lucy looked at the corner where the pegasus disappeared, "Is it me or does that pegasus only get more insane as the time goes on?"

"I just want to know whatever she went through out there to come back with an elite and an energy dagger attached to her armor." Twilight said as she had noticed the extra augment on Scootaloo's armor. 


Twilight sat across from Scootaloo in the pelican as they made their way back down to the surface, the filly was screwing around with the energy dagger module attached to her gauntlet.

"So, Scootaloo. Where did you get that?" Twilight asked as she couldn't stop her curiosity.

Scootaloo lit the blade, instead of the usual blue it had a purple hue to it. "It belonged to a dead elite we found, the 'prophets' have outlawed the elites initiating a civil war within the covenant."

Scootaloo deactivated the blade again before continuing, "We left the arbiter back at the crow's nest but we hope the rest of the rebel elites will show up to kick the covenant out of orbit."

Sergeant Johnson turned to the crew compartment from the cockpit, "Change of plans, ladies. The dreadnought that has been wrecking the navy just entered atmosphere and the guest it was carrying just bailed out."

Scootaloo's ears perked up at hearing that and she immediately checked if she was loaded up on ammo, "Do we know where he landed?" Scootaloo asked, Johnson nodding.

"The arbiter will meet us there with some marines, ETA is thirty minutes." Johnson said, turning back to the cockpit. The other ODST's also making sure they were fully packed, "So, Hurricane. Who is that guest?" Mack asked.

"Master Chief petty officer Sierra one-one-seven." Scootaloo answered, Lucy accidentally dropped her assault rifle at hearing the designation S-117.

"The Chief, as in the Spartan?!" She asked exasperated, "Tell us, what the hell have you been doing when you were gone!"

Scootaloo attached her SMG to her barrel and sat back down in her seat, "After my drop pod disintegrated I figured out how to glide down to a rooftop. After that, I managed to hook up with a squad of marines from the In Amber Clad, the Chief being among them. We fought towards the carrier when the prophet decided to bug out, which you guys probably noticed, we followed them into slipspace encountering a..." Scootaloo hesitated for a moment, "A weapon" She finally said.

"Weapon? What did the covenant build?" Twilight asked, Scootaloo cringing a bit as she was pretty certain the information was classified.

"No it was built by someone else but I don't know who and I'm pretty sure that's classified information." She replied, continuing her story. "After entering realspace again we found the construct and dropped onto it, finding out that for some reason the covenant thought it a good idea to fire the thing. We took out one of their prophets but by doing that the covenant fleet that had shown up in the system started glassing our location."

"How large a weapon are we talking about here? It must be big if the covies decided to just glass a portion of it." Lucy asked, Scootaloo looked forward to the cockpit where she saw the sergeant major also listening in. He nodded to Scootaloo that she could continue.

"It's a ring world with a diameter of ten thousand kilometres and its weapons can supposedly whipe out all life in a twenty five thousand lightyear radius."

Twilight's brain hit a road bump for a moment as she tried to comprehend the size of the object, "T-That's the size of a planet!" She stammered.

"Yeah. Anyway, through some unfortunate events I managed to end up with the Arbiter who I helped to stop the firing of Halo. After that we hitched a ride back to Earth with a prowler to prevent the covenant taking control of a structure called the Ark. You can fire all the Halo's from there apparently."

Everyone seemed to be slightly stunned at what Scootaloo had seen. "So the structure the covenant have been digging up is the Ark?" Mack asked to which Scootaloo shrugged, "Don't know, neither does Discord so I'd rather not take any chances."

"Wait, did you say Discord?!" Twilight shouted as she struggled to keep up with the stream of information. "What does that lawn ornament have to do with this?"

"He's been manipulating things behind the scenes, If he keeps his promise he'll contact Luna tonight. He also said that he would allow Dash and Luna access to my dream bubble so I can talk to Equestria too." Scootaloo explained, the pelican setting down in the jungle. The ramp opened allowing everyone to exit, Twilight tensed up as she saw an elite standing amidst a group of marines but didn't do anything as Scootaloo walked up to him.

"Have you found the demon?" He asked Johnson.

"About a mile north of here." Johnson responded, the Arbiter nodded and motioned the others to move.

"You lead you troops to him, I'll make sure nothing sneaks up on you." He said as he activated his active camo. 

"Well what are you standing around for? Let's go get our Spartan!" Johnson said as he and the marines started moving further into the jungle.

"You three coming or are you just going to stand there?" Scootaloo said walking after Johnson.

The three ODST's looked at each other, Mack shrugged and started following Scootaloo. Twilight and Lucy followed closely after him. 

They apparently had a Spartan to retrieve.
> Chapter 18: The Smell of Green
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Rainbow was sitting alone at the dinner table in the palace as the others had left for ponyville again. She was still having her daily conversations with Twilight, who still hadn't found Scootaloo when she spoke to her last night. Finishing her breakfast Dash got up to get some exercises done as Luna teleported into the room with her.

"Dreamworld. Now." She commanded as she teleported Dash and herself to the room where they had set up the viewing portal, Celestia was already present there and looked seriously concerned.

"What's going on, Princess?" Dash asked Luna but she had already entered the dream world, Dash quickly followed her and saw the princess floating in front of the scar in the dreamworld, conjuring up a shield around herself. Dash wanted to repeat herself but then stopped to gawk at the scar. Where previously only Twilight's bubble floated there now floated another regular bubble alongside a black one that had the smoke like tentacles protruding from it.

"Is that pure chaos?!" Dash asked bewildered, Luna nodded in acknowledgment. "There's only one being we know of that has this much pure chaos magic at its disposal."

Dash's hairs stood on end as she knew who Luna was talking about, "So what are we going to do about him." Rainbow asked.

"He might be insane but he never was stupid, he must have a reason for him to reveal himself." Luna said, "That's why you're going to talk to him while we and my sister watch thine conversation."

"WAIT, WHAT!" Dash shouted, "W-Why me! The last time I spoke to him he turned me into a despicable version of myself!"

Luna put a hoof on Dash's shoulder, "Thou will have the protection of the element where we will not. You have faced this foe before but this time thine knows of its tactics and will not falter."

Dash grimaced but went up to the black bubble, the black smokey tentacle probed Dash but receded to allow Dash access to the bubble. The pegasus looked back one more time before she touched the bubble and got sucked in.

The world around her turned into a pink landscape where houses floated about, the rain had turned into chocolate milk and animals walked around that had no right of existing. On top of a particular hill, a throne stood that had a peculiar creature sitting on top of it.

"Oh how wonderful of you to join me in my loneliness, I was almost thinking the princess wouldn't take me up on the invite." Discord said as he looked down at the pegasus with an evil grin.

"What do you want?" Dash asked the chimera. Discord disappeared in a flash and re-appeared coiling like a snake around Rainbow, "Me? I just want to talk. Not like I can do much else while I'm the crown piece of the statue collection in the royal garden" Discord said with a tinge of sadness, "I'm here to make a deal since I'm sure that both the princesses are watching right now. Tia and Lulu have probably figured out by this point that my containment is faulty and are thinking up ways to make sure it secure again."

Rainbow huffed, "Why should I care if you're properly sealed away."

Discord scratched his chin, "Well how about the fact that this scar in Lulu's precious dreamworld will collapse and any communication with the element of magic becomes impossible, also, without me the humans might suddenly get the idea to use your friend and precious little sister as lab experiments."

Dash was speechless, she wanted to say that the draconequus was lying but it made some twisted sense that the chaos in the dream world would collapse if discords statue was sealed properly but that Discord might actively be protecting them was baffling to her

"Anyway this has been fun but the stench coming off that Element of  harmony is dreadful." Discord said while he was wearing some sort of black mask with some sort of filter attached to it. "Ta Taa"

"Wait!" Dash shouted but was ripped out of the dream back into the dream world where Luna caught her. Discords bubble turned to smoke and faded back into the scar, leaving Twilight's bubble and a regular one behind.

"We shall keep the first watch, my apprentice. My sister and I have much to speak about." Luna said as she pushed a dazed Dash out of the dream world.




Twilight was walking at the back of the group of marines keeping their flanks covered, Scootaloo was at the front with the sergeant-major. The arbiter had revealed himself on occasion to give the group intel on small groups of brute led units that were roaming the jungle. The large Sangheili had glanced at Twilight on occasion before disappearing into the jungle again with its active camouflage. Twilight suddenly heard the slight rustling of leaves to her right and swirled around her sniper, the arbiter deactivated his active camo and came walking out of the bushes. 

"You have impressive hearing and reflexes, pony." He said starting to walk beside the alicorn, "But then again, that should be expected from the Demon of the Stalwart Dawn."

Twilight almost tripped on her own hooves as the arbiter added the extra sentence, "W-what do you know about that?!" She asked the warrior. "Very little." The arbiter admitted, "The troops aboard the vessel managed to send a couple of messages out of slipspace but by the time any of them were received your ship was already too far gone to follow and we were already chasing the Pillar of Autumn to the first Halo."

"Found him!" A marine called out form the front of the column of soldiers, "This ain't good." another commented as he saw the Spartan lying still in his locked up armor. "Damn... How far did he fall?" another marine asked, "Two kilometers, easy." the first responded. Johnson took a long drag from his cigar, "Stay sharp!" He said as Lucy and another medic started tending to the chief while the other marines took covering positions, around the Spartan. The arbiter moved away from the group again and cloaked to do some more reconnaissance of the area.

"Corpsman?" Johnson asked the other medic indicating he wanted a report.

"His armor's locked up. Gel layer could have taken most of the impact..." The medic replied uncertainly as Lucy released the armor lock on the Mjolnir armor, The chief falling limp because of it.

"I don't know, sergeant major." he said as he studied the readouts on his scanner, Johnson crouched down next to the chief and blew out a cloud of smoke before sighing. "Radio for VTOL, heavy lift gear. We're not leaving him here." He said as he removed Cortana's AI chip from the Spartans helmet, Twilight saw the Spartan's body stirring.

"Yeah. You're not." The chief said as he grabbed hold of Johnson's wrist, Jonson let out a sigh of relief, "Crazy fool! Why do you always jump? One of these days, you're gonna land on somethin' as stubborn as you are! And I don't do bits and pieces!"

The chief took the chip back from the sergeant's hand, "Where is she, Chief? Where's Cortana?" Johnson asked as the data-core didn't glow blue. The chief remained focussed on the empty data-chip a couple seconds longer, "She stayed behind." The chief finally answered as he put the chip back into his helmet. A corporal started going through his suits calibrations as Twilight heard the Arbiter approaching once again, she wasn't the only one as she saw the chief tensing up and sprinting forward with Johnson's magnum.

"Chief, wait!" Both she and Johnson shouted, "The Arbiter's with us!" the sergeant finished. The Chief hesitated as he had the pistol lodged between the elite's mandible's, Johnson walked forward and put his hands on the Chief's shoulder. "Come on now. We got enough to worry about without you two tryin' to kill each other!" Johnson said, the Arbiter clacked his mandibles together. "Were it so easy." He said as he turned from the group, "The Brutes have our scent."

Johnson chuckled, "Then they must love the smell of green!" He said as he took an assault rifle from one of the marines and gave it to the Chief. The sergeant turned to his fellow marines again, "1st Squad, you're my scouts. As for you, just try not to wreck my planet." he added the second sentence while glancing at the arbiter, chief and the two ponies. "Move out! Quiet as you can." He also opened a com line to another marine team, "This is Romeo to Bravo. We got him. Fall back to the extraction point. Over."

"Roger that, Romeo. Bravo out." The second team replied, The soldiers walked down a chasm where they saw a phantom dropship hovering, "Romeo, be advised. Hostiles are -.....- on the move -.....-. I've got eyes on a -.....- Brute Pack -.....-. Over." Bravo reported in again, their transmission rife with static.

"Say again, Bravo? You're breaking up." Johnson said over the radio, Twilight saw a brute and a group of grunts through the scope of her sniper further down the chasm. "Tangos spotted, Brute and grunts down in the chasm." She reported, Johnson frowned, "We stick together, we're gonna get spotted. We'll split up, and meet back at the LZ. Chief, take our alien allies and the ODST's and head to the river. Marines, you're with me."

The two groups split up, Johnson took his marines and started tracking through the jungle in an alternative route. Chief, Arbiter, the ponies and the ODST's. went forward taking out large amounts of covenant footsoldiers in their way in an attempt to direct attention to them instead of the sergeant major. Along the way they found a brute holding a marine up by his throat. "Tell me its location!" The large ape shouted. Twilight's eyes narrowed as she saw the dangling marine, "Kiss... my... ass." He replied, Twilight could see the brute starting to squeeze the marine.

"No you bucking don't." She said as she lined up the crosshairs with the brutes head and fired, the alien roared as he dropped the human soldier who scrambled away from him. Twilight magically pulled the trigger again as the brute jumped down, embedding the large bullet in its chest. The brute was dead before he hit the ground.

The marine, a sergeant, grabbed an assault rifle and ran up to the group, "Brute Chieftain. Phantom. Pinned us down... killed my men." He told them, Twilight grimaced, they had come too late to save more marines. Mack gave the marine a reassuring pat on the back as they continued through the jungle, "The river, hurry!" The arbiter said as they reached a cave, the Chief seemed to slow down for a moment, which was when Lucy noticed something. "Sir, you okay?" She asked, "Your vitals just pinged KIA." The chief just nodded back at the ODST and continued. 

"Chief, Pelicans are at the river. We've got company, so hustle up!" Johnson called out over the radio as the group came into sight of the river where two pelican dropships floated which were being battered by covenant soldiers on the ground.

"Grenades! Blow them to bits!" The arbiter grunted as he charged forward, and stuck a couple of plasma grenades to a few brutes. "Hold on. Got a contact." A pilot reported in, "Banshees! Fast and low!" She shouted immediately after as the flying vehicles came soaring over the river, "Break off — now!" Twilight could hear Zoey order her wingman. The pelicans tried to bug out but both got hit by the attacking craft. The first of the two getting hit on the engine and crashed into the river and the pelican that contained Johnson and Zoey getting hit on the same engine but the pilot managed to stabilize the dropship for a controlled crash further up in the jungle.

"ZOEY!" Scootaloo Shouted as she stretched her wings and flew forward, taking out a brute with the energy dagger she had gotten from the arbiter. "NOBODY HURTS MY FRIENDS!" She roared at the aliens as she cut them down with her SMG's. The Chief and arbiter were able to keep up with the flying ODST while the others were playing catchup with the three who ran ahead. "The Banshees will return. Hurry, back into the jungle!" The arbiter said as the others caught up with the raging little pegasus, the radio crackled to life as they ran back into the jungle.

"Chief, can you hear me? . . .  My bird's down. Half a klick . . .  downriver from your position." Johnson called in, static cutting through his transmission. The group ran further into the jungle towards the downed pelican, taking out jackals on the way, "Come on, you dumb apes! You want breakfast? You gotta catch it!" Johnson shouted as Scootaloo saw the covenant infested crash site, the ODST's alongside the Arbiter and Chief cleared the immediate area of the covenant footsoldiers and ran up to the surviving marines, "Sergeant Major went that way, Chief. Through the cave." a marine pointed out, the Chief nodded and motioned for the others to follow him to the cave. on the other side, they saw an overgrown complex where the sergeant major, Zoey, and another marine were being led into a concrete building. Twilight was just in time with her telekinesis to stop the pegasus from shooting off and immediately assaulting the brutes.

"See how they bait their trap?" The arbiter asked as he pointed out the brutes' strong points. Twilight nodded, "Chief, Lucy and I can give you covering fire with the long guns." She told the Spartan, who swapped a sniper he had picked up at the crash site for the ODST's assault rifle and jumped down with the others, Lucy deployed the bipod of the sniper and took position next to the alicorn. "Any tips and tricks I should know about these rifles?" She asked the pony.

"At this range? Point, brace, fire." Twilight answered and fired her first shot at a brute, alerting the aliens to their presence. Down in the facility, the Chief and the others also opened fire, every time a brute showed its head either Lucy or Twilight put a round downrange making it a soft target for the others to take out. Twilight could see Scootaloo engage two brutes at once, without the support of the others who were still engaged with another squad of brutes. Targeting one of the brutes she wanted to fire but had to wait, she couldn't take the shot without endangering Scootaloo. The little pegasus darted in between the two large aliens who were trying hard to catch the little pegasus, she activated her energy dagger, which had a purple shine to it instead of the regular blue, and flapped her wings, making her fly upwards. The first brute got his throat slit as Scootaloo rotated mid-air and the second brute received the energy dagger to his brain as the pegasus finished her twist. Twilight was amazed at the sight as the pegasus didn't even acknowledge the fact that she just cut down the two aliens, she was simply too focused on reaching the prison where her friends were being held. Twilight wanted to switch targets but stopped as she saw a flash of light coming from beneath the filly's flank armor.

No, it can't be. Twilight thought as she saw the filly running into the building where her friends were being held.





A cold feeling coming from Scootaloo's flank spread throughout her body as the brutes she had eliminated hit the ground, shrugging off the feeling she put on another sprint and headed into the building where she had seen the captured humans being led into. "Sergeant, Zoey?" Scootaloo asked as she turned the corner with her SMG ready in the case that any threats presented themselves. She found the marines sitting against a wall with an energy shield blocking their exit.

"This isn't as fun as it looks. Cut the power, Hurricane." Johnson deadpanned to Scootaloo who hovered up in front of the shield generator and deactivated it. She tossed one of her SMG's to the sergeant and her other to Zoey, "Glad you're okay." She said as she looked at the fellow pilot. 

Zoey grinned at the small pegasus, "Me? You don't have to worry about me, I've got my personal guardian pegasus to drag my butt out of hell everytime shit hits the fan." Scootaloo rolled her eyes behind her opaque visor and went into a hover as she went outside where the Chief, Arbiter, and Mack were standing around the entrance. Cheif gave a quick nod to Johnson as the sergeant radioed for a new evac.

"Two Phantoms inbound!" Twilight reported over the radio, everyone darted to a set of cover as the purple dropships came to a stop above the compound they were located in. Brutes and grunts dropping from their troop compartments, Arbiter and Chief ran off to where the first Phantom was dropping its troops and started clearing the landing zone while dodging fire from the cannons on the ship itself. The gunner on the second dropship saw the ODST's behind their cover and opened fire on them, forcing Scootaloo, Zoey, and Mack to keep their head down as its troops dropped down to the ground. "Twilight can you hit the gunner on the far side of the phantom?" Mack asked the alicorn, the radio remained silent but moments later a loud bang rang through the air and the grunt manning the plasma turrent fell to the ground, missing half his head.

"Grunt down, you're free to move." She reported as more sniper shots could be heard. "Those heavy plasma cannons are going to wreck us if we don't do anything about them." Scootaloo observed, Mack agreed. "Got any Ideas on how to neutralize them?" He asked as he fired a burst at a grunt. "Only stupid ones but they might work though." Scootaloo admitted as the heavy turrent fired at the Chief who had to roll out of the way of the turrent, his shield flaring dangerously. "Better than nothing. I'll give you cover on go, you do whatever to take out that thing." Mack said as he counted down and started firing over the barricade, forcing the covenant troops to momentarily take cover. Scootaloo used the small window to open her wings and fly up to the dropship, landing in the empty troop compartment. a second grunt manning the turrent on the other side remained oblivious to the pegasus right up to the point where a purple energy dagger stabbed it through the gut. The pegasus turned to the cockpit door as the grunt fell down to the ground, a push of a button later and she was standing behind two jackals who were flying the dropship and firing the large turrent respectively. She primed a plasma grenade she had picked up and tossed it between the two before turning and running back out of the dropship, she heard the grenade go off behind her as she jumped from the side of the craft and glided down to the ground as the Phantom crashed into the jungle.

"Scootaloo, that was the stupidest plan I've ever seen." Twilight said over the radio, "Rainbow would be proud."
Scootaloo let out a laugh, "Cover me for the next one." She said as she opened her wings in preparation of boarding the other Phantom but was stopped by Johnson, "Negative Hurricane, We've got a pelican gunship coming in hot. Sparkle, Turner get your asses down here for extraction." He said as a volley of rockets impacted the Phantom, "This is Kilo 23, you boys needed a ride?" The pilot said as he lowered his dropship and opened the ramp, a gunner with a chaingun taking out any remaining covenant soldiers. The group of soldier quickly boarded the pelican which immediately took off.

"Are you feeling okay?" Twilight asked Scootaloo as the little pegasus pulled a new set of SMGs from the pelican's armory. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow and quickly checked herself if she was bleeding or anything, "Yeah why wouldn't I be?" She asked as she didn't find any wounds. "N-Nothing" Twilight stammered, "Nothing that's going to matter now." she added as she pulled new ammo for her sniper from an ammo-box. Scootaloo shrugged and sat down on a seat waiting for them to arrive at their destination, which they did about half an hour later.

They exited the pelican and were approached by Captain Miranda Keyes, "Where'd you find him?" She asked Johnson.  "Napping. Out back." He replied, earning a snicker from Scootaloo. "Hmm, I'll bet. It's good to see you Chief." The captain said, "Likewise, ma'am." The chief replied as he shook the captains head, "Let's get you up to speed." She said as they started walking into the base, wounded marines lined the hallways of the base.

"The Prophet of Truth's ships breached the Lunar perimeter. Smashed what was left of the Home Fleet. Terrestrial casualties from the subsequent bombardment were..." The captain stopped talking for a moment to find the correct words to use,  "...extreme. Truth could've landed anywhere, but he committed all his forces here. East Africa. The ruins of New Mombasa. Then, they started digging." She explained, "What about Halo?" The chief asked, Scootaloo momentarily cringed as she remembered how badly she got busted up on that ring and her encounter with what the Arbiter called 'The Parasite'.

"We stopped it, but only temporarily. Now, the Prophet of Truth is looking for something called 'The Ark', where he'll be able to fire all the Halo Rings. If he succeeds, Humanity, The Covenant, every sentient being in the Galaxy..." Keyes started, "The rings will kill us all." The Chief finished for her. "Ma'am, I have Lord Hood." A technician informed the captain as they entered the command center. "Patch him through." She ordered him, the admiral appeared on the main screen.

"Good news, Commander Keyes?" He asked, "As good as it gets, sir." She responded. "So I see. What's your status, son?" He asked the Chief, "Green. Sir." He responded in his usual stoic manner. "Glad to hear it. The Commander's come up with a good plan. But without you, I wasn't sure we could pull it off." Lord hood continued, giving the Captain time to explain her plan. "Truth's ships are clustered above the excavation site. And his infantry has deployed Anti-Aircraft Batteries around the perimeter. But, if we neutralize one of the batteries, punch a hole in Truth's defenses..." She explained to the group, "I'll initiate a low-level strike. Hit 'em right where it hurts. I only have a handful of ships, Master Chief. It's a big risk. But I'm confident—" The power cut out before the admiral could continue.

"Hell! Not again!" A technician cursed, "Emergency generators! Now!" Keyes ordered, "Shielding failed. They're down and charging." Another technician reported, "As soon as they're up, re-establish contact with Lord Hood. Let him know that-" The captain started but stopped talking as one of the 'prophets' appeared on all the screens in the room.

"You are, all of you, vermin. Cowering in the dirt, thinking what, I wonder? That you might escape the coming fire? No. Your world will burn until its surface is but glass! And not even your Demon will live to creep, blackened from its hole to mar the reflection of our passage... the culmination of our Journey. For your destruction is the will of the gods! And I? I am their instrument!" The religious zealot ranted, Scootaloo felt her skin crawl as the prophet finished his speech and saw it had the same effect on nearly everyone else in the room.

"Cocky bastard. Just loves to run his mouth!" Johnson grunted as he took another drag from his cigar. "Does he usually mention me?" The Chief casually asked the captain. "Give the order. We're closing shop." The captain ordered after she thought for a moment. "Ma'am?" A marine asked as he wanted to know the reason behind the decision. "We're about to get hit." Keyes told him, he didn't waste any more time and opened a COM to the rest of the base. "All personnel! Defense code Alpha-one. Prepare for immediate evacuation!" he informed them. "The wounded. We're getting them all out." Keyes said as she walked up the stairs to the back exit of the room. "If I have to carry 'em myself." Johnson informed her.

"Ma'am, squad leaders are requesting a rally point. Where should they go?" A technician asked the captain who had unholstered her magnum pistol and chambered a round.

"To war."
> Chapter 19: Voi
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





"We just lost the Perimeter Cameras." A technician reported, "Motion sensors are down as well or we're not receiving. Can't tell."

Keyes meanwhile had come back down to the monitoring station, "Any of our birds squawking?" She asked as she wanted to know the status of the pelicans. "No, ma'am. Wait, Overwatch has contacts. Phantoms, closing in on our position." Another technician replied as he scanned incoming reports.

"Any birds less than five minutes out, bring them in. Tell everything else to scatter." The captain ordered, the staff in the Ops Center immediately got to work relaying the order to any pelican outside of the base. "We knew they'd find us eventually. But we have a plan, let's make it happen." She told the staff in the room who all answered in the affirmative. Johnson turned to the Chief and Arbiter, "Chief, move out. You too, Arbiter. The Commander will brief you as you go." The two nodded and moved down a set of stairs further into the base, Scootaloo and Twilight started to follow but were stopped by Captain Keyes. "Not this time, You two. I need you two to cover an engineering crew as they bring up a bomb from downstairs." She explained as she typed something on her notepad, "Sergeant Sparkle, corporal Hurricane's you two have to pick up a package down in storage."

Twilight was astounded, "Y-Yes Ma'am!" she said and ran out of the Ops center to a freight elevator, her mind was in turmoil as she went over what had just happened.

She just promoted me to sergeant?! Twilight thought as she glanced at Scootaloo, cursing the visors as she couldn't gauge her reaction to the sudden promotion.

"So sergeant, what's the plan?" Scootaloo asked, Twilight could practically hear the grin from under the pegasus's helmet making her scratch her last thought, the pegasus seemed quite happy with the promotion. "get the bomb upstairs and help with the evac before getting our tails out of this deathtrap."

"Well look who's there! Didn't think I'd run into you down here, lassy." A marine called out as Scootaloo stepped from the freight elevator, Twilight couldn't help but smile as she recognized the squad. "MacGregor, Hopper, Zuyev." She said, Acknowledging the marines. "Good to see you guys but we're on a clock, where is the bomb?"

"Over there, Sarge." MacGregor pointed out a large contraption, that was being tended to by a group of engineers. "That right there is over forty tons of glorious explosive power." He said with a grin as Scootaloo let out a laugh, "You want to see this thing blow up don't you." She asked the Scottish marine, "Just a wee bit." He answered as they reached the explosive.

"Status," Twilight asked one of the engineers who had just attached an explosive to the external of the bomb. "The detonator is fried but we fixed that by attaching external detonation charges. Only need to start the timer and wait for the fireworks." He told her as he turned around, his eyes going wide. "Holy shit, you're real."

"Told you we weren't talking out of our asses!" Hopper said, the marine fist-bumping Zuyev, his Russian comrade. 

"I-I... What?!" The engineer stuttered before he shook his head, "Fine. Fuck it. I'm taking orders from a pony, Jason get that forklift and move this thing onto the cargo elevator!" He shouted at one of his fellow engineers, who within a couple of minutes had placed the bomb on the elevator. "She's all yours, ma'am. Me and my boys are going to head to evac, you do NOT want to be here when this thing goes off" 

"That goes for us too, Sparkle. Good luck with that thing." MacGregor said as he and the other marines were ready to move out themselves. "Do you have any word on how the Stalward Dawn is doing, MacGregor?" Twilight asked the marine before he could leave.

"Screwed probably." He answered, both the ponies winced at the assessment. "The captain kicked off everyone who wasn't necessary and then went back up to rejoin the defense fleet in orbit, I know the doc made it off the ship but as for its status, I don't know shit."

"Thanks, I've been too busy to check myself." Twilight thanked him and hit the elevators ascend button with her magic, "Godspeed, Sparkle. Give 'em hell!" He shouted after them as they went back up to the Ops Center where a marine moved the bomb in the middle of the room and started setting a timer. "Chief should be back in just a bit." Johnson said as Twilight walked up to him, the base started shaking slightly as explosives were being set off somewhere in the base.

The captain appeared on the video screen as she had already left, "Johnson, you might wanna put that out." she said as she saw the sergeant major smoking. He quickly dropped his cigar and stamped it out as Keyes had a good point, at the same time the Chief and Arbiter came running back into the Ops center. "Chief, have a look. A little going-away gift for the Covenant. We've linked it to smaller charges throughout the base." The captain told him, "Johnson, soon as the evacuation is complete, start the timer."

"Understood." The sergeant major replied curtly, "Good luck everyone. See you on the last Pelican out." She said as she disconnected her feed, "Chief, Arbiter, Helljumpers. Follow me. Brutes have taken the barracks. Marines are trapped inside. Those apes ain't much for mercy, Chief. We both know what they do to prisoners." The sergeant said as he pulled out an assault rifle from a weapons locker, "Get to the barracks, save those men. Then escort them to the Landing Pad for evac. I'll guard the bomb."

The chief nodded and led the group to a door at the back of the room and went down the stairs, opening the blast door that led to the barracks. ''Knock, knock." Scootaloo started to which Lucy added, "Who's there?"

BANG

A shot rang out from Twilight's sniper rifle at the same time as a brute fell further into the barracks, "You two know that you're the worst, right?"

"Yep!" Scootaloo replied as she shot forward alongside the chief and the arbiter. Twenty minutes later they had reached the opposite side of the barracks with all the survivors they found along the way.

"Again, the Brutes show their weakness." The arbiter muttered as they reached a lift up to the hangar, where the radio crackled to life, "Commander, we lost the Ops Center. Brutes attacked in force. Couldn't hold them off. We're falling back to the hangar. But don't wait for us." Johnson reported but the captain stopped her pilot from leaving without him.
The elevator reached the top level where a brute pack was shooting the captain's pelican which forced her to retreat, they cleared the hangar from brutes with the saved marines and Johnsons squad to allow a the pelican to land.

"Brutes. In the Ops Center. They disarmed the bomb. Sorry Commander, there were too many. Even for me." Johnson told Keyes as he stepped up the ramp of the pelican. "Chief, Arbiter, get back to the Ops Center. Kill those Brutes. Rearm the bomb. I've gotta get these men outta here. But I'll radio with another exit. Good luck."

Scootaloo quickly opened her own radio channel, "Commander, permission to join them." She asked her not too eager of having to leave. "Denied, Hurricane. This one's not for your squad." The pegasus grumbled for a bit but relented as she was ordered into the pelican which took off, a couple of minutes later they could see a large jet of flame shooting up into the sky where the base had been located previously. "Boom goes the firework." Mack commented as he looked at the base, "Nobody fucks with us on our home turf."

 "Chief, please respond. What's your status over? If you can hear me, find transport. Head for the town of Voi." She could hear the captain call out to the chief, Twilight looked at the disgruntled pegasus who walked forward to the cockpit. "Scootaloo, what are you doing?" She asked her as she opened the door to the cockpit. 

"Finding out where we're going. I want to know why we had to miss an awesome fight." She replied and stepped into the cockpit only to come out less than a minute later and sat back down in her chair. Twilight grinned, "And?"

Scootaloo huffed, "Classified... we're flying for another forty-five before we get there." she grunted, "I'm going to try and nap if possible." She closed her eyes and tried to sleep, where others would have found the noise of the pelican's engines a hindrance to sleep for Scootaloo they were a sign everything was working properly. Her head fell on her chest as she managed to fall asleep in within minutes.





Scootaloo opened her eyes, she was once again in the burning town of Ponyville. She looked around for the inevitable weapon that would appear every time she woke up in this place, she eventually found the SMG standing next to the bench that had the corpse of Lyra laying on it. The mare had long since stopped bleeding out in her dreams and every time Scootaloo found her she would be long dead, burned by plasma fire. After she checked the ammo she noticed that this one of the rare occasions where she was wearing her armor minus the helmet. She waited for the scream that would indicate the direction of the covenant soldiers that would inevitably show up.

Hearing a scream coming from the center of town she spread her wings and took flight, readying her SMG she came into view of the town hall where a Brute was commanding a squad of grunts in an assault against the building.

Kill the brute, scatter the grunts to pick them off individually. She quickly calculated in her mind as she dive-bombed the largest alien. Her energy blade effortlessly severing the spine of the large ape, switching to the SMG she effortlessly cut down the running grunts.

"Scootaloo?" She heard someone ask from behind her. whirling around to face whoever spoke she almost came face to face with Rainbow. She lowered her SMG and sighed, "Go on, tell me what kind of a murderer I am." She bluntly stated, Rainbow looking genuinely confused.

"What? Why would I do that!" She practically shouted startling Scootaloo, in every previous dream this would be the point where she would be shouted at by her friends. "Squirt, I've been looking for you and the egghead for months now!"

"what?" Scootaloo just replied as gears started turning in her head, "Wait, you're... I mean... You're dreamwalking!" She concluded and shot forward, embracing the blue pegasus in a hug as she started crying. She didn't give a damn that Dash would see her in such a weak state, she just wanted to hold her 'sister' after not seeing her for months.

"It's all right Squirt, let it all out. Everything will turn out well like it usually does." Rainbow ackwardly tried to comfort the filly who suddenly started laughing, "Easy for you to say, Dash. Unlike Equis, Earth has a slight invasion problem." Scootaloo snickered as she stopped embracing Dash, inspecting the outfit that the rainbow-maned pony was wearing. "Lunar guard? That's unexpected, I at least expected a Wonderbolt reserve uniform."

"The Bolts are on hiatus until you and Twilight are back on this planet." Rainbow answered, "Twilight already told me you were caught up in the fight, only she didn't want to tell me what you did."

Scootaloo sighed and sat down, "I'm a close quarter combat specialist and I know how to fly aircraft. You see these assholes?" She pointed at the fresh corpses that lay on the ground scattered through the courtyard, "They're the crap we have to deal with over here. I-"

The dream began to ripple, "Celestia, DAMN IT!" Rainbow cursed, "Why do these conversations always get cut short!"

Scootaloo had already picked up her SMG and was swirling it around, "Dash, Status. What's happening?"

"You're waking, Squirt." She replied, Scootaloo nodded and reattached her weapon to her armor, "Well if that's the case, wish me luck. I Should be back tonight if I'm not getting shot into oblivion by the covies."

Dash grimaced, "Stay safe out there, Squirt."

Scootaloo made a quick salute with her wing as the dream disintegrated around her and dragged her back into the real world.


"Hurricane, get up." She heard Mack said as she opened her eyes, "Nap time is over we're headed for Voi in just a bit." Scootaloo nodded and detached her safety harness, stepping out of the pelican into the hangar. Her eyes immediately drifted to an aircraft at the back of the hangar, "Please tell me that I'm not dreaming." She said as a smile crept onto her face.

"I don't think so?" Mack replied unsure of what the pegasus was talking about, "AC-220" Scootaloo simply replied, her eyes glistening. "Where's the captain?" She asked Mack, looking very excited. "In the OPS Center." He replied.

"Thanksbye!" Scootaloo said as she bolted away to where she believed the captain was, weaving past any soldier in her way she made it to the OPS Center. She landed and stood rigidly, "Corporal Hurricane, Captain Keyes." She announced herself.

"At ease, Hurricane. What are you doing here I thought your squad was about to head for Voi to hook back up with the Chief and Arbiter." Keyes said as she looked up from the holotable in front of her.

"Ma'am, there's a gunship in the hangar that's just sitting and doing nothing. Permission to take it out for a spin, the chief could use that kind of firepower for air-support." Scootaloo quickly explained, the captain looked confused and tapped in some commands into the holotable which brought up Scootaloo's record.

"How did you get rated to fly one of these things?" She asked as she looked through Scootaloo's record, the pegasus snorted. "The UNSC kept us in orbit for two months, I spent most of that time in either flight simulators or on a firing range."

The captain looked skeptically at Scootaloo but didn't question her further, "In that case, I'm assigning you to the gunship with private Duran. The craft will be prepped and ready in fifteen, Give them hell, Hurricane."

Scootaloo saluted and rushed back to the hangar where she nearly crashed into Twilight, "Scootaloo, where were you! We're heading off in fifteen with gunship support, you need to make sure you've got all your gear!" She picked up the pegasus and tried to run off to an armory, Scootaloo just flapped her wings twice and started hovering. "Calm down Twilight, I just got assigned to fly that gunship."

"Wait, what?!" Twilight said with a blank stare, "You're kidding me."

"Nope, but I've got to go now since I need to prepare that bird." Scootaloo said as she shot off to the gunship. She quickly entered the large aircraft as engineers were filling her up with fuel, storing her ODST helmet out back she switched it out for a pilot one before heading for the cockpit.

"She's ready to go, Corporal." Zoey called out to her as she entered the cockpit, "Really, 'Starfire', I might outrank you now but we're still friends. It's just Hurricane for you." Scootaloo told her as she strapped into the front seat

"Will do, Corporal!" She said with a teasing grin, Scootaloo rolled her eyes as she started the pre-flight checks. Ten minutes later they got the all clear and lifted off, the large gunship lifted off from the floor of the hangar and slowly moved forwards towards the exit. Scootaloo took the moment where they were hovering to check the calibration on the two twin thirty-millimeter cannons mounted on the bottom of the gunship while Zoey checked the missile launchers on the top of the craft.

"Kilo zero-three-four, this is Starfire. Do you copy?" Zoey called out to the pelican behind her, "Loud and clear, Starfire. Over." The pilot replied. 

"Copy that, zero-three-four. Keep within the range of my guns, Starfire out." Zoey replied as she took control of the craft and punched the throttle, "I have more experience flying this thing, Hurricane. You take the guns." She told the pegasus.

''Gladly" Scootaloo replied, twenty minutes later they came within sight of the city where the Covenant was digging a large hole. Zoey opened a comms channel to the chief, "Sierra-one-one-seven this is Starfire. Be advised, Gunship on standby." She reported and waited for the reply.

"Coordinates uploaded, Starfire." The Chief's voice came over the radio. Zoey typed in the coordinates into the flight computer and steered the craft to the chiefs location, "Get ready, Scoots. I've got two pings on ground radar." The pilot reported to the pegasus.

"I see them. Engaging in, three, two, one..." Scootaloo counted down as the came into view of two Wraith tanks that were firing on the chief and a group of marines, both the twin thirty-millimeter cannons opened up on both the tanks obliterating them before they could respond to the gunship's presence. "Enemy armor destroyed." Scootaloo said as she checked the radar again. the pelican containing Mack, Twilight and Lucy came down to drop off its soldiers before heading off again. "Phantom and banshees inbound. Chief, continue through the building, we'll mop up the rest of them over here." Scootaloo told the Spartan who she could see run into the building after she closed her radio channel. 

Scootaloo took control of the two missile pods and locked one onto the phantom and split the other to hit the two banshees, "Let's see how you handle this." She said as she launched the missiles, the airship groaned as the automated systems reloaded the two pods. "Old bugger is just about falling apart around us." Zoey grunted while adjusting their altitude. the missiles hit their intended targets making the craft they hit burning balls of fire as they smashed into the ground below. 

"Get us to the other side of the factory." Scootaloo ordered Zoey who immediately pushed the throttle to lift the craft over the factory and brought it into a hover on the other side. Scootaloo once again locked the missiles onto any banshee that came near to the gunship while she used the thirty-millimeter cannons to destroy any ghosts that attacked the soldiers on the ground making their jobs laughably easy.

"Uhm, Corporal... we've got a large contact inbound on the ground radar." Zoey nervously reported as the blip moved closer at incredible speed. A scarab suddenly climbed over the building and dropped down into the open space behind the factory where the chief and the other marines were located. "Oh FUCK. Initiating evasive maneuvers!" Zoey shouted as she steered the gunship out of the first barrage of plasma fire. Scootaloo redirected the thirty-millimeter cannons to fire on the scarab but where they had been effective previously they now just seemed to bounce off the thick armor of the walker.

The scarab charged its secondary cannon that was mounted on top of the walker and fired at the gunship, Zoey tried to evade but the much faster stream of plasma managed to hit the starboard engine. "Lost engine number three! compensating with number one." she reported while Scootaloo checked her own systems, "Lost the second rock-" A loud explosion rocked the craft as ammunition from the destroyed pod detonated.

"Damage to all engines, I'm losing altitude!" Zoey said as she struggled to keep the gunship floating, "Corporal I... Oh, shit."

Zoey looked straight forward with an expression of absolute terror on her face, Scootaloo followed her gaze to where her friend was looking and went pale herself. 

She was looking straight into the main cannon of the scarab.

"Scoots, you know how I said this thing was falling apart around us?" She asked as green plasma started forming on the main cannon, "My ejection seat has a malfunction."

"Wait, what! Nononono I can get you out! unstrap yourself." Scootaloo panicked, Zoey shook her head. "No time. I'm sorry, Scootaloo, I'm not coming with you this time. Starfire out." She said as she activated the abort sequence, the canopy of the cockpit flew off and the seat the filly was strapped into launched itself into the air. She could see the gunship firing off her last defiant shots just before she got hit by the large plasma turrent and its burning hulk smashed into the ground.

"ZOEY!" Scootaloo managed to shout as the G-forces pressed down on her chest. She managed to bring her hoof up to her chest and detach herself from the chair. She immediately took flight down to the burning ship, completely ignoring the scarab that had turned its attention to the Spartan now the gunship was down. The pegasus landed as close as she could get to the heat of the burning craft and threw off her pilots' helmet. Tears forming in her eyes as she could see no-one could have survived a crash like that.

She snarled as she heard the scarab walking around behind her and looked up at the walker. "YOU KILLED MY FRIEND!" She shouted as she flew up the upper deck, a surprised grunt threw up his arms and started running but didn't get far as an energy blade pierced his skull. The enraged pegasus rampaged to the back of the craft killing brutes and grunts alike until she reached the main core at the back. 

"This one's for Zoey! MOTHERFUCKER!" She thundered as she stabbed the energy dagger into the core making it spark and flicker out, explosions started going off throughout the craft as the pegasus jumped off. Twilight, Chief and the Arbiter came running towards her as she landed. "Scootaloo! Where's Z-"

"She's gone. I need a weapon." Scootaloo cut her off, the Chief took a shotgun of his back and passed it to the filly. "Our objective is the AA gun on the hill north of here." He told Scootaloo as he moved back into the factory, everyone followed him as they quickly made their way through the factory, killing brutes with the help of marines but just before they could leave they ran into two hunters. 

"My energy dagger is out of juice. I can't take them out that way, Chief." She told the Spartan but seconds later the loud shot of a sniper rang out through the large hangar. "I've got them, make them face their backs to me." Twilight radioed as she had flown up to a vantage point. A couple more sniper shots from the alicorn later and the two hunters were down and the group could start moving up to the hill where the Large AA gun was located, after clearing the site with all the present soldiers they quickly put up a defensive perimeter while the Chief picked up a plasma cannon to fire at the energy core on the bottom of the turrent.

Everyone bolted from the large gun as it vented its plasma and exploded in a purple fireball,  immediately after the turrent was destroyed the remaining frigates of the home fleet alongside all sorts of smaller strike craft flew through the gap in the defence. Scootaloo's heart skipped a beat as she saw the battered Stalwart Dawn flyby alongside the other frigates, Captain Ross had managed to keep the ship in one piece even after everything it had gone through.

Scootaloo's thoughts were interrupted as Admiral Hood called out over the comms, "All ships: fire at will!"

All the Mac cannons on the frigates simultaneously started firing their rounds at the main covenant ship that had parked itself in the middle of a structure in the large crater that the aliens had dug.

"What the hell is that thing?" Scootaloo asked Twilight as she pointed at the large structure.

"We think it's the Ark." Twilight replied as the shockwaves from the blasts were reaching the two ponies. "Well, crap." Scootaloo cursed.

The large structure suddenly came to life as  it a circular portion of it sank into the earth while at the same time the large covenant capital ship at the center of the structure shot an energy beam straight up into the sky, Scootaloo and Twilight both dropped to the floor as the magic field suddenly exponentially strengthened.

Scootaloo in a desperate attempt to rid her body of the excess magic summoned lighting and shot it into the air, Twilight was similarly bleeding magic from her horn into the earth.

Just as Scootaloo thought she couldn't take any more she felt the magic field stabilizing to something that more ore less resembled how it would be in Equestria. The radio came alive again and the Admirals' coughing voice came out, "What did Truth just do? Did he activate the rings?"

"No, sir. But he certainly did something..." Keyes answered, Twilight looked at the sight before her as she saw the covenant fleet disappear into a black bubble. "It's a slipspace portal." She simply stated.

"Evacuated wounded and regroup. Wherever Truth went-" The Admiral was cut off by one of his officers, "Sir, new contact - slipping in!"

A covenant cruiser exited slipspace close to the hill, fleshy bits seemingly hanging from the side of the hull, and flew over the group of UNSC soldiers and crashed further up into the city.

"What is it? More brutes?" The Arbiter asked but Scootaloo had already recognised what had just left slipspace, just like the chief seemingly had as he answered.

"Worse"

The parasite from the Halo ring had captured a ship.

The Flood had landed on Earth.
> Chapter 20: The Ark
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





"Scootaloo what's the flood exactly?" Twilight asked the pegasus as she was running after the Chief, the pegasus seemed pretty disturbed from the moment the ship had exited slipspace.

"Parasitic organism I had the displeasure of meeting once." Scootaloo replied as she twitched at every slight bit of movement in the environment, "Its sole goal is to assimilate all life in the galaxy into itself." She said as she turned back to look at Twilight, fear glistening in her eyes. "You haven't heard the abomination talk, it has to be stopped."

"The Flood - it's spreading, all over the city." The voice of captain Keyes came over the radio as she relayed a report to Admiral Hood.

"How do we contain it?" The admiral asked.

"Find the crashed Flood ship; overload its engine core. We either destroy this city, or risk losing the entire planet." The captain said as she lined out her solution, Twilight felt a shiver go up her spine as she realized the extent of the danger.

"Do it." Lord Hood said as he approved the rough plan, "Chief, make your way to the crash site." Keyes immediately ordered the Spartan. The group was shortly followed by the other ODST's and the Arbiter as they ran back into the factory they had just left, a certain stench started to fill Scootaloo's nose as her helmet had gone down with the gunship.

"All squads, report!" A soldier asked over the radio, "Multiple contacts, unknown hostiles." Another soldier reported as the group arrived at the front gate of the factory they had just fought through. A squad of soldiers had taken up defensive positions as meaty abominations dropped down onto them and instantly seemed to infect the soldiers and turn them into larger versions of the abominations.

"Celestia what has it done?!" Twilight said as she leveled her magnum at the creatures and started firing, everyone else following suit. It took an excessive amount of ammo to kill all the creatures but they mostly survived mostly due to the fact that chief charged forward and took the brunt of the attacks. 

"Calm yourself, little demon." The arbiter said as Twilight started hyperventilating, "This battle is far from over and the parasite will not show you or your kin any mercy."

Twilight nodded and did some quick breathing exercises before following the rest of the group into the factory. Fighting their way through more of the creatures, seeing more marines get infected. They found a sobbing marine surrounded by the bodies of his squad mates before leaving on the other side of the factory.

As they looked up into the sky they could see three Elite controlled CCS-class Battlecruisers fly overhead while an assault Carrier exited slipspace, "Hail, humans, and take heed. This is the carrier Shadow of Intent, clear this sector, while we deal with the Flood." An elite spoke over the radio.

This somehow seemed to bring a smile to Scootaloo's face, "Rtas 'Vadum!" She shouted, letting out a laugh as elites started dropping in to join the battle.

The Arbiter ran up to an elite major, "My brothers, I fear you bring bad news." He said.

"High Charity has fallen, become a dreaded hive!" The elite answered, something that visibly troubled the Arbiter. "And the fleet? Has quarantine been broken?" The arbiter continued to inquire.

"A single ship broke through our line, and we gave chase." The same Elite told him once again as the group continued their way to the crash site, "But we had a fleet of hundreds!" The arbiter said incredulously, "Alas, brother. The Flood... It has evolved!" The other elite said, the Arbiter grunted but said no more. Twilight alongside the other ODST's excluding Scootaloo felt slightly uncomfortable fighting alongside the Sangheili.

After having fought through another factory Captain Keyes could be heard over the radio again, "Chief, the Elites are looking for something. We didn't believe them when they told us." She said, Johnson radioing in immediately after. "It's Cortana, Chief! She's on that ship! Find her - get her out!"

A phantom dropped off another squad of elites that hooked up with the Chief's squad, "Hurry, Demon! We seek the same prize. But our Ship Master will sacrifice all to stop the Flood." He said, the combined force pushing their way through the crash site, the flood seemingly sending increasingly larger combat forms as they made progress. Eventually, they found a hole in the hull of the cruiser, "I shall remain here. We will let nothing pass." The Arbiter Told the Chief who wasted no time jumping down into the cruiser.

The flood had given the group a small reprieve which they used to take up defensive positions. Twilight meanwhile was testing her magic as the portal they had been opened by the covenant was bleeding a respective amount of magic into the atmosphere.

Magic she could use.

Everyone tensed up as they heard a screech coming from up ahead, Twilight lit up her horn and prepared a telekinetic push to see how much power she could use with the strengthened magic.

A very large flood form came charging at the group alongside countless infection forms. That was the moment Twilight released her spell, the small infection forms flew back and squashed against the rubble behind them. 

"Hoorah, Sparkle!" Lucy shouted while shooting the large form that was picking itself up to continue its charge, Twilight meanwhile was drawing as much magic from the environment into herself as she possibly could. The amount of energy she managed to draw into herself would have astonished magicians on Equis but it came at the cost of returning the local magic field back to its former barren state.

"EVERYONE DOWN!" She shouted, she might not have been schooled in the combat magic of the guard, only ever learning Shining's shield spell, but there was something else she could do.

The world briefly turned purple as Twilight released the majority of her magic in a beam of pure energy, obliterating everything in the firing arc of the beam. Magic fires dotted the landscape in front of them as no flood forms were present any longer.

"Overkill much." Mack commented as the fires started choking due to the lack of magic in the environment. A phantom came flying overhead and hovered down to the defending party, revealing an elite.

"Arbiter, the Demon has reclaimed his AI and is headed for the Shadow of Intent with the Oracle." He said, motioning for everyone to get on board. After the doors on the dropship closed the crew compartment fell to an awkward silence as the ODST's were standing on one side of the ship while the Elites were standing on the other. This remained the case for the entirety of the short flight up to the carrier that was floating above the city, outside the cruisers went to work on glassing as much of the city and surrounding land as possible to prevent the spread of the flood.

As the Phantom came to a stop in one of the carrier's hangar bays and an elite major approached them, "Arbiter your presence is requested by the Shipmaster, the Ponies have been requested as well."

The Arbiter nodded, "Come, my friend, Little Demon. We are needed." He said as he motioned for Scootaloo and Twilight to follow him, Twilight looked back at Mack and Lucy. 

"Go on Sparkle, we're going to stay nice and cozy in this dropship." Mack told the Alicorn, as he sat down with his assault rifle at the ready. Twilight grimaced a bit at the two ODST's who were clearly on edge but continued to follow the Sangheili to the command center where the Shipmaster was waiting.

As they walked into the command center they found Captain Keyes, Lord Hood, and the Chief standing around a holo-table as the monitor was screwing around with a covenant storage device, "Will it live, Oracle? Can it be saved?" Rtas 'Vadum asked the floating machine.

"Uncertain. This storage device has suffered considerable trauma. Its matrices are...highly unstable." It answered as it shot a glance at both the Shipmaster and the Admiral.

"Perhaps one of our technicians-" The Admiral offered but was cut off by the Shipmaster, "That will not be necessary." he said but before the conversation could escalate further the storage unit sprung to life, "Chief!" the AI suddenly said.

"Success!" The monitor shouted as Cortana continued, "High Charity, the Prophets' Holy City, is on its way to Earth. With an army of Flood. I can't tell you everything. It's not safe. The Gravemind...it knows I'm in the system."

"It's just a message." The chief observed, somberness in his voice, something Twilight picked up on.

"Let it play." The shipmaster said as he wanted to hear the rest of the recording, the monitor fiddling with the data-core again making 

"But it doesn't know about the Portal, where it leads. On the other side, there's a solution. A way to stop the Flood, without firing the remaining Halo rings-" Cortana's hologram fell down as if in pain, the Chief making an instinctive move to help her. "Hurry, Chief...the Ark...there isn't much time." she begged as the recording stopped.

"I'm...sorry." The monitor apologized to the Chief as the Spartan was visibly disturbed, something Twilight had thought she would never see.

"No matter, Oracle. We've heard enough. Our fight is through the Portal, with the Brutes and the bastard Truth!" Rtas 'Vadum said, the other Elites around the room roaring in approval.

"Fine. We'll remain here. Hold out as long as we can." Lord Hood said wearily which surprised the Shipmaster, "Did you not hear? Your world is doomed." He started as he stood up from his chair and walked forward, "A Flood army, a Gravemind, has you in its sights! You barely survived a small contamination."

This enraged the Admiral, "And you, Ship Master, just glassed half a continent! Maybe the Flood isn't all I should be worried about..." He raged but was cut off by the Shipmaster again, "One single Flood Spore can destroy a species. Were it not for the Arbiter's counsel, I would have glassed your entire planet!"

Keyes jumped between the pair "Sir, with respect, Cortana has a solution." she said.

"Cortana? Did you see her condition? How damaged she is?" He asked the captain incredulously, the chief meanwhile had bent down and observed the frozen AI's hologram, Twilight could almost feel the hurt coming through the spartan's thick armor.
"She could be corrupted for all we know. Her 'solution' could be a Flood trap!" The admiral continued prompting a reply from Keyes, "We should go through the Portal, find out for sure."

"What we should do Commander, is understand - clearly - that this is humanity's final stand - here - at Earth. We go, we risk everything; every last man, woman and child. If we stand our ground, we might just have a chance." Lord hood answered angrily but the Arbiter rebuked him, "No. If your construct is wrong, then the Flood has already won."

The Chief lifted his head and also spoke up, "I'll find Cortana's solution. And I'll bring it back." He told the Admiral, Twilight also stepped forward, "Although I'm also concerned about Earth, my greatest responsibility as Princess of Equestria is to safeguard the safety of my ponies." Twilight could see Scootaloo raise an eyebrow as the alicorn as she recited something she had been taught by Celestia. "The only way to do that is to go to the Ark and prevent the firing of Halo."

The Admiral nodded to Twilight, "You must do what you think best for you people." He said as he turned to the Chief, "Earth...is all we have left. You trust Cortana that much?" He asked him.

"Sir. Yes, sir." The Spartan responded, Lord Hood let out a sigh. "This is either the best decision you've ever made or the worst. Hell if it is, Chief? I doubt I'll live long enough to find out which." He said as he walked out of the room turning back for a moment, "Take your ship and follow the Sangheili, Captain. You have operational command." With that, he left.

"Captain I need to make a detour to the Stalwart Dawn." Scootaloo spoke up, "My helmet got destroyed and I need to pick up the custom made one I left on the frigate."

"We can arrange a dropship to be flown over to the frigate." Rtas 'Vadum told the pegasus, "Take her to the human's ship." he ordered a Major who led the pegasus back to the hangar. Twilight meanwhile followed the Captain and the Chief back to the hangar where Johnson and a couple of other Marines were joined by Lucy and Mack.

Sergeant Johnson was carrying various pieces of Covenant weaponry to the marines just as the Arbiter had UNSC weaponry and was passing it to a group of Sangheili. "What's going on here?" Twilight asked Mack as she walked up to him.

"Cultural exchange." he shrugged, "We're leaving the moment Hurricane arrives back at the Forward Unto Dawn."

"Well, in that case, we should get ready for a jump." Twilight said as she stepped onto a parked pelican waiting for transport.


1 Month Later




Scootaloo dropped out of the cryo-pod that had just opened, a month ago they had left Earth through the portal at Voi with the Elite rebel fleet. Beside her she could hear Twilight flopping onto the floor as well, the Alicorn in the two month period before the battle of Earth had figured out that cryo wouldn't hurt either pony so they had opted to sit the ride out in cryo.

"I feel like Crap." The filly said as she got back on her hooves, a general call went out throughout the ship.

"All crew report to your station in as short a time possible, expect enemy contact the moment we exit slipspace in thirty minutes." Keyes announced.

Scootaloo walked over to the locker where she had stored her armor an started putting it back on as it was going to be a long day, "You guys good?" She asked as Mack and Lucy had also exited cryo, with a bit more grace than either ponies.

"Never been better." Mack answered as he quickly donned his own armor. Scootaloo meanwhile was holding her helmet in her hooves, it was the one that had been damaged by the energy sword. She had replaced the visor to restore its integrity but it still very visibly showed the damage. Quickly putting the helmet on she grabbed two SMG's and attached them to her sides, a flick of her wrist activated the energy dagger which she deactivated again as she found it to be at full power.

"I'll go ahead to the pelican, see you guys in just a bit." Scootaloo said as she walked down the hall into the lower hangar bay where she took a seat.

This should have been Zoey's seat. If I hadn't suggested flying that gunship she would be here right now.

She was pulled from her thought as someone heavy stepped into the pelican, Scootaloo looked behind her to see the Chief walking up to the cockpit. "Slept well, Sir?" She asked as she started her pre-flight checks, the Spartan didn't respond.

Scootaloo took occasional glances at the Spartan who just stared out of the cockpit, "Can I ask you something, Sir?" She asked, the Chief glanced at her and nodded.

"Have you lost someone you care about before?" She asked the Spartan, the Spartan looked at the pony for a couple of seconds.

"Yes." He simply said as he turned and walked into the back of the pelican. Scootaloo wanted to ask another question but the other ODST's, the Arbiter, Johnson and a few marines joined her on the dropship.

"Thirty seconds to slipspace exit." the Sergeant Major announced. Scootaloo lit up the engine as Johnson stood behind her. "Here goes nothing." Scootaloo said as she felt the ship drop out of slipspace, the hangar door opened beneath the pelicans revealing a massive eight armed megastructure.

"Truth's ship isn't taking part in the attack. He must've gone to ground!" Keyes told Johnson, "Roger that, Ma'am! We're on him! Kick the door." The pelican along with several others dropped from the hangar bay of the Stalwart Dawn. Around them, the two fleets started to clash as they fought for dominance. One of the pelicans next to her exploded as it was hit by flak from an enemy vessel, Scootaloo cursed as she passed the burning wreck and made it out of the range of the flak.

"We good, Hurricane?" Johnson asked, Scootaloo quickly checking status on all systems. "She's a little cooked, Sergeant Major... But she'll hold."

Behind her, the Chief and Arbiter stood at the ready with a sniper rifle and beam rifle respectively. "Alright. Pop the hatch!" Johnson ordered, two button pushes later the ramp at the back of the dropship opened. 

"That's some view." Twilight commented as she got her first view of the megastructure.

"Enjoy it while you can, Sparkle. Soon as we land, we're right back to it. Priority one: Secure a Landing Zone for the Commander's Frigate. Keep your eyes and ears open. We need all the Intel we can get... on wherever the hell we are."

Hocus, the co-pilot, took control of the craft as Scootaloo followed the rest of the troops out of the pelican, "Go, go, go!!" Johnson shouted as he ushered everyone out of the pelican.

Scootaloo and Mack pushed ahead to scout out possible paths for the Chief to take, traveling through similar structures like those on halo, they eventually came upon a group of enemies. They took up firing positions on a ledge as Lucy, Chief, and Arbiter came running towards them, "Chief, eyes on." Mack said as he pointed at the squad of brutes supported by jackals and grunts. "You take the first shot." Mack said as he had lined up his rifle.

The moment the Chief opened fire a hail of bullets descended on the enemy position, downing them with relative ease.
As all the Covenant loyalist forces were downed Twilight came gliding down from a short flight she had taken, "There's an AA Turrent being constructed on the other side of the Hill." She reported to the Chief, "The cave down there should lead you to it."

The squad split up as the Chief, Arbiter, Mack, and Lucy went into the cave while Scootaloo and Twilight flew up the hill to attack from above. Twilight glanced at the crouched pegasus as they landed on the top of the hill, Scootaloo had painted her armor entirely black and the visor she had replaced the damaged one with was a dark shade of blue instead of the former orange one. "Ready for assault on your mark, Chief." She radioed to the Spartan.

"Copy that Hurricane, Mark." He immediately answered, Twilight immediately pulled the trigger on her sniper rifle and took out a jackal sniper. The Covenant loyalist immediately dropped the work they were doing on the turrent and tried getting into defensive positions.

"How's the magic here, Twi?" Scootaloo asked the alicorn who was picking of brutes one by one. "Terrible. Bit better than Earth but I'd recommend not trying to fry anything with lightning." She answered sensing the pegasus' intention.

"Copy that, see you in a bit." She answered and took to the sky, using the sun as cover she dropped from the sky onto an unsuspecting jackal who was firing pot-shots at Lucy from his cover. Not even bothering to use the energy dagger she smashed down on his spine and a gruesome crack later it was lying motionlessly on the ground. She suddenly heard the whine of a phantom as one of the dropships delivered two Hunters.

"Focus fire on the hunters." Chief ordered, Scootaloo aimed one of her SMG's and put a burst into the back of one of the hunters. The armored hulk immediately turned around but to its peril, this gave Twilight the opportunity to fire a round into its back. It didn't go down immediately but that was soon rectified as the Arbiter put a lance of hot plasma into the alien. Its mate roared in anger as its colony mate was killed and fired a plasma blast at Lucy, Scootaloo saw the ODST duck behind cover but the plasma seemed to burn it away.

"Lucy!" Scootaloo shouted as she charged forward fast the Hunter who took a swipe at her but missed, behind the rock where Lucy had taken cover she found, to her relief, the ODST with a partially melted shoulder plate. "I'm good, Hurricane. Go get the Fucker." She said as she injected biofoam into a slot on her upper arm.

Behind her explosions went off as the Chief was lobbing plasma grenades onto the vulnerable spots on the hunter's body, the individual worms that made up the large alien either burning off or being ripped to shreds as Twilight fired one of the sniper's rounds into it.

"Chief, I'm giving the Brutes all I've got...but this is a heavy-weight fight! The Dawns only got the tonnage to last a few rounds. Find me a place to set her down. Over!" Keyes ordered as the second hunter collapsed.

"Roger that, Sierra-117 out." Chief answered as he ran on into a cave that contained an old structure and out of it on the other side. A longsword bomber pilot called out a mayday as the burning craft flew by, an explosion followed shortly after.

"Flak got our Pelican too, sir. But before we went down, we spotted a good LZ. If we can get to our vehicles, we'll lead you to it." A marine stated as he pointed to where a pelican had crashed into the ground.

After a short fight, they had cleared the crash site of brutes and grunts, the Chief picked up a rocket launcher and continued. Not a moment later two Brute vehicles came charging to the squad but with two well-placed shots with High Explosive rockets, the brutes never got a chance to fire on the marines.

After mounting the remaining brute vehicles the group went on to find a suitable landing place for the Forward Unto Dawn. Fighting they way through a canyon, killing a couple more loyalist vehicles along the way before finding another structure that had a couple of Sentinels flying around. 

"Ma'am, Hocus almost got her wing shot off. But we spotted a structure on the other side of this wall. It matches Cortana's description of the map room from the first Halo ring." Johnson reported, "A Cartographer. Good. Should help us fix Truth's location. Secure the LZ, and we'll push through that wall." The captain ordered.

"Roger that. Follow my Pelican, Chief! The LZ's this way." Johnson replied as his pelican flew overhead. The group continued on foot as the Sentinels continued to follow them but other than that did nothing of significance.

"The LZ's through this cave, sir. Watch yourself; they've got Covenant heavy armor!" A marine said as the Chief reached the entrance of the first cave. On the other side, they could see two anti-air wraiths along a regular one with infantry supporting them.

"Arbiter, pass me a grenade." Scootaloo said as she took to the air, the Arbiter throwing a plasma grenade into the fillies hooves before she shot up into the air and moments later crashed down on the hatch of the purple tank, lobbing it into the driver's compartment.

The wraith started shuddering before plasma vented from the hatch, Scootaloo managed to somehow drag the corpse of the brute out of the driver's seat and get in herself. The chief and Arbiter meanwhile had focussed on the two anti-air wraiths while the rest of the marines and ODST's were taking out all the supporting infantry.

The Chief, similarly to Scootaloo, managed to lob a grenade into the cockpit of the craft but the Arbiter had less luck and got thrown off before he could use his grenade. The wraith, not wasting any time, lit up his boosters to attempt to ram the elite.

Like hell you will. Scootaloo thought as she fired the main turrent of the wraith she had captured at the AA one. The large blow of plasma immediately melted through the outer shell of the craft, shorting out its anti-gravity system, making it come to a screeching halt in front of the Arbiter.

"That did it. LZ's clear." Johnson reported to the captain, a couple of seconds later they could see a grey dot rapidly growing as the frigate descended to the surface. The Dawn firing its retrograde thrusters to slow down and eventually set down on the surface.

"Thanks, Chief. I wouldn't have lasted much longer up there. Come to the back of the frigate." Keyes said as the Dawn's engines shut down. Out back, the hangar had opened up revealing three scorpion tanks and a warthog.

"That's What I'm talking about." Scootaloo said as she had ditched the wraith. "Johnson, have the Elites found anything?" Keyes asked the Sergeant Major.

"A structure on the other side of that wall, ma'am. But it's surrounded by Brute heavy armor." He replied.

"Don't worry; I've got a plan. If we can't fly over the wall, we'll go right through it. Chief, take one of the tanks, lead the way. If you find any locked doors, Spark will be happy to pry them open." She finished, the monitor had joined them down at the tanks, "I will certainly try my best, though I am unfamiliar with this facility." It said.

Continuing on with the overwhelming firepower of the three tanks they made quick and good progress towards the cartographer. A couple more warthogs joined up with the group as they continued to fight on against heavy resistance, after another fifteen minutes of intense fighting they finally reached their destination.

Suddenly they heard heavy thumps as they dismounted their vehicles, some of the marines tried to identify where the sounds came from but Scootaloo knew full well what it was.

"SCARAB!" She shouted as she left gunner's seat of the warthog he had mounted and flew up into the air. Twilight, for once, was close on her tail. "Pass me one of those SMG's!" She shouted at the filly who tossed one over with a couple of mags, Twilight niftily caught them in her magic and attached them to her armor as the scarab came into view of the tanks.

"What's the plan? You've done this before!" She asked Scootaloo who angled herself to the land on the walker.

"There's an energy core at the back, two grenades is all it takes to kill this thing." She answered as she landed, along with twilight they quickly killed the grunts occupying the top of the craft, "Go on, I've got your back." Twilight told the filly as they made their way down into the scarab, Scootaloo cut down a few brutes with er energy blade while Twilight alternated between the SMG and her sniper. At the back of the scarab Scootaloo stuck two plasma grenades to the energy core and jumped off before the large craft exploded in a bright flash.

"Not bad, Hurricane. I saw that explosion from orbit. Truth's fleet lies in ruins. Find where the liar hides...so I may place my boot between his gums!" Rtas 'Vadum said as he observed the ground progress from the Shadow of Intent.

"We'll know soon enough, Shipmaster." Keyes answered as Scootaloo followed the Chief with the other ODST's and the Arbiter.

They found the monitor trying to unlock a door on the upper level, "Hey, what gives?" a marine asked as sparks came from the door, "It seems I've...crossed a circuit." he answered as he continued working, the marine stepped forward intent to help. "Well, let me have a look."

The machine quickly turned and shot a blue laser at the marine making him yelp and stumble back. "Oracle!" The arbiter said with his rifle at the ready.

"Little bastard stung me!" The marine said, "I did not want you to come to any harm." The monitor said as he returned back to work, "You've got a funny way of showing it." the marine muttered as the door sprung open.

"Excellent! This way." The monitor said as it took the lead, the group stumbled upon a group of sleeping grunts and a brute that was urinating in the corner of the room. The chief snuck up to the brute and severed its spine with his combat knife while the others were silently taking out the grunts.

The group continued to take out small pockets of enemies as they moved through the hallways of the structure, eventually after clearing a larger room the monitor spoke up again. "Your goal is just ahead!" It happily said as the group moved through a final hallway into a large room, "The Cartographer! Come, it awaits your approval." The monitor told the Chief who placed his hand on a scanner which activated the machine.

A large projection of the milky way appeared in front of them, "That's...our galaxy. We're beyond the rim." The Chief said surprised. "Two to the eighteenth light years from galactic center, to be precise." The monitor confirmed.

Twilight stepped up next to the Chief, "Spark, can you pull up Earth's location?" She asked, the hologram zoomed in on the Orions arm. "This is the location of Erde-Tyrene as you asked but I fail to see the relevance to our current situation."

Twilight waved him off as she looked at the hologram, "Now can you show me my homeworld relative to Earth?"

"Miss sparkle I must insist-" Guilty Spark started, but was stopped by the Arbiter. "Please do at the pony asks, Oracle."

The hologram zoomed out a bit and showed a second dot with a line and a set of coordinates, Twilight let out a crazed laugh as she pulled out a notebook and a pen from beneath her armor. "These are slipspace coordinates!"

The monitor seemed confused, "Yes, of course they are." he said but he didn't inquire further and changed the hologram to the megastructure they were currently on. Scootaloo ignored the rest of the conversation as the Chief and Guilty Spark started playing twenty questions with each other.

"Twilight?" Scootaloo asked at the alicorn had placed her helmet beside her and was writing down calculations. 
"Twilight." She repeated but still didn't get a reply. "TWILIGHT!" She shouted finally getting the attention of the princess.

"We found it!" Twilight said with a manic smile, a couple of hairs had sprung up. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and hit her with a right hook, "Focus, Twilight. We still need to get out of here alive, something that might be much harder than we think right now."

Twilight restored her mane and safely put her way the notebook. "Your right I-"

"Phantom!" Mack shouted pulling everyone's attention to the sky. They all jumped into cover as the dropship started firing on their positions and dropped off enemy units before flying off again.

"Chief, you got a whole mess of hostile air inbound. Get back inside while we take 'em out." Johnson called in via the radio. A banshee started to make an attack run on the Arbiter but the Elite evaded its fire and somehow managed to board it, killing the Brute pilot. Scootaloo saw another Banshee approaching and also took to the air, her small frame allowing her to get behind the craft and emptying her SMG into the pilot capturing the second aircraft.

"I will help your Sergeant clear the sky." The arbiter told the other over the radio as Scootaloo fell in formation behind him. "I've got your back, Arbiter." Scootaloo reported as she reminded herself how to use covenant flight controls.

She could see Twilight, Mack, and Lucy follow the Chief as they started making their way to the extraction point. An enemy banshee came up on the Arbiter's and opened fire.

"I've got him." Scootaloo simply stated as she pointed her craft and fired the plasma cannons, a purple fireball barreling past the two banshees as they continued to the pelicans in the distance.

"Phantom headed for the extraction point." The Arbiter said as he made a hard right turn, Scootaloo following him closely. The pegasus switched from the plasma cannons to the much bigger plasma Launcher and took aim at the Phantom alongside the Arbiter, the moment the dropship came into range they both fired their weapons. Green plasma slowly arching towards the craft before hitting it and melting away one of the gravity engines, making it lose altitude rapidly.

"Thanks for the help you two, Hurricane form up on me." Johnson said as his pelican made a beeline for the extraction point. Scootaloo could see the Chief fighting a pack of brutes at the extraction point, one with a gravity hammer getting incredibly close to getting a clean hit. As the Spartan rolled out of the way the brute spotted Twilight who was firing her sniper at various targets and started charging her with his hammer.

Shit, nnononono.

Scootaloo switched weapons again and opened fire on the brute with her plasma cannons but those did little more than make the brutes shields flare, Twilight meanwhile had noticed the chieftain and also opened fire but it definitely seemed like the alien was going to reach the alicorn.

No you don't, not now we've gotten this far. She thought as she activated the boost of the banshee and immediately ditched the ship. The two-ton craft hit the brute at full speed, squashing him like a bug. "Twilight! You ok?" She immediately asked the alicorn who had jumped out of the way of the banshee just before it had hit the ground.

"I'm good." She said as the Chief finished the last brute and walked to the edge of the platform they were on. The arbiter had also ditched his banshee and joined the group.

Suddenly a large flock of sentinels appeared from below and everyone raised their weapons in alarm, "Commander!" The Chief said in alarm.

"Johnson! Look sharp!" Keyes ordered as the pelican swirled around bringing the chaingun in its hatch to bear, "I got it!" Johnson said while the turret's barrel started spinning.

"No, don't shoot! They mean us no harm! Those units have a priority task." Guilty Spark interupted, the Sergeant Major clearly being annoyed at this. "Oh, yeah? And what might that be?" He asked.

"I really can't say... not for sure. But if you allow me to find a terminal closer to the Core-" The monitor rambled but was interrupted by the Arbiter, "No, Oracle. We must keep the Prophet of Truth firmly in our sights."

The monitor seemed taken aback by that, "But what about your construct? Her solution to the Flood? With more data, I-" Guilty Spark was interrupted again but this time by Captain Keyes, 

"The Arbiter's right. We have priorities too. Until we kill Truth, stop the Rings from firing..." She said as everyone jumped into the pelican which immediately started to fly away with three others.

"...nothing else matters."
> Chapter 21: The way the world ends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






The shadow of intent hovered in the background as the four pelicans now accompanied by two elite phantoms roared towards a large bubble-shield the covenant loyalists had set up. "We hit these three generators, and the barrier will fall?" Captain Keyes asked, three large complexes were standing on the coastline ahead.

"A small section, yes." Guilty Spark, the monitor, confirmed. "Good enough. Johnson, drop the Chief and the Shadowbolts at the first generator, then head to the third. The Elites will punch right down the middle." Keyes ordered, Scootaloo let out a laugh as she heard how Keyes had called the Helljumpers, "How did she find out that stupid name?" Scootaloo whispered to Twilight who just shrugged.

"Roger that, Johnson out." The Sergeant Major said as the pelicans split off in two pairs towards the left and the right while the Elites headed for the center generator. Flak suddenly opened up on the two pelicans as they made their approach 

"Charlie Foxtrot! Tower One approach has active Triple-A!" Their pilot reported as she started performing evasive maneuvers. The pelican behind them got hit and crashed into the pelican where Twilight, Scootaloo, and the others were seated before going down. "Pelican down! Pelican down!" The pilot shouted as she tried getting control of her own pelican again.

"Brace yourselves, we're going in a little hot!" Mack shouted as he held on to his seat, the pelican managing to come to an unstable hover above the shoreline at the base of the cliff that held the generator complex.

"Go go go! Up the beach! Kill that Wraith!" Mack shouted as the group charged out the downed pelican. The Chief had picked up a spartan laser and was pointing it at one of the loyalist's fixed turrets. Twilight could see the installation blow apart just as she dove for cover, plasma scorching the rock she had jumped behind.

"Grunts ahead, grenade out!" Twilight shouted as she lobbed a frag at the group of grunts that had bunched up and were firing at her, they shrieked as the grenade exploded. The Chief took point in their attack as they fought up the hill towards the anti-air artillery piece. the fact the wraith had spotted them and was firing onto their position didn't help them in the slightest

"Brute with fuel gun at the top of the hill." Twilight reported from her position located at the back as she looked through her scope.

"Take it out." The Chief ordered her, Twilight lining up the barrel of her sniper with the brute's head and firing a shot. The weaker shield at the head collapsed at the force of the bullet and let it pass straight into the head of the ape. "Target eliminated." She coldly stated.

Less than a minute later the Chief managed to get a shot off at the Wraith, killing it as well. "Beachhead secure, Commander. Hostile Anti-Air has been neutralized." Mack reported to the Captain.

"Hold position. I'm on my way. Shipmaster, begin diversionary bombardment." She responded, followed by Rtas 'Vadum. "I will beat the Prophet's shield like a drum. By the time the barrier falls, he will beg for mercy." He said in the Sangheili's usual bravado.

Two pelicans brought in a pair of warthogs for the group to help them travel up to the generator. Chief, Arbiter, and Lucy mounting the first warthog as Scootaloo, Mack and Twilight mounted the second one.

"Spark believes Truth can activate the rings at any time. If he does, Earth... every being in the Galaxy... Halo will kill them all." Keyes told the squad, Scootaloo Snarled. "Not if we have anything to say about it. He'll be sorry for ever attacking us."

Twilight raised an eyebrow below her helmet at the statement. It wasn't the obviously threatening voice that caught her off guard, the filly had said some things while they were in human space that would terrify a regular pony, but it was the fact that she said 'us' instead of humanity indicating that she had put them on the same level as ponies.

Twilight, while she was thinking, was also firing at enemy positions until they managed to reach the entrance of the generator. "Get inside that tower. Take it down!" Keyes ordered as she was monitoring the progress of the squad.

They moved into the base of the structure, the lower floor was occupied by a brute alongside a massive amount of grunts. "Grenades?" Mack asked as they moved into the room and took cover, "Sounds reasonable to me. Chief?" Twilight responded and looked at the Spartan who nodded, everyone priming grenades as plasma was slamming into their cover.
"EAT THIS, TWATS!" Lucy shouted as the grenades flew over into the crowd of grunts shreading them along with the brute that was commanding them. They encountered another small squad of enemies that was quickly destroyed as they moved up a level to an elevator.

"Go on, sir. Tower controls should be up top. We'll stay back and cover your exit." Mack said as he and Lucy stepped back from the platform as Chief activated the elevator. Scootaloo and Twilight quickly reloaded their weapons as the elevator shot up to the top floor.

"Fuck." Scootaloo swore as she saw the brute at the end of the room. "Chieftain with a gravity hammer!" She shouted as they jumped off the elevator and opened fire on the brute pack that was present in the room. The Chief narrowly dodged a blow from the Chieftain as it charged forward. Twilight managed to kill a pair of brutes that were focussing on the arbiter before being forced back into cover as a brute used his grenade launcher to lob high-explosives at the alicorn.

"HEY, YOU!" Scootaloo shouted, drawing the attention of the Chieftain to herself. The Chief jumping on its back as it turned to charge the pegasus and snapped its neck. "Could've taken him." Scootaloo grumbled as she fell back into cover.

They quickly dispatched of the rest of the brutes before running to a control panel at the back of the room and deactivated the generator.

"Good work, Chief! That's one. The Elites should be just about to..." The second generator shut down before the Captain could finish her sentence, "...that's two! It's all up to Johnson's team now." Twilight looked out the massive window at the back of the control room to the third generator with the hope it would shut down soon but it remained active.

"Get back outside, Chief. Wait for transport." Keyes ordered the group who quickly turned away from the window and ran back to the elevator, riding it back down. As they came near the bottom they heard gunfire ringing out.

"Sergeant, Cross. Status." Chief radioed in to check in on the situation.

"Nothing major, just a couple of waves of grunts and a couple of jackals." He replied just before the elevator reached the lower floor again where they could see the two ODST's who had remained behind firing at two remaining jackals. Twilight fired a round with her sniper at one of the jackals just as the chief shot a burst at the other, the two aliens dying before they hit the ground.

"Hey, do you guys have some ammo? We're running low." Lucy casually asked as the group from the elevator jumped down to the two ODST's. Corpses of grunts and bullet casings littered the ground at the makeshift barricade Mack and Lucy had set up. "There's a case back at the warthog." Twilight said as she tossed a clip from her magnum to the ODST and they advanced back to the vehicle.

After restocking ammo they waited for further orders. "Johnson, come in. Over." Keyes could be heard over the radio.

"Brute reinforcements, ma'am! We're pinned down!" Johnson replied his radio connection rife with static. "I'm on my way!" Keyes said intending to help the sergeant major.

"Negative! Fire's too heavy!" He said, "Everyone fall back! Now!" He ordered his marines as the radio turned to static again.

"Sergeant Major!" Keyes asked but no response came, "Johnson! Can you hear me?!" She tried again, "Chief, you need to link up with the Elites and proceed directly to the Third Tower. Make your way back to the beach."

At the order, the Spartan floored the accelerator making their way back to the beach at extreme speeds where a couple of hornet attack craft were parked.

"Sir, I've got a flock of birds that need an escort. Take a Hornet; get those Pelicans safely to the Third Tower." The pelican's pilot told the Chief over the radio, the Spartan taking control of the first Hornet while the Arbiter took the second and Scootaloo took the third. Mack and Lucy hitched a ride on the Chief's craft while Twilight stepped onto Scootaloo's one.

The little attack craft shot into the sky towards the Third generator, the pelican following closely behind. The two Phantoms that held the elites lifted off from the second generator and were briefly engaged by enemy Banshees."Second Tower is clear, Spartan, no need to land. Let us hasten to the Third Tower." they reported before they engaged their stealth drives and disappeared. 

"Five bogies on radar, engaging." Scootaloo said as she opened up with the heavy machine gun on the bottom of the craft alongside a couple of guided missiles. The other two Hornets were simultaneously firing on their respective banshees as the aircraft made their way to the third generator. The chief managed to kill two of the enemy craft while Scootaloo and Arbiter both shot one respectively.

That left the fifth to make an attack run on Scootaloo.

The filly banked the aircraft to the side as plasma flew through the air beside her, the banshee following almost immediately after. Scootaloo lined up the machine gun turret with but before she fired she heard a loud bang followed by the banshee crashing into the ocean below.

"Target down." Twilight said as she reattached her sniper rifle to her barrel.

The squadron of Hornets engaged a couple more banshees and a few as wraiths, which the managed to take out with rockets while evading the plasma with the little craft's superior agility.

"Objective in sight, Commander... No sign of Johnson or his team." The pilot of the pelican who they were escorting.

"Understood. Chief, clear an LZ, then get inside the tower." Keyes orderd, her voice betraying some concern. Twilight could see a pack of brutes alongside an AA Wraith and a regular Wraith at the base of the generator. The three Hornets immediately opened up with missiles, bathing the base of the generator in fire and shrapnel. The three hornets landed at the base of the generator after they had cleared all the enemies on the outside of the structure, the two Phantoms carrying the elites decloaked and dropped off their squads of commando's as well.

The Chief picked up a gravity hammer from one of the dead brutes and charged ahead into the structure, Twilight could hear a couple of dull thuds through the closed door before she entered after the Spartan. The hallway was lined with dead brutes and further in she could see the Chief engaging a hunter, it's twin already downed and laying in a pool of orange blood.

Elites rushed past her and engaged the few remaining enemies before the rampaging Spartan could get them as well. "Darken this tower and the barrier will fall. Go, Spartan! We have no time to waste." The arbiter told the Chief, Scootaloo and Twilight stepping onto the platform next to the Spartan.

"We'll help reinforce your exit with the elites." Mack said as he and Lucy stayed off the elevator platform. Twilight nodded to her fellow sergeant as the elevator started moving up at a rapid pace, she knew Mack distrusted the elites at a visceral level so him staying behind with them was a surprise to the alicorn.

The elevator came to a halt at the top of the structure in the third generator's control room, a single Chieftain with a plasma cannon standing at the back of the room. Twilight could see Scootaloo twitch as she stepped off the platform, "They're using stealth modules!" She said as she fired a burst at what seemingly was empty air. A brute appeared in the spot which Scootaloo had shot as the bullets disrupted the cloaking device.

Twilight immediately fired a shot at the brute and switched to her magnum, firing at any and every disturbance in the air revealing another four brutes. After the aliens were revealed they were quickly dispatched by high-caliber rounds from Twilight and devastating melee attacks from the Chief, Hit the switch, Chief, and the barrier will fall!" Keyes said as the chief rushed to the control panel and activated it.

The massive shield that was previously obstructing progress to the Ark's main control room flickered and dropped moments after. Rtas 'Vadum, the shipmaster, immediately moved in with his carrier as the shield dropped.

"Now, Prophet...your end has come." He said, a certain darkness in his voice. Twilight suddenly turned her head and focussed on a spot behind the Shadow of Intent as she felt a major ripple in the magic field. A massive slipspace portal opening above the Ark and letting through a mushroom-shaped space station.

"What in Tartarus is That?!" Twilight said exasperatedly as the large object crashed towards the surface of the Ark. "High Charity... By the gods. Brace for impact!" Rtas said as his carrier tried to perform evasive maneuvers but was hit by one of the falling objects anyway. more of the object falling from high charity fell onto the surface, one of them even hitting the control room where Twilight, Scootaloo, and the Chief were standing. Flood forms suddenly appeared from the ball of flesh that had crashed into the control room and waddled their way to the three UNSC soldiers.

Scootaloo quickly picked up an incendiary grenade and threw it into the path of the small infection forms killing them all before they could swarm the three soldiers.

"Shipmaster, what's your status?" Keyes asked as the Shadow of Intent stabilized and turned back out of the shield.

"Significant damage! Weapon systems disabled!" The shipmaster reported as the Chief, Twilight, and Scootaloo stepped back onto the lift and headed down, "Move to a safe distance, stay away from the Flood." Keyes told him as they couldn't afford to lose the carrier.

"Why would the Parasite come here?!" Rtas said exasperatedly, Guilty spark immediately answering, "The Ark is out of range of all the active installations! Priority: We must contain this outbreak, before-"

"No. First, we stop Truth. Then we deal with the Flood." Keyes cut off the monitor, the elevator finally reaching the bottom of the structure again where the elites alongside Mack and Lucy were mopping up the last few flood forms.

"Quickly, I must see the point of impact; assess the damage done to the Ark." Guilty spark said as the flood was completely cleared from the lower floor, "To the top of these hills, Oracle, no higher. We cannot risk your capture by the Flood." Arbiter told the monitor as they stepped outside and escorted the machine to the top of the hill.

"Shipmaster's Carrier is out of commission, Chief. I need you to take down Truth. The Flood's just going to put pressure on him; accelerate his plans. Punch through the cliffs! Get inside that Citadel!" Keyes ordered the Spartan as pelicans dropped a Scorpion tank and two warthogs that instead of the usual gatling turrent had gauss cannons mounted on them instead.

The Chief taking the weel of one of the hogs waited for the other vehicles had drivers too, Scootaloo opted to just fly above the warthogs with her own wings while Twilight sat down in the passenger seat of the hog the Chief was driving and made sure she could fire her sniper rifle from her seated position.

"Loyalists have set up strongpoints ahead, as well as a couple wraiths." Scootaloo reported as she could see much further than the ground vehicles, "Copy that, Hurricane." Chief answered as he turned a corner, the gunner immediately firing on the covenant forces in the first hard point. the column led by the Chief's warthog followed by the tank and the other warthog made quick work of the hardpoints. The Chief raced the warthog to a structure that would lead them to the Citadel as Scootaloo saw two sadows above her and looked up, a grimace forming on her face.

"I count two Scarabs! I Repeat, two Scarabs!" She shouted as the two walkers crashed before them, Twilight immediately dismounted the warthog she was sittingin and flew up to Scootaloo. "Chief, Corporal Hurricane and I will take the first Scarab." She told the Spartan, the two ponies having the distinct advantage of wings so they could board the walker without having to take out its legs.

"You board I'll give you covering fire." Twilight told Scootaloo who didn't waste any time landing on the walker and opeing fire on the brutes. At the same time Twilight went into a hover and nailed a brute that was manning a plasma turrent and firing at the filly making her way to the back of the walker to kill the power core.

The second Scarab meanwhile was brought to the ground by the UNSC vehicles that were firing at its legs allowing the Chief to board it. Twilight quickly swirled around and fired a shot at one of the brutes that was in the Spartan's way, She saw the Chief briefly glance at her as he proceeded. Turning back to Scootaloo she saw the filly jamming her energy blade into the energy core of the Scarab and quickly jumping off. "Scootaloo Three, Scarabs One" She said, contempt for the vehicle clearly present in her voice as it exploded behind them, the second Scarab following not long after.

"Both Scarabs down, well done." Keyes told the soldiers, the Arbiter being dropped off moments after with Guilty Spark. "Spartan, come to me. This platform hides a path!" He radioed in, Twilight and Scootaloo landing besides the Sangheili at the same time as the Chief Mack and Lucy ran up to them.

"The Flood scales the Citadel's far wall. Activate this bridge, Oracle!" The arbiter shouted at the monitor, "The Prophet will die by my hands, not theirs." he said, the bridge suddenly activating. Twilight and the others ran forward to the Citadel, the door opeing up slightly to let them through.

Videoscreens lining the hallway suddenly lit up as the prophet of truth started speaking, "Though our enemies crowd around us, we tread the blessed path. In a moment, I will light the rings! And all who believe...shall be saved!" The mad Alien announced as the imaged switched to that of Johnson being held by a brute. "Motherfucker!" Scootaloo cursed as she saw the Sergeant Major, "We need to move faster!"

"Chief, how close are you?" Keyes asked, "Not close enough." Chief grunted in reply while looking up at an elevator taht was on its way down.

"CAN'T THIS DAMN THING SPEED UP!" Scootaloo Shouted as she impatiently waited for the elevator to come down, gunshots coming from further into the citadel. "Calm down, Hurricane." Mack said as he was also eager to get up the elevator, "You're no good fighting if you let your anger cloud your judgement."

Scootaloo sat down on her flanks, "I don't want any more of my friends to get hurt on my watch."  Twilight sat down next to the filly, "Scoots, you've done and are doing everything you can to keep them safe."

"But it isn't ENOUGH!" She shouted at the alicorn, "Zoey, She... It was my idea to take that gunship. If I hadn't..."

"...Then a lot more marines would have died in the assault on the Voi." Twilight finished for her, "Scootaloo, Zoey didn't die because you made a mistake. Your plan saved a lot of people and in the end she made sure you got out to finish the job."

The elevator finally came to a halt at the bottom of the structure, "Come on Scoots, let's finish this." Lucy said, kneeling down and giving her a pat on the back. "Thanks, guys." She said while she got onto the elevator, "Let's go kick that bastard Truth of his throne."




The elevator came to a stop at the top of the Citadel as the entire room seemed to light up, "The fucker has already started the damn things, we need to move quick!" Mack observed and stepped forward with the others, two massive flood forms suddenly crashing down in front of them. Scootaloo suddenly heard a loud bang as one of the two forms exploded in front of her.

"Do not shoot, but listen! Let me lead you safely to our foe. Only you can halt what he has set in motion."
 The remaining flood form said, Scootaloo instantly recognized it as the one that belonged to the Gravemind. Flood infection forms waddling past them, everyone nervously looking at the parasite as it ignored them. Eventually, they came to the silent agreement that they should push on despite the parasites apparent non-hostile behavior. They ran alongside the parasite to the control panel at the far end of the large hallway, any covenant troops in their way got cut down by either the flood or the Chief, Arbiter, and ODST's.

At the back of the room they could see a crashed pelican and Johnson holding the body of Captain Keyes, Lucy sprinted towards the pair grabbing her medkit but soon realized the Captain had already passed. "Stop the rings. Save the rest." The Sergeant Major told the Chief, Scootaloo and the Arbiter walking ahead to the console here they found the Prophet of Truth crawling towards the console. The pegasus felt anger rising in her body once again as she saw the mass-murderer.

"Can you see, Arbiter? The moment of salvation is at hand." He weakly croaked as the Arbiter walked up to him and grabbed him by the throat, lifting the Prophet up from the ground. "It will not last!" The Arbiter told him, small tentacles appearing on the Prophets face as he was apparently infected by the flood.

"Your kind... never believed in the promise of the sacred rings. And now you walk alongside this filth hoping to stop what I set into motion." He managed to say as he pointed at Scootaloo.

"Lies for the weak. Beacons for the deluded." The Gravemind said through Truth's mouth, which angered the Arbiter. "I will have my revenge. On a Prophet, not a plague!" 

"My feet tread the path. I shall become a god!" Truth ranted, the flood infection visibly spreading throughout him."You will be food - nothing more." The Gravemind spoke once again as the Chief walked up to the control panel.

"NO!" He screamed as the Chief deactivated the Halo's, "I...am...Truth! The voice of the Covenant!"

Arbiter tightened his grip on the Prophet's neck, "And so, you must be silenced." he growled, activating his energy sword and running it through the body, Truth let out a last scream as he dropped back onto the floor. The arbiter roared in victory as he deactivated his energy sword.

Silence hung in the air as Mack, Lucy, and Johnson carried the Captains body into the pelican that had crashed into the control room.

The room suddenly began to shake as massive tentacles came up from below and a loud laugh accompanied them. Johnson Immediately fired up the pelican and tried to leave, Twilight and Scootaloo Both flying into the sky while Chief and Arbiter hung onto the landing legs of the pelican, but before they could leave the Gravemind tried to get a hold of the dropship, knocking the Chief and Arbiter off back onto the floor as the pelican flew out of control.

Scootaloo immediately turned around and landed beside the two, Twilight following shortly after.

I'm not abandoning any of my friends.

"Now the gate has been unlatched, headstones pushed aside...corpses shift and offer room, a fate you must abide!" The Gravemind said as the four remaining soldiers stood back to back, "We trade one villain for another." The arbiter said as he activated his energy sword.

The tentacles retracted and large flood combat forms came up to meet them. The two opposing forces clashed as soon as the tentacles retracted down. 

Scootaloo let out a growl as she pushed her dagger into a combat form,
"Give it your best shot, Parasite. It won't be enough."
> Chapter 22: Heroes Fallen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





"GO, GO, GO!" Twilight shouted as they made their way over the long bridge back to the elevator, the corpses of former covenant loyalist being reanimated and turned against them. "Destroy the bodies to prevent the parasite from reanimating them again!" The Arbiter said as he sliced a combat form in half with his energy sword.

Twilight quickly picked up a brute grenade launcher from the ground and fired a shot into a group of infection forms, the small parasites being shredded to bits by the explosion. Around them, a swarm of Sentinels came floating up and started shooting their plasma beams at the flood forms giving an opportunity for the group to make a dash for the elevator.

Twilight pointed the grenade launcher back at the blood chasing then and fired its entire magazine into them, "Elevator's not working!" She shouted as the control panel had disappeared.

"Ventilator shaft back here!" Scootaloo shouted back at her as she jumped down into it, Twilight also charged to the hole and jumped in as Sentinels swarmed the flood outside. She smashed into the ground below and made a quick roll as not to break any bones, "Scootaloo, status?" She immediately asked.

"No flood contamination present." She reported as the filly was scanning the environment. Behind them, a loud *thunk* could be heard as the Chief and Arbiter crashed down the tunnel.

"What's our objective, sir?" Twilight asked the Chief but got ignored as the Spartan walked down the hallway. "What do you see?" The Arbiter asked but he too got ignored, the two ponies and the Sangheili looking at each other and following the supersoldier.

The Chief pushed a button on another panel which made a blast shield open up before them. "Whoa is that..." Scootaloo gasped as she stepped forward onto the platform next to the Chief. A massive uncompleted Halo rising up from the central forge of the Ark.  "A replacement. For the ring you destroyed." The Arbiter said in awe to the Chief.

"When did you know?" The Chief asked someone behind the group, Guilty Spark floating forward. "Just now - but...I had my hopes. What will you do?" He said carefully, the Chief answered without hesitation.

"Light it."

"...Then we are agreed! A tactical pulse will completely eradicate the local infestation! I will personally oversee the final preparations." The Monitor said exited and quickly flew off towards the ring while rambling to himself. "Though it will take time to fabricate an activation index, I will see to the letter that..."

"How will you light it?" Arbiter asked the Chief, who turned his head to the crashed wreck of High Charity which the flood had used to get to the Ark. "Cortana still has the activation index from the first Halo." Chief answered to fill in the two ponies.

"Wait, hold on. We're talking about lighting a superweapon here guys, shouldn't we, I don't know, think about this for a bit longer?!" Scootaloo asked incredulously as everyone else just seemed to agree with the Chief's plan. Twilight just shrugged, "Spark said this installation was out of range of the other installations so it goes to reason that if we fire this one the galaxy won't be affected by it as well, other than destroying the flood that is."

"I-... Fine. Good point. Let's fire it." Scootaloo conceded as she started following the Chief and Arbiter who were already making their way through the hallways of the Citadel, eventually running into three Banshees which were abandoned by the Covenant loyalists.

"Well, Crap." Scootaloo commented, "So Twi, are you going to fly or am I?" She asked the alicorn who snorted.

"I can't even fly UNSC craft, let alone Covenant ones." She said, "You guys go ahead, I'll follow by wing." She told the other three while she spread her wings and flew off towards the crashed space station. The three remaining soldiers all getting into one of the aircraft and powered it up. Scootaloo flew up to the flying Alicorn as she got used to the controls.

"Hey, Twilight. You know you could just get a lift, right?" She said as she snickered at the alicorn whos silently looked at the banshee, "Don't laugh." Twilight told Scootaloo as she grabbed a hold of the aircraft.

"Chief, I'll round up our survivors, fall back to the Dawn. The Shipmaster will do the same with the Elites.." Johnson reported as the group landed on the wreck of High Charity. The station even on the outside was covered in the fleshy gore the flood seemed to spread everywhere.

"Scootaloo, we're not going in." Twilight stated as the filly disembarked the Banshee, "Neither of us has the energy shields to stop infection forms from getting to us and we can't constantly hide behind the Chief and Arbiter when were inside one of their hives."

"But-"

"That was an order, Hurricane." Twilight said before Scootaloo could protest any further, "We'd only be a liability to the two of them." She continued before turning to the Chief, "We'll head for the Halo while you get the index."

The Chief nodded and jumped down into the wreck followed by the Arbiter, Scootaloo grumbled but got back into the Banshee and fired it back up with Twilight as a passenger behind her. She flew towards the large ring that was continuously rising into space above the Ark, after a good half an hour of flight Scootaloo let out an annoyed scream. "OH COME ON!"

"Status?" Twilight asked the filly as she felt the Banshee leveling out.

"This thing isn't fast enough to catch the Halo, at this rate it's going to take hours to get to it." She replied, "We're going to have to call in for a pelican or a Phantom from either the Dawn or the Shadow of Intent if we want to get there anytime soon."

Twilight sighed and opened a COM channel, "Shipmaster, this is Sergeant Sparkle. Do you copy?"

"I hear you, little demon. What do you need?" Rtas 'Vadum replied, Twilight rolled her eyes as the Arbiter nickname was seemingly spreading. "Corporal Hurricane and I need a ride to Halo, our Banshee isn't going to cut it."

The Shipmaster remained silent for a moment, "Your sergeant Johnson is headed to your position." he finally said.

"Copy that, Sparkle out. Twilight said as she closed the channel. "Holy hell, that's quite the pickup." Scootaloo said from up front after Twilight finished talking. "Got anything on radar?" She asked curious about what Scootaloo had meant.

"This is the Forward Unto Dawn, You needed a ride Sparkle?" Johnson's voice came over the radio as the starship came down in front of them and opened its cargo bay, Scootaloo immediately landing in the hold.

"We're in Sarge!" She said as she powered down the banshee. The hangar bay door closing behind her and the engines of the frigate hummed as they increased their power output.

"Report to the bridge after you two visit the armory. Johnson out." The Sergeant major ordered them as he closed his Com again. Scootaloo and Twilight jumped off the covenant assault craft and ran towards the armory, skidding through the empty hallways as Twilight guessed that the crew had been offloaded onto the Shadow of Intent.

"Took you two long enough." Lucy said as he was sitting on a table with a massive grin, "I already gathered the stuff you two probably needed over there." She said while pointing at a couple of boxes stacked in front of one of the lockers that stood in the room.

"Thanks, Lucy. Did the crew get dropped off with the elites?" Twilight asked as she and Scootaloo picked through the crates and took out the corresponding ammo to their own weapons. Lucy wanted to answer but was beaten by Mack, "Yes. After the Captain died... Well, we heard what the Chief and Arbiter were planning so we dropped off the crew and the Forward Unto Dawn will act as our way out."

"You know you could have left with the Elites right?" Twilight said to Mack who raised an eyebrow before commenting on Twilight's remark, "And leave two of my people? It'll be a cold day in hell when that happens."

Twilight smiled at Mack's statement, "Thanks, Mack. We need to get going to the bridge."
The others agreed and the Two humans put on their helmets, following the two ponies as they made their way to the bridge. "Roger that. And ma'am, It's good to have you back." They heard the Sergeant Major say as he stood at a communications console in the empty bridge.
"Sergeant Sparkle, Sergeant Major." She announced herself to Johnson, who looked up from the console.

"Sergeant Sparkle," He said acknowledging her, "Corporal Hurricane, head back to the hangar and prep a Warthog." Scootaloo saluted and ran away to carry out the order.

"The Chief and Arbiter succeeded in retrieving Cortana, they're on their way towards the Halo right now." Johnson said as he tapped in a few commands, making the frigate slow down and land. "We're giving the Chief a hand in bringing Cortana to the control room. She has to get there, no matter the cost. If she doesn't, the flood wins and the galaxy gets consumed by them." he said as he picked up a spartan laser. 

"I've got the ride ready to go at any time, Sergeant major." Scootaloo reported over the radio, "Copy that, Hurricane. We're on our way, Johnson out." The Sergeant Major replied to the pegasus, "You heard her, move out!"

At the command the group moved out to the Warthog, Lucy took the wheel and the moment everyone was on board she gunned the engine and took off towards the control room. "We have to hurry up! The Chief will have already reached the Halo." Johnson said as the warthog came to a screetching halt. The group ran throug a building for a couple of minutes before they ended up on a ridge with an overview of the building that housed the control room. Flood forms were massing an attack at it as the group could see the Arbiter and Chief charging up to the top.

"We got you covered, Chief. Meet you at the top of that tower." Johnson said as he shot one of the large flood forms from the back of the pelican with the laser he carried. Scootaloo set down the dropship at the ridge and quickly powered down before sprinting out of the back of the dropship where the others were already firing at the flood forms that were attacking the Chief and Arbiter.

Mack and Lucy were firing down with DMR's and Twilight was constantly firing her Sniper rifle while simultaneously refilling ammo clips from a munitions box that she had taken with her. 

"To Tartarus with this." Scootaloo mumbled and jumped of the ridge towards the Chief and Arbiter who were holding up at the door on the top of the strucure.

"Spark? You in there? Open the damn door!" Jonson shouted over the radio.

"Of course, Reclaimer. Just as soon as you dispose of all proximate Flood threats. I'm afraid containment protocols do not allow me to-" Guilty Spark replied, getting cut off by an annoyed Johnson. "Yeah, yeah, I hear you!"

"Was that the Monitor? You didn't tell me he was here. Well, we are finally doing what he wanted." Cortana said, reminding Scootaloo that the AI was also present.

"I have beaten fleets of thousands! Consumed a galaxy of flesh and mind and bone!" The Graveminds voice thundered through the minds of everyone present as the large wave of flood forms inensified their assault. Scootaloo jumped into the fray with her energy dagger lit and sliced at a couple of combat forms before she jumped back into cover and fired a burst of rounds from her SMG. 
The torso of another flood form exploded as Twilight fired a shot at it and others well due to the fire from the two DMR wielding ODST's

"Scootaloo on your 3 o'clock!" Twilight shoted at Scootaloo as she saw a floodform charging at the filly from the side, Scootaloo immediately turned and fired a burst into the combat form but didn't do enough damage to take it down. The large meaty claw on the flood form crashed into the filly and launched her into the door, which incidentally gave Twilight the oppertunity to fire at the combat form.

"SCOOTALOO!" Twilight shouted as the filly lay motionless for a moment, "Stay focussed, Sparkle. Take out the remaining flood before you get the corporal." Johnson said as he fired a laser at one of the remaining flood forms, Twilight grunted in response but her firing increased as she helped pick up the last flood forms.

"Open up! Coast is clear." Johnson said as the last flood form fell and the four soldiers on the ridge charged down towards the door as it opened. The chief grabbed Scootaloo and ran inside with the Arbiter shortly followed by the others, the door closing behind them.

"What's her status?" Twilight asked the Chief concirned for the filly, Scootaloo jolted up and groaned as she held her head.
"Twilight remind me to take a crate of strong liquor with me to Equis when we get to that point." She said while the Chief put her back on the floor. "Really, Scootaloo. You're impossible."

"I try." The pegasus said with a smirk under her helmet. The group running towards the control room the Gravemind speaking to them while they were running.

"Do I take life or give it? Who is victim, and who is foe?"

"It's trying to rebuild itself on this ring!" Cortana said in a slight panic. "Hurry! Control Room's close!" Johnson said as the final door opened and they entered the control room. The room was circular with a walkway suspended over the middle and a large hologram of the unfinished halo in the middle.

"Yank me, Chief." Cortana said as the door closed behind them and sealed. "I'm not gonna lose her too." Johnson said as the Chief tossed Cortana's chip to the Sergeant Major, who started walking to the control panel in the middle of the room.

Twilight and Mack walked alongside him as Guilty Spark came floating towards them while humming a tune, "Oh, hello! Wonderful news - the Installation is almost complete!" It said with an upbeat tone.

"Terrific." Johnson grunted, being completely uninterested in the monitor.

"Yes... isn't it?" It said unsure as it picked up on Johnson's tone. "I have begun my simulations. No promises, but initial results indicate that this facility should be ready to fire...in just a few more days!" It announced proudly.

"We don't have a few more days!" Twiligth snapped at the monitor, the Sergeant Major agreeing. "Exactly!" he said and started to activate the ring while Twilight and Mack eyed the monitor.

"Bu-bu-but a premature firing will destroy the Ark!" Guilty Spark shouted in alarm, Johnson dismissively shrugged. "Deal with it."

"...will destroy this Installation." Guilty Spark quitely said, both Mack and Twilight tensing up for the monitors next move.

The monitor's eye suddenly turned red.

"Fuck." Mack simply stated as he pushed the Sergeant Major out of the way, which put him in immedeate danger as the monitor fired a beam of red energy hit the Mack in his chest, making him go down with a scream.

"Unacceptable! Unacceptable!Absolutely  unacceptable!" It ranted as it turned to fire a blast at the Chief and Arbiter, "Protocol dictates action! I see now that helping you was wrong!"

It fired another shot at Twilight and Johnson who both had to jump out of the way of the beam before the monitor turned back to the Chief, "You are the child of my makers. Inheritor of all they left behind. You are Forerunner! But this ring... ... is mine."

The moment Twilight could get a shot she immedeatly fired her sniper rifle at the monitor but the round seemed to just bounce off the shell of the robot, the other undesired effect it had was that Guilty Spark took notice of her.

"Hey beautiful, smile." Johnson said as he fired the spartan laser at Guilty Spark.
"You - you cracked my casing!" It shouted angrilly as everyone opened fire on the monitor, The chief charged forward, firing an assault rifle at the rogue AI.

"Chief! Catch!" Johnson shouted as he threw the spartan laser at the Spartan who immedeatly shouldered the laser and fired another shot but it went wide as Guilty Spark dodged out of the way of the beam of light.

"Stop now, before one of us gets hurt!" Guilty Spark roared as he charged another shot aimed at Twilight, Scootaloo flying in from the side to knock the alicorn out of the way of the beam.

"TELL THAT TO MACK, PIECE OF SCRAP!" Scootaloo roared, drawing the monitors attention for long enough that the Chief could score another hit with the laser.

Guilty Spark made couple of strange digital sounds as it tried to say something, "-destroy your inheritance!"

"Inheritance my ass!" Johnson shouted as he threw a plasma grenade at the monitor, Guilty spark turned around at unnatural speed and charged its energy beam. "Accept your le-gacy!"

Scootaloo saw this happening and flew at her top speed towards the Sergeant Major in an attempt to push him out of the way for a second time but was to slow as Johnson went down in a similar way to Mack. "SERGEANT!" Scootaloo shouted as she landed next to the soldier, Guilty spark getting hit by the laser a third time.

"M-m-my pr-precious!" It stammered as it leaked plasma and fired another blast at the Chief who just took it and charged the laser once again, "I a-a-a-am the Monitor of Installation Z-Zero F-Four!" Guilty Spark proclaimed as the Chief fired another shot at the monitor, who started screaming as plasma came from the casing and it exploded moments later.

Twilight rushed over to Mack where lucy was already sitting on her knees with her medkit shaking her head. Scootaloo simmilarly crouched down next to Johnson, the Chief also running up to them.

"I'm getting you out of here." The spartan simply stated as Johnson coughed up blood, "No you're... no you're not." he weakly said as he took hold of the Chiefs hand, "Don't - don't let her go. Don't... ever let her go. *Coughs* Send me out... with a bang." He finished as his lifesigns flatlined. His hand dropping away from the Chief's, leaving behind Cortana's data chip. Scootaloo looked over at Twilight and Lucy who were both shaking their heads as they sat next to Mack's body.

The Spartan silently walked up to the control panel and put the data chip into it. "Chief... I'm so sorry." Cortana said as she looked at the two fallen soldiers. She made a motion with her hand and the Chief pulled her out of the system put her back into his helmet.

A massive beam of energy suddenly shot up in the middle of the room, the magic field spiking as it had done with the other Halo. The room also began to shudder as the uncompleted structure started coming apart. Twilight's horn lit up as she started making use of the magic that was bleeding off the energy beam, a flash later everyone was standing in the hallway outside of the control room as large pylons crashed into the walkway behind them.

"That was *Pant* harder than I expected." Twilight said as she was breathing heavilly as teleporting a thousand pound spartan took a lot of energy out of her. "I am sorry, Spartan, little Demons. But come." The Arbiter said as he started running back out of the structure, cutting down flood forms as they ran. 

"Even in death, your Sergeant guides us home." The Arbiter commented as a piece of ice gave them a road back up to the ridge behind which Lucy had parked the warthog.

"The Dawn... of course, The frigate! We still have a chance!" Cortana practically shouted. Twilight unfurled her wings and flew ahead with Scootaloo, "Follow us! We know where a hog is!" The alicorn shouted as they started fighting through flood forms that were infesting the building they had to run through.

"There! The Warthog!" Cortana pointed out as they left the building, Lucy jumping behind the wheel and started the engine. The Chief jumped on the turret and the two ponies jumped on the back in between the driver's seat and the turret.

"Come on, Helljumper! Go, go, go!" Cortana shouted as everyone got on board. Lucy immediately went full ahead towards the frigate. Flood and Sentinel forces were clashing along the way as the ring was shuddering apart.

"Come on! Faster!" Cortana shouted as a ground panel beside the warthog blew up and flew into the air and forced the ODST to make a sharp turn to not get hit by it as it fell back down. "It's not as easy as it looks!" Lucy replied to the AI as she roadkilled a couple of flood infection forms.  

"Charging sequence at 30%..." Cortana reported, a wave of magic was released from the Halo causing the two ponies to cringe as it hit them. "Not this again." Scootaloo groaned as she tightly held on to the warthog as not to accidentally get thrown off.

"50%, Corporal!" Cortana shouted at Lucy as an entire section of the floor blew up and dropped away, in the distance she could see the floating frigate. Another wave of magic hit the ponies but Twilight quickly put up a shield as an attempt to dampen the effects.

"80% charged!" Cortana shouted while Lucy was making a beeline straight to the cargo hold,

"90% - firing sequence initiated!" Cortana finally reported as Lucy floored the accelerator even further and the Warthog made a jump into the cargo hold, everyone was thrown from the hog onto the floor as it landed. The starship lurched and various vehicles started to slide away from where they stood, Scootaloo and Arbiter sprinted into a hallway shortly followed by Lucy and Twilight as the alicorn performed another short ranged teleport. The Chief, on the other hand, had to dodge out of the way of the warthog as it slid back out of the hangar bay.

“The Demon will be fine, we have to get to the bridge!” The Arbiter said as the group was cut off from the hangar by a scorpion tank and cargo boxes. Twilight cursed for a moment but ran off after the arbiter towards the frigate’s bridge, the hallways felt like they went on forever but they eventually burst into the empty room.

“We need to get this thing moving!” She said as she powered up a console and looked at Scootaloo.

“What do you want ME to do?!” Scootaloo shouted incredulously at the alicorn, “I’m not rated to fly STARSHIPS!”

“Well, you actually know how to fly, stuff unlike me!” Twilight shouted back, the filly let out a frustrated roar and sat down behind a console, “Fuck, fuck, fuck... THERE!” She shouted as the Frigate lurched forward, another wave of magic flew forward from the ring and hit the two ponies. Lucy ran up to them as they screamed from the magic overload.

“Come on you two, fight it!” She said as the wave passed and gave the two ponies some reprieve, “It’s turning into dark magic, Lucy.” Twilight panted as black goo oozed from her horn. “please tell me you have one of those rings I made. It works two ways, it can also keep magic from the outside out.”

Lucy quickly dug through one of her pockets and revealed one of the black rings, and slit it over Twilight’s horn. “What about me?!” Scootaloo asked as she got up from the ground. 

“Pegasi and Earthponies can get rid of Dark magic much easier as your casting mechanism isn’t directly connected to your brain.. and due to me having used dark magic before I’m more susceptible to it.” Twilight explained to the filly which seemed to put her at ease for a bit.

Scootaloo looked at the monitor again as the Arbiter had increased the power on the thrusters even further. “We’re almost there!” She shouted as she saw the portal coming up on the main screen.

Twilight suddenly felt her hair stand on end as she felt a powerful source of dark magic behind her, “IT’S FIRING!” She shouted in a panic, almost immediately after which she felt the transition from real space into slipspace occurring. A loud screech rang through the ship as it sounded as if the frigate was being torn in half, the power suddenly going out plunging the group into darkness as all sounds stopped as well.

“We didn’t die.” Scootaloo said baffled breaking the silence as she activated the flashlights on her helmet, “We didn’t DIE!” She shouted again and fell down into hysteric laughter.

The ship suddenly lurched as Twilight felt it exiting slipspace and hitting an atmosphere, Everyone was thrown around as the starship came to a sudden halt.

“Did we arrive already?!” Lucy asked baffled ass the trip had been nearly instantaneously, “The power input to that portal must have been immense!”

"It probably was" Twilight groaned as she stood up onto her hooves, "Everyone still in one piece?"

"I'm good." Scootaloo replied, shortly followed by a confirmation from the Arbiter.

Twilight nodded and opened a COM channel, "Mayday, Mayday, This is Sergeant Sparkle of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn does anyone copy?" Static followed for a moment but after a couple of seconds, a message came through. "Copy... Sparkle... Imminent, stay pu..."

Twilight slumped against a console and pulled off her helmet, Scootaloo sitting down next to her.
"It's over... It's actually over." Twilight whispered as tears rolled down her face




Scootaloo was sitting in the hold of a pelican as they flew away from the crashed wreck, they had made it but as they had left the spaceship they found out that the entire aft section of the Forward Unto Dawn sheered off somewhere in slipspace.

Along with the Chief and Cortana. The war had claimed its final casualties just as they had won.

The cargo bay door closed as the pelican flew towards the mainland which was relatively close by, a couple of minutes later Scootaloo felt the familiar feeling of the pelican landing on the ground, the engines coming to a gradual stop as the ramp lowered which revealed Lord Hood standing at the bottom with his dress suit. The three ODST's brought a quick but sloppy salute as exhaustion had finally hit them from the constant fighting for nearly a day.

"Glad to see you're still in one piece, Helljumpers. Sergeant Sparkle I want you to report to my office for debriefing in an hour, go take a shower first, a new dress suit should be waiting for you three as well."

"Yes, Sir!" Twilight said as she saluted again, the Admiral turned around and walked off. A marine stepped forward and led them towards a barrack where a shower was present.

Scootaloo ripped off the armor pieces and unzipped the undersuit, which stank like nothing else before she stepped into the shower. Old blood and bits of gunk washed off her coat as the filly closed her eyes and just let the warm water hit her.

"Scootaloo?" Lucy asked from across the showering room where she was washing up. "Yea, what's the matter." The pegasus asked as she saw both Twilight and Lucy staring at her. 

"You know, I think I know when it happened." Twilight said to Lucy without taking her eyes of Scootaloo, "Uhm, girls? Seriously, what's wrong?"

"Your buttmark." Lucy bluntly stated, Scootaloo's eyes going wide as she looked at her flank.





"I-I... cutiemark?!" She said baffled at the mark on her flank, "I HAVE A CUTIEMARK!" She shouted as she hopped through the shower room, fatigue momentarily forgotten. She hopped around for a couple more seconds before coming to a standstill, "So what do you think it means?" She asked Twilight who just shrugged.

"That's up to how you want to interpret it." The alicorn answered as she turned off her shower and got a towel to dry herself off, Scootaloo raised an eyebrow at Twilight's answer who sighed in turn.

"Look, Scootaloo. Think of Dash's Cutie Mark, what about it tells you that she's the fastest pegasus on Equis?" Twilight asked the filly who thought for a moment, "I... don't know." She admitted.

"Exactly! it doesn't shout fastest pegasus but it is exactly that because Dash decided that was what it meant!" Twilight explained to the pegasus as she put on her new black dress suit and fixed a similarly colored beret with an ODST emblem onto her head. "I'm going to head for the Admiral, I heard they were going to have a ceremony later today so I'll see you girls over there."

"See you there!" Scootaloo replied as she jumped back under the shower, not taking her eyes off her flanks to the amusement of the other two soldiers.

Scootaloo was standing alongside Lucy and Twilight at a hillside overlooking the poral site at Voi, it was the site where over a month ago the Forward Unto Dawn and the Sangheili fleet had left for the Ark. The Shadow of Intent was floating in the air behind a monument where Lord Hood stood, he took off his hat as he was about to give a speech.

"For us, the storm has passed The war is over. But let us never forget those who journeyed into the howling dark and did not return. For their decision required courage beyond measure..." Scootaloo teared up, she could see Twilight and Lucy doing the same, as memories of the friends who hadn't made it came to her mind. "...sacrifice, and unshakable conviction that their fight, our fight, was elsewhere."

Scootaloo looked at the memorial where countless pictures of fallen soldiers were present, some she had never seen and some awfully familiar to the pegasus. She herself had added a scratched 117 to the memorial with her combat knife as she had figured out that the Chief had been designated as MIA instead of KIA even though he was almost certainly gone.

"As we start to rebuild, this hillside will remain barren, a memorial to heroes fallen. They ennobled all of us, and they shall not be forgotten." The Admiral finished as he put his hat back on.

"Present arms!" A sergeant who Scootaloo had seen several times along with the chief ordered as seven marines took aim at the sky and fired a three-volley salute.

Lord hood walked down from the memorial towards the arbiter and stopped in front of the Elite, "I remember how this war started. What your kind did to mine. I can't forgive you. But..." He held out his hand, "You have my thanks. For standing by him to the end."

The Arbiter took the Admirals hand and shook it before Lord Hood turned to Twilight. "I take it you still want to leave as soon as possible, Sergeant?"

Twilight nodded, "Yes sir, very much so." She answered.

"Then I guess I will have to do this now." His stance changing, "Private Savage, Private Woods come forward." He said, Scootaloo's ears perking up. Woods came forward pushing along a wheelchair that held Tyler who had his trademarked smile plastered onto his face.

"Corporal Hurricane, Corporal Turner, Sergeant Sparkle. As per the decision of High Command, all UNSC personnel that ventured to the Ark are to be commended with a gold star but due to your actions aboard the Halo and staying to the very end you have been nominated for a higher commendation." Lord hood started as he was given the first of two boxes by Tyler.

"Corporal Turner, due to your actions aboard Halo and seeing the venture through to the end I may present to you the Medal of Honor." He said as he pinned the medal to the Corporals chest before he turned to Tyler and grabbed the next box and crouched down in front of the two ponies.

"Sergeant Sparkle, Corporal Hurricane. As the first alien members of the UNSC, I'm honored to be allowed to present you both with the Medal of Honor as well. When you first came into contact with UNSC forces you could have decided to sit out the conflict you decided to take up arms instead even though High Command doubted the decision at the time. The UNSC and Humanity are proud to have called you our allies and hope any further coöperation will happen between our two kinds." He finished as he stood back up and saluted the three baffled soldiers who gladly returned the gesture.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle, a pelican with supplies has been packed and a long-range communications satellite has been loaded onto the Shadow of Intent. As per the treaty of coöperation that you signed the UNSC will guarantee the safety and wellbeing of Equis while at the same time your kind will eventually step up to help humanity as it struggles to rebuild." The Admiral said to Twilight, surprising Scootaloo at the change of title.

"Of course, Admiral. As soon as the Unified Earth Government and my Equestrian government ratify the treaty we'll start mutual coöperation." Twilight answered, Lord Hood nodded and left the group alone.

"So when were you going to tell me about that?" Scootaloo asked the alicorn. "We negotiated the initial terms a couple of hours ago, after it's enacted the real negotiations will start." Twilight answered before she turned to Tyler and Woods.

"Didn't expect to see the two of you here." She said with a smile, Tyler let out a laugh. "We didn't either but one doesn't say no to Lord Hood when he personally calls you to ask your help with a ceremony."

"No, you don't." Lucy said with a smile and hugged the former ODST that was stuck in a wheelchair, "I'm glad you're awake, Savage."

"Yeah, no shit. I'm just annoyed that I'm stuck in this damned chair." He answered, "Anyway, issues aside, you two are going home?!" He said as he looked at Twilight and Scootaloo.

"Yes, I took care of that. The Arbiter offered to take us home aboard the Shadow of Intent so that'll speed up the journey considerably." Twilight answered as the Arbiter came walking up to the group from behind the alicorn.

"Yes and we will have to leave soon as the humans have requested for us to leave the system as soon as possible." He told the two ponies. Tyler and Woods looking up at the Elite in awe as they hadn't worked with him.

"Then I guess this is it." Scootaloo said as she looked at the three humans, "I'm really going to miss you all."

"Hey, we're not dead and I'm sure Sparkle butt here is going to make sure this isn't going to be the last time we see each other." Tyler said with a smile as he pulled up the pegasus into a hug. "Tyler's right, we'll see each other on the first bird that heads down to your planet."

"Well, until we meet again then." Twilight said with a smile as a Phantom came down to pick them up. Twilight alongside Scootaloo and Arbiter stepped into the Phantom and turned around to take a last look at the three humans, both she and Scootaloo using their wings to perform a salute, the three humans returning the gesture as the Phantoms doors closed and cut off the line of sight to them.

Scootaloo let out a yawn as she was getting close to two days without sleep, "I guess I could use a na-... O crap, we kinda broke off contact with Equestria a month ago didn't we?" she said as she looked at Twilight, "We'll just have to surprise them, won't we?" Twilight replied with a grin.

Scootaloo let out a single laugh, "Yeah, I'm just scared what they'll think of us." She admitted.

"Scoots they're our friends and family, they'll love you no matter what." Twilight comforted the filly, "We should probably get some more sleep now because I'm on the verge of collapsing."

Both ponies chuckled as they landed in the carrier, "Follow him, he'll lead you to your quarters." The Arbiter told the two as he pointed at a blue armored elite minor, The two nodded and walked to their rooms while they could feel the carrier ascend into space.

Once the two ponies entered the room Scootaloo collapsed on one of the beds and almost immediately fell asleep, "You can go, we'll call for an escort after we wake." She told the minor who brought his fist up to his chest and closed the door.

Twilight collapsed on the bed beside the filly and also started drifting to sleep.

I'm almost home, I'm almost home. She thought as her eyes closed and she fell into a deep slumber.
> Epilogue: Equis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



"Twitchy tail! twitchy tail! twitchy tail."





Fire licked the hull of the pelican as it re-entered Equis' atmosphere. "Temperature within acceptable parameters." Scootaloo reported from her seat as she carefully kept the dropship balanced throughout the re-entry.

"What's our position?" Twilight asked as the flames around the cockpit died down.

"If the surface scans are correct, we're above the Everfree right now. Heading three-three-zero towards a settlement, which should be Ponyville. ETA fifteen minutes." Scootaloo said as she adjusted her course to north-north-east.

"We should look for a clearing either in the Everfree or in one of Sweet Apple Acres fields, I'd like to avoid a panic in Ponyville proper." Twilight said as she unstrapped herself from the copilot's chair and walked to the cargo hold.

The transmitter they had gotten from HIGHCOM that could link up with an orbital communication relay was strapped to the floor alongside a set of solar panels to power them. Twilight walked up to a weapons locker and opened it, usually pelicans would be stocked with equipment but this time the locker only held two SMG's a magnum and a sniper rifle. She dug through the ammo supplies they had gotten, two boxes of ammo for every weapon respectively, one with sharp ammo and the other with stun rounds and a magazine of blanks on Scootaloo's request.

Twilight picked the magnum off the rack and inserted a magazine with stun rounds into it before holstering it on her dress suit.

Twilight remembered the reaction the Elites had when they had entered the system, It had just been daybreak in Equestria and Celestia was in the process of 'raising the sun' and Luna was ‘lowering the moon’. It had taken all Twilight’s persuasion power to convince the elites that neither of the princesses were a god. 

I seriously hope we’re not going to be visited by a bunch of Sangheili cultists in the near future.

The second thing the sunrise did was confirm the theory Twilight had made up months ago, Celestia didn’t move the sun but rotated the planet. Though there was also something she hadn’t expected, before the princess had rotated the planet it had been in tidal lock with its star just as the moon’s orbit was rapidly decaying until either princess corrected their rotation speed and orbit respectively.

It had taken six hours of spaceflight after that to get to the planet as Twilight didn’t want the elites to perform an inter-system jump because she wasn’t sure what the effects would be of a slipspace transition on the local magic field.

Twilight felt the pelican decelerating, dragging her mind out of her theory as she made her way back to the cockpit, "Where did you put us down?" She asked as she saw rows of bare apple trees, covered by snow, neatly lined up in front of the landed pelican.

"At the edge of the southern field. There were about two dozen meters of clear ground between the Everfree and the orchard." Scootaloo replied as she pushed a couple of buttons, "Powering down." She announced as the craft stopped making noise as the turbines stopped spinning.

"Do you think they heard us come down?" Twilight asked Scootaloo as she got out of her flight chair and put on her helmet, earning an eye roll from Twilight.

"What? It looks cool!" Scootaloo said as she noticed the alicorn's gesture. "And no I don't think so, maybe a couple of pegasi saw our re-entry but I ran her on minimal sound so I'd be impressed if anyone noticed our return."

"It's a doozy, it's a doozy!" A certain pink pony was shouting as she hopped through her place of employment.

"In that case, we should go surprise our friends." Twilight said as she lowered the ramp of the pelican, the cold outside air flowing into the ship. Scootaloo quickly opened the weapons locker and attached an SMG to her one side of her barrel and attached a saddlebag to the other.

Before stepping outside Twilight made a quick mental calculation, " We were out of contact for less than a month and the slipspace jump took a week so if I'm correct we should be in the middle of the last school week before the Hearts warming vacation." She told Scootaloo, "We should probably split up, I want to check on my friends  and parents while you should go find Applebloom, Sweetie, Octavia, and Vinyl."

"Yeah, I know." Scootaloo said trying to sound annoyed to hide her fear but failing.

"Scootaloo, we talked about this a week ago. I'm sure they'll be glad to have you back no matter how you look." Twilight told the filly as she covered her with her wing.

"I know, but I'm still scared anyway Twilight." Scootaloo sighed, "What if they think I’m a monster? I mean, I alone have a larger kill count than the entirety of the Equestrian army had in the first Griffin conflict which, need I remind you, is the bloodiest conflict in pony history."

"Scootaloo we both have done and seen things we'll probably never speak about again but our situation was much worse than a medieval Equestrian war." Twilight told the filly, "Now. We've let our friends wait for long enough, haven't we?"

"Yeah, I'll take everyone to Sugarcube corner after I've visited everyone I wanted to visit." Scootaloo said as she flared her wings, "See you in a bit!"

Twilight looked at the filly as she flew off for a moment before she took off towards Applejack's house as it was the closest of her five friends.




The air blew past Scootaloo's ears as she flew towards the schoolhouse, she could see that the building was covered with hearts warming decorations. She landed in front of the large door that would lead into the hallway and walked up to it.

Here goes nothing She thought as she took hold of the door handle and quickly entered the building as not to let in too much cold air.

"Miss Cheerilee, can we leave early? It's almost Hearts Warming and mom promised to help me make muffins after I got back" Scootaloo heard Dinky say, bringing a smile to her helmeted face.

"Sorry Dinky, class already stops early today so I'm not letting you fillies go even sooner." Scootaloo dared to look around the corner of the door into the class. Everyone was focussed on Cheerilee as she wrote something down on the chalkboard at the front of the classroom, "Now class we still have to cover some physics before we can end this day."

The entire class awwed, making Scootaloo snicker, she would have given the exact same reaction if she was sitting in the class. She took the time to look at all the other fillies in the class, her eyes halting at Diamond Tiara who was holding a straw aiming a spitwad at Applebloom.

Oh no you fucking don't She thought, a devious plan coming to the forefront of her mind. She quickly grabbed her SMG loading the blank rounds into the machine gun and taking off the suppressor before she took off her helmet as well.

BANG

Everypony in the class jumped up and screamed as they heard the very loud sound, Scootaloo being the exception as she was used to the sound of gunfire and was too busy glaring at the spoiled filly anyway.

"WHO Dared.. to..." She said in a rage but stopped as she saw the pegasus giving her a death glare, which was only made more effective by the massive scar she had gotten from the energy blade plastered on her face.

"You never change, do you?" She asked in a monotone voice as she flicked on the safety and reattached the gun to her barrel, turning away from the dumbstruck filly looking straight into the eyes of both Sweetie Belle and Applebloom.

"S-Scootaloo?" Applebloom stuttered, Scootaloo's ears going flat against her head. "H-Hi girls." She said, her nerves returning with a vengeance. Before she could say anything else she was caught in a hug, "We've missed you so much! *sniff* Our sisters told you were alive but *sniff* didn't tell us anything else." Sweetie cried into Scootaloo's shoulder.

"I guessed something like that." Scootaloo said relieved that her friends didn't hate her but it brought up another challenge as in how to tell them what had happened.

"Scoots, how did ya get that scar?!" Applebloom asked as she released the hug.

And there's the question

Scootaloo sighed, "Boarding of the Stalwart Dawn but I think I should wait to tell that story with Twilight and your sisters. I don't really want to have to tell that more than once." She said while looking at the ground.

"Are we just going to ignore the loud explosion that just happened?!" Diamond Tiara shouted as she had recovered from her original shock. Scootaloo let out a short laugh, "Loud? That was nothing SMG’s are relatively silent in comparison to other rifles as it uses sub-sonic ammo. Also, you’re an irrelevant ass, shut up."

Diamond Tiara was baffled by the brash way Scootaloo had shot her down, "But.. I-.. AARGH" She shouted as she sat back down on her bench and pouted.

"Scootaloo, watch your language!" Cheerilee berated the pegasus as she finally spoke up, the entire class having erupted into whispering.

"Sorry ma'am, soldiers don't really care about your language use most of the time." She told her teacher while she could see Rumble eyeing her armor, "You know you can just ask, right?" She told him as she turned her head to look him in the eyes.

"What are you wearing and how exactly did you make that loud noise?" He nervously asked, Scootaloo standing up and walking back to the hallway where she picked up her helmet and walked back to Rumble.

"It's ODST battle armor." She said as she passed the helmet to the colt, "Here try it on, it's really cool." Rumble put on the helmet and Scootaloo tapped a command into the console on her foreleg which activated the HUD in the helmet. Scootaloo's classmates gasped as the visor turned opaque, "Wow, this is awesome! But what does it all mean?" He asked as he looked around in wonder, "Also this thing is heavy."

"Yea, it is." Scootaloo said as she detached the SMG once again, She could see Diamond Tiara flinching. "At the top of the visor you can see the compass, on the bottom left you can see how many grenades are currently attached to my armor..."

"It says zero on all of them." Rumble observed.

"Of course there's zero, I'm not going to walk around Ponyville with a bunch of explosives!"

Applebloom seemed to twitch, "Ah don't think Ah heard ya correctly Scoots, did ya say explosives?!" Scootaloo just shrugged, "Yup." and continued to explain the HUD, "On the bottom right you can see this thing." She held up her SMG, "It's the ammo counter for this weapon"

"Wait, did you say weapon?" Rumble gasped as he took off the helmet and set it down next to him. Scootaloo sighed once again, "Yeah, I'm trained to use anything I could get my hooves on but I specialized in using this type. This one is loaded with blanks, they just make a loud sound but aren't dangerous."

"What happened to ya when you were gone?" Applebloom asked as she put a hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder, the pegasus tearing up as flashes of memories of various friends and colleagues she lost got to the forefront of her mind.

Cortana... Chief... Johnson... Zoey... Mack...

"Scoots, you're crying!" Sweetie said, bringing her attention back to the class. "Sorry, I was just remembering a couple of the friends I made." She replied as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "Anyway, I'm going to find Mom and Vinyl. Twilight and I are going to rendezvous at Sugarcube corner after we've gathered everyone, you two are also invited."

Scootaloo put her helmet back on, turned around and trotted out of the schoolhouse towards Ponyville central.




Twilight landed in front of the large red barn standing next to the Apple family's home, the doors were open so Twilight assumed someone was inside because no Apple would leave the door open to prevent animals from getting to the stored food.

"Applejack?" She asked as she stood in the middle of the barn, she heard rumbling coming from the cellar. "Gimme a couple a seconds, Ah'll be right up!" Twilight could hear the oblivious earthpony shout.
Twilight grinned as she sat down, waiting for the earthpony to appear. The hatch to the cellar opening up, "Who can Ah.. help... TWILIGHT!" She shouted as she grabbed the alicorn in a hug, "The girls and Ah were really concerned when Dash said she had lost you in the dream world."

"I guessed that but we had to leave on really short notice so we couldn't take a nap to tell Rainbow about our situation." Twilight said as she pried herself loose from the earthpony to get some fresh air. "I'll tell you about it with the other girls, there's no point in repeating the same story a bazillion times."

"Ah guess not." Applejack chuckled as she walked to the barn door. "Ear flop, eye flutter, knee twitch!" Someone screamed as the farm pony had her hooves on the door.

"What the..." She managed to say before the door hit her squarely in the face, "Omygosh, Applejack are you alright! my pinkie sense did an Earflopeyeflutterkneetwitch which means to look out for opening doors and I was running towards so fast that I couldn't stop!" Pinkie Pie shouted as she almost stood on top of Applejack.

"Ah'm alright Pinkie, Ah-"

"You have to come with me, Applejack. I was working at Sugarcube corner and suddenly I had these shudders and I was like 'A doozy, a doozy!' so something really unexpected was going to happen and I still don't know what and *hmpf*." Applejack pushed her hoof into Pinkie's muzzle to shut her up, "Ah'm pretty sure your doozy is standing two meters behind us."

Pinkie looked past AJ and gasped as she saw Twilight sitting on her flanks, a goofy grin plastered on her face. "TWILIGHT!" She shouted as well and flung herself towards the alicorn, which startled Twilight. In a reflexive action she swiped out the legs from beneath the earthpony and landed on top of her, holding Pinkie down into the ground.

"Wow Twi, you're just as strong as Applejack!" Pinkie said with an unwavering smile, Twilight blushed as she realized what she just did.

"Uhm, sorry Pinkie you startled me." She sheepishly said as she helped her friend back up onto her hooves.

"Don't worry Twilight, I must have brought back super duper scary memories back." The party mare said as she kept smiling, “I already told the other girls to come to Sugarcube Corner Applejack was the last pony I had to collect before we could start figuring out what the doozy meant but that’s not important now because you’re here and… Omygosh I have to start planning a welcome home to Equestria Twilight and Scootaloo party!”

Before the pink pony could run off Twilight grabbed her in her levitation, “Calm down pinkie, we’ll have a party but I want to visit my parents, friends, and the princesses first.”

“Okidokie, Twilight!” Pinkie replied as she somehow escaped from the levitation field and trotted outside again, “Ah guess we’ll head for Sugarcube Corner then?” Applejack offered, Twilight nodded and the two headed outside after Pinkie. “It’s actually quite convenient that she brought the girls to Sugarcube Corner as Scootaloo is going to bring her friends and parents there after visiting them to hook back up with us.”

“Speaking off that filly, how is she-”

BANG A loud but distant sound came from the direction of the schoolhouse.

If that Pegasus fired a live round anywhere near that schoolhouse Tartarus is going to look like a vacation resort. Twilight thought as she connected the sound to the firing of an unsuppressed SMG.

“What in tarnation was that?! An’ did that sound come from the schoolhouse.” Applejack asked as she was now on high alert, Twilight held out a wing as a gesture for the earthpony to calm down. “Scootaloo should be somewhere over there right now, I’m sure she can handle anything thrown at her.”

Me being the notable exception.

“Alright Twi, If ya’ll are sure about that Ah’ll trust ya.” Applejack said as she continued walking towards Ponyville, occasionally glancing in the direction of the schoolhouse. Within Ponyville itself Twilight got a plethora of surprised glances but also a lot of ponies that had been concerned after the ‘Library incident’, which Twilight soon learned was when her portal had destroyed the tree and damaged the surrounding buildings.

Applejack moved ahead as they arrived at Sugarcube Corner where Pinkie was standing outside, “Did you tell them yet?” Twilight asked the bubbly mare.

“Nope!” Pinkie replied and hopped into the building, Applejack just shrugged at the pink mare’s antics and trotted inside after her.

“Pinkie what’s this about, I really have to get some sleep as I have to take a night shift with the bats tonight!” Twilight could hear Rainbow complain. “I’m sure Pinkie brought us here for a reason, darling. Didn’t you Pinkie?” She heard Rarity say to Rainbow.

“Yup!” Pinkie exclaimed but didn’t say anything else after that, ”What is it, Pinkie?” Fluttershy’s soft voice just making it outside.

“Ah think it’s better if you just saw it.” Applejack replied to the shy mare, Twilight taking it as her cue to enter the store.

“Hello, girls.” She said, the jaws of the three ponies that were still unaware of the fact that Twilight had returned dropped onto the floor. “TWILIGHT!” They exclaimed simultaneously as both Rarity and Fluttershy, who were standing closest to the door, embraced the alicorn in a hug.

“Darling, we missed you so much!” Rarity said as she pulled out of the hug and inspected Twilight’s suit. “Twilight, I must say your suit is fabulous but did it have to be black? I mean white would be a lot less depressing.”

Twilight snickered at Rarity's analysis, "White suits would be for the navy and marines, my black one is because I'm part of the ODST's." She explained.

”I'm really really glad you're okay, Twilight. Fluttershy said in her distinctively soft tone but before Twilight could respond Dash spoke up. "Twi, where's Scootaloo?"

"She's somewhere in ponyville right now gathering Sweetie, Applebloom, Vinyl, and Octavia." Twilight answered, Dash immediately shot towards the exit past Applejack who tried to get a hold of her Tail but failed, Twilight's telekinesis yielded different results though.

The alicorn seriously underestimated the amount of magical power she had and accidentally smashed the pegasus into the floor, "Oh no! Rainbow are you alright, I'm not used to Equis' magic field anymore."

"I'm alright Twi, I just want to find that filly so could you please let me go!" Rainbow said annoyed while she was still being levitated by Twilight.

"Sorry Rainbow but Scootaloo said she'd come here after finding her friends and parents, something she has to do on her own. You'll have to wait for a bit longer." Twilight apologized but didn't release the grumbling pegasus.

The door of the store burst open as three fillies burst into the room, "Applejack! Rarity! Scootaloo just came by class!" Sweetie Belle shouted as she spotted the two older ponies in the room, "An' she had this thing that made this very loud sound!" Applebloom continued, "She said it was a weapon of some sort!" Rumble finished for the earthpony.

Twilight stepped forward to the three fillies who stood slack-jawed as they saw the Alicorn, "What exactly did she say she had and why's Rumble with the two of you?"

Rumble immediately answered, "She said it was an SMG and that she fired something she called a blank..." Twilight immediately relaxed as she heard the pegasus had fired a blank and not a live round.

Still not getting out of that without consequences.

"...and Rumble here is an initiate Crusader!" Sweetie happily squeaked as rumble stepped forward again, "Scootaloo said she was going to tell the others what happened and since I'm also a crusader now they thought I should come too."

Twilight sighed, telling Applebloom and Sweetie Belle was going to be hard enough. "Alright, Rumble but you have to ask Thunderlane for permission first because we're headed off to Canterlot soon."

"Wait, what?!" Rarity asked dumbfounded, "Darling, the snow has crippled the trains and it's already getting dark so if we leave now we would arrive somewhere tomorrow."

Twilight started laughing, the others looked strangely at the alicorn. "Uhm, Twilight? What's so funny? If you could tell us please, that would be nice." Fluttershy asked her. "It's because we're not taking the train, Shy."

"So what Are we taking then?" Rainbow asked, Twilight just put an evil grin onto her face. 

"You'll just have to ask Scootaloo when she gets here."




Scootaloo was standing in front of the building she had called home before she got lost in space. One side of the building was in the classic style Octavia favored and the other side in the modern style Vinyl liked. Scootaloo lifted the floormat which revealed a key laying in the exact same place as she remembered where it always lay.

She opened the door into the living room and entered, Octavia would usually be practicing there but while her cello was present the earthpony herself wasn't. The other side of the room was Vinyl's, her mixing set was missing so Scootaloo guessed she was up in Canterlot to set up for a show in a nightclub. This was also the reason why Vinyl had turned out to be more of a big sister than a Mom, unlike Octavia who always seemed to be home when she was.

Sootaloo continued walking through the house in search of the earthpony musician, eventually coming across the kitchen. Octavia was sitting at the kitchen table with a glass of water...

...and a picture of Scootaloo.

A lump formed in the fillies throat as she hadn't been noticed yet, "Mom?"

The glass of water immediately dropped to the floor and shattered, spilling its contents all over the ground. She turned around and locked eyes with Scootaloo, "Scootaloo?" 

Scootaloo shot forward and hugged her caretaker, "I was so scared *Sniff* that I'd never see you or *Sniff* Vinyl ever again." She sobbed into the mare's coat. "I was too, my little filly, I was too." Octavia answered as she tightly held the pegasus.

"Vinyl is in Canterlot for the first show she's given in months." Octavia told Scootaloo as she drew out of the hug and gasped, "S-Scootaloo, your face!"

"I know mom, don't worry it doesn't hurt. I'll tell you about it when we get to the others at Sugarcube Corner, Twilight's friends also deserve to know about it." She said as she got off her mom's lap, "I'm sure Twilight will want to go to Canterlot anyway to visit the princesses and her parents so we can immediately go find Vinyl."

"All right, let me get some stuff before we leave." Octavia smiled as she quickly grabbed a scarf, hat, and hoof warmers.
The two closed the door behind them and quickly made their way to Sugarcube Corner where they could see a group of ponies were already present inside. Scootaloo walked into the building first, she could see Rainbow perk up immediately.

"Squirt!" She shouted as she embraced the filly in a hug, Octavia came walking into the store after her and cleared her throat. "Princess, I heard you might want to go to Canterlot but if we are to make it any time soon we would have to take the train immediately."

Twilight looked at the musician, "It's just Twilight for you Octavia, you know that and as on how we're going to get to Canterlot quickly, ask Scootaloo."

Everyone turned to Scootaloo as Twilight had repeated that sentence multiple times now, 'Ask Scootaloo.'
The pegasus started grinning like a madmare as she understood what Twilight meant. "No barrel rolls." Twilight flatly told the filly before she could get any Ideas.

"Yes, Sergeant! What's my pickup point?" Scootaloo asked as she was ready to get the pelican, Twilight levitated a smoke grenade from her saddlebag. "Green Smoke."

"Copy that, I'll be back in a bit!" She said as she ran outside followed by Rainbow, "Wait up Squirt! Where-... Wait you're flying!"

"I know! Isn't it awesome! The humans fixed my wings!" Scootaloo laughed as the rapidly approached Sweet Apple Acers. "Wow, I mean, now I can teach you tips and tricks and stuff!" Rainbow said happily as she did a couple of aerial maneuvers.

"You're not the only one, Dash. I'm pretty sure I could also teach you a couple of things, so we could teach each other!" Scootaloo laughed as she checked her heading and adjusted course towards the dropship. "So, Squirt, why are we flying towards the Everfree?" Dash asked as the thick treeline started coming really close, Scootaloo scanned the environment once again and spotted her goal.

"Because I needed some space to land and I ended up setting down between the farm and the forest." She answered as she pointed at the pelican, Rainbow's eyes went wide as she saw the large green dropship. "Wow, what's that?!"

"It's a pelican, we can easily get everyone to Canterlot with it." Scootaloo said as she opened the ramp at the back of the craft, Rainbow looking at the interior in awe. "How is it getting up to Canterlot though? It's not going to fit through the main gate of the city."

"Because we're not taking the main gate." Scootaloo said as she strapped into the pilot's seat and activated the power supply, "We're flying over it." Before Dash could reply Scootaloo flicked the last switch and activated the turbines, "Strap into the seat!" She shouted over the engine noise as she closed the back hatch.

A dumbstruck Rainbow quickly secured herself into the co-pilot's seat, "Now don't touch any buttons because I still have to fly this thing." Scootaloo said as the pelican shuddered for a moment and lifted up from the ground.

"THIS THING FLIES?!" Rainbow Shouted as she finally got back to her senses, Scootaloo just laughed as she had had the same reaction to the pelican. The filly steered the craft in the direction of Ponyville careful to fly over the outskirts and not the center of the village as not to scare the inhabitants too much. She suddenly saw a cloud of green smoke coming from an open space at the east side of the village and adjusted her course appropriately.

Scootaloo snickered as she saw a group of ponies at the edge of the field staring up at her, "Setting her down." She said as the pelican touched down, she turned off the turbines as well as it would be easier to convince ponies to hop into the craft when it wasn't roaring like a manticore.

"I'm green, Twilight." She reported, making Rainbow raise an eyebrow. "You know she can't hear you from here, right?"

Scootaloo grabbed an earpiece from a box beside her and tossed it to Rainbow, "Put that in your ear." She told the blue pegasus who obeyed. 

"...Just saw a couple of day- and Nightguards enter the clearing so we have to talk them down before we can take back off." She heard Twilight's voice coming from the earpiece, "Wait you can speak to Twilight from here?" Dash asked Scootaloo but got the answer from Twilight.

"Yup, useful isn't it?" A couple of knocks on the hull could be heard, "Scootaloo, can you open the ramp and speak to the guards?"

"Don't worry Twilight, I know those guys. I kinda work with them." Rainbow said as she got out of her Chair and walked to the back, "Thanks Rainbow, I'll try to calm down Fluttershy sufficiently for her to get into the pelican in the meanwhile."

The ramp lowered down revealing seven tensed up guards of both branches with weapons at the ready, All of them looking up confused as Rainbow trotted out of the craft. "Rainbow, what the buck are you doing in that thing!" Moonlight, the Thestral stallion, asked incredulously.

"Tell them this is sanctioned by me, I'll be there in a couple of seconds just stall them for a moment." Twilight said over the radio as she was listening in on the conversation.

"I was getting a lift in this thing. We're picking up a couple of ponies before we continue on toward Canterlot." Dash explained to him. "Is this sanctioned by one of the princesses?" He asked skeptically.

"Twilight just did." Rainbow told him but only seemed to confuse him more, "Dreamwalking stuff?" He asked.

"No, more like via radio contact." Twilight said from behind the group of guards as she came walking up to the dropship with the group of ponies. "Stand down boys, this one is on me." She told the guards.

"Your Highness, forgive us. We weren't informed about your return." Moonlight said as he bowed deeply for the alicorn with the other guards, Scootaloo fell onto the floor of the pelican laughing. "Holy crap, you guys know a simple salute would have been enough for her."

Twilight coughed getting the attention of the guards back onto herself and motioned for them to rise as them being on the ground was unnerving to her, "As my corporal said, you don't have to bow. Anyway, I need you seven to clear the area before we take back off and make sure that the Ponyville residents know we're not dangerous to them."

The Seven guards threw a quick salute and ran off to the edge of the clearing to make sure nopony approached to close. The group of ponies entered the dropship, "Rumble what are you doing here?" Scootaloo asked the grey pegasus colt.

"He's a crusader initiate since we couldn't make him a full Cutie Mark Crusader without your vote." Applebloom said as she walked up next to the colt.

I guess he's a nice colt, though I'm going to test his guts before I'm allowing him in. Scootaloo thought as she looked at the pegasus.

He also has a nice flank... Wait, WHAT! BAD SCOOTALOO!

"Uhm yea sure, strap in I'll decide my vote later." Scootaloo said blushing furiously, she turned around to see Twilight grinning at her. "Remember to keep your hooves to yourself." She told the little filly as her coat turned from orange to beet red. "I hate you sarge." She said as she swiftly disappeared into the cockpit, leaving Twilight to make sure everyone was secure.

As Twilight gave the go-ahead Scootaloo closed the hatch and restarted the turbine, she could see a large crowd from the village looking at the craft in awe as it rose into the sky and started moving towards Canterlot. 

"So how fast is this thing, Scoots?" Rainbow asked with her earpiece, Scootaloo put her voice on the intercom. "Much faster than you are, Dash."

She could hear the blue pegasus laughing out back, Scootaloo put her hooves on the throttle and pushed it forward a bit. The pelican shuddered a bit for a moment, "We're now flying Mach one-point-zero-seven."

"So you just broke the sound barrier, no sweat I can do that." Rainbow said nonchalantly as her voice echoed over the speakers.

Scootaloo grinned as she pushed the throttle up to fifty percent and the craft suddenly felt the acceleration, "Mach two-point-zero-four."

"I could do that?" Dash said much more uncertain of her abilities, Scootaloo took that as her cue to push the throttle even further. "Sixty percent power for atmospheric thrusters we're now going at Mach three-point-two-zero. Decreasing power, Canterlot ETA four minutes." Scootaloo reported as she heard Rainbow sputtering in the back, "Don't feel bad, Dash. This thing is built to enter space itself, it can fly more than forty times the speed of sound if it really needs to."

"You just broke Dash." Twilight laughed as the pelican shuddered again for a moment due to it going below the speed of sound once again. "That's technolog-" Alarms started going off throughout the cockpit.

"MISSILE LOCK!" Scootaloo Shouted as she immediately went into evasive maneuvers, "Firing flares!" The red heat sources got ejected from the back of the craft. Twilight lit her horn and immediately felt something probing her, "False alarm, Hurricane. Luna is performing a scrying spell that's screwing with our sensors." 

Scootaloo let out a breath she had been holding, "Copy that, Sergeant. I'll keep the acrobatics to a minimum from now on, everyone okay back there?"

"The earthponies are almost universally sick but other than that we're good." Twilight said as Scootaloo leveled out and made for an open spot in the castle gardens, "I guess our element of surprise is gone with Luna checking us out."

"That's Princess Luna for you, Squirt." Rainbow called from out back, The filly raising her eyebrow. "Since when do you care about titles?"

"Nightguard." Dash simply stated but it was enough for Scootaloo to make the connection, "Oh, right." Scootaloo powered down the turbines for a third time a day and opened the ramp.






Outside the pelican, they could see a dark blue shield being cast around the craft.

"COME OUT SLOWLY AND SURRENDER, WE HAVE THEE SURROUNDED!" Luna thundered in the royal Canterlot voice, the ponies sitting in the craft seemed to get really uneasy as the princess of the night was shouting at them.

"I've got this." Twilight said as Scootaloo unstrapped herself and ran out back, "You're not going anywhere without me." She told the purple alicorn, Behind them other ponies also unstrapped themselves, 

"Ah think the rest of us would like tha' get off this thing as well Twi." Applejack said as she was a bit wobbly on her hooves, "Ah don' think earthponies were made to ever go that fast."

"I guess not." Scootaloo said sheepishly, "Come on, let's surprise the Princess before she realizes it's us." Twilight nodded in agreement and walked out of the pelican with Scootaloo. "What's wrong, Luna? did we park in the wrong spot?" Twilight said teasingly to the blue alicorn, Luna's expression immediately changed and she dropped the shield. "Twilight Sparkle, Scootaloo Hurricane! We are sorry, we hadn't expected thine arrival to be so sudden."

Twilight chuckled, "Well, you got back at us. Your scrying spell messed with our MAW system making it think we were about to be destroyed by a missile." Scootaloo scratched her head, "That's what the red lights and the sudden turn were for."

Luna looked slightly guilty as she realized why the craft had started flying strangely after she had started scanning it with her magic, "We are sorry if we scared thou much." She said as the other ponies exited the pelican, "We see thine has brought more ponies?"

Twilight looked back at the group that had just left the pelican, the earthponies looking really glad that they were back on solid ground. "Yea we can carry fifteen ponies with us in that thing, probably much more if we bunched them up a bit."

A bright flash suddenly lit up the clearing as Princes Celestia teleported in, "Sister what's going on?!" she asked as her mane looked extremely disheveled, probably due to her being just awoken for an emergency. Everypony except Twilight and Luna bowed for the solar Princess as she took in her surroundings, "Tia your mane's a mess." Twilight said with a smirk.

Celestia looked down at her student, her expression going from confused to glad and finally to playful as she realized who was standing in front of her. "I thought Rarity was the fashion expert?" She replied.

"I read a book on the subject." Twilight shot back, getting a laugh out of both princesses. "I'm glad you're back, Twilight." Celestia said as she drew the pony into a hug, "Believe me, I'm glad to be back." Twilight replied, "I've got quite the story to tell but I want to pick up my parents first, they've waited long enough."

Celestia nodded, "Princess Cadance, your brother and Spike should be there as well. They wanted to be together as a family for hearts warming."

"I guess I should go complete the set then, shouldn't I?" Twilight said while she released the hug, "I'll bring them back here within the hour."

"I'll get a room for us all to sit down where you can tell your stories." Celestia said as she looked at the other ponies present, she realized they were all still bowing as no-one had told them to rise. "You can all stop bowing now. Guards, there is no threat here you can all return to your posts."

The thestrals looked at Luna who nodded in approval before they all flew off, "For the rest of you, you can follow me."

"Princess, Mom and I also have to pick someone up." Scootaloo said as she looked up at the white alicorn, Celestia also nodded at her. "I'll let the guard know to let you through." The Princess said, Scootaloo wanted to walk off with Octavia but was picked up by a magenta aura and pulled back. "You're not walking through Canterlot in armor, put on your dress suit. That's an order." Twilight told the filly who grumbled an acknowledgment.

“Good, I’ll be back in an hour.” Twilight said as she walked off in the direction of the gate.

Twilight was walking through the snowy streets of Canterlot, her beret fixed on her head. She could have flown but she hadn’t felt like flying. Only a couple ponies had recognized her in the streets, she gave the few who did respectful nods as she passed them. Her parents’ house was less decorated then it would have been usually.

No point in putting this off. Twilight sighed and knocked on the door.

”I’ll get it!” she heard Cadance shout from the other side of the door. A couple of click of locks later the door opened, “What can I do… for… No way, Twilight?”

“Hi, Cadance” Twilight said softly, “May I come in.”

”Cadance, dear. can you let whoever in, the house is getting cold” Velvet shouted from out back as if to reinforce Twilight’s request.

“Y-yes of course!” Cadance said as she smiled at the fellow alicorn. Twilight stepped inside the house and took off her beret, “The others are here?” She asked as she pointed at the living room.
“Yes, though Spike is upstairs in your old room.” Cadance answered, Twilight nodded and walked into the living room.

”Who was it, Cadey?” Shining Armor asked from the kitchen, Twilight smiled at her brother’s pet name for his marefriend and walked into the kitchen.

“Me.”

Three head turned towards the entrance of the kitchen, “Twily?” Shining said not believing his eyes.
Velvet walked up to Twilight without saying anything, “Hi mom.” She said as she was tearing up badly.

Velvet pulled her daughter into a hug, “I missed you so much my little bookworm.” She cried, Nightlight, Shining, and Cadance also joining in on the hug.

The group held onto each other until they heard someone walking down the stairs, “Is the food ready?” a little dragon asked as he walked into the living room and looked at the kitchen where Twilight was sitting surrounded by her family, he froze as he saw the purple alicorn who just smiled at him.

“We were just having a group hug but it wouldn’t be complete without you Spike.” She told the small dragon who rushed forward into Twilight’s hooves. “After the *sniff* explosion I was so *sniff* afraid you were just *sniff* gone, like supervillains disintegrating in my comics.”

“Good thing I’m one of those heroes that survives everything then, right.” Twilight said with a grin earning a laugh from the little dragon, “Yes you are, Twilight.”

“Now I hear there was food being prepared and I still have some time before I promised to bring you all back to the castle.” Twilight said with a grin, she got a playful tap on the back of her head from her mom, “What happened to your manners?”

“A lot of things but I’ll tell you about them with the others.” Twilight said as she placed Spike on her back and followed her parents into the kitchen, momentarily no care in the world.




Scootaloo was walking alongside Octavia through the upper district of Canterlot, they were headed for nightclub The Prancing Pony where Vinyl was supposed to have a gig that night. Scootaloo was fiddling with her dress suit despite the fact she knew she had flawlessly put it on she still felt uncomfortable wearing it.

“You look fine, Scootaloo.” Octavia tried to comfort her, “Great actually, better dressed than my audience usually is.”

Scootaloo sighed at her mom, “It’s not that, I just don’t like being this unprotected. I practically lived inside that armor for months, I just feel naked. Which, I know, is ironic since most of us usually don’t wear clothes.” She laughed as she realized how ridiculous she was being, “I picked up some stupid habits didn’t I.”

Octavia laughed with her daughter, “I’m sure they were useful to you at some point.”

“Yea, they were.” Scootaloo answered, More times then I could count probably

They arrived at the nightclub where Vinyl was supposed to be playing, there was a large row of ponies waiting to be let in in front of the flashy building, there was also a VIP entrance next to it and at the entrance there where two muscly looking stallions.

“We’re not waiting that long just to go see Vinyl.” Scootaloo stated and walked in the VIP entrance towards the two stallions, “Scootaloo come back, those two aren’t going to let us in!” Octavia shouted at the filly, which drew a couple of stares from the row of ponies.

“I’d like to see them try to stop me!” She shouted back before she turned to the two stallions who had moved to block the fillies path, “Are you even old enough to enter, young lady?” one of them asked as he looked down on Scootaloo trying to intimidate her but utterly failing.

“I’m here to retrieve my big sister. Princesses orders.” She stated to the two stallions laughing in her face, “Kid, it’s long past bedtime for you. Buck off.”

“Scootaloo, dear. It’s fine we’ll sen-” Octavia tried to persuade Scootaloo but the two stallions had already enraged the Pegasus far past the point of reason.

“You two have exactly one chance to let me pass otherwise I’m walking through the two of you.” Scootaloo stepped forward and one of the stallions stopped her in her tracks, the following event was too fast for most ponies in line to follow as Scootaloo threw a plethora of quick punches at pressure points on the stallion's body who within seconds was on the ground crying in pain.

“I JUST SPENT THE LAST, WHAT? SIX MONTHS? IN WHAT MIGHT JUST AS WELL HAVE BEEN FUCKING TARTARUS AND NOW YOU TWO THINK YOU CAN STOP ME FROM GETTING TO MY SISTER?!” She shouted at the door guard, who had fearfully retreated from the pegasus. 

“Get. Out. Of. My. Way.” She slowly said as the guard allowed her entry into the nightclub, Octavia following closely after, in shock as to what she had just witnessed.

Inside the nightclub, Scootaloo could hear the distinct sound of Vinyl’s wubs and moved into the club, there were two stories of tables and a large dance floor in the middle of the room with Vinyl at the back behind her mixing set.

“Thank you for coming everypony! DJ-P0N3 will be taking a break but will be back by tonight!” An announcer shouted as she could see Vinyl walking towards a VIP lounge where she was served a drink immediately after she sat down.

Octavia took the lead this time in an attempt to prevent another incident, “Vinyl!” She shouted at her friend who immediately looked up, “Tavi! What are you doing here? I was under the impression you didn’t like these clubs!” She smirked and waved the security stallions aside, Octavia stepped through closely followed by Scootaloo who still remained hidden behind Octavia’s legs.

“I was trying to find you, Scratch. There’s someone here for you” She said and stepped aside, revealing Scootaloo. The DJ’s glasses falling down onto her muzzle, revealing Vinyl’s red eyes, “Squirt?! Holy Celestia, where have you been!” She said baffled as she pulled in the filly for a hug, “I’ll tell you at the castle, the princesses also want to hear it.”

“Dang, Scoots. Guess I’ll pack up quickly, can’t keep the princesses waiting.” Vinyl said as she quickly retrieved her gear and turned to one of the stallion guards, “Hey can you tell the manager I had to leave? I’ll come back tomorrow and we’ll work out a deal where I play two full nights for free.” The stallion nodded and walked off.

“Great, now let’s go!” Vinyl said as she walked to the exit of the club but was stopped as the manager came rushing forward. “Ma’am we had a contract, you can’t just leave?!”

“Actually we can, I’m retrieving her on princesses orders. You can take the deal with the two free gigs or get nothing. Your choice.” Scootaloo said as she walked past the mare, “Now please don’t bother us further we’re on a schedule.”

The manager didn’t stop the group as they walked by outside where the stallion who Scootaloo had floored was back on his hooves, “Hey tough guy!” She shouted at him making him flinch, “Next time don’t try to stop me.” He quickly shook his head as he let the three mare pass.

“What’s up with him?” Vinyl asked as she looked back at the nervous guard. “I kicked his butt.” Scootaloo answered without looking at the stallion.

“Wait, you’re telling me you actually took down that guy?!” The white unicorn said, not believing what she just heard.

“yes.” Both Octavia and Scootaloo answered simultaneously.

“You’ve got to tell me about this!” Vinyl nearly shouted in excitement, Scootaloo just chuckled. “you’ll hear all about it when we get back to the palace, me and Twilight have a lot to tell everyone.”

“I’ll keep you to that, little sis.” Vinyl said, ruffling Scootaloo’s mane as they made their way back up to the princesses.




Everypony had already taken a seat on one of the pillows that were present as Twilight led her family into the room, They exchanged pleasantries with the other ponies in the room and sat down.

Twilight opened the saddlebag she had taken and pulled a holographic projector from it. The attending ponies watching with interest as Twilight set up the device, she just managed to finish as Scootaloo, Vinyl, and Octavia entered the room

"You took a holoprojector? Awesome!" Scootaloo said as she saw the device in the middle of the room, Twilight looked back at Scootaloo. "I thought it would be useful to have it on hoof while we explain some none-graphic things." Twilight said as she booted up the device.

The ponies gasped as the hologram of the planet they had first landed on appeared, "I guess this is as good a time to start as any." Twilight said as she toggled the hologram off for the moment, "Since I only told Dash bits and pieces I think it best to start at the beginning..."

"...And that's when we were taken off the planet by them." Twilight finished, everyone had remained relatively quiet throughout the start of the story. Dash raised her hoof as she had a question, "So you guys went from being on the verge of killing each other to fleeing from the planet together in what? Two hours?!"

"They didn't at first but after I took down the zealot their trust in the two of us grew really quickly." Twilight answered, Celestia being the next pony to say something. "Twilight, I know you were in a war but you're talking as if killing that being meant nothing to you!"

Twilight shook her head, "It really did bother me at the time-"

"By that she means she was a complete mess, thinking that she was completely unredeemable." Scootaloo cut in.

"Thank you, Corporal, your support has been noted, and yes I was a mess. But if I hadn't killed him there he would have gone on to fight and murder hundreds of innocents before someone else killed him." Twilight said coldly, "It was a war of genocide princess, in the end, it was nothing personal and just a simple calculation."

Twilight could see a couple ponies shudder at what she had said but was determined to continue the story, "Anyway after we got away we headed for Reach..."

"...After the Spartan left we continued training for another before the Winter Contingency was declared. After that, we had to wait two and a half more weeks before we actually saw action."

"What's Winter Contingency? It sounds scary." Fluttershy shivered, the pegasus had been hiding for half the story already and Twilight hadn't even reached the worst parts. 

"Winter Contingency is the emergency plan to follow for when a colony gets attacked or found by the Covenant." Scootaloo answered for Twilight. "Also the guys managed to get Twilight so drunk she started imitating Nightmare moon in those three weeks." She added as she grinned.

Twilight snorted, "You got pulled from that bar by military police after knocking yourself and another marine out in a bar fight." 

The other ponies could do nothing but stare at the two ponies that were telling their story until Applebloom spoke up. "Scoots you Knocked out someone?!"

"Did it again this evening." Vinyl said, which prompted a sputtering defense from Scootaloo. "He was stopping me from getting into the nightclub and unlike the guy at Reach, I didn't electrocute him!"

"And how did thou electrocute that soldier?" Luna asked as she seemed to be quite amused. Scootaloo sighed and opened her wings, sparks of electricity started arcing from the wings to the ground as Scootaloo pushed magic into them. "A true Hurricane then." Luna smirked, Celestia rolled her eyes. "Make sure you two don't destroy half of Canterlot when you inevitably go for a flight. Now we should go back to the story before this escalates, you were about to tell us about your first fight with this Covenant right?"

Twilight nodded and Changed the hologram and overview of a city, "Well after those weeks we were called to a city called New Alexandria..."

"...And we stayed in Stalwart Dawn for the remainder of our time until Reach got glassed." Twilight finished once again, "I't was one of the worst experiences I ever had, seeing that many souls needlessly get wasted."

"But you won, right?" Rumble said, having until now been quiet. Scootaloo shook her head, "We won a day in a losing battle. Four days after our 'Victory' Reach was glassed."

"Glassed?" The colt asked, Scootaloo looked at Twilight who changed the hologram to one of Reach before it was glassed. "This was the planet before the glassing." She changed it to the version where the surface was burning, "This is what happens to a planet after glassing."

"Darling, is that fire?" Rarity asked as everypony was staring at the hologram with terror in their eyes, "Yes, they burned the surface to glass. That's how the process got its name." Twilight answered.

"Can we continue?" Scootaloo awkwardly asked, "I don't like to remember what happened to that planet."

"Me neither." Twilight said, "Anyway we were boarded when we fled from the system..."

Twilight felt Celestia's magic probe her as she told the group about her use of dark magic, "I sealed it away to dispense of later, Princess." Twilight told her teacher as she saw her parents brother and Cadence were also looking at her in concern.

"Just making sure." Celestia said told her as she stopped probing her fellow princess.

"Anyway..."

"...And that's when we arrived at Earth. It's also where I got this medal." Twilight finished pointing at her bronze star, "It's an award given to soldiers that perform an act of bravery, despite my use of dark magic I still saved the entire crew from being killed by the boarders."

Shining looked at the medal pinned on Twilight's dress suit, "And what is the other for? Since you both have it." He asked as he studied the second medal.

"It's the medal of Honor, the most prestigious decoration the UNSC has." Twilight answered, her brother staring at her slack jawed. "It'll come up later in the story." Twilight said as to prevent further questions.

"After we got to Earth, Dash started to get involved..."

"...You know I never read that letter, it appeared when I was in the middle of a drop so I stashed it in a pocket and it got ruined while fighting." Scootaloo explained as Twilight finished her story of what she did in New Mombasa.

"Wait, you went out and dropped for another time even after the first time you nearly died?!" Applebloom asked baffled, Scootaloo nodded. "It was my job over there. Hell, I'd do it again if they asked me." She said and turned to the purple alicorn, "Twilight do you have a hologram of Halo?"

Twilight nodded and a hologram changed to show one of the ringworlds, "This was what I was dropping on to..."

"...After that, me and Johnson crashed in on Twilight and the others." Scootaloo finished as she caught up to where Twilight left off.

Dash smirked at the filly, "So you made friends with the aliens that were trying to kill you? You got beaten to the punch, miss Princess of Friendship." She told Twilight, who smirked back at the pegasus. 

"Did I now? Guess I have to step up my game." She replied as she pulled a stack of papers from one of the bags she had brought in from the pelican, "I suppose I'd need to show these to you anyway, Tia."

Celestia took the papers and scanned the first page before looked back at Twilight, "You negotiated a treaty of coöperation?!"

"Not exactly, if that agreement is signed formal relations are established between the UNSC and negotiations can start." Twilight explained, "We'll go over them after we finish telling the story." She told the princess before continuing,
"After Scootaloo found me again we got called to the surface to find the Chief..."

"...That's when we took off with the gunship." Scootaloo said as tears started forming in her eyes, "Initially our air-support gave us a significant edge on the covies." She suddenly broke down in sobbing, Octavia shot forward to comfort her filly.

Twilight also joined in on comforting the little filly. "Is she okay?" Cadance asked concerned, Twilight shook her head.
"That gunship was shot down by a scarab, Zoey didn't make it." She answered for the filly while levitating a glass of water over for her to drink.

"I'll continue on on my own for a bit. After we took out the AA- turret an assault was launched on the Forerunner Dreadnaught, only we came too late and it managed to activate the structure and opened a portal to the Ark..."

"...So Scootaloo, me, Mack, Lucy, Chief, Cortana, and Arbiter stayed behind to activate the Halo while everyone else retreated from the Ark."

Scootaloo had meanwhile calmed down as Twilight had continued the story, giving input so every now and then.
"So ya'll manage to activate Halo and get out as well?" Applejack asked, Scootaloo shook her head. "Not all of us." She grimly said, "Mack and Johnson never made it out of control room and when we managed to reach the Forward Unto Dawn we lost the Chief and Cortana somewhere in slipspace."

"That was a week ago, after that we were rewarded the Medal of Honor along with everyone who stayed behind and after that I got the paperwork from the Admiral before leaving with the Elites to this System." Twilight finished. "Although we should probably talk about the Discord issue now."

"He kinda did help us." Scootaloo said but Twilight shook her head. "His story isn't consistent with reality, he opened that rift a thousand years ago and yet he also claimed he couldn't plan long term. Which means he has alternative motives, not surprising but an issue none the less."

"What's your proposal to do with him?" Celestia asked Twilight, "For the moment? properly seal his powers but if we can figure out his motives we might be able to work with him."

Celestia nodded, "I think this is a good time to stop and go to sleep, I will have the guest rooms prepared for everyone as I don't want you waking the entirety of Canterlot with your craft." The princess told everypony as she stood back up herself, all the others also stood up to go to bed and try to process everything they had heard.

"Hey Twilight," The filly looked back at the purple alicorn. "What do we do now?"

The purple alicorn thought for a moment, "I guess whatever we want, but I don't think I'd be able to sleep if I didn't do something to improve the safety of the planet."

Scootaloo grinned a bit, "Are you proposing what I'm thinking?"

Twilight grinned back,

"Helljumpers."
> Bonus Chapter: Wonderbolts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





"Thanks for coming, Scoots. It means a lot." Dash told the filly flying next to her as the two pegasi were quickly rising in elevation. Scootaloo let out a laugh, "For you any time, Dash. Also, it's a good excuse to get away from everypony."

The pair shot up above the cloud cover and leveled out, Rainbow slowed down to fly at Scootaloo's top speed as the filly was weighed down by her armor and a large saddlebag, she was also wearing her own armor but that was enchanted to be lighter and less cumbersome for flight. A couple of pegasi could be seen flying with carts in the distance as the two were starting to get close to the outskirts of Cloudsdale. "You know they just want to help, right?" Dash said making Scootaloo sigh, "Yeah, I know. It's just infuriating that everypony seems to want to hold my hoof with everything I do. Scootaloo let me carry those bags, Scootaloo let me help you up the fucking stairs, Scootaloo... ARGH, I mean I've run through a warzone while under fire, I'm not so fragile that I need help everywhere!"

In her rant, Scootaloo had unknowingly sped up significantly and was soaring over the clouds at a respectable speed for all the weight she was carrying. Dash gave Scootaloo a little supportive nudge and smiled, the little pegasus sighing and slowing back down to a more manageable pace. "Where's the academy located?" Scootaloo asked as she tried to find the Wonderbolt training grounds that simultaneously functioned as the bolts' operational base. "Four clicks to the northwest, ETA three minutes." Dash replied, since she had gotten the earpiece radio from Scootaloo she had been learning the proper radio protocols and was using them willy-nilly to familiarize herself to them.

The following three minutes the two just enjoyed the wind blowing through their mane as banked towards the flat, snow-covered, mountaintop that served as the Wonderbolts' training ground. Instead of landing on the mountain itself they landed on a large cloud structure floating next to the mountain, "Spitfire's probably going to be in her office" Dash said as she trotted into the structure, Sccootaloo pulled off her helmet and followed closely as she was once again attracting weird looks from passer-byes.

Secutity is abysmal, then again it's not like anyone is under threat here.

The two trotted through bustling hallways towards to where Dash was guessing where the Wonderbolt Captain was located. Two voices could be heard as Rainbow quickly knocked three times on the door of the office. "Enter." A gruff female voice said from the other side, both pegasi standing at attention as they entered. "Nightguard Dash and Corporal Hurricane, Captain Spitfire." Dash announced. "At ease." Spitfire said.

Spitfire's office was filled with trophies records and pictures, her desk had several stacks of papers and the filing cabinet behind her gave away that it was only a small part of the total amount of administrative work she had lying about.

"Nightguard? How cute, you must be living the dream!" The second pegasus in the room mockingly said, "It must be extremely exciting having to stand around doing nothing all day!"

Dash growled as Scootaloo could see the pegasus barely containing her rage, "Lightning Dust." She spat, the lime pegasus was smiling evilly at her idol before turning her gaze to Scootaloo. "And who's this? One of your fellow nightguards, are they so desperate that they're recruiting little fillies now?"

Oh, you're definitely going on my shitlist. Scootaloo thought as Lightning Dust saw the combat knife strapped to her chest. "What's this for a butter knife?" She asked as she hopped off her seat, walked up to Scootaloo, attempted to pull the knife...

...And got headbutt which immediately caused a bloody nose.

Scootaloo surged forward and even before the larger adult had hit the ground, pinned her and held the razor-sharp combat knife to Lightning's throat. "If you want my knife you have to pry it from my Cold. Dead. Corpse." She punctuated the last three words before she resheathed her knife and pushed off the pegasus.

Lightning Dust's mocking smile had vanished as she stood back up, "This isn't finished. Little Filly." She growled before stamping out of the room, Dash frowned at Scootaloo as the door closed with a bang. "You know, I might not like her but that went too far, Squirt." Dash tried to scold the filly but she just seemed to pass it off.

"Corporal Hurricane." The calm but authoritative voice of Spitfire making the two remaining visitors snap to attention, "Would you please explain why you assaulted one of my Wonderbolts?" She slowly asked.

"Because she's an ass. Any self-respecting military would drill the living shit out of anyone behaving like that." Scootaloo answered as she met the Captain's eyes, Spitfire stayed silent as their staring contest continued for more than two minutes. "To who should I report this incident?" She finally asked as she grabbed a paper and a pen to write down Scootaloo's answer.

"Don't know, my commanding officer died on my last mission. Just send whatever reports through to Princess Celestia, she can handle it." Scootaloo answered, Spitfire looked strangely at the smaller pegasus but scribbled down what Scootaloo had said none the less.  "Now, Rainbow. What brings you two here?" She asked as she folded the paper and stuffed it away in her jacket. Rainbow pulled out a parchment which had both the Celestial and Lunar seal stamped onto it, "If you remember correctly, the Princesses made a deal that I would be allowed back in for another shot at the bolts if I found my sister."

Spitfire quickly took the scroll and read through it, looking between Dash and Scootaloo as she finished reading the scroll. "Well damn. Dash, this isn't another shot, it's a straight-up transfer." She said, putting down the scroll on her table. "Congratulations Dash, you're a Bolt now."

Dash's jaw hit the floor, she had asked the princesses a letter of recommendation but this was way more than she had expected, "Don't get too excited yet Rainbow. I'm not putting you into rotation till we've thoroughly tested your abilities." She warned before the pegasus could get excited, "We'll have to fit you with a uniform and get you other equipment, I'll have someone bring you to the depot to get that sorted."
She turned to Scootaloo, "If you would be so kind as to wait in the mess hall and not get into a scuffle with my pegasi, that would be appreciated." Scootaloo quickly raised an objection, "Ma'am would it be all right if I swung by the gym to get some exercises done instead?" Spitfire thought for a moment but nodded, "Same rules apply." The Captain motioned for someone to take the two away and after they left the office they split up. One going to get her flight- and dress suit, the other to get some exercises done.

It was a small walk to the gym, there were all sorts of weights and machines that were specifically built for pegasi to use positioned throughout the large room. Scootaloo walked up to a row of lockers and started undressing, the saddlebags came off first and were neatly placed next to a bench, the second thing that came off where all the armor plates which got placed on the bench as she undid all the clasps and buckles that kept them to her body, the final thing to come off was the undersuit which she folded up and placed next to the armor plates.
Picking an empty locker she stuffed all her gear, except a tablet, into it and closed the door, made up a cipher combination and left to get some training done.

The first thirty minutes she rotated through the various machines, music she had taken with her from UNSC space playing in the background. Some of the settings on the machines were too light for her taste which indicated she was training some muscle clusters at a level most Bolts didn't.
Eventually, she got bored of the machines and saw a row of punchbags hanging from the walls, voices coming from the locker room as more ponies came to train in the gym. A marching song came to the forefront of Scootaloo's mind, She turned off her music as she started humming the tune.

"Helljumper, Helljumper, where have you been?" She grunted as she started beating the large bag, "Feet first into hell and back again!" She wasn't shouting the lines as she would have done if it were a march but anyone in the gym would be able to hear, " When I die, please bury me deep! Place my MA5 down by my feet." 
She increased the rate at which she was pummeling the punchbag considerably before continuing, "Don't cry for me, don't shed no tear! Just pack my box with PT gear!" The punchbag groaned under the stress of the constant powerful strikes the pegasus was throwing at it, " 'Cuz one early morning 'bout zero-five, the ground will rumble, there'll be lightning in the sky! Don't worry, don't come undone! It's just my ghost on a PT RUN!" She shouted the last word as she bucked the punchbag at full power, the bag ripping of its chains and hitting the floor with a dull thud.

"Whoa, calm down there!" She heard someone say from behind her, turning around she found Fleetfoot, Soarin, and... her, standing behind her. Soarin stepped forward and held out his hoof, "Soarin, you are?" Scootaloo shook the hoof, "Corporal Scootaloo Hurricane." She answered giving him a pleasant smile, shaking Fleetfoot's hoof as well. 

"We've met." Lightning Dust simply said as she turned around and started training. "Celestia dammit! Who put this much this much weight on this thing?!" She shouted as she tried to get one of the machines to budge. Scootaloo snickered as she looked at the struggling pony, "What's so funny?" She asked while shooting an annoyed glare at the orange filly, "Why don't you try?"

Scootaloo immediately walked up to the machine and strapped in, Soarin and Fleetfoot were watching from the sidelines as Lightning Dust smirked. "Go on super-pony." She taunted while Scootaloo pretended to not be able to move the machine. "Oh well, guess I'm not strong enough." Scootaloo replied as she suddenly started doing reps. The smile that had formed on Lightning's face immediately vanished, "W-what! How!"

Scootaloo unstrapped herself from the machine and grabbed her towel to wipe away some sweat that had been accumulating, "Because I'm trained as a soldier, not a stunt-flyer, and I've seen actual combat." Scootaloo replied as she picked up her tablet and checked if Twilight had sent her any messages while she drank water from a canteen.

"Trained as a soldier?"
"Actual combat?" 

Fleetfoot and Soarin asked curiously as they were training themselves. Scootaloo sighed, not really wanting to re-tell her story after she did it a week ago for the others. "Ask Dash when you see her, I'm not in the mood." She said as she lumbered off towards the lockers where she retrieved her gear, quickly putting her armor back on. Back in the gym, she could hear the three Bolts talk to each other.

"You think she really saw any combat?" Scootaloo heard Fleetfoot ask the other two, "Seriously Lightning, where did you think that scar came from?"

She heard Lightning snort, "Some kind of accident which she's using to brag now? I don't know, doesn't mean she got it in a fight."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes, that pony was Applejack kind of stubborn. "You know I can hear you three, right?" She shouted over the lockers, the conversation on the other side immediately coming to a halt. Putting on her helmet before walking to the gym, two of the bolts looking at her in awe while the third was eyeing the knife strapped to her torso, "You want to know how I got my scar?" She said through the speakers of her helmet which slightly distorted her voice.

Scootaloo activated her energy dagger and sliced the nearest punching bags in half without much effort, one half of the thing staying attached to the ceiling while the other dropped to the floor with a loud thud. Lightning looked at Scootaloo with wide eyes, "Back in the office would you have..."

"...Killed you? Nah. You're not a sufficient threat and we're on the same side." Scootaloo answered while studying the pegasus in front of her, "Do you girls have a sparring arena in the building?" The three Bolts looked at each other and nodded, "Ok I'll admit, I went too far in the office but you were being a massive ass. Tell you what, we start over. I teach you some fighting moves and you try to work on your attitude, deal?" Scootaloo proposed while holding out her hoof.

Lightning just stood still for a moment but then slowly lifted her hoof and shook Scootaloo's, "Good, now where's that ring?" Scootaloo said as she released the hoofshake, "Follow me." Lightning told Scootaloo and walked off towards a door in the building.

"Hey, wait up!" Soarin called out from behind them, "We're coming with you!" The two other Bolts trailing them to their destination.

This is going to be more fun then I thought. Scootaloo thought with a grin.




"Thanks, ma'am!" Dash said as she flew away from the building where she had gotten her clothing towards the main building in the complex. As she entered she could see all the pegasi in the mess gathered around a single table. Curious as to why, she added herself to the group.

"And then she for some reason just shouted,'THE NIGHT SHALL LAST FOREVER!' I don't think I'll ever see Twilight that drunk ever again!" Dash grinned as she heard Scootaloo, she pushed forward to the front. Scootaloo and Soarin were sitting across to each other, a lot of empty shot glasses between them and a half-empty bottle of alcohol that definitely wasn't made in Equestria. 

Soarin shakily took a full shot glass and lifted in front of his face, the crowd went completely silent as he brought the glass to his muzzle...

...and lost his balance making him clatter to the floor, "ODST's one, Wonderbolts zero!" Scootaloo cheered as everyone chuckled and a couple of ponies were helping Soarin up, Scootaloo spotted Dash standing among the crowd. "Hey Dash, You have your uniform! Awesome!" She said with a slur in her voice as she stood up, a little wobbly on her legs. "Hey, Hurricane! How much alcohol is in that bottle!" Fleetfoot asked as she supported Soarin, the filly grinned savagely, "Seventy-five percent." She answered and collapsed herself as she couldn't support her own weight any longer.

"Sweet Celestia!" Fleetfoot said with wide eyes as the crowd let out a gasp as well and murmured among themselves, "The strongest I ever heard off was the Apple family's thirty-two percent hard cider!" Scootaloo laughed as she picked herself up and retrieved what remained of her bottle. "You Bolts are just light-weights, this isn't even the strongest thing I ever saw." 

The orange filly got picked up by Dash before she could do or say anything else. "Well, I hope you had fun but I'm taking this alcoholic back to Ponyville." She announced, light snoring coming from her back as the filly had fallen asleep. The crowd had already begun to dissolve but before she could leave Lightning Dust stopped her.

"Hey Dash, I'll see you in training in a week." She said with a genuine smile. She had a black eye, a couple of bandages covering her body, and the distinct smell of burned fur radiating from her. Dash skeptically looked at the pegasus in front of her, "What the buck happened to you?"

"Maybe one of the best things that could have happened." Lightning pointed at Scootaloo, "She did."

Dash only got more confused as she tried to figure out how, what seemed to be, being beaten into the ground would help anypony. "She's one hell of a fighter you know," Lightning continued, "I found that out the hard way, but there's a valuable lesson she taught me as well. Respect. Because if you don't, your opponent will unpleasantly surprise you."

The two looked at each other for a moment, "Anyway, if she remembers it when she wakes up you should tell her thanks. Later!" Lightning took off before Dash could say anything else to her, looking back at the blasted filly on her back.

"What in Equestria did you do today?"
> Bonus Chapter: Discord
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





A twisted statue stood in the middle of a courtyard. After the princesses had properly sealed Discord they had also re-located the god of chaos to a compound located about two kilometers outside of ponyville on Twilight's request. The compound itself had been constructed on the princess of friendship's orders as she needed a place to house her newly created Dusk Guard. The Canterlot nobility had gotten excited about that fact and had been aggressively lobbying for their sons and daughters to be instated into the position of Captian...

...Right up to the point where Twilight had not so politely told them they should all go fuck themselves and she would decide the position via competency instead of lineage much like had happened with Shining.

After that, the nobility had done everything it could to block any funding for the new guard, which in the had slowed Twilight down a bit but the standard funding a new guard could get was enough to make a decent start. The base she was now standing in had a couple of workshops and laboratories as the alicorn had been helping the few ponies in her service to build the new types of armor for when she got to recruiting.

But right now she had other things on her mind as she was joined by the other girls, Scootaloo, and two squads of Night and Day guards along with a couple Wonderbolts.

"Ya think this is a good Idea Twilight?" Applejack asked, Rarity nodding in agreement with the farmer.

"I'm sure you know what you're doing darling but is it really a good idea to let Discord out?" The fashionista asked skeptically as Twilight was passing the six girls their necklaces.

Twilight sighed as she put on her own tiara, "Not really but I've been wanting answers for a while now that only he can provide." She answered as she looked at Scootaloo who nodded and loaded live rounds into her SMG. Twilight picked up her sniper and similarly inserted a clip of ammo, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack flinching as she cycled the weapon.

"Here goes nothing!" Twilight said as the elements started glowing and shot a rainbow beam at the statue, cracks slowly forming until the statue until the outer layer blew off and the chimera of parts stretched its back.

"Ugh, do you have any clue how boring it is to be trapped with nothing but your own thoughts!" Discord complained as a few sharp pops came from his back, "How long has it been since Tia and Lulu properly sealed me in anyway?"

"About three weeks," Twilight answered, keeping her sniper rifle firmly pointed at the god of chaos.

"Three weeks?! Think of all the fun stuff I've missed!" Discord shouted as he quickly rose into the air and took a look at the surrounding area, his pupils dilating as he saw where the location he was at. Quickly dropping down back to Twilight he coiled around her in a bearhug. "Oh Twilight you wonderful princess, you're making a military unit!"

A flash of purple light came from within the draconequus' coiled body as Twilight teleported out, "The only reason you're out right now is that you seem to have helped us out when we were stuck in UNSC space, don't start screwing with me now or I won't hesitate to turn you back into my base's central monument." The princess immediately threatened.

"Oh must certainly, my princess." Discord bowed deeply while holding his claw out and was about to snap his fingers.

BANG

The entire claw exploded into confetti as smoke trailed from Twilight's rifle, "No chaos until we are done with our conversation." She warned as she looked around at her friends. Scootaloo was completely unfazed and was holding her weapon at the ready. Rainbow, Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack seemed to have only been startled by the loud sound as they had never heard the rifle fire but Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen.

"Shy?" Rainbow asked as she flew up to a cloud that had pink hair sticking out of it.

"I'm not here!" The usually soft-spoken mare said out loud, Rainbow rolling her eyes and bucked the cloud away revealing the element of kindness.

"Come on Shy, Twilight needs us," Rainbow said as she carried the shivering pegasus back down to the group.

Twilight meanwhile had been leading Discord to a building where she led him, Scootaloo and the other elements inside while the guards made a perimeter around the building. The room they were led to held a large rectangular table, which had the ODST insignia carved into it, and a magical projector at the room which could be used for briefings and presentations when necessary. The walls had several maps of Equestria, the Griffin Kingdoms, and Minotaur tribes hanging from the walls which could be used for tactical planning. The group of ponies silently took place at the table while Discord hung back on the chair that had been set down for him.

"I want to know why you got us stuck in Human space," Twilight stated as she put down her rifle on its bipod next to her.

Discord displayed a savage grin, "Why the rush, we've got time! Just look at all these maps, if I didn't know better I'd say you were planning on taking over the planet! I hope when you do you don't forget to fill me in, right? I'd love to help you out!"

Twilight groaned loudly, "No Discord I'm not. Get back on topic, you claimed that you couldn't plan long term due to the nature of chaos magic but that tear had been plaguing the dream world for a thousand years. I want to know your motivation for opening it in the first place, not the convenient excuse of us stopping Halo because we both know it was a long shot that we'd end up anywhere near the damn things." Discord opened his mouth to say something but no words escaped as he seemed to be stuck in thought. 

"Look, I've not been the best princess of friendship over the year," Twilight said, the other elements fiddling with their hooves but couldn't not agree with the statement. "I'm giving you the chance to come clean, if you tell us why you opened the rift in the first place. If your intentions were pure and are willing to limit chaos around Equis and the galaxy in general I won't turn you back to stone."

"Whoa Twilight, you know this is Discord you're talking about, right?" Dash exclaimed as her wings shot out, "I don't even see him agreeing to this in the first place!" The others except for Fluttershy, who eeped and hid behind her hair, agreed with Dash.

"I'll do it."

"What?" Dash was lost for words as the god of chaos sat straight up in his chair with a very serious face.

"Believe it or not, I have no intention to get sealed back into stone. Before I still had my window out into the dream world but since that was closed..." Discord looked almost sad as he said his piece, "Anyway, you wanted to know why I opened the rift?"

A couple of hairs sprung up from Twilights mane as a notebook and a pen appeared next to her, "Go ahead." She smiled.

Discord sighed and cleared his throat, two small figurines of ponies appearing on the table along with a small figurine of Discord himself. "A thousand years ago when I was still ruling Equestria without much opposition two alicorn sisters appeared and started collecting artifacts known as the elements of harmony. One of the two sisters had the peculiar ability to go into the dream realm and fight my influence there, which she was extremely successful in."

"So Luna was able to remove your presence from the dream world?" Twilight asked as she looked up from her notepad while the others were listening intently.

"Completely."

Rainbow almost immediately burst out into laughter, "Princess Luna kicked out the god of chaos from the dreamworld at the height of his power, that must have pissed you off."

Discord huffed but didn't disagree with Dash, "Yes at the time it did, but they really didn't give me the time to retaliate as the next thing I knew they were standing in front of me and firing that rainbow deathray at my face." He grumbled as the two figurines on the table hit the small Discord with a rainbow beam, turning him into stone. "Anyway, just before they petrified me I, among other things, fired a burst of Chaos magic into the dream world, throwing it into disarray once again though this time there was a difference..." A maniacal grin formed on Discord's face, making Fluttershy eep and duck below the table.
"...I had accidentally opened a crack into the dreamworld of the Humans, a species which naturally are so wonderfully chaotic in comparison to ponies it's just baffling. Also, having acces to the collective dreamworld of an entire species was a wonderfull distraction away from the prdicament of being encased in stone."

Twilight raised an eyebrow as another question formed within her mind, "The humans are a lot more chaotic than we ponies but nowhere near as bad as they used to be, so if they were so chaotic what happened to them to make them less so?"

Discord's grin only faltered for a bit before he continued, "Ponies did. At first chaos from the humans was spreading onto Equis but that was before Lulu interfered. Even with her weakening connection to the elements due to the fact the nightmare was starting to form inside her already, which I had nothing to do with, she was able to repair enough damage to reverse the flow of magic."

"So harmony magic started to flow towards the humans?" Twilight inquired, Discord nodded which prompted the alicorn to write a couple of things down on her notepad before continuing. "So why do you want to spread chaos in the first place?"

"Because order is boring," Discord deadpanned, "Just look around Equestria, the most exciting thing around here is the Everfree and that's because it's a chaos infested forest!"

"Ah'm pretty sure that's not somethin' ponies are too unhappy about." Applejack mumbled to Rarity who nodded in agreement.

Discord huffed offendedly, "If chaos is so bad then how do you explain all the progress the humans made? They're a chaotic bunch but with the little bit of harmony from Equestria thrown into the mix they were able to go from combatting each other with swords to using spaceships!" The draconequis snared at Applejack who reared back in surprise, after which the chimera immediately switched its focus back onto Twilight. "You wanted to know why I sent you to the human world? It was because this world needs a lot more chaos to have ANY progression and that it also helped with the Halo predicament was just a bonus, I'm sure the Humans would have figured out a way to stop them regardless."

The room stayed momentarily stayed silent until Dash spoke up once again, "We're going to turn him back to stone, right?" a sentiment everyone except Twilight and Fluttershy immediately agreed to.

"No, we're not." Twilight casually said as she closed her notebook, Pinkie beating Dash to being the first to speak up this time.

"But he was such a big meany last time, Twilight, how can we be sure he isn't going to be that this time?" The pink pony blurted out, Dash chiming in immediately after.

"Yeah, I'd say we don't risk it. He's already done immense damage before and we have no idea how much he'll cause in the future!"

"Just for the record, I'm with Twilight on this one." Discord said innocently from the sideline as he was watching the exchange with interest. Twilight Ignored Discord for the moment and spoke to her friends as a whole, 

"Me and the other princesses will manage the chaos while somepony keeps a close eye on him" She stated as Applejack followed up with the next logical question,

"So who in tarnation would be up fer keepin' an eye on that varmin?!" Twilight allowed a small smile to appear on her face as she turned to look at a yellow pegasus hiding behind her pink mane.

"Fluttershy, would you be able to accommodate Discord and help him adapt to pony society for the time being?" The alicorn asked to which the shy mare whispered an answer so soft no-one really understood it.

"Ya'll are gonna have to speak up a bit louder Shy," Applejack encouraged, prompting Fluttershy to speak up louder.

"I-I think I can do it." She said to the others who in turn looked between Twilight and Discord.

"I've got one more proposal you're going to like if you agree to stay with Fluttershy and limit your chaos to places me and the other princesses designate," Twilight told the god of Chaos who leaned in forward.

"Consider it done." He told the alicorn who had a now fully formed grin on her face.

"How would you like to design the assault courses and live-fire exercises for the Dusk guard?"




Scootaloo was standing beside the ever-adapting obstacle course, she had tested it multiple times herself before approving it for use in training, grudgingly admitting Discord had done a pretty decent job at making it unpredictable while also remaining entirely possible to complete. Right now she was sitting beside the obstacle course while watching the first group of trainees being dragged through the final week of their training by the instructors similarly as to how she had been. 

There were a couple of the notable recruits among the ones who were now taking the obstacle course. The first two being Arctic Breeze and Moonlight Spectre, the two batponies who were former Lunar guard and had worked with Dash in ponyville had immediately applied the moment the Dusk guard had opened up for recruitment, the reason being was that they had seen me train with Dash and beating her consistently in ways they had not thought possible.

The Third notable pony was Lightning Dust, after her encounter with Scootaloo at the Wonderbolt academy she had taken to the advice the little filly had given and had been working on her attitude. She like the two bat ponies had also signed up immediately after the position became available, wanting to become part of a unit that did 'real' work.

The the last notable recruit who, despite the fact she was the oldest recruit by far, leading the group of trainees over the obstacle course... motherbucking Captain Spitfire herself. The Captain hadn't immediately applied for a function in the Dusk guard but had gone through official channels to get an audience with Twilight, who after a conversation with the pegasus had offered her the job of Captain of the Dusk guard if she could manage to get through basic. The now-former bolt had, similarly to Lightning, wanted to get a more exciting job and the since Dusk guard was going to replace the Bolts as a quick reaction force in the Equestrian military it had been an easy decision for her to switch service branches.

The sun was setting by the time Scootaloo got up from her relaxing position on top of the hill overlooking the obstacle course and walked down to the now puffing recruits who had flopped onto the floor after finishing the course, Discord appearing next to the filly as she was about halfway to the group.

"I actually tried making it hard on them this time, yet they still made it." He mused as Scootaloo didn't stop moving to the group of recruits.

"That's kind of the point, Discord. We're trying to make them harder, not to kill them." Scootaloo said while rolling her eyes, discord could be a pain but she had to admit that he had made himself exceptionally useful in the training of the new recruits and had behaved admirably ever since being released from his stone prison.

"I know, I know... hmm I could simulate death in the live-fire exercises... I've got to go my little friend, ta taa!" Discord said as he poofed into nothing just before they reached the recruits, leaving Scootaloo alone with the drill sergeants Twilight had borrowed from the Day guard.

"Ma'am." One of them acknowledged as she arrived due to Twilight having made her a sergeant major, not that it meant much since the guard consisted of less than fifty ponies and no active frontline personnel, but it still meant than that she was essentially the highest-ranking member of the Dusk guard barring Twilight herself.

"Sergeant are they ready for a loaded march?" Scootaloo asked as she picked up her own set of saddlebags and strapped them on.

"RECRUITS, GET YOUR SADDLEBAGS AND GET READY FOR THE MARCH! ONE MINUTE!" The drill sergeant shouted before turning to Scootaloo once more "They will be, I take it you'll be leading the final exercise?" He asked as the recruits were hurrying to get their saddlebags strapped on and helping each other to get ready.

"Yes, I only need two of you with me, the others can go prepare for the final ceremony at the barracks once I get there." She told the sergeant who nodded and Instructed two of the other drill sergeants to accompany the group before taking the others back to the base, leaving Scootaloo with the remaining recruits. They had been going for almost five days straight and were all looking like they were just going to drop over asleep but somehow still found the energy to continue, this was something that made a smile appear on Scootaloo's face as she spoke up.

"RECRUITS! ON ME!" She shouted through the speakers of her helmet as the group started following the little pegasus as fast as they could as she bolted forwards. 
Looking back at the group behind her Scootaloo couldn't help but smile, knowing that soon they'd be done and receiving their berets.

We'll make the UNSC proud the moment those diplomats Twilight has been talking about arrive.

She thought as she continued to march the designated track with the recruits while glancing at the moon which started rising on the horizon, this was going to be an awesome night to remember.
> Bonus Chapter: UNSC
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





“So when are they arrivin’, Scoots?” Apple Bloom asked as she, Sweetie, Rumble, and Scootaloo were sitting in their clubhouse. Scootaloo was dressed up in the dress blues as she would have to leave for the base outside of Ponyville soon.

“In a couple of hours, they already arrived in system but we’re making sure they arrive in the middle of the day so Luna doesn’t accidentally smack them with the moon,” Scootaloo answered with a shrug, the rest of the group snickering as they could see how that would be a bad thing.

“It’s just sad we don’t get to see them, I was really hoping to get a glimpse of them.” Rumble sighed, though this would be the first time humans set feet on Equis proper it was arranged as a purely diplomatic visit…

…though that didn’t mean Scootaloo could slightly bend the rules.

“You know I might be able to get the three of you access to the base.” The orange pegasus slyly suggested, Rumble’s eyes glistening as he heard the suggestion.

“You won’t get into too much trouble for that, will you?” Sweetie asked, her ears folded back against her head as she didn’t want to get her friend into too much trouble.

“So long the three of you do exactly what I ask of you Twilight might only be mildly angry, I can handle that.” Scootaloo answered as she waved off Sweetie’s concern, “So do you three think you can do that?”

All three of her friends springing up to attention and bringing a salute, “Yes, Sergeant-Major!” The three of them answered in chorus, bringing a smile to Scootaloo’s face.

“In that case we should be getting to the base” Scootaloo stated as she got up from her sitting position and walked to the door, putting on her beret before leaving with the others in tow. The road towards the base had been well worn by that point as over the past couple of months tons of building materials along with personnel had been moved to the site of Twilight’s base. 

After twenty minutes of trotting, the group of fillies came up on the outer checkpoint of the base, the four guards stationed there not giving Scootaloo any trouble as they recognized her. The ease with which they had gotten onto the compound exited the three others as Scootaloo led them to the air traffic control tower. Though not as advanced as its human equivalent the tower had been equipped with a form of magical radar designed by Twilight along with the radio communication antenna that they had gotten from the humans.

“We can get a good vantage point from up there, though I have to warn that if we tell you to be quiet in that tower you have to be quiet since the ponies in there have to guide the pelicans into landing,” Scootaloo warned as they entered the building and made their way up the tower, the top room though spacious was still empty for the moment.

“Whoa, I knew this place was large but this is massive!” Rumble said as he looked out the window down onto the base, Scootaloo chuckled as she walked up to the amazed colt.

“It’s decently sized for Equestrian standards but there are much more massive camps out there in human space.”

“Cool,” The colt said in awe as he observed griffins, minotaurs, and ponies, were strolling about and performing tasks on the concrete surface which the tower overlooked. Scootaloo meanwhile walked back to one of the consoles and started flipping switches which in turn activated various screens in the tower.

“I want you three to remain in the outer ring near the windows so you don’t get in the way down here.” The three nodded as they returned to look out of the windows at all the various creatures and last minute preparations that were being made.

It wasn’t long before two more unicorns entered the tower and greeted Scootaloo before taking a seat to get to work. The two of them seeing the three other fillies but didn’t say anything as they were busy with their own preparations.

"Tower this is Sparkle, do you copy?" Twilight's voice came over a radio, Scootaloo immediately picking up a mic on her side.

"Sparkle this is Tower, we read you five by five." She replied, the three girls' interest changing towards Scootaloo as she worked.

"What's the status of your systems, Hurricane?" Scootaloo turned around to look at her two controllers who both nodded.

"Radar and radio operational. we're a go, Sparkle."

"Copy that, Hurricane. Switch to SATCOM and contact the Dawn's traffic control, they're all yours now. Also, I'm sending someone up there to escort the Crusaders back to ponyville after the landing. Sparkle out." Scootaloo immediately grinned as Twilight closed the com line while the other Crusaders were grimacing as they realized they got their friend into trouble.

"Are ya sure Twi ain't gonna be too angry with ya, Scoots?" Bloom asked as she folded her ears against her head, Scootaloo just chuckled.

"If she does she'd be a massive hypocrite since if you might be able to notice your sisters sitting in the press box with a nice view of where the landing will be," She told the others while holding out a set of binoculars for Sweetie who immediately used it to check out the press box.

"She's right! Applejack, Miss Fluttershy, Sis, and Pinkie are all there!" Sweetie confirmed as she looked baffled at Scootaloo who just shrugged.

"Twilight probably had them pinkie promise to not tell anyone because this technically wasn't open to the public." Scootaloo surmised as she flicked a few switches, "I need you three to be quiet now as we're going to guide in the pelicans from orbit and we can't have too much noise while coordinating with the people upstairs."

The Crusaders nodded and went back to looking outside while the radio controller gave Scootaloo the go-ahead on SATCOM. "Stalwart Dawn, this is Equis planetary traffic control. Do you read?"

"Planetary control, this is the Stalwart Dawn, we read you five by five." The radio controller answered, goosebumps going up Scootaloo's spine as this was something she really missed doing.

"Copy that, Stalwart. Uploading MGRS coordinates now." Scootaloo answered as one of the unicorns went ahead and pushed a few buttons on his console.

"Data received. Pelicans are en route to your location, Planetary Control. Transferring pelicans to your frequency now, Stalwart Dawn out." The operator said as he closed the COM channel. Scootaloo sat back in her chair as she waited for the radio operator next to her to confirm the connection with the incoming dropship which he did moments later.

"D-77 This is Planetary Control, do you copy?"

"Planetary Control, this is D-77 one, we read you. Our ETA is fifteen minutes, our approach is from the north."

"Copy that, D-77 one. See you down here in fifteen." Scootaloo said as she finally relaxed, finally noticing her three friends looking at her slack-jawed.

"Uhm, what did I do wrong?" The orange pegasus asked as she suddenly felt really self-conscious.

"That... was so AWESOME! That was like the newest spacepony comic!" Rumble Said as he was almost jumping in place.

Scootaloo chuckled as he walked back up to the window with the girls, "Except that there actually is a spaceship out there right now." She said as she looked up at the sky even though she wouldn't be able to spot the ship.

"Anyway, those two guys will finish guiding the pelicans in and I have to be down there when they arrive and you three will have to wait for the escort up here," Scootaloo said as she made for the stairs out of the tower. "I'll see you girls tomorrow, this is probably going to drag on for a while."

"See you tomorrow!" Rumble said as he and the others turned back to look at three streaks of light that were falling to the planet in the distance. Scootaloo smiled as she saw her excited friends looking in awe at the three dropships forming up in the distance.

I hope I can take them out there some time, Scootaloo thought as she walked down the stairs towards the tarmac outside.





Twilight stood ready to welcome the diplomats to Equis, the three lines in the sky indicating that the entourage would be arriving soon. The location for the arrival had been chosen not because Twilight had lobbied for it but since her base was the only place that could accommodate multiple pelicans landing in it. Scootaloo meanwhile had arrived next to her, her dress suit contrasting with the others as she was wearing her ODST dress blues while the Dusk Guard was wearing was more similar to the Wonderbolt dress blues.

"You had to take them, didn't you?" Twilight said as the two of them joined the other envoys that were present on the base.

"Not like you're any better," Scootaloo shot back at Twilight as she motioned at the four friends who were sitting in the press stand, Twilight not retorting as she realized Scootaloo had probably been on to her from the start. Twilight joined her fellow Princesses along with a Griffin, Minotaur, and even a Changeling ambassador while Scootaloo joined up with The Dusk Guard unit that was present.

The three lines that had lit up the sky now turned towards the base, the low rumbling sound of the engines becoming noticeable as they started to come much closer until the three craft roared to a stop on the tarmac, the ambassadors and their entourages slightly moving back as the intimidating machines opened their cargo hatches. Two of the pelicans only had a couple of humans in them along with some cargo while the middle one unloaded a small unit of ODST's and what Twilight supposed to be the diplomats. Taking a deep breath the young alicorn walked forward to meet the group half-way as they approached.

"Welcome to Equis, ma'am, we're honored to have you here," Twilight told the diplomat who had taken point.

"The honor is all mine, Princess, I hope our people will be able to reach a mutually beneficial agreement," The diplomat said as he made a little bow.

"I'm sure we will figure out an agreement that will satisfy both the UEG and Equis's league of nations." Twilight making a polite nod back at him, "Now please follow me, there are transports waiting to take us to Ponyville's train station where a train will take us to Canterlot to start negotiations."

With that Twilight and the Human envoy with her, the Griffin's, and the Minotaur's entourage made their way into pony pulled cars and brought to the train station where a special train stood ready to bring them to Canterlot, the diplomats along with Princess Celestia and Luna entered into a specially assigned cart while Twilight, the Dusk guard, and all the other creatures that had come along entered carts that had been assigned to them, the train leaving the moment everyone and everything was loaded on board.




"Hey Twilight, you mind if I go over to the wagon where the ODST's are staying? I think I saw someone I know in there." Scootaloo said as the train started moving. Twilight looked over at the little pegasus and shrugged.

"Knock yourself out, just make sure you don't bother the diplomats." She answered as she was rapidly working through a pile of paperwork, Scootaloo grinned and stepped outside of the cart, making her way to the one adjacent to the Dusk guard's cart.

"...looks so peaceful, Earth used to have villages like these too you know. Just people living out in the middle of nowhere with farms instead of cooped up in large cities." She heard one of the ODST's say as she entered the car. All of the ODST's looking in the direction of the door as they heard it open.

"Where did you get that suit, kid?" One of the ODST's asked as he recognized the dress suit, the others looking similarly curious.

Scootaloo looked at a helmeted ODST that was observing her from a couch in the corner of the train car, "You didn't even tell them your involvement with me? I'm shocked!" Scootaloo faining shock, the other soldiers in the car looking at the helmeted ODST in confusion. The soldier in question chuckled and took off her helmet,

"Hey I had to keep some details secret since the big announcement about you guys UNSC wide only came a couple of weeks ago with the start of the negotiation process," Lucy said as she grinned, "It also gives you the chance to tell these guys your tall tales."

Scootaloo huffed and let out a singular laugh, "I don't need to tell tall tales after my drop pod disintegrated over New Mombassa."

"Whoa hold up, what the hell are you two talking about sarge?" One of the other ODST's asked as they looked at Lucy.

"Your 'sarge' was in the same unit I and Princess Twilight were when we were fighting alongside UNSC forces in places like Reach, Earth, Halo, and the Ark..." Scootaloo told the ODST's who were staring at her, not entirely believing the small pegasus. "...We also got to fight alongside the Master Chief in several of those places."

"Damn, do you ponies have bars around here because I want to hear about that over a beer." The ODST said, the others agreeing with that sentiment.

"Mayhaps it's not the best idea for you and your kin to walk into one of Canterlot's bars as to avoid the panic that would follow." Someone said from the other side of the car, making all the ODST's tense up since they hadn't heard anyone enter.

"Princess Luna!" Scootaloo said as she saluted the princess, "Shouldn't you be in the cart with the diplomats and your sister?"

Luna shook her head as she took place on one of the couches, "My sister has much more experienced handling diplomats and my expertise lay more with matters of military than diplomacy, 'tis also the reason I'm here right now." She told the ODST's, "I'm interested to hear about the other worlds among my stars from a people that have actually seen them."

"It would be our honor, Princess," Lucy responded as she sat up somewhat straighter, "Though I must warn you that most of our stories aren't for the faint of heart."

"Of that, I'm quite aware as Twilight's descriptions of your encounters with your foes were quite vivid. That said, I'm no stranger to bloodshed as it was I who destroyed the Griffin Empire before my banishment and fall to the nightmare." Luna told the marines who now looked at the Princess with interest.

"In that case I think we could share some tales about our respective worlds, can't we guys?" Lucy said, the others all voicing their agreement. The group exchanged stories over the course of the journey al the way until they reached the capital city where the negotiations proper would start and official relations established, officially introducing Equis into galactic society.





4 Years Later

Twilight was sitting behind her desk as she approved the final orders for the launch of Equis' first slipspace capable spaceship. The Humans had supplied the drive as even after the rapid technological innovations that had been made after the deal with the humans, one that had promised to uplift the races of Equis, had not been enough to construct something as complicated as a Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine. 

The crew for the vessel had alread been selected and trained and a unit of the Dusk Guard assigned to the vessel, Scootaloo having been assigned her own squad on the ship. Though she wasn't the only crusader on the ship, Apple Bloom had found her cutie mark shortly after the humans had finished negotiations and the first pieces of tech had been sent to Equis. The earthpony showing remarkable skills in constructing and repairing the machines, easilly making the cut for the engineering team. 

The second crusader to be accepted was Rumble, the colt having been so amazed by the first arrival of the humans that he vowed to do everything he could to make the cut to travel along on the first Equestrian spaceship and after working as hard as he could he was designated as the vessel's navigator.

Then the third and final member of the crusaders who had managed to get onto the ship's crew was Sweetie, she along with Rumble had studied hard to keep their little group together, though instead of studying navigation Sweetie focussed on how radiocommunication worked and learned anything and everything she could before applying, and recieving, to the post of communications officer on the bridge.

Twilight smiled as she folded up their dossiers shaking her head,

Those four are still inseparable

Picking up the final dossier she had on her table made her hair stand on end, the cutie mark on the dossier was of a half cresent moon inside a black spots...

...Luna's cutie mark.

The princess though technically still a princess due to her status as an alicorn had given up her administrative duties to various ministries so that she would be free to spend time as she whished... which she used as an oppertunity to enrol into Dusk Guard basic, almost the entirity of the Lunar Guard enrolling after the alicorn as they still held loyalty to the princess of the night. 

Luna had argued that the fleet of airships she used to maintain had started with a single ship commanded by herself and she intended to do the same with the newly formed Equis Space Command, though this time it would be done as a cooperative endevour between all the races of the planet instead of a measure to defend against them.

The princess, after having made it through basic, had applied to officers training and crushed all her opposition she had been made the captain of the new vessel. Her influence as assigned captain and support from loyalists in the palace had also given Luna the oppertunity to name the new vessel herself, calling it the Selene after the minotaurian goddes of the moon.

Twilight sat back in her chair as she place all the files back into a drawer, the Selene had been ready to launch for the first time but since the humans wanted to be present for this milestone the launch date had been pushed back by weeks.

BANG

The door broke from its hinges as Scootaloo barrled through it, trying to say something through her ragged breaths.

"Scootaloo calm down, what in the world has you worked up like this." Twilight asked as the mare in front of her regained her breath.

"We intercepted a distress call from a human vessel," She told Twilight who raised an eyebrow.

"We only have the Selene and she hasn't been tested yet in any real capacity, we should pass it on to the UNS..."

Scootaloo tapped a command on her wrist mounted pad, starting the distress call they had picked up,

"Mayday, mayday mayday. This is UNSC FFG-201 Forward Unto Dawn requesting immediate evac. Survivors aboard. Prioritization code Victor zero five dash three dash Sierra one one seven."

Twilight froze as she recognized the voice and designation code.

It can't be, if it's them than...

"Hurricane, gather your unit and report to the Selene." Twilight ordered, as she pulled out a tablet tapping in a few commands.

"Twilight? What's the matter?" Luna asked as she almost instantaniously picked up.

"We have an emergency, I want the Selene ready for departure as soon as possible." Twilight told the captain of the spaceship who, judging by the sound that came through the comms, jumped into action.

"We can be gone within the hour if Hurricane shows up with the Dusk Guard units, the rest crew has been on board performing drills." Luna told Twilight as she started shouting orders at ponies.

"Scootaloo is inbound already, she'll be there soon. Is the Selene stocked with supplies?"

"We have four months of food in storage right now, we're good on that but I must inquire as to why we would need a supply of food and the nature of this emergency that we are pushing the launch of this ship forward." Luna questioned as Twilight pulled her Sniper rifle from a locker inside her office along with her ODST armor.

"We have a rescue mission to perform."