Prologue
Two days since the first attack on my home, two days and half of the continent has already fallen.
Maybe I should start with the beginning
2225 B.N (after Nightmare), many things happened after 1200 years after the abdication of Celestia and Luna.
The harmonic era began with the efforts of Queen Twilight (then known as Princess Twilight) to unify all Equss.
Her council of friendship, her closest friends, as well as her advisor Spike, worked for years to achieve equity of all species, achieve peace and harmony.
It was a titanic task, one that her friends would not see in life.
But after 150 years, in 1275 B.N, they managed to unify the government of Equus, founding the UEG, or unified government of Equus.
After achieving such a feat, many wanted to know what the next step was, it was then that Councilwoman Luna, proposed to travel to the stars.
With the invaluable help of the knowledge that the late Sunset Shimmer had collected, a technological career begun like was never seen before.
Technology and magic were unified forming the now known as magitech, in a few years they had managed to send a team of several races to the moon.
Then they realized a big problem.
The time and resources per trip were too much and impractical.
If they wanted to travel to other solar systems they would have to find a better way.
Thus, in 1674 the Star-Shimmer slipspace motor was born.
An engine capable of an almost instantaneous interstellar journey traveling in a higher dimension.
The space-colonial era was born.
Unfortunately, two races rose against the UEG government, the zebras and the Caribou.
At the time of unification, those two had started a war of conquest, their barbarian traditions of submission and perversion had horrified the princess.
It was the only time a conflict escalated to a point of war.
Until that moment.
The majority of the coup plotters of those races represented 60% of their population, a total of 10.000.000, they had proved to be skilled builders, so the construction of the colonial fleet had been commissioned to them along with several teams of other species.
At the end of the first fleet, they got up in arms, massacring and kidnapping the engineers and scientists who were there.
The lack of a larger and trained security body proved to be a fatal mistake.
When the protection fleet reached the moon, they had already disappeared.
Many blamed the poor military administration, or rather the lack of it, by the princess's government.
To relieve public tension and prevent something like this from happening again, the UNSC, a military branch with the objective of safeguarding the welfare of the UEG and its inhabitants, was founded.
Also to avoid a coup of this magnitude, the Councilwoman Luna founded the ONI.
The UNSC would be the gross power, and the ONI would be a scalpel.
The commandant Celestia had refused such a division of powers but admitted that prior harmony had made the entire UEG vulnerable to attacks.
Thus, Twilight and Luna proposed Celestia to be the supreme commander of the UNSC.
With this division of the government, things stayed this way.
The UEG would be in charge of society, the UNSC would be in charge of the army and protection, and the ONI of technology and intelligence.
After the reorganization of the government, the ONI went to work to recover the knowledge lost by the disaster on the moon.
That disaster delayed decades of research and technological progress.
That also posed another big problem.
By not only stealing the research staff but also the entire colonization fleet (a total of 3 high-tech ships).
Not knowing their whereabouts, ONI proposed, together with the UNSC, the development of the first space warships.
The Phoenix-class colonial ships and the Phoenix-class support classes, the only difference between those two is their inventory, armament, and armor.
Thus officially began the colonial stage.
Planet after planet colonized, in the course of 200 years more than 40 planets had been colonized.
A new era of prosperity had begun.
Princess Cadence and her daughter, Princess Flurryheart, were designated for the coordination of border planets.
In schools, the benefit of harmony was taught, showing as an example the incredible scientific progress over the course of just under a thousand years.
And showing disaster on the moon as a lesson.
Even becoming a myth.
Until 2223, when the planet Harvest stopped communicating to the UEG.
The UNSC and ONI had prepared a plan in case of finding or meeting enemies for hegemony.
Harvest's last signs were simple words.
They returned.
When the UNSC sent a small fleet to find out what happened to Harvest, the only thing they found was desperation.
The Caribs and Zebras had returned and with great force, the technology they had stolen was enough to drive centuries ahead of anything the UNSC and ONI had, they identified themselves as the Covenant.
Only one ship of 20 returned.
Although the style of the ships was similar, the Covenant ships, as identified, were more advanced.
Shields of raw magic and guided magic missile armament, pierced the armor corrupting the magic it could touch.
Impossible to penetrate by conventional weapons, and deadly if they caught you.
The most horribly was their weapons were similar in function in times past.
Before they used potions or dark magic to make stallions succumb to their lower instincts, perverting their mind, and mares degraded to nothing but breeding creatures, doubling their will.
A mixture of biological weapons that horrified the entire UEG, we had no defense against something like that, all deaths recorded in combat were at the hands of our own soldiers who were converted.
Harvest had mostly fallen for the same corrupted population.
There was no known cure for infected males.
Females for some reason the passage of time made the effect pass.
This caused the entire army to be reorganized to use purely female soldiers.
This served a lot for the population crisis that was lived since the population rate was 3-1 on males of all races, even the ponies had an imbalance of 7-1.
The changelings, surprisingly, had helped a lot to keep the population stable with their advances in medicine and reproduction, the drug used by the Covenant is still under study, but they managed to create a way to prevent females from being affected by biological weapons.
In the time elapsed from the battle for Harvest, more things were discovered of the Covenant's ability, surprising even Luna, Celestia and Twilight.
Victims pregnant, had only sons and rarely daughters, of zebras or caribues.
No matter the father's race, the result was the same.
Corrupt magic hid secrets that they still did not understand and that made it dangerous, even with women's immunity, since the antidote must be supplied every week.
Just when it was thought that only Harvest would be the only victim.
Several more planets had lost comunication.
The overwhelming force of the Covenant and its ability to "convert" the population made it increasingly difficult to protect border planets.
In just under 2 years, they had lost 5 planets, their perverted populations and used for the benefit of the Covenant.
One retreat after another, entire fleets were destroyed while all they could do was gain time to evacuate the population.
Even with the tactical mind of Celestia and Luna, the Covenant's technology was simply superior.
The fighting on land was no different.
I just hope that ...
March 3, 2225, 11:35 p.m
Control Center of Orbital Mac Station
"Leave that diary and help me make the inventory, Shadow!" - someone shouted.
Leaving aside the holopad, a land pony could only sigh of fatigue.
"At least you could let me write my last memories before they turn me into a monster"
"Do not turn them into a monster, Princess Flurry is doing everything possible to coordinate the evacuation, the main fleet will reach Reach in a few days, we just have to resist" - answered a unicorn mare.
Both were dressed in a black and gray uniform, typical for the operators of the power station of the MAC and space control platforms.
Since the fall of Harvest, Reach became a refuge and a fortress for the survivors.
It was the best-defended planet after Equus of the UEG.
But even then only a small fleet of 10 ships, one of class 5, one of class 4 and the others of class 3, is enough to put the planet in check.
The UNSC had barely managed to destroy a few heavy corvettes with MAC platforms, but in an attempt to destroy one supercarrier Covenant, almost the entire Reach fleet was destroyed.
Apparently ONI wanted to evacuate the princess, from Reach when the battle was lost, to which the princess refused to go.
If Reach falls, they would lose one of their most important strengths and the Covenant would have Equus freeway.
At the beginning of the war, the UNSC and ONI realized that apparently the Covenant did not know where Equus was, by surprise of many, and understanding of few.
Therefore, Admiral Spark Lulamoon proposed the Emergency Priority Order of the United Nations Space Command 098831A-1, also known as the Lulamoon protocol.
Basically, if the defeat was inevitable, all the data should be erased and the self-destruction of the ships that could be captured under penalty of death or high treason.
"We can resist a few days, the platforms keep the fleet at bay, the soldiers do their best to contain the enemy, we just have to protect the city's space elevator and everything will be fine" - said Amarilis.
"I hope you're right" - Shadow replied.
'EMERGENCY'
'DESLIESPACIAL ANOMALY DETECTED'
Before they could react to give warning to the alarm, everything went out, the red lights went out as if nothing had happened.
"What the hell was that? A breakdown in satellites?" - Amarilis asked while working at his station.
"No, maybe they detected something else, something came from the slipspace, but it is as if it had evaporated" - Shadow said while checking the satellite images.
EMERGENCY
DELIESPACIAL ANOMALY DETECTED
EMERGENCY
DELIESPACIAL ANOMALY DETECTED
EMERGENCY
DELIESPACIAL ANOMALY DETECTED
"Shit, it's Covenant reinforcements !!" - Amarilis shouted.
"Here Reach 234 power station and control, more Covenant reinforcements, at least 180 ships!" - Shadow shouted through the communicator.
"....... Understood, we will endure as much as we can" - Shadow replied.
Silence reigns in the room, a silence that Amarilis broke.
"I think I'll write something too."
March 3, 2225, 11:40 p.m
New Mareland city
Central building
Governor's Office
New Mareland, the capital city of Reach was by far one of the most beautiful cities ever built, the crown jewel, as well as one of the most mysterious colonies of the UEG.
When the first colonial ships arrived at Reach, it did not seem different from another planet, at least until a strange anomaly was detected.
Under a mountain, in an ice cave system, they found what appeared to be a crashed ship of unknown origin.
The style was something they had never seen, so they ruled out it was something of the zebras or the caribou.
But being a planet with such capacity, they turned it into a fortress planet, in public view, it was a military planet, with the most prestigious military schools of the UNSC.
But in reality, the planet was a research center for the mysterious ship.
Unfortunately, even after 50 years, they had achieved almost nothing, the technology was simply very advanced, no physical or magical method had helped them to enter the huge ship.
They didn't know what was inside, and that even almost led Princesses Twilight and the Moon to use a nuclear bomb to try to breach the hull.
Unfortunately to Flurry, she was chosen to be Reach's chief investigator.
Deep down she felt frustrated, even with the pretty organic design, with those huge turrets it was obvious that that huge titan was a warship, when the Covenant attacked, that ship could have saved many lives.
The other parts of Reach were quite normal, but having so many resources available, it became the jewel of the colonies, even when it was being the last to be colonized
Now it looked like a huge evacuation zone.
Having a population of 5,341,500 inhabitants, not counting military personnel, of which more than 60% were ponies and an almost uniform mixture of changelings, buffaloes, and griffons, the planet could be considered lowlily populated.
Of this number only 20% were males.
When the winter plan was implemented, all registered males were sent in preventive quarantine and placed on the priority list, along with pregnant women and senior officers, for evacuation.
The city was the first to evacuate its stallions, having almost all males in the moment of the attack made it easy.
Unfortunately, they did not have enough ships to evacuate all the remaining ones, even Princess Flurry lent her personal ship, the hight speed, and high technological Paris-class frigate, to serve as an escort and transport.
But the ships needed to complete the evacuation will arrive together with the main fleet in two days and 6 hours.
Flurry thanked the Celestia that almost 80% of the population was in this half of the planet, relatively new and little explored since the other half only concentrated the bases of the UNSC and ONI.
That gave them time.
They just had to resist.
Easier said than done, but they were lucky, had managed to destroy several heavy frigates of the Covenant and the main ships were somewhere on land.
They almost looked like they were looking for something, and that worried all the high command.
"Princess, the last evacuation ship is about to leave, could you please reconsider evacuating with them?" - asked an ONI officer, a Minotaur named Rose, she wore a black uniform, only the bulletproof vest she wore on her uniform give her the look of coarser, even with her slender figure.
"No, I can not, I will not leave my people alone, we can stand until the fleet arrives, and if it is for my safety, then I doubt that they kill me."
Flurry Heart, the princess of the Crystal Empire, was the vivid image of her mother, intelligent and beautiful, after years all the alicorns seemed to stagnate at an age and stature, now they all shared the same height.
At first glance, it seemed normal, regal, imposing.
But those who knew her best could say she was nervous, even scared.
Her aunt had sent her to Reach when the planet was found to study the mysterious ship, becoming her home, when the war began, Reach was a bastion for refugees, serving as a bridge to the central planets.
When the Winter plan, when the Covenant arrived, its semblance broke for a moment and shattered a room in frustration.
Her best friend had disappeared in Harvest, it took her whole family to calm her down to keep her from saving her.
'Dad, give me your strength and wisdom' - Flurry thought as she returned to work in the coordination of the city's defenses.
"Princess, we have a problem" heard the Flurry by the communicator
"What happened admiral?" - she asked quickly with alarm.
"A few minutes ago the checkpoint detected multiple ruptures of the slipspace, maybe to New Mereland, I am sending a contingent for their protection, sorry princess, but we are running out of time"
Flurry felt that she had been stabbed in the stomach, it was very soon, even if Reach was a military planet, one of the most protected, they could not withstand a large-scale invasion, not without the support of the main fleet.
"Shit...., admiral, move the civilians to the research centers, that will give us time, I don't care if the ship is classified, that they fortify the Sword base and prepare for battle" - said Flurry, while watching the city for her office window.
There were still more than 3,000,000 inhabitants, perhaps the research centers could withstand until reinforcements arrived, but she didn't know they could take so long against the invasion, they barely managed to contain keeping them out of the city.
‘Understood, I'm already evacuating civilian personnel, Sword base is on alert, be careful princess '
Teleporting to the ONI offices along with Rose, Flurry grabbed the communicator and began speaking in a firm and demanding voice, now was not the time for subtlety.
"I speak to all the forces of the city, evacuate to Sword base, we leave the city"
Rose, worried, saw Flurry's expression, a dejected look, not for her safety, but for the civilians, the Sword base and the research facilities have enough space to protect at least 3,500,000 inhabitants in an emergency, basically, It was an underground city, but those who were not in the city would have to trust the bunkers.
More than 1,000,000 civilians will be alone.
"We must evacuate to the facilities, princess, the teleportation ports will be destroyed to prevent them from discovering where they were evacuated, we must hurry" - said Rose, to which Flurry simply nodded.
March 4, 2225, 1:02 a.m
Base Sword
25 meters underground.
The efficiency of the evacuation was exceptional, within minutes of the city's Covenant attack no more than 3 hours later, the last group of civilians had been evacuated, the remaining soldiers stayed to defend the city and, perhaps, distract the enemy.
On the outside, the Sword base didn't seem like the big deal, but it only served as the entrance to the research facilities.
The mysterious ship was extremely large, 57920 meters long, 22894 wide and 7126 high, occupying the entire research area.
It took all the resources of the ONI and almost 40 years of continuous uninterrupted work, but they managed to dig up the ship and build and coordinate the entire research facility.
The majority of the citizens of Reach are relatives of the researchers.
Flurry couldn't help losing herself in memories.
"Princess, the MAC platforms in orbit have been destroyed, the platforms installed in the city are the only thing that prevents them from bombing the city, but apparently they are sending many land reinforcements, they may be looking for it" - Rose said while she was watching her holopad.
“Protect those canyons, the city will serve as a distraction while civilians finish arriving at the facilities, how are the other cities?” - asked Flurry, not wanting to hear the answer.
"Nothing good, but better than here, we have lost communication with the Castillo and Lunar bases, they may have been destroyed, but communication with the bunkers is stable, most do not report abnormalities and seem to have managed to evacuate the majority of their population"
"How many assets do we have left?"
"Enough to fight, the Pillar of Autumn is at the moon base, it still does not seem to be detected, but awaits your orders"
"Well, if the defenses fall, prepare the teleportation portals, we will evacuate the civilians we can on that ship, and no, I will not leave," - said Flurry with a hard look at Rose.
“..... understood, princess, meanwhile, please rest a little, you haven't slept in two days” - said Rose
"sigh, I think you're right, I will be in the command room, and I know it has no beds, but the chairs are just as good and I need to be aware of anything that happens" - said Flurry, while looking far away at small fillies that hugged their mother, amazed at the megastructure and the mysterious ship.
"Of course princess, but if I find that she is not sleeping, I will cut off the energy of that room" - Rose said with a small smile.
"Har har" - said Flurry while teleporting.
The room was empty, normally they would be full of investigative staff, but by invasion, they had evacuated all staff.
Walking to the control console, he looked out the window at the mysterious ship.
The blue light from the ice and the silver color of the ship gave him some peace.
Maybe that thing was the remains of a civilization that lived on the planet a long time ago, but the ship's properties made it impossible to determine the age of the ship.
They had tried everything, but they never managed to scratch the armor.
But maybe, something else could activate that ship, if only they found the way, they could use it to evacuate everyone, all refugees could definitely enter.
'Your mother is a princess who represents love, and I am a military, we have different approaches to solve things, but you are the best of both worlds, the first to be born as an alicorn, do not give up if things do not work, maybe you were trying from a different approach '
Flurry, after remembering one of the last times she had talked to her father millennia ago, taking courage, what else would she have to lose?
Setting up the console and preparing to speak from her heart, she remembered her family's embrace, before her father died.
"Please, I need your help"-Flurry sobbed.
Darkness and silence, how much time had passed? days? months? years?.
he could only remember his name.
Something was missing, something to get out of the eternal blackness.
The last time he woke up, he even got a little excited, there were beings that looked at him everywhere.
But this time something had awakened him abruptly, unable to move, he did not know what it was, but after a few days, everything around him was filled with many creatures.
Their faces showed amazement, but some also had despair, causing something in their chest to shake.
Then, for the first time, he heard something, his delicate voice hypnotized him, definitely feminine, but with a pain that made him rise from his bright platform, looking for the origin.
‘Please, I need your help’
Something stirred him in his chest, for the first time, his core ignited, and everything began to shine.
Flurry waited for something, even if it was impossible, she clung to the console, wishing for a miracle.
Just when she was about to faint from fatigue, a light began to flash behind her.
Turning, she wiped the tears from her eyes to see the object better, the silver light seemed to have an octagonal pattern, covering the entire room, and in its center, there seemed to be a kind of petal.
Then, everything exploded in a light that blinded her for a moment.
"What is your goal?" - asked a voice, for a moment, it seemed that it was the voice of his father, but softer.
Opening her eyes slowly, she saw a pony of gray earth and silver mane, his Cutiemark looked like a symbol of a white bird, but his intense gaze from his blue eyes took her voice away.
"I ... I want to save my people" -said Flurry.
"And what are you willing to give for that?" - asked the stallion.
"Whatever it takes,"-Flurry replied, getting closer to the strange stallion.
Then the light diminished, to cover the two in a perfect ring.
"Connecting link, just say your name" - said the stallion.
"Flurry Heart" - answered Flurry.
"...I am the supercarrier CSO class, Long Night of Solace, I recognize you as my commander, you order, and I obey" - replied the stallion, while kneeling in front of Flurry.
“Can you help me save my people?” - asked Flurry.
"Is that an order?"
Flurry did not know very well how to answer, in a moment of weakness and despair she achieved what years of joint work of 4 princesses and the ONI did not achieve.
Flurry shuddered at the thought of what her aunts Luna and Twilight would do to her and her new friend.
Before answering, the port exploded and a group of ODST soldiers entered, pointing at the stallion, who immediately surrounded Flurry and him with what looked like a shield of light.
"Get away from our princess if you don't want a bullet in your head!" - said Rose, who entered while aiming an assault rifle at the stallion.
"STOP! It's not our enemy, I called him for help" - Flurry shouted, while the soldiers, with doubt, lowered their weapons.
"Also you, Night, can I call you Night?" - asked Flurry.
"Understood, and yes, that is a part of my name, so that's fine" - Night replied, as he lowered the shields and stood beside Flurry.
"Princess, what happened? And who is he?" - Rose said while the soldiers left.
"His name is Night, he agreed to help us and what it is ... I'm not sure" - said Flurry.
“I am a mental model of the fog fleet” - Night replied.
“Fog fleet ?, mental model ?, are you an AI?” - asked Rose.
“Something similar, my body is that ship, but we use this way to interact better with our commanders”
"And about the fog?" - insisted Rose.
"I don't know, I don't remember many things, I just woke up from Flurry's voice, and that helped me" - Night replied.
Seeing that Rose was not satisfied, and before she spoke again, Flurry stopped her.
“We have more important things to worry about, Night, how many can you board on the ship?” - asked Flurry.
“I can support a crew of 65,171 and 10,000 passengers extra comfortably” - said Night.
Flurry hoped that the size of the ship would be enough to house all the refugees, but knowing nothing about the ship was only speculation, and that was not enough, they had many more people, and that without counting those in other shelters.
"Can you support a crew of more than 3,000,000?" - Rose asked sarcastic.
Before Flurry scolded her for asking that, Night replied.
"Yes, but not by much, I cannot generate enough supplies for that amount, they would be tight, but I can bear that amount for up to 3 days, but if they ration the food, one month" - said Night, surprising Rose, who did not expect the answer.
Unable to avoid getting excited, Flurry hugged Night, who was surprised not knowing how to respond.
"Thank you" - Flurry whispered, to which Night could only nod.
Ending the hug, Flurry turned to Rose, who was also very happy.
"Night, where can they come in?" - Rose asked.
"In the central part of the ship, I will activate the gravitational bridge so that they can enter the ship" - replied Night.
"Rose, send a reconnaissance group to explore the ship and restrict places that may be dangerous, the others will start to organize the entry into the ship" - said Flurry.
Rose, nodding, ran off while shouting orders in her comm, leaving Flurry and Night in the living room.
"Commander, I still don't have complete knowledge of the situation" - said Night.
"Excuse me, it's just that we are over time, we are being invaded" - said Flurry.
They lasted almost 1 hour.
Flurry did not know what face Night would make, although he always had his gaze flat, she couldn't help but see something in his gaze, maybe disgusting?
"I hope that answers your questions," said Flurry, turning off the screen.
"Pretty, thank you" - said the stallion as she saw that he was struggling to assimilate the news while having a distant look.
"Night? Are you okay?" - asked Flurry, worried that Night would not move or say something else for long minutes.
Flashing a little, Night didn't know what that was, they seemed… memories.
"Yes, commander, just a little confused, my apologies, what did you say?" - asked Night.
"I asked if you could enter the skid space, your ship has been idle for a long time, we don't know if you're operational" - said Flurry.
Suddenly a light screen appeared in front of them, Night replied with a touch of pride in his voice.
"Although I don't have much fuel, my reserves of nanomaterial are full, my fusion reactors are fine, although I still have to determine the state of the other accessories, I am 100% operational"
"Well, although some shelters are isolated, I already sent teams of engineers to install teleport ports, we are evacuating everyone, thanks to you, we can evacuate to the planet" - said Flurry as they walked out of the room towards the main platform.
Entering the elevator, Flurry looked at Night, who seemed lost in thought, then she turns her the face to the view in front of her.
Even being almost 28 miles away, Flurry could see the huge beam of light coming out of Night's ship, her soldiers had sent very exciting reports from inside the Long Night of Solace.
They had even found spaces with samples of Reach's vegetation, as well as several animals, it looked like a mini country.
Although they haven't explored everything yet, and some sections are blocked for unknown reasons, there was enough space for everyone.
"Princess, we lost contact with the control towers of the city, the mac turrets still work, but the Covenant attack almost reaches the generators, we already installed the teleport ports in the cargo bay of the ship, we just have to wait for that the other shelters confirm the frequency"- Rose said by radio.
"Damn, at least they gave us enough time, Night can you leave the platform even with all the ice?" - asked Flurry.
"Yes, the ship is ready to take off when ordered by commander" - said Night, as they left the elevator and walked to a teleportation port, appearing in front of Rose.
"All ready princess, but we have a problem, the Sword base detects that some Covenant frigates are upon us, will try to get their attention, so we can not leave" - said Rose worried.
Before Flurry could say anything, Night teleported them to the control room, they hadn't yet reached that area, but Rose couldn't say anything when she saw the scene on the screen.
A satellite image of the facilities, there were two frigates and a class 5 battleship.
The fact that they had not yet bombed the facilities was that they knew what was underneath.
Although they knew that Long Night was resilient, they had never tested it against nuclear weapons, nor did they know if weapons of corrupt magic could pass through the armor, they could not risk crashing into the mountain.
Then several purple lights emerged from the ground and completely pierced the frigates, exploding them, while the battleship was also pierced, but instead of exploding, it slowly crashed into the mountain, creating an immense cloud of smoke.
It had happened so fast that they did not know what to say, a single battleship, which was a class 5 ship, could destroy 19 UNSC Marthons class ships before falling, their weapons and shields were extremely resistant, seeing them fall by a single shot left speechless Rose and Flurry.
“Enemies eliminated, clear route, commander” - said Night.
"......get us off the mountain, we have to go for the others in the other shelters" - said Flurry as she recovered her voice and answered as calmly as possible.
They just saw what Princess Luna and Twilight wish they had seen, the ship that had been asleep for so long began to rise from the platform by unknown methods.
Very few UNSC ships could take off from the surface without special equipment, Flurry was afraid to think that this was the case with this ship.
But she thanked the heavens that she was wrong, it seemed surreal, the whole room was reeling a little, watching the screen, she saw the surface of the ice-breaking as the huge ship left.
The few soldiers who nearby knew that a ship from the ultra-secret facilities had been activated to help the evacuation, they never thought a ship can be so large.
"All systems are green, no anomalies are detected in the engines or the reactor, Klein field at 100% capacity, ready to move forward" - said Night.
"Princess, we could use the ship to help defend the city, if we can reactivate the MAC turrets, we can repel the enemy while we evacuate the others" - said Rose.
"I do not want to play the safety of citizens serving as a distraction, and even if we can distract the Covenant ships, they outnumber us" - said Flurry.
“I can deploy defense platforms and vehicles to defend the city” - Night replied while showing what he had to offer his commander.
"Can you?!" - said Rose and Flurry, surprised.
“Type 27 automatic anti-aircraft gun, strong against small ships and frigates, but cannot do much against infantry, super-heavy siege tower type 55, is quite sturdy and can divert the attention of the enemy, ultra-heavy assault platform T-47A and T-47B, support for infantry ”- said Night while showing an image of each one along with their statistics.
It was no surprise to anyone that everything on the ship had an insectoid style.
The anti-aircraft gun looked like a mixture of a scorpion and a spider, it was a huge structure, 10 meters long and wide, most of the size was the cannon.
The next one was much more surprising, it could easily be compared to a small building, the super-heavy siege tower was 150 meters high and 50 meters wide, although it did not have many weapons, its plasma cannon intimidated with the simulation of its Shooting.
Rose quickly considered that perhaps her troops could use it as a mobile base given its enormous size and mobility.
The latter looked like a unit much smaller than the previous one, but no less intimidating, both models were very different, while the T-47A was the largest and best armored, the T-47B had a much more intimidating structure, if each one of those things had the same resistance as the Long Night of Solace, perhaps there was an opportunity not only to defend but to attack, for the first time in the entire war.
(T-47A)
(T-47B)
Flurry, meanwhile, finally understood the meaning of the name of the ship she commanded.
Supercarrier, it wasn't just a warship, it was an invasion ship, and for a moment, Flurry would choose the Covenant instead face whoever was the fog fleet.
“We have reached the atmosphere, what are your orders, commander?” - asked Night.
"Rose, where are they needing more support to retake the city?" - asked Flurry, while Night offered her a seat in the central part of the bridge.
March 4, 2225, 4:19 p.m
New Mareland
planetary communication building square
“Sergeant!, we cannot keep the communication facilities at this rate!” - shouted a marine, things had worsened rapidly after the arrival of the fleet, the enemy missiles had managed to destroy the power sources of the air defense turrets and they ground forces had quickly flooded the entire city.
Almost 9 hours of continuous combat without rest, they could not stand up to the fleet, but at least they could resist enough before the Covenant will find the refugees.
“We have to resist everything we can! If they take the facilities they will cut off communication with all the troops on the continent and the game is over!” - the land mare shouted as he returned the fire with his sniper.
"Sergeant!, is the admiral, they request a landing point for reinforcements, at least 120 meters, they are coordinating a counterattack!"
"Shit, we're under intense attack, nothing can land, the square is totally full of those bastards and we can't clear it!"
"They say it doesn't matter."
"What the fuck is wrong with them?!, Very well, unless they clear the area with missiles, send the coordinates in the center of the communications plaza."
"They ask us to cover ourselves!"
"EVERYONE, DOWN AND COVER!" - the sergeant shouted.
She expected the ARCHER missile rain, those things were so powerful that they could destroy a building, but in the right place, they could clear many areas.
The only thing she heard was as if a meteorite fell into the square, recovering, tried to concentrate on the noise, for a moment she was scared of being deaf, but she discovered that everything had simply remained silent.
Then she saw it, a strangely new building had fallen into the square, occupying almost the entire area, giving an image of its immensity.
"What the fuck did the ONI do?" - Whisper.
"Sergeant !, new orders! we have to us to use that platform to defend the city."
Stunned, she saw the dust clear, only to reveal soldiers and Covenant vehicles made dust.
"Now if you see what we bastards are capable of" - the sergeant growled with a smile.
March 4, 2225, 6:09 p.m
New Mareland
Aszod Ship Cemetery
In the mountainous areas near the Ship Cemetery of Reach, things were not going well.
The Covenant had managed to destroy the last MAC defenses, making defending the refuge infinitely more difficult, even when the entrance was hidden between the caverns, they would not be able to fight against a whole Covenant battalion.
“Commander, news of the admiral, they are organizing a counterattack, requesting status” - said a pegasus mare, communications operator.
"We need support, our troops outside are getting beaten up, it's a matter of time before they find the entrance to the shelter" - replied the Commander, one of the few stallions that were still in the army.
"......, sir, they say they are sending reinforcements"
Before he could answer, a slight tremor moved the bunker's control room.
"What was that?" - he asked alarmed, if they had found the bunker, it would all be over.
"I'm putting it on screen"
A huge spider-shaped metal monster had crashed near the Covenant, before processing what happened, saw in disbelief as a huge beam of green energy shot out of its mouth and destroy the Covenant, while a huge turret shot at nearby enemy ships.
The entire battle net celebrated help, they were about to fall and a miracle had come down from the sky.
"Damit Luna, if that thing was yours and you didn't tell me, I won't go back to your war games" - the stallion murmured.
March 4, 2225, 6:09 p.m
Reach orbit
Long Night of Solace-Bridge
"Full deployment," said Night, showing where the units were.
Rose had prioritized the most important areas, seeing the deployment was something amazing, that such things could be launched from orbit was very similar to what the ODST did, but on a much larger scale, was impressive.
"Princess, the counterattack has begun, the new units are proving effective against the Covenant, their weapons do not seem to significantly damage their armor and they are immune to their magic" - said Rose, while using a bridge console, which Night had configured to synchronize with the battle net.
"Well, if we continue like this, maybe ..." - Flurry could not continue until several alarms sounded on the bridge.
"Detected slipspace anomaly, multiple jumps" - said Night, causing Rose and Flurry to turn to the screen, and she felt how her legs lost strength because of fear.
Hundreds of ships, dozens of capital ships classes 4 and 3, even more class 5 supercarrier like Night destroyed, only one of those things could against a fleet of UNSC ships.
Flurry and Rose paled to see so many numbers, even with the help of the main fleet, they could not defeat that fleet, maybe they were seeing the entire Covenant fleet, and that without including the ships that were still in each other's Reach side of the planet.
Before Flurry could say anything, she watched as several points of light appear towards the fleet.
And as if he called bad luck, more of dozens of ships began to emerge from the skid space, she could not see what types of ships the Covenant had, the decades of advantage they achieved by kidnapping all the scientists were notorious.
The Covenant was so efficient conquering their worlds, that they did not know exactly the magnitude of their attack fleets, Flurry may be seeing their main fleet, and that terrified her, almost losing hope.
The damned want taking the time to bleed the city, even giving them hope.
Then hell broke loose, at least for the Covenant fleet.
Energy beams shattered the huge Covenant ships, even causing one to the class 5 to be instantly destroyed.
Only the legendary admiral Lolamoon had achieved such a feat, at the cost of almost a whole fleet of 50 ships.
Even Rose looked terrified, unable to move.
The Covenant fleet opened fire, tens of thousands of missiles, some perhaps nuclear were fired, MAC rounds and dozens of smaller combat ships fired in the direction of the titan.
The Covenant wanted to destroy the ship, and Flurry was terrified, she never thought they went into combat against so many, almost all of her people were in the ship.
What followed was a massacre, the ship's energy shields endured the scourges of the Covenant, purple rain destroyed the approaching ships.
The Covenant was receiving a beating.
Flurry then began to hear cheers on the communication network, everyone was watching fascinated as their greatest enemy was taking a beating, even she couldn't help feeling excited.
After several minutes, the remaining Covenant fleet began the retreat on the other side of the planet, sacrificing several frigates and destroyers to save the rest, they had lost almost 40% of their fleet and had failed to destroy one ship.
"Slight damage to armor, lack of energy is a problem, but I think I can withstand two more attacks of the same magnitude" - said Night, before being hugged by a huge alicorn.
The battle was intense and very dangerous, although the shields could withstand the enemy attack when the screens were lit by nuclear bombs Rose could not help feeling fear.
Although the ship could defend itself, it could not attack everyone, many weapons, and few hands, Night explained that it needed a crew to be more efficient.
Seeing the withdrawal of the fleet, it only managed to destroy maybe 40 ships in a total of 260, and several classes 5.
Although they had won the battle, he use a lot of Thanatonium, a fuel that Night explained that he needed for weapons and propulsion, one more battle and he would only have the plasma torpedoes to defend himself, which were based on nanomaterials.
Seeing that the city was safe, Night spoke.
"Repelled enemies, requested permission to return the city."
"Very well, position the ship on the central tower, Rose, call the high command, to see us there, and that includes her" - said Flurry, in a tearful voice.
Determined to make a good impression, Night decided to deploy the corvettes class SDV on the ship to serve as an escort.
He did not use them in the battle for practicality, it was already quite difficult to handle a single ship, although he later had to explain that they were the small ships that seemed to part with the ship.
Going down slowly, the huge ship positioned itself over the city, covering it almost from all the light.
Heavy corvettes meanwhile were serving as sentries around the city.
Preparing a Phantom to get off, the first thing they found in the hangar where thousands of citizens shouting with joy, Flurry couldn't help smiling, then two escorts approached them, to accompany them on the trip.
March 4, 2225, 8:09 p.m
New Mareland
Olympic tower
After the emotional encounter, they went down to the platform, which was full of guards and escorted to a conference room, one that wasn't destroyed.
Just when they entered, everyone in there was silent.
4 ponies were sitting at the table in the room, all women and from different tribes.
"Thank you all for being here, even with the amount of work you have, but I would like to introduce you to Long Night" - said Flurry while pointing at Night.
Night didn't know what to do but just saying hi, while he watching them murmur as they watched him.
Flurry, meanwhile, moved to sit in one of the central chairs where the others were, then pointed to Night one of the empty chairs in front of her.
"First, I would like to thank you for your help, thanks for giving us another chance" - said Flurry while bowing slightly.
Night, although on the outside it seemed calm, on the inside I didn't know what to answer.
"Princess, I think we have more important things to talk about" - said one of the mares in the room, although they all dressed almost the same, this one, in particular, had one more thing adorning her uniform.
"Sure, I apologize, Admiral, Night, they are my officers, Admiral Parangosky Apple, Rear Admirals Ned Rich and Rose Star, as well as Captain Greene Rock, the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, and Rose is my liaison with the ONI "
Night couldn't help looking at each one
Flurry cant avoid looking to them, Admiral Parangosky (internally night almost screams in fear), was a terrestrial mare with light fur and white hair, the sharp look in her eyes seemed to gut those who looked.
The Rear Admirals seemed more relaxed, Ned Rich was an almost identical copy of Diamond Tiara, while Rose Star was identical to Silver Spoon, both seemed to analyze it.
Last but not least, Captain Greene Rock seemed the most relaxed of all, a pegasus mare of light blue and red mane, her amber eyes seemed to look at him with the intensity of the sun.
Although Flurry was the most imposing figure in the room, Night could not help feeling nervous about being under the eyes of such imposing characters.
"Nice to meet you, my full name is Long Night, a supercarrier of the fog fleet" - said Night as calm as possible.
"So you're the only one who drives all those ships?" - asked Ned Rich, as he looked at him with an arched eyebrow and pointed to a hologram that showed a panoramic image of the city, where they showed the heavy corvettes and the Long Night of Solace.
"That's one of my skills" - answered Night.
"Your type? The fog fleet?" - Parangosky asked.
"Yes, all of that is connected to me, or rather, I am the will incarnate of that fleet" - said Night
"embodied?" - asked Flurry.
Night, trying to sort his thoughts and calm his emotions to avoid giving a picture of a crazy pony and embarrassing his commander, so he simply decided to say everything he knew.
"I am a kind of artificial intelligence, I suppose you know what that is?"
"Yes, we know they are, but I have a hard time believing that you are one" - said Parangosky, while everyone else watched Night with suspicion, even Flurry looked doubtful.
"I am the only one of my kind, all I remember is my name and what I am" - said Night.
"And that is?" - asked Rose Star.
"A weapon"
Seeing that they were all in conflict with his words, Night simply continued.
"It's like a contract, I need to find who a commander, only those who are compatible with me can do it"
"and what is your price?" - Parangosky asked.
".... has already been paid" - said Night.
"I understand, please come out while we talk for a moment with your commander," said Parangosky.
Night, turning to Flurry and receiving confirmation, stood up from the chair and left the room.
While the door closed behind Night, Flurry couldn't help but sweat cold, Admiral Parangosky was one of the few who could make her feel like a filly that had just broken her grandmother's vase.
"I don't trust him, but I feel he tells the truth" - said Rose Star.
"I feel the same, he looked quite nervous, but I can hardly believe his story, or what he says he is" - said Ned Rich.
"Night has proved to be quite useful and sincere, if it were an enemy we would not have this conversation, it also appeared on the ship that we have been investigating for decades" - said Flurry.
"I agree with the princess, although it hurts to admit it, without her help, we would be fighting at this moment in the streets for a few more minutes of freedom before being raped" - said Greene Rock, speaking for the first time.
Her soft voice reminded Flurry of her late Aunt Fluttershy.
"I'm interested in knowing what you agreed to pay princess" - said Parangosky, throwing a look that even shook Flurry.
"I do not know, did not ask for credits, all I said was that I was willing to do everything to save my subjects" - said Flurry.
A long silence continued in the room, several minutes passed that for Flurry they felt hours.
"Let him come back, let him tell us what he accepted in exchange for helping" - said Parangosky.
Night, just 16 minutes after being asked to leave the room, they called him again, when he entered everything looked unchanged, except Flurry's worried look.
Maybe I would ask you to leave the planet? Or something else.
"Before continuing, I would like to know what you accepted as payment, I guess for someone of your caliber, are a few million credits?" - said Parangosky.
Night, with a flat look, had never considered charging credits for something like that, something quite useless for someone like him, he shook his head.
"My price is the will of my commander, the more is willing to sacrifice for its goals, is more compatible with me, I can still refuse to do certain things, but under the contract, I would be obliged to obey my her" - said Night, then he pointed at Flurry.
"She agreed to pay everything she had in exchange for her people, as long as she doesn't change her desire, she can be my captain"
Flurry didn't know if his face had ever blushed so much.
Fortunately, no one had noticed.
".... well, for now I will believe you, we are in a desperate situation and we cannot be selective, I need you to tell us that you are capable" - said Parangosky.
"......." - Night just fell silent.
"Any problem?" - Parangosky asked.
"Flurry is already aware of my ability, but I need your permission if you want to know my potential" - Night replied.
"What do you need from her?" - asked Ned Rich.
"Just stand in front of me" - said Night a little insecure.
"Good" - said Flurry as he rose from his seat and approached the stallion.
"Just don't be alarmed, it can be a bit flashy visual" - said Night.
Moments later a huge circle of gray light covered the entire room, locked Night and Flurry in it.
Night just stared at her for a few seconds, then a ray of light burst from her chest and shot at Flurry's, then the room filled with light.
"That's enough, my commander, I am under your command, I await your orders, the Long Night of Solace is at your service" - said Night, who looked a little bigger, while leaning slightly towards Flurry.
"Look at nothing else, finally the princess found her own knight" - Parangosky said with a smile, making even Greene smile for the scene.
Ignoring the looks, Flurry simply looked at Night with a blush.
"Let's blow them away from our home" - said Flurry.