Halo: ODSP

Chapters

Ch. 1 - Aftermath
Ch. 2 - Re-entry
Ch. 3 - Wildlife
Ch. 4 - Departure
Ch. 5 - Palaver
Ch. 6 - Railway
Ch. 7 - Inventory

Ch. 1 - Aftermath

"Veronica, what the hell are we looking at?"

Captian Veronica Dare looked out from a large viewport on the bridge of the UNSC Prowler Fast and Loose and tried to think of an answer to Buck's question. And, what, exactly, was Buck referring to? Before them were two unbelievable sights; one was unbelievable due to past experience told them it was highly unlikely, more like impossible, while the other was unbelievable due to the nature of the thing that was out there didn't appear on any instruments.

Out of all the battles against the Covenant that took place in space, Dare, and Buck, for that matter, had never seen Covenant ships decimated in this way. Sure, they'd seen Covie ships destroyed. A MAC round through the bow of a Covenant ship would, if the shields were popped beforehand, tear through the entire ship, gutting it and sending half of the interior out the rear. Plasma, on the other hand, would melt away the exterior, causing the ship's hull to be seared and melted. But this was something else entirely.

"Well, Buck, it appears to be the remains of a Covenant battle group consisting of about half a dozen ships...one of which appears to be," she searched for wording, "cut in half."

Eddie Buck snorted on the intercom. "That's one way to put it...I've seen cross sections that weren't as smooth!"

Buck was right. The Corvette had been cut cleanly in two, straight down the middle. Individual compartments could be seen along the interior of the ship. Debris and what Dare suspected were bodies of Covie soldiers were still drifting out into space. Whatever happened had happened recently. They just missed one hell of a fight. Dare sighed. What in the world had happened?

~ ~ ~

Gunnery Sergeant Buck stared at the three dimensional holographic render of the battle...no, no, that was too generous. Massacre was a better term. Apart from the two halves of the Corvette, another Corvette appeared to have sections just missing. It was as if someone had teleported spherical sections of the ship away from the inside. It honestly resembled Swiss cheese. Buck was suddenly stricken with a craving for the stuff. He chuckled.

"This ain't freakin' you out, none, Gunny?"

Buck turned towards his heavy weapons specialist, Corporal Miles, death's head scrawled on the front of his ODST armor. Dutch hated the covenant as much as anyone that had served in the war, but he seemed shaken, almost disgusted with the scene before them.

"Well, its always a pleasant sight to see decimated Covenant ships. I mean, two Corvettes, one in pieces...two perfect pieces, one full of holes. What appears to be the remains of two light cruisers..." Buck glanced through the hologram at a fully armored ODST, helmet and all, holding up three fingers in contradiction to his statement. "Alright, if you say so, Rookie."

"He's right, Gunny. More engines in the debris field than if it was just two cruisers..."

"ANYWAY..."

"What's important, Gunny, is that the action's over, right? No need to get our hands dirty. Fine by me."

Buck sighed in mock defeat. "You know what, Romeo? Yes, I'm happy. The Covenant in this area are all dead. No risk to us at all anymore. Our work is done. Oh, wait. I wonder what the hell could have done that to that many Covenant ships? Will it do the same to us? Did you ever think of that?"

Lance Corporal Agu, better known as "Romeo" as well as the squad's sniper, threw up his hands and put a frown on his dark face. "I'm more worried about whatever that thing is out there. I sure hope Ms. Naval Intelligence has an idea, because I sure as hell don't."

"Your insight is an invaluable asset to the human race, Romeo. Mickey, what have you got?"

Private Mickey, the demolition's expert, tapped on the console in front of the hologram. The image zoomed out, shrinking the remains of the Covenant vessels' debris field to the size of a baseball. Whatever the "thing" was, appeared to be the size of a planet in comparison, except there was nothing on the holographic display...just a giant void of nothingness.

"Well, radio waves can't penetrate it. No kinds of scans we send out come back. Nothing is there, but something HAS to be. Stars don't just disappear and reappear like that. You can see a horizon of a planet that's supposed to be there whenever we move. Its circular, maybe even spherical, if it isn't totally flat. Its strange, Gunny, whatever it is."

Mickey had hit the nail on the head. The war was over, wasn't it? All Buck and his Squad had been doing was jumping planet to planet, mopping up Covenant resistance and occasional human uprisings. This was on a totally different scale. Veronica had called them in for a "special" assignment. At first, Buck had wanted no part of it. After New Mombasa, Buck had tried to make amends with Veronica. A punch to the face wasn't exactly what he had had in mind when he went to her with a drunken marriage proposal, but he had tried. But for some reason she had called him up, all mystery and urgency with this new assignment. Those two things had never set well with Buck about anything, person or situation. Veronica was no exception.

~ ~ ~

Fast and Loose proceeded to skirt the debris field. It took around five minutes for anyone to notice that there was one more Covenant ship, a battle cruiser, still in one piece. Everyone held their breath when it decloaked, but it immediately powered down. Dare had never seen a Covenant ship go dark before outside of drydock; its engines were cold and there were no readings on its shields or weapon systems. A thermal scan indicated there were life signs aboard so whatever had caused this, she surmised, was gone or had been destroyed by the capital ship.

"Penny for your thoughts, Captain Dare?"

"I'll give you my two cents for yours, Damocles." Dare turned towards the ship's AI, Damocles, "his" holographic self image of a classical Roman sculpture of a man, draped in a sash, holding a gladius. Milky white granite, Damocles nonetheless spoke and moved as if a golem, brought to life, his nasally, hoity toity accent giving him an air of upper-class snobbery that matched his way of thinking.

"I think we happened upon a party a tad too late. The ship's scans indicated no plasma, nor EX residue. MAC rounds, Archer missiles, plasma...nothing explains what could have happened. I will say this though..." He turned towards the battle cruiser. "I'll wager the remaining Covenant are praying to their gods with every word in their language and ours."

Dare couldn't help but laugh. "So, what's the plan, then? Do we continue to monitor? Head back to Earth? I'm thinking about sending out a probe to that..." She couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Planet?" Damocles ventured. "That's my best guess. It does appear to be spherical given its unchanging shape during our initial sweep of the area. A probe is a good idea, considering the Covies' systems are powered down. I usually wouldn't recommend it but since the remains of all those ships are between us and the survivors, I don't think they'd be able detect the probe even if they were looking for it."

Dare bit her lip. "All right. Make it so. I'm going to go down and brief the squad. Getting their input might shed some light on something we haven't thought of."

Damocles scoffed. "Please don't compare me to those neanderthals. I may not be human but I certainly can think without a gun or a grenade."

"Those 'neanderthals' are some of the most capable and bravest men I know, not to mention ingenuitive. Have you read their file on the Battle of New Mombasa? The mission is still classified 'eyes only' but their time spent fighting on the surface shows they're worth their weight and are an asset to the UNSC, as well as ONI. I brought them along for a reason. They're perfect candidates for a little trip over to board that battle cruiser." Dare considered for a moment. "If we meander our way through the wreckage, we might be able to get within a few hundred meters of them without being noticed. Boarding will be a breeze if they stayed powered down."

Damocles was uncharacteristically silent. She had struck a nerve.

"What? I know Prowlers aren't meant for direct combat but this situation is a perfect use of their skills and Fast and Loose is the perfect tool to get them there."

"I suppose you have a point. Be warned. I have a slipspace solution ready just in case. I won't hesitate to leave your band of misfits out there at the first sign of that ship powering up. If I hear an engine sputter we're jumping."

Dare turned to leave the bridge. "Aren't you sweet? Shall I have them pick up a souvenir from the gift shop?"

"How about a chisel? I could stand to lose some weight."

~ ~ ~

"This ain't freakin' you out, none, Gunny?"

Deja Vu notwithstanding, Buck was sure he had heard Dutch say this a few hours before. And the answer was yes, it was freaking him out. While Dare was briefing them on the possible plan to jump over to the battle cruiser, a crewman on the bridge had informed Dare that the life signs on the battle cruiser started disappearing. The carnage Buck saw now mimicked the wrecked ships out in vacuum. Brutes and grunts were cut in half. Glowing blood decorated the already purple bulkheads. No shell casings and no plasma burns. Pieces of the alien species were missing or had been forcibly removed. Massive entry wounds the size of a golf ball was another common wound. Buck lifted a Brute's head with his foot, examining such a wound. Satisfied, he moved on to the next corpse.

"Gunny?"

"Leave him be, Dutch. We're all shaken up. Its strange when we're not the ones responsible for the pile of dead Covies." Romeo looked up and spied a Jackal head looking at him from the wall. It almost appeared to be...mounted. He cocked his head. "Hey, Rookie, go in that room and tell me what you see."

The Rookie stepped over a couple of Grunts and towards the door which Romeo motioned him. He checked his motion tracker and walked to the door. It was slightly ajar and with little effort he forced it open. The Rookie held his silenced SMG against his shoulder while he poked his head through the entry way. Romeo and the rest of the squad looked at him anxiously. He came back out, pointed at his helmet and made a throat slitting motion. He pointed at the head Romeo was examining, then at his own chest, then motioned inside the room. "You're kidding." Romeo stepped over some Covie corpses, pushing the Rookie out of the way. He stuck his head into the room, pulled it out, then stuck it back in in disbelief.

"That Jackal's been forced through the wall!"

Mickey had stepped up to examine the Jackal's head. "But Romeo, there's no perforation in the bulkhead. The head's just...on the wall, like it was phased though it."

"I guess it must be magic."

The squad looked at Buck, whose head was hung slightly, as if he had resigned himself to his statement as being the only possible answer. He jerked his head up, and soon the others followed suit. "Everyone else see that? Motion tracker twitched." They all nodded. Dutch began to inch down the corridor, towards the bridge. He slung his Battle Rifle and brought out his M319 grenade launcher. "Is that a good idea, Dutch?" Mickey whispered.

"Hey, I haven't got a rod or a staff handy. Psalms says this is the next best thing."

"Dutch, I don't think..." Dutch turned his head. Mickey could feel his eyes through the visor. "Alright, alright, paraphrasing, I get it." Dutch grunted as the squad pressed on.

~ ~ ~

Awe was such a minuscule word to describe what the squad was seeing at that moment. Upon reaching the bridge, Buck and his ODSTs discovered a few stragglers. The Brutes on the bridge had met similar fates to the other Covies in the corridors. All in all, there were a dozen or so here and there, few in one piece. The Covenant that were still alive were three grunts who appeared to be looking for something on some offshoot consoles. None of the squad had their weapons trained on the Grunts. The ODSTs were looking at the creature who was standing behind the Grunts.

It was definitely equine in build. It was covered in purple and florescent blue blood, but appeared to have pure white skin. It stood at least eight feet tall and a pair of wings, fully extended, protruded out its back, easily eight feet in length themselves. A long, spiraling horn adorned the creature's forehead; it, too, was covered in blood. A caricature of a sun could be seen under another smear of blood on the creature's flank. The creature's most striking feature was its tail and mane. A flow of pastel light came out of the creature's head and rear. It was as if a rainbow had materialized and was flowing out of this majestic creature.

"A unicorn? Pegasus?"

The Rookie rarely spoke, but when he did, it was damn important, and usually always short and to the point. Buck couldn't argue what was before them was a creature in the class of Big Foot, the phoenix, even a Leprechaun or Chupacabra, but it couldn't really be one, could it? The squad's awe turned to fear as the mythological creature turned its head towards the Rookie's remark, the Grunts taking their chance to run. Ignoring her captives and focusing on the new arrivals, the spread its wings and rose to its full height, an angelic and truly intimidating site.

"HUMANS!" The creature boomed. "I THOUGHT YOU MAY APPEAR. I REGRET I DID NOT FULLY CLEAN OUT THIS RIF RAFF BEFORE YOU ARRIVED. I HAD HOPED TO NOT INVOLVE MYSELF OR MY SUBJECTS WITH YOUR KIND BUT I SUPPOSE I HAVE NO CHOICE IN THE MATTER. MY NAME IS PRINCESS CELESTIA, RULER OF EQUESTIRA." A full five seconds elapsed before another word was spoken, but it was the inquisitive Mickey who broke the silence.

"Equestria? Is that the...anomaly out there? Its a planet?" Buck turned quickly to Mickey, who shrugged, and was promptly slapped on the helmet. "Sorry, Gunny." He turned back towards Celestia. "You also know we're humans? How?"

Celestia sighed. Her voice was now far more dulcet and nonthreatening. "Yes, we are in the shadow of Equestria. As far as knowing what you are, I left your planet Earth centuries ago, before you could eradicate me and my kind. But enough of that, you must leave. I have a Prophet to find."

A bombshell. "Whoa, a Prophet is here? On this ship? Is that what you were looking for when we interrupted you? Why is a Prophet here? What does the Covenant want in this corner of the galaxy?" Buck had realized too late that he had bombarded Celestia with so many questions and had forgotten she was royalty, but then he only had her word for it, so he eased off himself just a little.

"From what I was told from these creatures I dispatched, the Prophet believes that there is something on Equestria that his religion considers sacred. A "Forerunner Artifact," I think it was. When they first appeared, they made their intentions known. When I refused, there were...altercations."

"That's putting it lightly..." Romeo whispered. Dutch gave him a hard elbow in the arm.

"I'm sorry, Princess, but if there's a Prophet involved, that turns our mission into a horse of a different color." Celestia raised an eyebrow. Buck gulped. "No pun intended. Look, I doubt you know this but the human race has been at war with these aliens, these Covenant, for the better part of three decades. The major leaders were finally ousted but any minor Prophets that remain are still a threat to our race. Any intel we can get from this Prophet is invaluable to us. I...request that you allow us to assist you in your search for this Prophet. I'm sure it would be...mutually beneficial." Buck took a deep breath. He was pleased with himself. He wasn't much of a negotiator, but he felt he had gotten his point across.

"I apologize, but I know your kind all too well. I have watched you for eons, and know of your war against the Covenant. You are capable of so much hate, and I fear that with your knowledge of our existence, that you will eventually bring that hatred to Equestria. Leave. I will handle this situation myself. If you will not do as I say I am afraid I must deal with you, as well." Celestia's horn began to glow. Buck considered this a threat.

"Alright, boys. We're leaving."

"But Gunny, this is a Prophet we're talkin' about! We've never had anything this big before! He could tell us locations of Covie strongholds, troop deployments, where their new HQ is! We can't just leave..." Dutch was shoved against a wall, Buck's hand holding a firm grasp on his chest plate. Buck's voice was a hushed whisper.

"Have you been paying attention? Have you seen any other horse-like creatures around? She did all this by herself! The cruisers, Corvettes, all the dead Brutes, Grunts, and Jackals? Are we supposed to say 'boo' to her? Huh?! We are going back to the ship and report this. Let ONI sort it out!" Buck eased the tension on his grip. Dutch eventually straightened up.

"Yes, sir. Alright, guys. You heard Gunny, let's move out!"

Both parties turned to go their separate ways but the Rookie stood fast. He raised his SMG and started a slow walk towards Celestia. The princess grimaced and her horn resumed its ominous glow, but the Rookie's trigger finger was too fast. The silencer made a muffle of the SMG's report, but it was deafening in the silence of the bridge. Romeo and Dutch ran towards the Rookie, planning to tackle him.

"NO! Look!" Buck looked past an unscathed Princess Celestia at a shimmering group of Grunts who had emerged from a passage at the far end of the bridge. These weren't the same minor grunts who were on the bridge before, but Special Ops grunts, each of whom was cloaked and appeared to be carrying a heavy weapon. The ODSTs took to action as a shocked Celestia turned to see what humans could do to Covenant.

Buck cursed himself. There was nothing on the motion trackers. Crafty bastards. Green and blue flashes illuminated the bridge. Fuel rods and plasma bolts careened throughout the space. The remaining grunts managed to get off a shot or two a piece before they were silenced by a well placed round from Dutch's grenade launcher. Celestia had taken to the air. Hardly cramped, the cavernous bridge truly exposed how large Celestia really was. She regarded the Rookie.

"I thank you, human, but please leave. I don't want your deaths on my..." A familiar high pitched priming noise filled the room. The ODSTs recognized and dove for cover. "conscience..." An azure flash engulfed the Princess. Romeo located a one armed and bleeding Grunt they had thought dead and put a round through its head. It was a hell of a throw the little beast made but then the Princess was a large target. They had been careless. They were ODSTs, damn it! They had been lulled by the oh so familiar form of their childhood stories in the form of Princess Celestia that they had forgotten their training and had almost been killed. If it weren't for the Rookie they'd be dead.

"PRINCESS!" Buck ran over to the princess. The Rookie was the next on the scene. He lifted her head and put his helmeted face close hers. He noted condensation forming on his visor and he nodded at Buck. She was alive. Surprisingly, the plasma grenade had only robbed her of half a wing. It was bleeding slightly, but nothing Buck considered to be life threatening, which he thought at once was absurd. What the hell do I know about pegasus physiology?

The bridge suddenly came to life. The one console that had been operating suddenly became one of dozens. Celestia groaned. "Humans...you must...get out of here. Leave me..." Without thinking, Buck put one of Celestia's forelegs around his shoulder. "Time to go, boys!"

"Gunny! She's gotta way a ton!"

"Quit your bitching, Romeo! She's actually light as a feather. Dutch, guard our backs. Rookie, Mickey, clear a path! Back to Fast and Loose!" Romeo shook his head as he hooked Celestia's other foreleg over his shoulder and paused as he felt her weight. She was INCREDIBLY light. She couldn't be more than 100 pounds. He almost dropped her as Buck took off in a soft jog, jarring him from his disbelief. He heard alien tongues on the rise behind him and quickened his pace. Soon the squad was in an all out run, hopping over Celestia's handiwork as they went.

~ ~ ~

"The tiger is awake! I repeat, the tiger is awake!" Buck knew radio silence was imperative with a Prowler, but at this close range a blind man could see the stealth ship. "Veronica, we're heading back! ETA, two minutes, tops."

There was a short pause before Dare spoke. She sounded apologetic during her response. "Buck, we can't wait that long. Their weapon systems are already powering up. We have to jump now. Fast and Loose will be dust in two minutes if we don't get out of here immediately." Buck stammered. "Veronica, don't do this to me..."

Dare sounded as if she was choking back tears. "I don't want to, but we have an AI on board as well as 90 crew members. I can't sacrifice them and possibly Earth for the five of you." She hesitated, then whispered "I'm sorry, Buck."

Buck's mind began to race. His only option now was to get to the hangar bay and steal a ship, but even if they did, how could they fight a battle cruiser with a Phantom? Buck suddenly had an epiphany. "Veronica? Before you jump, could you at least jettison all of our equipment and weapon pods down to the planet?" It was Dare who stammered this time. "Planet? Buck, what are you..."

"There's no time! The anomaly, that big thing out there, its really a planet. There's no time to explain. We'll hop a Phantom and get down to it. We'll find a way to contact you! Now jettison those pods or we won't stand a chance!"

"Understood!" She relayed the message to an officer on the bridge. "Good luck, Buck. Don't die!" The pods were away. Dare said a prayer for Buck and his ODSTs. She put a hand over her mouth to stifle a whimper as Fast and Loose prepared to jump into slipspace. "Don't worry, ma'am. I'm sure they'll be alright."

Damocles materialized and had a sympathetic look on his face. He looked back towards the battle cruiser. Dare couldn't help but smile at the AI's show of compassion. "I thought they were just neanderthals?"

Damocles faced Dare again as light engulfed the ship. "Guns and explosives make great substitutes for rocks." Fast and Loose jumped into slipspace, leaving five men and a royal equine to defend themselves against the wrath of the broken Covenant.

Ch. 2 - Re-entry

"WATCH IT, GUNNY!"

Buck performed a barrel roll and narrowly evaded the first volley of plasma torpedos from the Covenant battle cruiser. Dammit, Mickey...I'm gonna need a new eardrum.

Once Fast and Loose entered slipspace, the battle cruiser's weapon systems had begun to warm up. Buck and his squad, Princess Celestia in tow, raced towards one of the four battle cruiser's hangar bays. They met with surprisingly little resistance; Princess Celestia had left an impression on the Covenant. The Prophet whom Celestia was hunting had ordered all remaining Covenant soldiers to set up a perimeter around his quarters. The Covenant took awhile to regroup, giving the ODSTs ample time to steal a Phantom dropship as well as a banshee. Upon Celestia's injury, the battle cruiser became an alien beehive.

Mickey took the helm of Phantom, a great prize considering the circumstances. It had a pair of Ghosts mounted beneath it and would come in handy if this were to become a ground game. A quick look around the hangar told the story; Celestia had made a mess of things. Blue fire spewed from a majority of the vehicles. Their Phantom was one of two pristine vessels in the hangar. Buck thanked his luck when he eyed a few Banshees still intact. Buck hopped into the banshee and the big and small purple craft vacated the battle cruiser and headed for Equestria.

The pair of craft had put several kilometers between themselves and the battle cruiser before it began to open fire. The plasma torpedoes barely missed Buck's Banshee but shaved some of the hull off of the Phantom with a near miss. "Mickey, you all right?"

"Fine, Gunny. Plasma torpedoes aren't good for much when shooting at targets this small. Still..." Mickey turned and looked through the passage from the cockpit to where the others were seated. Dutch was shaking slightly. Since the rumble occurred from the near miss he had been signing himself constantly. The big man hated flying and a few more meters to the left and the torpedo would have sent them all the Pearly Gates. "So, what's the battle cruiser's location? Has it moved? Is it in pursuit?"

Mickey observed the Phantom's readouts. "No movement yet, Gunny. Princess Celestia must have knocked out its engines. Permanently, I hope. I really hope she did something about the slipspace drive, too. Don't want anymore Covies showing up. Wait...GUNNY! THE BATTLE CRUISER'S PULSE LASERS ARE FIRING! DETECTING A SALVO OF AT LEAST TWO DOZEN!" Pulse lasers were far faster than plasma torpedoes. Buck groaned. They would need some incredible luck this time around.

"Gunnery Sergeant..." Celestia had regained consciousness. She was communicating with Buck with telepathy. "Move...as close to us...as you can." Buck didn't hesitate. "Yes, ma'am!"

Buck boosted his Banshee as close to the Phantom as he dared. He came within three meters of it and to his astonishment, a glow had encapsulated both ships. He guessed it was an energy field of some kind, conjured by the princess, no doubt. The banshee's warning alarms blared. He clenched his teeth and braced for impact, but the pulse lasers bounced harmlessly off of the barrier. "Gunny, the princess, she's..." Buck laughed. "Yeah, Mickey. I kinda figured."

Well, we can just use Celestia's magic and glide down to the planet unabated. Hard part's over. "Gunny, I think we have a problem." Buck hated the word 'problem.' It always meant more work and usually resulted in a death or two. He sighed. "What is it?"

Mickey turned towards Celestia. Her violet eyes had begun to roll back in their sockets and the glow of her horn had started to dim. The Rookie, who had taken a knee beside Celestia and had been monitoring her condition, looked up at Mickey and shook his head. "Celestia's losing consciousness...looks like out magical force field isn't going to hold out for much longer."

"Great. Just perfect. Well, how much further are we from the planet?"

There was a pause. "Sorry, Gunny. I didn't brush up on my Covie before we left. I can just barely read their numbers for battle data but I still can't get a fix on the planet. I have no idea how far away we are from it." The magical shield dissolved. "Pulse lasers. Second salvo firing..." Mickey was resigned.

Dutch yelped. Romeo screamed. "WE'RE GONNA DIE!!! Right?" This was directed at the Rookie whose response was immediate. "Right." Romeo screamed again. The Rookie leaned against the bulkhead and crossed his arms. He put his chin on his chest and closed his eyes as if he were taking a nap. "Wait..." Mickey said. "What is tha..."

What could only be described as a rainbow suddenly shot out from the void in front of them. It flew at blinding speed, past the Phantom and Banshee and straight at the battle cruiser. It punched a hole in the battle cruiser's side, causing the pulse lasers to overload and explode. The rainbow blew out the other side, crippling the vessel. Buck was disappointed the whole ship didn't explode but he'd count his blessings as they came. Celestia's voice filled his head again. "Great job...my little...ponies." Buck just cocked his eyebrow. Sure, ponies. Why not? It had been an interesting few hours to say the least.

"Mickey, let's set down on that rock and get regrouped. That vessel's on crutches but I'm sure Celestia missed some dropships. We'll need to be prepared for when they land."

"Roger that, Gunny."

~ ~ ~

Klaxons blared, Brutes roared, and the Prophet of Affinity seethed as the pair of Covenant craft edged closer to the Forerunner world and put distance between Grace Through Fortitude. The idea of filthy humans defiling the sacred Forerunner planet with their presence was bad enough, but the FACT that this Princess Celestia had decimated his ships single-handedly made Affinity's blood boil. What was worse, she had somehow used the Forerunner's technology to deal a crippling blow to his capital ship. No doubt her kind had fired the weapon, whatever it was, from the planet's surface.

"This heresy shall not go unabated!" The Prophet boomed. Tiberium, Affinity's primary subordinate, Jiralhanae Chieftain, and Captain of Grace Through Fortitude, a station he obtained through murder and opportunity during the Great Schism, knelt at Affinity's side. A low growl silenced the mob of Brutes who were undoubtedly testing the patience of their Prophet. The mongrel beasts ceased their ruckus immediately. Even kneeling, Tiberium was nearly at eye level with the Prophet, who hovered with the assistance of a gravity belt. "Command me, lord."

The Prophet of Affinity glanced down at Tiberium. He was rather obedient for a Brute, but he had total command of his underlings. He had silenced the riotous bunch without a word, what amounted to little more than a guttural bellow. Affinity had witnessed Tiberium crush the previous captain's head, a feared Sanghelli Elite, like an overripe fruit. He then forced his Brutes to eat and lick the carrion of their former captain and killed all those who refused; in all, seven were eaten that day. It had disgusted and pleased the Prophet all at once. Someone like Tiberium was a great asset.

"Chieftain, gather your Jiralhanae. Take a strike force down to the Forerunner planet and exterminate the humans. Return here with Princess Celestia...alive. You may kill any other of her kind you come across. Reclaim the Forerunner world so we may continue on the Great Journey!"

"YES, MY PROPHET!" Tiberium stood to his full height and held aloft his gravity hammer. He let loose a mighty roar that his Brutes responded to in kind. Tiberium marched out of the Prophet's chamber and his Brutes followed. Affinity turned towards the Forerunner world, wondering why others had attained that ancient technology whilst his people's reliance on said technology had led to the near extinguishing of their faith.

~ ~ ~

Buck would never again think that the day, any day, couldn't get any worse or weirder than it already was. Every time he had thought that within the last six hours, a Covenant battle group had appeared in shambles upon his ship leaving slipspace. Then his group of ODSTs had happened upon a mythical being that was a cross between a pegasus and a unicorn. Now, a dozen or so pegusi, complete in matching blue uniforms and goggles, were attempting to board or otherwise harass Mickey's Phantom. A pegasus with a rainbow colored main and cyan skin was trying its damndest to crash his Banshee. It can always get worse and always get weirder...

"ROOKIE! ROMEO! WAKE CELESTIA UP! Tell her to call off her friends! This one's almost got the cockpit open!" Buck did a barrel roll and boosted but the little pegasus kept up with him at every turn. It was definitely tenacious. Dutch screamed on the intercom. "GUNNY! THERE'S ONE OF THOSE THINGS IN HERE WITH US!"

The moment's hesitation was all it took. The rainbow haired pegasus somehow opened the cockpit and Buck started to free fall. He screamed as the banshee lost power and began to fall with him. Suddenly, with an upward jerk, he slowed and the banshee fell past him. He looked up and saw the pegasus who had skyjacked him was holding him by his backpack in its teeth. Buck looked down and saw the Banshee take a nose dive into a swamp. He looked back over his shoulder into the furious eyes of the pegasus who literally had his life in its teeth.

"Why do you haff our pwinshesh?!" Buck could barely understand what the pegasus had said. For some reason, which he knew was the most asinine thing he could have said right at that moment, he responded with "Could you repeat that? I didn't catch it." Buck was free falling and screaming again. 'I SAID..." Buck jerked to a stop again but instead of teeth holding up his backpack the pegasus' hooves and forelegs were wrapped under his arms and around his chest. "Why do you have our princess?"

The little pegasus, by this time Buck guessed was female due to its voice (he thought the hair was a dead give away, too,) was slowly falling with him. She was trying her hardest to keep aloft but Buck weighed at least 100 kilos with his armor, and he assumed any flighted animal would have a time keeping itself and that much weight in he air. "We're saving her, dammit! She was on that ship and got injured and we got her out! LOOK OUT!"

The rainbow haired pegasus could barely get out "Huh?" before she flew into a tree, dropping her captive as she went. Buck hit a few branches during the fall but was on the ground within a few seconds. His armor had absorbed most of the impact but his back took some of it, and he would feel it for the next few hours. Before he could shake off the stars that were buzzing around his head, his blue skinned assailant was in his face. Her fore hooves had his shoulders pinned. Instinctively Buck reached for his Magnum but he found his hip was bare; he must have lost it in the fall.

"You saved her, huh? We'll be the judge of that! Twilight, how is the princess?" Buck, still spread eagle, tilted his head back and saw the Phantom had landed. The six uniformed pegasi had all settled on top of it, as if they were trying to pin it. He saw Princess Celestia some distance between himself and the Phantom. A somewhat purple unicorn with a purple and pink striped mane was by Celestia's side, examining her wound. "She seems fine other than the damage to her wing. She's unconscious..." She began to tear up. "What did you do to her?!" She screamed in Buck's direction. Buck began to speak but the Phantom's hatch opened suddenly. His ODSTs had their weapons at the ready. The six pegasi that were atop the Phantom flew over and formed a shield in front of Celestia. Buck shoved off his own pegasus and stood up, gripping his back as a sharp pain shot through it.

"STAND DOWN!" The ODSTs slackened their stances a bit. They put their guns to their side and began to exit the Phantom. Buck turned towards the cyan pegasus and held up a hand. "Please, let us explain. We're not your enemy but those other aliens up there are. Please, Miss..."

"Dash. Rainbow Dash. You stay right here. Tell your guys to stay where they are. I'm going over to where the princess is. If you try anything funny, we'll mess you up!" Buck sighed but winced as pain shot through his back again. "Thank you...Rainbow Dash." He could barely say it without laughing. "I'll tell my men to behave and we'll let Celestia explain when she wakes up." Rainbow Dash, teeth bared and still grimacing, nodded slightly then flew over to Celestia's group. Buck got on his radio through his helmet.

"Sit tight boys. Rainbow Dash there is going to have a conference with Celestia to get this all squared away. By the way..." He had just noticed something. Celestia had somehow gotten out of the Phantom under the guard of three ODSTs. How the hell had that happened? "Care to explain how Celestia got out from under your watchful eye?" There was a brief silence before Dutch spoke up.

"Well, Gunny, that purple one there just appeared in the Phantom with us. There was a flash of light and she as there with us, like she teleported or something. She overpowered us." Buck was flabbergasted. " 'scuse me?" Romeo spoke up next.

"The moment she was in with us her horn started to glow like Celestia's had back on the cruiser. She used some kind of telekinesis and threw all of us around the cabin. The Rookie tried to get off a shot but his gun just glowed purple and wouldn't fire. The unicorn then stood over Celestia and teleported away. The whole thing was over in three seconds. Nothing we could do, really." "Apparently, the Rookie tried to do something. Rookie, hit them both for me."

The Rookie promptly hit Dutch and Romeo on the back of their helmets with his hands. They turned at him as he simply shrugged. "Thanks, Rookie. Mickey, how's the Phantom? Systems still green, or, purple? Are the Ghosts intact?"

"We're all good, Gunny. Those pegasuses, or pegusi, whatever, were just a distraction, I guess. Didn't do any damage." Buck let out his first smirk of the hour. "Well, that's some good news, at least. Well, boys, we're here on Equestria now. Hopefully Celestia's friends can give us a hand in our fight. Once she explains things, we'll need to recover our equipment. We have an interesting fight in front of us. I'm just glad Celestia took care of most of their forces before we arrived."

The squad nodded in unison as Buck walked over to the tree he had just taken a tumble off of. He leaned against it, back pain ever present, and slid down to the ground. "I'm going to take a nap now, fellas. Wake me when the deliberations are done." "Yes, sir, Gunny." That Dutch. Screaming like a little girl earlier at the sight of these ponies. Buck found it to be quite amusing. He couldn't wait to tell Veronica this when he saw her again...IF he ever saw her again. He close his eye lids and sleep came upon him quickly. He started to count sheep but decided to settle on pegusi and unicorns. Why the hell not, he thought. Why the hell not?

~ ~ ~

One hundred and thirty-three. Counting himself, Tiberium discovered that Celestia had left this paltry number of his kinsman alive after her rampage though Grace Through Fortitude. There were nearly twice that many Grunts, but even totaling two hundred and forty-one, Tiberium would have traded that amount for twenty-five Jiralhanae in lieu of those cowardly creatures. Sixty-one jackals had survived, as well; their prowess as snipers would come in handy. Celestia's most fatal error came in her overlooking of the mighty Mgalekgolo. She had only dealt with two pairs of the mighty Hunters, leaving eight pairs alive. Reviewing the surveillance footage, he noticed she had to restrain her powers when dealing with them; fear of destroying Grace Through Fortitude along with the Hunters was his only guess.

Celestia had been less forgiving as far as craft and weaponry were concerned. She had turned two of his battle cruiser's hangar bays into scrap yards. Noxious lilac fumes hung in the air, pouring from the purple wreckage of Phantoms, Wraiths and Ghosts. In all, there were only sixteen Phantom dropships, twenty-five Wraiths, and forty-three ghosts. It would be a ground war.

Tiberium held his breath as he boarded a Phantom. It had been so long since he had personally undertaken anything of this significance from his Prophet. It wasn't worry that stilled his breath, but rather excitement. As much as he hated to admit, some Sanghelli were worthy foes. A two on one assault would be an even match for most brutes, no doubt, but these new foes...if there were any more with even one percent of this Celestia's power, his skills as a Chieftain would be put to the test. He hungered for a chance at revenge and redemption. If he could bring Celestia back to the Prophet of Affinity, he was sure he would be greatly rewarded, not only in physical boon, but awe and respect, as well.

With its engines disabled, Phantoms would have to leave Grace Through Fortitude and travel a great distance to the Forerunner planet. And with only over a dozen dropships at his disposal, it would take two whole trips to get ninety percent of his remaining forces down to the planet. Some would have to stay and guard the Prophet. In all, Tiberium could assault Celestia and the humans with a force of about four hundred. That should be more than enough but he couldn't shake a feeling that the fight he was preparing for would be an even one.

Only five humans had been with Celestia when they fled Grace Through Fortitude, so why this feeling? Celestia had surely been injured, but that prismatic beam that had hit his vessel earlier could only be used against capital ships...something like that that being wielded against ground troops would be a terrifying sight, not to mention overkill. They'd be completely helpless...No. They all walked the sacred Path. They would be triumphant. They would claim the Holy Relics of the Forerunners. They would quash Celestia's rule and destroy the humans! FOR THE GREAT JOURNEY!

Tiberium exhaled and motioned towards the Phantom's pilot. The operation had begun. Tiberium was to leave none alive save Celestia. He wanted the humans alive if possible; they tasted better that way. Dead would be just as good. A fight was coming, and Tiberium was going to be in the thick of it. More, he WANTED to be in the thick of he. He had to be.

Ch. 3 - Wildlife

Humans. Real humans. Luna could hardly believe her eyes when read Twilight Sparkle's report. She knew her sister had fallen into some sort of trouble dealing with the invaders but bringing actual humans, five of them, no less, to Equestria? Had Discord broken free and possessed Celestia? What was she thinking? Luna was far too young to remember humans personally but she had heard of them from her sister; a barbarous species that had nearly hunted her kind to extinction. Sentient ponykind was well rid of them.

But according to Twilight Sparkle, they had saved Celestia. That didn't make any sense...Celestia had always spoken so negatively of them. Surely they weren't capable of compassion? Had they changed in two thousand years? She was sure they had found new ways to destroy themselves...but maybe this new threat, this Covenant would bring out their best, possibly even redeem their species. Luna could only guess at such things. Celestia was always the better judge of character. Luna had been away for so very long with the malice that was Nightmare Moon. She wasn't confident in her abilities to trust others whose regard was so ill favored by her sister, Celestia, but time would tell. She wouldn't have long to ponder such things.

A direct confrontation with the humans was coming. After Twilight Sparkle's communique, Luna had the Wonderbolts bring Celestia to Canterlot. She then told Twilight to gather the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony and to escort the humans to Canterlot, as well. She would hold an audience with them in her sister's stead. They would become allies of her and her subjects or she would deal with them the same way that Celestia had dealt with the Covenant. She hoped it would not come to that. A handful of humans couldn't cause that much damage, after all. Could they?

~ ~ ~

Unicorns, Pegusi, and now giant lion-scopion-things that wanted to eat your face off. What next, Big Foot? They had met a purple sea serpent with a very stylish pompadour and moustache (MOO STAAAHSH, he called it) but for being so big he was incredibly civil. He had even helped them cross the river. But these things, manticores, Twilight called them, were dead set on deadening the lot of them. Buck couldn't blame them, though. Dutch had jumped the gun, rather his finger had jumped the trigger. He had fired his grenade launcher when one of the two manticores had turned and growled at their sextet. His aim was straight and true, but the distance was the problem. The grenade hadn't had time to arm itself. It had only traveled four meters before bouncing off the manticore's head where it then exploded in midair between the two groups.

Needless to say it was none too happy. Its partner, mate, whatever type of relationship the two beasts had between each other, became infuriated, as well. It dove on Dutch, pinning him to the ground under a single massive paw. Buck somehow found this sight amusing for the briefest of moments. A few hours earlier he had been in a similar position with a pegasus pony, now known as Rainbow Dash, and at the time she had been fairly intimidating. How could he have thought that then, he now wondered. This thing was literally the size of a garbage truck and it was about to eat one of his men. He would later tell Dutch about his humorous epiphany and thanked the chain of command for saving himself the trouble of getting a broken jaw from the big man who's ethics didn't allow him to hit a superior.

The sound of razor sharp teeth clanging against metal snapped Buck out of his flashback and into action. Dutch had managed to lodge his grenade launcher in between the manticore's jaws...vertically. The scary thing was that the grenade launcher hadn't pried the manticore's mouth entirely open; Buck guessed its maw was capable being ajar a few more inches. His ODSTs had already spread out and taken up defensive positions behind rocks and shrubberies and the like. The two ponies accompanying the squad were still in shock at the sight of the manticores. Or were they?

Rainbow Dash groaned. "Oh, jeez, manticores? Really? Can this day get any more interesting?"

Gunfire soon drowned her out as battle rifles and SMGs spat out death at 900 rounds per minute. Death was being generous. The bullets might as well have been bees...gnat-sized bees. They didn't quite bounce off the manticores but dug into their thick fur. After a three second salvo Dutch had wriggled free from the manticore's grasp and had regrouped with his fellow ODSTs. "Thanks, Gunny. It had me for a second..." His face (unbeknownst to the Squad and the ponies due to his helmet and polarized VISR) became a sheet when the manticores shook themselves off, much the same way a dog does, but instead of drops of water dozens of bullets fell to the ground and made soft thunks in the loose soil.

"Umm, Twilight, can they do that?" Buck desperately wanted a favorable answer but he could guess he wouldn't get the one he wanted.

"I'm sorry, but Manticores have incredibly dense fur. They don't really have a weakness that I've read about..."

Well, at least we're batting a thousand... ODSTs were taught to 'fight' when the 'fight or flight' instinct kicked in, to push hard regardless of the situation, but then bus-sized mythological creatures weren't in the field manual. "Boys, time to leave! You, too, ladies!" Buck motioned with his index and middle finger to his squad. The ODSTs were soon retreating, ponies following close behind, but Buck hadn't realized that being the size of a garbage truck gave you the agility of a garbage truck.

One of the manticores bounded up and over the seven companions in a single leap, a good twenty meters. It knocked Buck and Mickey, the forerunners of the group, to the ground before it landed. They landed hard, Mickey's air was driven out of him. The manticore had plenty of air in it, however, and it reared up and let loose a mighty roar. Mickey and Buck rolled over grasped at each other and pulled each other close, knowing they were about to become red jelly. A hushed and soothing voice broke through the loud bellow.

"STOOOOOP!!!"

The deafening bang of the 99D-S2 Anti-Matériel Sniper Rifle's 14.5x114mm bullet ripped through the air and out the back of the manticore's head. Apparently all mouths were soft, squishy portals that were susceptible to bullets. It let out a soft moan despite the gaping hole in the back of its head and began to collapse. Mickey and Buck pushed off each other and rolled away from the falling beast. It made a mighty thud and shook the ground. The other manticore bounded over to its companion, ignoring the ponies and the ODSTs. Its intimidating scorpion tail was curled between its hind legs and it started to weep. It was actually weeping. Romeo didn't admire his handiwork long. The owner of the soft voice, a pink maned yellow pegasus, had descended to the pair of manticores, one now dead by human hands, with tears in her eyes.

"Why did this happen? Why? Twilight...please, make it go away...Rainbow Dash...help me..." She was sobbing now. She was a tenth the size of the manticores but she was unafraid. She was heartbroken. She nudged the fallen creature but only sunk to the ground when her attempts failed to wake it. Romeo, the most sarcastic ODST, or human being, Buck had ever met, felt truly horrible. He generally made the ladies cry, hence his nickname, but this incident had truly struck a cord on his heartstrings. He slung his sniper rifle on his back. Rainbow Dash's magenta eyes were soon staring a hole into Romeo's VISR. She spoke extremely soft so as not to alert Fluttershy.

"Why did you do that? Huh? Fluttershy was going to handle the situation! I've never seen her this upset before. You humans are the worst. I don't know why Princess Celestia wants your help, but you're not welcome!" Still hovering in front of Romeo, Rainbow Dash shoved him backwards, causing him to fall. He fell on his rump, stealing a glance at Fluttershy. It was as if she knew the manticore, but how could such a sweet little thing like that care about such a monster? "HEY! Don't even look at her!" Rainbow Dash didn't keep her voice lowered. Everyone in the area heard her this time. Her words weren't her only violent action as she pounced on Romeo and started to pound on him with her hooves. The Squad ran into help but Romeo waved them off. Tears soon fell on Romeo's VISR as he saw the rainbow maned pegasus had begun to cry, as well.

"No one...makes Fluttershy cry! You got that! You got that?!" Romeo noticed her blows didn't have much power behind them so he laid there and took it. He felt he deserved some punishment for what he did, even though he was only trying to protect his teammates. A yellow hoof caught Rainbow's hoof mid swing, and none other than Fluttershy was now staring into the wet eyes of Rainbow Dash, with teary eyes of her own.

"Please, no more fighting, Rainbow..." Fluttershy broke down again, sobbing into Rainbow's chest. Rainbow Dash glared at Romeo briefly before putting a hoof around her friend and consoling her. The two pegasus ponies walked away from the manticores and the ODSTs, leaving Twilight to make peace with the humans, a task she wasn't thrilled with given the circumstances.

"You...you five are despicable. Hurting and killing an innocent animal like that! How could you? Are you really that violent? Why did you even bother saving the Princess? Should we be worried that you're here in Equestria? Because I'm starting to think that you're no better than those aliens Princess Celestia was talking about!" Twilight had begun to tear up, too, but kept her composure. She went to join her two pony friends.

Dutch had sure made a mess of things. If he weren't so jumpy their shaky bridge with the Equestrians might not be on fire right now. No, that wasn't fair. All of them were to blame. Had they asked for Twilight's advice before they started shooting this could have been avoided. Their training had taken over. In the near three decades that the war had been going on, the old adage rang true: Shoot first and ask questions later.

They were going to have to fight the Covenant but it was getting harder and harder to make the people...ponies they were fighting for see that they were the good guys. Buck hoped that the ponies wouldn't get dragged into the fighting, that he and his ODSTs would be able to fend off the Covenant with zero casualties to the Equestrian population. If this incident was any indication, ALL life on Equestria was sacred, and ODSTs had struck first, not the Covenant.

"Nuts..." Buck muttered to no one in particular.

~ ~ ~

The Rookie admired the little town when they arrived. The yellow one, Fluttershy, had cried until she had exhausted herself into a deep sleep. She now rode on the back of Rainbow Dash. The town was small and rustic, almost something out of a fairy tale. There were lights on in the town; most of the small shops and cottages still appeared open despite the darkness. One of the things the Rookie had found most strange was the night had lasted for more than twelve hours. It was dark when they had landed and was still dark now. The stars and moon hadn't moved, either. It was a most curious thing, and something he had decided, in loo of their last incident, to not ask the ponies about quite yet. He had overheard Twilight answering a question from Rainbow Dash, though. Something about how Celestia raised the sun everyday and due to her injury she wouldn't be able to. He stopped looking around when Twilight turned and faced his squad.

"We're entering Ponyville, now. Put away your weapons. There's no reason to have them out. There are no wild animals to attack you, got it? Please..." She turned back at Rainbow Dash and the unconscious Fluttershy. "I don't want to cause her anymore stress. Looking back, we were in the manticore's territory. It would have probably attacked us anyway. We've had a brush with one before but it turned out just to be hurt and it was lashing out at everything. Still...You didn't need to kill it." The Rookie had noticed Romeo was rubbing the back of his helmet, as if to mime he was sorry. Their Gunnery Sergeant spoke up.

"Look,Twilight Sparkle, we're soldiers. We ascertained the situation as a hostile one. On earth we don't have anything dangerous that's that size. Sure, there are lions, tigers, and bears, but they're generally kept in captivity, and when we do encounter them in the wild, well, its usually lethal. Me and my boys," Buck turned towards his Squad. "We're trained to kill. The last twenty five years we've been fighting the Covenant. They've destroyed dozens of worlds, killed BILLIONS of humans." Buck removed his helmet and fixed his eyes with Twilight's. "Do you understand, Twilight? Billions."

Twilight's eyes were large with disbelief. "No...that can't be. How can there be that many of you? I'm no expert but I can't imagine Equestria to have more than a few million ponies, and yet you say that there were billions of humans killed in your war? And did you say planets? How..." Buck held his hand up to quiet the inquisitive pony.

"Let's save the history lesson for later. The bottom line is that the war made us hard. Humans were generally a violent bunch before, but this war forced us to be the most violent we've ever been in response to a genocidal enemy." Twilight cocked her head at the word genocidal. "The Covenant thought it was their holy duty to wipe the human race from the face of existence. The incident with that thing earlier..."

"Manticore." Rainbow Dash interjected, still furrowing her brow.

"Manticore. It roared, we attacked, it attacked back. Nothing else could be done at that point. Granted if Dutch here hadn't been so trigger happy..." He glanced at the ODST with a lower jaw bone painted on the bottom of his helmet.

"I'm really sorry, Miss Twilight. I just acted. I've never seen anything so terrifying in my life, and believe me, we've seen our share."

"That's still no excuse." Rainbow Dash stepped towards Dutch, who tensed up but didn't shy away. "You're in a new place, a peaceful place. We have nothing compared the weapons you have and haven't had many life threatening things happen in a thousand years! What gives you the right to come here now and start shooting up the place?"

Mickey came to Dutch's aid. "It was a stupid thing we did, but the Gunny and me would have been dead if not for what Romeo did." Romeo, currently off the verbal chopping block even though he had actually killed the manitcore, cocked his head at Mickey, silently chiding him for saying his name. "We stirred up a hornet's nest, no doubt, but if that were the Covenant instead of the manticore, we all might not be standing here right now."

Romeo approached Rainbow Dash, still carrying Fluttershy who was still sleeping. Rainbow promptly growled at him. Romeo put his hands up in defense. "I'd be lying if I said I was sorry for what I did. As I see it, I saved my teammates' lives. I am sorry for making your friend..."

"Fluttershy..." Rainbow said through bared teeth.

"Fluttershy..." Romeo continued. "I'm sorry I made her cry. I can tell she's really shaken up. I can tell you this much, though." He looked back at the rest of his fellow ODSTs. "When the Covenant show up, and they will show up, your way of life will change. If you stand with us, and I honestly hope you don't, for your own sakes, most of you will die."

Rainbow Dash began to chuckle a little. "Pfft. Please. How tough and scary can they be? Princess Celestia was caught off guard, that's all. I'm sure you distracted her, somehow. That would never happen to..." The Rookie dove forward, drawing his magnum, slid under Rainbow Dash, and pointed the magnum inches from the mare's chin. "me..." Rainbow Dash finished.

"What are you..." Twilight began to shout but Buck held up his hand, once again, to silence her.

"Wha...what's the big idea? Point that thing someplace else!" The Rookie holstered his magnum and picked himself up off the ground. He didn't dust himself off as he walked back towards the squad. As he passed Romeo, he shook his head. He obviously meant that the ponies couldn't help them in the upcoming fight.

Romeo shrugged. "Yeah, you got that right." Rainbow was fuming.

"What's that supposed to mean? I can fight! I'm the fastest flier around! And I rung the bell of Sergeant what's-his-name earlier when I pulled him out of that ship he was in!" The pony had a point. Buck's back could attest to that.

"A split second is all it takes." Buck said. "If this had been a real fight, you'd be dead now." Rainbow Dash looked at the ground, anger and embarrassment growing on her features. Rainbow Dash was grasping for anything she could use in her defense.

"Well, what about you? I saved your life when you were falling! You could have died, too!"

Buck laughed. "True, enough. I could have died. I've almost died more times than I can remember, but be it an ally pushing me out of the way or saving me from plummeting to my death," he pointed at Rainbow Dash. "I've always managed to come out alive. Had you been on your toes...hooves, you would have tried to avoid the Rookie's attack. You didn't. The difference is that I have experience fighting the Covenant. I know what to expect. You obviously don't. We won't ask for your help unless we absolutely need it. When we get to this other Princess of yours, we'll know more about how we'll deal with the Covies on your planet."

Rainbow Dash was clearly upset but had been humbled. She turned and started to walk into Ponyville, Fluttershy in tow. Twilight sighed. She had to admit it that Buck was right. "I'm sorry I was so brazen with my comments, earlier, Gunnery Sergeant. We have nothing in our history that compares to the hardships you and your fellow humans have experienced. If these Covenant creatures are as fearsome as you say, then I'm sure Princess Luna will support your fighting them. I still don't like your being here, though, but you did save Princess Celestia, and for that you have my thanks. Now, come along. We should eat before we make our trip to Canterlot. How do you like cupcakes?"

Buck suddenly got the most quizzical look on his face. Before he could answer, Dutch spoke up. "I love em!" He said with far too much enthusiasm. Buck turned and spread his arms in a 'did-you-really-just-say-that' gesture. "What? I like cupcakes. A lot. My mom used to make em when I was little. They're fantastic." Buck looked around to the rest of the Squad. Some nodded, others shrugged.

"I guess we'll take you up on that offer, Twilight." Buck put on his helmet and the Squad followed Twlight Sparkle into Ponyville. Cupcakes, Buck thought. Well, at least they had similar food and nothing as exotic to eat as they had other animal life. Buck didn't know what to expect. A warm welcome, a hostile one? Time would tell. They seemed to have won Twilight's trust, maybe they'd be able to win over all the ponies. As the last twenty four hours was any indication, anything could happen.

Ch. 4 - Departure

Tiberium stepped out of his Phantom and into the passenger seat of the crimson Revanant assault vehicle. While not as imposing as the larger Wraith, it was faster and still sported a menacing mortar that could still kill most living things with a near miss. The Revenant's driver, a minor Jiralhanae who's name he couldn't place, lowered his head in respect. Tiberium just nodded forward, indicating his wanting to get moving.

A quarter of his remaining forces had landed on the planet. It was dark but the full moon cast a brilliant glow on the landscape. He could see for miles. The ground was relatively flat. There were sparse outcroppings of trees here and there. Some mountains far in the distance. Tiberium sniffed the air. He could smell no humans nor anything smelling that resembled Celestia. He cursed his soldiers' slowness to muster themselves before going down to the planet. It had taken them a full hour before he could mobilize his few remaining assets.

Some sort of strange energy in the atmosphere had scrambled the tracking system that had been installed in every Covenant vessel, a safeguard implemented should a ship be captured by enemy forces. Grace Through Fortitude's scanners had been working perfectly fine, tracking the stolen Phantom's movements until it breached the planet's atmosphere, where it then completely disappeared. This perplexed Tiberium as much as it had infuriated him. Now, he potentially had to scour the planet for five measly humans and the one who had mangled his ship, Celestia. He would grind her limbs into dust, but keep her alive, as per the Prophet's instructions. She had made them the fool, and he would rectify that mistake.

Two Ghosts flanked his Revenant on either side. Tiberium never liked an escort. He thought it was dishonorable for a warrior to have backup of any kind, especially if there was no kind of threat at hand, and at the moment, they were completely alone out here. There was nothing but flat wilderness. Tiberium gazed up at the moon once again and noticed a flash of red fly across it. He blinked and thought he must be imagining things. His Revenant was suddenly flying in the air and Tiberium found himself staring up at the night sky again, but this time from the discomfort of the ground. He staggered to his feet, wondering what had happened when a mighty roar rattled his head. A challenge...good. He picked up his gravity hammer and turned to face his enemy. Regardless of what it may be, one thing was certain. The night was turning interesting, after all.

~ ~ ~

Buck had to admit that Dutch was right. Cupcakes were the best thing ever. That top honor had once gone to moa burgers but boy, oh boy, were these cupcakes fantastic. They had each gotten about three cupcakes a piece before Twilight was able to get Pinkie Pie's attention for four seconds, enough time to explain what had happened and why Fluttershy was unconscious. Buck guessed she just thought the yellow pegasus had been napping.

Strangely, the pink pony's mane deflated...there was no other word for it. It suddenly went from being very curly and puffy to straight and flat. The energetic pony was unusually sad from the short time Buck had spent with her, which wasn't saying much; they'd only arrived at this pastry shop named Sugar Cube Corner five minutes prior, and the pink pony had been going nonstop about cupcakes, why it was night time during daytime hours, and why Buck and his ODSTs walked on two legs instead of four. Now, it was eerily silent in the shop. Most of the ODSTs stopped eating when the silence came, save Dutch. He really loved the cupcakes.

Pinkie Pie, her name finally unveiled as Twilight had spoken it repeatedly trying to get the pink pony's attention, moved into the kitchen and emerged holding a frying pan over her head. Most of his men had started conversing between themselves and finishing off their muffins. Buck saw a mixture of sadness and animosity on Pinkie's face. Buck had seen that look and stance before on Veronica's face when he had returned to her drunk one evening, though it had been a portable fan instead of a frying pan. He remembered how much the fan had hurt and couldn't imagine the frying pan to hurt any less. In fact, he was actually worried for Romeo's well being, who's back was to Pinkie Pie.

When she began the upswing, the Rookie reached for his magnum but Buck shook his head and simply said "Watch your head, Romeo." Romeo turned his head just in time, ducking the blow which bounced off his shoulder pad and knocking him off his stool. The rest of the ODSTs jumped up from the table, further startling the other ponies.

"Pinkie! Stop it!" Twilight's horn glowed pink as did the frying pan. She lifted it away from Pinkie Pie who had started to tear up. Romeo had fallen to the floor and was holding his hand up to parry another blow which came in the form of a pie to the face. Where she had gotten the pie Buck would never know, but her aim was spot on. Some excess pie had hit the others but only the Rookie escaped the mess; he had put on his helmet immediately after eating. Dutch began to chuckle as Romeo removed the pie pan from his face.

"You've got something on your face, there, sweetheart." He began to laugh harder.

"Save me the cherry!" Mickey's comment made them both wail. They grabbed each other in the ensuing hilarity and threw their heads back. Buck noted that Twilight and even the mistrusting Rainbow Dash had cracked a smile at the recent interaction between Pinkie Pie and Romeo. When Romeo finally removed the pie pan, he wiped his face off and spit out a cherry, just as Mickey had asked, Mickey and Dutch joined Romeo on the floor. They were roaring now. The usually silent Rookie even started to laugh a little, and if he did, Buck felt he could too. Pinkie Pie dried her eyes with her hoof and went straight up to Romeo and put her hoof on his chest.

"Don't you ever make Fluttershy cry again, you got me? I might just make cupcakes out of you." Romeo cocked a whipped cream coated eyebrow in disbelief. She had a sly look on her face and Romeo wasn't sure if she was joking or not and he found that very unnerving.

"Oh, Pinkie Pie, your such a jokester." Rainbow Dash walked over to her and put a hoof around her shoulder. Pinkie Pie's hair suddenly inflated and a smile graced her face again.

"So, do we have a deal?" She was still addressing Romeo, who's doubt of her grizzly threat, joking or not, had been abated by the reanimation of her hair. He took her hoof in his hand and grasped it firmly.

"Deal. Now, do you have somewhere I can wash up?" Pinkie Pie thought for a moment and motioned him upstairs.

"There's a sink and tub upstairs. Feel free to clean yourself off up there." Romeo turned to Buck who nodded. He went upstairs as the other ODSTs regained their composure. Mickey and Dutch had slowed their breathing but had tears in their eyes from laughing so hard.

"Pinkie Pie, was it? Thank you for clearing the air. We aren't used to complacency where we come from. We should have listened to Twilight during that manticore business. We're sorry about our impression on you all and most especially Fluttershy."

"Oh, its alright. Most animals in the Everfree Forest are very scary. My knee usually gets pinchy whenever we go in there." Buck cocked his head.

"Pinchy?" Buck looked at Mickey, Dutch and the Rookie, all of whom shrugged. He looked at Twilight.

"Its her Pinkie Sense. She can predict things by certain bodily reactions."

"Ooookay..." Buck just accepted it. Stranger things had happened recently, this should be no surprise. Pinkie Pie started to roll one of her shoulders.

"Uh oh, my shoulder's achy," Pinkie said in a cheerful voice. The other ponies began to try and restrain smiles.

"What does that mean?" Romeo wailed upstairs and a slew of crashes could be heard from the floor above. "Romeo! You alright?"

"There's an alligator in the tub! It tried to bite me but..." Buck, clearly interested, prodded.

"But what?"

"Its got no teeth..."

Mickey and Dutch looked at each other and immediately started laughing again, as did the ponies. Buck just looked up at the ceiling and rolled his shoulders back as if to say 'the things I put up with.' The Rookie's head was down and it was shaking back and forth; Buck didn't know whether he was laughing or was annoyed with the whole situation.

A bell rang as the door to the entrance of Sugar Cube Corner opened. Two ponies came through, a white skinned unicorn with a gorgeously styled purple mane and an orange pony with a blonde mane and cowboy hat let themselves in. The Rookie stood up and Mickey and Dutch stifled their laughter. Buck turned towards the two newcomers then to Twilight. The white pony spoke up first.

"Twilight, who are these...tall fellows? Friends of yours?" Buck marveled at her accent. There was something very high class about it. He had often heard actresses of the early twentieth century speak in such an accent on the silver screen but had never actually heard anyone talk like that in person, and being an ODST, he got around. He was further delighted when the blonde pony commented on him and his squad.

"Yeah, Twilight. First time ah ever seen anything like em. They're even standin' on two hooves, well...legs, anyway. What're they doin' here?" A southern accent. Wow. That's something.

"Well, its a long story, guys. I'll fill you in on the way to Canterlot. The bottom line is that Equestria's in trouble and these guys are here to help us, even if they're rough around the edges."

"Rough all over if you ask me..."

"Rainbow Dash, I thought we had finally accepted them. Don't be like that. They apologized for what they did..." Twilight caught Rarity's gaze go up to the ceiling and realized she was looking towards the staircase.

"Oh, here comes another one." The group turned towards Romeo and all but the two new ponies were startled at the scene before them. Fluttershy had awoken sometime within the past minute and was now looking up at Romeo. Romeo hadn't expected to see the yellow pegasus when he came back down from his fright with the harmless alligator, but he thought he might as well get this over with. He took a knee in front of Fluttershy and extended his hand. Fluttershy shrunk to the ground in fear but slowly raised her gaze to meet his. She looked at his face and then his hand.

"I'm sorry if that creature was a friend of yours. I just reacted without thinking. I thought it was going to kill my squad mates so I killed it first. I'll understand if you'll never forgive me but I can live with that. I'll still fight the Covenant on this planet and try to protect all of you the best I can, but no promises, okay?"

Fluttershy rose up to her full height, and she was just barely at eye level with the kneeling Romeo. She flapped her wings to rise above him and he rose to his feet, hand still extended. She sighed and put out her hoof, but instead of shaking his hand as Pinkie had done before, she gently pushed it down.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive you for what you did...but if my friends can accept you, then I guess I can try, too." Romeo balled his hand into a fist and pulled it to his chest. He looked at it briefly, touched by the pony's gentle words. He dropped his hand to his side and walked past her and retrieved his helmet from the table. He looked around at his fellow ODSTs and the colorful array of ponies in the room. He nodded as he put his helmet on.

"Well, what do you say we get to work?" He immediately noticed strange circles scrawled on his VISR. Everyone and everypony in the room had a hand or hoof to his or her mouth and were trying to contain their laughter. He reached up and scraped some of the substance off his VISR with his index finger and examined it. Looked like...frosting. He turned to Fluttershy, a small smile creeping over her previously sullen face. "Quite the comedians you've got here in Ponyville..."

Fluttershy trotted past Romeo to the table and picked up a spatula that still had some icing on it. She flew back to Romeo and gave him a curly mustache to complement the eyes on his helmet. She let out an almost inaudible giggle. "We sure do." Laughter filled the room now, and even Romeo joined in. The burning bridge had been extinguished, it seemed, and he, for one, was content that his firefighting days had come to an end.

~ ~ ~

The Rookie was on point, and the merry band of near a dozen ponies, ODSTs, and a baby dragon marched towards Canterlot for an audience with Princess Luna. They had collected Spike the dragon because Twilight Sparkle had told them he could send correspondence to Canterlot via burning a magical scroll. That definitely would come in handy. Unfortunately, the Rookie was still worried.

The Rookie had two things on his mind, neither of which was comforting. The first was that he and his squad had no idea where the weapon pods Fast and Loose had jettisoned had landed. Something in Equestria's atmosphere was interfering with their tracking systems. Their VISRs worked fine highlighting the terrain and their friendly forces, but the beacons that would normally be displayed as waypoints on their HUD flickered rapidly, changing locations several times a second. It was dizzying if you left it on, but the Rookie diligently check every so often just in case the interference had decided to stop. The second thing that had him worried was the very nature of the new companions he and his squad were traveling with.

The fact that it had been dark since they had landed in Equestria had given them a tactical advantage with their VISRs. On Earth during the Battle of New Mombasa, their VISRs had been invaluable. The Rookie had ambushed dozens of squads of Covenant in the early morning hours after his drop pod had crashed in the city with the help of his VISR's advanced targeting technology, but it'd be a level playing field due to the ponies' bright colors. They could be seen for kilometers by the untrained eye. White, cyan, purple, pink, yellow and orange? They might as well have waved a flag saying "Here We Are!" and save the Covies the trouble of looking for them. It had taken the squad nearly an hour to convince the ponies to talk in anything above a hushed whisper. The Rookie preferred no talking at all due to the circumstances.

He perceived that even if Celestia had killed most of the Covies on that battle cruiser that they'd still have to contend with at least a hundred enemy soldiers during the upcoming fight, if not more. He didn't want anything giving away their position, but he had conceded to himself that if the ponies were bright beacons on this dark night then talking couldn't be any worse of a give away. The Rookie could see Canterlot in the distance. It reminded him of something out of an old Tolkien novel...the great White City of Minas Tirith came to mind. It was hardly inconspicuous. Anyone could just look up and see it. He had hoped that maybe the Covenant had landed on some other part of Equestria, far away from here, and would have to search them out or that somehow this Princess Luna could locate the enemy and that the ODSTs could strike first. Either way, he was worried.

The Squad came over a hill and the Rookie turned his head sharply right. He motioned with the palm of his free hand to stop, then raised it slightly slightly, angled it parallel to the ground, and lowered his hand slowly. The ODSTs went to the ground at pace with the Rookie's hand and the ponies followed suit, albeit after regarding the ODSTs. They obviously were slow on the uptake, but the Rookie was somewhat relieved that they mirrored the ODSTs actions so quickly. Maybe they wouldn't be such a liability after all. He looked over his shoulder at Romeo and put his index finger to his thumb, forming a circle with his hand, and put this finger formation up to his helmet, miming a scope. Romeo unslung his sniper rifle and passed it among his squad mates until it reached the Rookie's grasp.

The Rookie crawled forward a few feet and looked through the scope of the rifle. What he saw filled him with equal parts shock and awe. The moon hung low in the sky, and even in its brilliance it didn't fully illuminate the field the Rookie was spying on. Still, blue and green plasma bolts shot in the air like some sort of fireworks display. It was apparent the Covenant were having a battle, but with what? No sooner had he thought this a monstrous form flew across the moon, something with an enormous wingspan and a long, snakelike body. The Covie's plasma fire followed the monstrosity but it was simply too fast. The Rookie couldn't see much of the ground which the creature was assaulting; the treeline obstructed the view and he realized he needed a better vantage point. He turned to his companions and got an idea.

The Rookie pointed to the two pegasi of the group, then at himself, then to the top of a nearby tree. It was a good fifty feet high and he'd have a time climbing, so, given the circumstances, he needed the help.

"The tree? What about it?" Rainbow Dash whispered. The Rookie pointed towards the two pegasi again, then made a thumbs up hand sign, and thrust it up towards the tree.

"Oh, he wants us to take him up into the tree." Fluttershy was a mare of few words, so she was very good with nonverbal communication. Rainbow Dash just grunted.

"Well, why didn't he say so?" Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash grabbed the Rookie under his arms and hoisted him up to the top of the tree.

The Rookie tested a branch with his foot then nodded to the two winged ponies who let him go. He leaned against the trunk and put out his left leg out on the branch and propped the sniper rifle's long barrel on top of it. He peered through the scope again and what he saw was a warzone. Purple and blue gas gushed out of several wrecked vehicles, some Ghosts and a Revenant, it appeared. Suddenly there was a large explosion in the sky, one that the Rookie had seen many times before. Phantoms always looked the same when their reactors went critical, and this instance was no exception.

Small groups of grunts and jackals scattered from the falling wreckage. They had formed circles and were closing in on themselves. Every five seconds or so, the winged creature would land within one of these circles and begin to thrash about, killing the Covenant by twos and threes. It bellowed flame which ignited the grunt's methane tanks, sending the short and stocky rockets in every direction.

One of these rocketing grunts, by chance, crashed into the monster's face, embedding in its eye. It shortly exploded and the creature shrieked in pain. Its roar could be heard clearly, even from this distance. The Rookie guessed they were ten kilometers away but the dragon sounded as if it was within spitting distance. The Rookie saw a loan figure bounding towards the towering creature. A shimmering ball of energy appeared on the ground in front of the figure and it was suddenly and rapidly launched towards the creature. The figure seemed to be holding a long staff of some sort with something large on the end of it. A gravity hammer...that's what it was. It had to be a brute, probably a Chieftain.

To the Rookie's horror, the Chieftain brought down the gravity hammer squarely on the thrashing creature's head. Another shimmering formation came from the gravity hammer's business end, and the creature with rigid for a moment then slumped to the ground. The Chieftain had knocked it out! Or knocked it unconscious. Either way, the fight was over. The Chieftain walked away from the fallen creature and the remaining Covenant forces encircled the fallen monster. Glowing blue spheres formed around the creature and suddenly they all flew in an arch towards it. The Rookie looked up from the scope and saw minute blue flashes coming from the field. If it wasn't dead before, it certainly was, now.

The Rookie looked down at Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and jerked his head from their direction to him. They flew up and brought him down. His Gunnery Sergeant approached him.

"Covies?" The Rookie nodded. Buck looked back at his new traveling companions then slowly to the Rookie. "Ponies?" Twilight stepped forward, her eyes anxious. The Rookie shook his head. "What then?" The Rookie thought about this a moment. What had a long, snakelike body, breathed fire, and had wings...oh, hell.

"Dragon." Fluttershy immediately yelped and dove behind the other ponies. Spike harumphed. Although Spike didn't look anything like the thing he had seen, common sense of ancient mythology told him it couldn't be anything else. The Rookie walked past Buck and handed Romeo back his rifle.

"Any dead Covies?" There was an audible inhale amongst the ponies while they waited for the quiet ODST's response. Surely these aliens were wiped out by the dragon. They had seen dragons before and they were without a doubt the most fearsome things that the ponies had ever seen.

"Some," the Rookie said coldly. "Dragon's dead." Buck looked down, as if disappointed, then towards the ponies. Not a one had their mouth closed. They were all gaping in disbelief. Judging by their reaction, the dying dragon had driven home the fact that they were dealing with something way over their heads. They began murmuring quietly amongst themselves, making Buck uneasy.

"A dragon? Rookie, you serious?" Dutch inquired. The Rookie simply shrugged.

"Did anything positive come out of their confrontation Rookie? Was that a Phantom we saw explode?" The Rookie nodded. Buck sighed. "Well, that's some good news. They'll probably have to regroup which will give us time to get to Canterlot. Saddle up, men." Buck was quickly struck with the absurdity of what he just said. He looked at the ponies, all except Fluttershy, who was still shaking after the mention of the word 'dragon,' looked at him quizzically.

"Scuse me?" Applejack had cocked an eyebrow. "Mister, if you think yer gonna saddle us then you got another thing comin'." Romeo turned to Buck and snorted.

"Smooth..." Buck shook his head.

"Sorry, girls. Figure of speech. Anyway, let's get moving."

The Rookie went back to the front of the group and they all started walking. Canterlot awaited them. Soon they would speak with one of the rulers of Equestria. Hopefully she could locate their munitions and gear. If the dragon was any indication, the leader of this band of Covenant had to be tough. The Rookie sighed. At least the dragon had taken a few Covies with it. They had a real fight ahead of them, that was for sure.

Ch. 5 - Palaver

Great...another one.

Buck and his ODSTs had reached Canterlot the day after the Rookie had witnessed the dragon slaying at the hands of the Covenant. Buck thought it to be the next day but time had been eluding him due to the state of the constant night they been enveloped in since they touched down on Equestria. They hadn't run into any other Covenant since then but Buck hadn't started counting his blessings just yet. He learned from the Rookie that the dragon had, indeed, destroyed a Phantom. Even though it had died it was somewhat comforting news. If there were more dragons (Twilight had revealed that she had one as an assistant, albeit was only three feet tall) they might want a crack at the Covenant assuming they had any kind of camaraderie within their species.

This new princess was wholly different from her sister, Celestia, in both her physical attributes and her speech. While Celestia was white and radiant and glowed as if the very sun was contained within her, this Luna herself was darker and her mane shown of the night sky, as if a galaxy was contained within it; Buck thought of it as a nebula, nothing less. She was a pale navy blue and instead of a caricature of a sun like her regal sister, Luna's cutie mark (another phrase he had added to his verbiage as of late) was of a crescent moon on an ink splotched background. It reminded Buck at once of the coloring of a dog but he kept this comment to himself. Luna had been most displeased with their presence on Equestria and had made it known when they entered the castle proper. Herein lay the second difference between the two sisters of day and night.

The walk through Canterlot was mostly uneventful. A few ponies stopped and stared but most of the streets were empty, due to the continuous night sky or if it was really late night or early morning Buck could only guess at. They passed several armored pegasi when approaching the castle and received many reproachful looks. When they stepped through the doors a voice boomed in their ears. His ODSTs and every pony winced as the voice demanded an immediate audience with all of them and that they were to waste no time. She also spoke in a very old way of talking, replacing 'I' with 'we' and other such honorifics. Twilight had mentioned something about Luna being loud, but Buck couldn't say for sure whether or not his ears were bleeding until he took off his helmet in Luna's presence; examining his reflection in his VISR proved his eardrums were intact.

Where Celestia had a commanding but gentle tone about her this Luna had a voice akin to a loud speaker that was more demanding than authoritative. Her tone made her seem that she had already made up her mind about the ODSTs and that worried Buck a great deal. There was an actual rhetoric between he and Celestia back on the Covenant battle cruiser She had let him lay out his arguments and actually listened to what he had to say. Luna sounded like she had already ground the ax and was calling for the chopping block. Buck heard Dutch let loose an audible gulp. He thought of reprimanding him later but realized he was borderline terrified, too. He had seen what Celestia could do on the battle cruiser and she had had a level head, but what of her sister? Buck decided to speak VERY carefully in the upcoming talks.

"WE ARE GRATEFUL THAT YOU HAVE RETURNED OUT SISTER TO US. WE HEARD YOU SAVED HER LIFE AND BROUGHT HER DOWN TO EQUESTRIA AFTER SHE WAS INJURED ABOARD THE COVENANT VESSEL. HOWEVER..."

What an awful word... Buck thought squeamishly.

"WITNESSING THE EVENTS THAT OCCURRED ABOVE EQUESTIRA BETWEEN YOURSELVES AND OUR SISTER, WE FIND THAT THY BAND WERE THE CAUSE OF HER MISFORTUNE." Buck mustered some courage and ventured a response.

"Your highness...I don't think..."

"SILENCE!!!" Luna boomed. Although she wasn't much smaller than Celestia she was still a tad taller than Buck or any of his ODSTs. She wasn't as physically imposing as Celestia, either, but her voice might as well have made her fifty stories high. "YE HUMANS DISTRACTED OUR SISTER WITH THY BANTER AND DEMANDS FOR THIS...THIS PROPHET!!! HAD THEE NOT BEEN ABOUT OUR SISTER WOULD NOT BE IN HER PITIFUL CONDITION!!!"

"Princess Luna?" Buck turned, wide eyed to see Twilight Sparkle speaking up to the princess. He expected another deafening demand for silence but it didn't come. Apparently the ponies were on friendly terms with the two sisters. A mass of pink and yellow caught his eye when he turned to Twilight. Fluttershy had dropped to the ground and was at present trying to curl into a ball as best she could. Her head was tucked behind her mane as well as her tail. Buck was hit with a wave of infectious adorableness and had to stop himself from reacting out loud, although it was an extremely cute sight.

"Could you lower the volume? You're scaring Fluttershy." Luna tilted her head at this request. She raised her head, peering over Buck's shoulder to see the pink maned pegasus shaking with fright. Luna was suddenly uncharacteristically abashed.

"Oh, dear Fluttershy. I do apologize if I frightened you. Please forgive us...I...We are very stressed at the moment with our sister's predicament. The rule of Equestria has temporarily fallen to me and we are trying our best to compensate in our sister's absence. Invaders from other worlds and now these ruffians we have heard so much from our sister has greatly upset us."

Buck had to mentally adjust his hearing to Luna's new, quieter voice. Buck hadn't thought it possible that she could speak in such a soft voice. Now she sounded somewhat...timid. A complete one eighty from her previous imposing dialogue.

"HUMANS! WE DEMAND..." Princess Luna looked towards Twilight who held her hoof aloft and lowered it slowly, a forced smile on her face. Luna blushed and cleared her throat. "We demand that you tell us what happened. We saw that our sister, Celestia, was engulfed by a blue ball of fire but knew nothing of our sister's condition until she arrived with you and your humans. YOU," she pointed her hoof towards Buck, "will explain what occurred after our we lost contact with our sister." Buck inhaled and took a step towards Luna and away from the group.

"Your Highness...we may have, somewhat...unintentionally...accidentally..."

"GET ON WITH IT!!!" Fluttershy, who had just barely begun to compose herself, shrunk into a ball once more. Luna, seeing this, put a hoof over her mouth and blushed some more. Buck lowered his leg which he had raised in an involuntary defensive motion at Luna's outburst. He sighed. He couldn't fancy it up with any more adjectives. He and his ODSTs had been a distraction, but they had saved Celestia in the long run, hadn't they?

"We did distract your sister. Honestly, we had never seen anything like her, save in our bedtime stories and old legends back on Earth. The Rookie here actually saved her when we were first talking to her." The Rookie gave a deep nod to the Princess of the Night. It looked like a show of respect to Buck. "There was a firefight shortly after we had the discussion with Celestia over what to do with the Prophet, then one of the Grunts..."

Luna cocked an eyebrow.

"Err...aliens threw a grenade...that blue fireball you saw, at Celestia. It blew off a portion of her wing and pretty near knocked her unconscious." Unbeknownst to Buck, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had huddled together and were stroking their wings as if they were things that needed physical comforting.

"We picked her up and escaped. That's all there is to tell, really..." Something was tapping on Buck's shoulder. It was Dutch, who had the most scared look on his face. Buck honestly thought his bladder could go at any second. Dutch whispered something in Buck's ear, but instead of relaying the message, Buck decided to torture Dutch a little.

"Princess, may I present Corporal Taylor Miles, better known as Dutch." Dutch's pupils shrank and the color seemed to drain from his face. Buck stole a glance at his nether regions to see if it had leaked out. Thank God it hadn't. "He'd like to ask you a question about our escape from the Covenant."

Dutch turned to run but Mickie and Romeo stopped him, spun him around, and Romeo gave him a swift kick to the rear, shoving him forward. Dutch heard Mickie snicker in the background. After this mission was over, Dutch would savor breaking Mickie's pinkie finger for that.

"Um...your highness?"

"THY LEGS TREMBLE."

Dutch looked down and sure enough, his legs were shaking as if there was an earthquake reverberating within the throne room. Everyone got a laugh out of that, even the ponies. Dutch noticed Luna's demeanor had lightened somewhat and she cracked a small smile. This gave the big man the courage he needed.

"Ma'am, well, I was wondering. What was that, well...rainbow that came from your planet and saved our asses..." Dutch clamped his hands over his mouth. He had just profaned in front of royalty. He cursed his rough and tumble livelihood and his inability to filter profanity in everyday speech. Luna simply cocked an eyebrow again.

"Asses? Thine enemies hath mules aboard their vessel?" It was the other ODSTs now who clamped their hands over their mouths. Not in shock or fear but from the building laughter that was trying to escape their lungs. Only Dutch lacked the urge to laugh; he was relieved to know that harsh language was something ponies and humans didn't share.

"Forget what I said, Princess. The rainbow that saved us?"

"Oh, yes. We used the Elements of Harmony to save thee as well as my sister. When thee left the Covenant vessel, we noticed the magical aura of our sister engulfing a smaller vessel. We had to act quickly. Unfortunately, we were only able to muster about one tenth of the power of the Elements. If yon ponies had wielded the Elements," she motioned towards Twilight and the other ponies, "then the Covenant would not be inhabiting our planet as we speak."

One tenth? Buck couldn't imagine that these six little ponies were capable of the power Luna had unleashed, let alone that power tenfold. Buck pat Dutch on the shoulder who jumped, still wound up after facing his fear.

"So, Princess Luna. What's to become of me and my men? Both you and your sister have shown great ability when dealing with the Covenant, but in her condition I doubt she'll be of much use in the coming battle."

"BATTLE?! Surely thou cannot be suggesting that these...things pose a serious threat to us? Their vessel is crippled...surely..."

"Princess Luna?" Twilight stepped forward. "A small group of these aliens killed a dragon, and a pretty big one, too. I don't think it is wise to take them lightly."

"Actually," Buck interjected, "It was just one. A Brute Chieftain, we think..." Buck turned to the ponies. "Do you have gorillas or monkeys here?" Fluttershy looked at Buck and nodded. "Basically its a giant gorilla, about ten feet tall. We ran into one of the Chieftain variety back on Earth. Killed a few men and damn near killed Romeo."

"Put a big hole in my lung. I could show you, if you'd like." Buck tilted his head back at Romeo's response. Couldn't he understand that they were talking to a princess? Luna furrowed her brow.

"Thy visual aid shan't be necessary, human. This...giant gorilla killed a dragon, you say? By itself? That is no easy feat. What would you suggest in this situation, Gunnery Sergeant?" Buck grinned. He didn't admit it but he enjoyed when someone referred to him by his rank in a questioning manor.

"Well, your highness. If its all the same to you, how about we let these little ponies here wield the...Elements of Harmony, is what you called them? Wipe out the remaining Covenant? It should be easy from what you've told us about their power." Luna sighed.

"Unfortunately, when we used the Elements, they became...inert."

All the ponies let out audible gasps.

"Princess, how can that be? We've used the Elements on a few occasions and they've always worked before..."

"Twilight Sparkle, as thy recall, our sister and I once wielded the Elements together to battle Discord. Soon after, once we became..." Luna was physically struggling to get the next words out. "Nightmare Moon...our sister used the Elements to banish me to the moon. When one pony, no matter how strong or gifted they may be, wields the Elements by oneself, the Elements become inert for a long period of time so there power may not be abused."

"So...how long will they be inert? A few days?" Buck ventured.

"Several months, we're afraid..." Buck place his hand on top of his head.

"Well, there goes the cakewalk..."

Pinkie Pie gasped. "Cake? I LOVE cake! Nopony said we were having cake! I wish somepony would have told..." Rarity had inserted her hoof into Pinkie Pie's mouth, silencing her rampant cake talk. Rarity blushed.

"Its best not to mention sweets around her. She gets a tad...excited."

"Duly noted. So," Buck turned towards the Princess. "I guess its up to my ODSTs to handle the situation. I doubt you could afford to get hurt in the same way your sister was on a venture to stop the Covies."

"Nonsense. We are capable of handling things ourselves. We shall accompany thee on thy quest against the Covenant. What does thou require of us?"

"Well, for starters, we'll need our weapons back. We also could use a fix on our other weapons that were dropped from our own ship before we landed on Equestria. We have devices in our helmets that let us find them but something in your planet's atmosphere is interfering. Is there any way you could find out where they might be?" Luna grinned cockily.

"This is a minor problem for the Princess of the Night! Everything the moonlight touches we can see! A few moments is all that is required for us to locate thine supplies." Luna's horn began to glow a dim blue and suddenly the landscape of Equestira was laid out in front of them like a movie projection. It was like the most vivid hologram Buck had ever seen. Everything looked real enough to touch, yet transparent at the same time.

The landscape was beginning to rush by at blinding speed. Grassy plains and forests zoomed by and eventually gave way to sand and desert.

"THERE!" Luna exclaimed.

Buck could barely believe his eyes. They were now looking at a town that could only be described as something out of the Wild West. There was a saloon, a clock tower, several wooden buildings...it was an unbelievable sight that Buck had only seen in old movies that were centuries old.

"Boy, howdy, that's Appleloosa! Mah cousin Braeburn lives there! Its only about a day's travel by train from Ponyville!" That was good news from Applejack, Buck thought.

"Thine weapons and supplies appear to be on the scattered beyond outskirts of the town. They have been undisturbed by the looks of things. We shall accompany thee to Appleloosa. We have never been and thou will need us to locate thy supplies as they are scattered over a fairly large area."

A small murmur of hope began to well up amongst the ODSTs. They were clapping each other on the back and muttering words of encouragement to one another.

"Now, we shall all head out at once. We shall rest on the train ride in to Appleloosa. We haven't a moment..."

A solid beam of light melted a hole through one of the Throne Room's windows and came within inches of Princess Luna's head. It tore a hole in her mane and a small tuft of smoke (or gas, Buck couldn't rightly tell) from her nebulous hair. The ODSTs were already sprinting for cover while Luna was feeling her mane, utterly dumbstruck.

"SNIPER! Away from the windows!" The ponies had darted a second or two after the ODSTs had but Dutch still had to grab Fluttershy who had frozen in place once the calamity had broken out. The Rookie sprinted towards Luna who had barely enough time to register that she was being shoved down to the ground by a human when another shot burned through the window, this one bouncing harmless off the floor but still mere inches away from Luna's form.

Luna, finally aware that her life was in danger, flapped her wings with plenty of force to slide herself and the Rookie across the floor and out of the sniper's line of sight just as another hole was singed the floor where the human and alicorn were moments before.

"Our thanks, human." Luna smiled at the Rookie, who simply nodded and ran over to his squad mates. The Princess was safe at that angle unless there was more than one sniper. Considering that all three shots had come through the same window pane, the Rookie didn't feel there was more than one sniper. Probably just a solitary scout.

"Princess, we could use our guns."

Luna acknowledged Buck immediately. "Guards, return their weapons to them, QUICKLY!" The guards did as they were bade. The ODSTs had their weapons back within seconds and quickly began to discuss amongst themselves how they were going to deal with the sniper, if it hadn't bugged out already. Romeo hissed at one of the guard ponies.

"Hey, buddy! Slide me your helmet!" The guard regarded Princess Luna who immediately nodded urgently. The guard slid his helmet to Romeo who had positioned himself underneath the sniper's window. Romeo gingerly lifted the helmet up to the window, and a short instant later a glowing hole was punched through it and it skittered across the floor. The guard pony harumphed and Romeo simply shrugged.

"Well, its still out there...any ideas?"

"We could sure use a distraction..." Dutch suggested.

"Leave it to me!" The rainbow maned pony showed great courage, but Romeo wasn't about to let her do anything reckless.

"Rainbow Dash, I can't let you do that. If that sniper hits you, you will die." Rainbow gulped.

"Pfft...that's IF he can hit me. I'm the fastest flier around. He couldn't hit Princess Luna when she standing still; how's he gonna hit me?" She did have a point. Romeo had a good idea where the sniper was. Rainbow Dash would only be out in the open for a few seconds at the most while he lined up his shot.

"...fine. Twilight, open the window on the far right when I give the signal. Rainbow, you fly out the window as fast as you can. Fly straight up. I should be able to get him within three seconds. Can you handle that?"

"No sweat."

"Alright Twilight...NOW!"

The tall window glowed pink as Twilight's magic radiated from it. It flung open as Rainbow Dash took off, quite literally, like a bullet. Romeo was in awe for a split second at the pony's sheer speed. He made a quick mental note to ask her how fast she could actually go. Romeo slid into a seated position on the Princess' throne and instantly spotted the sniper.

It was a jackal. Its long beak accentuated its even longer rifle. A beam rifle did devastating damage at long range and it was insanely accurate. It didn't have to deal with wind resistance like his own metal bullet did, but Romeo didn't let that stop him. He judged the angle and squeezed the trigger, the rifle making a boom similar to Luna's voice just minutes before. Sure enough, the shot was wide. The glass affected the supersonic round only slightly, but he had gotten the sniper's attention. It turned its attention away from the flying Rainbow Dash and focused on Romeo. This time, Romeo had to make the shot, and with the window pane broken away, it would be an easy shot.

Click

The rifle didn't make another deafening report. Romeo had subconsciously noted that there had been no metallic clatter of the shell casing hitting the floor upon the rifle's discharge from the last shot. Romeo couldn't remember the last time his weapon had jammed but cursed himself for not clearing the chamber. He had had a whole second before the jackal had turned to face him...plenty of time to correct the mistake. Still looking down his magnified sights, he saw the jackal take aim. He was dead to rights.

A pink bubble formed around him as he saw the bright flash from the jackal's beam rifle. He braced for the incoming shot but noted it bounce harmlessly off this new cotton candy colored shield. Romeo noticed Twilight's horn was glowing once again. He'd have to thank her, later. Romeo started fidgeting with the bolt to loose the empty shell from the chamber when Applejack spoke up.

"Whoa, Nelly! Look'it her go!"

Romeo barely had time to look out the window when he saw a rainbow flying straight towards the sniper's position. The bullet casing was lodged in the chamber tighter than he thought. He stopped and looked through his scope. What he saw both amused and worried him. Rainbow Dash was flying circles around the jackal sniper. While it was firing wildly into the air, missing every shot, Rainbow was literally flying circles around it. Romeo's grin turned to a grimace once he realized that he wouldn't have a clear shot if Rainbow Dash kept circling the jackal.

Rainbow Dash saved him the trouble of taking a second shot when she bucked the jackal off of the tower it was perched on. It fell off backwards, out of site. The ponies gave a loud cheer and Romeo lowered his rifle. He approached Twilight's magical pink bubble and poked it with a finger, finding it quite solid. He grumbled.

"Um, Twilight? Mind lowering your bubble shield?"

Twilight, still cheering for Rainbow Dash, didn't hear Romeo. The ODST sighed and looked up at Rainbow Dash, who was hovering in place and milking her victory with an assortment of poses. He squinted when he saw movement behind the cyan pegasus and raised his rifle. The jackal hadn't fallen off the tower but rather had just slid down the back of it. It had lost its rifle but now leveled a plasma pistol at Rainbow Dash. Romeo slammed back the bolt, ejecting the jammed shell and shouted at Twilight.

"LOWER THE SHIELD, NOW!!!"

The bubble popped, whether from Twilight's conscious action or being startled broke her concentration, Romeo didn't know or care, but he noticed yet an event more urgent problem. Rainbow Dash was completely unaware of the danger she was in. What was worse, she was more or less directly in front of the jackal. He could barely make out the jackal save through Rainbow's wing flaps. There wasn't time to think. He'd just have to take the shot and hope he didn't clip her wing in the process.

The 14.5 x 114mm round exited the sniper rifle's barrel with a loud roar. The other ponies had no idea what was going on but the first sight they saw was Rainbow Dash plummeting immediately following the report from Romeo's sniper rifle. Romeo only saw the florescent blood from the jackal's head after his shot hit home, no red blood from Rainbow Dash (assuming these ponies had red blood.) He cocked his head and wondered why the pegasus pony was dropping like a stone when he was tackled by several of Rainbow's compatriots.

"WHY'D YOU DO IT?" Applejack demanded. "YOU SHOT RAINBOW!"

Fluttershy, visibly distraught and fresh tears streaming down her cheeks, bolted out the window towards the falling pegasus. She was incredibly fast, Romeo observed; she usually fell behind when flying during the trek to Canterlot so it was impressive to see her speed away like she did. Pinkie Pie and Rarity had joined the fray and were about to help Applejack throttle Romeo when Buck came to his sniper's rescue.

"GIRLS! That Covie Rainbow bucked off the tower came back and was about to shoot her! Romeo was trying to save her..." Buck's voice wavered at 'try,' indicating him seeing the ponies' point of view. Buck had seen the jackal didn't have Romeo's advantage of a scope to see the finer details but had not the bullet's impact. Buck had honestly assumed the bullet had passed through Rainbow Dash and hit the jackal sniper. He had still doubted that was the case, due to Romeo's prowess as a sniper. Still, there was no denying Rainbow Dash plummeting immediately after the shot, a tell tale sign of being shot.

"I'm telling ya I didn't hit Rainbow! I shot the jackal, nothing more!"

Twilight suddenly disappeared in a flash of pink and reappeared outside near where Fluttershy had caught Rainbow Dash. She reappeared a few seconds later, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash in tow. Rainbow Dash was wide eyed and frozen, but had no visible bullet wound.

"See?! I told you I didn't hit her!"

Romeo's voice broke Rainbow's paralysis. She flew over towards Romeo, knocking AJ, Pinkie Pie and Rarity away. She was in his face again, just like during the manticore incident.

"YOU! YOU ALMOST HIT ME, YOU JERK!!!" Romeo, undaunted, pushed the pony off and rose to his feet, the rainbow maned pony hovering in front of his face the whole time.

"And if YOU hadn't have been showboating so much I wouldn't have had to make that dangerous shot! You should be grateful! I saved your life!"

"You saved MY life? You missed the first go round! I knocked him off! If I hadn't come along you'd have been dead!"

"Twilight saved me! If you had knocked the jackal off right the first time we wouldn't be having this shouting match!"

"EEENOOOUUUGH!!! Lightning filled the skies outside the throne room when Princess Luna made herself heard. Her voice was more deafening than ever, and Buck's ears were ringing, even through his helmet. He wondered if his eardrums really would have been shattered had he not put it on after the sniper's first barrage.

"BE STILL YE FOALS AND HUMANS!" Luna soon noticed everyone's wincing faces and covered ears and lowered her volume.

"An attempt has been made on our life and the Covenant has dared to enter our kingdom of Canterlot. We believe it would be best if we stayed here and guard the kingdom whilst thee venture to Appleloosa and claim thy weapons. This night's events have made it clear to us that you humans are better versed in the ways of conflict than we are. We...humbly ask for your assistance in dealing with the Covenant."

Romeo slung his rifle on his back and walked by Rainbow Dash who was still huffing after their argument. He joined his fellow ODSTs and turned to face Luna. He spoke for the group.

"Your highness, it'd be our pleasure."

Ch. 6 - Railway

Tiberium was furious. According to one of his underlings a scouting party he had sent to observe the mountainside castle had been wiped out by the humans...those damned humans. He had dispatched a number of scouting parties but none had provided any intel, save the fact that one of his brutes had reported to him that a jackal had observed weapons' discharges from the top of the mountainside castle city. Tiberium sometimes wished he had the jackal's keen eyesight, being able to see things dozens of kilometers away was certainly an enviable trait. Their species was an asset to the Covenant but their want of money and general mercenary way of doing things made them somewhat unruly, especially after the Great Schism; he heard reports of them already dealing weapons with humans, even three months after the Heretic 'Vadamee had slain the Prophet of Truth.

His Phantoms were on patrol, as well, but the dense forests in the area would make ample cover for the humans. He had considered sending more scouts up to the palace but an enormous lightish red bubble had appeared around the entire mountain city. The two Phantoms he had sent to investigate had lost power once they tried to breach the bubble. The Phantoms had plummeted hundreds of feet and were ripped open on the crags. They didn't explode due to their lack of power but Tiberium couldn't imagine any of his troops surviving. Suddenly he was down dozens of soldiers, a pair of Phantoms, as well as two Hunters.

Tiberium was shaken from his pondering of recent events by the annoying blathering of a grunt. He picked up the squatty creature and seriously considered biting its head off but remembered how foul Unggoy tasted and thought better of it. Instead, Tiberium ripped of the grunt's methane mask and dropped the little alien to the ground, pinning it under his foot. The grunt gasped in the oxygen rich air and began to squirm without its life giving methane. Tiberium chuckled.

"Now, I'm going to give you ten seconds to think about whatever it is you were going to tell me, and if it satisfies me, I'll return your mask to you; if not, I'll remove your head and put your mask back on it." Tiberium waited the ten seconds then gave the mask back to the grunt's grabbing hands. "Speak."

"Boss..." The grunt gasped. "We found something. Long strips of metal that go on forever...looks like track for vehicle."

Tiberium grunted. He lifted his foot and the grunt scurried up and stood a few feet away. "Gather some grunts and be ready. You're going to follow that rail and see where it leads."

Tiberium let out a small smile. Surely this rail was a means of transportation. If he followed it he would find something. Perhaps the humans, perhaps not. Maybe they would find some of these new pony creatures...Tiberium always liked torturing a new species. Either way, something was sure to be found, and may hap something would die. He would definitely enjoy that.

~ ~ ~

Now we're riding a steam engine...wonders really will never cease.

The more he thought about it, the more it really felt as if he and his ODSTs had gone through a magical time machine. Magical ponies, unicorns, and pegasi all on an invisible planet that seemed to be in another, more primitive time, but had technology of late 19th century Earth. Now, his men were accompanied by the six ponies they had met over the past few days and were going to a town called Appleloosa to retrieve their weapons dropped by Captain Dare and the UNSC Prowler Fast and Loose. The train's mechanical hum helped them to get some decent sleep until they were awoken by an intercom message informing them they were about to enter Appleoosa.

It still amazed Buck how rural the ponies were despite having electricity. It was far too low tech for his tastes but Buck thought he could live out here given the peaceable nature of the ponies. They knew little of war, greed, or hate, and Buck had had enough of that these last two decades.

His ODSTs began to stir, all of which, of course, except the Rookie. He had assumed the Rookie was just able to turn on and off at will. Buck remember a story the Rookie told him, once. The Rookie had once ran several kilometers flat out and took shelter on the other side of a mountain, surviving a Shiva nuke being detonated in the process. Dirty ODSTs had been involved, something about stealing gold from a city vault that was about to be glassed and abandoning civilians...it had turned Buck's stomach, but Buck was most impressed with the Rookie's endurance, being able to run that far knowing a nuke was hot on your heels. Buck figured if you could outrun a nuke, not much could scare you, so the Rookie slept when he could and stayed frosty every waking moment.

The ODSTs had a train car to themselves and the six ponies had one of their own, and Applejack made her way to greet Buck. Mickey let loose a yawn that was instantly contagious; Buck yawned, followed by Mickey and Romeo, and AJ, too. The Rookie was the only one who showed no sign, still wearing his helmet. To Buck's fascination, the Rookie once told him it was cozy inside; he was rarely seen without it.

"So, I reckon y'all are gonna want to find your weapons, first?"

Buck rubbed some sleep from his eye. "Yes, ma'am. Our current arsenal in a joke. We wouldn't last five minutes if they sent a squad after us. Hopefully we can get outfitted and roll back to Canterlot within a few hours, then we can take the fight to them."

He noticed Applejack frowning. He cocked his head and shrugged, prompting Applejack.

"Well, its just all this talk about fightin' and killin'...Ain't there any other way to handle this?"

Romeo spoke up. "You've got to understand something. These things spent the better part of three decades trying to wipe us out. There isn't any reasoning with them." Romeo thought for a second. "Have you ever seen glass at the bottom of a fire pit or furnace?"

Applejack nodded.

"Well, the Covies can do that to ENTIRE planets. They've glassed dozens of worlds trying to kill us. I hate to shatter your perception of perfect little peaceful world, but we have to kill them..." Buck raised his arm to Romeo's chest.

"Alright, that's enough." Applejack was clearly shaken.

"Ah didn't know. That's...awful"

"Yes, it is." Buck said dryly.

"So, what is this Appleloosa like?" Mickey asked, ever inquisitive.

"Well, mah cousin Braeburn lives there. Its a humble little town that has apple orchards on the outskirts of town. Its pretty sandy and desolate all around but its a nice change a' scenery."

"From what Princess Luna showed us, it looks like something out of a western."

Applejack cocked her head at Dutch. "A what, now?"

"Oh, umm...back on Earth its a movie genre. You have movies here, right?" Applejack nodded. "Well, most westerns featured a town like this Appleoosa, and it usually involved cowboys and the like, fighting over one thing or another."

"Y'all humans sure do love fightin'..."

"I'll say they do..." Rainbow Dash fluttered over Applejack's head into the ODSTs' car. She landed, a small scowl on her face.

"Its in our nature, Miss Dash. We've been doing it for thousands of years." Dutch was rubbing the back of his head in apology. "Maybe at the end of this war we can finally make peace and do what the Good Book says."

Twilight poked her head. "Ooh, I love books! What's this one about?"

"Well, in the beginning, the Earth was..."

"Dutch, please don't start a theological discussion with the ponies. It would take too long and I don't want to see them arguing with you over your points of view."

Dutch slumped. "Okay, Gunny."

"We might not have to fight at all, thanks to my brother. He's the one that put the magical bubble shield up to protect Canterlot. Its practically impenetrable..."

Practically isn't completely, Buck thought.

It was still night thanks to Celestia's recovery but Buck had gotten used to it. At least the stars still moved, so he guessed Luna was still performing her nightly duties. In the hard pan of the the desert the night was a blessing, really. They wouldn't have to worry about heat should they be forced into a fight out here. Buck got back to the matter at hand.

"Are there any defensible positions in the town? I don't want to fight there if at all possible but just in case I'd like a layout of the town. Is it flat, is it hilly, are there any high positions we could get Romeo into so he can survey the area?"

"Well, gosh, lemme think...there's a clock tower near the center of town, at least there should be. When we fought the buffalo the last time we were there..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa...you ponies actually FOUGHT something? Buffalo, you said? And here you are giving us a hard time..."

"You listen here, Romeo..." The cyan pony hovered in front of Romeo's face.

"Calm down, Rainbow. Yeah, we fought em, but we didn't kill any of em. We only used apple pies..."

Romeo frowned. "Really? Pies in the face as offense. Well, I must still be asleep. OOOOOWWWWW!!!"

Romeo clutched his cheek where Dutch had pinched it. Rainbow Dash chuckled and held out a hoof to Dutch who bumped it with his fist, his previous slight about humanity's warlike nature temporarily forgotten.

"Will everypony PLEASE keep it down? Fluttershy and I are trying to get our beauty sleep!" The purple maned unicorn poked her head into the ODSTs' car, startling them with her cucumber eyes and off blue revitalizing mask.

"If you wouldn't mind, that is..." Fluttershy's voice was barely audible over the low hum of the train. Buck wondered how anyone could be so shy, save his 3rd grade crush back on Draco III.

"You see? That one has the right idea." Rarity raised a hoof and pointed at the Rookie who was still asleep despite the bustling conversation. She slammed the compartment door and a collective sigh went out amongst the ponies and humans. How she could see through her cucumber covered eyes Buck could only guess.

"He sure does sleep a lot, doesn't he?" Buck turned around and was surprised to see Pinkie Pie examining the Rookie. He did a double take at the door Rarity had just closed and then jerked his head back to the pink pony.

"How..." He felt a nudge on his leg. Its owner was Twilight.

"Its best not to ask. I've done tests and well...I can't explain some of the seemingly supernatural stuff Pinkie can do. The best thing to do is just accept it."

Buck looked back towards Pinkie and shrugged. The pink pony had practically teleported from the next car and now held a marker in her teeth. She looked as if she was going to decorate the Rookie's VISR as the ponies had done to Romeo earlier back in Ponyville. She came within an inch of the Rookie's helmet and a hand whipped out and grabbed the marker. The other ponies gasped but Pinkie just smiled.

"Oh, you don't want me to decorate your helmet? Its so dull and black. It could use some color!"

"Sorry, Pinkie, but with it still being dark out those colors would just make us too noticeable. Its a wonder they didn't spot us on the way to the castle. You girls stick out like a sore thumb." Pinkie put a hoof under her chin and thought about Buck's statement.

"What's a thumb?"

Buck held up his hand and wiggled his digits and gave a thumbs up, pointing at it with his other hand.

"Anyway, Gunny's right. Bright colors get you noticed." Dutch added. Mickey thought so, too.

"Yeah, bright colors are a death mark at night." Romeo was grim but to the point.

"Eeyup." The Rookie agreed.

The ponies stopped, looked at each other, and started laughing like never before. The ODSTs looked at each other, wondering what had been said or done that was so funny. Sure, the Rookie didn't talk much, but he had just agreed with Romeo. Buck couldn't imagine what was amusing about that.

"I SAID TO KEEP IT DOOOOWN!!!" Rarity banged on the cabin from the next car. "You don't want me to come over there again, do you?"

"No..."

"Uh uh."

"No ma'am!"

"Nnnope."

The ponies rolled with laughter more than ever, and Buck was still at a loss. Once again the Rookie had just agreed with them. What was so damned funny?

~ ~ ~

The Rookie's first reaction was a surreal one. The town was straight out of a western, just as Dutch had said. While it was still dark out the town was lit up by gas lamps which adorned the "old" buildings. There didn't appear to be any shops open but the local saloon was raucous and a player piano could be heard billowing from its swinging double doors. He guessed that most of the town was in there by the sound.

The eleven companions departed the train station and made their way to the saloon, Applejack hoping to meet her cousin and his Sergeant hoping to get out to the weapons as soon as possible. The ponies entered first, a few wolf whistles could be heard, especially when Rarity and Fluttershy entered, the latter having to be practically dragged back in by Twilight with Fluttershy's tail held aloft by Twilight's magic. Greetings for Applejack were abundant and Pinkie ran over to the piano and hopped on and started to dance.

The ODSTs had lingered outside, waiting to see if Braeburn was, indeed, in the saloon. Applejack soon emerged with a pale yellow pony, complete with a what appeared to be a brown leather vest and hat. The Rookie wondered how the ponies harvested leather in the first place. Assuming it came from cows; they obviously weren't carnivorous so what would they do with the rest of the cow?

"C'mon, Rookie, time to mingle."

The Rookie was shaken from his pondering by his Gunnery Sergeant. As the ODSTs entered the saloon the only noise that could be heard was Pinkie's dancing and singing which, to her credit, the Rookie somewhat enjoyed. Her performance wasn't half bad. The other ponies were in awe of these strange creatures who walked on two legs and had digits where their hooves should be. Applejack's cousin broke the silence.

"Hey, y'all! These here are humans! They come from another planet and need to pick up some supplies. Apparently that meteor shower the other day was really some of their equipment that fell from their space ship!" A low murmur started up buy Braeburn continued. "Don't worry, none, they'll be packin' up and goin' back to Canterlot once they get all their stuff. In the mean time, let's give em a warm welcome! Whaddya say?"

Silence. Nopony made a sound. Even Pinkie Pie had quieted down. Dutch was the one who followed up Braeburn's speech.

"So...what's there to drink around here?"

The barkeep approached the counter top. He had a handlebar mustache, a comb over hairstyle and a monocle, complete with white cuffs at the end of his hooves and a nice grey vest and tie. He looked nervous but answered Dutch's question as though he were any other paying customer.

"We have apple cider on tap from Sweet Apple Acres, Applekjack's farm, some corn whiskey from Kenbucky, and water and soda, a'course."

Dutch looked at Buck who nodded.

"Alright, we can each have a little to drink and then we head out, clear?"

"Yes, sir!" Dutch turned back to the barkeep. "Gimme a shot of whiskey and a mug of Cider!"

The barkeep smiled. "Comin' right up!"

The other ponies were still quiet and watched in silent wonder. The wooden mug was filled to the brim and foam dripped down its side. Dutch slurped the excess foam and took the shot and mug in hand and raised it in salute to the patrons of the Salt Block Saloon.

"DOWN THE HATCH!" Dutch dropped the shot into the mug of cider and upended the mug and began to chug. The Rookie observed a transformation within the ponies at the bar. While most of their faces had been neutral to fearful upon the ODSTs' arrival, the act of Dutch chugging a whiskey spiked cider got them into a cheerful frenzy, and when the big man slammed the empty mug on the bar top and shouted "THAT'S GOOD CIDER!" the crowd erupted into cheers. The music started up again and the barkeep started filling mugs and taking orders.

The Rookie let go a rare chuckle, under his breath, of course. He noted Buck had quickly lost control of the other ODSTs. Mickey ran to the bar after Dutch's demonstration of his alcohol imbibing prowess and tried to copy the act, but coughed about halfway through, spilling the rest of his cider, raising laughs and guffaws all around the saloon. Romeo took a bourbon and soda and pounded it back in one gulp then had a cider to follow up. Buck helped Mickey up and walked his way through the crowd of ponies to where the Rookie was leaning.

"I guess with your helmet still on you're not going to partake in any of the festivities?"

The Rookie merely shook his head.

"I guess we really should get going to find the drop pods from Fast and Loose. Hopefully the Captain sent us some goodies. We could use em. You running low?"

The Rookie detached his pistol from his thigh and ejected the clip. Six holes with even ascending numbers two through twelve shown on the outside of the clip, with the '8' hole showing the brown metal of a shell casing. The Rookie held up the clip to Buck, gave a shrug, and slammed the clip home. He slapped the pistol back on his hip with a pop.

"Alright, I'll give the boys an hour or so to sober up and then we'll get going. I'm gonna go have a round." He paused. "I hate to ask but since you're not going to have a drink why don't you walk around town and have a look around? Scout out some defensible positions. Come back in an hour. I'll keep em in line...I hope."

The Rookie nodded. He went to Romeo and gather his sniper rifle, much to Romeo's relief. Apparently, he had had a few incidents with booze and weapons discharges, just one of his many violations of the codes of conduct he had racked up over the years. He also collected a pistol magazine from Mickey who had already seemingly passed out on the bar, from inebriation or hitting his head on the bartop the Rookie didn't know. No pony saw him leave the saloon and it was just as well. He enjoyed solitude and the night's (or day's) walk would be a good time to clear his head. So much had happened over the last few days, and he hadn't had a chance to truly think on the events that had occurred. As he made his way down the middle of Appleloosa's main road, he heard a small and shy voice.

"Umm...mind if I walk with you?" The Rookie glanced over his shoulder to find the pink maned pegasus pony following him from the saloon. After their first meeting, the Rookie was honestly surprised that Fluttershy actually trusted them. He had heard from the other ponies how much she cared for animals and seeing something get killed must have been very traumatic for her. The Rookie slightly snapped his head in the direction he was going, indicating that she could follow him.

In all honesty, the Rookie didn't mind if the pony accompanied him. Of the six, she was definitely the quietest, and he had a feeling that even if she talked, he would still be able to think. She trotted alongside him, no more than two feet away. The pony came up to his midsection so he would occasionally have to crane his neck to lock eyes with her, but she didn't speak much while he made the walk around town, and the Rookie appreciated that.

He was climbing the clock tower when he was truly glad she had accompanied him. There was scaffolding around the tower and the Rookie forgot to factor his extra kilos of body mass and armor he was wearing in comparison to the average weight of a pony. He had gotten to the top by climbing a rope and was up a good thirty feet. When he put his weight down a wooden beam snapped underfoot and he stumbled backwards. He missed the rope but instead grabbed Fluttershy's outstretched hoof. She had hovered around the newly built clock tower, thinking of something to say, but the snapping wood had broken her train of thought and she had acted quickly.

With effort, Fluttershy pulled him back to the rope and the Rookie made his way down. He had saved the clock tower for last and began to make his way back to the saloon after thanking Fluttershy. The scene he saw when he arrived didn't surprise him much. His Gunnery Sergeant, Mickey and Romeo were sprawled out on the side of the saloon, lying on the ground or leaning against the wall, all stone drunk. He peered through the window and eyed Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Applejack passed out at a table. The only unaccounted members of his band of humans and equines was Dutch, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash.

As if on cue the missing trio exited the saloon, Dutch and Rainbow Dash clanging mugs and whooping it up. Rarity followed, holding a martini glass with her unicorn magic, occasionally sipping at it. The Rookie slumped his shoulders and turned towards Fluttershy.

"Oh...my..." is all the yellow pegasus could muster.

"YO, ROOKIE!" Dutch boomed.

"Hey, Rook! What's up?" Rainbow shouted.

"Fluttershy, darling, I was worried about you! I was afraid you had gone off on your own..." Rarity eyed the Rookie suspiciously. "I hope he was a gentlecolt to you?"

Fluttershy blushed. "Of course he was, Rarity. We just went for a walk, that's all..."

The Rookie couldn't understand why she was getting embarrassed. Chalk up something else he had to think about later.

"So, Rookie, you get any good recon in?"

The Rookie nodded then motioned towards his three drunk comrades. Dutch, somehow, seemed totally sober, despite the Rookie's suspicions that he'd been drinking the whole time he'd been gone.

"Oh, them? They're out like a light. Romeo and Gunny got into an argument then got into a drinking contest. They got to eight shots of whiskey a piece before the bar keep cut them off, and then...get this..." He started to chuckle.

"Romeo fell forward and accidentally headbutted the other one! Classic! HA HA!!!" Rainbow Dash finished Dutch's statement, her laughter tinged with squeaks."

"Yeah! It was priceless! I dragged the two off them out here and Mickey soon after."

The Rookie pointed towards the outskirts of town.

"Yeah, I know we have to get the weapons, but can it wait? These three will be out for awhile. Look." He lifted Romeo's arm, shook it a few times then dropped it, the action causing the arm's owner to fall into Buck who fell into Mickey.

"Like big black dominoes..." Rarity ventured, taking a sip of her Manehatten martini.

The Rookie was sure that Dutch and Rainbow's laughter would wake his three squad mates but to no avail. He looked down at the ground, placing his hands on his hips. Even through his VISR, Dutch could tell the Rookie was giving him a serious look.

"Alright, alright, Rookie. I'll come with. My blood alcohol's gotta be 0.2 but I'm still coherent enough to walk."

The Rookie looked at Rainbow Dash and Rarity, next, giving the same impression.

"Yeah, sure, I'll tag along. I've drunk more than this before. I'll be good so long as I walk, too. As for Rarity, she's been nursing that same drink all night, so she can't possibly be tipsy."

"Moi, tipsy? Surely you wouldn't assume I'd ignore proper etiquette when drinking in public." Rarity sighed. "I suppose I'll have to teach the other girls the proper way to have a drink when one is out on the town. You, my dear Rainbow Dash are beyond my help."

"Help, schmelp. I don't have a drinking problem, if that's what you're getting at. Besides, the guys need our help, so are you in or out?"

Rarity let out a hmph and downed the rest of her cocktail, magically throwing it back in the bar. The Rookie saw the bar keep handily catch the flying martini glass with ease and begin to polish it. These ponies sure were something.

"Oh, all right, dear. If it will put your mind at ease I will accompany them. I suppose you'll want me to carry something when we get there?"

It was Dutch who blushed this time. "Well, it'll certainly come in handy, Miss Rarity."

Rarity smiled and started to trot, slowly veering towards the Rookie. It didn't look like doing so was her choosing. She had gotten tipsy from the last of her martini. She tripped and began to fall but the Rookie reached out and caught her, slowly standing her up and offering her a nod afterwards.

"My...you are a gentleman, aren't you?" She smiled up at the Rookie, turning red. "Well, girls, let's be off. Fluttershy, fly with me. I'd like someone to talk to on the way, and you're always such an excellent conversationalist."

The Rookie wondered if Rarity did most of the talking in those conversations, and quickly assumed she did. Fluttershy began to follow Rarity without a word of protest. Rainbow flanked them and Dutch and the Rookie brought up the rear. Soon the town of Appleloosa was at their backs and they were off to find the weapons that would help give them a chance against the Covenant should the fighting intensify, and with grim observation of his past experience, the Rookie knew it would certainly come to that.

Ch. 7 - Inventory

"WHERE THE HELL DID THEY COME FROM?!"

Dutch yelled at the Rookie as if he knew the answer. He didn't. The Covenant had ambushed them shortly after he, Dutch, and the three ponies took an inventory of their weapons, ammo, and supplies. The bad news was they were outnumbered about ten to one, not that the Rookie considered the ponies combat ready. There were a pair of Ghosts, as well, but the grunts piloting them were horrible shots. The good news was the number of goodies that Captain Dare had dropped them enough firepower to level an office building.

Aside from thousands of small arms and anti materiel ammunition in the drop, the best prize was the four Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifles, affectionately known as the Spartan Laser. A perfectly placed shot could cripple a Phantom dropship, and a barrage of them could blow one out of the sky...in theory. Dutch had told the Rookie about the awesome power of this weapon; during the Battle of New Mombasa, Dutch had destroyed several enemy Wraiths, many with one shot. It was truly an awesome weapon. The downside was you only got about four or five shots from it before the battery was completely drained. The upside was that Captain Dare had been kind enough to send a generator for the laser's battery, which effectively doubled the amount of firepower the ODSTs could dish out with them.

The ODSTs and their pony companions had taken cover behind a huge crate. They hadn't had time to pry it open, but it was big enough to provide ample cover in the mean time.

"What are we gonna do? There's a hundred of them!"

The Rookie knew Rainbow Dash was exaggerating, but still, fifty or a hundred, it was all the same. They were hopelessly outgunned. They weren't surrounded but their cover wouldn't last long, and they were too close to use some of the rockets they had gotten in the drop and the Spartan Lasers were long range weapons, and the enemies were no more than twenty yards away. The Rookie and Dutch had dropped about five covies, four grunts and a jackal, in a few seconds, but the jackals had set up a line of defense that they couldn't hope to penetrate without some heavy firepower.

An ever familiar hum and blue glow suddenly appeared next to the group.

"GRENADE!"

Dutch grabbed Rarity and Fluttershy, slinging them over his shoulder as if they were a sack of potatoes. Fluttershy was crying and whimpering and Rarity was wide eyed. The Rookie started to run but slid in the desert's loose soil. Before he could curse himself, a cyan hoof reached out. He took it without hesitation. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings with all her might, and she and the Rookie sped away as the plasma grenade exploded, knocking a wall off the crate. The Rookie nodded at Rainbow Dash before grabbing her and throwing them both behind a rock, narrowly dodging plasma fire.

"Well, Rookie, wouldja look at that!"

The Rookie looked towards the crate and let a rare smile cross his lips. Within the crate was an M12 Force Application Vehicle, better known as the Warthog. And not just any warthog...in place of the usual mounted light anti-aircraft gun, was a Gauss Cannon. Firing at near forty times the speed of sound, the 25x130 millimeter slug could punch through almost anything and keep going for hundreds of meters. Now if they could only get to it...

Several glowing orbs appeared behind the jackals. The grunts were preparing to lob several plasma grenades their way. The Rookie got Rarity's attention. He pointed at her horn, then at the grunts, and made an arcing motion with his hand, going from the grunts to their location, then stopped, and arced his hand back towards the grunts and jackals. Fortunately, Rarity was still level headed enough to understand.

"I'll see what I can do..."

The grunts lobbed a half dozen or so plasma grenades their way. Rarity's horn glowed a brilliant neon blue and the grenades stopped mid flight. Using her magic, Rarity whipped them around and threw them back towards the Covenant forces. Her aim was perfect.

The plasma grenades landed behind the jackals. She had managed to stick two of the grunts with the plasma grenades. The other grunts broke rank as well, and the jackals jumped forward, trying to avoid the blast. Chaos ensued. The grenades went off within a second of each other. At least a dozen grunts were immediately killed. The two grunts who were stuck ran back and took one down one brute a piece. Several jackals' energy shields went out; whether from the blasts or their deaths was anyone's guess.

"Rookie, with me!"

Dutch and the Rookie ran towards the Gauss Hog, shooting stragglers with their silenced SMGs. An enraged brute shoved a grunt out of his way only to be sprayed by four dozen rounds courtesy of the ODSTs went down in a heap, panicking the remaining grunts further. The ODSTs were at the Gauss Hog in three seconds. The Rookie hopped in the driver's seat and powered the hog up while Dutch mounted up in the gunner position. The Rookie drove out of the crate only to have a brute jump on the hood of his hog.

The Brute had a plasma grenade in its hand, and it was glowing. This time the Rookie did curse. The brute snarled and chuckled. It raised its hand to throw the grenade in the Gauss Hog but a rainbow flashed in across the Rookie's line of site. The brute was gone but not the grenade. A blue explosion flashed on the Rookie's right, about six meter's away. Rainbow Dash plopped down in the driver's seat with a smirk on her face.

"That's two you owe me, Rook."

A seemingly white beam of light erupted from the barrel of the Gauss cannon, punching a hole in a brute and making a small crater behind it. Rainbow Dash gasped and looked over her shoulder.

"Keep your head down, RD! We're not out of this yet!"

Dutch kept on firing the Gauss cannon, and Covenant kept dying. After the Rarity assisted grenade barrage, the remaining Covenant had scattered. The few brutes had tried to rally some grunts and jackals to mount some kind of offense but it was too late. The Rookie plowed the warthog into the side of one of the ghosts, spraying the grunt driver with his SMG. Dutch shot the other ghost simultaneously; it exploded into a purple fireball.

The Rookie's heart sank when the Phantom showed up. A Gauss Hog was a formidable weapon with all intents and purposed had a mini MAC cannon attached to it, but the best it could do against a Phantom was take out its weaponry. He didn't care how handy Dutch was with heavy weapons...it'd take a miracle to knock a Phantom out of the sky with a mere Gauss cannon...

The Phantom opened fire at the ODSTs. Its heavy plasma autocannon peppered the ground behind the warthog, never getting a bead on the Rookie's expert driving. Dutch pecked away at the Phantom's heavy armor, trying to hit the plasma autocannon but to no avail. The side mounted autocannons were having better luck. The grunt gunners had smaller turrets and more manual control over them, and they were a hell of a shot. Rainbow Dash flew out of the passenger seat just before superheated plasma cooked the seat she was sitting in.

"WHOA! I'll show him...a Sonic Rainboom outta do it..." Rainbow Dash kept pace with the warthog, dodging incoming plasma fire.

"RAINBOW! Don't do anything stupid! Go back to the other ponies! Head back to town. We'll draw their fire!"

"Like hay I'm going to leave you two here! I've gotta help..."

Rainbow Dash's wing was singed by plasma fire. Dutch reached out to grab the falling pegasus but fell off of his mount. Rainbow Dash fell to the ground beside him, clutching her burnt wing.

"I messed up...sorry..." Rainbow Dash was fighting back tears. Dutch simply picked her up and started to run. The Phantom was more interested in the Rookie and his hog. As he cradled her in his arms, Dutch noticed that Rainbow Dash was, to borrow a phrase, light as a feather. Despite being almost four feet tall, she weighed far less that Rarity had felt earlier. Fluttershy was a lightweight herself, but he hadn't noticed it earlier, what with the impending plasma grenade explosion, and all. He reached Fluttershy and Rarity a few seconds later, the Rookie still taking fire from the Phantom. It had lowered its altitude and was getting awfully close to turning the warthog into bacon.

Dutch fiddled with one of the drop pods, grabbing a Spartan Laser and leveling it the Phantom. It was about two hundred meters off, but the 3x zoom made the shot somewhat easier.

"Rarity, can you use your magic to fire one of these?"

The white unicorn stammered. "M-me? Use that thing? I am a lady, not some ruffian."

"Please! I could really use your help. That Phantom will turn the Rookie into Swiss cheese if we don't help him, and I can only fire one of these things at once!" Dutch tapped the side of his helmet, opening a channel to the Rookie. "Rookie! Swing back to my position. I'll light it up!"

The warthog spun around and made a b-line towards Dutch and the three ponies. Fluttershy yelped and hid her face behind her wing. Rainbow Dash comforted her, still favoring her singed wing. The Phantom was closer now. 160 meters. The side mounted plasma cannons let loose on the warthog. A few shots strayed and impacted near where Dutch made his stand.

"Rarity, please! You just have to push this button and level it at the Phantom! Easy!" 120 meters.

"I'm telling you! I will not be involved in such barbarous behavior..."

It was Rarity who was singed this time, but only she didn't gasp in pain, she gasped in horror. A stray plasma bolt had singed a good portion of her mane. Now instead of flowing well past her shoulder her mane now only fell halfway down her neck. She had lost a good eight inches of hair.

"My hair...they shot my hair..." Her lip quivered but soon turned up into a snarl. "Son of a..." Her magic engulfed the other drop pods that were scattered about. She raised the remaining Spartan Lasers as well as two rocket launchers. The business ends of the Spartan Lasers began to glow a menacing red, mimicking the hatred in Rarity's eyes.

The Phantom was upon them. The Rookie's hog roared past them. The Phantom was only twenty feet off of the ground and about 50 meters away. Rarity unleashed the power of three Spartan Lasers all at once. She fired a pair of rockets only moments later. It couldn't have been any more lucky. The three lasers hit the Phantom's left engine, killing it almost instantly. A second later, the rockets made their way into the cavity the lasers had left. What followed was an immense explosion that knocked Rarity out of her rage induced mania. Dutch dropped his weapon and dove on Rarity, shielding her from the blast.

The Phantom landed with a loud crash, spewing up sand as it went. The burning hulk cut a path in the desert landscape before coming to a halt a few meters in front of them. Dutch ran around to look for survivors to turn in to casualties but found no Covenant had made it. The Rookie drove up a short time later. He hopped out of the driver's seat, examining the purple debris and his fellow ODST. He let out an enthusiastic whistle. Rarity, momentarily forgetting her mane problem, perked up.

"So, how was that?"

Rainbow chimed in. "Not bad..."

"Not bad...for a girl." Dutch choked out.

"Hmph...let's get out of here."

Dutch just looked at the Rookie in amazement. Did they have a story to tell Gunny and the others when they got back...

~ ~ ~

Another scouting party hadn't returned. No matter. He could forgive their not checking in. Tiberium had his hands full at the moment. Full of three humans for him to interrogate. Three humans to torture. Three humans to eat. Yes, he would enjoy that part.

Tiberium had followed the rail system to a small town in the middle of a desert. On the way they had found large horned and hoofed animals with thick brown fur. He and his brutes had made a meal out of some. That wasn't to say they hadn't fought back, oh no. They put up quite a fight. They had encountered about a dozen of these large animals, more native inhabitants of this planet, Tiberium had no doubt. They spoke and even had a fierce fighting spirit. It took several shots from a spiker to drop one of the beasts, and even more from a plasma weapon. He had smashed one's hip with his gravity hammer only to have if land on a group of grunts and start thrashing. It killed three of them before blacking out. Three less mouths to feed.

Buffaloes, as one of them described themselves, were absolutely delicious. In comparison to humans, these buffalo were a delicacy. It was a shame there had been so few. He'd like to hunt some after this mission was over, with his Prophet's blessing, of course.

"You goddam monkey. Kill us and get it over with. We got nothing to say to you."

Tiberium looked down at the dark skinned human with amusement. These humans were so defiant. Of course they had slain many of his kind over the years but he and his Jiralhanae had killed millions, if not billions of humans. They were not a cowardly race, by any means, but they were arrogant and sickeningly brave, and that was their greatest strength and weakness. If a human thought that all but one of them would die if it meant victory, they would always fight to the last. It was a somewhat admirable quality, albeit a foolish one. In a sense they were like those accursed elites. Those damned Sangheili...they would all burn for their part in the Great Schism.

"Yeah, you damned dirty ape. Eat me! RAAAARGH!!!"

This time it was one of the light skinned one, the older of the two. The leader. Yes, he looked familiar. The brutes had amassed a record of humans who they had dubbed "stains" on their warrior race, that is to say, humans who had killed prominent Jiralhanae. This one in particular had killed a chieftain during the Battle of Earth. He wasn't the Demon, but Tiberium would kill this human with pride, knowing that one of his fallen brethren would be avenged.

The youngest human hadn't said a word during the beatings. He had grunted in pain just like the other humans, but hadn't taken a verbal jab at him or his brutes. Tiberium was curious. Surely this human had something to say. He stepped on this quiet human's foot, not putting his full weight on it. That might break it. He had had plenty of practice over the years with the anatomy and frailty of the human body.

"Well, human? Nothing to say?" Tiberium increased the pressure. The human winced but didn't avert his gaze. His eyes were burning. Tiberium was genuinely enjoying himself. He squatted in front of the human, even now towering over its sitting form.

"Actually..." The human leaned back and put all his weight into a headbutt. He wasn't aimed at Tiberium's head, however. Tiberium let loose a wild howl, leaping up and holding his groin. The humans guffawed loudly. Tiberium hunched over, still clutching his groin, glared at the human. Blood was streaming down his forehead. He must have cut himself on Tiberium's codpiece. It was one similarity that Tiberium cursed about brute and human anatomy.

"I was wondering if you had any working genitalia. You obviously do. Maybe not NOW..."

The other humans had slid down to the ground, they were laughing so hard. Most of his brutes were snarling and telling him to kill the humans, but he did here some muffled snickers. There would be more cannibalism tonight. Apparently eating their former Elite captain hadn't taught them any respect. They would all feed on those who laughed at him, down to the marrow. He swore it.

Tiberium quickly composed himself. He stepped on the human's foot with all of his weight, smashing it underfoot, and this time, it DID have something to say. The human wailed. He was screaming. Its armor was the only thing that kept its foot from being separated from its leg, but Tiberium had little doubt that every bone in the human's foot was broken, if not dust. He would surely lose it, not that it mattered. It was simply the first part to be tenderized.

"YOU SONUVA!!!"

The dark one was silenced by a quick jab to the back of its head by a forearm of one of Tiberium's brutes. He was stubborn. This human didn't lose consciousness but didn't cry out, either. It let out a loud MMMMMMM through a shut mouth. He would soon scream. They all screamed.

~ ~ ~

Buck cursed himself. He was responsible. For all of it. He had let the men get drunk. He had encouraged it. He had joined in. He and his ODSTs had gotten stone drunk and the Covies had just waltz into town and taken them prisoner, and they hadn't done a damned thing about it.

Buck was the first one to wake up, noticing that his men and a number of ponies had been corralled in the town hall. The brutes had actually dragged them halfway across town before he had come out of his drunken stupor. He sprung up, unsheathing his combat knife, but quickly fell back to the ground before he could make a swipe. He got a stiff kick to the arm for his trouble. It was still throbbing. His pain had to be a point five on a pain scale in comparison to Mickey's situation. Mickey was probably going to lose his foot. A brute without armor weighed more than a fully armored Spartan. With full armor, like this Chieftain, a brute weighed close to a solid ton.

After the kick to his arm, Romeo and Mickey woke up, and the beating began. The brutes really were pulling their punches. All of them were a full two feet taller than any of the ODSTs and their arms were the size of logs. A group of three of four would spin one of the ODSTs around in a circle, taking turns punching and kicking. When one of the ODSTs would fall, a brute simple picked them up, like a rag doll, and continue the beating.

Mickey was still in agony, but he had contained most of his screaming. Buck truly admired Mickey for that. He was the youngest of the bunch and was definitely the most timid of the squad, but he had balls. Buck looked up at the chieftain, trying his damnedest to look intimidating, but knew his efforts all flat.

"You know, I'm going to enjoy doing the same thing to you, only instead of just your foot, it'll be your whole body."

The chieftain grunted. "Oh? And how will you accomplish this?"

Buck hadn't thought that far ahead.

"Well, when we break out of here, we're going to kill all of your grunts, all of your jackals, and all of your brutes. But you? Oh, we'll keep you alive."

"And then?"

"Well, I figure we'll take one of your spikers and crucify you somewhere...maybe just stake you to the ground. Then we'll take turns stomping on you. Either way, it'll be slow. Real slow. Hell, maybe we'll ask for the help of some of these ponies."

"Don't get us involved!" One of the ponies shouted.

"Yeah!" Another one added. They were quickly silenced by a group grumble. Tiberium chuckled.

"These puny, creatures? They didn't attempt to stop us. They put up no resistance. They're cowards."

"We're no cowards! We just weren't ready for ya!" Applejack's cousin, Braeburn, spoke up.

"Cousin, I don't think ya'll oughtta rile em up. Didja see what he just did to that human? He could do that to us."

"Indeed. Speak up again and I might eat you first."

Applejack and Braeburn gulped simultaneously. Twilight and Pinkie hadn't said a word the whole time. They were terrified beyond words. Pinkie Pie had tears in her eyes. It was the first time Buck had seen the pink pony shaken.

Buck then noticed something that made him smile. He couldn't hide it. He had never had a good poker face. Well, the cat would soon be out of the bag in about five seconds or so. He might as well let Romeo and Mickey know.

"Hey, Mickey, Romeo. Check it out. Looks like we won't be able to dish out punishment to this guy slowly, after all. A real shame."

Tiberium looked around at his brutes in confusion, smiling somewhat uneasily.

"What are you blathering about human?"

"Oh, you'll see." What the chieftain didn't see and what Buck, Mickey, and Romeo did see, was the targeting laser of a Spartan Laser, square in the center of the brute chieftain's chest. Complements of Captain Dare, no doubt. He'd have to kiss her later, even if it meant a punch to the face. Dutch and the Rookie must have gotten her care package. In two seconds this chieftain would be red mist, and all hell was going to break loose. Buck met the eyes of Twilight Sparkle, and mouthed the word "down" very slow and deliberate, and turn his head away from the chieftain. He wasn't wearing his helmet. He didn't wanted to get blood on his face, after all.