Chapter 1: Survivor [Edited]

Crossroads

Chapter 1: Survivor

I ran as fast as I could between the charred husks of burnt out motorized carriages. My hooven feet making soft clops on the sidewalk as I sprinted past gray concrete, rubble-filled buildings that had their glass windows shattered to pieces. I was a blur of black armor, gamboge colored fur, and light and hot pink hair against the ruins. I carried on the belt I wore a single pistol and knife.

The armored uniform I wore I had scavenged, the only thing I needed to make it my own was a name tag saying ‘Babs Seed’.I carried a white sack, tied to my back with an old rope like a single strapped backpack, filled with provisions I pilfered from buildings that I knew were safe.I slowed my pace as I made my way down the crumbling avenues of my home city, Manehattan. My green eyes teared up as I sighed in a fit of nostalgia, remembering what it was like before the sky ripped, and stars began to fall.So many ponies once packed the streets, making them abuzz with chatter. Pegasi, Unicorns, and Earth Ponies had once made their way down the now silent walkways.I stopped completely when I heard a low, threatening rumble. It was one I knew all too well. Diving into the remains of a carriage, I nearly screamed in shock when I came face to face with the charred skull of the unicorn driver. I managed to stop myself though, because if I didn’t, they would find me.The rumbling came closer and closer, before stopping nearby. The sound of the machine powering down told me I had chosen a bad hiding spot. If I moved, I would be ripped to shreds by the gunner of the silver craft. But if I stayed, the creatures that looked like crossbreeds of apes and bears would sniff me out.They would kill me slow and painfully, breaking bones and cutting where it would cause great pain.I held my breath as I heard the footfalls get closer. I heard the Brute driver sniff the air.If I could see it, I would notice its dark blue armor was in stark contrast with the ruined cityscape.Suddenly, the gunner of the Prowler transport vehicle yelled a single loud, gurgling cry before death overtook him. I couldn’t see the long golden spear jutting out of his neck.The asphalt crunched as the driver spun on his heel. I knew the bastards thick hair standing up on end as he sensed danger was close.I heard the sound of of him quickly unholstering his spike rifle, a weapon of cruel intent that fired white-hot spikes and could be fired with one hand that was bayoneted with two crescent moon shaped blades.Then, he too cried out in a gurgling death, impaled from behind by two serrated blades from an unseen enemy.Despite the fact I wanted to stay hidden, I knew someone had just saved me, so I poked my head up to see who saved my life. What I saw made me gasp and quickly duck back down.The shimmering air told me the ghost of the city had saved me, and now it was claiming its trophies.I knew it wasn’t really a ghost, but whatever it was, no one could see it until it struck.I had seen the ‘ghost’ once before, its body looking like hot air radiating off the pavement, its eyes glowing a yellow that could only come from Tartarus itself. I also saw what it did to the bodies of those it decided to invoke its wrath upon it.I heard a loud crunch as the ghost ripped the Brute driver’s head from it’s shoulders, most likely dragging a few vertebrae with it. Once the horrific act was complete, it let out a roar that would make a dragon flinch.I whimpered too loudly in sudden fear, and I knew all too well that whatever the ghost really was had heard me.I knew it was true when the creature dropped the helmeted head of the Brute with a loud thunk on the asphalt street. No Covenant soldiers had escaped it before, so I knew all I could do was accept that death was approaching.I felt an invisible hand grab my neck and violently wrench me out the shattered window of the carriage.The creature tightened its grip as I came face to glowing eyes with it, my legs dangled limply. I closed my eyes and waited for the ghost to tear me asunder, but all I heard was rhythmic breathing. Even with my eyes closed tight, I had the prickling feeling in the back of my mind that it was somehow gazing right through me.I felt its steely cold gaze on me, making my veins run with ice as it scanned me like I was an animal ready for the slaughter. Then, its eyes stop scanning. I knew it was coming, and all I could do was wait as my lungs began to burn for air.Then, for some reason, it let go. As I gasped for air, I finally opened my green eyes to see that the apparition had begun to become a clear, visible image.I let out a startled gasp when I saw the alien. It was wearing segmented armor which was a dirty gold color, with light grey gauntlets, one with twin serrated blades protruding from it.Its helmet was also dark gray, with no visible mouth. The forehead of the helmet was marked with an alien symbol I couldn’t even begin to recognize the use for. It also seemed to have short, black tentacles, decorated with a few gold metal bands, instead of hair. The tentacles themselves bore an uncanny resemblance to Zebrican dreadlocks.Then I noticed the alien wore a leather sash across its chest. What decorated it sent shivers of fear all the way to my soul.The sash was decorated with skulls and bones; some Equestrian, some human, and the others Covenant.“W-Why didn’t you kill me?” I stammered, fear in my eyes as the alien didn’t respond, only playing back a distorted version of my question. It played it a few more times, distorting and twisting the audio into a twisted macabre version of my voice.Then it disappeared slowly with the press of a button on its gauntlet. The hot-air-on-pavement distortion of the cloak sprinted away from me down a nearby alley.I was frightened and a little confused by my close encounter, but that didn’t stop me from looting the corpses of the Brutes.Climbing on top of the prowler, I grabbed all that I could carry. The fancy spear poked my curiosity - pun fully intended - and I also grabbed the oversized Brute gunner’s helmet - I wasn’t even thinking of touching the decapitated head.With the spear and helmet in my grasp, I slid down the curved silver-grey armor of the Prowler. When I was on the ground, I slipped the helmet onto my head. It was a bit too heavy for comfort, but it was better than getting a projectile in the brainpan.Looking by the body of the backstabbed Brute, I smiled as I grabbed one of the Brute’s spiked club grenades and one spike rifle. Stashing the spare clips of spikes in the sack on my back. Afterwards, I took off, putting distance between myself and the scene.When I felt like I was far enough away, I looked over the spear. It was bronze and gold, with a little strange arrangement of red lights. Pressing one light with my thumb, the spear collapsed to a mere fraction of the size, allowing me to see the dual spearheads. The two spearheads were the same: four razor sharp blades coming to a point. I somehow managed to clip the spear to my belt on my black armor.Confident that I could now defend herself, especially with the spear, I set out for home. Moving further down the street, cautious of more Brute patrols, I passed the still burning remains of one of of the Equestrian Army’s Magic Acceleration Cannon tanks. It was basically an armored carriage on tracks, with a large grey enchanted metal tube, with two large red crystals on the back end of the tube.Strangely enough, it worked similarly to a human weapon with the same acronym.The MAC Carriage worked by Unicorns charging magic crystals with their own magic, then a crystalline projectile being loaded into the chamber. From there, the projectile was suspended in a levitation field between the two crystals on the back. The magic in the crystals would then be discharged into the projectile, propelling the magically imbued projectile out the opposite end with enough velocity that it could bring down one of the alien’s smaller ships with a lucky shot.It may have been powerful, but it was of no use to me. Being a mounted weapon, it was too bulky to scavenge, damaged by the fire, and took way too long to charge the crystals. Not only that, one would need to have a Unicorn to charge the crystals in the first place.After seeing the sight, I moved onwards, towards the safe house I had made.Passing by looted shops and piles of refuse, I ducked into an alleyway, making sure to avoid setting off the tripwire tied to a frag grenade I had set up before hand. Such precautions were needed after a close call with a Jackal.The Jackals were a few inches shorter than the average adult pony, and they looked like a mashup between a bird and a lizard. I still had the bandaging from the bite mark on my left arm, the invader having sunk its teeth into my flesh after it jumped me on a supply run.Luckily, at the time, I had managed to get ahold of one of the Manehattan police force’s revolvers, along with twelve rounds of ammo, looted from the body of a blue uniformed police sergeant. I had emptied the entire six shots that was in the revolver into the scaled avian’s gut.It died with a shrill, birdlike cry that was laced with a snarling reptilian hiss that still scared me a bit to think about.I walked down the concrete steps to a basement level, which lead me to a solid, rust covered metal door that was unlocked whenever I left. There was no one left to steal anything from me anymore.Opening the door, I stepped inside, making sure to lock the door and replace the solid wooden beam that added protection from the door being kicked in. A precaution after my first hideout was discovered when a Brute tracked my scent. It was only by its own stupidity with a grenade and a support column that saved my flank, but nearly buried me under the roof and rubble above me.Flipping on the light switch that was next to the door, I illuminated the windowless basement fortress.The bulb was powered by a magic crystal battery which I had wired up herself. I had carved a nice little home in the ruins of Manehattan, complete with a red, dirt covered carpet, piles of supplies and scavenged material, and a dusty plaid couch, right in front of a radio and television. The latter of the two having no signal or power, but the battery operated radio I had modified to pick up signals from greater distances still worked fine.‘Seems I take after my cousin’, I thought as I looked around the cluttered basement that was filled with projects I started to keep myself sane in the loneliness of Manehattan.One such project was a workbench made from a bunch of two-by-fours and an old wooden door. It was the first thing I built in this safe house. I had made it so I could have a spot to cobble together my other inventions designed to trap, trick, or even outright kill the Covenant.I had become quite the expert at taking out Brute patrols when I was prepared. All it took was a few of their own grenades to kill an entire Prowler column, especially if I managed to get my hands on the blueish-purple, baseball shaped ones that exploded really, really big and bright.I carelessly discarded the spike rifle beside the workbench and made my way past shelving stocked with canned goods, bottled water, and tools, ready to put away my collected supplies.“Let’s see,” I whispered to herself in my thick, Manehattan accent, as I reached into the bag, pacing around the not-so-neatly organized shelves.“Five clips of spike ammo,” I added them to the vacant spot on a shelf reserved for ammo, “One can of potatoes, and three bottles of water,” I added them to the near empty food section, “Two MREs courtesy of dead humans,” I kept one off the shelf to eat, I needed the calories. The rest of the canned goods weren't loaded with enough to sustain my energy consumption and barely had any nutritional value, so any super-high calorie meal was a gift from the Gods themselves.Tossing the package towards the couch, it landed just short, hitting the carpet with a loud thunk. Though I missed, I continued to talk and unpack, “Two marksman rifle clips - now all I need is the rifle - and one human two-way radio,” I put the clips away and placed the radio in a pocket over my breast. I searched more and more through the bag, hoping I hadn’t missed some small thing.Turns out I did, “Ah-ha, got you, you little bugger,” I said as I clutched the pointed end of the Phillips screwdriver.“Glad I double checked, I needed you.” Tossing the empty sack, it landed on top of a hatrack by the door, making a perfect landing right next to a black helmet.The helmet had a Brute spike jutting out the side at an down-sloping angle which was why I wasn’t wearing that helmet, plus it wasn't designed for pony ears which were bigger and further up on the head than humans. Although, I could if I wanted to, the structures like the jaws and skulls of ponies and humans were very similar, barring unicorns.The spike damaging the helmet was a generous donation from a Brute who had shot me from a single story rooftop. I was too busy fighting a group of seven Grunts to notice him. The little methane breathing punks had me pinned down behind what one of the human soldiers called a Mongoose. The little black and green four wheeled, all terrain vehicle was really loud, but was fun and easy to drive... before it blew it up when the Grunts shot it.I still had a few patches of fur missing from my arms and legs. The burns themselves healed by some some crazy human medical gel stuff that tickled and soothed the burns, replacing charred flesh with near-healthy, hairless patches of skin. That was back when humans were still around. All I did now was find their desiccated corpses strewn about the city.They were so nice after magic-smart Unicorns like Princess Twilight cast translation spells so we could speak to them, but the humans were gone now. Hunted down by packs of Brutes, unfortunate victims of the ‘ghost’, or left to protect other cities.Mareami had gone silent, Canterlot couldn't communicate through the energy barrier, the Crystal Capitol had one too, but it was too far away to make a difference, and Ralneigh was still transmitting radio signals last time I had checked. There were many other cities, but I either wasn’t in range, or they didn’t have their own radio station, such as Ponyville, the town where my cousins, Applejack, Applebloom, and Macintosh lived with our grandmother, Granny Smith.Walking over to my radio, screwdriver now in a pouch on my belt, she turned it on to Ralneigh’s radio station.“Welcome back ponies, and any of our human allies who speak Equestrian,” the female announcer said in a forced tone that was too damn cheery for the dire situation we all were in, “This is Crystal Beat reporting live from our studio here in the heart of Ralneigh itself. I’m telling you my little ponies, stocks are up, unemployment is down, and the Covenant wants world peace for everypony... now for the real news,” She added with a chuckle.“Today, the Ralneigh Defence Force, in conjunction with the humans of course, managed to shoot down an astonishing seventeen alien troop ships. If I’m not mistaken that’s a record number held previously by Mareami with thirteen, who by messenger, reported that the Mareami radio station’s tower was badly damaged by an alien craft, so all of you hearing static, it’s only temporary. Now, how about that weather, Sunny Day?”The voice of the male Ralneigh newscaster floated out the speakers like liquid gold, his message, however dark, was lighthearted and meant to lighten the grim mood that had the whole planet in its grip, “Well, Ms. Beat,” He said in a smooth tone, making the radio announcer giggle like a schoolfilly, a rehearsed act that was getting rather old, “Today's forecast, cloudy with a chance of Covenant air raids, followed by fires, later in the evening. Bring your umbrellas.” I smiled grimly. Of course it was air raids, same as yesterday, and the day before.“Now for some music,” His voice cut off as the sound of an old record began to play. It was an old trumpet and piano tune.It seemed that the music, as sad as it was, somehow drove away the bleak depression the situation brought upon everyone, be it pony, human, changeling, or the rare griffon.Listening to the slow, sad beats, I began to hum along. Getting up from the couch, I swung in beat with the music and danced. As I spun slowly with an invisible partner, a sad smile creeped across my features as a lone tear dripped out the corner of my left eye.Stopping my dance by the couch, I picked up the MRE off the floor, sat down as music played, and tried to read the labeling… but it was in English, not Equish. The translation spells only worked with the spoken language, but if I could have read it, I would have known it was spaghetti in meat sauce, and wouldn’t have cared anyway. Food nowadays was food, no holds barred. Even I was on the menu before, but a gunshot to the Pegasus stallion’s head remedied that problem, although it had used the last bullet I had for the police pistol.Sitting on the couch, I ripped open the heavy brown plastic of the MRE and poured out its contents on the cushion next to the one I sat upon, greedily licking my lips at the sight of the cardboard boxes containing the packs of food, the candy bars, the chips, and the drink powders. Getting up, I quickly grabbed a bottle of water from the shelf for the water activated food heater.I nearly cried at the thought of a warm meal. All I had to do was fill the heater bag with water, put the food pack in after I removed it from the box, wait for a few minutes, then I could eat a warm meal.Following the picture instructions like I had done before with a human instructing me, I filled to the black line, put the spaghetti package in the heater bag, then the heater bag in the cardboard box the spaghetti package came in, letting the water activated chemical reaction heat the food.As I waited, I tore open the brightly colored bag of salty corn chips that came in the MRE. I gobbled the chips down, followed by the one chocolate and one cereal bar, in a matter of seconds.I felt guilty for imbibing on the snack foods and not savoring every last bite, it probably was the last bag of chips and candy bars in all of Equestria for all I knew. Forgiving myself, I poured a package of red colored drink powder into the bottle and shook it vigorously. Afterwards, I gulped down the bottle of fruit punch flavored water that mixed horrendously with the flavor of salty corn chips and sweet chocolate.I had only needed a small portion of that bottle for the heater, which was still heating and should be done soon.After another minute, the food was heated. Opening the plastic that mummified my fork, napkin, and salt and pepper packets, I clutched the disposable white utensils and removed the steaming pack of spaghetti.Ripping open the package at the ‘tear here’ line, I nearly burnt herself with steam. That only made my stomach grumble in anticipation of the warm meal. Digging my fork in, I speared a saucy chunk of meat, accompanied by several red sauce drenched noodles.I stopped myself from eating, and bowed my head. ‘Just like mom used to do,’ I thought, before giving thanks to Messis, the Goddess of crops and food, for my meal. Even if it did contain meat.After my very short prayer, I dug into the warm and sauce covered meal. Eating each warm bite like it would be my last, savoring the taste of the tomato sauce, and eating only a few noodles at a time.After my meal, I bagged my trash - one reason was for general cleanliness, the other was so that the Brutes wouldn’t easily smell me out - then retrieved my damaged helmet from its spot on the hatrack.I compared it to the heavy blue Brute helmet that I was wearing, and much preferred the lighter headgear. Putting the Brute helmet on the hatrack, I tossed the black helmet to the workbench. Moving to my tool shelf, I retrieved a pair of pliers, a piece of scrap metal that I didn’t know where it came from, and the two tubes of epoxy for keeping stuff stuck firmly together.Moving over to the workbench, I yanked the spike out the helmet with the pliers. Seeing how deep the spike went, I thanked Salus for protecting me. The spike could have easily killed me if it went any deeper. Sizing up the damaged spot with the patch of metal, I discovered it to be the correct size and rough shape for a repair.Counting my lucky stars, I set to work epoxying the metal patch to the helmet. After I was finished, I let the epoxy set, then put the helmet on, glad that the lighter material took the strain off my neck.After I was done with the helmet, I picked up the spike rifle I threw beside the workbench earlier and removed its ammo. Fishing the screwdriver out of my pouch, I set to work removing the two chipped, crescent shaped blades attached to the bottom of the spike rifle.“What is it with the Brutes and bladed weapons?” I asked no one in particular, using the befitting name that the human soldiers used for them.I remembered my first Brute weapon. It was a spike rifle like the one I was currently modifying. I also remember being surprised that the Brute weapons could easily be taken apart by simple Equestrian tools, such as my screwdriver. Thus, removing the blades was an easy task.The reason I wanted to remove the blades was so that I could hold the weapon with two hands to steady the rifle more. More accuracy meant less ammo wasted.Finished with removing the blades, I yawned as my fatigued body told me that I had been up far too long. Replacing the ammo in the spike rifle, I stretched my aching muscles and checked the metal door, then the door that lead from the building above to the basement. I had permanently shut that door, barring it with a wooden beam I had found down here when I moved in. After that, I made my way over to the couch, placing the rifle within arms reach.I took off my black armored over-shirt, the black kevlar-laced fabric drenched in sweat. Putting the armor close by, I removed my belt and pouches, then sat down after retrieving a photo of three ponies from my pink plastic wallet. Both were gifts from my mother that I kept close at all times. It was the only thing I had left to remember her by.Still clad in my black pants and my white undershirt that was covered in dirt and sweat stains, I gazed at the picture. My mother, my father, and me, all smiling with a still intact and bustling city in the background behind us. The whole scene was illuminated in the vibrant oranges of Celestia’s setting sun.The picture was taken from our favorite picnic area in the countryside. A nice little hill that had a perfect view of the city at sunset.Tears welled up in my eyes as I lied down on the dirty couch. I didn’t care about my personal cleanliness, I had grown used to being filthy. The last time I had a bath was when the humans still held control over parts of the city, trying to evacuate the wounded and the children first.I could still hear the haunting wails of parents at the airport as they kissed their children goodbye. For most, it was the last time.As I lay back on the couch, staring at the photo in the wallet, I couldn't get the memory of my parents kissing me on the forehead as reflective purple fighter craft dodged streams of tracer rounds and puffs of greyish-black flak bursts in the air. A loud cacophony of ponies crying, everypony clammering to be first to board the human ships named after birds, and gunfire from the anti-air weapons of the humans.Naturally, I didn’t want to be separated from my parents, and in the madness of the moment, I had managed to slip away unnoticed and attempted to find them. I just barely managed to catch a glimpse as they were the last ones to board a UNSC Pelican, its ramp closing tight.I remembered all too well the blue plasma fireball from the damaged ship that slammed itself into the green colored vessel that wasn’t even in the fight, setting it into a flaming, uncontrolled spin after clipping the metal bird’s left wing.In full sobs at that point, I gripped the wallet close to my chest and closed her eyes. My tired body and mind slipped into an uneasy sleep as the drone of the engine from a Banshee fighter craft roared over my building.