Crossroads

Chapter 6: Attack

<~Ralneigh~>

I knew that sound. That high-then-low wail of an air raid siren. Everyone in the bar began scrambling. The Clones put on their helmets and grabbed pistols, the Changelings jumped up and made a mad dash for the door, all the while the drunken Equestrian Marine nearly seemed sober before falling on his face.

The Spartan however… she was gone before I could register the sound of the siren in my head.I ran outside and looked up into the sky. What I saw made my heart skip a beat. Covenant and human ships crisscrossed over one another, raining streaks of fire on each other as puffs of black dotted the sky.I counted one big Covenant Assault Carrier, dwarfing its two accompanying Corvettes.As the human and Droid ships pounded the Covenant shields, small craft were literally swarming from the belly of the Assault Carrier like somepony had made a giant silver beehive angry.The cacophony of battle finally found my ears as I drew my pistol. I noticed several purple-blue bulbous landing craft accompanied by purplish-pink tuning fork shaped craft. Between the tongs of the ‘fork’ I saw vehicles suspended in a blue field of light.Crowds were panicking in the streets, I managed to make out one refugee yelling, “They haven't sent this many before!”Waves upon waves of hostile aliens jumped out the craft as fully crewed Wraiths went toe to toe with the walking tanks from the Clone army. Fighter craft from all sides waged intense aerial war.I ducked as a giant ball of green plasma ripped the air above my head. I felt the heat from it before hearing the explosion.The Grunt that fired the plasma was carrying a giant launcher that seemed twice as big as him, but I managed to end him with my pistol before he could fire another shot. Running back towards the hospital, I planned on meeting up with Big Macintosh.As I ran, I looked to the sky again. There, a V-shaped pattern of Covenant dropships the humans called Phantoms stuck out from the chaotic formations of craft above us.Chaos, the Covenant had us all in chaos. Their bombers rendered tanks to scrap as Elites poured out of the small dropships with what seemed like thousands of Grunts.Running through the streets, I passed by a whole platoon of Droids fighting Grunts. I could tell the normal Battle Droids were fairly useless in a fight, their aim wasn’t worth shit and they were easily dispatched by Grunts. The bulky grey ones, however, were taking out Elites with wrist mounted laser guns.Passing the platoon I turned a corner and a blue rocket screamed over me. It was intended for the Wraith down the street and hit its mark.Getting up and looking to where the shot came from, I noticed two Grunts and a small squad of Clones waiting behind a small sandbag wall with a walking tank. One Grunt waved me over, and to my own surprise, I ran to the sandbags and lept behind cover.The Grunt that waved me over looked up to me. His eyes held great fear, but they also contained an almost hidden, ferocious fire, “Thank the nipple you came! Yipyap and Flipflop reporting for duty!” He shouted over the raging battle as he gave me a salute with the wrong hand.A Clone brushed him to the side, “Ma’am, I need you to get to the nearest-”He never finished. A large smoking hole replaced a large portion of his helmet, hitting the Clone behind him in the chest and killing him as well.I ducked low, “Get down!” I yelled as the gunner of the tank fired at the sniper, blowing chunks of rubble down from the roof.The remaining Clones didn’t follow my warning and charged forward while Yipyap and Flipflop crouched low beside me. While crouched, I noticed that both of their gas tanks were colored purple with white stars.Flipflop looked to me as Yipyap fired his plasma pistol over the wall, “Clones get killed too often. Us follow you now,” he said in a voice squeakier than Sweetie Belle’s.I didn’t like the idea of those suicidal things following me, but they could be useful as shields. “Keep up, gas-suckers,”  I said back as I put my pistol in my holster.I then darted off as I picked up the dead Clone’s rifle. It was heavier than most of the rifles I’d dealt with before but I wasn’t going to complain. It did keep me from fighting with just my pistol.Looking behind me as I ran, I noticed the short-legged Grunts were surprisingly keeping pace with me.I was almost to the hospital before a blast of green sent me flying through the air like a marionette with cut strings. Looking back on the event I never did remember hitting the ground.

<~Three minutes later~>

My eyes felt heavy as I stared at the closed lids. My body ached like I had been slammed into repeatedly by sledgehammers and I could hear the battle still raging, but it was echoing like I was down a very deep well.When I did open my eyes, I was staring at a ceiling as well as one one of the Grunt’s heads.“You’re alive?” He asked, almost shaking as he stared at me.“Ungh…” I moaned as unconsciousness took over me again.

<~Big Macintosh’s PoV~>

I looked around for Babs outside the doors of the hospital while panicking like I never did before. I’d just found out she was alive today and I may have already lost her again. Only General Kenobi had returned to tell me she had gotten angry with him and left him behind.She shouldn’t have left with him even if he was completely honest about everything. The only reason I ever trusted the particular human was because my sis trusted him.I looked down the street, Kenobi was hacking away at the Elites with his fancy blue sword as the Clones were on the roof defending the hospital from Jackals. We’d learned quickly that those chickens loved to roost on top of buildings before putting a nice neat hole in your head from one of the many Covenant sniper rifles.Noticing that the Elites were thinning in number, I unslung the hammer off my back. The Brutes always come after Elites. Always.I’d seen them hurt too many of my friends. Rainbow Dash is still in bad shape after diving in front of a gravity hammer swing to save a scared filly.I had killed the varmint too late to save Dash from getting seriously wounded. I made sure to get her help before I relieved him of his hammer and then later of his armor.Looking to the sky, I made a hobby out of learning the names of every ship over Ralneigh. The Galactic Republic Star Destroyer Hades and the two unnamed Droid Battlecruisers were pockmarked with plasma holes and a few flaming wounds as the UNSC Carrier Megalodon took off from its spot in Ralneigh harbor, a few spots on the freshly repaired hull were already damaged before its new shield was activated.I couldn’t see the UNSC Frigate Frozen Earth, but I didn’t have to wait for long before an ear splitting bang roared overhead.The large magnetic cannon on the Frigate punched through the weakened Covenant shield and blasted a gaping hole into the biggest of the attacking ships, spilling fire and electronic innards.With the main ship damaged along with no shields, every Covenant craft that hadn’t been shot down raced back to the ships.We had won, but they never had launched an assault this big before.I needed to find Babs. The Gods have mercy on General Kenobi if she’s hurt.

<~Babs PoV~>

My eyes once again felt as heavy as stones, but I had them partially open. I ached and I could feel my leg bleeding painfully below the first bend in my right leg, but not much else. Equestrian legs were jointed like the Elites, barring our hooves.If I wasn’t in pain, I would be down right humiliated at that moment because I was being dragged unceremoniously by Yipyap and Flipflop by my arms over their shoulders.From my half conscious state I could make out Yipyap bragging about his new gold colored cannon across his back after killing the Grunt that shot me, while Flipflop kept silent.The headache I had was only being compounded by Yipyap’s high pitch voice.And then I fell into unconsciousness. Again.

<~One day later~>

My eyes peeled open slowly like my eyes were fighting a snail in a slowness contest. My mind felt foggy, giving me a hint that I had been drugged.With my eyes now completely open, I stared at the distinct white of the hospital ceiling. There was a rhythmic beep-beep of a heart monitor to my left so I turned to the sound. Sure enough white cords hooked up the offending device to me, I could feel the chill of the pads that stuck to my skin. I even had an IV of clear liquid running into a vein in my arm and I could feel that I had a catheter… gross.Turning my head on the comfortable pillow, I could also feel gauze and padding over parts of my head.Looking around, I realized there was a white plastic curtain to my left, and a wall to my right which had a crutch leaned up against it. The window on the wall on my right was dark from the night sky outside. Turning my head left again, I knew if the curtain was drawn that somepony was in this room with me.“Hello?” I called out, hoping my roommate could shed some light on the situation.“Yeah?” I heard a scratchy, tom-coltish voice call back. I only knew one mare who spoke like a tom-colt beside myself and Scootaloo, and that was-“Rainbow Dash?” I asked incredulously. I never thought I would find someone else I knew. Spending time with cousin Applejack had allowed me to meet her.“Yeah, kid, it’s me. Applebloom’s been by a few times just so you know. Hopefully her idea works. It will do so many ponies a lot of good. You especially.”“What?” I asked confused. I don’t know what it was, but I decided to check under the covers.I blanched white at the absence of my right leg, seeing where it was once connected now wrapped in clean cloth bandaging.My stomach churned in knots and I wanted to puke at the alien feeling of missing a limb. Seeing it gone but still feeling like it was there had me in a such a state of shock, I didn’t realize Rainbow Dash had brushed the curtain aside.When I did notice her, I looked at her in even more shock. She was standing with the support of two crutches. Her left arm and leg were missing, and I stared with an open-mouthed expression of confusion and horror. Her leg was gone, but her arm was replaced by some sort of metal prosthetic that melded into where the shoulder joint should have been.I stared blankly and noticed that her new metal shoulder was engraved with human letters.She noticed me staring at the engraving, “It reads as such, ‘Honorary Helljumper - Rivenbark, Metz, Powers,’ It was from a few humans I know.” As she spoke, I noticed her left eye was a milky white and I couldn’t see her left wing.All the damage was on the left side of her body. “Wha- what happened!?” I stammered seeing her, somehow forgetting about my missing leg.She took a breath and sighed, her voice cracking with sadness as she spoke.

<~Ralneigh two months prior, Rainbow’s PoV~>

We had killed all the Elites and Grunts that dropped down, and it was time for the Brutes. I reloaded my assault rifle and took flight, seeing Clones battle with the ships the humans from the UNSC call Seraphs.A wave a Brutes came down in fork shaped Spirit dropships. The oversized monkeys jumped out in no apparent order but all ready to kill without the restraint the Elites seemed to posses.I flew right where they landed, firing a blast in their faces before they could register I had even moved in front of them. As I flew off, I left a present by their feet.A pretty little flaming blue present of death.I had cleared the Brutes out in under ten seconds flat, but as I thought I had killed them all, a Spirit crashed into a building in a giant flaming wreck. Two arrow-head shaped Republic starfighters, one pink and grey, the other yellow and grey, zipped over the building.It was General Skywalker and Pinkie Pie; both of them harassing the enemy pilots to no end.Hopefully, there weren’t any survivors from the crash.I flew through the gaping hole in the wall, my wings beating furiously. I spotted movement from the rubble of the Spirit and angry forms began to peel themselves from rubble and wreckage to take up arms.In the confines of a building, I had to land. Taking up a spot behind some rubble, I pulled a curving banana shaped magazine from the black combat vest I wore. I popped my half empty magazine out and replaced it with a fully loaded one as white-hot spikes sailed over my head.I had already used my sole grenade to kill the Brutes outside, so now I only had two options, gun A: my rifle, or gun B: my pistol. I wouldn’t even think of attacking them with my knife.Popping up, I sent lead flying downrange, killing a Brute whose shields failed during the crash. Ducking back down, I waited for the firing to stop. I couldn’t reload since it was my last magazine, so I just waited a second as spikes pelted my cover. After what seemed like an endless barrage of spikes, the Equestrian Marines finally arrived.When my cavalry had arrived, the Brutes’ attention shifted to them, allowing me to throw caution to the wind and jump over the rubble. What I saw on the other side made me sick.A Brute Chieftain had a little filly by the neck, holding her high in the air. Her green coat paling as her life was squeezed out her throat.I began firing but I only had a few rounds left. Discarding my rifle without thinking of my still half-full clip, I drew my pistol and fired as the Brute just stood there, watching the poor girl die slowly in its massive fingers. All the other Brutes were distracted by the Marines, and the Marines distracted by the Brutes.I kept firing and walking forward until I ran out of ammo. When that happened I drew the knife on my side and flew almost top-speed straight for it.There Brute tossed the filly down before raising a giant hammer to end her. He then took that point in time to notice me and a whoosh followed by a boom cracked the air inside the building like a whip.I landed on the ground, hard, but I never passed out. That came later.

<~Babs PoV~>

“Big Macintosh was the one that killed the Brute, but not before it killed Chocolate Mint, and he wasn’t content with just killing her. I tried to save her, honestly,” Rainbow said frantically as she began getting caught up with telling her story, “Then after he killed her, he snapped my left wing like it was a twig and ripped my leg off, before Big Mac shot him.”She then got really angry, “I passed out like a useless filly with a papercut! And when I woke up, I found out that most of my left side was mush, and my left arm was utterly destroyed… I-I-I’m rambling about my injuries again aren’t I?” She asked, calming down.I simply nodded.“Sorry, Babs, I’ve just been cooped up here for two months with broken ribs and missing limbs. The UNSC luckily had this metal robot arm in my size. Crazy how short those humans are, right?” She asked with a fake smile and equally fake chuckle.I looked down to the depression in the covers where my leg should be, “I wouldn’t judge size. A Grunt was the one that took my leg.”She grimaced, “Fuel-rod cannon or plasma grenade?” She asked darkly.“I don’t know, just some gold colored weapon as big as the Grunt that fired it.”“Fuel-rod it was then. Lucky you aren't missing both legs. I’m going to go tell Applebloom you’re okay.”“What about Big Macintosh?” I asked, curious as to why he wasn’t in here with me.“He’s in jail. When he saw you were injured he punched General Kenobi in the face and left a big shiner over his eye before giving him a bloody nose. Also, Kenobi stopped by with some Clone and a Commando Droid, apparently they all know you.”“Yeah,” I sighed defeatedly, “Can you just go get Applebloom? I need some time alone.”She looked to the spot where my leg should be under the covers and nodded before slowly limping off with her crutches.

<~Canterlot Palace, night, Azure Whisper’s PoV~>

I looked up to the sky from the courtyard of Canterlot Palace, the Dreadnought of the Seventh Sky Corps was hovering just above the massive shield spell Princess Luna and Celestia had cast. In the inky darkness of the night it loomed over us like a bad omen, but in the day it was like a protector to all who dared walk the streets in these troubling times.Looking around the courtyard, finding nothing else here but grass and statues, I spread my leathery wings and took flight. The Solar Guards should be getting off their shift, and I, as one of Luna’s Lunar Guard, had the all important task of guard duty.All I did on guard duty was listen to the Princesses argue about the war before getting sent out when things get too heated and they start breaking eardrums with the Royal Canterlot Tone.Landing on a balcony, my ears twitched at the sound of a bat flying from its roost, a favorite pet amongst my race.I smoothed down my short, blond hair that was blown in random directions from the flight, before reaching into the side pocket of my pitch black trenchcoat to retrieve my solid-black shades. Since I was a Thestral with a rather rare birth defect, my eyes were extra adept seeing in the dark, but painfully sensitive to bright light. The little trade-off forced me into wearing shades most of my life.I didn’t really care; it intimidated the new recruits when paired with my training style. One of my recruits even had the audacity to whisper one time, ‘Oh shit, here comes Captain Whisper.’Of course you can’t whisper a secret around Captain Whisper and I not overhear, and as a result he ran drills until he doubled over puking. But that was all before the Covenant arrived. Now I was busy with guard duty - an obvious waste of my natural talents - which I still needed to report for.Entering the palace proper from the balcony, I made a few twists and turns to get to the Throne room.I gave the guards on the outside of the doors an intimidating smirk and entered, taking position inside the throne room by the doors. There I could hear Princess Luna and Princess Celestia argue, but I couldn't see them.“-you suggest goes beyond cruel. I cannot use my talent to wage such warfare,” I heard Luna complain.“The Covenant kills our little ponies by the score and threatens the existence of the humans as a species. Even after months of this madness you refuse to throw away your petty moral choice for the common good.”“But to achieve that common good involves me implanting nightmares into the minds of the Covenant. It tears at me to sit idly by as I see them suffer through their own nightmares, but to create the nightmares for them… I can’t. You haven’t seen inside their nightmares. General Grievous was bad, but some things the Covenant dream of are horrific to the point I’m beginning have nightmares of my own.”“You have obviously seen the nightmares, so you can’t or you won’t do your duty to Equis. Luna-” Celestia paused, “We face an enemy that refuses to negotiate with us, they even fired upon me instead of running after I threw myself at them full force. And as you can see, it has taken quite a while to grow my fur back.”“I won't, dear sister. What you suggest goes beyond all that is wrong.”“Then I guess I have no option but to authorize Project Spearhead,” I heard the distinct sound of a heavy paper folder landing swiftly on the table and the rustle of paper.I heard Luna shuffle a few of the papers - obviously speed reading them - before gasping, “Sister, this is unacceptable. I will not allow this project to start.”I heard Celestia sigh, “I knew you were going to say that, so I took the liberty of beginning phase one.”Luna shouted, “Monster! How could you do this?!”“You know we can't stop the Covenant without abandoning a few morals we used to cling dearly to. Times have changed, it is high time we take on the mantle of responsibility and lead our people against these invaders.”I then heard the sound of Luna teleporting off.Most nights the arguments were big, but this took the icing on the cake for actually grabbing my interests. I wasn’t briefed on any projects codenamed Spearhead, and I’m one of the higher ranking commanders of the Guard.Something very wrong was up with that project, and I was considering committing treason to find out.

<~Babs PoV~>

It had only been around five minutes since Rainbow Dash left the room, but it felt like an eternity as I was slowly coming to terms with the fact that I had lost a major part of myself.No more running or playing kickball with Applebloom; and even if I get one of those clunky prosthetics, I’m never going to be able to truly be as good on the field as I once was.I felt a wave of despair wash over me like a tidal wave. One never knows how much they’re going to miss something until it’s gone.I knew I should be thankful. Rainbow, since she’s a Pegasus, must have been going through an extremely difficult time with one wing constantly reminding her she wouldn’t be able to fly again.A missing leg wasn’t that bad when I looked at it that way, but I knew it was going to be a long ways to go before I fully accepted that it was gone.