Chapter 3: Burn

Chapter 3: Burn

The streets were full of panicking ponies. The arrival of yet another spaceship had caused a rekindling of mass hysteria. For me, I had a perfect view of the streets from my spot in the fancy box with wings, what Waxer and Boil called a LAAT Gunship. They offered O’Neill and I a ride in it to the park, where O’Neill’s sergeant was waiting. A free ride in an actual alien spaceship was worth the risk of abduction.

My head swiveled down to O’Neill as I heard him sigh. He was sitting with his legs precariously dangling out the side of the craft while I stood with the twenty or so other soldiers, my hand holding the handlebar above my head tight enough to whiten my knuckles.O’Neill let out a another heavy sigh, shaking his head miserably. I didn’t know what had him depressed, we were on a freaking spaceship with alien soldiers; I was happy. I often let my mouth run faster than my brain, so I asked without a second thought, “What is it?”His head spun to look at me, his eyes holding a hint of sadness. “Nothing,” he said defensively, but quickly looked down again while letting out yet another heavy sigh, “It’s just from up here it looks like the ground on Reach all over again. The only difference is that I’m the Covenant.”“Huh, what do you mean?” I asked, a few of the white-armored soldiers facing O’Neill as well.He shook his head, “I don’t want to talk about it.”I saw how he was hurting, so I was going to say something to try and comfort him, but the words caught in my throat when Waxer tapped me on the shoulder, causing me to turn my attention to him. “Miss,” he said sternly, “can’t you see he has questions he rather not answer?”O’Neill let out a hurt laugh, facing Waxer with a forced smile. “And how would you know what I’ve gone through?” He asked with a wave of his left hand, since he was holding onto the sliding door of the Gunship with his right.Waxer shook his head, his voice not holding a hint of anger like I had anticipated. “I don’t,” he explained slowly, “But I’ve been in enough battles and seen enough scars to know when to tell someone to drop it.”O’Neill let out a loud sob, and I jerked my head back in surprise. “Reach is gone along with my father and two of my brothers,” he muttered, “It’s only a matter of time before Earth burns.”He looked hopeless, lost in thought with painful memories. I remained silent, following Waxer’s advice as we continued on. It didn’t take long after that before I felt the gut-clenching rapid deceleration and decent, forcing my eyes closed as the world spun. I was never one for roller coasters, and the ride was starting to feel like one. Luckily for my stomach, the park was directly below us, coming closer into view as we got lower. I snuck a peek at the ground below, noting that hundreds of other humans - wearing O’Neill’s armor - had gathered in the small park area, milling around with sodden crates covered with algae from the bay. I guess the splashdown in the water ruined most of their equipment.When we touched down, the engines powering off, I followed O’Neill out of the Gunship with the other white soldiers. The scene wasn’t so different from the sky, so I didn’t pay much attention. That is, until I saw one particular soldier. He was taller than anyone else around, wearing dark green armor with a yellow visor. He simply strolled by us, but he seemed to have an air of authority about him as everyone took a glance at him. Even O’Neill was pulled out of his funk as he stared at the strange soldier. “Is that what I think it is?” he gasped, his eyes glued to him.Waxer and Boil were just as transfixed, though a bit more perplexed. “It?” they asked in unison, looking to each other before facing the soldier again. The other soldiers in white armor that accompanied us also looked  surprised at the titan in green armor. The soldier for his part, didn’t even react to the other stares, but he did give me a brief look, hardly missing a step before he walked away.O’Neill stared in wonder; hope shining in his expression. “A Spartan,” he said in awe, shaking his head, “I thought they all died on Reach. Humanity just may have a chance after all.”Even though I barely had the time to meet him, the voice of Sergeant Johnson was unmistakable, and it sounded like he was angry. “...And I’m tellin’ you, I’m not having some alien ordering my men around!”I looked at who he was talking to, seeing a short girl, most likely younger than me with a slightly annoyed expression. Her skin was bright orange, and instead of hair she had striped blue and white… tentacles? That’s what it looked like to me.“Sergeant, I mean no disrespect,” the girl said with a dismissive wave of her hand, “Most of your men are injured, and I’m offering to help using resources that should be allocated to Republic troops only.”I could see the Sergeant grinding his teeth, barely holding back his true fury. “I’ve already sent one of my men to a civilian hospital,” he exclaimed, getting pretty close to the girls face, “Like hell I’m going to rely on any more outside help when we already have medics handling the situation.”From the pained expression on the men, the amount of bloodied hands, and metal cases of first aid kits with scattered canisters of foam, ‘Handling it’ wasn’t cutting it. Especially with all the waterlogged supplies.The girl let out a groan as she rubbed her forehead, “If you just put your stubbornness aside, we could save these men a lot of pain and trouble.”Sergeant Johnson looked around the collection of humans in non-white armor. With a defeated sigh and slump of his shoulders, he relented, “Fine. But if one of my men dies due to medical malpractice, I’ll see if your fancy medics can dig a bullet out your skull.” To back up his threat, the Spartan moved to stand beside the much shorter Sergeant, adding to the intimidation.The girl just closed her eyes and lifted her hand up, and before anybody knew it the Spartan was floating a few centimeters off the ground. It startled nearly everyone, except for the Spartan himself, who was strangely calm, white-armored troops, and myself. I had seen Unicorns use what she had enough times to roll my eyes at it.She had magic. Great.With a gasp, she dropped the Spartan to the ground, a startling loud thump resonated where he landed. A golden light dancing around his armor a moment before disappearing. “How heavy are you?” the girl gasped, panting as sweat beaded down her forehead.The Spartan spoke in a low, rumbling voice as he examined himself, looking for anything out of the ordinary, “Almost a thousand pounds. Don’t do that again.”Pounds, the Griffons were probably the only ones who used that system of measurement.The girl chuckled lightly and waved her hand, “Don’t worry, I’m not as strong as Master Kenobi or Anakin,” she jerked as if realization struck her, “And since both of them are back with the rest of the fleet, I’m currently the senior ranking officer.”A beeping sound came from a device on her wrist. She tapped one of its buttons, I heard the gumbles of an elderly officer, “On my way Captain.” Looking back to Sergeant Johnson, she sighed and shook her head, “I’m sorry, but I have business to attend to back on my ship.”She ran past us in a sprint, a strange feeling surrounding her as she effortlessly  jumped into the spaceship I arrived in. After giving quick orders to the pilot, the engines powered back up and flew off at high speed, eventually disappearing into the sky.Waxer gave a laugh, “Ahsoka’s a good officer, but at times, her inexperience gets the better of her.”From her actions thus far, I could guess as much.The Sergeant sighed, facepalming at the departed girl known as Ahsoka. “This is going to be a long stay,” he muttered, rubbing his eyes.O’Neill walked past me, his face wearing a smile as he gazed at the Spartan. O’Neill then turned back to face me, his smile faltering. “Guess this is goodbye,” he said with a shrug “I, like the rest of the guys here, have a lot of work to do.”I gave a nod of my head, “Goodbye then. Tell the other humans to play nice with the police, and the soldiers with the only working spaceship.”That managed to make O’Neill smile and chuckle before he left along with the other troops. I showed myself out, and was able navigate my way to the park’s exit. When I did, I beamed a large smile from my first encounter with life from beyond our galaxy’s stars. I wondered how long it would take until Princess Cele- a glint of gold in the sky caught my eye, and I turned towards it in curiosity.And there she was, Princess Celestia, flying through the sky in her royal chariot. Upon closer inspection, I could see Princess Luna sitting beside her. They weren’t hard to miss, as they stood taller than the average pony. Gold armored Solaris Guards flanking each side, as two Pegasi in dark grey Shadow Guard armor pulled the carriage through the air on leathery bat-like wings. It looked like there was a lot of big things about to go down, and I certainly didn’t want to miss it.Better get home and watch the news where it was safe, and I wouldn’t get guns pointed at my face.<>~<>~<>The humans from the United Nations Space Command - UNSC, as they were called - re-established connection with the rest of their species with the help of a ship called the Requiem. From what I could understand, the Requiem belonged to an entirely different group, calling themselves the Galactic Republic.Soon after, we had both the UNSC and the Galactic Republic visiting us by way of wormholes permanently open between galaxies. Well, a few were permanent, whereas most were randomly appearing and disappearing in the night sky as I watched through a telescope I set up on the roof. I could only describe their appearance as tears in space, a thin silver line with an absence of light surrounding it. Sort of like a black hole, with the silver line as the event horizon.  Somehow, they were formed by accident, after a super-advanced alien ship blew up or something. I didn’t care; the Galactic Republic and UNSC soldiers were nice. The UNSC set up a few garrisons in the city, and warned us about the Covenant, all the while the Galactic Republic lent aid through Equus.  We were basically the middle ground between the galaxies, since it seemed that an alien ship - the Forerunner was what that UNSC scientist called it - was the only thing that could make the long trip in one go without having to go through us first. The Galactic Republic sent Senators to us, and the UNSC sent their own representatives; the four Princesses and Discord presiding over the entire thing.Most if not all of the formalities and speeches about progress and unity between species and governments were televised. A few were even reported on by my father. It was strange not seeing him being blown over by bad weather on live TV.All of those talks were worth squat when the hammer finally dropped. After two months, The Covenant somehow made it to Equus, specifically over Manehattan, the purple ships’ engines drowning out the mournful wail of sirens as the few weapons Celestia allowed the humans to place fired skyward.And from that point on, everything went to Tartarus.<>~<>~<>I was watching television, resting on the couch when the alarms first blared. They were obnoxiously loud, and I ran over to the window, casting aside the blinds. My window was dominated by two of the large ships descending on the city like purple sharks of the air, swimming through the atmosphere ready to devour all in range. From all directions, legions of smaller craft emerged, zipping through the air.The Requiem arrived from the other side of the city. Bolts of blue light fired from cannons slamming into the invading ship, which responded in kind. Each of the ships’ shields flickered and danced as the two metal giants squared off, while small single-person spaceships flew from the Requiem’s hangars to battle with the smaller Covenant fighters. Eventually, my mother and father ran through the door, fear and panic on their faces.“Night, get away from there,” My father ordered firmly, but I was rooted in place by fear, totally unprepared for this. I never imagined that they would find us to deliver fire from the sky like the recordings that the humans recovered from the Pillar of Autumn’s cameras.I was propelled out of my daze when my dad grabbed my arm, but not before I saw two unlucky pegasi get slammed into by a small purple craft, knocked to the side in twisted shapes, mouths screaming in agony as they fell from the sky. Blue teardrop shaped fireballs launched from their front guns, chewing through what LAAT Gunships and Pelicans that had arrived to meet the threat. Each one was undoubtedly full of scared civilians. Evacuation routes had been planned for if this day ever came.It all reminded me of an old saying from Hoofstrong, ‘The best laid plans never survive contact with the enemy.’When my dad finally pulled me completely away from the window, he was both angry and scared, a mixture I had never seen before. “What did I just say?!” he exclaimed before dragging me to the hallway by my arm, my mother following behind with a terrified expression.It didn’t take long for us to run down the ten flights of stairs on nothing but fear and adrenalin. The occasional explosion hitting the tower made bits of sheetrock rain on top of us, and the sound of shattering glass was prominent.When we reached the street outside the building, the Requiem was falling from the sky in a burning hulk, crashing down hard in the center of the city with a near earthquake-like shake. It had already taken out one of the Covenant ships before it went down, and had damaged the other, but it wasn’t enough to keep that Covenant ship from spilling out different craft. These new ships were dull blue, fat and rounded, like a swarm of angry gluttonous beasts.I jerked in fright as I ran when the purple and green ships began strafing us with their guns. The few Humans nearby fired their assault rifles in vain at the sky, only to be cut down by the blue teardrops of plasma.As we ran from the blue bolts spewing from the guns on the smaller ships, one of the fat bluish ones hovered over us, causing us to stop in our tracks. Five aliens in gold armor jumped out, their mandible mouths open in a war cry as they landed in the streets with a variety of weapons in their hands. In a single moment, we were surrounded by both sides. From my scream of panic, it didn’t take long for one to notice us behind them, and with another battle cry, I was kicked in the chest by one of them with a massive foot, knocking the breath out of me as I tumbled to the ground.On the cracked street was where I lied on my stomach, panting for air. All thought in my brain was shutting down as I tried to concentrate, the area coming in and out of focus… no… no, no, no, noooo! Mom was stabbed through the chest by two prongs of blue flame, wielded by a Covenant alien. My father received a similar fate, as a different one stuck him  through the gut, impaled in the air before the alien tossed him off the blue flaming blade as a child would a broken toy.By the time their bodies fell to the ground, I felt the weight of a foot on my shoulder, rolling me onto my back. The alien hovering over me with sword ready to plunge, I was so numb from the shock that I didn’t care if I died right then. I simply closed my eyes and waited, tears, brimming my eyes.However, Death never came for me; the pained grunt of the alien making me snap my eyes open. It was knocked away by a green fist of metal, sending it to the ground. A Celestia-sized titan in green armor had punched my attacker’s head so hard, it had whipped back with a pulpy crunch. The last Spartan had saved my life.The four other aliens were already dead, my parents were dead, all around us was death. The Spartan’s gold visor looked into my tear filled eyes, and in that deep voice, it spoke, “Move.”I didn’t hear him. My slain parents had me no longer seventeen, no, I was a scared little foal, curled into a ball while blubbering. I felt the Spartan pick me up, set me on my hooves, and in a loud order, he spoke again, “Move.”An sharp whine followed by a blue explosion behind the Spartan sent my world spinning into black.<>~<>~<>I awoke slowly, vision fading in and out as I stared at the smoke filled sky through a hole in the ceiling two or three meters above me. My body hurt, pain running up and down like a constant fire through my nerves. I could feel the dampness of sweat and blood mixing with dust, caking my skin and furred legs in a layer of filth.I was…somewhere. It took all my remaining strength in my battered body to will myself to move, grunting in pain as I leaned up. Arching walls and a tunnel greeted my vision. The sound of battle could still be heard; explosions, gunshots and energy weapons discharging, but it was all… distant.“Where am I?” I muttered weakly as my heart pounded faster and faster in my chest. Then events began to play back in my head, jumping around from event to event: the explosion knocking me out, the aliens, the Requiem crashing, my parents.I covered my eyes with my hands, a sob caused my body to spasm and hurt even more, “Gods, no… why…” The air was rank with a foul stench, like the rotten meat of a dead animal. I rolled to my side, coughed, gagged, and puked a little, all the while crying tears of heartache and misery.I gasped in shock when a Clone from the Galactic Republic fell down into the pit I found myself in with a pained grunt, his massive rifle clattering on the ground beside him. Hoof-long pink shards were embedded in the back of his white and orange armor like crystalline porcupine quills.From the barely clothed alien pinup on the side of his helmet, I realized that it was Cherry. He was the newest member in Waxer and Boil’s squad I had met not too long ago at the Republic garrison while visiting the two. The injured Clone rolled over, giving weak cries of pain as he pushed the shards in further, panting and gasping. Shakily, he pointed out the hole he fell from.“The sky’s falling,” he proclaimed, his arm going lifeless, falling with a heavy clatter of the scorched white armor.With all the death, I was relatively unaffected by him. I just sat there as I tried to catch my breath, but the kick from the alien and the impact with the sewer floor had left me winded.I suffered an injury like this before. It was an accident at the beach. I had wiped out trying to sand-surf on a boogie-board, the damn thing shooting out from under my hooves, sending me sprawled onto my back. I hurt for days afterwards; three cracked ribs, one broken.It was very similar circumstance, as I believed I had a few broken bones. As a result, even the act of breathing in and out was causing me pain, but I had to move. No telling when the aliens would find me.Slowly and laboriously, I crawled to the dead Clone, sitting up to a crouch as I tried to pick up his heavy blaster rifle. A DC-15 I think I had heard it called one time. No way was I going to move the heavy weapon. It took every bit of a Clone’s strength to manipulate the rifle, or so I was told by Waxer.The big boys never let me play with the cool toys at Flack and Shrapnel’s gun range.Looking around the room, I counted two more bodies lying in twisted positions, both UNSC Marines. A nice shiny pistol was still strapped in the holster of one Marine.Cherry’s helmet looked like it would fit me, and with the way my head was pounding, I knew I needed something to protect it. Pulling the helmet off the dead soldier, I respectfully closed the eyes that every Clone shared, sending a prayer to the Gods to watch over him.Placing the helmet over my head, the built in headset flooded my ears with messages, a Clone, most likely a Pilot of a Gunship yelling, “That Banshee’s right on our tail, I can’t shake him!”Another soldier, this one sounding like he was from the UNSC, practically screamed, “Burn those mother-!” before it cut to static to be replaced by more profane yelling.I pulled the helmet off just in time to hear a distant explosion. I wouldn’t be able to concentrate with all the yelling, all the death. Why didn’t they just do us all a favor and blast us to Tartarus from orbit already like Reach?Forget it; I needed to get that pistol.I crawled for what felt like hours, and for all I knew, it could have been. My vision was swimming in and out of blurriness, making my sense of time and direction off. It took me forever to reach the body, the name tag reading Hall. I wondered if he had kids, or a family back on Earth or one of the other remaining human planets.I just lied there, thinking as I reached for his pistol. When I finally summoned enough willpower to take the weapon from its holster, I felt strength leave me and I collapsed on my side beside the dead soldier, taking shallow breaths.I just gotta… sleep… for just a moment…Adrenalin kicked in when I heard the horrid squawk laced with a subtle hiss. I lied still as death when the source of the noise jumped into the sewer, missing the foul smelling water to impact solid ground. There was a distinct scrapeing sound with every step it took, like massive claws were digging into the concrete floor with each move of its feet.I felt my gut turn over in a knot when I heard Cherry’s armor clatter away from his body, followed by a crunch. I felt bile roll into my mouth when the sound of flesh being ripped reached my ears, but I willed myself not to puke. Blood began to pool towards me, a small crimson lake as the beast I dared not look at devoured Cherry’s corpse with sickening squawks and hisses.Why? Why was this happening to me? I thought that over and over to myself as I felt my eyes burn with tears.Then the sounds of the creature consuming one of my friends stopped. A dead silence overtaking the cramped tunnel.I heard the alien breath in heavily through it’s nose. My urine a dead giveaway to any creature with heightened sense of smell.I grabbed the pistol I took from Hall, my roll causing my to scream in pain as I fired wildly. The recoil was massive, almost making me hit myself as the gun kicked backwards, but I fired until there was nothing left.By the time I became re-aware of my surroundings again, the alien bastardization of dragon and griffon lay near me, a hunk of Cherry’s flesh hanging from it’s tooth filled beak.I curled into a ball, sobbing as the bile I held back fought its way out once more, emptying what little remained in my stomach.I needed to leave, will myself to move, but how much more could I give? My parents were gone, my friends, even my home city was gone to ruin. My strength was wavering with each passing second as I lied curled into a ball. The cold concrete leaching what heat it could from me.Then, clarity of what would happen if I continued lying there passed through my thoughts. If I stay here, I would die, and more of those things would eat my corpse.I rolled to push myself up to my knees, my skin coated in blood while my fur was in other bodily fluids. Rising to my hooves, I looked my would be killer in the slitted eyes as it lied on its back.Studying it halfway in a daze from pain and the feeling of utter numbness, I spotted the sunshine pendant around it’s neck, and a cloud ring around one of it’s three talon like fingers.My parent’s jewelry matching their cutie marks, a cloud and sunshine.Heartache and rage boiled in me as I found strength to raise a hoof, bringing it crashing down into the creature's skull and shattering it under the strenght of an enraged earth pony. If only the bastard was still alive so he could feel my hoof grind its head into pulp. Why couldn’t it leave them in peace after their death…? Why did it have to disturb their bodies and loot them?Or… I glanced over at Cherry, the sick feeling of hatred boiling inside me.With no way to kill the alien any more than I already had, my rage dissipated to nauseousness, my thoughts a jumbled mess of anger, pain, and fatigue. I sat down hard on the floor, telling myself the thing just took their jewelry, and was only interested in Cherry.It was a lie and I knew it. Taking my father’s ring and my mother’s pendant back from the creature, I clutched the pendant's chain hard, letting the little ray of sunshine dance around in spins.Mom had home videos of me when I was in the ‘chewing’ phase of foalhood, and I repeatedly thought their jewelry was edible. I unclasped the chain, threading the gold necklace through my father's silver ring since it was too big for my fingers. Looking back, I guess I was keeping both of them close to my heart. With a small part of my parent’s to cling to, I felt new energy stir in me. Getting to my hooves, I studied the corpse some more. I had to go, the gunshots would probably attract more. Luck looked like it wanted to favor me; two holes leaking purple glowing blood were punched into the creatures gut from my wild shooting. My hoof was just overkill.On the aliens hip was a pistol that I had heard the humans from the UNSC talk about. A Needler, usually carried around by Jackals. It was shaped like the letter ‘A’ turned on its side, made from dark blue metal that was nearly black. It’s frame was smooth and elegantly curved. A few pink shards were poking from the top of it’s frame, the same ones that were buried deep in my dead friend.I didn’t like it. Guns weren’t supposed to look like that. They were supposed to be cumbersome things made from lots of metal. What was on the Jackals side seemed almost… decorative.Even though it looked too focused on looks than effectiveness, I took the weapon. The alien metal was unsurprisingly light, and the trigger guard seemed to be made for the bigger aliens. Elites, I could finally remember the humans calling them.Aiming down the tunnel, I pulled the trigger once. A single pink shard flew out of the tip of the weapon, disappearing into the darkness of the tunnel beyond the light let in from the hole. The weapon sounding off with a noise akin to glass breaking, a single pink shard disappearing from the top of the weapon. The recoil was a fraction of a fraction of the human’s pistol. There was only one problem with it. I only had five shards left sticking from the top of the weapon.Groaning in frustration, somewhat armed with a weapon I could control, I limped slowly down the tunnel, unable to reach the hole I fell in from. I had a plan: get to the surface, find others, escape, and hopefully not run out of shots with the only weapon I had.If only plans worked out like they were supposed to.