As Viking-01 soared over the darkening sky, they could see the full extent of the hell that was now the Canterlot plain. Destroyed vehicles, explosions, and streaking bullets peppered the landscape. The sun was setting, though masked by the smoke and ash from the sheer carnage.

“Crimson! Get ready! We are going in hot!” Viking’s pilot yelled to Fireteam Crimson. Chris slammed the button, opening the rear door. As the Pelican set itself down near the main base, Chris and the team jumped out. Canterlot was unrecognizable. The once orderly streets were pocked with blast craters, wrecked vehicles, and ruined buildings. Medics rushed, carrying Marines on stretchers, alongside wounded ponies. Chris looked up, and a small hole in the ash appeared. The light of the setting sun pierced the clouds, sending radiant light down onto the scorched no man’s land. Chris sighed, then he focused himself.

“Crimson! Move out!” he barked, and the team sprinted towards the defense line. After a half hour’s run, they arrived. What the UNSC called a “Defense line.” was little more than a ragtag line of Scorpions, Warthogs, and Mongooses. The Covenant were firmly entrenched, and they were exploiting this. The UNSC field guns were having to aim under fire, while the Covenant guns were able to land hits simply by pointing up and firing. Chris sped over to a Marine squad.

“Sitrep, Marine!” Chris yelled.

“Those Covies are hitting us with everything they have! We’re gonna need a miracle to survive this shitstorm!” was the reply.

“Stay with it, Marine!” David yelled, sheltering next to Chris.

“What’s the plan this time?” Grant yelled, while he sent rounds with his Sniper Rifle.

“Hold the line, Spartans!” Chris yelled. As he said this, a radio call came into his headset.

“We’ve nearly lost this battle! We need a goddamn miracle if we’re gonna defend this city! Knocking out those guns helped, but it wasn’t enough Crimson! We need to knock them out in one killblow, or we’ve lost!” Palmer yelled.

“Got it! Tell all fireteams to hold their ground. We need air support NOW!” Chris replied, shooting down an charging Elite with his magnum.

“Negative, Crimson. All birds are engaged or downed. The Red Rider, Dawes and Allegiant are in the same shit, Crimson. We need to end this soon, and by soon, I fucking mean NOW!”

“Understood!” Chris yelled. As the rest of the Fireteam hopped out of the Warthog, Zag stayed behind for a few moments.

"I wonder..." He said, then he scowled. Then, as Zag hopped out of the Warthog to regroup with the team, a Plasma blast struck the ground barely inches from him, detonating the Warthog. The explosion sent Zag careening into the trench wall. Getting up, he looked down at his now-mangled body. Seeing the Fireteam in the distance, he began to walk. Then he began to run.

“Crimson!” Zag rushed over, limping as he went. Chris rushed over, and saw a massive cave-in in Zag’s body. One of his wings was jagged and broken, and his Lightrifle was now a mangled, broken heap.

“Zag! What the hell happened?”

“Not important. I am low on power, and wounded. I have a theory of how we can end this. I am powered by a Promethean-model fusion core. If I were to rupture it close to the enemy lines, I would wipe everything out in a three hundred meter radius, thus decimating the enemy. The counter is, when the core is ruptured, I will cease to exist as soon as it detonates.”

“Zag, you can’t possibly mean…”

“Yes, Crimson. I will die. But life is paramount with death. I have served you well. Honor my sacrifice.” Zag said, drawing out a small Forerunner totem. Pressing it into Chris’s stunned hand, he did his best to salute.

“It was an honor serving.” Zag said, before leaping out of the trench and into the driver’s seat of an abandoned Warthog. Gunning the engine, he drove at a breakneck pace towards the Covenant line.

“ZAG!” Chris yelled. “NO!”

He tried to reach out, but he fell into the ground. Looking up, he saw Zag gun the engine evermore. Zag growled as he drove, weathering the onslaught of plasma fire that awaited him. Then, the front-right wheel was hit, causing him to spin out of control. After a series of spins and flips, and a mighty crash, the Warthog stopped, and Zag emerged. His left leg was smashed, and his right arm was severed at the joint. He crawled slowly, firing a Boltshot at a few Grunts that challenged him. Then, an Elite pinned him to the ground with a stomp. Zag growled and grabbed a piece of glass from the windshield. Raising it above his core, he sighed.

“Farewell, Fireteam Crimson.”

Zag slammed the glass shard into his core, shattering the proton barrier. The Elite stepped backwards in fright as the core began to rupture. A massive surge of orange-black energy gathered into an orb, then, it vanished, followed by a huge explosion and a pillar of ash. The gust of wind threw vehicles into the air, and the bodies of fallen Marines and Covenant. The ash cloud finally settled, giving everyone a good view. Zag was no more. A crater and a small orange dust, what remained of the Promethean, was all there was. The Covenant line had been obliterated. They had simply ceased to exist. As the remaining Covenant began to retreat, Chris collapsed to the ground in shock. The Marines around him began to celebrate, cheering each other. Chris sat there, contemplating what he had just seen. Ken and Grant helped him up, and he suddenly began to cry, the first time in a long while. As he was carried into a Pelican, he broke down and began to sob.

=====================================================================

THE NEXT DAY

Chris sighed and looked down at the ballroom, now packed with Humans and Ponies alike. Celestia had proclaimed an honorary night of celebration for their victory the previous day, and to honor those lost, though Chris was in no real mood to party. He sighed and looked at the totem Zag had given him. It was rectangular, with strange forerunner inscriptions. A large blue pyramid stood in the middle. It was warm to the touch, and it felt as if a piece of Chris had died with the Promethean.

“You okay, Chris?”

Chris turned to see Twilight walk up to him, carrying a small glass of water.

“Not really. You didn’t know Zag as I did. He was a good friend, and a damn good soldier. I’m just...sad to see him go.”

“I can understand that. His sacrifice was honorable.”

“He didn’t have to die. We could have found another way, GODDAMMIT!” he yelled, slamming his fist into the railing, shattering the glass.

“Chris, he died a hero.” Twilight said.

“I know that. Without him, we could have lost the battle. That would have meant the end of everything. Hey, I got something for you.”

Chris drew out a UNSC datapad, and he handed it to Twilight.

“Remember back when we first met? About how I could give you access to the Infinity’s Database? Well, this datapad has the whole digital collection of the Library of Humanity. A basic copy of our history is on that device’s 300-terabyte hard drive. Hope you like it.”

“Thanks, Chris.”

“No problem. Thing is, we’re leaving tomorrow. We managed to get back in contact with NavCOM and FleetCOM, and they need us. We've got trouble brewing. Apparently two colony worlds have been completely destroyed. They need us to investigate.”

“Alright. But one more thing.”

‘What?”

“If you ever need a safe haven, come here. You know where to find us.”

========================================================

THREE WEEKS LATER

“CAPTAIN LASKY! Distress calls, all channels!”

Lasky entered the bridge, scowling. It was chaos as the Infinity bridge was bombarded with calls for help from nearly everywhere. Marines and Bridge crewmembers were scurrying about, trying to respond frantically. He stepped up to the main table, looking at Roland.

“What’s going on?”

“Cortana. Her and the other AI’s are shutting everything down from Earth to the outer colonies.” Roland said.

Suddenly, the lights went out. Then, red lights came on, giving off an air of evil

“Found you.”

All eyes turned to the malevolent AI standing in their midst. Lasky scowled. Cortana.

“Hide-and-seek’s over, Infinity.”

A Forerunner Guardian then appeared out of slipspace, and began to ready it's energy pulse.

“Lieutenant Jet! Emergency Slipspace NOW!” Lasky barked.

As the Infinity sped past the Guardian and into Slipspace, Lasky scowled.

“Can she track us?”

“No reason to think she can’t.” Roland replied.

“Continue random jumps. Steer clear of major settlements!” Lasky yelled, to a confirmation from Lt. Jet.

“So that’s it? We’re just gonna run?” Roland asked.

“Only until we find a way to...fight.” Lasky said, then he smiled.

“Sir?” Roland said, laughing slightly. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Hell yes. Jet! Get us to the ruins of Birdsong ASAP!”

“Yessir!”

“And get a message to Palmer and Fireteam Osiris! Tell them to link up with whatever forces they can scavenge at Birdsong.”

“Already on it, and...I got through!” Roland said. “Palmer says...you’re insane, but it just might work. By the way, Fireteam Osiris recovered the Master Chief and Blue team and are heading with Covenant splinter forces towards Birdsong. Three cruisers, one carrier. Total is 8,500 Covenant forces, along with rescued UNSC forces left over from the blast.”

“Good. We’ll need all the help we can get. Better hope the Equestrians are ready.”

“They will be.”

Author's Note

And yes, Sequel soon!

This concludes Equispartans!

Hope you enjoyed!