Foreword: this chapter introduces character themes for Shipmaster Thar 'Saramee and Commander Michael Preston. Enjoy.

In other news I have been playing a lot of Far Cry 2 recently and I've forgotten just how fun that game can be. I'm getting Far Cry 3 for my birthday but in the meantime I've decided to do a Let's Play for FC2. I know this has nothing to do with Halo but I also have LP's of Halo 4 and Halo: CE Anniversary up there as well. They're both in progress but I do have them!

My channel.

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Chapter Eleven
Appleloosa

February 25th, 2531
Equestrian star system, Cygnus arm
Town of Appleloosa
Shipmaster Thar 'Saramee of the Covenant CSO-class supercarrier Divine Wind
Mission: exterminate all life in Equestria
9:57AM

Shipmaster 'Saramee tossed the corpse of the dead pony to the ground, the holes in his torso pouring out steam. His brown vest and hat were matted with blood, and the mark of an apple on his flank was bruised.

Thar deactivated his energy sword and stowed it, repressing the urge to clean his hands after touching the filthy creature.

His forces had occupied the town as it was near Canterlot and would be an excellent staging ground for an invasion of the royal pony city.

At that moment Thar's second in command, Rav 'Taramai, ran up to the Shipmaster; the Aristocrat stowed his dual plasma rifles before speaking.

"Excellency, the town is now ours. All natives we have found are dead" Rav stated.

"Fantastic work, Rav. Sweep the town again, I want none alive. If you find any of Twilight Sparkle's friends bring them to me at once" Thar ordered.

"Of course, sire."

Thar turned his attention to the mountains in the distance, quickly finding the silhouette of Canterlot; the royal city was seemingly built in a location and fashion that would ensure it would be visible from all quarters of the continent.

The Shipmaster took a moment to recite the Writ of Union, a custom he partook in after every battle.

So full of hate were our eyes that none of us could see. Our war would yield countless dead but never victory. So let us cast arms aside and like discard our wrath. Thou, in faith, will keep us safe whilst we find the path.

Thar looked at the piles of dead ponies that the Unggoy were beginning to make, the stocky aliens dragging the corpses along and dumping them off unceremoniously. Indeed Thar mused as he went over the Writ once more.

Movement in his peripheral caught 'Saramee's attention, prompting him to look towards Canterlot as dots flew through the sky. Thar bumped up the digital magnification his helmet's HUD provided and saw that the dots approaching were in fact human dropships, carrying vehicles and troops for an assault on the town.

Thar immediately darted into action, taking position on top of the largest corpse pile as he addressed his troops. "Human dropships approaching from the East! Bring the tanks around and take up defensive positions! Rav, arm the anti-air cannon right now!"

"The true devotee honors our name with actions, not words!"

The lead dropship came into view and Thar was about to order the anti-air cannon to fire when there was a tremendous explosion from behind, forcing the Shipmaster to whip around and see that the cannon was mangled and on fire. A moment later a squadron of human fighters flashed overhead.

"BY THE GODS!" Thar bellowed, enraged with the humans. Turning back around 'Saramee saw that the human dropships had offloaded their vehicles and troops, and the assault was now in full swing.

"FIRE!" Thar commanded, his tanks sending dozens of plasma bombs across the morning sky towards the humans.

One dropship soared directly over Thar; this one was black and had a longer cabin, as well as bigger weapons. The dropship turned and lowered itself into the center of the town, near one of the corpse piles, and dropped the ramp at the rear. A human vehicle slid out along with a squad of soldiers and-

Applejack and Pinkie Pie?

A missile system on the back of the vehicle opened fire, obliterating a squad of Sangheili; their remains flew far and wide.

Thar was about to charge forward when a nearby explosion knocked him on his back, leaving him looking up at the town's clock tower; the morning sun was directly behind the structure and cast a heavenly and peaceful aura over the town.

A human tank rolled by, grinding the dirt beneath its treads and filling Thar's vision.

The Shipmaster jumped to his feet and ducked into an alley, igniting his energy sword as he prepared to circle around to the rocket-launching vehicle he had seen earlier.

'Saramee reached the end of the alley that exited out into the main street just as a trio of human warriors ran by; the Shipmaster darted out and made quick work of them before he looked down the road and saw the rocket-launching vehicle, guarded by a squad of humans. Thar recognized one as the warrior that fought him in hand-to-hand back in Ponyville. In addition to the humans Thar saw Applejack and Pinkie Pie, hunkered down under the vehicle.

Thar roared and charged for the humans.

*-*-*

Commander Preston slapped a new magazine into his XBR55 and ducked down to avoid plasma fire from several Jackals; the avian-like aliens had been equipped with plasma rifles and their standard shields and had displayed surprising intelligence by forming a phalanx, and were now steadily advancing on the Commander and his squad.

A Scorpion rolled into the intersection behind the Jackals and ripped them to shreds with its coaxial machine gun before continuing on its way.

The Commander shouldered his rifle and sighted in through the 2X-zoom optical scope, his crosshairs coming to a stop right on the face of an Elite Shipmaster wielding an energy sword.

Hey, isn't that the Elite I fought in Ponyville? What's his name? Thar?

The Elite noticed and recognized the Commander and immediately began charging for him, shouting some kind of battle cry. Preston opened fire with the XBR55, spitting out rounds in burst of three as the Elite began to close the gap.

The Commander ran out of rounds just as the Elite reached him, violently slashing his energy sword through the air to decapitate Preston. The naval officer dropped the empty magazine and rolled away, fishing for a new one as the Elite pinned him to the ground with a boot, intent on killing him.

The finishing blow never came as Maxwell-021 kicked the Elite's sword hand away, brandishing two M7 SMG's that had been fitted with Battle-Rifle style flash hiders which he levelled on the alien.

The Elite growled as 5mm rounds peppered his shields and he smacked the SMGs out of Maxwell's hand, the Spartan responding in kind by drawing out a UNSC combat knife.

Maxwell spun the knife around and the blade glittered in the sun; the Spartan tightened his grip and kept the knife close to his chest in the new position with the handle facing him and the blade sticking out.

The Spartan stabbed at the Elite.

Commander Preston rolled over on the ground and saw Applejack in the middle of the intersection, trying to make herself as flat as possible behind the remains of a Warthog. In her position she failed to notice the Wraith tank that was about to hover over her.

"Applejack, get out of there!" Preston yelled, watching as the farm pony looked up and saw the Wraith climb over the wreckage and sink down, its front end briefly smacking into the dirt before its Gravity Propulsion Device evened its hovering out. Applejack was physically unable to move due to the high gravity.

She was not harmed.

The Wraith glided into the intersection and turned on its axis, the cannon aiming into the sky before discharging a plasma bomb.

"Ooohohoohh! Twitcha-twitch! Twitcha-twitch! Something BIG is about to fa-"

BOOM!

The plasma bomb had arced straight and true and had landed directly behind Pinkie Pie, the intense heat flash-frying her rear end and vaporizing it. The party pony catapulted into the air with a terrifying scream of pain that would forever be embedded into Preston's mind.

Pinkie landed on the ground and continued to scream, the angle she fell at allowed Preston to see it all; everything below her colon was gone; her intestines were black and blistered, her liver was boiling away, and her stomach had fourth-degree burns. Blobs of plasma had landed on her lungs and esophagus and were slowly incinerating them.

She screamed bloody murder for seven seconds before dying of shock.

"PINKIE! NOOOO!" Preston shouted; there was nothing he could've ever done to save her.

The Commander turned around and saw Maxwell throw Thar to the ground, returning his knife to his sheath as he quickly reloaded his SMGs. The Elite landed next to Applejack and she tried to attack him, turning on her forelegs and attempting to buck him with her hinds.

In one deft move the Elite slashed her legs off and immediately began running in the opposite direction, heading for the Supercarrier at the edge of town.

"When have you ever seen an Elite retreat?" Preston inquired as he and Maxwell rushed over to Applejack.

"Never, Sir."

The two reached Applejack and the Spartan quickly applied biofoam to her wounds; the sword had cauterized both legs and prevented her from bleeding out, but infections were still a high probability.

"Gah-aah! C-Commander, where's Pinkie?!" Applejack asked.

Preston shook his head and made sure the farm mare couldn't see the remains of the party pony.

"N-no..."

The Commander frowned and looked up as the Covenant Supercarrier began to approach the town, the fore plasma projector warming up.

"Damn. All UNSC personnel, retreat! I repeat; ALL UNSC personnel retreat! Mike-416, we need you and the rest of the Pelicans to get back here and get us out NOW!" Preston shouted over the radio.

"Commander, we can't get there in time! That Covenant ship will have glassed everything by the time we come anywhere near there!" the pilot protested.

"You said that last time we needed evac and you made it in time. This is not a suggestion, trooper. Get here ON. THE. DOUBLE!" Preston ordered, watching the Supercarrier creep ever closer.

"Everlasting Fall, it's time for the contingency! Activate those subroutines and get the Marathon out here!"

"Yes, Sir! Would you like any weapons activated? One of the two MAC cannons are functioning, all Archer missile pods are-"

"I know what works and what doesn't; just get that ship out here NOW!" the Commander bellowed.

"Yes, Commander!"

A few seconds later the UNSC Marathon screamed over Appleloosa, rattling the Commander's teeth as she turned to face the Supercarrier and began barreling down on it. With the plasma projector charging the Covenant ship's shields were down, leaving her vulnerable to the single MAC blast to the plasma projector and the two Hyperion missiles the Marathon dished out to her.

The Supercarrier was now crippled.

"Excellent work, Fall, now get the Marathon outta here and back to Canterlot!" the Commander ordered.

The AI was about to comply when a point-defense laser on the Supercarrier lanced out and sliced off the Marathon's thrusters in one swoop; carried on by nothing but momentum the destroyer sailed forward and smashed harmlessly in the shields of the Supercarrier, disintegrating instantly and raining down hundreds of millions of chunks of debris upon the Equestrian landscape.

"M416, where THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Preston yelled as debris began to rain down upon Appleloosa; the bridge had snapped off the destroyer and crashed through town hall, turning most of it into toothpicks.

"We're here, Commander!" the pilot of M416 replied as her and the other dropships arrived at Appleloosa. One Pelican in particular soared over the Commander and MCT-7 and was struck by the remains of a 70mm defense cannon; the wounded Pelican dipped down and landed upon the Marines the pilot was planning on extracting.

Preston winced.

Mike-416 touched down in front of the Commander and they all rushed aboard as a large chunk of steel slammed down into the spot they were occupying just moments prior.

"GO, GO, GODDAMNIT!" Commander Preston demanded; the rear hatch sealed and Preston looked out at the smoke and flames that used to be Appleloosa and her residents.

The last thing the Commander saw before turning away was the corpse of Pinkie Pie.

*-*-*

"I'm so sorry" were the first words out of Commander Preston's mouth after Twilight and her remaining friends started crying over the death of their party friend and the air that occupied the spaces Applejack's rear legs used to. The Commander could tell they especially were suffering greatly as a result of the war.

Leaving them to themselves Preston exited the medic tent and found Princess Celestia waiting outside for him.

"Things...didn't go as planned. Appleloosa remains in the hands of the Covenant, though there's not much for them to hold on to there anymore. None of the residents of the town survived. Pinkie Pie...was killed. And Applejack is wounded, as I'm sure you know. I lost men, dropships, vehicles, and whatever was left of my ship. The Covenant Shipmaster Thar was there, and we engaged him. He survived, and is probably royally pissed off" Commander Preston explained, his head hung in shame.

Celestia sighed in sadness and said "I...see. What do you propose will happen next?"

The Commander hesitated before offering his answer. "I've got a plan to hit the Covenant Supercarrier and bring the war in Equestria to an end. Me and a substantial number of Marines will board the ship and clear it out, wipe all records of Equestria from the database, and use the vessel to leave Equestria" Preston explained.

There was silence for several seconds and the sound of sobbing from the tent permeated the air, rushing the Princess to reply to drown out the despair.

"Please...do not fail. Can you please promise that no more suffering will befall my subjects?" Celestia asked.

The Commander looked out the window and saw the silhouette of the Supercarrier in the distance, hovering stock still over what Preston assumed was Appleloosa.

The Commander never answered Celestia's question.

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Author's Note

A/N: Thar 'Saramee reciting the Writ of Union does have relevance to the story, I promise.

Also I've been playing a lot of Far Cry 2 recently and I've decided to do a Let's Play of it on my YouTube channel. I know it has nothing to do with Halo but I DO have LP's of Halo 4 and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary up on there. Both are currently in progress but they're there.

Legal note: Thar 'Saramee, Rav 'Taramai, Commander Michael Preston, and all related characters belong to me. Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Princess Celestia, and all related characters belong to Hasbro. My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro. Halo belongs to 343 Industries.

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