Chapter Fourteen
The Final Stand

February 26th, 2531
Land of Equestria, Cygnus arm
Shipmaster Thar 'Saramee

Thar 'Saramee was thoroughly dishonored; his blood was shed, his figure permanently damaged, and his mission had not succeeded.

He was failing.

"Rav, order a team of Zealots to the main hangar; I wish to have them join me on a mission to capture Princess Cel- the Pony leader" Thar said, having to correct himself.

There was a moment's pause before Rav answered, stating "Of course, Excellency. But if I may; what will we do about the Unicorn we captured?"

"I shall deal with her" Thar replied, leaving the bridge and heading down to the brig, his thoughts plaguing him all the way.

Twilight, Twilight, Twilight, why was it you that had to be captured? I do not like my hand being forced, but the humans made it so. Perhaps, if I explain to her why the humans are so vile then she will understand.

"Thar, what's going on?! Why are you holding me?!" Twilight demanded as the Sangheili entered the brig.

"Twilight Sparkle, I recall the memories I made when I first arrived here; the cultural knowledge we shared was exquisite, but did you not know the heresy of associating with humans? How vile they are?" Thar asked.

"Thar, there's nothing wrong with humans! They're a good race; noble and nice, good-willed, and overall outstanding. Why do you fight them so hard?!" the Unicorn wondered aloud.

There was that one human who courageously stayed as his comrades left, personally fighting me hand-to-hand. Was he regaining his honor?

Thar drew his energy sword and ignited it, pulling it back and aiming for Twilight's head.

"Thar, please... Please don't!" Twilight pleaded, and the Shipmaster hesitated.

"I... I do not know what to do, Twilight. Your race is clearly connected with the Forerunners, but you have allied with the humans. The Hierarchs have declared humanity complete affronts to the Forerunners and their will. I am confused!" Thar exclaimed, tightening his grip on his sword.

Thar sighed and lowered the weapon, turning away and beginning to walk away.

"Thar, wait! Please, just abandon the Hierarchs and the Covenant and live with us and the humans in peace! Leave the Hierarchs, they're wrong!" Twilight exclaimed.

In a fit of blind rage Thar turned and slashed his sword, slicing Twilight's horn clean off and making her shriek in pain. He approached her and raised his sword, preparing to deliver the killing blow.

The Shipmaster stopped as he looked into Twilight's eyes, finding something that stopped him from killing her. Past the tears and her fear was something else, something Thar could not quite place.

The Sangheili deactivated his energy sword and left the brig, heading down to the main hangar where the Zealots and Spirit dropship were waiting.

"Let us move quickly, my brothers" Thar deadpanned, boarding the dropship with the Zealots.

-=-=-=-

February 26th, 2531
Land of Equestria, Cygnus arm
Royal City of Canterlot
Commander Michael Preston
Mission: SURVIVE!

"Keep those Pelicans moving, I want all ponies and non-combat personnel evacuated immediately!" Commander Preston barked as he proceeded through the palace, making sure the wounded were getting out first.

The Commander's defenses had been hammering at the Covenant assault for almost twenty minutes and the Covenant were still throwing aircraft at them; neither side were showing any signs of slowing down. The Commander had personally seen thousands upon millions of Banshees, Seraphs, and Spirits pour out of the Supercarrier.

Of course many had made it through the defenses; they weren't perfect and there were just so many aircraft coming at them. The point was to just delay them long enough to make sure all the ponies got out OK.

Not all of them would make it out; many dropships would be shot down and many more ponies would be killed in the streets, but Preston wanted as many as possible to get out, though he had no idea where he would take them all. Maybe Stalliongrad but last Preston had heard the city had been overrun by psychotic deviants*.

This is a mess; if the Marathon hadn't been destroyed then maybe we'd be OK. We might be able to take most of them and return to UNSC space to save their species.

It was too late to consider such plans, and now all they could do was hope that UNSC reinforcements arrived in time.

Suddenly the Commander's radio came to life and the voice of the Marathon's communications officer Jeff Chambers came on. "Commander, come in. I've got reports of a single Covenant dropship that made it through the line and is heading right here to Canterlot Tower."

"Understood, Lieutenant, I'm on my way up" Commander Preston replied, making his way back up and through the tower to the top, proceeding past the manned fortifications the Marines and Royal Guard had made.

Just as Preston opened the door to Celestia's chambers he saw a Covenant dropship swoop to a stop outside the balcony and drop its right-side door, depositing a team of Zealots and the Covenant Shipmaster leading them; he stalked forward, his energy sword ignited in full.

"Thar 'Saramee..." the Commander stated, pacing back and forth as the Elite stopped several feet away.

"Human. I have fought you personally many times, and while I admit you fight with honor and courage, I know that your species is inferior. You are a blight on the galaxy, a stain on the pristine fabric of space the Forerunners wove, and a miserable species the Forerunners left behind when they transcended the mortal realm. You, and your species, do not deserve life" Thar explained in perfect English.

Princess Celestia hung her head in shame and disgust, unable to believe that she had been friends with such a blind monster.

"Believe what you may, Covenant. We shall fight until the last man falls" Preston retorted, earning a dark chuckle from the Elite.

"That may sooner happen than you think."

"Spartans, Marines, take care of those Zealots. Shipmaster 'Saramee is mine" Preston ordered, waiting patiently as the Zealots brushed past him for the rest of the humans.

"Valiant, human, but also foolish. I will strike you down with ease, much like I did that whelp who stayed behind to fight me" Thar said, swinging his energy sword at Preston who rolled to the side and emptied his XBR into the Elite.

Thar swung his sword and slashed the Commander's rifle in half, prompting the human to tackle him to the ground and draw his M6G/B.

Meanwhile Maxwell-021 and his Spartans engaged the Zealots along with MCT-7, the two teams dodging swings and stabs and making their counter-attacks.

The Zealot Field Marshall thrust his sword at Maxwell-021 and missed, being kicked away afterwards by the Spartan leader. The Spartans drew his M7 SMGs and fired on the Elite, the rounds peppering and glancing off his shields as he charged for Maxwell again.

On the other end of the spectrum Sergeant Grimesy and MCT-7 were doing their best to hold off their share of Zealots; the Sergeant was pumping and firing his replacement shotgun, keeping the Zealots at bay. One of them descended upon him and he blasted it away.

Before Grimesy could work the action again a Zealot stabbed him through the stomach with his sword, holding him up by the neck as well.

"Let's go, ya bastard!" the Sergeant yelled, stabbing the Elite in the neck and making him stumble and crash through a window, sending the both of them plummeting to their deaths.

Commander Preston loaded in the last magazine for his M6G/B and emptied it into Thar, frustrated that his shields just wouldn't break.

Thar stabbed at the Commander once again and missed Preston had dodged; Preston turned around just in time to get backhanded by the Shipmaster.

With one final stab the Zealots finished off Marine Combat Team 7 and moved on to the Spartans, who were still standing and guarding the Princesses. Maxwell-021 opened up on the Zealots with his SMGs while his companions shouldered XBRs.

The Spartans, being as good as they are, made quick work of the Zealots and were about to assist Preston with Thar when a nearby window was smashed in by another Zealot, wielding two energy swords. Kenneth-004 was decapitated instantly, leaving just Maxwell, Kelly, and Albert.

The new Zealot swung his swords and the Spartans dodged, opening fire on him.

Running out of ammo in his current magazines Maxwell flicked the catches and tilted the weapons up, dumping the empty mags and slapping new ones in. The Zealot charged right for him.

Across the room Commander Preston was on the verge of being defeated by Thar, who had failed to land a blow on the human with his sword and had instead resorted to physical hand-to-hand attacks, which had certainly left a mark on Preston.

The Commander did have one last trick up his sleeve, and was going to use it. Just as Thar stabbed forward again Preston rolled the side and keyed a button on his radio, sending the go-ahead signal to a nearby force.

"You are dead, human" Thar said, about to stab Preston when the balcony and the wall it was attached to exploded; shards of glass and brick sprayed into the room and showered the two combatants. A second later a Vulture AC-220 gunship soared over the tower.

Using the momentary distraction to his advantage Preston assaulted the Shipmaster and stabbed at him, breaking his shields and lodging his knife into the Elite multiple times before a fuel-rod landed nearby, throwing him to the side. In his new spot he saw a Banshee fighter scream overhead; the disorientation allowed the Zealot that had crashed through the window to kill Albert, leaving just Maxwell and Kelly.

Before Preston stood up he saw another Banshee rocketing across the sky, heading straight for the tower. The underside flashed green and the Banshee veered off; a fuel-rod flew straight and true right over the Commander and slammed into the wall near the back, blasting Princess Luna apart and killing her instantly.

"LUUUUNAA!" Princess Celestia screamed in anguish.

The Zealot made a move on Maxwell but was intercepted by an angry Celestia, who fired a blast and broke his shields. Enraged, the Zealot grabbed the Princess and threw her across the room, where she landed near Thar and the Commander. Maxwell pulled his knife and stabbed the Elite in one of his two hearts, making him roar in pain and slap a plasma grenade to the Spartan. The Spartan grabbed him and jumped out of the window where the grenade detonated and killed them both.

Thar smacked Preston away from him and snatched up Celestia, calling for a dropship which came and took the two of them away.

"Damn it!" Preston shouted, shaking his head clear as he and Kelly ran down through the Tower; the Commander retrieved his datapad and ordered all Pelicans to scatter and take their pony refugees wherever they wanted. He then instructed any and all offensive craft to assault the Supercarrier, hoping to buy some time.

Preston and Kelly reached the grand hall where the former refugee center was at and caught a pair of Hunters assaulting a group of ponies. The two were about to help when the one Hunter swung his shield arm, twisting it so the shield was horizontal, and smashed half the group into pulp while the other incinerated the other half with its assault cannon.

The Commander gathered up his bridge crew, along with Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Spike, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders and they boarded his custom Pelican; the pilot took off and they ascended the sky just as the Covenant began to swarm over Canterlot like ants after their hill had been kicked over.

The Pelican was pursued by Seraphs and Preston yelled "get us out of here, now!"

The pilot attempted to comply but failed as a plasma bolt struck the left-side engines, forcing them out of control as they careened down to earth. The dropship smashed into the ground and bounced once from momentum before coming back down and sliding along until it smashed to a stop with the nose halfway inside Ponyville Library.

The rear ramp dropped and Commander Preston stumbled out, in time to see millions of dropships and other vehicles return to the Supercarrier, most likely rounding up all its forces as they prepared to glass the planet.

It was over.

Once all vehicles and personnel had returned to the Supercarrier it began to glide across the sky toward Ponyville, where they would begin the glassing process. Fires raging in Canterlot painted the sky in a hellish orange glow. The fires and charred landscape had turned the once beautiful and serene Equestria into a nightmarish vision of hell. A nightmare that would become reality when the ship started glassing.

Multiple other Pelicans had been shot down in Ponyville, forcing their human and pony occupants to watch death itself come to a stop above them.

Suddenly a cylinder of purple was generated from the Supercarrier and Princess Celestia and Twilight slowly descended from it, landing on the ground and walking towards the Commander and his companions. The gravity lift turned off afterwards.

Twilight was lacking her horn, but otherwise looked OK.

"Wha-? What's going on? How did you two escape the Supercarrier?" Preston asked as Twilight rushed past him to hug her remaining friends.

"We did not, Thar 'Saramee let us go; I believe he wants all ponies to be on the surface when he glasses it" Celestia answered.

"This is it...this is how we die... I don't wanna die like THIS!" Rainbow Dash cried, holding her friends tightly.

Suddenly the voice of Thar 'Saramee came from the ship, thundering across the land from an unknown source. His voice would easily carry for miles.

"Creatures of Equestria, the time has come. Before this ends I shall leave you one final message" the Shipmaster declared.

"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!"

"Goodbye, everyone. It was wonderful having friends such as you" Twilight said, holding all of her friends close in a final hug.

Suddenly a tremendous explosion rocked the land and brightened the sky, casting light across the land as the explosion expanded. Commander Preston looked up and saw that the Supercarrier had detonated, briefly turning into a second sun as the explosions ripped through the ship, obliterating it in a matter of seconds.

At that point tiny shards of the ship began to rain on the ground as the smoke clouds around where the ship was cleared, allowing the midday sun to beat its radiant light upon the land of Equestria.

-=-=-=-

Author's Note

*This is a reference to Lord Blackburn's Halo/MLP crossover Fight For Equestria.

Next up: the final chapter and epilogue.

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