Ever wonder what's up There?

Foreword: so here's something special, a new chapter! A deleted scene, if you will. The events of this chapter were referenced in the sequel but I never explained them until now. Enjoy!

Chapter 8.5
CMC Covenant Killers

February 25th, 2531
Equestrian star system, Cygnus arm
Royal City of Canterlot
Cutie Mark Crusader Scootaloo
12:31AM

"You wanna do what?!" Sweetie Belle and Applebloom yelled at the same time, outraged at what they had just heard.

"Just hear me out! I heard the doctors say something about a Covenant base outside the Everfree Forest, so I thought why not go out there and sneak in? We might get ninja cutie marks or something!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Scootaloo, I know we've done risky things before, but this is flat-out dangerous. You saw what happened to Fluttershy, what happened to you! The docs just fixed your ribs and now ya'll wanna go back out there and try to fight the thing that broke them?!" Applebloom declared incredulously.

"We'll be fine, Applebloom!" Scootaloo assured her.

"Forget it! There's no way ah'm agreeing to this! Sweetie Belle, help me out here" Applebloom pleaded, turning to face their Unicorn friend.

"I'm sorry, Applebloom, but I'm onboard for this one. I wanna get back at those nasty Covenant" Sweetie Belle stated.

Applebloom hung her head in defeat and said "fine, ah'm in."

"Great, now we just need to find some catsuits. Pinkie might have some" Scootaloo said, excited to get to work on their newest cutie mark endeavor.

*-*-*

"You girls ready to do this?" Scootaloo said as they stood around near Everfree Forest, seemingly waiting for their endeavor to begin.

Joining them was Twist who, despite already having her cutie mark, wanted to help them infiltrate the Covenant base.

"Ah still got my doubts about this" Applebloom said, earning a huff of annoyance from Scootaloo.

"Stop being such a chicken, Applebloom, this is gonna be great!" Scootaloo exclaimed as they began to sneak along the edges of the forest toward the Covenant base.

As the base came into view the four fillies looked out in awe, mesmerized by the purple glow emitted by the lights of the base.

"We're sneakin' into that?!" Applebloom whispered loudly.

Scootaloo motioned for them to get moving and they all did so, creeping ever closer to the Covenant base. The black catsuits made them virtually invisible against the blackness of night.

Or so they thought.

As they reached the outer edges of the base they snuck around to the back in search of Covenant soldiers to fight; Scootaloo had seen hundreds of little stocky aliens invading Ponyville alongside the Sangheili that Thar 'Saramee had been a member of and thought them to be perfect targets for them to fight.

Scootaloo suddenly stopped and the other fillies bumped into her backside, earning a glare from the Pegasus as she pointed her hoof ahead at one of the aliens; it was around five feet tall and vaguely resembled a bird, with a long beak-like snout and they way its head twitched around.

"Twist, you and Applebloom distract it while me and Sweetie Belle sneak up behind it" Scootaloo ordered, eagerly licking her lips.

The two complied and snuck behind a bush behind the base, rustling it very loudly and moving around behind it with enough purpose to let the alien know there was something alive moving around back there.

Scootaloo nearly screamed in surprise when a large blue disc of light appeared in front of the alien, seemingly appearing out of his wrist. The alien held the blue disc on front of himself like a shield and pulled out a large vaguely C-shaped device and held it out as he slowly approached the bush.

"OK, Sweetie Belle, you blast him with some magic when you got a clear shot and I'll rush in and buck him square in the face!" Scootaloo quietly exclaimed.

"I can barely do magic! And how are you gonna buck him? He's like, seven feet tall" Sweetie Belle stated.

"He's like, five feet tall. And who cares if you can barely do magic? You can do enough to knock him on his rump!" Scootaloo retorted.

Just then the alien stopped and slowly turned his head to look at the bush Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were hiding behind, the two of them completely unaware that the alien had heard them.

"I can't even do enough magic to lift a sheet of construction paper! What makes you think I can do enough to knock him on his rump? I don't even know where his rump is! He's walking around on two legs and stuff!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, this time much louder.

"Who cares?! Just shoot him!" Scootaloo yelled.

Suddenly the alien squawked very loudly, the noise scaring Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle who looked out the bush and saw the alien standing right next to them.

The two screamed in terror and ran out of the bush past the alien, who squawked louder, trumpeting his call across the base.

"Run! Everypony run!" Scootaloo shouted as Twist and Applebloom joined them. Together the group charged across the Covenant base, cutting through it in an attempt to get away as fast as possible.

They had almost reached the edge of the base when two large blue vehicles soared out to intercept them, the two forming a roadblock and a Sangheili manning the turret on each. In addition to the massive blue tanks several hovering bikes came out to cut them off from the rear, leaving all four fillies trapped in the middle of a Covenant base.

"Great job, Scootaloo! Ya'll talked too loudly and those darn aliens heard ya! Now we're gonna die!" Applebloom screamed.

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Scootaloo retorted.

"NO! Your stupid plan is gonna get us killed now!"

"ENOUGH!" a deep voice thundered, scaring the fillies enough to shut them up. Heavy footsteps plodded along the dirt with a menacing intent.

Thar 'Saramee stepped before the four fillies, absolutely towering over them, his dark eyes piercing their very souls as he stared down at them.

The Shipmaster chuckled darkly.

*-*-*

"Let us go!" Scootaloo demanded, secured in place by gravity bands in one of the holding cells in the Covenant base, yelling at Thar 'Saramee.

"Quiet!" the Shipmaster yelled back as he paced in front of the four fillies.

"I said let us GO!" Scootaloo screamed, earning a heavy fist to the stomach from Thar.

"Shut up, you insufferable whelp!" the Shipmaster declared, repeatedly hitting Scootaloo in the face. After several hits blood began to pour out of her mouth, and she was out cold.

"Please, Thar, don't hurt us! Just let us go, please!" Sweetie Belle pleaded, also secured in place by gravity bands. All four of the fillies had been stuck into the same cell.

"Be quiet, or I will KILL YOU!" the Shipmaster exclaimed, drawing his energy sword and igniting it, the light emitted from the blades casting Thar in a hellish glow.

Sweetie Belle began to cry in fear and Thar smacked her across the face, the blow hard enough to knock her out.

"For what purpose did you attempt to infiltrate my base? Were you ordered to assassinate me? Sabotage the base? Spy on us? ANSWER ME!" the Shipmaster exclaimed, continuing to pace back and forth.

"W-we came o-out here to fight one of you. W-we just wanted a little vengeance" Applebloom answered, earning a curious gaze from Thar.

"I recognize three of you, especially the orange one. I believe I kicked her while in Ponyville. I presume that she was the one that came up with this ridiculous plan?" Thar questioned.

"No, I did" Twist lied, hoping to cover for their Pegasus friend.

"A bold, but stupid plan, you fool. Now, your plan will cause the deaths of all your friends, and you will watch" the Sangheili stated.

"No, please don't kill us!" Applebloom yelled.

"Quiet! My blade is drawn, and a drawn weapon demands blood. Yours shall be the first" Thar replied, looking at Twist.

"No, nononono, please...take me, instead" Applebloom pleaded.

"What does it matter? ALL four of you will die, the order is insignificant" Thar declared.

The conscious fillies fell silent.

"No point in drawing this out; let us do this quick" Thar stated, waking up Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle and making them watch as he approached Twist.

Without a word Thar swung his blade up, vertically bisecting Twist; the two sides of her body suspended in air by the gravity bands and her guts spilled out onto the floor below.

"Oh my gosh! Sweetie Belle yelled in horror, throwing up at the sight beheld in her eyes.

Next in line was Applebloom, who was hyperventilating and shaking her head vigorously as Thar approached her, raising his energy sword and pointing the tips of the prongs at her eyes, which were filled with immense terror as they watched the electricity arcing off.

"Shipmaster! Come quick, a situation has developed!" Rav 'Taramai yelled out as he charged into the brig.

"Calm yourself, Rav. What has happened?" Thar asked, turning to face his assistant.

"The humans have mounted an assault on us" Rav answered.

"Hmm, they must've figured out we captured these whelps" Thar said, looking back at the three fillies who looked to be in shock after their friend's death; they were merely staring at the two halves of the corpse, still suspended by the gravity bands, and watching as the last of the blood dripped out.

By the Gods, what am I doing? Torturing and murdering small children, making them watch as I kill them off one by one? What must it be like to be the last in line, knowing you'll die last and have to watch your friends murdered? At which point does it become merciful to kill the last one? Should I let them all live, and let them off with the fourth one's death as a warning? Or should I continue as planned and kill them all Thar wondered, beginning to question what he was doing.

This feels wrong, like I'm committing atrocious acts of heresy. I KNOW these ponies are connected to the Forerunners, but the Hierarchs have told me otherwise. What if... What if the Hierarchs are wrong?

No, he must carry out his assigned tasks, as any loyal and honorable Sangheili would do.

The Shipmaster refocused his eyes on Applebloom and drew his sword back, aiming to kill all three of them with one blow. The little filly tore her gaze from Twist's corpse and watched the energy blade intently, shaking in terror.

She let her bladder relax, and began to urinate on the floor in fear.

As Thar looked deep into Applebloom's eyes he saw naught but pure unadulterated fear; a fear that no child that young should ever experience, the kind of fear that could only be made by terrible monsters that have come to brutally murder the child and her friends.

But there was something else there; innocence. A young innocence, tainted by witnessing the brutal death of a friend; the kind of experience that breaks a young one's mind.

Applebloom was broken, as were Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Completely and utterly broken at the sight of their dead friend.

Killing them, at this point, was the right thing to do.

But Thar could not do it.

"Rav, leave us, deal with the humans. I will be out there shortly to assist" the Shipmaster stated, lowering his energy sword.

The assistant did as told and left the brig, leaving Thar alone with the three fillies.

The Sangheili deactivated his energy sword and clipped it to his side, wordlessly reaching forward and deactivating the gravity bands and allowing the three fillies to drop to the floor.

"I... I will release you, but it must happen in a way that will not draw suspicion to myself. I will leave you in this cell, and the humans will rescue you... Goodbye" Thar told them, releasing the bands holding up Twist's corpse and taking the two halves out of the cell, turning the energy barrier on to keep the fillies in.

They silently huddled together, and began to cry.

*-*-*

Legal note: Thar 'Saramee, Rav 'Taramai, and all related characters belong to me. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and all related characters belong to Hasbro. My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro. Halo belongs to 343i.