What else is up There?

Foreword: yo dawg, I heard you like long chapters. So I put a long chapter in a long story so you can read the long chapter while reading the long story.

So Michael Blackburn confirmed for FUNNIEST fucking human being on Earth. He was talking about a Command & Conquer game a while ago and was telling me about the A.I. in skirmish mode, and he described the Brutal A.I. as being "a black prison rapist" and my other buddy said "drop the soap?" and Blackburn replied "no, he drops the soap for you! He knocks it out of your hand and says 'bend over'"

I was screaming with laughter. And then a few moments after that he said that his "disc tray opened and the C&C disc came out and violated" him.

I never stopped laughing.

*-*-*

Chapter Fourteen

Rescue Op

March 26th, 2553
Equestrian star system
Covenant space station Devout Believer
Staff Sergeant Jennifer Williams of Marine Combat Team Fourteen
11:57PM

"Stay alert Marines, we need to find Ms. Sparkle before the Brutes find out we're here" Staff Sergeant Williams said to her squad as they snuck through the Covenant space station.

The Covenant space station was smaller in size than their home-station High Charity but was still massive, being the same class and model as the Unyielding Hierophant mentioned in the after-action report for Operation: First Strike.

"This thing is fucking weird. I mean, did you see it when we were approaching? Damn thing looks like two squids kissing" Corporal Walter Hughes whispered.

"Yeah, and what kind of name is Devout Believer?" Private Samuel Jenkins asked.

"All Covenant ship names have religious significance, it's just how they roll" Private First Class Addison Mallard answered. He had always been interested in the Covenant Empire and how they worked, and had studied them extensively growing up.

Of course, that didn't prevent him from wanting to kill as many as possible.

"Pipe down, Marines" Williams ordered, crouching down and holding up her fist as a 'hold' order. The Staff Sergeant looked around the corner that they had reached to check if it was clear.

It was.

"Come on, Marines" the Staff Sergeant stated, crouch-walking to keep the noise of her footfalls down. The other Marines of MCT 14 did the same.

Their mission was as Staff Sergeant Williams said; find and rescue Twilight Sparkle, the Princess' prized student, before the Brutes could ascertain valuable information from her.

The Marines continued down the corridor until they reached a locked door, with no way to go around it unless they wanted to backtrack.

"OK, how do we get past this?" Corporal Hughes asked as Williams approached the holographic display next to the door, setting her Battle Rifle down on the floor next to her.

"Mallard, get over here, see if you can't get this door open" Staff Sergeant Williams ordered, snatching her BR up and covering the door with the other Marines.

"Let's see...it's a standard Covenant holo-display which displays the usual circles, bars, and squares common to their input devices. The locking mechanism is a standard electronic 128,000 bit encryption key...but there's a catch; it's mutating" the Marine said.

The other Marines looked at each other before returning their attention to Mallard. "What?" they all asked, having not understood what he said.

"It's mutating. Their standard 128,000 bit encryption key is mutating. One second it's one code and the next it's another" Mallard explained.

"Basically it's a countermeasure for AI hacking. Even a smart AI would have problems cracking this" Mallard declared, going back to the bars and other symbols displayed thereon.

"So can you crack it or not?" Staff Sergeant Williams inquired.

"No, I can not. Only a MAC round could crack this, albeit on a more literal scale" the Private First Class said.

"OK, we'll have to find another way. Come on, Marines" Williams declared, motioning for the Marines to follow her as they proceeded through the station.

As they continued on their way they all grew increasingly unnerved; there hadn't run into any Covenant.

"Think maybe nobody's home" Private Samuel Jenkins said.

"Oh yeah, because that's a smart thing to say" Corporal Hughes retorted sarcastically, earning a glare from Private Samuel.

The squad fell silent as they approached another door, this one unlocked and sliding open as they approached. The room beyond was actually a large habitat, with a waterfall and strange alien trees.

The atrium-like habitat was encased in a large glass dome, and a faint blue vapor could be seen inside.

"Habitat center for the grunts; it's filled with methane so they can relax comfortably without their breathing masks and tanks" PFC Mallard explained, answering the question that was on everyone's mind.

"OK, so where is the brig?" Private Samuel inquired, earning a shrug from Mallard.

"Man we really need a fucking map of this place. And where the hell are all the Covenant?"

"Shut up, Marines. Do you want the Covenant to find us?" Staff Sergeant Williams asked, looking back at the Marines.

"Well, no, but I'm just wondering. You have to admit, sarge, that the fact we haven't seen a single Covenant soldier is weird" Corporal Hughes replied.

"I don't care; if we don't run into any then the easier it will be to find the target and get her off of this thing" Williams declared, motioning once again for the Marines to follow her.

They continued on their way and soon came upon what appeared to be some kind of security room, with multiple holo-screens displaying the feeds from thousands of cameras on the station.

A single Brute was in the room, watching some kind of live event the Covenant were broadcasting.

"Hi" Williams said, earning the attention of the Brute who attempted to grab his spiker.

The Staff Sergeant stuck a knife in his throat, tossing the body aside and taking a look at what the Brute had been watching.

"Holy shit, that's the Unicorn we've gotta rescue!" Corporal Hughes exclaimed, pointing at the holo-screen and the image displayed.

The feed was a broadcast to all ships in the fleet that had descended upon Equestria; it was a live execution of Twilight Sparkle.

"Shit. We've got to stop them" Williams exclaimed. Luckily for them the Brute Chieftain had not yet killed the poor Unicorn, instead opting to deliver a speech to all watching.

"These vile creatures are affronts to our Gods! They are worse than the humans, the Sangheili! They spit on the name of the Forerunners, callously stomping on them before defecating upon them just like the disgusting savages they are!" the clan Chieftain bellowed.

"NO! You're wrong! We're descendants of the Forerunners!" Twilight screamed, earning a smack across her face from the Chieftain.

"Lies! Slanderous filth these primitive savages spread! They dare claim that they are descendants of the Forerunners? They ARE NOTHING!" the Chieftain thundered.

"Any ideas?" Private Samuel inquired.

"I've got one" PFC Mallard answered, stepping up to the security console and looking it over as if searching for something in particular.

"Here it is" Mallard stated, hitting several of the holographic buttons.

The Private First Class reached over and pressed a large holographic circle, and methane began to vent into the massive auditorium the Brutes were using to broadcast their attempted execution.

The Brutes began to look around in confusion and anger as the methane poured in by the tons; with no protective masks the Brutes would be forced to evacuate.

"Security! What are you doing?" the Chieftain demanded.

"No security here, just the humans that have come to kick your ass" PFC Mallard said with a tone of mockery.

"HERESY!" the Chieftain bellowed, attempting to draw his Brute Shot bayonet sword and decapitate Twilight.

"Twilight, shields!" Mallard screamed.

The Brutes, having not understood that Twilight was a Unicorn and that she could do magic, had failed to do anything to restrain her horn, which left her free to use it as she pleased.

The only reason she hadn't used magic to escape was because she would've never made it past the thousands of Brutes watching from the bleachers.

The Unicorn's horn took on its magenta glow and a shield appeared around the Unicorn just as the bayonet sword came down, the blade bouncing off the shield with a dull clang.

The Chieftain howled in anger.

Suddenly Twilight's shield dissipated and she yelped, her eyes glowing an eerie white as her horn overloaded with magical power.

The Unicorn let off the burst and a massive magical sphere spread out across the auditorium, the force of the attack knocking all the Brutes off their feet.

"Hold on, Twilight! We'll be there soon!" Mallard yelled into the microphone.

"Where is that auditorium?" Corporal Hughes asked as Mallard typed furiously at the holographic symbols.

"There! Two decks below us on 105*!" the Private First Class declared, pointing at the screen.

"Come on, Marines! We got a Unicorn to rescue!" Staff Sergeant Williams yelled, tearing out of the room with the rest of the Marines of Marine Combat Team Fourteen right behind her.

*-*-*

"Have you heard from your warriors, Captain?" Fleetmaster Rala 'Toram asked as he sat on the bridge of his battlecruiser, the Everlasting Faith.

"Negative, Rala. I'll let you know when something comes up, though" the human Captain responded.

"Understood" Rala said, turning off the communication link as he looked out at the Devout Believer, the Jiralhanae on his mind.

Of course they would return; just when the humans and Sangheili had rediscovered Equestria and attempted to make the Sangheili and ponies play nice the Jiralhanae had to show up.

Nothing could ever be easy for the Fleetmaster, but that's the way he liked it.

Rala was about to lean back when a flashing on the holo-console next to him caught his attention, prompting him to press the button to see what the fuss was about.

It was a live video feed of a large auditorium, with hundreds of Jiralhanae bodies scattered around a central pole, tied to which was-

-Twilight Sparkle, the Princess' prized student.

"By the Gods. Mitchell, are you seeing this?" Rala asked on the comm link.

"Yes, Fleetmaster, I'm seeing it. Fucking savages" the Captain declared, referring to the Brutes.

"Something must be done" Rala exclaimed, slamming his fist down on his hover-throne.

"It's being handled, Rala. My Marines are working right now to rescue her" Captain Mitchell explained.

"It's not enough! Navigation, get us moving toward that station. Operations, order all Seraph fighters to launch and engage any enemy Seraphs that come out to play. It's time to handle these brutish monsters" Rala stated.

"Rala, no!" Captain Mitchell yelled before getting cut off.

The Everlasting Faith began to rocket across the evening sky, the plasma turrets warming up while the projector went into standby.

"Fleetmaster, we are in range of the target" the weapons officer exclaimed.

"Fire! All turrets FIRE!" Rala ordered.

The plasma turrets shaped the plasma and spit it out, sending seven plasma torpedoes straight for the Devout Believer while the projector finished warming and fired.

All their plasma struck harmlessly on the shields.

"Vile cowards. Recharge all weapons and fire again!" Rala ordered.

"Excellency! The station is turning to engage!" the ops officer announced, prompting Rala to look up and see that he was correct; the station was turning to fire at the Everlasting Faith.

"Calculate our shots with theirs and fire when they are preparing to. When they do fire boost all power to the shields!" Rala commanded.

The weapons officer complied without a word as Rala 'Toram watched the Devout Believer finish turning and prepared to fire.

The shields dropped and the plasma projector fired, a lance of needle-thin white-hot plasma racing out across the sky for the Everlasting Faith.

"FIRE!" Rala yelled and the plasma turrets expelled their plasma, sending seven plasma torpedoes toward the space station.

"Pump all power to the shields!" Rala demanded as the plasma projector neared them.

The bridge darkened as every last volt of energy the reactors had to offer sent all power to the shield generator, boosting their strength and rendering the Everlasting Faith immune to almost all forms of conventional attack.

The Faith bucked as the beam struck the front of their shields, the force of the impact actually pushing the ship back as the shields attempted to absorb and disperse the tremendous energy of the plasma projector.

While the plasma projector fired the shields remained down, allowing the plasma torpedoes the Faith fired to strike the hull of the station, immediately melting the armor at their points of impact.

"Direct hits! Excellent work. Now, prepare to-" Rala attempted to speak, but was cut off by the operations officer.

"Excellency the Jiralhanae have launched Seraphs to combat us!"

"Order our Seraphs to intercept them! If any enemy Seraph gets too close to our turrets vaporize them with the pulse turrets!" the Fleetmaster ordered.

"Yes, excellency!"

It was about to get interesting.

*-*-*

"FIRE!" Staff Sergeant Williams bellowed as best as her feminine voice could, ordering Private Samuel Jenkins to fire the M41 'Spanker' rocket launcher at the locked door that was impeding their progress.

The Private complied and pulled the trigger, sending a rocket into the door where it detonated, denting and charring the barricade.

It otherwise remained intact.

"Wait here!" Williams ordered as she approached the door, lodging two of her M9 high-explosive dual-purpose frag grenades into the dent that both sides of the sliding door shared.

"Fire again!" the Staff Sergeant ordered when she had retreated a safe distance.

The young Marine complied once again and pulled the trigger, sending the second rocket right into the grenades which caused a massive explosion to occur, incinerating a fair chunk of the center of the doors.

"Everyone go through!" Williams commanded, stepping through the hole with her Battle Rifle at the ready.

The room they had entered was the auditorium Twilight was in.

"There she is! Grab her and let's get the fuck outta here!" Williams declared as she approached the Unicorn, who was secured in place by the Covenant's usual restrictor bands that prevent the prisoner from moving.

The Staff Sergeant removed the restrictors and Twilight collapsed into her arms, unconscious.

"Let's get out of here" Williams said, preparing to escape from the station with the HVI.

Suddenly there was an explosion that impacted on the floor near the Marines, disorienting them all as they struggled to find out what caused the explosion.

Staff Sergeant Williams turned around and saw the Brute clan Chieftain standing some distance away, holding a brute shot that had its giant blade removed.

It was safe to assume that the brute shot in question was the one that the Chieftain removed the bayonet from to make his sword.

"Move, get Twilight out of here!" Hughes ordered as he raised his BR up to fire on the Chieftain.

Staff Sergeant Williams was about to protest when Hughes grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her through the hole in the door, forcing the other Marines through as well.

"Vermin human, you wish to fight me alone?" the Chieftain inquired, holding his Brute shot on the Corporal.

"That's what I'm planning on" Hughes answered, keeping his MA5C's sights trained on the Chieftain's face.

"You impress me, but you're weak. You will fall like the rest of the scum that inhabit these lands" the Chieftain stated.

I can't fight him, but if I try to run he'll blow me away...what could I do to distract him? Corporal Hughes wondered.

"Prepare to die, human" the Chieftain exclaimed, levelling his Brute shot as he prepared to obliterate the human.

"Uh, look behind you!" the Marine yelled, pointing over the Chieftain's shoulder at the ceiling.

"Do you take me for an idiot? You are pathetic" the Brute said, once again preparing to obliterate the young Corporal.

Unfortunately for the Brute the Corporal had only been half joking when he told him to look behind him, the other half had actually been true as there was a Spec-ops Elite about to stab the Brute.

The Chieftain's ears perked back and he suddenly rolled away, the Elite's blade running through nothing but air.

"Go human! I will keep him busy!" the Elite yelled, slashing at the Brute again who dodged his attack.

Corporal Hughes booked it for the hole in the door, squeezing through with minimal effort to find Staff Sergeant Williams and the other Marines waiting for him.

"I'll reprimand you later for shoving me through the door but right now we've got other priorities" Williams declared, shoving the unconscious Unicorn into his arms as they prepared to move out.

Hughes carried the Unicorn around the back of his neck as MCT 14 began their escape from the space station, working their way through the many corridors in search of a hangar bay.

The Marines approached a door and it opened, revealing the balcony that ran around the grunt habitat in the center of the hall.

"Well at least we're in familiar territory" Private Samuel said.

Just then dozens of Brutes poured out of other doors and opened fire on the Marines, forcing them to retreat back into the corridor and seal the door behind them.

"That should hold them off for a little while" PFC Mallard declared.

Suddenly there was loud banging against the door and massive dents started to form and the door started to buckle as the metal warped from the hits.

"Or not."

They went down a corridor they had not traversed yet, or so they assumed, there was no actual way to tell what corridors they had and had not been in.

Eventually, after fighting through, avoiding, or running away from many Brutes and other Covenant soldiers they opened another door to find a hangar bay awaiting them.

"Finally! You know how heavy this chick is?" Corporal Hughes asked, complaining about the Unicorn's weight.

"Oh come on, she's a magical Unicorn, she can't be that heavy" Mallard replied.

"Then you try carrying her then, asshole" Hughes exclaimed, shifting the Unicorn's weight to try and alleviate the pain on his neck.

"Uh, no thanks" PFC Mallard said.

"Thought so."

The Marines walked down the balcony and around the corner to approach a Phantom drop-ship docked there, with PFC Mallard hitting the necessary symbols to release the vessel from the force-field clamps

They were about to get aboard when the drop-ship detonated, the anti-grav field it generated failing and causing the drop-ship to fall out of the station to the ground below.

"What the hell?" Mallard asked, looking over with the rest of the Marines to the far end of balcony to see the Brute clan Chieftain charging for them.

"How did he get past the Elite? Well we're fucked" Corporal Hughes stated.

"Not if I have anything to say about it" the Staff Sergeant exclaimed, stepping over and snatching a Spanker off Mallard's back, taking aim and firing one of the rockets at the Chieftain.

The Chieftain stumbled and fell over but was otherwise unharmed, though he was quite stunned.

"Now what? We just pissed him off" Mallard stated.

Suddenly a MAC round speared through the hangar, missing the Marines by 35 feet and the Brute Chieftain by seven.

The round smashed through multiple decks and layers of the station, though it didn't do any critical damage.

Just then a Pelican drop-ship swooped into the hangar and stopped near the Marines, dropping its rear hatch and allowing MCT 14 and their precious cargo to hop aboard as the Pelican rocketed out of the station.

Staff Sergeant Williams made sure the HVI was OK before she stepped into the cockpit, seeing that the Everlasting Faith and the Dawn of the Sun were throwing everything they had at the Covenant space station.

It wasn't enough, it would never be enough.

But at least they could try.

*-*-*

"And then we returned to the ship, Sir" Staff Sergeant Williams said as she stood before Captain James Mitchell on the bridge of the Dawn of the Sun, finishing up her recount of the events on the Devout Believer.

"Good, excellent work out there, Staff Sergeant" the Captain said.

"Thank you, Sir. If I may ask; how's the HVI?" Williams inquired as the Captain sat down in his command chair.

"Hm? Oh, Twilight, yes. She's OK. The doctors checked her out and apart from some bruises on her face she's fine. Unconscious, but fine It's a good thing you got there when you did. If you'd been any later...well" Captain Mitchell trailed off.

"I understand, Sir" Williams stated, looking out the viewport at Equestria.

After they successfully returned to the Dawn of the Sun both it and the Sangheili ship turned and rocketed away from the space station, with Rala grumbling the whole time about how only cowards run.

"Well go get some rest, Staff Sergeant, we're going to be very busy in a few days" the Captain told her.

"Sir?" Williams asked, confused as to what the Captain meant.

"We're starting Operation: Reclaim in three days and Marine Combat Team Fourteen is one of the teams we're sending in as part of Phase One, which is to infiltrate the city of Manehattan to establish a foothold for the main assault force" Captain Mitchell explained.

"Understood. Sir, if I may ask; why did you open fire on the space station while we were still inside?" Williams inquired.

"It was Rala who fired first; he got it in his head to attack the station in an effort to cripple it" Captain Mitchell answered.

"Well Sir that decision kept the Brutes busy and probably saved ours and the HVI's lives. You can commend Rala for his actions, Sir" the Staff Sergeant said.

"We'll see. Nothing more, Staff Sergeant. You are dismissed" Mitchell stated.

"Understood, Sir" Williams replied.

"Once again, good work out there" Mitchell stated, earning a salute from Williams.

"Rala, prepare appropriate forces, we're launching Operation: Reclaim in three days" Captain Mitchell said on the ship-to-ship comm.

"Understood, Captain" the Sangheili Fleetmaster responded.

There was a lot of work to do, and only three days to get it done.

It was time to begin.

*-*-*

*This is a seven reference.

Author's note: oh shit; Operation: Reclaim, the operation to retake Manehattan from the Covenant and pave the way for the liberation of all of Equestria.

Phase One: establish a foothold in the city of Manehattan by sending in four Marine Combat Teams to infiltrate the city and soften up Covenant defenses.

This is going to be a doozy.

Next time on What else is up There!

Also I was playing Battlefield 3 the other day with my beta-reader and his friends(The Mysteries of Michael and friends) and we were on the map Caspian Border and this douche was flying around the C objective(hilltop) with his chopper, just harassing us. So I was like "OK, I've got an RPG. That can't lock on to things and I'm not skilled enough to blow him up with it so I'll just distract him from my teammates and sacrifice my life so they can escape." So I start firing the RPG at him.

Miss...miss...miss...HIT! HIT! HIT! I GOT A HIT!

I aimed, fired, and the RPG went right into his cockpit as he was turning around to face me, blowing up the chopper and killing him and his gunner.

AWWWWW YEAAAHHH!

I was yelling like I had a mega-orgasm, which I think I actually did.

Legal shit: Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, and all related characters belong to Hasbro. Staff Sergeant Jennifer Williams, Captain James Mitchell, and all related characters belong to me. My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro. Halo belongs to 343i(which may or may not be unfortunate.)