The last of what's up There

Foreword: here it is...Twilight Sparkle.

Chapter Eight
Twilight Sparkle

Date: September 19th, 2555
Location: Forerunner Library. Trinity, moon of Equestria.
Individual: Commander Robert Crusher
Time: 4:31PM

Things had been going well, if not nervously, for Commander Crusher and his sizeable team as they proceeded through the Library in search of Twilight Sparkle. They had run into no enemies at all, much to the joy and dismay of Robert. On the one hand he was grateful that they'd been able to search the Library in peace but on the other hand he was growing increasingly afraid of the lack of Prometheans. It was almost as if the Library was completely deserted.

That's how it had been.

What it is now is completely different.

Upon opening one of the many large doors in the Library the team had stumbled upon hundreds of Promethean warriors who immediately attacked the humans and Sangheili.

They had held them off as they rushed through the Library, but the Prometheans had considerably more numbers, it would not be long before they cornered the group and killed them.

Which is why Robert decided they needed to find Twilight and find her fast.

"Come on! We need to move, fast!" Commander Crusher yelled as they ran through another of the many halls in the Library in search of Twilight.

"Resistance is increasing, we must be getting close" Spartan-035 declared as he put down another Promethean warrior and reloaded his empty battle rifle.

They entered a hall and sealed the door behind them to keep the Prometheans out, making sure the hall was clear before they continued on their way.

"Sir, look there on the screens; ponies" Spartan-035 said as Commander Crusher approached the screens that were normally blue in Forerunner Libraries.

"The ponies are connected to the Forerunners in some way, so it makes sense that a Forerunner Library would have things about ponies" Crusher stated.

"How exactly are the ponies connected to the Forerunners, Commander?" the Spartan leader inquired.

"I don't know, Spartan. I guess the Forerunners uplifted them somehow. I don't remember, it's been a long time" Robert replied.

"Come on, let's get going" the Commander stated.

*-*-*

"What exactly happened thousands of years ago that makes you want to get revenge?" Twilight Sparkle asked the Prisoner of Equestria as he stood outside the energy barrier.

"You do not know, Inheritor? Did the Princesses not tell you? Did they not record it in history? Then it is obvious they wanted to keep our existence a secret from their subjects" the Prisoner answered, standing stock still and looking down at Twilight.

"Why do you keep calling me 'Inheritor'?" the lavender Unicorn inquired.

"It has ties with what we want revenge for" the Prisoner answered.

"Please, tell me! What do you want revenge for?!" Twilight demanded, getting quickly frustrated with the Prisoner's vague replies.

"All will be revealed in due time, Inheritor. I must wait for the Reclaimer to get here. It does not matter anyway, you will soon not be sane enough to understand our machinations" the Prisoner of Equestria explained.

Suddenly Twilight channeled magic to her horn and fired a beam into the energy barrier, to no avail as it held solid. In a fit of rage Twilight fired beam after beam into the barrier in a vain attempt to escape.

"I see your kind has not lost their tenacity. Perhaps the Librarian was not wrong to convince the Didact and Ecumene council to preserve your species" the Prisoner declared.

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!" Twilight screamed, greatly confused and angered by the Promethean, who refused to answer her questions directly.

"Relax, Inheritor. All will be revealed in due time" the Prisoner said.

"This is ALL the humans' fault! If they had never come to our planet none of what has happened the past twenty years would have transpired!" Twilight yelled.

"The Reclaimers? How are they to blame?" the Prisoner inquired, very curious as to what the Unicorn had to say.

"I was looking over our history books before you were released, and I realized that everything that has happened in the past twenty years is the direct fault of the humans coming here! In 2531, Shipmaster Thar 'Saramee came here as the first alien to ever make contact with Equestria! Things were GREAT until the humans showed up. Those humans killed Thar 'Saramee, who was my friend! Twenty years later Captain James Mitchell shows up and not far behind him are the Brutes! And now, two years later, the humans are still here and we get YOU! The Prometheans! Every time the humans have been involved Equestria has suffered! Regardless of which other alien species were involved the humans were the constant, the unchanging variable, the catalyst for pain and misery!" Twilight ranted, piquing the Prisoner's interest.

"But the Reclaimers are your protectors, are they not?" the Prisoner asked.

"So they claim! But they're the ones who cause the pain to come in the first place! It's been their fault every time! My friends died because humans were involved, the Princesses died because humans were involved, my parents and brother died because humans were involved! They've been responsible each and every time!" the lavender Unicorn declared.

"And when they defeat you and send you back into whatever hole you crawled out of I am going to make sure the humans never show their faces around Equestria again" Twilight growled, unaware of the dark smile on the Prisoner's face.

*-*-*

They were close.

After proceeding down the hall that had the screens depicting ponies they had reached another long hallway that was void of anything except a floor, walls, a ceiling, and air.

"Come on Spartans, I feel that we're getting close" Commander Crusher said as he, the Spartans, and the Elites tagging along followed closely behind.

As the Commander proceeded over a slit in the floor there was a loud pulse that sounded like an energy field coming into existence, a fact which was confirmed when Robert turned around and saw that an energy barrier had come up, separating him from the Spartans and Elites.

"Sir! Are you alright?" Spartan-035 asked as Commander Crusher looked over the energy barrier for some possible way to break it.

"I'm fine, Spartan. You guys head back, I'll find some other way out of here" the Commander declared, hefting his Battle Rifle.

"Understood" the Spartan Officer replied, turning back and leaving Commander Crusher alone in the hall.

Robert went on his way and soon a door began to come into view at the end of the hall, the door displaying some kind of strange symbol on it similar to the one that had been on the door in the caves beneath Canterlot.

As Robert approached he began to feel a sense of impending doom, one that was telling him that whatever was beyond the door would be a nightmare unlike any other. Regardless, there was no other place to go so the Commander kept going.

As he got near the door the symbol flashed bright and turned slowly until it was upside down before splitting apart at the middle as the door began to open.

Entering the room beyond Commander Crusher was astounded by the sheer size of it; it was tall, wide, and massive; easily large enough to hold two Longsword fighters in it nose-to-tail. Coming down from an unseen source in the conical ceiling was a blue energy field similar to ones that contain the Index in other Forerunner Libraries, though this room was obviously used for something other than securing Indexes.

"Reclaimer..." a voice echoed throughout the room; though the speaker was unseen the voice obviously belonged to the Prisoner of Equestria.

"Prisoner... Are you in here? Show yourself!" Robert yelled, shouldering his BR and looking around for the Prisoner.

"Your Unicorn is in here, Reclaimer. Her kind was definitely worthy of being Inheritors and the Librarian was right to have them preserved, though I'm afraid the Librarian is dead now. Now the power rests with me. If you want your Unicorn the terminal before you will release her" the Prisoner's voice echoed, a Forerunner Terminal coming up from the floor in front of a large circular platform that sat in the middle of the cavernous room, elevated several feet into the air.

"Twilight? I'm going to get you out of there!" Robert yelled, resting his Battle Rifle against the Terminal as he accessed it.

Thousands of bodies littered the ground as a Promethean Knight and the white pony from before fought a vicious hand-to-hoof battle, the Promethean attempting to stab her with his sword and blast her with his rifle but missing every attempted blow and shot. The pony countered with magical blasts and beams that the Promethean deflected with his sword and absorbed with the shield a small machine flying next to him provided.

The Promethean attempted another slash with the sword, the blade literally flashing through the air with a highly visible blur, missing the pony by mere inches.

"We will NOT be your animals to experiment upon, Forerunner! And we will NOT submit as slaves!" the white pony bellowed as she fired another magic blast at the Promethean, who dodged the shot.

"You WILL bow to the will of the Forerunners, or your kind will be extinguished by the Empire!" the Promethean yelled back.

The visions ended and Commander Crusher staggered back, watching as the energy field containing Twilight collapsed, though the circular platform was still too high up to climb on to.

"Twilight? Twilight, can you hear me?!" Robert yelled, with no response.

Suddenly the door behind him sealed and the symbol flashed once again, beaming its orange light across the cavernous room.

"You may have your Unicorn back, if you can save her" the Prisoner declared before the lights in the ceiling went dark, leaving the only source of light the bars in the floor strewn about intermittently.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Robert asked no one in particular as he grabbed his BR and backed away from the platform to see Twilight.

"Twilight, you up on that thing? Come on, get down and let's get out of here" the Commander said.

There was no response.

"Twilight?" Robert stated, beginning to grow a little nervous.

There was the sound of hooves clattering on stone and Twilight Sparkle came into view at the edge of the platform, her eyes closed and her head hung low.

"Robert...Crusher" the lavender Unicorn declared, the tone of her voice prompting every internal alarm the Commander had to go off at once.

Something was not right.

"Twilight...?" the human said, taking a step toward the platform.

"Ya know, I've been thinking, Robert. With everything that's transpired the past twenty years; the Covenant showing up, the Brutes showing up, the Prometheans being released, I got to wondering; in all these cases the humans have been involved in some way" Twilight said, her voice filled with despair and a strange glee.

"Oh no..." Robert whispered.

"And so, I thought about it more, and I realized that every time it's been the presence of humans that's provoked all the suffering we've endured. I've endured" the Unicorn stated.

"Oh, please no..." Crusher declared.

"So I began to compare these events to a science experiment, with multiple variables involved, but as I'm sure you know not every variable can be controlled."

"Oh God, please don't let this be happening" the Commander exclaimed.

"And what do you do when you have a variable you can't control?" Twilight asked, raising her head and channeling magic to her horn, her eyes still closed.

"You remove it from the equation" the Unicorn finished, opening her eyes to reveal they were glowing a brilliant red, the eyes shining down upon Commander Crusher like they were some kind of demented flashlights.

It was at that moment Twilight Sparkle released her built-up magic in the form of a powerful projectile, which she fired directly at Robert Crusher.

The Commander rolled to the left to avoid the blast, taking cover behind a stone block that was one of many in the circular chamber.

"Twilight, don't do this!" Robert yelled, making sure his Battle Rifle's safety was off.

"I take no pleasure in this, Robert Crusher, but Equestria is suffering, and it's your fault! To prevent further suffering I must return to Equestria and deal with your kind!" the Unicorn yelled.

The Commander ducked out of cover and fired at Twilight, who had concocted a shield around herself to block any incoming fire.

Suddenly the shield dropped and Twilight Sparkle fired another magical blast at the Commander, the shot impacting on the block and vaporizing a small chunk of the impact zone.

When she drops her shield to fire that's my chance... I can't believe I have to do this, to Twilight Sparkle of all ponies Commander Crusher thought, staying in cover behind the block.

The Commander ducked out as Twilight prepared to fire another blast at him, taking aim with his BR and squeezing the trigger when the Unicorn's shield dropped.

"AAAHHHH!" Twilight screamed as the rounds slashed through her left foreleg, causing her to crumple to the floor as she concocted her shield again.

The lavender Unicorn shakily got to her hooves again and rethought her strategy, using some magic to form a shield directly in front of her while she channeled the rest to fire five magic projectiles at the block Commander Crusher was hiding behind.

Leaving her sides and rear open to attack.

With her eyes closed in concentration as she conjured the five projectiles Robert quickly moved down a number of feet until he had a clear shot on Twilight's right side.

Robert pulled the trigger once, twice, three times, sending nine rounds from the BR into Twilight Sparkle who shrieked in pain, her screams causing a different kind of pain to befall the Commander.

Redeploying her full shield Twilight turned to face Commander Crusher and the new block he was hiding behind, channelling all her magic to form an energy beam that lanced out and immediately melted the rock, forcing Robert to sprint around the room behind the blocks as Twilight chased him with the magic laser.

Running out of steam Twilight Sparkle ceased magic flow and reactivated her shield, giving Robert a moment of respite as he caught his breath and reloaded.

The Commander ducked out of cover and fired at Twilight, who channelled her magic to angle the shield so it would deflect the rounds back at Robert.

The rounds missed, and instead struck the block he was taking cover behind.

Commander Crusher primed a grenade and tossed it, the explosive landing behind Twilight who was forced to turn around and point her shield at the grenade.

Leaving her rear open to attack.

Robert took aim and pulled the trigger, three rounds of BR ammo streaking through the air and slashing through Twilight's right flank, the third round cutting off a small chunk of her rump.

The Unicorn screamed in pain.

Twilight whipped back around and began channelling her magic to fire as Commander Crusher took aim with his Battle Rifle.

It was at that moment two things happened.

Twilight Sparkle fired her magical blast at Robert which impacted directly into the ground beneath his feet, catapulting him into the air and causing his BR to soar across the room.

At the same time Robert had fired his rifle at the Unicorn, sending another three rounds down range which slashed through her chest and lodged deep within her body, collapsing one of her lungs.

Upon landing Commander Crusher had found that his legs had been shredded by shrapnel, though he was still miraculously able to stand on them. His left arm had also been incapacitated by the blast.

The both of them wounded and exhausted they each struggled to stand and finish their opponent, with Twilight channelling one last bout of magic to her horn and Robert pulling his M6G/B magnum pistol out of his holster.

Luck of the draw was on Commander Crusher's side as he took aim and pulled the trigger, sending the first round smashing through Twilight's horn, shattering the magical outlet and rendering her defenseless.

The second round slashed along Twilight's left cheek, ripping part of it off and exposing the grisly muscle beneath her skin.

The third round missed her completely.

The fourth and fifth impacted on her left foreleg which was hanging over the edge of the platform. The rounds didn't come out the other side.

The sixth and seventh rounds speared through the Unicorn's chest, one of which shearing off a rib and the other severing her spinal column, paralyzing her from the neck down. Though it would hardly matter in the end.

As Commander Crusher limped closer he kept the pistol trained on the Unicorn as she lie at the edge of the platform, wheezing heavily with her eyes closed.

Robert stopped with the pistol just a few inches short of Twilight's face, and the Unicorn opened her eyes, which had returned to normal. Her left eye remained shut as there was blood all over it and the right eyelid was fluttering rapidly.

She would be gone soon.

"T-tha-" Twilight started, stopping when she gagged and spit out some blood. "T-thank...y-you" the lavender Unicorn managed to say, her breathing becoming shallower and shallower. It was clear to Commander Crusher that she was in a lot of pain, but she no longer had any energy to express the fact. The only energy the Unicorn had left was devoted to forcing a single tear to come out of her eye and roll down her cheek.

With the weapon still trained on Twilight Sparkle's face Commander Crusher pulled the trigger one last time, the slide locking back as the final shell casing flew through the air, glittering in the light before clanging back down on the floor.

The gun was empty.

*-*-*

Legal note: Commander Robert Crusher, Spartan Wilhelm-035, and all related characters belong to me. Twilight Sparkle and all related characters belong to Hasbro. My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro. Halo belongs to 343i.