Harmony. November 3rd, 2551(Military Calendar). 0900 hours.

Sunset watched as several Ural-esque trucks began rolling up to the front entrance of the mine, which she and Flash had graciously cleared out for their comrades. Army Troopers and a few Marines piled out of the back, running into the mine, alongside a few medics and specialists.

"Wait!" Coco ran over. Sunset turned to face her, leaning against the wall.

"I... I wanted to say thanks. F-For everything you've done. You saved a lot of my men, a-and—" Sunset held up a finger to cut her off.

"It's alright, Pommel. We're just doing our duty." Sunset replied, getting a small laugh from Coco.

"A-Anyway, if you ever need any help, our doors are open." Sunset gave Coco a light nod, as a Troop-Transport-Hog rolled up, the driver getting out.

"You two did some seriously wicked shit down there... You've got my respect, and my warthog." Flash gave him a nod as he ran inside, the girl quietly shuffling out, her dog in the backpack clasped in her hands.

"So, I'll take it you're coming, miss Twinkie Spark?" the girl frowned.

"It's Twilight Sparkle..." She grumbled. Sunset nodded, climbing into the driver's seat.

"That's what I said." Twilight sighed, carefully climbing into the back of the 'hog. She fumbled with her restraints, before Flash climbed in and helped her.

"Here." Flash smiled, Twilight blushing lightly, nodding. Flash shook it off, and climbed into the passenger seat of the warthog.

"Where to first, chief?" he asked, leaning back.

Neither had kept their armor, now wearing the normal off-duty uniform, along with backpacks and some other minor non-protective gear. Sunset pulled up a holographic map from the TACPAD mounted on her forearm.

"The E-Elu-Elugari, yeah, Elugari. The Elu-Fuck it, we're going to drive north. The VDF Copernicus was supposed to touch down on the twelfth. Apparently, our allies stationed there are under heavy fire." Sunset began. Flash leaned back as the bacon-like-haired soldier began accelerating the 'hog.

"We'll be passing through a bunch of abandoned towns and cities, according to these maps..." Sunset said aloud.

"Abandoned?" Flash glanced over at the map that was projected on the middle console.

Indeed, what she was saying was correct. They'd be passing through a large mass of abandoned towns, cities and military outposts.

"According to this, apparently the UNSC didn't all pull out. They made a last-stand here in this war-zone. Vanguard left them alone, besides jamming their SATCOM, left 'em boxed in. Apparently they just died out... I doubt that's the case, but it's what I'm hearing. Ears and eyes up." Flash concluded, then climbed over the hog's cage, sitting down opposite the Twilight girl.

"I-I've been meaning to ask... How old is S-Sunset?" Flash visibly winced at that. Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"D-Did I say something wrong?" she asked, tightening her grip on the backpack in her arms. Flash shook his head with a loud, exhausted sigh.

"Nobody knows, nor would they tell. Classified information... That is, unless she shares it with you." Twilight nodded. Flash looked off into the distance, watching as they passed an array of abandoned buildings, some short, some tall...

Then everything went back as a forty-millimeter grenade slammed into the hood.

March 22nd, 2526, VDF Training Compound, Harmony.

Flash watched his DI, listening and comprehending each word out of his mouth as he roared over the din of the D-33 Paragon Dropship. His tone was vicious, and his face matched. An angered expression upon an aged face, brown hair with a short, graying beard, and orange eyes.

Flash had on a miniaturized set of the bodysuits and pressurized helmets the original SPARTANs wore. An M7S hung from his waist on a sling, an—for his size, at least—over-sized MA5B Assault Rifle maglocked to his back. A Karambit knife rested in a sheathe on his left shoulder, a normal CQC WS Combat Knife in a sheathe on his back, right above his waist. He stared out of a porthole at the environment of Harmony as the DI began droning on about how they were a "new breed" of soldier... Then he started on the war, and that in it's own caught Flash's attention.

"These goddamned aliens are out for blood! The war the UNSC is currently fighting, requires this "New Breed" of soldier! A scalpel to precisely eliminate this 'Holy Covenant.' We aren't going to falter—You're not going to falter... We're at the LZ." Flash began undoing his restraints, and got to his feet. He unclipped the bulky, steel-gray helmet from his hip and slid it onto his head.

This was the training armor the VDF had been using, as well as the prototype for the Argus-Class Body Armor, Mark IV, something to combat the SPARTANs and their MJOLNIR armor... How the VDF knew about this, was beyond Flash's knowledge. The dropship's rear hatch opened up, and it's twenty-three occupants climbed out.

"Good luck, Cadets." The Drill Instructor gave them a nod. He spun on his heel and began walking to the cockpit as the dropship's hatch closed, and it lifted off. Suddenly, thousands of tiny blue dots appeared, and they intricately began linking, then carefully sliced open a swirling blue portal, and the Paragon-Class Dropship was gone.

Flash shouldered his M7S and began walking with his comrades. According to the minor eavesdropping he was able to do, he and his teammates that survived this mission, would be moving on to get some sort of augmentation. Flash pushed the thought to the back of his head and began walking forward. The barrel of his rifle swept over every surface before him, the dim headlamps on his helmet giving him a bit of light to work with. Not nearly enough, though.

Flash heard a loud roar, and spun around to see a large creature begin charging toward them. His friends began running, he close behind. Flash fired bursts from his M7S at the creature that his helmet recognized as a Gúta. It charged forward and swept it's claws down, killing and injuring several of the VDFMC cadets. Flash screamed, firing the rest of his magazine into the Gúta.

"Hostile Contact! Open fire! Open fire!" Flash quickly grabbed his injured friend and dragged him under a bush, when several hulking forms appeared out of the darkness, discharging their silenced firearms at the Gúta. Flash activated his night vision.

Each was wearing bulky, green armor, with golden visors upon their helmets. They fought the Gúta for a good half-hour, with no casualties. The Gúta was riddled with bullet holes by the end, when it finally collapsed to the ground with an audible Thump!

"It's safe to come out, now..." His voice was young. Maybe fourteen-fifteen. Flash poked his head out of cover, followed by the rest of his body. A few of his friends did as well, their M6S pistols or M7S Sub-Machine Guns drawn.

"Isn't this a strange sight..." a female one, maybe sixteen-seventeen.

"W-Who are you?" Flash asked, tightening the grip on his rifle. The male one looked back to his comrades. Flash did the same. Each shared a look of confusion, fear, and even curiosity. The male one knelt down and looked him in the eye.

"We are called Blue Team... I'm John."

Flash's eyes shot open to the sound of automatic gunfire. He tried sitting upright, only to find Sunset pressing a hand to his chest to keep him down, the other hand preoccupied with firing an MA5C ICWS.

"What-?" he groaned, checking his vitals. Three bruised ribs, a torn Achilles, and a significant amount of shrapnel lodged into his good leg. He's fine.

"We got hit. Grenade shell, forty millimeter. M319 Break-Action, Single-Shot Grenade Launcher. They used an Incendiary round, along with a charged EMP... They took that Twilight girl." Flash growled and sat upright. He leaned back against a jersey barrier, the warthog's blazing husk lying overturned a few meters to his left.

"Who?" he tried clarifying. He patted himself down, and realized Sunset had his MA5C. He slid his M6C magnum out of it's holster on his thigh and poked out of cover. Twenty hostiles. Thirteen Helljumpers, Seven Marines. Their armor wasn't outdated.

"Those fucking UNSC remnants. They must have broken through the SATCOM jamming when the Covenant got here... No fucking wonder the UNSC is here, too." Sunset growled, firing wildly. Flash groaned with annoyance.

"No, their armor is up-to-date with the UNSC's... Must just be a scouting party, or they were setting up an ambush for the Covenant." Sunset gave Flash a glare. She growled angrily and ducked back behind cover as her shields collapsed, and an M634 9.5x40mm round shattered her visor. She ripped her helmet off and threw it aside, trying to calm herself down—when a single 14.5x114mm round slammed through the jersey barrier, and right through Flash's chest.

John-117. He and his team were currently stationed on Harmony for a week, on some sort of Spec-Ops Mission. They weren't even aware that humans had settled here, let alone set up a fleet of ships—which according to John, are now in a large-scale battle in the vacuum—with enough firepower to blow up Reach an unholy amount of times over.

Linda-058, she was one of John's colleagues in their squad, Blue Team. She was helping one of Flash's friends deal with their dead comrade. Every one of the twenty-two surviving VDF Marine Corps Cadets were shocked at first, but quickly steeled themselves. They weren't going to win wars by falling apart because they've taken casualties.

"Flash Sentry." Flash turned to John, tilting his head in response. Despite all of the hellish events that were going on, Flash was going to at least give these soldiers a shred of respect.

"Y-Yeah?" he asked, standing upright, craning his neck to look up at John.

"We're moving out... I suppose this is goodbye." Flash nodded. This John character wasn't to be trusted. Not with their lives. Not with their knowledge.

"I suppose so..." Flash snapped his fingers and pulled his extra dog-tag off of it's line on his neck. He took John's hand and placed the tag in his hands.

"Here. So you always remember us marines from Phoenix Company..." John nodded. He turned to his comrades, gave a subtle nod, and began walking. The one known as Kelly-087 turned to Flash.

"Y'know, we were sent here to find a bunch of soldiers from this military known as 'Phoenix Company'... Have a good life, kid." And with that, she spun on her heel, and started walking with her team.

Flash turned to his soldiers. His friends... His family.

"C'mon. We need to get to the rendezvous before nightfall." Flash spun on his heel and shouldered his M7S. His responses were nods and a varying difference of affirmatives, so they began their long trek.

Flash woke up and winced. A window in the corner of his HUD told him his lung was ruptured. He looked over, and saw Sunset. Her hair was glowing, like fire, with bits of cinder and ash licking up off of the patch of hair upon her head. She growled, shouldered Flash's MA5C, and hurdled the cover. Flash turned onto his back and watched.

She sprinted forward with a speed that'd give SPARTANs a spook, and smashed directly through a concrete wall. She grabbed a marine by the throat, spinning on her heel. She used his unconscious form to block the bullets flying downrange toward her, whilst her MA5C fired in each direction. Each UNSC marine and ODST in range took at least a few of the 7.62x51mm rounds. She tossed her meat-shield's body to the ground. His neck was encrusted with heavy burns.

Sunset picked up a pair of M7 SMGs off of the ground, and turned a corner. She sprinted along a wall, firing her SMG wildly into the crowd of UNSC soldiers that inhabited the large room. She spun, rolled, and jumped, ducking and weaving through fire, whilst she discharged the marines with a torrent of rounds, until the casings of the M7 SMGs melted within the barrel, jamming each weapon respectively.

She threw each weapon aside, in exchange for her combat knife. Sunset lunged forward and plunged her knife up through the jaw of an unsuspecting ODST, then switched her grip and launched the body at another marine. She drew her pistol and silenced a good twelve of the soldiers in the room, then holstered it swiftly. She removed her knife from the corpse of an ODST, flicked off the blood, and sheathed it. She felt herself calming down... and the pain started. Sunset looked down, and visibly grimaced, her anger reigniting.

Her abdomen, good arm and leg, and even her chest, were riddled with bullet holes, though the bullets themselves likely never entered her body, they did penetrate her skin and muscle, leaving some nasty wounds, which began cauterizing as Sunset's body was engulfed in flame. Two large, glowing white wings appeared on her back, made seemingly of pure light. A horn materialized on the forehead of her helmet, as well. She let out a hearty laugh, and tightened her hands into fists.

"Let's get this party started..."

Author's Note

Yeah, Sunset can "Pony-Up" when her negative emotions—primarily anger—get the best of her, and her friends are in danger... This doesn't always work, though. There are times where her prior knowledge, training, and other things take significant roles in the situation, and she doesn't need to "Pony-Up" as it is called. She and Flash, being so close, share an impenetrable bond. Though it appeared from the Prologue that Flash first met Sunset at The Battle Of Harmony, that is untrue. She and him have known each other since her arrival to the human world. During the Battle, Sunset was unable to identify Flash Sentry, because of:
1) Jamming software—albeit weak—was giving her systems an issue with Identify-Friendly-Foe tags.
2) The signature armor Flash wore was coated in thick layers of mud and blood, so it was a lot more difficult to identify properly without seeing his face.