1st Lieutenant Melissa McKay meant what she said to the spartan. He was just a human whose government made him what he was without his consent. But now was not the time to be focusing on that. The Covenant cruiser Truth and Reconciliation had been successfully captured by human forces and its crew were now going through pre-flight checks.

McKay felt someone touch her arm. “Lieutenant? Do you have a moment?”

McKay immediately turned to face the “offender” and saw who it was. Lieutenant Commander Gail Purdy. Now despite being a member of the UNSC Navy, Purdy still outranked McKay, so she gave the proper respect in her response. “Yes, ma’am. What can I do for you?”

Purdy brought McKay to a nearby tube, which the Lieutenant Commander described as an access point to the fiber-optic pathway that connected the control room to the engines of the ship, and what would happen if they were severed. “Given the fact that twenty percent of this ship remains under Covenant control,” Purdy continued. “I suggest that you post a guard on this piece of equipment until all of the Covenant are under lock and key.”

McKay knew an order when she saw one. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll take care of it.”

The deck suddenly and violently lurched as the engines and repulsors of the Truth and Reconciliation roared to life, her human crew having nowhere near the amount of experience with her systems as her previous Covenant masters. The two women and all those not braced against pillars or walls were thrown from their feet from the sudden jostle, eliciting a remark form Purdy regarding the sloppy takeoff.

Whether spurred or hindered by the vibrations of the engines, The Flood chose that moment to attack the engine room. A vent exploded open and a horde of infection forms shot out, only to come under immediate fire by the several marines stationed in the engine room.With all of the chaos, the captive combat form of Private First Class Wallace Jenkins went berserk, causing his Marine guards to struggle to keep him under control.

The assault was over just as soon as it began and the vent was sealed, but the attack served to give truth to the Master Chief’s report. McKay realised that the Flood could not leave Halo under any circumstances..

The Marine used her Status as XO to get through to Silva, gave a report on the attack, and finished by saying, “It’s clear what the Chief and Twilight said was accurate sir. I suggest that we put down and sterilize every square centimeter prior to lifting again.”

“Negative Lieutenant,” Silva replied with a grim undertone. “I have reason to believe that Halo is going to blow, and soon. Besides, I want some specimens, so see what you can do to capture some of the ugly bastards. Especially any augmented forms that Twilight and the freak told us about.”

“The Lieutenant is correct,” Wellesley, the Pillar of Autumn’s secondary AI interjected. “The risk is too great. I urge you to reconsider.”

“My decision is final,” Silva growled. “Now, return to your duties. That’s an order.”

McKay immediately broke the connection. There were many virtues imbued in her by the military, namely the service and protection of Earth and her people. Virtues she couldn’t betray by allowing the tyrant major to exfil this parasite from Halo. She looked around for an answer to her conundrum, and with none revealing themselves, she turned to face Jenkins as he lurched in the direction of the fiber-optic connection. McKay realized what Jenkins was trying to do, and realizing that he was powerless to do so, took matters into her own hands. It was horrible, but also simple. So simple that even the grotesquely ravaged jenkins knew what to do. McKay strode to the connection, dismissed the guard, and took one last look around before triggering a grenade. The last thing she saw before her world went white was Jenkins mouthing the words “thank you”.

It had been nearly four days since Twilight had disappeared in that structure. Applejack was dealing with the fact that she may never see her friend again by busying herself with work at Sweet Apple Acres. She was in the middle of bucking trees in the northwest field when her brother came up.

“AJ, Ah know you’ve been hurtin’ since Twilight went missing, but you can’t keep pushing yerself like this.” Big Mac said.

This was met with a glare from Applejack as she replied, “Big Mac, This is the worst I’ve felt since mom and dad died. I know you just want to help me, but I gotta deal with this my own way.” She paused a moment to move a bucket that was slightly off target before continuing. “If you wanna help, you can start by collecting the-” Applejack didn’t finish her sentence as she got distracted by a glare just over the hill.

“Is the Princess lowering the sun early?” Big Mac asked, the light having grown twice as bright. “It’s getting awfully bright-” He was cut off by a large WHUMP followed by a sudden blast of air that knocked both of them back a good fifteen meters. “AJ, you alright?” Big Mac called out to his younger sister.

“Yeah. Ah’m alright.” Applejack responded, collecting her stetson. “We should probably check on that area of the farm, see what damage was done.” The pair of ponies made their way across several rows of trees and as they crested a small hill, the two were horrified to see several trees flattened, with a smoking crater as the centerpiece.

Applejack noticed that the charred dirt at the center of the crater appeared to be bubbling slightly. No, not bubbling, something in the crater was moving.

“It kinda looks like a hairless diamond dog. Doesn’t it AJ?” Big Mac asked.

Applejack initially thought the same thing, but upon closer inspection, the creature lacked a muzzle and it had a relatively flat, hairless face. She was about to probe further when the thing opened its eyes.

McKay woke up to both a pounding headache, and an orange horse prodding her chest. ‘C’mon, the least you can do is buy me a drink first.’ she thought to herself. The last thing she remembered was priming a grenade and then a flash of white. ‘Did it work?’ She looked around and was surprised to see an apple orchard surrounding her. When she looked up, she couldn’t see Halo arching overhead, so she concluded she was no longer on the ringworld.

McKay turned to see the orange horse staring at her. ‘No not a horse, too small to be a horse. Pony would be a better term for it.’ McKay gave the orange pony a look over. “You kinda look like Twilight, except without the horn or wings. That and a different tramp-stamp.”

“You know Twilight?” The orange pony asked, wide eyed. “Is she alive?”

“As far as I know, yes.” McKay responded. “How do you know her?” The Helljumper was genuinely curious. She couldn’t recall Twilight mentioning friends off the top of her head but could imagine her having a decently sized social bubble, her being royalty and all that.

“I’m one of her closest friends, as well as an Element of Harmony.” The orange pony responded. “And any friend of Twilight’s is a friend of mine. The name’s Applejack, and this here is my brother, Big Mac.” She said, extending her left foreleg.

McKay shook Applejack's hoof and responded, “Pleasure to meet you Applejack, I’m First Lieutenant Melissa McKay.”

“Yer in the military?” Big Mac asked. “Is Twilight safe?” He asked with a worried expression.

“I don’t know.” McKay responded. “Last I saw her was at Alpha Base before she and the Chief left to self destruct the Pillar of Autumn's reactors. She honestly deserves several medals for the amount of courage and bravery she’s been displaying on the battlefield. I can’t imagine it’s been easy for her essentially being drafted into the war. Especially since she mentioned the last conflict your country fought in was over a thousand years ago.”

“What do you mean drafted into the war? What war?” Applejack demanded.

“A little under twenty-eight years ago, humanity came under attack by an alien alliance known as the Covenant. In that time, we’ve lost hundreds of worlds and billions of people. The last I checked, the death toll was over twenty-four billion. I pray that Twilight isn’t among them.” McKay paused to take a deep breath. “But then again, she’s been doing her part to kick the covie ass. She has demonstrated exemplary bravery and conduct on the battlefield and were she an enlisted member of the UNSC armed forces, she would be halfway to general by now, that is, if she doesn’t join the navy. She’s gotten one hell of a partner too, never seen a spartan gel with another soldier like the Master Chief does with Twilight. All in all, she’s been doing her best to make sure humanity survives this war, no matter the cost.”

“There’s no way Twilight would willingly take another’s life. That just isn’t what she’s like.” Applejack stated, clearly in denial over all of this.

“War can change a person, Applejack. She didn’t have a choice.” McKay responded. “Where I’m from, it's kill or be killed. My species is facing extinction and there's not much we can do about it.” She knew where Applejack was coming from, having seen several pacifists having been drafted into the war having become great commanders, her first CO being one.

“She’s right you know, Applejack.” came a voice from over McKay’s shoulder.

“What do you want Discord?” Applejack asked, contempt deeply present in her voice.

“Relax, I know Twilight’s disappearance has been weighing on your mind and I was actually coming to lend you a hoof with your harvest when I noticed this lovely little lady crossing interdimensional barriers.” Discord said, circling McKay to give her a full view of his mismatched body.

“And here I thought the Flood was ugly.” McKay spat at the draconequus.

Discord’s face momentarily darkened at the mention of the Flood, yet returned to its mischievous expression. He simply appeared above McKay in a flash.

“Discord, what’s the ‘Flood’?” Applejack asked.

McKay was about to begin when she realized her mouth had disappeared.

“It was an old friend betrayed and slaughtered by his children.” Discord said with clear pain choking his voice.

“I must say, though,” he began, “I simply didn’t expect anyone from over there to arrive here.”

“Does it matter to you?” McKay asked in a stern manner, her mouth having reappeared.

“Actually, yes,” Discord’s voice and expression turned serious. “Twilight herself shouldn’t have arrived in your conflict, and if you’ve come here, then that means the barriers between worlds are starting to break down.”

McKay gave Applejack a questioning expression, who returned a shrug, not knowing what Discord was talking about herself.

“Discord, why don’t you skip all of the roundabout descriptions that you were planning on saying and just tell us what is going on?” Applejack impatiently exclaimed. “And besides, you’ve also been gone for a day or two now. Where did you go off to?”

Discord looked at the horizon, his face clouded.

“Now, that is something I’ll have to tell everyone together, not just you alone.” He turned to face Applejack. “I just came back from Fluttershy’s house to tell you to come to Canterlot within the next two hours. You’ll want to hear what I have to say.”

“Two hours, huh,” Applejack repeated, deep in thought. “I suppose Big Mac can handle all the chores for today. Alright, I’ll be there.”

“Splendid. Now, off to tell the others.” Discord said, turning to face McKay. “And I guess I’ll have to bring you too.”

“The only problem that I can see with this meeting is that Spike left a day ago…” Applejack began before Discord interrupted, his face grave.

“Where?”

“Back to the ruins,” Applejack gulped at the horrified expression on Discord’s face, “Princess Luna invited him back there so that the two of them could have their own investigation. I don’t think that you could get there in time to tell them to teleport back to Canterlot, with that mysterious shield blocking magic from working within the site.”

“Lieutenant, with me!” Discord shouted, “We must stop them before they break the barriers further!”

The unlikely pair sprinted through the Everfree, Discord having temporarily enhanced McKay so she could keep up.

“Normally I could just teleport us directly there, but due to the shield over the ruins, we can’t do that,” Discord explained. “The distance is also too great for us to run there, but there is an old magical rift on the other side of the Everfree that will allow us to teleport to a place closer to the ruins.”

“So this is what it’s like to be a spartan.” McKay commented swinging under a branch. “What’s with the urgency?”

“The barriers are already weak, If you could pass through, damaging them further could release the Flood upon this universe.” Discord paused to phase through a tree before continuing. “Tell me, human, what stage was the Flood at when you were transported here.”

“Stage? What the Hell do you mean?” McKay shot back, narrowly avoiding the swipe of a manticore.

“Have they left the planet you found them on?” Discord exclaimed, the urgency ever present in his voice.

“Planet? We found them on Halo.” McKay responded.

“Those fools, they built the rings to destroy the Flood, yet kept specimens?” Discord shouted

“How do you know so much about Halo and the Flood?” McKay asked.

“Because all higher beings such as myself know about the ancient threat quarantined in your universe.”

“Quarantined?!” McKay shouted, “and what the hell do you mean when you say ‘universe’!”

“Valid questions that we do not have time to answer right now!” Discord shot back.

“The hell we do!” McKay roared in anger, having hit her limit with Discord already. “I swear, once we find them…”

“Onwards!” Discord shouted as they reached what McKay deduced was the portal Discord was talking about, just before he grabbed her and leapt in. They soon found themselves in the middle of a plain, with the barrier that Discord was all too familiar with close by. Close enough to see the silhouettes of Luna and Spike walking towards the center, disappearing shortly after.

“Oh, no,” Discord whispered as he saw a gap in the barrier suddenly become fixed.

[Six minutes earlier]

Spike placed his hand on the forcefield, feeling the electricity run through his hand as he touched it. What was more surprising was the fact that his hand didn’t simply halt at the surface or feel any resistance yet passed through. He looked back at princess Luna, who stood behind him with a contemplating expression.

“I thought you said that the barrier blocked anypony from entering?” Spike asked.

“It did, yet look at the colour,” Luna pointed at the field. Spike turned back and squinted at the field. It was in constant fluidity between blue and orange, creating a contrasting mixture of colours and shades. He then looked further down to the left and saw that there the field was more yellow tinged see through there. He flew over to that section of the shield, and tried to put his hand through, yet was stopped by the field.

“Okay, so the colours show how weak it is,” he commented to himself.

“Indeed,” Luna agreed, lighting up her horn. She fired a bolt of magic at the weak section of the shield, frowning when it was blocked. “But strong enough to stop any form of magic.”

“That reminds me too much of what Starlight told us about Chrysalis' throne’s power when she rescued us from her clutches,” Spike couldn’t help but state, shivering as the thoughts of being trapped inside one of those cocoons returned to haunt him for a brief moment.

Despite looking composed, internally Luna also shivered at her perspective of the same memories. Being the princess of the night and guardians of ponies dreams, she was only affected by the memories for a second before her instincts kicked in, sending the bad memories back into the dark recesses of her mind.

“For the past few days, ever since the barrier appeared,” Luna began to explain to Spike, who had walked next to her, “I have constantly been returning to the barrier and going around the entire thing in order to find any differences from the completely uniform appearance of the barrier, even to the detriment of my duties as Princess of the Night. My efforts were in vain until yesterday when I found this blight on the field. Afterwards I discovered that a pony could walk through the field, yet without the ability to wield magic inside the field.”

“Does Princess Celestia know?” Spike asked, yet the lack of Celestia herself here spoke volumes about the answer to the question. “I mean, if she doesn’t, we should probably tell her.”

“Believe me, I know that my sister, out of all ponies, should have been told of this development,” Luna agreed, “but unfortunately, she is currently in Rijekograd, trying to negotiate with the River Federation in order for Equestrian archaeologists to be allowed to excavate a newly discovered site, on the coast of the Nimbusian province, which is a two days journey from here. Similar sites have been popping up all across Equis.”

Spike just simply stood there; the only movement was his eyes blinking as he stared at Luna with a deadpan expression. Luna nervously laughed as sweat drops appeared on her side, not knowing why he was doing that. “Spike, my friend, why do you glare at me like that?”

“You have the power to teleport,” Spike crossed his arms, his face now displaying an annoyed expression.

“The River Federation has set up a powerful spell in their country that allows them to regulate teleportation that is attempting to come into and go out of the country,” Luna explained, her nervousness gone now that she knew why Spike was annoyed. “If Discord was still here, I would have asked him to teleport me there!” She could not help but mumble “even though I wouldn’t trust him to make fun of me for going to him for help.”

“Seems too convenient for me, but I’ll accept it,” Spike said, shrugging despite his doubts. “Though why did you bring me instead of the others?”

“Because out of everypony, you have the longest connection to Twilight,” Luna said as she entered the barrier, with Spike following close behind. “I know a few ancient spells that allow the bonds between friends and family, both blood and name, to locate ponies, or any trace of where they are. It’s a stretch, but if there is a trace of Twilight left here, then you may be the key to finding her.”

“I hope so,” Spike muttered, wiping away tears as he spotted the first ruins that littered the area around the site, the memory of Twilight’s disappearance still fresh in his mind.

“Another reason is that you don’t rely too much on magic as a dragon,” Luna continued before looking back at her companion. “Do you mind if I ask you to try to breath fire right now?”

“...Sure?” Spike did as he was asked, easily breathing out a healthy flame.

Luna nodded in approval. “A mighty flame,” she said before a mischievous expression filled her face. “One that all of the crystal ponies would flock to your beck and call to see, swarming you to…”

“Oh. Ha. Ha. Though it’s always nice to see them think of me as Spike the brave.”

“I admit, I do get jealous of how they worship you almost as highly as Cadance.” Luna sighed. “Even though I’ve gotten used to being back in Equestria and I no longer hold any ill will towards my sister, I still feel like the least liked out of all of the princesses.”

Spike looked back at the Night Princess, spotting the depressed look on her face. With a look of empathy, he went up to Luna and gave her a hug. Luna briefly stiffened with surprise but quickly relaxed and returned it, a smile on her face and a tear running down her cheek.

“I… understand,” Spike reassured her, “Originally, I thought that every pony seemed to forget that I existed, focusing only on Twilight and her friends. I admit that I was jealous sometimes, even if they were my friends. But I soon realised that it didn’t matter. As long as I had my friends, it doesn’t matter how others viewed me.”

He let go of Luna so that she could see his face. “And you got one friend here.”

Luna smiled with happiness. “Thank you, Spike.”

“Hey, no worries. Just remember, if you need someone to talk to, I’m here.”

The conversation was interrupted by the ground shaking as the large structure in which Twilight disappeared began to emit a blue light. Luna and Spike glanced at each other before running towards the structure, at least until another barrier blocked their path. Luna growled as she noticed that the barrier all but encircled them, preventing the two from flying over the barrier, except…

“It didn’t block this way,” Spike noted, his hand to his chin as he looked on at the supposedly only way out, “though the way the barrier is shaped forces us to go into this smaller structure.”

“We are being herded towards it,” Luna deduced, with Spike nodding in agreement.

“The only questions are,” he said, looking around for any detail he could get a clue from, his years serving as Twilight’s number one assistant having helped him develop an eye for deducing facts from small details, “why this structure and how can we get out of this evident trap.”

“I don’t know, and we can’t,” Luna answered, trotting over to the path set by the barrier, with Spike following close behind. As they walked up the ramp and entered an open doorway that led into a lightless corridor, the barrier disappeared, with a door slamming shut behind them, trapping them inside. As they jumped and spun around after hearing the sound of the door, the lights in the corridor lit up, leaving Luna and Spike in a blue glow. They looked back at the corridor and spotted another walkway that led downwards a fair distance away.

“Guess the only way out is inside,” Spike said, resigned.

“Then let us make the most of this,” Luna announced. “If there are any clues to where Twilight is inside here, then we must spring this trap and overcome any obstacles that stand in our way.”

“Right!” Spike shouted as the two of them started to walk through the corridor, ever so wary for any traps. Yet they could not be aware of the presence that was watching their every move.

Twilight looked out into the void of space through a viewport for the second time in her life, sighing as she looked out at the ever-expanding debris field that was Halo. She was feeling quite lost now that she was away from all the fighting on the ringworld, and the Flood. Especially the Flood.

Her entire body trembled with fear and anger each time she thought of the two words themselves, even if they weren’t in context with the parasite itself, and having the flashbacks to what it did to her caused an even worse reaction, so much so that a few times, Foehammer, who had informed Twilight of her actual name, Carol Rawley, and John-117 had to directly calm her down in the Longsword fighter. It didn’t help that the longer she waited, the angrier she felt, and the harder she tried to repress it. From an outside perspective, it would make it look like the Flood has put her in an almost permanent state of stress and unease.

She was deep in thought when suddenly John slammed his helmet on as he shouted, “Power down!”, bringing Twilight back to reality. “Take everything offline except minimal life support, passive scanners and enough power to keep you active!” she heard him say to Cortana.

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked before she looked out of the viewport and saw what looked like the Covenant Cruiser ‘The Truth and Reconciliation’, that she and John had boarded twice, flying through the debris field. She looked back at the main piloting station after hearing Rawley curse, as she went through the process of quickly switching most functions of the Longsword off. Twilight was still new to much of human technology, so she did not feel qualified to even operate this thing in any way, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to help in any way.

“Twilight, is there any way for you to turn the Longsword invisible?” John asked as he spun his seat around to face her.

“Maybe, but will that do us any good?” Twilight asked, wracking her brain for a suitable spell that she could use. “I mean, you have that motion sensor in your helmet, so the covenant would have a scanner that could detect movement, right?”

“In space, it's a little different,” Cortana explained as the lights switched off. “Since there are so many objects in space that are tiny, yet moving at such high speeds, scanners usually operate by detecting emissions from power, life signs and radiation, more so than relying on visual sight. However, there’s still a chance that they may detect a power signature, however small it is, from us, so we’ll need to be invisible in order for us to avoid being caught by the Covenant if they come and check out our location.”

“I’ll try!” Twilight called out as she lit her horn, finally having found a suitable spell. The occupants of the Longsword shivered as they felt some sort of energy pass over them, only John, having experienced Twilight’s teleportation multiple times, being able to find a slight familiarity with the sensation from previous spells Twilight has used.

As Cortana’s holographic form switched off, Twilight could do nothing but hope that she did the spell in time as the Covenant cruiser continued to move through the debris field, her anger beginning to flare at the possibility of failure. Even further in the distance, Twilight could make out more ships, some of them cruisers, others were different types.

“Have they spotted us?” John asked tensely.

“Negative so far… Interesting, they’re using the same scanning frequencies that we do,” Cortana mused to herself.

“That sounds all well and good, Cortana,” Rawley spoke out, “but I think it’s best if you focus more on the Covenant ships that can vaporise us with a single shot.” She shivered, despite her voice being devoid of fear like usual. “I’ve always hated the sight of those SDV corvettes after Reach,” she muttered as she recognised one of the Covenant ships in the far distance.

“Corvettes?” Twilight asked, completely unfamiliar with many of the terms that she was hearing from Rawley, and the conversation between John and Cortana.

“A light naval warship class,” Rawley explained in the simplest way she could think of. “There are many types of warships in both the UNSC and the Covenant navies. For example, the Autumn was a light cruiser, one of the heavier ships in the UNSC, the Truth and Reconciliation being similar, though I personally don’t know what they label it as.”

“A CSS class Battlecruiser,” Cortana couldn’t help but add, “But that ship right there, I don’t know about that.”

The ship she was talking about was a new Covenant vessel that entered view, orbiting the gas giant that Halo had itself been orbiting, larger than many of the Covenant vessels Twilight had seen.

“What the hell is that?” Rawley whispered, stunned at the size of it.

“I’m picking up a lot of encrypted chatter from the new contact,” Cortana whispered, “It appears to be sending out orders to the cruisers and corvettes, directing them in their search efforts.”

“A flagship,” John murmured, his tone being the calmest of all of them, like he was figuring out a plan, “Interesting.”

“What do we do?” Twilight asked as John got up off of his seat and walked towards the rear of the longsword. Twilight and Rawley looked at each other before Twilight shrugged, soon following the Spartan.

Turns out he was looking at what seemed to be a weapons system, of what kind Twilight wasn’t sure of, but she hoped that it would be useful. After a moment of examination, he moved on to the weapons locker.

‘Maybe there’s some ammo or heavy weapons in there!’ Twilight hoped, but was immediately corrected as John opened it up, completely empty.

He said nothing, but Twilight could hear a single thought through their mental connection: ‘shit.’

“Got something!” Cortana called out, Twilight rushing to the bridge in response.

“What is it?” she asked, hoping for some good news.

Even before Twilight finished voicing her question, the closest viewport highlighted a cylindrical object floating in space.

“It could be a cryotube,” Cortana suggested as John joined them, “If needed, thrusters can be attached to the tube in case of emergencies, such as the ship being abandoned.”

“Of course,” Rawley stated, understanding what Cortana was going with, “The Autumn didn’t have time to awaken most of the crew from cryo when the Covenant attacked, so some of the cryotubes must have been jettisoned before she crashed on Halo.”

“Move us towards them,” John ordered, “Docking thrusters only. We can’t risk the Covenant finding them, or the fact that they will perish when power runs out for them.”

Twilight shuddered at that last statement. Cortana had told her about the dangers of being exposed to the vacuum of space in the spare free time she had between battles on Halo, so she knew about how deadly space could be. Her anger flared up again, but she tried to repress it once more.

Cortana quickly plotted a course and Twilight could feel the Longsword move faster. As they moved closer to the Cryotube slowly, Twilight could see that there was a Covenant cruiser and two Corvettes closer to it than they were.

“ETA twenty minutes,” Cortana said, but then added in a low voice, “That cruiser and its escorts will reach the cryotube in five minutes.”

“Do you think that the Covenant could detect magic?” Twilight asked.

“Potentially. If the Flagship is directing everything here and was in charge of all of the Covenant forces on Halo, then they would have all of the data that the Covenant gathered on you and your magic. If the commander is smart, he would have informed the captains of those cruisers to scan for any magical energy that they could detect.”

“So it’s not worth me teleporting that tube to us?” Twilight pointed at the cryotube, “because it may be spotted by the cruiser soon.”

“We’ll have to use that as a last resort,” John commented as he sealed his helmet. “Cortana, we need to go faster without firing the engines. Foehammer, Twilight, find any equipment that you can use that will prevent you from dying in vacuum.”

“On it, Chief!” Rawley immediately ran to a panel in the side of the cabin and opened it, pulling out a mask with an oxygen tank connected to it. She slipped on a suit next to it that covered all but her face and put on the mask, sealing her body from the potential dangers of space. She checked a meter on the mask. “I have around three hours of oxygen supply in this, but the suit isn’t designed for combat. I’ll be best stationed here for now.”

“Alright,” John said as he walked over to the weapons console and memorized the controls and the fastest way to activate the weapon systems. “Do you think Twilight can fit one of those masks over her face?”

“No,” Rawley said in a sombre manner. “They’re designed for human faces only, and her head is definitely not human shaped at all.”

“I’ll manage,” Twilight said as her horn lit up and was surrounded by pink light. “This will allow me to breathe normally in space and act like I’m flying,” she explained to the curious humans.

“Have you tried this before?” Cortana asked.

“No, I just made this on the spot!” Twilight snapped before laughing nervously, “I’m my own guinea pig this time.”

“Well, we’re about to find out if it works,” John commented, trying to ignore Twilight’s spontaneous anger, as the aft doors opened, sucking out all the air and depressurised the compartment. Twilight had to grab on to one of the seats in order to avoid being sucked out to space, with Rawley having already strapped herself to the pilot’s seat. It became even more of a struggle as the longsword shot forward.

It took Twilight a moment to realise that she was actually breathing normally. “Ha!” she shouted, “Another new spell to write in Starswirl’s magic guide!”

“Adjusting course,” Cortana stated as the doors closed again, and the cabin pressurised. Twilight, to conserve her magical energy, took down her aura while Rawley took off her mask to conserve her oxygen supply.

“Well, that’s one way of guiding a fighter quietly,” Rawley commented to Twilight.

“Not quietly enough,” Cortana’s statement immediately soured the mood as they noticed the Covenant cruiser and its escorts slowing down and beginning to turn towards the direction of the Longsword. “They’re increasing scans of the area. Attempting to jam them in order to buy us some time.”

“Shit,” Rawley muttered. “We wouldn’t even last a second if one of the corvettes finds us!”

“Then we won’t be found,” John stated calmly, his firm tone reassuring the occupants of the craft, despite the impossibility of his statement.

Twilight looked at the console that Rawley was studying and noted that the cryopod was actually three cryopods, which means three potential survivors to rescue. If they survive this ordeal, that is.

“New contact!” Cortana shouted, drawing everyone’s attention. “I think it is. Give me a moment... There is an object, most likely some form of vehicle, on one of those asteroids and… damn, it just rotated out of view. However, from my calculations, I can guess that it was a pelican dropship.”

Cortana sent an image to the consoles on the bridge, allowing everyone a look at what she found. “It appears you were right, Chief. That would be a perfect place to hide to avoid being spotted, or more likely that they crashed there.”

“I doubt it,” John responded. “The way the dropship has landed indicated that it can lift off at a moment's notices with ease.”

“Chief’s right,” Rawley nodded. “If I wanted to hide, but be able to speed off if needed, that’s how I would park. Hell, one of my fellow pilots is probably at the wheel of that thing, if the occupants are still alive.”

“Well, crashed or not, looks like they’ve attracted some attention,” Twilight said urgently, pointing to one of the corvettes moving towards the new contact.

“Damn,” John said, getting up and floated towards the rear of the ship. “I’ll get the cryopods. You two, stay here and get ready to fly off on my, or Cortana’s command.”

“Got it.” “Ok, Chief.”

“Coming about, Chief,” Cortana informed the Spartan, as Twilight looked on in apprehension. “Brace yourself and get ready to acquire that cryopod.”

“Acknowledged,” John said as he attached what appeared to be a metal rope to his suit and to a wheel near the door. ‘If the tether snaps, teleport me back, Twilight, if you are able to do so without being detected,’ he mentally told Twilight.

‘Let’s hope I don’t need to,’ she replied back through the mental link.

“Decompression in three seconds,” Cortana announced. Twilight had enough time to strap herself to the closest seat and activate her new spell before the bay door opened once more, this time with John leaping out into the black void.

Twilight felt helpless, watching the Spartan close the gap between the Longsword and the cryopod, unable to do anything without risking being spotted by the Covenant. Through the mental link, she witnessed his thoughts as he corrected his course to the cryopods and gasped when she saw his thoughts as he missed the first two of the three connected pods before grabbing onto the third one, breathing a sigh of relief.

As John wrapped the tether around the pods and began to get pulled back to the Longsword, the three Covenant ships began to move, certain sections of their bodies beginning to light up.

“Oh, no!” Rawley shouted as she saw that. “They’re getting ready to fire!” She quickly began to bring the engines back online, while Twilight stared out through the bay door, processing what she just heard.

This was it. They had survived the Covenant forces on the ground, survived the Monitor, survived the Flood, only to be destroyed by the Covenant in space?! ‘No!’ Twilight screamed in her head, her anger rising, ‘I will not allow us to end here!’

She got up off her seat, her mind totally consumed by her anger, not noticing the missiles streak towards the cruiser and collide with its shields as the Pelican flew out of its hiding spot. No, all she was doing was turning her anger into magical power.

Despite her traumatic experiences on Halo, her magic was more powerful than ever. And now that she was no longer near any Flood, it was hers to command totally. Power unlike anything she ever felt flowed through her horn as she teleported herself outside in space and stared down the Covenant Cruiser as several weapons on it and the two Corvettes turned to aim at her.

“TWILIGHT!” John called out to her, but she did not hear it.

All of her anger was finally unleashed. Her eyes glowing pink, darkeing into a purple, she produced a massive ball of power in front of her and threw it at the Cruiser.

John and Rawley stared at the ball of magic as they saw it fly straight into the Cruiser and pierce it. Within seconds the Cruiser broke apart, the debris colliding with the Corvettes, blowing them up as well.

For Twilight, she didn’t see any of that, for as soon as the ball was launched from her, her consciousness faded as her sight went black.

Author's Note

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for another long update time. Uni and a whole combination of factors pretty much wore me out, but I've finally recovered enough to produce this chapter. Special thanks to Equestrian Intelligence for writing the first two sections of the chapter!

Another Halo character has been saved from death, but her worries aren't over yet. Luna and Spike are about to enter a new mystery that will affect Equis forever and Twilight has now officially added three Covenant warships to her kill feed, if she was keeping track.

Next time, we will continue First Strike and hopefully the chapter will be out sooner rather than later.

Until next time,
dalek117