In the corridor, the pair witnessed three crewmembers firing their pistols against an unseen foe, before one was hit multiple times in the face and chest by green plasma bolts, burning her fatally, and filling the air with ozone and the smell of burnt flesh.

Twilight screamed in horror at the sight of the crewmember’s body falling to the ground as Chief closed the distance to the remaining crew, and finally had visual contact with the enemy.

It was only a small group of Covenant: Five grunts, small, simian like creatures with methane rigs, four of them wearing orange-trimmed armour, while the other one was wearing red-trimmed armour, signifying it’s rank as a major, stood up front in standard Covenant tactics. All five of them were armed with plasma pistols. The Chief noticed that three more grunts lay on the ground, phosphorescent blue blood splattered on the deck around their bullet riddled bodies.

The Chief shouldered his rifle and pulled the trigger just as the red grunt started to turn to bring its gun to bear on the chief. A trio of 7.62mm armour piercing rounds smashed into the grunt, killing it with the third round as it penetrated the thick skull. The Chief expertly sprayed a dozen more rounds at the other grunts, killing all but one, which managed to shoot off a plasma bolt at the Chief. The grunt paused and stared in a fearful manner as the bolt collided with the Chief’s shields and did nothing. It remained this way until the Chief leapt forward and ripped off the methane mask.

As the grunt lay flailing on the ground as it slowly suffocated, the Chief checked the ammo counter of the rifle, with only 42 rounds remaining. He then turned around and looked at the small group of onlookers behind him. The surviving naval crew offered complements while Twilight had a horrified look on her face, not noticing the shadow approaching from behind.

The Chief tackled Twilight on the ground, barely avoiding the blue plasma bolt that impacted the space where she occupied. He rolled onto his knees and looked at the new adversary.

It was a Covenant Elite, a minor as indicated by the blue armour, aiming a plasma rifle right at the Chief. The mandibles opened up with a loud roar as the elite opened fire, charging straight at the Chief, who managed to pull a petrified Twilight away and fire a continuous burst at the Elite, the rounds smashing into the Elite’s shields.

When the rifle’s ammo indicator dropped to 0, the Elite’s shields gave out, exposing it temporarily. Knowing the time that reloading would take, the Chief opted for smashing the butt of his rifle into the face of the Elite with enough force to break the spine and skull, killing it instantly.

After looking around for any hostiles, the Chief hit the release on his rifle, allowed the empty magazine to fall, and shoved a new magazine into its place, resetting the ammo counter on both the rifle and his HUD. He then turned and walked to a still petrified Twilight, who’s wide eyes and heavy breathing indicated a sense of shock and horror.

‘She must have never seen blood on this scale, much less brutal killings’, the Chief realised as his eyes focused on how Twilight was staring at the blood-soaked deck. He was not without sympathy for her, but he had an objective to complete.

Grabbing her midsection, he lifted her up unto his shoulder, and began to continue heading for the Bridge. Due to the weight restraints on him, he decided to sling his Assault Rifle and drew his sidearm, holding it in one hand. This offered him enough protection to take out the trio of grunts that ambushed him in the adjacent corridor.

All of Twilight’s willpower was dedicated at keeping all of her stomach contents from pouring out from her mouth. Her shallow breaths and wide, distant eyes were symptoms of the trauma her mind was going through after almost dying from an alien, and seeing all of those different aliens kill or be killed, it was horrific for her.

She barely noticed the ongoing fights around her, isolating herself inside her mind to escape the horror of the reality she now resided in. Never had she seen any creature be killed before, not even in the battle with the Changelings at Canterlot, where she used her magic to stun the changelings attacking her friends and herself.

Not only had she seen a human be burned by what Twilight could only describe as some form of harvested plasma, but the creature now carrying her had killed even more other aliens. That doesn’t even begin to cover the fact that one of the other aliens had tried to KILL her, without asking questions. Even if she found the humans a bit brutal with what she saw, at least they had the decency to wait to see if she was a threat. Those ‘brutes’, as Rarity would label them, were bloodthirsty.

‘Why did they attack me?’ Twilight questioned to herself. ‘In fact, why are they attacking the humans?’ Twilight’s inquisitive nature once again reared its head out from the depths of Twilight’s fear and horror. ‘Are these aliens the Covenant that the humans were talking about?’

Whatever they are called, they obviously weren’t interested in making any new friends. Killing anything in your path never helps to prove your case to anypony.

It was at this point that Twilight became invested with the battle going on around her as the Chief almost collided with one of the aliens with the four hinged mandibles that had tried to kill her before. Twilight had little time to react as the Chief dropped her on to the ground and began firing his weapon, a small firearm that was more advanced than the Equestrian Crossbows, at the alien, with the shots colliding with what Twilight perceived as a form of shielding, though how it was not generated by magic was beyond her current comprehension.

The alien snarled, and dodged two of the shots, firing its own plasma weapon at the Chief, with his (Twilight assumed the Chief was a male) own shields flaring after being hit by the plasma. Twilight, though she had only just met the Chief, felt a sense of horror as he was forced to throw away his pistol as it ran out of shots and was about to grab his larger firearm as the alien lunged forward and knocked him to the ground.

She screamed at seeing him fall, attracting the attention of the alien, who then swiftly twisted on its feet and shot her in the wing.

Screaming as searing pain swept all across Twilight’s body, she fell on the ground, clutching her now burnt wing, her mind too clouded with pain to notice the bloody hole that cut through her wing. Tears running down her fur, Twilight looked on in agony as the boots of the alien strode over to her body.

It took much of her energy to turn her head to face the alien, who was now once again aiming its weapon at her, though now directly in line with her head. The next plasma blast would kill her.

Rage then boiled all across Twilight’s mind, body and soul. ‘I…WILL NOT DIE!!’ she screamed inside her head, all of her magic now directed at the alien standing over her. Her horn glowed with large amounts of magical energy, confusing the alien until she released the magic at the alien in a large, directed blast.

The alien had no time to react as the magical bolt blew through its shields, blowing up the head, scattering flesh, blood and brain matter in a wide area of effect, and sending the body flying across the room.

Twilight stared as the headless body landed, shocked by her own actions, not noticing how blue blood now covered her. ‘Did I just…kill something?’ She got up unto her hooves, but then collapsed again in both pain and shock from her injuries and actions, breathing frantically, and began to sob.

She then noticed a shadow on the floor coming towards her. Her horn lit, she turned around to face the new threat and came face to face with the Chief, who had gotten up and recovered from being knocked to the ground. From how the Chief now pointed his rifle instinctively at her now hinted at him seeing what had just occurred.

However, he quickly lowered the weapon and did something so unexpected. He took a single look at her injured wing, and pulled out an object that looked more like a fire extinguisher, though miniaturised and had the word ‘Biofoam’ written on it. He lowered it to just above her wing, and a soft, foamy substance emerged from a tube, filling the hole.

Though the initial sensation was a sharp pain, Twilight soon felt relief, and noticed the Chief motioning for a nearby human, who was carrying a small pack with a red cross painted on it. The pack was passed to the Chief, who opened it and drew out some bandages, which were then carefully wrapped around the wing and hole, with Twilight whimpering from the pain.

“Thank you”, Twilight said, after the Chief was done and had stood up. The Chief nodded in response, pivoted on his feet to face away from Twilight and raised his weapon. The human, one of the armoured ones, did the same, though not before helping Twilight up on her hooves.

The human raised his hand to his helmet, tilted his head as if listening to something, then motioned to the Chief.

“The captain wants you on the bridge ASAP. Better follow me”, he said, rushing off, with the Chief close behind, leaving Twilight to run, despite the pain, in order to catch up.

The trio arrived in a large room, with multiple tables and chairs, all arranged similar to a cafeteria from one of the royal barracks she visited her brother at. All throughout the room were humans, both the ones in the grey overalls and the armoured ones, either standing and alert, or wounded and resting. It was a depressing sight, though the Chief and the human with her were walking through the crowd without reactions, as if they were used to it.

They quickly left the cafeteria and soon arrived at an opening to a smaller room that was covered from sight by a centre wall. The human stopped in front of them and gestured to the opening. “Captain Keyes is waiting for you, sir.”

The pair entered a room where multiple humans sat in front of screens and futuristic devices, another sign of humanities advancement. As Twilight followed the Chief through the almost quiet, yet tense area, she was taken by surprise at the sight before her.

A set of windows revealed the dark, star-filled view of space. In the distance was a giant planet, with the ring construct floating in orbit. From the sizes of the two objects, Twilight deduced that the planet was bigger than Equis by quite a large margin. In amazement, Twilight stood silently, contemplating how she was the first pony to ever by past their solar system.

It was a while before she noticed the Chief looking at her, as if waiting on her. Her cheeks burning, she walked forward to a console where another human stood.

This one had a slightly different uniform to the rest of the unarmoured humans she had seen. He also had a grey mane on the top of his head and seemed to be older than a lot of the other humans she had seen, as indicated by the amount of wrinkles on his face. He was facing the screen on the console, smoking a pipe that he held in his hands.

The Chief approached the grey haired man and spoke two words: “Captain Keyes.”

Keyes turned around, lowered the pipe and shook the Chief’s hand.

“Good to see you Master Chief”, he said in a warm tone, as if meeting on a Sunday afternoon for tea. Keyes then turned to face Twilight.

“I see you brought our unintentional stowaway”, Keyes stated, then stepped towards Twilight and raised his hand. Twilight raised her hoof as well, allowing Keyes to shake it, eliciting a small smile on Keyes’ face.

“I am Jacob Keyes, Captain and commanding officer of the UNSC Pillar of Autumn”, he introduced himself. “Welcome aboard, though I wish it was in better circumstances, Miss...”

“Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and former student of Princess Celestia”, Twilight finished, formally introducing herself, already warming up to Keyes, due to his politeness and manners.

“An honour to meet you, princess”, Keyes said, taking a quick look at her appearance before his eyes noticed the bandages on her wing. “Though, correct me if I’m wrong, your highness, but Cortana never told me about your wound.”

Twilight immediately froze at this, mental images of the alien catching her breath, making her heart beat faster. Keyes noticed the change and was about to change the topic before the Chief began to speak.

“We encountered Covenant boarders on our path”, Chief explained to Keyes. “An Elite blindsided me and temporarily incapacitated me, but Twilight somehow managed to attract its attention, and attacked her, injuring her.”

“I hope you gave the Elite a proper response.” Keyes growled, his eyes narrowing.

“Negative, sir. Miss Sparkle blasted his head off in retaliation with energy generated from her horn.” Keyes raised his eyebrows at this.

“I’m truly sorry about everything, Princess”, Keyes apologised to Twilight. “The Covenant don’t care about collateral damage or harming anyone who gets in their way.”

“Excuse me for my lack of understanding, but what is this Covenant? And why are those aliens trying to kill you and now me?”

“The Covenant is a religious alliance of varying alien species, encompassing the different aliens that have attacked you during your brief time here.” Keyes explained. “They believe that humanity is an affront to their holy ideals and for the last three decades have been systematically wiping out all of humanity in a genocidal campaign.”

Twilight gasped at this revelation. It was worse than she could ever have thought. Humanity weren’t fighting for any territorial gains like other warlike civilisations, they were fighting for their own existence. Tears began to swell in her eyes.

“We’re doing our damned hardest to fight off the Covenant, and we can hold them on ground engagements, but the Covenant are too technologically superior, and have been using that advantage to destroy us, planet by planet.” Keyes gestured around him. “In fact, this ship and the crew only just escaped the destruction of the second most important location for humanity. We hoped we had outrun our pursuers, but they followed us here, with their faster ships.”

Keyes turned his attention to the Chief. “Things aren’t looking so good”, he said. “Cortana did her best, but we never really had a chance.”

It was at this moment that Cortana popped up from a pedestal in front of the console.

“A dozen Covenant superior battleships against a single Halcyon-class Cruiser. With those odds, I’m content with three” - she turned her head slightly, as if distracted by something - “make that four kills.”

A loud explosion rocked the bridge, causing everyone to stagger and attempt to grab on to something to keep themselves standing. Twilight had zero luck and fell to the floor.

“Report!” Keyes shouted.

“It must have been one of their boarding parties!” Cortana responded. “I’d guess an antimatter charge.”

“Ma’am!” One of the crewmembers behind the console, just in front of the huge window, shouted. “Fire control to the main cannon is offline!”

Cortana turned to face Keyes, her face now grave and serious. “Captain, the cannon was my last remaining offensive option!”

Keyes’ face went grim, but still had determination.

“Alright then” he said gruffly, “I’m initiating Cole Protocol, Article 2.” Twilight was apprehensive, wondering what he meant until he continued. “We’re abandoning the Autumn. That means you too Cortana and Miss Sparkle.”

“While you do what”, Cortana protested while Twilight stared in surprise, “go down with the ship?”

“In a matter of speaking”, Keyes replied. “The object we found - I’m going to try and land the Autumn on it.”

Cortana shook her head. “With all due respect...this war has enough dead heroes.”

Keyes’ eyes locked on to Cortana’s. “I appreciate your concern, Cortana, but it’s not up to me. Protocol is clear. Destruction or capture of a shipboard AI is absolutely unacceptable, that means you’re leaving this ship. Lock in a selection of emergency landing zones, upload them to my neural link and then sort yourself for a hard transfer.”

“Aye aye, sir”, Cortana reluctantly replied, disappearing from the pedestal.

Keyes turned to Twilight. “And since you are theoretically the only ambassador from a friendly alien race, you’re evacuating too. If the Covenant get their hands on you, you’ll wish you were dead.” Twilight paled at this, but still nodded in affirmation. “I personally believe that it would be the right thing to do is to get you back to your people and out of this war.”

“...which is where you come in, Chief”, Keyes continued as he turned back to the Chief. “Get Cortana and Miss Sparkle off this ship. Keep them safe from the enemy. If they capture them, especially Cortana, they’ll learn everything. Force deployment, weapons research, magic.” He paused, then added: “Earth.”

The Chief nodded at this. “I understand.” Twilight took a quick look at her new protector, finding him mysterious and distant, yet a gut feeling was telling her that he was the best person she could depend on.

Keyes glanced at Cortana as she reappeared. “The Autumn will continue evasive manoeuvres until you initiate a landing sequence”, Cortana reported, “Not that you listen, but I’d suggest letting my subroutines handle the final approach.”

“Excellent work, Cortana. Are you ready?”

Cortana looked around the bridge one last time, a look of sadness on her face. She then sighed. “Yank me.”

Keyes turned to the pedestal, touched a series of controls on a small console and watched as Cortana disappeared into the pedestal. He then removed a data chip from the pedestal and offered it to the Chief. At the same time, a human in the grey overalls came over, with a small headset and eyepiece. Keyes grabbed it and fitted it on Twilight’s head, having the eyepiece in front of Twilight’s left eye.

“Good luck, Master Chief.” He finally said after he finished. Then turning to Twilight, he straightened up and raised his hand to his forehead in a salute. “Princess, be safe.”

Author's Note

Hi Everyone. Now that Twilight has met the Covenant, it's time to start the actual escape from the Autumn.

If you notice any errors, please post them in the comments.

Next up: On field training and Counter-Boarding