Halo: Contact Equis

45 Minutes After Touchdown

Twilight was sweeping through buildings alongside Tex, looking for any trapped civilians. Tex insisted on taking point as he was better at close combat, and armed with an M90 shotgun. They were able to find a handful of scared ponies, Tex had the rest of his squad escort the civis to the LZ. Tex wanted to go through one more sweep to make sure they got everyone. They were walking through the crippled remains of what used to be an apartment building. Tex approaches a damaged door and plants his boot near the knob and kicks it open. The apartment was destroyed, what looked to be a loving home looked as if a tornado ravaged the place. Tex quickly hunkers down at the doorway and holds his hand down towards Twilight, signaling her to do the same.
"I got movement..." He whispered.
"Ponies?" She asked as she got behind him. Tex looks up at a hole in the ceiling, an easy entry point.
"I doubt it." He admitted, slowly walking into the apartment.

Twilight clung to Tex's side as they stepped in, rounding a corner. Tex quickly held up his hand, to signal her to stop.
"Shhh... one is coming this way." Tex held up his shotgun, ready to fire. As he stated, A grunt casually walked out of a doorway, it had mer moments to acknowledge Tex before he fired a shell, the pellets ripping through its skull and caving in its face. Twilight gasped as Tex painted the wall with the grunt's blue blood and brain matter. A loud battle cry could be heard coming from the dark doorway, frightening them both.
"Twilight! Open Fire!" Tex ordered her. Startled by the demonic battlecry, she waited no time in aiming her assault rifle into the doorway and draining her whole mag into it. She was able to handle the kickback by now, but still unaware of the concept of conserving ammo. Her gun clicked as smoke poured from the barrel. When the gunfire ceases, an Elite in white armor steps out, wielding an energy sword.
"Ultra! Twilight get out the way!" Tex dove into a combat roll as the Elite swung his sword, slicing through the wall where Tex once stood. The Elite then focussed on Twilight as she looked up at it in horror. The Elite went to stab her, but Twilight's horn lit up, She then teleported behind the alien.

The elite's eyes widened as his target seemingly vanished. He looks side to side in confusion before quickly turning around and seeing the scared princess.
"By the Prophets!? What is the meaning of this!?" He began to yell as his shield was lit up by the blast of Tex's shotgun. The elite's shield broke, which caused the elite to growl at the ODST. If his enemies can teleport, he knew he was outmatched. The ultra ran out of the apartment through the door Tex and Twilight came through. Twilight ran up to the doorway and stopped as the ultra was now long gone.
"Let him go, we'll get him eventually." Tex stood up straight and looked into the room the ultra was hiding in. "Let's check that room out. I got point."

Tex steps into the dark room, shotgun raised, and Twilight follows him. Tex turns on his Visr mode and he instantly gasps.
"Jesus... Jesus fucking Christ..." Tex said appalled.
"Wh-what! What's wrong!" Twilight was beginning to panic.
"You don't... you don't want to know. Come on." Tex begins to turn around to exit, when he notices Twilight's horn begin to light up, starting to illuminate the room. Twilight's eyes begin to widen as she could start to see blood on the walls. The room lights up more showing the grizzly scene. The bodies of 4 ponies littered the floor, one was disemboweled while the other was decapitated from her shoulders, the others with burns and puncture wounds. Blood stained their coats and horrified expressions were petrified on their faces. Twilight takes a few steps back as she is standing in pools of blood. She was... mortified. She lets out the most horrified scream she had ever yelled and quickly runs out.Tex watches her, and quickly follows after her. Twilight was just around the corner, her head lowered to the ground and she began to vomit. Tex kept his distance, giving her her space. After emptying her stomach, Twilight instantly began to cry, sitting back on her haunches and crying into her hooves. Tex watches her as he started to feel a massive amount of deja vu. He has seen many humans come across mangled bodies and begin to break down. But Tex, could feel his heart sink into his gut, as Twilight wasn't a human. This was a race that was not meant to go through this, through this kind of trauma. He regrettably became numb to it when it came to humans, but now he was feeling as if he was witnessing it for the first time again. He feels his own emotions getting to him, he had to comfort her now.

Tex leaned his shotgun up against the wall and approached her, gently putting his hand on her shoulders. She continued bawling her eyes out as if he wasn't even there. Finally he got down on one knee, and pulled her close to him, giving her a gentle hug. She responded by leaning into him and crying into his chest armor.
"...I'm so sorry Twilight... this is all our fault... we... we never should have fucking came here. You shouldn't be going through this. This was our fight, not yours... I'm so sorry." Tex tried to comfort the crying Princess.
"...Th-that... that... that..." Twilight began to stutter. Tex looked down at her, having a confused look under his helmet.
"...Twilight?" He began to question.
"That... That... FUCKING MONSTER!!!" Twilight Yelled out, releasing a magical shockwave around them. Tex's eyes widened, not only from hearing her swear for the first time, but also from her horn. It began to ooze a green and purple miasma. Twilight lifted her head to reveal the same was happening to her eyes, but now her eyes were green with red pupils.
"T-Twilight!?" Tex cried out in both shock and concern.
"I'm going to kill the bastard for what he has done! All the covenant shall pay for harming the innocent!" She decreed as she finally pulled away from Tex. The green aura seemed to die down as Twilight headed for the door, grabbing Tex's shotgun on the way out.
"H-hey! That's mine!" Tex protested, but she was already gone. He looked at the ground and picked up the MA5B Twilight had left behind.
"That green and purple aura... what was that all about?" Tex thought to himself before quickly following Twilight.

They get to the ground floor of the apartment, the whole damn street has turned into a warzone. The covenant was laying heavy fire onto a pinned down squad of marines and a few Equestrian soldiers. They were using the abandoned wagons as cover, the marines tried to fight back as the Equestrians were firing magic from their horns. The Covenant was advancing, pushing hard into the slowly depleting number of marines. Twilight hides in the doorway and peeks out, she could see the covenant getting closer, she waits till they are right up to her and she finally steps out. She aims the shot gun at a group of grunts and jackals. BLAM! CHK-CHK! BLAM! CHK-CHK! Twilight begins to open fire, killing three grunts and two jackals with ease. Two elites, a major and a minor see the carnage Twilight is causing and they quickly turn their attention to her. They aim their plasma rifles at her and open fire, but twilight quickly pulls up a shield with her magic, the plasma bounces right off. The elites continue to fire, when the major notices a pink aura around the minor's throat. The minor stops firing and grasps at its throat, like it's choking. Slowly, he began to be lifted off the ground, being suspended in the air, with nothing touching him, still grasping at his throat. The Major's eyes widened, and he took a few steps back.
"By the Forerunners!?..." The major exclaims, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He looks back at Twilight, who had a very angry expression on her face, her horn glowing brightly. "What... are you!?" The major said before his shields began to flare up from Tex quickly following up behind her, breaking the Major's shield with his rifle before the final bullets put him down for good. Twilight then lifted the shotgun with her magic, right up to the floating minor's face.
"...D...D...DEVIL!" He managed to choke out, before Twilight fired at point blank range.

The shot broke through the shield with ease, and sent pellets into the elites face, pretty much rendering him unrecognizable from the neck up. Twilight let the corpse fall down to the ground. Tex looks at Twilight, who was huffing and puffing. He surveyed the area, 5. She killed five Covies.
"Twilight... Are you alright?" Tex asked, concerned for Twilight's current sanity.
"I'm fine!" She shot back sharply.
"Easy Sparkle, you need to calm down. You're still not used to killing." Tex pointed out.
"These monsters are showing no mercy Tex! I was traumatized by my first encounter at the castle of the two sisters, but I lived. But here, ponies are dying. MY PONIES!" She glanced back at him, her eye flashes green for a second. "My subjects are dying Tex! I can't hold back anymore, I can't! Or more will die!" She then tossed him back his shotgun, which he caught with one hand. She then took back her assault rifle he had and they both turned back to the pinned down marines they rescued.

They all got out of cover and approached the pair, 4 marines and two Equestrians. One of the ponies quickly salutes to Twilight.
"Princess! Thank Celestia you are here!" He quickly said, evident he was out of breath.
"Status report soldier." Twilight ordered, as the pony put his hoof back down.
"Ma'am... We're outnumbered here, we are trying our best to push back the aliens. But we have never encountered an enemy this... this brutal before." The pony responded, his eyes were showing quite a bit of fear. "The humans are helping out significantly, but it appears the aliens just never stop coming." Twilight looks to the ground and begins to weigh her options.
"... If the city falls, it falls. But I'll be damned if I leave a single pony behind. I want the civilians moved out of here, alive or dead. Everypony is getting out of here." She commanded.
"Ma'am... it's going to be hard to evacuate the dead." The pony protested.
"I don't care! Whether alive or dead, no pony will be left behind!" She demanded, giving him an angry look. The pony relented and looked to the ground.
"I'll... relay those orders." He finally said. A marine then approaches Tex.
"Sir? Orders?" The marine asked.
"Follow the Princess's orders, getting the civilians out of here is priority number one." Tex repeated. The marine and pony saluted before they and the rest of the squad began to continue down the street.
"Where to now?" Tex asked Twilight looking down at her.
"To where we are evacuating ponies. An LZ as you call it, I need to safeguard my ponies." She responded.

Two Hours After Touchdown

The LZ to evacuate the civilians was in and in front of the Manehattan Theater. Multiple pelicans have been landing to drop off more soldiers, and to take Civilians back to the Ad Meliora. Starlight and Marcus were up near the front line as the covenant beat on their cover with their plasma fire. Starlight was hyperventilating as she held her M319 close to her chest. She had yet to shoot it, afraid too. She looks up and sees the scared faces of ponies, and families hugging each other as plasma flies over their heads. Then she looks over at Marcus, he stuffs another grenade in his own grenade launcher. He stands up, peeks over his cover and fires, the weapon making a KA-CHONK sound before an explosion.
"I need some help over here!" Tammy's voice could be heard. Starlight looked over, and she was trying her best to patch up a wounded marine.

Starlight looks back at Marcus before slowly making her way to Tammy, keeping her head down. The wounded marine was on his back, and he was squirming as he was crying out in pain. Starlight got up to them quickly to lend a hoof.
"Tammy, I'm here, what do you...need?" Starlight looked down at the wounded marine, he had massive holes in his gut and chest, oozing a lot of blood. Around the wounds appeared to be small pink crystal fragments.
"Starlight! I got a soldier with severe needler damage! I need your help removing the small crystal fibers before I can seal it with biofoam!" Tammy yelled over the gunfire, and the screams of the wounded soldier.
"I... I..." Starlight's eyes were wide at the massive amounts of blood the soldier was losing. "I can use my magic..."
"Make sure you get all pieces out!" Tammy yelled as she took out a hyperdermic needle, she jammed it into the marine's leg. It seemed to settle him down a bit, but not a lot.

Starlight began to light her horn, she very carefully began to pull out the crystals. It only took her a few minutes, but she made sure she got all of them.
"There! I got them!" She said, turning her head to Tammy.
"Excellent! Now I just... FUCK! I'm out of biofoam! Starlight, apply pressure onto the wounds as I run back to grab more!" She was about to stand until she saw Starlight's confused look. She then grabs Starlight's hoof and pressed it onto the largest wound on the marine. "Pressure! I'll be back!" She then stood and took off. Starlight looked down at the marine, blood was coming out of his mouth as he looked up at her. He grabbed her foreleg with his bloody hand.
"Help me... help me please... I don't want to die..." He begged her.
"I... I'm trying to... I'm trying to help you..." Starlight's eyes began to tear up, the marine was dying in front of her.
"Please... please don't let me go...please...please..." Starlight could only watch as the marine's grip on her foreleg weakened, and his breathing began to slow. Finally, his whole body went limp.

Starlight pulled her hooves off the marine, he just laid there lifeless. She looked down at her own hooves, her fur stained with blood. Tears ran down her cheeks as the moment fully began to sink in.
"Starlight?" A familiar voice is heard behind her. Starlight looks back and sees Twilight standing there, giving her a sympathetic look.
"T-Twilight!" Starlight flung her hooves around Twilight's neck, getting her covered in some of the blood. Twilight hugged Starlight close, she watched most of what just happened. Feeling Starlight cry into her shoulder broke her heart, her friends shouldn't be going through this. By now Tammy had come back, and looked down at the marine. She kneels down and retrieves his dog tags before closing his eyes with her hands. Tex was back with Marcus as they both hunker down. Marcus and Starlight had been at the LZ the entire time.

"Marcus! Report!" Tex yelled, sitting down behind cover.
"We counted at least 850 Civilians evacuated! But from what I have been told, that’s a little under half the whole population of the city! It's possible more have gotten out by fleeing the city themselves, but there are still a ton of ponies not accounted for!" Marcus yelled as he reloaded his grenade launcher, standing up and firing it again.
"Fuck me! Where's the rest of our squad!?" Tex yelled.
"Tammy is here with me, Adam joined one of the Spartans, and I have no idea where the hell Carlito is at!" Marcus replied.
"What about the other two Spartans!? We could really use them right about now!
"One of them we haven't seen since they chased that Zealot! The other is still somewhere in the City, we've only seen her a few times! Clara-B452 I believe!"

Tex kept his back to the cover, as he put his hand to the Radio.
"This Is Sargent Eric Torne ODST to Spartan-B452! Clara, Where the hell are you!?" Tex radioed.
"I'm here Tex! I'm escorting a rather large group of civilians, what do you need!?" Clara responded over her radio.
"We need a spartan over here! The covenant is beating our position like a drum!" Tex responded.
"WRAITH!!!" Marcus yelled, giving warning to everyone present.
"Get your ass over here now! We're risking being overtaken! We need to keep this LZ clear!"
"Rodger, I'm on my way!" As he cut out his radio, a massive ball of plasma landed a few feet from their blockade. Tex peeks over and sees the Covenant wraith aimed right at them. At the worst moment possible, running down one of the side streets was a squad of marines with a few dozen more civilians. The tank quickly changes targets and fires at the civilians.

Soldiers and ponies quickly try to get out of the way before it lands, but it instantly incinerates a few marines with a direct hit. The rest hunker down behind walls and a few wagons, they were at least 100 yards away from the LZ. They were forced to wait for a new opportunity to make a run for it.
"Starlight! Starlight!" Marcus yelled behind him. A few moments later, Starlight, accompanied by Twilight, reaches the two humans.
"What..."Starlight still had swollen, sad eyes.
"I need help providing covering fire! We got a squad pinned down out there with civilians." Said Marcus, loading another shot.
"What... what do I do?" She asked, a feeling of being overwhelmed fills her.
"Take your launcher, and fire it at the wraith! It's tearing our men apart!" Marcus got up and fired a shot, it landed just a bit too short in front of the wraith. Starlight looks to Twilight, who gives her a reassuring nod. Twilight then peeks over the cover, and uses her magic to fire her rifle at some more advancing covenant. She could see the anger in Twilight's eyes as she fired. Starlight picks up her launcher with her magic. She takes a deep breath before aiming. She makes sure she has the perfect angle, and fires. The shot was a direct hit, killing the wraiths turret gunner, but the wraith was still operational.

Starlight flinched backwards and her mouth was left ajar. She watched her shot hit and completely decimated the elite operating the turret.
"...Oh Celestia..." She whispered to herself.
"Good hit! Good hit! Another!" Yelled Marcus firing another shot, hitting the wraith again. It was damaged, but still hovering. "I'm out of ammo! Starlight Shoot!" Starlight aimed the launcher again, her magic was shaking. She closes her eyes and fires a second shot, it flies right over the wraith. Seizing the opportunity, the wraith fired again. It was heading towards a wagon with a marine and a stallion civilian behind it. The marine saw it and motioned the civi to get away. He jumped out of the way, but the stallion hesitated, making him just a tad bit too late before he jumped. The blast was close enough to blow off one of the stallion's hind legs up to his knee. The stallion rolled on the ground and began to yell as he held the blown off appendage as blood began to squirt from the wound. Starlight's eyes widened at seeing the brutal scene before her.

The marine who first warned the stallion ran back out to help. Grabbing the stallion, and hoisting him onto his shoulders, getting himself covered in blood and making a mad dash to the LZ.
"MEDIC! MEEEEEEEDIC!" The Marine Yelled, running as fast as he could with the stallion on his shoulders.
"Covering fire!" Yelled Tex, pulling out his magnum and fired at the line of covenant. Twilight joined him, focussing her fire in a steady stream to distract the enemy. Despite their efforts, a stray plasma shot hits the marine on the back of his leg, causing him to stumble, and fall to his knees. The Stallion on his shoulder, grits his teeth, trying his best to hold back his cries from the pain in his leg.
"MEDIC!..." The marine continued to yell, as he struggled to stand up as the plasma burns a hole in his leg. "MEDIC!..." The wraith takes aim and fires again. "MEEEEEDIC!!!...." As the marine finally got back up to his feet, the blast from the wraith landed a direct hit. The blast causes the group to shield their eyes. When they look back, there was nothing. There was no trace of the stallion, or the marine holding him except for a burnt crater where they once were. Despite the sounds of war, everyone grew quiet, Tex and Marcus look at each other. Their helmets covering their ever growing depressed faces. Starlight watched in horror, as the stallion and marine were reduced to nothing. Her heart jumps into her throat, and tears roll down her cheeks once more.
"That's it! I've had enough!" Twilight had finally snapped, angry boiling hot tears in her eyes and she gritted her teeth.

She spreads her wings and took off into the sky and flew over to the Covenant lines.
"The fuck is she doing!?" Marcus yelled as he and the others look up at her.
"LEAVE MY HOME AT ONCE!!!" Twilight yelled as her eyes turned back to the evil green and purple. Her horn lights up with the similar colors as she charges up a spell.
"Twilight no!" Starlight called out to her, but It was too late. Twilight unleashed a powerful beam of dark magic, striking the wraith. From inside the wraith, giant black crystals began to erupt from it, tearing through the metal and the wraith's operator. The wraith finally blows up, but the crystals remain undamaged. The covenant forces then begin to fire up at Twilight, but she simply shields herself, before blasting another beam at the aliens. Sharp crystals rise from the ground and begin to rip and tear right through many of the covenant. The crystals pierced their bodies, going through flesh and bones. Suffering heavy losses by now, the covenant on the front lines turned and began to retreat. Marines from the LZ stood up and began to yell and cheer for Twilight, seeing what she did was an incredible feat. The only one not cheering was Starlight, who looked on in horror at what Twilight had just done.