Halo: Contact Equis

The Ad Meliora

Alarms were ringing all throughout the Ad Meliora. Soldiers and crew members were running past each other as they got into their battle stations. McCormick was overlooking the giant screen at the helm as red blips appeared all over their current position.

“Captain, we have multiple Covenant dropships heading towards our position.” Reagan spoke. He had a worried look on his face. “They are dropping their troops off in the forest. I can detect their movements from the motion sensors Zeta team placed earlier today.”

“Can you determine the size of the attacking forces?” McCormick asked, still facing the screen.

“Around ten dropships, sir. Some are even remaining in the sky to provide overhead fire.” Reagan’s estimations filled McCormick with dread.

“You said our defenses were still online, that means you’re up, Reagan.” McCormick turned to look at the A.I. “You’re in charge of the Ship’s defenses. Shoot any phantoms out of the sky and try to thin out their forces for our troops.”

“Aye aye, captain.” Reagan replies, saluting the Captain before blipping away from the console. McCormick sighs heavily as he looks back to the screen. He turns on the comm link to make direct contact with his second-in-command.

“Commander Maverick, do you read me?” McCormick narrowed his eyes at the screen as he spoke.

“Loud and clear, sir!” The Spartan responded through the comm. “Me, as well as Clara and Kieran, are at the entrance of the ship ready to repel the attack!”

“Good! Under no circumstances are the Covenant allowed to board this ship! You are to stay in your position unless I order you too.” The Captain firmly ordered.

“Sir, what about Sergeant Tex and his squad of Helljumpers we sent to check out that castle we found? Are they back yet?” Maverick asked, his voice hinted at a bit of concern.

“Negative. Whiskey-Seven are still in the castle, they will be fine.” McCormick replied, trying to ease the Spartan’s worry. “The ruins provide them with a bunch of cover. We’ll retrieve them after the fight.”

“That castle is unstable, its walls and supports won’t be able to withstand the attack! It will crumble on top of them!” Maverick stood his ground about the ODST squad.

“You have your orders, Commander! Sargent Tex and his squad are no pushovers! They will be fine!” The Captain wasn’t going to budge. The Covenant getting aboard was a bigger threat to him.

“…yes sir.” Maverick’s voice hesitated for a moment, but understood the orders.

“Good. Give them hell, son.” The Captain said. Suddenly, the ship was rocked by an explosion. The Captain stumbled a bit, backing into the console behind him. The Covenant attack had begun.

Twilight continues to run deeper into the Everfree forest, towards the sound of explosions. She could see flashes of blue and green light coming from the trees above as she continued down the dirt path. Her friends, including the Princesses, were hot on her tail, shouting for her to slow down so that they could talk to her. All she could think about was how much the humans were in danger, if those monsters she met earlier really were the Covenant. Her trail of thought ended when she stepped into a mud pit, slipping and falling. Her time on the ground gave her friends a chance to catch up.

“Twilight!” Applejack shouted as she and the others approached her. “Celestia have mercy, girl! Can’t ya slow down fer a minute?”

“I can’t! The humans are in danger!” Twilight said as Spike helped her up. “Can’t you hear all that?”

“Ah understand, but what exactly are we gonna do?” Applejack asked. “It sounds like a full-on war back there.”

“Applejack is right, Twi.” Rarity concurred. “We can’t just gallop into a battlefield without any sort of plan.”

“Um… I guess I hadn’t really thought of that.” Twilight admitted lowering her head. Her concern for the human’s had made her jump the gun without having to think on their approach.

The Ponies take a minute as they began to think of some sort of way to try and stop the fighting. Except for Spike, who got his claw covered in some sort of blue bioluminescent liquid as he helped Twilight up. He looks at it, puzzled by what it was.

“Okay, we need to find a way to get each side to talk things out.” Twilight said plainly. “I know the Humans have suffered greatly, but I believe we can help them move towards peace.”

“If we can even get them to stop fighting each other for a moment.” Rainbow Dash interjected. “I don’t think talking is gonna stop this war all together.”

“I don’t see why not.” said Twilight hopefully. “It helped with Stygian when he was the Pony of Shadows. And Fizzlepop when she served the Storm King. A good heart-to-heart goes a long way.”

“That’s true.” Pinkie said before wrapping a hoof around Starlight’s neck. “It also helped change Starlight here!”

Starlight looked away from the group as her cheeks started to become rosey.

“Whatever idea you come up with, Twilight,” said Celestia. “We shall help you out in any way we can.”

Before anypony could further add anything, Spike spoke up, “Uh… Twilight, what are you covered in?”

“It’s mud, Spike.” Twilight sarcastically answered. “You’ve never seen mud before?”

“Yeah… but what made it?” Spike asked.

Twilight looked at herself and on the ground where she slipped. There was a pool of bioluminescent neon blue liquid that seemed to puddle in the middle of the path.

“I… I don’t know.” Twilight answered after examining the mud on her hoof. “That doesn’t look like water.”

“And no rain has fallen here in about a week.” Rainbow Dash added as Twilight began to follow the pool with her eyes. It led off to the side, where a bright orange metal object lay next to a tree.

“What on Equis is that?” Twilight asked, pointing at it.

“I…am not sure.” Luna said as she trotted next to Twilight. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Twilight used her telekinesis to carefully roll the object over so they could see what it was. That’s when her eyes widened as she could see that it had an arm, and then rolled it over completely, only to be met with a horrible sight.

It was the body of one of the smaller aliens they had seen in town, holes littered its chest and was leaking the same blue liquid. Its eyes were unmoving and lifeless, and what seemed to be some sort of mask hung off its face, revealing the alien’s gaping mouth.

Twilight and the other ponies let out an ear-piercing scream. Spike hid behind Twilight while the Princesses only seemed to flinch at the sight.

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!!!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “Is that thing dead!?”

“I-is this… blood!?” Twilight yelled as she looked down at her forehooves. “Am I covered in alien blood!?”

“BLECK! Get away, Twilight! Don’t get us covered too!” Rarity complained backpedaling away from the mud-covered alicorn.

“What in Tartarus happened to it!?” Applejack yelled.

Fluttershy and Starlight had to excuse themselves as they both turned and began to vomit. Pinkie started to change green, but kept the contents of her stomach down.

“T-T-Twilight!?” Spike stuttered violently as he was afraid. Celestia and Luna stepped forward and examined the corpse. They used their magic as if to give it some sort of check-up.

"Unfortunately, this alien is already dead.” Celestia spoke as her eyes softened at the corpse.

“I’m beginning to think that talking isn’t going to work out their problems.” Luna noted as she stared down at the dead body.

‘No duh, Sherlock.’ Pinkie Pie mentally retorted as she felt sick looking at the dead alien again.

Both Celestia and Luna turned to face the group who were in total disarray. Applejack and Starlight looked scared beyond belief as Rainbow Dash had a look of intense horror in her eyes. Starlight looked as if she may throw up a second time while Pinkie still had a green hue on her face. Fluttershy was now crying as Rarity was trying to comfort her. Spike hid behind Twilight trying to shield his eyes from the sight of the body, and Twilight was practically hyperventilating. Celestia goes over to her and with her magic, begins to clean the blood off of Twilight. This seemed to help calm her down quite a bit.

“Thank you… Princess.” said Twilight as she turned to look at Celestia.

“You're welcome, Twilight.” replied Celestia. Twilight looks at her friends still in unease, she looks back at Celestia before taking a deep breath.

“I still need to get to the humans.” said Twilight. “Captain McCormick needs our help.”

“Who’s this Captain McCormick you speak of?” asked Celestia, who was still

“He’s the captain of the Human ship, Ad Meliora.” she answered, “I promised him that I would get a meeting between you two, but right now, that’s not important. He was friendly to us, and he… he told me that their home planet was destroyed, burned to the surface… He talked about making a last stand here on Equis but… We can’t leave them to die, Princess. We need to help them fight off the Covenant!”

Twilight’s friends all turned to look at her, many shocked to hear what she just said.

“F-Fight them off!?” Fluttershy quivered.

“Twilight, we can’t fight them!” Rarity fearfully spoke out, looking at Twilight as if she had just lost her mind. “You saw the weapons they had in Ponyville! We can’t beat that!”

This caused Twilight to look near the body again, as she thought, she could see the same weapon they aliens were using in town laying near it. She uses her magic to levitate up between her and everypony else.

"You mean this one?” Twilight asked. This causes them all to gasp except the Princesses.

"Tw-Twilight! Please put that down! You could hurt somepony!” said Spike. Twilight analyzed it, looking it all over to see how the alien could hold it. It was short and had a green light at one end. After figuring it out to her best ability, she aimed it at the ground behind her and pulled what looked like the firing mechanism. A ball of green plasma shot out, striking and burning the ground. This caused all the ponies to flinch.

“Twilight! Are you seriously going to use that thing!?” Asked Rarity.

“Well… I'm gonna try.” said Twilight hardening her gaze.

The ponies all look at eachother, even the Princesses as Celestia and Luna look at each other, their faces full of concern.

“Twilight…” Fluttershy spoke up nervously. “You can’t possibly be considering taking a life are you?”

“No. I don’t think I could kill anypony, not even the alien who kicked me. But I will still need it for protection against these invaders.” Twilight stated. "None of us have to kill, but we need to help safeguard as many human lives as possible! They are sitting ducks, and if we don’t do something to rescue them, there won’t be any humans left, and then we will have to deal with the Covenant on our own! And that is something I don’t think we would be capable of! The humans have shown us kindness while these monsters have shown us hostility, and as the Princess of Friendship, I will not allow the humans to die on our planet! It goes against everything I stand for in the name of friendship! And as my friends, I know you share the same sentiment as me, now, who is with me!?”

Twilight’s speech managed to raise their spirits a bit.

She was right, the humans even after losing their home to aliens, showed kindness and consideration to them, and to the humans they were aliens as well. They knew they couldn’t turn their backs on them. Celestia smiles at Twilight’s bravery and passion to save the humans. Rainbow Dash trots up with Twilight with a determined look on her face.

“Alright Twilight, I’m in!”

“Me too!” said Applejack as she stepped closer.

"Me three.” said Starlight.

“Me four!” said Pinkie.

“I’m in!” said Spike.

"Count me in, Darling!” said Rarity.

“I…I will be brave, for the humans.” said Fluttershy.

“We have your back too, Princess Twilight.” said Luna as she was smiling as well. Twilight smiled at all of them, she couldn’t be prouder at them for willing to risk their lives for the humans.

“Alright everypony, let’s save some lives!” said Twilight.

They turned and began to run towards the Ad Meliora.

The closer the ponies got, the louder the sound of war became. They could see the sunlight as they got close to the edge of the tree line before the gorge. They all had to slow their pace as the Covenant soon came into their view. Lucky for them, the Covenant had their backs turned, firing their weapons forward. Twilight does a shushing signal to tell everypony to keep quiet. Her eyes widened at all the bodies of the fallen covenant the closer they got. Twilight moves far to the right side of the path to go around the covenant forces, now on the far right side of the tree line to avoid returning UNSC fire. She then motions for the others to hide behind a few trees as she peaked out to survey what was going on.

Despite the losses on the Covenant’s side, there were still quite a few of them firing toward the Ad Meliora from the tree line. Twilight could see the entrance they went in earlier, along with the many humans surrounding the entrance, firing back at the Covenant with their own weapons. Her heart sank as she could see some human bodies lying near the entrance. If only she could find a way to communicate with the humans.

‘Wait a minute…’ Twilight thought to herself. ‘Maybe I can!’ She remembered when they first met the humans, they mentioned something about using radios to talk to each other.

Twilight remembered a certain spell that allowed unicorns to tap into radio waves using their minds, pretty much using their horns as an antenna. What if she could use this spell and to try to hear the humans and see how she could help. The lavender Alicorn wouldn’t be able to talk to them, but she would be able to hear them, so it was worth a shot.

Twilight’s horn began to glow as she tried to tap into the surrounding radio waves. At first, all she heard was static, but voices did start to come through, as well as some music. The Princess of Friendship had to focus on one specific radiowave if she wanted to get in contact with the humans. She slowly used her magic to narrow down the waves, when she could finally hear them in her mind.

“Eagle Nest, this is Zeta Team leader!” the familiar voice of Maverick shouted. “I just lost contact with Whiskey-Seven in the castle! Requesting backup for a search & rescue op! Over!”

“Negative, Commander.” The voice of McCormick replied. “We need you and the rest of Zeta team to stay where you are and defend the entrance.”

“With all due respect, Eagle Nest, our researchers and doctors are in there, along with Whiskey-Seven. I can’t allow them to die in there!”

“You are to remain where you are, Zeta leader! We run a bigger risk of the Covenant overpowering us and getting inside the ship!”

Twilight dispels her magic before looking back at her friends.

“Okay, we have an objective. There are some humans held up inside the castle. If we can get to them, we could help them.” said Twilight hardens her expression.

“Ya got a plan?” Applejack asked.

“Hmmm… I think I do.” said Twilight, waving them all to get in closer. “Alright, everypony, listen closely. There are humans trapped in the castle; we need to get there. Rainbow Dash, Celestia, and Luna, I want you three in the air. This could be very distracting for the Covenant, but only take to the air on my mark, don’t get hit while you're up there. Spike, You and me are going to make a mad dash for the castle. I need you to breathe out some smoke to cover the entire path, The smoke screen will provide excellent cover. Once I and Spike make it, Rarity and Fluttershy, I want you to follow after, use your magic to make a shield over yourselves Rarity. Then Starlight, after they have made it, you follow after with Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Dash, once you see that we all made it into the castle, that’s when you and the Princesses join us. We'll find a way to escort the humans back to the ship once we get there. You all understand your assignments?”

They all nod, it wasn’t the soundest plan, but it was probably the best they could do. Twilight peaked around a tree and held up her hoof.

“Okay… MARK!” yelled Twilight. Rainbow Dash and the Princesses then took to the air and started to fly over the battlefield. They both could see exactly what was going on.

The Covenant stayed just at the tree line so they could hide behind the trees for cover. The Humans had set up some metal barriers a few feet away from the ship for them to hide behind. There were a few bodies on the ground, and the humans looked as if they were backing up to go inside the ship. If they all retreated, it would give the Covenant a chance to push in right up to the entrance.

"Sister, it appears the humans are at a disadvantage.” said Luna as she hovered in the air, surveying the battlefield.

“I see that, Luna.” Celestia narrowed her eyes and frowned. “If we use our magic and fire it at the tree line, we can distract the Covenant, but that will cause a lot more to take aim at us.”

"We should do it. We can handle whatever they throw at us.” Luna spoke with conviction, scowling her face at the treeline.

The two Princesses then fly downwards near the ground and proceed to fire magical beams at the Covenant. The magic is able to hit a few grunts, sending them flying backwards, but the elites either avoid the beams or have their shields take the brunt of it. The Princesses then flew up higher into the sky. Many of the taller aliens were heard growling and shouting as they began to fire upon the trio.

“Whoa. You really made them angry, Princess.” commented Rainbow as she flew by.

“That was the idea. Be careful, Rainbow Dash.” said Celestia as all three of them flew in different directions to avoid the plasma fire.

Twilight waited for more of the Covenant to be distracted before making her move.

"Alright Spike, you ready?” Twilight asked, looking down at the young dragon.

“Ready when you are.” Spike saluted.

“NOW!!” She yelled and then quickly darted for the Castle.

Spike was close behind her, taking a deep breath before breathing out a big thick cloud of smoke. Though some plasma were fired at them, they were nowhere close to hitting them, as they zinged past behind them. Twilight made it to the Castle doors followed by Spike quickly after. The smoke he produced was thick and caused Twilight to cough.

“Great job, Spike. Let’s get inside and see if the humans are okay.” Twilight said as she opened the door and quickly stepped in.

The Princess of Friendship barely had time to see if anything was in there when she was struck by something solid right between her eyes. The lavender Alicorn fell to the ground on her back as the hit knocked her vision blurry. She felt pressure on her stomach as her vision started to clear. She could see a black tube aimed right at her face, she looked past it to see a human holding it and a few other humans behind them pointing the same tubular objects at her.

“Stay the fuck down, Covenant scum!” Said the one holding her down.

“Twilight!” Spike yelled, seeing Twilight being held to the ground by a human’s foot. The other humans standing behind the one holding her down then aimed their weapons at Spike, who immediately held up his claws.

“H-hey! We’re friendly… we're here to help you…” Twilight slurred as her head ached from the blow.

“Bullshit! Why are you carrying a Covenant gun then!?” yelled the Human.

“I thought… I could use it… for protection.” Twilight blinks a few times trying to clear her vision.

“Tex, wait a minute. That is a native, remember when we were debriefed that the natives here were friendly?” Said one of the humans in the back. The human on top of Twilight looked to the other humans before turning back to Twilight.

“You swear you're telling the truth? You’re not Covenant?” Asked the human who apparently was called Tex. He had an accent, like Applejack’s.

Twilight nodded at his question. “Yes, yes. I swear.”

Tex removed his foot from her stomach and helped her up. She rubbed the area between her eyes, it was sore. It felt like she was hit by a baseball bat.

“What… What on Equis did you hit me with?” Asked Twilight, wincing from the now-growing headache she was feeling.

“I got ya with the butt of my gun, I’m sorry. You just barged in, and you had a Covenant pistol… and you ain’t human, so I acted accordingly.” Said Tex, slinging his shotgun on his back.

“It’s fine, I guess…” said Twilight, now getting a good look at him. He looked really similar to the armored humans that they had met earlier, but he was nowhere near as big as they were. “How many of you are in here?”

“Five ODSTs, two marines, and three doctors. Bastards attacked while we were checking this place out, they had us pinned down within seconds.” Replied Tex. Twilight looked past him, there were four more humans dressed up as Tex, two humans in regular combat gear, and three humans in white coats sitting on the ground.

“Well, I got friends on their way here. We’ll help you get to your ship,” Twilight assured, lowering her hoof from her head.

“Much appreciated, miss…?”

“Princess Twilight Sparkle.” the Alicorn answered.

"P-Princess?” Tex stuttered. “Aw shit…”

“Oh man!” One of the other light-armored humans chuckled. “You struck the Princess the Captain spoke to earlier. You’re so fucked when he hears about that!”

“Can it, Marcus!” Tex retorted, looking over his shoulder.

By that time, Rarity had shown up with Fluttershy. They quickly ran over to Twilight, they were out of breath and shaken up as they both hugged her.

“You girls made it!” Twilight said with relief. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Just…scared.” Rarity said while exhausted. “They shot the shield I had up!”

“Well, at least you made it without injury. That’s what’s important.” said Twilight.

“Oh, darling! Are you okay? You have a bruise forming on your face.” said Rarity, pointing at the alicorn’s bruise.

“I'm fine, don’t worry about it.” Twilight rubbed her spot and she was hit one more time as she spoke. She noticed Fluttershy was hyperventilating and quickly pulled her into a tighter hug.

“It’s okay, Fluttershy.” She said to soothe the butterscotch Pegasus. “Calm down. You’re alright.”

“I-I-I’m s-so s-scared, Twilight!” Fluttershy quivered.

“I know, but please try to calm down.” the lavender alicorn replied. “We are safe in here.”

By now, Starlight and the others have made it in, and they too looked scared beyond belief.

“Sweet…Celestia!” Applejack said between her gasps. “Ah don’t think I’ve ever ran that fast in my whole life!”

“That was intense, Twilight!” Starlight exclaimed. “How did you and Spike make it through without a shield?”

Not long after, the Royal Sisters and Rainbow Dash came in and forcefully closed the door behind them. Twilight noticed Luna was leaning on Celestia pretty heavily. She approached them quickly. “Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! Are you two okay?”

“I’m fine, Twilight, but Luna was struck pretty badly.” said Celestia. Luna stood up straight and unfolded her right wing to show a severe burn near the base of her wing.

“Oh my!” Twilight gasped. “Luna, are you alright!?”

“I’m fine, Twilight. It only grazed me. But I feel if it hit me straight on, it could have shot my wing completely off.” said Luna. The humans stepped forward and saw that one of them was hurt.

“Hey, Tammy! Up front!” Tex yelled, which another human ran up to him.

“What is it, Sarge?” the female human named Tammy asked.

“Tend to the plasma burns on that big one there.” Tex ordered, pointing at night Alicorn.

“You got it, sir.” said Tammy as she approached Luna.

Luna watched Tammy approach her, They both seem to give each other a quick analysis.

“Wow… You’re big.” Tammy mused, looking her from her hooves to the tip of her horn. “Mind if I see your wound?”

“Yes you may, Human.” Luna responded. Tammy got close to see the burn on her wing.

“Whoa… This wing is longer than my arm.” She muttered. “Okay, you don’t seem to be hurt badly. I've seen worse burns than this.” said Tammy as she pulled out a bottle from her side. She pulls the trigger, filling the burn with some kind of foam. Luna seemed to relax as the foam gave her instant relief.

“Wow, that already feels better.” Luna gingerly folded her wing back to her side.

“It’s Biofoam,” said Tammy. “Best for burns.”

“I don’t mean to sound impolite,” one of the other armored humans said, speaking in a Mexican accent.. “But is no one really gonna question that the natives on this planet are a bunch of talking horses!?”

“We’re not horses. We’re ponies.” Twilight corrected.

“And not all of us are ponies!” Spike added in.

“And what the hell even are you?” The same human asked.

“I’m a dragon!” replied Spike.

“A dragon?” the human asked, surprise evident in his voice. “You’re the smallest Dragon I have ever seen, dawg!”

“Sergeant!” One of the humans in lab coats approached Tex as he turned to look at him.

“What’s the matter, doc?” Tex responded in a stoic tone.

“That motion sensor I had your men place down as we began exploring is going off!” The frantic doctor explained.

“Shit! Okay, eyes up, marines!” yelled Tex, unslinging his shotgun.

All the armed humans quickly held up their weapons and began looking all around them. Tex turns around and looks down towards the back of the castle, where a large staircase was at, aiming his weapon.

"You two, you take point! Go check it out!” Tex said, pointing at the two marines. They both nodded and began to walk down, deeper into the castle. “You bunch better stay behind us. I don’t want you stuck in the crossfire if the Covies are in here.”

The marines began to look around trying to find any evidence of anyone else around. They approach the large staircase and look up to where it leads. One of them began to climb up the stairs while the other stayed at the bottom. He gets to the top and looks all around him. He looks back towards the group before lowering his weapon.

“Nothing’s here, Sarge!” the marine on the bottom step yelled before a bright flash of light was seen igniting next to him.

Suddenly, the light slashed to the side and the Marine’s midsection exploded with blood going everywhere, he yelled out in pain, startling everyone there. Twilight’s eyes go wide as she saw the human’s entrails beginning to fall out of his wound. The light then slashed back and the human instantly stopped screaming, a few seconds later his head rolls from his shoulders, landing on the ground, before the rest of the body goes limp. The human on the top of the steps quickly aimed his weapon at the light, but he was too late as his chest too soon exploded with blood, causing him to cry out in pain. The ponies take a few steps back, horrified by the carnage they were seeing.

The worst part was, they couldn’t even see what was attacking the humans. The human on the top of the stairs dropped his weapon as he was then lifted high into the air. That’s when whoever attacked the humans began to show themselves. An elite began to appear behind the suspended human as he deactivated his active camouflage. He had the human impaled with his energy sword, the same swords that the other elites had when they attacked Ponyville. Another Elite deactivated his camo right next to the one on the stairs, and one more at the bottom who had killed the first human. There were three elites, two wore dark purple armor, while the one with the impaled human wore black armor. The human on the sword was still alive as he struggled painfully trying to get free. The Elite then grabbed him by the back of the neck, and with one fluid motion, tore the human in half, right off his sword. The humans, horrified by the spectacle, all took multiple steps back, and so did the ponies. The three elites only grumble and growl at the group.

Twilight could not believe what she had just seen. Never in a million years did she think anypony, or anyone, could do such a violent thing to somepony else. And here were these aliens, seeming to not care at the blood they have spilt.

“Shoot those sons of bitches!” Tex yelled as the ODSTs began to open fire on the elites. All three ‘Elites’ reactivated their camos and quickly dived out of view.

“Activate your VISRs!” Tex ordered before the humans activated something on their helmets.

“Right there!” One of the ODSTs yelled, pointing a little bit to the left in front of them. “Bastard is coming right at us!”

All the humans focused on one area to the left and began shooting. The Elite was caught in all of their fire, ripping through its armor and deactivating its camo. The bullets pierced its armor and penetrated its body. The Elite quickly falls dead within no time, bleeding purple blood.

“One elite down! Two to go!” yelled Tex as he pumped his weapon once more. “We gotta eliminate the bastards before we get out of here!”

“Fuckers came out of nowhere! How’d they get in!?” Tammy exclaimed.

“No idea, but we gotta find them.” said Tex. “Split up and keep your VISRs on! That’s how you can see through their active camo.” He looks back at the ponies, barely acknowledging their horrified expressions. “Stay with the doctors. We’ll be right back.”

The ODSTs then quickly split off going down the many different passageways that were open in the main corridor. It took the ponies a good moment to snap out of their shock.

“What…the…BUCK!?” yelled Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow! Language!” Twilight admonished the rainbow Pegasus.

“Twilight, Ah think what she said is a fitting expression to what we just saw!” yelled Applejack. “That THING jus’ tore that human in half! IN HALF! Who in their right mind would do such a thing!?”

Twilight looked at her friends, she could see both Pinkie and Fluttershy were off by themselves in a corner crying. Rainbow Dash and Applejack seemed freaked out, and Spike, Rarity, and Starlight all seemed like they could burst out crying any second.

However, she looked at the Princesses, their eyes never left the staircase where the horror they just witnessed happened.

“Celestia…” Twilight spoke just barely above a whisper..

“This is a war that goes beyond simple disagreements. Whatever is going on between the humans and the other aliens, we were never meant to be a part of it.” Celestia spoke solemnly, hiding her awe and shock.

“I fear for our subject’s, sister.” Luna spoke with a look of bewilderment on her face. “A fate similar to the one we witnessed also awaits them, now that we have intervened.”

“Wh-What!?” said Twilight.

“You saw how efficiently both sides are armed to kill each other, Twilight.” Celestia looks down at her pupil. “We do not have such equipment. We do not have weapons that can kill at long range except for magic and crossbows. And I doubt our weapons would even dent their armor. I don’t think we could last long against this enemy the humans are facing.”

Celestia’s words rang within Twilight. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was right. Each side had gear designed to kill that they couldn’t comprehend. And now, their world was caught within the middle of this war. She knew in her gut that they would be lucky if they somehow ended this war with a hoof full of casualties. But the humans. For 26 years, they had to suffer through this… losing their homes… their loved ones… and yet, they are still fighting. She tossed the Covenant weapon down before approaching one of the dead humans, using her magic to pick up his weapon. It was small and compact. She examined it closely before Celestia approached her.

“What are you doing, Twilight?” Celestia asked with concern and fear in her voice.

“I’m… I’m still going to help the humans.”Twilight replied plainly.

“Twilight…”

“You don’t know the things they told me Princess… what they had been through… I… I can’t abandon them. They won’t survive with these monsters here. They need all the help they can get… or they'll die Celestia… they will all die.” Twilight felt her heart ache at her own words.

“…We will do all what we can to help you.” Said Celestia.

Twilight turns to look at her and gives her a very weak smile.

“Watch the front entrance, we can’t allow those things to escape.” Twilight said as she quickly went through one of the many passageways that led to the rest of the castle.

Twilight trotted slowly and carefully. While carrying the human weapon in her aura, she also illuminates her horn as she walked through the many corridors. It was dark, and scary. She aims the weapon how the humans have been as she examines her surroundings. She tried her best to keep her breathing under control. Despite carrying the human weapon, the lavender alicorn was still firm on her opposition to killing, but she at least had to capture the aliens that were here. As the Princess continued walking, she swore she could hear somepony following her. She turned around, but nothing was there. Twilight goes back to walking, but again there were footsteps behind her. She looks again, but still nothing.

The lavender alicorn was extremely skeptical, as she knew the aliens could turn invisible. She looks down at her hooves to see a rock, and looks back at the way she came and kicked the rock. To her surprise, the rock hit something that looked as if it wasn’t there. As the rock hit it, it sent off waves across the area it hit, revealing the Elite in black armor for a split second.

Twilight gasped in horror as she then saw the sword ignite out of thin air. The Princess quickly turned and began to gallop blindly down the hall, she could hear the alien hot on her tail as she pushed herself to the limits. With no other choice, she aimed the SMG behind her and opened fire. She wasn’t able to handle the kickback as most of the bullets went over the Elite’s head, but the bullets that did hit him, only made his shields light up, but never break. Twilight held onto the trigger till it started to click.

"No! Nononononono! Why did it stop!?” cried Twilight as she felt the foot of the alien kick her hard in the flank.

She falls to the ground, losing her grip on her weapon. The Elite deactivated his camo and slowly approached her.

“Princess Twilight, I assume!?” The alien spoke to her, his voice oozing with contempt. “You ignored my shipmaster’s gracious message, and for that, you will pay!”

“Wh-Who are you?” Twilight asked shakily. The alien laughs at her in response.

“I am Jykan! Special operations officer of the Covenant!” Jykan exclaimed proudly, throwing his arms out to the sides. “We honor the will of our gods, we are their instruments! And you have gotten in the way of our holy deed to exterminate the humans! You and the rest of your pathetic race shall now share their fate!”

Jykan then thrusts his sword at her, but Twilight was able to quickly move out of his way as he struck the ground. She gets to her hooves and bucks him hard in the face, the kick breaks his shields and a crack could be heard. He lets out a pained growl as he is knocked back, his sword still stuck in the ground. Twilight tries to run, but the Elite grabs her tail and with a hard tug, forcefully slings her into the wall.

Twilight lets out a pained cry as she then dropped to the ground. She begins to crawl away but Jykan was on her within seconds. He pins her on her back and grabs her throat and began to squeeze. Twilight chokes as Jykan began to crush her throat. He then takes a knee, to balance himself more as he squeezed the air out of her. She looks up into his face to see one of his mandibles hung freely like it was broken. She then looks into his eyes, she could see the fire hatred inside them. It was probably the most horrifying thing about him, to see how he glared at her with malice and hate. She struggles underneath him trying to get away, kicking and squirming as the elite presses into her more. He lets go with one hand, the other firm on her throat as he balled his fist and punches her hard. Her nose began to bleed as a second punch came. Her vision begins to fade and her face starts to turn blue as the Elite grab her throat with both hands again. She could feel her muscles giving out with the lack of oxygen.

Twilight felt like she was dying; she could feel herself slipping as the Elite continued to choke her to death. Boiling hot tears form in her eyes as she was losing hope. She began to slip into darkness, but as she did, she noticed a small light in the distance. She forced herself to look at it, behind the Jykan still stuck in the ground was his energy sword. With the last of her strength, she forced her horn to glow. The sword was surrounded by her magical aura as she pulled it out of the ground.

Twilight quickly pulled the sword towards her as she was about to black out. That’s when the pained scream of Jykan and the sound of something boiling was heard as he then let go of her throat. She took a very much needed breath in as Jykan crawled off of her, she scurried out from under him, as she sucked in breath after breath. She could then see the two-bladed sword sticking out of Jykan’s back, her eyes widened as she realized it was her who plunged it into his back. Jykan crawled a few more feet before collapsing onto the ground. She watched as his breathing began to slow, until he stopped all together. Twilight curled herself into a ball and began to cry. The weight of the moment hit her and she began to cry harder. She was crying hard enough to mask the sound of approaching footsteps.

“Jesus…” A voice that startled her into looking up. She saw Tex standing there, holding a shotgun as he looked down at the body of Jykan. “Did you do that to ‘em?”

Though Tex sounded impressed, this only caused Twilight to continue her crying. Tex knelt down to her, gently placing his hand on her back. He rubbed her back to comfort her as she continued to cry. She cried for a good five minutes before calming down.

“There you go.” Tex calmly said before asking, “Got it all out?”

“N-no...” replied Twilight.

“I understand. The first time is always... rough.” Tex sighed and slung his shotgun on his back. “Come on. I’ll get you out of here.”

Tex then gently picked up Twilight in his arms. She was actually kind of heavy, Twilight was rather big for him. Even though she only came around his waist, if she stood on her hind legs, she would be about as tall as he was. He steps back into the main corridor where everyone else was, Tex’s squad was already back and were talking to the group of ponies. They all turn to see that Tex was carrying Twilight in his arms. They felt like that wasn’t a good sign.

“Sir, what happened?” Tammy asked as she approached her commander. “Is she okay?”

“She’s fine.” Tex answered as he got to them. “Just got roughed up a bit.”

He set Twilight onto the ground, who was able to stand, but she was wobbly. The other’s gasped upon seeing Twilight’s bruised and bleeding face.

“Oh my goodness! Twilight!” Rarity yelled as she stepped to examine Twilight’s face. “What happened?”

“I… I…” Twilight stuttered.

“I found her lying down, curled into a ball and crying.” Tex answered for her. “Next to her was the fucker in black, energy sword sticking out of his back.”

“No way. Did she kill him?” Tammy asked, amazement in her voice.

“T-Twilight?” Rarity stuttered, eyeing Twilight with a shocked expression. “Is that true?” More tears formed in Twilight’s eyes, they rolled down her cheeks as she softly began to cry again.

"He was going to kill me! I-I couldn’t help it! He had me on the ground and he was choking me! I was going to die!” cried Twilight as she broke down and sat back on her haunches, crying into her hooves. Her friends quickly came in to comfort her, picking her off the ground and holding her tight.

Though Tex wouldn’t admit it yet, Seeing Twilight cry her eyes out from killing broke his heart. killing things must not be a thing these creatures did, like at all. To try and distract himself, he approached his squad.

“What about the third elite?” asked Tex.

"Gone, sir.” said Tammy. “Can’t find the bastard anywhere.”

“Well fuck… Anything else come into the castle lately?”

“No, sir. Truth be told, I think the fighting is over.”

“Alright, just stay here for a moment.” said Tex as he turned towards the castle door. He gently opened it with his gun and peeked out. He could see his fellow marines out of their cover as they went around gathering up bodies.

The Covenant had indeed made a retreat. He breathed a sigh of relief and opened the castle doors fully. He waves his hand to a few of them to signal he needed some of them over here. He turns back and to see the group of ponies still comforting Twilight. he looked to his own squad as he shoulder his weapon.

“Covie’s are gone. Something must’ve driven them off.” He said as his squad shouldered their own weapons too. A rather large human stepped through the doors of the castle, one that Tex and the ponies knew. It was Maverick, covered in orange blood.

“Jesus Christ, Commander!” Tex exclaimed taking a few steps back. “Looks like you just went through shit’s creek.”

“Damn right, and I didn’t have a paddle.” replied Maverick, brushing some of the blood off him. “Good to see you and your squad are safe Sergeant.”

Maverick and Tex give each other a hard, firm handshake. That’s when Maverick noticed the ponies who were in the castle with the ODSTs.

“What the hell? What are they doing here?” Maverick’s confusion evident. “We had Kieran escort them off the ship two hours ago!”

"We don’t know why they are here.” Tex shrugged. “They just showed up and wanted to help us, though I don’t think they can do much.”

Maverick looked over and saw Twilight in the center. She was no longer crying but she had a very remorseful look on her face as blood and tears matted the fur on her face.

“What the fuck happened?” Maverick asked, looking to Tex.

“The Princess took down a spec-ops officer, but she isn’t handling it very well.” Tex placed his hands on his hips. Maverick then looked back at Princess Twilight.

“Get her to the infirmary, now. The Captain is gonna wanna hear about this.” said Maverick.

“Yeah, we’ll get her there safe and sound.” said Tex.