I got some rest, I trained a little, I drank some, I had laughed, I worked out, all that bullcrap. My dreams were getting worse. It was a lonely night in my dream, nopony but me. I saw Dr. Halsey, smiling at me. Then the smile faded. A dark figure moved behind her. My instincts kicked in, and I jumped in front of her, protecting her. I saw a gun nearby. I galloped over, and tried to pick it up, but I couldn't, it was too heavy. I suddenly realized I was a little 5 year old filly again, no armor, no strength, I was a weak filly. The dark figure growled at me, I growled back, and everything faded.

I was still on the falcon, bits of trash around me, frequently blowing out the sides of the falcon. I had forgotten to throw away my food trash. I rolled over, nearly fell off the side, and screamed. We were like 300 feet in the air, over a dry canyon.

"Where are we?" I asked.

Pinkie Pie looked at me from her seat, "The changelings have built something big. They call it, a Spire. It generates a giant protective shield. We are going to eliminate it, and find out what they're trying to hide. We're also taking out a couple of anti air batteries they set up." That pretty much summed it all up. We were dropped off at a cliff side, like a parking garage that was missing half of the ground around it. It was a shallow incline uphill, to where there was a right turn to the other side of the canyon, but we had to get past a heavy changeling defense first. There were a shades, both fuel rod and plasma cannon, a floating platform for snipers, and a bunch of other things. We were driving up on a warthog.

"Get out!" Pinkie yelled. I hopped off right in time. The warthog exploded as a banshee launched a fuel rod at it. It landed in the perfect position for cover. Pinkie and I hid behind it. My purple armor was already singed with some black.

I looked up over the warthog. I had a EMP Grenade launcher and a DMR. The banshee circled around. I put my back against the warthog, and shot the banshee with the grenade launcher. Knowing that the grenade only detonates when you let go of the trigger, I let the EMP 'nade fly near the banshee, and I let loose. The grenade exploded, and the banshee fell. I galloped down, and caught the banshee's wing right before it fell off the cliff. I pulled it up, opened the cockpit, and shot the Jasper inside. It died in a spray of blood. I shoved him out, and wiped the blood off the screens. I closed the cockpit, and got used to the controls.

"So this is the throttle, and this is the weapons, okay!" I muttered, and lifted off.

I used the fuel rod cannon on a group of a dozen grunts, and shot down the fuel rod shade. The Miko on the the floating platform was easily ended with my plasma cannons, and I ran over a Jasper, breaking the wing a little. The other shade began firing at me. I got to a high altitude, back flipped, and nose dived at the shade, dropping fuel rod bombs and firing my plasma cannons while doing so. This ended any living changeling around it. Right before I hit the shade, I pulled up, dropped a fuel rod bomb, and watched it explode. There was a beeping sound. The banshee had already run out of fuel. I jumped off once I got near the ground, and took a minute to take in the carnage. Nothing moved, except a scorpion that was crawling over a rock. The canyon was relatively dry.

A warthog came from behind the bend, "Somepony need a lift?" Pinkie Pie took the passenger seat, while I boarded the gunner seat. This was a LRG523 Standard Gauss Rifle Warthog. It was armed with a 80 mm 300 caliber Gauss Cannon, instead of the normal machine gun turret. The marine driver put the pedal to the metal, and we rolled away.

The path to the Spire was littered with changelings here and there, easily enough eliminated. We arrived in one area, where it was also heavily defended. The marine driver was shot down, sad enough. A revenant appeared from behind a large rock. Pinkie and I jumped out. The revenant blast sent the warthog over the side of the cliff. It tried to charge me, but I boarded it. I kicked out the driver, and punched the passenger. I now had control over the revenant. Pinkie got into the passenger seat, and we brought hell to the changelings.

After that short battle, we traveled forward until it was no longer a cliff side, but a narrow canyon. I ran over a Kort, and the revenant nearly flipped over. The canyone opened up to yet another cliff side, but this one was safer. I drove the revenant across a metal bridge, and onto a safe cliff side, where the ground was very wide. There was an anti air battery here. It was placed on a small plateau, and a small path lead up to it. Jaspers, Korts, and ghosts came down that path. The Jaspers and Korts were easy enough, but the ghosts were faster. One of the ghosts drove itself off a cliff, while the other, I shot it, and it flipped over onto another Jasper, which killed it.

More changelings came down the hill, but this time, they were accompanied by two Himikas. In a vehicle, Himikas weren't that difficult, so they were easy to end. I bulldozed the rest of the changelings. I was about to get up, and trot up the narrow pathway, but another revenant came around the bend of the plateau. I rammed me, and I flipped over. Losing my balance, I nearly fell off the side of the cliff with the revenant, but I regained composure quick enough. Pinkie, though, was already shooting down the other revenant. I galloped over to her, and supported. Together, it wasn't hard to bring the revenant down. We both galloped up the hill.

The anti air battery was accessible from the inside. A Field Marshall Jasper came out from inside, with a concussion rifle. I took cover as small explosions rocked the ground. I peeked up from behind a rock to see that the Jasper was standing right in front of me. It kicked dirt in my visor, which the helmet immediately wiped away. I side kicked it, upper-cut, and kneed the Jasper, bringing down the shields, and I killed it with my grenade launcher. Pinkie Pie was already inside the anti air battery, and she sprinted out, took cover behind a rock, as so did I, and watched as the anti air battery exploded in mix of blue plasma, and red fire. I high-hoofed her.

A falcon appeared out from behind the canyon walls. I took a minute to take in the surroundings. We were standing on a small plateau, with canyon walls surrounding us on 3 sides, a cliff on the other. It was serene, just absolutely beautiful. I just hope that we can defend it long enough for it to be put on a postcard. I took a picture of my old friends, a postcard on the top corner.

The falcon touched down near us, Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Flutters inside. Another falcon landed behind us.

Dash immediately jumped into orders, "Jack, Rare, your with Twilight on the other falcon. Pinkie, get over here." We all rushed to our positions.

The falcon I was riding in was modded with the latest explosive technology. Instead of machine guns, it was rocket pods. It was hoof-made to fit the perfection of spartan. Curvy handle, heavy base, all the things that I could use to kill more changelings. The falcon lifted up. Apparently we were headed to the Spire, our main mission. We flew through the canyon, shooting whatever was on the sides. Wraiths exploded, blood flew everywhere, all the while, I didn't see any of it.

The 800 foot drop below my feet leveled until we were safely on the canyon top now. We were about to land, when an explosion occurred, rocked the falcon, there was smoke, then everything was black.

My vision returned. My hoof was dug deep into a pile charred gravel. I stood up, head throbbing. The falcon was in flames in front of me, ordnance dropped. I grabbed a jetpack, and strapped it on my tail. My tail armor was broken, but the jetpack still fit. The little red button was blinking right where I could reach it. I pressed the button. A burst of heat stroke though my body, and smoke eclipsed from the source of heat. The jetpack spurt out some gas, and I was in the air. Standard issue V-77 jetpacks, small fire at a focused range, allows more air to come through at a fast speed, ultimately lifting somepony in the air.

The terrain was rocky. Boulders scattered everywhere, eroded arches, and changeling dynamics everywhere. Up ahead was the spire. It rose tall, I could barely see the tip. Energy was emanating from the tip, and made a dome around it. Admiring the giant changeling establishment, I wasn't paying attention to the battlefield, and was shot down by a focus rifle. The jet pack made some beeping noises, and restarted. Back in the air, I saw that Mikos were everywhere, being shot down by either Applejack, or Fluttershy. Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie were charging to the outer wall of the spire. I shot a Jasper galloping toward them, and the jetpack ran out of fuel. I fell a couple feet, rolled, and got back up.

I galloped toward their position. I jumped over a rock, and saw that they were trying to break down the shield with their weapons. It wasn't working. I looked around, searching for any better way to do this.

"Augh!!" I screamed as a missile hit my back, and I basically exploded. Dazed, I looked up from the not-so-comforting, yet surprisingly soft dirt. There, right in front of me, was a large battery like object with energy flowing through a pipe toward the spire. The shield around the spire seemed to let infantry in, but not vehicles. Destroying this battery could give us a big advantage in battle, considering the 12 scorpion tanks behind me.

The shield suddenly broke down. The energy faded back into the tip of the spire, and I could clearly see now. The spire was just that, a spire. There was a platform near the top, and a small base. It was about 200 meters tall, and anything would die if fell from the top.

Changelings littered the spire, shooting at anything that moved. I couldn't get up from my position, or I would've been burned, sizzled, fleshed, and dead.

"Twilight, get out here now!" Dash ordered. That's it, I jumped up, narrowly dodged a fuel rod, and stabbed a Kort that was trotting up to me. I galloped forward, aiming to get to the base of the spire.

"Twilight, your gonna have to take this out by yourself, we're pinned down," Dash said.

Getting to the base wasn't hard, getting to the top of the spire was. I had no idea where to go. Inside the base was the equivalent to a labyrinth. I would turn, and be tackled by a Jasper, I would turn again, and fall 20 feet. I finally reached a sign, that my helmet translator recognized as "grav lift". I turned the sharp corner, and an energy sword wizzed past my visor. Heart racing, I grabbed the leg that swung out at me, bent it backwards, sharply twisted the elbow joint, and the arm fell off in a *clack*. Purple blood sprayed me, as the Jasper screamed, fell to the ground, and bled out. What surprised me was, it was a Zealot. Zealots where supposed to be powerful, spec-op forces of the changelings, yet this one fell so easily.

In the center of the room from which it came, was a grav lift, like expected. I galloped into it, and was launched into the sky. A couple seconds later, I shot out the top. My difference in weight from the Jaspers caused me to launch higher, into a arched pillar, and my shields collapsed. I launched about 50 feet from the landing platform, and was looking for anything to grab onto, or for my shields to recharge. Failing to get my hoof to hook anything, I prayed for a soft landing. My prayer relinquished, and I fell onto a group of Korts. I didn't know whether to be pleased, or angry at the gods. Apparently, I crushed one of their skulls, and the others primed plasma grenades. Surrounded and nowhere to go, I did the only thing sensible. Armor lock. I had picked it up before I came up into the top of the spire. I let my armor's joints and knotches relax, and the invulnerable energy shield deployed around my body. Gentle thuds nudged me as the grenades bounced off me, and back onto the Korts. I let go of armor lock after I was sure the Korts had exploded.

I wasn't sure about the status of the others, and at this point, I really didn't care. My objective was to find a control panel, and destroy the spire. The grav lift landing platform was that in the center of a dome with a hole in the top. I looked around, noting a couple of doorways, one which was blocked by plasma cores. I shot the plasma core, let it explode, and galloped into the other door. Turns out, they led to the same room.

No one was here.

"Too easy," I thought. I scanned the room, overlooking the battle below. I thought I saw a ripple in the air, but I passed it as a figment of my imagination. I came up to a panel. My helmet immediately got to work, and found the button that said, "Self Destruct", when I was lurched backwards, and slammed into the wall. My shields went down half. I spun around, DMR in hand, I shot out, and successfully hit my attacker. It's active camouflage malfunctioned, and I kneed it in the chest, and bucked its side into the window, which it tumbled out of. I trotted over to the broken pane of glass, and saw that there was a whole 'nother platform surrounding the top of the spire, and the Jasper simply got up, and jumped off the edge.

I came back to the button, slammed my hoof into it, and a beeping sound occurred. The whole spire began to rumble as the shield around it collapsed.

"Twilight, get out of there!" Dash came over the com. I jumped out the window, onto the platform.

"Do it Sparkle! Jump!" Dash screamed. I didn't see any point to it, so I galloped to the edge, and jumped, right into a falcon.

"What the fuck? When did this get here?" I asked, as Flutters spun me around, and checked me with a medical sensor.

"Did you not see us come up? Applejack smirked, helmet off. I never got the fact of how she kept her mane in a perfect pony tail with that sweaty helmet on. The falcon flew away from the exploding spire, blooms of orange and red bursting here and there, then vanishing in a cloud of black smoke. That was the end of that. This was only the end of the beginning.

Author's Note

The beginning, where I'm talking about the dream, I got that from Halo: Fall of Reach. Halo: Fall of Reach is the first of a Halo series of books. You should read it.
Anyone else find it strange that changeling is a real word? I'm on google chrome, and when something is spelled wrong, its underlined red. The word, "Changeling" isn't.
Beheamoths: Halo Brute Equivlant
Jaspers: Halo Elite Equivlant
Mikos: Halo Jackal Equivlant
Korts: Halo Grunt Equivlant
Lims: Halo Drone Equivlant
Droids: Halo Sentinal Equivlant
Karthak: Halo Flood Equivlant
Forrunners: Halo Forrunner Equivlant
Hajiati: Halo Prophet Equivlant
Himika: Halo Hunter Equivlant
They all look like Changelings, except with a few tweeks and adjustments to their body (like new body parts, or they are larger)
OHOHOHO
Twlight Sparkle= Noble 6
Fluttershy= Noble 3, Jun = Sniper Guy
Applejack= Noble 5, Jorge = Heavy guy with turret.
Rarity= Noble 4, Emile = Assasian tough guy.
Pinkie Pie= Noble 2, Kat = Tech Girl
Rainbow Dash = Noble 1, Carter= Leader
Equestria= Planet Reach Equivlant