Halo: Cloaked Shield

by Dark Ethereal Shadow

It's been near over a decade of peace in the galaxy between every known species to humanity when another Covenant group decides to rear its ugly head from the depths of the stars and into the light of the all. And sparking another unwanted war. And this time this Covenant are even more determined, more fanatical in achieving their goals. No matter who stands in their way to glory.

4. Chapter 3: Squall Part I

Disclaimer: I do not own Halo or My Little Pony. They belong to Microsoft/343 Industries and Hasbro respectfully but all original content is mine.

Chapter 3: Squall Part I

---

Troop Bay of Pelican of pelican G97H-TC: 'Ugly 404'.

No musical tunes trilled over the Pelican's troop bay speakers, only the constant rushing sound of the cold night air and the roaring drone of the engines could be heard as Ossis 'Relcam stood solemnly over near the open ramp door as Allencourt guided the dropship through a maze of valley's through this Equestrian night sky, observing the valley far below him as it twisted and turned away like a gigantic serpent.

Cradled in his hold, 'Relcam went over his T-55 DER/A or as it was otherwise known as the Storm rifle… well, what was left of it.

With a melted barrel and a cracked cooling shroud. The Storm rifle wasn't in much of a state to be used for a fight other than being used for spare parts or an extremely large paperweight.

Sounding with a hardly audible hiss, 'Relcam pressed the release button with a thumb and slid out the conical charge coil located at the centre of the weapon. As he resecured the practically useless rifle to his back for the moment so that he could examine an undamaged one with its charge coil missing, he felt the deck plates beneath his boots vibrate ever so slightly.

An equine, a grey coated colt with a dark purple mane and grey coat; a nocturnal subspecies of 'Ponykind' called a 'Batpony' or lesser known as a 'Thestral' because of the bat like wings and tuff tipped ears, trotted up behind and alongside 'Relcam. The nocturnal pony's overall size was no bigger than the average Unggoy.

"I guess I should be the one to apologise and say thank you." the guardspony had to shout in order to be heard over the din of the Pelican's engines when he sat down on his haunches, but not directly next to the imposing Sangheili.

Even though this one was friendly, the batpony wasn't about to put his fears aside and side up against one. Having been yelled at in the face calling for his end by one, which thankfully wasn't around anymore period, and about to be skewered by a sword made of contained energy, had taken a toll on his mind.

'Relcam angled his head ever so slightly from the rifle and endless forest of green below in order to glance at the pony sitting down near him. The colt, now mostly stripped down off of what in Allencourt's description as medieval silverish purple armour leaving only the chest plate from the insistence from batpony's patrol leader.

"For saving my life… our lives," the colt rubbed a shoulder with a fore hoof. "You know, after what Starfire did at you from above." the batpony closed his eyes and sighed heavily before reopening them. "I don't know how things would've turned out if you didn't understand the apology."

'Relcam turned his partial attention from the batpony back to the Storm rifle in his grip, "A rudimentary misunderstanding…" he said in the native language that the equine spoke. English. "From both our sides." and inserted the conical charge.

With a loud audible whine, the status lights of rifle glowed a deep blue as the battery powered the weapon up. 'Relcam didn't pay much attention as the pony by his boots sharply looked up at the sound.

"It's not over, is it?" the batpony said with grave concern, still looking at the rifle.

At this, 'Relcam completely turned his attention back to the guard and found the batpony's eyes filled with a sight he had seen in countless ones before. The majority of those types of stares he had seen were in humans.

"No. The fight continues. No matter where we travel, it is another world that has been innocently enveloped by a conflict that has no reason for being. It is countless struggle between the fight what we see is peace, for them it is power of control they seek."

In response to the saying, the batpony only seemed to shrink in size. His body posture not changing from the cowering crestfallen mood as the reality of its situation of its kinds situation continued to sink in.

Jerking the ruined rifle from his back, 'Relcam switched the rifle out with the new one before turning around, leaving the batpony to stare out into the black of night, and walked for the cockpit. On the way there, he put the destroyed rifle in the weapon rack where he got the other one.

"How are they doing back there? Comfortable?" Allencourt inquired as 'Relcam stepped into the cockpit proper and the door hissed closed.

The Sangheili only grunted in response as he pulled himself up into his seat.

"I'll take that as a yes then."

With a few inputs at her station, she transferred the Pelican's flight controls back to his.

After a few minutes elapsed, Allencourt growled in vexation and hit the wall. "God dammit…"

'Relcam's jaws twitched in concern, "What's wrong?"

"We just fixed the radio and… oh, and there goes the radar, even better. We're right within the area of influence of a flux zone," Allencourt muttered as she looked down at the radar screen, which cluttered with false contacts for a few minutes.

"The radio is but a trivial matter. Once the dark zone goes, we will have coverage."

"Yeah. But as you said a second ago: once it goes. And right now, it hasn't been that yet."

"So…"

"So? So I've been trying since we left. And with Phoenix being enacted upon-" she punched the wall again out of frustration.

'Relcam's lower jaws twitched in concern for her well-being and he changed the subject. "Tell me. Do you honestly think this reign, the diarchy of these two," he rearranged his jaws to pronounce the strange word. "Alicorn… princesses that they spoke very highly of, be in the best position to understand the threat the Covenant Resurgence present on their world?"

Allencourt glanced up out through the tinted cockpit windows to spot the gliding batpony still fully clad in the silver-ish medieval armour of that respective service branch that guided them.

She thought back to the two-way altercation that became the ambush surprise of three ways.

"They better. We all saw how exactly what the Covenant did first when they engaged them."

"And yet, still that contact makes no sense to me. One would think that they would already know, even seen my kind."

"What? Because the Covenant Resurgence is comprised mostly by a large number of Sangheili? And the fact that the heads of the faction are also Sangheili?"

"There is that. But yet the Covenant to have been present on this world a long time. Do these equines know nothing of the scope the Covenant threat poses as they set foot to intrude upon their lands?"

Allencourt turned her head around to look back; "Well that prior knowledge changed tonight now didn't it?" she nodded upwards whilst toggling a few switches. "Here we go."

'Relcam turned his attention back out through the one-way tinted cockpit windows. He saw the batpony that had been guiding them hovering in mid-air and pointing with an outstretched fore hoof. Indicating out towards a smallish clearing to put down in.

The area in question was reasonable as the area served good cover from the typical eyes of any Covenant air patrols that may pass down here and far enough from the city as to not cause an immediate panicked stir among the locals if any would come down to that area.

'Relcam pushed forwards on the controls and reduced power to the engines.

As the Pelican was two mike's out, mass slurry of blue plasma skimmed past and etched against the cockpit.

"Contact! Contact! Pair T-54s coming in at a point one five, angles twenty-nine descending." Allencourt cried as she quickly looked at the radarscope before it jammed with the flux influence, "They're coming right for our arse."

On honed years of instinct and experience, 'Relcam reacted to the incoming threat posed and slammed the throttles back to full power whilst yanking the control yoke to the right.

Despite its cumbersome looking size, the Pelican responded immediately and slewed around, facing almost nose to nose with the attack as a pair of two Type-54 Banshees dove at them out from the clouds above.

"They must've boosted nonstop all the way to catch up to us. Their anti-gravity drives are showing up as white hot on therms."

Even with her boots resting on the thruster pedals, Allencourt could still feel the heavy vibration of the nose Gatling gun rumble to life as as she squeezed off a stream of yellow tracers at the inbound attack craft.

The shields of each T-54 Banshee failed instantly.

The first one was chewed apart and exploded in a rain of blue fire as it flew head on into Allencourt's hail of auto cannon rounds. The second Banshee ate the same fate and its burning metal carcass careened into the thick wooded valley below.

"That cannot be all," 'Relcam murmured with suspicion.

Allencourt nodded to what 'Relcam was implying in silence and she scanned the overcast night sky.

"There's the rest of them." she said pointing up as multiple blue lights penetrated out of the clouds above and began to dive at a steep angle.

Inbound at almost a 900-knot closure, the scope blinked back to life, lighting up with multiple paired unfriendly CID signatures.

"Count?"

"Ten ship of paired T-fifty fours. Two ship of T-twenty nines."

'Relcam's mandibles twitched in grave concern.

As much as the gunship variant of the Pelican was indeed a formidable craft to any attacking Covenant whether that be ground or air. The odds were stacked heavily against them in the Covenant's favour. It was going to take a miracle if they were going to live through this without being shredded to bits.

"A first priority right is to let our four legged friends off." 'Relcam proposed, "Then we don't have to worry about injuries or casualties in the eventuality that if we do go down, and go down that we might, we won't be bringing them down with us."

"Yep. One hundred percent agreed with you there. Relaying that now."

A flurry of blue plasma scratched by the cockpit canopy as screaming out of the clouds up high – each of their twin heavy plasma cannons blazing – the T-54's descended upon the Pelican with murderous intent. Allencourt didn't stall and caught one in the nose with a pre-charged blast from the M8CG/GNC. The larger, more powerful version of the shoulder fired Spartan Laser.

The Banshee's shields didn't stand a chance as the ruby red beam of energy speared through the attack craft's canopy and obliterated it.

"There they go," Allencourt said as she watched the batponies spread their wings rather eagerly and left on the troop hold security camera feed. "Starfire. Get your wings into gear…"

---

"… Multiple bogies incoming, advise you to find a safe place to hole down in while we deal with them." Starfire heard the human pilot feminine voice ring sharply in her ear, courtesy of a modified human earpiece fixed on one of her tuff ears and throat microphone strapped around her throat. "I've told the rest of your team to do the same. They are heading for the ground as I speak."

Starfire was relieved at that, "Thank you for doing that for them, for me. However. Not that I want to argue at time like this, but as I'm still quite able, this is my home. My world. And under all rights it falls under my duty to protect it." Starfire stressed out into the throat microphone as she flew hard through Equestrian's skies like she never had before. Diving, dodging, weaving, once or even twice landing upon the tops of the silverish purple crafts that spewed intense neon burning blue fire.

"Of course we can all sympathise with what you're experiencing. We ourselves have experienced something like that all too much. But there's far too many, even for you. While we had admired your sheer tenacity at going at the Covenant despite knowing nothing to zilch about them… or us… at the clearing to protect your fellow squad mates; I'll still pointedly stress out to you that any slip up again with these guys - no matter how marginal - will result in either you being seriously wounded or dead.

And I don't do bits and pieces.

And I'm pretty sure I definitely don't want to end up and say something along the lines to your princesses if we pull a miracle out of this: "Greetings from humanity of the United Earth Government and United Nations Space Command Defence Force with the Combined Sangheili Empire, your graces. We mean you no harm to you or your people. We had a first contact with one of your patrols with a bit of a ruckus meet up with a bunch of devote multi-race lunatics calling themselves the reformed Covenant. Which of who have caused great turmoil, and destruction, and pain in the ass throughout our own occupied systems. Sorry that the patrol we met up with is in tatters and that we're missing one. The officer in charge was negligent and got grilled when she went toe to toe with… eight ship of Covenant Banshee fighters.

So, Sergeant? Now that I have said it, do you see where I have a problem with this now?"

Starfire sighed in frustration as well in acceptance.

The myth and supposed rumour now truth has a point, Starfire. Starfire told herself as she rolled inverted and sharply dove for the deck.

"As soon as I joined up, slogged by butt through the CARG for two years and graduated, all graduates had to swear an oath, an obligation we ponies in the royal guard and even the E.U.P. to some extent cannot break. To serve as the Princess's protectors, and to those under their charge, with everypony we are charged to, to upkeep the everlasting peace in Equestria. Whether that be in times of a great crisis or war, we will try our best to uphold it… no matter the cost."

Starfire had no idea what prompted her to add the last bit, as it was never part of the oath saying.

With a Banshee in tow, plasma nipping at her flank, Starfire soared past the nose of the lumbering Pelican, lit up like a tree on a cold Hearth's Warming Eve. Although the difference here was that the dropship was about the size of a small house and destroyed things rather than forgave and love.

When she looked back, the Banshee that had its claws sunk in her rear trailed from the sky on fire. An entire wing having been sheared off by a scything spread of 70mm Armour-Piercing High-Explosive auto-cannon shells.

"Fine." she heard the human relent, "But stay tight and follow any of my orders to the letter. Got it?"

"Crystal."

"Okay, keep doing what you're doing. But be warned as you climb. Up high are at least two other contacts. Of which are T-29 Vampires."

Starfire immediately picked up the agitation in the human girl's voice.

"How bad?" Starfire asked with agitation of her own.

The Sangheili answered her instead. "While a T-29 close support fighter are bulky in a sense and their front somewhat resembles the jaws of an ant, its main offensive weapon, a heavy needler, on its dorsal end is a danger to anything airborne, whether that be metal or flesh. Also be wary of the two plasma cannons it wields on its flanks."

"Thanks for the technical overview there, Ossis." she heard Allencourt say in return. "Anyways, remember those small needle pink crystalline shards those Covenant soldiers used against you? About the length of my hand; explodes or just shatters, that I then had to pull out the micro fragments from one your squad mates sides?"

Starfire refrained herself from speaking as the vivid traumatising and terrifying memory flashed before her.

Allencourt's voice quickly brought Starfire back to reality, "Now think of those rounds a little shorter than the total length of a standard broom handle, can penetrate parts of our airframe like a hot knife through butter, and can home in towards you despite hiding in a cloud. And there can be a total of six of these."

She immediately felt sick as she had the sudden terrible thought about what one would do to a pony. What six could do if-

"Then I assume you have a plan?" Starfire fretfully added.

Allencourt was surprisingly absolutely calm with her answer. "Of course we have a plan. Don't be absurd. Although, that the plan usually involves flanking them with some kind of air support. Like Sparrowhawks or a Falcon or two with heavy payloads…"

Earlier Starfire with her patrol squad had a brief discussion with the human and her Sangheili partner about why the transport craft was named after a bird. They all quickly learned after that mostly all human vehicles that flew or could hover were named after a bird or insect.

She had a bad feeling about where this was going.

"I know this is a big ask considering we just met, fought off the Covenant patrol together but did some questionable things that is just considered wrong by your standards, and I just earlier ordered you to stand down… but, if willing, lend a hand… err hoof in your case, be our air support? Go up there and see if you can lure them down to us?"

Starfire was stunned, but not in the good way as the gears in her mind grinded to a halt and she sprung her wings out as the result. All forward momentum she had been doing came to a jarring halt in mid-air before dropping straight down into a large and thick storm cloud.

The pilot of the Banshee that was trailing her, one of the few left remaining in the sky overshot the batpony. He became baffled when the equine didn't re-emerge out from the bottom of the grey cloud.

"What!" Starfire screamed out. Her voice slightly muffled as she stood within the cloud.

The covvie pilot came in for a second pass, thinking long and hard back as to what he was informed what some of these equine creatures could impossibly do. A metaphorical light bulb went off in his mind and the Covenant pilot deployed the air brakes.

"... And that is what the plan involves, for the safety sake for all of us in the next few hours." the human pilot explained the plan out quickly, "If even one survived the ordeal and continued its flight path towards your city, I'd hate to think what kind of turmoil it would yield despite your deepest confidence in your princesses dealings, including this power, this "magic" you briefly went over with us."

The T-54 came to a less graceful shuddering halt in mid-air and pivoted on the spot. Its plasma cannons pointed directly at the cloud the pilot thought he saw the batpony drop into.

Starfire's emotions were spurring into turmoil along with her stomach. She didn't want to agree with what Allencourt had said, but the human was right. They were literally a stone throw from Canterlot city.

"How would I get them to follow me?" Starfire asked as an electrical tingle ran down her spine.

"Land on the canopy of one of them located just behind the two prominent "boom" like structures. Said booms look like a pair of jaws, and start making faces. I'm positive that should get their attention."

The Covenant pilot clenched his joysticks, peppering the cloud with plasma round after plasma round directly into it.

Starfire poked her head out to see how dangerously quite close the Banshee that she had on her tail earlier unloading its weapon of Tartarus burning fury into the wrong cloud.

Seeing an opportunity too good to pass up and for a little experiment for sake of her curiosity, Starfire got out and pushed the cloud she had hid in directly above the attacking yet clueless attack craft. When the cloud was in position where she wanted it, she bucked the cloud in the side hard, making a lightning bolt shoot out and chain a strike along the canopy of the T-54.

The Covenant Sangheili pilot didn't know what happened when his craft gave a shuddering dying whine, then all at once, every indicator light winked out before its eyes.

"And if it doesn't?" Starfire added quickly watching in awe as the Banshee she disabled anti-gravity drive kicked into gear a second too late from the lightning strike and pancaked into the forest belly first, erupting in a bluish white explosion.

"Do something other than what I said. I'm ninety-eight percent sure that whatever else you come up with will give them warrant to come after you. We'll be ready with a stake and a hammer when you bring em' through. They're still currently moving cold, but if they go hot this plan and all of us are gonna be in deep shit. No pressure. Good luck."

---

A Covenant Banshee exploded apart like a firework coupled with a dozen flares as four Medusa missiles found their target in the attack craft's backside.

'Relcam jinked the Pelican to a new heading, "I don't know you can be so sure of yourself,"

"She'll pull it off," Allencourt said with little worry.

"That is why I'm concerned. We only then just met them in the awkwardness of situations, which then happened to almost descend into a flurry of violence. And, yet, you just recently piled a whole lot of faith on a mind that is still trying to piece tog-"

"Brake right!" Allencourt shouted in alarm.

'Relcam jerked the Pelican in the warned direction just in time to avoid a disaster as one of the Banshees wing tips blew past the canopy.

The remaining Covenant pilots had come up with a new tactic.

They had begun employing the use of their own craft as manned guided missiles to try and ram the Pelican gunship out of the sky.

"Look… I've got the gut feeling about her, about them. But I don't specifically know what that is."

'Relcam mumbled something out in the Sangheili language.

"Hey!" Allencourt snapped, "Just because you said it in your language, it doesn't imply that I didn't understand it."

---

Covenant ranger 'Uerum, pilot of one of the T-29 Vampire, scanned his scope of the ensuing proverbial "knife fight in a phone booth" that raged below the infernal cloud cover.

'Uerum wasn't that surprised to be called out to deal with a few of the subspecies of the technicoloured equines, one that flew, that desecrated the holy planet below with their filthy footsteps. However, what sent his blood into a rage when a dropship belonging to one of the non-believer races infernal military had been reported in the area supporting them.

UNSC.

Humans.

The Sangheili gave a deep growl of hatred as a distant memory he thought he had banished from his mind of seeing the female leader of the humans' government shake hands with the false Arbiter.

Heretics! The lot of them!

Thud.

What?

'Uerum snapped his head up at the sound and saw one of the four legged annoyances he and his brothers had been sent to deal with standing on the outside of his canopy, and it was staring back.

How did-?

'Uerum jerked the Vampire violently from side to side to try and dislodge the stupid pest off, but the pony remained glued to the outside. Before he could even think of rolling his craft inverted, the pony stomped down with its two front legs hard on the canopy.

With a great *crraaacck*, the force of the hit sent a myriad of spider web like cracks snaking outwards from the impact site, making their way across the Vampire's cockpit canopy and making it nigh impossible for him to see out.

Enraged, 'Uerum reached over for his inactive energy sword hilt.

---

Starfire heard the satisfying sound beneath her hooves as the purplish metal like skin cracked and splintered under the stomp.

On her flight up here, before she lay within one of the clouds choosing carefully on which Vampire to go at, Starfire had decided on that simply making faces while standing on flying war machines wasn't going to warrant much in the alien pilot's eyes other than be a lacklustre nuisance to them, but perhaps breaking something would.

In all honesty while she saw the canopy fracture beneath her hooves into a billion spider webs of cracks and fractures across its entirety of the blue reflective window, she didn't think that her stomp would be that effective.

Fwizz!

Starfire jumped back, recoiling as two pointed crackling cyan blades appeared inches from her nose.

Out of harm's way for the moment and looking down, Starfire watched as the two-pronged sword she had seen before wielded by the one of the alien pilots of the Pelican retract from the perforated canopy then it was gone altogether, which was then followed by the shattered canopy that was booted completely off.

Exposed to the night and elements, Starfire could see the various glowing blue and pink alien dials and buttons inside the cockpit used to control the alien craft she stood precariously near the edge of.

Also inside, extremely unhappy at her for the damage caused to its aircraft, the Sangheili pilot stood up and aggressively reignited its energy sword and lunged.

Starfire ducked low, feeling the heat in the air spike as the energy sword missed her as the pilot took a swipe at her.

Starfire darted around the Sangheili as it swung at her again, moving to the rear of the alien craft and instinctively reached back for the sheath that held her own sword.

It was there, at the worst possible moment in her career and life when she remembered exactly what happened in the aftermath of the clearing as her hoof found empty air when there should've had been a sword hilt.

"Narr jah, Nishum!" [Face me, parasite!]

Starfire spun around to the translated words that rung in her ear, almost knocking her head against the legs of the Sangheili pilot.

Now standing outside of the cockpit, the Sangheili's hand shot out and clutched tightly around Starfire's throat before lifting the struggling batpony up to its eye level.

"Do you think that allying yourselves with the heretics will stop your destruction?" it shook her, spitting in anger as it moved its sword dangerously close to her face.

Starfire spat at the Sangheili in defiance.

The Sangheili tightened his grip around the batpony's neck, "For that I will personally see to that your death will be drawn out as long as I have envisioned it."

By now, beads of sweat poured down from under Starfire's helmet and rolled down her face as the intense heat from the energy sword made her swelter as it drew within inches of her nose she could almost lick it.

The Sangheili squeezed her throat even tighter. "My face will be the last thing your pathetic little eyes ever see."

Sneering once more, the sword was brought back away in preparation to strike when a grey purple blur slammed into the backside of the Sangheili, forcing it to stumble and its personal shielding flared brightly from a blow.

Starfire fell from the Sangheili's grasp as it roared in pain as well as anger as it groped feebly behind itself.

As it turned around, its back now to her, she saw that one of her squad mates had plunged his service issued sword deeply into the Sangheili's exposed part of the neck and was working the blade back and forth. Dark purple blood streamed up from the wound.

Then, without so much as a warning, the Sangheili stopped its thrashing and dropped its energy sword.

Starfire watched on as the Covenant pilot fell to its knees with utter shock of disbelief and keeled over, tumbling off the aircraft it once piloted into the black of night.

Starfire gazed over to her squad mate who had brazenly assaulted the Sangheili from behind sheathed his sword as he panted hard.

"Nightbreak?" she called, having to shout over the Vampire's engine drone, "What by Luna's ire are you doing here? I specifically ordered you to stay with the others, no matter what happens to me."

"Nopony goes at it alone. You know that, Sarge… we all know that," he said firmly. "It's the first thing they told us back in boot, and I couldn't just sit on the sidelines, twiddling my hooves waiting to hear from the human that you got yourself killed or worse for something we should be doing together as a unit… as a team to do our jobs to protect Equestria."

Starfire knew he was right, but he was still foolish to attack the Sangheili one on one, even if it was for revenge for what another one had done to his leg.

Nightbreak looked about himself and the hovering alien aircraft they were still standing on, "So now that that's over. How do we take out this thing?"

Starfire looked down at the purple-blue metal skin of the craft.

"I think I've got an idea, and I'm going to need your help." Starfire said, her gaze shifting over to the dropped inactive energy sword hilt.

---

"Well you don't see that everyday," Allencourt muttered as she watched as the batpony Starfire blurred past the cockpit canopy.

But the equine officer was not alone as she spied another one of her kind flit past, closely followed by a pilotless Vampire spiralling down out of the clouds in a flat spin, an active energy sword shoved into the controls within the windowless cockpit.

"There's the other one," 'Relcam pointed out sternly as he maneuvered the dropship for Allencourt to acquire a better firing solution. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Starfire landing into the top of a tree presumably where the rest of her squad had taken up shelter.

"ASGM's still acquiring lock…"

The heavy needle cannon on the remaining T-29's dorsal surface rotated and pointed in their direction, the rounds of Blamite glinting with a sinister neon pink glow as lightning struck out around them.

"Come on you covvie bastard, put it off- Good tone!"

A shill solid growling tone sounded in Allencourt's ears and she jammed her finger down on the trigger.

The T-29 fired a scant moment later.

Four ASGM-10 missiles and their high explosive tipped warheads dropped away from their launch pylons, rocket motors kicking in a moment later, and thundered off towards target. At the same time all of the six three foot long crystalline rounds of Blamite sliced through the air, the strange tracking abilities of the pink crystal homing in towards the Pelican.

'Relcam kicked the thruster pedals and angled the Pelican, presenting a harder profile, while all at the same time dispensing chaff of a special type designed by ONI that was meant to confuse many types of tracking munitions.

The Covenant pilot did the same as he saw the missiles track towards him with deadly earnest. Deploying a bright bluish countermeasure flare of some type that didn't fall behind it, but rather shot out ahead.

The Covenant flare fooled two.

The Vampire vanished in a ball of explosive white light as it took the two remaining UNSC missiles directly to the cockpit, tracking right in between the twin boom like protrusions.

'Relcam and Allencourt couldn't marvel at the success as the Blamite from the Vampire veered in with accurate efficiency.

"Coming up on the right,"

"Breaking left,"

The flares decoyed two…

The evasive flying avoided one…

The right side wing copped the rest.

The four-foot long Blamite missiles penetrated deep into the starboard wing and detonated. The crystalline shards exploded with deadly fashion, perforating the wing like buckshot to hot butter.

---

Down on the ground and from an elevated position, Starfire and her squad could only watch on in alarm. Their mood previously switching from cheering jubilating from witnessing the Vampire explode to horrified shock as the Pelican spun out of control from the sky, gouts of flames licking out from one of its engines.

Over her earpiece the human had given her, Starfire heard the desperate call for help.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday! This is pilot seventy-eight-dash-nine Allencourt from dropship Ugly four-zero-four to any UNSC or CSE on this frequency. Condition Phoenix. I repeat. Condition Phoenix. Encountered four Echo Tangos of undocumented equine calling themselves ponies. Mayday, may--"

Starfire didn't catch the rest as a piercing and sickening mechanical wail drowned out the call. She looked on as the Pelican regained some way of control of forward flight before it just disappeared from view belly first into the treetops.

Half a second moment later, an earth shuddering rumble was felt through the their hooves as was accompanied by the panicked squawking cries of birds and animals having being awoken by the shudder.

Rooted firmly to the ground, Starfire felt a pit form in her stomach form as, her squad included, could only stare at the column of smoke that had begun to slowly rise from a fair distance away where the Pelican had vanished from view into the woodlands.

---

The Great Hall of Stories, five long arduous corridors later from Canterlot Academy of the Royal Guard armoury.

"Sister," Princess Luna asked again in worry, turning to Celestia with a concerned expression as they continued to transverse the many halls of Canterlot in relative silence.

The shifting and clanking of armour plates moving was the only other sound heard through the hallways as the two alicorn princesses, now completely clad in their personalised royal armour.

The silver armour Luna was clad in covered the majority if not every part of her body. Head, chest, flank, legs; even the silvery plates of armour covered her cutie mark.

Celestia's golden armour on the other hoof only covered her head, legs and chest. Everything else was exposed. But there was a solid reason for that.

It was to be noted that Celestia's mane and tail was kept in check with rings to keep it from being a nuisance. Luna's hair was untouched with such precautions and flowed normally.

There was however three things in common with their armour. One was a prominent curved spike that stuck out from their helmets and followed up next to their horns. The second was that both sets of armour were etched with each sister's respective cutie marks.

And lastly, both princesses armour were imbued with enchantments. Even to this day in time, nopony knows the full effects and capabilities of the enchantments that the princesses themselves had imbued the sets of armour with.

Behind and walking in front as they transversed the castle's great halls was a small contingent of night and batpony royal guards, led by Captain Greystone. Overall commander of the medium sized contingent of Night Royal Guard based here in Canterlot.

"I still see that this revelation still weighs heavily your mind, Tia. Do you still want to share it with me?"

Celestia cocked her head over at her little sister, the silver armour she wore glinting majestically in the flickering torchlight like the brightest stars in the night sky. Luna could always tell when she was worried whether she showed it or not.

"It's nothing." Celestia said.

Luna glanced over in disbelief as they passed through a set of double doors.

Celestia let out a long stressed sigh, "If this disc is the same as these other craft from earlier tonight. What would it stop it from comprehending our attire? Our peaceful intent that we represent and not going against those set from its masters?"

They passed through another set of double doors and to the outside into the cool night air.

The late night stars high above twinkled brightly without a care in the world of what turmoil was occurring below and the moon slowly drifted for the horizon. Eventually it would reach the horizon and be time for Celestia to commence the day with her sun rising charge.

"Surely you don't mean it like that, Tia."

Celestia stopped, "I'm afraid it does have to be like this. You see, little sister, it is like this-" she began when all of a sudden she was interrupted by shrill buzzing sound and the numerous sounds of thudding hooves pounding the cobbled street.

Zooming around the corner in a flash of grey and with unnatural grace that didn't seem possible for its large size or its flat design was the grey disc they had set out tonight to deal with.

The flying disc object was indeed perfectly circular like the guard had described, but also it was very broad in a sense and flat in shape. Everything about the grey disc was smooth in design, as if it was the designer's very intention. Apart from a few stubby antennas as well as a few dozen small holes that appeared to have been stopped up with glass dotting around its circumference, its core centre from the top and bottom was hollow and contained rapidly spinning fan blades that spun in different directions.

To see these spinning fan blades in the first place, both alicorn princesses got this chance to see in the centre of this gullet of the flying disc as it pulled up hard to stop itself from flying right into everypony.

"Apologies… Your Highnesses," the guard who had been chasing the disc said.

The unicorn was almost out of breath as he came to a panting stop before them from galloping down the street, bowing apologetically as the disc shunted away.

"Once we received word that you were coming to deal with it, we were able to keep it outside for a time. But… well…" he fumbled his words and pointed a hoof at the grey disc that now stared unfazed down three in-rushing pegasi guards flying low in from opposite directions, "... It is quite slippery."

"Quite," Luna winced just as the guardsponies, the three of whom had been probably chasing it down all the way from the main gate, came together in a smashing crunch of silver armoured limbs as the disc zoomed straight up.

As if to add insult to injury as the guards groans and muffled curses came from them like a river as they tried to untangle themselves from the pile up, the disc did a little backflip despite its flat aerodynamic dimensions and tilted from side to side very quickly like it was laughing at their attempt to corner it.

"Just may I inquire as to how it managed to get past you and your men in the first place?" Luna inquired as the disc stopped its visual laughing and lazily floated back over towards the princesses.

The little flying machine stopped, hovering about an inch off the tip of her armoured muzzle.

When the guardspony unicorn didn't respond immediately, Luna's brows furrowed, her eyes narrowing with an ear flicked in irritation.

The unicorn stiffened and cleared his throat, not knowing that the princess of the night had narrowed her eyes not at him, but at the disc because of the annoying droning buzzing sound it constantly produced to keep itself aloft.

"It… it simply flew over the city walls, princess." he responded with embarrassment.

Behind her, Celestia heard Captain Greystone groan accompanied with the sound of metal striking metal. An evident sound that he just faced hoofed.

Celestia mentally rolled her eyes whilst still keeping a straight face and her placid nature. Leave it to Lulu to humiliate a respected guard in front of his peers and his commanding officer.

"Well, at least it is here and there is no need to travel by hoof to it now," one guard openly commented for them all.

Yes indeed. But the question on Celestia's mind now was: Now that it was here and not out there, what were they to do with it?

It didn't look like it could do any harm. But looks could may well be deceiving as she knew from many years of experience and what had just occurred in the Equestrian night sky not long ago.

Celestia watched with a stern expression; secretly in fascination as the grey disc spiralled slowly around her little sister.

Luna also well kept a wary eye on it as well, but more out in concern for her own safety for every second of the way as it made its way almost behind her for the second time.

The disc came to a stop just before it could round Luna's backside.

Celestia became more intrigued with the machine as it inched closer to Luna's behind.

A sudden flash of white light came from the disc, startling everypony and almost blinding those who had their complete attention focused on it.

As the sunspots from the flash cleared, Celestia released just as to what had transpired when Luna gasped shock as well as irked embarrassment. Luna's cheeks had flushed a deep rosy red before she turned around to face and growl at it.

It just took a picture of Luna's cutie mark.

Celestia understood very well what was very really going through Luna's mind. But due to the circumstances of how it all happened right there and so easily, she couldn't help it and tried to suppress a laugh.

"Oh come on! Really? You think that's funny?" Luna scowled back at Celestia who was doing the terrible job at trying to hide the smirk.

"Oh lighten up, Luna. I'm sure that was just for scientific purposes." Celestia playfuly giggled, gesturing at it with a hoof. "Who or whatever this UNSC is, they are just curious despite what we encountered up there. They mean us no harm at the moment, that can be as seen so far with this."

"Yeah. No harm. As if." Luna pointed at the disc, "But Tia! That thing just took a picture of my rump without my consent!"

"And what do you want me to do about it, huh? Give it a hard slap and say: 'Naughty flying disc.' Or perhaps give it a whack with my sword? Surely that will paint a great reason that we mean no harm."

In response Luna groaned in vexation, glaring daggers at Celestia and muttered, "Hope it does yours next."

"And if it doesn't?" Celestia asked with a sly smile as the disc moved away from Luna and came to hover in front of her.

"I'll do it myself… when you're in the bath." Luna replied with an evil smirk.

With a soft smile, Celestia rolled her eyes at Luna as she followed the disc again every moment of the way as it moved slowly from her head and down her side.

As stated before, the machine was quite very curious to watch, almost mesmerizing in a way as it glided along her length with painstaking care. As it arrived halfway down her body a minute later, it suddenly jerked away as if it was startled by something, spun, tilted up-

Fwiss!

Everypony flinched as a thin purple dazzling beam burned through the air and struck dead centre of the hovering disc.

"What the-?" a guard started as the flying disc machine blew apart in spectacular fashion as the beam hit it.

The disc exploded in a shower of sparks and shrapnel before falling in heavy metal crunching *thud* as it greeted the ground.

Every royal guard spun around, facing in different directions trying to determine where the magic spell had come from while the majority formed a protective ring around the princesses.

Fwiss!

Another dazzling and almost silent beam shot out of the dark, missed the remains of the disc machine entirely and struck a guardspony in his armoured flank.

The guardspony didn't have time to scream let alone express it other than his eyes going wide in shock as the beam went right on through his armour like it was made of tissue paper.

The beam didn't stop there.

After having gone through the guard's body and out the other side right though his right wing, it ricocheted sharply off the path flagstones, tore through the chest of another guardspony, before exiting at an oblique angle and dissipated against the leg of a pony statue holding the flag of Canterlot.

Fwi-zang!

Luna threw up a hoof to block the bright flare that emanated from her sister's armour. The protective enchantments successfully warding off the beam that struck somewhere between where Tia's wings adjoined her body.

Nopony could think. They could only stare at the traumatising horror before them as the guardsponies who were struck by the single beam keeled over, collapsing in their own expanding pools of blood.

Somewhere out among the towers of Canterlot, an annoyed squawking cry rang out. Cutting through the night air, which sounded like somepony choking a rooster.

Luna spun in the direction of where she could hear the crowing cry, blinking rapidly to clear the sunspots that formed as Celestia's armour enchantments had reacted to the third beam.

As the guards finally came to their senses over the shock they began to do everything in their power to save their fellow struck brethren.

After a couple more rapid clearing blinks and out of the corner of her eye, Luna saw a bright glint of blue appear in the dark and her adrenalin surged.

Luna threw up a blue magical shield in front of herself as well as for everypony just in time for another purple blue beam to strike out from the dark of night and this one shocked her to the core.

Not because the beam had been glaringly bright as it was fired, but because whoever had fired it, had aimed it dead centre right between her eyes.

Luna watched in mesmerised horror as the effects of the beam's impact rippled out like a stone thrown into a pond as the protective spell continued to disburse the accelerated energy safely.

Through onto the other side of the blue magical shield she had erected and coming into sharp focus, princess Luna discovered where exactly the beam had come from.

While her night vision was superb - a trait that alicorns shared with all of the pegasi and the subspecies of batponies many of whom are still proudly serving in the night guard - Luna could only make out a the small glowing vivid blue light coming from the balcony of one of the many towers that housed the more higher status ponies.

The cyan blue light shone brightly in the dark.

The light was very out of place compared to the only other light source of the dull faint yellow glow of the gas lit street lamps below.

There was never any doubt in anypony's mind, hers or Celestia's, which this light belonged to the thing that was attacking them from afar.

Luna took off in a strong beat of her wings, dropping the shield spell as she sped in the direction of the blue glow of light.

The bright blue light shifted position suddenly and disappeared, winking out of existence.

No!

Princess Luna mentally bucked herself as she landed on very the balcony she had seen the unearthly light.

How could she be so naive to rush for the murderer by flying without thinking the number one question as to whoever it was could've seen them from such a distance under the cover of night and in this type of lighting conditions.

She should've teleported.

Luna scanned to her left to where she had seen the light before it disappeared and saw leaning up against the wall a long angular object.

It was an object that immediately made her feel sick as it shone in the light of her horn with a smooth and disconcerting purple colour sheen.

Luna swallowed her dread and steeled herself as she enveloped up the alien weapon in telekinesis magic to examine it closer.

The weapon in question, unmistakably alien in origin and design, tapered to a sharp menacing point at one end while it was splayed wide at the other. A small channel that glowed a brilliant magenta pink ran from the centre of sharp end all the way to a circular mechanism with a circular hollow centre and five shimmering glowing pink circles.

It didn't take a genius to figure out how someone had to use it, as this was a hand held weapon because the holes were just too small to be used by someone with hooves.

Luna had no idea how much time had elapsed as she was absorbed into studying the weapon when the fluttering beat of multiple flapping wings and the unmistakable rattle of shifting armour she was acutely accustomed to sounded behind her.

"Princess Luna? Is that it? Is that the weapon that killed my men?" Greystone announced his presence.

Without uttering a word, the princess of the night levitated the weapon over to him and dropped it at his hooves. Turning right around, she opened the balcony doors a crack with a flick of magic from her horn.

Luna recoiled almost immediately. Her nostrils greeted by a foul stench of something horrible, and most of all, the rancid overabundance of fear she could taste at the back of her throat that almost made her throw up on the spot.

Luna pulled her head away and shot Greystone a sentencing glare. "Lock down the city. Triple guard on every the entrance, and personally see to it Greystone, that you and a portion of your guards will guard the main entrance to this tower. Seal it off. I want whomever this murderer is found and brought before us. It has a trial I wish it not to miss."

"But whoever this is proves to be too much of a handle," Princess Celestia added steadfastly, folding her wings after landing behind her sister. "You must do what is not considered lightly."

Greystone shifted his observation of the long weapon over to the princess of the sun to ask if she was being serious with the last bit. As he did, he saw a sight that would've made anypony's blood freeze twice over.

Celestia's gaze she returned to him was hard and cold, unwavering in their piercing glare.

Greystone swallowed hard as he bowed, "It shall be done." and left. Leaving only one guard behind, a batpony, and the long alien weapon leaning up against the railing.

Luna turned to the guardspony, "Nightshade. Remain here. If anything that isn't us and without our say-so tries to flee through these doors, do not hesitate to use extreme prejudice."

Nightshade nodded sharply, "Of course, Princess Luna." and promptly placed a fore hoof upon his short-sword hilt.

Luna encased the foreign weapon in her magic, brought it inside with her, put it down, shut the glass windowed balcony doors and drew the curtains closed before turned her full attention back to the darkness that somewhat consumed room. Only their natural night vision kept the place from being fully engulfed by the dark of the night.

"I heard. How?" Luna asked, her blue and Celestia's magenta eyes the only things glowing in the dark.

"The first guard that was struck was declared dead on scene. The shot went right through his heart. The other bled out on his way to the academy infirmary." she said with sorrow, "Before the first guard was covered and taken away, I saw that he had received second to third degree burns to his coat from where the beam had struck and that his armour where he was hit had been heated to a rainbow shine…" Celestia said before asking: "Do you have it?"

With a flick of her magic, Luna levitated the long purple alien weapon over to Celestia.

Celestia growled angrily as she examined the weapon closely herself. Even in her golden magical grip, the golden glowing shine didn't help ease the pain of what she had seen as it added even more deadly intent the weapon posed.

Why would something create such a means of destruction? Celestia asked herself, even though she already knew the answer the moment as soon as she put it down and toggled on the light switch on the other side of the room.

Revealed immediately before the two sisters the entirety of the room had been tossed and was the scene of horror to a great struggle of survival.

The walls and ceiling were covered by scorch marks from either missed magic spell discharges or whatever their attacker had been using. Small tables had been overturned, bookshelves toppled over, the grand dining table had been turned into cinders. Broken glass covered the floor like some miscreant young filly had gone and dumped a load of glitter there.

How this much evidence of a ruckus had gone unreported shocked Celestia as, coupled with irate anger and despair, she scanned the room.

Then all at once, all of the destruction and mayhem that had occurred here never seemed to do justice anymore when her eyes came to what lay in the epicentre of all this.

Lying in contorted unnatural positions on the floor before them, the ruthlessly bloodied and beaten corpses of two ponies, both mares, a cerise unicorn and a light green Earth pony.

Celestia knelt next to the unicorn and carefully parted the mare's mane from her face. When she did, she closed her eyes in grief. A tear forming in the corner of her eye before rolling down her face.

She knew these two. Not from planned social meetings. No. It was more on a personal level.

It was Sapphire Dream and Riverbend, proud time owners of the 'Elite Equine Spa' and probably the best place to get a hooficure as well as to let off the stresses of work in Celestia's opinion. But also they we're good close friends to her that their presence or a friendly smile from them always seemed to make any day just that little less stress free.

The tear the rolled down Celestia's cheek evaporated as her blood came to a boil as she saw that where Riverbend's cutie mark should have been there had been attempts to remove it physically with some type of blade. And a hot one at that.

Deep bloody lacerations criss-crossed or bordered around the cutie mark. She looked over to Sapphire and saw the same thing, only this time she couldn't make out the mark at all on the mare it was erased by deep lacerations.

"Whenever we catch those responsible, they will rue the day they had ever set foot in Equestria." she said deeply.

Luna cast a sideways glance over at Celestia. Creases of worry etching themselves past her own glare of ire.

Celestia's eyes flickered over towards the far side of the room and steeled herself, her horn abuzz with magic.

"Do you think it was so easy…" she spoke low without emotion, facing in the direction a warping disturbance trying hard to hide behind a wilted potted fern. "To try hide from us for what you have done?!" and launched the collected magic at the crouched invisible figure.

Luna watched as the spot Celestia had launched a spell at struck centre mass of a warping haze which resulted with more than shocking results for all three.

The cloaking field that concealed the bipedal figure failed immediately, revealing to the two alicorns a large and sinister looking biped avian alien clad in sleek and completely black armour.

The avian was about as tall as the average pony but not as tall as Luna or Celestia. Everything about it pointed out it was agile and not to be pushed around. As would any creature, no matter how passive it was perceived.

The alien legs were two reverse jointed much like a bird but stockier. On top of the agile body and covered by an armoured plated neck was a sharply beaked head with bony facial features, two amber eyes with one covered by a semi-transparent mechanical eyepiece that glowed a crystal blue. The back of its head was covered in a plumage of long dark black feathers. And right now the thing was contorting horrendously in pain as more than 50,000 volts from Celestia's lightning spell coursed across its body.

The creature fell to the floor accompanied along with the red glowing blade of sorts that had the hilt of what appeared to be some sort of cutlass, was dropped from the grip of one of its two sharp appearing three fingered claws.

The ruby red blade broke apart. Shattering as it impacted against the marble floor.

"You freaks will pay dearly for that," the avian alien threatened in semi-perfect Equestrian.

The alien's male voice rasped deeply as it rolled over and propped itself up from the floor with one arm while the other clutched at its heaving chest. "Not that mine has come to be already."

Luna halted before it and encased creature's body in a deep blue glow of her magic, with the magical glow more prominent around its red-throated neck and threw it up against the wall.

Celestia didn't care for the wellbeing of the alien anymore as she heard a series of bones snap from the impact.

"Who sent you?! Why did you kill them?! Why did have you tried to kill us!" Luna yelled.

Instead of answering to the demanding questions, the avian alien had other ideas.

"No matter how you go about this, Woona," the avian chuckled menacingly at the name to which Luna became even more livid to, "Your pathetic little rule will still not save your kind's end."

"H-h-h-how did you k-know of that name!?" Luna stammered as she yelled at the alien, horn glowing brighter and getting right up in its face. "Nopony should know that!"

The avian was unperturbed by her response and yawned, showing off a number of pointy sharp looking teeth ticking her off even more.

It simply pointed one of its sharp talons at Celestia who barely raised an eyebrow at it. "Did you really think that you were alone in your bed chambers every night?"

Celestia's subtle surprise disappeared as soon as the emotion tried to show and locked eyes with the avian being. It smirked sinisterly in return.

"I know everything about you and your kind, and my brother… well let's just say he wanted to keep tabs on you until the time came," the avian flinched as if startled by something before reaching down and pulled something large and golden from a pouch strapped to its leg.

The alien tossed Celestia's neck regalia piece at her hooves. "And I'm fairly sure you'll recognise this. It was considered by you your 'good luck charm' after all." and flinched again.

Celestia's eye twinged, not bothering to acknowledge the neckpiece as it clanked to the floor before her.

She knew something was amiss when she didn't find her neckpiece where she thought she had left it five nights ago. Originally she thought it was a result of one of Luna's revenge pranks and mentally made a note to give her a week to return it before she confronted her about the matter. Ironically tonight was the night she was supposed to have confronted her about it.

"Enough of this! Who are you?" Celestia barked.

"T'vaoan," it announced, completely unperturbed to how the princesses were scowling at him. "Best of all the Kig-Yar. Leader of the Mehk. His band came for profit. They got their wish and…" it said kind of forced before nodding towards the two dead mares on the floor and chuckled deeply with a sinister undertone.

"Why? Why did you do it?"

The T'vaoan twitched and shrugged as it continued to laugh. "With these ones here, one could say I was bored."

Right at the words 'I was bored', the avian alien's voice suddenly dipped much lower than it had before. It had almost been gravelly and downright devoid of all emotion. As if it was somepony else's.

At this point Luna was grinding her teeth while Celestia was still holding back her vexation. Just.

"And my ponies? The guards?" Celestia said.

The T'vaoan jerked as it shrugged, the alien's voice having seemingly returned to normal but the twitches and muscle spasms were more present than ever like it was struggling to maintain control of something.

"More fun probably for him. Maybe I need more practice with this?"

All of a sudden it began screaming in hysterics, alternating between fear and anger. "Can't you hear him? He chants to them for your slaughter and I am his puppet! Three Geks for every equine amputation, ten if it results in a headshot, fifteen if it's a scratch off!"

Not only had it up and confessed that it was a cold-blooded murderer; the alien was also batshit insane.

The alien's mocking laughter was cut short as Celestia's horn glowed to an intense glare and shocked the T'vaoan again before Luna upped the pressure to its throat and clocked it across the face with a hoof.

The T'vaoan craned its head back up at them and spat out a globule of purple blood.

"Heh. Is that all you got… Woona?" it said, giving Luna a sinister smile through bloodied teeth despite missing a few and a crooked jaw.

Luna's irises shrank to pinpricks and delivered a mighty blow with a hoof straight to its stomach, to which it then tried to double over but couldn't because of the magical field it was entrapped in.

"As I drown between realities looking for redemption as he draws you out from your fantasy. Do you really think that shocking this non-believer and breaking every bone in its frail body is going to help your pathetic little minds find the answer you're searching for?"

Just by the way it said that, Celestia re-focused back on the alien's eyes and noticed that the irises had changed. Gone had the colour of sap amber to a deep haunting red. The room temperature seemed to take a dip as well with this change and she felt a freezing cold chill flow through her and through her heart the longer she focused on them.

"And what do you think are we searching for?" Luna all but growled out.

The T'vaoan's irises turned black of an infinite void and began glowing with a red aura, and its broken jaw reset with a foul crack, before it answered. But in its own rasping manner from before, but of a deep demonic reverberating voice of another being that sounded vaguely familiar.

The T'vaoan's mouth moved erratically as the sinister dark voice boomed from it.

"For eons, you have squandered the holy gifts left behind by the Ancients and seized them as your own, but no more!"

A sudden shockwave of red and black magic blasted out from the armoured body of the T'vaoan and slammed into the princesses, levitating them high in the air for a moment before flinging them across the room.

Luna smacked headfirst into the overturned couch knocking the wind out of her, while Celestia was knocked back a considerable distance, into the opposite wall, before bouncing off it and landing face first into the still blood soaked carpet.

"The Covenant will reclaim the gifts from your hoarding clutches and bring about a new era to the galaxy, beginning with the fall of your pathetic little race. The eradication of your pitiful existence on this holy world's surface will be a blessing of the Ancients. And We? We are their instruments!"

Quick as a rattlesnake, the T'vaoan's feathered left arm was aglow with the same sinister red aura that engulfed its eyes and reached out towards a dark blue semi-circular weapon like pistol with a glowing green tip lying on the floor.

The next thing Celestia knew as she opened her eyes, she saw and felt the intense heat coming off from the one handed weapon pointed between her eyes.

She tried to get up but couldn't as she felt the dark magic possessed T'vaoan press its taloned foot down even harder against the side of her, right against her wing, preventing her from using her wings to bat aside the alien.

Coughing badly as she struggled to force clean air into her lungs, Luna shakily got to her hooves from being thrown across the room by the dark magic blast and looked over to where she had last seen her sister. When Luna did, her heart leaped into her throat.

The possessed T'vaoan was standing with one taloned hoof pressing down hard upon her sister. The long sleek purple weapon it had used to kill two guardsponies and then them at the beginning of all this was being magically pulled across the room and latched to its armoured back. The pistol it held in its claws buzzed loudly as the energy collected at its tip in a bright green ball of light.

The T'vaoan moved it closer to Tia's head, leaned in and placed its other glowing taloned hand against her muzzle. In that moment in time something in Luna's eyes ignited, a look that said that her sister could never ever be touched.

"Sing your final song, Princess Celestia, bringer of the sun." it sneered, "For this is your last-"

"YOU SHALL HARM NO MORE OR MY SISTER FOUL BEAST!"

The T'vaoan snapped its head up from Celestia to see princess Luna shrouded by a ring of blue fire that whipped like a whirlwind around the base of her hooves. And that wasn't all, her horn was surging with magical power, eyes completely crystal white.

The T'vaoan clamped the pistol to its leg and threw up its red magically encased arms at the enraged princess.

However, the alien didn't get as far as it was going to do when it was sent flying across the room in an angered screech, smashing straight through the glass doors, cannoning right past a startled and shocked Nightshade, before sailing clean over the balcony railing in a flailing of jumbled limbs after the blue magical beam that was unleashed by Luna and struck it full in the chest.

After standing in place for a few seconds, Luna blinked out of her rage and rushed over to Celestia's side. "Sister? Sister, are you okay? Tia, speak to me."

"I'm a little shaken, but I'm fine." Celestia reassured Luna with a playful smile and got up. "Thank you, Luna." and embraced her.

Luna didn't protest as she was engulfed by both of Celestia's wings. "I thought I was going to lose you," she said as they parted.

Celestia snorted, "Oh please. It'll take more than a spacefaring alien taken over by dark magic control to defeat me. Nice shot by the way. It outwardly shows that you have been learning a new thing or two by teaching at the Royal Guard academy."

"Uh..." said a hesitant voice nearby.

Both princesses turned at the attention-bringing word to see a shaken Nightshade biting back further words as he stood in the space where Luna had blasted the T'vaoan out through.

"Are you-?" Nightshade began as the princesses came onto the balcony. Celestia cleaning the rest of the blood off her face.

Celestia cut him off. "A little bruised ego but we're fine, thank you."

Nightshade breathed a sigh of relief, "I don't think you could say the same for whatever that was you hit a spell with, princess." he said as he glanced down over the railing.

Following his gaze both alicorns found far below in the middle of the street and surrounded by no more than ten of night guardsponies including Captain Greystone in a ring around it, the alien lay on its back with a starburst of blood beneath it and in a contorted position.

"A good thing we didn't go through with our usual plan." Luna remarked.

Celestia took a quick look over at her sister, "And what plan would have that been, Luna?"

"Delve into its mind after we had knocked it out cold and – through me and to some degree of you – convince it to surrender and show us its erroneous ways."

"Oh. Right. That plan… I don't think that would've worked."

"Yeah, I didn't think it would either, Tia."

"Mmm-hmm."

Nothing else was said as; in a flash of golden light, Celestia teleported, with Luna doing the same and both alicorns re-appeared not a few steps away from the ring of guards keeping an eye on the alien but keeping a wary distance from it.

Luna stayed where she was but Celestia went over to the thrall of guards. They parted for the princess as she neared but Celestia stopped from going any further as a terrible gurgling voice emanated from the alien.

"You… have only… delayed what is coming…"

The T'vaoan wasn't quite dead yet.

But only just.

Clutching onto the last thread of life it had left, the alien continued to gurgle out strings of words through its bloody frothing mouth; "He has you where he wants… you will falter under his onslaught…"

Celestia could see that the T'vaoan wasn't possessed by the dark magic or whoever was controlling the alien bird in the first place anymore, but it didn't concern her or Luna nor did it to the alien as it was still bent on rubbing the coming fate in their muzzles.

Luna came alongside and placed a wing on Celestia's shoulder, "Leave it, sister. It only wants to berate us even more. It deserves to die like the monster it is."

However, Celestia ignored what Luna had said and remained where she was as her sister turned and left. She wanted to see this through to the end and, to a lesser extent, wanting to hear what it had to say.

"Not without help… he can't control actions anymore… cannot see you," the T'vaoan coughed bringing up a river of blood pouring from its mouth, "Take this… please."

With its last remaining strength, the T'vaoan took a metal, rust red, half-dinner plate with a small circular hole in the middle with yellow lights, shaped object from its waist and held it up for only Celestia to take.

Right when that happened, the ring of guardsponies that surrounded the alien immediately moved aggressively forward, levelling their spears down at the T'vaoan with one guard resting his sharp tip of his spear millimetres away from the alien's red throat.

Still very much on guard, Celestia took a small half-step forward towards the T'vaoan and the object it was trying to give to her.

"Princess Celestia, wait! It's a trick!" Greystone said with alarm, "For all we know, it's probably some kind of explosive."

The T'vaoan continued to hold the alien object up for Celestia to take, "No trick. Not bomb…" it managed to grate out, "Even footing."

Celestia's horn glowed and the object in the T'vaoan's claws did the same.

"Why?" Celestia asked sternly before taking it, "Why should I take this? After all the crimes you have committed against Equestria? After all that you have committed to us tonight?"

The T'vaoan's arm fell away allowing the half-disc to hover within Celestia's magical grasp and closed its eyes, "If Jah had choice, I'd have done it different. Couldn't… Zealot of Spire… sent Jamataa here… awaiting judgement. For test. Legion Master controlled actions… with a Forhan Key… it is the tahshee… the Covenant wants you gone. Wants your… kanhoh…" and with that the T'vaoan breathed its last and everything went quiet before it was punctuated by the ominous crash of thunder.

Rain began to fall as Celestia gazed down at the dead body of the T'vaoan and then to the object still within her magical grasp.

With the constant sound of *shhhhh* as the rain began to come down harder and without turning to face him, Princess Celestia addressed Greystone. "Clean this mess up and inform Canterlot police CID there's a crime scene for them up in the tower." she said in stern sadness.

Greystone got the gist of her tone and saluted and began to bark off orders. For the remainder of her part, Celestia trudged through the rain over to where Luna was standing separated a-ways from the scene under a magical spell keep the rainwater off her.

As Celestia drew abreast of Luna, she could see very well her sister was clearly upset with her actions. "You shouldn't have listened to it. After all it had done to us. It killed four ponies without any thought to its actions, and yet you show compassion for it?"

Celestia gave Luna a wary look. "Nopony in their right or wrong mind would sympathise with the terrible crimes it committed. Even though you thought this, I know I did not, don't blame yourself." and teleported the both of them where they ended up back in Canterlot castle's throne room with Celestia dripping wet while Luna was not. "But know this. Nopony can understand the full potential of how dark magic can influence those with a weak mind."

Luna blew air through her teeth. "So just what is that thing there it was so desperately needed to give to you?"

Celestia rotated the alien object, "Honestly? I don't know what this is, but it said this contained an 'Even footing'."

Luna wasn't daft to what her sister said. Both knew perfectly well what the term 'Even footing' meant.

"So, where we can find this Covenant and more about it? Okay…" Luna said nodding before adding and pointing a hoof at the half circular device. "Did it mention how to use that in order to get it?"

No. No it didn't. Not once.

Celestia shook her head. "No."

Luna breathed deeply out with a sigh and closed her eyes. "Ooo, great."

Celestia walked over to her cushion of her throne and sat. There she continued to rotate the object, looking with the idea that the alien had left something on it. On her third rotation, the idea she was going with came to fruition as she saw something that caught her eye.

Carved along part of the object were very small characters. Letters to be precise. Crude small letters written in Gryphon, and only very recently too.

Peering even closer to read them, Celestia flipped the object according to what she read, conjured up a quill – minus the ink pot – and threaded the tip of the quill into a smaller hole near the larger one in the center.

Despite the rainstorm outside, the audible click that came from the device sounded like to her Discord snapping his fingers in a cavern through a loudspeaker.

The object produced a strange humming noise before it projected a orange red light that ran almost entirely around the device making it almost circular.

Celestia tentatively reached out with a hoof and touched the orange red light. What she discovered then and there surprised her. The orange red light was entirely solid to the touch.

As Celestia lifted her hoof, the device – now seemingly powered on – gave a strange high pitched chime and a bunch of strange intricate triangle like symbols, each and every one bright red, a bright blue or just white arranged in different orientations, configurations and sizes appeared around within the hard purple light before disappearing completely. Leaving all but three large blue ones which began to pulse rhythmically.

Celestia's hoof hovered over the pulsating triangles.

"Maybe Greystone is right about this being some type of explosive." Luna interrupted, giving Celestia a wary look as she sat down on her throne cushion.

"As ponies may say: Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

"I hope you're right about this. Because if you're not, and this is indeed what he said it was, you're going to cop most of the blast."

"I do hope I am right too, sister." Celestia said, her hoof coming down and lightly touching the flashing symbols.

The triangles began to pulse rapidly before disappearing as well. When nothing happened after five seconds, Luna spoke up.

"Well… that was a whole lot of noth-"

She was interrupted by a retching splutter and a hacking cough of a rasping male like voice that emanated from the device.

"Alicorn princesses of the world designated as H-D-one-one-thr… Flayed talons. I can't read my own writing. Why do I even put up with- Never mind. The designation of your world that was given is of no importance... of this continent called Equestria."

The rasping voice belonged to the alien they had fought.

"One of you, jah, I hope understood the scrawl I did on the underside of the Sangheili data-disc and therefore are hearing this. I'm really terrible at writing in the domo'Igannons mainstay language. So I will tell you my name, information, and the reasons of jamahtaa klual. My betrayal. Through voice.

My name is Tor-Yen. T'vaoan of the three Kig-Yar species. Mehoh, former Covenant marksman. Mehk. And defecting from the Covenant and aligning what remains of my mercenary group to the Combined Sangheili Empire. I've made sure this recording and files is in a language you are able to understand. Also putting this in here, you are the only ones able to access the files on the data-disc, albeit a Spartan of the UNSC, their AI's or a CSE AI will also be able to access this if they find this instead. At least they'll know what else is here if they find this and help you.

Although those two powers presence of being here is hard to predict. I haven't heard a domo'Igannon or Combined Sangheili Empire warship sighting report in months in the time I've been here.

There was a long ten second pause.

Argh! You fei- cannot… remiss. The control has started and I feel my end by the Legion Master draws near and time cannot be wasted.

Contained in this data-disc is information I've managed to compile together from many weeks of listening to comm chatter about some of the patrol zones, camps, and starship staging sites of Covenant military deployments about your continent.

I, however, cannot assure you that this information will be a hundred percent accurate. Discoveries of towns and cities I've never heard such odd names used for tend to change things around. And these changes, if they happen to be relic sites underneath or near have profound negative effects on the religious psychopaths. More often than not many have resulted in population abductions. It should also come to your attention that a Spire is close to your city and a Dark Zone generator even more so. The exact location of the Spire is finicky, however the DZG is just to your city's southeast. I've also heard that a DZG set up close enough can interfere with your… peculiar abilities as well.

There is one last thing.

In between the bouts of his control by the use of the neckpiece artefact, I have taken those pauses of his loss of control to eliminate the other members of the kill team position inside your city… So when you listen to this after my end, I would've been the only Kig-Yar left that you will need to worry about when the Legion Master sets in the motion of stages of his plan."

"Princess Celestia, news from the northern gate!" a loud and unnerved voice spoke up.

Celestia looked sharply away from listening to the recording to see a guardsmare galloping in and heading towards her in alarm.

"Judge my nefarious actions after my death if both of you will, but do not ignore the words of those who saw the sun before you… ugh… I have only delayed for what he sees of you and your kind: Utmost annihilation.

I can only hope that through by my selfless actions, I have provided you enough of a head start to make a difference with your choice of conflict against the Covenant."

Luna turned to face Celestia, "Tia. Can you believe that-" and found empty air instead. She frowned and looked about herself, "Sister?"

Sporting a frown, Celestia was over far to one side of the room conversing rather rapidly with a unicorn mage guardsmare.

Luna turned to head over to her when something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.

Said something was grey stallion pegasus with a peculiar cutie mark and an orange stripe in his steel grey tail, one that just happened to walk into the doorway and stop dead centre.

However, he wasn't facing to the inside; rather his head was turned back in the opposite direction and even though she couldn't hear him despite that she should've, it looked as if he was arguing with somepony out of sight.

Luna turned and focused on the pegasus and was about to call out to him about why he was doing here because Night Court had been adjourned long ago, when all of a sudden the orange stripe in his tail visibly changed to white before cycling to a reddish gold and started to flow and shimmer – much like her mane and Tia's – in that colour.

That was hardly normal, especially for any pegasi or any other pony for that matter.

Luna began to move towards the pony at a brisk pace just as he turned around sharply to face back where he had come from.

Paf!

Startled by the sound and bright flash of light that went with it, Luna turned sharply to look behind and saw that the guardsmare had teleported noisily away and that Celestia was coming over, looking very perturbed about herself.

Luna twisted back to where she last saw the pegasus.

The stallion was gone.

"Luna, what's wrong?" Celestia said noticing Luna's confusion.

"I thought… never mind. What did the guardsmare have to say?"

"Over a quarter of an hour ago, the guards of the northern gate heard a series of explosions and had spotted a dozen or so of large curved objects falling out of the storm clouds trailing blue fire."

Luna's stomach tightened just as a loud explosion rang out that also shook the floor like an earthquake before an overwhelming feeling sense of vertigo overtook her and then she passed out.

After seeing a wall of magic cascade over her and her sister, Celestia collapsed to her haunches, the blackness of unconsciousness creeping into her vision.

The last thing Celestia remembered before she herself blacked out was not the sight of Luna by her side as she collapsed down next to her, but of a serene view of a white sandy beach with, oddly, a setting blue sun in a midnight blue sky touching the horizon and the strange warm feeling of a large figure sitting next to her.

The next thing Celestia knew, it was whispering in her ear loud enough to be heard over the sounds of the crashing waves and the giggles of laughter both close and distant.

"With me by your side, your sister, and mine. These coming days are going to be just perfect… You remember, do you not? You dreamt about this since you were small…"

---

Command bridge of UNSC Arkhangelsk.

The grey arrowhead profile of the UNSC Halberd-class Mk II Destroyer prowled cautiously and menacingly through the planet's lower atmosphere and its threatening storm clouds when one of the officers on the bridge suddenly hollered out a warning from his station.

"Commander Wen. Energy spike at one seventy nine clicks out at one-thirty southeast of our position."

As a living testament with dozens of space engagements with this Covenant Resurgence threat to her name, five successful in-atmosphere counterinsurgency operations, and last and not least her family's ancestry of military tactical traits dating all the way back to the Interplanetary Wars including the Rain Forest Wars of 2162.

To Wu Wen, proud commander of the newly commissioned Arkhangelsk of just three years old sat up in her commander's chair reacting on her gut instinct that was usually never wrong and issued a flurry of orders.

"Nav, come about to two-six-zero, get us in that valley."

"Aye aye, coming about to course two-six-zero, eighty percent to engines."

"Weps, countermeasures spread in…"

If one could've had eyes on the warship from the outside, they would've seen the destroyer take on sudden a slanting rolling list towards the valley, banking ever so slightly over while it turned to the new course.

While Wen issued further orders, the Lieutenant that reported the initial energy spike interjected: "Commander! It's can't be the Covenant. The energy signature is not right."

Wen glanced in his direction from her chair, "That still does not reassure me, Lieutenant Jurgens. That just could mean its Forerunner instead of Covenant, which is much worse."

"No commander, Jurgens is right." the navigation lieutenant backed up with without turning around in his seat. "It's not the Covenant, and it's hardly Forerunner," he tapped at his screen, "The energy that was discharged matched nothing that I've never seen before. I'm running it through the console to see what it's got. Currently it's saying the signature doesn't match any known output and it wasn't artificial but…" his console beeped with the result, "Organic? What the hell? That can't be right." he frowned as he looked at the result.

"Keep it up on your terminal, let me see." Wen got out of her chair to check to see if Nav was correct when another officer turned in their seat.

"Uh, commander? Our scanners are working again." the officer said, befuddlement plastered over his Eurasian facial features.

Wen stopped before turning to face him. "Come again?"

The ensign glanced back at his screens, "All environmental and surface scanning sensors are operating normally again. It is almost like the anomalies weren't there in the first place."

"That's improbable," Wen muttered unconvinced coming over, "Re-check your settings. The data collected from the Prowler showed that the anomalies interfered constantly with any shipborne scanning systems."

"I don't know what to make of it… Radar, Ladar, SWIR, LWIR," he listed off quickly, hands now dancing over his holoscreens as he checked through each system. The ensign indicated to his screen with a stumped expression. "Everything is there. All back online and working normally. No anomalies detected."

Wen frowned, "If that is the case, then we must assume so does the Covenant. If they had not solved or got around the problem previously in the first place." she turned back to the crew, "Lieutenant Jurgens, get me the origin point of that energy discharge. Lieutenant Fey, reposition for a high atmosphere course and someone get jamming countermeasures online, full spectrum spread. As we climb and you detect anything remotely Covenant scanning for us, jam it."

"Aye, commander." came in the multiple stern replies of the crew.

"Commander?" the weapons officer turned in his seat as Wen returned to her command seat, "Should I divert reactor power to the main cannons and begin charging sequence?"

Wen leaned an elbow on the arm rest, contemplating on the course of action. "Not at the moment, Kirillov. The best course of action right now is an exact location, the reason why and what that energy discharge came from. Shipmaster 'Surum plans best on flexible answers not speculation," she drummed her fingers on the chair's armrest. "But spin up the 50's and warm pods 'A' through 'D'."

Kirillov nodded back in compliance, "Aye aye."

The Lieutenant's fingers danced over the numerous holographic screens to key up the archer pods and set up the targeting for the crisscrossing fire network of the eight 50mm auto cannon point defence placed in strategic hard-points on the Halberd-class MkII destroyer.

Jurgens turned in his seat with good news, "Ma'am, I've pinpointed the location of the energy spike and I'm picking up a distress call north of it on the E-band."

That got Wen's attention.

While the D-band was frequently used by the UNSC for typical military chatter and that the Covenant sporadically frequents the F- through K- bands for their chatter including broadcasting on the D- and E-bands, the E-band was designated as the emergency frequency for the UNSC.

"The E-band? On speaker."

"Aye."

The distress message that came through was choppy, but the message was clear enough to make out what was being said.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday! This is pilot seventy-eight-dash-nine Allencourt from dropship Ugly four-zero-four to any UNSC or CSE on this frequency. Condition Phoenix. I repeat. Condition Phoenix. Encountered four Echo Tangos of undocumented equine calling themselves ponies. Mayday, mayday! Transmitting location now. Starboard side engine turbine failure. Unable to maintain altitude, we're-" the call cut to static before repeating.

It was like a lightning bolt was sent through the entire bridge, as everything was silent save for the constant beeps and whirrs of the crew station monitors.

"Did that distress message just say what I thought I heard it say?" an ensign inquired, breaking the silence.

"Phoenix…" Wen said, hands clenched and her mind in wonder before snapping to, "Jurgens. Get me an high resolution scan of the surrounding landscape around that distress call's location."

"On it, Commander!" Jurgens said with renewed vigor.

It wasn't even a minute that had elapsed when the scan was complete and was put up on the centre view screen for all to see.

What happened next was a mix-match reaction of half expressed expletives from few as mostly everyone else had suddenly lost their voice.

"Commander!" a crew member hollered, "Atmospheric slipspace ruptures detected! Point three-three-"

Everyone on the bridge not sitting down was either thrown violently backwards or was knocked unsteady as the Arkhangelsk took a broadside hit from port as a corvette's prow ‒ a Blockade Runner marked with Covenant Resurgence markings ‒ glanced off the destroyer's port side as it materialized from slipspace and struck the UNSC warship.

The only thing that prevented the Arkhangelsk from receiving catastrophic damage to its hull, aside from the two-meter thick protective armour plating of titanium-A battleplate, was the warships energy shielding that took the brunt of the blow.

As the corvette's massive prow scraped down the port side, crewmembers shouted out urgent warnings and system status reports.

"Commander! Ship's shielding took a massive hit! It's down past forty percent and still draining!"

"Multiple banshee fighters and Phantoms are being launched from the corvette aft launch bays!"

"Commander! They are charging weapons!"

"Battle stations!" Wen bellowed. "Kirillov! Bring point defence to bear on that corvette,"

With the hull reverberating as further orders were issued, including getting counter-boarding teams to areas as reports began to flow of reports of enemy combatants that had made it inside, far in the distance two Covenant Man O' War warships slipped out of FTL, and instead of engaging the Arkhangelsk they changed course away from the destroyer.

"Jurgens, track those ships. Relay their current trajectory to Captain Selena if you can," Wen shouted, pointing at the two Sangheili warships as they began to move off away. "And someone get me 'Surum on the horn, now!"

---

Starfire dreamed.

As she did so, her mind raced with fleeting images.

Ones of herself waking up in her quarters and putting on her brilliantly polished to perfection armour, gathering her patrol members, smiles and cheery moods all around, then the first order of the night from princess Luna herself: Patrol the eastern part past Canterlot's gates and sweep north, and then finding herself flying above a forested area while the rest of her patrol covered the ground.

And then the nightmares came.

They all involved a great grey green machine in the middle of a clearing and two tall figures pointing strange weapons at her people.

An imposing tall creature with four mandibles for a mouth then roaring at her and at who stood behind with the word: "Heretics! Remove this filth!"

Inrushing haunting cyan two pronged blades swinging for her head, cleaving clean through her steel sword as she tried to block it, only to be blocked by another pair of cyan blades in a meeting of clashing blue sparks.

Screams of: "Get down" and "Get behind" whilst blue and green bolts accompanied by unprecedented loud cannon sounding *bangs* pounded in the air.

Pink crystalline shards striking into the leg of one of her charges with something being told about later about being thankful it was six instead of seven.

And as every image ended, Starfire always found herself inside a red lit area with her hoof being clasped by a gloved five fingered hand and being shaken accompanied by the words of: "A pleasure to meet you" or "Good to finally meet something that doesn't have sudden urge kill us right off the bat" or "Talk about the universe throwing a fastball evolutionary fluke. Talking horses!"

A loud sound of crashing thunder jolted Starfire awake and in doing so, she inadvertently breathed in a mouthful of muddy water from a puddle she had collapsed next to.

"Eww! Pthewy!" Starfire spat out between retching and choking.

Now well and truly awake, Starfire looked about herself. Her face fell as her eyes adjusted to the night and looked ahead in despair as the rain drizzled down.

Everything about where she was in relation to the dropship crash site looked just as dank and grim and murky than it had ever been after she passed out from the mysterious energy wave that had to have been magical.

Stretching away in front of her was the start to a path of destruction that was created as the alien transport craft plummeted into the forest belly first.

Starfire suddenly heard a series of splashes and a crack of a twig behind her and she reared up while she whipped around with wings out and hooves up in hoof-to-hoof combat stance ready to defend herself from these voices who had decided to try and sneak up on her.

What she saw there instead was the rest of her squad, only having just awoken from the energy wave themselves.

"Whoa! Take it easy Starfire!" Nightbreak exclaimed, his hooves waving at her to calm down. "It's just us."

"Nightbreak…" Starfire relaxed and she fell back onto all fours. "You should know better; I don't like surprises. Especially about all that has been happening."

"Sorry... I'm fine by the way. How are you?"

"Fine, fine." Starfire replied with a huff. She turned to address the other two batponies standing either side of Nightbreak. "Adlyn and Eirlys? You good?"

Both guard mares shared an almost identical odd glance at each other before replying: "As good as we'll ever be, Sarge."

Starfire ruffled her wings as she turned to gaze back at the trail of destruction that had been left behind as the dropship went in with flames eating at its metal wings.

"Does anypony know where that wave of magic came from?" Nightbreak suddenly asked.

"I have no idea." Eirlys answered, "Probably somewhere behind us I think, in… that direction." she pointed a hoof back the way they came.

Starfire set off with Eirlys falling into step next to Adlyn, while Nightbreak brought up the rear.

"That somewhere thataway is Canterlot, Eirlys." Adlyn said matter factly.

"Do you think…?" Eirlys said, cautiously looking about herself as they travelled further down the slope towards the river.

"Well you're just thinking it; I'm just saying it. The Covenant." Nightbreak said.

"I don't really think the Covenant can do magic, Nightbreak." Adlyn said. "Even if they did, I think the human would've mentioned it."

"How do you know that, Adlyn, hmm? How can you know that the aliens didn't just decide to hold back on their use of magic on them until now."

"I highly doubt that, Nightbreak. None of the Covenant I fought had horns."

"They could've used something else… l-like a wand o-or even their hands!" Nightbreak exclaimed.

"Pfft, their hands? Come on, really?"

"Yes. Eirlys, back me up here. You know what I'm on about. It's in that book I read."

"Nightbreak," Eirlys sighed and rolled her eyes, "Nothing in that is real. We all know Griffons just cannot do that. It's just a fiction novel written up by that novelist to give speculation and excitement to the reader."

Nightbreak almost tripped over as they began to move down a wet and slippery slope. "He could very well be telling the truth."

"For your information, Nightbreak," Adlyn piped in, "I've read the other books by that pony, and he is a she, and she has got one crazy imagination."

Insulted, Nightbreak brought up a retort that sounded a lot better in his head than when he said it. "Well… well you two can bite my flank."

Starfire sharply looked over her shoulder, "Cut the banter, we're there."

The guards looked up ahead and came eye to eye with the source of the column of smoke they had spotted soon after the UNSC Pelican had crashed.

"Oh boy…" Eirlys said faintly looking the carnage of the crash site before them.

Situated exposed completely out in the open and lying on its side, half in half out of the river with its nose buried half submerged in the river and bits and pieces of the once exceptionally large Pelican in their eyes was everywhere.

Starfire couldn't help but marvel in shocked awe as she got closer at one of the large pivotal wings – one which housed one of the massive engines – had been completely sheared off in the crash and now the wing lay speared into the ground at a slanted angle and looked like a ramp.

"I hope they survived this." Eirlys whispered into Adlyn's ear. "I really want to know h- mpfh?"

One of Adlyn's wings was firmly pressed tightly over Eirlys's mouth preventing her from speaking any further.

"I know how you feel and it's been a long time waiting. Way too long." Adlyn hushed to her in a firm voice. "But now is not the time, especially with those two here not knowing the true verity of the situation they immerse themselves in."

"It's not like they could cause any further problems anyways."

"Shush. That type of talk is gonna get you into trouble one day and I'm not bailing you out cause it'll apply to the both of us." Adlyn said, "Come on." and hurried over to where Starfire was standing near the rear of the the Pelican.

The ramp door that was previously open when they had left to get to safety from the aerial battle was now completely sealed shut and with no obvious means of reopening it.

"Is there any way to open the door from out here?" Nightbreak said.

"If there is, I don't see it," Starfire said as she looked along the side of the Pelican, "And I doubt that we'll be able to use it anyway even if we did find it."

"Wha-" Nightbreak started.

Starfire turned and gestured to her and his hooves.

"Oh. Right." he said just as the piercing wail of an anti-gravity drive came screaming overhead.

Snapping her head up to the sound, Starfire spotted two Banshee's flying very low, following the path of the river before wheeling around in the sky and coming back towards them... or more likely back to the crashed Pelican.

She watched as the twin Covenant Banshee's swooped in overhead for a second pass – lower this time – before they landed a little ways upstream.

Not knowing whether they were spotted or not from the low passes, all Starfire was able to say was: "Hide." as upstream she saw both of the pilots exit their craft – Sangheili – and began walking in their direction, their futuristic weapons drawn at the ready.

Starfire and her patrol scattered. With herself and Adlyn taking cover under the torn off wing while Nightbreak and Eirlys managed to find a spot under a large slab of metal that nopony knew what part it was from and hid there.

Starfire couldn't see very much from where she was under the wrecked wing but she could still very well hear what was going on around her.

There was the rattles of stones as the two Sangheili came closer. "This is not the way things should've gone, brother. I knew that when Dur squadron did not return, the heretics and their human accomplices were in system."

"Indeed. We have lost many to their surprise in-jump, yes, but we will have them on the back foot soon enough and they will scamper like the cowards they are."

Starfire wondered why the these Sangheili were speaking in her language and not the one she had been hearing through the use of her earpiece only to go stiff and keep her breathing as low as possible as she heard the noise of the aliens boots crunching on stones almost right next to her head.

"I cannot recall where the controls for this type is."

There was more the skittling of rocks as one moved.

"This side, brother. Down to the right, the dented one. The one next to the panel you're looking at."

The rending sound of something been torn off caused Starfire and Adlyn to fold their ears. A few moments later, the ramp door groaned as it began to open up, only to suddenly make a screeching noise and to grind to a shrieking halt as the components that made the door open seized and died.

One of the Sangheili kicked the door hard with a boot while the other grumbled in annoyance.

Coming from within, radio chatter of random transmissions could be heard.

"-Lima 27 to Tango 44, taking small arms fire from the east. Request suppressive fire until we're back in the defilade. How copy?"

"Tango 44 copies. Moving up…"

"Control. Mike 22 repositioning to get a better shot on those Ghosts…"

"Control copies, Mike 22. Gamma 12, move to waypoint Bravo six and provide overwatch for-"

"Tango 42, 43! Orient south west! Covenant tank platoon of two T-26's and three T-58's spotted cresting hill degs twenty nine-"

"The transport's radio still works," the Sangheili to the right said. "Which means the heretic crew may have lived and the craft is still functional, and with the DZG down, they can call for help."

"Trust me, they won't. That is why we're here to finish what we started." the other Sangheili pilot said resolutely, "Cover me as I place the charge."

A louder shuffling and skittering of rocks on the other side of the crashed pelican alerted both of the Sangheili.

"What was that?"

"I do not know, brother. But it came from over here."

Starfire heard the second Sangheili ignite its energy sword and walk by, again just inches away from her hiding spot, around the back of the crashed dropship in search for the source of the disturbance.

It wasn't a moment later when there was a growl of surprise, a weighty thunk, a groan of pain, then the sound the scattering of rocks as the Sangheili that went to investigate the noise fell to the ground loudly.

The other Sangheili bolted upright from what he was doing, Storm rifle drawn and slowly moving cautiously towards the disturbance. "Kursumee? What- hurk."

Starfire didn't hear the rest as the remaining Sangheili gave out a strained gurgle and collapsed as well.

Poking her head out from her hiding spot, Starfire could see the last Sangheili was lying dead on the ground, the rocks near and beneath splattered with blood, and standing over it as well as facing away from her, was an imposingly tall heavily armoured figure in bulky armour and a very aesthetic looking helmet with what looked like a spike or horn protruding from the top of it.

The tall armoured figure flicked blood of the Sangheili off something that flashed silver in the dark before inserting it somewhere in its shoulder. "Rangers down. Crash site secure. Going for the antimatter charge."

"Roger, Roan Four. When you're done disarming that, join Roan Two by the tail to work on the door."

"And what will the rest of you guys be doing?"

"We're going to see ourselves to the four equines hiding amongst the wreckage. Starting with the one poking its head out behind you to your left."

As Starfire heard all this broadcast over her earpiece, there was a bark from what sounded like a dog and crunching sound of boots meeting gravel next to her.

Starfire turned her head up. There she found herself staring back into a thin curved sky blue visor and its accompanying deep maroon red swept back helmet it was part of and it was looking down at her.

---

A/N: This is late, extremely late I know. And it is only Part 1.

Reasons why it took so long is becuase certain things have happened in my life that I had to pospone from writing.

Halo 5, Tom Clancy's: The Division, my grandmother being unwell (she's better now) to name a few.

But most of the absence was due to some dickhead cutting my bike chain and stealing my pushbike that I use everyday to get to where I need to go. Important places. It is my main means of trasportation as I don't have a licence, and that bike was the expensive top quality type, not the type you just get from a typical place. That cycleway traveller rought terrain moutainbike was over $900 worth and some brain dead moron decides that my bike is perfect target to earn some easy low budget cash. The ass might even well have a car and he/she just stole mine to fuel some sort of nasty habit (probably illegal drugs).