Chapter Four
From darkness
Date: September 11th, 2555
Location: Town of New Ponyville, Land of Equestria, Equestrian star system
Individual: Commander Robert S. Crusher of the UNSC Dawn of the Sun(destroyed.)
Time: 2:30PM
"One spoon or two, Twilight?" Robert asked, poking his head out of the kitchen to look at the lavender Unicorn who was sitting on the couch as usual, having woken up from her nap and started some afternoon reading.
"Oh, two spoons will be fine. Don't forget the cream, Rob" Twilight answered, looking up from her book and giving the Commander a smile.
"Sure thing, Twi" Robert replied, ducking back into the kitchen and pouring the sugar and cream into the coffee cup and stirring until it was well-mixed.
Commander Crusher brought the cup out and set it onto the nightstand next to the couch, taking a seat on the couch next to Twilight afterwards, leaning back against the armrest with a cup of his own coffee.
He was looking at the Unicorn, and she quickly took notice of such.
"W-what?" Twilight nervously asked, taking a sip of her coffee and looking back at Commander Crusher, who was swirling the coffee in the cup around by shaking the mug a little.
"I just want to talk...about you and me" the Commander told her, not looking up from his coffee. It almost seemed like he was afraid to look into Twilight's eyes.
"OK, what exactly do you want to talk about between us?" Twilight inquired, staring directly at Commander Crusher.
"Well, it's just...we've known each other for a long time and I was just wondering if you'd maybe...want to go-"
The Commander was cut off when the front door to the library flung open, with the heavy thump of footsteps following it.
Fucking interruptions. This better be good Commander Crusher thought as he looked over his shoulder, seeing Spartan-035 approach the couch and stop before it and the two sitting on it.
"Sir, contact with Shipmaster 'Kabak and his team has been lost" the Spartan declared, prompting Robert to stand up from the couch immediately setting his coffee aside almost forcefully.
"What? Shit... Twily...er, I mean Twilight, I'll be back later; gotta go see what Shipmaster 'Kabak and his team are doing" Robert said, a blush coming to his face at calling Twilight by her pet name.
"S-sure thing, Rob. See ya later" Twilight said, smiling at the Commander as he and the Spartan left the building, heading for the Pelican that would take them to Canterlot.
"This is the entrance?" Commander Crusher stated as he approached the entrance to the old gem caves in the mountain Canterlot was built on. The doors guarded by two Royal Guards, who opened the doors as the Commander and his Spartan team approached.
The guards sealed the door behind them and they all turned their lights on, making sure the cave was clear before Robert turned to face the Spartans.
"Stay sharp; pretty sure this is just a case of bad radio but we can't be sure, the Sangheili were looking for Forerunner artifacts after all" Robert stated, shouldering his MA5D and proceeding down the cave with the Spartans in tow.
They quickly made their way through the caves with the admittedly limited knowledge the Commander had of the caves, having come through them two years ago with Captain Mitchell to investigate the thing the Brutes had discovered underneath the mountain.
Soon reaching the spot the Sangheili were to investigate Commander Crusher had to wonder: what the hell happened here?
Purple blood, scorched rock, and charred ground were all around, along with plasma weapons and the hilt of Shipmaster 'Kabak's energy sword.
"Commander" Spartan-035 exclaimed, prompting Robert to look over at the Spartan who jerked his head at the wall next to him, shining his flashlight on it.
Carved into the wall were the words 'May the Gods have mercy on your souls'.
"I have a bad feeling about this" Commander Crusher stated, looking around for any signs of bodies and saying "we need to get out of here."
"Sir, there's a door" Wilhelm-035 stated, nodding his head at the open entranceway on the other side of the room.
"Shit. Toss a flare in there, maybe the Sangheili went in there" Robert said, keeping his MA5D trained on the blackness beyond the door.
A Spartan popped a flare and tossed it in, with barely any effect on the darkness of the chamber beyond.
"That didn't quite go as I wanted it to."
Suddenly there was a loud stomp and the flare went out, replaced by the darkness once more and leaving the humans wondering what had smashed the flare.
"Sir, look there. Lights" Spartan-035 stated, pointing into the darkness at the formation of lights that was standing where the flare was. The lights were few and didn't seem to form anything in particular apart from a few lines and two oval shapes high up.
Suddenly the glowing form of a human skull appeared with a demonic roar, with some kind of other light appearing next to it in the shape of a blade.
"Shoot it! Shoot the fucking thing!" Commander Crusher ordered, shouldering his MA5D and opening fire just below the glowing roaring face.
Their combined fire quickly caused what ever the creature was to disintegrate in a slow storm of embers.
"Seal those doors, now!" the Commander ordered, reloading his assault rifle while the Spartans stepped forward towards the entrance way.
Before they could reach it however dozens of strange and demonic creatures came pouring out of the darkness, brandishing large blades and strange rifles.
"Shoot them!" Robert commanded as the demons thundered out of the darkness, firing orange beams at the humans and roaring.
"Fall back, now!" Robert yelled, turning tail and sprinting back the way they came with the Spartans close behind, the demons chasing them all the way.
"We need to hold them off once we reach the entrance to the caves so we can close them before they escape!" the Commander declared.
At full speed they quickly made their way back to the tunnel that stretched to the surface, which was a 300 meter dash to freedom.
"Come on!" Crusher shouted, not breaking his stride as he sprinted up the tunnel as small explosions from the orange beams striking the walls rocked all around them. The Spartans were turning and firing while still firing, the demons were blasting at them, and the exit was getting nearer every second they ran.
It would be quite the task to hold off the demons while they sealed the doors.
"Spartan-035! Go on ahead and smash those doors open!" Commander Crusher ordered, turning and running backwards and firing his MA5D full auto at the monsters behind them.
"Yes, Sir!"
The Spartan broke into a dead-on sprint and smashed into the steel-reinforced wood double doors at full speed, smashing them open and causing the two Royal Guards to ready their battlestaffs at the loud noise.
The rest of the Spartans and Commander Crusher came rushing in, immediately spinning around and crouching on one knee, the Commander barking "SHUT THE GODDAMN DOORS!"
The Unicorn guards immediately complied and moved into position to close them, channeling their magic to push the heavy doors.
They were stopped when one of the demons slammed its shoulder into one of the doors, knocking the guard down and sticking its rifle into his face, pulling the trigger which caused the Unicorn to evaporate into thin air.
The other guard was decapitated by a blade.
"FUCK! Toss grenades!" Robert ordered as he dropped an empty magazine from his assault rifle and reloaded.
The Spartans all tossed a single frag grenade and the demonic creatures erected thick blue shields around them, protecting them from the explosions.
Commander Crusher stood and began sprinting away with the Spartans in tow, the demons firing hundreds of orange beams at them.
Suddenly there was a tremendous explosion which caused a wall to be blown open, prompting the Commander to look over his shoulder and see some kind of demon wielding a rocket launcher-style weapon.
As the humans neared the doors that led into the main foyer of Canterlot Tower a large orange blob streaked over them, impacting on the doors and blasting them into millions of little toothpicks.
The many ponies in the foyer looked over in shock as the humans came sprinting at them from the hall.
"RUN! FUCKING RUN, GODDAMNIT!" Robert screamed.
The ponies did as told and fled, the humans never breaking stride as they exited the Tower and emerged into the streets of Canterlot.
"Beta-669, this is Commander Robert Crusher, we need evac RIGHT FUCKING NOW!" Robert bellowed over the radio to the Pelican that had brought them to Canterlot, which was still in the Royal City.
"Sir? What's the situation?" the pilot asked, very confused.
"Don't ask any fucking questions, just DO IT soldier!" Commander Crusher yelled.
"Yes, sir. I'm on my way!"
Twilight Sparkle stepped out onto the second floor balcony of the New Ponyville library, smiling happily at the beautiful day that had been bestowed upon Equestria. The sun was shining, the air was cool and crisp, and life was happy for all in the town.
It was perfect.
Of course, there were dark moments where Twilight began to fear for Equestria for thinking these things, as every time she's thought life was perfect a bloodthirsty alien race came down and began a crusade of genocide against Equestria.
And it all started twenty-some years ago with Shipmaster Thar 'Saramee. Thar, who was the first alien I had ever met. Thar, who was so eager to learn about us. Thar...who became engulfed in the flames of fury when he learned that humans were also in Equestria. If the humans hadn't shown up would things have gone differently? Would Thar 'Saramee still be alive and friends with us? Would my old friends still be alive?
Twilight didn't know, she would never know. She could never know.
All she could do was hope the future would be bright and that future generations would never have to live in fear of the Covenant.
I wonder how Commander Crusher is doing right now Twilight thought, looking over at Canterlot in the distance. New Ponyville was built on the other side of the Whitetail Woods, about two miles from the spot Old Ponyville used to occupy, the land there still being charred glass.
Twilight didn't want to think about it, and instead decided to take a look at Canterlot with her telescope; strange things in the far city was catching her eye.
Taking a look through the telescope Twilight saw a UNSC Pelican swoop in over the city, firing its 70mm chain gun into the streets. Explosions rocked all around the Royal City and Canterlot Tower was already burning.
Wha-? OH NO! PLEASE NO! NOT AGAIN! Twilight's mind was screaming; she could not survive another conflict of pain and suffering.
Where are the things the UNSC are fighting? I don't see any- Oh no, don't tell me the humans are the ones attacking us the lavender Unicorn thought.
She rejected that last thought almost violently; the humans would NEVER turn on the ponies.
But where are the enemies then?
Suddenly the top of Canterlot Mountain detonated in a massive fireball that incinerated the tallest of Canterlot's buildings and raining chunks of the mountain down on the Royal City.
From inside the mountain came a gigantic spherical thing covered in orange lines that glowed violently against its black surface. The massive sphere scanned Canterlot with an orange wave of light that covered the entire city.
It was clearly not of Covenant design.
Suddenly Canterlot was vaporized instantly along with all of its inhabitants, the entire city disintegrating in a storm of embers that soon dissipated, leaving absolutely no evidence a city ever stood there.
Canterlot was gone.
And if they couldn't organize a suitable defense, all of Equestria would follow suit.
"I have long dreamt of this moment, Reclaimer."
Legal Note: Commander Robert Crusher, Spartan-035, and all related characters belong to me. Twilight Sparkle, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and all related characters belong to Hasbro. My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro. Halo belongs to 343 Industries.
