Chapter 11

Harvest and Young were having an uneventful time, the slip-space drives had too much security on them, but physical sabotage was easy enough for them to do, Harvest stood guard

"Do you think this is a smart idea?" Young asked

"I'm sure we have to do it." Harvest said, "I've already thought about anything else we could do."

"Dying with the Alpha Team" Young stood up, "How about that?"

"Dying in battle after all" Harvest shrugged, "How about that?"

"Equestria doesn't deserve this" Young spat, "Why should the Covenant do this?"

"They want us dead, no reason." Harvest reasoned, "So it makes sense they want something else dead too."

"We're surrounded! Activate the slip-space bomb!" Will's voice cut through the COM

"Harvest! Young we could use some backup!" Abigale called

Harvest and Young then began to sprint back through the corridors

[…]

Just to finish off Daniels had set the self-destruct sequence in the engines, it should go right after the slip-space drives do, allowing for the best explosion possible

"Daniels, they need our help by the bomb!" Alex ordered, "Come on!"

Daniels got up and rushed through the corridors back towards the launch bay, he could hear the angry howls of brutes, he had hated fighting those things before and now he'd have to deal with them again

Once the doors opened he could see Harvest opening the door on the other side of the room, they nodded at each other and rushed the room

Harvest chucked two frags at Daniels, who caught them and threw them at Young, who snuck up on the brutes and shoved them in their belts

Alex took his turret and let loose a flurry of bullets and cutting off most of the brutes, Abigale used her sniper to get those that were distracted and Will killed any that were trying to rush Abigale

Soon enough the room was empty except dead bodies and the firefight carnage

"How much longer until it blows?" Daniels asked

"Less than a minute" Young answered

Daniels swore, "Everybody follow me I have an idea!"

The ODSTs followed him to the hallway, where Covenant drop pods waited for them

"You're joking" Will sounded incredulous

"You have any better ideas?" Daniels was already settling in, "No? Then hurry up!"

Daniels closed the pod and launched, hoping his squad was following suit

[…]

Daniels was attempting his best at piloting the purple drop pod but it wasn't exactly in English, he stayed in contact by using his COM

"Are you sure this was a smart idea?" Young asked, "I don't want to die in space."

"We'll make it" Alex said, "Because we have to."

"At least it's better than on that junk heap." Will commented

"This is awesome!" Harvest cheered, "We should do this more often!"

The COM began to cut out, Daniels noticed that they were going to land right next to Ponyville

What was that mass of god-knows-what heading there?

"Uh guys?" Daniels swallowed, "I think we forgot to mention the parasite to anyone in Ponyville."

[…]

Qualomee had his phantom and was already assaulting the massive hoard trying to get into Ponyville, luckily he had the fact that he was in the air or the Flood would have gotten him

The databanks showed the parasite to be named the Flood, and it was older than he might have expected

"The holy ones faced you" Qualomee caught himself, "The Forerunners, they defeated you and so can we."

The Covenant ship above them had long since exploded, leaving Qualomee as the sole defender of Ponyville, a title he'd wear with pride

And a little humiliation

Twilight had already said her goodbyes to the team that saved Equestria, and now she had her hopes lying in a lone elite who had abandoned his entire race in the name of honor

Not the best, but it would have to do

He missed the human teams already, they had a charisma that was rare in his own brethren, and they also had their charms, strengths and code of honor

The explosion that devoured the super-carrier was one that contained both fire and consuming void, taking in every ship too close

[…]

Twilight was in the library, feeling dejected and useless. Why couldn't she do anything against these things that invaded her home?

Fluttershy said that she would have to calm down, and take care of her friends. That was all any of them could do at this point

Still, the lack of contact that they had received from any of the ODSTs really hammered home the facts for her, they all died to save Equestria and they wouldn't be coming back to save them, only the eight foot tall alien was their hope

Justified worry? Very much so

[…]

The flood spread and rushed through Ponyville, although more times than not they couldn't get into the houses, most of them were really secure and the infection forms were just not cutting it

Qualomee wasn't able to keep the Flood at bay even with all three turrets working full blast, there was very little he could do here

Then something touched down from space, and it wasn't the purple pods that launch from covenant vessels

Mining lasers blasted the Flood to kingdom come, and Morris's voice cut out of an intercom on the massive hunk of steel

"Come and get it, if you think you're tough enough."