Chapter 7

Daniels keyed the COM, "What is it Twilight?"

"The Covenant, they're going towards the library"

Daniels swore under his breath, "Great, Harvest, Young, converge on the library. And kill any Covenant that get in your way."

"Roger that" Harvest said

"On my way, don't party without me." Young had a smile in that tone

"Ooh! A party?" Pinkie Pie's voice came through

"Not now Pinkie"it sounded like Twilight took the COM back, "Hurry, they're getting close."

Daniels reloaded his rifle, and turning to walk towards the library

[…]

There was little resistance and the squad met up at the library fairly easily, they had gathered up their ammunition and technology in the giant tree and this would be where their final stand would be

"There are several Covenant on their way here" Young said, "Did you get the chain gun fixed yet?"

Twilight nodded, as the giant weapon was ready for use, she seemed nervous that she was technically wielding it

Daniels checked the rest of their weaponry, they had a rocket launcher and two shotguns, a grenade launcher and several pistols, the chain gun and quite a few grenades

Harvest loaded a grenade into the launcher, "Not the way I expected to die."

"I always knew I'd die fighting" Daniels stated

"There are worse ways to go out" Young agreed, checking to see if her scope was working

"What's the plan now?" Rainbowdash asked, "Is there any was we could-?"

"There's no way for you to help us" Daniels interrupted, "Unless you can pull the pin from a grenade, you're better off inside."

"And it's either them or us" Harvest sighed, "Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be" Daniels gestured outside, "Here they come!"

The sound of bullets and plasma filled the air, there were cries of pain from the grunts and several grunts of pain from the ODSTs who were able to avoid the shots better from a place with cover

Harvest ran out of grenades that the launcher could use, he swapped to the rockets instead

The Covenant attacked seemed to never end, and very soon Daniels found that the ammunition supply was getting low

"We're running out!" Young shouted over the racket, "What do we do?"

Daniels didn't get a chance to answer as several explosions on the Covenant side of the battle startled him

Rainbowdash was flying around the Covenant lines, dropping grenades that decimated the unprepared troops

Daniels had felt a lighter note in his heart, one that signaled that he feeling better

"Lay them out troopers!" Daniels called, to which his friends did in kind

The Covenant suddenly stopped firing, they parted and an elite in quite ornate armor walked up, pointed to Daniels and drew his sword, shouting a battle cry

Daniels stood up, jumping down from the top level of the library and exiting the front door

"What are you doing?" Twilight asked

"This elite is challenging me, leader to leader." Daniels answered, "I'm doing what needs to be done."

Daniels drew his energy sword, still unsure of how to use it, he mirrored the elite's fighting stance

The swords clashed, and Daniels felt the massive heat coming off of the energy blades, along with the Elite attempting to push him down

Daniels rolled to his left, as it quickly became a deadly dance of blades. He ducked and dodged, doing whatever was necessary to avoid the energy sword swinging at him

"He's not doing so well is he?" Applejack asked Young

"He's doing great, anyone else would've been cut to ribbons by now." Young answered

[…]

Daniels was beginning to tire out, all this constant movement was normal but the sheer stress of nearly getting sliced any second was taking its toll on him

The elite was evidently getting annoyed, as he swept out his foot and tripped Daniels, causing him to fall flat on his back

The elite raised his sword

"Stop right there" an elite minor was standing there, his weapon cocked

"Qualomee, what is this heresy?" the elite zealot demanded

"I have seen the deeds you and those you command have done" Qualomee stated, "These equines are not armed, they flee yet you slaughter them without mercy, can you tell me why?"

"The Artifact may lie within any one of them" the zealot said, "Either way, do you intend to stop me?"

"Give me your sword human" Qualomee said to Daniels

Daniels didn't hesitate, he wasn't sure what was going on but this time he followed his instinct to get back to safety

Qualomee took the sword, and assumed a battle stance

Daniels had made it back inside the library, and he used his VISR to see what was happening at this point

Qualomee and the zealot were in a similar deadly dance, however Qualomee was getting hits in as Daniels seemed incapable, and the ODST easily hid his annoyance

The zealot swung out his sword, and Qualomee dodged, bringing his sword down

For the zealot timed seemed to slow down, his life flashed, "By the prophets..."

Those were his last words

But it wasn't Qualomee who caused him to say that, Twilight felt chills as the zealot fell to the ground

"He died with honor" Qualomee said to the crowd, "Do you intend to do the same?"

Now since the squad of ODSTs had taken out most of the elites the crowd was made of grunts and jackals, who quickly fled

[…]

Daniels watched as Qualomee approached the door of the library, keeping tense in the case of any attack

"Human, I shall be keeping the sword."

"Yeah?" Daniels said, "Good to know."

It was an awkward situation, nobody really knew what to say or do, all except one certain pink pony

"Wee! This calls for a party!" Pinkie thrust a hoof in the air

Daniels looked at Harvest and Young, both of which seemed unsure but couldn't find much else to say

"I don't see why not" Daniels said, "What do you say, squid-face?"

"I believe you heard my name, use it." Qualomee made what Daniels expected to be a grin, "And I shall be there for your celebration Human."

"How can we be sure to trust him?" Rainbowdash asked Daniels

"We can" Daniels said simply, "Anyone who breaks their covenant is considered dead meat, even if undercover."

"So he's stuck with us you're saying" Harvest simplified

"Pretty much" Young took off her helmet, "While we wait we should gather up the last of our stuff, Benjamin that's up to you."

"Come on!" Harvest groaned, "You always leave this stuff to me!"

"Because you're just so good at it." Daniels smirked behind his VISR

Harvest swore under his breath

"Now then" Daniels looked at Qualomee, "How will we get this one acquainted?"

"I can sleep in my phantom" Qualomee said, "I'm the only one here who can fly it."

"Pinkie's parties usually happen late" Twilight said, "That should give us time to assess the damage and repair most of the major problems."

"And console for the casualties" Daniels said, "The Covenant had killed quite a few."

The room was silent, death wasn't common in Equestria, let alone an attack that caused it

"Come on" Young said to Harvest, "I don't think they'll want us at the funerals."

The two left

Daniels looked at Qualomee, "Hey, do you have access to the Covenant battle net?"

"Quite limited, but I believe I can supply you with important information."

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but Spike coughed out a scroll before she could

My faithful student Twilight

I am sorry for not being able to help during the attack on Ponyville, but I will be there at Pinkie's inevitable party, and make sure that the humans are there.

-Princess Celestia

"So she's still suspicious of us" Daniels was right behind Twilight, making her jump

"We don't know for sure if she's suspicious of you" Rainbowdash said, but they all could tell she didn't have her full heart in that statement