Corporal Heat Stream slowly regained consciousness, his vision blurred as his eyes fluttered open. He looked up and saw Specialist Schnelle trying to shake him awake. He was shouting at him, though he couldn't hear him over the ringing in his ears. A human medic ran up to him, checking his pulse and looking for any serious injuries. A large metal spike shot through the medic's head. Schnelle stood up and shouldered his assault rifle, opening fire on a nearby brute.

"Get up Heat!" Heat Stream finally heard Schnelle say. "Get to cover, pony! Move!" Schnelle helped Heat off the ground, as the two of them dived behind a barricade. A skirmisher jumped over the barricade, firing its needler at a nearby Militia member, causing him to explode in a ball of pink flame and plasma. Heat shouldered his SMG and fired a quick burst at the skirmisher, its blood spurting out onto a nearby wall.

"Good shot!" Schnelle shouted, rising above the barricade, shouldering his assault rifle and unloading his magazine on a squad of grunts, all of them falling to the ground in a mist of fluorescent blue blood.

"Move! Move!" Star Streak shouted as him and his squad ran out of the mess hall, weapons locked and loaded.

"Contact left!" Rainbow Dash called out, shouldering her SMG and opening fire on a jackal, it falling over in a bloodied mess. Pinkie Pie cocked her shotgun and fired a blast a nearby brute minor, blowing its head off. Zephyr set up his sniper rifle on its bipod on a barrel, firing one round, hitting a brute in the head.

"Nice shot!" Backdraft called out, shouldering his SMG and firing a burst a grunt sneaking up on two Equis Militia members, who were taking cover behind a barricade. Backdraft ran up to them, Pinkie right behind him.

"You two alright?" Backdraft asked. Both of them nodded, obviously a little shaken over the whole situation. They looked over Backdraft and Pinkie.

"You guys S.F.?" Heat asked.

"Uh huh!" Pinkie Pie sang.

Heat and Schnelle both raised their hooves to their heads in a salute. "We're with the 23rd Militia Battalion, or what's left of it. We could use a hoof." Schnelle stated.

"Not a problem." Backdraft said. "Let's go show them who's boss."

"Oorah." Heat muttered, sliding a fresh magazine into his SMG.

The Chief sprinted up the street, past the wreckage of burnt out homes and vehicles. He pulled out his shotgun and loaded eight shells into it before cocking it. He slowed down and raised the butt of the shotgun to his shoulder, aiming to its iron sights. The Chief stopped suddenly and listened intently. Then the Chief heard it. There was something whimpering. He looked for the source of the whimpering and noticed it was coming from the burnt out remains of a house to his left. The Spartan walked up to it and stepped through the shattered remains of a window. He heard a feminine gasp and something suddenly moving, probably trying to get away from the Spartan. The Chief looked around and spotted the source of the whimper. It was the same yellow Pegasus from earlier, covered in black soot and cuts.

"Poor thing." The Chief heard Cortana say. The Pegasus seemed to shrink as he walked up to her. He slowly dropped down to his knees, placing his shotgun aside and holding his hand out to the Pegasus.

"I'm not going to hurt you." The Chief promised in a low whisper. The Pegasus looked at him, her eyes tearing up. She jumped onto the Spartan and hugged him, fresh tears streaming down her face. The Chief was taken aback at this, but he gently hugged her back. After a few moments, she let go of him and motioned to three small lumps in the corner. The Chief flashed his helmet mounted flashlights at the lumps, revealing the three small ponies from a few days ago.

"Please... help us..." the Pegasus whispered.

The Chief nodded at her. "Consider it done."

The Pegasus smiled timidly and nudged the three fillies awake.

"Just five more minutes mom..." Applebloom muttered sleepily.

"Chief," Cortana's voice said from the Chief's helmet, "I am reading multiple enemy contacts heading this way."

"Right." The Chief responded. "We need to go, now."

The three fillies immediately jumped up at the sound of the Spartans voice.

"Hey! It's that guy!" Scootaloo said.

"I heard something!" The Chief heard a gruff voice say.

"Come on out! I can smell you!" Another gruff voice called out.

"Brutes. Get down!" The Chief ordered the ponies as he picked up his shotgun and shouldered it. The ponies dove behind a knocked over table, holding each other in their hooves. The Chief stepped out of the house, immediately running into two lances of Covenant infantry.

"It's the demon!" A brute called out.

"Let's destroy it!" Another bellowed.

A loud, enraged roar silenced the brutes. They stepped aside as a large brute, carrying a gravity hammer and wearing bright red armor, walked forward. "He's mine!" It bellowed, raising his gravity hammer above his head and charging at the Spartan.

"Shipmaster! Brute ships, standard line! They outnumber us four to one!" An elite major called out.

The Shipmaster rose from his chair and looked over the approaching Covenant fleet. "Then it is an even fight. Burn their mongrel hides!" The Shipmaster bellowed.

Cole looked as the Shadow of Intent's plasma cannons glowed an angry red as they charged, then firing a barrage of super heated plasma at the Covenant fleet looming their way, destroying two corvettes and a cruiser. The Captain cracked a small smile at this, reveling in the destruction of his enemies.

"Captain, the MAC cannon is online and fully charged! The Aegis Fate and Provocation are reporting all systems green." A crewman called out.

"All longswords have been launched, they are awaiting orders, sir!" Another crewman called out.

"Right, tell them to stand by." Cole ordered, before turning on the ship's P.A. system. "Now hear this! All crew, battle stations! We have an incoming hostile Covenant fleet. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill!"

Cole walked over to a table that showed a hologram of the planet. He placed his hand on the upper left corner of the hologram, causing it the hologram to zoom in on that spot. It showed four green dots, labelled Aegis Fate, Gettysburg, Provocation, and Shadow of Intent, as well as ten red dots, three of them with a black ex mark running through them.

"Selena, what is the closest enemy ship?" Cole asked. The glowing green form of a young woman appeared. She had long, flowing hair and appeared to be in her late twenties. She also appeared to be wearing a Japanese kimono. Selena was the Gettysburg on board 6th Generation Smart A.I., having been installed on the ship just a few months ago after the previous Smart A.I. entered rampancy and had to be terminated.

"The nearest ship is a Covenant Class Corvette, designated Enemy Contact Three." Selena said.

"On screen."

"Yes Captain." Selena said before the image of a Loyalist Corvette appeared on a nearby computer screen.

"Fire salvos one through seven at it, then finish it off with the MAC cannon." Cole ordered.

After a short pause, Selena spoke again. "Fire solution has been set."

"Execute."

The Gettysburg shook as the seven missile salvos were launched. The archer missiles dashed across space and ripped into the Corvette, its shield flaring as the missiles hit. The Gettysburg shook even more violently as the MAC cannon fired, the round ripping through the shield and Corvette itself. The force of the impact ripped it half, causing a violent explosion seconds later.

"Enemy Corvette is out of commission, Captain." Selena stated.

"Captain, we have incoming Seraph interceptors!" A crewman called out.

"Have our longswords engage once they are within range." Cole ordered.

"Aye sir." The crewman responded, shooting off a salute to the Captain.

The Chief rolled to the right as the Chieftain brought its hammer down on the spot that the Spartan was standing on just seconds ago. The Spartan aimed his shotgun at the Chieftain's stomach and fired three blasts, knocking out its power armor. It released an enraged roar and swung the gravity hammer at the Spartan, striking the Chief in the side, sending him flying. The Chief grunted as he landed, gritting his teeth at the pain. Immediately, the bio-foam injectors inside of the suit went to work, attempting to repair the four broken ribs from the force of the impact. The Spartan rose back up to see the Chieftain charging at him, hammer in the air. The Chief side stepped to the left and launched a round house kick into the side of the brute, stunning it. Taking advantage of this, the Chief pulled out his combat knife and tackled the Chieftain, running the blade across its neck. It threw the Spartan off of it and gripped its bleeding neck. It writhed in pain until it bled out. The Chief stood back up, unclipping the two SMG's from his side and readying them, diving behind a nearby building and narrowly dodging a storm of plasma bolts. He leaned to the right and opened fire, mowing down multiple grunts and a few jackals and brutes. He threw aside one of the SMG's and pulled out a fragmentation grenade from his utility belt, throwing it in the middle of one of the lances. It exploded in a large ball of flame, the deadly shrapnel ripping apart anything that wasn't unshielded. The Chief clipped his SMG to his side and pulled out his battle rifle, shouldering it and aiming down the ACOG sight, firing three bursts into the head of the last brute, knocking out its power armor and blowing away part of its face. Only a few grunts remaining, who threw their weapons aside and fled. The Chief loaded a fresh magazine into his battle rifle and walked back into the building, where he found the four ponies waiting for him.

"Is it safe?" The Pegasus asked.

The Chief nodded. "They are gone now."

"Good..." She said.

"We need to leave, they will return." The Chief stated.

"Right," She said, before turning to the three fillies, "Time to go, my little ponies." The three fillies slowly got up and walked behind the Pegasus, their faces showing excitement and fear at the same time.

"I never caught your name." The Chief said.

"I'm Fluttershy..." she said quietly.

A small mare ran up to Twilight, her face showing shock and worry.

"Ma'am! I bring terrible news!" The mare stated. The two Militia members exchanged worried glances.

"What is it?" Twilight asked.

"We have an enemy force heading our way. We need to evacuate!"

"Shit..." Smith muttered.

"Alright, begin evacuation forces, and tell the Militia and our human allies to prepare a defense immediately! We can't allow them to get to the civilians." Twilight stated. The mare nodded and galloped away. Twilight sighed deeply and turned to her bodyguards. "I hope you guys are ready for a fight..."

"Ma'am, we were born ready." Smith stated, pulling out his assault rifle.