"Get down. Phantom." Romeo snapped at the Chief and Luna, who quickly dove under the cover of a tree. Romeo had his battle rifle at ready as the phantom flew over, in case they were spotted. He breathed a sigh of relief as the phantom continued past them. He turned back to the others. "Clear." he whispered.

They continued through the brush slowly, watching for Covenant. The Chief scanned the sky. "Stop," He said. Romeo and Luna stopped in their tracks. The Spartan pointed at smoke rising into the sky, from somewhere nearby.

"Maybe there are some Marines in that direction." Romeo suggested.

"Maybe." The Chief said.

"What's life without taking a few risks, Chief." Romeo said, shrugging as he walked towards the source of the smoke. Luna and the Chief exchanged worried glances and hesitantly followed him.

Gunnery Sergeant Pete Stacker dove behind a large rock, taking cover. Several pink glowing needles passed over his head, hitting a nearby Marine. The needles erupted in a large explosion, ripping the Marine literally in two. Stacker cringed at the sight. He shouldered his assault rifle and aimed over the rock, firing a short burst at a grunt, hitting its methane tank and causing it to fly off into the air, falling to the ground as the methane ran out. A brute ran out into the open, firing its spiker wildly in the direction of Stacker's squad. A shot from a sniper rifle rang out and the brute fell to the ground, a pool of blood streaming from its head. Two phantoms passed over the Marines, both carrying wraiths. They dropped both down to the ground, as well as four lances of infantry.

"Shit just got real!" Stacker shouted to his Marines. "Open fire!"

The Chief, Romeo, and Luna walked into the burnt out remains of what was once a small village, filled with life. Now, all that remained was the burnt out skeletons of buildings, and hundreds of charred pony corpses lying in pieces on the ground. Luna was obviously in shock. She cared for all of these ponies. The Chief couldn't help but feel pity for her when tears started rolling down her cheeks. They eventually came across a small Marine outpost, where a squad of Marines were stationed. They didn't stand a chance.

"Put up a hell of a fight." Romeo observed. The Chief nodded in agreement, and Luna remained silent. Romeo and the Chief went around collecting ammo and dog tags.

"Cortana, is there any allied forces within the area?" The Spartan asked Cortana.

"Give me a moment, Chief." Cortana said. After a short pause, she continued. "I am reading a squad of Marines and O.D.S.T.'s fifteen kilometers from here."

"Can you get me in contact with them?"

"Certainly Chief." Cortana said, patching him through to Gunnery Sergeant Pete Stacker.

"Trooper, can you hear me?" The Chief asked.

"Who-" Pete began, before being interrupted by a huge explosion. "Who is this?!"

"This is Spartan-117."

"Chief?! It's good to hear your voice. Are you nearby? We could use some help!"

"We are on our way."

"Please hurry!" Pete begged.

"Chief, we've got transport." Romeo said as he pushed a collapsed shack off a troop transport warthog, which was intact except for a damaged windshield. The Chief turned to Princess Luna.

"Get in the back, ma'am." The Chief said. She nodded, still shaking, before walking slowly towards the warthog and climbing in the back, lying down on the floor. The Chief and Romeo got in the front seats. The warthog switched on and lurched forward. Cortana set up a waypoint on the Spartans and the O.D.S.T.s HUD, indicating the Marine squads location.

Buck looked over the ponies who volunteered to help in the fight, most of them looking extremely nervous or afraid. There was certainly much more than expected. All together, the ponies had the numbers of a full strength battalion. Most of them were armed with magnums and SMG's, though the larger stallions were armed with assault rifles and battle rifles, and had either a sniper rifle, rocket launcher, or spartan laser strapped to their backs. For the past three hours, a few Sergeants from the 7th O.D.S.T. gave them some basic weapons training. Luckily for them, they were fast learners.

They called themselves the Royal Equis Militia, lead by the self proclaimed General Rainbow Dash. They reminded Buck of the militia on Reach that helped him and another O.D.S.T. escape Reach. He felt a pain in his heart. He regretted that day, letting them die so they could escape.

"It should have been me..." Buck muttered to himself.

"What was that?" Rainbow Dash asked, walking up to him, a SMG in hoof.

"Nothing... just... yeah, nothing." Buck answered.

"Alright, well, I got a squad of our best shooters set up, just like you requested." Rainbow Dash said, motioning to the ten mares and colts behind her. A large, red stallion walked up, followed by an orange mare wearing a Stetson hat. Rainbow Dash turned to them and cleared her throat. "Gunny, this is Captain Big Macintosh and Staff Sergeant Applejack."

"Howdy! Pleasure ta make yer acquaintance, sir!" Applejack said, shaking Bucks hand aggressively. Buck and Big Mac nodded to each other.

"These are our two best shooters we have. The rest of the squad is made up of Royal Guard members who have had combat experience." Rainbow Dash pointed out, motioning to the eight other ponies, all wearing what looked like the centurion armor the Romans wore, just black with several streaks of silver. One of them had gold streaks instead of silver streaks, obviously the leader of the squad of Royal Guards. He marched up to Buck and saluted.

"This is Lieutenant Star Streak, head of the Royal Guards Special Forces branch." Rainbow said.

"Afternoon sir! Ready for your orders!" Star said sternly.

"We will have your orders ready soon. But for now, I need you guys to show me what you can do. There is a Covenant force made up of five lances, with a compliment of four choppers, four ghosts, two prowlers, and a wraith. The Marines defending the area are heavily outnumbered and outgunned, so we're sending you in with the reinforcements, consisting of two squads of Marines, four warthogs, and three scorpions. Good luck." Buck said, before turning around and walking away.

The Chiefs warthog came to a stop as they rolled up to the Marines position, which was under attack by a large Covenant force. He turned towards Luna and Romeo.

"Stay here with the Princess." he ordered. Romeo nodded in agreement.

"And where are you going?" Luna asked as the Chief jumped out of the warthog.

"To finish this fight." he said, running towards the Covenant. A grunt looked to its right in time to see the Spartan jumping towards it, foot in the air. A soft squeak came from it, before the Chief boot collided with its face, sending it flying into a nearby grunt. The Chief raised his battle rifle, quickly mowing down the rest of the grunts squad with a skillful set of headshots.

"Kill the demon!" a brute chieftain ordered his troops. "So we may feast on his flesh!" The chieftain charged at the Spartan, gravity hammer raised into the air. The Chief side stepped and kicked the chieftain in the back of the ankle, breaking its leg. It barely noticed this, as it swung his hammer at the Spartan. The Chief jumped up, dodging the hammer, and landing behind the brute. Before it had time to react, the Chief pulled out his combat knife and plunged it into the chieftains neck. It let out one last defiant howl before lying limp on the ground, a growing pool of blood surrounding it. His energy shield began to flare as the rest of the brutes opened fire on him. He dove behind a large rock, firing his battle rifle in the general direction of the Covenant, killing one brute.

"It's the Chief!" Sergeant Reynolds said, relief evident in his voice as he dived next to Stacker.

"Let's give him a hand. Open fire, Marines!" Stacker ordered, raising his assault rifle and opening fire with the other five O.D.S.T.s and Marines.

A nearby hill erupted with gunfire as bullets started raining down on the Covenants position. Several grunts and brutes turned towards the hill and returned fire, eliciting a few screams of pain, barely audible over all the gunfire. A few sniper rounds passed over his head. The Chief turned around to see Romeo lying on the ground with his sniper rifle set up on its bipod. Luna was lying next to him, her hooves covering her ears. The Spartan nodded to them and turned back around, shouldering his battle rifle and rising to his feet, firing multiple expertly aimed bursts at the Covenant. One by one, they fell, until there were no more. Two O.D.S.T.s and a Marine climbed down the hill and walked up to the Chief.

"Master Chief, it sure is great to see you." Stacker said, saluting the Spartan. Luna and Romeo walked up behind the Spartan.

"Likewise."

"You guys have a radio?" Romeo asked. "Our long range communications were knocked out in the crash."

"Sure thing. Reynolds, radio." he said to the other O.D.S.T. who handed him a radio. Stacker then handed it to the Chief. The Spartan nodded to Stacker and turned it on.

The ponies lined up against the wall, firearms at the ready. Star Streak peeked around the corner, checking for hostiles. He saw a lone grunt a short distance down the road, its back turned to him. He turned back to the rest of his squad, signalling with his hoof to stay here and stay quiet. He slowly pulled his combat knife from its sheath and stealthily walked up to the ignorant grunt. He pulled the grunt up against him, his hoof covering its mouth.

"You know they say, ignorance is bliss." he whispered to it before plunging his knife into its neck. Its eyes went wide with shock, muffled whimpers making its way through Star Streaks hoof. It soon fell silent and went limp in his hooves. He let its body fall to ground, before signalling the rest of the squad to come to him.

"Nice job, Star." Rainbow Dash said, walking up to him. "Come on everypony! The squads position should be down the street." The eleven ponies charged up street, still watching for hostiles. Luckily for them, there was no more in the area. They came upon the position, which was the Ponyville Library. Or, what was left of it. The squad gasped in shock at the scene. The Marines that were holding up there were all horribly maimed, after being slaughtered without mercy by the Covenant. The scorpions and warthogs rolled past them, the Marines on board and walking beside them looking solemn. Rainbow Dash pulled out a radio and turned it on.

"Buck, do you read me, over?" Rainbow asked.

"I copy." Bucks voice said from the radio.

"We have arrived at your Marine's position. One-hundred percent casualties, library's a wreck too." Rainbow Dash reported.

"Understood." Buck said over the radio, sounding solemn. After a moments pause, he continued speaking. "Hold your position and support the Marines that you were sent in with until more Marines arrive. Then you may return to the F.O.B."

"Understood, Rainbow Dash, out." she said, turning off the radio and stowing it away.

Princess Celestia levitated Twilight on board the Pelican and dropped her inside it. She tried to run back out, but a Marine held her back.

"Princess, get on board!" she called out. "This is the last one coming. You heard the Captain, this place is going to get attacked!"

"I know... that's why I must stay." Celestia said solemnly, her usual smile now a frown.

"But-" Twilight began to protest, before a Covenant cruiser exited from slipspace over Canterlot, interrupting Twilight.

"Marine, time to go." she said to the Marine holding Twilight back.

"Yes ma'am!" she shouted back, before turning to the cockpit. "Time to go!"

The pelicans bay door raised up and closed, before it zoomed away. Celestia looked up at the cruiser to see it charging its excavation beam. Celestia sighed deeply, resigning herself to her fate, knowing no amount of magic could stop something like this. She knew Luna would do a good job leading her country through this. She also knew her death and the destruction of Canterlot would inspire her little ponies to fight for their planet, in some shape or form. A tear rolled down her cheek as the excavation beam fired, glassing Canterlot.

Buck looked up to see Canterlot getting glassed, the once proud city now turned into nothing. He cursed to himself. "Covenant bastards! It's Reach all over again!" he screamed. The ground shook as the U.N.S.C. Destroyer Provocation flew over the town. It fired its MAC cannons at the cruiser, causing its shields to flare and fail. The U.N.S.C. Frigate Aegis Fate followed suit, firing its MAC cannon at the cruiser. The cruiser exploded into a ball of flame, crashing into the mountain that Canterlot used to be on. The ponies and a several Marines stared in awe at the sight. However, Buck and the other more seasoned Marines and O.D.S.T.s just watched. They had seen the same thing happen many times before. After the initial shock wore off, a few Marines broke out into cheers, as the two ships returned back to space. Buck looked over the ponies, who were mostly still in shock, those who weren't were enraged or crying. "Poor bastards..." he whispered to himself. Even some of the Marines were in shock over the event, even though they were taking it much better than the ponies did. Buck continued on, walking down the street towards the front lines, assault rifle at the ready.