*POV 3rd person*

The UNSC loaned multiple vehicles to the Equestrian Navy in exchange for some Equestrian vehicles on a trial basis. Crew members were already repainting the UNSC vehicles into Equestrian Royal Navy colours of white, gold and blue. But one vehicle was positioned off to one side, a Mantis, which had been extensively modified. The top half was practically rebuilt, with a larger cockpit that was designed to be stood up in, it also had a glass canopy and opened from the front rather than the back, to eliminate the downside of the original Mantises which were vulnerable to being boarded from the back. The original weapons were gone, instead it had a pair of large, mechanical arms with hands, with arcane equivalents of the original weapons bolted to the shoulder of each arm. The original legs had Protosteel armour plating to make it just as indestructible as the rest of the mech, which now stood 20ft high as opposed to 18.6ft of the original Mantises (and to make the legs seem less flimsy). The whole mech was painted orange and the ‘nose’ of the cockpit had an intricate piece of nose-art, akin to the shark teeth painted on WW2 fighter planes. On each side of the cockpit the words ‘Kaita Sayer’ were painted in stylised black letters.

“Of all the paint schemes” Garnet said “you had to choose this one?”

“You’re just jealous of my baby” Ruby said, sitting on the top of the cockpit and polishing the glass.

“I think you’re just trying to compensate for something” Garnet said “or lack there-of” he then received a cloth to the face.

“Go fuck yourself!” Ruby shouted, before looking around “uh, can I have the cloth back?” Garnet rolled his eyes before chucking the cloth back.

“You love me really” Garnet said.

“Bite me” Ruby said, deadpanning before taking off and giving the Kaita Slayer the once over from the air “…and that should do it, let’s test this puppy out” she then flew into the cockpit and put on a special suit that had sleeves to track the movement of her arms and legs. The floor of the cockpit was made up of many small rolling spheres, to allow her to move her legs properly. Ruby put on gloves before flipping some switches, lights flickered into life and the engine started up with a whine, she flicked her wrists and the mech’s arms moved to copy her movements. She took a practice punch with the right hand before practicing an upper-cut with the left, walking forward a few steps and turning towards Garnet.

“Still think I made a bad decision having this rebuilt?” Ruby asked, Garnet went to respond, only for a loud explosion to fill the hangar and an alarm start to wail. They soon both heard a sound that made them go pale, Covenant plasma fire!

---

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

I was walking along one of the larger corridors when an explosion rocked the ship, causing it to list to one side and send me, along with everyone else, stumbling to the floor.

“What the hell was that!?” Minion exclaimed, he got his answer in the form of Forerunner watchers, followed by crawlers.

“BREACH!” I shouted, getting out my sword and cutting the head of a crawler off before retrieving the Suppresser, holding it in my left hand and laying down suppressing fire on the covenant and Forerunner forces as Minion fired at them with his cannon.

“Why the fuck are they here!?” Minion asked, taking out an Elite Zealot with one shot, at that point I could hear my come unite crackle into life.

“DAD!” I heard Garnet say “We’ve got-boom-Covenant in the-zap-hold, Ruby and myself are all that’s left alive. Everyone else was unprepared, we could really use some back…”

“HUNTER!” I heard Ruby yell “GARNET, GET DOWN!” their com-link cut off and I changed channel as I killed several grunts with a burst of Suppresser fire.

“Stark, are you there?” I asked as an Elite with an energy sword engaged me, I parried his strike before knocking the sword out of his hand and running him through

“I’m a little busy” he said, I could hear his repulsers firing as well as plasma fire “what do you want?”

“My kids are pinned down in the hold” I said “think you could help?”

“You mean they get a bunch of covvies all to themselves?” I heard Vapaa ask “I’ll be able to send my team down”

“Stark, assist them” I said,

“Fine” he said.

---

*POV 3rd person*

Luna sent a beam of concentrated magic at a wave of Covenant soldiers.

“Die, heretic” a Sangheili storm said, Luna pushed all other troops away before grabbing the Sangheili in her magic and bring in him close.

“YOU ACCUSE ME OF HERASY!?” She thundered “I AM PRINCESS LUNA ETERNAL, IMMORTAL ALICORN OF THE NIGHT, YOU ARE A MERE LIZARD IN MY EYES. BE GONE” he eyes glowed and she sent her magic into the Sangheili and ripped him apart from the inside out, in full view of the covenant forces, who promptly fled. She tossed the bloody remains into a wall before activating a spell that transmitted onto Jul ‘Mdama’s ship in the form of a hologram

“YOU ATTACK MY SHIP!” She boomed “YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS, JUL ‘MDAMA” the Sangheili laughed.

“[Who are you to threaten me, beast]?” ‘Mdama said.

“WHO AM I!?” she thundered, causing ‘Mdama to take a step back in fear “I AM PRINCESS LUNA, CO RULER OF EQUESTRIA, I CAN MOVE THE VERY STARS LIKE THEY ARE MERE PLAYTHINGS, I AM MORE OF A GOD THAN ANY FORERUNNER. I CAN SEE EVERY EDGE OF THE UNIVERSE IN ITS ENTIRETY. NO WHERE WILL BE SAFE FROM MY WRATH, COUNT THE DAYS, TERRA IS NO LONGER A NEUTRAL PARTY IN THIS WAR. WE WILL SEND EVERTHING AT YOU UNTIL YOU BEG FOR DEATH. NOT EVEN YOUR FORERUNNERS CAN SAVE YOU NOW” she cancelled the spell as her honour guard appeared.

“Your majesty” one said, running an Elite through “might I suggest you get to safety”

“I can take care of myself” she said, her coat was turning darker and her mane was becoming like dark smoke. A hunter burst through the wall, she ran it through with her staff. The Hunter began to laugh, it was a deep, booming laugh that could be felt more than heard and seemed to be coming from all over the Hunter. Luna raised an eyebrow before being knocked away by the Hunter and sent into a wall.

“Your majesty” one of the guards cried, running towards her

“No” she said “stay back” she stood up, pulled her staff out of the Hunter and noted the thick, orange blood ‘if it bleeds, we can kill it’ she thought.

“Guards” she said “hit it with your strongest spells” the guards began to shoot dozens of spells at the Hunter, causing a cloud of smoke to spring up, obscuring the view of the hunter. A griffin wielding a rocket launcher went onto one knee and fired the rocked, hitting the Hunter and causing a large explosion that silenced the monster.

“I think we’ve killed it” the commander of Luna's honour guard said.

“One can never be too sure, commander” Luna said, readying her staff. A mass of muscle shot out of the cloud and spattered a guard against a wall before swiping to one side, clearing the smoke and revealing the Hunter, now devoid of armour. As mass of eel-like worms would be the best way to describe the abomination that remained.

The Hunter stretched out one of its arms towards Luna, who sliced off the end with her staff. The Hunter used the remaining part of its arm to knock her into a wall, guards and soldiers began firing cables at the Hunter to hold it down, but it managed to pull free with ease, it then charged towards Luna and swallowed her up in the mass of worms. The commander of the honour guard fired a lightning spell at the monster, causing it to convulse and twitch. The Spell backfired on the commander, sending her flying into a wall. The Hunter stomped towards the commander, knocking the other guards out of the way and went to crush her, only to stop and begin expanding. The Hunter gave a final whimper before exploding in a shower of orange blood and dead worms which coated the walls and guards. A similarly covered Luna hovered in the air for a fraction of a second with her fore hooves spread out wide before dropping to the floor and standing there, panting. The commander stood up.

“Your majesty, are you alright?” she asked.

“I’m fine” Luna said, looking around and smirking ever so slightly before summoning her staff towards her “seems I’ve created quite the mess, haven’t I?”

“Yes, your majesty” the commander said, before looking at her own coat and snorting in disgust “*sigh* my marefriend is gonna kill me” Luna raised an eyebrow and gave the commander a knowing smirk before her expression hardened.

“If we don’t stop the Covenant” Luna said “they will do the job for her” the commander blushed slightly before shaking her head to clear her thoughts.

“Alright troops” she said “form ranks, we’ve got a battle to win”

“HUH!” the guards responded, before sorting themselves into two lines.

“And next time” Luna said “don’t do that again, Mgalekgolo are immune to lightning, Alicorns less so” the commander nodded before leading her troops away, Luna levitated the helmet of the Hunter towards her and hummed in thought as the sound of the troops marching faded down the corridors.

Next Chapter: Chapter 78 Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 49 Minutes