Halo: Memories.

Chapters

Prologue
Arrival
First Contact
Second Contact

Prologue

It's a routine mission. Just a smash and grab. Master Chief Petty Officer John 117 thought as the Pelican flew through the air. Then why does it feel like something is going to go wrong?

Indeed, their mission was to attack the rebel Covenant base that was stockpiling Forerunner tech. The rebels, known as the simply as the Covenant Remnant, still sought Humanities destruction, even after the ceasefire. After killing all hostile contacts inside the base they would then commandeer the Forerunner tech.

The Chief sighed, and looked down to check his trusty MA5B assault rifle once again. He then looked up at the full Pelican crew, fifteen soldiers in all. Two of them were medics, in case one fell in battle. That, more or less, seemed to be the case recently, as the Elites they faced seemed to be the most fanatical.

"We've got about a minute 'till reaching the LZ," the pilot said over the intercom.

The Chief took a breath and--

"We're approaching the LZ, it's gonna be hot! Get set to come out swingin'. Touchdown! Hit it, Marines!"

--released it, shaking his head violently, before looking at the Marines again. One of them was looking at him worried.

"You ok, sir?" said the Marine.

"I'm fine," he replied curtly. The Marine winced at the tone before quickly nodding.

"Thirty seconds!" the pilot yelled over the intercom. The Master Chief once again checked his rifle before the Pelican rocked violently after an explosion sounded below the craft.

"Shit! They got a Wraith. Sorry boys and girls, but we gotta change the current LZ. This place is way too hot,"

The Chief sighed; the prospect of facing down a Wraith tank didn't exactly appeal to him. He watched as the scenery flew by as the Pelican rapidly changed directions.

After a few minutes of flight, the intercom crackled to life. "Okay you guys, this should be far enough. I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that we're not dead. The bad news is that the bad guys know we're here, and know we're coming. You'll also have to hoof it from here. Sorry I couldn't get us any closer with that damn Wraith and all. Single me when you've completed the mission. Good luck."

The Chief nodded to himself and filed out with the rest of the Marines and took the time to reflect on the topography quickly.

The Covenant base was located in a large forest with trees thick and big enough to provide a man, even a Spartan, with ample cover. There was a hill next to the base overlooking it. The Marines and Spartan landed on the other side of the hill.

The Chief then made a quick status check of his armor. While most new Spartans now receives either MJONIR GEN2 or the rare and early design of the Mark VII, the Master Chief received an extremely experimental suit of armor, known to the engineers as the Mark VIII.

One of the Prototype's main experimental features was an internal latch system that allowed the suit to be disassembled by hand, or rather by mind when used by the neural interface. With a command the latches would unlock, and separate pieces of the suit could be taken off by hand. The other feature was an basic AI integrated with the suit itself. A VERY basic AI. Basic enough that it had no personality whatsoever, although it was set to a basic female voice. Its only job was to help with the suit mechanics.

The suit also has various multi-purpous antitoxins and antivenomes. Coupled with the improved sensory system it would automatically administer these as soon as it was detected in the wearer's system. It could also administer morphine at a moments notice. It could also seal up the suit air tight when it detects poisonous materials automatically.

Then there were the defensive capabilities. All the armor plates were strengthened to withstand at least twice as much damage as before. The titanium nano composite bodysuit as well. Both the hydro static gel and the reactive metal liquid crystal layer was improved. The helmet was made to better withstand G's. All in all, it was just better.

The energy shields were redesigned. On the plus side, the new energy shields was redesigned to withstand thrice times more damage and recharge faster. They encountered a glitch, though. Not a fatal one, just enough to focus some time on it. They discovered that if one got close enough, they could bypass the shields altogether. That is, only if they originate close enough. Fortunately the range was half a foot. All in all, it only left him vulnerable to knife attacks and extremely close gunshots.

They also added an armor overshield system to the suit itself.* It could overcharge the shields enough to be able to withstand anything ground battles could throw at him. The Chief wasn't an engineer, but with that many zeroes, he personally though the team went overboard with this feature. He could even boost the power even more, although it would cause his shields to go down and recharge for a while. He doubted he would find a situation where it call for that .

On the cosmetic side, it was nearly identical to the previous versions. The only major change was a big "117" was painted on the left breast plate in white.

Seeing everything was in order, the Chief went to the side of the Pelican. The side of the Pelican had various armaments. Clipping the assualt rifle to his back, he picked up a SRS99D-S2 Anti-Matériel sniper rifle. The Chief looked around and thumped on the side of the Pelican, signaling the pilot was cleared for take off.

Th Chief quickly thought out a plan of attack, and activated his comms system. "Snipers, go to the top of the hill and wait for orders. One of the medics will accompany you. The rest of you will go around the side and flank the enemy,"

"What about you, sir?" asked one of the Marines.

The Chief thought of where he would be needed most. "I will be acompaning the flanking team,"

Most of the Marines nodded, and the sniper team, who numbered five men including a medic, started to hike up the hill. The Chief made a signal to for the rest to form up on him.

They proceeded to make their way around the hill with Chief in the lead. A few minutes into the journey his motion sensor flashed, a red dot moving across it up a ways. His eyes narrowed. He crouched and held out his fist.

Before anyone could react the tell tale sound of a needler rifle rang out in the relative silence of the forest and a Marine dropped to the ground.

"Shit, take cover!" one Marine yelled as the rest did so.

"Oh hell, it's an ambush!" another one said, only for another shot to ring out. The Marine tumbled to the ground with a needle sticking out of his back.

The Chief, however, did not move for he had already found where the shots were coming from. He had already activated the zoom for his HUD and lined up a shot with his sniper rifle at the culprit's head. A split second later, the Elite's head exploded in blood, bone, and brains, dropping to the ground without a sound.

The Chief lowered his arms and ran to the nearest tree just as Grunts and Jackals appeared from their hiding spots. Switching to his assault rifle, he keyed his comms system.

"Sniper team, we're under fire," he said as plasma bolts hit his tree. The Chief peeked out of cover and let out a burst at the Grunt who shot at him. As the Grunt fell with new holes in his body, he continued. "Can you assist?"

"Sure thing Chief-- SHIT! LOOK OUT!" an explosion sounded over the radio. "Everybody alright? Scratch that, Chief. The Wraith found us. Can't do a thing until it's gone."

The Chief nodded. "Understood." He peeked around the tree and fired at a Jackal who had his flank exposed. The Jackal fell with a gurgle as most of the rounds passed through his neck. He switched targets to an Elite who was suppressing a Marine with his plasma rifle. The Elite was caught off guard and had his shields brought down when his weapon ran dry. The Elite turned and roared at the Chief before being caught in a hail of bullets from the Marine previously suppressed. The Elite fell to the ground twitching, bleeding to death.

The Marine saluted at the Chief. The Chief was about to return the favor with a nod with his head when an energy sword appeared and cleanly decapitated the Marines head off. The body fell to the ground as blood leaked through the cauterized flesh in sync with the dying heartbeat. The Elite de-cloaked as the Chief quickly switched to his sniper rifle. He quickly dispatched of the Elite and switched to his assault rifle, beginning to reload it.

Just as the Chief started putting the magazine into the slot when his motion tracker flashed red. He turned his head and his eyes widened. He ducked as a Hunter's bladed shield arm slammed into the tree, nearly cutting it in two. The Chief ran off to the side before shouting, "Focus fire!"

Many of the Marines' eyes widened before switching targets. The Hunter was caught in a hailstorm of lead. The Hunter wrenched its shield arm free and brought it down in front of itself. This led to most of the damage nullified; a lucky few reached the soft parts in between the armor plating, but this wasn't nearly enough to put it down.

Master Chief was about to go around and flank when a blast of green light nearly took his head off. Another Hunter came charging through smoldering bushes. The Chief glanced quickly to the side to see the other Hunter was preoccupied. He quickly tried to think of a plan before one of them got the idea that they would have a better chance in killing him if they teamed up. He eyed his grenade counter and grimaced. This plan, while extremely risky, would dispatch the Hunter quickly. But first... The Master Chief threw grenade at the Hunter he was squaring off. The Hunter, in return, put down its shield arm and hunkered down.

As soon as the grenade exploded he dashed at full speed, using the armor to increase his speed even more. The Hunter sensed vibrations in the ground that could only be foot falls. The Hunter looked up to see the Spartan in a dead sprint towards it. The Hunter readied its shield arm and swung it horizontally, aiming to cleave the Spartan in two, or at least cause massive damage. Master Chief's reflexes were faster, however. The Spartan bowed his head and jumped. Master Chief leaped cleanly over the shield arm and body slammed the Hunter. The Hunter lost its balance at the sudden attack and toppled over with the Chief on top.

Sensing the Spartan would do something detrimental to its health, the Hunter attempted to shake him off. It was no use, however, the Chief reached behind his back. He allowed himself a little smile as pulled another grenade from the magnetic clip on his belt. He then jammed the grenade in the Hunter's "neck", pulled the pin, and quickly jumped off.

The Hunter's "head" region exploded in a cloud of orange mist with pieces of Lekgolo worms sent flying. The Chief readied his assault rifle when he heard a wail. He quickly turned to see the other Hunter charging at him. Behind it the Chief saw a Marine ready his rocket launcher. He briefly wondered why the Marine hadn't already used it before realizing the tree the Marine was behind was all but embers.

A flash of light sent the rocket flying. The Hunter had started to turn at the sound when it connected. The explosion tore the Hunter in two, sending the upper half flying up into the air. Seeing the Hunter dealt with, the Chief went to switch targets. The remaining Covenant forces, however, were nowhere to be seen. He surmised they had retreated back to their base.

He motioned the squad to keep moving, they could mourn their dead later. Now it was time to press the advantage. And so they continued onward, meeting no resistance. That fact put the Spartan off. It felt like he was leading his men into a trap. He probably was, but their was no other way but forward. At least, none that he could think of.

Eventually the base was in sight. He motioned the others to stop. He activated the suit's built in zoom. The base wasn't something of grandeur. It consisted of a barracks, some barricades, and a central building that no doubt held the Forerunner tech. The barricades were aimed at the advancing Humans. There was also a sniper nest. Standing in the middle of it all was the Wraith, which was currently firing.

His first job was to take out the snipers, there was two of them. They would be the first ones to see them. Of course, taking them out would draw attention, as the sniper rifle Chief had wasn't exactly silent. Still, stealth wasn't really an option here.

He centered his crosshair to one of the Jackals. He steadied himself and squeezed the trigger. The top part of the Jackal's head disappeared in a cloud of purple mist. The other Jackal was unfortunate to be close enough to be painted with blood. With practiced ease, the Master Chief switched targets. The Jackal met its fate with a hole in its throat. It fell, clutching at the gurgling mess.

The aliens, mostly the Elites, had dove for cover by the time the second shot rang out. One was unfortunate enough to stick his head out of cover, and was subjected to the Chief's next shot. Another Elite dashed for the Wraith, which had its turret unoccupied. As the Elite settled down, Master Chief fired the last round in the magazine. The Elite's shields did nothing to deter the 14.5 mm round from blasting a large hole in his head. He reloaded as the Elite slumped in his seat.

The Wraith turned toward him and fired. The blazing plasma shot arced in the sky. At this range the Wraith's shot would be easy to avoid. He jumped back, his shields flaring at the intense heat as the shot landed in front of him. He charged through the smoldering grass to the nearest Covenant cover.

He quickly switched to his assault rifle and fired a burst at the Elite using the cover on the other side. Sparks flew as the Elite was suppressed by Chief's fire. Master Chief jumped over the barrier and managed to get a choke hold on the Elite. He quickly turned the struggling Elite towards the incoming plasma fire barrage. Using the Elite as a shield, the Chief focused on the smaller targets, picking off most of the Grunts with ease.

He heard the tell-tale sound of a Wraith firing and quickly tossed the charred corpse aside, ignoring the smell of burnt flesh and armor. Time seemed to slow down the Chief stared down the big ball of plasma, glowing like a miniature sun. The Chief activated his armor lock and was pleasantly surprised when the only thing that told him the plasma shot hit its mark was the flash of light. The armor lock did its job well.

Out of the corner of his eye, the Chief saw and Elite fell with a hole it its head, signaling that the sniper team had recovered. The main concern now was the Wraith. He briefly regretted not bringing a rocket launcher so his grenades would have to do. He did see a Marine carrying one. He pinged the soldiers private comm.

"Yeah, Chief?"

"Distract the Wraith for me."

"Will do."

Moments later a rocket narrowly missed the Wraith, and exploded beside it. The Wraith operator made the mistake of taking the rocket-wielding marine as a bigger threat than the Master Chief, and left him an opening. The Chief made haste, running as fast as he could ignoring the enemy fire, towards the Wraith that had it's backside to him.

By the time he reached the tank, he had his shields down to half-strength. He jumped on the back and un-clipped a grenade from his belt. The Elite piloting the Wraith noticed the shift in weight near the back, but it was too late. Master Chief jammed the grenade into the alien engine and jumped off.

Master Chief activated his armor lock once more. The Wraith exploded spectacularly in a brilliant flash of light and plasma. A piece of shrapnel bounced off harmlessly against his locked up armor. After the explosion dissipated, he dashed to the nearest cover. There were still Covenant soldier to worry about. Unfortunately it was already occupied by an Elite. He had to fix that.

He body-checked the Elite to the ground, and finished it off with rounds to its head. He leaped over the barrier just as the Covenant forces recovered. An Elite roared at him while he just sneered at the alien, unloading his magazine into it. A sniper from the hill top finished the job. He reloaded and started the beginning of the end for the Covenant forces. The Marines, seeing the Wraith destroyed, rejoined the fight with gusto. Some of them even let out a war cry. The Covenant forces fought to the last alien, defiant to the end. It was all for naught, as the Chief scored the last kill.

As some of the Marines checked the bodies to make sure they were dead, Master Chief reloaded one last time and moved to secure the central building. He pointed to a random Marine. "You. On me."

"Yes sir, Master Chief, sir!" The Marine nodded, gripping his DMR.

Chief quickly walked toward the building. Keeping his assault rifle to his shoulder he activated the door, already been briefed on basic Covenant symbols. The door slid open, revealing pitch blackness. He activated his flashlight on his helmet.

Į̵̨̥͕̬̹̯͙̭ͥ̒ͫͥ̈ͩ̾̓̿̏̈ͧ̈́͢͝ͅ ̶̖͓̣̻̳̺͓̱͍͖̳́ͪ̄ͭ͆̓͛̓ͧ̀͜s̵̨̞̦̲̝̅̆ͥͣ̍ͮ͠e̵̷͛̅̌̈ͩͯ̔̊̾̋͛͢҉͈͍͍̯̳̮̩̦̞̬̺͖̼͎̪ͅȩ̛̲̞̣̗͕͕͈̦̗̗͚̳̺͇̫̜͕̦̇͂ͩͪͮ̾́͐́ͬ̏̏́̀ ͧ́ͧ͊̊͛̌ͭ҉̵̧̯͇̭̣̤̮͉̯͖̣̮̣͎̠̭̣͉̬̕y̷͚̝͚͔͉̘̤̼̮͍̹̠ͨ̒̈̈́̀͘o̞̼͇̣̲̺͕͚͔̗̻̗̖͙͈̅̔͑̇ͬͪ̽͊̿̔͢ṳ̴͉̘̐̂ͬ̐ͫ̔ͮ͑ͬ̒͐ͥͩͫ̈́̑͛̚͢ͅ.̧̻̥͚͕͔͎͉ͯ̉̊ͫ͋̿̒̔͜

Master Chief blinked at the ethereal voice that suddenly spoke. The Marine noticed his pause and spoke up. "You, uh, you ok, sir?" The Chief blinked again and turned to nod at him. He decided not to tell the Marine about the voice he had just heard. The voice had sounded...wrong. It made him feel off. Almost felt like he was being watched.

Deciding to dwell on it later, if at all, he pressed on into the darkness. His eyes scanned the room. He couldn't tell much in the pressing darkness other than there was a hallway in front of him. At the end, he could see it splitting in two directions. Light was coming off on the left side. Deciding to go in the that direction, the Chief quickly crossed the room, the Marine following close behind.

As he made his way through the passage way heard a voice. Not like the one he had heard before, this one was chanting in an alien language. As he came into the next room, he immediately saw three Elites, one of them a Zealot, the other two Generals. The three of them were positioned in a triangle formation, with an object in the center. The object was obviously Forerunner. It was cubed shaped and had a glowing indent in it. It was floating in a glowing circle on the floor. The room was filled with various Covenant crates that no doubtfully contained Forerunner artifacts.

The Zealot, who was facing away from the Chief turned around, pointed, howled. All three activated their energy swords and charged. The Zealot swung his sword horizontally. Master Chief ducked and countered with a blow to its head with his assault rifle. It staggered the Zealot, which allowed the two Generals to make their move. Each moved to either side of the reeling Zealot. The one on the left stabbed at the Chief, while the other swung overhand.

Master Chief dodged both the stab and swing. He dropped his assault rifle; it wouldn't be useful at this range. One of the Generals charged at him with a roar. As the Elite lunged, the Chief sidestepped and grabbed the sword arm. He turned the alien around just in time for it to catch the other General's sword to the gut. Master Chief shoved the dying Elite forward, causing both of them to tumble to the ground.

Seeing movement in the corner of his eye, he ducked just in time to have the sword pass overhead. This left the Zealot open for a hard shove. Despite being bigger than the Master Chief, Chief's powered armor allowed him to body-check the Elite into the wall. He saw one of the Elite's energy swords lying on the ground and picked it up. He silently moved behind the General who had gotten back up and had its back turned to him. Master Chief simply shoved the sword into the upper back of the Elite at an angle, piercing the heart and one of the lungs at the same time.

Wrenching the sword free, he turned just in time to barely block the sword coming at him from the now recovered Zealot. They both held their positions, their energy swords sparking at each other, before both stepped back. Both of them started to circle each other. The Zealot made the first move, swinging the sword diagonally. Chief clumsily blocked, not being specifically trained in swordplay. The Zealot made multiple strikes at the Chief, pushing him back. One particularity vicious blow knocked the sword out of Master Chief's hand.

Reacting fast, the Master Chief tackled the Elite to the ground, managing to knock the sword out of the alien's hand, too. The Chief then proceeded to wail on the Zealot. His first few punches broke the Zealot's shield, which also stunned said Zealot. After a few more punches, the Chief got up from the Elite. Walking over to the head of the Elite, he roughly stomped on its head, crushing it. He ignored the purple gore.

He turned to the Marine, who was staring at him with his mouth wide open. "Room clear. Tell the rest of the Marines." This snapped the Marine out of his shocked state, nodded, and went out the way they came in. He went over to his assault rifle and checked it for any damage. Seeing none, he clipped it on his back. He sighed. Today had been a long day. And yet, he couldn't shake the feeling that something else was going to happen today.

He looked at the floating cube in greater detail. It bobbed up and down and was glowing blue. The light pulsed like a heartbeat. He narrowed his eyes. Something about it was...off, yet he couldn't tell exactly what. He shook his head. Whatever it was, it didn't really concern him. His job was to clear out the Covenant forces here, and he had accomplished that.

A faint roar reached his ears, signaling that the Pelican had come back. He stole one last look at the floating cube before leaving the room. Coming outside he saw the Pelican had landed in the center of the base. He made his way to the flying vehicle and got in the back. He waited there while the Marines shifted through the Forerunner tech.

Eventually some of Marines approached the Pelican. One of them were carrying something while the two others hauled a crate. As they came closer, The Chief could see that the Marine was carrying the cube. The cube was was contained in what looked like a high-tech clear jar. They were also bringing the crate into the Pelican. Some more Marines went and settled down in the Pelican. The container and crate fit snugly in the Pelican, due to there being less people. Chief grimaced at that notion.

Master Chief got up and squeezed around the crate to get to the cockpit door. He opened the door and poked his head in. "Plan?" he asked.

The pilot glanced back at him. "We're taking most of the Marines and some of the loot back to home base. Then we'll come back for the rest of the stuff and Marines."

Master Chief nodded, and sat back down. Once the gear was secured, the Pelican took off. The ride back was quiet, most of the Marines thinking about those who were lost during the raid. They were half-way to the base when something odd happened.

Suddenly, a sweet smell flowed throughout the Pelican. One Marine sniffed rather hard, and spoke. "Do any of you smell anything?"

Another sniffed the air also. "Yeah, smells like...chocolate?"

Meanwhile in the cockpit, the pilot noticed something else odd. Most of the dials on board the ship were going haywire. "What the Hell?"

Back in the troop area of the Pelican, the smell only grew stronger. Suddenly there was a loud POP and a Marine was gone in a flash of light. The Marine sitting next to him jumped. "What the fu-" Suddenly another flash of light and sound, only this time the sound was an old camera flashing.

More flashes, and more sounds, each different than the last. Soon Master Chief found himself alone in the Pelican. He got up as fast as he dared to get to cockpit, hearing a cat meow from it. He found the cockpit empty. He reached for the control stick before stopping. The controls were glowing. He hesitated for a moment before reaching for them again. He tried to move them. Nothing happened, they didn't even budge. He gave it more strength. Again, they didn't even move an inch. Most people at this point would panic, but his SPARTAN training kept him from doing that. This allowed him to notice that the Pelican was headed towards a giant glowing pink portal.

Before he could do anything the Pelican had already pasted the portal. As soon as he exited out the other side, the ship immediately listed downward. Master Chief was thrown back and crashed into the crate of Forerunner tech. Surprisingly, he didn't crush it. There were a series of loud crunches and the Pelican ran into trees. He felt himself sliding backwards, along with the container containing the cube whizzing by his head. He ignored it, locking up his armor was more important. Just in time, too, as he felt relatively weightless, signaling that he had fallen off the Pelican. He landed on the ground with a thud. Strangely, he felt tired. Very tired. Darkness crept around the edge of his vision. He tried to fight to stay awake, but it was all for naught. Unconscious claimed him.

"Whut do ya think was that?" asked Applebloom.

"I don't know. A dragon, maybe?" replied Scootaloo.

"It didn't look like any dragon I've ever seen," put in Sweetie Belle. "Do you think we should tell somepony?"

Scootaloo and Applebloom looked at each other, both coming up with the same idea. "Naw, not yet. Let's see whut it is first."

"Won't that be dangerous?" said Sweetie Belle.

"We'll be real sneaky. Heck, we may even get our Cutie Marks in stealth!" said Scootaloo.

At this prospect, Sweetie Belle visibly brightened and nodded. She put her hoof out to the others. The others put theirs to her's.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS STEALTH BUDDIES, YAY!"

They then proceeded into the Whitetail Woods.

Author's Note

* http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Armor_Lock

Long story short, was busy with life and all, coupled with briefly losing the will to write and general laziness, I went on Hiatus. Also, video games. And college. I've also learned to pace myself, (The reason I lost the will to write is I worked myself to the bone to get chapters out faster. It also affected the quality of said chapters.) so expect the chapters to come out slower.
Here's the unedited version. I'm eager to get this chapter out.
Also, 4,700 words is a lot for me. Don't know if you noticed, but my chapters usually peak at around 1,000 words.

Arrival

You will be the protectors of Earth and all her colonies.

"Whut do ya reckon it is?" A feminine voice rang out in the darkness that filled Master Chief's head.

"A robot, maybe?" A second one, this one scratchy.

"Ah don't see any gears on it." The first one replied.

Gears, robot? The Chief struggled to think through his fogged mind. It took him a while to understand whatever voices were talking about was him.

A squeaky voice called out to the other voices. "What do you think this thing is?"

"Looks like a bird to me." The scratchy voice replied.

"Don't look like any bird Ah've seen." The one with the accent shot back. He realized they were talking about the crashed Pelican.

A gentle knock to his helmet sent lances of pain running through his head.

"Scootaloo! Don't touch that thang!" The accented one yelled, making his head hurt more at the loudness.

"What?!" The scratchy one, Scootaloo, yelled back. More pain. "It's obviously out of power, Applebloom!"

"I don't think it's a robot, Scootaloo." the squeaky one said.

Odd names. Codenames, maybe? But they sound like kids. Nicknames? Chief thought. He tried to open his eyes, but they seemed as a heavy as lead. He tried moving his fingers, barely making them do so. A moment passed.

"I think it's an alien." The squeaky one said.

"...that actually makes sense, Sweetie Belle. The bird thang must be its ship," The one named Applebloom replied. "Weird ship shape, though. It don't look lahk a flyin' saucer."

The squeaky, named Sweetie Belle, one made a squeaky noise in response. The Chief groaned and instantly the voices went quiet. "G-girls, I think we should go..." The one named Sweetie Belle said. Master Chief groaned again and heard odd footsteps run away from him. His SPARTAN training kicked in and forced himself to open his eyes, briefly blinded by the sunlight before he polarized his visor. He struggled to his feet.

He quickly took stock of the situation. He was in a clearing in a forest. The forest itself felt...odd A deep trough in the ground led to the crashed Pelican. The Pelican itself looked damaged from the crash. Weapons, supplies, and Forerunner tech lay strewn about in the clearing, mostly undamaged. There were brightly colored horses huddled in a corner of the clearing.

Wait, what? Seeing that they were not horses and certainly not Human, the Chief quickly assumed a combat stance. Quickly scanning the clearing for a weapon. Seeing a magnum lying on the ground, and ignoring his pounding head from the crash, he dashed to it. He heard the creatures scream and turned his head just in time to see them turn tail and run.

By the time he came to a stop, they were long gone. Master Chief huffed at the spectacle. He briefly considered following them to see where they were going, but decided against it. He didn't want to be anywhere near those brightly colored...things. Seeing the immediate threat gone, he took greater stock of the situation he was in. He was in a forest, that much he did know. What he did not know was what planet he was on. He looked up at the sky. The sun was directly overhead, though it was impossible to tell what time of the year it was.

On the subject of the sky, the sky itself was a shade of blue he didn't think was possible. The clouds too looked odd. Almost like they were artificial. He looked back at the ground and again came to the point that the forest was odd looking. He couldn't exactly say why, though. The ground was littered with weapons, pieces of the crashed Pelican, and Forerunner artifacts that had escaped the crate. He blinked when he spotted the container containing the cube embedded in a tree undamaged. Whoever built the container built it to last. He was suddenly thankful that the container hadn't hit him.

He also had to plan for the eventuality that more of them would come. He doubted that the three horse-things were hostile, seeing as they just turned tail and ran at his first move. If there where more of them, however, that'd be a different story. He sighed. Things were going to get complicated very soon. Now, though? Now he had to sort though all this mess.

The snapping of branches and thundering of hooves cut through the silence that normally dominated the forest. Applebloom skidded to a stop, the others doing the same. "Ah...don't think....it's followin' us..." gasped Applebloom. The others grunted in agreement, too tired to formulate a proper response. They waited a while to catch their breath.

"W-what do you think was that?" squeaked Sweetie Belle, still somewhat out of breath.

"Ah think it was exactly whut ya said it was: an alien. Or a robot. Ah don't know..."

Scootaloo sat down. "So, what now?"

Applebloom wiped a hoof across her forehead. "Ah think we should tell Twilight and th' others. Y'know, since thay seemed to handle this type of thang a lot."

"They handle aliens/robots on a regular basis?" asked Sweetie Belle.

Applebloom rolled her eyes. "Ah meant that they handle weird stuff."

"Oh."

Scootaloo stood back up. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

The others nodded in agreement, and set off for Ponyville.

Master Chief sighed. The Pelican was thoroughly trashed; there was no way it was getting up back in the air. One wing was missing, and despite thoroughly checking the surrounding area, he couldn't find it. Almost as if it just disappeared. As his luck would have it, most of the weapons were in surprisingly good condition. The only damaged weapon was a rocket launcher. The barrel was bent, which would cause a deadly misfire. He just hoped he didn't have to fight any tanks on this planet.

His stash currently contained a sniper rifle, shotgun, two pistols, one DMR, a battle rifle, two SMGs, and two assault rifles, and a couple of frag grenades. He had plenty of ammo for all of them. Still, he should still use it sparingly for now. No tell when, or if, he could get a resupply. He was low on food, he guessed that the MREs would only last him about five days. He had no water except for a canteen. Luckily some Marine had brought a wilderness survival kit, left behind when they disappeared, so he could light a fire and purify water. He put all of the Forerunner tech, including the cube into a pile and stashed the weapons in the Pelican when it had stopped smoking.

His first priority was to find a water source. Problem was, that he had no idea where to look. Fortunately, there was a hill to the east. It was fairly close, so he wouldn't have to walk far. He grabbed the sniper rifle and an assault rifle and set off. He tried to shake the feeling of him being watched.

"Welp, we're back," said Applebloom. "We should go to Twilight's now."

"What about Rainbow Dash? She could get the girls together faster than Twilight would." said Scootaloo.

"Yeah, but we don't know where exactly she is. Wit' Twilight, we at least know where she is," replied Applebloom. "Ah just hope th' guards let us in."

"I agree with Applebloom. We should go to Twilight's castle." said Sweetie Belle.

"Yeah, but--we could-- UGH fine." Seeing the dreaded logic in their arguments, Scootaloo reluctantly agreed.

They then set off in the direction of Twilight's castle. The town had been heavily damaged from Tirek's rampage but repairs were coming along nicely, due to a jointed effort of average citizens and construction workers. Everypony was doing their part, even the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Granted, they were only allowed to do small and non-dangerous tasks, as everypony in town knew they tended to accidentally mess things up. As they made their way to Twilight's castle, Applebloom thought about the events that led up to this kind of situation.

They had been playing in a field outside of Whitetail Woods when it happened. A faint pop, loud enough for them to easily hear it, but faint enough that nopony in Ponyville could hear it. As they looked at the source, a glowing pink portal that wasn't there before, what could only be described as a giant bird or a average sized oddly proportioned dragon come out of it. One of the wings seemed to be missing, and was making a nosedive to the ground. A loud crash signaled the end of its journey.

"Whut do ya think was that?" asked Applebloom.

"I don't know. A dragon, maybe?" replied Scootaloo.

"It didn't look like any dragon I've ever seen," put in Sweetie Belle. "Do you think we should tell somepony?"

Scootaloo and Applebloom looked at each other, both coming up with the same idea. "Naw, not yet. Let's see whut it is first."

"Won't that be dangerous?" said Sweetie Belle.

"We'll be real sneaky. Heck, we may even get our Cutie Marks in stealth!" said Scootaloo.

At this prospect, Sweetie Belle visibly brightened and nodded. She put her hoof out to the others. The others put theirs to her's.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS STEALTH BUDDIES, YAY!"

They then proceeded into the Whitetail Woods.

They tried to be stealthy, but that was hard if you're a pony walking in a forest littered with twigs and leaves. They could see smoke lifting up through the tree canopy. All of them hesitated; they knew forest fires could be nasty. Curiosity got the better of them, though, and they trudged onwards. As they neared the crash site, Applebloom noticed that there was a distinct lack of the smell of burning wood in the air. In its stead was an acidic smell that she couldn't quite place. She instinctively wrinkled her nose at it.

They came into a clearing, where the crash was located and took in the surroundings with widened eyes. The bird-thing was in one side of the clearing. It was the thing that was smoking. The ground was displaced where it ran into the ground. The ground was littered with debris and items Applebloom couldn't even begin fathom their purpose.

What was most interesting of all, was the giant green...thing on the other side of the clearing, facing the bird-thing. The ground, too, was displaced around it. The majority of the thing was covered in green...stuff. It looked like metal. Black...stuff covered it where the green didn't. The black stuff looked like rubber. What was even more interesting was what she guessed was the head area. The majority of it was green, with the most defining feature being what she thought was the eye. It was gold, pupil-less, and shiny. It had no white where a normal eye had.

It had the general shape of a Minotaur's body( she had heard the story of Iron Will from Fluttershy when she foalsat.) in that it had a torso( again, Applebloom knew what a torso was from Fluttershy along with other various body parts) with legs at the bottom. Or what she thought was the bottom. For all she knew, the thing could've been upside down. It had two arms, each ending with claws like Spike had.

Applebloom motioned the girls to stop, and waited for it to move. It didn't. Very slowly, they stepped into the clearing. It still didn't move. Seeing that the thing not moving gave them courage, and they wandered around looking at the various trinkets lying on the ground. Applebloom cautiously approached the green thing. The others followed her. Scootaloo and Applebloom went over to the green thing while Sweetie Belle branched off of the group.

"Whut do ya reckon it is?" asked Applebloom.

"A robot, maybe?" replied Scootaloo.

"Ah don't see any gears on it." Applebloom said back.

"What do you think this thing is?" squeaked Sweetie Belle. The others turned to where Sweetie Belle was pointing. She was pointing at the bird thing. Applebloom could now see it in more detail than it could when it was "flying". It was a pale green in color. At the front, or what she assumed was the front, part of it was glass. Or, it at least looked like glass. Regardless, it was broken now. One of what she assumed to be the wings was missing, the side of it glowing a dull red. It tapered off at the back and had two smaller secondary wings. There was a hole that led inside of it. Strangely enough, there were what looked like seats inside. Maybe it was just teeth.

"Looks like a bird to me." said Scootaloo.

"Don't look like any bird Ah've seen," Applebloom turned back to the green thing and her eyes widened at what she saw. Scootaloo just touched the thing. "Scootaloo! Don't touch that thang!"

Scootaloo jumped at the sudden yell. This in turn made her yell back. "What?! It's obviously out of power, Applebloom!"

"I don't think it's a robot, Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle put in her two cents. "I think it's an alien."

Applebloom paused. It did make sense. "...that actually makes sense, Sweetie Belle. The bird thang must be its ship. Weird ship shape, though. It don't look lahk a flyin' saucer." Sweetie Belle squee'd.

It was then that the green thing groaned. Applebloom's heart seemed to stop, and stood stock still. Scootaloo quickly backed up towards the other girls. Dozens of scenarios played in her head, most of them gruesome, as the thing stood up. The thing was giant. The girls barely measured up to what she guessed was its knees. It looked around the clearing quickly before setting it's unblinking eye on the trio. Time seemed to crawl for hours when it suddenly dashed to the side, fast as lightning. Applebloom then decided it was time to skedaddle with gusto. They didn't get to see what the alien was going to do, as the turn tail'd and ran, screaming on the way. Leaves crunched and branches snapped as they thundered through the forest, running for their lives.

Applebloom came out of her pondering when she almost ran into somepony.

"Hey," Applebloom turned her head to see Sweetie Belle had a worried look in her eye. "You okay?"

Applebloom nodded. "Yeah, Ah guess so. Juss thinking."

Twilight's castle was in view now. Two guards were stationed on either side of the stairs that led up into the castle. The guards gave the trio sideways glances as they passed through the doors. They made their way towards the throne room of the Mane Six. Twilight was sitting in her seat, while Spike was staring at his crush, Rarity who was also sitting in her seat. The two stopped talking at each other as the trio came in the room.

Twilight Sparkle smiled at them. "Hello, girls. What's up?"

The girls looked at each other. "We...found something." said Applebloom, scuffing her hoof across the floor.

"And what did you find?" asked Rarity.

"A robot!" said Scootaloo.

"An alien!" cried Sweetie Belle.

Twilight and Rarity shared bemused glances at each other.

Applebloom hesitated. "We don't rightly know what we saw, Princess."

Twilight smiled. "Girls, you don't have to call me 'Princess'. We're friends, aren't we? Could you describe it to us?"

"Well," Applebloom started. "It was green."

"And black." piped in Sweetie Belle.

"And big." said Scootaloo.

Applebloom nodded. "Real big. I'd wager 'twas bigger than Princess Celestia*."

Twilight and Rarity shared a look at this statement. "What else?" asked Twilight.

"It stood on two legs and moved fast," said Applebloom and noted that Twilight's eyebrow arched at the two legs part. "It was th' shape of a Minotaur an' had a giant eye."

Twilight 'hmm'd' "And what makes you think it wasn't a Minotaur?"

"Its legs were wrong," said Sweetie Belle. "And it had a space ship."

"Uh huh..." said Twilight.

Applebloom's ears folded back. "Ya don't believe us, do ya?"

Twilight sighed. "Girls, while aliens may exist, the chances of them landing here on Terra is astronomical. It would take hundred of years to reach us."

Applebloom gave Twilight her best puppy dog look. "Please, Twilight. Can ya juss fly over there real quick?"

Twilight valiantly held her stare as long as she could, but with the other Crusader's stare that soon joined Applebloom's she was doomed from the start. She sighed "Fine, I'll give it a flyover. Where is it?"

"Whitetail Woods," Applebloom said. "And please be careful. "

Twilight nodded. "Don't worry, I will. And Rarity, please take the girls home." and with that she set off for Whitetail Woods.

Master Chief looked out to the landscape surrounding the hill. It had been a bit of a hike to the hill, but the trip itself was uneventful. There was a river due south from his 'camp' and spotted some deer, so both food and water was taken care of. He was about to make his way down the hill when he spotted something in the air flying to his camp. It was purple. He activated the zoom on his sniper rifle. It was... a flying purple horse. What. He shook his head expecting it to be a hallucination, hopefully caused by the crash. That he could deal with. When he looked again, it was still there.

He quickly moved behind a tree that was on the hill and zoomed in on the creature. He briefly thought of shooting it down, but decided against it. He really didn't want to attract more attention to himself. The creature paused its path, and hovered there. He followed it's line of sight and grimaced. It was looking at the crashed Pelican. It stared at crash site, and the thought of shooting it became tempting. After a while it turned around and went back the way it came. It was undoubtedly going to bring more of its kind. Master Chief was quickly growing to hate this planet. He let out a long sigh, and started to make his way down the hill and back to his camp.

Twilight Sparkle flew as fast as she could without being reckless. The Crusaders were right. Something did crash in those woods. She saw no creature that the Crusaders described. Still, that didn't mean it wasn't around. She needed help from the other Princesses. She slowed down as the castle came into view. She barged through the doors, ignoring the startled guards and rushed to the throne room. "Spike!"

Spike, who had been reading, lifted his head from the comic book replied. "Yeah?"

"Please take a letter to Princess Celestia." Spike got up and left the room to retrieve the writing supplies. Rarity walked to Twilight.

"Twilight? What's wrong? What did you see?"

Twilight turned to her. "Rarity, can you gather the rest of the girls? Tell them it's urgent," as Rarity began to leave, Twilight spoke again. "And to answer your question, something crash landed in that forest, and I think it's just like Sweetie Belle said; there's an alien somewhere in that forest." At that, Rarity's eyes widened before settling on a determined look. She nodded and galloped to her duty.

It was then that Spike re-entered the room with the supplies. "What's going on, Twilight?" he asked.

She turned to Spike. "You'll find out soon enough. Are you ready?" at his nod, she cleared her throat. "Dear Princess Celestia,
This morning the Cutie Mark Crusaders saw something crash in the Whitetail Woods. After exploring the crash, they reported it to Rarity and I. After confirming that something did indeed crash in the forest, I believe that the Crusaders are right in saying it is extraterrestrial. I also think that there is an alien alive somewhere in the forest. I would like to know what we should do. Sincerely yours, Twilight Sparkle. Send it, Spike."

Spike took a breath, and blew magical fire onto the scroll, sending it to Celestia. After a few moments, Spike burped out the response letter. He cleared his throat. "My fellow Princess, I think this would be a great opportunity to exercise your Princess duty to Equestria. I would like you to make first contact with the alien, along with your friends. Who else better than the Princess of Friendship to do this job? I will come tomorrow to prepare to meet this alien. Yours, Princess Celestia."

It was then that the door to the throne room burst open, the rest of the Mane Six galloping through with Rainbow Dash in the lead. "Yo, Twi! What's wrong?"

Twilight then told them what was going on, and what they would do. After she was finished Rainbow Dash jumped into the air. "Aw yeah! We get to meet an alien! How awesome is that?"

She was brought back down to earth by Applejack pulling down on her tail "Settle down there. We don't know if it's a friend or not."

Rarity nodded her head in agreement. "We don't know what this alien is like, we should be careful," She looked to Twilight. "You should bring your guards."

Twilight nodded her head in agreement before realizing something. "Where's Pinkie?"

The pink pony was indeed absent from the group. "She didn't tell you? She's visiting her family's rock farm." said Rainbow Dash.

Twilight blushed and scratched the back of her neck. "Oh, heh heh, I think I was reading a book when she was told me," she frowned. "That wasn't very nice of me, to ignore her like that."

Rainbow pff'd "It's not like that was the last time we're ever gonna see her. Any way, when are we going?"

Twilight was brought out of her funk by the prospect of a schedule. "Tomorrow morning. That gives us the rest of the day to prepare. We'll wake at nine and have a quick breakfast. You girls should stay here."

Rainbow whined, "Aw c'mon Twi. I wanna see the alien now."

Twilight shook her head. "It'll be dark by the time we arrive at the crash site," she looked out at the window and saw that it was indeed getting dark. "Let's try and get some sleep."

True to their schedule, they woke up at nine and had a delicious, if somewhat fast, breakfast. After the girls made themselves ready, Twilight looked at all of them. Determined looks were on all but Fluttershy who, naturally, had a look of apprehension. "You girls ready?"

After they nodded she too nodded and spoke, "Then let's go." and with that the five girls plus two guards set off for Whitetail Woods.

Author's Note

*Headcannon: Princess Celestia is the height of an average Human, horn included.

Changelog: Added something to fix a plot hole I found: I will come tomorrow to prepare to meet this alien. Yours, Princess Celestia.

First Contact

Author's Note

There are two POVs: Master Chief's and the pony's. The majority of the rest of the story will be Master Chief's. If there is any spelling errors, or general ideas to improve this story, let me know in the comments.

Next chapter: Chief explores a little bit and meets the two original Princesses.

Edit 1: added: "and prepare for the Princess to arrive."

First Contact

The morning air was crisp and the air cool. The sunrise had just ended when Twilight and the rest of her party left for Whitetail Woods. The guard's armor clinked and clanged, drawing the occasional stare from a pony as they made their way down the road of the town. They made good time, it was about noon when they reached the outskirts of the forest. Twilight, who had been in the lead, stopped.

"Okay, girls. I have something very important to say," she turned to the group. "It is extremely important that we make a good first impression. Especially you, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow Dash, who had been hopping hoof to hoof in giddiness, stopped. "Why me?"

Twilight sighed, hating to dis on her friends like this. "Because we both know you tend to not think things through. Sorry," Rainbow Dash 'hmph'd. She then turned to the two guards. "That goes for you two, too. I know you want to protect me, but I can handle myself. Don't be overly defensive or offensive. I really don't want to start an intergalactic war." The guards only response was to stiffen.

She turned and started to move forward again. I can't believe I'm thinking this, she thought, but thank Celestia Pinkie isn't here. She and the group moved into the forest.

Master Chief rechecked his ammunition and weapons for the umpteenth time. He knew the creatures would send someone to meet him, whether in peace or war, he did not know. He did have to prepare that they may try to kill him which is why he grabbed a DMR and two SMGs, which were clipped to either side of his legs.

He checked his motion track, which he had extended up to 75 meters. There were seven blips, all grey signaling that they were unknown contacts, moving towards him. He took a deep breath and let it out. Here we go.

The trip was silent, aside for the clopping of hoofs, clinking of armor, and Rarity's occasional gripes about the dirt. They saw the clearing up ahead, knowing that this was the one because they smelled a faint scent of fire. Twilight earlier ordered Rainbow Dash not to fly ahead or above the treeline, much to her displeasure. They came out of the clearing and all stopped to stare at the lone occupant in said clearing.

What struck Twilight as odd was not the fact it was very tall, they barely made it up to its waist, nor the fact that its golden eye was staring them down. No, what was odd and surprising was the shape of it. For it was a shape that Twilight knew.

It was the shape of a Human. Those odd creatures who stood up on two legs that had technology so advance that it seemed they had magic of their own. But it looked like no Human she ever saw. In fact, the appearance was so dissimilar to the Humans she saw that she doubted it was a Human.

There was no sign of skin anywhere on its body. Maybe, she thought, our air is poisonous to it. It's body was covered with green and black. She blinked, dismissing unneeded thoughts. She was about to say something when Rarity said something first.

"Egads, what an ugly shade of green." The clearing became deathly quiet as the group looked at Rarity in horror. Rarity was in the process of shoving her whole hoof into her mouth when she realized what she said. Twilight dared to look back and saw to her horror that the eye was looking at Rarity. Rarity was shaking like a leaf before she swallowed. "Wh-what I meant to say is th-that it's different shade than what I'm used t-to." Rarity let out a shaky laugh. Something about the alien unnerved them.

The silence was deafening. Twilight noted out of the corner of her eye that one of the guards shifted his stance, as if expecting the alien to suddenly charge them. She was about to tell him to relax when Rainbow broke the ice.

"W-well I like it..." she said while giving the alien a nervous smile. The others in the shakily agreed with her.

Twilight swallowed her fear and cleared here throat, which was suddenly dry."H-hello, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle." The creature didn't respond or move except to turn its gaze back at her. Or at least what she thought was its gaze. The more she thought about it, the more it seemed that the 'eye' was a visor of some sort.

"A-and I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in all of Equestria." she said. Twilight resisted to hoof-face herself at Dash's boasting.

"A-ahm Applejack."

Each of the group went and named themselves. Rarity stuttered her name and an apology and introduced the near catatonic Fluttershy, who was hiding behind her. After introductions had been made Twilight cleared her throat again. "A-as the Princess of Friendship, I...I hereby welcome you to Equestria..."

Silence rang out throughout the clearing. The thing barely had moved since they first laid eyes on it. Maybe it was a robot, and it was nearly out of power. The thing just kept staring at her; it was very unnerving. Things stayed silent. "Uh..." still no answer. Twilight gulped. "Do you understand us?"

It felt like centuries before the alien-robot-thing did something. It nodded. Twilight let out a small sigh of relief. No need for that translation spell. Things still stayed silent. Hoping for another reaction she spoke "We, uh...we've said our names, what's yours?"

Master Chief checked his ammo counter on his HUD one last time as the aliens came out into the clearing. He blinked as noted how...colorful they all were. The one in the lead was purple, probably the same thing he saw yesterday. He was able to look at it in clearer detail now. Its body was purple, while its hair was a darker shade of the color with a pink stripe in it.

Two of the things that flanked the ones in the middle wore what looked like armor. It was gold and Master Chief swore that it glowed somewhat. Soldiers, by the way they carry themselves, he guessed. They were armed with what looked like...metal swords. He smirked behind his helmet. There was no way they were getting through his armor.

There was one that was light blue and had... rainbow hair. And just like that, his smirk was gone, replaced with a frown. There was a white one with purple hair, while another was orange with blond hair. This one was wearing a strangely human-looking hat. He almost didn't see the yellow one, hiding behind the white one, shivering violently. It was then and there that Master Chief decided they were of no threat to him physically. They may have some tricks up their proverbial sleeves, but he was confident he could handle it.

They were all tiny horses, about the size of Grunts. At that thought, he glowered at them. What was strange about them, besides being vividly colored, was some possessed either a horn, wings or neither. In the case of the purple one, however, it possessed both a pair of wings and a horn. The horns didn't even look remotely sharp. No threat detected.

"Egads, what an ugly shade of green." Master Chief's head snapped to the white one, where the sound originated. The white one stuffed her hoof in her mouth. Chief blinked at that. He noticed that the others looked at it in shock and horror, even the guard's eyes were wide. The white one eventually regained some of her nerve, and spat back out her hoof. "Wh-what I meant to say is th-that it's different shade than what I'm used t-to." He was going to tell her off that it was standard issue, but held back.

"W-well I like it..." Master Chief's eyes shifted to the rainbow one. The rest murmured in agreement. The purple one spoke up. "H-hello, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle."

"A-and I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in all of Equestria." the rainbow one said. He immediately decided he disliked the rainbow one more than the others. Boasting soldiers was reckless. Reckless soldiers got themselves and others killed.

"A-ahm Applejack." the orange one piped in.

The other two named themselves: the white one was named Rarity, the yellow was Fluttershy. The names grated on him for some reason. He was starting to hate this place.

The purple one, Twilight apparently, cleared her throat."A-as the Princess of Friendship, I...I hereby welcome you to Equestria..."

Master Chief stared at her. Princess of Friendship? He didn't know how to respond to that. He was dealing with royalty, something that has been archaic for centuries. And a princess to what? Friendship? The only friends he had are dead. Friendship was useless to him.

The one named Twilight stalled. "Uh..." Master Chief kept quiet, waiting to see what more they have to say. "Do you understand us?" Master Chief stood still before giving them a small nod. Twilight let out a small sigh. Master Chief still decided to stay on the silent route. Twilight spoke again "We, uh...we've said our names, what's yours?"

Master Chief thought of his possible answers. He could tell them his rank, but that would lead to more questions. Questions he really didn't feel like answering. Heaven forbid he would answer with his real name. That only left one answer. "117." he said bluntly.

Twilight and the rest of the ponies started at the sudden answer. The alien's voice, decidedly male, was deep and gravely and brief. "117."

It was then Twilight noticed something else about him. Something frightening. He was carrying a gun. She had learned what a gun was when she traveled through the mirror. She also learned about the damage they could do. She gulped and started to shiver slightly. If the alien turned hostile, she didn't know if she could get her shield spell up in time. Or if it would stop the projectile at all.

"What kind of name is that?" Twilight's blood ran cold after she heard Rainbow Dash say those words. The alien turned his head towards her, but otherwise did nothing that signaled it was upset with her response; its poster was just as straight as when they first came here. After seeing it wasn't going to attack them, she thanked her lucky stars.

Twilight cautiously stepped forward to ask a question that would get the alien to open up more; it gave off a feeling of coldness, detached and indifferent. "What, may I ask, is the name of your species?"

"Classified." Twilight blinked at the response. Out of all the responses she thought he would say, 'classified' wasn't one of them.

"Psst, Twilight. What does 'classified' mean?"

"It means a secret, dear." replied Rarity for her.

Rainbow Dash shot Rarity a look. "How'd you know that?"

Rarity got shifty-eyed. "I read books," she said before quietly saying under her breath "Spy books." Applejack snickered at that. Twilight turned to see the alien had its back to them, with its weapon holstered.

"Would you like to come back with us to the castle?" No response. Silence again predominated the clearing. Twilight frowned. "C'mon, girls. I don't think we're going to get any more out of him." She turned to the others and started to leave before looking back one last. She, with confidence, could tell it was ignoring them.

"Well, now what, Twi?" asked Rainbow Dash.

Twilight sighed. "I guess we go back and wait for the Princess to come tomorrow."

"Well, I for one, can't be thankful enough to leave this place. That alien was so..." Rarity trailed off, thinking of the right word.

"Cold?" said Applejack

"Weird?" piped in Rainbow Dash

"Scary?" whispered Fluttershy.

Rarity frowned, "I was going to say 'brisk', but those work too, I guess. Even if they are blunt."

"Ma'am?" Twilight turned to the guard who called her. "May I say something?"

"Sure, Steel Wing. What's up?"

"I think that alien was in it's Royal Guard legion, or whatever the military equivalent it has."

"I agree," replied the other guard, Blue Shield, "That name sounded more like a service number than an actual name."

"Whut's a service number?" asked Applejack.

Steel Wing looked at her. "It's a way of identifying individual guards in a legion."

"And Ahm guessing the alien is in a type of guard duty?"

Twilight nodded, "That explains the gun," seeing the others looks, she elaborated, "It's a type of ranged weapon," she grimaced, "The end results are...messy."

"How'd ya know what a gun is?" asked Applejack.

"I learned it when I went to the Human world through the magic mirror."

Rarity paused in her walking, "Are you saying that the alien back there is a Human?"

Twilight sighed and shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. I never saw a Human look like that before."

"Maybe it wearing some kind of suit of armor?" said Rainbow Dash.

Twilight rubbed her chin. "That would explain the lack of skin in sight. Although that doesn't explain the 'ship' at the crash sight, or how he got here," she shook her head,"Doesn't matter right now. Now? Now I'm beat. Let's go home and rest and prepare for the Princess to arrive."

After he said his name, he noticed Twilight staring at him with wide eyes. Or more specifically, his gun. He tightened his grip on it, half expecting her to try to grab it. She just stared at it with realization in her eye when the rainbow one said "What kind of name is that? He glared at her. He really didn't like this horse-thing.

Twilight stepped forward, and Master Chief was ready to bring up his weapon. She asked a question, one that he didn't like. "What, may I ask, is the name of your species?" Master Chief's eyes narrowed. This was a big no-no. Humanity was struggling to survive against the remnants of the Covenant that sought to destroy his species. And he sure as hell wasn't about to let another species know anything about his.

"Classified." he said bluntly. Then the horse-things started bickering with each other, something over books or something like that. He didn't really care. Deciding that they really weren't a threat, he holstered his DMR and turned his back on them still alert.

His eye twitched when Twilight asked him a question. "Would you like to come back with us to the castle?" He ignored her. Maybe if he did that they would get the hint and leave him alone. After a while she apparently did and said "C'mon, girls. I don't think we're going to get any more out of him."

He sighed in relief when he saw the grey dots move away from him. Finally. He relaxed. He glanced over at he Pelican. He still had a few days of MRE's, and had saw some deer yesterday so his food was taken care of. For now. His canteen finished boiling over the fire, its contents purified.

He still had a few hours left to kill, so he replaced DMR with the sniper rifle. He kept his SMGs on his thighs and picked a direction. He then set out to explore his surroundings.

Second Contact

The forest felt wrong. Master Chief had this feeling since he got here. The forest was unnaturally quiet. Ever since he had arrived, the forest had no sounds of birds or other woodland creatures. He knew deer were somewhere around here but he could never hear them, only see them. The only sound was his boots crunching on twigs, leaves, and grass. Stepping over a log, he trained his eye on his compass on his HUD; he was headed west, deeper into the forest.

He stopped and scanned his surroundings. The quietness was beginning to unnerve him. The deeper into the forest he got, the quieter it was. Even his footsteps sounded muted. He hesitated before pressing onward. It was about a minute or two when he found something of interest. A tree.

The tree was in a clearing, in the middle of it. The tree was black, dead. The grass around it, a good two meters, was also dead. Its black branches twisted and spired upwards to the sky. Its bark looked burned. He unconsciously gripped his sniper rifle tighter at the sight of the weird tree. The feeling of being watched intensified. It was deathly quiet, except for the pounding of his heart in his ears; it was fast.

He decided he had explored enough for the day, and left the creepy tree. He backtracked his way back to the Pelican. As he stepped into the clearing, he decided to have something to eat. As he neared the Pelican where he stored his items, he noticed something amiss. There was a incessant buzzing coming from inside the Pelican. He slung his sniper rifle on his back and readied his SMGs, clicking off the safeties. As he made his way along the side of the Pelican, he forced himself to calm down. That tree had unnerved him too much. as he turned the corner into the Pelican he was stunned at what he saw.

The Pelican was filled with flying multi-colored balls with eyes. They wre no bigger that a base ball, had tiny legs and insect eyes and wings. They were different colors ranging from green to blue to yellow, and they were packed together so tightly Master Chief couldn't see the back of the Pelican. He stood there bewildered for a moment before letting loose a burst from his SMGs. As the rounds tore through the creatures, they popped like Flood infection forms. Master Chief grimaced at that thought. The rest of the surviving flying creatures turned to him and flooded out of the Pelican. Master Chief side-swatted one as the rest flew away, passing him by.

Master Chief looked at the one he knocked to the ground, which was lying dazed on the ground. It was covered in fur, and had a non-insect mouth. Master Chief stepped on it with a squishy pop. What were they doing in there? he thought. He looked back into the Pelican and noticed something was missing. The MREs. It didn't take a genius to figure out who, or what, took them. Or rather ate them, since there were crumbs on the floor. Master Chief grounded his teeth so hard, he swore he heard them crack.

Twilight Sparkle paced anxiously behind the doors of her castle. Princess Celestia would be here any moment. After a few more minutes of waiting, she was about to go up to the dining room to be with her friends when the doors opened. Princess Celestia, and to Twilight's surprise, Princess Luna came strolling in followed by their respective guards.

Celestia smiled at her once-was student. "Hello, Twilight. Sorry we are late. Prince Blueblood wanted something."

Twilight grimaced at the name. Prince Blueblood was, to put it lightly, arrogant. "It's alright, Princ-- I mean Celestia. Shall we go into the dining room with the others?"

Princess Celestia smiled warmly, "That would be lovely."

Twilight led them to the dining room, where her friends sat. The three Princesses settled down and helped themselves to dinner. As they ate Princess Luna spoke up. "My dear Twilight, where is this alien? Is he not hungry?"

Twilight set down her fork and looked at her friends with a sad expression, that which they returned. "He didn't come."

Luna blinked and turned her head quizzically, "It did not come to a place where warm beds lie?"

Twilight shook her head, "He didn't seem to want to be with others."

"How did you know it was a 'he'?"

"He sounded like a stallion."

Celestia wiped her mouth, "It spoke to you? In words you understood?"

Twilight nodded. Applejack looked out of a window in the room. "It's awfully cold at night. Hope the little critter's alright."

Rainbow Dash laughed. "Little? The thing was taller than Princess Celestia!" she looked at the Princess in question, "Uh, no offence, Princess Celestia."

Celestia smiled warmly, "No offence taken."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Ya know what Ah meant."

Rarity daintily wiped her mouth, "I do wonder what the alien is doing right now..."

Master Chief cursed the planet he was on as he gathered the bugs' remains.

Rainbow Dash shrugged, "Probably alien stuff."

Applejack raised her eyebrow with a smile, "And whut does an alien do?"

Dash's eyes shifted side to side, "Y'know. Alien...stuff."

Applejack hummed before bursting into laughter. Rainbow followed her, and before long the rest of the table joined in. They ate the rest of their dinner, making small talk along the way. After a while Rarity excused herself to prepare for bed. The others soon excused themselves after that.

Their bellies full, they all slept silently. All except Princess Luna, who was in the Dreamscape. Here, she did not have a body in this place, but had her entire essence into a sphere that floated around in the void. The dreams were represented as opaque bubbles that drifted aimlessly. Each had their own aura, or feel to it so she could identify each one. There was one dream, however, that she was particularly looking for. She easily found it, as it wasn't a pony, dragon, or any other creature nearby. No, this one was the alien's and she was most eager to see what an alien's dream was like. She stopped herself, however.

On some extremely rare occasions, dreamers could sense Princess Luna in their dreams whether she liked it or not. What if she was caught? It would almost certainly destroy any hope of earning the alien's trust. Despite the fact that most ponies would not mind the Princess in their dreams, this was most likely not true for the alien. She gave a mental sigh. Maybe someday, when they have gained its trust, she could peer inside. Not tonight, however. With nothing to keep her from fulfilling her duties as Guarding of Dreams, she did just that.

Master Chief stared at the sun as it went down below the horizon, his polarized visor protecting his eyes. He had tried to hunt in the last few hours of the day, but he couldn't find any trace of the deer he saw the other day. Almost like they knew he was going hunt them eventually. This brought to light a important issue. Getting home. While the Pelican had a emergency beacon that could signal for help, it would take years for anyone to pick up on it. Decades, even. Decades on this planet with its annoying residents.

Having discarded his sniper rifle and SMGs and instead exchanged them for a pistol, he made his way to his campfire. Taking off his helmet, he took a sip of the hot water. He put back on his helmet and leaned back against a tree, and tried to get some sleep. He had a feeling that tomorrow was going to be a very busy day.

Master Chief's dreams were of blood and plasma. An explosion knocked him off of his feet. His assault rifle skittered across the ground. He hurt everywhere. His visor was cracked, and blood was splattered against it. He could barely hear the explosions and screams of Marines dying all around him over his beating heart and thundering breath.

Footsteps that were behind him came closer.

Chief? Why did you leave me, Chief? Why did you leave me to die?

Master Chief shuddered as he woke. He looked around. It was late morning. 10:03, to be precise. He took off his helmet as he got up. He took a swig of water from his canteen. He went to grab a MRE when he remembered that the bug creatures ate them. He put back on his helmet and looked around. Nothing had changed. Good. The last thing he wanted was another issue while he addressed the food problem. Speaking of food, he needed to find some. He again grabbed his sniper rifle, but instead took a shotgun instead of SMGs.

Turning to the direction of the hill, he began his hike to there. As he crested the hilltop, what caught his eye would prove to complicate his day further, and would probably ruin his day. Multi-colored specks made their way to the forest. He activated his sniper's zoom and with disdain recognized that they were the things that came to him yesterday, with additional creatures.

Master Chief made his way down hill, and quickly made his way to camp. He trade the sniper rifle for a battle rifle. He had to wait a few minutes before his motion tracker picked up something. Eleven dots made their way to them. The first two that stepped into the clearing were larger than the others. The white one stood as tall as a average Human, horn included. The blue one was half a head shorter than the white one. They both had wings and a horn. Their hair blew in a non-existent wind. One of them's hair was akin to the night sky. The other's was a rainbow of blue, pink, and green.

Four more aliens came into the clearing, and at a glance, he could tell they were guards. Two of them, however, were different. They had bat wings, and their eyes were like open wise vertically.* Their ears were also different. These guards took up stances on either side of the blue horse. The rest of the horse-things came into the clearing. They were the ones he saw yesterday.

The two tall ones looked at him with slightly wide eyes. They recovered quickly. The white one cleared its throat. "Hello, I am Princess Celestia of Equestria," The Spartan stayed silent. If his silence fazed them, they hid it well. "This is Princess Luna, my sister. With Princess Twilight Sparkle, we rule Equestria,"

Master Chief stayed silent. So this...Equestria was where he was located. As far as he knew, no UNSC planet had talking horses. He was really far away from home.

Her next statement brought him out of those thoughts. "I've noticed you had some Parasprite problems,"

Master Chief cocked his head. "Parasprites?"

She motioned to the bug things he had killed earlier that were scattered around a tree. He glared at the dead bugs, "Oh. Those."

"I'm guessing they ate whatever food you had."

Master Chief looked back at her and slowly nodded.

"And what, if I may ask, are you going to do about the food situation?" she asked.

"Hunt." He said simply. Neither the white one or the blue one made any reaction to his answer. The majority of the rest of the Ponies, however, winced. Only the guards controlled their reactions, though they either of them glared or shifted on their hooves.

"You do realize, however, that most of the life forms here are somewhat sentient. While some of them can't speak, most of them can still reason and feel just as we do."

"...they're deer."

"You wish to hunt deer? I'm afraid to say that they are just as intelligent as Ponies." Intelligent deer? He guest that made sense, as there were talking ponies.

The orange one, Applejack, took a step forward. "Ya'll welcome to stay at th' farm. We have plenty o' food. Just, uh, don't eat th' animals."

Master Chief sighed. On one hand, he really didn't want anything to do with the Ponies. On the other, he had no food and hunting seems like it would cause even more problems that he didn't want to deal with. "Fine."

Celestia beamed. "Excellent. It seems we are in an agreement. You will stay at Applejack's farm. Is there anything else you need?"

"I need a way home."

Celestia's smile faltered a bit. She turned to Twilight. "I entrust that job to my capable fellow Princess, Twilight Sparkle."

The Pony in question blushed, "I'll do my best, Celestia."

Celestia turned back to the Spartan. "Is there anything you need to take with you?"

He turned to the Pelican. That could stay, as it was currently just a useless hunk of junk. The weapons and supplies on the other hand..."Yeah."

"So be it." Celestia's horn glowed and Master Chief was about to bring his weapon up when a large gold accented chest appeared. He went back to gather his stuff and put it in the fancy chest, careful to have the weapon's safeties on. Once done he nodded at the Princess. They all then left the clearing. The journey was silent except for the clopping of hooves. Once they left the forest Princess Celestia turned to the Human.

"I'm afraid this is were we part ways. We will be in town for a few days to help Twilight begin her research. If you need anything, you have but to ask. Luna will accompany you to bring the chest."

Unlikely. He thought. The group split apart and he then turned to follow Applejack. This journey, too, was silent. The scenery changed, apple trees becoming more common. Eventually they reached the entrance to the farm.

"Well, here we are..." said Applejack.

"Where will I'll stay?"

Applejack grimaced, "In th' barn, unfortunately. But we'll build ya a room right quick. "We'll also bring ya a blanket-"

"I don't need one," Master Chief interrupted, "my armor'll keep me warm."

"Oh...Well, ya okay with sleeping on hay?"

"I'll manage."

Luna spoke up. "We could manifest a bed for you-"

"I'll manage." If Luna was perturbed at the interruption, she didn't show it. They then went up the road that led to a house the orange Pony stayed.

"This'll where Ah gotta part wit' ya. Ah should get back to farmin'. If ya need anything, just holler. Th' barn's over there."

Master Chief nodded and he and Luna went to the barn. He opened the door and they both stepped in side. Luna put the chest down in the corner of the room. "Farewell, 117." She said before leaving. He then proceeded to unpack his supplies...

Author's Note

*I don't think Master Chief had ever seen a cat, so he has no analogy here.