Halo Ponies: Headhunter Edition

November 25th, 2558
Burning. He was burning. But it wasn’t hot. How was he burning? Cold. It was so very cold. He couldn’t breathe. Cold, no air… wet? Water, he was underwater, deep. More burning. Not the cold, his lungs, his lungs… He needed air. He needed air!

He began to swim upward with slow, deliberate strokes. His muscles were too cramped from the cold and lack of oxygen. How much longer did he have? He couldn’t see the surface; was he going down? No. No, he saw stars. It was night. He was close. He needed air. He broke the surface with a large splash, his helmet visor covered with water, his vision fuzzy from oxygen deprivation. The automatic air-filters kicked on inside his helmet, pumping in cool, fresh air.

He couldn’t see any shore from where he was treading water. Was he in the ocean? It would explain the cold that permeated even the insulated layers of his suit. But where was he? How did he get in the middle of this body of water? Another, more morbid thought crossed his mind. Where was his partner? William-B273, Will for short, was his headhunter partner. They hadn’t been separated once for at least the past 7 months, and had grown very close. Perhaps Will was less fortunate than his partner and had drowned; or maybe he hadn’t even been in the body of water in the first place. But what had happened wasn’t the question right now; he would never see Will again if he froze to death treading water in some unnamed ocean.

He gazed up into the night sky, trying to locate some celestial body to guide him. A large moon was the only thing to be seen, surrounded by beautiful stars. There was little to no light pollution here, so chances of finding any kind of settlement were slim. He picked a direction that seemed to follow the flow of the currents and propelled himself slowly forward, loosening the cramps that had developed in the cold. He continued on for what felt like hours, but what was most likely thirty minutes at most. Just as he was beginning to give up hope of ever seeing dry land again, he spotted it: a small vessel sitting on the water. It was painted a bright pink color, with an unusual fin design on the rudder; no means of propulsion could be seen besides a small sail sitting on a green-painted mast. He attempted to hail the ship but was unable to connect to its onboard computer. Maybe this was one of the eco-colonies that existed in deep-space? It would explain why no engine could be seen onboard, and why no other signs of technology could be spotted.
[http://images.crestock.com/3710000-3719999/3714991-xs.jpg]

He was just going to have to do it the old-fashioned way, then. He swam faster than he had before, quickly overtaking the vessel. As he got a closer look he noticed odd designs on the side of the ship-- what appeared to be the small forms of brightly-colored equines. He debated whether or not to board. The person who owned this boat was either insane or very happy, both of which he didn’t want to see any of that night. But his primary goal was to get out of the water before he froze to death. He attempted to grasp the side of the vessel but found no purchase on its slick walls. He refused to give up, though, and with tremendous effort managed to pull himself up using only his grip for support. He rolled, gasping, onto the deck, his muscles seizing up from the effort. He attempted to get in some sort of capable state, knowing that any hostiles onboard would now be alerted to his presence.

He forced himself into a sitting position, bracing his back against the mast and putting his feet in front of him, leveling the barrel of his M6C and bracing it against his shoulder. He kept alert for any noise over the sloshing of the sea-water, his visor still obscured by water droplets. Just as he felt sure he was the only one aboard, he heard a faint rustling below deck. He tensed up again, listening harder than before for any more noise, and sure enough, the same rustling could be heard.
“H-hello, is anyone up there?” came a tiny voice, muffled by the ship’s walls. He felt relief pour through him-- that wasn’t any alien’s voice. It must be a human, an eco-colonist, whom he had happened upon. There would be a transmitter back at their settlement for sure, so he would be able to contact the fleet to come and get him.
“Excuse me, is there anyone up there?” the voice asked again, this time with a little confidence. In his relief he had forgotten to answer the person’s question.
“Yes. This is Spartan Richard B-294. Are you a colonist?”
“Oh, thank Celestia! For a silly second I thought a monster had snuck aboard!”
Judging by voice the person was mature, but judging by dialogue they had a childish mindset. Come to think, this could explain the cartoon horses painted on the ship.
“Please identify name and planet.”
“Oh, me? Umm… I don’t know what you mean by planet, but my name is Redheart. I’m a nurse in Ponyville. I’m out here to gather some sea-growing herbs.”
So a nurse out gathering plants? This supported Richard’s eco-colonist theory. But how could they not know what a planet was? Were they feigning ignorance, or were they that uneducated?
“Male or female, and please expand on where you live.”
“Well, I already told you I live in Ponyville—well, I guess technically I didn’t, but I thought you would assume… I live in Equestria, of course, I mean, who doesn’t? I’m a female which I thought you could judge by my voice, but obviously not. And-- and I’m babbling, aren’t I?”
Richard, who had been sitting calmly throughout all this, wondered whether or not to ask the girl to come up. She was obviously very timid, but was working through it at startling speed. Either that or she was very nervous and took to babbling whenever she was scared. He decided to follow his previous plan and drop the 20 questions, wanting to rejoin the fleet as soon as possible.
“Would you please take me back to ‘Ponyville’ or another settlement? I’ve been out on the ocean for the past few hours, and haven’t seen any sign of civilization.”
“Oh, you poor thing, of course I’ll take you back! If you’ve been treading the Startling Sea for more than even a few minutes, you’ll have a terrible cold!”
Richard heard some stomping that must have been someone coming up the stairs. Only one thing bothered him: the sounds he heard didn’t sound like footfalls. They sounded harder, more pronounced, and they sounded like two people walking up together. Four beats instead of two like normal. Perhaps this really was the Covenant and they had merely been tricking him, or maybe it was a rebel who had someone else hostage. Or maybe he was overthinking the entire thing. This person seemed nice enough, and was willing to help Richard get in contact with the fleet. If this wasn’t reason enough to trust someone then what was? He was sure this would be a perfectly ordinary human.
[A/N- This is my first time writing a Halo or Pony fic, certainly my first time writing a crossover, and my first time writing anything in general.]