A Requiem for Friendship

Twilight scrambled to her feet as Master Chief started to walk away.

"Wait!" she cried. Chief looked over his shoulder at her, almost as if expecting something.

"Where are we going?" she asked. Chief merely shrugged.

"Away from here." he replied. "Let's get moving."

Twilight nodded hastily, and set out after the Spartan. Master Chief looked once more at the dead Elite on the ground to confirm the kill before heading to a ridge, Twilight following.

====

After around twenty minutes of walking, the pony and the Spartan exited the crash site, revealing a cliff with a gorgeous view of a valley, peppered with large metal spires shaped like obelisks. Twilight made sure to implant the sight in her memory before Chief snapped her out of her trance.

"Let's move." he said. "Cortana, can you find us a transport?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow, looking at the Spartan questioningly.

"Who are you…" she started to speak.

"There's a vehicle bay near here." said a female voice, seemingly coming from nowhere. "Seems your luck is holding out, Chief."

"Who's there?" Twilight asked. Chief reached for his helmet and pulled something out, holding it to her. Twilight then saw a small humanoid figure, blue with short hair, appear in front of her.

"I'm here." the figure said. "I'm Cortana. I'm a UNSC AI, registered to Chief here."

"Nice to meet you." Twilight said. "What's an AI? And the UNSC?"

"That's a...long story." Cortana replied. "Let's wait until we have some solid transport before we start talking."

Twilight nodded. Chief placed the chip back in his helmet and motioned. After a further five-minute trek, they found a large hangar, or what remained of it. Twilight then saw three large metal carriages, with some kind of mounted object on the back, waiting for them.

"Warthogs!" Cortana said, almost relieved. "Already fueled. Let's load what we can, and get moving."

"Right." Chief said. Twilight hopped into the designated Warthog, and watched Chief load two bags marked "UNSC" onto the back. He took the wheel, and with a small "eep!" from Twilight, it gunned forward into the valley below.

====

"So, Cortana?" Twilight asked once she had settled into the passenger seat. "Where do we begin?"

"I honestly do not know." Cortana replied. "In the whole history of humanity, we've only had one first contact, and those aliens ended up bringing us to the brink of extinction."

"Okay, first, Master Chief is human?" Twilight asked. "They're myth back on Equis."

"I presume that's your homeworld?" Cortana asked, and Twilight nodded. "Yes, Chief is human, and as for the other aliens we met, they called themselves the Covenant. A conglomerate of different species, all following a single religious creed. They believed Humanity's mere existence was an affront to their gods, and they started the Human-Covenant War which lasted twenty-seven years, and killed over twenty billion humans, and countless worlds were burned and turned to glass."

Twilight was absolutely floored. She fell back in her seat, starting to cry.

"How did you win?" she finally asked.

Cortana gave an explanation of the Halo Rings, the Great Schism of the Covenant, the battles on the Ark, and their being stranded aboard the Forward Unto Dawn for four years. Twilight nodded, still shocked about the war's destruction.

"Right now, we're trying to find some way to contact the UNSC so we can go home." Cortana said. "But...I'm not sure I'll make it."

"Are you okay?" Twilight asked. Cortana sighed.

"AIs such as myself are built to last seven years. I've been in service for eight." Cortana said sadly. "Any longer, I start to develop a condition known as rampancy. My functions start to degrade over time, and eventually I die."

"Is there any way I can help?" Twilight asked.

"There's no known cure for my Rampancy." Cortana said. "Thanks for offering. Chief, we've got contacts. Covenant staging area, by the looks of it."

"I thought you had a truce with them!" Twilight said.

"These are likely remnants of the old Covenant, those who stayed loyal to their religion." Cortana said. "And just so you know, they won't be happy to see us. Be ready for a fight."

"Right." Twilight nodded. Suddenly, the Master Chief cut the engine and exited the Warthog, readying his Assault Rifle.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Covenant." Chief replied. "Get to cover."

Twilight exited the Warthog and dove behind a rock. She peeked out to see a few additional Covenant she had not seen before. There were small, simian-like ones wearing large packs, and lean, rangy lizard-like ones with shields. All were being ordered around by the Elites that were stationed around the area. Chief made his way to Twilight, and tapped her on the head.

"Can you fight?" he asked quietly. Twilight nodded.

"Good. Stay with me." he said again. Chief slowly snuck up behind an Elite, and plunged his knife under his neck. The Grunts in the Elite's patrol spun and looked straight at the Master Chief, weapons ready.

"Boo!" Chief barked, raising his Assault Rifle.

"Demon! RUN!" the Grunts cried, alerting the rest of the Covenant soldiers. Twilight ignited her horn as Master Chief opened fire.

====
Equestria, Canterlot
Wedding Hall

Chrysalis barely had time to dodge the Hardlight bolts that peppered the area where she once stood. The Knights advanced, growling and roaring while firing at the Queen. Chrysalis threw up a barrier and initiated her hive-mind link with her army.

"I am exposed! Attack the city immediately!" she thought.

"At once, my Queen!" was the reply from her Generals, and the Changeling horde appeared on the Horizon. The sky soon filled with Hardlight blasts from the Promethean troops. Cadance seized the moment and blasted Chrysalis full force. The Queen was sent flying, but she recovered and fired back.
"You Ponies will not defeat me!" she cried, lunging at a Knight Battlewagon. The Knight merely slashed her across the chest with his Blade. Rolling along the floor while clutching the wound, Chrysalis moaned in agony. The wound was not bleeding due to the Hard Light cauterizing the damage immediately, but it still tore a very large gash in her chest. Five Watchers summoned Hardlight bindings, and restrained the Queen.

"That's how it's done!" Deacon said. "Warrior-Servants, detain her!"

The Lead Knight clicked and barked, and the Prometheans, along with the Queen, vanished into Slipspace. Cadance sighed, and looked at a still-hypnotized Shining Armor. She sighed, and slapped him full in the face, which broke hm out of his trance.

"Ow…" he groaned. "Wait, Cadance? What's going on? Why'd you slap me? Is the wedding over?"

"That'll be quite a story!" Deacon said. "I am 153 Pious Deacon, Forerunner Monitor of this Installation! And you have missed quite a bit!"

Cadance said nothing as she hugged him tightly, then she realized somepony was missing.

"Where's Twilight?" she asked. At that, Luna walked forward.

"She is no longer here." Luna said sadly.

"What do you mean?" Cadance asked. "No longer here? What happened?"

"She attempted to teleport home to Ponyville." Luna sighed. "Due to her emotional distress, the spell backfired. I am led to believe by the scene…"

"...That Twilight Sparkle is no longer on Equis."

====

Twilight fired off a beam of magic at a Jackal before diving behind a Forerunner barrier. After clearing the Covenant at the staging area, they had ventured deeper and discovered what Cortana called a "Cartographer". After fighting more Covenant, they were heading for a Terminus that would allow them to contact a nearby UNSC ship, the Infinity form what Cortana could gather from the splintered comms signals.

"What now?" she cried to Master Chief, who was engaged with fighting a pack of Elites. Chief hurled a Plasma Grenade and dove to meet her.

"We focus fire on my mark." Chief replied. "Mark!"
The Unicorn and Spartan opened up with a volley of bullets and magic, and the Elites were dead in minutes. Chief stood up, followed by Twilight, and they entered the Terminus.

"What do you think we'll find in here?" Twilight asked Cortana.

"I have no idea…" she replied as the doors closed behind them.