In the distance a large Gas giant celestial body stood idly, with an unnatural ring orbiting around it. The ring though it paled in comparison to the body it orbited around was larger than anything pony's had yet built themselves. Yet in the distance a ship that seemed like an ant to the ring approached it with the words ‘UCSN Pillar of Autumn’ written on the left front most corner section of the Star ship. Around the ship flew some much smaller ships that searched the surrounding area for... Something but not going to far as to be a sitting duck on its own.
“Twilight, please tell me that we lost them.” A masculine voice asked from the control bridge, The Stallion had a Blueish grey coat with a main that was black with some grey highlights. He wore a Grey uniform with badges and many other things like the sort to show off his standing and role among his associates. Before him were large Hologram screens showing an assortment of things that two armored ponies suspended in chairs just below him manipulated. The screens depicted the large Gas giant as well as the strange unnatural Halo, but it was not the planet or the ring that interested them or the Stallion.
“I think we both know the answer Sir.” The Stallion looked out in to the open space outside the bridge window, Thoughts rung threw his head but the thoughts always rounded back around to the main question on his mind.
“We made a blind jump, how did they-”
“Get here first? The Changeling ships have always been faster, as for tracking us...” The mares voice trailed off for a moment as the Stallion walked away from where he was once standing to a nearby out-cove of buttons and screens that a unicorn mare in a orange and white jumpsuit sat. Her blue and white main hanging down over the back of the chair she sat in as she sat back with her horn aglow to press many buttons around her. “Tracking us all the way from Reach, at light speed my maneuvering options were limited.”
“We were running dark, yes?” As he passed other crew members they saluted as he passed them but when he leaned on the mares chair to peer at her screen she gave a light ‘eep’ in surprise but collected her composure to work as he pulled a pipe out of a pocket in his uniform.
“We were until we decelerated, no one would have missed the hole we tore in subspace unless they were blind.” The joke seemed to not even faze the Stallion as he put some tobacco in to the pipe wile he continued to watch the screen. “They were waiting on the other side of the planet.”
“So where do we stand?” The mare jumped in to actions making the screen show off the path the ship they were in was taking but the Stallion already had seen the information she had shown him so he left her to continue her work. The Stallion walked towards a larger panel that showed a much larger view of what was going on, it was obvious that this panel was meant for the captain to operate.
“Our fighters are mopping up most of their recon picket now, Nothing serious mind you... But I have identified multiple approach signatures from more battle groups. There are three capital ships per group and in about ninety seconds they will be all over us.” The Stallion closed his eyes as he sat down to light his pipe and take in a puff of the tobacco smoke, the weight he felt on his heart was undeniable but he knew he had to do something. The Stallion breathed out the smoke but then in one swift motion he tapped out the partly burnt Tobacco in to an ash tray built in to the station he is standing at. He then turned around to face the wall behind him which had other screens of names on it, he recognized it as a list of all the crew members aboard the ship.
“So that is it then, Bring the ship back up to battle alert Alpha.” A moment later sirens are heard beeping all around the bridge making many unoccupied ponies jump in to action. The screens that once held the names of crew members now changed to a screen to show many different shapes of red moving towards a singular green shape resembling the Pillar of Autumn. “I want everyone at their stations Twilight.”
“Everyone Captain?”
“Everyone, and Twilight.” On a small pedestal off to the left of the Captain a figure of a Purple Alicorn appeared, she appeared with a touch of slight static but focused only a moment later.
“Hm?” The sound she gave conveyed her obvious curiosity as the Captain turned to look at her directly.
“Give our friend a warm welcome.”
“You say that like I would do it another way.” Twilight finally seen the Captain smile just before she faded away to make preparations.
***
In the hanger bay Pegasus ponies used small sticks that light up to direct the Phoenix wings around and not have a collision on the brink of combat. Below the combat ships sat a variety of other vehicles that were useful in ground combat. Not many were active since the fight was going to be taking place in space but a few jeeps carried soldiers to many different areas. A Jeep that had been frantically driving towards a large doorway finally arrived to the sight of soldiers talking among themselves in a bay just for storing jeeps. The jeep slowed down for just a moment allowing an orange Mare to jump out of the passenger seat, she wore a dirty but still suitable hat that let her blond hair fall down to her side even though she despised wearing it she had to for briefings. She also wore battle armor for somepony that had achieved it through a high rank in the military but she wore a saddle bag over top of the armor which held her cowpony hat that had an apple symbol embedded in to the front of it.
“All right y’all, shake a leg.” The ponies around her jumped in to action then lined up in front of her at attention. Once the solders formed two lines facing each other in front of the mare she looked to each line wile she tried to form a speech for them to hear. “We flew out rears out to the middle o’ no where to keep the changelings filtha hooves offa Equestria but we stumbled upon em wait for us. They are scrambblin t’ get us and or ship but Ah say all that all those plot excrement's are gunna get is a belly fulla lead and a pool of their own blood to swim in... Am Ah right soldiers?”
“Yes Commander Jack.” The sound of the soldiers yelling to her in agreement brings a smile to Apple jacks face but she quickly gets her stern composure back.
“Mhmm, Celestia damn me if Ah ain’t. Now move out and make Equestria proud ponies, Double time.” As the solders part to go do their part Apple jack sighs a breath of releaf but quickly notices that some Dragons also are filtering out of an adjacent room. He eyes meet Ember who is a Dragon lead commander, the two give each other a mutual nod before following their troops out the door. Ember is the first one to speak up once they are threw the door way.
“All you Green horns that wanted to see Changelings up close, Today is your lucky day. Heck you even get to show some of them what really makes you better than them, hoof to claw... Or hoof to hoof.” Ember added with a toothy grin as she included the new pony soldiers in to her comment. Apple Jack gave Ember a nod of approval as she changed out her hats for her Cowpony one she held in her bags.
***
In a distant part of the ship a young stallion watched a video of a message his family sent to him when an overlay visual of Twilight appeared, The stallion yelped in surprise causing an elder Stallion look to him with a questioning look.
“Miss Twilight how... How can I help you?” At the sound of Twilight’s name the elder Stallion who had a caramel coat and white main from age sprung to life to assist the light blue coat and light blue and yellow main younger Stallion.
“I require the Chief to be awoken. Be gentle with them, we need them at the peek of their performance.” The two Stallions look to each other before then looking out to the frozen in a cryo-chamber Pegasus, how long had it been since they had woken them they both thought. Without another word the Stallions nodded, without another word she vanished leaving them alone.
“Alright, let’s thaw them out.” The elder Stallion began pressing buttons with his hooves, the speed at which he went was like a blur but the younger Stallion quickly followed his lead.
“Alright bringing systems of the suit on line.”
“Go down and greet him, I can handle the rest.” The elder Stallion said wile he finished pressing a string of buttons causing the capsule that held the Chief to release some vapor out of some vents.
“What... Me?”
“I know you have wanted to talk to them since you became their keeper. I have met them once before so go ahead, the case will open in thirty seconds.” Frantic the younger Stallion looks to the door to the room they were in then gallops quickly out leaving the elder one alone to continue.
Moments before the younger one reached the cryo-sleep chamber the case creaked slightly then there was a click as it started to open. The pony screeched to a halt at the terminal in front of Chief, he too a few breaths then smiled as best as he could as their wings twitched then more parts of their body moved. As the lid opened the Pegasus pushed themselves up then on to their hooves to get out of the pod without a word. Still slightly stiff the Pegasus stepped out on to the ground outside of their pod wile they stretched out some joints in order to relive tension.
“Welcome back Sir.”
“Refer to me by Chief.” The heavily augmented voice bellows out of speakers in the very very armored pony. Chief was a small bit taller than the Stallion before him but it was likely that the armor helped in that aspect, the armor on the Stallions close encounter noted mentally that the armor the pony wore left nothing exposed at all.
“Welcome back Chief, good to see you up and moving again.”
“It has been quite some time I see Fritz.” Chief bellowed and an audible laugh came from the intercom that the elder but it was during this that the Chief finally realized the situation from the blaring alarms.
“It is a good thing you left when you did Screws. The short way to the Cryo-chamber has been blocked off, only the long way is open now. Safety protocol in case an are gets breached other than by airlock.” The younger Stallion gave a small smile to the elder Stallion before leading Chief to a small station to get the armor shields working for Chief.
“Ok s... Chief this may hurt a little.” Chief did not move from where they stood so the Screws turned to a panel which he used to turn the device on. As it went through the activation of the shields and testing of it they had no idea what was about to occur. As soon as they finished testing the over-shields recharge they heard some commotion on the intercom, when they looked to the observation room they seen a worried Fritz.
“Screws you need to get Master Chief to the bridge. I think someone is trying to break in, go and keep him safe.” The moment he finished his sentence the door to the observation room blew open, Fritz with lightning fast reflexes grabbed a gun from a nearby saddle bag to fire a few shots at the intruders. Though he was first to fire he was quickly overwhelmed by Changeling Elites who shot blue balls of light at the Stallion with rapid speed. Screws was quickly taken aback by what he was seeing but the Chief stood watching the scene both silently observing their new enemy's patterns and saying a prayer for the Stallion.
“C- come on we have to get out of here.” Screws said galloping towards the door to get out of the room they were in, over the intercom though came a sound of a Changeling elite speaking. Chief quickly recorded the voice as to try and translate it at a later time, who knows it may be useful in learning their language later since there is no record of this speech pattern as far as they knew. “This way.”
Chief quickly came too and followed Screws out of the room they were in, they fled out in to a dark corridor wile a voice of a mare echoed threw the whole ship saying something about boarding crafts inbound and that fighters are needed to repel boarders but Chief ignored the voice as to focus on their guide. They approached a door with all the speed they could muster. Screws typed frantically on the key pad on the door since it was in lock down, suddenly a thunderous boom echoed but before Chief could react there came another but this time it was from the door giving way.
Chunks of door and wall cam flying at Chief with flay following close behind, the pieces battered at their armor with force but it was nothing they hadn’t felt before. Chief shook their head before turning back to the door but she seen fire wafting out of the hole that now had been created with a smoldering and bloody body laying a few hooves away from it. One look told Chief that they were dead and that they would need to find a way around. Conveniently to Chiefs left there was a pipe valve access area open in the wall that lead to an adjacent hallway.
“So... The makers of the ship don’t mind somepony possibly fiddling with this kind of stuff I take it.” Chief said wile they say a prayer for the now dead Screws in their head, they clime over the pipes which surprisingly did not give way due to the ponies weight in the armor. Chief found themselves in yet another dark hallway with another dead pony in the direction they needed to head. Being sure as to not disturbed the body they walked past it saying a small prayer wile doing so, the door opened to allow Chief to then gallop onward towards the bridge they were being summoned too.
Wile they galloped an eruption of metal and fire assaulted her but the over-shield absorbed any damage like the previous explosion, whatever was happening the Pillar was being torn apart faster than they ever though could happen. Still trying to keep their progress up they went through the door in front of them but quickly found it had almost been a dead end. A vacuum sealed storage can was on its side keeping a blast door open halfway. Chief sighed a breath of relief as they ducked under the obstruction only to get a blue bolt in their head.
“What the...” Chief started but quickly saw on their visor HUD that they had just been hit and quite hard at that, it clicked in to Chief when they turned their head to see a few changeling drones with an Elite. Some pony's in jumpsuits and armed with pistols fired aimlessly at the Changelings only to be shot at with a much better aim. If it wasn’t for the cover they had from supports or wall outcroppings they would have been dead long ago.
“Give me your gun.” Chief ordered to one of the individuals who hesitated then complied with the large ponies orders. Chief looked back to the Changelings who now were focused on them to see a blast door between them closing. The Chief took aim down the scope every pistol on the ship came with, with a breath to steady their aim Chief fired at the head of one drone causing it to drop as soon as the bullet made contact but by then Chief had re aimed. Each time they shot a changeling drone dropped, it went on like that until only the Elite was left and the blast door had closed.
Chief held out the pistol to the pony who took the gun but their face showed how amazed they were by the sight along with all the other ponies. This made Chief beam with a radiant smile and giddy but no-pony could see it due to the hermit and they wanted to keep their heroic image up so they just galloped off. They quickly found an arrow pointed down a hall saying ‘bridge’ so Chief turned down it to see it was pitch black. They mentally told the suit to turn on their headlamps then the lights flickered on to shine light on their path. The blast doors on this route were unaffected by the lock-down which gave them a breath of relief since that meant they were back on the path they needed to go on originally.
A few turns later Chief found soldiers and normal crew alike ducking beneath cover wile shots fired over their cover. This was a hold out point against a wave of the Changelings but as soon as Chief stepped out in to the fire to see how bad it was they seen a blast door close and a soldier trotted up with a assault rifle in their unicorn glow.
“Sir the Captain needs you on the bridge ASAP. Better follow me.” Without another word they ran off with Chief following in hot pursuit, as they followed Chief got to see how bad it was trying to hold out against this huge armada of troops. Wounded and dead scattered around the armory with pony blood almost everywhere you looked. Chief found themselves biting their lip but shook their head to regain their cool.
“Come on... Don’t let it get to your head. Fire always told me that I needed to keep my head or else I may lose it. I can’t lose it... For her.” Suddenly Chief found themselves in the line of fire from Changelings who tried to hit them from the crack of a closing blast door. The shots wiz by her head and dissipate on contact with the wall as they run towards the bridge, the only reason they didn’t stop to return fire was the lack of a gun and the need to be at the bridge so she ran.
With only two more turns they had reached the entry way to the bridge, the soldier turned to Chief then stood at attention to give them a salute before once again leaving. Chief had no time to react before the soldier ran of to rejoin the fight, with a sigh they entered the bridge and headed strait for the Captain's station.
“Captain Keyes.” Chief said to get the Captains attention who turned around with his pipe in his mouth with smoldering tobacco, a smile crept across his face seeing the pony in armor as they reached out a hoof to greet them.
“Good to see you Master Chief.” Chief shook hooves with the Captain but as soon as their hooves parted the Captain's face turned to a more grim yet serious expression. “Things aren’t going well.”
Chief almost said ‘You don’t say.’ but stopped knowing such a remark isn’t needed at a tension filled moment like this, there is a time and a place and they knew this was not the time.
“Twilight did her best but we never really had a chance.”
“There's about a dozen Changeling superior Battle ships against a housing cruiser. I estimate they have the power of having four kings in chess against one pawn.” The Captain cleared his throat to get Twilight’s attention who turns around to see Chief bringing a smile to her face. “Did you sleep well?”
“Like I was sleeping on a cloud again until the end no thanks to your driving.” The sassy remark makes Twilight smile wile the Captain chuckled on the side lines.
“So you did miss me.” Before Chief could form a response the entire ship shook with force they hadn't felt before, as soon as it has subsided the Captain and Chief got up to their hooves to look around.
“Report.”
“It must have been one of their boarding crafts, I can only assume it was an antimatter charge.” Twilight responded to Captain Keyes’s question but the uncertainty in her voice didn’t reassure her.
“Mamma the fire control for the main cannon is offline.”
“Keyes the Cannon was my last defensive option.”
“Alright then I am initiating the evacuation protocol. Everyone needs to escape the Pillar, That means you too Twilight.”
“Wile you do what and go down with the ship?” They disbelief in Twilight’s voice makes it evident that she does not agree with what she was hearing.
“In a matter of sorts... The object we found, I’ll try to land the Pillar of Autumn on it.” The Captain takes his pipe out of his mouth and taps out its contents once more in to the ashtray in his station but in his screen flashed many images of the ring object.
“With all due respect sir but don’t you think this war has already has too many dead hero’s?”
“I appreciate your concern Twilight but it is a pony’s sworn duty to go down with the ship if they are Captain and it is my decision.”
“You aren’t going to reconsider?” Twilight sounded to almost be pleading him other wise but he gave her a gentle smile causing her to grown in annoyance to his stubbornness.
“You also know through protocol that a ship AI is not allowed to be destroyed or captured by there things. That means you are leaving the ship.”
“Fine, but i am not leaving without leaving you a list.” Both Keyes and Chief rolled their eyes but the AI made a hologram scroll list appear beside her. “I will store information of possible landing sights with automated protocol procedures then I’ll send all the information you need to know about safe crash landings to your neural link. Then you can pull my chip.”
The AI much like the ancient Twilight loved her lists, The captain then turned to Chief with a sigh of both contempt and amusement.
“This is where you come in Chief, I need you to get Twilight off this ship and keep her safe from the enemy. If they get their hooves on her they will learn about everything about force deployment, weaponry, strategies, and even Equestria.”
“I understand.”
“I have my bots set to run wile I am gone... Not that you will let them do mush but I also sent information to your neural link as I said.”
“Thank you Twilight, Ready to set off?” Twilight looked around to her surroundings then with a moment of hesitation she nodded so the captain who pressed a few buttons which made a small purple chip spring out of a pedestal that Twilight stood upon. Once the chip came out fully the image of her fizzled away like static and the Captain held it out tho Chief who took it then put it in to his helmet AI slot.
The sound of the AI booting up sounded then Chief heard Twilight sigh a breath of contentment.
“Your suit is a lot like the mainframe for the Pillar.”
“Don’t get any funny ideas Twilight.” Chief said not noticing that Keys had grabbed a gun and was holding it out to them.
“I don’t keep it loaded.” Chief grabbed the gun using the suits magic that was intended to aid Their combat ability, using their wing earlier to fire was not exactly comfortable so they decided to use magic again to hold things though it still felt strange to them.
“Still aren’t used to magic I see.”
Author's Note
Feel free to let me know how you all liked the starting chapter to Halo Friendship evolved.
This is a Cross over i have not really seen before and i hope you guys like it, I plan on doing different things than what the game did and you probably already can tell that much.
(I do have a plan and a story but let me know if i should ever add some heart to heart
moments. and i may or may nor slip a bit of ship in if people want)
Take care everyone 
