Her head filled with pain, a disoriented Twilight opened her eyes slowly. As a groan exited her mouth, her vision began to return, though it was mostly blurry. The first thing she noticed was the harsh, bright light that bore down upon her.

“I’m not ready to wake up yet…”, she murmured, her mind not yet woken up totally.

She reclosed her eyes and rolled over to her side from her back to a more comfortable position, though she was met with a cool metallic surface. Come to think of it, she was feeling that before, and not the comforting texture of her bed and sheets.

As she processed that realisation, her memory abruptly returned, causing her to jolt upwards, sitting on her flank, violently shaking all over.

“What did I just do!”, she shouted, pressing her hooves to her head, her mane becoming unkempt in the process. “Celestia is going to KILL me for touching anything!”

Gradually, Twilight began to take notice of the environment she was in. It was a large darkened room, with metal surfaces everywhere, and an overheard compartment, connected to a platform that spread across the perimeter of the room. On her level, and in the centre, were tubes that had a frozen over glass window that she couldn’t see through at a distance. A few industrial cylinders were situated near the back of the room. In front of Twilight, below the cabin was two doors, with a red light on them.

To each side of the four tubes in the centre were a partially entrenched square stand, one had a cross with dots in front, the other had a machine with two prongs over the top.

She began to walk slowly around the room, taking in all of the details.

‘Where am I?’, she though to herself, ‘and how do I get back home.’

It was at this point that she began to fully realise how much trouble she was in. ‘I may never see anypony back home ever again’, she thought as tears began to stream out of her eyes, her ears flopping downwards, her head bowing in despair. “I’m sorry, everypony.”

She crawled up in the corner and sobbed like she never had before, her mind occupied with remembering all of her friends and family back in Equestria.

She was shook out of her depressed state by the sudden light that shined in front of her, causing her to cover her eyes with her hoof out of instinct. That hoof was then grabbed, and thrown to the side, causing Twilight to look into a shiny yellow visor on a green helmet of an armoured bipedal creature.

A few minutes before…

Master Chief Petty Officer John 117 was having a vivid nightmare, placed in a courtyard facing off against an unknown hostile. He was protecting the mother/Halsey/Cortana individual behind him, though he wondered for a brief second what he was doing there. He shook off the thought and began to search the yard for a weapon.

He found a MA5B Assault Rifle on the ground nearby. He sprinted to it, grabbed it and to his horror, could not pick it up. His arms and body were that of a six year old, and the presence of the hostile closed in, ready to kill him where he stands…

The Master Chief opened his eyes, as a voice boomed through his ears.

“Chief, Chief! Can you hear me?”, the voice of Cortana boomed through his helmet speakers. As the Master Chief’s vision returned back to normal, he noticed that the Cryo chamber was dark, with no lights on.

“Cortana, what’s the situation?”, he asked.

“We’re not sure”, Cortana replied, “an energy spike appeared in the cryo bay, and the entire section went dark, much like an EMP.”

“Getting your vitals online now, sir”, a new voice emerged from the comm. The Chief moved his head to look at the main control station, and with his augmented vision, could make out the outline of two humans through the darkened room and the now tinted window.

“If the power is down, how are they operating my suit commands?” the Chief asked, curious, as his HUD began to come to life slowly.

“We had to reroute some power away from the other sections of the ship”, Cortana answered. “The Captain made it a priority to get you woken, in case this is from a Covenant saboteur. It was my recommendation as well.”

The Chief nodded, accepting her explanation. As the last part of the HUD turned on, the Cryo tube door opened, allowing the Chief the chance to exit the pod. Before he could, Cortana took the opportunity to brief the Chief further.

“We believe whatever to have caused the spike to still be in the bay with you” – the Chief’s eyes narrowed at this – “so right now, don’t try to attract any attention to yourself until you’ve gained some intel on what is going on down there.”

“The two of us up here can’t see anything, so we can only offer any assistance once something happens without warning”, the voice from before offered.

“Understood”, the Chief acknowledged, slowly creeping out of the pod, making sure that his boots didn't make a sound as he dropped down to the floor. Though the room was still dark, Chief refused to turn on his helmet flashlights, in order to not attract any attention to himself.

Peculiarly, he swore that he was hearing the sounds of someone crying. Believing it to be the aftereffects of a cryo-induced dream, the Chief shook his head, but paused when he heard the sobbing continue.

“I’m hearing something cry, I believe”, the Chief reported to Cortana.

“Crying?”, Cortana questioned.

“Yes”, Chief replied, looking around the front of the room, “coming from the rear. I’ll go investigate.”

“Be careful”, Cortana said.

As quietly as a Mark V Mjolnir suit can be, Chief crouched and walked around the cryo pod, and saw the blurry outline of something lying on the floor in the corner of the room. It was definitely the source of the crying. Strangely, the Chief could make out words being spoken such as “Pie”, “Dash” or “Spike”, puzzling him.

‘Is this thing speaking English?’, the Chief wondered, his suspicion being aroused. There was the possibility of the creature being part of the Covenant, but the voices sounded like a female, and the only Covenant females he knows of where Jackals, and the voice did not have the tone of a jackal. Still, it could be a new species not seen before.

‘Only one way to find out’, he grimly thought.

He strode towards the creature, stealth abandoned, then stopped when his eyes got a glimpse of the equine shape of the creature.

It was a lavender pony, with wings folded up, its front hooves covering its face as the chief barely heard the dripping sound of tears hitting the floor. A tiny horn was visible through its dark purple mane. It somehow also looked smoother than a regular pony/horse would.

After a brief period of questioning his eyes and sanity, the Chief decided to go the direct method. In a split second, he turned on his flashlight, with the immediate result of a cry of surprise and the instinct movement of the hooves to cover the face.

He covered the distance between them in less time, grabbing the hoof closest to him, and brought it out of the way, revealing a surprised, fearful and tearful expression on an admittedly adorable face. The abnormally large eyes grew even larger, the pupils shrinking, as she, the Chief assumed it was a she, focused on the Chief, clearly petrified from fear

Pinning the pony to the ground, though in a soft way to avoid harming her, the Chief then contacted Cortana to update her.

“I have located and neutralised the intruder”, he reported, “though it did not undertake any hostile actions.”

“Did you identify it?”

“Yes, it’s a female pony.”

There was a brief moment of silence on the other side of the comm. During the pause, the power in the room began to slowly come back in certain areas, though where the Chief and the pony were was still in the dark.

“Chief, I didn’t know you had it in you to attempt a joke in this manner”, Cortana finally replied, believing it to be a prank.

“It’s not”, the Chief deadpanned, stunning the AI.

It was at this point the lights went back up around Chief, and he got a better view of the pony, who was still petrified of him, and caught in his grasp.

The doors opened and a fireteam of five marines entered the cryo bay, all armed with MA5B Assault Rifles. They all approached the Chief until they caught sight of the pony, their mouths collectively dropping out of shock.

“Is it just me, or is that a purple pony?”, one asked in a bemused tone.

As the words left the creature’s mouth, the clear, understandable words shook Twilight out of her petrified state. Her inquisitive nature began to emerge out of the fear. It was at this point that she noticed that the aliens were exactly like her friends from Canterlot High in the alternate dimension, but their skin colour was mainly between really pale pink to dark brown.

“Um, excuse me?”, Twilight said, silencing the discussion between the creatures in forest camouflage armour and the helmets that covered their entire head except the face. The larger creature in the green armour who had pinned her did not visibly react, though she couldn’t tell if it was alive at all.

“Who are you, where am I, and how are you speaking perfect Equestrian?”

The creatures looked among one other.

“Now I’m hearing her talk”, another groaned. “Can anyone else hear her talk?”

“Enough!”, a third one spoke, his armour slightly altered compared to the majority. He, Twilight assumed it was a male, turned towards Twilight.

“To be honest, we were going to ask you the former and latter questions”, he politely commented to her. “Though we speak English, not this so-called Equestrian.”

He then turned away from her and put his hand to the side of his helmet.

“Bridge, this is fireteam Echo. We have located the intruder”, he said apparently to no one.

“This is Captain Keyes, can you confirm the Chief’s report?”, a voice appeared out of nowhere, though it was distorted slightly.

“Affirmative, it is a purple pony, though it has wings, a horn and can talk English...”

“I’m lavender, not purple”, Twilight interrupted, annoyed at the lack of distinction. She was about to lecture about the differences, but one of the creatures aimed at her with his unknown weapon, prompting her to shut her mouth.

The armoured creature motioned with his hand, and the weapon was lowered. But two of the creatures strode cautiously to either side of her, as if prepared to defend against her. Twilight began to wonder why these creatures were so hostile to her. Her inquisitive nature threatened to break out again, but she was worried at how they might react.

“Interesting”, the voice returned, though Twilight finally pinpointed to be coming from a device on the side of the helmet of the creature that spoke before. “Bring the…pony to the medical bay. I’ll have Cortana set up some instruments so we can get some answers, Sergeant. Be on constant alert, we don’t know if she is a Covenant spy.”

‘Covenant?’, Twilight wondered, ‘what are they talking about, and do they think I’m somehow related to it.’

“Understood”, the creature replied.

“Master Chief”, the Voice returned, though it was much louder and seemed to come from everywhere, “escort our ‘guest’ along with fireteam Echo.”

“And in one piece, please. We don’t want to cause a diplomatic incident if she isn’t part of the Covenant”, a female voice rang out, causing a snicker from one of the creatures, who was then scolded. The male voice returned. “Don’t take any chances with it. If the pony takes any hostile action, eliminate it.”

The armoured creature nodded, and in a surprising move, spoke out.

“Understood.”

Within seconds, the two creatures on either side of her grabbed her and dragged her off the floor. The armoured creature, apparently called the Master Chief, or just the Chief, as Twilight gathered from the comments made by the other creatures, grabbed one of the weapons from the hands of a creature, and held it in a way that showed some ease, but could at any moment use it without hesitation. Out of all the creatures, that one frightened her the most, and was perceived as the most dangerous.

The small group then motioned for her to follow them, which she did, reluctantly. They went through the closest door, which slid open as they approached, startling Twilight.

“Don’t you have doors where you come from?”, one creature asked after seeing her reaction, with another one of the creatures snickering at this.

“Not ones that open by themselves”, she replied, causing the group to look at one other as they walked through into a closed in corridor that had a conduit at the side that connected to another corridor. “At least, not without magic.”

They all stopped in their tracks, turning towards Twilight, who was suddenly embarrassed at the attention directed at her.

“Did you say, Magic?”, one stuttered, “as in proper magic?”

“Of course”, Twilight replied, bewildered. “You don’t have magic?”

“Hell no! Just our brains, science and technology.”

“How do we know she actually knows magic, and isn’t baiting us.” Another creature remarked.

Twilight’s horn lit up, causing an immediate raising of weapons, but was followed by looks of shock and bewilderment as a purple aura appeared around a small rag on the floor, and began levitating in the air. Twilight noted to her amusement that a few mouths dropped open.

These creatures were remarkably similar to ponies in terms of expressions on their faces, with their facial features being used the same way as ponies, and their body language as well, though in a bipedal form. In an instant, the creatures started shouting enthusiastically about their thoughts on the display of magic, attracting attention from other creatures that were not in armour and were dressed in a light grey uniform, and had no helmet. If Twilight wasn’t so terrified of their diet being carnivorous and involving ponies as the main course.

“I…don’t believe it!”

“You’re telling me.”

“Wait till the other marines see this!”

“Is that a pony?!”

The only creature that didn’t react was the Master Chief, who stood silently for a moment before nudging Twilight, motioning her to follow him. As they left, the armoured creatures followed suit. She noticed that all of the other creatures had placed their hands at an object on their thighs, making her uncomfortable and worried

“So”, Twilight began, unable to resist the temptation for more information, “what is your species called, and where am I exactly?”

“You’re onboard the Pillar of Autumn, a halcyon class cruiser of the UNSC Navy, and we are called the human race, though preferably humans or humanity”, one of the creatures, or humans as she should call them, replied. Twilight noticed that it wasn't the same human that was talking to the voice beforehand, as that one looked infuriated at the human who just spoke. "Don't say anything more to the potential threat!", he growled out

“Humans”, Twilight repeated, ignoring the sudden outburts, “but you’re a myth!”

“So are unicorns”, one of the other humans retorted, causing Twilight to frown.

“Actually, I’m an Alicorn, but I was a unicorn.”

Another round of doubletake ensured, with the human throwing up his arms in surrender. “I’m not even going to try to understand that.”

"Keep moving", the infuriated human spoke out. As they began to walk again, he stopped in front of Twilight. "And you, keep quiet." She gulped at this.

After a few minutes of walking through different corridors, stairs and rooms, they finally reached the medical bay. In it lay a few beds, with many of them occupied by humans with a variety of injuries ranging from basic to life-threatening, with a variety of devices and monitors linked up to both the bed and the walls. Some beds even had a shiny material covering the occupant of the bed, with the monitors emitting a low pitched beep and displayed a single straight line.

The group approached the pedestal in the middle of the room. Her escorts, except for the Master Chief, stepped away from her, motioning her to approach the pedestal. Twilight gulped, and cautiously trotted towards it.

As she approached closer, a small figure of a naked translucent human female appeared in a flash on the pedestal, causing Twilight to shriek in surprise and jump back, inciting a few grins and laughs from the various humans, though many were still in shock from seeing a pony move freely.

“Don’t scare somepony like that!”, Twilight shouted, with the effect of the figure chuckling to herself. As she did this, Twilight notices that most of her body were inscribed with moving text that was barely visible to the eye. “And what in Celestia are you?”

“Well, to answer your question, I am an Artificial Intelligence, designated CTN 0452-9, or Cortana, which I prefer”, Cortana replied.

“Artificial Intelligence? What does that mean? Are you a being created from technology?”, Twilight began to bombard Cortana with questions about her nature. Cortana only raised her hand to signify silence, then chose to respond.

“I’ll answer your questions, but only after I ask you some questions of my own and prove that you are not a threat to this ship or humanity. If you fail, well, there are a lot of armed soldiers in here, ready to pump your body full of lead.”

Twilight gulped but nodded her head. “I...agree to your terms.”

“Alright then, lets begin with a simple question: Who are you and what is your species’ name?” Cortana asked.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship. I come from Equestria, a country on the planet of Eques. I am an alicorn, a subspecies of pony.” Very soon, Twilight entered lecture mode, retelling Equestrian history, and pony biology, much to the delight of Cortana, who began comparing human physiology with her. To everyone’s amazement, Twilight magically precured a notepad and pen from a nearby bed stand, and was scribbling down everything she could in earnest.

After half an hour of nonstop comparing notes, they were finally interrupted by the Master Chief, who grew slightly impatient at the discussion, and at the potential risk Cortana was taking at providing information about humanity, when he stepped forward towards the pedestal. Twilight, who had learned a lot about how similar humans were to ponies, was slightly perplexed at what the Chief is, and his connection to humanity. She also noticed Cortana’s face somehow light up when she focused on the Chief.

“Did you have a nice rest in?” she asked playfully.

“No thanks to you”, the Chief responded in a gruff tone of voice, surprising Twilight, who had begun to think he was an anti-social mute.

Cortana smiled. “So you did miss me.” She then turned to Twilight. “I believe you have already met the Master Chief, though I am sorry it was…unpleasant for you.”

Twilight looked slightly guilty. “I believe it was my fault, though I still don’t know how I even was able to arrive here.”

“How so?”, Cortana asked.

“I was part of an archaeological team investigating some newfound ancient ruins on Equess that matched no known civilisations, and it somehow activated and sent me here.”

“Oh”, was the only response Cortana could give before Twilight felt a strange sensation that nearly made her empty her stomach. It passed quickly, but a quick look around, and the smell of puking, proved her suspicion that the humans felt it too, though they reacted in an expectant manner.

“What just happened?” Twilight asked Cortana, who looked distracted. But Cortana disappeared in a flash and a hiss, leaving Twilight to turn to the human closest to her: the Master Chief.

The Chief noticed the alicorn to turn towards him and had an expectant look on her face. He deducted that she must be wondering what sensation she felt, and why.

“That was us exciting Slipspace”, he said to her, resulting in a puzzled expression. “It’s a means of travelling faster than light from different star systems.” Her expression cleared up slightly, though she had a glitter in her eyes as she contemplated the possibilities of FTL travel.

“Ponies haven’t even reached our moon yet!” Twilight exclaimed, then flushed without warning. “Well… except for Luna when she was Nightmare Moon…”

The Chief was partially confused at what she was talking about, but then considered how confused she would be about everything that is going on, especially since Cortana seemingly thought that Twilight was not part of the Covenant. However, when she was distracting Twilight through conversation, Captain Keyes contacted the Chief directly and ordered him to keep an eye on her in case of anything. However, the Chief’s instincts told him that she was not a threat, yet.

It was at this point that the ship shook, causing many to lose their balance. Chief recognised the danger even before the alarms began to howl, and the crew and marines ran out to their stations. Twilight, as she straightened up onto her hooves after falling, had a very confused look on her face.

Cortana chose to return at that point to the pedestal, immediately catching the Chief’s attention.

“I’ve got some good news, and some bad news”, Cortana stated. “Well, actually, it’s just bad news.”

“Covenant”, the Chief stated, his blood boiling, causing Twilight to look confused and Cortana to nod.

“They’ve followed us from Reach to wherever here is. But that’s not all. We’ve encountered something new…a planet size ring shape artificial planet to be exact.”

The Chief cocked his head in confusion. Cortana raised her hand, and a holographic image of the Ring appeared in front of the Chief and Twilight. Twilight’s jaw dropped down to the furthest extent it could go. The Chief, however, stood impassive, though his thoughts were imagining what potential link the structure might have with the Covenant.

“The Covenant have already found us, and have surprisingly launched boarding craft instead of just blowing us all into atoms with plasma.”

“Good”, the Chief said, “that means we have a chance.”

“Indeed”, Cortana affirmed. “The Captain wants you on the bridge ASAP” - the Chief began to move away - “with Twilight here”

The Chief paused, wondering why the Captain would want a potential threat on the bridge before a battle, but nodded. Twilight looked nervous with what she just heard.
“Excuse me”, she asked the Chief as Cortana disappeared again, “what are you talking about when you say ‘Covenant’? And these ‘boarding craft’, are they dangerous?”

The Chief ignored her question, beckoning her to follow him. Together, they left the medical bay and started fast walking to the bridge, with Twilight struggling to match the Chief’s speed and follow him at the same time.

As they went past a corridor, crewmembers and marines alike were fortifying their positions, setting up barricades and arming themselves. As the pair turned the corner into another corridor, the Chief stopped by a weapon rack, picked up a M6D magnum and stocked up on ammo for both his rifle and newly acquired pistol. Twilight looked on with a growing sense of worry, as she noticed that the weapons had a similarity to the crossbows used by the royal guard and gryphons back in Equestria.

The entire ship shook once again, though the Chief could hear a collision sound in the distance. He grimaced at the closeness of the sound’s origin. To complement his fear, the alarms started to blare, and Cortana’s voice echoed across the corridor.

“Warning, boarders have breached on the ports and starboard sides. All available forces, engage and defend all critical locations.”

“What’s going on?”, Twilight demanded to know, just as they passed through more corridors before arriving at a battle site.

Author's Note

Hello Everyone.

Here is the meeting between Twilight and the Master Chief. I originally planned to have the entire 'mission' as one chapter, but instead decided to split it. This will most likely be how I will continue to go through the Halo storyline.

If you notice any errors, please post it in the comments.

Next up: first encounter with the Covenant