As Celestia, Luna, and the Element Bearers told the UNSC personnel of Equestria's history and recent events, Lasky found himself fascinated by their stories, along with a quite attentive James Cutter. Glassman had already begun recording the entire session. The Spartans and Commander Palmer, merely listened, and asked no questions.

"Well, that's everything for now." Celestia said after she and Twilight told them of Tirek's defeat. "In the meantime, may I know more about Humanity?"

"Sure." Lasky said. "But you should know that this won't entirely be pleasant."

As the two Captains told the ponies of the rise of the UNSC, the Insurrection, the Human-Covenant War, and the two battles on Requiem. The ponies, though shocked by the casualty count and the war's devastation, listened with bated breath. Eventually, the conversations were finished, and both sides stood up.

"That was a stirring testimony, Captains." Princess Luna said. "To endure so much death and yet keep going to eventual victory...it moved me."

"Thank you, Princess." Lasky said. "It was stirring. Not just for us, but for all humanity."

Luna nodded at his words as they exited the castle, the night sky turning to light.

"Ah, pardon me." Celestia said. "I must raise the sun."

"Raise it?" Cutter asked. "It doesn't move on its own?"

Celestia smirked and summoned her magic. As the sun rose into the sky, it spun in a circle for good measure. As Glassman began furiously scribbling notes on his datapad, Cutter gave an impressed chuckle.

"Apparently it doesn't." he laughed. "Most impressive, Princess."

"My thanks, Captain Cutter." Celestia replied. "Well, now that we're all acquainted...Sigil? May I ask something of you?"

"Certainly, Princess." the Monitor replied.

"Would you mind if the humans surveyed your installation beneath the city?" she asked.

"Certainly, Princess." Sigil said. "This way."

As the two groups entered the spiral staircase, Glassman was a dynamo of activity, taking scans and notes on everything he could see.

"You seem quite avid, Mr. Glassman." Twilight noted.

"I certainly am." Glassman smiled. "This installation is one of the few that I've seen up close and personal. Though I have had a few close calls with Forerunner installations like these, this one is fascinating! And so is your world, might I add."

"Professor Anders would like you, Doctor." Cutter chimed in. "The Spirit of Fire's resident Science officer." he added, at Twilight's look of confusion. She nodded and moved to speak with the Captain.

"Mr. Cutter?" she asked. "How long did you serve during the war?"

"Quite a while." Cutter replied. "Since the first battle of Harvest, the invasion of Arcadia, and the Shield World…we were actually drifting while in Cryo-sleep since that last one for about twenty-one years, give or take."

"Cryo-sleep?" Twilight asked.

"Well, cryo is our method of keeping us alive during FTL travel." Cutter said. "Essentially, we put ourselves into a state of stasis where we don't need to eat, sleep, or breathe. FTL travel can take days or weeks, depending on the distance, and keeping everyone ready would take up too much of a ship's resources."

"That makes sense." Twilight said. "Fascinating!"

"Professor Anders would like you." Cutter smiled as the group entered Sigil's control room. "She's the Spirit of Fire's expert on the Forerunners, and she got us out of quite a few close calls during our time in the war."

As Sigil interfaced with the Installation's control console, Spartan McCord looked around the area at the pristine Forerunner architecture. The metal was gleaming white with green highlights, and there wasn't a speck of dust anywhere.

To some, it would be quite impressive and beautiful. To the Spartan, it was unnerving. His time on Requiem had been filled with sudden attacks by Prometheans, and seeing as the AI combatants could appear practically any-and-everywhere in a second...

Well, Chris had his Battle Rifle ready in case that happened.

"Is something wrong, Spartan?"

He turned to see Princess Luna approach with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm fine, ma'am." Chris replied. "This place brought back some memories...and some of them weren't good, if you understand."

"How so?"

"During the Infinity's deployment on Requiem, these installations were often full of hostile Forerunner units called Prometheans." Chris said. "They could pop out of nowhere and attack you at any given time on that planet. We lost good soldiers, even a few Spartans, because of them. Gives me a bad feeling about this place because of it."

"I see." Luna said. "Couldn't you communicate with them such as you can with Astute Sigil?"

"Not really. They were hostile ever since we landed there six months before the Second Battle of Requiem, when we first found the planet itself." Chris replied, watching Sigil show readouts to both UNSC Captains. "Even if we could, they weren't interested in talking, and more in shooting at us on sight."

Luna raised an eyebrow at the Spartan.

"Why is that?"

"Don't know." Chris shrugged. "I do know that Prometheans have some relation with humans, due to an incident on the Infinity during the Second Battle, but whatever it is, I'd prefer not to know. Leave it to the scientists that actually know how to deal with it."

"And you can't learn those things yourself?"

"We're supersoldiers, not scientists." Chris chuckled weakly. "Most of the operations we did were military-related. Requiem was a long fight, and most people were happy to see it be incinerated."

"How can you incinerate an entire planet?" Luna asked, confused.

"We can't." Chris said. "Covenant Remnants under Jul M'dama locked us in place using three Forerunner artifacts, then programmed Requiem to move into its nearby star. It would've killed everyone on the ship, except my Fireteam, Fireteam Majestic, and Commander Palmer managed to disable them. We made it out alive with all hands, but Requiem wasn't as lucky.'

Luna gave a quiet murmur of thought.

"I see." she replied. "I enjoyed our conversation, Spartan...I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your name."

"Christopher McCord." he replied. "Most call me Chris, or Crimson."

"Well then, Chris, I do hope we speak again." Luna said, as the two of them rejoined the group. Chris nodded and stood with his fireteam as they departed for the surface once more.

"So, what else needs to be done?" Cutter asked.

"I believe that is everything for now." Celestia said. "I will need time to prepare a statement of your arrival for the public and the press, as well as the other races of Equestria. Until then, you may do as you wish. You can stay here, or you can return to your ships."

"Thank you, Princess." Lasky said. "We'll head back to the Infinity and Spirit of Fire to report our successful first contact to the UNSC and Fleetcom. We'll contact the Monitor when we're ready to return."

"As you wish." Celestia replied as they entered the plaza where the Pelicans waited. As the groups exchanged goodbyes and the UNSC personnel entered their respective vehicles, the three Pelicans took off and began the return flight home.

Author's Note

Update!