As the Chief followed the two equines--or ponies, as they called themselves--into the camp, he received the reactions he expected. Much like with the previous soldiers he met, he received wide stares, their eyes full of fear and wonder. Some of ponies did their best to get out of the area, or at least stay out of the Spartan’s way. Some got closer to look at the seven-foot, half-ton alien super soldier. But most spoke in hushed whispers, sending curious glances the Spartan’s way. It was much like the reaction the Spartan-II’s would receive when they came into contact with UNSC forces or civilians.

The thought of his brothers and sisters, most of which were dead--piles of ash on the glassed remains of Reach--brought a shiver down the Spartan’s spine.

The Spartan also noticed quite a few unicorn and soldiers in olive-drab fatigues were following the trio in a loose formation, trading uneasy glances with each other. A smart move.

“Officer on deck!” Corporal Horse Shoes called out, causing everyone in the immediate vicinity, including the Spartan, to stand at rigid attention.

The Spartan caught sight of the soldier in crimson armor, flanked by a dozen other soldiers. The Chief guessed this was the officer the Corporal was speaking about.

Unlike the pony soldiers, who would just stand there and stare, the officer marched straight up to Spartan, looking up the Master Chief with eyes full of... something.

“My name is Captain Firewall. I am the head of the Equestrian Army’s Royal Guard division. Thanks for saving my colts,” he said, holding his hoof out to the Spartan.

“Sir,” the Chief responded, reaching out and accepting the Captain’s hoof, shaking it while making sure not to crush it.

“Corporal Horse Shoe, Private Lucky Clover?” Captain Firewall said, turning to the two soldiers.

“Sir?” they responded.

“Thanks for not bucking up first contact. I got it from here,” the Captain said. The two soldiers saluted, which the Captain returned, before trotting off.

“Do you have a name, soldier?” Firewall asked the Chief.

“You can call me Master Chief,” the Spartan answered.

“I see. Navy?”

The Spartan nodded.

“Excellent. Please, follow me,” he said to the Chief, “we have a lot to discuss.”

“Change course to heading one-two-five, and prep our slip space drives,” Captain Del Rio ordered, watching the vast expanse of space from his command chair.

“Coordinates inputted. We should arrive at planet six-six-three-seven-echo in a week, give or take a few hours,” Roland stated, his avatar hovering above a nearby data pad.

“Commander Lasky, I want you to get Fifty-Fifth Tactical ready for deployment, and alert Fireteam Firefly that they will be hot-dropping with two combat teams from Seventh Shock Troops Battalion on the Forward Unto Dawn’s crashsite and securing it for us.”

“Yes sir. Will I be going down with them?” Commander Lasky asked.

“Affirmative. Go get your equipment ready to go and head to cryo,” Del Rio ordered. The Commander saluted, then made his way out of the bridge.

Fireteam Firefly jogged down one of the many hallways of the Infinity, stripped down only to their black bodysuits.

“Attention, all non-essential personnel,” Del Rio’s voice boomed over the Infinity’s PA system. “Please report to cryo.”

“Think there will be any hot alien babes on that planet?” Romeo asked.

“Probably. But they will almost certainly want nothing to do with you, Romeo.” Buck responded.

The fireteam hung a right, nearly running straight into Commander Lasky.

“Sorry, sir!” Buck apologized, as the fireteam regained their composure and stood at attention.

“No need to apologize, Chief. You actually made my job a lot easier,” Lasky said, taking a couple seconds to regain his breath. “Fireteam Firefly will be hot-dropping on the planet with a couple combat teams from the 7th Shock Troops Battalion. It will be your job to secure the crashsite for the incoming Marine forces. Your men up to the job?”

“Of course, sir.”

“Good. Get to cryo. I’ll see you guys on the ground.”

The fireteam saluted as the Commander sprinted past them. Once he was out of sight, the fireteam continued their journey to the nearest cyro.

The Chief now found himself outside of the command tent, where he earlier spotted Captain Firewall enter with the two supposed rulers of this land. The tent was now guarded by two dozen unicorn soldiers, plus a good amount of soldiers in olive-drab fatigues milling about the area. Someone was being awfully cautious about his presence.

“Cortana, keep track of the pony forces in the area,” the Spartan ordered.

“Already on it, Chief,” the smart AI responded. “There are more soldiers in the surrounding tents. My guess is they are just being cautious, but it doesn’t help to be on guard.”

The Chief nodded in agreement, and reached for the tent flaps to open it, but soon found a red, armored hoof reaching in to stop him.

“I’m sorry, but I gotta ask you to leave your weapons outside. Just a security precaution. I’m sure you wouldn’t want me carrying in a sword if I went to meet your leaders for the first time.” Captain Firewall explained.

The Chief nodded, as he place his assorted weaponry aside in a neat pile. “As long as you don’t touch or move them.”

The Captain nodded and made his way into the tent

The Spartan hoped that he was just being paranoid as he followed Firewall inside of the tent.

Inside waited the squadron leader of the pegasi he had saved earlier, as well as the two larger ponies he had spotted during his earlier recon. The white pony reacted much like Captain Firewall had earlier, giving the Spartan a quick once-over. The dark blue pony looked up at the Spartan with eyes full of wonder, looking much like a child.

“Master Chief, meet Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They are the leaders of the nation of Equestria,” Firewall stated.

The Spartan sent a respectful nod their way.

“And I’m sure you remember Sergeant Silver Bullet here,” the Captain said, motioning to the pegasi.

The Chief and the Sergeant shared respectful nods.

“Chief, I’m picking up something with the Dawn’s short ranged sensors, which are still operational, for the most part. Could be nothing, but I’ll look into it,” Cortana spoke up.

The Spartan acknowledged the AI with the slightest of nods.

“Is there anything you could tell us about you, Master Chief?” Celestia asked.

Everypony immediately leaned forward slightly, interested in what the alien super soldier had to say.

The Spartan quickly thought about what to say, considering there wasn't a whole lot he could say without breaching protocol, and spoke up. “My designation is Spartan-117. I am a Master Chief Petty Officer in the United Nation Space Command’s Navy, and am a member of the Spartan-II program. My mission is to defend Earth and her colonies from any threats, whether it be insurrectionists or Covenant. Everything else is classified.”

“Might I ask... what is a Covenant?” Princess Luna asked the Spartan.

“The Covenant was a collection of alien species who worshipped a species of advanced and long dead aliens known as the Forerunners,” the Chief explained, noticing the princesses share an uneasy glance at the mention of the Forerunners. “They declared humanity a threat to their religion and went from colony to colony, burning entire planets into glass and killing billions.”

Sympathetic and shocked looks spread across the faces in the ponies in the room.

“Damn...” Captain Firewall commented.

After a few moments, Princess Celestia spoke up. “Chief... I am so, so sorry to hear about that.”

The Spartan nodded slightly, only to acknowledge her condolences. “We won, and saved everyone in the galaxy from death. That’s what counts.”

The room remained silent for several minutes, interrupted only by Celestia occasionally sipping on her tea. Then, Princess Luna spoke up.

“Are there... any other survivors? From the crash, I mean,” she asked.

The Spartan shook his head. “I was the only one on board.”

“So, it’s only just you?” Luna asked.

The Master Chief nodded.

“I must ask you, Master Chief, what is your purpose here?” Celestia asked.

“I have no purpose here. My ship crashed here. I need to find a way back home. That’s as far as it goes.”

The two princesses shared a glance before looking back to the Spartan. “We have no reason to doubt your intentions,” Celestia said. “I will allow you to stay in the nearby town of Ponyville on the condition that you will be followed by an escort, just in case.”

The Chief nodded.

“Very good. You may stay in the camp for tonight, as my student will need to prepare for your arrival,” Celestia said, before rising. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we must return to Canterlot. The nobility is making quite a fuss over your ship.”

Celestia trotted out of the tent, Princess Luna following behind her. However, the blue princess stopped at the exit and turned towards the Spartan. “Master Chief... I would like to invite you to join me tonight at my observation deck.”

“No thanks,” the Spartan replied.

A small giggle escaped the princesses lips. “It’s nothing like that, I assure you... I have some things to talk to you about the Forerunners.”

“She knows something, Chief,” Cortana spoke up.

“I want to get a few things from the Dawn first.”

Princess Luna nodded. “May I join you? I could be of some assistance.”

“It’s your land, ma’am,” the Chief responded, walking past the princess. The princess blinked and thought about this for a couple seconds, then chased after the Spartan.

“Is this useful?” Princess Luna inquired, pulling a rocket launcher out of a pile of rubble with the help of her telekinesis. The Chief plucked the rocket launcher out of the air and gave it a thorough examination. Though it was heavily scratched and chipped, it appeared in working order. This was great news, considering the Spartan had come across a few cases of 102mm HE AT missiles, yet no working launchers.

“Good find, Princess,” the Spartan complimented, tossing the launcher into the bed of a nearby, intact warthog.

The princess made her way over to the warthog and looked inside of the bed of the hog. “Do you really need all of these... things, Master Chief?” she asked, looking over the large assortment of weapons, ammo, rations, and other supplies.

“It’s better have something and not need it than to need something and not have it,” the Spartan retorted.

“Too true, Spartan,” she said, turning away from the warthog. “Is this everything you need? There are quite a few ponies eagar the examine the wreckage.”

“One more thing,” the Chief said, reaching behind his helmet and pulling out Cortana’s chip, holding it out in front of him. Cortana’s avatar appeared seconds later, much to the amazement of the Spartan’s company. “Cortana, wipe all classified files from the Dawn’s system, provided they still exist.”

Cortana’s avatar nodded in acknowledgement. “It’s done,” she said after a moment. “Chief, regarding the earlier anomaly, I am almost seventy percent certain there is something in orbit around the planet, though I cannot identify what.”

“Keep tabs on it. Alert me of any and all changes,” the Spartan ordered.

“Understood,” Cortana responded.

“What is that, might I ask?” Luna asked, pointing to Cortana’s avatar.

Cortana’s turned towards the blue alicorn. “I am Cortana, UNSC AI Serial Number CTN0452-9,” she responded.

Suddenly, the AI’s avatar faltered and distorted, turning a shade of red. “I am a monument to all your sins,” she said, her voice distorted, before her avatar returned to it’s usual blue color.

“Cortana?” the Chief asked, concerned.

Cortana’s avatar turned towards the Spartan, looking up at him with a weak looking smile. “I’ve been in better condition,” she said, her voice distorting mid-sentence. “Let’s just hope we can get to Halsey before it’s too late.

Princess Luna looked concerned. “Pray tell, is there something wrong with Cortana?” she inquired.

The Master Chief looked back to the princess. “It’s complicated.”

“I see. Shall we head to Canterlot?”

“I’ve got everything we need,” the Spartan stated, placing Cortana’s chip back in his helmet and climbing into the warthog. Princess Luna looked at the seat beside the Chief’s, but ended up hopping into the warthog’s bed.

“Is there some sort of trail leading to Canterlot?” the Chief asked.

“Yes, but there’s no need,” Luna responded.

Before the Spartan could ask her what she meant, the princess's horn glowed a bright blue. Seconds later, the warthog, the princess, and the half-ton super-soldier disappeared without a trace.