//------------------------------//
// Second Rebirth 
// Story: The Requiem 
// by Onyxian 
//------------------------------//

[A/N] It seems like everyone thinks this is a crossover.
Murp. It’s not.
Although I’m a HUGE Halo fan, this fanfic isn’t affiliated with the plot of Halo 4, and neither are the characters or storyline. I know the name ‘Precursor’ may spark some evidence to show otherwise, but I’ve actually been thinking of this idea for quite a while now, and the whole ‘Precursor’ thing just happened to be a coincidence; and as well as the whole cryopod idea.
So yeah, here’s a decently normal chapter. Hopefully you can enjoy this, I put a lot of brainstorming into this.
Enjoy! ~Onyxian


For minutes on end, she spent trying desperately to find a way to open the pods. This is so weird; if I can instinctively remember standing up on two hooves, and how to open a pod from the inside, then why can't I open them from the outside?! She looked and looked to find a button of some sorts, of some variety or something that every pod identically shared, so that she could bring them back. All she wanted was the absence of loneliness, and the company of her friends. It was her only hope of returning home; and if they could not help, then together they would find a way. It’s always worked like that...it wouldn’t change, not for Twilight, and not for her friends. Not ever. Together, they would delve into the Valley of Death and return champions of their own land. Even the Princess of the Sun saw faith in them, keeping them close to her side as they together vanquished all evil on the face of the...
“OH CELESTIA, JUST LET THEM OUT!!!” she yelled under the immense stress that she purposely built onto herself. With the throwing of her ‘hoof’, she coincidentally landed it onto a panel, which beamed to life with the touch of her skin on it’s screen. On it, the panel read ‘Cryo-cycle aborted’. With a quick reading, Twilight sighed in relief and happiness. The dusty, unused panel that had been in plain sight was the key. The least it could’ve done was show itself better.
As the terminal beamed with light, Twilight looked into the pod which held the soon-to-be second member on board this derelict structure. For minutes and minutes on end, the ice melted away seamlessly, and the face of the inhabitant appeared clearly, just as Twilight had just an hour ago. The inhabitant had laid-back, rough blonde hair, with freckles dotted along her cheeks. She was sleeping peacefully (save the sudden awakening she will go through in just a few moments), and was even smiling in bliss.
Oh Celestia... Twilight giggled at the sight; she had never seen Applejack so happy, it was almost always a bunch of farm-accents and family tradition, and to see her like this just sparks a subject worth giggling or laughing over. Sleeping peacefully did the farm girl lay, positioned upright at a slightly tilted angle, such as the design of the pod. It felt mean to wake her up from all that peace, and yet, it was ever so necessary for her return. Information was the most important thing that Twilight needed at that time, and if Applejack or any of her sleeping friends could supply her with answers, then she would be more than grateful to have another mystery put to rest.
Imagining Applejack’s awakening, Twilight blindly stood back to allow her roused friend to wake up without a strange, alien face staring at her. This didn’t seem in the least bit funny to her; thinking about it just made her imagine if it were to happen to her when she woke up. Freaky. She’d probably scream, like when she first saw those stubs on her hoof.
Now that she was thinking about it; she remembered an alternative name to those stubs, she read about it when identifying her assistant Spike’s anatomy. They were called fingers. But those were pointy and short; these ones were long, skinny, and had those...nails on the tip. And the colors were all different.
Simultaneously, the cryopod emitted a sudden gasp of air, like Twilight had when she first woke. She thought that maybe Applejack had finally been woken up, but wanted to make sure, because it may just be something the pod does before the inhabitant wakes. And of course, this was something she was not sure of, since she wasn’t even awake to know if the pod would make such noise. And if it was actually Applejack waking up...then she’d just have to keep standing there, watching silently as her friend motionlessly returned from her deep slumber.
It took a while, unfortunately, until something actually happened. Between the time gap, steam poured out of the pod’s hole’s located on it’s edges, creating a very snake-ish sound that almost made Twilight go insane. It kept piercing her head like a spear, and made her fingers block her ears to hopelessly stop the noise. Thank Celestia she was asleep when this noise went off, and for not being able to hear the sound while she was sleeping. She just hoped Applejack would be able to enjoy her last few moments of rest before venturing into a strange, metallic world that not even the bookworm would explain.
With thoughts rampaging, the noises stopped. A silence once again returned. Twilight felt like she was never more grateful.
More importantly, she focused now onto the cryopod sitting motionless in the room with her, with 3 others waiting silently. With the noise gone, she was more anticipating than ever for the pod to just open, and for her to see her friend again like always. No more silence. No more loneliness. No more darkness. It was time for answers. It was time for Applejack’s return. 
And return she did.
With a silent gasp, Applejack jolted in one motion, back into the world of the living. Witnessing from the outside, Twilight saw her moving body, trying her best to smile at her and act as friendly as possible, and pray she gets her memory back before she exits the pod. Everything her friend did was in mixing with silence. No noise; nothing emitted. All that was there was Applejack, looking around, fluidly recuperating from her sudden awakening in a strange pod. Her motions deafened by the thick pod glass, Twilight could hear nothing of her friend. Only her desperate movements.
Finally, Applejack pushed the pod door in front of her so that she too could venture forth. She was not yet aware, but she was not an Equestrian anymore, but something else. More to that, Twilight stood apprehensively on the opposite side of the room, next to her pod, alone, watching Applejack reach for freedom from the ice prison. She fell from the pod in drowsiness and confusion, reenacting Twilight’s awakening earlier on without knowing so. As she did, she instinctively pushed her hoof out in front of her to catch herself from the freefall, and to inevitably see what her hoof had become. It was then that Twilight remembered the other name for a palm with fingers; a hand. Like Spike’s, a hand consisted of multiple fingers, and a thumb, which led Twilight to think that maybe she and her friends had become scale-less dragons; with no tails, no fire-breath, no spikes, no...
...No,no,no, that wouldn’t make sense. We have to be something else.
Applejack hit the ground, her hand grabbing her to stop her body’s motion. Briefly, she laid there, with only one hand to hold her up, and her knees bent, connecting the skin to the cold, metal ground. Then, as a loss of balance came, she fell, or rather collapsed, onto the ground, emitting a OUF! as she did. It was pretty obvious she hurt herself; she landed face first, and the sound she made sounded painful. Although it was Applejack, no one is safe from the flash-thawing effects that overcome you once you awake from cryo-sleep.
How come Twilight knew all this? How did she remember how the effects of flash-thawing affect an awakening pony? Question after question did her mind rush through. But thinking wasn’t what was important right now. Her friend was still on the ground, recovering. Like a desperate friend, Twilight approached the barely moving farm-girl.
“Applejack!” she said, rushing over to the moaning creature. Little did she realize, but calling out to Applejack was the first word she had said since her flash-thaw. It didn’t mean much, not with one of your best friends hurt, laying on the ground. Kneeling down, Twilight grabbed her friend by the shoulder, and started to nudge repetitively to rouse her.
“Nnnnggghh...” Applejack moaned, indicating signs of consciousness.
“Hang in there, Applejack! Can you hear me?”
Applejacks unresponsive body slowly turned her head sideways, to face the direction of whoever was shaking her. Annoyed and curious, she stared gloomily up at Twilight, to identify who had woken her up, and who was speaking. Unknown to Twilight, her words came through as blurred mutters and shouts, unreadable by Applejack. Flash-thawing presented such situation, where the roused pony’s mind was still turning itself on from it’s host’s slumber; so emotions, thoughts, processes, and actions were all mixed up and unlike what they are when working correctly.
The green, sleepy eyes of Applejack stared into Twilights. A sentient connection between the only awake citizens of a mysterious world was established. Twilight’s mind raced, and so did Applejack’s. Both tried their hardest to think of something to do, something to say to one another, to show that they do understand each other’s presence. But what to say...
“T-Twi-Twili...” Applejack sleepily spoke, unable to finish Twilight’s name due to her mind’s furious racing; remembering, reciting, receiving, rebuilding everything that had been forgotten in those few moments of blank memory. Her eyes still looked twitchy and deathly. Had she contracted an illness? What was wrong? Was I like this when I got out of the pod? Perhaps it’s about past exposure to clean surroundings. Twilight thought as she stared with unsure thoughts at her friends weakened condition.
“It’s me, Applejack. Don’t worry.” she said to reassuringly calm her friend.
Applejack chuckled and smiled in response, knowing her friend was there. At last, two friends reunited in awake conscious. No more did the silence linger. No more did the ship feel empty or dark. A friend was there, for both of them, so that together they could venture the brave new world that had been dealt their way.

Applejack had returned, fully, not as an Equestrian, but mentally, and was now capable of walking, talking, thinking, and seeing perfectly. Unlike Twilight, she could not walk instinctively on two legs rather than 4, and needed her friend to help her learn. Eventually, she did, and was now exploring, as you would, the pod-lined hallway, where they had looked many times at their sleeping friend, thinking logically what they had to do to keep them from falling into the same state as Applejack. Leaning on the adjacent side, they talked over the subject.
“...we don’t want them waking up and nearly throwing up, Applejack. We need them to wake up and get them into a stable condition.
“Sugarcube, I sure as hay think that ain’t an option. Just look back on me; when I got out of them pods, I nearly lost my mind. Now why would ya think that the same wouldn’t happen to them?”
“Because, Applejack, I woke up and I was perfectly fine. I don’t know why, but I did. And I’ve been thinking that this ‘flash-thaw sickness’ is determined by past exposure to unclean surfaces, which would explain your condition.”
“Hold up; are you sayin’ a gal workin’ on the farm would wake up with a cold after bein’ in one of those cryo-things?”
“Precisely...no offense.”
“None taken, partner. Makes sense, if ya ask me. But wouldn’t that mean that all of them ponies ‘cept Rainbow would wake up fine?”
“Well, depends on Fluttershy’s exposure. But yeah, Rarity’s been decently clean her whole life. And if Fluttershy’s condition is good, then she really does take care of animals better than everyone...hmm...”
“What is it, Twilight?”
Twilight turned apprehensively, and jokingly to Applejack. “Fluttershy’s gonna throw a fit when she figures out there’s no animals here.”
The two chortled briefly until returning to their conversation. “Nah, I think Fluttershy would be too assimil...assi-assimila...”
“Assimilating?”
“Right. She’s too darn assimilatin’ to make a fuss ‘bout somethin’ like that.”
“Maybe.” Twilight said, going along with her friends opinion.
Suddenly, a massive and dull sound erupted from the end of the hallway. The two jolted their heads in the direction of the sound, scared of what made the ominous and creepy noise. For seconds on end, the noise persisted, echoing and dying slowly through the unexplored hallways and rooms of a world yet labeled as safe, rather as dangerous. It seemed forever that it linger through the cold air, breathing hard through the friends’ minds, causing thoughts and reactions to race menacingly through each other’s minds. Eventually, the sound stopped, fading away into the air. “What was that?” Applejack responded, wide-eyed and her mouth open in a jolt of surprise.
“...I don’t know. I’ll go check it out, you stay here and wake the others up.”
“Got it, Twilight.” Applejack saluted as she watched her friend cautiously venture into the dark hallway, unsure of what to come of her. Briefly after she disappeared, Applejack hesitated to wake her friends up. She was too busy thinking about Twilight’s safety, venturing along in a dark, unexplored and unpredictable world. I sure hope she gets back okay. I don’t wanna lose a friend, not now. Thinking now of what to do, she looked away from the hallway and turned to her sleeping friends. It was time for a reunion.
Twilight crept through the fading cross-sections and doors of the structure, looking with all her eyesight to avoid smashing into any walls. With the lack of lighting in the area, it was difficult to see. Remembering her magic, she tried to cause tension in her forehead, where her horn used to be. No light appeared before her, or anywhere around her. She would have to trek through the darkness as an Earth pony would; without horns and without wings. Maybe this way she could finally complete her studies on what Earth ponies do in given situations without the anatomical advantages of wings or horns. Just one small problem: she didn’t have her stuff with her. Not to her knowledge. If she did, great. If not, her adventure would become even more trivial than initially thought out to be; And that outcome appeared to be the most likely to unfold.
Without any other sound than the footsteps she made, she walked silently for minutes on end. Separating the barely lit from the pitch-blackness, it was trivial to even find her way. Once or twice she accidentally walked right into a wall, or a post, on the way to whatever destination she had in mind. Eventually, she found a set of stairs, spiraling up along a straightened metal pipe. She had already found 3 or 4 of those until she found one ever so interesting. The same design of the stairs was there, but a light was shining in from the top of it.
With a sigh, Twilight began to climb the ambiently lit stairs, to see whatever was at it’s end. This reminded her of the Crystal Empire’s stairs, when she was descending down to a door rather than ascending to something else. Again she had to climb stairs back then, but the problem was simplified by reversing gravity and sliding down the stairs to reach the top. With Spike by her side, she reached the top, anticipating the rediscovery of the Crystal Heart, the artifact which fueled the joy of the Crystal Empire. But what she found was...
...the remembrance of the event gave Twilight a headache. She could not remember past that point, ascending to the top, the astonishing discovery of something forgotten in her mind. Whatever it was, it sure wasn’t the Crystal Heart. Whatever was there may have been linked to her current condition, and maybe even her friends as well. More questions popped up, and with disregard to them, Twilight continued her climbing. Oh Celestia...if I can’t remember that, then what else did I forget? Am I really Twilight Sparkle? Am I a clone? Is my life a lie? Was I ever a pony? Or am I just being paranoid?
Now, she could not answer those questions. Now, all she could do was climb to the top of those stairs, and find the answers for herself; for Applejack, and for all her friends, she would find the truth. The truth of what was really happening, of what they were, and what they would have to do. Would they seek out a spell to turn them into ponies again? Would they find a way to return to their home in Ponyville? Are they doomed to live forever in this metallic underworld?
They would never be certain. Not until they climb those stairs.
As Twilight took the last step of the staircase, she looked up to face the light source. There, in a blue-ish glow, stood a screen of readouts, signs, words, and maps. The screen was connected through a metal-looking rope that bended on the ground like a snake into a metallic-cube that held the glass-screen up. Behind it was a depression in the room, that ramped down onto a floor just a couple feet downwards from her, where chairs with similar blue screens attached to them sat, empty and uninhabited. To her right and left were two elevated areas of the room, where similar chairs laid in the same direction: towards a see-through, giant window on the far side of the room. Through it laid the best thing Twilight had seen since her mysterious awakening.
Orbiting a familiar sun, with stars shining down upon it, and with a moon ever so full in it’s own orbit, with green and lush continents surrounded by glistening blue seas, was the planet of her species, her birth, her family, and her kingdom: the planet of Equestria.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”