"Chief? Can you hear me?"
When John turned his lights on in reply, Cortana sighed in relief, "I thought that I'd lost you too."
As the Master Chief slowly awakened to his surroundings, he found that he was still floating in the vacuum of space. He pushed himself toward an opening off of one of the many supports ringing the narrow hallway. As he slowly drifted toward the opening, he grabbed the assault rifle floating next to him, "What happened?"
"I'm not sure. When Halo fired, it shook itself to pieces; did a number on the Ark. The portal couldn't sustain itself; we made it through just as it collapsed." Cortana said, as the Chief arrived at the opening, realizing that he was in only the back half of the Forward Unto Dawn; the front half was missing. "Well, some of us made it."
When John decided he had had enough of looking out into the black and blue void, he twisted around so he could push further into the ship. There was a cryogenic hibernation room up ahead with a holographic plinth for Cortana. As Master Chief drifted to the holographic projector, Cortana told him, "But you did it, Truth, and the Covenant, the Flood. It's finished."
When Master Chief placed Cortana into the projector, he looked down at the small data pad displaying her current status and agreed with what she had said, "It's finished."
The Chief floated over to the weapons rack next to the cryotube, where he secured and locked his assault rifle into position. "I'll drop a beacon, but it'll be awhile before anybody finds us, years even." Cortana solemnly informed Chief as he drifted over to the cryotube. "I'll miss you," she said as the cover for the cryotube was closing.
Chief looked up at her and sincerely replied, "Wake me when you need me," and lay down in the tube, ready for the freezer to activate.
Cortana looked up in momentary surprise, then bowed her head as she placed her ally, and possibly good friend, into a deep hibernation that would last for a very long time.
~~~~~~~~~~
*Three Years Later*
~~~~~~~~~~
"Twilight, what are you still doing out of bed? It's way past midnight." Twilight Sparkle's small dragon assistant Spike questioned her. He had just woken up realizing that not only was his mentor still not in bed, but that it was also way past midnight.
"I know Spike, but I just can't shake this feeling that something is going to happen soon." Twilight quickly told him while starting to pace around the balcony that held her telescope (which she had levitated onto the ledge from outside, seeing as how it was way too big to carry up the stairs). She looked terrible. Her mane was out of place with small strands sticking out everywhere and her pupils were starting to become different sizes with one of the eyelids beginning to twitch rapidly.
"Well, what do you think it's going to be? Will it be good, bad, or just something random, like a meteor shower? That'd hardly be something to lose precious sleep over." Spike yawned, momentarily forgetting that Twilight had lost several nights of sleep over an almost tardy letter to Princess Celestia, Equestria's fair ruler.
"I don't know what it's going to be Spike, but I feel like if I miss it, I'll miss something very important. Don't worry about me, go to bed, I'll be there soon." Twilight assured Spike, so he went back to his small bed and promptly fell asleep. Twilight subconciously regained control over her twitching eyelid since she was soon deep in thought. "Should I send a letter to Celestia? I don't think that this would be something of great importance that I should bother her with." Her thoughts were interrupted when a shadow stopped above her.
"TWILIGHT SPARKLE, WE ARE IN NEED OF YOUR ASSISTANCE!" Luna shouted using the royal voice. It was a wonder that she didn't wake everypony up. "I HAVE FELT A DISTURBANCE IN MY DOMAIN, FAR ABOVE THE LANDS!"
Twilight just gave up on seeing if Luna would wake anypony else up, seeing as how it was obviously not going to happen. "Yes Princess Luna, I'm here! What was this about something intruding into your domain?"
"I am sorry to have awoken you Twilight Sparkle, but it is of the utmost importance that I use your telescope, for I cannot fly very far or high because of my injured wing and the Palace telescope is broken." Luna informed her very quickly, seemingly spooked about said object. This surprised Twilight, since not very many things could spook the tough-as-nails princess. "As I said, I would not have bothered you if it wasn't important, but this, object, is far larger than I had originally thought, and it is getting closer as we speak." Luna said with a still worried face.
"Alright Princess Luna, I'll let you use my telescope, just be very careful please; it's state-of-the-art technology and I would hate for it to be broken." Twilight said with curiosity and at the forefront of her mind, for she was beginning to wonder as to what this object was as well.
"Many thanks Twilight Sparkle, I am very grateful!" exclaimed Luna. So, she led the Princess of the Night to where her telescope sat on the balcony. Twilight trotted over to one side of her balcony as she patiently waited for Luna to find what she had felt. It was fairly easy to know when Luna suddenly cried out.
"Twilight! You must see this! It has not yet entered the atmosphere, but it soon will!" The tone of Luna's voice surprised Twilight yet again, seeing as how not only was Luna worried about this object, but now also very scared.
Twilight quickly paced over to the telescope and nearly put an eye out trying to see into it. It took her a little while, but when she found what Luna was speaking of, she reeled back in shock. She quickly looked up at Luna, who nodded and motioned for Twilight to look again. As she slowly placed her eye back to the telescope, she studied the strange object. It was humongous first of all, easily the size of most of Ponyville. Next, even stranger, the entire behemoth appeared to be completely made out of a reflective substance, showing that it was all made out of metal. Third, was the fact that the object looked as though it was torn in half. On one side, there were all of these jagged edges that could not have been there naturally. Then, she noticed that the object was rotating in a clockwise direction. What she saw next, surprised her the most. There was writing on the side of the metal giant. It was very similar to the common text of Equestria, just a few small differences, like a line moved, or a curve added.
Twilight, stepped away from her telescope and looked up at Luna, confusion in her eyes. "Luna, did you happen to see the writing on surface of this object?"
Luna looked at Twilight with surprise, "No, I did see not any writing. Why? What have you seen?"
Twilight, who was still wondering how the writing could be so close to their own, looked at Luna. "The writing on the side of it, it's so close to our own, it might as well be the same. What I read on the side of that strange object, were the words "Forward Unto Dawn"."