Halo: Memories.

by badassgrunt

Second Contact

The forest felt wrong. Master Chief had this feeling since he got here. The forest was unnaturally quiet. Ever since he had arrived, the forest had no sounds of birds or other woodland creatures. He knew deer were somewhere around here but he could never hear them, only see them. The only sound was his boots crunching on twigs, leaves, and grass. Stepping over a log, he trained his eye on his compass on his HUD; he was headed west, deeper into the forest.

He stopped and scanned his surroundings. The quietness was beginning to unnerve him. The deeper into the forest he got, the quieter it was. Even his footsteps sounded muted. He hesitated before pressing onward. It was about a minute or two when he found something of interest. A tree.

The tree was in a clearing, in the middle of it. The tree was black, dead. The grass around it, a good two meters, was also dead. Its black branches twisted and spired upwards to the sky. Its bark looked burned. He unconsciously gripped his sniper rifle tighter at the sight of the weird tree. The feeling of being watched intensified. It was deathly quiet, except for the pounding of his heart in his ears; it was fast.

He decided he had explored enough for the day, and left the creepy tree. He backtracked his way back to the Pelican. As he stepped into the clearing, he decided to have something to eat. As he neared the Pelican where he stored his items, he noticed something amiss. There was a incessant buzzing coming from inside the Pelican. He slung his sniper rifle on his back and readied his SMGs, clicking off the safeties. As he made his way along the side of the Pelican, he forced himself to calm down. That tree had unnerved him too much. as he turned the corner into the Pelican he was stunned at what he saw.

The Pelican was filled with flying multi-colored balls with eyes. They wre no bigger that a base ball, had tiny legs and insect eyes and wings. They were different colors ranging from green to blue to yellow, and they were packed together so tightly Master Chief couldn't see the back of the Pelican. He stood there bewildered for a moment before letting loose a burst from his SMGs. As the rounds tore through the creatures, they popped like Flood infection forms. Master Chief grimaced at that thought. The rest of the surviving flying creatures turned to him and flooded out of the Pelican. Master Chief side-swatted one as the rest flew away, passing him by.

Master Chief looked at the one he knocked to the ground, which was lying dazed on the ground. It was covered in fur, and had a non-insect mouth. Master Chief stepped on it with a squishy pop. What were they doing in there? he thought. He looked back into the Pelican and noticed something was missing. The MREs. It didn't take a genius to figure out who, or what, took them. Or rather ate them, since there were crumbs on the floor. Master Chief grounded his teeth so hard, he swore he heard them crack.

---

Twilight Sparkle paced anxiously behind the doors of her castle. Princess Celestia would be here any moment. After a few more minutes of waiting, she was about to go up to the dining room to be with her friends when the doors opened. Princess Celestia, and to Twilight's surprise, Princess Luna came strolling in followed by their respective guards.

Celestia smiled at her once-was student. "Hello, Twilight. Sorry we are late. Prince Blueblood wanted something."

Twilight grimaced at the name. Prince Blueblood was, to put it lightly, arrogant. "It's alright, Princ-- I mean Celestia. Shall we go into the dining room with the others?"

Princess Celestia smiled warmly, "That would be lovely."

Twilight led them to the dining room, where her friends sat. The three Princesses settled down and helped themselves to dinner. As they ate Princess Luna spoke up. "My dear Twilight, where is this alien? Is he not hungry?"

Twilight set down her fork and looked at her friends with a sad expression, that which they returned. "He didn't come."

Luna blinked and turned her head quizzically, "It did not come to a place where warm beds lie?"

Twilight shook her head, "He didn't seem to want to be with others."

"How did you know it was a 'he'?"

"He sounded like a stallion."

Celestia wiped her mouth, "It spoke to you? In words you understood?"

Twilight nodded. Applejack looked out of a window in the room. "It's awfully cold at night. Hope the little critter's alright."

Rainbow Dash laughed. "Little? The thing was taller than Princess Celestia!" she looked at the Princess in question, "Uh, no offence, Princess Celestia."

Celestia smiled warmly, "No offence taken."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Ya know what Ah meant."

Rarity daintily wiped her mouth, "I do wonder what the alien is doing right now..."

---

Master Chief cursed the planet he was on as he gathered the bugs' remains.

---

Rainbow Dash shrugged, "Probably alien stuff."

Applejack raised her eyebrow with a smile, "And whut does an alien do?"

Dash's eyes shifted side to side, "Y'know. Alien...stuff."

Applejack hummed before bursting into laughter. Rainbow followed her, and before long the rest of the table joined in. They ate the rest of their dinner, making small talk along the way. After a while Rarity excused herself to prepare for bed. The others soon excused themselves after that.

Their bellies full, they all slept silently. All except Princess Luna, who was in the Dreamscape. Here, she did not have a body in this place, but had her entire essence into a sphere that floated around in the void. The dreams were represented as opaque bubbles that drifted aimlessly. Each had their own aura, or feel to it so she could identify each one. There was one dream, however, that she was particularly looking for. She easily found it, as it wasn't a pony, dragon, or any other creature nearby. No, this one was the alien's and she was most eager to see what an alien's dream was like. She stopped herself, however.

On some extremely rare occasions, dreamers could sense Princess Luna in their dreams whether she liked it or not. What if she was caught? It would almost certainly destroy any hope of earning the alien's trust. Despite the fact that most ponies would not mind the Princess in their dreams, this was most likely not true for the alien. She gave a mental sigh. Maybe someday, when they have gained its trust, she could peer inside. Not tonight, however. With nothing to keep her from fulfilling her duties as Guarding of Dreams, she did just that.

---

Master Chief stared at the sun as it went down below the horizon, his polarized visor protecting his eyes. He had tried to hunt in the last few hours of the day, but he couldn't find any trace of the deer he saw the other day. Almost like they knew he was going hunt them eventually. This brought to light a important issue. Getting home. While the Pelican had a emergency beacon that could signal for help, it would take years for anyone to pick up on it. Decades, even. Decades on this planet with its annoying residents.

Having discarded his sniper rifle and SMGs and instead exchanged them for a pistol, he made his way to his campfire. Taking off his helmet, he took a sip of the hot water. He put back on his helmet and leaned back against a tree, and tried to get some sleep. He had a feeling that tomorrow was going to be a very busy day.

---

Master Chief's dreams were of blood and plasma. An explosion knocked him off of his feet. His assault rifle skittered across the ground. He hurt everywhere. His visor was cracked, and blood was splattered against it. He could barely hear the explosions and screams of Marines dying all around him over his beating heart and thundering breath.

Footsteps that were behind him came closer.

Chief? Why did you leave me, Chief? Why did you leave me to die?

---

Master Chief shuddered as he woke. He looked around. It was late morning. 10:03, to be precise. He took off his helmet as he got up. He took a swig of water from his canteen. He went to grab a MRE when he remembered that the bug creatures ate them. He put back on his helmet and looked around. Nothing had changed. Good. The last thing he wanted was another issue while he addressed the food problem. Speaking of food, he needed to find some. He again grabbed his sniper rifle, but instead took a shotgun instead of SMGs.

Turning to the direction of the hill, he began his hike to there. As he crested the hilltop, what caught his eye would prove to complicate his day further, and would probably ruin his day. Multi-colored specks made their way to the forest. He activated his sniper's zoom and with disdain recognized that they were the things that came to him yesterday, with additional creatures.

Master Chief made his way down hill, and quickly made his way to camp. He trade the sniper rifle for a battle rifle. He had to wait a few minutes before his motion tracker picked up something. Eleven dots made their way to them. The first two that stepped into the clearing were larger than the others. The white one stood as tall as a average Human, horn included. The blue one was half a head shorter than the white one. They both had wings and a horn. Their hair blew in a non-existent wind. One of them's hair was akin to the night sky. The other's was a rainbow of blue, pink, and green.

Four more aliens came into the clearing, and at a glance, he could tell they were guards. Two of them, however, were different. They had bat wings, and their eyes were like open wise vertically.* Their ears were also different. These guards took up stances on either side of the blue horse. The rest of the horse-things came into the clearing. They were the ones he saw yesterday.

The two tall ones looked at him with slightly wide eyes. They recovered quickly. The white one cleared its throat. "Hello, I am Princess Celestia of Equestria," The Spartan stayed silent. If his silence fazed them, they hid it well. "This is Princess Luna, my sister. With Princess Twilight Sparkle, we rule Equestria,"

Master Chief stayed silent. So this...Equestria was where he was located. As far as he knew, no UNSC planet had talking horses. He was really far away from home.

Her next statement brought him out of those thoughts. "I've noticed you had some Parasprite problems,"

Master Chief cocked his head. "Parasprites?"

She motioned to the bug things he had killed earlier that were scattered around a tree. He glared at the dead bugs, "Oh. Those."

"I'm guessing they ate whatever food you had."

Master Chief looked back at her and slowly nodded.

"And what, if I may ask, are you going to do about the food situation?" she asked.

"Hunt." He said simply. Neither the white one or the blue one made any reaction to his answer. The majority of the rest of the Ponies, however, winced. Only the guards controlled their reactions, though they either of them glared or shifted on their hooves.

"You do realize, however, that most of the life forms here are somewhat sentient. While some of them can't speak, most of them can still reason and feel just as we do."

"...they're deer."

"You wish to hunt deer? I'm afraid to say that they are just as intelligent as Ponies." Intelligent deer? He guest that made sense, as there were talking ponies.

The orange one, Applejack, took a step forward. "Ya'll welcome to stay at th' farm. We have plenty o' food. Just, uh, don't eat th' animals."

Master Chief sighed. On one hand, he really didn't want anything to do with the Ponies. On the other, he had no food and hunting seems like it would cause even more problems that he didn't want to deal with. "Fine."

Celestia beamed. "Excellent. It seems we are in an agreement. You will stay at Applejack's farm. Is there anything else you need?"

"I need a way home."

Celestia's smile faltered a bit. She turned to Twilight. "I entrust that job to my capable fellow Princess, Twilight Sparkle."

The Pony in question blushed, "I'll do my best, Celestia."

Celestia turned back to the Spartan. "Is there anything you need to take with you?"

He turned to the Pelican. That could stay, as it was currently just a useless hunk of junk. The weapons and supplies on the other hand..."Yeah."

"So be it." Celestia's horn glowed and Master Chief was about to bring his weapon up when a large gold accented chest appeared. He went back to gather his stuff and put it in the fancy chest, careful to have the weapon's safeties on. Once done he nodded at the Princess. They all then left the clearing. The journey was silent except for the clopping of hooves. Once they left the forest Princess Celestia turned to the Human.

"I'm afraid this is were we part ways. We will be in town for a few days to help Twilight begin her research. If you need anything, you have but to ask. Luna will accompany you to bring the chest."

Unlikely. He thought. The group split apart and he then turned to follow Applejack. This journey, too, was silent. The scenery changed, apple trees becoming more common. Eventually they reached the entrance to the farm.

"Well, here we are..." said Applejack.

"Where will I'll stay?"

Applejack grimaced, "In th' barn, unfortunately. But we'll build ya a room right quick. "We'll also bring ya a blanket-"

"I don't need one," Master Chief interrupted, "my armor'll keep me warm."

"Oh...Well, ya okay with sleeping on hay?"

"I'll manage."

Luna spoke up. "We could manifest a bed for you-"

"I'll manage." If Luna was perturbed at the interruption, she didn't show it. They then went up the road that led to a house the orange Pony stayed.

"This'll where Ah gotta part wit' ya. Ah should get back to farmin'. If ya need anything, just holler. Th' barn's over there."

Master Chief nodded and he and Luna went to the barn. He opened the door and they both stepped in side. Luna put the chest down in the corner of the room. "Farewell, 117." She said before leaving. He then proceeded to unpack his supplies...

Author's Note:

*I don't think Master Chief had ever seen a cat, so he has no analogy here.

Comments

[RedShirt047]

*I don't think Master Chief had ever seen a cat, so he has no analogy here.

Actually he very well might have. Part of his education by Déja included watching predators take down prey.

[Black_Knight]

Yeah update.

[DarkLord of Fire]

7351824 yea there maybe a lot of them out there, but this one is far better then the others i have read.

[HellBreaker]

THIS IS HOW I FEEL RIGHT NOW ABOUT THIS STORY

[Shadow-Dancer]

7351824 and completed less

[Earthpatriot117]

Contact wasomeone a bit anti-climatic. But I have a feeling it will be made up for it. Xd

[Sunsette]

Actually if I'm not mistaken, domestic animals from Earth such as Cats and Dogs were shipped off to other worlds alongside the colonists, so it's most likely that John has seen a cat before

[Armageden]

Well Luna’s a stalker.

[LoneWolf42]

welp this one is dead :(