And so Loki goes out with a bang... But doesn't that mean there is no AI left organizing the defense?

11425536
Loki is able to take over the large farming vehicles that Mack normally pilots, allowing him to continue to coordinate defense and have a less centralized mainframe.

But, at the same time, I have another idea on how to make sure the defenses aren't left high and dry that'll show up in the next chapter.

“Johnson didn’t crack any jokes,”

seriously serious then

Ooh boy the weight of those parting words by Loki when you consider who sleipnir's mother is

11425630
Yup! Exactly why I put that in there!

11425597
You know things are beyond deathly serious when Johnson doesn't joke.

Good chapter.

Any chance we'll get a glimpse of what happened on Equestria's side after Twilight disappeared? Would love to see how Celestia in particular is dealing with it.

I really hope Twilight's messages get delivered, even if it takes a decade or more.

Kjnda wish Twilight was an alicorn. Given the war last about 25 years or more she be middle aged by time its done.

11425831
I am thinking of perhaps doing an Equestrian Interlude in a chapter or two.

11425832
2525-2552, so about 30 years, around 27 years, which would make Twilight around 45-46 by wars end.

11425992
yeah thus why i think it would have been better if she was an alicorn. age won't be a problem.

11426013
We'll just have to see how the story progresses.

11426106
There’s always the possibility of significant time spent in cryo, or near a black hole, or some Forerunner installation that causes a minor timely wimey skippy shenanigan.

11426170
Twilight spends too much time in the gravity well of a super dense star.

Meanwhile, Luna once again tells her sister to lay off the sweets, as the budget of refurbishing the Castle every year due to her backside's gravity may soon bankrupt Equestria.

The irony of that statement Loki said is gold. Love me some big booms!
The beginning part where twiggles is thinking about home made me want to give her a hug.

Also what's changing expectations?

11426013
By this point in the timeline she should be an alicorn as I have pointed out but I have a feeling the alternate form of Ascension is going to center around the Librarian Mack and John. (The librarian forcibly accelerated Master Chiefs evolution and if we really think about it becoming an alicorn from a unicorn is a form of accelerated evolution so it's probably if Twilight encounters a forerunner projection that she'll get a similar treatment and I believe Mac is going to be Twilight's AI companion when she gets into the Spartan II program variation code named alicorn) yes author you can actually use that if you want to give Halsey the idea to name it after the extremely powerful beings from Twilight's world although I wish that Twilight had met Halsey already she's probably going to meet her soon after the evacuation of harvest since she is the lead scientist in Oni it would only make sense that at some point those two are going to meet.

11426284
that is open to the table never discount that but just felt it better she is alicorn from the start.

11426306
Hello admiral and thank you for the compliment seriously it's pointed out that this is post season 3 Twilight and at the end of season 3 is when she ascended so it's probably like literally in the time before the season 3 finale where she gets Starswirled's book still I really think that she should have been in alicorn from the beginning as I pointed out in the first chapter

11426308
Yeah he can only hope she just an alternate route to her wings. Because hopefully mo time is passing back home or they ate so screwed amd having her as old as her parenrs returning would be very odd.

11426278
Wonderful HiE turned Changeling Prince, it and it's sequel have shown up on Featured a good few times, the sequel being an in-progress story

11426284
Why on Earth are you fixated on this???

Well this was a nice deathly serious chapter and hopefully Twilight escapes Reach somehow.

The covenant is actually felt like unkown cosmic horror! Yay!

11426569
Which point do you mean Twilight becoming an alicorn? How Twilight should already be in alicorn just via the timeline? Or the last thing I mentioned Twilight and Halsey meeting? If you're wondering on that last one this is the furthest the back Twilight has ever found herself appearing in the Halo universe so there is a very significant chance that she could meet up with Halsey and one improve upon Cortana to remove the threat from four and five and two I'd like to see two headstrong science women really duke it out since we've never actually seen them meet in any other Halo fanfic that I've read

11427847
She will meet Halsey, likely very soon honestly, in around two months (that's the time it takes the evac to get to their destination) and there will be lots of discussions on ethics, tech, and why Halsey is such a cold detached monster sometimes.

Also, I was tempted to just let this topic lie, but honestly I get a lot of questions about it on Discord too so might as well just lay it all out there.

The timeline and why Twi isn't an Alicorn yet: her vanishing takes place after A Canterlot Wedding, but before The Crystal Empire returns. My reasoning is I don't have to fit all of this into a tv show, so I can space things out, and Shining and Cadence went on a nice long honeymoon and got back a month or two before Twi went and exploded space-time to reach Harvest. I've said it before, but she will be an Alicorn later, and a lot of the major events from Season 3 will still happen, including the Crystal Empire's return. Just not, you know, right away. Mostly because the prevailing theory I've heard about the show is a lot of what happens, from Twi moving to Ponyville straight up to Tia and Luna retiring, was like a year to two years. Possibly three, where as all of that happened over the course of a decade for us in real life, and I rather want to space it out a bit more like how long it took for us to get there rather than squish it all down into a drastically reduced timeline.

11427865
Thank you for putting this in a proper place in the timeline and I really do hope that you show that Twilight is in somewhat of a stasis if we're going to go through the whole of Halo like there's some form of time dilation between the dimensions and the effect her traveling cause made her age like a year for every 30 or so (the only reason I suggest this is because as a lot of people have said the entirety of Halo as it sits is around 50 years in a full timeline cryostasis yes can slow aging but she did manipulate space-time itself so that could also be a thing)

I do like this story; sci Fi and crossovers are always fun and this is well written. But there is one thing that kind of bugs me: Twilight is a very proactive character, someone who does not let problems rest and has quite a bit of initiative in most stories. But here she kind of gets used as a view into a war where she doesn't really matter much in terms of Halo's larger narrative, at least so far. She kind of falls into being a soldier for lack of anything to do, and while that job does involve a lot of action, it's mostly pretty reactive, orders come from above, there's lots of waiting around, and honestly her contributions have yet to give the impression she's done more than a well armed human.

Normally the combat power of Twilight is fine whether it's minimal or ridiculous, but in this case I feel like she'd be more interesting if her magic was noticeably dominating battles when she isn't pressured directly; moreso than every war narrative's obligatory "go handle that tank, Ramirez!" moment.

11429924
I'm pretty sure that's because she will be heading to reach for experimentation or something soon.

11429924

11429970
It's a mixture of the fact the military (according to a lot of the vets I know) is a lot of "hurry up and wait" and the fact that Twilight is a pony, which is a herd animal which tends to follow the leader. She's also only been there for a month, and has been at war with an overwhelming alien force for not even a week. She's not really a soldier, is only killing because she has absolutely no other recourse, and the thought of using her magic to effectively nuke the Covenant before the Covenant nuke her hasn't crossed her mind because killing on a scale of that size just isn't something she's capable of thinking of.

She'll get more assertive sooner or later, and get better initiative, but it's going to take time.

She also can't just use her magic to dominate everything, good way to get shot and also she does have limits, and can't just rain hellfire down on the other side without serious burnout.

I'm so hoping for when one of the human male think Twilight will be attractive

11430766
Unfortunately that will end up being an empty hope, none of the humans are going to find a horse attractive. Cute, yeah totally. But not attractive in a "I'd tap that" sort of way.

The story is interesting so far, I take it Twilight will be in hibernation for most of the war going from one planet to the other so she won't age as much like Master chief. I wonder if her Magic will help bring more technological advance for the UNSC forces as well as developing her own tech for herself. I see Twilight more as a scientist then a fighter I would imagine that she would be more useful in a lab especially with her magic that she could develop more magic tech it further rather then risking losing her in a firefight in some unknown planet and battle field, even if she is a tactical asset. I am surprised that they didn't try to test out her magic more regularly to try to understand it. Looking forward to see more of this, it is on a good start.

11432336
I have to agree. Twilight is a Scholler at the end of the day. They probably didn't go too far into studding magic for security and potential political reasons. At this point though? They will need every edge they can get.

11433565
Thanks for the support. The way out of it I can come up with is that her magic can exploit incredible weakness to the Covenant's ship like bypassing their shields and cyber attack on their systems that they didn't had at the beginning of the war in Halo. With exploring the nature of pony magic I wonder how much changes that could create in the war's outcome, the UNSC was just on it's knees at the end of the work before the Flood came in. If Twilight offers a clear flied advantage on sight then maybe she could stay on the front.

Still, I wonder if Twilight might also have traveled in the distant future and that Equi was invaded and assimilated into the covenant generations ago. But I doubts that's the case, but still it is an interesting thought to have. If anything, it turns out that ponies are actually Precursors.

How's the next chapter coming along?

11464065
Slow, the holidays sorta grabbed me by the front of my shirt and dragged me kicking and screaming into the void.

11464292
Lol. Same with me, just with sickness. (The ONE TIME I GET SICK)

11464785
I knew that feeling. Im generally really healthy and rarely get sick to any meaningful degree. But when I do... Ohhhh boy does it hit me like a freight train.

I absolutely love this story I hope and wish the for you I love a good Halo's story and I'm wondering how Twilight sparkle meets John And Cortana But I know that's gonna be way in the future

11467949
Well, semi-spoilers, but She'll meet John sometime shortly after Harvest, perhaps after she's done with Basic.

11468030
You're right I forgot about the Comics I thought the sperm program was later at least the 2nd version I wonder if you could add the part where the master chief deleted some information on our favorite marine

11427865
I was rereading the story and in chapters 3 and 4 the titles of Shining Armor as prince of the Crystal Empire are mentioned, I thought the events happened somewhere in the third season.

11470908
I just stared out into space and muttered "oh shit" because you're right. The Empire isnt back yet. I could justify it as a hereditary title but that wouldn't make any sense.

Thanks for pointing that out! I'll fix it shortly!

11470935
No problem and thanks for the story.

11470935
It might if it was on cadence's side?

Can't wait for another chapter!

Absolutely wonderful story. Looking forward to reading more.

11468030
She’ll become a Spartan II! An Equine version of the II’s.

11468030
She’ll meet Chief!

11490552
I mean, yeah, but mostly because this is still the pretty early days of the program and they're still training Chief and the rest of the surviving generation. Heck, Twilight is *older* than them right now.