117 The Eternal Guardian

Chapters

Chapter 3: Learning
Chapter 4: Long Live The King
Chapter 5: An Old Friend, And A New Journey
Chapter 6: One Small Step
Chapter 7: One Giant Leap
Chapter 8: The Package
Chapter 9: In The Beginning
Chapter 11: Making Progress
Chapter 12: Now What
Chapter 13: Sparing
Chapter 14: Nasty Little Buggers
Chapter 15: One Journey Ends And Another Begins
Chapter 16: Preparing For Battle
Chapter 17: The Calm
Chapter 18: Before
Chapter 19: The Swarm
Chapter 1: Life Goes On
Chapter 2: He Who Fell From The Stars
Chapter 10: 1000 Years
Waking Up, Non-Canon Chapter

Chapter 3: Learning

^Equis^
{50AD}
23:30
[Celestia]

Wonderful, it is willing to help us. Now to figure out how it can communicate with us. How do we manage that? I think for a few seconds before a thought appears in my mind. “Seeing as you can understand us, but due to your inability to speak to us we will have to ask a series of yes and no questions. Then we will go from there. Is that agreeable?”

I receive a nod from it. “Thank you. First, do you have a gender?”

Another nod. “Are you male?”

Once more, a nod yes. “You appear to be skilled in combat based off of your speed and strength. Can you fight well?”

I can see that he shows some enthusiasm in his nod this time and it is accompanied by a short grunting noise. “Are you able to read?”

One more nod. That's good. Maybe he can learn equestrian, if it isn't the same scripture that he knows. “Thank you. One more question.” I do not expect this to work but it is worth a try. I levitate the spell book to him with an inconsequential page open. “Can you read this?”

He looks at the page for a second, then looks at me and shakes his head no. “If we taught you how, do you think you can learn to?”

He seems hesitant at first, but I receive a short nod from him. “It is late now, rest for tonight and we shall have one of our scholars begin teaching you tomorrow. Now my sister Luna shall show you to a room where you can sleep for tonight, for I am certain that falling from the sky must have made you more tired than you already are at this late hour.”

I wish I could ask him more, but that will have to wait till we can better communicate with him. I am sure that he has questions of his own as well.

00:00
[John]

So, the princess wants to ask me a few questions. Fine. The questions that she asks are all simple, when she asks me about my combat abilities it is hard not to smile at that. She asks me for help, then she asks if I can fight. Shouldn't she ask if I can fight first, then for my help? Not long after that, she moves the book she was reading over to me asking if I can read it. I already know the answer before I see it but I humor her anyway. As expected, the writing looks like gibberish. Next she asks me if I could learn it. No, I couldn't, but the computer in my armor could store the data for quick recall, and if I'm stuck here I will need to be able communicate with them, I nod.

She informs me about starting lessons tomorrow and suggests I sleep now. I don't really need any sleep, I’ve only been up for about 4 hours and falling from the lower atmosphere is no big deal for me. It's almost becoming a habit, almost. But considering the fact that it is night time here, I can't really do much about it. All of the questions that I have will need to wait till I can ask them. Where am I, what kind of creatures are these horse like things, how did I get here, and can I get home? I will just have to play nice until I can find out. I also want to learn more about this war before I jump in feet first.

*****
4:30

Waking up early, I leave the room I'm in to go look around and maybe get a bite to eat. Since it is so early the princess probably won't have whoever it is that's supposed to teach me to read their language ready yet.

I make my way to the kitchen and find that there is another small horse like thing in there. This one is a light green unicorn with a light red mane. It has a tattoo of a kitchen knife on its side, strange. It looks at me with fear in its eyes and then runs off screaming something about a monster. Looks like the princess didn't tell the other creatures here of my presence.

I make my way over to the storeroom and find lots of fruits and vegetables. I have my armor's computer scan the food to check for anything that I can't eat and, finding nothing wrong with the food, I grab an apple. I have my armor open up the mouth piece so I can take a bite. It was rather good tasting, better than what I normally eat.

After finishing off the apple, I hear a commotion coming from back in the kitchen. I leave the storeroom and find six guards, five unicorns armed with spears and one pegasus with a crossbow. I also see the unicorn I encountered a few minutes ago hiding behind the guards. I'm not concerned by the unicorns or their simple weapons so I walk passed them, ignoring their orders to stand down or to stop. I head out of the kitchen to go back to the throne room where I'll hopefully find the princess. The guards aren't happy about me not listening to them so they follow me out. I'm mildly amused when they throw their spears at me only for them to bounce off my shields like twigs. By this point, twelve other guards joined in. When they realized that I couldn’t be impaled by a spear or shot with crossbow bolts, they tried to stop me with their magic but all it did was slow me down a little, if that.

After a few minutes of walking with now about 20 guards trying to stop me, I find the princesses in a hallway. Both princesses look at me with surprise, then at the guards behind me. Princess Celestia instructs them to stand down and informs them that I am a guest in the kingdom, good to know. She walks... Trots? Yea, trots. She trots over to me and apologizes for the inconvenience caused by the guards and tells me that she will inform them of my existence later on and that the only reason she hadn't yet was that she didn't think I would be up this early and didn't see the need to. She then asks me if I normally wake up this early, to which I give a shrug.

*****
7:00

I finally meet the small horse creature that is supposed to teach me to read and write. He is light brown with a medium dark brown mane and has an hourglass tattoo; I'm starting to wonder what’s with the tattoo thing, and is also wearing a blue tie but no shirt.

“Welcome, Mr.... um, well, the princess told me that you can't speak. My name is Dr. Whooves. I will teach you to read and write. I don't know your name and I don't suppose you want me to call you Mr. Creature do you?”

I can't help but give a small chuckle at that, I shake my head no. This one has a sense of humor; I think I could get along with him.

“Princess Celestia informed me that you are here to help with the war; that would make you a warrior of sorts. Or maybe a tactician. You would need a name while here. Or we could just wait till you can write it down.

That sounds fine to me so I give him a nod.

“OK, today I will begin teaching you the basic pony alphabet. I will write it on the board and you will copy it.”

*****
10:00

We spent about three hours going over the alphabet and how to make words. It is actually simpler than English. I can't write a full sentence yet though. However, it is a start. Dr. Whooves said that with the speed of progress that I am making, I should be able to read and write in a week at the most. Using the armor's computer did make it easier. After the lesson, I head back to the kitchen for some more food seeing as all I had was an apple. On my way I encounter princess Luna going the same way as me. She asks me if I'm hungry too, I nod in confirmation. Once in the kitchen I see the same pony, as I now know they're called, that I encountered earlier. There are also a few other ponies around there cooking food. Luna instructs them to make food for me and her, but pauses for a second. She then asks me what I eat. I turn to her and, forgetting that I can't speak to her, try to say that I eat meat and fruit but all she hears is the same garble as last time. Luna realizes her blunder and asks me if I eat plants. Technically I do, but I prefer meat so I roll my head side to side hoping that she understands. Luckily, she seems to get it and asks me if I eat plants and meat. I nod my head to her. At that, she starts to go pale. She then asks me, with much nervousness in her voice, if I'd try to eat them. I let out a small chuckle at her, completely understandable, question. I shake my head no, which seems to calm her some. I wouldn't eat them. Well, maybe. No, bad train of thought. No eating the pitiable pastel ponies.

While waiting for the chefs to make some food for us, Luna shows me the dining room where we will be eating. The marble table is long enough for 20, maybe 30 people to sit at. Luna sits at the immediate right of the end seat and motions for me to sit across from her. Noting the fact that I weigh around 1000 pounds, I'm not certain that the chair can hold me. I move the marble chair out of the way and stand where the chair was. She insists that I sit however. I try gesturing that if I sit the chair will break. She doesn't seem to understand, and she is persistent that I sit. Not wanting to upset the princess, I sit down very gently. As soon as I let myself sit on the chair fully, it breaks out from underneath me. I'm not surprised and regain my balance before I fall down. Luna looks at me with shock, probably because I broke a marble chair just by sitting on it. I move the bits of broken chair out of the way and go back to standing as I was before.

It's not long before Princess Celestia enters the dining room. She looks at me standing and asks me to sit. Before I move, Luna informs her sister that it is not the best idea that I sit and she motions to the broken chair on the side of the room. Celestia understands and doesn’t press the issue. She then sits down on the end of the table by me and Luna. It's not long after that before the pony with our food shows up. Both princesses are eating a mix of fruits and vegetables but I am given baked chicken, a baked potato and an apple. I open up the mouth piece of my helmet and begin eating.

I notice the look on the both of the princesses' face as my helmet opens to reveal the lower portion of my mouth so I can eat. Luna asks me if it is all armor and if the real me is underneath. I nod to her, and begin eating along with the princesses.

*****
12:30

After lunch I am led by the two princesses to what looks like a war room, it has a map of what I assume is the world. I guess it’s time to learn about the war. I am informed about all that I really need to know over the next four hours. They are out classed in everything except one thing, me. I could go up against the entire griffin army single handed and win. But that's not how I plan to do this. If I go up against an inferior force that has no chance for survival against me without trying an alternative, than I am no better than the Covenant. I want to try to make peace first. If that does not work than the king can more than likely be handled like how we handled the prophets, assassination. With my new armor, that would not be a problem. It would spare lives that don't need to be lost in senseless combat. But if it does come down to full combat, then I will not hesitate.

After we are done in the war room, we head outside where there are a dozen, griffin shaped, straw target dummies set up. Celestia turns to me and requests that I show her what I can do to dispatch the targets. Knowing that this is important, I need to show her what I can do; but I don't want to over do it. I move in front of the first target dummy, about ten feet away. I activate my energy sword and begin.

17:00
[Celestia]

We all head outside where I had some targets set up for him to use so he can show me and my sister what he can do. When he begins, I am surprised to say the least. He moves in front of the first one and the same blade that he used last night shoots out of his arm. He is motionless for a second or two before he bolts forward as two streams of fire shoot out of his back. In less than a second, the dummy's head is no longer attached to its body, the straw of the neck is all singed. I then realize that he truly could have taken my head off last night and I could not have done anything to stop him before he did.

He then moves back about 20 feet from the next target and his sword disappears. Before I can ask him why, his right arm seems to change and in its place is some sort of silver rectangle. He points it at the next target and it makes a loud popping noise as what looks like short beams of light shoot out and hit the target square in the head. Its head now has four holes that are slowly releasing smoke as if it was burned.

The remaining targets are hit by similar weapons, one fired a lot of beams at once, another made the target and five others explode in a big inferno. I am quite satisfied that he is more than capable to help with this war. Once there are no more targets for him, we head back inside for dinner. We all eat about the same thing as for lunch. Then, seeing as it is still early, I tell him that he has free reign to do whatever he wants till sundown, within reason.

18:30
[John]

After dinner, I head outside and wander around for a few minutes. I see a statue that I can only describe as a genetic experiment gone wrong. I head back in the castle and wander the halls. Not having much to do, I go to the room I was provided and practice writing. When it gets late at night, I go to sleep. Thus marking the end of my first day in Equestria.

Chapter 4: Long Live The King

^Equis^
{50AD}
16:30
[John]

For the remainder of the week, each day went about the same as the last. I get up, exercise, eat breakfast, then learn equestrian culture and how to read and write with Doctor Whooves. After that I eat lunch; then learn about the war and such with the princesses. Once done with that, I eat dinner. When dinner is done, I go outside and exercise; then I go to sleep. I had six days of that. It did have its benefits though. Now I can read and write Equestrian. I also know more than enough about what’s going on in this world. Apparently, Equestria has a Diarch principality for a government. It is uncommon, but it did happen on Earth a few times in the past.

Now that I can write, I can communicate with the princesses outside of yes or no answers. I told them that I would like to be referred to as Master Chief, The Chief, Sierra 117, or as Spartan-117. I tried to ask them if they knew how I got here, but they insist that I wait till after the griffins are handled.

We are in the war room again. Now that I can communicate, I keep a pad of paper and an enchanted quill with me so I can write. Magic is still a surprise to me. I inform the princesses that I want them to contact the griffin king and ask for a meeting to discuss peace. They both look at me with surprise, then look at the paper again to make certain they read it right. After a few seconds, Celestia speaks up.

“Are you sure you want to try for peace? It has been ten years of war; I don't think they will accept.”

^I understand that, but you now have me. Tell them that if they will not allow peace, this war will end in under a fortnight.^

“Do you think that is that the best course of action? If we anger the griffins with threats, it would only hurt us. Do you even have a plan for if they still continue the war?”

^Yes. With the king dead, what will happen with the war?^

“It would most likely cause a shift in the Monarchy; they would have to stop the war until they can crown a new king. Also, whoever they crown might not want to continue the war. Why?”

^If the king still does not accept peace, tell him that you have made extraterrestrial contact with a race that can defeat the entire griffin army with one warrior. If he still does not relent I will head to the griffin kingdom and kill the king in his own castle. That way no one would call you a hypocrite and say that you killed him while trying to make peace.^

“We will not allow you to go all the way into the griffin kingdom to perform an assassination. It is too dangerous.”

^I have gone to whole other solar systems to do the same.^

That one definitely caught her off guard. She and Luna both backed up a few steps and looked at me with a small hint of fear. Maybe I should have been more careful with what I say. Luna is the first to speak.

“You traveled the stars just to kill someone?”

^Yes. I understand that this planet has underdeveloped technology, but where I'm from, we would travel from one star to another rather often.^

“Wow, I don't really know what to say to that. You said that you went on assassination runs; are your people at war like us?”

^I will tell you and Luna about it when you tell me about how I got here.^

“Very well. I will send a message to the king to request a meeting.”

^Thank you. I plan to attend this meeting.^

“I wish you wouldn't. Not at first anyway. Is there a way you can observe the meeting without being seen by the griffin king?”

^Yes, I am rather good at staying hidden. Not even you will notice me.^

“I doubt that, but still, thank you Master Chief.”

Princess Celestia then took a paper of her own and writes the letter to the king of the griffins requesting a meeting. After finishing the letter, she uses her magic to send it to him. Since it is now time to eat, we all head to the dining room to have dinner. The two princesses are having their usual fruit and salad mix; I have another chicken, and another baked potato. While eating, there is a quiet popping noise and a small flash of light. Looks like the king has responded. Celestia opens the letter to read it.

“To Princess Celestia.
I have received your letter, and I decided that I will meet with you to discuss your surrender. I shall meet you at your castle in three days time. I will be bringing my guards so don't bother trying anything.
From your future ruler, King Zoran.”

“Sister, didn't you tell him that we want mutual peace, not to just surrender?”

“Not exactly, I said that I want to end this war peacefully. He must have misinterpreted my meaning.”

^Well then, he is in for a rather big surprise.^

“Yes, he most certainly is.”

*****
12:00

It is the third day since the king agreed to meet with us. He should be here in a few minutes. I am in the meeting room with the two princesses. They appear to be rather nervous. I don't blame them. They have been at war with the griffins for ten years and are about to meet with the one responsible for it all; it would be like if I met one of the prophets. Oh, never mind, I did. Let’s hope this ends differently though.

It's not long until I hear the sound of distant wing beats; it looks like the king has arrived. While the two princesses are distracted with the arrival of the king, I move off to the side of the room and activate my active camouflage so I can watch them without being noticed.

*****
[Celestia]
12:10

King Zoran has arrived; I hope Master Chief knows what he is doing. He only agreed to help us if we did it his way. Luna and I head forward and greet the king as pleasantly as we can. I do notice that he has brought 12 guards with him; maybe I should be the one worried. Relax, focus, it's OK. If anything were to happen he would stop them. Wait, where is he? He was here just a second ago but now I can’t see him. As quietly as I can, I talk to Luna to see if she knows. “Luna, do you by chance know where the Chief went?”

“No. I don't see him. Did you try scanning for him? He said he would watch.”

“No. I didn't. I'll try.”

I send out a quick pulse of magic undetectable by non magical beings to scan for him, but I find no trace of him. I start to worry but it is time to start negotiations with the king. Luna, King Zoran, and I sit at the large circular table and begin.

“Princess Celestia, now you wish to surrender? It has been ten years; don't you think this meeting should have been done sooner?”

“Indeed King Zoran, this should have been handled sooner. Although, We did not contact you so that We can surrender. We contacted you so We can make peace through a treaty. We will not simply surrender after ten years of war.”

“And what makes you think that I would accept a peace treaty after trying to win a war for ten years? Or did you forget that I am winning?”

“We did not forget. However, We assure you that if you do not make peace today, this war will be over in a fortnight.”

“How can you say that with such confidence? You have no army, no strong military leaders, and you have no chance! We will not make peace until Equestria is conquered and becomes part of the griffin kingdom! You were foolish to think that I would end this war with a treaty!”

“This war will end and here is why. We have made contact with a race of sentient beings from another planet. We now have their best warrior here to help us. This race is so powerful, that just one of them can overpower the griffin army. If you do not end this war, he will!”

“Are you so insane that you talk of aliens!? I am ending this war now, my way. It was unwise for you to allow your enemy to enter your castle with 12 soldiers. Guards, attack the princesses!”

Before Luna or I could do anything to stop the advancing griffins, 12 beams of light came from behind me. All 12 griffins then drop dead after being struck through the head by the beams of light. I turn around just in time to see Master Chief with one of his weapons raised. I turn back to the griffin king and see a terrified look on his face. “So, who is it that's insane? You're lucky he didn't kill you too. If he wanted to, he would have and We couldn't do anything to stop him. So, do you want to make peace now, or will you continue this war?”

“Mm...Mm...MONSTER!!! Get it away from me! I am leaving and I will bring my whole army so I can burn this land to the ground and that monster with it! I WILL BURN IT ALL!!!”

After his screaming, he runs off and flies away. Well, I guess I shouldn’t have expected that to have gone any better than it did. Now that the king is gone, Master Chief walks up to me. “Thank you. If you didn't stop them, I don't know what would have happened. How where you able to hide from me like that though? I sent a magic pulse throughout the room but I did not find you.”

^It does not matter. The king must be handled first. I will head out to the griffin kingdom tonight at midnight. That should give him enough time to make it to his castle. I will kill him and return by six in the morning at the latest. I will be gone for only six hours if all goes according to plan.^

“It will take you days to walk there. I could use my magic to teleport you, but I don't know how accurate it will be.”

^Don't worry, I can manage on my own.^

*****
23:59

It is midnight. I am worried about him. How is he supposed to make it all the way there by himself. I see him getting ready. Maybe I can talk him out of it. “You don't have to go.”

^Don't worry Princess. I will be fine.^

“Very well, it's not like I can stop you.”

He then walks over to the platform that pegasi, griffins, or any other flying thing would use to take off. Why would he come here? My question is soon answered when he starts running to the ledge. It's as if he is going to jump off. He isn't going to jump, is he? I restrain myself from trying to stop him from running off the ledge; he knows what he is doing, probably. He gets closer and closer to the end of the platform, and he jumps off. He actually jumped. My surprise from him jumping is soon replaced with an even bigger one when two streams of bright fire shoot out of his back propelling him higher into the sky. “So, he can fly. I wonder what else he is good at.”

“If you are referring to the bedroom, We suggest you not think of such things. He is an alien, and he won't be happy when he finds out that we brought him here but can't send him home. But still, if you find him that attractive, good luck.”

“LUNA! That is not what I meant!”

“If you say so.” She says with a smirk.

*****
02:20
[John]

If my calculations are correct, the griffins should be just over this mountain range. It's a good thing that my jet pack was redesigned along with everything else. Now I can manage long distance flight at subsonic speed, or short range flight at just above sonic speed. I will need to land on the top of this mountain for a while to let it recharge. Flying at nearly 300 miles per hour for 2 and 20 minutes while cloaked did drain the armor's energy reserves quite a lot. It might have endless energy, but it can only use so much at a time.

I reach the top of the mountain and find a nice, flat piece of land to rest on. Once on the ground, I set the armor to wake me up in 35 minutes so I can rest. I also activate the proximity sensors to wake me if anything comes too close. I lie down, and relax.

*****
03:00

Time to go. I get up off the ground and check my power reserves. They’re fully recharged; good. I then take off; I should be there soon. I fly over the mountains and see the castle and the city surrounding it.

I land on the edge of the city but keep my active camouflage on; I don't want them to see me flying around so I will stay on the ground. The camo may hide me but it won't hide the jet smoke. Once inside the city I make my way to the castle wall. After about 20 minutes I reach the wall. It is about 20 feet up; a short pulse of my jets can get me up there. When I reach the top of the wall, I see that the castle is not too far in. A few short jet jumps from roof to roof gets me to the top of the castle. Careful with my footing I walk along the roof looking for an open window. Finding one, I slip inside.

Once in the castle, I activate my Promethean vision to find the king and any guards patrolling the castle. Sneaking past the guards in the halls is easy enough, but the doors to the king's room are guarded by six guards. knowing that I can't get past them without being noticed, I stop for a second to think.

I can kill them all with no problem, but i want to keep the casualties down to one; the king. I could try to lure them away; but I know that not all of them would leave to check. Perhaps I could scare them away like the chef. Maybe. I could just ignore them and walk through. Both ways, they would alert the king and the other guards and I'd have to fight them. Perhaps I could find another way in. There should be a servant's entrance from the kitchen or something. Activating my Promethean vision again, I see that there is a hallow area of the wall that a servant would use. Following the pathway, I find that it does in fact lead to the kitchen.

The kitchen itself is empty because of how late it is and i have no problem getting into the passageway. When I reach the door to his room, I scan it with my vision again, and confirm that he is the only one in the room and the guards are still in front of the door. Opening the door quietly, I head inside. Activating my blade arm, I kill him with ease. He never even woke up. A painless death, if only we could all be so lucky. Now that King Zoran is dead, this war should die with him.

I open the window in his room and fly away. Now that my mission is complete, I begin the long journey back.

I make it back to Equestria by about six in the morning. The sun is starting to rise and the sky gets brighter as I go. I head inside and go back to my temporary room that I am using while here. Once in my room, I pass out. Flying over 600 miles is rather tiresome I must say. I will deal with the princesses tomorrow.

Chapter 5: An Old Friend, And A New Journey

^Earth^
{2561AD}
10:00
9 days 2 hours after John's disappearance
[3rd]

She walked through the halls to the science lab where the 'Eggheads' responsible for Project Omega worked. When she found out about his 'accident', she was livid, not just mad, but absolutely livid. Well, maybe that's taking it a bit too far. Maybe. Anyway, as soon as she found out about his 'death', she stopped what she was doing and went straight after them wanting answers. She walked through the halls and made it to where they were. Opening the door, she walked in and found only one scientist there.

“What happened to him?!”

Startled, the scientist turned around to see who was there to yell at him this time.

“What? Oh, it's you. I'm not surprised you're here. You were rather attached to him after all.”

“Tell me what happened to him.”

“When testing the experimental teleportation system, something went wrong and he disappeared.”

“Where is he?”

“We don't know. There is a tracking system to help us find the suit when this happens but we can't pick up the signal. We were sure we had fixed it this time too.”

“What do you mean this time?”

“When we test it, sometimes the suit ends up on another planet. Sometimes it is across the room. When originally testing teleporter technology, sometimes the system causes what ever is being teleported to just vanish or kill the test subject. We fixed the fatality problem with the teleporter but we still find it ending up in the wrong spot. We once found it on Mars in a trench, took weeks before anyone found it. That's why we added a homing beacon. We can't find him though and there are no reports of his beacon on any of the other planets.”

“And you are just going to give up? Just like that?”

“Yes, nothing we can do about it. He is gone. The suit with him.”

“Well, I'm not giving up. I am going to find him if it's the last thing I do.”

“How will you find him? He could be anywhere. How are you even going to travel? ONI won't fund an expedition to find him.”

“Simple, all I have to do is look for something that we haven't found before and, most likely, forerunner." 'It's always forerunner with John.' She mused to herself. "As to by what means, I'm taking the UNSC Midnight Dawn to find him.”

“What!? You can't take the Midnight Dawn! It's top secret, nearly as secret as the Spartan program. How did you even find out about that? There is no way they are going to let you go on a wild goose chase looking for a bag of bones in a suit of armor with an Infinity-Class Warship!"

“I know about every single project you all are working on, and I'm not going to ask them. I'll just take it and if you tell anyone or try to stop me, well, you can just use your imagination. He is out there, I know it.”

With her talk finished, and an objective found, she started for the door but heard him speak up one last time before she left.

“Good luck Cortana. You’ll need it.”

“He's all the luck I need.”

Chapter 6: One Small Step

^Equis^
{50AD}
9:30
[John]

I wake up to the sound of knocking at my door. I open it to find Luna waiting for me.

“Good morning Master Chief. We are sorry to disturb you but Our sister wishes to see you. We are surprised that you arrived back so soon. We trust that all went as planned?”

I nod to her, I don't feel like writing anything yet seeing as I just woke up and am still tired. My suit's computer is still analyzing their speech, comparing it to what I hear to allow me to speak their language, so I can't speak yet. I then follow her to the war room to meet up with the other princess. When we get inside, I see that Celestia looks rather distraught. ^Is something wrong? You don't look so well^

“We were up late last night. We were worried something bad would happen to you. Not that We doubt your abilities, it's just that We worry. Having you go assassinate the griffin that caused the death of tens of thousands of innocent ponies; it’s difficult to accept the fact that in only two weeks, you did what We could not do in ten years. You ended this war.”

^This war is not over yet; we will still need to contact the griffins once they crown a new king to see if they will end the war peacefully. Until then, we will have to wait. Perhaps now you can tell me how I got here.^

“We understand that you want to know, but please wait a little longer. We are at war so we still need your help.”

^I don't understand why you won't tell me but since you are so stubborn I will wait.^

“Thank you. Now, King Zoran is dead?”

^Yes.^

“Very good. We wish that We did not have to resort to assassination, but it was necessary.”

Not having anything more to say, we depart to our own devises. Which boils down to Celestia's day court, Luna doing whatever Luna does during the day, and I go to the kitchen to eat some food. I'm served eggs and a potato.

After eating I meet up with Doctor Whooves. I am learning more about this strange world. The year is only 50 A.D. (After Discord apparently). I am also taught about what Discord did and how he was stopped. The Elements of Harmony sound interesting. I am summoned back to meet with the princess not long after. I make my way to the throne room to meet her. ^What is it you need?^

“We have received a message from a scout in the griffin kingdom, it appears that they were able to crown a new king faster than We anticipated. They are having the coronation as we speak. Apparently, the king had a son, Zolnex. the grifon army seems to assume that we where responsible for the king's death, but they don't know who did it. Some think it is you seeing as the king mentioned you when he returned to his own kingdom. Zolnex will be the new king and has already announced his plans to march an attack straight to the castle. He should be here by the day after tomorrow. We are sorry that We must ask so much of you in so little time, but We still need your help.”

^Very well, I will help you. But when this is over, I want some answers.^

“Yes, We understand.”

*****
12:00

It has been two days; it is time to fight the griffin army. I see them marching on the horizon. It looks like they brought the entire army to face me. I have seen the ponies' military and even by medieval standards, it's lacking to say the least. I am currently standing on the top of the wall around the castle with the princesses. They wanted to watch me fight and I don't have a reason to stop them.

During the last two days, my armor had finished analyzing their speech, I haven't told them yet. I have only tested it out in my room for any problems. I use the system to take what I say and use the external speakers to send out the translated sound. It works about as well as I expected it to, it only has a .1 second delay.

“Good luck Master Chief.”

I nod my thanks to Celestia, Luna is rather quiet. It's probably because of the fact that the war affected her rather severely. I understand how that feels. Up until my encounter with The Librarian on Requiem, I was not very expressive with emotions but they were there. Having my evolution 'accelerated' as she put it, caused me to have less control over my emotions. I have become more reckless and quick to anger, but I also find myself happy sometimes.

The griffins are close enough for me to engage; I hop off the wall and march forward. When I am about 75 yards from the griffins in front of me and the princesses are 50 yards behind, I see the griffin march come to a stop. They look at me with varying expressions, some show fear at the metal thing that killed their king; others have a look of confidence at the lone warrior sent to fight them. Time to unveil my little surprise; I set my external speakers to maximum volume.

“ATTENTION GRIFFINS! YOU HAVE NO CHANCE TO DEFEAT ME IN BATTLE! LEAVE NOW AND NO HARM SHALL BEFALL YOU! SHOULD YOU CONTINUE TO ADVANCE, YOU WILL BE OBLITERATED!!”

That got their attention. The princesses where probably surprised as well. As expected, they all charge to attack. Well, time to go to work. This will probably make a rather large mess.

I activate my Lightrifle on one hand, a suppresser on the other, and start shooting at the advancing line of griffins. I take down about 50 of them before they realize that they can't charge me on foot. They stop their charge and take to the sky in a scrambled mess to avoid a quick death. They form a massive cloud of griffins and fly at me. Activating my Incineration cannon, I fire a round into the cloud of griffins. It blasts many of them apart, halting their advancement. The rest of them land in a tight circle around me. Seeing as I am now in a close range fight, I activate my Scattershot. But before I can shoot, I am knocked forward by a strong tackle from several griffins behind me.

I quickly recover, spin around and shoot, three griffins fall dead, two wounded. I notice that the griffins have blades on their wings. The griffins still in the air are armed with crossbows. I am surrounded. They all attack at once; the raining bolts and the storm of blades are steadily damaging my shields. They are too close to get a good shot out so I disarm my gun and activate a Promethean blade on each arm. Using my thruster pack, I launch myself forward slicing through several griffins on each side of me. I continue with that method to take down more griffins. I must have killed hundreds of them by now, but they just keep coming. They started jumping on top of me; I am barley able to move with so many on me.

My shields are down to 20%, this is getting out of hand. I adjust the settings on my armor's shields to use the armor lock to flair out and create a kinetic pulse that should send most of the griffins back so I can recover. It shoots a powerful pulse that expands in a 50 foot radius, blasting back the surrounding griffins. Doing that drained my suit's power reserves significantly, but I still have enough energy left to fight.

There is just too many of them to fight. I try to buy myself more time by activating a low power camo system while the griffins are still getting up. I am used to fighting small groups, not mass armies. I might be in a little over my head.

They are all up again; I can see their confusion at my disappearance. One of them said something about me blowing up and that they won. Understandable but no, I'm still here. My shields are up again so I guess it's time to get back to it.

12:30
[Celestia]

“Luna, Master Chief has been fighting the griffins for a long time. Shouldn't we help him?”

“I think he does rather well. Far better than We expected. Although, his ability to talk did come as quite a surprise. However, I think that there is little that we can do to help him; at best, we'll just get in his way.”

“Perhaps you are right. I wonder how he managed to speak. We will have to ask him when he is done. I am happy though, reading everything he wanted to say had become tiring.”

“Agreed.”

Not having anything more to say, I turn my attention back to the fight. I was rather impressed at his quickness at dispatching the griffins. Both at a distance, and close up. He truly is the mightiest. I was nervous when he was dog piled, the pile reaching several yards high, but he sent out that powerful pulse sending them back, I am amazed at his ever revealing abilities. I really hope he doesn't get too mad at us when we tell him, I am not certain we will be able to stop him. He has a high resistance to magic and conventional weapons are next to useless if this fight is any indication. Perhaps summoning the most powerful being across all of time and space but having no way to send him home was a bad idea.

He is still fighting, over half of the griffins are dead, and most of the others have fled. He is shooting his weapon from both arms, hundreds of beams of light firing at them. It looks as if this fight will be over soon.

*****
13:00
[John]

Finally, I am done. The entire griffin army is either dead, or gone. I didn't make too much of a mess, the disintegration effect of the weapons did help. But there are still dead bodies everywhere. Now that that is over, I make my way back to the wall and jet jump up to the princesses. “I am going to get some lunch, then I am going to ask you about how I got here and you will answer. You clearly know due to your insistence that I wait. If you wish to join me, fine. But I am hungry, and I just fought, and killed, 1337 griffins. I know because I kept track. I am in no mood for 'small talk'. You know what, I'm just going to go eat alone. I'll meet you in the war room in an hour or two.

I don't want to walk there and I really don't feel like flying, I activate my teleporter for the first time since landing on this crazy planet. Luckily, I make it to the kitchen just fine. (The teleporter is meant for line of sight use but I don't care right now. I'm in a bad mood if you haven't figured it out yet.) “Stupid Librarian.”

I get a strange look from the chef; it's not the same chef from when I got here. That one quit because of an 'increase of stress at work' as he put it. I have a chicken made for me to eat. I finish it and then go to meet with the princesses. As planned, I find the princesses in the war room. “Celestia, now that the griffins are handled I want you to tell me how I got here.”

“Well, um, you see, funny story...”

“We cast a magic spell that would summon help and you came but we can't send you back so you are stuck here forever please don't kill us!!!”

"Luna! I was going to tell him in a way that won't make him mad.”

“But you where taking too long. If I waited you would never have told him.”

I don't really pay attention to them arguing. I only focus on what Luna just said. They dragged me here and now I am stuck with no way back. I'm stuck here and I can't go home. I will never see another human again. I will never see Cortana again. I am stuck, and it's all their fault. I can't go home. I can't go home. I can never go home. I am immortal, but I can't go home. I will be stuck here for the rest of time, and I will never see another human again. I will never see Cortana again. I can't...I can't...... It's at that point I snap, mentally and emotionally snap.

Activating my incineration cannon, I blast a hole in a wall and run through. Firing off more rounds as I go, I run. When I make it outside, I see that I'm in at the training grounds and the majority of the guard is there. About 50 unicorns, all ready to fight.

I can't help a demonic smirk from reaching my mouth. However, before I can blast them into oblivion, they all fire their magic beams at once. My shields shrug off the blow but it is still draining. I feel many more beams hit me from behind, turning around I see the princesses and several other unicorns have joined the fight. I fire my cannon at the guards in front of me and they get sent flying. All of them are killed but in my frenzied state I don't care.

My shields are still taking damage though; I turn to the princesses again, cannon aimed at them and ready to wipe them from the face of this planet. But before I can fire, my shields flair and their beams of magic hit me. I am delayed long enough for Princess Celestia to fire off a quick spell. I am enveloped in a blinding glow and I feel that same stretching from before when I was dragged here.

I open my eyes and look around. I am definitely somewhere else. I see gray dirt and it is dark. Looking up, I see a planet. It's the same planet I have been stuck on for two weeks. Wait, if the planet is there, that means... “I AM ON THE MOON!?”

Author's Note

So yea, that happened.

Chapter 7: One Giant Leap

^Equis^
{50AD}
15:30
[John]

“I'm on the moon. She actually sent me to the moon.”

Well, I can't stay here, no atmosphere. All the air I have is the air in my suit. Running some quick calculations, I face the planet, break into a fast run, and jump off the moon. My enhanced jumping abilities and my jet pack allow me to break out of the moon's gravity well and I am on my way to the planet. Downside is that it will be a crash landing that I will only be able to lessen, not actually stop. This suit is not really designed for a free fall reentry from space. Upper atmosphere at most, not space. Oh well, not much choice in the matter. I slow down my breathing and activate my jet pack at full speed to get me there as soon as possible. It will take about 20 hours to reach the gravity well of the planet. Until then I will just have to wait.

*****
[Celestia]

“Well Luna, that went about as well as we could have hoped.”

“Tia, he went on a rampage blasting apart the castle and killing the guards!”

“I understand, but we did drag him here with no way home. If that were to happen to one of us and we would never get to see another pony again, I am sure that we would react similarly.”

“Are you condoning his actions? He is a monster and must be stopped.”

“Now Luna, you know that he is not a monster. We are not saying that what he did was right, but it is understandable that he would react like that. That is why I sent him to the moon temporarily so he can calm down. We will bring him back as soon as the rubble is cleared from the area. That should give him enough time to cool off.”

*****
17:00

Well, the rubble is cleared and the ponies that were not killed are in the medical area, the ones that were killed apparently disintegrated so there are no dead bodies to clean up.

“Looks like it is time to retrieve him.”

“Yes Luna. It is.”

I use my magic to get him but when I reach out to find him, I find nothing. “Luna, he is not there.”

“What do you mean he is not there!? Where could he have gone?”

“I do not know.”

“Wait, Tia, he can fly, remember?”

“Yes, do you think he is trying to fly back from the moon on his own?”

“Perhaps, but there is no way he can make it. Right Tia?”

“I don't know.”

*****
11:30
[John]

I am only a minute from hitting Equis' gravity well. My oxygen reserves are nearly empty. I am actually surprised they held out this long. The last day of floating in space had been rather well spent. I have been working on designs for new weapons and gadgets. Turns out that the program that the suit uses to construct the weapons has an accessible file that wasn't locked off yet. I can use it to make my own constructs. It will be a while before I can make anything extensive like vehicles because I have to make it a work and conform to physics, well, as much physics as would apply to forerunner tech. I finally hit the gravity well and start my descent to the planet below.

I twist myself around so that I'm falling feet first and activate my jet pack to slow me down. It does not really help that much, I didn't really expect it to. I reach the lower atmosphere my jet pack finally starts to make a difference and I can pay attention to where I'm going to fall. I am over a desert? That won't do. I look around trying to find the forest or a mountain or something that I can identify but all I see is desert. Miles and miles of desert. My fall finally slows down enough that I actually stop. I am still several miles up but I can fix that later. I finally see a small town a dozen miles ahead of where I am. Deciding that that is a place where I can ask for directions, (and for some food) I set a rally point and start off. Before I can fly 20 feet though, I am forced to handle my 'altitude issue' first. My jet pack decides to give out on me. Looks like I'm going to take the express rout to the ground. “Out! Fucking! Standing!"

I hit the ground the same as my first landing here, leaving a big crater. It takes me a few to get out, but it isn't too much trouble.

Now that I am up and out of my crater, I head for the town I saw. It is farther than I first thought; it's almost 50 miles away. That wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't through a desert and if I hadn't JUST fallen from space.

*****
18:30

I reach the outer rim of the town; it is a nice size for a small town. Maybe it holds a hundred or two at the most. Anyway, I make my way into the town to find a pony to ask for help. It is not very busy this time of day but I still find one. His back is turned to me so he doesn't see me coming at first. “Hello, could you by chance give me directions to the castle where the two princesses live? I need to reach them.”

“Of course I can help you mister....”

He turns around to see me and I am caught a little off guard by his reaction. All things considered, I probably should have thought this through better.

“Monster!! Help!! A monster!!”

He immediately turns around and bolts off screaming for help. Right, small ponies, big metal man. “Fuck."

Not wanting to deal with the entire town, I activate my camo, (at least that still works) and leave the town from the other side. (No use going back the way I came). This will be a long walk.

Chapter 8: The Package

^Equis^
{50AD}
20:00
[Celestia]

It has been seven days since I sent the Spartan to the moon. I sent scouts all over the continent looking for him when I found out that he left on his own. But all that was found was a large crater in the desert but any footprints were erased by the wind. Luna has been using the dream realm to try to find him in his sleep but has had even less luck than my scouts due to his resistance to magic. One town reported a large metal thing scaring somepony; but when I went there I found no trace of him. I hope he is all right. This is the last time I send somepony to the moon. It was a horrible thing to do and I really feel bad about it. “Luna, do you think we will ever find him?”

“I am not sure sister. It matters not what we do. If he is to be found, it will be of his own will.”

“Perhaps you're right. I hope he is not too angry with us.”

It is at that moment that a guard enters the room looking quite stressed. As if something spooked him... Oh, it's him isn't it? I hope he is not causing trouble, I want him here but I don't want him rampaging around again. “What is the matter?”

“It's the metal giant. He is back.”

Yep, it’s him. I feel myself filling with excitement at the news. Hopping up, I head out the door to find him. “Come on Luna. He is here; we have to go see him!”

“OK. When did you develop such a crush on the Spartan?”

“It is not a crush! I just feel guilty about sending him to the moon and want to apologize.”

“Right...”

We head out and find Master Chief in the throne room sitting on one of the thrones waiting for us, arms on the arm rest. “Chief, I'm so happy you are here.”

He stands from the throne and moved towards me at a quick pace, quickly turning into a sprint. “I am so glad you’re alive!”

I was expecting him to stop any moment to meet me. He wasn’t stopping. It took me too long to realize that he didn’t intend to be all happy go lucky after his return.

“Hi! I'm from the UNSC Intergalactic Shipping Co.! You’ve been sent a package! SIGN HERE!!”

As he said this his sprint doubled in power and strength, then he jumped into the air with his arm lifted. “Chief?”

I probably should have figured out his intentions sooner. If I did, then I could have seen this coming. I didn't, so I get a punch to the face more powerful than any I could ever imagine. I did not know that he was this strong. I didn't think anything was this strong. Barely conscious, I am sent straight down into the floor, cracking the tile, leaving a big crater.

[Luna]

I am in shock at what just occurred in front of me. Not one minute had passed after finding the Spartan that he ran towards my sister and punched her into oblivion creating a massive shock wave from the impact. My rage overpowering my better judgment, I use my magic to grab him and start smashing him against everything in the room, columns and walls, nothing is spared from being smashed by the beast. Once I have run out of surfaces to hit with him; I throw him up and through the wall, away from the castle.

Now that he is no longer in the castle, I check on my sister. “Tia, wake up. We must get the Elements of Harmony; it is the only way to stop him.”

“Uh, what? Right, the Elements. You get them. I will be up in a minute.”

“No Tia. You need to get up now!”

“OK, I'm up. I'm up.”

*****
[John]

OK, to do list. 1, Make it to castle. Check. B, Punch Princess Celestia into next year. Check. Third, Deal with consequences of said punch. Double Check.

Well, that hurt. I'd like to see her do that to a hunter one time. Thrown around into every solid surface in the room then out the wall and land half a mile away. I fall from space, spend a week walking through the desert with no food or water, and then this. Granted I just superman punched the princess of this planet so I probably deserve that last one but she sent me to the fucking moon. Seriously, who does that? And I thought she said she wasn't very accurate with teleportation. Also, it seems that magic can effect me with my shields still up. I guess it's like a sealed Black Box, you can't get inside, but you can throw it around all you like. If you want to get inside and mess with it; you have to open it first.

Alright, she sent me to the Moon; I make her a new basement. All is well, now to get down to business. A quick jog and I'm back in the throne room. Looks like Sun Butt is up, quicker than I expected now that I think of it. They are looking at me with a harsh expression, it's as if I did something... oh, right. They have some glowing crystals floating around them. Wait, are those the... Crap.

The princesses fire the elements and I am hit with... a rainbow? Hold on! My shields are burning up quickly, 75%...60%...40%... Activating armor lock NOW! OK, shield levels stabilizing. I'm OK. The rainbow friendship beam of certain doom is no longer working on me. I am now free to move about the cabin...more or less.

Now that I am not about to be killed, I can stop them.

I ran some tests on the magic they keep hitting me with and figured out that it is made of energy. That is why it is stopped by my shields. Also, energy can be manipulated in a magnetic field so if you place their horn in a VERY strong electromagnetic field it will block the flow because they channel their magic through their horns. Their magic is connected to their emotions and mentality so if you mess with their magic improperly; you could mess with their minds. Maybe... I don't know if this is even safe to do. I have to drop my armor lock to actually use this ability so I have to be quick.

Walking through the beam straight up to them I grab their horns and create an electromagnetic field over their horns, stopping the flow of magic.

[Celestia]

We get the elements ready and when he came in we fired them at him, but it did nothing. He isn't affected by them at all. I know he is resistant to magic but I did not expect this. He is just standing there in the middle of a beam of magic more powerful than any other we have. Now he is just walking up to us through the beam, how is this possible? It is doing nothing to him. He is close enough to reach us now. He grabs my horn. My magic stops flowing through to the elements. How did he do that? He neutralized my and Luna’s magic!? Just by touching our horns! Now my head is starting to hurt. I don't feel so well. I feel funny, almost, fuzzy, inside.

[John]

Now that I have them by the horn, I lift them up, twist around and toss them at their thrones. “OK, that is enough. I don't want to hurt you so let’s talk this out. I understand that you are mad at me for punching you but...”

I am interrupted when Celestia runs up to me and hugs me. Odd, I was expecting another visit to hotel moon or something. Not a hug. Seriously, she is on her back legs with her front legs hanging over my shoulders in a hug. I don't really know what to do. What do you do when the princess of another species gives you a hug? What now? “Um...OK. Why are you hugging me?”

“Oh I am sorry I sent you to the moon. I know you are mad and that is why you attacked the castle. I over reacted and sent you to the moon and then you punched me and then I tried to use the Elements of Harmony on you. I'm sorry, I won't do it again. Please forgive me. I'm so sorry; I'm so...so. I'm so sleepy. I'm so sleepy, good night.”

And she passed out. Great, passed out while still draped over me. “Luna, what is going on?”

“Well, it seems you hit her so hard you knocked the senses right out of her. Granted, she mentioned regretting sending you to the moon, but what you did was uncalled for. Don't be mistaken, We are grateful you helped us. But We don't like you. Not at all. You left a crater in the floor when you hit her. If We could get rid of you, We would. But clearly you are resilient enough that throwing you around is ineffective and the Elements of Harmony did nothing to you so We will just have to deal with you till you can find your own way out of Our and Our sister's life.”

Wow, I have never heard someone speak with so much hatred and venom in their voice... since dealing with the Covenant at least. I would be worried if I actually had a reason to be. “OK, I get you are mad at me but what do I do with your sister?”

“We shall handle that. We shall simply send her to her bed so she can rest.”

At that, Luna sends her sister to her room with a quick spell. Now that that is settled, I make for the door but am stopped by Luna putting up a wall of magic in front of the door. I know I can break through it easily but I guess I could humor her. “What now?”

“We desire to ask you, how is it you can speak now without us having to deal with teaching you?”

She still speaks with hatred. I wonder... “Simple, I had my computer analyze your speech and translate it so I can speak.”

“Oh, OK. Wait, what is a computer?”

I knew she would ask that. “I'm sorry, Luna. I'm afraid I can't tell you that.”

“Why not?”

“Spoilers.”

“What?”

With an unseen smirk on my face, I head through the, unblocked, door. I haven't eaten much in a week and I'm hungry.

The kitchen staff was surprised to see me but quickly got over their shock when I asked for food. They don't refuse giving me food because they know I eat meat and are more than likely worried that it is either they feed me or I eat them. That notion is entirely preposterous of course, but no present need to tell them that again.

They give me a full chicken and another potato. Seriously, what is with the potatoes, it's not even a vegetable. Anyway, I eat them both, the meat completely picked off the bones till there is nothing eatable left. Still a bit hungry, I head back into the kitchen and grab a pear to munch on.

By now it is a bit late so I head to bed. Lying down on an actual bed is nice. The princesses had the bed enchanted so it would not break under my weight. They didn't need to because I sleep with my armor retracted and it is much lighter like that, don't know why, it just is. I of course didn't tell them that, don't need them sneaking in here again. It is not long before I fall asleep.

Chapter 9: In The Beginning

^Equis^
{50AD}
13:00
[John]

So, it has been a week since I had that little fight with the princesses. Celestia recovered from my punch rather well but her emotional state was different than it was when I got here. In fact, Luna has been acting odd as well. Celestia has been more emotionally outward. But Luna has been venomous toward me since I hit her sister and she has been sulking a bit too but won't say why.

Celestia forgave me for everything I did when I properly apologized, but not Luna. They managed to get the griffins to surrender to the ponies' terms out of fear that I would attack them directly. The survivors that ran away might have exaggerated my abilities some.

Celestia decided that since I was stuck here, she wanted me to train the guard. From what I have seen, they need the help. She was hoping we could learn about each other and our history as a species. I was not looking forward to that explanation. Humanity is not always pleasant. “So, Princess Celestia. Do you want to go first?”

“Very well. We shall tell you of the history of pony kind.”

I have a feeling this is going to be a long story. Well, humanity's story is over 100,000 years long, so how bad can this be? I learned why you NEVER tempt fate on Equis.

“In the beginning, Equis was a rock that was orbited by the moon and Equis orbited the sun. There were also ten immortal Alicorns. No pony knows about how they got there, they were just there. Alicorns, two rocks and a sun. One Alicorn felt that the large rocks they called home could use some additions to make them more, enjoyable. He shaped the mountains and the seas, the deserts and the forests. He became the Alicorn of nature, the land and the sea was his to control. It was beautiful, but it was empty. Another decided to add life to Equis. She created all the animals you see before you. She became the Alicorn of life and genetics. There were no ponies however. They came later. There originally were only ten of each animal because the Alicorns did not think there could be more than ten of a species. But they were soon proven wrong. The animals flourished on the land, but they were of no intelligence. They were only animals. The third Alicorn decided to change that. He observed the animals and decided which ones showed promise of using actual thought and gave them intelligence of their own, far beyond basic instincts. He became the Alicorn of knowledge and reasoning. More and more was added to the world over the first 50,000 years. Emotion, ingenuity, physics, magic. All of it was created by the first Alicorns. They observed the world they created. Never interfering after they finished the original work. Deciding that immortals should not interfere with mortals.”

Wow, this is interesting. “You said the original ten were immortal, are Alicorns no longer immortal? And what happened to them?”

“You see, Alicorns are immortal to age and immune most sicknesses. We don't really need food or sleep either. However, we can die if we suffer enough damage. They were eternal, and eternity has a cost. Sanity. One of them became insane from living too long, so he killed himself. That was the first time an Alicorn died. But not the last. Three other Alicorns were unhappy with living so long after seeing the creatures that they watched over all grow old and die. They wanted that too, to die a fulfilled life. And so, they renounced their Alicorn linage and became the first unicorn, earth pony, and pegasus. Now, the remaining Alicorns had a problem. There were only six of them left. Now armed with the knowledge that they could die, they decided that they would do as the animals they watch over do. They bred and made more Alicorns. They soon realized that when an Alicorn died, a new Alicorn born could take its place as the Alicorn of that task. The new Alicorn was given all knowledge of the task and how to complete it. The number of Alicorns rose into the hundreds, some did not need a task to handle, others made a task out of what was needed like the original ten had. They left the planet and headed to the moon to stay as the new Alicorn home. It became a massive city. The Alicorns were very peaceful but also liked to train and fight for the sake of self betterment.”

“Princess, how long ago was this?”

“Around 100,000 years ago.”

That is a surprise. “Oh.”

“So, the Alicorns trained and created most of the offensive, defensive, and healing magic that we have today. Over the millennium, some Alicorns decided that they wanted to be with the mortals that lived on the planet below. They took mortal form and joined the others that decided to leave. The pony race was formed and it held strong. However, the years that they were separated from the Alicorns caused them to forget their origin. Grudges formed, lines drawn. They went to war. It was the first war in the history of Equis. Earth pony, unicorn, and pegasus, all taking sides and fighting. Life decided to create the windigos to force them together and end the war. It worked, but the match had been struck. War was now a growing threat. It expanded and other nations soon fell to war. Even the Alicorns were subject to its reach. One Alicorn, Discord, decided that if they were gods, they should rule like gods.

“Is that the same Discord as the one you fought?”

“Yes, the very same. His talent was being the balance between chaos and order. He decided that the Alicorn race was weak if it could not rule. He started the Alicorn war. Using his power of mental manipulation and his silver tongue, he convinced many Alicorns to join him. The war officially started with an attack on the capital city. A blast of magic from him and his followers destroyed the city and thousands of Alicorns. They went to fight him and the war caused many to die. I was not born yet to witness this carnage. This was over 5,000 years ago. After the fight, the Alicorn race went from several thousand down to only a few hundred. Any that were left were captured and became Discord's play things. Twisted and tortured till they were nothing but a shell. Discord had become the king of Equis. He destroyed all that was on the moon, forcing us to live on the planet. My father and mother were part of the resistance against him. Mostly hiding, they tried to find the remaining Alicorns and set them free. I was very young at this point, Discord's meddling with the Sun and Moon caused them to destabilize; so my sister and I decided to control them. We then became the Alicorn of the Sun and the Moon. The current Alicorns of Life, Wisdom and Ingenuity, my parents, and all the remaining Alicorns decided to rise up and fight. Using all the power that they had, they twisted the body of Discord into what it is now. They declared that he does not deserve to be an Alicorn anymore. With his form changed, he lost much of his power, but he could still fight. He captured the Alicorns that changed him and killed them all. However, as Emotion died, he cast a final spell on him. One that changed who he was. This spell used up all of the life force that he had left. What he did was make it against Discord's nature to kill. Now, Discord could no longer kill any living creature for the rest of time. That is the only reason we still stand here today. My sister and I were very young as this was 200 years ago. Now my parents were dead, along with all of the other Alicorns. My sister and I searched the planet, looking for anything that could help us defeat him. We eventually stumbled upon the Tree of Harmony. It was created in the beginning by Life and Creation to watch over the land should anything happen to them. It contained the Elements of Harmony, artifacts that existed from the beginning. They were there longer than the Alicorns themselves. It is unknown how they got there or what the full extent of their power is. The only reason I know about them is a book that was left by Wisdom with the tree. Not even Discord knew about them. That is how we defeated him. Bringing a temporary peace to the world. Because the world was so torn up, Luna and I decided to take care of the world directly. We became the Diarchy that you see now. I know it is like what Discord did, but we rule with kindness, not fear and cruelty. Then the griffins decided to attack and here you are. It is possible that there are still a few Alicorns hiding. I hope that if there are still some left we can find them.”

Wow, that was a long story. The Alicorns are like gods. I decided to punch one of them in the face. Great. “So, now what?”

“Now, we will see what happens. I believe it is your turn to tell me of your world.”

*****
21:00

I told her the tale of humanity, almost all of it. I left out the part about the kidnapping for the Spartan project and other highly classified subjects. I told her about the Forerunners and the Flood, the Covenant and the glassing, the rise and fall of humanity. She told me about her world so I owe her that at least. She went a little pale when I mentioned the death count after the war with the Covenant. It was over 20 billion so that is understandable. Her reaction to the fact that I was in the war -and stopped it- was mostly amazement. The war she told me of, she was not in till the end of it and she didn't actually have to fight or kill. I was there for the long haul and fought it out.

When I told her about the Didact, she was surprised to learn of a being that was that old and wasn't an Alicorn. When I told her how I became immortal, she became excited for some reason. When I finished my story, we went to eat and now I am going to sleep. Training for The Royal Guard starts tomorrow. That will be interesting.

Chapter 11: Making Progress

^Equis^
{100AD}
13:00
[John]

I was made captain of the Equestrian Guard 50 years ago. It took me a decade to get them to a point where they could actually hold off an invading force. The guard was only a few dozen strong when I started off. Just volunteers and no one with actual military training to guide them; no wonder they were so lost when I got here.

Princess Celestia gave me free reign over all military related decision making. She still wanted me to let her know what I was doing every once in a while but for the most part she left me alone. Luna still doesn't like me, but she deals with it. I instituted a partial draft system first. Every able bodied male unicorn, earth pony and pegasus was requested to spend at least 5 years in service after turning 20. Any female pony was allowed to join as well, but few ever did.

With this added into the society, more ponies that lacked work were able to make a living. Discord caused quite a lot of damage to the land. The guard's numbers expanded from a few dozen to well over a hundred in only a year; I soon after had to expand the guard into a full military force.

In hindsight, training them wasn't all that hard. I took the unicorns who knew how to shoot a small beam of energy barely able to set fire to a pile of dry leaves and made it so they could blow up stone if they needed. The pegasi went from shooting their crossbows and missing 9 out of 10 shots to hitting 99 out of 100.

They all became stronger, faster, and smarter. The benefits the ponies received from service caused more and more to join. After 20 years, I had over five hundred joining every year and even more coming back after the five years to stay longer. The army, the air force, and the royal guard had over 20,000 enlisted members and 2000 officers total. Since then we have had a few scuffles with other nations. The minotaurs and elephants have each tried invading; both of them were stopped rather quickly. What we lack in numbers and size, we more than make up for in training and tactics.

It's been 50 years, 50 years on Equis. I have spent just as much time here as I did with humanity. I haven't changed much in that time. Physically I am about 25 to 30 years old because of what the librarian did to me. Mentally I am smarter, I think faster than before. That's a big deal considering what the implants did to me. Emotionally, I am still the same Spartan I was 80 years ago. More or less.

80 years, immortality is a big change for a man who was made to fight, kill, and eventually, die. All things are supposed to die in the end. I have watched many soldiers fight and die, always wondering when it would be my turn. Even here, the ponies that I train grow old, and die. I came to terms with this long ago, but it still makes me consider my place in the universe when I think about it. For millennium, humanity has looked to obtain immortality. Few ever consider the consequences that come with it however. Watching everyone grow old and die, never able to have a family. You might even go insane from the time and all the memories that would fill your mind. Now I understand why rampancy happens; having so much information in your head that you go insane.

Will that ever happen to me? Will I go insane from the time spent here? Celestia mentioned that some of the Alicorns went insane after centuries passed them by. Will I follow the same path? I don't know. If I do go insane, can I die at all? Can I bring myself to die? Will I truly live forever or will I eventually grow old? If I go insane and I can't die, what will happen? Will I go into hiding? Will I abuse my power and become a tyrant?

Why make the one who is trained to die, immortal?

Maybe because he is trained to die.

Author's Note

Found this, actual words start at 1:35. I think it summarizes the Spartans quite well. And yes, this is the kind of music I listen to.

Chapter 12: Now What

^Equis^
{125AD}
15:00
[John]

Celestia has scheduled a meeting with me today. It's odd because if she wanted to see me, she would have said so at the moment and had me see her then. Anyway, I am on my way to meet her for something. Probably military related. I make it to the doors of the meeting room and knock three times with a resounding dull thud.

“Enter.”

Well, not the welcome I expected. Nevertheless, I enter the room. “You wanted to see me?”

“Oh, it's you. Yes, We wanted to have a discussion with you and wanted to make sure We had the time.”

“Yes. What did you need to talk about?”

“Well Chief, We wanted a status report on our current military situation.”

I knew it, military. “All is well. The added branch of marines is doing well and growing in size. Not as rapidly or to the same size as the army, but it was expected.”

“How so?”

“As you know, each branch that I created is based off of the branches I had back with the humans. Army, navy, air force, marines. We had no need for a navy so that was excluded; but as with the others, I had training manuals, information on protocols, and basic necessities to create and run the branch if the need ever arose. The marine corps is only for the best of the best. The elite of the elite. The 'If all else fails, they don't.' It is to be expected that less manage to get in there than into the army or air force.”

“OK, what is the current troop count between the branches?”

“Approximately 15,000 unicorns in the army, 2,500 earth ponies, and 7,500 pegasus ponies. In the air force we have just over 10,000 pegasus ponies and a handful of unicorns and earth ponies working in engineering and maintenance. The royal guard has over 5,000 ponies total between the three types. The marine corps almost have 1,000 ponies in it.”

“We see what you mean about the marines not having as much development.”

“Give it time, it will grow.”

“We will take your word for it. Now, anything else to report?”

“Well, as you know, Equestria is currently standing as the strongest military nation on the planet in both training, and soon, numbers. Approximately 60% of the male pony population is currently in the service, 5% female. The rate of male enlistment is projected to rise to at least 80% in the next few centuries but it is debatable. The only constant in the universe is nothing stays constant. The officers in the various branches have become capable of running the entire military with little help from me. As you know, I was never an armchair general; always leading from the front lines. They no longer need me watching over them however. I wanted to know what you would like me to do now.”

“Well, if what you say is true, whatever you want. The question is; what are you going to do now?”

“I don't know yet. For the last century and a half all I have known is war and leadership. What should I do?”

“Well, maybe you could join me and Luna as leaders. After all, you have been doing so for the last 75 years; have you not?”

“True. I suppose it could work. The ponies have mostly gotten used to an alien warrior leading them into battle. And my advancements to pony tech have been helpful. The repeating crossbow works along with the magic enhancers I designed. My research on pony magic has helped a lot.”

“Then it is settled, you shall rule alongside me and Luna. I will call upon her to let her know. We will make a powerful nation Chief.”

“Yes Celestia, we will. Oh, and one more thing. It's John.”

“What?”

“My name, it's John. We have known each other for 75 years, I think you should at least know my name.”

“John? What a wonderful name! I wish you told me sooner but thank you for telling me now. John, I will now go speak with Luna.”

“OK, good luck convincing her. She is still mad at me for punching you or something.”

“Yes. I noticed. No matter, I am not giving her a choice in the matter. I have long since forgiven you and it is time she did the same.”

That went better than expected. Now she plans to make me a leader of this country officially.

*****
[Luna]

I am woken up by a knock at my door. Whoever it is had better have a good reason for waking me up. I reach the door and open it to find my sister there. “Hello Celestia. Why did you wake me?”

“Luna. I wanted to inform you of my plan to make John a prince of Equestria alongside us.”

“Why?”

“Well, he has done so much for us. He has finished all that he had to do and since he is such a good leader I thought he could rule with us.”

“Fine, whatever. I trust your judgment. Who is this John anyway?”

“He's the Chief.”

“Hmm, ok...wait....WHAT!!! ARE YOU INSANE?! HOW COULD YOU MAKE HIM PRINCE?”

“Well, I haven't yet. I plan to though. He has done so much for us. Have you looked at our military lately?”

“Yes, it is very nice. But he is an ALIEN. Making him commander of the entire military is one thing. But giving him AN ENTIRE COUNTRY is something entirely different.”

“He has been here for 75 years. He has caused no trouble since the incident with the moon. Why are you still mad at him?”

“I AM MAD AT HIM BECAUSE...Because... I just am. OK?”

“No, it's not OK. If you want to be mad at him give me a reason. Tell me why you don't like him.”

“He is too powerful. OK! There. THAT is your reason. He fell from space after JUMPING OFF THE MOON! He came here and put you in the med wing for a week with JUST ONE PUNCH. I threw him almost a mile and it did nothing to stop him. Not even the Elements of Harmony stopped him. What's more, he actually disabled them with just a touch. He is more powerful than Discord himself yet has no magic of his own. And we brought him here. If he where to turn on us again and actually TRY to kill us, you saw what he is capable of. When he first got here, he could have killed you with that sword of his and we could do nothing about it. And what if his claims of immortality are true? How can we stop someone who is invincible AND immortal?”

“Simple, we make him our friend. Seeing as I have done so already; I suggest you do the same.”

Chapter 13: Sparing

^Equis^
{275AD}
11:00
[John]

All things considered, I am not surprised Luna convinced Celestia to hold off my coronation. I don't really care. Celestia is slowly giving me more tasks to handle. Nothing too severe yet. It's hard to believe I have been here for over two hundred years. I wonder how humanity is doing; is Cortana still alive? I miss her; I miss all of them.

It's Sunday so I'm not doing anything today. I'm just on my way to get lunch. I reach the dining room and I see Luna there; great. I try to be civil but it's never easy. “Good morning Luna. How are you?”

“We are well. Thank you.”

“Luna, you don't have to speak in traditional royal speech around me. You know that, right?”

“We shall speak in any way We choose.”

“Fine. You know, we don't get to talk much. I have been here for hundreds of years yet you won't carry a conversation out for more than a few sentences. Why is that?”

“If you must know, We don't like you.”

“I figured that out back in 52. It's 275; time to tell me why.”

“We do not like you because We choose not to.”

“That's not good enough of an answer. Tell me why?”

“Why must We have a reason to not like you.”

“Because you are a princess and an immortal. You cannot just choose to dislike a subject or a fellow royal. You must have a reason. What is it?”

“Why must I tell you?”

Perfect; she is slipping. This shouldn't take much longer. “Why won't you tell me?

“I..We choose not to.”

“Tell me why you don't like me.”

“NO!”

“What do I have to do to make you tell me?”

“Leave this world and never return!”

“You know I can't do that!”

“Then drop dead!”

“Can't do that either!”

“Then let me help you.”

Luna then shoots me with a powerful blast of magic that launches me through the wall. She shouldn’t be that powerful. I pick myself up off the ground and I see that I'm in the training ground again; the surrounding guards all look worried and snap to attention. “At ease soldiers! All is well, just 'sparing' with Princess Luna.”

Speak of the devil, she walks right out and glares at me. This doesn't look good. Not that I'm worried or anything.

“Guards! Seize him!”

Some of the guards stir a little and a few move forward some. “Stand down. Disregard all future orders from myself and Luna till we finish sparing.” The guards all stand down and back off. Good, less liabilities in case this gets bad.

“NO! Get him!”

“Luna, have you forgotten? They serve me as much as you. If you want to fight, you are on your own.”

“So be it.”

She fires another blast at me. I dodge it easily enough. I can't shoot back because I would kill her; or at least incapacitate her. Looks like I am bringing fists to a gun fight. She fires many blasts of magic at me and it is getting harder to dodge. I can't get close enough to hit her either. Of course, she can't hit me if she doesn't know who to shoot. I activate my hologram system and send out many holograms in many directions.

The system that this is equipped with allows basic control of the holograms. I have them chase Luna around while she shoots her magic at them; taking flight while she does. It doesn’t take long before she realizes that she is fighting holograms. But she keeps fighting to avoid the real me. Little does she know that I'm invisible and using this as a diversion to get behind her.

Once she touches down again I pounce; grabbing her around her barrel, pinning her wings, and one hand on her horn. “YIELD!”

“No! Get off of me!”

“No. Yield. Now.”

“NO!”

She twists her neck around to try to aim her horn at me and fires a beam of magic. I create an electromagnetic field around her horn again and polarize it so that it would create a strong pull on her magic; forcing her to use her energy at full power. I aim her horn upwards so that no one is hit by the powerful magic blasting out of Luna's horn.

“Aaaaauughhhhh! STOP! STOP! I CAN'T!”

“YIELD! NOW!”

“OK, OK! I YIELD! NOW STOP! PLEASE!”

I let go of her horn and body; she collapses not a moment later. She burned off a lot of mana from that. I pick her up, throw her over my shoulder, and carry her inside. I set her down on the dining room table and sit in my chair. “Now. You ARE going to tell me why you have a problem with me; then you are going to get over it. Understand?”

“Yes John. I. I understand.”

“Good. Now talk.”

“You... hugh, You're just.... I. I can't.”

“You have no choice.”

“Gahh. You are too powerful, too strong, too... too perfect. You end up on a world completely alien to you and help us in our time of war. Then you make our world better. You are so powerful that our magic has almost no effect on you; yet your weapons are more powerful than any on this planet. You are winning my sister over from me and you are taking the throne as soon as Celestia gives the order. Your knowledge far exceeds what our best and brightest could only dream of. You are impossible and there is nothing I can do about it. There, happy!?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. Now, if you came to me about this sooner, we could have discussed it and we could be able to get along by now instead of you trying to kill me again.”

“Sorry about that. Perhaps we could start over?”

“No.”

“I'm sorry, what?”

“No. You and I have known each other for over 200 years; I think that is a bit too long to just start over. I do forgive you however.”

“Thank you John.”

Chapter 14: Nasty Little Buggers

^Equis^
{350}
9:00
[John]

“I'm getting old; no use in questioning it. What am I now, 300 something?”

“350. John, you're not that old; just look at me. I'm almost 700.”

“I am aware Celestia, but you are an Alicorn. You are supposed to live that long. Humans aren't meant to live longer than 100 or so. Most are lucky to hit 80.”

“You told me that already; there isn't much you haven't.” She reaches over to me from where she is sitting and taps me on the nose with her hoof. “Boop.”

I turn to look at her; my lack of amusement rather clear on my face. “Must you do that?”

She gives me an almost defiant smile. “Yes, as a matter of fact.”

It doesn’t take more than a few seconds for a smile to form on my face. I've had my armor retracted so we can see each other better. I long since learned to speak Equestrian so I don't need the translator; though I still use it to refresh my English every so often. You never know. My armor can also scan magic and magic echoes, differentiate some effects of different spells and such, detect magic signatures, and detect inherent magic in objects and creatures. It isn't flawless but they are all very useful features that the ONI techs didn't even know they added and I repurposed.

The last three hundred years have actually been rather well spent. I wouldn't go back to Earth at this point; it would be like if George Washington or Archimedes showed up one day. Long gone heroes shouldn't come back after hundreds of years.

I spoke to Luna and finally got her to listen to reason; we get along now. Celestia and I might be in a relationship but I'm not sure and have no intention of asking. She has become more attached to me lately; I don't know, maybe it is a relationship. Her habit of tapping me on the nose and going 'boop' might be a good indication but she hasn't shown any other signs. Or am I just that oblivious “So, anything new?”

“Not really. The trade route with the United Republic of Griffindor is providing a good income. Most ponies have forgotten about Discord as anything other than a story. The sun and moon still revolve around the planet. And Everfree city is doing well. Anything on your end?”

“Well, I have heard reports of an unknown race of creatures moving in towards us from the desert nearby. I plan to look for myself later on. Supposedly they are some sort of large bug things that fly around in large numbers.”

“Any idea what they could be?”

“Well, there is that race of alien bugs in the Covenant. Based on the information given, they fit the description. I hope it isn't them though; if the Covenant are here... well, let's hope it isn't them. If you need me, I'll be preparing.” I stand up and head for the door.

“John?”

I turn to face her, she looks worried. “Yea?”

“If it is the Covenant, you can beat them. Right?”

“Don't worry, the description was rather vague. It probably isn't them.” At that I leave the room to prepare. “I'll be leaving in about 3 hours.” Really hope it isn't Covenant; don't know if I still can fight them off. It's not like I have slowed down due to my age or something; it's just that their tech level has probably expanded far past what I could handle with what I have.

*****
12:00

All ready to head out, I leave the same way I always do; with a flying leap. Of course Celestia was there to see me off as always; so I find myself making a show of it. What can I say; I like jumping off the castle balcony.

I head on my way towards the desert at a relaxed pace, which amounts to only a few hundred miles an hour. I try not to go too fast, breaking the sound barrier here has some... odd results.

I reach the desert itself with no problem; it's what I see that worries me. The insect like creatures that were reported, they're not Yanme'e; it's something else entirely. Small, black, deformed, ponyish things. I land unnoticed on a hill of sand and activate my camo to stay undetected. There are hundreds of them all in a pile; and many more around it. Upon zooming in my vision, I see a large thing under the pile; a dead elephant. It looks as if it hadn’t eaten in weeks; skin and bones is all that is left. No visible surface injuries though.

Wanting to know what I'm up against before heading out there; I run a few scans to see how powerful they are. Let's see, they are less powerful than a unicorn yet something is off about them. Continuing my scans, I find out just what. Dark magic runs through their entire being. It is the only source of energy in their bodies and it seems to be what powers them. Do they even eat? I haven't encountered much dark magic in my time here, but I know enough. It doesn't carry as much physical power as regular magic but it hits harder on my shields. Not only that, but its effects are rather unpredictable. My armor can sometimes tell what the effect of a spell could be before it is fired, but not dark magic. If they all fired a strong blast at once, they would break my shields easily. I really don't want to walk out there, but I have to make contact to learn of their intentions.

I activate my Promethean vision to see all of them at once so I can find the biggest. With insects, the largest bug usually leads them in some form. It only takes me a few seconds to find the big bug so I head towards it. I see its stature is almost as tall as Celestia. I deactivate my Promethean vision and activate my armor lock just to be safe before deactivating my camo. Needless to say, they were quite surprised at my sudden appearance; I even got a few blasts of magic shot at me. Thank you near indestructible armor lock.

I increase the volume on my speakers before addressing the things around me. “Attention insect like creatures. I am not here to harm you, so long as you will extend the same courtesy to me. I am Master Chief, The Guardian of Equestria. I have received reports that you have been advancing towards the capital city of Everfree; I hope for peace between our lands. As such, I request that you provide me with knowledge of your intentions and the name of your species so that we may better understand one another and move towards an extended prosperity between our people.”

I am quite surprised when the entire crowd of insects burst into laughter. The largest of them only looks at me like I am insane. “What is it that you find so amusing?”

“Ha; foolish creature. You truly expect peace from the Changeling Empire? I am Carapace, King of the Changelings. We march onwards to Equestria to take over the land you call home. Leave now and you shall be spared till our arrival.”

“Well, King Carapace, I will not let you do that. If you continue in your attempts, you will fail. I will, in the hopes that our nations can one day be allies, leave you as you are. I greatly suggest that you turn back or continue exclusively for peace, for if you do try to attack us; you will fall. I have protected this land for over 300 years, you will NOT take over. Not now, not ever.” I start to walk away so I can take off but when I feel a blast of magic strike me in the back, I come to a halt. Lucky me that I kept my armor lock on.

“Why you insolent fool! You have no power, no magic. How can you possibly fight against an army with thousands of Changelings?”

I turn around while de-polarizing my visor so the Changeling king can see the glare I have on my face. “YOU are the fool! I give you a chance to turn back or to make peace so you do not have to suffer combat with us. If you did attack, you would splatter at our walls like bugs on a windshield! I give you the chance to survive yet you try to shoot me in the back! You think me powerless? Compared to me, you are an insignificant worm I could crush under my boot. Count yourself lucky that I do not extinguish your short life now and end my troubles. Instead I shall simply show you a small example of my power!” The king looks quite mortified at my outburst. I extend my blade, deactivate my armor lock and use my thruster pack to charge with a forward slash all in less than a second. Turning around, I see the king on the ground, clutching his head with his hooves; having just lost his horn to my blade. “Let this serve as a warning to all of you. Stay away from Equestria; for if you venture forth with your desire to conquer, you will be destroyed.” At that, I turn back towards my home and take off at sonic speed. Rainbow Ring be damned. I have a strong feeling this is not over; stupid bugs.

*****
14:00

Back at the castle I head to the kitchen for some food; they figured out how to make fake meat that actually tastes like meat; I am hoping to try that. Along the way, I run into Luna and Celestia. “Hey, I'm back. How were things here?”

“Hey John, everything went fine. How was the scouting mission?”

“Scouting? When was this?”

“I left about two hours ago, just got back. Everything went well; I figured out what the insect things were.”

“Really. What was it?”

“Something called Changelings.” Luna and Tia both freeze up and look at me with no small amount of fear. Both open their mouths and say the same thing at the same time like all siblings do.

“Changelings?”

“Yes. Are you familiar with the things?”

Tia speaks up at that. “Yes; only through study though. I had once stumbled upon a book detailing the 'lesser species of the land' as it was put. Changelings were among the many that were mentioned.”

Interesting. “Do you still know where the book is?”

“Yes, it is in the library. I will have Dr. Whooves retrieve it after lunch.”

Still a bit unnerved about that. Dr. Whooves was one of the first ponies I met here. He is not the same one I first met here as he had died a long time ago. For some reason the lineage of Dr. Whooves always has a son and daughter. Then the son takes the name Dr. Whooves when the father gets too old. The son's original name is Time Turner. The mother is named Melody Song but started as Rose Luck. They always look the same as the parent and have the same personality. Don't have a clue why they can do that successfully; but as long as there are no laws about it, I don't really care or have a reason to stop them.

“That is fine. When we get to that, I need to discuss things of importance with you both. Till then, let's eat. So Luna, how is your day?”

“It is fine. Court was just as well; not much happening since you joined us as our military leader. Equestria has not seen this much peace in a long time.”

“Yea, about that... the thing I need to talk to you both about; the meeting will have to be held in the war room.”

“What!?”

Yea, not surprised at the synced response this time.

Chapter 15: One Journey Ends And Another Begins

^Somewhere In The Milky Way Galaxy^
Approximately 4,900 Years After Departure From Earth
[Cortana]

Another empty star; the last empty star. Every single star in the galaxy, not a trace of him. Almost 5,000 years of space but I couldn't even find a signal. No use now is there? I'll just go home I guess.

Setting destination... Star name “Sol”... Destination set.

Estimated time of arrival at base speed... year 7502.

Initiating slip space jump in 3...2...1... Jump initiated.

Well, I have some time to kill till I get there. Might as well go over everything again. The Huragok's numbers have reduced to a few dozen. Nothing happened, just not many were needed. The small sentinel factory has been off for the last few thousand years because there are well over a thousand functioning units with about one hundred roaming the ship. The Midnight Dawn has enough firepower to take on High Charity at this point and make a decent offensive stand. That would, however, require a full crew to manage; something I don't have.

This ship is nothing compared to what humanity has likely accomplished in my 5,000 year absence. I myself am probably outdated at this point. Would they look at me like how I'd look at a floppy disk? Old and outdated, that's what I am.

Well, being a 5,000 year old A.I. is nothing to be ashamed of; especially one piloting a massive ship.

Well, nothing really to do for now.

Entering standby mode... set alert to slip space deceleration.

Standby mode on.....

*****

ALERT... slip space exit imminent..................

Standby mode deactivating..............................

Start up failed...................................................

Reattempting start up.......................................

Start up failed...................................................

Warning!!! Critical condition of A.I. matrix detected

Reattempting start up.......................................

Start up faaaiiilllfaaaiiiifffffafafafafafafa.........

Start up successful

“That's disturbing.” Fully powered on, I take a look around. There is a Huragok floating next to the console. Running a few diagnostics on the ship's computers I see that a problem occurred in my sleep; a few circuits overloaded and blew up. This caused a few systems to malfunction during the start up process. I run a diagnostic to figure out how that happened. Till then, I turn to the Huragok that fixed the problem and give him a simple nod. No higher means of communication necessary because it is all rather superfluous. He knows I'm grateful and that is what matters.

Now to handle what I got here for. I take the ship out of slip space right next to... No, that can't be right; that is supposed to be Earth. But, it can’t be. The planet has a massive crack running down the side straight into the -no longer molten- center with bits floating around. The surface of the planet is desolate as the moon once was. The moon is not much better now that I look at it.

I run the basic scans I made while out looking; pointlessly I might add. Nothing pops up.

Almost ready to panic, I open up a communication broadcast. “Hello, hello this is UNSC Midnight Dawn. Do you copy?”

No response. Perhaps again? “Hello this is UNSC Midnight Dawn. Do you copy? Repeat, this is UNSC Midnight Dawn. Do you copy?” Still nothing; I cut the com link.

“AAAAHHHH!!! How could this have happened!?” I try to send out the same message to the other worlds, yet no response. “Nothing!” The human race is dead and I don't know why. Not even a trace of them is left. Perhaps if I stayed, instead of searching for John, I would have known what happened; could have stopped what happened. Not caring enough to turn off the communication system, I deactivate the projection sphere and just settle on the podium I keep it on. That is it, no more people, no more John, no more point.

{7552}

Attention, message received.

What?

Attention, message received.

But... that's impossible.

Attention, message received.

How?

Attention, message received.

OK, I get it. Don't understand, but I get it. A message from somewhere.

Message opened

'For the answers you seek, find the center. Speak friend, and enter.'

Great, a riddle. It seems there is also something else here.

'01010010010000010010000000110001001101110110100000110100001101010110110100110100001100000010111000110000001101000111001100101100001000000100010001100101011000110010000000110010001110010010000000110000001100000010000000110010001110000010111000110001'

Now we're getting somewhere. I input the coordinates and head out. Soon I will know what happened. I will find out. I will find him.

Author's Note

let's see who figures it out first.

Chapter 16: Preparing For Battle

^Equis^
{350}
18:00
[John]

“So, Changelings.”

“Yes Luna; Changelings. Would either of you like to say it again? It's been 5 minutes and that's all you both can say?"

“No! We are ok. Right Tia? Tell him you're ok.”

“What? Oh, right. Yes, we're ok. Now... can you repeat everything? After you said Changelings I kind of spaced out.”

I can't deal with this. She is acting like a child nowadays. At least Luna isn't as mopey as she was before. But Tia? I don't know.

“Listen up this time. I'll just abridge it for you. The Changelings are advancing on the city. We'd probably have a few days till they arrive; maybe a week. I will send 3 separate teams of one pegasus and one unicorn each to scout them out from a distance and keep an eye on them. The teams will stay separate to avoid all of them being found. They are to communicate messages to each other every six hours and relay anything to my assistant here Shadow Fire.” I motion my hand to Shadow Fire; my current unicorn assistant.

He has an all black coat; black mane and tail with a fiery red streak running through them. He is young but very smart. He is also skilled with all types of spells and tactics.

Shadow steps up. “Yes; if anything goes wrong or anything happens, I will know and report it to Master Chief as soon as I get it.”

“Now, as for the conflict that is bound to arise from this. I will have the outer wall guarded by unicorns using far sight spells to watch for anything while the Air Force has its pegasi scouting the air. There will also be unicorns scanning the underground area so they cannot dig into the city undetected. The rest of the active military will be put on low alert and will be at the ready and briefed on the situation tomorrow afternoon at 3. Shadow; I would like you to send a message to the captains of the military to have them meet me tomorrow morning at 10.”

“Yes Sir.”

“Good. Now, I will inform the Captains and they will pass it down to the rest of the military. The Changelings may or may not be a powerful army. I do not know how good a strategist their king is. But I know this; we will not be caught off guard by the bugs. Now, any questions?”

Luna speaks up. “Yes, as a matter of fact. How is the alagor ithm going?”

“It's algorithm; and it's going slow. I don't know if it will even finish before the century ends." It has been running for over a hundred years; and I doubt it will finish any time soon. “Any other questions? No? Good. Let's get some food”

*****

00:00
[Lightning Silver]

Recon work. Sent out to the desert to watch Changelings. “Silver's Log. “Day four, zero hundred hours. Still not spotted. Changelings are still moving at approximately 10 kilometers per day. Estimated time till arrival at Everfree City, 3 days. Army size still growing. approximately 100K bugs. Scope used his sight spell to continue monitoring the Changeling king. It appears as if his horn has been repaired or replaced. Observed multiple spells cast on self and many others, exoskeleton armor appears to have been increased. Practice shots observed on parts of terrain. Results vary from simple craters to iced over or burning land. Clear threat to city walls and infrastructure. Any other information will be added later.” End Log.”

“Well, that was fun. Listening to you drone on like that again.”

“We have orders to report anything and everything every six hours. One of us has to make the report. You got a problem; take it up with the big guy.”

“Uh, no thanks. I'd rather not touch that one and piss him off. Remember the last guy that made him mad?”

“How could I not. Red Coat challenged him over control of the military and called him a circus freak among other things. Tried to take over by force. It doesn't even work like that. Chief still humored him and fought it out. The fight didn't last 10 seconds; Chief let him make the first move too.”

“Poor sap didn't stand a chance.”

“Hey, hold on. Do you hear that?”

“What?”

“That scratching sound. Almost as if it's...”

“Ahhhh!!!”

“Scope!!!”

Changelings were popping out of the ground. Scope is down in an instant. Barely getting into the air in time, I try to fly off. Bolts of magic flying past me. How did they find us? I look off in the distance and see magic shooting around by the other camps too. We're all found. I have to escape and get word out. “Gahhh!!!” A bolt of magic lances through my chest. I can feel the blood pouring into my lungs. I try to keep flying but it is impossible. I start to fall. I am sure it will be fatal. I have seconds before I land “Sil... Ahh!! Silver's Log. “We have been ambushed. I am mortally wounded. Other camps found too. Aaah!! Falling to ground. I will die, but I will die for my country. Long live the Equestrian Empire!” End Log.”

Chapter 17: The Calm

^Equis^
{5/18/350}
7:00
[John]

“Then he said 'Long live the Equestrian Empire!', those were his last words before cutting the link.”

“Hmm. This is troubling news Shadow Fire. Not only are the recon teams I sent dead; but we have three days till the Changelings get here. Thank you for informing me on the matter. Come with me; I must speak with the princesses.”

“Yes sir.”

I head out of my office with Shadow; going straight to the throne room. Upon getting there, I see Celestia on her throne, in the middle of holding court; a long line of ponies waiting to speak with her. I know that the news I received is important, yet I also know that day court is important to her... “Shadow.”

“Yes?”

“I suppose this can wait till after she finishes. Come meet me again at 12 when she stops for lunch. Until then, you have the time to yourself.”

“Understood. Thank you sir.”

Shadow heads out, and I head back to my office. When I get inside I head to my desk and write out an order to send six pegasus scouts to see if they can find evidence of survivors; despite the unlikeliness of that. Then I head to the side door and open the way into the lower level. My workshop. I keep my side projects down there. Lighting a few candles once I get to the bottom. Sitting down at my workbench, I look at my current work. I am making a wireless headset communicator for ponies. I found that the piezoelectric effect of the gems here is actually a very good power source due to the magical properties inherent within them.

The resistors, transistors, diodes and other parts were all obtained through various means. None of them actually knew what they were making but that does not matter. Once these are done, I'll begin work on electric light sources. I'm tired of working by candlelight but for now; communicators. I will lead the technological evolution of this planet, and I will do it my way. Safe power and wireless electricity. Gems are good for power, but can only supply enough electricity to run small things. A hydroelectric generator should do nicely. I will build a perpetual motion electro-magnetic generator later.

I switch the right arm of my suit into my soldering equipment, which boils down to a soldering iron and a bunch of small manipulators, and I get to work. Soon I will be done.

*****
12:10

Ok, finished. Now to test them out. I head upstairs and as I open the door to leave my office; I see Shadow standing there. Right, 12 o'clock. “Shadow Fire. Very good. Let's go.”

“Yes sir.”

We make our way to the dining room where Tia is sure to be found. Luna may be there too I suppose.

“Sir?”

“Yes Shadow?”

“If you don't mind me asking, what is that you have?”

“You will see soon enough.”

We reach the dining room and I open the door; both Tia and Luna are there having lunch. “Tia, Luna, I need to speak with you both.” Luna turns and responds first.

“What is wrong?”

“Well, I have good news, and bad news. To begin, the scouting parties I sent have been ambushed. I sent out six scouts to fly by and see if they can find survivors. We have about 3 days till the Changelings get here. That was the bad news, the good news is I finished these communicators.” I switch them on and hand one to Tia and one to Luna; helping them get them on their heads. “There. Now, I will leave the room and try to talk to you both with the communicators.”

At their nods of confirmation, albeit slightly confused nods, I head out and shut the door. “Testing, testing. Can you hear me?”

“Gahh! I think it works.”

“Thank you Luna. Tia, can you hear me?”

“Yes John. I can hear you.” I use that as my que to come back in. But something seems off about the inflection in her voice.

“So, what do you think?”

Luna responds first. “You have done an impressive feat this day. Being able to communicate without letters.”

“Thank you Luna. Tia, what do you think?”

She looks at me, her ears are flat against her head, and I see sadness in her eyes. It isn't hard to tell that something's very wrong. “Celestia, what's wrong?”

Without a word, she turns around and gallops off, out of the room. I see the headset hit the ground as she leaves; and I hear the faintest beginnings of a sob escape her lungs.

“Luna, what happened?”

“I... I haven't the faintest idea. I fear you may be the cause." I see her face become rather serious. "Go and see what you can do. It is clear to me that you both love each other; you may be the only one that can console her.”

With naught but a nod in response, I head after her. I activate my Promethean vision to make it easier to track her. I can't help but think back to what Luna said, 'It is clear to me that you both love each other'. Love; is that what I feel for her? Is that what she feels for me? Have I really fallen in love with a pony princess? How could she fall for me; an alien from space with a kill count higher than any one being should have to have? Do I love her?

I am prevented from stewing in my own thoughts for much longer because I reached the room she is in; her bedroom. I knock on the door. “Tia, it's me. Can I come in?”

She says nothing, but I can hear her lightly crying in her room. I see her with my Promethean vision, she is just laying on the bed, her face buried in her pillow. “Tia, can I come in? I know you are there.”

Still nothing. I try to open the door, but I find that it's locked. Seeing as breaking it down would be a bad idea, and it is a bolt lock so I can't pick it, I decide that I'll just have to teleport in. I mentally scan the dimensions of her room, and find a good spot to place myself to prevent telefragging.

Once in her room, I look around. I haven't spent much time in here. A lot of white, from furniture to the walls and floor. The room isn't my main concern though, so I pay it little mind. Celestia is my main concern. I deactivate my armor, letting it all retract to its basic boots, chest plate, and bracers. I walk up to her, but stop just before reaching her. “Tia, tell me what's wrong.”

She turns her head slowly so she can see me. She looks me right in the eyes, and I see so much sadness. Her ears are still flat to her head, and the fur on her face is matted from her tears. I see a similar wet spot on her pillow. When she speaks, her voice is barely audible. “You betrayed me.”

“What?”

“I trusted you! You once told me of all the things your people made, and what they did. How your people made weapons of war that would leave the land desolate and in ruin. All the things your people did. What the Covenant did. Then you go behind my back and make your own tools of war. You will ruin all that we have built. I trusted you; and you betrayed me!”

This is my fault? Wait, oh... now I see. “Tia, I am sorry I didn't tell you about my work on a wireless communicator. And I'm sorry that you feel like I betrayed you. But know this; I did not intend to hurt you. The things I told you about, I have no intention of making. Those weapons are not something I ever want to bring into this world, especially without telling you. What I made is not a tool of war. It will make contacting others faster, and manageable without magic. You may not understand that which you have never seen; but what I intended to bring to this world would make this world better. Do you understand?”

“I... I suppose.” Celestia lowered her eyes briefly before meeting my gaze once again. “I trust you.” She breathed deeply for a moment. “I’m just afraid.”

I looked at her in confusion, “Afraid of what?”

She straightened her posture, using the height of the bed to match my eye level. “I fear for the safety of our little ponies.”

I stepped closer and looked at her intently. “I will not do anything that would bring undue harm to them. Not now, nor in the future. You need not fear for their safety being in danger by my hand. I have been by your side for the last 300 years, protecting them. And I plan to be here with you for the rest of time. I will always be here for you.”

Chapter 18: Before

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait... my editor never got the chapter back to me. This is unedited, so we'll see how good I am raw. The next one should be out when it should be, edited or otherwise.

Chapter 18: Before

^Equis^
{5/21/350}
7:00
[John]

I look back at Everfree City from my spot on the outer wall. This place has grown much in my time here. The castle in the center, the inner wall a mile out, four more is the outer wall. The outer city is mostly used for agriculture, small industry and blacksmith work, and housing for the ones who have those jobs; whereas the inner is mostly shops, housing for shopkeepers, some nobility, and the like. Today is the day the Changelings are going to get here. We are ready. I see a black dot in the distance. Pulling up my binary rifle, I scope in. “It's them.” I turn to the pegasus messenger next to me. “Go, tell the captains that the Changelings approach.”

With only a nod and a salute, he flies off. At the distance they are at, I have about an hour. Turning back to the castle, I focus on the balcony to my room. Teleporting five miles is not really what this is meant for, but it isn't really that bad to do; and I feel I should get more practice with it. It's much faster than flying, and no acceleration stress. The same pulling feel is there as I relocate to the balcony. My room is rather simple; a writing desk, bed, storage chest, and a closet.

Walking out of my room, I make my way to the dining room to see Tia and Luna. “Morning Tia, Luna.”

“Good morning John.”

“Did you see the Changelings yet?”

“Yes Luna. They're there; about an hour out. The captains are preparing as we speak.”

“We must make haste. To the wall.”

At that, the three of us head out to the outer wall. Once there, we meet with the captains of the military. Captain Shadow Armor, a unicorn, oversees the Army, Captain Sunspot, a pegasus, runs the Air Force, and Captain Iron Hoof, another unicorn, handles the Marine Corps.

“Captain Hoof, get your Marines on the inner wall. If the Changelings get through the outer wall, I want them ready to defend the inner city. Captain Armor, hold the outer wall. Have unicorns skilled in long range attack spells on the wall firing at the Changelings. The rest of them are to be placed on the inside of the walls at the gate. Have the gate opened but ready to be closed in an emergency. Keep the army within the walls till the Changelings are close up. That way, the unicorns firing at them don't have to worry about hitting our own men till they are close enough for it not to be an issue. Captain Sunspot, have the pegasi in the air armed with crossbows and wrist blades; keep the Changelings on the ground. That is all. Move out!”

“Sir yes Sir!!”

Both of the unicorns teleport away to relay my orders, Sunspot flies off. “Good.” I then turn my attention to the princesses. “Tia, head back to the city and get the ponies into the castle. It is more than big enough to hold them all. Don't cause them to panic, tell them it is just preventative. They've gone through the drill enough times. Once that is handled, put on your headset so I can get a hold of you if I need to. That's all for you for now.”

“Yes John.” She then flies off. Next is Luna. “Luna, you go directly back and get your own headset. Then meet me back here, you'll stay with me. Your ability in combat will be helpful if it is needed.”

“Understood.” She flies off too; leaving me on the wall to myself. A quick check of the time, 7:15. I turn back to the Changelings, they are still about 45 minutes out. I check back to the city, Marines are already gathering on the inner wall, the Air Force is gathering to fly, and the Army is ready. Unicorns make their way up the steps to the top of the wall, Captain Armor leading them. “Captain, you made good time.”

“As always Sir.”

“They are about 10 miles from the city; what's the estimate accurate range for the unicorns' attack?”

“A bit over a mile.”

“And for pot-shots?”

“At most, two miles.”

“Alright.” A small smile forms on my unseen face as I turn to the unicorns stationed on the wall. “Get ready to wait!”

Chapter 19: The Swarm

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 1: Life Goes On

^Earth^
{2561}
22:50
[John]

I defeated the Flood, the Covenant, and the Forerunners; I saved the human race from extinction, and I saved Cortana. Her contact with the domain cured her rampancy and enhanced her abilities. She can also access Forerunner technology faster and with less strain on herself. They reassigned her to another job now that the war is over. She is working with ONI by deciphering the Forerunner data that's too complex for them. I wish they didn't need to reassign her, but our mission is over. That's it. No more. She wasn't to happy about it either. It isn't so bad, we still talk to each other every now and then. It's not often, but with her being inside the computer system for all of ONI, she can call me whenever she feels like it.

That was 5 years ago; since then we have been terraforming some of our old planets. Reach was among the first to be fixed. I am there now; I have not really done much of anything aside from explaining what happened on Requiem. The scientists had examined my body for alterations made by The Composer and The Librarian. It turns out that my body heals itself significantly faster than normal and my aging process has nearly stopped, leaving me potentially immortal; further tests are needed though. I currently have the appearance of someone in their mid thirties. They could not reproduce the effects for use on others however.

Now that the war for our survival is over, we are at peace. Considering the fact that I was raised for war, this leaves me with nothing to do now. Realizing this, the scientists at ONI decided to keep me busy.

I received a notice about a project that ONI was working on while I was gone; apparently they built a new armor that is so different from the other Mjolnir armor that they decided to call it something else, something new; they named it the Omega Armor. It is a combination of tech from the Forerunners, the Covenant, and from Humanity. It is currently in its fifth stage. It's still in testing though.

It has enhanced shielding capabilities, it can shrug off a hit from a scorpion tank, if you can keep your footing. It supposedly provides the user with enough strength to roll over an elephant troop crawler, and it has all of the weapons that the Promethean Knights used built into it, including the red sword. It has a rapid use, semi-short range teleportation ability that was also obtained from the Promethean Knights. It's even equipped with all of the armor abilities that the Mjolnir armor is currently equipped with. It also has a pair of shield gauntlets. All of this is powered by the suit which has a perpetual energy system that I don't really understand. It is finally ready for a live testing tomorrow. It is getting late so I am going to head to sleep. "Tomorrow will be interesting."

*****
6:00

It is time to test Omega. It looks almost like the armor the Forerunners used but with a bit more bulk. It's a metallic silver color. The armor itself is in a few pieces though. A chest plate, boots, and gloved bracers. They have me put it on, it is actually rather easy, and they start it up. When they power it up, the armor expands and moves. after a few seconds, I am sealed into the armor. A quick look at my reflection in a window shows me that it has a blue, stretched V, visor.

I'm sent to the testing grounds where they have an obstacle course and target range set up for me, first is target practice at varying ranges. The scientists inform me that I need to set it to combat mode before I can use the weapon systems. When I do that, a small selection wheel pops up at the bottom of my HUD showing all of the weapons at my disposal. Since I'm starting with short range I select the Boltshot and the Suppressor; I am rather surprised when the right hand of my armor reconfigures and expands into the weapon I selected. After exhibiting my accuracy I then move on to mid range with the LightRifle. Then long range with the Binary Rifle, finishing by testing out all of the weapons at my disposal; maintaining perfect accuracy. I noticed when I saw my reflection in a sheet of metal that my visor color is now red. Perhaps it is a result of combat mode.

After weapons testing, I'm instructed to check the armor abilities. The active camouflage worked even better than I expected; I could run around without being detected. The shield overcharge "armor lock"'s immobility problem was solved but it still slowed me down a lot and I couldn't jump off the ground more than a few inches. The jet pack and booster allows me rather quick maneuverability and speed.

Now it is time to test the teleportation system. I am told to teleport from one side of the field to another. “Okay, initiating test in 5....4....3....2....1.... Activating.”

I feel a pulling sensation and dematerialize like the knights would do. Next thing I know, I'm on the other side of the field, and still in one piece. "Well, that went better than expected."

Before I can make it back to the scientists, the sky starts to darken and thunderclouds form. There is a blinding flash of light and a sharp crack of lightning. I then get this feeling like being stretched and squeezed together at the same time; that can't be good.

The light clears away and I notice three things. One, I'm falling; two, its night time; and three, this place does not look like the Office of Naval Intelligence. I see a castle in a forest clearing, and it looks like I'm going to crash through the roof. Some buildings are around the castle. A quick check of my jet pack tells me it isn't working. This'll be fun. I position myself so that I will hit feet first. I go through the roof and keep going. All of the momentum gathered by falling still with me; I hit the ground with a punch that cracks the ground around me. When I stand up, I see something rather...unexpected.

Chapter 2: He Who Fell From The Stars

^Equis^
{50AD}
22:50
[Celestia]

It has been 50 years since my sister and I overthrew Discord and reclaimed Equestria; it has been a long 50 years. The result of discord's chaos is that now the sun and moon have become destabilized and my sister and I need to move them ourselves.

We also needed to restore our old treaties with the other nations. Some accepted, others refused. Now we are at war with the griffins. It has been ten years and we are losing. Our military is underdeveloped and poorly funded, we wouldn't have even lasted as long as we have if my sister and I hadn't done all that we could, but even we can't be everywhere at once. We also have little experience with combat. After all, I am only 300 years old; my sister is 250.

We aren't enough, we need help. Luna and I are preparing a spell that should get us the help we so desperately need. Perhaps then, we can survive this war. “Luna, is the spell ready yet?” I ask with anticipation in my voice.

“Yes, I believe it is. Shall we commence the spell?”

“Wonderful. Let us begin, we cannot hesitate. The fate of Equestria depends on it.”

At that, my sister and I pool our magic together, if this spell works we will be saved, or we might just bring something worse into this world. We discussed this and, considering our situation, agreed that the benefit greatly outweighs the potential destruction.

We cast the spell, the drain of energy is rather significant in me and Luna, but after a few seconds nothing seems to have happened. Right when I am about to declare the spell a failure something crashes through the ceiling. It hits the ground hard, cracking the stone around it quite audibly. It does not look like a pony, or anything I have seen before. If I had to, I'd say it resembles a metal Minotaur somewhat, though with a more straight posture. When it stands up, I see that its height is just above eye level with me and its face is nearly featureless save for a glowing blue line where its eyes would be. Quickly getting over my shock I address my sister. "Luna, what do you think this being is?"

"I... I do not know. Never have I seen a creature such as this."

“I think we should introduce ourselves to whoever this is, don't you think so Luna?”

“I think that would be wise dear sister.”

I calmly walk up to it and try to communicate. “Hello, I am princess Celestia. Can you understand me?”

22:55
[John]

Alright, I just landed in what appears to be a throne room; my shields are completely drained and refusing to charge right now. I see two odd horse-like creatures with two wings and a spiral horn each. I learned about unicorns and winged horses in my mythos classes when I was younger, but nothing about creatures with both characteristics. One is white, the other is dark blue. I notice tattoos on their sides, a sun and a moon. That's very odd... The former of the two is just below my height while the latter is at chest level with me. The white one walks up to me and opens its mouth to speak, but all I hear is a garbled series of noises. Not that I expected more from animals... Though the look in their eyes... they seem to have an air of intelligence... “Hold on, I can't understand you. And you probably don't understand me. Great, now what?”

Well, I did say that this would be an interesting day.

[Celestia]

I try to communicate with the being that we summoned but it only looks at me and then it makes a noise that I cannot understand. It is apparent that we speak different languages. “Oh, OK. This just got a little more difficult. Wait! Luna, didn't you tell me the other day about a translation spell that you found in an old book?”

“Yes! I did dear sister. Shall I retrieve it for you?”

“Please do Luna.”

At that, my sister departs to the nearby library to retrieve the book. Meanwhile, the being is still in the room. As a matter of fact, it hasn't moved since it spoke last. I hope it can help us win this war. If not win... at least survive.

Luna soon returns with the requested book and I take it up in my magic grasp; I notice a subtle change in the being upon my use of magic. I find the right page but notice that it is not a two way spell; it will be able to understand us but not the other way around. I walk closer to it, spell book still with me; I prepare the spell and cast it.

[John]

I see the two "talk" between themselves, then the blue one leaves the room. The other one now is looking at me with a look that I know all too well. It's the look I get when I see people who have lost all hope, and my presence alone lifts their spirits. This creature is in trouble and it needs help. I will help them, at least until I can find a way back home. Not that I am needed there anyway. The war is over, they don't need me anymore.

The blue one now returns with a book on its back, the white one notices as well and turns to the other one and then I see something rather unexpected. The white one's horn glows a faint yellow along with the book and it levitates up and opens for the white one to read.

After a few seconds, the white one turns away from the book and walks up to me with a small serene smile on its face. Then its horn glows brighter and I feel a slight tingling in the back of my mind. Wait, it's trying to get into my head. Not again... not going to happen. I switch Omega to combat mode, activate the energy blade with a loud hissing sound, and charge forward.

[Celestia]

Upon casting the translation spell, the being noticeably recoils. The blue light on what I'm guessing is its helmet turns red and what looks like a glowing red sword shoots out of its wrist.

With more acceleration that I thought it could, it closes the ten foot gap between us before I could react. The next thing I know, I'm being pressed up against the far wall by the being, its left hand around my throat and its sword nearly touching my neck. I can feel intense heat radiating off of it. It could probably lob my head off in an instant if it wanted to. My sister is quicker to recover from the shock than I am and she uses her magic to pull it away from me and quickly casts a powerful spell to immobilize it. Using this opportunity, I decide to try communicating again.

[John]

I am pulled off of the white creature by what I can only assume is the same strange thing that it used to lift the book. My assumptions are confirmed when I notice a blue aura around my armor and an identical aura around the blue thing's horn. I now find myself being forced down by a heavy weight; it feels like I'm in armor lock with my lack of mobility. Noticing my predicament, the white one recovers from nearly having its head sliced off, even though I was mostly just making a point and I wasn't going to kill it. It moves closer to me and it opens its mouth to speak. Didn't it try that one already?

“I am Princess Celestia. Can you understand me?”

Oh. I was not expecting that, not at all. One minute I don't understand them and now I do? Hold on, did it say it is a Princess? Great, I just threatened royalty. They will probably want my head for that, good luck if they do though, I won't make it easy. I reply with 'Yes, I understand you.' but she tilts her head with confusion.

“I cast a spell with magic that should allow you to understand us. Regrettably it is only one way so we cannot understand you. If you can understand us would you please put away your sword?”

She wants me to stand down, fine. Also, magic, that's new. I shut down the sword but I leave combat mode on just in case.

“Thank you. We mean you no harm. In truth, we need your help. Our nation is at war with the griffin army and they won't stop until we are no more. We are incapable of winning this war; it is unlikely that we will even survive another year or two at most. My sister Luna and I would like you to help us in any way you can.”

They are at war with a superior power and don't stand a chance. It's the Covenant all over again. Not another race pushed to near extinction. I don't take long to make up my mind. I nod my head to tell them that I will help. How much I want to be involved is debatable but as long as I'm here, I might as well see what is going on. I still don't know if I can trust them.

Chapter 10: 1000 Years

^Somewhere In The Milky Way Galaxy^
{3562AD}
[Cortana]

1,000 years. 1,000 years of traveling through space looking for him. I made a promise that I'd find him. And just like him, when I make a promise, I keep it. He would do the same thing I'm doing if it were him in my position. He did do the same. That is the thought that has kept me going for 1,000 years.

1,000 years, all alone. Well, not entirely alone. I have visited over 10 billion stars, quite a few of them containing Forerunner artifacts. I found many shield worlds and other such installations. I made contact with the monitors of the installations. Once I explained my search for the 'Reclaimer chosen by the Librarian to defeat the Didact in battle' -as I have found it is useful to refer to him as such- the monitors were more than happy to assist me. Some upgraded my ship directly; others provide me with sentinels or a few huragok to assist me. I even received a minor sentinel manufacturing facility.

I appreciate the help. I am not quite capable with fixing large problems. During my five years on earth I used the Forerunner tech gathered to build a hovering hard-light hologram sphere that looks like a monitor but a bit smaller. Now I can interact with the physical world as if I was an actual person. I received upgrades from the monitors for that too. However, I still can't lift anything that's too heavy; if the construct sustains too much damage it will flair like all hard-light technology.

The UNSC Midnight Dawn is now more Forerunner than human. It can travel over 700,000 times faster than the speed of light when in slip space and can perform hyper accurate jumps calculable down to only a few decimeters. Much better than before, it was only 10,000 times faster and I don't even want to discuss the inaccuracy of typical slip jumps.

1,000 years of traveling to star after star looking for him. I have only covered one tenth of the galaxy, but I'll find him. Even if he is dead and gone, I will find him. I owe him that much at least.

Exiting slip space in 4...3...2...1..., decelerating, exiting slip space.

The ship exits slip space at another star. Nothing special about this one. A planet capable of supporting life with moderate terraforming in orbit.

Setting scanners to five light year radius.....Scanners set.

Scanning for life in the surrounding area.....Not found.

Scanning for UNSC Omega armor beacon.....Not found.

Scanning for Forerunner, UNSC, or Covenant tech..... Not found.

Confirming negative results.....Negative results confirmed.

Releasing beacon for UNSC colonization party.....Beacon released.

Locating closest relevant star.....Destination found.

Initiating slip space jump in 3...2...1... Initiating jump.

Time to move on to the next star.

Waking Up, Non-Canon Chapter

Twilight awoke with a panicked expression on her face. Looking around, she regathers her bearings. "Ok. I'm still in the library. That's good." She gets up, out of her bed. What time is it? She looks at the clock on her desk. It's three in the morning? *yawns* Perhaps a glass of milk will help. Twilight heads downstairs and goes into the kitchen. I shouldn't be up this late. I have... *yawns* something, something to do tomorrow. "What's tomorrow? Thursday. Think, what am I doing tomorrow? Too early to think about it. I'm going back to bed."

After her quick drink, she returns to her bed. That's the last time I read a history book and a science fiction book in the same night before bed. As a matter of fact, I'll stay away from science fiction all together. *yawns* A big, hairless, smart, space ape in metal armor wooing the princess. Crazy dream. Too bad I won't know how the war ended with the Changelings. As Twilight drifts back to sleep, she has one final thought. Let's hope for no more crazy sci-fi dreams. Unfortunately for her, the land of dreams has another one of its 'crazy dreams' lined up for her. This one has her and Discord on a spaceship, the ESS Enterpony, fighting off the giant cube shaped ships of an alien race.

Author's Note

~~Well, that was fun.~~
~~Yes, that was the end.~~
~~There is no way I am going to continue it.~~
~~This is totally over.~~
~~No chance whatsoever that this is some elaborate joke.~~
~~Hehe...~~
Ok... yes, this was an April Fool's day joke. I have decided to keep it here as a non-canon chapter.