The Cobalt ODST

Chapters

Wandering the Castle
Arrival
Ticket Drama
One Stubborn Pony
The All Too Curious Ponies
Armor Retrieval
Leaving Ponyville
Returning to the Castle
Exploring the Castle Part 1
Exploring the Castle Part 2
Exploring the Castle Part 3
Brutal Encounter
Dream Meeting
Prologue
First Contact and Complications

Wandering the Castle

I wandered through the halls, looking for any way to get outside. I had tried several times to contact UNSC forces, but to no avail.

“I should have known that I would need a tracking beacon in case things went wrong,” I said to myself.

Looking out through the window I could see that it was night out. As I went closer I noted that I was still at a rather unsafe distance from the ground.

“Darn it. If I’m to be able to handle that fall, I would have to already have gotten those augmentations that those Spartans have. Man I am so lost.”

Frustrated I continued on into another hallway. I noticed that most of the decorations in the castle seem to be dedicated to equine creatures. Though, I never understood the exact reasoning for them.

“This is so weird,” I mumbled.

I came across what seemed to be a large room and took note of the massive construct holding what appear to be five stone spheres. I didn’t know the exact purpose for these spheres, but felt it was worth looking into.

“Man, I wonder who could’ve built this place. Well, whoever they are, they seem to have a fascination for horses,” I said as I went to get a closer look at the construct. I came close to touching one of the spheres when I heard voices coming from where I had come from.

Oh crap, gotta hide. I looked around for a place to hide and eventually took a place behind some rubble in a darkened part of the room.

I listened as I heard what sounded like hoof steps getting closer. Eventually the ones who I had heard entered into the chamber and my jaw dropped.

Ponies… really! I’m dealing with ponies here. Have I just gone insane? I took off his helmet to see if I was really seeing ponies in front of me. After taking it off I could tell that there were indeed six colorful ponies in the room, and each of them were a different color and four of them seemed resemble mythical creatures from greek myth. So I haven’t gone insane. I guess that explains the odd décor in this place. But what are they doing here?

Looking at the ponies, there were two normal looking ones, one orange with a blond mane done in cowgirl fashion and wearing what appeared to be a stetson, and the other was pink with a puffy mane. There were two that appeared to resemble unicorns, one being purple with a straight dark purple mane with two highlights, and the other white with a blue curly mane. And the last two seemed to resemble pegasi, a blue one with a rainbow colored mane and a yellow one with a bright pink mane

Putting my helmet back on, I could hear their conversation and heard the purple one, named Twilight, talk about something called the Elements of Harmony. I watched as the purple unicorn went into concentration with the five spheres and the others leave to give her some privacy. From hearing the way her voice sounded, I assumed that the pony was a her.

Okay, think Garen think. What should you do in a situation like this? I paused in thought as I noticed a strange cloud coming in through one of the broken windows and began swilling around the spheres, which I assumed were the Elements of Harmony. I watched as Twilight noticed this and jumped into the vortex before it vanished and her friends coming in just as it happens. I could hear one of them point out where their friend was.

Really? If you’re going to teleport somewhere, why would you teleport somewhere where someone can easily get to you. What’s the logic in that? I thought as I looked out from where I was hiding to where the other ponies were looking to see a flashing light coming from another tower.

I watched as the five ponies rush out of the room, likely to get to where their friend was. Waiting till the coast was clear, I left my hiding spot to see if I could find out where they went. After walking down the halls for some time again I noticed that I had gotten lost yet again.

“Why is it that whenever I happen to be by myself, I always seem to get lost. Whether it’s on a UNSC ship, a military compound, or even infiltrating a Covenant cruiser, I always get lost,” I said to myself.

Looking out the window, I noticed that the sun was rising, and that I had not gotten any sleep throughout the night.

Well, might as well get some shut eye while I’m here.

And with that I took a place along the wall and proceeded to take a nap.

I’ll wake up once either I get fully rested or if something tries to attack me.

At that moment I was fast asleep, unaware of the red armored soldier watching me from outside.

Unidentified Base in Unknown Location

“Sir, I have something to report.”

The commander who had been reading through some files responded to the radio, “Alright, what have you found?”

“Sir, I have spotted an ODST of the UNSC at the Castle of the Royal Sisters. I have no idea when he got there or how, but it seems his arrival is at the same time that Nightmare Moon/Princess Luna had returned. What are your orders?”

The commander thought about it for a moment before he responded, “Leave him be. I don’t think he will cause any major issues. Besides, it’s likely he was brought here for a reason, considering the fact that we had recently received a report that Lord Darkus had created this universe. Continue on the lookout for any more of the infect flood UNSC marines that have popped up in the area. And make sure that they don’t come in contact with any of the inhabitants or any of the local wildlife.”

“Sir, weren’t there three that were found that have been turned to stone by a cockatrice?”

“Yes lieutenant,” the commander responded, “But we’re picking up at least one more outside of the castle grounds. Terminate it before it infects one or anything. We don’t want to have a pandemic here.”

“Roger that sir. Continuing search now.”

And with the communication with the soldier was cut and the commander leaned back on his chair. So, why have you been sent here my little ODST friend?

Getting up, the commander turned on his communicator, “To all Red Rock personnel, this is the commander speaking. One of the scouts in charge of hunting down all remaining infected flood soldiers from the crashed UNSC ship has reported that he has found an ODST in Princess Celestia’s and Princess Luna’s old castle. He has also reported that this soldier had arrived at the same time as Nightmare Moon’s/Princess Luna’s return from her banishment to the moon. I want all hands on alert status. I can’t tell you what this means but it’s obvious that Lord Darkus is somehow involved in this. Await further orders until then.”

And with that the commander turned off the intercom and looked at the screen as he thought to himself. What does all of this mean?

Author's Note

This is the second chapter to 'The Cobalt ODST.' This pertains to captain Garen Gonzales' first night in the castle. I've also added the part where I partially introduce the Red Rock nation. Don't ask me what brought me to that name. If you knew about some of the things that I do during my spare time, you'd probably understand. Anyway, this will likely leave you wondering who they are, what they are doing, and what exactly is going on. And if you haven't already caught it, there's going to be a scene in the next chapter that will involve a flood encounter with Garen and the mane six. I won't spoil the surprise, but it probably won't happen the way you think.

Arrival

Our group arrived at the library, which turns out to be a tree, a tree of all things. While I was trying to comprehend how it was possible for someone, or somepony in this case, to make a house literally out of a tree, we entered the tree house. Twilight gently placed the filly onto the floor in the middle of the main atrium.

“Spike,” she called out, “I need you to come down here.”

“Alright I’m coming, I’m coming.” Came a voice from upstairs, which I assumed was Spike.

Not too long after, a small lizard looking thing came down the steps. And when it saw me, it froze in its tracks.

“Umm Twilight,” he said, “What’s that behind you.”

“Oh, Spike this is Garen. Garen this is Spike, my number one assistant. And he’s also a baby dragon,” Twilight said, introducing me to her friend.

“Okay, just how many different species are there on this planet?” I asked, almost losing my sanity for a little bit.

“I’m not sure on exactly how many there are, but you’re free to look at my books if you want.” She replied while going over to Spike. “Spike, get my quill and paper. I’m going to write a letter to the princess.”

Spike nodded and took off to get the supplies.

“So that’s the level of technology you have?” I asked, surprised that they had such primitive technology here, “Well I guess I couldn’t have gone to another planet like this one.”

“Well, we never really needed to advance on our technology over the years since we relied mostly on magic.” Twilight replied.

I pretty much decided to just nod my head and believe her so my head wouldn't start throbbing from all the information that I’m pretty sure I wouldn't be able to comprehend.

“Hey, how about I throw you a party. It will be really cool. And I think you’ll love it. It will be welcome to Ponyville Garen Gonzales. That’s a funny name too. Ooooh, I better get everything ready.” Pinkie said before racing off to wherever she was going to do.

Though, when she told me, it sounded more of like this; ,HeyhowaboutIthrowyouaparty?Itwillbereallyfun.AndIthinkyou’llloveit.Itwillbe’welcometoPonyvilleGarenGonzales.’Thatsafunnynametoo.OooohIbettergeteverythingready.’

“Uh, is she always like that?” I asked.

“Yeah, she’s always like that and she always does a welcome party to anypony who comes to Ponyville.” Applejack replied, “She even did one for Twilight when she came to Ponyville.”

“Okay, so I guess you know what I’m going to be expecting?” I asked, wondering what sort of parties these ponies have. Certainly not like the ones at the clubs that I’ve been to back on Reach before the Covenant attacked.

“Well I’m certain that you’re going to love it,” Rainbow Dash said, “Pinkie Pie is always awesome at doing parties.”

“Well, I’ll take your word then,” I replied.

That was when the filly started to wake up.

“Oh look, she’s waking up,” Rarity said, getting everyone’s attention.

As the filly opened her eyes, she squeaked in terror and said, “Don’t let the dark man take me.”

We were all taken by surprise by the sudden outburst. That was when Twilight came up to her.

“It’s alright, you’re safe now,” Twilight assured her, calming the filly down, “What’s your name?”

“I… I don’t know. All I can remember is the dark man taking her away from me.” The filly responded.

“Whoever this ‘dark man’ you’re referring to is, he must be the same one that I saw before I found you and met all of you,” I said, gesturing to all the ponies in the room, “Who was it that he took.”

“I… I can’t remember. All I remember is him taking her away from me and then I woke up here.” The young filly cried.

“Ah, poor thing. She must be scared not knowing anything. Though, I must admit that it’s rather odd that both a human and a young alicorn like her would both be at the same place. Speaking of which, do you mind taking off that helmet, I’d like to see what you really look like.” Rarity said.

Deciding that it was safe to do so I removed my helmet. But once I did, the ponies reeled back in horror.

“What?” I asked, thinking that they were looking at something on my face.

“W-w-w-what happened to y-your face!?” Rarity said.

Remembering the scar I had on the right side of my face, I explained, “That was from when I wasn’t being very careful on the field. Got hit in the face by a plasma shot from a grunt with a plasma pistol, hurt like hell when it happened. I got back at it by throwing my knife into its skull.”

“You poor thing. How could it of done something so terrible to you?” Fluttershy asked, horrified that something like that happened to me.

“Well, that’s the Covenant for you. I can’t really understand why they would go to such lengths either,” I replied, setting my helmet down on a nearby table. “By the way, what’re we going to call her?” I said, gesturing to the small filly.

“I think I’ll name her Nyx,” Twilight replied.

I raised my eyebrow while everypony (oh dear lord) looked at her, “And why’s that?”

“She reminds me of a pony I’ve read about who fought against hordes of monsters during the night,” Twilight explained.

I looked at the filly, “Do you like that name?”

“Y-yes, its fine,” she whimpered, clearly still scared.

I looked over at Twilight, “I’m guessing you’re going to watch over her?”

“Yes,” Twilight replied, “I think it would be best if I watched over her. I’ve never really been a mother before but I’ll adopt her.”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Rainbow Dash interjected, “You sure about that? I mean, look at her, she looks like Nightmare Moon.”

That’s when Nyx flinched, and I realized who it was that she said the dark man had taken.

“Wait, Nyx, is that the name of the one that you had told us about?” I asked her, receiving a nod in return.

“So then, if that figure you saw was Nightmare Moon, what does that make her?” Rarity asked, referring to the filly.

“I honestly don’t know. We’re going to have to find someone who would happen to know about this.” I concluded.

“Well, if ya’ll need me, ah’ll be back at the farm.” Applejack yawned, clearly tired from the ordeal they've been through to find me and Nyx.

“I better go too. My animal friends must be getting worried about me.” Fluttershy said, also looking tired.

“Well I’m going to head back to my boutique.”

“I’m going to fly back to my house and hit the hay.”

Soon, all four of the ponies left the library, leaving me, Twilight, Spike and Nyx in the room.

“If you want Garen, you could sleep in my basement.” Twilight offered.

“I guess that will work.”

That’s when I realized something, “Umm, Twilight, Pinkie Pie does know how late it is, right?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Twilight answered, “So she’s probably going to throw that 'Welcome to Ponyville' party for you and Nyx tomorrow.”

I nodded and headed downstairs into the basement, and latter Spike came down to bring me a sleeping bag to sleep in.

“Thank you Spike,” I said.

“No problem. If Twilight says you’re good then that’s fine by me.”

At that Spike went back upstairs and I started to set up the sleeping bag.

Despite their size, these ponies sure have large sleeping bags. I thought to myself as I got comfortable. Soon, I was fast asleep.

Meanwhile at Canterlot

“Sister, hast thou received a letter from thy student?” Princess Luna asked.

Princess Celestia looked up to Luna, “It would seem that you were right. Twilight has informed me of a human wearing some blue colored armor she had found at the castle, along with a filly who she named Nyx.”

“And thou assume that she has adopted this… Nyx?” Luna asked.

“I think you are right sister,” Celestia replied, “And Twilight had told me in her letter that the human’s name is captain Garen Gonzales of something called the UNSC.”

“Then let us hope that this, Garen, doesn’t cause any trouble to our ponies.” Luna said, clearly wondering about why the two have shown up as they did.

Author's Note

And another chapter is complete. Did anyone notice when this takes place. I'll give you a thumbs up if you can figure out in which episode My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic series that I had started with for this story. And now I'm going to figure out what to write for the next one. Hope you guys enjoyed.
Nyx is from Past Sins by Pen Stroke

Ticket Drama

It’s been a few days since I’ve been here. On the day after Twilight and her friends found me at that ruined castle, Pinkie Pie had thrown me, as well as Nyx, a party. We’ve had some fun and just before the party started, Twilight and Rarity both worked together on creating a disguise for Nyx by coming her hair back, giving her a pair of enchanted glasses, which disguised her eyes to where they didn’t have the full teal eye color, and a vest to cover her wings, all to make her look like a normal unicorn filly.

During the party I was introduced to all of the local ponies. Some of them were happy to meet me while others just glared at me. I also learned not to underestimate the strength of an earth pony, especially when said pony works at an apple farm. I was also pleasantly surprised that some of the sweets they had were far better than anything that I've ever eaten. They even beat the civilian foods at some of the expensive restaurants back on Reach.

I woke up one day to find Nyx still reading one of the books from the shelves while Twilight and Spike were nowhere to be seen.

“Morning Nyx, where’s Twilight and Spike?” I asked.

“They left to go help Applejack with some chores at the farm,” Nyx replied, still reading her book, “You’re up rather late. It’s getting close to lunch time.”

“Huh, I guess I missed out on breakfast. Oh well, I’m going to head off into town. Let them know where I went if they come back,” I called back as I left.

After saying hello to some of the local ponies, I eventually made my way to SugarCube Corner. There I came across Twilight and Spike, though I also noticed some sort of drama going on. Curiously I decided to go say hello/

“Hey guys, what’s going on?” I asked, wondering what all the commotion’s about.

“Princess Celestia sent Twilight two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. Though, her friends are arguing about who should get the extra ticket.” Spike said, staying out of the drama that was happening in front of us.

“Oooookay… what exactly is the Grand Galloping Gala?” I asked, not really in touch with the current events that go on in Equestria.

“It’s a big party that happens once a year over at Canterlot. I don’t really want to go because of all the froufrou stuff that goes on there.” Spike explained.

“So, is that what they’re all arguing about? Heh, I guess I can never understand women, whether they're human or not.”

That’s the moment that Twilight had lost it.

“QUIET!!!” She yelled, getting her friends to stop arguing.

“And then I said, ‘Oatmeal, are you crazy?’” Came Pinkie Pie’s last statement before everypony stopped talking.

I was really confused as to whether Pinkie was actually arguing about the ticket, or just talking about something completely different.

“Girls, there’s no use in arguing,” Twilight said, trying reason with her friends.

“But Twilight…” Rarity said before having Twilight place her hoof to her mouth to get her to be quiet.

“This is my decision. And I’m going to make it on my own. And I certainly can’t think straight with all this noise,” Twilight said. When her stomach started growling, she added, “Not to mention ‘hunger.’ Now go on, shoo.”

And so all of Twilight’s friends left their separate ways as Twilight said, “And don’t worry, I’ll figure this out, Somehow.”

“Oh… this is not going to end well,” I said.

And so I decided to go my own way to escape the drama that was sure to happen with Twilight and her friends.

Just stay out of it. No need to get involved. I thought to myself as I went to the market to see what there was to eat.

After a while it started raining, except in one area that seems to be over where I assume Twilight would be.

Oh jeez, here we go.

I couldn’t help but shake my head at the display that was happening at a restaurant not that far from me. Even if I couldn’t tell what was going on or who was there, I had a feeling that it must’ve been Rainbow trying to do Twilight a favor just to get the ticket.

I went into Sugarcube Corner to get my favorite pastry, which is a raspberry crème filled donut that I had during the welcome party Pinkie gave me. I ate my pastry while waiting for the rain to stop when Mr. Cake came by.

“Now, how’s the pastry?” Mr. Cake asked.

“If good,” I said with pastry still in my mouth. I realized my error and swallowed, “Sorry, it tastes great. Better than anything I’ve ever had on Reach.”

“Oh, well, that’s good to know. Enjoy the rest of the day.”

And with that Mr. Cake went back to work in the kitchen while I finished off my delicious pastry. Once I did, I went outside to find that the rain had stopped. So I went back to the library to see how Nyx was doing.

It took me a while to get to the library, but once I came in, I found Fluttershy doing some cleaning with her animal friends. Not long after I had opened the door, Twilight came.

“Fluttershy, not you too,” Twilight said as she came to the door.

“Okay, I’m just going to go to the basement and stay out of it,” I declared, heading off down to where my temporary sleeping quarters were.

Not long after I went downstairs, I heard what sounded like cheering coming from back upstairs.

“Okay, now what’s going on?”

I went back upstairs to see Pinkie Pie, along with some of the other townsfolk, toss Twilight up and down as though she had just won something.

Oh, here we go again. I thought to myself as I figured out what was about to happen.

Sure enough, Pinkie let out that Twilight had an extra ticket to the Gala and everypony went nuts and started to offer Twilight favors. That’s when she bolted from the library while being chased by all of the townsfolk.

Nyx soon came downstairs to see what all the commotion’s about.

“Um, Garen, what happened earlier?” She asked.

“Oh, Pinkie just spilled the beans about Twilight having an extra ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala and now everypony’s trying to get her to give it to one of them,” I replied, “Seriously though, I think these pony’s are going to drive me crazy. Least the only thing I had to worry about when fighting the Covenant is where the enemies were and whether or not I’ll be able to make it back from the mission.”

I could still remember that moment when I had been caught off guard by the Covenant Elite that had somehow snuck up on me despite the fact that my squad mates, including everyone who was with us, would've been able to spot it immediately. I still couldn't figure out how that happened, nor could I figure out who those two figures were that I saw before being kicked off.

“Well, um, I think we could wait for her to come back.”

And so we waited. After a few hours have past and the sun had set, both Twilight and Spike teleported back to the library

“Warn me next time you’re going to do that,” Spike dizzily said.

“I didn’t know it was going to happen,” Twilight replied, “Now everyone quick, lock the doors.”

And so we all pitched in and locked the doors as well as turning out all the lights. Not too long after we had done that, the lights came on and Twilight’s friends were found up at one of the windowsills.

“GAAAAAHHHH!” Twilight screamed, “I can’t decide, I just can’t decide. It’s important to all of you and I just can’t to disappoint any of you. And giving me gifts and doing me favors won’t make any difference. Because you’re all my friends, and I want to make you all happy and I can’t. I just can’t”

That’s when Applejack came up to her and said, “Twilight, sugar, I didn’t mean to put so much pressure on you. And if it helps, I don’t want the ticket anymore. You can give it to somepony else. I won’t feel mad, I promise.”

And then Fluttershy flew by to say the same, along with Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash, though Rainbow was excited about getting the ticket, until we all glared up at her and she decided to change her mind. I smiled as they made their apologies.

“So Twilight, what’re you going to do with the tickets?” I asked, curious to see what she was planning on doing now that her friends have changed their minds about the ticket.

Twilight smiled as she got up. “Spike, take down a note.”

As Spike did so, Twilight went on, “Dear Princess Celestia, I’ve learned that one of the joys of friendship is sharing the blessings. But when there’s not enough blessings to go around, having more than your friends can feel pretty aweful. So, though I appreciate the invitation, I will be returning both tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala.”

At this all of her friends gasped.

“If my friends can’t all go, I don’t want to go either.”

“Twilight, you don’t have to do that.”

“Nope, I’ve made up my mind. Spike, you can send the letter now.”

And so Spike sent the letter to the princess, though I’m rather intrigued at the way it was done. The practical use of using dragon fire to send messages to the princess make up for getting classified information sent from one point to another much faster, but would keep enemies from finding out that information or the location of our troops.

“Now you won’t get to go to the Gala either.”

“It’s okay girls, I couldn’t possibly enjoy myself without my best friends there with me.”

And so Twilight’s friends gave her a group hug, along with Nyx. And I couldn’t stop smiling at the show of affection, though it seemed Spike didn’t have the same ideas. As soon as he made the gag expression, he started to look like he was going to barf.

“Well wallup mah withers Spike. Now isn’t it just like a boy, can’t handle the least bit of sentiment.”

As soon as she said it, Spike barfed up a puff of green smoke, which turned into a scroll. This made my point of the usefulness of such a skill for intelligence gathering in a combat situation or for sending sensitive information to other bases.

“A letter from the princess, that was fast.”

As Spike grabbed and opened the letter, he read, “My faithful student Twilight, why didn’t you say so in the first place.”

And that’s when Spike held out six tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. And the Twilight and the girls gasped.

“Now we can all go.”

And so the six friends cheered as they left the library, taking each of they’re tickets., leaving Spike, Nyx and I without one.

“How come we don’t get a ticket?” Spike asked.

And not soon after he said that, another letter came, with three tickets for each of us.

“Well this is certainly going to be interesting,” I said as we ran to catch up to Twilight and the gang, with Spike and Nyx having smiles on their faces. We decided to all go somewhere to eat together.

Although, with how this day turned out, this has been a rather enjoyable day. I just hope my sanity can still hold up once either help arrives or I finally get some peace at last. One can hope... right?

At Canterlot Castle

“Sister, didst thou doth sendeth a letter to thy student Twilight, with six tickets to this Grand Galloping Gala?” Luna asked.

“Yes Luna, and I’ve also sent one to Spike, Garen, and Nyx.” Celestia responded.

“We are curious as to what this ‘Garen’ looks like.”

“I’m sure you are, as am I. And I also would love to see Nyx.”

“Then we shall wait ‘till the Gala begins.”

Author's Note

So here's the big reveal. And holly cow did it take a lot of time to write. Least I happen to have a lot of time on my hands. I'm going to do each episode from the show at the very least, with some extra bits here and there to make this story last a bit longer. This is going to be a bit of a spoiler, but the last episode that I will be doing will be at the end of season two, with at least one or two more chapters after that. I am really hoping that I did well at not only integrating the story from the episode into this one, but I'm also hoping that I've done the characters correctly. And at some of the lines near the end, I decided to leave it where you could just guess who was talking at the time, as well as leave some little tidbits off so there wouldn't be too much dialogue. And I also added that little bit with Celestia and Luna just to get the chapter to over 2,000 words. Please please pleeeeeeaaaaaaase let me know how I did. I would love to see some feedback from you guys. This really did take a lot of effort just to write this chapter, as it took most of the day that I had left. I even went back and watched the episode just to get what parts I wanted to integrate to the chapter. I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as I had writing it.
Nyx is from Past Sins by Pen Stroke

One Stubborn Pony

I woke up late in the day.

“Huh, I guess I must've slept in. I wonder what Twilight, Nyx, and Spike are up to?”

I got up, put my armor back on, and walked up the stairs. When I got to the dining room I saw Nyx sitting at the table having a simple daffodil sandwich.

If they’re like horses, then how are they able to eat daffodils? Unless they have some evolutionary traits that allow them to eat those flowers, I can’t even see how they can eat them without getting some sort of health problems. Oh well, better not to try and think about it for now.

“Hey Nyx, where’s Twilight?” I asked.

“Oh, hi Garen, she left to…” The ground started to shake before she could finish what she was saying.

“Stay here, I’m going to go out and see what’s going on.” I said while going out the door of the library.

“Stampede,” I heard somepony call out, whom I assumed was Rainbow.

I looked over at the horizon and saw a herd of cattle stampeding towards Ponyville. I watched as ponies were running all over the place in total panic.

Seriously, don’t they have some sort of evacuation procedure that will let them evacuate the town in a calm and orderly fashion?

I watch as ponies continued to scramble in different directions in complete panic.

“Well, I guess I’m going to have to figure something out to stop this stampede without harming anyone, assuming that these cows are also sentient.”

That was when I saw Applejack and her dog Winona coming by the stampede. It was obvious what they were about to do, but I decided to watch and see how she would deal with the situation. I could hear her friends along with the other townsfolk cheering as she was making her way to the head of the herd. I watched as she eventually got close to the head of the herd and brought out a rope which I had no idea where it came from.

“Wha… how? Okay that just makes no sense.”

I watched as she lassoed the neck of the lead cow and pull it to the right, causing the rest of the herd to follow suit.

“Okay, where’d she get that rope from and how did she have it in a lasso already.” I said to no one in particular.

After the disaster was averted, I went over to Twilight and her friends who were with the mayor.

“Yeehaw, ride ‘em cowpony,” I heard Pinkie Pie say.

“Applejack was just… just…”

“Appletastic!!”

“…Exactly. We must do something to thank Applejack for singlehoofingly saving the town.”

“I know…

“… a party.”

Everypony was working hard on setting up for the celebration. It took about a week to set up, but it seemed that everypony was excited. I couldn’t help but admire their determination as well as the decorations they used as they set up for this special occasion.

“Wow, you ponies definitely don’t hesitate on setting up for a celebration,” I said, impressed with how quickly these ponies have set up for the event.

“Awww, that’s kind of you to say that,” I heard one of the townsponies say.

I walked around until I found Twilight with her friends at the town square.

“I see that all of the preparations all done.” I said, still impressed at how they had set up for the occasion.

“Well, we had to do something to thank Applejack for saving the town.” Twilight said.

“And I find the décor rather nice.” Rarity chimed in.

“Where’s Applejack anyway?” I asked.

“I couldn’t find her anywhere.” Rainbow Dash replied.

“Well, I just hope she isn’t doing something that’s too much to for her to handle.” I said, not even knowing that that is what she is doing.

Everypony had gathered as we got started. I was standing off to the side with Nyx over my shoulders as we watched the procession go on. Twilight came up to the podium to start off.

“Welcome everypony, and Garen, today we are here to honor a pony we can always count on to help on matters great and small.” She flipped one of the flashcards to continue, “A pony whose contributions to…”

“Did you see Applejack’s slick moves out there, what an athlete.” Rainbow Dash interrupted as she flew down to the podium, causing Twilight to drop her flashcards. I could help but chuckle at what just happened as she continued, and I think I heard some giggling coming from Nyx, “This week she’s going to help me with a new flying trick. And I know that it’s going to be so awesome.”

“Exactly,” Twilight said as she pushed her friend to the side as she tried to continue her speech, “And…”

This time it was Pinkie Pie who interjected as she popped up in front of Twilight at the podium, “This week I get to run Sugarcube Corner for the first time.”

That had me confused, and it seemed that Twilight was as well as she asked, “What does that have to do with Applejack?”

Pinkie Pie blinked twice before responding, “Oh, Applejack, one of the best bakers ever, is going to help me. Applejack makes everything great, so free samples for EVERYPONY.” She announced as she finish her statement. All of the townsfolk began to cheer as she stepped down from the podium.

“Okay that’s great…” Twilight said as she shoved Pinkie out of the way so she could continue, “Now if I could just make a point without being inter…”

She was interrupted again as Fluttershy came up to add something. Frustrated, Twilight dropped all of her flashcards and let her friend make her announcement.

“Twilight I’m so sorry, but I just wanted to mention that Applejack is also helping me this week with the official bunny census,” Fluttershy announced. She continued on for a little bit about the little rabbits, but I didn’t pay attention as I was trying very hard not to laugh at the fact that Twilight wasn’t being able to finish her speech. I could still hear Nyx giggling as she too tried to keep herself from laughing

As she was finish, Twilight asked if anyone wanted to add anything else. When she had gotten no response, she brought up her flashcards again. She didn’t get to have her speech as the mayor was standing next to her with the look asking that she finish the ceremony. Twilight scattered all of her flashcards and stormed off as the mayor finished off the ceremony, causing Nyx and I to start laughing. We stopped as the mayor came up to the podium to present the award.

“Ahem, so it’s with no further adieu. It is my privilege to give the prized pony of Ponyville award to our beloved guest of honor, a pony of the upmost trustworthiness, reliability, and integrity. Ponyville’s most capable and dependable of friends, Applejack.”

Everypony cheered as the mayor finished and the curtains pulled open. However, the cheering stopped when the curtains revealed nopony there. There was an awkward silence among the crowd until a familiar voice called out. I along with all of the fellow townsponies looked to see Applejack walking among the crowd while carrying two baskets of apples. Since I could see over all of the other ponies, I noticed that Applejack looked like she went a few days without sleep.

“Oh, this can’t be good,” I said to myself as Applejack made her way to the podium.

“Miss Mayor, thank you kindly for this here… award thingy,” Applejack said. She yawned as she added, “It’s so bright and shiny.” She laughed a little as she looked at her reflection. She soon started to act like she had a few too many drinks, though that’s what it looks to me from my experience back on Reach.

“Umm, is Applejack okay?” Nyx asked, no doubt wondering what was going on with Applejack.

I turned to her and responded, “I’m not sure, but I think she hasn’t gotten any rest over the course of the week. By the looks of things, she might even be ready to pass out.”

“I sure hope that she’s okay.”

I nodded as we looked back toward Applejack as she started to head off with the trophy. There was still an awkward silence as she dragged it with her.

The silence was broken as Twilight said, “Was it just me, or did Applejack seem a little…”

Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Rarity gave their own opinions to finish Twilight’s statement. Tough it seemed that Pinkie Pie didn’t have any problems with how Applejack was acting.

“From the looks of things, I think she hasn’t been getting any rest during the week.” I pointed out.

“Well I’m going to check up on her.” Twilight said as she headed off towards Sweet Apple Acres.

“Alright Twilight, we’ll see you back at the library.” I called out as I took Nyx with me to the library.

Twilight came back after her visit with Applejack. She had told me that Applejack was doing something called Applebucking Season, whatever that is.

“Well, I don’t think we should bother her. But I have a very bad feeling about this.” I told her.

The next morning Twilight and I headed up to the balcony. As we got there, I balance myself on my back on the guardrail.

“Isn’t that a little dangerous?” Twilight asked as she set a book down in front of her.

“Heh, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me,” I said as I relaxed. “It’s not like I haven’t done anything dangerous. I know what I’m doing. The only way I could fall is if someone pushes me or crashes into me. Plus I’m still wearing my armor, so it’ll take most of the impact.”

A few hours passed by as Twilight continued on her reading and while I continued with my nap. That was when we heard somepony screaming. I opened my eyes slowly to see Rainbow Dash on a collision course towards me.

“Oh Fu…AACK!” I yelled as I toppled off the guardrail and onto the balcony floorboards.

“Can I help you?” Twilight asked.

“I think somepony else needs your help.”

“Applejack,” Twilight and I said at the same time. That was when Nyx came to see what was going on.

“Everything’s fine Nyx, just get back to what you’re reading.” I said as I got back up. Luckily I fell onto the balcony and not down to the ground. I’m pretty sure that I would’ve had some nasty injuries if I had fallen off the balcony.

“I’ll go and check up on Applejack.” Twilight said as she picked up all of her books and went inside.

“I’m coming with you,” I said as I walked with her.

It took us a while before we found Applejack.

“Applejack, can we talk?”

Applejack looked like she was in a daze as she tried to answer. “Can bees’ squawk, ah don’t think so.”

Oh dear lord, I think she screwed up her hearing. I thought to myself as I couldn’t help but shake my head. I am certain that

“No, can we talk?”

“Twenty stalks, Bean or celery?”

I couldn’t help but face-palm as Twilight tried to talk to her.

“No, I want to talk to you.”

“You need to walk to the zoo? Well who’s stopping you?”

“I need to talk to you!” Twilight yelled, trying to get her friend to hear what she was saying.

Finally, Applejack was able to get what Twilight was trying to say. But I have a feeling that her hearing might still be screwed up. And I’m pretty sure that it’s from the lack of sleep that she’s been having by constantly bucking the apple trees.

“… What’d you want to talk about?”

“Rainbow dropped in to see me today.”

“That’s quite neighborly of her.”

Oh jeez, if they’re going to have to keep yelling I’m going to get a headache.

“Yes, except she crashed onto my balcony…”

“And into me,” I chimed in.

“… after you launched her into the air,” Twilight finish.

“Oh, yeah,” Applejack said as she held her head low, “I wasn’t feeling quite myself this morning.”

“Because you’re working too hard and you need HELP!”

“What, kelp. Ah don’t need kelp. Ah don’t even like seaweed.”

Oh for… she definitely screwed up her hearing. I couldn’t help but face-palm.

“HELP! YOU NEED HELP!” Twilight screamed.

“Nothin’ doin’ Twilight. Ah’m going to prove to you, to everypony, that ah can do this on my own,” Applejack said as she walked into a low branch, “Oww, Now if you’ll excuse me, ah’ve got to go help Pinkie Pie.”

Twilight and I watched as Applejack went to Sugarcube Corner.

“This is not going to end well,” I warned.

“Let’s just hope that she doesn’t end up causing any more problems.” Twilight responded.

“Should I go and follow her?” I asked as I looked down at the unicorn.

“No, I think she should be fine.”

“Well if you ask me, I think Applejack had impaired her hearing.” I said as we headed back to the library.

Sometime after we came back, somepony came and told us something bad had happened at the bakery. Twilight and Spike raced off towards the library while I stayed behind to watch over Nyx.

“What do you think happened?” She asked.

“I’m not sure. But I have a feeling that its Applejack related. Considering that she was heading off to help Pinkie Pie with some baking.”

“Oh, umm, do you think that they’re okay?” Nyx asked, clearly worried.

“If I can leave a guess. I think that they’re going to be sick for a while.”

“Th-that’s bad right?”

All I could do was nod as I continued to look out the window.

“Why don’t you go back to reading one of the books in the library. I’m going to go find Twilight. I’m pretty sure that she’s on her way over to Sweet Apple Acres… again.”

I walked out of the library and went to find Twilight.

It was not long until I found Twilight. I noticed that Spike was not with her so I asked where he was.

“He went back to the library. I guess you didn’t pass by him.”

“I guess so. Let’s see if we can talk some sense into Applejack. You and I, along with all of your other friends, know that she is definitely not okay.”

“Yeah well, let’s just hope see that she gets her stubbornness out of the way. Speaking of which, there she is right now.”

We came up to her just as she had emptied a cartful of apples into a barrel, though I don’t think that you’re supposed to have the cart in the barrel as well. And it looked like she had once again fallen asleep.

“Applejack, we need to talk.”

Startled, the farm pony woke up, “Wha, huh, oh it’s you Twilight, and Garen. I know what you’re gonna say, but the answer is still no.”

“Not to upset your applecart, but you need help,” Twilight reasoned.

“And some sleep,” I added.

Unfortunately, she was still not accepting our help, even with getting her cart out of the barrel. We simply watched as she eventually got her cart out of the barrel.

“Ah’ll prove… that this apple… can handle these apples.” Applejack said as she tried to buck apples down from a dead tree.

“Um Aj, I think you’re beating a dead… tree.”

Oh lord have mercy, this has got to be the most stubborn of all these ponies. I thought to myself as I held the bridge of my nose in irritation.

“Ah knew that,” with that Applejack walked off to do some more of her work. We followed not too far behind, though I was beginning to think that this was going to be pointless.

Once again, Twilight tried to get Applejack to accept our help, but of course she refused.

“Ugh, that pony is as stubborn as a mule.”

And just like that, we heard one right behind us.

“No offense,” Twilight apologized.

“None taken,” the mule replied.

Where did he even come from? Was he there just for convenience sake?

We came back to Ponyville to find that everypony was on the ground.

“The horror, the horror,” one of the ponies said.

“It was awful,” another called out.

“A disaster. A horrible horrible disaster,” another pointed out.

We tried to see what the problem was but couldn’t see anything troubling. We soon found out what was wrong when we saw little rabbits roaming around the town. They were eating all of the plants while Fluttershy tried to get them to leave.

“I think I’ll help Fluttershy. You should probably go get some sense into that stubborn pony’s head before she causes any more trouble.” I told Twilight. She nodded and headed off to Sweet Apple Acres while I raced to help gather all of the bunnies. Did I just say that?

It took us a while to get the little guys back to where they belong. It was not long before we had gotten word that Twilight had finally gotten through to Applejack about letting us help.

Spike, Fluttershy and I went over to the farm to see what we could do while Nyx stayed at the library. We were all working at the orchard getting all the apples stored away. As we were finished, Applejack brought out a tray of apple juice for us.

“Girls -and guy- Ah can’t thank you enough for this help. Ah was acting a bit stubborn.”

“A bit,” Twilight interjected.

“Okay, a might stubborn,” Applejack corrected herself, “And ah’m awful sorry. Now, ah know that the town had given me the prized pony award. But the real award, is having you five as my friends.”

“What, you don’t think that I’m your friend?” I mocked.

“No, but you did help. Ah didn’t realize that you coulda done some of the things that Big Mac could do. Then again, ah guess you are built for that, especially since you’re a soldier and all.”

I gave her a nod as I lifted my drink while everypony else brought their mouths to their straws. We all drank our drinks, which tasted far better than anything I’ve ever had on Reach. Just like all of the other stuff that they have to eat and drink, even though they’re mostly pastries and vegan foods.

“Whew, applebucking sure made me hungry,” Rainbow dash said.

“And I’ve got the perfect treat,” Spike said as he brought out what looked like muffins, though I don’t think they’re supposed to look like that. Nor are they supposed to have worms in them. I was so glad that I didn’t go to Sugarcube Corner today.

“Ew Spike, I threw those away. Where did you get them?”

“From the trash.”

We were all grossed out. I on the other hand was trying very hard not to vomit in front of my pony friends. That would probably not sit well with them.

We went off to get something ‘edible’ to eat while Spike tried to get us to try the muffins. I swear, if I ate one of those things, my insides would be all screwed up.

Author's Note

At last, I've finally gotten the next chapter out after have procrastinated over the time since the last one. I do apologize for that and I hope that you can forgive me. It may take a little longer for me to get stories out since I'm now starting my classes at the college I'm going to, so there's that. I'd like to leave personal matters out of this for there is no need. I would still like to apologize to you guys again for taking so long. Let me know what you guys think. I was actually thinking of not doing this chapter, but then I thought that you guys might want to know what my character was doing while all the shenanigans were going on with Applejack and her friends during applebucking season. It actually proved to be far more difficult, and fun, than when I did the other chapters. And it was mostly the fact that I had to go through certain parts of the episode to get what some of the ponies were saying while also adding bits of my own. Just to be clear once more, Nyx belongs to PenStroke. Though she might not be playing much of a major role right now, but she will in the future.

The All Too Curious Ponies

“Hey Twilight, I’m going to get some shut eye,” I called out as I headed down the stairs.

I had just returned from Sweet Apple Acres to help Big Macintosh (I guess I should’ve known that that everypony in Applejack’s family would have ‘apple’ related names) move some heavy equipment around. Now I've gotten back completely exhausted.

“Alright,” Came Twilight’s reply from upstairs, “I've still got some reading to do so I won’t bother you.”

And so I went down into the basement where my temporary living quarters where, which was mostly just a sleeping bag. I was still surprised that pony sleeping bags could fit a human being, despite the fact that these ponies never encountered one until now. I’ve also kept my magnum and the strange red Desert Eagle in a dresser that Twilight had allowed me to use, though I’m pretty sure that it was meant to hold clothing and not weapons, along with the ammo that I still had on me.

I started the tricky process of removing my armor, which was difficult as I had to do it by hand and not with the assistance of a machine or another person to make the process go faster. After a few minutes had passed I was finally able to get my armor off. Thankfully I had underwear underneath my armor so I wouldn’t be completely naked whenever I took off the armor. As soon as I had gotten my armor off I placed on the shelf where I had placed my helmet.

“Well, time to get some shuteye.” And so I gotten myself into the sleeping bag and fell asleep.

It was dark out and two ponies were outside the library tree hiding in the bushes. One of the two was looking out into the window, watching the ODST as he went down into the basement.

“Are you sure we should be doing this?” Her friend asked.

“Come on, I want to know more about that human. I’ve always wanted to meet one. And I told you they existed.” She replied.

“Okay I’ll admit you’re right. But shouldn’t we at least talk with him and not try and sneak in just to see him while he’s sleeping? I’m pretty sure this could be considered stalking.”

“Hey come on, I want to know what he looks like without his armor on. I mean, it’s not like he would be wearing it whenever he goes to bed. And I also want to know what his skin feels like. Don’t you want to know too?”

“No I don’t, and this is crazy. We should be back home getting some sleep. But noooooo, you just had to take me with you just to see this human.”

The pony at the window quickly placed her hoof to her friend’s mouth. “Quiet, I hear somepony coming.”

The two quickly hid in the bushes as a group of ponies came to the library.

Twilight was still up in her room when she heard a knock on the door.

“Now who could that be this late at night?” Twilight asked herself as she placed her book down and headed down to the main floor of her library.

She opened the door to find that her friends were waiting outside. With Pinkie Pie hopping up and down with a smile across her face.

“Hey girls, what brings you here?” Twilight asked.

Her friends started to give some strange looks as Fluttershy answered, “W-well, we were just wondering if… if Garen was still awake.”

Twilight’s friends started nodding in agreement as she contemplated what Fluttershy just said.

“Well, he’s currently asleep right now. And he doesn’t want anypony to disturb him while he’s asleep.”

That’s when Rainbow Dash came up to complain, “Aw come on, we just want to see what he looks like without his armor on.”

Twilight gave her friend an awkward look. “Now why do you want to do that? It’s obvious that he wants privacy so why can’t we just give him that?”

Rainbow Dash gave a determined look. “Look Twilight, I’m just saying that we want to see what he looks like without his armor on. I mean, he’s always worn it during the day. And I’m pretty sure that he wouldn’t just let us see him without his armor on.”

“And which of you wanted to see him?” As soon as Twilight asked, her friends all pointed at Rainbow Dash.

“Well… we’re all very curious what he looks like without his armor on, right guys?” Rainbow Dash asked, trying not to get embarrassed.

“You know, she is right sugar cube.” Applejack replied, “Ah’m just as curious to find out what our rather tall friend looks like when he doesn’t have his armor on.”

“Yeah, and I would love to see if he has a cutie mark as well.” Pinkie Pie added, though she was given strange looks from her friends. “What?”

“Ah don’t think that he would have a cutie mark.” Applejack told Pinkie Pie. “Remember that not all equestrians have a cutie mark, such as dragons and griffins. Ah’m pretty sure Garen doesn’t have one either.”

Pinkie Pie had stopped hopping to contemplate about what Applejack said as Fluttershy spoke up. “W-well, Rainbow had given a good point about our friend. We have seen what his face looks like… but we still don’t know what the rest of him looks like.”

“I must agree, I’m rather curious about what our friend really looks like without any of that dirty armor of his.” Rarity added. “And I would love to make him some clothes to wear so he doesn’t have to wear that armor all day.”

“Well I want to know why he even bothers to wear it. It’s not like he needs to wear it since there’s nothing that could harm him.” Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight replied, “I don’t think it’s the fact that he wears it to defend himself as it is simply to have something to wear.”

“And how do ya know that Twi?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t know,” Twilight replied, “But he obviously has something that he doesn’t want any of us to see. So I’m going to respect that, even if it means to stay out of the basement whenever he’s asleep.

That’s when Rainbow Dash moaned, “Aw c’mon, aren’t you at least a little curious about what he looks like without his armor on?”

Twilight tried to find a reasonable answer to give Garen some privacy, but the pleading looks that her friends were giving her were too much.

“Alright, let’s go see him,” Twilight finally said, getting cheers from her friends, “But we need to be quiet. I don’t think he’ll like it when he wakes up to find six of his first pony friends staring at him while he was asleep.”

Her friends nodded in agreement as they quietly made their way down into the basement. As they went down the stairs, they could hear loud snoring coming from further down.

“Jeez, he sure snores very loud,” Rainbow Dash commented.

“Well, least this means that he won’t be easy to wake up accidentally.” Applejack said.

Soon they were in the basement looking at their human friend sleeping in the sleeping bag, with one of his arms sticking out. The girls noticed that like his face, his arm had very little hair showing his light colored skin.

“Whoa, I never expected him to look like this.” Rainbow Dash whispered.

“Well, maybe this is why he needs to wear his armor.” Fluttershy said as she took a closer look at his arm.

“Well I don’t think that’s just reason enough to wear his armor all day,” Rarity pointed out, “Twilight dear, do you mind unzipping the bag so we could see more of him?”

“I-I don’t think that’s necessary.” Twilight nervously said. “I think we should just leave him be.”

“Oh come on, I didn’t just come to your house just to see his arm.” Rainbow Dash complained.

“C’mon, you can do better than that…” Garen said, startling the six mares. They sighed with relief as he continued to snore.

“Well that was a close one,” Applejack said, “Now could ya please just keep your voice down. Ya almost woke him up.”

“Sorry, I just want to see what the rest of him looks like.” Rainbow Dash whispered.

“Still, I think we’ve seen enough.” Twilight replied.

“Aw c’mon Twilight,” Pinkie Pie interjected, “Can’t we at least get a sneaky peek at him. It will only be for a few seconds. It’s not like he’s going to know that we looked at him while he was asleep.”

After finally relenting to their pleas again, Twilight used her magic to open up the sleeping bag. When the bag was opened, the mares were not prepared for what they were about to see.

Despite the fact that he had no armor on, the ponies noticed that their human friend had an article of clothing covering only a portion of his body. But they mostly focused on the various scars across his chest. They also took note at how closely the scars on his chest seemed eerily similar to the one that marrs his face.

Rarity was first to speak, “Oh my, look at all those horrible scars. What do you think happened to him?”

Twilight thought for a moment before replying, “I don’t think he told us everything when we first asked him about the scar on his face. Whatever these Covenant are, they’ve obviously done some terrible things to him.”

“I bet they tortured him,” Rainbow Dash added, “I mean, all those scars couldn’t just be from just him being in battle. I bet that he knew something that they wanted, and they went ahead and tortured him to make him talk.”

“B-b-but why would they do that?” Fluttershy whimpered, “I mean, couldn’t they have asked nicely instead of harming him?”

“Ah don’t think they woulda cared one bit,” Applejack replied, a sad look on her face.

Even Pinkie Pie was saddened at the sight of the various scars on the human’s chest. “Maybe we shouldn’t have done this.”

Twilight agreed and covered the sleeping soldier as he continued to snore. She zipped up the sleeping bag to where the zipper was originally when they first came down. She didn’t bother moving his arm that was still sticking out. Soon the mares quietly made their way back upstairs.

“I still can’t believe it, he had all those scars and we didn’t even know.” Twilight closed the door to the basement, making sure that she doesn’t accidentally wake Garen up.

“What do you guys think that one bit of clothing that he was wearing was for?” Rainbow Dash asked.

The mares looked at each other with puzzled looks when Fluttershy spoke up, “M-maybe he was just covering his private regions.”

As soon as she said that the ponies all began to blush as Rainbow Dash’s wings flared up.

“Y-you mean that his… that he…” Rarity fainted on the floor as the other mares gave alarmed looks at each other.

Pinkie Pie was the only one who didn’t show any surprise as she hopped her way out the door. “Well that was fun. See you girls tomorrow.”

Her friends just stared at her as she left the library.

“Well, seems she wasn’t bothered by what we just found out.” Twilight said as she yawned. “I think we should all go and get some sleep.”

The rest of her friend agreed and they left to their separate homes, with Applejack carrying Rarity to her home, and Twilight went back up to her room.

“I just hope he doesn’t find out what we were doing.” Twilight said to herself as she went up the stairs.

When she arrived in her room she saw Spike and Nyx sleeping in their respective beds. “I guess I better get some sleep as well.”

She then went to her bed and tucked herself in. She turned off the lights and proceeded to go to sleep.

Once they were certain that all of the occupants in the house were fast asleep, the two ponies quietly made their way inside.

“Come on, you can’t still be wanting to go down to see that human.” One of the ponies said, “You heard what they had said. Isn’t that enough to just leave him be?”

Her friend shook her head. “No. I want to know what he feels like.”

“You know you’re being creepy right?” The other mare said.

“Not like that,” her friend tried to correct herself, “I mean, I want to know what it feels like to have his hand feels like.” She stared off at the mention of the word hand.

“Um, hello.”

The mare snapped back to reality as she blushed, “Sorry, but I still want to feel his skin. I bet it feels really nice.

The two quietly walked up to the basement door.

“This is where he’s sleeping, so be very quiet.”

The pony used her magic to quietly open the door. Once the door was fully open the two mares proceeded to go down the stairs.

It didn’t take them very long to get to the bottom as they looked at the sleeping human.

“Aww, he looks so peaceful,” one of the mares said.

That was when he made a loud snore, startling the mares as they hid behind a piece of furniture.

“W-what was that?” One of them nervously asked.

“I-I think that was him snoring.” The other replied.

The sleeping human gave another snore, which made the two mares relax a bit.

“Okay could we go now please?”

“No, I want to feel his hand against my face.”

The mare carefully made her way to the sleeping soldier. She then carefully brought his hand to her face and had it stroke her. She was starting to like the feeling when the sleeping human suddenly brought his other arm out of the sleeping bag and hugged the startled mare. Her friend jumped back in surprise.

The mare was now realizing her mistake as she was now stuck in the human’s arms. She tried to get him to let go but to no avail. Soon he was stroking her fur again and started to scratch the back of her ear. She couldn’t find the strength to get him to let go as she was enjoying what the sleeping soldier was doing.

“Are… are you okay?” Her friend asked, worried about what the human was doing to her friend.

“Yeeeeaaaaaah.” She answered, still enjoying the scratching that she was being given. “Ooooooo, that feels sooooooooo gooooood.”

Her friend came closer while she was still stuck in the soldier’s arms. “Okay, I think you’ve had enough fun with him now let’s go.”

Once the mare finally gotten herself out of the sleeping human’s grip she walked up to where he had put his armor.

“Do you think he would mind if I borrowed his armor for a bit.” She asked, getting a shocked response from her friend.

Her friend interjected, “Oh no, the deal was that you would get a chance to feel his hand stroking your face. You got that and a bit more, we are not going to take his armor.”

“But I want to know how this works too.” The mare complained.

Her friend finally relented, “Fine, but don’t blame me if he finds out that you took his stuff from him.”

“Hey, it’s not like I’m taking all of it. I’m just going to borrow his armor for a little bit.” The mare picked up the ODST’s armor and helmet as the two made their way back upstairs.

“You know that we’re both going to be in trouble for this, right?”

“Yeah, but it’s going to be worth it.”

Author's Note

And another chapter finally done. I was actually thinking of having it where Garen goes back to the old castle to see if anything unusual was going on. But then this popped up in my head. Then again, something like this was bound to happen sooner or later. I just wonder how well I did it. Hopefully you guys can guess who the two ponies were that had made off with his armor and helmet. The next chapter is going to be rather interesting as it's going to be where he has Twilight and her friends going out to retrieve his belongings before something bad happens to them. Let me know what you guys think of this chapter, it actually took me quite a while to think of this while also doing school work.

By the way, Nyx belongs to Pen Stroke.

Armor Retrieval

Twilight woke up early the next morning and went downstairs. She still remember what she and her friends did last night and was still rather unnerved at how many scars that Garen had across his body. She even wondered what caused those scars, as some of them looked like slash marks that looked like they were from some sort of hot blade. She also hopped that he wouldn’t be too mad when she told him of what she and her friends did last night. She stopped in her train of thought as she heard her stomach growl.

“Well, I guess I better make breakfast.” Twilight giggled.

She went to the kitchen to make breakfast for her, Nyx, Spike, and Garen. As she was preparing the meal, Twilight could hear Spike and Nyx coming down the stairs.

“Morning Spike. Morning Nyx” Twilight said.

“Morning Twilight,” Spike yawned, still slightly sleepy but awake.

“Morning,” Nyx said, “What are you making Twilight?”

“Well, I thought about what Garen could eat, so I decided to make some pancakes.” Twilight replied.

Nyx and Spike both liked the idea and started to help. They had soon had a good stack of pancakes when they heard someone yell.

“Twilight!”

Twilight cringed as she heard her name being called out in such a way, and she also knew who it was. She looked over to see Nyx cowering in fear with Spike trying to comfort her.

“Um, Twilight,” Spike said, “What did you do to make Garen angry?”

“I-I’ll tell you later.” Twilight said as she hurried down the stairs while Spike got Nyx to calm down enough to help him set up the table.

I stood near the base of the stairs, with arms crossed, waiting for Twilight to come down. I didn’t bother to put on my armor as I figured that she had already seen me partially naked last night. It was not long until Twilight opened the door and came down. I glared at her once she made it to the basement and she did her best to look innocent, which wasn’t working with me.

“Twilight,” I said, “What were you doing last night?”

Twilight figured that she should tell me the entire truth. She told me that it was originally Rainbow’s idea to simply see what I looked like without any armor on. I was glad that was the only thing they did as I was worried that they would’ve done a bit more than just stare at me. Twilight then asked me about the various scars that she and her friends had seen all across my chest.

“Yeah, you may have noticed that they looked similar to the one on my face,” I said, rubbing my hand against the back of my head, “Most of those are from some really close calls. And some of the others, well, you don’t want to know. The Covenant sure have some creative ways to torture their victims.”

Twilight cringed as I told her this, “Well, I guess Rainbow was right about you being tortured. But what about the close calls you had.”

I thought for a moment before replying, “Well, the ones that look like slash marks are from the many times when I nearly escaped a fatal blow from an elite’s energy sword. I also managed to narrowly avoiding being killed by various weaponry used by the Covenant.”

“Well, I probably wouldn’t know what these weapons did or what they looked like.” Twilight said, “But how were you able to avoid getting seriously injured or even killed.”

I had to think for a moment again before answering, “I’m actually not sure. But some of my fellow ODST’s often called me the ‘blinker’ as well as the ‘Cobalt ODST.’”

“Now why is that? Never mind, there’s breakfast waiting upstairs if you’re hungry.” Twilight said as she went back up the stairs.

“Alright, I’ll come up just as soon as I…” I turned to where I had place my armor only to see a worrying sight.

“What wrong?” Twilight asked, worried as to why I suddenly stopped in the middle of my sentence.

“Twilight,” I said, “did you or your friends decided to take my armor?”

“No, why.”

Twilight came back downstairs to see what I was looking at.

“My armor has gone missing and I think one of you ponies took it.”

Twilight looked extremely worried, though I don’t think she even knew what she was worried about except for maybe having to see me with only my underwear.

“Who… who would want to take your armor?” She asked.

“I don’t know,” I replied, “But I think these hairs might tell us.”

I showed Twilight some of the hairs that I had found on my hand and on the sleeping bag I was in. They were teal in color. Twilight examined one of the strands before coming to a conclusion.

“I’m not sure whose hairs these belong to, but I know of a tracking spell that could find them.”

“Well then, I guess you’re going to have to get started after we eat,” I replied as I went upstairs.

“Wait, what is that supposed to mean?” Twilight asked, rushing up the stairs to catch up with me.

“Well, considering that that armor is the only thing that I can wear, I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to just walk around town while being almost completely naked,” I replied, and then added, “Besides, you and your friends did go ahead and invade my privacy.”

“Okay, after we eat I’ll get the girls and get the tracking spell set up so we could find the pony that took your stuff.” Twilight sighed.

We arrived at the dining table with Spike and Nyx giving confused stares in my direction.

“Um, Twilight, why isn’t Garen wearing his armor?” Spike asked.

“That’s because somepony took it during the night. And after we eat, I’m going to get the girls and have them help me find whoever took it.” Twilight replied.

“But who would want to have his armor?” Nyx asked, a puzzled look on her face.

“I think that would be Lyra.” Pinkie replied.

We were all startled by Pinkie’s sudden arrival and both Spike and Nyx both fell back on their chairs. And I think I might’ve had a heart attack.

“Darn it Pinkie, can’t you give us a warning before popping up out of nowhere,” I said, trying to keep my heart rate under control. “And did you say Lyra took my armor?” I asked.

“Yeparoni. And she and Bonbon were both hiding in the bushes while we were in the house wanting to see what you looked like without your armor on.” Pinkie replied.

“Oh great, so that’s the pony that took my armor,” I moaned, knowing full well what that crazy pony might be doing with my armor, “I just hope that It doesn’t get too messed up."

Meanwhile

Lyra couldn’t wait to see what the armor had in store for her, though she was pretty sure all she could get is what its inner working looked like. She also couldn’t help but play around with the suits hands.

“Oh this is so cool. Humans sure are an amazing species. I just wish that I could be like one of them, or at least have hands like they do.” Lyra said as she admired the suits hands and started rubbing them on her cheek.

“Lyra, I still think that we should return that suit,” Bonbon said, “And I don’t think that human’s going to be happy if he finds that you had messed with his armor.”

“Aw, c’mon, just a few more minutes.” Lyra complained. Bonbon sighed in defeat as her friend squealed like a little filly and continued with what she was doing.

“You do know that we’re going to be in so much trouble when he finds out.” Bonbon said, making one more effort to get her friend to return what was taken.

Unfortunately her word fell on death ears as Lyra continued to fiddle around with the armor. She noticed a weird glowing device attached to the back of the suit.

“Hey Bonbon, come take a look at this.”

Her friend came over to see what she wanted to show her.

“Okay, what is it?” Bonbon asked in annoyance.

“What do you think this is?” Lyra replied.

Bonbon looked over at the strange device that was attached to the suit and said, “I don’t know and I really think we shouldn’t mess with it.”

She expected her friend to argue and mess with the device anyway, but then she went on to the helmet instead. It was a pleasant surprise for her, except now Lyra was about to mess with another piece of equipment that is alien to them.

After having gotten something to eat, Twilight had left the library to get her friends to retrieve my armor while I stayed back since all I had to wear was underwear.

“Well, this is rather annoying.” I grumbled, still angry that one of these townsponies had gone ahead and stole my armor while I was asleep.

“At least they only took your armor and not anything else,” Spike said.

I found that he had a good point considering how dangerous my guns were, though I did end up taking one from another soldier. I still wondered who it belonged to and exactly what faction he/she is a part of.

“You might be right about that,” I replied, “But I’m still rather pissed that one of these townsponies had decided to take my armor just for curiosity.”

Spike looked down with a sad look trying to find something else to say when Nyx asked a question.

“So… do all humans look like you?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle as she asked me this. “No, no. Humans come in different varieties like you ponies. We come in many different shapes and sizes as well as different colors I guess you would say.”

This time it was Spike’s turn to ask a question, “So, do human also come in a variety of colors?”

“If you’re thinking if some humans are blue or other colors, then no,” I replied, “We mostly come in different skin tones, ranging from light skinned to dark skinned.”

Spike and Nyx both said “Oooooh” at the same time and then one of them asked.

“So, if this is what a male version of your species looks like, what do female humans look like?”

I tried to find a good explanation for that but found it rather difficult, considering that it was one subject that I’d rather leave to those who work with human anatomy.

“Umm, sorry, but that’s a subject that I’d rather not discuss.”

Nyx tried to asked why when Spike gave her a gesture that look like he was trying to tell her not to press me on the matter.

“Well, if you need me I’ll be back down in the basement,” I said to them as I went down the stairs to the basement.

Lyra was just about finished with putting the final panel back on the helmet when there was a knock on the door. Before she could stop her friend, Bonbon opened the door to reveal six all too familiar ponies. Both Lyra and Bonbon quickly knew that they were busted.

It was Twilight who was the first to speak, “I’m guessing by the looks on your faces that you two have done something you shouldn’t have.”

“It was all Lyra’s idea,” Bonbon said, “And it was originally for her to fell what it’s like to have that human’s hand going across her face.”

“But why in Equestria would ya’ll want to take the only thing he has to wear?” Applejack asked.

This time it was Lyra’s turn to answer, “Well, I just wanted to know how it worked and… wait… did you say that it’s the only thing he has to wear?”

Twilight nodded, as well as the other ponies.

“I guess I have no choice then.”

And so Lyra gave Twilight the armor suit and the helmet back.

“Could you tell him that I’m sorry?” She asked.

“Sorry dear, but I think you should tell him yourself.” Rarity said, the other mares agreeing with her.

And so Lyra and Bonbon followed Twilight and her friends as they went over to the library.

I came back upstairs as I heard the door open and several voices that I assumed were Twilight and her friends with my armor. When I reached the main floor of the library, I noticed two other ponies that I recognized from the party that Pinkie had given me.

“I see that you’ve gotten my armor back,” I said. I looked over at the two ponies, one was a teal colored unicorn with the same mane style as Rainbow and the other was an Earth pony with a half blue, half pink mane and tail that was done in curls at the end. “And you two are going to apologize for what you’ve done.”

“I’m sorry,” the unicorn named Lyra said, “I just really wanted to know how it works.”

Her friend then added, “I tried to get her to just leave it, but she insisted on learning more about how it was made.”

I looked over my suit to see if it was not too tampered with before asking, “You didn’t mess with the device attached to the back of the suit, right?”

The two mares shook their heads as the earth pony named Bonbon replied, “No, we didn’t. In fact, I suggested to my friend not to mess with it as I thought that we’d be in big trouble if we had caused something to go wrong with it.”

“Good,” I said, relieved that they hadn’t tampered with the device. I put my armor down and took my helmet, only to notice that it didn’t fare as much. “Please don’t tell me that you’ve messed with my helmet and took it apart.”

The two gave each other a nervous glance before Lyra responded, “Um, maybe a little.”

“Oh, well then great, I’m going to have to see if everything is in working order,” I said as I went back down to the basement with my armor and helmet in my arms.

Once I had gone back downstairs and put my armor on, I checked to see what was working and what wasn’t. Luckily most of the important functions of my armor were still working, however, the only ones that weren’t were the minimap on the HUD and the radio. This practically meant that if I were to be in a tough situation, I wouldn’t be able to tell where the hostiles were without it. I also wouldn’t be able to pick up any transmissions that might come up that could mean that help was on its way. I was more pissed that I wouldn’t be able to use the radio than I was with the minimap.

“Great. Of all the things to stop working, it had to be the radio.”

I slammed my head on the desk as I tried to figure out how to fix the problem. Unfortunately, I did not have any tech training, so there was no way that I could fix this without causing anymore problems. I decided to just leave it be and just go on with my day rather than try and fix the problem and run the risk of causing another.

Princess Celestia sat on her bed reading a letter that her pupil had recently written when her sister came in.

“Sister, is that another letter from thy student?” Princess Luna asked.

Celestia nodded, “It seems that last night she and her friends decided to go down to see what Garen looked like without his armor on. And not only that, but it seems that one of the residents of Ponyville decided to make off with his armor.”

Luna took the letter as her sister continued, “It would seem that he had a particularly rough day because of that. And he also found out what Twilight and her friends did as well.”

Luna looked through the letter when she found something peculiar.

“Sister,” she said, “It would seem that thy student Twilight has given a description of the various scars on the human’s body that could not be seen with his armor on.”

“Yes I know,” Celestia replied, “And I can understand why he would do that. With what he has been through, it would be safe to say that he doesn’t want to recount what had happened to him when he received those scars.”

Luna continued to read the letter with a sad expression on her face, “How can such a being have so much pain? And this war that his species are in, why can’t this Covenant just leave them in peace?”

“I do not know sister,” Celestia replied, “But I believe that his species will be able to find some way to make peace. I believe that they are capable of providing friendship as we ponies are.”

“Sister, would thoust mind if we go to PonyVille one night and converse with this human?” Luna asked.

Celestia thought for a moment before responding, “Well, I don’t think it would hurt, unless you want to do more than just talk with him.”

Luna’s cheeks turned a brighter hue as she tried to respond, “No! We were not thinking of doing that. We just wanted to learn more about him, that’s all.”

Celestia continued to tease her sister, “Ah, don’t worry Woona. I won’t tell anypony that you have a crush on him.”

Luna was absolutely flustered, “N-no! We don’t have a crush on him. We were just curious about how he had gotten those scars.”

“Sure you are,” Celestia teased, causing the lunar princess to leave the bedroom and eliciting another giggle from the sun princess.

Author's Note

And another chapter is finished. This one actually turned out to be an interesting chapter. Aside from that, I'm pretty sure that the ODST will now have to figure out a way to get his radio working again so he could catch any transmission that might come. Let me know of what you guys think of the chapter. Anyway I hope that you've enjoyed reading and have a merry christmas.

Nyx belongs to Penstroke

Leaving Ponyville

It's been 2 days since the incident involving my armor and I made preparations to leave Ponyville. Of course, Twilight and her friends as well as some of the residents of Ponyville tried their best to convince me to stay. But with what Lyra did to my armor as well as the stunt Twilight and her friends pulled on the night before, can you really blame me for leaving. As I prepared for my departure, I went ahead and bought some basic supplies that I would need when I head out, though it was tough finding what I needed as some of the things that I required were not readily available. To carry my supplies, I had requested Rarity to make me a duffle bag to use to carry my supplies, though I was surprised by the fact that these ponies knew what a duffle bag looked like.

After getting all the supplies that I needed, I started packing everything up in my temporary sleeping quarters in Twilight's basement. I had just gotten the last of my supplies packed when I heard hoofsteps coming from the stairs. I turned to find Twilight coming down with a worried expression on her face.

"Are you really sure you want to do this?" She asked.

I sighed in exasperation, this had not been the first time I've been asked this and most everypony has been asking the same question non stop after learning about what had happened.

I got up to face the purple unicorn, "I'm sorry Twilight, but given what happened with that unicorn and what she did to my armor, and the stunt you and your friends pulled while I was asleep, I don't think I can trust you anymore. I have no choice but to leave."

I watched as Twilight stamped her hoof in frustration. "I know that we've made mistakes, but why do you feel the need to leave us. We've all apologized for what happened and Lyra even tried to help you with you radio thingy."

I couldn't help but glare at her, "And need I remind you that I'm from a race that has constantly been fighting for our own survival against a highly advance, hostile alien force that has sought for our total annihilation. And here I am, the first human to actually find a friendly alien civilization that doesn't want to kill us, only to find that they are too curious about us to were they do stuff like this. Have you ever considered how I would be feeling after having been pulled away from where I came from as it was in the process of being completely destroyed. Have you ever considered what I must feel knowing that the ones that I thought I could feel safe around suddenly decide they want to know more about me without asking for my permission."

Twilight lowered her head and had her ears pressed against it as I went on with my rant.

At some point, I took a deep a deep breath to calm myself down and looked down at Twilight. "I'm sorry about that, but we have a protocol in which if we happen to be in uncharted territory or behind enemy lines, we cannot allow any of our technology to get into enemy hands. So far you ponies have proven to be friendly, but I cannot be certain if you are truly peaceful towards us or if you are trying to trick me in letting my guard down. As far as I know, I cannot fully trust you. Plus, there's something that I need to investigate."

Twilight looked at me curiously when I said that, "And what would that be. I don't think there would be anything that would be that interesting for you to..." That's when it dawned on her, "Wait, you're not seriously going back into the Everfree Forest are you?"

I nodded as I turned back to my duffle bag, though I could've sworn I saw something moving in it but I ignored it and picked up the bag with one hand, holding it behind me as I turned to leave.

"At least promise to come back." Twilight pleaded.

"I'll think about it."

After that, I left and walked over to the trail leading to the Everfree Forest and my destination, though it took me a little while before I arrived at the trail when I heard someone call out to me. I turned to find Twilight and her friends as well as some of the residents of Ponyville all standing there. I turned back to the forest and started walking.

"Please come back safely." I could not tell who had said that, but I waved goodbye with my free hand as I entered the forest.

"Are you sure he's going to be alright by himself darling?" Rarity asked as their friend disappeared into the forest.

Twilight simply nodded, "I'm sure that he's fine, remember that he's a soldier from where he's from. So it's safe to assume that he can take care of himself." Though I do worry about what he's going to face while in there.

Soon everypony started to leave for their homes leaving only Twilight and her friends at the entrance to the forest.

"Ah'm not sure if this is a good idea Twi," Applejack said, "Ah mean, at least one of us should at least go with him."

Twilight shook her head, "I don't think that would be a good idea. After what's happened, he doesn't have much trust in us anymore. If we are going to get his trust back, we'll just have to let him be by himself."

Rainbow Dash groaned in frustration, "Ugh, why does he have to leave us like that though. I mean sure, some of us had gone and watched him as he was sleeping and maybe messed with his things. But I don't see what the problem is."

Rarity gasped at Rainbow's comment, "My word, are you that dense. We had gone and invaded his privacy without his knowledge, of course he would feel this way."

"Not only that, but one of us did cause part of his equipment to stop working." Fluttershy added.

Rainbow Dash groaned when Twilight spoke up. "Look Rainbow, we are feeling the same way you are. But it can't be helped. Right now Garen feels that his trust in us has been broken. It's best if we leave him be for now until he feels comfortable in coming back to Ponyville."

"Gaaah fine," Rainbow whined, "I'm going to head home."

With that Twilight's friends all went their separate ways. Twilight started to head out when she saw Spike running up to her.

"Spike, what's wrong?" She asked, wondering why Spike wasn't watching over Nyx while she was away.

"I'm sorry Twilight," Spike apologized, "but I cant find Nyx anywhere. She isn't at the library. I was thinking that she was with you."

That was when Twilight went into full panic mode, "Spike, get the girls. We need to find her before something bad happens."

Spike quickly nodded and ran off to Fluttershy's house while Twilight looked back to the forest.

"I really hope she didn't do what I think she did." Twilight said to herself as she turned around and ran toward Ponyville.

At some point down the trail I decided to stop to rest for a bit. I placed the duffle bag on the ground and walked over to one of the trees and sat down. I closed my eyes for a bit when I heard something coming from the bag. I got up and walked over to the bag to investigate what was going on. When I opened the bag, I was not expecting what I had found.

"What! Why are you in there!?!?"

Author's Note

Sorry for the long delay, I've been out of it for quite a while now. Lately I've been losing quite a bit of my focus and that has caused quite a few problems for me in terms of school. Hopefully I'll get my focus back by the time fall semester starts, though I still have to work on getting my classes as the University that I'm in is having a teaching out with the major that I'm in. I don't think any of you would be at all interested in it but I'm hoping by getting back to writing this story, I might get my focus back. Right now, I'm just glad that the semesters over with and I don't have to worry about much of anything until fall comes, well except for a few things. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the story so far. I've actually had a problem with how I would continue it so I hope this is satisfactory. Also Cliffhanger. :trollestia:

Nyx belongs to Pen Stroke

Returning to the Castle

"I just cannot believe this."

I pinched the bridge of my nose as I did my best to keep calm as Nyx nervously nibbled on a dried apple slice. The sneaky little filly somehow managed to find a way to get into my duffle bag without me noticing. It made me wonder how on earth she managed to find the opportunity to do so without getting caught by either Twilight or me. Either way, I had no other choice.

Nyx looked up at me with her nervous expression. "A-are you going to take me back to Twilight?"

I placed my hand down and sighed, "No. Given that I've promised myself that I wont be returning to Ponyville for a while until I've gotten my head cleared and that we are already pretty far in the forest, I'm going to have to have you stay with me until I decide to go back."

That seemed to perk her up a bit as she finished her apple.

"So, what exactly were you thinking pulling a stunt like that?" I asked as I crossed my arms.

Nyx lowered her head, "I-I'm sorry. B-but..."

Before she could finish that thought I held up my hand for silence when I thought I heard something. We waited in silence when I heard growling coming from somewhere when two wolf like creatures, which I assumed were called Timberwolves, came out.

"Nyx, stay close to me." I said as I pulled out my magnum and aimed it at one of the two Timberwolves. I made sure to watch the other one as I kept my gun trained on the first.

Next thing I know more popped up, so we were dealing with a full pack. Crap, if I don't think of something fast, we are going to be dog chow.

I shifted my gun over to each of the Timberwolves as they started to circle us. Eventually, they let us be without any incident. I couldn't quite figure out why, but I was thankful that we didn't have to go immediately into a fight with the local wildlife.

I holstered my weapon and looked down to see Nyx cowering by my right foot. "You alright?"

After taking a few seconds to calm herself down she nodded.

"Okay. That was a bit scary if I'm going to be honest. I wasn't expecting to encounter a pack of Timberwolves right on the first day."

I gave out a deep sigh as I sat back down to where I was previously sitting.

"Um, shouldn't we keep moving until we reach the castle."

I looked over at Nyx as she decided to lay next to me. After what we had just encountered, I felt bad for the kid. However, I decided that I will still go forward with heading out to that ruined castle even if I have to take some unexpected hitchhikers. I decided to rub her head a bit to calm her down.

"Just a moment," I replied, "I need to catch my breath for a bit. It's not exactly easy when I'm carrying a load of supplies on my back."

A strange noise coming from somewhere prompted me to change my mind right then and there.

"Never mind, let's get moving. I do not want to know what made that noise."

I grabbed my duffle bag and we continued down the trail. At some point we had to stop after something flew right by us. And I could've sworn that I heard someone say 'Feisty', though it could've been my imagination.

I really hope this forest isn't trying to mess with my head

When we were sure that nothing else would pop out at us we continued moving. Further along the trail I could've sworn that I saw some sort of strange construct in a form of a double helix. But since it was a ways away from the trail, I opted to just ignore it given the fact that I was certain that I would get us lost if we were to go over there.

"What do think is that?" Nyx asked as we continued down the path leading to the castle.

"I have no clue," I replied, "but right now, I'm more interested in getting back over to that castle than looking at some odd structure."

At some point I noticed a body somewhere down the path lying next to a tree. Once we have gotten closer, we realized it was a human, or at least I think it was, wearing the strangest looking armor I've ever seen. It look like a sleeker version of the armor the Spartans wear, except everything was made of some sort of red material as nothing really happened as I tried to scrape off what I thought was red paint or blood covering the entire suit. I tried to remove the helmet and when I did, I realized that the person really was a human. But before I could get a better look at their features, the person's body immediately started to decay to a point where they crumpled to dust.

"The hell?"

It took me a while to process what I just witness when a mechanical voice spoke.

"Error. This unit has ceased all functions. Commencing deconstruction."

Before I could even react, the suit seemed to have started to fall apart until it was nothing but a pile of red dust? Ash? I couldn't make out what exactly was going on but I decided to walk back over to Nyx and we continued on our way.

"Who was that?" Nyx asked.

"Not sure. I didn't have enough time to get a good look at their face before they quickly turned to dust. Not to mention what happened to their suit. It kinda concerns me that there's another human faction we have never encountered before, and it looks like they could be far more advanced than the Covenant."

I could see the rope bridge when I heard a fury of sounds coming from behind us. I turned to see a swarm of small creatures the sizes of beach balls coming right at us. And among them were an amalgamation of what used to be UNSC personnel and Covenant elites. I quickly grabbed Nyx and made a mad dash over to the bridge. The moment that we got to the bridge, I had to slow down so I don't accidentally make us fall to our deaths. I looked behind me to find the swarm of creatures coming out of the tree line.

Crap, what do I do. What do I do.

Before I knew it the ground exploded between us and the massive swarm and what looked like three massive mechanical scorpions popped out from the ground and proceeded to whipping out the creatures. I took the opportunity to get over to the other side before looking back at the carnage that was going on. By the time that we got to the other side the battle seemed to have already been concluded as there was no trace of the scorpions and there was nothing left except for a few scorch marks that I could see with my helmet's zoom.

"What were those things?" Nyx asked as I set her down.

"I have absolutely no idea. I just hope that we'll be safe for the moment."

With that Nyx and I made our way into the castle.

Celestia's room in Canterlot

Princess Celestia and Luna both read the last letter from Twilight, both having worried looks on their faces.

"Sister, this does no bode well for us." Luna said as she gave the letter another once over.

"I fear that I would have to agree with you on that Lulu."

Luna gave Celestia an irritated glare. "We thought that we told thou to stop calling us that."

Celestia giggled as Luna made a pouting face. "My apologies. But this situation is rather troubling."

"Yes indeed," Luna agreed, "Sister, would thou mind if we go meet with this Garen."

Celestia looked over to her sister, "And why's that?" Suddenly an idea popped into her head. "Oh wait, I think I know what's going on."

Luna immediately started to panic as she tried to answer, "N-no, don't get the wrong idea. We just want to talk with him." But with the way she looked told a slightly different story.

"Sorry Lulu," Celestia said, "but I am well aware of how often you would read the letters talking about Garen. You seem to be rather fond of him."

Celestia seemed to have hit the spot as Luna tried to hid the blush that was obviously plastered on her face.

"I-it's not like that."

Luna tried to get her sister to stop, but to no avail.

"You liiiiike him don't you." Celestia teased, making Luna blush.

"E-enough. We are going to go see him to see if he's alright. No more talk about this." Luna shouted.

"Okay, but be careful." Celestia replied.

With that, Luna flew out the window in the direction of their old castle. Celestia couldn't help but be envious that her little sister will get to see the alien first, but she was even more thrilled at the prospect that her sister might actually take a liking to this human who has found himself on their planet. However, she couldn't help but wonder how he came to be in Equestria in the first place.

Author's Note

Alright, new chapter is done. It's going to be interesting how Garen's going to react when he meets Luna. And for those who haven't noticed, I had a short chapter called Intermission that was going to be before this one, but I decided to scrap it as I thought that you guys wouldn't like it. I may bring it back if you guys want me to, but for now I'll go with what I've already decided on. Anyway, two close calls as well as some interesting encounters. I was also tempted to add in a Dead Pool encounter, but decided that might be overdoing it a bit. Anyway, I hope you guys have been enjoying the story so far. I'll come up with the next chapter in a few days or so.

Nyx belongs to Pen Stroke

Exploring the Castle Part 1

It had gotten dark by the time we had gotten into the castle. Thankfully, the lights on my helmet were still working so Nyx and I could see where we're going. While we were walking we decided to start up a conversation to pass the time.

"Umm, Garen?" Nyx asked, "what were those things?"

I had to think about it before answering. "I'm not entirely sure what those creatures are. But they definitely shared the same characteristics as that poor marine that we encountered back when Twilight and her friends found us and brought us to Ponyville. And as for those giant mechanical looking scorpions, your guess is as good as mine."

We continued on walking until we came across a doorway leading to a small room. Nyx and I decided to spend the night in there before we started exploring the castle proper. I let Nyx go in first and checked if anyone was following us before going in myself and closing the door. Once the doors were closed, I looked around the room we were in to see that there were some furnishings here and there, a small fireplace with a worn painting above it, and a couple of bookcases. For safety's sake I decided to move a couch in front of the door to ensure that no one get in while we were asleep. Once I've done that I looked over at Nyx who had taken to curling up on one of the chairs and was already fast asleep.

"Heh, guess the kind was tired from all the excitement."

I placed the duffle bag next to the other couch and took off my helmet. I rummaged through the supplies I've brought until I found two blankets.

Seems that buying two blankets for the trip turned out to be a good idea, even though I wasn't really expecting to have someone to come with me. I thought as I covered Nyx with one of the blankets before heading back to the couch and getting myself situated. Well, might as well get some rest while we can.

I closed my eyes and allowed sleep to take over.

By the time I woke up, the sun was out, or at least I assumed it was as the room was now lit up with natural light. I looked around and found that Nyx was sitting on the floor reading one of the books from the shelves while helping herself with some pieces of dried fruit.

"Mornin' Nyx," I said as I got up, "did you sleep well?"

Nyx brought her head up and looked at me before answering. "Good morning. I did have a few nightmares, but I was able to sleep okay."

I frowned when she mentioned the word nightmares and couldn't help but give a worried expression. "And how long exactly have you been having these nightmares."

Nyx lowered her head a bit as if regretting having said that. I was about to change my mind and tell her she didn't have to tell me when she answered. "I-I guess I've been having them for a while now. I think after you, Twilight and the other's found me."

Now I was really worried and glad that she snuck into my bag without my knowledge.

"Nyx, what kind of nightmares have you been having?"

She was reluctant to answer, but steeled herself and looked me in the eye, "I-I've been having the same dream involving that dark man. I keep forgetting what exactly what is was that he did, but I always find myself in a really dark place with his eyes towering over me." She shivered as she told me this.

I scratched my head as I looked for something to say. "Well, I don't know what else to say, but you're safe now. That dark man can't hurt you anymore."

When she lowered her head again I got up and walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "Hey, it's alright. I'm with you now aren't I. I wont let anyone hurt you." I paused for a moment before continuing, "you know what, I'm actually glad that you snuck in with me when I left Ponyville. But please don't do something like that again. Who knows what could've happened if things went wrong."

Nyx nodded and went back to reading her book while I went over to my duffle bag and took out a small loaf of bread and a canteen and helped myself.

"So, what book are you reading?" I asked as I took a bite of bread.

"Just a little something from the shelves," she replied after closing the book and putting it relatively where she got it, "I think Twilight would have a better time reading them than I would.

I chuckled as I finished off the bread and took a drink before packing everything up and putting on my helmet.

"So, ready to head out?"

Nyx nodded and so I moved the couch away from the door and opened it. I looked out and check if anyone or anything was there and motioned Nyx to follow me as the coast was clear. We came across some more rooms but haven't found anything of interest. At some point I started to hear voice somewhere down the next corridor.

"Stay here." I told Nyx as I set my bag down and pulled out the magnum. Walking along the wall, I slowly made my way to the corridor when I heard the voices getting louder. I had my gun out and when I came out from around the corner I was not expecting what I would find.

Meanwhile at Golden Oaks Library.

Twilight paced back and forth while her friends sat in various places.

"Come one Twi," Applejack said, "there should be nothing to fret about we'll find her."

"Yeah," Rainbow added, "I mean, it's not like she somehow snuck out to follow Garen or something like that."

After she said that Pinkie had a strange look in her eyes, causing Rarity to get suspicious.

"Pinkie," she said, giving the mare an accusing stare, "what did you do?"

Pretty soon all of the other ponies, including Spike, were looking in Pinkie Pie's direction.

"Okay, okay," Pinkie relented, "I may have helped Nyx with sneaking her into Garen's bag without him noticing."

At that Twilight teleported right in front of Pinkie Pie and came right on top of her. "Pinkie, do you know what you've just done?!?"

Applejack and Rainbow Dash had to forcefully remove Twilight from Pinkie Pie before things got worse.

"Woah there sugar cube," Applejack said, trying to calm here friend, "No need to get all up in Pinkie's face like that."

"Yeah Twilight," Rainbow added, "I mean, if she's with Garen she should be in good hands."

Twilight sighed as she got herself to calm down. "I know, I had a feeling she would do something like this when Spike told me she went missing just when Garen left." She looked over at Pinkie with a confused look. "How'd you even get Nyx in his bag in the first place."

"Oh while you two were talking I snuck Nyx around behind him and stuffed her into his bag among his other stuff."

All of the other ponies gave her astonished looks.

"Well, least we know she's safe," Fluttershy piped in, "She is with Garen, so he should be able to take care of her."

Everyone else nodded, though Twilight gave Pinkie an accusing glare.

"Next time Pinkie, let us know if your going to do something like that again." Twilight told her

"Okie dokie lokie." Pinkie replied.

"I'm just glad that somepony had decided to pitch in and build a home for our human friend so he has a place to stay." Rarity chimed in, receiving nods from the other ponies and dragon.

"Ah reckon he'll be happy to find he will have his own place to stay in for the night." Applejack added, "uhh, no offence Twilight."

Twilight shook her head as she replied, "No, it's alright Applejack. After what happened before, I think it's better that he gets his own place to stay in. By the way, who exactly is doing this for him?"

Rarity tapped her hoof as she pondered, "they wouldn't say. I saw them start work down by the river a ways but they never bothered telling anypony who they were working for."

The other mare's gave each other nervous glances before Pinkie chimed in, "Well let's give him a surprise 'Welcome Back to Ponyville' party for when he gets back."

Everypony nodded in agreement.

"Oh, oh, I better go build a ramp before he comes back. Bye." At that Pinkie ran off leaving the other mares to stare confusedly as she ran out the door.

"Uh, anypony know what she was on about." Applejack asked, getting no answer from the other ponies in the room.

Soon everypony, save for Twilight and Spike, left the library to go back to their homes when Spike looked over to his friend, "Twilight, do you think she'll be alright?"

Twilight down at the baby dragon and nodded, "I'm sure she's fine. I wouldn't be surprised if he scolded her for it, but I'm confident he would keep her safe."

"But why wouldn't he bring her back to Ponyville?" Spike asked confused, "I mean, wouldn't he turn back to at least drop her off."

Twilight shook her head, "I think he didn't do that because he felt that doing so would mean that he would be coming back to Ponyville. So I'm guessing that he went ahead and kept her with him so he wouldn't have to come back. I'm pretty sure he'll keep her safe. It's not like he's some kind of jerk."

Spike shrugged as he walked off, "well if you say so."

Twilight walked up to her window and stared out to the sky. Please come back home safely.

Author's Note

And that's another chapter done. I'm going to leave it as a surprise as to what's going to happen next. And leave it to Pinkie Pie to help sneak Nyx get into Garen's Bag. As it stands, this is going to be separated into multiple parts where Garen tries to find out what exactly is going on. There will be some odd encounters as well as a few scary ones which will get pretty nasty at some point. Anyway, I hope you guys are still enjoying this story as I'm having fun writing it.

Also, let me know of any errors that I might have left. I'm having a funny feeling that there may be a few that I haven't caught, so let me know.

Nyx belongs to Pen Stroke.

Exploring the Castle Part 2

When I rounded the corner, I was surprised to find two (non-mutated) UNSC marines walking towards me. When they noticed me they quickly drew their weapons as I simply raised my hands in a peaceful gesture.

"Easy there, I'm friendly."

They kept their guns trained on me for a few more seconds before lowering them once they could tell that I was one of them.

"What the hell," the marine to the left said, "I thought there weren't any other UNSC soldiers or personnel on this planet."

I couldn't help but smile as I was standing with my own kind again. "Well, I thought that I was the only human on this planet."

The two looked at me with confused looks for a moment before the one on the right asked, "And were the hell have you been then?"

Well, this is going to be fun. I thought as I replied, "well, it's a bit complicated. All I can tell you is that I've been staying at one of the local settlements just south of this forest. Anyway, mind telling me who you two are."

The two looked at each other for a moment until the soldier on the left replied, "My name is Corporal Mark Davin. And this is Lieutenant Isa Brown. We're both from the UNSC Turnaround."

I nodded, "my name is Captain Garen Gonzales. Mind telling me why you guys are here, and where's the rest of you're crew?"

Mark was about to answer before I raised my hand. "Wait a moment. Let me get something real quick." I turned to head back to where I left Nyx before adding, "and whatever you do, don't shoot."

The two looked at each other confused as I went to get Nyx and gather my supplies. When I rounded the corner I found that Nyx was rummaging through the duffle bag when she caught sight of me.

"So, w-what did you find?" She asked nervously as she closed up the bag.

"Don't worry, their friendly," I replied, "c'mon. Hopefully they don't overreact when they see you."

I picked up the duffle bag and we walked back to where the two marines were waiting. When they caught sight of us, they waved until they caught sight of Nyx. I was amused when I saw the mixed reactions on their faces as they tried to process what they were seeing.

"I-I-is that a..." Mark tried to ask.

"If you're wondering, yes it's a pony," I replied, "and to let you know, her name is Nyx. And those are real wings she has as well as the horn. Not only that, but her kind are sentient and can speak our language, I think, and there are three other varieties aside from what you're seeing right now."

Mark tried his best to keep himself composed as he asked, "Wait, wait, wait. You're telling us that this planet is inhabited by talking horses?"

"I do believe I told you that they are called ponies." I replied. I looked over at Isa who was just standing there looking wide eyed at Nyx which made me worried. "Uh, Isa, are you okay."

Before any of us knew it, Isa squealed and picked up Nyx, "Awww, she's soooooo cuuuute!!!"

Nyx's ears were flat against her head and her pupils became pinpricks as Isa hugged her.

Well that was certainly unexpected. I thought.

"Lieutenant, mind putting my companion down. I don't think she appreciates being held like that."

Isa calmed herself down and set Nyx back down. Once she was back on the ground, Nyx immediately ran right to me and hid behind my legs as I sighed.

"Well, glad that that's over with." I looked over at the two soldiers to see that they both had embarrassed looks on their faces. "Let's forget this happened. Anyway..."

10 minutes of explanations later

We were all sitting down as I had just finished explaining as much as I can to the two marines. Nyx was sitting close to me while the two marines were sitting a couple feet in front of us as they listened to everything I said.

"So what you're telling me is that this entire planet is inhabited by various mythological creatures with which some are sentient and that some of which are capable of using magic," the corporal said as he tried to process what he heard, "and not only that, but there are two of these creatures that supposedly have the power to raise and lower the sun and moon. Do you even realize how crazy that sounds."

I smiled as the lieutenant replied, "well I think it's cool."

"Well I think it's still hard to believe. And are you sure their friendly? I know that the ones that you've had contact with haven't exactly done anything to harm you, but what's to say about their so called rulers. You haven't exactly made contact with them, have you?"

I sighed as I answered his questioned, "just so you know, I might have actually encountered Luna in her corrupted form. So in a way I have made contact with at least one of the rulers of this country."

Mark still shook his head in disbelief, "But seriously. I have no idea what you've been doing, but I bet you've been dealing with crazier stuff than we are."

I could tell that he was going to say that in a different way, but decided to use his words carefully as Nyx was pretty much a child compared to our race.

"Well I think he's lucky," Isa replied, "I mean, he gets to make contact with the first alien race that doesn't want to kill us. Just be glad that the Covenant haven't already found this place."

I smiled until a thought came to mind, "you guys said you're from the Turnaround?"

They both nodded.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Mark replied.

"Well, it's just that your ship was reported missing three years ago."

The two marines looked at me wide eyed when Isa replied, "Wait, WHAT?! Are you telling us that we've been here for three years?!"

"It's hard for me to comprehend either," I said, "But I think it would be best if we head back over to your superiors before we try to figure this out."

"I'm with you on that one," Mark replied, "but before we do, Isa and I need to finish exploring this section of the ruins. Mind tagging along?"

I looked down at Nyx who gave me a nervous nod. I smiled and looked back at the corporal. "Yeah, we'll tag along"

We walked with the two marines when I looked back down the hall were Nyx and I came from.

"Something wrong?" Mark asked.

I shook my head and continued walking, "Nah, I think it's just my imagination." Though, I do feel that someone is watching us.

Luna watched carefully as she silently hovered high above the humans, enough to where they could not see her.

This is certainly a surprise. Luna thought as she silently followed them. We never thought there would be more humans here.

She continued following them as they walked down the halls, occasionally stopping to look into any rooms they came across before continuing on. She couldn't help but find it amusing as she watched the humans investigate almost everything they find. She found it even more amusing when the human named Garen tried to explain some of what they find, though she couldn't help but wonder how she was able to detect this human when her sister couldn't detect the ones that have obviously been stuck in the Everfree Forest for such a long time.

Eventually, they came across another hall. But when they turned the corner, Luna could see what looked like another human, but it had it's head down and appeared to be wearing strange crimson armor that seemed very different to what the other humans were wearing. The humans immediately drew their weapons.

"Hey!" One of the humans called out. "Identify yourself."

Author's Note

Ah, nothing's more satisfying than getting a new chapter finished. Well, other than you guys getting a new chapter to read. I wasn't really sure how I wanted to continue this story, but I finally settled with this. Things will certainly start getting interesting by the time I get the next chapter out. And yeah, Luna be stalkin'. Anyway, hope you guys are still enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it.

Nyx belongs to Pen Stroke.

Exploring the Castle Part 3

We continued to chat as we walked down the halls of the castle, occasionally stopping to take a look at each of the rooms we come across. There wasn't much of interest in each of the rooms as they were all practically the same with some furniture, bookshelves and the usual fireplace. As we were walking, I still couldn't help but feel that someone was watching us. Though those thoughts immediately ceased when I heard corporal Davin call out to someone down the next hall.

"Hey! Identify yourself."

When I rounded the corner, I could see what looked like another human. The only strange thing was that it looked to be wearing similar armor as the one that Nyx and I had encountered before we arrived at the ruins, except that that individual had be reduced to nothing more than dust. A chill when down my spine as I started to notice a few features, or lack of, with the thing and I quickly realized that it was not at all human.

We jumped back a bit when the thing looked towards us. My suspicions were quickly confirmed as when the thing looked at us, it showed that it had no eyes or a nose, but it did have a mouth filled with long, razor sharp fangs. It was especially creepy as its mouth seemed to be set in a permanent smile and it seemed to be drooling some sort of black liquid.

"What the hell?" Mark exclaimed.

Mark, Isa and I quickly drew our weapons. Mark and Isa with their assault rifles and me with my magnum. I looked down to see Nyx trembling in fear behind my leg. I quickly brought my head up as the creature gave a blood curling scream and charged us.

"FIRE!" I yelled.

We fired our weapons at the thing, and the thing staggered as we pelted it with bullets. To our surprise, and horror, the thing was still charging at us even though it was now limping. I noticed that the same black liquid was oozing out of the holes we had put into the thing and watched as they slowly closed up, allowing it to move faster.

It was nearly on top of us when I quickly went to grab the deagle that I had in my duffle bag and fired one shot at the creature. To my surprise, the creatures head exploded the instant the bullet made contact, leaving a mess of flesh and black liquid all over the place. Isa quickly grabbed Nyx and pulled her away as we backpedalled away from the creature as it crashed to the ground.

"Holy hell," Isa said, "did you guys see how fast it was moving."

Mark nodded, "the hell is that thing?"

I carefully took a closer look and could definitely see that it was wearing similar armor as the one that I had seen out in the forest. The only difference being that that person did have facial features while this thing had none whatsoever. It was especially puzzling given the fact that the creature seemed to be leaking some sort of black liquid. I was about to touch it when I heard movement coming down the hall.

We quickly raised our weapons and moved back as two more of those creatures appeared down the hall. They both screamed before charging us. They stopped when they were halfway down the hall when we heard a voice coming from behind us.

"Now, now. That's enough of that."

We quickly turned to confront the new threat only to have our weapons get swatted out of our hands. The creature standing before us was much more frightening than the ones that were about to kill us. Its limbs seemed to be much longer than normal and it had about six black tentacles sprouting out of its back.

The thing smiled at us as it said, "we will be going now."

Before we knew it, the thing walked down the hall with its minions in tow. Even the creature that I had blown its head off got back up and awkwardly followed the others as they disappeared down the hall.

"What the hell was that thing?" The lieutenant asked.

"I don't know, but I would rather not stay here any longer." I replied.

The two marines nodded and we continued down the hall.

"Hey, how'd you do that?" Isa asked. Both her and Mark were looking at me with curious looks on their faces.

I looked at the lieutenant as I replied, "what do you mean."

"What she means is how in the hell were you able to get that gun out before that creature got to us? You were able to draw that gun out of your bag so fast and blew that things head off."

When I thought about it, I realized that everything had slowed down a bit as I went to grab the gun. I thought it was my imagination but it seemed to be similar to what happened on the bridge back when I was helping with the evacuations on Reach before I found myself here.

"I honestly don't know," I replied, "but let's wait until we get back with your group before we try and figure out what happened."

We continued with the usual routine as we walked down the hall.

Princess Luna watched the entire scene unfold and was also surprised at how Garen had managed to kill the creature. She could feel an incredibly powerful form of magic coming from him and wondered if he was actually hiding something. Though it didn't seem like it as he seemed to be unaware of what he just did.

She was lost in thought before she noticed that two more of those creatures showed up only to be following yet another one that seemed to be even more frightening. She also watch in horror as the one that Garen had seemingly killed got back up and followed the others as they disappeared down the hall.

She shook her head to clear her mind and continued to follow the small group of humans as they continued on their way.

Deep in the catacombs

Dark Chronos looked up as he felt an all too familiar presence coming from the upper levels of the castle.

"Did you feel that?"

Dark Chronos turned to see Anex walking up to him. "Yes. However, that should not be possible. We all know that he never leaves his realm for any reason unless he absolutely has to."

The two looked back up to the ceiling when Anex asked, "shall I have one of the Warlords go up and investigate?"

"No," Dark Chronos replied, "I will go and check. Continue with the relocation, I'll deal with whatever's up there."

With that Dark Chronos disappeared in a burst of dark flames while Anex looked back up before heading back to where he came.

Back at where the humans are

Luna continued to silently watch the humans when the reached the room where the elements of harmony were stored. She watched as the humans pause for a moment when she felt a familiar presence coming from the other end of the door.

"That better not be him," the lunar princess said quietly as she watched the humans raise their weapons as they approached the door.

It appears they too are aware of what's waiting for them behind that door.

We arrived at a set of double doors which I realized that led to the room where the elements of harmony were once stored before Twilight and her friends retrieved them. I suddenly felt a chill go down my spine and I instinctively went for my weapon. I watched as the other two raised their weapons as well as though they fell the same thing.

"Alright," I said, "let's see what horror awaits behind that door."

With that we opened the door with our weapons raised ready to fire at whatever threat was waiting for us.

Author's Note

Whew, now this was a doozy of a chapter. Things are really going to get interesting now. Let me know if there are any errors that I left in the chapter. Anyway, hope you guys are still enjoying my story thus far.

Nyx belongs to Pen Stroke

Why do I get the feeling that I might've rushed this one.

Brutal Encounter

We didn't see much of anything once we opened the doors. We walked into the room and checked every corner as we moved. We didn't see anything out of the ordinary when I noticed someone standing in front of the multi armed pedestal that once held the elements of harmony with his back facing us.

I'm starting to get the feeling that things are about to get intense really quick. I thought to myself as I aimed my magnum. Both Mark and Isa followed my example and trained their guns on the mysterious man. I looked down for a moment to find that Nyx had disappeared. I started to look around the room when I noticed that she was hiding behind one of the pillars.

I quickly turned my attention back to the man as he spoke. "So, you've come at last," the man said as he turned to look at us.

When he turned, I noticed he was wearing some strange black armor that seemed to give off a draconic feel. Not only that, but it almost looked like it was on fire, with the flames being the same color as the armor. My body seemed to be screaming for me to run but I kept myself under control. This was the first time I've ever felt such fear and I could tell that the two marines either side of me were doing their best to not run away.

"Alright, who are you and why are you here?" Mark asked as he maintained his stance.

The man did not immediately answer, instead he casually walked towards us. After walking halfway across the room he stopped.

"Tell me, do you know of Lord Eternis?" The man asked.

I looked over to Mark and Isa to see if they had any clue as to what he was talking about, but they seemed to be just as confused as I was.

"Who the hell is Lord Eternis?" Mark asked.

The man folded his arms as if contemplating. "I see. Then let me ask you this. How did you fend off the faceless ones?"

"What are you even talking about?" Isa shouted back.

"Do you truly not know?" He asked, "earlier you encountered a human like creature that had no facial features and one of you was able to use Lord Eternis' power to drive it off. I'll ask you again, how did you fend off the faceless ones."

Wait, is he talking about the creature that I managed to blow its head off with the Deagle? How does he even know about that, and more importantly, how did he even know we were coming.

My mind was riddled with questions when a sudden flash of light appeared between us and the black armored man. Before I knew it there was a dark blue alicorn standing in front of us and looked to be ready to fight. I wasn't fazed by this though both the corporal and the lieutenant were both startled by the alicorn's sudden appearance.

"So princess, we meet again."

My eyes went wide as I looked over at the alicorn. I noticed that she was indeed wearing some regal jewelry that suggested that she was an important figure. I was surprised to already be meeting with one of Equestria's co-rulers but quickly snapped out of it as the princess growled.

"We still remember what thou hast done to us," she said, "we do know not of what thou are doing here but we will not allow thou to harm these humans."

I couldn't help but notice that she seemed to be talking in such an old fashioned way that made me wonder if she had a screw loose. That is, until I realized that this must be princess Luna, the one who had supposedly been banished to the moon for the past thousand years. I still couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that she was that old. Still, it does explain why she's talking the way she is.

The man seemed to glare at her as though he was unfazed by what she said. "And what makes you think that you can stop me?"

"We are princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria. This human," she pointed at me, "has been living with our subjects since after our return from our banishment to the moon. Therefore, we are obligated to protecting him if he is in trouble."

I started to feel that there was more going on, especially with the fact that she seemed keen to protecting me in particular. She didn't even mention the other humans who were standing on either side of me.

"Is that so," the man said, "I doubt you would have the power to do so. As for the other question you asked, you should already know that answer to that. You were following these mortals after all."

I couldn't get over the feeling of him calling my fellow marines and I 'mortals', but that did explain why I felt that our group was being watched. Though it still made me wonder about Luna's true reason in being here.

"Hey uh," Isa piped in, "could someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?"

The man glared in her direction, "As I've said before, I want to know which of you have driven off the faceless ones without having a single scratch on them. I've seen many mortal humans fall victim to those creatures until they have finally been driven out. And looking at you now, I now believe the one who did it was you," He pointed in my direction as he said that, "however, the way that you've managed to do it should not be possible."

He took a few steps forward only to stop as Luna shot a beam from her horn at his feet.

"Thou will not take another step forward," She growled, "we will not allow thou to get any closer to that human."

"Very well, I'll just have to force you out of my way then."

With that he thrusted his hand toward the one of the pillars and we watch as a shadowy tendril came out of nowhere, wrapped around Luna's body and slammed her into one of the pillars. The marines and I jumped back in surprised as we watched the alicorn fall to the ground.

"FIRE!" I yelled.

We opened fire on the man only to quickly realize that most of our bullets were going through him, yet he did not seem to be taking any damage.

"The hell?" Mark exclaimed.

Before we could process what was going on, the man summoned two black spheres and hurled them at Mark and Isa. The marines were sent flying and judging by Isa's scream, she must've been severely injured at the impact. I fired my magnum and was surprised that the bullets were actually hitting him until he thrust his hand in my direction and I quickly found myself being strangled. I dropped my gun as I struggle to remove whatever it was that wrapped itself around my neck and I could feel my body being lifted off the ground.

I couldn't tell how he was doing it, but he seemed to be pulling me towards him and once I was right in front of him he ripped my helmet off. Now that I was this close to him I noticed a few unnatural features he had. His eyes were a bright yellow and what was supposed to be the whites of his eyes were instead pitch black. I also notice that his armor did indeed have some sort of black flames, or was it steam, emanating from it. Not only that, but his face seemed to be set in a permanent scowl as though everything is getting on his nerves.

I'm starting to feel like I'm going to be in a world of pain. I thought as the man grabbed my chin and took a look at my face.

"Blue eyes," he said, "nothing remarkable."

"Oh yeah, and what does that have to do with anything?" I retorted as I continued to struggle to no avail.

"It still doesn't explain how you were able to drive off the faceless ones. What did you use that made them retreat?"

I had no choice but to answer, "All I did was grab a gun from my duffle bag and shot the thing in the face and blew it's head off."

"Interesting," he said as he walked past me toward where I left my duffle bag.

I couldn't tell what he was doing as I continued to struggle with whatever was wrapped around my neck. At some point I could hear him dumping the contents of my bag when he found something and I felt my body being turned in his direction. When I looked I could see Mark's lying unconscious on one side of the door while Isa was on the other side clutching her arm. I looked over at our attacker and found him holding the Desert Eagle that I had found.

"This belongs to a Red Rock soldier, where did you get it?"

"Just... found it lying on the ground... after leaving these ruins." I answered as I continued to struggle.

Next thing I know I watched as he effortlessly snapped the gun in two and dropped it and turned towards Isa. Once his back was turned to me I grabbed my combat knife and managed to cut whatever was holding me off and I dropped to the ground. I barely got to do anything else until I found myself flying all the way to the other end of the room. I slammed into something hard and blacked out almost immediately, the last thing that I could remembering hearing was Nyx's voice calling out to me.

Nyx watched in horror as she watched the ODST's body slam into the main body of the multi-armed pedestal. She quickly ran towards him while crying out his name when she heard the man that attacked them speak.

"So, the little runt found herself some allies."

Nyx quickly turned to find the man standing over her. Her eyes became pinpricks as she feared what he would do to her. She closed her eyes shut as he brought his hand down on her when another flash of light appeared. Nyx looked to see a tall white alicorn standing before her glaring at the man.

"YOU!" The alicorn growled as her horn started to glow.

"Seems it's about time for me to go," with that, the man vanished in a burst of black flames.

The alicorn sighed as the glow from her horn went out and looked down at the terrified filly, "Don't worry little one, you're all safe now."

Nyx nodded as she started to calm down. She quickly remembered the ODST and ran to where he was still lying while the alicorn trotted up to princess Luna who was just now getting back up.

"Sister, you came."

The white alicorn gave her sister a warm smile as the two embraced each other. During this, corporal Mark grunted as he got back up on his feet. Once he felt he could stand, he surveyed the area to see the two alicorns hugging one another. He turned and found Isa lying on the ground while holding her right arm.

"Lieutenant, what's your status?"

The lieutenant yelped as she tried to move. "I don't think I've broken anything but I think I dislocated my shoulder."

Mark walked up to her and knelt next to her.

"Alright, I'm going to force it back in," he said and Isa nodded, "On the count of three. One... Two... THREE!!" Mark quickly jerked the lieutenant's arm back into place. Isa bit her lip as she kept herself from screaming profanity after the ordeal.

The two got back up and looked around to see where Garen went. When they looked over at the pedestal, they saw him lying unconscious with Nyx trying to wake him up.

"Isa, contact HQ. Let them know what's happened."

The lieutenant nodded as Mark ran toward the fallen ODST, only to be stopped by the two alicorns.

"Would you mind telling me who you are and what you're doing here?" The tall, white alicorn asked.

"I would, but as you can see we have a severely wounded soldier that needs immediate medical attention."

The two alicorns looked where the marine was pointing and their eyes went wide.

"Oh no," they said in unison as they both galloped toward the fallen soldier with Mark in tow.

Mark quickly check the man's pulse and gave a sigh of relief.

"He's alive, barely. But he needs immediate medical attention." The soldier looked at the back of the ODST's head and winced. "The back of his head looks pretty bad."

The two alicorns gave each other worried looks when the shorter one asked, "Is there anything thou can do for him?"

The corporal looked at the two before answering, "Well, I don't have much training in medical treatment and neither does my lieutenant. We're already calling the others to see if they can send someone to help."

With that he could hear someone trying to contact him.

"Corporal Mark Davin, this is captain Farday, what's your status."

"Sir, we made contact with an ODST and some of the local inhabitants and encountered an unknown hostile. The lieutenant and I have sustained minor injuries but the ODST has received severe trauma to the back of his skull. We need immediate medical assistance."

Mark waited for an answer, and when he did he did not seem happy about it.

"What did they say?"

Mark turned towards the two alicorns and sighed, "Unfortunately, they wont be able to make it in time."

"Perhaps I can help."

Mark turned and was horrified to find the nightmarish creature his group had encountered standing behind him, causing the marine to fall flat on his but while the two alicorn charged their horns.

The creature raised its arm as it calmly spoke, "I am here to help. Step aside."

"Oh yeah, and why would you help us?" Isa asked as she walked up with her gun drawn.

The creature turn its head toward the marine as it replied, "I find this one quite interesting," pointing toward the ODST, "I feel that I should heal some of his injuries."

"Alright, but before you do anything, mind telling us who you are."

The creature's smile grew as it replied, "You may call me Xetalla. As for what I am, I'm what many call a Faceless Nightmare. And we are usually female."

Everyone was surprised at the last stament.

"Alright," Mark sighed, "do whatever you can to help. However, no funny business or we going to pepper you."

Xetalla simply smiled as she walked up to the fallen soldier, and before anyone could react she thrusted the tentacles on her back into the ODST's body.

"Hey, what are you doing?!?" Isa yelled.

Xetalla held up her hand as she continued what she was doing, "I am helping him. Do not interfere."

Unsure of what to do, the humans and alicorns took a few steps back as the Faceless Nightmare did her thing. Suddenly, Mark was receiving another transmission.

"Corporal, what's going on over there?"

"Sorry sir. We suddenly made contact with someone who could help the ODST. She calls herself Xetalla. She's currently healing him right now."

The corporal could hear a sigh of relief coming from the other end, "that's good to hear. When you able to, return immediately."

"Yes sir, corporal Davin out."

Mark turned back to find that Xetalla had already finished.

"Done already?" Mark exclaimed.

"I was able to repair the damage to his spine and the back of his head. He still has some fractures ribs and will still need some treatment for his head injuries."

"Wait, that's it," Isa said, flabbergasted, "You couldn't do anything else for him."

"Well, if I tried to do any more, it would not end well for your comrade."

"Well, least it's safe for us to transport him back to HQ." Mark said, relieved that Garen's life was no longer in danger, "Thanks for your he..." He turned to thank Xetalla only to find that she was already gone.

"Huh, what!!! She disappeared on us." Isa exclaimed.

Mark turned toward the two alicorns, "thanks for your help. Uh, mind telling my partner and I who you two are."

"My name is princess Celestia," the white alicorn replied, "and this is my sister, princess Luna."

Mark nodded at the two, "My name is Corporal Mark Davin. And this is Lieutenant Isa Brown. We're both from a UNSC frigate called the UNSC Turnaround."

"And where is the rest of your forces?" Celestia asked, "My sister can help take the fallen human with you."

Princess Luna looked at her sister surprised, "Sister, are thou not going with us?"

The older alicorn shook her head as she answered, "I must return to Canterlot. I was in a meeting when I felt Dark Chronos' magic and came as quickly as I could."

Wait, Dark Chronos? Was that the man that attacked us and did a number on captain Gonzales. Mark thought as Isa picked up the ODST while Celestia disappeared in a flash of light.

"Place him on our back." Luna told the lieutenant.

While she placed the ODST on the alicorn's back, Mark walked over to where the duffle bag was and started to pack everything back in. He noticed the broken remains of the Deagle that Garen had been carrying. But before he could pick it up, a giant mechanical wasp came out of nowhere, grabbed the remains of the gun and flew off.

"What the hell was that?" Isa exclaimed.

"I don't know," Mark replied, "But whatever it was, I don't think it wanted us to keep that gun anymore."

"If thou are ready, we can teleport thou to were thou friends are."

The two marines looked at each other and nodded.

"Alright," Mark said, "but let's just walk over there. That okay with you?"

Author's Note

Wooooooo. Got another chapter done. I wanted to wait a bit before getting this chapter out so I could think of what to put into it, and possibly tease you guys. Though the latter didn't seem to work. And just to put it out there, some of the characters that you'll be seeing, which you guys likely have never heard of, are part of a completely separate storyline that I plan on writing in the future called the 'Red Rock Chronicles'.

I wont go into much of details other than the fact that it's based off of a scifi fantasy adventure that I had started back when I was much younger, sometime when I was in kindergarten (I don't really remember exactly when I started, but I do know that it was a few years before 9/11 happened). Right now, the stories that I'm writing are mostly to give me some experience for when I start writing my story.

I do hope you guys are still enjoying my story so far. Let me know if there needs to be any corrections to the chapter that I'll need to make.

Nyx belongs to Pen Stroke

Dream Meeting

When I woke up, I found myself staring at the starry night sky. I sat up and looked around and found myself in an open area in a forest that I knew back on Reach. Not only that, but everything seemed too real as I could feel the breeze and hear the rustling of leaves and the sounds of nearby animals. I was not sure this was real or just a dream until I noticed a dark blue alicron standing not far from me staring at the sky. I realized that this was the same alicorn that I had encountered before I ended up getting knocked out by that monster of a human.

"Ah, it seems that thou are back." She said as she turned towards me.

"Uh thanks, I guess," I replied, "Any idea how we got hear? I could've sworn that I was back at the old castle."

I scratched my head as I tried to remember what this alicorn's name was when she spoke again, "If thou are wondering, no we are not back on the planet that thou calleth Reach. We are in a dream, though one that is surprisingly, how to put it, realistic."

I stared at the alicorn with a mix of surprise and confusion, "Wait, you're telling me that we're in a dream?"

"Yes. And before we continue, we would like to introduce myself. Our name is Princes Luna. And thou are Garen Gonzales?"

I nodded, "Uh, quick question though. Why are you talking like that?"

She seemed to look away from me a as if she were embarrassed by what I said, I could tell because I noticed her cheeks had gotten to a lighter hue, though I have no idea how that's possible with all that fur. As she kept quiet I couldn't help but admire her mane which seemed to blow with the breeze. Not only that, but it looked like part of the night sky had become a part of her mane. I shook my head as she turned back to look at me.

"We do apologize. It's just that we've been sealed away for over a thousand years we haven't fully adjusted to how ponies speak these days."

I couldn't help but laugh, "Well, it certainly makes you an interesting perso... er... pony to talk to."

She didn't seem to like the way I said that as she gave me a pouting face, which actually made her look even cuter. (Wait, why'd I say that?)

"Anyway, how are you even here? Do you have some sort of magic that allows you to go into other people's dreams?"

"Yes, though we were unable to get into your dream as something was preventing us from doing so. Is there anything that thou can remember before thou found yourself here.

I tried to remember what exactly happened from the time that I was knocked out to when I found myself in this dream, "I honestly don't remember. I think I had a conversation with someone, but I can't remember the exact details. By the way, how long was it before you were able to get into my dream?"

"It was about five days."

My jaw dropped when she said that, "WAIT, WHAT!?!? Your telling me I've been out for five days. What exactly happened while I was out?"

Luna closed her eyes as she recounted. She told me of what happened when I was thrown at the platform that once held the elements of harmony and how the mysterious man who did it seemingly disappeared into thin air. Not only that, but the creepy creature that Mark, Isa, Nyx and I had encountered had healed the worst of my injuries. Though she didn't say exactly how the creature did it. After that she had offered to carry me on her back as she and the two marines and Nyx went over to where the other UNCS forces had set up a temporary base, which so happened to be the castle's main library. After she had dropped me off she had gone back to Canterlot to tell her sister what had happened. It seemed that she was able to convince her sister to let her stay and watch over me as I recovered, which I started to find somewhat suspicious given how she had reacted with what I had said.

When she finished, she seemed to have an odd look on her face as if there was something wrong.

"Something troubling you?" I asked.

"How are thou able to speak our language?"

I was taken aback by the sudden question as I wasn't sure how to respond.

"I-I don't..." She interrupted me before I could say anything else.

"Somehow, thou and the other two humans are able to speak our language without too much trouble. The other humans that have been staying at our old castle could not speak or understand the language we were speaking. We suspect that somepony knew about thou and the other two humans and used a translation spell so thou could speak to us."

I was too stunned at what she said when a memory came to my mind.

"I'm not sure, but I think I remember waking up slightly somewhere else before waking in the castle."

This time it was Luna's turn to look surprised, "Is that true, does thou remember exactly where you were before thou found yourself there?"

I shook my head, "Sorry, it's still a bit hazy. But I think I remember hearing a male voice saying that we'd meet again at the 'Summer Sun Celebration' whatever that is. By the way, how were Mark and Isa able to get that translation spell when they were with the crew of the UNSC Turnaround?"

Luna was deep in thought before she answered, "we're not sure, but there must've been something that prevented him from meeting you. As to your question, it appears that those two were separated from the rest of their group when they fled their ship. They couldn't tell us what happened other than waking up to their friends being there with them."

"Huh, odd. I guess the reason the man who spoke to me couldn't keep his promise might have something to do with that man we encountered and the other one that I saw before I had gotten hit in the face by a certain rainbow maned pegasus."

Luna seemed to look at me with alarm as I said that.

"What, what's the matter?" I asked confused.

"What did that man look like?"

I racked my brain as I tried to remember what had happened. I told her that I had seen a man with a pitch black cloak talking with a tall, dark alicorn before looking away as I heard Twilight and her friends coming. I added that when I looked back, there was no one there except for Nyx who was lying unconscious. When I had finished, Luna seemed to have a sullen expression on her face.

"Uh... you alright?"

Luna seemed to have snapped out of it as she replied, "I think we should talk more about this some other time. In the meantime, we think no would be a good time for thou to wake."

She vanished before I could say anything. I sighed I watched as everything went black. When I finally did wake up, I had an intense pain all over my body and I was greeted with a metallic floating eyeball staring down at me right at my face.

"Ah, so you're awake now."

Author's Note

Finally got another chapter out of the way. Sorry for the wait, had trouble figuring out how I wanted the next chapter to go. Anyway, things are certainly going to get interesting given how things have turned out so far. In another story, I'll write about what Garen was doing while he was knocked unconcious. Other than that I do hope you guys are still enjoying this story of mine.

By the way, be sure to let me know if there are any wording problems that I may have left (I'm writing this very early in the morning, I'm a bit of a crazy person sometimes). Also, I might be delayed for a while with next chapter as I'll be trying to figure out the name for the monitor that Garen is going to meet. And no, there wont be any promethians mentioned anywhere in this story.

Nyx belongs to Pen Stroke

Prologue

You know, I didn’t ask to be here. To be among colorful miniature horses called ponies. And to top it all off, I don’t even know if my men were able to get the civilians to the evac points and whether or not they made it off the planet. By the way if you’re wondering, my name is Garen Gonzales, ODST captain, and here is how I ended up in this world called Equestria.

I was stationed on the planet Reach 3 years before the Covenant came. I was also known to be called the ‘Cobalt Trooper’ due to the amour color that I decided to have instead of the default ODST color scheme. But my choice in color proved to be very effective on night ops. Anyway, sometime after Jorge and Noble 6 along with a contingent of UNSC forces took out the Covenant super carrier, only to end up having the entire Covenant fleet dropped down onto our heads. All UNSC forces were ordered to get civilians to the evac points. And that gets to where I end up on my trip to Equestria.

We were crossing a sky bridge to get to where the evac point was. We were under heavy fire by Covenant forces.

“Ramerez, see if you can take out those snipers,” I called out.

“On it,” Ramerez said, taking careful aim before firing at the Covenant snipers firing at us from further up.

“Lucy, Davis, Jackson, take the right flank I’ll take the left.”

“What about me sir,” I turned around to see private Scorpus awaiting orders.

“Carlon, you’re going to stay here and support Ramerez. Make sure that no Covenant forces get to him. Plus, you’re our second best sniper, and I prefer that you stay in the back. I know you have this freaky healing power that only can happen to you but I don’t think it would be wise to send you in the front lines.”

The private gave me a nod letting me know that he understood. With that in mind I sprinted off to the left side of the bridge, easily taking out the grunts that were there while my squad took care of the forces to the right. That was when I felt a chill go down my spine.

“Captain lookout!”

Turning I saw an elite that had somehow snuck up on me. Time seemed to have slowed down as I watched the Elite getting ready to kick me off the side of the bridge. I noticed something was off as I noticed a black hue emanating from the sangheili’s head and two black robed figures that seem to be standing in midair at the other side of the bridge.

‘Oooh, this is bad,’ I thought as time seemed to have gone normally as I was kicked in the chest and sent flying off the edge. I could hear my squad screaming my name as I fell. As I looked at the sky I could see the Elite sent off the edge with multiple bullet wounds. And everything turned bright white as I continued to plummet to the ground.

‘Uh, this isn’t right. Why is everything turning white?’ I thought before blacking out.

I was partially waking up when I heard a man’s voice, “Don’t try to move, you have went through a temporal vortex. You’re lucky that I had found you before anyone else.”

“Wh what are you talking about,” I struggled to get the words out. I tried to look around my surroundings but my vision was blurry. The only things that I could make out were that I was in some small room laying on what seemed to be a bed of hay. I strained to get up only to be held down by someone.

“I don’t know who you think you are, but I won’t give you any information regarding the UNSC.”

“Relax boy, I’m only interested in your well being.” Whoever the speaker was I could tell that he wasn’t Covenant nor did he sound like he wanted to harm me.

“Why am I here and what do you mean by temporal vortex?” I asked, trying to get some answers while also trying to get my vision back. Why is my vision still blurry?

“Those are questions to be answered at another time,” The stranger replied, “For now, I’m afraid that you’re going to have to wait a while before your UNSC forces are able to get you.”

“Okay, so why don’t we…”

I never got to finish my sentence as darkness was overtaking me again. I was just able to hear one more thing from him.

“I’m sorry but it seems you may have gotten some rather bad luck. I’ll be seeing you again sometime after the 1,000th Summer Sun Celebration. Until then, bye.”

And that’s when I blacked out again. When I woke up again, I found myself in some sort of hallway in what appeared to be an old Middle Ages castle that has seen better days. I was relieved that my vision was normal and that I could get up again. Checking my gear, I still had my M6G magnum along with three extra magazines for it. I had lost my MA5C assault rifle, so I had two useless mags until I can find another one.

“Well, can this day get any worse.”

“Feisty.”

“What the… who said that?”

Looking around I didn’t see anyone who could’ve said that. And I barely caught movement on my radar’s motion sensor.

“Well, this is going to be interesting.”

I decided to go ahead and look around to see where I am and to figure out whatever that thing was that made that outburst. I took note on the fact that some of the décor did not seem to have any resemblance to human civilization, but still held some similarities. I also took note that it was in the late afternoon as it was beginning to get dark.

“Might as well look around for anything useful,” With that said I set off to look for any possible supplies that I could use to make it through the night and hopefully find a way out of this place. I also wondered what that stranger meant by the Summer Sun Celebration, not exactly a holiday I've heard of on any of the other colonies.

Author's Note

Alright my third story so far. And as you may have noticed, this takes place after Touch of Darkness. For events that will take place further in the futur, there won't be any real gory fighting going on. That will take place on my next story that will come sometime after this one. As for the chapters that I'm going to write, they will coincide with some of the episodes from the show but I will exclude some which I don't think the ODST would really have much of an important role. I would just have to see how well I do and what you guys think of it. Anyway enjoy.

First Contact and Complications

After the night when she, as Nightmare Moon, had returned only to be reformed by the elements of harmony and having participated in the festivities following, Luna was restless. She paced around in her room worrying about something when her sister entered the room.

“Luna, is something troubling you?” Celestia asked, clearly seeing the stress that her sister was in though did not know why.

“Sister, we believe that there is something in our old castle. Something that has only recently appeared at the same time that we have returned,” came Luna’s reply.

“Is it something dangerous?” Celetia asked.

Luna replied, “We are not sure, but we believe that this being is lost, unsure of where it is or how it got here.”

“I’ll send a letter to my student Twilight to see if she can find out what it is that is troubling you. How have you been feeling? Have you felt anything strange after being reformed by the elements?”

“When the elements freed us, we felt as though we had been separated by another being, one that has been a part of us, but was not. It felt very strange. But before that happened, when we were about to take the elements, we noticed a strange figure by some rubble, barely visible to any normal pony. And it was wearing some sort of cobalt colored armor, which allowed it to blend in well in the darkness.”

Celestia now realized what it was that troubled her sister, and could only agree with her sister’s worry about the strange being.

“I’ll be sure to let Twilight know of this creature. Are you sure that it is still in the castle?”

Luna puffed up her cheeks and responded, “Yes sister, whatever this creature is, it has not left the castle. In fact, we believe that it is lost and is trying to find a way out. We can feel its frustration, considering that it has been getting lost quite frequently despite the fact that the castle is not that complex.”

Celestia nodded, “I will inform Twilight about this.”

Shady Oaks Library

Twilight was not anticipating Celestia’s letter to come to her with such news. She left her house and gathered up her friends and explained to them what she had found out from her mentor.

“So Twilight, why do we need to go back to the castle? It’s not like Celestia to suddenly have us going back there if it wasn’t important.” Rainbow said, clearly annoyed that she was denied the chance to take a nap.

“I have to agree with Rainbow on that one sugarcube,” Applejack added.

“I was going to,” Twilight said, “In the letter that Celestia sent me; it would seem that there is a creature wandering the halls at the castle. This is what Luna had told her, the creature appears to be wearing some sort of cobalt colored armor that had allowed it to blend in to the darkness, which is why we never saw it when we were in the room where we had found the elements.”

“Woah woah woah woah… you’re saying that that thing was in the same room as us and we didn’t know about it.” Came Rainbow’s reply.

“I find it quite disturbing. I sure hope that whatever it is doesn’t have brutish behavior.” Rarity said.

“I feel so sorry for it. Poor thing must be scared.” Fluttershy chimed in.

At the ruined castle

I sneezed as I made my way through another corridor. Were there people I know talking about me, I wasn’t sure. More than likely command has declared me either MIA or dead, which wouldn’t surprise me considering what happened. Right now the only thing I’m worried about is getting out of this place. I came across a staircase leading up.

“You know what, why not.”

I could feel a familiar chill going down my spine as I went up the staircase. And I knew what it was. I felt it just before I found myself in this place. Once I arrived at the top to enter what seemed to be another large room, I noticed two silhouettes. One being a tall human and the other some sort of mix between a unicorn and a pegasus, and much taller than the six ponies that I’ve seen. Drawing my weapon, I crept closer without alerting the two. As I got closer, I noticed a black smoke trail going from the unicorn/pegasus hybrid to the unknown human’s outstretched hand. Figuring that this was not a normal human, I brought up my magnum and aimed it at the individual when I heard rocks being moved.

Turning around, I saw only that there was some rubble had shifted and nothing else. When I looked back, however, I noticed that both individuals were missing, only for there to be a small creature similar to the hybrid that I had seen just moments ago. I rushed to see if it was okay and I noticed that it was black with a purple mane.

“What on earth are you,” I thought out loud.

“Hey, get away from that filly you monster.”

Startled, I jumped up, losing my grip on my gun, and turn around only to get hit in the visor by a cyan hoof. After flying by about three yards, I was able to get back up to see the cyan pegasus that I had seen last night, along with the other ponies who were behind her. I could tell that she was getting ready to fight when the orange one held her by her tail.

“Now hold on there sugarcube, we don’t know what it was doing. And it would be best if we didn’t upset it,” The orange one said.

“Uh, thank you.”

The six ponies gasped in surprise as though they’ve never seen a human before, which would be understandable as I might be the first human that they have ever seen.

“It… it can talk!” Exclaimed the white unicorn.

I decided to take it safe and introduce myself, “My name is Captain Garen Gonzales of the UNSC ODST corps, and I have no idea where I am.”

The purple one named Twilight came up to me and said, “Greetings captain, umm… my name is Twilight Sparkle. And these are my friends Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie.” She pointed to each individual as she introduced them. “What brings you here?”

“Well, I didn’t exactly come here by choice,” and so I explained what happened to me and my current predicament.

“Wow, yer sure longs way away from home,” Applejack commented.

“I’m not even sure if I have a home to return to anymore,” I said solemnly.

“And, umm, wh… why’s that?” Fluttershy asked.

“Because everything on my home planet was probably completely wiped out by the Covenant,” I replied.

“Now why would they do something like that?” Rarity asked, disgusted by the way the Covenant massacred my kind for their so called ‘Great Journey.’

“I don’t know, but they will stop at nothing to wipe out all of humanity. I just hope that my squad, along with most everyone on Reach, made it out alright.” I said, hoping that it was true.

“Maybe they’ll come looking for you,” Twilight said, trying to lift my spirits up.

“I find that highly doubtful. I’ve likely been marked either MIA or KIA after that incident. They might have tried to look for my body, but I’m pretty sure they had given up by that time, considering that the planet was being attacked at the time.”

That was when the filly began to stir.

“We better get you two over to Ponyvile. We’ll try and sneak you two into my library.” Twilight said, carefully placing the filly onto her back. I picked up my magnum as we left the chamber.

We were able to make it out of the castle and I could tell exactly how bad it looked on the outside.

“Wow, this place has certainly seen better days.”

“This used to be the Castle of the Royal Sisters before Luna became Nightmare Moon.” Twilight explained.

I nodded and we moved on.

After having made it halfway through the forest, I saw movement up ahead. I alerted the ponies and drew out my weapon.

“What is it?” Twilight asked, clearly worried about why I had made them stop.

“I saw something moving towards us. I don’t know what it is, but I think it might be hostile. Wait here.”

And so I crept closer, that was when I could see what the creature was, and my stomach twisted into a knot. What was coming towards us was what used to be a UNSC marine, completely deformed with some sort of feelers sticking out where the marine's face was supposed to be. As soon as it saw me it gave a strangled roar and charged. I fired five shots, only to find that it was not effective. Before it could reach me, however, I saw a red streak come from out of nowhere, hitting the thing in the chest, and I watched as it disintegrated into black ash.

“What the hay was that?” Rainbow exclaimed, not sure what that creature was or what killed it.

“I have no idea. But I saw where that streak came from.”

Moving in the direction that I had seen the red streak came from, I found nothing but what looks like a 21st century desert eagle done in red color. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that it was not made of any of the same material that I was familiar with when it came to firearms. When I had removed the magazine, I noticed that it not only held twice as many rounds, but each bullet didn’t come with casing. Curiously, I reloaded the gun and pulled the trigger. As expected, the gun fired, but with little to no recoil as well as noise.

“What did you find?”

Turning around, I noticed that Pinkie Pie was looking at the gun I was holding.

“Well… it looks like a 21st century Desert Eagle 50 AE. Though, it doesn’t seem to be the same gun. I think this is some kind of different variant made by some unknown manufacturer. Whoever made this gun certainly knows how to make it shoot without any form of explosive propellant. And I think it would still be compatible with standard ammunition, assuming that it has the firing mechanism.”

“You seem to know a lot about it,” Pinkie replied.

“Well, when your part of a military branch, you tend to learn about some of the old stuff. Plus, my old man still had his, which has been passed down from generation to generation. I think it’s still with my brother back on Earth.”

“That’s nice and all, but we need to get going,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. And indeed it was getting late, so the group continued towards Ponyvile.

Inside base of unknown location

“Sir, I’ve returned from my mission. Confirmed that all threats have been eliminated, with one close call with the ponies and ODST operative,” the scout reported.

“Good. Umm, private. Where’s your sidearm?” The commander asked.

“What do you mean?”

Looking down he noticed that his sidearm was missing.

“Oh crap, I think it fell off again,” the private said, causing multiple personnel including the commander to face-palm.

“Private, how many times do I have to tell you to check your equipment in case if anything is working or not. This is no wonder why you go through so many side arms so quickly. You are not to have a sidearm outside of this facility until you get that problem fixed. Do I make myself clear?”

“Sir, yes sir,” the private said, clearly upset that he had lost another sidearm for the twelfth time.

“Give me status of where that gun is.” The commander ordered.

One of the operators responded, “The Desert Eagle is in possession of the ODST operative, and is headed to Ponyville at this very moment.”

“Alright then, keep scanning for any more flood that might be hiding from our radar. We don’t want to get a surprise and find out that one or more of those suckers are still alive.”

The personnel at the monitors nodded and continued with their work while the commander returned to his quarters.

Author's Note

As you may have noticed, I have gotten a reply from Pen Stroke. Though, I guess I should have looked at one of his blog posts so I wouldn't go through the trouble of having to ask him. Anyway, now our ODST has made first contact with the ponies, though it may have gotten a little rough at the start. Also the desert eagle that the scout had dropped, I had looked up to see the exact name of it. I give credit to those whom I was able to get the exact name of the pistol so I could get it down. And whatever happens next you'll have to wait and see. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story so far.
Nyx is from Past Sins by Pen Stroke.