Spartan and Pony

Washington

Twilight awoke with a panicked cry, breathing heavily as sweat slowly trickled down her forehead. She had another nightmare about Nikolai's death, which continued to haunt her to her very core. She felt like she couldn't breathe, and her mind was traveling thousands of miles an hour in hundreds of different directions at once. From the people who killed him busting into her room, to seeing each of her friends die, her psyche was bombarded with dreadful thoughts at every waking moments. Sniffing, she began to cry softly as she curled into a ball and rock herself gently back and forth.

"I want to go home..." She said to herself, her eyes now blurry with tears. Only her crying broke through the silence of the grey walled room she resided in. Sniffing, she wiped the tears from her eyes, and looked at the door on the other side of the room. Looking back down at her forelegs, she gently pulled them apart from their crossed position and placed them on the bed. It wasn't exactly luxury treatment, but it was a bed nonetheless. Sighing, she hopped out of the bed and walked toward the door slowly. She didn't want to be alone right now. She needed to be with someone right now. Maybe Applejack or Rarity were still awake.

Just as she was about to open the door, it burst open, the loud thwack of the door causing Twilight to scream. Terrified, she leap back and got on the ground, covering her head with her forelegs. Had they been found? Did those men from before come for them? Twilight began crying again as she heard footsteps get gradually closer to her, her entire body shivering in fright...

...

John looked down at Sparkle with the necklace at his side, pondering what she was doing. These ponies were strange, but this didn't make sense. Walking slightly closer, the unicorn flinched and gave a sad squeak as tears fell down her face.

"What are you doing?" He asked. At this, the pony slowly, shakily looked up, opening one eye, slowly followed by her other eye. Her breathing began to slow down as she looked down at the ground, removing her hooves from her head.

"I... I thought you were... One of them..." She said in a soft voice, barely audible. That's when it clicked. She was still freaked out about seeing Nikolai die right in front of her. Now that he thought about it, he was surprised he hadn't figured that out right away, she was just an innocent girl after all.

"As you can see, I'm friendly. Anyway, is this the necklace you were looking for?" He asked as he extended the necklace towards her. She looked up slowly, and her sad expression seemed to brighten for a moment.

"You... You found it?" She asked slowly. John nodded, and crouched down as he handed her the necklace. She took if softly, looking at it very carefully in her hooves. It was almost like she was afraid it was a fake. John had considered that possibility, but ruled it out due to what he had seen when he was interrogating Alexi. Whatever this thing was, it was definitely what these ponies were looking for. The purple pony never smiled as she observed it, but only looked back at him and nodded.

"Yeah... This is it..." She said softly. Her voice was almost as quiet as Fluttershy's, which caught John slightly off guard. Usually, her volume was in a moderate tone, easily identifiable thanks to the rest of her company being either loud, quiet, or having an accent. She was clearly hurting.

"John... You need to say something... Anything..." Cortana said from inside his head. Looking at the pony, John couldn't agree more. Usually, he opted for staying silent, since he never really had much to say anyway. But in this case, it was clear that Sparkle needed to hear something reassuring.

"Look... Sparkle, if you're worried about those men, don't be." He said with a solid tone. The young mare looked up at him as another tear fell down her eye. John continued.

"As long as my mission is to get these elements, you're my responsibility. And as long as you're my responsibility, nothing will happen to you. Or your friends." He said with a nod. Looking down, Sparkle nodded and sniffed. One of her tears began to slowly stroll downward, forming a small drop on the tip of her chin.

"Please... Call me Twilight..." She said softly. If her eyes weren't closed, she would be looking at the floor. John simply watched her, not wanting to interrupt in case she wasn't finished talking.

"All my friends call me Twilight... And... I'd feel safer knowing a friend was watching over me." She said. Slowly, she opened her eyes again, which were glowing red slightly thanks to her crying. John looked away for a moment, considering this. He did trust her, and he did know what it was like to be watched out for someone you considered a friend. If he had any other AI with him than Cortana, he wouldn't feel nearly as safe as he did now. Looking back over to the purple pony, he noticed she was now looking at him with her sad eyes. Nodding, he offered out his hand for a handshake.

"Fair enough." He said calmly. Suddenly, Twilight threw her forelegs around him, causing him to throw his arms out in shock. Before he could react, he heard her crying again, softly. Not knowing how to handle this he gently lowered one of his arms, carefully using the other to pat her back.

...

Arkham City, 2011

Batman observed the numerous buildings that dominated the ruined streets of Arkham, trying to decide whether to take Oracle's advice to get Rā's blood to Freeze, or to go after Strange's unsung partner. Mayor Sharp's statements made him very suspicious to what the doctor was up to behind closed doors. But, he had to admit, he wasn't feeling good at all. That was probably an understatement, but he still had a choice. Something was going on with Strange, but was it worth his life? Deciding against it, Batman opened his cape and glided across the open air. The whoosh of the cape briefly drowned out the sound of the air, but quickly gave way to it's sound.

Just as he began to get to the lab, a small white spark came into the side of his vision. Looking to his right, he could see a small spark on top of the toy factory. Squinting, Batman turned into that direction and made his way over there. The spark slowly died down as the Dark Knight landed on top of the roof, and slowly stood as he made his way over to the spark.

"Bruce? What are you doing? You need to get to Freeze, now! Your suit's bio readings are off the charts!" He heard Barbra say. His main focus was turned to the spot the spark had been however, as it was something that just... Didn't seem right. In it's place was a necklace, a golden one with what looked like an orange apple made of a diamond in it's center. Crouching down, Batman picked it up and observed it. Two things stood out about this necklace, first, it had some sort of strange, animated quality to it, almost as though it had been taken straight out of a cartoon. Second, the diamond was giving off a soft, but still clear glow, bathing his hand and forearm in orange.

"Oracle... I've found some sort of artifact, I'm sending a video feed now." He said as the glow grew slightly brighter, now making it's way up to the upper parts of his forearm. Turning it a bit, he observed the shining light from within the diamond, curious as to what it was he was holding. This clearly was no ordinary necklace... But what was it?