A World In Between

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 4
Chapter 10

Prologue

As the car moved down the road, the night sky was lit up with street lights and advertisement signs. The road was smooth and bump free, making the ride even more boring. I grabbed my phone and checked my email. Nothing again, but it gave me something to do. My little sister was sitting next to me in the back as my step-father and my mom sat in front.

The radio was playing some retarded song, so I plugged my headphones in and was lost to the sound of “Discord” by Super Ponybeat. It wasn’t until the car stopped that I realized something was wrong. What appeared to be a sinkhole had opened up in front of us, but it was too perfectly round to be of natural formation.

People were standing around the hole. We got out of the car to look and in the center of the hole was a portal. I examined the hole more and it looked more like a carter than a hole. I thought that the portal had caused it.

No one was stepping near the portal, all content to stay on the edge. I stared into the portal when I saw something that caught my eye. In the portal was what looked like a… pony? I looked more closely and found it to be Twilight Sparkle. The lavender pony was just standing there, looking out the portal as I was looking in.

What happened next not only stunned me, but everyone. I started to walk toward the portal, like an unforeseeable was telling me to move forward. I kept going until I was almost in front of the portal when my mom yelled out.

“Anthony, what are you doing? Get back here!” I just stood there, contemplating. Should I stay here, or enter the world of Equestria. Not a hard choice. I stepped through the portal.

 ___ 

Magic is one of the things that are still not fully understood. Twilight had been reading about how portals can be opened into other worlds, but it is extremely impossible and only one other pony in all of history had been able to do such a thing, and he was Starswirl the Bearded. The unicorn though had other ideas. She wanted to do it, just to see if it was not an old pony tale. With her luck, it wouldn’t be.

Twilight had spent several hours in the field outside Sweet Apple Acres. She had accomplished nothing except a horrible head ache. She was about to give up when she finally succeeded. The magic though was unlike anything she had ever done. An explosion occurred in the center of her magic bubble, creating a crater with a portal in the middle.
Wow! I did that. Who’d of thought it? Now where does it go? Twilight thought, as she crept down the smooth edges. As she got to the bottom, twilight saw that the crater wasn’t only in her world, but the others as well. This other world though was weird looking.

The portal was made on a road, but not a road that she was used to. It had a black top to it and was several inches thick. On the edge of the other world’s crater stood these odd creatures. They stood on two legs, had no hooves, and wore clothes. What was also odd was what was next to them. They had big machine things on wheels, but no pony was pulling it, and they made some noise.

As Twilight watched the creatures gather one in particular stood out. She guessed he was male because of the lack of hair on his head and the way it walked. She then heard a voice come from the portal just as the creature descended on the portal

“Anthony, what are you doing? Get back here!” Then the creature stopped, hesitated just a second, and then entered the portal to her world.

 ___ 

The sensation of the portal ride was that of pain and agony. I felt my DNA being changed before I could even blink. The pain was so much so that I almost fainted from it. What happened next was a new sensation, one I had never felt in my sixteen years of life. The sensation is impossible to say, but I knew what it was, having never felt it, but I knew. Magic. It was magic. I could feel the magic being filled into my body, but only a small portion was allowed to be open. The rest was locked away, unable to be reached.

The time in the portal felt like a whole life time, when in reality it was only a second. The air on the other side was crisp and clean, unlike the air from Earth. I don’t remember much, except that I saw the moon up high and smiled.

Chapter 1

A/N: i have left the first person writing in prologue, i hating writing in first person. anyway, explanations and theories. for other writer, you may use my theory, just please cite properly. Darth Brony out.

“Shhhhh, I think he’s waking up,” somepony said as the pony in the bed opened one eye slowly. After he had traveled through the portal, Twilight and her friends brought him to Twilight’s library. They had spent half the night contemplating on how to tell Princess Celestia, when he woke up.

He had an odd coat of dark blue, like that of the darkest nights, and had a mane of black. He was a unicorn and his cutie mark was odd, it was a book with the night on it, surrounded by a magic aura. As he looked around, they found that he was calm, like he knew where he was.

“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie. What’s your name?” Pinkie Pie started, not wasting a single second to miss making a new friend.

The unicorn in the bed started to sit up to get more comfortable, but was too weak to do so and just stayed there.

“Hey, I’m Anthony. I don’t mean to be rude, but can I have some help out of this bed? I hate to speak and be in a bed at the same time,” Anthony asked, throwing the blankets off of him and shifting over to the edge. Apple Jack and Twilight helped him out, and he found a spot to lean on.

“Well howdy do Anthony, I’m Apple Jack. So what can you tell us about your self?” Apple Jack said, not letting the unicorn have a moment to form a lie.

“Well, I’m sure that you know that I’m not from Equestria, as Twilight might have told you. Where I’m from is completely different from here. Like how here you all have to walk, while in mine, we drive motor vehicles around to get-”

“Wait a minute, how do you know my name? I never told you what my name was, and how do you know how we get around?” Twilight asked, making everypony look at the unicorn quizzingle.

“Shit, I was hoping not to get into all of that too early,” he said, not realizing he opened more doors for questioning then he thought.

“Get into what?” Twilight asked. “And what was that you said?” The unicorn hung his head in shame for letting out such a little phrase and forgetting where he was.

“Alright, this is going to be long. I suggest you all get comfortable, and probably some food. I’ll be rambling on for quite a while.” The ponies all got seated and had Spike make up some sandwiches. “Ok, so, I am from a world that has a population of over seven billion people. Just people. Humans are the dominant species in my world. We are the only one able to vocalize naturally, we are the only one able to think and solve problems on a large scale, and we are the only ones able to have an imagination.

“Now, we have intelligent creatures on our planet, but not as advanced as us. We have our own governments, countries, militaries. We are unfortunately the only one that goes to war over land, money, or ideas. One example of this is during what we call the Middle Ages, we had the Crusades; wars over different religious ideas. They had no point other than to give certain people more power.

“Another unfortunate thing about humans is a greed problem. When some people get too rich, they don’t want to even lose one cent. They just want more money, for no reason other than the fact that they can. They will never use it and they don’t care if their children suffer for it later, only them, them, them. Sorry, that stuff really pisses me the fuck off,” He took a second to calm down before he continued. Thankfully they didn’t ask him about anything else.

“Now, in my world we have TV shows, video games, movies, etc. We have a show called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and it has become one of the biggest shows on TV in the shortest amount of time. It is watched by millions, me being one of them. I have a theory on why we have this show and you all actually existing; parallel universes.

“I believe that there are actually hundreds of universes, all running parallel to each other. I theories that the different worlds want to mix, but can’t, so the universe’s information is transferred and infects different people in all. So yours was sent to one person in mine and now we have the show. This also means that there are different realms as well, not all of them friendly,” Anthony was now tired out from all the explaining. He believed his theory to be correct, and so did Twilight.

“That makes perfect sense. I think then your universe is the most easily penetrated, make it the one I could make a portal to the easiest,” Twilight said, all excited. She now was excited at the other possibilities.

“That would be right, but be careful if you decide to open other portals. I suggest getting me, because I might know the universe, or at least be of some help with different histories. Now to get to a topic I don’t know how to talk about. Hum, got it!

“Another problem humans have is words. There are hundred of words in the English dictionary and only maybe a dozen words or considered “bad” words. In our world, we have what is called the Internet. It’s a virtual holder of all the information in my world. If it existents, it’s on the Internet. When we mature, we look up some of the more…um…adult rated things on the Internet. You have no idea how much information you can learn from something until you start looking.

“Any way, when you go to a school and everyone uses those words, they become second nature to use. I have unfortunately fallen into that group. I’m pretty good at not saying certain things, but a word or two might slip from time to time, so be ready. I apologize in advance for any and all I will say.” He decided that then would be a good time to open the floor to any questions. None were asked, mostly because they had all been up through the entire night and hadn’t slept. The unicorn was tired too, but was able to not show it. The other ponies said their good-byes and left.

“Here,” Twilight said, helping me to the spare bedroom. He didn’t complain as she helped him there, Anthony knew it would be pointless. The unicorn was out before his head hit the pillow. Twilight pulled the blanket up and covered him and went to her own room. The sun was up, but that didn’t matter, sleep did. Celestia would have to wait till later to hear about the new friend Twilight had made last night.

Chapter 2

A/N: hello readers, thank you to those who favorites and like this story, for those of you who didn't, i am trying to get up in speed, but it will take a while and i have work Sunday to Friday, with little time off. i will update sporadically so no flames there please. i hope you enjoy, and it will get action packed right after this chapter.(boring stuff first)

Dear Princess Celestia,

As I have been studying different forms of pony magic, I have discovered something amazing. This thing I have discovered is a portal system. This system allows anypony to enter it and is sent to the other world. I had opened one and somepony came through from one of these worlds. I wish for you to meet him, he has some interesting theories on certain concepts never before thought of. I awake your reply,

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle

“There, now send it,” Twilight told Spike. Spike blew on the letter and t was sent to the princess be magic. Now they waited. Twilight had woken up at around noon from her nap. The guest was still asleep. This was fine for Twilight; she needed to tell Princess Celestia anyway.

“Ugh, need coffee,” Anthony said as he meandered out of the guest room. His long black mane was messy and sticking up in random spots. “Do you know where I can find some coffee?”

“Sure, but I think tea would be a good substitute. It doesn’t have as much caffeine and tastes better,” Twilight told the half-wake unicorn. He just moaned and traveled to the bathroom before saying anything else. Twilight shook her head as she thought why anypony would want coffee. But he was a guest and she would attempt to make him some coffee.

Twilight never usually did the cooking, that was Spike’s thing. She looked for the coffee, and was about to give up when Anthony walked in, and grabbed the coffee from next to the coffee maker, place it in there with water, and turned it on. He think went to the refrigerator, got out the milk, walked over to the sugar and waited for the coffee to be done. Twilight floated a cup over to him.

After five minutes, the coffee was done. Anthony took the full pot of black liquid with his magic and poured it into his cup three-fourths of the way, and put it back. He filled the rest with milk and placed two teaspoons of sugar into the cup. The milk was back in the refrigerator, and the two left for the living room. The cup was half-empty by that time.

“So, have you ever known something, and was never able to tell someone?” Anthony asked, looking more awake every second.

“Yea, why?”

“Nothing, just thinking about something unrelated to anything. Thanks for attempting to make coffee, but I think I will do that from now on.” Twilight got a little red, but Anthony didn’t care, he was too busy with his drink. The only thing that broke the silence was a belch from Spike. Celestia had replied.

To my most faithful student, Twilight,

I am most interested in how this magic was performed and who it was that came through. I am sending a chariot to you today after dinner, so Luna can participate in this too. I can’t wait for you to arrive. You may bring your friends with you, and please leave room for tea.

Your teacher, Princess Celestia

“Well, that sounds like good news,” Anthony said as he finished reading the letter. He was glad to be meeting both Celestia and Luna. “I hope though that there will be desert. I get hungry.” Then both he and Twilight laughed. After they settled down, Twilight left to find her friends and tell them the news. Anthony made himself a sandwich.

Sometime after dinner

“All right, everypony. Into the chariots, the princesses are waiting,” one of the guards said to the group. As everypony got in, they all were excited to go to Canterlot, but Anthony was the most excited. He was ready to see the capital in real life. He was so excited that he couldn’t sit still. Eventually, Twilight had to use a spell to keep him in his seat for rest of the trip.

They arrived in Canterlot just with the sun coming down and the moon just rising. The two chariots landed in front of the castle, with a greeting party of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The guards were standing at the entrances, completely expressionless.

As everypony got out of the chariots, they all bowed respectfully to the two alicorns, who returned it to the group. Twilight trotted up to Celestia and gave a pony version of a hug, which Celestia returned.

“Princess Celestia, it’s so good to see you again, and not under some disaster,” Twilight said.

“Yes, it is good to see you all here without the threat of evil on our home. But let us not ruin this day with negative thoughts, let us go inside and discuss this new situation with you, Anthony.”

“Huh, oh, right. Sorry, I was just looking at the castle and the whole place. I got distracted, and I’m sorry for when I do some more later,” Anthony said, slightly embarrassed.

“It’s ok, just please don’t do it when I have something important to say,” she asked. It took Anthony a second too long before he answered. “Are you listening?”

“Huh, shit. I did it again didn’t I? Yes, I was listening; I just pretended not to for the lolz.” He then broke down laughing, but only Pinkie Pie laughed with the unicorn. The rest just looked at him like he had gone crazy.

“Um, what does “lolz” mean?” Twilight asked.

“Lolz is a short way of saying laugh out loud. In my world, when we want to laugh, but it is inappropriate, we say lolz and then other people laugh so we can.”

“Oh, I…um…guess that makes since,” Twilight said, still uncertain. Then she remembered what he said at the beginning of his sentence. “Uh, Anthony, you said one of the words again.”

“I did? Ugh, I hate when I do that, but I’m getting better, you have to admit that. Sorry everypony for using such vulgar language. I’m getting better,” Anthony said, his ears back in a passive stance.

“It’s fine, just please don’t speak like that anywhere again.”

“I’ll try.” And with that they entered the castle and trooped on down to the cafeteria. The dining hall was empty and free of anything except a long table set for nine ponies. They all took their seats, Celestia on one end, Luna on the other. Twilight sat to the right of Celestia, Rarity to the left, Apple Jack next to Twilight, and Dash next to Rarity. Next to A.J. was Anthony, with Fluttershy across from him.

As everypony got comfortable, a staff of waiter ponies brought out hot pots of different brews of tea. Each pony got a personal waiter to get them the type of tea they wanted. “Excuse me sir, what would you like to drink?” One of them asked Anthony.

“Yes, could I have a cup of coffee, three-fourths coffee, black, one-fourth milk, and two teaspoons of sugar. Thank you.” And he went back to concentrating on whatever it was. He was actually thinking of new spells to perform.

While waiting for dinner, Anthony had asked Twilight how to make new spells, because he had a few ideas that would be original to only him. She showed him how to do so, and then he focused all afternoon on making spells. He was only able to make one, which he called Biotic Jump. He tested it out and found that it was more efficient than teleporting.

Teleporting had a major drawback; it confused the user if used too much. Biotic Jumping used slightly more magic, but it had no other drawbacks. He showed it off to the others and they liked how it didn’t blind them when he Jumped. Rainbow Dash thought it was cool how his body was wrapped up in his magical aura and left a trail behind him. He was just glad it didn’t kill him.

Now though, he seems to have a new spell in mind. A combat attack from one of his other favorite games, Skyrim. He was planning on how to make a Fush Ro Dah. He had a few ways in mind, but was willing to wait a few hours. He might though decide to use it for some lolz.

The waiters had returned with everyponies tea, and Anthony’s coffee. They all had started sipping their tea, and then Celestia had started the questions.

“Now, could you tell me and my sister what you have already told every other pony?”

Chapter 3

A/N: i hope you enjoy, and if there are any mistakes, please tell me.

“…and that is my story,” Anthony said, finishing up an extremely long story. He had been talking for over an hour, and he has had his coffee refilled multiple times. All the ponies sat in their seats and listened, but Luna heard what I was saying. She stayed interested through the whole term.

“Very, interesting. You have given me and my sister lots to think about. You all can stay in the castle tonight. Luna, do you have any questions for now?” Princess Celestia asked, handing off the conversation to he sister.

“Yes, you said that you had different ideas for new spells, but had made one. I have lived for many generations, and I know when somepony is lying. Have you developed a new spell?”

“Yes, I have. I didn’t want to use it yet. I had figured out how to perform the spell on the way here. I have it all done, but haven’t tested it yet.”

“Then let’s go out and test it now, and show the other one you have. I wish to see ho powerful your magic is anyway.” And then all the ponies got down from the table and left for the royal training grounds.

The grounds were full of guards and recruits in a field of dirt with a fence around it. The field is about the size of three football fields. The guards all stopped what they were doing when the group walked on. Even at this late of an hour, guards are all ways training. The group walked over to the captain of the guard, Shining Armor.

“Lieutenant, I have told you; keep your team at the gate for the fact that it is still heavily used by travelers. And don’t let them think that just because it is night, doesn’t mean they can do what they want. Princess Luna has come to me a few times because your ponies have been making a ruckus. And another thing-”

“Excuse me, Captain. Can you please come here?” Princess Luna said, stopping Shining Armor from his ranting.

“Oh, hello Princess. I was just chewing out the LT of that one group that has been a bother. They won’t make any more trouble. Now what can I…? Twily, hey little sis. What are you and your friends doing here?” The captain was a little, but was able to hide it well, except from the two alicorns and new unicorn, who knew his true feelings.

“It’s a long story, but I’m glad to say that it is not because of any danger. We just need a place to for us to practice a few outdoor spells,” Twilight said to her brother.

“Oh, well that’s good. Sure, you can have wherever you want. Just ask my guards to move and they will,” Shining Armor said, giving them free rein in the training grounds. They said their thanks, and left to go to an unused corner.

“Now, show us what you can do,” Princess Luna said, pointing the unicorn to the center of the group. He got into position and pointed himself towards a tree in the center of the whole field, and powered up his magic. His body was covered in his magical aura and then he launched like a bullet to right in front of the tree, turned around and did it again, but towards the group. He stopped and stood in front of Princess Luna.

“I developed this in Ponyville; I took it from a concept in a video game. This next one I got from a different game, but I suggest you stand back,” Anthony said, pointing himself at the tree again, this time with the whole place looking at the unicorn. He squared himself in the ground, ready for what looked like if he could stop a whole battery of guards. And primed his magic.

His horn glowed brightly, and then it condensed in the tip. He then shouted three words that had no meaning to the ponies. “FUSH, RO, DA!” and the tree were absorbed in a massive beam on light and energy. When the light died down, the tree was nowhere in sight, nor was the ground it was in. All that in its place was a smoldering crater twenty feet deep, and forty wide. All the other ponies looked in astonishment at the level of power contained in a single blast.

“Damn, I thought I put too little power in that. I’m going to have to be more careful with the power in it next time. Any way, that is the magic you had wanted to see, no?” Anthony said with a massive smile. All the other ponies had found place to hide. Twilight and Apple Jack had hid behind Celestia, who was behind a different tree. Fluttershy was hiding behind Rarity and Pinkie Pie, who had discovered a dip in the ground. Rainbow Dash had taken to the sky and flown behind a whole assemble of clouds. Princess Luna was the only one who stood out and didn’t hide.

They all started to come out to asses the damage and had no idea what to think. The destruction was unlike anything they thought was capable by a single pony. Not even the changelings would do this type of massacre.

“You did all this? With one blast!” Twilight said, completely in shock. All the ponies were, even Celestia.

“Yep, but I think I could have made it bigger don’t you think? I have though been making another spell, but I might not have it ready until tomorrow. And I promise it won’t be an explosive spell.” And with that he collapsed from the exhaustion of using magic. They all ran over to grab him, but Princess Luna got there first. She scooped him up and flew him to the medical tent.

Princess Celestia had never seen Luna fly that fast, except when she was hurt and Luna had to fly her back to the Old Castle. She would only do something like that for somepony she loved, and Celestia knew this. The others thought that Luna was just helping him out.

Luna got Anthony there in a few seconds and got the medical professional to him faster than you could “Move.” He quickly moves the unicorn to a bed and started checking his vitals. Luna stood back a few and took a second to control herself.

How could I have let myself do that? Luna thought. I hope none of them- Darn it, Tia would know. Ugh, how could I have been so stupid? She had a mental battle with herself, and she was losing. She had no idea why she would love a unicorn, that she knew would later die and she would remain undying. But she couldn’t help it. He was so uncaring about status and treating everypony with the same level of respect at the same time.

This is going to be bad.

Chapter 6

“Twilight Sparkle! As I have said time and again. I know who that is!” the unicorn yelled at the Element of Magic. “I know everything about Shepard. Let me talk to her. Allow me to speak with the princesses, I can make them understand.”

The two had been in a heated debate for the past half hour, and Twilight kept saying the same thing, “I can’t do anything, it’s not up to me.” This was pissing off the unicorn.

“Well, why the fuck can’t I at least get out of this bed!” he yelled, trying to get up, but being restrained by the doctors and nurses.

“Because, your body is still recovering from the chariot crash. If you try and excite yourself too much, then it could be bad for you. A broken leg and cracked ribs is nothing to sneeze at,” the nurse said for the third time that night; get frustrated at the unicorn’s stubbornness.

“I don’t give a flying fuck. I can take a hit, now let me out! Fucking let me out, or so help me will fucking destroy this entire building and everypony in it. RAH!!!!” He was ready to kill. Twilight had no idea he was this fussy about hospitals. Even if he knew he had to be there, he would still rather leave. Twilight made a mental note to ask about it later.

“Fine, you can get out and move around, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” the doctor said, fed up with dealing with a single patient. He was also afraid if he kept up his end of the bargain.

“Thank god. Now if you all will excuse me for just a moment,” he said as he got out of the bed. He walked over the window, opened it, and blasted out a shock wave of intense energy. The ponies in the room all hid in different locations.

“Wha… w-what, um… what was that for?” twilight said over the chair she was hiding behind.

“I had a build up of energy from trying to fix my body, but it failed and would have destroyed this building. I also think that doctors are all about how much money they can steal you until you die. I come from a horrible society,” Anthony said, finally calming down.

Twilight just stood dumbfounded. No pony had ever used the amount of magic he did and not die from it. He had more magic then when he first got to Equestria. How much magic does he really have trapped in his body? For all I know, he could be more powerful then both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Twilight thought as the unicorn walked over to her with no injuries on his body at all.

“I guess it did work, just had to release it as small stream instead of a power force. Nice tip to know,” Anthony said, inspecting his leg and ribs. “Definitely works though. I should add that to the list of spells to know for any situation, insta-heal. Now, about me talking to Shepard…”

In the Canterlot Dungeon

“Tell me once again, why are you here, and why did you attack the Bearer of the Elements?” Princess Luna questioned for the millionth time. Celestia had given up on it, but Luna had not quit. She wanted this pony to talk, and she was ready to use any method necessary. She even was ready to use methods that had been banned even before she was banished to the moon.

“I told you, I don’t know who you’re talking about. I didn’t attack anyone. I was attacked and thrown through a portal and fell unconscious. I don’t even know where I am you fucking bitch. Where is the rest of my team?” Shepard asked, not knowing what this fucking was going on.

Luna knew in her mind that she was telling the truth, but the anger that anypony would dare to hurt Anthony was too much for her to bear. She was about to blast the earth pony around the room, when the door opened and a guard walked in.

“Princess-”

“WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT ENTERING THIS ROOM WITHOUT MY PERMESION?!” Luna said in the full force of the Royal Canterlot Voice.

“Move it, idiot,” a voice said behind the guard, making the pony jump. Luna knew instantly whom it was that was talking, and her heart melted, and all thoughts of destroying the earth pony had left her mind. Her special somepony was fine and completely uninjured. She ran over to him and gave him a hug that knocked the wind out of him. After he regained his breath and Luna moved back a few steps, Luna was calm enough to be able to talk.

“I thought you were hurt taking that blast full on to protect the others?” she half-cried.

“I was, but I said I had some ideas about different spells. I made one that instantly healed me, but I did it wrong and it had a massive over charge. I almost killed Twilight, but other than that, no other pony is hurt. Now, can you please leave while I talk to Shepard? You’re too emotional to be of any more assistance,” Anthony said, hugging Luna to sooth her.

“You’re right. I’m sorry, I just thought…” Luna started

“Shh, it’s okay. I love you just the same. Now please leave.” He said, stern enough that she knew he was serious, but calm enough that he was telling her he loved her. She did leave, and Anthony closed the door. After he sealed it with magic to prevent any from entering, but allowing for others to see what was going on inside.

“Thanks for saving me from that crazed thing. May I know your name?” Shepard asked.

“Yeah. I’m Anthony; I am from earth, but a different earth. I’m from a parallel earth in the year 2012. In my world, you’re nothing more than a program, but that is another issue. I need to know everything that happened up to the point of you entering this world,” he asked with a calm demeanor.

“Sure. I’m not very surprised at anything here any more. Well, my squad and me were fighting a geth incursion when an over powered biotic bitch came by and blew up all into the portal, killing her. We were all tired and worn out, so anything after that is unknown to me until I woke up with some guards pointing spears at me. I just want to know one thing; how am I a pony?” Shepard explained.

“Well, allow me to properly welcome you to Equestria, home to not just me, but also millions of ponies. There are four types of ponies; earth ponies, you, pegasis ponies, unicorns, me, and alicorns, Luna. You got changed into a pony by a magic that is not even fully comprehendible. Mostly you just accept the fact and move. Now who was in your squad?” He asked. Anthony had taken a seat and was across Shepard.

“Just me, Garrus, and Grunt. I hope you know what they are; I just want to know they’re all right,” Shepard asked, having a look of fatigue about her.

“When was the last time that you had any sleep?” The unicorn asked.

“Three days, and that was before coming here,” Shepard said, releasing a yawn at the end of sentence. That answered the next question before he could even formulate it.

“Alright, I’m done with my question, and again welcome to Equestria. I’ll have you escorted to a room with Garrus and Grunt there too. Just please don’t cause any trouble and the guards will kind of just leave you alone,” the unicorn then turned and left with some haste, needing to go elsewhere.

Two guards walked in and led Shepard out of the dungeon and to a room in a cookie-cutter hallway. As she walked in, she found it to be very well. There were three beds, each made to with white sheets. The room had a dresser and mirror combo and two large windows showing that the day was making way for the night.

Shepard finally started to relax when she heard the door open and found both Garrus and Grunt walking through. They both for were for no worse for wear. Shepard trotted up to the two of them and waited for the door to close to speak.

“How are you two?” Shepard asked.

“I’m good, they didn’t do anything to me, just through me into a cell and left me there, you?” Garrus stated.

“Worse for me. The princess kept interrogating me for hours after the first one gave up. The second one was not merciful. The only thing that stopped her was her supposed boyfriend. I was flung through that entire room, just out of pure anger. And the one who saved me acted like I shouldn’t even exist. And he told me a lot about how I was nothing more than a game from where he was from, which is not here. I don’t know if we can trust him, but it’s our best shot.” Shepard finished explaining.

“Ha, the great Shepard thrown around like a rag doll. That would have been funny to watch if it wasn’t for the fact that you are my battle master. Now who was it so I may rip out their spine with my bear hands?” Grunt growled, still not realizing that he was just an oversized green pony.

“Thanks Grunt. But I think that I’ll be fine now. What I think-” Shepard started, but was interrupted by two ponies that appeared to be cooks. They had two guards waiting outside the door. The cooks each had a trolley with covered food on them. The left the trolleys and were out of the room very quick like.

“Well at least we get fed,” Garrus sarcastically noted. This earned him a slight glare from Shepard. “I mean you get fed, I can’t eat your foods, remember?”

“You aren’t a truian anymore, remember?” Shepard came back, gaining a low rumbling laugh from Grunt. Garrus shook his head and looked at himself in the mirror.

“I still don’t know how they were able to do this? I asked a few of them, and they looked at me like I was crazy. Did they tell you anything, Shepard?” Garrus asked, flexing his wings and having a distraught look on his face.

“Sort of, the one who save me. He said his name was Anthony, and that we were changed by magic, and I actually believe him, considering the on bitch didn’t even touch me to send me flying. I guess that this magic is kind of like biotics, but more advanced. But I don’t know who can and can’t do magic. This could get very dangerous.

“I say, we eat and then get some sleep, tomorrow is going to be a big day for us. That’s an order.” And this ended all talk and the three enjoyed a meal of apples, bread, soup, and pasta.

Luna’s Bedroom

The princess of the night was sitting on her bed, half-crying for almost permanently harming, or even killing somepony. Even the thought of it was making her sick. She was too busy beating herself up to notice the door to her chambers open up. She was also oblivious to the fact that the one who walk in was standing right next to her before he spoke.

“You do know that the night is supposed to begin in a few minutes, right?” he said with a hint of teasing in his voice. Luna kept her head down and didn’t look up to see who it was, hoping that they would just keep talking. “Hiding your face won’t get rid of me, it will just keep me around until you at least say hello.”

“Maybe that’s what I want, to keep you around?” Luna admitted to her love, still hiding away.

“Then all you need to do is ask and I’ll stay. But I think that you should raise the moon before you do anything else.” The unicorn said, moving back a few inches to allow Luna room to get out of bed.

“Fine, but only because you said so.” Luna kidded, leaving the sheets and pillows to take the balcony, lover in tow. Luna then looked out to the horizon and had her horn engulfed in her magical aura. The moon then rose, with the stars shining brightly, almost as though just the unicorn’s presence has enhanced them.

Soon the moon began its orbit, and Luna stemmed the flow of magic. She then turned around and planted a kiss on her lover. This he returned and embraced his love as they shared a moment of bliss. A moment that was too short in their eyes. As the kiss ended, the two just looked into the others eyes and knew what the other wanted. It was then that the two knew the love that burned inside them was real and not some false lie that their minds forged.

Luna closed and locked the door, insuring that none would disturb them tonight. She then removed all her regalia and stowed them away. Her lover came up behind her and started to lightly kiss her on the neck, gaining a soft moan fro the receiver. The alicorn’s wings started spread out, showing that she wanted him badly.

He did not object when she flung him around and landed on top of him; too allow her wings room to fully spread. She placed another kiss on his lips before looking down at his groin. His member was fully erect and rearing to go. Luna smiled seductively, maybe trying to enlarge the stallion’s loin even more. She had her sex glide just close enough to his that he could feel the heat flowing from it. She then teased him by placing it just on top of his head, which earned a moan of pleasure from the both of them.

Luna felt it was time to start as she slid down and took in his entire member in one go. This surprised the unicorn, as it is quite large for a stallion of his size. Luna then pulled most of the way out, but then slid back down. On the way down, a moan was released that was closer to a quiet scream. Her pace was steadily increasing with each thrust she performed. The unicorn began thrusting with her, increase the pleasure and screams.

Anthony had gripped onto her thighs and was helping her speed up, until the pressure inside them both began to build up. He could the sperm building up and the floodgates about to burst.

“Inside ME!” Luna screamed. “Cum in me. I want this!” she couldn’t keep talking from the pounding she was getting. As he neared his climax, Luna reached hers, and that sent him over the top too.

The two lovers collapsed from the best climax they could imagine and fell asleep wrapped in each other’s hoofs. That was the night the two would have alone in a long time.

A/N: i hope you enjoyed. also, i will not be telling what happens, for even i dont know yet lol

Chapter 7

The sun rose above the horizon, welcoming a new day for all. The birds were out singing, the pegasi were out moving clouds, and Celestia had gone to breakfast. The two lovers had just woken up from their blissful sleep to this wonderful morning. The two looked up and at each other for a few minutes before engaging in another kiss to say, “Good morning.”

The two crawled out of bed and started to prepare for the new day. Luna entered the bathroom while Anthony went to the vanity and brushed his mane with one of the many brushes Luna had. With his mane presentable, Luna left the
bathroom to allow her love to use it. The two then walked to breakfast together, occasionally sharing a kiss on the way.

When the two entered the dining hall, they found it to be crowded with multiple ponies eating and socializing. The crowd didn’t notice Luna or her lover walk in, they just kept to their own business. Luna didn’t mind though; the less who noticed her this morning, the better.

The couple made their way to Celestia and sat down next to her, while she was engaged in a conversation with Commander Shepard. Shepard had probably already forgiven Celestia and maybe Luna, but that was unlikely. As the couple walked up, Luna started to hang her head as she remembered what she almost did the other day. Shepard saw her, and walked right on over to them. Luna started to back away a little, but was blocked by Anthony behind her.

“Look, Princess Luna,” Shepard started. “I know why you did what you did. I would do the same thing if I were in your shoes. I forgive you Princess Luna, but I don’t think Grunt does yet though. I would steer clear of him for the next few
weeks.” Shepard finished, turning something that could have gone both ways, into a good joke at the end.

Luna even relieved a sigh, knowing that she did not have a massive guilt over her head, just the fear of a giant pony with a krogan mindset.

“And I am sorry for what I did. It was uncalled for. I promise that I will try to make it up to you in any way I can think of,” Luna apologized, giving Shepard a more trust in the ponies, but she was still skeptical. Shepard then excused herself
and went to find the rest of her squad.

“That went better than expected,” Anthony said behind Luna, earning him a look from Luna that read “your-lucky-I-like-you-are-you-would-be-so-dead.” He just smiled and gave her a light tap that said they should have sat down a while ago.

Now that the happy couple was finally sitting down, they could begin to eat. Celestia had the cooks bring out some appetizing foods out. The dishes ranged from regular scrambled eggs to complex creations of foods none even knew
existed. The rest of the meal went off with no incidents and light conversation between the three.

After the meal, Anthony went off to find his friends, allowing Luna to go get some sleep; she still had to raise the moon at night. Anthony found them all in the royal gardens, enjoying the beautiful morning sun. He walked right to them and
was barraged with a mass pure friendship. After allowing the unicorn to finally regain his breath, they began with the firing of the Orbital Inquiry Cannon. It would have been better if they had him still in the group hug.

He was finally about to start answering questions when Pinkie, yes Pinkie of all ponies, quieted everypony else down. He was able to fully answer their queries by the time lunch had rolled around.

“Hey, my big bro said we should join him and Cadence for lunch. Do you all want to go?” Twilight asked, earning an approving vote from all present. The group of friends got up and followed Twilight on where they were to meet, as none
of them knew their way around Canterlot as she did. The walk took only a few minutes to arrive at the desired location.

They found Shining Armor waving at Twilight and her friends at a long table, with Cadence sitting next to him. They all trotted over and said our hellos, before taking their seats. Shining Armor was happy to see Twilight and her
friends, except for one. That Anthony fellow had a look in his eyes that told Armor that he had a different view on thing that should not be even on a ponies mind.

“So Shining, how have you been?” Twilight started, breaking Shining Armor from his thoughts of the new friend to his little sister.

“Things have been going well for the Guard. They are all getting into shape with how easily the Changeling was able to apprehend the guards so swiftly. They are all being put through a much tougher training regimen that Princess Luna
herself comes down to inspect, as she was the more militaristic of the two. And also…excuse me, but do find this funny?” Shining Armor was being rudely interrupted by Anthony’s laugh. Apparently, he thought something was funny.

“Actually yes I do find it a little funny. You see, where I’m from, the amount of training your guards have would be null and void in comparison to the training that a common Marine would go through. How do I know what regiments they do? I saw a portion of it the night I blew up that tree. In my former-world, to be a marine was no easy task. Just a basic grunt had to go through months of basic training before they even thought of handing him a rifle. Your guards are complete shit compared to that of a U.S. Marine.

"Look, I'm just going through some thoughts and I think that they need a better training regiment. I could actually help if you would like?" Anthony said, sending Shining Armor over the edge.

"Let me get this straight. First you insult me guards and my skills as Captain, then you think it's okay to try and show me how it's done? Who do you think you are? Just because you are a 'friend' of Twilight's, does not mean i have to trust you. For all I know, you could be planning to bring your people here and use this world as your own," Shining Armor had started to stand,and if he hadn't, then he might have been in a world of hurt. At the moment he stood up, the table was blasted by and explosion underneath it.

Armor was thrown back ten feet, and everpony else were flung just a tiny two feet. Anthony was up first as he looked toward the street and saw something he never thought would be near him ever. A Ravager was crlawing its way up the street, ponies running in every direction. The Ravager targeted the group and prepared to fire. Anthony only reacted. He tossed the table on its side and used his magic to throw everpony behind it, before finally jumping behind it as well.

"What in the name of Equestria is THAT?" Twilight asked as she found all of them behind the table.

"A Ravager. They are servents of the Reapers, Sentiant machines from the universe that Shepard is from. My guess is that they came through another portal. This world has been opened because of what you did with bringing me here. I can handle this thing, but i think that if there is one, then there might be more. Just give me a moment to focus on this one spell I found," Anthony said, now closing his eyes and looking as though he was in deep thought. Shining wasn't going to let him do whatever it was.

"And why should we listen to-"

"Will you SHUT UP! I am trying to save you all and you won't stop bagering me. Now Shut the Fuck UP!" the unicorn said, scaring Shining Armor quiet. the next couple of seconds was filled with silence from the group, as they listened to the screams of other ponies. Anthony then opened his eyes and his entire body was covered in a bright white light. What happened next stunned them all. In the place of a unicorn was human in a wierd armor. The human was close to seven feet tall, and the ponies could see muscles bulking up the armor.

The armor itself was an amazing piece of technology just on the outside. The armor covered the entire body, and the helmet had a visor on the front were the eyes should be. There where at least eight different weapons on him; the Plasma Repeater, Brute Mauler, Plasma grenades, Spike grenades, a Needler, the UNSC Sniper Rifle and Sparten Laser, along with Fragmentation grenades and an Energy Sword were splayed on his body on his back and both thighs. The armor was grey on most, except on the lower-leg and shoulders, which consisted of a red that was partily faded. Knifes adorned his upper torso, wrists, and left-lower leg.

The being stood up and faced the creature that was slowly walking towards them, pulled out one of the plasma grenades, and threw it with perfrect precition at the creatures head. The grenade stuck and started to glow bright blue, before exploding and melting the Ravager. This ended the current panic as everypony came out of hiding to gather the wounded and to view their savour. The armored being turned around and looked at the group he saved.

"You should look at your face!" He busted out laughing. All of them could hardly hold up their lower jaws, allowing them to rest on the ground. The complete shock and speed of the situation had left them all silent. "Now I know that wasn't the most shocking thing you have ever seen. Or is it? I don't know, but what I do know is that you all had better go find Celestia, we have a battle here."

A/N: sup everypony. hope you all like this chpater. for images look at the blog to come.

Chapter 8

A/N: welcome everypony, i am happy to say that when i write at school, the creative joices just flow. this chapter is my longs yet, and i hope for them to stay this lenght or even longer. enjoy everypony.

The group trotted toward the castle, human keeping up from behind. He had one of the weapons in his hand, looking around to find something to shoot. Twilight found this running to be time to ask some questions.

“So, what spell did you use to change yourself?” Twilight asked the large human.

“I would love to tell you, but I don’t think it is anyone’s best interest for that information to be out in the open. There is a counter for it, so in case somepony decides to change me back in the middle of fighting a Brute, they won’t be able to. Besides, why does it matter, I’m here now, and ready to fight,” the human just kept up the pace with the group without showing any signs of wearing out, but then again the armor did hide all his features.

“O.K., so what about the weapons you have on you. Can you tell me about them?” Twilight asked, hoping for an actually answer.

“Yep, this one in my hand is called a Mauler. This is just a hand-held shotgun with only five rounds per mag. The range is decent, but the real kicker is its melee ability. See this blade on the handle? It is not just for decoration. This blade can cut straight through your head with a mild swing.” He took a break, which was enough for him to hear a new noise, and a red blip to appear on his radar. “Halt. Get behind me.” He ordered and jumped to the front of the group. Literally jumped to the front and landed with a light thud.

When he landed, a deep growl could be heard in front of them. Everypony froze, except the human, he just put the Mauler up and grabbed and handle thing from his lower back. It was silent for the next few seconds, and then suddenly a table was thrown towards them, which Shining just grabbed with his magic and tossed it away. The thing though was terrifying. It was massive, at least ten feet tall and looked more of a skeleton than anything else. The arms that hung down had massive claws and were as thick as an apple tree.

The monster roared, causing the ponies to try and cover their ears. The human just stood there, looking at the creature. The creature then charged at the human, who braced himself and waited for the creature to run him into the ground. That never happened though as the creature impacted into the armored human and was stopped dead, literally dead. The human pushed the dead monster over, pulling out a weird blade.

The blade had dual prongs in the front that were 3 ½ feet long each. The blades looped into the handle he was holding keeping the blade in front of him. He then turned toward the group and started to laugh.

“What’s funny this time?” Shining Armor asked, still irritated about earlier.

“Your faces. Do any of you know what the look on your face is? It looks like this,” he said, slightly tilting his head and kept his visor looking at them.

“Um…like what? We can’t see your face,” Twilight said, slightly confused.

“Oh, sorry. Forgot I was wearing this. Anyway, I suggest we get moving. A single brute is no problem, but where there is one, there are more. I want you all safe before I go get killed,” he said, then turned and took the lead, jogging at a fast pace. The pace surprised all of them, not knowing he could run that fast.

“What do you think he means be getting killed?” Fluttershy asked Rainbow Dash

“I don’t know, but I don’t think he expects to make it through this in one piece. I’ll go ask him.” She flew up to him and before she could say anything, he answered her question.

“I don’t think I’ll make it. I might be faster, stronger, smarter, and more powerful than any being around, but even I can fall on bad luck. You pray for the best, and prepare for the worst. I have the best weapons possible, but surviving this will be no picnic; this will soon become a warzone, and I need to get ready and civvies out of harm’s way a sap. So please go back and allow me to focus,” he said in a manner that told Rainbow Dash she had met her match in thick headedness.

The group kept moving until they were right in front of the castle. The doors were open so all ran in to find both Princess Celestia and Luna standing there, wondering what was going on.

“What is the meaning of-” Celestia started.

“No time to explain. Close these doors and build up a barricade once I get out there. I suggest getting your best guards and yourselves prepared in case I fail. Things are about to get complicated,” the armored human told the Princess, not even giving her time to process what was happening as he ran right back out the door carrying a long weapon the was made of just metal.

“Twilight, would you mind explaining who that was and what is going on here?” Celestia asked her star student.

“Apparently, that was Anthony. He used some transformation spell and changed into that. We were eating lunch when-”

“When suddenly, this weird creature started coming towards us and fired some red globes at us and blew the table up into the air. Anthony magiced the table on its side and got us all behind it. Then whoosh, a bright light and there stood this creature that was him. And he grabbed some round blue thing on his belt that looked like a blue berry and threw it at the creature and the thing exploded in a mist of blue.

“He then got us all here, but on the way he fought this gimongus beast that almost ran us over. But he stood his ground and stabbed it with a two bladed tuning fork thing. He tried to make a joke, but that helmet killed it. And now we’re here.” Pinkie ended, winded by the amount of information she crammed out. The Princesses just stood there, wondering what to do next.

“I say we do as he said, and barricade the door. That will at least give us something to do. I will go out and try to find him, sister. I wish to speak with him anyway,” Luna said, flying out the door to find the human.

The Spartan

Anthony was laying on his stomach, holding the sniper rifle and peering down the sight. The reapers weren’t here in a sizable force, but they still were a threat. The human waited for more to walk down the street, his radar told him just one was left. Probably just a Marauder, but still a problem.

Luna landed right next to the Spartan and was about to speak, when he held one finger up to silence her for just a second. The Marauder came out of cover, rifle ready when a .50 cal shot tore his head to ribbons. The Spartan than got up and looked at the Lunar Princess.

“I’m surprised you hadn’t found me earlier,” he stated matter-a-factly.

“It was more difficult hen I thought. I didn’t know humans could move so far in such a short time span?” Luna said, trying to see him through the visor.

“Not all humans, just me. Now, if you will excuse me. I have some Reaper forces to destroy.” And with that he jumped from the tall building right onto the ground, cracking the cobble stone road. He then took off towards the direction the Reapers had come from.

Luna just stared at him as he ran. Not even an earth pony would make it down that without some form of injury. How strong is he? Looks like it’s time for some aerial reconnaissance. Luna thought as she spread her wings and took flight.

She flew around the lower half of the city, looking for the human. This took her half an hour, and still hadn’t found him. She only found the dead bodies of his kill; Husks, Ravagers, Marauders, Cannibals, Brutes, and Banshees. But no him.

Just as she was about to give up, she found him. Or really he found her.

“Nice view up her, isn’t it?” Luna heard behind her. She flung around and found the human flying there, like he wasn’t even fazed by it. “You know it’s impolite to stare. And I know, how am I flying? Technology is a powerful tool. This suit has a built in jetpack, Armor lock, Invisibility, and Holographic Double. Any other questions?” he asked while Luna shook the confusion out.

“Yes, how did you come up with that look?” Luna asked, starting from the beginning.

“In my world, there is a game called “Halo” and this armor is from it. This variant is custom, but they all are in the game. The built-in jetpack though, I got from a comic book series called “Iron Man.” The Armor Lock, Invisibility, and Holographic Double are also from “Halo.” I chose this though because it seemed like a god idea at the time.

“Spartans, that’s what I am, are the cream of the crop, best of the best. They make the best look like rookies. A Spartan is 280 lbs. of pure muscle, a reaction time that is not chartable, and has a mental capacity that is 300% faster than the average human. We can left twice our body weight easy, and are trained from young to be the soldier the UNSC needed them to be. Spartans were later augmented with unbreakable bone, high muscle density, the thought capacity, natural regeneration, perfect night vision, natural zoom capabilities, and the best military training ever.

“These statistics do not include the armor. The armor is the MJOLNIR mark V variant. The suit itself is a thousand pounds, made of titanium grade-A, ship armor, has a crystal layer to speed up reaction time, and has a motion tracker with an IFF transponder in it. The suit also has the capability to carry all the weapons you see now. The shielding on this system is powerful enough to take a tank round twice before the shields start to fail. Any more questions?” he finished, giving more information then Princess Luna thought. She took a minute to think of the next inquiry.

“Is this the real you, or a copy of someone else?”

“Both. This is my real thoughts and action, but I took the body so I would be of some assistance. A regular human would have died long ago, but a Spartan can survive a vast punishment long before the thought of breaking even enters their mind. I think I still have most of my facial features stayed the same, but more tone. I would offer to show you now, but that is a big NO on so many levels. Later definitely. I think I have time for… never mind. Big on in bound, heading, this way!” he said, pulling out a weapon from behind him that was purple and aimed it at where something was coming.

The thing was like a massive bird/bug hybrid that had been skeletonized. The thing also had what looked like technology in it, and there where three of them. The Spartan depressed on the trigger and gained purple bolts of plasma flying toward his targets. The front creature took all the shots and started to melt and then crashed into a nearby building, which was the only one that time. The second one crashed right into the Spartan, and took him into another part of Canterlot on the ground, while Luna was engaged in combat with the third.

The Harvester that had grabbed Anthony thought it had the upper hand, until the Spartan brought out his Energy Sword. The sword sliced through its left wing and tore a large section to ribbons. The Harvester howled and started to crash, but the Spartan wasn’t going to let off that easy. He took another grenade, primed it, and flew right to the beast to deliver the present. What he didn’t expect for the Harvester to grab him and hold on with all its strength.

The two plummeted with a primed grenade close enough to kill both of them in three seconds. The Spartan did the only thing he could; throw the grenade into the beast’s jaws and prayed that his armor itself would protect him after his shields died. The explosion did its job at killing the Harvester, and his shields. The claws unfortunately did not loosen up at all. The explosion had also sent him in a spiral, giving him no sense of up.

Breaking the claws would have been done sooner had he known how close he was to the ground. The impact would have broken all his bone and killed him, but thanks to the augment and titanium armor, he just going to be sore in the morning. And now had a few dents in his fresh armor, those things are not cheap to fix.

He crawled out of the rubble and attempted to fly, to find that his jetpack had been damaged in the crash.

Shit. That might be an issue later. He thought. Fuck! Luna is still up there fight one of these things. Damn it. Where the hell is she anyway?

When he finished that thought, the third Harvester fell on top of its fallen brother, died too. Luna fluttered down, standing in front of the Spartan.

“Damn and I thought I was tough. Well that’s some good news. Harvesters only do combat when other enemy forces are no longer available. This means they should all be dead. Now we have to find the portal they came from. My guess is that it is or was here in Canterlot. Any idea where that might be?” The Spartan asked, appearing to look Luna over, his helmet hiding his features.

“Yes, some of the guards that had made it to the castle before you said this started in near the south gate. Inside the gate. I think that this might be a good place to start,” Luna said, earning an approving nod from the Spartan.

“Then I guess we have no time to waste,” he said, taking off on foot, confusing Luna.

“Um, I thought you could fly?”

“I could, but the crash damaged it, so now I’m grounded. Running is my only option. I think though I would win in a race there against you, with you flying.”

“Oh, really. And what makes you think that?” Luna was shooting a questioning glare at the Spartan.

“With this suit, I can maintain 45 miles per hour easy. A full sprint for about ten minutes is 75 Mph. I think I would win,” the Spartan said, adding to his laundry list of skills at his disposal.

“Fine then, let’s race. And if you’re so confident that you’ll win, how about we place a wager on it?” Luna suggested, adding a devilish smile at the end.

“All right, if I win, then you have to do what I say for a full twenty-four hours.”

“And if I win, then I think I want you to do what I say for a full twenty-four hours. Deal?” Luna said, sticking her hoof out.

“Deal.” And the two shook on it. And thus began the race as the two took off for the southern gate to close the portal.

The Southern Gate

The Spartan made it to the Gate first and was completely exhausted. He was so tired that he didn’t notice the Banshee come up to him and grab him.

He had no time to react and had his combat knife in the Banshee’s neck, but not before she jabbed him right in a kink in his armor that now had a nice three inch long gash that went half way into his left lung. He hit the ground and started to cough. He removed his helmet to get some fresh air and found he was coughing up blood.

“Shit, that’s going to ruin my day,” he said as he got up and staggered at the portal. The thing just needed a high energy force to disable, and Anthony had an idea. He took his last plasma grenade and primed it. The grenade was then thrown at the portal just before it exploded, so all the energy was in the portal.

The portal faltered and sputtered. It finally collapsed and was gone forever. The Spartan inspected his success before collapsing on the ground from blood loss. The last thing he saw was Luna’s figure descending toward him like an angel.

Chapter 9

A/N: Powerthirst does help. thank you all who follow this story, i promise that i will attempt to pump out chapters as often as possible. i think that this chapter is pretty good, and adds more to the plot than before. and May the force be with you.

The sun shined through the blinds, just like every other day. But unlike every other day, the city of Canterlot was in a state of repairing from the issue of the past day. The cleanup of Reaper forces was going by quickly; the bodies piled up in a single place and burned. Families had been claiming those who died from the Reaper monsters, but for the most part, only a dozen had been killed; guards and civilians alike.

For one though, he was just starting to regain conscious from the past day. The room he was in a private hospital room, and at the moment he was alone. Waking up from the experience that he went through was no easy task. He opened his eyes, and started to regret it. The pain in his lungs was high and the dull pain all over his body kept him immobile.

“Fuck, I knew this was going to hurt, but god damn. Now I know what it feels like to kiss a freight train,” he said to himself as the doctor walked in.

“Ah, good, you’re awake. I was hoping that you would wake up soon, or else things could have gotten complicated. Now I have a few questions,” the doctor began, but was then silenced quickly.

“Just give it to me straight, how bad is it?” the human said, trying to sit up. He failed and lay back down.

“Alright, your left lung was lacerated and you were bleeding profusely. The rest of your bones have a thin layer of bruising on them, adding to the pain of us having to stitch up your lung and side. I recommend you to remain in bed and rest, which is what your body needs now. We don’t have blood for you, so you are going to have moments of dizziness and slight confusion from lack of blood. Is there anything I can do that can better accommodate you?” the doctor asked, having a look of slight compassion on his face.

“Yes, in my one of my pockets on my armor, there is a syringe with a powerful pain-reliever in it. If you could get that, I would greatly appreciate it. Also, can you inform Princess Luna that I am fine and tell her I won? She’ll know what I mean,” he requested, gaining a nod and assurance that the message and pain-relief will be sent and received.

The Spartan was left alone again with only his thoughts. The minutes went by, before he noticed that he was in bed, naked. He laid there contemplating why he had no pants on, when he remembered his lung and the total body damage, and brushed it off as the doctors are slightly retarded. He would ask for a gown later.

Of the ones he wanted to see, Luna was the first to arrive. She flew in, blasting the door open just to see if it was true that her love had awoken. She saw him in the bed, blanket covering him, and hugged him until he was having trouble breathing, more than before. Luna saw this and quickly apologized and let go of him with some reluctance.

“Damn, I knew you missed me, but you don’t have to choke me out. Ouch, that hurt too. I’m actually in ungodly pain right now, and all I have going for me now is the fact that the doctor is getting something for me,” the Spartan said, just as the doctor reentered the room. He was carrying the syringe that the Spartan had asked for. Without a moment’s hesitation, the human grabbed the pain-reliever and through the blanket half off of him to reveal his upper right thigh.

The next part half-concerned the doctor, the human jabbed that needle right into the biggest vein in the leg and pushed half of the liquid into himself. Instantly, the Spartan’s eyes went from half-asleep, to fully awake and functional. He then jumped out of bed and wrapped the blanket around his waist to hide himself. The two only saw him in bed one second and the next standing with a blanket on him.

“How…how are you out of bed? You shouldn’t be up at all. Your blood pressure is low and over exertion of your body can tear your stitches or further injury you skeleton. Now back in bed, before I call in security to get up back in bed and unable to move,” the doctor said, being very serious, but didn’t expect the human to just laugh and to walk around the bed and kneel down in front of the doctor, to be down on his level.

“I’m going to tell you once, and only once. My body has a natural regenerative property that will have my lung working at peak proficiency. My bones will stop being unbearable painful at around the same time, but that is a few days away. My blood pressure is actually back up and fine. Now, I need you to make more of this.” He held up the syringe to the doctor. “This is no pain killer, this is pure adrenaline. This has enough concentration to wake up a dead elephant with only an eighth, I used only half, but it will wear off in about nine hours, so you have until then. If not, I will collapse where I am standing at that point in time from the pain coming back at one shot. Now I have but one more thing,” he said, standing back up. “Where are my pants?”

The doctor looked at him like he was crazy, considering that ponies never wear pants. The human shook his head and pointed at the blanket around his waist.

“When you got me out of the armor, I had black clothes on, where are they now?’ he asked, hoping that would jog the doctor’s memory. The doctor just looked like the human was crazy, until he remember something.

“Yaw, when the armor just popped off, we had to cut the clothing off, so to properly assess the damage to your body. A Miss Rarity came by and said she would like to fix this up and to make some outfits for you. I would suggest going and seeing her for your clothes. I’m sorry, but I don’t think that others would mind if you…” the doctor wondered off, hoping the Spartan would pick up on it.

“Actually, it’s more of the fact that humans are not very hairy, and our parts are very noticeable, especially when I have been genetically altered to be bigger, stronger, faster, and smarter, I don’t think that it would be appropriate for me to run around in nothing. I will keep the blanket until I arrive at Rarity’s. Luna, do you know where we could find her?” Anthony asked, finally making the doctor understand why the need for clothing.

“Yes, we can actually leave now you are able to move,” Luna said, regaining a look that was of relief, no matter how faint it was. Nothing escaped the eyes of a Spartan. He just nodded and the two left the hospital and walked to the room Rarity had been placed in.

The walk lasted about ten minutes, with the princess conversing with the human the whole time about different tactics that the guard could implement to strength their defenses. All the tactics where universal in practice, but different in the field; the reacting time of both side, the numbers on both sides, and the length of time that had eclipsed since the beginning of the battle. The two kept talking and walking, ignoring all other ponies as the two talked.

The two finally arrived at Rarity’s room and Luna was the one to knock on the door.

“Come in~” came the sing-song reply. The two walked in and found the room an organized disaster. Different fabric hung on odd holders, and Rarity was in front of a sewing machine, stitching up some clothing before them. “Oh good. We all thought that you wouldn’t be up and moving for a few days. I took the liberty of fixing that outfit the doctors cut to help you. I didn’t know if you would want your old clothes, so I just kept them. They have been helpful in my forming you a new wardrobe; I am still having trouble with the pants part.”

“You don’t have to do that Rarity. I will probably just wear the clothes I had on earlier. Those are designed with comfort and effectiveness, not much on style but that I don’t care too much about anyway,” Anthony said, looking around for the clothes.

“Don’t care about fashion! This is not acceptable. I will not have my new friends and savior running around without some since of fashion. I completely insist, and nothing you say or do will change my mind, so you can either help me on what you want to wear, or you can let me pick it for you,” Rarity said, ending all arguments on the issue.

“Fine, but can you first get my clothes, I don’t feel like wearing this blanket longer than I have to.”

“Oh yes. They are right here,” she said, picking them up with magic and levitating them over to the human. He grabbed them and placed the shirt on first. He then just dropped the blanket with both mares watching and put on his pants. Rarity couldn’t help but blush and look away; surprised he could just drop the blanket without any hesitation. Luna couldn’t take her off of his member.

Now that is something to remember for later, Luna thought, before the Spartan found the two with such different expressions.

“You didn’t have to look away if you didn’t want to; I don’t think I have a reason to be embarrassed. I am well in the category of ‘Damn!’” the Spartan said, making Rarity and Luna blushes deeper and not make eye contact. The human just chuckled and was ready to help Rarity on his new clothing line.

“Right, so. What are you thinking to be your new wardrobe?” Rarity asked. The human contemplated the thought when a pair of guards walked into the room.

“Princess Luna, Princess Celestia has requested yours and the human’s presence in the throne room now. We have been sent to escort you,” the guard stated, leaving no room for interpretation or error.

“Now why would Celestia wish to see us? Wait let me guess; it has something to do with yesterday, doesn’t it? You know what, don’t answer, we’ll find out from her. After I finish with Miss Rarity and get some food in my system,” the Spartan told the guards, making them look at each other and shrugged their shoulders. They had no choice but to wait on the Spartan. “Now, Miss Rarity, I think that the clothes should be something like what I have now, but with a different pattern on them. Do you think you could come up with a few for me like that?”

“Why of course darling. I could do that in a jiffy. Is there any design you want in mind?”

“Can one of them be a forest camouflage, the rest can be whatever you think is best. We’ll be back later to check up on you after we have met with everyone else. We have to go now, good luck Rarity,” and with that, the Spartan and the Princess were both escorted to the throne room to meet with Princess Celestia.

Canterlot throne room

Princess Celestia was sitting at the throne, reading a report of some kind when her sister walked in with the human right next to her. The report was put aside as she greeted her guests, putting on a faux smile. The Spartan saw right through it. Luna was more oblivious as she was more concerned as to why Celestia wanted to see them both.

“Now that you two are here, would either of you mind for cup of tea and some-” Celestia started off, before being interrupted.

“Cut to the chase Celestia. I can see that you really don’t care about drinking tea with us. And you can remove that smile of yours, you’re not fouling me with it,” the Spartan said, throwing Celestia off for a moment before she recovered, smile gone and ready for business.

“Fine then, I have asked you to here because of yesterday. I have observed that without you we would have lost, Anthony. But I don’t believe that having you here is going to be beneficial to everypony. I think that your skills and body would be useful with Shepard. I will be sending her back to her world today and I want you to join her on her mission to save her galaxy. I don’t need to inform you on how bad it is over there,” Celestia began, not expecting the next to happen.

“Fuck no. I am not a soldier that will just go where the battle is. I ate war and fighting. I might be good at it, but that doesn’t mean I want to be face-to-face with death on any basis. I shall not go with Shepard, for a number of reasons; First, I am still in serious condition from the battle yesterday, second, my equipment is damaged and needs repairs that are not available there, and third, I don’t want to leave somepony I love just after I met her. I don’t feel that would be the best way to go about with a relationship. Also…” Anthony began, fired up and looking at Celestia like she had the plague.

“I was talking with Shepard, and she was certain they could fix your injuries and your armor with almost no major change in resources. And I know that you and Luna are together, but a relationship can grow stronger from being apart.”

“But not this early in it. That can actually damage or destroy it with no chance of repair. I know that in my world, the only time a couple is separated this early is when the one of the two is a soldier, or dies in a horrible accident. It is not natural for lovers to be separated early on in a relationship without consequences and-” Anthony argued back.

“This is not what I need to hear, I just needed you to go with Shepard. So now I enact that because of my rule as princess, I order you to go with Shepard back to her home land and-” Celestia was now standing and walked toward the Spartan. The human squared his shoulders and prepared for a real shouting match.

“I don’t care about your ‘executive rule.’ I don’t want to go with Shepard. Nothing will get me to go with her. I’m not leaving this peaceful land to go fight in a war that is not mine. I shall not leave the one I love, just as I found her. I shall fight for my right to go where I please, as I please! No order from anyone will make me go!” the Spartan said, getting louder with each word. Celestia was within three feet and started to use the Royal Canterlot Voice on the Spartan.

“YOU HAVE BEEN WELCOMED TO THIS LAND WITH OPEN HOOVES, AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY MY KINDNESS!”

“Your kindness? I don’t remember needing anyone’s permission to stay in a land that knows only peace and love. Tell me the real reason you don’t want me here in Equestria, because I would love to know?” the Spartan questioned.

“I don’t think you shouldn’t stay, I think that…”

“Bullshit and you know it. I. Want. The. TRUTH!” the Spartan yelled, finally doing some damage, not to Celestia, but himself. Anthony began coughing and hacking. He hunched slightly over and spat on the floor, adding a red glob on the carpet. Celestia took a step back as Luna ran forward to comfort her lover.

“Oh my, Anthony, are you okay? Why are you…?” Luna didn’t finish as Anthony got back up and wiped some blood off of his cheek.

“I tore a stitch from over exerting my lung; one lung isn’t enough to yell at people. I’ll be fine, just need to rest for a second,” he said, breathing heavy. He walked over to one of the pillars and used it to lean on. Luna staid right beside him the entire time. Celestia only stood there in shock at the will and strength he has, and knew that she almost made the biggest mistake in her life; Luna leaned down and planted a kiss on the Spartan, even though she knew that there was a chance that it was not clean. Celestia dropped all formalities and walked over to the couple.

“I’m sorry. I have no right to tell you where you must go. I just didn’t think that you were right for Luna. I want her to be happy, and I thought that I knew what was best for you. Now I know that you two are meant for each other, and I won’t separate you. Take good care of her Anthony, she needs someone who will be there to protect her when she can’t,” Celestia said, looking sadden, and full of guilt.

“I understand, but I think that I could at least help Shepard. I have a few blue prints I can form that have weapons that will destroy a Reaper fast and effectively. I will not go though. I would risk tearing my lung more, just to get my point across if I had to,” he said, coughing some more with no blood this time. Celestia nodded, and was about to help him, when an explosion ripped the throne room doors wide open.

On the other side was Pinkie Pie, holding a massive cannon. The doors were covered in confetti and cakes.

“Shit, this can’t end well,” Anthony said, still leaning on the pillar. Pinkie zoomed up to him and started to bombard him with party. There is no other way to describe it. One second the throne room was empty, the next there was a party taking over the room. Ponies occupied the room in every available corner, and the injured Spartan was stuck right smack dab in the middle. Luna was disorientated and looking all around, for she had become separated from her love and could figure out where he was.

The Spartan stood up and attempted to find Luna. The ponies were unfortunately blocking all view, which is hard to believe because the Spartan was almost seven, while maybe Celestia came up to his chin. He cursed under his breath, and turned toward the pillar. I can climb that. He thought, looking up it. He gripped the sides of the pillar and started to climb up it like an Olympic pro. The climb was easy, but staying on the wall was the hard part. There were no support beams for him to grab, so he had to rely on his own strength. His bones did not agree with him though. Holding up 280 pounds of muscle is no easy task for the bruised skeletal system.

He finally discovered her over on the other end, talking with Twilight Sparkle, probably trying to find him. He decided to have a little fun. Staying as quiet as possible, he jumped from pillar to pillar and over the crowd of ponies partying. The band on stage was playing some dance song, but he Spartan didn’t pay it any heed. He finally made it over to Luna and Twilight, but was in some pain. His bones were hurting from jumping and landing on the pillars. He took a second to catch his breath, before sliding down toward the two mares.

Half way down, he decided to jump into the pair. He hit the ground hard, and scared both Luna and Twilight right out of their skins. They screamed a little, before they realized that it was only Anthony. Luna gave him a look that told him she was slightly amused, and Twilight was trying to get her breath back. The Spartan was not doing too well though from the landing, falling from about twenty feet will jar your bones around.

“Ugh, that was not a soft landing. I’ll pay for that later,” he said, looking at the now calm mares. “I think that somewhere to sit would be a good choose, I don’t want to tear my lung up. Someplace quieter would be great,” he said, trying not to yell, but the noise was too much for that. The two just nodded, and led him over to a corner that was unoccupied and farthest from the band. The noise level was tolerable.

The two took their seats; while the human had a hard time finding a way to sit that did not involve the floor. His height in this case was a hindrance, so any type of chair he would sit in would raise him above the table, making it so he would have to lean over just to eat. The Spartan just took the floor and got it over with. He sat cross-legged and was actually almost level with the table. The two mares took notice of this, but couldn’t think of a way to fix it.

Luna leaned over a place a kiss on the human’s cheek. “All right, now that we’re together and I got scared, what should we do now?” Luna asked, still slightly mad at how the Spartan was literally able to get the drop on her.

“I don’t know about you, but I need to take a short break. I jumped from pillar to pillar, just to get over here. And to slid down another one and landing on a hard floor, does not sit well with one’s bones. Especially if they have a layer of bruising on them,” the Spartan said, wincing a little as he leaned forward so he didn’t have to raise his voice too much. “I would enjoy it though if we just were able to actually just relax. Yesterday was a pain in the ass, and it still is.”

Behind Luna was Shining Armor. We must have been dragged into the party by the mass of ponies that stampeded their way into the throne room, courtesy of Pinkie Pie. Armor was still mad by the way he walked and looked. The Spartan had a bad feeling about this.

“And I half expected you to be in a hospital bed for the next week. When I heard that you were up and moving around, I had to see for myself. I guess the rumors are true, and Pinkie Pie wasn’t lying to me. I still don’t like you, but I can’t ignore the fact that you saved everyponies life yesterday, so I’ll let you off with a one day reprieve before I do anything,” Shining said, turning around, but was stopped by the Spartan speaking up.

“What do you mean, ‘before you do anything?’ I may be in some pain, but pain is just another factor in war that the body uses to register that you are not healed. It does not restrict me to anyone place or activity. Now what is this, ‘thing’ you wanted to do?” the Spartan asked, eyeing the unicorn. The unicorn eyed back and got a devilish smile on his face.

“I was going to challenge you to a duel, for disrespecting me and my guards, but I don’t think that you’re-”

“I accept,” the Spartan said, surprising the two mares and Shining Armor. “I might be in some pain, but as I said, it does not restrict my movements. Now, since I am the challenged, I chose that we shall battle in the training grounds in one hour. The rest will be determined at the time and location. Sped the word that the captain is about to get his ass kick by a wounded Spartan,” Anthony said, standing up to full height, but kept a neutral face on. If any were able to read his thoughts thought, it was a completely different story.

His mind was going in every direction, just to figure out how he was going to even fight him.

“Good, I’ll have the word sped around then. I’ll see you in an hour.” And Shining turned and left, not saying another word to anypony else, not even his sister Twilight.

Luna turned to her lover and had a look of concern in her eyes. She had no clue as to why he would accept, when just climbing up a pillar hurt him. Twilight was wondering why her brother would even allow this to happen. She was remembering when he would have never even thought of dueling somepony, but now will do it without hesitation.

“You don’t have to duel him, you know,” Luna said after Shining left.

“I know, but it has to be done. It’s not the issue, but the principal of it. I insulted him, and now he wants revenge. I am doing this to appeal to his honor, after I had ripped it away from him. I need to fight him, but I won’t just let him win, it will be a fight he will never forget.”

A/N Dun dun duuuun. cliff hanger. dont you just love those. *ducks behind chair as lamp passes head*

Chapter 11

A/N: hello everypony, this weekend is the only weekend this month that i will be free, so i will focus all my energy on writing the next chapter and watching anime. i need sleep though, so i will finish what i can tonight, and probably post on sunday at the latest.

The moon was shining on all of Canterlot as families rested their heads, or workers got to the late job. The night court is set up the same as Celestia’s day court; the representative that has waited the longest goes first. Luna had about three nights worth ponies that she needed to see. Most she would just dismiss because they came from her sister and she had already dismissed them. They’re sneaky that way.

And their was no hiding it. When they pass over Luna the sheet with their plan, it already has the seal from Celestia that denied them their petition. Luna quickly reads the petition as the pony talks, and then most of the time will dismiss them, just as her sister has done. Only the ones with plans that could potentially help Equestria will Luna pass, like the plan this one stallion had. It involved a type of militia for far off towns that are to far out to receive aid from Canterlot. The militia would be all volunteers, and would be trained in the same manner as the royal guard, but answer to the town mayor, not Shining Armor or Celestia or Luna.

The court went on its way at the same pace as always; slow and boring. Luna had to put on a half-interested look, so as not to look bored. Her mind would drift though, as it always does. The only difference though was that all her thoughts went toward the love of her life, which had to stay in a hospital room for at least another three hours. The night court wasn’t due to break for lunch for another four hours. No amount of day dreaming was going to shorten that time.

Hospital room 215

The human was busy away at the project he had laid on himself. Papers, compasses, rulers, pencils, chalk, and for some reason a cupcake where all piled around him in an organized mess. He had already eaten breakfast and had finished the first of four blueprints to assist Shepard in her campaign against the Reapers. It was quick work using the knowledge in the Spartan’s mind, but Anthony had to be careful. If the solder in him came out, he would immediately destroy all the blueprints, in defense for the UNSC. Most of it though had already been mentally transferred to Anthony’s mind anyway. This was a process he had begun right out the gate.

He knew that information was power, so take as much information as possible when the Spartan was fighting the Reapers. Now all that was left was high security information, but that was open to Anthony freely. With the second blueprint under way, nothing would distract him from the work, except maybe an army of concerned friends.

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh, youraliveyouraliveyouralive, we were all like is he fine and I was like duh of course he’s fine and we should go say hi but Twilight was all like he might need his rest but then we learned that you were following Princess Luna’s schedule so we thought it would be awesome if we came to visit you while you were awake and here we are!” Pinkie Pie said, jumping in the hospital room, causing more of a mess. The rest of the ponies entered the room, half shaking their heads.

“We are sorry darling for allowing Pinkie Pie in here first, but there wasn’t much we could do,” Rarity said.

“That’s fine; just a little warning next time would be great. I might need to protect a project from flying around the room,” Anthony joked, lightening the mood greatly.

“Here allow me to help,” Twilight said, using here magic to pick up all the papers and organize them back on the table the human was using to do his work. “What are you working on? Maybe I can help.”

“I don’t think you’ll be much help. I’m making blueprints for Shepard when she returns back home. These are weapons that will assist in the protection of her world. These are actually very easy to make, but only I know how to make them. Sorry, but I’m free now if you wish to do something,” Anthony said. Pinkie’s face lit up immediately, but Twilight was skeptical.

“Aren’t you still healing?” Twilight asked, not knowing what has happened since he has been in the hospital.

“According to the doctor, I still need to remain for observation, but in reality I’m as healthy as a horse,” the human said, gaining confused looks from his friends. He released a sigh before correcting the issue. “It’s a saying on Earth. It means I’m perfectly fine. Horses are actually very popular animals for people to have, and are taken well care of. There will probably fraises I’ll use at different times when certain thing happen.”

Nods of understanding shook through the whole room. Rainbow Dash flew near the human, observing his muscles actually for the first time.

“Hay, do all you humans have as big muscles as you do?” Rainbow Dash inquired.

“Ha ha, no not all humans. These aren’t normal muscles anyway. This body I chose was designed specifically for combat. The muscle has been genetically enhanced to be more dense then that of a brick wall. The muscle is so toned out, that I can eat nothing but sweets and junk food, and I won’t lose an ounce of muscle. Or gain any fat because of how high my metabolism is. This body is made for war, but I won’t use that part as long as I don’t have to. Any more questions?” the human asked the contingency of friends.

“Um, well, I um have a question…if that’s ok with you,” Fluttershy said in a low voice. “Why do you fight? I mean, on that day when the monsters came, you could have run like us and not have put yourself in that danger.”

“I could have ran and hid, but that would have rested heavily on my conscious. Besides, I am the only one who actually knew how to fight the Reapers so I couldn’t just stand by and watch everything unfold in front of me.”

“Yes, but you act like it wasn’t even a hard chose to make. You make it said like you were looking for a reason to fight,” Twilight said, picking up with Fluttershy.

“That’s because I didn’t think, I just acted when I used the transformation spell. I felt that I had to protect you all, so I did. Even though you might not need my help, I will still help. It’s in my nature to help those who need that little extra push to help them. If fighting an army Reapers helps good, if cooking part of a meal helps, I’ll do that too,” he said, smiling the whole time. He was glad to have friends that cared. And so did them when they swarmed him with a group hug. The doctor walked in and found the scene. He shook his head and waited for the group to break.

“Mr. Anthony, I have some good news for you. In light of your resent achievement, and the fact that we know you’ll do it anyway, you are free to go. Have a good rest of the night, and please don’t get injured again, or else we might have to give you a permanent room here,” the doctor joked. The whole group cheered loudly. The doctor just nodded and left the room, probably going to go find a room to rest in.

“Well, I guess I can leave now. I wonder who is going to get this stuff though. Or where I’ll be sleeping?” Anthony said, looking around the room. “You know what; I’ll just bring it in a bag and ask Luna later. So what do you want to do?”

“How about we all go to the Canterlot Spa? I hear it is the best in all of Equestria,” Rarity suggested.

“What about something you want to do, Anthony. We just want to hang out with you, so anywhere is fine with us,” Twilight said, saving Anthony from having to spend the night in a spa. He contemplated it for a few seconds before suggesting they inform Princess Luna first, see if she might be able to join them. And tell which room Anthony will be staying in.

They all agreed and after packing up all of the blueprints and other tools in a bag, they left for the castle. The hospital was empty except for a few nurses walking from each room to insure patent health. The group quietly made their way to the street so as to begin their night of fun and friendship.

The streets were lit just right so normal ponies could see enough not to crash. Anthony was able to see as though it was the middle of the day, thanks to the Spartan augments. The group made their way through the mostly empty streets. The night was beautiful, and all the stars shone extra bright. All the shops were closed and it gave an uneasy feeling to the Spartan. He didn’t like how empty it was, but Anthony shook it off as it was only night time.

The walk was fine toward the castle, and would have taken no time, except for the conglomerate of friends past what appeared to be a club. A line of ponies were standing outside waiting to enter, having to pass through a tough door stallion. Heavy bass could be heard a little on the street. The group stopped as the human was holding his position in front of the club. The name of the establishment was “Drop That” in neon lights. Not very creative, but got the message out.

“Now darling, you don’t want to go in there. That place is so uncouth, not even Rainbow Dash would want to enter. I don’t think any of us would enjoy it,” Rarity said, looking at the place in disgust. The human just shook his head and smiled.

“I think I know where I want to go,” Anthony said, smiling even bigger.

“Uh, lookie here, Sugarcube, I be a thinken that this place here might not the best for all us,” Applejack said.

“Have any of you even been to a club before?” Anthony asked.

“Well, no. but we heard some things about it that aren’t too good,” Twilight said. “Like the type of music they play, and the drinks they serve are not for the weak.”

“Ya, not even I want to try my luck in one of those,” RD said, looking at the place like it was a curse.

“And the stallion at the door looks mean,” Fluttershy said, hiding behind Applejack.

“Oh come on. Now all of you are acting like this is another Everfree Forest. I say, after we talk with Luna we all come back and face this together. And I promise I will be the only who will walk out sober tonight. If you all don’t have a good time, then we know not to let me pick again, agreed?” Anthony said, getting them hook-line and sinker. The girls pondered the proposed idea for a few second before agreeing and continuing their march to the castle.

Canterlot Castle: throne room

Princess Luna had finished with another pony that had already failed at Celestia’s day court, and was about to go for a new round when a certain group of friends walked into the over crowded throne room. The group was escorted to the front of the line so as to speak with Luna immediately. The other ponies would have made an argument, but the human stopped them all because of just his presence. Everypony in the group bowed to Luna, but Anthony saluted her, knowing that he had to keep some formality in public.

“Rise, and at ease. You don’t have to bow to me or salute me, we are friends and friends don’t need to use that level of formality,” Princess Luna said.

“If you will excuse me, but I believe some level of formality, at least with me, is appropriate, considering that we are not public knowledge,” Anthony said in a very logical manner.

“Fine, but only until then. Now what is it that you wish to discuss? I see that Anthony is up and moving, so I can guess they released him and he needs a place to sleep, am I correct?” Luna said, having a neutral look on her face, but her eyes told another story of fire and passion in her for the human.

“Correct, so where will I be staying?”

“Where you stayed the night before the attack would suffice I think,” Luna said, for no pony knew where Anthony slept that night.

“Understood. I’ll have one of the guards bring my stuff to the room. The rest of us are going to the club when you are finished up here. Did you know they have never been to a club before?” Anthony said in a hushed voice.

“Neither have I. Celestia doesn’t think I should spend my time out partying. So I’ll be by later, probably for the hour lunch. See you all in about two and a half hours,” Luna said, gaining a devilish smile.

“All right, I promise not to get these girls too drunk before you arrive,” he said, chuckling a little. The elements just tilted their heads, not knowing what he was talking about. He started to laugh harder, so he led the ponies out of the throne room. They all started to question him after they left the sights of “important” ponies.

“What do you mean by not too drunk? Is that what ponies do at these club places?” Twilight asked for the group.

“That’s just one of the things they do there. There are also music, dancing, and on occasion ‘other activities,’” Anthony said, using air quotes to make a point.

“Like what?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Other activities. It all depends on what is going through your mind at the time. People can discover a lot about themselves when drinking is involved. I suggest you all watch your liquor intake tonight. You all seem like light weights,”

“Oh, really. And what is that supposed to mean?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“That means that if we were to drink the same amount of alcohol, you would suffer from alcohol poisoning and more than likely die. I can drink till the whole bar is empty, and still be healthy. Drunk and not in a right frame of mind, but healthy. It’s the high metabolism, burns up the alcohol in my system to nothing in just a few moments, so it take more to get me the same level of drunk as you. Physical size matters too, bigger people can handle more alcohol then smaller ones. Now let’s go, we’re burning moon light,” Anthony said, leading the now slightly worried group to the club.

The lights on the club were still on, and the line had grown to a length that wrapped around the building. The girls all looked at it and sighed out of relief, they thought that they would never have to go in.

“Oh, well. Looks like they aren’t letting anypony else in. I guess we can’t go,” Twilight said, hoping that the human didn’t have any plans like the one he was about to use.

“So? We can still get in. Just stay behind me and we’ll be in there in no time,” Anthony said, walking right up to the door stallion. “Hey, what do you think it will take for my friends and I to get in there?”

“More then you have buddy, now back of the line,” the stallion said. He staid standing there and didn’t move.

“Not even to allow in the one who saved this city from Reaper forces the other day or the Elements of Harmony?” he asked, bulging his muscles a little to stretch the emphasis.

“That depends on you wish to prove that you are who you say?” the stallion said. Anthony reached behind himself and grasped a handle thing in his hand. He pulled it out and pressed a button on top, igniting the sword hidden away.

“That proof enough?” The stallion just stood there in shock. He nodded his head a little and allowed the seven in. The girls huffed a little as they didn’t really want to be here. “Don’t worry, I promise that tonight will be a night you might remember,” Anthony said, gaining an evil grin on his face.

The party inside had already begun, and it paid no mind to the group that walked in through the door. Anthony led the group to a corner table so they could sit, away from the heavy bass that was coming from the DJ. He then asked them all for some bits to buy drinks and food, which they all complied with.

Anthony walked to the bar and ordered some sodas for the girls and a bottle of their best tasting Vodka. Along with an order of hay fries, the money was gone quickly. He returned to the table with two trays holding the drinks and food. He laid it on the table and allowed the girls to take the drinks and place the fries in the middle of the table for all to enjoy. Anthony took a glass with some ice and poured himself a drink. He sipped from it as the girls started to eat the fries.

“What is that you’re drinking?” Rainbow Dash asked Anthony.

“Vodka, pretty good flavor to, considering the fact that I could only get this type for a cheap price. Want a taste?” he asked, holding the glass out for her to take.

“Sure, but just a taste, I don’t want to become one of those ponies that drink all the time,” RD said, taking the glass and tasting the Vodka. When it started to go down her throat, which was when she got that look on her face. “Wow, that’s strong. How can drink that?”

“Like this,” he said, and took a gulp from his glass, emptying it. He poured himself another glass and sat back in the corner seat. The music stopped for a second as the DJ got on her microphone.

“Attention all you partiers out there. We are going to have an open mic tonight, so just come on up here with a song, and you do the singin’, now let’s see who the first brave soul will be,” Vinyl Scratch said, looking out into the crowd. Anthony looked right up there and a smile covered his whole face. He set down the drink and walked right up there. The crowd though prevented him from being first, but he could wait.

“All right, next up on queue,” a bored stallion said, waving up Anthony. “What song are you going to do?”

“I have a device that will play the music through the speaker; I just need to plug it in. And do you have a guitar for a gryphon?” Anthony asked the queue line stallion.

“Ya, just take one up as you go,” the stallion said. They stood there for a few minutes as the colt who had gone up first sang. The crowd cheered when he finished the song and he walked off stage to find his group of friends. “you’re, next!”

The human walked up to the spin board and plugged in his Ipod and set it on a personal favorite of his; “One” by Metallica. The low sound of the helicopter passing by was ling enough for Anthony to get in front of the microphone and begin playing the opening guitar. The whole crowd was quiet as the human started to lead into the second guitar. He left rhythm guitar and took lead. The dual guitars played with nothing new for a few seconds, with the drums adding in their say. Bass guitar hidden in the background.

The whole instrumental opening lasted about a minutes as Anthony stood more up to the microphone and began to sing,

I can't remember anything
Can't tell if this is true or dream
Deep down inside I feel to scream
This terrible silence stops with me

Now that the war is through with me
I'm waking up, I cannot see
That there's not much left of me
Nothing is real but pain now

Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh, please God, wake me

The short wait between chorus and next verse was enough for Anthony to get a breath in,

Back in the womb it’s much to real
In pumps life that I must feel
But can’t look forward to reveal
Look to the time that I’ll live

Fed through the tube that sticks in me
Just like a wartime novelty
Tied to machines the make me be
Cut this life off from me

Hold me breath as I wish for death
Oh, please God, wake me

A quick solo came forth and Anthony delivered it quite well. The crowd started to stomp and cheer, but found that he was no where near done,

Now the world is gone
I’m just one
Oh, God, help me

Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh, please God, help me

The next part of instrumental part sent the song into a more heavy part, which led to the guitars temporarily stopping and the drums to play quick and in their own rhythm. Both guitars reentered the fray with the same speed and match the rhythm made by the drums. Anthony kept to the beat like a pro, just as the final verse took over,

Darkness, imprisoning me,
All that I see absolute horror
I cannot live, I cannot die
Trapped in myself, body my holding cell

Landmine has taken my sight,
Taken my speech, taken my hearing
Taken my arms, taken my legs

Taken my soul
Left me with in hell

The lyric ended there, the instruments all played the same tone for ten second, before the second guitar solo took charge. Anthony’s hand flew up and down the guitar with a speed that amazed all. The third solo was following and Anthony was in the zone. Nothing was in his mind, except the next note, the next strum. The solos ended and the song ran its course to the end. As the last note died, the club as a whole cheered and stomped their hooves in approval in the performance.

Anthony waved to the crowd with a hand and took his Ipod back. He replace the guitar back and left the stage. The next pony went up, but Anthony paid them no mind. He went back to his friends, who were all smiling and happy.

“Wow, we didn’t know you could sing,” Twilight said, amazment covered her face.

“Ya, that was really cool, and how you played that guitar was awesome,” Rainbow Dash commented.

“Where’d you get that song a’ yours from?” Applejack asked, the question on everyponies mind.

“It’s one of my favorite songs of all time. It’s from my world, and it was made Metallica. The group made the song in 1988, and I had left in 2012, so it’s an older song. I just really love it, and enjoyed getting up there and singing. I didn’t think you all would approve?” Anthony said, smile growing on his face.

“Well, darling. Of course we would of approve, you’re our friend aren’t you? We would never disapprove of something you want to do, unless of course it’s something extremely dangerous, then we might. But what is that song about anyway?” Rarity said, adding her comment to the mix.

“It’s about a man, who after fighting in a war survives, it tells of the hell he is unfortunately been through. It tells how he is forced to live life with out sight, speech, or hearing. He doesn’t have any limbs and is pretty much a body. That is actually what happens too, any solders will return in a condition that leaves them wishing for death. Most of the time, they are forced to live life like a helpless baby,” Anthony said, tears starting to form in everyone’s eyes, even his.

“Why did you pick the song then?” Twilight asked, the only one able to properly vocalize.

“Because I feel very passionate about veterans in my world, and I never forget those who died so I could have the freedoms I had when I was in my world. I don’t want their legacy to die,” he said, finally allowing tears to flow from his eyes, causing the rest to follow suit. They all cried for the past few minutes in their corner until they were no longer emotional. “Now, who wants to toast this night to them?” They all nodded their heads.

Anthony grabbed a few more glasses and poured everyone a glass of the Vodka he bought. The all raised their glasses and drank together. The only two not to cough were Anthony and Rainbow Dash.

“You know, its not half-bad after the first sip. Now I can actually drink it,” Rainbow said, taking a third sip of her drink.

“Don’t drink too much Rainbow, or you might get drunk before the night has even began. You might actually want to remember tonight,” Anthony said jokingly, making the others look at their drinks with a distasteful look on their faces. “A few sips won’t fuck you up, just give you a little buzz that will tell you to watch yourself. I’ll be fine with drinking three bottles and might start to get that buzz,” he said, taking a swig straight from the bottle now with his empty glass. He didn’t want them to have a bad first experience with alcohol, and they didn’t mind that he took all the Vodka either.

The DJ retook her post after a few more ponies had gone through and started to play heavy bass dance music. Pinkie Pie didn’t feel like staying at the table all night and grabbed Applejack to dance on the dance floor. Rainbow Dash and Anthony were going at the flight skills they each had, trying to see who was the better, faster, and stronger flyer; so far neither had the upper hand. Twilight started to take notes on how different ponies acted while intoxicated, while Rarity kept saying how uncouth this all was. Fluttershy was hiding in the bathroom.

Time flew by for the group of friends. Anthony and Dash called a tie, and Twilight wanted to asked Anthony about things in his world that were different. Mostly about things in his world that they didn’t have.

“Other than war, I’ve noticed your world doesn’t have religion. Religion in my world is very powerful, too powerful if you ask me. There are hundreds of different types of religion, but the three major ones are Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. They all have the same belief that there is one all powerful God that control everything and everyone. They all believe in the same God too, which baffles the hell out of me. The three groups hate each other too, and have led to wars in the past just over beliefs. The only real difference between the groups is how they worship their God.

“I don’t follow these crazy people. I believe that everything is connected in some way, shape, or form. That we are connected by some all powerful force that we can’t explain. Not necessarily a deity, but maybe an energy in all living being that binds us together. How we are connected all depends on the course you take. We have free will, and that free will determines what course in life we should take and how we live our lives. A book that was written thousands of years ago, and has been edited hundreds of times should not determine our lives for us,” Anthony took a break here to get some drink down his throat, while Twilight finished writing down a note.

“Now, this may sound a bit odd, but I am a Jedi. this is a religion that focuses on the will of you and others around you. You choose your destiny, no one, or no thing, chooses it for you. The idea has been around for a long time, but didn’t have a name until a movie came out. People actually think its fake, but it’s not and we don’t care. Just hope no pony comes around and trys to create a religion, thing won’t end well for most of you,” Anthony said, finishing his story. This gave Twilight a new look on the world, but she wasn’t ready to start anything. She believed the human on what would happen if religion was introduced to Equestria.

“Thank you, I think that I have enough information now,” Twilight said, a glazed look was over her eyes, as though so much information was clogging her mind.

“Ya, I think I just broke Twilight. I hope she doesn’t stay this way, Celestia will kill me. And we just got on each others good side to,” Anthony said to himself, for Twilight was out of it. He didn’t want to leave Twilight alone for fear that some drunk stallion thinks he might get lucky. He checked his Ipod and found that Luna should be arriving soon.

He called the rest of the girls over, except Fluttershy who was still in the bathroom, and informed them of who would be coming soon. And the situation with Twilight.

“The poor girl. How could you do such a thing to her?” Rarity said, checking to see if Twilight was fine.

“What? I didn’t do anything but answer her question, she was the one who absorbed too much information. She should be fine, I just don’t think that she should be left alone,” Anthony said, not wanting to explain why. Luckily, Applejack volunteered to watch her because she had enough of the loud dance floor and wanted to relax a little.

The club started to get quiet as Princess Luna walked in. everypony stared at her for a few seconds before returning to their partying. Anthony waved her over, knowing one of the first questions she was going to ask.

“They didn’t expect to see a princess in a club ever. That’s why it got quiet for a second, before they stopped caring. don’t worry, they don’t care anymore,” Anthony told Luna, slightly shocked, but brushed it off as the human being himself.

“Well then, what are we going to do now?” Luna asked, never been to a club before.

“I say, we begin with drinks,” Anthony said, calling over one of the servers and asked for a bottle of tequila and eight shot glasses. The mare went and fetched the bottle and glasses, and Luna pulled out some bits and paid for it. Anthony then expertly poured drinks for everyone and passed them out.

“To friends,” he said, raising his glass and clinked their glasses together. Applejack retrieved Fluttershy from the bathroom, and Twilight had recovered from the information overload. As the friends took the drinks, they found some things are not always as they seem.

Chapter 12

A/N: this might say it is the story is complete, but it's not. the next section will be more bloody and combat. it will also add more story as well. keep an eye on my blog for more information, but it will not be until after october. i want to get the idea. this chapter might be shorter, but that is all i could make.enjoy.

Water dripped down from the ceiling onto the cobble stone floor, keeping it damp and uncomfortable. No light entered the circular room, it was only illuminated by a single lantern in the middle. Shadows held a singular position on the walls. Chains on the wall held it’s captives in place.

Luna awoke from her slumber to find herself in this room. She slowly regain coconsciousness from the forced sleep. Head was pounding on her every second. She looked for a cause of her mental pain, when she finally opened her eyes. Her hooves had heavy chains on them, a pain that Luna hadn’t noticed right away. The low light wasn’t enough for her, but when she tried to use an illumination spell, nothing happened.

What is the meaning of this? Why is my magic unusable, and I am chained to this wall? Luna thought to herself as a shadow on the wall moved. She quickly moved to see what it was moving the shadow, when she found him. The human was sitting up on the wall, chains on his wrists that connected him to the wall.

“Anthony! What is going on here?” Luna asked, lifting her hooves to show the chains.

“Will, I think that it would be nice to just chain ourselves to this pretty little wall,” he said jokingly, earning a light scowl from Luna. “I’ll explain when everyone else is awake, I don’t want to waste time telling each one who woke up the same story. I say patience.”

“Patience? I don’t think patience will wake the others, and I know it won’t get us out any sooner,” Luna said, not thinking correctly still.

“I promise that a little patience will go a long way. The others will be up soon and then I can begin the process of getting us out of here. Just please wait,” Anthony said, leaning back onto the wall and waiting.

“Well, can you at least me why I can’t perform magic?”

“They placed an anti-magic ring on your horn, as well as Twilight’s and Rarity’s,” Anthony said, not leaving his wall. Luna knew that pressing him for answers would get her no where, so she waited for the others to arise. The time was short, and one by one, they all gained free thoughts. Once they were all awake, Anthony became his explanation.

“The drink we were given was drugged. It was designed to knock us all out as we left, but thanks to Luna’s increased size and my high metabolism, it took longer to work. You six were to first to start dozing off, so I got us all outside. Luna was next and so I was forced to carry most of you. Pinkie, you fell off some how and as I attempted to pick you back up, we were surrounded and one of the ponies had a knife to you throat.

“I dropped everyone and before I knew it, all of you had someone ready to slit all your throats. I had to surrender myself to keep you safe. They equipped you with anti-magic bands, and tied up all your wings. These chains are made of a type of steel that even a minotaur can’t break. The door is protected from magic, and these ponies all carry either pole arms or crossbows. So, who’s ready to escape?” the human said, earning nothing but confusion.

“How do you plan on that? You just told us how we can’t escape, so how can we?” Rainbow Dash said, skeptical on the humans abilities.

“Like this,” he said, then lifted up his hands. He took the chains in his hands and parted them with ease. The metal clanged on the ground, sending echoes through the room. He then took the cuffs and ripped them off. “Come with me if you want to live” was all that kept going through his mind, and it took a lot of will power not to say it. He removed everypony else’s and the binding as well. The group stood together and embraced for a hug, but was quickly disbarred by the human.

“Now to get rid of the door,” he said, walking over to it. He placed a single hand on it, and punched with enough force to send to door into the guard pony on the other side. The group of friends stood shocked for a few seconds, before recovering. They all moved out the room and walked past the dead guard. Anthony picked up the dead guards pole arm, holding it in front of him, ready for use.

The crash was loud and they needed to be as far away from the sound as possible before more enemies showed up. The hallways looked as though they were made quickly and crudely. All of it was metal and would have been a pain in the ass to remove. They followed to winding halls tell a trio of guards blocked their path. Two of the guards had crossbows and the third was wielding a pole arm like Anthony. The guards fired the bolts at the group, but Anthony used the pole arm to block the bolts. As the guards reloaded, Anthony charged and knocked out the two quickly and disarmed the third.

“Now you will take me to the armory to find my equipment. Then you will help us escape from this place, understand?” Anthony said, keeping the weapon pointed at the guard the entire time. The guard nodded his head and led the group to the armory. The walk was quiet and all was silent except for the clopping of hooves on the metal floor. Anthony felt the place reminded him of an old warehouse.

The armory was guarded by a pair of crossbow wielding unicorns, but they were no match for the stealth Spartan. No deaths and no guards. The inside of the armory was full of crossbows, pole arms, swords, maces, and axes. The group spread out to find the Spartan’s weapons. This took some time, as the room was full of boxes and hid able areas. Anthony did grab a crossbow and check it. He found it to be quite good, so he took it along with a quiver of bolts.

“Found it!” Luna said, calling from a box in the area of axes. She levitated the items out of it, bringing them to her lover. He took them and hooked them. Now he was armed, Mauler and Energy Sword ready for use. No grenades and only two extra mags for the Mauler. He leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek.

“Thanks, now we can leave,” Anthony said, turning toward the door.

“Um, I don’t think that is possible now. Our guide disappeared,” Rarity said, pointing out the obvious.

“Then we make our own way out, and I know exactly how,” Anthony said, a massive grin covered the human’s face.

Gray Sky stood at attention at the door he was told to guard. The armor wasn’t the most comfortable, and it stuffed up his wings. He didn’t know why they had him inside the cramped building, they just kind of left him there. The just gave him a basic pole arm too, nothing important. He sighed and stayed there though, this was an important thing hew was a part of, and he would not fail.

Crashes sounded in the near distance, pulling Gray Sky out of his trance. It sounded as though the walls were being pushed down. Before he knew it, the wall right next to him came crashing down, burying the solder alive. Behind the crumbled wall was the human and his entourage where in its place.

“Explain to me again why we are doing this?” Twilight asked, still wondering how helpful this was.

“Because I don’t know the lay out of this place, and it’s easy. Gets rid of some of the guards too,” Anthony said, keeping up the momentum. Another wall fell to the Spartan’s kick. This new room surprised all of them.

It was full of ponies wielding crossbows and swords. They all were organized in preparation for the group. Anthony would have thought that they would have woken someone up, but not a force of this size. They all had their crossbows aimed at the Spartan.

“Well, well. I knew that you might attempt escape, but didn’t think you would cause this much damage. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Emperor Blackwing of Equestria,” a stallion said, waling in front of his guards. He had a pitch black coat and both the horn of a unicorn and wings of a pegasus. Another alicorn.

“There is no emperor of Equestria. And as long as I’m still breathing there won’t be one,” Anthony said, standing tall to this alicorn. The alicorn just laughed and walked on the perimeter of his ponies.

“You don’t understand, I will become emperor. I am already half-way finished. I have Princess Luna here, and with her soon out of the picture, her sister is next. And you have placed yourself in the worst possible position. Now stand down, or my guards will take you down,” Blackwing said, very smug about his position.

“And what makes you believe these puny guards have a chance to kill me? I have more skill then all these guards put together, and I have more advanced equipment then them too,” Anthony said, keeping the crossbow up with his left arm and retrieving the Mauler with the right. The alicorn laughed at the Spartan.

“Do you truly believe that you can take on all these guards with a single fire crossbow and a single gun that has a five round shot? Only a foal would think that,” Blackwing laughed at the human, not knowing what he had unleashed. “This has been a fun experience, but I think it’s time for you to die. Guards, take out the human and bring me Princess Luna.” and the alicorn turned and left, expecting the guards to be enough to remove the Spartan.

The raised crossbows all fired simultaneously, but did nothing against the shield that was protecting Anthony. The blue aura of the shield was matching that from Luna’s horn. Anthony aimed his crossbow and fired at the first guard he saw, and fired again in a second with a fresh bolt already in. he kept up the quick reload and firing as the guards started to run and hid behind doors and walls. The shield around Anthony protected him from ponies that fired at him from different angles or at the same time.

One of the guard thought it would be cute to fire at the princess, finding a Mauler blast in his face. The guards kept coming, but they got smarter. They all kept firing simultaneously, keeping from losing more than one at a time. The shield wasn’t going to fall unless Luna fell. And the guards figured that out. The shots all now fired at both the human and the princess.

Luna was able to dodge the bolts easy, but each fire sequence piled more on her. Soon, all the guards were firing at her. Anthony left the safety of the bubble and ran in front of Luna as the next wave descended on her. Using his own crossbow, he swiped the air clear in front of him, but able to block all of them. A stray bolt found its way between the sweeps and flew past his head. With no time to think, he ran toward it and grabbed the bolt.

This was what the guards had hoped for, because with his back turned they all fired on him. What they didn’t expect was them to all stop mid-flight and turn around. Twilight had grabbed the bolts and dropped them. She then levitated all the crossbow and pulled them away. This left the guards without ranged weapons, but Blackwing would not be disappointed. They all drew their swords and charged the Spartan, hoping to overwhelm him with their numbers.

No guards stood as the Spartan had ripped through them all with his energy sword. The battle was bloody and short. The group of friends didn’t want to see anymore of it, and so they quickly left the building. The way out was easy and they found their prison was an old, abandoned warehouse. The moon was still up and told them it was 0300 hours. The friends all agreed to stay at the castle for the next few hours, mostly out of the need for something familiar and safe.

The welcoming party for the group was the one pony Anthony wished it wasn’t; Princess Celestia. She stood in behind the castle door, waiting for them to arrive. She was not happy, and her facial expression proved that. Before any of them could get a word out, Celestia blasted Anthony with a burst of magic. He had no time to react, and felt like he was once again hit by a freaking freight train. He sled back about twenty feet before coming to a stop, arms up ready to defend himself.

“HOW DARE YOU! WHO TOLD YOU THAT GOING OUT LIKE THAT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA? I KNEW I WAS WRONG TO BELIEVE THAT YOU HAD MY SISTER’S BEST INTERESTS IN MIND. AND NOW YOU HAVE INDANGERED TWILIGHT AND HER FRIENDS TOO!” Celestia yelled, using the full force of the royal Canterlot Voice. Even Luna flinch at Celestia’s blatant use of it. Anthony unfortunately was not so lucky, because he received the full front of the Voice. He stood his ground though and prepared to retaliate with words.

“Did you actually it was my choose to get us all captured and find out about a terrible being? I know how much Luna and Twilight mean to you, and would never do anything that would endanger them in any way, shape, or form. I would never even dream-”

“DO YOU THINK I ACTUALLY BELIEVE YOU? I DON’T WANT YOU ANYWHERE NEAR LUNA OR ANY OF THE BEARS OF THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY. FROM THIS MOMENT ON, I BANISH THY FROM THIS KINGDOM. YOU ARE TO NEVER ENTER THE KINGDOM OF EQUESTRIA AGAIN AS LONG AS YOU LIVE,” Celestia told Anthony, killing all his spirit in one foul sweep. His head drooped and his eyes went dark. The rest of the ponies stood stunned, they had been saved by this man and now Celestia is banishing him. Luna was horrified that Celestia would even think of this, and trotted up to defend the one she loves.

“Sister, how could you even think of something like this? All he was doing was help,” Luna pleaded, hoping to return Celestia to reason. That was not the case.

“I am doing this for you, Luna. I do not want to see you get hurt, and this is the only way I know to prevent him doing so. Him and his heroism have placed you, and now the Elements of Harmony in a dangerous place as well. I only want what’s best for you, and I shall not change my mind. None of you shall be able to. Anthony, I am giving you one hour to pack your items and leave. If you are not gone in that hour, you will be imprisoned and put on trial for defying the rules of banishment. Am I clear?” Celestia said, ending her use of the Voice, but that didn’t help the situation at all. Anthony took a second to look up and answer.

“I understand fully, you bitch. I’ll leave, but one day I will return to defend this place from evil. I will return to protect Luna, not you. Any and all trust I had for you is gone, and you shall never earn it back. Now if you will excuse me, your royal bitchiness, I need to pack,” he said, a scowl controlling his face. He marched right through the castle and headed to the armory. Celestia was even more flustered than before.

How dare he speak to me in that manner. I’m glad to be rid of him now. I’ll send Shepard home tomorrow, and we can continue our lives without these distractions. Celestia thought as she turned and left for her bed chambers. The night was not her domain, and she needed to sleep. The guards will insure he is gone.

Luna trotted as fast as she could to the armory, finding Anthony with a packed caravan. She walked up to him and turned him around. His eyes had on luster to them, just died feelings. She kissed him and he returned the kiss, gaining more luster in his eyes for a little while.

“I don’t want you to go,” Luna cried into his shoulder.

“Neither do I, but to keep the peace I will. I shall return though. Blackwing is out there, and he is coming. I made this for you,” he said, pulling a necklace with a crescent/heart combo dangling on it. The gold lace part sparkled and accented the white pendant. Luna was shocked by the quality and wondered when he had time to make it. No explanation was given, just how to use it.

“All you have to do is press the heart, and I will know you are in trouble and come to save you. But be careful, because I will not knot if you are in any trouble. I will know just that the necklace has been activated. I promise that I will come, no matter what,” and Anthony kissed her on the forehead, a single tear rolling down his face. The couple hugged for another minute, before Twilight and her friends walked in.

“We’re sorry we couldn’t help you,” Twilight first said. “I don’t think that you are a danger to us, none of us do. We wish we could help.”

“Ya, we were just getting to know you, and now we will never see you again,” Rainbow Dash said, trying not to tear up.

“This just ain’t fair. ‘Ah don’t think you’re dangerous, but the princess won’t see any us,” commented Applejack, followed by Rarity.

“Yes, we did try to talk to her, but she left without another word. That was actually quite rude of her.”

“Oh, I think we’ll all miss you,” Fluttershy half whispered. Pinkie Pie cried and filled the room with her wails.

“We don’t want you to go. I hadn’t even thrown you a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party,” Pinkie was able to get out.

“I know girls, I hate to leave, but to keep everything from exploding out of proportion, I need to. And I will be back. If you notice, some logic got through Celestia, as she didn’t make go back to my world. This means she doesn’t really wish me gone. Take good care of yourselves, and don’t worry too much,” Anthony said, waving to his friends and lover as he haled the wagon away from the castle. The group stood there and watched him leave. The group was still standing there when the sun rose and Anthony was long gone.

Luna sat on her bed and cried. She cried and cried over the her love being gone. She cried because Celestia took him away from her. She cried from what she discovered.

Luna had gone to the bathroom and found a pregnancy test box under the sink. When she used it, she discovered that she was pregnant. And it was Anthony’s child. She cried that she was alone and pregnant because of her sister that she trusted.

She was alone.

Author's Note

here is part two, for those who have not found it: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/55217/the-fight-for-the-world-in-between

Chapter 4

A/N: i'm back. not dead out here in the middle of the woods. i have a new chapter for you. and i hope you love cliff hangers XP

The ceiling was white with a single fluorescent light in it. The bed was white a well. The unicorn was moved to a private room, by orders of Princess Luna. What confused the doctors most was why the princess took a special interest in this patient? She was down there every hour, waiting for hi to wake up. She even stayed when they said that he wouldn’t wake until the next to the night.

This was when he awoke at around midnight. He had a headache and was wondering what the hell happened. He looked around to for anypony, and found Luna. What? Why is she here? How long has she been here? Anthony thought, more confused than ever. He didn’t know what to do, but didn’t have to wait. Luna awoke and looked up. She saw him and smiled, confusing him even more.

“Hi, how are you doing?” Luna asked in a tired tone, like she had been there for hours and had not slept.

“Good, how long have you been here?” Anthony asked, feeling a flutter in his stomach that he had never felt before.

“Ever since you fell unconscious, and I have only left to use the bathroom. I hope your ok?” She finished with.

“What made me collapse?”

“The magic you used. I had never been done, so your body had to supple more magic than needed, just to make the spell official. But the spell alone might have done the same thing if you weren’t careful.” As she talked, she got closer and closer to the unicorn. When she stopped taking, their lips were only a breath away.

The door opened and in walked the doctor. Luna moved faster than the eye could record and was back on the side of the bed. The doctor had no idea what just happened.

“Ah, good, you’re up. We were starting to get worried. Just need to do some simple tests and then I will let your friends in.”

“I’ll be back to check on you when you are well. Good day, doctor. Good day, Anthony,” Luna said, with a stern speak, leaving in an official manner. This confused Anthony some, until her understood why. She doesn’t want anypony to know she likes me. Anthony thought.

Half-an-hour later

“Well, your good, but I would like for you to spend a little more time in here for observation,” the doctor advised.

“Thank you, but I always hate having to sit in a room for no reason. Thank you doctor, if I have any problems, I’ll be sure to come find you,” Anthony said, leaving the hospital and joining his friends.

“So you’re free to go?” Twilight asked. All of the elements were waiting in the waiting room, along with Celestia and Luna. Luna had her serious face on, but her eyes lied with a single look, but no pony would dare to look in them.

“Yep, but against doctor’s recommendation, I don’t care. I know I’m good. I know that all it had to do with is I used too much magic. I’ll live,” Anthony said, shrugging at the end. “Besides, I could have lost a leg and had left early anyway. I hate hospitals with a passion.”

“Wow, how do you do it?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I’m one tough S.O.B.” he said, confusing the other ponies. “You don’t want to know.”

“Ok, any way. What do you all want to do?” Twilight asked. Celestia looked as though she wanted to take a back seat in all this. Anthony wasn’t fazed by this. He had a pretty good idea why.

Tia, I told you. I don’t want to talk about it. Luna telepathically told Celestia. Being sisters and alicorns they had a bond stronger than any beings any where else.

Yes, and when you do, I think it would e nice if you included me on it. Your emotions aren’t hidden too well in your mind. I know what you’re feeling, and I want to help. Celestia tried to help, but kept being pushed back.

I don’t want your help. I need to figure this out on my own. I have it under control. Thank you, Tia, but I must do this.

Fine, but if you want someone to talk to, you will always have me.

Thank you, now lets follow Twilight, I think we’re going to the dining hall to eat. Luna told Celestia, ending their private conversation.

“I believe it would do me some good if I got some sleep. I still need to raise the sun in the morning. Good night all,” Celestia said, leaving the group with the princess of the night.

They all made their way to eat and enjoy a night of talking and thanks to Pinkie, Partying. They partied all night and into the early morning. Half way through the party, Luna asked to speak with Anthony privately. They walked out into the hallway and Luna put up a spell that would prevent anypony from seeing what they would be doing or talking about.

“Do you know why I wanted to talk?” Luna asked.

“Does it have something to do with what almost happened in the hospital?” Anthony guessed.

“Yes, it does. I have never met a pony like you. You don’t act like other ponies. And coming from the world makes you even more mysterious. I can’t help but want to be with you, even though I know you won’t live my whole,” Luna was now in tears. She was crying from opening herself up to somepony she had just met. Anthony walked up to the princess and gave her a hug. She hugged him back and cried into his black mane.

“Shh, it’s ok. It’ll be ok. I’m here, I’m here. Shh. I won’t leave. I’m not leaving. It’s ok. Luna, please stop crying. I promise to be with you for as long as I live. Just please stop crying,” he reassured her with this for quite a while, until Luna was out of tears. She still kept her head in his mane.

Anthony stroked her flowing mane the whole while, calming her down some. Luna finally left the embrace with puffy eyes, and a smile on her face. She then kissed him passionately on the lips and pulled him close to her. He kissed her back and they spent the next few minutes making out in the hallway.

They broke the kiss and looked into each others eyes and knew the truth about the bond they wished to share in the future. They shared another kiss before they left to return to the party. None of the ponies questioned the two.

After the party, the groups promised to return to Ponyville at noon and return the next week after Anthony had completely acclimated to the society of Equestria. All he cared about was seeing Luna again. This was what he was thinking when a ball of energy rammed into the chariot.

Chapter 10

A/N: good news, i have a lightening fast computer with Word on it. now i shall update more often. but i am also writing a story, check my blog later for info on that. now on to this chapter.

Shining Armor stood with Cadance and waited for the human to show. The training grounds were surrounded by both civilian and guards alike, waiting for the duel to begin. On one end of the circle stood Twilight and her friends, who didn’t like the idea of the duel. The crowd was getting anxious, for the fight was supposed to begin in a few minutes, and only one of the duelists was present.

The crowd then started to part, allowing a…speaker system to pass through? The ponies all looked at it like this is not supposed to be right. On the stage that carried the system were Vinyl Scratch, Princess Luna, and Anthony. The human stood at attention the whole time, zero expression on his face. The crowd started to cheer, seeing as they would finally get a chance to see the human in action.

The sound system moved toward the open ground and stopped when it reached the outer edge, The Spartan than jumped down and landed in the middle of the 50 foot diameter circle that was to be the sparring area. Shining Armor trotted to meet him, and stood about five feet back.

“I will give you this one chance to surrender. I suggest you take it,” the human said, keeping a neutral stare and voice. This slightly unnerved Shining Armor, but he quickly replied.

“Only cowards offer surrender. This just confirms my suspicions. But I do have a quick question; what is up with the sound system here?” he asked the question on ever ponies mind.

“I thought it would help for some mood music while we dueled, and I think that everypony deserves a little cultural taste of my home,” the Spartan said, keeping the same calm, neutral look.

“Fine, now for the terms of this fight. I propose a one –on-one match, no weapons, only skill and magic. Since you lack magic and standing injury, I will allow you to have one weapon of your choose for the match. You may pick when we begin. If I win, you will have to change back into a pony immediately, and forced to join the guard,” Shining said, grinning at how much pain he would inflict on the human.

“And if I win, you will respect me for the fact that I am not so different from you, just look different. And I will be allow to train your guards as I see fit.” The Spartan stood there, seeing the shock on the unicorns face. Shining was expecting something horrible, not respect and training detail. This though was not going to be allowed anyway if Shining Armor was to have his way.

“deal, now pick your weapon, the first to surrender, or the first to faint loses,” Shining Armor said, taking a few steps back as a cart loaded with a large quantity of weapons on it. The Spartan didn’t even look at it, just waving it away like it was a fly buzzing near his food. This shocked everypony there, even Luna. She thought he would take something to try and defend himself.

“I will not fight with a weapon, as that would put me at an unfair advantage over you. Vinyl, start to playing,” the Spartan said, and he started to remove his shirt. His muscles were already full visible from how the shirt was designed, but it only covered them up. Every fiber of the human was covered in dense muscles, along with a bandage on his left side. He looked at the bandage, and removed it with one good pull down. The stitches that were supposed to be there had all fallen out, showing a mostly healed side. Not a scar was visible. He then cracked ever joint in his hands, neck, and shoulders. The crowd was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

The shirt and bandage were tossed away, and Vinyl Scratch started to play the music he had selected. The bass and synthetic music instantly filled the air, as the Spartan turned and waited for his opponent to start the match. Shining Armor started the match by firing a bolt of magic at his opponent.

The Spartan moved faster than anypony thought possible. He was out of danger and half way toward Shining before anypony saw him. Shining only had time to raise a shield before the Spartan collided with him. The human bounced off and landed a few feet away, before running up and slamming his fist in and through the shield. This caused Shining to jump to avoid the over powered human.

The Spartan kept going and ran into the unicorn. The music now had words, but it was no heard by Shining Armor as he was too busy trying not to get crushed by the Spartan in such a short time. Shining teleported to the other side of the ring, and turned toward the human, who had already turned around and was waiting. The human took a lower stance and kept his arms up to deflect any object that could fly towards him.

How can he be so calm and collected? And how he was able to just punch threw my shield. That shield was strong enough to hold back a kick from an earth pony for at least a few minutes. It was like he didn’t have anything in his way. Shining Armor thought as he tried to figure out a way to face this challenge. This was his next mistake.

The Spartan saw that Shining was contemplating on his next strategy, almost forgetting the Spartan. Anthony was not going to use the same thing as before, waiting for your opponents move means that you have to wait for their move. The Spartan charged as fast he could traversing the twenty feet between them with just two steps, and collided with the distracted unicorn. The human grabbed Shining Armor by his neck and lifted him up above his head, and slammed him into the ground.

Shining let out a shout of pain. The Spartan then planted his boot on the pony’s head, and held him down with just a little pressure. Shining Armor struggled to move the rest of his body so as not to have his underbelly open to attack. Shining Armor blasted the human with a burst magic, sending him flying ten feet back. The crowd watched this in silence, for they had no clue as to what way this fight would go. Pinkie Pie sat there eating cotton candy.

The Spartan landed on his back, and groaned as he attempted to get back up. He was stopped though by Shining Armor, who had charged at him and was pinning him down with his whole weight. This weight though was nothing to the Spartan, who picked up Shining and threw him away. The unicorn landed on his right side and was back up, ready to keep fighting. The Spartan kept his neutral stare the entire time.

Shining charged up a excessive amount of magic in his horn, before firing it at the human. Anthony just dodged the blast and began running at the Captain of the Guard. What he didn’t see was the same bolt fly towards him from behind. The blast hit him like a freight train. The Spartan was flung to the ground and laid there, a round burn occupied most of his back. This though did not faze the Spartan, as he stood back up and continued his attack on the now weakened unicorn.

How did he survive that blast!? That should have landed him in the hospital for a week. He isn’t even slowed by it either. How is he this strong? shining thought as he tried to avoid the Spartan, but the magic had left him weak and slow. Anthony tackled him to the ground and grabbed him around the neck with his arm, and took a hold on his horn with the other hand.

“I will give you this last opportunity to surrender. I don’t want to knock you out, because it will be easier for the next person next time,” the Spartan said with a calm tone. “I didn’t wish to fight you, but now I am. I am giving a choose; surrender, or be permanently damaged. Your choose.” Shining Armor just laid there in his grip, panting from the exertion of the duel. He tried to struggle, but the hands on him prevented any movement. The two stayed in the same position for twenty seconds, before Shining Armor felt his mind start to get fuzzy.

The Spartan released Shining Armor and stood up. Shining’s mind started to clear up and he noticed that the human had let go. He attempted to stand, but the lack of blood in his brain made him dizzy and collapse.

“I wouldn’t try and stand for the next few minutes. Your body needs to resupple your brain with blood. But this match is done. I have defeated you, and I know when this match is over. I sparred you something that you should not through. Take it, and stop being in a rage,” the human said, turning back toward Luna and Vinyl. He got about three steps before collapsing right on the ground. The crowd gasped and Shining Armor just looked at the human.

Luna ran right over to him and tried to check to see if he was okay. Cadance had ran out to comfort Shining, but he was to distracted at what had happened. The Spartan had gone through the whole duel without showing any signs of fatigue, but right when it ended, he fell over in pure exhaustion. Cadance helped Shining up as a group of medical ponies trotted over and got him on the stretcher.

Another group had arrived and were attempting to help the Spartan. Luna appeared worried and didn’t leave the human’s side, even when they sped off to the hospital. Shining was taken away to the same hospital. The last thing Shining Armor remembered before passing out was his wife looking in his face.

Canterlot Hospital

The sun was shining into the room, saying good bye to the world for the day, and allowing the moon to bring in the night. Luna had gone out and performed her royal duty, but the rest of her duties were left to their own devices. Luna sat in the hospital room, waiting for the human to awake from his slumber. The doctors said that he would be out for a hours. Luna knew that the estimate was not entirely accurate, so she waited. The Spartan was dehydrated, and had not eaten in more than a day. Add that to his increased metabolizing and healing body, the doctor was surprised that he hadn’t collapsed sooner. The IV was put in his arm, and a feeding tube was put in, so as to get some nourishment into his system. The doctor had left and had to deal with other patience, so Luna was alone with her love.

She was resting her head on the Spartan’s chest, listening to the human’s heart beat and breathing. She was about to drift off to sleep because of the lack that she had acquired, when a voice woke her up.

“I knew I should have become a pillow instead, if I knew you were going to use me like one.” Luna’s eyes shot open, to find the love of her life awake and smile on his face. He chuckled lightly, but then stopped with a pained look covering his face.

“Are you okay?” Luna asked, concerned for his health.

“ya, I will be. Just that now I have nothing to block the pain, and it is not an easy thing to go through. How long have I been out?” he still was as stubborn as ever, but Luna was just glad he would be fine.

“few hours, the doctors thought that you wouldn’t even begin to stir until morn, but I didn’t care. I would have waited for you until the end of time if I had to,” Luna said, lightly wrapping her hooves around the resting man, trying not to put to much weight on him. He held her back and the two just sat that way for the next few minutes, until an unfamiliar noise startled them both.

*growl*

“Ha, I guess I’m still hungry,” the Spartan said, making the dark alicorn laugh, making himself laugh too. He had to stop again though because of his injuries. Luna stopped and regained her concerned look, wanting to help him and being unable to. “I think that it would be best if I got some food, could you please get the nurse?”

“Of course I will,” and Luna quickly left to retrieve the nurse, leaving a kiss on the humans lips. The Spartan took the moment to examine what it was that was adding weight to his left side. His Mauler with a few mags was sitting next to him, on top of the covers. He had brought it to the duel, just in case something happened and fists weren’t enough. The handle to his Energy Sword and Ipod sat next to it. He slowly grabbed the music device and headphones and turned on the device, to find it was still in the play list, but had cut off. He started to shuffle through the music, trying to find something that would be soothing.

He finally found it and plugged the left headphone into his ear, and pressed the play button. The drums and guitar of “Ain’t My Bitch” by Metallica started to blare through the headphones, and the Spartan released a sigh of content. He relaxed lessoning to the heavy metal that consumed his left ear. Luna reentered, seeing her love holding the Ipod in hand and single headphone in. She half smiled and walked back over to the relaxing human, and placed a kiss on his cheek.

“The nurse will be in with your food in a few minutes. What are you listening to?” she asked, her curiosity peeked.

“To a band in my world called Metallica. They came about in the early 1980’s, and were still making music when I left in 2012. In the 1980’s the major type of music that was around were hair bands. Humans don’t have that much hair on their bodies, and usually only women have long hair. These hair bands came out, and played hard rock and heavy metal and had long hair. And right now I’m listening to a song called ‘Ain’t My Bitch.’ I mostly use this type of music to calm down after a long day,” the Spartan said with Luna keeping her head on his chest, looking in his eyes the whole time.

“May I listen to it?” she asked apprehensively.

“of course, here take this and put it in your ear. I’ll let you filter through the songs I have, see if anything peeks your interest,” he said, showing her the screen and slowly scrolling down the list. He thought it would be better for him to hold it, considering that she has hooves and the scroll is not made for those.

“Oh, that one,” she said, pointing at “Pour Some Sugar On Me” by Def Leppard. He pressed the play button and the music started to play, the love of his life resting on his chest and not a care in the world. He wished to stay that way, but the nurse came into the room with his food. As the nurse placed the tray on the table, Luna got up and removed the headphones. Anthony turned off the Ipod and attempted to sit up in bed. The nurse had left the room, and Luna pushed the human back down. She levitated some of the mystery hospital food on a fork with her magic and raised the food to his mouth.

“You don’t have to do that,” he said, slightly blushing at the alicorn.

“I know, but I want to. Also, you barely had the strength to move your music player, so I’m doing this for you,” Luna said, putting the fork up to his mouth. He took a bite, keeping his eyes on the moon princess. The two continued to go at this for about half an hour, before the food had run dry. The Spartan needed his rest, so Luna placed the fork and empty tray on a far table and sat on the chair provided in the room. The human had fallen asleep a while ago, after sharing a kiss with his love, and Luna had decided to join him in the dream realm. Little did she know, his dreams were not going to be as peaceful as she thought they should be.

Dream Realm

Luna entered the dream of her lover, so as to spend time with him even while he was incapacitated. She found herself in a building, similar to the one she was in at the hospital. The room was amazingly detailed for a dream, most rooms are usually had basic detail, and nothing specific, but this blew her mind. Even the spots on the ceiling were all different. The moon shone through the open window, allowing the alicorn to see further detail. If it had not been day when she entered the dream, she would have thought she was still awake.

The room was empty except for her, so she went to the window to see if she could get a good idea on the world the Spartan had created. The view was not pretty.

Fires consumed much of the landscape. The city of Canterlot was burning, and ponies were running around to try and kill the fire. This was to no avail as the source of the flames was coming from a machine in the center of Canterlot. The monstrosity was massive, burning up everything around. Luna instinctively destroyed the window and flew out to protect her and her sister’s subjects.

She flew fast to reach the machine, when a red beam flew past her and impacted on the machine. The hole in the fire-shooting destroyer was large enough for a pony to fit through. A second red beam followed its partner right in the hole, sending the machine into an explosive destruction. The fire-machine started to crumble and collapse, ending its attack on the city. Luna turned around to find a humanoid holding a heavy weapon on its shoulders, the gun having smoke rising from it. The armored being was flying there, in a red and gray combo armor, looking at the alicorn with its polarized visor.

“well, nice to see you here,” it said, the voice familiar to the dark princess.

“Is it? I thought that you would have a more peaceful mind than this?” she questioned, looking him in the visor. He sighed, flying closer to her and removed the helmet. This revealed a wounded warrior, who appeared to have been fighting for hours, and achieved nothing. His eyes were glazed over, making Luna think that he was not in full control of the dream. Luna looked at the solder with horror on her face.

“How long have you been fighting?” Luna asked.

“I don’t know, the moon has been out the whole time. Even the suit clock has been unhelpful, every time I look at it, I forget what it says. I think for a few days though,” he said, looking even more tired by the minute. He then looked behind her and put his helmet back on. “have to go, new enemy sighted.” he powered up the jets and took off.

Luna hovered in the air for a few seconds, trying to figure out why he was having this type of dream. She decided to follow him and keep an eye on him, maybe ask him a few questions. Luna flew toward him in time to see him destroy another one of those fire machines. The location though was the same as before. He went through the motions, fire gun, make hole, fire again, fly to fight another. Each one he destroyed, he seemed to not save anyone in time. The ponies on the ground burned every time, and he had no time to save any of them.

The observation went on for about twenty machines, before she realized why he kept replaying the scenario; he was trying to save everyone, but couldn’t. his mind wasn’t letting him forget the failure. His conscious was literally preventing him from forgetting the fact that he couldn’t save everyone, and kept forcing him to relieve that pain. The scenario was different from what had caused it, but the pain was the same. She didn’t know why he thought that way, but she did know how to end this nightmare.

Luna flew as high as she could and began to cast her spell. Anthony had gone through another machine and was about to find the next when he noticed a bright light behind him. He turned and found the dream world start to dissolve into white. He started to fly away out of instinct, but the magic was faster then him. His mind didn’t do anything to prevent it, meaning that he was actually welcoming it. The white consumed the Spartan and everything stopped.

“Where am I?” he asked, looking around at the nothing. A black speck started to come in his field of view. The speck got closer as the Spartan prepared himself. The human it to be Luna, and he relaxed. He found that he was actually standing and was hovering at all. “Luna, what happened to everything?”

“I got rid of it, to save you from the pain,” Luna said, the thoughts still floating through her mind.

“What pain? I was in no pain.” he questioned, crossing his arms. His mind had not taken full control yet, and Luna knew it. It sometimes to a few minutes for the host to realize that they are in control.

“Not a physical pain, but a mental and emotional one. This dream was showing what and making you perform an act that would prevent you from saving everyone. And in doing so, hurting you at the very core of who you are. It took me a while to discover this, but when I did and ended the dream right away. Now we are in a type of limbo in your dreams. A transition if you will,” Luna said, sympathy reentering her voice, but not enough for the solder to notice. The Spartan relaxed suddenly, showing Luna that her love was back in control of his mind. He looked at the princess and removed his helmet, showing her the man she loved. He was still tired looking, but no glazed look in his eyes.

“Thank you. I don’t think I could have stood for another round of that. This isn’t the first time either,” Anthony said, not looking Luna in the eye. He felt as though it was shameful to admit it and still be prideful. “I know what it is too. In my world, this would be the beginning stages of PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This is because I have chosen the path of a killer, but I don’t want it. This bodies instinct are very powerful.”

“How so? I haven’t seen any instinctual actions from it,” Luna said, slightly skeptical.

“When I was fighting the Reapers, I got you all to safety. I did that all on the instinct to protect civilians, and I let it go through. When no civilian were around, full combat was not under my control. Seeing you out activated the ‘save civvies,’ but I over rode the command so I could talk to you. Another example was when I was fighting Shining Armor. I had no control, until the end when I released him. I have more control when my conscious can be affected. I just didn’t…didn’t, I…,” the human couldn’t continue as he cracked and started to cry. Music started to play in the background.

Luna trotted over to him and laid next to his kneeling form, laying a wing over him. She nuzzle him while he just cried. She knew that he needed to get it out, or else things would be worse. The two stayed in this form for many minutes, even after the tears stopped falling. He finally looked at the alicorn and kissed her; a kiss that was long and full of both passion and thanks. Luna accepted the kiss, holding him in her wing still. He broke the kiss and pushed up on Luna’s wing, signaling that he was fine.

She lifted the wing and stood up, Anthony right beside her. His eyes were red and puffy, but he was still in control. The music had stopped, and the armor on the human started to levitate off. It all arranged itself an a table that appeared out of no where. Anthony stood there in his under suit, walked over to Luna.

“Do you think you cold stay, please? I don’t want to go back to my dreams. They might be worse than before,” he asked, worry in his bloodshot eyes.

“Of course. Like I said in the hospital room, ‘I want to.’ I’ll stay as long as you need me to. I love you, and nothing will change that. Now what do you want to talk about?” Luna asked, knowing he didn’t want to do any activity that required entering a new dream.

“How about…” and the two talked for what felt like hours about everything. If they brought up the subject, they talked about it. From the world Anthony left, to how many cakes Luna has caught Celestia eating. The couple talked up until Luna had to wake so she could raise the moon, so they both rose from their shared slumber.

Reality

The two woke to find that a new meal had been brought in for both of them, and it was actual food, instead of the nasty hospital food. Celestia must have had it sent for them. Luna rose from the chair she was in and placed a kiss on her love. The human sat up with no pain, but the doctor walked in to find him doing this.

“No, you are not leaving or getting out of that bed. I know your military, so this is doctor’s orders. No if, and, or buts,” the doctor said, killing all thought of the human stretching his legs.

“yes sir, but what if I have to pee?” he asked, not expecting a reply.

“Easy, you can get up to use the facilities, but I want you right back in this bed when you finish. Understand?” the doctor said.

“Thank you,” Anthony said, getting up and heading straight for the bathroom. Luna stood there and snickered. The doctor shook his head and left the room. When Anthony returned, Luna had started to raise the moon. The human watch the sun fully disappear behind the horizon. While he was looking out the window, Celestia had walked in. The human looked at her and slightly nodded before returning to the bed.

“Good to see that your able to move on your own,” Celestia said.

“You could say that, but the doctor doesn’t want me walking around. So what brings you here, other than to check up on my health,” Anthony said, getting to the heart of the situation quickly. He hated when people tried to delay the inevitable.

“Fine, I came her to talk with both of you briefly. First, Luna you have not had night court for three nights, so that is a necessity. Second, Anthony with your promise. I can have the material brought to you as soon as you are well enough to work on them, just let me or Luna know and the material will be where you need them. Any questions?” Celestia said, gaining a sad look from Luna, and a half-pissed look from Anthony.

“Ya, can I have to materials now, I don’t want to sit here alone with nothing to do,” Anthony said, crossing his arms.

“of course, I brought it up on the off chance that you would wish to begin. I will see you two in the morning, because I have to get to bed soon. Good night,” celestia said, and left after receiving the fellow good nights.

“Luna, I hope that you don’t get too bored at the night court. I know this will keep me occupied until I finish. For lunch, could you come back? That would give us something to look forward to,” Anthony asked, trying to make a puppy face. Luna giggled at this and kissed him. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“I will be back, and maybe we can convince the doctor to let you out early. I’ll see you later my love,” Luna said at the open door, blowing another kiss at her lover.

“And the same to you.”

A/N: hope you all enjoyed, And may the force be with you.