An Echo of What Once Was

“I can’t believe I walked for an hour the wrong way” Tony groaned at his stupidity as he trekked through the dense forest, the cloak he was wearing had several tears where trees had caught it, his hands where sticky from odd looking trees that wept a thick sweet smelling golden sag, his top was sliced open when he encountered a peculiar lion thing that was as big as a jeep and was jet black say for its head, which was pale green with black strips and Tony managed to stumble across one that was eating the remains of some other creature and swiped at the man to protect its meal.

“Ok Tony so what is that plan?” He asked himself as he climbed through the overgrown flora. “Figure out how long I have been gone, see how the girls are and figure out a way to reveal myself to them… that will be difficult if it has been a while since the war… what else?” Tony asked himself moments before a loud rumble was heard and the plant life to his left detonated in a ripple of blue energy, sending Tony tumbling onto the ground a few feet away from where he was just as an armoured body landed next to him on its head. “The Fuck?’ Tony asked as he groaned and held his head before looking at the hole in the forest to see a group of armed men surrounding a bunch of unarmed civilians and a lightly armoured female elf.

“Get the bitch!” One of the armed men shouted as what appeared to be a crudely armoured Minotaur charged her, only to be blasted in the chest by a volley of blue projectiles that the sorceress launched from her hands, blasting large fist size holes in his chest.

“This is you final warning bandits, leave now and I won’t kill you…” She said moments before several darts impacted into her neck causing her to stumble slightly. “W-what?” She asked as she pulled one of the darts out before collapsing.

“Get the bitch and the rest of these shits loaded up, Widow, see how many men we lost” a large black and gold dragon who Tony presumed was the Leader ordered a female Orc while Tony looked to the corpse next to him and had an idea before quickly stripping the corpse and himself before swapping gear and hiding the body under a fallen log.

“Hey! “ A female voice called out as Tony pulled on the helmet. “Anyone still kicking?” The voice asked again before Tony stumbled into her view, pretending to be injured.

“Y-yea I am?” Tony muttered, his voice distorted by the helmet.

“You don’t look so good rookie… well I guess that is to be expected when you take an attack like that to the face… can you walk?” She asked him as Tony nodded. “Good, we can get you patched up at base” She said as she walked over to him and put his arm over her shoulder before assisting him to where the rest of the bandits where.

“Any others?” the leader asked.

“Still checking, but he is a bit disorientated, might have a concussion but I don’t know” Widow said as she gently set Tony down against a tree before she got up and checked on the other wounded bandits.

“Please let us go!” A stallion begged, making Tony look up to see an alabaster earth pony on his knees in front of a green Unicorn stallion bandit, moments before the bandit slammed the butt of his gun into the Pony’s face, knocking him out.

“HEY! What the heck do you think you are doing?” The Leader of the group roared as she stormed over to the bandit.

“What?” The Bandit replied acting innocently.

“Do you really think that The Collective will pay for damaged goods?” The leader roared again as the Bandit recoiled and lowered his head. “That is what I thought, you better hope that he isn’t fucked up badly or else you will be taking his place” He added.

“I-I’m sorry Ash” The Bandit said bowing his head.

“I don’t give a shit, now let’s get these guys ready to move before it gets dark, there is some old ruins to the west that the Collective is coming to pick up these prisoners” Ash said before moving over to where Tony was propped up against a tree and knelt in front of him. “Can you walk Rookie? You took a really bad hit so I can understand if you can’t” Ash said in a calm reassuring tone, there was no hit of the aggression that he was displaying mere moments earlier.

“Y-yea I can walk boss” Tony said.

“Good, now take off this helmet, you have had it on every time I have seen you… I know it is recommended but trust me, wearing one while having a concussion is never a good mix.” Ash chuckled as he grabbed the base of the helmet and removed it before Tony had a chance to protest. “Hmm an elf… with short ears? Is that why you kept your helmet on to prevent being harassed?” Ash asked curious.

“Y-yes boss… I got it pretty bad in school” Tony bluffed, to which Ash smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry Rookie, I won’t give you shit about them” Ash chuckled as Widow came back into view and stopped in her tracks as her gaze was locked on Tony. “Oh Widow perfect timing, would you be able to look after… I’m sorry I still don’t know your name” Ash asked Tony with a chuckle.

“Anthony” Tony said as he watched the she-Orc’s eyes widen in shock.

“Would you be able to look after Anthony here until we get to the ruins?” Ash asked Widow, snapping her out of her trance.

“Y-yes sir” She said as she knelt down next to Tony as Ash nodded and got to his feet.

“Excellent, we will be moving out in ten” Ash said before leaving as Widow instantly moved to Tony’s left side and drew a knife.

“What are you doing?” Tony asked as his gaze was locked on the blade.

“Checking something” Widow replied as she grabbed the man’s arm and used the knife to separate the arm armour from the shoulder piece moments before she gaze a silent gasp as she looked at the inch thick green band around the man’s arm, several inches above his shoulder. “N-no, this can’t be” She whispered quietly before quickly looking around. “Sir, I just need to take the Rookie to the nearby stream.” Widow called out.

“What? Why? Ash called out.

“The Rookie has internal bleeding, I need fresh stream water in order to brew a potion that will save him” She lied to him.

“Okay, well we will meet you at the ruins” Ash replied, believing the lie as Widow gently pulled Tony to his feet and quickly and quietly lead him way from the bandits to the stream.

(Ten minutes later)

“Okay, we are here” Widow said as she roughly dumped Tony on the ground before drawing her gun and pointing it at him.

“Woah whoa, easy there” Tony said putting his hands up.

“Who the fuck are you? And you better not lie to me because I am not in the fucking mood” Widow said with a snarl as Tony got to his feet.

“Okay… well my name is Anthony Bell, I am a human ODST or Orbit…” Tony was explaining.

“I know what ODST stands for, but you can’t be Tony” She said with a growl.

“And why not?” Tony inquired.

“Because he is dead… he died twenty years ago while fighting Daine!” She shouted.

“What? It’s been two decades?” Tony said in shock as he looked around before looking at the Orc again before his eyes widened in realization. “Mayli?” Tony asked as Widow’s gun shook slightly.

“Yes? She asked.

“Holy shit, okay well I can see why you would be pissed off… but I am Tony, I am your partner or as Uric would have wanted, your spouse... and as you can see, I am not dead” Tony said as Mayli glared at him.

“Show me your right arm” She ordered.

“Okay… oh shit” Tony groaned as he placed the palm of his hand on his face.

“What?” Mayli asked him confused.

“Okay, you know how when Chrys and I first moved to Sanctuary and Celestia cut my arm off?” Tony asked.

“I wasn’t in Sanctuary then but Tia and Luna have told that story multiple times” Mayli replied.

“Well when they reattached it, Luna, Celestia and Chrys had to pump a lot of their own magic into me to enact a rapid forced evolution of sorts.” He said as the Orc nodded slightly “Well the rapid forced evolution… which I am going to call the RFE because saying the other way is a mouth full, well it increased my strength, speed and other parts of me” Tony said as Mayli looked down at his crotch. “No, Cadence did that, but anyway during the battle with Daine, I was actually pretty badly injured when this entity known as Baixao… who is a massive dickhead, banished myself and the Plague Doctor in exchange for the Covenant and himself to leave” He said before taking a quick breather.

“So what, he made a copy of you to fool everyone to stop us from trying to find a way to bring you back?” Mayli asked.

“Fuck if I know… um where was I? oh so finish this up quickly, I was frozen so I would survive until rescue came and patched me up, but for some reason a green cacoon formed inside the Cyropod and well I guess it fixed me up seeing as when I awoke… well” Tony said removing his armour to show her his right arm that wasn’t a prosthetic anymore. “Then some shit happened, I wasn’t paying attention and I was back here… oh and some weird tiger thing attacked me” Tony said while pointing at the three scratches running down his chest as Mayli smirked slightly before holstering her pistol.

“Okay well my gut and heart tell me you’re the real thing but I am not going to trust you until I get you checked out by Chrys” Mayli said as Tony got redressed.

“We can’t do that” Tony said catching Mayli off guard.

“What? Why not?” Mayli questioned in shock.

“Tell me, have the girls moved on?” Tony asked her.

“Um Sweetie and Cloud have remarried… well each other, Cadence is engaged to a crystal pony named Gold Heart, Amber moved back to the Dragon Empire with her son so Inferno can help her, Celestia and Luna are in Canterlot and don’t talk to us like Cadence after Celestia and Lily had a screaming match… um and Molestia, Nightmare, Lily, myself Amanda and Elise are still together in Sanctuary… mind you Elise is currently being transported to the ruins” Mayli explained.

“Wait so that Elf that blew a fucking hole in the tree line and sent a corpse flying into me was Elise?!” Tony asked.

“Ah so that is how you infiltrated the band… but yes… she is going to teleport the prisoners and the undercover Armonian Marines out before the ruins are bombed” Mayli explained.

“Right, so when is the bombing going to tack place?” Tony questioned.

“At midnight, and before you ask, Elise is currently only out for a few ours, she will be awake again by the time we get the fuck out” Mayli explained as Tony nodded.

“Alright… well this” Tony said pointing at the two of them. “Has to stay a secret as I don’t want to fuck up Cadence’s relationship… and I am pretty sure Lily, Nightmare, Amber and Luna would kill me” He said causing Mayli to giggle.

“Yes, I can imagine, but no deal besides we need your help to deal with the Collective” Mayli said.

“And what is the Collective?” Tony asked.

“Not here, I will explain more when we get home” Mayli said as she began walking off in the direction of the ruins moments before everything around frozen in place including her making Tony look around.

“Ming?” Tony asked out loud but got no response for a few moments before Ming appeared out of the tree line.

“Greetings, sorry about running off earlier but I needed to find Bai but don’t worry I found him” Ming said before he looked to Mayli. “Well looks like you have everything back on track to return to your old life” Ming said as he returned his gaze to the man.

“Not exactly, what can you tell me of the Collective?” Tony asked.

“No idea who or what the Collective is but I can find out, why?” Ming questioned.

“By the way people have talked about them, it is obvious that they are well evil to a degree” Tony said as Ming nodded.

“Okay, well I’ll look into it for you, anything else?” Ming asked.

“Yea, when you find something out, could you help me destroy it?” Tony asked the dark being.

“Alright, I can help with that” Ming said before vanishing in thin air while everything began moving once more, not aware of what just transpired.

“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Tony asked himself.

“What was that?” Mayli asked as she stopped and looked to him confused.

“Nothing May” He said as he caught up with her.

(Unknown location)

Within a large dark room filled with only a table and several empty chairs, a flash of light occurred, revealing a masked individual who looked around the room for a moment before taking a seat. “The Fool is late… as always” The masked man said failing to hide the annoyance in his voice.

“Sorry sir, I am so sorry sir!” A donkey appeared out of thin air wearing an outfit that would identify as a Dusty jester outfit. “My master was busy with one of his new experiments again” The mule explained.

“I see, you do know why I asked for everyone else to be here before I am?” The man asked.

“Yes, it is to make sure no one is spying on us” He said before quickly looking around.

“Don’t fret Bray, I have already scanned, but in future please try and be here five minutes earlier as I do try and keep my identity a secret” The man said sighed and removed his mask, the darkness of the room made it near impossible for Bray to see any features of the man’s face save for his piercing blue eyes that seemed to glow softly in the dark.

“Sorry again sir, so um why did you want to see Lord Grogar my lord?” Bray asked.

“I just wanted to inform him that his Trogs should go the Bandit camp earlier then Midnight and butcher everyone” He said catching Bray off guard.

“What! But I thought you desired the prisoners alive my Lord?” Bray questioned before covering his mouth at talking back to the mysterious being.

“That is true, but it seems that Ash’s band of Bandits has been compromised” The man said as he rose from his seat. “I want no survivors” He said before turning and vanishing in a flash of light.