Long Night of Solace

Popping and buzzing noises filled Riley's head as the world enveloped his vision again. The noises dissipated as the light around him faded. Something that was immediately clear was the snowfall in the valley. There was about eight inches of snow on the ground, completely surrounding the He slowly panned the surroundings area to find he was directly below the "AVALON" scripted on the hull of the ship. A small squad of Royal Guards walked towards him at a leisurely pace. One of them, a pegasus, had a scroll tucked under his wing.

"Spartan." The pegasus announced, slowly advancing on the soldier. "The Royal Throne has alerted us of your arrival, we're Recon Team Hoof. We had started recovery of any notable materials before you joined us. In a section of the ship to the west we've stacked what loose debris and items we could gather. We will be around the valley should you need us."

Riley nodded in response, turning his head until his HUD indicated he was facing west. A corridor of the ship was largely intact, laying on its side in the snow. The spartan trudged through the white landscape, working his way to the hall. He crawled into the wreckage, finding piles of debris and miscellaneous equipments haphazardly thrown into the cocoon of steel. Hopping from the doorframe into the piles, he trudged through the garbage.

"It's fascinating, the air temperature shouldn't be able to grant snowfall..." Jessica commented as Riley began digging through the rubble. "I thought the trees looked like they had several months of foliage left on them.."

"Maybe it's just the way their weather works. We could consult Twilight when we get back to Ponyville." Riley suggested as he spotted something, mounted to the wall above him. Really the object was once level with the floor, as the ship had rolled 90 degrees. The Spartan reached up until his fingertips brushed the glass top of the object. The holotable sprung to life, glowing a shade of amber that illuminated the entire cabin.

"You ready to venture outside my head?" He asked, reaching to remove the AI chip from his helmet.

"I suppose..." Jessica sounded unsure as he removed the AI, inserting it into a side port on the holotable above his head.

Her form lit up, level with the table and parallel with the surface Riley was now standing on. She began bringing up diagrams around her that only another A.I. would understand.

"Well, you can't say that Laughlin Steel works doesn't build quality ships.. We've got both an active and a passive radar still up, ranged to 1450 miles no less! The next time those ships make a pass over the valley, I'll be able to get a better reading on their height and speed. Then I can tell you exactly when they're going to crash." Jessica beamed. She seemed incredibly excited to have technology to inspect once more.

"The reactor appears stable, it has a useful life left of close to two years at this output!"

Riley continued digging in the scrap as she examined the craft.

"Wait.. We have a connection on the passive radar." She announced. Riley picked up a box of pistol ammunition, looking at the A.I. intently with this announcement.

"Doesn't passive radar need another antenna to connect to?"

"It is.. The UNSC signal I could read before, we've connected to their radar antenna." Jessica announced.

"What can you tell from the data you're getting?"

"An encrypted message with ship data, it's a Pelican Class drop ship, it's at roughly 150 miles off the surface, it's likely to splash down within 5 days and 13 hours if the orbit isn't changed." Jessica informed. "Near the Crystal Empire... I have an inkling it may be with the Covenant ships.."

Riley shook his head slowly, returning to his digging. "Poor bastards.."

"Hm.. According to the Avalon's databanks, it's May.." Jessica added.

"We jumped in August.."

"Pass go, do not collect $200."

"Explains the snow. Their winter season lasts quite a while, huh?" Riley stood upright, finding nothing else of interest in the scrap piles.

"It must." Jessica said. "The phenomenon of snow with the current air temperature and barometric pressure is completely bizarre regardless... I don't really have a grasp of what the local time is.."

"Well, what now? What else is there to do? Surely that pelican is with the covenant ships, so we have a reliable time frame now. It sure as hell doesn't look like anything's usable in this shit" Riley waded out of the junk pile, pulling himself up into the doorway he entered through. He turned to face the holotable.

"Pale horse?" Jessica asked, quizzically. "You were assigned to an ODST squadron as your first real op?"

"Recall code alpha cirrus." Riley stated in a gravelly tone. Anger seeped from his voice. Jessica was quiet at first as she returned to his shoulder. He pulled the A.I. chip from the table, re-inserting it in his helmet..

"Come on, tell me about it..?"

"No." Riley turned and leapt from the doorway, landing hard in the snow. Flakes were still gently falling, the entire valley felt still and quiet with the snow's dampening sound. Peaceful. "We have a time frame, that's all we needed right now. It'll be down by next week. We can report back to the princesses."

As he rose to a standing position after the jump, he noticed a burning fire in the valley. A campfire. The squad of Royal Guards were huddled around it, trying to beat the cold. Riley slowly walked towards the group. He trudged his way through the calf-deep-snow, until he was standing beside the guards members.

They began to rise at his appearance, until he sat in the snow beside them. The ponies settled back into their spots.

"Gentlemen." Riley commented.

"Sir." The pegasus commented. The valley grew dark as the sun was blocked from the sky by the mountains, the snow clouds serving to further blacken the valley in the middle of the day.

"It seemed like it was still mid autumn, what's with the snow fall?" Riley asked the ponies.

"Yeah, the weather team decided it was more than late enough, snow should begin." The pegasus shrugged, huddling closer to the flames.

"Weather team?"

"Yeah, the pegasi that control the weather. Don't you have a weather team where you're from?" The pegasus cocked his head curiously.

"Can't say we do." Riley's head rocked back and forth in a 'no'.

The group sat in silence for several minutes, the only noise was the crackling of the campfire in front of them.

"To be on patrol in the middle of nowhere, on Hearth's Warming day no less." One of the earth pony guards scoffed, the others chipped in noises of jeers, before the guard continued. "I had plans to spend Hearth's Warming with my special some pony... But I guess now she's off with friends while I'm out here.."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." The pegasus sighed, his own heart heavy.

"Hearth's Warming..." Riley 'huh'ed. "What's it about?"

All eyes turned to him, then the ponies glanced at each other. Initially it bewildered them how he could not know what the holiday was, but one by one they seemed to understand the fact he was an alien. The pegasus spoke up with an explanation.

"Essentially, it's about the divisions of the pony kingdoms banding together, before the rule of the Royal Throne... How they came together in camaraderie.."

Riley nodded his head in acknowledgment, his gaze staring into the fire still.

"Where I come from, we celebrate a holiday known as Christmas... It's not Christmas yet as far as the UNSC calendar goes.. But I suppose that would be sometime around today on your planet." Riley spoke, his gaze locked to the campfire. Brilliant orange tones danced in the glow of his visor. Jessica listened intently, staring at him from his shoulder.

"Yeah?" A unicorn guard directly across from him perked up. "What's that about?"

"Well, in a nutshell, several thousand years ago a ruler of the Roman Empire named Constantine began mixing two religions, Christianity and Paganism to attempt to sway Pagans to convert. See he was Pagan before he rose to power in Rome, and accredited his victories to the Christian God. Something to that effect. A lot of aspects of the holiday are taken from there, there's a few stories of a gift giving man, now sharing gifts and spending time with loved ones have become the main focus of the holiday. Not a bad thing at all, I quite enjoy it. In its origin it was a celebration of the birth of the Christian messiah, with bits of pagan traditions of celebrating like the decorations sprinkled in."

"Christian Messiah?"

"Well, they believe God came from heaven in flesh, as a man named Jesus Christ, to save humanity from its own evils. That this all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God created the universe, and those who inhabit it. And that he was killed in human form and rose from the dead to save them. Their title is Christians, or followers of Christ."

The ponies stared in wild anticipation, quietly at first.

"Dude. That's nuts." One commented. "Like... Did that really happen?"

"There's no way any pony could be all-knowing, all powerful, and all-loving. No way. Especially if at least some ponies are evil like you said." One countered. "That's just completely impossible, how could he let anyone be evil, let bad things happen to good ponies."

"I've thought about that a lot myself, as of lately yknow. I don't know."

"So does that mean you believe in this story?" The guard sitting nearest to his right asked, shivering in the cold, as the sun sank further behind the mountain tops.

"Before I was... Inducted into the UNSC... My family ran a small place of worship, the only one in the community.. I don't remember much as I was very young at the time. I'm inclined to say I believe it..." Riley stated. "But I don't know that I can call it bullshit, with the amazing things I've seen..."

"Amazing things?" The earth pony of the group asked, pulling off his helmet and letting his mane fall freely. He tussled his hair out of his face.

"Just... The sheer beauty of the cosmos... Dust, rising off the hull of a ship in the vacuum of space, this big blue jewel of a planet below, the cradle of humanity... The sunsets of dozens of different planets... I've seen strange shit that'll churn your stomach... But with how vast and beautiful it can all be. It makes you think." Riley shrugged his shoulders, a layer of snow that had built up slid from his armor plating.

"Religion is one of the many things the UNSC has barred from its Spartans. But when I was a young man, on a planet very far away, I was very sick. We didn't have access to medical attention at that point, and I was likely going to die. My mother had prayed to God that I would get better, that if I would she would do all in her power for me to become a minister. Heh.

Clearly I'm the furthest thing from a minister, heaven only knows if I can even be 'forgiven' for the things I've done. But by some divine intervention, I've gotten really damn lucky, far too many times for me to explain. That memory stuck with me and made me curious."

"Pale horse..." Jessica spoke quietly. "That ODST squadron didn't get their name until after you were assigned there... Was that you?"

"Yeah. It was..." Riley replied, offhanded. "But Christmas time, whether you're religious or not, is a time for people to come together in fellowship, for their God or for their family. To sing songs, enjoy banquets, decorations... It's a season where everything just feels nice if you stop and sit quietly for long enough... To wish each other a "Merry Christmas." Even in tragedy."

"Well..." The pegasus sitting beside him gently slugged the arm of his suit. "You've certainly got a lot of knowledge about something you don't know if you're a part of... But it's clear that you don't have to know just to enjoy the holidays. Merry Christmas, Spartan."

"Merry Christmas." Came from the mouths of each of those circled around the campfire, staggered greetings that made Riley feel warm inside. Feel human. The emotions that had made him go off on the princesses, the panic, these were things that hadn't began to set in until he'd known he was truly isolated from his purpose as a Spartan. The first Christmas time where he felt he was more than just a soldier.

"Merry Christmas guys." His voice wavered. "Happy Hearth's warming, and a Happy New Year." From the unicorn came a clear bottle of alcohol, the pony sipped the beverage and passed it along. After a few moments, the bottle was rounding the fire. The pegasus took a swig from the glass bottle, and held it out to Riley. The spartan hesitated. He pulled off his helmet and raised the bottle.

"Happy New Year. May she be a damn sight better than the old one, and may we all be home before she's through." Riley took a swig, one that burned his throat on the way down, and passed the bottle down the line. He recoiled gently at the cold touch of the snowflakes landing on his head, something he hadn't felt in a long time.

"Hear, hear!" Came a chorus of the four guardsmen. Jessica appeared, sitting on Riley's helmet in the snowbank beside his leg. She appeared quiet in thought.

"What kind of songs do you sing for Christmas?" The unicorn prodded.

"Yeah, man! Sing us one!"

Riley thought for a moment, trying to remember the words to any Christmas song. The snow flakes continued, making the whole valley feel still, despite the racket of the group.

He stared into the fireplace, his voice seemed to change tone altogether as he carried the tune.

"Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright. 'Round yon virgin mother and child. Holy infant so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in Heavenly peace."

Riley stopped at this verse, trying to remember more words but much to his surprise, the others picked it up.

"Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright. 'Round yon virgin mother and child. Holy infant so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace..."

"Merry Christmas Spartan."

"Merry Christmas, Guardsmen."