When the Silent Fall

Chapter 8 – A day in the life of an alien.

Not going to be painful my rear end.

Shuur lay on his new bed awkwardly. During the party last night, he found a table stocked to the edges with apple flavored treats. There were no survivors. And now he lay in his new bed, stomach aching worse than the feast in the Hospital.

“Apples will be the death of me.” Shuur commented to himself.

He turned his head up to the window, watching the rays of golden light just peaking over the horizon. Birds chirped their beautiful melodies and the wind whistled softly against the white window sill. The sounds and beautiful light passing through the windows reminded Shuur why he chose to be a resident. No longer did he have to risk his life for a cause he no longer believed in, no longer would he need to make jumps through space to massacre thousands, no longer did he have to be a warrior. He lay in his bed and released a content sigh; this was truly the good life. His good time was struck by a thought that desired nothing but to worry him, how would the townsfolk react to him? Would they open up to him, would they despise him? The party seemed nice, but Twilight said a Pinkie party was not to be missed. Obviously he would need a new set of apparel as armor was reserved for guards. Who could he see for that? Maybe one of his new friends knew someone.

He shifted his weight left and right, building precious momentum. Once at critical velocity, he forced all his weight one direction and landed feet first on the floor. Shuur stood and stretched himself out, noting that the princesses were rather considerate about his home. It was a two story building, but it almost felt like it was designed for him. The roof was higher and the stairs wider. The doors were larger and the kitchen had a fridge, nearly as tall as him. Needless to say, it was a true home, somewhere he could relax. Another depressing thought entered his mind, how much would a home like this cost him? Applejack’s offer still stood, he doubted that any other would ask him for work. He was too new, and he was an alien to them. Shuur sighed, maybe they would welcome him with open… hooves, after all, the mayor said that the town had seen stranger things. His stomach growled, a yes, sugar treats don’t fill one up well do they? Just taste delicious and leave a horrible feeling afterwards. He made his way downstairs, what awaited him in the fridge was still a mystery.

He walked down the oak steps; they creaked under his weight, another reason to get lighter clothing. He reached the bottom and was surprised with the sight. Not a smidgen of evidence remained of the party. Every chair and furnishing was in its place, the floor spotless of confetti and streamers. Shuur stood at the bottom of the steps in shock, Pinkie cleaned up well. He progressed further towards the kitchen, seeking out any traces of the party left behind, not even the carpet stain remained. He would have to ask how she did that; then again, she could have just bought another carpet. He arrived at his destination, a white rectangular pillar of mystery stood before him. He reached towards the white treasure chests handle, eager to find what lie hidden inside.

*Knock Knock Knock*. Shuur groaned, of course.

“Coming.” he yelled.

Shuur stepped away from his white bounty, more than upset that someone would disturb his first true meal. He opened the brick red door, and found a minty green unicorn with an unknown instrument as her cutie mark.

“H…HI!” she started, visibly excited to see him.

“Hello…” replied Shuur, unsure to her purpose.

“Oh my gosh, you really are an ALIEN!” she cheered.

This mare was beginning to freak him out, “Yes, I am, why?”

“Sorry, I just heard that you may have heard of humans before, are they real?”

Shuur raised an eye… brow (I’m still not sure what they use), “Yes they are, I have fought many. Why are you asking me this?”

The mint mare seemed to nearly shake apart, “OH MY GOSH, You just have to tell me about them! I. Have. To. Know.”

If Shuur wasn’t already freaked out, he definitely was now. “Um, may I eat first?”

“Ooh, ooh. What do they eat? The same as you, different, maybe rocks?!?”

“You haven’t even told me your name.” said Shuur, desperately trying to change the subject.

“Lyra Heartstrings, do you know any human names?”

Shuur was still unsure as to whether trust Lyra, or kick her and run. “I do- no, I don’t.  None whatsoever go away.”

Shuur tried to close the door, only to have it caught by a minty aura, right, Unicorn. Darn.

“Oh come on, I know a lie when I hear it, tell me tell me tell me tell me!” yelled Lyra.

“No, go away! I haven’t even had breakfast, or even know what’s in the fridge!” Shuur continued to try and close the door, surprised in its durability as he was using nearly all his strength.

“Please, urr, tell me! I have to prove Bon Bon wrong!” complained Lyra.

Shuur could hear her effort, time to work some magic, literally. He reached out with his mind, finding the door covered in a distinct mint aura. He grabbed it, threw it off, and then replaced it with his own forcing the door shut.

“Awwwwwww…” whined Lyra.

“Come back in a two hours, I should be more readied by then.” shouted Shuur, just wanting her gone.

“Huh, fiiiiiiine.” complained Lyra.

Shuur listened to make sure that she was gone, and then gave a sigh of relief. Some people’s ponies, no wait, some ponie’s ponies… Gah, whatever I just need food.

He made the journey back to the white metal wonder, still holding secrets that he dearly wished to know. He reached for the handle once again when…

*Fwash.* “Shuur, you didn’t say anything about magic!” yelled an all too familiar voice; of course Twilight would want to know.

He moaned, would he never find the fridges secrets?

“Yes Twilight, a little something I picked up on my stay.” Shuur was rather hungry.

She raced into the kitchen, “You must show me, I want to know everything!”

Shuur was seeing an early pattern forming, “I only know levitation so far. I don’t even know if it goes beyond that. Please leave me alone.”

“No, there is no escape this time. History, something I dearly want to know, ability to use magic, that’s a need to know now!”

Shuur decided a demonstration was in order. He reached out, grabbed Twilight and began carrying her towards the door.

“I just want something to eat, no disturbances, no ponies, no dangers, just some food!”

He opened the door, placed a dazed Twilight outside, and slammed the door.

“O- Okay, I’ll come back later then.” said Twilight.

Shuur sighed again, this day was becoming stressful. He made his way back to the white wonder; he was going to find out what was in the fridge if it killed him. Just then, He heard a rather disturbing roar emit from outside, followed by a chorus of screams. Enraged, Shuur stomped outside. He threw open the door cracking the walls woodwork. He looked down the road, and saw a rather disturbing sight. A huge lizard thing was walking down main street Ponyville, stomping at passing ponies and lighting the occasional house on fire.

“Hello again Ponyville,” roared the huge green monster, “Remember me? That twerp of a dragon Spike owes me for trying to take my gems! I have come to collect.”

Shuur felt his rage boil over. “Oh no you won’t.”

He cupped his hands into a fist in front of him. He gathered all his strength, condensing it all to one point. The energy followed up by forming as a red ball in his hands. He took a combat stance, gathered more energy than he should’ve, then took aim. He forced the energy away from himself, using more strength than he had left, he shot it in a perfect beam directly towards the creature. This resulted in the beam meeting its forehead and a howl of pain. The creature jerked back, nearly falling over from the sheer force of attack that met him. Shuur’s shoulders fell involuntarily, beyond drained. He heard heavy footsteps and then the breaking of entire tree’s as it retreated. Shuur smiled, now to get back to, hey, was the ground getting closer or- *Wump*.

(ஜ۩۞۩ஜ)

Shuur was that place again.

“Tsk Tsk,” scolded Harmony, “You shouldn’t have done that Shuur, now you are a rather tired alien aren’t you?”

Shuur looked over to the mass that was Harmony, “I’m sorry if I was hungry, annoyed, hungry, and most of all, ANNOYED!”

“That is no excuse for over exerting yourself, no matter how noble it was. Never overstrain yourself; the result could be worse but at least you’re alive. You know, come to think of it, I believe that’s how Star Swirl went as well. Or was it Discord? Gah, time really doesn’t have that much meaning to me.”

Shuur sighed, “Noted, how long until I wake?”

Harmony ‘smiled’, “Here, not long, there, a couple of hours.”

Shuur released another sigh. This day only got worse, didn’t it.

“Oh stop whining, you put this up to yourself. Anyway time to go, good-bye Shuur, be sure to write. *Snicker*”

Shuur groaned, that was already getting old. The worryingly familiar feeling of waking up brushed against Shuur. He felt the null of reality tug on him, dragging him back to a body.

(ஜ۩۞۩ஜ)

Shuur’s eyes fluttered open; he disliked unconsciousness, never quite enough. And here it comes… A massive headache attacked Shuur. Urg, yep, just like old times. Shuur realized that these supposed old times, were actually rather recent. He groaned, pushed himself up from the bed and stopped. Bed? He looked down, his bed actually. Oh yes, right, she said a few hours.

Shuur rolled lazily out of the bed, the fridge was calling him. He walked out the bedroom door; the fridge was luring him, wasn’t it? He walked down the stairs; the fridge was a siren and he a sailor. He made his way towards the kitchen; the fridge would never do that. He reached the white beauty; the fridge is my savior .Shuur reached down, placed a hand on the handle, pulled it open and…

Empty. It was F*$^&#@ empty! “WHY FRIDGE WHY-E-E!” He cried into the air, nothing was as it seemed it seemed. During his manly cry, Shuur noticed a note inside the fridge.

It read: Sorry, we have no idea what you eat, so, fill it up as you please!

Shuur fell over backwards, “Oh how you betray me universe.”

(ஜ۩۞۩ஜ)

“Well, that went surprisingly well.” commented Shuur.

He had gone to the market area when he finished with his… session. As it turned out, he was a rural hero. After the dragon ran off, the peop- ponies loved him. He even got a free basket of food for his trouble. Unfortunately, the basket and food were gone. He ate the food after he received it and then threw away the basket. His stomach was still running dangerously low though, he needed more. Luckily he hadn’t ran into –

“Oh, there you are Shuur!” never mind.

Shuur turned around to be greeted with the sight of Lyra, and a pony he did not yet recognize. She had a light tan coat, almost yellow, and a two toned mane between pink and a dark blue.

Lyra looked over to the unnamed mare, “See, alien, and he’s met humans!”

The candy flanked mare sighed, “I can see that Lyra, I admit defeat, you win, humans are real.”

“Yes! Oh Bon Bon, you have no idea what this means to me!” shouted Lyra with excitement.

“Actually, I do, considering that you have been going on about humans since we first moved together four years ago. At least there will be no more questing for ‘human artifacts.’ That last one was the worst.”

“How was I supposed to know that the ruin was griffin made? Only a few ponies got hurt and I came out fine.” shot back Lyra, obviously feeling sound with that evidence.

Bon Bon groaned, “The leader of the expedition said that it was griffin, and you didn’t even listen!”

“Well, um, I uh.” stuttered Lyra.

Shuur saw his opportunity and slowly began to shuffle away. He was all the way to tip toeing before he was caught in a minty glow.

“Nuh-Uh, you said you would be ready in two hours, it’s been four so you should be double ready.” snickered Lyra.

“Fine,” Shuur managed after he stopped struggling, “I will tell you, but can we at least go to my place?”

Lyra looked over to Bon Bon, who just shrugged, “I don’t have anything planned for today.”

“Sure why not.” agreed Lyra after confirming it with Bon Bon.

Shuur was set down relatively gracefully, then proceeded to walk towards their destination. During their walk the occasional pony gave a wave or a decent “hello,” but no one was really eager to strike up a conversation with the magic wielding alien. The dirt road ground under Shuur’s massive armored feet, he really needed new clothes.

They walked at a normal pace, two out of three not really eager to go to Shuur’s house. Lyra bounced along like pinkie would for a while, but stopped soon after when she found out how much in endurance it really required to do so. Bon Bon kept to a regular trot, returning the ponies’ waves and hellos, while Shuur lead them onwards to his abode.

“Finally!” gasped Lyra, out of breath from her hopping spree she fell to the ground.

Bon Bon rolled her eye’s, “Well if you hadn’t tried to jump half the way, you wouldn’t be so tired.”

Lyra just raised a hoof from the ground, “Water… need… water.”

Bon Bon groaned, “Do you have any water Lyra could have Shuur? I’m sorry for her behavior, but she has been at this for years.”

“Well, the sinks have water and I have plenty of glasses, why don’t we all have a break?” offered Shuur.

“Agreed…” muttered Lyra, still lying face first on the ground.

Bon Bon huffed, “Well first, somepony needs to get up, and then we can drink.”

Lyra lazily put a single forehoof in front of her, then another. She sluggishly picked her front up, continued by a similar process to finally achieve a four legged stand. Shuur turned around and opened his door, his door; he loved the way that sounded. It opened with an audible groan, Shuur cringed, reminding himself of the manner he had been using it today. Oh well, he simply hoped he wouldn’t need another soon, it would be hard to explain why his door had broken in less than two days. They made their way to Shuur’s kitchen; he opened a cabinet, removed three glasses, and then poured some water from his sink.

Shuur placed glass in front of each mare who were sitting neatly at the dinner table. Lyra grabbed it the moment it hit the table, throwing the glass towards her dry throat using her magic. Bon Bon continued her rolling eye splurge and drank slowly. Shuur simply sat and watched the two, pondering how such opposites could stand one another.

“So, what do you want to know?” he asked, bringing the glass up to his maw.

Lyra finished with a glassy klink, “Everything!” she gasped.

“Very well then, where to start.”

Shuur looked down at his glass, he was having a hard time drinking from it.

“Stupid glass…” he muttered under his breath.

“Hmm?”

Shuur look up, Lyra was rather diligent to have heard him, she obviously truly wanted to know everything. He smiled, if the events prior were any indication then he should have guessed earlier.

“It’s nothing, now, how about first contact with the humans?” queried Shuur.

Lyra’s head bobbled up and down so fast Shuur feared her neck might break.

“Slow down now, we have plenty of time.” warned Shuur, “Just sit down, relax, and let me tell you what you wish to know.”

Lyra and Bon Bon did as told and relaxed, even if Bon Bon wasn’t as ecstatic as Lyra to hear an alien’s past, she was still excited. Shuur cleared his throat, ready to tell a tale, when a bright purple flash emitted from his living room.

“Hello? Shuur, sorry to keep popping in on you like this but when I heard that you were going to tell Lyra some history, I couldn’t help but just have to be here!”

Shuur sighed; there was an annoying amount of interruptions appearing today. “We’re in the kitchen Twilight, come in and sit down.”

The patter of hooves was heard, and then Twilight came and joined them. She sat next to Bon Bon, fresh scroll and quill at the ready and eyes flared with excitement to rival Lyra’s.

Shuur straightened his position, he would tell them a story like no other.

“Well, where was I? Ah, yes, first contact. It all started out on a Human colony world they named Harvest…”

(ஜ۩۞۩ஜ)

“…And currently, here I sit a resident of your world and I am here to stay.”

Shuur heard Twilight furiously scribble down the last of his statement. He could also see that she was nearly out of room and that she had calmed down considerably from when he told her about the holy flames that could basically melt planets. Lyra’s eyes were seemingly frozen wide open, still a little shocked that Shuur would participate in such atrocities. Bon Bon seemed to be content now, she had sort of expected weapons of mass destruction for some reason, and she had nearly kept her cool, until he told her about the amount of deaths. They were all a little queasy and upset when he told them about the flames, though they seemed to calm down when he told them that he felt rather sorry for the inhabitants and there was nothing he could do.

Shuur looked out a window; that took longer than expected. The sun was at the noon mark when they began, now it sat just above the horizon.

“Aaaand, done. Thanks Shuur, this has been a great learning experience, even the part about the flames... I still don’t understand why your people would do that.” Twilight commented as she finished her notes.

Shuur waved a hand, “No problem, that was actually more pleasant than I thought it would be, though your reactions were expected and I’m still sorry for any emotional scarring.”

“Okay, but really, thanks. I know that the past days here haven’t exactly been pleasant, but with this information we might be able to make it a bit more suitable.”

He chuckled in response, “Pleasant? Twilight, I grew up a trained warrior; this has been the best few days of my life. I have made friends, gained new abilities, and most of all, have a home to call my own for the first time.”

Twilight smiled in kind, “That’s great to hear, not the warrior part but the friends and home part.”

Shuur nodded, it truly had been the best of his days here. He was almost contempt to die here, almost; he didn’t trust this world to do it properly though.

Twilight rolled up her scroll and put the quill inside the bundle.

She looked up to Shuur again, “You really are a nice guy, you know. I mean, for someone raised so young and trained so hard in a military race that can kill planets, you still have a soft heart don’t you.”

Shuur smiled, “Two hearts, and yes I suppose I do.”

Twilight smiled as well, “Okay then, and thanks again Shuur, this has been sort of great.”

She turned around and trotted out of the kitchen, scroll in tow. Shuur looked down to Lyra and Bon Bon. Lyra was simply sitting there with a wide smile, probably feeling like her life was complete or something.

Bon Bon on the other hand was looking Lyra over, “So Lyra, what do you plan to do now?”

“I have no idea.” replied Lyra, expression unchanging, “I know everything I really need to know about humans now, I suppose I’ll just practice my lyre playing more often.”

Bon Bon sighed in relief, “Good, this entire human thing left me rather stressed, I’m also glad that you’re not taking it upon yourself to try and find another lost race to study.” A smile appeared Bon Bon’s face, “And now I’ll have more time to make candy, instead of all my spare time wasted trying to help you find some artifact or random book on humans.”

Lyra’s expression broke, “Oh come on you had fun! Everyone did, well, maybe not the last one but that doesn’t matter. You came with me every time, never disagreed to a single invite to come; I always gave you a choice.”

Bon Bon sighed, “Yes but it’s rather hard to ignore a pony when they begging you with puppy dog eye’s.”

Lyra blushed, “Well you wouldn’t have come if I didn’t. I just wanted somepony I know to join me.”

Bon Bon smiled, “Fair enough, but we should go, I sure that Shuur here has other things he’d like to do.”

With that, Bon Bon jumped out of her chair while Lyra followed suit. Shuur stood and followed them to the front door. He let them outside, waved his goodbyes, and then shut the door.

“It has been a long day, I didn’t even get that much to eat.” said Shuur aloud.

He looked out the window near the front door; the sun was making its final descent over the distant hills. Shuur smiled; perhaps he could give the café shop an IOU. He re-opened the door, and set out for the rest of the day. He had a home, friends, a kind town, powers, and even a lighter mood than he’d ever. But something wasn’t right; Shuur felt a deep aspiration for something. One should be in the highest of spirits if he had such conditions surrounding him. But there was just this hollow point in him, one that worried him. He should be feeling great, giddy even, and here he was sulking.

He looked up at the sky; it was deepening in color near the center, and in the center sat a single bright star. He sighed; it reminded him of himself, a lone thing, foreign to the rest of the terrain. Shuur continued the rest of his walk, an epiphany took him. Of course, he felt so sullen because he was alone on this world. No other Sangheili were there to comfort him. Yes, being part of an alien alliance meant that you get used to foreign species, but there was always an anchor, a species to call your own. Here, Shuur felt as if he was alone, a singular creature on the verge of a breakdown from the shear amount of ponies wanting to see him.

He looked up again, and then found just a smidgen of solace. The lone star was now joined by others, dozens of others. A smile twitched at the edge of his face, there was a chance, just a small one mind you, but still, a chance that they would come here. That he could re-join his brethren and perhaps even sway the princesses to join them. He wouldn’t expect the ponies to become warriors, no, that was against their way of life. Instead, they could mix their magic and technologies to create huge advancements, perhaps even endow the common person with magical abilities. A new era could be born, an era of magic and advancements to rival the Forerunners themselves! Shuur’s pace quickened, if they were ever going to find them he needed to be in the best of shape.

He would convince the ponies to join the Covenant, he would bring forth an era of new technologies and even medicine.

He looked up at the sky again, one day, they would come for them, one day they would see just how amazing these ponies were! And one day, perhaps with the ponies as advisers, they could sum up a peace between the Humans and Covenant. Shuur found himself in front of the café but he didn’t care, there were bright days ahead, and this was just the beginning.

~END~