A Marines peace

by Cone of Wonders

Reunion

Rust grabbed the scattershot and allowed the metallic clamps automatically attach it to his back. He looked back to Twilight who nodded, signalling that she was ready.

The pair left the library and entered the village where Rust found the streets to be empty, just like the first time he entered the ghost town. He couldn't help but ask the only pony next to him for answers.

"Is there a reason we're the only two living people in this town"?

Twilight looked at him with annoyance. Rust had no idea why she was giving him that look, then it clicked.

"Sorry. The only person and pony. Happy"? Rust cheekily replied.

"Don't worry about it. Most ponies are just afraid that your a monster is all". Twilight replied as though this sort of thing was common.

"...Okay"... Rust spoke, unsure if he wanted to go into any further detail.

"It happened with an old friend of mine, Zecora. I'll take you to meet her sometime".

"So... about this war with the covenant"...

Rust sighed.

"Go on". He spoke dryly, not even bothering to look at the purple unicorn.

"Did it end"?

"...Sort of. Humanity won the war. But only several years later, a small section of loyalist covenant refused to believe that everything they served for, their so called Gods, were not as great as they once thought. They saw it necessary to try and search an unknown planet only discovered by humanity six months ago. Requiem. A forerunner planet containing more than we expected".

Twilight wasn't sure if she wanted to press on. But on second thoughts, this talk could help to ease the humans burden and make pony- human relationships stronger. Plus she may need to write some of this information down for the sake of science.

"What did you find there"?

"Personally, a whole bunch of pissed of robots called Promethean knights. As for the UNSC in general. What we believe to have been the last forerunner alive, and one of the best the UNSC has to offer, thought to be lost after the collapse of the ark portal. Spartan 117".

With every answer given, Twilight thought of at least another five. What's a forerunner? What does UNSC stand for? Who is Spartan 117? Before she could press on...

"RUSTIE"!

Rust looked in the direction of the yell and quickly found something latched to his face which was both very pink and had no respect for personal space.

"Hmmmf Fnkke Fhii"! Rust mumbled as his face was covered in pink fur. He eventually got over the shock and pryed the pink pony off of him. Behind her were the rest of the ponies as Rust could now clearly see.

"Hi girls". Twilight greeted in her usual friendly manner. Everypony greeted Twilight before eventually and hesitantly greeting the six foot armored alien next to her. Rust slowly waved, not caring about anything except the meeting with this princess character which was kept on his mind since this morning.

"So how are we getting to the Princess"? Asked Rust impatiently, gaining Twilight's attention.

"With that". Twilight pointed to the left of Rust. The marine followed her hoof until he saw some kind of pink olden steam train like earth used to use centuries ago, only this one was pink.

"I see. Let's go then". Rust spoke before making his way towards the train. As he did, Rainbow Dash began to have a private talk with Twilight, away from the other girls.

"Are you sure about this Twilight? I mean, that thing is dangerous"!

"I know what I'm doing Rainbow Dash. Besides, he's quite nice. When he wants to".

"Still, I don't like it". Rainbow Dash took another look at the creature and glared behind it's back as it talked to Fluttershy.

"So hows that Manticore from yesterday"?

"Oh he's fine. Just a few deep wounds but Manticores are quite resilient".

"Good to know". Rust spoke to Fluttershy. In his head, he made his own comment.

"Next time I'll know to shoot it in it's face if it tries anything again".

"So what do you do for a job"? Asked the timid Pegasus nervously.

"Putting it simply, Soldier. Infantry".

"And who do others see you as? If you don't mind me asking"...

"I'm usually friendly, as long as there isn't something wanting to kill me".

Fluttershy gasped in horror, though Rust chose to ignore it. Before Fluttershy could ask what he meant, Rust had boarded the train and took a seat away from her, almost as though Fluttershy had said something offensive to him.

Rust waited for the other five ponies to board the train until he decided to stare out the window, viewing the still empty town. Many of the buildings were made of stone or wood, with straw roofs. It reminded Rust of the Dark Ages, one of his favorite history subjects. Only that here, the population was made up of talking horses and happened to have trains. It just didn't seem to mix.

"Tickets"! Rust heard from the next car and turned round to face the door. In a matter of seconds, what looked like the conductor, came through the door. Unaware of the armored human just meters away.

"Tickets! Get your tic- HOLY CELESTIA WHAT IS THAT THING"!?! The conductor suddenly yelled out after finally seeing Rust who wore an annoyed expression over being called a thing.

"Nice to meet you too". Rust said calmly, ignoring the poor stallion who looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

"Sir, this... sentient being means no harm. Please be a little less jumpy". Twilight spoke up, saving the day with words.

The stallion was still jumpy but no longer looked like he was scared shitless. Instead, he handed, with hooves, seven tickets for the train. Six for the ponies and the other for Rust. After selling the tickets, the conductor made himself have no reason to stick around and exited the train car. Rust just sighed.

"This is going to be a long ride".

That was the last thing he said before the train set off. As the train moved further away from the town, Rust could barely make out several ponies exiting the buildings, believing that the big bad human had left them alone. Deep down, he found it a little funny to be seen as a threat for once, though in a silly way.

SIX HOURS LATER

After one of the longest train rides Rust had ever gone through, they were finally at the City of Canterlots station where several golden armored guards waited. Inside the train, Rust had been silent the entire way, him and Twilight who seemed down. Being the good Samaritan, Rust got up from his seat and tried to talk to her while the other girls were busy talking amongst themselves.

"Are you okay Twilight"? Rust spoke in a caring tone.

Twilight acknowledged Rust's presence but didn't turn to face him. Rust then figured out what it was that was bothering her.

"Is this to do with Celestia"?

Twilight nodded before opening up to the soldier.

"I just don't understand why Princess Celestia didn't give me more information on you. I mean, she obviously knows about your presence so I just would have thought she would have trusted me with such vital information. I am her student after all".

"We all have our reasons Twi. Why Celestia didn't give you more info on my kind or... why I chose to show you that mission log from this morning, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you need to put some faith into your... Princess as I've done with you".

Twilight turned and looked at Rust with a confused look.

"With me"?

"Yes, I showed you some horrific videos back at the library and you've kept it to yourself. Not many souls would keep such secrets to themselves. And I wouldn't have shown you it unless I could have trusted you".

Twilight seemed to smile but only slightly before nodding and looking out the window again Rust decided to let her think about that and waited for the train to come to a stop. The mane six lined up next to him and allowed the doors to open. As they walked out of the car, they were met by...

"SHINY"! Twilight yelped happily.

"Twily"! The white unicorn greeted before the two hugged each other. As they let go, Rust noticed that the greatly armored pony soldier had a black eye.

"Shining, what happened to your eye"?

Shining armor said nothing at first but looked up to the human and glared at him as though his injury was somehow the humans fault.

"It's a long story". Shining spoke coldly, locking eyes with the humans before turning to Twilight with a more friendly attitude.

"The princess is waiting for us. Please follow me".

"Sure thing, shiny". Rust replied.

In a few minutes of entering the castle from a secret tunnel that led underneath the city, as having an unknown creature parade around Canterlot would cause mass chaos, Rust found himself inside a large, marble room with stained windows and a huge chair at the very end of the room. Sitting in said chair was the biggest of all ponies that Rust had seen. Seven foot tall, white fur, had both a horn and a wing, a crown.

"Celestia I presume"? Rust asked, earning him a push from behind from "Shiny" until Rust was standing just in front of the few stairs. The other ponies had been taken to another part of the castle so for now, it was just Rust, Celestia and Shining armor.

"Good afternoon Rust". The alicorn spoke with a kindness in her voice. "I am glad to see that you have arrived safely to Canterlot".

"As much as I appreciate the kindness, how do you know about me? I mean, you already knew what I was and left it at that".

"Ah yes. Forgive my bluntness but Ponyville was not the only residence to receive an unusual visitor". She said calmly, allowing a smile to form on her face.

"And that means"...?
"It means you weren't the only son of a bitch who landed in the land of fairytales Sarge"! Came a familiar voice from behind Rust. Rust turned round to see another human smiling at him, wearing the same armor as himself and was holding a shotgun with both his arms whilst being escorted by two golden unicorns with spears.

"No way! Forest"!?

Author's Note:

It's been so long since I got a chapter for this story. Much too long.

My apologies for taking so long. If you haven't read my blog I'll fill you in.

I've had a bit of a crisis with some of the universities I've applied for a while back and it seems likely that I'll be getting into uni anything soon. So starting on August, I'll be joining the Navy. This will probably effect my story writing that much more but I'll do what I can to continue writing. I can only hope that everything works out for the best. Thanks for reading ^^

Comments

[Padwan]

What department of the navy may I ask (I'm not very military savvy so I don't know if department is the right word,but you probably get what I mean)

[Ghost-091]

Joining the squiddies, huh? Good luck. You're going to need it when you cross the equator for the first time. My father is former Navy, and he gave me some horror stories about what his ship's crew did to him and the others when they crossed it for the first time...

It gives me nightmares to this day...

4044347
It sort of works. The Department of the Navy is an actual organization. Do you mean unit (as in what fleet, base and ship you are assigned) or rating (your specific job, ex: sonar technician, intelligence analyst, MP)?

[Requiem17]

Glad to see an update :)

[The Warrior Scholar]

Hope you get to test out the railings!(I am not shutting you, there got them now, prototypes at least, and the kick ass)

[DezzarTac]

I'll be joining the Navy

Two authors in the same month?

[Clicker]

4045549 Their conscripting bronies.

[Padwan]

4044506 (sorry for late reply) what I meant was his specific job in the navy, I don't know why but I just couldn't find the words in my head

[Lord Shaxx]

Okay, great story, love how it's going. Two downsides, however. One, it is in severe need of editing for all the grammar and spelling errors. Two, it hasn't been updated in about six months.

[Spartan III]

This is AWESOME, can't wait to read the next chapter

[lousyfistfighter]

Is this story dead? Quick! Someone check for a pulse

[That Forerunner]

117 likes man, good job. May not stay that way long.

[Killermanjaro]

6220571 I CANT FIND A PULSE!! We NEED HIM TO WRITE MORE CELESTIA DAMIT!!!

[Earthpatriot117]

This story still updating?

[OlDreaddy]

8125134
Nope.

[Armageden]

Holly crap Forest's ALIVE.