//------------------------------//
// Oh My Paladin 
// Story: Off The Grid 
// by MajorPaleFace 
//------------------------------//





Commander John Maxon had spent the remainder of the Canterlot clean up unconscious in a dirty aide station, situated near gold-topped towers underlined with white-walled compounds.
“We’ve entered the rich side of town, ” Midnight had said after collapsing in an adjacent cot.
His rest was patchy, and not comfortable. He’d abandoned his power armour, too tired and too hurt to care about the fate of the Capitol.

His sleep was disturbed, an ununiformed pony was dabbing cotton balls doused it yellow stuff over a cut on his face. 
He sat up and scared the mare away, it was dark outside and a solitary oil lamp dampened the features of the med tent. 
He spied a metal flask, and immediately swiped it to drink hungrily. Once done he dropped it to the ground, not really fully awake – an unusual occurrence.
The cot opposite was empty. “Where is the Thestral?” He demanded.
The Mare had a squeaky voice and stuttered little, “s-some big officer type came and took her and a few others off.”

He dragged a hand over his sore face, picking some of the crust from his tired eyes. 
His side ached, and his extremities were cold. He grunted as he rose, parts of him feeling numb and uncooperative. 
The Mare watched as he wobbled to his feet, having to stoop to fit inside the cramped tent. 
“Are you sure you should be up?” She asked worriedly. 
John grunted, “my ass feels like TV static. But I reckon I’ll be alright to go for a walk.” 
He was lying. His chest felt like it was being inflated, his abdomen hurt and he found he couldn’t stand fully upright. His ribs ached and he felt a wetness on his tongue. Copper. 

The Mare made to say something, he heard nothing at his back as he stumbled through the triangular tent entrance. 
His orange and tan bodysuit was still clean, the only damage from the stab-wound under his right armpit. 
His power armour had toppled over in the dirt along the right side, drag marks indicating it had fallen across the road and been moved out of the way. His AER was absent, and he had no sidearm, the lack of a weapon not bothering him as much as usual. 
The ink-black sky stretched overhead, so expansive that it drew you in and made you feel lighter. The stars speckled as dots of flower against marble top.
Why wasn’t the shield up? He thought. 

Time flowed, John felt lightheaded and his side ached in a dull manner he attributed to high strength painkillers. 
He drifted around, back toward the Plaza near the East Barricade. Much of the rubble had been cleared, and a big pile of Changeling corpses existed in the middle of the plaza.
A cough drew his attention to a small station full of supply crates, bloodied stretchers and a pair of large carriages. Several Gold Plated Pegasi ambled around, he saw many were fast asleep arranged under a makeshift canopy atop bedrolls. 
John walked with difficulty toward the encamped guards. One took notice, and with a cautionary glance to see some of his comrades had also seen the biped, moved to meet John by a cart. 

John lent on the cart, his other hand touched his side to see redness on his gloved hand. 
“Can I help you?” The Guard asked. He had no helmet and his hairstyle was one of those hippie man-buns. 
“I need a ride to my ship,” John head that he was slurring his speech and felt annoyed as another guard wondered over and the two appraised him as one might view a lost child. 
The new guard laughed, “are you the captain?” 
“Or the first mate?” The other chimed. 
They both laughed. 

Even stooped John was a head above the pair of comedians. He limped forward to be face-to-face with man-bun. 
“Listen to me trooper, it’s been a long few days for all of us. But I need to get to my ship, and you need to take me there.” John grunted. 
“Give me one good reason why I k shouldn’t just detain you?” Man-bun said, testily.
“I can give you three,” John said, holding up three digits and counting them off, “find Princess Luna or any high-ranking officer and they’ll tell you to do as I say, I can help hunt down any Changelings left in the city and rain death on them where they live.” 
The Guard considered these points, not seeming too interested. He didn’t break eye contact with John but twisted his head toward the other Guard as they both turned to see an all-black Thestral stroll silently into the heart of the group.

Colonel Kodiak was wearing Onyx Guard plate, the obsidian armour had been scored with a blade to offer a series of crisscrossed patterns. 
“Colonel,” Man-bun said a little unprepared. 
She ignored him and practically sauntered quietly between the two guards. 
“I need a ride,” John said with rolling eyes.
Kodiak tsked, “usually I like to have dinner first.” 
He grunted, “no.” His tone indicating he didn’t have time for jokes. 

“Fine, have it your way. Guard, go and get a unicorn who knows communication spells, and a Lunar squad.”
“Right away, ”the Pegasus said, darting off toward the sky. 
John steppe, into the cart. Once inside on his back, he felt most of his strength vanish and found himself fighting just to remain conscious. 
One moment he was blinking up over white spires under a black starlit sky. Then he felt the cart shake and all sensation lessened, his stomach dropped as the wind rustled around them. 

Most of the city was lights out, a few strips here and there but the moonless evening was otherwise as black as a mine shaft. The expanse swallowed them, he blacked out again. Feeling himself being shaken gently and a soft voice calling his name. 
“What?” He asked, a humming urge to go back to sleep filling his chest. 
“We’re here, ” Kodiak said. 
Her curt announcement was followed by several sets of hooves clacking on steel. John swung his head around, dizziness followed and he had to brace himself on the rim of the cart. 
There were twelve Thestrals, Kodiak and a pair of Unicorns. He brushed passed them, lining up carefully with the upcoming bulkhead. He made it through and continued toward the medbay. 
He felt and heard ponies following, winding through the main passage before looping through an access hatch. 

The medbay was a shiny white and sterile laboratory-looking room. It had autodocs suspended like metal spiders above comfy pods. One wall was brushed titanium, many panels and hidden holds opened as he stepped inside. 
The duel Perspex decontamination chamber sealed him in a circular bubble, white mist as cold as ice was fired all around him. The air smelled clearer yet left a chemical aftertaste on his lips and tongue.  
The Thestrals gathered along the single large two-way screen. It kept any onlookers from contaminating the cleanroom, and potentially infectious crew under quarantine from spreading any plague to the rest of the Anlace's human complement. 

He shuffled onto the pod after the decon chamber swished open. A cradle on a circular scanner raised as he lay down, the blue-lit device screened him. Scanning for damage while a hologram displayed his physical condition. 
He had a minor concussion, a broken clavicle, two fractured ribs, a fractured wrist, internal bleeding around his right lung which had also collapsed due to Pneumothorax – when a broken rib punctures a lung. The air was filling up his chest and he realized he’s been passing out due to lack of oxygen. 
The cradle whirled over him again, arms with various instruments dangled. It rotated, bring on chrome coloured injector over his arm. Another dipped below his shoulder and flicked under his arm. 
More positioned themselves for the multitude of access ports across his bodysuit. He felt many pricks across his skin as several needles and lines were injected. 





Colonel Kodiak had helped haul the human from the transport. No metal golems greeted her this time, but she remained alert just in case. 
Once upon his feet, he wavered toward an opening. One of the Unicorns drifted near to help but refrained as she raised a halting hoof. 
Following after her, she trailed a few body lengths behind the human. He waivered through a wide passage and then disappeared through a semi-recessed tunnel. 
The route had no light, save for a spark of white illumination at the end that erupted as the human dragged himself closer. 

As she and her Guards filled the semi-circular room, John was sealed into a clear tube. He vanished under a cloud that sprang from nowhere, and they all gathered along a clear glass-like wall. The interior was pristine white, save for a wall made of metal. Panels on it opened and a bed surrounded with a halo of little claw arms twitched as John slumped into it. 
The whirred around him, poking him with little silver needles. His chest rose and fell, and then was still. She watched on – stressing as she inspected every part of his form. 
She withheld a startled jerk as he sucked in one tremendous breath, before breathing normally again. 
She turned to the Unicorns, “get me command.” She said simply, one of them busied herself as her horn ignited. 
As a return of identification went back and forth behind her, Kodiak stood at ease. Considering how the human planned to help them this time. She had at first been distrustful and more than a little wary of him, but so far he’d only acted unmaliciously.