//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: I Don't Wanna Tour the Town! // Story: Halo: Ponies and Clouded Pasts // by Blazer //------------------------------// "So, what d'ya suppose we do, Twi?" Applejack asked as the four mares walked out of Sugarcube Corner. "Well, Pinkie is right. For now, I think it would be best to leave him be," Twilight sighed, wincing as she hobbled on her foreleg's cast. "I'm not sure that bringing up and inquiring about his past is exactly a good thing for him right now. I'm sure that him adjusting from his life as a soldier to a peacetime society is hard enough." "That's wise of you, Twilight, but I still think something should be done for him," Rarity added. "I was especially worried when you mentioned what he was doing in the cell before you and Luna asked him those questions." Twilight nodded slowly. "Yes. That's why I'm so worried, Rarity. I'm afraid just to even leave him alone!" Rarity blinked. "Well, then why don't we engage in some harmless activities? Maybe we will be able to speed up this ‘peacetime adjustment'? And we will be able to keep our eyes on him." Pinkie giggled. "You just wanna keep your eyes on the dreamy space-alien hunk, don'tcha?" "W-what?! Of course not! Didn't you see his face?! It was simply—" "Girls!" Twilight barked. The two mares fell silent as Twilight began again, "Okay. We'll do just that, Rarity. However, I'm a bit busy with running the library during the daytime; could you and Applejack give him a tour?" "But of course! One of the perks of running your own business; you can take as many off-days as you require!" Rarity replied, beaming a smile. "Ah've got a long list of chores t'do, Twi. Ah don't think Ah can walk him around. Pinkie, you free tomorrow?" The pink pastel earth pony suddenly broke into maniacal laughter. – John held a hand to his visor, shaking his head a couple of times. Although he was used to teleporting, that only meant he knew what the side-effects are. Looking around, he noticed that they were back at Sweet Apple Acres. Luna trotted up next to him, "Master Chief? Art thou okay?" John sighed explosively. "Tired," he lied. The Princess of the Night flashed an apologetic smile. "O-oh. Please, don't let me keep you." John nodded, turning towards the barn. "Are you sure it is only fatigue that ails you?" Luna ventured. John stopped in his tracks, but didn't answer. "…Dost thou wish to talk about it?" John sighed again. "I would if I could." Without waiting for her answer, he continued towards the barn, the only noise being the rhythmic clomping of his boots and the crickets playing their moonlit sonatas to the night. Pulling open the door, he quickly stepped inside, shutting and locking the barn door behind him. He collapsed onto the slightly-flattened hay, wincing when he simply slammed into the ground, crumpling his makeshift mattress. I really need to be more careful… John mused. Ignoring the slight discomfort of the armor forcing him to lay awkwardly, John removed his helmet, sighing a third time. The pistol felt heavy on his side, causing John to subconsciously lay a hand on the slide. I wasn't the first human to live here… But now I'm the last, he thought, his gaze drifting to a single crack in the roof, where a sliver of moonlight spilled between the boards. He watched as the moonlight filtered through the dust particles, his troubled mind enveloped in thought. Not only did the Princess fear his species, he only had made it worse with his attempt to scare Twilight out of pursuing him. The Spartan wondered if his words had affected the Princess's opinion of humans at all. He couldn't imagine humans fighting to the point of extinction, even with all of the powerful technology that he saw back on Earth. When population began to become a problem, people colonized other worlds. The only problem was the Then again, the humans here didn't have a crazed collection of religious fanatics trying to wipe out their kind to motivate negotiation. Somewhat satisfied with his answer, John arched his back, stretching for a moment before settling down to sleep. However, a new thought popped into his mind. How would she react if I told her about the Covenant? Would that possibly change her opinion of humans? John closed his eyes, clearing his mind of the results of his pondering. Why was he worried? Her opinion didn't matter. Besides, whatever the case, he wasn't going to tell the Princess anything about his past, let alone anybody else. Royal decree or not. -- A gentle knock woke John from his light slumber. Rubbing his eyes, he slowly sat up, staring at the ground between his knees. His eyebrow shot up. No flashbacks? No nightmares…? Shrugging, he leaned over, reaching to pick up his helmet. Taking care to brush out any hay that had gotten in his hair overnight, John replaced his helmet, slowly getting up to answer the door as another knock came. Taking a quick moment to stretch his aching body, he unlatched the lock, slowly opening the door. The alabaster unicorn from yesterday flashed a dazzling smile. "Oh! Hello. I'm sorry… Did I wake you?" John shook his head, "It's okay. I was oversleeping, anyways." They sat there for a few moments before his suspicions were aroused. "Do you… need something?" He inquired. "O-oh! Yes. Being a new arrival to Ponyville, Twilight decided that you're going to need to know your way around this town eventually, so I'm here to give you a tour of this quaint establishment!" She said, smiling. "…With all due respect, ma'am, I was going to give myself a haircut today." He said slowly, struggling to think of things he could do instead of walk in front of the town's populace. "That's perfect! I was planning to show you the spa today, and they could help you with that! They could even go further than just a simple haircut, of course. Maybe a perm if you wish to keep your hair long…" "I was just going to cut it short," he stated flatly. The unicorn huffed irritably, "Yes, yes. They do that, too." "In my own style." "They can match your preferences; I assure you." John sighed. "Look, I'm not really up for touring the town today. I wanted to visit the crash site and see if there's anything that I could salvage. I still need to get home." Rarity bit her lip. "But… but—" "I'm sorry." He turned away, starting to close the barn door. A sudden screeching assaulted his ears, causing him to involuntarily hunch his shoulders. When he turned around, he realized it was the unicorn's crying. "Oh, woe is me!" She wailed, "I had everything planned out! I even rented out the entire spa for the day so you wouldn't be disturbed by curious customers, and I had a whole tour set up and we were going to eat lunch at my favorite café! And Twilight is going to be so upset if she finds out I wasn't able to show you around today, and—" "Stop!" John cried, holding out his hands. "Just… stop." The unicorn peered at him with unnaturally sad eyes. John sighed again. "I'll take your tour, but I need to see if there's anything salvageable in that ship later." The unicorn opened her mouth to speak, but turned away. "No. You're busy." "Please. I insist," he deadpanned. After a few moments, Rarity stood up, "Well, I think that's as close to a yes I'm going to get. Come along, then! Let's go get some breakfast!" John watched her retreating figure stupidly before cursing under his breath. Making sure to grab his ammo belt and pistol, he shut the barn door, jogging after Rarity. – "Welcome to Heaven-on-Equestria!" Rarity squealed, bursting through the spa's door. John crouched low, careful not to bump his head on the low door. If it wasn't for the over-sized doorway, he wouldn't have been able to fit inside the building, period. He instinctively jerked his head down when he bumped the service bell off of its resting place, which clattered to rest at his feet. Slowly rising to a stoop, he took in the surroundings. The interior was painted a dark, royal blue with a sudden splash of white where the walls met the ceiling and the floor. The carpet was a pale violet while the ceiling was painted a similar color, fading to a sky-blue in the middle. Many potted plants (Whether they were real or not, he couldn't tell the difference) were placed around the edges of the small waiting room, giving the place a very nature-oriented feel. An azure horse with a pink mane, lacking both a horn and wings, manned the counter, holding a clipboard between its forelegs. The shorter snout and ridiculously large eyelashes it sported pointed to it being a female; John really had no other way of telling. A picture of a strange kind of flower was tattooed onto her flank. She nodded to Rarity before fixing him with a curious stare. "Hello, Lotus Blossom! This is who I was talking about. We're going to need the full treatment! Is the spa currently empty at the moment?" Rarity asked. "Yes; all I had to do was mention that the creature was going to be coming today, and it's been deserted ever since we opened." Lotus replied, a hint of frustration in her voice. John flinched at being called a ‘creature', but remained silent. He realized that he was mentally calling these things ‘creatures' as well, and it was only a placeholder for his name. And he wasn't ready to tell the world all about that yet. One alien knowing his name was one too many. "Oh, good!" Rarity sighed, oblivious to Lotus's slight irritation. "Well, shall we start with the sauna?" She asked to nobody in particular. Lotus nodded, setting down the clipboard and stepping out from behind the counter to stand in front of a pair of oversized double-doors. "This way, Miss Rarity." She said, pushing the door open. The now-ecstatic unicorn trotted through, followed by a sullen, heavily-contrasting John. After following a short hallway, they stepped through a doorway on the left-hand (or hoof) side. They entered a room entirely made of hand-finished wood. To John's relief, it opened up to a large ceiling, allowing him to stand at his full height. Benches with small hay-woven cushions surrounded the sides, one of the edges bearing a small rack of heated rocks. A bucket of water and a wooden ladle lay ready beside them. The room already bore a hefty amount of steam, which gathered at the top of the room. "So… Master Chief…" Rarity said slowly, working her way around his foreign callsign, "you know what this is, right?" "A process that is shown to raise blood cell count in athletes, promote performance in endurance sports, protect against oxidative stress and raise levels of beta endorphins in the body," he replied quickly, taking care to slowly lower himself onto the wood bench. Luckily, it was pure oak, only creaking and groaning for a few seconds before falling silent. Rarity stared at him for a moment before forcing a smile. "Good! Glad to see you know this is a beauty treatment! Helps the body sweat out toxins and debris clogging your pores!" John opened his mouth to retort, but thought better of it and shut it again. This little spa excursion appeared to mean a lot to the unicorn, and it wasn't like him to nitpick on facts. Lotus Blossom stepped in behind John, pushing past him to take a seat at the heated rocks. Dipping the ladle in the bucket, she dumped a spoonful onto the stones, creating a jet of steam. "So, you know you need to take off your helmet to…" "Yes. I know." "…Then aren't you going to remove it?" "I'd rather not sweat in the armor that I can't take off," John replied. "O-oh… Okay, then," Rarity said, looking defeated. John looked about, struggling to fill the awkward silence with conversation. "…What do you do for fun around here?" he asked, resisting the temptation to punch himself in the face for how stupid he sounded. "Well, this is how I spend most of my days off." Rarity gestured to the sauna. "Other than this, there's always being able to do things outdoors; the Pegasi keep the days clear with their ability to clear the skies of any clouds," Rarity explained, "although it is seldom that I find myself taking nature walks. I'd rather let my hooves touch carpet than dirt." The Spartan frowned. "What's wrong with a little dirt on your hooves?" "Dirt is dirt, Mr. Chief," Rarity shot back. "For me, it is an unpleasant thing that makes anything it touches simply unsightly!" She turned to face him, her eyes now curious. "Why? What does it mean to you, Master Chief?" John shrugged his broad shoulders. "It's certainly not something to worry about. Being a soldier and all, it's one of the last things your mind really touches bases with. I don't let it keep me from setting foot outside and experiencing whatever the world has in store for me," he coughed politely, "especially if ‘weather control' guarantees sunny days practically every day of the week." Rarity raised a brow. "I didn't know you were much of a philosopher, Mr. Chief." Halo tearing itself to pieces flashed behind John's eyes. "I didn't know I was a lot of things." After another pregnant pause, Rarity hopped down from her bench. "Well, I think we've sat in this place long enough; I think it's time for some refreshing mud masks!" John stifled a groan. – John glanced up, noting how low the sun had sunken into the sky. His brow furrowed. His visit to the crash site would have to wait until tomorrow; he would require Twilight's teleporting abilities, or her ability to call over those weird magical carriage-taxis. His escort had fallen quiet, which drew slight suspicions from him. After glancing up at her as she walked ahead of him, he shrugged. She was probably tired from doing all the talking for the entire day. It hadn't been a bad experience; the only problems were his inability to sit in the mud bath (It was too small), going on without lunch (Salads apparently came with grass) and his strange encounters with several townsfolk (He almost wanted to shoot himself just to escape the awkwardness of the scenarios). His eyes fell on the treehouse library that the purple equine apparently lived in; He was to wait outside while Rarity picked up a few cookbooks, and then she would escort him home, as per the ridiculous "royal decree". "Well, here we are! I'll be back out in a jiffy!" Rarity said, practically answering John's thoughts. "Yes, ma'am." Was all he could manage. The unicorn trotted inside, quickly shutting the door behind her. John turned to rest his back against the tree, sliding down it to ease himself to the ground. Before he could even take a seat, though, Rarity poked her head out again, "Oh, Mr. Chief, could you come inside for a moment?" He turned to face the unicorn, a slight suspicion arising. However, it faded when he remembered what he was going to say earlier, "Thank you for showing me around today; Despite the complications, I… I had a good time." John lied for the umpteenth time. Luckily, the mare didn't pick up on it, "Oh, it's nothing, darling! I'm glad you got a haircut out of the spa, although I think you'd look rather dashing if you did something with your lovely long hair." The Spartan couldn't help a small chuckle, "Unlikely, ma'am." He followed Rarity inside, ducking inside the small doorway. As soon as he entered the main floor of the library, he nearly leaped out of his suit when confetti and streamers burst from the darkened doorway. "SURPRISE!" Came a unified cry, followed by another unified gasp. John lowered the pistol when four familiar faces revealed themselves from the darkness. "Whoa! Chief! It's okay! It's just us!" Twilight cried, stepping in front of her three startled friends behind her. The talkative pink equine from yesterday bounced up to him, beaming an enormous smile, "Hey! I thought I'd throw you a surprise ‘Welcome to Ponyville' party, but then I realized that anypony I invited would probably ignore me, and I knew that Twilight wanted to keep this event private, so it's a ‘Private Super Sleepover Surprise Slumber Party!'" John stifled another groan. It was going to be a long night. – She blinked once, twice... nothing. She still couldn't see anything. Where was she? Was she dead? No… She wouldn't be able to think, let alone know she was conscious. Let's test that theory… What is my name? "My name… Cortana, UNSC Artificial Intelligence. Serial number: CTN 0452-9." All around her was darkness. Not a single speck of light… Wait, there…! A single dot sparkled in the distance. She pushed herself towards it with all of her might, practically swimming in the strange, empty limbo that was her apparent prison. Reaching out, her fingertips brushed the light… And another consciousness pulled her in. This is not your grave. But you are welcome… in it.