//------------------------------// // Chapter 13- Spotlight // Story: Marcus 657 // by John 117 //------------------------------// The next morning Marcus woke up to the smell of cooking coming from down stairs. His stomach rumbled loudly, and he remembered that he hadn't eaten anything in a while. He got up and grabbed his stuff and walked down stairs. He walked into the kitchen to find Fluttershy making breakfast. "Good morning Marcus, how did you sleep?" "Better than I have in a long, long time" That seemed to please Fluttershy.She must have forgotten the incident last night, that or shes giving me space....Good. She returned to her cooking, making Marcus's stomach rumble again; it smelled so good. Fluttershy chuckled. "When was the last time you ate Marcus?" Marcus had to stand there for a second thinking.No, it couldn't have been that long. He sighed to himself, knowing it had been. "3 days. Before I came here, I was in combat and didn't have time. And when I did come here, I had no food. Not even C-rations." Marcus grimaced at the thought of eating those. They were made to have anything and everything a soldier needed in case they couldn't get a proper meal, but unfortunately they tasted like shit. Whoever made them didn't exactly have flavor in mind. "Then you must be very hungry. Here, I made hash browns and cut up some fresh fruit. I don't really know what humans eat, but I did what I could." "Well, you're on the right track .Humans are omnivorous, although we do prefer meat." Marcus dove right in; not noticing the look Fluttershy gave him. "M-meat?" Marcus nodded. "We need the protein and carbs. We can't digest hay like you can." "Oh dear..." "Don't worry. We can live without it as long as we get the proper supplements for it." Fluttershy nodded at this and seemed pleased by it. Marcus finished his hash browns and moved on to the fruit. Marcus bit into an apple, and stopped as he bit in. “Is there something wrong with it? Is it bad? Oh dear..." Marcus finished his bite with relish. He looked over at her. "That might be the best damn apple I have ever had. Pardon my language, but soldiers don't exactly get fresh fruit like that.Not even when on leave!" Marcus took another, larger bite. He finished the apple quickly and ate another. Fluttershy had some of the same, only she had some hay fries with it as well. They finished breakfast, and Marcus let out a content sigh. He hadn't eaten in a while, and that had to be the best breakfast he had had in a very long time. Fluttershy looked up at him "Well, I suppose to we should go meet up with Twilight now." "Why?" "She's holding a town meeting for you, so that everyone knows that you aren't dangerous and that they shouldn't be scared. " Marcus nodded at that. It was going to be an awkward meeting; that was a given. Made sense though. He didn't want everyone scrambling every time he entered town like they had before. They left Fluttershy's house, and she looked at him. "Can you hide so that we could move through town without you being seen? If that's ok with you, that is.." At that Marcus gave a broad smile. He turned on his armor ability, and vanished before Fluttershy. He was utterly invisible. Fluttershy gasped. "I thought you couldn't use magic!" she said. "It’s not. It’s a technology we call 'active camouflage'. It deflects the light off of me so that I'm rendered invisible." "Well, stay close, I don't want to lose you." With that, they walked towards town. Since Marcus had to do some dodging when they entered town; since no one could see him, he had to move so they wouldn't hit an invisible Spartan. They entered what Marcus guessed to be the city's town hall, and deactivated his armor ability, becoming visible again. He got a few shocked faces and gasps when he appeared out of know where. Rainbow Dash ran up to him and gawked. "You gotta teach me how you just did that," Rainbow Dash pleaded. Marcus just chuckled and moved on, walking up to Twilight. His face grew serious. "When does this meeting start?" "In a few minutes. You should stand back stage for now so you don't scare anyone. You can come out when everyone is in and seated." Marcus nodded and complied. He stood back stage; he kept his right hand held in his left behind his back. He could see a shadow on the opposite side of the stage. Realizing who it was, MArcus smirked and nodded towards Luna. She must be here to see if everything goes as planned...and that I don't kill anyone.Pinkie Pie came up to him, a box in her mouth. " MER FERGERT TER GERVE YER THERSE!" Marcus shook his head. "What?" Pinkie dropped the box on the ground. "I forgot to give these to you silly! They're a 'Welcome to Ponyville' gift!" She opened up the box to reveal a dozen pink frosted cupcakes. "Oh well, thank you Pinkie, but I don't eat sweets much." Pinkie frowned. "Oh please??? Just try one??" Marcus raised an eyebrow. She was persistent. Spartans didn't really eat a whole lot of sweets; closer to none really. But he complied, taking one out of the box and raising it to his mouth. He hesitated, looking back at Pinkie. Her eyes were wide with happinessWell, bottoms up. He took a bite, and swallowed. It wasn't too bad, although it was a lot more sweet then he would have liked. He took another bit, and finished the cupcake off. "Not bad," he said. "A little less sugar and they'd be great." Pinkie beamed at him, and gave him a huge hug. "Take the rest if you want! I’ll have more with less sugar next time." And with that, she trotted off. Marcus stood up, holding the box. He really didn't know what to do with them. He opted to just hold on to them as he heard twilight begin to speak. He heard Twilight walk on stage, and say a few words. Something about a new visitor in Ponyville, and how he wasn't here to hurt them. They needed to be nice and not freak out when he was around. Marcus laughed; it was never that simple. He heard her call his name, and he walked out. His first impression from the ponies, well, expected. Fright. He cleared his throat. "Good morning everyo-er, pony." They stared right back. Marcus was never good at public speaking. He took off his helmet, clipping to his belt and looked into the crowd. "As Twilight said earlier, I'm Marcus. She filled you in on everything so I don't really know what to say. I guess I'll start with questions. Anyone?" There was silence for a moment, and then someone in the crowd, a grey, wall-eyed pegasus with yellowish-gold eyes raised a hoof. "Are those muffins in your hoof?" That got a small laugh from the crowd. Marcus smiled. "No, they're cupcakes that Pinkie Pie gave me as 'Welcome to Ponyville' present. See?" Marcus opened the container and showed them all. They all looked and nodded, happy to see that it was what he said it was, although Marcus noticed the pony who had asked looked sad about the answer. Another hoof was raised. "What are you wearing?" "This is MJOLNIR Mark 6 combat assault armor. Standard issue." "What does it do?" "Well for one thing it keeps me alive in a fight. It’s got a motion sensor, a shielding system to me alive. I also have an ammo counter for when I have my weapons equipped." Most of that sailed over their heads, but the answer seamed to satisfy the questioner. Someone yelled out asking why he was here. "To be honest, this wasn't on purpose. Twilight was practicing magic when something went wrong. She ended up teleporting me here." There didn't seem to be any other questions. No one looked as scared as they had before, so that was a good sign. Marcus was about to finish everything when another hoof was raised. "You said you have weapons. Why?" Marcus looked down,afraid of that question. Fluttershy spoke up for him though, saving his hide. She stepped forward a bit, hiding behind her mane, but spoke loud enough for most ponies to hear. "He needs them to protect those who can't protect themselves. He helps ponies where he comes from. He's a soldier, and fight to protect other ponies." Everyone looked at him with awe. They were in the presence of an official war hero. Marcus looked around; uneasy. He looked at Fluttershy, and nodded; thanking her for her help.Another hoof was raised and Marcus pointed to it. "Where do you come from?"Marcus frowned at that. He was Earth born, but he was raised on Reach with the other Spartans. "I was born on a planet called Earth, but was later raised on another planet called Reach. That was where I was trained." At that a few more hooves were raised, but they all seemed to have the same question. "How do humans live on different planets?" Marcus then explained some of humanity's more recent history, with the creation of the slip-space drive and the founding of human colonies among the stars. Ponies stared in awe at the story, and many were impressed with the tale. "How have humans done this without magic?" This one stumped Marcus. "I really don't know. I still don't really understand your 'magic' since it breaks most laws of humans science, but i also don't understand the science and technology behind slip-space drives.." Now most were quiet. "I hope nothing bad comes of this, and I’m happy to be here. Thank you." And with that, the crowd was allowed to leave. They all got up, but didn't scramble out. That was also a good sign, Marcus guessed. Princess Luna walked out of the shadows. "Well, that went better than we would have guessed." Twilight bowed, and Marcus nodded in her direction. "Agreed."