Once the initial shock of revival wore off, it immediately hit me that there were six very scared ponies in front of me. I have to be very careful how I handle this. I really don't want to scare them any more than I already had.
"What are you doing here?" I asked in as nonthreatening a tone as I could.
Complete silence.
"Can you understand me?" I said in the same tone. I saw the orange one nod yes.
"What are you doing here?" I repeated.
Silence again.
I walked a few steps closer and kneeled down in front of them causing the ponies to recoil a bit.
"Look, you don't need to be afraid of me, just tell me what you're doing here, " I said, again, as gently and calmly as I could. At this, the purple unicorn stood up.
"W-w-we were looking for the a-ancient warrior," She stammered out still in fear of me, "We need his help to defeat Nightmare Moon"
"Are you the warrior?" Asked the rainbow maned Pegasus.
"That depends, what is this warrior supposed to do?" I asked.
"Let's see here...," Said the purple unicorn who produced a book from nowhere and levitated it in front of her. This made me recoil in disbelief: how is she doing that?
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"How are you doing that?"
"What?"
"That, with the book," I said while pointing at the book.
"It's just a levitation spell"
"Spell, you mean like magic?" I responded
"Yes, why? Do they not use magic where you're from?" She asked
"No, or at least not that effectively, but, anyway, what were you saying about the warrior?" I said hoping to redirect this back onto the problem.
"Oh, right. The book says that the warrior is necessary to retrieve the 7 elements of harmony: honesty, courage, laughter, loyalty, kindness, generosity, and the unknown seventh element; defeat Nightmare Moon and save Equestria from eternal night" She read off. As I listened to this, I realized that this was why I was here. My mission was to protect this place from an evil that if left alone would cause untold damage. Eternal night sounded like the kind of thing I should help stop.
"Um, excuse me, are you ok?" Asked the unicorn. I had a nasty habit of drifting off into though.
"Huh? Oh, sorry." I said snapping back to reality, "So basically what you're saying is that you need me to accompany the six of you on a dangerous quest to retrieve seven ancient artifacts, one of which we don't even know where it is, and then somehow use them to defeat a creature so powerful, it is capable of plunging this entire world into a state of perpetual night. That about right?"
"Well, when you put it that way, it does seem a little...," The unicorn began nervously.
"That sounds right up my alley," I interrupted, "I'm in"
With a mixed look of shock and relief, the unicorn replied, "Wow, I really didn't think it would be that easy."
"Hey, when you've spent as long of a time in a coma as I have, you'll take any excuse to leave," I retorted, "But before we go, I need to get my gear so, if you'll excuse me"
"Guardian, open the armory," I ordered
"Opening"
Off to my left with a faint mechanical hum, a door to my favorite place opened. As I walked through the door, a paradise of weapons and armor greeted me.
"Feel free to look around, just ask before you touch anything," I called back, as this could take a few minutes. I then walked to a series of shelves that contained my armor and released the locks that kept them secure. I heard a small sound behind me followed by a faint glow.
"You cannot be serious, Captain." Said the same voice from earlier, "They are horses. Why are you helping them?"
"Ah, so nice of you to join me, G," I replied as I began strapping on my armored boots and greaves, "What can I do for you?"
"Well, you can begin with why you have agreed to help them."
"It's not like we have anything better to do," I responded while finishing with my leg armor and moving to the arms.
"AHHHHHHH, IT'S A GHOST!" screamed a voice from just outside the armory. I turned immediately to see a pink pony frozen in fear at what i assumed was the holographic image of Guardian.
"No, that's not a ghost." I said as I walked to the pony, "That's Guardian, he's with me. Trust me, he's harmless"
"A-a-a-are y-y-y-you s-s-s-sure?" She stammered out
"Yes," I said as I returned to my armor "G , why don't you introduce yourself while I finish up"
"If you insist," his image turned toward the ponies who had gathered "I am known as Guardian and I am the Captain's personal A.I. assistant"
"See G, that wasn't so bad, was it?" I joked as I was installing one of my shoulder-mounted miniguns, which is quite easy with my mechanical arms, "and besides he is actually not really there. He actually exists in my brain, what you're seeing is just a projection of what he thinks he looks like."
I finished attaching the second gun.
RetractI commanded mentally, causing the pair of miniguns to fold down and retract into their places on my back.
"He's a bit antisocial but he means well," I said as Guardian disappeared from view, "anyway I'm ready to go if you are"
I walked out of the armory grabbing my shield which i folded up and stored on my back, my combat tomahawk hung in its place on my right hip, and Guardian's cylindrical drone platform hanging off my left side.
"Oh, and by the way," I said as I snapped to attention, " I'm Captain Archangel, Special Operations; Augmented Division. Who are all of you?"
With that, the purple unicorn stepped forward, "I'm Twilight Sparkle, faithful student of Princess Celestia"
Then the spectrum Pegasus flew up over the group. "I'm Raindow Dash, the fastest Pegasus in Equestria"
Bouncing up in front was the puffy pink pony, "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, do you like parties? 'cause I like parties. Hey we should have a party for you..." Oh boy, this should be fun
Once Pinky had finally finished, the white unicorn stepped forward. "Hello, darling, I am Rarity, fashion designer extraordinaire."
The orange pony walked up. "Howdy, I'm Applejack," she said with a tip of her hat.
"Nice to meet all of... wait, wasn't there another Pegasus earlier?" I asked looking around for the missing pony.
"Oh, you mean Fluttershy, she's right here hidin' from you, I'd guess" answered Applejack as she stepped out of the way
I kneeled down in front of the petrified Fluttershy and said "hey, it's ok, like I said earlier, you don't have to be afraid of me" as nicely as I could.
"Its not you I'm s-s-s-scared of, i-i-it's G-G-G-Guardian, h-h-he's scary" she stammered out clearly gripped with fear.
"Oh, is that all?" I replied reaching to the communicator on my left temple "Guardian, apologize for scaring Ms. Fluttershy, please"
"I am sorry for frightening you Ms. Fluttershy, it was not my intention" said Guardian through my armor's speakers.
"See? He didn't mean it. Come on, let's go get those elements." I said standing back up "Guardian, open the blast door"
"Yes, Captain." then a loud mechanical grinding signaling the door was opening to the outside world and what was sure to be the most interesting adventure in my life.