Chapter 11: Dreams and Nightmares
August 6, 2558
0730 hours
Canterlot Castle
Princess Luna`s Bedroom
Luna stood on the balcony just outside her private quarters, staring up at the behemoth of a floating vessel that was the UNSC Infinity hovering just above the outskirts of Ponyville.
“What is your story?” she wondered aloud to nopony in particular, before trotting back inside, closing the doors, and finally resting her legs by sitting down on her haunches.
She closed her eyes, and her horn began to glow its shade of sapphire.
. . .
October 20, 2552
2210 hours
Earth
Africa
Kenya
New Mombasa streets
Upon entering the dream of Gunnery Sergeant David Alvarez, the human that had saved her life, Luna found herself standing in what appeared to be a human city. Apart from the burning buildings in the distance, this section of the city seemed calm and peaceful.
For the most part at least.
Suddenly, a large, blue and purple aircraft emanating an eerie hovering sound flew overhead; a spotlight coming off of it, searching, searching for any signs of human resistance.
At that moment, Luna felt something. She knew this feeling all too well; it was what told her the location of the dreamer every time she entered a dream. But something wasn’t right. For some reason she sensed his presence above her.
“That does not make sense,” said the midnight blue alicorn to herself. “Humans cannot fly.”
She took to the air regardless; quieter than the breeze was her takeoff, all the while looking for Alvarez.
Finally her eyes came to rest on what looked like some kind of pod large enough to fit one human, lodged into the side of one of the buildings. Hovering just beside it with her wings, she peeked inside to discover a human soldier sitting unconscious within. Though he was wearing a helmet with a visor that obscured his entire face, Luna knew that this had to be him.
Suddenly, he began to move. As soon as he did so, Luna instinctively flew to a hovering position just above the pod to avoid being seen.
Inside, he began to speak.
“Ah fuck,” he began. “It`s dark out! I must`ve been knocked unconscious for a few hours.”
Though he was inside the pod, Luna could hear every word crystal clear, as this was somepony else`s dream that she had entered, her mind could hear every thought of the dreamer.
“I gotta get outta this thing ASAP,” he said before punching four green buttons.
Suddenly, the front end of the pod burst off and clattered to the ground nearly one-hundred feet below. Holstering his silenced M6C sidearm and grabbing his silenced M7 submachine gun, he jumped out. Seconds later he landed with an audible thud and yelp of pain.
Concerned for him, Luna quietly descended to the aching human, activating an invisibility spell on her way down.
“Ooowwwwww…” he groaned before looking around; his eyes finally landing on a pair of medpacks on the other side of the street. “Medpacks…gotta fix myself up quick.”
He stumbled over to them, grunting against the pain the entire agonizing way. Once there, he picked one of them up, the machine beginning an automated advertisement as he did so.
“Fast, accurate diagnosis,” It said in its computer-like voice. “Or your money back.”
“ONI covered up the majority of my identity and faked the rest for this shit?” said David to no one in particular, seeming to ignore the machine as he treated himself back to health. “Somehow I was born on Luna now, Earth`s moon instead of Earth itself for god`s sake!”
They call their moon Luna? Thought Luna. Interesting.
“And apparently my name`s John Doe now,” said the ODST, now finished healing himself. “Man, I gotta stop complaining; I gotta focus. My squad`s out there somewhere. Hell, they could all be dead, but I still gotta try.”
He raised his weapon and began to move.
“And something tells me there`s more to this mission,” he said as he moved into the night. “I hope we weren't just desperate measures…”
Luna looked on until Alvarez had disappeared into the darkness of the city streets, then she deactivated her invisibility spell. She looked on for another moment at the burning city in the distance before activating her horn and disappearing herself as she left David`s dream to enter another.
. . .
April 27, 2526
0034 hours
Circinius IV
3 miles outside of Corbulo Academy of Military Science
It was nighttime again, but this time Luna found herself in the middle of a woodland area that reminded her of the Everfree Forest. She was in a clearing, standing next to some concrete structure. Off in the distance, she heard the roar of some creature followed closely by a distant green light.
Suddenly, she heard voices and saw flashlights coming ever closer at an alarmingly fast rate. She instinctively activated her invisibility spell once again just as four young humans burst into the clearing. They were wearing armor similar to the marines that were currently in Equestria.
The midnight blue alicorn once again felt the presence of the dreamer, this time right in front of her.
One of them had been helping another to walk and was setting him down underneath the structure. Luna walked up to the wounded human and the one kneeling next to him. Upon closer inspection as he pulled his helmet off she found that the wounded one was actually female. She was coughing violently and seemed to be in a lot of pain.
“We`re gunna get you outta here okay?” said the young soldier beside her.
“April! Stun rounds,” said the only other male in the group.
The one named April did as she was told; she got the stun rounds and broke them in half as she walked back to her wounded comrade.
“This will numb the pain,” said April as she poured out the contents of the bullet onto the wounds of her friend. It only seemed to make it worse as the wounded one flinched in agony.
“Hang in there Chyler, c`mon hang in there,” said the male soldier beside the one named Chyler.
After a few moments of the two looking almost lovingly into each other`s eyes, the male reached out to her neck and pulled off a metal object of some kind that looked something like a necklace.
He began to shake his head violently as if he refused to believe something, as if he refused to believe what was happening.
“It`s okay, Tom,” said Chyler.
Realizing who it was next to her, holding her necklace object, tearing up, and shaking his head violently, Luna`s eyes began to tear up as well as she pieced together what was happening.
“I'm sorry,” she croaked.
The young Thomas Lasky barely managed to whisper back his desperate response, “No, please.”
A few moments later, Chyler Silva gave her last breath and grew still.
She was gone.
“Oh Chyler,” sobbed Lasky.
Luna could barely take it anymore, as she was on the verge of tears herself. Knowing that sobbing could give away her position, she covered her mouth and quietly mourned.
Suddenly, Lasky screamed to the heavens, “Chiiiiiiiiiiiiiyleeeeeeeeeeeeerrr!!!”
And then the world around them collapsed.
. . .
August 6, 2558
0800 hours
UNSC Infinity
The Captain`s Quarters
Nearly five miles above Equestria, Captain Thomas Lasky woke with a start and sat upright in his bed. He was in a cold sweat and breathing hard from his memories of that fateful night.
Once he had regained his composure, he moved to the side of his bed and turned on the room lights with a small remote. The resulting light illuminated the once dark room, but just barely. He had set the lights to a dim setting, only enough light to allow him to see his hands. Using said hands, he wiped the sweat off his face and forehead before reaching over to his bedside compartment.
Unlocking it and reaching in, he pulled out a pair of dog tags with Chyler Silva`s name on them.
For the first time in years, a tear ran down his cheek.
“I don’t know how I ended up in this situation,” he said. “But this just got more personal than I ever thought possible. I can`t believe I'm saying this, but I can`t let these ponies down."