The Return

by John 117


Chapter 8: War is an Old Friend of Mine

Marcus marched down the sets of stairs laid down before him; he was walking down towards the dungeons that were set deeper in the mountain side, which led him through vast caves of crystals. The guard escorting him explained that this was were Queen Chrysalis kept her captives during the changeling invasion. Marcus had heard about the attempt at the throne from the girls, but had never given it much thought. Finally the stairs leveled out into corridors, some going off into far reaches of the mountain. Marcus kept maching, the sound of his metal boots and the occasional shift of armor from his escort echoing down the halls of stone. He prime focus was on the cell at the end of the hall and what sat inside; Emilia. Time seemed to slow as flashes of combat with her spread through his mind; each planet, each mission all going through his head at light speed, and he thought it was all over when he first came to Equestria. Marcus stopped a few feet from the cell.

“Guard, you can remain here. What we have to discuss is for our ears only.” The escort saluted him and stood at attention at the section of wall he was at. He kept walking forward, until he was right in front of the cell bars. She was chained up by her wrists and ankles. He looked closely at them; standard iron and steel cuffs and chain link; easily broken by any Spartan, and yet they remained in tact. He nodded towards them and said, “They’re big on formalities here….they uncomfortable?” Of course the answer was a slight shake of the head with a blank visor looking back. Nothing given, nothing taken in the way of emotion. Her helmet had been placed back on her head, whether by herself or by the guards who placed her here...well it didn't matter.

“Take off your helmet for me,” he asked her.

“Last time I checked, I out ranked you Marc,” she replied coolly. He cocked his head to the side and just shook his head.

“Rank doesn't matter anymore, we have no way to contact the UNSC or even getting back to our universe. So let that all go and take off your helmet.” There was a moment of silence as the two stared at one another; one looking into deep bright blue eyes, while the other looked on into a sea of gold. Finally, the chains began to move, after a slight strain, they broke free from their mounts in the wall, and Emilia raised her helmet off of her head. Her red hair fell loose and stood on head as it came free from its confines. Marcus nodded his thanks and sat down on the ground, Emilia following suit. They just sat there for a bit, studying one another; two years had made some changes in both of them. Marcus’ were more apparent, but Emilia’s were there too. Her right eye had a new scare, and it was still pinkish red from whatever had caused it. Emilia’s eyes lite up for a moment, then she spoke to him.

“You’ve gone off reg, and your armor is in poor condition.” Marcus just nodded and smiled.

“No need to keep reg, or keep up this armor. No covenant...at least any more.” She nodded.

“We heard about that; up north the news spread fast. Something like myself beat off alien hordes single handed.” He just shook his head.

“I wasn’t alone, the equestrian guard helped evac and provided support; only reason we won was because I got lucky in a one on one fight with the ship master of the corvette.” Emilia raised an eyebrow.

“Corvette? Like the one that was tailing us on our way out of the stratosphere over Torquaturus IV?”

“The very same.” She pursed her lips carefully.

“Interesting.” He nodded again. They both sat there again in quiet until Marcus spoke up.

“Two years…. what were you doing for two years? You knew I was here!” He nearly shouted to her. She was quiet, her eyes have closed in a way of contemplation; she was not mad, but she no longer trusted Marcus. He could tell, he could see it in her soul. He still had that ability; he still knew spartans through and through. He sat patiently for her to respond, when finally she did.

“When I first came to, there was a blizzard going on around me. I was laying on my stomach, and I was almost covered. I could faintly see bits and pieces of the pelican around me, but my vision was still blurry.” She sat silent again, and he hand went to her leg.

“My leg was broken, so I popped the bone back into place and locked up my leg’s armor as a makeshift cast. Then I got up and walked.” She quietly said. Emilia told him of her journey; no food, no communication, nothing but her and some weapons and ammo she found from the wreckage. The rest of the pelican was with her, but so were bodies from the crash and slipspace jump. She kept moving forward, till the griffons found her. She knew they had been tracking her, and they had watched her for several days, and the entire time she knew. Their meeting was less...civil than Marcus’s with the princesses.

“You’re leg healed up?” Marcus asked. She nodded before continuing.

“They evaded my hand to hand well enough, but I still scored good hits. Enough of them showed up that I had to retreat. Long story short I got overpowered by about fifty griffons. Then they took me to their closest city and tried to interrogate me, except they didn't know how to get the armor off. So they just left me there. I broke out several times, and they got me each time. They ended up locking me up with...well I now know what metal, but it was stronger than anything Id seen before.” She pulled out a hidden blade from her boot and showed it to him. He took it from her grasp and looked at it carefully. It was well used, he could tell, other than that it was a very fine blade. He put his armored arm out and put used his full force to try and break the blade against the armor. It created sparks, but other that that the blade remained in tact.

“You never really were the quiet one out of our squad,” Marcus said with a smirk.

“They don't have enough of the metal for armor, but they have enough for concealable weapons like that. They give them to specialist units and soldiers from what I can tell. Something like a status symbol.” Marcus was impressed by it. A blade so small but still so strong. It could be useful in the right moment.

“What do they call it?”

“Athraf̱sto métallo.” Marcus raised an eyebrow.

“Sounds almost greek, like the stuff Deja taught us…” Emilia simply nodded. They never learned fluent greek, but Deja’s lessons often had teachings from greek teachers. The last battle of Leonidas and his famous three hundred was one told and referenced often. Marcus nodded his head and moved to give the knife back. She barely shook her head. Marcus stopped and looked at her carefully.

“I’m going to need you in this fight Emilia. Can I trust you?” She nodded her head but still wouldn't take the knife.

“You were always the one who had a thing for knives. Keep it. As for the fight, I‘m not sure your pony friends would approve of me. I did just walk in with the griffons who tried to take the castle after all.” Marcus smirked and stood up, motioning behind him for the guard to come forward.

“Emilia you’ve got a bit to learn right now. These ponies trust me; hell I’m married to one of them.” Emilia just looked at him with silent awe. He smiled and turned to the guard.

“Open up the cell; I’m gonna need an old friend to help me with all of this.” The guard paused for a moment, but at the urgent look of Marcus did as he was requested. He was shocked when he saw that he didn't need to remove the shackles.
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The duo walked down the castle corridors to the guards station where Marcus’s company was. He filled her in on everything that had happened in her absence. She was stunned by it all, and rightly so. Everything he told her was fundamentally against almost every single law of nature that Emilia and Marcus had been taught as a child. Griffons she could handle; evolution in theory could come up with all kinds of strange creatures. But magic? Shapeshifting? The moon and sun being controlled by gods who walked among them? The griffons had left a good bit out when they informed her of who their enemy was.

“So...you’re married...to a pegasus….and you have a child, but only because the princes of the moon and sun, who are gods as well, turned you into one as well?” Marcus just nodded his head with a faint smile.

“His name is Star Chaser,” he told her. She just nodded to herself and kept walking forward, taking everything in stride. Guards walked past them quickly, some casting nervous glances at Emilia as they walked by. Others tried to stop them, but Marcus simply explained that she was indeed no threat to them and that she was with him. The nodded, but still kept wary eyes on her. Two guards, however, were running towards the two. Marcus stopped and saw who it was.

“What are those two doing here? They’re supposed to be guarding...oh shit.” He then sprinted up to the two, who stopped immediately when they saw that he was running to them.

“Iron Eyes, Star Blazer, why aren’t you guardin my family like I told you?” he nearly shouted at the two. Iron nearly melted at the quiet visible anger that was radiating from the spartan, but Star just stood there with defiant eyes.

“Scouts reported seeing the remaining forces from the main assault on Canterlot regrouping in the Everfree, near Ponyville. All civilians were evacuated here, since it was the closest major city. We stayed with them the entire time.” A wave of relief washed over Marcus when he heard this, nodding his head. He asked where his family was, and was soon off with the two guards and Emilia trailing him. From what he had been told, the refugees had been moved to the court yard for now until permanent housing could be found or established. They slowed down and the approached the main exit to the court yard. Not waiting for the guards to open them, he walked right up to the massive iron doors and pushed with all his might. They swung open slowly, sunlight flowing into the high arches of the now open door frame. He walked out quickly, scanning the area. He saw familiar faces all around, and many looked right back at him with warm faces and hearts.

He searched through the crowd, checking in on friends and searching for his family. HE finally reached the center of the mass, and found his family and his close friend together waiting for him. Fluttershy rushed to him, their son sitting comfortably on her saddle. He crouched down quickly and wrapped her in a warm hug, looking over her and their son, who was still somewhat scared of the large metal being. He pulled away and smiled at her.

“You’re ok….thank the creator….” a tear rolled away from his eye, wiped away quickly by fluttershy’s hoof.

“The guards moved us out quickly and safely. We were never in any immediate danger.” He nodded his head and looked back at as Emilia and the others finally caught up. They separated from one another and both sat down, their son between them, who was now looking around curiously at everything and anything. He played with the grass beneath him as the adults looked on in quiet wonder and bemusement.

“So..this is your family then?” Marcus looked up and nodded.

“He..he doesn't recognize me since he never knew me as a human, but I think he might be getting used to me...or at least momentarily distracted from me….” he looked down at his son and smiled while Emilia studied the two. She wouldn't know it, but they did look alike, if only Marcus was in his pony form.

“No augmentations….how?” Marcus nodded.

“Not natural, so it didn't transfer over into my new body.” She studied them both more before shaking her head. He just laughed at her and nodded.

“Didn't make any sense to me either when I first got here, but then you begin to learn how the world works and it starts to make sense.” Emilia just stood there studying them and everything around them. Marcus moved his eyes off of her and his family towards the crowd around them. They know what war is now...but are they ready for one that might take years? He shook his head and stood up, getting his helmet from his belt and putting it on. Emilia did the same. Checking his weapons, he motioned for the two guards to follow them.

“You’ll be joining my command Star, and you Iron Eyes, go report to your CO, he’ll have something for you to do I’m sure.” Iron saluted then trotted off into the castle. Star just kept following them.

“Whats the plan then Marcus?” he asked as the rounded a corner.

“Get the company ready, find out where we need to go, then fight for everything we love and care about. Repeat as necessary.” Emilia let out a small huff of air from the lack of thought, but kept quiet none the less. Star just smirk and nodded his head.

“Sounds like a plan.”