//------------------------------// // 34.6 Onward // Story: Metroid Equis // by Flammenwerfer //------------------------------// Metroid Equis Chapter 34.6 Onward [G.F.S. Vogl | Three Weeks After Crater Collapse…] “You heading off to bed Syd?” Nathan asked as he and Sydney were finishing cleaning up from their little personal celebration in their usual lounge room. It had been a few hours since all eight members of CV-Squad got back to the Vogl and, while they enjoyed being planetside for the celebrations, it was not all just fun and games. There was quite the bit of administrative work to do, not to mention the military parades and joint exercises… it was all exhausting to say the least. In the end, all appreciated the fact that they would be sleeping in their own beds for once, though that assertion only counted for half of the squad. For the other four, it was a slightly different story. Either way, all eight of them immediately discarded their armor at first ability, the humans opting for much more casual, loose clothing and the ponies their own coats. “Oh god I’m gonna crash so hard, Nate, you have no idea,” Sydney replied, tossing one last piece of trash into a receptacle and running both of her hands tiredly through her shoulder-length amber hair. Her eyelids felt super heavy and she was already envious of Arianna who had decided to turn in early. Jacob had a few ‘captain-ly’ duties to tend to with Command but opted to retire for the evening upon completion of whatever he had to do, so in effect, it was only Nathan, Sydney, and the four enamored unicorns who remained for a quiet celebration. “I’m with ya, there. We should probably show those four to their quarters though,” Nathan gestured to the row of four armorless ponies lying down and gazing out of the massive observation window towards their world below. Out of their enchanted armorsuits, the normally monochromatic group of unicorns across the room were in a multicolored row, never peeling their eyes away and sparing an occasional soft word with each other. Nathan and Sydney chuckled a bit, realizing that indeed these ponies were the first four in space and being in orbit around your own home planet is an interesting experience to say the least. It surely puts quite a few things into perspective. “Heh, yeah good idea. It’s getting late anyways,” Sydney agreed. However, as Nathan moved to walk over to the unicorns’ area, Syd stopped him with her hand on his arm and some soft words. “Nathan, before we go over there, I just wanted to apologize…” “What the hell for?” the young man asked completely blindsided and confused. Sydney held up one of her hands, signaling to let her speak before he said anything. “Before we got here, I was being a complete bitch to you and everyone… but especially you. It was completely uncalled for and I know it’s a bit late for this but it’s been weighing on me the entire time we were down there in the shit. When I fell out of the damn dropship and got wounded in the battle it really put things into perspective for me that you three are pretty much my anchors, and I don’t ever want to lose you… not from battle and most certainly not from me being a dick,” she poured out. The four unicorns were quickly growing on her and they were certainly her friends, but she had been with the other three humans for a good long while. They truly meant everything to her. Nathan placed his right hand on the girl’s shoulder comfortingly. “Hey, there’s nothing to be sorry about. You lost family… and I don’t hold anything against you for how you may have acted. We’ve all dealt with loss, but believe me when I say that you’re kinda stuck with me, Jacob, and Arianna,” Nathan replied with some humor at the very end, a genuine, caring smile forming nonetheless. Sydney said nothing but pulled the man in a tight embrace, one which Nathan gladly returned. “Thanks Nate,” the girl muttered after a few moments of holding each other. “Anytime, Syd,” he replied endearingly, the two finally separating. “Now, let’s get our friends to their beds, yeah?” Sydney giggled just a bit and motioned with her head, the two moving to join their four unicorn friends. “I think I see the Griffon Kingdom…” they heard Radiance speak softly as the two approached. “How do you figure?” Windfire spoke up, trying to focus a bit harder to see what she was seeing. “See those massive mountains by that storm system?” Radiance tried to point out, though physically pointing on the pane towards something on Equis (or as the ponies coincidentally called it, Earth) was a bit difficult. “Is that Mount Greifen?” Starry inquired. “I’m pretty sure that is,” Radiance affirmed. “So that has to be the Griffon Kingdom.” “Huh. Guess you’re right. Jeez, I’m not sure how I feel about all of this,” Constance finally voiced, the others agreeing with her readily. “Kinda makes you feel insignificant, huh?” Sydney chimed in. “Yeah…” the pink unicorn captain reluctantly agreed. “It does.” “That feeling goes away after a while, so don’t worry,” Nathan reassured. “Anyway,” Sydney took the reins of the conversation once more. “We’re tired as hell so we wanted to show you where your rooms were before we hit the sack.” Mention of bedtime immediately got all four of the unicorns to their hooves. “That sounds wonderful,” Radiance said eagerly, wishing to sleep away her exhaustion and weird feelings about being in orbit above her home. Constance and Windfire readily agreed but before they were all going to start off to their quarters, Starry cleared her throat. “Actually everypony… I’m gonna stay here for a bit longer. I’m enjoying the view. Don’t worry, I’ll find my way around,” she dissented but reassured them all. She really was getting a kick out of the view and the whole new environment. While she was tired, she wanted to absorb just a bit more of it. “You sure?” Sydney asked. “Positive,” Starry echoed her initial sentiment with a tired smirk on her face, her silver eyes slightly obscured by her currently unkempt, faded navy-blue mane. None in the room looked particularly presentable at the moment for that matter. “I’ll catch up with you all later. Keep the bed warm for me, Radi,” Starry added jokingly using Radiance’s pet name along with bedroom eyes. A few chuckles and giggles erupted from the listeners as Radiance rolled her eyes. “I’ll piss in your bed, Star,” blue-coated mare replied less-than-convincingly to yet another round of gentle laughter at their banter. “That’s fine. I’ll stay with her until then so she doesn’t get lost. Get you and them to bed,” Nathan stated to Sydney, who agreed. All said their goodnights and Sydney led the three tired unicorns out of the room, Radiance making teasing googly eyes at Starry up until they exited out of the door. The latter sat back on her haunches in front of the window. “I see you have a nice relationship with Radiance,” Nathan commented, taking a seat next to the mare. “She’s an assclown but she’s my best friend… you didn’t have to wait up for me, I’m sorry,” Starry suddenly deflated a bit with guilt, her ears flattening against her head. Nathan waved her off. “No trouble at all. I like the view too, actually,” he conceded, and he was telling the truth: he really did not mind staying with her. The ponies were growing on him quite nicely and he really enjoyed their presence, especially Starry, with whom he shared a somewhat similar personality. Starry smiled at him and nodded, the two facing out towards Equis once more. Since Starry was sitting on her haunches and Nathan sitting normally, they were essentially equal height at this point, and in fact, Starry actually had a few inches on him not including her horn. That disparity was rectified and reversed after an undetermined amount of time when the unicorn opted to lie on her stomach. After a few more moments of comfortable silence, Starry absentmindedly leaned to her left and into Nathan’s leg (he was sitting in a lotus position). The human gazed down at the sudden contact and Starry immediately realized what she did, pulling back to the right. “Heh, sorry. Pony habits die hard,” she admitted, which was partially true: ponies were naturally much more touchy-feely culturally. Nathan, however, did not mind in the slightest as he had many snuggles over the years with Sydney and Arianna (and even Jacob to everyone’s amusement). He rolled his eyes and pulled the mare back into him, eliciting a startled squeak from her. “You’re fine, don’t worry at all,” Nathan affirmed, patting her side. With his reassurance, her expression evolved into a comfortable smile as she leaned into him more, both individuals keenly observing the gorgeous scene in front of them as Nathan’s fingers subconsciously began to run up and down the length of her back, as if he were stroking a dog. It would’ve been his turn to have been embarrassed beyond belief if it were not for a gentle coo of Starry getting much more comfortable against his side. Nathan’s features turned up in a comfortable, tired smile before he again turned back towards Equis below.