July 20th / October 9th, 2559
Admiral Reynolds let out a content sigh as he sipped on his morning cup of coffee. A week had gone by since the UNSC had made their initial attack from orbit. He now stood on the bridge of the Infinity and gazed over the capital city of Canterlot. It had taken his troops the better part of a day to drive out the invading gryphons and minotaurs. After that, securing the city was even easier.
This scene repeated itself all over the nation. Cities being liberated and shifted to UNSC control in sometimes as little as a few hours. Suffice to say, the admiral was very pleased with his troop’s progress.
Now though, Reynolds could only sit back and watch the ships of battlegroup Aries on the planetary map. They had already made significant progress toward the Crystal Empire, or what was left of it rather. After that, Aries and Medusa would link up and begin the invasion of the gryphon home lands.
At this moment, however, Admiral Reynolds couldn’t help but look out over the burnt husk that was once the Tuscany. Salvage crews had already began their tedious work of stripping the ship of any sensitive or salvageable materials; this included any human remains. Sadly, fifteen burnt bodies had been recovered, while another forty six were still unaccounted for.
As the admiral continued to scroll through various maps, he heard a pop and felt something resting on his shoulder.
“Hey there buddy. How’s the whole alien invasion thing going?” Discord asked as he pulled the human in for a hug.
“First off, don’t touch me. Second, don’t teleport onto my ship without permission. Third, where the fuck have you been hiding this past month? The whole world goes to shit and no one can find your scaly ass,” the admiral growled as he set down his coffee mug.
“Well, if you must know, Blueblood and I were enjoying some quality bonding time. I took the young prince off to Saddle Arabia for a nice vacation. He needed some time to relax,” the chaos lord replied with a grin.
Reynolds sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “And where is the good prince now?”
“Still in Saddle Arabia. I thought it would be more fun to leave him there and see how long it took him to get home,” Discord replied with a hearty chuckle.
“God damn it Discord. If I didn’t have clear instructions to put up with your bullshit, I would have your ass thrown into space before you could snap your fingers.” Reynolds announced as he removed the draconequus’ hand from his shoulder. “Now, I need you to go down and help Princess Twilight and Princess Cadance. They say you have experience moving the sun and moon.”
“Oh, yes. I’m sure they will need my help now that Celestia and Luna are gone,” Discord replied smugly. “Looks like chaos might not be so useless after all.”
“Just keep it in check. I've got plenty of whoop-ass on this ship, and I’m not afraid to use it,” Reynolds said with an intense glare.
Discord’s smug grin soon faded as he put his hands up in a defensive manner. “Alright, alright. You’ve made your point. No excessive chaos.”
Reynolds nodded and picked up his coffee mug before turning back to the map. “Glad to hear it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a few calls to make.”
~~~
Beep, beep.
This was the first thing Daniel could clearly make out in his rather confused state. His mind was still a bit foggy as he tried to focus on the sound. It seemed to be occurring at regular intervals every few seconds. Unsure of what could be causing the beeping sound, Daniel proceeded onto his other sense.
His eyes were still closed, and he could feel something covering the left side of his head. In addition to the head coverings, Daniel noted that he was laying flat on his back on what he assumed might be a bed. Combining the idea of being on a bed with a steady beeping sound led him to believe that he was in a hospital.
Rather happy that he wasn’t dead, the captain slowly opened his right eye, but quickly shut it as the lights from the room nearly blinded him. Wincing in pain, Daniel moved on to his other senses. The room smelled of antiseptics and other light cleaning agents. Typical for a hospital.
Though one sensation was not typical for a hospital. Every few seconds, a warm, humid, flow of air would pass over his right hand. Perplexed by this odd sensation, Daniel once again tried to open his eye.
Slowly, his eyelid receded, blinding him for a few moments as his vision adjusted to the sudden increase in light. After a few seconds, Daniel was finally able to get a good look at his surroundings. Sure enough, he was in a fairly non-descript hospital room. Across from his bed, Commander Dior and Spotlight slept in a pair of chairs. The SPARTAN, minus armor, was resting an elbow on the chair’s armrest while holding her head up with a hand as she slept. The changeling, however, was lightly snoring as he curled up on his chair while using Dior’s lap as a pillow.
Daniel managed to let out a silent chuckle as he watched the pair for a moment. His attention then turned to the hot sensation on his right hand. Looking to his right he was first met by the familiar horn of Princess Luna. The lunar Princess was sitting in a chair directly next to him, even going so far as to rest her head and neck on his bed.
With quite a bit of effort, Daniel slowly lifted his right arm before placing his hand just behind the alicorn’s ears. He closed his eye once again and slowly rubbed one of her ears as he drifted off to sleep.
~~~
A few hours passed as late night made way to pre-dawn. Daniel once again slowly edged his way back to the conscious world, only to be greeted by a pair of hushed voices. Slowly opening his eye once more, he noticed that Dior was now sitting up and talking to none other than Michael Optikanner. Spotlight was still asleep in Dior’s lap, the SPARTAN even going so far as to keep a hand on his back to prevent him from falling onto the floor. Noting the warm feeling on his right hand, Daniel looked down to see Luna still asleep with his hand on her head.
It was clear to the captain that the two were having a hushed conversation, presumably about him.
“Speak up, I can’t hear you,” Daniel croaked.
Both heads instantly swiveled to look at the captain. Optikanner was the first to address him.
“Well, looks like you’re awake. How’re you feeling?” The doctor asked as he walked over to Daniel’s side before handing him a cup of water from the nightstand.
Daniel slowly drank the contents of the cup and let out an audible sigh. His parched throat instantly felt better as he emptied the cup. “Well, not feeling a whole lot of anything right now. Painkillers and all that.”
Optikanner chuckled at this. “True. Though I suspect we can back off on the drugs now that you’re awake. It also looks like the swelling on your face has gone down. Here,” the doctor said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of black fabric, “you’ll need this for the time being.”
The captain slowly lifted his left hand and picked up the object. holding it in one hand, he let the rest of it extend. Looking at the object dangling in front of him, he shot Michael a deadpan glare. “An eye patch, seriously?”
The doctor nodded as he tried to hide his grin. “There’s a reason, I promise. When you were brought in, your injuries were... extensive. Your rib cage was nearly shattered, both collar bones were broken, numerous internal injuries, severe blood loss, and a badly broken skull. However, those all were rather easy to fix. The one that is a bit more noticeable is your eye.”
“So... what exactly happened?” Daniel asked as he felt the bandages over the left side of his face.
“During the crash, your head snapped forward, smashing your visor into a console. The helmet did a good job of protecting most of your head, but your visor couldn't take the sudden impact, and broke. As a result, your left eye was almost completely destroyed.”
The captain sighed as he looked at the eye patch again. “Joy. So when do I get a new eye?”
“You already have it. Right now you have a fully functional ocular implant until we can fully clone a new eye for you. Contrary to flash cloning belief, eyes are one of the things we tend to not use flash cloning for. There are just too many thing that could go wrong. So, until a new eye can be cloned for you, you will have to make due with the implant,” Optikanner stated as Daniel continued to look at the eye patch.
“I see.... kinda,” Daniel replied with a shit-eating grin.
Michael groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “Well I see that part of your brain is still intact. Not sure about the rest of it.”
Daniel chuckled. “So the eye patch is to limit the strain put on the ocular nerves while they adapt to the new piece of hardware in my head?”
“Precisely. By the way, the left half of your skull had to be reconstructed. It’s now made of high strength carbon fiber. So... yeah,” Optikanner said as he flipped through his personal datapad.
“Neat. Any word on Zerom?”
“Yes. He’s been up for the past week practicing with his new arm,” the doctor replied with a nod.
“New arm?” Daniel asked with concern.
“His left arm had to be amputated from the shoulder. He now has a fully functioning mechanical arm,” Optikanner stated with a satisfied smile.
“So you gave him a robotic arm?”
The doctor nodded with a chuckle. “Of sorts. Don’t worry, he won’t be able to break you in half with his index finger.”
“That’s good. I already have six SPARTANs aboard my ship,” Daniel responded before it dawned on him that he no longer had a ship, or even a complete crew. “Hey, Michael, do you know how many made it off the Tuscany?”
Dior was the one to respond. “That’s... not important right now.”
“Lisa, how many made it off the ship,” Daniel asked with a bit more force.
The commander paused before answering. “Thirty six, including myself and the VIPs.”
Silence filled the room as her words sank in. It was during this silence that Luna finally woke up. Opening her eyes, she noticed the somber looks on everyone's faces. Not wanting to interrupt, she decided to stay quiet and simply enjoy the sensation of Daniel petting her ear.
~~~
A few days had passed since the captain had woken up. In that time, he had been brought up to speed on bits and pieces of the battle taking place on Avalon. He knew UNSC forces were making a steady push into gryphon territory, usually taking entire cities without a single shot being fired, as well as the number of towns and cities found to be nearly empty. Reports were indicating that most civilians had fled their homes at least three weeks before the planetary invasion even began.
Daniel sighed contently as he set down his datapad. He had to wonder where most of the civilians had run off to. Though those were thoughts for a different time. Right now, he could simply enjoy the feeling of being outside, even if it was in the confines of a wheelchair. Taking a deep breath, Daniel closed his eyes and listened to the world around him.
The sounds of air traffic mingled with the light wind that blew between the massive skyscrapers. On a normal tower, the wind created would be so intense that anyone would be hard pressed to hear anything other than the roar of the wind. However, modern architectural designs had mitigated this issue almost completely.
Though there was one sound the captain failed to notice. Without warning, something covered his face. While startled at first, he soon realized what, or rather whom, the feathered texture belonged to. Smiling, he turned his head to the side and opened his eyes. Standing behind him, with her wings now wrapped around his torso, was none other than princess Luna.
With a chuckle, Daniel held her wing against his chest as he turned back to the city sky line. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
The indigo alicorn set her chin on his shoulder and shared in the view. “It really is magnificent.”
“It’s often called humanity’s crown jewel,” Daniel replied.
“I can see why.”
The two continued to stare out over the city, Daniel pointing out prominent landmarks while Luna listened intently. However, neither of them heard the door to the park open. Celestia, Neume, and Zerom, quietly strolled out into the park. Neume was using her magic to push the commander’s wheelchair while Celestia walked beside him. The trio stopped when they noticed Luna and Daniel silently gazing at the city. With a warm smile, Celestia quietly walked forward before draping a wing across her younger sister’s back.
Without moving her head from Daniel’s shoulder, the younger alicorn looked to her older sister and smiled. Neume pushed the commander’s wheelchair up along side Celestia before taking a seat in the grass.
“Nice to be home, eh captain?” Jonathan asked with a chuckle.
“Yeah, though this isn’t the homecoming I had in mind. My ship destroyed, most of her crew dead, you’re missing a limb, and I’m missing an eye,” Daniel replied as he looked to Zerom.
The commander chuckled as he looked at Daniel’s face. “I was gonna ask about that.How’s your head holding up?”
“Eh, it’s fine. I’ll have some light scarring for a while, though it will eventually go away,” Daniel replied with a dismissive shrug.
“That’s fine, you were already an ugly son of a bitch to begin with,” Jonathan retorted, causing both men to chuckle.
“Hey, at least you now have a fighting chance with the ladies,” Daniel countered with a verbal jab of his own.
“Ouch. You wound me,” Zerom replied with a hand over his heart in mock agony.
“Good, die quieter will ya?”
The sisters couldn't help but giggle at the banter going between the two humans. It was comforting to Celestia to see the two in such good spirits, despite what had transpired two months ago. The two men continued back and forth for a few minutes before the sound of the door opening caught their attention.
This time, two humans walked out. Doctor Optikanner and Director Burr slowly made their way over to the group, both carrying datapads.
“Afternoon, Director,” Daniel said with a nod.
“Good to see you up and about, Captain. Had us a bit worried for the past few months,” the Director replied as he stood in front of Daniel.
“So... to what do we owe this pleasure?” Zermon asked with a hint of concern.
“Well, I just wanted to come check up on the two of you. After all, I only just received word that you were back in the world of the living,” Burr said with a chuckle.
“Technically, I never left. I was just in a coma,” Daniel countered.
“You know what I mean,” the Director said with a sigh. Luna had to stifle a chuckle at the Director's reaction. “Anyway, I also wanted to give you a bit of an update on the war you helped to start.”
“Oh, so now it’s my war?” Daniel replied with a smug grin.
“Yeah, so Admiral Reynolds is knocking on the gryphon capital as we speak. As soon as his forces managed to crush what was left in Equestria, they were virtually unopposed as they moved north. Unfortunately, the Crystal Empire has been all but razed. There’s really not much left other than smoldering ruins.”
“And Princess Cadance?” Daniel asked with concern.
“She and the Prince are safe in Canterlot. She and Princess Twilight have been taking on the day-to-day roles of the country,” Burr replied as he pulled out his datapad and began to read from a list.
“So they’re handling the sun and moon?” Zerom asked with a hint of shock.
“No. Discord has been taking care of their orbits. While it isn't as precise or graceful compared to our fantastic Princesses here, it is enough to keep the planet running,” Burr answered.
Now it was Celestia’s turn to look shocked. “And he’s willingly helping without causing havoc?”
Burr nodded. “It took a few death threats and some bribes, but he’s being very cooperative as of late. Admiral Reynolds assures me Discord won’t be a problem, and quite frankly, I’m happy to leave it at that.”
“That’s... surprising, to say the least,” Luna added.
“Yeah, but really, he doesn't have much of a choice. If he wants to keep his lifestyle, then he has to help us. Simple as that,” the Director replied with a grin.
“Well that’s good. So... any news on my ship?” Daniel asked with a raised eyebrow.
“A bit.” The Director stated as he flipped to a new page on his datapad. “Salvage teams have almost completely stripped the wreckage of anything valuable. The FTL and main reactor were recovered thanks to the Ecotonians, along with the AI in Commander Dior’s armor. I’ll never understand why you chose to save the AI instead of yourself.”
“Tommy was more than just an AI to us. He was the soul and mind of the Tuscany. Besides, on a ship as small as a Prowler it’s a bit more meaningful than, say, the AI of the Infinity,” Daniel replied with a shrug.
“I suppose,” the Burr said as me put his datapad into his coat pocket.
There was a brief silence as both parties thought of something to say. It was Jonathan who finally broke the silence.
“So... I take it we should be expecting medical discharge papers soon?”
The Director looked at the commander and eyed his prosthetic arm. “Not if you don’t want to. You have full functionality with that prosthetic, right?”
Jonathan moved his arm around and eyed it from various angles. “Yeah...”
“Then I see no reason why you can’t continue to serve on a bridge crew. In fact, I recall a SPARTAN who also had a similar prosthetic. SPARTAN B-320, if I’m not mistaken,” Burr replied as he crossed buttoned his coat.
“Huh, alright. What about ugly over here? Do I still have to put up with him for another twenty years?” Zerom asked bluntly, earning an elbow from Daniel.
“Allow me to answer that one,” Optikanner said as he cleared his throat. “While it would be perfectly reasonable for the Captain to return to service as a ship’s commanding officer, I would advise against any intense field work for a while. Basically no getting into major firefights for at least a year or two.”
“And you’re okay with this assessment, Director?” Daniel asked with a twinkle of hope in his eye.
Burr nodded. “As long as you stick within those terms.”
“Sweet. So what about my ship? And my crew?” Daniel asked.
“You’ll have to talk to Andrew about that. As for your crew, I’ll have some names pulled for you to look at at your leisure,” the Director said as he rubbed his chin.
“Sounds good, anything else?”
The Director seemed lost in thought for a moment before pulling out his datapad. “I almost forgot. Someone published a book about Equestria while you were out of it. Here.”
Daniel reached out and took the datapad from Director Burr. On the screen was the cover of an e-book. “Equestria: For Dummies. Seriously?”
Burr nodded with a grin. “Take a look at the author.”
Daniel eyed him skeptically before glancing back down. “Written by... Twilight Sparkle?!”
“It’s true,” Celestia concluded. “It also sounds like she is writing another book just like it, only about magic instead.”
“That can only end well,” Zerom mumbled.
“She’s already put in for access to the library once this war is over. She literally began to drool after I mentioned the size of it.”
“Really, a scholar from another world salivating at the idea of looking into the collective knowledge of an entirely different race? Go on, tell me more,” Daniel added sarcastically.
“Anyway, I need to get going. I’m glad you’re all doing well.” The Director said as he took his datapad from Daniel.
“Good seeing you, too,” Daniel added as Burr walked back into the hospital.
“Well then, shall we move back inside?” Optikanner asked.
“Yeah, I could go for some dinner,” Zerom replied as he stretched his good arm.
It took the group a few minutes to walk the distance to the cafeteria. Neume was once again pushing Zerom’s chair, while another nurse was seeing to Daniel. As they all gathered around a table, and a few trays of food brought out, a few more questions came up.
“So, guys, there’s one thing that hasn’t been addressed yet. How the hell did we survive the crash?” Daniel asked as he looked at the others.
“Oh... right, you weren't there for that conversation. Luna, do you want to tell him?” Zerom asked as he dug into his meal.
The younger alicorn merely nodded. “Short version, I saved you.”
Daniel looked at her with raised eyebrows. “And if I wanted the long version?”
“Well, there’s not a lot to it. I saw the ship going down, but I was too tired from all the fighting to really help. So... I pushed myself a bit too hard trying to slow the ship’s descent. I was trying to use my magic to grab it, much like I do with moon. Unfortunately, I didn't have nearly enough energy to bring it to a full stop,” the lunar princess replied sheepishly.
“So that was you that shook the ship just before we hit the ground?” Daniel asked wide eyed.
Luna merely nodded and fumbled with her fork as she tried to eat. Daniel noticed the odd behavior and made a few inquiries.
“Why shy away from that? You saved both our lives!” The captain asked.
“It’s because she was hurt in the process,” Zerom finally added.
“How badly?”
Luna could only look down at her plate as the conversation continued.
“She suffered from a severe stroke and even had some cerebral hemorrhaging. Doctors got to her quickly and prevented any serious lasting damage,” Jonathan finished.
“Is that why you haven’t been using any magic today?” Daniel asked as he put an arm over Luna’s shoulder. The princess could only nod in response. “But it’s not gone forever, right?” Another nod put his mind at ease. “Then there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Look at it this way, all four of us will have some crazy stories to tell when we get back.”
This seemed to boost her mood enough to bring her eyes back to the others at the table. In her mind, he was right, there would be quite a few stories to tell after this one.
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Here we are again
Awake with new metal limbs
Rush Valley in sight?
-----------------------------------------
(FMA refrence, for those who do not get it.)
Delayed by AC:IV?
I know that feel
Kind reminds me of a certain game with a lot of orange with random yellow paint buckets for some reson...
So much d'aww with Daniel and Luna!
NEW MISSION PARAMETERS:
1. Rub all the pony ears...
2. Equals happy blissful ponies
3. Profit / Pet more ponies...
4. WIN!
still can't wait to see that stupid griffon king that thought he could beat an advanced alien race getting punished for his crimes and lol we can control discord with death threats because he knows were serious about them
FTB and KSP ftw!
saw the notice this updated and went "AWW, HELL YEAH
"
I was wondering where Discord was during all of that
, but I did get a laugh about him leaving Blueballs to see to his own return to Equestria
. sounds just like him
LOL with the procrastination.
Don't worry, man, I know where you're coming from. Civ 5 and Minecraft can be really addicting.
Also;
"I was gonna ask about that.How's your head holding up?" I think there should be a space between the period and the beginning of the next sentence. Other than that, the chapter was well written. Good work.
Yay! A new chapter!
I totally get that it was delayed by Civ V, I'm addicted to it myself.
Woooo! 301 likes!
I must say, you've listed some very good games there. Perhaps you'd wish to try multi player sometime?
P.S. Great story, you really flesh out your characters. You've also managed to avoid the crossover trap of focusing entirely on one group. Keep going!
3542977
Thanks for pointing those out.
I noticed one great game missing from you list... DayZ...
A good chapter, I was hoping to see more drama from the aftermath more so from Luna since not only was Canterlot wrecked, but the Tuscany, which was more of a home to her then Canterlot was also completely destroyed along with a good amount of the crew who she bonded with. But I suppose I'll for give it since it a few month past instead of right after. I will say I hope you have a few more chapter in you to give this story a good send off. Or heck maybe even make a sequel of Equestria being welcomed into the wider galaxy.
Either way looking forward to it!
3543809
How about both?
I intend to wrap this story up neatly. Then I'll begin planning the sequel and rewrites on earlier chapters
3541221
has anyone done a haiku yet?
3547716
Not for 300 likes. Though there are plenty of others throughout the comment section
Just got done reading. Decent story overall, but there were a few points where flashbacks were used that weren't really long or important enough to warrant it as opposed to a verbal explanation, like when Sorin was rescued, and for a culture several hundred years past ours, humanity's tastes seem oddly fixated on things from our time. Seems rather odd that so much of today's music ends up on the playlists of the characters. Kinda out of place and unneeded. Other than minor gripes like that, overall solid writing.
3606160
Well, friend, can we REALLY tell what music'll be like in the future, or produce it? Anyways, DM and I are going to be going over the ENTIRE thing after the 1st draft is done, so, it'll be refined.
3608332
My point was that the music was unneeded, and that I didn't think it added much to the story. You don't have to know what the music of the future will sound like. You can just use open-ended descriptors and let the reader's imagination fill it in. Barring that, the story wouldn't really have suffered at all if music hadn't been mentioned at all. As I said, though, minor gripe. Just thought it could have been trimmed off for a slightly more immersive story.
3608504
*grunts* I'll concede on that point. but from the beginning, the Count of Tuscany was planned. Thus, UNSC Tuscany.
3544542 when will you be continuing the story?
3614130
Working on it. Been traveling these past few days. New chapter should be out within a week.
3608543 Also, if you pay attention to the music being played in the Pelican in Halo: CE that Johnson calls 'Flip' music, you can kinda tell from their reactions that their tastes are more 'refined.' you can also know that Techno is also still there, in the Club Errera in Halo: Reach.
I absolutely loved this and hope there are a couple more chapters coming in to really wrap up the story. I am thoroughly impressed with this one. There are.... well.... there are no words to describe the awesomeness of two extremely evil armies being utterly annihilated by what we can easily describe as the most dominant race in the galaxy in the Halo Universe: Humans. That's right, our people are the badasses along with some extremely badass pony friends. Again, absolutely impressive story. I can say, without a doubt, that this is one of the best out there. Kick ass dude, kick ass.
New chapter should be up soon. Between the holidays and a sinus infection, things almost screeched to a halt.
The best way to play MineCraft
The feels in here...
I sense a bit of a relationship has formed between our boy Capt. Danny and Luna kinda like there was between Andrew and Quicksilver. Am I wrong?