Chapter 14
I’m a little wounded but I’m not slain;
I will lay me down for to bleed awhile, then I’ll rise and fight with you again.
-John Dryden
Darkness enveloped my eyesight as I groggily yawned. My head swam and thoughts came slow to me, all my limbs felt numb... well... three of them did at least. I tried moving but couldn’t find the strength just yet so I decided to remain laid down, resting some more, soon falling asleep in my weakened state.
An unknown amount of time later I woke back up, finding that much more of my strength had returned in my weakened state. The numbness, barring my left arm, seemed to have receded so I decided to open up my eyes to have a look around. The light was painful at first but after a few minutes, it was bearable enough to look around the room. The sterile white of a hospital bed surrounded me, the appropriate beeping of medical equipment hitting my ears.
This ain’t not Harvest nor is this any UNSC medical vessel... Ah darn, this ain’t good.
Looking over at my left arm I found nothing, not even anything under the sheets. Slightly panicked I checked my other, relief washing over me as it was still there. “Well, as good a time as any to figure out where Ah am,” I muttered, pressing the button that hung from the side of my bed to call a nurse.
“Hello there, finally awake I see?” the nurse who entered said pleasantly, checking the equipment.
“My unit. where are they,” I asked, not really feeling like engaging in pleasantries as the thoughts of Sweetie Scoots and Anna entered my mind.
“We have one in the adjacent room and the two others frequently visit the two of you,” the nurse answered with a smile. “I am sure they will be elated to hear you are awake.”
“Thank you, I would like to see them,” I said, relaxing into my pillow. “Also, what planet is this?”
“It is Reach, dear. I will be right back with a doctor,” the nurse said, leaving the room again. Bringing my hand up I combed it through my hair, it was a little longer then I’d remembered it being on Harvest. Sighing I looked back over to my missing arm, the remains surgically closed up at the shoulder.
“Well, fuck,” I cursed, not knowing what to do with this little new issue. I’d seen prosthetics before, maybe one of those could help get me back into action? My train of thought was interrupted as the door opened once again, the nurse, doctor and another three familiar faces strolling into my room. Sweetie was supported by both Ana and Scootaloo as they entered after the hospital staff, one of Sweetie’s arm was covered in scarring along with a good portion of her neck and cheek.
“Took you long enough to get back up,” Sweetie smirked, sitting down on a chair next to the bed.
“Hey, Ah ain’t like Scoots in always having to be first,” I shot back, scootaloo holding her chest and mockingly acting as if she were hurt. “Oh don’t you dare start acting as if that ain’t true,” I accusingly pointed at her with my remaining hand.
“Glad to see your spirit is still intact,” Ana chuckled, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder.
“Ha! give mah one of them fancy prosthetics and a month ta get used ta it and I’ll be ready to get right back at it!” I grinned, looking over at the doctor who was listening with a smile on his face while getting his work done. “On that topic, Ah think yer the person to ask about that. Do ya think Ah could get one of them any time soon?”
“That depends on how you do in the coming days, if you remain stable then that may indeed become a possibility,” he answered, finishing up with his work on one of the machines. “And considering the nature of your employer, I assume this was already being considered by someone somewhere.”
“It has come up on occasion, yes,” Ana answered the doctor.
“As I guessed. I will leave you alone for a bit, the sergeant will need to rest up much but I will allow you to keep her company for a bit,” the doctor said, before leaving the four alone in the room.
“So what happened out there? Ah don’t remember a thing,” I bluntly said, looking at the other three.
“Wraiths happened. Sweetie was standing a bit further away than you and you can see how that went,” Scootaloo pointed out, Sweetie carefully pulling off the loose cloth from her body to show me the full extent of the damage done to her as nearly half of it was affected.
“That’s... ouch. Ruined a couple good tattoos there.”
Sweetie choked out a laugh as she pulled the piece of clothing back over her head. “I’ll survive it. Just have to get new ones in other places I guess. The flowers and gems are still in place though so I’m not that angry.”
“Good, wouldn’t want ya mad at the covenant now. We’d win way too easily,” I laughed, turning to Scootaloo next. “And you, not bothering the spooks with them wings too much ain’t ya?”
“Only needed a couple of warnings before I got the message,” Scootaloo smirked, pounding her fist against her armor. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep out of trouble Bloom.”
“Celestia knows ya get into it too much.” Now turning to Ana I reached for the hand on my shoulder and squeezing it. “Ya look like crap Ana, how long have ya been awake?”
“A day or two?” she guessed, yawning slightly, “I’ve been looking after Sweetie and making sure that rascal doesn’t get herself tossed in the brig.”
“Well, treat yerself to a night’s good sleep and Ah don’t want ta see ya here again until ya do,” I told her sternly as she held her hands up defensively.
“Alright, alright, I remember that I was going to force Scootaloo to buy her some real clothes as opposed to that.” Ana punched Scootaloo’s armored shoulder as the former pegasus shrugged.
“Y’all go do that then, Ah could use the rest. This all is more tirin’ than Ah thought.”
“Heh, don’t worry Bloom, we’ll let your old butt get some sleep,” Scootaloo smirked teasingly.
“Jus’ be glad Ah can’t get outta this bed or I’d smack that grin right off yer face.”
“Of course sarge, sleep well.”
I rubbed my hand over the metal attachment point that now sat fused to the bones in my shoulder, it was slightly warm as my body had heated it up. The arm that was supposed to fit inside of the socket lay on a table in front of me as the people who’d brought it in had left me alone to put it in myself, the moment it was in it would be there, no getting it out again.
Eleven days of being sick because Ah didn’t have an arm and now Ah’m getting cold feet...
Running my hand over the new limb it felt cold. It wasn’t one of the nice replica’s that looked like a real arm or anything, this was one of the rough industrial-looking prosthetics. What it lacked in its looks it definitely made up in power though. It was well balanced to be about the same weight as my other one but it would definitely lift twice the weight if need be there.
Sighing deeply I picked up the new arm and looked at the connection point, lining it up with my shoulder and simply pressing it in before any doubts could enter my mind. A cold shock going through my body as the endings fused, the arm buzzing for a bit before it fell silent again. In a quick test I tried lifting the new arm, slowly raising it in front of me.
Whoa, this is strange... Ah can’t even feel the thing, that’s gonna have to take some getting used to.
Lowering the arm again I got up from my chair and walked to the door leading to the main room where the engineer and doctors were waiting to do the checkup to see if everything integrated well. “Ah think it works pretty good.”
“That’s good to hear, shall I check if it’s got any malfunctions?” the engineer asked as I sat down at the table.
“Yeah, go ahead.”
The engineer used a tablet to get some readings from the arm, putting it away again after about a minute. “Readings look fine, it should become better over the next couple of days as the software learns the patterns of your nervous system. Also, remember that the only part of that arm with pressure sensors are the fingers so careful with hugs.”
“Ah’ll keep that in mind,” I chuckled, “Am Ah cleared to go, doc?”
The doctor who had already used his own gear to check up on my vitals and gave me a nod. “Give it a few days before doing something strenuous and even then don’t go too far. If there are any issues don’t hesitate to come back immediately, the first couple of weeks should be where any issues come up.”
“Sounds sensible, I’ll make sure mah friends don’t get any ideas then,” I laughed, “Thank y’all kindly, ah owe you all a great deal.”
“We’re just doing our job, we should be thankful for your service,” the head doctor said, holding out his hand which I shook. “Hopefully we won’t see you for anything other than the first checkup.”
“Same for me.”
Leaving the room, I made my way to the hospital’s exit. Sweetie had gotten out a couple of days prior so I was the last to get out of there. Signing a final few documents I went out to look for the others in the lobby.
“Hey Bloom, over here!” I heard Scootaloo call out from further in the lobby as she spotted me first. She, of course, was wearing her armor again as she lounged in one of the couches set up in the lounge.
“Ah thought ya were gonna go out and get something fancy to wear?” I smirked as I approached and got a view of the others. Sweetie was wearing an immensely short black tank top, which didn’t even have anything covering her shoulders, along with a set of light blue shorts. Ana had a little more moderate dress on in comparison with full length jeans and a white t-shirt.
“Hey, you don't have anything on your back to conceal. It's not like I can pull a Sweetie here.” Scootaloo pointed over to our more scantily clad friend.
“That's quite the daring outfit there, Sweetie,” I chuckled.
“Hey I earned these scars, not going to be ashamed of them now I have them,” Sweetie smirked back.
“Not to break this up but I've seen quite enough of this hospital to last me a lifetime,” Ana cut in, “If we catch a cab we can go to a bar I used to hit.”
“Sounds good to me, lead the way,” Sweetie said, getting up and following the human outside where they got a set of cabs. Thirty minutes later we found ourselves at the bar and walked in. The interior was nicely decorated with wooden boards as a smell of smoke permitted the room slightly. A decently large group of people were in there as well celebrating something, so we took a seat at a table a little out of sight so we could sit in a little peace.
“What could I get you girls?” one of the barmaids asked as she noticed the new guests, the way she looked at us giving away that she was definitely intimidated.
“A cider please,”
“Beer for me,”
“Some water,”
“Wine would be nice,” We answered after each other, the other girls slightly surprised that I ordered water instead of cider like Scoots.
“I will be right back with your order,” the barmaid said, going to the back to get the drinks.
“So when are we planning to get back into action?” Scootaloo asked eagerly.
“Whoa, hold your horses there, maybe give those two some time to recover first,” Ana pointed out.
“Ah'll give it a week before getting back on track with mah exercises,” I told her, looking over at Sweetie. “You?”
“I'm already working on it, going back to the gym and such. I need to plan in some time with Sunset for special ability classes but other than that I don't really have anything else to do.”
“May I just point out you three are raging workaholics?” Ana smiled and shook her head. “I'm sure there's some animal shelter around here that can use some help or some other thing you can do when not at work.”
Scoots, Sweetie, and I all fell silent for a bit, not like we could deny being slightly obsessed with what we were doing. I for one wouldn't mind something to do beside training while we remained on Reach.
In the meantime the barmaid brought us our drinks and left us back to it, though we gained some new attention from a few members of the larger crowd in the bar. “Well, I'll be damned. That you Ana?”
The girl tensed up as she looked over her shoulder at the voice. “Hello Robert.”
“So it really is you. Dad's gonna freak when he hears about this.” Robert crossed his arms in front of him. “So who are these girls? Fellow larpers trying to play soldier? Nice make-up job on the burns by the way.”
I had my metal hand firmly grasped around the hand grip of the back of Scootaloo's armor to prevent her from going ballistic, looking at Sweetie out in the corner of my eye and hoping she'd let her calmer head prevail.
“Girls, this is Robert. My brother,” Ana groaned. “You all remember what I told you about my family, right?”
“Oh come on, we're not that bad. Why don't you come back with me, we could use another hand on the farm and I'm sure dad can forget about your little stunt.”
I had a brief moment where I considered just letting Scootaloo do her thing and watch the fireworks go off, the only thing stopping me was Ana who clearly looked like she wanted to resolve this without wrecking the place.
“I'll stay with my larp group, thank you very much. Also, what are you even doing here?”
“Hey, remember who introduced you to this place? Oh right, that was me.” He turned back to look at his own group who had taken an interest in what was going on over here. “This is our home turf, isn't that right boys?!” A loud cheer came from the group as they raised their glasses, Robert leaning forward and taking a sip from Ana's beer. “So, since you don't want to come back home, I suggest buzzing off and take your new friends with you.”
“No thanks, I'm not done with my drink yet,” Sweetie casually said with a sweet little smile while sipping her wine. I groaned quietly at the taunt towards Ana's brother. He immediately took the bait, scowling down at my scarred friend.
“Listen, little girl, you-”
“Let me be clear, the only reason you're not on the floor with a broken everything is because my good friend over there is being held back. So if you don't mind we'd like to be left alone,” Sweetie bluntly cut him off, her smile gone and replaced by a dead serious scowl. Robert though now had a group of others behind him, bolstering his confidence.
“I'm going to give you for one last chance to go peacefully as a courtesy to my sister,” he growled, Sweetie simply taking a sip from her glass in defiance.
Yer a gem Sweetie, couldn't have played that one out any smoother...
I grumbled as I let go of Scootaloo. The man who was about to grab Ana to throw her out didn't even get a chance to look at Scootaloo as she crashed into him and sent him flying. Without hesitation Scootaloo just darted to the next person in line and gave him a similar treatment, fists impacting his stomach and face I'm rapid succession before he fell too. The third one actually managed to get a swing in, though Scootaloo just ducked under it to deliver a deviating blow into his liver. Robert and a fourth man backed off from the table, dumbstruck at what had just happened.
“I'd say you fight like a bunch of small girls but that'd be an insult to small girls,” Scootaloo smirked with a predatory grin. The rest of Robert's group got up to join in the brawl but before things could escalate further NAPD officers came rushing into the bar.
“New Alexandria police! Stand down!”
Well, horseapples.
Next up Sunset will get some love again while the crusaders recover. 
Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.
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Thanks for the update
No worries mate, this place is bound to have some cameras going. And it ain't gonna be any sort of complimentary to the goon squad.
Especially considering that those dudes have definitely done this before, and the girls are on medical leave after playing hackysack with a wraith.
Been thrown off since it's been a while, but is this bar supposed to be on Earth then? I thought they were still on Reach?
10351214
Frig, I mixed up new Mombasa and New Alexandria.
Fixing it now
These fools ain't been in a real fight and it shows.
That was a great line and Sweetie did warn them.
Damn the police got there quick, I am guessing somebody called as soon as that group showed up
Well, those idiots asked for it.
Sometimes guys like that should consider to use tehre brain to think and not their ego.
Is it me or Sunset might stay because of one guy
10351493
Or she brings him back home.
Ah! I love it. Great chapter. I can't wait to see how this plays out with the Cops
So. What are the chances of OMNI wiping the floor with Robert and his goons, punishment wise?
Hehe that's gonna be fun
Cliffhanger, of course... Now to wait a month or two...
That whole situation at the bar was stupid. Not only are the dipshits picking on someone they know in the military, but they're causing trouble for; a person with extensive scaring who is clearly military, another person with a military prosthetic (or is that just more great makeup?), and a person in ODST armor. All of this while on Reach during the covenant war. It doesn't even matter that the whole team is closely tied into ONI, who can do whatever they want, just from what you can see this is Darwinism in action if Scoots killed them.
Let's just hope the cops aren't biased against them or the ONI handlers might have to get involved and then nobody is going to have a good time.
Can't wait to see more of Sunset, she's always best pony.
Just caught up
LOLs
Excellent chapter
Great update!
Now, is this "Twice the weight" metric based off the theoretical max weight a human arm can lift? Or based off of what bloom can pull off with her Earth Pony Strength?
"No muscles to tear means larger load! Larger load means BIGGER GUN!!"