Marcus 657

by John 117

Chapter 8- Questions and Answers

Fluttershy was completely baffled. During the scuffle, she had tried to use The Stare on Marcus, but it had somehow failed! It worked on everything! Nothing before had resisted its power, but then she had met this human- this absolute alien, and it just simply ignored the stare. Fluttershy was blown away, trying to comprehend what had just happened while the human was being questioned by the princesses. Marcus stood against a tree, his gaze fixed upon the alicorns, who stood with Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash flanking them. Marcus was now free to move about, but much to the relief of Fluttershy and everypony else, he was still completely unarmed. Fluttershy sat between the two groups. Marcus shifted uneasily, startling the yellow pegasus. Celestia glared as she cleared her throat to speak.

"So... I do believe introductions are in order, you already know who I am. This is my sister, Princess Luna, goddess of the moon and of the night," Celestia gestured towards her sister on her right and Luna nodded her head in greeting. The white alicorn began to motion for Rainbow dash to step forward, but was cut off by Marcus.

"Is Rainbow Dash, right? I heard your name earlier. You got some nerve to talk like that to someone who could whip you silly," he said.

Rainbow stormed at him, "WHAT? Why I oughta-” She stopped dead as Celestia shot her a glare. Marcus stood chuckling to himself silently. Celestia looked at Rainbow sternly.

"Yes, we understand Rainbow that you want to prove yourself against Marcus, but now is not the time for this.”

“Agreed,” added Luna, ruffling her feathers distastefully. “We would vastly prefer that thou dost not settle scores while protecting national security, or on the taxpayer’s account.” The princess turned to Marcus and looked him in the eye. Her voice regained some of its echoing quality with an unsubtle hint of menace added to it. “Human, though we bear you no ill will, we shall not hesitate to defend our subjects. Thou would be wise to be civil. Is that not clear?” The human saluted and bowed sarcastically, not that Luna noticed.

Celestia motioned towards the purple unicorn sitting beside her. "This is my pupil, Twilight Sparkle. She was the one who found you, and brought you to the care of Fluttershy, whom you have already met." Twilight gave a small bow. "Speaking of your..... abilities, I do not recall humans being this strong,nor this agile." She seemed to be planning something. At that Marcus shifted away from the group, turning away and clenching his shaking hand in his other.His words came wooden and measured.

"I'm..I'm not exactly a 'natural' human."

"Whatever do you mean?" Luna inquired, wings flared slightly.

"It's long and complicated, and extremely classified. I'm not even supposed to be talking about it...... All you need to know is that the fairy godmother sure as hell didn’t give it out with goodies." Marcus explained. The princesses frowned.
Celestia didn’t skip a beat. “Then we shall discuss this later.” Marcus stood there for a few moments before nodding his consent.

"Now, speaking about humans, how do you know so much about us?" he asked. Celestia stood there for a moment, not wanting to reveal her secrets, but was willing to do so to win his trust.

Celestia gradually become graver in tone as she spoke. "I have seen into other universes; looking through gates of time and space, looking for any other universes like ours; peaceful and loving. I did not often succeed, however, and I mostly found conflict and hatred. Yours was one of the rare races that had the capacity to truly choose its own destiny, but you were also one of the most corruptible. I have seen others like you spend years to develop technologies that saved billions. But then I saw whole cities purged from existence in nuclear fire,” she ended ominously. Something clicked in the human’s brain. Marcus stood there for a moment, thinking.

"That would have been World War Two. The United States had just developed the first nuclear bomb. They used it to convince Japan to surrender without having to invade. That would’ve been worse."

A voice interrupted. "You've had multiple world wars? Why?" Marcus turned his head, seeing Twilight Sparkle looking expectantly at him.

"If you count the ones that aren’t officially named world wars, then we’ve only had two. If not, then fourteen. And as for why, well…” The man trailed off as his hand began to shake. Most of the ponies simply stared at him as he was standing there, trying to get his hand under control. Fluttershy finally mustered to courage to go up to him. He felt a warmth on his tremulous arm and a soothing voice in his ear. The limb quieted down, but suddenly, Fluttershy found her patient shying away from her grasp.

Fluttershy asked, “Marcus, what’s wrong?” The scene was tense silence.

"It's...it's a psychological disorder soldiers sometimes get after combat called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or more commonly known as PTSD. It can manifest physically with twitches such as my hand. I've had it for awhile, but it was supposed to have been treated. It came back just over a month ago…" Celestia looked at him knowingly.

Luna said, "So you are a soldier. Say, what caused the disorder?" Marcus looked up into the sky, his eyes forming the famed thousand yard stare and overflowing with moisture. Luna tried to ask him again, but he held up his hand, recoiling like a wounded animal.

It was a long time before Marcus spoke again. "So you know of a way to get out of here- get back to my universe?" he asked the white alicorn. Princess Celestia sighed and shook her head.

"I spent centuries looking for something like that. A way to go to other universes, or to send something back to its own. Alas, I could not find the means. I only know how to look into others. I cannot help you with this.” Marcus looked down to the ground, deep in thought.

"And there are no other humans here? None at all?" Celestia looked at him and shook her head.

"No, did anyone else make it through with you?" The look on his face said it all.

Fluttershy looked at them both and noticed Rainbow Dash who was extremely angry. Fluttershy made a mental note to talk to her later. She decided now was a good time to ask her question. The pegasus was simultaneously lovably adorable and infuriatingly quiet. "U-um, excuse me, Mr. Marcus, sir, may I ask you something?" Marcus looked at her and smiled.
"Why, why didn't my stare work on you? It works on everything and everyone, even the Princess, but not you. Why?" Marcus looked towards her quizzically.

"Well ,was exactly is the stare, Fluttershy? I saw you use it, but I just thought you were scared." She looked around and pawed the ground with her hoof. "Well, you see, it’s this thing that I do whenever I need someone to listen or obey, or if I'm, well, really scared..." she said. Marcus stood there with all eyes focused upon him.

"I would think it's because of my mental training. Spartans, that's what most people call us, all go through extremely demanding mental and physical training, which is the main reason why I’m different, Princess. I’ll explain more later, but for now, all you need to know is that I would believe it is because of that, making me immune to your stare.” The human thew up his hands slightly. “Well, that and after you’ve spent your entire life battling the worst threat in human history, you typically get rather jaded.” Fluttershy gave a small squeak. They all stood there in silence. Then Marcus began to search around for something.

Luna was the first to ask, "What is it that you are you looking for, Marcus?” He did not halt his search, but rather yelled back in a voice undoubtedly loud enough for everypony to hear.

"My guns. I dropped them earlier when one of you hit me with that force. What kind of thing was that again?" At that, Celestia cleared her throat.

"That would have been me, I hit you with a large blast of magic." Marcus stopped in his tracks, and looked back at her. If she could have seen his face, then she could have reasonably claimed that he bore no small resemblance to a fish flopping on dry land.

"Magic? Sure, why not? I got pegasi, unicorns, and small ponies who can all talk, by the way, why not? While we’re at it, let’s have a sleepover and invite Santa Claus and Comrade Oglivy! Right, magic- got it! Go ahead and rape every single natural law known to humanity in the face..." He went back to his search, grumbling to himself all the while. Twilight spoke up.

"What exactly are they? What are you looking for? Describe the appearance, please.” Marcus ignored her. However, it did not take long before he found his first target. He grasped it in his hands and lifted it up for all to see. He had been banking on his hosts being more interested in what he had to say than the fact that he was trying to find tools of death while they watched him.

"What I have here in my hand is a M6C standard magnum pistol. It uses twelve-point-seven by forty mm semi-armor-piercing, high-penetration rounds. It comes with an integrated low zoom scope.” Marcus then placed it on his armor and resumed scouring the ground for weapons. It took a surprising amount of time for him to locate his other gun, given that it was a shiny steel color in the middle of a forest and he had his flashlight on. The ponies must have been very familiar with electric lighting because none of them asked him any questions about it. He had woken up under the familiar glow of electric lighting, but this finally confirmed his suspicions that they were more technologically advanced that he might have at first suspected. “And this," he proclaimed as he lifted out his assault rifle, "is the MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System, but everybody calls it the MA5D Assault Rifle, or Assault Rifle, or Avtomat, or anti son of a bitch machine.” He chuckled at his own joke. “It fires the seven-point-six-two millimeter by fifty-one millimeter round, and has an integral ammo counter and compass." He finished, pulling out the current magazine before ramming it back in. He did a few rifle drill steps before snapping to attention as if he were on the star demonstration team from Fort Mdiku. The ponies all gazed fixedly upon him, not quite sure of what to think about the whole thing.

Twilight Sparkle inquired, "What does it do?” At that, Marcus wordlessly kicked up a stone into the air, raised up his assault rifle, aimed at his target, and squeezed the trigger. He let out a few quick bursts, shattering the rock into pieces. The ponies were speechless. Fluttershy squeaked and ducked behind the nearest tree.

"It kills." They stared at him, and Marcus noticed both of the princesses unease with a sigh. This could have been handled a lot more diplomatically than by performing a single man version of the twenty-one gun salute. "There is much you need to know, Princesses, about humanity as of late." Marcus sat down on a log and laid his assault rifle across his lap. His hand no longer shook. Rather, it confidently grasped the weapon. He moved the gun into the white beam of his flashlight and took off his helmet in order to run his hand through his short hair. He looked back up at the stars for a short while before he returned his attention to Princess Celestia, staring at her with his unnaturally blue eyes.

"Humanity is in a fight of its survival, and we are losing. Badly."

Comments

[John 117]

1853731 i would think that a round house kick to the face from a Spartan would deter anyone from attempting such an act

[Hat and clogs guy]

1854979 ... you have a point thar...

[Lunar 457]

I don't know master chief killed two ODSTs when he was 16

[kalash93]

Review for Chapter 8

I found myself liking this chapter. This is your second consecutive good chapter. The single biggest problem with this chapter, and the entire fic, is just how utterly terrible your grammar can be. It is getting better, although some parts towards the beginning still made me cringe.

Again, you have succeeded in writing a chapter which is rather brief, but does not feel truncated. You really have wonderfully improved your pacing. You are not lingering on anything to boost your word count, nor are you hurrying through anything. Well, in my opinion, you could love more on the guns, but that's because I'm a serious gun nut in real life. I doubt most other readers would appreciate it.

The characterizations are getting better. I am finding myself liking Marcus more and more as the fic progresses. You seem to have done a fairly good job at not writing an invincible Mary Sue. Okay, that's a bit of a stretch. He's not irritatingly perfect, but I can't see any character flaws in him.

I do have to complain about how Celestia condemns humanity as evil and bloodthirsty. The idea of humans being savage and ponies being noble is a very tired cliche in the fandom. Now, you did say that Celestia looks into other universes. In that case, why does she not know about Spartans, the Covenant, or anything else like that. It's a plot hole, but a minor one. Be careful to avoid creating more in the future.

This chapter was good enough. I would rate it higher if the grammar were fixed and if it were more memorable. Still, it is competent. I give it 3/5 flutteryays.

[spetsnaz pinkie pie]

More updates please.

[Routine Blast]

"It's...it's a psychological disorder soldiers sometimes get after combat called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or more commonly known as PTSD. It can manifest physically with twitches such as my hand. I've had it for awhile, but it was supposed to have been treated. It came back just over a month ago…"

No. Spartans are not PTSD riddled freaks and soldiers don't just go around talking about that type of shit. I truly mean no offense, but that's where i had to stop.

[damnaion]

9# dan dan dan

[Stereoshock]

4047129 He is more, for lack of a better word, "human" than the other spartans. It is mentioned at the start of the story

[shiftylookingcow]

"Magic? Sure, why not? I got pegasi, unicorns, and small ponies who can all talk, by the way, why not? While we’re at it, let’s have a sleepover and invite Santa Claus and Comrade Oglivy! Right, magic- got it! Go ahead and rape every single natural law known to humanity in the face..."

Best line from an HIE on fimfiction.net.

[KorsonKeisyr]

4047129
Actually. It is mentioned in Halo 4 that M.C. And many other spartans show signs of PTSD in the very first cutscene where the good doctor is interviewed.