Three days in a hospital room doesn't do a Spartan good. Especially a Spartan that's seemingly been exiled from his universe. Many times during the first full day, I found myself lost in ever saddening thoughts. I tried reading but that didn't last long. So I asked for paper and a quill and wrote anything that came to mind.

One poem sat in the center of the paper and I always let my eyes drift back to it. It read:

"To the dark wall

that stands so tall.

I wait for the day

when the siege will lay.

I wait to hear the creaking

that will begin the cracking.

I wait for it to crumble

and disappear with a rumble.

To the dark wall

that stands so tall.

Oh, how I wait for you to fall."

The dark wall in my mind, I think to myself. Hearing the door open, I fold the paper and tuck it under my body before looking up to see the doctor pony. His name, Caregiver, was aptly given. All I saw him do the three days I was in here was take care of me and make sure I was healing properly.

"Well, looks like you might be leaving today," he states before lifting my covers and looking at my chest.

"Ah, yes. That's looking good," he says, lowering the covers before looking at me, "While I want to take them out, I think it'd be best if they stay in for two more days. Just in case."

"Of course," I reply, nodding.

"Good. Now, I just need you to sit up real slowly," he commands. Slowly, I sat myself up, feeling some pain but not enough to cause any physical reaction.

"Good," he says when I'm sitting up, "Now. Your friends have a present for you."

With that, he walked out, leaving me to think about what the ponies might have for me. With how this world seemed to be, it could be anything. I wouldn't be surprised if they came in with a unicycling circus bear and told me it was now my pet.

When the six ponies walked in, I saw Rarity holding a flat blue box with a navy ribbon tied around it.

"Hey girls."

"Hey Mack," they all reply.

"How ya feeling?" Applejack asks.

"Much better then when I first woke up, that's for sure," I respond, chuckling to myself.

"That's wonderful dear," Rarity states as she stepped forward, "As a recovery gift, I made you this. Though, it's from all of us."

With that, she hands me the box. Looking at it, I smile sadly at the box.

"What's wrong sugarcube?"

"Nothing. Just memories."

"Well, are you going to open it?" asks Pinkie Pie, who looks to be bouncing in place. Chuckling at her, I gingerly remove the ribbon before lifting off the top of the box. Under some tissue paper, I see some sort of cloth. Setting the box on my lap, I lift out the cloth to see that it's actually a black shirt with red trim. Under it, I see what could only be pants. From what I saw, they were also black with a red stripe going down the sides. On the left sleeve of the shirt was the red and black Runic emblem of Fireteam Crimson.

As I looked at the clothes and the emblem, I felt my eyes begin to water.

"I told you he wouldn't like the colors!" I hear Rarity exclaim.

"Well, I just assumed he would like it if it matched his armor," Twilight counters.

"I do like it Rarity," I choke out as I look at the white unicorn, "Thank you."

The white unicorn smiled kindly.

"Then why are you crying?" I look at the voice to see Rainbow Dash looking at me inquisitively.

"This," I say, holding up the sleeve that had the emblem, "it's the symbol of my team. I just... I miss them so much. They're the only family I have and it... it..."

"Shhh," shushes Applejack as she puts a hoof on my arm, "we understand."

"Thank you. All of you," I finally say. I then see that Twilight is also carrying a box and motion to it, "What's in there?"

"Shoes," she replies, levitating the box to me. Opening it, I see a pair of black boots and a pair of socks.

"How... how did you make all these?"

"Well darling," Rarity begins, "now that we have you out of that barbaric armor, we simply couldn't let you lock yourself back in it. So we..." she paused, "well... we looked at the photo in your helmet and Twilight told us that all humans wear clothes so I decided to make you a set."

"I then went to a shoemaker in Canterlot to get the boots special made," Twilight adds, smiling. I let that sink in for a couple moments before smiling,

"Thanks girls. Really, I mean it."

"You're quite welcome dear," Rarity replies for the group.

"You might want to get up and dress fast, though," Applejack intones, casting a glance at her friends.

"Why?" I ask as I find the undergarments they had also made. Going under the sheets, I slide them on before flipping off the sheets. This left the ponies quite surprised. Applejack, especially, looked surprised and had a blush on her face.

"Because. Two very important ponies are at the library, waiting to talk to you," Twilight finally says as I begin to slip on the clothes. I was surprised to see that they fit perfectly. Must have been from when the doc took my height and weight. I think to myself as I button up my pants and begin to shrug on the shirt.

"Who?" I ask through the shirt.

"One you should already know. You did use your body to protect her from an explosion," she hints with a smirk as I sit down and begin to put on the socks and boots.

"I'm guessing the other pony is Luna than?"

"You are correct," Twilight answered. I nod my head as I finish getting my boots on and tying them. Standing, I stretched my limbs to get used to the clothes before looking at the ponies around me.

"This may seem weird but, uh, where's my pistol?" I ask, rubbing the back of my neck nervously.

"At the library, sitting next to your armor. Why?" Twilight asks back.

"May seem silly but I don't really like not being without a weapon," I shrug, "Guess it's because of the war."

"Oh. I see," replies the purple unicorn as she nodded sadly.

A moment of awkward silence permeated the room. Finally, I fake-coughed.

"We shouldn't keep them waiting."

I watch as the ponies nod their heads and all of us begin to leave the room. As we left, I made sure to grab the paper and stuff it in my pocket.

Walking through the town, a lot of ponies were looking at me with confusion. That's understandable since I am an alien being in their town. Looks never bothered me much anyway. As a Spartan, I learned quick to ignore the looks that people would give me. Some would be just awe and respect. Others, the zealous "Pure Humanity" bastards, would look at us with such hate that it would put the Devil himself to shame.

Reaching the library, I was honestly surprised to see that it was a tree with the library carved out inside. Opening the door, I walked in first at the motion of the ponies. Princess Celestia and a similar looking pony were standing inside. The other pony was of darker color with a flowing mane that looked to be a field of stars. Luna. That's her name, my mind informs me as I nod to them.

"Ah, it appears he has finally arrived," Luna remarks.

If there was a reply from anyone else, I didn't here it. My entire world froze when I heard her voice. Chaos began to reign in my mind as I dug and dug for where I had heard her voice before. Finally, my mind found the information and all I could muster was an unoriginal:

"You..."

A/N: Here we go. The next chapter of ToC. I was half-tempted to declare this a Skyrim day but I felt the urge to write. Granted, I didn't write much but I did write. Hopefully I can find a way to get back to lengthier chapters.

As always... ah, never mind. Y'all know what to do.