Chapter 4:
Michael had another dream. But this time it was more… peaceful. He saw the same Spartan he had seen in the other dream. He had the same armor design as Michael. Michael was mostly black, with midnight purple stripes providing a secondary color in various places. The Spartan in his dream however, was also mainly black, but instead of the purple, he had green. And instead of Michael's midnight purple visor, he had a green visor.
The Spartan was sitting on a bench in some sort of room. There were two huge red doors on the wall in front of him. He seemed to be waiting for something. A few minutes passed until Michael heard a voice behind the doors. He recognized it immediately. Princess Celestia.
"My subjects!" she shouted, "It is a great honor to recognize someone important to all of us! He has defeated many evils that emerged in this world and we are honored to have him with us today! My subjects, I tell you from my heart, there is no need to fear such an amazing human! It is a great honor to have him with us! My friends, it is a great pleasure to present to you… the HERO OF EQUESTRIA!"
As if on queue, the Spartan stood up and walked to the doors. He stood there a moment, taking a few deep breaths. Eventually he stood straight, held his head high, and pushed open the doors.
A bright light flowed through the doors, blinding the dream for a moment, until clearing. In front of the Spartan was a red carpet. It lead all the way to a stage, with none other than the princess herself. She was smiling warmly at the Spartan, motioning him to walk towards her. On each side, there were hundreds of ponies cheering happily. They weren't afraid of him.
The Spartan stepped onto the carpet and slowly walked toward the princess. The ponies kept cheering and cheering for the Spartan. Michael couldn't help but wonder what he had done for them.
Before he could get his answer, the dream fogged up and dissolved, and Michael woke up on a hospital bed.
Michael groaned. Whenever he is about to find out something important the dream ends.
He sat up in the small hospital bed. He realized there were two put together to prop his legs up. His right arm was completely wrapped in bandages, stained red. He swung his legs to the side of the bed and hopped off. Upon landing on them, he cried out in pain as he remembered the hole in his left thigh. He glanced down and saw another bloody bandage rapped around it. He tested the weight on the leg, and concluded that he could walk on it lightly.
Michael realized something was missing. He couldn't put a finger on it. He felt… naked. That's when he noticed his armor was gone. All he was wearing was the suit under the armor. He didn't care much, it's just that he felt more vulnerable.
Suddenly, the door swung open, and a white pony trotted in pushing a medical tray. She had a light pink mane and tail and wore a hat with a red cross on it. She gasped as she saw Michael standing by the bed.
Michael turned to see her, "Oh… uh… hi?"
The pony grinned sheepishly, "Hi… I'm Nurse Redheart! I've been taking care of you for the past few days."
Michael looked puzzled, "Wait… a few days? I was out for a few days?"
"Yep," the nurse replied, "And you shouldn't be standing on that leg. You could start the bleeding again."
"It's alright, I'll be fine. Anyway, my name's Michael."
"Nice to finally meet you, Michael," she replied, no longer shy, "The princess was going to come talk to you when you finally awoke."
"I can go talk to her now, if that's alright."
"I suppose so… just don't put too much weight on the leg."
"You got it, Miss Redheart."
"OK," she said, "I'll leave you alone now. Nice meeting you!" At that, she left and shut the door.
Michael glanced around the room. It was a simple design; white walls, wood floor, and a single window. He limped over to the window and took a look around. Much to his surprise, he wasn't in any simple hospital. He was in a tower, which was connected to an entire castle. Below him was a city, the streets busy with ponies minding their business. There was a beautiful garden down in front of the castle. Guards marched here and there, giving the castle a secure feeling.
Michael decided he should try and find the princess. The first place to look would be the throne room. But where was that at? Hopefully he would just get lucky and stumble upon it. He slowly made his way to the door to the door and pushed it open. He peered out into the hallway. Various guards were standing around, conversing. They noticed him right away, but didn't seem to mind him. The princess probably already informed them.
Michael didn't feel like searching the giant castle for the throne room, so he walked over to the nearest guard to ask.
"Excuse me," he said, "Can you tell me where the throne room is?"
The guard turned around and gazed up at him, suddenly trembling, "I-It's… that way." He pointed down the hall with his hoof, "Once you get to the end, make a left, and then a right. Alright, bye!"
The guard dashed down the opposite direction and disappeared.
"Uh… thanks?"
Michael turned and limped down the hall in the direction the guard pointed. He made the left, and then the right. And right around the corner was a set of two tall red doors. He got some pretty weird looks from the other guards on the way there, but he shrugged it off.
Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the doors.
Inside was a red carpet leading to a throne with none other than Celestia herself sitting on it. The throne was made of gold, with the red carpet leading up a golden ramp to the seat. To the right of Celestia, there was a smaller alicorn. She reminded Michael of Nightmare Moon with her dark blue coat and flowing night sky mane.
Celestia immediately noticed him and smiled warmly, "Someone's finally awake."
The smaller alicorn, on the other hand, looked shocked as she noticed Michael. Celestia looked at her nervously as if something were about to happen.
"S-Sister," the alicorn spoke, "Y-You didn't say… that… that the injured pony… was human."
Celestia calmly spoke, "Now now, Luna. Let's take a deep breath before-"
"Sister," the alicorn cut her off, "Why did you let this human… survive?"
Celestia seemed like she was about to break down, "Luna, he's different. He isn't like the humans in the past. Not like the ones who-"
"Don't say it!" the alicorn shouted, tears beginning to well up in her eyes, "You should've killed him!"
Celestia was about to cry as well, "Luna! Stop it! We cannot hold grudges from things that happened in the past! Even… even if they did… what they did."
Michael was puzzled. What did the humans do in the past that's upsetting the other alicorn? Michael began to feel guilty, as if he shouldn't be there right now.
"I don't think I should be here." He said, "Sorry for… disturbing you, Princess."
She said nothing as she embraced her sister. Both were crying softly in each other's embrace. Something happened to them personally. And it was the humans' fault. He knew it.
He rushed out of the room, ignoring the pain in his leg. He dashed down the halls back to his hospital room and shut the door behind him. Leaning his back against the door, he slowly slid down to a sitting position, slowly panting. He was sweating, not because of exhaustion, but from worry of the princess. He felt guilt of barging into the throne room like that. He should've waited for Celestia to come to him.
Michael looked down at his leg. The wound had reopened and now a puddle of blood was on the floor surrounding his leg. He didn't care. For some reason, seeing the two alicorns crying like that depressed him. And he was a Spartan. He was trained not to have feeling like this. So what is triggering his emotions?
Ignoring the intense pain in his leg, he stood up and walked to the window. It wasn't too far up, so landing wouldn't be a problem. For any regular human, it would be death.
He pushed open the window and stuck his head out. Below him was a busy street littered with shopping stalls and various stores. Ponies were pondering here and there, conversing with the store manager while examining merchandise.
Suddenly there was a knock at his door, with someone asking, "Michael? Are you in there?"
It was Celestia. Michael didn't want to talk. Not after what just happened.
She suddenly gasped, "I-Is that…blood?!"
His blood had trailed underneath the door and was probably in the hallway. Celestia started hammering the door. "Michael! Open the door! You could bleed to death!"
Michael wasn't worried about bleeding to death. He turned back to the window. Without thinking, he dove out. As soon as he left the room, the door busted open. Celestia rushed in, her eyes darting around. Michael turned his head and looked at her straight in the eyes. They widened in horror.
"Michael!" she shouted, fearing for his life. She rushed to the window. Michael was diving headfirst towards the ground. She thought he was a goner. But he turned feet first towards the ground and landed on the street, creating a small crater in the ground. He grunted in pain due to his leg, but stood up and dashed down the street towards the train station.
Celestia stared at him in awe. Did he just survive that jump? Apparently.
Celestia rushed back out into the hallway, "Royal guard! Pursue the human! He may die if we lose him!"
Michael POV
Michael was running down the streets of Canterlot, trying to find a way out of the city. He couldn't face the princess right now. Not yet. The humans did something to her, and he needs to find out before seeing her again.
He figured out the name of the city not too long ago. He passed a line of stores named, "Canterlot Bakery, Canterlot Donuts, Canterlot Toy Store, Canterlot Spa, Canterlot Fashion and Design." It gave him the feeling the city was named Canterlot for some reason.
The pain in his leg was intense. He was aware that he was leaving a trail of red everywhere he ran. But he just wanted to get out of there.
He looked behind him to see a bunch of pegasi guards flying after him. They were fast, but he was faster. Ahead of him was a train station. And at the boarding area was a train just starting to pull off.
He picked up speed, determined to catch the train. His leg was burning now. But he knew that if he slowed down, the pegasi would catch up to him.
All around him were various ponies staring at him in fear. He hated being feared. It reminded him of terrible days on Earth, where civilians feared him.
He was at the boarding area now. The train was at a moderate speed, constantly accelerating. If he was fast enough, he could barely make the last train car.
He picked up even more speed. He was as fast as he could go without his armor now. He sped by the toll box in a blur, completely ignoring the pony's shouts to pay the fee. The train was even faster now. He could see the last car. It was too fast.
'I'm not gonna make it,' he thought.
But he didn't stop. At the edge of the platform, he launched himself toward the train car with all his strength. He was flying through the air, his left arm outstretched. He grabbed the ladder on the back. He was good.
Michael looked back at the pegasi. They stopped and flew back towards the castle. He climbed back up to the top of the train, taking a few deep breaths to regain his energy. He stood there at the top of the train, staring back at the castle.
'I'll return, Celestia,' he thought, 'I just need to visit someone first.'
Michael looked away and laid down on top the train. His leg created another pool of blood. He felt his heartbeat slow as he finally relaxed. He stared into the warm sun. Though he enjoyed the night, the day wasn't all that bad. He forgot what it felt like with his armor on most of the time. He just stayed there… and slowly close his eyes.
Rainbow Dash POV
It was the perfect day for a quick flight to Canterlot. Rainbow Dash hadn't flown her daily flight because of Michael's appearance. And since she hadn't flown much yesterday, today she will fly to Canterlot.
There she stood, on a perfectly flat cloud, just the right size for taking off. Below her was Ponyville. Her friends were all busy with something; Twilight was studying humans to learn about Michael, Applejack was harvesting apples as usual, Fluttershy was tending to her animals, Rarity was designing some super special dress, and Pinkie Pie was setting up a party for Michael. That's what got her the most. Pinkie didn't even know Michael. Yet she sets up a party just because.
She shook her head. She needed a calm mind for taking off. Staring up at the sky, she opened her wings and stretched. Hearing a series of satisfying pops, she retracted her wings. She backed up to the edge of the cloud and stood straight.
"Time for the best flyer in Equestria to take flight," she muttered.
At that, Rainbow Dash 'dashed' towards the other side of the cloud. She admired her steadiness before reaching the edge. Then she dove off.
Down and down she dove, headfirst towards the center of Ponyville. She closed her eyes and let herself relax a bit. It always felt good to start off like this. The air flowing through her mane, the free feeling. She opened her eyes right before she hit the ground and extended her wings, launching her self parallel to the ground at a blistering speed.
"Wooooooo-hooooooooo!" she shouted as she soared past the various buildings. She angled her wings and pushed upward, sending herself up into the clear skies.
She finally steadied about two hundred feet off the ground, flapping her wings every now and then to maintain her momentum. She wasn't going too fast, but fast enough to see Canterlot getting closer and closer by the second.
Rainbow Dash breathed in the fresh air of the beautiful morning. The temperature was cool, the flowers below glistened in the sunlight, and the train was on its way back to Ponyville. She took a closer look at the train. There was something on the last train car. It looked like a human. But it couldn't be Michael. Michael wears armor.
She turned off course and rushed to the human being lying on top the train car. As she grew closer she recognized the face. It was Michael. And there was a HUGE blood puddle surrounding his leg.
"Oh man." Rainbow Dash said as she started to panic, "OhmanOhmanOhmanOhman."
She flew even faster toward him. Even though she didn't really know him, he seemed somewhat special to her.
She slammed her hooves down on the train car and rushed to him. Her hooves hammered the top of the car, getting everypony's attention inside.
When Rainbow Dash got to Michael, she started to shake him violently.
"Michael?!" she asked loudly, "Michael, wake up!"
Michael didn't move.
"Come on, dude! Get up! Don't give up on me!"
Michael suddenly jerked for a moment, before cracking open his eyes. "Wha-?"
Rainbow Dash gasped, "You're alive!"
She embraced him tightly, resulting in a puzzled expression on the Spartan's face.
"OK, Rainbow," he said, "We know each other for less than a day and you're acting like I'm the most important person in the world."
"But I thought you were… d-dead!" she shouted.
"What are you talking about?"
She pointed frustratingly at the huge puddle of red, "Because of THAT!"
Michael raised his eyebrows, "Wow. I lost a lot didn't I?"
"Aren't you… ya know… worried for yourself?"
"Nah, that's only half of what I need to lose to even start feeling weak."
Rainbow Dash was silent.
"Uh… Rainbow Dash." Michael muttered, "You can let go now."
"Oh, right!" she sputtered before moving back.
"Much better," Michael chuckled, "By the way, what brings you here?"
"Well… I was just on my daily flight to Canterlot till I saw you on the train bleeding. So I flew over cause I though you were dying or something."
"Well that explains it I guess."
"And why are YOU on top a TRAIN, SLEEPING while BLEEDING to death!? Shouldn't you be in Canterlot right now?"
"Well I WAS in Canterlot, but…"
Rainbow Dash stared at him, eager to know, "But what?"
"Your princess… well I… ugh, hold on," Michael stuttered as he flashed his mind back to where it started.
Michael continued, "I woke up in the hospital bed, or beds, this morning. Nurse uh… Red… Redheart! Yeah that's right! Anyway she came in and we talked a bit before she told me Princess Celestia was going to come see me when I awoke. I slept for about four days."
Rainbow Dash gasped, "Four DAYS?!"
"Yeah, I tend to sleep for a long period of time."
"So what happened next?" Rainbow Dash asked, "Did you bail on her or something?"
"Not exactly," Michael replied, "I decided to go see her instead, to save her the walk. When I made it there, she was on her throne with another alicorn. She had a dark blue coat and another flowing mane."
Rainbow Dash interrupted, "That's her sister, Princess Luna."
Michael suddenly remembered what Nightmare Moon said about being one with Luna. That's why they looked similar. But why was she upset with humans? Nightmare Moon was definitely the one to ask on this one.
"Umm… Michael? You're kinda in space right about now." Rainbow Dash was trying to get his attention.
"Wha-? Oh, right. Anyway, Celestia was happy to see me. But Princess Luna wasn't so happy. She started talking about why… why Celestia didn't just… kill me."
"What?" Rainbow Dash gasped, "That sounds NOTHING like her!"
"That's what struck me. It kinda… hurt to hear those words. Then she started crying. But why? Rainbow Dash, do you know anything about humans in the past?"
"Not really," she replied, "The pony to ask would be one of the princesses or maybe Twilight."
"Darn it. I was hoping you would know. Well, what happened next was that Celestia also broke down in tears and started hugging her sister. It just left me wondering what the humans done to them to trigger such anger. It also left me feeling guilty. Guilty that I didn't just wait for Celestia herself. Guilty that I jumped out the window and ran to the train station, while bleeding. And now… here I am."
Rainbow Dash stared at him in awe, "This makes me curious too. What did the humans of the past do? I heard they were jerks! No offense though."
"None taken. Well when we get to the town by that forest, I'm getting off."
"Are you going to see Twilight or something?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Michael looked at her, a serious look in his eyes, "No. I'm going back into that forest."
Rainbow Dash jumped up, "Michael! Are you totally NUTS from blood loss or something? You'll get yourself killed in there!"
"No, I'm not nuts!" he shouted, causing Rainbow Dash to jump back in fear, "Sorry, OK? But I know someone who lives there who can give me the answers I want."
Rainbow Dash recovered, "But Michael, I… I'm worried that you won't come back."
Michael was taken back, "Rainbow Dash? Like I said, you barely know me, and yet you act like you've known me forever."
"I… I don't know," Rainbow Dash muttered, "Maybe cause you're a cool guy. And you got guts. But then you're understanding. I like that."
"I understand," Michael replied, "But I really need to go there."
"Who are you going to see?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Michael was about to answer when he remembered what Nightmare Moon said. She did something that no one likes her for.
"She uh… She doesn't want anyone knowing where she is…" he said.
"Umm… OK…" Rainbow Dash said slowly. She decided to just follow him throughout the forest without being seen.
"And don't follow me," Michael said, "Like you said, it's dangerous."
"No problem!" Rainbow Dash said, a little bit too enthusiastically, "I will not follow you! I promise!"
"Good," Michael said, "Well, looks like we're here."
The train slowed to a stop at the train station. Various ponies poured out trying to figure out what the racket on top the train was. When they saw Michael, they scattered in fear.
"I don't like that feeling," Michael mumbled.
"What feeling?" Rainbow Dash asked, as if she did something wrong.
Michael noticed her look, "Don't worry, Rainbow. It's not you. I just hate being feared. Back in my world, people feared me because I was in armor. And now I'm being feared because no one knows what I am."
Rainbow Dash nudged him, "Don't go soft on me now. You know you still got me on your side. Weren't you a soldier anyway?"
"I guess you can say that."
"You're a pretty sad soldier, I'll give ya that," Rainbow Dash teased.
Michael chuckled, "Thanks a lot."
Rainbow Dash looked back at the even larger blood puddle, "Don't you wanna get that checked out?"
"Yeah, I should," Michael replied, "I'm starting to feel light-headed."
He hopped off the top of the train car and waited for Rainbow Dash, who flew along side him.
"Do you want to head to the hospital?" she asked.
"Nah," Michael replied, "Just need some bandages and rest. Just to stop the bleeding."
"I think Twilight has some bandages."
"Then let's head there. But where does she live?" Michael asked.
"Don't you remember?" Rainbow Dash relplied, "The big tree library!"
"Oh right. Except I don't remember where that is."
"It's alright, I have you covered!" Rainbow Dash saluted him. "Follow me!"
She flew in front of him, leading the way. The next few minutes they walked in silence, Rainbow Dash waving to the frightened ponies. All except one.
Rainbow Dash groaned, "Aw man here she comes!"
"Who?" Michael asked.
"See that turquoise colored pony trotting over here?"
"Oh right! Her name was… Lyra right?"
"Yeah. And I hope you remember she's obsessed with humans."
"Oh yeah I remember."
Lyra approached them, a big grin on her face. She threw her forelegs around Michael's legs immediately.
"I knew it!" she said, "I knew humans existed! Everyone told me they were all just some old legend or tale or something. But I knew the truth! They do exist!"
"Ummm… Hi?" Michael slowly said.
Lyra stayed clasped onto his leg. Luckily it wasn't the injured one. Michael decided to just walk with her on his leg. He took a step forward to test her weight, and figured out she was extremely light to him. Then he continued walking passed Rainbow Dash, receiving an amused expression from her.
They continued walking until they came to SugarCube Corner. Rainbow Dash was sure she saw Pinkie look through the top floor of the bakery window.
"What's the place with the cupcake on top?" Michael asked.
"That's SugarCube Corner, a bakery pretty much," Rainbow Dash replied, scanning the area for Pinkie.
They walked past the building, surprisingly without any disturbance from a certain pink pony.
"Phew!" Rainbow Dash sighed, "I thought she would pop up out of no where."
"Who?" Michael asked.
"This friend of mine name Pinkie Pie. She can do a bunch of weird stuff. I don't understand how, but she just does it."
"What does she do that's so… weird?"
"Well for one," Rainbow Dash replied, "She has a weird way of some kind of teleportation."
"Well unicorns can teleport, right? With magic or something?"
"That's the thing, she's not a unicorn. She's an earth pony."
Michael wasn't really surprised, since he didn't know much about Equestria.
"Oh, ok."
They approached the tree library. Rainbow Dash flew up to the door and hammered on it. Twilight better be home.
"Twilight!" she shouted while banging on the door, "Open up! We got a small emergency!"
They heard some rummaging inside, "Hold on!"
"We can't hold on, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
"I'm not ready!" she shouted.
Michael stepped up, "Hold on," he said, "Sorry, Twilight! But I'm feeling really dizzy!"
Rainbow Dash stepped back in awe as Michael kicked the door, sending splinters scattering on the inside.
"Sweet," she muttered.
Michael stumbled in and collapsed on the floor. Rainbow Dash rushed to his side, but soon realized why Twilight wouldn't open the door.
The floor was littered with books. The shelves were all unorganized and messy. Twilight sat there, staring at them in shock. Her mane and tail were completely messed up, parts of it sticking out and broken. How long had she been up? Before anything happened, Twilight levitated Lyra off Michael's leg and placed her outside, where she sat there, still shocked that humans exist.
"Uh… Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked, stepping over a book that read "Human Legends in Equestria."
"Yes… R-Rainbow?" she replied shaken by the sudden break-in.
"What have you been doing?"
"J-Just studying… H-humans."
Rainbow Dash groaned, "This isn't necessary, Twilight!"
Twilight grew a bit annoyed, "We need to learn as much as we can about Michael!"
"Then why not TALK to him?" she said, pointing a hoof at Michael.
Michael rolled over on his back, "Umm… can you guys quit the arguing and get me some bandages before I BLEED to death?"
Both ponies calmed down and looked at him.
"Rainbow," Twilight said, "I have some bandages up stairs in the cabinet. Can you go get them please?"
"Yeah. You'll be alright, Michael!" she said as she flew upstairs.
Twilight returned her attention to Michael, "Sorry about all this. Let me get cleaned up first, then we can talk."
"Aren't you gonna freak out because I'm bleeding all over the place?"
"No, I know you'll be fine. Now give me a minute, I'll be right back."
She turned and trotted down a staircase at the back of the room. Rainbow Dash appeared at the top of the stairway with a roll of gauze in her mouth. She jumped off the top and hovered down beside Michael. He grabbed the roll from her mouth and unrolled a large amount to wrap around his leg.
"Doesn't that… hurt?" she asked, wincing at how tightly he was wrapping it.
"Yeah." He said.
"Aaaand… you don't care?"
"Nope."
"Okay… Where'd Twilight go?"
"Down the stairs over there. She said she wanted to clean up."
"Alright, I'll be right back. Don't do anything stupid, OK? Don't want that thing bleeding again."
"Gotcha."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and trotted down the stairs, leaving Michael by himself.
Rainbow Dash smirked as she descended down the stairs.
'I like him,' she thought.
Meanwhile, in the Everfree Forest…
Chimera POV
It was only noon in the Everfree forest. The Royal Guard had been searching for Discord for the past few days. They weren't having any luck though. Even in daylight, the forest was dark. The chimera, known as Discord, was easily hidden in the dense jungle of plant life.
Discord would always have a laugh whenever the Royal Guard completely missed him. Some of them looked straight at him, but still didn't see him. Celestia needed better guards.
But now he was approaching the Everfree Ruins, to talk to a certain pony who shouldn't exist right now. He wanted to talk.
He crossed the bridge that lead to the castle and snuck through the door.
"Nightmare dearie," he said in a taunting way, "I want to talk."
Nightmare Moon's silhouette lingered by the window.
"And why are YOU here, Discord?" she asked.
"Oh no need to be all cautious I won't pull anything!" Discord said very sarcastically.
Nightmare Moon stepped into the light, "Then what do you want?"
Discord chuckled, "Well, Nightmare dearie, I want to know why you spared that human?"
"That's a simple question. And I have a simple answer. He was the first to actually… like me instead of running in fear. He's different from the humans in the past and you know it."
"Oh yes, I agree. But what do you have up your sleeve this time, Nightmare?" Discord asked, narrowing his eyes at her with a sly smile."
She replied quickly, "Nothing, Discord. I don't want to commit to any evil anymore. So you can forget thinking I'm tricking the sweet human."
Discord walked over to the window, "Whatever you say, dearie. Anyway I must be going. I have things to do. Things to plan."
Nightmare Moon smirked, "Sounds like you have something planned, Discord."
"But of course!" he said as he jumped out the window. But then he poked his head back inside, "But remember, Nightmare. I'm watching."
And at that, he disappeared back into the forest.
Does Nightmare Moon really have something planned? Or has she REALLY changed?