Chapter 4

Before Daniels and the horse could clash, a strange purple aura enveloped the two of them, keeping them separate

"Twilight Sparkle, what is the meaning of this?" the horse demanded

"Okay, tell me I'm crazy" Daniels pinched his arm, "But did you just talk?"

"What's wrong?" Harvest asked

"That might have been the mental trauma and the magical blast the princess gave you" the purple pony said, Daniels thought that this one was the one named 'Twilight Sparkle'

"Fantastic, I'm in a world with talking horses!" Daniels sighed, then he put his energy sword away

"Ponies" a cyan one corrected

"So…" Twilight said, "What's your name?"

"Maybe better circumstances for small talk wouldn't be after a fight like the one that just happened." Daniels said

"Perhaps you'd like to explain why you're here?" the 'princess' said coldly

"I'll get back to you on that, after we figure it out."

"That…" Twilight looked sheepish, "Was my fault."

Daniels and the princess looked at her

"Well, I was testing out the spell that lets you collect objects from space to study" Twilight explained, "I must have hit their ships."

"Wait" Daniels said, "'Ships'? As far as I know, there's only one ship with us on it."

"It's likely just rubble from the Athens" Young suggested

"Now can you let us out of this…? Bubble?" Daniels asked

Twilight complied, but once Daniels hit the ground he found that the adrenaline from the fight had worn off

With a cry of pain he fell to his knees, and clutched his side where the magic blast had hit

Harvest and Young came to help him up, the cyan pony looked at Twilight

"He needs to get to the hospital"

"What good will they do Rainbowdash?" an orange one with a Stetson asked

"They can at least stop the bleeding" a white one said, "He appears to be quite badly hurt."

"Maybe… If you hadn't hit first…" Daniels coughed out

"You attacked my subjects" the princess said, "I arrived while you did so."

"Actually princess" Twilight corrected, "They helped me get out of the Everfree unharmed, and the guards attacked them without warning."

"Oh dear" the princess put a hoof to her mouth

"News flash" Daniels coughed again, "If I don't get some bio-foam I might not even make it to the hospital."

Harvest complied, taking a canister out of Young's health kit

He injected it into Daniels's side, and the blood stopped flowing

"Now you said something about a hospital?" Daniels slowly stood up

[…]

Daniels was settled into the hospital bed, while Harvest went back to get some things from the pelican

Young was the only one in the room sitting down, waiting for the nurse to come in

The nurse entered, "Well by what we can figure out, you'll be just fine in a few weeks."

"The UNSC has plenty of advanced medicine" Young explained, "That might speed it up."

"How bad are the injuries exactly?" Daniels asked

"You had three cracked ribs, a nearly collapsed lung, heavy trauma in the brain, and a mild concussion." The nurse explained, "Four broken fingers and a cracked tibia, you're lucky that you're alive."

"That's what we're best known for." Daniels remarked

Harvest came in through the door, "Hey, I grabbed a few things from the pelican."

"My rifle!" Daniels gladly accepted the weapon from his friend

"I also got the guns we forgot to grab" Harvest gestured to the duffle bag he had, "We have more than a few packs of medkits, ammo, grenade cases, we're set for a while."

"I don't think they'll be necessary" the princess came in through the doorway

"Princess" Daniels acknowledged

"I feel we have not properly welcomed you to our fair land of Equestria" the princess went on, "My name is Princess Celestia."

"'Properly welcomed?'" Young scoffed, "I think that welcoming party was just fine."

"You shall not worry about getting attacked by our citizens" Celestia promised, "We're a rather peaceful country."

"Right" Daniels dismissed, "Any armor repair kits or upgrades?"

"I got some power gauntlets if you want" Harvest tossed the gloves to Daniels, "They're all over gloves, strong, and they can put out a repulse if you need to."

"For Young, she got a collapsible blowtorch. And for myself, I got active camouflage; it'll allow me to plant charges if I have to."

"As I was saying" Celestia continued, "You'll be given a house on the outskirts of Ponyville in which to live, until you can return home of course."

"How far is your technology?" Young asked, "You have any rockets?"

Celestia shook her head

"Satellites?" Harvest pitched in

Another head shake

"Any sort of computer?" Daniels asked

"None of those items"

"Well we're in deep trouble" Harvest sat down, "No idea what planet we're on, and no way to get back home if we even did get up there."

"We can make a makeshift satellite from the scrap of the pelican." Young suggested, "Then we might be able to link up with the UNSC battle net."

"Until then" Daniels said, "Let me see a medkit."

Harvest passed it to him, Daniels got to work

[…]

The elite minor walked back to the bridge, once he arrived he took in the blackness of slipspace on the screens

"Noble admiral" the elite minor said, "We are going to reach the planet within a month, the slipspace fluctuates around the location."

"The Artifact is strong indeed" the Admiral didn't turn around, "When we procure it the Great Journey is assured!"

The elite minor nodded, "What are your orders?"

"Put the soldiers is stasis" the Admiral said, "It will shorten the wait."

The elite minor turned to inform his brothers of the new orders

(To prevent confusion, elites refer to all other elites as their 'brothers' as they are kin)

[…]

Inside the second crater a sinister thing was awakening, the small mushroom-like creatures swarmed out of the hole and vanished into the forest

'It is time that we spread once again…' the tentacled creature thought to itself, 'Through rock and metal and time, we return to the universe…'