Silence filled the gymnasium. The headmaster straightened his papers on the lectern as he stood on the podium. In front of him was the entire school, a mix of day and boarding students, staff, and parents. Cameras had been set up, viewing him with a clear picture. He looked to his side to see the latest graduating batch of the seniors, their faces full of excitement as they fidgeted around impatiently.

“Welcome, everyone,” he said, “I would like to say that this time of the year is always the hardest for us members of the staff, as we have grown rather connected with these girls. Everyday, they amaze me with their enthusiasm and unbreakable spirit, and I always go home with a wonderful tale to tell my wife because of them.”

He had to wipe away a tear from his face as he smiled broadly. Several students and staff nodded and shared the same feelings. “I have to admit,” he continued, “I will miss them, and I wish them luck as they move on. To the parents of these magnificent girls, thank you for coming.”

He motioned the cameras. “And I would like to welcome those who are viewing this graduation ceremony through the video stream. Before we introduce the graduating batch of twenty-five-fifty-three, I would like to award the students of the succeeding batches who have shown exceptional effort and talent throughout the year.”

Then, the headmaster motioned the table full of awards next to him. “Our first award is the Edison Award, given to the student who has achieved exceptional accomplishments in the fields of science. This year, the award goes to Anna Tavish.”

Everyone applauded as a student walked across the stage. She shook hands with the headmaster and smiled for the school photographer and the cameras.

The names and awards went on and on. Several students walked across the stage, each accepting whatever she worked hard to earn since the first day of school. After some time, the headmaster finally reached the final name.

“This year,” the headmaster said, “the Jaeger Award will go to Sarah Archer.”

Claps filled the gymnasium as a girl walked across the stage and shook the headmaster’s hand. “Congratulations, Sarah,” the headmaster said with a smile.

“Thank you, sir,” Sarah said with a grin. She accepted her award plaque and turned to the cameras. As she faced the audience applauding her, her eyes shot open, her smile disappeared, and she froze on the spot.

“Sarah?” the headmaster asked, concerned. “Is something wrong?”

The headmaster noted that Sarah was keeping her attention to a man in the front row of the parents’ chairs. The darkness of the gymnasium made it difficult to see who he was. A hush fell over the crowd as the worry and realization rose.

The man was left to be the only one still clapping. He stood up, revealing that he was wearing dark military fatigues. “Hi, Sarah,” he said with a broad smile, “congratulations. I’m very proud of you.”

In a flash, Sarah broke into a sprint, jumped off the stage, and ran towards the man. He caught her in his arms and wrapped her in a tight embrace.

Claire straightened herself as she sat next to her boss in the table. Chatter and laughter filled the function room with a cheerful mood. Since the company she worked in was small and still in its young stages, family members and friends were allowed to take part in the business’ anniversary. The minute number of colleagues were busy introducing their relatives and companions to one another. Though they have started up not too long ago, they earned much success with the recent times, enough to catch the attention of a news channel, so a crew was present recording the milestone.

The CEO stood up and cleared her throat. “Thank you for coming, everyone,” she said with a warm smile. “I’m not much of a talker, so I’ll keep this short. To have all this support and enthusiasm really helps us all in the long run. Many of us here have to admit that starting a hedge fund at these times is quite the challenge.”

She waved to all of her colleagues..“If it weren’t for our company’s co-founders and our amazing people, we wouldn’t be where we are right now.”

Then, she motioned to Claire. “For one of our co-founders, Claire, today marks another special day for her.”

Claire stood up.

“Today’s her birthday,” the CEO said. “Let’s all give her a warm greeting, shall we?”

Everyone erupted to cheers, and many broke into chanting.

“Thank you, everyone,” Claire said with a small bow.

She nodded with a smile to her friends and family, then she turned to shake hands with her boss. “Thanks, Casey,” she said.

Her boss smiled back. Suddenly, her gaze was shifted to behind Claire, and all the cheers and applauding was replaced by silence and gasps. Amidst the absence of noise, there was the sound of boots marching.

Claire turned around, and she froze on the spot as she found Sarah walking down towards her with a smile, holding the hand of a large man carrying a messenger bag slung on his shoulder.

The man had a robotic prosthetic left arm, and a large portion of right side of his face was covered with a bandage. There were several other marks scattered lightly throughout his hand and the rest of his head. His cyborg eyes glowed with a vibrant ocean blue like a neon light in the dark. There was a tired but satisfied look on him as he made his way. Despite all the damage done to him, Claire still knew exactly who he was, and the mere sight of him made tears stream down her cheeks.

The man continued on and came to a stop in front of Claire. He held her hands gently, the warmth of his right hand in contrast to his left. Then, he leaned forward and gave her a kiss to let her know she was in reality.

“Happy birthday, Caire,” Garrett said with a smile. He brought out a small plastic container from his messenger bag. “I brought your favourite strawberries and cream, just as I promised.”

Celestia had to wipe away a tear with her hoof as she watched the video. The solar guards with her standing next to the doors in the marble room tried to keep themselves composed, but it was apparent that they, too, were feeling the same.

The news report continued rolling, showing Garrett and his family embracing one another with tears streaming. People around them were applauding, and many were crying as well.

Right before the segment ended, Celestia managed to hear Garrett mutter, “I’m finally home.”

Celestia flipped away the display, a smile stretching across her face. She felt a warm feeling inside her as she rested in the knowledge knew that Garrett was truly happy once more.

“Nice to see him smile like that,” Stanford commented.

“Agreed,” Celestia said with a nod. She looked to the holo table, inspecting the logo of the UNSC. As she did so, she recalled the image of a loving and caring man who, by a tide of misfortuned, turned into a soldier with a gun. “I still remember why he took his role in the armed forces. He was fueled by rage and vowed revenge because of the death of those around him, and with the war with the Covenant over, I wonder what he will do now.”

“Whatever he intends, I wish him luck.” Stanford pulled up another display from the holotable. “Now, let’s get back to business. As we know, there are a lot of scars because of this battle. In some cases, the damage is so extensive we may need a terraformer, especially with Nightmare Moon’s attempt at growing an army.”

“That bad, hmm?” Celestia heaved a sigh.

“Luckily, in contrast to the years it takes to terraform an entire planet, we’ll only need a few months, at the maximum, to get the job done.”

A pair of doors opened, and Jenny walked in, wearing her undersuit and a pair of pants. “Sir, can you please tell the paparazzi to stop following us around? We don’t want to take part in any media after we found out what they did to Captain Archer.”

Right as she said it, a camera flash from the window caused Jenny to bring her palm to her face. Celestia’s guards to looked at one another, shifting uneasily.

Stanford shrugged. “Lighten up, trooper. It can’t be that bad.”

“They’ve been... ‘admiring’ human anatomy.” Jenny pulled out a set of magazines and slid them across the holo table. “A bit too much, if you ask me.”

Stanford furrowed his eyes “You have got to be kidding me,” he muttered.

He held the magazines up. The pages were compilations of Garrett exercising on sunny days. Some were of him using dumbbells while others involved him utilizing the weight of his own body. A particularly common highlight was of him suspending himself upside down on a pull-up bar while doing crunches, obviously uncaring to the fact that he was being spied on.

“Where’d you find those?!” a mare guard yelped. She brought up her hoof to her mouth, and her stallion colleagues beside her raised theirs to their faces.

Setting the magazines down, Stanford and Jenny shifted their deadpanned attention to Celestia, who stood blushing with her wings spread open as she looked at the photos.

“Umm... I-I can explain,” Celestia stuttered sheepishly.

Stanford closed the magazines and leaned on the table. “We’re listening.”

Author's Notes:

A very special thank you to my reviewer, AidanMaxwell. Without him, I couldn’t have made it this far. My English improved a lot, thanks to him. Go ahead and give him a nice form of a thank-you, be it a follow on his account or whatever you think seems fit. Let him know, and give him some support!

Now, off to answer some questions that may rise.

Will there be a sequel?

Most likely. I don’t have an ETA because I’ve got a busy year ahead of me, but I’ve been throwing some ideas.

Will we see Garrett in Equestria again?

Probably.

Will there be any spin-offs?

Probably.

What’s your plan now?

Like I said, I’ll be extremely busy this year. I intend to calm down on my fanfic writing a bit. Don’t worry, though, I’ll pop into Fimfic every now and then.

Any last words?

This is where you guys can come in. If you’ve suddenly felt the inspiration to write a fic or a spin-off go ahead. Nothing’s stopping you. Let your imagination run, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Period. If you let me know, I can give you a shout-out on my blog. I’ll probably even put it in a folder, too.

Thank you all for your support and help. I have to admit, I was pretty scared when I first entered the Fimfic scene and saw this story reach the headlines. All the encouraging words and criticism, which I value a lot, helped me a lot in developing myself and pushing through.

Stay awesome, bronies.

-SpilledInk