"The patient is waking up I see." Andrew rubbed his eyes to clear up his vision, but when he did so, his left eye was covered in bandages. He could only see out of his right eye for right now, the whole left side of his vision was pitch black. What he could see is Princess Celestia, smiling at him. Andrew tried to get upright, only to put himself in much more pain than he needed.

"Hey, Princess. How you doin'?" He grunted, coughing a little bit in between words. He gave a weak smile before laying back down on the bed.

"I could ask you the same thing, Andrew."

"Well, by the looks of it. I have a few broken bones, some internal bleeding, and multiple stab wounds, other than that I'm fine." He said sarcastically, grabbing his side. She smirked, Andrew tilting his head in confusion.

"I can fix that, here." Her horn touched his forehead, and it emanated a golden glow. Andrew could feel his wounds healing in an instant, his pain subsided as he felt better than ever.

"Thanks Princess. I owe you one." He said gratefully.

"No, it is I, who owes you, Andrew. I am grateful, for you have killed the Darkness, who has haunted this land for far too long. For that, I am forever in your debt." She bowed her head, Andrew gave a nervous chuckle.

"No need for that Princess, consider us even. You saved our lives, we repay you by killing this, 'Darkness,' thing. We don't owe each other anything." She nodded silently, she walked out of the hospital room, Andrew followed close behind.

"How is my team, Celestia? Are they doing okay?" He asked, in a worried tone.

"They're just fine. They checked in with the doctor for a physical just yesterday, actually." Andrew sighed in relief, bumping into someone, he still had the bandages over the left side of his face, so he couldn't see where he was going anywhere to the left of him.

"Can I take this off yet?" He complained, she nodded happily.

"So, where am I exactly? Like what town is this?" I looked around, it sure didn't look like the Ponyville Emergency Care Clinic, it looked like a regular human hospital, with running electricity and everything.

"You're in the Canterlot E.R. you were taken here shortly after your fight. I'm surprised you're still alive to be honest." I laughed.

"Princess, I don't die so easily, and neither do any other one of my human friends." Andrew said triumphantly, trying to fix his bedhead.

"I see. I will need you to come with me then, but get changed into something nice first, and meet me in the throne room." She said, leading him into the guest room.

Andrew went straight into the closet, and boy it was huge. The closet closed off the other rooms to reveal a room with clothes specifically designed for a human. Andrew quickly got changed, the military formal wear went over his RIG so it wouldn't be a problem. He was in an olive green attire, and a beret.

"I guess this should do." He shrugged, walking out the door. He went down the hallway, getting looks from other ponies as he walked along.

As he got closer he could hear music, the sound of blaring trumpets could be heard, and a roaring crowd as well. He opened the gates to reveal multiple ponies of many kinds, Royal Guards saluted him as he went down the aisle. His team was already at the altar, dressed in their formal attire as well. He met his friends on the altar, and Princess Celestia was waiting for them.

"We are gathered here today to commemorate the heroism of Delta Force, more specifically Echo Team, who as you can tell aren't from Equestria. They defeated the Darkness and its terror over the entire globe, putting an end to our suffering. I would like to offer you a promotion, each and every one of you. Would you take that offer?" She asked. They all nodded solemnly, not saying a single word, but gave also a serious tone.

"You all have been promoted up one rank, and have been granted full access to the castle. Once again, thank you, Echo Team." Pinkie Pie let out a waterfall of tears, Rainbow Dash's eyes were getting watery. Twilight couldn't help but sniffle as she watched her human friends return alive.

"This ceremony is now dismissed." Princess Celestia walked down the middle aisle back to her quarters, leaving Andrew and his team happy.

"Andrew! You guys made it!" Twilight said happily, Pinkie Pie charged head into Andrew, Rainbow was utterly speechless. Andrew got down onto Pinkie's level and patted her on the head.

"Well, Pinkie. I made it back, how's that for keeping a promise?" Rainbow flew straight into Andrew's chest, making him grunt in pain.

"I'm happy you made it back." She cried into him, Andrew couldn't help but comfort her to the best of his abilities.

"I'm happy too Rainbow, and I'm also sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"Sorry for leaving without saying goodbye."

"It's okay, just don't do anything stupid ever again."

"I make no promises, but I'll try." He ruffled her mane, trying to lift her off of him.

As they walked down the hall, they were met with Princess Luna. She was almost too happy to see them, as she practically hugged Andrew to death, squeezing the life out of him.

"Okay Luna, I'm happy to see you too. Please let go." She quickly let go as fast as she latched onto him.

"I apologize, I lost my composure for a second there."

"You're accent is different!" He noticed, Luna rolled her eyes.

"Yes, yes I know. I've been practicing, thanks for noticing."

"Well, it's good to see that has changed. I'll let you be on your way m'lady." Andrew bowed, making Luna blush.

Andrew, Helena, Jhon, and Nick went into their dressing rooms. They had put back on their regular patrolling uniforms, hidden body armor and everything. They met Twilight and her friends at the front gates, ready to head back for Ponyville, and ready to go back to their original jobs. Once the train arrived they all loaded into one seating car, the humans sitting in the very back while Twilight and her friends sat up front, ready to get off at a moment's notice.

"So, did anything happen while we were gone?" Andrew asked, Twilight shuffled the ground under her hooves.

"Spike kind of destroyed the police building." She said nervously, Andrew's eyes widened in shock.

"-But it wasn't his fault! He wasn't thinking straight because he was going through something all dragons a one point go through." Andrew thought he knew where this was going.

"Ah, puberty. That one stage where a boy or girl turns into an adult." He remembered that horrible nightmare as if it was yesterday. Twilight had a blush on her face as she corrected him.

"Actually, it was greed." Twilight informed with a deadpan expression. Andrew chuckled at his mistake.

"Oh, my mistake. But tell me, how does greed have to do with destroying the police building?"

"Spike grows to a large size and practically ransacked the whole town!" Pinkie Pie said, doing gestures to re-enact Spike's rampage.

"Like Godzilla." He mumbled to himself, putting a hand on his chin. He yawned, stretching out his arms.

"It's gonna take a few hours to get to Ponyville, in the mean time wake me up when we get there." He headed into the cart where it was full of mattresses and bedding. He climbed into the bottom bunk and closed the curtain, getting comfy in the small indent in the side of the train car.

While Andrew was away, the humans and ponies were at play. They were all giggling and laughing, and talking about their adventure into the mountains.

"Hey, it looks like my wristpad made a recording!" Helena scrolled down to the video.

"It's Andrew's fight! Who wants to watch it?" They all raised their hooves and hands into the air, except Fluttershy, who was a bit nervous.

The video replayed the events of after Helena, Jhon, and Nick were defeated. Andrew had grime and blood covered all over him, and some sort of black sludge that could be made out as blood oozing out from the Darkness. Once it finished, they all were awe struck, especially Rainbow, who couldn't believe what had just happened.

"Oh my god. That was Carmine!" Helena gasped, they all looked at her.

"That thing, was Carmine? She almost killed him!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"How long has he been battling these hallucinations?" Twilight asked, Helena's expression saddened.

"He's 25 years old, so... about seven years, not counting the three years he's been dealing with his dead family. Now that the Darkness is gone, he can live in peace now." Nick explained.

"Heh, the thing is that he's never been to an insane asylum before." Jhon said.

"Man, I'm in need of some new clothes, I can't be wearing this thing all the time." Nick said, grabbing his patrol uniform. Rarity's eyes glistened at the mention of new clothes.

"Oh, I can make you some darling." She suggested.

"Great! How much do you want for it?"

"Free of charge dear, I can't let you go around wearing that all the time." Nick shook his head. He took out a sack of coins and gave it to her.

"I insist, I can't let you give away free clothes. You have a business to run after all."

"You do have a point, thank you." She took the money.

"Hey look, we're here." Jhon said. Rainbow volunteered to go wake up Andrew, so she went into the car to go and retrieve him.

When Rainbow came to get him, he wasn't there in his bed. She looked all around the cart for him, but he was no where to be found. She noticed him leaning on the guard rail in the caboose, looking up at the sky. She happily went over to him, Andrew noticed her stand next to him.

"Hey Drew, we're here."

"Yeah, I noticed. Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah! Watcha need?"

"You ever think that there's some place you go after you die? I mean, there's Heaven if you believe in Christianity, but what if there isn't someplace you go after you die?" He asks, making Rainbow confused.

"Well, to be honest, I don't know. If you want my opinion, it's something to worry about after you die. Right now we need to get off the train before it leaves again." She changed the subject.

"You're right, I'm still alive. For now at least." Rainbow gave him a mean look.

"C'mon, let's go."

"Ladies first." He responded, letting her go through first, following closely behind.

Rainbow looked at Andrew very intently, almost to a creepy stare if you put it in a way. He just now noticed all the times Rainbow gave him that look, and that time when he left without saying goodbye. He thought she really cared for him, but he needed to find this out for his own if she really did like him. So he put two and two and two together, to get four.

"Look Rainbow, I know you like me." He went straight to the point, catching Rainbow off guard.

"W-What? N-No I don't!" She stuttered, trying to fake it, but Andrew gave her that stare when he knows someone is lying.

"Fine, you got me. What are you going to do about it?" She said defensively, making Andrew chuckle.

"I think it's very sweet, I like you too. I don't know how inter-species relationships work around here though, so I'm not too fond of the idea." He said, ruffling her mane.

"Ponies here are in inter-species relationships all the time. Whether it's a Griffon, Dragon, even one time a Diamond Dog." She said happily, Andrew put a hand on his chin, looking at the sky.

"I'll think about it, come talk to me again when you think you should." She opened her mouth to speak.

"-But that doesn't mean now, I'm still thinking about it." She lowered her head, but then got really excited again that she knew that he liked her back. She flew away happily, leaving Andrew to think.

"Dear Lord, what have I gotten myself into." He mumbled to himself.