Demons & Nightmares, M2.5


                                            >Be Sepia, unicorn

                                            >You are walking over to the ship's medical wing

                                            >Your horn is aching again after practicing your magic

                                            >That suppressor ring has definitely affected you in some way, on top of you being unable to use your magic for an entire month

                                            >When that ring was finally removed you were overjoyed, then you tried to levitate a spoon and became exhausted

                                            >You told your roommates nothing, but in the back of your mind you're terrified


                                            >Back when you were a filly, you learned about how magic works

                                            >Earth ponies use it through their hooves, pegasus through their wings, and unicorns through their horns

                                            >Like a muscle, a month of neglect results in atrophy

                                            >There were some rare cases where unicorns entirely lost their ability to use magic after prolonged periods of disuse

                                            >It may be silly, it may be selfish, but to go through what you were forced through, then learn that you lost a core part of yourself

                                            >You're not sure what you'd do


                                            >You wait for the alien door to open up

                                            >On the other side are four tall humans

                                            >They are all wearing that green infiltration armor that Jane had

                                            >They all have those firearms, some carrying more than others

                                            >They look down at you silently, then step aside to give you room as they walk past

                                            >You look back at them as they turn the corner, heading for the central hangar

                                            >They weren't with Sean when he and Nightmare Moon rescued you

                                            >Everypony you ask tells you that they came with him during the invasion


                                            >The invasion

                                            >That's what everypony is calling it

                                            >You can't remember anything, except what happened afterwards

                                            >You shake the bad memories out of your head as you walked down to the end of the corridor

                                            >That damned manor and that damned ring

                                            >You just hope the doctor's not still busy from all that commotion a few hours ago


                                            >You get close to the door leading into the medical wing's entrance, but it opens early

                                            >Out floats a pink and blue ball of gas bladders and tentacles

                                            "Oh! Hello there."

                                            >Now it's you who steps aside for the engineer, or Huragok as Sean calls them

                                            >Its tentacle of a head, filled with beady black eyes, nods politely down at you

                                            >It lets out a pleasant trill and gently makes its way down the corridor, its luminescent skin matching the colors of the walls and floor

                                            >You're not sure what to make of them

                                            >On one hoof, they smell and have no sense of privacy

                                            >On the other hoof, they had fixed everything on this ship

                                            >And they're cute in their own way

                                            >The noises they make, their verbal language, reminds you of the whales that followed your family's small sailing boat over a decade ago


                                            >You go through the door before it can automatically close

                                            >The medical wing is really just one very long room with no other entrance, sectioned off with plastic dividing sheets

                                            >Right now it smells heavy with antiseptic

                                            >Doctor Decon, with bags under his bright yellow eyes, sits at a cheap office desk at the front of the room, writing with a ballpoint pen

                                            >You pause, watching the teal and white unicorn use the technological marvel

                                            >If only you had that for your work


                                            >He looks up and sees you

                                            >"Ah, Sepia."

                                            >You give him your secretary smile

                                            "Hello Doctor."

                                            >"Come in. How can I help you?"

                                            >You walk in, suddenly realizing your headache has went from a throbbing pain to a small pressure in your forehead

                                            >The idea of this all just being a silly fear makes you hesitate

                                            "I was just wondering-"


                                            >A middle-aged stallion interrupts with a dry, tired voice

                                            >"Sepia?"

                                            >You look further into the room

                                            >The first "section" is two rows of three low beds each on either zide of the room

                                            >Reclining on the nearest bed, covered in a single white sheet, is a unicorn with grey fur and a shaved head

                                            >He looks at you with a half-opened blue eye

                                            >It takes you a long moment to recognize him, and you stiffen in surprise,

                                            "Notches?"

                                            >He smiles wearily,

                                            >"You're a sight for sore eyes. Come to visit an old friend?"

                                            >A month ago, you would have walked right back out of the room

                                            >Now, you walk over to the his bedside

                                            >He was cleaned up recently, with white strips of gauze wrapped around several bare patches of skin on his forelegs

                                            >You look at his horn and notice something

                                            >In several places are small wads of cotton dipped in alcohol

                                            >You look closer and you realize that they're stuffed into holes in his horn

                                            >You sit back and put your hooves over your mouth to keep from gasping

                                            >"Ah," sighs Notches, "You noticed."

                                            "Oh Celestia, what happened?"

                                            >He grins,

                                            >"Oh, you know. Somepony never saw a unicorn before and decided that he really, really needed to get in there and see how a horn worked."

                                            >He looks up at the ceiling, still grinning

                                            >"I would have cooperated, had they asked, but they all seemed to have been too busy huffing their own farts to see if I wasn't just some entertainment abom."

                                            >You hold your chest, trying to bring your heart rate down,

                                            "Abom?"

                                            >He waves a hoof in dismissal,

                                            >"A catch-all term. Aden over there could tell you much more,"

                                            >He points to the zipped-up split in the dividing sheets

                                            >"Once he wakes up of course, but trust me, Sepia, you're better off not knowing."


                                            >He relaxes, taking a deep breath,

                                            >"Anyway, enough about me, Sepia. What were you rescued from?"

                                            >You look away, trying to form something adequate

                                            "Well, they just, well. Nightmare Moon and, um, Sean. They got me out of a bad house."

                                            >"A bad house, eh? They didn't let you leave like me?"

                                            "No, they forced me to wear a maid suit and clean up after the children

                                            >Notches's brow rises and he looks back up to the ceiling, whistling low

                                            >"Now I feel like a jerk for enjoying my stay. Sure, this," he points to his horn, "Happened, but I was being pampered beforehoof. Like a house pet who they never allowed outside, but still I wasn't forced to work. At least Nightmare Moon gave me a scare when she found my dreams."

                                            "She gave you bad dreams, too?"

                                            >He falls into the Notches-rant that you know all too well,

                                            >"Oh, for two whole weeks, she did! Well, no, there were a few days where she didn't, but now that I think about it, those were probably when she was rescuing you. Then it was back to having monsters chase me all around the vacation home I was locked in."

                                            >Normally, you would have tuned him out by the second sentence

                                            >Instead you suddenly jump into the rant with him,

                                            "That's what she did to me! Here I was, figuring out this twisted game of keeping everything spotless while these,"

                                            >You grind out the next word through your teeth,

                                            "Children, these malicious little gremlins made it their mission to make my life a living Tatarus. For weeks! I can only think it was weeks because these people didn't have a calendar or- what?"

                                            >He's smiling at you as if you had just said profanity in front of the teacher

                                            >"I never thought you had it in you to prattle off like me, Sepia."

                                            >You cheeks flash hot and you turn your head

                                            "I usually have the tact to not do it when you're around."

                                            >You sigh,

                                            "These past few weeks have been rough."

                                            >"But they're past you now, Sepia."

                                            >You look back to the long-retired Guard, his smile warm now

                                            >"They told me that they're getting one more pony, then we're all going back to Equestria."

                                            >You smile, tired all of a sudden


                                            >The divide zips open, and another Spartan steps through and closes the zipper behind her

                                            >She turns and looks to you and Notches before telling the doctor

                                            >"Vitals stable as before. He's already recovering."

                                            >Decon looks up from his writing

                                            >"Already?"

                                            >"We're a tough bunch, Doctor."

                                            >"Did he regain consciousness?"

                                            >"No, but he did start dreaming a few minutes ago. I set his helmet next to his bed so he can call us whenever he wakes. I'll take my leave now."

                                            >She looks to the two of you one last time before exiting


                                            >Notches waits for her to be well out of earshot, then tells you,

                                            >"According to Hitomi's teammates, Sepia, she carried me out of a burning building, shielded me from an explosion, and then turned around and helped to perform surgery on Aden over there for two hours straight."

                                            >He sinks back into his bed and asks no pony in particular

                                            >"I wonder why they're called demons?"

                                            >Doctor Decon, resuming his writing, answers,

                                            >"I've seen the results of them fighting, Notches."

                                            >Both of you look over at him, curious

                                            >He continues, casually, as though he's talking about a long business trip

                                            >"After we evacuated Canterlot and set up in Ponyville,"

                                            >He glances up,

                                            >"Thank you for holding Canterlot's station, by the way, Notches."

                                            >You look to him, and he smiles with a shrug

                                            >"But after we got to Ponyville and set up at their hospital, Team Claymore dropped in. The first thing they did was fend off an airborne attack in the middle of town. I was busy with patients so I didn't see anything myself, but everypony coming in was talking about them. Most of them were saying how the Spartans were shooting Covenant inside their dropships the moment the doors opened."

                                            >He finishes his paperwork and sets his pen down

                                            >He stares at a point somewhere in the room

                                            >"Afterward, we had to clean up. There were no ponies to be found, and we now know why with you, but,"

                                            >He furrows his brow,

                                            >"The bodies of the Covenant that Claymore killed stayed,"

                                            >He shuts his eyes tight,

                                            >"And there were a lot of bodies."


                                            ()()()


                                            >You are Sean B094

                                            >Sitting on the grassy cliff edge

                                            >Nightmare Moon is sitting next to you, silently enjoying your back scratches

                                            >Aden B103 is sitting on your other side, staring at the silver moon hovering just above the calm ocean

                                            >"So this is Myrmidon?"

                                            "Yep."

                                            >He looks over to the city taking up the distant bay

                                            >"It really was a nice place."

                                            >You nod

                                            "It was, yeah."


                                            >He looks up at the night sky

                                            >"It was better than my rotting station."

                                            >You and Nightmare look up to see a small bright dot slide its way across the milky way

                                            >"Did Jane ever come out here?"

                                            "No, her home was on the other side of the city. She went out on the water."

                                            >You look over your shoulder to look at the pines

                                            "I came out here."


                                            >You turn back to Aden,

                                            "I found a place like this in Equestria."

                                            >"Really?"

                                            "Some time after Jane and I first got there."

                                            >The city disappears and the pines turn into maples, but the landscape remains

                                            "Princess Luna and I were traveling when we came across this place."

                                            >"Princess Luna?"

                                            >You take a breath

                                            "A really good friend. She's lost too, right now."

                                            >Aden leans over to look at Nightmare,

                                            >"Are you two related?"

                                            >She answers solemnly,

                                            >"Very much so, Aden."

                                            >You continue scratching the base of her wings, feeling her back arch under you

                                            "We'll find her. It's just hard. Nightmare can only search through the edges of the dreamscape, then whenever we find ponies we have to spend several nights of dreaming to figure where exactly they are. It's too slow, and it's only us who can do it."


                                            >Aden asks, "You've got plans to solve that?"

                                            "We have a few potential avenues, mainly artifacts that we could modify."

                                            >You shake your head

                                            "It's just that it's an entirely new field; traveling between realities, universes, firmaments, whatever you want to call them. We don't know if we can figure it out fast enough for all those lost."

                                            >Aden doesn't say anything for a while, but then says,

                                            >"If you need another Spartan then I'll help. It'll be a hell of a lot more productive than my last job."

                                            >You nod,

                                            "Recover first, then thank Hitomi and Doctor Decon for fixing up that hole in your lung. Afterwards, you'll have the choice of what to do. While we're out here, everybody--or everypony--is busy rebuilding."


                                            >Aden suddenly realizes something and asks,

                                            >"What about our humanity? Were you able to go back?"

                                            “Oh, yeah. That’s how I picked up Claymore.”

                                            >You smile,

                                            “We won, by the way.”

                                            >Aden sits up straight, “We did?”

                                            “It’s more like the Covenant lost. A civil war broke out, with the Elites being disillusioned with the Prophets. It turns out the Great Journey was a lie.”

                                            >”Fancy that.”

                                            “Yeah. Now we have a few new Elite friends, including a few shipmasters who drove off the Prophet’s attack on Equestria.”

                                            >”A Prophet was leading this fleet against Equestria?”

                                            “Yes. A high councilor. The Prophet of Fr-”

                                            >Something slaps your shoulder hard


                                            ()()()


                                            >You are Aden G103

                                            >Sean disappears, much to you and Nightmare Moon’s surprise

                                            >The “alicorn” hums

                                            >”Someone woke him, yet not me as well. He must have been summoned to the bridge.”

                                            “Alright.”

                                            >The pause becomes awkward as the sound of waves crashing against the cliff face far below get louder

                                            “So, Nightmare Moon.”

                                            >She looks to you with a raised eyebrow

                                            “What exactly is your relationship with Sean?”

                                            >She smiles, and her aquamarine eyes glow

                                            >”Simple: he is mine, and I am his.”

                                            >You narrow your eyes at her, but she ignores your glare

                                            >”It started out as only him being mine, but your brother-in-all-but-blood has a stalwart mind. We came to an understanding long ago. Now? We’re quite the duo. He, the demon, and I, the nightmare.”