“You have a lot of explaining to do.”

John looked up at the Princess. She didn't seem very happy with his appearance in her country. John’s brain was processing information at a rate that would make Stephen Hawking proud. Trying to think as rationally as possible, which he found rather difficult. since he had just woken up to find himself in a land full of talking, multi-colored ponies that could fly and use magic, he wanted to defuse the situation as quickly and as smoothly as possible.

Bowing his head as much as he could, which wasn't easy due to fact that he was still wearing his helmet and his neck was sore from the crash, John responded to the Princess, trying to sound as calm as possible. "What would you like to know, ma'am?" He wasn’t sure if this was real, or if it was just a dream, but he really didn’t want to get on Celestia’s bad side.

A flash of surprise appeared on Celestia's face, but after thousands of years governing, she easily hid the expression. "Hmmm... My student told me that you could talk, but I did not expect you to be so polite or verbose, especially for a spy. Tell me, what are you? And where are you from?"

That would explain all the frowning faces, John thought. "Ma'am, I assure you that I am not a spy. My name is John Killinger, and I am a human from a planet called Earth."

This time, Celestia couldn't hide the surprised look on her face. "A human!? I thought they were just a myth, legends of a lost age." Celestia thought for a moment, recalling a few memories from when she had just started to rule. She had been fascinated with humans at the time, and had read almost every book that even mentioned them. At one point, she had stumbled across a hastily drawn diagram of the human body. Looking at the man tied to the bed in front of her, she immediately realized that something was amiss. "If you are a human, then why is your skin made up of so many colors? Humans are only supposed to have one skin color. Also, your head and feet are much larger than they are depicted in the diagrams that I have seen. Do you care to explain? And may I remind you that lying to a ruler of Equestria is a punishable offense."

Now knowing that he could be in some serious hot water if he didn't tell the truth, John picked his words carefully. "With all due respect, ma'am, I am indeed a human. Right now, I am just wearing clothing and a helmet. If you will allow these restraints to be removed for a moment, and if the doctor would please remove these casts and bandages, I will be happy to show you that I am not lying."

Celestia raised an eyebrow, her face having returned to its normal, stoic self. "And how do I know that you are not just trying to get out of your restraints so that you can attack me or try to escape?"

"I would never lie to you, ma'am. Besides, I'm sure that one broken and bloody human is no match for two royal guards and the Sun Goddess herself."

The Princess thought for a moment, then accepted, nodding at the doctor while both guards took up positions on either side of the bed in case John tried anything.

John's restraints were surrounded by a light blue aura, then, with an audible click, unlocked and opened. Then, the doctor removed all of the casts and bandages on John's chest, legs, and arms.

As he pulled his arms and legs out of their restraints, lances of pain shot up each limb. This had a sobering effect on him, for it made him realize that this was not a dream. He was really in Equestria, talking to Princess Celestia from a hospital bed.

With exaggerated slowness, because of the pain and so he wouldn't provoke the guards, John reached up and removed his helmet, revealing his brown, military cropped hair. His arms felt like they were on fire as he dropped his helmet off the side of the bed, where it bounced a few times. The next things to come off were the gloves, which were also deposited onto the floor. After unzipping his flight suit and pulling his arms out, he was preparing himself to sit up when he realized that it was going to hurt like hell.

"Ma'am, I'm going to sit up now, so that I can continue. Just as a warning, this is probably going to hurt like hell, and I'm probably going to make some noise." Celestia nodded, and, before the doctor could intervene, John sat up.

Celestia looked on in horror and admiration as John let out an excruciating yell and sat up as fast as he could. She would ask the doctor about his injuries as soon as he was finished.

John waited for a moment to catch his breath and let his vision steady. With shaking hands, he untied his boots, completely removing the laces, in order to make it easier on himself. He pulled the boots off, removed his socks, and dropped them onto the floor next to his gloves and helmet. When he tried removing his undershirt, he noticed that it was stuck to his shoulders and chest. So, he pulled the back of the shirt over his head and removed his arms from the sleeves, leaving the shirt to hang off his front.

"This is going to be fun... Ma'am, you might want to plug your ears."

The Princess realized what he had meant a moment too late, and she jumped when John grabbed a fistful of the shirt clinging to his chest and pulled, letting out a yell almost on par with the previous one. She let out a gasp when she saw his chest. The impact of the crash was so great that John's shoulder straps has gouged into his shoulders, leaving large, bloody gashes, as well as long red stripes edged by large bruises, down his chest. Not to mention, John looked like he could pull the head off a Timber Wolf with his bare hands... if they weren't shaking like the tail of a pissed off rattlesnake.

John wasn't as muscular as a hardcore body builder, but he could give any special forces operator a run for his money. His reasoning behind this was that if he was ever shot down, or had to eject over enemy territory, he wanted the extra muscle and endurance so that surviving would be that much easier if he found himself in a sticky situation.

When blood started pouring down from John's shoulders, he realized that his wounds must have partially healed with the shirt inside them. With ragged breaths, he told the doctor that he could put the bandages and casts back on. As soon as the medical supplies contacted his skin, cool relief spread throughout John's body and the majority of the pain disappeared.

"Hey doc, is there any reason that the pain just vanished?" John asked as the doctor finished wrapping him up.

The doctor let out a nervous chuckle. "Well, um, all m-medical supplies in this h-hospital are, um, e-enchanted to relieve pain a-and heal injuries f-faster. H-however, um, they require d-direct skin contact for o-optimal results." The doctor was now visibly shaking.

John raised an eyebrow and looked at the doctor, while putting his arms and legs back into their restraints, the unicorn guard promptly securing them in place. "Doctor, there is no need to be nervous. I was just trying to prove a point, I mean no harm to anybod- er- pony, in this room." The doctor relaxed a little, but not very much.

Celestia glanced between the amount of medical paraphernalia covering John's body and the doctor, who was still shaking. Then, things started clicking into place. "Doctor," Her voice had a hint of urgency to it. "What, exactly, is the extent of this man's injuries?"

The doctor walked to the wall by the door and retrieved the clipboard that was hanging there, then handed it to Celestia. She took the board and flipped a few pages, then her jaw hit the floor.

While Celestia looked at the board in disbelief, the doctor, having somewhat regained his composure, cleared his throat. "Well, for starters, you have several broken ribs, your left arm is fractured in multiple places, you have hairline fractures in both of your femurs, your left lung was punctured, your right shoulder was almost shattered, you had heavy internal bleeding, and you also have a very severe case of whiplash. Oh, and you have a few broken, what are they called? Fingers? We've managed to heal the major injuries, but you still have a lot of broken bones, not to mention the damage to your shoulders and chest."

John let out a whistle of appreciation. "So, what you're saying is that what I just did should've been pretty much impossible?"

"Maybe not impossible, but you should've, at the very least, lost consciousness when you attempted to sit up like that.”

John let out a pained chuckle. “Well, sorry to disappoint you, doctor. Man, that was about as bad as SERE school.”

Celestia, who had picked her jaw up off the floor, gave John a quizzical look. “I’m sorry, but what is this ‘seer’ school you are referring to?”

John sighed. He had hoped to keep his being a soldier a secret until the time was right, but he had let the cat out of the bag early. “Ma’am, before I answer that question, would you be able to answer a question or two of mine?”

Celestia nodded. “You have gone out of your way, causing great harm to yourself, just to prove who you are. I respect your actions, and I will answer what questions I can, if you promise to answer mine when you are finished.”

“I promise.”

“Very well, ask what you wish to know.”

John only had two questions, as he already new most everything else from the show. “Ok, first, where am I right now?”

“You are currently in Ponyville General Hospital, in the town of Ponyville.”

The gears started turning in John’s head. If he was in Ponyville, then that would mean the apple orchard he crashed in would be none other than Sweet Apple Acres, and if he crashed in Sweet Apple Acres then he would’ve been, most likely, found by…

“Who were the ponies that found me?”

Celestia had a small smile on her face. “You were found, and brought here, by my faithful student Twilight Sparkle and her friends.”

John thought to himself for a moment. Could he really be that lucky? Ripped from his world by some sort of inter-dimensional worm hole, deposited in, of all places, Ponyville, and found by none other than the Mane Six. They would no doubt have questions as well.

“Thank you, ma’am, for answering my questions. However, before I answer yours, I would ask that Twilight and her friends be present for this. I know that they will have questions as well, and I only want to explain this once.”

Celestia nodded, then, with a flash of magic, disappeared.

A few minutes later, the door opened and Celestia walked in, closely followed by Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy, who let out an ‘eep’ when she saw John.

Celestia resumed her previous position off to the side of the bed, with Twilight by her side. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy took up positions at the end of the bed, and Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack went over to sit on the small couch underneath the window.

The Princess cleared her throat. “I have explained the situation to the girls during the walk here. They know that you are a human, and they also know of your injuries.” They all looked expectantly at John. “Now that we are all here, would you please continue your tale?”

John nodded and let out a mighty sigh. “Yes ma’am. I am going to ask all of you hold your questions until I ask for them. I would like to keep the interruptions to a minimum, if possible. Also, you may want to get comfortable, this is going to take a while.” John shuffled his body into a more comfortable position, as did everyone else in the room with the exception of the guards and doctor, who left the room.

“Now, I’m going to try to keep this short, for the sake of time. The world I come from is a very dangerous place, filled with people that want nothing more than to hurt other people for their own personal gain. If any of you were to randomly appear in my world, like I did here, then you would most likely be either shot on sight or sent to a lab for experimentation.” All the girls gasped, and Celestia had a worried expression.

John wasn’t sure how everyone would react to his next revelation, so he asked a question to try to ease into the subject. “Celestia, does your country have a military?”

The Princess cocked her head in confusion. “We have royal guards, but they mainly keep the peace and guard the palace. We have had no need for an army for over one-thousand years.”

John nodded, expecting as much. “In my world, almost every country has some form of military to protect itself from other countries. My country, the United States of America, has one of the largest, most advanced militaries on our planet.”

Celestia held up a hoof, causing John to pause. “Why are you telling us this? I do not see how this pertains to you.”

John looked up at her, then down at Twilight, whose eyes had become as large as dinner plates. “I believe that Twilight understands.” Twilight slowly nodded, then her eyes became even larger.

“H-how do you know who I am? I know that Celestia told you my name, but she didn’t say what I looked like.”

John let out another sigh. “I will get to that, but for now, know that I know all of your names. Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity.” He rattled off all their names, pointing at their respective owners, causing them all to gasp.

John then turned to Celestia. “Now, I’m rather surprised that you didn’t make the connection sooner. The reason I’m telling you about our military is because I am a part of it. More specifically, I am a First Lieutenant in the Air Force, which is a branch of the military.” He then went on to explain the various jobs and specialties of each branch. After explaining that the Air Force fought in the air, Rainbow Dash jumped up and started hovering over the bed.

“Hold on! If you are a part of this so-called ‘Air Force’, then how are you able to fly!? You don’t have any wings!” She then began giving him the evil eye.

“Well, not all Air Force personnel fly. In fact, only a handful of us actually fly, the rest take care of logistics, repairs, security, and a few other things.” Dash gave him a smug look. “However, I am one of the few that do actually fly.” He simply smiled back at Dash, whose face was that of complete and utter shock, as was every other face in the room.

John chuckled. “You see, humans don't have wings, and are also incapable of using magic. So, we use our minds, and science, to create machines that are capable of doing things for us. One such device allows us to fly.” He could see the gears in Twilight’s head turning again. “And before you ask, yes, Twilight, the thing that you found me in is one of the flying machines, or aircraft, I’m talking about.”

This time, it was Fluttershy that spoke. “Oh my. I thought that it was a horrible monster that tried to eat you.”

John was confused. “Eat me? Why would you think that?”

“Because it has some very large teeth, and very scary eyes, and you were covered in blood.”

John thought for a moment, trying to figure out what she meant. Then he chuckled. “Oh, what you saw, Miss Fluttershy, was just paint. It was put onto my aircraft in order to scare my enemies. I did not mean for it to frighten you.”

Fluttershy sighed and relaxed. “That’s good.... I guess.”

Celestia, however, had narrowed her eyes and was looking at John with a suspicion. “What, pray tell, is the exact function of this aircraft? Why would you need to scare somepony?”

John looked at her, utter seriousness on his face. “Ma’am, my aircraft was designed with one purpose in mind. War.” He let that sink in for a moment. “When I am deployed onto the battlefield, my task is to eliminate any enemies that pose a threat to our ground forces, and my aircraft’s design is the most effective at accomplishing this task. It has the capability to strike targets from the face of the planet from kilometers away, with pinpoint accuracy, and can carry enough firepower to level this entire town.…. Which reminds me, my aircraft was fully armed when I left base. Ma’am, if you have not done so already, I would highly suggest sending a detachment of guards to go secure my crash site. I’m sure Applejack wouldn’t like it if I accidentally blew up her orchard” Applejack looked like she was about to faint after he had said this, and everyone else, including the guards, were wide-eyed.

The implications of this hit Celestia like a freight train. “You!” She pointed a hoof at the pegasus guard beside the bed. “I want you to go to the castle and notify the Captain of the Guard, immediately! Tell him to send a platoon to Sweet Apple Acres. I don’t want anypony to even get near that place!” The guard almost smashed through the door on his way out. Celestia was now scowling at John. “I thank you for telling me about this, but I wish you had mentioned it sooner.”

“My apologies, ma’am, it won’t happen again.” He said, bowing his head as he did so.

Celestia nodded, and Twilight cleared her throat. “Mr. John? How is your aircraft able to fly? It’s so heavy, it just doesn’t seem possible.”

“Please, just call me John.” He then tried to explain, as best he could, the various principals and laws that allowed his aircraft to fly. “If you really want to know, I’m sure that Miss Dash could explain a lot better than I ever could.” He then explained what types of training he had to go through in order to learn how to fly. When he began to explain SERE school, Rarity turned a pale shade of green.

“So you’re saying that they tortured you, just so you could learn about what to do?”

“Well, not exactly, but that’s pretty close. That’s part of the reason, Princess, that I was able to do the things I did earlier. I have been trained to evade capture, and, failing that, resist torture as much as possible. Survive, Evade, Resist, Escape. Although, you have no need to worry about me attempting to escape. I wouldn't even know where to go if I did."

Celestia was shocked. "Why would you want to do that to your own troops? I can understand having to get them ready for battle, but there is simply no need to perform such atrocities."

John looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "I would have to disagree with you there, ma'am. They train us like that so that we are somewhat prepared in case we are shot down over enemy territory. Compared to what the enemy would do, what our instructors did to us would be a cake walk. It was also a test to see how much pain we could take before breaking."

Rainbow Dash piped up. "And did you?"

"Did I what?"

"Break."

"No, Miss Dash, I did not. I will not betray my country, or my friends. I would sooner die."

John didn't see it, but a small smile spread across Celestia's face.

"Now, time for me to finish my story. I believe you still need to know how I got here, and how I know all your names." The first would be easy, but John dreaded the second. He knew, however, that it would be wrong to keep the truth from them.

He proceeded to tell them about how he had been on patrol when he flew through the wormhole thing. This elicited a few gasps from the girls, and even a 'wow' from Twilight. He chuckled, but instantly sobered up when he began to tell them about the TV show.

"Ok, you may not believe me, or even understand for that matter, but there is a reason I know you all. You see, back home, we have this thing called a television, which allows us to watch shows, news, and recordings of things. Believe it or not, but there was a show called My Little Pony, and it was basically about you and your friends, Twilight."

Everyone gaped at John.

Rainbow Dash shot forward, until she was inches away from John's face. "He's a SPY! I know it! There's no way that any of that is possible!"

John thought for a moment, until a brilliant idea popped into his head. "Miss Dash, could you please get me my vest? it's over there on that chair." He pointed with a finger at the pile of stuff sitting on the chair. "Princess, would you be so kind as to release my right arm for just a moment? I can show you that I'm not lying." Celestia nodded, and the restraint around his arm opened as Rainbow Dash dropped his vest onto his chest, which caused him to grunt.

It took him a few moments, but, after rummaging around in the pockets for awhile, he found what he was looking for. "Now, I'm going to pull my hand out and show you that I'm not lying, BUT, what's in my hand is very important to me, so PLEASE don't break it." As he said this, he pulled his hand out and opened it, palm upwards, revealing the small Rainbow Dash figurine.

For what seemed like the hundredth time that day, everyone's jaw hit the floor. They all stared at the figurine for a few minutes, until Pinkie broke the silence. "WOW! Hey Dashie, look! He copied you, then shrunk you down until you were teeny weeny, then put you in his pocket! OOH! Can I have one too? CanIcanIcanIcanIcanIca-" Rainbow walked over and put her hoof into Pinkie's mouth.

"Wh-where did you get this?"

John took a moment before answering, never taking his eyes from the figurine. "It was a gift.... from my daughter." He felt a lone tear slide down his cheek.

Rarity walked over to the bed and placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Darling, I'm terribly sorry that this has happened to you. You miss her don't you?"

"I do, but I've gotten used to her and my wife not being around anymore."

Rarity scrunched up her nose and tilted her head. "Whatever do you mean, darling? You've only been here for two days?"

John hoped that the subject wouldn't come up, but fate has a twisted sense of humor. He looked up, with tears in his eyes. "They're dead. It happened a few years ago, at the beginning of our stupid, fucking war. They were on their way to visit family, when their plane was hijacked by terrorists. They called me from the plane, telling me what had happened." Tears were now freely flowing down his face. "I had turned the television on to see if it was on the news. The last thing I heard, was my daughter, crying, telling me that she wanted to come home, when I watched their plane slam into a building, killing them, the rest of the people in the plane, and a lot of the people in the building. A few days later, we declared war." At that last statement, John's tears instantly dried up, and his fists balled up.

All the others, however, had tears in their eyes, except Rarity who was bawling onto the couch. Pinkie's mane was even flat, which rarely happened. Celestia was the first to break the silence. "I am terribly sorry for your loss, Mr. Killinger." She got up and motioned for the others to do the same. "I think we've learned enough for today, we'll leave you to your thoughts." She motioned at her remaining guard. "I shall leave one of my guards here to watch over you. He is to escort you to Canterlot as soon as you recover, as there are matters that need to be discussed." They all turned and filed through the doorway, the last to leave being Rainbow dash, who glanced back at him with tears in her eyes before closing the door.

John placed the figurine back into its pocket on the vest, then asked the guard to place it back onto the chair. The guard did so, giving him a look of sympathy, then returned to his position by the door. John put his head on his pillow, noticing for the first time that he was absolutely exhausted, and fell asleep.

Author's Note

Sorry it took so long. I rewrote this chapter at least twice, and I had a prior engagement on Saturday. If this chapter isn't up to par with the others, then I'm sorry, but I probably won't re-re-rewrite it. Deal with it.

Anyways, feedback is appreciated, as always. Hope you enjoy it!