The Strange Tale Of Ezekiel Henderson

"Well...", Henderson shifted his weight to his other foot. Under his helmet his gaze shifted from Twilight's eyes to the ground between them.

"Its a... Its kind of... I don't... Is there someplace private we can talk?" Henderson didn't even know where to start, and he wasn't about do so in front of the whole town. He still wasn't sure if these things were hostile.

But, damn it, he thought, I need answers.

Twilight cocked her head to one side, "Uh, sure! Follow me, we can go to the library."

She turned and walked down the street, Henderson loped along beside her.

"Could you at least tell me how Dash got hurt?", she asked as they walked.

"She tackled me, it surprised me, I deemed her a threat, and I attempted to neutralize said threat.", there was no remorse in Henderson's voice.

"Were you trying to, um...", Twilight's voice wavered, "kill her?". She stopped as she made the startling revelation. "Are you going to try to... kill me? My friends?!", she stared at Henderson, nothing but fear in her large eyes.

"Whoa, slow down there Ms. Sparkle.", Henderson held his hands up, palms out, he tried to sound comforting, "I didn't know if she would try to do the same to me." He avoided the word "kill", it seemed to bother her.

Twilight blinked, unconvinced.

Henderson thought for a moment, then knelt down and removed his helmet. Now he was eye level with the scared unicorn.

Twilight was inwardly shocked by this action. Her eyes darted as she examined his features, which to her were so... alien, yet vaguely familiar.

Close cropped, dark brown hair covered the top of his head. His gray-blue eyes, as well as his ears and nose were smaller than those of a pony. Stubble, the same color as his hair, covered the lower half of his face, save his lips.

"I promise,", Henderson soothed, "I won't hurt you or your friends.". So long as you don't try anything., He finished in his head.

Twilight refocused on his eyes, he thought he could see a slight blush under the lavender fuzz that covered her face. She slowly pulled her gaze from his and headed toward the library. He replaced his helmet, just in case, and followed.

As they walked in the front door of the library, Spike looked up from the book he was reading, saw Henderson, and just about fell out of his chair.

"AHHH, A ROBOT!!!", he leapt between two bookshelves, then peeked out at the charcoal gray, reflective visored, plate armored human.

Twilight rolled her eyes, though she had thought something similar when she had first seen him.

"No Spike, he's a human. His name's Ezekiel and he's just wearing...", she turned to look at Henderson, "something."

Henderson uncrossed his arms, "Armor. Mark 3 Advanced Combat Exoskeleton. Ace suit for short." He turned a complete 360.

Twilight's examined this 'ace suit', it was more intricate and imposing than the Royal Guard's bronze armor. Her eyes were drawn to the odd looking device strapped to his back. She made a mental note to ask him about it, if he didn't provide an explanation of it.

"Yeah, armor.", she turned back to Spike, still behind the shelf. "He's about to tell us where he came from. And what he's doing here in Ponyville." She turned expectantly to Henderson, who sighed and began his tale.

"Well, like I said, I'm a Marine-"

"What's a Marine?", Twilight interrupted him.

He had been telling his tale and answering the unicorn's questions for a little over an hour. Twilight had gotten her explanation of the device on Henderson's back, it was an "M56 Designated Marksman's Rifle". Henderson had explained it's purpose, and a little of how it worked.

A couple of the faces he had seen in town were now spread about the table, they had been introduced as "Fluttershy" and "Pinkie Pie". Applejack and Rainbow Dash, Dash with her fore-leg in a cast, had entered just as he got to the part where the RPG was fired. Dash blushed slightly at the account of how her fore-leg was broken.

"And then we walked down the hill and into town, now here we are.", Henderson finished.

All five of the ponies' mouths were slightly agape.

"Wow," Twilight was the first to come out of the shocked trance. "That's, um... wow."

Applejack was the next, she addressed the other 4 ponies, "This sounds like somethin' Princess Celestia should know about."

Henderson thought talking to the one in charge sounded like an excellent idea.

The other pegasus, Fluttershy, looked out the window at the setting sun, "It'll probably have to wait til tomorrow, the last train of the day left 30 minutes ago.", she cooed in her surprisingly small, soft voice.

"Oh boy! Does that mean Ezekiel gets to stay with us tonight?", the pink mare, Pinkie Pie, exclaimed.

My daughter would love you. Henderson thought, referring to his 7 year old daughter's ecstatic disposition, no matter the circumstance. He didn't much care for the idea of having to wait until morning to go and see this "Princess Celestia", but some sleep sounded very good.

"Well, he can't stay here. There's no room.", Twilight said, glancing around at the piles of books. She looked at Applejack, "Don't you have a guest room in the farmhouse?"

"Yeah, but...", she looked at Henderson, "Ah still don't trust him yet."

Dash rolled her eyes, "AJ, look at him!", she motioned towards Henderson, just as imposing with his removed helmet. "If he wanted to hurt us, don't you think he would have already?".

"Well...But what if...", she let out an exasperated sigh. "Yeah, Ah guess you're right." She squinted her eyes at Henderson, "But one false move, soldier boy, and Ah'll have your hide."

Henderson very much doubted this, never-the-less he felt it best to simply agree, "You have my word."

Applejack looked at Dash, and her cast. "You ain't gonna be able to make it up to Cloudsdale, sugarcube. You should probably stay too."

Dash was still perfectly capable of flying, but she knew AJ wanted some back up, just in case.

"Sounds like a plan." she replied.

"Then it's settled, we'll all meet up here say... 8 o'clock tomorrow morning?", Twilight had gotten up from the table and was walking over to Spike, who'd fallen asleep at a nearby desk.

The 5 ponies said their goodbyes.

Henderson received an awkward, "Goodnight" from Twilight.

Fluttershy mumbled something resembling "Sleep well, Ezekiel." as she slinked past him.

Pinkie balanced on her hind legs and held a fore-hoof to her forhead, "Good night, SIR!". She settled back down on all fours, grinning ear to ear as she walked out the door.