Chapter 10- Verstrahlt

Royal Palace
Quintilis 11, 1001 AB

After he asked his question, the sisters just looked at him with tears on the edge of their eyes. They felt genuine remorse for him. They just didn't know he didn't want their remorse.

He really just wanted to go home.

"So what will you do now?" Luna asked after several quiet minutes.

"Well, the standard procedure for a ship that gets shot down is to launch a distress pulse indicating where it went down. Then the Navy will dispatch a search party. The downside though, is if they don't locate the downed crew within 120 days, they list the crew and passengers as MIA presumed KIA."

"MIA? KIA?" Celestia asked with a look of concern, stepping back slightly.

"Missing in action and killed in action. They have a list of everyone on that ship at the time, so they'll know exactly who to notify, however, I have no next of kin so my name will be put on the Beacon of Hope."

"That is quite the depressing thought SGT, We art sure thy people will find thee," Luna interjected in an attempt to cheer the human up, "And what is this 'Beacon of Hope'?"

"It's a huge monument on Terra for all the soldiers, marines, sailors, and areospacemen whose bodies have never been recovered. It's a massive stone tower with their names carved in it and a lit fire on top. It's meant to light the way home for the lost."

"And what of the dead," Celestia asked, getting uncomfortably close to the human.

Stepping back the SGT answered, "They are given a military funeral and interred in the Elysian Fields, a cemetery named after the ancient Greek realm of the dead reserved for the children of the gods and the heroic. Also, how long ago was the day I arrived?"

The sisters stayed near him for a few more moments, they were close enough he could feel their breath on him. Their proximity gave him a good look at them. Celestia was just a mite shorter than he, she had to look up ever so slightly to look into the eyes of the soldier. While Luna was almost two heads shorter than he. However, if they both stood on their hind legs, Celestia would be taller by at least two heads and Luna would be taller by just a mite.

He cocked an eyebrow and finally spoke up, "So, is there a reason y'all are so close?"

Both alicorns blushed and backed up, giving the human some breathing room. "I apologize, ponies being at their basest herd animals, we tend to be more touchy-feely than some of the other races such as the Gryphons and Minotaurs. It didn't even occur to us that you may have more in common with the Gryphons than ponies. And to answer your question, you've been here eleven days."

"Gryphons? Like half eagle, half lion?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Well, in human mythology, not sure in which specific culture, but we have Gryphons and unicorns. We also have pegasi and minotaurs in Greek mythology. Although I’m sure we don’t have anything on winged unicorns." He answered.
His knowledge was concerning, Celestia and Luna considered for a moment that many of the races of this planet were mythology on Terra. While on Equus, intelligent humans were mythology.

"Well, my sister and I are called Alicorns. And we have the traits of all three races of ponykind."

"So then... what, wait... three? I've only seen pegasus ponies and unicorns. There is a third?" He asked sitting back down putting his arm on the backrest of the couch and crossing a leg over on top of his knee.

"Indeed, there are the unicorns that are capable of manipulating magic, the pegasi who are obviously capable of flight, and the race you have yet to meet are the earth ponies, who are by far the strongest and have a oneness with the earth that they use to grow plants with an unmatched ability."

"So what do they look like?"

"We don't know how to describe them; I guess imagine a unicorn without her horn or a pegasus without her wings."

"So... they look normal then?"

"We... we suppose..." Luna slowly acknowledged, "What doth thou mean by normal?"

"Well, on Terra and other planets, we raised horses. They are only vaguely like you ponies, but similar enough that I can somewhat relate. However, other than some similarities such as hind legs, forelegs, hooves, manes, tails, and diets.... well, the similarities end there." He uneasily explained, shifting in his seat.

"So, our kind is beasts of burden on your planet?"

He sucked his lips in, and then inhaled through his teeth sharply, "They were, but they also weren't all that similar. I can draw what they look like if you'd like. I have paper and pencils in my rucksack. And we haven't used horses as beast of burden in over 300 years."

"So are they freed?"

"On some planets, yes. There are entire planets full of wild horses. However, certain breeds are still kept as pets, not unlike dogs or cats. Although, I do believe they are cherished FAR more than dogs are cats by their owners." He explained as he got up to rifle through his ruck.

"Hell, I used to joke that my wife loved her horses more than she loved me." He said after he proffered a notebook and a few pencils. Instead of sitting back down on the couch, he set the materials down on the coffee table and sat down at it with his legs crossed and flipped open to a blank page.

The sisters crowded around him; while he was sitting they weren't too much taller, so they had to crane their necks to see as they nudged in close to him out of curiosity. He ignored that they were literally had him sandwiched between them as he was focused on drawing, and the sisters were enamored by the level dexterity his hands were displaying.

They knew Gyphons and Minotaurs had high levels of dexterity with their claws and hands respectively, and Spike, Twilight's assistance, had also shown well developed dexterity. But this human? His levels of dexterity were above and beyond what they had seen in any creature that lacked magic.

The human's quick short strokes with his pencil this way and that had the sister's rapt attention. They were amazed at how deftly it moved, not pressing too hard or too light as he proceeded to shade in the final details.

Both sisters whispered under their breath simultaneously, "Amazing..."

Then he set the pencil down and held up the picture of a Terran Quarter Horse partially facing the viewer and a woman leaning against it, brushing the mane. The picture gave Celestia and Luna a good idea of what Terran horse looked like, as well as the size comparison between humans and horses.

"That human female is dwarfed by the horse, are they truly that size?" Celestia asked, and once Steiner's attention was no longer on the drawing he realized how close they were to him. He was practically swimming in feathers and fur.

Regardless, he might as well get used to it. He had least four more months of it. "Yeah, that's a Quarter Horse; some breeds are significantly bigger while some are much smaller. I spent many years around Quarter horses, so that's the breed I'm most familiar with. Although I have been around enough Draft horses to know they are good deal larger than that."

After realizing they were more or less snuggling him, they promptly scooted away and flashed a blush before standing up, "As much as we'd like to stay around and talk some more, we are rulers and we do need to get back to ruling our country before it accidentally burns itself to the ground." Celestia said, punctuating the sentence with a light giggle.

"Aight... anyways, it's getting near supper time too..." He said glancing at his wrist. "When do y'all eat supper around here?"

"We usually eat our dinner at seven in the evening. Why? When do you normally take your dinner?" Celestia said, making her way to the exit of the suite.

"Like, five in the afternoon..." as his stomach made the earlier whale sounds. "...which is kinda around the corner if my watch is right."

"May we see this device?" Luna asked, craning her neck to look at the small device on his wrist.

He held his wrist out and took a step closer so that the blue alicorn could get a better look at the device, which had a small face with two 'hands' as the human described. The short 'hand' representing the hour of the day, while the long 'hand' represents the minute. "Y'all got sundials I'm sure," to which Luna nodded yes, "well, it's just the technological evolution of the sundial, not needing the sun at all."

"Can thou teach us how to make this technology of yours?" Luna asked, pleading with her large cyan eyes.

"Nope."

"Why?!" Luna exasperated.

"I dunno how to make it, I just have a rudimentary understanding of how most of it works."

Luna's head hung low at that answer. Here was a wealth of knowledge that landed literally on their doorstep and the wealth of knowledge doesn't even understand his knowledge. Why couldn't he have been a scientist or an inventor? Luna thought to herself, instead we get a soldier.

"Well, SGT, I must get to my office and make sure I don't get drowned by paperwork. And Luna probably needs to rest up before she starts her Night Court. I'll have a maid or butler prepare you some food at once. I never thought to ask what your diet was, I'm sure it's different than the humans we have here." Celestia said, stopping just at the exit and turning to face him. Luna kept walking by and out of sight.

"Terrans are omnivores. So we eat anything ranging from oats, fruits, and veggies to red meat, fish, and eggs. I hope that doesn't upset y'all too much, since I'm sure y'all are herbivores." He responded, unlacing his boots.

"It does not, we are host to Gryphons who are also omnivores, while we do not have red meat, I can send up some cooked fish if that would be pleasing."

"Absolutely, I ain't the type to complain about food." He said, kicking back and placing his socked feet on the table.

Celestia observed the socks for a brief moment, I hope socks have a different purpose to Terrans than they do to us ponies, she thought before speaking up, "I'll be sure that you get fed, I'll be in my office. Should you need anything just find a guard or maid and notify them." She smiled softly at Steiner, who simply nodded, and then she turned to make her way to her office.

"Hey! Before you go... When can I get the rest of my shit back?" He called out from the sofa. Celestia stopped to ask, "Which items do you want?"

"Well, my weapons and armor. And also the rest of the stuff that was in the pods, I'll need access to that equipment too."

"We can discuss this in the morning. But as a token of good faith, I'll return the smaller weapon to you tonight. I understand my ability to cast magic strikes some level of fear into you, and that any unicorn can potentially cast magic to harm you must also worry you. If having a weapon will help keep you calm, if you make a promise to not betray my trust then I see no reason why I should keep it from you."

"Well bargained and done."

Once Celestia got to her office, she noticed the massive pile of paperwork and letters waiting on her. She sighed because she knew she was going to be up very late making sure she didn't fall far behind in her work. She opened up a letter from Twilight Sparkle sending her weekly friendship report.

After reading it, she pulled out a quill and inkwell and some parchment to reply. Just before sending the reply though, she obtained some more parchment and wrote:

Twilight, I also would like you to come to Canterlot with your friends. One of the humans has awoken and I have something I believe you can help with. I will be busy over the course of this next week, and while I would love to help him acclimate to Equestria, I simply will be unable to due my responsibilities. However, I know you and your friends would love this opportunity to teach and to learn.

I have already reserved some rooms in the palace for you and your friends and will make sure your travel fare is paid in the morning. You are all welcome to stay as long as you would all like.

Your teacher and mentor,

Princess Celestia

After signing the bottom, Celestia rolled up the two pages and wrapped them in ribbon and sent the letter to Twilight via Dragons Fire.

She had but a few more things to attend to, namely ensuring the soldier would receive his weapon as promised, but also his armor as well. She knew Shining Armor will object to the decision citing matters of safety, but she could also sense his distaste for the human. Something she knew she'd need to look into at a later date.

"Guards, can you come in for a second?" She called out, and was immediately answered by the two guards outside the office stepping inside and bowing. "I'd like for you to find Shining Armor and send him here, that's all I need. Thank you."

They simultaneously bowed again, with the senior guard saying, "At once your highness." And away the guards went on their mission to track down their Captain.

After half an hour later, Shining Armor and the two guards returned to Celestia's office where all three bowed before their princess and Shining asking, "What is it that you need, your highness?"

"I need you to open the armory, gather up the human's smaller weapon and the items that go along with it, collect his armor and take it to him personally."

"What? We have him locked up for a reason! And now you want to arm him?!" Shining responded clearly taken aback by the sudden shock, but before he could continue the princess spoke up.

"He is staying in the Minotaur Suites for the next few months. He is to be treated as a diplomat, Luna and I deemed him as a non-threat to Equestria. He has shown that he merely wants to return to his kind, which their military has a Standard Procedure to attempt to find him within 120 days.

"He is being hopeful, but I could tell by his body language that he doesn't believe they will arrive. But I will hope that they do find their lost soldiers. And what I do NOT want, is for them to arrive asking the whereabouts of their soldiers and I have to respond by telling them we kept them locked up in a dungeon the entire time.

"Luna had a talk about how truly dangerous this breed of humans is. They call themselves Terrans and they have conquered the stars. They number in the billions and they live on dozens of planets. He made some comments that gave us an idea of where we stood on a technological level, and suffice to say, we are centuries behind them.

"Not even mine, Luna's, and the Elements magic combined could hold their military power at bay." Celestia shuddered at the thought. She could move the sun, but if they could travel the stars? She didn't even want to imagine some of their more powerful weaponry.

She made a mental note to ask about that later.

Shining however much he disliked his order, would follow it by the numbers. So he bowed without objection or really even saying a word to carry out the task given to him.

"Oh, and before you go…" Celestia said, levitating a small piece of paper over to her Guard Captain, "Can you drop this by the kitchens as well?"

He plucked it from her magical grip and looked it over, noticing that it was a dinner order to be taken to the Minotaur Suites.

Ponyville Library
Quintilis 11, 1001 AB

Twilight had sent her weekly friendship report and was reading while waiting for the response from her mentor. It hadn't been long when Spike belched the rolled up letter. Before he had a chance to unfurl the ribbon, Twilight eagerly snatched it up in her magic and promptly read through the letter responding to her friendship report.

Then the other letter fell to the ground.

She eyed it curiously. It wasn't common to receive two letters from Celestia in a single day unless it was important. Then when the importance finally hit Twilight, she snatched it up and read it aloud to Spike.

After a few moments of silence as Twilight digested the information she spoke up, "Spike! You know what this means!?"

"No Twilight, why are you yelling?" The baby dragon returned covering his ears.

"An alien race is in Canterlot and Celestia wants me to study it! This is going to be so exciting!" She began to bounce around the room enthusiastically as she started to gather up some books to pack away for the trip to Canterlot. "I'll need to tell the girls, Rainbow Dash is going to love this! She's always reading stories about aliens from outer space.

"I wonder what they look like without all that armor." She stopped bouncing as she said that and made her way downstairs. "Come Spike, we need to go tell all the girls before the sun goes down."

Shining Armor was muttering under his breathe, "I'll assign some personal guards to him to keep an eye on him, that way should be start to do anything dangerous they can notify me and the princesses and we can put a stop to him. Can't be a unicorn though, he seems skittish around them."

He wasn't happy about task, but his loyalties were to the one giving the orders, so he had to obey.

Once he got to the armory after stopping by the kitchen, he had the guards unlock it and open it for him and once inside he ordered one of the guards following him to grab the heavy armor of one of the work benches as he went to the weapon locker and opened it up with a key.

This particular locker had but four keys to it. Each of the two princesses had one, the Primus had one, and the Captain of the Guard had one. The Primus, the leader in charge of the Battlemage Corps, was out in Stalliongrad, so only Shining and the Princesses could access this locker. And in it they kept powerful magically imbued weaponry.

All of the weaponry that was in it had beautiful craftsmanship and were made by master artisans. The utilitarian human weaponry, on the other hand, was very streamlined and carried a startling contrast to the other weaponry kept in that locker. Shining reached in and grabbed the smaller weapon located in its protective holster on a woven belt.

The handgun had markings stamped into its side that read:

Revolver, P44A1

11.5mm, Peretti e Figli AZ

14S19891024

And a picture of an eagle set in a circle.

He did admire the human made weapon. It had its own elegance, a weapon made with function over form. A weapon whose single purpose was to end lives as quickly and efficiently as possible.

And Shining still couldn't get the memories out of his head at how easily these weapons dispatched the Changelings. Unlike the Changelings that attacked the city, the ones that invade the Palace proper were all soldiers, who had far better natural armor that was further augmented with metallic armor. Killing a Changeling soldier with a sword or spear was a feat in and of itself, even magic was taxing.

But these weapons not only ignored the black metallic armor they wore, it ravaged the Changelings. Shining Armor genuinely felt sorry for the Changelings that were viciously ravaged by the human weapons.

Rotating the revolver over in his magic as he gazed at its impeccable craftsmanship, he muttered to himself, "Maybe the princess is right, if they're handheld weaponry, as small as it is, can allow it's user to kill as effectively as these four then I fear what their larger weapons are capable of."

He had half a mind to try and do something to try and sabotage the weapon, to attempt to render it useless. But if the soldier is as elite as he claims, he'll notice the tampering the moment he were to lay his hands on it. So Shining quickly filed that thought under 'Bad Ideas' and walked out of the armory after locking everything back up.

On his way to the kitchen he came across a new guard, a light tan pegasus by the name of May Weather. And an idea popped into his head. New pegasi are usually very gung-ho and follow their orders by the numbers. Something Shining liked in his guards.

"Private May Weather, I have a task for you." He called out.

Immediately, May Weather stopped and went to attention, an action that brought a smile to Shining's lips. "I want you to be the personal guard of the human soldier. The Princesses saw fit to house him in the Minotaur Suites for the time being. I want you to report any trouble that may arise to either princesses or I. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good, now follow me to the kitchen, I want you to take the food cart and bring it with us as we return the soldiers armor and one of his weapons."

"Why are we giving him a weapon, sir?"

"Princess Celestia has deemed him as a non-threat to the crown and requested that I return at least one of his weapons alongside his armor. Hurry up, get that food cart, we don't have all day."

"Yes sir."

The human had rocked back in the sofa with his unbooted feet on the coffee table and had fallen asleep on the soft cushions. He had taken off his boots and blouse and had them set off to the side, as well as having untucked his brown undershirt.

He was roused from his rest by a knocking on the door, with which he snapped to an upright position and blinked the sleep from his eyes and glanced at his watch, "Damn, I've been out for an hour."

Further knocking prompted him to action, "I'm coming, hold your horses."

Upon opening the door and seeing Shining Armor, his heart rate sped up slightly and some adrenaline hit his system. "The fuck you want?"

"I'm here at the request of Celestia to return to you one of your weapons." Shining explained as he levitated the sidearm towards the human who eagerly took it. Clasping the belt around his waist, Steiner drew the pistol causing the guards to flinch.

The human deftly cracked the weapon, having it hinge open. He pulled out the small cylinder and peered down the barrel checking for obstructions. Closing the revolver shut with a snap and no cylinder he proceeded to perform a function check on the weapon looking for any signs of tampering. He checked the firing pin and the rotation arm to ensure proper functioning.

Once he was satisfied with the condition of his weapon, he hinged it back open and returned the cylinder to its housing before closing the revolver shut again giving the cylinder a quick poke to ensure the cylinder was locked in place before returning it to the holster.

Once the weapon was put away, the five guards visibly relaxed and Shining Armor was very glad he decided against tampering with the weapon.

"We've also brought your armor and your dinner." And as if on cue, May Weather pushed the cart past the human into the main room and stood at rapt attention.

Steiner gave her a passing glance, the mare looked familiar to him but he couldn't put his finger on it. "You can just toss that armor anywhere, I'll get it later." So following guidance, the unicorn carrying the heavy armor set it just inside the door in a corner out of the way.

"Alright, are you all set?" Shining asked, hoping the human would be.

"Yeah, I'm good. Y'all need anything from me?"

"Negative, we'll come get you should anything change though. Enjoy the meal and the rest of your evening SGT." The guard Captain said as he and the two of the other guards walked off as SGT Steiner closed the door.

Shining is up to something, I just know it. He was oddly civil just then yet this morning he looked as if he’d like to kill me.

I went and picked up my helmet and as I did so, I was looking it over as I was making my way to the food cart when I nearly tripped over something. Stumbling and flailing about to regain my balance I heard, "I'm sorry...are you okay?"

Looking down I saw the small pegasus mare I recognized her from earlier, "I know you... you're that mare from the dungeons. What're you still doing in here?"

"Oh, yeah. I've been assigned as your personal guard." Hah, how cute.

I tapped on my holstered revolver, "I got my personal guard right here sweetheart."

"I'm not just a guard though, if you need something I can go get it as well." She responded. That was actually kinda cool.

"Aight, I'm fixin' to eat. You ate yet?" I asked as I uncovered the food cart, grabbing my plate of baked fish, some steamed potatoes, some bread, and the pitcher of water. I plopped the helmet on my head so I could carry the pitcher and plate to the table.

I could hear her giggling at the sight. "I've already eaten." she responded.

"You got a name?" I asked between mouthfuls of divine fish and potatoes.

"May Weather. Most ponies just call me May though."

"Alright May, how old are you?"

"I'm eighteen, how old are you?" She answered then responded in part with her own question.

"I'm twenty-seven. I'm sure you have a million questions don't you?" I asked as I finished scarfing my food down, wiping off my face with one of the provided napkins before taking a long drag from the water pitcher.

She blushed slightly, then smiled coyly and responded with a "I do, actually..."

I looked at her, and got up to put my empty plate and used napkin on the cart before returning to my seat. "Alright, for starters: you’re gonna take that goofy ass looking helmet, then you're gonna sit over there. You standing at the position of attention constantly screams all sorts of wrong at me."

She responded by taking her helmet off as her incredibly long chestnut and white striped mane fell out of it. She set it down on the table and hopped up on the sofa opposite the table from my couch. “Okay, was that it?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'll give you the same spill I gave the princesses which'll be a decently long bedtime story." I said, as I propped my feet up on the table to get comfy again.

I noticed her look at my socked feet and her wings started to rise and fidget slightly. This was odd, but then again the other guards and Shining kept staring at my feet as well. So I'll pass it off as them never seeing socks before. When she finally looked back up I started to tell her the same stuff about Terrans that I told the princesses.

Only with more cool shit we do and less of the 'humans are getting the collective shit kicked out us by some fucking aliens' part.

I fucking love story time.

Author's Note

Please read the below blog post when you're done and PLEASE leave feedback about the story. I feel like I'm writing blind, and I know I'm not that good of a writer as there are definitely areas of grammer/story writing I struggle with.

The blog I'd like to be read real quick-like.