Welcome to Canterlot

I awoke with a gasp, the pain in my head reminding me that I was still alive. Sitting up and observing my surroundings told me I was in a prison cell, the big metal door and solid walls telling me there wasn't much chance of an easy escape. The cell seemed to be an isolation cell, with no windows and a soft mattress built into the floor. There seemed to be no indication of previous residents, the layer of dust attesting to the lack of visitors.

The unmistakable sound of hooves outside the cell confused me, ' why would a horse be inside a prison?' I asked myself. But after cheating death and the strange occurance in the dark room, I decided not to ponder it to much and prepare myself for whatever may happen next.

I stood up and checked my body, whoever searched me must had been either careless or in a hurry as they had missed my sidearms and hadn't even checked my plate carrier's pouches. Inside I still had my explosives, pyros and ammo as well as a few rations and my radio pack. These people seemed be amateurs, leaving a man with his weapons is the worst thing you can do.

I was startled by the cell door suddenly swinging open, I instinctively went for my sidearm and jammed it in the rather confused looking face of a strange blue horse, simultaneously slamming it into the wall on the other side of the hallway. I was immediately made aware of two spearheads levelled at my throat, the blue horse grinned and said in a feminine voice " We suggest thou lay down your weapon and surrender thyself to questioning before my children make thee some new airholes". As she said this I felt the tips nudge me a little, in response I gave the two smaller horses two either side of me a glance.

At this I let the gun slip out my hand, my mind failing to understand what just happened. "Y-You can talk!?" I exclaimed.

"Of course, why wouldn't we be able to talk?" she asks, seemingly amused at such a question.

My mind draws a blank for a few seconds..

"Because you're a fucking horse!" I scream, gesturing towards her.

"We are a pony and we art Royalty, we expecteth thou to adress us as such" she frowns ruffling her wings and lighting her horn.

I found myself restrained and lifted of the ground by the same blue aura surrounding the winged unicorn's horn. "This is some messed up dream" I mutter to myself.

"We assure thou that this is no dream and thou art infact talking to an alicorn princess" the pony princess explains. "We would greatly appreciate your cooperation whilst we take you for questioning with mine sister and I."

I ignore the pony and focus on thinking about my situation, I knew there was no point in escaping with both the princess' magic and the two ponys in black armour holding spears preventing such an endeavor. The only option I could think of right now would be to just cooperate for now until an opportunity arrises.

As I was carried up the spiralling staircase I began to think over recent events, my platoon... they were most likely dead considering how easily we were taken out. I was probably dead, dreaming or somehow in an alternate universe. I opted for the latter considering the headache I was suffering was still very real and there was no devil waiting for me as I knew of.

As we ventured through the dungeon halls we eventually came upon the interrogation room, a room outfitted with a metal table with shackles connected to a bar on the table. I was lowered onto the chair and clamped into the restraints. The princess and guards left the room and shut the door, giving way to a mumbled conversation outside. I looked around the room, finding the walls the same grey concrete colour as the cell, with no obvious windows or mirrors.

I took the time that I was afforded to calm myself for the upcoming questioning, beginning to come to terms with where I had arrived. After a few minutes the muffled conversation siesed and the door swung open again.

The Blue Princess walked into the room followed by another, larger alicorn; this one seemed older, with a white coat and strangely flowing rainbow mane, as if it had wind blowing against it despite the fact we were inside. This strange pair took seats in front of me as the white one cleared her throat. "I am Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria, what is your name?"

"Captain James Parker, 918273, Special Air Service. Why am I here?" I ask, deciding to forego lying to them, given the circumstances it would only complicate my situation further.

"Thank you Captain, although I'm afraid I can't answer that question. Although Luna might" she said, gesturing to her sister.

"Sadly the answers we can provide thou are sorely lacking. It appears the residual build up of magic from mine own regeneration hath caused the triggering of a teleportation spell. It seems this spell was the cause of your arrival here and for that we are truly sorry." She says, looking at me with sadness in her eyes.

"It's ok ma'am, I was dead anyway, your spell may have saved my life. For that I am in your debt, there is no reason to be sorry about such a thing." I explained, it became apparent that what had brought me here was a bout of luck. I was lucky to be alive, all thanks to this Pony Princess' magic. I felt obligated to repay her in some way, even if she didn't directly influence it, she saved my life.

Celestia spoke up "Thank you for that Captain Parker, judging by your Rank I would expect you're a part of your world's military?"

"Yes ma'am, I'm a member of her majesty Elizabeth the second's British Army, SAS regiment." I say, a small amount of pride leaking into my voice. "I'd assume there is no way back, considering you haven't just chucked me back into my world?"

This time Luna answered "It seems thou hath a sharp mind Captain, you would be correct in your assumptions. Due to the complete randomness of this event, we find ourselves unable to trace the spell to it's original location."

Celestia carried on "Other than tracing the spell, which we are unable to do, there is no other way of sending you back to your planet. As such we would like to extend our hoof to you and offer a room in our castle as compensation for your unfortunate arrival"

I stayed silent, still coping with hearing that I would never return home. I would be thought dead, too burnt to be identified, anyone that could have survived the attack would be left to bury the bodies. I took a moment to come to terms with my fate and let out a sigh. " Well, since I'm being provided a room I may as well work for it. Ma'am, if I may, is there any way I could repay my debts to you?"

Luna perks up" Oh, we hath an idea! Sister, were you not complaining over the state of our guards training?"

"Yes, Luna, what do you have in mind?" she replied, quirking an eyebrow at the strange question.

"We were thinking that Sir Parker could assist Shining armour in the training of our guard units" she explained. "Given the fact his world seems to be highly advanced in the art of war, we assumed he would be able to assist us in better defending our fair land." At this I grinned, I always enjoyed training new recruits, seeing them broken and remolded into soldiers provides some strange satisfaction that nothing else can provide.

"I'd be glad to assist you Ma'am, but I'll have to go through your so called guard's training myself first before I can pass any judgement."I explained, knowing full well their training would be completely different.

"Excellent" Celestia said" you start training tommorow morning at 0600 hours, just in time for the new batch of recruits. Captain Armour will wake you at 0530 for breakfast and then a briefing before training" she grinned "I'll have the guards take you and your equipment to your new room. I expect that you are tired after such a traumatic event?"

"That I am your majesty, I'll probably be asleep before I even hit the pillow" I joked.

I was wrong, but it didn't take long for me to fall asleep on the unrealistically soft bed.

Author's Note

That wraps up this chapter, I'm gonna go get some sleep myself now.

Thanks for reading,
Tac.