Forget About Freeman

The front door swung open, and I sat up. Fluttershy walked in, with a purple... pegacorn(?) following her.

"Dutch, I'd like you to meet Princess Twilight Sparkle." Fluttershy introduced. PRINCESS?!

"STAFF SERGEANT HENRY MAVERICK AT YOUR SERVICE MA'AM!" I yelled, jumping to my feet and saluting. The two seemed surprised by my sudden change of mood, so I quickly sat back down. The princess giggled.

"Nice to meet you." she said, smiling. Meanwhile, Fluttershy was hiding behind her mane, probably because I just jumped up and shouted like a damn psychopath. "Dutch, is it??" she said, moving closer.

"Yes, ma'am.." I said, bowing. "Now please, explain to me how I got here." I said. That question seemed to make her feel a little uncomfortable.

"Well, um... I'm not sure myself." she mumbled after hesitating for a moment. She was hiding something, and I slid my gasmask on as an effort to look extra intimidating.

"You sure about that?" I asked, moving in to stare her in the face, my voice slightly muffled by the mask. She nervously looked around the room.

"Y-yes." she stammered, trying her best to look me in the eyes. This is getting me nowhere. I decided I would just give up for now, considering I didn't want to let on a bad impression for a freakin' princess. Her guards probably wouldn't be too fond of such an action.

"Good." I said icily, sitting back down. She quickly changed the subject.

"S-so, um, it's been a pleasure meeting you, Dutch." she said, forcing a smile. "But in the meantime, I feel I should report to Princess Celestia before we making any decisions." Twilight continued, trying her best to look firm and serious. The princess's body language spoke of strength and bravery, but her eyes had shown a twinge of paranoia. Decisions, huh? I wondered what she had meant by that.

"So, there's more than one princess, huh?" I commented, not exactly needing an answer.

"Three others, actually." Twilight confirmed. "But we'll get to that later. For now, I want to try and figure out why you're here." she said, hesitating a bit at that last part. Good job at hiding the fact you know. It irritated the crap out of me, what with how she knew why I was pulled out of my world to this world full of talking unicorns and pegasi, yet neglected to tell me why such an event had happened in the first place. I have to be dead, I thought to myself. I wasn't complaining. This place sure beat that fucking lab.

Princess Celestia looked out at the sky, smiling while she admired her work. The sun was placed precisely in the middle of the sky, bathing Equestria in its entirety with light. Suddenly, in a puff of smoke, a parchment appeared in front of her. Celestia unrolled it, and began to read.

Dear Princess Celestia,

My friend Fluttershy has found the soldier you sent. He is very intimidating in appearance, and does in fact come from another world. The being, apparently something known as a "human", is unaware as to why he is here, but seems to be able to tell that I'm hiding something. He requests to speak with you. I would like to know if I should tell him why he's here.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.

Once she had finished reading, the princess of the sun sighed in content with the knowledge of the human's arrival. She pulled a new parchment from a stack, and wrote a reply.

Dear Twilight,

I would love to meet him. As to answer your question, I do not give you permission to answer his question. I would prefer he has some time to adjust to his new surroundings. In the meantime, I would like you to notify him that I will meet him at your castle tomorrow in the afternoon.

Your teacher,

Princess Celestia

The princess's horn flashed, and the message was gone.

I had gotten a fine amount of looks walking through the small town that was so creatively named Ponyville. Couldn't I have met this "Celestia" character more secretively? It was hard enough adjusting to my new surroundings without the piercing glares. Good thing it wasn't hard to find the GIANT FUCKING CASTLE!

"This just gets weirder by the minute." I mumbled. I had spent the majority of the day before sitting around Fluttershy's cottage, paranoid for whatever reason. What was there to be scared of, other than the Satan lions?

I walked up the steps to the doors, and was about to enter, only to find myself blocked by two stern-looking guards.

"I would like to enter." I requested. They didn't budge, but instead gave me a look that spoke of confusion and shock. One of them hesitated, and spoke.

"What business do you have here?" he finally said. His voice was pretty deep for a goddamn unicorn.

"I have a meeting with Princess... Uhhh..." I forgot her name. Good job. "Celestia." I finished after a moment. The two guards glanced at each other briefly, and opened the door. Talk about crappy security, I thought. Why would they just let me in like that? I stepped in cautiously, and the doors closed behind me. I was surprised to find the huge hall empty, and felt a strange surge of fear. I kept my rifle close.

Ever so quietly, I stalked down the great hallway and looked around me. If I was expected, why was nobody here to greet me? Something strange was about. Everything about this world was so weird...

I eventually came across two massive doors, and stopped. Throne room, perhaps? Ever so slowly and cautiously, I pushed open the door. I peeked through to see Twilight, but that wasn't what caught my attention.

The eye catcher was a much bigger pegacorn with a white coat, and a seemingly magical mane. I tried my best to stop my jaw from dropping. I really need to get used to stuff like this...

"Oh, hi Dutch!" Twilight greeted. I ignored her, and mindlessly stumbled into the room. She raised an eyebrow in concern, and the other princess seemed a little confused herself. Once I got used to the sight before me, I spoke.

"H-hi." I mumbled. Way to be formal, my thoughts taunted.

"Princess Celestia, this is Dutch." Twilight said, choosing her words carefully. Princess Celestia greeted me.

"Good morning, Dutch." she said. Her tone seemed to show wisdom, in some way.

"Good morning." I responded flatly. "Are you the one who wanted to speak with me?" I asked Celestia, raising an eyebrow. She nodded.

"Yes."

"Very well." I said, finding a place to sit.

"So you're telling me that your sun doesn't rise on its own?" I asked, deeply confused by what I had learned from talking to Celestia.

"No. I raise and lower the sun, and my sister princess Luna raises and lowers the moon." she confirmed. WHAT BLACK MAGIC IS THIS!?

"W-well, where I come from, Earth orbits the sun, and the moon orbits Earth, Earth being my home world." I explained. She seemed confused by my claims.

"That does sound like a different world." the alicorn agreed, before taking another sip of tea. Either that mug was endless, or she took small sips. (I have now also learned that they were alicorns, not pegacorns.)

"And that brings me to my next question," I started, a look of suspicion on my face. "How did I get here?" I asked Celestia, my hand diving towards my handgun's holster. I didn't pull it out yet, but instead just prepared myself to do so.

"I don't know." she said plainly. I stared into her face, looking for any sign of dishonesty. Celestia had a pretty good poker face compared to Twilight.

"I'm gonna trust you with that, then." I said after a few moments of hesitation. "But if you're lying to me, please just tell me the truth." I saw flicker of an unrecognizable emotion in her eyes, but it quickly disappeared. She was good at hiding things. She looked at my G33 before speaking again.

"I've been meaning to ask you, what is that?" she asked.

"This is a 5.56x45 assault rifle known as the H&K G33A2." I explained, smiling a bit. this claim only confused her more.

"Elaborate on what an assault rifle is." she said, raising an eyebrow.

"You know, a fully automatic firearm?" I said in a "DUH" kind of fashion. She still looked oblivious. "A gun?"

"I'm afraid I haven't heard of either." she explained, frowning. I grinned like a psycho on the inside. This'll be fun.

"For this, my dear alicorn, is an instrument of WAR!" I said, grabbing and displaying it in a majestic manner. "I have slain many a foe with this fine work of German art!" I continued, almost yelling. She seemed both amused and surprised by my behavior."Care to know how it works?" I asked.

"I'd prefer you save that for another time." she said. "I have important matters regarding diplomacy to attend to to." she explained as she stood up out of her seat.

"Would you care to elaborate on what kind of diplomacy you are discussing, and who you are discussing it with?" i asked. I saw a twinkle in her eye.

"I am discussing a peace treaty with one of our oldest enemies, the changelings." she explained. Oldest enemies, huh?

"Well, farewell." I dismissed, before standing up and leaving the room. "Have a nice trip, princess!" I waved, before leaving and closing the massive doors behind me.