‘Man. What a dream!’ Was John’s first waking thought of the day. ‘Talk about weirdness to it's max.’

He had dreamed about being with his friends on Earth, just hanging out as usual. As they talked, the guys that John knew, transformed into the six ponies he’d met. Just when he thought things couldn’t get any weirder, he saw his crush transform into a baby, wrapped around in a blanket alongside with another infant. John approached the babies and saw that they were awake, but calm. They were floating in the air, with nothing attached to them. He began to unwrap the two babies and just as he was about to reveal their faces to himself, everything turned blue. From the background, to the babies. John was annoyed by this result. Finally, just before he woke up, he heard a female voice crying, sounding disjointed and distant. Just as he began searching for the source, John suddenly woke up.

‘Who was that woman? Why was she crying? What do my friends have to do with ponies?’

Deep in thought, John yawned and looked around, noticing that he was still in the guest room.

‘Wish I could go back home.’

The soldier got up and stretched his body. After that, he headed towards the library. When John got out of the room, he began to smell food. The scent was so enticing, that his stomach started to growl. The soldier hadn't eaten anything since he was teleported to Equestria. He was definitely hungry.

So the hungry human followed the scent, which led him to a kitchen at the back of the library. In it, John saw that Twilight and Spike were busy making breakfast. As he entered the kitchen, Twilight became aware of his presence.

“Morning, John.” Twilight said with a smile on her face.

“Morning.” John replied.

The human sat down by the table and instantly noticed that the furniture was a bit smaller than the ones back on his planet.

“Hope you like pancakes.”

“Sure do!”

With her magic,Twilight gave John a plate with some pancakes. The soldier looked at the plate and was reminded of the way his mom made pancakes every week with hash browns, eggs, and bacon. It was a typical and delicious meal that he enjoyed having as much as he could.

As John looked at it, the smile on his face went away. Twilight looked at him and saw that he wasn't eating. At first, she was confused, but then she realized what was wrong.

"You need a fork?" the unicorn asked.

John looked up and chuckled a little.

"Yeah."

Twilight reached into a drawer and pulled out a fork. John was surprised that they had cutlery, despite their lack of hands. Then again, the unicorn had mentioned that there were griffins and dragons in this word, the cutlery was probably to be used by such guests.

She washed the fork and gave it to John. He looked at it, noticing that it seemed very ornate. It looked like one of those fancy forks that were used when rich people eat, alongside with varying sizes of spoons and knives. The human grabbed the fork and started to cut the pancakes.

"I'm sure that your world use silverware a lot," Twilight said, sounding interested.

"Oh yeah," John replied, as he stabbed a first piece of his pancake, "We do."

"We ponies don't often use them, unless we cook for a living."

The human put the piece into his mouth and started to chew. After a few seconds of chewing, he swallowed and looked down at the plate. John showed an emotionless expression to the pancakes as Twilight became nervous. Maybe his food standards were different from theirs, and her cooking had caused him disgust.

"John, are you okay?" Twilight said with worried tone on her voice.

"This pancake..." spoke John, "is..."

"Is what?"

"so... DELICIOUS!!!"

John then rapidly cut more pieces and ate them with gusto. Twilight exchanged a glance with Spike, both of them were confused. Neither one of them had expected the human to like their food so much. It seemed that their food standards were the same as John's race, or it was just the fact that Spike made the best damn pancakes ever. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, at least he hadn’t vomited.

When John had cleaned his plate, he handed it to Twilight.

"Can I have some more?" he asked.

***

After breakfast, the other ponies arrived at the library, while John scanned the bookshelves as he had done yesterday.

"Howdy, Twilight." said Applejack. "What's John doin’?"

"He's checking some of the books on the shelves." the purple unicorn replied.

"Heh. I never imagined the human would be an egghead." said Rainbow Dash.

Everypony looked at the rainbow pegasus.

She blushed in embarrassment.

"Anyway, we- oh my." said Rarity. "Are you wearing the same clothes?"

John turned his attentions to the fashion pony.

"Yeah." he responded.

"Oh dear. Haven't you taken a shower!?"

"Well, no."

The fashionista gasped in horror. John smelled himself, he didn’t stink at all. Well, maybe a little, but it would unnoticeable next to everyone else’s scent. He had been planning to shower later, hoping no one would sniff him.

"John, dear," Rarity continued. "I'll make some clothes for you."

"Umm... Thanks?"

John was a bit uncomfortable of how the fashion pony reminded him of his fashion friend, he would have offered the same thing. He had been a fashion designer, and a talented one at that. Even so, John felt embarrassed whenever he told someone else what his friend did.

"No problem." Rarity smiled.

“Anyway, I guess you all want to hear about my world and it’s people,” John said, changing the subject.

“That is why we’re here,” said Rainbow Dash, rolling her eyes.

The ponies sat themselves down in a semicircle, and John sat in front of them. Twilight grabbed her quill and made sure she had plenty of parchment and ink to take notes with.

“So, John, how is your world different from ours?” asked Twilight.

John pondered the question for a while.

“Well, for starters, there's no talking animals," said John, "There's no unicorns, dragons, or any typical race you have here. They all only appear in fairy tales."

"Fairy tales?" Pinkie Pie wondered, "Those are bedtime stories."

"Yes, and as of ponies, they can’t do magic, or fly. And the color of their coats and mane are limited. The only colors are black, white, brown, and grey, although, sometimes they are found mixed together."

"So ponies in your world is considered pets?" Twilight asked.

"In some ways, yes."

The purple unicorn nodded and wrote it down.

John continued for about an hour until he got tired of speaking. He explained the basics of geography, technology, science, and more. The ponies had given him much interest, except for Rainbow Dash.

“Your world sounds too boring.” yawned Rainbow Dash.

“Not really. There are events that makes my world interesting.”

“Like what?"

John then looked at the floor and began to draw circles on the floor with his finger. The ponies seemed to be puzzled and raised their eyebrows.

“Wars.” John sounded like he felt guilty of a crime.

The ponies gasped in horror at what John had said. They wouldn't even believe what they had heard. It was so shocking that Fluttershy had covered her eyes with her hooves. The rest were just stunned.

“There's wars in your world?” said Rarity with a hint of fear.

“Yes. Some of them only last about a few days, though most last for years.” John sighed.

“That's horrible,” said Twilight. "Why would there be wars?"

"It's all depends. Sometimes it’s in the name of religion, some nations just have cruel dictators who want more global power. A good example of the latter is the war that’s currently going on."

“There's a war going on?" the ponies asked except for Fluttershy.

"A world war to be exact."

All the ponies gasped, the term was pretty straight forward.

"I know it sounds horrible, but I'm sure that you ponies have that right?"

No answer.

"Or at least just nation against nation?"

Still no response.

"Civil war?"

Cricket sound.

"So, you ponies have never had a war? What a world!"

"Of course we had wars." Twilight finally spoke. "But not since Princess Celestia became our ruler."

"And that was...?" The human wondered with curiosity.

“Over a thousand years ago."

The human was surprised how this world hadn't got any wars over centuries. What was more surprising, was that the ponies had an immortal leader. Their leader was probably some sort of pony equivalent to Jesus Christ.

“But our army wants to end world war, so that everyone in our world can return to being happy. After all, we are in a third world war.”

"Third?!" exclaimed Rarity before she fainted.

"Dang." said Applejack. "Do you fellas really love to fight that much?"

"No. Some people just don't understand the consequences of it."

Then silence fell upon the room. John averted his gaze from the ponies, trying to look apologetic. He should've never brought up wars so he wouldn't felt so uncomfortable.

“Wait.” Rainbow Dash spoke. "Did you say your army?"

“Yeah." John responded.

"And that is?"

Then Rarity woke up from her faintness.

"The United States Army. The United States of America also has the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Air Force, and the Marines. America has the greatest military force in the world. Only China can even begin to compare, and that’s just because they have ten times as many citizens."

"Wait, if your nation has the best military, then you guys are peacekeepers?" Twilight inquired.

"You could say that," John looked away for a few seconds before coming back, "After all, there haven’t been any battles in Iran since we began occupying it."

The ponies stared at John like he’d said something horrible and was hiding something.

“What?”

Twilight exchanged looks of worry with her friends. She turned her gaze back to John, looking slightly ill. Finally, she asked her question.

“Are you... a soldier?” From the tone of her voice, she was in fear.

“Well, yes.” John admitted shamefully.

“But why?” asked Applejack.

John lowered his head down and mumbled, “To protect my country, and it’s ideals.”

The ponies looked at him closely and knew he was really hiding something. They didn't knew what it was, but from the looks on John's face, he was showing a touch of depression.

"John, are you okay?" Fluttershy spoke for the first time since she arrived.

The human's eyes filled with tears, dripping down his cheeks to the floor.

"You're crying."

"I...didn't really joined the army because of my patriotism." John's voice was cracked. "I joined because of...my dad."

***

My dad worked for the state for over twenty years. He made a good amount of money to support the family; my mom, my older brother, and me. We were a typical high-middle class family. We lived in a nice home, not far from the inner city. He was a good man to everyone and he dreamed of becoming a congressman, so he could share his good ideas, and use them for the good of the nation. Things were good for my family.

About four years ago, he developed a tumor inside of his stomach. At first, he thought it was just a regular pain and that it would go away. By the time he realized the pain was abnormal, it was already too late. The doctors told him that it had reached the limit where the operation would be a fail if they took the tumor out.

The doctors gave him treatments to prevent the cancer spreading, and damaging his body, but he wasn't able to eat or drink. Not to mention his pain and suffering. I watched as my own father suffered, visiting him in the hospital every day until he... stopped breating. The tragic news about my dad had spread throughout the state. Many people came to his funeral, mostly the people that my dad knew, to pay their final respect.

Without my father’s income, my family was forced to move to an apartment. It was a nice place, although the bills were exorbitant. My mom had to work overtime, and my brother had to postpone his college education to work. As for me, I couldn't helped out. No job in the city could hire me, because of my age. By the time I reached legal adulthood, the economy was so bad that all the businesses were laying off more people than they hired. So I couldn't get a job at all, until I found out about the war.

I decided to join the army because the pay was good, I swore to myself that I would support my family like my father did, not matter the cost to myself. Even though my family and friends hated the idea, it was the only choice I could make. I wished I could've done something better.

***

As John finished his speech, all the ponies were crying. Pinkie Pie pulled out a tissue box out of nowhere and grabbed a hooffull. She then passed the box to everyone, ending with John. The human looked at the box, grabbed a tissue, and blew his nose.

“I'm sorry for your loss." spoked Twilight. "And if that's the reason you joined the army, then we understand. None of us have ever experienced what you’ve been through and if we did, we would've done the same thing."

John looked at the group and smiled.

"Thanks for understanding," The human sniffed, "Besides, if it wasn't for the army, I wouldn't be here with my new friends."

"Good to hear, dear." said Rarity. "Wait. You consider us your friends?"

"Yeah, I don't see why not."

"Ah shucks." blushed Applejack. "Come here you."

The orange pony gave John a hug, followed by the rest of the ponies. The human began to felt some warm and tingling sensation. He didn't know what it was, but it felt good.

They all sat in companionable silence, until there was a loud knock at the door. Everyone looked to the door, wondering who it was. They let go of each other as Spike, who came out of the kitchen, opened the door. It was a purple mare who had an awful look on her face.

"Thank Celestia I reached you, girls!" said the mare exhaustingly.

"What happened Ms. Cheerilee?" Twilight asked.

“The girls are acting out of control!”

“Who?” asked Applejack.

Before Ms. Cheerilee replied the question, she noticed that there was the same creature from the other day inside the library. She stood still as a statue as her pupils shrinked. Everyone noticed what had scared Ms. Cheerilee into her current state.

"This is John." said Twilight. "He’s friendly."

"Hi." John waved his hand.

"H...hello." The violet pony stuttered.

"Ms. Cheerilee, who's actin’ out of hoof?" Applejack asked.

Ms. Cheerilee snapped back to reality and shook her head.

“It’s Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. They frightened the other students and started to damage the school. I tried to calm them down, but nothing worked.”

“Don't worry. We'll go right now to handle it,” Twilight said, “Come on girls.”

The ponies left, leaving John and Spike alone in the library.

“I wonder what made them snap” John said .

“That’s weird, though, I never thought they would be the ones out of control.” said Spike. “Hope they don't get their cutie marks in violence.”

“What's a cutie mark?”

“A cutie mark is a mark on a pony that represent a pony's talent that makes them special.”

“Like that emblem they have on their flanks?”

“Yep.”

John looked back at the opened door and saw the sky was clear.

“Well, let’s hope things don't get too serious.”

Author's Note

Second chapter. Woo-hoo!

Edit by Narlepoax III and Naden Gryphus