John Sampson's Story

Celestia feigned indignity, “John! You didn’t tell me that you fell in love with Equestria on the bounce.”

“Lady, if you want to check on me you can do it without being silly. I only had one choice before I landed here,” John matched the Princess’s tone.

“How’s Bud doing?”

Hey Bud! We’re talking about you. Bud! You made it. Don’t worry. You’re in the company of two of the most capable individuals in this world and both of them want to take care of you.

“Celestia! She’s here! I think we’ve scared the crap out of her but she’s got enough spunk to at least communicate.”

Good girl. I’m going to go on with my part of the story. You just lay back and take in the show.

Spike is grinning as only a dragon can grin. Twilight looks like someone parted her mane with a baseball bat. And Applejack is just looking straight at me with no waver at all.

“John, there’s mo’ to it.” It’s a flat statement.

This woke Twilight up, “See, I told you so!”

“Ya asked me here ‘cause ya couldn’t handle ‘im. Let me do it.” And those eyes haven’t twitched yet.

“Applejack, I’m sorry for the trouble I’m causing but you have to trust me for at least some of this. Humans on Terra have taken a different, uglier path than equines here or there. I don’t want ponies to make any of those mistakes. So please let me choose which questions I answer and which I ignore. After I understand ponies properly we might have this conversation again.”

“Ah trust ya John Sampson. Ah don’ know if ya are makin’ tha right choice but Ah can see how hard you’re workin’ to make it.”

And now the tough one. I’m not sure I want to but I may never get another chance this good. “Twilight, I have no idea how long ponies live or what their life cycle is like, BUT, to my eyes you look to be just barely not a child. Your recent emotional overreactions confirm that. Are you ready to spend days and weeks in close quarters with a stallion that I have been told ‘checks a lot of boxes’ for Equestrian mares?”

Damned, there’s that color again. No mercy. Well, maybe a little.

“Twilight, one of the reasons I feel this way is how much you remind me of me . . . a long time ago. Sergeant Swift Trail is very much a contemporary to the current me. You just interrupted a more fruitful conversation between us than you and I have ever had. Get reports from her or assign someone to follow us around and take notes. Then you can read the notes and learn about humans in a way that lets you cross reference and codify and I can learn about ponies in a way efficient for me. Soon enough we’ll be ready for the serious questions.”

Applejack had a big smile, “Twi, he’s not only honest, he’s smart.”

Twilight did not look happy but there was too much logic and good sense on the table to argue. “I’m going to have to research and think on this. Until I say different, keep on with what you’ve been doing.” And out the door she went with Spike running to keep up.

Applejack just smiled and beamed, “Twi means well but we’re all still waitin’ for her to figure out stallions. On tha other hand, if you ever get tired of tha military life and decide ta settle down, I’d appreciate ya first date. She went out the same door as Twilight but in a whole different way.

“That was quite a show.” Swift Trail had eased up behind me. “I’ll bet you anything that ‘research’ means she’s going to go ask Princess Celestia. Celestia is the senior alicorn, Twilight is the youngest. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a royal summons shortly.”

“Well shit. I guess you’d better line me up on royal protocol.”

“It’s easy, John. She wants polite and She wants honest. And She hates wasting time. She’s already had more than a thousand years of pompous fools so the less like them you are, the better.”

“Dammit! The more I learn about Equestria, the more I like it.

“Hey! I promised you a demonstration. And I want to learn some things for myself. I’ve got the time now, how about you?”

“You mean with Fred?”

“Yep. And bring a Pegasus that feels like racing.”

Swift Trail looked around, “Windy. You up for a race?”

A very blue pony with frost white mane and tail walked over, “Who do I have to beat?”

“John, this is North Wind. She’s a courier specialist. Windy, you’re going to race Fred.”

“Fred? The big horse guy? How can that be a race?”

“John, it’s your idea.”

“I don’t have any idea how fast a normal Pegasus can fly, but I know that Fred is far faster than any ground pony. So I want a chance to clock him against something normal to Equestria. And it will give us something to talk about later.”

By the time we made it out to the pasture most of the off duty ponies were following us. Fred was grazing nearby so I called him.

Fred!

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“Fred, ready for that race we discussed?”

“Okay. This is North Wind. He’s going to try to keep up with you. When I call ‘go’ both of you make three rounds around the pasture staying clear of trees and fences. Line up right here. Understand?”

North Wind nodded.

So they lined up side by side pointed at the far corner of the field.

“Ready. . . Go!”

Fred launched into a medium gallop with a five yard jump. Windy snapped wings and took off after Fred but was forty yards behind by the time she got up to speed. The Pegasus was gaining but not by a lot. Windy had closed half of the distance by the time they got to first turn at the back of the pasture but the turn gave Fred a chance to see her. So Fred stretched out a little more and started gaining the ground back.

By the time they made it back to the starting line both contestants had upped the pace a couple of times. Fred was digging in hard to make his corners nearly square and Windy was losing ground trying to match him but Windy would gain it back on the straightaways. The second lap went much like the first. Both of them were sweating and obviously putting a lot of effort into the race.

“Fred is enjoying himself immensely.”

As they started on the straightaway from the back of the pasture Windy pulled out her reserves. When they made the final turn she was passing Fred. Fred looked up at Windy and kicked in his own reserve. They crossed the finish line in a dead heat moving so fast that no one got a clear enough look to call it.

“Come here Fred. Let’s walk around for a minute and cool down.”

We walked back and forth by Windy a few times and Fred shook himself. Then curiosity get the better of me. “Windy, how fast do you think the two of you were going?”

Windy replied, “It’s hard to put a good number to it in a confined area like this but flying this hard in a straight line at altitude I could beat the train or anypony but a Wonderbolt to Canterlot. I would never have believed that anypony could travel that fast on the ground.”

“Swift, that’s one of those things that I want to talk about. Fred wasn’t half that fast before we got to Equestria. We didn’t have the direct link either. We seem to be gaining magic.”