The Survivor

It is a couple of hours past sunrise as Sgt. John Winston Benson, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna make their way to Ponyville after the destruction of Queen Chrysalis's hive when Celestia stops and turns to John with a look of disdain on her face and asks, "I must know a few things first, before we continue any further, human."

John turns his eyes to look at Princess Celestia and releases a sigh, then answers her, "I will answer any question you have miss, and tell you what I can."

Applejack turns to listen to the conversation, watching John in shock as he talks so casually with the princess. She then notices Twilight snap out of her little daze to focus on the conversation as well, seeming to have questions of her own to ask.

Eager to get answers, Celestia proceeds to ask her questions, "One. What in Tartarus was that thing you tricked Chrysalis with? Two. What new dangers do we face from that device? Three. Since you are clearly a warrior, what are your name and rank? Four. What happened where you came from?"

He looks away for a moment before returning his gaze to her and shifts his stance to carry the weight of his gear easier, then begins answering her questions, "One. That was a nuclear weapon built by the U.S.A or otherwise known as the United States of America. Two. Radioactive material will start to slowly make its way outward through weather and winds, possibly creating a few cases of radiation sickness among any who receive a large enough dose of radiation within the blast area as well as outside when the debris returns to the ground as fallout. We were under a shield the whole time and we also left the blast area so we're safe, but should be examined in 24 hours to be sure. Three. My rank and name are, Sergeant John Winston Benson, miss." John goes quiet when he feels an emotional pain stab his heart while tears flow from his eyes as he begins to recount the events to them all, then continues saying, "Four. I was about to head up to the surface after securing that device when a violent tremor nearly sent me to the ground while I was preparing to use the elevator to return topside. When I got to the top of the elevator shaft, all I saw around me was fire, dust, and smoke."

John pauses for a second as he remembers his fallen friend, and quickly decides not to mention it, saying, "I saw that the base I was stationed at had been nuked. When I went to retrieve my gear from my room at the barracks and stepped inside, I thought I was in hell ma'am, as I could hear more nukes detonate in the distance. I made my way to my room through the carnage inside the barracks' halls, grabbed what I needed, and then took off to the armory after that. I picked up what I needed there and when I had what I needed, I went home—" He then stops talking as his sadness overtakes him completely, making him raise his hands to his eyes while tears flow freely from them.

He slowly collapses onto his knees as he becomes overwhelmed by sadness and begins to sob once more, letting his M249 slide off his shoulder and fall onto the ground with the strap following it shortly after.

The group looks at John, feeling sad when they hear more about what happened as he remains on his knees, crying as Celestia hesitates for a moment before being the first to make a move when her motherly instincts kick in and tell her that he needed comforting. Feeling guilty for making Sgt. Benson recount his painful experiences, Celestia walks up and sits down before him, wrapping her forehooves around him in a warm embrace. She holds him closer to let him cry it out and show him that everything was going to be okay after this.

John feels someone holding him and wraps his arms around them tightly, then continues crying. He slowly regains enough control of his crying, then resumes his tale, "A-After I went back to where my girlfriend and baby lived, there was nothing left of the apartment. Just a massive crater marking where they must have died, our baby girl was not even a year old yet..."

Everyone around John starts to tear up after listening to him speak of the total devastation of his home. The remaining ponies Follow Celestia's lead and wrap their hooves around John, comforting him after the tragic loss he has endured. While in between sobs, John cries out, "They're gone, my friends, my family, my girlfriend, and my baby. They're all gone!" Everypony in the huddle holds John tighter as they cry with him, wishing they could take his pain away.

An hour passes by as the group starts to slowly separate from the hug, with John lying asleep against Celestia's side. A soft smile crosses Celestia's muzzle as her sister lays down in front of her with her head on his lap.

While John sleeps against Celestia with Luna's head in his lap, Twilight and Applejack move a small distance away to talk about how traumatized Sgt. John Benson must be after an experience like that. "It may be inappropriate, but I can't help but be curious as to what it looked like where he came from before all that started," Twilight says with a curious look in her eye.

Applejack replies back with caution in her voice, "Ah know Twi, so ahm I, but I think it would be best fer now to just let 'im open up to us when he is ready to. Hearin' the story is one thang Twi, but seein' it fer ourselves is quite another, and we dun wanna be traumatized ourselves if we should try to see what he saw back there."

The next morning...

Celestia finishes raising the sun and stands before Sgt. John Benson, looking down at him as he lays beside Applejack, and Twilight, watching as he wakes up and looks around for a moment. She then smiles at him when he looks up her body to her face, "Good Morning Sgt. Benson, did you sleep well?"

Sgt. Benson sits up, feeling something soft and warm holding onto his arms. He looks down to his right to see what it is and sees two lavender limbs, his eyes follow the limbs up to where they connect, learning they belong to Twilight's upper body. He then looks to his left and sees two brilliant gamboge limbs, then follows them up to see Applejack laying next to him and looks back up to Celestia, "As well as anyone could after seeing what I saw before coming here, thank you for asking. Where is the other one, your sister Luna?"

She keeps a gentle smile on her face, "My sister had to return to the castle to get some rest for tonight, I would like to stay longer but I must return to the castle and begin day court. Is there anything that you wish to talk about or ask before I go?"

He sighs and tries to blink the sleep out of his eyes unsuccessfully, Well, sorry to say, but I think we are going to need to deal with the cleanup sometime today before others start to panic about stuff falling from the sky. I suggest gathering whatever subjects you need to clean up an area that large, the radiation is the biggest threat because it slowly devastates the body."

Celestia then nods her head then sighs, "Alright, I shall listen to your suggestion and do what I can to handle this important matter. How much time do I have to work with to get everything prepared?"

Sgt. Benson thinks for a moment, "We should have everything ready and be at the site no later than 3 pm, otherwise the debris field may become even larger."

She keeps the gentle smile on her face, then decides to tell him, "I will always be there if you need somepony to talk to, as will my sister. Just write a letter to us if you need to talk, just ask Twilight or have her assistant send it. Have a wonderful day Sgt. Benson." She turns around and charges up her horn, then teleports back to the castle to begin her day.

He then looks around for his weapon and finds it on the ground beside his pack, deciding to lean back on his hands and feels the two ponies on either side of him stir in their sleep as Applejack wakes up with a yawn while removing her hooves from his arm.

Applejack searches for her hat and stretches her body out as she begins to fully wake from sleep, "Oh right, ah forgot ah didn't get home last night." She then looks to her right, sees John sitting close to her, and smiles, "How're ya feelin' now, pardner? Ya've been through quite a lot. If ya need to talk about it, just come find me at Sweet Apple Acres or in town. Ah need to get back home before the others wonder where ah'm at, see ya 'round pardner." She then gets up and makes her way back home at a swift trot.

John hears a yawn come from his right and looks at Twilight as she removes her hooves then stretches as well, with her mane covered with bits of grass and needing a good combing.

Twilight stretches her forehooves out in front of her, leaning back with her rump sticking in the air as she thinks she is inside her room. She then stretches her back legs out by leaning forward, then cranes her neck backward and tilts her muzzle up to the sky. As she returns to a normal stance, she sighs pleasantly and shakes her body when her right wing brushes against something soft. She finishes shaking her body and turns her head to look at what she just brushed against, and sees the human sitting up with his back slightly leaning against his arms that are supporting his upper body's weight. With a light chuckle, she smiles at him, "Sorry my wing brushed against your arm, I forgot that I didn't get home last night. Did you sleep well?"

He looks at her and releases a sad sigh, "Not really, but it is what I am sort of used to after everything I experienced where I came from. I will sleep better once I adjust to this strange place, and have a chance to mourn the loss of my family and friends."

The smile leaves her face at hearing that, "If you ever want to talk to anypony about anything, you can always count on the friends you make here to always be there to listen and lend support. We should get on our way to my home, I am sure you are eager to bathe and get some rest."

Sgt. Benson looks to Twilight and nods his head, "I think that would be a wise choice indeed, I need to have these clothes decontaminated before I get sick from the radiation my equipment is now covered in."

Twilight thinks for a moment about what she can do, "I will have to consult the hospital regarding what spells to use to detect and handle this radiation you mentioned, I felt many things assault the barrier when the device went off but I cannot identify each one."

He pushes himself to his feet and heads over to where his weapon and pack are, picking up his pack first and putting it onto his back. He then leans over to grab his M249 and slings it over his shoulder while looking at Twilight, "Alright, lead the way, it's gonna be a long day when we head back to that crater sometime between 1 pm and 3 pm to clean up that field."

She leads the way to her crystal castle and sighs, "Well then, let's get you settled into a room then so you can take a shower while I get some supplies together and go to the hospital and ask them about spells to deal with radiation."

Sgt. Benson then follows her towards her home in Ponyville, keeping an eye on the horizon for anything coming their way. He focuses on the current task at hand, doing what he can to keep his thoughts off of the total devastation of what he held most dear. On the way to Twilight's castle, John looks over to her, "Thank you again Twilight for letting me stay in one of your guest rooms. Then I can start unpacking this damn heavy ass rucksack."

Twilight smiles and continues heading to her home, turning to look back at him briefly, "You are welcome, I help out my friends any way I can. Right now, you are in need of a place to stay, and I have more than enough rooms to spare."

Twenty minutes of walking later, at Twilight's home

Twilight opens the doors to her crystal castle for him, "Come inside, I would give you a tour of my castle but, unfortunately, I have a few tasks that need to get done before we head back. Just so you know, there are only three others that stay here with me. One is my assistant Spike, who is a baby dragon. Another is a pony named Starlight Glimmer, which is away right now on an errand I sent her on earlier this week, and the last one is an assistant owl named Owlowiscious."

John enters Twilight's castle, looking quickly around the room as his upper and lower body really start to ache and burn, he looks to Twilight and rolls his shoulder, "I understand that. Sorry to ask Twilight, but could you guide me to where I will be staying for now so I can get this beast of burden off my back?"

Looking at John, Twilight giggles softly, "I would but unfortunately, I have a few tasks to take care of. I will have my assistant take you to where you will be staying." and begins to lead him to where he will be staying and looks around for Spike, "Are you around Spike, I have a guest here that I need you to show around." as he doesn't answer the first time she tries again, "SPIIIIKE!"

Spike hurries down the steps, "I'M COMING TWI..." and trips, smacking his face against the stair and proceeds to tumble down them, "Ow...ow...ow..." He then lands at the bottom saying, "Stupid stairs..." He picks himself up off the floor and hurries to where Twilight is, "I'M COMING TWILIGHT, WHERE ARE YOU?!

She then looks through the doorway on the other side of the room, "I'M IN THE FRONT ROOM WITH THE MAP TABLE. I HEARD SOMETHING FALL, ARE YOU OKAY?"

He heads towards the archway while rubbing his head, "IT WAS JUST ME TRIPPING ON THE STAIRS, BUT I'LL BE FINE." He slows to a walk and starts to round the corner as the room starts to come into view, " What do you need me to do, Twilight?" He stops in place as he sees a strange creature behind Twilight, raising his hand to point a finger at the thing behind her with curiosity all over his face, "Who and what is that behind you?"

Twilight smiles and looks at her assistant, "This is Sergeant John Benson, he is a human soldier and just got here from another world, and will be staying in one of the empty rooms for the time being." She then turns her gaze to Sgt. Benson, "Sergeant Benson, this is my number one assistant Spike. Just so you know, Spike is a baby dragon." She then returns her attention to Spike, "Since he is new here Spike, could you please show him around after taking him to the room across from Starlight's? I have a few errands to run into town before the cleanup later today, so I will return in two or three hours."

Spike looks at the human, then looks back to Twilight and nods his head, "Sure thing Twilight." He then looks to the human and waves his hand toward him, gesturing the human to follow him, "Follow me this way Sergeant, your room is over here." He then turns towards the stairs and starts heading out of the room, "What is it like where you are from?"

Sgt Benson quickens his pace to catch up to the baby dragon and says, "Well our world is much more advanced than yours, magic doesn't exist there, it is entirely populated by human beings like me, and also there are no talking gryphons, unicorns, pegasi ponies, dragons, or alicorns. The world I come from is driven onward by science, which I think is a mistake."

The dragon leads the guest down the hall to where his room will be at and says, "That is kind of sad that there isn't magic in your world, magic is a wondrous thing. How come, isn't science a good thing?"

He follows him down the hall as his footsteps echo down the halls and shakes his head saying, "We never really knew what magic was, so we didn't miss it, although several people fantasize about what it would be like. As for science...well, it can be a double-edged sword because it can cause harm if the societies of the world are not ready for it, or if it leads to something that could potentially start a war."

Spike reaches the room across from Starlight's and opens the door, then goes inside and looks around, "Here is where your room will be. If there is anything I can do for you, just let me know."

Sgt Benson enters the room, scanning it for any enemies out of habit before heading to the center of the room and laying his sniper rifle on the ground. He then sets the heavy rucksack down in the center of the room, taking a few moments to remove the M249 from his rucksack and set it in a corner with the bipod folded down to keep the barrel raised. He takes a few seconds to lift the tray assembly and slide out the unused portion of ammo, then slams the tray down. John rolls the ammo back up and places it back in the sack it came out of, then sets the sack down beside the weapon. He sighs blissfully as he unfastens his helmet and sets it aside, then works on the vest. After getting his vest off, he sets it down beside his rucksack. Picking up his sniper rifle, he lays it beside the wall next to his M249. He looks at the rucksack and decides to remove some of the things that he won't need from it, kneeling down beside it and begins taking his clothes out and placing them on the dresser, and stacking a few MREs on top of the pile. As he digs around, he pulls out his class A uniform and says, "I must have forgot about grabbing you when I was back in the barracks, at least I'll be able to look nice if there are any formal events that require one to wear fine clothing."

Spike watches him curiously as he takes a few more items out of his bag and asks, "Wow how do you get so much into such a small bag?"

He continues to sort through his stuff and picks out what he needs saying, "Well, it is all about how well you manage your space and organize it. Do dragons have any special abilities here?"

The baby dragon smiles and nods his head answering, "Dragons can breathe fire and fly, however, I am not old enough to get my wings. Each dragon can have their own unique color of fire. Mine is green, I also can send and receive messages from Princess Celestia."

Sgt. Benson finishes sorting out what he needs and sets the ammo for his M249 aside with the stuff he doesn't need, and chuckles when he finds two books still in his rucksack. One of which is War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, the other is The Art of War by Sun Tzu. As he looks over the two books, he says, "I can't believe I forgot you two books in here, but I'm glad I have something that reminds me of better days."

After setting it all into a pile to be decontaminated by Twilight, he closes up his rucksack and then starts putting his vest back on. Grabbing his helmet, he stands up from his position on the floor and returns it to his head then fastens it. Looking down at his rucksack, he leans over to pick it up with less effort saying, "Much lighter with all that stuff out of there and off my back." He then looks at the young dragon and says, "I'm going to wander around for a bit to get my bearings, do you think that you can find a detailed map of Equestria so that I know where I am?"

Spike looks at him and nods saying, "Unfortunately, I don't think Twilight has one. Though she does have one that has every town and city on it. Would that work?"

John sighs and shakes his head saying, "It would work, but I might have to ask Twilight or the princesses to make a map for me so that I can keep track of my position." He then turns and grabs his sniper rifle, then slings it over his shoulder and heads out of the room saying, "I need some time to myself, so I'm going to walk around for a little while. I won't go far enough to lose sight of this castle though, see you later kid."

A couple of hours later

Twilight makes her way back home from the hospital when she realizes she forgot to tell her friends about their new arrival saying, "Oh, I better go see what they are up to now. I think that I will head to Sugarcube Corner first to see if she knows where the others might be."

Pinkie Pie throws a big birthday party for Fluttershy's bunny, Angel, when all of a sudden her Pinkie Sense activates, sending her vibrating across the floor of Sugarcube Corner saying, "Wowie this is a big one! That means something completely unexpected is going to happen!"

Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash stop talking and watch Pinkie Pie as she vibrates along the floor quickly as her Pinkie Sense continues to shake her body.

"Darling I find myself intrigued at what is going to happen shortly." Rarity replies as she looks out the window, trying to see if anypony was approaching.

Rainbow Dash sticks her head out the door, looking around and thinks she sees somepony approaching Ponyville in the distance, answering, "Hey, I think somepony is coming but I can't really make them out."

Getting curious, the group of friends look out the windows of Sugarcube Corner, waiting for the figure to come into view.

A few minutes passed by as they recognize Twilight coming their way as Rainbow calls out, "Hey Twilight, did you finally decide to come join the party?

Twilight smiles and heads inside saying, "I wasn't able to come because the map table summoned me and Applejack to go on a mission, we just got back not too long ago. I came here to tell you that while we went on that mission, we came across a new arrival to Ponyville. Once the party is over, do you think that you all could come to my castle and meet him?"

The others nod their heads and agree as Pinkie stops vibrating along the floor then prances around Twilight asking, "OOH, SOEXCITING! ICAN'TWAITTOTHROWHIMAWELCOMETOPONYVILLEPARTY!"

The group chuckles at Pinkie's antics, stopping as scrolls appear in front of all of them. As they read the scrolls that appeared in front of them, they look to Twilight and ask her if she knows what the emergency meeting is about.

She looks to her friends and says, "I do know what it is about, but you will learn that from Princess Celestia when we get to my castle."

As they head to Twilight's castle after dropping their pets off at their homes, they pass through the tall doors and stop in their tracks as their eyes land on a strange creature dressed in an odd fashion.

After they arrive at the castle, Rarity is the first to speak saying, "What are you wearing?! That is absolutely the ugliest outfit I have ever seen."

The group lets out a few small snickers while Rainbow Dash facehooves herself saying, "Forget about the fashion for once and notice that this creature...IS NOT A PONY!!"

Just then a party cannon fires as Pinky Pie shows up out of nowhere, jumping into the air and exclaiming, "Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh, WELCOME TO PONYVILLE STRANGE CREATURE, LET'S BE FRIENDS!"

Forcing himself to calm down by taking a few breaths, he chuckles softly at the scene before him and rises to his feet to answer the white mare with a horn on her head first saying, "Hi, my name is Sgt. John Winston Benson, little one and I am a human." He unfastens his helmet and sets it down beside him on the large stone table then continues, "This is a uniform that military personnel wear for going into battle, the clothing under the gear I am wearing is called an Army Combat Uniform, or ACU for short."

Twilight hears the doors close behind her and sees Applejack and Ember standing there when she hears a pop come from somewhere in front of her, turning her head to see who arrived, she sees that it is Princess Celestia and begins to say something to her when she is interrupted.

Clearing her throat, Celestia gets everyone's attention to notify them of the situation saying, "Proper introductions will have to wait as there is a pressing matter that requires immediate attention, but first, we will need to wait for a few others to arrive."

Rarity hardly hears what Celestia is saying as she stares wondrously at the face of Sgt. Benson like she's in a dream. He has medium-length black hair reaching his shoulders, a beautiful pair of green eyes, and a jagged scar over his right eye going to the left corner of his mouth, bringing a blush to her cheeks. Her gaze is interrupted when Rainbow Dash taps her on the shoulder, startling her and making her accidentally say, "Handsome."

Furiously blushing, Rarity hangs her head when the room bursts into laughter at her response as other important leaders from around Equestria start entering the room. As the laughter quiets down, the leaders gather around the table in the room and wait for Celestia to tell them about the situation.

It takes thirty minutes for Celestia to finish telling everypony what the situation is and why she called them all here suddenly as she concludes her speech by saying, "I know this is a lot to take in and understand, but I am ready to hear what you all have to say."

She listens to them as they speak, hearing that some are startled to hear what happened last night while others are angry about not being able to help save her and Luna. Celestia quiets them down once more by saying, "We need all the help we can get to minimize the damage that was caused by the nuclear weapon that completely obliterated Chrysalis's new hive, we now need to clean up the aftermath.. We need to work together to protect the safety of Equestria." She then looks at John and says, "Please tell us what needs to be done precisely, sergeant."

John then sighs and feels the eyes turn to him as he then explains what medication needs to be administered to those exposed to the radiation. After explaining it, he uses his hands to count saying, "Well for one, we will have to contain or destroy the clouds that carry the debris if at all possible. Two, we will have to somehow safely dispose of the dangerous material while using shields to protect everyone during the cleanup."

Celestia sighs and replies, "That will require a lot of help to clean up a mess of this size, even the Wonderbolts will be required to help out. There is so much to do, let's send out messages to get help with the cleanup."

Sgt. Benson replied, "Yes it will, but it will not be so easy to do for a couple of reasons. First off, everyone who helps in the disaster zone will need a shield to keep them safe from the invisible radiation in the air. Secondly, we'll need a first aid station to treat anyone who gets sick or injured immediately to minimize the harm done if their shields fail to protect them. Lastly, to make disposing of the material a little easier, after the clouds carrying the debris are brought to the ground and destroyed they will need to be pushed into the crater, where they can become harmless once again."

Twilight's jaw hits the floor upon hearing that. "Are you SERIOUS?!" She said, "Do you know how hard that will be for me to maintain that many shields for everypony that's helping to clear your mess!!"

Discord pops out of Celestia's ear and then jumps off and returns to his full size holding up a claw saying, "Uhm...perhaps I might be able to offer a better solution to deal with the clouds and debris, do you want to hear it?"

John looks at the strange creature standing before him and raises his brow curiously then says, "Okay science project, what is your idea."

The draconequus hears a few chuckles and snickers from the crowd and scoffs while crossing his arms and turning his nose up and away from them saying in a mock hurt tone, "Hmph, that may have been a good poke of fun at me, but that doesn't mean I'm not mildly annoyed. I was even going to offer to use my magic to create a hole to another dimension for the clouds and debris, but after you made fun of me I might not feel like it now..." He then keeps acting as if he is hurt by the name-calling.

He sighs and shifts his posture to be more comfortable and says, "Look...I'm sorry for what I said, I have had a super shitty couple of days so forgive me if I'm a bit rude."

Discord's act starts to crack as he fights a smile saying, "Okay then, I suppose that will do." Unable to keep up the act anymore, he snorts and then starts laughing saying, "Do forgive me, but I was just messing with you a little, I'm not hurt at all. In fact, that was the funniest thing somepony ever said about me." He then calms down a little and continues with a serious tone, "I apologize for you having a bad few days, is there anything that I can do to help make you feel better?"

John facepalms himself and groans saying, "Unfortunately no, it will take me time to get over how much I lost back home. Can you really do what you claim, open a hole I mean?"

He nods his head sincerely and says, "Of course I can, I am the embodiment of Disharmony and Chaos which means anything is possible."

The sergeant thinks for a moment before nodding his head saying, "Alright then, that is better than what I came up with, but you will have to keep it open for awhile until the contaminated material is sent through it."

Discord smiles proudly and says, "Hah, that is child's play for me."

With that out of the way, John looks at Twilight and replies, "It will be tough to manage, but I do think you, Celestia and one other pony might be able to handle that." He then looks at Celestia and asks, "Well Princess Celestia, shall we be on our way? How are we going to get there anyhow with a group this large?"

Celestia smiles and says, "Well by teleport of course, are you ready? I am going to teleport us near where you told Twilight to drop the shield."

He nods his head saying, "As ready as I will ever be, let's go."

She begins charging her horn with the spell and says, "Alright, it has been a while since I teleported a group this large, so just bear with me on this."

John blinks as a flash briefly blinds him when Celestia casts the spell, he goes to look around but immediately doubles over and throws up onto the ground. Regaining his composure and wiping the vomit off his mouth, he says, "That was really a really unpleasant feeling, felt like my stomach was trying to jump out of my throat."

Celestia smiles sheepishly and apologizes, "I am sorry for your discomfort, but it has been several decades since I last used that spell."

The group of leaders take a few minutes to work out who is doing what for the cleanup to go smoothly to prevent the radioactive material from spreading out too far from the area. With a plan in place, the leaders send out messages to their lands, summoning whoever could help out to where they are.

At the outskirts of the blast area, Twilight casts a spell to show the affected area to mark the outermost edge of the danger zone while Celestia takes to the sky to help Twilight mark the edge. Upon seeing how large the area actually is, her mouth turns into a frown. Not wanting to look at the poisoned land before her eyes, Twilight watches Celestia surround the area with an orange pass-through dome.

The group takes in the devastation before them as a few faint at seeing how much damage such a small weapon can do. John sighs and hangs his head saying, "We humans are wretched things. Our greatest achievements during our existence are nothing but war, violence, nuclear warfare, and mass destruction."

John hears someone come up beside him and turns his head to gaze at them, seeing that it is a creature he has never seen before, prompting him to kneel down and ask, "I have never seen a creature such as you before, what and who might you be?"

Picking up a weird-colored crystal, Ember turned her attention from the devastated land before her eyes to the human beside her, feeling a little scared out of instinct. "Have you never seen a dragon before, human? I am a dragon. My name is Dragon Lord Ember, and you will address me as such until otherwise told." she says to the tall figure kneeling down to look at her body curiously.

He continues to check her out curiously as his sniper rifle hangs from the strap on his shoulder and says, "Apologies Lord Ember, I mean no disrespect, I was only curious because dragons don't exist where I come from."

Ember's eyes widen a bit at hearing his reply and wishes to know more about it, but brushes the thought off to get back to what she wanted to ask him. "That is interesting, but I would like to know what this odd crystal here is."

Still checking her out curiously, John averts his gaze to look at the green-tinted crystal and answers, "That little crystal you have in your claws is actually a glass-like mineral that contains mild radiation, but is safe to handle. It is called Trinitite - a mineral formed when sand gets sucked up into the fireball of a nuclear blast, which is around 300,000 kelvin or 539,550 degrees Fahrenheit at the center of a nuclear detonation. In a liquefied, super-heated form, the sand falls as rain to the ground, cooling and hardening into chunks of greenish-looking crystals like the one you are holding that contain melted chunks of the device." then returns to looking at the details of her body curiously.

Shocked at what she just heard, Ember's jaw falls open as she thinks of how to respond to that, before recovering enough to close it and say, "That is interesting to know but how hot is that compared to the lava in a volcano?

Sgt Benson thinks for a moment and closes his eyes for a moment before looking up at the sky saying, "Well, if I remember what I read on the internet right...when lava is first ejected from a volcano, it varies between 1300 and 2200 degrees Fahrenheit."

Ember blinks in disbelief for a moment and says, "That is hot, way too hot for any dragon to safely handle." then closes her claws in a fist around the crystal, when she notices that he is still looking at her. She tries to decide if he is staring at her for too long but feels a little pleasure from his lingering gaze. So in response to his staring, she strikes a pose so he can get a better look. She then looks over her shoulder and cocks her head to the side, saying, "Do you like what you see, human?"

Realizing he was caught staring at her for way too long, John blushes while replying, "Yes Lord Ember, you have a very stunning appearance."

Noticing the blush on his face, Ember smiles and says, "Thank you for the compliment."

John feels his knee getting sore and returns to his feet, then takes one more look at the attractive dragon lord, standing on two legs no higher than his shoulder, having bright red eyes, moderate deep blue spikes, brilliant cyan scales with the underbelly a pale turquoise, her wings are a moderate indigo with low, front-curling horns of light apple grey. He then lifts his eyes back to the devastation and mumbles under his breath, "Such a beautiful array of colors for an attractive dragon."

Having sharp hearing, she hears every word he said and causes her to blush furiously. She clears her throat and softly shakes her head to stop blushing then says, "What is your name, human? You may call me Ember if you so wish."

Briefly looking back at Lord Ember, he answers, "My name and rank is Sergeant John Winston Benson, Lady Ember."

Upon being called a lady by Sgt. John Benson, the blush returns with a vengeance. She smiles at the compliments he gave her as they both begin the daunting job of cleaning up, while she orders a few dragons that arrive to find and put any green minerals like the one she has into a pile if any of them wanted to add a few to their hoard.

While looking around and checking the perimeter, John hears something way off in the distance. Sounding much like a tortured scream coming from some poor creature caught in the blast, John instinctively sets his sniper rifle down, then shrugs his rucksack off his back letting it fall to the ground. Leaving his rucksack on the ground behind him, he picks up his sniper rifle and begins scanning the horizon for the source of the scream.

Spotting movement outside of the dome, John raises the sniper rifle to his shoulder and zooms his scope in on the creature with practiced ease. He sees a creature having the head and body of a lion, a scorpion's tail, and the wings of a dragon charging at the group, calling out to whoever can hear him, "What the hell is that thing?!" hoping someone would tell him. John looks at the poor creature having bad burns all over his body with bones showing in some spots and part of its jaw visible. Feeling sorry for the suffering creature, John prepares to put it down and flicks off the safety then adjusts his aim.

Fluttershy approaches him swiftly, then looks at the creature charging towards the group and answers, "That is a manticore, normally they aren't so aggressive. You're not going to hurt him are you?" She then looks at the human as they focus on the manticore and pleads, "Please don't harm the manticore, he didn't do anything to us!"

Looking briefly to his right, John spots a pony with a pink mane, cyan eyes, and a yellow coat standing beside him. Hearing her begging for the creature's life, John says back, "I'm sorry but I have no choice but to end the manticore's suffering, can't you see what state they are in right now?"

Taking a closer look at the manticore, Fluttershy gasps in shock as she sees how badly the manticore is hurt. She sighs sadly and hangs her head as tears start to flow from her eyes, feeling sad from not being able to save them then replies, "Oh...o-okay then, I guess there is no way to save the poor manticore from its suffering."

Looking at her, John nods saying, "Such is the way of life, we must be considerate to what is best for others and what they would like when they suffer pain. With animals like that manticore, we must decide for them if it is more merciful to save their life or to end their suffering. Be at peace, manticore." then adjusts his aim one last time and squeezes the trigger. A loud bang rings out as fire erupts from the end of the barrel, frightening the pony and making her leap back away from the noise.

Fluttershy darts behind Ember, being startled by the loud noise coming from the weapon the human was holding. Turning her eyes to where the manticore is, she faints when she sees its head disappear from its body, exploding into tiny pieces as the weapon hit its mark.

Seeing the manticore's head explode, John hears a thud and quickly looks to his right, seeing that the yellow pony has fainted. Setting his weapon down and flicking the safety on, John walks over to the pony and uses his canteen to splash some water over her face to bring her around.

Opening her eyes and regaining consciousness, Fluttershy comes face to face with the human that took the manticore's life. Trying to curl up into herself, her eyes meet a face having a very beautiful pair of green eyes, medium-length black hair, and tanned Caucasian skin. Letting out an audible squeak, she starts to wail over the death of the manticore.

John reaches out and softly pets her mane to try to calm her down saying, "There, there little one, I wish there was some other way to save the poor manticore, but when any creature is suffering as badly as it was, it is considered a mercy to end the suffering it is going through."

Fluttershy's crying slowly comes to an end upon hearing him explain, eventually saying, "I-I understand but it still upsets me whenever a creature can not be saved. Thank you for showing mercy to the poor manticore, what might your name be mister?"

John stops petting her mane and answers, "My name and rank is Sergeant John Winston Benson, and who might you be little filly?"

She slowly gets back to her feet with a few tears still on her face, and answers shyly, "My name is Fluttershy, mister John. It is nice to meet you."

The cleanup goes on without a hitch afterward, with the clouds being rounded up, forced to the ground, and pushed through the portal by the air group. The ground group then pushes the debris near the portal while Discord holds it open to an empty void to contain the debris left radioactive from the blast as several ponies and dragons move what they can through it. Seeming to take hours, the sun starts reaching for the horizon as the last of the debris passes through the portal.

Using their magic to cleanse the radiation, the magic group put the final touches in place as Discord closes the portal. With the cleanup done, every group starts to make their way to the safe zone recovery area. Celestia and Twilight return from maintaining the dome while the magic barriers are dropped as they are no longer needed to keep the food and drinks safe from poisoning.

With the cleanup finally over, John, Celestia, Twilight, Spike, Cadence, Shining Armor, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Ember lay down in a small group together as several nurses hand out small bottles of Potassium Iodide to everypony that was there for the clean up as a precautionary measure.

John holds a few chunks of Trinitite in his hand and offers them to the group, with all except Shining Armor accepting the offer. They are all curious as to what the little mineral is. So he explains to them what it is and that it is safe to handle, causing Twilight to become really interested in it and asking, "Please tell me more about this glassy mineral, John."

John answers her question by saying, "Before I answer that, you must listen to a bit of my world's history first." Clearing his throat, John begins, "On September 1st, 1939 a nation named Germany, led by a despicable man named Adolf Hitler, invaded the nation of Poland." John starts telling every event that happened up to the turning point in the war for Germany, leading him to say, "The Americans kept supplying the war effort against the Germans but little did they know, the Japanese were planning an attack against America. We were in a depression where money was extremely hard to find, and jobs were even harder. Many citizens lost their everything, and thousands of factories shut down. It continued until December 7th, 1941 when Japan launched their surprise attack against America at Pearl Harbor, which was near Honolulu, Hawaii. One day after the attack, the depression ended as the sleeping giant called America woke up and actively joined the fight against the axis powers. The war quickly turned against Germany after the invasion of Normandy on June 6th, 1944. After invading Germany, America focused more attention on Japan with vengeance at the center of it. In 1939 the Manhattan project began when America learned that Germany was trying to develop nuclear weapons. Island by island, America pushed back the Japanese with tooth and nail every inch of the way because they were ferocious fighters that fought to the last man. Eventually, America grew weary of a drawn-out battle, as the Japanese began recruiting civilians into joining the fight to push back the Americans at the edge of their homeland. A difficult choice was made to drop nuclear bombs, the Uranium gun-type Little Boy on Hiroshima and a Plutonium Implosion bomb Fat Man on Nagasaki, the Japanese cities were immediately destroyed upon detonation. WW2 ended on September 2nd, 1945 when Japan formally surrendered." John ends the story by saying, "Trinitite was discovered and given its name from the first successful nuclear detonation at the Trinity test site in Socorro, New Mexico on July 16th, 1945."

Remembering the history that mankind has makes John sigh and say, "Humankind has an extremely violent and bloody history with itself." He looks up to find that everyone in the group has their mouths hanging open in shock from hearing just a small portion of mankind's history and says, "That is just one war that happened 80 years ago, and there are easily thousands more wars that happened long ago."

Cadence blinks and closes her mouth with a sigh, saying, "It's very sad that love and friendship don't have strength in your world like they do here." Cadence said.

Celestia looks at Cadence and nods saying, "Such hatred and destruction could have been avoided then."

John looks at them both then says with a sigh, "Yeah, science has always propelled us forward in the name of progress. Don't let your world's scientists make the same mistakes ours did."

Wanting to change the subject from such a grim topic, Celestia comes up with an idea and says, "Thank you for being so thoughtful in suggesting a cleanup for the aftermath of that recent event as well as saving Princess Luna and I from Chrysalis, I do believe you earned the right to be called a citizen of Equestria and may purchase land when you have the bits to pay for it."

As they rest up, the different groups return to the lands they came from. The only ones that aren't leaving yet are Celestia, Twilight, Cadence, Shining Armor, Spike, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie.

Looking back to where the manticore's body lays, John asks, "Can you all come help me take care of something that needs to be done?"

Twilight looks up from the Trinitite she holds in front of her with her magic and answers, "Of course, what can we do to help?"

John watches as the rest of the group nods and also offers to help out, saying, "We need to give the manticore I killed a proper burial, it don't feel right just to leave them out there to rot and poison other animals."

Fluttershy walks over and stands beside him, giving him a gentle smile, saying, "That is very kind of you to do for the manticore John, I think they would like that very much. We all will help you give the manticore a proper burial."

Making their way to the body of the manticore, they begin digging a hole in the ground big enough to lay the manticore down in. As Twilight and Rarity help finish the hole, they both lower the body into it as John says, "I'm not really sure what to really say, but here goes nothing. As we lay you down to sleep, we pray you are at peace and find a better life than the one you had suffered. Rest in peace manticore, I am sorry for the suffering you endured at my hands."

Applejack, Fluttershy, and Spike start pushing dirt into the manticore's grave as Rarity finds a nice enough rock to use for the headstone and sets it in front of Twilight so she can inscribe it.

After the headstone receives its inscription, Rarity and Spike search for a few gems to use to decorate the headstone. With Twilight's help, they put on the final touches and Twilight then uses her magic to set the stone in front of the grave.

John looks at the headstone with a smile and reads it aloud saying, "A manticore lies here, having lost its life in an unfortunate way. May he find peace in a future life." Looking back up at the others, John says, "For those that were here during the blast, let this remind you of how lucky we are to have survived because those unfortunate survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered far worse."

Taking a silent moment to take it all in, nopony speaks a word. Solemnly turning around to return home, Celestia glances back to the others and softly says, "Come on my little ponies, let's all return to Twilight's for a bit before I need to return so Luna can take over our royal duties." and teleports them all to Twilight's home.

Arriving back at Twilight's, John fights back the unpleasant feeling of his stomach trying to jump out of his mouth saying, "I hope that teleporting doesn't always feel like our stomach is trying to jump out of your mouth, if so...I will stick to walking." He then recovers and opens the door, letting the girls walk through first.

Twilight then looks back at him with a smile saying, "Thank you for the kind gesture, but I could have handled that myself." and walks through the doors with a smile on her face. She waits for everyone to gather around, then clears her throat and says, "Everypony, meet Sgt. John Winston Benson, he will now be living among us in Ponyville for the foreseeable future."

Celestia speaks first saying, "Now that we can properly meet, I'm Princess Celestia, I am in charge of raising the sun, and the co-ruler of Equestria alongside my younger sister, Princess Luna. Should you have any nightmares, you will get the chance to meet her when she comes to deal with them."

Taking a closer look at Princess Celestia, John sees that she has an almost pure white coat with wings and a horn, pretty magenta eyes complimented by her mane and tail comprised of cerulean, turquoise, cobalt blue, and heliotrope, having an image of a sun on her rump.

Speaking up next, Rarity says, "I am Rarity darling, I represent the element of generosity. I run a chain of designer boutiques across Equestria, my home base is in Ponyville so please feel free to stop by any time if you find yourself needing new clothes. I am also the generosity teacher at the School of Friendship."

Turning his eyes to Rarity, John sees she has a horn, and a light gray coat with a picture of three diamonds on her rump. Her eyes are a lovely azure complemented by an indigo mane and tail.

Speaking up next, Rainbow Dash takes to the air saying, "I'm Rainbow Dash, the best flyer in all Equestria, I help maintain the weather and keep the skies clear around Ponyville. I am also a full member of the Wonderbolts, I represent the element of loyalty, and am also the loyalty teacher at the School of Friendship."

Turning his attention to Rainbow Dash, John sees that she has wings, a pale cerulean coat with a cloud, and a picture of a rainbow-colored lightning bolt on her rump. Her eyes are a moderate cerise complimented by a rainbow-colored mane and tail.

Quietly speaking up, Fluttershy gives Rainbow Dash a soft look, making her return to the ground. Fluttershy then says, "I am Fluttershy, I am an animal caretaker. I represent the element of kindness, I am also the kindness teacher at the School of Friendship."

Getting a better look at Fluttershy, John notices she has a pair of wings with a picture of three butterflies on her rump.

Speaking next, Twilight says, "We already met but I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, I am the princess of friendship, and the ruler of this castle, I am a mentor to Starlight Glimmer, The founder and principal of the School of Friendship, and I represent the element of magic."

Taking a closer look at Princess Twilight, John sees that she has a picture of small white stars surrounding a large purple one at the center on her rump.

Introducing herself next, Applejack clears her throat then says, "Ah'm Applejack, ah live and work at Sweet Apple Acres. Ah represent the element of honesty, ah'm also the honesty teacher at the School of Friendship."

Looking at Applejack, John notices that she has an orange coat with a blonde mane and tail, and sap green eyes with a picture of three apples on her rump.

Seeing her chance, Pinkie Pie bounces up and down, firing her party cannon saying, "I'm Pinkie Pie, a wildly energetic pony that bakes, caters, and throws parties for every occasion big or small. I'm also a friendship ambassador to Yakyakistan, I represent the element of laughter, and also the laughter teacher at the School of Friendship." Reminding herself why she did that, she pulls a questionnaire out of her hair and hands it to John saying, "Please fill that out so I can plan your welcome to Equestria party sometime soon!"

Chuckling at the energetic nature of Pinkie Pie, John fills out the questionnaire and hands it back to her. Looking at the bouncing pink blur in front of him, he can barely make out details. Having a pale raspberry coat with what appears to be an image of three balloons on her rump, her eyes a light cerulean complemented by a very curly brilliant raspberry mane and tail. John then responds to her request saying, "That sounds fun Pinkie Pie, though it will have to wait till after I get settled in and until I get into a partying mood, is that ok?"

Answering with a beaming smile, Pinkie stands still for a moment to take the paper back answering, "No problem! That will be Oki doki loki!"

Smiling, Spike says, "I'm Spike, Princess Twilight's best friend, and number one assistant. I use my fire breath to send scrolls to and from Celestia, I am also the friendship ambassador to the Dragon Lands.

Looking at the small dragon in the group, John notices he has wings, light mulberry scales with a light spring budish gray underbelly, and moderate harlequin spikes complemented by moderate pistachio eyes.

With the introductions over, John asks, "Why do some of you ponies have wings, while others have either a horn, wings, or sometimes neither one?"

Princess Celestia answers, "Very good question Sgt. Benson, there are four different kinds of ponies. There are Alicorns like my sister Luna, Twilight, Cadence, and myself. There are earth ponies like Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. There are Pegasi like Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. And there are Unicorns like Rarity. Have you never seen ponies like us before?"

Hearing what Celestia is saying, John answers, "I'm sorry but Alicorns, Pegasi, Unicorns, Dragons, manticores, and many others are mythical creatures in my world. The animals in our world are unable to speak as you do, and magic doesn't exist either."

Fluttershy responds to that by saying, "That sounds horrible, I couldn't imagine being in such an awful world, not being able to talk or choose to live the way we would like."

Rainbow Dash speaks up after her, saying, "Yeah, it would be a nightmare not having wings or a voice."

Twilight gasps at hearing that magic doesn't exist and says, "Yeah, that world really doesn't sound fun to live in as a pony. Having absolutely no control over your life where there is so much that we enjoy here."

John shrugs his shoulders and says, "I do feel sorry for the ones that were abused by their owners, but that is just how things were in our world."

Celestia smiles and looks at the others saying, "Well, I must be getting back to Canterlot everypony. I shall see you all another time." then teleports back to the castle to change duties with her sister.

Another hour passes by as they get to know each other a little better with Cadence and Shining needing to head home to take care of Flurry Heart, their daughter. Twilight looks out the window as the sun sinks past the horizon when the others decide that it is time for them to return home as well, saying their goodbyes before leaving Twilight, John, and Spike at the castle.

Spike yawns and stretches his arms over his head saying, "Well everypony, today was quite eventful so I would like to get some sleep, goodnight Twilight, Sgt. Benson. Is there anything that you need me to do before I go to bed, Twilight?"

She thinks for a moment and says, "No there isn't Spike, thank you for helping us out today with the cleanup. Goodnight." then watches him turn and leave the room.

He remembers that his clothes are still contaminated with radiation and sighs saying, "Hey Twilight, could you use your magic to remove the radiation from all of my stuff? I will also need wash what I can and bathe because I can smell the smoke from the hell on my world."

Twilight nods her head and says, "Of course I can do that for you, I also have some soap they gave to me after I spoke with the nurses and doctors about radiation. I didn't know much about radiation until they told me about it, it is quite astonishing how it can devastate the body but can also be helpful through medical equipment."

John thinks for a moment and says, "Before you do that, I should bathe to remove the layer of filth and radiation from my body. Ahh crap, that won't work because I have nothing to wear because it needs to be decontaminated first. Would you mind doing that for me? Then I can ask you to decontaminate the clothes I am wearing."

She giggles and says, "Of course I can do that, but wouldn't it be more efficient to decontaminate everything at once, then you can use the shower. They taught me a few spells they use to deal with radiation, one of which removes it while another is a barrier similar to the one I used yesterday to protect us with the last one able to detect it."

He then chuckles and says, "Right, I wasn't really paying much attention during the cleanup so I didn't see you use it. Okay then, that is quite convenient. Are you able to remove the radiation from living beings as well?"

Twilight thinks about the spell for a moment before nodding her head saying, "It can be done, from what I understand of the spell. Though, to be sure, it would be a good idea to use the soap they gave me."

John then nods his head saying, "Alright then, let's go take care of that then." and exits the room to lead her to his room.

As Twilight begins going through the pile piece by piece, she wonders how she will remove the radiation from his body without removing his clothes thinking to herself, 'I will have to try casting the spell on what he is wearing first.'

A half-hour passes as Twilight removes the radiation from each and every item he has, then attempts to decontaminate the clothes he wears. It proves to be a little tricky at first, but she manages to succeed after a few tries.

He watches as Twilight casts the spell on him, feeling static electricity start to shock him all over. He manages to deal with the annoying sensation for a few seconds when they start to actually hurt quite a bit saying, "Ouch. Um I don't think this is working so well anymore, could you stop the spell? The static shocks are really starting to hurt."

She drops the spell and gasps asking, "I'm sorry for hurting you, are you alright? I don't know what went wrong with the spell, I cast it the way they taught me without changing it."

John smiles as the sensation ends then says, "Perhaps it is because of where I was born, but there are a variety of reasons it might have gone wrong. At least you got everything else cleansed of radiation, could you show me where your shower is so that I can get some decent sleep?"

Twilight nods her head saying, "I sure can, follow me. It is just down this hall a little ways, it is the only door that is different from the others."

He follows her down the hall, arriving just outside the unique door wondering if they have hot water here or not. Looking over to Twilight as she opens the door, he says, "Do you ponies have hot water or do you take cold showers?"

She looks up at him and giggles saying, "Don't be silly, of course we have hot water. We've had hot water for about 200 years now, though we only had showers for 40 years."

John smiles and looks at her saying, "Where can I find the towels?"

Twilight opens the door across from the bathroom and smiles saying, "Right here, and there is a basket for the used towels. Used wash rags go in there also but need to be wrung out first or they might leave puddles on the floor."

He then turns and heads back to his room saying, "Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you again for showing me kindness and letting me stay with you for a while until I get back on my feet."

As Twilight heads to her own room, she then stops and turns around saying, "Oh, I will set the soap the nurses gave me on the countertop beside the sink for you." and then heads towards the bathroom.

John then briefly stops and looks over his shoulder saying, "Okay, thank you for remembering that." and then returns to heading towards his room.

Two hours later, he exits the shower feeling like a new man and yawns saying, "I need to finish in here before I go to bed." He reaches in to grab the wet rag, then wrings the water out of it and tosses it into the basket. He then grabs the towel he brought into the room and dries himself off with it, then drops it to soak up any water that fell off him and onto the floor. With the water cleaned up, he tosses the towel into the basket as well and begins to get his underwear and socks on.

He tries to turn the light off but gives up when he doesn't see a button, then leaves the room when he notices that the light turned off and turns around. Seeing that it is actually off, he wonders how it happened thinking, 'Tomorrow, I will have to ask Twilight how the lights work.' He then continues on his way to bed.

Meanwhile, inside the throne room in Canterlot Castle

Luna wanders the dream realm, checking on her sleeping subjects' dreams. She smiles as she sees them dreaming of all kinds of things, like living in a house built out of food and candy or being everypony's hero. Pulling her head out from a dream, she heads to the next dream when she catches the faint smell of smoke coming from further down.

As she follows the faint, out-of-place smell, it gets a little stronger before fading away completely. Sighing as she loses the trail, she returns to checking on her subject's dreams.

While she spends another half hour checking on the dreams of her subjects, she notices that the smell has returned a little bit stronger than last time. Trotting down the hall hoping to find the source of the smell so she can deal with what is causing it.

The smell gets even stronger as she takes notice of a black door, riddled with small holes, long gashes and scratches. She wonders if this is where the smell is coming from, then moves towards the door to open it when it disappears a moment later. She sighs in irritation as she realizes that the pony belonging to this door is being startled awake by a particularly strong nightmare, and knows that she will require others to help.

Forced to wait a few minutes until the pony returns to sleep once more, Luna sees the damaged door appear again as smoke starts to filter through the holes. She opens the door and enters the dream, finding herself in a desert under the hot sun amidst a raging sandstorm as a figure stands on two legs trying to press forward to their target while grumbling about having to babysit a newbie on a dangerous mission. Recognizing the voice as Sgt. Benson, she squints her eyes to keep the sand out of them and continues to follow him as she takes notice of a second figure near John.

She follows the pair through the sandstorm, eventually getting through it and sees a large encampment in the distance when the other human speaks up. Immediately hearing their voice, Luna identifies it as female when they ask about this mission.

The female soldier looks at the NCO and asks, "So, what are we doing here exactly, Sergeant Benson?"

Sgt. Benson looks at the corporal and sighs saying, "You mean besides sweating our asses off? We are here to prevent the terrorists from getting their hands on some chemical warheads, our primary objective is to kill the ones in charge of this deal without leaving a trace that indicates we were responsible and gather intel about what they were intending to use them for as well as find out who made them. We are to complete our mission without being seen or heard. Welcome to the Graveyard Squad, newbie. Remember to always make your shots count when trying to kill someone stealthily because you might only get one."

Luna watches the dream or memory play out for a little bit as everything seems nightmare free before an unexpected arrival causes them to adjust their plan of attack.

He watches as the helicopter lands at the encampment and sees who gets out, a smile crosses his face when he sees the two brothers start making their way into the camp as the chopper takes off saying, "Well, well, isn't this a pleasant treat...the two brothers just arrived, and have no way back if we can manage to disable any means of escape."

The female looks at him with wide eyes saying, "T-The Scandere Brothers?! They are the most wanted terrorists in the entire world, we will most definitely kill both of them before this mission is complete."

John looks at the eager newbie trying to prove themselves and nods his head then responds, "Keep your head in the mission Corporal Saveen, there is no room for personal vendettas here. It clouds your judgment and impedes your intelligence, take a breath and calm the fuck down... That is an order."

Luna watches from afar as things go smoothly for an hour until an alarm sounds from within the camp followed by multiple smaller pops in rapid succession. A huge cloud of yellowish-green fog begins to spread throughout the camp, causing coughs and screams to be heard from within.

Sgt. Benson puts on his gas mask while hauling ass away from the camp, cursing under his breath over the mistake the corporal made.

Managing to shake off his pursuers, he stops on a hill a fair distance from the camp and looks towards the cloud of toxic gas spreading throughout the camp. He removes his gas mask and puts it away, then sighs heavily over what happened.

The princess watches curiously as John reaches into his pocket and pulls out a beaded necklace with two small tags on it along with a bundle of papers with a booklet, wondering, 'What...what happened to her?'

John looks down at her personal effects and sighs saying, "I'm sorry that I let you deal with those chemical weapons, this was my failure...not yours, soldier." then turns and heads away when a sudden bright flash and a loud boom blind him momentarily. When the light fades away, he looks at it and starts to scream.

Luna heads towards him to help calm him down, but is roughly ejected from the dream as he wakes up. She slams into the side of the corridor where the doors appear, grunting in pain from the impact.

It takes her a few seconds to return to her hooves, letting out a sad sigh saying, "Well, I will have to get the others to help me deal with this." Luna makes her way to where Twilight's, Applejack's, Rarity's, Fluttershy's, Rainbow's, and Pinkie's doors are located, then asks them to gather at Twilight's castle to help her deal with a nightmare that is plaguing Sgt. Benson. She then makes her way to the last pony's dream that she will need aid from, her sister.

Celestia is dreaming about eating a cake the size of a mountain when she spots her sister making her way towards her with a sullen look upon her face and asks, "Lulu, what has you so upset on this joyous day of celebration?"

She sighs and says, "I am sorry to intrude on your dream, Cece, but I am in need of your aid to deal with a nightmare that plagues Sgt. Benson and preventing him from getting any sleep. I need you to wake up and go to Twilight's castle when you are presentable."

Luna's sister gets a surprised look on her face and quickly nods her head saying, "Very well sister, I shall meet you there."

Luna then leaves her sister's dream and returns to her body, sighing as she feels the bruise forming from the impact against the corridor saying, "I hope this nightmare doesn't hurt the others." and then starts to teleport to Twilight's castle.

Twilight's castle in Ponyville, a few minutes later

Twilight stands in Spike's room, helping him return to bed after being scared awake by John's screams saying, "I'm sorry that you are unable to sleep due to John screaming like that when he wakes each time, let me cast a spell so that you can continue sleeping while the girls and I help Luna save John from nightmares." and starts to cast a silencing barrier to keep all sounds out.

Spike looks up at Twilight with a smile saying, "Thanks Twilight, wish I could help you all but I'm just so tired."

She smiles and says, "You're welcome Spike, goodnight."

He then yawns and stretches, then says, "Goodnight Twilight." while closing his eyes as he sees Twilight cast the spell."

Twilight then makes her way back to the others in the map room as she is startled by another terrified scream from John's room, causing her heart to race each time she hears it and says, "Don't worry John, help is on the way."

Luna watches as Rarity finishes making some tea to help everyone wake up a little when she sees Twilight return from putting Spike back to bed saying, "Is poor Spike finally back to sleep, Twilight?"

She nods her head saying, "He is, Princess Luna. I even cast a barrier so that he will not be woken by John's screams anymore, we can begin anytime you are ready."

The princess then looks at the pillow and blanket lying on top of the table saying, "Okay, I shall go get John and bring him here." She then looks at Twilight asking, "Could you show me to where his room is, Twilight?"

Twilight nods and makes her way to the hall saying, "Of course, it is right this way."

When they approach his room, they hear John scream once more. Luna and Twilight enter the room and wait for him to wake up screaming once more, happening a few minutes later as Luna does what she can to calm him down.

Luna stands beside the bed looking at John's body as it trembles from fright and says, "Seargent Benson, you are being plagued by a nightmare. It is using your memories to gain more power, will you let us allow us to enter your dream and deal with it so you can sleep peacefully?"

John looks at Luna while breathing quickly as his heart slows a little saying, "O-Okay, so what do you need me to do?"

She looks at him and says, "Right now, I would like you to follow me into the main hall of Twilight's castle. There is a table there for you to lay on with a blanket and a pillow on top of it to help make the table a little more comfortable. Then the next thing that I need you to do, though you may not want to, is to dream of what might be bothering you most."

He sighs shakily and says, "I-I don't really want to relive that hell. Is there any other way to handle it so I can sleep?"

Luna closes her eyes and shakes her head, then sighs saying, "I am sorry, but there is not. Everypony needs to face their fears or they will not be able to move forward in their lives."

John looks away at the wall for a few moments, then turns back to look at Princess Luna saying, "I don't want to burden you with what memories I have and what horrors await in them."

She continues to look at him with an unwavering look upon her face saying, "Fear is but an obstacle for one to overcome to reach their goal. I am determined to overcome whatever challenge that presents itself in order to serve the needs of my subjects."

He sees the determined look in her eyes and then looks ahead saying, "Okay then, don't say I didn't warn you beforehand. Let's go deal with this nuisance so I can finally get some sleep."

Luna leads the way to the main hall and then sees him lie down on the table, shifting her gaze to the others and saying, "Alright everypony, I will take us into the dream realm and guide you all to his dream so we can deal with the nightmare. Please spread out in a circle with the table in the center and lie down, I will then cast my spell to link us all together so we can wander the dream realm once you all are asleep." She then moves beside the table and looks at John saying, "Okay Seargent Benson, please close your eyes and try to dream of what you are avoiding." As he closes his eyes, she lies down beside him on the floor.

A few moments later as they sleep, Luna casts her spell to link everybody together. As Luna sees them all arrive in the wide corridor, she then begins to lead the others down the hall towards John's door.

John starts to relive the memory, finding himself cleaning his weapon as his superior approaches him. As he rises up and salutes him saying, "Afternoon, sir!"

Luna looks at the others as she reaches for the damaged door and says, "I do not know what is beyond this door, but we all will get through this together." and then opens the door and waits for the others to enter first, closing the door behind herself as she follows them through.

Celestia looks around the dark room, squinting at how little light there is and says, "Umm, dear sister, do you know what is going on? What is this place and why is it so dark?"

Luna looks around the pitch-black room and answers, "I know not what this room is, nor why it is so dark in here, but it is supposed to be what is bothering Seargent John."

Twilight tries to create a light to help them see better but finds herself unable to, leaving her shocked and worried. Twilight voices her worries by saying, "Umm, can anypony else use magic here?"

Having no idea of where they might be, Celestia and Luna both try to use magic but find they can't. Still unsure of whomever's dream they were in, they look around for another door. A sourceless light appears and starts to brighten up the room bit by bit when Luna lets out a gasp in surprise, causing everypony to turn their eyes to what she found.

Luna stares in shock at what stands before her, it is a massive pair of black stone doors with heavy iron chains sealing them both firmly, with what looks like blood running in rivulets down from the cracks in the doors and their frame. But the most disturbing thing that draws her attention are the two large skeletal figures that stand on either side of each door holding harvester's scythes, ominously guarding the door against any who seeks entry.

Twilight moves to huddle against Celestia and Applejack, nearly frozen in fear at seeing such a dangerous-looking door. Twilight shakes while looking at the horrifying door, moving tighter against Celestia for safety.

When the two giant skeletons slowly turn their heads to the group, they gasp in fright when bright red orbs fade into existence as the skeleton on the left speaks. "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here, for there is naught but fear, misery, and torment beyond these doors. Turn back now before it is too late to return with thy sanity.”

Luna steps forward, answering, "We will not turn back, Seargent Benson needs my help."

The bright red orbs in the second skeletal figure's eyes light up this time, saying, "Art thou serious upon gaining entry to Hell?"

Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy frantically bite their hooves in fear upon hearing the two skeletal figures speak, not knowing what else to do, they watch Luna as she says, "I am most serious, open the door now please."

The two skeletal figures put their scythes on their backs as they step down from their podiums and walk slowly to the heavy doors, then lean against them and start to push with great effort. With a creaking groan, the doors slowly open as some blood rushes out towards the ponies, making Rarity and Fluttershy faint at the sight as the doors open away from them. As the doors open fully, the blood returns to the door to form a wall of blood they had to walk through to enter John's dream.

The ones that didn't faint from fear gulp loudly as Luna looks at them over her right shoulder and says, "Let's go my little ponies, we have a nightmare to deal with."

Twilight picks up Fluttershy and carries her on her back as Applejack picks up Rarity and carries her the same way Twilight is, then follows the others as they pass the skeletal figures easily as tall as the town hall in Ponyville with the doorway being the same height of the main gate of Canterlot's outer wall. Their eyes are drawn to the guardian on the right as they say, "Fare thee well on thy journey, little ones."

Getting through the door without fainting, Pinkie lets out a sigh of relief as she looks around at the nightmarish world they are in. "Over there!" Pinkie shouts as she hears somepony talking. Making their way to the scene, they all are shocked at who they see before them. Before them is Sgt. John Winston Benson as he kneels beside somepony injured.

Rarity and Fluttershy slowly recover from their fright and take notice of the devastation around them as Rarity trembles while Fluttershy hides behind Applejack's flanks. She sees the two humans talking and then continues to look at the wrecked buildings that burn wildly as large metal objects have been hurled into them or just flipped over and says, "Oh good heavens, this place is so dreary and dreadful! Nopony's nightmares could ever be this bad."

Rainbow looks on at their surroundings and nods her head saying, "Yeah, this nightmare is easily the worst one in our world."

Everypony's eyes tear up as Luna says, "They cannot see us, for we are in a memory. We must watch this until it becomes a nightmare."

Twilight looks around at the area saying, "This is a memory! Unbelievable, this is definitely a nightmare if I ever saw one. Look around us Luna, there is nothing here but burning and uprooted trees, destruction, and debris."

Luna looks at Twilight and sighs sadly, saying, "I know Twilight, but this is still his memory of what must have happened to his world." As she watches the events unfold, she starts to understand the pain he must be in as they approach a large brick building that has a portion of it burning wildly as the front of the building has partially collapsed.

They follow John through the window and into the room, gasping and freezing in place when they see the poor female's corpse turned into charcoal. The terrible sight and the foul smell cause them all to gag, as Luna hurries them into the next area.

The area turns out to be a hall with bodies littering it, some being torn in half as Applejack and Twilight throw up while Rarity carries Fluttershy after she fainted at the state of that female's corpse.

There is a brief period of happiness as John meets the armorer but is destroyed as they stand outside, seeing what's happening to the world around them as they look at the numerous mushroom clouds as nuclear weapons continue to detonate in the distance, hurting their eyes briefly.

Everypony starts to sniffle and cry as John arrives at his girlfriend's apartment, now a massive crater. "Get ready everypony, it has begun," Luna says as familiar forms start to appear around them and approach John one by one.

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO KEEP THE DEVICE SAFE SERGEANT JACKASS BENSON! I'M VERY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU JOHN, YOU FAILED ME!" John's captain yelled.

Celestia speaks first saying, "John did not fail you, sir, he remembered he was a soldier and protected those who were innocent and defenseless."

The young female's corpse crawls her way towards John yelling, "You disgrace, you didn't even have enough common decency to put a sheet over my body when you found it that way, what a heartless and remorseless monster you are?!"

Twilight replies, "He was given an important mission, he couldn't afford to stop and put sheets over everypony he came across, or he too might have died."

The armorer, Corporal Newman steps forward yelling, "You left me behind you asshole, you abandoned me, and left me for dead, what a great friend you are."

John snaps out of his devastated state and answers, "You're right, I did leave you behind because I had something that needed to be kept safe. You could have followed me when I left, but you stayed there to keep yourself safe."

Just then the smoke from the fires starts to gather into a single spot, creating a strange figure that looks like John and starts walking forward saying, "You are absolutely evil to have decided to use the device on creatures that were of no concern to you. I bet you just had to know what it could actually do, despite the risk to those you were supposedly protecting. You don't really give a flying fuck about them do you, DO YOU!!??"

Applejack jumps in between John and the smokey creature saying, "Now hold up ya creep, John here may have used the device, but he had no other choice if he wanted to get everypony out safely. He saved harmony when the thing went off, takin' care of a big threat to our world, provin' to us that he really does care."

With a horrifying shriek, the figures surrounding them burst into mist and vanish, leaving Luna to sigh in relief and say, "We all managed to defeat the nightmare, we should return before he wakes."

After making their way back from the dream realm, they begin to wake up from their fight with the nightmare. Watching as John slowly opens his eyes yawning. "That was quite the interesting experience I had, I never knew you could actually deal with nightmares. Your sister mentioned that if I had any nightmares, I would meet her. When she said that, I thought that she would come to me and sing me a lullaby or something like that." John states.

Luna returns to her hooves chuckling softly as she blushes while the others burst out laughing at the thought of her doing that, rolling her eyes at their behavior saying, "Yes, we all were there to save you from the nightmare. It is a part of my special ability to enter the dreams of ponies to save them from their nightmares."

Rainbow sputters and says, "Princess Luna may have a really nice voice, but you are not that young anymore!"

Celestia controls her laughter and hides a blush while answering, "That is certainly true, though it would be quite the experience if she did that for somepony."

She smiles and looks at John saying, "Allow me to formally introduce myself, Seargent Benson. "I am Princess Luna, I am in charge of raising and lowering the moon and keeping ponies safe from bad dreams at night, I also rule Equestria alongside my sister, Princess Celestia."

John sits up and turns his eyes to Princess Luna, noticing she has wings and a horn just like her sister then says, "Outside of any formal or military nature, please call me John." He then says, "Okay Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, that goes for the rest of you as well." while looking at each of the princesses first before shifting his gaze to the other girls in the room. He then returns to looking at Princess Luna's appearance, seeing a dark blue coat with a very dark cornflower blue splotch on her rump underneath a picture of a white crescent moon. Her eyes are a moderate cyan complemented by her mane and tail having a moderate sapphire blue with a grayish perusian blue outline.

Luna looks to everyone around her as they nod and agree and sees them start to yawn, then returns her gaze to John saying, "Very well then John, the same goes for me if you ever see me outside of official matters."

Celestia then quickly nods her head saying, "I would like to request the same as my sister had said."

She then smiles and briefly looks at her sister before looking to the others and saying, "Since the trouble has been dealt with, you all should return home and get some sleep. I have to return to my patrol of the dream realm before it is time to begin the day."

He watches as they all say goodnight to each other and to him, and responds in kind before rising off the map table and then making his way back to his room while Rarity folds up the blanket and Pinkie takes the pillow.

A few seconds after the sun appears just above the Eastern horizon

John wakes up and stretches his stiff body out with a few warmup exercises, then gets started on his morning run. He searches through his clothing and just having a single pair of shorts and a grey, short-sleeved shirt with Army in big black letters across the chest. He continues to dig through his stuff and finds his jogging shoes, then changes into his PT uniform and heads towards the main hall to get some exercise.

Owlowicious rests on a perch in the corner of the room as he hears someone walking through the halls, watching the door silently as the newest guest of his owner enters his vision. Curious as to where he is going, he hoots to get his attention.

He hears someone say who and then stops to look around saying, "Huh, I'm just getting some exercise...do you...need something?"
His eyes then land on an owl perched in the corner of the room and says, "I'm guessing you must be Twilight's assistant, your name is Owlowiscious if I am not mistaken."

Owlowiscious hoots again and nods his head ever so slightly, keeping his gaze on the new guest curiously.

John returns to heading to the door saying, "Alright then, see you later." and then heads out the door, closing it silently before taking off on his morning run.

A few hours later at Twilight's castle

Twilight stirs as something bright hits her eyelid, making her roll onto her other side...only to fall off the edge of the bed saying, "Wah!" She then picks herself up off the floor and scowls at the window thinking, 'Thanks for the sudden wake-up Princess Celestia... I always like waking up whenever I fall out of bed.' she then grumbles a little bit and starts to head to the kitchen when she hears noises coming from John's room and then stops by his door and looks inside to see him doing something to one of his weapons and asks, "Morning John, what are you doing to your weapon?"

John briefly looks up from his M249 that he is putting back together after fully cleaning it saying, "Morning Twilight, oh nothing much. I'm just reassembling this M249 after taking it completely apart and giving each of the parts a thorough cleaning, would you like to learn how to take it apart and put it back together?"

She smiles and nods her head eagerly saying, "I definitely would, but I need to take care of my morning routine first. Is that okay with you?"

After Twilight returns from her morning routine, John spends a couple of hours teaching her how to disassemble and reassemble the weapon to satisfy her curiosity.

John watches Twilight try to reassemble the M249 without his assistance then looks at the pile of his belongings on the floor, deciding to get started on it saying, "Well, this room won't organize itself so I may as well start on it." He then looks to Twilight and chuckles saying, "Enjoy the fun of getting it back together Twilight while I organize my things around this room." He sees her concentrating on the weapon parts and simply mumbles 'uh-huh', making him chuckle at her determination and single-minded focus on her current project.

John starts organizing by gathering his uniforms first and placing them in a couple of dresser drawers after folding them up one by one, then moves onto his PT uniform and puts them in a different drawer. He then moves onto his underwear and socks then puts them in the empty drawer on the right side.

He then moves to the wardrobe and begins stacking the few MREs he has on the top shelf of it, making sure to leave some space. Looking the wardrobe over, John sees no suitable spot to hang his helmet and vest. He sighs and sets them both on the floor of the wardrobe with the helmet on top of the thin mesh equipment vest that lays on top of the kevlar vest.

John then places the ammo cans side by side in the wardrobe next to his kevlar vest, with the remaining belt ammo for his M249 on top of the two cans. Taking the NVG off his helmet, he places it in the space beside the MREs.

He then looks through his remaining stuff and places it on various shelves around the room, then moves his books to a shelf and sets a bookend on either side of the two books before hanging his rucksack on a wooden coat rack with three hooks on it.

Twilight finishes reassembling the weapon and looks up at John asking, "Hey John, I think I finished reassembling this M249. Could you double-check it for me?"

John looks down at the M249 and then sits on the floor saying, "I can do that, just one moment." He then grabs the weapon and moves it in front of him, then sets it down to begin checking it over.

As he looks the weapon over, she looks around the room and sees that he has placed his things in various places around the room. As she looks at what he has, she becomes curious if he needs anything to make his stay more comfortable and asks, "Hey John, I was just wondering if there was anything that you might need to make yourself more comfortable living here?" Her eyes pass over a shelf with two books on it that he must have brought with him from his world. Unable to resist the urge to read them, she asks, "I'm terribly sorry but can I borrow one of those books you have up there on the shelf? I have read every book in this library and Canterlot's library at least three times. I have even went to the ruins of The Castle of Two Sisters' library and brought back any books that Celestia and Luna permitted me to take from there." Twilight then looks at John with big puppy dog eyes, hoping that he would let her read at least one of them.

After thinking for a second he chuckles and says, "Go right ahead and knock yourself out, you can read them both if you like. After all, I just forgot to unpack them from my previous mission." He then remembers how uncomfortable the bed was to sleep in and then finishes reassembling the weapon and says, "You finally got it back together correctly Twilight. Now that you mention it, I could use a bigger and longer bed since I'm a different size than you ponies are if that won't be too much trouble."

Smiling from ear to ear, Twilight buzzes with happiness at getting two completely new books to read. Using her magic to gently bring the books to her. She then looks back at him and says, "Thank you, John. That is not a problem at all, we will have to go to Carousel Boutique first, and then Sweet Apple Acres. Please follow me and I will take you there." She then gets up and prepares to exit the room, making sure to bring the two books with her.

John sets the weapon to the side of the room, considering the town to be a safe zone in the field and grabs his ACU cap then places it in his cargo pocket on his right leg. He then stands up and follows her out of the room and down the hall saying, "Lead the way Twilight." and then closes the door to his room behind him.

Reaching the main hall where the friendship map table is, Twilight notices Spike reading a comic and snacking on a bowl of gems. As she sets the two books down gently, she says, "Good Morning Spike, could you make sure that nothing happens to these books I borrowed from John while I'm gone?"

Hearing Twilight and John in the room, Spike looks up from his comic to see her set down the books she borrowed saying, "Sure thing Twilight, I will make sure these books stay in the condition that you borrowed them in." then promptly returns to his comic.

Twilight smiles and answers Spike, saying, "Thank you, Spike, I knew I could count on you to keep these books from John's world safe while we go get him a bigger bed to sleep in." and heads towards the doors to visit Rarity's Carousel Boutique. As she led the way there, other ponies stopped to look at the strange, tall new creature in Ponyville.

As he follows Twilight, John chuckles at himself for putting his cap on his head in habit saying, "I guess old habits die hard."

On their way to the boutique, Twilight looks up at John and cocks her head asking, "What do you mean, John?"

Still walking, he looks at Twilight and says, "You see Twilight, soldiers like me wear this ACU cap when in the field or at the motor pool where the military vehicles are parked. During ceremonies, special events, and whenever they are on the base, they wear a black beret. Headgear, meaning caps, berets, or helmets, are not allowed to be worn indoors."

Rarity sighs in annoyance when she hears somepony knock on her door as she works on complicated outfit designs for Sassy Saddles and Sapphire Shores. Reluctantly setting down the patterns, she then heads to the door. She opens it and is surprised as she sees John and Twilight paying her shop a visit, saying, "Oh please come on in you two, don't be shy. What can fashion extraordinaire Rarity do for you this fine evening?"

Twilight chuckles as she and John enter the shop, saying, "Well, Rarity, we decided to stop by to ask for your help in making some bed sheets and a mattress casing for a bigger bed that we will ask Applejack to build for John because he is so much bigger than we are. I will ask Applejack if she can let you know when she gets ready to start on the mattress for the cover to be sown over it. Would that be alright with you, Rarity?"

Rarity had a big smile plastered on her face upon hearing Twilight's request, making her clap her hooves together quickly. With ideas beginning to fly around in her head, Rarity could hardly wait to get started on the new order, she then quickly answered Twilight's question by saying, "That would be just marvelous Twilight, since that will give me the chance to finally get two urgent orders out of my mane. That will also allow Sweetie Belle and I to work together to come up with a few designs to use for your special order. Is there an urgent need for these soon?"

Seeing how excited Rarity is at getting a special order, John answers, "Not really, I can get by for now with the smaller bed, but will need it within two weeks or I will start to suffer from lack of good sleep."

Rarity continues to smile at hearing his relaxed deadline request, then asks, "Thank you, that is more than enough time to make a complete set of bedding and include a few pillows with the order. Do you have any requirements as to what material is used or how soft the pillows must be?"

Thinking for a moment, John answers, "Only thing I ask is that you make the sheets as smooth as you can and the pillows as soft as you are able to."

As she looks up at John with a wide smile, she says, "That will be no problem at all John. Also, because you have never visited Equestria before, that you will soon become the newest official resident in Ponyville, and also, for the fact that you saved the lives of ponies everywhere by destroying that monster Chrysalis, I shall not charge for this order. I will not be persuaded otherwise darling, so don't bother trying to change my mind." Lifting her nose into the air and turning her head to the side to show her resolve, Rarity smiles and gives John a sidelong glance.

Hearing what Rarity just said leaves John stunned as he then says, "I am speechless with your gift, there is no doubt that you are truly selfless. Generosity definitely suits you miss Rarity."

Getting such a compliment from John causes Rarity to blush as she tries to make a polite exit saying, "Well I appreciate you both visiting me. I must continue working on the urgent orders so that I can finish them and start working on your order. Don't be a stranger now darling, feel free to drop by Carousel Boutique for anything fabric related you may need in the future, have a good day you two!" Rarity waves a hoof goodbye at Twilight and John before swiftly returning to her orders.

As they let Rarity get back to her order, Twilight and John exit the boutique and start heading towards Sweet Apple Acres to ask Applejack for her help.

As they arrive at Sweet Apple Acres a few minutes later, Twilight and John search for where Applejack might be. Finding her bucking ripe apples off a tree, John looks to the right and sees a few strangely colored apples on a few trees a couple hundred yards away. As John approaches Applejack, he waves at her saying with a chuckle, "Hi there Applejack, having fun with the apple harvest?"

With her back hooves landing back on the ground, Applejack looks at the two of them saying, "Barrels of fun, would ya mind lendin' a hand fer these last few trees?"

Twilight smiles and says, "We sure can Applejack, we have a request to ask of you after this." and starts to grab empty barrels and place them under the last few trees. She and John start picking the ripe apples and placing them in the barrels gently so they don't bruise.

Applejack watches John as he treats the apples with great care, bringing a smile to Applejack's face as they finish up the last few trees. When she and Twilight finish moving the full barrels over to the barn, Applejack asks, "What can ah do ya fer?"

Before Twilight can tell Applejack about their request, John looks at the odd apples on the trees and asks, "What type of apples are those striped ones over there Applejack? I have never seen their kind before in my world."

She looks at the trees bearing the apples John is talking about and smiles saying, "Why those right there are called zap apples, mah brother had to harvest them without me when Twi came to get me for a mission. They can only be harvested once per season, and the season is a very short one at that, lastin' only five days once they ripen. They disappear after the fifth day if you don' git 'em picked, they do zap you if you try to buck 'em off the trees if they aren't yet ripe. Ah'll tell ya more bout 'em at a later time because ah'm fallin' behind in the harvest due to the amount of regular apple trees bein' ripe."

John smiles as an idea forms in his head and says, "Not a problem Applejack, I'm sure that Twilight wouldn't mind helping you get all caught up with the harvest. One day if I get my own place, I would love to try an experiment with a few of the zap apples after I set things up."

Applejack sighs happily when she sees Twilight nodding her head with a smile and smiles back at them saying, "Ah greatly appreciate and accept your offer. Ah'll owe ya fer yer help with finishin' the harvest."

Twilight sees a chance to even the scales favor for favor and says, "Applejack, I'm glad that you could use our help with the rest of the harvest because we came here to ask if you would build a bigger bed and a mattress for John since he is much larger than us ponies are."

Smiling at how she can repay their kindness, Applejack says, "Ah sure can handle that fer ya. Do ya have any special requests fer the details on the bed or mattress, John?"

Smiling back at Applejack, he replies, "The only two things that I ask is that the top half be as soft and fluffy as possible with the bottom half being small bundles of straw, and also would appreciate it greatly if a way could be found to prevent the straw from poking my skin. Unlike you ponies, we humans don't have thicker hides like you or the hair that makes up your coats."

She takes a small drink of water saying, "That is simple enough, is there a date that ya need this to be finished by?"

Twilight looks at Applejack and says, "Within two weeks if it isn't too much trouble, Applejack. We asked Rarity to make the sheets and mattress cover, and we also told her that we would ask you if you could let her know when you were ready to start on the mattress so that you two can finish it together."

Applejack smiles at the relaxed deadline for the request and says, "Ah can sure handle that much, ah can even git Big Mac and Apple Bloom ta help me build it and put it together fer ya after it's finished." Taking some time, Applejack and Twilight use a tape measure to find out how tall, wide, and long to make the bed frame.

After Applejack writes his measurements down, John follows the two girls to help the Apples finish the zap apple harvest.