A/N
Once again a shout out to Wubwave and MasterBrony2012 for proofreading the chapter!
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Name: MSG. Adam “Shifty” Smith
Date: August 18, 2015
Location: Outside Carousel Boutique
Time: 0926
Adam looked from side to side at the different ponies trotting around minding their own business, the bright colors still uncomfortable to look at, seeing if his earlier engagement had caused any further trouble to follow him. Satisfied that nothing was currently looking for him, he looked back at the three other ponies following him. Pinkie Pie was sporting her famous ear to ear grin while bouncing around, Fluttershy seemed to be trying to hide herself behind her mane while still keeping an eye on his bandaged leg, and lastly Rainbow Dash who was still giving him funny looks that he couldn’t quite make heads or tails of.
Well I never was much for my people skills anyways.
“Well, though I said I would be going to the clinic to get my leg taken care of, I do not actually know where that is. Would any of ya’ll be so kind as to show me, please?”
Rainbow Dash looked like she was about to say something again before being quickly cut off again but this time by Pinkie screaming, “Ooh oh me me me, I’ll show you, pick me!”
Rainbow Dash just huffed and crossed her forelegs in irritation at being ignored again that day. Adam just let out a sigh which was then followed by the sound of the pink pony’s springy steps taking the lead. He followed close behind her limping as he did so, the pain wasn’t bad but it still was not fun to walk with. Rainbow Dash on the other hand took to the sky and hovered right above them never going to far away and Fluttershy followed next him on his left.
With Pinkie Pie showing him the way there it didn’t take them to long but still longer than he would have liked since she would stop every once and awhile to show him something. When they finally got there he noticed that the clinic was not all that big, but then again neither was the town. He pushed open the doors and went to the front counter where he saw a pony dressed in a nurse’s uniform and appeared to be filing some paperwork.
No matter where you go there is always paperwork to be done. Fun.
As they approached the nurse picked her head up from the papers and gave them a warm greeting.
“Hello my name is nurse Redheart. How can I be of assistance to you today?”
“Yes, sorry to interrupt but I need to have my leg looked at and possibly stitched.”
The nurse gave him a look over before settling on the mentioned leg, her eyes widened at the sight of the reddening bandage. “I see, follow me to an empty room and we will have that fixed up in no time at all.”
“Thank ya’ll ma’am.”
She quickly guided them to a room down the hall on the right and past several doors before coming to a halt in front of an open door.
“If you would wait in here for a moment the doctor will see you shortly.”
Without waiting for a reply she turned and walked down a different hall to find the doctor in question. Adam went into the rather large room and found the examination table for him to sit on and a few cushions for the others. Working his way onto the bed he sat there in the manner that he saw Lyra sitting getting a curious look from Rainbow Dash while Pinkie just sat down in a fit of giggles and Fluttershy went around the room looking for some new bandages to replace the ones he was already bleeding through.
Shortly after the shy little pegasus had managed to replace the bandages on his leg again, a bright orange colored unicorn doctor walked in.“Hello, my name is Doctor Medicine. I hear that you have an injury that needs to be looked at. If you would, please place your leg over here,” he indicated by patting a spot closer to himself, “and I’ll see what needs to be done.”
I swear some of these pony names have no imagination or their parents were really good at guessing their children’s choice in occupation.
Following the directions of the doctor he placed his leg down near the doctor, who then began to unbandage it carefully.
While examining the wound the doctor asked, “How did you manage to receive such an injury?”
Watching the doctor for his reaction Adam replied, “I got into a little fight with some of the animals in the woods over there. One of them just so happened to get me with it’s claws in the end.”
The doctor raised an eyebrow at his remarks and said, “You’re saying that you went into the Everfree Forest and picked a fight with the dangerous animals that it inhabits and all you got were these cuts. What did you fight in there?”
Adam shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know it was sort of wolf like thing made of wood. And to be fair two of them I put down as soon as they stepped out into the open.”
The doctor just stared at him now baffled at what he just said before looking at the other three mares in the room for confirmation. They shook their heads and gave Adam a sideways glance out of fear as they remembered the events.
“W-well after looking over your injury I have to say, this will require a few stitches.”
Fantastic.
“I’ll be right back with the needed supplies.”
Adam watched as the doctor went out the door calling for the nurse again for assistance. He let out a soft sigh and scratched the side of his head anxiously, this wasn’t going to be fun at all. Pinkie noticed this and began hopping over to, smile still ever present.
“Don’t worry Shifty it won’t be bad and when he is done you’ll be good as new!” A gasp escaped her lips as a light bulb could be seen going off inside her head which only made her impossibly large smile all the larger. “When we leave I can then throw you a Glad-Your-Leg-Is- All-Better party along with your Welcome-To-Equestria party! Its going to be so much fun!”
He had to lean away from the overly excited pink ball of energy as she had come within inches of his face now, all thoughts of personal space never seeming to cross her mind.Glancing over to Rainbow Dash, who was trying to suppress a bout of laughter, he asked, “Hey Rainbow Dash can ya’ll do me a small favor?”
Rainbow Dash was finally able to control her laughter and reply, “Huh oh ya sure what is it?”
“Can ya’ll go and see if the guards have arrived yet, I doubt it would take them too long to get here.”
Rainbow Dash gave him a quick nod and started heading towards the door, but once her head was out she stopped and turned back. “I don’t think that is going to be necessary. I just saw them heading this way as well as the doctor and nurse.”
“Ok then nevermind. Now the real fun begins.”
Nurse Redheart and Doctor Medicine were the first to walk in, giving worried glances to each other as he could guess they knew something was wrong but not what. Adam could see three guards at the door and saw as one motioned for the other two to stay outside as he went in. Adam made a mental note that all three guards looked the exact same with white coats of fur, he would ask Twilight about that later.
The pegasus guard that walked in looked at all the ponies present before he settled on Adam and asked, “Are you the pony that caused the incident over in the market?”
“Yes, I am the one who was in the fight earlier.”
“My name is Lieutenant Light Blade, and I have some questions for you.
At the mention of his rank Adam unconsciously stiffened and had to stop himself from saluting the pony in front of him. This didn’t escape the Lieutenant’s eye as he raised an eyebrow at the action.
“Lets begin shall we, why were you fighting those three ponies earlier?”
“I only fought them because no one else seemed willing to take the time and help, so I did what I thought was right.”
The guard gave him a stern gaze before stating, “If you thought that the mare being harassed needed help then you should have retrieved the local guards. We do not take kindly to vigilante justice and the only reason we haven’t arrested you as it is is because you were doing it in the defense of somepony else. Your luck that a Miss Lyra Heartstring and a Miss Ditzy Doo were there to defend you since you left the scene and why did you leave the scene anyways?” Adam huffed in irritation at the statement, he just couldn’t seem to get away from the lectures.
“I left so that I could calm myself and still take care of the few things that I had wanted to take care of today.”
The guard gave a nod of understanding never taking his eyes off Adam before asking, “From your earlier reaction I take it you are or were a guard pony?”
“Yes and no, sir.”
Old habits die hard.
“Yes and no?”
“I have never been a guard in the sense that ya’ll are thinking. Where I am from, I server in my country’s military.”
“So you are not from Equestria, then where are you from?”
“I am from a country known as the United States of America, which before you ask is quite far away from here and I don’t think ya’ll have heard of it.”
“What brings a foreign military pony to our country?”
“I wish I could tell you, but even I don’t know. I just woke up and found myself here, when I should be dead.”
This last statement made the Lieutenant pause for a second as the gears in his head spun in order to understand. “What do you mean you should be dead?”
“Before coming here I was engaged with enemy units while providing overwatch for a convoy. We were taking fire when I was forced to relocate but was hit by an RPG before I could do so.”
His story seemed to get the attention of all those present, even that of the nurse and doctor who were almost finished with their work on sewing up his leg. This slight pause allowed him to notice that Twilight, Applejack, Lyra, and the grey pony, he now knew was Ditzy, had made it into the room now and Twilight had started taking more notes on what he was saying.
“What is an RPG?”
“RPG stands for Rocket Propelled Grenade, they are an explosive that is normally used to take out armored units such as tanks and other transport vehicles. They are cheap to make and easy to mass produce and the enemy uses it to great effect, for themselves anyway not so much for us. That is why I said I should be dead.”
The guard looked him up and down as if trying to see any evidence of his claim, but found nothing.
“Well you look perfectly fine from what I can see, except for the leg. Did you get that injury from the fight you were in, eyewitnesses say that you were stabbed in the chest by the knife used by the unicorn, but you don’t seem to have been stabbed.”
“This injury was sustained while in the forest yesterday and my vest was able to catch the blade of the knife before any damage could be done.”
Light Blade trotted over to Adam in order to examine the vest and see what exactly it was made of. He saw that the vest, which was made up of some sort of fabric, covered his chest and other vital areas while allowing him most of his range of motion. There were pockets and areas to clip things onto it and two holes for his wings to poke through. The colors on both the vest and the clothes were the same but they had a strange blocky pattern that he didn’t recognize.
“You said you received that injury in the forest? Why were you in there?” Light Blade pointed at the leg while it was being stitched, raising an eye brow.
“That is where I woke up and was found by these ponies here.”
“Do you know what it was that attacked you?”
“All I know is that it was some wolf like things, but they’re nothing to worry about anymore.”
“And why is that?”
“While defending myself and others I fought and killed them.”
Light Blade closed his eyes and let out a sigh before saying, “That was very dangerous but from what you have said, there was no other option. I will have to inform my superiors of this and you. You are to refrain from any vigilante actions, otherwise you will be arrested. This is your only warning.”
If Adam knew what the title ‘Royal Guard’ meant, then his superiors would be that of royalty. This was not how he wished to be known by the government, but maybe he could contact them before they could be alerted by the report.
“I understand and will follow the laws of this kingdom.”
The pegasus guard gave a nod before departing, taking the other two guards with him. With their departure Adam was able to take a sigh of relief and look down at his leg again. He had been reluctant from looking at, not wanting to acknowledge the damage he had done to it. He would have to take things slow with it and knew that even though it was now stitched up it would still hurt. Doctor Medicine on the other hand was making his way to the door as well, finding himself no longer needed, while Nurse Redheart was watching him closely.
When Adam looked at her, she took on a tone that broached no argument, ”Now you must take things easy until your leg has the chance to heal fully. Don’t do anything that will overexert it or you have the possibility of rupturing the stitches.”
“I understand ma’am. I’ll hold off on anything that will cause it to reopen.”
Redheart’s eyes narrowed as she stared at him. “Honest, I swear,” he held up his forelegs in the air for emphasis.
He could hear the giggles and laughter from the mares in the room as the nurse turned and left. It took a few moments for the mares to control their laughter before Ditzy walked over to him with a small grin on her face and looked him in the eyes, he could only guess as her eyes didn’t both seem to do so.
“I just wanted to thank you for helping me before, even when it got you into trouble. Nopony else would help me like you did, so I brought you something.”
This caught him off guard as he didn’t expect for her to even be here let alone give him something. He would have been lying if he said that he wasn’t looking forward to his reward, the little kid inside him jumping up and down. What he also didn’t expect was for her to bring out a container that was filled to the brim with muffins out of her mailbags.
“Muffins,” exclaimed the grey pegasus with a foolish grin on her face. “I didn’t know what kind you liked so I brought as many different kinds as I could! There is a blueberry, a banana, a strawberry-”
Her list of the different muffins went on for several minutes before he stopped her with a hoof.
“Thank ya’ll for your gift, ya’ll didn’t have to bring me anythin’ as thanks, your words alone would have been enough.”
“I was more than happy to give you something for the trouble I put you through.”
His stomach growled loudly as he eyed the food, he hadn’t eaten that morning or the previous day for that matter.
“Well I will gladly accept ya’lls gift.”
He took one of the muffins from the top and took a bite then quickly consumed the rest of the muffin enjoying the taste and texture, it was perfect.
“These are really good, thank ya’ll again.”
He hopped off the examination table looking towards Twilight and asked, “Is it alright if we head back to ya’lls place? I need to perform some maintenance on my gear and there are somethings I would like to ask while there.”
“Sure, we can go back right now, there are some questions I would like to ask you too.”
“Can I come along too?”
Adam and Twilight turned to see that it was Lyra who had asked the question.
“As long as it is alright with Twilight I have no problems with ya’ll coming along to learn about where I am from.” He looked over to Twilight whose eyes had lit up like a little kids on christmas morning. “Something tells me she doesn’t mind if you come along.”
“Thank you, I watched how you fought those ponies and after hearing what you have been through I just wanted to know more.”
“Then off we go, the sooner we get there the sooner we can begin asking questions.”
With that they all began walking out the door with Pinkie Pie taking the lead again bouncing all the way there. He still had a slight limp in his walk but he was still able to move around without a problem. The walk back was uneventful except for the glances he was getting from the passing ponies. He could hear some faint whispering from them as well and he had a good feeling he knew what they were talking about. Something would have to be done to make his appearance, he was representing his people to them and he wasn’t trained to be a diplomat. There were a lot of things wrong with the situation he found himself in and he knew that if his government found out that he had gotten into a fight with the local civilians of an unknown country, or where ever it was he had ended up in, he would never see the light of day again.
Upon entering the library again Adam went up stairs and grabbed his gear bringing it back downstairs. He knew he could do this in his room, but he wanted to get some of the questions done while he went over his weapons. Twilight looked over his gear as he began unloading the bags on a table, making notes of everything she saw so she could ask about them. The others sat down on various cushions in the room making themselves comfortable, expecting to be there for a while, they knew how Twilight could get with her search for knowledge.
It didn’t take Adam long to find the cleaning supplies he needed for the rifles and was even surprised to find his and Steve’s Ipod in one of the pockets on Steve’s bag. He was reluctant about playing it since he had no way of recharging it, and after checking the battery he had a few hours worth of power in it. He laid it back down as he grabbed the Chey Tac Intervention and began disassembling it. He examined each part making sure they weren’t damaged from their rough treatment and oiled the moving parts that need it. Removing the destroyed scope he watched as pulverised glass pour out of the holes, it was beyond repair and he would have to find something to replace it. He went at a slower pace than he would normally do this but without fingers it was harder. He then reassembled the rifle and again disassembled repeatedly until he was able to do it much faster. This process was repeated for each of the rifles and his pistol, he even sharpened the knives.
Twilight was standing over his shoulder watching his every movement asking questions along the way about each piece he removed and examined. By the time he had finished with his maintanance she had enough notes to fill a book. She had seen him earlier set a rectangular object down after he did something to it. Walking over to it she could see that on one side it was white and on the other was a reflective surface that read Ipod on it. She picked it up with her magic and found a small button on the edge and pushed it. She was surprised to find that a small window lit up and she could see a bunch of words scroll across it.
She looked over to Adam and asked, “What is this ‘Ipod’ thing do?”
Adam gently took it out of her magical grasp and said, “This allows me to play music that I have stored in it. Me and Steve bought it so we could listen to something while being transported or if we were having to sit around for long periods of time.”
“How does this little thing work? What kinds of songs do you like? Why...”
He put a hoof up to silence her, “Why don’t I just explain the whole thing to ya’ll? Instead of answering one question at.”
“That would be great,” Twilight exclaimed clopping her hooves together.
He went through the bags again finding just what he was looking for. Grabbing two rectangular objects from the bag and plugged them into the Ipod. He spun the wheel on the front before stopping on a song he liked and smiled.
“Who here likes rock music?”
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a cyan pegasus perk her ears up. The smile on his face only growing.
“well I hope ya’ll enjoy.”
He hit the play button and sat back and enjoyed.
“What kind of instruments were those, I recognize the drums but not the others?” Rainbow Dash’s face had a large grin, nodding her head in excitement.
“Well in the song they used an instrument called a guitar, which I’m not surprised ya’ll don’t have. Without fingers it would be very hard to strum and pick at the strings.”
“Wait wait wait. What do you mean fingers?!”
For a quiet pony she could be quite loud when she wanted to as well as fast. Practically yelling she rushed up to him, with the same excitement he had seen in Twilight’s eyes when she was questioning him in Lyra’s.
“Uh, well for humans it is common for us to have fingers.”
“But you a pony not a human and I have seen pictures of them in old myth books.”
Now isn’t that ironic, they’re a myth to us and us to them.
“Well I wasn’t always a pony, that didn’t happen until I somehow got here.”
“Oh oh oh oh oh, I need to introduce you to a friend of mine! Her name is Bon Bon and she has never believed me when I said humans existed!”
Lyra could give Pinkie Pie a run for her money when it came to violating his personal space with their excitement. She had shoved her head even closer to his, than what Pinkie had done in the hospital and this forced him to stumble back a bit just to get some distance.
“Sure, sure I’ll meet ya’lls friend, but that will have to be sometime later. Now that ya’ll got to ask a few questions, let me ask a few of my own. From the title of the guards in the town I take it ya’lls government is a monarchy, correct?”
Rainbow Dash was quick to answer, not wanting to be interrupted for once, “Ya, both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna rule over Equestria together. Celestia raises the sun to start the day while Luna raises the moon start the night.”
“Ya’ll are just tryin’ to fuck with me now aren’t ya? That is not physically possible.”
“Fuck? What does that mean, its fun to say. Fuck fuck fuck fuck,” the pink party pony sang as she bounced around the room.
“Um you might not want to go around yelling that,” said Adam his ears flattened against his head cringing at what he had just caused.
“Oh yeah and why is that Shifty?”
“Well, where I am from that isn’t a word that is publicly used due to it being, well, vulgar.”
Beside him he heard the purple unicorn next to him ask, “What does it mean?”
“Well, uhh, it, uhh, means...” his eyes shot back and forth as sweat formed on his forehead.
Well this is awkward, at least for me. These ponies don’t even know.
Trying again he said, “Well it is another word for sex but is also another way to show emphasis of agitation, anger and disbelief.”
“Oh,” was the only word that left Twilight’s mouth and Pinkie began laughing while the others didn’t find it quite as amusing.
“Well anyways, lets get back on topic here. You can’t be serious about the abilities of ya’lls princesses.”
Twilight nodded her head and said, “She is telling the truth Celestia does raise the sun and Luna does raise the moon. How do you people raise and lower the sun and moon?”
“Gravity, gravity does that for us. The earth revolves around the sun and the moon revolves around the earth.”
“How do you take care of the weather? From what you have said, it sounds like humans don’t have wings like us pegasi,” inquired the cyan pegasus.
“Wait ya’ll control ya’lls weather too?! We can’t even do that, nature just takes care of itself, but as I said earlier we made machines to allow us to fly. We’re goin’ on another tangent though, so let me get to the point of my original question. How would I best get in contact with ya’lls leaders to explain my presence here and make a good impression before the report works its way up the ranks to them?”
“Oh, me and Twilight can help you with that.”
Adam spun around at this new voice he hadn’t heard before and didn’t know there was another person in the library. What he saw only confused him, standing at the entrance to the kitchen was a rather large purple lizard with green spikes running down its back.
“Who and what are you exactly?” Adam asked it the least insulting or intimidating voice he could muster.
“Oh, let me introduce you. This here is my number one assistant Spike and he is a dragon. This, here Spike, is Sergeant Adam Smith from the United States of America.”
Spike walked up to him and held out a claw saying, “Its nice to finally meet you Adam. How did you sleep last night, there was quite a bit of yelling?”
Twilight gave Adam a concerned look as she remembered that morning’s event while he scratched the back of his head, looking everywhere but at the girls in the room, before replying, “It’s nice to meet you too and I slept just fine.”
“What’s he talkin’ about sugarcube,” the orange cowpony asked after her period of silence.
“Its nothin’, just a little nightmare, I’m fine.”
Try as he might, he could see that Applejack didn’t completely believe his claim of being fine and he had a feeling that she wasn’t going to let that topic sit for long.
Looking back at Spike he asked, “Ya’ll said that ya’ll and Twilight could help me get in contact with ya’lls leaders?”
“Spike smiled and said, “Twilight is Princess Celestia’s protege and has to send regular reports to her about what she learns. We could send her a message for you?”
“Thank you, I would very much appreciate that.”
Spike looked over to Twilight while holding a scroll in his other claw and said, “Speaking of letters, Twilight, you have one from the princess.”
Twilight took hold of it using her magic and opened it up. Her eyes scanning over the contents of it and was finished in a matter of seconds, then set it down on the table with his rifles.
Applejack walked over to Twilight and asked, “What does the letter say, sugarcube?”
Twilight looked over to Adam before saying, “She wants me to investigate the magical surge that she felt, yesterday, over in the Everfree Forest.”
“Well I would have to say, ya’ll are one step ahead. Ya’ll found me out there and have brought me back to town.”
Twilight grinned, clopping her hooves in even more excitement, saying, “I guess I get to surprise Celestia with an early report. Spike take a letter.”
Spike gave a mock salute running over to the desk and grabbing a sheet of paper and quill, then stood there waiting for Twilight to begin.
“Hey Twilight, is it alright if I dictate a letter to the princesses, so that I could introduce myself?”
“I don’t see why not, I can always send two letters,” she shrugged as she said this but there was the ever present disappointment at not being the one to send the first letter.
He cleared his throat in preparation for the letter, chuckling at how unnecessary that action was but did it all the same. He turned back to the dragon smiling and said, “You ready Spike?”
Spike gave him a quick nod, and held the letter higher in the air waiting.
Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,
Hello my name is Master Sergeant Adam Smith of the United States Army. I am contacting you two in order to request an audience in order to both explain my presence in your land and for help in acquiring safe transportation back to my country. I am willing to answer any questions that the two of you may have, as long as it does not jeopardize the safety of my country. I would also like to explain my actions in the incident, that you will no doubt be hearing about, that occurred here in ponyville.
Sincerely,
Master Sergeant Adam Smith
P.S. Expect a hefty report from Miss Twilight Sparkle on her findings so far.
“That sounded much better in my head,” said Adam as he cringed inwardly at is informal and unprofessionally spoken letter.
Across the room just barely above a whisper he heard, “Oh I’m sure it will be fine. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are both very kind and understanding.”
“I’ll have to take ya’lls word for it because I was never trained on how to interact with foreign leaders other than some basic things let alone write a letter to them. Well there is only one way to find out how they will take my letter, go ahead and send it I guess.”
Adam raised an eyebrow as he watched Spike take in a deep breath and blow out a blast of green flame that incinerated the letter. The ashes from the letter, which would normally just fall to the ground, flew out the window in the direction of the castle on the mountain.
“Ummm... I thought we were sending her the letter not incinerating them, because if not I could have just used the lighter in my bag?”
Spike responded, “I did dude, thats how we send her the letters, by dragon magic. We should expect a reply soon from Princess Celestia.”
Twilight also made a letter and attached a copy of her research on some of his gear while Rainbow Dash spoke with Adam.
“So Adam, sorry about tackling you earlier in the market. I thought you were the one causing trouble, but Derpy said you were actually helping her.”
“Its alright I understand why you did it. Wait I thought her name was Ditzy but you just called her Derpy?”
“It is, but she took a liking to the nickname Derpy, so everyone calls her by it.”
Hearing her name Ditzy walked over smiling eyes unaligned asking, “How are you liking your muffins?”
He chuckled then said, “The muffins are really good, I haven’t had any this good in years.”
“What no muffins in years!? Thats horrible!”
“No no no no, I have eaten some but just not of this quality.”
“Alright, come on Derpy you have a mail to deliver and I have weather duties to do as well.”
With that Rainbow Dash left with Derpy close behind her taking one last look back before taking off.
“Well Ah have ta go too. Ah have apples tha need ta be sold. Ah’ll talk to ya’ll later,” announced Applejack as she headed towards the door tipping her hat to everyone.
“Oh if you thought those muffins were good, just wait until you’ve had some of my cupcakes. I’ll be right back,” As she said that she bolted out the door.
“I-I-I should probably go to, I need to feed the animals and Angel will be mad if he doesn’t get fed soon.” The yellow pegasus slowly worked her way out the door and headed for home leaving Twilight, Adam and Spike alone waiting for the reply from the princess.
“How long do ya’ll think it will take for them to respond to our letters? We did send them quite a bit of information, and when I mean we I mean you. You practically sent her a book to read through.”
Twilight’s face reddened as she shrugged her shoulders and said, “I’m not entirely sure, it could take minutes or hours, but I’m going to get something to eat. Do you want something, you haven’t eaten anything besides those muffins?”
“Yes, I would very much like that.”
And so the waiting begins.