Jensen and the ponies arrived at Fluttershy's cottage shortly after their trek through the woods. Adam thought the place looked quite idyllic, with the timid mare's habitat seamlessly blending into the small hill near a pond in the clearing they emerged into.
Like a hobbit's house, he thought slightly amused.
The group carried on towards Fluttershy's door. To Jensen's surprise, a large amount of small animals sprung out of every hole and crevice available and gathered around the butter pegasus, making all kinds of noises and warily eyeing the human. Something about their stares unnerved Adam: it was as if the critters had an intelligent glint in their eyes.
Somehow it wouldn't surprise me if they acted like in the Disney movies, he mused.
Fluttershy did her best to explain the situation to her friends and tried her best to convince them Adam was relatively harmless.
"No, of course he won't eat you," she comforted them. "Mister Jensen woudn't hurt a fly," she added with a rather insincere smile, recalling the events with the hydra a while back. She turned around and looked to Jensen for support. He caught onto her and gave a big stupid grin and a thumbs up, still carrying Twilight under one arm.
This is ridiculous.
While most of the animals seemed calmed by the pegasus' assurances, one bunny in particular wouldn't give up. Adam quirked an eyebrow at the diminutive animal, who kept gesturing wildly with its forelegs and hopping around in place. He realized it was the same bunny he had seen before. Said animal had stepped bravely between Fluttershy and Jensen, and was now tugging at his pants with all his might. Adam did not budge an inch.
"Angel, stop bothering our guest," the pegasus told her bunny with the tone of a mother scolding a spoiled child.
Angel released Jensen, but not before bringing his paw to his eyes and then pointing at Jensen's in the universal "I'm watching you" gesture and hopping away. Adam chuckled.
The trio made their way inside Fluttershy's cottage. It was a bit cramped, but rather tasteful in Adam's opinion: much of the furniture was wooden and carved in minimalistic fashions, reminding him of the design of the chalets of the Alps. It was a welcome change from the sterile labs and military facilities he had infiltrated in the past.
The pegasus instructed Jensen to carefully put down Twilight onto the couch, to which he obliged.
"Are you hurt?" she asked worriedly. "The hydra must have hurt you awfully during the fight."
"I'm alright," he reassured. "I'm a tough guy. I can take a few hits."
"But I need to know if you will be alright," she added a bit more forcefully, which surprised Jensen to a degree. Seeing the concerned look in Fluttershy's eyes, he knew she was not about to drop the subject anytime soon.
"Alright," he sighed. "Suit yourself. Just don't fuss too much over it, alright?"
He retracted his shades, began unbuckling his ballistic vest and took it off, laying it to his side and exposing his upper body. He heard the pegasus gasp.
[h+]
Fluttershy was unable to tear her eyes away from the full extent of Adam's augmentations. She could clearly see the areas where machine and flesh melded together at his arms, along with the screws bolted into the skin that held everything in place. She also realized now that Adam's shades were actually a part of his skull when he removed them. Jensen's eyes had also surprised her: the blacks contained spinning circles of light, swirling around like a focusing camera lens. The mere thought that somepony would so radically change his body unsettled her.
"W- What are you?" she whispered.
Jensen gazed at his arms and balled his hands into fists.
"Good question."
[h+]
Twilight awoke with a groan on Fluttershy's couch and stretched her hooves. Just as she was about to stand up, a gentle but firm hoof forced her down into the sofa again.
"Don't move Twilight," Fluttershy said, "you still need to rest."
Twilight rubbed her head and moaned softly at the splitting headache she felt. "Ugh... What happened? Did we win?" She glanced down at her body, and saw a number of bandages wrapped around her hind legs and stomach.
"The hydra left," Fluttershy comforted, "and mister Jensen is alright too."
Twilight's eyes turned towards Jensen, who was sitting in the opposite couch with a glass of water and a book, and they widened in surprise as she saw his augmentations, much like Fluttershy reacted. She saw the shock in Twilight's eyes, and fidgeted nervously.
"He- he is nice, but at the same time he scares me..." She whispered nervously. "He isn't like some angry monster from the Everfree forest. He just seems... I don't know. He's been polite and quiet this whole time, but he seems so... Unnatural."
Twilight reached out and gave the mare a comforting hug. Unlike Fluttershy however, the studious unicorn practically quivered with excitement and saw this as an opportunity for research. She released her hold of Fluttershy and made for Jensen. The pegasus tired to stop her, but Twilight moved aside her hoof, all previous drowsiness gone.
"I'll be fine, Flutters. Nothing hurts."
Twilight approached Jensen eagerly and cleared her throat to attract his attention. "Ahem... Mister Jensen?"
The cyborg lifted his eyes from his book and gazed at the unicorn in front of him. "Yes?"
"My name is Twilight Sparkle," she told him proudly, "and on behalf of me and Fluttershy, I just wanted to thank you for helping us with the hydra back there."
"I did what I had to," he casually responded.
"Well, it's not everyday a pony puts themselves at a risk to protect others," she said jovially, "and we do really appreciate what you did... Even if I have no idea where you came from."
Adam put down his glass of water on the table. "Quite frankly, I have no idea where I am anyway."
Twilight shot him an odd look. "Oh... Are you lost?"
"...Something like that, yeah."
The unicorn stared at Jensen with a puzzled look for a few seconds before an idea clicked in her head. "Maybe princess Celestia might be able to help you."
"Celestia?"
"Sure! She's the ruler of Equestria, and she raises the sun every day!" She beamed proudly. "I'm her personal student too, so there shouldn't be any problems helping you with your situation!"
Despite Twilight's genuinely helpful tone, a large number of alarm bells ringed in Jensen's head. I've never heard of Equestra, he thought. And if a land full of magical talking horses existed on Earth, everyone would have heard of it by now. Same thing with a princess supposedly raising the sun. The bitter realisation hit him. I'm not on Earth anymore. Hell, maybe I truly am dead after all.
"Adam?" He jerked out of his musings at the mention of his name. Twilight looked at him worriedly. "You zoned out there for a bit..."
"Just thinking," he dismissed. A short pause later, he turned towards the mares again.
"Alright, tell me what you can about... Equestria."
[h+]
As Twilight chatted aimably about what she knew on the land (which was a lot), Adam learned that he was close to the town of Ponyville (a name he thought absolutely ridiculous), which laid just a short train ride from the capital of Canterlot. With a little input from Fluttershy from time to time, he also learned of the different cities dotting the Equestrian countryside such as Manehatten, Appleoosa and Las Pegasus, to name a few. Adam had to resist the urge to facepalm at the puns.
He also learned that the two royal princesses Celestia and Luna were in charge of raising and lowering the sun and the moon, respectively (a fact he found hard to believe), and that other mythical creatures such as griffins, manticores and the aforementioned hydra that also lived here. All those bizzare revelations made Jensen's head spin, and he felt more in a dream than connected to reality. Still, he kept quiet most of the time and merely listened patiently while Twilight eagerly rabbled on until Fluttershy interrupted them.
"Oh goodness, the sun is about to set!"
True enough, the others noticed that the celestial body was fading towards the horizon. "Oh dear, we talked for that long?" Twilight asked in shock. "Please don't tell me I bored you, Adam!"
"It's alright," he reassured her. "It was informative."
"Fluttershy, do you mind if Adam sleeps here? If you do even need sleep, of course. I never got the chance to ask-"
"Yes, I do sleep," he decided to interrupt before she prattled on.
"I have a guest bed for when I let the Cutie Mark Crusaders sleep over," the timid pony answered.
"Good! I'll go back to the library and write a letter to the princess, and we'll see what we can do about your situation tomorrow, Adam."
"Sounds good to me." He smiled. Even for their slight naïvité, he enjoyed the ponies' friendliness and generosity.
"Well, good night to you both!" Twilight bid them before leaving. Silence fell on Fluttershy's cottage once more.
"I'm going to put the last of the animals to sleep," Fluttershy told Jensen. "Your bed is on the second floor, if you wish to sleep... Maybe I could prepare some tea too. That is, if you want..."
"Thanks, but I'll just head on up," he replied before making his way to bed.
Lucky me. Stuck in a world of technicolor ponies. Oh well, better than an eternity of nothingness, he mused before falling asleep.
He dreamt of garishly colored Barretts sprouting wings and horns that night, and woke up the next day in a very dazzled state.