Sure enough, as Snake said, Applejack woke back up a couple minutes later, tired but unharmed. The situation was quickly explained to her, and she shot Snake a venomous look.
Despite this, the two parties were able to discuss things peacefully. Snake withheld many facts about his story, since his mission was heavily classified, even if he was in another world now. This didn't seem to deter Twilight, though, as despite her caution, curiosity was evident in her eyes.
Speaking of eyes, Pinkie soon piped up. "Snakey, why do you wear an eye patch?"
Cringing slightly at the name, Snake answered carefully. "I... lost it."
"Doing what? Are you like a pirate or something?" Dash asked.
"No, I lost it on a... mission." It wasn't untrue, in any case.
"A mission? What, are ya some kind of spy?" Applejack questioned.
Snake thought about how to answer without giving away any details. "...you could say that."
Suddenly, Pinkie gasped. "Ooh, are you a secret agent?! Do you drive a cool car, stop bad guys, and all of those other spy things?!"
The outburst made the human pause. "No, I don't really do any of that."
"Aww..."
Despite her friend's disappointment, Twilight was actually rather excited to have the chance to speak with a member of a whole new species. As such, her mind was buzzing with many possible questions, and she had a quill and parchment already prepared for heavy duty writing.
To his credit, Snake held his composure fairly well despite essentially being on the receiving end of the friendliest interrogation ever. At the ponies' request, he had removed his face paint, though his uniform still blended in with the castle walls around them. His pistols and knives sat snugly in their holsters, ready to use at a moment's notice, though he was starting to think that he wouldn't need them.
Soon, Twilight finally settled on a question that she was surprised she hadn't asked already. "So, how did you end up in Equestria?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. One moment, I'm in my world, the next, I'm here."
"Hmm..." She wrote a few lines down on the scroll, before looking back at Snake. "What did you say your species was, again?"
"Human."
"And how long were you in the Everfree Forest since arriving here?"
"About four days, I think."
Twilight paused in her writing. "Wait, that long? But there's no way that a pony can go that long without food, since the plants are either poisonous or inedible..."
"Well, I'm not exactly a pony, am I?"
"Still, four days is a bit long to go without food, unless..." Suddenly, Twilight gave a worried look to Snake, which Fluttershy quickly caught the meaning of. The others, however, were clueless.
"Uh... Twi?" Applejack said. "What's wrong?"
"She's connecting the dots," Snake answered for her.
"Wait, connectin' what dots...?"
It was Fluttershy who spoke up next. "He's... He... eats..."
"You eat... meat..." Twilight finished.
Silence overtook the room as her words sank in. Soon, six pairs of eyes all fell on the human, who wore a slightly uneasy expression.
This was part of what Snake was worried about. Given their reactions, it was to be assumed that they were herbivores, which could potentially end badly for him.
When he didn't speak for a few seconds, Rarity did. "Is it true? Do you eat...?"
Snake hesitated, then decided to not hide it. "Yeah, it's true." Almost immediately, he could see the ponies' reactions, ranging from disgust, to anger, to fear.
Before any of them could say or do anything, he cut them off. "And I know what you're thinking, but just know that I try to avoid anything that can talk back to me."
This didn't get rid of their fear, though it did seem to put a stop to any rash statements or actions they were about to make.
Twilight was the first to recover, and she started writing things down on the parchment again. "I- If you don't mind me asking, Snake, what exactly... do you eat?"
"First of all, humans are omnivorous, so we can eat both meat and plants." This quelled a bit of their fear, so Snake continued. "We primarily eat meat in order to get the protein we require. As for what I eat, while in the wild I take whatever I can find, though I am partial to snakes."
Twilight continued to write things down, while the others studied the human carefully. Despite the serious mood, Pinkie let loose a small half-hearted laugh.
"What's so funny, Pinkie?" Dash asked.
"He said... he likes snakes... and his name is..." Pinkie's chuckles died down into awkward silence, though she still had a small, albeit nervous, smile.
"So," Twilight continued, "what were you doing before you arrived here?"
Snake paused. "Why is that important?"
"Well, if I know what you were doing before you came here, I could possibly figure out how you got here, and help send you back home."
"I... can't say."
Twilight paused her writing. "Why not?"
Snake tried to think up an excuse, but couldn't come up with anything good. "...I forgot."
Twilight gave him a suspicious look, but said nothing further on the matter.
"Here's a question I have," Dash chimed in. "Just how did you do all that fancy... judo or whatever?"
"That was CQC: close-quarters combat. It was a fighting technique I learned from..." Snake paused. "...my mentor."
The pause didn't go unnoticed by the ponies, but they said nothing. It sounded like it was a bit of a touchy subject for him.
Twilight wrote down a couple more lines on her parchment, then went to ask another question, only to find that she couldn't think of any more at the moment.
"Are you done questioning me?" Snake asked, half seriously.
"I guess so, for now," Twilight replied. Suddenly, something else occurred to her. "Wait, we need to talk about where you'll be staying."
"Couldn't I just stay in the forest?"
"Well... yes, but it's quite dangerous. The fact that you lasted there for as long as you did could potentially be attributed to luck."
"Luck could buy you a day at most. Anything past that, and there has to be some skill involved."
Snake's words made Twilight pause, since she couldn't find any fault with them.
"Regardless, wouldn't you rather live in civilization?" Rarity asked.
Snake thought this over. While he was certain that he was capable of holding his own in the wilderness, they did bring up a compelling point; he wouldn't be able to keep it up forever. Plus, the closer he is to them, the more likely he can be returned home sooner. He would have to make sure and keep up the act of his "amnesia", though, in order to keep his mission a secret. Alien world or no, it was still classified. He didn't get any orders regarding alien worlds, but he was sure the same rules would apply.
"Alright, I guess I could live in town."
Twilight let loose a small smile, mostly at the prospect of studying a creature completely unknown to science for the next few days, or however long he would be here. "Okay, then follow me."
She rolled up her parchment and put in a saddle bag, before walking over to the door. The other ponies were right behind her, followed by Snake. He still made sure he could equip his knife and gun at a moments notice, but otherwise was somewhat relaxed.
Up ahead, he overheard a couple of the ponies talking, probably thinking he couldn't hear them. "Looks like ya found someone who can beat you in a fight, Dash."
"That doesn't count! He was using that... EQD or whatever he called it."
"Seems no different from you using your karate."
"Hey, that's different!"
"How so?"
"Well, it's... uh..." Dash went quiet, and both Applejack and Snake wore smug grins. In particular, Dash reminded Snake of Ocelot, somewhat...
The group exited the castle, and walked out into the grass.
"Okay, Ponyville is northwest of here, so let's go," Twilight directed. Snake already knew this, but didn't say so.
"Lead the way."