Matt did not sleep the rest of that night. Instead, he stared out the window, watching the stars, reminiscing. Rocky was laid out across his lap but Matt did not feel Rocky's weight push on himself, he was too numb for that.
Twilight had asked more about what exactly had happened that day after he told her his wife's name, but got no more answers. Twilight knew that he needed time to calm down, so she left. She sat on her bed, thinking, until...
"Oh hay! I invited the girls over!" She exclaimed. There was no way to stop them from coming to meet Matt now. She hoped that they would not ask any...personal questions.
"Yo Twi. What happened just now? You went downstairs to wake Matt up and you took your sweet time coming back." The baby dragon asked.
Twilight sighed, then turned to Spike and explained the entire story, at least what she knew.
Spike listened intently, incredulous. "Damn..."
"Yea..."
"Well, nothing we can do for now. Let's just try to go to sleep and hope for the best."
Twilight crawled back into the bed and quickly succumbed to the tugging sensation of sleep.
Meanwhile, in the guest room...
*****
Matt could not think, he could not speak, his body felt like it was stone. Cold, unmoving.
Rebecca's body still laid in the murky waters, continuing to bleed and make a trail of red in the liquid excrement.
Finally, Matt got over the shock and looked up at his wife's killer. He wore a uniform that spoke of authority, albeit slightly dirty and wet, he was likely a Russian officer. He carried a large revolver in his hand, the barrel smoking and covered in specks of blood. Matt could not see any other description of the man due to the low light.
"You..." Matt muttered. The man turned to face him as he spoke this.
"You..." The officer raised his revolver at Matt, and began to take aim at him from across the corridor.
"You..." Matt was visibly shaking, his rage overflowing. The officer raised his thumb and lowered the hammer of his revolver.
*Click*
"YOU FUCKING BITCH!!!" Matt roared. He stood up quickly and began sprinting at the murderer, Matt's eyes seemed to turn red with the blood lust.
*Bang*
The man fired his gun at Matt, and with seemingly superhuman reflexes shifted his head to the side. The bullet whizzed by his ears and a sound was heard as the round struck the brick wall. He continued to sprint at the man, Matt wanted him to die, to suffer...
The distance was closing, and the officer was desperate to line up his aim with the charging American soldier. But he could not quite get the shot. The distance was closing between the two. Twenty yards away...
Fifteen...
Ten...
Five...
Matt collided with the officer, sending him skidding down the hall a few yards, but he remained on his feet. Matt continued to lunge at him, throwing punches and kicks whenever he could. However the officer continued to hold his ground, since Matt was acting out of pure rage he attacked with no goal or direction in mind. Other than to kill the Russian officer that murdered his wife. The two each exchanged blows, Matt pulled his knife from his sheath but it was bettered away by the revolver. And for who knows how long, the two traded blows, evenly matched. Eventually, Matt managed to knock the revolver out of the man's hand, sending it skidding down the sewers. After a few more seconds of the brawl, the officer got a clean hit to Matt's head, knocking him off his feet.
The officer scrambled around the floor to find his revolver, then stood and pointed the barrel towards Matt's face. At this point, Matt was on his knees, tears streaming from his eyes. This continued for about thirty seconds, the two staring at each other in silence. During this time, Matt got a better view of the officer. The man had cold blue eyes, and a small scar running over his right eyebrow. He also had several scrapes and smears of mud all on his body. Finally, the officer spoke.
"Pitiful really." He said with a very think Russian accent. "I found out long ago that every man has his weakness, I suppose I found yours. Having relationships can only result in creating a man's soft point. I must say, you fought well, killed all of my men. But, as you can tell, I do not make the same mistakes as these fools." He geustered to the bodies at the other end of the hall.
"Say hello to that woman for me will you?" The officer lowered the hammer of his gun.
As his body tensed up slightly to pull the trigger, Matt took this instant and swept his legs under the officer's. But not before the gun discharged.
*BANG*
Matt's shoulder exploded in pain, the bullet passed clean through the tissue. He was still lucky however that the round did not drill through his skull instead.
With clenched teeth, Matt kicked the gun out of the stunned man's hands and sent it skidding away several meters. Matt pulled his other knife out with his good arm and attempted to reach the officer's throat with the serrated blade. The man had regained his senses at this point and grasped Matt's arm, trying his best to throw the knife away from his neck. For both of the men, it was madness. The blade would get centimeters from the officer's neck only to be pushed back from redoubled efforts. Matt nearly lost grip on the blade at one point but quickly got back into control, albeit hard with only one usable arm...again, this stalemate lasted for what seemed like forever, when it was actually only two dozen seconds.
"White! What THE FUCK is going on?!?!" Yelled Richards from around the corner, Rocky was heard barking as well. Matt nearly looked back down the hall to see his old leader but resisted the temptation. The Russian, seeing Matt in his bit of confusion, took this opportunity and slugged Matt across the face, sending him sprawling into the rotten waters. The man got up as fast as he could, and quickly darted down the same side passage that he came from. Matt wanted to go after him, but he knew it was fruitless.
Defeated, and broken, Matt sat on the curb of the sewer and began sobbing. He then trudged over to his wife's body, picked it up, and cried even harder. The tears clearing off any muck that was still on his face. Richards quietly walked over to Matt and patted his shoulder, what else could he do? Richards looked at the broken solder that sat crying before him, while Rocky laid his head on his master's lap.
"It's all my fault..." Matt moaned, barely audible.
"Matt, do not say that again. This was not your fault." Richards replied.
"Yes it is, I was supposed to protect her, make sure she stayed alive. One minute I am recovering tags and the next this Russian bastard shot her point plank in the head. If I can't keep a single person alive, let alone my wife, then what good am I to be here? Let alone be a soldier" Matt continued sobbing and he closed his wife's now dull eyes.
"How the hell were you supposed to know that this would happen?" He geustered to the surrounding area. "We are miles and miles behind the front line. Who knew that your vacation would go to shit? This attack should not have even happened. And do not tell me again that you are a bad soldier. You are one of my best marksmen, you have saved numerous lives while we were in Italy, and hell, you took out the tank's gunner despite the fact the hunk of metal had a shell wrapped precisely for you. You did your best, and that is all anyone could ask for. It won't help if you punch yourself until everything is better." He stopped talking abruptly. Splashing could be heard from a distance away. Since the walls rebounded sound there was no telling how far away the footsteps were.
"Matt, I am sorry but we have to leave her..." Richards trailed off. Matt simply nodded, unable to speak. He leaned over and grasped his wife's hand, kissed it, then removed her engagement ring. After placing the ring in his vest pocket, Matt slowly stood up, and grasped his shoulder in pain as the last waves of adrenaline passed.
"Shit, we need to patch that up. I don't have any bandages with me, and we did not have a medic with us" Richards said, concerned.
Matt grunted, then pointed to his bag that laid at the end of the hall. Sgt. Richards ran over to the bag, pulled out an old, tattered shirt, then ripped it into a long shred. He then tied the scrap fabric around Matt's shoulder as tightly as he could.
"There, that is all we can do for now. Can you still hold your gun?"
"Yea...I think so..." Matt replied quietly.
"Good, lets get out of this hole of sin."
After turning a few corners, the two soldiers saw a metal grate with weak rays of sun shining through the holes. Reinvigorated, the two began running towards the grate, and took a look outside.
The sun was settled in the middle of the sky. Planes continued to fly into the city, with almost no resistance. In front of them, through a clearing, was a dense forest. Other than that, there was no other place that the two were likely to escape by.
"How the hell are those planes still flying in like nobody's business? They should be getting shot straight out of the sky, instead they just cruise by and land." Richards observed.
"Beats me, let's just get out of here, I am sick of this place."
"Agreed"
The two backed up, Rocky staying behind as he kept a lookout for any other enemies.
"On three" Matt commanded "One, two, THREE!"
The two men charged at the grate and collided with it, sending the piece of metal flying off it's welding and landing a few feet away. Turning their flashlights off, the two men, and dog, took their first few steps into the sunlight in hours.
*Splash*
Everyone shot gazes down the hall they had just come, they saw several flashlights being shone around until they finally landed on the small group standing by the exit. They shouted something in Russian.
"Shit." They both said.
They were about to open fire on the group, but the Russians beat them to it. Rapid cracking could be heard as their weapons discharged and sent bullets flying down the length of the tunnel. Matt grabbed Rocky by the collar and threw them both out of the way, Richards quickly following suit. Right next to the two was a large boulder, surrounded by smaller rocks, that was even bigger than the sewage grate they just crawled out of. Nodding in silent agreement, they both quickly began clearing rocks out from the front of the boulder, spun around it, and began pushing with all their might. Slowly but surely, the huge rock began rolling in front of the grate, absorbing several rounds as it did so. The men were about fifty yards away and the rock was only half covered. Redoubling their efforts, the men continued to push.
"Стой!" [HALT!] One of the men yelled mere feet away, only to be muffled as the behemoth finally covered the entire hole.
Matt and Richards both breathed a sigh of relief. But it was short lived.
Rocky began growling towards their left, a cloud of dust was being kicked up, and was heading straight for them.
Richards growled. "Fuck me...get down." He whispered.
The Cloud of dust continued to move towards the two soldiers and dog. Eventually, having reached the slope, they continued along in the shadows, like the vehicle was trying to hide. It also began moving slower as it continued.
"...I am telling you Nick!" Said a voice from the vehicle, which was still disclosed in the brush and dust. "We need to take roads and drive west. We have got to haul ass if we want to live."
"And I am telling you to shut the fuck up! The commies have almost certainly blockaded any routes stemming from the city. So we need to go in the forest! We will have cover from the air and the Russians will have limited view in between the trees!" Said a second voice.
"Yes, absolutely foolproof! At least until you decide play chicken with a goddamn tree!" Said the first voice.
"I must say that I do agree with monsieur Nicholas here" Said a third voice, with a thick French accent. "If we take the roads, then we will almost certainly be caught."
"Both of you are morons..." said the first voice in a gruff tone.
The cloud of dust finally parted and revealed an American jeep cruising along in the slope's shadow. Matt and Richards both looked at each other, than began waving to attract the attention of the jeep. The jeep nearly sailed right by the two, until a man in the back finally saw them and told the driver to pull the car over to the two survivors. The man in the passenger seat leaned his head outside the window.
"Quick! Get in!"
*****
Matt shook his head, startling Rocky from his spot on Matt's lap. Refocusing his gaze back outside the window, he saw that the sun was just beginning to peak above the treeline. Only a few ponies had begun walking out their doors to start the new day. Groaning, Matt flung his now completely healed legs over the bedside. He slapped himself awake and began trudging over to the bathroom. He splashed water over his face from the sink and then turned to the shower covered by a deep blue curtain. Then he stared at the six faucets that adorned the wall.
Oh yeah...Note to self: Ask how to use this fucking shower. Matt thought.
Sighing, he pulled the curtain back over the shower then left the bathroom. Rocky was waiting for his master to open his bedroom door. Matt drowsily walked to the door, opened it, then began stumbling down the small hallway. As Matt walked into the foyer, he heard light snores coming from upstairs, indicating that the librarian was still asleep. He walked to the back door and let Rocky outside to do his business, then walked into the kitchen. Opening the half sized fridge, Matt pulled out a plate of leftover waffles. After tinkering around with the oven for a few minutes, he eventually managed to turn the oven on and placed the waffles inside to re-heat.
Matt let Rocky back inside after a few minutes and then retrieved his waffles from the oven. Grabbing the syrup from the fridge, he walked over to the table and began to dig in.
Shame I can't eat bacon here. That's what made my breakfast worthwhile! Man, I need some meat
Finishing his meager breakfast, Matt walked back into the foyer and began thinking about what to do next. After a few minutes, he felt some wind being displaced behind him. Turning around, Matt saw a small barn owl sitting on the coat rack, staring at him.
"Uhhh...Hello?"
The owl continued to stare at him, then rotated it's small head 360 degrees.
Matt cringed, he always hated when they do that.
"So...what's your name?"
"Who?" The owl hooted.
"You"
"Who?"
"YOU" Matt pointed to the owl.
"...Who?"
Matt deadpanned at the owl, then turned to a full sized piano in the corner of the room, opposite of the stairwell. Sighing, Matt walked over to the grand piano and sat down on the bench. Cracking his knuckles, Matt began playing one of his favorite classical pieces, Canon.
There was a reason for his liking of this song. Matt's father, Ralph, played this song nearly every day while he was raising Matt. When he was about seven years old, Matt had been playing with his toy cars while his father played the song in the background. Eventually working up the courage, he walked over to his father and asked.
"Dad. Why do you play this song so much?"
His father smiled, then scooped up his son and placed him on the bench.
"Well" His father began. "Do you like the song?"
"Yes, but I was just wondering why you played it every day."
"Why do you like the song?" His father asked, smiling.
"Well, I think it is really relaxing. Usually I don't like these songs, but this just sounds...nice" Matt replied, looking up at his father.
Ralph chuckled. "Those are my exact reasons for playing it. I like to play it when I feel stressed, sad, tired, or angry, and this song helps me to relax and forget all of those feelings. Also, many people think that it was created nearly four hundred years ago. Can you imagine, writing a bunch of little notes on paper, before even the light-bulb was made?" Matt's father pointed to the lamp the rested on top of the piano. "And Pachelbel wrote this entire song in nothing but the light of the candle. It makes me feel...humbled."
"But dad" Matt had said "You play this almost every day. Is something wrong?"
His father sighed. "Life can be hard son, and sometimes can be a bit...overwhelming. I will tell you when you're older."
Of course, the usual excuse. Matt thought.
"Now run along and go play with your cars." Ralph picked up Matt then placed him on the floor.
Years later, when Matt was about fifteen, he and Matt's mother, Barbra, were visiting Ralph in the hospital. Matt's father had been diagnosed with lung cancer. Matt was distraught, but his father had told him not to worry.
"Come on son, this is not the worst thing that has happened to me." He chuckled. "I'll be fine, so don't keep fretting over me. After all, you never know what life will throw at you. Whether that be good or bad is fate's choice, but it is all part of living life the way it was meant to be."
Ralph looked much older as he laid in the hospital bed. His white hair seemed even snowier, and his wrinkles seemed even deeper than usual. While Matt was still apprehensive about leaving, he finally, grudgingly, agreed to leave.
Matt received the devastating news when he was seventeen. About two weeks after Ralph passed, Matt was sitting in a chair in a suit, watching the funeral take place. He did not cry, he could not, for all of his tears had been used up the night before. The sun was just passing over the hills and began plunging the sky into twilight. A few birds could be heard chirping in the distance, their tune matching the somber environment as the Funeral processed.
As Ralph's coffin was lowered into his grave, his favorite song began playing. The tune seemed to meld perfectly with the mood of the funeral. So slow and sad, yet...uplifting. As the coffin was fully lowered in the dirt, Ralph's tombstone was in view. It read...
Here Lies
Ralph White
Husband, Father, A Fighter
"You Never Know What
Life Will Throw At You"
R.I.P
It was after the funeral that Matt dedicated himself for about a week to learn Pachelbel's masterpiece. And when he perfected it, he preformed to his mother, whose eyes welled up with tears. Drawing Matt in for a hug, she whispered into his ear.
"Thank you Matt..."
As Matt finished the last note of the song, he heard some scuffling from behind him. Turning around, Matt saw Twilight, who had been watching Matt play the piece the whole time. As Twilight began trotting down the stairs, the owl began clapping its wings together, seemingly applauding Matt's performance, sending feathers everywhere.
"That was beautiful." Twilight said "What is it called? Where did you learn it?"
"It's called Canon by Pachelbel, and I taught myself how to play in the memory of my father. It was his favorite song." Matt trailed off and looked despondently at a bookshelf.
Twilight nodded. "So...what do you want to eat?"
"I had some leftover waffles from the other day. But do you know where I can get some coffee? I feel like I am about to fall over at any second."
Twilight nodded. "Yep, there is a stall for coffee in the marketplace. Take a left and keep going straight and you should make it there."
"Thanks." Matt walked over to the door and began tying his shoes. As he opened the front door, Twilight called out.
"Wait!"
Turning, Matt saw a small bag being levitated over to him. Grasping and opening the bag, he saw ten small, golden coins.
"Some money for the coffee"
"Thanks"
"Don't mention it" Twilight smiled warmly, then turned around back into the kitchen.
After walking for about five minutes, Matt came across the market. At the opposite end was town hall, and in between was just stalls and flagstones. After searching for several minutes, he was unable to find the coffee stall. So instead of blindly looking for any longer, he asked an earth pony with a yellowish coat, and curled mane of blue and pink.
"Hey, do you know where the coffee stall is?" Matt asked.
"Why yes it..." The pony turned around and gasped. Looking around desperately, she pulled Matt over to a pile of boxes and barrels behind a cherry stall and made him crouch down. The pony continued to look over-top of the storage containers, like she was searching for someone.
"Ummm...pardon me for asking but why the hell are we hiding?" Matt asked, raising an eyebrow.
She sighed and climbed off of the crate. "Name's Bon-Bon, and my roommare's name is Lyra. She is shopping with me today and if she sees you, then she will go absolutely bonkers."
"Let me guess, she is a unicorn, has a mint green coat, and a lyre...cutie mark?" Matt said, he was still having a hard time calling those ass-tattoos cutie marks.
"Yep, you met her?"
"Well if you say meet as in she saw me, gasped, then pretty much teleported next to me. Poking me and grabbing some of my clothes, only to let out some fan-girl squeal and speed off."
"Yep, she told me all about it yesterday. Chewing my ear off saying 'I'm right! I told you so!'"
"Right about what?" Matt asked.
"Oh nothing" Bon-Bon said dismissively. "By the way, the coffee stall is over there." She pointed...or rather hoofed in the direction of town hall, where Matt saw a sign with a coffee cup.
"Thanks"
"Be careful! Do NOT let Lyra see you."
After climbing out from behind the crates, Matt began the short walk to the coffee stall. While walking, he began looking around the market. Dozens of ponies, of all types and colors, were busily going to and fro in between the stalls. Just about every single shopper turned to look at Matt, some even came closer to inspect him closer. However none of them had any direct contact with him, and all around they simply treated him like another shopper. He was about halfway to the stall when suddenly...
"Look out!" A voice yelled above Matt. Looking up, he saw a bag of mail heading straight for his face.
"What the F-" Matt muttered before the bag of mail collided with his face. After getting the sack off of his head he looked up...only to see a gray pegasus collide with a nearby tree. The pegasus continued to fall and hit nearly every branch on the way down. Until she finally landed on the ground, her hind legs sticking up in the air.
"Uhhhh...you okay?" Matt asked as he approached the disoriented pegasus. She got up and shook her head, then opened her eyes to reveal an amber color. When she looked at Matt, he noticed that her eyes were pointed in two totally different directions.
"Oh! I am so sorry! Are you okay?" The wall-eyed pegasus asked, concerned.
Matt laughed. "Don't worry about it. But uhh...you okay?" Matt nodded to the tree, then pointed to his eye. The pegasus sighed.
"Medical condition. Had it since I was a foal. Sometimes my eyes cross and I can't tell which way is which. What's your name?" She said.
"My name's Matt, you?"
"Mine's Ditzy, but most ponies around here call me Derpy."
"Derpy? That doesn't sound very nice."
Her face adopted a sad expression. "I don't really mind. I mean, when you go around looking like this." She pointed to her eyes. "Then you are bound to get some sort of nickname."
"Well if it's all the same to you I'll just call you Ditzy."
Ditzy gave a small smile.
"So do you need any help with your mail?" Matt asked. She shook her head.
"No, don't worry about it. I'm sure you got some kind of business going on that you need to get to. Besides, It was my fault I dropped it. Bye!"
Before Matt could say anything, Ditzy sped off to her spilled letters and then flew off. Shrugging, Matt continued to the stall. When he finally made it to the coffee stand, he saw a familiar ice colored earth pony.
"Oh hey, I saw you yesterday didn't I?" Matt said. The pony nodded.
"Yea, but seriously dude, stay away from her. Just a big bundle of crazy, ever since she saw you, even more so. Name's Ice."
"Matt" They shook hands/hooves.
"So what can I get you?"
"Uhhh, just a large, Black."
"Coming right up, that will be six bits." Ice said as he began filling the cup.
Reaching into the bag, Matt pulled out six of the small, gold coins.
"Uh, I assume these are bits?" He said.
Ice nodded. "Yep, still not exactly used to our money are you?"
"No not really. My country used green, printed pieces of paper. But based on the price of the coffee, I guess a bit is the same as one dollar." Matt shrugged.
Ice placed the coffee cup on the table as Matt tossed the coins to Ice, who somehow caught them with his hooves. Shaking off the questions, Matt picked up the cup of coffee and walked to a small table nearby. After a few minutes of sipping and watching the skies, the hair on the back of his neck perked up. Looking around, all he saw was a number of pastel colored ponies. Then, Matt saw her...
Lyra was standing in front of the town hall, staring straight at Matt from across the plaza. Matt's eyes widened and he looked at Ice desperately for help, but he had not yet seen Lyra so just gave Matt a questioning gaze. When Matt turned back around to Lyra, he nearly fell out of his chair when he saw that the unicorn was sitting in the chair opposite of himself.
"Um, hello?" Matt said, trying to hide his nerves.
"...So you are a human?"
"Uh, yes?"
"I KNEW IT!" Lyra began hopping around cheering, but just as quickly returned to her seat and put on a serious face.
"So what's it like having fingers?"
"I guess they are good for...holding things?"
"Yes I'm sure they are..." Lyra said nodding.
"Uhhhh, is there something you need?" Matt asked.
"No, I just wanna look at you..." Lyra replied.
He needed a distraction, now. Discreetly, Matt reached into the small bag of bits and 'accidentally' dropped one of the coins, where it then rolled behind the strange unicorn.
"Oops, dropped a bit." Matt said
"No no, don't worry I got it." Lyra said as she turned around to find the coin.
Matt looked at Ice, who gave a desperate signal to Matt for him to haul his ass out of there. Grabbing his coffee, Matt began sprinting away from the unicorn and out of the plaza.
"Found it!" Lyra cried out, only to see that Matt was no longer at the table.
Lyra turned to Ice and shot him a dire stare. "Where is he?!?"
"No idea" Ice shrugged.
Matt continued to run until the tree library was in sight. Panting for a few seconds, Matt finally got his breath back and took another sip of coffee as he walked through the front door.
"HIIIIIIIIII!" Pinkie Pie jumped right into Matt's face as soon as the door opened.
"MMMPH!" Matt was so surprised that he accidentally flung the hot cup of coffee directly into his own face. The scalding liquid running down his shirt. Matt covered his face with his hands.
"AHHHH!"
"Oops! Sorry!" Pinkie said, still bouncing.
"No no, it's fine. After all, hot coffee to the face feels NNG nice..."
"...Alright Pinkie thanks for the cupcake. I put it in the fridge for n..." Twilight walked from the kitchen and trailed off when she saw Matt covered in coffee.
"Uhhh, what happened?" She asked.
"Well" Matt began as he tried wiping the liquid from his face with his shirt. "I was forced into hiding, got mail dropped on top of me, got my coffee, sat down, saw this crazy unicorn, then had to distract her as I ran off, saved my coffee, only to have it splashed in my face as I walked in the door. How was your morning?"
"Well, a bit less exciting than that. Was it Lyra?" Twilight asked.
"Yep"
Twilight nodded. Pinkie stopped bouncing, reached into her mane, pulled out a small towel, and hoofed it to Matt.
"There you go! You got a little coffee right there." Pinkie poked Matt on the nose.
"Where the hell did that towel come from?" Matt asked, confused.
Pinkie shrugged. "Big mane."
"Right, well then. I need a shower to get all this caffeine off me. Spike!" Matt called.
"What?" Spike poked his head out from the study.
"Can you show me how to use the shower? There are six faucets, all I want are hot/cold water."
Spike snickered, then said. "Yeah sure, follow me."
*****
After Matt had his first shower in days, he felt much better. He changed into his marines T-shirt and shorts and walked out of his room, drying his hair with a towel. As he walked back into the library, he saw 4 other ponies had entered and were mingling with one-another.
Matt had already met Rarity, and to some degree, Fluttershy, however there were two others that he did not recognize the other two that had joined the group.
One of the two newcomers was a cream colored earth pony. She had her mane and tail kept together with a band, and wore a stetson hat. She also had rather visibly toned muscles and piercing green eyes. The other was much more...unique. The most obvious, and ridiculous feature must have been her mane and tail, as each was colored in six hues of the rainbow. After getting over the obnoxious colors, Matt examined the rest of the pony. She was a cyan colored pegasus, with magenta eyes, and an athletic build, however, not quite as toned as the earth pony. From her body language, Matt could tell that she was very energetic, yet lazy at the same time. The pegasus was hovering off the floor as the six ponies chatted together. Rocky was darting all around, going to and fro in between the ponies. Matt decided to make his presence known after observing the ponies for about a minute.
"I assume that you are all Twilight's friends?" Matt said. Every head in the room turned to Matt, the two newcomers were the most surprised out of all.
"It can talk!?!" They both asked, amazed.
Twilight opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Matt. "HA! That was my same exact reaction at first. But no, I am not talking. I am simply opening my mouth in different shapes so I can whistle in different tunes. Your brain is just screwing around with you." Matt gave a half-smile.
The cyan pegasus rolled her eyes. "Ha Ha Ha"
Twilight spoke up. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you guys that yes, he can talk."
Matt rolled the towel back up and placed it on his room's doorknob. "Alright, Twilight told me that you would come over today for some Q and A. Well, here I am." Matt sat down in a nearby chair. "Whelp, here goes nothing. My name is Matt White, and that over there is my dog, Rocky. I was born and raised in Annapolis, Maryland of the United States, but moved to New York after leaving collage. I currently live on 876, Burban street, outside of NYC grounds, and there is a forest behind my house where I have my outdoor fun. And now, I am in a world of colorful talking ponies with currently no idea how I got here. Aaaaaaannnndd as soon as I woke up, I was attacked by what looked like a manticore, which does not exist in my world mind you, and I woke up in a hospital. There is the gist of my story, any questions?" Matt finished, all of the ponies had a confused face on, Twilight less so.
Eventually, the cream earth pony spoke up. "What's ah Maryland?" She asked with a heavy southern accent.
Matt face-palmed "Oh yeah, forgot to tell you about that. Well, My country, the United states, Is from what I can tell, this world's version of Equestria. I lived in one of the fifty states, or regions, called Maryland. Annapolis was the city that I grew up in. New york is another state, where I currently live. I read in one of these books that there are other lands in this world, like the Griffon Kingdoms or the Dragon Lands. That correct Twilight?" She nodded.
Matt chuckled. "I honestly still can't believe that there are griffons, dragons, manticores, honestly, this is just ridiculous. By the way, what's your name?"
"Applejack" The pony replied.
"Nice to meet you Applejack. Alright, anyone else have a question?" This time Twilight raised her hoof.
"Why are you saying that griffons, dragons, and manticores are just ridiculous?"
"Well, in my world, they are nothing more than just myths, folk-lore, fictional, whatever. They simply do not exist in my world. In fact, unicorns, and pegasi are myths too, passed down stories from a place called Greece."
Twilight was incredulous. "But then how did your kind even think about all this?" Matt shrugged.
"No idea, my guess, someone had some kind of vision and wrote it down somewhere. Any other questions?"
Pinkie pie shot her hoof up. "Yes Pinkie?" Matt asked
Pinkie took a deep breath then shot out words without pause. "WhatkindofcookingdoyouhavedotheymakecupcakespiesohhhhhhhhhhhwhataboutcinnamonrollsIlovethosewhat-MMPH!" Twilight shoved her hoof inside of Pinkie's mouth, finally ending the spiel.
Matt stared, then shook his head. "Please, talk slowly."
"Okay..." She pouted. "What kind of food do humans eat?"
"Well, we are omnivores, so we eat all kinds of food. Pasta, cake, steak, eggs, ice cream and much more. We have taken raw ingredients like meat, wheat, and other random things and created thousands upon thousands of recipes."
"Wait one moment" Rarity started, with a sick look on her face. "You eat meat?"
Matt nodded.
"Why would anypony eat meat?" Applejack asked.
Matt shrugged. "It's not my fault, it's just how humans were made. Can't change nature."
Fluttershy spoke up, albeit very quietly. "Do you, umm, eat ponies?"
Matt shook his head quickly. "Oh nonononono, Just about all humans do not eat pony, or horse meat. From what I heard it tastes terrible anyway. But I honestly do not know if there are some who do, maybe some secluded tribe." At this, all the ponies in the room let out a sigh of relief.
The cyan pegasus raised her hoof. "Yes...uh, what's your name?" Matt asked.
"Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in Equestria!" She said proudly. "How did you manage to kill that manticore? Most ponies would have to run or fly away from it, even I can't beat one! But you somehow killed it while you were injured. How?"
Matt stood up, marched to his room, picked up his rifle and pistol, walked back into the foyer and then set them down on the floor.
"This is how I survived. Twilight already knows the gist of it but these are called guns, or firearms." Matt ejected the magazines from both guns, and released a single round from each. He held up the 9mm pistol round. "This is called a bullet. What the gun does, is it fires bullets at your enemy incredibly fast. There is a small pin inside of the gun, that is rather hot, and when you pull the trigger here." Matt pulled the trigger on the rifle, resulting in a click. "The pin moves forward and hits the little indent here." Matt pointed to the small dip on the bullet. "And creates a small explosion within the gun, which sends the bullet speeding out of the barrel." Matt pointed to the end of the barrel on the rifle and pistol.
"We place the bullets inside of a magazine, like this, and then place it into a gun. So we can fire the gun without having to replace the bullet every single time we fire. My kind uses these for protection, for sport..." Matt's voice dropped dramatically, to the point where the ponies could not hear him. "...Or for war."
Rainbow was amazed. "Cool! Can I see you use it!" She asked with a hopeful face.
Matt shook his head. "Maybe later, these things are not exactly quiet and can be very dangerous when used around others." Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves and let out a *Humph*.
Matt smiled. "Anyone else got a question?"
Applejack raised her hoof. "Yes?"
"You said that ya don't know how you got here, but do you remember anything before you arrived?" Applejack asked.
Matt's smile disappeared, and Twilight openly cringed. She knew something like this would come up at one point or another. Yet...she was still interested in his story, despite the morbid information she already knew.
Matt sighed. "Get comfortable, it's a long story." Matt walked over to the desk in the corner, where Twilight had transcribed Earth's map onto a piece of paper. Picking up the original map, Matt brought it back and began his story.
"Well, first things first, I am a soldier for my country. My world is in a state of a nearly global war. My country, plus many others, are at war with three other countries or groups. Our enemies are Russia, Korea, and The Middle Eastern Union." Matt pointed on the map to the respective locations. "When the north portion of Korea invaded the southern portion, our ally, we tried to help the south by sending soldiers. However, recently turned communist Russia, supported the north. Not expecting the Russian support, we had to retreat. Seeing what had happened, many countries such as France, Britain, and the United States declared war on the now complete Korea." Matt again pointed to the respective countries" And by extension, Russia declared war on us. Eventually, after about half a year, the Middle East countries amazingly formed together and joined our enemies."
Matt took a deep breath, then continued. "I was deployed in Italy for about two years, until my tour had ended. They expected me to return to the battlefield in a few months, so when I made it home, my wife, Rebecca, suggested we take a vacation. After a few days, we decided to take a trip to Paris, the capital of France. My wife always wanted to visit there, and the front lines were in Germany, so we thought it would be safe at the time."
Matt took another shaky breath, then continued to tell the six about his story. About how on the first night, the bombs began to fall. To how he and his wife escaped from the nearly destroyed hotel. From his trip into the sewers, to finding a way out of the tunnel and into the sunlight. Matt had to stop and explain to the ponies several times, like what a tank is, or a car, and other unfamiliar things. Pinkie's mane continued to deflate slowly as the story progressed. When he retold his wife's death, every pony in the room let out a collective gasp, as Pinkie's mane completely deflated. Matt made it to the point where the jeep had located him and Richards before he stopped.
"I can't remember anything else right now. Sorry, but if you have any more questions, could you wait until tomorrow or something? I need a break." The ponies all nodded, and the guests began getting up to take their leave, until.
"Hey every pony! What did I miss?" Spike asked as he walked from upstairs.
"I...I'll tell you later Spike." Twilight said.
As the ponies began walking out the door, Pinkie's mane suddenly inflated as she gasped loudly. She sped out the door and last Matt saw, began handing papers out to nearly every pony she came across.
After about a half hour of thinking, Matt picked up an apple from the kitchen. Then he set outside for the rest of the day, observing the birds, ponies, and the sky.
*****
Note:
I am super fucking sorry about the distance between this chapter and the previous one. I won't even begin on excuses for two reasons.
1. Too many fucking small ones that combined to make a behemoth.
2. It is mostly due to a good percentage of my laziness.
Now, once again, I say that I hope to put up chapters more regularly, but it is not a guarantee.
Again, please leave your reviews, praise, or disdain for this story. Just please don't say "You suck, GTFO faggot"