As Snake followed the ponies towards their destination, he was informed about several factors of normal pony life, including how pegasi can control weather and that the sun and moon were controlled by a pair of princess sisters. At this point, he found that it was easier to just accept things as they were, because questioning them would only bring headaches.
Still, Snake had a couple of questions of his own to ask. "So, what's keeping everyone from panicking when I show up?"
Twilight's ears drooped slightly. "Well, if they saw you, they'd probably freak out no matter what, so it's probably for the best that you remain hidden for now."
He couldn't find an issue with that plan. "So, where will I be staying, then?"
"Well," Applejack spoke up, "you could stay at mah farm, maybe, or you could stay at Fluttershy's place. Both are kinda far outta town."
"Uh, not to sound rude, or anything," Fluttershy broke in, "b- but I personally don't think he should stay at my house..."
"Why not, Fluttershy?"
"W- Well, I have so many animals in my house, and..."
As she trailed off, Snake frowned at the implication. "I'm not just some mindless beast, you know."
"Oh, goodness, of course not!" Fluttershy said a bit louder, mortified at apparently insulting someone. "It's just that- that..."
"Don't worry, I'm not angry. Though, you do have a point. Maybe the farm would be the better choice."
Applejack's wince was just barely noticed by the human. "Well, in that case, Ah suppose Ah could find ya some room in the barn... Though Ah'd probably have to explain you to mah family."
Snake nodded in understanding, but said nothing.
Meanwhile, at the front of the group, Twilight and Rainbow Dash quietly discussed the nature of the human.
"I mean, look at him!" Dash said. "He even looks like nothing but trouble!"
Twilight sighed. "I still think we should give him the benefit of the doubt."
"He held me at knife point. Twice! And he pointed that... thing of his at you!"
Twilight flinched slightly. "Well, he was probably just scared and confused. Wouldn't you be, if you were brought into another world against your will?"
Dash didn't have a comeback for this, and soon the group reached the edge of the forest. The town of Ponyville was visible from here, and it looked like they were where Snake dropped off Dash and Fluttershy after knocking them out.
"We should probably stick close to the forest," Twilight told the others. "No need to raise a panic if we don't have to."
"Fine by me," Snake replied, and with that they started moving again, the human being slightly farther into the forest than the ponies.
Soon, a small cottage on the edge of the forest was spotted, which Fluttershy confirmed to be her house. According to her, Sweet Apple Acres was a bit farther past it.
Suddenly, Pinkie held up a hoof, signaling the others to stop. Before the others could ask what was wrong, she quickly said, "Crusaders, ten o'clock."
The others immediately understood, and Twilight turned around to face Snake. "Alright, do you think you could-"
But he was already gone, the only sign of his existence being a rustling patch of deep grass nearby.
"Heya, sis!"
The princess turned away to see the three members of the CMC hugging their respective older sisters (or sister figure, in the case of Scootaloo and Dash).
"Heya, Applebloom!" Applejack returned the hug, looking at the other two fillies. "How are ya?"
"Ah'm fine, sis." The filly broke away from the hug. "Me an' mah friends were just wondering if you could help us with somethin'."
Applejack's warm smile gave way to a soft, suspicious glare at the three fillies, as Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo stood beside Applebloom, all of them smiling innocently. "Help yah with what?"
The others had mildly suspicious looks, themselves, especially Rarity.
Now under slight pressure, the fillies looked around nervously. "Well, we were hoping you'd help us get our 'forest exploring' cutie marks," Scootaloo said.
"Didn't you already try to do that?" Twilight asked.
Sweetie smiled sheepishly. "Well, maybe this time we'll actually get them?"
Applejack just shook her head, both amused and exasperated. "How 'bout you girls go and play in th' park? It's a nice day, after all."
Rarity and Dash voiced their agreement, and slightly downtrodden, the three fillies started heading back towards town.
"Wait, they went into the forest before?" Rarity suddenly asked, clueless.
"Cute kids. You might want to keep a better eye on them."
All six of the gathered ponies jumped at the sudden reappearance of Snake.
"What the- Where were you?!" Twilight shouted.
"You were going to tell me to hide. So I did."
When she realized he was right, Twilight sighed. "Well, in any case, we should get moving again."
"It shouldn't be much farther," Rarity said. "I believe I can see the orchard now."
Sure enough, apple trees were beginning to appear in the distance. Now with their destination in sight, the group started moving slightly faster, less careful of any prying eyes. Snake still kept close to the forest, though, in case he needed to disappear again.
It wasn't long before they were surrounded by apple trees, and Ponyville was no longer in sight. Now with no need to be sneaky, Snake relaxed slightly, though he was still a bit wary.
"Alright, th' barn's just up ahead," Applejack said. "Ah hope ya don't mind, Snake, but that's where you'll be stayin', for now."
The human let out a short laugh. "Beats camping in the forest, that's for sure."
They reached the edge of the orchard, where Applejack and Dash made sure the barn door was open and no one was watching, then signaled to the others, who quickly filed inside as the doors shut behind them.
The inside of the barn was fairly basic. Tools were located on a work bench along one wall, and there was quite a bit of hay scattered around the floor. A few openings near the roof let in enough light to see, and there was even a loft where Snake could sleep, unseen.
"Not bad," the human complimented, looking around his new (probably temporary) home.
"Well, before ya get settled an' all," Applejack began, her face getting serious, "mind tellin' me why you lied back at the castle?"
Snake froze, his hands subconsciously hovering near his pistol and knife. "What do you mean?"
"Yeah, what exactly do you mean, Applejack?" Twilight asked, her confusion mirroring the others.
"You know I can spot lies from a mile away, Twi'," the orange mare continued. "And him 'forgetting' what happened reeked of bein' an outright fabrication."
All eyes were now on the human, who was subtly looking for a quick way out. Not seeing an escape route that wouldn't fail, he sighed. "Alright, you caught me."
There were small gasps from the other ponies. Twilight was less surprised than the others, but she hid it well. "Why?"
Her simple question got the attention of the human, who turned to face her. "Why would you lie?"
Snake figured it would be best to be blunt, now. "Because that's classified information."
There was a deep gasp at the back of the group, and everyone turned to see Pinkie, her eyes wide. "So you ARE a spy!"
"Of a sort."
Twilight's mind was buzzing with even more questions now. Why would what he was doing be classified? And what was his mission, anyway?
Did it possibly have something to do with Equestria?
"What about the part about being here by accident?" Twilight asked. "Was that a lie, too?"
"No, that part was true."
The princess looked at Applejack, who nodded in confirmation.
"Then why hide what you were doing?" Dash argued. "It's not like they're gonna find out you talked!"
Snake was about to retort, but he realized that she was right. Given the situation he was in, it's likely that the only way he'd have a chance at getting home was to cooperate, and tell them the truth.
Sighing in resignation, Snake looked up, his eye fixating on Twilight. "Okay, what do you want to know?"
"For starters, what exactly was the nature of your mission?"
Snake thought for a bit, then came up with an answer. "I was sent to both potentially rescue a defecting scientist, to destroy a potential superweapon, and to... kill a defector."
Somewhat amusingly, Twilight was already writing things down on a spare piece of parchment. "Where were you sent? Was it a country that your own country was at war with?"
"...yes and no."
The answer made Twilight pause, but she moved on for the moment. However, before she could ask her next question, Dash spoke up from the back.
"What exactly happened to your eye?"
She glared at the pegasus to tell her to not be so insensitive, but Snake just chuckled. "I was wondering when you'd ask about that." He tapped his eye patch. "I lost it after I was captured by the enemy, during a torture session."
This caused the inside of the barn to be filled with complete silence. "A torture session? How brutish," Rarity commented.
"Yes, well..." Twilight scanned the parchment for something before looking back up at Snake. "When I asked if it was a country you were at war with, you said 'yes and no'. What exactly did you mean?"
Snake scratched his chin. "My home country, the United States, and this 'enemy' country, Russia, aren't technically at war, though they are opposed to one another. Hence the use of espionage agents like myself."
"What brought those two countries to be like that?"
Snake paused for a second, then shook his head. "To answer that, I'll have to give you a bit of a history lesson, since everything pretty much led into this."
He took out a cigar and lit it, confirming the smell that the ponies detected back at the castle. Despite most of their mild to strong disapproval, he continued to smoke it. "You see, it first started about fifty years ago, when a high-ranking member of another country's government was assassinated..."
Over the course of the next couple of hours, Snake retold the history of his world, starting from the beginning of World War I, to the outbreak of World War II, to the start of the Cold War. He would stop to answer any questions that popped up (except for Pinkie's questions, which usually amounted to things like "Do they have cupcakes in Hungary?").
He never would've thought of it, but apparently he was a pretty decent storyteller. Either that, or the history of his world was interesting enough to make up for any lack of skill he had telling it. The ponies all paid rapt attention to what he said. Even Dash, who only mocked some of the countries' names when he started, was paying close attention by the end.
The whole time, Twilight was feverishly writing down on her parchment. More than once, Snake had to pause for a second while she retrieved another roll of parchment. By the time he had caught up to the present, she had written nearly three and a half scrolls worth of information.
While Snake wouldn't give any specific details regarding his mission, he did tell them that he was probably the only one who could stop the war from going nuclear. While none of them knew exactly what that meant, they all seemed to grasp that it would be very bad for all involved.
At Twilight's request, Snake also briefly explained his weapons, namely both of his handguns. He felt that most of the terms he used flew right over their heads, but they were still satisfied with his explanation.
As Twilight finished up her writing, she glanced outside, where the afternoon sun was starting to edge its way towards a sunset. "Well, I think that's enough for now. I have to send this report to the other princesses!"
"And them apples won't buck themselves," Applejack added, following the princess out of the barn. "Make yourself comfy, Snake."
Soon after, the others took their leave, as well, leaving the human alone inside the empty barn. After bringing himself to the loft, out of immediate sight, he performed a quick check of his inventory, finding everything in order. With nothing else to do, he killed some time by twirling his revolver around on his finger. At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder just how exactly Ocelot could handle not just two, but three revolvers at a time. He may be young, but he certainly was skilled.
Thinking about the Russian soldier just reminded Snake of the task he still had to complete. He may have defeated the entirety of the Cobra unit, but he still had to deal with The Boss, when all was said and done. Even if he did finally manage to surpass her abilities, would he really be able to go through with killing her? When she taught him everything he knows?
This internal debate continued for the next few hours, until the sun began to set. Glancing out the window, Snake spotted Applejack coming back from the orchard, who tipped her hat at the human upon seeing him. He returned it with a simple salute, and soon after, Snake laid down on a small pile of hay and began to drift off to sleep, his hands near his knife and gun, as they always were when he slept.