I had been in a hostage situation before but never the one who was holding the hostage. What could I accomplish with this? Potentially declaring war on an entire species? Being branded as an enemy of the country/state? And what if I lose? Death? Either way, I’d be losing.
Meanwhile, the five of them could only stare at me as I held their friend in my arm, knife to her throat. While two of them(the one with a stetson and the white one) showed unadulterated anger on their faces, the other three showed concern and worry. My hostage, Rainbow, was just futilely thrashing in my arms.
The silence that filled the air was only making the situation worse but the purple pony had fortunately ended it. "Please, just calm down and we can discuss this like rational ponies" the purple horse asked me.
"The definition of calm is not showing nervousness, anger, or other negative emotions" I explained with a rather dull tone in my voice. "It appears that you and your friends to follow your advice more so than I do."
What surprised me was that the yellow pony started tearing up. "We're sorry!" she cried out. "Please don't hurt her!"
I could see why she was crying. Not only had a strange, possibly dangerous, creature had shown up in the middle of her home but one of her friends could have been hurt.
What was the purple horse doing when she shot me? Was it meant to kill me or rather incapacitate me? "What did you shoot me with?" I asked them.
"It was just a simple sleep spell. Nothing that's meant to hurt you" the purple horse replied. “I swear by Celestia‘s name.” Celestia? Does their society worship the sun or a deity of relation to the sun?
I figured that she shot me with magic. I was surrounded by colorful talking mini-horses, two of which were unicorns. I adjusted my grip on Rainbow, who was still thrashing, to emphasize her role as a hostage. "You attempted to incapacitate me even though I was not showing any violent intent" said I.
"We're sorry" came the purple horse. "It was just a sim-"
"But" I continued. "I am strange creature that appeared out of nowhere and I can tell that your species as a whole is xenophobic." I took my knife away from my throat and released the pegasus who flew back to the safety of her friends. “Count that as a warning but I would also like to apologize for my actions.” Sitting back down, I returned my knife to its sheath and took a proper hold on my rifle. "Let's hope that we are able to deal with this rationally."
"What a flank hole" said Rainbow.
"You're not fun to be around either" I retorted.
“And you’re the one calling us sino fobe ik” said Rainbow.
“It’s pronounced xenophobic” corrected Twilight. “It means an unreasoned fear for what is considered to be alien or new. In this case, it would be him as he is considered an alien and new.”
The definition offended her even more. “Hey! We’re not afraid of you!” said she.
“It can also mean a dislike, hate, and or prejudice towards something that is not familiar” I added. “It does not always mean fear.” Then there’s just complete hate like how I feel towards Rainbow Dash.
"So I guess surrendering your weapons is out of the question?" the purple horse asked with a laugh. She was trying hard to make the mood better but it wasn't working well. When she saw that the joke didn't work, she just looked at the ground and folded her ears against her head.
"Joke's aside, what do you want and or need?" I asked. "I promise I won't try anything drastic as long as the six of you do not try anything drastic.”
“So what are you doing in Ponyville?” asked Rainbow. “Are you trying to take over?!?” Just as cocky as ever. Even after being a hostage and quite possibly near death. And her idea is rather idiotic. Taking over with a single soldier? Really?
I had the urge to insult her but held back. “No” I replied. “As for why I am here? I do not know.”
“You don’t know?” said the purple horse. “Not even the last details previous to your entry to Equestria?”
“Other than standard memories, no” I replied. “I don’t even remember what I was doing yesterday.” I looked up in the sky, specifically the clouds. They floated rather low and it seemed that I would have been able to hit one with a rock… Or even a grenade. “Someone or something brought me here and I don’t know why.” I looked back at the six of them. “Names and position?
“What?” said the purple horse.
“Sorry. May I get your names and who you are?” I corrected myself. “I’d prefer it kept simple.”
“Oh. Umm, I’m Twilight Sparkle and I’m a princess of this fair land” said the purple pony. A princess huh? Why would she try to take care of such a situation? That’s like making the vice president deal with a bank robbery. Either she’s an idiot, or the queen’s an idiot.
“Pinkie Pie and party mare of Equestria!” said the pink pony. A bundle of sugar, ADHD, and caffeine. Or maybe it’s coke. Either way, she has WAY took much energy. I need to duct tape her to a tree or something. I’ll make sure it’s a roll of EB green or something.
“Name’s Rainbow Dash, the fastest pony in the world!” said the blue pegasus. Cocky little shit and probably a pest. I already hate her. How she acts right now, after being held hostage, makes me want to deck her in the face.
“My name is Rarity and local fashionista” said the white unicorn. A diva that most likely indulges in drama and romance novels. I hope I don’t have to deal with her.
“Applejack. Apple farmer” said the orange horse. The apple farmer thing was expected, the stetson and the country accent offended me a little but it’s manageable, and she appears to be rather angry at me. Hmm. Indecisive.
“Fluttershy and I’m an animal caretaker” the yellow horse said meekly. Shy and appears to be weak. She’s an animal caretaker so that means she cares for all manners of life. This one might be the only one I don’t outright have any negative attitude or thought towards.
“Thank you” I said. It’s a good thing they can’t see my thoughts.
“What about yours?” asked Rarity.
Should I tell them my name? Of course there’s my name tape on my right breast but my vest was concealing it. “Just call me Seal” I replied. “And I’m just a simple soldier.” A bit misleading and a bit of an understatement but I can deal with it and they’ll never know.
“Seal? That’s a funny name!” said Pinkie Pie. Not a name but an acronym but I will admit that as a name, it is rather silly.
“If you don’t know why you’re in Equestria, then what are you going to do?” asked Rarity.
What am I going to do? I could try to find out how to get home or why I’m here but I wouldn’t know where to start. If I settled here, would anyone ever get used to me? Would I get used to everyone?
And what of back home? How will my family react to my absence? My squadmates? Will I ever see any of them again? What if I was dead and this was the afterlife? Albeit strange, I’d be stuck here.
And the situation where I was purposely sent here? A US Navy SEAL stuck in a land of magical ponies. What would be my purpose? It certainly wouldn’t be making pizza.
If I was summoned here, my purpose would not doubt be for war. The dilemma is that I am-
“Hello?”
I snapped back into reality and looked back at the ponies. “What?” I asked of them. Did anything happen while I was thinking?
Rarity answered. “You looked like you spaced off. Are you okay?”
“Yes. To answer your question, I don’t know what I’m going to do” I said. “I have almost no apparent purpose here.”
“Well you’re a soldier” said Twilight. “Maybe you can join the royal guard.”
The royal guard. I’m going to guess that it’s their military. I wouldn’t fit in. I won’t fit in.
The pony called Rainbow Dash looked rather dumbfounded from what Twilight said. This was why I didn’t like her. She does not show discipline nor respect. “Join the royal guard? As if” said Rainbow Dash. She flew up to me again and tapped my chest again. “He doesn’t look all that tough. It doesn’t look like he’s wearing any armor and that booming weapon looks like it’s for show.” My M4a1 for show?!? What? “The only real weapon he’s carrying is that little knife of his.” Urge to punch her in the face increasing.
“It’s a real weapon” said Twilight. “It fits the description of a fire stick.”
“A what?” asked Rainbow.
“A fire stick. It’s a new weapon concept used by the Griffon Nation. In short, it propels a small, usually lead, projectile over a long distance with the use of expanding gases that comes from the same powder as fireworks” explained Twilight. Unfortunately, this wasn’t where she stopped. “The powder is ignited with a slow burning match held by the user. When fired, it will have a loud boom like we just heard.”
If what she’s telling me is correct, then I definitely have an advantage. The best weapon they have is a single shot firearm, something that predates the matchlock mechanism. If I remember correctly, those types of firearms were expected to fire at 2-3 rounds a minute. My M4a1? 750 rounds a minute. Then there’s accuracy. Hit the broad side of a barn? Never! With an M4a1? Well no duh.
“And if I remember correctly” continued Twilight. “Fire sticks can only be fired once before the user has to prepare the weapon, similar to reloading a crossbow.” Crossbow? They are really behind in the weapon technology. “And he doesn’t have his trump anymore.” Again with this. Had they not learned?
All six of them looked at me. “Please surrender your weapons before we have to take action. We realized that you are rather attached to them but we’d feel better with you disarmed” said Twilight.
Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash were slowly advancing on me, the former holding a lasso in her… tail? What? Other than that mind fuck, Pinkie Pie had pulled out a rather large but comical mallet out of nowhere.
“Come on, it’ll be easier for yah” said Applejack.
“Remember, he still has a knife” said Rainbow.
I blinked and raised my rifle in the air and fired two shots. Again, the six of them were dazed hearing the loud report of my gun with their unprotected, oversized ears. When the six of them recovered, I fired another shot, dazing them again.
Again, the six of them recovered. “Can you quit that?!?” screamed Rainbow. Looking at her, I fired two more shots.
When they recovered again, I said “I can quit but I won’t.” Following that, I fired another shot in the air.
When the recovered, again, I asked “What did we learn?” My rifle was still pointed in the air, still ready to be fired.
“You can still use that bucking weapon. We get it!” yelled Rainbow who had both hooves clamped over her ears.
“Should I continue?” I asked, finger tensed around the trigger.
“No!” they all screamed, including the shy one. Most of them were rubbing their ears from the pain of hearing the gunshots unprotected and I could somewhat understand their blight. I believe that horses have much stronger ears than humans.
“Excuse me but why didn’t you take a more civilized approach?!?” demanded Rarity. Her once white coat had done a good job emphasizing her mood as it had taken a light shade of red. “You could have just asked us!”
“You all know that wouldn’t have work” I replied. “If you’re not going to be rational. I’m not going to be rational. Like I said earlier, I will not do anything drastic as long as the six of you do not try anything drastic.” True, a few of them were just starting to gang up on me. Even though they’re little and cartoonish, I couldn’t underestimate them. There’s a chance that they had their own secrets, like I did.
“How many times can that be fired?!?” asked Twilight.
“An amount” I replied. “I’m not going to tell you. It would only give you a gauge of what my capabilities are.” And I still have my sidearm on my drop leg holster.
Twilight looked worried. I couldn’t blame her. She had just found out that I had a weapon that far surpassed their weapons in terms of lethality. Who could blame her? That’s like finding out an insurgent got their hands on a nuclear bomb.
“Do you have anything else that you want to ask?” I said.
“Yeah” said Rainbow Dash. “Why didn’t you tell us that you could talk earlier?” Huh. That was actually somewhat intelligent of her to ask me.
“I wanted to see how you would act around me” I explained. Continuing, I said “If you acted rather horribly around me believing that I was an unintelligent creature that had done absolutely nothing, then the reaction to an intelligent creature that could be doing something would be rather… negative.”
“So again” said Twilight. “What will you do?”
I looked up away from them again. “I’ll wait.”
“For what?” asked Twilight.
“I don’t know” I said while taking a seat on the bench again. “Maybe for something to take my time away.”
“And what would that be?” asked Twilight.
To answer my question, a crossbow bolt planted itself into the woodwork of the bench, a mere six inches away from me. I looked up at the source of the bolt and found a large group of white pegasi descended on my location. All of them were wearing gold colored armor(Which is absolutely fucking useless! And Rainbow said my M4a1 was for show?!?) and were all armed with crossbows, swords, and or spears.
Raising my rifle, I took aim. I should still have about twenty or so rounds left in the mag.