My finger tensed. It was a simple case of they were the enemy and they were attacking me. Even though these were magical flying horses, I had been through this scenario a million times quite literally. I had to disable the threat's ability to harm. The solution was the correct application of shots applied to the target.
However, unlike the ones I usually shot at, these had a real reason to be a threat towards me. They were defending their country and the people that lived in it. In reality, I was the threat. They were in the shoes that I had adorned for many years.
Should I shoot back or should I give up? Either way, I wouldn't like the decision.
My rifle was still trained at the pegasi flying towards me. My mind had slowed down time giving me longer to think about my decision. Every instinct in my gut told me to shoot them. The only thing I had that stopped me was my mind.
As they flew in closer... They stopped moving. What? They had frozen midair. The only indication to why this happened was the lavender light that surrounded all of them. Was this another use of magic in this universe? Did it come from Twilight?
I looked at Twilight and sure enough, her horn was glowing with an identically colored glow. Then I looked back at the flock.
"Creature, halt your magical abilities!" yelled the lead pegasus. "Or we will have to take action!" And shooting at me wasn't taking action? Is he stupid?
I looked back at Twilight. "I'll handle this" she said. She turned to face the flock. The glowing flock slowly inched its way towards us, still frozen in place. When they were close enough, Twilight spoke up again. "By the power in my title, I command you to stand down!"
"We were ordered by Princess Celestia to subdue the creature!" said the lead pegasus.
Twilight brought the still frozen, lead pegasus closer. "Did you not realize that I hold the same amount of power as Princess Celestia?" You just gotta love the chain of command sometimes! "My word is equal to her word. Albeit recently coronated, you are still required to follow my word."
The pegasus, previously confident, now had the same demeanor as a recruit in BUDS. "But the creature-"
"But what?!" demanded Twilight.
"He poses as a danger" replied the pegasus.
"How?" asked Twilight.
"W-w-what?"
Twilight looked at the pegasus with a look that said 'are you fucking kidding me?’ "How does he pose a danger?" asked Twilight.
"We don't know what he can do" said the pegasus.
"And?" asked Twilight. "How does that pose as a danger? Has he hurt anyone? Has he threatened anyone? Has he actually done anything that is considered bad?"
"N-n-no" said the pegasus.
“This is an order. Leave.”
“But-“
"Leave" said Twilight. "Or I'll strip you of your rank."
By now, he looked like he was ready to shit himself. Her words actually hurt his feelings! What a load of bullshit! He's in the military. He should show at least a little tact. Honestly, people like that should join the Air Force.
As the emotionally offended pegasus flew away with his friends, I turned to Twilight. "Huh. I didn't expect that from you."
"Sorry" apologized Twilight. "I absolutely abhor how some ponies see me as a child when I have as much power as the other princesses."
"Just a little issue of chain of command" I said. "Happens all the time."
"That. Was. Awesome!" said Rainbow.
"What?" asked Twilight.
"How you told off that guard!" replied Rainbow.
"I swear. Some ponies need to learn respect" said Rarity.
"If it makes you feel any better" said Applejack. "We respect yah."
Twilight smiled at them. "Thank you."
"Party?" Pinkie Pie said.
Did she just say party? What kind of a person just wants to party at a time like this?!?
"Why me, silly!" Pinkie Pie answered.
Well no duh her but what- Did she just answer my thoughts? Had she been reading my thoughts this whole time?!?
"No, only when it's required to mess with your mind" said Pinkie.
Well let's see if I can beat her at her own game. Udachi chitaya moi mysli teper' vy razdrazhayet ukol.
"Hey! No fair!" Pinkie said.
"Net khm ty, suka!" I said.
"What are you two doing?" Twilight asked.
"Apparently, she can read my thoughts" I said.
"Really?!" exclaimed Twilight.
"No, just the ones that are of purpose to inform them" said Pinkie.
"Them?" I asked.
"Them" Pinkie Pie reiterated. "Well until he started cheating!"
I looked at her strangely. “How was I cheating?"
Pinkie looked like I had just asked her something stupid. "You started making all your thought word things in a language nopony understands!"
"It's my thoughts. No one, but you, is going to see them" I said. "And it's still pretty fucking creepy."
"I can only see the useful thoughts" said Pinkie.
"I don't care. Stop it" I said.
"Fine."
Did she stop? Let's test it out. Pink is a horrible color. No?
Her friends look like prostitutes. Nothing?
Hmm. A nice juicy steak that bleeds a little. Oh! There's a reaction. She shivered slightly!
Do you know what I really want to do? Hunting. After I shoot a good sized deer, I can make myself some venison. Gut the thing with my knife, covering my blade and hands in its life essence.
I looked at Pinkie and her face had turned a light shade of green.
Then there's the heart. Oh how I love the heart, especially after it's been cooked. That nice, somewhat chewing flavor of a cooked heart with a little bit of pepper and lemon would make me a happy man. Should I cook it a little rare? Not rare enough that it's alive but enough so that it bleeds just the right amount. Maybe I could-
My thoughts were interrupted when Pinkie Ran to the closest bush and started vomiting. "I knew it!" I yelled at her sick form. Maybe I could find some nice rattlers. Oh the flavor of grilled rattlers. I'd kill for some-
"Okay! I'll stop" yelled Pinkie Pie. "I'll stop!!"
"What did yah do to her?!?" demanded Applejack
I smiled. "She continued reading my thoughts" I answered.
"What kind of sicko are you?!?" said Rainbow.
"Just me." I ran my teeth over my canines. I wonder how they'd react to finding out that I ate meat. From Pinkie's reaction, not so well.
I opened my mouth to answer but Fluttershy beat me to the shot. "You're an omnivore, are you?" What? How did she know? Wait, can she read my thoughts too?! "It's the teeth. I care for a lot of animals."
"You eat meat?!?" Twilight exclaimed.
"Twilight! For shame! How does eating meat change anything?" scolded Fluttershy.
"Darling, you can't be serious! Only brutes consume meat" said Rarity.
"Griffons eat meat. Some ponies eat fish" said Fluttershy. "So what if he eats meat?"
I set my rifle down on the bench and stood back up. "What now?" A SEAL in a magical land of ponies, what could possibly go wrong?
"Let's go to my castle" said Twilight.
“Why?” I asked.
“To deal with this situation. We can’t just do everything out here” replied Twilight. “It’s not that far into town.”
I picked up my rifle. "Are you sure that’s good idea?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.
“The general populace appears to be deathly afraid of me. Is that really a good idea?” I switched out the partially used magazine in my rifle for a new one.
“Yes. As long as the six of us are with you, it’ll be fine” said Twilight. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing.” I flipped the rifle to safe. “Ready to go?”
So how did the town react to me walking into town? Not as bad as I had thought. Instead of panicking and running away like they did earlier in the day, they just watched me. I could tell that they still feared me but the presence of the six ponies most likely put them a little at ease.
Whenever I would just look at one of them, they just shied away as if I just threatened to gut them. Probably had something to do with my unusual, to them at least, face. At least I wasn’t wearing a mouth shroud and sun glasses. That would have really messed with their minds.
To be fair, I was a strange creature that posed as a possible threat. In their mind, I could be dangerous. Their suspicions were correct. I was rather heavily armed.
The castle that she told me of was absolutely atrocious. It was a giant motherfucking crystal tree. Only an idiot would live in that! I mean really.
The first problem? The damn thing looked top heavy. If you could add any more weight, the whole thing would probably fall down. Then there’s the fact that crystal is heavy.
Another issue? How easy it would be to destroy it. Trees are strong and all but how are trees cut down? You cut/remove/blast/shoot out a little bit off of the side of the trunk and timber. I could probably do the same thing with fifteen pounds of PETN. Hell, I could probably do it with fifteen pounds of ANFO! Just strap that to the side of the castle and BOOM!
My favorite flaw? It’s made of fucking crystal! That doesn’t grow on trees and it’s not exactly easily cut either though they might have some process to create/cut/use crystal with magic and whatnot.
Either way, this castle’s a piece of shit and I hope I never have to live in it. I’d choose the home of an ISIS militant over that castle.
“So you want me in there?” I said, one again for the thousandth time.
“Yes!” repeated the six of them.
“I don’t see what is wrong with going in the castle” said Twilight.
“That castle?” I pointed at the death trap. “In there?”
Every single one of them groaned I annoyance. “Honestly, how bad could it be?” said Rainbow Dash.
According to Murphy’s law, everything. I refuse to go inside that castle. “If you don’t go in, we can’t help you” said Twilight.
Oh, that’s a good one but it’s still not going to get me to go in there. “Still not happening” I said. I sat down on a piece of crystal that was conveniently bench shaped.
“Fine. We can still converse” said Twilight. “What will you do?”
Hadn’t she already asked me this? It’s getting rather redundant. “I don’t know” I replied.
“I mean short term wise. Do you have food? Water? Shelter?” Twilight said. “Who knows how long you’ll be in Equestria.”
“Nor why” Rarity said.
They do make a point. How long will I be stuck here? Days? Months? Years? Would I be able to adjust?
A new, yet to have been unheard, voice spoke up. “I think I can help your little matter at hand.” I turned. The pony I saw surprised me. Unlike the other ponies that only got up to waist level with me, this one reached my chin. Her rainbow hair and tail, unlike the others, flowed like water as it waved through the air. Like Twilight, she had a crown atop her head.
Beside her was a platoon of twenty, maybe even thirty, of those horse knights that tried to subdue me earlier, all of which were armed with swords, spears, and a few crossbows. These, unlike the previous bunch, were made up of pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies instead of just pegasi.
A security detail, huh? And it’s a rather large one too. That’s not good. Even the president isn’t directly accompanied by that many guards.
Upon seeing her, the others, minus Twilight, bowed down. Shortly thereafter, they all looked up and noticed how I wasn’t bowing. They all looked at me like I just punched her. I’m going to guess it’s because I didn’t bow down to her. No reason for me to salute her. Nor bow. “Are you the queen?” I asked.
“No. I am Princess Celestia” she greeted me. “May I have your name?”
“Just call me Seal” I replied. “So, where’s the queen?”
“There has never been a queen in Equestria. It’s a tradition to use the title of princess instead” Celestia said. So Twilight has more power than I thought. Another thing I’m wondering about is whether Equestria is a traditional monarchy or a constitutional monarchy. Then there’s the name of the country. Equestria. The hell? That’s like renaming America into something like Homo Sapien.
“You may rise, my little ponies” said Celestia. They, minus Twilight, stood back up returning to their previous positions. “You must be asking yourself why you’re here.”
Hmm. That’s rather ominous. If a strange creature landed in the country I was ruling, I would be asking for its intentions like Twilight had been doing earlier. “
“What?” I said.
“You must be asking yourself why you’re here” repeated Celestia.
“Why?” I asked.
“I brought you here, along with some others, to help Equestria deal with a foreign issue” said Celestia.
I blinked a few times.
“I’d like to apologize now” said Celestia. “But I’d like to keep the damage from this conflict as minimized as possible so I decided to enlist the help of your species.” I blinked again. “Along with you, there are eight others like you here, all members of the military like you. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to send you back to your home. Bringing you and eight others took too much energy and if I tried to send back even one of you, I would die.”
I blinked again. “Will you help our country?”
“How would he help? He doesn’t even look that tough!” said Rainbow Dash.
Celestia took a few steps forward. “He is a member of one of the most elite groups of the military from his world.”
“How does that make him tough?” Rainbow said.
She looked at me. “His species wages war. It is almost the specialty of his species. They have books on war, games for war, practices for war, laws on war, philosophies on war, and Tartarus, they even simulate wars.” She stepped right up to me. “Please, will you help us?”
I blinked again. “Hello? What is your answer?” I blinked again.
“Maybe he’s in shock?” said Twilight. “You did tell him that he has no way of going home.”
“Hello?” said Celestia. She moved closer to me until her face was only a few inches away from me. “Are you okay?”
I blinked. “Get some nurses” said Twilight to the pegasi body guards.
I looked down, and then looked back up which caused Celestia to move back slightly. “Are you okay?” asked Celestia once again.
“No. My answer is no. I will not help” I replied. I punched her in the face, sending her flying back. When she hit the ground ten feet away, she just laid limply on the ground, unconscious, with blood covering her face. In addition to that, her snout was scrunched up as it was clearly broken, one of her eyes was badly swollen that also had a long gash running through it, and a large portion of her horn had broken off. “So fuck you.”