//------------------------------//
// Staring 
// Story: The Wise Soldier 
// by Justasimplename 
//------------------------------//

	I woke up with the feeling of someone tugging on my left leg. I opened my eyes. It was still dark. I looked at my left and saw that someone, or pony, was trying to pull out my pistol. I quickly pulled out the pistol strapped to my right leg and pointed it at her face. "Want to stop doing that or should I get some coffee?" 

The pony immediately look up and froze at the sight of my HK's bore. His, or her, hoof was still on my pistol. "Yes?" I said. I flipped the safety on and off and the silence in the air emphasized the click of my gun. Flipping the safety was absolutely useless but he/she didn't know that. All that he/she knew was that a very deadly weapon that he/she knew nothing about just made a few clicks.

I looked around and noticed that my M4a1 and VSS was also missing. I still had my vest on and the pouches were still filled with their contents. "Give me back my other weapons or you're gaining a new hole in your head."

"Please" called out Twilight. "Your weapons could benefit Equestria."

I moved the pistol right next to her ear and fired a round. She reeled her head back as she fell to the ground and clutched the ear that had suffered from being right next to a gunshot. Her other ear should still work and still be able to hear slightly. I aimed my gun at her reeling face. 

Then Pinkie Pie and this giant purple/green lizard ran out into view from behind a bale of hay. Pinkie Pie had my VSS slung on her back while the lizard had my M4a1 in its arms. 

"Let Twilight go!" the lizard yelled.

I laughed. "Trying to steal my weapons and trying to threaten me with one of them. Genius." I didn't move my pistol away from Twilight's face. "Except you have no upper ground over me." I flicked the thumb safety again and the mechanical click of the gun sounded out again. "You do anything I don't like and your beloved princess will gain a new hold in head." 

I moved my pistol's aim left and fired another round, shooting up a small amount of dirt into the air next to her head. "So, what are you doing to do?" I said while aiming my pistol back at her head.

Pinkie Pie removed the rifle off of her and threw it forward. "Here." Strange, her poofy hair had deflated and was now straight instead of its curly form that I had seen her with. She turned and looked at the lizard with a pleading look. 

"Fine" the lizard said, defeated. He threw the rifle down in front of me. I continued aiming my pistol at the two of them while walking towards my rifles. 

When I finally retrieved my rifles, I holstered my pistol. "Consider this a warning. Next time, someone's getting shot" I said. I looked at Twilight who had recovered from the sound of the gunshot. "You're included in that promise."

Out of nowhere, the doors of the barn were kicked in. I drew my pistol on instinct and pointed it at the entrance. "Now what in the hay is going on?!" demanded Applejack as she eyed the room. "Twilight?!? I told you it was a bad plan."

"They've been warned" I said.

"Apologize" demanded Applejack.

"We're sorry that we tried to steal your belongings" the three of them.

Are they serious? Who apologizes for stealing weapons?!? "Apology unaccepted" I said.

"Seal!" Applejack scolded me. "It's rude not to accept an apology!"

"What? You thought that an apology justifies their actions?" I asked her.

"Okay mister wise stallion." I'm just going to ignore that stallion part. "How does it work in your world?!" asked Applejack.

"If you're found trespassing and stealing on someone's property? The owner can shoot you on sight" I replied. "Which often leads to the death of the thief."

All four of them dropped their jaws. "That's horrible! No amount of property is worth the life of a pony" said Twilight. 

"Yes it is, especially when it comes to weapons like mine" I said. I laid my left hand on the GSH18. "Now are we going to have any other problems?" 

They understood the gesture and left the barn. Now that they were gone, I patted myself down to check if anything was missing. Everything from my backpack to my weapons were perfectly fine. Relieved, I sat back down on a pile of hay and closed my eyes. How did they not get the message that I was not to be trifled with?








I awoke(again) to the sound of a rooster calling. 'Right, I was on a farm.' I got up to my feet and started checking myself over. Everything was still there and nothing was out of place. I exited the barn and made my way towards the house. Inside, the four members of their little Apple Family(as I had dubbed in my mind) were eating breakfast. Upon seeing me, they all stopped eating and just stared at me.

"Look, I'm sorry for overreacting last night" I said.

"It's fine, dearie. Applejack wasn't actin like her usual mule self" said Granny Smith.

"Hey!" said a very offended Applejack.

"Anyways, you can stay her as long as yah like" said Granny.

I pointed at Big Mac. "Can I speak with you alone?" I asked him.

"Eeyup." I turned around walked out back outside with him following suit. 

"I need you to watch some of my belongings" I said.

"Ah know a good place to hide your things" said Big Mac. He turned his head and looked behind himself before looking in other directions. "Follow me." 

He turned tail(literally in this case) and started walking. I followed him and minutes later, we were at a large apple tree, many times bigger than the other apple trees. "Gee, an apple tree. I didn't expect that at all."

"Watch." He brought up one hoof and struck the side of the tree. From the opposite side of the tree, a section of it popped out like a door.

"Okay, that, I did not expect."

"Just put your things in here. Nopony else knows bout this here tree's little secret" explained Big Mac.

I took off my backpack and rifle(I unloaded these first) and tucked them into the tree before I stuffed my vest and spade into what little space was left in it. Closing the door to the secret compartment, I took a step back and examined the tree. It was impossible to tell where the door was if you didn't know where it was. "Sure no one knows about it?"

"Not even Granny knows bout it" said Big Mac.

"Good." I took off my combat jacket and tied one of the sleeves around one of the tree's branches. "Word of advice, do not look through my belongings. There's a lot of explosive materials in and on it that are very unstable." Not really unstable, just a lie to convince him.

"Ah'll keep that in mind."

"Actually, don't even open the compartment. It will be safer that way" I said.

"Now why don't yah join us fer breakfast?" he asked.

"Nah" I quickly replied. "I'm going to do some morning exercise first."

"Then what about those around your backlegs?" Big Mac asked, eyeing my pistols and knives. "They look mighty bothersome."

"Can't go entirely unarmed. Your sister's friends and this country's rulers hate me a little" I said.

"Good point." As he walked back to the house, I started stretching my limbs. 

As he left, I rapped the side of the tree like he did earlier and open up the secret compartment. I dug through my vest's compartments and took out a grenade. Using one of my knives, I flattened out the end of the safety pin that held the pull ring in place. Once I was finished with my task, I placed the grenade back in the tree on top of my combat jacket. If anyone tried rifling through my belongings, the pin would fall out of the grenade and... Well, you can guess what would happen next.

Closing the door of the secret compartment, I continued stretching my limbs. Do you know what's one of the key components to being a SEAL or any form of the military? PT, otherwise known as physical training. There's a reason why you never see obese people in those little commercials advertising for the Army or Navy or whatever branch it is. 

If you want to be a SEAL, PT is going to be the most hated experience in your life. I hate it too but I still have to stay in shape. With that, I took off jogging.








Cloud Kicker, Cloudchaser, and Flitter were having lunch together at a local cafe. However, they were trading pieces of information about their personal lives instead of actually eating the food they ordered(like they usually did). 

"So I say to him, are you going to keep staring or are you going to ask me out?" Cloudchaser said as she recalled her tale of social experience. 

"What'd he do?" Flitter asked, genuinely interested in the completely irrelevant topic.  Only god could understand why they would want to discuss a topic so useless.

"He just ran out the door!" she replied while throwing up her arms.

"If only Big Mac would start looking for some tail" Cloud Kicker said. "I'd give my wings to have a chance with him." 

"He just stays in that farm all day long. He's not going to be doing anything" Flitter said. "He's probably not even interested in mares."

Cloud Kicker sighed. "I really hope he's not like that that" she said. "If only-" Her train of thought was derailed and turned into fiery remains when her eyes noticed a jogging human passing by. Despite the difference in species, there was a shared commonality between human females and pony females. The more "built" males were more attractive, as evident with the trio's infatuation with the only male member of Ponyville's group of Apple Family members.

Even though he was wearing clothes, unlike ponies, all the muscles on his body was still very easily noticeable. With him being a member of one of the most elite special forces from another universe, there was quite a lot of muscle for Cloud Kicker to ogle. It didn't help that he was soaking wet(a stray rain cloud had drenched him earlier but Cloud Kicker didn't know that).

Her friend, Cloudchaser, wave one hoof in front of Cloud Kicker's eyes. "Equestria to Kicker, still there?" asked Cloudchaser. "You're beginning to drool."

Flitter noticed that Cloud Kicker's ears were slowly moving, obviously watching something. "What's she looking at? Her eyes are moving."

Cloudchaser looked into her frozen friend's eyes and then in the direction of what she was looking at and noticed what she was ogling. She too fell into the same trance. "Oh not you too!" Flitter said. Cloudchaser pointed one hoof at the jogging seal and Flitter almost fell into the same trance. The only reason why she didn't was that Seal had jogged out of view by now. "Okay, that's new."








"God damn pegasus pony things and magic" I said. I had returned at the farm and stopped inside the barn. Taking off my shirt, I started to wring out my rain soaked shirt.

"Whatcha doing there?" 

I immediately dropped my shirt in surprise while drawing my HK. When I realized that it was Rainbow Dash, I reholstered my pistol and picked up my now hay-covered shirt. I started shaking the shirt clean.

"Holy Celestia! You're bigger than Big Mac!" exclaimed Rainbow. I really hope this isn't going to become a thing. "Are you working out?" 

"I'm exercising" I replied. Now that my shirt was clean, I started putting it back on.

"No! Don't do that. Why don't you keep it off?" said Rainbow Dash.

I paused with my shirt around my neck and one of my arms. "What?"

"Uh. Nothing" she quickly said. 

"My hearing isn't as strong as you ponies but I think you asked me to keep my shirt off?" I asked. My shirt still was just hanging around my neck and one of my arms. 

"What I mean is um uh" she sputtered. "We're naked all of the time. Why aren't you?" 

Well that was a horribly contrived answer. I can obviously see that she's just staring at my body... You know, I don't think I ever would have ever thought of saying or thinking that. "No. Just no. Now leave so I can continue."

"Why don't I join you?" she asked.

"If you can keep up" I said while dropping to the ground. 

Before I started on push ups, she dropped down to the ground in front of me and assumed a similar push up position. "I should be the one saying that!" she boasted with heavy pride.

I smiled knowing full well of my capabilities. "Okay. Ever do held push ups?" I asked her.

"Push ups? Anypony can do push ups" she said.

"No, I'm talking about held push ups. There's a difference between regular push ups and held push ups" I said. So very, very true. It's a simple way to make push ups much harder to do. "Watch." I lowered myself to the ground until my arms were bent at a ninety degree angle. I silently counted to five in my head before pushing myself back up. "And that's one."

"That's it! I could do that in my sleep" she said.

"Okay, I'll lead." I dropped down again, repeating the previous action with her mirroring me. Five seconds passed and we pushed back up. "And so on."

Twenty-five later and she was starting to show signs of strain. (Don't believe they're that hard? Go ahead and do ten yourself without your arms shaking at all. Still think it's easy? Reach twenty-five.)

"Come on, we're only half way through" I said. She just stared at me like I was crazy. On the outside, I showed no expression. On the inside, I was laughing my ass off. By the time we reached the mark(seventy-five), she had started sweating pretty badly and took twice as long to push herself back up. 

I looked at myself. The rain had dried off by now, though my clothes was still wet, and I could still go on but it didn't look like Rainbow would be able to. "That's good for now." With that, I jumped back up to my feet and started rolling my shoulders.

She slowly got back up to her usual standing four hooves position while panting slightly. "That's it. Nothing to it!" she boasted with a breathe between each word.

"Time for pull ups" I quickly added in. I suddenly jumped up and grabbed a low(low to me but normal to them) hanging beam. For a short second, she had an almost crying expression but she quickly flew up and grabbed the beam in front of me. For the first fifteen pull-ups, she did fine. Then the next five, she started to slow down on, the fatigue from the push ups starting to affect her. Then the next five had her bouncing with each one.

When I finished my twenty-fifth, I dropped down, Rainbow dropping seconds later. "And time for a light jog."

Rainbow Dash sighed in relief in hearing that she would only have to do something that would let her recover. As the two us started jogging into town, she asked "Where are we running to?"

"Just into town and back" I replied. That was then I saw the same cloud that had drenched me in rain earlier today. It was in the exact same position and the same pegasus mare was sitting on it. Just as I passed under the cloud, the pegasus slammed one of her hooves into the cloud. I had suspected this and was prepared, jumping out from under the cloud, dodging a torrent of rain.

Rainbow Dash wasn't so lucky. "Hey!" she yelled at the pegasus sitting on the cloud.

"Sorry!" the pegasus yelled back.

"Now why in the hell are you drenching people in rain?!" I yelled at her.

"Well I, um" she stammered. She looked down at her hoof like there was a watch. "Look at the time! Gotta go!" And then she took off flying.

"What is wrong with your species?" I asked Rainbow Dash. She gave me a flat look. "Eh" I said while jogging off. As I continued jogging, I passed by the same cafe as I had earlier so I started making my way back to the farm. For the second time today, I arrived at farm and stopped inside the barn. 

I looked at Rainbow Dash. She was covered in a decent amount of sweat and her breathing was labored. "Nothing to it!" she boasted.

"Really? Are you going to join me for the rest of my exercise?" I asked.

"What?" she deadpanned.

"That was only one set. A mile and a half run, then fifty held push ups, and then twenty five push ups. Fifteen sets is my usual" I stated as if it was basic knowledge.

"You mean I have to do fourteen more?!?" she cried out.

"Well we just did one and fifteen is the goal. I don't know much about you ponies but I'd think you'd be able to do basic math." 

She started seating from nervousness. "Well, um. I have to go do..." Her eyes dart left and right, looking for a good reason to leave until she noticed the clouds outside. "Manage the weather! That's it. Bye!" and then she took off flying. 

I burst into laughter. I love that. 

Before I could move to doing more push ups, I heard rustling coming from a pile of hay. Drawing a pistol, I slowly walked towards the pile. "Get out. I know you're there."

Nothing happened. Looking around, I searched for a pitchfork. I soon found one and retrieved it, also having to holster my pistol. "If no one is in there, I guess it's fine for me to stab this pile of hay with this pitchfork."

"Wait!" a voice called out from above me. I looked up and found a crowd of... Pegasuses. pegasusi? Pegasi? pegasisisi? Whatever the hell a group of them is called.

"What the hell?!?" I yelled out while dropping the pitchfork. 

"Just go on with your exercise" said one of them.

"We're not here" said another one.

I dug through the pile of hay behind me and found two more of them except neither were pegasus. "You're all just watching me? Who put you up to this?"

"The, uh, princess" replied one of them.

"Get out" I said while pointing to the open door.

"But-" one of the ponies inside the haystack said. She didn't continue as I had picked her up and tossed her at the door way. 

I looked down at the other pony. "Are you going to walk or am I going to have to throw you?" I asked her. 

She looked at me angrily as she got up and walked out the door. Looking up, I found that the pegasus ponies were still there. "Get out!" I drew my GSH18 and fired a few rounds into the ground. Like it usually did, the gunshots painfully dazed them. "Out!" I yelled. The ones that stayed, I fired another three shots. "I can do this all day!" I fired another round, driving the rest of them out.

I walked to the door to check that they had all left. Relieved, I walked back inside and dropped down for more push ups. The nerve of some people. 

I should also stop wasting so much ammunition. I do have a limited amount after all. Maybe I could start reloading. I can use the old spent casings and maybe I could pay someone to cast some new ones. The gunpowder problem is simple, I know how to make a decent smokeless gunpowder. The primers might be harder. The shell of the primer will be easy to make but getting the explosive to put inside the primer is going to be a challenge. I have no idea how to make such a thing. I need something that's unstable enough to react violently to being crushed between an anvil(not a literal one, it's a part inside a primer) and the primer bottom but stable enough to not explode from being exposed to heat. 

Hopefully I can make more ammunition. For now, I should finish my exercise.








Twilight stood in front of the apple tree that held Seal's weapons and gear. She had heard what he had said about his gear. It had a chance of exploding. Was it the truth and his gear was as volatile as he had claimed? Was it a lie to keep Big Mac from satiating personal curiosity? 

Her horn lit up in a lavender magical glow. The secret door gained the same lavender glow. Then she shut her magic off, magical disappearing. "No, it's not right." 

She turned around and found herself looking at the Seal. In his left hand(of course she knew what a hand was, she has an assistant who has hands), was one of his small weapons. What really surprised her was that he inserted the weapon into the sheathe strapped to his leg. "Can I help you?" he asked.