Rainbow and I were talking for hours about how I got Andy to snipe the hydra’s first head and I had to rocket jump to cut off the other one. The third head remained there while we ran off and waited for the guided artillery round to nail its main body and blow it to hell. It hit the hydra and the last head fell to the ground allowing Troy to cut off the last one making sure it wouldn’t get up. Though in the fantasy world a hydras’ head would grow more heads when severed. Real world not so much.
Rainbow told me of the time she did the second sonic rainboom at Cloudsdale. I played dumb and asked questions about it to keep in character. She spoke highly of her friends and I listened to every detail and asked questions about things I didn’t know about. The whole time we talked about our achievements and our failings. At one point she asked.
“What’s it like being able to eat meat?”
“W-what? Well it’s great! I love steak and pork.”
“Steak? What’s that?”
“Cow.”
“WHAT YOU EAT COW?”
“Yea why? Are they sentient here?”
“Well yea they are like ponies. And so are a lot of other species.”
“Like pigs and sheep? And definitely horses.”
“Well yea actually.”
“So wana try some meat?” Cole said.
“WHAT! No no nononononononono!”
“How about blood?”
“What? NO I’m not going to try someponies blood!”
“How about mine? I’m used to donating some to the blood bank so it can be injected to people that lost too much of their own.”
“Wait what? Humans offer blood too?”
“Yea! Anyway want to try some of mine?”
“No I’m a plant eater! Blood could make me sick!”
“You don’t have to drink it. Just a taste! And fair warning it tastes like pennies.”
“What are pennies?”
“Old currency that just isn’t used all that much anymore. Well I think blood tastes like pennies because of an old rumor.”
“Oh…Okaaaaaaay.”
“Anyway want to try my blood?”
“NO!”
“Please?”
“Why are you trying to convince me to do it?”
“Because I’ve never really met a talking herbivore before; I just want to see your expression when you try it.”
“Not going to happen!”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Positive.”
“What if my life depended on it?”
“DON’T EVEN GO THERE!”
“Okay.”
And after that weird conversation between them the nurse came in and turned off the lights. It was night. They still stayed up talking for a good few though until Rainbow yawned midsentence.
“Am I keeping you up?” Cole said with a smile.
“No it’s just *yawn* I’m just umm…I don’t know.” Then the Rainbow Pegasus laid back and fell asleep.
Cole almost burst into laughter but kept his composure so as not to wake her. He returned to his archives and started to watch more of those my little pony shows. He realized the more he learned about the show the more this world seemed to make sense. And the more he interacted with the ponies here the more he liked the show. Cole didn’t realize it yet but he became a brony. In fact he had no idea what a brony was but he remembered coming across weird memes in his childhood that he didn’t understand; eventually they faded from his memory and they never resurfaced. Cole watches more shows until he got through all of season 1 and then onto season 2. He noticed a very odd similarity to the current events of Read it and Weep and now. To his horror the room looked a lot like the one he was in now. Then the inevitable lines that he was almost regretting came up in the dialog. “And look! You have a roommate!” And there wasn’t a human on the other side. There was a crippled pony with bandages covering his face and all of his legs. He looked like he was in the saddest state ever imaginable. Cole sits up and looks around the room. The Celestia’s sun was coming up. Cole needed to get healed fast so he could figure out how to get home. He only now realized that he spent the entire night watching that show in stasis, which allowed him to view more shows in less time. This means he used all the time to rest on watching this show. He was exhausted and still needed to sleep an entire night; but his military conditioning allowed him to continue everyday actions without falter while tired or wounded. He noticed the drapes were open so he was in full view of Rainbow. She was watching him then quickly pretended to sleep out of embarrassment. The only indication she was looking at him was the fact she rustled around when Cole started becoming aware of his surroundings again.
Was she watching me the whole night? THAT LITTLE STALKER!
Cole now watched Rainbow and imagined what she could be thinking about. She seemed to know he was staring at her, maybe it was the fact she tensed up after a while. She rolled over and opened her eyes while facing Cole.
I know her game and I was going to play it my way.
“Were you staring at me?” She said.
“No.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Looking.”
“At what?”
“You”
“That’s staring.”
“No I just started.”
“You sure about that?”
“Yea and you are too. You saw me almost dazed didn’t you?” a light blush appears on her face.
gotcha
“No I didn’t!”
“Then why are you so defensive.”
“Jerk!” She rolls over and starts pouting facing the window. “AND STOP STARING!”
“I’m not staring. I’m looking out the window.”
“Like I’m going to believe that!”
The swarm allows Cole to lift large objects. Only common sense that they can also be used to allow him to hover or be weightless…So this next part makes sense. ;p
“Well you could believe me when you look back at me.” Cole uses his weightless ability to make it so she doesn’t notice him when he teleports next to her in the bed. It was also a quiet teleport so she didn’t hear him. Cole slows his breathing so he can’t be sensed by the rainbow maned Pegasus. Rainbow rolls back over and is startled by the human who greets her gaze at point blank with his head resting on his palm.
“WHOA!”
“HAHAHAHAHAH! Oh you’re fun. But seriously I don’t mind weird behavior. If you want to look at me go ahead but don’t lie about it.” Cole gets closer to her and while cautious of her wings brings her in for a hug. The confused Pegasus stays there dazed for a moment without a response until she awkwardly returns the hug. “This weird?”
“Yes.”
“Goooooooooooooooood.”
“YOU’RE SO WEIRD!” Rainbow couldn’t help but laugh at his weird behavior.
LAME EXCUSE ACTIVATE!
“What? Are ponies not social through grooming and physical contact?” He means do ponies socialize through grooming. Like apes and monkeys do. Humans did it too and Cole is using that fact to allow his odd behavior to go unpunished.
“Well it certainly isn’t normal I can tell you that. Unless it’s your very special somepony.”
“Umm ok…So you mean that me hugging you is too soon?”
“Sure as hay is!”
“You don’t mind though do you? I haven’t been around another human for a while and I miss companionship.”
“But we were talking all day yesterday!”
“Humans like to touch each other.” OH YES WE DO!
“I don’t like to be touched.” Being so close to Cole she couldn’t help but look away from the awkwardness. (Trust me if you’re inches away from a girls face that you don’t even know…You tend to look away unless your…getting in ;P)
“You sure?” Cole takes his fingers and rubs his fingers down her spine making her shiver in pleasure.
“WHOA! Ok this is getting really weird!”
“Sorry but I know you liked that. It was a weird sensation right?”
“Well yea but it doesn’t mean you should be touching me like that…Its way to intimate.”
“Sorry humans are intimate species. Especially with friends of ours. OH fun fact men hold hands in some countries just because their friends.”
“R-really?” This seemed to comfort her a bit. Though it didn’t entirely defuse the situation; it was only enough for her to forgive him and still allow him to be her roommate. “All right I’ll forget about this. If you get back to your bed for at least a few hours.”
“But then I’ll feel lonely.” Rainbow gives him a glare. “Yes ma’am.” Cole rush teleports to his bed.
“So any more stories?”
“Have I told you about my ship the Trinity?”
“I think you mentioned it.”
“Ok so basically I’m-“
“Ok time for breakfast you two.” Said the nurse.
The nurse found her way into the room unnoticed by Rainbow and Cole. She stood there gazing at the puff of smoke that formed into the human before she spoke up. Then she quietly placed the treys of food on their laps and walked out of the room looking back at Cole on her way out. Rainbow tried to take her time eating since she was going to stay in the hospital for a while. Then she remembered she has someone to actually talk to. While she was thinking about what she wanted to do for the rest of the day Cole was thinking of how he will use the new fleets of swarm that his body built. He realized that he was in his skivvies for the past day now and he really wanted a new attire before he got out. He searched up a way to make clothing with the swarm and to his surprise they had it. Only it was actually light nano armor for field purposes to protect the wearer from energy weapons. However the design for it looked pretty bad ass to him. Being it was all black and some red lines around different armor segments that allowed him to move freely without restricting him. He chose to have the suit morphed around him.
“So Cole exactly what was the reason for you wanting me to drin-WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”
Rainbow saw a light blue wall forming around Cole and start gathering on his skin creating a black overlay of his main body. Then plates began to form. After a good ten seconds the scene ended and Cole was covered in a new uniform that made him look so much cooler by Rainbows point of view.
“Whoa…How’d…Why’d? Huh?”
“Sorry should have given more warning.” Cole takes off his hospital gown and throws it aside then lies back relaxing in the surprisingly comfortable armor that he was now wearing. The Armored plates weren’t that big. Only one centimeter thick and the suit itself only went from to his elbows and his thighs. He couldn’t make any accessories or even complete his uniform because he ran out of swarm so his arms don’t have gauntlets and his legs remain exposed. He was out of swarm but the harvesters in his body were converting fecal matter and some of the undigested food in Cole’s body.
“Whoa…You look—well pretty cool actually.”
“Yea its body armor. I’m meant to look intimidating.”
“Yea I’ll say! Hey wait a minute, why do you want to be intimidating?”
“So no creature will want to mess with me…Also I like to wear armor. It makes me feel safe in this new world that seems so...” He looks back at Rainbow “…Colorful.” Rainbow blushes again.
“Are you flirting with me?”
“Yes why? Do you not like it?”
“Well we’re just so…Different!”
“Does that matter? Besides I don’t love you. I’m just flirting. It’s all to make you feel good about yourself.”
“W-what?”
“Yea remember when I called Pinkie Cutie pie?”
“Oh…OH I think I get it now. Well ok it’s not so bad now that I think about it.”
Just then her friends Twilight and Fluttershy came in.
“Hi Rainbow Dash!” They said in unison.
“Hey guys! Oh Cole here has been keeping me entertained.”
“Really? That’s great! Whoa what are you wearing?” Said Twilight as she begins to notice Cole’s armor.
“Oh this? Light body armor.”
“Why would you wear body armor?”
“Because it’s the only thing that’s programmed into my swarm. I have nothing else to wear if I don’t have this on. And I don’t feel like walking around in my skivvies all day.”
“Well fair enough though I would like to hear more of your abilities.”
“Sure maybe when I get out.”
“Ok then. Hey Rainbow we brought your favorite board game.”
“Ok Twilight lets play. And let’s see who wins!”
“WHOA WHOA WHOA!” All three ponies look over at the human. “I didn’t know you guys like to play Battleship? Well your own version of it but I guarantee you will love mine!”
“Wait you have your own board game?”
“Yea hold on!” Cole dissolves his suit except around his waste and turns it back into the previous swarm. He then gets his scout to come in the room and it dissolves too creating a mist between Cole and the ponies. Then shapes form within the mist and they expose 8 ship classes. Fighter, Bomber, Frigate, cruiser, destroyer, battleship, carrier, capital. Cole explained the rules in detail. With each passing moment Twilight seemed to get more and more suspicious without Cole noticing. She was beginning to believe he was a soldier.
“Ok understand the rules?”
“You know it! Game on!” Exclaimed Rainbow.
“Ok.”
They began their live action battleship game. The capital ship was producing funds for each player to expand their capital ship and give it defensive weapons. After a while Twilight, Rainbow, and Fluttershy decided on waiting to build to tier 2. The battlefield was unseen and they needed to start scouting before Cole can find their base. Twilight was first to notice this and she made fighters to go around and search out Cole’s base. She even made sure she was leveling up the main base. She made some frigates and cruisers to defend the scouted areas and then a fighter came out of the fog of war. It was an enemy fighter. Cole found a frigate and within minutes two destroyers came and started to engage it. Twilight responded by sending everything at the battle and once all her units arrived the inevitable happened. Cole found their main base and had a battleship hit it from outside the fog of war while fighters and bombers were close by allowing the battleship to zero in. At the same time they did damage. The game was over quickly when the three friends lose. They play the game several times, each time they got better and always lost just as quickly, if not quicker than the last time.
“HOW ARE YOU WINNING?” Said Rainbow. She was obviously upset.
“What I’ve played every one of my friends. After a short while I found out I can’t lose at a game.”
“W-well let’s play my game! Obviously you have the home field advantage!”
Oh Rainbow was never so wrong in her life. When they started playing the Equestrian version of battleship it was already obvious who was winning. Cole was quick to find her clouds and animals before she could find his. He had them expertly spread out so that they would be hard to guess. Rainbow herself was a tactical genius since she’s been playing this game for so long. However today was the first day she lost.