> Totally Vanquished
>  by Gorgie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Sam, you need to get out of there. NOW!!"

"Yeah, I know. I'm trying to!" 

He tried to push the thrusters as much as he could, but it wouldn't go any faster. Which was NOT a good sign. He'd already defeated Victor Zaitsev. He didn't really want to be blasted apart by the very coloney he'd been trying to get under control, let alone be nagged at by his "helper" in this mission, Elena.

"Oh SHI....!" That is the last words what Elena ever heard from Sam before heard an explosion after. Even an idiot could have guessed what happened.

"SAM! SAM!" All she could do is fall to the floor of her spaceship, shout and cry as Sam was engulfed in the explosion. There was no WAY he could have survived that, even with the ARS suit. Elena got up and looked out of the window with a tear in her eye. "He's gone..."
> A new place
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Urghh. My head. What the fuck did I drunk last night?" Sam got up, rubbed his head and felt the grass on the ground. Even through the suit. "Wait...grass?" When his vision came too, he looked around and noticed he was in a open field of some sort. It looked beautiful. "Wow...this seems....awfully quiet."

He shook his head and stood up. As he did, his helmet/visor covered his face. He pressed a few buttons on the side of his helmet and as he started walking, he started scanning for anything what could help in him figuring out where the hell he was. "I remember the Providence blowing up, along with me. So, is this heaven? Cause it certainly isn't the providence. Unless it can rebuild itself along with me which would be great, but also physically impossible." He thought to himself outloud while still walking. He picked up the pace a bit and pressed the same buttons again, revealing his face. "Well, nothing around here what looks familiar. And the scanner isn't picking up anything." 

Then, he suddenly remembered 2 things. "Where the hell is my gun? And also, I wonder if the com is working." He looked around and facepalmed. "Fuck. I need to stop thinking out loud. Don't want a Gorgie or a Romanov hearing me. Then again, it doesn't look like there is any around so..." He was about to walk away and try his com, but he saw something out of the corner of his eye. "Ah! There it is." 

He went over and saw his gun. Well, the BLADE system as Elena liked to call it. It always confused Sam how it managed to instantly change to a different weapon, but he never decided to question it. "Come to papa." He picked it up, and luckily, it was already in the Assault Rifle form. 

Sam checked his com. "Static. Oh perfect. Thank you for ripping my ass off, technology." He then noticed there was a forest right in front of him. "How the hell did I not see that before?" He decided to just walk through it and see where it took him rather than ask questions to himself all day. "Right. Off we go."





It was a regular day in Ponyville, at least for Twilight Sparkle. A regular day for her usually consisted of her and her 5 friends trying to save Equestria from some evil force. Today was no different.

"Discord, you will NOT start to cause chaos again! Girls, get your elements on!" As Twilight said this, the mares got on their jewelry and formed a line. As they did this, Discord shook his hands and put on a worried expression.

"NO! DON'T YOU DARE!" The next thing he knew, there was a big massive blast of all colours piling into his face. The 6 ponies were now looking at a stone statue. They cheered in victory as the Cyan coloured one, Rainbow Dash, flew into the sky and started doing aerial tricks.

"WOOHOO! We really showed that stupid Discord how to party huh girls?" Before anyone could answer, they heard a loud bang. It was coming from the west. "Did you guys hear that?"

Twilight nodded and pointed to the west. "Yes Rainbow, it came from over there. Which leads to the..." She couldn't finish her sentence as all the 5 mares jumped in front of her and began running the direction she was pointing. 

"THE EVERFREE FOREST!"

"Girls! Wait for me!" Usually, she'd ask why they were bothered about a loud sound coming from the Everfree, but she knew that Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were in the forest searching for something that could help them with their cutie marks. Suddenly, the Orange one with a cowgirl hat, Apple Jack, looked behind her and shouted at Twilight.

"Come on Twilight! We need ta' get to the Everfree Forest! Mah' sweet lil sister is in there!





"Come on you ugly piece of shit! You want some of this?!" The only thing Sam could hear right now was the sound of his gun discharging a few hundred bullets into the beast what was in front of him. Before he knew it, the creature dropped to the floor in a pool of blood. "That was one tough fucker. I wonder what is was."

He didn't have much time to relax though as he soon heard...trotting behind him? "That sounds like trotting. The only thing what makes that sound when it walks is.." Before he could think of an end to his words, he saw 6 pastel coloured ponies come out of the bushes in front of him.

"Well, fuck me." That's all his brain could manage as the 6 ponies stared at the dead creature and back at him with shock and fear. And the next thing made him think he'd gone insane. One of them talked.

"What have yer done to mah' lil sister ya foul creature?!" Applejack glared at Sam which such intensity, it could have shattered glass. He was unfazed by it, mind. He crossed his arms and held them up to his chest, just standing there looking at the now angry...horses in front of him.

"Did you just talk?" It stared at him with a look that said "Are you stupid or something?"

"What? Of course ah' can speak ya moron! Now where is mah' lil sister?!" Applejack stomped her hooves and was getting ready to charge. Sam noticed this and got his weapon out, changing it to its shotgun form. He felt as if this thing would try to get close, so a shotgun would work better then an assault rifle. 

"If ya don't tell me where mah' sister is, I'm going to buck ya teeth out!" 

"Try it horsey." Sam held up his shotgun and pointed it at Applejack. He held it with one hand while his other hand reached for his cigarettes. He put it in his mouth, got out his lighter, flicked it open and lit the end of the cigarette. He took a drag of it and blew out smoke in the direction of the orange pony who was now coming towards him at high speed. 

"This is gunna be one hell of a day." 
> Getting answers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wow, what a day it had been for Sam. Not only had he been blown to bits by the very thing he was trying to recapture, he'd been bucked by a certain orange equine. His bad luck was starting to change however as he now had said equines throat in his hand. He could snap her neck right here if he wanted to, but something was compelling him not too. "Dammit. Why can't I just kill this thing and be done with it? It did kick me into a tree after all." Before he could come out of his thoughts, the orange one tried to kick him again, except this attempt failed. It was still shaking and trying to get out of his grasp.

"Let me go ya damn vermin!" Sam paid no attention to its words as he was still trying to get his brain around how it could talk, let alone fight. After a few more seconds of it's squirming, he noticed the other 5 equines running towards him. That is, 4, as one was flying. 

"Oh wow. First I see an orange coloured horse with a cowboy hat on and now I see a horse with wings. Zaitsev better not have drugged me before I got to the escape pod..."  He suddenly felt a quick sharp pain in his head, which he soon realised to be a hoof being forced into his face, hard. He stumbled back a bit before he regained his balance, dropping the orange equine in the process. 

"That's how you wanna play? Alright then. I'm game." He got his weapon, changed it to its rocket launcher form, and fired at the group of techno coloured ponies that where heading straight for him. The result of the explosion favored Sam more then it did the 6 horses, as it sent each one flying in a different direction. He saw one go flying into a tree, one flying into a bush and the others just fell backwards and hit their heads on the ground. After the dust cleared, he was surprised to see one still standing. It was a lavender/purple type of colour and had a horn pierced through it's head where the brain was. It seemed to have created a sort of bubble which he guessed protected it from the explosion.

"Holy shit. How did it do that?" His thought was cut short as a blast of what looked like a laser hit him in the chest, sending him flying backwards. The next thing he knew, he was laid flat out on the grass. "Ow! That stung like a bitch!"





To the others, this creature seemed evil. To Twilight Sparkle however, it seemed that it was just defending itself. She still had to make sure it didn't hurt any of her friends any further though. So she charged up her laser and shot it, hitting the creature straight in the chest, sending it flying backwards. Once it was on the ground, it started to get up almost instantly. "How did it recover from my magic that fast?! I've never seen anything get up so fast from that spell!" It suddenly charged at her with furious speed. Luckily however, she still had the bubble spell she conjured up around. 

"I shouldn't worry. Nothing can penetrate this bubble, except from powerful magic." She was proven wrong as the creature punched the bubble incredibly fast, bursting it in the process. Twilight stumbled and fell backwards. She crawled away from the creature, only to back up against a tree. The creature was preparing to attack again, but before it's fist could connect with Twilight's face, a rope suddenly swung around the creature and pulled it backwards. Well, tried to. Only to have it snap the rope and swing the rope away, making Applejack fly off with it into the distance. "Applejack!" As soon as she shouted her friends name, he looked straight at her. "Oh, so you have names then? Pretty strange for a horse." 

Twilight now had her mouth hung open in shock and fear. "Did that thing just talk?" Before she could ask it a question, such as why was it doing this, Rainbow Dash jumped onto the back of the creature and started trying to punch it in the back of the neck. This didn't seem to work as the monster just squirmed, trying to get Rainbow off of it and threw her over his head, causing her to go crashing head first into a tree. She then heard it mutter something. 

"These fucking horses are starting to really grate on my nerves."

"Ponies."





"What?" Sam just looked at the lavender coloured horse in confusion. It then started talking again.

"We're ponies. You called us horses. Just correcting you is all." 

"So let me get this straight. You're correcting me, who just tried to retaliate against your attacks. I thought you'd be trying to rip my guts out by now." He noticed it stand up and walk over to him. Getting cautious, he changed his BLADE weapon to its shotgun form and placed it in the direction of the horse....ponies head.

"Please put that down. I'm trying to talk to you peacefully. I don't want to fight you" Sam was nervous to put the weapon down at first, but he agreed with her. He'd been fighting robots and a specific Russian all day and he really didn't have the strength to keep fighting. So he changed the BLADE form into a stick like black line and made it go into his arm. Well, the suit to be specific. The pony looked at him with a mixture of confusion and amazement.  "What is that thing?"

Sam looked at where the weapon had just disappeared into his suit and looked back at the pony. "It's called BLADE. It's basically a weapon what I use to fight and protect myself." He looked towards where the orange pony had landed and remembered this one shouted to it with what he guessed was it's name. "I noticed after I threw that orange pony over there with the rope it tried to tie on me that you shouted at it? I'm guessing Applejack is its name right?" The lavender pony nodded.

"Yes, that is correct. Do you have a name?"

"Yeah, I'm Sam. Sam Gideon."

"Nice to meet you Sam." The pony held its hoof out towards him, which he guessed was supposed to be a form of a handshake. So he wrapped his hand around the pony's hoof and shook it, causing it to shake a bit. He withdrew his hand and looked around him, noticing that all the other ponies had gotten up and were walking towards him. Suddenly, the lavender one spoke up.

"Girls, it's alright! It was just a misunderstanding! This...creature is called Sam Gideon. He just wanted to protect himself against us!" The pony looked at him and blushed. "Oh my! I'm so sorry! I haven't even told you my name yet. I am Twilight Sparkle. These 5 other ponies are my friends. Let me introduce them to you." Sam just looked at them all and noticed they still looked like they wanted him dead. He wasn't trusting any of these things until he knew they'd calmed down a bit. Getting jumped by a techno coloured pony isn't something he'd ever experienced and he didn't want to experience it ever again.

Twilight pointed at the orange one had tried to kick him earlier. She was still glaring at him. "This is Applejack. The element of honesty. She also lives on the Apple family farm, Sweet Apple Acres." 

I could bore you with all the introductions, but I'm too nice to do that so lets skip ahead shall we?

After Sam had learned all of the ponies names, Sam was ready to ask her some questions. "So, Twilight was it?" She nodded. "What's this place called?"

"This is Equestria. How do you not know that already?"

"Because I've never heard of Equestria. I'm from some where called Earth. I have no idea whether this is heaven or this is just a random planet in a different universe, but there's one thing I'm sure about. I don't fucking know how I got here in the first place." Twilight just looked at him with a confused look on her face. 

"Well, what were you doing before you ended up here?"

"I was fighting a war on a colony in space. I was trying to escape after defeating the bastard who caused said war, and I got blew up in the process of escaping. I figured this was heaven and I was dead but...I don't think it is somehow." Twilight looked shock. "He fought in a war? Wow. Must have been hard for him...better not question him about it until I get back to Ponyville though." After that thought had gone out of her head, Sam and the 6 ponies starting walking out of the forest.

"So, where are we going exactly?" She looked up at him and smiled. 

"We're going to a town called Ponyville, where I live. I'll explain more when we get there. And also, when we get there, you can explain why there was a dead Manticore next to you."

Sam shrugged and sighed. He had no idea what a "Manticore" was, but he certainly knew one thing which was pretty obvious by now. "This is turning out to be a long ass day..."
> Contacting the princess
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a while, Sam and Twilight had got to the library. During his walk through the Everfree Forest and towards Ponyville, the ponies and him asked questions to each other. Except Rainbow Dash who kept trying to attack him for hurting her earlier. The only reason Sam hadn't ripped her head off was because Twilight kept the two apart from each other. He was sorta grateful for this as he didn't want to cause more trouble then he already had. By the time they had got to the library, the others had said their goodbyes and gone to do their own things. As Sam stared at the libraries perimeter, Twilight opened the door and motioned for him to come in. Sam obliged and followed the lavender unicorn into the living room. 

"Wow Twilight. You sure have a lot of books."

Twilight rolled her eyes and shrugged. "What else do you expect? It's a library. Don't you have them where you are?"

"Oh yeah, we do. But still..."

Twilight went upstairs and told Sam to follow her, so he did once more. When they got to the top of the stairs, she showed him a quite bare room. It had a bed and a shelf with guess what...more books. 

"This room is certinally....down with the basics."

"I'm sorry that it's not got that much in it. It's been here ever since I moved in here. I've never used it so I never felt the need to add anything more to it."





Twilight watched as Sam tested the beds matress. She found him quite interesting and she'd only known him for about 20 minutes. He told her about his species and the war he was fighting. He species was really interesting by the sounds of it and clever. He had told her that his suit what he was wearing was called the ARS suit...or something like that. He also said that it granted him super strength, super agility, let him maniuplate his nervous system in his brain that in turn, made everything seem in slow motion if he got critically injured. His suit was really the most Marvelous thing Twilight had ever seen and would ever see. Just the sheer thought of this creature being able to slow down time (in his own eyes that is) amazed her and at the same time, terrified her. His weapon was also intriguing as it seemed to change into different...what he called "firearms". He said he'd explain to her later how it worked. She was still holding him to that promise. She was snapped out of her thoughts when he walked up to and stood in front of her. She never noticed how tall he was compared to her.

"Right. What do you want to do now?"

Twilight shook her head in confusion and looked up at him. "I don't know. There is one thing what's been bothering me since I saw you actually." Sam nodded and motioned for her to continue. "Is that suit attacked to you or can you actually take it off?" Sam chuckled.

"Yeah, I can get out of it. I just have to press this button here..." Before she could hear the finish of his sentence, he reached for the back of his helmet and pressed a certain button. In a mere second, his suit started to unwrap itself around him, until it finally fell to the floor, revealing what he really looked like. He was quite muscular, although he wasn't fat. He looked like he had a LOT of tough training. Although that was expected as he said he'd been fighting a war.

Twilight looked at him with a seductive look. He glared at her. "Don't give me the bedroom eyes love. I'm not fucking a pony."

The next thing Sam knew, the once smiling, confident lavender pony in front of him was now blushing. She was as red as a tomato. She walked up to him and let out a quick chuckle. "You're certainly a joker aren't you?"

Sam walked past her and laughed. "That I am lass. That I am. So, do you have any meat or??" Twilight stared at him in fear and backed off. 

"You're a....a....carni-v-vore?....." 

Sam walked up to her, which caused her to back off up against the wall. "I'm actually an omnivore. But don't worry, I won't eat ya. I don't eat ponies." This caused her to relax a bit and walk back over to him. 

"Sorry Sam. It just scared me to think that you could eat me...."

He laughed. "Na, don't worry. I don't have a taste for pony meat. So, what food do you have?" 

Twilight shrugged and rubbed her forehead with her hoof. "Ermm...we have all sorts, except meat as we are herbivores. Can you eat salad?"

Sam nodded. "Sure can. Could I have some if it's alright with you?" Twilight nodded and put on a warm smile.

"Of course you can. Feel free to help yourself." She showed him down to the kitchen. "Right, after you've had something to eat, you can answer the rest of my questions. Deal?" 

"Alright." Twilight smiled when she heard this. She was grateful that he would let her ask him questions. It helped put her mind at ease. She did catch him muttering something though what made her sigh in annoyance.

"Great. 20 questions, here I come."

"40 to be exact." This made him grunt and nudge her with his shoulder. "Perfect. Thanks hunny."

She blushed at him calling her that. "Why am I blushing? He's an alien who I met 30 minutes ago. Get a grip Twilight!" Her thought was cut short when he noticed a quill and a piece of paper just outside from the kitchen. 

"What's that?"

She went over to it and levitated it. Sam was amazed, but didn't say anything. "I use this scroll to contact with Princess Celestia. She's an alicorn which is a mix between a unicorn, Pegasus and Earth pony. She is immortal and raises the sun. Saying that, I need to write a letter to her telling her about you. Will you excuse me please?"

"Oh...sure thing."





"She raises the sun and can never die of age? What the fuck?! Wonder how old this Princess Celestia is..."

He came out of his thoughts when Twilight looked at him and smiled. "There we go. Sent. I usually have my dragon assistant, Spike, send them and receive them. But he's in Canterlot on royal business." Before he could ask her anything, a scroll appeared out of no where, making Sam jump back a bit.

"Ah. I knew she would reply immediately." She began to read it out loud.


My faithful student,
This creature sounds very....interesting. I have lived long enough to know that the universe is full of surprises, but this is one of the very few things that I did not expect to ever happen. I have arranged for him to come and meet with me, so I can make sure he's friendly and that he understands the rules of living here, if he chooses to do so. A chariot will be there in a few hours to escort him to Canterlot. Make sure he is ready.


Twilight looked up at Sam who looked confused as hell.

"Well....guess I'm going to meet royalty."
> Meeting royalty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours had passed since Twilight read out the letter from this so called "Celestia". It'd be a lie to say that Sam was looking forward to meeting her, but what choice did he have? Since he took his suit off, he'd put it back on. Better to be safe than sorry.

After what seemed like days of waiting, a chariot pulled up outside, followed by a few knocks on the door. Twilight went to open said door and saw 2 royal guards standing there with spears by their sides.

"Miss Sparkle. We have come to collect the..." The guard stopped in mid sentence as he looked at Sam inside Twilight's house. "creature." Twilight just smiled.

"Ah, of course. Sam, would you come over here please?" Sam listened and stood up straight. He noticed the guards were shocked, probably because he was quite tall compared to them. He walked over next to Twilight and scanned the guards, making them weary.

"Hm. What are you supposed to be? Soldiers or something?" The guard on the left grunted and sent a glare Sam's way.

"No creature. We are the princesses royal guards and you will speak to us with respect." The next thing the guard knew, Sam was laughing and walking past them towards the chariot. 

"Whatever you say man. Just take me to see this "Celestia" will you so I can get this over with." Twilight had to restrain the guard from trying to attack Sam as he was losing patience at a rapid rate.

"HOW DARE YOU! YOU WILL REFER TO HER AS THE PRINCESS!" He still laughed as he got into the chariot.

"Oh will I now? I doubt it. Anyway, hurry up. I want to get back by today." Twilight could see the guard was going to protest, but she told him to just ignore Sam. The guard obliged and went over to the chariot and got in, alongside the other guard. And in couple of seconds, they were up in the air flying towards Canterlot.





During the journey, all that Sam had done was stare at the scenery, have a cigarette, and make sure his weapon was still functioning. But after about half an hour, they finally arrived at their destination. After he got out of the chariot, he was guided by the guard to the castle where Princess Celestia was. While he was walking, he didn't say anything, nor did the guards. The only actual sounds what came out of his mouth were snorts and laughs, which were directed at the old Victorian buildings they had. After a while, they finally reached the castle. It was blocked off by a huge gate, which 2 guards were standing next to. They eyed Sam up at first but then opened the gate.

"Ah, you must be the creature that the princess wanted to see. Come this way." 

Sam was never one for taking orders, but as he thought before, he didn't really have any other options. So he followed the guards through the castle and eventually came towards a rather large wooden door. He guessed this was the throne room or something seen as it was a "royal" castle. One of the guards, a unicorn to be precise, went to open the gate with his magic.

"Alright. Through here is the throne room."

Sam smirked. "I knew it." The guard continued on from his sentence.

"The princess is waiting for you in there. Good luck."

All the guard got for a reply was a nod as Sam walked through and as the doors closed behind him, he saw the biggest pony he'd seen yet. It was almost the same height as him, albeit about 1inch bigger. It had a white coat, a horn and a pair of wings. It also had a crown on it's head. He slowly made his way towards her and eventually, she noticed him and warm, gentle smile made its way onto her face.

"Ah, you must be the creature Twilight told me about. Please, make yourself at home." As she said this, a chair levitated over to Sam and fell just beneath him, making it so he could sit down almost instantly. He did so and put one leg over the other, got a cigarette out, put it in his mouth, lit it and blew smoke in Celestia's direction. This didn't phase her however.

"What is that in your mouth if I may ask?" 

He looked up at her and chuckled.

"It's called a cigarette. It relieves stress but it's also bad for your health. A lot of my species are addicted to them, as are I. They really help to keep the stress down when you're getting shot at from all directions.

Celestia still had a confused look on her face from his description of the strange object that he now flicked onto the floor and stood on. It miffed her a bit that he just threw it on her castle floor, but she decided not to say anything about it. After all, she didn't want to start an argument so early in the meeting.

"Oh my, where are my manners. My name is Princess Celestia. I raise the sun at dawn and..." Sam cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"You're the ruler of Equestria. Your "faithful student" told me."

She looked at him and chuckled, which surprised him. He thought she'd be a stern ruler who would bitch at him for treating her like a normal person rather than royalty. It turns out, she was completely the opposite. 

"So Twilight told you that hmm? She's a nice pony. But she's such an egghead sometimes.." Another giggle. He was starting to like this Celestia, seen as she actually had a sense of humor.

"Yeah, heh. Anyway, my name's Sam. Nice to meet you Celestia. Do you want me to call you Princess Celestia or just Celestia?"

"Just call me Celestia. No need for formalities. I get enough of that all the time. And it is very nice to meet you to." Celestia sighed and levitated a cup of coffee towards Sam.  "Coffee Sam?"

He waved his hand around. "Na, I'm fine thank you. Don't really like coffee. I have to admit, I know this is a bit fast to be saying this, but you're actually not too bad looking for a...pony."

Celestia blushed and put a hoof to her face. "Oh. Why thank you. No ponies complemented my looks in over 300 years."

Sam chuckled and put his leg on the floor. "It's nothing. Just stating a fact. Back on my world, ponies are animals, don't speak and aren't anywhere NEAR as intelligent as you ponies are. And you look a LOT different."

"Your world sounds very interesting. Do you remember what it is called?"

"Yeah, Earth."

Celestia walked over to Sam put a hoof on his armor, examining it. He looked at her with a confused look on his face.

"Your skin is most...strange." Sam started laughing which made Celestia jump back a little bit.

"This isn't my skin. This is my battle suit. It's called the ARS suit and I designed it myself. It's designed to make me a lot stronger then any of my species and lets me do things other humans can't."

"Humans?"

"My species."

"Ah, of course. Well, it certainly is most fascinating. And you said you designed this yourself?" Sam nodded.

"That's very impressive. You must be an intelligent creature to design such a thing."

Sam chuckled at her compliment. "Thank you. You don't look too dumb yourself." 

Celestia didn't know whether that was a compliment or a joke, but either way, it made her giggle a bit. 

"Right. Lets get down to business. So, do you have any idea how you ended up here?" Sam scratched his head and thought for a minute before he started to speak.

"Ermm, not really. All I remember is getting blown up and then waking up in a forest."

"Blown up? How? And you mean the Everfree forest?"

He shrugged. " It's a long story. And I guess that's what it's called."

Celestia sighed and looked at him with a sorry looking expression. "Well, I'm sorry Sam, but it appears that I might not even be able to send you back to your universe. I know it's way too soon to say that, but considering I don't even know if your world is in a different universe, I don't have any idea of how to send you back. But I promise you that I will look for a way, if there is one, to send you back. Is that alright with you?"

Sam was pissed that he probably wouldn't be able to get back home anytime soon, if ever at this rate. But, he decided not to get angry at her. I mean, she was actually being really nice to him and she seemed quiet genuinely friendly and funny, so he saw no reason to snap at her.

"Urgh. Well, thanks for offering to try Celestia. It's funny, I'd usually be shouting at you considering you said you probably wouldn't be able to get back to my world, but to be honest, I feel no need to. You're actually one of the best inhabitants of this planet I've seen so far." This resulted in another blush from the princess.

"Thank you once again for the compliment. My my, you are a charmer." Celestia sent a wink his way. Sam had no idea if that was seductive or just plain creepy, but he was too deep in thought to care right now. She noticed this and was suddenly concerned for him.

"Sam, are you alright? You look like you're thinking about something?"

Sam snapped out of his thought induced trance and looked back at Celestia, who now had a concerned expression. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. Say, I know this is kinda wrong to ask, but do you have anywhere I could possibly take a rest? I'm a bit tired from today's events and it's getting pretty late now."

Celestia nodded with that same warm smile she had when she greeted him earlier. "Of course. There is a spare guest room you can use. And don't worry, I will inform Twilight that you will be staying here for the night. You can stay here at the castle for as long as you wish."

Sam looked shocked at the sheer amount of kindness she was showing him. "Wow. Thanks Celest....your highness. No one's ever been this nice to me before," 

Celestia smiled when she heard him call her princess, although there was no need for it. "As I said earlier, you can just call me Celestia. Anyway, I will show you to your room. Follow me Sam."

Sam obliged and followed her. Eventually, they came to a big bedroom and he guessed this was the guest room she was talking about. All that was there was a bed and some drawers. Not much, but it'd do for now.

"Here is the guest room. Feel free to use the restroom if need be. It is down the hallway on the left. Have a good rest Sam. I will see you in morning." Sam waved to her as she closed the door behind her.

"Night Celestia." He removed his suit and climbed into bed. He immediately loved it like a son.

"This is so comfy..."

And in a few seconds, he drifted off to sleep.
> Talking with royalty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The birds were chirping as the Sun radiated down on the castle from outside. The powerful beams of sunlight shot straight through the window, finding themselves warming up the bed what was now occupied by a not so 'morning' person. 

"Urgh....one good nights sleep and I wake up with the fucking sun in my eyes. Just perfect." Sam dreaded getting up from his comfy bed, but he decided it was either now or never. The next thing that happened was quite weird actually. He jumped up from the bed and found Celestia staring at the window. 

"Woah! How the hell did you do that?!" Celestia, now noticing that her new friend was up and ready to go, let out a slight giggle.

"Magic. Actually, I just walked in here after you looked at the window." 

Sam chuckled. A thought suddenly popped through his head what made his smile get wider. "She's a freaking ninja in disguise, I swear. Then again, it wouldn't surprise me. With all the R.I's I've fought, fighting a ninja would be a fucking walk in the park." He was brought out of his thoughts when he noticed that Celestia was now staring at him.

"I have a free day today. Do you want to do anything? It would be nice to spend time with an alien." She winked. 

If she sends a wink my way again, I swear down..." He spoke up when he'd done thinking. "Yeah, sure. Hang on, how can you have a 'free day'? Aren't you the ruler of this place?"

She walked over to him, still having that warm smile stretched out along her face. "Yes, I am. But it does not mean that I cannot take a day off once in a while. I feel like I deserve one, as I haven't had anytime to relax in quite a long time. And, when I have one of these 'free days', my sister, Luna, takes over for me. I thought since you were staying in the castle for however long you wished, you might as well spend some time with it's occupants."

He put a finger to his chin. "Hmm. Well, alright. Let me just get my suit on."

I'll have to meet this 'Luna' sometime. If she's anything like her sister, it should be fun."

Celestia looked at him in one of those comical looks that usually was followed by a light bulb appearing above their head. Unfortunately, no such light bulb appeared. "Oh! I'm so sorry! How rude of me. I didn't even notice that you were...undressed. Do you want me to wait outside?"

Sam put a small grin on his face as he fought to hold back a chuckle. "No, it's alright. I'm not actually 'totally undressed'. I'm wearing my standard clothes. I only wear the armor for battle and to protect my self. And, it comes in handy when I want to get around fast. Heh."  He saw Celestia eying him up and he raised an eyebrow towards her direction.

"Well, you are quite 'tone', as most of the ponies here would say. Why do you need the suit on here? We're only walking around town and maybe have something to eat." By the time she'd finished talking, she already noticed he'd quickly gotten it on. VERY quickly actually.

"Thanks for the compliment. And I don't care if I was just talking a walk to the bathroom and back, I'd still wear it. I'd rather be safe than sorry as I still have NO idea how this place works."

Celestia let out a sigh and walked towards the door, opening it as she stood next to it. "Suit yourself."

Sam laughed which caught her attention. "Haha. Very good joke there." 

Celestia was confused at first, but eventually, she figured out what he meant. "Oh. Hehe. I guess it was. So, do you wish to 'accompany' me to the royal gardens and take a walk through them?" 

"Sure. Let's go."

Before he could get to the door, she opened her mouth to speak again. "Although, I do prefer you without your suit on." She winked, again, to much of Sam's annoyance.

"I said she better not do that again...for fucks sake."

"Thanks, I guess."

And with that, they started their walk to the gardens.





"So you're telling me that you fought...what did you call them...R.I's?"

Sam nodded. "Yup. And R.I stands for '"Robotic Infantry." Basically, they are robots, which are metal beings created by us, humans. They are technically something called an A.I, which stands for "Artificial Intelligence"."

Celestia hummed in interest. "Your race sounds very clever and interesting. I would ask how you made these R.I's, but that would probably take too long as I'm sure it's very complicated to talk about. Can I ask, why were you fighting them?"

Sam sighed as they stopped by a giant oak tree in the royal gardens. Celestia sat down on her haunches and patted a spot next to her, motioning him to sit with her. He walked over and sat next to her, ready to answer her question.

"Basically, back on my home planet, Earth, there was a financial crisis which pushed every country to the edge. There was already WAY too many humans populating the Earth, making food scarce and quite a lot of people died of hunger. One of the communist countries, called Russia, had it the worst. Their death count was in the millions. Because of this, a new terrorist group, known as the 'Order of the Russian Star', saw this as an opportunity to take control of Russia and all of it's advanced technology. Including the R.I's. They succeeded and declared war on my country, America, by using a weapon of mass destruction on one our cities, San Fransisco. It killed hundreds of thousands of people."

He looked over to see that Celestia's eyes had started to water up. He knew what was coming, but he continued anyway, feeling that he needed to get this off of his chest as soon as he could.

"So, DARPA, the company I worked for, sent me up to the space station what had used the weapon of mass destruction. It was called the Providence colony. It had people living on it, but they were either killed by the terrorist group or got evacuated. My priority of the mission was NOT to stop the them. It was to rescue one of my close friends, Professor Candide, who also worked at the same company of me. He originally went up there to stop the weapon of mass destruction being fired again. The leader of The order of the Russian Star, Victor Zaitsev, contacted our president and said that if we did not surrender, he would use the same weapon on one of our other major cities, New York. She, in retaliation, sent the Marines to claim back the colony, and stop them from using the weapon. As I said before, my company sent me up with the marines. I was also using this opportunity to test out my battle suit. That's the long version of the story. I don't really want to go into detail."

After taking a deep breath, followed by a sigh, he felt something wrap around his neck and pull him towards Celestia. He saw that she'd wrapped her hooves around his neck and brought him in for a hug. He didn't respond, as he hated hugs. But he merely patted her on the back. She released him and now had tears streaming from her eyes.

"Sam...I'm so sorry..that's awful. I can't imagine what you've been through."

He just pulled out a cigarette, popped it in his mouth and lit it. He pulled it out of his mouth as he took a drag of it and sighed again.

"Yeah. I actually have my weapon with me right now if you want to see it?"

Celestia didn't like weapons, but she was interested in what he used to fight. "Alright then."

The next thing she knew, Celestia saw a little black line come out of Sam's armor. His elbow to be precise. She noticed that the black line formed into a type of object, which she presumed to be the weapon he was talking about. He raised it so she could see it better.

"This is called the BLADE system. It's basically a core running on energy, which lets it copy any weapon I find on the battlefield and store said weapon in its memory banks. It lets me switch to the weapons it has stored in said memory banks. For example..."

Celestia watched as the object formed into something else, which she guessed was a different type of weapon. Now, she wanted to ask a question what had been lingering in her mind ever since he mentioned the weapon.

"How does it work?

Sam pressed the little grip on the bottom and it produced a loud sound, which made Celestia flinch a bit. A little mark had been made in the grass where he had aimed it at. 

"It's called a gun and it fires out a little small projectile called a bullet. It flies at such a fast speed that it goes into someones body, ripping their bones, organs and muscle tissue along the way. It then comes out and creates an exit wound, which is always much bigger than the wound the bullet created when it entered the persons body. It doesn't ALWAYS create an exit wound, sometimes, the bullet stays in the persons body, which is worse. Bullets come in different sizes, from small to large. If it's a big enough caliber, it can break through a brick wall."

"That...sounds...very brutal."

"It is. But they get the job done and that's all that matters."

She nodded in agreement. "How it works is brutal....but amazing. How did your species come up with such technology?"

"It's a long story what I really can't be bothered to explain right now. Maybe another time, alright?"

Celestia nodded once again and now her tears had gone, she formed a wide smile on her face. Which, in turn, made Sam smile a bit.

"What do you think of my sun?"

Sam watched as the sun drifted a bit towards them and shot down more rays of sunlight, which made Sam cover his eyes in reflex.

"It's really nice Celestia."

She blushed at the compliment and thanked him. After a while of watching the sun, they both got up and walked towards the castle gates. "So, where do you want to go now Sam?"

He thought to himself for a moment before answering. "You said earlier about going for something to eat? Could we do that now? I'm starved."

Celestia smiled at him and opened the gates, which resulted in a quick salute and a brief "Princess" from the guards who had now moved out of the way. As she closed them and the guards went back to standing at the gates, they started to walk into town.

"Don't worry Sam. No pony will say ANYTHING nasty or demeaning to you while I'm here. OK?"

"Yeah, alright. Thanks Celestia." As she smiled at him and looked away, a thought came into his head.

"They better not do, for their sake."
> Taking a trip into town
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What are you looking at Sam?"

Since when they exited the royal gardens, Sam and Celestia had hardly spoke to each other. They just walked in silence along each other. The only difference was the looks Sam was getting from all the ponies around him. He felt the need to ready his weapon, but he didn't want to attract attention to himself. Eventually, he looked towards Celestia and forgot that she asked him a question. 

Oh, Sorry Celestia. Was busy thinking. And nothing, just looking around." As he said this, his helmet covered his head. Celestia suddenly remembered something she forgot to ask.

"Oh, I forgot to ask. Sam, how does that work? Your helmet? How does it come off to show the front of your face and go back up to cover your entire head automatically?" Sam looked towards her. Although, with his helmet up, Celestia couldn't tell what expression he had on his face, which unsettled her a tiny bit.

"It doesn't do it automatically really. Well...it does, but on my command. I just think in my head a thought like "helmet on" and it activates, which in turn protects my face." Celestia was intrigued how he used mind control on the suits functions. Sort of anyway.

"How do you do that?" Sam's helmet de-activated again, revealing his face once more. He sparked up a cigarette and took a drag of it before answering her.

"This suit is attached to my nervous system and brain, technically. So, it can tell if I'm under fire or taking serious damage and activates AR mode, which is a sort of a slow motion effect. Don't know if I've mentioned it already. So the helmet basically works the same."

Celestia was gobsmacked. She couldn't remember if he'd told her this already, but the thought of him being able to slow down time to give him an advantage amazed her and scared her at the same time. By the time Sam had taken his last drag on the cigarette and flicked it away, Celestia had spoken up again.

"You can slow down time? That's....incredible. Considering you have no magic."

"Heh. This suit beats magic anytime hun."

She felt like arguing back at that, as she knew it was not true. But she had to admit, his suit WAS really interesting and brilliant, from what he had told her anyway. 

They continued their walk into town and finally came across a cafe. Sam and Celestia agreed to eat here and so they agreed on what to have, then he went to sit down as Celestia went to get the food and drinks. In a matter of seconds, she had got their food and drinks.

"How the hell did you do that so fast?!" Celestia giggled at this and pushed a salad towards him. 

"One of the perks of being a princess is that I get server first and fast. Quite handy if I do so say myself. Anyway, dig in!" She beamed as she said this and started to chomp down on her hay sandwich. Sam just laughed at this.

"A 'hay' sandwich? Really? Then again, what do you expect from talking horses?" As he thought this, he remembered that he only got a salad seen as NO horses here ate meat. He knew they were herbivores as Celestia had told him before but he still wished he could get his hands on a nice big steak right now or something. Sighing, he took the fork, jabbed it into a piece of celery and just started to munch down.

"Hmm...this ain't half bad..."

Before Celestia could reply or do anything for that matter, a stallion with a camera came up to their table. Celestia face hoofed as she instantly knew who this guy was a part of.

"Oh god, the paparazzi. All I need... He suddenly spoke up, a wide smile on his face, breaking Celestia out of her thoughts.

"Hello Princess Celestia and....what are you exactly?" He looked towards Sam. In return, Sam just grunted, knowing that this stallion was clearly paparazzi due to his camera and the fact that he had come up to their table and looked like he wanted to ask a dozen questions.

"Sam."

The stallion quickly turned his attention back to the princess. "Right...princess Celestia, do you have any answers to the dozens of people asking about your past relationships or your past....intimate experiences."

With this, Celestia blushed and hid her face in her hooves. "I don't want to talk about it..."

The stallion just looked at her confused. "It's only talking about your past relationships your highness, I highly doubt they are important to you now."

Now, she gave him an angry glare and he started to regret he'd ever come up here. But, he kept his ground and put on a stern face.

"No disrespect princess, but I personally think you're hiding something from the press and the people of Equestria about your past relationships. Now, will you talk or do I have to press further?" 

Sam's helmet activated as he looked at the stallion. Of course, the stallion could not tell what expression her had on his face, as no one could when his helmet was activated. Sam always thought that was quite cool.

"Look buddy, she said she doesn't want to talk about it. Now leave her the hell alone."

The stallion didn't even acknowledge his words and kept getting ruder with the princess. After a few more seconds of this, Sam jumped out of his chair, landed on his feet and picked the stallion up by the throat, finally shutting him up for a few seconds. He leaned his head over, so his helmet was nearly touching the stallions nuzzle. Said stallion was now quacking, squirming and shivering, trying to break free of Sam's grasp, but to no avail. 

"Now you listen to me and you listen good. Unless you want me to snap your neck right here, I suggest you shut the fuck up and go back to your home. Now, when I let go of you, you are going to run home and leave her alone. If you try to do anything, I will kill you with no hesitation. Am I clear?" Celestia was shocked at Sam's sudden aggressive attitude, but she knew he was just trying to help/protect her from the press. It made her smile a bit, even if he was being unnecessarily violent. 

The stallion shook his head, gesturing a yes and Sam let him go. And he had instructed to the poor sod, he ran away, presumably to his home. Sam just laughed under his helmet and sat back down across from Celestia.

"Ah, that never gets old. Celestia now stared at him with a wide smile, which he found surprising.

"Thank you so much for that Sam. Damn paparazzi never leave me alone. Makes me smile that you'd protect/help me like that, even if you were a tad bit violent." Sam was shocked at her hearing this. He expected her to be pissed at him for being 'harsh' with the guy, but it didn't seem like that was the case right now. He was happy that she had thanked him though.

"Heh, it's fine. That guy was starting to be a real pain in the ass. And also, you don't deserve people trying to butt in on your personal life and personal history. Why did he ask about your past relationships anyway?"

Celestia blushed and looked at Sam. "It's because...well...I haven't had a special somepony in over 500 years." He looked at her confused.

"Wait...what the heck does special somepony mean?" 

"It means my partner, as in the pony I'm in a relationship with at the time." Sam did a comical "Ohh!" at this, finally realising what she meant.

"In my world, we don't say that. We say a girl has a boyfriend and a girl has a girlfriend. Anyway, how has no one tried to chat you up yet?" He saw that blush yet again. "This blushing is starting to get a little bit creepy now...

"Ermm...well...I don't know. Guess they don't want to date royalty."

Sam stood up, showing that he was ready to go, as did Celestia. As they paid for the food they had and walked out of the cafe, Sam made sure to keep his helmet activated, just in case any of these ponies tried anything. He only really trusted Celestia at this point in time. After about 10 minutes, they reached the castle and stepped back through the gates. Although, before he could walk inside the castle, Celestia walked over to the royal gardens and motioned for him to come sit with her by the same oak tree that they did earlier. He obliged and sat down next to her, in the same spot as he was before.

After a while of awkward silence, Celestia broke the ice and leaned her head towards Sam's.

"Sam, de-activate your helmet for a few seconds would you?"

"Why?"

"Just please do it. For me?"

He didn't want to. Even if he did trust Celestia, he still didn't feel safe de-activating it. None the less, he complied and de-activated it, revealing his face. 

"Now, why did you want me to de-activate my...MPPHHHH!"

Before he could say anything else, Celestia had pressed her lips against his and took him off guard. He didn't kiss back, instead just waited for her to finish. When she did, he activated his helmet, making sure she didn't try that again. At this, she sulked, but she didn't say anything. As soon as Sam regained his composure, he turned towards her and stood up, as did she.

"Celestia, what the hell?!"

She walked over to him with a sad expression, feeling hurt that he had acted like that after she kissed him for the first time. "I just wanted to thank you for standing up for me earlier today. No one's done that for me in quite a few hundred years."

Sam felt guilty about not returning the kiss, but he'd only known her for like a day and she was a different race. That type of thing for him was out of the question, even if she was pretty for an Equine. He sighed and walked inside the castle. "I'm not mad at you, I just need to go have a rest. I'm quite tired actually."

And before she could say another word, he entered the castle, disappearing from her sight.
> Meeting the royal family
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It'd been 2 weeks after Celestia somehow felt the need to put her lips against Sam's. He'd just shrugged it off as an act of kindness. But he sensed Celestia didn't think of it as that. He'd gone off into the royal garden and sat down next to a tree. Celestia had followed. She walked slowly up behind him.

"Sam...why are you out here?" He looked up at her. Even with his visor up, she could tell he was sending a death glare her way.

"I'll give you the short version. I've only been stuck here 2 weeks and I'm already missing Elena. Burns..not so much." He chuckled at that last sentence, remembering his attitude towards him. He looked back at her and noticed that she now had a confused look on her regal, white face.

"Who is Elena and...Burns was it?" She walked towards where he was and sat down beside him on all fours. He nodded.

"Yeah, Burns is his name. Well...was his name I should say."

"Was?" She then finally realised what he meant by that statement. "Oh..you don't mean..."

He nodded once again. "Yup, he died. I was the one who had to kill him. I did try to save him at the end, but he decided not to let me." Sam pulled out a cigarette as he finished his sentence, also de-activating his helmet in the process. "It's a long story."

"Oh...I'm sorry. I did not mean to pry into...forbidden territory. It must have been horrible to have to..kill your friend." She put a comforting hoof over his shoulder. He pushed said hoof off of his soldier, lit his fag while it was in his mouth and started to continue the conversation.

"He wasn't a friend. Well, not really. He was more of a colleague. Still hurt to have to do that shit to him though." He took a drag on his cigarette and went to stand up. He began to walk back into the castle, but was stopped by Celestia's hoof touching his shoulder again. 

"That is sad to hear..I'm so sorry Sam. But moving on...tell me...who is this 'Elena' you mentioned?" He sighed, threw his cigarette to the ground, activated his helmet and looked back at her as he started to walk off again.

"I don't want to talk about it."





A few hours had gone by since Celestia had her little chat with Sam. They hadn't talked again since. Celestia had gone to her quarters to sort something out and Sam had gone back to his room. It was now time for Sam to meet the royal family. Celestia had told him she wanted him to meet the family a few days ago and had arranged it for today. He really didn't want to go to this, but it was either this or listen to Celestia bitch at him, which he didn't need right now. Since she had kissed him, he hadn't really been 'friends' with her. He'd ignore her whenever he could and if she actually succeeded in finding him, he didn't listen to her. He had more important things to think about, such as why the fuck was he going to this 'meeting of the family?' 

He made his way downstairs to find something to eat. What he did find, however, was a few ponies sitting with Celestia. He guessed this was her family she talked about.

"Oh boy. This is going to be annoying as hell." He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Celestia call his name. He went over to the table, all of the ponies smiling at him. She motioned for him to sit down next to a pony he did not recognise. It was a dark blue in colour, had wings and a horn. When he did sit down, the dark blue alicorn smiled at him.

"Hello fair creature. Our..my...name is princess Luna. I am the princess of the night. My dear sister has told me very much about you in the past..2 weeks that you've been here?" Sam nodded.

"That's correct. Two whole long weeks. It's good to meet you Luna." 

"So that's Celestia's sister? I wondered when I was going to meet her." He came out of his thoughts and smiled at her.

Her face beamed. "Likewise. I think my sister said your name was Sam. Is that correct?"

"Yes ma'am." Before she could say anything else, the chefs brought out the food and placed it on the table. Sam looked at his plate and frowned. The other ponies noticed this.

"Is there something wrong?" Sam leaned back in his chair.

"Not really. I just miss eating meat is all. 2 weeks without meat is a hell of a long time for me." He then heard a couple of CLANK! sounds which startled him and brought his attention back to the ponies sat around the table. Luna was the first one to speak up.

"You...eat...meat?" Sam looked at her in confusion.

"Well...yeah...I'm an omnivore. I told Celestia a week ago that I eat meat and veg. She must not have told you." Luna sent a scowl at her sister upon hearing this and Celestia just gave her a sheepish smile.

"Heh. Sorry about that Luna. Anyway, let us eat everypony."

He still hadn't gotten used to that term. Sam preferred to use 'everybody', but what the hell. Before he could 'dig in' to his food (which was an assortment of vegetables and fruits), he noticed that a big, bulky white unicorn had got his attention by calling his name. Sitting beside this unicorn was a pink alicorn. The unicorn spoke first.

"I am sorry. Where are my manners? I'm Shining armor, captain of the royal guard. And this is my wife, princess Cadance." Shining went to hug Cadance as Sam looked at them both casually.

"It's nice to meet you both. As you both should know by now, I'm Sam."  Before he could continue, Cadance raised a question.

"What is that you're wearing?" Sam sighed. He REALLY didn't want to explain this again. "I'll put this as short as I can. It's a prototype battle suit called the ARS suit which augments my reactions in critical fight or flight situations, basically making it look like time has slowed down to me. It also has boosters which allows me to slide around at high speeds and evade at high speeds. It gives me a LOT more strength and agility that any of my species possess."

Shining and Cadance looked at him in awe. Surprisingly, Shining continued where Cadance left off. "That sounds...amazing. Your species must be pretty damn smart to come up with something like that."

Sam sat up and smirked. "Thanks. It was actually me who came up with the idea and brought it into reality. The corporation I work for funded it. I am actually an engineer, believe it or not."

Celestia spoke up, her plate empty and her belly full. "I thought you were a soldier?"

Sam started to eat his food because if he continued at this rate, he wouldn't get to eat it. And he was starving. After eating a bit, he answered her. 

"No. I just went with the marines to test out this battle suit. As I stated before, it's only a prototype. Did I already tell you this?"

Celestia shrugged with a sheepish smile. "I don't know actually. I seem to have forgotten if you have or not. My apologies." 

Sam shot her an annoyed look before continuing to eat his meal. After he had finished, he got up out of chair and said goodbye to everypony as he went back to his room. As he was just outside his door, he felt a hoof on his shoulder. "Celestia, I.."

When he turned around, he saw that it wasn't who he expected. It was actually her sister. "Oh...hello Luna. What do you want?"

She smiled. "I was wondering, as we didn't talk much during dinner, that maybe we could just...sit outside and watch my night for a little while tonight? If that's alright with you?" Sam shrugged.

"It's fine by me." He was met with yet another warming smile.

"That's good to hear. I'm glad you accepted my offer. I will see you tonight then. Goodbye Sam." And with that, she was off on her merry way. Sam opened his door, took off his suit and laid down on the bed. One thought was crossing his mind right now.

"That was boring as shit."
> Observing the night sky
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Equestria, all the sky was dark. It was time for all the ponies to sleep through the glorious night. Except for a human and a princess, that is.

"Shit Luna. Why did you have to make it so damn dark? I understand the night is dark, but this....is just unreal. I can barely see 1ft in front of me."

Sam, who had been sat here for 2 hours with Luna discussing things, could barely see anything. He heard Luna speak. "Oh, I just wanted to have some fun is all." Sam looked towards her (or at least he think he did, considering it was so dark) and hoped that she would at LEAST make it a tiny little bit brighter. The next thing he knew, he could actually see better.

"Ah. That's better. Thanks Luna." He looked towards her and noticed her smirking.

"It's funny to watch you complain about my night Sam. I have to admit, you are a very interesting...creature." She smiled warmly at him. 

"Thanks I guess. You're not so bad yourself." As he said this, he activated his helmet and looked towards the night sky. Before Luna could continue the conversation, he did so instead. "It's a gorgeous night Luna. You've really outdone yourself."

She smiled and put a hoof on his shoulder. "Thank you Sam. It takes a lot of work to make it as glorious as this." She looked down and then back up at him again. "Can I ask you something?"

He looked towards her. "Sure. Go ahead."

She complied and asked her question. "Celestia told me, after dinner, about someone called Burns and someone called Elena. She said you knew them before getting here. Is that true?"

Sam felt a sudden surge of anger after hearing her mention that Tia had told her about Elena. He said he didn't want to talk about it with her. After a moment of some thought, he went to answer her question.

"Burns was a marine who 'helped' me until he betrayed me. I had to kill him. Either that or he was going to destroy an entire city with a weapon of mass destruction."

Luna looked shocked. "Why would someone ever do that?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't know why he REALLY wanted to do it. Probably just to get back to the Russians, well...'Order of the Russian Star', as they call it...for what they did to San Fransisco. It was a city in my country. Anyway, can we talk about this another time Luna? I'm really tired and we've been sat out here for a good 2 hours." 

She nodded. "Of course Sam. Come talk to me if you ever need to. I will see you tomorrow. Have a wonderful night." After she had finished, she flew off into the night sky, with Sam looking up at her.

"You too Luna."

For a while, he just stayed there...looking at the night sky. After a bit of time, he figured it'd be the best time to go to his room and get some shut eye. "Better call it a night."

He opened the doors to the castle from the balcony and stepped inside. He walked along the hallway and could finally see his room. He never got there however. Before he could open his door, a yellow/gold glow surrounded him, picked him up and gently sent him towards Celestia's room. The next thing he knew, he was staring at Celestia. Face to face.

"Celestia, what the hell? I was going to get some shut eye."

Celestia looked at him with fury. "Don't you remember that thing we shared the day after you arrived here?" Sam knew what she was referring to and he didn't want to talk about it.

"Yeah, but I don't want to talk about it." She glared at him.

"WHY?! You haven't wanted to talk about it for the past 2 weeks!" Sam struggled and broke free of her magical grip. 

"Because it was a mistake. Now please, leave me alone." He was about to open her door when she ran up to him, pulled him around and held onto him. Almost like she was....hugging him?

"Please Sam...I know we could never grow anything from a single kiss...but could we at least be friends and see where it takes us?" Sam sighed.

"We have been and still are friends Tia. I've just not been in the mood to talk. Now let me go!" As soon as he said this, she let him go..to his surprise. He turned towards her with his helmet still covering his face.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get some rest. It's been a long ass day and I'm really tired." As he was about to walk to the door, he felt a hoof on his shoulder.

"Sam...please stay with me for a while? I get so lonely sometimes...all I want is someone to talk to and someone to keep me company." Sam sighed, yet again. All though he was tired, she did seem rather upset and he didn't really like to see her upset.

"Fine. I'll stay with you for a while. But just talking. No funny business, alright?" 

Celestia smiled and jumped up and down with joy while clapping her hooves together in a cute manner.

"Hehe! We're going to have so much fun! We can tell ghost stories, have a few laughs...it'll just be like a slumber party. Wait here, I'll go get us some snacks!" And with that, she dashed out of the room, leaving Sam on his own.

He facepalmed. "Great. So this hasn't just been a long ass day. It's going to be a long ass night, too."