A young man is K.I.A. while fighting in the military. When he wakes up in a strange place he must face challenges like never before.
This is a story about a young man who, when he was killed, got sent to the land of Equestria to fight off a rising evil. But there's a problem: all of the ponies are scared of him.
I was rudely awoken from my dreams of fluffy unicorns with pink fur dancing on top of a rainbow by the sound of someone banging on my front door. I got up with a groan and thanked luck I had fallen asleep in my work clothes, a plain white T-Shirt and blue jeans. I trudged downstairs and almost tripped on the last step, catching myself on the railing before my face could look like a pancake. I opened the door, now wanting IHOP for breakfast, to see someone wearing a general's uniform standing there.
"Private Myer, you are needed for duty. Pack your bags and meet at the barracks at 1300 hours." Before I had a chance to respond he marched away and got in the truck. I watched in awe as he drove away. Mainly because I had forgotten I joined the army reserves. I finally closed the door and headed into the kitchen for some breakfast. After I had poured myself a bowl of Sergeant Squish I glanced at the clock. Seeing it was already noon I realized I only had an hour left so I ate quickly and got my uniform on before heading out to the barracks.
"ATTENTION!" The general screamed at me when I arrived minutes late. I stood stiff as a board with my head straight ahead. "I thought I told you to be here at 1300 hours ON THE DOT! When I say 1300 hours, I MEAN 1300 HOURS! You got that?" I tried my hardest not to flinch at the voice that almost rivaled Luna's royal voice. "Sir yes sir!" I responded immediately. He nodded and told me to follow him inside.
After marching down the dirt road we finally made it to the training court where Sergeant Lakerfield was waiting for me. "This is your final day here private, better make it count." I nodded and immediately went to work with my warm ups. I did pushups, sit ups, jumping jacks, and various stretches. Finally after about a half hour of stretching and warming up we got down to the fight training.
At the end of the day they put me on a plane and I was sent out to Iraq to help fight in the war. I decided to take a nap on the way there. For the second time today I was woken up from my dreams with a loud noise. This time, instead of banging at the door, it was a trumpet playing. I immediately stood up at attention and saluted the general. "At ease private. This is your first day out on the field, correct?" I replied with a firm sir yes sir and put my hand down, relaxing slightly but still on guard. "Alright so here's what you're going to do. I want you to make your way to the supply house double time. There grab your gear, M16, M11, frags, armor, and just add water: water pouch. Then you are to get a ride to take a small town as a base of operations." I nodded and he moved out of the door way, allowing me to rush out of the plane and run as fast as I could towards the supply tent.
As soon as I arrived I had to jump out of the way of a jeep rushing by. I noticed there were bullet holes all in it and blood was on the windshield. Pushing the thought out of my mind I hurriedly grabbed my gear and pulled on my bulletproof vest and helmet. After I was equipped I hurriedly rushed out of the tent and waved down a jeep heading out. "Where ya heading?" The man in the driver's seat asked without taking his eyes off of the road. "Just need to find a small town to take as a base of operations." He nodded and drove down a side road that lead to a small town east of the barracks we had just came from.
Upon arrival the town appeared to be deserted, there was no life to be found anywhere with first glance. The man next to me, Sergeant Lilienfeld, told me to stay put. He got out of the Jeep and walked a few feet in front of it before pulling out his walkie talkie and speaking into it. After he had put it away the Sergeant began walking house to house, knocking on the doors. One of the houses actually opened but no one was inside. With no luck of finding anyone Sergeant Lilienfeld came back to the vehicle just in time for two more to pull up, each holding two more soldiers.
Once they pulled up and got out the soldiers walked over to our jeep and asked the Sergeant what happened. "When we arrived here to take the town as a base of operations there was no one here. No enemies, no civies, nothing." The rest of the group looked like that were trying to figure this out when something bright flashed across my eyes. Immediately I know what this was and I ducked down. "Sniper! Get down!" I had warned them too late, one of the men went wide eyed as a bullet went straight through his skull, instantly killing him.
The rest of the group hid behind the vehicles as more enemy troops began appearing from behind the distant hills and were closing in fast on jeeps of their own. After a minute of ear-shattering sounds coming from guns from behind us and from my own team everything went silent. When I peeked around the corner I heard someone screaming and I saw a man with a bomb strapped to his chest running at us. Lilienfeld took out his pistol and shot the man twice in the shoulder and once in the stomach before he dropped down in a pool of blood, staining the sand.
We continued to take fire for what felt like forever before the gun sounds began to slow down, the enemy was falling back, considering they had only sent five to our six and half of both sides had already been taken out, Lilienfeld and the suicide bomber included. After the onslaught of bullets had stopped I looked over the edge of the jeep to see that the enemies had already left. I told the rest of the group to stand up before I heard a familiar clicking noise. Looking down at my feet I saw a frag grenade had been pulled and tossed at our feet. Grabbing the grenade I ran as far out as I could, about fifteen feet or so. As soon as I threw it, the grenade exploded two feet away from me. I could feel my limbs being blown off and my skin burning before I had finally died from the explosion.
Pain, fear, sorrow, wet dirt. This is what I felt when I woke up in a strange and dark location. I stood up and looked over myself, checking for injuries but finding none. Deciding to question this after I get out of wherever I was, I picked up my equipment that was next to my foot and began walking. After a few minutes my eyes adjusted and I could see I was in a forest. I continued walking before my fears got to the best of me. After half an hour I had to stop and sit on a log to take a drink of my water. I wiped the sweat that was rolling down my face, the humidity was beginning to get to me. After I put my water back in my sack I hear an angry growl from below me. Looking down I noticed I was sitting, not on a log but instead, a wolf made of logs and sticks. "Mother humper..."
"Mother humper..." I jumped off the strange beast and ran back a few feet before turning around and pulling my M16 out. I aimed where the beast was only to see that it had vanished. I did a quick 360 to make sure it hadn't snuck up on me and sighed. Imagination must be getting the best of me... I was about to put my gun away when I heard a low growl behind me. Before I could even turn to defend myself I felt pain shoot through my right calf and right side, barely above my hip. I cried out in pain before smashing the bottom of my gun against the attacker's face, making them let go and back away. "You want to dance? LET'S DANCE!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, letting a barrage of bullets stream from the barrel of my gun, obliterating the wolf and catching it on fire. "Incendiary rounds, that was a surprise." I groaned and fell down to my good knee. Upon observation it seemed like the bite mark had barely missed my internal organs and the scratch was fairly deep, but I could still limp.
After searching my bag for the med-kit I had forgotten to pack I groaned and sat down on a rock, making sure this one wasn't an animal this time. I poured half of my water on my two wounds, wincing as I did so. Then I removed my shirt and ripped it into long strips before wrapping them around my lower torso and right calf. I began to limp in a random direction. After hours of wandering aimlessly I saw a small bit of light up ahead. I thanked God and limped as fast as I could towards the exit. Once I got outside I had to shield my eyes from the blinding sun. Once my eyes had readjusted I noticed a small cottage on the other side of a stream and a bridge that lead to it. Once I had slowly hobbled my way to the bridge, I began to feel lightheaded so I used the low banister as support. When I got to the other side my bad leg had given out and I fell, landing on my arm.
Simon says CRUNCH!
I screamed out in pain as I felt, and heard, a sickening crunch come from my right shoulder. I sat up and leaned against the bridge walls, trying to remain conscious. It took me a few tries but after a minute I realigned my shoulder with another sickening crunch and a cry of pain. I looked over at my bag and decided to rummage through the pockets to see if there was anything in there I hadn't known about. There was nothing but a little lint in the first five pockets but in the last one there was a single Tylenol pill. I popped it in my mouth and took a swig of water to down the pill. After I swallowed my vision immediately became blurry. I kept trying to stay awake but I was slipping into the darkness. With the last of my energy I yelled out at the top of my lungs.
"Friendly down! Help!" Thud...Darkness...
Although I was awake and I could hear soft voices I was unable to feel anything, nor could I move. "...just can't understand it, I've read and reread all the books I have and the ones at the old castle, it doesn't appear in anything!" I could hear the annoyance in her voice as the female approached. It sounded almost as if she and five other people were riding on silenced horses. "I know it doesn't make sense but maybe when he wakes up you can ask him some questions, if he feels like it that is." This time I heard a softer voice. She spoke almost as if she didn't want to be heard. There were four other voices that seemed to be having a quiet discussion amongst themselves, sadly they were too far for me to understand anything they said. I could have sworn I've heard these voices before... I thought to myself.
"Well whatever he is we need to make sure he isn't dangerous before we do anything. I'm going to un paralyze him so be ready girls, we don't know what to expect." I felt a tingle run down from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet, it was feeling more intense in my spine area. So this woman that acts like she's never seen another human being in her life has the ability to paralyze people? Well that would be helpful in the military.
Once my body regained feeling I went stiff. Pain erupted through my skull, side, and calf. It was taking all of my energy not to scream right then and there. The medicine I had taken earlier wasn't helping at all so I assumed I had been unconscious for longer than 24 hours. Slowly I attempted to relax and slowly let out the breath I didn't know I had been holding. Taking a few more deep breaths I calmed myself down to a tolerable level and tried to open my eyes, only to find they had been caked shut with dried rheum. Until now I hadn't realized the whispering had stopped and I could practically feel the stangers' eyes burning through me.
"Um, good morning, how are you feeling?" That soft voice from earlier began to speak up again, I could hear a motherly tone in her voice. I mumbled something unintelligible, clenching my teeth together. "Mumble Fumble!" I high pitched voice screeched from the back of the room. I moved my hands up to my eyes and rubbed the offending gunk from my eyes before repeating myself. "I said I feel like a pile of manure." The room went silent for a moment before that same tingling feeling returned, but this time it felt like it had heat behind it. Not enough heat to hurt me but enough to feel like drinking hot coco on a cold winter night. "Sorry about that, is this better?" The first voice I heard asked, I could hear the slightest nasaliness to it. I nodded slowly, slowly opening my eyes to look around.
I think my brain broke because for the longest time I sat there with eyes wider than a baseball and mouth hanging open.
I think my brain broke because for the longest time I sat there with eyes wider than a baseball and mouth hanging open.
I looked around me, trying not to reawaken the pain that was just coursing through every fiber of my body. To my left stood a small lavender equine with a horn and wings. It's mane and tail were a dark purple with two different shades of purple stripes going through them. Standing behind her across the room was five other horses, all different colors with different mane and tail styles. I noticed there was another horse that had a horn and two others had wings.
I guess I had dazed off trying to take in every detail of the room incase I had to make my escape because the purple horse next to me waved her hand...hoof...in front of my face. I snapped out of my trance and looked at her, trying my hardest to keep my composure and not run screaming from the room and towards the nearest asylum.
"Hello, my name is Princess Twilight Sparkle. I would like to welcome you to Ponyville but first, are you able to understand me?" When I heard her high voice I could tell it was a female. I was unable to speak at the moment so I merely nodded in response. "Great, this makes things much more easy for us!" She clapped her hooves together, somehow not falling face first into the wooden floor. I blinked several times rapidly and slapped my face, trying to wake up. There was a loud, audible sound of skin on skin as my hand made contact with my face. I grunted and rubbed the cheek, which I was sure had turned red. "So let me be the first to welcome you to Ponyville! If you wouldn't mind answering some questions we can get you out of here in a jiffy!" I looked deep into her eyes, my face going completely stone cold and blank. She visibly shrank down a little bit. The ruler of horses was afraid of me, great...
I was sure I was placed under hallucinogenic substances and was currently in an enemy base, being tortured and possibly bleeding from the shrapnel that went through me. Instead she was asking be about the, mostly, non-personal information of my life and the human race. "What race are you? What is your diet? What are your mating habits? Can you use those digits at the end of your arms for holding anything?" I answered the best I could to the bombardment of questions I was being asked until I heard a soft voice speak up, asking the princess to slow down a bit but it didn't seem like she heard it.
"Excuse me Princess Sparkle?" I stopped her, trying to remain polite. "You can just call me Twilight, there's no need for formalities. Is there a problem?" I nodded and pointed to the yellow winged equine behind her before letting my arm fall down, I still hadn't regained all of my energy. "Oh, I'm sorry Fluttershy I guess I got kind of caught up in studying him hehe...Did you need something?" I saw the one known as Fluttershy shrink a little from the attention she had gained. "U-um...I think you need to slow down a little bit. He seems to be struggling to keep up with all the questions..." I smiled at her. I could tell already she was the caring kind of person...pony...
"Oh I'm so sorry Mr...sorry I didn't catch your name, what was it?" She asked me with a blush forming on her face. "Fredrick Van Myer, it's a pleasure to meet you and your...friends I assume?" She nodded and looked out the window with a slight jump. "Oh no! We're going to be so late! Come on girls let's get Mr. Myer checked out of this hospital so he can meet Celestia." There was a group agreement and a small laugh from the blue flying pony with rainbow hair. The princess left the room to speak with the doctor and returned after a moment with a smile on her face. "Alright Fredrick are you ready to meet Celestia? She's the main ruler of Equestria with her sister Luna by the way." I nodded and slowly got out of bed with a grunt. Looking down I saw I was butt-naked and pulled the blanket over my lower half. After asking all the little creatures left the room to wait for me in the hallway I stood up uneasily and got dressed in my army uniform, desert camo covering me head to toe. I picked up my bag of guns that had been placed in the chair next to the window and walked out, helmet under arm and bag strapped over my shoulder.
"Let's roll." I said excitedly before walking out the door and hitting my head on the door facing, falling on my butt. I heard another muffled laugh come from the annoying Pegasus flying above the others. I stood up with a groan and recollected my weapons that had fallen out of the duffel bag. I noticed Twilight eye it with suspicion but decided to ignore it. Soon I had been checked out and was on my way towards meeting the ruler of the strange land I ended up in. I instantly regretted getting inside the carriage. When everyone was in, half the girls had to get in another carriage because of my size, the Pegasi took off, jerking my head back from the force. I screamed out as we began flying towards a large city connected to the side of a mountain.
When we arrived I was clinging to the side of the carriage. The others got out like nothing had happened. Slowing my breathing and heartbeat down to normal I stepped out and crouched, almost tempted to kiss the ground. Twilight walked over next to me and placed a hoof on my shoulder, getting me to turn my head towards her. "Are you alright Fredrick? Have you never flown before?" I nodded, finally catching my breath. "I've flown before, just never in an open carriage." She nodded knowingly and went back to her friends so I could finish recuperating. Once I stood up the group walked ahead, showing me the way to the castle so I could meet the ruler of imaginary horses.
When we arrived at the castle the guards stopped us and asked to search my bag. I reluctantly agreed and they looked through my guns and glared at me. After a ten minute lecture on what a gun was and why I needed it for self defense, they allowed me to take my handgun in. I glared back at the two equines poking at the bag with their spears before the gates shut.
I followed the six ponies down a long set of hallways that lead to a fancy-looking set of doors.
