Jason awoke with a migraine worse than anything he could remember.

His mind slowly began registering the countless pains throughout his body. His leg was slightly raised and completely immobile. He could feel the cast wrapped tightly around his thigh, reaching all the way down to his ankle. He attempted to reach down to feel it, however he encountered immediate resistance as he tried to move his arm.

He slowly opened his eyes and let them adjust to the light around him as he attempted to turn his head to see what was restraining his arms. He realized then that he couldn't move his head either. It was immobilized by some improvised neck brace. He sighed as he glanced around the room.

He was in a hospital, that much he could tell. However all of the furniture and counters were smaller than he had ever seen, easily a good foot shorter than normal. Even the bed he was in was small, his feet extending off the end and hanging in open air.

As more of his senses returned he could feel that he was naked under the thin blanket that covered him. This concerned him more than a little. He looked around the room quickly, attempting to locate the rest of his gear and clothing. The results of his search were fruitless.

He tried moving his arms again and felt a pressure around his wrists, preventing him from trying further.

Why the hell did they tie me to the bed? Wait, better question. Who the hell are "they"? Or better yet where the hell am I? the hospitals aren't this nice in Afghanistan, and even the Afghans had normal sized furniture.

His mind began racing as he tried to think of possible locations he could be. He heard the door knob turn and he glanced toward the noise. The door opened and in walked...Wait...is that a horse? No, horse isn't the right word. It was too small for a horse. Pony. That's it, I'll call it a pony.

The white mare walked in and closed the door. She didn't look at him as she headed toward a clipboard showing medical charts and started reading it.

Jason waited for about a minute, hoping it would realize that he was awake. When she didn't, he finally decided to get her attention.

"Erm, excuse me..."

The pony jumped in surprise and quickly looked toward him.

"Oh Goodness!" she exclaimed and quickly exited the room.

Jason's mind reeled at the exclamation. Okay, what the FUCK is going on here? Why is there a PONY in this hospital?How was it reading medical charts? HOW THE FUCK COULD IT TALK?! His mind overflowed with questions he couldn't fathom. He thought about this for a few minutes and finally let his mind go blank. He hated trying to figure things out with no information. He was trained to follow orders. Sure he would drive his commander crazy with questions trying to get as much information as possible, but there was none to be given here.

He calmed himself for a few minutes, ensuring himself that things would be explained if he waited. He was good at waiting.

He waited for what felt like hours, growing increasingly frustrated as more and more questions began forming in his head. he was at the point of anger when he finally heard the door open and he managed to cool his head before the white mare entered again, followed by a brown pony with gray hair and wearing glasses and a collar, and a third, purple pony with a single pointed horn on her head.

Hmm, does that make that one a unicorn?

The gray-haired pony walked to the side of his bed, followed closely by the unicorn. The white pony moved to the other side, and began examining his leg.

"Greetings, and welcome to Ponyville." stated the gray-haired mare, somewhat nervously.

Ok so she's definitely female, at least their sex is easy enough to figure out.

"I am the Mayor of this town. This is Twilight Sparkle, our resident scholar."

"Hello!" She said. She appeared to be almost giddy with excitement, and was far less nervous than the Mayor.

"Uh...Hello, I am Corporal Jason Sinder of the United States Marine Corps. Thanks for bringing me to this hospital and getting me patched up."

Twilight's face lit up even more. "He can speak! He understands our language! Oh this is wonderful!"

The Mayor quickly calmed Twilight and asked, "You are quite welcome Corporal Jason Sinder of the United States Marine Corps. I apologize for having you bound to the bed, but we know nothing of you or your species and we must take precautions to protect ourselves. We have many questions for you, which will primarily be asked by Twilight here. I do have one rather important question that I must ask. Are you dangerous?

Jason thought back on his training and answered as truthfully as possible. "Well, yes but not if I don't have a reason."

The Mayor raised an eyebrow, "And do you have a reason?"

Jason suppressed a small chuckle. "After you rescued me from a helicopter crash that nearly killed me? I would have to say no."

All tension seemed to flow out of the Mayor as she smiled. "That is a relief to hear. After your extremely shocking arrival, we didn't know what to expect."

A sudden question crept into Jason's mind, one that he was sure he already knew the answer to, but he still had to ask. "Did you manage to save anyone else?"

The smile disappeared from the Mayor's face and she became somber. "No, the fire burned for almost two days and we could not get close enough to help. I'm afraid that you were the only one of your kind we could save. I am sorry, Corporal Jason Sinder of the United States Marine Corps."

"Cpl. Sinder is fine, Mayor. Thank you for doing what you could. was anyone else injured? Other than my comrades?"

Twilight spoke up. "No, nopony else was hurt. Although Fluttershy did go into a mild case of shock when that...what did you call it? A helicopter?" Jason nodded as much as he could in his immobilized state. " Nearly destroyed her chicken coop."

Jason sighed. I'll have to mourn them later. He thought. Wait...did the Mayor say two DAYS?

"How long have I been unconscious?" He asked.

The white mare spoke up. "Unconscious isn't really the right word for it. You were in a coma. Luckily you've only been asleep for a little more than a week."

A WEEK? Wait, why am I so freaked out by that? I almost died! I should be grateful I'm awake at all! The thoughts immediately calmed him down. He then noticed something. something that was rather unpleasant.

"Um, would it be possible for you to release me? I can't feel my arms and I have no intentions of causing any trouble, especially not in the sorry shape I'm in now."

"Oh! I'm sorry, I wish you would have said something sooner!" exclaimed the Mayor. "Twilight, if you would please."

"Sure." said twilight as her horn glowed purple. It was a color Jason had seen before, he just couldn't place it.

He felt a tingle in his wrist as the bindings slipped off. He lowered his arms and grimaced as the pins and needles rushed through them. He rubbed his wrists with relief and turned his attention toward the mare who was moving toward his head to check the neck brace.

"I assume I have you to thank for the medical attention, miss...?"

The mare smiled. "My name is Nurse Redheart, And you are very welcome. I'm happy that I was able to properly care for your wounds, I'm not exactly familiar with your anatomy. If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you anyway?"

Jason was somewhat taken aback. Huh, now there's a question I'd never thought anyone would ask me.

"I'm a human, or Homosapien if you want to get scientific."

"Fascinating!" Twilight said, leaning forward intently.

"Well I'm happy I could help." Nurse Redheart continued. "Although I do hope I won't be seeing you often, I don't know how much I would be able to help other than external injuries and broken bones."

"If you don't mind Nurse, would you mind waiting until I finish speaking with the Mayor before giving me my diagnosis? I would very much like to give you my full attention when you give me the bad news."

Nurse Redheart smiled. " Not a problem dear, I'll be back in an hour to check on you. I can talk to you then."

"that would be perfect, thank you."

The nurse turned and exited the room. Jason turned his attention to the two mares to his left. One question centered in his mind.

"So uh...Where exactly am I? I know you said Ponyville, but I've never heard of it. It certainly isn't in Afghanistan and I've certainly never heard of talking ponies anywhere on the planet."

"What planet is that?" Twilight asked, an even greater glimmer of interest shining in her eye.

Another strange question...something tells me I should get used to those.

"Erm, I'm from planet Earth."

"This is so interesting!" Twilight exclaimed "It's not every day you get to have an educated conversation with an alien!"

"Aaaannyway," Jason continued, "back to my question, where in the universe am I?"

"This land is called Equestria, we are ruled by Princesses Luna and Celestia, whom I'm sure you'll meet fairly soon." Twilight beamed. "Ooh I must go write a letter! Be sure to get some rest Cpl. Sinder! I will be back tomorrow to pick your brain with more questions! Take care of yourself!"

"I'm not going anywhere." Jason says as she heads toward the door. she giggles as she exits.

"It was a pleasure making your acquaintance Cpl. Sinder, I'm so happy that we were able to come to an understanding." Stated the Mayor. " When you are released from the hospital, please come see me so we can discuss your stay within Ponyville."

"I will." He said. "Thank you, Mayor."

"Have a good day." she said as she exited the room.

Jason sighed as he let all of this fresh information form coherent thoughts in his head. The thoughts archived themselves within his database of knowledge as Nurse Redheart returned. She grabbed the medical chart and walked to the bed.

"Ok Mister Cpl. Sinder." He couldn't help from laughing and she looked at him quizzically.

"I'm sorry, Corporal is a rank within my organization, like a title. you saying Mister Corporal threw me off guard. The titles are interchangeable, but shouldn't be used at the same time."

"Ah," She said, blushing at her mistake. "well then Mr. Sinder, would you care to hear your diagnosis?"

"Please." He said, still smiling from her grammatical error.

She started reading off the list of the injuries he had. By far the worst was the neck fracture. If it had broken any further he would have been paralyzed. He also had the obvious broken leg and a concussion. The list goes on but he was frankly grateful that he was alive. there aren't many people who can claim to have fallen out of a crashing helicopter and suffer only a few broken bones.

"Wow, all that huh?" The nurse nodded. "How long do you think it'll be before I can walk again?" He asked nervously, dreading the answer.

"I would have to say at least a month, I would prefer more, but I can tell you are rather eager to get out of that bed."

It was true, he hated not being able to do anything. Part of the reason he joined the Corps was for the physical exertion and challenge. He didn't much care for being bedridden for that long.

Ah well, perhaps I can get a hold of some books so I can learn about their culture. I for one would rather not wander around like a lost child when they let me out of here.

Later that evening he sat reading a book the hospital had. The terminology threw him for a loop but he was able to follow it for the most part. It was about a Indiana Jones-esque heroine who went on over the top adventures. He enjoyed the book, even if it was a little childish.

He thought of the month ahead and how boring it was bound to be. He greatly looked forward to Twilight's visit tomorrow. She was someone he could have an extremely intelligent conversation with. Quite the change from the jarheads he was used to speaking to.

She was also kinda cute, in her own way.