The young man resting on the hospital bed attempted to open his eyes. He found this oddly impossible, and it took him several minutes to find out why. Bandages were wrapped around his head; from the top of it to just below his eyes. The young man’s head was all foggy, not unlike the morning after a drinking session with friends, or maybe it was more like getting hit in the head really, really hard. Whatever the cause of the discomfort, the young man knew that he couldn’t remember much beyond waking up moments before. A voice at the back of his head told him that he would remember soon, and that he wouldn’t like it at all.

He was a tall young man, with black hair longer in front than in back. His eyes, if you could have seen them, were a dull brown. The only mar on his otherwise handsome features was a diagonal scar on his right cheek.

After a while the young man decided to take stock of his body, and then try to say something. He slowly moved his toes, which seemed fine; but when he tried to lift his legs he found them bound firmly to the bed he was resting on. Same with his arms, he noticed. He began to notice bandages covering wounds he could not remember getting. When he noticed the wounds, the pain hit him, but not as hard as he seemed to expect. The voice in the back of his mind laughed at him tantalizing him with his memories then snatching them back before he could really grasp them.

He decided it was time to try talking. What to say, though? Something nonthreatening and functional would probably be best, he decided. Hello, he thought, hello should work nicely. He took a deep breath and tried to speak.

“He- hello?” He croaked, his voice was raspy and confused, and it took real effort to force his lips to form words. That is when he finally realized his throat was dry. Damn boy, you’re really out of it, the voice mocked.

“Hey, I think it’s awake! And it can speak!” Said a feminine voice from the man’s right. “Hurry up and get the doctor and some guards, just in case it’s dangerous.”

“Oh get real, it’s tied to the bed and probably weak from its injuries. How much trouble could it make?” Another female voice, this one from near his head.

“Hey, remember where it’s from? We don’t know anything about it! And things from there are well known for causing mayhem. So just bring some muscle, okay?” At this point the young man cleared his throat to speak.

“Oh gods, did it just growl at us?” Said the voice to his right.

“No, I didn’t. And besides, wouldn’t you growl a little when somebody is talking about you like you aren’t there?” The man said in a joking sort of voice. “In all seriousness though, I promise to be good. The guards are unnecessary, alright?”

“Okay… I guess we can trust you; you are, after all, strapped to the bed.” The voice to the man’s right replied.

“Alright then, I’m a just leave to get the doctor now.” The voice by the man’s head said as she walked away.

“So, do you have a name?” The other voice asked.

“I must, but I can’t seem to remember it right now.” The man answered, sounding frustrated.

The man and his unknown companion sat in silence, waiting for the return of the other lady with the man’s doctor. During that time, the man tried to probe his memory and find out who he was, what he had to jump out of the bed and do, something. It was killing him, not remembering who he was. I know that I have an important task, but I can’t think, the man thought to himself. Eventually, the other voice returned with another person. Hmm, the man thought, they must be wearing wooden shoes, because their footsteps almost sound like hooves.

“Let’s see now, the orderly says that it is awake now. Do we know if it is dangerous?” The doctor asked; another female voice, this one more authoritarian than the previous two.

The man frowned; even though he could not remember who he was, did these people have to keep calling him “it”? He felt it was time to shake up the good doctor a little. “No, I’m not dangerous. At least, I don’t think I am. Anyway, do you think you could tell me some things before you continue to insult me by calling me ‘it’?” The man said in a voice like the doctor’s.

“Oh, you can speak!” The shocked doctor gasped.

“Why does everyone sound so incredulous?” The man asked jokingly.

“Well, do you have a name, then?” The doctor asked.

“Yes I’m…” The young man thought hard and, finally, he could remember that basic bit of who he was. “Jaze, my name is Jaze Armand.” He announced triumphantly.

Like a key in a well-oiled lock, his name unlocked his memories; they came first in a trickle, then in a flood that swept him along. He remembered everything, from the hell of his childhood, to the enemy faced by humanity, to his most recent memories, the fight in orbit above a strange new planet and of getting shot down in his fighter, and finally the crash itself. It also explained his sense of urgency. The fog finally lifted from his mind.

“Can you remove the bandages from my eyes? Or are they damaged in some way?” The man asked. His voice had changed; it had stopped sounding like that of the carefree young man that he seemed to be and had taken on the qualities of a man tired of life and all its evils.

“As far as we know your eyes are fine, but the bandages are there because we didn’t know when you would wake up and if you were nocturnal. We did not want to risk burning out your eyes. I’ll remove the bandages, but first you have to promise me something.”

“What’s that?”

“You cannot freak out. Okay?” the doctor said cautiously.

“Why would I freak out? But, I promise.” was Jaze’s response. And with that the doctor started to cut away the bandages over his eyes. When the last of the bandages fell away, Jaze braced himself and opened his eyes.

The doctor and the two orderlies were ponies. To be technical; the doctor was a unicorn, while the other two appeared to be run of the mill Earth-like ponies, with the obvious exception that they could talk. Now the sound of hooves makes sense, thought Jaze, immediately followed by the thought of; wait, sense? This doesn’t make much sense at all! Upon closer inspection, he could see that the ponies were not quite the same as the Earth variety. Their faces were not as long and were a little rounder, and they had proportions closer to that of a normal horse, just smaller. They looked like their shoulder would be about as high as his hip, or about three feet tall.

When Jaze got himself calm enough to speak he said, “Well, this is not what I expected.”

The doctor, a white pony with a light blue mane, looked at Jaze with a quizzical expression, “What, that’s it?”

“I promised not to freak out, didn’t I?”

“Yes well, I expected some kind of reaction.”

“Trust me; I have seen far more disturbing things in my life. Besides, I did have a little bit of a fit in my mind, but I thought that you would not want to see that.” Jaze said with a smile, trying to keep up the pretense that he was still confused about who he was. He did not want to upset these ponies with the knowledge of who he was, or what he was.

“Right, so where are you from?”

“That is a question I would rather answer to your leader or leaders. Would it be possible to meet them?”

“I would think that is indeed possible.” said a regal voice from behind Jaze. The doctor and the two orderlies dropped into a pony version of a bow. Jaze twisted as much as the restraints would allow to see who was speaking, but he could not quite manage it. The voice continued, “Hello. I am Princess Celestia, and welcome to Equestria. Who are you?”

“My name is Jaze Armand. I would bow to you but, well,” he pulled at the restraints, “do you think I could have these taken off now? I promise to be good.”

The Princess finally walked into Jaze’s field of view. She was taller than the other ponies, about five feet at the shoulder. Her mane and tail were muted shades of blue, green, purple, and pink while her coat was of the purist white. She had both a horn like a unicorn and wings, which made her an alicorn. She gave Jaze a gentle and caring smile. “Yes, since you seem to be a… Thing of your word; we will remove the bandages.” Princess Celestia nodded to the orderlies. One, a maroon pony with purple mane and tail, started unbuckling the restraints around Jaze’s ankles while the other, this one a very light green with a cyan mane, undid the restraints around Jaze’s wrists.

When they were done, Jaze stood up. Every joint in his body gave a loud pop as he stretched. When he finished, he fell to one knee in front of Princess Celestia and bowed his head. “Greetings, your Majesty; as you may have gathered my name is Jaze Armand. I must speak with you in private; do you share power with anyone?” Jaze stood back to his full height.

“Yes, I rule with my younger sister, Princess Luna.”

“Can you have someone get her and bring her here?”

“Certainly, I can do that.” With that, Princess Celestia nodded to a guard by the door, who left to get Princess Luna and motioned for the rest of the ponies to leave the room. When they had, Celestia turned to Jaze and said “So, who are you really?”

“I would prefer to wait on your sister to arrive before answering any questions.”

In short order Princess Luna arrived in the hospital wing, appearing slightly messy like she had just woken, yet she was just as regal as her sister, an alicorn with a space blue coat and mane that looked for all the world like a starry night sky. She was a little shorter than Celestia; hitting roughly four feet at the shoulder.

“The guards said that the creature was awake, and wished to speak with us.” The Princess yawned and stretched.

“I’m sorry Luna; I forgot that you would be asleep.” Celestia said with chagrin.

“It’s alright Tia; this is more important than a nap.” Luna said with a smile. She then turned to Jaze, “So, you are the one who wishes an audience. Who are you? What are you?” she asked, curiosity creeping into her voice.

“Allow me to properly introduce myself.” Jaze snapped to attention and gave a smart salute. Jaze had dropped his pretense of being a carefree youth and had assumed his real identity. “I’m Major Jaze Armand, fighter pilot and general warfighter for the StarSide Marine Corps, and a member of the Earth Coalition Special Forces. When you found me I had been shot down during an orbital battle above this planet.” he relaxed his stance a little, “Somehow I survived the crash and walked through the forest that I crashed into. I presume when I broke free from that forest, I was found by someone who brought me here for treatment. For that I am grateful.” He paused to let all this soak in for the poor alicorns.

“Oh, now it makes sense.” Celestia muttered. At Jaze’s confused look she explained. “A student of mine was watching the sky and noticed several ‘stars’ that were moving around. This must have been your battle.” Jaze nodded, it was in all too likely.

“So you are from beyond this world, and the heavenly spheres?”Luna asked.

“Affirmative, Princess Luna. I am from a planet that is completely different from your own. Though, the home planet for my species is very similar. Right down to much of the flora and fauna.” He paused with a thoughtful look on his face.

“Battle implies multiple participants. Who were you fighting?” Celestia asked, looking worried.

“That is what I really needed to talk to you about. My enemies, and the enemies of my people, humans, are called the Cye, which stands for Cybernetic Entity. They are race of semi-sentient machines and their one discernible goal is to exterminate anything that breathes.”

“Are they here, in Equestria?” Luna asked with the same worried expression as Celestia.

“No, I am almost positive that my crew and I destroyed them all before they could land anything on this world.” At the mention of his crew, Jaze remembered that he had lost most of the brave pilots under his command.

Celestia saw Jaze’s pained expression at the mention of his crew and decided to change the subject, “Do you think they could find us again?”

Jaze pulled his head from the past, “It’s possible, and presents a problem. If the Cye were able to radio in that they found a planet ripe for destruction, they could be on their way. I could contact the Earth Coalition and ask for reinforcements, but if the Cye don’t know you’re here and I radio in they will find you, no question.” He looked around the room, “Judging from what I see here, you do not have the tech to fight a war with a space-faring race. Did I have anything with me when I was found? ”

“Yes, we had it stowed under your bed for you.” Celestia said, motioning with a hoof to the bed behind him. Jaze dropped to his knees and grabbed the things that he had with him after his trip through the forest. One was a curved sword and the other appeared to be some kind of pack “Can I ask what that is?” Celestia questioned as she pointed to the pack-like thing.

For the first time, Jaze looked a little awkward, “Well, we call them Mule Packs. They allow you to store a lot of objects in a small space. The problem is that they do not cancel any weight, so you feel what you carry, but it allows us to carry objects that are too large for a normal pack.” He gave the two alicorns an embarrassed smile, “I apologize if the name is offensive.”

“Not at all, mules are known for their ability to carry large burdens.” Luna said as she gave him a small smile.

With a sigh of relief, Jaze touched a button on the Mule and out popped a small FTL radio. Acting like a serious soldier once again he looked at the two princesses and said “Now, we must decide, do you want me to radio for help or do you think that it would be safer to try and stay anonymous?”

The sisters looked at each other and Luna asked “What do you think would be best? Do you think they know we are here?”

Jaze took a deep breath, “If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that you are safe. The battle was fast and as far as I know, no Cye survived it. I think that it would be safer to try to stay hidden. I have no idea where in space this planet is, so I can give no estimate times for arrival of the nearest Cye or human forces would arrive. We could be just outside the sphere of influence of one or the other, or we could be well away from the conflict.” He looked the princesses straight in the eye, “If I had a choice, I would try to hide for now.”

“And then what would happen to you?” Celestia asked.

“I would be stuck here, plain and simple,” was his detached response.

“We could not keep you from your people, your friends and family!” Luna exclaimed, “I know what separation from those you care for is like.”

“I have no family, and for all I know my friends are all dead. I could not allow you to endanger your people on my account.” Jaze immediately retorted, with the same detached voice as before; the voice of a man resigned to his fate.

“We shall go with your plan then, Jaze.” Celestia said in the same detached manner.

“I see that it would serve no purpose to call for your people, if you truly feel that all your loved ones are gone.” Luna agreed with a sad expression on her face.

“Thank you for listening to me.” Jaze said, snapping another smart salute.

Celestia looked at Jaze and smiled. “Well, that solves one predicament, but raises another.”

“And what is that, Princess?” Jaze asked cautiously.

“What are we going to do with a being from another world, and a soldier at that?”

Luna jumped in with, “And more problems, like what do you eat?”

Jaze raised an eyebrow, “It matters not what you do with me, so long as I am treated fairly and not punished for something beyond my control. As for food, I am omnivorous and can probably eat most of what you can.” He looked embarrassed again, “I will have to eat meat from time to time, but I do have a large store of food in my Mule, which I can use to supplement what I get from you. It will eventually run out, and I will be forced to hunt. Will that be a problem?”

“We understand, we do have carnivores on this planet. Just keep your hunting in the Everfree Forest and don’t eat anything with hooves and it should not be a problem.” Celestia assured him.

“Everfree Forest?”

“The forest that you landed in.”

“I see. Thank for your understanding, I know that this must be awkward.”

“Now, where should he live?” Luna pondered, “Obviously close to the Everfree Forest, so he can’t live here in the castle…” She trailed off, lost in thought.

Celestia flashed her smile again, “Oh, I think I know the perfect place.”