Chapter 5: Innocence

"He's fine." Applejack laughed.

"It was horrible! He sat just there looking at her and then h-he stood up and used this metal thing on her. It made a loud b-boom and then she was laying on the ground, d-dead." Dash said between sobs. She was with her friends Rarity, Pinkie, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike. They all had looks of horror on their faces, and Pinkie was still trying to forget the death of her friend.

"Why would he do that?" Twilight asked, wiping a tear from her eye.

"I-I don't know. He was fine until she came back and sat down. Then he w-went crazy." Dash whimpered. None of them noticed the orange earth pony enter the library where Twilight lived.

"What're yall crying about?" Applejack asked.

"Oh, it's horrible! Josh killed A-A...Applejack?" Dash stammered. Everypony in the room jumped up and hugged their friend.

"What happened? We saw him kill you." Pinkie asked.

"Maybe you should let him explain." Applejack said as Josh stepped in. Everypony except Dash and Applejack screamed and hid behind the couch.

"What do you want. You have a lot of nerve coming here after you-" Dash was cut off by Applejack.

"He killed a Changeling. He saved your lives and all you can do is blame him?" She shouted.

"It had a knife behind its back. It was going to stab you, Dash." Josh said. Dash paled when she realized her mistake.

"Uh-oh."

"What?"

"We kinda told the whole town about you." She said. Josh just face-palmed.

"And I sent a letter to Princess Celestia." Twilight admitted. As if on cue, Celestia burst through the door, saw Josh, then proceeded to slam him repeatedly against the wall.

"Wait, Prin- WHAM!-cess. I- WHAM- can- WHAM- explain!" He yelled. Celestia began to charge up a lethal blast, but was stopped when Applejack jumped between her and Josh.

"Stay out of this, Applejack." Celestia stopped. "Applejack?" The orange mare nodded.

"Explain yourself." She said, turning to Josh, who was trying to recover.

"Changeling... disguised as Appljack... killed it... probably could of handled the situation better." He gasped. She looked at Applejack and confirmed his story.

"I'm sorry that I attacked you. Now, we should probably figure out a way to calm the people." She apologized.

"How about a public assembly?" Twilight said.

"Yes! I can make it a party!" Pinkie screamed in delight.

"Good idea. I'll go make the arrangements. Goodbye." Celestia said, obviously wanting to get away from the akward situation with Josh. After she left, the ponies began introducing themselves.

"Hello. My name is Rarity." A unicorn with a dark purple mane said.

"I'm Twilight and... Hey! You're that thing from the lake!" Josh nodded, remembering her. "Here's your knife." She said, levitating it to him. After he put it back in his sheath, the pale, yellow pegasus spoke.

"H-hi I-I'm F-Flutters-shy." She said softly.

"And I'm Spike. Sorry about scaring you with my fire." The small dragon said. ,Josh nodded to him.

"I am Captian Josh Ramierez of the United Nations Coalition. While I am in this world, I am sworn to protect the ponies of this town." He said as if he were talking to a General. The ponies were glad that he was on their side.

/

The rest of the night was filled with questions.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-three."

"Where do you live?"

"In the state of California, a small section of the former United States."

"How did you see the Changeling?" Celestia asked. She had come back from city hall and informed them that the assembly was tommorrow morning.

"The same way I saw your magic. With my EM vision mode." He replied.

"How are you able to see that and normal vision?"

"I had help from my..." He stopped and seemed to talk to himself.

"Come on. You're going to meet them. Don't bring up protocol, it's not worth anything here! You know what? A.I. Override code victor zero five dash three dash sierra zero oh five eight." He them pulled a small chip from the object on his neck and place it in his watch.

"I hate it when you do that." A voice said. Then, a blue hologram of a Roman soldier sprang up from the device. Everypony in the room jumped.

"This is my Artificial Intelligence, Leonidas." Josh spoke.

"Nice to meet you all, though I would like to still be in his head. The device limits my functions." Leonidas complained.

/

Dash wasn't listening to the blue figures complaining. She was thinking about Josh. He was only a year older than her. She denied that she liked him.

I wonder if he's thinking about me? She thought. Wait, I don't like him. I don't like him. I don't... oh who am I kiding. I do like him. But he probably doesn't even notice me. What can I do to get him to see as more than a friend. If only mom could see me now. She would disown me for liking someone from another species. Not that that would stop me.

Josh's mind was going through the same problem.

If she likes me, what would I do? I'll have to go home eventually and I couldn't just break her heart. God... why do you like to mess with me? Is there something I need to learn? He thought.

He didn't know how right he was.