• Published 22nd Nov 2014
  • 2,085 Views, 72 Comments

Run - MonkeyNinja



Jackson struggles to protect his sister in the land of Equestria. A slightly more realistic take on the Human in Equestria Story Concept.

  • ...
19
 72
 2,085

Strangers

Honestly, it's amazing how the human body can survive just fine, even after the brain has completely checked out.

My lungs inhaled. My eyes blinked. My heart continued to beat. I probably even managed a small blush, but my brain was nowhere to be found.

It was all I could do to gape at the purple creature before me, her face contorting into a confused expression to match my own. The little thing stood about four feet tall I would say, putting her head at mid-chest height.

I said something really intelligent, like, "...Guh...?", before she finally spoke up.

"What... What are you?", she whispered, equal parts fear and wonder.

My mouth must've had a mind of its own because I found myself talking.

"Um... Hi there! Do you know where I can possibly find a hospital anywhere?". The words just sort of fell out of my mouth. I blinked.

'Wait, I can't just barge in here! These things will think I'm some kind of monster!'

"Well, sure," the little alicorn said after a moment, gesturing for me to enter, "I happen to have a few skilled medical ponies on hoof at the moment. come on in".

"I'm really sorry! I'll just go. I didn't mean to... Wait, what?". Did she just let me in? I looked to her hoof, waving me inside. She was smiling nervously, but she wasn't running away or trying to possess me. That was usually a good thing for first impressions.

"You may come in," she nudged narrowing her eyes, "unless you've changed your mind?"

Hands practically shaking with utter confusion, I took a gulp of air, and stepped through the doorway.


"So," the creature said with an obvious hint of caution as she led me down yet another corridor, "you're what has everypony in an uproar?"

Uproar? As far as I could tell, the whole town was hiding from me. At least now I knew why.

"You mean everybody? And what do you mean uproar? There's no one around".

She gave me a look that seemed to say, 'You have no idea what I've just been through, shut up', and sped up her pace.

Why wasn't I losing my mind yet? I was talking to a purple unicorn that I half suspected was from a children's cartoon, like it was an everyday thing! My previous judgement must have been one hundred percent correct. Clearly, I had been killed and gone to some magical land where the characters of TV shows were real. Right? Where the hell were the Powerpuff Girls at?

Maybe I was sent to the wrong place when I died, and I ended up in some kind of heaven for little girls? Or maybe... Maybe someone had just slipped something REALLY strong into my dinner last night, putting me into some weird fever-dream! Of course! This was all just one huge, weird, terrifying, extremely painful, incredibly realistic, lucid, horse related, fever-dream! That explained everything!

My hand connected with the back of my head, eliciting a soft smack. My thoughts were beginning to sound like Dave's. If I haven't mentioned already, Dave's my brother. The guy overreacts... A lot. Can't really blame him after all that's happened to the three of us, but some of the things he comes up with are still pretty ridiculous.

Everything that had transpired in the last twenty four hours had been all too real. I was not dreaming, and I wasn't dead. Somehow, someway, my sister was taken from me, I was now in pony land walking through a castle, and coming VERY close to freaking out.

Shortly after realizing this, I began to hyperventilate, thoroughly examining everything at my disposal, just to try and prove myself wrong. Let's face it, generally when something impossible happens, it's just that. Besides, there was literally nothing that said any of this even was possible in the slightest. I began searching for potholes. Slips of the tongue. Anything at all that offered evidence that someone was screwing with me.

"Are you friendly?", she asked, "What I mean to say is, are you as big a cause for concern as everypony believes?".
I was momentarily caught off guard by the question, but I managed to respond with a fair amount of poise to my speech.

"Uh...friendly? Y-yeah! Of course I am! As for how big a cause for concern my being here is who knows, but WOO friendship! Am I right?".

...I should really just sew my lips together.

It felt like the longer we spoke, the more my wall of suspicions seemed to crumble before my eyes.

"Well then, If you're friendly," The pony said with a hint of coldness, "then you won't mind a..." Suddenly, she skidded to a halt, spinning around, her horn glowing, "POP QUIZ!"

It took everything I had just to keep myself from being impaled on the damn thing, blunt or not. The pony reared back, placing her front hooves against my chest. She then touched her horn to my forehead ever so gently, sending a flood of heat through my body. Instantly, I could feel another presence inside my mind. Was this what magic felt like?

"Question one," the alicorn said calmly, "Where are you from?"
Without hesitation, I opened my mouth to answer, but was halted by a rush of thoughts flooding to the forefront of my mind.
I saw home. Then the image zoomed out. I was looking at a view of my city. Finally, the image rocketed skyward and got a view of planet Earth from space.
"interesting..." Twilight murmured.

"Question two, what exactly are you?". Again, images filled my head. I saw an anatomical picture like you'd see in a doctor's office, of a person. Then I saw myself sitting with Ben and Chris, my best and only friends from back home. It was the day we all met. Ben had the bright idea to see just how far he could throw his milkshake and with perfect accuracy, it landed in the horn of Chris' trumpet and was promptly sprayed out at a soon-to-be furious group of cheerleaders. I couldn't stifle a chuckle at the memory.
"Strange..." The pony mused.

"Question three, how did you get here?". This one was more unpleasant. I was forced to watch as the previous night's terrors passed before my eyes. This time, the memories came with sound, hissing in that terrible voice of the shadow that had taken me here. I could feel her hooves stiffen against my chest.

"Question four," she said, inhaling, "Who came here with you?"
The only thought that popped up this time was an image of my little sister being dragged away from me as we hurdled through the void.

"Last question," she said sternly, "What are you hiding from me?"
At this, my thoughts began darting around, bringing up random memories and thoughts that had been safely tucked away. After a moment, I realized she was trying to organize the memories by category. The images that popped up now were, at first petty things, like the time I stole Dave's whole stash of Halloween candy. Next came my history of fighting, and then... Mom and Dad...

The pony stumbled back, panting and staring at me with tears in her eyes. My brow was drenched in sweat, but frankly I was just happy to still be in one piece. An unexpected mind reading was better than something like an Avada Kedavra. After giving me another look-over, she shook her head.

"I... I didn't mean..." She babbled, "I'm so sorry. I just needed to make sure you weren't hostile. It wasn't supposed to show anything... Else". The creature sat heavily, making a soft thud. "I see now why Celestia was so concerned... I just don't get it," She mused, "What happened to you?"

I rubbed the back of my head. "Well, I don't really understand myself, but what I do know is kind of a long story".

She looked at me with confusion and... Was that pity in her eyes? She was staring at me like I was a lost cat.

"You have the capacity to fight, but you don't want to hurt us..." She said, taking up an air of understanding, "You're... Afraid?". Yeah, yeah, I'll be the first one to admit that to me, being thrown into a world of little, god damn pastel ponies was mildly terrifying. So much for my man card...
And about the fighting? Yeah, I used to fight a lot in my old school. I never said I'd actually WIN the fights, but... Oh screw it, you get what I mean...

"You're not from this world, yet you're fluent in Equish... How?"

What could I say?

"I... It's hard to explain it all..." I croaked, my head beginning to ache just from thinking about it, "Everything's just been so crazy, I don't even know what's real anymore! I... I just...". The whole situation, everything... It was too much for me.

I closed my eyes and sat on the floor, resting my head in my hands. After a long moment of silence, I felt something warm on my arm. Turning to see what it was, I found a small hoof resting on my shoulder, as she sat down beside me.

"It's alright," she comforted, "I'm not sure what happened, but I can assure you that it'll be ok". She gave me a small smile, wiping a tear from the corner of my eye.

Great! Crying in front of a stranger. Yet more evidence of my unwavering masculinity.

"...Sorry," I mumbled, trying to choke back a sniffle, "I'm just confused...". she gave me a reassuring grin, and got up.

"Well then, why don't we start with this", she said, circling around to my face, "Good afternoon! My name is Twilight Sparkle! It's a pleasure to meet you mister...".

"Jackson," I finished, pulling myself to my feet, "But you can call me Jack. It's nice to meet you too"

"Jack huh? It has a nice ring to it!" She said jovially, "This is your first time in Equestria, yes?"

"Um... Yeah, this is my first time here". I futilely tried to sound calmer than I really was.

"Well in that case, welcome to Ponyville!", Twilight said, extending a hoof in greeting. She grinned up at me expectantly.

After everything that had happened so far, it's odd that this would be the thing that managed to stump me. Carefully, I sized up the marshmallowy-purple hoof, unsure of what to do with it. Should I grab it and shake it? Maybe I should go for a fist-bump type thing? Taking a deep breath, I slowly grabbed the purple hoof. It was surprisingly soft in contrast to when she had reared up on me a minute ago. After giving it a few shakes, I noticed Twilight's confused smirk. Realizing my hand was shaking, I dropped the hoof, my face turning scarlet, no doubt. Should've gone with the hoof-bump. Embarrassed though I was, she really had made me feel better.

"I... Uh... Guess you guys don't handshake, huh?". She cocked her head to the left a little, her ear twitching in confusion.

"Hand?".

"Never mind..."


After another few minutes of walking, we arrived at a very large set of double doors. The doors themselves were a sight to behold, each one crafted from some kind of emerald glass. The pains were interwoven with elegant lines of gold, turning and flowing to create a flawless surface.

"I'll be right back," Twilight called, trotting over to the glass and giving it a quick knock, "I just need to put someponies' suspicions to rest. Then I think we're in for one interesting conversation". Despite the door's crystalline features, the knock wouldn't have sounded out of place coming from solid oak.

Before I could ask what she meant meant by suspicions, the little Alicorn gave the surface a push, and slipped inside. Almost immediately, a dozen whispering voices filled the room like a swarm of bees. Unable to make out what they were saying, I crept over to the door and poked my head in. The area was fairly large, even more so now that all of the furniture had been pushed up to the walls. What surprised me though, were the occupants of the room. There had to be half the village in that one space! A huge mass of ponies sat huddled in fear around Twilight, trying desperately to get some answers out of her.

"Twilight, darling, are you all right? It didn't hurt you did it?", an alabaster pony asked in a strained whisper.

"Twi! Are y'all right?", an orange one asked, trying to put on a brave face, "Did'ja see it?"

Twilight stomped a hoof to get their attention.

"Listen up everypony," she said, breaking the chain of whispers, "I need you all to calm down! Yes, I saw it, and it is not a monster. It seems-"
But she was cut off when what seemed to be a tiny dragon, poked its head around her leg and screamed.

"TWILIGHT, BEHIND YOU!!!" The creature shouted, sending the crowd into a frenzy. I actually turned around to see what it was, when I realized it was me he was pointing at.

"Oh-" was all I managed get out, before my vision became a blur of colors. The next thing I knew, I was skidding across the castle hall with a pain in my chest. When I finally came to a halt, I tried to stand up only to have to roll out of the way of a jet of green flame. A stab of pain rocketed up my arm, blurring my vision even more than it already was. My dislocated shoulder was paying dividends.

"DAMN IT, STOP!" I shouted, running as fast as my legs would take me, "I'M A GOOD GUY! I'M A GOOD GUY!!!"

After a very exciting/terrifying minute of dodging random jets of green and rainbow, I found myself backed into a corner. Once the blur finally stopped moving, I could get a good look at what exactly had assaulted me.
A cyan pony with rainbow hair hovered in the air, not five feet away, an angry looking little dragon clutching onto her mane.

"Alright mister monster," the mare shouted, flying close enough to force my head against the wall with her muzzle, "what makes you think you have the right to barge into Ponyville and sneak into Twilight's castle?!". What was I supposed to say?

"I... I didn't... She let me in!" I babbled frantically, "Twilight! A little help here?!". As if on cue, the pegasus' wings became wrapped in a magenta aura, sending the duo crashing to the ground.

"RAINBOW DASH! SPIKE!" Twilight roared, "What's the matter with you two?!". Twilight marched over, standing in front of me protectively. It felt kind of silly to have a small purple pony as my bodyguard, but I wasn't exactly in a great position to complain.

"Both of you, apologize!" She scolded, stomping a hoof.

"But... But he..." Spike stammered, "Twilight do you-".

"NOW!"

Both the pegasus and the baby dragon sighed in defeat, looking up at me.

"Sorry..." They said in unison. Twilight gave a satisfied snort.

"That's better. Now, stand up". Begrudgingly, the two got to their feet/hooves and turned to face us. "Now, this is Jackson. He is our... Um..." She looked to me for an answer.

"Human", I offered.

"Yes. He is our human guest, and I expect you to treat him like you would any other pony!". She glanced at me.

"Nice to meet you," I said with a smile, extending my fist. At first, the cyan pony stepped back, but after a nudge from Twilight, Rainbow Dash cautiously approached and gave me a quick hoof-bump. Spike had to stand on her back just to reach, but he too gave my fist a pound. Twilight looked like she could melt with relief. Without another word, the three of us followed the tiny alicorn back to the room.


Upon arriving at the door, Twilight gave me a tentative look.

"Maybe... You should stay out here while I go and warm them up this time". I nodded and she slipped back inside the room, dropping the three of us into an awkward silence. If you listened carefully, you could just make out Twilight's voice giving some kind of lecture to the ponies. However, the emerald doors prevented me from actually understanding any of it.

We stood there for a good five minutes before Rainbow Dash cleared her throat, making me jump.

"Hey, uh...Jackson?" She said, cheeks ever so slightly reddening, "Sorry for... you know... attacking you earlier...". I would've laughed. She was apologizing for attacking an alien creature that had seemingly invaded her friend's home! But I will admit that hearing an actual apology from the mare did wonders for my mood! It felt great to know that I wasn't on bad terms with a cartoon pony... What that says about me, I haven't a clue.

"It's alright," I said with a smile, "You were just trying to protect your friends from a monster. I'd have done the same thing!".

There was a tug on my shirt. Looking down, I was met with a nervous Spike.

"But... Y-You aren't a monster, right? You... You promise?". I got down on one knee so I could be at eye level for the little guy.

"It's a promise", I said with my best reassuring grin, and patted his head. For a dragon named Spike, his crest of scales sure were floppy.

Not a moment after standing up, the door opened once more.

"Rainbow Dash, Spike, could you two step in here for a moment?" Twilight called from behind the glass.

Spike wasted no time in running over, followed shortly by a rainbow blur. Then, it was back to solitude.

I sighed and checked for the tenth time that day to see if I was still sane. Yep, I still remembered everything from the events prior, there hadn't been any crazy irrational thoughts occurring to me, and I wasn't having an emotional breakdown... I was just in a village of talking ponies... The thought felt silly to say in my head, but right now, I just had to try and make myself accept that it was a fact. Whatever had happened, whatever had possessed me, I was here now and had to convince everyone that I was not in fact, a monster.

My legs buckled as I plopped down beside the door, allowing the silence to pervade into my thoughts. All that was left for me to do was await my judgement... Of cute rainbow ponies.

I slammed my head against the wall at last. After that, it couldn't have been more than a few minutes until Twilight opened the doors again, though it felt like an eternity.

"Jack?" Twilight called, "It's time for you to come in now!". My head jerked up from the floor, almost rolling over into the pool of drool that had accumulated beside me. I rubbed my face in a futile effort to wake up.

"Okay, I'm coming," I groaned, my headache making a full recovery, "just give me a minute...". With a grunt of pain, I forced myself to stand. Twilight smiled and threw both doors open in a burst of purple light, completely exposing me to the crowd.

'So much for a minute...'


At first, everypony just stood there, gawking. Apart from one or two gasps from the crowd, they just stood still, like statues. I promptly began to impersonate a guppy, opening and closing my mouth repeatedly, trying to think of something to say. Before I could however, the clip-clop of a single set of hooves broke the silence. From the left of the group, the orange one from before had broken configuration and begun walking over.

"Howdy stranger!" She said, without an ounce of fear in her voice, "Mah friends here tell me that yer a nice fellow. That about right?". I looked down at the mare. She was only four feet tall, but she spoke with the confidence of a bear.

"Y-Yeah, I'm a little confused, but definitely friendly!" I stammered, trying to smile confidently and failing miserably.

"Great! Mah name's Applejack, but y'all can call me AJ if ya like!", she said extending a hoof.

"H-hey Applejack! My name's also Jack. It's great to meet you!" I said, reaching out to grab the hoof. The instant my hand touched the orange fur, my arm was grabbed by two hooves and pumped up and down too fast to see.

"Well ain't that just the darnedest thing?! I ain't never met another Jack before! The pleasure's all mine sugar-cube!" She said releasing my hand. It took my brain a few seconds to register that she had let go, leaving me flailing around my arm around like a lunatic for a good few seconds. By the time it had finally stopped, suppressed chuckles were leaking out of the cyan pegasus behind me. AJ grinned, and trotted over to join Twilight, Spike, and Rainbow Dash. About two seconds later, I felt something heavy land on my shoulders. What ever it was, it was giggling. It stayed away from my bad shoulder though, which I was thankful for. The instant my eyes were raised, I was nearly given a heart attack by the bright pink, upside down face that had appeared an inch from my nose.

"Gah!" I yelped, crashing to the floor. The cotton candy looking thing landed on my chest with the precision of a ballerina.

"GAH!" She shouted with a laugh, "It's nice to meet you too mister alien pony!". I blinked, not quite understanding what she was talking about. It took a second for it to click.

"That wasn't me saying hi, you just startled me! You-". I was going to say more, but I noticed the ridiculous look on the pony's face. She was staring at me, partially cross eyed, and scrunching up her nose, all the time holding onto that silly grin. With all the bizarre events that had occurred, I just couldn't couldn't help it! I burst into laughter right there on the floor!

"So what's your name?" She said, hopping off my stomach.

"Ha... My name, heheh... My name is Jack!" I said between chuckles, "It's nice to meet you!"

"Hiya Mr. Jackson Anthony Snow! My name is... Oh wait... You already know me don't you?!," she said, her grin growing larger still. With a gasp, she sprang five feet into the air. "I know that look anywhere! You think I look familiar! Are you a psychic alien pony?! That is so superly duperly AMAZING! Quick, what color am I thinking of?!"

I blinked.

'How did she... Ah who cares?'

"Uh... Pink?" I guessed. She squealed in delight, hopping back into my shoulders.

"That's SO COOL!" she shouted, hopping onto my head, "My name's Pinkie Pie! As if you didn't already know, Mr. Psychic! Hey, I've never seen you before! That means this is your first time in Ponyville, because I know EVERYPONY in Ponyville, which means you're new here, which means-". Pinkie hopped off of my head, and stared at me, wide eyed. The huge grin on her face came back, and she gasped in surprise. She immediately bolted for the door, but Twilight managed to catch her by the tail at the last second.

"Pinkie Pie!" Twilight said, exasperated once again.

"But Twilight! He hasn't even had his Welcome-to-Ponyville party yet, and I have to get ready!". Twilight gave her a look that reminded me of a mother scolding her child. Pinkie sighed, and turned back toward me.

"Well then," she said, crouching low to the ground, "This'll just have to do for now!". I didn't even get a chance to respond before the pink mass sprang toward my face, wrapping her hooves around my neck.

"WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!!!" She squealed in my ear, while possibly crushing my windpipe.

"Th... Thanks... Pinkie!" I squeaked between breaths, "Pinkie... Can't... breathe!". The pink mare finally let go, leaving me gasping for breath.

"Oops!" She giggled, "Sorry Jack!". With that, she bounded over to the others, landing on Rainbow Dash's back. The pegasus just grunted and let Pinkie get comfortable.

After finally getting control over my breathing, I noticed that the crowd of ponies on the other side of the room had noticeably relaxed. They were sharing looks, chatting amongst each other, some were even giggling at Pinkie Pie's aggressive display of affection.

Another pony broke rank and began trotting over. I didn't even need to look up to see the milky white pony approaching.

"Hello sir," said an almost regal voice, "My name is Rarity. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance!". She held out her hoof. Her air of regality had given me in idea. A smirk danced across my lips as I briefly considered doing something very stupid. It was a ridiculous thought, and probably would just make me look like a moron, but hey, I already looked like an idiot anyway...

"Ah, Miss Rarity!" I said in my best 'princely' voice, "How wonderful it is to meet the main mare of Ponyville herself!".

God dammit, Ben had rubbed off on me after all.
I'm... honestly not quite sure what I was thinking at the time, but I couldn't just drop the act yet.

"I am sir Jackson Anthony Von snowenheim the third. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance!". To punctuate it I knelt low to the ground, taking her hoof in hand, and planted a small kiss on it.

To my relief, she didn't immediately kick my teeth in. Rarity actually blushed, then began to giggle uncontrollably. I don't know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't that.

"Well, well, well!" She said when the chuckles subsided, "We certainly have a gentlecolt on our hooves now, don't we?". She raised her head high, and brushed her tail by my arm as she sauntered over to the others. The alabaster mare strutted right past a very strained Twilight, who looked like she might explode into laughter at any given moment. Right beside her, a very unamused looking Spike puffed a small jet of flame in my direction.

The crowd of onlookers was now thoroughly interspersed with hearty laughter. While I took in the happy scene, an almost imperceptible sound registered in my ear. I turned to see what it was, but to no avail.

"...Um... Excuse me...". The whisper was so faint that I thought it had just been imagination until I looked down. What I saw almost broke my heart with sheer cuteness. The shaking form of a butter yellow pegasus stood cowering beside me, looking up with huge blue eyes.

I didn't even hear her come over, the little ninja.

"Oh. Hi there!" I said, doing my best to keep my voice to a minimum, "It's nice to meet you!". The poor thing was practically shivering. "I'm Jack! And you are?"

"I-I'm Flushmesh". I blinked.

"What was that?"

"I'm Flutermfluf"

"I'm sorry?". Twilight shot her an encouraging smile and nodded towards me. The yellow pony cleared her throat.

"My... My name is Fluttershy. It's nice to meet you too.". I couldn't help but smile.

"Well Fluttershy, I've seen puppies, kittens, and one adorable panda cub in my life, but I have to say, you may just be the cutest thing I've ever seen!"

"Th... That's very nice of you to say," she whispered, flashing me the tiniest of smiles.

Remember what I said before about the cuteness almost breaking my heart? It was now in about seven pieces.

I held out my hand. She eyed the appendage nervously, before giving me the most gentle hand-shake I've ever received. You know when a moth bumps against your hand? It was kind of like that.

"Welcome to Ponyville, and it's really nice to meet you andokaybyenow!". With a soft 'Eeep!', she bolted off and hid behind the other five ponies.

Looking back to the crowd, I saw that very few of the ponies still regarded me with a fearful expression. Some of them were actually smiling at me! Something in my chest broke, and I dropped to the floor. A moment later, I felt a hoof on my shoulder.

"Are y'all right sugarcube?". I looked back toward Applejack.

"Yeah," I sighed, "just tired is all". She smiled and turned toward Twilight, who seemed about to speak.

"Alright everypony, listen up!" The alicorn said, her voice carrying through the massive room effortlessly, "This is Jackson! Despite what you may have heard about him being a monster, I can assure you that he is a friend! He may look strange, but he is no different from you or me. You all saw it right here!". Twilight trotted over to my side, helping me up with a hoof. "As of now, he is my guest at the castle, so I want all rumors of 'invaders' or 'aliens' to cease immediately! That being said, there is no reason for any of you to hide in here anymore! You are all dismissed!" Twilight stomped a hoof, and it was like she flipped a switch. Everypony broke away from the crowd, laughing and smiles all around, marching past us and out the door.

A short while after the door had slammed shut, I managed to finally shake off my little stupor and bring myself to stand. Six ponies and one dragon spoke amongst one another, sparing the occasional glance in my direction. Just as I stepped over to ask what they were talking about, they all turned to face me. The sudden attention caught me off guard, and for the umpteenth time that day, I found myself falling flat on my back.

"Ugh..." I groaned, "Did... someone wax the floors?". I sat up, greeted with several chuckling ponies and one proud looking baby dragon.

"Just finished this morning!" He said, lifting his head high, "And did a mighty fine job, if I do say so myself!". I started to sit up, when something pushed me from behind. Fluttershy had come over to help me up.

"Oof... Thanks!" I rolled to my feet and stood up. All the ponies were looking at me with different amounts of confusion. "What?" I asked to no one in particular. Twilight stepped over and gave me a nudge.

"Let's go somewhere more comfortable," she said, pushing me toward the door, "Then we can get to the questions!". She said 'questions' with the same amount of excitement a child would use to describe Christmas. I let her lead me out the door, the rest of the ponies in tow. And that's how we set off. Both of us had accepted the situation, and neither of us was afraid of the other. At least... It stayed that way for a while...


-