//------------------------------// // Run // Story: World at War: Protectors of Harmony // by TasteDaRainbow //------------------------------// Parker jumped from his slumber but it felt like something was pressing him against the floor. He groaned while rubbing his eyes. "The hell?" He slowly opened his eyes and was greeted by the sight of a purple pony sleeping on his lap. "Oh yeah... it's her. Goodness sake I didn't wake her up. Jesus Christ, these nightmares are killing me." He groaned slightly before looking around the room and noticed that sunlight was coming from outside and through the window. "Damn it, must've fallen asleep." "One of those nightmares again?" A voice interrupted his thoughts. Parker looked at the room and noticed Reed was leaning against the wall on the opposite side. "Must be a pain in the ass considering the face you're making." "How long have you been up?" Reed shrugged lightly. "Probably two hours or so. Couldn't sleep fucking yeah? And when I woke up, I saw you were already asleep with that pony on your lap." He pointed to Twilight. Parker realized that his hand was still resting on her mane. "Whatever you did, you did a damn great job on making her feel safe. Just look at that smile." Reed continued. Parker once again looked at her face and indeed, she was smiling. "Think you can handle 'em?" The sergeant looked at Reed. He's looking at him with a worried look. "I don't even know. But I'm sure these folks are hungry." "Horses eat hay right?" "You sure are a farm boy. But these are ponies we're talking about." "What's the difference?" Reed crossed his arms. "They look like horses to me. But smaller. And freaking colorful of course." "Maybe they eat fruits too?" Parker then continued to stroke Twilight's mane. "That would do too." "Lucky for us then, we're on the edge of a forest. Might as well search for some food for them to eat." "Wait, what about that dragon over there?" Reed pointed to Spike, who was sleeping peacefully with books as his bed. Parker pondered for a moment before answering, "Sure as hell that little dude eats meat." "He's small though-" "I know." "Alright." Reed shrugged. Placing his helmet on his head and grabbing his gun, he stood up. Parker was about to do the same but stopped when he realized he wasn't going anywhere with Twilight sleeping on his lap. It took a moment for Reed to notice and walk towards his sergeant. "You can stay here if you want. I can go by myself." "You sure?" Parker couldn't be more worried. "Of course. Just give me the orders." Reed smirked confidently. Parker looked at him for a moment before speaking up, "Alright. Reed, I want you to go and look for some food we can eat while we're here." "Will do, Sarge." With that, he moved the couch that was blocking the door and went outside. The room fell into another silence. Parker sighed and closed his eyes, trying to ease up his mind while listening to the birds chirping and singing. Minutes passed and he then felt Twilight squirm a bit. He opened his eyes just as Twilight opened hers. They looked at each other for a moment before Twilight formed a smile on her face. "Morning, Parker." She said, still a bit sleepy. Parker smiled back and ran a hand through her mane. "Morning to you too, Twilight." She leaned into his palm while letting out a hum. He could only chuckle at her behaviour. "Sleep well?" "It was great. Thanks for keeping me warm though." Parker nodded. "My pleasure." Wade slowly yawned while stretching out his back but then realized his wound as he winced again. "Shit!" He nearly screamed. "Fuck sake. I literally forgot I had that." He then lay on his stomach and turned his attention to Parker, who was already staring at him. "I swear to fucking God, Sarge, I'll slap your face with a cheese one day. How long have you been watching me." "Who said I was watching you." "You're doing it right now." "You caught my attention." "Whatever," Wade rolled his eyes, "So have you slept yet?" "I fell asleep for a couple of hours." Parker replied. "Figured." Twilight chuckled slightly. "You don't have to stay up all night if you're tired." Parker looked down at her. "Believe me, it's what I do. I mean, we do. But sometimes my eyes betrayed me." Wade winced again at his sudden pain and Parker quickly looked at him. "Still hurt, isn't it?" He asked. Wade shook his head. "Nah, it's nothing. I've been through worse than this, remember?" Parker simply shook his head and let out a chuckle. "Hey, where's Reed?" Wade asked again while looking for the signs of the private. "Oh, he's out looking for some food for these ponies to eat." Just as Parker said that, Twilight's stomach growled. He looked at her as she blushed in embarrassment and hid her face away from him. He laughed and ruffled her mane playfully. "Seems like someone is getting hungry." She smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I think I'm a little bit hungry." "Don't worry. Reed is out looking for some food for you guys to eat. Say, you don't eat meat right?" She shook her head. "That's what I thought." "Hey Sarge?" Wade asked, getting his attention. "Yeah?" "Are we taking these ponies back to base? I'm not sure how the whole division would react." Instead of answering, Parker could only look at Wade, like he's searching for an answer on his face. He then leaned his head and looked up at the ceiling. The hell am I doing The hell are you doing? You're saving their lives, idiot. I wouldn't leave 'em behind if I were you I know, but this is the whole fucking division we're talking about If they didn't accept them then so be it, we'll come with the ponies Are you out of your goddamn mind? I am your fucking mind "Parker?" Twilight snapped him out of his thoughts before looking at her. "You don't have to bring us there if you're not sure with the rest of your-" Parker blinked at her words and quickly cut her off. "No. You're coming with me. Period. It's not like you have a place to stay. Heck, you don't even know this place. Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you and your friends." She smiled and nodded. "If that's okay with you. We'll come." Parker smiled back and continued to stroke her mane. She leaned into his palm and let out a delightful sigh while closing her eyes. Soon, her friends woke up just in time when Reed suddenly burst through the door. "Sarge! We got a situation!" He nearly shouted as he leaned on the door while panting. Twilight hopped off from Parker's lap as he quickly stood up. "What's wrong?" Parker asked. "The Krauts. They're coming. I don't know how many, maybe dozens of them. I don't know if they're looking for us or just passing by. But I'm damn sure they'll search this place. We need to get our asses out of here right now." Parker nodded and ran to the table, placing his helmet on his head and quickly grabbed his gun. "I don't have any asses anymore." Wade said in annoyance. "I may have an idea for that." Parker said while looking at the door. Parker pulled Reed inside, earning a 'what the fuck' from his private as he closed the door. But then he kicked it with all of his might until the door knocked out from its place. "What's happenin'?" Applejack asked as she and her friends watched Parker. "We're getting outta here," Parker replied, "Reed, help Wade to lie down on this door. It should be strong enough to hold him." "You're gonna drag me with that? Just like what you guys did to me with that trunk?" Wade asked as he reached Reed's hand. With a single nod from Parker, Reed helped Wade to lay down on the door. After helping Wade, Parker turned to the ponies while Reed prepared himself to drag Wade. "It'll be better if you don't look back. When I say run, just run. Reed, think you can drag him alone?" "Sure as hell Sarge." "Alright, I'll take care of our backs. You ponies stay close behind Reed, okay. We're leaving now." With that, they walked away from the shack and onto a large field. Flowers could be seen for as far as the eye could see, trees were dancing gently here and there. The air was cooler than they thought. Apart from that, another forest could be seen in the distance. Reed started to ask some questions about Equestria and Twilight happily answered all of it. Fluttershy couldn't stay away from Wade, the wound worried her too much. But Wade made sure it was all nothing and that she shouldn't be worried like that. While Reed was still questioning the land of Equestria, Parker noticed something on the far right. He stopped for a moment to take a good look. Silhouettes could be seen walking towards them. He was about to smile because the thought of other paratroopers would come to search for him came to his mind, but that wasn't going to happen as one of them shouted and pointed his weapon at them. It took a moment for Parker to realize that they were Germans. FUCKING KRAUT BASTARDS!! Parker immediately took the act. "Everyone! RUN!!" He yelled at the group. The group turned to face him but quickly crouched down when bullets flew and gun fires echoed from their right. Parker looked back to the Krauts and saw they were running towards them while firing their guns. "SHIT!!" Reed shrieked as he looked at the ponies. "EVERYONE ON ME! LET'S GO!!" The ponies nod and quickly followed Reed who was struggling to run in front of them. "DON'T LOOK BACK!!" Parker shouted while giving them cover fire. Bullets kept flying above them. "POPPING SMOKE!!" Wade yelled as he reached for a smoke grenade and pulled the trigger. He then threw it which landed next to Parker. "KEEP RUNNING!!" Parker yelled at the top of his lungs. He looked back slightly and saw a cloud of smoke which gave them some covering. But that didn't stop the Germans from shooting in any direction. Bullets kept bombarding them as they ran for their life. The Germans were chasing them with every power they had. Parker swore he even saw a halftrack with them. "RAINBOW, DON'T FLY!!" He shouted when he saw Rainbow hoover slightly above the ground. "WHY?!" "WE AIN'T DRAGGING YOUR CORPSE BACK TO THE BASE IF THE KRAUTS HAD EMPTIED THEIR MAGS TO YOUR BRAIN!!" Her eyes widened as Wade told her that. The thought of that made her want to puke. Throwing the thought off as far away as she could, Dash immediately did as he said and started to gallop along with her friends. "SIR! ANOTHER FOREST!" Reed shouted while pointing a finger to their front, making his grip on Wade's temporary ambulance went unbalanced. "JESUS FUCK, DUDE!!" Wade shrieked while holding the door for his dear life. "JUST GO! JUST GO!" Parker shouted. Reed nodded and ran faster to the tree line. Parker turned around to fire some bullets in an attempt to make the Germans slow down. They immediately took cover behind the halftrack, who was shooting at them with its MG42; some tried to become one with the ground. Parker then continued to run just in time to see Twilight trip over a trunk. "For fuck sake." He mumbled as he ran towards her. She let out a groan when he crouched down beside her. "Come on! We need to go!" Twilight was about to get up but kneel down back to the ground again. "Ow... my leg hurts." She winced. Parker looked back to see the Germans were getting closer in each second. Desperate, he then strapped his gun around his shoulder and immediately wrapped his arms around her. "It's okay. I got you." He said as he lifted her up and continued to run. She buried her muzzle on his chest while trembling in fear. Reed and Wade, along with the rest of the ponies were already inside the tree line and Reed was providing them some covering fire. "Come on!" Parker said as he regrouped with the others. "We gotta keep running!" The ponies nodded vigorously as they ran deeper into the forest.