War of the Fallen Race

by PegasusKlondike

Human

It had been several hours since the bandit attack had very nearly ended their lives and their freedom. Dawn touched the eastern sky when the ponies finally started to accept the fact that the demon had saved them. Twilight awoke hoping last night, no, the whole past week had been a nightmare. But there he sat, watching her across the fire. She had a blanket draped over herself, standing shakily she looked at the demon who had saved her, hopefully not for breakfast.

"Morning," it said. Her vision blurred and she very nearly fainted again. "Easy now, you had a rough time last night. You should take it easy for the next few hours."

"Where are my friends?" she apprehensively asked.

The demon nodded over to the other sleeping mares. "Sleeping it off as well, they went through too much stress last night and collapsed when I freed you."

"So it was real? The bandit attack and everything?"

"If you could call those clowns 'bandits', then yes, it was all real."

"Where are their... well, bodies?"

"I took care of that. And no, I didn't eat them or anything."

Her eyes searched the creature that sat across the fire from her. "What are you? Really?"

"Kind of a weird order to introduce yourself, I am a human being. Species Homo sapiens, at your service. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. And you are?"

"Twilight, Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn." The human began to smile.

"I always enjoyed your names, they are just so personally descriptive. Ours have less real meaning, but more unique identity to them."

"You have a name?"

"Of course. May I introduce, Aaron Patterson, the last human!" He stood with a flourish and bowed. Twilight stared at the eccentric creature, confused as to its motives and why it acted so strangely. "That is, until you give me the directions back to Fort Greenewell so I can wake up the rest of my species."

"Fort Greenewell?"

"You know, Stronghold! The place you dragged me unceremoniously out of on my face."

"I can't let you go back there yet."

The human took on a very serious and angry look. "And just why not?"

"I know what you are, demon! If you wake up your kind all of Equestria will suffer!"

"I take offense to being called demon, now I suggest you tell me the way home or else I'll have to question whether my rule about not hitting girls applies to farm animals!"

"I'm sorry about the 'demon' thing, but I can't let you go back! And who are you calling 'farm animal'?!"

The human forced himself to be calm. "Okay miss high and mighty, what will it take for you to give me some directions?"

"My name is Twilight Sparkle!"

"Okay, Twilight Sparkle, what will it take for you to please give me directions back to base? I already saved you and your friend's lives and chastity once last night, what more do I have to give?"

"All you have to do is come back to Ponyville with us, then I'll give you your directions, and maybe this too if you behave." She reached down and pulled the human's identification card out of a saddlebag, key to getting back into the Vault.

The human's eyes narrowed, she had him by the throat here. "What if I just decide to take my card back? How are you going to stop me?"

"Like this." Her horn glowed purple and an aura of the same color engulfed the card. A flash, and the card was gone. "I've sent it to a place where you will never find it in a thousand years."

The human had a look of utter rage on his face, Twilight thought for sure she was doomed. But then he softened, his scowl becoming a smile as he laughed. "You sure know how to play hardball Twilight Sparkle! Well played!"

The others had woken from the commotion and had watched the exchange for the last few minutes. Rarity stood, walked over to the human and looked at him with tear filled eyes. The human raised an eyebrow. "What, did somebody forget to feed you or something?" The unicorn overlooked his jest, stood on her hind legs and threw her forelegs around the human, weeping into his shoulder.

"Thank you!" she said between sobs. The human reached up with a hand and awkwardly patted her on the back.

"There, there, please stop crying now, this is awkward and slightly embarrassing." The unicorn only held tighter, her sobs getting louder. "Oh, what the hell." He reached up with both hands and hugged the unicorn just as fiercely. Rarity had to be pried screaming from her human savior, only to sob onto Applejack's shoulder.

The human stretched his arms and flexed the hoofmarks out of his back, when suddenly his stomach rumbled like an earthquake. "Wow, I really haven't eaten in years, what do you horses have to eat around here?"

The looks of fear on their faces told him something was wrong. "What? What did I say? Was it the horse comment?"

They all shook their heads fearfully, the human's eyes snapped wide open as he realized what he had said. "Oh! No, I don't necessarily mean meat! I don't want to eat you all!" Simultaneously they pointed to the wagon were Spike still rested after his ordeal. He jumped into the back of the wagon, rummaging through the foodstuffs. "Hay, hay, hay, oats, hay. Of all the species that could conquer the world, why did it have to horses? Aha!" He triumphantly pulled a ripe apple from the pile, sinking his teeth into it with a satisfying crunch. "So, when is the rest of the herd gonna introduce themselves?" he said with apple juices dripping down his chin.

The fact that he ate fruit seemed to calm their fears of the human, and Pinkie Pie bounced up to meet him Pinkie Pie style. "HIYA! I'm Pinkie Pie!" And gave him a rib crushing hug. "And I just want to say thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you a THOUSAND TIMES!" The pink mare then burst into a song about being kind and thanking one another. A few minutes later she finally stopped, the human having stared confused at Pinkie's song and dance.

He looked at Twilight, "Did she just sing me a song that she wrote off the top of her head?" The unicorn nodded. "Is that normal?"

"For her it is."

"Overall I give it a B plus; catchy, but it kind of took awhile. She'd win the Oscar for Special Effects though."

The cowboy hatted mare trotted forward and grabbed the human by the hand, shaking it furiously. "Well howdy Mister! Name's Applejack, thems my apples y'all seem to enjoy so much!"

"Pleasure, got any more apples? I literally haven't eaten in years." Applejack whisked away to find some more apples. Rainbow Dash took her turn.

"Sup square. Name's Rainbow Dash, the coolest pony in all the world if you haven't heard. I had my part in your escape from that prison we found you in." Rainbow tried to look suave and keep a cool front, but she couldn't hold it in any longer. "Where did you learn to fight like that last night!?!"

The human swallowed another bite of apple, wiping his mouth on his sleeve, calmly giving his combat training report. "Three years of hapkido in high school, buddy of mine by the name of Salazar in a black operations unit showed me how to shoot and gave me this gun as a gift." He patted his trusty Glock 17C. "If he were here instead of me, things would have been much messier, dude was like a modern Spartan, some even called him the Godslayer." The human grew misty eyed, missing his friend who had fallen at the Day of Judgement.

"Whatever it was, it was the most radical thing ever Mr. Demon! Oops, sorry, I mean Mr. Human."

"Please, Mr. Human wasn't my father's name either, call me Aaron." Rainbow squealed at the informality. Rarity recovered from her bout of thankfulness to the human, approaching him next.

"Sorry about that, sir. It's just that nopony has ever tried to take advantage of me like that guard did. I still can't tell you how thankful I am to you. I'm Rarity."

"You should really think before you flirt with dangerous men Rarity, keep that in mind next time. I'm Aaron."

"Charmed, is there anything I can do for you? I design clothing back in Ponyville, maybe you need a new wardrobe?"

"Thanks, but no thanks. I've got my own clothing." He reached into his lock box and pulled out a shirt, replacing the white medical blouse that he had worn in stasis. Rarity looked curiously at his shirt, wondering why his shirt had a photo of an odd smiling face on it, and wondering what 'Nirvana' was.

Noticing the pink maned pegasus who hadn't yet said anything, Aaron addressed her. "And you are?" She remained silent, quivering a little bit. "Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you, what's your name?" he said in a soothing voice.

"Fluttershy," came a barely audible whisper.

"Say that again? Stasis may have dulled my hearing a bit."

"Fluttershy." Only a decibel louder than the first time.

He turned again to Twilight and whispered, "Whats her name and problem?"

"That's just Fluttershy being herself, she's incredibly timid. Besides, she saw what you did to those bandits last night, we all have a reason to be afraid of you." The human went unimpressed. "She was also the reason why you didn't suffocate in Stronghold."

That had more effect, and the human walked over to Fluttershy, kneeled down to one knee and lifted her chin with a finger. "Thank you Fluttershy. Without you I wouldn't be here today." The pegasus stopped trembling, and soon a smile crept up her face. "How can I ever repay you my nurse?"

Fluttershy mumbled something that Aaron could not hear. "Uh, okay, I'll get right on that."

Something shifted and groaned in the wagon bed, Aaron walked over to investigate. "Who did I miss in here? HOLY SHIT A DRAGON!" He whipped out his pistol and aimed it at Spike.

"HOLY PRINCESSES THE DEMON!" Spike began to build a fireball. The two held their deadly weapons back, waiting for the other to make the first move, Aaron having obvious flashbacks to some conflict.

Twilight tried to put herself between the two. "What are you two doing!?"

"Stay back Twilight, the demon is awake, he might eat you!"

"Like hell I will! I have much more reason to hurt YOU lizard boy!"

"Such as?!"

"I was there! The night when your kind first erupted out of the forest and burned down my home! Do you know what it's like to watch a man you have known and respected die screaming, days after having half his body burned away? A dragon came to that very base that you took me from, in one fell swoop he killed fifty men who I knew as compatriots!"

Twilight gawked at the vivid description of Aaron's past dealings with dragons. But she perked, seeing opportunity. "Wait, first erupted? You mean that was the first time you saw a dragon?"

"I've said too much." He holstered his weapon.

"No, say more, please! I want to know everything about you!"

"Don't say things you don't want to hear. In my life I have seen horrors beyond the realm of nightmares. And I am still a young man by my species' standards." The human climbed in the back of the wagon, ready to head to Ponyville so he could end his agreement with Twilight.

The ponies obliged, quickly packing away their camp and having Applejack take on the burden of pulling. The caravan trundled along the dusty, lonesome rode, soon on its way to the Equestria border. Spike and Aaron sat across from each other, glaring and occasionally snarling. "Hey demon, I'm gonna have to ask you a little favor," Spike said to the creature sitting across from him.

"Stop calling me 'demon' and I'll consider it."

"Stay away from Rarity, and I mean it."

"Oh? I'm sorry, I didn't realize she belonged to you. I'll know better than to talk to her without consulting her pimp first."

The baby dragon hissed at the insult, smoke swirling from his nostrils.

"Hey! Break it up you two!" Twilight shouted to the bipeds in the back of the wagon.

"Yes Twilight," both of them responded.

********************************************************************************************

The border house was deserted, the corrupt guard having seen the full fury of an enraged human. And so they passed into Equestria without pause or obstacle, Appleloosa being their next destination.

Flying by the back of the wagon, Rainbow Dash noticed a rather serious problem. "Uh, guys. I have a question. What do we do with the human once we reach Appleloosa? He's not exactly inconspicuous, and we have to take a train back to Ponyville."

Twilight tapped her chin with a hoof, wondering if they could smuggle him in somehow. "You're right Rainbow, this is quite a problem."

"If anyone has a long cloak, I'll handle myself. I've had to disguise myself in pony territory before." Aaron's comment was met with confused looks. "Long story short, I had to dress as a Diamond Dog to get through a rough patch. Nobody suspected a thing."

"Only one hole in your idea, Diamond Dogs are considered dangerous and are usually chased out of town on sight!"

"What? I remember them as respected military blacksmiths and engineers, what happened?"

Rarity snorted, remembering her brief enslavement. "Let's just say we hit a bit of a rough patch in our relations."

"Well there goes that idea, now what do we do?"

"How about a dragon? We could call you a rare species of dragon to get you on the train." Aaron was surprised to hear the suggestion coming from Spike.

"Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. Guess I'm a dragon for the day."

Dropping off the wagon at the depot and grabbing their supplies, the group went to the station without announcing their presence to the citizens of Appleloosa, Aaron was forced to wear a long cloak anyways, with some rough fashioned "scales" on his hands.

Walking to the ticket master, Twilight had doubts the plan would work. "Uh, six ponies and two dragons please." She had a fake grin splitting her head, the ticket master looked back at Aaron.

"Durned funniest lookin dragon I ever saw. Wheres he from?"

"Um, waaaaayyyy out east. Past Kali'Gryph."

"Kali'Gryph is backed by an ocean young lady."

"Next continent over, Zebrica, yeah that's it, Zebrica." The ticket master shrugged and handed Twilight her boarding passes, obviously not caring about who or what boarded his train, so long as they paid good money. She cantered over to the group, handing out boarding passes, soon they were on the train to Ponyville, having reserved an entire car for themselves.

The human slept through most of it, holding his possessions to his chest like a treasured childhood toy. And they were treasured, they might be the last of whatever they were and they were memories of a simpler life. Aaron would roll and moan in his sleep, obviously tormented by some figure of nightmare.

Twilight felt bad for the human, the only one of his kind roaming the world, tormented by memories of a dark and mysterious past. She felt compassion for this creature, he was lonelier than before she met her friends. No wonder he wanted to open the Vault so quickly. Maybe his kind weren't monsters, maybe they deserved a second chance at life. He still would not talk about his past, what he knew or why he went along with them without quarrel.

"No! Stop you monster! They are innocent!" He was screaming in his sleep again, though his rantings made no sense. Twilight rose, determined to help him in some way. She gathered her magic, and sending a tendril forth, touched his mind. She immediately withdrew, his mind was a place of guilt, fear and hate. His was a tortured soul, and Twilight could do nothing for his sanity. So she sent out another tendril and probed his unconscious, releasing a happy memory from his youth to chase away the nightmare. His ranting ceased, and Aaron looked truly at rest, a small smile even breached his resting lips.

Twilight smiled at her success, she grabbed a blanket and snugged it under his chin like a mother with her child. She returned to her bunk, more determined than ever to gain his trust somehow, and maybe, just maybe help him.

Comments

[LordTwinklesprinkle]

karlsruhe.whywefight.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/MOAR1.jpg

[Vi Et Armis]

NEED...MORE!!!!

gifsforum.com/images/gif/approval/grand/BRUCE-LEE-APPROVES-GIF.gif

[derpyvio]

Very interesting story cant wait for the next chapter
Tracking!

[MasterDreamy]

smilepanic.com/wp-content/uploads/MOAR4.jpg

[PegasusKlondike]

I find it kind of funny. People always ask for moar when I have two completed chapters sitting there unpublished. Its like dangling a piece of yarn over a cat. Wonderful for suspense though.

on another note, I think this story may be slowly killing me. I haven't seen the sun in days, I can't remember the last substantial meal I ate and I can't stop thinking about ponies when not writing.

[MasterDreamy]

263223 OH COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE PUBLISH THEM TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I

[Largefish8]

263223

GAH...please publish them or I may be forced to send my army of killer cyborg lobsters (don;t ask...it doesn;t make sense to me either )

[PegasusKlondike]

Fine, but just one! I need to get out and relax for awhile, so it might be a few days before I publish the other one. Besides, my boss has been wondering why I mutter the MLP theme song under my breath and my professors all think I'm going stir crazy.

[MasterDreamy]

263274 Thats fine, i had to take a 2 week break for reasons simmilar to that, also my word broke lol.