Everybrony's dream

I know I can't really say anything to make up for how long this chapter took to churn out... But,  I've been working nearly 60 hour weeks for the past couple months and some shit came up at home I'd rather not discuss. As I may have mentioned on my previous stories, it's gonna be that way for a while, seeing as I rarely get any free time, and when I do it's hard for me to find the inspiration sometimes.

I hate disappointing you guys like that... If anyone has any ideas as to how I can avoid the instant writers block I sometimes get when I actually feel like writing, let me know in the comments.

Mmmmmmmm…. Soft pillow is soft. And warm, and has legs…

Legs?

LEGS?!

Alex awoke with a start, it took all his willpower not to throttle the orange pony now lying beside him with a coy smile on her face.

“Mornin shug… Whaddya say we get them juices flowin…” She huskily whispered, a hoof making its way gently under the elastic of Alex’s boxers.

“NOPE! NOPENOPENOPENOPE!” Alex shouted, doing his best impression of Big Macintosh as he propelled himself from the bed, landing painfully on the hardwood floor with a thunk.

He let his head fall back onto the floor as he groaned in frustration upon seeing the orange mare fall out of bed herself, laughing up a storm.

“Yer face… Th’ look on yer face, priceless!”

Alex sighed as he closed the faucet of Twilight’s shower, she graciously offering it to the panic struck half naked human after he had barged into her room following his morning encounter with Applejack. Remembering how embarrassed and flustered she had been as he had barged in, he chuckled to himself as he groped for a towel, his eyes still closed to prevent water seeping in.

His hand gently grasped something fluffy, which he assumed to be a towel and so he threw back the shower curtain and prised open his eyelids… Only to discover that his ‘towel’ was actually a feathery yellow appendage, attached to a furiously blushing yellow mare who was seated next to a snickering Rainbow Dash.

In the few seconds it took Alex to comprehend what he was seeing, both bathroom intruders were swept up in a purple aura of magic, and unceremoniously flung from the room. An annoyed looking Twilight Sparkle entered the bathroom shortly after, locking the door behind her and both depositing a clean set of clothing on the hamper, and throwing a towel at Alex, which he caught.

“The two of them, honestly… It’s as if they’ve never seen a stallio…”

Alex coughed lightly, putting his hands on his hips and giving an unamused stare at Twilight, which she returned.

“Relax, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before… Besides, we walk around naked all the time, get over yourself.”

Alex snickered, wrapping the towel around himself and hopping out of the shower, “I actually couldn’t give two fucks about YOU seeing me in the nude, seeing as you’re kinda my doctor now and all… it’s just a little odd that your security chief, and the most timid pony we know ambushed me outside of the shower for ‘unknown reasons.’”

Twilight giggled, “relax, it’s not like you have anything to be ashamed of anatomy wise. In fact, I find your unique muscular structure is actually quite pleasing to the eye!” after a moment, she blushed. “I said that out loud, didn’t I…”

Alex crossed his arms, smirking a little, “yes, you did. And don’t worry, I have a very good memory.”

“ahahaha,” Twilight laughed nervously, before walking out the door “Let’s just get you dressed, and to the armoury. I think we may have some things you’ll like over there…”

Alex tugged on the fresh clothes, which consisted of a fresh pair of boxer briefs, a black pair of cargo pants and navy blue sleeveless shirt, as well as his steel toed boots. After hastily tucking shirt into his pants and pulling on his boots, he jogged out the door to catch up with Twilight.

“What kind of weapons are we talking?” He asked, intrigued.

“Well,” Twilight began, “a while ago, we discovered someone who knew all about your dimension in intimate detail… He was able to conjure up a few constructs from your world before… Before Sol discovered he was working for us, and turned him back to stone.”

“Back to stone… You don’t mean…”

Twilight turned to Alex, a dead expression on her face, “I DO mean… If it weren’t for Discord, Sol would’ve found the resistance a long time ago and certainly would have wiped us out.”

“But why would he…”

“Simple,” she interrupted, “while his brand of chaos was a nuisance, it never really hurt anypony, more of an inconvenience than anything. But when Sol came around, and he was freed from his prison he saw what she was doing; indiscriminately killing and enslaving the ponies she once held dear… It broke something inside him. He was only a prankster at heart, and what she was doing he couldn’t stand behind. So he helped us, however begrudgingly.”

“Fight fire, or in this case, chaos with chaos I suppose.” Alex pondered out loud, looking up to see they had reached a large steel door, with Rainbow Dash standing outside of it.

“Ah, Rainbow… I’ll be having words with you later.” Twilight glared at the sheepishly grinning Pegasus, “for now however, I’ll leave Alex in your capable hooves.” Turning to Alex, she continued, “I need to make arrangements involving our orange friend’s reunion… Meet me back in my room when you’re done here.” And as quickly as she had said it, she blinked out of sight in a white flash.

“So… are all humans as well built as you?” Dash coyly asked, sidling up to the still confused Alex and bumping him with her flank.

Alex snickered internally, deciding to have a little fun with the mare, “no, not all of us are super studs like me, Dash. In fact, you haven’t seen the half of it” he began sliding a gentle finger along her wing, I could show you so much more…”

Dash blushed furiously and backpedalled from the human, causing him to double over with laughter. Once she realized he had done it on purpose however she smacked him upside the head with a wing, joining him with a chuckle of her own.

“Seriously though… I’m surprised. Almost all of the other seven humans Sol captured were… Well, unfit. Only two others seemed to have actual muscle, but they were still pretty weak looking. Why are you different?”

“Simple Dash… Sol dun goof’d. Before now, she had been preying on the weak and mostly helpless. I’m the way I am because I work hours upon hours in a manual labour job… Plus I was training myself to be a soldier eventually, and one needs to be fit for that.”

The cyan Pegasus scratched her chin, “I guess that makes sense… But if you’re not as helpless as the others, why did she choose you to be foal napped next?”

“Twilight said it had to do with my geographical location, but also a mix up on Sol’s part… You know about the bronies, right?”

Rainbow nodded, and shivered slightly, “yeah… Kinda weird that we were being watched by a bunch of apes… No offense.”

“Don’t worry about it…” Alex chuckled, “But in addition to the geographical location, she thought that because I’m a brony, I’d go down easy – it seems she can only sense certain things across the trans-dimensional rift, connection with your world being one of them.” Alex pushed past the Pegasus towards the door, “c’mon… I’m way too excited to put this off any longer.”

In the armoury.

As he pushed open the heavy doors, he let out a low whistle. “Discord… I need to shake your claw when this is over.”

“Yeah, the guy really out did himself… Didn’t he?” Rainbow chuckled, falling into step with the human as he moved past the weapon covered tables. “Listen… really, about earlier…”

“Dash, shut up, I told you it’s cool,” Alex stated gently, picking a few weapons as well as grabbing a few bags of assorted ammunition. “I’m done here, let’s go.”

The rainbow maned Pegasus looked incredulously at the human’s choices, “are you sure you wouldn’t rather have one of these?” She gestured at a Barrett M82A1 sniper rifle, “it’s what I would go for if I had… Those.” She gestured at his hands.

“Do you know how to use it? I sure as hell don’t, so why would I inconvenience myself with it…” Alex stated, laying his chosen weapons out on the table before him.

“But it looks so cool…” Dash muttered, glaring unnaprovingly at the weapons he had chosen.

“All of these weapons I know how to use, or have seen enough about them, and know enough about similar weapon types to be able to learn them pretty quickly.” He chuckled slightly, “I couldn’t even pretend I’d be any good with that beast, especially since I’d have no clue how to properly range find my target. It would be a guessing game, and if lives were on the line then I shudder to think what would happen if I miscalculated. Believe you me though, I did have the urge to run over to the thing and start cuddling it like it was my firstborn…”

Rainbow chuckled, “That makes sense… I guess…”

“That’s another thing that annoyed me about the brony fandom,” Alex started, “a good fanfic would always be killed for me when someone would pick up a weapon that requires specialized training to use, and automatically without explanation be able to use it! I mean, really… You can’t just pick up a sniper rifle, especially that beast and…” He trailed off, seeing Rainbow’s unamused expression.

“While I’m still young, please…” She expressed flatly.

“Right… Okay, firstly, we have a knife.” Alex reached forward and picked up a full length Tanto style fighting knife. “Even an idiot can use one of these… granted, I’ve had a little more experience with one than your average joe, but I digress.”

He picked up the next weapon, twirling it in his hand gently as he showed it off, “Colt M1911 pistol - simply enough, I have one at home and I know how to strip, clean, and use it.”

Putting down the pistol, he picked up the third weapon, “I also have used one of these before, this is an M4 carbine rifle. My uncle served in the US Army during the start of the Iraq war, and bought a few rifles after he was rotated out. He’s the one who taught me how to shoot, and maintain assault rifles, and I learned on the civilian version of this. Judging by the optic and select fire on this, I assume it’s a military variant – all the more fun for me.”

Putting down the assault rifle, Alex grinned wickedly as he attached the final ‘weapon’ to the underside of the M4, “this here… This here is a masterkey breaching shotgun. It attaches to the underside of my M4, and true to the name it should help me open any locked doors, as well as allowing me to fight CQB battles more easily.”

Dash huffed and rolled her eyes, “I still think the sniper rifle is cooler…”

“But where would I put it? The best part about the weapons I’ve chosen is that they’re fairly lightweight. I can still move quickly carrying all of them, and I can engage anywhere from close to long range targets. If I used the .50 cal, I’d be limited to using my pistol and knife in any engagement where I couldn't set up a fixed position; as it, and its ammunition are so damn heavy. Plus, I’d be mostly limited to long range targets, and the recoil from it would likely pop my shoulder out of its socket if I ever had to fire it standing up, or kneeling. There’s also the issue of double redundancy… If the M4 somehow gets fucked during a fight, I can easily draw my pistol and go stay in the fight – plus if the M4 jams up, and I need to engage something further out than I can accurately shoot my pistol or the buckshot can reach, I can always pop a few slugs into the masterkey – boom, instant rifle.” He chuckled, “you gotta start weighing your options dash. The coolest thing isn’t always the best thing for the job.”

Dash looked slightly flustered at his long winded explanation, “well… DUH! Of course I knew that! I just wanted to make sure you did. Making sure you were ready, part of my job as security chief and all…” She trailed off, glancing around slightly nervously.

Alex facepalmed as he began walking over to another table where a black MOLLE vest, various holsters and slings could be found. He clipped a leg holster onto himself, then set about strapping four extra M4 clips, a box of slugs and a box of buckshot, and two M1911 clips onto himself. He strapped the now sheathed knife vertically (handle face down) to his left breast, before loading (but not cocking) the weapons. After holstering the pistol, clipped a sling to the M4 and placing it around his body. Alex groaned audibly at the extra weight, earning a chuckle from the cyan Pegasus.

“You don’t need to carry all of that here… Only on patrols, you’re safe for the time being.” She stated.

“I know,” Alex began, grimacing slightly as he attempted to shift the weight on him more comfortably, “but the more I wear it, the quicker I get used to the weight, right?” He snorted, “plus I think I look pretty badass right now.”

“Okay, but I’d better not hear any complaining,” Rainbow chuckled, “lets hit up the training room before we see Twilight. I wanna check some of those moves you pulled on me yesterday.”

Alex sighed, it was going to be a long morning.

“So you don’t seem to have any issues with being here…” Rainbow grunted, as she ducked under an elbow jab, countering by snapping her right hoof out at Alex’s knees – which Alex avoided by jumping over the blow and slamming himself on Rainbow’s back, his mass sending her to the floor as he attempted to grapple her.

“It’s not that…” Alex began as he wrapped his arms around the pegasus’ barrel, “I’d rather not talk about it.”

Rainbow Dash huffed and squirmed in his grip until they were face to face, “why not?”

Alex shook his head, releasing the Pegasus and pushing her to arm’s length, “the more I think about it, the more it hurts.” He snapped back into fighting stance, “one more?”

Dash looked over the bruised human, knowing she was no better off. While the sparring had been even sided, both parties being able to land an equal amount of blows upon each other, Dash could feel the weariness in her shoulders. While their reaction times were more or less on par, she was overall much more agile and a little faster than the human. He had made up for it with his earth pony-like strength and constitution – seemingly absorbing any hit he couldn’t dodge or use against her.

Dash chuckled, “nah big guy. I think we should rest a little, I gotta take you to Twilight in 20 minutes.” Making her way off the padded floor, she tossed him a water bottle sitting on a nearby bench before grabbing one for herself. “You never did tell me what you called your fighting style by the way.”

Alex quirked an eyebrow at the Pegasus, “I never really thought about it… I don’t really have one... I did take some basic classes, and my stance and knife defenses are heavily influenced by both Krav Maga and Akido, I suppose I’m more self-taught than anything.”

She chuckled, “it’s a little undisciplined, but it kept me on my hooves. Unpredictability can be your greatest weapon.”

“Eh, the way I figure, if I hit it and it stays down – it’s good enough.” Alex grunted, taking a swig from his water bottle as he stuffed his combat gear in a duffle bag Rainbow had found for him. “Lets go to my quarters before we see Twilight, I’m far too tired to be lugging this shit around right now.”

As the two of them moved out of the training room and into a narrow corridor, forcing the two of them to stand ass to flank if they wanted to keep doubled up. Taking advantage of the situation, Alex grinned, gently training his left hand down Rainbow’s neck, stopping in the middle of her back where her wing joints met her spine, eliciting a light blush and a glare from the mare.

“So you never told me why you and Fluttershy were watching me shower earlier…”

“Think about it,” she said as she lightly bit his hand and removed it from her back, “Aside from you being an alien, have you seen any other stallions around here?”

“I was curious about that actually,” Alex replied, rubbing the back of his hand, “I always figured the gender ratio here would be skewed, but what gives?”

“Sol magically gelded any Stallion who doesn’t openly support her,” Rainbow deadpanned, “she also moved most of them to Canterlot to work in the mines, join her army or act as… Well, her personal ‘toys.’”

She grimaced slightly, “other than you, we only have Fancypants and Carrot Cake, and they’re both taken.” She gave him a quick glance, “there’s Mac of course… But we haven’t been able to figure out the spell that gelded him yet… Even if we did, he’s really only had eyes for Cherilee anyways.”

Alex shivered and swallowed the urge to vomit, “That’s… Horrible. I’d sooner jump off a cliff than allow someone to enslave me, let alone take away my…” He shivered again, instinctively laying his palms over his crotch protectively. He supposed that strategically, controlling the male (and in turn the female) population in that way was smart… But still…

“Relax big guy,” Rainbow placed a hoof on his lower back, “we aren’t gonna let anything happen to you.”

Alex sharply inhaled, “I guess that explains a lot though.” He smiled down at the cyan Pegasus as they reached the door to his quarters, noticing a few old scars on her jawline “thanks Rainbow… If it means anything, I promised Twilight I’d protect you all to my last breath if I had to.”

She beamed up at him, “good, we need another in the resistance like me… A lot of ponies here are always too mamby pamby to actually fight. It’s good to – “

Whatever she was going to say was cut off as she unlocked the door and stepped into the room. You could almost hear her jaw hit the floor as she hastily backed out of the room, slammed the door and sheepishly looked up at Alex.

“Uhhh…. It’s for you…”

“I’m going to walk in, and be verbally, visually and possibly physically molested, aren’t I?”

Rainbow nodded nervously, her eyes growing wide as Alex reached into his duffel bag and pulled out the sheathed tanto blade, clipping it to his belt.

“Rule nine, Rainbow. Rule nine.” He muttered as he opened the door, ducked inside and closed the door behind him.

“Well, howdy sugar… Ah done worked mahself up waitin for ye… Lil’ help?”

Spread out on Alex’s bed was a fairly flustered looking Applejack, legs spread and true to her word was dripping with anticipation. Alex shut his eyes, facepalmed and sighed explosively.

“What did I do to deserve this…”

Grabbing a nearby comforter, he threw it over the mare before tackling her off the bed and onto the floor in a pile of bedding and limbs. Before she could fight back, he had tied up the comforter with the ex-cow pony still inside it, grimacing as he realized he was now kneeling in a suspicious puddle.

Throwing the struggling apple-sack over his shoulder, he harshly barked over his shoulder for her to shut up and calm down – which to his surprise, she did.

“Now, ah’m all fer kinky… But this is jus’ a lil weird…”

“Quiet you. And try to get presentable… We have a reunion to attend.”

Applejack hadn’t moved or spoken for the entire trip back to Twilight’s study, she hadn’t even made a sound when Rainbow tried goading her by insinuating she would be more at home in a cucumber field than an apple orchard. Alex could only imagine she was lost in thought as to what he meant exactly by ‘reunion.’

As they reached Twilight’s door, he dropped Applejack with a thud, drew his knife and slit open the comforter and pulled the orange pony out. Alex opted to carry her in his arms as she had gone into some sort of trance and seemed incapable of standing.

“Dash, if you please.”

Rainbow Dash, who was glaring suspiciously at her former best friend, nodded and rapped three times on the heavy oak door – which swung open to reveal a beaming Twilight, and a haggard looking teenage Applebloom, who stared up at the human with, to his disappointment, fear in her eyes.

“’Bloom?” Applejack’s glazed eyes focussed sharply on her younger sibling, who gave her a small wave.

“Hai sis…” Applebloom squeaked back as the human carried her sister through the door and deposited her onto a nearby sofa, before dropping exhaustedly into a large armchair opposite.

“But… She tol’ me…” AJ choked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Lies sis… Though ah wished ah was dead sometimes…”

Twilight sidled over, “Mac is here too…” she began, taking a seat next to Alex as he made room for her on the large armchair, “however… He’s been in the infirmary since we rescued him…”

Applebloom walked over and plunked herself down next to her sister, pulling her into a teary hug. “Y’all can stop pretendin sis… We’re safe.”

AJ let out a sob, pulling her sister into a deep hug, “Oh, thank Luna!” her eyes widened, as her hoof trailed across Applebloom’s back, which to her horror was covered with scars under her yellow fur.

“Miss Twilight helped mah coat grow over them… But we couldn’t remove the scars completely…” Bloom began, “everyday, she would come down an’ whip me… While she gave Mac to tha’ thing, Miss Rarity ha’ become…”

Applejack recoiled in horror, before her face set and she turned to Alex.  “You knew she was here?”

“Yup.”

Before he could react, she launched herself at him and sent them both to the ground, driving a hoof into his face before pulling him back up into a bone crunching hug.

Alex, slightly dazed, motioned for Rainbow and Twilight to stay back; Rainbow having taking a wider combat stance and Twilight’s horn glowing menacingly. He grimaced as he felt a gentle trickle of blood move down his chin as he wrapped his arms around the sobbing orange mare.

“Does this mean we can be civil with each other now?” He asked as Applejack pressed her face against his chest.

She squeaked what he thought was an affirmative back at him as he got up and deposited the still sobbing mare back onto the couch, moving back so Applebloom could pull her lost sister back into a teary hug.

Turning back to Twilight, he motioned towards another sofa further away from the two, “let’s give them a little space…”

Twilight nodded, as she and Rainbow sat on either end of the sofa, leaving room for Alex in the middle – where he gratefully plonked himself in the given space.

“What’s with the bruises?” Twilight queried as she scooted closer to examine Alex, before shooting an angry glance at Rainbow Dash, “Rainbow! I told you he needed to rest!”

“It was my idea…” Alex quickly lied, keeping his gaze focused upon the two apple siblings, Applebloom slowly rocking Applejack back and forth as she cried her eyes out.

“Do you think she’ll be alright?” Rainbow asked tentatively, shifting she attempted to get comfortable.

Alex reached out a hand and began absentmindedly rubbing the back of Twilight’s neck as she examined him, gaining a small grunt of gratitude from the librarian.

“AJ’s a strong pony, Rainbow.” Alex began, rubbing his eyes with his free hand while Twilight examined his jaw, “She’ll be alright… She has us, remember?”

Rainbow sighed, before laying her head down and closing her eyes, “She never lost us… And I won’t lose her again.”

“None of us will, Rainbow.” Twilight sighed, finishing her examination and leaning back to enjoy the neck rub, “Alex won’t let that happen.”

“You’re right, I won’t.”