The Protectors

Alright, I can do this. I just gotta keep them distracted long enough for Mike and Ray to take that horse-thing away from here.

Mike had briefly filled me and Ray in on what he had discovered from watching our 'host' and I must say, damn. That ability he was talking about is no joke! I wonder if he knows about how I know that this is all a fan fiction written by a terrible writer? Ehh, most likely not.

Oh yeah, and that the things I was currently standing in front of were a fusion of humans and equines. Naturally, me and Ray's reactions were exceedingly skeptical. I mean really, a species of human-horses? That sounded like we were sent to a furries equivalent of heaven. But, as we descended the cliff face(me jumping off of it, while Mike and Ray both quickly slid down the rocks) I began to get a more detailed look at our 'host.' Sure enough, just like Mike said, they were a bunch of equine humans. They had hooves for feet, big eyes, and tails, but they walked on two legs, had hands with five fingers, and very large breast. They almost looked like anime women to tell the truth, but more...cartoony.

I was currently standing in front of the eight women-horse-things that were after our man-horse-thing. I had my arms and legs spread out to my sides to appear as big as possible. Of course this wasn't much trouble for me, since the armor I'm wearing is bulky as fuck. That and out of all three of us, I was clearly the tallest. We had each estimated our height up against a tree back at our campsite. I apparently came in at around 6'11", while Mike was 6'2", and Ray was an even 6 feet. Good thing I'm as tall as I am, cause even the tallest of the female horses(didn't Mike call them mares? And wouldn't that make the man horse a stallion?) only reached up to my chest.

"Hey! Hey you there! Yeah you! Look at me! Look at me wave my arms around like an idiot!," I shouted while performing the said action. While I may act brave, I was actually a little nervous. I mean, I knew I was strong, and the armor I was wearing was probably tough as nails. But I had no idea what would happen if that one that Mike had said was a magic adept blasted me with a spell. It would probably send me a good couple of feet into the air, and over a mountain somewhere.

The mares' eyes grew wider than dinner plates, well wider than they already were. Can someone tell me how they are able to have those massive eyes and a brain at the same time? No one, aw well. The first one to come out of shock was one of the mares in armor, "Stop right there....whatever you are!" she said raising her spear in defiance.

I stopped dancing around like a chicken with it's head cut off, and put my hands at my sides. Without making any sudden moves, I slowly turned my head around to look behind me. While my vision was slightly blocked by the helmet, I smiled as I saw no trace of the stallion we had just saved. I turned my head back to the mares, smiling behind my helmet. The purple mare hybrid, started walking towards me, slowly placing each hoof in front of the other. When she was about 5 meters from me, I held up my right hand to stop her, "That is far enough."

She stopped abruptly, clearly surprised that I could speak. "You speak Equestrian?!" she shouted out.

Now it was my turn to be surprised. "You can talk? And you speak English?" I questioned my voice partially muffled by the helmet.

"No. I'm speaking Equestrian, same as you," she said in a matter-of-fact voice that reminded me of my 6th grade teacher, while crossing her arms in front of her.

"Yeah, no. I think I know English when I hear it. I mean, why wouldn't I understand the language I've been speaking for just about, oh I don't know, my whole life!" I said as I to crossed my arms in front of me, almost mirroring her stance.

Before she could reply, the two supposed guards sprung into action, literally. They jumped up and used their wings to land right in front of Ms. Teacher Woman. "You can't speak to the Princess that way, Monster!" one said brandishing her spear threateningly. I couldn't really see any details on her since her armor covered up most of her body. I could only tell it was a her because of her voice and what Mike said. I guess I'll call them, guards 1 and 2.

I was about to reply, when suddenly what they said registered with me, "Wait, you're a Princess?!"

"Guards! Stand down!, " she said, pushing them out of the way and looking me where she guessed my eyes were. She was actually looking at the mouth covering, "Yes, my name is Princess Twilight Sparkle, newly appointed Princess of Friendship, and leader of the SRF. Now, do you mind telling me who or what you are?"

"Oh cool, if your royalty, then I have someone who can probably answer some of my questions."

"But you haven't answered any of mine!" she shouted sounding like a spoiled little kid for a second.

I rubbed the underside of my helmet in thought, "Good point. I know, you ask me something and I'll answer to the best of my abilities. Then you do the same. That way, everyone's happy."

She seemed to relax a bit, "Ok fine then. First," she started while her horn began to glow with a purple aura. Suddenly, a paper and quill appeared out of nowhere, covered in the same aura as her horn.

'So they do have magic,' I thought to myself, now that my skepticism was replaced with awe.

"First, as I have asked many times, what are you?" she said, a shine appearing in her eyes that showed curiosity and intelligence.

"I am what is called a human." I say, but judging by her confused face, my helmet must of muffled the last word too much.

"You're a.....Mooman?"

"No, human."

"Booman?"

"Huma-hold on a second," I then reached my arms up and took off the helmet. The cool air coming through the forest feels good against my brown skin. I wished I had a mustache, but I could never grow one for some reason. After closing my eyes and letting myself enjoy the cold air, I looked backed down at the mare, "Now as I was saying, I am a human. The scientific term for my species is-

"Guards, take him down!"

"Rainbow Dash! Wait!"

"I'm sorry-what?" In hindsight, I think I should've kept the helmet on. Almost instantly, the two guards from early got ready to lunge at me from both sides. However, before either of them could pounce, I saw the cyan mare, now know to me as Rainbow Dash, charge at me full speed reaching me way before either of the guards did. I closed my eyes and braced for the pain, but I didn't feel any. The only indication of impact was an almost inaudible DING sound. I opened my eyes back up, surprised that I wasn't flung back a couple of steps. What I saw was Rainbow Dash, frozen mid-air, both of her fist against my chest plate. I looked at both of the guards, and saw they were stunned as much as I was, not even moving from their original spots. I looked down where Rainbow(a fitting name if you ask me) hit me, and there wasn't even a small dent or scratch, huh. I looked Rainbow in the eyes, her bluish ones having about the same expression of surprise as my green ones did. "Well," I said, "That was unexpected."

Rather than respond, she began to zip around me at a fast pace, almost acting like Ray with the tree. She began to hit my armor everywhere she could. Chest, stomach, legs, arms, head, all futile as I just stood there still as a statue. "Ok, how long is she gonna be doing this?" I asked Twilight, pointing my thumb in Rainbow's direction. She was currently pulling on my waist from behind, trying to suplex me.

"Rainbow! Stop it!" she shouted, her horn lighting up again. I felt Rainbow's weight lift off of me, as she was levitated back to the group, that same purple aura around her. She was clearly struggling in the bubble of magic, when it suddenly disappeared and she was deposited very roughly on the ground. The Princess looked her in the eyes, the way a mad parent would a child, "And what do you think your doing?!"

Rainbow shot up from the ground, giving the me first view of her wings. They, like the rest of her, were cyan in color and seemed to be wider than her body. Man those were some huge wings! The way they flapped in the air, bringing up dust, awesome. If I was drunk and almost dead, I would probably mistake her for an angel. "But, Twilight! We are the 'Stallion Retrieval Force!' We're supposed to find colts, and bring them back to their masters! We trained for months trying to spot a stallion at least a bucking mile away! And that," she pointed an accusing finger at me, "is a bucking stallion if I ever saw one! I'm sure of it!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow at Rainbow, "And do you have any proof, Dash?"

The wind fell out of Dash's sails a little bit, "No," then came right back around, "But I can get it!" She flew past Twilight and over to the orange Cow-mare? I guess. Speaking loud enough for everyone to hear, Dash said, "Applejack, hit him where it hurts."

The one now known as Applejack looked hesitant for a moment, "Ah....um...," she sighed and crouched down on the ground. Her hooves and hands were stretched out and on the grassy surface, like she was getting ready to sprint a mile. She looked at me with sad eyes, "If ya turn out ta be a gurl, sory bout this."

I was confused for a second, before Rainbow's words came back to me and I put two and two together. 'Hit him where it hurts.'

Where it hurts....

...the jewels!

"AW HELL NAW!" I shouted putting my helmet back on. I jumped backwards about five meters, putting a good fifteen between me and the soon to be rushing bulldozer. If what Mike had told me were true, and she was as strong as I gave her credit for.....I don't even want to think about it.

She looked surprised for a second, before she focused back and came at me like a speeding bullet. I ran straight at her, getting ready to have my right leg meet hers as we closed the distance.

We were 4 meters apart, both ready to strike.

3 meters

2 meters

1....

I had no idea how strong I was. Nor did I have any idea how tough my armor was. Heck, I half expected for my leg to completely break off when we clashed.

However, that did not happen.

Instead, when our legs met each other, mine coming in to block, hers coming in to hit me in my special zone.....nothing. At first, there was nothing. Then a shockwave came out from where our legs met. It blew back the leaves and branches on the trees, snapping some off. The very ground shook with power, as we were rocketed backwards. Thankfully, even though I felt the shockwave, my armor absorbed most of the blowback. I must say, that girl is strong! If neither of our legs fell off from contact, she must be able to punch trees no sweat! However, judging by how I was able to push her back and withstand her attack, she must not be strong enough to punch through trees. I ended up just sliding along the ground a bit, before stopping about 5 meters away from them.

The mares looked OK, well accept for the white one, who started messing with her hair and yelling something inaudible.

Twilight recovered and gave Rainbow a glare that said 'We'll talk later', "So sorry about that. Dash is just very brash sometimes and-." Realization dawned in both of our eyes as we remembered something important we were supposed to do. I looked back, and discovered that I had been moved far enough away that they could see the cliff face. "The Escapee!" she shouted, running past me to look at where the stallion should be.

However, all she saw was dust and a grey, rocky cliff face.

She frantically looked all around the area for any sign of the runaway. When she finally saw that there was no trace left of him, she turned back to me. It seemed like her eyes had been replaced with fire, and I could swear I saw steam coming out of her ears, "You!" she bellowed.

Looking around, I saw the rest of the mares staring at me with almost the same intensity. Except the pink one, who was just bouncing up and down with a smile on her face. There was something about her that made me feel, uneasy. Almost like she could, sense my strange ability to see 'The Wall'.

'It isn't strange, silly!' I jumped a bit as I heard an extremely bubbly voice in my head.

'What-the-who?' I thought, desperately trying to find whoever said that.

'It's not time yet, but the writer knows what's up!'

'What do you mean-wait, you know about the writer!' My gaze instantly shifted to the pink one. She was still bouncing up and down, but her eyes seemed to lock with mine. It was then I saw the exact same thing I saw in myself whenever I looked in a mirror. That glimmer in someone's eyes when they have figured out the one thing that no other TV show, video, or comic book character(except for Deadpool) knows.

Their whole life, is a fictional story, created by someone just for fun, money, or the enjoyment of others.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" I heard someone shout from in front of me.

Breaking my eyes away from the pink abomination's stare, I turned back to Twilight, who was still standing next to where the stallion had been. "Me?" I asked, pointing a finger at my innocent person.

Twilight pinched the bridge of her noise(snout?), probably in frustration, as she began to move closer to me. Then she began slowly speaking to me, "We are a very elite force of stallion catchers, known as the SRF. For two years, we have captured, detained, and brought back escaped colts and stallions. We have a perfect record of catching them within one day. We held that record, until now. Because of you! You distracted us for so long, he was able to get away and now, it will take us another day to find him! Our perfect record is ruined! ALL. BECAUSE. OF. YOU!" Man she was mad, like really mad. Heck her body is so red, I'm pretty sure that she'll burst into flames. I could practically feel the heat coming off of her as she came with touching distance of my chest plate.

Silence reigned for a couple of minutes until I finally found my wits, and said, "Well, all you have to do is start over. Just keep doing what your doing for maybe three more years. Then you'll not only have a new record, but you would've broken your old one!"

"OOOOh! I like this guy's thinking Twili!" the, I'm gonna call her Pinkie, said still bouncing with a smile on her face. Apparently no one else shared her way thinking, cause they all just stared at her. She must do this type of thing a lot.

Then Twilight said, "Guards! Take this....hooman to the Castle of Friendship! We'll see if it knows what-"

"Make one move and I'll put an arrow in the back of your head."

Twilight stiffened up a bit, fear showing on her face. I looked behind her, and saw a person who made me happy I held out as long as I did, "Hey man! How's it going?!"

"Pretty good man, lets get out of here. Our other companion is waiting at the camp we set," Mike said, his voice also muffled by the mask apart of his armor. He held his bow against the Princess's head, an arrow nocked and ready to fly.

"Twilight!" I heard one of the five behind me scream. I saw one of the guards try and make a dash for Mike.

An arrow whizzed past her head, embedding itself into a tree a view meters away. She turned to look at the arrow that almost took her life, then back to Mike. The guy looked like he hadn't move an inch. "Move again, and I won't miss next time." Stunned, the guard backed off and rejoined the rest of the stunned mares.

It was then I heard a new voice. One that was so quiet, I almost missed it, "Please, don't hurt her." I turned around and spotted the yellow mare, who let out a small 'eep' and hid behind the cyan one again.

I waved my hands in an innocent gesture, "Oh don't worry! My buddy here isn't a killer. Heck, I'm not a killer. We just don't like the idea of being taken somewhere by force. It was nice meeting you all, bye!" I waved and I walked around Twilight, until I was on Mike's right side. Then we backed up, slowly heading into the forest as Mike said, "Do not follow us. For if you do, we will not be so merciful."

"You won't evade us forever," I heard Twilight say, now facing us since the threat of the arrow was gone. "We will find you."

Mike looked her in the eye, no emotion present in his, "Believe me, by the time you catch up with us, we will already be gone." And with that, we disappeared into the forest.

After heading into the tree shrubbery, I turned to Mike and said, "You do realize we have probably pissed off just about the entire population of this planet?"

Mike simply turned around and walked away saying, "They won't follow us, I know it. And besides," he stopped in his tracks, "for everyone one thing they know about us, I learn five things about them." With that he turned around and began walking again. I stayed standing in place for a moment, before walking after him, making sure to look behind me every now and then to be sure we weren't followed.

Unbeknownst to the humans, they were being watched. However, it was by something that was not a pony, but a relatively young being of great power. "Godspeed young humans. Your journey hasn't nearly even begun."

It was about 4 minutes later until we reached the campsite, where we found Ray waiting for us by the fire. She was sitting with her left side to us watching the fire burn. In the fire were 5 sticks with fish speared on them, and a pile of about 10 more waiting to be cooked on Ray's right side. . Remembering how none of us had eaten yet, my stomach growled loud enough to cause some birds in the trees to fly away.

Mike and Ray's stomachs both followed after, almost seeming to agree with mine. All three of us had a good laugh, as me and Mike sat down by the fire, waiting for the fish to cook.

I looked around our campsite, trying to see some weakness in the foliage. The area we were currently in was almost pitch black, with only a few slits of sunlight here and there piercing the hanging canopy. The leaves looked to be a dark purple and seemed rather, foreboding. As if this forest had already sensed our coming, and was preparing our graves. The tree trunks looked no better, black and twisted, these trees seemed to further advance the theory that this forest was alive.

I looked back at the camp fire, getting lost in the dancing flames. Funny, I thought this was all just a lucid dream back home. Just a tale spun by my mind to keep me entertained. But that tree I punched felt real, my armor felt real, and that clash I had with that mare, most certainly felt real. I really was lost in a world filled with anthro horses. Hah. Some furries would call this a dream come true. But for me, I felt homesick.

I mean, back on my earth, I really didn't have much to do. I never thought I would amount to anything. I just figured I would go on and be one of those guys nobody seems to remember.

But yet, here I am. Expected to save this world from itself somehow. Along with my Motely Crew of friends right here.

Looking towards my friends, I saw they were deep in thought as well. The looks on their faces, the ones of lost hope. The lost hope of ever seeing home again.

I shook my head, I can't feel sorry for myself! Not now! It doesn't matter who I am, what I am, or where I am! I was called here to help this world! And that is exactly what I'm gonna do! And not only that, but I will make sure we see home again! I will make sure that my friends and I make it out of this!

With my new found courage, I looked up from the fire. A smile was on my face as I said, "Come on guys! We can't just mope around all day!" Both Mike and Ray looked up to me. I couldn't see it in their eyes, but I could tell they were probably confused as to what I just said.

Without loosing steam, I stood up, "We were sent here by a weird black heart to help this world! I'm not sure what we're going to help it with, or if we can even stand a chance against what it is! But that doesn't matter! We are humans! We will not stand by while others are in danger! We will fight to protect the weak! We will fight to win! And we will win! We will show them all exactly what humans can do! We have this armor, we have our weapons, we have epic powers! We can do this!" I shouted to the high heavens, raising my fist above my head as my voice carried throughout the entire forest.

Mike and Ray stayed quiet, letting me have my moment. Then Mike began to clap for me, "Well done my friend! Now, I guess that means you have a plan?"

I let my fist lower as my steam finally ran out, "Um, no actually." Their elation quickly faded, "But I'm sure we'll come up with something!" They didn't look as glum as they did before, but they didn't too happy either.

I have no idea why it took me so long to notice him. However, when I looked back down to the campfire, I noticed a certain brown color on the ground next to Ray. I pointed to the lump, "What is that?"

Ray looked to her left and spotted the heap, "Oh yeah. This is that stallion we rescued from those mares."

"They call themselves, the SRF or Stallion Retrieval Force," I said filling them in on what I had learned.

Ray turned back to me. Her mask covered her face, so I couldn't read her emotions, but I could hear a bit of panic in her voice, "So you mean they were trying to retrieve him?"

"That's what it sounded like, yes."

"Do you think he's a criminal?!" I saw Ray instinctively reach for one of her daggers.

"Unlikely," Mike said suddenly joining the conversation, 'I'd say if anything, he was the victim."

"How can you be so sure of that?" Ray replied, moving her hand away from the sheath.

"Because, when I saw him cornered he didn't fight back. If he was a criminal, he would've went down fighting. But instead, he was going to commit suicide. Normally, people only do that when they're desperate. And, as we've seen, these equines seem to be capable of sentient thought and have emotions a lot like humans. And judging by the fact that he has constriction marks on his neck and wrist," Mike pointed to said areas, "And the tendons in his wings are cut," once again pointing to that area, "I'd say he was a slave of some sort."

"You can tell all that just by looking at him?!" I asked incredulously. I had sat back down, but was still staring at the brown stallion. His chest was steadily rising and falling, signaling that he was alive. I breathe a little easier, then asked Mike, "How do you know about his wounds, I can't see them." It was true, no matter how hard I looked at the guy, I couldn't see a single mark on him. Mike simply looked at me, and pointed to his eyes. I facepalmed, "Alright, but still what should we do with him?"

"Well, we can't just give him back to those mares. Who knows what they'll do to him?" Mike said looking back at the unconscious stallion.

That was when we heard a slight groaning noise. All of our eyes darted towards our downed guest, who slowly sat up rubbing the back of his head. "Ah, what-" he said before opening his eyes and looking at us.

I wasn't sure, but I think Mike smiled behind his mask when our guest opened his eyes, "Well, hello Sleeping Beauty. We won't hurt you, but you will answer our questions."

He seemed surprised that Mike was able to talk, cause he fell backwards onto his back. Laying down he put his hands up, trying to protect his face, as if he expected blows. Yet even though he was panicking, his reddish green eyes still held a spark of defiance in them, "And-and what if I don't?"

"Oh no you will. Primarily because, if it weren't for us, you would be in the clutches of those mares back there."

The stallion seemed to think on this for a moment. Then put his hands down, but chose to remain in his position, "Who, or what are you?"

Mike put his hands in his lap, "We, my friend, are humans from another world, different from this one."

"Hoomans?"

"Yes. If it would not trouble you too much, do you mind telling us what world we are on and its history?"

Another pause from the stallion. Then he made to stand up and walked back to the fire. That was when we realized that he was naked. I put my hands in front of my face as I averted my eyes, "Woah, dude! Put some clothes on, sheesh! There's a lady present!" Peeking in her direction, I saw Ray had done the same as me and averted her gaze.

As he sat down by the fire between Ray and Mike, dismissing the view of his junk, he seemed confused, "Why? Where I come from clothes are optional. At least for mares."

The offending sight gone, I looked back at him, my helmet masking my confusion, "Wait, what do you mean 'at least for the mares'?"

He looked down at the fire for a second. Then he sighed and his voice took on an storyteller style, "To learn that, hoomans, we must start at the beginning. I will tell you what my father told me. How Equestria, used to be...."