Humans

I follow the human through some caves right under Canterlot Castle, “Nice caves I guess. This what you take me to see? I like the style, but the sight ain’t worth it.”

He shakes his head, and points forward, “Den ahead, you see.”

I shrug as we walk through another opening, “I don’t know if you remember how heavy a pony is. Let me remind you, pretty fucking heavy added onto my armor and weapons. So, it better be pretty shitting close. Else I’m gonna turn around and leave you.”

He walks through an opening, “We here.”

I walk through, “Oh yeah, sure-“ Then I look at the cave. Tents everywhere, humans everywhere, fires. My sarcasm is cut off instantly, “Holy shit, there’s more of you.”

He points to a fire, “Go to fire, human not human see you.”

I nod to him, “Thanks, umm... Probus.”

He tilts his head, “Probus?”

I give a thumbs up, “If you need a name, have one that fits.”

He looks at himself, “Probus. Name, Probus.”

I nod, “Wear it proudly. Stay safe.”

He nods back, “Safe, Silver. Will be safe.”

I slide down a slope, and stumble into the light of the fire. Three humans sit around it. One of them looks up at me as I slide in, “Careful there, don’t want you injured. Hurt even more, considering all that armor.”

I look right at the man through my armor, “Holy shit, one that can actually form compete sentences.”

He gets a surprised twitch in his eyebrow, before smiling, “Well, we have another one! Names Dustin Revees. Nice to meet you.”

I slightly nod, “Kendrick. I take it your not like the normal humans?”

He shakes his head, “We’re from Earth, like you. Pleasure to meet you- why is there one of the ponies on your shoulder?”

I look back at the Doctor, and place him down, “Well, I had to carry him somehow.”

I settle myself down to the ground as Dustin speaks, “What is he for? Some type of sacrifice? Your captor that you killed?”

I shake my head from behind my helmet, “No, he’s a friend.”

He looks directly at the Doctor, “You’re friends with one of them?”

I nod, “He’s different. Used to be human, well, near human.”

Dustin leans in closer, “Near human? How can you be near human?”

I sigh, “Right, I may sound a bit crazy, but what I say is true. Dustin, this is the Doctor.”

He looks at me blankly, “The Doctor? What does that even mean?”

I look right back, “It’s his name. Was torn here after dying, became a pony.”

He shrugs, “Well, that makes two within that case.” He tries to look me in the eyes, “Take off you helmet, please. You’re among friends. I like to look a man in the eyes when I speak to him.”

I reach up to my helmet, my hands touching the cool silver. I stop there, struggling with myself, “I haven’t taken this thing off for months. It’s... hard to take it off.”

He reaches over, and puts a hand on my armored shoulder, “Then take a breath of air with it off. Let the wind go through your hair.”

I grasp onto the metal, and slowly lift it away from me. My field of vision is increased considerably, and I feel a cross breeze running through the cave. I reach up to my face, only to feel a scratchy beginning of a beard, and the roughness of my face’s skin. My hair is greasy and dirty, spreading off my hair like a dirty mop.

Dustin shakes his head as he looks at my face, “That ain’t the face of the person I’ve been speaking to. Your voice, your words, both speak of a veteran of war, one who has seen too much. Your face is one of a boy, barely even an adult. What happened to you Kendrick? Be proud of your scars, we all carry them.”

I sigh, and remember everything, “It started off with me landing in the middle of a forest. Heard a scream, ran off to help. Ended up saving a cute little filly by the name of Dinky, she took me to the town of Ponyville. Doctor found me, brought me in, talked with me. Built a tank, made the Rings, we’re good friends. Got sent to a fighting pit, knocked out and carried there. I teamed up with this guy, Max, another one of us. They sent more and more humans after us... we killed all of them. So many died... but they were animals, we had to. Things returned to normal until Nightmare Night.”

Dustin interrupts, “That’s Halloween, right?”

I nod, “Dressed as Sauron, had a grand time. Then this... storm appears over our house, no rain but something so wrong. Got sucked into it, went somewhere else. There were guys there. Raven, Slendy, Courier, Avatar, Chem, Survivor. We fought so much, Solare, McBad, Wanderer, Clyde, Jack. Some creatures in suits, like humans, had a kill-on-sight order for us. We lead a rebellion, very outmanned and outgunned. If not for the others, I would have died in that war. If not for Solare, I wouldn’t be here today. There was just so much death, and the enemy were intelligent this time. They would come out with their hands up and we just killed them. No Geneva Convention out there.”

Dustin leans back a bit, “You fought a war?”

I put my head into my hands, “There was a child in the streets of the final battle. One of the enemies children, and their ungodly machine took aim at them. That was my turning point, I saved the child. They were just a child, nothing more. I took the shots into the back, almost died from that alone. I still don’t know why I saved that child, and yet none of the soldiers. They were just trying to protect their people, they wished no ill will to us. They were slaughtered, like animals. They didn’t see anything wrong with it, I didn’t see anything wrong with it. I was a monster, maybe I still am.”

Dustin grasps my metal hand firmly, “Don’t say that, you are not a monster. You are a child forced into a situation beyond you. We’ve all done stuff we regret, but that’s the important part. The difference between monsters and us is regret. If I take a ponies life, I will live to regret it for the rest of my life. If they take my life, the only thing they’d regret is getting blood on them. Keep that regret, and you shall never become a monster.”

I look up into his eyes, and nod. I take a deep breath, “We arrived back here, in the gardens, and Probus found us. You know the rest.”

I hear footsteps from behind me, rushing up to me. I hear a familiar voice shout out, “Is that who I think it is? Kendrick!?”

I slowly turn around, and see a boy there, around my age, “Bill?”