YHaY: The Human of the Guard

They didn't like that display. The ponies starved me for three days, only giving me water. On the fourth day, they fed me, and sent me to the arena again. There, I fought five more if whatever these things were, and barely lived through it. I was hungry, and had hardly any energy. I learned now, that these were a mockery of real humans. They were, quite literally, animals. These five animals I faced, they were dead. Their faces caved in, with various other injuries.

After that, I was given some attention for my one wound, a broken cheekbone. Of course, you can't really DO anything about that, and they tried that strange trick with their horns, but nothing really happened. They paid special attention to my eyes, of all things. I caught a glimpse of them in the only mirror in the room. Blood... fucking... red. My mechanical eyes hadn't looked sinister, but they sure as hell did now. My eyes were black voids with red dots that pierced my own soul. Damn it. Damn it all. They changed my eyes? To that? Fuck. Now I didn't just feel like a monster, I looked like one too.

After that, it was rinse and repeat. I stopped trying to fight them after they showed me their blow darts, because what's the point? They'll just dart me then punish me with starvation and harder fights. Day after day the daily grind went on. I suffered nightmares through the night, waking up screaming most of them. Memories from the Middle East, the Argonne Forest, Italy, China, Russia, and even Canada. Not to mention all I had to do. I'd seen every combat environment, seen and been a part of too much shit. To think that I signed up illegally as a 16 year old under my brothers' name.

As time went on, I was sold owner to owner, taken city to city or wherever the hell I was. I fought, I bled, I slept. Do it over again. At one point, one of them had the bright idea to give me a shank. The fight ended in mere seconds. Then they started running armed fights, and grand melee's and just overal shitstorms.

It eventually came to the point where I was too tired and too mentally broken to care about escape, just living long enough to see daylight again.

Daylight. I was forgetting what that looked like. Just like in the Northern reaches of Canada, Alaska and Russia. When the season hit, the sun could be hidden for months at a time. Times like that, it was hard to look at my weapons, and not wonder what it would feel like to die. Like I was sort of feeling right now. I had what I needed. Long, thin but tough blankets that I could tie a noose with and connect to the bars above me.

No, couldn't do that. Gotta keep going. For all who died before me. Live a life before my time comes.

What rattles my resolve, is my new owner. SHE, is a bloody fucking monster. Nineteen previous owners, and none of them have had done to me than what she's ordered.

Apparently, there were a lot of lonely mares, and a few lonely stallions who swung that way. And I say SWUNG, past tense, as in their little friend doesn't get a rise any more outta screwing human males. In fact, they can't really rise at all anymore.

The stallions were the first, so my new owner reworked her technique the next time she tried that crap. First, tranquilizers in my food or drink. Before I woke up, a...*ahem*... stimulant was given to me to make my one eyed snake be forcibly move to full mast. Then they'd somehow finagle a way to bind me to a partial cross before I could get my head together and resist. Then the mares had their fun. Brutal... hours long... bloody crotch that had me walking funny... fun.

Then, they tried making it a family event kind of fight. It came to the point where I truly believed these ponies were either bloodthirsty, insane, or both.

And the kids, damn, the KIDS! I could not, for the life of me, understand them. Just as I finished one fight, a little foal of a pony dropped into the ring to stand right up to me with wonder in his eyes, and smiled at me.

I didn't know what I should do, so I knelt down, and started petting him with bloody hands. He didn't get scared like he should have, but he certainly liked me more for it.

A grown stallion tried to do the same thing. I scowled, and threw him out with some cracked ribs. My punishment were more fights against monsters that violated all sense or logic. Might I add without weapons too? Almost didn't walk away from that manticore, and for once, I'm glad I have fake metal arms. That's what finally killed it. Too much brain damage.

Now. After all this, I don't know what's real or fake now. Everything is a blur. I fight humans, ponies, minataurs, other mythical beasts, a few zebras, an actual horse, a few bulls here or there, and a dragon.

Down time consists of regular doctor visits for my wounds, baths when I get too bloody or smell too bad. When I'm in my cage, I try to sleep, but one can only try for so long, or get so much. When I can't sleep, I'm remembering. All the bloody memories, all the brothers that lived or died. Sometimes, I wonder about my parents. We weren't the closest of families, but we still talked to each other. Then there's my band mates. For their sakes, I hoped they found someone else to fill the role of lead singer. If they didn't, then they'd obviously go broke. Not too many jobs for the wounded, and the VA only pays out so much with how many wounded vets there are.

I wonder what they thought over my disappearance? Did they think I died? Or just disappeared? Did the news make anything of it? Probably not. Maybe local, but not for long. I'd pass through the news quicker than a piece of candy with a little kid.

That was it. The final conclusion. I'm not important. Unless you get famous, or fall in love, no one cares. Not one damn. I almost manage a chuckle. Only my brothers that knew me would care, and most of them are dead. So what's the point?

Never really given a chance to contimplate that. It's always something. A fight, a raping, doctor visit. Always. Something.

Good. I can't think myself to death that way.

3 years later

Another fight. In armor this time. My usual armor too. Brass breastplate, makeshift scrap helmet, and a wooden round shield with chips and pieces missing. My weapon, a simple, bent sword.

My opponent was a pony, also dressed up in armor. It was old too, as was the pony, marked with age and extensive use, but it looked official with its' dull gold glimmer. He may be old, but he had a military manner about him, even as a pony. Me, I was bred from years of practice with the sword against all opponents. This would be easy.

There was something... off though. My owner wasn't here, nor were any of the usual rich gamblers. Gamblers that got rich off betting on me. This was all wrong, so very, very, wrong.

I looked at my adversary, who was concentrated solely on me. He didn't seem to notice anything off. I couldn't help but wonder if this was a set up for these pricks, but then again, this was ponies I was talking about. They may be brutal, but they can be equally stupid and smart at the same time.

Doors crashing open erupted from down at the far end of the building startled everyone in here, even my opponent. Ponies in golden armor flooded from all directions. My eyes widened as they started arresting every single pony here, including the one I was supposed to fight.

Too soon, all weapons and eyes on me. Well, I could fight, and try to escape, finally, and hope I don't die but probably will. Or, submit, let them kill me quick or hope they're merciful. Eh, fuck it. I'm tired of fighting. If I die, I die. I drop my sword, and kick it away. Same thing with my shield and helmet.

I raise my hands above and behind my head, interlocking my fingers, and slowly go to my knees. Finally, I close my eyes, and wait for their decision.

Well, they didn't stab me, but they certainly brought me to the ground where they removed my armor in what I had to guess was record timing, and tried to remove my arms, but when it started hurting, I let them know by crying out in pain, but kept myself from retaliating.

"Lieutenant, it's not coming off. What do we do?" A voice called out.

"Leave it on him, put him in with the rest. We're going to see if we can make something of him."

"Yes sir!"

Yes sir. Yes sir. Yes sir! YES SIR!!! They're military, or at least a police force. Does that mean, this was all illegal? Maybe, just maybe, there's some good in this world after all.

I stood up, and opened my eyes. The ponies were scared stiff at my height, and even more so, I would say, of my eyes. They never stopped staring, and shuddered when my eyes passed over them with that intensity that belonged to my new eyes.

The soldier assigned to me looked about ready to crap himself. He was a small stallion with hardly any build. Most ponies were about 4 feet tall, but this guy was even smaller. Any smaller a pony, his armor would slip off. He could barely level his spear at me as he tried to fight his own fears.

When he dropped it, it seemed as though his hooves had frozen to the ground. Please don't piss yourself. I begged. I grabbed up the spear, and held out the shaft to him to grab.

His face, I don't think I could replicate that look even if I had a thousand chances. This was a face of someone who realized that the monster that was in front of them, was not a monster. But in fact, a friendly helping hand.

Gingerly, he took it back in hoof, and smiled at me. I, in turn, gave him a respectful nod. Then, I saw something off about his armor. It wasn't too big, it just wasn't strapped correctly. Slowly, I approached him, kneeled down, and started readjusting his straps to fit him correctly. Once the ponies got over my intelligence in fixing the straps by some very peculiar "logic", off we went outside. We past the cages, some I'd slept in, others I'd suffered in. I shuddered as memories seeped through my mental wall of numbness. All the pain and loneliness that I had suppressed over the years came flooding back. I fought back tears. Humans here didn't cry, and I couldn't expose myself for fear that they'd do even worse to me than I'd already gone through.

Then, was the outside. The sun was shining, the warmth bathing me in some sense of freedom. I couldn't hold it any longer. I didn't care if they saw anymore. I cried silently, tears streaming down my face. None of the ponies noticed my wet cheeks.

They loaded me up in a wagon full of ten other humans. A cage that should only hold five. The humans around me knew how deadly I was, and shied away whimpering, trying to put as much distance between us as possible.

It made me feel like crap that I was feared for something I had been forced to do. Maybe I could have been a bit less violent, but then again, survival here depends on how well you can entertain the crowds, and making it gory is the best way to do that.

Once the cart was underway, I could see the city, and boy, it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. It was like the most imaginative artist had made his most desired ascetic of a city a reality. Buildings curved and blended slightly simply for the added majesty it provided. I doubt that the most talented elf in legend could make something half as beautiful as this.

The ponies in the streets didn't match the city though. Many of them wore what I would guess to be Victorian age English clothing modified for a horse, and all of them had those self important looks of disdain on their eyes whenever they looked at us or to ponies who didn't wear clothes. In fact, these nude ponies looked largely out of place. They were much more colorful than the ponies wearing clothes, and seemed a good deal happier and star struck by the city.

Must be tourists or something.

We were finally taken to a massive castle that looked to have been carved into the mountainside. It was built simply, but it still looked perfect like the rest of the city. It was made out of a strange white stone that was cut into perfect, identical rectangles. They fit so perfectly, that it was hard to see the lines that indicated they were separate bricks. The gates were made of gold and adorned with pearly spikes on the top, while stony faced white guards stood with rapt attention towards the street, unmoving. The guards hauling us took us through these gates, around the back of the castle through magnificent gardens, and all I could think was, How can such a violent and bloodthirsty race make such beauty? Surely, they can't all be bad, can they?

We arrived at what must have been the loading area, because the ponies pulling us out the backs of the multitude of cages on wagons against the sides of raising doors. After they detached, they knocked on the doors in a special pattern, the doors opened to several groups of unicorns, who quickly separated the humans and me, put us in our own cages, and levitated us up onto a conveyor belt which split off into multiple directions to just as many holes in the wall. Did I mention that the line was long and slow? And that I was at the end of it?

After shutting my brain off for a VERY long time, it was finally my turn. I passed through the black plastic flaps into a room that looked much like an examination room. Examination for many, MANY, different things. Inside were two guards with loaded and ready crossbows, and one unicorn doctor. All staring at me.

The doctor smiles at me, "My my, aren't you quite the specimen? Look at those eyes of yours. We'll have to look into it when we get the time for it." He didn't exactly sound creepy when he said that, but it wasn't reassuring either.

Just keep your cool man. Stay calm, and they'll let me live, probably. I breathed in deeply, and let it out slowly. I could do this.

The doctor pulled out a thermometer. "Ok, time to take your temperature." He started to walk around me, and I immediately knew what he was doing. That was a rectal thermometer.

I CAN'T DO THIS! I matched his pace, turning with him as he tried to walk to my rear. Humans could show fear, I'd seen this plenty of times in the arena, so I showed my own right here.

"It's ok boy, I'm not going to hurt you." He said in a calm, soothing voice. Nope, just, nope. Finally, the doctor sighed, switched out the thermometers, and said, "Ahhhh!" Opening his mouth. The guards tensed, not liking this. I understood their fears. If anything beared its teeth at a human, they were asking to be attacked.

Me, however, I relaxed immensely. I sat down, and opened my mouth, keeping my lips over my teeth.

"Hmm, that's interesting. The subject is perfectly compliant with an oral thermometer, and refuses to show it's teeth." The unicorn approached, examined my teeth, and stuck the instrument in my mouth. Before he could try to close my mouth, I'd shut it and gotten my tongue over it.

He didn't miss a step though, "Subject is missing some teeth, and the ones he has are much sharper than normal. They don't appear to be augmented or manipulated, however it remains a possibility considering where he just came from. The eyes are very disturbing. No human has ever had eyes like this before, natural or otherwise."

Nice to know I'm special, I thought sarcastically.

"Muscle structure is very impressive. Could probably make a minataur warrior jealous." Yep. Earned some respect before I paralyzed him. "Oi, would you look at all those scars! Several of these look like slash wounds. Are those surgical?" Yep, became famous with the doctors for how often I came back. "And it looks like he saw the bad end of some arrows. Huh, what are these? They appear to line up with some of the wounds on the other side of him. What could have done this kind of damage? Burns here too." Yeah, flamer troops are a bitch.

"Let's see what's underneath that metal shall we?" I held myself from groaning. This was not going to be pleasant.

He tried removing my arm with his magic, but he couldn't do any more than twist my arm around uncormfortably. "Hmm. Not coming off. Incredible temperament though. Any other human would have attacked by now. Let's see what happens if I do this." He poked me rather hard with something small. It might leave a bruise, but it wasn't too bad.

"Barely noticed it. Let's try something else." With his magic, he brought over an apple, and set it down in front of me. I didn't touch it. I knew his game, I'd seen this before with some of the humans sold off as sex slaves. Those who got angry were put back into the arena again. What happened to those who didn't is kind of obvious.

"Come on boy, it's all yours. Go on!" Ugh, now I know how dogs feel when we talk to them this way.

"Must not be hungry. Let's see if he likes toys." He takes the apple, and replaces it with... a squeaky toy. A rubber chicken to be exact. I wasn't impressed. I looked back up at the examiner with a vacant look in my eyes.

He squeezed the toy, and it whined. Sort of sounded like... the final wheeze. The death rattle of a guys' lungs filling with fluid, and still trying to breathe. It was an ugly sound that I'd heard too many times. No one. Should EVER! Hear that sound.

I winced, squeezing my eyes shut and moaned as if in pain. He didn't squeeze the chicken again. "Ok, nevermind. No squeaky toys. Must have some very bad memories associated with that sound. I don't think I want to know what he's been through." You don't know how right you are.

"I think I need a little coffee before I continue."

For the first time, one of the guards spoke up, "Really? Now? We're so close to being done, and you want some coffee? If that's the case, I'm going to need a little something of my own." And from some hidden pocket, he produced a silvery flask. That could only mean one thing. Alcohol. Being dry for so long, it hurt pretty damn much. Like a deep itch you couldn't scratch no matter how much you wanted to and tried.

I'd been sitting earlier, but now I was against the cage bars, staring intently on that flask. The examiner noticed this.

"Hold on a second. The human seems to be quite interested in your flask. Would you mind helping me to see if what I think is true?"

The guard growled, but tossed it over to the examiner. He waved it in front of me, and I gently took it. I desperately wanted to drink it up, to satisfy that itch, but I couldn't do it. This belonged to the guard. I smelled it, shudderedin delight, almost brought the flask to my lips, and stopped. I shook my head, lightly banged it against a bar on the cage, and looked longingly at the flask again.

I brought my eyes to bear on the guard, and held out the flask, clicking my tongue. He looked at me, a confused look in his face. I shook the flask lightly enough that the precious fluids within wouldn't spill.

The guard looked at the examiner, "What do you want me to do?"

The pony hummed in thought, "Take it. It would appear, that even though he really wants it, he knows it belongs to you. It's quite strange, but I do believe that's all I need to clear him. I just need to see what that thermometer says." He took out the thermometer, looked at it, and his eyes bulged.

"What is it doc?" Asked the guard, curious as to what could have the doctor so disturbed.

"Th- the human should be dead! He's got a fever of 98.9 degrees! How it is still alive is practically impossible!"

"So what should we do?" The guard looked at me warily. I was slightly confused by the reactions. Was it possible that this temperature was lethal to the humans here? Eh, as long as they don't try to kill me, I'd be fine.

The doctor looked at me, obviously still debating what he should do, "Put it in observation. If it is alright by tomorrow morning, we'll put it through training with a medical disclaimer."

The guard hesitated, "Eh, give me a moment." He grabbed a mug on the counter, filled it halfway with the brown nectar, and held it out to me. I was never going to get over how they held things with hooves, but I wasn't thinking about that now. I took hold of the mug, resisting the urge to smile, and drank it all as quickly as I could. It didn't burn as hard as most drinks I prefered, but it was there. I gave a great sigh of relief, and let the empty mug hand by a few metal fingers outside the cage, which the pony took casually.

Soon they'd leashed me, lead me through the castle, and put me in a room that was slightly larger than my cage. The only other thing in there besides me, was a pet bed big enough for me to lay down on comfortably. I'd been awake for a long time, 20 hours by my estimate, and I was tired. So I tested it out, and it was actually really nice. I practically sank into it. For the first time I could remember, I didn't have to struggle to fall asleep.