The Runners of Humanity

Ponyville, Equestrian Republic, 1010 AC

“Twilight! Twilight! Twilight, ya’ there?!”
shouted Applejack, entering the castle.

“W-Where is that Alicorn!” she stammered.

“Twilight? Ya’ home?”

Applejack opened the castle library doors, and upon entering, sees a note on a table:

Dear Anypony who reads this,

I’m fine, if you we’re worrying. I have been called by Luna to investigate the facility from the recent
incident. I will be back but most likely later this evening. If you haven’t known this before, the facility has been reported to have anomalous properties. Perhaps researching this strange thing could be beneficial sometime.

Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle

After finishing reading this Applejack cursed.

“Darn it!”

Before Applejack could head for the door, another pony walked in. Rarity.

“Applejack?”

“Rarity?”

The two stared at each other silently.

“Ah’m guessing ya came to look for Twi?”

“Uh huh, you were too?”

Applejack nodded.

“Ah don’t suppose you care to tell me why you’re looking for Twi,” asked Applejack.

“Yes, yes, I was looking for Sweetiebelle and I came here to ask if she’d seen her. How about you, Applejack?”

“I uh,” she stammered, “there was this red glare in the sky this mornin’. Ah was goin’ to Twi if she had any answers,” responded the cowpony, “now that Ah’ think about it, Ah’ haven’t seen mah’ sis either..”

“You don’t think they’ve both gotten carried away with some ‘Crusader related’ business do you?”

“No doubting it.” she sighed.

“Do you know when Twilight’s coming at least?” asked the fashion mare.

“As a matter of fact, yes. Sadly it’s not anytime soon, Ah’m afraid,” she answered.

“What are we gonna do then? And you said something about a ‘red glare’ in the sky, do you think that this is apart of it?”

“No idea, but…” she thought, “what if they went into the Everfree forest? What if that’s why they haven’t come back?” Applejack began worrying.

“O-oh dear, if that’s the case p-poor Sweetiebelle must be terrified being alone in the forest!” Rarity whimpered.

“We have to go find em’ ourselves then!”

Applejack dashed out the castle doors with Rarity following her.

“So what you’re saying, is that those sticks you’re holding can shoot out tiny metal balls at very fast speeds at a target and kills them?” asked the orange pegasus now known as Scootaloo.

“Why am I even telling you this…” groaned James.

“Because we’re friends with you!” shouted the white unicorn named Sweetiebelle cheerfully.

“No, we’re not friends. In fact, you three should be considered an enemy just like the rest of your species!” shouted James.

“We’re friends. Admit it, you gave us refuge and food. That’s a pretty friendly move there, friend!” said Scootaloo, bouncing in front of the Aussie. He had to use all his wits to not squeeze her into a hug.

Aidan was lying on the balcony floor sleeping.
Applebloom lay atop him, sleeping alongside.

James and the other two Crusaders still having their “discussion”. The rest of the group had stayed ignorant of the ponies. As much as Liam wanted to direct the group, Semenov held the same position, and had an unfortunately laid back attitude, making it hard for Liam to carry out decisions too harsh that Semenov had to decline.
Liam had spent most of the day alone in his corner, talking to himself and other personal businesses. To be fair, the grump of the group wanted to finish the job and seeing the rest of the group lounging around while they could’ve been doing something useful in that time annoyed him even more. Nobody knew Liam personally, meaning nobody knew what made him such an ass all the time, but whatever it was, the group knew it was most likely something very traumatic that they should avoid referring to at all times. And to try and stay out of his way while he was at it.

Waynes walked up the stairs to the balcony.

“Aidan? You in there?”

There was no response. It hadn’t occurred to Waynes at the time that he wasn’t easily waken when sleeping. After a few attempts to wake him up he’d stopped trying and left. Waynes had to try again next time.

“I’m glad that spell actually worked, Sparkle. Very impressive.” said the Moon princess.

“Thanks, Princess Luna. I’m glad too. Do you think this whole thing will be over soon?” said Twilight.

“I’m sure it will end very soon. We just have to keep moving forward.”

“Dang, I’m sure am hungry.” said Spike.

“Don’t worry Spike, we’ll get something to munch on when we get home.”

“Speaking of that, why is Discord riding Celestia?” asked Spike.

“Huh?” asked Luna.

“Better question, why are they headed towards the Everfree?” spoke Twilight.

“This seems strange. Celestia doesn’t usually investigate anything herself, nor without any additional protection..” pondered Luna.

“We’re gonna follow them aren’t we…” deadpanned Spike.

“We are gonna follow them,” replied Twilight with a boost of energy, “thus could be big!”

“Yes, the amount of peculiarity of seeing Celly going somewhere outside the boundaries of Canterlot is something I am at full right of investigating alongside her too.”

“Ughh!” grumbled Spike. Hopping on to Twilight’s back as they pursued the two.

“Okay, okay—“ Rainbow Dash managed before being cut off by a distraught Fluttershy.

”There were there when I turned to my left, then I screamed and ran away. I remember one screamed back. Oh my Celestia it was so scary so that’s why I came to you girls to help me because I am so scared right now and I can’t go back home until I have confirmation that makes me feel better an—“

“FLUTTERSHY!” shouted Rainbow Dash.

“Hey Flutters, I know you know that I talk very fast and you might think it’s funny but you have to have practice and right now you’re really bad at it!” Pinkie said very quickly.

“Fluttershy, just breath. Breath okay?” said Rainbow Dash.

She started to inhale and exhale slowly. Then she calmed down.

“Now what were you saying about these things showing up and scaring you?”

“Oh! It was horrible! They were screaming at me and then starting to move their hooves to get something, then I freaked out and ran away!”

“Oh those things will pay! How dare they disregard Fluttershy’s feelings, then try to attack her?! Oh I’m gonna give them a huge buck in the throat!” she scowled, punching her fists together.

“Yeah! What jerks!” added the pink mare.

“Come on girls! We’re gonna show these intruders a lesson!”

The three ponies started to make their way into the Everfree forest to look for the human pests.

“The coast is clear,” whispered Sherwin. Motioning for the still head hurt Harvey to exit the vent shaft. The two were attempting to get food and water. Luckily for them, the hidden facility held a cafeteria which held a huge stockpile of rations and fresh water. All they had to do was to go down the main hall corridor, then take a right to the east wing, and take a left to the cafeteria.
While it seemed fairly doable and simple, there was a constant threat of guards patrolling the facility. Worse, the alicorns could be in any of these rooms. So it was of utmost importance to stay low and shut up round trip. So far, so good. The corridor was extremely long which would be impossible to cross through if it weren’t for all the box containers lying all around. To their luck, the Equestrian forces have touched nothing ever since they stormed the facility. Possibly in fear of setting something important/dangerous off.

Oh great, looks like today’s some special day.
He thought, now seeing an increased presence of guardsponies patrolling the area.

The two were still able to make some progress across the hallway when—

SCREEE Harvey’s shoe squeaked on the floor after accidentally slipping.

Ah shit.

“Who goes there?” said a voice a few yards from them.

“Show yourselves! We won’t hurt you if you comply!”

The two were practically ignoring the bullshit they’d always heard since the war started. And every time they saw someone comply, they still beat them, or just flat out killed them.

“What do we do?!” whispered Harvey.

“I don’t know! We need some kind of miracle of a distraction to get these assholes off our backs!”

Sherwin could now make out a shadow slowly looming near their position, when suddenly the sound of bullets being fired from above caught both guards and humans off guard. The guard who was approaching the group now laid their attention on where that gunfire came from.

“Where’d that come from?!” the guard demanded.

“Sounded like it came from upstairs!”

“I saw the gun bullets go through the wall!” Cried another guard.

The voices became quieter and quieter as they quickly made their way to the source of the noise.

“Shit,” Sherwin exclaimed making an impressed face, “that worked.”

Discord travelled his way to Celestia’s throne.

“Hey Celestia?” Discord asked.

“Yes? Discord?”

“I… think we have something interesting in our… uh… claws and hoofs?” he jokingly replied.

Celestia snickered, then went back to her serious face.

“What is your issue, Discord?” she asked, with visible concern, because if something managed to make Discord not crack jokes every half second, something was seriously wrong.

“They’re here….” he said, with his own concerned voice.

Celestia let out a big sigh. It was only a matter of time.

“It’s a shame there was nothing we could’ve done.” she replied, staring off to the side.

“Look, Celestia,” Discord interjected.

Celestia looked at him, her face looking near the verge of crying.

“Celly, Celly, look, see us? We’re powerful beings. You are a powerful being.”

“Power doesn’t mean anything to an army of ancient murderous and bloodthirsty husks.”
she replied, a bit disappointed in his answer.

“What I was trying to say was, we may be powerful beings, but what do we mean compared to the true power of prophecies? Prophecies that have never been doubted? The humans are here.
They are battle hardened and determined as ever, if we ever want to stand up against this enemy we’re gonna have to work together. Just like the tales stated.”

“Discord, we both know those tales are fiction, and have no correlation to reality. The prophecies have been inconsistent, and had sometimes made mistakes in predictions. They’re just ponytales.”

“Well then, sorry for trying to make you feel better, grumpy pants. You want some merchandise for “Ms. Grumpypants™?” he said, holding up some pants displaying an annoyed looking Celestia, “anyways, at least there isn’t any prophecy stating we’d lose against them.”

“Discord, again, ponytales. Second, we have a lacking of soldiers currently. And what is the Elements of Harmony gonna do against the—”

“—Aaaaannnyways…” Discord interrupted, “I was asking if you could accommodate me to.. you know, to take these humans somewhere else where nopony will see them.”

James couldn’t do much besides wait by the ponies and… man… quietly. Maintaining full combat awareness if anyone or anyTHING were to pounce on him or Aidan. WHO IS STILL SLEEPING IN HIS COMBAT POST.

James set his face into his palms and made an annoyed groan.

“Why me..” he said continuously, “why me? Not someone else? No no, it’s because I’m Waynes’ right hand man. Yeah, that’s it!” he mocked.

”So the castle is where they are?”

“From when I last seen them yes.”

“Well, I suppose we should make this as silent as possible?”

“After you.”

Shit, he thought Someone else is here…

“Wake up, wake the fuck up you shit, get the fuck up someone’s here!”

The conscript fluttered his eyes open and half realized what he was saying, cocking his gun from safety to auto.

“Okay, I heard some voices up on the balcony.”

“So, if they attack and not try to reason what do we do?”

“Trust me, they won’t… very soon.”

“Anyone hear that yelling on the balcony?” asked Waynes.

“No?” said Cui.

“Shhh…” Gentalini ordered. He pointed at the balcony and heard muffled yelling.

Porter unslung his M4A3.

“I’m going in. It could be an intrusion! Anybody who wants to do their jobs for once, come with me.” he sternly said storming up the stairs.

“Hold on, I don’t understand.” said the tired Aidan.

“What don’t you understand about when I said I heard unrecognizable voices?”

“The part where you said ‘don’t you’… I just.. don’t get what you mean.”

“It means ‘are you not’.”

“Hold on I have to process this..” then it was silent.

He sighed “I heard intruders!”

“Intruders? Oh! Why didn’t you say it like that? Okay, I’m gonna sound the alarm. WEEOO WEEOO! Intruder alert! Guys we have intruders! Red spy is in the base!”

“Cut that out!” he barked.

“Gee you’re no fucking fun,” the other deadpanned.

“Okay Rares, the coast is clear.”

“Okay. So you’re sure you heard talking from the Castle of the Two Sisters?” asked the fashion pony.

“Ah’ swear on mah’ hoof.”

Applejack said, putting her hoof up.

“Alright, if you insist.”

“Let’s go then!” said Applejack, running towards the castle, Rarity following behind.

“So what if something evil is there?” asked Rarity.

“And attacks us? We’ll beat em’ up.”

She says, putting her hoofs together.

“Well.. I’d hate to get my hooves dirty but I guess desperate times go for desperate measures..”

Then, something was heard in the bushes. The two ponies turned their heads to the sound, ready for anything. Then, after a few seconds, something popped out.

“AHHHHH!” screamed the two.

“AHHHHHH!” screamed the cyan pegasus.

“AHHHHHH!” playfully screamed the pink party pony.

“Please… stop…” pleaded the yellow pegasus, covering her ears from the loud and chaotic friend reunion.

“What the heck are you two doing here?!” demanded Dash.

“We can ask the same for ya’ too!”

“We were gonna show some creatures a lesson for trying to attack Fluttershy!” shouted Dash.

“We were looking for the crusaders.” told Rarity.

“Maybe the creatures have the three fillies as well!” added Pinkie, “yipee! Alien party! Wait! We’re having an alien party and I didn’t bring anything? Aw shucks!” Pinkie said, her hair deflating slightly.

After a pause, the group ran towards the castle.

“Wait, why the castle?” asked Pinkie.

“We heard talking from there, talking that was unrecognizable.” responded the farm pony.

The two alicorns landed onto the gravel path, then collected themselves.

“Okay, so, where’d they go next?” asked Luna.

“I’m not sure.. I lost them..” confessed Twilight.

“What are you doing?” asked Celestia, firmly.

“AHHH!” the three stalkers screamed.

“Okay okay, what’s going on here? You all were having a gathering and I wasn’t invited?” grunted Discord.

“What are you three doing here?” continued Celestia.

“We were—“ said Luna.

“Stalking you..” cut off Twilight.

Celestia gave them the biggest stink eye after that one.

“Okay let’s not waste anytime right now we can discuss this later.” Discord interrupted, snapping his fingers and teleporting to the castle.

“So we’ll go through the ba-“

“AHHH!” the entire group screamed for the 13th time. Discord still unfazed by the shouting.

“It’s extremely sad and disappointing that you guys— I mean, girls get so scared so easily.”

“What?! Discord?!” said half of the Mane 6.

“What’s HE doing here?!” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Go to Celestia for those answers.” he said, pointing at Celestia.

Celestia rolled her eyes.

“We’re investigating the castle.” answered the sun princess.

“So are we.” said Rarity.

“Ehh, we’re more trying to beat up whoever tried to attack Fluttershy but whatever!” smiled Pinkie.

After some confused looks from the group, everyone sighed.

“Okay, let’s just go. We got some flank to kick first!”

Porter, a Chinese soldier named Shen Shen, and Corporal Gentilini entered the balcony and were surprised to see three baby ponies sleeping with two men who were talking like idiots.

“Whaddya’ doin’!” screamed Porter, pointing at the fillies.

“What the hell are they doing here?” demanded Shen.

“Long story. Monster attacked them, this idiot saved them, and now we have to breast feed these fucking horses!”

”DISCORD?!!” the humans heard.

“What was that?” asked Aidan.

“Everyone, take cover!” ordered the corporal.

The three soldiers that recently arrived took cover behind the doors, while the two others leaned against the balcony rails.

Aidan turned his head to the left, seeing the Lance Corporal trying to communicate to him silently. He understood him after sometime.

Stay hidden, wait until they get in a position where we can attack, profit.

But after a few minutes, they heard nothing. Nothing happened. Then Aidan rose up.

“Okay, I think the coast is clear.”

“It is?” asked a voice, followed by a pink pony leaning from the doors to the balcony. The three soldiers hidden there didn’t even notice the pink mare leaning with them.

“WHAT THE FUCK!”

“OH SHIT!”

“JESUS CHRIST FUCK!”

The three soldiers retreated to the balcony, aiming at the pony.

Then, a shitload of other ponies leaned in as well.

If the soldiers could reach the pitch, they screamed at that moment.

“FIRE!” shouted the corporal. The sounds of machine guns flooded the area, as Discord put up a portal in front of the group, sending the hail of bullets into another dimension.

“Where did that gunfire come from?!” demanded a guard.

“It sounded like it came from the second floor!”

“Move! Move! We must neutralize those targets!”

“What the fuck was that?!” demanded Liam.

“It came from-balcony!”

The rest of the group scrambled up the stairs and towards the balcony, only for it to be blocked off by a shield.

“FUCK! NO NO NO!” screamed Liam.

“STAND BACK!” shouted Semenov, unslinging his gun and firing at the shield to no avail.

“NO! SHIT! FUCK NO!” yelled Ella, banging against the forcefield.

“SWEETIE?! WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU?!” wailed Rarity.

“They fed me bread with cheese sauce!” replied Sweetiebelle with a cheerful smile and tone.

“They did what?!!?”

“Wait, ya’ gahs’ fed them horses food?” whispered Porter.

“Oh my god please just stop talking about it..” muttered James, face in hands.

“Are you.. humans?” asked Celestia.

“You know damn well who we are!”

“Yeah! The Crusaders’ kidnappers!” shouted Applejack.

“And bullies to Fluttershy!” yelled Dash.

“They didn’t kidnap us, they saved us from timberwolves!”

“Oh… wow that actually makes sense for their names. Hahaha.”

“Why did you attack us?!” demanded Twilight.

“Uh, pardon? We shouldn’t even be talking to evil cunt’s!”

“Let alone say pardon!” shouted Aidan.

“Pardon— Excuse me for asking, but what’s a cunt?” asked Spike.

“They’ll tell you when you’re older… wait, why am I even talking to you, what the fuck?!”

“Pardo— Say that again?” asked Luna.

The balcony stood silent.

“Why are you hostile to us?” asked Celestia.

“Well, from what it says on their papers, is that their home world was in the middle of a full on invasion by Equestria, so their people sent these ‘humans’ to scout out for another land to live in. Apparently, there is another Equestria that instead of traditionally embracing peace, they intend to conquer worlds in attempt to, and I quote, ‘liberate them from corrupt leaders’. But, to be completely honest with you all, their political structure is fairly decent. Compared to what other alien politicians I’ve seen act like.” Discord said, giving an impressed face while shrugging.

Then the area went silent, until Luna spoke through the silence.

“Discord, so what though is saying is that instead of being the saviors of Equestria like it stated in though tales, these are just warriors who have been mentally scarred by the toll of war?” asked Luna.

“And, to add on to that, they were attacked by other versions of us?!” shouted Twilight.

“Seems so,” shrugged Discord, “although I’ve seen worse.”

The ponies gave a confused stare at the draconequus.

“And, we attack other lands like we’re some kind of imperialists?” asked Celestia.

“Yes, to say again, unlike you peace loving Equestrians, these Equestrians are warmongering genocidal monarchs.”

“How do we know you’re really peaceful?” asked Chen.

“And what in sam’s hell ya’ talkin’ about us bein’ saviors of Equestria?!”

“We don’t even know who ya’ll creatures are!” shouted Applejack.

“We do…” said Celestia, “Luna, care to explain?”
Celestia looked at Luna, seeing this, she nods and begins to talk.

“Very well. Sister. To say it short, a long time ago, legends stated that some sort of bipedal creatures would come to our lands and become the saviors of Equestria in defense from some kind of infinitely powerful shadow nightmare army. This army was and still is ruthless, and craves the blood of any living creature. They would torture its enemies. Rip their limbs off, scoop out their eyes, whip them nonstop, and other disgusting acts of violence without any moral empathy to the victim.”

Everyone stood shocked and silent, specifically the ponies who were wide eyed, mouth gaping open, and twitching in fear.

“Wait,” paused Gentilini, chuckling. “You think, that we’re gonna help you shits—you shits after you murdered our people and destroyed our homes?” he broke out into an unstable laugh, while having slight pinches of sobbing along with it.

“Whatever acts of war you say we’ve done, we assure you we have never done in our millennials of existence.” said Luna.

“Please, you can trust us.” continued Celestia. When the humans looked into her eyes; in her soul had only sincere feelings, everyone knew she meant what she said, even the humans, just by looking into those eyes.

“I can’t believe we would— different versions of us… would do such cruel things to you.. I’m so… sorry…” said Twilight quietly, tears streaking down her eyes.

“It’s gonna take more than a sorry to make amends for what your alter egos have destroyed.” said Gentilini. “My son.”

“YOU BOYS GOT ME DEMOTED FROM SERGEANT TO PRIVATE!”

“Private First Class…” muttered Discord, pointing the papers into his face.

“MY HOUSE! Ya motherfuckers destroyed all my family relics!” shouted James.

“could’ve probably sold them for a fortune…” whispered Aidan.

The other humans continued to scream at the shocked ponies. The yelling began to subside a little while after.

And after the brief pause Fluttershy spoke.

“I’m so sorry… I thought you all were attacking me but it was me that was attacking you.. how… how can you forgive me! I’m so wicked for doing that!” she sobbed, tearing up. “Please! I’m so sorry!” Fluttershy pleaded, running over to the Italian and embracing him into a chokehold hug, hiccuping between her words.

“UFF!”

“So… ya’ll not… hostile?” asked Porter.

“Oh dear. I.. I-I can’t take this..” Rarity stuttered before putting her hooves to her mouth while he cheeks bubbled up with a green tint. She gagged.

“Well, with that in mind, it really seems you’re not the same Equestria… we know…” motioned Chen.

The group of ponies slowly nodded in agreement.

“I can’t imagine myself killing innocents just because they wanted freedom…” said a saddened Dash.

“Yeah, I can’t believe you killed my friends either.” deadpanned James.

Rainbow Dash turned her head to James, her ears lowered, her face looking like a whimpering puppy.

“Other than the fact that this is incredibly depressing, this… is… utterly… FASCINATING! Quick! Spike, get the quill and paper! We’re writing this down!”

He sighed “Twilight,” deadpanned Spike, arms crossed.

“Just jot down the dialogue!” babbled Twilight.

“TWILIGHT!” shouted Spike. Twilight quickly realizing her mistake and stopped talking, blushing briefly with a frown.

The shield dividing the two groups suddenly disappeared, and the sounds of distressed screaming were now heard.

“EVERYBODY GO GO GO! GET THEM ALL!” shouted Liam before falling over and toppling the crowd.

The group quickly scrambled up and took to their arms straight after.

“WAIT WAIT WAIT!” yelled Porter.

“WHAT IN BLOODY HELL YOU TALKIN’ ABOUT? MOVE!” screamed Waynes.

“WHAT IS HAPPENING!?”

“I DON’T KNOW! BUT I THINK IT’S A SCREAMING COMPETITION!” shouted Pinkie.

“DON’T FUCKING SHOOT! I THINK THERE NEEDS TO BE SOME EXPLAINING TO DO!” continued James.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING? SHOOT THEM!” screamed Liam.

“EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP!” boomed Semenov.

The humans stopped shouting.

“Somebody, explain.” said Semenov calmly. "James, you, explain." he repeated.

"Me? Goddamn it."

James sighed then held up his arms in demonstration. “This is an abridged version of what’s happening,” he said, making a bridge shape with his hands. “Apparently, there are other versions of them that attacked us...”

The room went silent.

“What do you mean?” asked Ella.

Discord snapped his talons and a short paper explanation appeared floating in front of them in text form.

“Just for plot convenience.” he said.

Wilbert took his eyes up from the papers,

“Und so.. they’re friendly?” asked Wilbert.

“Seemingly so, but we have a long way until we can fully trust you all. You are very lucky we’re not filling you full of lead already,” answered Gentilini.

Liam scowled in absolute frustration, “that’s my problem! You should!” then he turned away and said, “doesn’t matter, I’m killing them sooner or later..”

After another pause the silence was broken.

“What’s his problem?” asked Applebloom.

“He just said,” answered James.

“He’s harder at accepting things compared to others. He’s been fighting ponies for years now, he’s seen the things they can do to other beings. Well, alternate versions of you.” said Porter, “oh yeah he’s also an asshole.”

There was another silence.

“So… now what?” asked Jia.

“What’s wrong with him?” asked Pinkie, showing visible concern.

She pointed her hoof towards Aidan, who had fainted during the commotion.

“He’ll be fine. I think.” said Waynes.