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// Information 
// Story: Equestria's Ray of Hope 
// by The_Darker_Fonts 
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It was the first time Ray hadn’t been running late for his return to Equestria.  He was about half an hour early, standing on the sheer cliffside that overlooked the violent coast of the Tauran plains.  Even though the sun was already set, its fiery red and orange light still glowing from behind him, it was still at least thirty-five degrees out.  It was strange how many similarities there were between humans and ponies, both in language, customs, lifestyle, and even measurement.  Miles were the unit of measurement for long distance, yet meters for shorter distances and inches in even shorter distances.  It was confusing, the strange combination of the empirical and metric system.  Likewise, Celsius was the closest human unit of temperature measurement to the pony Sun-scale.  
One day he would ask her in detail about the similarities and differences between the human and pony world.  The fact that there were so many similarities while also being almost the polar opposite had to be more than coincidence in his mind, but the war called for his attention rather than these philosophical questions.  At one point in time, he might have been able to do both, but with the drastic turn this last month had taken, there were too many things to consider.  Their next move, the enemy’s next move, and the unseen Aspects’ hand in all of this had completely consumed him for the time being.
Unfortunately, the fire in the minotaur camp had destroyed it in less than two hours, taking with it any useful information that might have been stored there.  What they had retrieved from the camp was nothing that could reasonably help them fight the minotaurs in the coming months.  He had a bag of seeds and bread of different grains that they hadn’t been able to identify with him for Twilight to mull over.  For him, the most interesting discovery was rat bones in the charred ruins of the camp the next day.  It meant that his theories about centralization in the minotaurs were more confirmed.  With the number of crates, wooden tools, and other metals, there were undoubtedly cities of minotaurs out there, and with the abundance of wood in such a barren landscape as the golden hills, there was no doubt that there were different environments out there inhabited by the minotaurs.
 More concerning and far less interesting was the discovery of crossbows among the minotaur’s corpses.  The Fallen had been incapable of identifying the weapons given the strange lack of military technology in Equestria, but Ray had recognized the medieval weaponry immediately, and he had one strapped onto his back to show to Twilight.  He had known the minotaur’s had ranged capabilities, but never before had he considered them to have anything more than bows.  The fact that the minotaurs had superior technology to the Fallen on the battlefield scared him.  If they had developed weaponry like that years ahead of the ponies, what else might they have that could devastate the Fallen in battle?
The ponies had developed some gimmick catapults for impractical purposes, which in and of themselves were completely incapable of combat.  However, what if the minotaurs already had machinery like trebuchets or gunpowder weaponry?  What if, now that the war was undoubtedly known to the minotaurs, they mobilized the full might of their army with their superior technology?  It could prove to easily steamroll the Fallen, who stood no chance against weapons any stronger than what the minotaurs had flexed so far.  And from there, Equestria would have no hope of stopping the storm that would follow.  
“Ray,” a soft voice asked from behind, the mare speaking tragically familiar to him.  He turned quickly from the ocean, eyes finding Adant standing near the wayport.  She looked tired, her ghostly figure frail and more translucent than before.  However, she stood as tall as she could, her face resolute.  The human’s heart dropped slightly at the sight of her, widowed and hollowly stoic.  
In a matter of seconds, however, her strong face slowly melted into a deep frown as her head dipped, tears already beginning to drip from her eyes.  Instantly the human crouched down to be at her level, reaching out an arm and pulling her in for a tight hug, for whatever good it might do.  In spite of wanting to say something to help her, he couldn’t think of anything to tell her that would help.  Instead, he just held onto her, fighting back his own tears as memories of the Fallen stallion Adant had given her heart to flooded him.  For some reason, one particular memory surfaced of the day he had first spoken to the rankless stallion, and a little smile escaped him.
Taking hold of the little spark of joy he had received, he spoke aloud, “Y’know, the first thing Garish ever said to me was a question.”
Adant’s sobbing stilled for a moment as she looked up, tears still streaming from her milky eyes as she weakly asked, “What’d he ask?”
“He asked me, ‘Why are you so damn big?’,” he told her, his smile growing.  “I’d been talking to Fallen for three days straight and hadn’t been stumped or without anything to say that entire time.  I didn’t know how to answer a question so simple, yet so incredibly difficult to understand.  Finally, I told him that I was just a member of a species that tended to be large.  The next thing he asked me was if everything was to scale.”
A short giggle escaped her, interrupting her sobs and making her smile.  Before Ray could think of anything else to say, she muttered, “He did the same to me, actually.  We met shortly after we had both signed up for Equestria’s army to fight against Sombra, right as it was being organized to fight.  Our sectors of the camps shared the same bar.  It wasn’t romantic at all, just an overpacked tent that smelled like bitter beer and puke, and out of nowhere he tugs my tail and asks me, ‘If I took you back to my tent, would you beat me up or have a little fun for once?’
“I told him I’d do both, and he misunderstood completely,” she began to laugh uncontrollably at the memory.  “He thought I meant I’d give him some hoof and then some flank, when I really meant I’d have fun kicking him around!  He tried to take me back by the hoof and wound up needing somepony else to take him back to his tent.”
This time, Ray was laughing along with the mare, the story that had brought these two wonderful Fallen into each other’s lives incredibly fitting.  Suddenly, Ray felt his grief at Garish’s death slip away as he laughed, like the cold being blown away by a warm wind.  His laughter came to a sudden stop as this sudden emotion overtook him, something he had never felt before.  Brow furrowing, not in sadness, but curiosity, having no explanation for the sudden new emotions he was feeling, he slumped back against the ground.  Adant gave him a questioning look and may have said something, but Ray was too busy focused on trying to identify what he was feeling to discern it.
Blinking, he finally heard the mare ask him, “Ray, what’s the matter?  You look confused.”
“I am,” he replied softly, a lightness now to his heart he hadn’t felt before.  Slowly, he nodded his head as a silent voice in his head told him that this was acceptance.  Before he knew it, a few silent tears began to slide down his face, neither sad nor happy.  They were tears of both, a sadness that Garish was gone, but a joy that he had lived.  Yes… that was it.  He was coming to quickly understand that while the wonderful stallion’s life had been cut short, the story would continue without him.  That was okay.
“I’m glad I knew your husband,” Ray finally added, giving the concerned Fallen a slow smile.  “He’s a good stallion.  You’re right to be proud of him.”
“Thank you,” she whispered hoarsely with a little smile of her own, more tears escaping her.  Taking a deep, shaky breath, she admitted, “I never thought I would marry that stallion.  Garish was always so flirtatious and risqué, and I was lovers with Skalos in mortality.”
“Pardon, what,” Ray interrupted, shocked by the sudden, almost out of place admission.
“Oh yeah, we were together almost the entire time we were in the army before Luna cursed us,” Adant freely shared.  Chuckling a little, she continued, “As much as he’d ever hate to admit it, once upon a time he was just another fun-loving, playful, sometimes-vulgar young stallion who spent the nights looking for a romp in the hay.  He and I weren’t quite… together in a relationship way, but we certainly got to know each other.  Then, after we turned, he wouldn’t talk to me and had a complete personality change.  Skalos was who he is today by the time Luna damned us to Tartarus, and remained virtually emotionless during her condemnation and the hanging of his brother among other friends who took a commanding lead in the mutiny.”
“I… didn’t know most of that,” Ray admitted uncomfortably.  As if summoned by the conversation, Skalos had suddenly ascended the hill and was slowly making his way towards the pair.  
“He’s kept most everything he knows, feels, and thinks a secret from everypony but Zecora,” Adant shrugged.  “I’m glad he at least does have an outlet, and while I’ve never talked with the zebra before, I’m sure she’s a good match for him.”
“A perfect one, actually,” Ray replied, keeping a close eye on Skalos as he approached.  “No offense, of course.”
“None taken,” she said quietly, leaning into him more as if to hide her face from the stallion.  “It’s so weird, being both some of the oldest creatures alive, yet still feeling like I’m maybe thirty.  It was ages and ages ago that he and I were an item, yet I can remember it almost perfectly.  Comparing that young, hopeful stallion to this hard one, I’m glad we didn’t continue afterwards.  His depression wouldn’t have been helped by my company.”
“Depression…” Ray sighed, less a question and more an acceptance.  The condition had definitely been obvious in the Fallen from day one, though it seemed it had been helped by him being distracted, training the human and rallying the Fallen behind him.  Ray had been too preoccupied wrapping his head around the role he had volunteered for, and then the various tribulations that had arisen from it.  He still had no time to try and help each individual around him, and though he had learned a hard lesson to accept that fact, it still dampened his spirits to think about all he couldn’t do, even in the position he was in.
“Lordling, you’re… early,” Skalos slowly said, sounding slightly pleased.  “I had thought it would be routine for you to give our friends across the sea a heart attack every time!”
“Lots to talk about, so I figured I’d need every minute before sunrise,” he shrugged with a smirk.  “I don’t know, maybe I’ll make a habit of being early.”
“And I’ll make a habit of being awake to make sure you go to sleep,” the general replied, a bit more seriously.  “I was going to ask if you’ve been getting some rest, but clearly you haven’t.  While you’re there, you should ask Twilight for some more of that sleeping drug you mixed into your tea.”
“I’m fine, Skalos, but if it’d make you feel better, I’ll request some,” the human dismissed.  He was tired, but that didn’t translate into anything when it came to how he performed his duties.  Mostly, it meant that when he finally went to bed in the early hours of the morning, he would be asleep right away.  It was almost nice to keep himself so busy his thoughts couldn’t get in the way, the preoccupation of the war far too consuming for any enabling thoughts.  However, with the setting sun and the moon beginning to rise, Ray couldn’t spend any more time on his thoughts.
Carefully lifting Adant, he smiled softly as he told her, “I’m grateful for the company, Adant, and glad we could have this talk.  Truly, you’ve helped me more than you know.  Take care.”
“Will do, Ray,” she replied with her own warm smile.  Without another word, she took her leave, allowing Skalos to talk with the human in private.  Though, as he watched the mare go, he saw the Matriarch, just barely looming over one of the hills near the camp, watching.  It seemed that all of Equestria was attempting to give him therapy.  With a quiet chuckle, he looked down to his closest friend.
“What now, my friend,” he asked the Fallen willingly.  
“Before you go, Ray, I just wanted to clarify something with you,” he answered, gesturing for the human to crouch back down.  Doing so, he found the stallion resting a glowing hoof on his shoulder, looking him deeply in the eyes with his own milky ones.  Slowly, he explained, “These were incredible victories, regardless of the aftermath of either.  You need to project that onto Twilight, and thus the rest of Equestria.  Morale is high, and our enemies seem to fall like hewn grass whenever they meet us in combat.  Our losses have been a third the projected amount in almost every engagement, while we’ve almost completely annihilated every force we’ve faced.  Do not be humble, and do not skip any details.”
Pausing, the Fallen’s seriousness slipped into one of his rare, hopeful smiles, adding, “Besides, perhaps you’ll finally be able to understand how incredible of a job you’ve done when you have somepony else reacting to such dominating results.”
“Perhaps,” Ray repeated, smiling slightly.  “I’ve come to accept that I can't do anything more to prevent the deaths of my soldiers… Still, victory at the cost of even a few is a… heavy burden.  I just need to continue learning how to be strong enough to carry it is all.  I’ll be alright, Skalos.”
“I’ll hold you to that, lordling,” Skalos replied, his smile becoming sad.  “You used to talk so much about how you didn’t plan on returning to Equestria, or even surviving this war.  Now that we’ve fought it for so long, think about that again for me, please?  And if not for me, for everypony else in the world who cares about you.  In the eyes of all Equestria, you are their benevolent hero.”
“I know,” Ray muttered, feeling a familiar flustered sensation.  
Being a hero… out of all this sacrifice and killing- even of evil things- was not what he wanted out of this.  All he wanted to do was protect the rare innocence of the ponies he had witnessed firsthand.  Twilight and Skalos were the ones who had shot him into fame as the hero.  The fame felt undeserved and misled, and the only time he felt out of place in this strange, unbelievable world was when he was pressed before the masses of innocent bystanders to the greatest threat of their existence.  Once the war was done, there was a greater fight in store for him, one that he barely knew anything of and that Skalos only had the vaguest knowledge of.  Yet Equestria would want its “great protector” back when perhaps he was needed by someone or something else to prevent something worse from occurring.  After all, the Spectre had only been imprisoned, and even the Aspects had no clue as to how long until he escaped this time.
“Ray, you’re musing again,” Skalos softly pointed out, not attempting to hide the concern in his voice.  “I’d ask what you were thinking about if it weren’t for the rising moon.  That and your reluctance to share much of what you have hidden within that brain of yours.”
“Hypocrite,” Ray replied with a playful smirk, earning a confused- if understanding- side-eye from the stallion.  “I’ll tell you one day, I promise.  Maybe tomorrow, if tonight goes better than I think it will.”
“How could it go wrong,” Skalos questioned, retaining his professional face.  “We have done nothing but succeed.  Surely there is nothing to fear, correct lordling?”
“Indeed, general,” the human said, standing up and stepping backwards into the center of the wayport.  Raising the necklace around his neck to the moon, arm almost parallel to the ground, he added, “I’ll enjoy informing you of the proceedings upon my return.”
If there was a response, it was consumed in the intense warmth and light of wayport travel.  By this point, he was well acquainted with the art of wayport travel, and thus was unsurprised by the brightness and warmth, though appreciative of it regardless.  However, ever since he had been snatched from the wayport by the Spectre into its timeless realm, he had a stigma to it, only able to enjoy the physical comfort.  When the Spectre returned, he guessed this would most likely be the place he would strike back at Ray.  Given how little he knew about it and how unprotected it seemed to be… anything could happen.  His skin prickled in painful memory of what the Spectre had done to him in their last encounter, trauma he couldn’t rid himself of, making him uncomfortable.
In an instant, though, he was standing in a surprisingly chilly room, now well familiar to him.  Twilight’s private library in the Canterlot Castle, perfectly arranged and furnished, was dark and cold, with no sign of the alicorn who had belittled him so many times about being late.  Smirking slightly, he began to walk towards one of the couches to plop down and warm himself up.  Given the Tauran plains had only grown warmer, even at night, he wore almost nothing but shoes and the loose, breathable shorts Rarity had made for him.  
Right as he sat down on the nearest couch, the door slowly swung open, Twilight’s magic encasing it as she walked in, her face deep in a book also held up by her magic.  Raising his eyebrow at her, he said nothing as she slowly walked towards another couch almost directly across from him.  However, she still remained firmly focused on the book, unaware of the human staring at her with a growing grin.  Reading the title of the book she was reading as well made him snort softly, though she didn’t even flinch.  
Finally, unable to contain his amusement, he loudly read, “Soft Heartbeats of a Mare!”
“Sweet Celestia on haystacks,” Twilight shouted, the book flying into the air as she whipped her head up and lost focus on it.  Ray roared with laughter, leaning back into the couch as Twilight hastily caught the book with her magic and blushed deeply, tucking it away behind her couch.  
“Romance novels aren’t anything to be ashamed of, unless there’s something… shameful in them,” Ray teased, snickering softly.
“It’s a good book,” Twilight defensively shouted, before covering her mouth with a hoof.  After a second, she removed it and quietly said, “Sorry, you just scared me…”
“Weren’t ready for me to be on time, I see,” he observed with another smirk.  
“Yeah, you haven’t before,” she replied, shaking her head a little to gain her bearings.  “What happened?  Change of heart?”
“Necessity, actually,” he corrected, forcing himself into a more professional face.  “We have… lots to discuss.”
“Yes, I should’ve guessed with the whole offensive campaign occurring right before the restock,” Twilight sighed, looking worried.  “Alright, well, proceed I guess.”
“You’re gonna want a notebook for this, Twilight,” he cautioned, sitting up.  “We fought not one, but two battles.  The first one actually occurred on the first day of our march to search out the minotaurs.  As it turns out, they had sent two armies to either find us or investigate why they hadn’t heard from their armies that had previously occupied the area.  We still don’t know exactly.  However, we caught the smaller army about a mile or so ahead of the second one, about twelve thousand strong.  We engaged them at nightfall and decimated the entire army, leaving none alive.  The second army attempted to help their comrades, but thanks to the Matriarch and precise work from our archers, they were staved off with a loss of about five thousand.
“We lost two hundred and twenty-four Fallen, and just over five hundred spiderlings from the engagement.  Kraven named it the First Battle of the Big Face since we fought only about half a mile from the slopes of a cliff named ‘the Big Face’.  We fell back and set camp for eleven days while we recovered and assessed the situation, all while the second minotaur army began moving around us, apparently trying to scare us into moving.  However, it wasn’t until after our wounded were fully recovered thanks to Zecora that we made a move.
“Leaving the archers atop the cliff, we moved the infantry parallel to where the minotaurs had set camp.  They had a force of about one thousand soldiers sent to maybe dissuade us or to attempt to bait us into fighting them, however, that only played into our plans.   Skalos’ infantry broke off and attacked the smaller force, almost annihilating it and making the minotaurs attack from their camp.  At the same time, Pelios’ division broke off with the Matriarch and her spiderlings to hide in a valley between hills.  This left only Yarem and Skalos’ divisions, which the minotaurs began chasing after.
“We lured them to the cliffside of the Big Face and then the archers released several volleys and fired ballistas, almost expending all of their arrows.  From what we were able to discover after the battle, about eighty percent of the nearly nineteen thousand minotaurs were killed by these volleys and most who weren’t killed were injured.  They attempted to retreat, but that’s when Pelios and the Matriarch struck from behind, eradicating the last forces of their army.  Ultimately, about twenty thousand minotaurs were killed both from the brief attack on the minotaurs and the subsequent battle.  We lost eighty-four Fallen and only thirty spiderlings in return, and Kraven named it the Second Battle of the Big Face, of course.  
“After the battle, the generals and I decided to scour the camp with the Matriarch’s help for any useful information.  As it turns out, minotaur camps are unorganized, unsanitary, and highly compact.  We were ambushed by almost a hundred minotaurs who seemed to have been left there specifically for the purpose of killing anyone who investigated the camp and destroying it.  Thanks primarily to the Matriarch, we were uninjured, but it gave the minotaurs a chance to light the camp on fire, which spread rapidly and left the camp as nothing but ashes by the end of the night.  We did manage to procure some things from the camp, though nothing of interest to the army.”
“That was a lot,” Twilight agreed with a long sigh, looking over her three different notebooks.  He wanted to ask why she had so many out, but he knew it was probably a waste of time and looked past it.
“Here,” he said, lifting up a small bag that contained the rather useless discoveries from the camp.  “There’s some bread and grain samples in here, along with a vial of what we think might be ink, but we’re uncertain.  Since you’re the science person around here, we figured you’d be able to identify it for us once you got a chance to analyze it.  Still, there was one discovery we made that has me… greatly concerned.”
Standing up, he pulled the crossbow from off his back and presented it to Twilight, who picked it up with her magical grip.  Her eyes narrowed as she tried to understand the alien machine he had produced, though clearly it would take too long without any guidance.  Grabbing it again, he explained, “This is a crossbow, a weapon used to shoot projectiles called bolts using a spring-lock mechanism to propel them.  They're almost a thousand years outdated back on Earth, but here they seem to be the most advanced form of warfare technology I’ve seen yet.  It was found on dozens of minotaurs, meaning that this isn’t some prototype weapon.  It appears these have replaced bows among the ranks of the minotaurs.”
“Oh my…” Twilight whispered, eyes locked on the weapon.  
Fumbling with it for a moment as he pulled on the lever that tightened the string, he showed the alicorn exactly what he had been talking about.  The rudimentary weapon had its lever already attached to the crossbow, and quite cleverly, a little sight would pop up once the lever was cocked to help the user aim.  Lifting it to his shoulder, he aimed the empty weapon at the wall opposite to them just in case and dry fired it.  The loud snap of the string startled Twilight, who yelped and jumped back a little.  Having appropriately demonstrated the mechanics of it, he tossed it aside, onto the couch, letting his somberness show.  
“The unfortunate side effect of having no wars for over fifteen hundred years is that there was no advancement in technology for combat,” Ray stated, slumping back into the couch, prompting Twilight to relax.  “That is not the case with our enemies, who may have far outpaced us with the technology of warfare.  While we have the antiquated weaponry of bows, spears, and ballistas, they have more refined weapons like crossbows.  I doubt that this is the extent of their development either, since crossbows came about after some other rather nasty weaponry.  Pikes especially would be… devastating for Fallen to face.”
“Pikes,” Twilight questioned, concern scrunching up her brow.  
“Think spears designed for dealing with calvary specifically,” Ray informed her with as much menace as he could.  “Only a few hundred minotaurs in their front lines would need to be armed with such weapons to completely destroy the Fallen.  They could render our entire army useless, incapable of engaging without suffering extreme casualties.  However… the minotaurs thus far have been armed with axes and swords primarily, also very simple weapons that seem to be haphazardly distributed amongst their ranks.  I think that if they had pikes, we would have seen a few scattered around their armies.  Still, I wouldn’t count them out as a possible problem yet.”
“Sweet Celestia,” Twilight muttered, levitating the crossbow over to one of her study tables while peeking at one of her notebooks.  “Y’know, I thought winning two incredible victories would have made you less uptight about the war situation.  It almost seems like it’s had the opposite effect.  I mean, in the past six months you’ve killed fifty-eight thousand minotaurs for the loss of only three hundred and fifty Fallen.  That’s one Fallen for every hundred sixty-six minotaurs.”
“Yeah, and I don’t think that’s a good enough statistic, Twilight,” he snapped, his stress beginning to get to the better of him.  “Six months in and we’ve begun taking on bigger fights.  This should have happened two or three months in at the latest, not five!  This is supposed to be a blaze and tear, a surprise attack that will suddenly and unpredictably cut through the minotaurs and force them into surrendering.  The matter of the fact is all we’ve seen of minotaurs so far are their armies and the smallest breadcrumbs of what their society may be like.  That honestly scares me, Twilight.  If I had the capability to move around fifty-eight thousand soldiers in the middle of a grassy desert without any roads or towns, what would that say about my true size?”
“That it is… rather large, I guess,” the princess admitted defeatedly.  
“Exactly,” Ray pointed out, his frustration ebbing just a little.  With a sigh, he added softly, “We just don’t have the information to know if three hundred fifty Fallen was a good price for what we got back.  Trading corpses for corpses isn’t how we’ll win this war, Twilight.  It’s how we’ll lose it.”
“Then we best get to work finding the minotaurs,” Twilight determined boldly.  “We can’t just sit back and complain, right?”
“That was never the plan,” Ray replied, sitting up.  “I just needed to let some of my frustrations out.  Everybody else seems to be blinded by our temporary victories, and while as encouraging as they are, they’re also rather misleading.  We haven’t gained anything.  Skalos and the others tell me that I’m just now allowing myself peace for the times we succeed, but they have to know there’s more to this war than just bloodshed.  We need information and we needed it faster than this.”
“You're tired, Ray, and it’s definitely showing,” Twilight noted, giving him a raised brow.  “It seems along with not letting yourself have some peace, you also haven’t been maintaining a healthy balance of work and sleep.  Don’t even try to deny it, either.  I’ve been a victim of my own work more times than anypony else.  I could recognize your symptoms of it blind.”
“So what, Twi, I need to keep at it,” the human hopelessly shrugged.  “Skalos told me the exact same thing earlier, but between the war and the Aspects, there doesn’t seem to be a moment of time I have to spare, even to rest!  We’ve locked ourselves into a position I have to figure a way out of, but time isn’t on our side either.”
“You look a little bit thinner too, Ray,” Twilight added, completely dismissing his excuses.  Standing up from the table, she stepped towards him, reaching out a hoof to his face inquisitively.  Rolling his eyes, he leaned down and let her inspect him.  “Sunken in eyes, bags beginning to form under them, distinguished cheekbones, and moodiness.  All signs of malnutrition and exhaustion in any animal.”
Pausing, Twilight bit her lip and turned away from the human, leaving him mildly confused and slightly offended.  After only a few seconds of silence, however, she hesitantly explained, “You've been on a diet completely free of meat ever since your arrival, but humans are omnivores that directly benefit from consuming meat.  Even though I don’t have the ability to provide it to you… the griffons and hippogriffs do.  I think that maybe by adding meat to your diet will help you maintain your strength in such a demanding environment… even if it’s something we ponies could never imagine.”
“You think my moodiness is caused by not having enough meat,” Ray questioned sarcastically.  
“No, it’s mostly the stress, but a good diet means good rest, and good rest means less stress,” Twilight surmised, turning back around to face the human.  She quickly ripped a page out of one of her notebooks with her magic, using a levitated quill to pen something as she told him, “While I don’t know the extremities to which you’re being tested out there, it’s definitely having more of an effect on you than you realize.  Don’t be ashamed, though.  It happens to everyone who's ever been in charge of anything.”
With that, the note was suddenly teleported away, leaving Ray with his brows raised at the mare.  She moved to sit down again, before another thought seemed to strike her, slowing her movements as she looked over her shoulder at him, a sudden sadness etched into her eyes.  Softly, she apologetically said, “Oh Ray, I’ve been quite callous, haven’t I?”
“I have no clue what you mean,” he replied, confused by the alicorn’s sudden change in demeanor.  
“Who did you lose, Ray?”
Caught off-guard by the question, the human hissed slightly as he took a deep breath in, a jab of sorrow at suddenly being reminded of Garish’s death.  Letting it out, releasing his pensiveness, he muttered, “Garish, one of the few regulars I befriended.  He was a close friend of mine, almost as close as Skalos and the others.”
“I’m sorry,” was all Twilight could seem to say, a sullen understanding of her place in the war. 
“I had to inform his wife, Adant, who I also am friends with,” he continued, wanting to let the sorrow slide away into acceptance as it had earlier.  “They had plans to have children together, after the war with the minotaurs.  Garish would be a farmer and Adant would be his wife and they would have as many children as they could.  It would be a slow life.  She can’t have that now.  It’s not okay and it isn’t right, but we’ve both come to accept that there is another future for us, one without Garish with us.”
Looking Twilight dead in the eyes, he felt compelled to say, “My Fallen are dying for Equestria, not just giving their lives up, but their hopes and dreams.  Each of those are given as a sacrifice for the hopes and dreams of Equestria.  The longer this war goes on, the more lives and dreams will be taken.  That’s why I’ve been so melancholy, Twilight.  I’ve had to see firsthand a dream die, a very loving, beautiful dream that ended with a stallion split in half by a minotaur’s axe.  It’s what each and every one of us out there signed up for, but we need to know that these sacrifices aren’t in vain, Twilight.  That when Equestria is saved, the Fallen won’t once again be forgotten.  I need you to promise me that the lives and legends of the Fallen will outlive all of us.  Can you do that for me?”
“There won’t be a history book written without the names of the Fallen etched into them,” Twilight swore earnestly.  “There won’t be a town without a memorial to them, nor a city without a statue.  The names of the Fallen and Ray will live on forever in the memories of my ponies.”
“No, Twilight, the Fallen,” Ray softly corrected.  “Not me.”
“But… all of this is impossible without you,” she pointed out, concerned.  
“Yes, but I feel like I have a more sinister role to play in the scheme of the Aspects, even if for the greater good,” he revealed seriously.  “I’m the hero right now, but I doubt that, when all is said and done for my story, that will be the case.  I have a looming dread about the Spectre and what it plans to do upon its escape into Equestria again.  Maybe I’m to be the Aspects’ champion to defeat it, or maybe I’m just the glorified bait to draw it to its destruction like a worm on a hook.  Either way, I doubt history will look kindly on me when everything is over.”
“So mature, so solemn, and yet so dumb,” Twilight sighed, shaking her head.  “You keep doubting yourself, Ray.  At every corner, at every turn, you keep saying the same things and you keep getting proven wrong.  When will you finally take the hint that life’s trying to give you?  You aren’t the villain, Ray, and you never have or will be.  You’re a hero by nature.  You’re just too selfless to ever see yourself as such.  A little bit of selfishness would go a long way in letting you finally see yourself for the incredible person you’ve become.”
Something in Ray wanted him to resist the compliments, to fight back.  However, he was getting tired of everyone around him telling him his doubts were incorrect and then proving him wrong.  Worse, with everyone practically babying him for his perspectives, it felt worse to be right than it was to be wrong, since being right meant problems.  With a soft sigh, he gave in and muttered, “Skalos wanted me to get some more sleeping powder to mix into my tea at night so I could sleep better.”
“There you go, you big dummy,” Twilight teased with a cheerful smile.  “You’re finally letting yourself be a real person for a little bit.  Doesn’t it feel a bit better now?”
“Maybe,” he replied, legitimately uncertain.  “We need to focus on things other than myself, though.  We’ve got over sixteen thousand mouths to feed for the next six months, though honestly the greater concern might be water.”
“Really,” Twilight questioned, tilting her head slightly.  “The water we had given you seemed to be enough for a six-month period.”
“Yeah, and as crazy as it sounds, I think that was enough water for how warm it was then,” Ray explained.  “It seems like the days are just getting hotter out there while they cool down here.”
“Speaking of which,” Twilight quietly interrupted, lighting a fire in the nearby hearth while also summoning a blanket for Ray.  The human blinked at the levitating blanket for a second, prompting her to say, “Oh come on, you can’t not be cold.  You’re wearing as close to nothing as you can be while remaining appropriate.”
“Yeah, I was just enjoying it for a moment,” he said with a smile, grabbing the proffered blanket and wrapping it around his shoulders.  The calluses on his hands caught on the soft fabric of the blanket, an uncomfortable scratchiness to it until he let go.  “I haven’t had the opportunity to be cold since the last time I was here, y’know.  While Equestria’s entering winter, I think the Tauran plains are beginning their summer.  It’s almost impossible to believe that it’s getting even hotter out there, but the temperatures seem to be stabilizing around forty-five degrees out there.  It’s too hot in the middle of the day to continue operations anymore without being in the shade or near the ocean.”
“That’s… a strange phenomenon,” she muttered, brow furrowed in confusion.  “How is that even supposed to work?”
“I don’t know,” the human shrugged.  “Science and magic seem interchangeable here.  Where one begins and the other ends, I have no clue.”
“I’ll see what I can prepare last minute,” Twilight assured him, sounding calm about the sudden change in required materials.  
“Really, it won’t be a problem,” he pressed curiously.  
“Well, Equestria has an abundance of everything, and considering we already began the process of storing away thousands of gallons of water in barrels in case the minotaurs invaded, we could transfer that to the sunport,” she explained passively.  “You seem to have control of the situation across the sea for the foreseeable future, so we can gladly spare resources for you to continue your victory out there.  As for the… uh, meat for your diet, I’m hoping I’ll get a response soon, though it may take Spike a little bit to get back to me because… well, he’s in Ponyville.  With everypony else.”
“Unfortunately, I doubt we have time for that,” Ray sadly pointed out.  “Sunsets have been getting later and sunrises are earlier now in the Tauran plains.”
“You don’t have to worry about that this time, remember,” Twilight reminded him.  “You can cross through the sunport with me in the morning instead.  It’ll give you a bit more time to stay here with us and- Sweet Celestia, I forgot to tell you!”
“Tell me…” he questioned, raising an eyebrow at her.  
“We found Otolo only a few days ago,” she cheerfully informed him with the brightest smile he’d seen a while.
Instantly, a surge of joy made him laugh at the news, his stresses leaving momentarily at the genuinely good news.  Standing up, he pulled Twilight into a hug as he proclaimed, “I knew she was alright!  The whole time I knew it!”
“Yeah, and you wouldn’t believe how she was found,” Twilight exclaimed excitedly.  “A few weeks back, some seaponies noticed a little bird flying out over the ocean and decided to follow it almost twenty miles out from the coast before it fell into the water from exhaustion.  They brought her back to the coast, but two days later it happened again, and this time she made it almost twenty-five miles off the coast before once again dropping into the ocean.  They rescued her again, and the cycle repeated every two days for nine days more before they finally took the little bird to Queen Novo.  She reached out to me asking what strange phenomena would occur to cause a bird to fly almost fifty miles from the coast, so I looked into it.  When the bird arrived three days ago, Spike, Fluttershy- who I called in for help- and I immediately recognized her as Otolo!  She’d been trying to learn how to fly across the ocean to get to you!”
“That’s…“ Ray began trying to vocalize, quickly losing the capability to speak as his throat tightened.  The little bird’s life-threatening attempts to cross the ocean all for him struck his heartstrings like a chord, sending goosebumps across his skin as he realized just how attached the bird had become to him, and how much he found himself caring for her.  Finally, he managed to choke out, “I don’t know what to say.  She’s incredible.”
“Indeed she is, and she’s waiting in Ponyville with everypony else,” Twilight commented, patting him on the back with a hoof.  
Letting out a sad sigh at her pushing, he pointed out, “We don’t really have the time to visit Ponyville.  Even if I’m able to stay here all night and into the morning and just travel back through the sunport, all I’d be able to do at this point is explain that we fought a few battles that we won, and then everybody would just get more worried about what the future means.  Just tell them I’m fine and that the resupply had us busy all night.”
“I’m not gonna lie to them,” Twilight flatly told him, pulling away to look him in the eyes.  After a moment of tense silence, she asked, “Do you not want to see them?”
“No, I do,” Ray quickly assured her, a sigh escaping as he whispered to himself, “I really do…”
“Then,” she pressed, encouragingly.
“I can’t help but be worried how they’ll all see me after just how much killing I did over there, Twilight,” he confessed defeatedly.  “I killed when we first landed on the Tauran plains, but there were only a couple I killed myself and it didn’t feel… visceral.  This time, though, the fighting was much longer and much bloodier.  It didn’t bother me at first, but then after the First Battle of the Big Face, I fell asleep still covered in the gore.  Sometimes when I wake up, I still feel the itchiness of dried blood or smell the stomach acid that was spilled on my legs.  I just… don’t feel like I can face the others with what I’ve had to do to simply survive out there, let alone win.”
“PTSD,” Twilight grimly nodded, obviously disturbed by what Ray was telling her.
“No, I don’t think so,” the human replied.  “I mean, I don’t actually fear the past.  The only thing that’s seemed to traumatize me so far is the torture the Spectre subjected me to.  Otherwise, it’s just me doing my job to protect Equestria.  How could ponies ever understand that, though?  You don’t even seem to be able to handle it, let alone softer ones like the CMC and Fluttershy.  I’ve been desensitized to this sort of stuff for a while now, and that fact is more disturbing to ponies than that I actually kill.”
“Well, it’s in our very genetic code to be disinclined to any violence, and you can’t really blame them for that,” Twilight pointed out.  “Yet at the same time, I think I understand your problem… I honestly don’t know how to help though.”
“So, for today, no visits to Ponyville,” Ray stated softly.  
Finally, after a moment of thought, Twilight nodded and said, “I’ll tell them you weren’t feeling up to it after everything that’s happened.”  Looking up, she added, “You do know that means they might take it the wrong way or worry more about you, right?”
“Make sure they know I’m in perfect health, then,” he shrugged.
“I can’t do that, Ray,” the alicorn replied firmly, looking into his eyes.  “I promised I wouldn’t lie to them anymore.”