Off the Beaten Path
Luna had departed from Ryan with a clear indication of dissatisfaction. “I’ll just have to talk to her next time she comes back.” Ryan thought. He was staring at the floor as he thought, prompting concern from Harris.
“Yo, Ryan.” he said. Ryan flinched back to the world.
“Yah?” he replied. Harris put his hands out to indicate that he wanted Ryan to keep talking. Ryan let out a large breath. “Well, that’s really all I have. Flexibility is important, after all.” he said. Harris frowned, but Discord grinned.
“I like this plan!” he announced. “I find that life has always been more exciting when we don’t have any idea of what will happen next.” Ryan looked up at him.
“With any luck, the next few days will have zero excitement.” Ryan explained. Discord made a face.
“Look, excitement means danger, and right now, that could mean either death or deportation. Neither of those is a viable option.” He stood, Harris doing likewise. He walked over to Discord and put a hand on his shoulder. “The excitement will come later.” he said. Discord smiled mischievously. He put his... “hand”, on Ryan’s shoulder.
“That’s how I like it.”
Ryan and Harris checked to make sure they had everything and had it hidden before they left. They had decided that it wouldn’t be wise to stay in one place too long. Ryan had his vest and weapons on under his shirt, as did Harris. “You know how ridiculous you look.” Discord told them. Looking down, Ryan realized how clear it was that he had something on under the shirt. He groaned.
“We’ll have to get more clothes, jackets or something. We need to hide our stuff as much as we can.”
Harris nodded, prodding at the protruding parts of his shirt. “Agreed.” he said. Discord stuck his head out the window.
“There’s a store that looks like it has what you need!” he shouted.
“Alright. We’ll head over there now.” Harris replied. He and Ryan quickly exited the sketchy motel and made their way across the street.
Discord stayed behind though, still with his head through the window. “I suppose I could just give them what they need,” he said to himself. He went all the way through and got in the middle of the street. “But where’s the fun in that?” He liked to see how the boys handled their situation on their own.
He popped his head through the door of the store and looked around. In it, there were lots of what looked like local clothes. They looked pretty traditional. One rack was labeled Tavaravadee. Another was Lopburee. There were several others with equally strange names, but there was also a lot of modern clothes. That was where Discord ran into Ryan.
“So, whatcha lookin’ at?” he asked. Ryan pulled a dark blue hoodie off the rack.
“Something dark.” he said, putting it back. He pulled a green one and made a noise of satisfaction. “This’ll be good for blending into the foliage.” he said. Discord chuckled. He could help him with just one thing.
“Well, you’ll need it better than that.” he said. Ryan looked up at Discord suspiciously, who snapped his fingers. “Look now.” he said. Ryan looked down, and saw a now forest camo hoodie in his hands.
“Sweet.” he said. Ryan slung it over his shoulder and said, “Maybe you should help Harris.”
He floated away from Ryan and searched for Harris. The shelves and racks went to the ceiling, so it wasn’t easy to see Harris. Eventually, he heard Harris talking. “No, really, I’m fine.” he said. Harris stuck his head through a display to get a look.
Harris was trying to send away a sales lady who seemed eager to sell to him. “Really, I’m fine.” he said. She just kept up her sale assault. Discord laughed.
“You know she doesn’t speak english?” he said. Harris groaned.
“Thought not.” he replied. Discord continued to laugh.
“Just take what she’s offering. She’ll go away.” Harris took the jacket she handed to him and she bowed and left. “See?” he said. Harris looked at him with a ‘seriously?’ face.
“This is bright yellow.” he said. Discord rolled his eyes.
“Just buy it. Trust me.” Harris grumbled something and went over to where Ryan was.
The two boys met and glanced at each other’s clothing choice. Neither spoke for a minute. “Well, I’m sure that you won’t... die, a prolonged death.” Ryan said awkwardly. Harris grumbled.
“Let’s just pay and leave.” he said. Ryan nodded, and they paid for their new jackets.
After leaving, Discord turned to Harris. “Here.” he said, snapping his fingers. Harris’ jacket suddenly turned to a forest camo pattern.
“Oh.” he said. Discord smiled.
They decided to just walk down the street toward the east, where they would be soon heading anyway. Discord immediately started talking. “I think that it would be best if we figured out what we plan to do BEFORE we start heading out.” he said. Ryan grunted.
“That was the idea.” he said impatiently. They walked in silence for a moment. “Alright. I think that we may need to go get a map before we try anything.” Ryan said. Harris was about to disagree, but stopped his breath short.
“Maybe that’s a good idea.” he said. Discord sighed loudly.
“Why?” he asked. Neither boy turned around. “I can direct you guys, you know. You don’t need a map.” This time, both boys turned back.
“Well, then. We just need supplies.” Ryan stated simply.
Discord pouted as the boys went around the city looking for places to get food and water for travel. They had been easily able to find bottled water, but the food was harder to find. Most places in the city didn’t sell food that you could eat on the go; it just wasn’t a part of the culture here like it was in places like America. Eventually, they stopped. “Alright, Ryan, let’s go find some store that sells M&M’s or something. Healthy food is clearly not an option.” Ryan sighed and agreed. Quickly, they were able to find a convenience type store and bought plenty of cheap snack foods.
Now, they could finally start to figure out how they were going to get to the border. It was over three hundred sixty miles to Kompong Chnnang.
“How are we going to get to the border? We don’t have a car to take this time, and stealing one won’t go over too well in a city that seems to be on alert.” Harris commented. Ryan nodded vigorously.
“I know.” he said. “I think that our best bet is to take a taxi.” Harris listened intently. “How much money do we have left?” Ryan asked. Harris removed his wallet from his pocket and counted the money.
“About... forty-five Australian dollars.” he said.
“Will that cover a cab fair to the border?" Ryan asked.
“I don’t know! I don’t live here. But I think that it should cover us pretty well, considering that these hoodies were only, like ten each.” Ryan raised his brow at hearing that.
“Really? And how much was the food and water?” he asked.
“A heck of a lot less.” Harris responded. Ryan whistled.
“This stuff costs way more back home.” he said. Harris nodded in agreement.
Discord found himself interested in the comparisons between their homelands and this land. “It costs more where you guys are from?” he asked.
Ryan nodded, and Harris said, “Yup.” It was a lot like Discord’s home world; things would cost different amounts depending on what region you were in, like the Griffon colonies.
“What makes it so?” he asked. Ryan stopped.
“Let’s sit for a bit.” he said. Harris happily obliged. “Well,” Ryan began. “there are a lot of factors to take into account. A lot of stuff is made here, so it’s naturally cheaper here because there aren’t nearly the costs of shipping it several thousand miles to where I’m from. There’s also the fact that our currencies, America and Australia, are worth different amounts than Thai currency. Because ours are more valuable, we don’t have to shell out as much of it.” Discord was interested; it was just like at home.
“Wow. That sounds a lot like the world I’m from.” he commented. Harris looked up at him, a lightbulb going off in his head.
“And what world are you from?” he asked suspiciously. Ryan looked at him expectantly.
Discord was thrown off by the question. He hadn’t expected the boys to take interest in that, or even think about it. His thoughts raced. “I wonder if I should tell them? They probably won’t believe me, but they can’t deny at this point that I’m real.” He looked down at the boys and frowned. “Well, it can’t hurt.” He took in a deep breath. “Alright, fine. I’m from a world that is very different from yours. It has no humans, as far as I know. There are lots of ponies, though, and other things that you would consider ‘animals’ or beasts. There aren’t democratic societies, like the ones you live in, but the monarchs are usually fair and just. Except to me.” Harris raised and eyebrow and Ryan narrowed his eyes. “They kicked me out because I wanted to have some fun. Spread a bit of mayhem, just make life interesting.” The boys looked at him incredulously. “Alright, fine. I left, I wasn’t kicked out. But it was that, or be imprisoned forever.” Harris stood up, keeping his eyes on the Spirit of Chaos.
“Are you going back after we get what we want?” he asked. Discord put his hand to his chin and pondered for a moment.
“Well, I can’t rightly say. I can’t say that I love what I’ve seen of your world, but it’s still better than being a statue. I might, I might not.” He went and stood next to Harris, setting his hand on his shoulder. “It depends on whether or not you guys will let me stick around.” Harris brushed off his hand.
“I can’t say if I’ll want you around, Discord.” Discord pouted. “It will depend entirely on how this all goes for us.” Discord looked to Ryan.
“You?” he asked.
Ryan shrugged. “You’re useful. I’d totally keep you around.” he said. Discord smiled.
“Well, then, as long as Ryan’s around, I’ll stay with him. Just don’t lose me, Ryan; then I’ll have to leave.”
The trio left the area that they were sitting in and continued on their journey east. Discord had no idea what they were doing. Several cabs had passed by, and neither boy had flagged them down. “Why aren’t you guys calling the attention of the drivers?” Discord asked. A cab slowed down next to them.
“See that?” Ryan said, pointing at the taxi. Discord saw a picture of the city on it. “We figure that means that they will only take people to places in the city. We need someone to take us to the border.”
“Ahhh.” Discord replied. Ryan nodded and they continued on their way.
After about half an hour of walking, they found themselves approaching the outskirts of the city. Once there, Harris started to look around. “I guess that this is where we’ll find the driver that we’re looking for.” he said. Ryan nodded.
“Yeah, probably. Keep an eye out, eh, Discord?” Discord saluted them and flew into the sky.
While Discord kept a bird’s-eye-view of the area, Ryan and Harris were stuck on the ground. “Alright, let’s look around, see if we can’t find someone.” Ryan ordered.
“Sure thing.” Harris replied. They started to walk around, looking at all the cars around them. “Hey, there’s one.” Harris pointed at a yellow car parked at the end of a lot. Its driver was leaning against the car, smoking a cigar. “Let’s go.”
Ryan followed as Harris quickly made his way through the area to the driver. As they approached, the driver looked at them. “คุณต้องการที่จะไปที่ไหน?” he asked. Harris pulled out a ten and a five. The driver looked excited. “มาในมาใน!” he yelled. He ushered Harris and Ryan into the car. Before entering, Ryan heard a commotion somewhere to his rear. he looked back; something was definitely happening, but he paid it no mind. In the cab, Harris held up a map of the area and pointed to the place that looked like a border checkpoint, then followed a path to about four or five miles from it.
“Can you take us here?” he asked. The driver nodded, understanding where he was being pointed to go.
Ryan looked out his window at the commotion. “Something isn’t right.” he said. Harris didn’t hear him.
Discord had taken notice of the trouble though. “Ryan, I think you’ve got trouble.” he warned. Ryan’s gut sank.
“What kind of trouble?” he asked fearfully. Discord took a moment to respond. That moment felt interminable to Ryan.
“Some guys are going around hitting people with sticks. It sounds like they’re saying, ‘We want the intruders.’” Discord took another pause. “That might mean you guys.”
The car suddenly jolted forward. “Whoah!” harris yelled. The driver laughed.
As the car began to pick up speed, it approached the crowd of people involved with the commotion. “No, no, no, no, no; Harris, get down!” Ryan dove down between the seats and yanked Harris down with him. The driver didn’t even notice as he went through the frenzying crowd. Harris looked up at the crowd from the floor of the cab. There were people screaming outside, trying to run from something. After a few tense moments, he saw what they were running from. Men with clubs and rifles were attacking people, yelling at them for something.
“What do you think they want?” Harris asked. Ryan just looked him in the eye.
Harris gulped as he thought about what these mystery men would do to them if they were caught. With the clubs, they could beat them. With the rifles, they could shoot them. He could only hope that they wouldn’t be found. “Discord!” he reached out.
“Yeah?” came the response.
“Are they looking for us?” Harris asked. Discord took several moments to respond, during which time, the cab slowed to a stop. Harris’ heart was racing.
“These guys are saying that they, ‘want the men who were attacking their interests.’ They want to find them and kill them.” Harris started to panic.
And he wasn’t the only one. Ryan was freaking out over the car stopping. “Why have we stopped?” he shouted at the cab driver. The driver was stunned though; peeking out the window, Ryan could see weapons being pointed at the cab. Someone approached. “Discord!” Ryan didn’t wait for a response. “Tell the cab driver to go when the passengers fight back!” Ryan received an emotion confirming that he would get his wish.
As the man approached the car, the driver of the cab opened his window. “Can I help you?” he asked the scary looking man with the pistol who had approached him. The man put his elbow on the car door.
“Mind if we see your passengers?” he asked. The driver swallowed. On the one hand, he could hand over the kids he was driving, probably killing them. He didn’t know why these guys were looking for white kids, but he knew that it couldn’t possibly be good.
“I... okay.” He rolled down the rear window.
As the scary man went to the rear window, the cab driver felt a presence in his head. “When the passengers of your car shoot, you need to haul ass out of there.” The presence vanished, leaving a very scared cab driver behind. “What?” he thought.
Meanwhile, in the back of the cab, Ryan had just seen his window roll down. Seeing that he would have to fight, Ryan quickly pulled out his P22. It slipped out with ease.
He sat up in his seat as the man approached. The man leaned into the window, a pistol in his hand. “กรุณาก้าวออกจากรถ.” he said. Ryan looked at him. When he did, the man’s face brightened. “ผมคิดว่าเราได้พบพวกเขา!” he shouted. He turned back to the boys. Behind him, Ryan saw a number of other guys get out of a truck and come towards the car. “ออก.” the man ordered. Ryan sighed.
He pulled up his P22 and pushed the muzzle into the man’s forehead. “How ‘bout no?” he said. Before the man even had time to widen his eyes, Ryan put a bullet through his head. Right after, as his men yelled behind him, the car jolted and sped forward.
Ryan pointed the gun up at the roof of the car and thought about the soon to be transpiring events. The men that guy was with would no doubt chase them. “Seven left.” Ryan counted to himself. Harris just had his head under his arms. “Harris!” Ryan yelled. He looked up. “You gonna fight, or you gonna get us both killed?” Ryan shouted. Harris swallowed hard and went for his P99. It took him a minute to get it out.
“Okay. What do I do?” he asked. Ryan rolled his eyes.
“Ugh.” he said. “Chamber a round and be ready to shoot out the back window.” he ordered. Harris nodded, and did just what he was told.
Discord came back into contact with them. “Umm, guys? I have some bad news.” Ryan cursed under his breath.
“Lay it on us.” he said.
“They’re following you, and they’ve got some heavy looking stuff. They’re coming up behind you now.” Ryan took a quick look out the back window. Sure enough, they were there. And they seemed to have a fifty cal. MG. “You’ve gotta be kidding.” he said.
“Yeah, and here’s some even worse news. They aren’t terrorists.” Ryan’s jaw fell.
“You don’t mean...” he began. He felt a mental nod from Discord.
“They’re local military. And they weren’t hunting you.”
Ryan’s chest heaved up and down. He had just provoked a fight with some very dangerous men, and he never even had to. “They were actually looking for some drug runners. Unfortunately, ‘white people’ run it. So they thought it was you.” Ryan shook his head. The MG Truck got a bit closer.
“What were they going to do to us?” Ryan asked.
“Probably question you. Aggressively.” Discord responded.
Ryan pulled up his pistol, and Harris did likewise. “Get ready, Harris. Fire on my go.”
Harris nodded nervously. His greatest fear, as of recently, was being realized. “I hope I don’t die here.” he said.
Ryan thought back to Discord. “Well, then. We’ll just have to make sure they don’t get an opportunity to nab us, won’t we?” He pointed his pistol out the back window. The car was bouncing a lot because of the speed it was moving at.
“How are we going to hit anything like this?” Harris shouted. Ryan shook his head.
“Just shoot- NOW!” He began to fire out of the back of the cab. The cab driver screamed.
Ryan fired off all seven of the remaining rounds in his P22. The .22 calibre rounds flew towards the pursuing car, but only a couple actually hit. They plinked off the side of the car ineffectively. “Harris!” Ryan yelled. He hadn’t been firing. As he began to do so, Ryan took the time to reload his pistol, which, because his vest was under his shirt, took a considerable amount of time. Harris, meanwhile, watched as three of his bullets smashed the windshield of the pursuing car. His gun clicked empty and the slide stayed back.
“Gotta reload!” he announced. Ryan growled as he tried to fit his next magazine in the pistol.
The cab suddenly swerved right, sending both boys to the left side of the car. Harris landed on top of Ryan hard. Coughing, Ryan exclaimed, “What the hell?!” The driver was breathing hard as he changed his direction.
“ฉันรู้วิธีที่จะหลบหนีจากพวกเขา!” he yelled.
“I don’t know what you’re saying,” Ryan said getting back up. He looked out the back window and noted that they were getting away from the pursuing truck of hostile men. “but just keep driving us away from these guys!”
The driver punched it. As the cab flew forward, Harris took a look out the back window himself. The truck was far behind, but it was still coming after them. Suddenly, something raised up on the back of it. “Ryan,” Harris began, terror evident in his voice. “What’re they doing?” Ryan gulped and looked back. On the back of the truck, he saw a massive .50 MG being pointed at them.
“Get us OUTTA HERE!” Ryan yelled. The driver looked in his rear view mirror and gasped. He knew what was about to happen.
He quickly surveyed the area in front of him for a way out. About fifty yards to his front, on the right, there was a small road that he could use to get to the main highway. “แขวนบน!” he yelled. He went left a bit, then swerved into the small road. Right as he went through, the .50 cal. MG opened up on them. Bullets flew through the windows, but luckily, none went through any of the doors. The tires were also undamaged.
The MG Truck had to take some extra time to make the turn, as it was much bigger than the cab. By now, Ryan and Harris had reloaded their weapons. “I think we lost them.” Harris chimed. Ryan wasn’t so sure.
“Don’t count your eggs before they hatch, Harris.” he warned. Harris looked at him, no longer having any hint of happiness in his expression. Unknown to him, the MG on the truck was a Browning M2. With an effective range of eighteen hundred meters, they were far from safe.
This proved true as the MG Truck opened fire again, from far behind.
Ryan dove back beneath the seats as he heard the massive gun firing behind them. Harris dove down as well, but the driver stayed up. “Get down!” Ryan shouted. Before he could get a response, a bullet slammed through the seat above him. No sound came from it afterwards, and the car began to slow. “No, no, no!” Ryan started. As the car slowed, the fire stopped. In response, Ryan got up and glanced out the window. The truck was fast approaching. The guys on it were looking quite satisfied that they had stopped the car. Ryan began to grow angry; he wasn’t about to be stopped by some scrappy group of what could barely be called soldiers. He pointed his P22 out the window.
“One last stand?” Harris asked dejectedly. He, too, sat up and pointed out the window with his P99.
“We’ll get outta this. Trust me.” Ryan told him. Harris groaned. The two boys took aim. “Three, two, one...” Ryan had taken aim at the MG Gunner, and Harris aimed at the driver. Each boy took two shots, hitting their intended targets, Harris on the first, Ryan on the second.
Discord watched everything from high above. He had seen the two guns point out the back window, but knew that, right now, neither boy would be able to hit his mark. So, he provided a bit of “aim assist”. “As much as I would like to avoid helping like this, I can’t help but do it.” he said. He floated down to the car and sat upon it. “Well, I guess that I’ll just have to not help them like that again. It takes away all the fun.” He sat there, wondering what the boys would do now. The guys in the truck were gearing up to lay waste to the cab.
Suddenly, the cab lurched forward and began to speed away. Discord nearly fell off.
Inside the car, Ryan and Harris were thrown against the back seat. “What the..?!” Harris shouted. From the front of the car, the boys could hear yelling.
“ผมมีชีวิตอยู่! ผมมีชีวิตอยู่! ผมมีชีวิตอยู่!” the apparently not dead cab driver was yelling. Ryan gave a battle cry to signify his happiness that they would not have to stay and fight. Harris just sighed and fell down on the seat.
“What’re you doing, man?” Ryan asked, pulling Harris back up. “They’re still gonna come after us!” As they sped away from the truck, the driver shouted back to them.
“เรามีความปลอดภัยในขณะนี้เพื่อนของฉัน” he yelled back. Ryan looked up at the front of the car, bewilderment in his eyes. “พวกเขาเท่านั้นที่เคยฝึกขับรถ!” Ryan shook his head and fell back into an unexposed position.
“Ryan, he’s saying, ‘We are safe now, my friends! They only ever train one driver!’ You guys are safe.” Ryan fell and laid down on the seat. Harris had heard it too, apparently, as he laid down as well.
The driver laughed loudly as he drove forward onto the main highway, with Harris and Ryan panting in the back. He kept on chattering away, with Discord translating everything. “That was the craziest drive I have ever had!” “What could they want these boys so much for?” “What should I tell my family when I get home?” Generally, he was just glad to be alive. As were Harris and Ryan.
“Dude, we barely got out of there.” Harris commented. Ryan nodded tiredly in agreement.
“Let’s try to avoid that kind of situation in the future. I can’t say that I liked having a Frickin’ fifty pointed at me.” Harris nodded this time.
Now it was Discord’s turn to share his thoughts. “Hoo, boy, that was something! I never would have thought that you guys would see that kinda action!” he thought to them. Ryan frowned heavily at his statement.
“Oh, so you’re excited that we almost got killed? Or that we both just used up way too much ammo to kill those guys?” he reprimanded.
“Oh, you two didn’t kill anyone.” Discord corrected. Harris sighed.
“That’s a relief.” he said out loud.
“So we didn’t even manage to kill them. It was just a huge waste of ammo.” He could practically see Discord shaking his head.
“Tsk, tsk. You don’t get it, do you? As long as you get away, it really doesn’t matter if you used your ammo well. You won’t always be able to use your guns, and it’s important for you to be able to get along without them.” Ryan grumbled and sat against the seat back. Harris felt like talking, though.
“Did you do something to help us get out of that?” he asked Discord. Discord scoffed.
“Well, I didn’t exactly want to just sit off to the side and do nothing! I couldn’t let my new buddies get killed.” he replied in a chummy tone.
The unlikely group just continued along the highway, the driver humming a fine tune the whole way.
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Luna awoke from her little nap slowly. She yawned loudly, expanding her jaw to its maximum size to get out her breath. She drowsily looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Her guard was still next to her, snoozing himself.
She looked outside to get an idea of what time it was. From where the sun was, she figured that she would soon have to get up and raise the moon. Joints creaking and muscles tensing, she got up from her spot, letting Starstep fall off her like a rag doll. He didn’t wake.
She hopped off the bed and began to make her way to the balcony. Outside her door, it was deathly quiet. Not even a mouse could be heard anywhere. Slugging down the hallway, she noticed that there were also very few guards. The only ones she encountered were around certain entrances, like those to the throne room and the armory. “I shall ask about that when I see her.” Luna thought. Celestia was the only one who could explain this. In such a situation, the one to the south, it could hardly be safe to have so few guards. She noticed a couple around the way to the balcony and stopped. “Where are all your comrades?” she asked. The one on the left spoke up.
“They’re off getting some kind of special training.” he said. “Glad it’s them and not me. I wouldn’t be interested in that kind of job.” Luna shifted uncomfortably.
“What kind of job?” she asked anxiously. The guard took in a deep breath.
“Special missions.”
Luna felt a tightness in her chest. “Were they selected or did they volunteer?” she asked. The guard shrugged.
“Can’t say.” Luna nodded and went out onto the balcony.
Out there, she noticed that her sister was not yet present. Unwilling to think or search, she just sat herself down on the floor and waited. After a few minutes, her sister came. “Good evening, sister.” Celestia said. She seemed a bit exhausted. Luna picked up on this immediately.
“Are you well, dear sister?” she asked, concerned. Celestia yawned, causing Luna to yawn as well.
“I’m fine. Just tired from the events of today.” she replied. Luna looked up at her sister.
“And what were those events?” she asked. She suspected that it was about selecting the stallions to make up the new unit.
“I was selecting stallions to make up the new Nighthawks.” she confirmed. Luna nodded and looked down.
“And I trust they were willing?” she asked. Celestia made a disappointed face at her sister.
“I told them everything, first the good, then the bad. I even gave them a history lesson. Still, most decided to stay and try the training. How many will pass has yet to be seen.” She sat herself down next to Luna and began to move the sun below the horizon. “Why must life be difficult at times? I have always wondered that.” Luna watched as the sun went down. “No one wants it to be. Yet, it is. We have so much control over our lives; we control the sun, the moon, the weather, the progress of the nation. Yet there are always those things that we cannot avoid. I want to know why.” Celestia sounded very exhausted. It was evident in the way the sun moved very slowly toward the horizon line. Luna decided to assist.
“Well, I find it interesting that you would bring this up now.” she said. The sun went below the horizon, and Celestia smiled.
“Thank you.” she said.
Luna began to raise the moon. “What makes it so interesting?” she asked. Luna wouldn’t give too much detail.
“I am studying a being who might have the answer you seek. He has always led a happy life. But, recently, it has taken a most unpleasant turn.” The moon came up somewhat quickly, already in the sky. The two regal sisters walked off the balcony and toward the throne room. “He is in a situation now where he must fight just to stay alive.”
Celestia cut in. “Oh, my.” Luna nodded.
“Yes. And, now, he has lost several friends who he held close to his heart.” Celestia looked absolutely heartsick for the boy. “He has lost who he once was, and now he is seeking to defeat the one who did it all to him. I cannot say for sure his reasons, but I know that his goal will help his kind in the end.” They entered the throne room and made their ways to their respective thrones. They sat. “He seems to have accepted the fact that he is where he is. He no longer questions why it happened; just how he will proceed.” Celestia nodded solemnly.
“And what is his answer to my question?” she asked. Luna thought for a moment.
“I believe that he would say, ‘Not everything can be controlled. Sometimes, we need to have our responses to situations tested, not our ability to avoid situations.’ And I think that he is right.” Celestia took in the words soberly.
“And how would you say he has done on the test of his response?” Celestia asked. Luna looked up at her; she didn’t sound skeptical, just curious.
“I cannot say, as his situation is one the likes of which I have never had the misfortune to encounter.” She thought for another moment. “Though, I imagine that he would not, ultimately, look favorably on his actions.”
The two regal sisters had a few more minutes of conversation before each departed to her personal quarters. On the way, Luna thought about the situation to the south. “If there truly is an old Nighthawk down there, he deserves to be rescued. But would I be willing to put several lives at risk to save just one?” This question and others pestered her until she reached her door, which she opened slowly. On her bed, Starstep still slept, drooling like a dog on her sheets. “Ugh.” she said, watching as her sheets were nastified by the currently unattractive form of Starstep. She giggled to herself. “Well, he is usually not unattractive.” She could use that to mess with him later. She looked at him, then back to her library. “Well, since I’m awake.” she reasoned. She floated past her guard and through her library and down her staircase, where she observed the pool for a moment. “It looks like something has happened.” she said. The colts were getting out of a vehicle, Harris handing the driver money as they did.
**************************************************************************************
“Thanks for the ride.” Ryan said, leaning through the cab drivers window. The driver waved at him and said something in Thai. Ryan returned the hand gesture, getting off the car and it sped away. He looked up at Discord and signaled for him to come down.
The boys were about four miles away from the border checkpoint. “So close, yet so far.” Harris said, walking to stand next to Ryan. He just grunted. “We have at least four days of stuff, if we ration properly.” He set his hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “We can make it. Just a little farther.” Ryan brushed his hand off aggressively.
“I know that.” he responded harshly. “I just want to get there sooner, rather than later.” The boys got to the southern side of the highway, it wasn’t very busy, and started to walk east. Discord joined them soon after.
“So, how do you guys plan on crossing the border?” he asked. Ryan pointed down the highway.
“We’ll go about halfway, or until we see government boys, then we go into the foliage and head south. After a time, we head east again, where you will be there to tell us if we crossed yet.” Discord smiled. Harris nodded.
“Sounds pretty good.” Harris commented. Discord agreed, and the trio made its way east.
As Ryan walked, he looked about. The forest to his right was pretty thick, good for concealment. The highway on his left was nearly empty, with only one car passing him on the way east. There was not a cloud in the sky, and the moon shone brightly through the nighttime sky. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you that it’s rude to sneak up on people?” Ryan said quietly. Neither Harris nor Discord could hear him. He tapped his head.
“I haven’t seen my mother in millenia.” Luna replied. Ryan suppressed a chuckle.
“Well, then, I suppose she gave you no lasting lessons?” he said. Luna didn’t respond to this.
“So, where are you going?” she asked. Ryan quietly pointed forward.
“We’re going to go until we can just see the border checkpoint, then we’ll break right and go into the forest some ways. From there, we keep east until we’re in Cambodia.” Luna waited a moment.
“You’re getting close.” she said. Ryan nodded. “Your journey is going to conclude soon. You’ll be able to go home.” She sounded rather hopeful, for some reason.
“I really don’t think that I’m going home, Luna.” Ryan said grimly. Luna waited a moment to reply.
“Why?” she asked. Ryan took in a deep breath and sighed.
“My odds of coming out of this aren’t very high, Luna. I’ll try to get Harris home safe, but I don’t think that I’ll be able to go home. Too much danger to everyone else.” He looked ahead; he could swear that he could see a small building with a couple of cars. “Stop.” he ordered. Harris stood stock still, Discord floated in his place, and Luna walked up next to Ryan.
“They are over there, Ryan.” Luna told him. Ryan nodded.
“Is it time for us to get into the forest?” Harris asked. Ryan looked up at Discord.
“Only if they haven’t seen us.” Discord squinted and looked ahead.
“Doesn’t look like they’ve seen you.” Ryan nodded. Luna started to squint to see farther ahead.
Right before she gave him the clear, Ryan announced, “Alright, time to get into the forest.” She looked at him confused as he made his way to the treeline.
Ryan and Harris had to climb past several strange bushes before they were out of sight of the road. They were very careful to avoid touching them, since they could have been poisonous plants. It took them a good fifteen minutes to get there. Once there, Harris looked around while Ryan checked his vest to make sure nothing came off. They were in a pretty densely forested area. Around them, Harris could hear all kinds of small animals, mostly birds, but a few others scurrying about. Ryan had checked his vest and found everything there. His pistols were in their places, his knife was there, and the morphine syringes were still on his back in a pocket Discord made for him. He counted about seven. He had some water and some little packets of high energy food in the rest of the pockets and compartments on the vest.
“I’m good.” he said. He looked to Harris. “You?” Harris nodded.
“Uh huh.” he replied. “Let’s get moving.”
The boys began to carefully make their way through the dense jungle that they had put themselves in. The only problem was that it was getting dark, and they wouldn’t be able to travel for much longer. They would be forced to make camp in an unknown forest in a foreign country, surrounded by enemies.After only half an hour, the light had faded far too much for them to keep going. Ryan, who was in the lead, looked back. He spotted Harris, but at some point, they lost Discord and Luna. Ryan put his hand up in a “stop” signal. Harris froze.
“Yo, where’d you go?!” Ryan yelled. Harris turned to look back, and found that Discord was missing. He, too, yelled out.
“Hey!” Discord flashed into the area, causing the boys to jump.
“Where did you go?” Ryan asked. Discord smiled coltishly.
“Just been watching you from above.” He pointed up. Upon inspection, Harris noticed that there was no way he could have seen them through the trees.
“How?” He asked. Discord flashed to be coiled around Harris.
“Does that really matter?” he asked rhetorically. Harris frowned.
“I’ll never understand...” he said. Ryan shook his head off on the side.
“Why bother trying?” he asked, also rhetorically.
Harris and Discord started to talk about some things that Ryan felt he could think about later. Right now, he just wanted to sit down. As he did just that, Luna walked into the area, not noticing Harris talking to air. “I’m glad I found you. I was beginning to think that I had lost you.” Ryan grunted and pulled out some of his water, taking a conservative sip.
“No and yes.” Luna didn’t ask what he meant; she already knew.
“You said that you weren’t going home.” she said. Ryan nodded. “That it would be too dangerous to everyone else.” Ryan nodded once more. “It is good to see that you care about them.” Luna was trying to drive home that Ryan had some of his old self left in him. He licked his lips.
“Of course I do. They represent everything that was good in my life.” He cracked his back. “I won’t ever put that on the line.” Luna smiled to herself.
“Good.” She sat before her human friend. “You know that they probably miss you. If you go back, it would make them so happy.” Ryan didn’t move for a minute.
After a long pause, he responded, “I can go back, but it won’t make them as happy as you might imagine.” He looked her dead in the eyes. “They will want to see Ryan, but that’s not what they’ll get. And as I said before, I won’t put them through something like that.” Luna tried to keep his gaze, but failed to do so. “It’s better for them to think that I am dead.”
Those words hit Luna hard. There was indeed a sad truth to them. Was it better for a person to have back the one they love, but have them be an entirely different person; or was it better to think that they died as the one you knew so well?
Luna looked back at Ryan, whose eyes were closed. “Ryan, what will you do if you don’t go back?” she asked. Ryan sighed heavily.
“The same thing that I’m doing now.” His eyes remained closed. Luna scooched closer.
“You plan to just hunt down evil men and take them down forever?” she asked. Ryan shook his head.
“Just until one of them kills me.”
She gulped. “Your quest seems noble, but what of your reasons?” she asked. “What makes your quest good or bad?” Ryan opened his eyes; in them, Luna saw a disturbing calm.
“My quest is not noble.” he replied. “It’s just what I think my best option is.” Luna looked at the boy sadly. He wasn’t doing this for anyone else. He wasn’t even doing it for himself, really. he was just... doing this.
“I am sorry.” she said. Ryan didn’t move or respond. “I must go.” With those last words, she took her leave of the world that had been so cruel to the young boy before her.
Harris and Discord had still been talking the entire time that Ryan was exchanging words with Luna. They had spoken about the plan of what was going to happen in Cambodia. “So, have the two of you even begun to discuss it yet?” Discord asked.
“No.” Harris responded. “I still have no idea what he has planned.” He looked over to Ryan with concern. “I don’t think he has actually planned any of this so far. He just knows what needs to be done, not how to do it, and when it comes to the ‘how’, he just wings it.”
He turned back to Discord, who said, “You know that could very easily get him, and you, killed.” Harris nodded.
“I suppose I can talk to him about it in the morning. For now, we need to make camp.” Harris walked over to Ryan and they had a short exchange, then went to try to sleep.
Discord flew up into the air, where he wouldn’t disturb either of the boys. They would need their rest. He looked down at them. “I do hope that you can talk to him, Harris.” Discord said quietly. “If not, I fear for your safety as well as his.” Discord conjured up a hammock to lay down on and slept lightly until dawn.
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Harris was the first to get up the next morning. He looked around, keeping in mind where he was. He was surrounded by morning lit foliage, with little space for laying down. Ryan was asleep, leaning against a tree. “Ryan.” Harris said. He stirred a little bit. Harris picked up a stick off the ground and tossed it at Ryan. “Get up.” The stick struck Ryan on the cheek, and he jolted into consciousness.
“Huh- what!?” he shouted. Harris stood.
“Come on, let’s go.” Ryan stood up groggily and stood up.
“Alright.” The two boys stretched for a moment and then made their way east.
Above them, Discord was already awake, just watching the events below him. There had been two cars along the highway during the night, both of which were trucks with several people on them. He assumed that they were Thai soldiers, looking for Ryan and Harris. After the events of the previous day, the boys were definitely lucky that the forest was so thick. Discord had watched the boys sleep, ready to keep any curious animals at bay, should they have come too close. None of them got close, though. Having had an uneventful night, Discord was glad to fly down to his now awake compatriots. Upon landing near them, he announced, “Morning, gents.”
The boys mumbled their greetings and just kept on walking. Discord was dissatisfied with their greetings. “What, no energy this morning?” he asked. Harris pulled out some water and took a sip, and Ryan pulled some food.
“Haven’t eaten yet.” Ryan explained.
He had pulled out a couple of crackers and started to munch on them. “Alright, then. Harris, what’s your reason?” Discord asked. Harris narrowed his eyes at Discord.
“I’m not normally up at... what time is it?” Ryan looked at his watch.
“About five past seven.” Harris groaned.
“That time.” Discord grinned.
The trio started to make its way through the forest in the wee hours of the morning, Ryan taking the lead. To any side, they could hear insects buzzing and birds singing. It was actually quite serene. The morning rays of light shone through the occasional hole in the forest ceiling, creating pillars of light in spots and making small flying insects visible like dust. The trees towered over them, with branches jutting out all over. Under them, there was little grass or other plants; the small amount of sunlight would never allow that. The dirt crunched under their feet as the boys walked.
After about an hour of the same scenery, Ryan slowed down. Harris stopped behind him and Discord floated up next to him. “What’s up?” he asked. Ryan pointed to the left. Looking that way, Discord could only see dense jungle.
“What are you..?” Ryan put his hand up and pointed at his ear. Taking the cue, Discod listened to their surroundings closely. Off in the direction Ryan pointed in, there were voices.
“We must have peeled to the left.” Ryan whispered. He was trying to be as silent as possible. Behind him, Harris hadn’t figured it out.
“What’s going on?” he asked in a normal level voice. Ryan spun around and shushed him. Harris got the cue this time, and quietly walked up to Ryan, listening closely. He heard the voices. “How far off course did we go?” he whispered. Ryan shook his head.
“There was never a course.” he replied. “Just a guideline.” Ryan looked back in the direction they had been going in. “Let’s move. Quietly.” Harris nodded, and they went forward slowly.
After twenty minutes of painfully slow movement, they stopped again. Listening closely, Ryan heard that the voices were now behind them. “Alright. Let’s just keep moving forward.” he ordered. Harris complied without a word.
They had made it into Cambodia.