A Holiday in Cambodia
Ryan continued to lead the group further through the jungle until he couldn’t hear the voices. When the voices were gone, Harris spoke up. “I think we should leave the jungle now, Ryan.” Ryan shook his head.
“No, no.” he said. “If we leave now, we’ll be in the direct line of sight of those border guards. If we leave the concealment of the treeline, we’ll be screwed. We have to keep going this way at least for several more hours.” Harris groaned and they kept walking.
On the walk, Harris let his mind slip to other things in an effort to ignore the uneventfulness of his trek through the jungle. He thought about home, his friends, his family, and about tasty food. It made his stomach growl, so he pulled out a candy bar and munched down on it. “I wonder what they’re thinking?” Harris wondered. Then it dawned on him; he hadn’t really thought about his family and other friends since this whole thing began. He lowered his head in silent shame. “I’ve been so caught up in this that I forgot about them...” he thought. He looked up at Ryan ahead of him. “I wonder if he’s thought of home?” It was hard to tell; Ryan hadn’t given any indication that he even cared. His parents must have been worried sick. He was supposed to be on a flight home some six days ago. His thoughts turned back to his home. “My family must be worried sick. My parents always trust me to go off on my own, but they must know about the car wreckage.” He thought about how his parents must have been feeling. Tears began to form in his eyes, and he quietly let them fall to the jungle floor. “My birthday is tomorrow...” he thought. His mind turned to the past, his birthday parties, all those great days.
Ryan was totally oblivious to the rapid loss of morale behind him. He was just focused on continuing ahead. The dense jungle was beginning to get to him. “Dammit, wish I had a machete...” he whispered angrily. He had to be careful not to let any branches fly back and hit Harris. “Stupid jungle, stupid plants...” He pushed a branch forward with great difficulty. When he got past it, it slipped from his hand and went right at Harris’ face. “Harris, watch-” It struck Ryan’s best friend right on the nose. Harris yelped and dropped like a rock. Ryan pulled out his P22 and shot the branch twice to break it, letting him get to Harris. Six shots left. “Harris, you okay?” Ryan asked frantically. Harris held his face tightly.
“Yah, I’m fine.” he said nasally. Ryan pulled at his friend’s hands.
“Let me see.” Harris’ hands came off, revealing a bloody, but not broken, nose. “Damn, sorry man.” Harris waved him off.
“No need to worry.” He sniffed hard, not realizing that some of his prior tears were falling from his face. “I’ll live.” Ryan nodded and helped Harris to his feet.
“Yeah, I know what that feels like. Then after, you can’t stop your eyes from watering.” Harris swallowed.
“Yeah. Can’t stop them...” he trailed off a little toward the end. Ryan nodded, then turned to keep going.
Discord watched the minor event unfold from just over them. They seemed to have forgotten that he was there. “Ouch.” he said. Harris had taken quite the schnoz shot. Blood was coming out, but when Harris said that it was fine, Discord wasn’t worried. As long as they weren’t hindered, it was fine. “Well, Ryan, that was a decently quick reaction.” he commented, landing on the ground next to Ryan. Ryan grunted.
“Whatever.” Discord ignored the response and went back to Harris.
“You alright?” he asked. Harris nodded.
“Yeah. I’m good.” Discord invaded Harris’ mind.
“I’d hardly say that you’re doing alright.” he said. Harris was silent for a moment.
“I will be.” Discord clicked his tongue several times.
“You don’t have to stay with him, you know. You have family and friends back home who want you back.” Harris looked serious.
“As true as that may be, Ryan needs me more right now. What kind of friends would I be if I abandoned him now?” he asked. Discord chuckled. “What’s so funny?” Harris asked. Discord waved his hand in the air.
“You remind me of someone I met once back home. She was so different from you, though; much more brash and confrontational.” Harris disregarded Discord’s past.
“Well, alright then.”
The next two hours were spent in total silence. The only sound that could be heard during that time was the sound of their shoes hitting the ground, crunching whatever dirt or unfortunate insects were underneath them. Ryan was always looking about, as if he expected to see someone come up on them, but Harris just kept his eyes forward. Discord was above them, humming an annoying tune.
After those two hours, Ryan stopped. “Let’s get moving north now.” Harris released a massive sigh of relief.
“Finally!” Discord clapped. “Way to go.” he said. Ryan and Harris looked up. “You two just traveled much farther than necessary, wasting precious time and resources. Good job.” Harris looked up slack-jawed, and Ryan put his hand to his face.
“Asshole.” was all he said. Discord laughed as they began to head north, toward the road.
After twenty more minutes of pushing through dense jungle, much longer than expected, they reached the road. It was much smaller than in Thailand, though. “Where are we?” Harris asked no one. Discord still felt like answering.
“You guys are closest to a small city that I believe is called Pailin.” He sat down on the ground next to the boys. “Not too far from it, there’s a river and ferries. I’m sure you could use those to get to Kompong Chnnang.” Ryan looked at Discord, then Harris.
“Sounds good to me.” he said. “It’s off to Pailin, then.” He started down the path to the nearby city. Harris ran up to join him.
“You sure that’s safe?” he asked. Ryan put his hand on Harris’ shoulder.
“No more dangerous than traveling by land.” Harris couldn’t argue that point, and they just kept on going.
It had been noon when they left the jungle landscape and got onto the road. Now, it was approaching the sunset. “We’ll need to stop soon.” he announced. Harris took this as the cue to stop immediately.
“I’m so gassed right now.” he said as he fell to the ground, inching his way off the street. Figuring that they might as well stop now, Ryan sat down next to Harris and laid down.
“Tomorrow, we will keep going. Once we hit Pailin, we’ll catch a boat and be on our merry way.” Harris only nodded, already feeling sleep overtake him. He yawned.
“Yeah.” he said. The sun dipped below the horizon. “G’night.” Ryan responded likewise, and the two boys slept.
Discord simply watched as the boys fell asleep. He shook his head slowly, sadly. “No one deserves to live a life such as this.” He moved the boys out of view of the road and curled up around them, letting sleep take him as well.
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Luna had been bored all day. She was told by her sister that she should go around Canterlot and be friendly, but all she met were snobby and annoying. She had cleverly told several of them off when they suggested that certain rumors about her were true, but a couple of times, Starstep just knocked them to the ground. “Hey! You ruffian, I ought to-” one had said.
“You oughta what?” he snarled. The stallion he knocked over crawled away and Starstep looked at the crowd. “Anyone else?” he asked. None raised a hoof.
That was most of her day. Now, though, with the saving grace of needing to raise the moon, she was able to leave her subjects and spend time with her studies. Her studies of Ryan, at least. “Make sure no one enters.” she ordered to Starstep. He saluted and stood stoic outside her door.
Luna made her way down quickly and looked into the pool. Ryan and Harris seemed to be asleep. “Darn.” she pouted. He was asleep. “Wait, duh. Dreams!” She launched herself into the pool.
Once she was back in Ryan’s world, she took a moment to look around. She could clearly see that the boys had gotten rather far since she left the previous day. She looked down both directions of the road and saw no one. It was a pretty empty area. “What a lonely place.” she said. She looked back to the boys. Ryan was laying on his back, while Harris was curled up in a ball. Luna circled the boys. She stopped at Ryan’s head. “I wish to speak with you.” she said as she touched her horn to Ryan’s head.
Luna opened her eyes slowly, making sure to take in everything around her with care. She looked around slowly. Around her was a jungle, very similar to the one from the day before. She looked for Ryan, but saw no sign of him. “Ryan?” she shouted. Birds flew up from all around her. “Ryan?!” She got no response. She was concerned at first, but then remembered that it was a dream. She started walking through the jungle. “What is this place?” she asked. It was similar to the jungle from yesterday, but still different. Around her, there were all sorts of strange looking things on the trees. Eventually, she stopped to examine one. It looked like rope, almost, hanging from the treetop. Following it all the way, she gasped at what she saw. At the top of the tree was a body, blood trickling off various parts of its body. It looked like it had stepped in a rope trap, been yanked from the ground, and assaulted viscously. Luna stepped back from the tree and tripped on a rock. She fell to the ground and just laid there, trying to remove the image from her mind.
The sound of crunching dirt came from right in front of her face. Her eyes shot open, and she found herself staring at a pair of boots. Looking up slowly, she found herself staring down the barrel of one of the rifles she had been seeing. “Boss, we got something you may want to see over here.” She looked past the rifle at the source of the masculine voice; it was a human, dressed up in camouflage and carrying a large amount of equipment. Luna stood slowly, the human just watching her.
“Please, I need to find-” the human cut her off.
“Well, shit, it talks. Boss!” Luna huffed at being interrupted.
“What is it?” came a serious voice.
“Talking horse. Blue, wings, horn.” Movement could be heard from behind a tree. From behind it, Ryan came out.
“What are you-” he stopped and stared at Luna.
“Well, then.” Everything around them disappeared and Ryan and Luna stood in a blank room. “What do you want? I’m trying to sleep.” Luna walked over to him.
“I just came by to check on things. Make sure you are alright.” Ryan nodded.
“Well, I’m alive. I have that much going for me.” He sat down on the white ground.
Luna nodded and walked over to him. “What was that dream just now?” she asked, sitting down next to Ryan. “Who was that man?” Ryan laughed a bit.
“You seriously didn’t recognize him?” he asked. Luna frowned a little. “That was Harris. My ideal second-in-command.” She thought back to the man who had pointed a weapon at her.
“Oh.” Ryan chuckled. “And what were you two doing? Why were you dressed so?” Ryan sighed.
“We were Special Forces, looking for Narendra and his cronies. Our job was to take them out.” Luna nodded.
“By any means necessary?” she asked. Ryan shook his head.
“No. Just by killing them.” Luna looked down, staying dead silent for a long time.
“Listen, Ryan.” Ryan looked at her. “I can’t condone you killing this man. At the same time, I can’t say that what you’re doing is strictly wrong.” She looked at Ryan. “I can’t discern your motives. Only you can do that. So I want you to promise me something.” Ryan listened close. “Just try to live honorably, and try not to do any evil. Promise me that.” Ryan put his hand on Luna’s shoulder.
“I can’t promise that I won’t do evil.” he said. “But I promise that I’ll try not to.” Luna smiled.
“Thank you. You’re much more pleasant in your dreams than in reality.” Ryan shook his head and grinned slightly at the remark as Luna disappeared, restoring Ryan’s previous dream.
Luna opened her eyes and looked around again. Nothing new; though everything was new. It was very dark. “I should probably go to sleep soon.” she concluded. Sparks were left in her place as her apparition faded from the world.
The following morning, Harris awoke first. He looked around, and was somewhat surprised to find Discord coiled around him and Ryan. He sat up, stretching and cracking his joints, which were stiffened by sleeping on the hard ground. He shoved Ryan’s side. “Get up.” he said. Ryan ungracefully rolled over and pushed himself from the ground.
“What the, heck?” he said, finding himself face to foot with Discord. He turned to Harris.
“I don’t know, man.” Harris shook his head slowly. “Let’s just get him up and get moving.” Ryan got up and looked over Discord’s side, right into the sun.
“Ahgh!” He fell back down, covering his eyes. Harris smirked.
“Ha!” he said. “Gotta watch where you’re going.” Ryan grumbled to himself as he got back up.
The boys spent the better half of thirty minutes trying to wake Discord. Unfortunately, they couldn’t actually touch him, so it wasn’t the easiest task in the world. Mostly, they just yelled at him. “Get up!” they yelled several times. At one point, Discord flashed into the air.
“What?” he asked. He seemed tired.
“We’re going.” Discord looked right at the sun.
“It’s, like, seven thirty, guys.” He went back down to the ground. “Can’t we just wait a little bit longer?” Ryan stepped forward onto the road.
“No, we can’t. Now quit your yapping and let’s get going.” The trio started down the road.
For three hours, they didn’t speak. No one wanted to, not with how early they had all gotten up. They all just thought to themselves. Discord found his mind wandering to what could be happening in Equestria at the moment. “I bet they’re still looking for me.” he thought. “Ha! They’re wasting so much energy. I don’t even need to be around to create chaos and mayhem in their world. It’s priceless.” He thought more specifically about the princesses. “It’s a shame that they think I’m so evil. They overestimate me. I just want to have fun; I don’t seek to ruin lives.” Then he remembered that guard whose mind he had violated. “I wonder how he’s doing? I was able to discern quite a bit about him right off the bat. I wish I could see how his life is advancing.” He remembered the Elements of Harmony, the various towns he had been to, and all sorts of other, simpler things that he had experienced. “You know, I’m starting to miss all that.” he thought. “This world seems fine enough, but this experience that I’m having here kind of makes me miss home. Ah, well, maybe I’ll head back someday.” He left his reminiscences at that.
Harris was trying his best not to remember his home, but was not succeeding in doing so. He thought nonstop about his friends, his family, and how much they were probably worrying about him. With his body and those of Catherine and Ryan not at the site of the crash, they would know that something was wrong. Especially with the state of Jackson’s body when they probably found it. “I wonder if they’re doing alright?” he wondered. “By now, school is probably back in session. How many of my classmates know I’m missing?” A darker thought came to his mind. “I wonder how many actually care?” He pushed it out of his head and kept walking beside Ryan. “These Haqqani guys can all go to Hell.” was his final thought.
Ryan walked next to Harris, his mind on other things than home. His primary focus at the moment was to decide how to go about killing Narendra at the compound that he was hopefully at. “First option; shoot him.” It was pretty simple, but had a certain drawback; Ryan wasn’t the greatest shot, and his pistol was short range as it was. To ensure a hit, he would probably have to be in close range. “Then, I’d probably have to work a lot more, since that would be an all out assault type attack.” He thought about other potential methods. “If I can find a way to sneak into the compound, then I can kill him quietly, maybe hit him with some morphine. It sounds a lot easier, and safer until I actually kill him.” Being safe after didn’t matter. “Or I could wait until he leaves and try to kill him then.” He paused his thoughts for a moment. “No, that won’t work. He could easily escape.” He nudged Harris. “Stealth is the way to go.” Harris yawned.
“What?” he asked.
“When we get close to the compound, we’re gonna go for a silent approach, try to sneak in. It’s the best approach, I think.” Harris nodded.
“And what will we do once we’re in there?” Ryan shrugged.
“I dunno. I don’t know the inner workings of the building. We’ll figure it out when we get there.” Harris nodded and they kept walking.
Not long after they finished their short exchange, Pailin came into view. It wasn’t really a city, more like a collection of farms and small market areas. As Harris and Ryan walked through, they were bombarded with people attempting to sell them things. They were all shouting, trying to thrust their wares at the boys. It was obvious that tourists tended to buy from these people a lot. “Sorry, we have no money.” Harris and Ryan put their hands up and tried to move through the crowd. As they went forward, the crowd would slightly part, allowing them to go forward. The boys made their way to the other end of the town in a relatively short time.
“This is why I have trouble in foreign flea markets.” Ryan commented. “I can never find my way out of those swarms.” Harris agreed.
“Well, at least we made it past. But why were we so intent on getting through?” he asked. Ryan couldn’t answer, so Discord did.
“They have horse-drawn carts that can bring you to the river, where you can catch a boat.” Harris looked up at him.
“How do you know this?” he asked. Discord pointed at a group of men around a cart and a horse. “Oh.”
The boys made their way over to the cart. “Howdy.” Ryan greeted. The men around the cart all gave friendly smiles and one stepped forward. He asked the boys a question. Discord translated.
“Would you like to go somewhere?” Discord said. Ryan made the motions with his hands to pull out a map. The man did not have one, and called over one of his buddies who did. The man held it out for them, and ryan pointed at a point on the river.
“Can you take us here?’ he asked. The man looked at the map, then nodded energetically. He had a big smile on his face. He said something, waving for Harris and Ryan to follow. They did. He pointed at the cart. “Let’s get going.” Ryan said.
The ride on the cart was surprisingly fast. The horse was able to pull the cart insanely fast, almost like a car with barely functioning brakes. The journey to the river was only an hour, making it about half past eleven.
The boys hopped off the cart at the river and thanked the man, handing him ten Australian dollars, which the man gratefully accepted. Cambodian currency wasn’t worth a ton. “Now to go find a raft.” Ryan said wearily. They started to move towards the water, where they saw a small dock.
“Any of these should do.” Harris commented. Ryan nodded and they walked onto the dock. Once they were there, they were totally unnoticed.
“Well, it’s not exactly the flea market.” Ryan said. Harris pointed at one of the boats.
“These aren’t all for transport. A lot are fishing boats.” Ryan took notice of all the fishing lines.
“We need a boat to take us long distance.” Ryan concurred.
“Then let’s go find one.” They walked down the dock, which creaked underneath them. The two boys were both much bigger than most of the men around them, so the extra weight was a little unsettling to a lot of people around them.
The boys came all the way to the end of the dock where a diminutive man with a decent sized boat was sitting on a chair. He was smoking a cigar, watching as Ryan and Harris approached. He asked them a question, which they only assumed was, “What do you want?” Ryan looked around for a map, already assuming that the man was driving people on the river to various areas around the country. The rivers were a great way to travel. When Ryan found no map, he used his hands to try to indicate the need for one. The man did not understand.
“Let me try.” Harris offered. Ryan stepped aside for Harris. He sat down on the ground in front of the small man and tried other hand motions, like pretending to flatten out a piece of paper on the ground. The man got it pretty quickly and pulled out a map from under his chair, handing it to Harris. “Tell him where we want to go. I need to find a spot to take a leak.” Harris left Ryan with the man.
Ryan held the map in front of him. As soon as he looked at it, he grew annoyed; it was all in Khmer, the national language of Cambodia. He had to take a moment to remember where Kompong Chnnang was before telling the man. “Alright.” he said, approaching the man. He tapped a spot next to a large lake, right on its shore. “Can you take us here?” he asked. The man looked at the map, then at Ryan, then again at the map. He didn’t speak. Ryan was afraid that he would reply in a negative tone. Luckily, the man nodded happily. He started talking, but Ryan did not understand. “I’m sorry,” he interrupted. “but I don’t understand.” The man looked at him confused, also not understanding the other language in the conversation. Eventually, he just shrugged and went to his boat, preparing for the journey. Ryan decided to sit on the edge of the dock and wait for Harris.
After a few more minutes, Harris returned with a slight hurry in his step. “Let’s go.” he said in a rushed tone. Ryan looked at him wonderingly, but let it go. They just had to get on the boat and be off.
“Sounds good to me.” he responded nonchalantly. They ran over to the boat and hopped in, the driver looking somewhat startled at their sudden arrival. Ryan gave a thumbs up. “We’re good to go.” he said in the most positive tone possible. The driver got it and sat in his seat, Ryan and Harris taking their own seats in the back of the good sized boat. The engine behind them revved, and they were off down the river.
Discord flew over them, having to speed up a little in order to keep up with the boat. “Wow. Never thought boats could go that fast.” he said to himself. These humans and their technology are certainly impressive. He flew down to the boat and glided next to it. “What’s up guys?” he said casually. The boys didn’t hear him over the roar of the engine. Frustrated, Discord yelled, “What’s up guys?!” The boys turned and looked at him. They both tapped their heads.
“We’re getting a ride to Kompong Chnnang. How long do you think it’ll take?” Ryan asked. Discord put his hand to his chin in thought.
“I’d say about two hours, at this speed. You’re going insanely fast.” Ryan looked around him, and Harris shrugged.
“Meh.” Harris projected, earning a chuckle from Ryan. “We’ve both been on faster.” Discord looked at them incredulously, but opted not to argue.
“We’re nearly there, guys.” Ryan conveyed. “Not too much longer, and it’ll be over.” There was a dark, but sad hint in Ryan’s voice as he spoke. Harris looked at him, taking in Ryan’s countenance in detail. He looked a little bit out of it, like he was in a world he didn’t understand. He figured he would just leave it until another time.
The boat ride lasted just a little bit longer than Discord predicted. When they approached the dock, Ryan and Harris took in the sight of the city. It was very different from Pailin; this was an actual city. Small, but certainly a city. There were many homes and small offices and little manufacturing plants some ways from the water. At the dock, there were dozens of boats, mostly fishing vessels, and a gas station for the boats. People bustled about at the docks, fresh fish being sold and trinkets from the river that were found. Some trinkets were clearly not safe; there were a couple of old land mines, hopefully disarmed, sitting on a market shelf. The guy selling them had no idea, obviously, of what they did.
When Harris and Ryan stepped off the boat, Harris just handed his wallet over to the driver, since there wasn’t a ton left and the empty waller would just take up space. The driver gratefully accepted and ran off into the dock market. Ryan and Harris walked off in another direction. “Well, we’re here. The compound is north of here, somewhere along a river. What now?” Harris asked. Ryan was looking a bit glazed.
“For now, we should find a place to rest. We’ll need our strength tomorrow.” Harris nodded.
“Okay.” They went off toward the city to find somewhere to stay.
They walked slowly through the small city, trying their best to find someplace to stay, but with little luck. There were no motels or hotels around to speak of, that they could tell of. People were looking at them as they passed. “Ryan, I’m not too sure that we’re going to find something. We have no money left...” he patted his thigh to emphasize his point. “and we can’t speak their language.” Ryan kept walking at a deliberate pace.
“We’ll figure something out.”
Harris looked at him. “Hey man, you alright?” he asked, seriously concerned for his friend. Ryan didn’t turn.
“Yeah.” he replied quickly. “I’m just eager.” Harris took his word for it and decided to take a closer look into the buildings around them. They were mostly small huts where small families were living, but some seemed to be selling things.
Discord saw the problem that the boys were having and decided to try to help out. He flew forward, scanning the area for anywhere that the boys could stay. Thanks to his translation spell, he could read the signs along the streets and paths. Some read, “Fish” and others read things like “baubles”, but none were labeled as places where people could stay if they needed someplace to do so. Discord went down to the street. He didn’t want to have the boys sleeping on the street, especially so close to where their enemy was. It had certain risks about it that Discord was uncomfortable with. With that thought, he thought about the boys potentially squatting or finding kind people who would take them in, like that one family. The only problem was that they could be involved with these Haqqani folks. It was interesting; Discord hadn’t actually seen them in quite some time. All of the boys’ problems were from other sources.
After a few more minutes of searching, Discord finally gave up and flew back to the air, grumpily insulting the small city underneath him. “Can’t find a stupid motel in this nasty city...” he said. Then he remembered that the boys could find a nice family that would let them stay in their home. “I suppose a bit of ‘encouragement’ could always be helpful.” he thought. He sped off to find the boys.
While Discord was away, Ryan and Harris were trying to figure out where they would go to sleep. They came up with nothing. “Well, we may be sleeping on the streets tonight.” Ryan finally said.
Harris groaned. “Ugh.” was all he could say. Suddenly, Ryan froze. “Ryan?” Harris asked. “What’s-” Ryan grabbed Harris by the chin and forced him to look to his right. Harris saw a group of guys standing around, laughing. “What?” he asked. Ryan pointed at the one in the middle, still holding Harris by the jaw.
“See that guy?” he asked. Harris nodded. Ryan yanked Harris with him to get them behind a wall. “That guy drove the boat that took us to Sumatra.” Harris looked at Ryan hard.
“You’re sure?” he asked. Ryan peeked over the side of the wall.
“Damn right, I’m sure.” He whipped his head back behind cover. “We gotta get out of here.” Harris nodded his agreement and they went off in another direction.
They walked fast away from the site where they had seen the boat driver and, once they were definitively out of sight, they bolted away. Ryan stayed slow so that he wouldn’t lose Harris behind him. He wouldn’t let his friend risk being taken alone by these bastards. Eventually, Ryan looked back. “I think we’re lost.” he said. The boys stopped, both catching their breath. Harris was coughing from the exertion.
“We lost them?” he asked between pants. Ryan shook his head.
“No. I said that we’re lost.” Harris groaned even louder than before.
“So what now?” he asked. Ryan fell against a wall and slid down.
“We sit.”
Harris walked over and sat against the wall next to Ryan. “This is not how I planned on Spending my birthday this year.” he commented. Ryan didn’t look up.
“How did you plan on spending it?” he asked.
Harris thought about it for a moment. He hadn’t really wanted anything for his birthday this year. If he were to ask for anything, it would be a laptop computer. Right now, though, it didn’t seem like much. What he really wanted was to spend time with the people he loved. “I would be spending time with my family. Having cake, just... being happy, y’know?” Ryan nodded.
“I know what you mean.”
The two boys spent a few minutes quietly looking at the people who passed by, who were also looking at them. “After all of this, what’re you gonna tell people when we get home?” Ryan asked out of the blue. Harris was a bit startled by the question. “What do you think they’re going to believe?” Harris tried to speak several times, but failed. On his fifth attempt, he managed a response.
“Dunno. I’ll probably just say that I was held by terrorists for however long we’re out here.” Ryan nodded. Harris turned to him. “What’ll you say?” Ryan shook his head.
“I’m not going home after this.” Harris swallowed and looked at his old friend. He didn’t need to ask why; he knew Ryan well enough that he could figure it out.
“You know they’ll be worried.” Ryan looked down. Then, he looked at Harris.
“I need a favor of you.” he stated flatly. Harris took in a deep breath.
“Yeah?”
Ryan scratched his chin. “I need you to tell people that I was taken away, sold. That they’ll probably never find me.” Harris listened with a heavy heart. “You need to make people think that I’m dead, but never say that you know it to be true. Make sure they can all move on.” Ryan stood up, looking off into the sky. Discord was fast approaching. “The world would be better off forgetting this boy.”
Discord slowed down as he neared the boys. On his way back, he had found a home where the boys would be safe for the night. The minds of the family were easy to penetrate and influence, making sure that they would accept Ryan and Harris into their home. The family was a father, mother, and two sons. The mother was actually the easiest to manipulate. “Hey, boys.” he said as he lowered himself down to Harris and Ryan.
“I found a place for you to stay.” Harris looked up giddily.
“Seriously!?” he asked. Discord nodded happily.
“Just follow me.”
The trio went through the city and back to the docks, where there were lots of riverside huts everywhere. “They’re around here somewhere...” Discord said. Ryan and Harris silently followed behind. Discord lowered himself all the way down, now walking alongside the boys. “There it is!” he announced, pointing at a decent sized hut off towards the water. There was a woman spinning cloth and two boys running about outside the hut.
“Let’s hope he’s right.” Harris muttered. Discord heard this and chuckled; they had no idea that he had manipulated the family. He could do almost anything he wanted and they would never be able to tell.
The boys approached the hut. “Hello.” Ryan said inas friendly a tone as possible. The mother looked up and positively beamed at the boys. She shouted something into the home, and a man came out. He smiled big at the sight of Ryan and Harris and pulled them into an embrace. As he held them, he spoke quickly in his language. The two children ran up and started to ask the boys questions that couldn’t be answered. Language barriers are Hell sometimes. “Ummm, we, don’t... understand.” The people all continued smiling and just pulled the boys into the house. The kept speaking in their tongue, and showed Harris and Ryan into a room with two mats and two pillows. The boys spoke excitedly, then left the room. Their parents just looked on, content about whatever their kids said. “Thank you.” Ryan said, giving a deep bow to show respect. The man and woman returned the bow and said one final thing before leaving. Ryan turned to Harris. “Well, that went well. I wonder how long it took Discord to orchestrate this?” Harris shrugged and sat on a mat. “I dunno. He’s magical, remember?” Ryan nodded and sat down on his mat.
“Well, I suppose that we can just start our rest for now.”
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Luna had once again been told that she should interact with the various ponies under her and her sister’s rule. Luckily for her, today, she had some interesting ones to talk to. She had spoken to a good stallion named Fancy Pants, who seemed to enjoy messing with the snobby elites of Canterlot as much as her. They had fun sharing stories of their various antics and moves to humble the pompous ponies around them.
Before she knew it, it was long after noon. She had been thinking about Ryan all day, and even mentioned him to Fancy Pants. He seemed interested in him, asking about him as a pony, what he liked, what he wore, how he treated others. Luna was careful about what she said, but still enjoyed sharing her discovery with someone other than Starstep.
After she took her leave of his, she immediately made her way back to the palace, where she would dedicate some time to watching the colts in the pool. She wasn’t sure if she would go in today, but she really wanted to check up on them. If they looked like they needed help, then she would go in. If not, she would leave them be. As she thought about them, she kept thinking about how hard they were trying to attain their goal. “I wonder what this will mean for their futures?” she wondered. “After these experiences, will they be able to reintegrate? What if they can’t... or refuse?” The thought gave her some pause. She already knew that Ryan was not planning on going back. “These thoughts are for them, not me.” She shook herself out of it.
As she approached the door to her chambers and pushed it open, she heard the clatter of hooves trying to run away. Slowly, she peeked her head in and looked around. No one was there. “Starstep?” she called. He was in the library.
“I’m in here!” he shouted. Luna entered, hearing more clatter.
“What is going on in here?” she asked. When she got to her library, she paused. Books were all over the place, with Starstep at the shelf, looking guilty.
“Hey.” he said, a nervous smile on his face. Luna stared at her guard. “What were you doing?” she demanded, stepping forward silently.
“N-nothing...” he said. He was pushed aside by a bit of magic, and Luna quickly moved to his place and examined the shelf. She pulled out a magazine.
“Really? Again?” she asked. Starstep smiled sheepishly.
“Yeah...” he said, defeated. Luna sighed, giggling a bit. She tossed him the magazine.
“Just go do your business in the bathroom.” Starstep smiled big as he ran to the bathroom with the magazine. Luna chuckled as he ran off. “What a silly stallion.” She turned and went down her staircase.
At the bottom, she slowed her pace to almost a crawl. She was happy throughout her day, but this is where she got nervous. She wasn’t sure how Ryan was doing, and she was always apprehensive about finding out. What if he had been found, or killed? Or he had been arrested, and taken away, never to finish his quest? The questions made her stomach feel queasy. She looked into the pool anxiously. Seeing the boys laying down on a couple of mats with pillows, she sighed with relief. They were fine; she wouldn’t need to go in. Determining that nothing would be gained from watching them, she went back up her stairs. Once there, she heard quite the commotion from the bathroom. She giggled at first, but upon thinking about it, was grossed out by the thoughts. She quickly retreated to her bed.
Starstep returned a few minutes later. “Hello, your highness.” he said like nothing happened. Luna nodded without looking over at him.
“Hello.”
He walked over. “I would’ve expected you to be in there longer.” Luna shrugged.
“I don’t think he needs me right now.” Starstep nodded and sat in his place by the fire.
“I wonder how much longer his quest will be?” Starstep wondered aloud. “And what’s he gonna do after?” Luna kept her thoughts away from it.
“I don’t know,” she said. “but I hope he ends up alright.” She looked down at her hooves. A weight suddenly appeared next to her.
“You know, it’s alright if you don’t want to be a part of this any more. Whatever happens, it wouldn’t be your fault.” Luna shook her head.
“No, I’m not so sure about that. He has needed my help several times; were I to withdraw it now, he could end up in the worst possible outcome.” She looked at Starstep. “I have helped him get this far; whatever happens, I have at least some of the responsibility for it.” Starstep sighed.
“I suppose so, but you must understand; they’re his decisions, and you can’t control that. Your help doesn’t change that; his decisions are not your fault.” He poked Luna in the side, making her jump. “Now come on, there’s still plenty of time in the day. Let’s do something.”
Luna looked at him coyly. “You wish to ‘do things’ with your princess?” she asked, giving him a playful look. Starstep returned it.
“Sorry to disappoint, but I’m all spent.” Luna blushed a little, causing Starstep to laugh. “Though I’m sure we can think of something less... taxing...” He soon found himself being shoved off the bed onto the ground. He was too busy laughing to notice Luna getting ready to pounce. Only when she was just over him did he notice.
“Ha!” she yelled as she landed on her yelping guard. She tightened her grip on him. “I now have the upper hand!” she announced proudly. Starstep wasn’t about to let this pass up.
“This is quite the grip you have me in.” he commented, causing Luna to look at him suspiciously. “I can see now that you like to be dominant-” Before he could finish, he was picked up and thrown toward the door, which he hit fairly hard.
“Why don’t we just go for a walk?” Luna suggested, smirking at her now groaning guard.
“As you wish.” he said between coughs. Luna laughed, and they went off.
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It was night time. The sky was an astonishing array of colors and stars. You couldn’t see anything like it anywhere near a big city. Ryan was staring at it from his mat, captivated by its majestic beauty. “If only I could see this every night.” he thought. “Maybe then, life would be worth living again.” He had been thinking about what he was going to do after he killed Narendra. Where would he go? He wasn’t going home, that was for certain. He could just keep traveling, though he was a wanted man in Thailand, so he couldn’t go there. He could probably keep doing what he was doing, hunting down bad guys, but without a friend to do it with, what kind of life was it? He looked at his M1911. “There’s always the last option...” he holstered it and put his hands under his head. “Or is there?” he whispered to himself.
Harris wasn’t asleep either. He was thinking about Ryan, and what he had seen of him earlier that day. “He doesn’t know what’s going to happen after.” he thought. “We’ve finally reached that point where, even with how shortly he looks into the future, that short view has massive uncertainties.” He looked over at Ryan, who was looking at his pistol. “He isn’t going home. But I am; he won’t have anyone with him. Well, Discord, I guess, but Discord is only half real.” He shifted and sat up, looking at Ryan. “The only other way out of this life is the way out of any life.” He didn’t want to imagine his friend doing that. How could he live with himself; he, Ryan’s best friend, allowed him to perform one last escape? Harris knew that Ryan was going to be an international criminal, with their various exploits, so he would have to travel carefully, if at all. He had nothing to live for any more after this. “Hey.” Harris said. He wasn’t even fully thinking at this point; he just wanted to make sure that Ryan was going to end up alright.
“Yeah?” ryan replied faintly.
“I know what I want for my birthday.” he said. Ryan turned and looked at him.
“And what is that?” he asked, genuinely interested. Harris laid back down.
“I want you to make me a promise.” he said. Ryan looked at him, curious.
“I can give you that.” he replied.
Harris wasn’t sure how to word his request. Regardless of how he said it, Ryan would know what Harris was fearing. He wondered if Ryan would even be honest, or if he would care. He figured he would just spill it. “I want you to promise me that you won’t ever finish it.” Ryan looked at him confused.
“What?” he asked. Harris tried to rephrase.
“Don’t ever take your own life, Ryan.” The demand hit home; Ryan laid there, thinking hard. After a time, he sat up and put up his hand.
“I will give you this, Harris. Though it’s not much of a gift.” He had just given Harris his life. Harris took his hand, then pulled him into a hug.
“It’s more of a gift than you will ever know.” They broke the embrace, and sleep overtook Harris much more easily that night.
And he was going to need it; the next day was destined to be more than he had imagined.