//------------------------------// // S2E4: What We've Made // Story: Blank // by Carrier of Heartbreak //------------------------------// BLANK: SEASON 2 CANTERLOT Episode 4: What We've Made **** OPENING CREDITS: **** "Soooo...what do you think?" "Ahh bah...b-baaahhh...huuuh...?" Lyra responded smartly to the grinning stallion next to her. She lost the ability to form words the moment she stepped out of the Manehattan train station and out into the light of the bustling city. It was just too much for her. "Like it?" Prime prodded, smiling like a smug jerk. The babbling mare didn't even hear him; she was too busy staring at the familiar city before her eyes. It was...it was Ryan's city! The one he worked in, somehow...it was real! The buildings were almost identical to the ones that plagued her dreams for most of her younger years, the signs advertised brands and products that she thought only existed in her mind, and the sounds... She could hear music from her world! Some of the carriages had installed music playing devices that were filling the city with the ring of many different alien genres, most of which she remembered using at least once during OtherWorld. The strumming sound of electric guitars seemed to be the city's favorite new sound. Bon Bon wasn't faring much better. She wasn't as familiar with everything in Ryan's world as Lyra was, but she was probably the second-most knowledgeable. That came with living with the mare who created the show and often needing to help her out during the broadcasts. And during some of the more dramatic episodes, Bon Bon was the shoulder for Lyra to bury her face into and cry. At first, the cream-colored mare didn't realize just what she was looking at. It took the familiar red and white colors of Ryan's favorite soda brand to knock her out of her awed state. Seconds of staring passed before Bon Bon finally figured out that she was looking at an advertisement on a passing carriage. "How...?" was all Bon Bon could manage to say. Lyra was still muttering to herself, a thin line of drool leaking down her chin. Her golden eyes were flying around, taking in every little inch of detail the city was portraying for her. It was, after all, the first time that the city was being showed to her, and not the other way around. "Lots of hard work...and a genius designer," Prime answered, smiling warmly at Lyra. She finally broke her stare away from the city sights and turned to her blue and red friend. She still couldn't believe what she was seeing. "I don't...I...this is c-crazy..." she whimpered. Her brain was in serious danger of shutting down, something only Bon Bon noticed. Quickly, the candy mare shot to her friend's side and embraced her, providing something to lean on and hide in. Lyra did just that; burying her face in Bonnie's soft chest fur and sealing herself off from the overwhelming world around her. How was she supposed to take all of this in? Her entire world, something she had been seeing in her head every since she was a little filly...it was just...there. Well, it wasn't her entire world, but the chunk she was seeing was big enough. "Oh geez! Is she okay?" Prime asked quickly, immediately concerned by the sudden change in Lyra's emotions. Bon Bon didn't say anything, but nodded her head and lifted a hoof to Lyra's mane, stroking it softly. The mint mare's body trembled less as time went on, until the point that she was completely still except for the movements of her breathing. "You're okay, Lyra. It's fine, it's just a city. You're not dreaming, it's real," Bon Bon assured her friend. Lyra seemed to go still for a few moments, even her breathing halting. When the need for oxygen reached her, she got her proof of reality and dared to peek out from beyond the comforting world of Bonnie's chest fluff. As soon as her eyes met a group of ponies wearing human-brand shoes, her pupils shrank and she shoved her head back into the world of Bon Bon. "There's...there's no reason to be upset, Lyra. Um...why is she upset?" Prime asked, anxiously leaning from side to side. Bon Bon sighed as she continued trying to get Lyra to calm down. "Besides for the whole 'everything you ever thought was a dream keeps coming to life' thing?" she asked sarcastically. Prime flinched and lowered his head, but nodded faintly. "She...she's had dreams about stuff like this happening before. A few times, in those dreams, she pictured the humans of her imagination getting mad at her for some of the bad things that happen in their world. She thinks that because it's in her head, then it's her fault when somebody ends up suffering in some way," she explained, trying to ignore how tense Lyra was at the retelling of those events. "I've had to calm her down a few times after she woke up screaming...but then, after one night, the dreams just stopped. We're still not entirely sure why, but I'm not complaining." Prime looked sadly down at Lyra, his tail swishing uncomfortably. He didn't want to overwhelm her; he was just so excited about showing her everything that had been going on as a direct result of her imagination. Why would he not try to hype it up for the master of the world that inspired the city? If only every passing pony knew just who they were giving confused looks to as they passed by...the three of them would be signing autographs until the next year! "I'm okay..." Lyra mumbled, her voice barely audible through Bon Bon's body. She took a deep breath and moved away, slowly examining the city once more. This time, she had prepared herself enough so that she didn't go insane from the mere sight of everything she had been dreaming of. Her eyes moved slower, taking in each individual detail before moving on to the next. The city looked almost identical to the city that Ryan worked in. If it wasn't for the lack of cars and humans moving about, she might have been convinced that she was dreaming once again. "H-how...how long has all...of this been going on...?" she asked weakly, waving a trembling hoof in front of her. Prime smiled a little, happy to see that she was recovering. "Well...do you remember when you got that sudden raise in pay?" he asked. Lyra tilted her head and bit her tongue in thought, trying to push past the current surroundings to dig deep into her long-term memory. After a few moments, she nodded. "Yeeeaaaah? That was a few years ago, right? Wait...that raise was from all of this being built?" she inquired, her pupils shrinking a bit. "I thought it just came with being the most popular show in Equestria..." Prime Warner chuckled softly and shook his head, his faded red mane swishing down into his eyes. "Nope, that extra money was the royalties being paid. Since everything was based off of your ideas, we had to find a way to pay you back. I thought I told Dream Catcher to tell you that back when it first started..." Prime grumbled. Bon Bon stood up, dusting herself off quickly with her front hoof. "Honestly, he might have. It's pretty hard to understand what he's saying when he grumbles every word," Bon Bon explained. A look of knowing crossed Prime's face. "Ah. Yep, that sounds like DC. Going to have to talk to him about that...once we get him to take off that darned batpony costume," he groaned, rubbing at his tired eyes with a foreleg. Around him, a few ponies out of every group would point and stare, mumbling to each other. Bon Bon noticed this, but Lyra was still reeling from the sights. In place of her previous fear, she was now stomping in circles, excitedly beaming up at the buildings towering over her. Both Prime and Bonnie smiled as they watch her, equally happy to see her coming back out of her shell. "So...want to see where I work?" Prime offered, moving his head to one side to indicate which direction he was going. Both mares turned to look at him for a few seconds before nodding. They had been to the Olivia Warner building before, but that was waaay back when. What had been going on there since they last visited? Lyra pictured a giant statue of Ryan with ponies mourning all over it inside the building. Maybe they would have ponies burning hospital beds to show their disdain for all things medical. Bon Bon imagined countless suited ponies walking around like robots, efficiently milking all of their storytellers for whatever their stories were worth. Bon Bon didn't see showponies in the best of light, after what they had made her best friend do. Prime was alright to her, but only because he was the only one she knew that actually apologized for the pain he had put Lyra through. If the rest of the ponies were anything like Time Warner, then she would be going back home with a few more notches on her left hoof. Together, the group moved steadily along, the two mares following closely behind Prime's swishing red tail. Both of them refused to stare, out of respect for their troubled young friend. At least, they tried not to stare. They found it easy to hide when a good amount of the ponies on the street also stared at Prime like he was some sort of cosmic anomaly. At first, they couldn't figure out why. Once they spotted a younger mare waving around what looked to be a cell phone (Lyra squeaked excitedly at this), they knew what was going on. Prime Warner's position as owner of the largest Gem Show company in Equestria was not a secret. In hindsight, both of them knew that they should have seen it coming. With how friendly he was to everypony, of course he would be known. Hay, he probably knew the middle names of anypony on the street that happened to have one. Lyra and Bon Bon jumped back a bit when the mare with the phone ran up to Prime and started babbling quickly, her eyes wide and gleaming. The messy stallion blinked before adopting a wide grin. "Heya, Poppy! How's the studio?" he asked, causing the light pink mare to blush and swoon dramatically. Lyra giggled and Bon Bon rolled her eyes at the pony's over-the-top display. Her performance had another side-effect that the two mares didn't appreciate: she was drawing a whole lot of attention to Prime, causing more and more ponies to rush over to see what was happening. Once they saw Prime, the ponies that knew him converged in a buddy-buddy shove. Lyra and Bon Bon winced as Prime was swallowed by a crowd of shoving ponies. Before they could try to save him, Prime broke his own way out by lifting himself with his magic and carrying himself up and over the crowd. He was even more disheveled than he was, both of his eyes covered by his long red mane. He gave off a nervous laugh before touching back down on the ground in front of his two friends. Behind him, the crowd continued to shove, somehow unaware that he had escaped so easily. "Uh...Poppy, huh?" Lyra blurted, trying to say anything that would draw attention away from what had just happened. Prime laughed again, his cheeks flushed from the intense heat he had experience while inside the writhing mass of pony meat. "Y-yep. Poppy Razzi, young mare that owns a photo studio. She's done a poster or two for some of my shows," Prime explained. Bon Bon tilted her head, unable to stop herself from prying further. "Any for OtherWorld?" she asked innocently. Prime just snorted and shook his head. "Naaah, we have a professional team for OtherWorld. Poppy's just getting started, so we help her out with work for the smaller shows. With OtherWorld, however, we can always afford to hire the best," Prime stated, holding his hoof to his chest in a dramatic pose of great pride. Both mares did a comical head-tilt, but quickly accepted what he had said. "And who is the best?" Lyra questioned. Prime dropped his snobbish pose and smirked. "Her father, Poppa," he said. Bon Bon's eyes narrowed immediately, but Lyra took her dear, sweet time getting it. "Wait...so she's Poppy Razzi...and her father is Poppa...so that would be Poppa Razzi...professional pho-...oh buck off!" she suddenly exclaimed once she understood the irony. Prime burst out into a fit of laughter, accidentally drawing the attention back to himself and his two friends. He stopped laughing just in time to stop a random mare from clinging to him from behind. The grown stallion let out a childish yelp of surprise and darted behind Bon Bon. Lyra watched the crowd advance upon them, slowly backing herself up against her roommate. Then, something caught her attention. "Hey, wait-!" "Oops, sorry, gotta go!" Prime yelled out to the ponies, surprising them. In a flash of bright light, Prime's horn lit and both mares were enveloped into his warm aura. He carefully lifted the three of them with his magic, moving them over the crowd and zooming away from the potentially dangerous scene. Lyra pawed at the aura with her hoof, trying to get back down. She wasn't really afraid of heights, but being suddenly launched into the air and flying around was not something a unicorn was accustomed to. Plus, she had a sudden barrage of questions she had wanted to ask the ponies, but she was airlifted just before she could sate her newfound curiosity. The constantly shifting sights of everything she thought could never exist in Equestria was not helping her relax, either. There were so many things that were passed by that she was already dying to explore; music stores, toy stores, shopping centers, movie theaters...movie theaters! Did they show movies from Ryan's world using the gems? How many movies have been shown during OtherWorld, where they would know enough to actually design a building around them? Bon Bon, being an earth pony and not touching any earth, was freaking out in her own subtle way. Prime, floating ahead of the two mares, didn't notice their reactions until the candy mare let out a less-than-flattering squeak as she tried to scramble away. The stallion's eyes widened and he quickly moved them back down onto the road, careful not to crush anypony that might have been below them. With a soft plop, the trio returned to the precious ground that signaled the end of the chase. Bon Bon reacted by rubbing her hooves all over the pavement, sighing in relief as the familiarity of the earth's magic tingle connected to her once again. Lyra was eyeing the way they had came as soon as she had landed. Prime gave them both a shameful look as soon as he turned to look at them, but the mint mare's anxiety drew his attention. "Um...everything alright, Lyra?" he asked softly, moving forward and putting his front hoof on her back soothingly. Lyra's golden eyes darted around, taking in the scenery. Around them, ponies moved about their daily lives, completely oblivious to the madness that had just occurred moments before, a ways down the street. Some ponies were listening to music that was being sent out from tiny little earbuds, the kind that hadn't been available to ponies yet. Other ponies were moving around on vaguely skateboard-looking objects that were mechanically similar, but designed for equine use. Everything in the city was normal. Worryingly, sickly normal. "Why do none of them look sad?" Lyra asked, her pupils shrinking slightly as she looked back to her friends. Prime Warner reacted faster than Bon Bon to this information, his head shooting around and examining the citygoers around them. Just like Lyra, his eyes widened and his pupils shrank slightly. "I...don't get it. Why is that bad?" Bon Bon asked just as a little filly trotted by with a Ryan Burbank plush toy held in her mouth. She was humming a little song happily, without a care in the world. Shortly after she went by, two ponies that were assumed to be her parents followed after her, both wearing OtherWorld branded clothing. To Prime's shock, they were both smiling gently, looks of immense relief plastered on their faces. They looked happy-drunk. None of the ponies in the city were sad anymore. But they were when Prime had left. "...We have to get back to HQ," Prime stated before taking off down the street, leaving two confused mares in his wake. After a shared glance, Lyra and Bon Bon sped off after him, trying not to lose the speedy stallion in the crowd that had started to form. Lyra was able to take in more scenery from the ground, and kept almost drooling at the different products and stores she came across. Bon Bon, as familiar as she was with the show and its world, wasn't nearly as knowledgeable about the finer details. As she ran, Bon Bon kept asking herself just how in the hay they managed to find some of the designs they had created. "Bonnie, it's an American Eagle! But spelled like Amareican...cool!" Lyra shouted as she tried to keep her breathing steady. "I saw it, Lyra! Just keep running!" Bon Bon shouted back to her friend. The earth pony had way more stamina when it came to physical activity, so she had to pace herself as to not leave her minty friend behind. Prime was somehow speeding up as he ran, instead of tiring out. Whatever he was worried about was fueling his sprint, keeping him moving even when his muscles were telling him to stop. He had to weave in and out of other ponies that were walking along the streets, though only some complained; some others called out his name in happy greeting as if welcoming a friend. Somehow, thanks to Bon Bon's encouragement, the two mares managed to keep up with the streaking blur of blue and red. Just as they were about to lose sight of him, he stopped...right in front of a vaguely familiar building. Bon Bon skidded to a halt right behind Prime, but was subsequently barreled over by a shrieking Lyra, who looked about ready to faint. Running was not the unicorn mare's strong suit, so the extended marathon they had just been subjected to took an extreme toll on her. "Bon Bon...I'm dying..." Lyra whined between breaths. Her fur was matted with sweat and her mane was plastered to her face, effectively blocking her vision. At least that explained why she had ran down her best friend and roommate like she was playing a game of Crazy Taxi from Ryan's world. Bon Bon just rolled her eyes and sighed. "No, you're not. Please get up, Lyra," the earth pony mare asked sternly. Lyra groaned and sat up slightly, but remained leaning a good amount of her weight against Bon Bon. Bonnie blushed slightly and scrunched her face, but didn't say anything else about the matter. Prime just sat there, staring at the building in front of them. Lyra and Bon Bon remembered enough to know that they were looking at the Olivia Warner building, but it was so much more than it was. When they had traveled to sign the papers for OtherWorld, the building was maybe three or four floors. Now, it looked like somepony had copied the original building and produced five more, just to stack them on top of each other. The structure in its new state towered above the trio, it's new architecture obviously influenced by Lyra's imaginative blueprints. It occurred to the two mares, after looking at him, that Prime wasn't just looking at the building. No, his eyes were glued to the left-side window, in which a giant, colorful poster was hung proudly. What was written on the poster, however, was what made Lyra and Bon Bon's mouths gape open in a manner very similar to the stallion next to them. OtherWorld: Season 9 Coming Soon! The words on the sheet, while bold and colorful, were quite simple and obvious in their meaning. What really caught their eyes was the image under it. To all of their horror, a large portrait of Ryan was plastered on the poster, looking up into the camera happily. In his arms, he held a tiny little human, who bore a striking resemblance...to her father. Lyra let out a choked sound as she processed just what the buck she was looking at. How was that possible? The picture was obviously made with artistic tools instead of a gem, but how could the posters even exist? The last season had only just ended barely a week ago! Why were they already making posters for the new season? Why were they spoiling so much by showing Ryan, alive, swinging his baby daughter around in his arms happily? Bon Bon and Prime, who were both a bit more wary about the world and how most things tended to have a hidden intent behind them, knew why the poster was made the way it was. Whomever had designed the poster had spoiled those major details on purpose, probably as a shout to the public that Ryan Burbank was going to be coming back. But how did they know that? "...Prime?" Lyra piped up suddenly. The stallion didn't move, choosing to remain silent. "Did you tell any others that Celestia told you to bring Ryan back?" Prime Warner swallowed nervously before slowly moving his head from side to side. The mint unicorn lowered her head, her anxiety building back up. "Aww..." "No...my br-...Time and I agreed to not telling anypony until we knew everything would be set up to promote it again. I...nopony should have known about it!" he declared, his body shaking slightly. He hated when things went wrong for no good reason. Lately, he was learning just how much he hated it. Without another word, he stood up and briskly walked up to the doors of the building. His eyes remained locked ahead, despite the pony or two that tried to get his attention. The new ponies weren't just wanting his attention because he was semi-famous; they seemed more eager to tell him something important. Prime didn't stop to listen. Lyra and Bon Bon followed behind silently, doing their best to keep up with the stallion. He was taller enough than them that his stride easily surpassed theirs. The closer they got to the building, the more changes they noticed. The front of the building used to be mostly glass, but it had since been replaced by a hard-looking stone material, probably to strengthen the heightened structure. As well as the glass, the original color had been painted over. Years ago, the building had been a calm grey color, which made it blend right into the rest of the city around it. Since then, it had been painted a metallic silver, a color that stood out on top of the stony texture. The two mares had never seen anything like it. Prime reached the doors and quickly opened one, letting himself in without waiting for his friends to follow him. Bon Bon narrowed her eyes slightly as the careless gesture, but quickly got over it when she remembered that he was freaking out. The stallion had already been through so much in the past few days...Bon Bon hoped that whatever had happened while they were away wasn't too bad. He might not be able to handle much more. The two mares had to speed after Prime, forgoing their own longing to explore the vast interior of the OW building so that they could keep up...though they couldn't ignore the advert gem playing the scene from the poster, except in real life. Lyra stared up at the giant animated scene of Ryan laughing while swinging his daughter around in circles, her heart sinking in her chest. "Did...did I take that from him...?" she asked herself, her eyes beginning to sting. Her voice went unnoticed by her two friends, the combined sounds of their hoofsteps drowning out most any other noise. The minty mare turned her gaze down and convinced herself to just look forward for the time being. Her guilty feelings could be dealt with when there wasn't something potentially going wrong. Upwards they went, climbing the stairs with an urgency that they hadn't felt since the incident with Time Warner. Lyra was barely keeping up, not having had a chance to recover from the last run they had gone for. Even Bon Bon was starting to pant. As she followed behind the swishing red tail that led her up, she couldn't stop herself from wondering how in the hay Prime had seemingly more endurance than a bucking earth pony. They passed more an more employees, who all had different reactions to the speeding trio. Some, especially on the lower floors, barely paid any attention as they were passed in the stairwell. The higher Prime went, the more looks of surprise and nervousness they received. The stallion noticed this quickly and only sped up. Finally, Prime stopped climbing and shot through the door to enter a level of the building. Lyra let out a relieved groan as she all but crawled through the door and examined the interior of the top floor. Again, she went into shock as she viewed the overwhelming amount of OtherWorld products displayed around the room and on the walls. To her further surprise, there appeared to be decorations from shows other than just OtherWorld. She spied an aging poster for The Mare Witch Project, some photos of the fighters from the EFC, and a plushie of a griffon in a cape...the main character from Catbird. But, in the center of the room, sat a giant piece of art that took Lyra's breath away. It was...beautiful. Ryan was there, in statue form, sitting down against a tree with a calm smile on his face. Sarah was there as well, nestled up on his lap, seemingly asleep. The frozen form of the young man was looking up, an aura of determination visible even as a statue. On the other side of the tree he was leaning against sat his family. Rich, Rose and Emily were also passed out, the larger man holding the two women in his life protectivley as they snoozed. As much as Lyra could recall, most of the OtherWorld tribute pieces tended to focus around Ryan, and only Ryan. Her memory, being the scattered remains that they were, didn't convince the poor mare completely. Perhaps she was just basing that around what she had seen since Ryan had come to life? Either way, something about seeing the group of humans together, just having a nice afternoon under a tree, calmed the minty unicorn greatly. They were so serene together; not a thing in the world could have disrupted them... ..except for the red-maned white unicorn that stepped in front of the statue with a genuine smile on his face, like he was once again greeting a lost friend. "Ah, Prime, you're back!" Common Caster said happily, the secretary behind him looking anxiously at Prime, her actual boss. Prime just stared at the other stallion for a few moments before leaping forward, his hooves outstretched. Bon Bon flinched, closing her eyes and waiting for the crack of hoof against jaw. It never came. Instead, she was treated to the sound of two grown stallions hugging the buck out of each other. "Hot," was all Lyra could say. The shy little secretary mare nodded her head softy in agreement. Bon Bon sighed and clocked herself with her own hoof. Being around Prime Warner was getting too bucking weird. **** I had been walking around the castle for awhile, just taking in the sheer size of the fucking place. Why would ponies, no matter how royal they were, need so much space? They could have had at least three more floors inside the empty air in each room. I was pretty sure that I could have fit at least two of my cabins into the damn bathroom I had stumbled upon. Yeah, nothing says luxury like having a thousand square feet to yourself when you were taking a shit. It was during my wanderings that I had remembered why I didn't go off on my own a lot anymore; when I was alone with no ponies to cheer up, I had no other options then to think. Thinking to myself sucked. All my mind could focus on was the fact that besides for Sarah, I was alone. I had friends now, sure, but everything...fucking everything about me was fictional. My family...they were just a piece of the story. As many times as I wanted to just wake up from this snuggly little nightmare, it was painful obvious that I wasn't sleeping. Not anymore, at least. I missed Emily. The wakeup calls she gave me were sorely lacking in my new reality, and I was quite sure she would have beat my ass if she had been able to see what my decision making had been like since I arrived in Pony Land. I missed dad. His stupid jokes were just another way of him telling us all that he was comfortable enough with his life to be stupid on purpose, and he loved every moment of his time with us. At least...at least now, I woudn't have to worry about him suffering a slow death like I had gone through, but with the cancer that kept coming back to him. I missed mom. Her loving nature probably made me a bit too soft as an adult, but apparently, I was loved because of it. Though, thinkng about it now, was it really her parenting that did that? Or was it just...was I just made that way originally? Was my tender heart just a piece of what Lyra made me with? Hell, I even missed Dick! ...That came out wrong. I meant I missed Bill, the guy I worked with, not...ugh... A cough brought me out of my random thinking and made me stop in my tracks, my eyes scanning the environment around me. I had somehow managed to walk into a courtroom of some kind, and it was apparent that I was interupting a case in progress. Every set of eyes was locked on me, including the wide and familiar eyes of Princess Celestia, who was perched on the biggest chair in the room. Was she acting as the judge? I suddenly felt very cold, like the devil himself was breathing down my neck, directly against my left side. Looking down, I came face to face with a very angry looking and familiar blue unicorn, whose horn was adorned with a ring-looking object. He was shackled tightly and strapped to something that looked to be there to keep him from hurting himself. ...Did I just blindly stumble my way into Time Warner's court case...? Shit, I think I did. Time to make a hasty retreat...ha, Time. "Ssssssorry," I said meekly, backing up slowly out of the room until I could close to door behind me. Once I was out of sight of the ponies in the courtroom, I let out a tremendous sigh and sank down against the wall, my face burning red with embarrassment. How the fuck did I even manage that?! Weren't courtrooms, especiallys ones with criminals with such a long list of charges, supposed to be, I don't know...guarded?! A light snoring to either side of me caught my attention. It was to my great disappointment that I found the guards that should have stopped me, both passed out on either side of the door. ...Right, I tended to do that to ponies. I guess even the guards weren't all safe from the shock that came with seeing me for the first time. What if something actually dangerous was trying to get in? I sure didn't trust a guard that fainted at the sight of a mere human. They both deserved some sort of punishment, right? Something special, something only I would be able to think of...oh, duh. I dusted off my hands and stood up as I looked down at my handiwork. My first thought was for the left guard to be sleep-mounting the right guard, but that all changed when the fire nation- damn, already said that. Anyway, the right guard turned out to be a mare, which could actually cause some real problems if someone else stumbled onto them. So, the mare ended up mounted on the stallion, a lamp I had found pressed against his backside. I had found a marker laying around in the lobby, which I then used to write the word 'Peggy' across the stallion's face. Heh. Still a better character than Peggy Hill. I continued my walk for a little while longer, trying to ignore the collection of castle maids and...servants, I guess, that were on shift; they had taken to following me around like a little parade. They whispered to each other loud enough for me to hear, even over the squees and giggling sounds the rest of them were making. "...that really him? I heard..." the rest of what that mare was saying was lost to another squee sound as another group of maids merged into the parade. Why weren't they fainting like the rest of the ponies seemed to do? Were the castle servants that much more emotionally stable than the friggin' guards? At least they seemed happy to see me. A familiar tingling drowned out the looming depression that had been brought forth from my time alone. Making ponies happy made me happy. So I would just need to keep making ponies happy, until...how long was I going to be alive, given that my body was no longer organic? If the answer to that question was 'forever', then I would very shortly be locking myself in a closet. I didn't want to live forever. Hell, I was barely convincing myself that sticking around now was worth it. "...glad I started working here!" I heard another mare say, her voice jumping with excitement towards the end. I smirked a little bit, her vocalization of her joy bringing my mood back up to where I would like it to stay. With my heightened mood came a sense of mischief that I hadn't felt since...well, since a few minutes before, when I was mounting a sleeping mare on top of her sleeping stallion friend. I waited until they grew louder to stop walking. Just as I expected, they hadn't been paying too much attention to my movements, and I felt a bump against my ass. I was still facing away, but I could visualize the look on the offending maid's face just from the gasp she let out. Very slowly, probably agonizingly so for the members of the parade behind me, I turned around to look at them. I came face to face with the single most adorable collection of critters I had ever seen. They were all dressed up in their own maid outfits, some of them even dressed in tiny little tuxedos. AWW! The crowd stared up at me anxiously, unsure of how I would act, probably still uncertain if I was really me or not. The one who looked the most frightened was the mare who had apparently tried to kiss my butt. Her face was bright red and her pupils were barely even visible anymore. She was a tiny little thing, younger-looking than the rest of my friends. She was a caramel color, with a dark brown mane that was frizzy right in front, but smooth and sleek everywhere else. The front had probably just gotten messy from behind mashed up against my ass. The hallway we were in went completely silent, the rest of the castle workers holding their breath as I pondered on a suitable punishment for the poor mare that had so foolishly violated my personal space. With a smirk and an evil glint in my eye, I bent down to her and lifted a hand to her face. She closed her eyes tightly in preparation for my vengeance as a gasp rang out from the crowd behind her. A bunch of the other maids covered their faces with their hooves, unable to watch what I was going to do. Some of them even embraced other members and sobbed, mourning the loss of their young friend. Boop Scrunch The room was silent for a few more moments as the crowd peered up from wherever they had been adverting their gazes to. What they saw didn't register to them at first. The mare was still there, alive, the only sign that something had happened being her scrunchy muzzle and little indent in her nose fur where my finger had been. The poor thing looked up at me slowly, her bottom lip trembling. My heart actually started breaking at the sight of such a cute maid about ready to cry. So, I did the only thing that I could think of. I picked her up in my arms, treasured the squeak she made, and ran off down the hallways with her tightly secured against my chest. "This is mine now!" I called behind my back to the confused parade, most of whom were trying to pick their jaws up off of the floor. In my grasp, the mare was silent, but her expression might as well been screaming. Her eyes shot back and forth between me and the hallway, her mouth trying to make sound but failing. Oh, yeah. I forgot that I could run like the fucking Flash. That might have been taking away the poor mare's air, so I immediately slowed down until I was jogging at a mild pace through a hallway that looked almost identical to the one I had just been in. This castle was a fucking maze...waste of space, piece of awesome. As soon as the air around us wasn't being sucked out from the vacuum of motion, the mare took a deep breath and started panting in exhaustion. Welp, I fucked that up already. I just wanted to run around with her a little, maybe tease her. She was the kind of cute little kawaii horse that you just wanted to poke and squeeze like a squeaky toy. "Sorry...forgot about the running thing. You okay?" I asked. A familiar weight dropped in my stomach, one I had figured out to be guilt. Why did I always do that? I tried to do something fun, but forgot about my magically-super-fucked body thing. Because of my forgetfulness, I had put...how many ponies in potential danger? Shit... Instead of looking at me fearfully, like I had fully expecting her to, the maid was vibrating and giving me a look of excitement that reminded me a certain pink party pony. It even got to the point that, because she was still hugged against my chest, I had started vibrating as well. Oh, shit, her mouth is open- "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!~" she squealed into my fucking face. Pony spittle flew onto my skin, which didn't bother me that much. The fact that it didn't bother me bothered me more. Fucking ponies and their awesome tongues... "Ooo...kay...?" I stuttered, my hair blown back from the force of her squee. I couldn't help feeling I had heard an even louder one before, but it was so hazy...maybe it had happened in a dream or something. She just gave me this wide grin that threatened to split her lips. "It's you it's you it's you it's you it's-!" "It's me!" I echoed. She just nodded her head in agreement and started humming a happy little song to herself. Maybe it was her way of expressing extreme joy, alongside shouting in faces. I couldn't get a read on this little bundle of cute and crazy. One moment, she was trembling in fear before my mighty finger, and the next, she was spitting on me and humming songs. What was this girl's deal? "It's not just you, though, it's...you know, really you!" she continued. Channeling some serious Pinkie Pie, little one. I wouldn't have been surprised in the slightest if the two were somehow related. "So, it's really me?" I asked. She nodded and hummed louder. "But it's also really you!" Best to fight crazy with even more crazy. That way, if everything is crazy, then somewhere, along the line, something would make sense. After all, crazy can only occur in settings where normal was usually dominant. The maid blinked a few times before crossing her eyes in deep thought. Whoa, had I just blown this pony's mind? If she fainted from what I had said, and not because it was me saying it, I swear...I'd give up trying to understand. But she didn't faint. Instead, she just got this really cute look of realization on her face and gasped. "Ooooh, I get it!" she squeaked. I didn't know what to say to that, so I just continued watching her, in very much the same way one watches a hand grenade waiting to go off. With a wiggle and a leap, she relocated herself back down to the marble floor of the hallway and grinned back up at me. "Sooo...what's your name?" I asked, blindly following her as she start walking to who knows where. Another question, another gasp. "Oh, yeah! I didn't tell you yet. Well...what do you think my name is?" she inquired, smirking up at me with a glint of familiar mischievousness in her eyes. It was almost like....like she was trying to do something I would do to someone I hadn't met before. Well, if she was going to do that, then it seemed to me that I had no other option than to fire back. "Hmm..." I sighed dramatically, lifted my hand to my chin and looking down at her. She struck an adorable little pose and remained still as I examined her. At least she was seeming more relaxed around me. I couldn't help but enjoy the feeling of having to befriend a pony through my own humor, and not just because I was super famous. But alas, I remembered that she already knew me, and was just being super cute and easy to converse with...in her own way. Okay, so a name...hints, hints, clues, whatever...what did she look like? As I saw before, she was had a caramel coat and a dark brown mane, the latter of which was now completely frizzy from being caught inside my wind tunnel. She was still wearing the same little maid outfit, but it was a lot more messy than it was. Her dress was covering her butt stamp, taking away the biggest clue I could have had. "Um...Mocha Swirl?" I guessed blindly, my only clue being her color scheme. She just giggled up at me and shook her head, her frizzy mane whipping around. "Nope! Try again!" she responded. Crap. Hmm... "Uh...I really don't know...I'm not good at the whole 'pony name' thing," I explained to her, my arms crossed. It was a bit warm in the hallway, bringing up a previously unnoticed desire for air conditioning...which probably didn't exist here. Or maybe it did! I'd have to check around and see just what inventions OtherWorld had inspired so far. She just gave me a supportive smile and placed a sympathetic hoof on my thigh. Lewd. "It's okay, Ryan. I should have assumed that, I mean...our names are a lot different than the ones where you come from," she said a bit too calmly. Ugh, again with ponies knowing so much about both worlds, and myself knowing so little about theirs. I should have watched the show more...and that reminded me that I still needed a better explanation on how the show even existed in my world. Sarah had said something about Lyra's memories leaking into my life, but...I don't know, that seemed a bit shallow of an answer. "Yeeaah..." I replied simply, prompting another sweet smile. "My name..." she began. I waited. "...is..." she continued. Why was she pausing like that? Was she trying to build anticipation? "..." she got up on her hindlegs, lifting her front ones above her head in yet another dramatic pose. What an adorable little actress. "Cutie Pie!" she exclaimed proudly, part of her maid outfit falling off. While she scrambled to redress herself with a deep blush on her face, I just jammed my face into my palm and groaned. Great, so she probably was related to Pinkie. That's all I needed, another pony to latch onto my face and suffocate me...or give me diabetes. Why was every single pony I'd seen so far so fucking cute? I was pretty sure that if I had my organic body, I would have died from a heart attack awhile ago. Hell, I didn't have an organic heart and I still got heart awwtacks! "That...makes a lot of sense, actually," I said solemnly. The little maid looked up at me with a worried expression upon hearing how low my tone had grown. "Why...?" she asked, her bottom lip starting to tremble. Holy shit, I didn't do that! If she started crying, it wouldn't be my damn fault. She shifted moods quicker than I could blink. "Oh, nothing bad! Just a certain pink friend of mine..." I told her, waving my hand across as a symbol of 'whatever you were thinking, that's not it.' She just tilted her head at me like a puppy. "Who?" she questioned. "Pinkie Pie," I stated simply. If I said anything else, I was afraid she would appear to prove whatever comments I made about her. All in all, I didn't want to mess with what made Pinkie...Pinkie. I had brought up Pinkie's spontaneity to Twilight a few days ago, but only got a shiver in response. Cutie got a knowing look and smiled wide. "Ooooh, I know her! She's, like, a hero!" the maid squeaked. Huh, that was a pretty unfamiliar way of putting it. Guess they weren't related, after all. Maybe it was the same way that I wasn't the only human with the last name of Burbank. I wasn't a racist, I swear! It was then that I noticed that we had continued walking...well, Cutie was walking, and I was just following her around. Damn lack of spatial awareness. Flashbacks from getting lost in Twilight's castle shot through my head. Hey, at least I continued walking this time. Where was she taking me? "Where are you taking me?" I asked. Cutie Pie just grinned happily and trotted along, an extra little bounce to her step. "You have to say hi to Princess Cadance! She's here from the Crystal Empire, and from what I hear, she's, like...the biggest OtherWorld fan! She would do mean things to me if I didn't have you stop by!" she sang. Geez, this pony was taking my existence awfully well. She didn't even ask how I was alive! Well, at least I didn't have to meet anybody I didn't already know. As futile as Cutie's efforts were, she was no less precious for thinking of the princess. "Um...okay," I responded. She didn't need to know that Cadance had already met me, almost received oral from me, and got blown into a table by my sneeze. Plus, I needed to head back to the group anyway. I had had enough time to myself and my legs were a bit weak from bullet sprinting. So we walked. And walked. Walked. Walker Texas Ranger... Of course, she hummed a song to herself...the whole time. Of course, the fucking tune was catchy as shit, and as such, got stuck in my head. I hated when songs got stuck in my head! It was like my brain was acting on its own and refused to do what I said. The castle was too fucking big. Twenty minutes is too long to navigate through a place of residence! Finally, after what seemed like forever, we came upon a group of ponies standing outside a door. I was honestly not expecting the entirety of my pack to be crowded around in the hallway. What was going on? Cutie must have been as surprised as I was, since she stopped for a moment, taking in the sight and addressing her options carefully. She seemed to want to help and find out what was wrong, but maybe it was her low status of employment that stopped her. Was she afraid of irritating not one, not two, but three princesses? Probably. She took a few steps back, eyeing the group of ponies at the door wearily. It seemed to me that she was trying to signal that this was where we would part. Aw...but I had just met her! What good was walking around with cute ponies if I couldn't do it for as long as I wanted? I hadn't even found a way to weaponize her, yet! "I'm...I'm just going to...get back to work..." she mumbled, pushing her muzzle against my leg but keeping her eyes firmly locked on Sarah, who hadn't even noticed our presence. Ugh, what had Bear done to scare this little cutie? A number of ideas ran through my head, a few of which involving cactuses. Seriously, Sarah, stop scaring every other female in existence! "Okay...I'll do what I can here. Looks like a job for a fart joke or two...what do you think?" I asked, crossing my arms patiently. Cutie's ears perked up as she noticed I was putting her knowledge of me into question. It did my heart good to see her smile slightly, her eyes crossing in concentration as she made a cute 'I'm thinking!' face at me. "Hnnggg...oh! You should moonwalk behind them and see if they notice!" she squeaked eagerly. The only thing I could do in response was lift a brow at her. I hadn't been into moonwalking for...about three years now. Well, if she thought that would work... "Okay, here goes~" I sang in a whisper, waving goodbye to her. Before I could get too far, she snagged the bottom of my hoodie with her teeth and pulled back, stopping me in my tracks. I tilted my head down at her, waiting for an explanation. For a few silent moments, she just fidgeted with my hoodie still gripped between her teeth. Finally, she worked up the courage to ask whatever it was she was going to ask. "C-could...you...oh, this is so stupid...c-...could you sign this?" she finally forced out, whipping out a little bundle of yarn and cloth. The shape was...vaguely familiar. Oh, I knew what it was. It was getting myself to believe that it existed without bursting out into laughter that was the difficult part. It was a doll of me. Well, it was supposed to be. The closest thing I could relate it to would be those action figures you find in dollar stores that look like they're screaming at you to kill them, just to put themselves out of everyone's misery. You know the ones, with the cheap plastic, severely limited articulation and the paint that looks like it was applied with someone's ass. Well, apparently they had products like that in this world, some of them based on me. The hair was off...and by off, I don't mean the color was a bit different. I mean that the doll was literally bald, and the top of its head was simply painted brown to give the illusion of hair. The eyes...I think they were eyes...just looked like someone stabbed it twice with a marker and let it bleed for a few seconds. There was no mouth. It had to scream. The clothing was very clearly taken from an equine-shaped doll, ripped open, and stitched around the human-shaped limbs. The limbs were all different sizes, and to my vast amusement, there were three legs. It wouldn't have been so bad if the middle leg wasn't the largest. What a compliment! I couldn't help it. I chortled. And oh god, the look of complete destruction upon Cutie's face broke my heart into a billion pieces and snorted the dust. This poor little mare was crushed by the sound of my laughter. I didn't mean to laugh! "Whoa, whoa!" I interrupted, waving my hands frantically in front of her. I needed to hurry, she was already on the verge of tears. Burbank powers, activate! "I wasn't laughing at you, I promise! I just wasn't expecting the...third leg..." I almost pulled myself back into giggles when I said that. Cutie Pie blinked and looked down at the doll. Chirp chirp chirp Jeopardy waiting song Ding! "OH!" she gasped, her face turning a very dark shade of red. She didn't drop the doll, but she did hold it by something other than it's anatomically correctly-sized dick. Somehow, the group ahead of us still hadn't taken notice of us, even with the outbursts of shame we both kept letting out. I giggled as quietly as I could and took the doll from her grasp. "Got something to write with?" I inquired. A pen was shoved into my hand, this one looking oddly regal and...probably made of gold. I gave her a questioning look, but she just smiled sheepishly and gave off a Squee sound that echoed down the hallway. Wow, my friends must have been fucking deaf. Man, this world and those fucking squeaky duck sounds. I looked down at the doll, rolling my eyes as I spotted the symbolic operator symbol on my hoodie reduced to a Pac-Man outline. Oh, and there was a tag on it that said exactly what I had been thinking. Randy - OtherPlace Shine on, you piece of shit diamond. Very quickly, as to not burn myself on the cheapness that was aftermarket knock-offs, I signed my name across the chest...oh, and I also drew an 'X' through the Pac-Man, to make it more legit. The look on Cutie's face when I handed it back to her...every little bit of guilt I had from almost making her cry washed away in a sea of good vibes. She now had one of Equestria's few Ryan-signed plushie! The only others to have one were Fluttershy and some of the other Ponyville ponies. And Cutie's was the only one I personally modded to make better. She had a Burbank Exclusive! "Go on, show your buddies," I grinned at her. She held the toy in her mouth, her eyes gleaming with wonder up at me. Her tail was even wagging. With one last squeak, she turned tail and ran off to show her coworkers the special edition toy she now owned. Oh, and they probably would have liked to know that she was alive, and I hadn't...you know, torn her apart or anything. Well, that was heart-achingly cute. Guess it was my time to shine, now. Here goes the moonwa- "Ryan, there you are!" I heard Fluttershy pipe up as she ran up to me. Aww...I had been sorta looking forward to dancing behind them. Even though Cutie's taste in merchandise was questionable at best, she knew me. Moonwalking was an awesome idea. It was just unfortunate that I had been noticed before I could play it out. Oh well. "Here I am," I responded, nodding my head and following Fluttershy's lead. She pulled a Cutie and latched onto me with her teeth, in the same spot that was still wet from the last mare to do that. She spat out the hoodie after tasting the opposing saliva, her bright eyes widening and staring up at me in horror. Horror and what I assumed to be jealousy. "R-Ryan, you didn't-!" she spat as she tried to get the taste of Pie out of her mouth. I just looked down at her, unsure of what was going through her head. Was being dragged around by a mare's teeth the sign of being taken or something? Ugh, cultural differences and shit... "Uhh...nope! I didn't," I answered her as we walked side by side towards the rest of our friends. Sarah turned her head slowly, finally noticing that I had been moving towards them. Her face grew slightly brighter at my approach, and again, wasn't hindered by the yellow pegasus to my side. Fluttershy kept her head low, sulking over...I don't know, something. The rest of the pack turned to look at me. Well, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash did. Twilight and Candy were both there, continuing to bang against the door and plead loudly through it. I still had no idea what the fuck was going on, so I just stayed quiet and listened in. "Shiny, please come out and...and tell me what's wrong!" Candy begged, her pink face matted with tears. Her mane was even more frazzled than it had been before, from being tossed across a party hall. Twilight was there, pawing helplessly against the door with her hoof and whimpering. Her horn kept glowing purple and fizzling out, like her magic was being used against something actively blocked magic. I had the strange urge to knock on the door, but...something was telling me not to. Something about being made of magic made the idea of touching a magic-blocking door seem quite painful. ...And possibly explosive. "What...?" I asked, unable to verbalize anything further. Pinkie was looking over at me, her mane a bit flat and her face discouraged. Rainbow just looked like she wanted to be somewhere else. Sarah looked almost as uncomfortable as Dash did, but more in the 'I know what I could do, but it's not what I should do' kind of way. If it had been up to her, she probably would have just went back to the main hall and did something...anything else. But since Twilight and Cadance were here, crying an almost-literal river, she probably felt like she was obliged to stay and support them. A familiar tingle shot down me...that ever-loving sense that I seemed to be experience way too often lately: guilt. The way Shining Armor had fled the scene before...what he had said was getting to me. He wanted to know how he was supposed to compete against me, while dressed as me. It had already occurred to me that Candy was probably neglecting him in favor of my show, and he had dressed the way he did as a way of getting some attention back on himself. The poor guy! I couldn't imagine slowly losing Sarah to the powerful allure of a fictional character, only to have that same fictional character show up on my doorstep with vague intentions. Oh, shit, he might have thought I was into Candy! Being who I am, I didn't really need to earn the affection the pink alicorn showed me, I just sort of fell into it. Shining needed to work for it. If I decided one day that I wanted to taste the pink, what could he do to convince her that he was better? It was just dawning on me just how tragic and intense the situation had become. Oh, and Shining, if you killed yourself in there before we could stop you, I'll bring you back from the dead just so you can explain yourself to your wife and little sister! It was time to act. My Burbank-sense was going nuts and I needed to cheer up the emotionally devastated stallion. After all, it was pretty much my fault he was going through all of this. "Shiny...please come out..." I heard Twilight whimper. Oh, hell no. Not my purple. That noise of complete misery she made was enough to send my fist hurtling against the wooden door... ...and promptly blowing it off of its hinges. We all scrambled back, a chorus of yelps and gasps echoing out and reverberating down the interior of the hallway. One of them was slightly more masculine than the others. Curiously, we all peaked into the shadows of the dark room. It was pitch black in there. I don't know if there weren't any windows or something, but I couldn't see a thing. Candy tried rushing in, but I quickly wrapped my arms around her middle and lifted her up off of the ground. Then she made it weird by moaning sexually and shivering, which I responded to by dropping her like the bass. Yeah, there was no way in hell I was ever going to steal Candy from Shining Burbank. It'd probably make him feel better if I told him that myself. Hell, I was probably the only one who could assuage his fears. Twilight and the other girls looked up at me, all showing signs that they were unsure about what I was doing. I just sighed and ruffled Twilight's mane a little to let her know it was okay. She sniffled and wiped her face on her leg. I guess she didn't want me seeing her in that state. The joke was on her; I loved them all, regardless of exterior snot percentage! "Let me in! He needs me!" I heard Candy demand weakly as she repeatedly banged her head into my leg. A soft sigh escaped my lips as I looked down at the distraught alicorn. Fresh tears had started streaming down her cheeks, her eyes slightly manic. She was looking into the room, trying desperately to see any sign of her husband. I didn't honestly want to keep her away from him...but I had shit I needed to talk to him about. "Okay, Candy, just...could I talk to him first?" I asked. The pink princess looked ready to argue about it, but something about my guilty expression told her that I wasn't just shitting around. "Um...why, though?" she asked hesitantly. My hands slithered their way into my pockets; they had been feeling useless and naked where they had been, just dangling around beside me. I definitely wasn't comfortable talking about this, especially with her, but she deserved at least a fraction of the truth. "I just...I think this is...I think it's my fault..." I sighed, keeping my gaze locked straight ahead, into the black nothingness of Shining's room. The mares around me all made some sort of noise, most of them gasps of surprise. The only different noise came from Sarah, who snorted under her breath. Luckily for her, none of the others heard her. I didn't want yet another attitude problem for the others to hold against her. "What?! Ryan, no! This is my-" Candy started again, but I gave her a tired look and she stopped talking. "Just...I'll just talk to him real quick, and then you can go in there and...I don't know, ride him around, or whatever it is pony couples do," I replied, giving her a smirk that betrayed my inner turmoil. She immediately flushed red and her mouth flopped open like a fish. Of course, Dash found that amusing as hell and had to lean her side against the wall to keep herself from falling over. She was laughing that hard, despite the tense atmosphere that surrounded her. Twilight also gasped and blushed at the thought of Candy and her brother getting down with the funk. Fluttershy had a faraway look, even though she was staring right at me. Pinkie was...huh, she was looking at me proudly, a single tear rolling down her cheek. I guess she was happy I could bring some relief to the situation that she herself could not. Cheer-buddies, unite! My eyes met Sarah's and she gave me a look that said 'Just get this shit over with, I'm missing valuable time with you.' Roger that. So, while the girls were all being pervs or something, I took a few steps into the dark room. A chill went down my spine as I did so; something about the area where the door had been tried pushing me away. It was more of a tingle than a force though, so I just pushed past it and continued moving into the shadows. "Shining? Shining...uh...Amore?" I said out into the darkness. I could hear a thump sound behind me that I guessed was Twilight smacking herself in the face with her hoof. Rude. I was completely encased in the dark now, the only thing visible being the doorway I had accidentally removed the doors from. The doors were on the ground, still intact but no longer attached to anything. It occurred to me that Shining probably didn't want to talk with everybody looking at him, so I took a minute or so, picking the doors back up and leaning them against the frame they used to belong to. While I was doing this, the girls stared at me much like a pack of dogs watching their owner do something. Apparently the act of lifting doors that were apparently a few hundred pound each was impressive to them...or at least to Fluttershy. Her wings were doing that boner thing that Sarah's had done back at Lyra's house. I couldn't blame her though; I must have looked like the world's strongest man. Oh yeah, I was. Anyway, I soon found myself completely engulfed in the shadows. The girls could be seen trying to peek through the crack of the door, but I know they couldn't see anything. The light streaming through the crack was too minuscule to reveal anything. "Shining? It's Ryan. The girls are really worried about you, I-" I was cut off by a low growl. It was disarmingly feral in its hostility. "Amore...that's what she calls me...you..." I heard a low, rumbling voice speak from a good fifteen or so feet away. "...you...do NOT CALL ME THAT!" Shining roared in fury, sounding much closer now. And then I felt something pat my cheek. It was a fairly large hoof. It took me a moment to realize that it was Shining's hoof, and that pat was supposed to be a punch. I heard his body fall back down to the ground, his labored breathing making me think that he had probably hurt himself. The crack I had heard after the impact also hinted at that. The room went mostly silent, his breathing being the only thing both of us could hear. Also, Candy was freaking out again, but I tuned that out in favor of paying attention to the stallion next to me. I still couldn't see him in the dark, which made it that much creepier when he started giggling madly. "Heh...can't even be strong for her...heh heh...haaaa..." he chortled. I took a few steps back away from where I assumed he was, seriously starting to fear for my own safety. "Dude, what the hell is up with you?" I asked honestly. The giggling stopped, in favor of audible teeth grinding that made me shiver. I hated that fucking sound. It was ten times worse than nails on a chalkboard because it involved teeth. "You...you took her...she's gone...why...why did you take her?" he mumbled. I took another step back from Frothy McPunchalot. "Took who, Candy? Shining, I'm not trying to take your wife. Seriously, I have no interest in her," I tried to assure him. For some reason, the teeth grinding only got louder. My butt instinctively clenched tighter. "You...she loves you so much...and you DON'T EVEN WANT HER?!" he raged again, but this time without the punching. Instead, he charged his horn at me, his pink aura making the space around him glow brightly. Man, after seeing his face, I could finally appreciate just how much of a mess he was. His eyes had dark purple bags under them, his cheek look swollen from self-inflicted wounds, and he actually did have some froth flowing from his mouth. The sight of his horn pointed at me brought a bunch of painful memories to the forefront of my mind, making me relive the damage I had caused from having ponies charge me with their magic. I wanted to warn him. I wanted to tell him to stop. I wanted to leap out of the way, before his magic could soak into my body and build up until it found a way to release itself. But I couldn't. I was stuck. My body trembled, my mind still trying to shut out the memory of Time Warner flying through house after house...the memory of Candy flying across the hall and crashing into that party table...the memory of my body impacting the crystal of Twilight's castle and cracking it. I...I didn't want to hurt any more ponies. Why did I keep hurting- FLASH The room lit up bright pink as Shining's spell flew towards me like a bat out of hell. It was terrifying in its own kind of feminine way. If I hadn't already been locked up, I probably would have frozen at the sight of the pink bullet flying at me at tremendous speed. My body didn't move. I took the bullet. The last thing I heard before my world went pink was a chorus of gasps coming from the girls, along with a shout of fury from Sarah. "RYAN!" ENDING CREDITS: