Blank

by Carrier of Heartbreak

S1E5: Meet and Greet

The Elements had decided that it would be best to give the new resident 'human' the grand tour of the castle while Pinkie Pie left to get things sorted out for the party tonight. Pinkie might have been Ponyville's premiere Super Duper Party Pony, but gathering supplies to support a town's worth of ponies, notifying the ponies themselves, and getting those mopey ponies out of their houses all by sundown was not going to be easy. She would have to travel at double the speed of laughter in order to complete this mission!

The five other ponies were walking (well, four ponies since Dash chose to fly) together down the lengthy crystal hallway. At first there was silence. Then there was Rainbow Dash.

"So, what's up with you, y'know, existing?" she asked plainly, flapping along lazily over the group. The other Elements that were present all turned to look up at her with horror.

"DASH!" scolded Applejack, Twilight and Rarity at once. Fluttershy just gave her a stern look of disappointment. Ryan, however, was laughing. Pretty bucking hard, too. Like, tears running down his face, crouched over, unable to breathe hard. The ponies all turned to watch him for the few minutes it took for his body to stop convulsing. They were actually starting to get worried about him when he took a deep breath, letting the others know he was about to speak.

"Heh, ask your friend Fleshlight Spankle over here," he said, placing his hand on Twilight's head and giving her mane a tussle. She batted his hand away immediately and looked up at him with a red face, her cheeks threatening to puff out. He noticed this and feigned fear, falling onto his butt and sliding away in a panicked fashion. The surrounding ponies gasped and rushed to him. What was going on? Why was he so scared of Twilight's cheek puff? They surrounded the shivering human and embraced him all at once. Twilight had a look of dawning realization on her face before she let her cheeks deflate.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" she exclaimed guiltily, trying to move closer to Ryan. He just squirmed to get farther away. The other Elements gave the Princess of look of suspicion. What had Twilight done to the poor human to make him so afraid of her? Twilight flinched and tried waving her hooves around to signal her innocence. "I didn't-"

"Twilight, no more! Look at him! He's scared!" Fluttershy defended in her dainty voice. She wasn't yelling, but her tone was very stern. Twilight sighed and looked down in defeat. She stayed quiet while Fluttershy cooed softly to Ryan. He stopped shaking after a few seconds and looked up to Twilight.

"I'm...I'm sorry, it's just...too...cute..." Ryan choked out. Well that caught them all off-guard. They turned to look at him, perplexed by his words. What was going on? Did cute things scare him? He had looked absolutely terrified! It was then that Ryan dropped his look of fear and slid forward, wrapping his arms around Twilight and pulling her into the hug. She responded with 'eep!' and let the big man pull her around as if she was barely even there. Now he's snuggling her, too. Oh, look, now he's laughing. Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Dash took a few moments to register what had happened. Dash was on the ground now.

"Bwaaahahahaha!" she snorted, rolling around. Twilight was so shocked by the sudden action that she instinctively puffed her cheeks up to their full width. The other ponies watched intently at this, even the now-silent Dash. What was he going to do? That was a super cheek puff! The one that had scared him a minute ago had barely formed. He stood no chance...

To their shock, he laughed again and lifted a hand to Twilight's face, squeezing her cheeks and pushing the air out. The purple pony's face deflated quickly and she returned to her normal self. What? He wasn't even bothered by it now! It seemed like he liked it! This Ryan was a confusing character for sure...but then again, they already knew that. They had been watching him for years, and now that they thought about it...this was just like him. He was always confusing his friends and family with his jokes. Why would they be exempt? Applejack sighed and put her hoof to her face.

"Ryan, ya gotta be serious for a lil' whal," she groaned. "Ya gotta know how ta get 'round here so you don get lost!"

The mirthful human looked around to her, his laughter stopping. His gaze then moved about the hallway, taking in its sheer size. Applejack had a point, this place was humongous. If the girls weren't there to show him around, he probably would have locked himself in a closet on accident or something like that. He looked back down at the pony in his grasp and sighed.

"Alright, yeah, sorry. Just couldn't help myself..." he said sheepishly. "You guys are seriously the most adorable things ever. When you do things to make yourselves even cuter, I can't help but...just..." Ryan's voice trailed off. The Elements waiting for him to continue, but he just sat there. His eyes were staring at the far wall, glazed over. He looked like he was very faintly trying to say something, but no words were coming out. Twilight studied his face, trying to figure out what the hay was going on with him.

"Ryan?" Her voice was gentle, but filled with worry. He hadn't done this before. A response didn't come from the frozen human. His body just sat there, frozen in place. The other Elements gathered themselves once more and examined him.

"You awright there, sugarcube?" Applejack asked. No response. She put her one hoof on his shoulder and shook him gently. Nothing. Okay, now this was getting scary for them. Rarity tried next.

"Ryan, darling, please say something," she pleaded. His left eye twitched a bit but otherwise he was motionless. Rarity began to fidget around on her hooves, unsure how to help. What was she supposed to do? He had spaced out on the show before, but he was always easily brought back to reality by his loved ones.

Rainbow tried her luck next. Her attempt consisted of her hoof meeting the center of Ryan's back violently. The reaction was almost instantaneous. His head shot back and his face scrunched up into a pained grimace. What was going on?!

"AHH-CHOOO!" Ryan flew backwards into the far wall, the force from his nasal attack scattering the ponies that had been surrounding him. The poor man's body impacted the crystal wall so hard that a loud 'crack' could be heard echoing in the hall. His body just cracked crystal! Ryan slid slowly down until he was slumped over, rubbing the back of his head. It took mere seconds for the Elements of Harmony to gather themselves and rush over to the recent projectile. Before they could try moving him, he looked up with an embarrassed grin.

"Heh...'scuse me," he said weakly. The ponies gaped at him. He had flung himself back hard enough to crack solid crystal and his best response to it was 'excuse me'?! Twilight stomped her hoof and yelled at him.

"RYAN! What just happened?!" she demanded. Ryan flinched and held his hands up in a 'don't taze me, bro' gesture. He was moving his arms around as if nothing had happened at all. What was he made out of?

"Beats me. Are sneezes around here powered by magic or something?" he asked, rubbing his nose. Twilight could feel something...tingly in the air. What was that? I was really...familiar. Then it hit her.

That was Twilight's magic floating around them! A very large amount of her signature magical force was still twinkling in the hallway, almost like a miniature map to the stars. Twilight's friends all looked around in wonder at the aura floating around them. Rarity wanted so desperately to bottle up the display and take it with her. They had their very own light show going on right in front of them!

Rainbow Dash took this opportunity to float up to where some of the stars were still twinkling. She extended a cautious hoof to touch one. It swirled around her leg for a few moments, as if it were trying to hug her. Dash could feel how familiar it was, just the same as Twilight had. This was Twilight's magical force that was circling her. But where did it come from? Twilight had never left this much residue before...

The five mares looked to their new friend, who had finally managed to stand himself back up. Multiple cracks could be heard as Ryan twisted his back around a bit, loosening himself up. The sound made every mare flinch. That was...ew. Was he okay? That sure didn't sound healthy, but he seemed fine. But what had happened? He sneezed and then...the...magic...

Twilight gasped out loud. The magic had came from him! Somehow he had sneezed out her magic!

....Okay, that sounded really stupid, but that's what happened. The lavender princess looked up at the slowly fading haze of sparkles and magic residue. The largest cloud was right where Ryan had originally been standing, and it got smaller and smaller until it reached where he had been launched. This was getting too weird. The ponies watched as the cloud eventually faded away to nothing. Rarity took this time to restore her mane to its former glory. That explosion had absolutely ruined it!

Twilight gave a nervous shudder but didn't say anything. She knew that they needed to talk to Princess Celestia as soon as possible. However, she didn't want the Princess making assumptions and attacking Ryan...so the party still needed to happen. Ugh, this was all so confusing! What was happening to Ryan? Why did he sneeze her magical residue out? Why did it cause an explosion? Whatever it was, it was not good. She would have to keep a really close watch over her human friend until help could be received. Twilight was just really glad at the moment that nopony had gotten hurt.

****

That was the weirdest shit. Okay, one more rundown for now. Colorful ponies, magic, shows starring me, might be imaginary, might be dead, and now explosive sneezing. Fucking hell, life! Got anything else to throw at me? No, really, go ahead. Make my day, I'm right here waiting for you. No? Oh, great, now the ponies are staying away from me.

That last thing kind of hurt. I know I was technically now fully capable of snot rockets, but that wasn't my fault. I didn't ask for that. Wasn't I in a cuddle pile with these cute little ponies just a little while ago? I want to go back to that...I was comfy. Now they were purposely walking at least a few feet away from me at all times. None of them dared make contact over apparent fear of getting sneezed to death. I even caught Dash giving me nervous glances every so often.

Yeah, thanks guys...I get killed, sucked into another world, told I was being watched by ponies, and informed I wasn't even real to begin with. The last thing I needed right now was for my support to crumble. My humor could only stand up so long before my pondering got the better of me. What if I couldn't go home? What if the Princess still thought I was dangerous after the party and banished me or something? What if...what if they were right and I really wasn't real? That would mean that my home was just somewhere in some pony's brain...

No, I couldn't think like that. I needed to stay focused. The Princess could help me. She was really close to Twilight, right? She wouldn't just hurt someone that Twilight cared about a lot...

Hey, where did the ponies go? When did I stop walking? The only things that I could see all around me were hallways and entrances to other hallways.

Oh god damn it.

****

The five mares walked on, all stuck in deep thought. What was happening to poor Ryan? After everything that had happened to him, now this? Rainbow Dash bumped into the ceiling a few times, too lost in her musings to notice how high she was flying. This time, she smacked her head harder than she had previously. The shock was enough to wake her up and make her shake her head. Where was she? Oh, yeah. She was with her friends, showing Ryan the castle.

She looked down at her friends, taking in their actions. Twilight was walking stiffly, her mane becoming a bit disheveled. Uh oh. Dash knew that look. She just hoped Twilight didn't completely lose it again. Fluttershy was walking along, shivering slightly. She had been launched the farthest by Ryan's sneeze and it was a miracle she hadn't gotten hurt. Poor Flutters, that must have scared the hay out of her. Rarity was still levitating a brush through her luxurious mane, seemingly oblivious to the world around her. Applejack looked okay, but she was probably as deep in thought as Twilight. The orange cowpony just knew how to hide her emotions better. And Ryan was...wait.

"Ryan?" she called down, turning around in midair and looking back down the hallway that had just came from. Ryan was nowhere to be seen. The other mares stopped and looked around, broken from their individual trances. Where had Ryan gone?

The color drained from Twilight's face as soon as she saw that he was missing. Now there was a potentially explosive human lost in her castle. Perfect. The Elements looked between each other and nodded. They split up into three teams, with Twilight working on her own since she lived there and knew it the best. Applejack teamed up with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy with Rarity. Twilight teleported herself to her room and began from there. They needed to find Ryan. Who knows what could have happened to him? Vague images of a charred crater littered with bits of human clothing floated across the alicorn's vision. No! She was not going to let that happen to him!

Rainbow and Applejack took off down the hallway they had previously traveled through, Rarity and Fluttershy following right behind. They stayed together until a fork in the hallways.

"Okay, you guys go left and we'll go right," Rainbow directed, "and if you find him before Applejack and I do, uh...Rarity, just give the rest of us some sort of signal, got it?" Rarity lit her horn and created a ball of light that floated along next to her. With a swish of her horn, the ball floated over to Applejack and took watch over her.

"I'll just flash this light if we find anything, darlings," she explained. Applejack stared at the ball of light following her, tilting her head. It was probably for the best that it followed her instead of Dash; the speedster would probably chase it around everywhere and they would get nothing accomplished. The challenging glare that Rainbow Dash gave the light confirmed her suspicions. Applejack let out a sigh and nodded to Rarity. They then separated, the two teams taking their leave and exploring the two hallways in search of their friends.

~~~~

Fluttershy was worried. Why had Ryan left them? He was in no condition to be left on his own if he was expelling magic blasts like that! She kept reliving the memory of his sudden pained expression right before he was blown into the wall hard enough that it would probably have killed a pony. And now he was wandering around! He could be anywhere in this giant castle- Oh, there he is.

He was very close to where the accident happened, leaning against the wall and staring out of one of the gaps that made up the castle windows. Outside, Ponyville was being bathed in the light of the setting sun. Fantastic shades of red, purple, yellow and orange covered everything as the moon prepared its journey skyward. Ryan stood there, observing every detail that his eyes picked up. He was so lost in the scene that he didn't notice the two ponies walking up to him.

"Ryan...?" Fluttershy squeaked, moving a bit closer. He looked down at her after a few seconds, a conflicted look in his eyes. He took a deep breath before kneeling down, opening his arms in the universal 'hug?' pose. Neither Fluttershy nor Rarity moved. He squatted for a few seconds, waiting for a hug. When they hesitated to move at all, his eyes lowered and he stood back up. Without another word, he turned back to the window and looked outside. The two mares gave each other a concerned look before moving slowly towards him.

"Ryan, darling, is everything alright?" Rarity asked gently. She moved to within about two feet from him and stopped. Fluttershy was even farther away. Ryan glanced at the distance between them. He didn't look for long, and returned to staring outside. After a few seconds, he spoke. His voice was the shakiest either mare had heard it since he had arrived.

"Did...did you know I hate when people cry over me...?" he asked, choking back a small sob. Fluttershy's expression grew worried and she took a step closer. He calmed town the tiniest bit as the distance between them grew smaller. This did not go unnoticed by Rarity, who had been looking between the two of them. She spoke next.

"Yes, dear. We know," Rarity said while moving against him. The first thing that the fashionista noticed when she made contact was that he had been shivering. Shivering and cold. But as she embraced him, he quickly stopped trembling and his posture improved. He even became warmer. Ryan gathered himself before continuing.

"Well, I found out that I hate when people are afraid of me even more," he said solemnly. His gaze was locked on Fluttershy, who was still a few feet away. Fluttershy only took a second to realize what had been bothering him. The distance they had been keeping from him ever since the sneeze. They hadn't even noticed when he stopped following them...he thought that they were blaming him for what he had done! Fluttershy gasped and rushed forward, throwing her hooves around his neck. Ryan accepted the hug gratefully and held both mares against him.

Slowly, he sat down and absorbed the comfort they gave him. A breath escaped his lips that he hadn't realized he had been holding. They were so warm...it was almost like it was his family there, making sure he was okay. Ryan allowed a small smile to appear on his face. These ponies might have been a bit skittish, but hell if they weren't caring. But then another thought popped into his head that tore the smile straight from his face. This new idea almost made him sick.

"Hey, guys?" he ask shakily. The mares hugged him tighter, worried about this reappearing insecurity. He was becoming all sorts of unstable...what was happening?

"Yes...?" Fluttershy responded, though her voice was muffled from her being pressed tightly against the human.

"If Twilight was right and I'm just imaginary...then my family...are they, too? And...Sarah?" he choked out, contemplating seriously for the first time what this meant. His life might have been just a story...nothing he knew would be real. Mom, Dad, Emily, Sarah, they would all be fake too. And he wouldn't be able to see them ever again. To him, this was even worse than just dying; being alive while it turned out the rest of his family never existed in the first place.

"Oh, Ryan...I'm so sorry..." Fluttershy cooed, holding him even tighter. Rarity followed suit as the large man began to tremble once more. He readily accepted their comfort and began to cry softly, trying his hardest not to lose it like he had done in the hospital. Though, if what they were saying was true, he hadn't chose to cry in the hospital. It was all made up in the mind of some psychopathic storyteller. Why would ponies want to watch a man dying in the hospital?

He was ripped from his thoughts when he heard sniffling that didn't belong to him. Uh oh. Both Rarity and Fluttershy were quietly crying with him, their faces buried into his hoodie, leaving small stains. They did say they watched the show earlier...and they seemed to care a lot about him. They must have seen it...everything that happened. They cared about him and they saw him die. What else did they see?

That could be determined later, right now Ryan had two crying mares that needed cheering up. His own angst could wait its turn. He quickly threw on an encouraging smile and kissed the top of Fluttershy's head. She stopped crying immediately and looked up at him, a bright blush covering her face. He smirked and cleared his throat.

"Don't we have a party to get ready for anyway? That's in a couple hours, I think," Ryan said. His voice and posture no longer carried any hint of sadness. He was seemingly right back to his normal self. The two mares blinked a few times before processing his words. They knew he could recover quickly from depression, but wow. That was borderline bipolar. But Ryan gently wiping the tears from the faces of the two ponies quickly made them smile. Ryan Burbank, their favorite character from their favorite show, had just cried with them and was wiping away their tears.

Today was weird for everypony and everybody involved.

Fluttershy smiled and got off of Ryan after a few moments and started trotting slowly away, towards the main section of the castle. Ryan tried to leave with her, but was suddenly held back by some unseen force. He looked down at the faint blue glow surrounding his leg before turning his gaze to the white unicorn causing it. Ryan tilted his head, giving her a questioning look. Rarity cleared her throat suggestively.

"Eh-hem," she coughed. Hint hint. The trapped human continued to look at her in confusion. Rarity sighed and gestured with her eyes towards the top of her head a few times. Ryan blinked, what she was asking slowly dawning on him. He let out a little laugh and nodded. The white mare eagerly released him from her magic and walked up to him. He leaned down to her forehead, moving close.

"Mwah," he said as his lips pressed against her soft white coat. He moved away after a few seconds and looked at her. She was biting her bottom lip, her eyes practically shaped like stars. Ryan gave her a smirk before patting her on the head and standing all the way up. Just as he began to walk towards where Fluttershy was observing them silently, he heard a loud squeak come from the fashionista.

"Eeeeeeeeeee!~" she squealed loudly. Ryan had to cover his ears while Rarity let out her happiness, but the smile never left his face. After Rarity had finished with her fangasm, the two joined Fluttershy and began walking back to the main level.

"Oh, almost forgot~" Rarity sang, triggering her magic. A good walk from where they were, Rarity's little light sphere started flashing. This new activity surprised Rainbow Dash, who had just managed to catch the oddly fast orb. Behind her, Applejack was shouting for her to let the poor magic light go. The cowpony stopped in her tracks when she saw it flashing.

"They found him!" Dash exclaimed happily.

****

The walk home from the hospital had been oddly silent for Lyra and her roommate, Bon-Bon. Both mares had a lot on their minds at the time, and the impending visit from the OW producers loomed over them like death. No discussion with those rotten ponies had been civil since the moment Lyra agreed to do the show for them. The ponies at OW knew that they now legally owned her character, and could do anything they wanted to him if Lyra refused to participate. She agreed to do the show as long as she had some say in the fate of the characters. That agreement had lasted up until the most recent episode, when the producers gave her an ultimatum: kill Ryan or kill his entire family. They were really pushing for a controversy, and blackmailed poor Lyra to get it.

Now the two mares were down in the dumps, and the frown town they were walking through only served to make it worse. The ponies that were out all had sad or irritated expressions on their face. It was strange though, everypony seemed to be headed to the same destination. Was something going on? Her question was answered almost as soon as Lyra has got done asking it to herself.

"HI!" Pinkie shouted, popping up out of nowhere. Both of the downtrodden mares stopped and stared at the pink pony currently invading their personal space. Pinkie Pie stared back, examining them for a few moments before nodding her head. "Yep, definitely got a case of the saddies!" Lyra and Bon-Bon blinked. Pinkie took the opportunity to shove a pamphlet into Lyra's mouth. Okay, that was kinda gross.

Lyra spit the pamphlet out and eyed it suspiciously. She glanced at Bon-Bon, who was busy trying to shove her hoof into her face. Lyra shrugged in return and began to read it out loud.

"You are hereby invited to attend Pinkie Pie's special OtherWorld Cheer-Up party," Lyra read. She gave Pinkie a suspicious glance. Did she know? Did Pinkie somehow find out who she was in relation to OtherWorld? If she did, she didn't show it. She just continued to smile, standing...no, bouncing in place. Lyra continued reading.

"Special guest Cheermeister?" Lyra asked Pinkie. A pink hoof was instantly covering the minty mare's mouth, effectively silencing her. Lyra spat the hoof out in annoyance. Pinkie just sat there, smiling.

"Shh!" the party pony urged, shuffling up right against Lyra. "It's a secret!~" Lyra just groaned at this. Today was just getting better and better. First hospital, then guilt from killing Ryan, then OW producers, and now she just had Pinkie forcefully make her taste the ground that she had been bouncing on. Ugh, gross. And then Pinkie was gone, leaving a second pamphlet tucked firmly between Bon-Bon's teeth.

"So," Lyra began, levitating the paper up and looking at it further, "you think we should go?" Bon-Bon spat out her pamphlet and looked at Lyra's instead. The cream-colored earth pony read to herself for a few moments before shrugging.

"I think I could go for some drinks," Bon-Bon said plainly. Lyra nodded to her friend. Drinks and a fun environment sounded pretty good. Celestia knows they would need it to face tomorrow. Shiver.

"Agreed. Hopefully Pinkie can cheer everypony up," Lyra said hopefully, "it would make me feel a lot better if I didn't have to see all these sad faces around town..." Bon-Bon nodded sadly and gave her friend a small neck hug. Lyra ate up the affection greedily.

"Let's go then, the pamphlet says the party starts in an hour at Twilight's castle. It looks like ponies are heading over there already. Guess they don't have anything else going on today..." Bon-Bon observed. Lyra's mood lifted significantly. Princess Twilight? She hadn't seen her in forever! She wasn't worried about Twilight, she was pretty sure the lavender alicorn had been too busy with her studies to watch something like OtherWorld. Maybe the Princess of Friendship would be the perfect pony to bring some happiness back to this little town.

And with that uplifting thought, the two friends were off.

****

Princess Luna entered the unfortunate pony's dream with caution. This nightmare felt especially fresh. Whose dream was this again? Ah, yes, little Sweetie Belle, younger sibling to the Element of Generosity. This little filly had many nightmares in her time, but they were usually lesser nightmares about being late for school or disappointing her sister. Luna remembered conjuring up some of her own nightmares to show the filly what would become of her poor older sister if the pranks she had pulled had gone unfixed. But this feeling, this was worse.

She stepped into the scene and froze. Princess Luna was now standing in a hospital. Right in front of her sat a bed, and inside that bed lay the Element of Generosity herself. She appeared very pale and sickly, her body motionless. A loud whimpering caught Luna's attention. She turned her attention to the side of the bed, where little Sweetie Belle sat crying her poor little eyes out. The Princess looked up at the only other source of sound in the room: a heart monitor giving off a long 'beeeeeeee-' sound. This scene was becoming more and more familiar...

The Princess of the Night knew this room well. It was almost identical to the room she had watched her Ryan's heart stop in. This nightmare had taken the setup and replaced Ryan with Sweetie's older sister for the most emotional trauma possible. This had been hard to sit through once for Luna, and she was thousands of years old. She had dealt with the death of loved ones many, many times before. This young one had probably never even lost a pet before. The Princess had seen enough.

With an angered swish of her large horn, the dark blue alicorn erased the room, along with the scene, from existence. That room could burn in Tartarus for all she cared. Instead, she replaced it with a scene of Sweetie playing with her friends after school. The cool late summer air was much fresher than the musty hospital oxygen and the natural lighting was much more relaxing. Little Belle looked around, confused at the sudden change of location. Her friends Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were resting next to her, apparently having just gotten done playing some sort of game. Then Sweetie's eyes locked onto the Princess of the Dreams and her face relaxed.

She quickly got up onto her tiny filly legs and trotted over to Luna's long blue leg, hugging it for support. Luna's eyes softened towards the poor pony and she lowered a wing, wrapping it around her. Sweetie Belle sighed in comfort, still shaking slightly from the mental torture she had just underwent.

"It is alright, little one, it was just a nightmare," Luna said softly to the shaking filly. As she did this, Sweetie's body calmed down until it was no longer trembling. Good, she was relaxing.

"It was so sad..." she whined up at the Princess. Luna gave her a knowing look and held her tighter with her wing. This filly had watched. It wouldn't be surprising if this hadn't been her first nightmare with this scene. She had already battled a few nightmares inspired by the last episode with other ponies, but she didn't expect it to cause to much misery. Especially to fillies. Why had she been allowed to watch in the first place?

"His family...they were crying so hard...and, Sarah! She left him!" the filly yelled out in frustrated sadness. Luna flinched at these words. "He needed her there and she just ran away...it...it made me wonder what would happen...if I was dying. If I had a special somepony, would they leave me too? Is that how it works?" Luna sighed and looked away for a few moments. The filly's eyes were drilling into Luna's and it was making her feel more and more guilty.

"No, Sweetie Belle, that is not usually how it works. But...the situation portrayed was a very intense one. There are no guidelines to how a pony should act when they have that much stress and sadness piled on them," Luna explained sadly. Sweetie stared up at the Dream Princess for a good while, absorbing her words. What she said made sense to her...she wouldn't know how she would react if it had been Rarity in that hospital bed for real, dying in front of her.

"Have you gone through anything like that, Princess Luna?" she asked softly. Luna looked down at the filly. Nopony had every cared to ask her about the hardships she had experienced. It warmed the heart of the Princess greatly. She smiled down and nodded.

"Yes, young one, a very similar event," Luna answered. Sweetie shuffled a little bit, getting more comfortable.

"How...how did you react?" the filly asked innocently. Luna sighed and looked far off into the horizon of the dreamscape. The colors were so beautiful out here. No wonder the ponies of old had loved her sister's sun so much.

"Very similarly," was all Luna said. Sweetie noticed the sadness in her voice and wrapped her tiny white legs around the large alicorn. This filly was going to be the absolute death of her. Something this adorable could be weaponized. The Princess responded to Sweetie's marshmallow hug by wrapping both of her wings around her tiny body. There was now no sign a filly was present; there was just a blue mass of feathers. It was then that the dream versions of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were disturbed by a flying pink mass.

"Pinkie?!" they exclaimed at the same time. Luna stared at the Element of Laughter, who was currently bouncing over to her and Sweetie. The Princess was very confused. She had not summoned a dream version of the pink one...what was going on? Pinkie continued bouncing until she was nose to nose with Sweetie, who had at this point popped out from Luna's wings to see the commotion.

"Hiya Sweetie!" she giggled happily to the little filly, her pink hoof rubbing through her pink and purple mane. Sweetie responded by giggling back at her and pushing further into the attention Pinkie was giving her. "I was looking all over for you! There's a party at Twilight's castle tonight and your sister wanted me to get you!"

Sweetie Belle blinked at this and tilted her head. She was confused, but still nodded. She knew it was not smart to question the pink one. She took the piece of paper Pinkie had offered her and looked at it. As soon as she finished reading, she looked up at Pinkie Pie once again with an excited grin.

"Ooh! Who's the guest?" Sweetie asked. She was squirming around a bit against Luna, apparently in eagerness. Laughter just grinned and winked at the excitable filly.

"You're gonna have to come see~" she sang. Sweetie nodded quickly and looked up at the alicorn towering over her. Princess Luna had been reduced to a nervous twitch. Laughter had somehow entered this little filly's dreamscape, without Luna noticing, to give her an invitation. Why couldn't she have just woken Sweetie up? Ugh, this pony was a living paradox.

"Can I wake up now, Princess Luna?" Sweetie Belle asked, an adorable smile on her face. Luna could not say no. Just as she was about to end the dream, however, Pinkie offered her an invitation as well. Luna blinked and looked at the paper. It didn't seem to be poisoned, but she didn't trust this pony. She instead used her magic to levitate the paper. The Princess floated it up until it was within reading distance before scanning the words written. Okay, so it was some sort of party to help those hurt by Ryan's death on the show. A valiant cause, pink one. Luna herself had seen just how badly ponies around Equestria had been taking it from seeing their dreams the night before.

Well...it wouldn't hurt to visit the party. It seemed to be important enough for Laughter to barge into another pony's dream to invite her, so it might be some party. And the invitation said something about a 'Special Guest.' Luna could only guess who that would be. Maybe the storyteller herself? She lived close enough to Princess Twilight's castle. Maybe not, though. If the other ponies knew that the storyteller was there, they might take their grief out on her. Hmm...

Well, first thing's first. EVERYPONY OUT! She swiftly channeled magic into her horn and ended the dream, sending herself soaring back into her own body.

"Well, that was fun. Do it again!" she declared to herself, raising her hoof to the sky.

****

Well, can't say that I was surprised with Twilight's reaction when Fluttershy and Rarity brought me back. I think she might have channeled a little bit of Pinkie or something. All I know is that I was very suddenly blinded by a pony latching herself onto my face. Very familiar except for the color; this time my mask was purple. The force of her tackle did send me stumbling back, but I managed to keep myself upright.

"Holy shit, what the fuck, Twilight?!" I tried to say. Thanks to my new ponyface, the only thing that came out was a series of unintelligent mumbles. Ugh, this again. Somebody, please save me! I don't want to drown in Twilight! Hmm...nah, ew.

"Twilight, dear, Ryan does need to breathe," Rarity piped up, looking at us with amusement. This seemed to draw the purple pony back into reality. She quickly shuffled down from my head, smiling sheepishly. A spot on her belly was newly wet with my saliva from where she had forcefully made me taste her. Hm. She tasted like purple, if that made any sense. But still, I wasn't really keen on tasting any of them willingly. Nothing against these ponies; I wouldn't have gone around licking humans either.

"Heh...sorry, Ryan," she said nervously. I just gave her a smirk and pointed to the wet spot on her tumtum. She tilted her head and looked down at it.

...Okay, she's still just looking at it. Why isn't she moving? She's still- okay, there she goes.

Twilight's response was to have her own brand of mini-freakout. It seemed like her mind was conflicted between rubbing the spit away and never washing that spot ever again. Okay, that was funny. I just laughed out loud, watching the scene unfold before me. I swear, Twilight could star in her own show or something. Oh, wait...didn't she already? I hope that's what that was, and not another weird 'you're not real' kind of thing. Ugh, these thoughts again.

A prodding hoof to my leg drew me from my mind, thankfully. I looked down to see Rarity giving me the cutest pouty face I'd ever goddamn seen. Okay, she wanted something from me again, I was sure of it. But what? She was just standing there with her cute little begging expression, looking between me and Twilight's belly...

Oh. Nah, no thanks. Not going to make doing that a thing. If they were telling the truth and I really was, like, super famous among the ponies, then starting a habit of belly-licking was the worst idea ever. I sighed at the white unicorn and shook my head. She saw I wasn't going to comply willingly and increased her cuteness by another 4000%.

The fashionista's cuteness was starting to wear on me. I had to hold my resolve! Just keep in mind that if I started doing this, a good chunk of my fans would want to be licked by me too. Even maybe some of the guys. Ugh, no to that. Instead, I distracted her by softly scratching her ear. Rarity immediately went lax and sank to the floor, making adorable little leg twitches. Oh god, even while in a stupor her cuteness was hard to resist. I just chose to look away and continued scratching.

Okay, now what was touching me? Oh, Fluttershy wanted some scratchies too. No problem, as long as she didn't want me to autograph her with my tongue. I lifted my other arm to the yellow mare's head and started scratching. She repeated what Rarity had done almost exactly. Now I had two adorable ponies under the control of my amazing fingers. Mwahaha.

"There you are!" I heard from behind me. Whoever said that was coming up behind me fast. I instinctively pushed a foot forward to brace for the impact that was inevitable. Wait for it...wait for it...wa- OOF!

Rainbow Dash knew how to fucking tackle. Was she involved in some sort of sport? Any football team back home would pay millions to just have her play one game! Well, at least I had braced for it. Because of that, the force of her latching onto me at the speed of sound only sent me stumbling forward a few steps. I had kept myself standing, though! Yay, me!

The sudden removal of attention to her ear drew an irritated glance from Rarity. When she saw what the cause was, she just sighed and stood up. Fluttershy shook her head a little and followed suit. Aww.

"Dash, you coulda hurt 'im!" Applejack scolded from behind all of us. She had been walking steadily behind the blue mare that had just assaulted me. She looked really tired. What had happened to take out so much of her energy? The prismatic mare trying to squeeze the life out of me served as a decent answer. The cowpony sighed and lifted her hat, revealing a small white ball of light floating underneath it. What the hell? I want one. "Ere's yer thingy back, Rarity." The small orb floated over to Rarity before sinking itself back into her horn. Damn it.

"Hey!" Dash shouted from her position on my back. "You said it disappeared before!" Applejack groaned and facehoofed. Ha.

"Ya wouldn't stop chasin' the poor thang!" she scolded back. Dash's face grew red but she didn't back down.

"The Element of Honesty telling a lie?" Rainbow teased. "You remember what happened last time?" This made Applejack shiver. What had happened? I had only seen a little bit of what I thought was their show. Nothing? Okay, then don't clue me in, I don't care.

"Oh, an the Element of Loyalty keepin 'er friends waitin jus ta go chasin' some light ball?" Applejack shot back. Rainbow buried her face into my back. I couldn't tell what face she was making, but the smug look on AJ's face told me that the argument was over at this point. Good, I was starting to worry about some noises I had been hearing from lower in the castle for a few moments now.

Twilight seemed to have heard the noises too, and stopped losing her shit. A look of realization came upon her face and she shouted loud enough to deafen me for a few moments.

"THE PARTY!" Twilight screamed. The rest of us had to cover our ears. Fucking fuck, Sprinkle! How could something so small and cute be so damned loud? She was now running in circles. Okay, she's broken. Currently losing her shit again. Time to fix this.

I stood up, Rainbow Dash still hanging from my back. Oddly enough, when she wasn't trying to bowl me over, she weighed barely anything it seemed. It wasn't just her though, all the ponies were super super lightweight. I walked over to the panicked purple and pink pony princess and picked her up. Even when I held her up to my face, her legs were moving as if she was still on the move. Pfft. Welp, just need something to wake her the hell up.

"Mwah," I said, repeating the gesture that I had expressed to both Rarity and Fluttershy. Twilight stopped moving and stared at me with a blush adorning her face. Applejack was gaping at me, her body frozen solid from the shock of what she had just seen. I couldn't see Rainbow, but she must have wanted to try flying off again because her wings were splayed out, making me look like an angel with tiny blue wings. Silly pony, just let go! No? Well then I guess you're not going anywhere. Man, these ponies were clingy. I wasn't complaining.

Rarity and Flutters just gave knowing grins and watched us. They knew the power of head smooches. They didn't seem jealous though; they both had gotten ear scratches, too! It took a bit for Applejack to close her mouth and rid herself of her blush. Aw, I kind of liked the blush. It matched the apple marks on her butt. I drew my attention back to Twilight. She gave me another sheepish grin. Been getting too many of those lately from Purple.

"Okay, Twi. Party's almost starting. Here's what I want you to do: make sure everything is set up, including music and food and whatnot. Then when everything is ready, get all the ponies outside again. Then bring in whoever is going to be helping with the party first so we can get the initial shock of, well, me, over quickly. That includes the DJ if Pinkie got one, the ponies in charge of food, medical staff-"

"Medical staff?" Twilight asked, her pupils shrinking a bit. I nodded my head.

"Yeah, nurses and stuff. What have you ponies tended to do when you saw me for the first time?" I asked, smirking at her. Twilight's ears flattened against her head in embarrassment.

"P...pass out..." the Princess confessed. I nodded proudly and gave her a smile. I loved teasing this little pony. She was too easy.

"Mhmm. So far, Pinkie's been the only one not to conk out. I'm pretty sure that a good portion of the town is going to react in a similar way, and I want some medical ponies around to make sure they all get the care they need until they wake up," I explained. Twilight put her hoof to her lips and thought for a moment.

"That...is actually a good idea," she said gladly. Guess I have to think of these things for now, at least until the initial shock wears off. Then I can laze around until I find out what's going to be going on. Yay! I smiled at Purple and gave her a thankful nod. I was glad she was at least trusting some of my decisions so far. It made me feel more like a human and less like a fictional character pulled out a TV show. She clambered down from my grasp and hit the ground with a soft 'clop.'

"Okay, come on, girls. We gotta help Pinkie set up," Twilight directed to her friends. "Ryan, stay here and wait until the first ponies are ready for you." The Elements nodded and walked off after her, but Rainbow stayed behind. Twilight noticed and turned around, giving Dash an impatient look. I felt Dash's hooves tighten a bit. Guess she didn't want to leave yet. That's fine, I didn't want to be alone.

"Can she stay and keep me company?" I pleaded to the Princess. Twilight's expression softened and she nodded with a faint smile. Without another word, she trotted after her friends to help set up.

The room we were in was silent for awhile. Then, slowly, Dash undid herself from my back and slid down. She trotted around to my front and looked at me. Why did she look guilty? She didn't do anything to me. I tilted my head at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Listen, Ryan...I'm sorry about the, uh, looks I was giving you...before," she apologized. I blinked for a moment. Why was she sorry? I mean, yeah, it hurt at the time, but I had my cry over it already. Huh, I forgot that Dash wasn't there for that. She probably thought I got offended and ran off. Time to cheer up another pony!

"No prob, Dash. That wasn't really why I lost you guys. The looks just made me think about everything else that has been going on. You probably know how I can get sometimes," I said softly to her. She blinked and smiled back, nodding.

"Yeah, of course I know, ya big goof!" she laughed. That was the sound of miracles right there, laughter. She shoved me gently on the shoulder with her hoof, but I barely budged. She looked at where she tried pushing, tilting her head. "Uh...how strong are you, anyway? I mean...I flew into you almost at supersonic speed levels before! You didn't fall down!" She was moving around a lot now, making motions with her body to play out what had happened. I shrugged and watched her performance.

"Dunno. You ponies barely weight anything, it feels like," I explained plainly. She gave me a curious glare before laying down and setting her hoof up.

"Hoof wrestle. Now." Okay then, blue guy. I was just hoping she didn't hurt me somehow. My legs folded underneath me as I settled down, wresting my elbow on the ground and wrapping my hand around the soft blue hoof. Dash smirked, her tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth. Aww, she looked like a derpy cat. Her eyes then narrowed into a competitive glare. Oh, boy. I done did it now. We locked our limbs, preparing to begin.

"Okay, ready!" Dash began. "3...2...1...GO!"

...Didn't she just say go? Okay, weird. She just said go, but she didn't start-

Oh. She had a strained look on her face and her leg was twitching with effort. She was trying.

Hot damn, am I like a super muscle freak in this world or something? It didn't feel any different than before she started. I grinned smugly and pretended to struggle, my hand shaking and moving closer to the ground. Dash laughed proudly, throwing her all into finishing me off. But right before the back of my hand touched, I stopped. Try as she might, the poor cyan mare couldn't move me any more than that. She was getting irritated now, sweat trickling down her face. Oh, now she's turning a nice shade of purple. Better stop now before she hurts herself.

With barely any effort, I pushed her hoof all the way around until it hit the floor on her side. She yipped from the sudden jerky motion and flopped over sideways. Okay, might have did that a bit too fast. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt her. I quickly slid over to where she had landed and looked down at her.

"Yo, Rainbow Dash. Y'allright?" I asked. She sat there in a daze for a bit before looking up at me in shock.

"Buh...but how?! I was winning!" she stuttered. I chuckled and crossed my arms at her. So she was super duper competitive. I wondered if I could use that for anything in the future...hmm.

"Nooope, I could barely feel you pushing," I teased. Dash got a look of indignation on her face and she crossed her front legs, pouting. That's fucking adorable. More pouty Dash, please!

"Pfft, yeah, right!" she spat. "I'm just as strong as Applejack and she's one of the strongest earth ponies around!" I shrugged at the blue mare and sighed.

"Well, then I guess I'm stronger than earth ponies, too. Listen, Dash, don't feel bad. I don't think I should be this strong either. I sure wasn't back home," I said softly. She seemed to relax a bit at this. I technically was some sort of otherworldly monster. Heh, puns. Wait, if I was this resistant to the forces of this world...she had tackled me hard enough to almost floor me before!

"And Dash, just saying, but you have to be more careful with your tackling. If I wasn't as durable as I apparently am, you could have killed me back there," I told her. Rainbow's eyes widened and her face dropped. That wasn't good. Guilty ponies leads to sad ponies. I needed something for her to focus on that didn't involve reminded her that I was stronger. Uh...wasn't she, like, super fast?

"I might be stronger than you, Dash, but you're waaaay faster. If we were in a real fight, it wouldn't matter how strong I was if I couldn't even hit you!" This brought a proud grin to her face. She shot up into the air and did a few loops, showing herself off to me. She was so proud of her flying ability, but it was definitely something to be proud of. After her little display, I clapped for her and let out a 'Whoop!' She bowed midair, soaking up my admiration. I really wanted to see what she could do outside, without the walls confining her.

"C'mon, Dash! Bring 'im down!" I heard Applejack's voice say faintly. We both turned around towards where the voice had came from and stared. Welp, this was it. I could honestly say that I've never had to cheer up a legion of sad fans before. First time for everything, I guess. Then a devious little thought appeared in my head. That was perfect! Something fun for Dash and I to do while this all went down.

"So, Rainbow, any bets on how many ponies do you think I'll make pass out?" I asked, a sly grin on my lips. Dash looked up at me and grinned right back. Oh, it was on. She put her hoof up to her face for moment, thinking to herself.

"Mmm, I'm going to say...a hundred," she stated, putting her hoof back down onto the floor. I offered her my hand before I set my own bet.

"I say more than that. So less than one hundred, you win. More than one hundred, I win. How's that sound?" She looked at me with narrowing eyes, her smirk growing larger.

"That's fine, what happens when I win?" she asked in a teasing voice. Oh, you're in for it now, Rainbow Trash. I thought for a moment. What were we going to bet over? What would be embarrassing enough to both of us? Oh, duh. I smiled at her.

"Loser has to wear a dress for one whole day, outside," I stated. Dash's pupils shrank at this, but her competitive glare stayed the same. Either way, Rarity would get to show off her work. Rainbow would probably have to pay for it, but I really couldn't right now. Maybe ponies seeing their favorite character in one of Rarity's dresses would help her sell enough to repay her. Oh well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Rainbow Dash licked her lips nervously for a second before taking my hand in her hoof and shaking it.

"Deal! Hope you like laces~" she sang as she floated by. Nope, not taking that without a fight.

"Hope you like panties," I retorted.

*Thump*

Huh. Oh, well. One down, ninety-nine to go. I looked down at my hand for brief moment. It had been tingling ever since I wrestled Dash, and I had been too afraid to look directly at it. Okay, here I go...

Shit. It's glowing purple. The same color that I had sneezed out back in the hallway. I...I needed to talk to Twilight about this. Later, though, I probably would need my super strength to carry Dash's unconscious body down to the party with me.

Later.

****

This line was way too long. Why was there a line to get into a party anyway? It was Ponyville! What, did they turn Princess Twilight's castle into a nightclub? Lyra and Bon-Bon stood waiting in a line that hadn't even started moving yet. Both of their tempers were shortening.

"Why did the invite tell us to be here at six if they're not even letting anypony in?" Bon-Bon complained. The ponies in front of and behind the duo nodded in agreement. They had all taken time out of their busy schedules (that consisted of moping) to visit this party that Pinkie had been so adamant about. Who was this mysterious guest that had been so hyped up? Whoever it was, they had better be worth the trouble...

The only ponies that anypony had seen enter the castle had been Vinyl Scratch, the DJ, her friend Octavia, a few nurses from the Ponyville Hospital and what seemed to be a few ponies carrying a large wagon through the castle doors. Why did they get to go in? Hmph.

It took another half an hour for anything else to happen, in which time all the ponies in line were growing more and more restless. Lyra was about to walk back home when the castle doors opened and the first few ponies were accepted.

"Finally!" Bon-Bon shouted, throwing a hoof up into the sky. But just as the first few in line had entered, the door shut again. What the hay was going on?! Just keep the bucking doors open! Then they heard a shriek coming from inside the castle before the sound of a body hitting the ground echoed out into the warm evening air.

Every pony in line gulped nervously as the door opened once more, accepting the next few hesitant applicants.

****

Well, my side of the bet was off to a nice start. My almost-perfect track record was ruined, though. Damn it. The electric-haired DJ that Pinkie had chosen, Vinyl Scratch, had certainly lost her shit. She didn't faint, however. She had a friend with her, some fancy-looking gray mare by the name of Octavia. Octy had been surprised to see some kind of creature towering above her, but she didn't appear to know just who I was. Meh, I was okay with that. Vinyl spent a few minutes running in circles around me, taking in every detail of my form. Did Pinkie have a daughter that just happened to be a DJ? No? Okay, maybe she was just excited.

"Awww maaaan, it really is you! How are you even here, dude?" she shouted at me. I smirked and pointed over at Twilight, who was busy levitating some food onto a long party table. Vinyl smiled knowingly at me and laughed. I couldn't see her eyes through her glasses, but the rest of her face did a fine job displaying her emotions. Octavia looked at her questioningly.

"Do you know him from somewhere, Vinyl?" she inquired. The DJ pony nodded her head vigorously.

"Yeah! He's the guy from OtherWorld! You know, the main guy! I didn't know all of that was real!" she exclaimed. Uh oh, getting into some uncomfortable waters here. I just smiled, trying to act naturally. Octavia looked like she had more questions, but chose to save them for later. Thank you, Miss Treble. I avoided more of Vinyl's summaries by kneeling down and opening my arms wide for her. She displayed a little giddy grin and leapt up into my embrace. Score! More pony hugs! I got a tiny little static shock when she touched me though. It wasn't painful at all. It was actually rather fitting for her.

After a few moments, she jumped down. I turned to Octavia, lifted my eyebrow. My arms were open and ready.

"Ehem, uh, no, but thank you kindly," she said a bit quickly. Aw, the pony didn't want my scary human hugs. That made me a saaaad panda. Nah, not really, I'm sure she'd cave at some point.

"Okay, I'll let you do your thing, then, DJ..." I started. Did she have a stage name? Or was her stage name Vinyl Scratch?

"Oh, it's DJ PON-3," she explained. Huh?

"Is that like 'pone-three' or 'pone-eee'?" I asked, tilting my head. She just laughed and turned around, walking away.

"Yes," was all I could hear from her before she was off to set up the rest of the way. Oh, good, thanks for that. Cleared things up soooo goddamn much. She's just lucky I didn't scratch her ear or something to stop her from performing. God, that would be evil.

I let her go, however, and walked over to where Pinkie was busy setting up some balloons. She had gotten back a little while ago, saying that she had 'dropped the fillies off in line.' Not sure who the fillies were, but I had some high hopes that they were the Crusaders. I didn't really know any of the others, to be honest. At least I knew who Apple Bloom and her friends were. She just left fillies in line alone with a bunch of other possibly strange ponies? Damn, they sure were trusting around here. Can't really complain too much if the town is that safe though.

"Hey, Pinkie!" I called to her. The pink mare turned to me with a large smile, her eyes sparkling. This was her element. A giant party to cheer up more ponies than she ever had before, along with her new best friend that up until today she thought was imaginary. Let's just hope she was still wrong about that one...no, nope. Not going to think about that, it's party time!

"Hiya, Ryan! Ready to par-tay?!" she exlaimed, letting go of the balloon she had been blowing up. The little piece of rubber made a loud 'prrrrbbbbtttt' sound as it flew around the room. It did a couple of loops that Dash would envy before smacking Rarity in the face with a wet plop. The poor white unicorn's eyes grew wide before she loud out the most ear-splitting shriek I had ever heard. She then passed the fuck out and hit the floor. Geez, these ponies lost consciousness waaaay too often. This had to be some sort of unhealthy. But that shriek...my ears were still ringing. I wouldn't be surprised if ponies miles away had heard that. Ouch.

"Hey, Rainbow!" I called out, "I'm counting that!" Above me, Dash was helping set up light fixtures for Vinyl's show. She looked down and spotted Rarity's twitching body. She slapped her hoof to her face and groaned.

"Oh, come on! How many is that already?" She flew down to Rarity and poked her gut gently. Rarity twitched again but remained out.

"Including you and her?" I teased. "Four. Also had the one nurse pass out and one of the cooks lost it when he saw my teeth." Rainbow shook her head and sighed. Guess she wanted to be disappointed in them. Kinda hard to feel that way when she was the first pony to go down for me. Wait, that sounded really wrong, scratch that. Ugh, sick. She was the first pony to pass out. There, that's better.

Movement to the side of me caught my attention. Twilight was walking towards me, trailed by a group of ponies that were too busy looking at the inside of the castle to notice me right away. Well, here goes.

"Show time," I whispered to myself, leaning down and picking Rarity's limp body up without any effort. I handed her off to Rainbow quickly, making sure to not look like I had just killed the poor fashionista. Dash struggled with Rarity's weight as she flew her body over to where the nurses had set up shop.

"Geez, Rarity, what have you been eating?" I heard her grunt to herself. That was enough to brighten my mood. I would need as much brightening as I could get with what I was about to go through.

The group of ponies drew closer ever so slowly. They seemed to all be tired. Bags lined the area under their eyes and their ears were flattened a bit more than they should have been. Twilight saw me and gave me a nervous grin that said 'I'm not ready for this.' I just nodded my head at her. I felt the same exact way.

Then, the first pony saw me and stopped. The rest noticed the mare's sudden stopping and turned to look where she was looking. The rest froze up as well as they locked eyes on me. The room went quiet. Really fucking quiet. That 'sound of silence' ringing was driving me crazy.

*Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump*

...

*Thump-thump-THUMP*

"...Ryan...?" asked the one mare who had made it through the initial shock. I smiled softly at her and nodded.

*Thump*

...Okay, then, never mind.

****

The walleyed pegasus hummed patiently to herself. It was sure taking a long time to get into this party! At least the weather was nice out today. She had managed not to mess everything up today, so it was a good day in her book! The setting sun was almost gone now, Princess Luna's Moon threatening to beat it into submission. The moon finally won after a few moments and rose.

Derpy was getting a little worried. Her daughter Dinky had been sleeping peacefully on her back while they had been waiting in line. The gray mare looked around to her precious little muffin and smiled lovingly. She just hoped the party didn't run too late at night...the little unicorn filly needed a good night's rest for school tomorrow. Well, that was also the reason she was here in the first place.

Dinky was a huge fan of OtherWorld. She had saved up her allowance to get herself her very own Ryan plushy, which she was currently holding onto tightly in her sleep. She hadn't stopped hugging it since last night's episode. Derpy had always watched the show with her, in case she was needed to answer some questions about the darker aspects. But last night...the pegasus mare was just as horrified as her daughter. How are you supposed to answer questions like 'Wud's wong wid Wyan?' or 'Why aw dey wetting him die?' It tore the poor mother's heart out when her little muffin screamed 'WYAN, NO!' at the end of the episode.

Dinky had spent over an hour crying into her mother's embrace. Derpy didn't know what to say this make this ouchie go away. This was too much even for her. The scene kept replaying in her mind, over and over. The sadness, the pain, the torment, it had scarred the two ponies in very much the same way it had scarred a good chunk of Equestria. Derpy kept her filly with her when she went to bed last night, but Dinky spent the whole night sniffling and squeezing her plushy longingly.

Derpy didn't know how to make her daughter better. Luckily, she was friends with Pinkie Pie, who had set out on a quest to help all those poor ponies that had been traumatized. Leave it to Pinkie to take it upon herself to cheer everypony up! The mother mare smiled to herself again. This might just be the thing to cheer her baby up. She needed her sleep!

Before she realized the line had been slowly moving, Derpy noticed that she was next in line. Twilight popped out after a few minutes and smiled kindly at her. Derpy smiled back at the Princess and walked forward when she was asked to.

"Right this way, please!" Twilight gestured to them. Apparently she was only taking one or two ponies at a time now for some reason. It made the line move slower, but there was probably a reason. Derpy shrugged her thoughts away and trotted after Twilight, Dinky still snoring gently on her mother's back.

****

Whew! This was getting tiring. Tiring but awesome at the same time. So many ponies, so many hugs! Not as many passed out as I thought, but all of them were ecstatic to see me. Only a few of them asked how! I didn't answer, of course, but gave those that asked extra tight hugs.

Even though the fainting was a little bit less than I expected, I was still easily going to win the bet I had made with Rainbow Dash. Three ponies with flower-based cutie marks had showed up and proceeded to pass out three times in a row. I counted each instance, much to Dash's chagrin. Thank you Lily, Roseluck and Daisy! Just those three mares made up almost a tenth of the number I needed to reach to beat Dash. This night was amazing already! Now, what color panties was I going to make her wear? Hmm...

Just then, I was tapped lightly on the leg. I looked down and saw Twilight looking back up at me, another pony right behind her. We had decided to only show one pony at a time. This happened after a poor mare had gotten a bruise from being landed on by a rather large stallion as he fainted. So who was here to see me now? The crossed eyes staring in wonder up at me gave it away. I had seen this one before! She had been in the background for some of what I had seen in the show. Was...was that her daughter sleeping on her back? Oh my fucking god, that is the new cutest thing I'd ever seen in my life. These ponies seemed to want to give me a heart attack with their cuteness. Heart attack or diabetes, one of those two. I didn't know the name of the mare however, so I couldn't address her. She was frozen in place but stayed conscious. Finally, after a few moments, she whispered to the sleeping filly on her back.

"M...Muffin...?" she stuttered. Um, what? Oh god, I hope her name isn't Muffin and she had that Pokemon disease of only saying her name. That would get annoying really fast. The little unicorn that had been sleeping on top of her moved around when she spoke. Oh, okay, that must be what she called her daughter. Fair enough.

"Huh...wha...?" the filly said, rubbing her eyes and giving an adorable yawn. Oh shit, my heart just almost exploded. That sounds like a joke but with what had been happening, it was probably a possibility. Nope, still alive...for now.

The little unicorn looked around, squeezing some some of familiarly-shaped doll to her fluffy little chest. Was that a plushy of...me? I think it is. They have those? Why do they have those? The filly's eyes locked on me and grew wide. I just hoped her mother was ready to catch her if she passed out. She was a good distance from the ground and I didn't want her to get hurt.

"Dinky! Stop!" the mother scolded, trying to stop the movement that was taking place on her.

Just like, the filly had jumped down and sprinted to me. She wrapped her tiny little legs around me, squeezing to make sure I was really there. The plushy of me was clamped in her mouth. My heart felt weird...her eyes were shining so brightly...no, can't pass out, can't pass out-

"Wyan! You're awive!" she cheered up at me, her voice muffled by the cloth replica of my body.

Irk.

Hello, darkness, my old friend~

*Thump*

****

The doors to the castle opened all the way. The cheers of every pony still stuck outside filled the air as everypony scrambled to get into the area where they could hear the party going. Lyra and Bon-Bon rushed to get in as fast as they could. The night air had started to get a bit chilly and they desperately wanted to be in with the warmth of the castle.

Within a minute or so, most of Ponyville had crowded themselves into the Castle of Friendship. Ponies ran around, finding out where all the different activities were located. Groups of friends formed and played some games together, while most formed on the dance floor to listen to Vinyl's music. The utter chaos that had befell the castle quickly settled down once everypony had found their place. Many food and drinks tables had been set up, with hundreds of sweets and treats covering them. A berry-colored mare stumbled to the drinks and began messing with them without anypony noticing.

Big Macintosh walked calmly through the crowd, the three Cutie Mark Crusaders resting lazily on his back. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked downtrodden, but Sweetie had a small smile adorning her face. They had finally gotten inside! Now she could see who this super secret guest that Pinkie had told them about was!

Lyra and Bon-Bon found a seat at one of the many tables that had been set up, setting down the plates of food that they had gathered. Bon-Bon took a sip of her punch, shivered, then smiled.

"Berry got to the punch again. Just what I needed," she sighed happily, letting the tingling sensation of the salt stay on her tongue before taking another sip. Lyra looked over at the punch bowl and eyed it nervously.

"I just hope no fillies get into it..." Lyra swore to herself. Berry bucking Punch had spiked every punch bowl at every party in Ponyville for as long as anypony could remember. Bon-Bon shrugged and continued drinking.

"The mothers with fillies and colts all know to bring their own drinks," the cream mare said plainly. Lyra watched the bowl for a few more moments before turning her head to another source of movement. On the far side of the room, past the sound stage, she could see a medical station set up. Large panels were erected to seemingly hide patients from public view. This confused Lyra. What kind of party was this if if needed its own doctors? And there were foals running around! Ponies seemed to be emerging from the station every few minutes. Just how many were back there?

Then the shape of a human emerged.

****

I awoke on one of the medical cots with Rainbow Dash smirking above me. I groaned and sat up slowly, rubbing the side of the head where I had fallen. She gave me a grin and crossed her legs.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, chuckles," I deadpanned. I swung my legs over the side of the cot and shook the sleep from my eyes. Ugh, that wasn't pleasant. Not the adorable filly part, that was the best. The passing out and smashing my head on the floor sucked, though. Dash grinned at me and held up the tally. So far I had gotten 82 ponies to pass out. Outside the medical station, I could hear the noise of the party going on full force. I guess someone let the ponies in at the same time. Pinkie. Then meant...oh, Dash, be prepared to lose.

"So now the castle is full of tons of ponies who haven't seen me yet?" I asked Dash casually. She tilted her head before nodding. I could tell she got my point right after, if her flushed face and tiny pupils were a sign of anything. I gave her the biggest shit-eating grin I could before staggering myself to my feet and walking towards the edge of the medical curtains. Dash shot forward and latched onto my leg, trying to pull me back.

"NO! I DON'T WANT TO WEAR PANTIES!" she begged. I just smiled and strutted out into the party. All eyes in the room turned to me in that instant. Time to win this shit. I threw my arms into the air in a grandiose display. Vinyl caught on to my antics and smirked, suspending her music. The room was now bathed in silence.

"WHAT'S UP, PONYVILLE?!" I shouted, effectively killing that silence. The frozen and shocked faces of most of the ponies told me that the majority hadn't been informed by their friends about who the guest really was. I assumed they wanted to see how their friends would react as much as I did.

3...

2...

*THUMP!*

That was fucking amazing! Half the fucking room just dropped fucking dead. Let the bodies hit the floor! Woo! And with that giant sound, the bet was over. Dashie, get ready for your sizing~

The nurses rushed by me, each giving an irritated glare. Uh, whoops. That might have been a bit much...

"Sorry!" I yelled after them. The head nurse just huffed and continued assisting the 100+ ponies that were now unconscious. Vinyl could be heard laughing her head off over the microphone, along with a good portion of the ponies who had already known about me. I scanned around the room, taking in the sight of the ponies who were still standing. It felt actually kind of nice, having the ponies not really fear me at all. They were just really, really surprised by my existence was all. The perks of being a celebrity!

My eyes scanned over a sudden movement in the section of tables that had been set up. I could have sworn I saw a flash of mint green...oh well, it was probably a filly snagging some extra treats. Speaking of fillies...

"RYAN!" came a tiny, squeaky voice from the other side of the room. Oh god, that voice crack. And there she was. Little Sweetie Belle, running up to me with the other two Crusaders following close behind her. They all had looks of confused joy on their tiny faces. "BUT...HOW?!" I smiled and sat on my butt, holding my arms out. They didn't need to be asked twice, throwing themselves on me. Yay, cuddle pile!

Apple Bloom threw her arms around my neck, obscuring my face with her mane and large bow. Sweetie was cuddling the shit out of my chest and Scoots was wrapped around my leg, staring at it. Another filly had gotten loose and took my position of low elevation to her advantage and snuggled up against me. I looked down to see Dinky there with her plushy in her mouth again. Irk. No, stay awake. Huh? What was that? A shiver went up my spine as I turned my gaze up in front of me.

A large group of fillies had gathered a few feet away, staring at me. Oh shit. OH SHIT. I tried moving, but the fillies were there. I couldn't run without throwing them off and possibly hurting them! I just had to surrender to the tidal wave of-

"GET HIM!" shouted the assumed leader, a pink filly with a little tiara on her head.

OH SWEET FUCKING JESUS, SOMEONE SAVE ME!

****

The party moved on once Twilight had managed to dig poor Ryan out of the filly pile. The rest of the unconscious ponies woke up one by one and joined in on the festivities. The human was obviously the constant center of attention, but some of the ponies stopped following him after awhile and just partied. That's what Ryan wanted; them to feel safe and comfortable around him.

The next game was one of those 'pin the tail' games. A classic for all beings at the party. Pinkie Pie insisted that Ryan go first, since it was technically his party. The human agreed after some nagging and waded through the floor of grabby fillies that separated him from the piece of wall where the game was located. He hadn't played this game in years, but maybe him sucking at such a simple party game would further prove his lack of malicious intent. Pinkie blindfolded the tall human and started spinning him in circles.

The game in progress gathered enough attention to hide the mint green unicorn and cream colord earth pony who were sneaking out. Lyra knew who he was as soon as she saw him, even though she didn't recognize him. He was a human, just like the ones that populated her head every night when she went to sleep. Who else would he be? That human was Ryan. The look on Bon-Bon's face when she saw him just proved this to Lyra. She needed to be away from all of this. Like, that instant. They had waited long enough for a large crowd to gather. Her roommate agreed and chugged the rest of her drink before standing up and walking towards the castle doors. Good, nopony was stopping them to chat. Just keep walking, just keep walking. Just a little bit farther, aaaaaaand door! Just need to open it-

-Right in time to see the Princess of the Night herself standing there, ready to knock. Lyra and Bon-Bon's breaths caught in their throats, both of their hearts nearly stopping. Memories of what had been ordered by Princess Celestia floated by. Princess Luna was a fan of the show! Oh please please please don't know!

...Oh, buck, she knew. Luna's eyes narrowed into a hateful squint. The two trembling mares quickly threw themselves to the ground in front of them in a deep bow. Sweat trickled down their heads. Their breathing was quick and ragged. What was she going to do to them?

Nothing. The Princess just made a 'hmph' sound and continued on into the castle. Okay, time to run. That castle was now a likely hazard zone. They did not want to be around when Luna saw the main character of her favorite show, alive and real. Off into the night they bolted, not looking back.

****

"Pinkie, I'm getting sick!" I whined. The pink mare had been busy spinning me in circles for the past few minutes. Why did I need to be spun around so many times? Now my head was spinning right along with me. Pinkie giggled from somewhere around me. I couldn't see anything at all, much less the pony putting me through the spin cycle. She stopped a few seconds later, though. Fucking finally.

I felt some kind of cloth material forced into my hand. Okay, that must be the 'tail.' Just gotta estimate, where had the picture been before? How high up was it?

The cheers of the ponies surrounding me did wonders to keep my mood lifted...up until they all just stopped. The room was silent besides for a gasp or two. Even the music had stopped. Granted, Vinyl was just playing softer party music now, but the absence of sound was horrifying, especially since I couldn't see. The only thing I heard was a loud clopping sound moving closer. Huh?

"What's up, guys?" I asked out loud. I was expecting for Twilight or Applejack to answer me, but they must have chosen to remain silent. A voice did respond, however. This voice made my heart stop for a moment. My breath caught in my throat as the familiar feminine ring entered my ears for the first time since...the hospital.

"...R...Ryan...?" I heard Sarah's voice ask me. I froze instantly. No way. No goddamn fucking way. This was not happening, I was still passed out, something had happened to have made me imagine her voice right behind me. This could not be real.

I spun around and tore the blindfold off, scanning the room. The only thing I saw there was some kind of large blue pony with both wings and a horn, the same kind as Twilight. The hoof that she had been holding to her mouth had some piece of silver decorative shoe on it. Her face was soaked with the tears that were pouring from her large teal eyes. That's nice. Now where the fuck did Sarah go?

"Sarah?!" I called out, spinning myself around to make sure she hadn't been trying to sneak up and surprise me. But no, I just saw Twilight a few feet away with her hoof covering her mouth. A good portion of the other ponies in the room were bowing now. What?

"Yes, Ryan...I'm here," said the blue horse. In Sarah's voice. What. The. Fuck?

"That's nice, but you're not Sarah," I said, waving my hand dismissively. The alicorn lowered her head and sighed.

"Ryan...please understand. I am Sarah," she said, giving me a pleading expression. The ponies in the room all gasped this time. No thank you.

"No, you're not."

"Ryan, please..."

"Nope, not Sarah."

"Ry-"

"SARAH'S NOT A FUCKING HORSE!" Twilight passed out as I swore at one of the two main princesses. The blue princess reared up in irritation and bellowed in a volume I knew too well.

"GODDAMN IT, RYAN! FUCKING LISTEN TO ME!" she shouted. The force of her voice was almost enough to throw me back. But that wasn't what brought me to my knees. The way she had just shouted...exactly like her.

It...she was telling the truth.

Whatever this thing was...it was her.

This was Sarah.

...

I've come to talk with you again~

*Thump*

Author's Note:

Decided to leave Mayor Mare out of the party, going to use her soon instead.

Also, going to take a break from writing for a few days. Wrist cramps and whatnot. Need to plan out the details for the rest of the story!

Also, by request:

Comments

[Thunder Quill]

MOAR!

Please.

[GFD]

Embrace the darkness! :D

I am enjoying where this series is at right now, and I am eager to see what direction you take it in. Keep up the good work!

[Onion Cutting Ninja]

NEW CHAPTER YEAAH!

[EverfreeSparkle]

"Heh, ask your friend Fleshlight Spankle over here," he said, placing his hand on Twilight's hand and giving her mane a tussle.

Tussle that Fleshlight.

Also, I'm pretty sure Fleshlight Spankle doesn't have a hand. I'm pretty sure you meant head.

[Carrier of Heartbreak]

6804311

Fixed. Thanks! Let me know if you spot anything else like that, my eyes are killing me. Kind of hard to spot errors right now.

[Cereal-Killer]

Dinky Plz...

*Dies of adorableness*

[NamelessDestruction]

He's leaking magic? Or is that a magic field from unconscious magic use, in a similar manner to unicorns?

Hopefully it's the latter, cause the former might imply that he's an unstable similacrum housing either soul or a close approximation made of memories.

The Perpetuator of Undefined Havoc,
Nameless Destruction

[Scornas]

6803176
when did i read this chapter?
did i read this after going to a party, with five shots of [insert name of alchohol here] and a butt load of sugur?
did i read this after 3 days of sleep deprivation, while running?
did i even read this at all?
no, really, i don't remember reading this chapter at all.

[Amusementist]

*starts shaking* *transforms into tank* SCREW EVERYING! *fires nuke at iPad* *transforms into jet* I REGRET NITHING! *flys away*

[Ocean Waves]

Nice.

[nebulaegalaxy]

I... was expecting that.

[-Boshwa-]

I finished chapter 4 right when you updated.

[Raizuo]

Oh wow... I laughed way too much at how Ryan just made about... more than 100, give or take a few more ponies faint just by speaking.

In fact my reaction is exactly what Vinyl was doing, only without the microphone.

[Amusementist]

Update or I will destroy you!

[FordPrefect]

6804324
Ok. I really hope he isn't just a magic spell that's going to go poof and cease existing. Because that would be a sucky ending. There is enough tragedy of him losing his family, without him being killed a third time.

[NamelessDestruction]

6804422

I agree. But Author's are a wily bunch.

[Carrier of Heartbreak]

I'm just going to stay quiet about future plot happenings.

[Silent Chorus]

*sees new chapter update...*
THUMP!

[LostFaith]

Whoa

[Jarvy Jared]

Really, at this point, the story is more comedic than tragic.

By the way, may have found a typo.

"Heh...'scuse me," she said weakly

I think that is supposed to be he, instead of she.

[EverfreeSparkle]

Dash shot forward and latched onto my leg, trying to pull me back.
"NO! I DON'T WANT TO WEAR PANTIES!" she begged.

Yes! My body is ready! Make her wear the tightest most pink panties that exist!

This chapter was pretty great. I love how Rarity got jealous and then expects Ryan to kiss her forehead like he did with Fluttershy. Her fangasm when he did was adorable. It was also hilarious when Ryan got Twilight's belly wet with his saliva, and then Rarity tried to cute-bribe him into licking her stomach as well... Wow, Ryan's life is getting weird. I'm also convinced he was created with magic now, and he has so much excess left over that it is augmenting him.

That ending... Luna sure does have a mouth on her. That really did not feel like 14,000 words, more like five thousand. Time flies when you are engaged in such a fun story.

[Carrier of Heartbreak]

6804498
I wanted to tag the story as both comedy and sad, but as you know, the site doesn't allow that.

Ryan is a comedic character put into a tragic situation.

Edit: You know what? I'm just going to leave the Tragedy tag there and change the Sad to Comedy.

Also, thanks for pointing that out. Fixed!

[Jarvy Jared]

6804511 Yay! I contributed something!

[batran]

who plays Ryan (like he has a voice actor or something?)..... ooooor no?

[Carrier of Heartbreak]

6804529
I didn't have a voice in mind for him, no.

[HWolfW]

omf word this chapter is nuts!!!
LUNA!!!

[JohnIsOffline]

I gonna leave it here...

[Scarheart]

Calling it now: The Flim Flam Brothers own the show.

[ToxiClay]

"...R...Ryan...?" I heard Sarah's voice ask me. I froze instantly. No way. No goddamn fucking way. This was not happening, I was still passed out, something had happened to have made me imagine her voice right behind me. This could not be real.

OOOOOOH SHIT SON.

[Carrier of Heartbreak]

6804741

Pretty much.

[HoneyBadgerr]

Dude! You can't do a big reveal like that and then take a break! That's just cruel!!!!

Just ONE more chapter and THEN take a break.

Please.

[Carrier of Heartbreak]

6804820

Only like a couple days, then I'll be back. My left arm is so stiff right now that it hurts to move it.

[HoneyBadgerr]

Oh, and also :

(I'm on mobile, so the link might not work)

[Carrier of Heartbreak]

6804825
It doesn't, but I'll add the proper video in the notes for the chapter.

[HoneyBadgerr]

6804823 call me and dictate it and I'll type it out for you. I wanna see what happens next.

[Carrier of Heartbreak]

6804829

I also want to have some time to think and plan things. So far, for the most part, I've just had been writing everything down as it came it me.

[Mecha22]

A large group of fillies had gathered a few feet away, staring at me. Oh shit. OH SHIT. I tried moving, but the fillies were there. I couldn't run without throwing them off and possibly hurting them! I just had to surrender to the tidal wave of-

"GET HIM!" shouted the assumed leader, a pink filly with a little tiara on her head.

OH SWEET FUCKING JESUS, SOMEONE SAVE ME!

ZERG RUSH!!

[MrCakeandRice]

6804827 you say you got wrist cramps?
Giggity

[Carrier of Heartbreak]

6804900
Well I am a lefty.

[Lord_01010000]

Applejack stared at the ball of light following her, tilting her head. It was probably for the best that it followed her instead of Dash; the speedster would probably chase it around everywhere and they would get nothing accomplished. The challenging glare that Rainbow Dash gave the light confirmed her suspicions.

When did Rainbow Dash become a cat?
cdn-img.fimfiction.net/user/gozg-1431829502-133533-256

They must have seen it...everything that happened. They cared about him and they saw him die. What else did they see?

I think the real question here is "what didn't they see?"

Today was weird for everypony and everybody involved.

I think that may be a bit of an understatement.

"Eh-hem," she coughed. Hint hint. The trapped human continued to look at her in confusion. Rarity sighed and gestured with her eyes towards the top of her head a few times. Ryan blinked, what she was asking slowly dawning on him.

Mmmm, that's right... Mama Rarity wants some sugar too.
orig00.deviantart.net/0d7a/f/2012/099/c/2/me_gusta_fluttershy_by_ironhooves-d4vkjef.jpg

She wasn't worried about Twilight, she was pretty sure the lavender alicorn had been too busy with her studies to watch something like OtherWorld.

A spot on her belly was newly wet with my saliva from where she had forcefully made me taste her. Hm. She tasted like purple, if that made any sense.

I imagine purple tastes like grape kool-aid. Anyone else think that?

I looked down to see Rarity giving me the cutest pouty face I'd ever goddamn seen. Okay, she wanted something from me again, I was sure of it. But what? She was just standing there with her cute little begging expression, looking between me and Twilight's belly...

Good thing Spike wasn't there, or else Ryan would be nothing but cinders by now.

Finally!" Bon-Bon shouted, throwing a hoof up into the sky. But just as the first few in line had entered, the door shut again. What the hay was going on?! Just keep the bucking doors open! Then they heard a shriek coming from inside the castle before the sound of a body hitting the ground echoed out into the warm evening air.

Luckily, she was friends with Pinkie Pie

Who isn't friends with Pinkie Pie?

Hello, darkness, my old friend~

Within a minute or so, most of Ponyville had crowded themselves into the Castle of Friendship.

At least that's what it said on the packaging it came in.

A large group of fillies had gathered a few feet away, staring at me. Oh shit. OH SHIT. I tried moving, but the fillies were there. I couldn't run without throwing them off and possibly hurting them! I just had to surrender to the tidal wave of-

Adorabeties

I've come to talk with you again~

Do I get to post the song again? ... No? ... Awhhh

[Architect of Realities]

Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship also former barer of the element of Magic. Magic being her specialty, had a EMP = Emotional Magic Pulse inside the castle of friendship. Which we remind all is directly connected to the Tree of Harmony, during that time wouldn't we think the tree feeling out such great waves of sorrow from many a fan and crying out for Ryan somehow led to the Tree aiding in Sparkle's unknowing action, perhaps it is the land's very own way of bringing Harmony to all in Equestria by saving what is known as Ryan the Human. (could also explain why there was no twilight sparkle magical traces inside Lyra's noggin.)

Also he could technically perhaps be on the level of 'strength' as Discord by such an action taken for how many he affected, which could be scary in it's own right could also mean he is sadly the ONLY human in Equestria to exist and may be immortal? We are not certain but he is a positive nature onto pony kind, though OW and Lyra may have issues, especially the former for giving Lyra that ultimatum of 'either kill Ryan or everyone' may depend on how he may not see all ponies as cute gentle beings but adorable if not horrible nightmares at worse. (there may be thoughts or such similar to Alice in wonderland with some faceless company saying 'Off with his head!' after Ryan run by cute ponies.)

On another note wonder if Twilight sparkle couldn't find a loophole in the laws to give Ryan protection such as him being a Sentient Endangered species known widely through Equestria as Human, which Luna would likely enforce by having Night Guards with him or respective special forces because of her attachment to him.

[Mr Swanky Hat]

!Warning!
Visits to Equestria may result in fatal diabeetus.

[IReadDoctorWhooves]

"Yo, Rainbow Dash. Y'allright?"

Couldn't help but remember the tune of pixel peeker polka when I read this.

Gud shit, keep up the good work

[Philosophysics]

6804317 I really hope you don't make Lyra hated

In a way she is Ryan's mom

[Mahazkei]

Gawd, Author! Please don't kill me so soon! I have conditions that ramp up the hilarity by 100%, effectively doubling the laughter. I'm dead serious.
But otherwise, keep the diabeetus coming!

[AppleTank]

6804921
Yeah, I can see grape juice for purple.
6805398
What if... Lyra has the same voice as Ryan's mom? (Or other female relative)

[Lord_01010000]

6805523
I'm actually not talking about the grape flavor that comes from the fruit. I'm talking about the artificial "grape" flavor that was made in a lab as a secret plot to make children thirstier while drinking their product, so the children will use more of their product. The "grape" flavored Kool-aid is the same flavor as the "grape" Powerade and Gatorade. They too make you thirstier then when you first drank their product.

[Cander]

That was awesome. I can't wait to see what happens next man. Well done.

Hello darkness my old friend, I've come to talk with you again.

I don't want to wear panties!

[Stainless Steel Fox]

Had a further thought about legalities.

Maybe Otherworld's plothole producers, on finding out their fictional character is real, will try to claim ownership of him, based on the fact that as he's originally a fictional character not to mention not a pony, he doesn't have any of the regular rights of a pony.

In fact I hope they do just so I can see them arrested for slavery.