Prologue

New Chances

“There are two types of pain in this world; the temporary pain of discipline, or the permanent pain of regret.” (Unknown)

The weightlessness was replaced by a bizarre feeling of being pressed back into the earth. The pressure was suffocating; Ryan could barely breathe. When he opened his eyes and looked down, he saw that the hole was still there. That explained the asphyxiation feeling. Under him, he felt no water, only hard dirt, nothing like the kind in the Vietnamese jungles. Were it not for the terrible pain, he would be questioning where the hell he was.

Above him, Discord hovered, looking down at the boy. He wasn’t able to fully heal the boy, but he was able to put most of his lost blood back in his body, at least giving him more time before he died. That time could be the save-all or the end-all right now. Discord looked around, hoping for the best. Around them was an orchard. Ryan lay on dirt road, apple trees surrounding his position. Discord recognized this place, eliciting a smile from him. Maybe there was a chance for the boy. He looked down at him, hope glistening in his eyes.

Ryan eventually looked up and saw Discord above him. He tried to speak, but instead of words, he spattered out blood and fell back, keeping his eyes on Discord. Discord went back to the ground. “Hello, Ryan.” he said. “I know that you can’t speak, so just listen.” Ryan’s hands covered his chest wound, and he tried to stay silent. “I’ve taken you from your world.” Discord began to explain. “I have my reasons, which I will share with you if I feel like it. I’ve put your blood back, but I couldn’t close up the hole. Luckily for you,” Discord shot a gust of wind at a nearby tree, which bent much more than any tree ought to, but didn’t snap. “the physics of this world will give you a bit more time. I’d say that you have about fifteen to twenty minutes, as opposed to the five to ten back in your world.” Ryan hacked up blood, unable to control himself. Discord flinched at the sudden noise.

Off in the distance, several voices could be heard. Discord looked in that direction, feeling good about what was to come. “Well, I’d love to stay and chat,” He jumped up and curled into a ball. “but I have a garden to tend to.” With a twirl in the air and a bright flash, Discord was gone, leaving Ryan on the ground to bleed all alone.

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The Cutie Mark Crusaders, or CMC, as is shorter, came to Sweet Apple Acres today looking for farming cutie marks. Applejack was away with her friends somewhere to the north, doing something for the princess, so the girls just bothered Big Macintosh about working.

“Come on!” Applebloom whined. “Ain’t there somethin’ we can do?” She looked at her older brother with big, puppy dog eyes, trying to force her older brother to give in. He was having no part of it, though.

“Ah don’t rightly think so.” He walked past them, dragging along a huge, heavy kart of apples.

“Could we carry stuff? Plant stuff? Anything at all!?” Sweetie Belle pleaded. She, too, joined in the puppy dog eye onslaught.

“No. Now go play.” Mac just kept on walking. It was getting harder to resist, and he was close to cracking.

Then, Scootaloo completed the trio. “Pleeeeeease?” It was too much; the three fillies were overwhelmingly cute. Mac tried to look away, but they just moved to stay in his line of vision. He sighed.

“Fine. Gimme a few minutes, Ah’ll try to think up somethin’.” The CMC jumped up to celebrate their glorious victory over Mount Macintosh.

“YAY! CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, FARMERS!” they shouted in unison. Mac hid a smile under his usual stoic demeanor, always being feeling content when his little sister and her friends were enjoying themselves.

As they all walked back to the barn, Mac tried to think of something for them to do. They couldn’t buck apples off the trees, they were much too young. It wouldn’t go anywhere. Sure, it was the middle of the summer, but there wasn’t anything more to be planted; Applejack took care of that before leaving. They were much too little to drag carts of apples, and there was not a chance in this world that Mac would let them handle dangerous farm gear and tools. There wasn’t much. “Hmmm.” he said, chewing on the end of his signature piece of straw. He looked around, trying to think of something. All that was there was trees, the same as always.

“Ah need to go on an adventure.” he thought.

A random gust of wind blew in from the east field, causing Mac to look that way. “Hmm.” he said again. The pegasi hadn’t warned them of inclement weather. Of course, if it came from the Everfree, that might explain it That forest was too creepy. His thoughts were put to another track when he looked to the field, though. “Ah suppose that you girls could water the trees out that way.” he said, pointing his muzzle at the east field. The girls all looked in that direction. “Jus’ let me get you a little wagon and some buckets of water.” The girls excitement exploded onto their faces like an exit wound. “YAY!!”

At the farmhouse, Mac got the buckets and and the wagon and brought them outside to the pump, where the CMC were waiting, bouncing up and down. “Maybe we’ll get our cutie marks from this!” Scootaloo expressed her excitement.

“Yeah! I’ll get to be like my older sister!” Applebloom affirmed. Mac smiled; she really looked up to Applejack a lot.

As he approached, Sweetie Belle was the first to notice him. “YAY!” she shouted. They shouted that a lot, it seemed. He couldn’t imagine the fun that Ms. Cheerilee had with them each day in the school year. Mac set the buckets down from his jaw and rolled it about a little bit.

“Alright, now, Ah want you girls to fill these buckets with water.” he said, indicating the pump and buckets. “Then, get’em on the wagon and head into the fields. If you any trees that look weak or withered, give’em some water. Good?” They all nodded vigorously. “Great. Ah’ll see y’all later than.” He turned and walked off, ready to get back to work.

The girls immediately went to work, putting the buckets on the wagon, then filling them under the pump. They chatted away as they worked, thinking up more ways to get their marks if this didn’t work. “We could try to work with Pinkie when she gets back on party cutie marks!” Scootaloo said excitedly.

“Ohh ohh!” Sweetie Belle had an idea. “Maybe we could help animals with Fluttershy!” Scootaloo looked at her with disinterest.

“Come on, how much excitement could that bring?” she asked rhetorically. Sweetie Belle answered anyway.

“We could help weird animals, or discover new ones.” she reasoned. The thought of discovering things changed Scootaloo’s attitude.

“Aw, yeah, that would be cool!”

Applebloom mostly listened to them, seeing as she wanted to try to stay working on her family’s farm. She hoped that her talent would enable her to stay here. She would take what she got, but she wanted to find a way to stay at home. “Alright girls,” she said as the second bucket finished filling up. “Let’s get to those fields!” With big smiles on their faces, the girls pulled the wagon of water out in the direction of the fields, completely unknowing of what exactly was out there.

The girls looked around, but they couldn’t find a single tree that may have needed water. They all looked perfectly fine. It looked like Mac had sent them on a wild goose chase.

Applebloom sighed as she swept the area, left to right, right to left. Everything was in tip top shape. But then she noticed something that stood out. “Over there!” she shouted, pointing her foreleg toward something. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked over; there was a dry patch underneath a tree. Anxious to get their cutie marks, they sped over to the patch. Once there, Scootaloo got up onto the wagon and dumped an entire bucket of water out of the wagon and onto the ground, soaking the area. Instantly, the girls put their flanks together and looked, waiting for a mark to appear. Sadly, no such event occurred. “Aww.” they all whined in unison. Nothing. “Alright, let’s get moving. Put the bucket back and let’s see if there’s a spot where we can dump the other bucket.”

Before they got the bucket back into the wagon, there was a bright flash not too far down the path, maybe one hundred and fifty feet. “What was that!?” Sweetie Belle screamed, startled by the sudden visual intrusion. Scootaloo was in flight mode, ready to sprint away at any sign of trouble. Only Applebloom, who was trying to discern what the shape down the road was, could decide on a course of action. “Let’s go see!” she announced, getting back in front of the wagon and pulling it behind her. The others quickly followed suit.

“I hope this isn’t a bad idea.” Sweetie Belle voiced, concern etched into her voice.

As the girls approached, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle noticed the shape. “What’s that!?” Sweetie Belle shouted, terrified by the unknown before them. The strange shape was making noise in front of them, like a gurgling noise, but with a hint of its voice.

“Ah’m not sure.” Applebloom admitted. Whatever it was, it coughed violently on the ground. “Ah think it needs help!” Applebloom shouted. She surged forward, her friends having trouble keeping up. The bucket tipped in the wagon, spilling the water in it. As the girls slowed down before the thing, it was clearly a creature, the wagon pushed them from behind, pushing them closer than they were comfortable with.

“Eeek!” They all froze when they found themselves not five feet from the creature. It was clutching a part of its chest with what appeared to be a hand, like spike had, but with five fingers. Its eyes were shut tight, and it looked like it was in pain.

“Ummm, c-can we help you?” Scootaloo asked timidly. The creature didn’t open its eyes, but turned its head. Scootaloo hadn’t really expected a response anyway.

“Get- *cough* - away... dying...”

The girls’ jaws dropped. The creature could speak! Come to think of it, it was wearing some weird clothes, too! They had discovered a new species! “AH!” Applebloom yelped. The creature didn’t speak again, just lay there, in pain.

“Wait, what did it mean... by...” Alarms started to go off in Sweetie Belle’s mind. The creature was in pain. It said the word “dying”. It wanted the girls to leave. “I think it’s hurt!” Sweetie Belle moved forward, forgetting about her trepidations, and got a closer look.

“Sweetie Belle!” The other girls ran over, shouting simultaneously. They all looked at the creature, right under them. Its hand was red. “How bad is it?” Sweetie Belle asked. No response, just coughing. That was enough answer though; blood came out of the creature’s mouth. Some of it landed on Applebloom’s leg, and she jumped back like it was acid.

“W-what do we do?!” she queried. When neither of her friends could come up with an answer, Applebloom looked back to the wagon. “Ah’ve got it!” she announced. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo watched as Applebloom brought the wagon forward. “Get’em in here! We’ll get it to the hospital”

They were all satisfied with this solution, seeing as it was the only viable option as of yet. The girls all got to putting the creature in the wagon, which was no easy task. It weighed a lot. “Dang, this thing’s heavy!” Scootaloo commented. As they lifted up the creature, they noticed a pool of blood underneath it. Double-timing their pace, the girls were just able to get the creature into the wagon. Mostly. Its arms and legs stuck out and touched the ground.

“Good enough.” Applebloom concluded. She and her friends got into the reins. “Let’s go!”

The girls pulled with all their might, and once they got the wagon moving, it wasn’t about to stop. Inertia at its best. They kept on going, not wanting to stop and risk the death of whatever their precious cargo was. Still, being tiny fillies, their energy reserves had to run dry eventually. They just weren’t expecting it to happen so soon.

“I-*huff*- wasn’t expecting- *huff*- this- *huff*- to be so... hard.” Sweetie Belle said, she and her friends finally making it to the farmhouse.

“Ah know- *huff*- what you mean.” Applebloom replied. They all stopped. There was no way that they were going to make it all the way to the hospital. They needed a new plan.

Enter, Big Macintosh, the tank of a stallion. He walked around the corner, hearing his sister responding to her friend about going to the hospital. None of them sounded hurt, but his concern forced him to check anyway. What he saw was unbelievable. “What’s goin’ on-” he wasn’t able to finish before his little sister cut him off.

“Big Mac!” she shouted. “This thing’s dyin’!” She panted, clearly exhausted. Mac took a look at the creature in the wagon; it was not a pretty sight, now that he understood. “We- *huff*- we need to get to the hospital!” Without another word, Mac ran over and took the reins from the girls.

“Eeyup.” Without giving any reassurance to the girls, he ran off towards the hospital, a dying animal in tow.

He ran through the town, uncaring of what other ponies around him might be thinking about this. He could hear something sloshing about in the wagon behind him; he hoped to Celestia that it was spilled water; as he ran. The creature’s hands and feet were dragging on the ground to either side of the wagon, scraping them up. At this point, though, that was probably irrelevant. The creature was injured enough that a scrape or seven wouldn’t make a difference.

As he ran, the other ponies in town looked on curiously at his cargo. They had no way of knowing that the creature was bleeding out in the wagon, so many tried to follow for a bit. It was only when some of the bloody water fell out that some of them decided not to keep following.

“Come on. Come on!” Mac said to himself. The creature probably didn’t have much time left. He would have preferred to bring it to Fluttershy if she was available, but she wasn’t. Off in the distance, he could see his goal. “Just a little bit more.” He had to save the creature; he couldn’t bear to imagine his sister’s face if the creature that she found died.

Before long, Mac burst through the doors of the lobby, terrifying everypony inside. They all looked at him, then at his wagon, then back at him. “This thing needs serious help, now!” Mac announced. A doctor came out from behind the desk.

“What’s the problem?” he asked, curious but urgent. Mad looked at the creature, then back at the doctor. The doctor looked horrified.

“Doc-” Again, he was interrupted.

“Get it to the operating room, now!” Using his magic, he was a unicorn, the doctor lifted the creature out of the wagon and onto a wheeled stretcher that was off to the side. “Move, move!” He and several nurses all rushed into the operating section of the hospital, leaving Mac alone with his ruined wagon and several spectators. They all looked at Mac expectantly, but when they got no answer, they all went back to their business. Mac just looked at his wagon. He hoped that the majority of the two inches of liquid in the wagon was water, but the color of it suggested otherwise. Satisfied that he did his duty, Mac left the hospital to clean the wagon and probably his sister. She would probably want to talk.

“Ah’ll come back tomorrow.” he concluded as he slowly made his way home, trying to make sense of what he just saw and did.

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His eyes were closed. He breathed in slow and deep, but not by his own doing. his hands were strapped down, keeping him in his place. He was too weak to get up anyhow. He felt oddly dry, a sensation that seemed like it was brand new to his body. He could feel that there were no clothes on his body; just what felt like a hospital gown. The last time he wore one of these, he had been hit by a car.

He tried to open his eyes, and was met with success when he was able to get them half way there. Slowly, he blinked, blinded partially by the lights above him. How did he get here? He remembered hearing a little girl, speaking to him, asking him something. She spoke English, too. Strange. Wasn’t he in Vietnam? No, he couldn’t be. He had to be dead. Maybe this is what it would be like, dying? Just able to rest in a spot, no pain, just laying down. Though,Ryan was expecting something more like Hell, to be honest.

A number of wires were attached to his chest, especially around the spot that he would have sworn was a big hole. Focusing, he couldn’t feel anything missing, but then again, he couldn’t feel anything much at the moment. This hospital must have put him on fierce meds. He tried to raise his hands to get at the wires, but the straps kept them down.

“Right.” he reminded himself. Deciding not to waste precious energy, Ryan just lay there, waiting for his doctor to return. The little heart monitor sped up with his consciousness, so he figured that the doctor would come back soon. To kill the time, he looked around the room. He noticed that all of his stuff, and Harris’ Automag, oddly, were sitting in the corner. His clothes hung on a hanger in an open closet before him, obviously having been cleaned, since there was no blood on them. He remembered that guy’s headless body had spilled a lot on him.

There was a series of knocks at his door. As much as Ryan wanted to answer, “Come in.”, he couldn’t. So, whoever it was just waited for a moment before coming in. When they did, Ryan’s mind came to a screeching halt at the sight.

Before him, there stood a horse. Though, it was maybe a bit short, so perhaps it was a pony. Even so, that didn’t match up to the fact that it had a horn. And a doctor’s outfit, stethoscope and all. It even held a clipboard. As it entered, it looked at Ryan, noticing that his eyes were open. It locked eyes with its patient, and slowly, it shut the door.

“Hello.” it said in a masculine voice. So it was a he. “Please stay calm.” he pleaded. When Ryan made no move, he relaxed a bit and came closer. Ryan’s heart rate raised a bit, and the doctor tried to calm him down. “Relax, relax.” he said in a hushed tone. “I’m doctor Laym.” Oh the irony of the name. “I fixed you up. You’re fine now.”

Ryan just kept looking at the doctor, eyes somewhat glazed over. He was tired, and would likely go back to sleep soon. “I just came in to check on you. I’m glad to see that you’re alright.” Ryan blinked twice, slow as a turtle. “I’ll stop by periodically to see you. And please, try to relax.” With those last words, the doctor left the room. Also with them, Ryan let his eyelids drift back down and slept.

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Mac and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were all sitting in the waiting room. Scootaloo was on her own, but Sweetie Belle was brought here by her father, Magnum, who was watching her while Rarity was away. They all sat quietly in the waiting area, nervous about what news they might get. It had only been less than twenty-four hours, but they were told that some of the best doctors and surgeons were there to work on the creature.

Sweetie Belle had apparently not told her father about the creature yt, as he was cradling her, saying that her friends would be alright. “Don’t worry.” he said. “I’m sure that the doctors will help her out. They’re some of the best.” After a time, though, Sweetie Belle decided to correct her father.

“Actually, it’s not exactly my friend.” Magnum looked at her, confused.

“It?” His main concern was apparently that this was an “it”.

“Yeah. We found it over at Sweet Apple Acres.” she explained. “It was hurt really, really bad, so we brought it to the farmhouse, and Big Mac brought it here.”

Magnum put his hoof to his chin. “What is it?” he asked, now just curious. Sweetie Belle shook her head.

“We don’t know. But it could talk!” she exclaimed. “And it had hands, like Spike, Twilight’s assistant. And it had weird clothes and stuff with it.”

As she continued her explanation to her father, Mad remembered coming home the previous night. His sister was sitting in the center of the living room, being comforted by Granny Smith. When Mac walked in, he ran over to them. “Hey. You alright?” he had asked. Applebloom nodded.

“Yeah.” She was clearly shaken by the encounter. I mean, come on, this thing nearly bled to death in their wagon. Granny Smith wasn’t believing that any more than Mac.

“Now don’t you go lyin’ ta’ me, little missy!” she said. Mac smiled. “Ahhh, know that this is buggin’ ya’. Now, ya’ know what to do?” Applebloom looked up at her Granny. “Go’n take a shower, clean yerself up, an’ remember that you did a good job, gettin’ this thing to Macky boy here.” She looked to Big Mac.

“Ah got it to the hospital. It’ll be fine.” And with that reassurance, Applebloom had felt much better.

And now, here they were, waiting to hear if Big Mac was right. The girls all had an invested interest in this, being the ones who found the creature, and Big Mac had an invested interest in their well being, so he wanted the creature to be alright too. He made that pretty obvious when the doctor came back from the room where the creature was being kept.

“Well, doc?” he asked, getting up and walking over. “How is it?” The doctor put his clipboard in a pocket on his side and addressed the large work stallion before him.

“He’s fine. And I can confirm that it’s a he.” The girls all giggled behind him. The doctor pulled the clipboard back out. “The wound was like nothing I’ve ever seen.” As soon as he said that, Magnum and the girls came right over. Other ponies in the room also became quite interested. “It was like something went straight through its back and chest, but exploded halfway through. The entry wound was about 5.7 millimeters wide, but the exit wound was close to 2.8 centimeters wide. And it progressed in size as it went through. I don’t know what could have done this, but if it weren’t for you, this creature would be long dead.”

When the girls behind him shouted their glee together, Big Mac fell back a little bit, letting them get in to talk to the doctor. “So is he gonna be okay?” Scootaloo asked.

The doctor smiled a big, goofy smile, and replied, “All thanks to you girls.” The joy on their faces was enough to give somepony a heart attack, they were so adorable. They hopped around, celebrating. While they were busy doing that, the doctor came over to Mac and Magnum. “There are certain issues that we should probably discuss soon, in regards to all of this.” Mac understood; if a hospital didn’t get paid, it wouldn’t be there. But Magnum was to have no part of negotiations.

“Name your price. I’ll pay it.” Both Big Mac and the doctor looked at him, surprised. The doctors expression quickly changed to happiness.

“This will probably be around three thousand bits.” Magnum took out his wallet and checkbook.

“Here.” he said, handing the doctor a check. “Now just make sure he leaves this hospital better off than when we first encountered him.” The doctor took the check and walked off, ready to attend to other patients.

Magnum and Big Mac just stood where they were, watching the overjoys little fillies bounce around the room, disturbing everyone else. They didn’t care; they just wanted them to be happy. “So, Mr. Macintosh.” Mangum began. Big Mac shook his head.

“Just Big Mac is fine.” Magnum shrugged.

“Alright. So, Big Mac, from what you’ve seen of this creature, what do think of it? I mean, what it looks like or what it even is.” Big Mac hadn’t been thinking of this, since it didn’t seem that important. he thought about it now.

“Well, it reminds me of those monkeys that Ah learned about in school.” he replied. “Minus the tail, from what Ah saw.” Magnum seemed intrigued.

“Interesting.” They left the conversation there, Big Mac deciding that he would ask Twilight Sparkle about this when she returned from her trip.

Soon, they were all told that the creature wouldn’t be able to see visitors until at least two days later, so they all left, proud of their efforts and curious as to what this new creature had in store for them.

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The Previous Day

Luna trudged up her stairs, her legs dragging behind her as she made her way up. They refused to be useful, just lagging behind, trying to keep her away from the surface world, where none would understand her sorrow. She had to go, though. She needed to address her subjects and she couldn’t bear to be near that world any more.

At the top of the stairs, she was finally able to quiet herself down. She didn’t want to disturb her guard with her problems, especially this one. Looking about, she confirmed that he was not in the library and exited the stairs, recreating the barrier behind her. She had no desire to go back down there. Quiet as a cat on the prowl, she tip-hoofed her way to her bed chambers. When she saw that Starstep was not there either, she ran to her bed and flopped down onto it. Into her pillow, she wailed, keeping it muffled and quiet so as to hide her sadness.

The pillow was not enough, though, to keep the sound from ultimately reaching her guard’s ears. He opened up the door and closed it quickly behind him in one fluid motion, remaining unnoticed by his princess. He saw her bawling into her pillow and immediately went over to her.

“Luna!” he shouted, forgetting formalities. Clearly, she had not expected him, as she yelped when she heard him. “Are you alright?” She lifted her head from her pillow and looked away from her guard.

“Yes, don’t concern yourself. Get back outside.” Starstep was somewhat hurt by her words. Couldn’t she share her troubles with him? He could shoulder the burden.

“Princess, please. What’s going on? What happened?” He knew that this involved the human from the pool.

Luna looked away from him, doing her best to control herself and avoid bursting back into tears in front of her guard. She knew that the only way to do that was to either make him leave, which wasn;t going to happen, or calmly explain everything to him. “Th-the human...” she tried to begin. Starstep waited patiently for his princess to gain enough composure to speak. “He’s... he’s dead!” Before her cries could escape into the afternoon breeze. She cried into her pillow. So much for keeping her composure for her guard.

Starstep moved forward and put his head all the way forward onto the bed, just reaching Luna’s. Her face was buried in a pillow, her tears soaking through all the way. “Shhh.” he said. Luna’s sobs slowed, but were still quite powerful. “Stop crying.” he gently ordered. Luna stuck her front right hoof out and reached out for Starstep. In response, he climbed up onto the bed. She grabbed him and held him close as a child holds a stuffed bear in a thunderstorm. As tight as she held him, he could tell that she was weakened by her sorrow. “Tell me what happened.”

She walked Starstep through the entire chain of events, all the way from the beginning, but spent extra time on any significant points. The events which she spent the most time on were his capture, his being held, the rescue of his friend, his finding of the family in the burnt out house, and then straight into his final assault on the compound. This one, she spent the most time on, having witnessed everything that occurred. Starstep listened quietly as day soon became evening. At the end, she described how Ryan had been killed.

“And I feel like it’s my fault.” she said guiltily. “If I had pushed him in another direction... if I hadn’t been so gullible, thinking that he was going to make Narendra face justice... maybe he would be alive and happy.” She was back on the verge of tears, and Starstep wasn’t going to let her cry any more.

“It’s not your fault.” he said. She didn’t seem to register his words, and her chest bobbed up and down. He put his hoof under her chin and held her face up to look at his. “Listen. Please.” Taking his hoof away, he was happy to see her hold her gaze with him.

He put his hoof over hers. “It’s not your fault, princess. Please, understand that.” She bit her lower lip. “Everyone and every pony has his and her problems. And we all have to deal with them.” He scooted closer to her, wanting her to feel less alone. “We all have our friends, and friends are there to help us. You helped him as much as you could.” He looked out the window, remembering his old friends. “As much as our friends are able to help us, and we our friends, it is up to that individual to decide on what they will do. We can try to push them in the right direction, but we can’t control what they do or think, and we all have to accept that. Sure, you can be sad that this happened. But you shouldn’t feel guilty. Unless you intended for harm to come to an individual, you have no reason to feel guilty about what happens in their life. If you did what you could to help them, then you should only at least acknowledge that you did.”

Luna strengthened her hold on Starstep’s hoof and leaned on him. “I guess. But... but what if I could have done more?” Starstep thought for a moment.

“Could you have, truly?” Luna was silent, and then shook her head. “Then don’t ask those questions.”

Luna remained quiet after that, and Starstep just hummed a slow tune, eventually lulling his princess into sleep. The sky was ready to go to night, orange streaks all over the sky with purple clouds lazily moving in the breeze.

“I’m certain that Celestia will take care of it.” And she did, leaving Starstep to keep Luna company throughout that night.

First Encounters

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First Encounters

“One day, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching.” (Unknown)

Ryan’s eyes shot open and rapidly jumped around, checking the room. He forgot where he was for a moment and began to panic, only remembering that he was dying in a Vietnamese river. Then he remembered that he was in a hospital and relaxed. But wasn’t there something weird about this hospital? Something... off? Ah, yes. Ryan was either dead or crazy, because a unicorn had walked into his room and insisted that it was his doctor. By speaking to him.

“What on Earth is going on?” he wondered. His head was much clearer now than it was earlier. He could actually coherently think, now.

He sat up, remembering that he had been restrained earlier. It seemed that whoever it was that was taking care of him was confident enough that he was well that they removed his restraints. “Just as well.” he said to himself. The wires on his chest were still attached to the machine, and he opted to remove them, drawing a steady beeeeeeeeeeeep from the machine. Clearly, it was not happy with his decision.

“Alright, let’s see what we’ve got.” Ryan got off his bed and walked over to the corner with his stuff. Inspecting it, he found that everything was there; his gun, knife, hammer, clothes, Harris’ gun, and ammo were all present. His jacket and vest hung in the closet. “Looks like everything’s here.” he confirmed, not moving anything. He wasn’t about to leave the hospital, he was just checking to make sure he had his stuff. Happy that he did, he moved over to the window. Outside, the beautiful night sky stood in all its glory, even more stars present than in Vietnam.

“Definitely not in ‘Nam any more.” he said, taking in the sight. It wasn’t quite Galileo’s sky, but the stars were incredible. They shimmered in the sky like little candles, flickering in the wind.

Son, he moved away from the window, intent on figuring out just where he was. He remembered seeing the unicorn, but he figured that had to be a hallucination. Unicorns don’t exist. And if he did see one, clearly, he was not in his world any more, alive or not. Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, Ryan walked over to the door. He opened the door slowly, like he was back in Narendra’s home, anticipating someone outside. No one, no unicorns. Concluding its safety, Ryan walked out into the hall and took a look down both halls and shut the door. If any nurses passed by, he didn’t want them hearing the heart monitor in “He’s dead!” mode. After looking down both ends, he decided to go right, since he guessed that way led to the back of the hospital. Being a hospital, there was a good chance that he would encounter visitors if he went went to the front. Being practically naked, he it thought better to go where no one would likely be.

As he walked through the halls, he thought about the possibility of the unicorn doctor. “I suppose it could happen.” he thought. “I mean, if Discord exists, then he could... have...” That cinched it. The unicorn doctor probably was real, as real as Discord. He remembered now; Discord had been floating over him before he was found, and disappeared before the little girls took him away. Wherever Discord had brought him, it was certainly far from home.

“Let’s just confirm.” Ryan figured, looking at a door. He quietly approached it, putting his hand on the oddly shaped handle. It looked like it was meant for something without digits. Upon pushing the door open, Ryan’s suspicions were confirmed; there was a horse, pony, or whatever, in the hospital bed. And it was awake, looking at Ryan. As quickly as he opened the door, he closed it again, not wanting to be noticed. Maybe the pony would think it was a dream.

Rather than continue through the hospital, Ryan went back to his room. He had gone a considerable distance, and he needed to get back anyway. Not knowing the layout of the hospital wasn’t very helpful, either.

As he got to be about thirty feet from his door, he heard voices from the room to his left. Panicking, Ryan whipped his head around, looking for anywhere to hide. When he saw nothing, he sprinted forward, hoping to get into his room in time. At his door, just before opening it, the door down the hall opened up, and Ryan froze. Staring down the hall, Ryan had trouble comprehending the sight of a pony in a nurse’s outfit leaving the room with an empty food tray. She took her sweet time, saying goodnight to whoever she was tending to. When she finished, she shut the door and turned away. Ryan took the opportunity and tore his door open, shutting it just as fast and rushing back to his bed, jumping in. He out all the wires back on his chest and shifted them until the noise came back, though it was faster than he would have liked. Oh, well. Nothing to be done about that.

His door creaked open and Ryan closed his eyes to feign sleep. He couldn’t see anything, obviously, but he could hear as the nurse entered his room and walked up to him, her hooves clip-clopping on the tile floor as she approached. Breathing slowly, Ryan tried to calm himself to slow his heart rate.

“Poor thing. Must be having a nightmare.” Ryan felt relief, but there were two things he found interesting about her statement. One; his life as of late was a nightmare. Two; that had to be one of the scarier moments of his recent life, being in a bizarre hospital and nearly being caught out of his room. After taking a couple of readings, the nurse left, allowing Ryan to let out a huge sigh of relief.

He opened his eyes again, checking if the door was closed. It was. Sitting back up and removing the wires, he moved back to the window. Looking outside, he noticed a big forest in the distance. That was something he knew. He also knew, now, that he was on the first floor. He took mental notes of everything.

“Tomorrow, I’m getting out of here.” He would head to the forest. He could probably survive, and if not, oh well. He was supposed to be dead anyway.

**********************************************************************************

Big Mac had gotten up early that morning. He didn;t know why, but something in the back of his head had awoken him. Or perhaps it was to the right of his head. “GAH!”

Applebloom was sitting right next to his head, her big eyes trained on his face, looking terribly excited. “Come on, big brother! Let’s get our work done now so we can see him!” Big Mac was a tad confused in his drowsy state.

“Who?” he asked grogilly. Applebloom rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh.

“The creature of course!” Big Mac remembered the creature that had been found dying on their farm. He had to wash the wagon, then throw it away because the stains were so bad, find the area where the girls found it, clean that, then wash himself off. It was a lot of hassle, even if it may not have been the creature’s fault.

“Alright, alright. Just let me get ready for the day, then we can get to work.” Applebloom squee’d and ran out of her brother’s room. He sighed. “It’s gonna be a long day.” he concluded.

The work went fast, much unlike Big Mac was expecting. He had been expecting his little sister to chatter nonstop about what she thought about the creature, and what she expected of it. Maybe what she didn’t know, or any fears she had about it. Nnnope. She just went through her chores, saying very little, intent on getting done as soon as possible. And when she continued after finishing her section of the chores, it became clear that she wanted Big Mac to be there for when they first interacted with the creature. Big Mac would go, of course; he had helped to save its life. But he didn’t share the enthusiasm of his sister.

Maybe the creature was dangerous. It could eat ponies. Or cows, like Bessie. His sister had said that it could talk, so it was clearly intelligent. What if it meant them harm? What sorts of things might it be able to come up with, in that area? Maybe it was nice, though. It could certainly be friendly, though with how they found it, it clearly hadn’t come from a nice place. Odds, were, the creature was not as friendly as they were.

He left those thoughts on the farm, though, as his sister dragged him away to go get her friends. “Good luck with yer new friend, little young’n!” Granny Smith yelled as they left. He hoped for the same.

His little sister finally started talking away about what she was expecting when they left. “Ah bet he’s got all kinds of stories and such from his home!” she started. “I wonder what the land he’s from his like? What if there aren’t any ponies there?” Big Mac actually started to think about that possibility for a moment. As far as he knew, no creature like this had ever been seen before, so it was a distinct possibility that this creature had never even laid eyes upon a pony before. How would it react to them if it had never seen them before? If Big Mac ever found himself in the custody of whatever this creature’s race was, he didn’t doubt that he would be freaking out.

“Ah hope he don’t lash out.” As long as the creature hadn’t fully regained whatever potentially notable strength it had, they would be totally safe.

It didn’t take long to get to Carousel Boutique to get Sweetie Belle, who was just as excited as Applebloom to meet the human. On their walk, the two little fillies babbled away about the creature, throwing out all kinds of theories about it. Some were simple, like he was lost and hurt himself. Others were totally outlandish, like him being a spy in Equestria that was found out and attacked. Big Mac mostly just listened, all the while formulating his own theories and plans for the first encounter.

Soon, they were at the CMC clubhouse, where they retrieved Scootaloo. Big Mac would have sworn that she lived elsewhere, but he didn’t know enough about her to say so. When they got there, Scootaloo must have still been asleep. “SCOOTALOO!!” the girls both yelled. From inside the clubhouse, something that sounded like a skirmish could be heard from inside.

“Coming!” the filly shouted back. After more noise was heard, Scootaloo finally came out, looking exhausted.

“Y’all good to go now?” Applebloom asked impatiently. Scootaloo nodded vigorously.

“Yup! Let’s go!” And they went to the hospital.

As they walked through the town, the townsponies kept giving Big Mac funny looks, like he had some kind of disease. He hoped that he didn’t, because he had no idea what this creature may have had in its blood. But then again, they might just be reacting like they did when Zecora first showed up in town.

“Mornin’.” he said to passersbys. Some returned his gesture with a nod, others just kept on walking, even speeding up as they passed. Couldn’t say that he was shocked, but he couldn’t say that he was happy with this. “Ain’t like Ah did anything wrong.” he said to himself. The fillies were hopping about, being a little bit annoying to a few other ponies. “Unless you count not controlling them.” Other than that, the walk was uneventful.

They reached the hospital in a short time, Big Mac trailing behind a little bit as they went. He was less enthusiastic about the creature, as was already quite clear, and the only reason that he was going was because his little sister wanted him to. He wished that Applejack was there.

“She’d be way more into this than me.” he thought, complaining to himself about going. Normally, he didn’t complain about anything, but when it was something strange like this, he let himself complain a little. “Maybe it won’t be awake. Maybe it’ll need more time to rest.” While he was lost in his mind, the girls were at the door of the hospital, urging Big Mac to hurry up.

They entered the waiting room, drawing looks from the only two other ponies who were there. Once they saw who had entered, they lost interest and went back to whatever it was that they had been doing. Just as well. Big Mac wasn’t the biggest fan of being the center of attention.

They all walked over to the front desk, where the nurse on duty had her head down on her desk, drooling. A light snore came from her. “Miss Redheart?” Sweetie Belle initiated the conversation. Nurse Redheart jumped up, eyes shooting out wide from the startling experience of a little filly’s voice sounding out unexpectedly. When she recovered, she put her head on her hoof and leaned her elbow joint on the table.

“Yes, how can I-*yawn*- help you?” Big Mac hid his snicker at her disheveled appearance. The three little fillies all got up onto the desk and started to bounce up and down, drawing a groan from the nurse.

“We’re here to see the creature!” they all yelled in unison. The nurse rubbed her temples.

“What?” The girls stopped bouncing.

“Y’know, that weird creature that came in before? Not exactly a pony?” Scootaloo tried to make it easier for the nurse. It didn’t work.

“What?” Maybe she didn’t know who they were speaking of.

The doctor walked out of the hall and into the waiting room, instantly spotting the little filles. A big smile crossed his face, and he walked over. “Ah, yes. I assume you’re here for the creature?” The girls nodded so fast that Big Mac would have sworn that their little heads would fly off. “Well, from his readings, I can say that he’s about ready for a little visit.”

The girls were elated. “YAY!” The doctor turned, signaling for them and Big Mac to follow.

**********************************************************************************

Ryan hadn’t slept well that night. Of course, one can’t blame him for that. He had been tortured, cut, beaten, burned, shot, and killed. He thought. Still, after all of that, it wasn’t the easiest thing to get back to sleep.

He had awoken at around six in the morning, partly because of how much light there was outside. Summer tended to bring that. “Today, I leave.” He was preparing a plan as soon as he was fully conscious. He couldn’t just walk out the front door, seeing as he wasn’t exactly a local. He didn’t know what these ponies wanted, and he had no way to get out of the room without being seen. When the doctor came in just half an hour earlier, he had left a note.

“Today, you will likely get a visit from three very hyper little girls. Just a fair warning.”

Yeah. Only they weren’t going to get to meet him, since he wasn’t sticking around. He had searched the room for anything that he could use. Other than the one morphine syringe he had left, he had nothing to non-lethally take potential hostiles out of the game, and he might need it for himself later. As the sun peeked over the horizon, Ryan looked out the window.

The window, that was perfect. He was on the first floor, he remembered that from last night. As long as it wasn’t some kind of treated glass, he could just smash it and leave that way. Ryan moved his stuff over to the side of the bed and was about to don it when he heard a knock at his door. Rushing over to his bed, he jumped under the covers and lay still, pretending to sleep.

A nurse walked in, a light blue one with a lighter toned mane. No horn, so she was normal. Behind her she dragged a kart with several bits of food on it. She must have heard Ryan moving around, because she looked at him and said, “Come on, I can tell you aren’t asleep.” Ryan opened his eyes and looked at her, their eyes connecting. The nurse had gentle eyes, really big, like the others he had seen, and the held a lot of sympathy. As well as a nurse should have. To her, Ryan’s eyes just held mystery and confusion, drawing a little chuckle from her. “I have some food for you.” She pushed the cart forward.

“What is this nonsense?” Ryan thought as he took in the sight of the food. Did they honestly think that he ate hay and grass? Looking on the underside shelf, he saw some veggies and oats. He grabbed them with fast hands, getting a startled yelp from the nurse. As he munched on them, she looked at him, awestruck.

“Well, just buzz if you need anything.” Ryan pretended not to understand as she left.

A few seconds after his door closed, Ryan looked over to make sure that she was gone. No noise, good. He was definitely alone. Still munching and crunching on the oats, he looked to the window. “Maybe a little bit longer, to get up my energy.” He would eat all the food in front of him, then he would leave. Maybe. Probably not. After lunch, when his strength would be at one hundred percent again. Yeah.

He got out of the bed and walked around his room. It was a nice hospital room, he had to admit. A lot like the ones he had back home, only this was clearly meant for ponies. There were anatomical drawings of ponies, posters about pony health, and other non-human things. Still, this hospital room was probably better equipped than that one he had gone to before. And upon leaving, he doubted that he would be met by Luna, to whom he would have to... explain his actions...

Ryan froze completely. Remembering Luna, he thought about her compared to these other creatures around him. She was a horse. They were ponies. Her coloring was in a similar style to theirs, and she had a horn and wings. Could this be her realm? Did she have something to do with his being brought here? Maybe Discord knew her, though he never mentioned that he did. Ideas swirled around in Ryan’s head. Maybe they were like devil and angel, always at odds, trying to influence people to do the right or wrong thing? Nah, not likely. Maybe they were just generally enemies? Maybe. Ryan decided to think about it later, and decided that he would focus on his escape.

He noticed a mirror in the room, toward the corner. He walked over to it. He hadn’t taken a good look at himself in ages, and he couldn’t help but be curious about what the mirror held in store for him. When he got there, what he saw was hardly the Ryan that he remembered. He had lost weight, and non an insignificant amount. He still had muscle, more than before, even, but his body fat had dropped dramatically. On his face, he had a growing survivalist beard, the hairs being a quarter of an inch long. Removing his gown, Ryan looked at his body unhindered. His necklace still hung on his neck, he hadn’t even noticed. Under it, he could see a huge scar where the 5.45mm bullet tore through his chest. Tenderly, he put his fingers on the scar. The skin had hardly any feeling any more. His arms still looked like they had been melted and then poured back into place with the burn scars. He was bruised from his various encounters with people and nature. His right leg had a plethora of tiny scars from the mine that he had stepped on. Turning around, he looked at his back in the mirror. The letters, USA, were still there, forever carved into his skin. Under them, he saw a spot where it looked like a buzzsaw had attacked him, having been slashed over a dozen times in that spot. He took it all in soberingly.

He had never been invincible, he knew that. He went out there expecting to die. But he had also been expecting to gain something. What it was, he wasn’t even sure any more. Closure? Satisfaction? Redemption? No, he had nothing. Killing Narendra didn’t make him feel better, it didn’t make the problems go away, and his quest certainly didn’t redeem his decision on the boat and in the compound. For a second, Catherine and Joey flashed by in the mirror, prompting Ryan to spin around. No one. No one had ever been there for him, except for Harris.

Ryan began to tremble, and fell against the mirror, cracking it. He had abandoned his best friend, the only one who could have helped him and tried to. Ryan had no redemption, he never would. Unsure of what to do with himself, Ryan went back to the bed and laid down. “I don’t even know what I’m doing.” he realized. He just lay there on the bed and waited for lunch to come.

Lunch came slowly, Ryan’s thoughts and memories haunting him the whole time. They threatened to make him do something. He was never sure what, but he had come close to doing it. The doctor walked in. “Hello, Mr...?” When Ryan didn’t respond, he nodded and brought the food over. This time, he had peanut butter, bread, and milk. “Here’s lunch.” Again, Ryan used fast hands to nab the food and scarfed it down. Unlike the nurse, the doctor just chuckled, non being startled. The nurse must have talked to him. “I’m sure that you got my note about visitors today.” he said. Ryan tore at his food and gulped down his milk. “Well, my guess is that they’ll be around soon, so be prepared. They’re going to be a bit excited.” Ryan looked up at the doctor, this time avoiding eye contact. The doctor took the hint and left the room.

Ryan wiped his mouth and looked around. If his “visitors” were coming soon, than now was the time to leave. He waltzed over to his things and donned everything. Keeping a check of everything, he donned the underwear, then the pants, then the shirt and jacket, then his vest and weapons and such. Once he had everything, he turned to leave. As he turned, he laid eyes on the mirror. He stared at it for a moment.

With a glacial expression, he pulled out Harris’ Automag and put a bullet in the mirror, aiming downward. The mirror exploded, bits crashing to the floor, spreading glass everywhere. He turned back around and looked to the window and got ready to run.

**********************************************************************************

Big Mac and the girls were standing with the doctor just fifteen feet from the door to the creature’s room when an incredibly loud BOOM sounded throughout the hall. They all dropped and covered their ears. “What was that?” Sweetie Belle screamed. The doctor was just as confused as her, and he was looking around frantically.

“Is everyone alright?” he yelled A chorus of “yes” and “Think so” was sang through the hall. The doctor stood up, panic seeming to strike his face like a mare’s hoof. “The creature!” he shouted. As he ran forward, Big Mac got up and ran after him.

They were at the door in a couple of seconds. Once there, they heard a loud crash from inside. Immediately, the doctor kicked the door open and rushed in. All that was there was an empty room, a shattered mirror, and a shattered window. Outside, they could see the creature running away from the hospital, towards the forest.

“Stop it!” the doctor yelled.

Big Mac took the initiative and leapt out the window, getting into a gallop to catch the creature. Behind him, he could hear the doctor yelling out orders at his employees to get ready to treat someone. Real confidence builder, him not knowing who to treat.

Big Mac was getting close to the creature. Clearly, it wasn’t a species that was built for running like ponies. For a two legged creature, it was running on two legs, it was fast, though. “Stop!” Big Mac yelled out. The creature looked back for a moment, then sped up just a little. Not enough though. When Big Mac got in range, he grabbed the creature’s clothes with his teeth and stopped. With both of their considerable momentums, they crashed into the ground.

Big Mac took a moment to recover from his fall. It had been a while since he fell down during a full sprint. He rolled over, catching his breath. “Well, that was-” He was cut off by a large weight tackling him to the ground. Looking up, he saw that the creature was pinning him down. Who would have guessed that it could recover so fast? “Ah don’t want to hurt you.” he said slowly, hoping that the creature would understand tone if not words. “Ah just want-” The creature leapt off of him and moved back, letting Big Mac stand up. He noticed that it was pointing a shiny thing at him. “Ah don’t know what that is,” Big Mac said. “but Ah’d appreciate it if you didn’t point it at me.” The creature kept its item trained on him, making him uncomfortable. “Just calm down.” he said.

The creature moved back, pointing the weapon down. “Stay away.” it said. Before Big Mac could register that it spoke to him, it turned around and fled into the forest.

Magic

View Online

Magic

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Big Mac just watched as the creature ran away. He couldn’t speak or even think. The girls were right; it was intelligent enough to be capable of speech. The really weird thing to Mac was the tone with which it spoke. It didn’t exactly sound like fear, or anger or aggression. It wasn’t sadness, either, like he needed to be alone. It was more of a calculated statement of his demands, like one would make in a business arrangement. It puzzled Big Mac.

He barely even registered that there were several ponies running his way, yelling, asking if he was alright. It didn’t seem that important, compared to what had just happened. “Mr. Macintosh!” the doctor yelled. Big Mac finally turned around to see what they wanted.

“What?” he said nonchalantly. The doctor stopped right before him to catch his breath.

“Are-*huff*- are you alright?” Big Mac just nodded curtly and turned back to face the forest.

“Ah’m fine.” He stood up and took a step towards the treeline, which was a good twenty-five meters away. “Ah wonder what he thinks he’s doin’.” Surely, the creature must know how dangerous the Everfree forest is, right? Everypony knows that. Could the creature have come from it? Maybe, though it didn’t seem like it did.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders ran up to Big Mac and hugged his legs. “When we saw you tackle it, we thought that you had it, but when it knocked you down, we got so scared!” Scootaloo wailed. Sweetie Belle was silent, and Applebloom was doing her best not to cry. After hearing that incredibly loud noise and finding a shattered mirror and window, they had no idea what the creature might have done.

“Ah was scared...” Applebloom muttered into Big Mac’s leg. Sensing her enormous distress, Big Mac took her and the other girls into an embrace in one fell swoop of his long leg.

“Shh.” he said, trying to keep them calm. “Ah’m fine, no need to worry.” Truth be told, he wasn’t entirely sure about that. The creature had threatened him with some sort of item, telling to “stay away”. That item could have been the noise maker. But then again, something so small couldn’t really make a noise like that, now could it?

The doctor, having recovered from his exertion, came over to the group before him and spoke hurriedly. “We need to find the creature before it potentially caused damage.” he said. “Where did it go, Mr. Macintosh?” Big Mac responded by pointing to the forest.

“Hold on there, doc.” he said, halting the doctor. “It don’t want to hurt us. It told me to ‘stay away’. Maybe it ain’t dangerous? Maybe we should leave it?” Much to Big Mac’s chagrin, the doctor energetically shook his head.

“No. It might be dangerous, and I don’t know if I got to all of its infections.” Oh. Well, that could be a problem. “Plus, it’s a new species. If I don’t try to find it now, Miss Sparkle will likely tear up the forest looking for it.” Thinking about it, Big Mac realized that it would actually be safer for Miss Sparkle if the creature was found before she arrived the next day. She wouldn’t be obliged to enter the Everfree forest. “I’ll send in some of the hospital security to find him.” Like magic, several security officers that Big Mac never knew existed popped up and stood at attention. “Find the creature, and bring him back to finish treatment.” the doctor ordered. His security personnel fanned out and went into the forest.

Big Mac put the fillies on his back. “Well, doc, Ah’m afraid that we’ve got nothing to do here, so I guess we’ll just be leaving.” The doctor nodded, not really paying attention.

“Alright. I’ll notify you if anything happens or develops.” With that, Big Mac left, carrying three very disappointed fillies on his back.

**********************************************************************************

Discord found himself laughing hard, and even he didn’t really know why. Meh, he didn’t need to make sense
.

The boy had just blasted out the hospital window and ran off, only to be chased by Big Mac, like a puppy chasing a rodent. Only that rodent was more like a tiger. Little dog syndrome, perhaps? Ah, well. Seeing Ryan tackle that behemoth of a pony to the ground like it was nothing made his day. Size really doesn’t always matter, does it?

Discord had told Ryan that he had a garden to attend, but he had lied. Plain and simple. Why on Equestria, thankfully he was back there, would Discord one; go back to being a statue, and two; give up a chance to see this story all the way through? Discord still felt guilty about what he had done before, but now that Ryan was in a much safer place, he could actually enjoy what he witnessed, rather than think of the deadly consequences. Those consequences no longer applied.

Discord had been weighing his options, though. He couldn’t make a fake statue to keep the royal sisters off his back. They would know that it was a fake. So that option was out the window. He could return to the garden, but he had already knocked that off. He would just have to try and find a way out again, and the way he got out before likely wasn’t goin to be available. But... if he PRETENDED to be a statue, then he could go back and the sisters would be none the wiser. They would be able to tell that he was, in fact, there, but not that he was fully conscious and influencing the world around them. He could send his mind out in small waves to check on the boy’s healing progress and maybe make it a little bit more fun along the way.

Discord thought of Harris when he thought of Ryan’s recovery. He truly did feel for the boy; all he had wanted was to bring his friend home and help him to get better. When he saw Harris sitting with Ryan as he died in that disgusting river, Discord himself almost cried. Unfortunately, while he was helping Ryan, he could only hope that Harris could deal with his own pain and suffering on his own, and only if he could escape Vietnam. To try to make up for it, Discord was taking on the challenge of helping Ryan to recover that which he lost in those jungles and cities. There was a lot to do; but the elements of harmony would no doubt be helpful for this.

Having decided on a course of action, and being satisfied with what he saw that day, Discord flew off towards the castle, where he would play statue and no one would ever know that he was helping a lost soul to find its way.

**********************************************************************************

Starstep awoke before Luna, not shockingly. She had her forelegs curled up tight around his torso, holding him close. She was snoozing away, and what she was dreaming about, Starstep had no idea. Whatever it was, he only hoped that it was peaceful, after hearing about what had been going on.

Starstep was happy to be this close to her. They didn’t share moments like this very often, but when they did, he always wanted them to last forever. Of course, he would never tell her that. It could ruin their friendship.

There was a loud rapping at the door, and someone on the other side was yelling. “Princess Luna, please, come quick!” That voice, it was too familiar. Starstep groaned.

“Blueblood..." he thought as he got up, making sure not to disturb Luna. The loud rapping kept up as he approached the door. “I’m coming already!” he loudly whispered. Looking back, he saw that Luna still slept. “Now,” he said as he opened the door, laying his eyes on a distressed Blueblood. “What?” Blueblood took a moment to compose himself.

“There has been a... development, in the search for Discord.”

Starstep blinked. Then he blinked again. What? “What?” Blueblood nodded.

“Yes. We need Auntie Luna right away.” Starstep looked at Blueblood, then at Luna, then back at Blueblood.

“Right away.” With that, Blueblood nodded and ran off.

Closing the door gently, Starstep turned around to look at his princess. She was in no condition to be going around in public, but the nation needed her right now. She and her sister had to ensure that whatever this development was didn’t create any danger. He walked over to her and put his hoof on her side. “Princess.” he said flatly. She murmured and rolled over. Starstep jumped up stood with his front hooves on her side. “Luna!” She jolted awake from the sudden assault on her eardrums. Groggy and feeling sticky, she looked up at her guard.

“What?” she asked. Starstep jumped off the bed.

“You are needed.” He leaned in close and whispered. “There has been a development in the Discord situation.” Luna shot up and leapt off the bed.

“Where am I needed?” she asked frantically. Thinking back, Blueblood hadn’t told him where Luna was needed.

“I would guess that you need to head to the throne room.” She ran off, clearly panicking that something terrible had happened.

After she left, Starstep looked around and sighed. Life had been going fairly well for him. There was a little hiccup on the day of Discord’s escape, but other than that, not much happened. Then the boy died, a tragedy to be certain, from what Luna told him. Not only that, now, less than a week later, Discord was somehow involved with something.

“Why must life be so hard at times?” But then, he already knew the answer to that.

Luna sprinted through the halls as fast as she could, drawing looks of concern from guards and staff who were out of the loop. They had no way of knowing what was going on for some time, but for those who did, they wore grim expression. Though, as she drew closer to the throne room, the expressions became more neutral. “I wonder what has happened?” she thought. The ones who knew didn’t seem like they were that concerned. Some just looked confused.

When she entered the throne room, she spotted her sister sitting on her throne, reading some papers. They looked terribly boring. “I have arrived, sister.” Luna announced. Celestia looked up and smiled.

“Excellent. Come with me.” Luna followed as her sister got up and walked behind the throne. She normally had a tiny bit of small talk first, so this indicated to Luna that this development was something big.

“Sister, what has happened?” she asked. Celestia chuckled.

“Just wait. You’ll see.” Luna grumbled. She hated it when her sister did this.

They entered the garden, and upon inspection of the garden, Luna’s jaw dropped like a thousand pound bomb from a B-29. The noise that came from her maw was of confusion, like that of a community that was just unprovokedly bombed. There was zero coherence in her speech.

“Is that..?” he finally managed to ask. Celestia nodded.

“It is.”

Before them stood the statue of Discord, only this time, it was standing in a new position. Before, he had been standing with his hands outstretched and a look of terror on his face. Now, he sat on his hind end, with one leg over the other. His hand was under his chin, and he looked rather thoughtful.

“How did he get here?” Luna asked, astonished. Celestia walked forward and looked up at the statue.

“He just appeared here. After a groundskeeper alerted me to the statue’s presence, I came over and checked if it was him with my magic. And it is. He is back here, Luna, where he cannot cause chaos.” Celestia looked over at her sister. “One less thing to have on our minds, dear sister.”

Luna sat down, hardly able to stand up. If Discord was back, who put him there, and why? If it was the elements of harmony, they would have alerted the royal sisters to this. Of course, the bigger question was, where had he gone? Where did he spend so much time, only to wind up coming back to this garden where he had been imprisoned for so long? Questions swirled around Luna’s mind, like a cyclone over the pacific ocean.

“I am glad.” she said, deciding to ponder upon it later. With Ryan still on her mind, she didn’t want to think about Discord right now. Two unrelated things needed to be pondered at different times, she always believed. Dedicate all your time to one thing, then another. “What shall we do?” Luna asked. Celestia looked back to the statue and sighed.

“We just have to hope that whoever put him here this time did so in a way that won’t let him escape.” Not entirely satisfied, but still happy with this ending, Luna turned and left after giving a goodbye to her sister to go tell Starstep the good news.

The whole time, Discord had to do his absolute best not to laugh hysterically at the two regal sisters before him. Luna was just leaving, clearly she had fallen for it. Of course, she also looked like she was brooding on something. Discord noted that and would look into it later.

Celestia was still in the garden with Discord when her sister left. Discord silently ordered her to leave so that he could use his magic without being detected. Celestia’s presence made things hard because, while the spells to detect magic aren’t easy to do, if a powerful unicorn, or alicorn, is nearby, they can typically sense it.

“Go away!” Discord mentally shouted at Celestia. he turned around for one last look.

“Don’t cause more trouble.” she said menacingly, then walked away. If he could blink at the time, Discord would have done so several times right there. Did she know that he was able to just leave? He told himself not to cause trouble. “I’ll just influence Ryan’s life.” If he did anything to other ponies, Celestia would surely bring down her full wrath upon him.

Bored, but not feeling like watching Ryan at the moment, Discord just felt like entertaining himself by observing the lives of the Canterlot nobles. “Ah, yes. Rich pony problems.” None of them knew the pain and suffering that Ryan knew. And he hoped that they never would.

**********************************************************************************

Ryan ran through the forest, trying to get as far in as possible to evade capture. These ponies wanted him? They would have to fight for him. “I’m not going back there.” Ryan told himself. He had no desire to be a part of civilization any more. He couldn’t properly function in society, not after everything He would always be looking over his shoulder, always be looking for bad guys to kill. At least out in nature, his behavior made more sense. Or he might die. Yeah.

Behind him, he could hear several of the ponies just entering the forest, calling out to him. “Creature!” they would yelled. Ha. He was the creature now, it seemed. Although, they were more right than they knew. Ryan had become a creature back in Sumatra. His mind wandered back to the island, then to continental Asia.

“I should have just died out there.” he thought. “I should just die out here.” He had no goal any more. There was no reason for him to keep going. So, what drove him? Was he looking for something? He must have been, seeing as killing Narendra didn’t get him anything.

When the voices faded, Ryan figured that he had enough time to kill to stop and think. Why run? There was nothing to run to, nothing to go after. There wasn’t even anything to avoid, truthfully. He just knew that he would have nothing to gain from society, and nothing to gain from being alive. What did he have to lose from being dead? Nothing, really. Wherever he was, it was far from home. His family and friends would all think that he was dead by now. He had no one to return to, even if he wanted to. He couldn’t love people. Remembering his dream, he realized that he couldn’t be a SEAL any more. Even if he may have been a half decent one, he couldn’t do it. He wouldn’t pass the psychological test. There was literally nothing for him to lose from dying.

He pulled out his M1911 and, seeing that it was empty, replaced the empty mag with one of his full ones, putting the empty one in his vest. He chambered the first round and looked down at his gun. “Why?” he asked. The one question he wanted an answer to, and it couldn’t be answered. He pulled the gun up and pointed it at his chin, aiming up. There, he stood for the better half of a minute He wanted to pull the trigger, but something wasn’t letting him. He thought about everything before he fired, especially Harris. They were best friends, maybe even brothers when you got down to it. Ryan put the gun down and holstered it again.

The voices were loud again, much closer than Ryan anticipated. He also hadn’t anticipated not shooting himself, though, so it evened out. “Stay away!” Ryan yelled, running further into the forest. There was a flurry of activity behind him as ponies yelled and gave chase, excitedly chattering about their pursuit. At one point, they were close enough for Ryan to hear. “I wonder what it is?” That was all that Ryan caught. “It’s not your fiend, that's for damn certain.” Ryan thought darkly to himself.

He ran deeper and deeper into the forest, carefully trying to listen to the ponies pursuing him. Eventually, he got his desired result.

“I am not going in any further!” he heard. Another spoke up, this time sounding farther away.

“Me neither, forget that!” It seemed that they were done following him. Until he heard the last one.

“I’m gonna get him before he puts himself in danger!” one yelled, sounding dangerously close. Before Ryan knew what to do, he was on the ground.

The pony that was chasing him was male, and very large. He had Ryan under him, with his hooves to either side of Ryan’s body. “Now hang on!” he said. Ryan looked up at the stallion resentfully. “We just want to help you-” He was cut off when a fist connected with his exposed belly, followed by a harsh roundhouse kick to his side, knocking him to the ground. Ryan leaped up and got into fighting stance, twitchy and having trouble not pulling one of his guns. The stallion stood. “Look,” he said, rubbing his side and coughing lightly. “All we want is to help you. Please, don’t do this. You may get hurt.” Ryan’s hand went for his knife and he gripped the handle. The stallion had seen the gesture and backed off a little.

“We don’t know if you have any infections.” he said. Ryan just stared at the stallion, not really listening. He was waiting for it to get up and attack. “And this forest is dangerous. You are in serious danger here.” In response, Ryan started to move back, where he knew there was some brush for him to run away through. “Please, let us help you...” Ryan put a foot into the bush behind him. “Leave me be.” he replied, spinning around and running away.

He was trying to keep the speech with these creatures to a minimum, in an effort to avoid letting his own guard down and avoid them letting theirs down. If neither side was in a mood for compromise, then e would be safe in this forest, never having to go back to society. He could live out his days in solitude here. That stallion had said that this place was dangerous, so none of them would go in any more to find him. Out here, he could live or die as he pleased.

After he escaped from the stallion, he just kept on walking through the forest, not even thinking about where his feet were taking him.

**********************************************************************************

Big Mac was taking the girls to the Sugarcube Corner, where they could get a tasty treat in exchange for missing a chance to interact with the creature. They were exceedingly disappointed that they didn’t get to speak with him. The whole way over, none of them spoke. They mostly just pouted.

Big Mac, on the other hand, was still in shock. He had taken that creature down while they were at a full sprint, yet it just got up and countered instantly. If it had wanted to do so, Big Mac would be in the hospital right now. He considered himself lucky.

“That could have been a whole lot worse.” he thought. While his sister and her friends might think that the creature was aggressive and dangerous, Big Mac thought otherwise. It had a chance to really hurt him, but it chose not to take it. He had no intent to harm Big Mac, his sole concern was escape. Maybe it was from the forest, and it was just trying to go home. Or maybe its home was from far beyond the forest, ad it didn’t want to be followed. Either way, Big Mac thought positively of it.

They arrived at Sugarcube corner, and when the girls saw it, their countenances instantly lighted up. “YAY!” they all yelled. Big Mac smiled. He loved it when they were like that.

They walked in through the door and drew the attention of Mr. Cake, setting some treats in the display case. “Ah, welcome!” he said. “What can get for you?” he asked. Big Mac looked at the girls.

“Ah’ll have a chocolate cupcake!” Applebloom replied.

“Can I have a... vanilla milkshake?” Sweetie Belle asked. Mr. Cake nodded.

“And gimme a... big chocolate chip cookie!” Scootaloo finished it off. Mr. Cake nodded and got to work.

“Anything for you, Mac?” he yelled back from the kitchen.

“Naw, Ah’m good.” Big Mac replied. He took the girls over to a table and sat down. They all climbed off his back and took their seats.

While they were waiting, the girls were just staring at Big Mac, making him feel uncomfortable. He didn’t know why they were looking at him.

“What?” he finally asked. Mistake. He was barraged with questions.

“How did it get you down?” Sweetie Belle asked. She seemed really concerned about it.

“He fell at the same time as me and just as hard. Ah don’t know how he managed to get back up so fast. Then, he just tackled me.” Scootaloo came next.

“What was that thing in its hand?” Big Mac thought about that for a moment. Like the creature, he had never seen that item before.

“Ah don’t know. Whatever it was, he held it pretty threateningly. So Ah’m gonna assume it’s something dangerous.” Applebloom, like lightning, leapt over the table and hugged her brother.

“Are y’all alright?” she asked, mostly for herself. Big Mac patted her head.

“Ah’m fine.” He took her off and put her back in her seat.

“Did it talk to you?” Scootaloo asked, excited. Big Mac nodded. “What did it say?” she asked, impatient. Big Mac shrugged.

“He said, ‘stay away’. That was all.” Scootaloo’s smile turned into a scowl when she didn’t get anything else.

Their treats came soon after that last question, something Big Mac wa grateful for. If the girls were eating their treats, they couldn’t ask questions. Only Pinkie Pie was capable of that. Big Mac shuddered at the thought of her and Twilight Sparkle’s likely-to-come questions, most of which he would not likely be able to answer.

“There you go.” Mr. Cake said cheerfully. “Enjoy.” He gave a small bow as he left their table. Big Mac took the opportunity to rest while the girls ate and thought about what he knew. The creature could speak. He could certainly fight. He didn’t want to be found. All in all, he seemed like a lonely guy who wanted to stay that way.

“Ah can relate to that.” Big Mac thought. He had never been that into making friends. He had a couple here and there, but he preferred being alone, most of the time.

When the girls finished, they paid Mr. Cake and exited Sugarcube Corner. Now on a sugar high, the girls were intent on running around trying to get their cutie marks. They left Big Mac, who opted to head home. “When they get back tomorrow, Ah’ll talk to them if they come to me.” Deciding on that, he went home and did his best to forget about the whole thing until his sister and her friends came back.

**********************************************************************************

Ryan had been walking through the forest for a long while now. He had no idea where he was, although being in the forest was a strange comfort for him. At this point, he preferred it to any town or city.He may have been shot and killed, at least he thought that he died. It didn’t matter now, anyway. He just had to walk.

Why? That question kept on popping into his head. Why did he have to walk? What would he get from it? There was no happiness to be found out here. There was no evil to confront, none other than his own. And he had no desire to confront that, for it would destroy him. He pretty much just had to walk until he could walk no more. So he decided to do that.

Eventually, he started to notice strange bits and pieces of rock laying on the ground. They were all a dark shade of blue, something that didn’t match up with the other bits of stone and dirt in the area. He must have been approaching some different area of the forest, or have been leaving it. “Let’s see what this has in store for me.” Ryan thought. Hell, why not? It would at least be a start in some direction. And this direction seemed as good as any other.

He followed the blue stones as they became more common, having to retrace his steps several times when the trail got cold. It was frustrating at first, but eventually, Ryan came across the last thing he had been expecting to find; an old, medieval style castle, with what seemed to be a bottomless trench for a moat. Cautiously, he walked over to the edge and looked over. Fog, and lots of it. He shuddered.

“I pity the one who falls down into the unknown abyss.” he said to himself. He looked around for something that he could use to cross the gap and check out the castle. Off to his left, he noticed an old, rickety rope bridge. “If it’ll get me across.” he decided. he tentatively walked over, thinking over what may await him on the other side. He had no way of knowing what there could be. There could be more of these ponies, doing archeological work. Or maybe just some old hermit, who wouldn’t be too happy about Ryan’s intrusion. Maybe there were loads of creatures in there. The stallion form earlier had said that the forest was a dangerous place.

“I can handle whatever this place can throw at me.” Ryan thought. He had two guns, the Automag with a total of twelve rounds left and the M1911 with fourteen left. He also had his knife and hand to hand skills. Feeling overstocked in killing capability, Ryan began to cross the bridge.

Crossing the bridge wasn’t the worst experience of his life, but it was far from the best. Below him, he would swear that he heard the moans and groans of either suffering people or ghosts of people who had. Several voices in particular struck him. Joey was the loudest by far, like he was losing consciousness from heat exhaustion, while Nadine’s came next. Hers were relatively quiet screams and whimpers from only Ryan knew what. Hers were easily the worst, with Ryan knowing exactly what had happened. Then after her was the sound of Catherine, and the loud gunshot that took her life. Ryan did his best to ignore them, but they overpowered him, and he rushed to get across the bridge.

Once across, he gasped for air and fell to his knees, hands splayed out on the ground before him. Why were their voices down there? They couldn’t be here, only Harris had ever even seen Discord, other than Ryan. Discord didn’t bring anyone else here, and even if he did, he couldn’t have brought the others because Ryan had killed two of them and let the other die. They were gone forever, and no matter how hard anyone tried, they weren’t coming back. They couldn’t be in the gorge. Ryan turned around to look and took in a sharp breath from shock.

Before him stood the little girl from the house of the family that let them stay with them. Those kind people, who had been brutally murdered for helping some strangers. Ryan couldn’t look at the burned little girl before him. “It’s your fault you know.” The Girl said. Ryan shook his head.

“Please, I’m sorry.” he replied. “I... I didn’t want that for you. Please, don’t...” The girl walked forward, getting Ryan to scurry back towards the castle on the ground.

“You brought them there. You brought our deaths to us.” Ryan clapped his hands over his ears.

“No, I-”

“You did this to me!” The Girl screamed. Ryan’s eyes opened and looked at The Girl. He wanted to vomit.

“Please, I’m sorry... I tried...” Ryan started to sob on the ground. The Girl shook her head.

“You failed us. You failed your friends. You murdered all of them.” Ryan shook his head violently.

“NO!” The Girl stood over him.

“You caused so much suffering. Now you will know what it’s like to suffer for yourself.”

Ryan looked up, and The Girl was gone. Not wanting to encounter any more of the ghosts of his past, he turned tail and fled into the building.

Inside, it was pretty dark. he only lights came from suspicious candle-like things on the walls. When Ryan put his hand near one, there was no heat. Of course, with unicorns and such existing, magic probably existed here too. Other than the strange magical lights, the castle seemed like a regular old, abandoned ruin. Ryan could not determine that someone lived here, and he was fine with that. that meant that there was no one to potentially fight. The walls were mostly plain upon walking inside; he had come into a foyer. Inside it, there were several mildly decorated tables, with a few things adorning each one. On one, there were some cups. On another, there was a flower vase. Ryan walked over to the little table with the cups and dusted them off; silver.

“Well, I could sell it later.” Ryan decided to take a couple, stuffing them onto the back of his vest so that they would hang there. Gotta support himself somehow.

He walked through the foyer and found himself approaching a four way intersection of hallways. Looking down each one, he thought about the other times he had found himself trying to decide on which hallway to choose. Bad memories. He went left, sticking to his usual, hoping that it would bring him somewhere. All it brought him to was an old storage room, which he promptly exited. Nothing was there, so nothing would stay. He went to the hall that was to the right of his original position. Down that hall was a number of doors. Each time he passed one, he was sure to check inside. Either something valuable might make it worth checking or someone dangerous might be sleeping. If there was, he would get the drop on them. None of the rooms held up, though. They were all empty, except for dusty old beds and broken nightstands. At the end of the hallway, there was a larger door.

Before approaching, Ryan observed the door. It had a number of markings on it, like ancient symbols of a forgotten language. As he crept closer to the door, Ryan listened for anything that might be on the other side. When he heard nothing, he threw caution to the wind and waltzed to the door. On it were more than just symbols, there were pictures. Pictures that depicted two large horses, one larger than the other, both with wings and horns, doing something. To either side of them the sun and the moon, seemingly in harmony. Upon closer inspection, Ryan saw that the smaller of the two seemed to be interacting with the moon, while the larger had the sun. The smaller had a mane that, even through the ravages of time that afflicted the wall, was detailed enough for Ryan to make out twinkling lights on it. And they were actually twinkling, too. More magic.

“You must be Luna.” Ryan concluded. This cinched it; Luna lived in this world. Ryan got mixed emotions about this. Seeing as she had no way to contact him, she probably thought he was dead by now. If he were to find her, should he reveal himself? Would it be wise, considering how his actions may have affected her? He put those thoughts in mental storage. they were important, but at the moment, survival was more important.

Ryan opened up the door, slowly, and peered inside like a peeping tom. Nothing but a bunch of shelves. Ryan pushed the door all the way open and walked in. As he went towards the center of the room, he realized that this was a library of some kind. Books surrounded him on all sides, old tomes forgotten by those who abandoned them here. No longer were they forgotten, though.

“Interesting.” Ryan said to himself, removing his beret. he just remembered that he was wearing all of that stuff, he had been so preoccupied by his escape. He undid the scarf around his neck and wrapped it around the beret, then stuffed them under his vest where he wouldn’t lose them. “Let’s see what we have here.” Ryan went to a shelf and was stunned when the labels on it were in English. What the..? How? Ignoring that, Ryan picked out a book and, sure enough, it, too, was in English. He opened it up only to find dust coating every page. He blew on it, nearly choking when the dust flew toward him as well as away. When it all cleared, Ryan took a look at the first page of the book. Spells of the Ancient Dragons. He tossed it aside. He had no use for spells. He checked another book, going through the same process. This one was about spells made by some Starswirl the Bearded character. He tossed that aside as well. Noticing that this was clearly a magic section, Ryan moved onto another shelf. He needed history and bestiaries, not magical nonsense.

There was a movement behind him, and Ryan spun around, drawing his 1911. Nothing was there. Relieved, but still wary, Ryan holstered the weapon again and took a look through the books. This section was labeled history, so it likely had something, even if outdated. Ryan grabbed the first book off of the shelf. The Three Tribes. Interesting. He opened it up.

“At first, there were three tribes of ponies...” He got about thirty pages in when he decided that he’d had enough of ancient history. All that he got from the book that was useful was that there were also pegasi in this land, which, ridiculously, was called Equestria. “Well, ain’t that just the damndest thing.” Ryan said, putting the book back. Upon blowing away the dust and inspecting the book spines, he learned that all of the books were about ancient Equestrian history, so he moved on.

He went to several other shelves, looking for anything that might list the creatures that lived in the forest. Being in the forest for so long, the castle must have some sort of comprehensive listing, right? Ryan blew the dust away and began inspecting the book.

Thunk. Ryan spun around again, drawing his 1911. There was another noise. Ryan refused to believe it a coincidence. He scanned the room, but found nothing. Not wanting whatever it was to get the drop on him, Ryan moved around, checking his corners and looking in and around things to find the source of the noise. When he found nothing, he grew concerned.

“What’s going on in this place?” he asked no one.

The noise wasn’t coming back, and Ryan couldn’t figure out where it came from. Keeping his weapon out, he opted to exit the library and go down the lsat hall at the intersection. As he left the library, shadows seemed to try to dance around him and get through the door. Ryan shut it quickly.

“Nope.” he said, walking away from it. Behind him, the door grew darker.

Ryan went down the last hallway cautiously, letting his trepidations rule his actions for the time being. He was in an abandoned old castle, in a magical land, so it seemed like the way to go. To stay more prepared, Ryan drew his knife and held it in his left hand, under the gun, ready to go for a stab. Any time he passed a crevice in the wall or another set of halls, he took a look down to ensure that nothing was there. He never went down the halls; he figured that the most important room would be at the end of this long hall. Every time he heard a noise, he stopped and listened. More than once, it was just his feet on gravel or some little creature running past. Ryan swallowed hard.

“I’ve always hated creepy places.” he thought to himself. This old castle was the king, too.

Eventually, Ryan reached the end of the hall and found a massive set of double doors. He stared at them for a moment, trying to discern the pictures on this door. They were more faded than those on the library door, and they also and more pictures of the larger pegasus-unicorn, thought this time, alone. She looked terribly sad in the pictures.

“Did you lose someone close to you?” Ryan asked indifferently. “Cuz’ I lost everything.” He went and opened the doors, only to find a mostly empty room. Walking in, he observed everything around him. There were lots of pillars and stained glass windows in this room, as well as a throne at the end. So, this was the center of the castle, where all the magic happened? Looked terrible. Of course, it was abandoned. Ryan walked forward, wary of whatever may have been around him. Mostly, he just thought it was squirrels. Little buggers couldn’t be more annoying.

As Ryan proceeded to the throne, he looked at the stained glass windows. hey all depicted those two horses again, only now, they were in color. The smaller one was blue and had a starry mane. Luna, no doubt about it. She was nice enough at first, but as the glass went on, she looked less and less happy, eventually physically changing into something much larger. She seemed to be fighting her sister at one point, but lost, and something involving the moon happened. Ryan also took note of the white horse. This one was the sun one, and while also nice at first, seemed to grow cautious of the other. When she did something to Luna involving the moon, she looked forlorn and sad, like Luna had died or something. Perhaps she had, the way that Ryan did.

Gleaning everything he could from the glass was easy enough, so he moved onto the throne. It was tall and made of stone, like everything else he had seen as of yet. There were no notable features about it, except for one. Something was carved into the back of the throne, and Ryan took a closer look.

“Evil lurks in every crevice.” Ryan read aloud. Something crashed behind him in the distance, eliciting Ryan to pull his weapons to the ready. Whatever was going on in the castle, he knew one thing.

He wasn’t alone.

**********************************************************************************

The train pulled into Canterlot Station, screeching to a halt. The steam billowed from its front, and ponies were already piling out. Porters lugged the luggage out and set it down, receiving tips from the less stingy passengers and scowling at those who were too stingy to tip. The girls tipped their porters well.

Rainbow Dash was the first off the train, followed by Pinkie Pie, then Fluttershy, then Applejack, then Twilight Sparkle, then Rarity and Spike, who was carrying all of Rarity’s luggage. Who needs a porter when someone adores you?

“Ah, it’s so good to be back where it’s nice and warm!” Rarity said, radiating in the sunlight. Spike just stared at her dumbly, getting Twilight to prod him with her horn.

“Yeah, now my wings won’t freeze up in the wind! I mean, the Crystal Empire was alright and stuff, but you can’t beat Equestrian air!” Rainbow did several flips in the air as she spoke.

Pinkie Pie was jumping up and down. “I can’t wait to see Pound and Pumpkin again! Well have so much fun playing hide and seek, ball, tag, diaper change-” She went off listing other things that weren’t games, and when she finally finished, Applejack was the first to speak after.

“Ah just can’t wait to get back to the farm. Ah’m sure Big Macintosh and Applebloom have had a lot to do without me.” Fluttershy nodded.

“Oh, I bet it’s not a problem. Big Mac is big and strong, he can handle things. And Applebloom has lots of energy. They were probably able to do their chores without incident.” If only they knew.

“Yeah.” Twilight concurred. “But before we do anything, we need to see the princess. Tell her how it all went.” While she talked, Spike handed off the heavy luggage to a porter and leapt up onto Twilight’s back.

“And how I saved the day, right?” he asked excitedly. Twilight nodded.

“Yes Spike, that too.” He gave her a big, toothy smile, and they all went to the castle.

**********************************************************************************

Ryan watched the area behind him with heedful eyes. That noise happened one too many times, there was clearly something else here, something that was well aware of Ryan’s presence. He scanned the room, moving about to get a look behind pillars, but found nothing. As far as physical evidence went, there was nothing else in the room.

Not taking chances, Ryan looked for a way out that wasn’t the way he came in. He found his way out behind the throne. “Please, take me somewhere good.” Ryan said as he moved to the archway. It was a large staircase that looked like it spiraled up into another room. Ryan began to scale it when he heard another noise, this one much closer. “Who’s there?” he finally asked. No answer. Crazy? Maybe, but Ryan wasn’t going to take chances.

He ran up the stairs so that he would be able to ambush whatever it was that was following him. At the top of the stairs, he looked around. The only thing of notability in the room was a pedestal at the far end of the room from the staircase. “Hmm.” Ryan said. There was nowhere to hide in here. He got up against the wall just to the right of the staircase and waited. From the staircase, very small, step-like noises sounded.

“Gotcha.” he thought. As soon as they sounded like they were really close, Ryan jumped around the corner-

Nothing. Nothing was there. The noises still sounded, right in front of him, yet there was nothing. Dumbfounded, Ryan followed the noise with his eyes as it moved on behind him and toward the pedestal. As it advanced, Ran followed, staying fairly close behind. He was mesmerized by this anomaly; what was making the noise? And how? He kept on following it all the way to the pedestal, where it stopped in the center. Ryan came out of his semi-trance and shook his head. “That was odd.” He turned around and looked back to the stairs.

“This place is way too creepy.” He turned back around.

He gasped loudly and fell back. In the center of the pedestal, hanging from the ceiling, was a body. A human body. As soon as Ryan hit the floor, he scrambled back, trying to get away from the dead person. When he was fifteen feet away, he stopped and tried to regain his breath.

“What the fuck?!” he yelled. The body hung limply by its neck, slowly moving back and forth, as if it was a swing with a child on it. Ryan gulped and moved forward, pistol pointed at the body, and tried to see who it was. The site shook him; that was HIM hanging from the ceiling. Ryan was looking at Ryan, dead and apparently brutally beaten. Blood dripped from the body, coming out from what was likely various cuts and the mouth. There was also a big bloody patch on his shirt and jacket, where the hole had been. The arms looked freshly burned and there were bruises all over the exposed skin.

Ryan didn’t get less than ten feet from the body. It rocked his very foundations. What was this place? It tormented him in the worst possible ways. Ryan turned around to leave, to escape from this Hellish place.

“Where are you going?” a voice asked. Ryan spun around three hundred sixty degrees. Nothing.

“Where are you!?” he demanded. The voice laughed.

“I am in you.” it said. Ryan was about to shout at it, but it continued. “Though I certainly don’t wish to be.” Ryan pointed his gun forward, but at nothing.

“WHO ARE YOU?!” he yelled. This only drew more laughter from the voice.

“You are weak, Ryan. I have no intention of being a part of you. You are only half of what you once were.” Ryan ran toward the wall and took a defensive position at it. Suddenly, the rope supporting the body snapped, and the body crashed to the floor. Ryan’s attention was drawn to it.

“WHERE ARE YOU!?” he demanded once again. The voice didn’t care about Ryan, though.

“I know everything about you, Ryan.” It sounded from Ryan’s right, and he looked away from the body to find it. Still nothing. “I know what you’ve done.” It was behind him now. Ryan leapt away from the wall and turned to shoot, but there was still nothing. “You have no right to live. You are too weak to handle what you’ve done. Only the strong may survive.” Ryan moved back, then turned to aim at the stairs when he thought he heard something. He moved back.

“I’LL KILL YOU!” he shouted, his fear and anger taking control. He stopped cold when he felt a dark presence just behind him.

“No.” the voice said. “I will kill YOU.” Ryan spun around to fight the presence.

Something collided with his face as he turned, knocking Ryan unconscious. Ryan stood over him, looking down at him coldly. “But not today.”

**********************************************************************************

The girls left Canterlot, all of them happy about how the whole trip had gone. Spike was especially happy, he got a window in the castle with him on it! Overall, it was a good day.

They had an uneventful trip back to Ponyville, mostly just them sitting on the train, talking a bit or, in Rainbow’s case, taking a nap. All that they really wanted was to get home and enjoy some down time, time to relax. Rarity had said that she would spend the whole next day getting a spa treatment, and invited all of the girls to join. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie agreed, but Applejack had to get back to work, and spas weren’t really Rainbow’s thing. She was saying that she was going to use the trip for inspiration in making new aerial maneuvers. Anyhow, they were all happy to go back.

When they arrived in Ponyville, things seemed... off. Something was amiss, but the girls couldn’t quite place it. The townsponies were all going about their daily lives, but there was something in their expressions. Not fear, or nervousness. Though that was apparent in some. Mostly, they looked confused, thoughtful, or curious. Twilight was the first to notice.

“Do you girls notice anything odd going on?” she asked. Rainbow yawned as she exited the train.

“Nope. Nothing. Now, I’m gonna head home, take a nap. See you girls later.” Without another word, she flew off, leaving the other five to themselves. Applejack looked around.

“Ya know what? Ah think you’re right.” She pointed to a small colt with a camera walking around. Little Pip, if she recalled correctly. “Hey!” she yelled. Little Pip spun around, hope gleaming in his eyes. The excitement fell a little at seeing Applejack, but remained a little bit. He ran over.

“Yes?” he asked.

“Is something goin’ on around here?” she asked. Little Pip vigorously nodded his head.

“There sure is! There’s a new creature around! Never seen anything like it before!” Twilight’s interest was piqued. She walked over to listen. “I don’t know the details, you’ll have to ask the Cutie Mark Crusaders or Big Macintosh for more details. Well, gotta go, I want to get pictures of it!” With that, the little guy ran off.

Applejack looked to Twilight, who was deep in thought. She didn’t want to interrupt her thoughts, but then again, that’s what Pinkie is for. “Whatcha thinkin’ about!?” she yelled, getting right up on Twilight’s face. Twilight hardly even flinched.

“I think I need to speak to your brother and sister, Applejack.”

Applejack nodded. “Alright. Let’s head on over to the farm and find’em.” The group of five mares made their way to the farm.

Rarity had minor interest in whatever this creature was. She was all about fashion, and animals didn’t wear clothes, so they really held no interest to her. Pinkie Pie was continually explaining how she wanted to throw it a party, listing off hundreds of different reasons for it. Welcome, discovery, new-friend-making, the list went on. Fluttershy was an active part of Twilight’s and Applejack’s talk.

“I wonder what kind of animal it might be?” she wondered, in awe at all the possibilities. “I can’t wait to find out so I can help it. Maybe it needs a home?” Twilight interjected.

“I would agree, but we don’t know what it is yet. It could be dangerous.” Fluttershy shook her head.

“No, no. That can’t be. If it was, the townsponies would be afraid of it, not out trying to find it.” Twilight silently agreed with that, while Applejack voiced her agreement.

“Ah think Flutters’ right, sugarcube. Ain’t no sense in lookin’ for a dangerous animal that ain’t around.”

They were at the gate to the orchards before any of them realized it. Except Rarity. She wasn’t really a part of the conversation, so she pretty much led them all to the farm. “Well, I’d love to stay and learn about this creature, but I really should be going.” Twilight was about to tell Rarity that she could do what she wanted, but Pinkie kept her from speaking.

“Come on, Rarity!” she almost shouted. “Don’t you have even a bit of curiosity about it? What if it...” Pinkie thought for a moment. “What if it... makes... clothes?” She gave a sheepish smile. Rarity sighed.

“Fine, I suppose I can stay.” Pinkie Pie jumped up while putting Rarity in a bear hug.

“Yayzees!” After a few moments of the others laughing at the scene, Pinkie let go and they all went to the house on the farm.

At the door, the sounds of three familiar little girls giggling went right through the door. Upon opening it, Applejack couldn’t do much to keep from laughing; her brother was tied up in the center of the room, with Granny Smith and the girls dancing around him. He was covered in all sorts of things, from makeup, which they assumed Sweetie Belle brought, to pie, which Granny Smith likely made. The other girls walked in, and Big Mac just looked at them.

“Help.” he said. The girls and Granny Smith all turned to see their friends and sister/granddaughter return.

“They’re back!” Scootaloo announced. Applebloom ran over to Applejack and hugged her leg nice and tight. Sweetie Belle was lifted over to her sister by magic and eld close. Scootaloo just walked over and jumped up on Fluttershy’s back. “So where’s Rainbow?” she asked. Fluttershy went to the couch and laid down on it.

“She went home to sleep. It’s kind of late, after all.” It was around seven. Not exactly late for anyone over the age of four. Scootaloo’s wings drooped.

“Oh. Okay.”

Big Mac was still sitting in the center of the room, embarrassed and indignant. Why had he agreed to play with the girls? And why did he let Granny make a vanilla cream pie? She only ever threw them at ponies. “A-hem.” he said. The girls all looked over and giggled, except Fluttershy, who came over and untied him. “Thanks, Miss Fluttershy.” he said, giving her a bow of his head. She went back to the couch.

“No problem.” He got up and went into the kitchen, where he cleaned himself up to be presentable. While he was off doing that, Twilight figured that she would start with her questions.

“So girls.” she began. They all went silent. “Would you all mind sitting down for a bit? I have some questions.” The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at each other, than complied with Twilight’s request.

Twilight and her friends sat on the floor, facing the little fillies. “I heard that you girls were the ones to ask about some new creature?” she asked. Straight up, no bulling around. That’s how Twilight does it.

“Yeah!” Scootaloo yelled. The others nodded.

“It was really weird!” Sweetie Belle added. Rarity was suddenly interested.

“You encountered it?” she asked disbelievingly. All three girls nodded.

“We found it!” Applebloom shouted. “It was in the east field when we found it, and it wasn’t in the best shape...” She trailed off, something that set off an alarm in Fluttershy’s head.

“Was it alright?” she asked hurriedly. “Was it injured?”

The fillies looked at eachother, then nodded slowly. Fluttershy turned a little bit pale. “How bad?” Her voice was a bit shaky, causing Rarity to pull her close. Applebloom took in a deep breath.

“He nearly died from a chest wound.” Fluttershy was about to faint. “But he survived! He’s alright now! We hope...” Fluttershy looked a little better, but still terrified.

“Hope so..?” Applebloom shook her head.

“We don’t know where he is now.”

Fluttershy looked even a little better, but Twilight was still concerned. “I still have a lot of questions.” she said. The girls all looked to her. “First of all; how do you know it’s a he?” Rarity looked like she was about to turn pale when she saw Sweetie Belle getting ready to respond.

“The doctor told us.” Rarity’s color (white, how could it have left in the first place?) returned, and she let out a breath that she didn’t know she was holding.

“Alright. Second; what was the nature of the injury?” The crusaders shifted uncomfortably.

“Well, it was bad.” Scootaloo said. “There was a... hole, in its chest. Back to front.” Fluttershy gasped and, again, almost fainted. “It was weird, though, is what the doctor said. It started really small on his back, then got huge in the front. As it went through, too, it got bigger, like a cone-shaped hole. We have no idea how it could have happened.”

Fluttershy leapt forward into the middle of the room. “What did you do when you found it?” she asked. Big Mac walked back into the room.

“We put him in our wagon and brought him back to the house, where Big Mac,” Scootaloo gestured to the lumbering form of Big Mac just entering the room. “took the wagon and ran him to the hospital.” All the girls looked to Big Mac, making him shift in his place. Prying eyes. Except for Fluttershy, of course.

“What?” he said. He didn’t like talking to large numbers of ponies; large numbers was anything above three little ones or two big ones.

“Well, what happened next?” Twilight asked. Big Mac looked around, then walked over and sat near the couch.

“Ah brought him to the hospital. He was bleeding pretty bad,” he paused to take in the assortment of reactions. Mostly all were shock, especially Pinkie and Rarity. “The wagon and mah coat were hard to wash after. But the trip was uneventful.” Twilight wasn’t satisfied.

“I’m sorry to pry, but... how bad was the bleeding?” She had to admit to herself, her questions were odd and slightly morbid, but any info she could garner was good.

“The wagon started with an inch of water in it. It went to two inches of red water.” Everyone in the room shuddered, and Granny Smith stood.

“Well, Ah’ve had enough of that. Ah’ll be heading’ to bed now. G’night, youngsters!” They all waved to Granny Smith as she left.

With the events of the discovery now known, Twilight was able to move onto lighter questions. “What can you tell us about the creature? Physically.” Big Mac thought for a moment. What had he seen of it?

“Well, Ah saw that it had some clothes.” Rarity’s eyes trained on Big Mac at hearing this strange yet exciting news. “It had a hat, a jacket, a vest, pants, and weird items on it. Ah didn’t get a good enough look at it, though.” He paused again, waiting for another question. Instead of that, Twilight just urged him to go on. “He had hair on his head, but from what Ah could see, nowhere else in particular. He walked on two legs and didn’t have a tail, and he had hands and feet, like Spike.”

Spike, who had been forgotten on Twilight’s back, jumped off and looked at his appendages. “Woah.”

Twilight was still unsatisfied. There must be something else that Big Mac needed to tell her. “Did you interact with it after it awoke?” she asked. Big Mac nodded.

“A bit. He broke a mirror and window in his room and ran off. Ah chased him and knocked him down, but both of us fell at full speed. He got up first and knocked me back down.” Applejack gasped. How could anypony manage to knock her brother down? “He told me to ‘stay away’ and pointed a little thing at me, which Ah assume is what he used to shatter the mirror. He used a stool to break the window.”

Twilight was about to ask about its speech when Pinkie beat her to it. “Ohmigosh what did it say? Does it want a PARTY!? Let’s throw a party! A ‘SPEECH IS GREAT PARTY’!” She bounced up and down, rambling on about a party.

“Miss Pie, please, Granny is trying to sleep.” Big Mac requested. Pinkie stopped, but trembled from excitement. “It doesn’t want to be found, Ah can tell that much. It ran off into the forest, and Ah ain’t seen it since then.” Twilight’s head fell at hearing that. She had wanted a lot more, but that would have to do.

Rarity had been waiting patiently with her sister in her grasp, like she thought something might take Sweetie Belle from her. “So, tell me good Macintosh.” she began. “What kinds of things could you garner from what the creature was wearing?”

Big Mac didn’t need to think. “All practical. No fashion. Sorry.” Rarity waved a dismissive hoof.

“Oh, no, I think this is a lovely opportunity! If we locate the creature, I can introduce it to fashion proper! I could make it all new clothes. Ooh!” Her face brightened. “Maybe I could become famous for being the first to design for this kind of creature!” Big Mac smiled. At least somepony was excited, even if it wasn’t him.

He left soon after that, saying goodnight to all the ponies. “Goodnight, Miss Fluttershy.” he finished. She nodded to him from the couch, and he went upstairs to get some rest.

Twilight was not going to sleep very much that night, though. She had too much to think about. “Tomorrow.” she thought. Tomorrow, she would search for this creature, even if she had to delve into the depths of the Everfree to find it.

**********************************************************************************

Ryan got up slowly, rubbing his face from where he felt it hit by something hard, like stony knuckles. Looking at his own, he remembered just how large they themselves were. Good weapons, they had served him well.

He looked around; nothing was there. There was no rope from the ceiling, no body, no signs of life other than him. On the left side of his face, he felt a nasty bruise poking at him, reminding him, “Hey! Getting smashed in the face sucks!” From the look of it, he may have hallucinated earlier and fallen, hitting himself on the edge of the pedestal.

“No...” That had been too real, though. “I don’t know what’s going on,” He got up. “but I need to get out of here.” Achily, his whole body was reminded of the abuse it had been taking for so long, Ryan walked out of the large room. On his way out, he stepped on several stone fragments that he had missed earlier. “Meh.” He just kept going, not noticing the symbols on each one.

He took his time leaving the castle, listening for anything that might have been trouble. Not a sound came through the castle, not even the sound of wind. It was cold and ominous. Finally, Ryan got outside.

“I’ll just sit for a minute.” he told himself. While on the ground, he decided to take inventory again. After removing everything, he checked off his mental list; jacket, check; knife, check; hammer, check; necklace, kept it on his neck; scarf, check (to stay warm in the night); Colt M1911 and .44 Automag, fourteen and twelve rounds respectively, check; beret, check; and lastly, his watch and vest, still with a syringe of morphine on the back. He donned them all and looked around, focusing on the “pit of doom” as he just named it.

“Don’t bug me.” he silently ordered. He went over to the rope bridge and tentatively looked around it. The fog had really rolled in, and with the new darkness; it must have been around midnight; it was impossible to see. he just hoped that the bridge would hold.

He started to cross, and the bridge creaked angrily at him for disturbing it. The wood groaned and the ropes could be heard, there was so much tension. Ryan sped up about half way across. “A bit more-” The world didn’t want to give him a bit more. The bridge collapsed under him when he was just five feet from the end. He held tight to the rope as he fell, snapping into the rock face when he stopped. He groaned. “Dammit.” he muttered. Carefully, he climbed back up and over the ledge. He sighed, looking back at the gorge. “Well, that was anticlimactic.” Just then, a roar sounded out through the forest. “But that wasn’t.” Ryan immediately took off, hoping to avoid whatever creature had released such a verbal assault from its likely deadly maw.

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Ryan got out of the forest unscathed. He had to be careful, in and out of it, though; on the one hand, he could die. On the other, the could live. Not his favorite options.

He looked around. Surrounding him were hundreds, nay, thousands, of apple trees. They were everywhere; It was like the forest just extended into the area and became shorter, food bearing trees. Ryan ran up to a tree and plucked an apple from it.

“I hope it’s edible.” When he took a bite from it, he discovered that, yes, oh yes indeed, it was edible. He hadn’t been a fan of apples, really, but these were good. “Maybe I’ll just live here.” he decided. There was lots of food, in the form of apples, and he could probably hunt for his meat. He had learned long ago at school how to make a fire with two sticks, so he could cook meat. Yeah, maybe this place was good.

Of course, it could be a farm, so Ryan had to be sure. It wasn’t that stealing bothered him; he just didn’t want to be found. So, in an effort to clear that up, Ryan decided to take a walk.

He walked for what felt like an hour through endless apple trees. He had never heard of a forest of fruit trees exclusively, but given where he was, he couldn’t exclude the possibility. As he walked, he looked up into the sky. There were stars aplenty, just like the previous night, but also like the previous night, the moon was in its minimal glory. Just a sliver in the sky.

“Hmm.” he said. He had been hoping for plenty of light to guide him, but the stars would have to do. He looked back down, only to find darkness. “Freakin’...” he went on like that to himself for the better half of a minute, cursing the darkness and the pain it had brought upon him. What right did it have?

After an actual hour of walking, Ryan finally spotted that which he had been afraid of; a house with lights on. He scowled. “Why the Hell does life have to be this way?” he asked no one. He never got answers, so he never expected any. he moved forward toward the house, slowing down as he approached, as any sniper would approach their target. When you are a mile away, crouch. At half a mile, crawl. At a quarter of a mile, be a slug. ryan ignored the second and third, though, and just slowed down and crouched. As he got closer, he could hear laughter and general giddiness from inside the house, like the family was having lots of guests over. They were pretty loud, but given that no one lived that close, it was okay. “Let’s see what I’m dealing with.” Ryan told himself. He spent the next few minutes approaching the window nearest him. When he arrived, he looked inside.

What he saw didn’t shock him, but it wasn’t what he was expecting. Inside was the big red stallion, saying goodnight to a large group of clearly female ponies. Mares. “Good ratio, bro.” Ryan thought. He took a good look at all the ponies in the room; there were three little ones, whose voices he recognized as those of the ones who saved him from death (he used “saved” lightly). They seemed like they were having a blast. There was a yellow pegasus on the couch, with a long, pink mane. There was an orange pony with a blonde mane and a violet unicorn with a dark mane with a light stripe sitting next to each other. There was also a white unicorn, hugging a littler white unicorn close.

“Sisters.” Ryan thought. Other than that, there was just a pink pony with a poofy pink mane that was bouncing around, super hyper. “What an eccentric little group.” Ryan thought. He decided to listen to them for a bit.

“So what are y’all gonna do, Twilight?” a small yellow pony with a pink mane asked.

“Well I plan on going into the forest to find this creature tomorrow.” Ryan frowned.

“Hmmm.” he thought. He had no desire to be found, wouldn’t the red guy have told her that?

“But Twilight!” the white unicorn shouted. “We were going to go to the spa tomorrow!” What? They had spas?

“I’m sorry, Rarity, but I need to find this creature. Call it scholarly intrigue that requires full attention.” Okay, so this Twilight was a scholar. And this Rarity was a diva or something.

“Oh, fine. I suppose that it is important.” So maybe not a diva, per say. “I wish you luck.”

Ryan listened to the rest of the conversations of the group until they all finally decided to leave. The first to go was the yellow pegasus, whom Ryan determined to be called Fluttershy. Next was Rarity, who took her little sister closely and waited at the door. The orange pony, Applejack, it seemed, lived here, and just went upstairs. Twilight exited with Rarity and the little one.

“Options; scare them into staying away from me, or stay hidden.” Thinking back to Vietnam, Ryan remembered how well staying hidden had worked out. It didn’t. “Scaring it is.” He went over to the edge of the wall and watched as the trio of unicorns left the house. As they walked away, Ryan followed them in the darkest shadows he could find, keeping off the road and among the trees. When they were finally halfway from the house to the gate, as Ryan could see, he enacted his lack of a plan.

Briefly, but enough to be seen, Ryan stood halfway out from behind the tree he was hiding behind. The two larger unicorns, Rarity an Twilight, were talking and didn’t notice. The little one, though, saw Ryan fully and went bug-eyed.

“AAHHHHHH!” she screamed, freaking out the other two. Ryan moved behind the tree.

“What is it Sweetie Belle?” Rarity asked. Okay, so she was Sweetie Belle. What was up with the names?

“I-I-I-I saw it!” she said. It sounded like Ryan had scared her a bit too much with his creepy display. “The creature- he’s behind that tree!” Uh oh.

“Time to high tail.” Ryan took off in a sprint to the next tre back from the road and got behind it. Just in time, too, since Twilight had just gotten to the tree.

“Nothing’s here.” she announced. “You probably just saw a shadow.” twilight reasoned. Sweetie Belle must have been pretty upset.

“No, I saw it! It was there, looking at us! It just... stared, like it wanted something. I-I just got startled.” She was sniffling. Dammit, even now, Ryan still hated seeing little kids cry. Now he felt like a REAL asshole.

While the other two were trying to comfort the little one, Ryan moved out from his new cover and, in the darkness, climbed a tree up ahead in the road. There he waited, hoping that this next move would have the full desired effect. The ponies finally got back on the move, in Ryan’s direction, and he once again enacted his lack of a plan.

He knocked an apple off the tree just when the mares and young one approached, eliciting a startled yelp from the older two. The white one looked at the apple, then picked it up and ate it. The other looked at her with a face of Meh. The one calle Twilight looked up at the tree to see where the apple fell from and froze. She found herself staring right at Ryan’s stone-cold face, looking down upon the girls.

“Twilight?” Sweetie Belle said trepidatiously. Twilight looked away for a moment, then looked back. Ryan had already moved away and was coming down from the other side of the tree.

“Don’t worry, Sweetie Belle.” Twilight reassured her. “It was nothing.” Ryan stood still, trying to listen to them leave, but they weren’t moving. “You girls go on ahead.” Twilight said. “I need to check something.” Well, it didn’t work out the way Ryan was hoping. But he could still get them to leave him alone, if he did the right things.

The two white unicorns walked off while Twilight walked over to the tree. Ryan was just on the other side, listening intently. “I don’t know what you are,” Twilight said, thinking that the creature was in the tree. “but we just want to help you. We mean you no harm.” When se received no response, she went on. “You aren’t dangerous, so we don’t want to do anything to you. Will you please come out, so we can be on good terms?” Ryan waited for a moment, but Twilight said nothing. “I’ll wait for a response all night.” Ryan sighed and climbed back up the tree quietly, getting above Twilight but still out of view.

“Stay away.” he ordered, then immediately moved away. Rapidly, he made his way to the other side of the tree.

Twilight wasn’t making a move, though, like Ryan had expected. When he dropped from the tree, Twilight just looked up at the tree and said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t.” She walked away, and when she turned around, Ryan spun himself and sprinted away, with Twilight hearing each of his heavy footsteps as he ran off.

Ryan ran a good half mile before he stopped to look behind him. No, Twilight didn’t follow him. That was good; Ryan was growing weary, and he could use what little rest he would get. Looking around, Ryan found a suitable patch of soft dirt that he could sleep on. He laid down on it, eyes to the sky.

“What did I get myself into?” he asked. After two hours of laying there, he finally fell asleep, only to be assaulted with memories of the past.

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When Ryan awoke, it was probably close to six in the morning. He had fallen asleep somewhere around one in the morning, and now it was five til six. Not his best sleep ever, but far from his worst. His Black Belt testing had been twenty-four continuous hours of physical and mental stress and work.

He rolled around for a few minutes before getting up this morning. Beneath him, the dirt silently shifted to accommodate his weight, which had dropped since before his quest to kill Narendra. Slowly, he got up, looking around. Yeah, still in magic land. He stood, dusting himself off, and trudged over to an apple tree, picking an apple right off. Ripeness was irrelevant, as long as he survived eating it, it was good. He took a bite; ripe, certainly. He chowed down on the apple, getting the juices all over his face. Good apple.

Now that he had food in him, he could think more clearly. The previous night, he had encountered the violet unicorn. Her name was... Twilight? Yeah. He thought about what to do about his new situation. “She clearly has no intention of leaving me be.” Ryan figured. “I have lots of options here. I could fight; but they have no intention to harm me. If I attack, they’ll probably call in their military to kill me. I could run; viable. I could hide. No, no, they would find me. But,” Ryan looked around. “There is all this food.” Odds were, there were lots of tiny critters that Ryan could kill and eat, too. So, he could run and try to survive in an unknown world, or he could stay put and survive in something that he knew. He already knew where the first one would land him; the same place as last time.

“I’ll just try to hide.”

Groggy and dirty, Ryan walked from his spot and explored the orchard, intent on knowing his new home like the back of his hand.

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Twilight got up slowly, yawning and stretching as she did so. She looked over to Spike; he had been asleep on her back the previous night, so he missed the whole exchange. Even when Sweetie Belle screamed, he stayed asleep. Biy, that dragon slept like the dead.

She wrote him a quick note to give him the day off; where she was going, he probably couldn’t help much. Today, she was going back to Sweet Apple Acres to find this creature.

After a short breakfast, she exited her library home and trotted on over to the farm. On er way, she encountered only a few ponies. The most notable was Pinkie, not surprisingly awake at seven thirty. “Heya Twily!” She shouted. Pinkie ran over to join Twilight on her walk. “So whatcha doin’?” she asked. Twilight was delighted to have the company of a friend.

“I’m heading over to Sweet Apple Acres.” she explained. “I think that the creature may be there.” Pinkie Pie gasped loudly.

“REALLY!?” she shouted. Twilight hushed her. “Are you gonna bring it here? Are you gonna experiment on it? ARE WE GONNA THROW IT A PARTY AND HAVE LOTS OF FUN AND BE BESTEST FRIENDS FOREVEEEEEER?” she whispered this as loudly as she could. Twilight smiled and rolled her eyes.

“Maybe. I can’t say for certain.” Pinkie gave a happy snort.

“Well, I’d love to help, but I have to work at Sugarcube Corner. Sorry, Twi.” Twilight waved a hoof.

“No worries. I can find it, I’m sure.” Pinkie smiled big, then hopped off to go to work. “You’ll be the first pony I bring him to!” she shouted. Pinkie exclaimed her excitement, but her words were lost in the distance. Turning around, Twilight thought about how she would go about this. “Guess I’ll just have to look around.” she figured.

She got to the farm in a small amount of time, only to find that the apples, minus Applebloom, were already up and at work. Farmers always get up early, Twilight knew that. “Applejack!” Twilight shouted. Big Mac and Applejack turned to see Twilight standing off in the distance.

“Howdy Twi!” Applejack shouted back. Twilight trotted over to her friend. “What bring y’all here today?” Applejack asked, curious as to why her friend showed up out of the blue.

Twilight looked around as if to make sure no ponies other than Mac were around. “I think the creature is on your farm.” she said. Applejack stopped in her tracks. “I came here to find it.” Applejack looked to her brother, who had heard the whole thing. He nodded.

“Yeah, Ah think that would be a good idea.” Applejack replied. “If’n it’s here, it’ll be out in one of the fields. I’d check the north field first; it’s closest to the Everfree Forest.” Twilight thanked her friend and her friend’s brother and ran off to the north field.

In the north field, she had already spent almost an hour searching. Considering that this creature was probably moving around, this frustrated her; who knew where it could be? How did she know that it hadn’t left the farm already? Sh sighed to herself.

“I don’t have any idea where to start.” she said to herself. She walked over to a tree and laid down in the shade, exhausted from the early morning summer heat and pondered. “I saw the creature here last night!” she told herself. “It spoke to me.” The shade was awfully welcoming. “I’ll sit here and plan.” she decided.

It was small and very quiet, but a noise came from behind Twilight’s tree. She froze; if this was a small critter, she would be mad. If it was the creature, she didn’t want to risk running it off. Using her magic to lift herself off the ground, Twilight got up and turned herself to face the tree. She dropped herself gently, and made her way around the tree.

What she saw was staggering, to say the least.

Before her stood the creature, in all its potentially-existent glory. It was incredibly dirty; it must have slept in the ground. On its head was a hat, some kind of beret, colored green with some small insignia on it. It had a nice scarf around its neck, and on its torso, was a large vest with all sorts of things hanging off of it. There was a hammer, a knife, a syringe, two strange metal instruments, and several long, rectangular metal things. It had a jacket on that concealed its arms, but short pants on. They looked like they had been cut up at one point. The creature was standing, looking the other way, eating an apple. Twilight was just a little bit peeved; stealing is wrong! He could at least try to repay the Apple family for eating their livelihood. Twilight quietly moved away from the cover of the tree, eyes trained on the creature. It was talking to itself.

“Fucking Narendra and his little minions...” Narendra? Who was that? And why the vulgar language? Twilight swallowed hard.

“Hello..?” she said, terrified. The creature froze, dropping the apple. Slowly, its hand went to the strange metal instrument on its right side, pulling it from its place. He turned around and looked at Twilight, their eyes locking. Twilight tried to learn what she could from the fhort contact; his eyes held very little. But that told Twilight a lot. “My name is-” The creature cut her off.

“Twilight.”

Twilight blinked twice. The creature had spoken to her. How exciting! “Umm, yes.” She wasn’t sure what to say now. Why hadn’t she planned for this? “I, umm, came to find you.” she explained. The creature hacked a lugee and spat it away.

“I figured.” Holy Celestia, a real conversation with another, undiscovered sentient species! Twilight would have squee’d if she wasn’t so nervous.

“Ummmm... okay.” she replied. The creature slowly turned to face Twilight, weird thing still in its hand.

“So what’re you gonna do now?” he asked. That was a good question. “I have no intent on going anywhere with bizarre strangers.” Twilight was slightly agawk. She was bizarre? Where was this guy from?

“I hate to break it to you,” she began. “but YOU’RE the weird one here.” The creature smirked at the realization.

Twilight moved forward, prompting the creature to move back. “Please, I just want to help.” she pleaded. The creature kept moving back, even when she stopped.

“I don’t want your help.” he replied. “I want to be left alone.” Twilight shook her head.

“That’s no way to live.” Damn, he knew just how right she was, even if she didn’t. He stopped to think, but Twilight kept on going. “Please, trust me.” Ryan scowled.

“Why?” he asked.

Twilight stopped dead. He had a lot of good questions. “Just have faith, please. I mean you no harm.” Faith. That was something that Ryan hadn’t thought about in some time. He had been concerned with logic, with living to kill that man. He hadn’t given faith its time in a while. Logic screamed at him not to trust her, but the tiny voice of faith in the back of his mind said to. He tried to distract himself.

“Why do you trust me? How do you know I won’t eat you?” Twilight was visibly disturbed, but pressed on.

“Because I have faith that you won’t.”

Ryan’s M1911 was pointed at her by now, but he was lowering it. Maybe she meant him no harm. Maybe she really could be good.

“...”

He holstered his weapon, and Twilight walked up to him. “Please, come with me.” she said, nosing his hand. “I think you may like the town.” Everything Ryan had screamed at him to just run, but something about this mare kept him from doing so. It was like her presence forced him to have faith.

“Fine.” he said gruffly.

Twilight smiled massively; slightly disconcerting, to be truthful. She hopped around, going, “YES, YES, YES, YES, YES!” It was adorable, actually. She grabbed his hand with her hoof (How?) and dragged Ryan away to the farm house.

On the way, she kept trying to get Ryan to talk, but to little avail. Eventually, she just started asking simple questions. “I totally forgot!” she yelled. “What’s your name, if you have one?” Ryan hadn’t anticipated this. he was willing to give her enough faith to go with her, but not enough to give her his name.

“Harkness.” Ryan replied without thinking. Harkness? What the hell?

“Harkness.” she repeated. “Hmm.”

They walked together in silence after that, Twilight clearly getting that Ryan wasn’t in the mood to talk. She kept on looking at him, though. In her eyes, Ryan could see a sparkle of excitement, like she was going to become his friend. In response, Ryan locked eyes with her each time. He had figured out that it drove her eyes away from him. Maybe it was because there was nothing to look at.

They approached the farm house from the previous night, and Twilight looked around. No one was there. “What are you doing?” Ryan asked. Twilight trotted forward a couple of steps and then turned.

“I’m looking for Applejack.” That was the orange pony, if Ryan remembered right.

“Why?” he asked, unhappy with the implications.

“So you can meet her!” she said happily. Her smile was balanced out by Ryan’s scowl. Nice and neutral. “I want to introduce you to all of my friends.” Ryan sighed. e should have seen this coming, but he hadn’t been thinking straight.

“Fine.” Twilight squee’d and galloped towards the farmhouse, leaving Ryan in the dust. He jogged after her, trying to stall for as long as possible before going into an awkward social situation. He had been in plenty of those; they were terrible.

Twilight waited for him at the door. When Ryan finally got there, she looked like she had just graduated from Harvard Medical with a one hundred percent on everything she did. Suffice it to say, she was excited. She knocked hard on the door, perhaps too hard. She smiled sheepishly, as there was now a dent in the door from her hoof.

“Just a minute!” an elderly voice called out. Ryan swallowed hard. Why, why did it have to be an elderly lady? He stood a bit farther back as the door opened. “Howdy there, Twilight!” the old mare announced. She spotted Ryan in an instant. “And who’s your... friend?” Twilight moved aside so the older mare could get a look at Ryan.

“Granny Smith, this is the creature the girls saw. His name’s Harkness.” Granny Smith moved toward Ryan surprisingly fast for one so old and scrutinized him. For a minute, all was silent.

“WELL HOWDY!” she shouted. putting her hoof around Ryan’s hand and shaking hard. “Good to see you’re alive!” She let go, and Ryan nursed his aching hand. Twilight giggled. “AJ, Macky, Applebloom! Come out here!”

Ryan stood back as he heard the sound of lots of hooves hitting hardwood flooring. Suddenly, three ponies burst outside, looking to their Granny. “What is it granny?” Applejack asked. Granny Smith pointed at Ryan. All three of the ponies jaws collapsed to the ground.

“This here’s Harkness. Twilight found him.” She went to go inside. “Ah’m sure y’all are gonna have a nice talk. He seems nice enough.” If only she knew.

When Granny Smith left, there was an awkward silence. Applejack stared in awe at Ryan, never having laid eyes on him before. The big red guy, “Macky”, he had been called, looked at him curiously while chewing at a piece of straw. He looked curious but generally uninterested. Ryan nodded to him, he nodded back. He was the kind of guy Ryan could relate to. The other, though, Applebloom, was wide-eyed and looked like she was about to burst.

“Well?” she said, still excited. Ryan raised an eyebrow. “Can’t y’all talk?”

Ryan scratched his head. “Yeah.”

Applebloom suddenly burst forward fast as a speeding bullet and ran around in circles around Ryan. “WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!” she shouted. Ryan wasn’t even trying to keep up, he would just fall over. “Ah can’t believe I finally get to talk to him!” it was like he wasn’t even there, the way she spoke. The other mare, Applejack, came forward and extended a nervous hoof.

“Ah’m Applejack. It’s, umm, nice to meet you.” She avoided locking eyes, which was just fine with him. “That there’s Big Macintosh.” Again, they nodded to each other. Men of few words. Applejack moved back, but Applebloom kept on running.

“Ah can’t wait to get the girls!” she shouted.

“Oh God, there’s more?” Ryan dreaded.

Twilight saved his day, at least for the moment. “Well, while you go off to get them, I’ll show Harkness around, introduce him to the others. We’ll see you all later!” The Apple family waved their goodbyes and Ryan gave a salute as he left. One down, at least five to go. Fun.

The pair left the farm and went off toward a small town. From a distance, Ryan could see that there were lots more ponies there. “Are you sure I should just parade through there?” he asked, trepidatiously looking at the town.

“Don’t worry, ever since Zecora, the ponies of Ponyville are much more accepting.” Ponyville? Really? And who was Zecora?

“If you say so.” They were soon upon the town.

Around them, ponies stopped everything and looked at the pair in awe. This creature, wearing a strange set of clothes, just walked in with the resident genius like nothing was wrong. Well, not quite. When the townsponies looked closer, they saw the nervousness in the creature’s face. Being ever respectful, those who noticed looked away to try to make him more comfortable. Some had seen the events of days prior, so they didn’t want him to suffer more. Ryan was grateful for this.

Up above, there were several peasi in the clouds, seemingly moving them. Magic. Ryan looked back down only to find himself looking a the weirdest building; it was like something from Candyland. “Now you’ll meet Pinkie Pie!” Twilight announced. She sounded like an airport speaker. They approached the door, but as they neared it, it swung open for them. Instinctively, Ryan reached back for his knife, but when nothing flew out at him, he only drew it half way. Thankfully, Twilight didn’t notice.

“..?” Ryan looked at Twilight, who looked back at him, then ushered for him to go in. He walked forward through the door.

Confetti assaulted his face, making him close his eyes. Loud noises sounded everywhere. “SURPRISE!” a girly voice called out. Ryan opened his eyes, only to find a world of pink. “I’m Pinkie Pie!” Ryan moved back and took a look at the pony who had attacked him with fun. She was happy, energetic, and looked a little bit crazy.

“I figured as much.” Ryan replied. Twilight walked in.

“Pinkie, this is Harkness.” Ryan tentatively extended his hand, which Pinkie grabbed and shook reasonably.

“You must be that creature!” she shouted. “I’m so glad you’re okay! Now we can party and have lots of fun and play games and-” Ryan looked to Twilight for help, which she readily provided.

“Pinkie, how about you give him one of your signature cupcakes?” Ryan turned to look at the pink ball of energy as she gasped loudly.

“YOU’RE RIGHT!” She ran off, leaving a confused Ryan in her wake. When she returned moments later, she held a cupcake out to him. “Try it, you’ll love it!”

Not wanting to cause offense, Ryan took it. He hadn’t eaten anything like this in a while, but it couldn’t be that bad for him... right? he took a bite. It was one of the best cupcakes he had ever had.

“Good.” he replied, stuffing the rest down his gullet. He hadn’t eaten that many calories in a sitting since Australia. Pinkie smiled at him so big, he thought that it would tear a hole in reality.

“YAYZEES!” she yelled, putting him into a big hug. Ryan didn’t even bother resisting; affection probably wouldn’t kill him.

A stallion suddenly appeared behind the counter. He looked at Ryan, then at Pinkie on top of him, then back at Ryan. “I see you’ve met Pinkie.” he said. Ryan looked over. “I’m Mr. Cake. I and my wife own this shop.” Ryan nodded to the man, then turned his attention back to the pink globbus.

“You can let go now.” he said. Pinkie let him go and ran back to Mr. Cake.

“He’s really great!” No, he’s really not. Pinkie suddenly started telling Mr. Cake everything she knew about Ryan, which was a little bit more than he was expecting. When she finished, Mr. Cake looked to Ryan.

“Well, I’m glad to see that you’re alright now.” Ryan nodded.

“It’s good to not die.” he replied. Mr. Cake smiled nervously at him.

“Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but I think I may be driving your customers away.”” Mr. Cake took the hint.

“Well, I’d hate to keep you anyhow. It was nice meeting you.” Ryan turned and nodded.

“Likewise.” But not really.

He and Twilight left the place, Sugarcube Corner, the sign read, and moved on down the street. The pegasi were still in the air doing their thing, but now, there was one very distinctive one in the air. It was light blue, like the sky, but its wane was a rainbow. “Joyous times.” Ryan thought. He recognized it from the previous night. Twilight noticed his gazing to the sky and followed where his eyes were going.

“Oh!” she said. “That’s Rainbow Dash!” Twilight took a few steps forward. “RAINBOW!” she shouted. The pegasus must have heard, for she swooped down and landed near them with quite a bit of gusto.

“Twilight! How’s it-” She stopped when she saw Ryan. “Is that..?” She pointed at Ryan. Twilight nodded.

“Yes.” she said, moving aside and pointing at Ryan. “His name’s Harkness.” Ryan nodded curtly. Rainbow moved forward.

“Hmm.” She circled him suspiciously.

Ryan was wishing that he hadn’t agreed to this by now. He should have stuck to being alone. He should have thrown faith out the window. “You’re not evil, are you?” Ryan shrugged.

“Depends on how you define ‘evil’.” Twilight’s smile faltered for a moment, then came back in a force. Rainbow’s suspicious gaze turned into a scowl.

“I have to go now.” Rainbow announced to Twilight. “But I’ll be watching you.” She took off, leaving Ryan to ponder their very brief encounter.

Twilight walked back over to Ryan and patted his arm. “Don’t worry, my philosophical new friend.” she said. “She’ll come around eventually.” With that bit of reassurance, Twilight grabbed Ryan’s arm and started dragging him away.

Before he knew where they were going, they stopped. Before him was a large, lavishly decorated building. Through the windows in the front, Ryan could see several mares sitting, reading magazines. “Why are we here?” he asked. “And where are we?” Twilight let go of Ryan’s arm and went to the door.

“This is the Ponyville Day Spa.” she explained “Rarity and Fluttershy are here.” Oh, boy. Rarity would probably have some choice words for him, for terrifying her little sister. More awkwardness.

“Alright.” he said as Twilight held the door open for her. Ryan walked inside.

All reading or writing ceased when Ryan came inside. All of the mares looked up from whatever they were doing and stared. He felt like someone was going to pull a gun and shoot at him. “Harkness?” Twilight said. Ryan was rigid as he stood, scanning the room. “You feel a bit tense.” she said, rubbing his arm.

“Yeah.” he said, pulling his arm away. Twilight looked around, then got it. She immediately went to the desk.

“Hello, are Rarity and Fluttershy in?” she asked. The desk mare looked at her, then at Ryan.

“Y-yes, madame. You may head on in.” Twilight nodded her thanks as she went in, followed not so closely by Ryan.

Inside this area, Ryan felt even more out of place. There were so many frills and cushions and relaxation things that Ryan felt like he would end up being killed if he stayed. He couldn’t let his guard down, even if it was to relax.

“Ah! Over there.” Twilight said, pointing to a couple of ud baths. The last time Ryan had any sort of mud bath was in a river in Vietnam. He shuddered at the memory as they approached the mares. “Rarity, Fluttershy!” Twilight exclaimed. The mares had cucumbers over their eyes, so they couldn’t see Ryan.

“Darling, how wonderful to see you!” Rarity replied. Irony. “I’m so glad you could come. Go on, join one of us. It’s really relaxing.” Twilight happily rolled her eyes.

“That’s not actually why I’m here.”

Rarity and Fluttershy both sat up a bit. “Really?” Fluttershy said. “Then what brings you here? If you don’t mind me asking.” She shrunk her form at the end of the statement like that would protect her from a monster.

“I found the creature!” she said giddily. “His name’s Harkness and he’s here to meet you.” Both spa mares shot upright and removed their cucumbers. Rarity looked at Ryan with a combination of glee and disapproval. Fluttershy looked at him like he was dying again.

“Dear, me, my manners have escaped me! I’m Rarity, darling, local clothing designer.” She put a hoof up. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Ryan nodded.

“I’m Fluttershy.” Fluttershy said quickly. She moved over to the edge of her bath and got closer to Ryan. “Mr. Harkness, are you alright?” she asked. Ryan nodded wordlessly. “You’re sure? No infections leftover or anything?” Well, he hadn’t thought of that. No matter.

“I’m sure I’m fine.” he said, causing Fluttershy to shrink back a bit and Rarity to look at him excitedly.

“Ooh, this is magnificent!” Rarity exclaimed. “I’ll have to make you all new clothes! Trust me, they will be the absolute best you will ever have.” Ryan nodded to her. He didn’t want to come off as an asshole; that would get him nowhere.

“Thank you, Miss Rarity, and Miss Fluttershy.” He paced backwards a few steps. “It’s been a pleasure.”

Without waiting for Twilight, Ryan made his way outside while she stayed to chat with her friends. “Well, he seems like a gentlecolt.” Rarity beamed. Fluttershy concurred.

“I do hope that he’s okay. It would be terrible if he wasn’t really okay.” Twilight waved a dismissive hoof.

“No worries; I’m sure he’s alright.”

While they were talking, Ryan made his way outside. The spa mares looked at him again, prompting him to go faster. He opened the door and-

He was knocked to the ground by what felt like three cannonballs, all screaming and shouting something. As soon as he hit the ground, Ryan rolled back up, ready for a fight. He held himself, though, at seeing the three little ones from the previous night.

“Sorry, mister- hey, it’s him!” The one who yelled that was Applebloom, and as soon as she did, the other two leapt up and ran over to Ryan, who towered over them. They circled him, asking him all kinds of questions. He answered one at a time.

“What’s your name?”

“Harkness.”

“Where are you from?”

“America.”

“Where’s that?”

“Far away.”

He tried to keep nonspecific questions vaguely answered. Before he knew it, other little ones were coming around. “Wow, AB was telling the truth!” She apparently told them all that she met “the creature”. Ryan turned to see several little ones, one with a camera, staring at him as the three originals ran around him, shouting incoherently.

“What if it’s a monster?” one asked. Another tried to reassure it.

“Monsters only come out at night and in the Everfree, remember?”

Ryan didn’t want all this attention. “I came out of the Everfree.” he announced, causing their little jaws to go agape. He crouched and loudly whispered, “And the night is my domain.” The little ones looked like they wanted to run, but the three circling him must have convinced them not to.

“Aww, he ain’t no danger! He’s real nice, just gotta get to know him.” Ryan sighed and gave up.

He sat down, and as he did so, the young one with the camera came up to him. “Do you mind if I, maybe, get a picture?” the tiny Brit asked. “For the news?”

Ryan shrugged. “Why not?” The little Brit smiled as he brought up his camera. There was a bright flash, and the camera went back down.

“Thanks, Mister!” he said as he retreated back to the group.

Right as he did so, Twilight came back out. “You good... to... go?” She giggled as she looked at Ryan, still in a circle of fillies.

“As ready as I could be.” He stood up and leapt away from the fillies.

They all said their goodbyes and Ryan left with Twilight, heading in God knows what direction. “Where to now?” he asked fearfully. Twilight pointed forward at a big tree.

“The library. That’s where I work and live.” She started to trot forward. “Let’s go! I have lots of questions for you!” She ran off to her home, leaving Ryan in the dust once again. He ran after her.

“I guess I should either be careful with my answers,” he thought. “Or I can be totally honest.”

He was at the door, meeting back up with Twilight, who seemed unable to comprehend that his species was not built for running like hers.

“Here we go.” He walked inside when Twilight held the door open for him.

Thin Ice

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Thin Ice

“Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.” (Stephen King)

Ryan scanned the room as soon as he was inside. She was telling the truth; it was a library. Bookshelves were built into all the walls, with what else than books everywhere. If this mare lived here, then she was probably something of a bookworm.

Twilight followed him inside, shutting the door quietly as she entered. She didn’t want to scare Harkness; after all, he was still new here and probably still less than trusting of everypony. His injury didn’t exactly indicate an accident, though that couldn’t be ruled out. She mostly just wanted him to be comfortable.

“My room is upstairs. I’ll get a pen and some paper, and I’ll meet you there.” Ryan nodded and made his way upstairs. He looked out a window; it was probably around eleven thirty or noon now. He sighed.

“The night is darkest just before the dawn.” Only he had a feeling that the dawn wasn’t coming.

He walked up the stairs and found himself in a big open room. There was another small set of stairs leading to what looked like a bed and nightstand. Close to that, there was a little pet basket, from which Ryan could hear snoring. He had no idea that pets snored.

Twilight came up, levitating a pen, some paper, a chair, and a small desk. When Ryan turned and saw this, he only stared. Twilight fidgeted. “What?” she asked. “Is there something on me?” Ryan shook himself out of his stupor.

“No, you’re good.” Confused, but still excited, Twilight set everything down and then ran up her stairs. Up there, she must have awoken her pet.

“What!?” a young male voice shouted. Ryan did a double take; he hadn’t expected Twilight to make her little brother sleep in a pet basket. What kind of world was this? “It’s alive? And here!?” the voice shouted. Before Twilight could respond, the most peculiar sight to hit Ryan’s eyes yet came rushing down the stairs. It was a short purple lizard with green frills on its head. Ryan and the lizard stared at each other. After a moment, Ryan decided that it would be in his best interest to end the silence.

“Sup?” he said. The lizard visibly calmed.

“Yo.” he replied. Twilight came back down with a cushion floating above her.

“I see you’ve met Harkness, Spike.” Spike, eh? Maybe he was a pet.

“Yup.” he said. He walked over to Ryan, who cocked an eyebrow at him. “We’re already bros.” Spike struck a pose next to Ryan. Ryan stayed silent.

Giggling, either from excitement or finding her lizard hilarious, Twilight walked on over. “Spike, why don’t take notes for me?” She pulled the chair over and used what Ryan assumed to be magic to set him in it. Smiling wide, Spike took up the pen and got ready to start taking notes on his desk. Twilight pulled the cushion over and pushed it to Ryan.

“You can have it.” Ryan said, putting his hand up. Twilight looked at him funny. “I prefer the wooden floor.” He wasn’t used to the feelings of cushions any more. It made him uncomfortable. Twilight took a moment, then shrugged, and put the cushion under herself.

“Suit yourself.” she said. She looked to Spike, who was already taking notes. “Are you ready?” she asked, looking back to Ryan. Ryan nodded.

“As ready as I can be.” Here he went.

Twilight looked contemplative as she decided what questions she was going to be asking. Looking at Ryan, she decided to start with easier questions. “What do YOU know about US, if I may ask?” she began. Ryan thought for a moment. It wasn’t much, but it was a little.

“Well, I know that you have two rulers, sun-mare and moon-mare, who I assume to be Luna.” Twilight’s eyes widened a bit and she cocked an eyebrow. Ryan continued. “I also know that before they came around, there were three tribes, pegasi, unicorns, and ponies. Some dude named Starswirl the Bearded did lots of stuff with magic, your land is Equestria, there’s some weird guy named Discord, and then what you’ve told me as of yet. Nothing else, really.” Twilight looked dumbfounded. How did this guy know so much?

“How do you know all of this?” she asked in disbelief. Spike had stopped his notes to look in awe. Thinking fast, Ryan thought to the only source of knowledge he had encountered as of yet.

“The library in some old, rundown castle in the forest.” For a moment, Twilight looked like everything was clear. Then it looked like she had seen a pony with seven legs.

“I thought that library was cleaned out!” she announced loudly. Ryan stuck a finger in his right ear.

“Apparently not, and please don’t yell don’t loud.” Twilight blushed a bit, covering her mouth.

“Sorry.” she said apologetically.

Now, it was on to the serious questions, the tougher ones for Ryan to answer. “What species are you?” Twilight asked.

“Human.” came Ryan’s reply, monotone and unwelcoming.

“Where are you from?” Ryan didn’t have to think about simple questions like these.

“The United States of America.” From there, Twilight asked questions about Ryan’s homeland, which he answered truthfully. For the most part. They spent easily an hour and a half on the subject.

“So, wait, you have a document that prevents the government from taking the rights of its own people? And it works?” Ryan nodded. The US Constitution in a nutshell, right there. “Wow. That’s gotta be some serious magic.” Ryan laughed. “What?” Twilight asked. Oh, this was gonna blow her bubble.

“We don’t have magic.”

Her bubble didn’t just blow; it had a nuclear meltdown. Her face rapidly changed from fear, to relief, to confusion, to all out terror, then to contemplativeness, then back to fear. It cycled like this at least four times in ten seconds. “What?” she finally replied.

“We have technology.” Ryan explained. “It’s like our version of magic, only not innate. We can do it, whereas apparently you can’t do it to our extent.” Twilight looked unhappy.

“I resent that comment!" she shouted. "We have steam powered trains!” Ryan laughed again, this time drawing a confused look from Twilight.

“We’ve sent machines flying through the air at over eight thousand miles an hour. On gas.” Twilight’s jaw fell to the floor. Off to the side, Ryan could hear Spike trying to stammer out a response.

“Oh.” was all she said. “I guess that you’re right.” Ryan laid down on the floor to stretch his back.

“Thanks, NASA, for giving me something to impress these ponies with.” He sat back up, ready for another volley of questions. “More questions?” he asked. Twilight was still in a stupor. Ryan inched closer and waved a hand in front of her face, getting no response. He turned to Spike, who looked perfectly fine.

“Is she gonna be alright?” he asked. Spike wordlessly got up and walked over to Twilight. Once there, he used his claw to poke her flank.

“AH!” she shouted at the sudden pointy contact. “Spike!” she whined, getting him to chuckle.

“Sorry, but you weren’t asking him any questions!” He ran back to the desk and picked up his pen. Twilight sheepishly smiled at Ryan.

“Sorry, I guess it just distracted me. I just don’t see how it’s possible!”

Ryan went back to his spot. “Well, we can go over that another time. Societal questions?”

She had lots of questions about that, like law and order, court systems, social scenes and fads, and lots of other stuff. She even shared some of her society’s social structure. The Princesses held courts during their respective times of the day to hear out cases not settled by lower courts. “

Night court, then, for Luna.” Ryan figured. “That would be the time to visit.” He was still considering whether or not he should, but now he knew he could. Twilight’s questions eventually went to books and knowledge storage. “We have libraries, if that’s what you’re wondering.” Ryan said. Twilight shook her head.

“I know, but with all that knowledge, especially with that technology of yours, you must need a lot of space to store it.” Ryan thought about how to answer this for a moment. This would require an explanation of some technology, and a lot of it, he would be unable to provide.

Ryan decided that he would just explain this as best he could, then call it a day. The sky was getting ready to turn orange, he could tell. “Well, we have this piece of technology called a computer. We have millions of these things back home. On each one, a person can store knowledge as coded data, which can be accessed and viewed again later. Every computer has a storage limit, and every piece of data has its own, umm...” Ryan thought. Bytes would make no sense to her. “I’ll call it Data Mass. It’s isn’t real, but it takes up memory storage.” Twilight looked confused, but still followed. “This mass isn’t real; it can’t be touched. But, when in a micro chip, SD card, disk, or some other means of storage, it floats in that item as a memory, like in our brains.”

The analogy was perfect; Twilight shouted “Aha!” when she got it.

“Now, like I said, there’s millions of computers. Now, different computers hold different amounts of ‘Data Mass’, but most can hold thousands of pages of text.” Twilight gasped.

“That’s like, half of my library!” Ryan nodded.

“Now, let me explain the Internet. The Internet is not a thing; it’s the connection between all these computers, meaning that if one is on the Internet, people using other computers can view what’s on it. Now, when you have all these computers connected...” He didn’t need to finish; the look on Twilight’s face said everything.

“All collected knowledge could be viewed by anyone with a computer.” Ryan nodded; there was a much darker and much more illegal truth to that than she would ever understand.

“And THAT is how we store all of our knowledge. Or at least most of it.”

After finishing his severely lacking explanation, Ryan stood up and stretched. “Well, I’m glad I could answer your questions, but I think that your mind will have trouble handling any more.” He cracked his knuckles. “So I guess I’ll just head on out.” Ryan moved for the way downstairs.

“Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Twilight replied. Ryan put his hand up as he left.

Spike had taken so many notes that his writ was hurting. “That was crazy.” he commented. Twilight nodded. “I mean, no wonder his species was able to advance so quickly, if they store knowledge so well.” Twilight looked to the staircase. She couldn’t ear any footsteps; he must have hurried out.

“I guess so.” She pondered exactly what implications this could have. Just how intelligent was this species, or more specifically, Ryan? “I’ll have to learn more about their history and technology tomorrow.” she thought. “This is too fascinating.” She went up her personal stairs and to her bed, where she laid down.

Spike got into his little basket not ten feet away when he had a startling realization. “Twilight, he’s got no place to stay!” he announced. Twilight shot up, a frantic frown on her face.

“Oh, my! You’re right!” She rushed out of bed and galloped downstairs to her front door. Upon inspecting the area outside in the dusk, she saw no sign of her friend Harkness. “Ponyfeathers.” she cursed. She closed her front door and went back to Spike upstairs. “We’ll just have to figure something out tomorrow. I don’t think we’ll find him, not in this darkness.” Spike sighed, then went to bed, Twilight guiltily following suit.

*********************************************************************************

Discord had been viewing the lives of various nobles for a while now. None of them were particularly interesting, but he needed something to do. Even though many called him evil, he wasn’t about to be spying on Ryan for every little moment of his life. He knew that the boy deserved at least a modicum of privacy.

Now, however, was his time to pry. He had designated two times of the day, one a little before noon, the other at night, to watch Ryan. He hadn’t looked earlier because Celestia sent a unicorn to check on him. She must have known about his fake imprisonment.

Using his magic, Discord turned a patch of air near Ryan into a pair of invisible eyes for himself. He had to look around for a moment before he located Ryan. The boy was wandering the town of Ponyville.

“Well, now, this is new.” He hadn’t been expecting Ryan to let himself come back to an society. Maybe because this one was different, he had no connections to it? Or maybe he just had no other options to survive off of. Either way, here he was.

“Where are you going?” Discord asked silently, moving his pair of eyes in the sky closer to Ryan. The boy wasn’t talking to himself like he had before, back in Cambodia. He just walked away in silence, no longer the boy he once was.

Ryan was glancing around, checking his six every so often. He had no desire to be followed, obviously. He wore his gross and worn clothes, with his weapons readily available at his side. Discord was surprised to see that he still had them. If the ponies of Ponyville knew what they were, Ryan would have been run out of town by now.

“I wonder what’s happened?” Discord wished that he could tell what he been happening, but Celestia and her little pests had kept him from that.

At the edge of town, Ryan found himself in a little meadow, with a single tree nearby. Next to the tree was a ditch, about five and a half feet deep and four feet wide. After spotting it, Ryan walked over and jumped down into it.

“What are you doing?” Discord wondered. Ran just laid down and stayed there in the ditch. He was going to sleep. “Ah.” Discord said, understanding. Ryan was trying to stay away from civilization, but also, he was now used to this. Sleeping anywhere else would be uncomfortable.

Seeing that this was not going to go anywhere, Discord figured that this would be a good time to do something. Ryan’s eyes were closed and he was deep in thought. To make him more comfortable, Discord softened the patch of dirt under him to be more like the water saturated grounds of Southeast Asia at the time in which he was there. Ryan’s mind didn’t notice, but his body seemed to. His muscles relaxed just a little bit, and he seemed like he would sleep less restlessly. Having done his job, Discord cancelled his spell and returned to himself.

He felt truly terrible for and about Ryan and his condition. Discord had so many chances to keep him from this fate, but he had allowed it to happen. He had considered bringing Ryan back to his home, but he knew that recovery would be impossible there. The only way that he was going to get better was if he did so far away from everything that he knew, so Discord provided that. He should have taken care of Narendra when he had the chance, but he didn’t. That was his greatest moral failure, something that Discord didn’t like to admit he had any of. Still, he had an opportunity here to make things right, so he was going to take it.

Ryan’s world and his world were going to remember that boy.

*********************************************************************************

Ryan shot up, yelling. He swung his head around, looking for anyone, everyone, who may be there. When he saw that there was no one there, he sighed and fell back.

The night sky was still in the sky, albeit not much. Ryan could tell that it was approaching six in the morning, with where the sun was. He forced himself to stand up and look around outside of the ditch. No one was there. He got out of the ditch and dusted himself off. No need to tell them all that he was sleeping in a World War One era trench. Thinking slowly, it dawned on Ryan that history may be a section of questioning from Twilight at some point.

“I’ll just tell her.” he decided. “Not like I had anything to do with the wars.” No, he had his own demons to hide. He didn’t care about the crimes of ages past. He was sure that this world had its own of that.

Ryan’s stomach growled loudly as he exited the vicinity of the tree. He hadn’t eaten since that apple and cupcake the previous day. And worse, whatever was in tht cupcake messed Ryan up in the gut. “Too much sugar after too much time without any.” he lamented. This day was already sucking. He pressed on, though, and got all the way to the town before he had to stop. By then, the sun had risen and it was at least quarter past. No ponies were out, but if Ryan was too loud, they would awaken. He had to hide himself as much as possible while he threw up. “Ugh.” He shuddered when he was done. Barfing is hardly fun, especially when you’re running on fumes.

He spent a few minutes recovering from his bout when he heard the door to his right open up. The pony must have heard him vomit and came out to check. “Hello?” It was a mare. “Is anypony there?” Ryan was moaning from the pain in his gut. “Are you alright?” She hadn’t quite seen him yet. He came out from the other side of the wall and looked over at her.

“Depends on how you define ‘okay’.” The mare looked like she would scream at seeing him, but she held her tongue well.

After a moment of silence, she breathed out slowly and said, “Are you ill?” Ryan shook his head.

“No.” Clenching his gut, he made his way past the mare. “Good day, ma’am.” He walked away, leaving a concerned pony behind. He didn’t need her sympathy.

He spotted a big, round building on his way back to the library that stood out quite a bit. Carousel Boutique, the big sign read. He wasn’t familiar with it, nor did he have any desire to be. He kept on walking. Also on the way, he saw Sugarcube Corner. In response, he took a longer route, trying to avoid sugary things like they were chemical weapons. For him, they might as well have been. Eventually, he made it to the library, where he spotted a bench. He just went over and sat on it, waiting for Twilight to awaken.

He pulled out his M1911 and took a good look at it. He wished that he knew how to do maintenance on it, but alas, he was unfamiliar with the intricacies of firearms management. Instead, he opted to remove the mag, unchamber the round, add the round back to the mag, then put the mag back in without chambering. He spent some time just pulling back the hammer and pulling the trigger. click. He thought about how he might explain these devices of his, especially if he had to explain the history. click. He could avoid going into detail about weapons. click. Or he could just lie and say that swords and crap like that were used. click. But then, how would he explain his knife? click. There was no easy way out of this. Maybe he should just wing it again? His life couldn’t get much worse.

He sat there for an hour contemplating, waiting for Twilight to awaken and come get him. She had given him no idea of where to go, nor had he told her where he was going. Now, he had a place to sleep, so he was good there. He would probably just keep stealing food or mooch off of Twilight and her friends. it was simple. He had to survive, so he stole to live. Not that he cared about the morality of it; he was Hell-bound for certain already. It was just a matter of convenience and survival.

He could hear the door to the library opening. “Alright, Spike. Let’s go find him.” Ryan stood up from his seat. He couldn’t see them form around the library and they couldn’t see him.

“I’m here.” he announced, sitting back down, facing the area where Twilight would be coming from. He heard a startled yelp from that general direction, and soon after, Twilight and Spike came around the corner.

“Oh. You’re here.” Ryan put his hands out to his sides.

“It would seem so.” Twilight rolled her eyes and walked over.

“Where did you stay last night? I’m sorry I hadn’t thought about that, I was just so distracted.” She looked at the ground.

“No worries. I found a place.” Twilight’s ears perked up.

“Oh. Where is it?” Ryan cocked an eyebrow. The last thing he wanted was an unwanted visitor, especially one who would try to make him stay in town.

“You tryin’ to make a move on me, inviting me into your home so soon? And then trying to get into mine right after?” Ryan said. In an effort to make it was weird for Twilight as possible, Ryan gave her a coy smile. Her face turned red; mission accomplished.

“No!” she shouted. Just then, Spike got it and burst into hysterics. He fell down onto his back, he was laughing so hard. “Spi~ike!” she whined, clearly flustered about Ryan’s words.

She turned back to Ryan, scowling at him. “Ha-ha. Not what I meant.” She turned around. “Now come on. I have more questions.” Mission accomplished: investigation into residency eliminated.

Twilight left Spike laughing on the ground, so Ryan picked him up and brought him inside. If he stayed outside like that, he would disturb the still sleeping neighbors. Once inside, he set Spike down on the ground. “Dude, that was too great.” Spike wiped away a tear. “I wish I could do that so fast.” Ryan shrugged; Twilight had gone upstairs, so they had time to chat.

“Comes with lots of practice.” Spike put his fist out for a bump. Not wanting to come off as rude, Ryan bumped it. Though there was little there, Spike could hardly tell.

“You gotta teach me, bro.” So they were bros now. Maybe trolling his sister was what made that to be.

“Maybe later. Right now, I have to answer her questions.” He looked to the stairs. “And I think you may have to leave for this. These questions might get kinda heavy.”

Spike looked up, confused, as Twilight returned from upstairs. Not wanting to take any risks, Spike went over to the stairs. “I think I’ll sit this one out, Twilight.” he said, rushing up the stairs. Before Twilight could ask, he was up there and away from her and Ryan. She looked to Ryan.

“I told him that there would maybe be things that he shouldn’t hear.” Twilight blinked. Alright, then, she could take her own notes. She moved forward and sat herself down at a table, probably where she checked out books.

“Come.” she said. Ryan would have done something with that, but the connotation was likely not the same here. He complied and sat on the other side of the table. “I’ll keep my questions simpler today, I think.” Her excitement resumed, as if the exchange before never happened.

“What are you going to ask me?” Ryan asked, wondering just how bad it could get.

“Human history.” Damn. That was tough. Not so much because of unpleasantness, but because Ryan wasn’t a historian. He knew a lot, sure, but he couldn’t go into detail on almost anything. School courses are hardly ever specific, you have to study that kind of stuff in college.

Twilight started with an impossible one; the beginning of civilization. Ryan gave her the roughly twenty facts and details that he knew about the Fertile Crescent, which Twilight found fascinating. One region’s perfection for agriculture sparked the beginning of an incredible series of societies and civilizations. After that, Ryan moved onto the early empires, like the ancient Chinese, Egyptians, and Romans. After giving what little info he had about them, he moved onto other empires of the old world, like the Mongols, the Mughals, and the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans. He couldn’t remember exactly which came when, something Twilight wasn’t too happy about.

“You don’t know your own species’ history?” she deadpanned. Ryan frowned.

“You’re asking me for thousands of years of history for over a dozen different empires. That’s well over twenty thousand collective years of history. Do you happen to know twenty thousand years of history on any level of detail?” Twilight looked at him, then sighed in defeat.

“Alright.” she conceded.

“Please continue with what you do know.” she requested. Ryan thought about where to start. He would stay off of the topic of religion; that was just way too complex for even him to understand at times. Instead, he kept on going with the empires. He went into the Ottoman Empire, the British, French, and Spanish Empires, and ultimately to the beginning of the United States. “So you’re country was a colony that rebelled against its owner?” Twilight asked, looking a tad concerned. Ryan nodded.

“Yeah. There were all kinds of reasons for it, from civil rights to government representation, and even down to economics. That last one was probably the more significant of the three.” Twilight nodded, scribbling on her little notepad. “And thus began a new era of the world.”

Twilight would have loved to continue, but Ryan’s stomach growled like a lion. He looked down at it, then back up at Twilight. “Are you hungry?” she asked. Ryan shrugged.

“Well, I haven’t eaten since yesterday, and that cupcake messed me up pretty bad.” Twilight gasped.

“What!?” she shouted. “I thought you said you had yourself taken care of.” She looked at him, worry spread out over her face.

“I said I had a place to sleep. I never said I had access to food.” Twilight looked appalled by Ryan’s casual stating of his hunger.

“Well, I guess that we’ll just break for lunch for now.” she said. Ryan stood up, stomach still angry at him for its emptiness. Twilight got up and grabbed a bag, slinging it over her shoulder. “Spike, I’m taking Harkness out for lunch!”

Spike replied with a big, “OK!”, and the two left the library.

Ryan had no idea what to expect of these ponies for their food. He knew that horses back home eat grass and hay, among other things, but what about here? Was he going to be forced to eat grass? “So what kind of food do you have here?” Ryan asked. He scratched his arm through his sleeve, not wanting to reveal his arm.

“Well, we have grass, hay, straw, assorted veggies, fruits, and lots of other stuff.” Ryan thought about the veggies. He had never been a big fruit guy, but he would eat whatever was put in front of him at this point.

“Alright then.” he responded.

Twilight brought him to a nice looking restaurant, one with big bay windows in the front and tables outside. The ponies at the outside tables stopped eating for a moment to look at Ryan, the new town anomaly, but quickly went back to eating. Whether it was fear or disinterest, Ryan didn’t care. As long as they were looking at someone else.

“This is one of my favorites.” Twilight commented, pointing to the restaurant. “They have awesome steamed vegetables and sandwiches.” That was an option; a good old fashioned PB and J.

“Let’s head on in then.” Ryan said, voracious for some food. When they entered the restaurant, though, they got a big surprise.

The waiter didn’t even wait for them to walk more than a few steps inside before he tried to send them away. “No animals in the restaurant.” he said. Twilight looked unhappy; Ryan was looking close to mad. Who’s the jackass who thought he could stop Ryan from eating.

“I don’t know about here,” he said. “But back home, YOU would be called a racist bigot right about now.” The waiter flinched, not just at the words, but at Ryan’s speech. He had no idea that this thing could talk.

“Sorry, sorry. I just didn’t know that...” The waiter couldn’t find the right words, obviously.

“As long as I get some food, I don’t even care.” The waiter looked relieved.

“Well, I know we have a couple of tables open. If you’ll follow me.” He picked up a couple of menus and led Twilight and Ryan to a table. He placed the menus on the table and bowed, letting the customers have time to decide on their food.

Ryan picked up his menu and started going through it. Steamed hay, veggie burgers, fruit cups, salads, tacos, assorted breads...

The whole time he was reading over the menu, he noticed that Twilight was staring at him. She wasn’t even glancing at her menu or trying to hide it.

“Where I’m from, staring is considered a lot of things.” Ryan said suddenly, startling Twilight. “It can be aggression, intrigue, suspicion, simple rudeness... desire for passion...” He looked up from his menu on that last one, happy to see that, once again, he managed to fluster her. She looked around frantically.

“No, no! Stop saying that!” she said. “I’m just curious about your eating habits.” Ryan stared back at her for a moment, sizing up the situation. In a quick movement, he pulled back his lips and showed Twilight his teeth.

“There.” he said. Twilight took the moment to move closer and inspect. There were crushing teeth in the back, but canines in the front. She moved back to her seat quickly.

“You eat meat.” she said, shuddering a bit. Ryan nodded.

“Yeah. Mostly beef, chicken, turkey, pork, and fish, but fish isn’t meat for some reason.” Twilight looked away. “It doesn’t have to scare you; I have no intention of eating anything other than the kinds of things on this menu and the occasional small animal.” Twilight cringed. The truth can be unpleasant sometimes.

Soon, the waiter returned and took their orders. Salad and tea for Twilight, a simple peanut butter sandwich and water for Ryan. He would give anything for some of that Macallen right about now.

As they ate, Twilight got back to asking history questions. There was a lot that she was asking that Ryan simply couldn’t answer, like the histories of all of the colonies of the previously mentioned empires and of the empires themselves. Eventually, it just got down to US history.

“So when would you say that you’re country really entered the global stage?” she asked. Ryan chewed on his food a moment.

“Here we go.” he thought, partly with dread and partly with anticipation. He swallowed. “I’d say it happened when my country went into World War One.” Twilight stopped. Even around them, any pony who heard that phrase stopped all together. Everyone was looking at Ryan, who was just eating. Thankfully, he couldn’t see them.

“W-World War ONE?” Twilight asked. Ryan nodded. “I-I don’t quite understand...”

Ryan set his food down. “Well, those empires from before? They controlled most of the world at that time. And when they decided to duke it out, that meant that pretty much every corner of the world was involved in some way. Whether it was in fighting or providing for it, most people in the world were involved in some way shape or form.”

Twilight looked terrified, yet her curiosity seemed to override it. “What can you tell me about it?” she asked. Ryan took a sip of his water and looked her dead in the eye.

“Are you sure you want to hear about this?” he asked. There was a reason that the real stuff like this wasn’t taught until later. Twilight nodded. Ryan sighed. “Alright. I guess I’ll start at the beginning.” He started with the spread of Nationalism and how that increased international tensions. Twilight didn’t seem to react much to the secret alliances made by various countries and how that decided who would fight against who. Mostly, Ryan was talking about the belligerents, not the fighting itself. When he finished his explanation, Twilight knew that there was more.

“And what about the fighting?” she asked. Before he went on, Ryan had his own question.

“Why so interested in that?” he asked. Twilight looked around; she just noticed that this conversation was not private.

“We have war here too, you know. I just want to compare.” Ryan shrugged.

“Alright. Here’s the stats; over sixteen million men died, over twenty million were horribly wounded. The war was primarily fought in trenches, and the deadliest weapons were machine guns and gas bombs.” Twilight took a moment to comprehend what she was hearing. She had no idea what a gun was, but gas?

“What do you mean, ‘machine guns and gas bombs’?” Ryan looked around; now, he could see that they were being watched.

“Machine guns, or MGs, send little metal things called bullets really fast through the air, slicing or smashing through what they hit. As for the gas, it was chlorine.” Twilight swallowed hard, and behind him, Ryan could hear several ponies gasp. “It was made with the intent of being ‘a weapon that no one would use because of its power’, but clearly, that man was misguided.”

Twilight looked like her face might turn green. “I think I’m done eating.” she said. Instantly, Ryan grabbed her plate. He had eaten his food already.

“Alright. I’ll eat it.” She looked at him sadly and concerned as he ate.

“This doesn’t bother you?” she asked. Ryan swallowed a bit of the salad.

“Several things. One; it was almost a hundred years ago. I had nothing to do with it. Two; I grew up in this world, remember? This world of knowledge sharing? I know about lots of bad stuff. Three; If I let it get to me, then I would have probably lost my mind long ago.” He had lost his mind due to other things, not simple historical facts. “So I’m sorry if I sound like I don’t care, because I really don’t.” He finished the salad and stood up. “Well, I guess we should pay.” Ryan absentmindedly went for his wallet, which he remembered that he didn’t have. How did he forget that? It had been way too long. “Uhh...” He looked to Twilight.

“Oh! Right, sorry.” She left a bunch of gold coins on the table, and they left the restaurant.

As they walked back to the library, Twilight kept looking back at Ryan. She wasn’t sure how to feel about him now; he had all this knowledge of such terrible things, but he didn’t care? “I guess that he was right, though.” she thought. “If he were to let it get to him, he would be ruined.” Thinking that, she actually had to admire him for his strength. Twilight wasn’t even a human, yet she was having trouble accepting the information he had provided.

“Darling!” a posh voice called out. Ryan turned to his right to see the white unicorn, Rarity, approaching. Twilight hadn’t noticed, so Ryan nudged her to alert her. “Oh, it’s good to see you again!” Okay, so she was talking to Ryan. “How are you?” she asked. Ryan put his hands in his pockets.

“I’m doing well enough.” he replied. Rarity went over to Twilight, who was still a bit out of it.

“Are you alright, dear?” she asked. Twilight shook herself out of it.

“Yes, I’m fine. Just thinking about history.”

Rarity could tell that it wasn’t pony history. “Well, what of it?” Ryan quickly interjected.

“Unpleasant history.” Rarity took the hint.

“Ah, well, there’s a time and place for that.” she said. “But I’m sure that there are some interesting things about your history, Harkness. May I come and join you?”

Ryan wanted to say no, but like with Twilight before, there was something going on here. He felt like he should give her this. He had tried fighting it before, but to no avail. He sighed. “Alright, but I’m not liable if you get messed up by what you hear.” Rarity waved her hoof.

“Nonsense.” she said. “I assure you I can handle it.” She had no idea what to expect. Having gotten a new listener, they all went back to the library to continue with history.

At the library, Ryan was the first to approach the door. That was a mistake. “Rarity!” Spike came out yelling. When he opened the door flew open, the edge caught Ryan in the face, sending him sprawling onto the ground. Spike looked on with a pained expression. “Whoops.” he said. Ryan sat up; it looked like the mares were about to chastise the poor little guy.

“I’m good.” he said, standing up and dusting himself off. “Let’s head in.” He led the way, the ponies and lizard behind him simply looking on.

“Tough guy.” Spike commented, impressed. They all went in after Ryan.

Ryan found a nice place on the floor where he could sit and motioned for the others to sit around him. When they were all before him, Ryan cleared his throat. “I’d rather not rehash the information about World War One, so I’ll move onto World War Two.” Rarity and Spike blinked.

“Did you say WORLD war?” Rarity asked, looking uneasy. Ryan nodded.

“The first was almost a hundred years ago. The second ended a little over seventy years ago.” Spike was twiddling his fingers, clearly not very comfortable. “Anyone who doesn’t want to hear this doesn’t have to.” Surprisingly, none of the three before him moved. He shrugged. “Alright."

He began. "The stats are as such; over sixty million people killed, more than half being civilians. This was from a rather unpleasant even which I will absolutely not be talking about in the presence of ANYONE who hasn’t been exposed to true evil. Luckily, though, that evil was defeated, and such atrocities were not committed on the same scale ever again. They happen, sure, but not like THAT one.” The two ponies and lizard were watching him intently. “But after saying that, I have a question.” Ryan stated.

“What do you think of humanity, after hearing that?” This would be interesting.

Rarity was the first to speak, being the only one seemingly capable. “I find that to be absolutely abominable. Humanity sounds barbaric, no offense intended. How could such things happen?” Ryan put his hands on his knees as he sat cross-legged.

“Well, times were terrible for people. The world economy was essentially dead, so people were looking for a way out. One man and a few of his satanic little friends came forward offering a solution. At the point that the world was at, few of his country’s people opposed him, following this man because he was charismatic and offered them a way out. The rest of the world wasn’t able to stop him because they were in such bad shape economically that they didn’t have the ability or money to intervene. Most people aren’t bad, let me make that very clear. It’s the few who are truly evil and seek to control the world around them that are responsible. Humans on the whole are good; it’s this small number of truly terrible people who at first SEEM good who ruin it for everyone.” Ryan crossed his arms and scanned the expressions of his audience.

“I guess that makes sense.” Twilight said. “It reminds me of the leader of the Southern Griffon Colonies when they went to war with Equestria.” Ryan nodded.

“My point right there. Most of them aren’t bad, they just follow a bad man without realizing it.”

Having renewed humanity’s reputation after tearing it to shreds, Ryan felt like he was growing hot. He removed his beret and scarf and set them down next to him. “What is that?” Rarity asked, intrigued. Ryan looked at the items he just set down.

“That’s a scarf, and that’s a green beret.” Rarity shook her head.

“I know that. What’s the insignia?” She pointed at the beret. Ryan picked it up and looked at it; it was a blue, almost arrowhead-shaped backdrop with a yellow sword and lightning bolts. Above it was one word; “Airborne”. Narendra hadn’t been lying.

“This is the signature piece of clothing worn by my country’s Army Special Forces.” Rarity looked even more interested.

“Interesting. Does it have any special qualities?” Ryan shook his head.

Twilight, now recovered from her new stupor, looked at Ryan’s torso with interest equivalent to that of Rarity’s with the beret. “Why do you wear that?” she asked. Ryan looked down.

“My tac-” he stopped. No need to require more explanations. “My survival vest?” he asked. Twilight looked enlightened, but kept on questioning him.

“Yes. I guess you use it to survive?” Ryan nodded. Twilight, Rarity, and Spike were all looking at Ryan like they were trying to discern a puzzle. At first, he was confused. Then he got it.

“My weapons.” he thought dreadfully.

As if on cue, Spike pointed to the M1911 and asked, “What’s that?” Ryan had to think fast. If he told them that he was carrying two very large handguns, they would probably freak out.

“I found it in the jungle some time ago.” Partial truth. “It looked cool (useful), so I kept it.” Spike pointed to the Automag, but before he could ask, Ryan repeated the answer for the 1911.

“And I see you have a hammer.” Twilight said. It was like they were taking turns. Maybe they were. “But what’s that on your back?” She pointed to the KaBar. This one was gonna be tough. Ryan slowly drew the knife and held it out for his audience to see. Twilight and Rarity swallowed, whereas Spike looked on in awe.

“Whoa.” he said.

Ryan put the knife back, saying, “I keep it for survival purposes. Cutting ropes, lines, vines, you know.” Complete lie. And he knew where this would go. “Any more questions?” he asked. Twilight looked uneasy, but held her hoof up. \

“Why did you need all of that?” she asked. Se new about his injury. Him needing all of this survival gear probably looked pretty sketchy.

“I lived in the jungle for a time.” he explained. Partial truth. “With no home or shelter most of the time, I had to make due. So I got my hands on some gear, and I set out to live.” He had really set out to kill and die, but they had no need to know that. He had to be careful now; if he said one thing wrong, they might figure him out and demand the truth, to which he would lie again, likely unsuccessfully. He was walking on thin ice, where in some places, there were little holes that he would have to be fished out of.

But he had little to worry about, it turned out. They seemed like they were done questioning him. Ryan would not have to go into the conflicts of the second half of the twentieth century and later, but at the same time, that meant not talking about the best aspects of humanity. But he knew that he had to take his victories where he could.

“Well, now that we know more about you, should we maybe discuss your life here?” Rarity asked politely. Ryan paused. He hadn’t even considered living here permanently, now that he was stuck where he was. He didn’t want to go home, but he couldn’t stay here. He considered his options.

“I could stay here, start over.” he shook his head. “But that won’t work.” He had no need to explain to himself why that was. “I could just leave.” He kept that one on the table. “Or I could wait, maybe get some money. I could get myself some kind of home in the forest, where none of these ponies will bother me.” That one. That was the most viable option. Not returning home, and not staying here. It was perfect. “I was planning on saving up some money, then continuing my travels. Maybe settle somewhere quiet.” He sat back, picturing it. He could be left to his own devices, no longer having to deal with emotions, losing friends, or any kind of trouble that wouldn’t just kill him.

Spike walked over and nudged Ryan. “You know, Ponyville is usually pretty quiet.” he commented. “As long as you don’t...” he looked to Twilight. “'have too much fun', I’m sure you’ll love it here.” Twilight instantly went red and charged Spike, grabbing him and putting him in her lap back in her spot. Rarity initially didn’t understand, but at Twilight’s reaction, she started to laugh.

“Well, I’m not sure I understand the situation, but I do believe that Harkness would be a welcome addition to the town.” Twilight was flustered again, and began to explain to Rarity the whole thing. At the end; it was short; she looked to Ryan. “Ah, I see we have a yanker of legs here.” she said, smiling. Ryan cocked an eyebrow. “Well, I’m sure that your place will be quite magnificent in the community.” Ryan narrowed his eyes. It was time to see if his skills were still up to par.

“I can assure you, I will erect myself to the highest possible stature.” he replied. Rarity and Twilight both flushed red. “Of course, getting there will probably be hard, but with enough strength, I can probably push through any barrier that tries to get in the way.” Both girls turned completely red, drawing a smirk from Ryan. Spike was slowly beginning to get it.

“Oh, so you mean-”

Twilight put a hoof in his mouth. “Okay Spike, time to head on upstairs and start sorting my private collection!” she said. Spike groaned and complied.

Ryan called out after him, “Just be careful of this ‘private collection’, kiddo!” Twilight turned to Ryan, mortified. Ryan just sat there, looking on victoriously.

“Wow, Harkness. Wow.” Rarity looked scandalized.

He shrugged. “You should have seen me in my school days.” he said.

Any embarrassment was replaced with a look of curiosity in both mares. They looked at each other, then at Ryan, then back at each other. “How old are you, exactly?” they asked in unison. Ryan sat back up.

“I’m seventeen.” Both girls looked a little surprised.

“Oh.” Rarity said. “We didn’t know you were that young.” Ryan looked at them.

“How old are the adults of your nation?” he asked, curious.

“Sixteen.” Rarity replied. Inside himself, Ryan celebrated. At least he was an adult by age and not just experience any more.

“And you two?” he asked.

Rarity sat up tall. “I am Twenty-one.” she said.

Twilight looked to her friend, then back to Ryan. “Nineteen.”

Ryan wouldn't have expected this. “I guess that they probably live as long as any human could.”

Twilight looked a bit relieved. “Well, since you’re an adult, you can be on your own.” she said. “If Spike were an adult dragon, he would be able to leave. I hope he doesn’t when the time comes, but if he does, I won’t be able to stop him.” Ryan stopped his mind for a few moments. He would have spit out his drink if he had one.

“A dragon? You have freaking dragons here?” he said. Both girls looked at him like he had three heads. “Well, that’s different.”

“Well, getting back on topic, what should we do? I assume you have a place to stay, since you returned to us today the same as yesterday.” Ryan sniffed himself; the jungles of Vietnam were not kind to his scent. “So what about money? You can’t possibly have any work.” Ryan shrugged.

“I’m sure I can get by.” Rarity huffed at him.

“I hope you don’t imply stealing. That simply won’t do. You will have a respectable job, and you will make honest money.” Ryan put his hands up.

“Alright. Fine. But where will I work?” he asked.

Twilight was quick to respond. “I could let you work here.” she said. “I would love to learn more about you and your culture.” Ryan looked at her, then around at the rest of the library.

“Seems reasonable.” he replied. Twilight wasn’t done, though.

“But I can only pay you for about two days of work. Sorry.” Ryan shrugged.

“I lived off of less.” Rarity hear this and made a sound like she was offended.

“Well, I simply won’t let you live on the edge of poverty! No pony should. You may work at my boutique the rest of the time.” Ryan thought over his new jobs. They seemed alright, but if he was going to do something, he wanted to do some physical labor. To live in the forest, he would have to be fit.

“That’s great, but are there any jobs that are a bit more... physical? I would do better as a laborer.” The mares thought and spoke for a moment, leaving Ryan to himself. When they returned, they both looked happy.

“We can probably get Applejack to hire you at her family farm. They could always use a hand.” Farm work sounded like the kind of thing Ryan wanted; less talking and more movement.

“Alright. If we can speak to her to arrange something, we can get you into a new lifestyle by tomorrow!” Twilight said. Ryan nodded, neutral about his current situation. He would get money, then leave. That was all.

“Let’s head to the farm and work something out with Applejack, then.” Rarity ordered. Ryan stood up and, followed by Twilight, the three made something resembling a convoy guarding a precious diplomat and headed on over to Sweet Apple Acres.

Silence Speaks

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Silence Speaks

“The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you’ve ever had.” (Unknown)

They made their way to Sweet Apple Acres, where, with any luck, Ryan would have a job. He hoped that the job would pay decently; odds were, he wouldn’t actually be paid that much for library work or whatever thing Rarity did. On the way, though, he found out what that was; clothing design. At the very least, he could get an employee discount for some clothes. If he asked for some.

On their way to the farm, the trio had some mild small talk. The mares had been trying to get Ryan to tell them more, but Ryan was interested in learning about this town that he would be staying in. They had lots to tell him.

“Well, we have pretty much every service you could need.” Twilight said. It already sounded like a real estate advertisement. “We have restaurants, our own farm, books, various travel services, all kinds of fun activities, and relaxation activities.”

Rarity jumped in on that last one. “Yes, those relaxation services are absolutely essential! Without the spa, I would be much too tense to do any work.” Ryan remembered that spa from the previous day. He had no interest in it; plus, it was all females there.

“Anything else?” he asked.

“Well, I don’t know what else you could want." Rarity admonished. "Except the mane salon, the yoga and martial arts studios, or the bar if that kind of thing appeals to you.” Two things stood out to Ryan there; a bar and a martial arts studio.

“Well, I think I may have to look into some of this.” Ryan wanted to maintain his fighting skills if he was to survive in the woods.

Ryan took his beret off again, wrapping the scarf around it to keep them together. It was much too hot for them at the moment. “If you’re hot, you should take off that jacket.” Twilight recommended. “I mean, it can’t be helpful to wear it.” Ryan waved his hand up.

“No, I’m good.” Twilight was unconvinced.

“Well, I think you should at least take off that vest. You’re wearing way too much to be comfortable.”

Rarity joined in. “Or fashionable.” Again, Ryan waved his hand dismissively.

“No, I prefer to wear it. And I’d prefer to keep my reasons to myself.” The mares looked at each other, but accepted Ryan’s reluctance. He wasn’t intent on showing them his scars and explaining the true nature of his survival gear. Besides, it wasn’t that bad. The average soldier called this kind of setup “battle rattle”. If they could handle it, Ryan figured that he should try to be able to.

Wearing his own battle rattle, Ryan simply soldiered on after the mares, who were talking to each other about whatever it was that these ponies talked about. From what Ryan could hear, he figured that it must be about famous ponies or political figures.

“So, Fancy Pants said that he would love to have me up there and see my designs! It’s huge for me!” He guessed that this Fancy Pants character must be a designer too. Twilight smiled and congratulated her friend.

“I’m so happy for you!” she said. Ryan decided to ignore the rest of their conversation.

Not too far up ahead, there was the farm that he was found on. He hoped that all was about to go well.

*********************************************************************************

Discord watched on as Ryan walked with Rarity and Twilight Sparkle. He could determine now that Ryan was publicly in town, not hiding himself the way Discord had expected. He was also interacting with the ponies, something else totally new. Discord felt a bit of happiness, but also a bit of apprehension. This had the potential to explode in Ryan’s face, if he wasn’t careful. But still, Discord knew that he could always help out by giving Ryan a little push when necessary.

Discord let the pair of eyes fall lower and cast a hearing spell so that he could hear what the mares were saying without Ryan, who stood a bit behind them. Ryan clearly wasn’t paying attention. “So do you think she’ll be alright with him being around? I mean, she hardly knows him. We hardly even know him, really.” Rarity said. Twilight held her head up, looking to the coming farmhouse.

“I’m not worried. I’m sure that she’ll find that Harkness is trustworthy.” If Discord could have blinked, he would have done so. In his mind, he laughed at the mares’ ignorance.

“Oh, wow! He didn’t tell them his real name!” he thought. “They have no idea if they can trust him. Oh, this will be interesting to watch.”

And he kept on watching, seeing no particular need to intervene in anything at the moment.

*********************************************************************************

They were at the farmhouse, and Ryan looked around. He couldn’t see the Apple family anywhere, not that he minded. They could take as much time as they needed. Off to either side, he saw hundreds of apple trees. They had passed the trees that Ryan had hidden in two nights before.

“Applejack!?” Twilight called out. The mares started to walk around, while Ryan opted to lean on the wall of the house and let them find his potential bosses.

“Applejack, are you around here?” Rarity called, putting on a pair of fancy sunglasses. Inside the house, Ryan could hear movement. He decided to just wait and see who it was.

“Big Macintosh?!” Twilight called. The sounds from inside were more clear; someone was approaching the door to his right. He got off the wall and waited. Meanwhile, Rarity and Twilight were still walking and calling.

The door opened, and Granny Smith walked out. “What’s all the ruckus?” she asked, looking for the sources of the yells. Ryan stepped out.

“Good day, Ma’am.” Ryan greeted. Granny Smith gave him a big, toothy smile.

“Well, howdy there pardner!” she said, walking forward and extending a hoof. Ruefully, Ryan extended his hand and got ready for a possible broken wrist. Sure enough, when Granny Smith got a hold of his hand, he was practically being lifted off of the ground. “How’re you today?” she asked. When she finished with her vigorous handshake, Ryan nursed his hand and tried his best to smile. It was fake, but he was pretty decent at that.

“I’m doing fine.” Granny Smith’s smile faltered; she could see that Ryan was not fine. Not pressing him, though, she asked,

“What brings y’all here, eh?” She walked over to a rocking chair on her porch. Ryan followed a bit and sat on the ground.

“Well, Rarity and Twilight brought me here in the hopes that your family might hire me as a farm hand.”

Granny Smith exhaled as she sat in her chair. “Well, I think that would be a fine idea.” she said. “But you’ll need to talk to Macky an’ Applejack about that. They handle the farm costs and work and whatnot.” Ryan nodded.

“Yes, Rarity and Twilight are looking for them now.” Granny Smith chuckled.

“An’ they’re in that direction?” she asked, pointing to the southern fields.

“Eeyup.” Ryan said. She chuckled again.

“You talk just like Macky, you know that?” Ryan gave another smile, but looked away. He knew that she knew. “But he don’t talk much.” Ryan shrugged.

“Well, I don’t really start conversations myself.” he said. Granny Smith kept on chuckling.

“Back to what we were sayin’, Macky an’ AJ are in the north fields.” Ryan looked in that direction.

“Well, then. I guess we’ll just wait for the mares to come back, then.” Granny Smith laughed, and they just sat in their place, waiting and talking a bit.

After about half an hour, the mares returned. “Well, we couldn’t find them. We’ll have to look in another field.” Ryan stood and stretched.

“They’re in the north fields.” he said. Twilight and Rarity looked at him for a moment, then frowned in perfect sync. “What?” Ryan asked.

“You could have found us and TOLD us that, you know.” Rarity reprimanded. Twilight looked frustrated.

“Well, that wouldn’t have been nearly as funny.” Granny Smith laughed at this, which also reduced the frowns on Rarity and Twilight. He took a mental note. “Score one for me.” The more popular he was with these ponies, the more he could make, and the more he could make, the sooner he could become a hermit. He would have to be careful though; too popular, and he might find himself having to be social. He couldn’t risk that.

He nodded to Granny Smith, who seemed to like him enough to have him around, and he and the mares went off to the north fields to get him a working job. Ryan had always liked labor jobs; he was intelligent, sure, but he liked to do mindless labor a lot. It gave him a good respite from his thoughts. Throughout his childhood, he had always been considering difficult questions. He started his Karate before he turned four, and as such, he had been learning to fight from the development stages of his brain’s growth. Even at age ten, he knew that he had the techniques to kill.

Now, he couldn’t have fought off most adults at the time, but he knew that he would be able to eventually. From an early age, he had considered the hardest of moral questions, and it took him years to come to certain conclusions about himself and morality, and acts that fit with either. Maybe that was part of what made it easier to do... some of what he did. Had he always been terrible then, or had he always been preparing himself for tragedy? He didn’t think about it much, nor did he wish to.

They approached the field, and already they could hear the sounds of trees being kicked and apples falling. Off in the distance, three little girls could be heard playing. “Oh, here we go again.” Ryan thought gloomily. He had no desire to be around children. Their innocence was heart shattering to him. Thankfully, though, they never came over.

“Let’s go, they should be just over there.” Twilight said. Ryan and Rarity followed as Twilight led them into past the treeline and towards the sounds. Naturally, passing a treeline, Ryan grew tense and scanned the area. The memory of the landmine almost taking his leg off was still fresh in his mind.

“Harkness, are you alright dear?” Rarity asked. Ryan looked around. He was visibly tense.

“Yeah.” he said casually. “Just checking for- things.” he caught himself.

Rarity was about to ask him about it when they heard, “Howdy, Twi! Rarity, and... uh, Harkness?” Ryan looked forward. Applejack was looking at him uneasily. Ryan put his beret under his left arm and raised his right hand.

“Hey.” Applejack hadn’t seen him with so little on, and took a moment to look at Ryan.

“Y’all look real... dirty.” Ryan shrugged.

“Applejack, please! Don’t be rude to our new friend.” Rarity responded. Applejack put her hoof to her hat.

“Sorry.”

Ryan didn’t care, seeing as that wasn’t what he was here for. he was about to try to get a job on a farm; he would be dirty most of the time anyway. That was, if he even found a way to clean himself.

Ryan extended his hand out. “No worries.” he said.

Applejack took his hand cautiously in her hoof. “Alrighty then.” They broke the contact. “So what brings y’all here?” Applejack asked. Ryan was going to respond, but Twilight beat him to it.

“We were hoping that you might be willing to hire Harkness as a farmhand.” Ryan looked back at Twilight, then back to Applejack. It looked like she was taken off guard. “He doesn’t have a job, so he has no money. We’re trying to work something out for him.” Applejack looked at him, then down at the ground. She was thinking hard about this.

“Well, shoot, Ah’d be glad to, but Ah don’t know about the farm funds. Y’all’re gonna have to ask Big Mac.” The mares looked delighted, but Ryan was watching Applejack’s face as she spoke. It spoke volumes.

“But are you alright with having me around?” he asked suddenly, drawing looks from everypony there. “That’s the main question.” Applejack looked like she had been slapped and didn’t understand why, while Twilight and Rarity were looking at Ryan, surprised.

Applejack took a moment to respond. “Well, Ah don’t rightly know you. So honestly, not really.” Ryan nodded. Rarity and Twilight, though, were not happy.

“Come now, Applejack! He’s trustworthy!” Rarity explained. “We’re already hiring him at the library and boutique. You won’t even have to hire him for that long.” Applejack’s expression changed from wary to contemplative in a moment after hearing that bit of news.

“Well, Ah guess that y’all’re just here for a little.” she said, mainly to herself. “Ah suppose y’all could work here. Just go find Big Mac to talk about the terms.” Twilight and Rarity made little celebratory noises while Ryan watched Applejack. She still didn’t seem too excited.

“Relax.” he told her. “I won’t cause trouble.” She looked up and into his eyes. Ryan could see mixed feelings in hers.

“Ah know you’re bein’ honest.” she said. “Ah just don’t know what Ah should think.” Ryan nodded.

“I understand, actually.” He turned around. “Guess I’ll see you around.”

Twilight and Rarity walked over to Ryan. “Well, I guess that we just need to find Big Macintosh now.” Twilight said. “Let’s go.”

While the group walked around, following the noises of applebucking, they talked about a work schedule for Ryan. “Well, I can hire you for two days.” Twilight explained. “And I’d love to learn more about you and your society.” Ryan looked at her funny. He hadn’t expected her to want to, but she seemed like she took Ryan’s words about humanity in general to heart.

“Alright, I guess that I can work in the library for a couple days a week.” he said. Twilight let out a big squee.

“Wonderful!” she exclaimed. Ryan turned to Rarity, letting Twilight celebrate the moment.

“And how about the boutique?” Ryan asked.

Rarity put her hoof to her chin. “Well, if you work in the library for two days, and I assume the farm for two days, you could just do one day at the boutique.” She seemed not gleeful, but not terribly unhappy. “It may be just one day, but all that means is that it’ll take more time to make you all new clothes!”

Ryan sighed inwardly. He was never into fashion at all; put on a random grouping of clothes and wear it, that's how he does it. “I don’t think that’s all that necessary.” he said. Rarity gasped, causing Twilight to turn to see what was wrong.

“Not necessary?” she asked in what sounded like offense. “New clothes are exactly what you need! Just look at your clothes!” Ryan looked down at himself, as did Twilight. His clothes now were covered in dirt, stained by mud, torn, and smelled horrifying. He had to admit, if he was to not let himself die, he would have to avoid becoming a disease center.

“...Maybe.” he conceded. Twilight chuckled in front of them.

“When Rarity offers you something, you won’t be able to refuse her generosity. She won’t let you not accept it.” Ryan cocked an eyebrow at Twilight, then looked at Rarity.

“She’s right, you know.” Ryan sighed again.

“So long as I don’t have to take off my current clothes.” The mares looked at each other, seemingly suspicious of their new friend. Again, they let it go, not wanting to press Ryan for information that he would not likely give up.

The sounds of the applebucking indicated that Big Mac was just a little bit further ahead. Ryan remembered him. They hadn’t spoken a word to each other when they first met. At least, when they first met on good terms. If only Ryan could have had it like that with all of these ponies. Then, everything would be so much easier.

They went around a tree and saw the looming form of Big Macintosh, leaning forward and getting ready to kick a tree behind him. When he released the massive amount of energy in his legs at the tree, his hooves shot out like cannonballs. Upon being struck, the tree vibrated more than any tree should be able to, and every apple fell out. It was an impressive display of power.

“Big Macintosh?” Twilight said somewhat timidly. He turned and looked over at the group. Ryan stood behind the two mares and nodded to Big Mac, who nodded back silently. They would get along just fine. “We spoke to Granny Smith and Applejack about your family maybe hiring Harkness as a farmhand for a couple days a week.” Twilight explained. “Granny Smith said to talk to AJ, and AJ said to ask you, since you would know more about being able to hire him.” Big Mac looked at the mares, then at Ryan, then at them. He already knew that Harkness was a good enough guy. He had figured that from their previous interactions.

“So, will you hire him?” Rarity asked, batting her eyelashes. Big Mac just looked at her flatly, making her blush. Her charms had never really worked on him.

“Eeyup.” he said, moving to another tree to buck.

The mares shouted, “Hooray!” and ran back to hug Ryan from both his sides, something he hadn’t seen coming. It was a good thing that they hugged him really tight; his arms were kept from his weapons. After he realized his hands were trying to reach for his weapons, he made them relax.

“Awesome.” he said, trying to squeeze out of the hug. Both mares suddenly let go and Ryan almost lost his balance. They walked over to Big Mac.

“So, what days can he work?” Twilight asked. Big Mac kicked another tree, then looked up to the sky in thought.

“Thursdays and Fridays.” he said. The mares looked to Ryan, who nodded his approval.

“Can he start tomorrow?” Rarity asked. Apparently, it was Wednesday. Big Mac nodded. The mares both turned to Ryan, big smiles on their faces. “Well, I think we have a work schedule for you!” Rarity announced gleefully. “You can work at my boutique on Mondays, the library on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and here on Thursdays and Fridays.” Ryan nodded again.

“Sound good.” he said.

The mares turned to Big Mac. “Thank you Big Mac. I think you’ll like having him around.” Twilight said. Big Mac looked at Ryan again. They looked at each other, sizing each other up. This Harkness character looked like he could be either strong or weak, Big Mac had nothing to compare him to. He already knew that he wasn’t going to hurt anypony, and he didn’t seem very talkative. He would be fine.

Big Mac was clearly a beast of a pony. If ponies didn’t only eat plants, RYan would think that this guy ate a pound of chicken a day. He was huge. Other than that, Ryan could tell that he wasn’t into talking, from how he spoke to the mares before him. He was willing to hire Ryan. That was good. He could tell from Mac’s eyes that he was a peaceful guy. Though from his expression when they looked at each other, he could tell that Big Mac could see something in Ryan that he wasn’t sure about. That was fine though. Ryan wasn’t sure about himself, either.

“Alright.” Ryan said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He turned and walked off, the two mares saying their goodbyes to Big Mac and trotting off to catch up to their human friend.

*********************************************************************************

Luna hated having to hold her Lunar Court. Even after her angry tirade at the nobles for their petty squabbles, they came to her with the stupidest of problems. Right now, they were pestering Luna about what one of them was doing with his property. “What he is doing is abominable! It will ruin our home values!” the accusing one said. The other gave his rebuttal quickly.

“My home is valuable to people like me, yours is valuable to people like you! One won’t affect the other!” Okay, Luna had to admit that he was wrong there, but the whole thing was ridiculous. She had had enough.

“If I read the law right just before you came in here,” she said. “He may do what he wishes with his property, for that is his right. You are trying to infringe upon his right, and that is not to be allowed.” There was a groan and a “yay!” from before her. “And for wasting my time, you will also pay a fine of one hundred bits for harassing this stallion.” The accuser was about to protest, but Luna held up a hoof. “I care not for petty problems. And I am writing this into law as of now.”

She looked to the law keeper next to her, who already had a pen out and ready to go. “For any case that is petty or wastes the court’s time, the accuser shall pay a fine of one hundred and fifty bits.” As the law keeper wrote it down, Luna took in the expressions of her crowd. Most were shocked. A couple were outraged. All of the guards, though, wore triumphant smiles. Especially Starstep. “Consider yourself lucky that I am not giving you the full fine. Now, begone.” She waved them all out, expecting to see one or two stay for real cases that needed to be heard. None stayed. “Ugh.” she said disdainfully. She got up from her throne. “Let us depart.” She walked next to Starstep, two joined her as she went back to their shared quarters.

Once inside, Luna jumped over to her bed and groaned into her pillow. “Why must these nobles come to me with these pathetic problems of theirs?” she asked no one. “It’s ridiculous.” Starstep took a seat next to the bed and patted Luna’s head.

“I’m sure it is.” he said. “But at least they aren’t having real problems. That much is a plus.” Luna looked up from her pillow at her guard.

“I suppose so.” She hopped off of her bed and walked over to her window, looking into the night sky. Up there, she could clearly see the special star that she had made to remember Ryan by the previous night. “At least HIS problems aren’t here.”

Sensing her sadness, Starstep walked over and put his foreleg around his princess. “I’m sure he’s at peace now, Luna.” he said, forgetting about formalities for the moment. “You should try to move on.” He had been trying to encourage her to get away from this mindset since he learned about what happened. It wasn’t easy, and he wasn’t making notable progress. Luna shook her head.

“I can’t.” she said. “It’s my fault for not helping him to get home, and not trying to stop him from his pursuit.” She leaned into him. “It was my greatest mistake, even greater than a thousand years ago.” Starstep listened to her with a heavy heart. She had never been proud of herself for that first trouble, to say the absolute least. That this was worse to her meant a lot.

Starstep hugged her tight. “You did what you thought was right.” he said. “When a pony does their best, what else is there?” Luna looked at the ground.

“There’s living to continue doing their best.” Starstep was losing ground.

“Not always.” he said. He looked up to the sky. There were no stars for his old teammates. “My team did its best, and I was the only one to come away from that battle. There was nothing else to it. They didn’t live to keep doing their best.” A single tear came down from his eye. It moved slow as molasses, and at his chin, it hung for just a moment. While it hung, the moonlight shone and glimmered in it, like the souls of the fallen were inside it. When it fell, it continued to shine, until it hit the ground and exploded outward, losing the light of the night sky. “We did our best. There was nothing else for us to do. And there was nothing else for you to do, there isn’t now, and there never will be. You have to accept the past and move on.”

Luna looked up at Starstep. She could see that, while he was totally still like a statue, tears were flowing from his eyes like a drainage pipe. He hadn’t let go of what had happened to him. He didn’t want to see Luna like that. “Please.” he pleaded. Luna put her foreleg around him and squeezed tight.

“...I will try.” They sat like that for over an hour, until they finally went to sleep, still holding each other like a child holds a teddy bear during a thunderstorm.

*********************************************************************************

Ryan awoke slowly in his trench. He let his eyelids open and close a little bit before getting up and stretching himself out. As he got up, his spine cracked over a dozen times, providing some much needed relief from sleeping on the ground two nights in a row. It wasn’t a problem, though. When he made his hidden home in the Everfree, he might even dig a ditch to sleep in. Beds are unnecessary.

He climbed out of the ditch and looked off towards Ponyville, sighing heavily. “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” That’s how the phrase goes. Never before had Ryan thought it such an apt phrase for himself. Still cracking in various places on his body, Ryan donned his beret and scarf and made his way to the farm. He didn’t need Big Mac to tell him to be there early. It was a farm, after all. Of course, also being a farm, the work would be long and arduous, so Ryan might be forced to shed some of his outfit. Preemptively acting, he removed the beret and scarf and wrapped the beret in the scarf like the previous day. He stuffed them in the back of his vest and walked on, the large lump giving him a Hunchback of Notre Dame look.

It was a little before five thirty, if the light in the sky was anything to go by. The previous night, he had been looking at the stars, seeking one that he would deem as his favorite. One in particular caught his eye. It was the strangest star he had ever seen. The star twinkled brighter than any around it, but then, it would fade, and become so black that one might still see its shape in the dark blue sky. No natural star appeared that way, as far as Ryan knew, but this was a world of magic. Someone may have created the star, and it just happened to match up with Ryan.

The stars were hardly visible now, though, as the sun would soon be rising. Using what little light was available, Ryan walked through the town and went to his workplace for the next two days. Around him, he could make out the various landmarks in the town; there was the obvious Town Hall, a large well, a hospital in the distance, and then the library. A quaint little town, and he was going to a quaint little farm.

“It shouldn’t be real.” Ryan said upon finishing his inspection. “How can a world without my atrocities even exist?” The concept was so alien to him, it didn’t even seem reasonable. These ponies had had their conflicts, to be certain, but it seemed very different from his home. They were much more peaceful.

Of course, Ryan had to think about the potential downsides to this. “Overcoming hardship is what makes humanity great.” he thought. “It is how we prove ourselves worthy to exist, how we know that we deserve to live.” These ponies, or at least the vast majority of them, had no such thing. Ryan knew the he didn’t deserve to live, but that was because he hadn’t overcome his difficulties. Harris deserved to live because he had maintained his morality against Narendra. He proved himself worthy of the life he had. What was it like, never knowing what you are really capable of, when there can’t be a way to prove it? Ryan actually felt a little sorry for the ponies, in a way.

He left his thoughts there, as he had done so much recently, and left the town, heading towards the farm. On his way, he spotted the farm early on, taking in its early morning appearance. It looked the same as it did during the day, only now, there were some lights on inside. They came from two rooms; presumably, they were Applejack’s and Big Mac’s rooms.

“I guess that I’m late.” Ryan said, stepping onto the property. Though the lights were on, the barn door was closed, as if no one was there yet. “Though maybe not.” He walked on down the little road and all the way to the barn.

He approached the barn as quietly as he could. New habits that saved one’s life tended to go away with difficulty. He sat down in front of the barn door and listened. “Ah’m guessin’ that he’ll be here in a couple of hours.” a female voice said. Applejack. “He don’t exactly come off as a farmer, so Ah can’t think of any reason for him to be gettin’ up early.” If she knew, she would see why he couldn’t sleep. She continued. “Ah’ll tell him his duties when- AH!”

She yelled loudly at the sight of Ryan crouched in front of the barn door. Big Mac ran around to see the ruckus; he relaxed when he saw it was just his new farm aid.

“I’m here.” Ryan said. Applejack was catching her breath, while Big Mac was just smiling at her. She looked at him.

“Y’all shut up.” Big Mac just chuckled and walked over to the barn. Ryan stood and got out of the way, letting Big Mac open the door.

Big Mac opened the door and entered, leaving Ryan with Applejack. “Well, I’m here. So, what’s my job?” he asked. Applejack looked at him, trying to size him up.

“Well, Ah’m guessin’ that y’all don’t exactly buck trees.” she commented. Ryan shrugged.

“Meh. I can do other stuff.” Applejack nudged him to head into the barn, going in ahead of him. He followed.

“Ah guess that y’all can drag carts.” she said, pointing to a decent sized cart.

Ryan looked at it, then deadpanned, “I’m not sure I can drag that if it’s full of apples.” She looked at him.

“Ah don’t know, you might be pretty strong. Ah don’t have anything to compare you to, so we’ll just figure it out as y’all go along.” Ryan shrugged. If he died doing work, that was just what would happen. She slapped him on the back. “Ah’m sure y’all’re gonna do fine. Now, since you’re here, Ah’ll be headin’ back to bed and then into town for a day of fun with my friends.” She looked past him. “Big Mac, y’all be sure to help him if he needs it.” Big Mac nodded, and Applejack left.

Ryan and Big Mac were left alone in silence. At first, they just looked at each other. Big Mac then pointed his muzzle to the cart, which Ryan looked at, then went over to. He picked up the front, which would normally be attached to a yoke, and pushed forward. It was surprisingly easy. He turned to look at Big Mac and nodded, and the two set out to get to work.

They went out to the north fields first. Big Mac and his sister had been there the previous day, so Ryan just figured that they were going to finish what they had started. While they walked, Big Mac kept looking to Ryan, or Harkness, as he thought, who didn’t notice. From how easily he handled the empty cart, Big Mac figured that he must be strong enough for that, but not enough to buck trees. His body type didn’t seem suited for that anyway. The way his body was laid out, Harkness looked like he was meant to be able to travel in any environment and use all sorts of different items. This was on account of his hands, mostly, as they were like Spike’s, only they had five fingers. Harkness’ legs were clearly more flexible than any pony’s, as were his arms as compared to forelegs. The hair on his face and head indicated that he was mostly hairless, given its distribution.

The clothing was interesting. He had a vest on with several pieces of equipment, the only ones Big Mac recognized being the hammer and knife. He couldn’t see the blade in the sheath, but the size of the handle made it clear that it was a large blade. The hammer looked like it had been very used, having a couple of rusty spots on it. The spots were very dark red. The other pieces of equipment were very odd. They were both L-shaped, as far as he could tell. The one he could see had a wooden short length and a silvery long length. The silvery one was a tube with a little lip at the end on what Big Mac assumed to be the top. On the other end, there was a hammer-shaped piece. The items fascinated Big Mac; he would have to be sure to research them, if he ever got to the library.

Once they were at the fields, Ryan realized that Big Mac was looking at him, and more specifically, his torso. He could see from the wonder in Big Mac’s face that he was trying to figure out his weapons. When they stopped to get to work, Ryan dropped his beret and scarf on the wagon handle and moved over to a tree. Big Mac followed.

“Hmm.” Ryan said, looking up at it. Big Mac came up next to him and pointed at a red apple and nodded. Then, he pointed at a nasty looking one and shook his head. Ryan responded by nodding and moved back. Big Mac looked at him curiously as Ryan seemed to take measurements or some such. Before Big Mac could ask what he was doing, Ryan ran up to the tree and ran up it, grabbing a branch. Once there, he started picking the apples that looked good and tossing them down. Big Mac smiled and nodded, and made his way to his own tree. He would have to knock off all the apples and then sort them with his mouth. Not very pleasant, but it had to be done.

Ryan looked over at Big Mac as he worked. He had already cleared his tree, but because he had to sort the apples and individually put them into the buckets, he was going to take a while on his own. Ryan looked at his hands. He was glad to have them.

After a while, Ryan managed to get all of the apples off of his tree. It only took about forty minutes, much faster than expected. On top of that, he had put the buckets under the tree so that he could drop the good apples into them. Once finished with the tree, he dropped down and started putting his buckets in his wagon. When he finished up doing that, he looked over to Big Mac, who was starting to put his own buckets in his cart. When Big Mac finished with his, he saw Ryan looking over at him. He looked surprised that Ryan was already good to go.

He looked over to the barn and jerked his neck in that direction to say, “Bring’em to the barn.” Ryan nodded and made to drag his apples to the barn. The cart was much heavier, but he could handle it, at least for now. He looked at his watch, which he just remembered he was wearing. It was about seven thirty, and he would be here for a while longer. This was the kind of work he could do, and this was definitely the kind of guy he could work with.

The stallion and boy went to the barn in silence, already having said all that needed to be said.

*********************************************************************************

Luna was already awake when Starstep got up. She had moved off of the bed and went into her library, it seemed. “Princess?” Starstep called.

She called back. “I’m in the shower!” Starstep nodded to himself for a moment. Even a princess needed to clean herself up every so often.

While he waited for her, he decided to look through his old things, for memory’s sake. He walked over to his little pile of things in the corner. He hadn’t thought it necessary to give them an actual place, so long as they were out of everypony’s way. Luna had protested him, though. “Why don’t we get you a chest that you can put everything in? I’m sure there are spares around.” Starstep had shaken his head to that.

“No, that’s not necessary. I’ll just leave it somewhere that’s out of the way.” She wasn’t pressing the issue, but Starstep could tell that Luna was looking for that spare chest. He appreciated the concern, really, but he didn’t think he deserved it.

He sat before the pile and started to rifle through it. He wasn’t looking for anything specific, just old things that caught his eye. The first of these things was his old weapon. It was a retractable blade that he wrapped around his leg, just above the hoof, that he would will to extend or retract. The weapon had served him very well. Back in Saddle Arabia and that general region, especially in “The Triangle”, he had taken down a lot of enemy combatants using that weapon. In the pile, he also found his old armor. That single piece of gear had saved his life more times than anything else. Other than that, he encountered his old spear, his helmet, and some documents, Nothing much other than that.

Except one thing that really stood out. It wasn’t a big thing, and it wasn’t heavy. It was an old picture. He pulled it out to get a look at it. As he looked down at it in his hooves, he felt his eyes growing warm and wet. It was a picture of his team back in The Triangle, before the Nighthawks. Meteor, Stratofortress, Falcon, Eagle, Blazer, and himself. They all got their call signs from different aspects about themselves, but since they were long gone, that wasn’t really important. Starstep held the picture close to his heart for a moment, like it would bring his fallen friends back to him. He hadn’t been there when Stratofortress kicked the bucket. He had been hit by an explosion and sent home. He was DOA.

Meteor had been killed in battle, right alongside Starstep. He was a hardass at times, but he did care for his team. Falcon and Eagle appropriately died together, having been fireteam buddies. They were killed after Starstep and Blazer left the 35th Joint Strike Force battalion and joined up with the Nighthawks. And lastly, Blazer, who wasn’t yet confirmed KIA. He was still considered MIA. Starstep knew he was gone.

When he heard hoofsteps coming from the library area, he quickly stuffed the old photo back in the pile and wiped off his face. “Are you ready to face the day, your highness?” he asked, looking away. He heard her walk up behind him.

“Only if you are.”

She knew what was wrong. She could always tell if he was feeling alright, and right now, he definitely was not. She put her hoof on his back and rubbed. “Are you?” she asked. Starstep looked up.

“Yes.” he responded, barely able to hide his sorrow and loss. Luna felt truly terrible for him. She had lost her friend recently, but he had lost all of his friends. To top it off, the “nobles’ of Canterlot treated him horribly.

“You are not.” she asserted. She moved up and sat next to him. “...Is it the past that bothers you?” Starstep just nodded, closing his eyes and trying to stay calm. “A wise guard told me to let go of the past. It’s something that I think you may need help with as much as me.” She stroked his neck with her hoof. “And we will always have each other.” Starstep actually smiled a little bit.

“I know.” he said. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

They sat there for a while, their presences comforting each other in their troubled lives. Luan knew that there was nothing she could do about Ryan being gone; she just had to move on. Starstep, though, could have something. Luna knew that Blazer was alive and being held captive. She wanted to see Starstep happy and free of his guilt, and she knew that the only way for him to let go of the past was if she could release his guilt. And the best way to do that was to get Blazer.

She looked out the window, hoping that some miracle would come along to show her the way.

OnThe Rocks

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On the Rocks

“All the water in the world, however hard it tries, cannot sink the smallest ship unless it gets inside, and all the evil in the world, the blackest kind of sin, can never hurt you in the least, unless you let it in.” (Unknown)

Ryan was walking home to his trench at about half past six. The first day on the farm had been easy enough. He climbed trees, took the good apples, put them into a cart, and dragged the cart to the barn. It was mind numbing and repetitive; just what Ryan had hoped for. The day had gone uneventfully, just him and Big Mac doing their work. The second day was nice too, nothing happening. Now, Ryan was walking to his trench with a bag of seventy-five bits. He had no idea if that was the going rate for labor, but he trusted Mac to pay him what he was owed. And even if he didn’t, Ryan could just keep working. This job required absolutely minimal interaction with the ponies.

Ryan was wondering where exactly he would store his money. He would have to look for a bank over the weekend. For now, though, the bag of bits was getting heavy. His best bet was to spend it. His stomach growled. “I could always buy myself some dinner.” That would lighten the sack a bit. He looked around; there were only a few restaurants that served food he would eat in town. Deciding on which to attend wasn’t much of a problem. “I think I missed dinner yesterday.” he said to himself, thinking back. He still had to get into the swing of his plan.

Choosing to spend some of his money, he walked through town looking for a place to eat. Then he remembered that Rarity mentioned a bar. “The best way to forget is to be incapable of remembering things.” He looked around, eventually finding the booze house toward the end of the town. He looked at its sign. The Salt Lick: Whiskey, Rum, and More. It seemed good enough, so Ryan went up to the door. It was a classic, old west style push door that didn’t touch the ground. Before entering, Ryan listened inside to hear if anything was undesirable about this place. He heard nothing but the sounds of hooves on wood and mugs hitting tables. “Perfect.” he thought. He pushed through the door.

As soon as he entered, everypony in the room was staring at him silently. Most put their drinks down to get a look at him. Ryan tipped his beret to them and slowly walked in. When most of them went back to their drinks, he felt relieved.

“Definitely perfect.” Around him, none of the stallions (there were no mares) seemed to care about his presence. They had probably already heard about him, anyway, so why should they care? There were a couple who were looking at him still, sure, but they were just curious. They wouldn’t approach him.

Ryan took a stool at the bar and sat himself down. The bartender, a unicorn, noticed him and immediately walked over. “What can I get you, stranger?” he asked, wiping off a glass with his magic. Ryan looked up at the rack, trying to decide on a drink. He had no idea what might be different about these compared to human drinks.

“How much is a shot of each thing on the bottom shelf?” Ryan asked. The bartender turned around to check.

“They’re all about two bits.” he said. As the bartender turned back around, Ryan looked past him to count the drinks; there were about twenty different bottles on the bottom shelf. Forty bits.

“Give me one shot of everything on the bottom.” he said, pulling his bit bag. He gave the bartender forty bits.

“Sampling, are we?” he asked.

Ryan nodded. “I’m new.” The bartender nodded knowingly as he retrieved five shot glasses and filled them up with different straight drinks.

“Ah.” He set the glasses in front of Ryan and moved away. “Drink slowly; you’ll be drinking a lot. And just call me over when you’re ready for the next five.” Ryan nodded, pulling up a glass and sniffing it.

“Hmm...” It didn’t smell fantastic, but he had never exactly been a connoisseur of alcoholic beverages. He had never even liked them. He just wanted to know which drink was the least bad to get drunk on and forget his past.

He downed the first shot instantly, and regretted it faster than he drank it. The stuff was truly abysmal. He practically convulsed in his seat, it was so nasty. Setting the glass down, he looked to where he had seen this drink come from; Budyonny Light Lime. “Augh.” he said, pushing the glass away. He thought that he knew how to drink, taking time between shots. He decided to be more careful about how quickly he drinks each shot.

“Next.” He looked at the drink warily. It was the same general color. Pulling the small glass up to his lips, he said, “Here we go.” He took a sip, and was less revolted than the first time. It was still bad, though. This one came from Budyonny Light Platinum. Somehow, this Budyonny group had figured out how to turn platinum into mercury. Ryan moved on, checking each one to avoid more Budyonny.

The next one came from a bottle labeled Kiger Mustang. “Sounds promising.” Ryan knew better than to trust advertisement promises. Or promises in general. He sipped the drink, and nearly spat it out. It was worse than Budyonny. He moved onto the next drink. Giara Lager, it was called. Ryan had never drank a lager before. “To new things.” He sipped the shot, expecting a terror of a drink. It was actually not that bad. “Hmm.” He would remember this, if he didn’t find himself liking a higher shelf drink better. Which was unlikely. Moving onto the last one, he looked at the label of its home bottle; Malopolski; Straight From Stalliongrad. He didn’t even touch that glass, except for pushing it away. He knew what to expect from a name like that; high alcohol content, and bottom shelf quality. It was on the bottom shelf, after all.

He called the bartender over. “Next round.” he said. The bartender looked at the drinks.

“You gonna drink this one?” he asked. Ryan shook his head. Shrugging, the bartender took the glasses away to be cleaned. While he did that, Ryan took a look at the next round. They were all the same brands.

“Yo, bartender.” Ryan called. he had just finished his cleaning of the glasses. “I still have thirty bits of drink left, right?” he asked.

The bartender nodded. “Yeah. And call me Oktoberfest.” Ryan nodded.

“Alright Oktoberfest. Mind if I move up a shelf?” Oktoberfest smiled.

“Sure. What’ll you have? Each drink is three bits a shot.” Ryan thought. He could get ten shots.

“What do you have?” he asked. Oktoberfest moved over.

“We got Samolaco Adams, Fouta’s, Applejack Daniel’s, Orlov’s, and Friesian’s.” Ryan looked over at the bottles. There were several variants of each.

“Give me two random shots of each.” he said. Oktoberfest nodded and filled up the five shot glasses.

“Here you go. One of each now, another of each next.” Ryan nodded his thanks and looked down at his drinks. These looked more suited for human consumption.

After finishing each one, Ryan concluded that his favorite of them was Samolaco Adams, followed closely by Applejack Daniel’s. The others could go drain into a ditch. “Yo.” Ryan slurred a bit. Oktoberfest heard this and immediately came over.

“You good?” he asked. Ryan nodded.

“Yeah.” Oktoberfest could clearly see that Ryan was exiting the stage of being buzzed.

“Next grouping.” Hesitantly, Oktoberfest got Ryan his next five shots, which Ryan finished quickly. Same conclusion as before.

Ryan sat on his barstool, silently trying to let his mind turn itself off. It wasn’t working too well, though. His thoughts kept on going to the past. The image of the burned little girl was carved into his mind. Catherine’s and Joey’s sobbing echoed in his ears like thunder in the mountains. Nadine’s screams pierced his heart like a bullet.

“Gimme more.” Ryan said, pulling out more bits. He still had thirty-five left. Oktoberfest looked at him.

”I think you’ve had enough.” Ryan looked up at the bartender.

Oktoberfest was no less than disturbed by what he saw in the human’s eyes. He had to take a step back to fully take it in. This colt had the eyes of someone who had lost everything. A lot like those soldiers who came back from the Southern Griffon Colonies. In his eyes, Oktoberfest saw nothing but pain, brought on by losing something dear to him. This colt had seen things that no pony should ever see.

“Oh.” Oktoberfest admitted. This colt was trying to forget. Against his better judgment, he went and got two more shots. “Here you go. Ten bits.” These came from just under the top shelf. Ryan pulled out the coins and tossed them onto the bar.

“Thanks, bfro.” he slurred. Oktoberfest walked away, keeping an eye on Ryan.

He downed the two shots in an instant, thus totally removing his coherence. He sat there for a minute to let it fully take effect.

Ryan tried to stand. When he got his feet on the ground, he had to use the stool to steady himself. Holding himself up on the stool, he blinked twice and looked to Oktoberfest. “Thhanks, Ahktahberfst.” he said. Oktoberfest looked at him, pity ruling over all his features.

“What’s your name, colt?” he asked. Ryan thought about it. What was his name?

“Hhhhhharknesh.” He turned around and moved away from the stool, teetering his way to the door. “Harkness. Right.” He was going to keep an eye on this guy. No doubt he would come back.

Ryan stumbled and fell his way out of the bar, only drawing a couple of looks from the other customers. They didn’t care; they all had their own problems. The only ones who were watching stopped caring as soon as Ryan was gone.

He looked around the street, trying to remember where exactly he was. He knew that he was in Ponyville. But in proximity to what? Ryan tried to get his bearings. “I shee that,” he said, pointing at a well. “And that.” He pointed at a normal looking home. “So I’ll go... this way.” He started to drag his feet and teeter on down the street. The whole way, he had to squint to keep the brightness of the street lamps from blinding him. “Damn lights.” He kept on going. The dust from the street was collecting on his boots, which were looking exceptionally dirty. Rarity would have his ass if she saw him like this. His hair was messy, as always, but his clothes smelled and looked like they were seven years old.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ryan saw movement in an alley to his left. He pulled his 1911. “Who’s thar?” he demanded. No one responded. Ryan stood in his spot for a moment, watching. When nothing happened, he started to move away, still watching. “Don’ follow me.” he ordered. Whatever may have been in the shadows obeyed, because Ryan didn’t see anything as he moved away. He calmed down. “Safe.” He kept walking.

Not fifteen feet later, he heard scuffling feet behind him. Nothing in Ponyville that would be out this late had feet. He spun around, bringing up his gun again. “I said don’t follow me!” he shouted. Before he could look for the source of the noise, a light turned on in the house next to him. “Shit!” Ryan ran, not wanting to be caught drunk this late at night. About thirty feet away, he stopped and hid behind a crate, looking behind him. A mare came out of the house, looking around tiredly. After a short moment, she went back inside, and a few more moments later, the lights turned off.

Ryan got up and looked back in the area. Still nothing. He holstered his weapon. “I’m watching... you.” He turned and walked away, forgetting to watch behind him.

He soon forgot about whatever may have been stalking him and found himself approaching a large, circular building. He tried to read the sign. No good. “Mmm... Bou-tique?” He tried to remember something about this place. He recognized it, but from where, he couldn’t remember. Then it hit him. “Rarity.” he said. He took off, not wanting to risk her seeing him, but tripped on nothing and hit his face on the ground. “Ow!” he yelped. He sat up on his rear. Putting his hand to his nose, he felt hot blood flowing from it. “Damn.” he said. At least he didn’t have to go to work tomorrow.

He stood up, a little more alert after potentially breaking his nose, and looked around. Off in the distance, he could see a familiar tree. “Trench.” he said single-mindedly. he just needed to get to the trench. Then, he could sleep, and forget everything.

Before he even knew it, he was at his trench. There was the tree, the grass, the familiar sky, and the trench itself. He looked down. “How do I get down from here?” he asked. “Meh.” he stepped off his little ledge and into the trench, letting himself fall to the ground. It was farther than he thought, and when he hit, he landed hard on his side. “Ahgh.” It hurt a lot. But at least he was in his trench.

Not feeling up to anything else, Ryan let himself slip away into the torment that was his night’s sleep.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryan woke up with the worst headache. Sitting up, he went to rub his temples. He had never prided himself on being anything other than a lightweight.

Head throbbing and body aching, Ryan got up out of his trench. He fell back down. “Uhhgh.” he said. He moved to sit against the wall of his trench. “What did I drink last night?” he wondered. He could hardly remember. Something like Samolaco something or whatever. He would have to remember that. He hadn’t slept so long in a while. Six and a half hours of sleep was nice, even if brought on by comatose.

Ryan looked at his watch. It read seven o’ six. It was still early. “Maybe I’ll just sit here for a while.” And that he did.

*********************************************************************************

Discord looked down on the boy with a heavy heart. It hurt him to see this kid like this. From what he had garnered before, he wasn’t a drinker in any sense of the word. Now, the boy was already deciding to get wasted, just to try to forget everything the had happened. Only a few ponies had ever suffered like that.

Discord sent his invisible eyes down to be next to Ryan and took in the sight before him. Ryan had dried drool on the side of his face, hidden only by all the dirt that was covering his face. His breathing seemed labored, not from sickness, but just from being tired. His clothes were somehow looking worse now than they had before. Out of nowhere, Ryan rolled up his sleeves.

“Must be hot.” Discord thought. He looked at the boy’s arms. Yup, still scarred and horrible. Ryan was just looking down at them, silent and seemingly objectively.

The boy reached to his side for his 1911. He had one empty magazine for it and two full, one of the latter being loaded. Discord watched worriedly as Ryan pulled it from its worn out holster and looked down at it. For a minute, he just sat there, looking at it.

“What are you doing?” Disord wondered. Ryan ran his fingers across the top of the gun.

“I’ve done a lot of terrible things.” he said to himself. Tears rimmed his eyes. “There’s not a thing I can do to fix it.” He pulled the gun up and stared down the barrel. Discord panicked.

“NO!” he mentally shouted. He wanted to move forward to stop him, but there were two things in the way; one, he couldn’t use too much magic, or he would be discovered. Two, he wasn’t actually present. He could only observe as the boy stared down the barrel of the .45. But he didn’t pull the trigger. “What?” Discord was relieved, but confused. The boy was pointing the gun at himself, but not pulling the trigger.

He wanted to. He wanted to so bad. Pulling that trigger would end his suffering, at least for the time being. A few moments of peace was worth an eternity of suffering to him in that moment. But he couldn’t pull the trigger. He tried to force his finger back, but it refused to go. There was something stopping him.

“Promise me you won’t let yourself die.”

That was what Harris made him promise, and he had given him that promise. He said to his best friend in their shared time of greatest need that he would never do it. But why was that stopping him? If he was dead, then his promise would be just as meaningless as it was now. Ryan cried in his trench, letting the gun and his hand fall to the ground.

“Goddammit.” he said.

Discord was relieved. He was relieved to the point where he would have gone up to Celestia and bowed down to her for intervening, even though he knew that she hadn’t. He looked back at the boy. “Maybe there is hope.” With that, he ended his prying, letting Ryan have some time to himself.

*********************************************************************************

The morning had been uneventful for Celestia. There were few nobles coming to her with their ridiculous cases, something she was grateful for. She had heard from her guards that Luna wrote up a law that fined ponies who brought forth petty cases. She would have to thank her for that later.

Still, though, now she was just sitting on her throne, waiting for something to come by. She had no political or international business today, so she was totally free. But she had to sit on her throne waiting for a case to be brought forth for at least one hour, unless something else important happened to come by. She sighed. “It’s times like these that I wish something interesting would happen.”

Like she had pressed a button, a scroll suddenly appeared before her. She recognized the seal; it was from her faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Celestia looked at the room’s clock before opening the scroll. It was half past seven. “What are you doing up so early on a weekend?” she wondered. Maybe it was some kind of emergency? That would be exciting! Something urgent must have occurred, there could be no other reason for this. Celestia opened the letter.

Dear Princess Celestia,
Something interesting has occurred here in Ponyville. Celestia felt childish excitement in her veins. “Seems promising.” she said to herself. We have a new resident here. He’s really interesting. He’s not a pony, and when he told me his species, I couldn’t find any records of it. I would have sent you my notes on him, but they’re long and, at times, not easy to read. Wait. Was she referring to a male? I would love for you and Princess Luna to come down and met him. He’s pretty nice, kind of shy though. He’s reluctant to tell us about himself, though that will come with time. I already sent an invitation to Shining Armor and Cadance, and my parents. And no, before you ask yourself, it isn’t like that. Celestia smiled sheepishly to herself. She was thinking exactly that. So if you can come down Tuesday or Wednesday, that would be perfect. Any time is great, but I just thought it would be nice to have the whole family down together :). I think you would be interested in him.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

When Celestia finished the letter, she put her hoof to her chin. Tuesday wouldn’t work, she had an actual case planned to be heard that day. The next day would be fine, though. She pulled up a paper and quill and wrote up a letter.

I would be happy to meet this new friend of yours. He sounds interesting. And yes, I did think exactly what you thought I was thinking. I can’t wait to meet him. Your teacher, Princess Celestia.

She read over the short letter. “This will be interesting.” she said to herself. With a wave of her horn, she sent the letter away to be belched out by Spike.

Sine something significant had occurred, she could officially leave the throne room and be off to her chambers to do her own thing. What that thing was, she had yet to figure out. Maybe she could prank her guards or something. “I have nothing else to do.” it would be fun, so why not? She had to think hard about what to do. She could mess with their physical appearance, or have fun messing with their minds. “What would Luna do?” she wondered. She could always ask. Her sister was something of a prankster. “Yeah. I’ll go ask her.” Plus, she had to check her sister. She had been gloomy as of late.

Celestia went off to Luna’s chambers, taking her slow, flowing pace as usual. The guards would always salute when she passed, and he staff bowed to her. “I wish this place wasn’t so stuffy all the time.” she thought. Her sister had the right idea, and knew how to go about it. Her return had been good for the castle. “It’s good to have you back, Lulu.” She felt a warm, fuzzy feeling in her chest as she approached the doors to her sister’s chambers. “So very good.” There were no guards outside her doors. Odd.

“Luna?” Celestia whispered. Putting her ears to the door, she could hear snoring from inside. She smiled to herself, using her magic to conjure up a camera. Luna was always flustered when Celestia got a picture of her sleeping. Slowly, Celestia opened the door.

When she saw her sister and her sister’s private guard sleeping on the bed together, she blinked twice and poofed the camera away. She wasn’t expecting this. “It seems Lulu has found somepony very special.” Starstep was certainly special to her, but not necessarily in THAT way. Still, Celestia felt more warmness and fuzziness. “They’re so cute.” she whispered. The guard was draped over Luna, like he was still protecting her from harm, even in his sleep. Celestia watched as Luna rolled over, putting the guard next to her.

Then, Celestia got an idea. Smirking mischievously, she tip-hooved her way over to the bed. Using her magic, she lifted herself onto the bed, on the other side of Starstep, and laid down. Barely stifling her laughter, she poked Luna and Starstep firmly on their noses, waking them.

Luna wasn’t really conscious enough to register what was happening, but Starstep was already swiveling around to confront his enemy. He froze when he saw that it was his other princess. Mouth agape, he tried to make sense of what was happening. Before he could speak, Celestia pulled Luna, on the other side of him, really tight and close, jolting her awake.

“Starstep, what are you-” She stopped when she saw her sister, looking at her with a devilish grin. Starstep, in between them, was trying to stammer out some sort of coherent response to his sandwich situation. Looking at him, then her sister, Luna also donned an evil grin. She pulled on Starstep, squeezing him between her and her sister. “But Tiaaa~!” she said. “He’s MY guard!” Starstep blushed furiously.

“But I gave him to you! Can’t I have him back for just a bit?”

Starstep frantically looked at his princesses, trying to figure out what was happening. “What’s going to happen to me?!” was his biggest fear. He felt the two princesses hug him tighter.

“I know!” Luna announced. “Why don’t we share him? We have time.” Starstep’s jaw exploded open, not a sound escaping from his shocked maw.

“Sounds great.” Celestia replied.

Starstep heard a bit of a barely stifled giggle fit from both princesses. He knew now. “Three can play at this game.” he thought, trying to think of something to say. He got it!

“Well, I hope you two have serious stamina. Those years in the guard have made me really... stout.” The two princesses looked down at him, their faces turning read. They looked at each other. It was two on one; they should have this in the bag.

“Well, let’s hope that your horn is as magical as either of ours.” Celestia responded. Luna blinked; she had to admit, she wouldn’t have thought of that.

“Well, I do have this magic wand that I’ve been practicing with.” The implication alone turned both princesses a deep shade of red. “And I’d love to test out my skills. Maybe experiment-” Luna jumped up, followed shortly by her sister. Starstep laughed hard. “I think I win this round, your highnesses.” he victoriously proclaimed. The two princesses looked at each other. No, they weren’t about to lose.

Starstep got up and hopped off the bed. “I think I’ll go take a shower.” he said, still laughing.

Luna hopped up next to him. “I’ll join you.” Celestia went to the other side.

“Me too.” Hmm. Starstep wasn’t going to win without a fight, it seemed.

“Well, so long as you don’t mind my ‘magazines’.” Celestia waved a dismissive hoof.

“Oh, you won’t be needing those.” she said. “I heard about my sister’s little dance.” Luna blushed, and Starstep did a double take. How had she heard about that? “I’m sure we can do something... together.” Starstep felt himself go hot in the face, and, in a panic, ran for the bathroom. He shut the door behind him as he entered. No need for his bosses to see THIS.

Luna and Celestia were in hysterics on the ground in the library where Starstep left them. They had won the battle; now, the rest of the campaign could be under way. Luna got up and unsteadily approached the now locked bathroom door.

“Would you really leave us hanging, Starstep?” she asked. “I mean, I guess that we aren’t the only ones left hanging, but still. We deserve just as much attention!” Inside, Luna could hear Starstep’s flustering about. At least, that’s what she told herself it was.

She walked back to her sister, who was just recovering from their shared bout of laughter. She sat before her sister, who was just getting up. “That was fun.” she said excitedly. “Do you do this often?” Luna nodded.

“All the time. Sometimes, he wins, though.” Celestia nodded.

“And are you two..?” she cocked her head sideways, smiling. Luna knew what she was implying.

“No, we aren’t. He’s my best friend, and we’re comfortable with each other.” Celestia nodded knowingly. She could have some fun with her sister, this time.

“Well, I think he would be wonderful anyhow. He’s sharp, witty, and can clearly hold out for quite a while.” She watched her little sister’s face slowly change as she realized what Celestia just said. It went from innocent thoughts, to dirty mind in no time at all.

“Eww!” she said, squirming. Celestia chuckled.

“And from the looks of it when he ran off, I’d say-”

Luna cut her off. “I saw it too!” she said.

“So you already know what he’s capable of!” Luna flailed her forelegs about.

“NO!” she shouted, making Celestia laugh.

“Besides, when we were on either side of him, one could clearly tell that he’s in good shape. In EVERY way.” Her little sister tried to become tiny, like that would save her from her elder sister’s torment. It didn’t work, though. “And he seemed eager enough.”

Luna was putting her hooves over her ears to escape her sister’s awkward words. Starstep was her guard and best friend. This was too weird for her to think about. “I assure you, Tia, I am not currently looking for that.” she said. “And he can... ‘take care’ of himself for now.” Celestia nodded.

“For now.” she repeated. Luna realized what she said and buried herself in her legs again. Celestia patted her head. “We all have needs, little sister. Be they deep or... ‘deep’.” Her sister whimpered. “And you can deal with them now or later. Whenever.” Celestia got up to go to her own chambers. It would be fun to do that with a guard less experienced in it.

“Oh, before I leave.” she said, getting her sister to look up. “Twilight met a new friend in Ponyville, and she would like us to meet him. Her parents and Shining Armor and Cadance will be there. Are you free on Wednesday?” she asked. Luna thought. A normal question was a welcome respite.

“I don’t believe so.” she said. “I need to take care of something the needs my full attention, and it will take some time. I wish I would go, but alas, I cannot.” Celestia nodded.

“I understand.” She turned to walk away, but not before getting her sister to squirm one last time. “And remember: Guards are there to provide protection!” She took off, several pillows flying out of the room after her.

*********************************************************************************

Ryan was still in his ditch at around nine when he heard several young girls’ voices just over the edge of his home. “Not now.” he whined to himself.

“We can get our cutie marks digging for buried treasure!” one yelled. She had a distinct southern twang.

“As opposed to what?” another asked. She sounded impatient and fast-paced. “Digging for non-buried treasure?” They argued for a minute after that, giving Ryan a few moments to figure out what to do.

He started to crawl away, hoping that he would get away from the children. It wasn’t that he hated kids. He just couldn’t handle them and had no desire to ever be around them on his own. “Hey, Harkness!” Applebloom shouted. Ryan winced at the sound of his fake name. He had been caught.

“Heey.” he said slowly, turning around in fear. He thought they would cannonball him again. Instead, though, the three fillies hopped into the trench.

“What’re y’all doin’ in here?” Applebloom asked. The other two looked at him curiously.

“I was, umm...” He tried to think fast. “... looking for stuff to sell?” He remembered that he spent forty bits the previous night. “I only have thirty-five bits left for the weekend, so I was hoping to find something valuable.” He wore a perfect poker face as he spoke. He had the fillies fooled.

They each walked up to him, getting around him, inspecting him. He felt uncomfortable with this. “What do you want, exactly?” They all stared at him silently. The little white one spoke up. Sweetie Belle, he believed.

“So, you’re, like, from really far away, right?” she asked. Ryan nodded. “So you know about a lot of stuff and... stuff.” Ryan thought about this for a moment. He did know plenty, but it was, perhaps, not all meant for ones so young.

“Yeah.” he replied.

His wariness quickly turned to terror as he watched the pupils of each of the fillies grow increasingly large. “So can you help us get our cutie marks?” Scootaloo asked excitedly. Ryan looked at them.

“What’s a cutie mark?” he asked, unfamiliar with the term. The little fillies gasped.

“They’re the marks on our flanks that show what our special talent is!” Scootaloo explained. “We’ve been trying to get ours for the longest time! Don’t you have one?” Ryan shook his head.

“No. I just figured that they were brands.” He had seen the marks, but never questioned them. It wasn’t his place to question their culture. Applebloom looked at him, cocking her head to the side.

“What’s a brand?”

Ryan changed the subject. “Well, I’d love to help you, but I have certain matters that I need to attend to.” As he got up and climbed out of the trench, the fillies followed him.

“Can we come?” they asked. Ryan turned around.

“No. I-” He stopped and looked down at them. They were all giving him massive puppy eyes, any sunlight touching their eyes being swallowed by the black of their pupils. They were pouting their lips, making them quiver ever so slightly. Ryan couldn’t tell if they would cry or not; he wasn’t about to risk it. He sighed loudly. “Fine.” The fillies leapt into the air.

“YAY!”

Ryan walked off, three little fillies in tow, towards the town, hoping to find whatever he would look for. Rarity had mentioned Martial Arts. He could find something like that.

They got to the town in relative silence, something Ryan was thankful for. He was never very good at working with kids, unless there was an experienced person nearby to guide him a bit. These three were being respectful, though. “Now where is a dojo?” Ryan wondered. He wandered pretty much aimlessly, hoping to just stumble across what he was looking for. Eventually, the fillies grew bored with this.

“What’re you looking for?” Applebloom asked.

Ryan kept his reply short and curt. “A dojo.”

Applebloom’s eyes widened, and she took on an awe filled expression. “You do Karate?” she asked.

Ryan stopped. “Yes.” he replied, surprised. He had never thought that this place would specifically have Karate; that seemed like the kind of thing that would just come from Humans and Okinawa. “I have for a while.” He walked on, causing the fillies to hurry to catch up.

“How long have you been doing it?” Sweetie Belle asked. Ryan looked left and right; no dojo yet.

“Around thirteen years.” He made it sound like nothing.

“No way!” Scootaloo shouted disbelievingly. “That’s longer than we’ve been alive!” Ryan nodded.

“Yah. I’m a dangerous fellow.” he said, looking back at the girls. They weren’t even fazed by his last sentence.

“There it is!” Scootaloo announced, getting Ryan to look forward. Sure enough, there was a classic, old style dojo before him. From inside, little could be heard, save for the sound of scuffling hooves on padded flooring.

“Alright, I’m heading in to check it out.” he said, walking forward in an effort to leave the fillies behind.

It didn’t work, though, and they just followed him in. He stopped just after the door, noticing that there was a class going on. He didn’t want to interrupt, so he sat down and watched on from the side. “Let us begin.” the teacher in the front said. Ryan watched the class for a time. After about ten minutes, he stood back up.

“Another less than legit dojo.” He had encountered them before. You can always tell if a dojo is really legitimate about its teaching of whatever Martial Art it does by watching a class. If there are kids under the age of ten who are black belts, the dojo isn’t legit. If there are weapons in the hands of little kids, the dojo isn’t legit. If the instructor has a terrible air of arrogance, the dojo, even if legit in its teaching of a style, should not be attended. This dojo had all of those things. “Nnope.” Ryan said, exiting the illegitimate dojo. The fillies followed, confused.

“Why did y’all leave?” Applebloom asked. “That’s the only Karate dojo we’ve got.” Ryan stopped at a bench and sat down, disappointed in his finding.

“That wasn’t a legit dojo.” he began to explain. “That guy is more about money then the Art. Those little ones? They should not have had freakin’ BLADES in their hands. That’s some dangerous shi- stuff.” He barely caught himself. “The guy came off as a... jerk. And those kids weren’t studying long enough to have black belts. I studied for nine years before I earned mine. And I still had to pass my Test.” The fillies were about to explode from the number of questions they had. “And I’m not going to take the time to explain all of that to you. There isn’t enough time. And Black Belt Testing is secretive anyhow.”

“Secretive, huh?” a raspy voice suddenly said from behind. Ryan spun around; it was the rainbow-manes, cyan pegasus.

“Rainbow Dash, right?” Ryan asked. She puffed her chest out.

“The one and only.” She was way too confident.

“Put that chest away; you don’t have anything to show on it.” Rainbow furrowed her brow at Ryan instantly, not really understanding what he was saying.

“Well, you’re new. I’ll let that pass.” She floated over the bench and sat next to Ryan. “So, what’s this about your ‘Secret Black Belt Testing’?” she asked. Ryan closed his eyes and shook his head.

“Not telling you.”

Scootaloo, and then her friends, also got up onto the bench, on the other side of Ryan. “Can’t you tell us a little?” they asked. They tried the faces again; not this time.

“Nope. I’m not moving on this. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he stood up. “I need to figure out how to eat this weekend on thirty-five bits. Where’s the supermarket?” he asked. The mare and fillies looked at him strangely.

“Supermarket? There’s a food mart, but supermarkets are usually only in big cities.” Ryan nodded, satisfied with the answer.

“Good enough.” He turned around and walked away.

But not without being followed. “So, you’re from a city?” Rainbow asked, trotting up next to him.

“No, actually. A suburb, not too far from... gosh, three cities? I don’t know. I know of two, though.” Rainbow nodded slowly.

“Hmm.” They walked together in silence for a moment, the fillies just catching up. “So... have you ever heard of the wonderbolts?” Rainbow asked. Ryan shook his head.

“Can’t say I have.” Behind him, Ryan heard the three fillies all gasp. Rainbow didn’t seem surprised though.

“They’re the best fliers in Equestria!” she shouted, making Ryan cover his ear. “And I’m gonna be one of them!” Ryan looked at Rainbow Dash, trying to determine if it was arrogance or real potential. There was a little of both.

“Well, that’s makes two of us hoping to be the best.” he said, drawing an interested look from all present.

“And what do you want to be?” Rainbow asked.

Ryan looked at her, then to the fillies. That was a stupid mistake on his part. They were all looking at him expectantly, like he was going to share some earth shattering secret with them. Sure, it might be just that, but he wasn’t about to tell them. “I aim to be a guy who won’t tell you.” he said. The girls all blinked twice and stopped, letting Ryan have a moment to himself. That, however, was not worth what he got.

“What d’ya mean, not tell us?” Rainbow asked, getting in front of him and up in his face. “What, you don’t trust us?” she asked. Ryan stopped and furrowed his own brow; this was not something he felt like dealing with.

“My life, my choice. And honestly? Why should I?” Rainbow looked like she was hit with a brick; she floated down to the ground, angrily trying to respond. The fillies looked up at him; Sweetie Belle was on the verge of tears. “In my recent past, I have learned not to make attachments and not to trust strangers. That’s just it. And I aim to keep to those lessons.” He pushed his way past Rainbow, who was looking on from behind as he left.

The fillies encircled Rainbow. “Wait, what could have taught him that?” Sweetie Belle asked, her question getting Rainbow to calm down a bit. Applebloom put a hoof to her mouth.

“Remember how we found him?” she asked. Rainbow seemed to be the only pony who didn’t get the implication.

“What?” she asked. Scootaloo looked up at her idol.

“We think he may have been ATTACKED, and that’s what hurt him.” Rainbow let the possibility sink in for a second.

“If he was attacked...” She didn’t need to finish her thought. She turned around and flew down the road, looking for Ryan.

She saw him not a second after takeoff and flew towards him. “HARKNESS!” she shouted. Ryan turned; he knew the voice, but what surprised him was that she remembered his “name”. What surprised him more, though, was the body slam she did to him as soon as he turned around. He lay on the ground under her, groaning.

“Ow.” he said. Rainbow looked down at him.

“Were you attacked? Is that how you nearly died?” It took a moment for Ryan to register the question, but when he did, alarms started going off in his head. he didn’t want that information out there.

“No?” he replied, trying to sound confused. It seemed like it was working. “Where did you get that idea? And please get off.” Ryan put his hands on either side of Rainbow and lifted her off of him, causing her to yelp as he did. She hadn’t expected him to be that strong.

Rainbow shrunk a little; she hated being handled. “Come on, you must know. And you’ve gotta admit, it makes sense.” Ryan gave her that, but that wouldn’t stop him from making them feel ridiculous about it.

“Yeah, it does make sense, but it’s not what happened. I hurt myself by accident through means that you won’t get because you don’t have technology.” Rainbow frowned. “And now, I’m going to go. Please, leave me be.” He turned and walked off again, leaving a very curious Rainbow Dash behind in his wake.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryan went back to the bar that night. He had only a little money left, so he would just have to pick the highest content drink he could find.

Before heading over to the bar, he decided to stop and at least try to think. He went out to the park and searched for a bench or spot on the ground he could sit on. He found no bench to sit on, but he saw a little pond, which he sat beside. Before him, the small pond was still as death, perfectly reflecting the shining moon and twinkling stars in all their astonishing glory. The night sky was flawless in the reflection on the water, only the light from the stars and moon and the blackness of the eternity of space accompanied Ryan tonight. Around him, no creatures of the night frollicked and no wind whistled through the air. The cold grass tingled Ryan’s hands as he steadied himself to sit down in the wet ground near the water. He stared forlornly off in the distance, thinking.

“What am I doing?” he wondered. “Why am I staying here? I could just steal what I need and disappear forever.” He had the option, for sure. But why didn’t he do it? What was there to stop him? Maybe it was their innocence. He had failed to protect such innocence before, and he wouldn’t fail now. “Why did I do the things I did? What do I have now that I didn’t before?” He had nothing now, save for the instruments and symbols of his darkness and murderous past. He had gotten no closure from anything. He lost his best friend, told him, crying, to leave him to die in a shit-filled river in the middle of the jungle. He gave up his life. He had everything a guy could want, too. He had a loving family, great friends, a promising future. And he threw it all away.

And for what, exactly? Nothing. The worst thing, though, was that he gave up his code. His moral code that every man and woman follows, because that is what they believe is right. A person’s code defines them, it explains who they are. And Ryan tossed it aside in favor of everything it stood against.

“You’re a bad guy, Ryan.” a male voice said from behind him. Ryan shot up into the air, hand going for his pistol. he didn’t know this voice, but it seemed to know him. And no pony knew him at all.

When he turned around, hand on the handle of his gun, he halted his movement and stared. Before him was him. Ryan was right there in front of him. He was wearing different clothes, though. He wore a black T-shirt, scars overwhelming on his arms. His pants were long and black cargo pants, with a pair of simple sneakers on his feet. The darkness of his outfit contrasted with the paleness of his skin. But the eyes were the most perturbing. They weren’t hazel like Ryan’s; no, they were a dark, steel gray. They looked cold and soulless on a serious looking, hard face.

“You’re a very bad guy.” the other Ryan said.

Ryan stepped back and stepped right into the water. “What the..?” He could hardly believe it. He had thought that the events of the castle in the forest were hallucinations.

“And I know that you know that.” Ryan pulled up his 1911 and pointed it at his clone.

“What the hell?” he said, shaky. “Who are you?” The clone chuckled and stepped to the side, letting Ryan get back onto land. Ryan accepted the offer, keeping his weapon trained on the not-so-stranger while he moved.

“You can call me the Wraith.” Ryan swallowed hard. This was not something he had been expecting, even in a world of magic. “And I think I’ll call you... Umbra.” Ryan furrowed his brow deep.

“I’d rather be Harkness.” The Wraith laughed, his voice booming throughout the small park.

“So that’s what you’re calling yourself now.” he said, sounding like it was the most entertaining thing in the world. “How cute.”

Ryan pulled the hammer back on his pistol. “I don’t care about cute. I care about getting out of here.” The Wraith walked around Ryan, hands behind his back, looking to the sky.

“I know. But you know what?” he asked, turning his head to face Ryan. “You’ll never get away from this life. You’ll always be a killer of men, a taker of life. And they’ll find out. And when they do, hoo boy, will they be scared.” Ryan got his other hand on his Automag.

“Then I’ll just have to leave.” The Wraith clicked his tongue and waved his finger, looking disappointed.

“And what? You think they’ll just let you? No, you’ll be imprisoned. You’re best bet is to deal with them, and then leave.” Ryan really wanted to pull the trigger of his gun in that moment. “It’s not like you haven’t killed people who don’t deserve it before.”

“Shut up.” Ryan ordered. The Wraith chuckled some more.

“Oh, did I strike a nerve there?” he asked smugly.

“Shut up.” Ryan ordered again. “I didn’t choose to. I had no say in the-”

“You had every say! Wasn’t your code to protect the innocent at any cost?” Ryan honestly couldn’t remember that; but it sounded like the old him. “And you just didn’t. You could have died and ended your suffering and prevented their deaths. But your hubris prevented that.” Ryan stepped back.

“No.” he said distraught. He had to get away from himself. “No, I didn’t. I just-”

“You chose your life over theirs, you coward!” the Wraith yelled. “You have no honor! You have no morals! YOU ARE ME!”

Ryan turned and ran away. “You can’t escape yourself Ryan! You will always be Ryan!” Ryan shut his eyes and holstered his weapon as he ran away, running hard to liberate himself from the shackles of the Wraith’s truths.

Ryan stopped and looked back; no Wraith. He was afraid that the Wraith would follow him. God only knew how it must have been following him so far without him noticing. It could have had him any time it wanted. Ryan shook his head. “I need a drink.” he said to himself. He stood tall and scanned the area. “Now where is the bar?” he thought, trying to get his bearings. He was close to Town Hall; that meant that the bar shouldn’t be too far.

He got his bearings and moved in the general direction of the bar, intent on forgetting the events of the night and the dark truth of his own history.

Superficial Cleansing

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Superficial Cleansing

“Great acts are made up of small deeds.” (Lao Tzu)

Ryan wasn’t looking forward to this day. He was actually hoping that something, anything, would keep this day from happening. Violence, injury, escape, opportunity, anything would have worked. He really didn’t want to work at Rarity’s boutique today.

His main concern was how she had said that she wanted to make him clothes. That would mean that he would have to remove what he was already wearing. “I can’t let her see the scars.” he thought as he got up out of his trench. Once he was out, he stretched his back, hearing several satisfying cracks and pops as he did so, and donned his beret and scarf. With his hand back there, he felt around for anything that may have fallen off. His knife was there on the back in its place. He was also surprised to feel the morphine syringe. He pulled it out and held it in front of himself. “Hmm...” He looked hard at it, trying to figure out what to do with it. He had no real need for it now, and neither did these ponies, with their magic. He twirled it around in his hands.

“I’ll keep it.” You never know, after all.

He started towards the town. It was early in the morning, around half past five. The birds weren’t even chirping yet. Insects of the night still buzzed about in the remaining darkness of the night before, forcing Ryan to swat at them when they drew near. The wind had picked up a little in the night, and a gentle breeze was kissing the land as it went along its merry way. There were a few clouds up above, but only barely visible in the darkness. The sky was a calm shade of dark blue, slowing getting lighter as the day began to progress. Ryan stopped in the middle of the field between his trench and the town.

“This is how the world should be.” he thought. His world would be like this soon enough; no people, or ponies, no conflict, nothing to remind him any more of his crimes then he already had. He could be left to his misery.

He started up for the town again, but at a slower pace. He might as well take his time since Rarity would still be asleep. Hopefully, her little sister, Sweetie Belle, wouldn’t bother him today like she had on Saturday.

Sunday had been alright for Ryan, though. he had managed to have about ten bits left on Saturday night, so he was able to buy cheap, edible snacks for himself. He had managed to avoid being found by any of the ponies with whom he had interacted with so far, though they had searched for him. He knew that because they had very nearly found him several times. Once, he was back in his trench, sitting quietly with his gun in his hand, when he heard several feminine voices approaching. Three were certainly of the little fillies, as they were called. Ryan just thought of them as little girls.

The other two voices were clearly of Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. The fillies must have told Twilight and Rainbow about where they had found Ryan the previous day, so they looked for him there. In order to escape, Ryan had to run down the trench as fast as he could and jump out and into a bush. Luckily, they hadn’t found him. This was in the morning, after Ryan woke up from a hangover that knocked him out for about six hours.

The next to escapes of his day were in close proximity to each other. Apparently, the girls had decided to keep looking for Ryan throughout the rest of the day, and they figured that they would search the outskirts of the town. That meant the whole line of the trench. Luckily for Ryan, they started by going in the opposite direction that he had, so he had time to run off. When he was far enough away, he decided to go into the town. Surely there would be no ponies there who would look for him; but there were. Pinkie, Ryan recalled her name with ease, was excited to see him. She had actually managed to get a clean look at him at one point.

“HARKNESS!” she had yelled. Ryan’s face took on a frustrated scowl, and he ran. Pinkie followed for a time, getting right next to Ryan. “Whatcha doin’?” she had asked. Ryan stopped.

“Trying to avoid ponies.” Before Pinkie could stop and turn, Ryan ran down an alley and turned left as soon as he was out. Pinkie must have lost interest or not noticed, because she didn’t follow him.

While Ryan ran, he tried to think of places where he could hide. He could always hide on the apple farm. “I’ll head there.” he told himself. But he wasn’t going to go there without some trouble; he nearly bowled over Rarity on the way. He had to leap into the air to avoid a collision, ruffling her hair as he shot over her.

“Darling, do be careful!” she said, using her magic and a comb to fix her hair. “What’s got you in such a rush now?” She sounded half annoyed and half interested.

“Umm...” Ryan had to think quickly of a response. before he could, though, he heard five familiar voices again.

“Are y’all sure that he ain’t out there?” Applebloom asked someone. Ryan flew into a mental panic.

“I’m escaping from Pinkie!” he announced, then ran away in the direction of the farm. Rarity didn’t have time to respond.

Other than that, Ryan’s Sunday had been fine. He stayed on the farm mostly, careful to avoid the family that lived there, and just sat around. Once, he went out to buy cheap food. But now, he was going back to the ponies to get money. “Freakin’ lack of money.” he thought. He had no money left any more and if he was to leave any time soon, he would need money. Hopefully, Rarity would pay him well for whatever job she gave him.

He soon found himself in the town, and the sun was beginning to rise. It had taken him around forty minutes to get to town, so it was probably around quarter past six. The ponies would likely be getting up soon. Ryan already knew that the Apple family would be up. Though he wasn’t sure if anyone else would be.

“Rarity’s probably still asleep.” he figured. She didn’t seem like an early bird, being less of a physical worker and more of an artist. In Ryan’s experience, artists tended to get however much sleep they could. He always just thought that they used their dreams as inspiration.

He went to Carousel Boutique and looked around. There was nothing particular, except for a small tree off to the side. Ryan went over and sat under it, not having any desire to be out when the sun came up. It was hot enough already.

He sat there for close to two hours before he decided to stand up. Sitting was fine, but lack of movement tends to lead to thoughts and memories, neither of which Ryan was particularly interested in. “I wonder if she’s up yet.” he said as he stood up. He walked over to the building and inspected it absentmindedly. He searched for any less than overt ways inside, but quickly corrected himself when he realized what he was planning. Instead, he looked around for anything that would let him view the inside. Off to his left was a window next to the door.

“Good enough.” he thought. He walked over to the window and took a look inside.

Inside, he saw what must have been a dozen mannequins spaced about around the room, each with its own little outfit. Most looked like they were covered in fillies and tactically suicidal glam. “Ugh.” Ryan thought. He looked elsewhere in the room. There was a little stage off on one end of the room with mirrors surrounding it. On the other end was a pair of changing rooms where he assumed ponies would change.

“Weird.” Ryan thought. Aren’t the ponies usually naked? Lastly, there was a staircase and an opening into a room that looked like a kitchen. Inside the kitchen, there was Rarity and Sweetie Belle, eating breakfast. Sweetie Belle had a backpack on. “I guess that school starts at around the same time here.” he said to himself.

Ryan decided to wait for Rarity to finish her meal and time with her sister before knocking, and so leaned up against the wall of the building while he waited. he tried to guess what Rarity would ask him once inside. “She’ll probably want to know about fashion and stuff.” he concluded rather quickly. She was a fashion designer after all; that was her trade. She would surely be interested in Ryan’s old homeworld. Wracking his brain, Ryan tried to think of anything fashionable from home. He remembered Uggs and rain boots for girls, yoga pants, Under Armor for guys, and nothing else. He at least had something to go off of.

The door opened, and Sweetie Belle came running out. “Later Rarity!” she yelled without looking back. She hadn’t even noticed Ryan as she ran off. He looked into the Boutique as she ran past; Rarity was still in the kitchen. Not wanting to miss a chance to enter quietly, Ryan snuck in through the rapidly closing door, just slipping past the hinge as it shut.
He maneuvered himself over to the stage and waited there for Rarity to walk through the door and see him. He could hear her doing the dishes in the kitchen.

She was humming a little tune. As Ryan listened to it, he glanced around the room. Nothing was different from what he had seen from the outside, save that there were a couple more mannequins. He crossed his legs on the stage and watched the archway to the kitchen. “Any minute now.” he thought.

Rarity walked through the archway, still humming her tune to herself. Her eyes were closed and she was waving her hoof about as she walked along, not seeing Ryan on her little stage. He observed her as a hawk observes its prey, keen on taking in every detail. Her coat was clearly very clean, she probably washed it every morning and probably at night. The mark, her cutie mark, was three diamonds and nothing else. Ryan had no idea what that could mean exactly.

“Weird.” he thought. The closest thing he had was the big USA carved into his back, and that wasn’t exactly obtained willingly. In fact, his cutie mark of sorts could just be all of his scars put together. His special talent was having the living shit kicked out of him. “And living.” he concluded. At least, slightly. He had died, as far as he was concerned. Discord just brought him back.

Rarity walked through the room and over to her door, flipping the closed sign to open. When she turned around, she had her eyes open and she screamed at the top of her lungs. Ryan covered his ears and let his eyelids close. When he opened them again, Rarity had her hoof over her heart and was gasping for air.

“Not so loud, please.” Ryan requested.

Rarity swallowed hard and tried to calm herself. It only worked a little. “W-w-why... how?” She couldn’t coherently speak. So Ryan waited for her to be ready. “What are you doing here?” she asked, now with all hooves on the ground and stepping forward toward Ryan.

“Remember that I work here now on Mondays?” he reminded her. “I’m here to do whatever my job is.” Rarity was now in front of him.

“Well, Harkness, I suppose that we can start.” She sniffed the air. “But not until you’re clean and decent.”

Ryan crossed his arms and looked at Rarity. “Rarity, men like me can never be clean OR decent. No reason to try.” She waved a dismissive hoof right in Ryan’s face.

“Nonsense. All you need is a bath and for your clothes to be washed.” Ryan opened his mouth to speak. “And no, you can’t wear those in the bathtub. I will take them and wash them.” Ryan shut his mouth and scowled.

“How am I to go about this?” he wondered. He swung his legs off of the stage and stood up. “Alright.” he said. “But here’s my rules; I take my clothes off in the bathroom and leave them outside the door. After you’ve cleaned them, you leave them right outside the door. When I come out, I’ll be wearing them again.” Rarity looked at him curiously. “Clear?” Ryan asked. Rarity nodded.

“Sure, darling, sure. But if I may ask?” Ryan looked at her; he knew what question was coming. “Why are you so resistant to be in the nude? All of us are.” Ryan looked away for a moment, formulating a response.

“Back home, nudity isn’t exactly welcome. Also, human parts tend to hang free.” Rarity blushed, realizing the implication. “So yeah.”

She nodded and began to lead Ryan over to the stairs. Before they got there, a cat came down and looked at them. “Opal, this is Harkness. Please, don’t bother him. He’s a friend.” The cat looked at Ryan with narrowed eyes as if to say, I don’t trust you. Ryan shrugged.

“You shouldn’t.” he said with the motion. The cat stood up and walked away.

“Sorry. Opal is just a cranky kitty sometimes.” Rarity explained.

Ryan shrugged again. “Meh. I’ve dealt with worse.” he replied. Rarity gave him a weak smile and led him up the stairs.

Once upstairs, Rarity pointed down a small hallway to a room at the end. “That’s the bathroom. Inside there’s a bath. I trust that you can operate sinks and faucets.” Ryan nodded. Why would she have any reason to believe that he could? “Good! I’ll just wait outside for you to toss out your clothes.” Ryan walked down the hall to the bath.

“Alright.” he said.

He cracked the door open and looked inside before entering. The bathroom was extremely lavish; the floor tiles were white marble with what looked like Amethyst encrusted into them in large, flower-like patterns. The walls had white marble tiling and what could have been blue sapphire or blue topaz squares in each tile. The towel racks were brilliantly shiny brass, and had swirling ends like funnel clouds. The sink was short and made of porcelain with patterns etched into the side deep enough that Ryan could see them from the door. They were vines with dragon’s tongue flowers on the ends. The sink faucet was brass like the towel racks. The bathtub was porcelain like the sink, but had no patterns etched into it. Its faucet, too, was brass. There was also a large mirror on the wall, like something out of the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles.

“Whoa.” Ryan said. He had never seen a bathroom this ridiculous before.

“Yes, it’s quite impressive, hmm?” Rarity replied from behind. Using her horn, she nudged Ryan on his behind to enter the room.

“Rarity, I’m not exactly into having long and stiff instruments poking my rear.” Without waiting for a reply, Ryan entered the bathroom and shut the door.

“I assure you, Harkness, that I am not that kind of lady.” he heard Rarity reply from behind the door. Ryan started to take off his clothes.

“Right.” he replied. As he took off his clothes, he remembered that he wouldn’t want her to have his weapons in case she got too curious. He removed his guns, knife, hammer, and morphine from the vest and set them off to the side. “Can’t let things like that into the hands of those who don’t understand.” he thought. He also removed his necklace and watch and set them with everything else.

He took his time removing his clothes, partly because they were sticking to him from all the sweat and grime that they had accumulated. Even he had to admit that that was perhaps not the healthiest way to live. “Even so.” Ryan said to himself. “It doesn’t matter.” He would probably be living like that in the future anyhow. Once he had all of his clothes off, he cracked the door open and tossed them out.

“Ah!” He had startled Rarity, it seemed. He let his arm hang outside the door for a moment.

“Just leave them here,” He pointed at the ground. “when you bring them back.” His arm retreated back behind the door and shut it.

Rarity used her magic to pick up the clothes. There was no chance under Celestia’s magnificent sun that she was going to actually touch them. Ryan had handed her a short-sleeved shirt, a jacket, a pair of shorts, a vest with lots of places to put things, a scarf, a beret, a pair of socks, worn boots, and underwear. It all smelled terrible. But that wasn’t what shocked Rarity when Ryan’s arm came out.

“I wonder what happened to him...” she thought aloud, looking back at the bathroom door. What had surprised her when the arm came out was the skin on it. It looked like somepony had melted it and poured it back on. Rarity knew that this wasn’t exactly something that happened randomly. “I hope he’s okay.” She went downstairs to the washer, where she continued to contemplate the significance of this new development.

Ryan started the water in the tub and sat on the ground, the cold marble floor welcoming to him. It was actually the first time he had sat on something hard and stable in quite some time. He didn’t feel like thinking at the moment, so he just sat there in the room. Absentmindedly, he got up and went into the tub, letting the hot water embrace him in its fluid grasp. Then he started thinking.

“This is Rarity’s tub...” He suddenly felt a little awkward using the tub, but he was already in it, so he might as well stay. If only she had a shower. “Eesh.” He was looking down into the water. It was turning green and brown around him as it carried away all the dirt and grime. There was also a lot of red. “Guess I did need a bath.” He didn’t care about the dirt, but he wasn’t fond of the idea of having dried blood on himself all the time. Deciding to let the tub do its work, Ryan leaned back and looked at the ceiling, trying not to let his mind wander to the river in Vietnam.

Rarity inspected each piece of clothing before she put it in the bucket for washing. She had to make sure there were no tears in each one, or she might make the damage worse. She started with the jacket. It had a lot of grime on it, but the most prominent of all was the amount of red stains on it. They were especially bad around a hole that Rarity quickly found in it. “Must be from when the girls found him.” she figured. Using her magic and sewing kit, she fixed up the hole in no time and set to washing the jacket. It wasn’t easy to get the blood stains out with the washboard.

“Get out, filthy stains!” she commanded. Her horn began to glow, and she started using her magic to attempt to actually pry off the blood. It worked marvelously, and the jacket was nice and clean in just a few minutes. Rarity examined it. “This is actually quite nice.” she commented, taking in the jacket’s features. The material felt very comfortable, and the camouflage pattern was done perfectly. “I should make something like this for stallions.” She set the jacket down and moved on.

Next came the shorts. The only thing about these was that there was more dried blood on them. But that came off as odd to Rarity. “Why would there be blood on his pants if his chest was where he was wounded?” she wondered. She quickly dismissed the thought when she remembered how he had been transported when he was found. Next, she cleaned the underwear, which was in the same condition as the pants. She then moved onto the socks, which just had dirt on them, and the boots, which she shined and cleaned with great intensity. The shirt was in the same condition as the jacket; blood, dirt, and a hole all the way through. The last items were the beret, scarf, and vest. The beret was clean enough that she just soaked it in the soapy water and rinsed it. The scarf was harder. It was a very nice silk, so Rarity would have to use her magic to clean it.

“What a lovely scarf.” It was really out of place, though.

When she finished with that, she moved onto the vest, which really piqued her interest. It was obviously not a “social” garment. It had a lot of pockets where things could be stored, and two things that looked like they sheathed very specific items. One would hold something shaped like an “L” and the other was a knife sheath.

“Odd.” She couldn’t use the roller on this, so she just put it in the water and used her magic to clean it. She had been so busy watching the clothes that she hadn’t even noticed the change in the water; it was a dark reddish-brown now. When she looked down at it after removing the vest, she turned away and nearly threw up.

“Oh my.” she reeled. She had forgotten where all the blood would go. She quickly took everything and rinsed each item in fresh water and hung them outside to dry.

Rarity looked at the blood filled bucket and wondered what she would do about it. She couldn’t just leave it there, her sister would be coming home in a few hours. It wasn’t sanitary. “Maybe Harkness will have an idea.” She turned and trotted out the washroom arch and up the stairs.

Ryan was sitting quietly in the tub when he heard several hard knocks at the door. “Harkness, I need your help.” he heard Rarity say. He looked over in the direction of the door.

“What is it?” There was a moment of silence.

“What should I do with the bucket of, umm, blood?” Ryan blinked. He had forgotten that there would be something like that when the clothes were washed.

“Umm, I guess you can dump it outside or something?” he replied. “I’m not sure what you ponies do with medical waste here.” Another pause.

“Alright. I just wasn’t sure what you would want to do. They’re your body fluids after all.” The sound of hooves clopping away told Ryan that Rarity was about to dispose of the blood.

While she was washing away, Ryan drained the tub and refilled it to have clean water to bathe in. It was amazing how much more freedom of movement he felt like he had now. With all the dried grime and whatnot, his skin tended to feel tight under it. He felt much better.

“I should put my forest home next to a river.” he thought. When he moved somewhere else, he would have to be near a source of water for drinking and bathing.

He drained the tub again and walked over to the door. “Rarity, you out there?” he asked. He got no response. “Alright.” he said, putting his hand on the door handle. As he turned the knob, the door creaked open. He looked down; there were all of his clothes, clean and ready to go. He shot his hand out and grabbed ahold of them. When his arm came back inside, Ryan walked over to his other pile of things and sat down. He took his time putting everything on, taking in the feel of each item. It was all wonderful.

“Also I need to have a washboard.” he concluded. Once his clothes were on, he donned his other items; his watch, necklace, guns, knife, hammer, and morphine, and left the bathroom.

He exited the bathroom and went downstairs. Down there, Rarity was waiting for him in the middle of the room. “Ah, good. How do you feel?” she asked. Inside, Ryan still felt dead. Outside, he was feeling nice.

“It’s certainly better.” he replied. Rarity flashed a genuine smile.

“Good. Now, let’s work on getting the rest of you back in shape.” Ryan cocked an eyebrow.

“What?” he asked.

She pointed at his head. “I will hardly believe that THAT’S your usual hairdo.” she said. Ryan felt his head. It was a little long for his liking. “And I’m sure there are other parts of you that need tending to.” Ryan put his hands in his pockets.

“I can tend to my parts myself.” Rarity flushed.

“As sure as I am that you can, I’m referencing cleanliness.” Ryan shrugged.

“Alright.” Rarity grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the boutique.

She dragged him through the town, much to his displeasure. They were being looked at by every pony that they passed. “Rarity, how much farther is it?” he asked.

“Just over there.” she responded excitedly. He looked; it was a salon. When they were right up to it, the sign read The Main Mane. Ryan deadpanned his gaze at it.

“Clever.” he thought. Rarity tugged on his hand.

“Come on, let’s go!” She practically kicked the door open and ran in, Ryan in tow behind her.

“This young... stallion, I guess? He needs to have his mane taken care of.” Rarity explained to the deskmare. Ryan looked around. There were several mares attending to the manes of other mares. There were no stallions in the room. He leaned down to whisper to Rarity.

“Why did you bring me to a mane place for mares and not stallions?” Rarity waved her hoof.

“No worries. Stallions come here at other times.” Ryan took her word for it.

A green mare with a big mane walked up to them. “We would be happy to serve you, Mr...?” Ryan stood uncomfortably behind Rarity.

“...Harkness.” The mare nodded.

“Mr. Harkness. Please, come with me and have a seat.” He followed the mare, glancing back at Rarity. She was being led behind Ryan by another mare. “Here.” his mare said. Ryan at down, the chair sinking under his much greater weight. The mare got behind him. “So, how do you usually like it?” she asked. Ryan thought.

“Well, I like it buzzed on the sides and back and just short on top.”

The mare nodded. “One Air Guard cut, coming up.”

As she did her work, Rarity took the seat next to Ryan. “So, Harkness, what exactly did you do before you came to Ponyville?” she asked. The two mares doing their hair and mane silently worked along, listening to the conversation. Ryan hesitated before answering.

“Mostly just survived. Found myself really far from home, in the wilderness and in countries that don’t speak my language. So I just kind of survived.” He shrugged like it was nothing. None of the mares around him thought that, though.

“How? What did you do for food? Or water?” his mare asked.

“I stole from people when I encountered them, mostly. Not like beating them up, though, I took from stores. Gotta live.” The mares were silent.

“I suppose so.” Rarity’s mare replied. “But don’t they suffer from that?” Ran just shrugged again.

“Either they lose a small sum of money or I die. I figure it’s the lesser- less evil of the two.” Him dying wasn’t bad enough for the metaphor.

Rarity looked at him. “So you committed crimes to live?” she asked seriously. Ryan shrugged.

“Sure. But I don’t any more. No need to. I will only do illegal or immoral things if I think I need to.” It was true, but whether or not he needed to do those things was left to question.

“Okay.” Rarity said, clearly relieved. “I wouldn’t want a kleptomaniac near my home.”

Ryan nodded. “Me neither.” There was a moment of silence.

“How did you find yourself so far from home?” his mare asked. The question seemed to pique the interest of the other mares as well. They all looked at Ryan intently, waiting for an interesting story. He thought about it for a minute.

“I don’t want to go into it.” He looked back at his mare. “A series of unfortunate circumstances.” he explained. When he didn’t go on, they let the subject drop.

“So, what kinds of things did you do in your country?” Rarity asked. “It must be a lot different from here.” Ryan thought about how to answer her question.

“Well, I was a student. You see, all kids are required to attend public school until they turn sixteen. Then, they can drop out, or finish high school. Then , if you’re smart, you go to college. I was still in high school when I found myself elsewhere.” Rarity wasn’t satisfied with his answer.

“Sure, but what were your hobbies? What did you like to do?” Ryan was fine with questions like these, so long as they never pertained to his time in Asia.

“I did Karate and SCUBA diving. Those were my favorite activities.” The salon mares “ooh’d” at him.

“So you know how to fight?” one asked. Ryan nodded. “Have you ever used your skills?”

Ryan paused. Should he answer that? Sure, he had used them outside of Asia for fighting purposes, but this could lead to Asia if he wasn’t careful. He decided to answer. “Yes.” Rarity looked at him disapprovingly.

“Really, Harkness? I thought you were a gentleman.” Ryan put his hands up defensively, though only mockingly.

“I was defending my friends, who happen to have been a boy and a girl who was being harassed by some dude. I was trying to be chivalrous and defend the lady.” Rarity’s disapproving look became one of elated glee.

“Oh! Well, that’s nice. It’s good to see that there are a few knights in shining armor still out there.” Ryan didn't respond. He was no “knight in shining armor”.

“All done.” his mare announced. Ryan looked in the mirror. His hair was just like the way he used to like it; crisp and clean cut, very much within SOP.

“Thank you.” he replied. Before he got up, though, Rarity stared him right in the eyes. She wasn’t backing down, either. “What?” he asked.

“You’re beard.” she said. “It has to go.” Ryan rubbed his chin. The hair was getting long and would be annoying to deal with.

“Alright then.” He sat back into the chair again. “Could you shave off this facial hair for me?” he asked his mare. She nodded and pulled out an old razor kit. Ryan eyed it nervously. It wasn’t exactly a Bic razor; this was a straight up blade that you dragged across your skin. He turned to Rarity, concern playing itself out in his eyes.

“Relax.” Rarity said. “She’s good at this.” Ryan sighed and sat back.

“Just hold still.” the mare ordered.

They walked out of the salon with Ryan looking fresh and new. “Wow. I wouldn’t even guess that you’re Harkness if I hadn’t been here for this.” Rarity commented. Ryan snorted.

“I’m not.”

They walked on back to Rarity’s boutique. “So how much do I owe you for all this?” Ryan asked. Rarity waved her hoof right in his face.

“Nothing, darling! I couldn’t bear to see you walk around so filthy and... umm... bloody.” She drawled out that last word.

“Well, thanks I guess. It feels good to be clean.” Rarity smiled at him and they walked together in silence.

*********************************************************************************

Discord was watching with great interest as Ryan left the salon. “I never figured him to be willing to do that.” he thought. And he also found it interesting that Ryan had let the mare close to his neck with a sharp blade. “I guess that no one tried to cut his throat with a blade, so he wasn’t too uncomfortable with it.” Ryan had certainly cut throats with his blade. The memory would have made Discord shudder if he was in his body. “No pony or human deserves to suffer such a fate.”

Ryan and Rarity were walking in silence while Discord watched. He quickly grew bored. “I wish they would do something.” He gave them another minute. Still nothing but walking. “I’ll come back later.” Discord returned to his body.

*********************************************************************************

Ryan closed the door behind him as he walked back into Rarity’s home and store. He took a look at the clock up on the wall; it was about five past three. They had been out for a lot longer than Ryan thought. “Whoa.” It amazed him that he could so easily lose track of time.

“Harkness, would you be a dear and help me fold my fabric in my studio?” Rarity called from the stairs. Ryan moved in that direction.

“Sure.” He was being paid for just this, right?

They ascended the steps and went to her studio. It was a big studio, with lots of mannequins around and several shelves of fabric and sewing tools. There were a couple of sewing machines, and the room in general was a bit of a mess.

“Where should I start?” Ryan asked. Rarity pointed to a corner where fabric lay in an unorganized heap.

“Start by organizing that and putting it on a shelf.” Ryan nodded.

“Yes ma’am.” He walked over and started separating the fabric into piles according to color. “You want it by color?” he asked. Behind him, a sewing machine started up.

“Certainly.” she replied.

The doorbell rang. “I wonder who that could be?” Rarity wondered, stopping her machine. She got up and walked out of the room.

“Probably Sweetie Belle.” Ryan thought aloud. He just kept on separating the fabrics.

Rarity trotted down her steps and looked to the door. Outside, three familiar looking ponies sat waiting at her door. She rushed over. “Hello!” she said to her friends as she opened the door. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy had all showed up. “What brings you all here?” She eyed Rainbow Dash. “Finally going to be a more refined lady, I hope?” Rainbow blew a raspberry at Rarity.

“As if! I’m here, for... I don’t know. I’m just here.” Rarity smiled and nodded.

“Well, it’s good to see that you’ve all stopped by.”

She let her friends in and shut the door. “I can always take a minute to spend time with my friends, especially with Harkness doing some work upstairs.” Pinkie gasped and spun around to face Rarity.

“You have him working here?!” she asked. “This is great! We can throw him a ‘Congrats-on-getting-a-job party’!” She was bouncing up and down excitedly at the prospect of throwing Harkness a party.

“Now, now, settle down Pinkie. I’m sure that we’ll throw him a party soon enough.” She kept on bouncing.

Fluttershy walked timidly up to Rarity and got close to her ear. “Umm, is he doing alright? He’s not sick or hurt or anything, right?” Her voice picked up some urgency toward the end. Rarity put her hoof on her friends back.

“He’s fine, dear. He can certainly take care of himself. In fact, I learned today that the boy knows how to fight, and has done so in the past to defend his friends.” Fluttershy’s pupils shrunk. “Relax, I’m sure that-” Rainbow jumped in and cut her off.

“Whoa, he’s actually FOUGHT ponies before!?” she asked ecstatically. Rarity huffed at her.

“Well, yes, but I don’t see how-”

Again, she was cut off. “That’s awesome! So, what, he’s like, a hero or something?” Rarity thought back. Perhaps he was a hero of sorts.

“Well, I suppose so.” she said.

Rainbow’s head whipped back and forth. “Where is he?” Rarity used her magic to pull her friend closer.

“Please, Rainbow Dash. He doesn’t seem to want to talk about it. Most ponies who have to fight or do things they wouldn’t otherwise do rarely ever want to talk about it. So please don’t bother him about it.” Rainbow looked to Fluttershy for help, but she had a stern gaze on Rainbow as well.

“She’s right.” was all she said. Rainbow crossed her forelegs and sat on the ground, pouting.

Rarity looked to the stairs, and when she saw no sign of Harkness, she urged her friends to get close and huddle. “Just between us, I don’t think that his fights were exactly ‘willy-nilly’. I think they were serious.” Fluttershy was stunned by the idea, but Pinkie had the most severe reaction. Sort of.

“Really? Why?” Her reaction was normal. Not exactly Pinkie Pie. Rainbow had gone silent, waiting for an explanation.

“Well, when I saw his arm earlier...” She glanced back at the stairs. “The skin was... abnormal.” Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth.

“How?” she asked. Rarity took in a deep breath; Fluttershy wouldn’t like hearing this.

“Well, it looked like somepony... melted his skin, and then poured it back on.” All of the mares completely stopped moving. “It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I know it wasn’t normal, but I didn’t ask him about it. I figure that it isn’t a pleasant memory.” Rainbow looked over to the stairs.

“I... wow. Just... wow. I wouldn’t have thought about that.” Rarity nodded.

“Yes, so let’s try not to mention it to him.” They all nodded in agreement and went up the stairs.

Ryan had just finished organizing the fabrics onto the shelves when he heard several sets of hooves approaching the door from the hallway. “Ah, crap.” he thought. He had no desire to deal with the ponies. “I can’t wait ‘til I can make a home in the forest.” He just kept on working when somepony knocked on the door. he didn’t answer.

In came Rarity, followed by Fluttershy, who ran over to Ryan and stared at him, Rainbow, who looked curiously from afar, and Pinkie Pie, who bounced around the room for the moment. “Can I help?” Ryan asked Fluttershy, who was just a little too close for comfort. She poked his arm, causing him to recoil a bit. “Please don’t violate me.” Fluttershy flushed and moved away. In the background, Rarity giggled and put a hoof on her friend’s back when she was close enough.

“Don’t worry; he’s gotten me several times already.” Fluttershy hid under her mane as if to hide.

Pinkie Pie bounced up to him, putting her hooves on either of his shoulders. “So when do you think we’ll have that welcome party?” she asked. Ryan looked at her eyes; they were filled with fun and excitement and blissful ignorance. “Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh?” Ryan shook his head and put his hands around her waist.

“Whenever you feel like surprising me is my best guess.” As he lifted her and placed her aside, she squirmed in his grasp, giggling uncontrollably.

“That tickles!” she shouted. Ryan turned around and got back to work.

“Now, is there anything I can do for you?” he asked curtly. At first, there was only silence.

“Well, umm, I would like to get a... I don’t know what it’s called. I’d like to catalogue you, I guess? For the bestiary, with the sentient races, like Ponies and Griffons.” Fluttershy asked nervously. Ryan stopped himself for a moment.

“Sure. When can we do this?”

Fluttershy shifted behind him. “This weekend, maybe?”

Ryan nodded. “Seems good.”

Rainbow floated up next to him, urged on by Rarity. It was her turn now to talk to the human. “So, umm... I don’t know. You ever flown before?” She sounded like she really wasn’t comfortable being next to Ryan. Of course, he wouldn’t be comfortable being next to a man who’s armed to the teeth either.

“Yeah.” he replied. It took Rainbow, and the others, to register his response.

“Wait, what?” Rainbow replied. “Really?” Ryan nodded again.

“Yeah. A bunch of times.” Rainbow looked to her friends, who were just as shocked as her.

“How?” she asked.

“I usually found myself on either a Boeing 737 or 767. Planes.” Rainbow looked skeptical next to Ryan, who did his best to ignore her stare.

“What’s a plane?” she asked. Ryan finished the last piece of fabric for this shelf and turned to her.

“Tomorrow, I’ll be telling Twilight about my species’ technology. Feel free to drop by.” He walked past her and over to his next set of fabric. It was gone. “What?” he quietly asked himself. He looked around; there was a purple aura on everything.

“No worries, Harkness. I can finish this. You may be done.” She floated over a sack of bits. “For your work.” Ryan took the bag; if she was going to be generous, he might as well let her. There were about thirty bits in the bag.

“Thanks.” he said. He walked out of the room and went downstairs, leaving the mares to gossip about him as they likely would. “Women.”

When he got downstairs, three familiar little fillies were there to greet him. “Hey Harkness!” they shouted in unison. Ryan looked down at them.

“Hey.”

Scootaloo ran up to him and looked up. “Can you help us to get our cutie marks?” she asked. Ryan shook his head.

“Not today.” he said. He walked out, leaving three very disappointed fillies.

“Maybe tomorrow?” Applebloom said hopefully. Ryan just kept on walking to his trench, where he could be alone and not have to worry about facing his past.

But little did he know, there was still one piece of his past that wasn’t about to leave him be.

That Awkward Moment

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That Awkward Moment

“You cut up a thing that’s alive and beautiful to find out how it’s alive and why it’s beautiful, and before you know it, it’s neither of those things, and you’re standing there with blood on your face and tears in your sight and only the terrible ache of guilt to show for it.” (Clive Berker)

Ryan was walking into town, towards the library. He had been under scrutiny the day before about his past, but hopefully today, the questions would be primarily about technology. Odds were, if Rainbow Dash showed up, he would go into planes and jets and other flying contraptions. Twilight would no doubt want to hear more about computers. He would likely tell her about communications equipment, like smartphones.

It was about half past six while he walked through the town. The previous night, he had mostly just laid in the dirt and stared at the sky, mesmerized by the one star. It took his mind off of everything that had been happening, made him feel like the world wasn’t real. The star turned his past into a wisp of smoke, one that he could clear away with a wave of his hand. But the trouble was, the source of that smoke was an inextinguishable fire beneath him, so the smoke just kept on coming back and choking him.

He found himself at the library by seven. Inside, he could hear Twilight moving about. “I thought she had Spike do stuff in the morning.” She was probably just doing it herself because she wanted to prepare for Ryan without waking Spike. He knocked on the door. Inside, something crashed, and there was a big clamor. The door swung open, barely missing Ryan’s nose. He cocked an eyebrow at Twilight in the doorway.

“Hey!” she said, out of breath. “I wasn’t expecting you so early.”

Ryan shrugged. “I’m an early riser.” Twilight swallowed and moved aside.

“Please, come in.” He walked inside, and Twilight shut the door behind him.

He looked around. It looked like she had been setting up some sitting areas in the library itself, but looking in the kitchen, he saw what she was really doing. There was a big table with numerous spots around it for ponies to sit. “You having a party?” he asked, pointing at the kitchen. Twilight smiled suspiciously.

“Promise you won’t be upset?” Ryan halted all movement. Whenever someone said that, they knew that the person wouldn’t be very happy.

“... Okay. What?” Twilight walked around, inspecting the shelves.

“My family will be visiting tomorrow, including those I’m related to due to my brother’s marriage. I told them about you, and they want to meet you.” Ryan turned around. In his mind, he was ablaze. But outside, he kept a cool demeanor. He calmed the raging seas in his head.

“It’s fine.” he lied. “What did you tell them?” Twilight breathed a sigh of relief.

“I told them about how you’re new here and you’re really interesting. I didn’t go into detail, since it was kind of short notice.” Ryan silently breathed hi sown sigh of relief. He didn’t want to have to deal with the spread of information about him.

“Alright. I guess I can do it.”

Twilight stood on her hind hooves and clopped her front hooves together. “Eeee! Oh, thank you!” Her smile was massive and excited; it actually made Ryan forgive her a little bit. He went and sat down in a chair in the corner.

After that, Twilight didn’t bother him for a while; she was too busy getting things ready for the next day. Ryan just watched as she did so. “Crazy girl.” he thought. She didn’t have to get up early the previous day to prepare. Of course, he didn’t know anything about her family or how she was raised. This could, in fact, be necessary. “I wonder who this family will be? What will they be like?” He just sat there, wondering.

About an hour and a half after Twilight broke the news, Spike came down, rubbing his eyes and yawning. “Morning, trooper.” Ryan greeted, not looking up. Spike yelped. “Harkness!” he shouted. “I wasn’t expecting you. Twilight said you wouldn’t likely be here ‘til later.” Ryan shrugged.

“Well, clearly, she was incorrect.” Spike chuckled and came all the way down the stairs.

“Yeah, well, she’s usually right, so I’ll let it pass this time.”

Ryan scratched his knee. “You’re all heart.” Spike sat down next to him, joining in his observation of Twilight’s craziness.

“She’s like my big sister. So yeah.” Ryan felt a little twitch in his cheek. He decided to remember that for later.

They sat in relative silence until about half past ten. Then, Spike’s stomach growled, like a cat that’s very annoyed about being poked that’s about to lash out. “You getting hungry?” Ryan asked, hoping it would prompt Spike to leave him. Spike nodded.

“Yeah. Let’s go get some lunch.” He stood up and walked over to the kitchen. Sighing over his inability to risk being rude, Ryan got up and followed. While they moved, Twilight shot around the room, checking everything for the umpteenth time.

“She always like this?” Ryan asked. Spike waved a dismissive hand.

“Only when the Princess is coming.” Ryan blinked. Then he blinked again.

“Princess?” he asked, all of a sudden very nervous.

“Yeah. Her brother married Princess Cadance, who is the niece of Princess Celestia. Her parents, brother, and the princesses will all be here. Unfortunately, Princess Luna couldn’t make it.”

Ryan paused again, this time, not moving. So Luna did live here. He would definitely have to think over a visit. “Well then.” he said. He started moving again, catching up to Spike.

“You two better not ruin my setup in there!” Twilight shouted.

“We won’t!” Spike shouted back.

“Speak for yourself.” Ryan said, loud enough for Twilight to hear. She suddenly burst into the kitchen, just behind Ryan.

“Harkness!” she yelled.

Ryan turned around. “Yes?”

She looked up at his face. “...hmph.” She turned back around and walked off. Spike, meanwhile, was already at the counter.

“What was that?” he asked.

Ryan shrugged. “You know, I’m not sure. I say and do things that SHOULD get me slapped, yet no one ever does. I’m just not a slappable guy.” Spike snorted.

“If only every guy was as lucky as you.” Ryan nodded.

“Yeah, right. If only.”

Spike was pulling bread from the pantry. “So what’ll you have?” he asked. Ryan leaned on the counter next to the baby dragon.

“Gimme a PB and J.” Simple, yet edible. Spike obliged and made him the sandwich. “Good stuff.” Ryan said, taking a bite.

“Thanks. The stuff is made fresh every day.”

They exited the kitchen with their food and sat back down in their spots. Not a minute after they sat, there were several knocks on the door. “I got it!” Spike shouted, running to the door. Inwardly, Ryan groaned when he saw who was there. “Oh, hey Rainbow! And Pinkie, and Fluttershy... and Rarity!” He really seemed to lose his footing on Rarity. Ryan took a note of that.

“Hello Spike.” Rarity replied. “Is Harkness around?” Spike pointed behind him, right at Ryan.

“He’s in here.” The mares all thanked him and filed in. Behind them, the Cutie Mark Crusaders stumbled in in a little pony ball.

“What..?” Ryan said to himself as he watched the girls get up. They were wearing a bunch of little capes. He shook his head; he didn’t care enough to ask.

“Hello, Harkness.” Rarity started. Ryan nodded back, but didn’t speak.

The mares all sat around him, cornering him against the wall as if to prevent his escape. Twilight walked in and saw her friends surrounding the newcomer. “Oh! Hey girls! What brings you here?” Her urgency suddenly died.

“We’re here to hear about his crazy technology!” Scootaloo answered. Twilight looked to Ryan.

“Oh! Well, I think I’ll join you.” Twilight ran up the stairs for a moment, then came back with a notepad and quill with ink. Ryan scanned the audience before him. There were certainly quite a few ponies here.

“Well, it’s hardly a complete crowd without Applejack, wouldn’t you say?” Ryan was trying to stall. Applebloom stood up.

“She’ll be here in a minute, she just had to close up the stand.” Ryan cursed in his head.

Rainbow was quickly growing impatient. “Well, come on! Let’s hear it!” she demanded. Ryan cocked an eyebrow at her.

“Hear what? Technology isn’t exactly a specific field. Where should I begin?” Suddenly, every mare and filly except Fluttershy was shouting and asking for something different. He couldn’t even tell who was saying what.

“One at a time, please.” he requested. They all went quiet. He pointed all the way to the left, at little Sweetie Belle. “What do you want to hear?” he asked. She pondered it for a moment.

“Music!” she announced. Ryan nodded, and looked to the next one in line, Applebloom.

“Farm gear.” He went in order from there; Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and then to Spike.

“Flying stuff!”

“What she said!”

“Fashion and transportation.”

“Computers!”

“Umm, medicine? If that’s okay?”

“Cooking!”

“Entertainment.” He decided to address them in order.

“For music, we have these things called MP3’s. You jack a pair of earbuds in them and then put the tiny speakers in your ears. The tiny speakers take data from the MP3 and play a song of your choosing. There’s also electronic music, like Dubstep and eighties synthesized. Those are popular for big events.”

There was a knock at the door, and Applejack waltzed in and took a seat next to her sister. “He’s gonna tell us about farm gear.” Applejack nodded, sweating hard in her spot. Ryan cleared his throat.

“For farm gear, we use combustion engines to power large machines that do the work for us, like ploughing and seeding. There’s also weather machines that tell us when the weather may be bad for crops.” He kept going into what little he knew about farm equipment for a while.

Eventually, he finished. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were elated. “Finally! Let’s hear about flying stuff!” Rainbow said. Ryan looked at them.

“Sure.” They both leaned in close to hear. “We have a bunch of things for flying. The first of them was the airplane. Also using a combustion engine, the first planes would spin a rotor fast enough that it’s angled blades would carry it forward and into the air. Now, though, we have jet engines. These work by burning fuel and shooting the exhaust out the back with massive force. The plane is propelled forward incredibly fast.” Rainbow was vibrating in her seat.

“How fast?”

Ryan looked at her and smiled. “Well, the fastest plane that comes to mind for me is the F-22 Raptor. It could go up to Mach Three.” Rainbow stopped vibrating and looked forward, mouth agape. Looking around, Ryan saw that the others were also looking quite shocked. “Some unmanned aircraft have gone up to seven THOUSAND miles an hour.” If a cricket were there, it too, had been silenced. Rainow sat back.

“Whoa.”

Ryan nodded. “Whoa indeed.”

She stood up. “Why would a plane need to be that fast?” she asked. Ryan couldn’t answer that, and even if he could, he probably wouldn’t.

“No idea. Experiments?” She stepped forward.

“Have you ever flown in one of those fast ones before?” she asked. Ryan shook his head.

“Those are single seat fighter aircraft, so no. I fly in commercial aircraft, usually Boeing. They can get to around six hundred miles per hour.” Rainbow shook her head.

“That’s crazy.” she said. Ryan shrugged.

“That’s human ingenuity.”

He continued when Rainbow sat back down. “For transportation, we use planes, boats, and cars. All use some form of engine, but different kinds use different fuels. Navy ships use Nuclear power a lot to power aircraft carriers and destroyers.” Instantly, he regretted saying that.

“What?” Rarity said. “Destroyers? Fighter Aircraft?” She looked suspicious. Ryan had to be fast in his thoughts.

“Military technology. Easily the most advanced of all. A lot isn’t even known to the public, for obvious reasons.” Rarity looked unsatisfied, but compared to Applejack, she couldn’t care less.

“Can y’all be honest with us? Are you a military boy?” Ryan thought hard about it. He had planned on joining the SEALs, but he certainly couldn’t now.

“No.” he replied. “I’m not.” He continued, though Applejack wasn’t convinced. “We transport things on massive ships, sometimes referred to as ‘cities on the water’. Other times, we use massive planes, like the C5 Galaxy. Some of these planes can go up to Eight Thousand miles without having to refuel.”

Rarity raised her eyebrows. “That’s quite impressive.” Ryan nodded.

“Like I said, military tech is the most advanced.”

He quickly moved onto the computers. “Well, I already explained this to my best knowledge, but that was just one type. There are also systems that do other things. Some are for art, others are for making music, some are for entertainment, and there are thousands of others. I can’t possibly go into all of them. But the entertainment are some of the most popular. Using them, you can project images onto a screen. Using a controller, you can make the things in the image do what you command them to, whether it be flying a virtual plane or having a character run down a virtual hill. It’s like movies, but you control what happens. To an extent.” Spike was wide-eyed.

“Wow.” he said. “That’s cool.” Ryan smiled a little bit; he had the same reaction to the Nintendo 64 when he first got it.

“Yeah.” He kept on. “Other computers do math for you, while some are just for communicating. Using computers, you can talk to a person on the other side of the planet.” Twilight’s eyes went wide this time.

“It’s the ultimate tool of sharing collected knowledge...” she said.

Ryan nodded again. “Eeyup.”

“Our medicine is pretty astonishing. We can treat cancer, albeit not always successfully, we can cure diseases, and we have amazing injury healing practices.” Fluttershy seemed to lose some of her shyness and had a gleam in her eye.

“What kinds of injury healing processes do you have?” she asked.

“Well, we can cut someone open and fix them like that. Or, we can use tiny cameras and bots to deal with a problem. The most popular, though, is straight up meds. Using certain chemical formulas, we can make pills that speed up healing or reduce pain.” Fluttershy looked excited.

“What else?” she asked. The others looked repulsed by how Ryan had worded surgery.

“Well, we can make mechanical limbs for people who lost theirs. Those are really close to being ready for issuing. Someone is even close to making a bio-electric eye. It’s pretty astonishing.”

Fluttershy nodded. “It certainly is.”

After going a little more into medicine, he finally turned to Pinkie Pie. “Well, we don’t exactly have super advanced cooking stuff. Mostly, thanks to knowledge sharing, we just have good recipes. Sorry.” Pinkie wasn’t disappointed though.

“That’s awesome! You can share your recipes with people around the WORLD!? That’s amazing!!” She jumped up and ran around, much to Ryan’s disinterest. “Calm down.” Ryan said, grabbing her as she ran by and holding her up like a cat. She giggled.

“That tickles!” He set her down.

“I bet you enjoy that, don’t you?” he said. Pinkie Pie nodded.

“It’s fun!” Ryan shook his head and sat back down.

They talked a little bit from then on, mostly about the ponies and their adventures. The ponies’ brains couldn’t handle much more tech talk anyhow. Eventually, they got to the Elements of Harmony. “The what?” Ryan asked. They all blinked.

“Oh, right, you’re not from here.” Twilight reminded herself. “Well, the Elements of Harmony are represented and only usable by us. They are extremely powerful magical objects that are used to keep the land balanced and peaceful.” Ryan whistled.

“Wow. I wish my world had something like that.” The girls smiled at him, but their eyes were clearly sorry for him.

“Yes, it did sound like your world could use something like that.” Ryan nodded slowly, thoughtfully. It really could.

The talking brought them to late in the evening, almost to the darkened sky. “Whoa! Ah guess we’d better get goin’.” Applejack said. Her sister whined. “Now, now. Ah’m sure that y’all can talk to Harkness another time.” She looked to Ryan.

“Sure, I suppose. Next time I’m free.” Applejack smiled half-heartedly and took her sister away.

“I suppose we should go too. Sweetie Belle has school tomorrow.” Without waiting for a complaint, Rarity picked up her sister in her magic and left.

“Yeah, I should get going too. Later!” Rainbow sped off.

“Wait for me, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo yelled, getting on her scooter and speeding away.

Pinkie Pie was the next to leave. “Later!” she said. Suddenly, she disappeared.

“What the..?” Ryan looked around; no sign of her. He looked to Twilight and Fluttershy.

“It’s just Pinkie being Pinkie.” they both said. Ryan scratched his head.

“I guess that physics don’t apply here.” he said to himself. Twilight heard that comment, but let it go. Fluttershy walked up to Ryan and touched his hand.

“I should go to. And remember; if you’re ever hurt, I’ll be able to help you.” She turned around and left, looking back at Ryan as she walked away. While he was questioning her demeanor, Twilight walked over.

“She’s still worried about you.” she explained. “I’m sure it will pass.”

Ryan stuck his hands in his pockets. “I guess.”

Ryan walked over to his spot from earlier and sat back down. “Well, that was an... interesting day. For you girls, I mean.” Twilight trotted over and sat before him, trailed by Spike, who Ryan had forgotten about. No need to tell him that.

“It certainly was. Maybe it will be as interesting for my family tomorrow.” Ryan nodded thoughtfully.

“What should I be expecting, questions or otherwise?” Twilight looked up at the ceiling in ponderance.

“Well, my brother is a captain of the Royal Guard. He’ll be interested in your personal history, since you are unknown to him.” Ryan breathed in deep and let it out slow. “As for the others... they’ll just want to learn a little about you. My brother, though, will practically want to interrogate you.” Ryan looked at her.

“Wow, it must be a nightmare for you to get a boyfriend.” Twilight blushed a little, and Spike chuckled.

“No. I’m not looking for one anyhow.”

Ryan put his hands up. “Alright.”

His goal was achieved; she wasn’t about to let it go. “What does that mean?” she asked. He looked at Spike; he got the cue.

“Nothing.” he said, getting up. Twilight pushed him back down with her magic.

“No, it means something. Now tell me.” She looked mad.

“I didn’t consent to this!” Ryan shouted. Twilight turned deep red, but kept him down.

“Tell me!” She lifted him up into the air. Meanwhile, Spike was in hysterics behind her. He, too, found himself in the air. “Tell me!” Ryan flailed about in the air; there was no escape.

“My bubble has been violated!” Twilight dropped both males to the ground. Spike just kept laughing.

“He’s laughing! You must mean something!” She held Ryan down with a hoof.

“So, you’re the kind who prefers to be dominant?” Ryan asked. Twilight tried to open her mouth to respond, but no words came. By now, she was totally flushed. “I’m more of a ‘go with the flow’ kind of guy myself. How about you, Spike?” Twilight’s eyes went wide and her head whipped around to look at Spike.

“Well-” She cut him off.

“Enough of this conversation!” she said. She clearly was not interested in hearing what was essentially her little brother’s fantsasies.

Ryan looked at Spike, who was out of it, he was laughing so hard. He looked at Twilight; she had figured out what was happening. “You just did all of that to embarrass me, didn’t you?” Ryan nodded, with a small smile; he hadn’t particularly enjoyed it, but it was kind of fun. Mostly, it was about getting the ponies to like him enough to respect his privacy. His methods were unorthodox, sure, but they might work.

“Yes.” His answer was short and to the point. Twilight shook her head.

“Please just don’t do it tomorrow.” Ryan sat up, knocking Twilight back.

“No promises.”

*********************************************************************************

Luna walked back to her chambers after raising the moon in a neutral mood. She wasn’t happy, but she was on her way to getting over Ryan’s death. It wasn’t easy, and it was entirely possible for her to backtrack, but she was on the road to recovery. She only wished that Ryan was somehow alive; that way, she could apologize and try to make things right for him.

She entered her chambers, where Starstep was waiting for her. He had set up a chess table while she was gone. “Good evening, Starstep.” she greeted. He nodded.

“Hello. I was thinking that we might play a round of chess.” She had figured that out, and rolled her eyes as she walked forward. She sat down at the small table.

“Why not?” She took the white side, so she went first. “I could use something to distract myself.” Her guard nodded.

“I know what you mean.” he replied. After Luna made her move, he went. “Sometimes, I just like to lose myself in the game.”

They played for over an hour, silently trying to outdo and outlast the other. Eventually, at the climax of the game, Starstep took Luna’s King. “Agh!” she cried out in mild frustration. It had been a good game. Starstep snickered across from her.

“I win.” he said, earning a glare from his princess. “It was a good game.” Luna nodded and looked down at the board. Starstep’s pieces were much more abundant than hers.

“You have certainly dominated me.” she said. She stood up and walked over to her fireplace and took a seat. “Quite a show of talent.” Starstep joined her.

“Thank you.” He sat.

The two sat in relative silence for a time, simply content to be there. Starstep periodically looked over at Luna; her face had a worn appearance. “You look exhausted.” he commented, hoping to get something out of her. “Is everything alright?” Luna looked down for a moment, contemplating. She shook her head, her long, ethereal mane gently wafting about.

“No, I’m afraid not.” Starstep frowned sadly, his brow lowering in sympathy. “I can’t get it out of my head.” Luna explained. “It’s like he’s still here somehow, not letting me forget. I know he wouldn’t do such a thing to me, but still. I feel like, maybe, I’m holding him here against his will.” She sniffed loudly. “I don’t know what to do. I keep having nightmares...”

Starstep got up and sat next to her, wrapping a foreleg around her and pulling her close. “Shh.” he said. “Come now... you must know how to move on. You need to move past it. If you don’t, you can never be happy. And neither can I.” He hugged her tightly. She leaned into him. “Remember, you’ll always have me and Princess Celestia, and any of your subjects. We’re all here to help you.” Luna sniveled, and a tear came from her eye onto Starstep’s chest. He held her close.

Eventually, she stood taller and looked away, out the window. “I wish I could have said goodbye to him. At least have extended that courtesy to him.” Starstep nodded, understanding perfectly.

“Come on,” he said. “You should sleep.” Luna nodded, and the two walked back over to the bed and slept.

*********************************************************************************

Ryan looked around at all the preparations that were made. Everything was spotless, reorganized, and in perfect order. Twilight had way overdone it.

He looked at the clock; it was about half past ten in the morning. The ponies that he was about to be questioned by would be there in about half an hour. Ryan ran through how he was going to dodge certain questions one more time. “Past; stick to my days in America. Martial Arts; my favorite activity. Dreams; navy career, no elaboration on it.” He went through the rest of it as fast as he could. He wasn’t even sure if he would need any of these, but he wasn’t about to take chances. He looked down at his leg; the scars from the land mine were mostly hidden by dirt. He had his sleeves down, even though it was really hot, so those were fine. The scarf and beret were on the coat rack by the door, so hopefully they would go unnoticed. Lastly, he had his vest on under his jacket, so nothing would seem particularly out of place besides him being a human. “Good to go.” he thought doubtfully.

Twilight was frantically running around, with a flustered Spike trying to keep up. Ryan just watched as they sprinted about, checking everything AGAIN. Whoever this princess was, she must be really into having places made perfect for her.

“Seems like a real diva of a ruler.” Ryan thought. He was silently loathing having to meet such a being.

“Harkness, would you mind helping me?” Twilight asked. Ryan looked up. She had brought a little round table out with a bunch of sitting pillows and set it in the study area. “Would you go and get the tea and biscuits and dinnerware?” Ryan nodded and walked into the kitchen. There was a much larger table in there, but it wasn’t nearly as made up as the one in the library.

“Must not be using this.” Ryan concluded quickly. He looked around for the dinnerware and food. There was an obvious pantry, but the only dinnerware was what looked like fine china. He shrugged and grabbed it. “China coming out, watch where you’re going.” he announced as he exited the kitchen. Twilight must have run upstairs, because she was missing. Ryan shrugged again and put everything on the table, then went back for the food.

When he came back out with the food, Twilight had returned from her excursion to the upstairs area. She had a long list; it went all the way up the stairs; and she was checking things off. “I didn’t think those even existed...” Ryan thought as he looked at the list. Twilight checked off one last thing and sighed contently.

“There. Everything’s taken care of.” Ryan walked over to the table and set the food down.

“Well, not EVERYTHING.” he said. Twilight looked at him, then shook her head, smirking.

“Oh, Harkness. I know your game.” Ryan shrugged. She had forgotten something for him to sit on, but that wasn’t important.

He looked back at the clock. It was only five ‘til. “What the heck?” he thought. That didn’t really take that long, did it?

“Oh, wow! We just made it! They should start arriving any minute.” Ryan took in a deep breath and let it out nice and slow. This was going to be the ultimate moment of truth; if the leader felt one way or another about him, it would seal his fate in what would likely not be good regardless of how it was sealed.

“Here we begin.” he said quietly to himself. He walked over to a shelf and pulled out a book to pretend to read. No reason to stand awkwardly in the middle of the room when someone entered.

Sure enough, at around nine after eleven, there was a series of knocks on the door. “Here they are!” Twilight announced. She looked at Ryan with a mock scowl. “Behave yourself.” she ordered half seriously. Ryan put his hands in the air, then put them back down.

“When do I ever not?” he replied. Twilight didn’t hear and went and opened the door.

“Twilight!” a male voice sang out.

“Dad!” Ryan peeked up from the book; a blue stallion was putting Twilight in a massive bear hug. A very light purple mare followed soon after.

“Ooh, little Twilight! I’ve been waiting to see you! How are you?” Small talk ensued at the door. After a few minutes, Twilight invited what was likely her parents to come in.

“Please, make yourselves at home.” Ryan looked at the ponies; they hadn’t even noticed Ryan yet. They may have thought he was a decoration, he was so still. Ryan shifted in his spot, ready but not ready.

“So, where is this stallion you mentioned?” her father asked. Twilight looked, then pointed at Ryan.

“Yo.”

Both ponies turned around and yelped at the sudden noise from what they hadn’t thought to be alive. Ryan took a hand off the book and gave them a small wave. The ponies were wide-eyed and agape of mouth.

“What- what- huh?” the male one said. Ryan cocked an eyebrow. It must have intimidated them a bit.

“Mom, dad, this is Harkness.” Ryan snorted, drawing strange looks. “He’s the new... stallion. He’s a human.” Ryan shut the book and stepped away from the wall, extending a hand. He was tentative, but had to appear not so.

“Hi.” The stallion put his hoof in Ryan’s hand and shook.

“Hello... I’m, uhh, Nightlight.” The mare walked up and extended a hoof. Ryan released Nightlight and took it.

“I’m Twilight Velvet.” Ryan nodded.

“Good to make your acquaintance.” He released Twilight Velvet’s hoof and stepped back a bit.

The two parties took in each other’s sights for a moment. The ponies were clearly Twilight Sparkle’s parents; there were too many similarities. The ponies, though, could determine nothing from Ryan’s physical appearance. They had never even heard of a human before. He had five fingers and body that looked like it was probably mostly hairless. He looked bulky under whatever clothes he was wearing.

“You’re... not what we were expecting.” Nightlight said sheepishly. Ryan shrugged again; by the end of his stay, his shoulders would be massive.

“I would imagine not.” Twilight Sparkle walked forward, sensing the awkwardness.

“Well, I’m glad to see that you got here in peace. Why don’t we catch up while we wait for the others?” Ryan nodded to that; he didn’t want to say anything more than once. If he screwed up his story, he would be in serious trouble.

Ryan picked up the book again and actually started reading it while the family of ponies before him talked happily, occasionally looking his way. Nightlight seemed especially interested in him. “I wonder what he’s thinking?” Ryan met his Nightlight’s gaze and nodded. Nightlight smiled a bit and nodded back. Whatever Ryan just did for him, it was clearly good.

About fifteen minutes after Twilight Sparkle’s parents arrived, a carriage could be heard outside. Several ponies neighed and kicked at the ground, causing a massive ruckus. Ryan swallowed hard. “Sounds like a royal carriage.” This would be the toughest unwanted social moment of all.

Knock knock knock. Ryan kept the book in hand, his hands growing sweaty and trembling. He had no idea why he was so nervous; was it that he was meeting the leader of another nation who could do whatever she felt like to him? No, probably not. Maybe it was just the implications that this would mean for him in public from this moment on. Twilight answered the door. When she bowed, Ryan knew that he was about to jump into the fray.

“Here we go.” he whispered. Twilight backed up after bowing followed by a large white horse with wings and a horn. Her mane was multihued and she had a cutie mark of the sun. This was Luna’s sister.

“I’m glad to have come, Twilight.” Twilight’s parents bowed to the large being coming through the doorway.

The large white alicorn looked around and spotted Ryan quickly. “Oh.” she said, raising her eyebrows and opening her eyes a bit wider. “I wasn’t aware that he wasn’t a stallion.” Twilight smiled sheepishly, almost nervously.

“I might have forgotten to mention that.” Ryan walked forward to meet this princess. Her appearance immediately shot down his preconceived notion of her.

“Hello.” he said, extending a hand. “I’m Harkness.” He could feel a bead of sweat on his forehead. The princess smiled and put her hoof in his sweaty hand.

“Greetings. I’m Princess Celestia.” She put her hoof back on the ground. “And you have no need to be nervous.” Something about her tone made Ryan relax a bit. Just a bit.

She looked to the table. “I see Twilight has set up a nice table for us.” Her smile was incredibly disarming. When Ryan realized this, he put his guard up and decided to keep it up.

“Yes, Princess. Would you like to sit down?” Twilight Sparkle asked. Celestia nodded.

“I’m sure we would all love to sit while we wait for Shining Armor and Cadance.” Celestia started walking toward the table, followed by Twilight’s parents, Twilight, and then Ryan.

They all sat the the relatively small round table. Spike ran to the kitchen. “So, Harkness.” Princess Celestia began. “What is your species exactly?” Ryan sat down on the wooden floor, leaving the remaining two pillows for the final guests.

“We’re called humans.” he answered simply. He crossed his legs under the table, bumping it and vibrating everything.

“Ah. And might I ask where you are from?” Ryan leaned on the table in an effort to look more comfortable. Whether it worked or not, he could not say.

“I’m from a country called the United States of America. But most people just call it either America or the US.” Princess Celestia nodded.

“Interesting.”

She studied the human for a moment. She was curious as to why the human looked to strangely bulky and misshapen, and why he averted his gaze when she tried to look at his eyes.

“Well, as I’m sure you already know, this is Equestria. My sister Luna and I rule together. She moves the moon, and I move the sun. It’s too bad she couldn’t come here to meet you.”

Ryan’s mind raced as soon as she finished the statement. He did know her, and he could very easily tell them all that. But, what kinds of questions might follow? Would he be able to answer them safely? Or, more importantly, would they tell Luna about him? “It’s an unnecessary risk.” he concluded. Maybe some other time.

“Interesting. I always just thought that the sun and moon moved on their own.” Celestia smiled again, clearly trying to disarm Ryan. Though he was having no part of it.

“Nope. Me and my sister.” She went on. “Equestria is a large nation, with many races and species living in it. You’ve already encountered the different ponies, but we also have Zebras, Griffons, Dragons, and others.” Ryan widened his eyes in surprise.

“Wow. We only have one sentient race back home; us. We pretty much own whatever place we live in because of that.” Celestia nodded, intrigued by the information. The other ponies were listening intently.

“Interesting.” Celestia replied.

Spike came back, and as he did, there were more knocks on the door. He quickly set up everything at the table and went to answer the door. “Shining! Cadance! Great, you’ve arrived! Everyone else is at the table.” Ryan looked to the door and saw, first, a white stallion with a blue mane and a large chest walk in. He wore a casual uniform, definitely a guard. Behind him came his presumed wife, a pink mare like Celestia with wings and a horn who had a three-colored mane. Shining had a shield for his cutie mark and Cadance had a heart.

“Great to be here Spike.” Shining replied. Cadance smiled. Spotting the group at the table, they walked over.

“Hey every... one...” Shining’s and Cadance’s shared words slowed to a stop when they looked at Ryan sitting at the table. “Is that, uhh, Harkness?” Cadance asked. Ryan slid back and stood and walked over.

“Indeed I am.” He extended a hand to the princess. She took it and shook.

“Umm, hello.” She was clearly shocked to see this creature. Her husband was looking at him with his head cocked to the side. “It’s good to meet you.” Ryan extended his hand to Shining Armor, who took it firmly. They locked eyes.

“Likewise.” Shining replied. There was a hint of malicious suspicion in his voice. A warrior can always recognize another warrior from a mile away.

They all sat around the table, the ponies all interested in Ryan. “So, Harkness.” Nightlight started. “What, uhh, kinds of things do you like to do?” Ryan clasped his hands together on the table before him.

“Well, I like to SCUBA dive and I practice Karate.” Nightlight’s and Shinging’s ears perked at the word Karate.

“Interesting.” Shining muttered. Why was everything interesting to them? Ryan kept an eye in his direction; he had no idea what to expect from this guy.

The mares, though, were more interested in the SCUBA diving. “Wow, SCUBA diving? Most ponies only dream of that, the sport is so expensive! What’s it like?” Twilight Velvet asked. Ryan was about to answer when more questions flew at him. “How deep have you gone?” Twilight Sparkle asked. Ryan waited just a moment, then answered.

“Well, the deepest I’ve ever gone was about one hundred and sixteen feet down. It was dark and cold, but really cool. I’ve seen sharks, manta rays, skates, exotic fish, sea lions, and various crustaceans.” The mares eyes lit up, except for Celestia’s. She looked impressed, though.

“So, what kinds of certifications do you have?” Shining asked out of nowhere. He was apparently more interested in Ryan’s skill set than anything else. Ryan answered honestly to this question.

“Advanced open water, Nitrox, Dry suit, and Rescue Diver.” The last one raised Shining’s eyebrows. His father was looking very impressed.

“So, do you rescue people when they’re under the water?” he asked. Ryan gave a small chuckle; it was only slightly genuine.

“No, never had to. I’m still a student, so I don’t have a job in this field yet.” Nor would he, any more.

Twilight Sparkle looked like she was going to explode. “So you’re still a student.” she said. “What do you study?” Ryan shrugged.

“In public school, we study a bunch of stuff. We do math, science, history, foreign language, literature, grammar, health, technology, finances, and tons of other stuff. It’s a lot, but we manage.”

Twilight leaned back a bit. “Very nice.” Of course, he hadn’t told them that he was from a fairly privileged town; most don’t have so many options.

“So, if I may ask, what is Equestria like?” Ryan asked. He was trying to get the topic off of him. It worked; the conversation went to the inner workings of Equestria for about two hours. Spike had joined them and sat next to Ryan, claiming that they were already “brothers from other mothers”. Ryan didn’t want to come off as an asshole, so he went with it. But, the whole time, Shining was scrutinizing him, trying to discern something about him. He was trying to puzzle something together about the human before him, Ryan could tell. Locking eyes with him had not gone over well.

Another thing Ryan noticed during the conversation was Shining’s wife, Cadance. At one point, she had looked straight at him, intensely. Her horn had a very light blue aura around it, barely visible. She seemed to be focusing hard on something. When Ryan saw that she noticed him looking at her, he cocked an eyebrow. Quickly and ashamedly, she released the aura and looked to whoever was talking.

“So, that’s how we saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon.” Thankfully, Ryan had developed a way to pay attention to multiple things at once. Give one hundred percent to something for one moment, then quickly switch to something else the next. If you change rapidly enough, you catch just enough of each to fill in the blanks, and you can effectively have two, or if you’re good, three conversations at once. It’s not easy.

“Very cool. I can’t say that I’m much of a hero back home.” So very true.

Shining had evidently been waiting long enough. “So, that’s our homeland. But, back to you.” he said. Ryan turned to face him. “You say you do Karate.” Ryan nodded.

“For over thirteen years.” Shining nodded. The boy had been raised knowing how to fight.

“Are you a warrior?” The room went silent for a moment, all eyes focusing on Ryan. Even Celestia looked at him, anxious for a response.

“Yes, in a way, I suppose. I wasn’t a soldier, if that’s what you’re getting at.” Shining leaned forward.

“But I can see it in your eyes. You’ve seen combat.” Everypony’s eyes went a little wider, except for Nightlight’s. Celestia seemed a bit surprised herself.

“... Yes.”

Twilight’s mouth fell a little bit. He had not planned on her finding this out. Her brother had just single-handedly shredded his plan to keep his past hidden. “It wasn’t pleasant, and I would rather not talk about it.” Ryan looked down and took a sip of tea as he said it. The table was completely silent.

“That’s fine.” Celestia broke the silence. Ryan looked back up; Shining was getting a scolding look from his wife, who looked back at Ryan with sad eyes.

“Alright.” Shining said. “Sorry to bring it up.”

Ryan shook his head. “You had no way of knowing.” With his acceptance of the apology, a collective breath was let out at the table.

Small talk started breaking out at the table. Mostly, it was between Twilight and her family. They talked about a Crystal Empire, which apparently Shining Armor and Cadance ruled over together. Twilight talked about her experiments. Her parents talked about parent things, and trolled their kids with innuendos a couple of times.

While they spoke, and Celestia was looking at them, Ryan slipped away and into the kitchen with his dinnerware. He looked around; no dishwasher. He walked over to the sink and started cleaning. “Trying to take my job?” Spike asked mockingly from behind. Ryan wasn’t startled.

“Of course. My current jobs aren’t paying me enough to get what I want soon enough, so I’ll be taking yours.” Spike laughed.

“Well, I hope you’re ready to be abused by Twilight.” Ryan looked at Spike and cocked an eyebrow.

“I’m sure she would LOVE to.” Spike got it in a moment of awkwardly putting the pieces together.

“Eww!” Ryan shook his head and got back to washing. “Nasty, dude, she’s like my sister!”

Ryan nodded. “Exactly.”

Ryan finished washing. “Alright, back into the fray.” Ryan said. He walked out of the kitchen. Celestia noticed him and stood. The others were busy being extremely into whatever conversation they were having, laughing and slapping the table, and didn’t notice.

“Hello, Harkness.” Celestia greeted. Spike bowed, but Ryan stood tall.

“Hello.”

Celestia looked back to her family and extended family. “I’ve been hoping to talk to you one on one. Do you think that we might?” She smiled at him again, trying to get him to relax. No such thing would occur.

“Sure.” Ryan patted Spike on the back to go to the table, and walked into the kitchen, followed by the princess.

“Soooo... what’s on your mind?” he asked, curious as to why the leader of a nation was taking interest in him. She sat at the table in the kitchen.

“I was just hoping to get to know you a little more. When Twilight sent me a letter inviting me here, I thought she had met a very special somepony.” It took Ryan a moment to process that.

“No, I can assure you, she has no such interest in me.”

Celestia nodded. “She told me in her letter. But no more of that.” She gestured for Ryan to sit at the table with her. He did so. “I’ve noticed that you seem to be rather tense.” she said, her face looking more concerned now. “Are you alright?” Ryan shrugged.

“Well, having a hole blown through my chest cavity couldn’t have helped. But to answer, yes, right now, I am alright.” Celestia must not have been satisfied with the answer.

“I think you noticed that I’ve been trying to make you feel safer and trying to get you to relax.” Ryan nodded. “So why aren’t you?” Ryan took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“The last stranger that I met did some bad things to me and my friends. I’m sorry if I’m a bit apprehensive.”

Celestia looked at him, even more concerned. “Who is this stranger, if I may ask? I don’t want you to feel threatened.” Ryan chuckled.

“Would you arrest him if you found him?” he asked. Celestia nodded. “I’m sorry, but you can’t. He’s dead.” Celestia blinked twice, then shook her head.

“I’m sorry?” she asked. Ryan repeated himself. “How did he die?” she asked. Ryan shook his head.

“Like I told Shining Armor, that’s not something I want to talk about.”

Celestia moved over and sat next to Ryan. Her disarming presence proved too much, and he allowed her to move. “I understand.” she said. Ryan had a feeling that she really did. Though not fully. “Are your friends alright?” she asked. Ryan shrugged.

“As far as I know, one is still alive.” Celestia’s brow lowered sadly. She put a wing around Ryan.

“I’m sorry.” Ryan used his hand to take her wing off.

“Yeah, well. I was sorry too. That didn’t help.” He stood up and moved away, leaning against the counter. “They’re gone, and they aren’t coming back.” He had no idea why he was telling her any of this; then he realized that he was TELLING her these things. “I’m not going to say more.”

There was a short silence. Then, Celestia stood up and moved a little closer to Ryan. “Is Harkness your name?” she asked. Ryan looked up at the wall.

“... No.” Behind him, she nodded.

“Why wouldn’t you tell us your name?” Ryan turned around to face the princess.

“Because I’m trying to leave it behind. Now, please, let’s not talk about that.”

She nodded. “Okay. But remember, if you need help, you have friends here now who will give it to you.” Ryan nodded. He knew that they would try their damndest, but they wouldn’t get anywhere.

Celestia changed the subject. “So how are you liking Equestria so far?” she asked.

“Good enough. It’s better then my world, I think. In some ways.” Celestia smiled.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it.” She looked back into the room, where the others were laughing away. “It’s good to have things and ponies you care about.” Ryan thought that over. He concluded that it was, in fact, good. “Did you have any family back home?” Ryan thought back on his home and smiled, despite himself.

“Yeah. They were great. We did all sorts of fun stuff together.” His smile faltered. “I miss them.” He had been selfish in pursuing Narendra. His family was never going to see him again, and he wouldn’t see them either. Celestia sat in front of him.

“I know how you feel. I have seen many friends leave me in my many years alive.” She stood. “But we cannot let the things we lose dominate our lives; we have to focus on what we have. Otherwise, we have nothing.” Ryan looked up at her; she was nice. “Let’s rejoin the others.” Ryan nodded, and they went back into the study area.

While they returned to the table, the other ponies noticed that they had been gone. “Where were you?” Cadance asked, curious.

“We were just talking one on one.” She looked around, making sure Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle noticed that she was looking at their parents, and smiled. “He’s a fine young stallion.” That one sentence was enough to turn Twilight’s face red, raise one of Ryan’s eyebrows, stop the parents’ movements, and freeze Shining Armor in place. Cadance giggled.

“Twilight, can we talk?” Twilight Velvet said. Still red and glaring at Ryan, not her teacher, Twilight went with her parents into the kitchen.

When they were gone, Celestia and Cadance shared a laugh, all while Shining Armor and Ryan stood there, confused. Then, they got it.

“Not funny...” Shining Armor muttered to himself. He looked at Ryan. “You better not have any ideas.” his glare said. Ryan responded with a look of his own.

“I don’t know what the hell is going on.”

Shining Armor relaxed his gaze, then turned to his wife. “Nice.” he said. Ryan had a feeling that he was about to become the center of a very strange conversation.

“Oh, come on, honey. You of all ponies should enjoy messing with your little sister.” Celestia smiled a trollish little smile. Shining Armor sighed. “It’s just because he can’t stand the idea of some stallion whisking his little sister away to romance and wonder.” Cadance commented.

Ryan suddenly got it all. “Run! Run! Run!” his brain shouted. But he just sat there. “No. I just... I mean, I don’t...” He was caught.

Ryan tried to shrink away, but Shining walked over and poked his chest. He thought that he was about to be assaulted. “You know what I’m saying, right?” he asked. Ryan blinked. Not expected, but not bad.

“I don’t have a little sister, but I can understand why you feel this way. It makes sense to me.” Shining grinned wide and put his foreleg around Ryan.

“See? He gets it.” Celestia and Cadance just looked at each other.

“Stallions.” they concluded simultaneously.

“Psh.” Shining looked at Ryan. “Mares.” Ryan agreed.

Soon, a flustered looking Twilight Sparkle walked out with relieved looking parents. “Now that that is settled, I say we send the stallions away.” Cadance suggested. Ryan, Shining Armor, and Nightlight all looked at her with stunned expressions.

“What?” they all asked.

Spike came down. “What?” he asked. He was tossed by magic over to Ryan, who caught him with some difficulty.

“Yeah. Mares night!” Twilight Velvet shouted. Twilight Sparkle smiled wide, excited to have a girls’ night, it seemed. The stallions, dragon, and man looked to Celestia.

“You heard her.” she said, still trollishly smiling. Before they could respond, the combined magic of the mares sent them out the front door.

The stallions all stood up and dusted themselves off. “Well, that happened.” Ryan stated. They all looked at each other. “What now?” he asked.

Nightlight looked off in the distance. “I say we hit a bar.” Shining Armor agreed, as did Ryan.

“Hey!” Spike yelled. he wore a mean looking scowl. “I’m not old enough.” Ryan thought for a moment.

“We’ll drop you at Rarity’s.” His scowl disappeared, replaced with a look of childish excitement.

“Let’s go!” he shouted. The stallions walked off to find a good bar.

In the library, the mares were telling stories about their respective stallions or stallions of the past. “And when Nightlight proposed, he knelt down to ask, but when he did, he slipped and fell right on his face!” They all laughed. Once they were calmed down, they all looked at the door.

“Alright. So, what do you ladies think of Harkness?” Twilight Velvet asked.

“He seems nice.” Celestia confirmed. “He’s had his share of troubles, but I think he is good deep down. Though I’m not sure about how happy he is.”

Twilight Sparkle looked at her teacher. “I don’t think he is either.” They turned to Cadance, who was silent. “What do you think?”

She looked around, sadly recalling what her spell had told of him. “He’s definitely not happy. At all.” She paused. The other mares didn’t speak. “I used my magic to see if Celestia’s suspicions were correct about you and him.” Twilight blushed. “But the thing is... there was no love in him.”

The reactions varied. Celestia nodded knowingly, like she had already determined that. Twilight Velvet looked horrified at the prospect, and her daughter looked disbelieving. “Whatever he’s experienced, it took away whatever love he had. When I searched, the only things I found were anger, and hate, sadness, loss... the list goes on. I don’t think he was being truthful with us half the time he spoke, and probably for good reasons.” Twilight Sparkle looked at her step-sister displeasingly, but when she saw the genuine sadness in her eyes, she shared the feeling.

“How? How could anything do that to someone?”

Cadance shook her head. “I can partly answer that.” Celestia said suddenly. “I spoke to him privately in the kitchen. His experiences were quite bad. I got no detail, but he said that as far as he knows, ONE of his friends is still ALIVE.” The other mares let out a collective gasp. “Taken by a very bad being.” She didn’t mention how that being was dead.

The conversation had lost all of its giddiness. “I wish I knew how to help him.” Twilight Sparkle said. Cadance turned her head in her direction.

“You did, actually. There was one thing that I found in him that might be a sign of that.” Twilight’s head shot to her step-sister. “He has some level of hope. For what, I’m not sure, but I know it’s there because of you. I don’t think he’s even aware of it; but it’s there. All you can do now is try to make that hope grow into more.”

Twilight nodded determinedly. “Than that’s what I’ll do.”

And they left the topic at that and had a fun night of gossip while the stallions were out just drinking.

Honesty

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Honesty

“Every one of us lives life just once; if we are honest, to live once is enough.” (Greta Grabo)

Ryan was leaning against the wall of his trench, just trying his best to keep his mind clear. The previous night had been difficult. Shining Armor had been trying to get Ryan to drink more then he should, presumably because he knew it would mess up his inhibitions. Shining clearly knew that Ryan wasn’t telling the truth. It was especially highlighted when Shining questioned Ryan’s wartime history. The only reason he had to stop was because Nightlight had told him to. He was pretty cool, Nightlight. He didn’t press Ryan for information.

Ryan learned some interesting things about the two stallions he had to drink with. Shining Armor was a prince, thanks to his marriage to Cadance. He was previously a captain of the guard in Equestria and had fought the Changeling invasion. Ryan had to have it explained to him what a changeling was. It certainly explained why Shining Armor was so interested in Ryan’s secretive past; he naturally didn’t trust Ryan. Nightlight, too, had been a guard, though not as highly ranked as Shining Armor. He seemed more reserved, like he had seen more legitimate combat then Shining Armor.

All, in all, Ryan was just glad to have gotten out with his secrets intact.

From what he had determined from the way they acted and spoke, they would all be here for at least another day. Thankfully, Ryan had to work at Sweet Apple Acres today. They wouldn’t be able to question him so incessantly.

“Unless they really want to pester me.” He remembered his conversation with Celestia; no doubt she had told the mares about what she learned. Ryan groaned. “This day is gonna suck.” He looked to either side of himself. He was all alone.

“Hey Ryan.” Or maybe not. Ryan looked up; it was him.

“What the hell do you want?” he asked.

The Wraith jumped down into the trench and took the opposite side of Ryan. “I just came to chat. Is that so wrong?” Ryan grunted, drawing a chuckle from the Wraith.

“Yes.” The Wraith just kept on laughing and shook his head.

“Come now, Harkness. You know, that was a terrible name choice. You know what I’m here for.” Ryan glared at him.

“No. Enlighten me.” The Wraith stopped smiling for a moment, but it quickly came back.

“I’m here to tell you that you have to leave this place. You can’t possibly stay any more.” Ryan sat up and put his hand to the Automag at his side.

“What makes you say that?”

The Wraith walked around the trench. “They know that something is up with you. You can’t deny that. And by now, odds are, all of them know. Isn’t that just what you were avoiding?” Ryan stood. “They’re going to run you out of town. Now, if they tried to do that to me, I’d just shoot ’em. And you would too. But that’s the thing; isn’t that what you’re trying to escape from?” Ryan stood on his guard.

“I won’t kill any of them unless I have to.” The Wraith laughed loudly.

“And what defines ‘have to’?” Ryan could feel sweat on his brow, beading and dropping along his face in tiny droplets. “You can’t. And so you’ll just kill, like you always have.” Ryan pulled the Automag.

“Shut up.”

“Oh ho ho! Did I strike a nerve?” Ryan stepped forward.

“I didn’t have a choice. I-” The Wraith took on a sinister tone.

“YOU HAD EVERY CHOICE!” Ryan fell back. “You made your decisions because you’re a selfish pile of trash! You can’t accept that; but you know it to be true.”

Ryan pointed the gun forward. “Oh, what, are you going to shoot me?” The Wraith asked. “Please, by all means. I’ll at least be rid of you.”

Ryan snarled. “Gladly.”

He fired the gun, an ear-cracking boom slamming its way through the landscape. The bullet slammed into the dirt behind the Wraith and exploded out of the ground behind him. The smoke from the gun trailed slowly into the air. Behind it, Ryan’s face contorted with anger and confusion.

“Surprised?” the Wraith asked. Ryan fired again. “Please, don’t waste more ammo. You might need it.” the Wraith said with a smirk.

“How- why- I shot you!”

The Wraith bellowed out in laughter. “You honestly thought that would work?” he asked. Ryan scowled. “You can’t shoot me any more then you can shoot yourself. I’m unkillable.” Ryan spun around and leapt out of the trench. “You can’t run forever!” the Wraith shouted after him as he ran. “I will always find you!” Ryan just kept running, the sounds of evil laughter following him like an echo in the darkest cave.

*******************************************************************************

Luna woke with a start. She had just had the strangest dream, almost real. She hadn’t been dream traveling that night; she saw no need. But something had awoken her.

She looked over at Starstep, who was snoring and drooling all over Luna’s nice pillows. She rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Ah, Starstep.” she whispered. With the grace of a feline, Luna jumped off the bed silently and walked over to the window. Outside, the night was looking fantastic, even if getting ready to come to a close. She could still see her moon and stars all over the sky, especially the special one she made to commemorate her fallen friend. “I wish I could do more.” she thought solemnly. She sat her rump down on the ground and watched the sky.

“You’re up early.” she heard her guard say from behind.

“I could say the same for you.”

He chuckled. “I always wake up early. It’s just that in here, I can go back to sleep.” He sat down next to Luna.

“I can imagine why.” She leaned into him playfully.

He leaned back. “So what got you up so early?” he asked.

Luna looked down toward the ground. “I had an unusual dream.” Starstep looked at her, cocked eyebrow and widened eyes.

“An unusual dream? For you?” He was honestly surprised. Luan nodded.

“Yes. It was about Ryan.” Starstep deflated a bit inside. “But it wasn’t bad. I dreamed that he was here, in Equestria. And he was with several stallions, drinking happily.” She turned and looked up at her guard. “Does it mean something?” Starstep looked outside at the glory of the near dawn.

“I think it does.”

They were silent for a moment, then Luna began to hum a gentle tune. “You know you’re killing that lullaby, right?” She used her magic to yank on his tail, earning a yelp from him.

“Don’t ruin the moment.” Starstep chuckled, and they went back to looking out the window and into the eternal bounty that is the night sky.

*******************************************************************************

Ryan looked back; the Wraith was nowhere to be seen. He seemed to have gotten away. “Just what is he?” he wondered. He looked at the pistol in his hand; he had wasted two shots. “Dammit.” He thought back on how much he had left; that left a total of ten for the Automag and fourteen for the Colt. “Gotta conserve it better.” He holstered the gun and walked around the still dark town.

It was odd, really, to walk around a population center and have NOTHING happening. There were no ponies around in the dark, no fillies or colts playing. It was a pure, dead silence. He walked around tentatively, not wanting to risk waking any of the residents.

“Probably already woke a bunch with the Automag.” Ryan said to himself. Silently, he cursed the extraordinary loudness of the .44 magnum round.

Ryan still had about two hours before he had to be at the orchards, so he walked around aimlessly. He looked around, saw what might be called the sights. There was town hall, dark and ominous in the black of the night. It stood tall, trying its best to block away the light of the moon. There was a bridge, over the river reflecting all the stars of the endless night. Even the special star shone brightly in it. There was the library, built into a tree, and there was also the boutique, the only other particularly notable building.

Ryan stopped at the boutique, seeing a bench on the other side of the road. He sat down and let out a long, exhausted breath. He hadn’t slept that night; without the alcohol totally taking him over, it only made it easier for him to think of the past. That was why he just sat in his trench, blankly staring into the dirt.

“I have to figure things out.” he said to himself. He was buzzed; otherwise, he wouldn't have admitted that.

He heard a rustle of movement behind him. Time froze while he sat at the bench. It was four in the morning; no pony should be out. Ryan got his hand on his Automag. There was a tiny voice behind him. “You shouldn’t be up at this hour, kiddos.” Ryan holstered the gun.

“Aww!”

Three little fillies came out from behind the bench and under a bush. “How’d you know we were there?” Applebloom asked in a very whiny little voice. Ryan turned and looked at the kids.

“You aren’t that stealthy. Don’t try to get special forces cutie marks.” The fillies looked at him confused, but Ryan quickly dismissed them with more words. “Why are you up at this ungodly hour?”

Still looking at him strangely, the girls replied, “Cutie Mark Crusaders Ninjas!” Ryan looked at them; they weren’t even wearing any outfits.

“Alright, then.” He looked to the boutique. His guess was that they were having a sleepover there. “Now, get back inside and go to bed. You’ll need your energy for school.”

They all looked up at him defiantly. “Not until you tell us why you’re here so early!”

Ryan deadpanned at them, “I know you’re sisters and Rainbow Dash. I don’t think they’ll like you three being out so late.” The fillies looked at each other, then sighed in defeat.

“Fine.” Applebloom said. “But we’re gonna bug you about this later.” Ryan waved them off, and they went inside the boutique.

Ryan sat on the bench for another hour before deciding to get up and walk to the orchards. He kept finding himself teetering through the streets, though. Twice, he had to stop himself and get his bearings and correct his course. He rubbed his eyes as he walked, trying to get the sand and dirt out of them so he could see. Before he even realized, he was walking into Sweet Apple Acres.

“Well, I guess I’m here.” he said to himself. He dragged his feet along as he entered the farm property.

Ryan took his time walking to the barn house where he was to meet Macintosh to start working. His sister didn’t work when Ryan did, probably because she was either heading the stand or hanging out with her friends. Mac wasn’t into that stuff, Ryan could tell; and he was totally fine with that.

“Speak of the devil.” he said as he approached the barn. Big Mac was standing there, waiting for Ryan. They nodded to each other before entering and beginning their work.

*********************************************************************************

Shining Armor woke up slowly, taking in deep breaths as he got ready to move about. He had just woken up a few minutes before, as usual, next to his fantastic wife Cadance. Her chest rose slowly in her sleep, seemingly in perfect harmony with the chirping birds of the morning. The sunlight shone gloriously through the window of the guest room that Twilight had set aside for them. Inside, the room had a nice, rustic feel; much different from the palace of the Crystal Empire.

He got out of bed, careful not to wake his wife, and looked back. After the previous night, she was most definitely tired. “Such an angel.” he said. Unable to help himself, he walked over to her side of the bed and kissed her on the forehead. He would do anything to protect her.

That brought his thoughts to the human he had met the previous day, Harkness. At least, that was what he called himself. As Celestia had revealed, that was not even his real name. He had refused to share his reasons for the fake name, and had refused to elaborate on what was clearly a violent and complex past. With all this new information, Shining Armor wasn’t sure how he felt about him. He seemed good enough; not a troublemaker. But looks can be deceiving.

“I’ll have to confront him today.” he concluded. Cadance would have his head for it, or more likely NOT, but he had to make sure the this family and home country were safe from any harm.

Shining left his room , having decided to talk to Harkness today, and went downstairs, yawning all the way. He, too, had been tired out by the last night, starting with the friendly drinking. That was where his suspicions about Harkness started; he had been evading questions about a specific segment of his past, specifically how he came to Equestria, and hadn’t drank much. Shining tried to loosen up his defenses, but Harkness had seen that very clearly.

“He’s hiding something.” Shining said in a loud yawn. If anyone heard it, it was incomprehensible. “And I’m gonna find out what.”

He walked into the kitchen, expecting it to be empty, but instead walked in on Spike and Nightlight having a conversation. “Ah, Shining!” his father said. “I wasn’t expecting you to be awake. Please, join us.” Shining inwardly groaned; he had someone to speak to. But nonetheless, he sat down at the table with his male family members. “So, son, the trick to the heart of any mare is to be honest, kind, generous, but not too generous! Being funny, loyal, VERY important, and being there for them when they need you.”

Shining Armor smirked, despite himself. “I remember this talk.” He had gotten it when he was just a colt too.

“So, like, the elements of harmony?” Spike responded. Nightlight winked and clicked his tongue.

“There you go kiddo.”

That conversation was apparently over, so they turned to Shining. “So, what got you up so early?” Spike asked. “I thought that you would enjoy sleeping in.” Shining looked at his father; he already seemed to know.

“I was just thinking about the new guy.”

Spike smiled. “He’s practically a brother from another mother. We’re tight.” Nightlight smiled; Shining didn’t.

“I’m gonna try to get closer to him, you know? Talk to him.”

Spike nodded. “Cool. I think you’ll like him.”

Shining scratched his face. “I hope so.” He turned around and walked out of the kitchen.

“Son, you forgot your coffee!” Nightlight shouted after him. Shining turned around and took the coffee from his approaching father with his magic.

“Thanks.” he said, grateful for his father’s reminder.

Nightlight got up close, right to Shining’s ear. “Be careful where you tread, Shining.” he warned. “Sometimes, it’s best not to wake a sleeping bear.” Shining nodded, taking a sip of the coffee.

“Don’t I know.” He walked out of the library and went into the town. It was only seven forty-five.

********************************************************************************

Cadance woke with a big yawn and reached over to put her hoof to her husband’s chest. To her surprise, he wasn’t there. “Shining?” she said, scanning the room. He had this thing he liked to do where he would hide if he woke up first, he would ambush her and they would wrestle on the bed. They never declared a winner, though.

She got up out of bed, not happy with her husband’s absence, but not unhappy for the obvious respite. She was exhausted; the previous night, she had been playing all sorts of games with her family members.

“That was really fun.” They had played word games, gossipped about “noble ponies”, and reminisced on the old days. She had recounted how she met Shining Armor, his various blunders, and the great times they were having. Twilight Velvet had recalled her first time meeting Nightlight when he was a guard in the Royal Equestrian UniCorps. That had been a most interesting tale.

As she approached her door, she heard somepony leaving the library down below. She ignored it, and instead moved outside her door and looked around. She felt like she had rolled around in the dirt and mud, like it was clinging to her coat. She felt like a bubble bath.

“Now where is the bathroom?” she wondered. She walked about the floor, looking for the bathroom, until she finally found it about as far from her room as it got. “Ah, finally!”

After finishing her shower, she looked at the bathroom clock. It read ten after eight. The extra sleep had been nice. “I love this life.” She had no idea what Harkness’ life had been like.

She went downstairs in the search for his husband. “Hello?” she said. She heard the voices of Spike and Nightlight from the stairs. “Is Shining Armor here?” she asked as she came to the bottom. Nightlight ran out of the kitchen.

“No, he just left.” He smiled oddly, but in her tired state, it flew right over Cadance.

“Where did he go?” She was curious; Shining never left without word unless it was important.

“No idea. He just said good morning and went out.” Cadance looked to the door and shrugged. He would come back later anyway.

She went into the study area to read while she waited. For whatever reason, she felt like reading an epic about an anti hero this morning.

********************************************************************************

Ryan was hard at work with Big Mac in the orchard. Swea coated his brow and was already staining his clothes; luckily, though, he had forgotten his scarf and beret at Twilight’s library the previous night, so he wasn’t wearing those. Those would have made this especially hard.

Still, he would have to try to get them back in the least noticeable manner possible later. He had no desire to continue speaking to any of Twilight’s relatives, particularly Celestia. She could read him like an open book; it made him feel exposed and vulnerable. Twilight’s father, Nightlight, had been respectful of his privacy, but his son was certainly a contrary. He had been trying to get Ryan to divulge information all night. His wife seemed alright, but he had thankfully not had to speak with her.

It was about five after eight. Ryan and Macintosh had been working hard, trying to get as much done that day as possible. They never said a word, as it was neither’s prerogative to do so. They could both appreciate a good bout of silence. It’s good for the mind sometimes.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that an outside source can’t ruin the silence seemingly out of the blue. “Harkness!” A male voice called. Ryan turned; it was Shining Armor. He looked to Macintosh, who had also looked to the source of the voice. After a quick locking of eyes, Macintosh knew that he should probably leave. This wasn’t going to be a fun conversation.

“What?” Ryan replied, not looking back, but instead watching Macintosh leave. He was respectful; Ryan liked that.

Shining Armor walked over. His steps, while attempting to be gentle, were sinking into the ground under him from the force of his body. Ryan could see the tenseness in his neck, the veins and tendons ever so slightly bulging, like silver ore in a rock bed. His tail was swishing back and forth in short, quick motions. As he got closer, Ryan got a better look at his face. There was nothing friendly about it. His eyes were tensed up, slightly closed as if ready to have something flung at them. The muscles around his mouth twitched. His brow was furrowed. In his eyes, there was a single warning.

“Can I help you?” Ryan asked bluntly. He turned around and started working on the next tree, climbing up and putting distance between himself and the guard captain.

“I came to be direct with you.” Ryan was up in the tree, and loosened the gun in the holster.

“I’m listening if you feel like starting.” Shining Armor harumphed; few ponies had spoken to him disrespectfully. It wasn’t that it bothered him so much; it was the blatant disregard for common decency.

“I want to ask you a few questions.” Ryan picked away at the apples, letting them fall down. One landed on Shining Armor’s horn, getting him to violently shake his head to extract it from his person.

“I’m all ears.”

Ryan was bounding through the tree. Shining Armor had to circle the tree to follow him. “ You have the eyes of a stallion who’s seen things he shouldn’t have had to.”

Ryan tossed down an apple, missing Shining this time around. “And you have the eyes of a man who just got laid. But I don’t broadcast things that aren’t my business.” Shining frowned at the boy in the tree.

Ryan let himself fall from the tree, landing on his feet and sending a jarring sensation through him. He took a note not to do that again. “You’re not getting anything out of me. So please, just leave it.” Ryan started collecting the apples from around the tree.

“I’m afraid I can’t.” Shining replied. “You said you were a part of a war.” he stated. “What war?” Ryan stood up.

“I’m not talking to you about it. Not you or anyone.” Ryan was growing annoyed. This guy just wouldn’t leave him be.

“I’m not asking for your side.” Shining explained, hoping that it would get Ryan to open up. “Just which war.” Ryan sighed. It was already probably public that he had been in a conflict; might as well say which one, if it would get this guy out of here.

“The war on terror. Now no more.”

Shining Armor couldn’t leave it there, though. If this guy had been on the wrong side, he couldn’t just let him roam through Equestria. It was too risky. “Now I’m curious.” Shining commented, ready to keep questioning. Ryan scowled at him and out his hand to his side.

“Curiosity killed the cat.” he said. “With a .44 magnum.” Shining Armor cocked an eyebrow. He was unfamiliar with the term, so he ignored it.

“Sorry, but now I have to ask. Whose side were you on?” Ryan didn’t answer. He had finished picking up the apples, and was picking up the buckets. Shining put his hoof on the one Ryan was picking up. “Whose side were you on?” He was growing angry.

Ryan frowned. “Mine. Now. Piss. Off.” Ryan lifted up the bucket, throwing Shining Armor off of it.

Tensions were tight. So tight that Pinkie could probably cut them with a butter knife. Shining Armor moved to intercept Ryan as he walked away. “And what did that side entail?” he asked aggressively. Ryan dropped the buckets and moved his hand behind his back.

“My own goals.” Neither moved. “Shining, we can do this two ways.” He didn’t elaborate. When two warriors are about to go at it, words aren’t necessary. Shining knew that it was either leave him alone or fight it out. He moved aside; no need to get in trouble for beating up the new guy in town.

“...”

Ryan walked past him, keeping an eye on him. Neither spoke. Shining let him go for a moment, then followed.

He wasn’t going to let this go without a good risk assessment. It was just too dangerous. “You do understand that I can’t just let you walk away without some kind of all clear.” he said. Ryan stopped. He turned, eyes filled with the anger and sadness of before. It perturbed Shining Armor to see such eyes.

“Shining Armor, if you truly believe me to be a threat to your country,” he began. He turned to face Shining all the way. “than you had better kill me now.”

Shining blinked and shook his head. Had he heard this guy right? “I have no intention of harming any of yours, loved ones or not. I have no reason. As soon as I can, I’ll be out of here forever, never to be seen again.” He stepped toward Shining Armor, eliciting a step back from the stallion. “But if you plan on coming after me after this day, for any reason, I promise you, I will see it coming. And I will take as many of you down with me as I can.”

Shining looked into the eyes of the human now two feet in front of him. They were soulless, the eyes of a stallion who had seen bloodshed far beyond the comprehension of almost any pony in this world. “When I turn around, if you don’t snap my neck, we will be perfectly square. But if I detect any confrontation, any bit of a coming fight, you will be dead before you can utter a word.” His words carried more weight than any Shining had ever heard before. He swallowed hard; he was failing to stand his ground.

“How many have you killed?” he asked. He didn’t really want to hear the answer. Ryan got less than an inch from Shining’s face.

“I count forty.”

He turned and walked away.

Shining Armor’s knees finally failed him, and he dropped to the ground like a brass shell casing, his head bobbing and bouncing while he tried to maintain some measure of control over his body. It was an encounter unlike any before. He watched as the human walked away.

“I should be stopping him.” Shining Armor charged his horn and took aim. He pointed it and held it steady. And held it. And held it. And held it. He dropped his horn. He couldn’t do it. He wanted for nothing more than to take away this danger to society. But Harkness’ words rang in his ears like a gunshot through mountains. You will be dead before you can utter a word. Shining Armor wanted to vomit. He had actually been intimidated into submission by this unknown creature, something no guard is allowed to do. Harkness just kept on walking. “What the hell happened to him?” he wondered. Harkness was definitely not the guy he had met at dinner.

There was the sounds of hoofsteps from behind. Shining Armor half expected it to be Cadance, here to find him and chew him out for bothering Harkness. If she didn’t see any of that, he would have to explain it to her.

But when he turned around, there was not the sleek, beautiful form of his wife. Instead, he was greeted by a massive, barrel-chested, red pony wearing a yoke. The obvious workhorse was looking down at Shining Armor, a nearly blank, yet calculating, look in his eyes. Shining Armor looked up at him and rose himself. Ponies, he had no trouble maintaining his composure for. “Ah don’t think y’all can understand him very well.” That was all the workhorse said before he walked past Shining Armor carrying his own buckets of apples.

Shining Armor looked to the ground, thinking about what had just gone down. He felt strange; he had assumed bad things about Harkness. Albeit, they may have been true, but the farm pony’s words stuck in his mind like Harkness’ had. He looked up at the pony and human in the distance. If anypony clearly knew this guy, it was that one. Shining Armor decided to take the farm pony’s word for it, and he turned around and walked back to the library.

********************************************************************************

Cadance was reading a sad epic of a pony named Mustang who had fought in the last war against the griffons. It was a piece of historical fiction; as far as she could tell, there was no Nighthawk named Mustang who beat the baddies and got the mare in the end.

It was about eight thirty-five when she heard a series of knocks on the door. Nightlight had taken Spike out to teach him about mares, so that was Cadance’s first thought. “I told Spike that I was the one to ask.” She looked around; none of the others, even Celestia, were up yet. She stood and walked over to the door. “Who is it?” she called as she approached. The response surprised her.

“It’s Shining.” She recognized her husband’s voice instantly and flung the door open, rushing through to give him a big hug.

“Oh, I didn’t know you would be back so soon!” she said.

Shining returned the hug, though not as strongly as usual, and replied, “I didn’t think you would awaken so soon.” He sounded almost a little nervous. Cadance broke the embrace and studied her husband’s face. It looked like something had gotten to him.

“Come on inside.” she said, not hiding the concern in her voice.

They walked in and sat in the study area, Shining looking away from Cadance or toward the ground. She put a hoof on his shoulder. “Is something bothering you?” she asked. Shining knew that there was no point in lying.

“Well, I just went and had a talk with Harkness.”

Cadance blinked. “What?” she asked. Shining lowered his head. “Why does that bother you? What did you two talk about?”

Shining rubbed his foreleg guiltily and looked away from Cadance. “Well, I pressed him for information that... may not have what he was hoping to share.” Cadance frowned. She knew he would do this, she just knew. So she wasn’t as mad as she could have been.

“You should’ve understood that there are reasons why he wouldn’t want to share.” she criticized. “Why would you-”

“He’s killed.”

Cadance stopped. She had trouble realizing what she had just heard. “What?”

Shining looked her in the eyes. “He’s taken lives, Cadance. He said that he fought in the War on Terror, or something. I couldn’t figure out what side he was on.” Cadance shook her head.

“Why would-”

“He killed forty.” Cadance swallowed hard. “I was going to... I don’t know. I’m not sure how to advance from here.” Cadance looked at her husband. This was the only time she had ever seen him in a position where he had no idea what to do.

“Maybe you should let him be.” she suggested. “He won’t hurt anypony.” Shining chuckled, throwing Cadance off a bit.

“Yeah. He said that he plans on leaving forever as soon as he can.” She listened to this unhappily. This man, Harkness, was suffering. He had done terrible things, obviously. He had seen terrible things, that had to be true. And he seemed to seek to separate himself from society.

“That’s no way to live.” Both knew that Harkness would be leaving to live alone. “And I don’t think we should let him.”

Shining looked to his wife. “Why not? He won’t be a risk to us.”

Cadance deadpanned at her husband, “You never abandoned your own stallions. Don’t abandon this one.”

She stood up and stretched. “Are you going to talk to him?” Shining asked. Cadance looked to the door.

“Well, somepony has to.” She walked out, grabbing a green beret and a nice scarf on her way.

********************************************************************************

Ryan was walking back to the fields with Mac when he saw the pink alicorn on the horizon. “Frickin’ dammit!” he thought. Why couldn’t they all just leave him alone?

Ryan looked at Macintosh, who nodded and walked away. Ryan turned around to face the oncoming pink alicorn. “Can I help you?” Ryan asked in his most polite possible voice. He did a piss poor job of it.

“I have some things for you.” Cadance said on her approach. As she got closer, Ryan could see that she had his beret and scarf neatly tucked onto her back. She levitated them over to him.

“Thank you.” Ryan said. Now, he didn’t have to go back to the library. “But you didn’t come here to do that.” He was looking straight at Cadance, and she shuffled her hooves under his unmoving gaze.

“...No.”

She walked up next to Ryan, who moved away to grab his buckets to bring to the fields. “I came to apologize about my husband.” Ryan sighed. He had told her about the encounter, then.

“You don’t need to.” Ryan replied. “I don’t require any apologies. I just want to be left alone.” He started walking towards the fields. Cadance followed.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’ll be happening either.” Ryan looked at her, a flash of anger present for just a single moment. That moment was enough to make Cadance take a step back. “Please, Harkness.” she pleaded. She stepped forward and reached out. “We can help you...” Ryan laughed, and Cadance pulled her hoof back.

“If you really think you can help me, then you have more problems with your mind than I do with mine.” He walked away. Now, Cadance was offended.

She stormed on after him. “Why won’t you let anypony help you?” she asked. Ryan ignored her. “How can you just allow yourself to be this unhappy? This scarred? How-”

“Because some of us deserve it.”

Cadance stopped. So did Ryan. “What?” she asked. Ryan turned around.

“Some people deserve to be happy. You do. Your husband does.” He looked off toward the horizon on the mountain. “Some of us don’t. And you have to accept that.” Cadance shook her head.

“Everypony deserves to be happy.” Ryan took in a deep breath and let it out steadily, monotonously.

He turned; his eyes were again soulless and gray, an eternal void of emotions. “Even those who take the lives of innocents?”

Cadance tried to respond, but her jaw was failing her. She wanted to give him a response, something that would get him to allow them to help, but nothing came to her. Neither in words nor in mind, she had nothing. Ryan’s eyes were boring into her, like drills going into a chunk of wood, tearing away and splintering. Cadance closed her mouth and tried to think of a response.

“We can all at least try to be decent.” she said, half-heartedly. “You can become good again.” Ryan shook his head.

“I can’t.” he replied. “Because I don’t want to be forgiven.” He walked away and left Cadance on her own.

She looked on as he walked away, toward the field. She couldn’t accept that he was evil; if he was, then he would be causing ungodly amounts of trouble right now. But here he was, explaining WHY he was evil. Cadance could only think of one reason to try to help him; he could still be saved. She turned around and trudged away, barely clinging to hope for this human who had been a part of so many terrible things.

********************************************************************************

Ryan walked away from Sweet Apple Acres with his sack of bits and his standard setup. The sack had about one hundred bits in it after having worked in other places this week, and Ryan would be getting a bit more tomorrow from Applejack for his farm work. He was doing well on the farm. He could pick faster than most, seeing as he could specify which apples he wanted, and didn’t have to sort them after they were on the ground. He was getting a good setup; as long as he could try not to spend too much on alcohol, he might be going into the forest sooner rather than later. He just had to scope out the forest to find a good enough spot.

It was beginning to grow dark out. Ryan had been doing mindless work ever since Cadance left him be, but he had been having trouble forgetting about his past for the day. It was stuck in his head. “I’ll go to the bar.” he decided.

He was walking through town when he looked up into the sky and saw something odd. There was a topless carriage flying toward the town, with two ponies on the front. “Must be getting someone.” Ryan figured. He just kept walking, but kept an eye on the carriage. It was coming slowly, like whoever had ordered it wasn’t in any particular rush.

“Harkness.” a motherly voice called out. Ryan groaned. He couldn’t seem to catch a break today.

“Yes, princess?” he asked as he turned around. Sure enough, the tall form of Princess Celestia was standing before him.

“I wish to speak to you.”

Ryan sighed. “Seems like everyone does.” He looked to his right and saw a bench. He sat. “What is it that you want to know?” he asked, not inviting Celestia to sit with him. Celestia walked over to him. Off in the distance, the carriage landed.

“I don’t wish to ask you anything.” she said. “Well, maybe I WISH to, but I will refrain from doing so.” Ryan breathed in and out steadily.

“Thank you.” He actually did appreciate that. “So what is it that you came to me to talk about?” He still didn't like talking to her though; she made him feel so exposed.

“I just want you to know that you will always be welcomed here.” she explained. “I care not for your past, though I would certainly like to know more about it. I know that you are not going to cause trouble here.” Ryan nodded. She already seemed much better than Shining Armor. “But please, understand. The ponies here are friendly, and they already consider you their friend. They wish to help you.” She leaned in. “And I know that you think you don’t deserve help. I can’t even say myself that you do. But these things are rarely ever for us to decide.” Ryan looked at her; she had soothing eyes, soft and kind. Ryan was disarmed. “Please let them help you, if not for yourself, for them. They couldn’t bear it if you were to suffer because they couldn’t help.”

Ryan sighed. “I get that.” he replied. “But why would they want to help me, if I tell them the truth? You already know part of it. With what I did, most places in my world would be screaming for me to get Capital Punishment.” Celestia raised her eyebrow. “Death sentence.” Her eyes widened for just a second, but she regained her control immediately.

“And what do you think of that?” she asked.

Ryan shrugged. “I think that there are some people who simply deserve to die.” He looked at her. “I’m not an exception to that.” Celestia inched closer. “I can’t say that another man who committed my crimes deserves to die, while I deserve to live. I had motives that were far from noble; I wanted revenge. Sure, they were bad people, but they were still human beings, with families and loved ones.” He looked into Celestia’s eyes; both sets were filled with sadness, though one also had sympathy. “How can I justify ending so many lives and potentially destroying hundreds of others?”

Celestia shook her head. “We cannot always justify such actions. We must learn from them, no matter what they are. I know that I have had such trouble.” She extended a wing to cover Ryan around his shoulders. “We must try to forgive ourselves and to redeem ourselves.”

Ryan brushed the wing off. “There is no redemption for the devil.” he said. “He is the one that makes people need redemption.” He sat back and looked to the aging daylit sky. “Have you ever been forced to make a decision? One that no matter what you chose to do, you would be responsible for horrible crimes?” Celestia stared at him; his eyes were closed now, tears forming at the edges. “Have you ever been made to decide who lives and who dies? Who gets to see their child the next day or who has to watch their child go away forever?” He opened his eyes, still aimed at the sky. They were red and bleary, with tears coming from them in droves now. “Have you ever been made to decide between your own life and the life of that child?” Celestia felt tears forming in her own eyes.

Two guards in Air Guard armor approached, but Celestia waved them off. “No, I can’t say that I have.” she responded. Ryan nodded; he knew that. “But I can say this; if you ever need to talk, or rant, or simply be with somepony, I or any of these humble ponies are readily available.” She stood up. “I will drop whatever I am doing, if you so need. My sister would even do so.”

Ryan chuckled, looking to the princess. “Yeah. I know that she would.” Celestia’s brow went up; clearly, he knew Luna somehow. She would have to mention that to her sister.

“Well, I must say goodbye for now. I wish you well, and please.” She leaned in. “At least let them try to help you.” He looked at her, but didn’t speak. Then, she turned around and got into her carriage and flew away.

Ryan got up and dredged to the bar, where he would have a good long drink with what was now one hundred bits.

Big Mac walked through the town, looking for his friend of no words. They had spoken ten words, if that, to each other, yet they had a mutual respect and understanding. But Big Mac was going to be going against his understanding. Celestia had asked him to check up on Harkness, so that was what he was going to do.

He had little trouble trying to find Harkness. The only trouble was finding out which bar stallions went to to forget their problems. That just meant the place with the strongest drinks. “The Salt Lick.” he repeated to himself again. He had never heard of this place but once when he was a colt. The hardest drinkers went there.

He stood before the building, taking in the sight. Whoever the owner was, he or she certaily didn’t care much about upkeep. Of course, the customers probably didn’t care either. So why bother? When he entered, Big Mac could see that the inside wasn’t much better. The tables were old, some with rotted legs. The stools were all cheap, metal chairs, some even rusted. The cushions for ponies were torn and taped together. Half of the lights didn't even work. The only part of it that looked even semi-decent was the bar itself.

Big Mac could clearly see Harkness at the bar, hunched over and clearly in a dangerously low state. He had a shot glass in his left hand with a dark liquid in it. Big Mac looked up at the bottles on the shelves; Harkness was drinking Applejack Daniel’s. This particular brew had an almost absurd percentage of alcohol. Big Mac walked forward through the bar to his coworker, careful to avoid bumping into ponies who might be a little too tipsy and depressed to be stable.

“Harkness.” he said. Harkness turned his head to look at the intruder; when he saw Big Mac, he just turned back around to tell him go away. Big Mac shook his head and took a cushion next to Harkness. They both looked at each other when Big Mac sat down; neither moved. Ryan sighed in defeat, and simply tried to ignore Macintosh’s presence.

Oktoberfest came over, wiping a glass as usual. “What’ll you have, big fella?” he asked. Big Mac looked at the shelf.

“Gimme a shot of Samaloco Adams.” Oktoberfest nodded and went to pour the shot. “Princess Celestia asked me to talk to ya.” Macintosh explained. Ryan stayed silent. “She said that y’all need somepony to help ya.” Big Mac waited for a moment while his shot was brought him, thanking the bartender. “But Ah don’t think she can get you.” Ryan looked over, surprised. “Ah don’t think any of us can. Ah will always be there to help, just like everypony else. But Ah ain’t gonna try to make you do anything.” He took a sip from his glass. Ryan did the same. They stayed silent for a time.

Oktoberfest returned, this time looking oddly at the two workers before him. “Anything else?” he asked. Ryan tossed him fifteen bits to pay for his drinks. Big Mac tossed him five.

“No.” Ryan said. He looked to Big Mac. He knew what Macintosh was hoping he would do. “I think I’m good.” Together, Macintosh and Ryan walked out and went their separate ways, one to a comfortable home, the other to a roadside ditch.

********************************************************************************

Ryan went to the farm the following morning with a splitting headache. It didn’t come from drinking, though. It came from his own head. The whole night, he had been wrestling with whether or not he would tell anypony anything. No matter how much Celestia or Macintosh wanted, though, Ryan could not find any way to share his history without being ostracized and ultimately end up dead in the forest somewhere.

He eventually gave up and decided that telling the ponies anything was strictly not going to happen. Twilight would no doubt freak out and toss him away with her magic. Applejack could kick him to death. Pinkie could stab him with one of her no doubt hundreds of cooking knives. Rarity would strangle him. Rainbow Dash would probably grab him and drop him from a mile up. The worst, though, was Fluttershy. From what Ryan understood, she could sick a group of bears on him to tear him to shreds. None of it was very helpful for what he wanted to do.

On their way out the previous night, Macintosh saw fit to tell Ryan that he had stand duty, and he would be working with Applejack today. They hadn’t spoken another word after that, but Ryan could tell that he wanted Ryan to think that it would go well. Silently, Ryan had kept on insisting that it wouldn’t end well for him. When they parted ways, Ryan brooded on his luck, cursing Discord for not letting him die.

Discord hadn’t been happy about that. “Oh, so he’s going to be a jerk about being alive, eh?” he had thought. Discord evilly smirked. “Well, let’s see how he likes this.” Discord used his magic to knock over a tree on the way to Ryan’s ditch.

“What the hell!?” Ryan shouted. Discord chuckled. He was trying to force him to go the other way. Ryan sighed and went. But what he didn't know was that Discord was forcing him to go toward the exiting parties of Twilight’s parents and Shining Armor and Cadance.

When he passed by, there was the most awkward silence. Nightlight nodded curtly. Twilight Velvet smiled, but there was nothing but pity behind it. Cadance did the same, but she at least looked away. The worst was Shining Armor; he was glaring at Ryan with dagger eyes. He was promptly smacked by Twilight Sparkle, who then yelled at him. This prompted Cadance to smack him, and shortly thereafter, everyone was getting in on assaulting the Guard Captain and Prince. Ryan quickly ran away, eager to get out.

Of course, that wasn’t to be the end of Discord’s fun. He had already spent too much time not enjoying himself. “What else can I do?” he wondered. He watched Ryan as he walked. He was slightly buzzed, but not drunk enough to not notice massive changes in things. He gave it some thought. “That’s it!” He watched as Ryan walked over a bridge and slowed down on it to look at the passing water.

Discord created a small explosion in the water just below Ryan, totally soaking him and sending mud everywhere. Rather than freak out, though, Ryan just stood there. He wiped his eyes and looked around. Nothing could explain it.

“Damn magic.” he grumbled as he walked away. Discord just laughed away in his mind and left Ryan be, content with what he had accomplished.

That was how his night had gone. Suffice to to say, he was not in a good mood.

Of course, he had no idea that Discord was behind it. So, he was just angry at this world in general. “Damn magic and its damn weirdness.” he kept grumbling. He hadn’t slept much, stupid thinking getting in the way. Even so, it was better than what he would have seen sleeping, so maybe it wasn’t so bad. “I should just stop spending money and get out of here as soon as possible.” he told himself. “Or just buy supplies with what I have now and leave. But then I’d have more trouble living...” He didn't want to live. He hated living at this point. He wanted nothing more than to die. But he had made a promise. “I won’t betray my last friend again.” he thought.

He walked onto the farm in the fading darkness, a stark contrast to his mind. The birds had been chirping a little bit, but seemed to lose interest in noise as Ryan passed. He looked up at each tree, glowering and envious of their easy lives.

“Harkness!” He looked over; Applejack was walking towards him, her older brother in tow behind her. “Y’all ready to work?” she asked. When Ryan nodded, she spun around and waved for him to follow. “Let’s go!” Ryan looked to Macintosh; he just shrugged and left Ryan to work with his little sister.

Ryan caught up to the mare and remained silent as a mouse the whole way to the farm. During the walk, Applejack was constantly looking back at him, as if to ensure that he wasn’t lost or dead, which bothered him. Each time she looked, he would lock eyes with her, getting her to turn away from him. As comfortable as her older brother was around him, she seemed almost ashamed to be close by.

“Alright!” she announced when they reached the barn. “Ah’m gonna plow the fields ‘n you’re gonna plant seeds.” Ryan cocked an eyebrow; it didn’t seem like the time to be planting seeds. “Come on in.” She pushed the door open and sauntered through, and Ryan simply followed, slouching like a neanderthal.

He looked around. “Where are the seeds?” he asked.

“Off to the side, by the rakes.” she said, pointing over to the wall. “They should be behind the barrels.” Ryan walked over, unsure of why there were barrels in the barn. He didn’t bother questioning it, though.

He walked over to the barrels with his hands in his pockets. When he walked around the barrels, his head collided with a very low-lying wooden board. “Ow!” The beret fell off his head, making a soft pomf when it hit the floor, which was covered in hay. He picked it up, rubbing his head, and continued onto where Applejack told him the seed was. “Ah.” The sacks of seeds were in a heap on the ground. Mindful of his head, Ryan bent over and picked up two sacks. They were shockingly light, though, so he picked up two more.

“Why exactly are we planting things when we’re approaching the end of summer?” he asked as he walked out. According to his watch, it was now August Third. He didn’t think about what the date probably should have been. It wouldn’t end well.

“Because,” Applejack began, getting a smaller yoke than Macintosh’s around her neck. It was already connected to the plough. “These particular plants ain’t gonna be comin’ out of the ground until next year. They’re special.” Ryan nodded. “Now, let’s head on out there.” Applejack left the barn, evidently struggling against the plough.

Ryan followed her out of the barn and to the empty field where they would be planting. At the edge, Applejack stopped and took a moment to breathe. Ryan walked up next to her and looked out at the field. “You know, if you’re having trouble, I’m sure Mac would be happy to take the plough.” Applejack waved a hoof, dismissing Ryan’s suggestion.

“Ain’t no problem.” she said, huffing and puffing with the yoke dragging her head down. “Ah’m just as capable as Mac is. Y’all’re gonna see.” She didn't tell him the real reason for her insistence on this. “Trust me.” Ryan put his hands up and went back behind the plough.

Applejack sat on her hind for a moment and thought about what she had been told of him. Harkness had seen war, from what Twilight said. What he did in that war, nopony knew, but war is war. He had apparently called it a “War on Terror”, but none of the girls knew what that meant. It sounded really bad, though.

“Twi said that he needs help.” she thought, craning her neck to look back at the human, who was fiddling with an L-shaped metal instrument. He had clearly seen things he should not have, maybe done things he should not have. But Applejack wasn’t one to judge. “So Ah’m gonna try my best.” He was her new friend; it was her obligation.

She stood up. “Alright, time to get moving!” She pushed forward without waiting for a reply. The plough resisted movement, though.

“You alright?” Harkness asked from way behind. Applejack strained against the plough.

“Yeah, Ah’m good!” The veins in her neck and haunches bulged. Then she ran out of steam. “Dang.” she thought. She looked at the plough, the huge metal contraption refusing to even budge. “Well, Ah don’t think this is happenin’!” she yelled back to Harkness.

He walked forward. “Should we go get Macintosh?” he asked. Applejack shook her head furiously.

“No!” she shouted, prompting Ryan to cover his ears. “We can get other things done today that ain’t so hard.” Ryan looked down at her.

“Like?” He was growing impatient; he just wanted to work in silence. Applejack could sense it.

“Painting and fixing the barn.” she said simply. Ryan breathed deep.

“Alright.” He looked back at the plough. “Need help moving it?” A weary Applejack looked up at him, then to the plough, then back.

“Sure.” Ryan nodded and went behind the plough. He wasn’t strong enough to move it or really lift it, but he could still reduce friction with the ground by lifting it up ever so slightly.

They got the plough back in the barn and took a moment to rest. Ryan went over to the side of the barn where he put the seed sacks back and sat down back there. He plopped onto the sacks, not from exhaustion, but simply from disappointment that his day was no doubt going to involve tip-toeing his way around his past. He could already tell that that was why Applejack had opted to work with him.

“Why?”

He found himself asking himself that more and more often lately. And still, he never came to an answer.

“Harkness?” Applejack called. He sighed loudly, apparently loud enough for Applejack to hear. She came around the barrels. “Come on, lazy bum! We got work to do!” Ryan looked at her; she was way too happy.

“Alright.” As he stood up, he noticed her mood deflate just a little bit at his nonchalance and she frowned. “What?” he asked.

Applejack shook her head. “Nothing.” Ryan watched as she walked away, then followed.

She walked to the middle of the barn and stopped, turning around to get a look at Harkness as he approached. “Well, Harkness, there’s a couple of options here.” he stopped and listened. “We can either paint the outside of the barn, or we can fix up the inside.” He looked around; now that he was paying attention, he noticed that there were a lot of loose boards and damaged spots around.

“Yeesh.” he commented. Applejack scowled.

“Well, Ah guess we’ll be fixing up the inside.” Ryan looked at her, uncaring of whether or not he offended her.

“I would say so as well.” He didn’t understand when she harmuphed at him and turned around, tail swishing about.

She grabbed a tool kit from a work area at one end of the room. “Here we go.” she said, the kit messing up her speech while it hung from her jaw. “We need to re-shingle the roof, which Ah can do. You, though, will have to stay inside and fix up the wooden structure of the barn.” Ryan nodded. “Y’all’re gonna take them boards,” she said, pointing at a pile of wooden boards at one end of the room. “and you’re gonna use them to replace old ones or cover up holes. Any questions?” Ryan shook his head. “Good. Ah won’t be long.” Applejack ran back to the work area, grabbed her own tools, and ran outside, leaving Ryan all alone in the barn.

Thankful for the respite, he immediately went about his work. But, rather than pull out a hammer from the toolbox, Ryan just pulled out his own. There were still bloodstains on the wooden handle from when he last used it. “Meh.” It wouldn’t affect his work.

He went and picked up a board and glanced around the barn. There were several holes in the walls, so he just figured he would start with those. One at a time.

He could hear Applejack up on the roof, moving about with heavy hooves. She stomped all over the place, the noise a constant strain on his concentration. When he got over to the wall, he set the board down and took a look at it. “Dammit.” He had forgotten nails. As he turned around, a shadow formed on a patch of light on the ground from a hole in the ceiling.

“Y’all good?” Applejack asked.

Ryan looked up at her and shouted, “Yeah.” He continued forward and retrieved the nails from the toolbox. The shadow came back. “What?” he asked loudly, frustration growing in his voice. He could sense the glowering stare coming from above.

“Ah’ll be down shortly to help out in there.” Ryan grunted in response and went back to work.

Now with the nails, he was able to get to work. At the wall, Ryan bent over and picked up his tools, hammer in hand, board in hand, and nails in mouth. He pressed the board against the hole and got it into a position where it would cover the entire hole. Once there, he used his elbow to keep it in place and pulled a nail from his mouth and raised the hammer. He started swinging away at the nail, getting it thoroughly into the wall. Before he realized what he was doing, he found himself completely engrossed in the task. He forgot about the blood on the hammer, the killing it had helped him to do. In that moment where he was lost in work, he was able to totally forget about the past.

He kept that up for almost half an hour, hammering away at the nails and mindlessly droning away. It was exactly what he had been hoping for that day. But then it was ruined. “Harkness!” Ryan was startled out of his stupor and dropped the hammer, which landed right on top of his foot.

“Goddammit!” He shouted, picking up his foot and cradling it like a child. He fell over, and once recovered, glared at Applejack for startling him. “A little warning next time?” he said.

Applejack smiled sheepishly and trotted over. “Are y’all alright?” she asked. “Ah didn’t mean to startle you.” Ryan stood up and waved his arm about.

“No, I’m fine. Now what did you come down for?” He picked up the hammer from its spot on the floor and tried to go back about working.

“Well, Ah came in to help out with the inside of the barn.” She looked around. “Though Ah guess that you pretty much have it taken care of.” Ryan looked around as well; he had taken care of all of the low-laying damages.

“Mostly.” he commented.

He took another board and more nails and went over to a ladder that led up into the rafters where there were more holes. “Be careful.” Applejack warned as he ascended. He shook his head, wishing she would just leave him be.

“I’ve been in more dangerous places than this.” He couldn’t see, but below him, Applejack puckered her lips, as if in deep thought.

Once again, he took the hammer and started fixing up the barn, an innocent enough job. Even with that innocence, though, it was still dangerous. The hammer could fall from his hands, or the board might fall. But that didn't concern him, and he finished quickly and descended back to the earth.

Applejack walked over to him, admiring his work on fixing the holes. “Nice work.” she complimented. Ryan hung the hammer back on his vest and looked up.

“Good enough. But these aren’t permanent fixes. You’ll need to get a pro in here to patch up the walls.” Applejack smiled at him; he seemed like he was totally absorbed by the work, like nothing could bother him. It seemed like an appropriate time.

“So, Harkness.” she began. He looked over at her, still not in grouch-mode. “Ah decided to work with you today because-”

“Because you want to learn more about me.”

Applejack blinked at Ryan completing her sentence. “Umm, yeah. So, let’s head on outside, since we still got time to work, and get some apples.” She smiled widely; Ryan did not return it.

“Alright.” They walked out and went to the fields.

They had been silent on the way, Ryan in a state of Mushin and Applejack trying to establish how she would go about starting the conversation. They were taking apples from the trees when she finally decided to wing it. “So, where exactly were you surviving before y’all came here?” she asked, getting ready to buck a tree. Ryan was up in a tree, throwing good apples down. “Y’all have a lot of stuff from it, it looks like.”

Ryan dropped from his tree, a cold, stoic expression on his face. “The jungle. Where things try to kill you.” Applejack faltered in her kick and missed the tree completely. “That’s about it, honestly.” Applejack looked at him. She knew that it was not “honestly”, but she let it go.

She decided a different approach. “So, what’s the purpose of each of them tools?” she asked. Ryan broke from picking up the apples and looked at his vest.

“The hammer is for breaking things. The knife is for eating and cutting vines.” The lies were awful. Applejack looked at the L-shapes instruments.

“How about them?” she asked, pointing at the guns.

“Those are secret.” Ryan replied quickly, as if letting the question linger would result in some terrible catastrophe. Applejack could sense that she was to get nowhere with this.

Ryan decided to ask some questions in order to get the attention off of him. “So, Applebloom is your little sister, right?” he asked. He already knew that, of course.

“Sure is!” Applejack beamed, evidently proud. “Ah love mah little sister, even if she and her friends are a bit prone to trouble.” She chuckled a bit.

“What’s so funny?” Ryan asked.

Applejack looked around. “If y’all wanna hear a fun little secret,” she began, approaching Ryan. “she and her friends were responsible for releasing Discord.”

Ryan would have spit if he was drinking, choked if he was eating, and run into something if he was walking. “What?” he asked.

Applejack nodded. “So, you already know about him, huh?” she asked understandingly.

Ryan sighed. “Better than I wish.” Her understanding vanished. “That must have been pretty bad.” Applejack nodded, then went back to bucking.

“Yeah. Ain’t no other pony but Rarity that knows about that.” she commented. Ryan’s interest was suddenly piqued. “We don’t want the town to be mad at them or anything.”

Ryan started climbing a tree to get more apples. “If that’s the case, then why tell me?” he asked. “I’m new here. You have no reason to trust me, or think that I won’t judge. Why tell me?” Applejack bucked her tree hard, then turned around, sweaty and nastified.

“Well, Ah trust you not to judge. Y’all don’t seem the type.” How’s that for guessing the truth? “And I got no reason not to trust you. Just because you’re a stranger don’t mean y’all can’t be good.”

Ryan stopped picking apples to digest her statement. She was right, at least partially. Not every stranger was evil or dangerous. Of course, with how many Ryan had encountered, he wasn’t willing to take risks. Still, though, it was something for him to think about.

Once he finished his tree, working in silence, he dropped down, only to be greeted from a foot away by Applejack. “GAH!” He fell back and landed on the trunk of the tree. “Don’t do that.” he demanded, Applejack snorting and chuckling the whole time. She stepped forward and extended a hoof, which Ryan took hesitantly.

“You know, you can tell us things about yourself that you ain’t proud of. We won’t judge.”

Ryan stood up, nearly pulling Applejack down on top of him. “You don’t know that. Trust me.” Applejack let it go, and they walked back to the barn.

They arrived at the barn in another bout of silence, Ryan not intent on talking, and Applejack feeling awkward about not having made the conversations last longer. They stopped outside the wall of the barn and looked at it. “Not too bad.” Applejack commented. “Ah think you could do pretty well with this.” A light bulb turned on in her head. “What’s your cutie mark?” she asked. Perfect conversation starter!

“Humans don’t have them.” Maybe it wasn’t. But she would be damned if she didn’t at least try to to keep this one going.

“What?” she asked, poorly faking surprise. “How do you know you’re special talent?” Ryan shrugged.

“We don’t. A lot of people never find what makes them happy.” Applejack’s jaw was agape from speaking, and did not close after she heard that. She blinked three times, trying to think of a response, but she was struck speechless. How could he be so nonchalant about that?

However, seeing that he thought of it as normal, she did not press the issue. It would probably just depress her, anyhow. She changed the subject, looking at Ryan’s tools for inspiration. “Nice hammer.” She mentally hoof-smacked herself for the stupid comment. Ryan looked down at his hammer.

It was a nice hammer, actually. The handle, minus the blood stains, was a polished hardwood, maybe Cocobolo. It was sleek in his hand, designed for extended use. The head was perfectly flat on the hammer side, and the wedge for removing nails was rounded just enough at the edges that it wouldn’t randomly pierce the skin, but wouldn’t have trouble getting under a nail. It was a good tool. But that wasn’t the primary detail that Ryan noticed. It was that it wasn’t this tool made for taking lives. Now, it was just this thing that people world-wide used for normal work, not the deadly weapon he had made it. It wasn’t some danger to society that he had to hold in order to prevent its evil from escaping. It was a hammer.

“Do you want it?” he asked, picking it out and holding it out to Applejack. She reeled back a little, surprised by the offer. “I have no use of it any more.”

Applejack looked at the hammer, then to Ryan, then back to the hammer. “Alright.” she said. She took the hammer in her mouth by the head. “Thanksh.” Ryan nodded.

“Don’t mention it.” Once the hammer was out of his hand, he could feel the lack of its weight there, like a person had come and relieved him of some of the crap he had been carrying with him. He looked at his watch, then to the darkening, orange sky. “Guess work’s over.” he said. Without waiting for a response, he turned around and walked off, leaving Applejack alone and ponderous by that big red barn.

********************************************************************************

It was Friday night, and all the ponies seemed to be out tonight. Little ones were over at friends’ homes, playing games, occasionally running through the streets, chased by adults. Older ponies were walking about in the moonlight, some on romantic dates, others just because it was a nice night. Other ponies, like Twilight Sparkle, were just outside reading in the dim moonlight, using magic or lamps to aid in their task. The night sky was gorgeous; the stars twinkled bright, the moon shone brilliantly, and the constellations were extraordinary. Everyone was enjoying themselves that night.

Except for those ponies, and one huan, at The Salt Lick. As per their norm, they were all just wallowing in the pools of their misery, even on such a beautiful night. If Luna saw them this way, she would no doubt have their heads. And there was one in particular that she would no doubt want to keep.

“Give me another Samolaco Adams.” Ryan ordered from the new waitress. Oktoberfest had hired her because he was growing old and tired, and needed some other pony to be walking around taking orders. The waitress jotted down Ryan’s order and nodded.

“Yes sir, right away.” She walked off, swinging her hind like a human girl would who’s trying to show off. No doubt, the reason why she was hired was because all of the stallions in the bar were looking her way all the time. She had a light charcoal coat and a dark orange mane and tail, which she swished around any chance she got. Ryan still had yet to get her name.

“Oh well.”

She wasn’t a bad waitress; she always got him his drinks to him quickly. Her attitude wasn’t too perky, but just barely fit in with the atmosphere of the place. She also kept referring to him as “sir”, which bothered him. He wasn’t worthy of that title; he was no one’s superior, and never would be. When he asked her about it, she said that she refers to all soldiers with “sir”. Twilight had apparently told everyone about what she unfortunately overheard.

He just sat in his booth, trying to stay out of sight in case anyone came looking for him this night. He had had a long day. Not because of ponies, mind. He had been having trouble with his past. The previous night, he was having more nightmares, which kept getting more aggressive and difficult to deal with. They haunted him for the whole day, and now, here he was, drinking away the night.

There was a series of clop clop clop noises coming from off to his behind, where the door was. He listened intently to them; they were much too heavy to be the new waitress’, and Oktoberfest wasn’t about to come out. They sounded like they were coming from a large body, one that could generate great power with little effort. After a few minutes, they approached Ryan from behind.

“Hello Mac.”

Big Macintosh stopped behind Ryan, surprised that he could tell who was coming from behind him. Of course, with the few things that Mac did know about him, it wasn’t terribly surprising. Without speaking, Mac went to the other side of the booth and sat. Ryan, who was nursing his current drink, which was nearly gone, merely looked up with dying eyes for a moment, then let them fall back to the table. The waitress returned.

“Oh.” She hadn’t expected company. “Umm, what will you have?” she asked. Big Mac pointed his muzzle at Ryan’s drink. The waitress nodded. “Alright, babe.” She winked. “Coming right up.” She walked away, with even more swagger and swishing than before.

Ryan took in a deep breath and looked up at Big Mac. His coworker was looking in the direction of the waitress, eyes just under being wide, his nostrils moving very slightly. Eventually, when he turned around to look back at Ryan, Ryan raised an eyebrow and tilted his head toward the bar. Big Mac shook his head and put his hooves on the table, a small smile crossing his lips. Ryan shrugged and raised his glass to down the remainder of his drink.

Soon, both workers had their full drinks, this one being Ryan’s third, and they sat in silence once again. For a time, neither seemed interested on any kind of actual contact with one another, but that changed fairly quickly. Big Mac stared at Ryan while he looked down, and Ryan could sense it on his scalp, like the tingle of an itch. He looked up; Big Mac looked serious. Ryan shook his head and sat back, drink in hand. The beer sloshed around in the glass, nearly spilling over, like angry waves attacking the shoreline. Big Mac motioned at the drink, than at Ryan. Ryan sighed, defeated, knowing that it was true. He downed the drink, then looked at his coworker, becoming somewhat resentful of his presence. He looked straight into Mac’s eyes, boring through them to find out why he had come. Big Mac stood his ground, only showing sympathy for Ryan in his state of misery.

Ryan gave up on his endeavor. “Waitress?” he said, shaky in voice, mind, and body. His troubles weren’t going to be hidden by alcohol; only forgotten in the morning. She came over.

“What can I get you, hon?” she asked, a worried expression on her face. Ryan swallowed hard, trying to think of whether or not he wanted more or something stronger.

“I’ll have another.”

The waitress nodded, not hiding her worry in her face. Big Mac looked at her hard; when she noticed, she met his gaze, and he revealed his intentions for the human. “And my name is Cinny.” Cinny walked away to get more drinks.

Ryan glanced at Mac, who was quietly sipping away at his drink, looking innocent enough. Ryan knew that he was, too. His eyes said that he had never known anything but life in Ponyville. He never knew true suffering. He never saw the horrors that life had to offer. He had never been forced to make impossible decisions, watch his kind die... take the lives of his fellow ponies. He could never understand. But then again, he wasn’t trying to. He was just sitting in front of Ryan silently, a presence, not interfering with what Ryan was doing or trying to change how he was living. And Ryan was perfectly fine with that.

********************************************************************************

Luna walked heavy-hoffedly to the throne room that night. She had no desire to be dealing with all the nobles and their pathetic problems; not one ever came to her with a real problem. Although, they might have; she couldn’t tell any more. She thought of almost all problems as petty now.

Starstep walked behind her, his usual guard’s stoic expression on his face. His armor clacked a bit as he walked. Each time it did, it struck a very quiet cord in Luna’s mind. The clacking was like the ticking of a stopwatch. Once it stopped, she knew that it meant that she would have to do something.

But she got lucky that night. “Lulu!” She turned around; her sister walked over to her, a soft smile on her face. Her aloof demeanor and happy attitude served to alleviate some of Luna’s foul mood. Her sister typically managed to do that.

“Ah, Celestia. Good to see you.” Her sister came up next to her, and they walked together down the hall, followed by a now much larger contingent of guards. “I wish I could chat, but I must attend the Lunar Court.” She said it with evident disgust.

Celestia giggled. “You know, I might be able to help.” Luna looked at her, brow raised. “Maybe you could join me for an important talk in my chambers?” Luna smiled wide and nodded.

“Guards!” she shouted as she spun around, all but Starstep coming to attention. “Tell the court that it is dismissed. If there are any serious cases, they may return tomorrow night.” The guards saluted and marched off.

The two princesses and one guard walked away from the scene, the ladies giggling like they had done something naughty. Starstep had let a little smirk creep onto his face, and he chuckled just a bit. Once they were far enough from the court and nopony would hear, the princesses laughed loudly into the nighttime air, releasing their pent up humor.

By the time they had gotten to Celestia’s chambers, they had calmed down considerably and were quiet once more. Celestia opened the door tentatively, as if she thought there might be a sleeping stallion inside. Once the door was open, and they clearly saw that they were alone, the three ponies entered and shut the door.

Celestia went over to her little coffee table, followed by her sister, but not Starstep, who hung back. They both looked at him, curious, but when they saw his look of wariness, they simply chuckled and let him be. As much of a confession as one could get.

“So, how was your trip to Ponyville?” Luna asked. Celestia used her magic to lift up two cups of tea and the pot and poured them each a drink.

“Very nice, though not at all what I was expecting.” Luna “ooh”d at this as she took her tea, her childish nature of curiosity and wonder taking over.

“What was so interesting, if I may ask?”

Both princesses took a sip of their tea, smacking their lips in satisfaction. “The new friend Twilight mentioned was... different than expected.” As soon as she said that, Starstep took interest in the conversation and stepped forward, trying to discern whatever he could about the conversation.

“What was so interesting?” Luna asked.

Celestia took another sip of her tea. “Well, first thing is that her friend is male. That shocked me, but that was in the letter. At first, I thought she found a nice stallion for herself.” She looked at Luna’s expression, which looked doubtful, eliciting a chuckle from the ruler of the sun. “Well, when I saw that he isn’t a pony, I figured out why that wasn’t it.”

Luna had been sipping her tea, but stopped when she heard that. “What?” she asked.

Celestia nodded. “Yes. I’m afraid what exactly he is had escaped my memory, but it was interesting.” Her smile faltered, fading rapidly like a sped up sunset. “He has suffered, this much I can tell. He saw things that nopony should see, much like you, Starstep.” she said, switching to Starstep mid-speech. He looked sad at the comment. “I hope that my student and her friends can help him, but I do not know. But, back to a lighter note, he seems quite fine, not at all undesirable for a resident. Except for the potential for alcoholism.”

Luna took it all in, finding herself going back to her memories of Ryan. The description matched him well, except for the alcoholism. From what she had seen early on, he wasn’t that kind of person. Of course, he wasn’t the kind of person he had once been at all around the time he died anyway.

“What is his name?” she asked, curious but hopeful. Her hopes were destined to be dashed for the time being.

“He said his name is Harkness.” Luna’s ears fell flat, her face sagging like a sad old mare. “But he was certainly lying. I managed to get that out of him.” Luna’s ears remained down. She shouldn’t have let her hopes get up. Ryan died, and there was no getting away from that.

“I see.” Her mood was ruined now, all thanks to her inability to keep the colt out of her head.

Celestia, sensing the change in mood but not questioning it, stood and stretched. “Well, I believe that it is time for us to go to bed now.”

Luna stood up and turned around, hyper-extending her legs to pop the joints around. “Indeed.” She started to walk away, but her sister had one last thing to say.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Luna turned around. “He knows you personally.” Luna blinked. She had never met this stallion or whatever. How could he know her? Maybe it was a griffon-pony combo; those existed as far as she could tell. Or it could be something entirely different.

“Interesting.” she said. Starstep walked up next to her and poked her side, sensing that Luna might start thinking about Ryan. “Well, good night.” Celestia returned the gesture and shut her doors once Luna left.

She walked down the hallway in a sullen, but not terribly unhappy silence. She hoped that she might get to meet this guy some time.

********************************************************************************

It was half past eight, Saturday morning. The birds were chirping head-bangingly, the grass was moist with glistening dew, and all the morning animals and ponies were on their little routines.

Ryan was walking to Fluttershy’s cottage to do that cataloguing thing with her. Being the only human, it was his job to let her get an idea of what humans are like physically. If he ever needed a nurse for a specific problem, she would end up being the one to go to.

He was on the trail to her cottage, a strange place built into a big, twisted tree on top of a hill. Animals were everywhere; in the tree, on the ground, in the air, in the water, in his face, clinging to his pants, looking up at him from underneath.

“No view for you.” he said, kicking at the animals, which responded by angrily waving limbs at him. He cocked his brow at them; they were actually intelligent. “Great. This’ll be fun.” He walked past the animals to the cottage house.

On the way there, the door opened up and a familiar workhorse walked out. He had two empty baskets attached to his sides. “Thank you again, Big Mac.” Fluttershy said, coming out from behind the massive stallion.

He nodded his head. “No problem.” he replied. They stood there for a moment, silent, awkwardly looking around.

Fluttershy almost immediately saw Ryan. “Oh!” she announced, drawing Mac’s attention to Ryan. He would swear that he saw the stallion’s face go dark, but he couldn’t really tell. “I’m glad you made it, Harkness.” she said, turning around and waving her hoof. “Please, come in.” She walked inside. Ryan walked past Mac, giving him a sneer as he passed him. Mac grumped at him. Shut up. Ryan just chuckled and walked inside.

The inside was no better than the outside; it might have been worse. There were bird houses EVERYWHERE, hanging from the ceiling just high enough that Ryan wasn’t banging into them. There were dozens of mouseholes in the walls, each one with a mouse looking out of it. Each one that saw Ryan ran inside and shut a tiny door. Looking around, Ran also noted some raccoon nests, squirrels, chipmunks, and a bear.

“Is that a bear?” he asked, pointing to the behemoth in the corner. It growled at him.

“Mr. Bear, you should be nicer to our guests!” she said, staring at Mr. Bear. He submitted much faster than any self-respecting bear should have.

“So it is.” Ryan concluded thoughtfully. He would have to be careful; that bear, like all animals, could obviously see into Ryan like a clear lake.

Fluttershy pointed at a large, lush couch by the wall. “Please, lie down.” she said. Ryan walked over suspiciously. It looked like a therapy couch, but he wasn’t to judge their fashion. He laid down slowly, keeping an eye on that bear in the corner. “Great. I’m going to start by asking you questions about your anatomy, then we can move onto the next step.” Ryan breathed slowly; he would have to prevent that next stage.

She started with simple questions, like “What are your limbs called?” and “what major organs do you know you have?” He answered them with ease; there were only a few organs he couldn’t remember from health class. Bone and nerve structure were simple, as was the immune system. It got awkward around the reproductive system. “Umm...” She was pretty hesitant. “Where are your, umm, genitals?” she asked quietly. It was a good thing Ryan was listening; he wasn’t sure she would repeat that.

“Between my legs.” Fluttershy grew red.

“O-okay. And umm, how do they,umm...” Ryan took over to keep her from being too embarrassed.

“They hang free, and they’re just like what I assume most of the stallions around here have. One, then two.” Fluttershy wasn’t spared the embarrassment, though. She hid behind her mane.

A thought popped into Ryan’s head, and he just couldn’t resist. “Is this about Big Mac?” he asked, giving her a “Oh, you!” kind of look. The mare’s pupils became almost microscopic; her face wasn’t even remotely yellow any more; she breathed so shallow, you couldn’t see it.

“No!” she yelled, getting all of the animals to look at them. Ryan chuckled. He would stop there; he was still at least part gentleman when it came to shy girls.

“Okay then.”

Fluttershy stared at him, her pupils getting really big. Her timidness had disappeared without a moment’s notice, and she almost seemed mad. Ryan was confused. “I did not do that.” They locked eyes; in Fluttershy’s, he could see strength that he hadn’t thought to be there. There was an inferno of passion of the soul, born from a pilot light from her mind.

Fluttershy had trouble maintaining The Stare for long. She couldn’t bear what she was seeing in this human’s soul; pain, anguish, anger, hatred, suffering. She had never even heard of anything like it before, save for the veterans of the last war with the Griffons. She broke her gaze.

“Please, don’t think that of me.”

She looked less powerful now, but she still held unexpected confidence. Still perplexed, Ryan looked sideways at her. “Allllriiight, then?” He had no clue what had just happened. Of course, he did not know that no pony had ever resisted The Stare before.

They broke away from that little event and continued cataloguing. Ryan told her a little about the history of humans and their evolution, their dominance of the world, and their adaptations. But then, the tough part came.

“I need you to remove your clothes so I can get a good sketch of you.” Ryan gulped hard; he had to steer away from this.

“Well, Fluttershy, like how you're not that kind of mare, I’m not that kind of guy. I don’t do pornos.” Fluttershy flushed a little, but did her best to maintain her composure.

“It’s not that. And yes, I do understand about... that.” She pointed at Ryan’s crotch. “But I have to catalogue all animals that haven’t been catalogued. So I’m used to that, especially as a vet.”

Ryan inched away, into the wall. “Well, I don’t want to do that. I’m not comfortable.”

Fluttershy moved closer, trying to make him more comfortable. Never, EVER move closer to a cornered animal if it’s scared. “Please, just do it. I promise I won’t laugh.” Ryan opened his mouth to respond, but just blinked when he realized what she said. He decided to get serious, since joking wasn’t working.

“Sorry, Fluttershy, but I don’t want to. I think that you would be a little disturbed by what you saw.”

Fluttershy frowned. “I don’t-”

“And you probably won’t understand. If you saw, trust me, you would get it. But you won’t see. So that’s that.” He stood up and went for the exit. When Fluttershy followed, he turned around and looked down at her, being as tall as possible.

“Please. It’s for your good, not mine.” That was so solidly true it would make a better weapon than a brick.

She stopped. She was a vet, but she was also compassionate about the animals’ and ponies’ problems. She wasn’t going to force him to do anything. “Alright. You can go.” Ryan nodded.

“Thanks. And I was glad to help.” No, he wasn’t. Not at all.

He left and walked through town, looking for that tiny river so he could get a good look at himself. When he got there, he was indifferent about what he saw; he looked like hammered shit, with several distinct marks from each of the places where he had gone, namely Vietnam. His face looked like it was naturally dirty, coarse, and smelly. His clothes, while clean of blood, had once again become disgusting and smelled like garbage. Overall; not too bad.

Rarity would never say that, though. “Harkness!” she said, posh and proper. Ryan started, and nearly fell into the water. How had he allowed anypony to sneak up on him?

“Hello, Rarity.” He turned. “And Applejack.”

The two mares were smiling and walking together, a stark contrast to one another. One was clean and and purple, walked with regal posture, wore a fashionable scarf. The other was dirty, a rusty orange, wearing no clothes at all and had a workers’ poise. “Howdy!” Applejack greeted giddily. “How are y’all today?” The two mares were way too happy; something was up.

“I’m good enough. Just finished with Fluttershy.” The mares did not seem to care, except that it meant that Ryan was free to talk to them.

“Well, since you’re done, why not join us for a walk?” Ryan considered the option. They wanted something, he could tell. But he would be taking a big risk if he said no.

“Alright.”

He stood up and walked with the mares around town, not joining in on their conversation as they walked. They were talking about stallions. “Ah’d like a good, hard working stallion for me. Ain’t no other gonna work.”

Rarity nodded. “I want a handsome, noble stallion. And one who’s of good stature, of course.” She gave Applejack a sly smile, drawing a frustrated look from the farm mare.

“Well, Ah can’t say that Ah think Big Mac would.”

Rarity looked around. “Well, who ever said I meant Big Mac?” she said in mock offense. “What if I meant Harkness?”

Ryan turned around at the sound of his fake name. “What?” he said in mild surprise.

Rarity nodded. “Yes. I mean, just look at you!” He did; he saw very little. “I see a strong... human? Who works hard and is rather impressive.” She was trying to get to Ryan, but it was doomed to fail.

“Well, I AM rather large.” He shrugged. “But I bet you already saw that while I was showering.”

Applejack looked at her friend, barely containing her hysteric laughter. Rarity was turning red. “Well, I can assure you, that if I wanted such a thing, I would have taken it.”

Ryan threw out his hands in the air. “Well, I guess that you would love to just take advantage of me, then.” Applejack couldn’t hold it any more, and she dropped, bellowing out her laughter. Passing ponies looked on with interest.

Rarity used her magic to toss dirt at Applejack. “Well, I suppose that you would be rather afraid to hear our plans for tomorrow.” she said in mock disappointment. Now he actually was afraid.

“What are you planning?” His fear was evident in his voice, making Rarity wince at having actually scared him.

“We’re taking you to the SPA!”

He blinked several times, unable to understand why he was going to a spa. “Spas aren’t really my thing...” he tried. Applejack looked at him, not happy with the response one bit.

“We already told the gals that you would be there, Harkness.” Ryan actually felt like he had been slapped across the face. “Fluttershy said that it would be good for you, so we agreed and told ‘em.”

Fluttershy, of course. She had gone around the rules to get this. He would have to keep an eye on her in the future. “Now, you’re gonna join us cuz’ it’ll be nice, and you’ll feel great.” Ryan looked between the two mares, trying to find a way out. Regrettably, thanks to Rarity’s dangerous, potentially sexual-assault nducing magic, there was no way. He sighed loudly.

“Fine.” The mares smiled big and ran up to him and bear hugged him.

“You’ll love it, we swear!” Ryan shook his head. Why was he letting these things happen to him?

When the mares let go, Ryan nodded to them and took his leave, feeling the taste of defeat manifesting itself in his mouth as he considered how to explain the distinct scars in a way that would fail to indicate what he had done to get them and everything after.

********************************************************************************

He walked around the town in the dark of the predawn, still wondering what to say. Nothing had come to mind during the night, which he had spent mostly drunk and barely conscious. That was the trouble with forgetting; he couldn’t think either.

He was stuck. He had agreed to go with them to the spa, but he had no story to go off of. “I’ll wing it.” he decided. He could probably come up with something pretty good on the spot. He had done it before; he could do it again.

Rarity had told him before he left to be at her home early, around eight, for a whole day at the spa. So, that was where Ryan headed. He found his bench from before, when the Cutie Mark Crusaders had tried to attack him, and simply sat for hours until well after the sun rose from its spot below the horizon. Ryan’s star still twinkled a little into the early morning, fading at times, but always coming back strong, until its light was blocked by the sun. It seemed like it had a connection to him, though he couldn’t see how. Even in a world of magic, he hadn’t earned his own star.

It was about quarter after seven when he came back. “Well, Ryan, I see that you’re in something of a tight spot.” The Wraith commented. Ryan grunted, putting his hand to the Automag. “You remember how that went last time, right?” Ryan looked at the pistol which had been so ineffective before and took his hand away from it. “Good.” The Wraith said.

The Wraith sat down beside Ryan on the bench and crossed his legs, whistling a little tune. “What do you want?” Ryan asked. He was looking angrily at The Wraith, his resentment for his past dominating his features. The Wraith put his hands up into the air.

“What, I can’t spend time with my brother, whom I connect to so very much?” He struck a cord in Ryan with that one.

“No, you can’t. Now piss off.” Ryan stood up and went to walk away, but was quickly stopped when he heard several noises from inside the boutique.

“Whoops. Can’t just ditch her, now can you? That’s what I’d do.” Ryan scowled. He only had a short wait until Rarity came out to get him, and there was no way that The Wraith was to leave him until that time came. So he might as well just wait.

“Tell me something, Wraith.” He turned around and looked at The Wraith, who had his arms open and out wide.

“All ears.”

Ryan took several steps forward, trying to be intimidating. It didn’t work. “Why are you pestering me?” he asked. “What have you got to gain from this?”

The Wraith put his hand to his chin, deep in thought. “I suppose it makes for an interesting story.” he said. Ryan shook his head, confused.

“What?”

The Wraith suddenly pulled out a book with a strange binding to it and odd symbols on the front. “You see this book?” he asked. Ryan nodded. “This book is the story of your life. Everything that happens gets recorded in here, all thanks to the magic of this land.” He waved the book around, then flipped it open. “Says here that you went and got a dance back in Australia, had a good time.” He looked at Ryan, whose face revealed no reaction. The Wraith shrugged and put the book away.

“Unfortunately, it can’t see the future.” The Wraith smiled and lightly looked at Ryan. “But I don’t think I’ll need it to see your future.” Ryan sharply took in a deep breath and put his hand back on the gun.

“Fuck yourself.” The Wraith stood up, cracking his joints as he did so and let out a long sigh.

“Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m afraid that I have to go. Things to do, places to go, ponies to see.” Ryan blinked, and The Wraith was gone. He sighed loudly, resentful of the being’s presence, and went and knocked on the door of the boutique.

He knocked three times, then heard a big clamor inside the store. Rather than go inside and investigate, though, he waited at the door, not eager to get involved in any of the potential craziness inside. After a few minutes, the door opened, revealing the tiny form of Sweetie Belle.

“Harkness!” she shouted, a silly grin splaying out on her face. “You’re going to the spa today!” Ryan nodded, unsure of why she felt the need to announce that. Kids.

“Yeah. Where’s Rarity?” Sweetie Belle waved him in and walked him to the stage of the room.

Upstairs, there was a ton of noise and the sound of a panic. “Is everything alright?” Ryan asked. Sweetie Belle dismissed it with a wave of her hoof and a shake of her head.

“She’s just working on an order. She does this alot.” Ryan nodded, sitting down on the stage, and was ready to let his mind wander when Sweetie Belle wasn’t letting him do so. “Harkness?” she said. Ryan looked down; she wore a sad face for some reason.

“What?” he asked, taken off guard.

“Can I ask you to do something?” She pouted and blinked three times, looking tiny and weak on the floor. Ryan didn’t even try, sighing in defeat.

“Sure.”

Her smile returned instantly, practically illuminating the room. “Next week we have to bring in somepony we know for a project at school!” she began. “Most kids are bringing family, but mine is too busy. Would you come with me?” She looked at him with such hope that even Ryan didn’t have the lack of heart to deny her. It was too much like Joey.

“Depends.” he stalled. “What would I be doing?” He secretly wished that Rarity would hurry it up up there.

“Well, we have to bring in somepony to tell us about their job and life, and answer questions for the class. That’s why most ponies are bringing family. Scootaloo’s bringing in Rainbow Dash.”

“Well, shit.” He had just basically agreed to revealing himself to a bunch of little children. At this point, he could hardly say no. But he could make excuses. “Well, I never had a job, I was just a student. I can’t-”

“Then how did you get so badly hurt?”

Ryan didn’t continue with his sentence. Through the power of observation, something Ryan thought to generally be missing among the intelligent life he had spent the most time around, she had figured out that he did some very different things from most people. He had to think fast.

“A series of events that I don’t think children should hear.” Sweetie Belle looked up at him in total awe. He was just digging his hole that much deeper every time he opened his mouth.

Then, his saving grace came. “Rarity!” he shouted in an attempt to get Sweetie Belle to look that way. It worked. “Ready to get going?” He smiled as big as possible to indicate that the little sister was pestering him ferociously. She took notice immediately.

“Sure, darling, just let me get a few things in order. I will be but a moment.” That moment was all Sweetie Belle needed.

“So, can you do it?” Straight forward, no way around it.

Ryan clenched his teeth under his lips for a moment, then replied calmly, “Sure.” The tiny filly leapt into the air, legs splayed out wide and horn slightly aglow.

“YAY!”

Rarity came back and looked hurriedly at the clock. “Oh, dear, we’ll be late!” She used her magic to grab a small bag and then Ryan by the neck of his jacket, dragging him along the floor to the door. It was a highly unpleasant experience for the human, who grunted loudly as he was pulled along.

“Later Harkness!” Sweetie Belle shouted. Ryan saluted her as he was dragged away along the unpolished marble floor.

Once outside, Rarity released Ryan form her overly invasive magic and he fell like a boulder to the ground, creating a big thud. He just got back up. “Thanks for the save, but it was a little bit late.” Ryan said. Rarity nodded rapidly at him, prancing about.

“Yes, yes, you’re welcome, but we must hurry!” She turned around and started running, and Ryan ran after her, much slower due to his lack of horse anatomy. Humans aren’t built for that kind of powerful running.

“What time is it?” Ryan looked at his watch; it was quarter ‘til. They had plenty of time. Rarity just hated the idea of being late, it seemed.

Rarity arrived about twenty seconds before Ryan did, looking rather distasteful when she sniffed the air upon Ryan’s arrival. He was sweaty and gross already. “Egad, you really could use a spa treatment.”

Ryan stopped before her, panting like a dog, and held up his index finger. Then, he said, “Well, if you weren’t trying to weaken me so much to the point of defenselessness, maybe I would be looking better.” They had run there incredibly fast; faster than Ryan had ever run before. Rarity turned mildly red, and flung her mane to the side with a whisk of her head.

“Well, I assure you, I am strong enough already.” Ryan just glanced up at her, finally starting to recover from his exertion.

“Well,” he said, standing up as tall as possible. “I think that you’ll find me to be more durable than you in the end. And at the climax of the battle, isn’t the ability to take it and give it back what really counts?” Rarity looked flustered, but let out a fit of giggles.

“Oh, my. I can’t seem to win.” She then looked like she had some kind of revelation. “Oh, I nearly forgot!” She pulled out a pair of shorts that Ryan would wear from her small bag. “I made this for you for today.”

She gave Ryan a pair of swim trunks that would fit snugly over his waist. “Oh. Thanks.” he said. Once that was done, they went inside and looked around the waiting room. Sure enough, all of the mares, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow were there. Rainbow, though, looked around like she had stolen something. “Yo.” Ryan greeted, taking the chance from Rarity to extend it and start more of a conversation. The mares all looked over at the pair as it entered.

“Hey!” Pinkie yelled back. She bounced out of her seat and straight at Ryan. “So, are you ready for your super relaxing awesome wonderful super duper day at the spa!?”

Ryan blinked. “Yes?” Pinkie stood on her hind legs, like a human, and extended her forelegs out to the sides. Ryan rolled his eyes and picked her up, getting giggles from her and her friends. Except Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash; they looked nervous, both, and shameful, too.

Ryan walked over and took a seat that looked toward the door and the group of mares before him. To his right, Fluttershy was trying to hide behind her mane and Rainbow Dash, while Rainbow Dash was looking around like she had committed a crime.

“What’s with you two?” Ryan asked.

Fluttershy squeaked some response out, but it was incoherent, and Rainbow Dash said, “I’m not into this stuff. I’m just here because Fluttershy asked me.” Ryan looked around Rainbow at the timid pegasus, who gave her best effort to remain hidden. She knew that Ryan wasn’t happy with this.

A very foreign accent came from the desk. “The large appointment for Miss Rarity?” It sounded like a combo of Swedish and German accents to Ryan.

“Yes, that’s us!” Rarity said back, going up to the desk. Ryan and the others all stood up and walked up to the desk behind Rarity.

“Oh.” the desk mare said at Ryan’s unexpected form. “You’re tall.” Ryan raised an eyebrow and stuck his hands in his pockets.

“Okay.”

While she was looking at Ryan, Rarity also turned to him to speak. “Harkness, you didn’t have to carry all of those things with you, you know.” Ryan didn’t respond quickly.

“I do, actually.”

Rarity gave him a mildly concerned look, then turned back to the desk mare. “Do you have anywhere that he can put his things?” The mare nodded.

“Yes, we have lockers where you can store your things for the day. Please, follow me.” The desk mare came from the other side of the desk and walked over to a door at the side of the room.

“You girls go ahead.” Ryan said, not intent on being followed. “I’ll be in there once I’ve stored my things.” The mares all nodded and went to the spa area.

The desk mare led Ryan through a serie of halls that were lavishly decorated and very clean and white. Purple curtains hung from the windows and ceiling, and there were assorted potted plants and little statues around the hall. Eventually, they came upon a room that had a “Stallions” sign on it. “Here you are. Come out when you’re ready.” She left Ryan to enter the room, which he did as slowly as possible.

The room was small, as to be expected. Most stallions probably didn’t find themselves here very often. Looking around, Ryan picked a locker, number seven, and stored his things in it. They fit in very tightly, only barely fitting. He then put on his new set of trunks, which fit excellently, if a bit snug at the waistline. He shut the locker and looked around.

“There’s gotta be a towel in here somewhere.” he said to himself. When he spotted the basket, he grabbed a large one and put it around his chest and walked out.

He just followed the signs to the spa room, and found himself there rather quickly. Inside, there was a large inground hot tub that could easily fit two dozen, with six mares inside talking and laughing. His entrance would surely end that laughter.

“Harkness!” Rarity poshed. “So glad to see you didn’t run off.” She looked smugly at Applejack, who grumbled something. They seemed to have bet on his showing up. “Please, join us.” Ryan breathed in deep; now was the moment of truth, and he still had no story.

He removed the towel and hung it on the wall, the steam of the room preventing the mares from seeing his scars. He took a quick glance at them before proceeding; the hole in his chest, the chemical burns on his arms, the cuts on his leg, and the big USA and slash marks carved into his back. He would have trouble explaining these things.

He walked toward the pool, and as he got closer, close enough to be seen, he could hear at least two of the mares gasp. He looked to Fluttershy; she looked like she might faint. He might have to catch her if she did, seeing as it would be his fault. He stepped down into the hot water, about one hundred and two degrees, and eased himself in. It was certainly a hell of a lot better than sixty degree water in Vietnam.

Next to him, he wasn’t sure when it happened, was Fluttershy when he was fully in. She had moved stealthily through the water and was taking a look at his back. “What are you doing?” Ryan asked, already knowing.

“I’m checking for that... hole... wound...” She blinked several times when she saw the letters in his back. “W-what happened?” Ryan moved away. With no story, he would just have to refuse.

“I prefer not to talk about it.”

The others suddenly took a great deal of interest in Ryan’s physique with that. Rainbow was the most aggressive. “What? Lemme see!” Before Ryan could react, he was yanked into the middle of the pool and thrown face down into the water. He could still hear, since his ears were above the water. “USA?” Rainbow said, confused. Ryan forced his way back up.

“Yeah, my country of origin. United States of America. Now let me go.” He walked away from her, not happy with the sudden intrusion of his space.

When he sat down on one end of the group, the others were all looking at him. “What?” he asked. Again, he knew exactly what.

“Harkness, Ah think it’s time for you to tell us the truth.” Applejack stated matter-of-factly. “Ah know you’ve been lying and trying to hide. But we can’t let you do that; it ain’t good for you.” Ryan was about to respond angrily when Twilight piped in.

“She’s right, you know. You shouldn’t suffer alone.” Ryan sighed loudly, choking a bit on the spa water fumes. “Trust me. This won’t be good for anyone.”

The mares were suddenly much closer. “Please, tell us the truth. I don’t like seeing ponies unhappy.” Pinkie had big pupils and a pouty lip that quivered like a whimpering dog.

Ryan put his head down. There was no way out of it. “You want the truth?” he asked. The mares all nodded. He nodded as well. “Alright.”

“My name isn’t Harkness. It’s Ryan. That’s the first bit of news.” The reaction was minimal; it wouldn’t stay that way. “Let me start with how the whole thing started. I went to another country, Australia, to visit my friend. When he, I, and some others were driving to a city for a concert, we were attacked by men who aimed to kidnap us. They succeeded with everyone but Jackson.”

Rainbow was already confused, and made it well known to everyone. “Who’s Jackson, and why were you kidnapped?”

Ryan addressed her question quickly and curtly. “Jackson was a friend of mine. And the men kidnapped us to sell us as slaves.”

Twilight swallowed hard. “So what happened to Jackson? Did he get away?”

Ryan shook his head gravely. “Nope. Died in the initial attack. Shot twice in the head, several times in the body. His jaw hung like a broken branch from his face.” Ryan gauged the reactions; all looked sick, but Fluttershy was about to faint. Ryan moved forward and held her up. “And the rest of the story is a lot like that. So I’ll let you recover before I keep going.”

They spent the next few minutes in silence, Ryan trying to see what the mares all thought of him. Mostly, they looked like they pitied him, but there was something else. Some kind of fear of him, like he had been expecting from the start.

He was about to continue when the spa mare came in. “Ready for massages?” she asked in her foreign voice. Ryan stood up in the water.

“Certainly.” He walked away, Fluttershy still getting better in his arms, and was followed closely by the mares. The spa mare looked at him funny, but made no mention of what she was seeing. She just led them to the massage room.

Ryan looked at the tables; they were pretty small. His arms and legs would be hanging off the sides. “Please, lay down. We shall begin shortly.” There were only two mares doing massages; the others were doing various other things in the room.

Ryan got onto the table, joined by Rarity at the other, and waited. No one spoke. “I think you can keep going, Harkness.”

Ryan cleared his throat. “Ryan.”

“After we were taken, save for Jackson, we were transported through various islands, all of which make up a country called Indonesia. We were kept in a series of shitty little compounds in the country.” He couldn’t see it, but everypony in the room winced at the use of his foul language. “That was where things went pretty bad.”

Rarity blinked next to him. “How could it get worse?” she asked.

Ryan grunted as the spa mare started rubbing his back. “Just wait. You’ll know.”

“On the boat on the way to one compound, I was given a choice. Shoot my best friend or this girl named Catherine. I shot Catherine.” The room went completely silent. “Yes, I killed an innocent. And yes, I know that I’m going to Hell. But this is what you wanted to hear, so this is what you got.” The spa mare on his back slowed down, clearly disturbed, but kept going. The silence was broken when Twilight finally spoke up.

“What would have happened if you hadn’t done that?” she asked.

“We all would have died. But that doesn’t make it any better.”

He continued. “After that, they brought us north to another compound. It was there that I made my escape. When I got away, though, I had to go and get my friend, Harris. So, I went to the next compound and I got him.”

Rarity, who had been perturbed, actually seemed almost fascinated by the story now. “How did you do it?” she asked.

Ryan thought for a moment. “I killed about seven guards there. They... I don’t know what I was going to say. But I killed them because they had my friend.”

Pinkie Pie had a revelation over in the mud bath. “Wait, how did you get the scars?” she asked. Ryan hesitated. There was a reason he left that out.

“I was given another decision. Shoot a kid in the head or everyone got Anthrax and was sent home. I shot the kid in the head. But right before that, I was tortured.” There was a collection of gasps. “The burned my arms with chemicals and cut up my back, the big USA and grouping under that. I don’t like to recall it.”

He decided that this was more than enough for the mares, so he left them with one more thing. “And because of what they did to me, I decided to hunt down the man responsible and kill him.” Rainbow Dash left her spot in her own mud bath and walked over to Ryan.

“Did you?” she asked.

Ryan nodded. “I killed them. Forty lives, I took, three of which did not deserve it. And those are the details of the story that you will be getting.”

There was no talking after that. The revelation of Ryan’s true history was too much for the mares to handle. They spent the next two hours in total silence, a concept very welcomed by Ryan. Once the visit was done, Ryan got his stuff and left and sat in his ditch for the rest of the day, tears silently streaming from his eyes and knowing that life was about to go off the road for him again.

Innocence Observed

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Innocence Observed

“I may be revered or defamed or decried; but I tried to live my life right.” (Tracy Chapman)

It had about a week since Ryan told the mares the truth about himself. They had reacted exactly as he had been expecting; shock and a bit of terror, maybe some disgust. They had been doing their best not to show it, but it was still quite certainly there. He could see it in their eyes, though only in the couple of glances he got at them. They did their best not to look into his; they were too scared of what they would see.

They hadn’t spoken to him almost at all in that time, either. The only communication he got from any of them was a quick sentence or request at work. Twilight had him moving books around, and had refrained from asking him any questions since the spa. Rarity had him moving fabric around, and Applejack had left Ryan to work with her older brother. When he passed any of them on the street, except for Rainbow Dash, they would look at him with the most disgusting pity in their eyes.

Rainbow Dash, though, had no pity for Ryan. When she passed him, she gave him a look of aggression, anger flashing across her face with each passing. She had been keeping an eye on him in her spare time, Ryan could tell; she wasn’t very good at hiding. Her shadow would dominate the ground whenever she flew overhead. “Have you nothing better to do?” he had asked her once.

As soon as he finished his question, though, she flew down and landed right in front of him. “I’m watching you.” Then she just flew off, a rainbow that, to Ryan, looked anything but beautiful.

Other than that, he had done a few things in the last few days that would make his life more livable. He had found that carrying all his bits around was getting tiresome, so he went and found a bank that he could keep his money in for the time being. He had been forced to take Twilight there, though, to get the bank teller to take him seriously, which was terribly awkward.

“Twilight,” Ryan had said as he entered the library. “I need some help establishing a bank account for myself.”

Twilight had been taking out various books and flipping through them, evidently trying to distract herself from something. “Oh, Har- Ryan. I wasn’t, umm, expecting you.” She tossed the books to the ground uncharacteristically. “Sure, let’s go.”

On the way to the bank, she had tried to start a conversation with Ryan and failed. She told him about how she sent a letter to Celestia regarding what Ryan had told her, about his real name and the various other things he had explained. Silently, Ryan reprimanded himself for revealing such information, but was glad that he didn’t explain how Luna had been involved in ALL of it. That could have ended very negatively for her.

But now, he had about three hundred-forty-one bits in the bank. He was actually getting along, as far as he knew, and would, with any luck, be able to get out of this world and into a solitary one. Having a bank account would make everything easier.

He also found a gym where he could work out like he used to. After all, wouldn’t physical fitness be helpful for living in the deadliest forest around? The membership had cost him fifteen bits to start, and would be another ten every month he had it. But it was fine, since he could use it however much he wanted. The machines were all wrong, but the free weights would work fine. It was lucky that they were shaped right for him to hold, since most of the stallions there used them to work out their neck muscles by holding them in their mouths.

Now, though, he was getting up on a damp Monday morning, dreading having to go to Rarity’s boutique for another awkward day of moving fabrics around and taking short, curt orders. “I hate life.” Ryan said to himself as he climbed out of his muddy trench. He looked around, noting how the countryside was shrouded in mist and everything was nearly invisible within it. “I really do.” He stood up and cracked his joints, and walked off into town at half past six.

As he approached the boutique, he started thinking about what he should do about living in the forest. He couldn’t well just walk in there one day, to do so would be fatal. He had to go in there first to check which areas would be the best for settling. He would have to map out the forest as best he could, if he couldn’t obtain a map, and take into account what he might encounter. He had promised Harris that he wouldn’t allow himself to die, a promise that he regretted almost as much as everything he had done. It would be awhile before he could actually go in and not come out, and he would unfortunately have to live around here in order to get enough money to be able to set himself up to move on.

It was six forty-five when he knocked on the door three times as firmly as he could. After a minute of nothing, he knocked three more times and waited. This time, the door swung open, but nopony was there.

“Hey Ryan!” a small voice called from below. Ryan looked down; it was Sweetie Belle, Rarity’s little sister. “Are you ready for today?” she asked.

Ryan cocked an eyebrow and looked down at her, confused. “For work?” he asked.

She cocked her head sideways. “No, for school! Today is the day I get to bring you in to talk to my class!”

As she spoke those words, Ryan’s blood ran cold. He had both forgotten that he would have to do that, and he also never found out what day it would be. “Oh.” he replied. “I didn’t know that was today.” He looked past her into the boutique, looking for Rarity, but she was nowhere to be seen. “Is Rarity here?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “She’s busy working upstairs. I already told her that I was taking you today, so you don’t have to work. She has a really big order to fill out, so she probably won’t come down.” She turned around and went back inside. “Come on in! I made breakfast!” Ryan sighed and obliged.

They went into the kitchen and sat at the small table, which Ryan’s legs barely made it under without flipping it over. He looked down at the plate before him; there was strange looking oatmeal in front of him and a glass of milk on the side. “Thanks.” he said, picking up a spoon and beginning to eat. As soon as the substance hit his lips, he felt like there was a super-magnet trying to remove it from his mouth, but he was able to fight it and swallow. “Ugh, umm, wow.” he said, on the verge of retching. “What is it?” he asked, trying to be polite.

Sweetie Belle didn’t sense his disgust, thankfully. “It’s applesauce!” she shouted excitedly, a big, toothy smile on her face. Ryan blinked twice, and then looked down. Sure enough, there were chunks of SOMETHING in the bowl before him. “Do you like it?”

Ryan took a swig of the milk, which was a great savior from the horrible apple sauce. “Sure.” he lied, though not very well. “It’s far from the worst thing I’ve had in my mouth.” Blood will always taste worse than anything else, especially your own.

Sweetie Belle smiled and ate her own breakfast, a bowl of cereal and milk and a glass of juice. They ate in silence, no longer having anything in particular to say. But Sweetie Belle would have none of that.

“So what exactly did you do before you came here?” she asked. “You said you were a student. What did you study?”

Ryan took a big swig of his milk and answered, “I was a student at a public school, so I didn’t study anything specific. We did science, history, literature, foreign language, math, various other optional subjects, and did physical education. We didn’t do a ton.” He shrugged with his last statement and pushed the bowl of breakfast slop away. “Just the standard stuff with higher level courses sometimes.”

Sweetie Belle finished her food and put her dishes in the sink, something Ryan doubted Rarity appreciated. She left the kitchen for a minute, leaving Ryan to take care of his own dishes quickly before she saw that he wasn’t going to eat what she made. While at the sink, Ryan decided to wash the dishes in the short time he had. “Ready to go?!” Sweetie Belle asked excitedly. Ryan turned and saw her, backpack on and full of energy. “Let’s go!” She ran off, Ryan sighing and walking after her.

The journey to the schoolhouse was short and mildly irritating. Ryan had caught up to Sweetie Belle and had her slow down, which she did, only it meant more questions. “What kinds of things did you learn in school? Why can’t you tell me about other parts of your life? Where are you from? What brought you here?” Ryan didn’t answer any of the questions, partly out of a lack of desire to answer, and partly because they came so fast, he couldn’t answer. When he saw the schoolhouse, he felt like he had been saved by the devil, who would no doubt make him pay for it soon.

They approached casually, although Ryan kept his eyes darting around to see what there was to see. The little fillies and colts, the same size as Sweetie Belle, were all talking to their friends, their adult companions having their own conversations. None had noticed Ryan yet. “Let’s go find the girls!” Sweetie Belle ordered, running off into the crowd of ponies. Ryan sighed and followed.

When he was close enough that he was noticed, a lot of conversation stopped or became extremely hushed. All adult eyes were on him, scrutinizing him, judging whether or not it was safe for him to be near their kids. He passed one in particular wearing a tie and suit-like vest. “Morning.” he greeted, not waiting for a response. As soon as he was past, the conversations gained volume again. It seemed that he did something right.

“Ryan!” Sweetie Belle called. He looked forward; before him, there were the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash.

“For the love of God...” Ryan thought. He had no desire to see Rainbow Dash right now. “Hello.” he said as he approached. “I trust everything is going good?” He tried to seem like he cared, but the Element of Honesty wasn’t one to lie to.

“Good, good.” she answered. “Umm, how’re you?”

Ryan shrugged. “Good enough. I’m alive.” He had made that his standard, and yet, he only barely met it. “Got a bank account and a gym membership. Not much else happened.” He turned to Rainbow Dash. “And how are you?” He barely hid the suspicion in his voice, and the two mares could tell that he was using an accusing tone. “Seen anything interesting lately?” he asked.

Rainbow Dash huffed, not even trying to hide her distaste for the human. “No, I haven’t. But I bet I will eventually.” Scootaloo looked up at her surprised, then back at Ryan with an apologetic look.

“Who knows? Maybe you will.” He stuck his hands in his pocket. “The world is full of all sorts of mysterious and crazy things. You never know when you’ll see them.”

The bell rang, ending their accusatory conversation and drawing a relieved sigh from Applejack. Rainbow Dash was about to say something to Ryan, but he ignored it and walked inside with Sweetie Belle. Inside, he took his place at the back of the room, where he stood among the adult ponies, who all looked at him in either wonder or mild fear. He did his best not to notice.

“Good morning class!” A light purple mare came into the room with a small saddlebag, yet no saddle. Magic. “I’m sure we all have our ponies-” She noticed Ryan, who raised a hand and gave a half wave. “and others, I suppose?” The little ones all turned and saw Ryan, leaning on the wall with his arms crossed, looking tough. They turned back quickly. They all replied with a single, “Yes Miss Cheerilee.”, and so the class began.

“Who wants to go first?” Cheerilee asked. Half a dozen hooves went up instantly, the rest following close behind. “Hmm... how about you, Diamond Tiara?”

Ryan blinked twice to himself. “What?” he wondered? “What kind of stupid name is that?” Then he remembered how his name probably sounded pretty ridiculous to them. It’s all about perspective.

“Certainly!” she shouted. She turned and looked to the back of the room. “Daddy?” Ryan turned and saw that stallion with the tie and suit from earlier get up and walk to the front of the classroom, a content look on his face. “Tell them all about yourself.” There was a hint of stubborn pride and arrogance in the little filly’s voice.

“Sure.” Her father stood in the front of the room and pulled a chart paper from his suit, something Ryan hadn’t thought about doing. He should have brought something other than...

“OH SHIT!” He had completely forgotten that he had his arms on him, guns and knife. He wasn’t thinking about it earlier when he left with Sweetie Belle. “Why? Why did I forget?” How he had forgotten something so important was beyond him. He just had to hope that none of the kids noticed anything.

“My name is Filthy Rich.” the stallion stated. Ryan snorted at the joke of his name. “I buy and sell stocks in various companies, which has done very well for me. My job mostly consists of...” And he went on, losing Ryan’s attention completely. Ryan was busy reprimanding himself for foolishly bringing a GUN into a room full of small children.

The stallion finished fairly quickly, the kids not even coming close to understanding what he was saying. Mostly, it seemed like he was talking to the parents, trying to show them how well they could do if they invested a small amount of money into his system and career choice. Cheerilee got right back in front. “Who’s next?”

Sweetie Belle’s hoof was the first one up, causing Ryan to groan inwardly to himself. “Ooh, ooh!” she said. Cheerilee chuckled. “Me!”

The schoolteacher stood aside and looked to the back. “Sure. Who did you bring Sweetie Belle?” Sweetie Belle pointed right at Ryan, a huge grin that said “fuck yourself” or some variant of the phrase pointed right at Diamond Tiara. “Alright... come on up, mister..?”

Ryan got off the wall and stepped forward. “Ryan.” He walked forward toward the front of the room and a teacher who looked like she was expecting more.

“Ryan..?”

He blinked three times at her. “Just Ryan.” She nodded and stepped away from the front, leaving Ryan to battle the onslaught of questions on his own.

He looked out to the crowd, which was totally silent and staring intently at him. They were all curious about this new, intelligent creature, and their curiosity tried to bore into Ryan like a drill. He was denying it like with a shell of diamond, making sure that no one saw the rather unpleasant truth underneath the surface. “Alright. Guess I’ll tell you about myself. I’ve never done this before, so be gentle.” He drew some chuckles from the adults in the back, except for Rainbow and Applejack.

“I’m actually only seventeen, though my appearance would never suggest that.” The reactions he got from his first sentence were all of surprise, like they had expected him to be in his mid thirties. “I was a student at a public school, one of the best in the nation, even better than a lot of private schools. I studied the standard course load: Math, English, Foreign Language, Science, and History. I went into a few advanced level classes, but not many. I had my friends, with whom I had some adventures that I might tell you when you’re older.” The adults chuckled again, some even laughing.

“I had only two hobbies, but I dedicated my life to them. I did SCUBA Diving, the deepest I ever went being about one hundred and ten feet. I’ve seen some cool stuff. My other hobby was Karate. I’ve been practicing for about thirteen years, and got my Second Degree Black Belt.”

The little kids were all staring at him, mouths agape, and the adults were either wide-eyed or giving approving looks. They were impressed, and the fillies and colts were looking at him with eyes that were filled with questions. “That’s all I have, really. Questions, I guess?”

The whole of the class before him raised its hooves, all the little ones making noises in an effort to be called on. Ryan was taken aback by the sudden interest in him, and looked to Cheerilee for guidance. She was laughing away off on the side, barely noticing Ryan’s predicament. When she finished, she looked to Ryan and motioned for him to go on. “Alright.” he said hastily. He looked around; his eyes fell on a gray filly with a silver spoon for a mark. “You.” he said, pointing at her.

The class hushed, something most classes in Ryan’s school couldn’t do for their lives. “Do you have a cutie mark?” she asked, sounding slightly snobbish. Ryan raised an eyebrow at her question, trying to indicate that it wasn’t very good. Don’t listen to people who say that there aren’t any stupid questions.

“No. Humans don’t get them. Ever.” The whole class, including the spoon filly, gasped loudly, as if he had uttered some terrible curse in front of them. “What?” he asked honestly. “We don’t, it shouldn’t be that strange. We get tattoos, but nothing magically appears on our as- flanks.” He barely caught himself. “It’s not that bad.”

There was hushed muttering among the little ones, and they slowly began to raise their hooves again. “You.” Ryan said, pointing at a light blue one with a darker blue mane.

“Where are you from?” he asked.

“I come from the United States of America. It’s a country that’s very, VERY far away. You’ll never see it, unfortunately. Or fortunately. Hard to say at times.” The kids looked at him, confused, so he continued; “All depends on your idea of fun, really. Most people who live there under appreciate it, but it’s pretty good.” In an effort to get away from a certain line of questioning, he looked around for more hooves. One colt, very skinny, had his raised. “You.”

He stood up tall. “What gave you the injury that you first came here with?”

Ryan’s blood ran cold, and his face paled a little bit, but not noticeably so. His fingers gripped the desk he was sitting on hard, giving him white knuckles, and he chewed on his inner lip trying to think of an answer. Lying had failed him, so he would have to be forward with them. But he could still zig-zag.

“The events that injured me in such a way are of a nature too malapropos for me to divulge upon to ears so pubescent. I cannot, in reputable mentality, explicate upon that area of my history.” Glancing around, he saw that he had successfully fried the brains of the kids in the room. “I might be able to give you a censored, heavily abridged version, with the parent’s permission, though I personally find that unlikely.”

Before he even finished that sentence, Filthy Rich stepped forward and into the center of the room. “I think that the censored version would be fine, don’t you all?” He turned around to see the nodding heads, then turned back to see Ryan silently brooding. “Care to share?”

Ryan swallowed, hoping that he wouldn’t find himself elaborating too much on everything. “Very well.” He sat all the way on the desk and took in a deep breath, closing his eyes. When he opened them, he prepared himself for the worst. “Before I came here, I found myself in the middle of a war of a very different nature than most think of when they think of war.” He hopped off the desk and moved to the chalkboard, picking up a piece of chalk, and started drawing something. “It was a war between the world, slave traders, and myself.” He wrote SLAVERS on one side of the board and WORLD on the other. “I was here.” He put his name in the middle.

When he turned around, he could see a lot of questions in the eyes of the little ones, and horror in the faces of the adults. Well, they got what they asked for, and if they didn’t like it, well, it sucks to suck. “Any questions?”

Sweetie Belle was the first to raise her hoof, and the only one. “Why were you in the middle? Why weren’t you on the side of the world?” She sounded a bit concerned.

“Well, I fought in this war, but not for either side. I fought mostly against the slavers, and once or twice against the world when it tried to stop me. But I only sought to take down the slavers.” True, but he wasn’t explaining his motives.

“Why?” Sweetie Belle asked, forcing him to explain his motives.

Ryan sighed. “Well, they did a lot of terrible things to a lot of people, myself being among those people. So I fought back.” He set the chalk down and went to walk to the back of the room. He was stopped by a question that he wasn’t expecting.

“Did you win?” The light blue one with the dark mane asked him that.

“What?”

“Did you win, beat the slavers?” Ryan blinked. He had never thought about that before, really.

“Well, my goal of taking down their leader was achieved. So yes, I guess that of them and me, I did win.”

The eyes of the colt looked like stars, glittering and bright. “So, you’re like, a war hero, right? You beat the bad guys and saved the day!” The little ones all looked up at Ryan, awestruck by the colt’s inference. Ryan chuckled to himself. This time, though, they all noticed. “What?” the colt asked.

Ryan stopped chuckling, realizing that it wouldn’t be very funny to them. “There are few heroes in war, and they are rarely those who fight. And on another note,” He turned to face the colt. The nametag on his desk read RUMBLE. “I’m one of the farthest things from a hero that you’ll ever meet.” He walked to the back of the room. “And so that’s all about me.” The students started clapping their hooves together, making a lot of clop noises rather than clap noises.

Cheerilee went back to the front. “Well, that took longer than expected. We’ll break for lunch now, but we’ll resume when we come back and finish up. I guess you kids don’t have to go through my lesson plan today.” She mocked disappointment, drawing lots of laughs of joy from the students. “Dismissed!”

The little ones all ran outside, leaving the adults and Ryan in the schoolhouse to chat amongst themselves and catch up. In Ryan’s case, it unfortunately meant meeting new ponies.

They all stood around, mostly, just talking amongst friends. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were talking off to the side, and there were other little groups of friends around the room. “I wish my life had been this simple.” Ryan thought. His life had been much worse than he had always hoped.

“Hello!” a voice called. Ryan turned around to see that guy, Filthy Rich, walking towards him. “It’s good to meet you. I’m Filthy Rich.” He extended his hoof, which Ryan took hesitantly. “So you’re the creature that everypony’s been talking about.”

Ryan cocked an eyebrow at still being called a creature, but let it slide. “I wasn’t aware that I was the talk of the town.” he replied. “But I guess that comes with being the only human.”

Filthy nodded. “Ah, yes. While my case was not so... unique, as your, I remember being the only one who was different for a time. It wasn’t easy for me, but, well, look at me now.” He raised his chin proudly. “I own my own stocks business and have made myself my own success.”

“Very impressive. I wish I could say the same for myself.”

“Ah, I’m sure you could. You said that you fought evil ponies, those despicable slave traders. You can do anything you want, I’m quite certain of that.”

Ryan chuckled. “I wish that were true. But the past is the past; I tend to focus more on the future.”

Filthy smiled a big, excited, business smile. “Well, if you ever find yourself in need of money, I’m sure I could help you invest. You did great things for the world; I can only try my best to repay you for that.”

Ryan liked this guy. He was friendly right off the bat and wasn’t asking him any prodding questions. “That would be great, but I don’t think I’ll be sticking around. I might be here awhile, but long term wealth isn’t that important to me. I plan to leave eventually.”

Filthy’s smile became sad, but persisted to live on. “Oh. Well, I wish you the absolute best, and hope you live the peaceful life that you’ve earned.”

Ryan thanked him, and their conversation ended. Filthy walked back to his group of fellow investors and money handlers, where it sounded like they were all wishing Ryan would let them handle his money. Ryan had a bank for that, so he didn’t need them, but they were still nice people. How Diamond Tiara was apparently such a bitch was beyond him.

He was about to walk outside to get going when he suddenly found himself before Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The two ponies were looking up at him, surprise and suspicion on their faces, and neither seemed very friendly at the moment. There was a moment of silence before anyone spoke.

“Can I help you?” Ryan asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

“Yeah.” Rainbow said aggressively. “What do you mean, you plan on taking off?

Where do you think you’re going, huh? Trying to run away from us so you can go hurt more ponies?”

“Rainbow!” Applejack shouted. It was a good thing she shouted, too, because Ryan was about to ream at her. “That ain’t okay!” Rainbow Dash grumbled and stepped back, lowering her head. Ryan, jaw clenched and fists tight, looked at Applejack, who turned back to him. “Ah’m sorry about that.” she said. “But what DO you mean about leaving?”

Ryan snorted. “What I do is my business. But if you must know, I have no intention of staying here. First chance I get to move out of here that I can take, I plan on doing that.”

“Where are you gonna go?” she asked, curious.

“Hell if I know. But I won’t be sticking around here anymore.”

Rainbow looked up at Ryan from behind Applejack and grumbled, “We don’t want murderers here anyhow.”

Ryan snarled at her, causing Applejack to move back in fear. “Fuck you.” he said, shoving his way past Rainbow Dash. He pushed her hard enough that she landed on the floor, drawing looks from everypony else. “I don’t have to take your shit.”

Applejack helped Rainbow up under the watchful eyes of the other adults, trying her best not to make a scene. “Rainbow, why in tarnation did you say that?” she asked. Rainbow didn’t answer. “Augh.” Applejack looked out to the angry, hurt form of Ryan that was walking away. “Ah don’t want you causing him any trouble any more, understand?” Rainbow Dash nodded ruefully, and they went outside for some fresh air.

Ryan was about to get on the road when he heard a tiny voice from his left. “Halt!” it said. “If ye want to gain passage by the road, ye have to pay the toll.”

Ryan looked to his left, then down. There was a tiny guy playing like a pirate next to him, a young Brit, by the sound. “I have no money.” Ryan explained, going along with it. “What would the pirate take from a man who has nothing?”

The young pirate looked thoughtful, but in the end, had nothing. “How about you give me-”

He was cut off by three fillies tackling him to the ground and rolling away. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS COAST GUARD PONIES!” they shouted. They all rolled away, tumbling across the grass, wrestling the whole way. In the end, the three fillies had him pinned on the ground. “Hah! We got you!” Sweetie Belle announced. “Do you submit?”

Ryan walked over, laughing to himself very lightly as he approached. “I submit.” the pirate said regretfully. The fillies extricated themselves from the boy and stood proudly next to Ryan. “They have rescued you from my pillaging.” Ryan blinked and tried to ignore what he heard.

“No fear, little man.” Ryan said, going over and extending his hand to the young pillager. “It was a good wrestle.”

The young one took his hand and stood. “But I had to wrestle girls!” he whined, drawing eye rolls from the fillies. “It was gross!”

Ryan laughed and patted the boy’s head. “Someday; trust me; you won’t think that. You’ll WANT to wrestle with them.” He just looked at Ryan like Seriously?, and then looked to the fillies, who were pretend gagging behind Ryan. “Now run along and play.” The pirate boy ran off to play with his friends.

Ryan turned around to leave again, but before he could get going, his legs were tackled by the three young fillies. They almost knocked him over, grabbing onto him like little vice grips. “What?” he asked.

Sweetie Belle looked up at him with a sad face. “Where are you going?” she asked, giving him her best pouty face. “Aren’t you going to stay?”

Ryan extricated the fillies from his legs and set them before him. “Sorry, but I don’t think I should. There are certain ponies here who might not be in favor of that.” He looked back to the schoolhouse, silently resenting that Rainbow Dash had learned about his past. The others were fine; it was her that seemed to be the most troublesome. “I should probably just go.”

All three fillies looked up at him and tried their darndest to stop his heart. They widened their eyes to unnatural lengths and sizes, and they pouted their lips to the point of quivering. Unfortunately for them, Ryan wasn’t going to let them get him now. “Please stay?” they asked.

Ryan sighed. Really thinking about it, it would be pretty rude to leave. But then again, to stay might mean another little scene, and that would no doubt embarrass both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, their guests both being assholes. Maybe he should stay. “Alright.” he conceded. “I’ll stay.” The girls cheered their victory and ran off.

As they ran off, Ryan could feel some horrible presence close by. He could tell that something was watching him, scrutinizing him, waiting for him to screw up. Its eyes felt like they were right on him, like they were grazing the back of his neck. As he watched the fillies and colts run about, he suddenly felt a fear the likes of which he had never known before. He looked behind him and around the schoolyard, scanning like a machine for anything that was not meant to be there.

“Ryan!” a scratchy voice called out, shocking him out of his stupor. He practically jumped into the air at the sudden noise. “I gotta talk to you.”

He looked over; it was Rainbow Dash walking over, looking regretful and very unhappy. She slouched her neck and slightly dragged her hooves, keeping her eyes to the ground. When she was in front of him, she looked up very slowly, and when she saw his face, a flash of distaste came across her face.

“What?” Ryan asked, already knowing that whatever she said, there would be something else under it. He hated it when people talked to him like that at home.

She kicked at the ground a little with her front hoof, reluctant to speak. “I’m... sorry, for what I said in there. It was uncalled for.” she said. Ryan kept a neutral expression, one that she couldn’t see. “I shouldn’t have said it and I’m sorry.”

Ryan leaned back and took in the mare before him. It was almost comical, the way she was trying to apologize. But still. “I know what’s going on.” he said. “Applejack sent you here.” When he said that, Rainbow visibly flinched, her cover completely blown. “You aren’t sorry. You hate me. You want to see me gone, where I won’t hurt anyone.” He ruffled her mane, getting a confused expression from her. “But I get why.”

He was about to go past her and walk toward a table to sit down when she put her hoof up to his chest and stopped him. “What?” she asked. “What the heck do you mean? Why aren’t you... why not... what?”

He sighed and removed the hoof from his chest. “You hate me. I know why. You fear me because I’m dangerous. I represent everything that you ponies fear.” He looked up to the sky. “I killed people. A lot. Not all of them evil, either. I’m not asking for forgiveness or any such crap. When I die, I won’t be going anywhere nice. Nor should I. So if you hate me, it doesn’t matter. You can hate me all you want, because I’ll still go to Hell, and you’re hate will still just be here, pointless and bitter.” He stepped past her. “Now I am going to sit down.”

He walked past the cyan mare and went over to the table. As he did so, Rainbow Dash looked on, wondering about what she just heard and quietly wishing that he would just leave so that life could be normal for Ponyville again.

*********************************************************************************

Discord watched in with express interest in what was going on between Ryan and Rainbow Dash. He could tell that this was going to play a pivotal role in coming events in Ryan’s life, and likely Rainbow’s too. It would be fun to watch.

But there were other matters that would need tending to as well. For one, there was the Wraith. Discord had no idea where he had come from or how. The Wraith simply showed up one day, tormenting Ryan and causing trouble. Discord had tried to use his magic on the Wraith, but to no avail. Something about him made him immune to magic, but he couldn’t tell what. And he dared not tell Celestia, or she might do something drastic to save her subjects. She had done it before.

Discord let the matters drift to the back of his mind, where they would remain for the time being while he enjoyed watching Ryan. He had skillfully tiptoed past the issues raised by his going to the school with Sweetie Belle, but he still had Rainbow Dash to deal with. Applejack was clearly trying to help him, but Ryan was little interested in that. It had been most fun to watch.

Now, though, he was just sitting at a table, mind adrift, not doing anything in particular. The fillies and colts played around him, never approaching him. They thought he was a hero; to Discord, they were right. He thought that Ryan was a hero, because he fought the evil to the best of his ability. Sure, he had fallen, but even the best of us do at times. Through it all, he had tried his best to do what was right. It was only when he went criminally insane that he stopped that.

Ryan was sitting quietly at the table, minding his own business, when a little colt ran up to him. “Hey!” he shouted in a tiny voice. The colt was small, light blue, and had a swept back blue mane. “Can you help us?”

Discord watched with wariness as Ryan looked down. He had been thinking about something, something important, when the colt interrupted. It was hard to say if he would react well.

“Depends.” Ryan said, drawing a mental sigh of relief from Discord. “What is it that you need?”

“Can you help us to think of a game? We need a bad team and a good team, but we don’t know what to do.”

“Well, what’s the theme?” Ryan asked patiently. Discord thought that he was doing a good job of dealing with kids.

“Umm, we aren’t sure. But we want to have battles!” the colt said excitedly.

Ryan chuckled. “What’s your name, kiddo?” he asked.

“Rumble!”

“Alright Rumble. Here’s my idea: you have two teams, OpFor and Task Force Delta. OpFor has hostages, how many, you can choose. Task Force Delta’s job is to rescue them by whatever means they can.” Ryan seemed to be enjoying Rumble’s look of total awe. “Sounds good?”

The colt smiled big and shouted, “Yeah!” He turned around to run off, but stopped only a few feet away. He turned around, sheepish and silly, and asked, “Can you help us set up our game?” Ryan smiled and agreed.

Discord smiled too, as he watched Ryan walk off to give the kids a game that they had no idea was very real where Ryan was from. While Ryan’s game was maybe a bit mature, e had no doubt that the kids would enjoy themselves. He was making a decent name for himself, despite his hopes not to have a name at all.

Which was even more surprising, considering that he had said that he didn’t want to make any connections at all. He seemed to be more conflicted than Discord had thought...

*******************************************************************************

Luna was staring at her calendar, trying to decide on what she was going to be doing for the next week. She hadn’t planned anything; she was still trying to deal with Ryan’s death. As much as she knew that it would help her, and Starstep, to get that off her mind, she couldn’t keep it away. Frustrated, she scoffed and turned away from her calendar and walked out of her library.

Starstep was doing some exercises in the middle of the floor, sweating up the carpet. As Luna entered, she used her magic to pinch her nose and commented, “Can you be any nastier?”

Starstep looked her way and stood. He shook himself, getting sweat everywhere, and said, “Well, I’m sure that you would LOVE to be the first to know that.” He had a sly grin on his face, one that Luna couldn’t fight and caused her to blush. “But I suppose the only way for you to know that would be to join me in my extreme physical exertion.”

Luna responded quickly. “Hah! I can assure you, you may be a highly trained guard, but I can outlast you with my magic tricks.” She grinned as she approached her guard. “I know tricks that you can’t even begin to imagine.”

“I bet you do. But knowing you, I doubt you’ve ever tested them. If you ever need a crash test dummy, be sure to tell me.”

Luna shot back, “What makes you think I haven’t tested them? You sleep here, you know.”

Starstep stopped, taken off guard by the indication of being violated in his sleep. He tried to think of something to respond with, but nothing came out; he was empty. He released a spent sigh and sat down. Luna cheered on her victory as she came forward.

“Great, great. You win this round, princess.” he said.

Luna sat down next to him and playfully leaned on his side. “And I shall win the war.” she proclaimed. “You shall be defeated.”

Starstep chuckled. “Please, princess. If either of us will be on top, it’ll be me.” Luna blinked. When she didn’t respond, Starstep added, “I guess I got the last word this time.”

“This time.” she replied.

They sat together in silence for a time, unmoving, eyes going lazy. Starstep glanced outside; it was approaching the evening. The sun was getting a little lower in the sky, casting an orange glow over the landscape. The light bounced off of the ground and shot into the room, casting daggers into Starstep’s eyes and shutting them. He turned his head in Luna’s direction and reopened them to see her head on his shoulder, humming a silent tune.

“Whatcha’ singing?” he asked, breaking the silence.

Luna stopped for a moment and shifted her head, eyes closed. “A lullaby, from the olden days, when ponies still struggled to survive. It gave them courage and hope in their hardest of days, courage and hope that we only ever see in a select few ponies.” She nuzzled him hard to push her point.

“It sounds... interesting.”

Luna nodded. “Yes, it certainly was. It is said that the song can connect to those who need it the most, those who wish to serve others, and give them the strength they need. It is a silly tale, though; something you tell the young when you sing it to them.”

“I’d love to hear it, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Of course.” She cleared her throat and raised her head back up. In her softest voice, she began:

They come for us now,
they wish us away.
They come in the shadows,
wish to take away the day.
We cower, we hide,
we run in great stride.
They chase us all night,
these creatures of fright.

But we have something,
even they do not know.
They defend us all hours,
their courage they show.
They bring forth the light,
they go to the fight!
They keep them at bay,
out in the fray.

They are the bravest,
their hearts are of gold.
They give us our freedom
at the cost of their own.
They give up their lives,
for ours they will strive!
But if we remember them,
they never shall die.

The Nighthawks, the Nighthawks,
protectors of old.
Their lives are of legend,
their stories are told.
They fend off all those,
who have sold their souls!
Forever they stand,
their lines they shall hold.

The Nighthawks, the Nighthawks,
The safeguard the ark.
Guides in the cold,
sentries in the dark.
Brothers and husbands,
freedom’s patriarch!
They fight for what’s right,
our courage they spark.

Oh Nighthawks, oh Nighthawks,
defenders of dames.
We ask your protection,
we ask for your names.
You don’t ask support,
you don’t ask for fame!
You always arise
to the call for your aid.

Oh Nighthawks, oh Nighthawks,
keep evil away.
Keep us within
the light of the day.
We pray for you now,
so you return safely.
Your strength and your courage,
your endless brave’ry.

The Nighthawks, the Nighthawks,
protectors of old.
Their lives are of legend,
their stories are told.
Forever they stand,
their lines they will hold!
Defending our young,
until they grow old.

Sleep, now, child,
for the darkness has passed.
In the new light,
their shadows are cast.
Rest now, child,
fears no longer vast.
The Nighthawks, the Nighthawks,
forever shall last.

Starstep listened to the song of his unit, swaying lightly to the rhythm, and, without either pony saying another word, he wondered if Ryan could hear the song, wherever he was.

********************************************************************************

Ryan was entering the boutique after retrieving some fabrics for Rarity from the mailmare’s office. It had been a strange experience, talking to the mailmare. Derpy, she said her name was. She had eyes that pointed in different directions and she apparently loved muffins; she tried to get Ryan to pay her with them. It turned out to e a joke, but she did say; “I LOVE MUFFINS.”

When he came in and the door began to close, he announced, “I’m back. Got the stuff, I’ll leave it by the stage.” He walked over and set everything down, then sat himself on the stage.

His day had gone just fine after teaching the kids how to play a new game that bordered on military training. They all loved it, and as such, him. And as a result of that, the parents seemed to like him. From there, it was a mess of trying to get out of conversations that predominantly were about his past.

Walking home with Sweetie Belle wasn’t too bad, other than the fact that her ENTIRE class followed. They kept asking him questions about where he came up with the game, to which he only gave the vaguest of answers. The crusaders had been persistent, but Ryan explained that it was “something they might learn when they got older”, and they gave up.

The little colts were more interested in him than the fillies, and they kept asking him all kinds of questions about his masculinity. “Do you even lift?” “How much do you lift?” “Have you ever rescued a damsel?” “How many dudes have you fought?” It got annoying after a while, so Ryan started asking them questions instead. It didn’t work.

The girls ran off with the boys and they played their game somewhere, so Ryan was alone in the boutique with Rarity. He looked at his watch. “I wonder when Sweetie Belle will get home...”

Almost as if on cue, the door opened up and three little fillies ran inside, escorted by some colts. They were all shouting, the fillies running for cover. The colts shut the door and, without noticing Ryan, all the little ones ran to the basement.

Ryan stood up and walked to the door; they had locked it, and there were several colts running this way. Ryan unlocked and opened the door, stepping aside so as not to be seen. The colts ran inside and started looking around, eventually splitting up and searching. Rarity screeched from upstairs, and one of the colts sprinted away, face red, and ordered; “RUN!”

Rarity came running down, soaking wet, and looking quite mad. The water on her was steaming. Not wanting to see any little colts splattered against the wall, Ryan held the door open so that they could run.

Rarity came down. “You know, I would APPRECIATE it if you would let me handle things when they get so out of hoof.” she said, opening the door and stepping outside.

Ryan walked out after her and let the door shut behind him, shaking his head slowly, saying, “If I did, you would be trying to use them as slave labor.” Rarity looked back at him, half offended, half admitting that to be true.

“Fine.” she said, walking back to the house. “But next time, please, just let me take care of it.” She opened the door and went back inside.

Ryan simply stood where he was, thinking about nothing particular. He glanced around, taking in his surroundings, and-

There he was. The Wraith, the evil twin brother, the twisted antagonist, the little bastard, standing under a nearby tree. He wasn’t doing anything really, just standing there. He wasn’t even looking at Ryan; he was staring at some book. Eventually, he looked up from his book and sneered at Ryan.

Ryan was about to take a step forward, but something stopped him. He abandoned focus on the Wraith and listened. Around him, he could hear leaves rolling on the ground, ponies off playing somewhere, and the wind, rustling the trees and bushes.

In that wind, there was something else. Something familiar, something he couldn’t seem to place. It was the voice of a woman, but not the Woman. It was soft and tender, like a harp playing for a newborn babe. The Wraith noticed too, for he had turned to look in the direction of the wind, a frown of concern across his face.

Ryan faced the wind and listened more, trying to discern what it was. He could tell, he knew, it was the voice of a woman. But what was it saying? What did it want to say? Who was it?

He turned back to face the Wraith, but he was gone. He and his mysterious new book disappeared into that wind, dispelled by some strange magic. At first, it seemed that he had simply left Ryan, that he had decided to spend his time with his book. Maybe he was no longer interested.

But Ryan knew better than that. He would be back; he would always be back.

Interpersonal Relations

View Online

Interpersonal Relations

“Our obligation is to give meaning to life and in doing so to overcome the passive, indifferent life.” (Elie Wiesel)

It was Friday night. Nothing particular had happened through the week after going to school with Sweetie Belle. Ryan went to work each day, and like before, the ponies weren’t too intent on talking to him. Which was perfectly fine by him; he had no desire to talk. At least that was being respected, in some way.

That night, he had decided to spend some money on trying to forget the past and went to the Salt Lick. He had enough that he could buy strong stuff that wouldn’t taste like absolute shit, and he could get as wasted as he needed off of that. His recent days had bothered him only in that his sleep wasn’t coming very easily. During the day, he could lose himself on work; at night, he was haunted.

When he walked into the bar on that Friday night, he was about to walk over to the bar and take a stool when he remembered seeing the Wraith. Odds were, the Wraith wanted to speak to him, but something had sent him away, and he likely wouldn’t be too happy about that. To ensure that he didn’t get snuck up on, he sat in a booth away from the door and facing it.

The bartender, Cinny, instantly saw him when he sat and trotted on over. “Hey.” she greeted nicely. She had a pleasant voice, one that helped the many stallions who came here to forget their problems. “What can I get you tonight?”

Ryan looked into the small bag that was serving as his wallet and counted out his bits. He had about forty with him. “Samaloco Adams, the stronger kind.” Cinny nodded and turned to walk away.

Before she did, though, she asked Ryan one thing. “To nurse, or down?” Her face had a bit of sadness in it, like she knew what the patrons of this establishment were here for. She probably did.

“Nurse.” Ryan replied. “I’ll switch to downing them at some point.” Cinny didn’t smile, which seemed odd, and walked over to the bar to retrieve Ryan’s drinks.

Nopony other than Macintosh and the other miserable patrons knew about Ryan’s coming here so often. The only nights where he didn’t come were the ones where he was paranoid that he was being followed or when he knew that going would get him in trouble. If he went too often, somepony would no doubt notice and send him to rehab or something, which could only explode. Ryan was grateful that it wasn’t like that.

Cinny returned with Ryan’s drink, a nice, tall glass with amber drink in it and foam on top. She set the glass down before him and asked, “Anything else?”

Ryan shook his head as he took up the glass. “No, I think I’m good.”

Cinny went back to the bar and got behind the counter to continue her job. While she was pouring drinks for the often rude and sad stallions that sat before her, she kept her eyes on Ryan more than her work. He was so odd to her; first, he wasn’t a pony. Then there was the fact that he had just showed up randomly, after it was rumored that something crazy happened in Canterlot. And he had that strange outfit; the green beret with “Airborne” written on it, the jacket, the knife and “L” shaped things, the necklace, the scarf. She had only caught a glimpse, but she would swear that there were some nasty scars on his arms. All together, it made for someone who went to Hell and came back to tell the tale.

Oktoberfest, at the other end of the bar, noticed that her attention was always on Ryan, and that she barely noticed the lewd remarks about her from the customers. As much as he wanted her to pay more attention to the other customers, he could see why she was looking at Ryan. As she thought, he wasn’t exactly a typical customer.

He took a moment from his own work to go over to Cinny. “Cinny,” he began. He managed to get her attention, making her turn her head. “We aren’t too busy tonight.” Truth be told, they were never too busy on any night. Blessing or curse, see it as you would. “Why don’t you take the rest of the night off?”

Cinny was about to object, but when Oktoberfest locked eyes with her, she understood. He was giving her the okay to go talk to Ryan. Before responding, she looked over at Ryan, who was halfway done with his drink. He just kind of stared at the glass, his dark, hazel eyes lost and sad. Whether or not they were sad because they would never find their way or because they might find their way was hard to say.

“Sure thing Fest.” She went to the back of the building and put away her small uniform and came back out to the tables.

When she returned, she noticed that Ryan wasn’t looking around for her, even though his glass was empty. He was still just sitting there, silent as death, cold and alone. She walked over slowly, trying to emphasize her steps to make him notice her approach, but he didn’t seem to. Or maybe he didn’t care.

She stopped a few feet from the table. “Hey.” she greeted. Ryan didn’t respond; he didn’t even look up. Cinny just stood awkwardly for a minute, waiting for him to speak. When he still didn’t, she took the initiative. “I’ve seen you here a lot.”

Ryan kept his eyes on his glass. “Yeah.” he replied. It was monotone and low. Thanks to the weakening of his inhibitions by alcohol, his real feelings were coming out. “Cinny.” It took him awhile to remember her name.

She stepped forward a little closer, just enough to have her head over the edge of his table. “Mind if I sit?”

Ryan shrugged. “It’s a free country.” Cinny smiled awkwardly, not really understanding where that phrase came from, and sat down.

They went silent for a moment. Cinny was beholding Ryan before her, this being her first time getting a really good look at him. His clothes were ragged, torn, and looked extremely old. His hands shook, almost violently, when he held his glass, but he was trying to gain control over that. Before, he was fine; his grip was strong. Now, it was faltering, weakening.

Cinny wanted to break the silence. “So, where are you from?” she asked, getting her front hooves onto the table to lean her head on them. Whenever she did that, the stallions always looked at her head on.

Ryan didn’t, though. He wasn’t exactly a stallion like the rest. “I’m from the United States.” he replied mechanically. “But that’s not... never mind.” He looked up and saw Oktoberfest walking around, called him over, and ordered another drink. “I don’t... Meh.” Cinny didn’t continue until Ryan’s next drink arrived.

While he drank his next glass, Cinny kept on asking questions. “What was life like there?” she asked.

Ryan grunted and pulled his face from the glass. “Good enough.” He downed the rest of it and set the glass back down. “It treated me well. Good friends, family, stuff.” He didn’t continue on the point.

Cinny was genuinely curious now. What had driven him here if his life had been ‘good enough’? “What happened?” she asked. “How did you find yourself here?”

Ryan ceased all motion. His shaking hands stopped, his breathing slowed almost to a halt, and he didn’t blink. From there, he slowly looked up and into Cinny’s eyes. “I died.”

His words brought Cinny’s mental train to a screeching halt. She had never expected to hear anything like this, let alone so seriously. But when she looked into his eyes, she knew it was the truth. She saw it all there; the suffering. The misery, the loss. He knew death; he saw it, experienced it... caused it. His eyes went from their dark, mysterious hazel to a sickening, decaying gray. It was like looking into a solitary confinement cell, where all the worst possible emotions and experiences were left to plague the air, while all the good emotions and memories were sent away and never seen by the warden of the mind ever again.

It perturbed her, like it had everypony else who had seen it. But where everypony else had feared it and not been brave enough to delve deeper, Cinny was willing to go in. She had to.

Still, she had no idea how to respond. “Oh.” she said, her smile already having waned and disappeared. “Well. That’s not a common experience.” Ryan nodded and went back to his silence.

Around them, the other patrons were starting to take interest in the conversation. The two at the table hadn’t noticed, but Oktoberfest had. It was why he was walking around. He was keeping them away from the table. When it became too much, though, he walked over to Cinny. “I think this might be a conversation for somewhere else.” he suggested.

Cinny looked around and nodded to her boss. “Alright.” she replied. “Ryan?” she asked, turning back to him. “Would you care to go for a walk with me?”

Ryan looked up at her and considered the proposition. He knew that they were being watched; by the patrons and likely the Wraith. He had known the whole time. To stay could be risky, but to go would mean remembering. But then again, if she kept asking her questions, staying would mean remembering anyway. “Sure.” he said. He stood up from the table and exited the booth.

Cinny followed suit, eager to get out of the bar and away from prying eyes. She couldn’t quite see why, but there was something about Ryan that she felt she had an obligation to. It was odd; she wanted to help him, but she really couldn’t care much less for the other patrons of the Salt Lick. She decided to think on it another time as she and Ryan exited the building.

Ryan made a motion for her to lead the way, seeing as she was the one who asked him to go for a walk. She took the lead and they went off. Neither spoke during the walk; Ryan lost himself in his mind, and Cinny scanned the area non-stop for anything that might make her uncomfortable about being near Ryan. Wanting to avoid being seen alone with him late at night, it was close to midnight, she lead him to the park, where there was a bench next to the pond for them to sit on.

Once there, after an uneasy ten minutes of walking in the dark, she invited him to sit, which he did obediently. Cinny took the spot next to him and lay down on the bench, her head towards Ryan.

She wasn’t sure how to start, but she didn’t have to worry about that. “I’m not the kind of guy you want to be seen with you know.” Ryan stated suddenly. It had taken Cinny off guard. “I’m not known for being... trustworthy. Or safe. Or particularly friendly.”

Cinny replied without really thinking, like it was a normal conversation. “But you aren’t known for being mean. Or super dangerous; you haven’t hurt anypony. And you haven’t betrayed anypony. So why tell me that?”

Ryan hesitated. “Because my friends don’t tend to end up happy with me.”

Cinny wanted him to continue, but he didn’t. She wasn’t going to let him sit here moping about his life. “Why wouldn’t they? You seem nice, deep down.” She wasn’t going to let him be alone.

“Because being my friend hasn’t ended well for them.” Ryan said. He was breathing a bit faster than normal, and his whole body had a very small tremor throughout. “My friends recently have almost all ended up dead. The one who lived watched me bleed out in a shit river. Any others that I had never found out what happened to me.” He let his head fall. “And I let it all happen; it was my choice.”

He began to sob next to Cinny on the bench. It hadn’t taken much for it to be too difficult for him to continue. Next to him, clueless and in unknown territory, Cinny just watched him cry. She had no idea of the suffering that the boy before her had gone through. She could never know the kind of pain that was inflicted upon him, the loss of everything that made him a human. She could never understand him.

It hit her, right there. She wanted to help him by telling him that everything was fine, that everything was okay. But she knew, and he knew, that she had no way of knowing that. The only being in Ponyville who could know was sobbing his eyes out on a bench in the middle of the night, alone, broken, and frightened. She understood that she couldn’t help him by trying to understand.

So what she did was she just scooted closer and rested her head under his chin and let him lean on her. He was drunk, in pain, and disgusted with himself. And he thought he had no one that he could ask for help, that he had to brave the storm alone. And he also knew that trying that would mean death. But Cinny just let him lean on her head, telling him in her own way that he wasn’t going to have to go it alone. That he would never have to go it alone.

Ryan opened his eyes slowly, body still bobbing from the sobs that escaped his lungs. He could feel his weight bearing down on the bartending mare under his head, and as much as he wanted to remove himself from her, he couldn’t seem to find the strength. He may have been a monster, some kind of demon, but one thing he would never do was drag the good down to hell with him.

His eyes snapped forward when they spotted the one thing he really hoped not to see here. On the other side of the path, leaning on a tree, was the Wraith. He held his book under his arm and looked expectantly at Ryan. In the dark, his eyes glowed a dark gray, nearly black, but still glowed. He flashed a toothy smile Ryan’s way, then turned and walked away into the darkness.

Ryan’s heart practically doubled when he saw the Wraith, and Cinny could feel it. Her head was on his chest, so she could sense that something was amiss. “Ryan?” she said, looking up. She noticed how intensely he was starting at the other side of the path. When she turned and looked, she saw nothing. “Ryan, what’s wrong?”

Ryan swallowed air as he tried to contemplate what to do. The Wraith had walked away, but that could still mean that he would come back. “Nothing.” he lied poorly. “Let’s get out of here.” Cinny looked sadly upon the human as he stood up and away from her and moved away.

She got up and followed after him. “Where are you going?” she asked. She hadn’t even heard anything about him having a place to live.

Ryan walked on. “To sleep.”

She was hoping for more than that. “Where do you live? I’ll escort you there.”

“Yes, I’m sure that you would love to be my escort home. I can assure you, I don’t require any escort services.” Cinny flushed deep red at hearing his blunt twisting of her words, but rather than be offended, she looked at his face. He wanted her to leave him. “I can find my trench on my own.”

Cinny frowned. “Trench?” she asked. “You live in that ditch to the side of town?” Ryan nodded. “You can’t live there! It’s unsanitary!”

Ryan stopped. “I trekked through miles of dangerous jungle and forest. I shot, stabbed, and beat people to death and got blood all over myself. I nearly got my leg blown off. I got shot in the chest and bled out in a shit river. Sanitation means nothing to me.”

Cinny stopped as well and found herself incapable of responding. She hadn’t known any of that; and she wished that it had remained that way. Still, she couldn’t let him be on his own. “Well, your safety matters to the rest of us here. You’re coming with me.” She ran up to him and bit down on his jacket sleeve, trying to ignore the taste. “We’ll stay at my place!” she shouted through her teeth.

Ryan looked down at the mare biting down on his sleeve. He really didn’t have enough energy left to fight her; so he let it go. “Fine.” he said. “I’ll go.”

Cinny let go of his sleeve and looked up at him with a sad smile. “Good.” She turned around and swished her hind end; as if that would even work. “Let’s go.” And they went to her home for the night, the drunken, broken human and the kind, somewhat naive mare.

*********************************************************************

The next morning, Ryan awoke with a mild headache that wanted to keep him from getting up. He pressed on, though, unhappy with himself as he was. The previous night was a bit fuzzed, but he did remember leaving the bar with the barmaid, Cinny. He also remembered being outside a lot and talking about something, albeit not remembering what.

He sat up and looked around; he was in somepony’s house. Frozen in place, he scanned the room to try and find out who’s home it was. There were a few pictures around him, but of no one he recognized particularly well. The home was well kept, a bit on the small side. Just enough for one or two people or ponies to live comfortably in. Whoever had brought him home must not live with anypony else.

He swung his feet around and set them on the ground and stood. His back didn’t crack so much this time when he stood, and he felt a lot less stiff. He felt much less groggy than usual, and for once, he didn’t hate the idea of getting up.

A smell wafted from a room to his rear and tickled his nose, getting him to turn around. Behind him was the kitchen of the house, and from where he was, he could see somepony sitting inside, waiting for something. The pony wasn’t facing him.

He took a few tentative steps forward, not wanting to get the pony to turn around just yet. Why that was, he didn’t even know. Instinct at this point, maybe? He got nice and close, crossing the threshold of the kitchen archway and getting right behind the pony. As he stood there, he listened to her voice and concluded that it was a mare, humming in her seat before the stalker-esque human. Gently, like a hammer on a nail, he set his hand on her shoulder.

“Yo.”

She screeched and flew forward, landing on the ground on a display of great speed and lack of grace. Her head spun around to see her potential attacker, but when she saw Ryan, she calmed down and stood back up.

“Don’t scare me like that.” It was Cinny; she had brought him home the previous night. “It’s really not cool.”

Ryan looked at her, puzzled, then answered, “Okay.” Cinny sat back down and picked up a newspaper.

Ryan walked into the kitchen, figuring that he didn’t need an invitation at this point, and just looked around. The pantry didn’t exactly have a massive amount of food, but it was enough. The small fridge had some water bottles and an ice tray up top, plus some cold foods. Some was already bitten into, other stuff was still in containers. Ryan grabbed a piece of bread from inside and went to Cinny’s table.

She watched him the whole time, newspaper in hoof and a cup of steaming coffee on the table. Ryan sat on his behind at the table and started eating the bread casually, unsure of how to proceed.

“You know, in the future, you should probably ask if you can take something from a pony’s fridge.” Cinny commented. “It’s not that polite to just take something.”

Ryan swallowed a bit of bread and looked at his unexpected host. “Well, I have no intention of being in this position again, so the lesson is irrelevant.”

Cinny frowned. “What?” she asked. “You don’t plan on staying at anypony’s house until you get one of your own?” Ryan shook his head in response, enthralled by the bread. “Why not? You have no place to live.”

Ryan finished the bread and scraped up the crumbs to eat. “Well, I don’t plan on staying. I never intended to make friends either. As far as I’m concerned, I still don’t have any friends. They all died a while ago.” Cinny looked sadly at Ryan as he spoke. “I desire no attachments to anyone here. Attachments caused me the worst kind of pain; I have no desire to experience that again.”

Cinny huffed. “Even so. You can always pay to live somewhere. There’s an inn on the other side of town.”

Ryan shook his head. “I’m used to sleeping outside. I don’t care one way or the other. In fact, it’s more comfortable for me to sleep on the ground now. More secure.” Usually.

A belle dinged, and Cinny stood up and walked over to her microwave to pull out her breakfast. “Well, I hope that you get that nopony is going to let you stay outside. We don’t do that to our own.”

Ryan chuckled. “Well, you’ll soon understand that in my world, we can do that to our own just fine. We do it a lot, actually. So forgive me if I don’t care about whether or not you actually care for each other.”

Cinny was mixed; she was frustrated, angry, sad, and hopeful at the same time. “Well,” she began. “We do. Everypony cares for everypony here. We love our own.”

Ryan shook his head. “That’s great for your world; you can actually have peace. My world?” He looked out the window. “There are over seven billion people in my world. I gave a damn about around thirty, maybe less. I don’t come from a particularly caring world.”

“How can you say that?” she asked. “Where is the morality, the love?”

Ryan didn’t give her a chance to continue. “I come from a world where everything fights everything to survive. Plants compete for sunlight and water. Animals fight over water supplies. Humans kill each other for precious resources. I come from a world that’s always been trying to kill everything that isn’t fit to survive, that’s been continually trying to snuff out life the life within it. So I’m sorry if I come across as not caring about the lives of those I don’t know when I’m trying not to die myself.”

Cinny didn’t have an answer to that one. She just looked down at her food and moved it around with her fork. She took a bite, trying to contemplate what Ryan just told her. It’s true, when your life is on the line, you aren’t to be expected to help others. And Ryan came from a world where there was a never ending war for survival with too many factions for there to be a winner. Maybe he was right.

Ryan stood up and walked back out of the kitchen. “Where are you going?” Cinny asked.

“I’m not staying here, if that’s what you’re asking. As much as I appreciate the help, I don’t really need it nor do I want it. Good day.” He walked out of the house and shut the door about as gently as a printer falls to the floor.

Cinny came out of that conversation much more unhappy than she had predicted. She had thought that Ryan would like having a home to go to, but he hated the idea of that. Why? She couldn’t answer that right now. Right now, she had to make sure that Ryan would have somewhere safe to live. But who would be generous enough to take in a dangerous, possibly suicidal alien that was prone to self-destructive behavior and be a potential threat to the safety of the house?

Cinny smiled and left her home. She knew exactly who to talk to.

****************************************************************************

Discord watched Ryan as he walked around the town that day. The previous night, he had seen him walking around with that... popular barmaid, Cinny. She didn't do anything with anypony, but she certainly swung her hips and walked with a magnetic swagger. But he had seen more than just that. He saw how Ryan stared at the Wraith, and the evil, black eyes of the creature as it stared on from the dark.

Discord was going to cast some magic to catch it; he could explain to Celestia after; but it had gotten away. When that happened, Discord scowled and cursed himself. How had he let that happen?

But something else happened after that really spooked him;

“I wouldn’t try anything if I were you.”

That was all he heard, but that was all he needed to hear. He wasn’t too familiar with the voice, but he already knew who it was. How he contacted him, he wasn’t too sure, but he knew that he didn’t want to be contacted again. The Wraith was a being beyond the understanding of Discord; it scared him.

He kept the being in the back of his mind so that he could ponder on it later, but right now, he was more interested in Ryan’s activities.

Ryan walked to the park, where he decided to simply sit on one of the benches off to the side where few might see him. When he sat, he dropped onto the bench like a brick; he looked dejected. His head hung low and he mumbled to himself, looking depressed about something. It didn’t exactly shock Discord, though. It was nothing new.

Suddenly, seemingly out of thin air, Pinkie Pie appeared behind him. Discord blinked; that pink pony was the only one who could come close to making less sense than him. She stood behind him with her front hooves held high, like she was a predator getting ready to pounce. Discord watched on, holding his breath.

Ryan slowly turned around and put his hands on her forelegs, gripping them firmly and not letting go. Without opening his eyes, he said, “You wanted me to catch you, didn’t you?”

Pinkie Pie snorted happily. “No, silly po- person. I wanted to surprise you!”

Ryan opened his eyes and cocked his brow at her. “And did you learn to step on every twig and branch possible while you sneak up on people?” he asked in partial seriousness. “That’s not how I did it.”

Pinkie leapt over the bench, somehow free of Ryan’s grasp, and sat down next to her. “Well, how did you do it?” she asked. This would be interesting.

Ryan took in a deep breath and thought. “Well, when I had to sneak, my life depended on it. So I guess that it isn’t quite the same.”

“Nonetheless, I wanna hear alllll about it!” She smiled brightly at Ryan, a smile that he returned not with another smile, but with a look of uncertainty.

“Alright.” He cleared his throat. “When I snuck up on people, I had to use everything at my disposal. I swam across a river in the heavy rain so I wouldn’t be seen or heard. Then I entered a building through a sewage pipe.” Ryan grinned a bit while Pinkie gagged at the thought. “Then I kept my pace even and my steps light as I made my way through the building. That’s about it.”

Pinkie got over her gag fit and considered the information. “But what if you were caught?” she asked.

Ryan looked up to the sky; it was a gorgeous day. Kind of like the day Catherine died. “I was.”

Pinkie waited for him to go on, but he didn’t. Sensing that this was what he had been so unwilling to talk about for so long, she decided to let it go and not pursue it. Discord couldn’t help but be impressed with this mare; she knew when it was okay and not okay to talk about things. It was more than Discord had. Not that he wanted it.

He waited for a good twenty minutes, but nothing else was said. The two just sat there, not moving, Pinkie looking at Ryan sadly. Discord figured he would leave now, since nothing seemed to be happening. He wouldn’t miss much, of that, he was sure.

****************************************************************************

Ryan kept his mind clear by trying to establish what he was going to do about moving into the forest. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to get building materials in there; he would have to build it with what was at his disposal. On top of that, while building it, he would still have to live here to avoid dying, like he promised Harris. Somehow, he would have to make sure he kept it secret while he did it. That might grow to be a problem.

His thoughts were totally derailed, though, when a loud, high-pitched yawn sounded out next to him. “Gah!” he shouted, startled. He looked at Pinkie, who was calmly sitting next to him. “What are you doing?” he asked.

Pinkie looked at him, confused. “I’m just sitting here with my good buddy Ryan. What are you doing?”

The question struck him like that brick he had taken to the face in the compound before he was taken into the forest and shot. Not so much the question, though, as the statement that preceded it. She barely knew him, and at that, she knew the worst part about him, yet she called him “her good buddy”. Why? Rainbow Dash hated him, and the others were clearly afraid of him. The Crusaders were fond of him, but they didn’t know about his past. Macintosh was cool; that was just who he was. So why did Pinkie call him “her good buddy”?

“Oh.” He didn’t say anything else. He was too confused to. “Okay.”

The two just continued sitting, both confused, both unsure, and both wishing for something to break the awkwardness.

****************************************************************************

Cinny wasn’t too familiar with the mare, but she did know about her from all the papers. She ran a store here in Ponyville, and she was actually already familiar with Ryan. More than Cinny, in fact. She felt a bit jealous of her for that, but kept it in check. She needed to help Ryan.

Rarity’s boutique was as big as the pictures had made it out to be. The spire on top and all the lavish decorations would be a striking contrast to Cinny’s home, a simple one floor house with five rooms; bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, living room, store room. This house probably had three of each, if not more.

Cinny walked up and knocked on the door. “Coming!” a voice sang from inside. There was a loud shuffling from inside, and suddenly, the door swung open. “Hello!” the alabaster mare announced to her guest. “How can I help you today?”

Cinny was unsure of how to proceed. “Hello. Do you mind if I come in? I need to talk to you about something really important.”

Rarity looked at her curiously, then smiled and shrugged. “Alright. Come on in.” She turned around and walked in, leading Cinny.

Cinny looked around; it was overly decorated, frankly. But being a store, that was basically necessary. There were frillies everywhere, and everything was some shade of purple. Fancy. There were loads of mirrors, and a spiral staircase leading upstairs. In the center of the room, a big red stallion stood on a pedestal with a suit on him. He was that one she had seen with Ryan that night.

Rarity took a quick look at him. “I Does it fit alright?” she asked. The red one nodded. “Great! Then you’re all set.” The big one stepped down from his place and bowed to Rarity, thanking her. “Oh, think nothing of it.” she said. “I hope that it helps, but knowing you, I doubt that you would need a nice outfit to impress her.” He smiled and thanked her again, then walked out.

Rarity pulled up two cushions to sit on, one for her, and one for Cinny. “Please, sit.” she said. Cinny obliged. “Now, I have a feeling as to why you are here.”

“Oh?”

“Yes; you want advice on a stallion, correct?” Half correct. “Well, I need to know a few things about him first, so tell me about him.”

Cinny figured that this was a good time to ask. “Well, it’s not for me. It’s for him.” Rarity looked intrigued. “You know Ryan.”

Rarity’s eyes widened like a diamond dog hole. “Yes.” She sounded nervous.

“Well, you don’t know that he’s homeless, do you?”

Rarity gasped, her eyes unable to get any wider. “No!”

“Yes.”

“But however could that be? He has jobs, he makes money. Why wouldn’t he have any place to call home?

Cinny shrugged. “Well, I offered for him to stay with me, but he refused. I think there’s a lot more going on in him than we know.”

Rarity looked a bit sick. “Trust me, there is. I know about some of... it.” She shook her head. “But why would that prevent him from finding a home?” Cinny shook her head, unsure herself. “I wonder what’s wrong...” Rarity trailed off, her mind taking the train from her mouth.

Cinny waited for a moment, but grew impatient, and spoke again. “I came here because I know that you’re the element of generosity. No one is even able to refuse your gifts or help.” Rarity came out of her stupor and beamed at the compliment. “I came to ask you to give him a place to stay.”

Rarity took in a deep breath and thought it over. If she took him in, he could very easily pay for himself; she knew that no matter how hard she tried, even she couldn’t get him to take free housing. She just knew it. But there were ways around that. The other problems revolved around Sweetie Belle and living space. How would Sweetie Belle react? She didn’t know, but if he stayed here, she might find out. Then she may have to send Ryan away, which was just cruel. But she knew ways to avoid that. The living space that would be available to him would unfortunately be the basement. He would certainly find that acceptable, but she did not know if that was a great idea. There was nothing down there but an old mattress, an iron bedpost, and some old sheets. She could easily replace those, though.

How might the town react? The scandal of bringing an alien stallion into her home would be interesting, but not likely that hurtful. It wouldn’t make sense.

But Rainbow Dash was a factor, too. She hated Ryan for clear and present reasons, albeit only partly reasonable. She was afraid of Ryan; he represented something that had taken Rainbow’s best friend from her, a stallion who had died fighting the Griffons. Rainbow denied having feelings for that stallion, but that was questionable. Still, she couldn’t tell Rarity who to allow into her home. And she would get over it eventually.

Rarity took everything into consideration and found no good reason to deny housing to Ryan. She looked at Cinny across from her; she was looking on nervously, hoping that Rarity would agree. Rarity felt a little smile creep across her face, and she leaned forward.

“I would be happy to help him.”

Dead Men Do Tell Tales

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Dead Men Do Tell Tales

“Stop stranger as you pass by; for you are now so once was I; as I am now so you shall be; so be prepared to follow me.” (English Gravestone)

Days passed, and it wound up being Wednesday pretty quickly. He didn’t work on Monday because Rarity had to go out of town to talk design with some other ponies. She left him a note, though.

Dear Ryan,

I am afraid that I can’t be home today; I am busy in Trottingham with Photo Finish, doing some special designs. You won’t be working today, I’m afraid; the boutique is all in order and won’t need any tending to. You could certainly go to that gym, or find any assortment of things to do while I’m away. Maybe Twilight would like to learn more from you?

Anyway, I wish I could talk to you now. I have something important to talk to you about. It will simply have to wait until I return.

With love,
Rarity

He wasn’t sure what she meant by “something important”, but he was sure that it wouldn’t amount to much. Rarity tended to exaggerate things a lot.

He decided to spend that Monday figuring out some things about the Everfree. The first place he went ended up being the library to talk to Twilight. When he showed up, she was surprised at his visit. “Ryan! What, uh, brings you here?” She was still uncomfortable around him, evidently. To keep it short, Ryan just asked her about the Everfree and the dangers that might lurk within. What she told him was almost comical: The ancient Greeks would have a field day trying to hunt the stuff out there. The general conclusion for Ryan was that he should bring his firearms out there if he decided to explore.

He left soon after to go and look for supplies for the trip he knew he would have to take. The first thing he looked for was a map. After two hours of searching, he finally found an intensely sketchy store that sold maps to more than just the center of a forest. Ignoring the other features of the store, Ryan purchased the map and went to leave.

“Beware of the forest. The dangers within are great, even to one such as yourself.” the shopkeeper told him. Ryan just looked at him one more time and left.

He knew that he would need a better jacket before he went out there, and made a note to have Rarity make one. Plus better pants. And maybe shoes, and socks. He would need a good forester outfit. He might also need a hat or mosquito net. Though from what Twilight told him, Ryan wasn’t too sure he would be safe if he had a cargo net to stop those things.

From there, he went back to his ditch and just sat, counting his items and making a mental list of what he would need.

And now, it was Wednesday, and he was sitting in Twilight’s library, moving books around. Twilight hadn’t asked him much; she was still scared of him. Just as well. Ryan didn’t want to answer anything anyway.

He used Spike’s magical fax abilities to send a note to Rarity about the clothes that morning, which Spike seemed all too happy to do. “Anything for my bro.” he had said. Just then, Twilight walked into the room, reading something.

“Well,” Ryan began mischievously. “I’m glad to hear that. And who knows? Maybe you’ll get to talk to your crush.” Spike’s eyes shot wide, getting Ryan to smile. “Maybe she’ll fall for you. I’ve seen stranger things happen.”

Spike looked around, distressed by Ryan’s knowledge of his crush. “I only ever told a few ponies about my crush! Who told you that I have a crush on Rarity?” he asked. Ryan blinked twice; he was implying Sweetie Belle.

“You did. Just now.” Ryan said evilly. Spike’s pupils became pin pricks, and he looked up with great fear. “No worries.” Ryan assured him. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

Just then, Twilight appeared on the staircase, looking at the boys with great interest. “What secret?” she asked. The two males looked at each other, then back to Twilight. “Well?”

Ryan smirked, and Spike saw it and couldn’t help but snicker. “Well, we certainly can’t tell YOU. Trust me, you are the last pony we want knowing this secret.”

“What?” she said. “What’s so secret that my number one assistant can’t tell me?” Ryan made a zipper pulling movement over his lips. “Oh, so you think that I won’t know eventually?” she asked with an evil grin. “I have ways of making you talk.”

“I’m sure that you have ways of making me SING, but I’d rather you not say them in front of the little one here.”

Twilight blushed furiously, and Spike lost it, falling to the ground laughing. She looked resentfully at him, then contemplatively back at Ryan. “Well, I bet that you would have a soothing instrumental section with it.” The attempt was weak, to be honest. Ryan cocked an eyebrow at her, thinking about how easy this would be.

“Oh, it might have some soothing sections to it. But most of it will be fast-paced, action packed, and unlike anything anypony has ever heard or seen!” He threw his arms out. “It would be an epic poem, a powerful song; it would have gusto, speed, and it would be the loudest piece of primarily vocal and drum music ever heard!” He ran and jumped up onto a table. “The drum beats would be rapid and powerful, the sticks pounding that thin barrier, it barely holding against them.”

Twilight looked shocked; Spike was down for the count. Twilight tried to think of something to counter with, but alas, she was too slow.

“The drums would be flipped; both sides need to get a good pounding. The vocalists would shout out their song, screaming it to the heavens. Or Celestia. Whatever you use for that metaphor here.” That was it. He finished, and hopped off the table.

Twilight was stricken with a case of speechlessness. She had no way to counter; she was stuck. Her left eye was twitching, and one would swear that she had always been a red-coated pony, not purple. “I think I broke her.” Ryan commented, approaching her. He poked her head twice and snapped his fingers, but she didn’t move.

Spike finally got up. “Yeah, I bet you did!” And then he fell back over.

Twilight finally moved in the form of shaking her head and leaving her dazed state and starting at Ryan. There was a mix of anger, embarrassment, entertainment, confusion, and horror in her expression. She moved her hooves one at a time, being very deliberate in her movements, and walked right up to Ryan.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met a pony anything like you.” she stated.

“Trust me, girl. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

From that moment, things got a little more normal. But Twilight was intent on learning the secret. “So, what is that secret that you don’t want to tell me?” she asked. “I can’t imagine what it would be that Spike wouldn’t tell me.”

Ryan looked at Spike. Odds were, he had told Twilight about his crush, but this was all purely to mess with her mind. “Well, I can give you a hint.” Ryan said. He gave a quick glance to Spike that told him, Pretend to be distressed about this. “It’s an incredibly personal matter that Spike can really only tell other males. Females simply wouldn’t understand.”

Spike did exactly as he was silently told and pretended to freak out. It was pretty good, too. “Dude!” he shouted. “That is NOT COOL.”

Twilight looked back at Spike, then back at Ryan. Ryan shrugged and looked away. She turned back to Spike. “Spike, if this is a ‘special problem’, I can definitely help you a lot more than him. I’ve studied anatomy and related medicine...”

She caught herself too late. “I bet you have studied anatomy extensively.” Ryan said, hanging on the word “extensively”. “In fact, I would bet that you know even more about it than either of us does.”

Twilight shot a glare at Ryan, who put his hands up and walked aside to evade her wrath. “Spike,” she began. “Please, trust me. I can help you, if you need it.” She sounded one fifth sad, four fifths annoyed that she couldn’t hear the secret. “What kind of troubles are you having?”

Spike looked to Ryan, begging silently for help. The prank was in jeopardy; Spike wasn’t capable of saving it. Ryan glanced at him and noticed his pleading eyes, then chose it as the time to deal the final blow.

“Fine, I guess you can know.” Ryan said. Twilight turned to him, looking excited. “He wanted to ask me about the best stuff for jerking around and having fun.”

“He asked you for pranking advice?” Twilight asked. She was totally oblivious; Spike looked nervous. It was hard to say where this would go.

“No, no.” Ryan replied. “He wanted my advice on whacking meat.” Twilight was more confused; Spike looked all out scared. “Hmmm... He wanted to know how to choke a chicken.” Twilight looked terrified, then shot a very poisonous glare at Spike. “No, no, that’s not what I meant. I meant that he needed words of wisdom on yanking his chain.”

Twilight still didn’t get all the phrases coming from Ryan’s mouth. She just looked at him, terribly confused. Spike took this moment to run away and hide upstairs to hide from the proverbial shitstorm that could very well become the library.

Ryan deadpanned, “He asked me about masturbating.”

Twilight’s eyes shot super wide, and her pupils outright vanished, leaving almost purely white eyes in their absence. Her face turned red again, and she started taking some steps back. “Ummm...” She looked around; Spike was nowhere to be seen. “I’ll just leave you to that.” With that, she ran out of the library, unsure of how to proceed.

Ryan watched after her, waiting until she was out of earshot completely. “Yo, Spike!” Ryan shouted. “She ran off, it’s safe!”

Spike trudged down the stairs, clearly feeling lost with the whole situation. “Do you even know how awkward it’s gonna be while I try to explain that this whole thing was a joke? As soon as she sees me, she’s gonna be all like, ‘Now Spike, It’s perfectly natural. Just make sure that no one catches you and blah blah blah and always clean up after yourself and blah blah blah and for the love of Celestia never let Rarity find out.’” He walked over to Ryan and looked up at him. “It’ll be even worse when I explain that it was all just a joke.”

Ryan smirked at his draconian friend. “And that’s why you live with her, not me. So I don’t have to explain awkward things to her.” He ruffled Spike’s head-spine thingies and went to the kitchen.

Spike remained in the library, doing whatever, and Ryan raided the fridge for a snack or two. He was able to find milk, so he went and made himself a sandwich to go with it. Rather than eat in the kitchen, though, he took his food into the library and set it on a table. He had to find a specific book. “Now, where is...” He was looking for a book about more than just the creatures of the Everfree. He needed to know about the magics within the forest.

After a bit of searching, he finally found his book and sat down with it next to the table with his food. He took a bite of the sandwich and a swig of milk and got to reading. “The magics of the forest are vastly unknown to ponykind as of yet.” Ryan read in his head. “They are very different from any other natural magic in the world, likely because the princesses used to live in the castle there and that was where they fought just before Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon.” Ryan wasn’t reading for a history lesson, so he skipped to the table of contents and looked for the chapters he would need.

The first chapter was chapter four, The Magic in the Soil. That would no doubt be important. “The very ground in the Everfree Forest is magical and unpredictable. One such example is the Poison Joke, a blue flower that has the magical effect of disrupting other magics and everyday life. When encountered, it is like one is being pranked excessively and maliciously by little fillies and colts.” He read on, being sure to note anything that might be important, like that Poison Joke stuff. He read up on which plants were safe to eat and which might kill him. Only a few were edible, but at least one had beneficial magical effects.

Toward the end of the chapter, though, he read something odd. “Timberwolves are among the most dangerous things one might encounter in the forest.” it read. “No one is sure of where they come from or even how, but they are wolves made of wood that eat like normal wolves. If you encounter a group of them, it is recommended that you climb a tree or get into water as soon as possible. Little is known other than that they are dangerous and deadly, so stay away from them as much as possible.”

It was certainly odd, to say the least. Wolves that were considered plants? At first, Ryan almost didn’t believe what he was reading, but then he remembered. “Magic.” he groaned. He wasn’t a very big fan of not understanding things that might be relevant in the near future. He could see Twilight now: “It’s magic; I ain’t gotta explain shit.” Though she would probably not use such language as that.

He skipped through some other parts of the book to get to the creatures of the forest. The Timberwolves made another appearance, but there were some other things that caught his attention too. Namely, the Manticore, the Shadow Hornet, a huge black hornet that might impale him, and something only named Spirits. The description read, “Spirits are amorphous balls of light that can take any form they need in order to survive. Nothing is known about them, even less than the Timberwolves. Some are friendly, some are NOT. They do not seem to be able to speak in different forms, but this has yet to be confirmed or studied. Few have seen them in their natural form, a ball of dim yellow light, and those who have been in direct contact have been either positively affected or irreparable altered in the mind.”

Overall, it sounded like a fine place for Ryan to be staying. In that hellish forest, few if any ponies would ever come by to pest him, and he could live out his days in silent misery where he might eventually forget everything. Or die. Either and or both.

Ryan continued reading for a bit, then finished his food and drink and put the book back. After bringing the glass back to the kitchen to clean it, he grabbed his things and set out to find anything else he might need.

“Ryan!” Spike called. Ryan sighed and turned around to face his scaly acquaintance. “Where are you going?” he asked.

Ryan took out his map and took a look at it, trying to discern where a good starting point might be to explore. “Since Twilight seems to have left, I’m going to head out into the forest to explore a bit, see what and where I can find.”

Spike blinked once, then twice. “WHAT!?!?” he shouted, prompting Ryan to stick a finger in his ear. At this rate, he would get Tinnitus from these ponies and friends. “Why would you go out there? Don’t you know how dangerous it is? How will you even find your way back-”

“Relax, dude. I know what I’m doing, and I know what’s in there. I need to go in, though.” He thought hard about something he could use for an excuse to go. “Whatever brought me into this world is somewhere in there. I aim to find it and ask it why.”

“But why does that matter?” Spike asked. “You’re here, and you can live peacefully. Doesn’t that count for something?”

“It does. But that doesn’t change the fact that I did some things that don’t quite align with this gift. I need answers.” Truthfully, he did hope that Discord was in there somewhere. He could actually get some answers from him if he were.

Spike sighed, then went over to a coat rack and grabbed a little jacket. “Fine, but you aren’t going alone.” Ryan was about to protest, but Spike had a reason. “I need to get something from Zecora anyway. It’s for a gift for Twilight, since her birthday is in a couple of weeks.”

Ryan thought a little. He could protect Spike if necessary, guns and knife ready to kill. He looked at his weapons, figuring he could just chamber a round in each before they went in. “Alright.” he relented. “We’ll go together. But when we get there, you talk with this Zecora for a while so I can explore.” Apparently, he was going to meet Zecora.

The two went off, deciding to get a move on so that they didn’t burn too much daylight on the way. Nopony questioned them as they left, though Ryan could tell that they wondered why Spike was out with him and not Twilight. Thinking about it, Ryan wondered where she had run off to. “Where could she even go where she wouldn’t end up talking to somepony about that?”

They were on the edge of town, toward Fluttershy’s cottage, when Ryan heard the last thing he wanted to hear. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ANIMAL HELPERS!” He groaned loudly, wishing that this wasn’t about to happen. He could run or hide, but these girls would find him and probably want to go too. And he was right.

Scootaloo was the first to spot him from Fluttershy’s window. Throwing it open, she shouted, “Hey Ryan!” He waved. “Whatcha up to?”

Before he knew it, all three were jumping out of that window and running down to him to greet him. Up in the cottage, the door opened, revealing a curious Fluttershy. She came down, too.

“I’m escorting Spike to Zecora’s.” he explained. “He needs to talk to her about something relating to Twilight.”

The girls all looked at him wide-eyed, and were joined in their awe and fear by Fluttershy. “What?” she asked, distressed. “B-b-but you don’t have experience in there! You might get hurt, or-”

“Imma cut you off there. I’ve been in forests as dangerous if not more so than this one, and... sort of lived through it. Plus,” he tapped his weapons, even though he was the only one who knew about them. “I’m more dangerous in a fight than anything in there.”

The girls looked astonished, but Fluttershy looked terrified. “Can we go?” Applebloom asked. Ryan shook his head vigorously. “Pleeeease?”

“I’ll go along too.” Fluttershy interjected quickly. “I can’t let you all go in there all on your own.”

Ryan sighed. His escort job just became much larger... but Fluttershy could probably take them all back if Ryan didn’t come back before dark. He considered this. “Alright. But Fluttershy, it might be up to you to bring them all back.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because I’m gonna be doing some stuff in there, looking for something important. It might take a while.”

Fluttershy looked worried, but she let it go and agreed. The Crusaders would also be coming along, doing God knows what. But that wasn’t Ryan’s concern. “Ready?” Ryan asked. “Let’s go.” And they entered the forest, an unknown landscape of unknown dangers.

In the forest, Fluttershy took the lead, and Ryan took the rear. He explained that he had to do that in order to cover the rear, prevent an attack from that direction. He chambered a round in each of his guns and kept the safeties off, ready to shoot at a moment’s notice.

The walk to this Zecora’s home was actually pretty short, maybe half an hour. The whole way there, the fillies and dragon and mare were scanning about, fearfully checking for dangers lurking in the shadows. Ryan was scanning, too, but he wasn’t nearly as scared. He was more afraid of tripping and falling on landmines, something he had already had the misfortune of doing.

Fluttershy stopped and heaved a massive sigh. “We’re here!” she announced. Before the group was a hut, carved into a tree like Twilight’s and Fluttershy’s homes, with a bunch of very Central African decorations around it. There were large decorative masks, gnarled bark shaped into strange items, and lots of leaves used on the windows for shutters.

“Smart.” Ryan thought. He might have to ask her for help later.

Fluttershy approached the door with the little ones and knocked several times. “Zecora? It’s Fluttershy! I have Applebloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Spike with me! Oh, and a new friend.”

The door opened, and out from it walked a Zebra wearing those funky metal rings from that group of people somewhere in Africa. “Ah, yes, it is good to see you!” she greeted as she looked around at the little ones. “And as for this friend, might I ask who?”

Fluttershy pointed back at Ryan, who walked forward out of some shadows and extended his hand out. “Ryan. Good to meet you.” This time, he was actually a little bit genuine.

Zecora looked intrigued, but stayed her tongue and put her hoof in Ryan’s hand. “Please, now, the pleasure is mine. Few ponies have met one who walks with a straight-up spine.” Those rhymes might get annoying. “Please, come in, make yourselves at home. For your trouble, I am sure that I have treasures shiny like Chrome.”

Everyone entered, Ryan going in last, and sat around. Ryan took in the room; there was a big boiling pot in the middle with some freaky blue colored liquid bubbling in it. Around the room were more masks, and there were all sorts of plants around. Bookshelves were in a few scattered areas, probably with recipes for stuff like what she was cooking now.

Ryan sat off to the side and listened in, deciding to wait to leave. “Zecora, I need your help.” Spike said. The crusaders were walking around, looking at some things, not really paying attention. Fluttershy had found herself a cup of tea. “I need some old tomes that are really rare to give Twilight for her birthday.”

Ryan lost interest and decided that he would look around for a bit, then leave. He stood up and walked around quietly, observing each plant, trying to figure out what looked dangerous. It only took him about twenty-five minutes to finish.

He looked to Zecora and Spike; they were still talking, Spike trying to get something from her. Fluttershy was watching Ryan, and when he noticed, she quickly spun her head another way. The crusaders were still looking around.

Ryan walked over to Zecora. “Well, I wish I could stick around, but I have to go look for something.” he said. Spike and Zecora turned to him. “It’s somewhere out here, and I’m gonna find it. So I guess I’ll see you later.”

Ryan turned to leave, but Zecora rhymed at him before he could. “One should not travel alone in the forest, new one. If one does, they could be done.” The zebra went into another room and grabbed a bag. “If you are to explore, I shall come along. That way, less is likely to go wrong.”

Fluttershy stood as well. “Umm, I guess that I can take the girls and Spike back then.”

They all groaned loudly and with a very whiney tone, then looked pleadingly to Fluttershy. “Please, can we all go too?” Sweetie Belle asked with a pouty face. “If Ryan and you and Zecora are around, it can hardly be so dangerous.”

Fluttershy looked to Zecora, who shrugged, then to Ryan, who also shrugged. “Okay.” she relented. “But you CANNOT leave our sides! Oh, if that happened...” And she went off quietly listing all the things that might go wrong, which Ryan paid no mind to.

Zecora went to the door. “Spike, if it is old tomes you seek, the old castle will be hard to beat. We can go there first, for it will take some time. But not long to stay, for night is the creatures’ prime.” Ryan decided not to argue that, since that was a great place to start for everything. He needed a place to call home; maybe that castle wasn’t so bad.

They all left the hut and went off the path into the forest, Fluttershy trembling the whole time and falling in next to Ryan as Zecora took the lead. The little ones all stayed in a tightly packed group in between Ryan and Zecora, with only a foot or two of space on either side. Ryan was constantly scanning the area; what gave him some pause was the eyes. Everywhere he looked, pairs of yellow, catlike eyes were staring at them, watching their every movement. None were big enough to be Manticore eyes, but still.

Rather than wait for something to happen, Ryan pulled out the Automag and held it in his hand and pointing at the ground. Fluttershy saw him pull it out and found herself distracted by its presence. “What is that?” she asked.

Ryan didn’t stop scanning. “Insurance.” he said. “Something to keep safe with.”

Fluttershy was satisfied with that answer, and she huddled closer to Ryan’s leg. She must have felt safer with his words or something. “Eww.” he heard one of the girls whisper. He noticed that they were all looking at the two adults in the back and making faces. As much as Ryan wanted to do to them what he did to Twilight, he couldn’t violate the minds of children. Or Fluttershy. It would simply be an uncool thing to do.

After thirty-five more minutes of walking, Zecora finally announced, “Here we are, at this old scar.” The castle was just like Ryan remembered it, only the bridge had broken when he left. There was no way across.

Scootaloo was the first to notice this. “Aw man!” she complained. “How are we gonna get across now?”

Ryan stepped forward and walked over to the abyss trench thing. Swallowing hard he took a glance over the edge, hopefully prepared for whatever torment it had for him this time. Nothing came. “Phew.” he said. Nopony knew why, though. He turned to them. “Fluttershy, can you fly across?”

Zecora answered for her. “No, it is dangerous to go over the abyss as a pegasus. Ever since Rainbow Dash flew in and out, it has decided that it doesn’t like us. The only way to get across would be to go and get the bridge back and retie it. And I do believe to this it did commit. ”

Ryan looked back at the bridge and thought about his options. If he were to get in there ever again, and do it multiple times, he would have to fix the bridge. Or he could leave it and try his luck elsewhere. “Why the hell not?” he thought. He turned back to the group. “I’ll just climb down, go across, and then climb back up. You can gather up the bridge and toss it to me from this side.”

Fluttershy and the little ones all looked horrified, but Zecora actually seemed to be considering it. “What are you?” she asked. Ryan answered with his species’ name. “Hmmm...” She walked up to him and scrutinized him from top to bottom. “Yes, that might work. Just be careful, for creatures down there do lurk.”

Ryan stepped away and looked at the rest of the group, gauging their expressions. None looked too excited. “I’ll be fine.” he said. “It might take a while, since we don’t know what’s down there, so don’t fret.” He turned around and walked over to the broken bridge. Thankfully, it had come off completely at the other end, so it was still intact. “See you on the other side.” And he put his hands and feet on the boards and climbed down the bridge like a ladder.

As soon as Ryan’s feet hit the ground; he had to fall the last eight feet, he spun around and pointed in all directions with the Automag. Nothing was there. “Hmmm...” He kept his gun up and ready for anything.

The gorge hadn’t seemed that big from up top, but from down here, he could only barely tell that there was more to it than met the eye. There were random pools of green gunk and strangely colored plants, oddly hued rocks and metals jutting from the ground. Bones were strewn about, and some rotting Timberwolf carcasses lay nearby. It reminded him of Dagobah in Star Wars.

Ryan tread lightly, unsure of how stable the ground might be or what might hear him walking by. One of the pools had a little black tentacle coming out of it that was swishing about, looking for something. To test it, Ryan tossed a bone its way. When it found the bone, the tentacle disappeared into its hole with the bone. “Avoid the puddles.”

He continued along, prepared for the worst, keeping an eye on everything. No sounds came from up above; none from where he was either. It was an eerie silence that reminded Ryan of when he made his way through Narendra’s personal home in Vietnam.

The fog was fierce; toward the middle, he couldn’t see in any direction for more than five feet. The only saving grace he had was that he had been leaving footprints in the soggy ground.

Snap

Ryan spun around, hearing the sound from off to the side, gun aimed forward. The fog was blocking whatever it was that made the sound.

“Show yourself.” Ryan ordered. There was a deep, throaty noise from the fog. “Show yourself or I will open fire.”

“Oh, but we remember how well that worked last time, don’t we?”

Ryan turned again to face his original direction; there, before him once again, was the Wraith. “Well well. Look what the cat threw up.” Ryan greeted. “Tell me, what’s it like, living in a bog?”

The Wraith smiled, closed his eyes and shrugged. “It treats me as well as it did you.” he responded casually. “How’s society working out?” Ryan did not respond. “Come on, you can at least pretend to be happy that this is happening down here, not up there?” Ryan grunted. “Good.”

He lowered his weapon. “Well?” Ryan asked. “Why are you here?”

The Wraith stuck his hands in his pockets. “I’m just traveling, learning. I’ve been reading this incredible book while I travel around Equestria; It’s fascinating. You know what it’s titled?”

“No. What?”

The Wraith responded by stating Ryan’s full name, turning his blood cold. “At first, I thought it was a blank book, ready to be written in. But I should have known better; I got it from the library in that very castle right after I knocked you out there.” Ryan growled. “You see,” The Wraith began, smirking widely. “This book is magical, like most in there. It was totally blank when I found it, yet had hundreds of pages. No matter how many times I turned the pages, it never ended. I decided that I would write your name on the cover so I could write your story. But when I did,” He reached behind himself and pulled out the book in question. “It wrote itself. Everything, from your early childhood to whatever is happening right now.”

“Bullshit.” Ryan replied angrily.

“Oh, but it does.” The Wraith opened up the book and flipped to a recent page. “Earlier today, you were making a certain lavender unicorn feel very uncomfortable by talking openly about sexual topics. And you know I wasn’t there for that.”

“I also know that you never needed to be.”

The Wraith shrugged. “I’ve always had this book, you know. Ever since I was born. So no, I never needed to be present.”

Ryan scowled and looked past the Wraith. The fog was clearing, and the wall was visible. “Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but I have some things to do.”

The Wraith stepped aside. “Alright. I can take care of you another time.”

Ryan walked past the smiling Wraith uneasily, eying the book and the Wraith’s face as he passed. It was unsettling, how calm he was. And that book... that book was dangerous in his possession.

As soon as Ryan was past the Wraith, he ran to the wall and looked back, bringing the gun back up. The Wraith was gone. “What the hell is he?” Ryan tried to forget it as he scaled the rocky cliffside back up to the world aboveground.

He did not take too much time getting back up, and when he finally got all the way, he heard great rejoicing from the other side of the cliff. “Woohoo!” “Yay!” “I knew he would do it!” “Excellent.”

He turned back to them. “Yo, send over that bridge!” They had gathered it up while Ryan was in the gorge and had it piled up. Fluttershy picked up one end in her mouth and flew up high and back. When she was ready, she flew forward, faster than Ryan would have thought she could, and dropped the bridge like a dive bomber. Ryan had to lean over the edge to catch it, but he did get it, and he made to tying it back to the posts. “We’re good!” he shouted when he finished.

Everypony walked across confidently, even Fluttershy, over to Ryan. “That was awesome!” Scootaloo shouted. “I had no idea you were so fearless!”

Ryan chuckled and ruffled her mane. “Well, when you’ve stared death in the face more than once, it tends to lose its shocking effect.” He turned back to the castle. “Let’s get inside.” And they all entered the great castle of olden times.

They waltzed in like they owned the place, with Ryan taking the lead. He had seen most of this place before, he just had to be sure it was structurally sound. He got his answer when Zecora shut the door behind them a bit too hard and a brick came falling from the ceiling. “Well that took no time at all.” he thought.

Scratch this place, he would have to look elsewhere another day, probably on a weekend. In the meantime, he could stick with these ponies, get strength in numbers. He also had no idea how to get back to Ponyville.

“Where’s the library?” Spike asked. No one seemed to know the answer, but Ryan remembered where he had gone to find that information on the lands and Luna.

“I can show you the way.” he said. He took the lead again and led everypony through the corridors and to the library.

They approached the big doors, the intricate drawings seeming much brighter than the least time Ryan was here. The mares, Celestia and Luna, he now knew, were much more brightly colored, and the other features of the door were more prominent as well. The contrast was much greater, and the carving lines seemed much deeper than before. The door was also slightly ajar.

“Hold on.” Ryan ordered as he took several cautious steps forward, Automag at the ready. Slowly, he approached and opened the door, checking for anything on the other side, waiting for them. The Wraith was the last guy he wanted the ponies to meet right now. But there was nothing. “Clear.” he said, throwing the door open and strutting in. The ponies followed behind him as he walked in.

Ryan putzed around the library while Spike and the others looked for books to nab. Fluttershy timidly removed each book from the shelf, seemingly expecting something to jump out every time. Once, she saw a book with a picture of a freakish bird on the cover. Interested by the cover, she removed it, and out from the other side, came a certain orange pegasus filly. “BOO!” Fluttershy fell back, nearly petrified.

Ryan sighed and walked over to help her up. “You know,” he started at Scootaloo. “It really isn’t wise to terrify your escort out of the forest.” Scootaloo smiled sheepishly and ran off, apologizing. “You alright?”

Fluttershy nodded and went back to looking around for more books, probably on animals. Ryan decided that he might as well join in and explored the library. As he often did back home, he found himself gravitating to a very military oriented section. There were books on very ancient battles and weapons, old unit and army tactics, and the roles of different ponies. One book caught his attention; Nighthawks; Protectors of Old. He pulled it off the shelf and decided he would read it later.

The ponies were still looking around, but the books that they wanted were already in hand by the looks of it. When Ryan returned to them, The fillies looked tuckered out and Spike had to try hard to stifle a yawn.

“Ah, yes, you have come back. Are you ready to leave so that we don’t become a creature’s snack?” Ryan had to do his best not to be annoyed by Zecora’s constant rhyming.

“Yep. Let’s get moving.”

The fillies stood up and huddled close again, but this time, they stuck really close to Fluttershy. Spike decided to walk by Ryan’s side, and Zecora took the front. As they left the library and the castle proper, they all became alert once again. No one wanted to be eaten tonight.

It was clearly nighttime because the sun had gone down; they had spent more time in there than expected. “Be careful in the forest at night.” Zecora warned. “For this is the time of the creatures of fright.”

She took the lead across the bridge, followed by Fluttershy and the fillies, then Spike, and then Ryan. He made it halfway across the bridge before the gorge came back. “Failed us... killed us... murderer...” He had to stop to collect himself in the middle of the bridge before he could continue. Closing his eyes and focusing hard on the feel of the rope of the bridge in his hand, he was able to drown out some of the voices.

“Dude, you alright?”

Ryan opened his eyes again and looked down at Spike. He looked worried. “Yeah, fine.” Ryan listened; the voices were all gone. “Just a bit uncomfortable on this bridge. I was on it when it collapsed that time recently.” Spike nodded his understanding and kept on moving. Ryan followed close behind, eager to get off the bridge.

Once across, and back behind the tree line, everything became very dark again. Spike actually had to pick up a stick and light it with his breath in order for everyone to have enough light to see. He lit several, giving one to Zecora, one to Fluttershy , one to Ryan, and one for himself. The fire was green, and illuminated the area as such, but like green glow sticks, it burned the brightest. It was great for seeing in the dark.

The problem, though, with making light to be able to see? Other things can see you better than you can see them.

“Zecora, how much longer until we get back to your hut?” Ryan asked, an uneasy feeling suddenly taking him over. He felt the same way that he did right before Narendra’s men shot up and totaled his friend’s car in Australia.

“We will be there in less than twenty minutes, but do not hold your breath. We must go slow and quiet in the dark, or we may risk death.” The fillies all gulped hard when they heard that, but Fluttershy comforted them to the best of her extensive ability.

Spike tugged on Ryan’s pants, eliciting him to bend down to hear the dragon’s words. “Hey.” he started, sounding scared. “You, uh... you ever get that feeling that you’re being watched?” he asked.

“Spike, I know exactly what it feels like to be watched and for that feeling to be correct. It’s different from when you think you’re being watched, but you aren’t.” Ryan looked around, but still only saw all the yellow eyes. “And I’ll tell you; we’re being stalked.” He straightened his back and kept his eyes roaming. “Scan your sectors and keep a close watch on everything.”

Spike started frantically looking around, desperately hoping that nothing was there. Ryan stayed much more calm than his walking partner and pushed Spike forward a bit so that if they were attacked, he would be out of harm’s way. Spike decided to get in close to the fillies and be a part of that group, next to Fluttershy.

Ryan kept his eyes moving nonstop, and his finger was growing itchy on the trigger of his gun. He was tense; it took every ounce of discipline he had not to raise the gun and start shouting for the creatures to come out and show themselves. Thank everything that he had done Karate since he was four.

It grew quiet after a couple of minutes. The nighttime birds weren’t chirping, the crickets had stopped, and the rodents seemed to disappear. Nothing moved, nor made a sound. And regardless of where you live, that only means one thing.

And that one thing was made very clear by a low rumble behind Ryan.

“Don’t. Move.” he ordered in a loud whisper to everyone in front of him. They all stopped dead in their tracks. No one even blinked. Slowly, Ryan began to turn, already planning out what he was going to do. If it was a Manticore, he would have to distract it since he could never fight something like that. If it was a Spirit, they were all fucked if it wasn’t friendly. If it was a Shadow Hornet, he would just shoot it.

When he turned and saw it, it wound up being none of those things. There, not ten feet behind him, was a Timberwolf, growling and snarling at him, sap that served as drool oozing from its maw. The teeth were wooden, as was everything else on its body. The wolf looked like it was constructed by a ten-year old child. The ears were just longer sticks, and they had eyebrows made of leaves. The eyes glowed a bright yellow in the night.

Ryan only saw the one, though. And according to that book, they always travelled in packs. “Guys,” he said, no longer whispering. “Keep an eye on your sides.” Behind him, he could hear the ponies huddling together and moving. They were probably getting up against a tree. On the way, they dropped their torches, which extinguished in the dirt. Ryan dropped his as well.

Barely able to see, Ryan got into a low crouch and kept his pistol down, hoping not to agitate the wolf. “You want a piece of me?” he asked. “Bring it, bitch.”

The timberwolf lunged forward, faster than Ryan would have thought, and extended its claws at him. He was barely able to dodge it, but he wasn’t able to get his pistol around before it came at him again. As it closed in on him, he thought back to something a police officer once told him when he learned about Ryan’s Martial Arts background.

“At the police academy, we learn to avoid getting within twenty feet of suspects without our weapons out. It’s been studied that if someone is trained, they can close the twenty feet before an officer can pull out his gun and fire.”

He wished he had remembered that and pointed his gun at the wolf, but it was too late now. The wolf was right next to him, bringing its head down to clamp down on Ryan’s throat. Before it could, Ryan brought the Automag around and whipped the wolf across the face, splintering the wood. The wolf fell back to recover, but Ryan wouldn’t give it the time.

He pointed the .44 Magnum at the wolf and let a bullet rip out of the barrel and into the wolf’s head. It had been standing perpendicular to him, so when the bullet slammed through the wooden head, it kept on going through the entire thing, and exploded out the other side, creating a mess of sap and wooden body sections all over the ground behind. The muzzle flash had almost blinded him and likely everything else around, and the loud boom drew a scream of terror from the fillies and Spike.

Ryan squinted in the dark to see his kill, which was sprawling out on the ground in several pieces. Unphased by the almost comical nature of the dead creature, he turned around to address the ponies in his care. “You good?” he asked.

He got his answer in the form of more growls from the darkness, right around the ponies’ tree. They all flipped out and sprinted from it, getting behind Ryan for safety. He kept his gun up and ready to fire. “Come on out, little doggies. Papa’s got a toy for you.” he said darkly.

Three wolves came out of the darkness, low and bearing their splintery teeth. They advanced in an even line, preventing Ryan from being able to fire. If he fired his gun, the recoil would take away his ability to get a quick follow-up shot, and he would almost certainly be taken down.

The wolves suddenly stopped about twelve feet away and glanced at each other. All was still. Ryan could hear his own heart beating, the breathing of the ponies behind him. He took in a long breath, then released it slowly, getting into a state of Mushin. His heart rate slowed down, his breathing calmed, and his muscles relaxed. The wolves took notice and hesitated.

Then, it all happened at once. Two of the wolves lunged at Ryan, leaving one to go after the ponies.

As the two tried to close in on Ryan, he brought the gun around and shot one square in the face, sending it spiraling back into the earth from whence it came in pieces and sap. The other was on top of Ryan before he could bring the gun around and it bit his gun-toting arm hard. He dropped the pistol as he fell to the ground.

The wolf was trying to rip apart Ryan’s arm by thrashing its head wildly with his flesh in its mouth, but Ryan was to have no part of that. He grabbed its head with his other arm and brought it closer to his own center of mass, enabling him to flip over and be on top of the wolf. As the wolf cried out under Ryan’s much greater mass, Ryan tore his arm out of its maw and elbowed it in the neck, several loud cracks being produced.

He looked up to the ponies to see them being cornered by the third wolf against a large rock. Fluttershy and Zecora stood in between the wolf and the little ones, ready for a fight.

They would get no such fight, though. Ryan rolled off of his opponent and grabbed his gun off the ground, pulling it up and taking aim at the attacking firewood. With a carefully placed shot, he sent a bullet ripping through the top of the wolf’s back toward where its spine hopefully existed. He got a lot more than he asked for from the shot; the entire top of the timberwolf was shorn off by the force of the bullet, sending it spinning and rolling off to the side, very much dead.

Ryan turned his attention back to the last wolf and found it standing about eight feet from him. He brought up the gun. “Goodnight, Fido.”

Click.

“Well, shit.”

The Automag was out, and as soon as the click was heard by the wolf, it leapt up at Ryan to kill him. Ryan dropped the gun on purpose this time as he prepared to grapple.

The wolf grabbed Ryan by his left arm this time, but failed to bring him to the ground. Ryan had allowed it to get him this time, seeing it as an opportunity to end the battle. “You think you can take me down!?” he shouted. Ryan reared his right arm back and shot it forward in a punch, right in the wolf’s gut area. His arm smashed through, going all the way in and touching the other side.

He gripped something that felt long and knobby. “I’m more dangerous than anything in this damn forest!”

He got a strong grip on whatever he was holding and tore his arm out of the wolf. Out with his arm came a long stick resembling a spine, with all the little wooden vertebra and sinews coming off of it. As Ryan’s arm exited the body of the wolf, the glow in its eyes vanished, and he dropped the timberwolf, a muffled thud emanating from it as it hit the ground.

Ryan took a look at his forearms; they were bleeding. The bites had been pretty deep, but nothing terribly dangerous. “Hurts like a bitch, though.” he said to himself. He turned around to see the ponies huddling together in fear, but safety. “You good?”

Fluttershy shot forward and wrapped herself around Ryan’s legs, crying and shaking. “I was so scared!” she said. The fillies ran forward and hugged him as well, all of them crying away their fears and anxieties of the short battle. Spike walked forward and looked up at Ryan in awe.

“That was intense.” he commented, almost unable to speak.

Ryan looked at all the bodies. “Trust me, boyo. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

As Ryan removed the mare and fillies from his legs, Zecora walked over to him as well and grabbed his forearm. “Eventually,” he said as he removed the last filly. “You guys need to tell me how that works.”

Zecora ignored him. “Your wound is deep and bleeds quite a bit. Maybe you should learn to fight more with wit.” She looked up and smiled at Ryan. “But alas, it matters not. You need bandages after a battle well fought.” She turned around and picked up a stick, then had Spike light it. “Come home with me, all of you. I will treat your friend, then home you will go to.”

Zecora led the way again, this time moving much faster in order to avoid another encounter. It took very little time for them to arrive at her home, and when they did, they shut the door and locked it.

“Thank Celestia that we were able to get outta that!” Applebloom commented. “Ah was sure we were goners.”

Ryan was lead by Zecora to a little table and instructed to put his forearms on it. “Yeah, I thought we were wolf chow for sure.” Scootaloo said. Ryan listened in as they all talked about their harrowing experience. “Good thing we had Ryan to save us.”

Zecora disappeared for a moment, then came back with some white bandages and tweezers. She also brought a bottle of disinfectant, by the looks of it. Zecora got to work with the tweezers, removing splinters and setting the bloody bits of wood to the side. Ryan twitched a few times with the removal of the wood, but kept his composure for the little ones.

They all went on talking, with Fluttershy sitting next to them very close. Except Sweetie Belle. She was sitting away from them, huddled up in a ball, shaking violently. “Hey.” Ryan said, catching her attention. No one else noticed. “You alright?” he asked.

Zecora stood up to go and get another pair of tweezers. The current pair was too small for one of the splinters; it was about an inch long and really lodge din there. “Y-yeah.” Sweetie Belle responded in a lie.

“I can tell you’re lying to me.” Ryan replied. “What’s on your mind?” He always hated seeing little kids cry, even now. It was something that would never change about him. But when he finally left this place, he would never see anyone else cry ever again.

“I-I-I was really scared.” she said. Ryan stood up and walked over, picked her up, then sat back down. He was careful not to bleed on her. “I thought they- they would get us.”

Ryan shook his head. He had never been good at consoling kids, but he always tried. “Well, they didn’t get you. You know why?” Sweetie Belle shook her head. “Because I was there to protect you. And if you ever go in here again, I’ll come along to protect you. You’re safe with me, and if you ask, I’ll stick with you.”

Sweetie Belle sniffled, then looked at Ryan with a smile. “Really?” she asked with hopeful eyes.

“Really.”

She huddled a little in Ryan’s lap as Zecora came back with her mega-tweezers. “Mother of God.” Ryan said upon seeing them. Zecora ordered him to put his arms back on the table, and he obliged.

Sweetie Belle fell asleep in his lap, and when he looked to the other little ones, he noticed that they were asleep, too. Fluttershy had them all in a basket; not sure though how she did that. She walked over to Ryan and went to take Sweetie Belle. “I’ll take her.” he said.

“Oh. Okay.” Fluttershy watched as Zecora finished the last splinter, the table actually covered in blood from Ryan’s arms. It did not bother her, though. “Well, I guess we can head back once you’re done.” she said. Ryan nodded. “But umm...”

“Yeah?”

“What was that thing that made the flash and noise?”

Ryan hesitated. “It was what I used to save you.” Nothing more was said on the matter.

Once Ryan’s arms were bandaged up and cleaned, and he helped to clean the table, he and Fluttershy said their goodbyes to Zecora and left for Ponyville, leaving behind more than one bit of darkness in that forest.

Just Another Day

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Just Another Day

“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces, but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.” (John F. Kennedy)

Rarity got up with a loud yawn and a big stretch on Thursday morning, the way a cat lazily wakes up in the sunshine on a windowsill. She moved sluggishly as she dropped out of bed and made her way across her room and through the halls to her bathroom. She took a nice, long, hot shower, and wrapped herself nice and cozy in her towel when she was done. Once adequately dry, she went downstairs and made herself some coffee and breakfast.

While she was living comfortably, doing her own thing, Ryan was off in the fields at Sweet Apple Acres. She knew that he had gotten up early, but she also knew that he got up early every single day. He did not sleep much, by the sound of what Cinny had told her, and he also slept in a dirty ditch. Rarity had agreed to take him in because she not only wanted to see his suffering come to an end, but also because she felt guilty that she had so much, and him so little.

For the moment, she let her thoughts slide to the side. It was too early to think about things. Instead, she just finished her breakfast and coffee, and then made her way back to her room. She put on her blush, fake eyelashes, eyeliner, shadow, and took care of her mane in there.

Again, though, her thoughts went to Ryan. He had no personal grooming materials. In fact, he probably didn’t have any other clothes to wear, as strange as the practice was to some ponies who weren’t in the know. Another thing that she had that Ryan did not.

Once she was all ready for her day to start, she set the sign of her shop to “Open” and went about her business. Being Thursday at eight o’clock, there probably wouldn’t be that many customers around, so she started thinking about how she was going to get Ryan to stay with her.

“Well, he certainly doesn’t seem to want help. He rejects it.” She opted to think aloud. “How does one make another get assistance when another clearly wants none?” She remembered when Twilight had to get Applejack to accept help with her harvest. Maybe Ryan’s behavior was harming other ponies? “No, no. If it was, he would have been sent away by now.”

“Maybe if I play it as him doing me a favor?” It could work, right? “Yes, maybe. I do need to start designing for his body, in case more humans come this way.” It didn’t seem like a promising prospect, though.

While Rarity tried to think more about it, Sweetie Belle came roaring down the stairs. “I’m gonna be late!” she shouted. Rarity was kicked out of her stupor of thought by the sudden introduction of her sister’s voice. “Where’s my backpack?!” she wondered aloud.

Rarity levitated it over to her. “There you are, darling.” she said. But she didn’t give it to her just yet. “But first; where did you go last night? Ryan and Fluttershy came by with you and your friends on their backs. I was worried sick!”

Sweetie Belle danced around, eager to get out of the room. “We followed Ryan into the forest cuz’ he wanted to explore! It got late, so they took us home!” Rarity’s eye twitched at hearing this. “Can I go now?”

Rarity gave her sister her bag. “We’ll talk about this when you come home.” she said. Sweetie Belle ignored the foreshadowing warning and ran out.

Rarity stood in her place for a moment. Ryan actually let three young fillies, plus Spike; she had seen him on Ryan’s back; follow him into the forest. Unfortunately, her sister and her friends were off at school, so they were out of reach. “I need to find Spike.” she decided. She gathered some things and went out, flipping the store sign to “out for the moment” as she left for the library.

She trotted off to the library at a brisk pace, not wanting to exert herself, but still wanting to get there sooner rather than later. She had hoped to pass Ryan on the way there, but alas, this was not to happen. He was busy at work, likely, and would be unable to speak with her, unless she actually went to Sweet Apple Acres. She hadn’t the time for this, nor the will, when the library was so close, so she opted for Spike’s perspective. It might be better to get the perspective of a follower, too.

She arrived at the library in about ten minutes and immediately went and knocked on the door. She waited for a minute, then knocked again. Usually Twilight was up by this time. But knowing her, she might have woken Spike just to lecture him until the crack of dawn anyway.

The door creaked open slowly. “Hello?” a tired Twilight greeted. She yawned. “Who is it?” Rarity took in her appearance as Twilight realized it was her; she looked disheveled and exhausted. “Oh, Rarity! What brings you here this morning?” She yawned again.

Rarity smiled awkwardly. “I need to talk to Spike.”

Twilight groaned. “That makes two of us.” Rarity cocked an eyebrow. “Please, come in.” The alabaster mare obliged and entered the library with her friend.

Twilight brought her friend to the kitchen where there was coffee and food waiting. Rarity thanked her, though having already eaten, she declined the food. Twilight shrugged and dropped onto a cushion that served as her seat. Both mares sat in silence, trying to think about how to start a conversation that they both knew they wanted to have.

“So what are you here to talk to Spike about?” Twilight asked. She was too tired to beat around the bush.

“Well, when Sweetie Belle went to school this morning, she explained to me why she and her friends and SPIKE were out so late last night.”

Twilight’s ears shot up. “Oh?”

Rarity nodded. “Oh, yes. And I don’t think you’ll like it.”

Twilight sighed expectantly. “I never thought I would.”

Rarity took in a deep breath. “Ryan went into the Everfree Forest to explore, and the girls and Spike thought it would be fun to tag along.” She watched as the tired look on her unicorn friend’s face changed to a mixture of total fear and rage. “They took some time out there and came home late.”

Twilight looked like she was absolutely fuming. “Okay.” she said. She tried to calm herself, and it worked to some extent. But not fully. “That at least explains a few things, though there are certainly more that need explaining.”

Rarity furrowed her brow. “What kinds of things might those be?” she asked.

Twilight looked at her friend, eager to share. “When Fluttershy and Ryan came by last night and dropped off Spike, Ryan, as expected, wouldn’t share anything. What was odd was that Fluttershy was so tight lipped about it that she didn’t even open her mouth. Maybe she was afraid of me being mad, but she ought to know that I wouldn’t be mad if she was there.”

Rarity leaned back a bit. Maybe Fluttershy was hiding something? “Well, when Spike wakes up, we’ll just have to ask him about the events of alt night, won’t we?” Twilight nodded. Both mares were quiet for a time. “Is there anything else you need to talk to him about?”

Twilight shifted uncomfortably. “Well...” she began. “Apparently, yesterday, Spike asked Ryan about some... male subjects. Things that mares don’t exactly want to hear.”

Rarity found herself much more interested than she should have been. The little dragon with a crush on her sister talking to another male about special things? Too much.

“What kinds of male things?” she asked.

Twilight shut her eyes and took in a deep breath. She let it out. “I can’t say. So I’ll go get a book.” She left Rarity alone in the kitchen for a few minutes to ponder, then returned with a very unique book: Anatomy and Sexuality; The Drive That Makes Us Crazy. Twilight flipped it open to a specific page; Self Pleasuring. “This is it.”

Rarity’s face turned completely red. Was this what Spike was..? Did he want..? “WHAT IN THE WORLD?!” she shouted unceremoniously. She was taking it in the worst possible way.

“What’s all the racket?”

The mares turned around to see Spike standing in the kitchen archway, rubbing his eyes and looking very tired. It took all of Rarity’s self control not to strangle him. “Spike, we need to speak.” Rarity said aggressively.

Spike walked in suspiciously, but when he saw the book that Twilight and Rarity were standing around, he went into panic mode. “Uh oh.”

“Uh oh indeed, mister.” Twilight said. “Now for ‘The Talk’.”

Rarity was about to rail at him when he spoke up. “Look, all that yesterday, Twilight? That was a joke that Ryan decided to play on you. I just went along with it. Until he started making those innuendos, I had no idea where he was going with it. ThatwaswhyIwentwithhimtotheforest, so I wouldn’t get lectured!”

Rarity looked to Twilight, who had an indiscernible mixture of emotions swirling through her countenance. But she seemed to believe him. Truth be told, so did Rarity, which gave her huge relief.

“Okay then.” Twilight said. “But why did you follow him into the Everfree Forest?”

Spike froze. “Uhh...” His eyes switched rapidly between Rarity and Twilight, both mares expecting to get an answer out of him that wouldn’t be adequate. “Well, I didn’t want to have ‘The Talk’, so I thought I would just go with him. He can take care of himself, so I just figured it would be safe enough. Which it was.”

Rarity was more curious now. “Well, how do you know that?” she asked. “What could he have done that convinced you that he could make it safe?”

“He lived in a jungle for a little while before, remember? He said it was way more dangerous than the Everfree. I believe him, even if you don’t.” Spike paused for a moment, expecting to be asked something else, then continued. “Well, he’s also fearless. That was a plus.”

“Really?” Rarity and Twilight asked at the same time. Rarity continued. “What makes you say that?”

“You know that big mote, the one that had the bridge to the old castle?” Spike asked. The mares nodded. “Well, we were going there, but the last time Ryan was apparently there, the bridge collapsed. So you know what he did?”

Rarity was finding herself more intrigued by Spike’s excited look, but also more worried. “What did he do?” she asked.

“Ryan climbed down the cliffside into the mote, walked across, and climbed back up. Then he had Fluttershy dive-bomb the bridge over so he could hook it up. He almost had to dive off the cliff to catch it.”

The mares’ jaws dropped. The only other pony who had done that was Rainbow Dash, and she had only been down for a moment, since she could fly. Then there was also the fact that the magics of the forest were more aggressive after Rainbow’s stunt.

Twilight finally managed to speak up. “Well. I guess that he is fearless.” Then a thought crossed her mind. “Why were you going to the old castle anyway?”

Spike panicked for a moment. He couldn’t tell her about her birthday present; Ryan had helped get it in secretly last night. He went through his options in his head. “He was looking for a place to do human things, so Zecora led him to the castle to inspect it. It wasn’t structurally sound, though.” Twilight seemed to believe him, and Spike let out a sigh of relief that went unnoticed.

“Okay, so we know he’s fearless.” Rarity interjected. “But how did he make it so safe for you all?”

Spike thought about how he was going to go about this one. They really wouldn’t like this; Ryan was the ONLY reason they came out of that forest last night. But when it came to important things, Spike knew better than to lie.

“We were attacked by Timberwolves.” he began, eliciting a gasp from the mares. “Ryan fought them off.”

“How did he manage to do that?” Twilight asked, astonished. Rarity was at a loss for words.

Spike began his story. “Well, we were walking down an unmarked path. The pack had surrounded us; I think there were like four. The first one attacked him, but Ryan used that weird thing that he always has on him to... uhh, kill it.”

“He killed a timberwolf?” Rarity more stated than asked, still at a loss for words.

Spike nodded. “Yeah. The thing made a really, really loud boom, and it made this blinding flash. When we looked, the timberwolf’s body was, well... wrecked. Wooden bits everywhere. The head was all out missing.”

Twilight swallowed hard, hoping that the sight didn’t affect the kids too much. “Three more came out. One went after us, two after him. Ryan used the thing to kill one of his two, but the other attacked him. He threw it off and then used the thing one more time to blow up the wolf that had us cornered. After that, he grabbed the last one, punched through it, and ripped out some big branch from inside it.”

Twilight and Rarity were feeling physically ill from hearing this. It wasn’t just the violence; it was the fact that the only thing that saved their loved ones was a human of very questionable morality. Rarity tried to distract herself.

“And he did all of this unscathed?” she asked, trying to forget her ill feeling.

Spike rubbed the back of his head. “Not exactly.” he said. The mares listened closely, terrified of what might have happened. “The first wolf bit down on Ryan’s one arm. The one that he punched through... He kind of had to let it bite his other arm to get close enough. He got pretty torn up by it, but he’s alright, I think. Zecora treated his arms.”

The mares sat in silence for a bit, processing the story they just heard. Ryan, the human who seemed resentful of everything in life, who seemed to have a lack of care for anyone, even himself, who had committed terrible acts and had worse acts committed against him, had saved the ones they loved. It made no sense at all.

“That might explain why Fluttershy was so reluctant to talk. And Ryan’s bandages.” Twilight said. She thought for a moment. “I should talk to Fluttershy, make sure she’s alright.”

Rarity nodded her agreement. “Yes. And I must speak with Ryan about giving him a place to live other than that ditch. And thank him for saving Sweetie Belle.”

Twilight chuckled. “Yeah, me too. Maybe Pinkie will throw him a party?”

Rarity thought about it for a minute; she probably would, but he wasn’t too into parties. Maybe if he had time...

“Idea!” she shouted, startling those present. “I have to go to Canterlot for a bit tomorrow, as I told you some time ago. I should bring him along and see if Fancy Pants will design clothes for him!”

Twilight pondered this. But not for long. “Yeah, that seems like a nice idea! I’m sure he could use some new clothes, and it might help him to see Canterlot and maybe the princesses. I’m sure you can get him to agree to come along.”

The group left the library and split up, saying their goodbyes. Twilight and Spike went to talk to Fluttershy, while Rarity started making her way over to Sweet Apple Acres. Before she could talk to Ryan about going to Canterlot, she would have to make sure Applejack was okay with letting Ryan off of a day of work. Twilight said before leaving that Ryan could miss Tuesday, since they would be returning that day. She had no doubt that Applejack would agree.

She trotted on over to the farm at her own pace. She wasn’t worried about anything at the moment. She knew Ryan would be there, she had several ways that she could convince him to stay with her, and she just had a feeling like everything would be fine. She hummed to herself the whole way there, through the streets, and then onward through the paths that led to the Apple household. She put herself in a delightful mood.

At the door of the house, she knocked three times. She knew that Applejack wouldn’t be in at the moment, and neither would Big Mac. She was looking for Granny Smith. When the door finally opened, Rarity did a little curtsey to show her elder mare respect.

“Ah, Rarity!” Rarity was surprised that Granny Smith remembered her name. “What brings y’all here this fine afternoon?”

Rarity smiled gently. “I’m here looking for Ryan, actually. And Applejack, I actually need to find her first. Can you tell me which field she’s in right now?”

“Well, sure!” Granny Smith pointed toward the east field. “She’s right over yonder, little lady. Ah’m sure she’ll be glad to see you; those fields’re tougher than a bolt in a steel door!” Rarity chuckled at the analogy and thanked Granny Smith, then sauntered off to find her friend.

She looked around at the trees as she entered the field in order to get a decent idea of which way to go. Applejack tended to work fast, so as long as Rarity followed the trail of apple less trees, she figured she would locate her friend eventually. And she did. Applejack seemed to be frustratedly attacking a tree ahead of her.

Rarity giggled a bit to herself as she watched Applejack work. A few apples tended to fall at a time, so it was perfect. Rarity waited for a few to fall again, only this time, they were stopped mid air by her magic and held there. Applejack just looked at them, partly in disbelief, partly in anger. She leapt up to try to grab them, but Rarity pulled them up just before to keep her from getting them. Right when Applejack was about to give up, she let them go.

“Having trouble?” she asked trollishly. Applejack spun around to meet her unexpected guest.

“Y’all might say that, little prankster.” Rarity laughed as she approached. “What brings y’all here? Ah never thought ya were the farm workin’ kind.”

Rarity nodded her affirmation. “Applejack, I came here to ask a big favor of you.”

“Oh?”

Rarity recounted the story that Spike had told her and her plans to have Ryan stay with her. Applejack listened intently, clearly very interested in seeing Ryan in a better situation than he was already in. She had balked when Rarity told her he was living in a ditch.

“And so, I need to ask you if he can miss work tomorrow to come with me to Canterlot to meet Fancy Pants and spend some time there relaxing. The best spas in the world, wondrous restaurants, and all the relaxation he’s certainly earned with his life.” Rarity finished. She had a lot to do herself, but she knew that she could get Ryan to at least try to enjoy himself.

Applejack thought about it for a moment. “Alright, Ah ain’t got anything against him going. Ah’ll let him off tomorrow. But Ah don’t know how he’ll respond to being in a big city. He’s a real private guy, we all know.” Rarity beamed. “Just be careful where you bring him.”

“Thank you Applejack.” Rarity replied. “I promise, I’ll make sure nothing bad happens while he’s there. If he agrees...” That was the one variable still unaccounted for. “Can you tell me where he is?” Applejack pointed her to the south field. “Thank you.”

Rarity left the east field in a semi-rush, eager to talk to Ryan about going to Canterlot. She knew that she could get him to stay in her basement; she had cleaned it up already; but this was the hard part. Just thinking about how it might go was getting her blood pumping.

She found herself in the south field before she even knew it, and then, before she knew this either, she spotted Big Mac and Ryan working on some trees. Before approaching, she decided to just watch for a bit and admire- no, observe their interactions.

Big Mac was a beast of a pony; she could see the appeal, though not to one so timid as Fluttershy. He was shiny with sweat, and even from a distance of about a hundred feet, she could see the veins and muscles rippling as they worked. He had to flick his mane away to get the sweat out of his eyes and see where he was kicking.

Ryan was different, yet somehow similar. He had taken his clothes, except for his pants, off and thrown them onto the wagon. He was a bit odd, really; his forearms, as Spike described them, her bandages on them and were looking fairly, but not concerningly, red. His upper arms were well toned, certainly, and had several veins bulging. She couldn’t judge his musculature because she had never seen humans in action before. He shone with sweat, which made the fact that he had very little body fat very clear. He had gained some since the spa day, but now, he looked very athletic rather than skinny. And the scars were very prevalent.

Rarity stopped herself from looking and walked forward. Neither the stallion nor the human seemed to notice her approach. Ryan climbed up into a tree and started picking apples. “Hello~!” Rarity sang. The stallion and human both looked calmly her way.

“Howdy.” “Hey” came the replies.

Rarity nodded to Big Mac, then walked over to Ryan’s tree. “Ryan, I was wondering if I might be able to speak with you?” she asked. Ryan looked down. “It’s a bit important.”

Ryan dropped down from the tree and walked over to the wagon with his clothes. “Yeah?” he asked. “What brings a fancy lady here, wanting to talk to me?”

“Well, Last night, you brought Sweetie Belle home.”

“Yeah.”

“And she told me that she followed you into the forest.”

“I had nothing to do with that.” Ryan quickly replied. “I was going exploring for answers and stuff and she and her friends followed me. Fluttershy came with too.”

“I know. Spike told me everything, and Twilight is going to talk to Fluttershy.” Big Mac’s ears perked up. “She seemed a bit startled by the... events of last night, but she should be fine.” Big Mac relaxed, but continued to listen.

“Good to hear.” Ryan said, referring covertly to Big Mac. “But what does this have to do with me?”

Rarity blinked. “What does it NOT have to do with you? You saved the lives of our sisters and friends! You seem to have no concept of just how much you’ve done for us!”

Ryan shrugged and started putting his clothes back on. “Just another day, really.”

Rarity blinked again. “Maybe for you, but not for us. We are in your debt, you know.” Ryan remained silent. “And I, at least, plan to repay you.” Ryan cocked an eyebrow. “I want you to come live with me. I have an extra room and a basement.” Ryan tried to protest. “Now, now, none of that! I owe you for saving my little sister’s life. You’re going to live in a civilized manner, even if it means not living all lonely.”

Ryan sighed. “Fine, I guess if you really think you need to pay me back.” For some reason, he couldn’t seem to resist her generosity. “I have all my things here, I guess, but this is my outfit. I’ll keep wearing it.” Rarity smiled at him. “I’ll go there tonight, then?”

Ryan nodded and sat on the wagon, ready for a load of apple buckets to put in. “But, umm, there’s one more thing.”

Ryan looked at her suspiciously. “What is it?”

“Well, the girls and I thought it might be a good idea to get you out a bit, see some sights maybe. I’ll be going to Canterlot, the capital, to see a business associate and friend for a few days tomorrow. I talked to Applejack; she said you can go.”

Ryan hopped off the cart. “I... don’t really know.”

“Come on, I know you’ll enjoy yourself. Canterlot has the best spas and restaurants! The shopping is amazing, and I WILL bring you along. Since you seem to be into it, there are some very famous pubs and whatnot there.” Ryan’s attention was taken now. “You can see the princesses and the courts, meet guards and see their methods and things that I know little about. There are all sorts of things that you can do there.”

Ryan thought a bit longer. If Canterlot was the capital, Luna would certainly be there. So would Celestia, and bureaucrats and stuff. They weren’t a problem, and he did need to see Luna. Pubs, that was good.

“And I’ll get Fancy Pants to make you new clothes! The best designer in Equestria will help you out for certain.”

Fancy Pants, really? Who the hell names their child that? “I don’t know if I want more ponies seeing me in any kind of light.” Ryan said.

“Well, you were shirtless when you were working with Big Mac here.”

“Well, he can’t get enough of it.” Big Mac stopped working, walked over, and bucked Ryan in the shoulder. Kinda hard, too. “Sorry, couldn’t help myself.” Ryan returned his attention to Rarity. “He doesn’t try to talk about them.”

“And neither will Fancy Pants. I promise.” She walked right up to him and rested her chin on his chest, looking straight up at him. “Pleeeease?”

Ryan sighed loudly. “If you seriously want to pay me back for helping your sister and her friends, and you’ll stop leaning on me, fine. I’ll go. I have things I might need to do there anyway.”

Rarity ignored his reasoning and smiled gleefully. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” she said, hugging him tightly. When she extricated herself from him, she did not even notice the nasty sweat all over her. “I just know you’ll enjoy yourself!” Ryan did not think it would suck, but he somehow doubted her words.

Rarity left soon after, saying goodbye to Mac, and left the two males alone. “So what exactly happened in the forest?” Big Mac asked. Ryan told him the story, and the two agreed to go out for drinks that night.

**************************************************************************

Luna had had a long day. It wasn’t nobles that she had to deal with, though. It wasn’t petty squabbles or pointless arguments. She didn’t care about Discord any more, since he had returned. No, she had to deal with a much more pressing matter. The Southern Griffon Colonies were still having trouble with the old government that had turned to terrorism. With Celestia dealing with Equestria during the day, that left it to Luna during that time.

It had to be the most annoying, hopeless situation that she had ever had to deal with. The current government of the colonies was always demanding Equestrian military aid, which was constantly being denied. The Colonial Government was dumping all of the information they had on Luna during the day, then Celestia at night. The worst part; they had to actually go over it.

Luna had dropped hints that they might be willing to provide some form of aid if they could find the stallion Blazer and tell them where he was. She never directly said it, as that would generate a deal to be honored, but she tried to make it very clear. Either the Colonial Governor was too feather-brained to notice, or he didn’t give half a damn about Blazer.

Luna looked at the clock; it was finally time to lower the sun and put the moon in the sky. She looked back at the enormous stack of papers before her and smiled evilly. Horn aglow, she used her magic to blast away all the papers she had read already and burned them to a crisp. She laughed victoriously as she stood up and exited the room.

Starstep watched the whole thing unfold from the corner, slightly disturbed by Luna’s seemingly maddened countenance. He had watched the whole time, but Luna forbade him to look at any of the information. He had told her that, having fought these guys before, he could help. But she still said that there might be some sensitive information that he oughtn’t see.

“Well, that was quite the show.” he commented as he followed his princess out of the room. “I must admit, I did get some joy in seeing the paperwork burn. Always hated that stuff, even as an enlisted guy.”

“Yes, it certainly is tedious.” Luna replied, letting out a sigh of relief. Celestia could start dealing with this stuff now. “And what’s worse, I know that we aren’t even going to do anything, since what we hope for probably isn’t even in there.”

“And what are you hoping for?”

Luna paused in her words. “Information regarding kidnappings of ponies, or something else that would force our involvement.” It was at least half true.

Starstep nodded understandingly. He had no desire to get back into a war down there. When he fought there, the deserts and mountains, plus a few forested regions, had made fighting incredibly difficult, even with magic. Of which the Air Guard had almost none.

They continued on in silence, Luna just wanting to get the moon up so she could ease her mind into relaxation, however hard that might be. She knew that she would still have the Southern Griffon Colonies on her mind. There was also the more specific issue of getting Blazer, Starstep’s old team mate. Then there was an odd nagging feeling that something important was to come soon. She had no idea what, and the official calendar had nothing, so she let it go for the moment.

They arrived at the balcony to a lively Celestia, who was humming a little tune to herself. One of her personal guards was nearby, to whom Starstep nodded, and who nodded back. The guards stood behind in silence as the sisters met up.

“Good evening, sister.” Luna greeted.

“Evening.” Celestia replied. “Lovely day, I would say. I bet it will be a lovely night, too.”

“Glad to see you had a pleasant day.” Luna said with mock annoyance. “I got to sift through paperwork all day that probably doesn’t mean anything. But there’s still half left for you.”

Celestia looked at her sister surprised. “Wow, you got through half? Impressive. I’ll try to get the rest done tonight or tomorrow. And I bet you’re right.”

They sat in silence as they set the sun below the horizon and brought the moon up from below. The land before them looked glorious in the changing light, a true treasure to be had. It was definitely not the Southern Griffon Colonies.

As the moon came up, Luna looked around for her special star. Sure enough, she found it, twinkling in its unique way. But something was different about it tonight; it glowed much brighter than normal. It wasn’t fading and returning, either. It just kept a constant, bright glow, blocking out nearby stars. Luna hadn’t seen it do that before.

“Dear Tia, do you see that star there?” she asked as she pointed up.

Celestia looked up at it. “Yes, the one that you made?”

Luna nodded, ignoring that she didn’t know how Celestia knew that she had made it recently. “Yes. Did you do anything to make it glow this way? I simply wonder.”

Celestia furrowed her brow, not unhappily, but intrigued. “No, I did not. I thought you did that for your guard.” She whispered this to prevent the guards behind from hearing it. “Has anything recently happened that might make this so?”

Luna shook her head. “I don’t know what. But I didn’t design it to do this, or fade and return the way it usually does. There is something odd about this star.”

“Hmm. You might want to look into that sometime.”

Luna nodded and bid her sister good night, then took Starstep and returned to her chambers. Starstep matched her steps perfectly on the way there, making it seem like only one pony was walking through the hallway. Luna had to look back once or twice to make sure her guard was still there. Once back in her chambers, she shut the door and leaped onto her bed.

“Oh, dear, this feels so good!” she announced, rolling around on her bed. “Finally, some time to relax.”

Starstep walked around the room casually, thinking about what he would do for the moment. He had talked to some of the other guards today, and they all decided that they would go out for drinks on Sunday night. Luna would be alone, but she had said that it was fine, as long as Starstep enjoyed himself. But for now, he could still spend time with her.

“Starstep?” Luna said. He turned around and saw that she was lying on her back. “Would you rub my tummy?” He shook his head, amused by his princess’ antics, and obliged. Her belly was quite soft. “Don’t let those eyes wander.”

“My eyes aren’t what you need to tell that to.”

Luna giggled. “What if those are the only things that I’m concerned about?” Time for the game again, and Starstep was determined to win.

“Well, then, I would say that you should be glad that I rub myself all the time; I’ve become quite skilled.”

Luna blushed, but didn’t give up. “I bet you do. In fact, I’ve seen you in action. Most impressive.”

“Oh, I had a feeling that you’ve seen me rubbing myself before. You needed to make sure that my hooves are gentle enough for your delicate body, after all.”

“Yes, I did. And might I say, that you certainly do have magic hooves. You- hey!”

Starstep had moved one of his hooves to Luna’s outer thigh and very slightly moved it back. “What?” he asked innocently. “I thought that you might want a full body massage, get that nice feeling in every possible crevice.”

He would have said more, but he was interrupted by Luna quickly flipping over and tackling him onto the floor. She didn’t seem mad at all, just flustered. She was trying to distract him from speaking. This game wasn’t over yet.

But he wasn’t about to lose this one. “Is it my turn?” he asked. “Make sure you get firm and strong motions, consistent, too, or else my body won’t relax and become as loose as spaghetti.”

Luna tried really hard to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind. When words fail, actions tend to speak louder.

She let herself fall onto him. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to get some oils from my bathroom to get this done right, won’t I?” She pressed herself into him, but kept her face away. “Gotta do it right, right?”

Starstep was about to respond, but the door shot open and a guard ran in. He stopped when he saw the two ponies on the floor, staring back at him. No one moved or spoke. “I’ll leave this here.” he said, dropping an envelope on the floor.

When the door closed again, Luna resumed her attack. “I bet-” But she was interrupted by Starstep licking her nose. She reeled her head back and looked down at her guard, who had a strange look on his face. “What..?” Then she realized. “Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew!” She flew off of him and looked down at her guard, who was chuckling like a mad stallion.

“I guess that your rub will have to wait for now, huh?” He stood up and walked into the library, then to the bathroom. “I’ll return short and shortly.” He had won this game.

Luna went over to her window and looked outside, trying to forget what had just happened. Her thoughts, though, kept drifting to it, and over time, she was less perturbed by it. She was close to her guard, after all.

He returned in no time, but since he did not take a shower, he stank like a monster. “You should have showered.” Luna commented. “You smell.”

“And I bet you’ll always keep this smell in mind.” he replied. “But sure, I guess I’ll go clean myself up.” He left again to take a shower.

While he was busy doing that, Luna decided to look up at her star and ponder. What was making it act so strangely? She should be able to control it, but it was acting on its own. She tried to make it move in the sky, but by the time Starstep returned, it had not budged. She tried to change its color, but to no avail. She couldn’t change its brightness either.

Starstep sat beside her as she went along, watching in silent content. He could always do this; watch her play with her night sky, take in her fantastic nights. It was pleasant. Exactly what he had always wanted after leaving the Nighthawks. And when he was assigned to be her personal guard, he was overjoyed by the prospect.

Luna gave up and sat back, falling in next to her guard. “It really is beautiful.” he commented. “The night sky. I’ve always loved watching the stars.”

Luna smiled, despite her frustration with the star. “Thank you.” They were silent for a moment. “You know, I always make sure to add a star for every pony that moves on. The ponies that fell in battle defending others get special stars.”

Starstep tried to hide it, but the pain of his old memories came back for just a moment. “I’m glad.” He barely didn’t croak out. “I can still see my squad mates up there.”

Luna instantly regretted saying what she said, but it was too late now. “They will always be beside you.”

Starstep nodded, tears beginning to form in his eyes. “Do you know where Serene might be?” he asked. “She was a mechanic for my team before and after the Nighthawks. I... I want to know which star is hers.”

Luna, curious but unwilling to pursue it, used her magic to find the star of this Serene mare. “There.” she said, pointing to a blue one straight above them. “That is hers.”

Starstep looked up at it. “It’s nice.” he said. Luna looked at him; tears flowed freely, and his jaw quivered. “It’s nice.” He whispered it that time.

Luna extended her wing and wrapped it around him, pulling him close. She had no idea who this Serene was, nor what made her so special. She knew that the rest of his squad mates were dead, but he asked for a mechanic mare. She had an idea, one that saddened her in more than one way, but let it be.

The two sat quietly for a time, then went to sleep, neither one wanting to be awake and in the real, harsh world at the moment.

***************************************************************************

Ryan and Macintosh sat in their usual booth, Ryan facing the doorway. Lately, they had been drinking together more often, not speaking, yet not exactly silent. Ryan could drink with him because Mac respected his desire to be quiet. When one wanted to communicate something, they could easily just look at each other and it would come out.

Cinny walked over and dropped off the drinks. “Here you go, handsome.” she said to Mac. “And here’s to you, Mr. Man.” She gave Ryan a wink and turned around to get back to work, walking the way she usually did.

Ryan picked up his drink and took a sip. Mac had silently encouraged him to drink less hard stuff and get drinks that were actually half decent for once. Ryan decided to try it, and it was actually pretty good. He was already buzzed, after two glasses, and he could certainly afford more.

“Canterlot.” Mac said out of the blue. One word was all it took for them to have an entire conversation.

Ryan shrugged. Yeah, I know she’ll bug the hell out of me if I don’t. And for some reason I can’t seem to ignore her generosity, even if I don’t want it. Like when Twilight asked me to show a little faith.

Big Mac nodded. Yeah, I get what you mean. Mah sister gets on me about stuff all the time. Socializing, mostly.

Ryan looked up from his drink. Mares, making life difficult for us males. No different than usual, amIright?

Big Mac chuckled. Yeah.

Ryan sipped his drink. I wish they would just leave me be. I really want to avoid interacting with too many of these ponies. I don’t want them to be exposed to what I am and what I come from. He set his glass down with a thud.

Big Mac grunted. You might be from there, but you ain’t what “there” is. Ryan looked at him. Ah know what you did. Ah don’t feel any different. Big Mac was looking intently at Ryan.

The human sighed. No, you don’t. But others will. And while I am what I am, I won’t put innocents through pain again. I never wanted to before, and I don't now.

Both were silent, as always when they drank and worked, and the conversation ended. They sipped their drinks quietly. When both were out, Cinny seemed to magically come out of nowhere to refill them. “Same.” Both said. Cinny smiled, mostly at Ryan, then left.

“You know she told Rarity to take you in.” Mac said. It was the longest sentence they had exchanged at the table.

“Yeah.”

Ryan watched Cinny as she walked away, flirting with customers, getting extra tips and phone numbers. Ryan chuckled when he saw her grind the papers with the numbers into dust, then put them in that very stallion’s drinks. She only did that to the ones that tried to get all touchy-feely, though. He figured he would have to get to know her better sometime.

He decided not to think any more for the night and just let his mind be still. It seemed that having company was perhaps one of the better ways to keep his demons away...

But not all demons find friendship repulsive.

Generosity

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Generosity

“What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.” (Albert Pine)

Ryan stood impatiently beside Rarity at the train station, wind blowing his hair around and ponies constantly bumping into him. He looked around, checking, scanning for enemies. The Wraith could very easily be somewhere here, even if he was taller than most of the ponies. This was why Ryan hated being in crowds; too unpredictable.

The train rolled closer to the station, gradually reducing its speed as it approached. The steam poured out of the stack, filling the sky with white clouds. The cow catcher, which was clearly more for decoration, glistened in the light in all its brass glory.

The human and mare stood silently waiting for the train. At least, they had been. “Well, Ryan, this is your first trip to Canterlot. Excited?”

Ryan breathed deeply. “Anxious, really.” He wasn’t about to share his real concerns with her. It would weigh too much on her mind. “What exactly are we going to do?”

Rarity urged him closer. “Well, I’ll be seeing Fancy Pants today, and you’ll come with me to lunch with him tomorrow. I’ll see if I can’t get him to make some clothes for you., After that, you’ll come with me to shop for fun. Then, I guess you’ll be free to do as you will.”

“Alright.”

The train stopped before them, and the doors opened, letting ponies of all sizes and colors pour out. Ryan grabbed Rarity’s shoulder, urging her to wait rather than be crushed by the ingoing and outgoing groups. She realized his point, and decided to wait with him. During the wait, they got quite a surprise in the form of the other Elements of Harmony coming to see them off. Even Rainbow came.

“Hey!” they all shouted.

Rarity turned around and squee’d at the sight of her friends, running over to hug them. “Oh, you girls. Come to see us off?”

“Yeah, we came.” Rainbow said impatiently. Scootaloo bounced up and down on her back. The little filly nudged her hero, getting her to land before Ryan while the other girls talked. “Hey, I want to talk.”

Ryan looked at Scootaloo, who hopped off and went over to the group. “What do you need?”

“I... wanted to thank you. You know, for saving Scootaloo. Just... I don’t know. Thanks?”

“Alright.” Ran replied nonchalantly. “I’ll let her go; she’s probably under enough stress as it is.” He didn’t keep speaking.

“Well?” Rainbow said impatiently.

“Well, what?”

“Aren’t you going to tell me how you can tell that I’m not gracious or whatever? Aren’t you going to keep thinking that I’m some jerk without really getting to know me? I wanna hear it.”

Ryan frowned. “No, I’m not. I can tell that you’re grateful; it’s pretty obvious. Your number one fan is still alive; if you weren’t grateful for that, you would be a terrible pony. What I can tell is that you still don’t trust me at the least, and that odds are, you still don’t like me. And like I said before, I get it. You really think that I like me?”

Rainbow blinked, and Ryan continued. “I’ll let you in on a secret; there’s something out there, out to kill me.” Rainbow’s eyes widened. “You know why I can tell you that? Because I know that you care about as much as I do if that thing gets me. I know that you’ll keep this secret to yourself, either out of a hope that I’ll die or a respect for the fact that I don’t want the others to know. So yes, I know that you’re grateful. No, I don’t think you like me or care about me.”

“Oh.” Rainbow replied.

“And another thing.” Ryan added. “What you said, about not getting to know you? Well, I’m not the one who’s showing overt hate and keeping away from you when possible. That’s all you, little missy.”

Rainbow furrowed her brow, but stayed her tongue. “...Right.”

Ryan paused, and looked over to the group. They were still talking. “I don’t need you to like me. I just need you to get used to the fact that there is a killer in your midst. One who doesn’t hesitate.”

Rainbow Dash swallowed hard and stepped away, her previous fear of him taking over her countenance. She quickly made her way back to the group and instated herself into their conversation. Soon, though, it ended, and all the mares turned their attention to Ryan.

“What?” he asked nervously. They were all staring at him.

Applejack and Twilight stepped forward. “We wanted to thank you for saving Spike and the girls. Not to mention Fluttershy and Zecora.” Twilight began. “Your actions speak louder than any of the words that you have spoken to us.” That actually meant something, too. “We just want you to know that you’ll always have a place in Ponyville.”

Ryan blinked. He hadn’t really thought of that concept in a while. He was a part of their community now, whether that was a good thing or not. “Oh. Umm, thanks.” He couldn’t find any other words.

Pinkie bounced forward and reached up at his face. “AND WE’LL THROW YOU A BIG PARTY FOR SAVING THE DAY!” Ryan picked her up, since that was undoubtedly what she wanted. “IT’LL BE SO MUCH FUN!”

Ryan shook his head with a ghost of a smile. “I bet it will be.” He set her back down and tapped Rarity. “Train’s gonna leave soon.”

“Yes, we must hurry. Ta-ta, ladies!”

“Adios.” The girls all waved at them as they got on the train and made way for Canterlot.

Ryan and Rarity sat quietly on the train as it departed, watching the others wave at them as they rolled away. Rarity waved back, but Ryan just watched silently, pondering. What he was pondering cannot be said, but it was definitely something important. Probably. Maybe.

Once out of view, Rarity turned to Ryan and looked him over. He looked relatively disinterested, even indifferent about going to Canterlot. Though upon closer inspection, she could see that there was something on his mind that he was deeply considering. She opted not to pursue that and instead look over what he was wearing. She had told him to put that silly beret and jacket and other stuff in a bag. He did, but he refused to put away his vest or the items it held. Under the vest, he had a simple T-shirt, though there were still some spots where the blood from before couldn’t be washed away.

His arms grabbed her attention the most. The bandages, more specifically. They were distinctly red now; he clearly hadn’t changed them since she last saw him. She wanted to simply take them off and replace them with some extra fabric, but she honestly didn’t want to see the wounds underneath. From how Fluttershy described the fight to Twilight the previous day, they were rather deep.

Trying to get her mind away from it, she decided to try and start conversation. “So, this is the closest major city we live near.” she said. “What about your home? What kinds of cities did you live near?” She really hoped that she wasn’t overstepping any lines here.

She wasn’t. “The first that comes to mind is New York. A bustling city of over eleven million people, all doing their own things in their own ways.” Rarity ooh’d, and RYan continued. “People from all over the world live and travel there. It’s one of the world’s financial hubs, along with Paris, Hong Kong, and London. I’m sure there are others, but I don’t know them.”

“Wow, that’s really something. Is it a nice city?”

Ryan laughed, getting a confused look from his travel companion. “Well, that depends on where you go. The Bronx is nice in some areas, but not so nice in others. As in, you will be shanked in some areas. Upper West side is really nice, but that’s because all the rich people live there. Then there’s Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. All depends on where you are in each one; but you can still get murdered or saved in any of them.”

“Umm.... wow?”

“Wow indeed.” Ryan concluded.

Rarity sniffed the air; something was amiss. “Do you smell something?” she asked. “It smells like...”

“Blood?” Ryan finished. He lifted his arm. “Yeah, I couldn’t find a replacement, and I wasn’t going to take any of your fabric, so it’s still the same bandage.” He had gone back to Rarity’s the previous night to sleep. He stayed in the basement. “Sorry for the smell.”

Rarity waved her hoof dismissively. “No, no. No need to be sorry. We’ll just take care of that as soon as we arrive.”

Ryan nodded. Then a question came to mind. “Where are we staying again, exactly?”

Rarity gasped. “I never told you, did I? How forgetful of me.” She looked around, then whispered, “We’ll be staying in a hotel near the castle. The princesses have guests from the griffon colonies, or they’re about to, so the castle guest rooms are taken. Celestia paid for the nicest room in the hotel for us.”

“Room?” Ryan asked. Rarity nodded. “Rarity, I think you should know,” he spoke up. “I don’t think it would look very classy if it was discovered that you and I are getting a room.” He didn’t say it loudly, just at about normal tone. It still got some heads to turn. “I mean, we haven’t even gone out to dinner yet.”

Rarity matched his move, though. “Oh, but we will. And I know just what the main course will be.” She looked at him with half-lidded eyes and a dubious smile.

“Hay fries and an oat shake?”

All motion paused. Then, out of seemingly nowhere to the casual observer, Rarity burst into a giggle fit. “Oh, Ryan. You really do know how to make a mare laugh.”

“I just happen to know which buttons to press.” he replied casually.

Rarity let her gigglefit die and watched the land pass by. The train ride to Canterlot was about forty-five minutes long, so they still had about forty minutes to kill. She thought about some things that she could talk to Ryan about. The stuff she wanted to know the most, though, was pretty much off limits. The jacket that he liked to wear was one, as was his beret. The vest was off. But there was something she could ask him.

“So, what are those two things on your vest?” she asked. He had used at least one to save her friends. “What are they for?” She was curious.

Ryan looked down at his Automag, then back to Rarity. “Are you really sure you want to know what these are?” he asked. Rarity nodded. “Alright.” He took the Automag out and released the magazine, then unchambered the remaining round. “This is an Automag.”

“What’s an Automag?” Rarity interrupted.

“I was getting to that.” Rarity blushed and let him go on. “It’s one model of a type of firearm, or gun, used back in my world.”

Rarity blinked, looked at the gun before her, and leaned back a bit. “You... have a gun?”

Ryan nodded. “I needed it to survive in the woods where I was hunting and being hunted. But back to the point...” He paused so that Rarity could get over her shock. “It’s chambered for the .44 Magnum round, one of the most powerful handgun rounds available. It can blow its way through a lot of things. Like Timberwolves.”

“And it was designed for this.” Ryan nodded to her. “I see. Go on.”

“The pistol operates off of a short recoil, rotary bolt with locking lugs, similar to some assault rifles. You don’t know what those are, but they would require another lecture.” So now she was being lectured on firearms. “Fewer than three thousand of this pistol model were made.”

“So it’s rare, I take it? It must be valuable.”

“Only to collectors. Other than that, I really have nothing else to say on it.”

“What about that one?” Rarity asked, pointing to the 1911. “Is it different?”

“Yeah.” Ryan put the unchambered .44 Magnum round back in the magazine, then stuck the magazine in the gun without chambering a round. “It’s the classic 1911 model, manufactured by Colt Firearms. Kind of an ironic name here, considering you wouldn’t want your colts running around with it.”

“What makes it different?” Rarity asked.

“Well, it has different mechanisms, and it’s chambered for the .45 ACP round. Overall, though, both function in pretty much the same way for the same purpose.” Rarity waited for him to continue, then urged him with a motion of her head. “They chamber a round, the hammer hits the back of it, it fires, and the bullet kills something.”

Rarity looked around; they had lost the attention of the other passengers. “Ah. Well, that is... interesting.”

Ryan nodded. “Yeah.” He paused. “You know, the Automag has never killed anyone. This one, at least.” Rarity was confused. “It used to belong to my friend Harris.”

Her eyes softened, and she sunk a little. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” Ryan felt ashamed at his memories. “I nearly killed him. So I sent him away. But he was a stubborn son of a bitch; he followed me into Vietnam. If he hadn’t come along, I would never have killed Narendra. Didn’t stop Narendra from getting me, though.” He put his hand on his chest.

“What happened to Harris?” Rarity asked, hoping to console him.

Ryan shrugged. “Not sure. Last I saw him, and the last time he saw me, I told him to leave me behind in the river. He walked off into the jungle. I can only hope he made it home.”

Rarity put her hoof on Ryan’s hand. “I’m sure he did.”

“Yeah.”

They were quiet for a time. Rarity removed her hoof from Ryan’s hand and stretched out, Ryan looked around at the other passengers. At some point, most had started looking at him and Rarity. He shuffled uncomfortably in his seat.

Rarity noticed this and stood up. “I’m going to get something from my bag. Do you want any food while I’m up?”

“No, I’m good.”

Rarity nodded and went into the overhead compartment. She pulled her bag out and dropped it onto the table she and Ryan had. “I’m going to get myself a snack.” Ryan grunted and nodded, and she walked away.

But she didn’t go to get a snack. She went to talk to some of the other passengers. “Excuse me.” she said in a slight whisper. The well dressed mare and stallion looked at her. “I’m sorry, but I noticed you staring at my friend and I. I have no problem with it, but it makes him very uncomfortable.”

“I can imagine.” the stallion said.

Rarity let that slide. “Yes. Please, try not to stare over there any more. He’s new to Equestria, so it would be better not to startle him. He comes from... another kind of place.”
The mare and stallion nodded, and Rarity went to give the same routine to the other passengers.

When she came back, she noticed that Ryan was looking out the window at the passing scenery. They were on the mountain with about twenty minutes to go, one of the most extraordinary parts of the ride. Below them, the whole of the Everfree Forest was laid out, with Ponyville at the edge. The trees didn’t look menacing from here, and the mountains in the distance, especially in the forest, were incredibly beautiful.

But Ryan wasn’t really looking out at them. Rarity positioned herself so that she could get a good look at his face. He seemed to be spaced out, contemplating something again. His eyes were glazed, and they seemed to be farther away from their usual grayish-hazel tone. They were much more lively, more pony or humanlike. His breathing was slow, and he seemed calm and still as the morning dew.

“What are you thinking about?” Rarity asked as she sat back in her seat.

Without looking back or even moving, Ryan responded, “Not sure.” He turned back to her, and his eyes resumed their depressed tone from prior times. “It can wait.”

“Oh, uh, I wasn’t going to ask you anything else. You can keep thinking.”

Naw, I’m good for now.” Rarity nodded, and they spent the remaining fifteen minutes in silence.

The train screeched to a stop at the Canterlot station. Ryan had to brace himself against his table to keep from moving, while most of the ponies simply allowed themselves to sway with the train’s previous motion. Ryan took a look outside the window; before him, there was a sprawling city of white and blue, primarily, and it looked way overdone. It could only be the capital.

Rarity stood up and used her magic to gather her bags. “Come, Ryan, let us make our way into the city!” She grabbed Ryan with her magic and dragged him out of the train ahead of the rest of the passengers.

She released him as soon as they were out of the train and on the platform. Ryan stood tall, stretching his back, and grunting. He got some looks from some nearby ponies.

“Great. Already, I seem to be attracting more than my share of attention.” Some were whispering, others were blatantly pointing at him. They were sizing him up, though most seemed more interested in his vest and weapons than him himself. “Note to self; find a way to be less tall.” It could at least make him harder to notice.

“Let’s go, Ryan. We need to check in with security.” Ryan followed Rarity to a small building with a stallion wearing some weird costume. “Hello, Jockey.”

“Hello Rarity. Here for Fancy Pants?”

“I’m surprised that you remembered! How sweet.”

Jockey smiled. “Yeah.” He looked at Ryan, and his smile faltered. “Who’s your... friend?”

Rarity moved aside. “Jockey, this is Ryan. Ryan, this is Jockey, lieutenant of transportation in the Canterlot Royal Guard.” The costume wasn’t a costume, apparently.

Ryan rested his forearms on the counter, making his bandages the first thing the guard saw. “What’s up?”

The guards reeled a bit, but pulled himself back. “Not much. What happened to you?”

“Got into a scuffle in the forest. Nothing huge.”

The guard nodded, but Rarity was shocked and cut in. “Nothing huge!? You fought off four timberwolves and saved my little sister and her friends! And Fluttershy and Zecora!”

Ryan closed his eyes and groaned as the guard stared at him slack-jawed. “Wow. Humble, much?” He chuckled. “Well, that makes you a hero. You’re welcome here anytime.” The hero comment bit at Ryan’s mind, but he kept it well hidden.

The guard let them go past and they made their way to the city. Rarity took the lead, but kept Ryan close behind on the way to keep him from getting lost.

They were right at the edge of the city. The white buildings towered over them, confining Ryan to the streets and close quarters. It made him uncomfortable, especially when Rarity called a taxi over.

“Oh, yoohoo! Taxi!” One immediately came by. Rarity leaned in the window and batted her eyelashes at the puller. “Would you be a dear and bring us to the Hanoverian Hotel?” The driver nodded enthusiastically. “Great!” Rarity turned to Ryan. “Let’s go!” Ryan got in after her and they rode off.

While they rode through the city, Ryan took a look out the windows. It was a bustling city, alright; comparable to New York in ponies moving about their lives. Criers shouted at passing ponies, stores had dozens of customers, kids ran through the streets. It brought Ryan home for a minute.

He was jerked back into “reality” when the taxi halted suddenly and threw RYan face first into the wall. Rarity had used her magic to keep herself from the same fate.

“Oh, my! Are you alright?” she asked. Ryan grunted in response, and looked out the window. Some dude was trying to get into the cab, but the puller was yelling at him to get lost. The stallion was ratehr aggressive.

Ryan got up and leaned into the window, pulling out his Automag. Without chambering a round, he pointed it right at the stallion’s forehead. “You wanna die? Try me. I don’t feel like dealing with assholes right now.” The stallion backed off. and they went on their way. When Ryan got back in, Rarity looked at him, freaked out. “There’s no round chambered.” She let out a sigh of relief.

They arrived at the hotel in no time, and Rarity paid the cab driver by giving him his fair and a fake mailing address. He took both gleefully and went on his merry way.

“You’re all heart.” Ryan commented as they approached the doors of the Hanoverian Hotel.

Inside, the ponies of the front lobby looked at the new duo with awe. They had never seen a human before, and he was coming in with Rarity, who had become pretty famous in her own right. While he and Rarity made their way to the front desk, Ryan kept his hand on his Automag, ready to pull in case something happened. He didn’t expect something to happen. Then again, he hadn’t expected to be kidnapped by terrorist human traffickers either.

At the desk, Rarity greeted the deskmare with some familiarity. They had a little conversation, and, thankfully, this time, Rarity didn’t introduce Ryan. “Will there be a colt to bring our things to our room?” Rarity asked. The mare nodded, and Rarity dropped her bags. “Wonderful!” She turned to Ryan. “Let’s go out and do something!”

Ryan quickly picked up the bag with his things. “Alright. Where to?”

“Well, first we need to visit the hospital to get those bandages changed. They look and smell terrible.” Ryan looked around; the ponies’ noses were twitching.

“Lead the way, then.”

Rarity lead Ryan through the city to the hospital. As soon as they were out the door of the hotel, she started telling him about the place. “Canterlot really is one of the greatest, if not the single greatest, cities in Equestria. The hospital we’re going to is among the best for all types of care; broken bones, cuts, or worse. The shopping is truly glorious, so many choices!” She went on.

They were walking through the streets, surrounded by all sorts of ponies and even griffons. Most of them haughtily ignored the two, though all of them dared a look at the new species in their midst. It made Ryan uncomfortable; it was exactly like his first time in Ponyville, minus the haughtiness.

The hospital was in view. “There’s the hospital, Ryan. Once we’re done, what say we-”

“Stuff your mouth and give me all your bits!” Rarity gasped in shock and fell back as a mugger wearing a mask appeared before them. “I ain’t playing!” He had a knife in his mouth.

“Knife!” “Mugger!” “Guards, guards!” the crowd yelled.

Ryan took one look at the mugger. “You know that there are two ways out of this.” he said.

“What?” The mugger was confused.

“Let me ask you a question.” Ryan said, pulling out his Automag and chambering a round. “What do I and my friend here look like?”

The mugger shook his head. “What?”

Ryan, annoyed about a bunch of things, shook his head. “What country you from?!”

“What?”

“What ain’t no country I ever heard of. They speak Equish in What?” The crowd watched in horrified awe. Rarity cowered behind Ryan.

“What?”

“EQUISH, MOTHER FUCKER! Do you speak it!?”

The mugger’s eyes were wide and he stepped back. “Yes?”

“Then you understand what I’m telling you.” The mugger nodded, trying to steel himself. “The let me say again; there are two ways out of this. You can; One: Leave my friend and I alone. Or Two:” Ryan pulled up the Automag. “This can get really ugly.”

The mugger, knife in teeth, thought it over. He was just challenged in front of hundreds of ponies, and the guards had yet to arrive. He locked eyes with Ryan; the cold rage in the human’s eyes told him Come at me. So he did.

He ran at Ryan, swinging the knife with his neck. But Ryan caught his neck with his hand. “Wrong choice.” The human whipped the pistol around, pointed it at the stallion’s hind, pressed the barrel in, and pulled the trigger. The loud BOOM roared from the gun and echoed through the streets, silencing any and all activity. The recoil sent it flying back into the air, and the would-be mugger fell to the ground, screaming.

Ryan put the Automag back in its place. Six shots left. “Come, Rarity. I’m sure someone will take care of this.” Rarity swallowed hard and complied, looking back at the screaming stallion as they went to the hospital.

Rarity spoke up when they were halfway there. “Was that really necessary?” she asked. “I mean, he may never walk again.”

“Well, if he’s not going to rob anypony else, why does that matter? People turn to theft because there is nothing else. Not being able to walk won’t change that for him.” Rarity couldn’t help but to see the logic in Ryan’s words as they made their way to the place where the stallion was likely to be soon anyway.

Once inside the hospital, Rarity hurriedly dragged Ryan to a doctor who could switch out the bandages. The two were brought to a room and had to wait for almost half an hour before they got the doctor.

“Alright, what- oh.” The doctor said as he walked in. “Well, it’s simpler than the nurse made it out to be.” Ryan cocked an eyebrow at the doctor. “Just let me remove the bandages, and I’ll get started.”

Ryan shrugged and let the doctor do his thing. He let his mind wander while the bandages were coming off, mostly to the last time he was in a hospital. Last time, he was there for this same reason, plus to steal medical supplies. That also brought his mind to that remaining morphine syringe, which he seemed to have lost. Oh well.

When the bandages were all the way off, the doctor sucked in his breath through his teeth. “Oh. Maybe the nurse was right.” He looked at Ryan’s face. “This will take about fifteen minutes, and it might feel odd. Just try to relax.”

Ryan didn’t get it until the doctor started. He was using magic, being a unicorn, to fix the torn flesh of his forearms. Ryan found himself fascinated and had to watch as the bits of flesh were burned away and new flesh came seemingly out of nowhere to stitch itself back together. The blood receded back into his arm, and before he knew it, he looked good as new. Only his old scars were still left.

“Alright, all done. Now, that’ll be about sixty bits.” Ryan had no money on him, so he turned to Rarity.

“No worries; I’m treating you on this trip. I’ll get it.” Rarity paid the doctor upfront; not common back home; and the two left the hospital together, ready to face the city.

They walked out of the hospital only to be greeted by a group of royal guards, wearing their ridiculous uniforms of brass armor and helmets with that funky blue fuzz on them. “Halt.” One said. Ryan and Rarity stopped in their tracks.

“Can I help you, sir?” Rarity asked politely. “If this is about that colt in the mask, I can explain my friend’s actions.”

The guards put a hoof up and shook his head. “No need. We just need to get a testimony from him really quick, then we’ll be on our way.”

Rarity turned to Ryan. “Well?”

Ryan shrugged. “Alright. What are your questions, officer?”

“I’m not an officer.” the guard replied, seemingly feeling complemented.

“You could be. Anyway, questions?”

“Right.” The guard pulled up a pad. He, too, was a unicorn, though it was hidden by that stupid helmet. “Questions are; Why? Where? With what did you defend yourself?”

“Why; we were being attacked with a knife. Where; over there. With what; My Automag pistol. Can’t explain that one; national security risk.” The guard went wide-eyed, then just jotted down the notes. “Anything else?”

“No, sir. Have a good day.” Ryan replied in the same manner, and the guards let the duo go.

Rarity did not comment on Ryan’s words to the guards as they left. She walked beside him, looking up at him with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. Ryan tried to ignore it and keep walking, but the look seemed contagious to the ponies around them. In an effort to lose the looks, Ryan took a number of sharp turns, but the constant starting was born from Rarity.

“Rarity, I need you to stop staring at me. I understand that I my body is hard for you not to look at...”

Rarity scoffed and shook her head. “Well, I never. I can assure you, that is not why I was looking.” Ryan nodded, satisfied that he had gotten her to stop starting.

Rarity took the lead again and led him around the nicer areas of the city. She started by taking him to the major shopping center, which wasn’t a mall, but a large collection of buildings with stores. Mostly, it was fashion stores, with pony dresses and crowns and girly things that Ryan had no interest in. Other stores sold gourmet food, and there were some nice restaurants, too. Ryan even spotted a couple of pubs and bars.

“Remember that for later.” he told himself.

Rarity took him back to the hotel, which Ryan had decided to affectionately change the name of from the Hanoverian Hotel to the Hanoi Hilton. He felt like he was a prisoner in this snooty city.

“Well, Ryan, I need to go talk to Fancy Pants now. I trust that you can make your way around?” Rarity asked.

Ryan nodded. “Yeah, I think I can make my way around. I’ll try to avoid trouble.” Rarity nodded happily, handed Ryan a bag of three hundred bits, and then left Ryan to his own devices, waving at him from a taxi she called over. Ryan waved back until she was out of sight.

As soon as she was gone, Ryan walked away from the Hanoi Hilton and went out into the fray in the city. He had absolutely nothing to do right now, something that hadn’t truly plagued him since he first arrived in Equestria. It reminded him of home.

Ryan made his way to the shopping center with the sack of money, wondering what he would even do with it. If they had it available, he would definitely have bought some ammo for his guns, but there was nothing like that. He doubted that weapons were sold here, and armor that would fit him was out of the question. Having crossed all of those things off of the list of possible items to purchase, Ryan figured he would look for tactical gear. Maybe a flashlight he could strap onto his 1911.

With no clue as to where to start looking, he just wandered into the collection of buildings and looked around for any stores that might have what he wanted. Few stores even came close, but that was due to the fashion theme he noticed before. He actually decided to walk into the fourth one he saw.

When he walked in, he got all kinds of ponies looking at him. Most were looking incredibly confused at Ryan, probably due to his vest and still stained shirt. He was an oddity in every possible way to them, and they didn’t bother trying to hide it. Ryan gauged the faces he could see; some were shocked, others looked scared. One he recognized from the streets near where he shot the mugger.

A store clerk trotted on over, unphased by Ryan’s not being a pony. Business is business. “Hello, and welcome. I’m Jack.” First pony with a normal name. Wow. “What can I do for you today?”

Ryan thought for a moment. “Do you sell cloaks? Like the kind with hoods, maybe to protect against rain or something?”

The clerk looked intrigued. “Why, yes. Please, follow me.” Ryan followed the clerk to a back section of the store. As he walked, the other customers actually stopped looking at him, probably because he seemed much more normal now that he was buying stuff. The clerk stopped at a row. “These are our cloaks.”

Before even looking at any, Ryan took a gander at the price tag; none were under two hundred bits. “Hmmm.”

“If these are too expensive, as in you want a bit more practicality, we have others right over here.” The clerk walked on over to another row. “These don’t get more expensive than one hundred bits.”

Ryan nodded. “Nice.” He walked over and took a look at the cloaks before him. There weren’t any cloaks in a camouflage tone, but most were a nice jet black. Ryan pulled one of the larger ones off of the rack. “May I?” The clerk made a motion for him to try it on. When Ryan swung it around, it rested nicely on his shoulders and managed to go down to just above his feet. He walked a few steps in each direction. “I like it.”

“I had a feeling you might. This one is only seventy bits, and its good quality and it’ll last you a long time.” The clerk smiled at his near commission.

Ryan thought. The black cloak could be extremely useful in the forest for avoiding being seen at night. “Alright. I’m sold. Ring’er up.” The clerk got an excited look as he lead Ryan to the counter to buy the hooded cloak.

He didn’t don it when he went outside; it was too hot, the start of September. He thought. He had no idea how the seasons actually worked here. Thinking about it, this was about the time that he would normally be getting ready to go back to school. It would have been his senior year. What were his friends back home doing right now? Or his family? They had no idea where he was...

Ryan threw the cloak over his shoulder and let it go, trying his best not to think about it. He strolled on through the streets, getting fewer looks of awe, but more looks of curiosity and even admiration. One stallion who passed by told gave Ryan a thank you for stopping the mugger. Word travels fast here.

He kept on walking, browsing the windows and shop names to see if anything might come up that he might be able to use. The cloak was useful for stealth, but was there anything else he might be able to use to stay alive in the forest? He could probably use some kind of under armor, and something like leather would be best. But he doubted that there would be any leather around here.

But he did find a store that might have something. The sign above the street was in its fancy letters, but its name suggested anything other than fanciness; Hard Work for Hard Play. Curious, Ryan walked in.

He found himself in a maintenance shop of some kind. All around him, there were parts of varying size, shape, and functionality. Gears, pistons, all sorts of things. In another area of the shop, there were things that a mechanic might wear, like hoof covers, vests, helmets, and... gloves?

Ryan was soon approached by a store clerk. “Hey.” Ryan turned to greet him. “I never saw you before. You new?” Ryan confirmed. “Yeah, thought so. What brings you into my shop? Most of the ponies around here don’t do their own work, so I sell to the ponies who do their work or ponies who do their own work. But you aren’t a pony.”

“That, I am not.” Ryan replied. He looked over the rack of safety wear. “I just came in to browse, but now I’m curious. Why do you have gloves for fingers like these?” Ryan flexed his digits for the store clerk.

“Well, we get all sorts of customers. Young griffons from other lands, ponies, horses from Saddle Arabia, occasionally dragons, albeit small ones, and other creatures with hands. But you’re new to me.”

“I get that alot.” Ryan picked out a pair of gloves that might fit him. “What can you tell me about these?”

The clerk smiled. “Ah, those. Those are light mechanics gloves, mostly used when working with sharp things. They’re made of this new fabric that’s super cut and heat resistant. The name escapes me for some reason...”

“Kevlar?” Ryan responded hopefully.

“Yeah, that’s it.”

At this point in his life, nothing was capable of making Ryan leap with joy. But if something were to, this would certainly have been it.” How much for them?”

“Twenty bits.” Ryan pulled out the money and handed to him, pocketing the gloves. “Thank you.”

The human looked back at the rack, specifically, at the vests. “Mind if I try one of those on?” he asked. The store clerk motioned for him to go for it. Ryan put several vests on until he found one that worked alright. “Same material?” he asked. The clerk nodded. Ryan hopped up and down a little, finding it to be a bit loose. He could fix that later. But there was something else. “What’s this space in here?” There was a series of little pockets inside the vest, front and back.

“Oh, those?” The clerk pulled another vest off. “Well, these vests are meant primarily for ponies designing carriages, which requires a lot of flat pieces. Those pockets just help for carrying the smaller ones.”

Ryan could hardly believe his ears. If he could get some ceramic plates, or even steel, he could get used to it, he would have alight armor vest. It would be perfect for traveling in the Everfree; light, cut resistant and strong protection, plus the stealth of the cloak. While he was at it, Ryan pulled a helmet that looked strong off the rack.

“How much for this, too?” The store clerk asked for one hundred bits, which Ryan eagerly gave him. Then, the human was on his way.

He still had one hundred-ten bits left, so Ryan figured that he might as well try to find those ceramic plates. He carried all of his new things with him, slung over his shoulder, thinking about the forest. With a new vest, he would need new holsters for his guns and a better way to carry his KaBar. That was doable. He would need to have camping supplies to carry out there so he could figure out how he would spend his nights while building an actual home to live in. Then again, why was he even doing that? He could just keep living in tent. In fact, why was he doing any of this? Was this the only thing that kept him going? Could he really be-

His thought were derailed when he ran smack dab into another pony in the street, knocking the both of them over. Ryan dropped his stuff and instinctively, his hands went straight to his weapons. Taking a look down, he saw that there was no attacker, just some random mare that had a couple of bags.

He leaned down and put his own things in a pile before organizing the mare’s things. “Shit, sorry.” he said. “Didn’t see you there.”

“No worries; I know what it’s like to have my head in the clouds.” she replied.

Ryan looked at her; she had a sun yellow coat and wings. Her mane was two toned, a fiery orange theme, brighter on the inside, darker on the outside. Her mane was swept back, like it was windblown, and her tail looked relatively unkempt. Much like his own hair. Her irises were a deep shade of bronze, and she looked pretty casual about getting bowled over by some random creature.

“I take it you fly a lot.” Ryan replied, gathering up her bags and handing them to her. She hung them on her open wings, then closed them. Clever way to carry stuff.

“You never heard of me? That’s a first.” Ryan shrugged. “It’s actually nice not to be stared at uncomfortably.”

“Yeah, I know that feeling.” He looked around; they were being watched by EVERYPONY present. “But not at the moment, I don’t.”

The mare looked around, then scowled. “Alright, I guess we’ll have to move.” Apparently, they were having a conversation. Ryan just shrugged and followed as the mare silently led the way out of the area.

The mare led them to a small park with a bench, then sat down. “I’ve never seen your kind before. What brings you to Equestria?”

Ryan sat beside her. “Magic. And dying, I think.” She blinked incredulously. “Don’t ask; it’s hard enough to think about, and I went through it.” Ryan paused. “The reason I’m in Canterlot, though, is that Rarity brought me here.”

“Rarity?” Spitfire asked. “As in, Element of Generosity Rarity? Famous fashion designer Rarity?” Ryan nodded. “Wow, you’re way up there already in knowing significant ponies.”

Ryan nodded. Yeah, I guess so. Am I to guess that you are also significant, by your rather aloof demeanor towards our encounter? Important people rarely get mad about that, since they already KNOW they’re important.”

The mare made a face, then smacked her forehead. That must have hurt, actually, with hooves and all. “Sorry, I forgot to tell you my name. I’m Spitfire Captain of the Wonderbolts.”

Ryan raised his eyebrows. “Oh. Wow.” He had no idea what to think about that. “Rainbow talks about you guys a lot.”

“Yeah. She’s got potential, but she’s too hot headed, too arrogant.” Ouch. If Rainbow heard that. “She could be great, if she just got over herself a little.”

Ryan nodded. “Yeah, I could see that.”

They spent some time talking, mostly about the other elements and what the Wonderbolts do in Equestria. They sounded a lot like the USAF Pararescuemen and Combat Control Teams. Turns out, they had actually been a branch of Special Forces of Equestria back in the day, but more as Recon Birds, so to speak. They were the 71st Strategic Recon (SR) Battalion. Spitfire regaled him with stories of heroism and bravery from the days of war and the loss of some very talented operators. Ryan actually felt interested in the stories.

Twas not to last. “Well, I have to get back to HQ. My team did a good job in the last performance, so I’m treating them with good beer and a night off.”

Ryan smiled at her. “Well, I wish you a pleasant evening.” Spitfire smiled back and went off.

Ryan looked at his watch; it was almost seven. He didn’t realize he had been out so long, and figured that it was a good time to head back to the Hanoi Hilton. He had already forgotten the actual name. When he got there and walked in with all his stuff, the desk mare instantly recognized him (how could one of them forget?) and greeted him by giving him a key. Ryan thanked her and went on up to his room.

Inside, he threw his new clothes to the side and just waited for Rarity to come back. That was his first plan, at least. His stomach growled, reminding him that he had yet to eat something since she left. He left his room and decided that he would find a little food court eventually if he just walked around on the first floor.

After a bit of time walking around, he did find a small restaurant near the front lobby. When he walked in, the waiter looked at him funny.

“Well, someone needs to control their pets.” the waiter said to himself. Ryan frowned. “You lose your master?” Ryan did not respond. “I really hope this thing is neutered.

“You’re the one who’s gonna end up castrated if you don’t shut the hell up.” The waiter reeled back, startled by Ryan’s sudden threatening speech. “Now are you gonna serve me, or am I gonna have to serve you?”

The waiter looked snootily at him. “Well, I can assure you that we don’t appreciate being spoken to as such here.”

“And I can assure you that I don’t appreciate being called an animal by snobby bitches. Didn’t seem to stop you, though.” Ryan crossed his arms.

“We don’t serve your kind here.”

Ryan laughed. “Oh, so now its racism. I see how it is. I’ll be notifying your manager.” Ryan started to walk away.

“Wait, wait! Is that necessary?” The waiter gave him an awkward smile, to which Ryan gave a leveled stare.

“Apparently.”

Just then, the door behind him opened up. “Ryan, I was wondering where you were!” Ryan turned around; Rarity had come back. “How was your day?”

Ryan shrugged. “Decent. Got some useful stuff. But then I encountered this racist.” Ryan pointed at the waiter casually. “Gonna report him to the hotel manager.”

“Please, don’t! I- I’ll pay for your meals personally, just don’t tell him! I’ll lose the only job I can get!”

Ryan and Rarity exchanged looks, and Rarity smiled. “I think that sounds fair.” she replied. The waiter let out a sigh of relief, and he led them to a table.

They sat down on some cushions, and the waiter left them be. “Oh, waiter, before you go.” The waiter turned. “We’ll be joined by Fancy Pants soon.” The waiter’s eyes bugged out and he nodded excitedly, then left.

Ryan started looking at the menu. he was shocked and glad to see that there was actually meat on it. Probably to serve Griffons. Rarity looked at her own menu, probably just trying to pass the time while they waited for their final guest to arrive. He arrived only minutes later.

“Fancy!” Rarity shouted, getting up to greet her friend and business partner. That kind of thing rarely works back home. “Glad to see you could come.”

Ryan stood up and looked over to note the stallion’s appearance. He was tall, even taller than Big Mac. The guy was alabaster white, much like Rarity, and had a horn to match. He wore a nice suit and a monocle, and he held himself with very regal posture. But he seemed decent right off the bat.

Ryan stepped towards the two friends. “Oh, and Fancy, I would love for you to meet Ryan.” She introduced Ryan. “He’s quite the hero where he comes from.” So he was a hero now? “And here as well.” Maybe.

Ryan extended his hand. “Pleasure to meet you.”

Fancy took it. “The pleasure is mine, old sport.” They all sat down. “So I understand that you have had quite the exploits.” Fancy began.

“I have.” Ryan replied. “None of which too pleasant, I’ll add.” Fancy nodded and didn’t continue with his questions. Ryan already liked him.

Rarity decided to answer instead, though. “Ryan recently fought off four timberwolves and saved my little sister’s life.” Fancy raised his eyebrows, impressed. “He also saved her friends, and my two friends Fluttershy and Zecora.”

“Good show, sir!” Fancy said. “I say, old sport, that really is something. The wonderbolts would be impressed with you.”

Ryan shrugged. “Maybe. Spitfire seemed like a reasonable mare.” His dinnermates raised their brows. “I met her today when I walked right into her and knocked her stuff to the ground. We had a nice conversation after that.”

“My, my. You seem to be meeting all the most influential ponies lately.” Rarity commented. “Before you know it, Ryan will be the one everypony is trying to impress.” She and Fancy laughed.

They ordered their food, and it came pretty quickly. Blackmail will do that. “So, Rarity tells me that you need new clothes.” Fancy started. “I can certainly do that for you if you come to my home tomorrow. It would be interesting to design for a new species such as yourself.”

“That sounds good.” Ryan replied as he ate. WIth that bit of business, done, they all continued eating and chatting about whatever came to mind.

When they finished, Fancy had to go to meet his wife. Before he left, Ryan had one thing to say. “Are you stuck in a... rut?” He added a coy smile at the end.

“I must say that if I don’t find myself in one, I might actually be disappointed.” The two males nodded to each other, Rarity none the wiser. At least, they hoped for that.

They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways, thinking about what awaited them the next day.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity hadn’t questioned about what Ryan bought the day before when he handed her the bag of one hundred-ten remaining bits. She was too busy thinking about what she would do while Fancy Pants took care of Ryan’s measurements and made his clothes. Odds were that she would just spend some time with Fancy’s wife, Fleur. Girl talk while the men were at work.

The cab ride was short to Fancy’s place, a large mansion on the outskirts of the city, where it would actually fit. In the front, there was a big fountain of somepony sitting like The Thinker, pondering some great question. He might have been wondering what the obsession with white in this city was all about.

The lawn was neatly trimmed and dark green , attended by seemingly dozens of workers, all of whom whistled or hummed happy tunes. Shrubberies lined up in the front of the yard, with several rows going back further, almost like a system of trenches in World War I. In between one pair was actually a tiny moat, only about four feet wide.

As they approached, they had to go through a big brass gate with the letters FP on it. A gate guard let them through upon seeing who was inside. Once past him, Ryan took another look; it was very different inside. Inside, there was a pool with two waterslides and a group of ponies playing in it. There was a croquet field, as expected, but there also seemed to be a bunch of ponies playing rugby in another area. They were covered in mud and bruises.

“Well. That’s certainly something.” It was a pleasant surprise to see that this guy wasn’t your average rich boy.

The cab dropped them at the entrance, and Rarity gave him his fare and he went off. Ryan and Rarity watched him go, and while their backs were turned, the doors to the mansion swung open.

“Ah, Rarity and Ryan! Glad to see you again.” Rarity greeted him, and Ryan simply nodded. Fancy returned the gesture. “Come, come, let’s not waste any time. I would love to see you enjoy yourselves in my abode.” At least he didn’t say it was humble.

Fancy Pants led them through several hallways to the room where he and Ryan would respectively work and wait. The halls were interesting; shields and swords hung in various spots, each with a plaque for its story. Portraits of dozens of ponies, including Princess Celestia, hung over doors.

The thing that really caught his attention, though, was the portrait over the room at the end of the hall. “There’s our place.” Fancy said. Ryan looked up at the portrait, his gaze affixed to it. It was of Princess Luna, sitting by a fireplace, looking sad. She had a book in between her forelegs, though the title was indiscernible. Her face said that she lost something dear to her.

Fancy noticed Ryan’s gaze. “I see you are interested in the Princess of the Moon. Are you two acquainted?”

Rarity opened her mouth, but Ryan spoke. “You could say that.” She looked to him, surprised. “We go back a bit.” Back to Indonesia.

Fancy chuckled. “Well, you are full of surprises.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

Fancy nodded. “Well, I hope to get to know it. Rarity, I’m sure that Fleur would love to see you again. If you want to talk to her, she’s out by the pool watching the kids play.” Rarity nodded, taking the hint to leave. Once she was off, Ryan and Fancy went into the room. “Let us begin.”

Inside the room, Fancy had Ryan stand on a little stage. “I’m not the biggest fan of stages.” Ryan said, remembering the Cambodian compound.

“No worries, it’s just a stand.” Fancy assured him. “Now, if you would remove your clothes, old sport, I can take your measurements.”

Ryan hesitated. “Well, I’m not that kind of guy. At the least, you have to buy me dinner.” Fancy chuckled. “I don’t think you’ll like what you see. Plus, my junk isn’t hidden like yours.”

Fancy nodded. “Well, leave your underwear on. And I promise you I won’t judge or ask.” Ryan relented and removed his shirt and pants.

Fancy had to hold in his gasp, but he managed it fairly easily. The bullet scar on the front of Ryan’s chest dominated his bodily features. Looking at the undamaged skin, he also realized that his forearms probably WEREN’T supposed to look that way. When Fancy moved around him, he saw that the scar on his chest was also on the other side, giving him the chills. He saw the slash marks on his lower back. But the last thing he saw, and the most disturbing, was the big USA carved into his upper back.

Trying to distract himself from the clearly inflicted injuries, Fancy saw that Ryan had a thin rope around his neck. On it, there was a silver pendant in an interesting shape. “What is that?” he asked.

Ryan looked down and lifted it up. “That’s my Shen necklace. Shen means Spirit in Japanese, and God in Chinese.” Fancy had no idea what either of those were, but he let it take his mind from the scars. “I got it after earning my Black Belt.”

Fancy was impressed; few can boast that. “What did you study?” he asked, getting his tools to get started.

“Isshinryu Karate.” Fancy nodded as he began to work.

He kept mostly silent while he worked, speaking mostly to have Ryan move some part of himself so he could get a measurement. Ryan was appreciative of the silence; he could easily tell that Fancy Pants was curious about the scars, but had enough respect for Ryan and self restraint that he stayed his tongue. Him and Mac were good dudes.

Fancy finished taking measurements and let Ryan step off the stand. “Well, now I can start making you some new clothes.” he said. “What exactly do you want me to make?”

Ryan hadn’t expected to be able to choose. He thought. “Well, I could use a couple of good tank tops and denim pants for farm work. After that, I’ll need some casual clothes to wear around, ideally in black, white, or gray tones. I’m a simple guy.” Fancy nodded and used his magic to take supplies from the drawers off to the side of the room. “Other than that, I shall defer to your judgment.”

Fancy nodded some more. “Sounds good to me.”

Ryan sat off to the side and watched as Fancy’s magic did its work putting together Ryan’s new clothes. He had been cool enough to start off with the farm outfits, the only ones Ryan had any real need for. They went by quickly, so Fancy tossed them over to Ryan to try on, since he was still pretty much naked. Ryan put them on and was very much satisfied with what he got, noting how the back of the tops seemed to do a good job of covering the letters carved into his back. They were white and felt pretty durable.

Fancy moved onto normal clothes for the human, making a few simple white T-shirts and a few black ones. He made a few pairs of shorts and more pairs of long pants, all of which were light brown Khakis. He then moved onto making a number of long-sleeved shirts for the human, most of which were black and some gray. None of them, thankfully, were turtlenecks. Turtlenecks are ridiculous.

Once the regular clothes were done, Fancy Pants stopped for a tea break. Not one to be rude to a cool dude, Ryan joined him, leaving for the dining room. They were quiet on the way there.

Once there and sitting at a table, though, Fancy Pants decided to start a conversation. “So, Ryan. If I might ask, where are you from?”

Ryan gave him the whole story on how he was from the United States and explained the nature of the letters on his back. He knew that that would ultimately be the question he would want to have answer to, not how he got them, but what the letters were. He could respect a bit of curiosity in that.

“So yeah. That’s my country.”

“Wow.” Fancy replied. He sipped some tea. “That sounds like quite a place.” Ryan nodded. “What exactly did you plan to do there, if you don’t mind my asking? What did you plan to do with your life?”

Ryan hesitated. Did it even matter if he told him? “I planned on joining my nation’s navy and going into Naval Special Warfare. I wanted to serve my country.”

Fancy smiled. “Ah, a noble path to follow. Is there a symbol attached to this?” Ryan affirmed and briefly explained the symbol of the SEALS and the American Flag; the whole time, Fancy Pants seemed to be concentrating on something, but still listening.

Ryan finished, and a few seconds later, Fancy’s horn glowed again. “You mean like this?” he asked, panting slightly. An image popped into Ryan’s head; it was exactly like the SEAL Trident.

“Yeah, that’s exactly it.”

“And how about this?” He showed Ryan the image of the American Flag.

“Also perfect. Why curious?

The designer shook his head. “Just something for my last bit of clothing for you.” He stood up. “Come, let us finish up.” Ryan followed him back to the Luna room.

In the room, Fancy sat right back down and started working on the last piece. While he did that, he and Ryan talked about random things in their lives; dealing with paparazzi jackasses, living with the Elements of Harmony, dangers that each of their jobs held, and a few things about Ryan’s past. He tried to explain to Fancy that he was no hero, but Fancy Pants countered by saying that he was an Antihero; a hero who is questionable in his morality. It actually made sense.

Ryan had been so distracted that he didn’t notice what Fancy had made. “Done.” the designer said suddenly. He floated the item over to Ryan so he could look at it; it was a black jacket with no hood. On the front, there was a small SEAL Trident put into it. On the back, there was a big American Flag. “What do you think?”

Ryan put it on; it fit perfectly. “Very nice.” He actually did like it, too. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” Fancy got up and walked over to Ryan to pat him on the back. Might I ask where you’re staying?”

“Well, Rarity is storing me in her basement for now, though I do plan to move pretty far away eventually.” The forest wasn’t that far, but conceptually, it was as far as he would get.

“Well, until then, I was hoping that I might be able to come by every so often and visit. You’re an interesting stallion-”

“Man.”

“You’re an interesting man, Ryan. Maybe sometime next weekend we could go for drinks together in Ponyville? I can’t go out here because they know me too well and I’ll be harassed.”

Ryan thought for a moment. “Alright.” he said, nodding. “That sounds good.” They bumped hoof to fist together to solidify the deal. “Guess I should find Rarity. She said she wanted me to see more of Canterlot.”

The two males left the Luna room and went outside to find the ladies. They found them sunbathing (why? they have fur coats.) by the pool, using their magic to avoid getting wet. As they came up behind them, they heard the ladies talking about something. Never one to pass up on a chance to hear ladies talk privately, the males stopped to listen.

“So do you plan on showing him the Muff?” Fleur asked. The males’ ears perked up.

Rarity hmm’d. “Well, it seems a bit early, but I think I can trust him not to rough up the Muff. Ryan seems like he can control himself pretty well.” Ryan and Fancy looked at each other, traumatized and scandalized respectively. “He shouldn’t be so tough that he makes it seem like a dry, barren old unit.”

Ryan decided to stop listening. “Hey ladies.” Fancy didn’t object. “We just finished.”

Rarity smile at Ryan, and he shied away, drawing a confused look from Rarity. “Ah, we were just talking about you Ryan. I was just telling Fleur how I might show you the Mobile Underground Fighting Flight.” MUFF. Get your mind out of the gutter. “They’re a small section of the Air Guard that deals with covert battles against criminal groups.”

Ryan sighed in relief. “Sounds interesting.” Ryan replied. The ladies were terribly confused at the looks they saw on the males’ faces, but opted to forget about it.

Rarity took up Fleur’s hoof. “It was great to see you again, but I suppose Ryan wants to see the MUFF.” Damn it was weird to hear a mare say that. “I’ll chat with you again sometime!” They waved at each other as Ryan and Rarity left the property, Ryan trying to keep his mind off muff and keep it on track.

They had seen the MUFF, and Ryan was pretty impressed. It was an impressive unit with lots of capabilities. It could hide things very well, it always had special armor and protection, and it was always ready for action. The best part; it wasn’t used that often.

That night, Rarity decided to hit the hay early, being tuckered out from a day of not doing anything but laying in the sun. It’s funny how that always manages to tire people out. Ryan wasn’t sleepy, so he said goodnight and went out into the town to look for a pub or bar he could drink alone in.

The first one he went to refused to serve him because they had no idea what to do about the drinking age. Ryan wasn’t mad; it was a smart business practice. The second turned out to be a gay bar, so Ryan hightailed it outta there pretty fast. He just felt like he didn’t belong, and he would hate to crash their parties.

The third one, though, was exactly what he was looking for. The grizzled looking bouncer didn’t question him, just let him in. Ryan got a table nice and quick, and his server didn’t try anything funny. He wouldn’t mind if she tried to be like Cinny, but right now, he did want his alcohol faster. The day had brought on memories that he wanted to leave behind.

He went through his usual drink, Samaloco Adams, and got somewhat buzzed pretty fast. He was definitely feeling the effects of the stuff on his mind; mostly in that he could hardly feel his mind. The stuff he was drinking was decent and he couldn’t seem to recall his troubles any more, so it was turning out to be a nice night.

Until he was told to leave. “I can tell when someone is drunk and can’t have more. You are; so you gotta go. And don’t try any other places tonight; we’re all connected.” Ryan glared at the waiter, but let it soften since he understood. He was good for now anyway.

“Well, thangks fer the drinks anyway.” He tossed the waiter his money and left, not even noticing how scared the waiter was of the death glare he had just gotten.

Ryan looked at his watch; it was about half past eleven. Seemed like a decent time to be heading back to the Hanoverian Hanoi. Hilton Hotel? No, the Hanoiverian Hotilton. Yeah.

He started to make his way back.The street lights were bright and painful as he passed under them, and the ground seemed to be trying to pull him down with all its might. Ryan had to fight just to stay up.

“Had a bit too much?”

Ryan sighed and turned around. “Fuck off, Wraith. I don’t feel like dealing with you right now.”

The Wraith stepped out of the shadows of an alley. “Maybe so, but I still have to deal with you.” Ryan raised an eyebrow. “And I won’t stop until I’ve dealt with you.”

Ryan raised his arms out to his sides. “Come at me, bro.” He tried to take a seiunchin fighting guard, but it was hard for him at the moment. “I can take you.”

The Wraith shook his head. “I don’t want to fight. Not right now.” He walked over to Ryan and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Come with me.” Suspicious, but not quite in his right mind, Ryan obliged.

They walked down the street in the darkness, yin and yang, different but the same. The Wraith led his counterpart to that same little park where Ryan talked to Spitfire and leaned against a tree. Ryan stood across from him, leaning on the bench from that day.

“What do you want?” Ryan asked. “It better be good.”

The Wraith put his hands together in front of him and stood tall. “I want to know what you’re doing, Ryan.” Ryan sniffed. “I want to know why you’re out getting wasted, trying to forget all about me.” He meant it in more ways than Ryan knew. “I don’t want to be forgotten, Ryan. You need me.”

Ryan laughed. “Need you? You compromised everything I thought I knew was right. You tore my mind to shreds and didn’t even put the pieces back together right. Why the living Hell would I want to remember you?”

The Wraith sighed. “Because I represent more about you than you even know. I represent more than just you; I represent everything that used to be you. I AM you.”

Ryan spat. “Fuck yourself, you self righteous ass. You weren’t me; you aren’t me. And you never will be me.” Ryan stepped forward. “I will fight you until my dying breath. I will put an end to you, and everything you actually represent. I will kill you.”

The Wraith smiled a bit to himself. “Well, the dragon has fangs. But tell me,” He put a hand to his chin. “Why do you want to kill me? You know that you have nothing to gain from it.”

Ryan tried to think about it. He knew that he wanted to, needed to, end the Wraith. The Wraith was what had made him shoot Catherine and Joey. The Wraith was what made him open fire on that room, killing over a dozen people, one of whom was an innocent. The Wraith had made him kill all those people he never knew, those people who had families to take care of.

But he couldn’t find it. “I don’t know. But I will kill you.”

The Wraith shook his head. “Come now, Ryan. You and I both know why you want to get rid of me.” Ryan put his hand to his knife. “It’s because I’m dangerous, to you. But not in the way that you think I am.”

“Bullshit. I know exactly how you're dangerous.”

The Wraith shrugged, and began to walk around Ryan. “Think about it some; you did on the train.” Ryan made a questioning look. “The book?” He seemed clarified now. The Wraith chuckled. He was standing in the middle of the path, with Ryan looking toward the city. “See you around.” Ryan blinked, and he disappeared.

Ryan felt angry. He couldn’t figure out why, just that he was mad. He ran in the direction the Wraith had been in; he had to find him. He had to find him and stab him; a gun failed before. He sprinted out of the park and looked around; nothing.

Nothing of the Wraith, that was.

Off in the distance, Ryan heard a scream. It wasn’t like a scream of, “I’m hurt, call an ambulance!” or “There’s a fire!” It was a scream of, “Help me I’m being attacked!” As soon as the scream hit his ears, Ryan ran in that direction.

The screams were getting lesser and lesser as Ryan ran toward the source, and when he got close to a corner, he could hear the sound of a struggle. He rounded the corner and saw what was happening; there was some stallion, big guy trying to pull a mare somewhere. The mare was light blue with a white, swept back mane. She was a slender pegasus, no match for the hulking Unicorn yanking on her tail.

Time froze; Ryan could see everything. The stallion was trying to pull the mare into an alley, a very dark alley that no one would be able to see into. The mare had several bruises on her side and face, and had a bloody nose. The stallion behind her had a shiner, but it didn’t stop him, or wipe the smirk off his face.

There was a flash; not a real flash, but that was what Ryan saw. In an instant, he was back in Sumatra, Joey behind his back and Nadine helpless against her attackers. Ryan saw the man trying to pull her away by her pant leg; she looked terrified. The man had a sickening smile on his face.

The flash disappeared, and when Ryan looked forward, the struggle had moved into the alley.

He bolted forward; The Wraith disappeared from his mind entirely. A Flaming rage replaced the frozen anger from before. The human’s breathing was deep and rapid, and his veins bulged in his arms, neck, and head. He turned the corner into the alley.

The stallion looked up to see who was coming. “Look bro, go and mind your own-” He stopped mid sentence. The guy he was looking at was no pony. It smelled like rage; its eyes, the only thing he could see in the low light, were blood red. “What the hell-”

“AUURGH!” Ryan let out a guttural roar as he sprinted forward.

The stallion had been on top of the mare, but he was trying his best to extricate himself from her to defend against the coming onslaught. He was too slow, though, and the human was on him.

Ryan shot his fist forward like a cannon, smashing it into the face of the stallion, knocking him way back onto the ground. The mare scrambled off to the side, too scared to move much more. Ryan didn’t miss a beat as he ran forward. The stallion had managed to roll back up and attempted to buck at him. Ryan slid in between the two rocket legs and shot an elbow into the stallion’s groin, taking him down for a moment. He followed up with three punches to the stallion’s side.

The stallion was down, but it wasn’t about to be over. Ryan leaned over and made him stand, then proceeded to beat on the stallion’s face with his elbow and fist. The whole time, the stallion kept saying, “Mercy, mercy!”, but Ryan was to give none of it. He continued his onslaught for another full minute, beating the stallion senseless and smashing his bones and out for blood.

He released the stallion and dropped him to the ground, calming down a little. Ryan turned to speak to the mare. “Are you-”

The stallion, though, was not to let himself lose. He tried to use his magic to push Ryan to the ground, but was too weak to. Ryan spun around, rage refilling his eyes, and roared again as he charged. The stallion was caught in the throat as Ryan brought his forearm forward and slammed it into him. While the stallion tried to regain his breath on the ground, Ryan barraged him with a brutal series of drop elbows and punches. He heard numerous cracks from the stallion’s side as he went, but continued like he didn’t notice them.

The mare watched in absolute terror as Ryan picked the stallion up again. “So you think you can just take whatever you want, huh?” he said. The stallion whimpered. “Only the strongest can live without fear?” Ryan wrapped his fingers around the unicorn stallion’s horn.

“Well, I want this.”

He threw the stallion down and lifted the horn up, and a loud snap filled the alley away, followed by a bloodcurdling scream.

Ryan looked at the horn in his hand, then threw it away, disgusted by it. When he looked back at the stallion, he saw that he had gotten back up; he should have taken out his legs.

The stallion looked at him, a mix of the purest of fear and the hottest of anger in his eyes. The stallion would not give up, not this night. He was the king of this section of town, and the king could take anything he wanted. And now, he wanted the creature’s life. And his horn.

He charged Ryan, but in his weakened state, he was stopped easily by Ryan backhanding him upside the chin. He recovered slightly, just enough to look forward, but he didn’t look forward for long.

Ryan’s hand shot out from behind him and came around in a long arc. In his hand, he gripped his KaBar like it was his lifeline, and he plunged it into the neck of the stallion before he had a chance to move out of the way. Blood poured out of the wound in his neck, and just before he fell to the ground, he looked once into Ryan’s eyes. Then, with a gurgle and spatter of blood coming from his mouth, he fell to the ground.

Ryan looked at his handiwork; he felt strange. He lost his anger all of a sudden, all his passion; he felt like an empty husk now. He knew that he went overboard, he didn’t have to kill the stallion, but he knew that this guy would have just done it again. He felt confused and scared.

He turned tail and fled the scene. The mare yelled after him, “Wait!”, but he didn’t stop. He wanted to get away from this, as far away as possible. He ran and ran, leaving the mare yelling after him behind to deal with the body he had just created. He wished he didn’t have to leave her there, but he did. It was his only chance.

He ran until he was back at the Hanoverian. Once there, he stopped, panting, and looked around. No one was around. At least, that was what he thought.

Up on the rooftop across from the hotel, the Wraith watched him go back into the hotel with a smile on his face. “You’re getting to where I want you, Ryan.” he said. And he disappeared into the night, a fog that blocked all light, and prevented complete darkness.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryan walked beside Rarity in the massive shopping center, scanning the area for any signs of the Wraith. He hadn’t seen him since the previous night, but he had come to a conclusion; he would kill him. However hard it might be, however long it would take, he would send the Wraith away.

He also had to keep his mind off of that stallion who had tried to rape the mare in the alley. He was still mixed about how to feel about that; on the one hand, he had no qualms about killing him. On the other hand, he had no qualms about killing him. It was enough to hurt his head the previous night, so he left it out to die.

Now, he was with Rarity, perusing the various stores, her trying to splurge and spend exorbitant amounts of bits on him in thank you for everything. He had gotten pretty much everything he wanted on the first day, so he tried to keep the spending down. But Rarity was to have none of that; she insisted that she treat him.

“First, we should go to a spa.” she suggested. Boy oh boy. “If Aloe and Lotus are great, then these ponies make them look like amateurs.” Ryan was sure that Aloe and Lotus would love hearing her say that.

Rarity brought him to the spa, a big, fancy, almost Roma-themed building. She had them start off with the mud bath ordeal, then moved onto sitting in a hot bath. Ryan got some weird looks thanks to the scars on his back and chest, but he was able to ignore them fairly easily. After that, they moved onto the massages, which were, in their own right, pretty good. Lastly, Rarity had the massage mares clean up Ryan’s skin while they worked on her horn.

That was pretty much the morning that day. After the spa treatment, Rarity took him out and window shopped. She was mostly fawning over all the dresses and looking for inspiration for her own works, whereas Ryan looked for practical things. Rarity loved shiny gemstones; Ryan preferred matte black suits.

She brought him into an optical store. “I could use some new sunglasses.” she said. Her old ones were way out of style, and, being a designer, she had to stay in style. Few men can ever truly begin to understand the complex world of designer clothes and shit.

Rarity walked around, leaving Ryan to wander on his own in the store. He figured he might as well look at some new sunglasses, seeing as he had none of his own. He recognized a lot of styles in the store; there were Wayfarers, Club Masters, Teashades, and others. But there was one pair that caught his attention.

“Yo.” he shouted. A clerk came by. “What do you call this style?”

The clerk looked at the pair of sunglasses Ryan was pointing at. “Ah, those are the Air Guardians. They were issued to stallions of the Air Guard back in the day. Really good, sturdy. Not as fashionable, though.”

Ryan looked back at them; they looked exactly like Aviators Sunglasses, with golden frames. He tried them on; they fit surprisingly well, if a bit loose. He could get Twilight or Rarity to fix that, though. “How much?” he asked.

“For you, since they seem to work so well?” The clerk put his hoof to his chin. “Fifteen bits.”

“I’m sold.” The clerk smiled as Ryan pulled out an empty pocket. “Sorry, my friend has all the money.”

The clerk shook his head. “Not a problem. I’ll just wait for her to finish.”

Ryan chuckled. “That could be a while.”

Rarity finished looking around some time later and came back with several new pairs of sunglasses. She dropped them onto the counter delicately, and Ryan his on there without her noticing. She paid a total of like three hundred bits for it all, then stuffed it all into a bag to carry out. Ryan had to finagle his hand into the bag in order to get his pair.

He put his new Aviators on right as they left. “Ryan, where would you like to go next?” She turned and saw his new shades. “Oh. I didn’t see you get those.” She scrutinized him. “They look good on you.” Ryan nodded and they went on shopping.

While they walked, something dawned on Rarity, something terrifying her enough to make her flip the hell out. “What’s wrong Rarity?” Ryan asked, alert but doubtful.

“You need bed sheets!” she shouted. “And pillows, and decorations!” Well, he was right to be doubtful.

She grabbed him with her magic and dragged him to what was basically a Bed, Bath & Beyond, only pony style. As soon as they were inside, she let him go and talked to a clerk.

“My friend here needs sleeping quarters items.” she explained. “I will fund him.”

The clerk looked to Ryan. “Well, alrighty then. Let’s go and shop.” Ryan followed the store clerk around.

Ryan was a simple guy; he didn’t want anything too showy. He would have been fine with simple black or white bed sheets, the material didn’t matter, and he couldn’t care less about ambiance. But that was not the attitude of the ponies on either side of him.

“Ooh, how about this?” Rarity asked, levitating a pillowcase with flowers on it. Ryan passed. “Alright.” She pondered. “How about this?” She brought over a simple white case, to which Ryan nodded.

“Seems good enough.” Rarity beamed and threw it at Ryan to carry. “It is mine, I guess.” he said to himself.

While they did that, the clerk was pulling out some themes for Ryan to look at. It wasn’t shocking to either pony when Ryan took the white sheets. The clerk rang up the purchases and Ryan and Rarity left the store. It would all be shipped to Ponyville the next day, where Sweetie Belle and Fluttershy, who was babysitting, would take care of it.

As they left the store, Rarity looked even more excited than before. “Come, Ryan! The culture of the city is just now coming into full swing!”

Ryan groaned as she dragged him through a sea of ponies to continue their shopping spree.

The day had been easy enough, though navigating through the sea of ponies was hard. He had been bumped into and had his feet stepped on more times than he could count. It was worse than New York; he got the blame when he was stepped on. One guy, who was a particular dick, had to get his lights punched out when he insulted Rarity’s purity. No one batted an eyelash at his beatdown.

Now, he could finally relax and sit down to drink himself into a stupor. He had to go into another section of the city to drink tonight; his little exploit from before was probably all over the neighborhood where he drank the previous night. It had actually been pretty hard to find a good pub; most of them were selling those fancy drinks that all end in “ini”. Ultimately, Ryan came across a pub that looked more than adequate.

When he walked in, he realized that he was exactly where he would either want to be or despise being. He had entered a royal guard hub, where off duty guards went to drink with friends, not get plastered. They were all sharing stories and laughing, playing darts, just generally having a good time. Most of the tables were taken by groups, probably units, and the few that weren’t were getting cleaned up.

Ryan walked in and went to sit at the bar, getting few if any looks on the way there. None of the guards seemed to care; they all must have seen weirder stuff in their lifetimes anyway. When Ryan sat down, it took a minute for the busy bartender to get to him.

“What’ll you have?” he asked, wiping the signature glass of the bartender.

“Samaloco Adams.” Ryan tossed some bits onto the counter; he snagged them off of Rarity earlier so he could drink tonight.

The bartender nodded and retrieved the drink for his new customer. While he waited, Ryan munched on some free pretzels and looked around. The guards present mostly wore nothing, though some had either uniforms or civilian clothes on. The uniformed ones probably just got off duty, and the others may have come from some event.

Ryan got his drink, but the bartender didn’t leave. “So, stranger. What brings you here? Never seen one like you before.” He was referring to guards, of course.

Ryan took a swig. “Well, I’m not a guard, but I didn some similar things in my life. What brings me here? Confusion.”

The bartender nodded and leaned on the bar. “Home troubles, wife..?”

Ryan shook his head. “Nah, some problems with the stuff I did. Contrary to what people in the sixties used to believe, the stuff that happens in Vietnam does follow men home.”

The bartender nodded, but noticed that a stallion at a nearby table’s ears perked up. “Vietnam?”

Ryan finished off his drink in an instant. “Yeah. Had to kill some terrorists and slavers. Still not sure about it all...”

The stallion at the table was looking back at them, seemingly intrigued in whatever this place was called. None of the other guards seemed to hear him, but the bartender knew that if they had, they would all be interested in hearing this. They had all fought terrorists at some point.

The bartender got back up. “Well, I’m sure you did the right thing. I’ll grab you a refill.”

The bartender was gone for a longer time than he should have been. When he came back, he gave Ryan a bottle and a mug. “Here.” Ryan said, going into his pocket.

“No need.” the stallion explained. “It’s been paid for.”

“By who?”

The stallion pointed at a table behind Ryan. “That guard right there. Said you earned it.” The bartender left Ryan to his drink after that.

Ryan looked behind him at a group of guards around a big table. They all wore purple armor, looked like painted steel, and had lunar crests on their flanks. The guard that the bartender had pointed at was looking right at Ryan; his eyes said a lot about him. He had suffered similarly to Ryan. The two males raised their mugs to each other, then went back to drinking.

Ryan sat in silence “Well,” he said as he heard hoofsteps approaching. “Luna told me a lot about you, Starstep.”

Starstep took the cushion next to the human and sat. “I see she has.” He ordered a drink. “What gave me away?”

Ryan refilled his mug and took another swig. “No other guard would look at me with that kind of recognition in his eyes.”

They were silent for a minute. “We thought you were dead.”

“I’m evidently not that easy to kill. You see, I’m like a roach,” Ryan looked forlornly into his mug. “You don’t want me around because of what it means for your home, but here I am.”

Starstep didn’t respond, just sipped his drink. “You’re different.” he said. “Different than I expected, that is.”

“What did you expect?”

Starstep shrugged. “Don’t know. Though I do know that you didn’t used to drink.” Ryan laughed. “But then again, that changes for most everybody.”

Ryan sighed. “Yeah. So how’s Luna?” he asked. “You have any escapades that I should hear?”

Starstep regaled him with the story of how the two princesses double teamed him, and his most recent story of how he got a boner with Luna right on top of him. Ryan chuckled at the stories.

“That sounds like the two of you.”

They were silent again. “You know,” Starstep began. “She really misses you. And she blames herself for your death. Well... seemingly death.”

Ryan took in a deep breath. “It’s not her fault.” It was his. And Discord’s. But at least he was trying to make things right. “She shouldn’t think that.”

Starstep shook his head. “I’ve tried to tell her that, but she won’t listen. It’s just been eating away at her; she cries in her sleep.” It hurt Ryan to hear these things. “I don’t know what to do.”

Ryan finished off his current mug, then set it down with a loud thud. “Well, I should explain to her why she’s wrong, shouldn’t I?”

Starstep grinned next to the human. “I suppose that might help.”

Ryan stood up and dusted himself off. “Thanks for the drinks.” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

Starstep raised his glass to the human, and Ryan left the pub with one last thing he had to do before he left Canterlot.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day went by quickly. Rarity let him roam freely, as she had some other engagement she needed to attend. Some kind of fashion thing with some business partners or something. He hadn’t done anything, really. He just walked around, seeing whatever sights there were, seeing if he could find Spitfire again. He doubted that he would, seeing as she likely had a busy schedule, so he gave up after a time.

When Rarity returned at around four in the afternoon, she asked him about his day. As stated, he didn’t do anything, but he did tell her that he needed to see Princess Luna. She wanted to know how he knew her, but he refused to elaborate, saying that if it became clear, it would be when she saw him.

So now, they were on their way to the castle to do just that. Ryan decided to wear his old outfit rather than his new clothes. Rarity was all giggly the whole way; apparently, going into the castle unannounced to see royalty was uncommon at best. Ryan felt a bit nervous; he had no idea how Luna might react. She might be ecstatic to see him. Or she might beat the living crap out of him.

The castle was a glorious piece of militarily intriguing architecture. It was situated above the city and on the side of the mountain; not an easy target for anything that couldn’t fly. The walls had turrets with guards holding spears and crossbows, plus some other odd contraption Ryan was unfamiliar with. It wrapped around their forelegs right above the hoof and seemed to have a number of small bolts that would launch from it.

The guards didn’t hesitate to let them in; Starstep must have told them to expect a unique visitor. They eyed Ryan semi-suspiciously as they let him through the front gate, ever vigilant, as that was their job. These guards came off as more capable than those jokers from the train station; their armor looked more legit.

The sun was getting a bit lower in the sky. “Let’s move in.” Ryan said. “The sooner the better.”

They approached the massive double doors of the castle and were stopped by two guards getting in their way. “Halt.” one ordered. “What business do you have here?”

“I’m here to see Luna. Did Starstep tell you to expect me?” The two door guards glanced at each other. “I think she’ll want to see me.”

“Very well.” The guards moved aside and let the mare and human through. “You might have to wait, though. She’s beginning the Lunar Court.” Ryan held back a scoff; he had heard her talk about that.

The pair entered and wandered about for a bit, taking in the sights as they tried to find the courtroom without help. Rarity insisted that they get directions, but as a man, Ryan refused. He would find his own way. They got lost more than once, even ending up on the wrong floor a couple of times. Still, Ryan refused to get help.

Eventually, they found a set of large, golden double doors. This had to be it. “In we go.” Ryan said. He opened the doors slowly; wrong room.

At the end of the large room that was almost more of a hall, Celestia sat upon her big throne, looking bored. “Ryan!” she shouted, sounding excited. She stood up and teleported over to him. “How are you today?” She leaned in close; she must have been really bored.

Ryan shrugged. “Better than the last time you saw me, probably. Can’t honestly tell at this point.” Celestia nodded, half sad but half happy. “Rarity brought me up here for a bit of R&R, and before we leave tomorrow, I hope to see Luna.”

Celestia smiled. “Ah, yes. She wasn’t able to meet you before. Come, I shall take you to her.” Celestia walked past the two and went down the hall.

Rarity smirked at Ryan. “Say nothing.” He wasn’t getting directions; he was being led.

The pair caught up to Celestia and walked on either side of her, watching as passing ponies bowed to their kind ruler as she passed. “You know, I never did like being treated so differently.” Celestia commented in a whisper to Ryan. “It’s like they think I created the world or something.” Ryan nodded, understanding, but in a different sense.

At last, they were before a new set of double doors, this one, a dark shade of blue that bordered on black. Two guards wearing their purple armor stood outside and saluted Celestia as she came up. They gave questioning glances to Ryan and Rarity, but Celestia’s presence indicated that they were alright.

“The court should be starting.” Celestia said. “So try to be on your best behavior.” Ryan nodded as the princess went up to the door.

It opened with a noticeable creak, and when Ryan walked through, he found all eyes on him, including Luna’s.

“Hello Luna.”

****************************************************************************

Luna sighed as she entered the courtroom. She was only holding this court tonight because she had been told that there was a legitimate case to be heard. Somehow, she doubted that. She hadn’t once heard of a legitimate case being brought forth, even in Celestia’s courtroom. It pissed her off at times.

“All rise.” The ponies in the room all rose up as Luna entered the room, showing their respect for her judgement and fairness. Almost immediately after, they all sat right back down. Luna never understood the need for a bailiff to tell them to rise; they always did it anywhere else.

She walked forward, Starstep by her side, and went and sat upon her courtroom seat. It wasn’t quite the throne she sat ton at times, but it was more comfortable thanks to the cushioning on the seat. One had to be comfortable when hearing out the problems of others in order to see their perspectives.

She plopped onto her seat with a sigh. “Let us begin.” The two parties came forward; they laid out their reasons for suing and for defending. The lawsuit was over the sale of alcohol to a minor, who then proceeded to hurt himself. The defendant was saying that he didn’t know, because the minor had a fake I.D., something that could be damning to the plaintiff. It was the first real case Luna had ever had.

The opening statements were made, and the proceedings began. But they were not to last for very long. “Princess, my client’s colt was sold hard liquor by a ruthless business stallion who was more concerned about selling his product than the safety of minors.” Behind them, in the back, the door began to open, making a loud creaking noise. “He chowed clear and present-”

Several ponies gasped in the back. Having been interrupted by the noise, the law pony turned around to see the commotion, as did his opponent. Luna looked to starstep, who had a funny smile on his face, looking to the door. Luna followed his eyes with her own.

What she saw was perhaps the most shocking thing the court could possibly ever see.

“Hello Luna.”

Ryan, her close human friend, the one she had followed through the depths of hell, who had lost himself and tried to protect his friend and her, who had been tortured, beaten, and shot in the chest, who had died in a shitty river in Vietnam, was standing there, alive. Luna’s jaw was loose, hanging like a vine. Her eyes were wide, growing bleary from her tears. She found herself trembling in her seat, unsure of what to think.

The ponies in the room looked back to her, wondering how this creature knew her. She noticed her sister and the Element of Generosity, Rarity, looked to her as well, dumbfounded. They had no idea that she knew him; she never thought that they would meet him.

Luna coughed and regained her composure. “This case is to be kept on hold until further notice.” she ordered. Nopony complained, nopony argued. “This night court is dismissed.” They all left. Except for those who knew to stay.

Once all the nonessential ponies left, Luna left her seat and shakily started to make her way over to Ryan. He just stood in his spot, not knowing what to do. Celestia and Rarity watched in shocked intrigue, anxious to see what would happen. Starstep stayed right next to Luna the whole way, at times helping her to stay standing. Her hooves clopped loudly in the nearly empty room on the tile floor as she slowly walked forward.

She stood before the human, starting into his eyes. She saw exactly what she remembered; pain, anger, sadness. But there was something new, something she couldn’t place. It was enough to make her doubt; she tentatively extended her hoof out to touch him. When she was halfway there, he met her hoof and held it in his hand, silently telling her that he was, in fact, alive, and standing before her. Tears began to flow from her eyes, and his as well.

“Luna-”

She retracted her hoof and then threw it right back at him, striking him across the face. The hoof on the end of her foreleg was hard and could have broken Ryan’s jaw, had she been at full strength. Ryan didn’t move at the obvious assault on his person; he deserved it. He probably deserved more. Behind him, Rarity and Celestia gasped. Starstep looked surprised, but did nothing.

Celestia looked scandalized. “Luna, why would you-”

Before she could finish, Luna threw her forelegs around Ryan, and he returned the gesture by hugging her and holding her tightly. She cried into his shoulder, silencing her sister with the joy and sadness that echoed out with each escaping sob. Behind her, Starstep had an unsure smile on his face, like he didn’t know what to expect from Ryan in Luna’s moment of weakness.

Eventually, by virtue of the silence of the room, the was able to recover enough to speak. “I... I thought that you... I saw you... Narendra... He... How?” she finally asked. She swallowed hard. “I saw him shoot you in the river. How are you alive?”

Ryan took in a deep breath. It was time.

He pushed her away slightly, but kept his hands on her. “I think it’s time you all heard the real story.” he said. Luna wiped away a tear. “But I think that it can probably wait until another time. When can you come to Ponyville?”

Luna nodded happily, ready to answer, and went back to holding Ryan. But Celestia looked unsure. “I don’t know...”

“Discord was involved.”

Both the royal princess’ eyes shot wide and locked onto Ryan. “If that is the case, I will return with you tomorrow to hear it all. I’m sure the other elements will want to hear it as well.”

Ryan nodded, then turned back to Luna. “I want you to rest easy tonight, Luna. Sleep well, get some rest. We’ll talk again tomorrow.”

Luna sniffed loudly, and wiped her face with her foreleg. “Okay.” She felt so relieved that he was alive; now, she could... she didn’t know. But she knew that she could. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Ryan smiled at her, then turned around to Rarity. “Let’s head out.” he said. “I’ll see you ladies and colt tomorrow.” They all said their goodbyes, and Ryan and Rarity went back to the Hanoverian for the night.

Luna sat in her place, unable to make herself move. She was so overcome with joy, so distracted by Ryan’s return that she couldn’t move. She had an unkillable smile on her face, one that made Starstep feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

He patted his princess on her side. “I think you should go get some rest, Princess.”

She nodded. “Yes, I think I should.”

Celestia moved aside to let them pass, happy about her sister’s joy, but still curious as to what made her so happy. She knew Ryan, that much was obvious. But how? Where had she met him? And did this explain her little bout of recent depression? Celestia figured the questions would be answered tomorrow and went to her own quarters to rest. The next day could be a long one.

*************************************************************************************

Ryan and Rarity made their way back to their hotel by cab, and once there, they walked through as casually as possible to avoid arousing suspicion. Ryan had little trouble with it, but Rarity seemed to struggle. Not shocking, considering how many questions she must have had and how excited she was to take the train with the princesses.

As soon as they were in their room and the door was closed, Rarity exploded. “Ryan, what have you not been telling us!?” she shouted, not angrily, but not happily. “How do you know Discord, and why would you withhold further information about yourself from us?”

Ryan sighed. He didn’t want to answer, but she had done a lot for him over the last few days, and would continue so. “Well, you never asked about him.” he replied. “And I never thought that he was that significant here. When he brought me here-”

“He brought you here?!”

Ryan stuck a finger in his ear. “Yes, he did. Please, don’t yell.” Rarity blushed a little and let him go on. “Thank you. When he brought me here, he did so because he felt guilty.”

“Why would he feel guilty? How does one such as him feel guilty?”

Ryan sighed. “The long version of the story will wait until tomorrow, but the short version is that he was heavily involved with everything that happened. And he’s really not that bad.” Rarity looked incredulously at him. “Anyway, can all this just wait until tomorrow?”

Rarity huffed and jumped onto her bed. “I suppose so. But you better have a good explanation.”

Ryan nodded and headed to the bathroom. “I think I do, but that’s irrelevant, isn’t it?” He walked in and turned on the water to the shower. “I’ll be out soon enough to sleep.”

He closed the door relatively gently and Rarity just waited until he was done. While she waited, she decided to take a look at his new jacket. She used her magic to finagle it from the bathroom under the door and held it up side-by-side with the old camo jacket. Both were surprisingly nice, though it was clear that Fancy’s was better made. The camo jacket had obvious fixes on it from the holes Rarity had to repair, something that she was actually rather proud of doing.

She decided to feel the jackets. The one Fancy made for him was very comfortable feeling, high end fabric. Ryan’s old one was rough to the touch, clearly meant for some sort of outdoor work. It was well made, considering what it had gone through and survived. Rarity actually felt like she should learn to make fabric this sturdy for guard clients.

Rarity failed to notice, but Ryan was done and stepped out of the bathroom without his jacket. “Rarity, why did you take my jacket?” he asked.

Rarity jumped at the sudden intrusion of noise and looked like a dog caught going into the cabinet with the treats. “I- I’m sorry, I just had to compare. I wanted to see your old jacket compared to your new one, just to see. I like both, but I like the old one more than expected. Not as much as Fancy’s, but that is to be expected.”

“I guess the fashionista side of you got to you, huh?” Ryan asked. Rarity nodded. “Well, I guess that’s alright. I won’t wear that one anyway.”

Rarity nodded. “Yes, I can see why. I suppose you’ll want to find a frame to hang it up in, though. It represents a big part of your life.”

Ryan looked at his old jacket. “Maybe.”

Rarity nodded again. “Yes, though I may want to occasionally look at it, just in case I need to make you new clothes myself. And there’s a lot I can learn from this, too. I can see it all now...” And she went off.

Ryan thought about everything for a minute. He knew what that jacket represented, or at least had represented. Now he looked at it and saw a piece of cloth with a camo pattern on it. Maybe that was because he had a much nicer one now, courtesy of Rarity and Fancy. They had been very generous; Fancy gave him free clothes, and Rarity treated him to a day of relaxation (albeit difficult) and fresh, new things. If it wasn’t for her, Ryan would still be living in the dirt with nothing but dirty old clothes and sweaty underwear.

She was clearly interested in the jacket. “You know what?” he said, attracting Rarity’s attention and pulling her out of her of her monologue. “Why don’t you keep that old thing?”

Rarity gasped, a huge smile appearing on her face. “Really?!” she shouted. Ryan nodded. “Oh, thank you! I just know that it will be great to have!” She ran up to him and gave him a big hug. “I can do so much with it. Thank you!”

Ryan nodded and patted her head, a little smirk creeping across his face.

“Don’t mention it.”

What Was Once Lost

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What Was Once Lost

“The fire burns brightest when lit in the dark.” (Unknown)

Luna woke up quickly; she was especially excited for today.

She jumped out of her bed and ran through her library to her shower. She turned the water on to hot, steaming up the room, and thought about what was going to happen today. Ryan had come back, he was alive! Sure, he wasn’t exactly what he was before Asia, but he was alive! He could get better, he could find a new life, he could stay with Luna and Starstep for the rest of his days! She was overcome with joy at his return.

But there was one issue that needed to be discussed; the issue with Discord. Luna hadn’t been aware that Discord was somehow involved with him. How could he have remained hidden from Luna when they were both right next to each other, trying to influence the same person? And what was Discord doing there? Was that how he had escaped from them before, and if so, why did he come back? Was he maybe responsible for Ryan being here?

Luna felt her cheeks grow hot, though not from the hot water. “Was Discord the one who put that idea in Ryan’s head to go after Narendra?” she wondered angrily. “Was he the one who thwarted my attempts to get Ryan to go home, to escape that terrible place?”

She began to grow even more angry. “Why didn’t Ryan find it necessary to tell me that there was another being helping him? Did he not think I would be able to help him enough, did he think I was useless?” Questions began to swirl around her mind, creating a tornado of negativity. “And why wouldn’t he listen to me over Discord?”

That last question. That last one was enough to make her blood boil. “Why did he choose to listen to Discord!?” she shouted.

A moment later, there was a knock on her door. “Princess?” Starstep called. “Are you alright?”

She shook her head. “Yes, Starstep. I am fine.” She took in a deep breath and let it out through clenched teeth. “Though I think Ryan may find himself in a tight spot when I get to him.”

Outside the bathroom, Starstep blinked when he heard that. He had seen the emotional response that she had to Ryan’s return, and how happy she was. He also saw her bitch-slap him across the face for getting himself killed. Maybe she was mad at him; back in the Eighteenth Battalion, when he saw his buds go home, they were often smacked by angry wives or marefriends, who would just as often pull them close right after. It was a fairly common response to seeing a loved one come home from the war.

He swallowed hard; hell hath no fury like a mare’s scorn, especially when that mare can magically tear your balls off. “Luna...” he said trepidatiously. “What are you thinking of about riding the train to Ponyville with Ryan today?”

“I am going to beat him so hard for being so thick-skulled.” she said. “He won’t be able to sit down until Thursday!”

Starstep grimaced at the thought. “Well, then. I guess that I’ll meet you at the station!” He sprinted to the open window and flew out into the sky, eager to get to Ryan to tell him to expect pain.

“Starstep?” Luna asked. She got out of the shower and stuck her head out the door. “Starstep.” Nowhere was he to be found. Luna looked to the window, frustrated, and said, “Oh, you’ll get it too, little stallion. You will.” And she went back in to finish her morning shower.

*************************************************************************************

Ryan and Rarity were sitting at the train station, waiting for the princesses to arrive. They weren’t sure how they felt about taking the train, but neither seemed to object to it. It didn’t leave for some time, so the princesses could wait in the castle, but Rarity and Ryan had been checked out of the Hanoverian already. With nowhere to go and nothing to do, they went to the station and just sat there, waiting.

Rarity yawned, tired from getting up relatively early, but Ryan was fine. As getting up early had always been his prerogative, he was awake and alert, watching for anything that might signify something dangerous. As of yet, there was nothing, though. The sky was its usual shade of light blue, the clouds were being managed by pegasi, ponies waited quietly on benches around the tracks. Birds chirped, luggage was moved around, and no one spoke. It was a perfect picture of peace.

“Ryan!”

Or it had been. “Huh?” he said, looking in the direction of the voice. It was Starstep, flying at a breakneck speed toward him and Rarity. “Starstep?”

The pegasus stallion flared his wings and came to a stop a few feet away from Ryan. “Ryan! I came to warn you about Luna.”

“What about her?” Ryan asked, alarms going off. “Is something wrong with her?”

“Well...” Starstep began, but hesitated continuing. “She’s fine, mostly. She’s really mad, though. Like, blazingly angry.”

Hmmm. “And why would that be? Did you forget to pull out or something?”

Starstep’s face flushed, and he quickly scanned the area. Nopony heard the comment. “No, it’s-”

“So you didn’t pull out. Nice going.”

“Dammit, human, this is serious! She’s angry at you!”

Ryan blinked. This was not the first thing he was expecting to have happen today. He thought that she might get mad at him later for what he was to say, or that she and her sister might see fit to punish him. He was also expecting the girls to be really upset with him, but again, that was supposed to be later. Ryan was taken by surprise; he hated being taken by surprise.

“Why?” Ryan asked tentatively. “What reason could she have right now for being angry at me?”

Starstep shook his head. “I don’t know, really. All I know is that she said she’ll beat you so hard that you won’t be able to sit until Thursday.”

Ryan swallowed hard. “Well.” he said. “That... that doesn’t sound too good.”

“Ya think?”

Ryan turned around and walked back over to the bench he and Rarity had been sitting on, motioning for Starstep to follow him. Together, they say down on either side of Rarity, who was taking up space like a cat on a bed, and each thought about who to proceed. Ryan put his hand to his unshaven chin, pondering his options. Starstep mostly wondered how he would be punished for warning his human friend.

Ryan remembered how Celestia had promised him help back in Ponyville. “Starstep.” he said, catching his companion’s ears. “I bet Celestia will help. And I bet that Luna won’t be too happy knowing that you warned me, so maybe she can save our sorry asses.”

Starstep sighed and shook his head. “No, no, that won’t work. Luna and Celestia are tight; if Luna is reasonably mad about something, Celestia, even if not angry, will join her in whatever quest she had for justice. No, if we ask Celestia for help, we’re more liable to be tied up and given to Luna naked on a silver platter.”

Ryan blinked. “That, was, umm... specific.”

Starstep shrugged like it was nothing. “They’ve done it before. They’ll do it again.”

Now it was Ryan’s turn to sigh. “I see now what it’s like to live under the rule of trolls.”

“What?” He didn’t get it.

“Trolls, you know. People, or I guess ponies, who make it their goal to mess with other people, be it by annoying, embarrassing, or harassing them for the sole purpose of the laughs. I do it to Rarity and the rest of the girls.”

Starstep nodded thoughtfully. “Princess Trollestia and Lusty Luna.”

Again, Ryan blinked at the unexpected phrase. “I’m really not sure that i even want to begin to know where that name came from.” he said. “So please try not to tell me.” Starstep laughed at Ryan’s being perturbed and both just sat on, waiting for whatever was destined to come their way.

**************************************************************************************

Discord was still shocked.

There were no words to describe his lack of understanding.

Luna? Luna had been there, in Asia, trying to help Ryan? Trying to bring him home? It was her that was making it harder for everything to happen how Discord wanted?

He would have been mad, but he knew what his course of action had gotten the boys. Luna was in the right the entire time, and Discord was in the wrong. He couldn’t deny that. But of course, it still didn’t make him feel any better. He hadn’t thought that Luna was actually going into that world. If he had, he would never have gone there. If he had known of her presence, maybe everything would have gone differently.

Luna was in the shower, so to respect her privacy, he didn’t peer inside, as much as he would have liked to. He was eager to see exactly what she and her sister would do when Ryan finally told them the whole truth. He could hear Luna now, grumbling angrily to herself about the boy, so he could tell that she might slap him around for being an ass and following Discord’s way. Though he had no idea how Celestia would react.

He floated his mind’s eye out of Luna’s chambers and went straight for her sister’s room. The nonexistent eye flew right past all the guards and through the doors to her room and looked around. The room was nice, of course, but Celestia was the real beauty in the room. She was off toward the window, looking out thoughtfully.

Discord’s mind’s eye was remaining still behind her, watching to see if it could glean any hint of Celestia’s mindset from its spot. The elder princess stood still at her window, like an abandoned library, starting out in Ponyville’s direction. Was she thinking about how Ryan’s revelation might affect the others? How he might be a danger to the town? How-

“Enjoying the view Discord?” Celestia asked without turning. Discord was taken slightly by surprise. “I hear my guards talking about my behind behind my back. I’m flattered at what they say, but I do have to punish them for taking such a gander every chance they get.”

If Discord could blush, he would have. Dat flank. “I must say that I’m curious to hear what exactly you were doing in Ryan’s world and how you were involved with the deaths of forty humans.” Discord actually killed three, but that wasn’t important to his survival right now. “And I must say that if I find Ryan’s story unsatisfactory, I might have to punish you by actually locking you in stone.”

Alright, Discord had an idea of what she was thinking about it all. She was fine with Ryan and anything he might say. It was Discord that would be in trouble; if Ryan’s story was less than adequate, he would be totally screwed. In a rush, Discord cancelled out his magic and brought his mind’s eye back.

“Hmph. Coward.”

Discord heard that last one, but didn’t pursue it. He valued his family jewels too much to risk an encounter with her.

Instead, he reactivated his mind’s eye on another type of spell and decided to simply watch what was going to happen from the safety of his stone armor.

************************************************************************************

Ryan and Starstep were still sitting on either side of Rarity when there was a flurry of activity coming from about three hundred meters away from the platform. Both man and stallion stood up, already figuring out what was about to come. In between them, Rarity stirred and looked up at both of them, confused.

“What..?”

Ryan smirked. “Well, after last night, we figured you needed some rest, so we left you in between us.” Rarity didn’t catch the meaning and simply nodded, trying to wake herself up.

The man and stallion watched the platform light up at the two regal, taller forms of the princesses began to come into view. Celestia walked at a calm, deliberate pace, smiling at ponies as she walked by them. She giggled at all the attempts to please her, as they were totally unnecessary. Beside her, Luna wore an aggressive scowl that made the two targets of her death glare squirm in fear. They moved back and put Rarity in between them and the angry princess.

They were calmly standing behind the clueless alabaster unicorn mare as the princesses finally reached them. “Ah, Ryan and Starstep. It is good to see you.” Celestia greeted. The males nodded.

Luna was less than friendly. “You.” She said, pointing right at Ryan. “I wish to speak with you.”

Ryan looked to Starstep and then Celestia, both of whom looked elsewhere. Real nice. “Yes, Luna?” Ryan asked, trying to sound calm. “What can I-”

“Why were you listening to Discord?!” she shouted, causing several grovelling ponies to run away. “What, on that terrifying planet you call home, could possibly have made you feel more inclined to listen to him than to me?!”

“I-”

“And why didn’t you listen to anything I said to you? Was I not helpful to you? Did you think I was going to lead you astray? Huh? Well?”

Ryan swallowed hard, trying to formulate a response. “Umm...” He couldn’t think very fast right now. “I don’t-”

“You don’t know? You don’t know! Well, I for one think that what you did was selfish and stupid and reckless and...” And she went on. And on. And on.

At last, the train arrived. “Well, I guess we better-” Starstep tried to say. he stopped, though, for no one could hear him.

“And you didn’t even bother thinking about how much I would miss you! What do you have to say for yourself?”

Ryan looked at her, stunned, then to the others. No one was willing to help him. The train was there and ponies were boarding it. He looked to Starstep again; they both knew that they would have to escape the tirade. The train was their only hope.

“Well... Umm... I guess that... I don’t know?” Luna’s eyes pinched and looked like they would shoot lasers at him. “I would have to say that holyshitlookadistraction!”

Ryan’s hand shot out and went right past Luna’s face. As she turned around to see what his commotion was about, the hand retreated back to its owner and went out of sight. All mares present looked for what had caused the alarm; if Ryan was freaked out by it, it must have been bad. But nothing seemed to be there, except for the usual guard station. Luna looked to the sky, but the pegasi were simply doing their jobs. There was nothing out of the ordinary.

“Ryan, I don’t see-”

The mares all looked around; the males were gone, high-tailed it outta there. Luna frowned, not at them, but that she allowed herself to be tricked like that. Thinking about it, he said “holyshitlookadistraction!” He even said distraction in the sentence, and it went right by all the mares. Now, they were hiding somewhere, likely on the train.

Luna sighed. “Let’s go find them, I suppose.”

The other two nodded. “Let’s.”

On the train, Starstep was looking out the window at the approaching mares. “Not good, man, not good! They’re coming now, we gotta hide!”

Ryan frantically looked around for anything. None of the luggage could take him, though it was big enough for Starstep. That wouldn’t be adequate because odds were that none of the snobby rich ponies would be willing to let some random guy hide in their stuff. Under the seats was too small, neither guy would fit. Their only hope was the luggage compartment up top.

“Up top, move!” Ryan said, climbing up there. Starstep flew up to one and got inside, and as Ryan squirmed his way into his, he couldn’t help but notice the strange looks they were both getting. Just as well. It’s not everyday you see another species climbing into the luggage compartment.

Ryan shut the door to his compartment just as the doors opened to allow the princesses and Rarity to come in. Ryan could hear the shock of the other passengers as they entered, some dropping right to the floor to bow. He couldn’t see anything, of course; it was pitch black in the luggage compartment.

“Hath any of thou seen a human and my guard?” Luna asked in some weird way. “I needeth them to be present.”

No one spoke, so Ryan had no idea what was going on. What he did hear was a large number of ponies getting up and walking around, seemingly leaving and going to another car. The doors opened up, indicating that they were leaving, at least for the time being. Once they were all gone, Ryan could hear the hoofsteps of the three mares advancing slowly through the car. They were slow and deliberate, and with each passing moment, Ryan’s heart rate just got faster. He feared that he might be caught; what made it worse was that he could feel that he was among special ladies’ items.

Off at the other end of the car, Ryan could hear the luggage compartments being opened. From the sounds of the voices that mumbled something each time, it was Rarity and Celestia that were checking. There was a large amount of time between each section being opened, so Ryan thought he might have some time. If he had the time, he could no doubt think up something to-

“AAAAHHHHHHHH!”

Ryan jolted upward and slammed his head into the roof like a rocket. He groaned as he felt his head, checking for bleeding or bumps. Once his head was confirmed alright, he considered what he just heard. It had definitely been Starstep; someone caught him and did something awful to him. Ryan already knew that all three of the mares had the will and ability to cause them extreme pain if the occasion arose; it was enough to bring his breathing to a rapid pace.

He felt scared; he didn’t know where Starstep had hidden, so he had no idea how long he had until massive amounts of pain. He had to think fast; if he could counter them by scaring them when his door opened, he might be saved. He could-

Something was behind him. He could feel it shifting as the train began to move, but this was no bag. His eyes went wide, uselessly in the dark. Slowly, slowly, he turned around. In the dark, he couldn’t see anything; it could be any one of them. WHen he was all the way around, he looked straight forward.

“You can’t get me.” he whispered. He shot his hand forward and met with-

A pile of ladies undergarments, if that even makes sense. Ponies don’t wear clothes, right? No matter. He extricated his hand from the pile and breathed a sigh of relief. There was nopony there, nopony to cause him pain. He let himself fall onto his back and breath freely once again. After a moment, he listened once again for anything of the mares outside; they stopped looking. They must have interrogated Starstep, who in turn must have told them Ryan was elsewhere. What a beast.

Ryan felt victorious. He just had to stay in here until they hit Ponyville. Feeling calm and secure, he cracked the door to his compartment open to get some fresh air. WIth that, there also came light, and he got to see the decorations inside the compartment. Unnecessary, but they looked nice. There were lots of intricate carvings in the wood and interesting pictures painted into them. There were pictures of galaxies, with twinkling stars and everything. Ryan put his hand to it; it was masterfully done. The paint was interesting; it felt like it was somehow wet, yet none of it came off. Ryan traced the painting back to the wall.

The wall was also incredible; it had this massive, glassy looking oval that served as the center of another galaxy, with the big black hole allegedly in the center. Around it, there was a pictogram of a horse’s head, painted into the wall with standard paint. Ryan got closer to it; it looked like it was supposed to be Luna, but it was 2D, so it could have been anyone. he noticed that the top of it was where the majority of the starry wet paint stuff came off of. He gently traced his hands on it, appreciating the artwork to the best of his almost nonexistent ability.

“Boo.”

“FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The guard and human sat indignantly across from the princesses and Rarity.

When Starstep was bagged, Luna had gone in and wrapped her ethereal form around his waist and started to engulf him completely. She had gone places that no man ever wants a woman to go. When she caught Ryan, he flipped a shit, and flailed about inside the compartment, hitting himself on the sides and roof non stop. Ultimately, he fell out and landed on his back, groaning, and when he opened his eyes, he was surrounded by three mares, all of whom looked down at him with looks of grim satisfaction.

Ryan and Starstep were facing away from each other, looking in either direction to the left or right of the princesses. They weren’t mad at each other; far from it. That was just how they were tied up.

The train had just began really going at a better speed and it was rolling along on its way to Ponyville. Outside the window, all could see the passing scenery. it was gorgeous out there. The sun shone, the breeze blew, and nature sang its peaceful tune. Inside the car, it was pretty quiet. The five inhabitants of the car were sitting in two groups, trying to think of ways to defeat the other.

“So what should we do with them?” Rarity asked. They had been talking like this since the males were tied up. “I think it’s something of a waste to simply have them like this and do nothing.”

“I second that.” Luna said. “But only if I exclusively get Starstep. You two can have Ryan.”

The males tried to ignore it. “Come now, sister. They’re both yours; you have to treat them equally, and you’ve given Starstep enough attention lately.” Celestia admonished. “We can take him while you ensure fairness.”

“If I might interject,” Ryan said, ready to counter. “I think I can handle all of you. I was able to push through the brush of Vietnam and Cambodia; I think I can push through the brush of Equestria just as easily.” Ryan was ready to sacrifice himself to rescue his fellow warrior.

The mares paused, but then continued. “I bet Starstep would love some playtime.” Rarity said. “That’s why he shouldn’t get anything. Torment him by making him watch.”

“If you want to torment me,” Starstep interrupted. “You’ll have to leave Ryan alone while you get me. I will make the sacrifice.”

“As will I.” Ryan added. “Nothing you can do will be able to break us. Nothing!” He sounded confident.

Celestia looked at her sister and Rarity, and all three mares nodded. They began to advance upon the males. Silently accepting their fates, Ryan and Starstep held their chins up high and awaited what was destined to come.

“I know what to do.” Luna said.

Ryan shut his eyes. He was afraid of what they were about to do, but he also knew that it would be worse for Starstep, so he decided not to watch.

“Oh no.” he heard Starstep say behind him. Seemingly out of nowhere, the two were shoved in Ryan’s direction toward the wall, crushing Ryan against it. He grunted, but took the brunt of it, knowing that Starstep’s fate was sealed. And what a fate it was.

“Prepare for blueness, my faithful guard.” Ryan could only listen as he heard the motions and the whimpering from behind him.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The train ride was over; everyone got off in a single file line. The princesses and Element of Generosity got of the train with smug looks on their faces, and trotted triumphantly off the platform to where there was a carriage waiting.

Ryan and Starstep got off the train together. Because Starstep had yet to calm down from his harrowing experience, Ryan had to lend him his jacket in an effort to hide all the excitement of the train ride from passersby. He knew that he would wash it when he got back to Rarity’s, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to use chemicals or not.

Silently, they followed the mares to the carriage, already in agreement not to talk about the train ride ever again ever forever. When they got in the carriage and all the luggage was on board, they set off to put everything away. After that was taken care of, Ryan could tell the real story of his life to everypony. He just hoped that he could have time to scout more of the forest before they sent him away.

The mares were sharing stories and laughing during the carriage ride, but the males remained silent. Starstep was trying to hide himself as best he could, though he wasn’t doing a very good job. You never, EVER want to sit next to a guy who can’t seem to hide his excitement when in the presence of females.

They arrived at Rarity’s boutique soon enough, and said mare and Ryan hopped off. “Well, I guess that we’ll all try to meet up at the library. I don’t know where the other ladies are, but I bet we can find them.”

Luna nodded. “Starstep!” He whimpered. Not very guardly. “Go find the other Elements of Harmony.” Her guard nodded and, after tossing Ryan’s jacket to him, which he caught with pinched fingers, flew off as quickly as possible to avoid being seen.

Ryan watched him go. “Man, I am so glad that no one back home could keep up with me. Or that girls ever tried. I don’t think I can beat any of them.” A sad truth, guys.

The carriage went off to the library, leaving Ryan and Rarity with all the bags. The clothes from Fancy Pants were there, which took up most of the space, but thanks to her magic, Rarity was able to pull most of it inside. Ryan took several bags on his arms because, like most of us, he hated making multiple trips. Why go again when you can get it all now?

Once inside, they dropped all of the bags on the floor. “Phew!” Rarity announced dramatically. She never exerted herself; she had magic. “Well, now. I suppose that we’ll bring all this downstairs and I’ll show you your new living quarters.” Ryan was about to become the monster that lives in the basement.

Rarity used her magic to carry Ryan’s things to a door off to the side of the circular room and opened a plain-looking door. “So what have you got for me?” Ryan asked. He hoped that she didn’t go too out of her way for this. Of course, she was the element of generosity. Naturally, that was what she would do.

“I prepared my basement for you.” she said casually. “I didn’t have much time, as it was rather short-notice, and I was quite busy, but I hope it’s to your liking.”

“I’m sure it will be.”

They went down the stairs and into what was to become Ryan’s lair. No doubt he would have to show it to the others, in which case, he would need to label it the Mac Cave. If they didn’t understand, he would explain the concept to them, and when they understood, none of them would be too terribly inclined to go down there for anything that isn’t important. Spike might, and Mac probably wouldn’t care, but those two were fine. They didn’t bug him about stuff.

They hit the bottom of the stairs and Ryan walked out into the middle of the room. There was a nicely made bed on the side opposite the stairs, with a basic metal bed stand. Already, Rarity was setting the sheets on it, giving it a further plain appearance. The walls were bare, but clean, and there was a simple nightstand not too far from the bed. Rarity had placed a small chair over by the corner with a little reading light over it. Overall, and that was all there was, it was a simple, straightforward room.

Ryan took it in quickly. “It’s nice.” he said simply. It would serve his purposes and do no more. That made it perfect.

Rarity smiled as she finished furnishing the bed. “I’m glad you like it. Soon, though, I will need to get you a wardrobe. Can’t just leave all these clothes on the ground, now can we?” Well, Ryan could have, but he feared what Rarity would do to him. He couldn’t imagine what she and the princesses did to Starstep earlier. Or rather, he didn’t want to.

Ryan walked over and sat experimentally on the bed. “Not too soft.” he thought. He could sleep on this easily enough. “That sounds fine.” he said to Rarity. “Whatever you think works best.”

Rarity nodded. “Great. Though since you are living in my home, I might decide to check your room for things that shouldn’t be there every so often.” she said jokingly.

Ryan scratched his chin. “Well, I was wondering how long it would take you to decide that you want to spend some extra time in my bedroom. Of course, with your magic, you might wind up finding yourself cleaning up some stained fabrics, but I’m sure you would find it to be worth it.”

Rarity blushed. “Well, I suppose that you tend to be rather messy.” she said. “Though I guess I shouldn’t be very surprised. You never came off as quick and clean.”

“Well, I’m neither of those things, I can assure you. I tend to spend quite a bit of time messing up my room before I’m done and decide it needs to be cleaned.”

Both of them just looked at each other, then Rarity just shook her head and sighed. Ryan sat back, victorious, and let an awkward silence ensue. Rarity was unsure of how to proceed, and Ryan was happy to sit back and wait. He wasn’t much of a talker anyhow.

“I suppose that we might as well go upstairs since we’re done here for now.” Rarity said. “Luna’s guard will probably come get us, so we can just wait up there.” Ryan nodded to her and followed her up the steps.

Rarity decided that it would be easier if they just sat in the shop area so that Starstep could see them, so they sat around there. Rarity immediately went to work on some outfit, and Ryan just watched as she went about her business.

While Ryan watched, somepony began knocking on the door. It didn’t stop after a minute, and Rarity was distracted with her work, so Ryan got up and opened the door. When he opened it, he scanned the area, searching for whoever knocked on the door. In the air, no one flew, so Starstep wasn’t the one. Eventually, something tugged on Ryan’s leg.

“Hey Ryan!” Sweetie Belle shouted from underneath him. Inwardly, Ryan groaned. “I guess you and Rarity came back today.”

“No.” Ryan said casually. “I left her up in Canterlot. She’s gonna have to walk home.”

Sweetie Belle gasped. Desired effect? “Does that mean I can have ice cream before dinner!?” Evidently, no.

Ryan chuckled and shook his head. “No, I lied. She’s here, and actually, she wants to talk to you about what you did while we were away.”

Sweetie Belle trotted in, confused, and dropped her bag. With a glance at Rarity, she asked, “What do you mean?”

Ryan rolled his eyes. “Oh, come now. We know exactly what you did. And I must say, Rarity was pretty shocked. I had no idea you had it in you, myself.”

Sweetie Belle swallowed hard. “Please, I didn’t mean to! It’s just that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were bullying me, and Rumble came by and told them off, and he helped me up and gave me his cookie, and I hugged him and toldhimthankyouandkissedhischeek!”

Ryan blinked twice. Then he blinked some more. “Wat.” Sweetie Belle looked up at him with fear in her eyes.

“Who told you?” the little filly asked.

“You did. Just now.” When Sweetie Belle realized what he meant, and it took a minute, she groaned and fell to the floor. “No worries. Your secret’s safe with me.”

Sweetie Belle sighed, relieved. “Thanks. If I told Rarity, she would probably tell me to go hide in a dungeon so he could rescue me or something.” Ryan smiled and shook his head, then turned his attention Rarity’s way.

She was running about, doing her thing. “Rarity.” he said. She didn’t notice. “Rarity!”

“Huh? What?” She had been in the zone. Now, she was in the Ryan zone. Nothing gets done in the old Ryan zone. Ask any of his friends.

“Sweetie Belle is skipping school.” he said quickly, running away to the kitchen.

“Am not! We got out early!”

Ryan couldn’t see it, but there seemed to be an explanation and/or argument brewing in the other room. Since they were distracted, Ryan decided to roam the fridge and find something to eat. When he opened the fridge, he could see that there wasn’t much he would be good for; a whole lot of different types of grass. At the bottom, though, he did find normal food; peanut butter, jelly, bread, eggs (baking?), butter, protein substitute, and a number of other things. He grabbed the bread and peanut butter and made himself a sandwich.

A few moments after he finished making it, the talking in the other room stopped. “Ryan.” Rarity said with a tone that made Ryan suspicious. “Could you come here?”

He got up and left the kitchen, sandwich in hand. “Yeah.” he said. “Whaddya need?”

Turns out, nothing was out of the ordinary. Rarity was standing by the door, big hat on her head, waiting. “Starstep is here. Time to explain everything.”

Ryan looked outside. Sure enough, Luna’s personal guard was there. “Alright. Here we go.”

They left the boutique and met up with Starstep, who escorted them silently to the library, where all would be revealed.

Ryan just hoped that it didn’t get him thrown in a dungeon.

Fear of the Unknown

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Fear of the Unknown

“I’m selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as Hell don’t deserve me at my best.” (Marilyn Monroe)

Ryan and the two ponies by his side walked silently up to the library door. Starstep approached and, before opening, gave a look back to Ryan. Ryan nodded to him, and the stallion opened the door and proceeded in.

Ryan hesitated. He was unsure of how exactly he should go about this. He knew that Discord was considered evil here. According to the way his world worked, Discord would be called a prankster and little more, maybe annoying or obnoxious. Ryan would be forced to find a way to explain the nature of Discord’s role in a way that didn’t also label him as a villain, or portrayed his world as worse than it really was. It was a great place, but Equestria seemed to have unreasonable high standards of public behavior. Then again, why did he care? Shouldn’t he just leave or-

“SURPRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISE!” came an incredibly loud shout from inside as Ryan walked in. He yelped and fell back to the wall, heart pounding and mind racing. Before he could act, a pink fluff ball invaded his space and pinned him against the wooden wall.

Pinkie Pie; she had said she would throw him a party. “Hey Ryan! So do you like your party? We made it a special surprise, just for you, since we knew that Celestia and Luna would bring you here and that it would be fun to party in the library since it’s ironic and we all want to hear about how Discord is actually good and helped you out to not get killed in your world!”

Ryan blinked, mouth agape, completely stunned. How? How had she heard about the involvement of Discord? She hadn’t been there. The princesses wouldn’t have told her. Rarity had been with Ryan the whole time. Starstep would never reveal top secret information or even mildly secretive information without express permission. So how? HOW?

“Uhh... wut.” It was the most unintelligible response he had ever made. After regaining himself from the loss of his understanding of reality (it was pretty much gone now anyway), he gave her a more coherent response. “Yes? I guess?” This pony could violate every law of physics there was, as the stories had told him. Somehow, she was weirder than Discord himself. Maybe she should chat him up?

“Yayzees!” she replied enthusiastically. She didn’t move; Pinkie just kept Ryan pinned against the wall. With a roll of his eyes, Ryan put his hands on her sides and lifted her up to move her. “Wheeeee!” she yelled, snorting laughter as she went through the air. Ryan carried her over to the middle of the room and set her down.

He took a look around to see who had come by; it wasn’t a massive party. There were the elements, Big Mac, Cinny, a couple of random ponies, the princesses, and that mailmare Ryan had seen around, the one with the wall eyes. She just smiled innocently in the corner, looking at two books at a time.

Pinkie was back by his side. “I didn’t invite too many, since you seem pretty private, but next time, I’ll invite tons of ponies and you’ll make lots of friends, and then we’ll have fun and play games and eat snacks and bake foods and test weapons and tie you down and tickle you and play pranks on unsuspecting ponies and go swimming!”

Ryan hadn’t caught even half of her two second flood of words, so he just replied, “Sure.” He had no idea what he might be getting into.

The princesses walked over to him, Luna getting right up next to him and Celestia watching with a grin while Ryan shifted away a little but, suspecting the worst. “Well, seeing as my little pony has set up such a nice little event, I suppose that we should enjoy it before we get to the story of your life.”

“The story of the end of my life. The old one, at least.”

Luna smiled. “Yes, you have a new life. Try to enjoy it as much as you can. Few ponies or humans ever get a second life to enjoy.”

Ryan agreed with the sentiment, then went and sat down in a chair off to the side. He didn’t need to talk to anypony right now; the train ride had been taxing. If they wanted to speak to him, he would oblige, but he wasn’t going to look for conversation.

Before he even set himself down, there were three ponies sitting by him; Big Mac, Cinny, and Luna. All three nodded to him as he sat down, getting comfortable in what would no doubt be his storytelling chair, giving him time to think. He had a chance to think about how to explain Discord’s good nature, about how he might be able to bring Narendra into it to give a contrast. A sharp contrast.

His thinking time didn’t last, though. “So, Ryan.” Luna said, dragging him by the feet out of his own mind. “How did you enjoy Canterlot? Was it all that you thought it would be?”

Ryan considered. “Well, it was nice. Some guy tried to mug me and Rarity, so I pulled this on him,” Ryan tapped his Automag. “And I shot him in the ass.”

Luna’s eyes went wide, and she became totally silent for a moment. “Well. I trust he had a weapon?” When Ryan nodded and motioned that it as a knife, Luna visibly relaxed. “Good, then. I suppose that it was justified.”

“Was he a Miami gun thug?” Ryan asked jokingly. No one got it, so he waved it off. No matter; it was Justified.

Luna nodded, though she was looking at Ryan like he was crazy. At this point, he probably was, though. “What did you do in the city?” she asked.

Ryan shrugged. “Rarity took me out shopping. Alone, I went out to some pubs, where I saw Starstep. He asked me to stop by, though I’ll admit, I had planned on it anyway.” Luna turned around and looked at Starstep, who was having a pleasant conversation with Twilight. “I also had a nice conversation with Spitfire, the... uhh... something of the whos. I forget.” He smiled sheepishly.

“Wait, you talked to the captain of the Wonderbolts?” Cinny interrupted suddenly. Ryan nodded to her. “Wow. That’s really something.” When Ryan looked at her curiously, she went on. “Well, I am a pegasus, so they mean alot to me. I always wanted to meet them, just to see if they’re as cool in person as on stage.”

Ryan took a good look at her; sure enough, there were wings. He supposed that the last time he saw her without her uniform, he was drunk enough not to notice. “Well, you never know when you’ll meet them. And Spitfire was nice enough; pleasant to talk to.”

Ryan was already growing tired of recounting his relatively uneventful first days in Canterlot, so he turned it around on them. “Well, Mac, you’ve been silent. How are things?”

“What things?”

Ryan smiled at him devilishly. “You know. Things.” Mac steadfastly maintained his ignorance, so Ryan upped his game. “Things about the mixture of red and yellow paints? How they often make pink, with a little yellow left over? I’m asking you if you’ve painted any canvasses or walls lately.”

Big Mac blushed furiously, though his red coat did a good job of hiding it. Some guys have all the luck, don’t they? “No, Ah ain’t painted anything recently.”

“You paint, Macintosh Apple?” Luna asked, curious.

Ryan answered. “Oh, sure. He isn’t that great now, but by the time he’s learned; with some aid of course; he’ll be a master with his brush. I don’t know what kind he uses, though; wide or thin, long or short. They all have different effects, but the bigger ones tend to get better results faster for bigger projects.”

Big Mac sucked in a breath, thankful that neither mare present understood. “I like to use the long, wide brush. Get the job done fast.”

“Oh, so you’re saying that you’re really quick, then?” Mac frowned. “Remember, long, deliberate strokes are the key. Don’t just slap at the wall; that’s what the brush flick is for, but only artists tend to splatter the wall, so I wouldn’t expect that of you.”

Big Mac didn’t speak at all. He didn’t respond with words; just a glare that said Shut the fuck up already, do you want them to get it?

Ryan responded with his own look. Of course I do. Imagine what you’re sister would say if she found out you talked like this in front of the princess?

Big Mac sighed in defeat. Just don’t outright say it, please.

Alright, fine.

The females present were just looking at the two as they made their nonverbal exchange, wondering what they were doing that so raptly had their attention. They had just been sitting in their places, doing nothing, starting at each other. Luna looked to Cinny, who simply shrugged to convey her lack of understanding of what was happening.

Cinny coughed. “Well, I suppose that Mr. Macintosh has had a good weekend.” she stated, getting Mac to lower himself in his spot. “But there’s a bit more I want to hear about your time, Ryan.”

Ryan looked to her. “Shoot.”

“What were you expecting from Luna when you went to see her?” she asked. “I can’t even begin to imagine what happened between the two of you that separated you in such an emotional way, at least from what I heard from Rarity.”

Ryan was confused. “When did she tell you about it?” he asked.

Cinny waved her hoof. “A few minutes ago, but that’s not important. What did you think would happen?”

Ryan sighed and thought. “Well, I didn’t expect to get bitchslapped, that’s for sure.” Luna smiled sheepishly. “I wasn’t sure what to expect. I deserved to get smacked, I guess, but the closest I got to imagining her reaction was her saying ‘Hi’. I didn’t have any idea how she would react to seeing me.”

Luna piped in. “Yes, I likely reacted in the manner in which any would if they saw a dead friend come back to life.” She looked over to Starstep. “And I must say, I wish Starstep had told me about your visit. Maybe I wouldn’t have hit you.”

Ryan laughed. “If that train ride was anything to go off of, you would have done much worse than hit me.” Cinny was about to ask what happened, but Luna frantically tried to change the subject.

The party went on from there, with Ryan being forced up by Cinny and brought around to talk to everypony there. He had little conversations with the mares who made up his friends, and introduced himself to the two ponies he didn’t know. Their names were Caramel and Roseluck. It was odd, because Ryan had yet to actually speak to any ponies other than those he was already familiar with. They were nice enough, though.

They left together not long after, presumably to have a party of two. Once all the goodbyes were said, Ryan went back to his seat and plopped himself down. The others, including the princesses, all sat around him on the floor, looking expectant.

Celestia broke the silence. “Well, Ryan. We all came here to hear your story; I do hope that you feel like telling it to us.”

Ryan looked around at the group before him. They all wanted to hear his story so desperately, he thought they might explode. Rainbow looked like she was contemplating whether or not she would stab him on his way back to the boutique. Applejack seemed to know that this was coming from the start. Rarity and Luna looked like they might fall forward, as was the same with Twilight. Fluttershy looked terrified, and Pinkie was holding her close to comfort her.

“Alright.” Ryan said. “Here it is. It all began with Discord when he found the compound in Jakarta...”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“...And after he left me on the ground, that was when the fillies found me.”

As Ryan finished telling his story, he took in a deep breath and took a sip of water that Spike had retrieved for him while he spoke. Other than that, no one actually did anything but listen to him for the whole three hours it took him to retell the story, leaving out gruesome, unnecessary details and occasionally justifying what was happening. He hadn’t looked anypony in the eyes while he told his tale, careful to avoid having to break his concentration to say something else.

Once he set his glass back down, he took the moment to look at the ponies around him. All looked incredibly serious, especially the princesses. They had hard looks on their faces, like they were trying to figure out what to do about Ryan and Discord’s partnership. The elements were all silent, some looking unconvinced, other, confused. Twilight seemed to have the most trouble wrapping her head around it all.

“Wait. So... Discord actually helped you?” she asked. Ryan nodded. “But... he’s evil... why would he help anypony?”

“Evidently, he’s not as evil as you thought. Or, he’s just as evil, and you seem to have trouble understanding that he is much better than I. For you to call him evil is to call me a monster.”

“Whoa, whoa, there, sugarcube.” Applejack interjected. “Y’all ain’t evil. Ya didn’t do... what ya did... for the fun of it. Discord likes to ruin lives just because he enjoys it. Y’all’re much better than him.”

“Am I?” Ryan asked. “Did you ever at least try to see it his way, even if his way is wrong?” No one spoke. “Didn’t think so. Well, I’ll tell you this; he does what he does because, through all his flaws and his general lack of care for what you think of him, he’s always done his thing because he wants life to be more fun for you.”

“True, but we live peacefully and happily. He can see that, so why would he want to take that from us?” Celestia asked, thinking that she had a win. She didn’t.

“I’m not saying he’s right, or even that he’s sane on any level. Yes, he’s wrong, but it’s possible that his perception of reality is messed up. I always figured it was. If that is the case, and I bet it is, he doesn’t know that all your ponies are happy, and he seeks to give them a more enjoyable life, because he’s doing what he thinks would be fun for them.”

Celestia paused. “So what you are telling me is that Discord, ruler of Chaos and Spirit of Mayhem, isn’t evil? That he’s just a crazy old fart who thinks he’s doing the world a favor?”

Ryan raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, I wouldn’t put it quite that way, but I think that you have the general idea. He’s not evil; he just needs help.”

Celestia furrowed her brow, deep in thought. When she didn’t continue speaking, Luna decided to hop in. “Well, Ryan, I must say that I am glad that you had Discord there to help you.” The elements all gasped. “If he hadn’t been there, bad things may have occurred while I was absent.”

Ryan nodded. “Yeah, ‘bad things’ would have occurred. I would be dead, and Harris would be too. A lot of people would be slaves, also.” Luna smiled weakly. “Not to say that you weren’t important. If not for you, I would never have gotten out of Sumatra. You and Discord both saved me and Harris.”

Luna smiled a little bit. Just enough so that Ryan could see. “Thank you.” she whispered. This had clearly been bothering her for some time. Not about Discord, but about whether or not her help had been effective.

“I thank you.” Ryan replied. He paused. “There is one matter I would like to have looked into, if it could happen.” he said.

Celestia was still occupied, so Luna kept on answering. “Certainly. Depending on what it is, we will certainly try.”

“Discord is a part of this world.” Ryan began. “He brought me here to keep me alive. He actually failed Harris and I to some extent; if he had done what he could, we would have survived. To make up for that, he brought me here, and hopefully, he brought Harris home.”

***********************************************************************************

Discord mentally face-palmed

“How could I forget?” he asked himself angrily. “I hope he’s alright...”

***********************************************************************************

“I want to find him.”

Luna looked unsure of how to answer. “Well, I’m sure we could help. But I must ask why you wish to find him.”

Ryan leaned forward. “When I fought Narendra, one of the most important things to me was to find out why he did what he did. When I did, I was unhappy with his answer. I want to know why Discord brought me here. I have a feeling of what his answer will be, though I need to hear it from him. I don’t really know if I’ll be happy with it.”

Luna looked to her sister, who had listened to that particular part of the conversation, and both exchanged a hurried series of mental addresses. They were in conflict as to whether or not they should tell him. Discord was in stone for a reason, but now, that reason was in deep questioning. Was Discord reformable? Or would he create chaos and pandemonium again? And what would he and Ryan do together? They were clearly on at least partially friendly terms.

The exchange was short enough that no one noticed, not even Ryan. “Well,” Celestia began. It was her call. “I’m sure we can find him eventually. When we do, then we will try to get him to talk to you.”

The mares all gasped, it not having hit them as of yet that Discord was free again, while Ryan simply nodded. “Very well. I will wait until he is back.”

************************************************************************************

Discord could see the logic in what they were doing. But then, logic was never his favorite thing in the world.

He could very easily trigger something in Ryan. It had happened to ponies before; they see something related to old trauma, then they flip out and go crazy again. But Discord didn’t want to see Ryan hurt. As Ryan said, and it hurt a little to hear it, Discord was partly responsible for everything that happened. Nothing would mean more to him than to see Ryan back to where he was meant to be.

That brought up another issue, though, one that the princesses weren’t aware of. The Wraith was also trying to get Ryan somewhere. They had no idea that the Wraith existed, but Discord could see the problems that would come with it.

The Wraith was unlike anything he had ever encountered. It somehow knew that Discord was watching, even though he had all manner of magical protection to prevent being found. When it spoke to him, Discord caught a glimpse of its mind; a vast, unending expanse, with all kinds of knowledge, from basic spells, to the darkest of magics meant for pure evil the likes of which hadn’t been seen in millenia. He shuddered at the thought of it being used.

What frightened him the most? The fact that he couldn’t see or locate the Wraith at any point if it didn’t want to be seen. The Wraith could be watching Ryan right now, waiting to kill the princesses and all present. It could ambush Ryan on his way to the boutique. This being wanted something of Ryan, and Discord could see that it was willing to go to great lengths to get it.

He had tried to discern what it was, but there was something odd. The being, while its words were harsh and its actions tormenting, had no alignment. When Discord tried to determine its moral standing, it seemed out of place. Like it couldn’t have a moral standing. It was as if it WAS a moral standing; it defined its own ways. The creature was too much for anyone to handle, and Ryan would be fucked if it decided to do something to him.

Discord wanted to tell Ryan these things, but to do so would spit in the faces of the princesses and the rules Celestia gave him. If he did that, he would be permanently locked in stone, and that was a fate that few deserved (Narendra being a prime example). He did want to help, but as Ryan would say, he needed to look after himself first, or he wouldn’t be around to help anyone in the future.

Overall, Discord thought it a great idea not to be revealed to Ryan for a time. He would remain hidden in the castle garden, away from the world save for his magical eye, and be content to watch and maybe throw a spell here or there. And who knew? After all this was said and done, the princesses might allow him out for a bit, or at least to reform him (Ha! They could try.). Maybe it would all work out.

Of course, that was only if the Elements of Harmony didn’t lock him away against the princesses’ orders.

************************************************************************************

“Discord is free?!?!” Twilight shouted, prompting Ryan to stick a finger in his ear once again.

“Not so loud, please. I’ll get tinnitus at this rate...” Twilight apologized shortly. “No worries, I’m sure I’ll be alright.”

She nodded. “Alright. Anyhow, you never told us that Discord is free! We need to find him and stop him, before he does something bad!”

Before anyone could respond, Ryan jumped in. “Hold on. Do you intend to lock him in stone again?” Ryan asked cautiously.

“Of course!” Twilight replied. “He’s dangerous, and he poses a real threat to us all. If he’s out, he might do something!”

Ryan sighed. “First thing; you keep saying ‘something’. You have nothing to substitute for that ’something’, so don’t be so paranoid. Second,” He looked her dead in the eyes. “You say that a dangerous guy should be locked in stone.”

Twilight was unsure of where this would go. “Yes?” she responded, careful of what she would say next.

“Then why have you not locked me up?” Ryan asked, drawing gasps from all present. “I still have flashbacks, at night and during the day. You’ve noticed them, Applejack, I know this. As have you, Twilight, and you, Rarity. Some are only a second, others, several minutes. One was almost half an hour.”

Rainbow trotted into the fray. “Why is that important?” she asked. “What does that have to do with your danger factor?”

Ignoring that phrase, Ryan answered her coldly. “More than once, I’ve pulled my gun out, and more than once, I nearly fired it. When I shot that stallion in the ass in Canterlot, I saw him as someone else. One night, I saw a stallion try to force himself on a mare; when I saw it, I flashed back to Jakarta. Do you know what happened?”

Rainbow took a tentative step back. “N-no?” She sounded nervous; the others all looked nervous.

Ryan’s voice took on a dark tone. “I stabbed him in his fucking neck.”

All was silent. The mares, minus the princesses, looked at Ryan in horror. Starstep seemed to give him an unpleased, yet very understanding look, like he knew that it had to be done. Celestia had to hold herself in to keep from gaping at the human, while Luna just looked at him sadly. Ryan’s killing had been justified, but he still had to hope that he wasn’t in trouble for it. He wasn’t about to go around killing people who raped and murdered; that could stay with Blood Analyst Morgan in Miami.

He went on. “I killed him because I thought he was another man, one I know committed the same crime. If you really want to lock Discord away, you have to lock me away too. Even I can’t quite tell when something will set me off.”

Cinny walked forward and put her hoof on Ryan’s shoulder. “Ryan, I know that you think you’re a monster. We all know that.” She had decided on a more aggressive approach. “But these flashbacks aren’t in your control; they don’t make you evil. So far, the only violent one you’ve had was triggered by a violent crime.” She didn’t know that, but she was right. “We can work on this. And we don’t have to lock you up, or Discord, if we can help him too.”

Ryan turned his head to Celestia and Luna. Celestia spoke. “I suppose that we can try to reform him. I was considering that anyway, after what Ryan told us here. But I am not sure how well it will go. Once we find him, that is.”

Ryan nodded. “I think that should work. But what of me?” he asked. He wanted an answer to that one. “I’m more dangerous. What will you do with me?”

Luna looked sadly at him while Celestia answered. “Well, we have ponies who can help you to get over what happened.”

Ryan sighed and shook his head. “Sister, it isn’t that simple.” Luna replied for the human. “No pony has experienced what he has, nor at such an age. I saw it, and even I cannot help him. I do not believe that we have anypony to help him to get over it.”

“You can never ‘get over’ something like this, princess.” Ryan added. “People like to think that they’re better, that they can function the way they used to. But the thing is that when you experience trauma, it leaves a scar.” He rolled up his sleeves. “A scar that never heals, never goes away. It’s always there, reminding you of what you did or saw. The only people who can ‘get over it’ are complete psychopaths and sociopaths, and those people tend to end up in prison for their entire lives.”

No one spoke. They couldn’t argue what Ryan had said; they could never understand his pain and suffering. They could never even begin to imagine what it was like. But that wouldn’t stop them from trying to help.

Except Rainbow. “You sound pretty lame right now.” she said casually.

Everyone in the room spun around; except Ryan. He knew it was coming.

“WHAT!?!?” they all shouted, including the princesses. Rainbow was practically knocked back by the force, which included the Royal Canterlot Voice.

Ryan stood up. “ENOUGH!” he shouted before anything else went wrong. All present went completely silent. “I will speak.”

He walked over to Rainbow, who was crouched low, ready to fly away. “I know your type.” Ryan stated flatly. “You think that people can just forget these things, like a scrape on the knee or a bruise on the hand. But you don’t get it. I used to be like you.” He turned around. “I would look at returning soldiers and think, ‘I know they can recover. They just need a little push from us civilians to show them what life is like back home.’ That doesn’t work.”

“When a soldier came home, he was often scarred by what he saw, in a way we couldn’t understand. He woke up at night, had trouble doing everyday activities. Every time he saw a person, he would wonder, ‘Could they get killed as pointlessly as my friend in a random explosion?’ IED’s tend to change your perspective. I know a normal land mine got me.”

He breathed in deep. “When you see things in battle that you never see elsewhere, they don’t scar you just because they don’t happen that often. They scar you because you realize that THAT is what your species is; warriors who kill each other until one side is gone. We try to change that part of our nature, but it’s always there. And when you get home, when you look at yourself in the mirror, or people on the streets, you wonder; ‘Who among us is like that? All of us? A few of us?’”

Rainbow was frozen in place by now. “Every night when I go to sleep, when I see my own reflection, when I get up in the morning, I see Narendra and his men. I saw what they did to my friends; unspeakable things. And every time I do something, anything; from carrying shit to sitting down, I wonder. I wonder, am I so terrible? I killed forty people, and now one pony. I feel no remorse for their deaths. Am I like Narendra? Am I a monster in my own right?”

Luna tried to interrupt. “Ryan, you aren’t-”

“I’ve seen social Darwinism at its worst, yet I am still here. Does that mean that, in order to win, I had to drop down to their level? What kind of human being am I, that I was willing to fall to such a terrible place to get my pointless revenge? I didn’t even get to live to tell the families that I avenged their loved ones. So what was the fucking point!?”

Ryan placed himself right in front of Rainbow Dash. “You can never understand, because you have yet to see the true horrors of the world. I hope to God that you never have to experience it. That you never have to wonder if that piece of your kind is in you.”

Ryan didn’t say anything else. He just walked over to the coat hanger, grabbed his jacket, and left. Behind him, he could hear the beginnings of a conversation, not an argument, but he didn’t care enough to think about what it what it could be. Reprimanding or revelling, it didn’t matter to him. He just wanted to find that ditch and avoid having to see anypony again for the night.

As he walked down the street, he noticed how it was beginning to get cooler at night. It was probably right around sixty degrees fahrenheit right now, pretty standard for this time of the year. The wind was blowing gently in the night, carrying with it nothing but the emptiness of the broken soul who lonely wandered through the streets.

He walked until he was out of the town, where he decided to just sit down under a tree and look to the sky. It was really something, this night sky; so many stars, so much to see. Back home, you had to be out on the ocean in order to see anything like it. It didn’t remind him of home at all, something he definitely liked about this night sky. He could just sit there all night if he felt like it.

But someone else didn’t feel like it. “Ryan?” a young, feminine voice called from afar. Somehow, it wasn’t yelling. “Ryan?”

The boy turned around to see Luna walking along, looking about to find her human friend. She seemed to take her time examining the area, yet hurrying so that she couldn’t lose him. Her expression displayed immense concern, and her body language told the world how upset she was. When her eyes landed on Ryan, she seemed to practically melt from the loss of tension in her body.

“Ryan.” she said.

“That would be me.” he replied, turning his gaze back to the starry sky.

She sat down next to him and rolled onto her side, then to her back. “I don’t get how this can be comfortable for your spine.” she complained.

“Maybe because I’m not a pampered princess?” the boy joked back, earning a biting glance from the princess.

She calmed herself quickly after catching the joke. “Ha ha.’ she said in monotone. “You humans and your anatomy.”

“Yeah, I bet you know all about it.” Ryan replied, remembering Australia and the club. “Though I would think that you are better with equine anatomy, what with Starstep as your helper.”

Luna blushed just a tad. “Very funny.” she replied, unable to come up with a comeback. Both pony and person went silent for a moment.

Luna looked at her friend with a face etched with concern and sadness. She knew that everything Ryan had said in there was likely true, or close enough to the truth. She knew that he was unsure of himself or of the safety of those around him. Rainbow’s words were harsh and cruel; but they didn’t hurt Ryan the way the others thought they did.

“You know that she’s just being her.” Luna said, hoping to draw Ryan out. “She fears you. She doesn’t really know how she feels about you, so she wants to drive you out.”

“Well, she managed to do that.” Ryan said bitingly.

“No, she didn’t.” Luna responded. “You left because you felt exactly the way you just described. You just want to be alone.”

“Then why do you pester me, Luna?” Ryan asked, clearly unhappy. “I want to be alone. Is that so terrible?”

“Yes, it is.” Luna said back. “No one should ever have to be alone.”

“But I am, Luna. I am alone. You saw everything that happened out there, but you didn’t experience it. You don’t know what it’s like; waking up in the morning and wondering if you’ll let yourself make it through lunch. No one can understand me, and without anyone to talk to, I’m stuck in a hole with no way in or out. I am alone; none of you can reach me.”

Luna yearned to just grab him and hold him tightly, tight enough that he could never get away. She wanted to grab him and carry him back to the library, where they would all just hold him close and never let him be on his own. But that wouldn’t help. He would still be trapped in his mind, unable to find the way out to them. He would be hurting until the day he died, and they couldn’t help him.

It pained her more than a thousand years on the moon. “I suppose that you are right.” she said, feeling somewhat defeated. “But we can still try.”

Ryan sat up and looked down at the lunar princess. “You really aren’t going to give up on me, are you?” he asked.

She sat up. “I told you before; you are my friend. I will never abandon my friends.”

Both stood up. “I suppose I have to let you keep trying then, don’t I?” Luna smiled at him.

“Come.” she ordered, turning back to Ponyville. “Let us go back and partake in festivities.”

Ryan followed behind her, silent in the night, doing his best not to leave any imprints on the ground as he went. He didn’t want to leave any marks on this world. Not right now.

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“If you’re alone, I’ll be your shadow. If you want to cry, I’ll be your shoulder. If you want a hug, I’ll be your pillow. If you need to be happy, I’ll be your smile. But any time you need a friend, I’ll just be me.”

The rest of the party had gone fine; Rainbow gave a half-assed apology that had little meaning behind it, so the drama was gone. Ryan talked about his time with Fancy Pants and how they had planned to have drinks together with Macintosh, something that surprised them all. Rainbow pouted intensely and stared jealously at Ryan when he told the group about talking with Spitfire, something that gave Ryan more pleasure than he was sure it should have.

The whole thing died down at around eight, so everyone went home. Celestia excused herself most elegantly, while her sister remained, insistent on walking home with Ryan. Starstep knew that he wouldn’t be needed, so he went off with Celestia to give his princess some privacy. Rarity simply left before Ryan, saying how Sweetie Belle needed attendance, to which Applejack and Rainbow agreed to in regards to the other crusaders. Fluttershy and Pinkie just walked out together after a short goodbye, leaving Twilight, Ryan, and Luna.

Ryan excused himself so that Twilight could tuck Spike in, something the little dragon hated her saying in front of Luna and Ryan. Luna followed him out, eager to talk.

Ryan took the lead out the door into the darkened town, about ready to go to sleep. As Luna exited, she shut the door behind her and trotted up to catch up to her human friend, paranoid of leaving him alone. Ryan tried to pretend not to notice.

She walked next to him, trying to think of something to say. “So...” she began.

“So.”

Luna opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came at first. “So. You... are... living here.”

“I find your powerful observation skills intimidating.”

Luna frowned at him. “Ha ha. Funny.” Ryan smirked, but it faded quickly. “What do they all think of you living in Rarity’s basement?”

Ryan shrugged. “Well, Rainbow is the only one who thinks it’s bad. But she’s kind of annoying, so I don’t really care. Sweetie Belle has yet to learn, so my bet is that it’ll be crazy when she finds out. She and her friends seem to cause all sorts of Hell when they want to have fun.”

Luna giggled. “Yes, I had heard that.” She and Ryan were silent for a minute. “You have no idea how much it means to me that you’re back.”

Ryan’s expression was motionless, like the Thinker; trapped in a state of eternal contemplation. “I’m... glad you’re happy.”

“You seem sad.” Luna pinpointed. “Will you tell me why?”

Ryan looked forward, then to the sky. It was beautiful, much more than he had ever seen back in the United States. Even Australia and Indonesia, and shockingly Vietnam, didn’t have skies like this at night. This land was a perfect escape from the modern troubles and hassles of his world. But it was missing something.

“I don’t know that I would say I’m back.” he replied.

Luna was saddened by his words, but understood. “I understand, I suppose.”

Luna let it go, and Ryan opted to do the same. There is a time and a place for certain kinds of thinking, and this was certainly not one of them. He took his eyes off of the heavens above and looked around at his surroundings at his new world. He was living with Rarity right now, but as soon as he could, he would be out. He still had to find a place in the forest, though, so it might be a while.

They spent the rest of the walk in silence, Luna simply happy to be with Ryan, Ryan trying not to think about anything. All he knew was that right now, there was no Wraith, no people trying to kill him, no bitches tripping at him, and no nice ponies trying to help him. It was all that mattered.

They reached the Carousel Boutique in a good enough time and simply stood in front of the entrance, starting at it.

“I guess that this is goodbye.” Luna said. She sounded sad.

“For now.” Ryan replied, getting a small smile off of her. It was enough to make him feel less shitty for the time being. “I’m sure we’ll get to see each other often enough. Not like I have any bad guys to chase after.”

Luna paused, a look suddenly appearing on her face. It wasn’t a look of shock or anger or surprise, though. It was more of a look that came from having an idea. Like if you needed to climb a broken ladder, then noticed that the wall behind had grooves on it. There was a way around the rough situation.

“Yes... you don’t.”

“Grammar.” Luna used her magic to knock out his knee, then caught him with it before he hit the ground. “Sorry.”

She put him back up. “That’s fine.” she said. Luna made circles in the ground with her hoof. “I guess I should head home now.”

As she spread her wings, Ryan got one last word in. “Yeah, Starstep must be pretty lonely right now.” She must not have noticed, for she simply raised herself into the air and flew away toward the mountain city of snobbery known as Canterlot.

Ryan watched her as she left, then went inside and made his way to the basement, where he removed his clothes and plopped onto the bed bare naked, uncaring of whether or not somepony walked in on him. Unless it was Sweetie Belle. That would be bad.

*****************************************************************************

The next few days passed like nothing happened. Probably because nothing did happen. Ryan went to work, he ate food, slept, drank alcohol and a little water. He hadn’t gone for drinks with Macintosh because he was busy doing the numbers for the farm. Besides, they were going to have drinks with Fancy Pants on Saturday, so missing a round this week wasn’t so bad.

And today was Saturday. Ryan sat up in his bed in Rarity’s basement and let out a longwinded yawn, filling the room with his early morning noises. He swung his legs around and planted his feet firmly on the floor, rubbing his eyes, and stood. As he straightened his back, it made a long series of pressure-easing pops and cracks.

Ryan grabbed his necklace and gingerly put it on, keeping his hands on the Shen pendant the whole while. Once it wa son, he pulled the pendant a little ways away from his body and just looked at it. Spirit, is what it translated to. Kind of like in the sense of a soul, of being human. He had gotten the necklace from his sensei after passing his Black Belt testing; it represented a big part of him. At the same time, though, it didn’t any more. It was there, and yet, it was not.

Letting himself drift off into a state of no thought, he simply went about getting the rest of his clothes on. He put his pants on one leg at a time, then his shirt, and then his new jacket. He felt a little odd, wearing the symbol of the Navy SEALs, but he tried to let it pass. It was no weirder than wearing the Green Beret on his head. Though now that he thought about it, it was a little inappropriate. Not that that mattered to him any more.

It was the weekend, and that meant it was a perfect time for him to go out into the forest and look around a little. He didn’t have supplies to go camping and test out a night there or spend more than a day going through, but he knew that he could get decently far in in one day. Farther than most ponies were willing to go.

Ryan went over to the little closet Rarity had gotten for him to store his new clothes in, as well as what he was going to make his expeditionary outfit. He had managed to get his hands on ceramic plates to put into the work vest, so he had a light piece of armor for his chest and abdomen, which was nice. He also had that helmet, which he had poured green paint all over and then painted on dark splotches to make it camouflaged. Then, there was the cloak, which turned out to be great for retaining heat and keeping dry. All this, plus his makeshift tactical vest, sat at the bottom of the drawer, waiting to be used.

He didn’t take it just yet, though. It was only five thirty in the morning; he had woken up from another nightmare. As such, he had plenty of time to gather food and water for his journey out. Problem was, nothing would be open until around eight.

He sighed. “Well, I guess that I can just plan out my trip.”

Ryan went upstairs and, as quietly as he could, made his way to the kitchen, where there was a pad and a paper sitting on the counter. He ripped off a paper and took the pen and began to plan.

As soon as he sat down, he realized a few things. “I need a backpack for carrying crap.” he said, jotting it down. “Also gonna need to combine the vest and armor somehow.” He really just needed to get his knife and gun holsters on it. The rest was empty, since he had exactly been able to lug around an assault rifle or its ammo back in Vietnam. “Dammit, I’ll also need emergency medical supplies.” If he was hurt out there, he would need bandages and medical tape to get back. Even if he didn’t want to, he had made a promise to Harris.

The ideas kept on coming, and Ryan steadily began to realize that he maybe wasn’t quite ready to head out into the forest on his own just yet. Today would have to be a planning day, and on Sunday, he would head out. He would have to make sure that nopony followed him out there, or else he could end up having to rescue them again. Last time, he was rewarded with shredded arms and splinters.

Once he felt like his list was long enough for the time being, he stuffed it into his jacket pocket and decided to raid the fridge. It was already six thirty, the normal time for his breakfast before heading to school back home. Who would have thought that he would get any level of normalcy here?

He grabbed two pieces of bread and threw them into the toaster next to the fridge, which was connected to nothing, frustratingly, and waited. When they were done, the machine let out an unnecessarily loud PING, and the bread shot out. He didn’t manage to catch it, but just picked it up off the floor, dusted it off, put some butter on it, and munched away. It was actually nice to have a quiet breakfast.

“Ryan?” Though not for long. “Ryan, is that you, darling?”

He sighed. “Yes, Rarity, it is me.” She walked into the kitchen, mane looking frazzled and with a tired smile on her face. “What got you up? I hope it wasn’t me.”

She shook her head. “No, darling. I get up around this time every morning to prepare the shop. I’ll be open until noon today, since it is Saturday.”

Ryan nodded. “Nice.” He continued munching on his toast.

Rarity walked over to the fridge and pulled out a premade salad, then sat down next to Ryan and went about eating her own breakfast. Having already finished, Ryan just sat there, feeling obligated to stay in case Rarity wanted to talk. He doubted that she did, but one never knows.

By the time she was done, it was half past seven. Pretty soon, the stores would start to open, and Ryan would be able to go out and get his gear and supplies for an excursion into the forest. “Well, Rarity, I guess I’ll leave the shop to you, then.” he said, getting up. “Have fun, I guess?”

Rarity giggled. “Yes, I will. Enjoy your day as well, Ryan.” Ryan waved at her as he left the kitchen.

He went back down to the basement and went under his bed for his sack of bits. He had an account at the local bank, but he always had liked to have a cash reserve for emergencies. In the sack, he had one hundred and fifty bits, more than enough for what he wanted to get. He would spend the money on what he needed, then replenish it once he was done.

With money in his hands, and a plan in his pocket, he walked up the stairs and then out the front door of the boutique, feeling ready to face the day. Mostly.

******************************************************************************

The nine o’clock train blew its horn to signify that it was going to be heading out soon. Outside, ponies were scrambling about, trying to get all their things in order, some saying heartfelt goodbyes, others just waving at their loved ones. She loved ponywatching; one could encounter all kinds of ponies just by watching them live their lives.

“Hey, Spits! Earth to Spits!”

Spitfire turned her head to look at her teammate and longtime friend. “What, Fleetfoot?”

Fleetfoot had insisted that they go to Ponyville for some reason. Spitfire suspected that it had something to do with not wanting to stay in Canterlot; that night in the alleyway scared the living Hell out of her, and now she seemed paranoid; but she hadn’t actually said that. Every time Spitfire asked, Fleetfoot would just shrug it off and opt not to answer.

“How long do you think this ride will be?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe an hour, forty minutes?”

Fleetfoot nodded. “Alright then.” She didn’t ask anything else after that.

The train started to move, rumbling and shaking as it started its journey. Passengers buckled in to some seats in an effort to avoid being thrown about. Spitfire and Fleetfoot just sat, though. Being Wonderbolts, they had an easy time keeping their balance and catching themselves before hitting the ground.

That explained why Soarin’ floated back to their little table, rather than walk like the rules said to. “Well, ladies, it looks like we’re moving.” he said as he took his seat next to Fleetfoot. She smiled at him and pressed herself close to him, eliciting a chuckle and a hug from him. They had been going out for over a year, so it wasn’t exactly a secret. All the mares were jealous of Fleetfoot. Except Spitfire, at least. And maybe some others.

“We sure are!” Fleetfoot replied excitedly. “I can't wait to get there!”

Spitfire looked at her two teammates, but neither noticed. Well, now was as good a time as any.

“Fleetfoot, you seem awfully excited about this.” She nodded in reply. “What’s in Ponyville that makes you so excited? I know we’ve been there; it hasn’t changed that much.”

Now, Soarin’ had taken up interest. “Yeah, what’s there? I know the Elements of Harmony live there, but you’ve met them. Maybe you have a secret place there?” He raised his eyebrows suggestively at that, getting a groan from both mares.

“Soarin’ pie always seem to be on your mind.” Spitfire said.

“Yeah!” Fleetfoot agreed. “Besides, you’ll get pie later; it always tastes better when you’re hungry.” Spitfire physically gagged. “What? It’s an old family recipe. Apple Cinnamon with mountaintop grass.”

Spitfire shook her head. “Sure. Anyway, you still have to answer the question.”

Fleetfoot looked at her captain, then to her coltfriend, and sighed. “Alright fine.” Both ponies leaned in to listen. “In the alley, when... things were happening, I didn’t kick him into a dumpster corner. I was rescued.”

Soarin’s eyes shot wide. “Really?!” he said loudly. A few ponies looked over, but none paid him any mind. “By who?”

Fleetfoot looked a bit uncomfortable. “I don’t know his name. I just know that he looks weird, and I heard that something like him is living in Ponyville.”

Spitfire was suspicious now. “Hmm. What can you tell me?”

“Well, he was tall, like, really tall. He walked on two legs and had hands and a short mane, and he was wearing casual clothes when he ran in to save me. He ripped the stallion off of me, and when I finally looked back, he had stuck a really big knife in his neck. Before I could talk, he ran off, too fast for me to catch.”

Soarin’ wrapped his foreleg around his mare. “Wow. That was lucky.”

Spitfire could hardly believe he rears. “Luck my ass! I had spoken to him earlier!”

Her friends looked at her in shock. “Really!?”

She nodded. “Yeah, we bumped into each other and then walked to the park to get away from the attention all the ponies were giving us. We had a pleasant conversation, he’s nice.”

“Well, what can you tell us?” Soarin’ asked. “I have to thank him for saving my lady here.” He hugged Fleetfoot tight, getting her to squirm from the closeness.

“He’s living with Rarity, in her store, I think. And he just got a bunch of clothes from Fancy Pants, I think. His name is Ryan.”

Fleetfoot looked thoughtful. “Ryan...”

Soarin’ gazed out the window at Ponyville in the distance. “Well, I think I need to see this Ryan. He already seems like an interesting guy.”

Spitfire nodded to herself, agreeing with Soarin’, suddenly feeling eager to arrive in Ponyville as soon as possible.

******************************************************************************

Pinkie Pie was just walking around, milling about and making the day fun for everypony. It was no different than usual; the nine o’clock train had whistled its way in, dropping ponies off and picking up more. Ponies went about their days, doing work, shopping, and just having a pleasant Saturday. Pinkie was glad to see them all having a nice day.

“I wonder how Ryan is doing?” she thought aloud. She thought that she might want to go and check on him soon.

Until she heard three ponies behind her. “Well, where should we start? He probably isn’t there now, he would be doing something.”

“I don’t know. Find out who might know?” She recognized that as Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts!

“Maybe.” This was a male voice, Soarin’. “It’s a safe bet that Rarity won’t know, though.”

Pinkie turned around, excited, and ran up to the three pegasi without warning them. “HI! I’M PINKIE PIE!”

They all reeled at her sudden pinkness, startled, nearly falling over. Pinkie hadn't seemed to notice.

“Yes, the Element of Laughter.” The white-maned one, Fleetfoot, said. “Hey, do you by any chance know a being named Ryan?”

Pinkie gasped loudly and floated into the air a little. “Do I?! He’s one of my bestest friends! Of course, everypony is my bestest friend, but he’s special, since he’s always so patient with me and nice to me even though I know I bother him and he feels so sad all the time and-”

“Whoa, whoa! Slow down there!” Soarin’ said. “Can you just tell us where he is?”

“Nope.” A moment of silence. “But I can take you to my friends, one of them can probably tell you.”

“Great.” Spitfire replied, eager to get moving.

Pinkie turned around and started to lead the three Wonderbolts through the town. The nice thing about not wearing their uniforms was that they didn’t attract much attention. It seemed odd to them that there was a being who commanded more attention than them just by existing.

Pinkie Pie bounced along before them, humming a little tune, seemingly oblivious to everything around her. She wasn’t even looking at anything, her eyes were closed. How could she be looking for anypony if she couldn’t see?

She suddenly started to talk again. “We’re gonna see Flutters first. She likes to make sure Ryan is alright, so she has the most reason to know where he is.”

Fleetfoot nodded eagerly. “Sounds good!”

Soon enough, they were walking up to a cottage on a hill that had all manner of animals surrounding it. Chickens, birds, snakes, rodents, and even a bear sleeping next to the path. Pinkie Pie was unphased when she passed it, so the Wonderbolts tried to keep their cool as they passed. And Pinkie further proved her lack of care for the bear’s presence.

“FLUTTERSHY!” she screamed, waking the bear. The Wonderbolts crouched, ready to launch if necessary, but the bear just looked in their direction and then went back to sleep.

A few moments after Pinkie’s bellow, the door opened slowly to reveal a yellow pegasus with a pink mane. Spitfire recognized her as the mare who saved the day when Cloudsdale needed the water from the Ponyville reservoir.

“Yes?” she asked. She was reluctant to leave her home.

“Have you seen Ryan?” Pinkie asked innocently. The way Fluttershy reacted, though, you would think she asked if Ryan was alive.

“What? No, I haven’t. Is something wrong? Is he in the forest? Is somepony after him to hurt him? What’s wrong!?” She was in a panic.

“No, the Wonderbolts just want to-”

A rainbow blur shot out of the cottage, bringing with it a gust of wind almost strong enough to blow the Wonderbolts off their hooves and move Pinkie an inch in pace. “What!?”

ignored her friend and kept on talking. “They want to know where-”

“Here I am!” Rainbow said, rushing forward and saluting the pegasi. “Rainbow Dash reporting for duty!”

The pegasi looked at each other, then to Rainbow, then back to each other. “Sorry, Dashie, they’re not here for you. You still have to wait.”

Rainbow looked surprised. “What? What else would bring them here?” She turned to the Wonderbolts. “What brings you to Ponyville?”

Soarin’ answered. “We’re here to find Ryan. He saved Fleety’s life in Canterlot, so we wanted to say thanks.”

Fleetfoot poked his side. “I’m not sure about my life, but he saved me from being... well. Something unpleasant.”

Soarin’ pulled her in and kissed her cheek. “He might as well have saved your life. I can’t bear to think what it would have done to you.”

Spitfire had been watching Rainbow’s face while the lovebirds talked. It was a mixture of confusion, aggression, and shock. Rainbow Dash seemed to have trouble believing that this Ryan had saved Fleetfoot. What did that say about him? Or maybe say about her? One of them was different than they thought.

Fleetfoot shared her story with Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie, all of whom were horrified at what nearly happened. “Wow.” Rainbow said at the end. “I never thought Ryan would be one to just go in and save somepony.”

“Why not?” Spitfire asked. Moment of truth.

Rainbow was about to answer when Fluttershy, the shy, timid pegasus who never spoke out of turn, interrupted her. “He has a complicated past.” She gave a death glare at Rainbow for a moment, and once her point was had, she softened again and stepped back. “He’s a good guy, but he suffered a lot of pain and loss. It... did things to him.”

Spitfire could sense that this wasn’t a public topic, so she let it go. “Alright then. But where can we find him?”

Rainbow went into the air. “I saw him in town on the way here at the outdoors store. I think he wanted a tent and some other camping stuff. I didn’t press him for details.” Fluttershy nodded approvingly, further adding to Spitfire’s suspiciousness. “He doesn’t have work today, so he’s probably just going around town or getting ready to go into the Everfree.”

The Wonderbolts all blinked simultaneously. “What.”

“Yeah, he does that. No idea why.” Rainbow paused and put a hoof to her chin. “He did go in there when he first got out of the hospital...”

In all three Wonderbolts’ heads, questions were spinning. Where had Ryan come from? What was his past? Why the forest, and why had he been in the hospital? What in Equestria was going on in the world they were living in?

“Well, let’s go see if we can find him!” Pinkie announced. She started to bounce away, and all the ponies opted to just follow her since she had an inexplicable way of finding anypony anytime.

******************************************************************************

Ryan didn’t take long with his shopping; he never was one to spend a lot of time doing that. He just found an outdoors store, where he encountered Rainbow Dash, and grabbed what he wanted.

He just dropped it off in the boutique for tomorrow, giving a quick hello to Rarity, and decided that he would go investigate the treeline into the forest. There might be multiple ways in that were safe, and if so, he wanted to make sure he got to all of them. They could all lead to different areas if they existed, and that would mean possibilities for more places to make his home.

He started off in the direction of the forest, happy to make his way out of town. When Rainbow approached him earlier, she had been pretty clear in telling him that she wanted life to go back to normal, meaning that she wanted Ryan gone. He reassured her that he wasn’t there to stay, and that eventually, he would be well out of her frizzy mane. She just huffed at him and flew off.

As usual, he kept his eyes scanning the area as he walked along. He was always watching for people who wanted to attack him, even though he knew that he was the only person around. Now, though, he was also watching for ponies who wanted to talk to him. Over the last couple of days, word of his ass-shooting in Canterlot had gotten out, and ponies suddenly had a more curious interest in him. Especially that mint green one; she was awful about it.

Thankfully, word hadn’t gotten out about him stabbing the one guy in the neck and also talking to Spitfire, so he was in the clear. He desperately hoped that nothing big would be happening today. He just wanted to mindlessly look around and see what his prospects were.

His eyes continued to scan, checking every possible area. Except the sky, he soon realized. Looking up, he noticed a familiar rainbow blur up in the air, speeding about. Probably just Rainbow practicing her tricks again.

Ryan paid it no heed and kept on walking. Rainbow never wanted to talk to him, and he knew that she wouldn’t be that inclined to help him explore the Everfree forest, so he had no reason to call to her. At least he had that much from her; she wouldn’t talk to him unless she felt it necessary. That was more than he got from a lot of other ponies.

Wind started rushing toward the ground, getting Ryan to sigh and stop walking. “What do you want now?” he asked impatiently.

Rainbow landed on the ground next to him, looking excited and strangely happy. She was never happy around Ryan.

“Wait here!” she ordered, then flew off. Ryan blinked once, then shrugged and decided that he might as well. If it put her into a good mood, he might as well see what it was. He walked to the side of the road and leaned against a small tree and waited.

A few minutes later, he spotted a total of four pegasi flying in his direction, one being Rainbow Dash. The other three were unfamiliar; a blue one with a navy mane, a blue one with a white mane, and a yellow one with an orange mane. She was familiar for some reason.

It all made sense when they landed in front of him. “Here he is.” Rainbow said, pointing at Ryan excitedly. “Ryan... uh...” She took a moment. “I guess that we don’t know his full name.”

“And odds are, you never will.” He stepped forward off of the tree. “I am Ryan, and I only know one of you. It’s good to see you again, Spitfire, though I wasn’t expecting it.”

Spitfire smiled. “Me neither.”

“So what brings you all down here?” Ryan asked, already knowing the answer.

The white-maned pegasus stepped forward, accompanied by what was likely her boyfriend. “You saved me in Canterlot, but I never got your name.” she explained. “I wanted to come down here and thank you.”

Ryan tugged his Beret down a little. “Don’t mention it.”

“I have to mention it.” the male said. Ryan looked at him. “I’m Soarin’, Fleetfoot’s coltfriend.” Coltfriend? “You saved her from that bastard in the alleyway. I owe you more than I can ever repay.”

“No one owes me anything.” Ryan said. “I did that because I saw it happening, and because I know how terrible it was. I wasn’t going to allow it to happen.”

Suddenly, Fleetfoot ran up to him and gave him a crushing hug. “Even so... thank you.”

At this point, Ryan knew that his day was totally shot. He wasn’t going to be able to check the forest or treeline, it would all have to wait until tomorrow. Other than that, though, he really had nothing that he had to do today, at least until tonight when he was going to have drinks with Mac and Fancy.

“Alright.” Ryan said, returning the hug. “I can see that this meant a lot to all of you.”

Fleetfoot let go and went back to Soarin’, who was eager to get her back in his forelegs again, and planted a kiss on his face. Ryan turned his head to give them some respect, whereas Rainbow felt uncomfortable and simply excused herself and flew off. Spitfire shook her head as the two pegasi got more intense.

She walked over to Ryan, looking away from them. “So do you have anypony special in your life?” she asked.

“Nah, I got no one, the way I think it probably should be.” Spitfire gave him a look. “I can explain later.” She just nodded at him; it was obvious that she and her friends wanted to hear his story. “So Spitfire. Do you have a stallion in your life?”

She laughed. “You’re pushing on a pull door, buddy.”

Ryan looked her over. “Well, I guess you are flaming.” They shared a smirk as the oblivious lovebirds finished up their moment.

They turned back to Spitfire and Ryan. “Uh, sorry, I get a little carried away.” Soarin’ said sheepishly.

“Sometimes, he carries me away.” Fleetfoot nuzzled her coltfriend’s neck affectionately, making Spitfire feel lonely and Ryan feel like he wanted to sit in his ditch and just stay there, because he may have ruined relationships like this. He kept it hidden very well, though.

He tried to get his mind off of it. “Well, I have nothing to do today. I can hang out, if you would be so inclined.” He knew that he would have to tell at least part of his story, but he could gloss over parts of it to avoid the emotion. He was starting to get pretty good at that.

“Awesome!” Soarin’ replied, smiling a big, toothy smile. “We can check out the local bakery!”

Ryan raised his eyebrow at him, but before he could ask, Fleetfoot said, “He’s really into pie.”

Looking back and forth between them, Ryan deadpanned, “I bet he eats it for dessert every night.” Thankfully, no one got it, or if they did, they didn’t show it at all. If they had gotten it, Ryan would have been rightfully smacked or bucked for it.

They made their way to Sugarcube Corner, and along the way, Ryan told them about his homeland. They were fascinated with what he told them; technology, world cultures, global trade, sports, and all kinds of different hobbies people got. He refrained from telling them about military technology and conflict, though. No need to get into a discussion on that.

When they arrived at Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie was inside with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, the three of them talking about the presence of the Wonderbolts in town.

“Isn’t it awesome that they came here?” Rainbow asked rhetorically. “They’re so cool, it just makes everything seem so much more awesome!”

Ryan shook his head at how little sense her actual statement made as he and the Wonderbolts silently listened.

“Yes, I guess it is pretty great. I hope it doesn’t get too noisy though...” Fluttershy was hiding behind her mane as she spoke, probably because she did not like how loud Rainbow had a tendency of being. “I suppose that we can thank Ryan for it.”

“Huh?” Rainbow replied.

“Well, if he wasn’t so willing to run in and help, they wouldn’t have a reason to be here right now. They would be up in Canterlot, doing whatever they would be doing, I guess.”

“Flutters’ right, Dashie! You should be nicer to him.” She looked behind her. “And now’s your chance.”

Rainbow whipped around, startled at the appearance of her heroes and Ryan. “Oh,hey. Didn’t know you were there.” She smiled nervously.

Spitfire just looked at her with a deadpan expression. “You really should be nicer to him, you know.” Rainbow’s nervous smile became a shameful frown.

“Trust me,” Ryan interjected. “Her jerkiness is nothing compared to some of the other people I’ve met. She could be called nice by them.”

“Really?” Fleetfoot asked. “Pray tell, who were these ‘people’?”

Ryan didn’t answer and looked at the other two before him. They were expecting an answer as well, probably the answer that Ryan was generally reluctant to give. Turning his head, he saw that Rainbow was looking at him expectantly as well, whereas Fluttershy and Pinkie looked like they were about ready to chew off the ends of their hooves.. He sighed, then walked over to a table and sat down.

“Well, I suppose I can tell you.” The Wonderbolts went over and sat with him. “But let me warn you, these people aren’t going to be pleasant to hear about.”

“We can take it.” Spitfire assured him.

“Alright then.” Ryan said. And once again, he began to tell his story, albeit much censored.

******************************************************************************

Luna was sipping her tea peacefully at a table on her balcony, watching the ponies below as they went about their daily lives. There were servants, carrying their trays and talking about castle business. Guards doing their rounds. That one guard who had the against-regulations relationship with a female server that was a big secret to the two of them. It was enough to make life feel good for the Princess of the Night.

Starstep sat across from her, not caring about the ponies below. He was watching her. She was so much happier now, now that she knew Ryan was alive and well. Her entire demeanor changed; she held her head higher, she had better posture, she spoke more assertively. He had never noticed the lack of these things before, but now that they were back, he could tell what Ryan’s “death” had done to her.

It made him happy to see her happy. His own demeanor had changed as well. Now, he found it easier to get out of bed (partly because she was up earlier and no longer waited for him to get up), easier to walk around, and felt hungry more often. It felt good.

“Starstep, what are you looking at?” Luna asked without looking at him.

“Just stargazing.” he said. He brought his hoof up and rested his chin on it. “In the middle of the day, there’s only one place to see the stars.”

Luna smiled. “Can’t get enough of the stars, can you?” she asked. “You seem to just bury yourself in them at night.”

Starstep chuckled. “Sorry about that, I’m usually asleep before that happens.”

“Don’t be sorry.” Luna replied, turning to look at her guard. “It’s good to know that somepony enjoys my night sky that much.”

Starstep smiled lazily. They weren’t having their usual banter, but this was still nice. It was less of the crazy kind of fun and more of simple relaxation, something neither of them had had in a long time. It was all so simple; no Discord, no worrying about Ryan getting killed, no griffons to worry about. It was like a slice of heaven.

“I could gaze into it forever.” he said. Luna smiled and it almost appeared that she blushed.

Their moment wasn’t meant to last. “Princess!” a guard shouted all the way from the door to her chambers. “Princess, your sister requires your presence!”

Luna sighed. “Alright, I shall get to her soon.” she replied in a speaking version of the Royal Canterlot Voice. She turned to Starstep. “I’m afraid that our relaxation cannot continue right now.”

Her guard nodded. “Well, I guess that I’ll just wait for you here.”

Luna stood and began to make her way out. “Yes. Meet me in my quarters tonight.” she said suggestively. Before Starstep could reply, she was gone.

Luna approached the entrance to her sister’s throne room with caution. Her sister normally did not call on her during the day unless she was either unhappy or simply needed her take on something. Luna could bet that her take wasn’t needed on something. Odds were that it was about Blazer and the griffons in the south.

She walked up to the door, which opened for her as she moved, and entered the room. Around her, there was nopony; not a single guard or server present. Celestia was a the other end of the room with a table before her. She stared intently at it, like she was trying to make a decision on how to proceed in a war. Which was exactly what she may have been planning.

“You wished to see me sister?” Luna said as the door shut behind her, locking her in with her sister. She walked up to the table and took a look at it.

“Yes, I did.” Celestia replied. “I need to speak with you about rescuing Blazer.”

Luna blinked. “What?” she replied. “Do you think we can do it?!” Luna was feeling excited now. If she could find a way to get Starstep’s friend back, it would make her guard’s life that much better.

Celestia took a moment to reply. “I do.” she said.

Silence. “Well?” Luna asked. “What is it?”

“Before I tell you...” Celestia said, drawing a frown from her sister. “I need you to know that there will be no obligations, no leverage used. Nothing will be underhanded or sleazy. It will all be of his own choice.”

Luna was growing worried. “Who is this that you speak of?” she asked. “I will tell you that Starstep is going nowhere. I won’t have his life put at risk by sending him down there.”

Celestia shook her head. “It is not him.” she said. She walked away from the table and looked up at one of the clear windows. It had yet to be filled with a stained-glass image. “I speak of Ryan.”

It was like a brick to the face. Luna felt like she was physically struck when she heard that. her sister wanted to send Ryan down south to fight in a war that was neither his nor theirs. She wanted him to fight griffons that were similar to the men he fought and died against; savages, monsters who kill because they can. She wanted to send Ryan out to fight another Narendra.

“No.” she said. “Absolutely not; I cannot allow this.”

Celestia sighed. “Sister-”

“No! I will not have him suffer at the hands of such beings ever again! I failed to save him once before, I will not fail again. He is not going.”

“Sister, do you understand what he is?” she asked. Luna scowled. “He is perfect for this. He knows how they operate, he knows how to fight them. He has never been seen or heard of by them, so they would never suspect him. He is the perfect warrior for this.”

“Do you think I have not thought about this?” she asked. “When I left him at the boutique, I thought about that. I quickly squashed those thoughts. How do we know it will work? Griffons have distinct advantages over him; claws, flying. Mountains are their home, not his. He will be in a position where he is more likely to fail.”

Celestia went back to the table. “Luna, I have looked over his past. He was never in familiar territory, he never knew what to do, he never knew how to do it. Yet he did. He accomplished his goal.”

“And what did he get from it?” Luna asked. “He would have died if not for Discord. His lack of experience got him killed in Vietnam.”

“And now, he does have experience.” Celestia walked up to her sister. “He isn’t the same as before, little sister. He’s more capable now; you know he can handle the griffons.”

Luna tried to argue, but nothing came. Her head hung low, she said, “I fear that he might not be able to handle the strain on his mind. What if he can't do it alone?”

Celestia softened her voice. “I know, Luna. But he will have to do that on his own.”

Luna thought about it all for a moment. Sure, Ryan could probably defeat the griffons. But where would that put him? In a position to take more lives? How would he handle that, after everything that has happened? He clearly didn’t want to kill any more. He only killed that stallion because he had a flashback, and he ran away from the scene. His mind was in a fragile state right now; could it take any more assaults?

Luna looked at her sister, tears brimming in her eyes. “I... I can’t ask him to do this, Tia. I just can’t.”

Celestia wrapped her wing around her dear sister. “I understand, Luna.” she said softly. “I won’t ask you to.”

******************************************************************************

Saturday night, and it was time to meet his companions to drink. Fancy Pants had arrived earlier and went to Rarity to discuss some fashion deal, leaving Ryan with Soarin’. Fleetfoot and Spitfire had left Ryan and Soarin’ together after meeting the other Elements of Harmony and agreeing to a day at the spa. With nothing else to do, Soarin’ asked to join Ryan and his friends to drink. Ryan decided that he might as well.

Now, the three stallions and human were sitting around the table, sipping at their drinks, sharing tales. Soarin’ had all sorts of stories from his job, from teaching at Flight Camps, to being on the Seventy-first Strategic Recon Battalion in the air guard some years ago in a war against the griffons in the south.

“So I was flying over these mountains with my zoom lenses when I spotted a camp in the valley. I had to fly a bit lower, which pissed off Fleetfoot something fierce when she found out, and I saw an enemy training camp. I called it in on my magic comms, and the Thirty-fifth Joint Strike Force came swooping in and took them out. I watched the whole thing happen; the action was non stop.”

“And what kind of intel did you get from the camp?” Ryan asked, pulling up his mug for a swig.

“Well, it was nighttime, so we found a whole lot. There was intel on planned attacks, developing plans, enemy movements, equipment, and all kinds of stuff. It was one of the biggest hauls we ever had. And I was the one who found it.” Soarin’ added that last statement with a puff of his chest.

“How did y’all get over them without being seen?” Mac asked. “I feel like you would stand out pretty bad, up there in the sky.”

“We of the Seventy-first had to wear black uniforms when we flew at night to avoid being seen. It’s how we got the nickname Blackbirds.”

“I say, I remember those! I was commissioned to make them for you fellows. I do hope that they served you well.” Fancy Pants said.

“Oh they did; never lost a single stallion. Or mare.”

Ryan wasn’t much of a part of the conversation from the start, but now he was looking for Cinny. He thought that she was working tonight, but he supposed that she might not be. It wasn’t so much that he wanted to see her, it was more that no one else served their group. When they got here, Mac’s and Ryan’s drinks were already out, so he thought she was here.

“Hey there, Ryan!” He turned around; there she was. Cinny walked up to the table, pad in hoof and pen in mouth. “What can I get you boys?” she asked.

Each guy ordered a drink, then went back to talking. Mac was being more talkative than usual, something that was fine with Ryan. It was all casual conversation, just guys talking about their respective lives. It was something Ryan hadn’t had in awhile.

Soarin’ and Fancy Pants had proven to be fine to drink with. They talked a little more than Ryan liked, but they didn’t ask him questions or pry at him for information. They all had a general idea of his history, but none of them would bring it up. They all showed him respect and had the integrity to continue doing so, and for that, Ryan had to admit to liking them.

However, he knew that he would have to be careful about how close he got to them, because eventually, he knew that he would leave forever. Be it by living in the forest or not.

Not a Walk in the Park

View Online

Not a Walk in the Park

“A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death.” (JFK)

The following day, Ryan still couldn’t go out into the forest, because the Wonderbolts had stayed in town that night instead of take a night time train home to Canterlot. Spitfire and Fleetfoot stayed with Rainbow Dash that Saturday, and as far as Ryan could tell, they had a fine time. Soarin’ stayed with the Apple family, where he ultimately had to sleep in the barn because Applebloom kept pestering him. Fancy Pants had a wife to get home to, so he left on the night time train after bidding his farewells.

As usual, Ryan had woken up early that Sunday and took the chance to go for a run. On his run, he ran by the edge of the forest, peeking in to check for prospects of paths to take. He found several in his passing and took note of them for later. He also ran by the farm, where he noticed Soarin’ was up and walking out of the barn, looking like he just came out of a pile of dust.

Ryan didn’t think he was noticed, and so kept running, but soon, he was joined by Soarin’. Soarin’ remained in the air as they moved, but they spoke as they went. It was a time to get to know his new drinking companion.

“So I guess that you must love flying.” Ryan said. Soarin’ nodded. “Is that why you joined the Air Guard?”

Soarin’ lowered himself to the ground and ran alongside Ryan. “I joined the Air Guard because I wanted to defend Equestria. During training, I proved that I can fly high, long, and fast, so they put me into the Seventy-first Strategic Recon Battalion. I liked getting that assignment; I was nice and safe up high, while I could relay information to my buddies on the ground that might save their lives.”

“Nice.” Ryan replied.

They kept on running, eventually getting back into town, just chatting away. They walked about their favorite drinks, foods, namely pie for Soarin’, their jobs, and mares and women. It was simple conversation, nothing heavy or complicated, nothing that required serious thought. It was a good way to start the day.

They hit the boutique and waited outside to cool down, not wanting to sweat up the place and be yelled at by Rarity. Thinking about it, Ryan realized that he had been stealthy in his returns at night as well, and Sweetie Belle probably still didn’t know he was living there. Maybe he should try to keep that going.

He and Soarin’ continued to chat for a bit, waiting for some activity to indicate that someone was awake inside. Throughout their conversation, both man and stallion looked into the window to see, and eventually, they were rewarded with several lights coming on. Taking that as the cue to go in, they got up and briskly walked to the door. As they opened it, they could hear someone rummaging through the kitchen.

They walked inside and were greeted by the sight of Rarity, not made up in the slightest and having just rolled out of bed. She gave them a tired greeting, mindlessly making her breakfast as she went along. Soarin’ and Ryan greeted her back, deciding that they should leave to let the lady have her own time.

They left, and soon enough, they ran into the other ponies who would be around town this early; namely, Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and because of them, Rainbow Dash. From there, they went around the town, checking the various stores and seeing what few sights there were. Rainbow had some new tricks to show the Wonderbolts, which Ryan had to admit were impressive. They liked them as well, hinting at a possibility of a career in stunt flying in the future.

The day went by relatively fast, with the Wonderbolts leaving at one for Canterlot. They had a training session to attend, and being highly ranked on the team, they couldn’t afford to miss it. As the fliers boarded the train, all said their goodbyes, some wishing to be more noticeable than others.

“Hey, Ryan.” Soarin’ said. Ryan turned his eyes his way, away from Spitfire. “It was good drinking with you. Think we could do it again sometime?” he asked.

Ryan shrugged. “Sure. Next Sunday work for you?” He had already gotten Mac and Fancy to agree to next Sunday, since he would try to spend the Saturday night in the forest.

Soarin’ grinned. “Sounds good.” With that, he waved goodbye, got on the train, and was off.

The rest of the week was fine. Ryan would go and drink by himself each night, served by Cinny, who always refused him after a certain point. After that, Ryan would pay, head out, and buy beer from a store. It was never as good though.

He went to the gym a couple of times, keeping his mind as empty as possible. He went over his checklist of things he would need, each time finding something small that he would need, like bug spray or a backpack. He checked his armor and weapons, making sure everything fit; the weapons were pretty much a given. He went over his plan of approach; look back frequently to check for followers, take an obscure route, be quick once behind the treeline. It was all very simple.

Now, Saturday was upon him, and he felt ready to head out into the forest. Since he planned on staying overnight this time, he wasn’t too worried about leaving too late. It would just mean that he had to watch for anyone who might see him head out.

Rather than have to change later, Ryan just donned his gear when he awoke. He started with the jacket, then the armor vest, then the gear vest where his weapons hung. He stuck his helmet on and clipped it, getting a good feel for what it was like wearing it. As much as he knew it would draw some level of attention, he wanted to know what it was like to wear this for an entire day or two. He would end up like that in the future, so he should get it all under his belt now.

“If I attract too much attention, I’ll just go early.” he concluded as he went out.

Thinking it a better idea not to exert himself too much now, he decided to just go somewhere and sit down for a time. The park was the best choice, as few ponies would be there at the moment, and it did have plenty of benches that were out of the way for him to sit on. It would be a nice place to just sit and do nothing.

As he walked to the park, there were few ponies around; most don’t want to be up and about at half past seven in the morning. Lights in homes were off, windows were closed, and doors were locked. Everything was strangely quiet for a bustling town, but that’s how nighttime and early morning work; a bustling residential area can become a ghost town. As spooky as it was, it didn’t seem to bother the human.

When he arrived at the park, he looked for a bench that was out of the way and sat down. He didn’t really know what he was doing or why, he was just running on autopilot. He might have been expecting to see the Wraith, or to see things that weren’t there. Even he wasn’t sure, as he sat there on a cold bench, alone, awaiting an unknown event of unknown consequences.

“Ryan.”

His ears perked up and he looked over in the direction of the voice; to his left, tiredly walking toward him, was Cinny.

“Cinny.” he replied mechanically.

She walked up to him, bags under her eyes and hooves dragging on the ground. “May I sit?” She looked like she could use a place to sit.

“I don’t see why not.” he replied, again, mechanically.

Cinny dredged over to the bench and pulled herself up, making little grunts as she made her way up. Ryan just watched her as she went along, not moving to provide any aid or encourage her. He was like a statue, emotionless and unmoving in mind and in body. When she was finally up, she lay herself down with her face toward Ryan, a tired and genuine smile across her face. Ryan had nothing to return it with.

He turned his head and looked forward, empty of thought and devoid of care. “What brings you out this early?” he asked.

“I saw you pass by outside my house.” Cinny replied. “I’m not normally up this early, but I got up to use the bathroom and saw you outside my window, all dressed up and ready for something. I just came out to ask you what was up.”

Ryan considered how he would answer. She might worry about him if he told her the truth. But then, why should he care? He wasn’t going to be around that much longer. If he was going to leave them, why bother caring about what they feel? The only pony that mattered in the slightest to him was Luna, and she would always be able to find him. What was the problem with her knowing?

“I intend to check the forest for a few things.” he said. “I want to find out if there is some kind of magic that I can use in the future in there.” He straight up lied to her.

Cinny frowned for a second, but her smiled returned quickly with a little nod. “I think I see.” she said. “I’m sure you can handle yourself out there. From what I heard, you already did once or twice.”

Ryan didn’t really respond, he just grunted to acknowledge that something was said. Cinny took the cue and decided to give him a minute to think. She could clearly tell that something was on his mind, though what it was, she could not say. He stared off into the distance, thoughts playing out in his eyes faster than she could keep up with. He was an unusual one, this human, but then, his life had been rather unusual.

He spoke after a time. “Where are you from?” he asked, still staring off at nothing.

“I came here from Las Pegasus; grew up there.” Ryan nodded, then waited for her to continue. She took the hint and went on, “It was weird, growing up next to such a huge city with so much money going around. Those of us in the suburbs never saw it, or rarely did, but we always got to see the poor souls who lost everthing. It became the duty of the town to help them get back on their hooves and get back home to where they were safe from the vices of The Strip.”

Ryan could easily picture Las Vegas from that, but he kept it to himself. “Yeah...” he replied. “I grew up in a well-to-do Jersey suburb, close to New York City. Your is probably Manehattan.” Twilight had told him about some of the cities. “One of the problems with growing up next to one of the biggest cities in the world is that when you see any city with less than a million people, it doesn’t seem as much like a city.”

Cinny tried to process a city of a million ponies, but failed to do so, and instead, continued with what they were talking about. “Yeah, Las Pegasus was big. Not a million ponies big, but a good size. We saw ponies of all stripes go there to make or break their lives; rich, almost poor, zebras, griffons, ponies, dragons were especially bad. I learned that no one is safe from the dangers within us. That was why I was so ready to help them after they lost everything in that deathtrap of a city.”

That must be why she was helping Ryan; she saw him as a victim. Well, as much as that could be true, he was much more the victimizer. There were ponies out there that really needed her help, yet she was here with Ryan, trying her damndest to make him human again. It wasn’t liable to work.

Ryan took the turn as an opportunity to keep the conversation away from himself for a while. “So what brought you out here?” he asked. “I can’t imagine why you would live here if you wanted to help ponies.”

Cinny gave him a look, the kind that asks really? “Did you not see the other stallions in the bar?” she asked. “Some found their wives cheating. Others lost a loved one to something well out of their control, or completely within it. They all have troubles, troubles that I can try to ease.”

“But not on the same scale as Las Pegasus.” Ryan replied. He finally turned to look at her.

“No.” she replied, sighing. “But they are on a much more managable scale. I can deal with simple problems, the kind that don’t involve potential life loss. But seeing so many fall and even die sometimes to the City of Tears... I couldn’t take it much longer. A lot of us couldn’t. So we left.”

It made sense to Ryan; the problem is too big for you to handle, so you step out of the way for more qualified or willing people to do it. Ryan should have done that in Southeast Asia, but he didn’t. He should have taken a page out of Cinny’s book and just gone off on his own and let someone like Interpol take care of it. They were more qualified... but then, they weren’t as willing. No, Ryan definitely had the most will to kill that son of a bitch.

“I see what you mean.” he replied after a time. “After a while, i just takes everything you have to give. Eventually, you need to move on, find new things, or it’ll take everything out of you.” He knew that way too well.

He couldn’t see Cinny’s sad look. “Yeah... I guess that it does.”

Ryan sat in silence for a minute, listening to the wind blow and the leaves rustle. It was so calm and quiet, like this was all just a dream. He would wake up in bed, no real memory of Narendra or the ponies in his mind. No pain, no scars, no new clothes. No plans to move into a dangerous forest, no nothing. Just life the way he was meant to live it. But he knew that this was no dream; it was a nightmare, a real one that would go on until the day he died and look like pleasant memories from the fiery pits of Hell.

“I think I should get ready to head out.” Ryan said, standing up. “I need to get out there in the in between time, when Hell goes to sleep and Shit is just getting up.”

Cinny winced at the harsh language, but didn’t make any mention of it. “Alright.” she replied. She looked at him longingly, wishing that she could talk to him more. “I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, see you around.” If he got out alive.

Ryan stood before the entrance to the forest, legs out wide and a scowl on his face. He figured that it was only one night, he wouldn’t need much. On his back, he organized a backpack with two canteens of water and some food, plus a sleeping bag for the night; no need to be scratching skeeter bites in the morning. He briefly considered taking the beret instead of the helmet, but decided that it would be foolish. He had his weapons and tiny sum of ammunition, a flashlight, and a flare gun he bought the previous day. All that over the armor and cloak, and he was set to go.

Without haste, he set off into the dark forest, opting to follow the path to the old castle for at least a time. Once he was far enough, he would deviate off the path and make his own way into the forest. He would try to break plants and branches on his way to mark his path, but with the magic of the forest, it was a safe bet that it wouldn’t work. Might as well try, though.

He walked about six miles into the forest before stopping and taking a look around. e had left Ponyville at eight, right around when everyone was coming out. Looking back and to the sky, he could see that nopony followed him out here. Deciding it was safe, he decided to start heading out into the forest.

The instant he crossed that treeline and left the path, he was plunged into darkness. He had to leave the trees, pull out his flashlight, and then continue on forward; the darkness was all encompassing. As he started to make his way through, he noticed that the noise was gone. Around him, nothing made any noise. He rarely encountered anything on the ground, roots, plants, or small animals. It was like he crossed into an empty zone, well beyond the darkness of the twilight one.

He kept the flashlight physically away from his body at arm’s length; if it was attacked, he would be fine. Mostly, anyway.

As he moved, the only thing that made any noise was the dirt crunching under his feet. That was the only thing reminding him that he wasn’t in a void or the vacuum of space. He looked up at the sky to see dense branches and leaves hanging from above, blocking any and all sunlight. Not even a single ray of light could get through that stuff.

He pointed the flashlight around him and was surprised to see that there were very few trees actually in the area. As he went on, they were beginning to become more frequent, but as of yet, there were still not that many. It was enough to make him wonder about the life in there.

But not for long. Off to his side, he heard something break a branch, creating a crash as said branch hit the ground. Ryan whipped out his Automag and spun around to greet his unwelcome visitor-

Nothing was there; not even a broken branch. Well, there was a tree trunk, actually. Though it was oddly bare, showing the wood underneath. Curious, Ryan walked over to it and investigated. The bark had been stripped, that much was clear. There were clear signs that something took the bark off this tree, and possibly just now. Walking around, Ryan followed a strange pattern carved into it.

Can’t run

Ryan read the message slowly, realizing that there was, in fact, something here. Hand growing sweaty, Ryan held his pistol tightly as he went back around the tree in the direction he had been going before. He didn’t know what the message meant, but he had an idea of who had put it there. He was not going to let that one win.

He continued on, and the trees began to grow thicker as he went. The trunks were getting bigger and the trees were more numerous, the branches got lower, and the roots became higher. Some of the trees looked fine; others had faces carved into them. they all had jagged looking teeth, like they wanted nothing more than to eat him. They had branches extending from their sides, right next to their faces, that looked like arms, with sharp fingers on the ends to grab at and rip apart anyone unfortunate enough to get too close.

Ryan nearly had a too close experience when he walked past a tree whose face was extra high. The branches shot down in an attempt to grab him, fingers trying to spear him and yank him off the ground to tear him in half. He ducked down and rolled away, splaying out across the ground in a heavy-breathing tussle.

He stood up and looked at the angry tree still trying to grab at him from its stationary position. “You think you can take me?” he said darkly, pulling up his pistol. “I’ll make you fucking firewood.”

The tree’s face suddenly contorted and closed up, dragging the deadly arms that nearly killed Ryan with it. As the face swirled away, Ryan only watched as it went, intrigued yet indifferent, and quickly lost interest in watching it. Unsure of why it went away, he decided to just keep moving.

As he continued, he noticed that the other trees like it were still moving, but made no move to touch him or attack. He got up close to them, investigating them to check if they were serious threats to him. He deemed that they were no threat to him, and so he could cross them off the list of things that made the area too dangerous. This place was looking half decent.

Can’t escape

The wind carried the words like a breath released from a dying man’s lips; soft and deadly, giving you more to worry about than you realize, signifying the end. Ryan stopped dead in his tracks, feeling a cold breeze go across the back of his neck. His grip on the pistol tightened even more, giving him white knuckles and generating pain in his palm. Slowly, he walked forward, looking for whatever made the wind.

He knew that there was nothing before him. In front of him, there was only more darkness until the end. There were no creatures around, and for a good reason. There was a predator here. More dangerous than anything else in the forest, more capable of killing. Whatever it was, it drove everything else away, and drove the trees to submission. Wherever it went, it could only bring death.

Ryan took in a deep breath and turned around slowly, waiting to see the Wraith. But as he turned, his eyes were graced with another of nature’s demons.

He had no idea what was before him. It looked like a pony, in body, at least. It’s hooves were a stark white again the black background, the light hitting, yet not really reflecting off of them. On its legs and torso, it wore a pitch black suit with a white undershirt, and it went all the way back to its rear, with a pair of pants to cover the hind legs. Its face was bare; no nostrils, no eyes, no mane. The pony before him was no pony at all; it was pure death.

Ryan stared it down for what felt like an eternity; it just stared back. Ryan could feel it tugging at his mind, trying to wrestle away his control over himself, trying to get him to go somewhere. He knew that it wanted to get him and do something to him; he was hopeful that he would never find out what. As it stared, the flashlight began to flicker. Each time it did, the pony-like creature got closer, inching its way up to him as he stood there, glued to the ground, starting at its eyeless sockets.

The flashlight went out for two full seconds. Ryan’s breath stopped, his heart rate increased rapidly. He could feel a tightness over his chest, a swelling in his head. His blood pumped in overdrive, making more noise than the rest of him. In the total blackness, he could feel it’s eye sockets boring into him, able to see what he could not. The temperature around him began to decrease, the air stiffening and going stale.

When the flashlight came back on, it was before him, staring at him with its expressionless face. It did not move, it did not make a sound. It just stood there, looking at him. Ryan stared back, raising the pistol to take aim at its forehead. The whole time, Ryan could feel it work its non-unicorn magic on him, trying to take control. Ryan’s arm twitched as he brought the pistol to point at the same thing that the light was.

It went out again, plunging the pair into darkness. When the light returned, Ryan blinked at the sight before him; nothing. It was gone. The pony had been replaced by a backdrop of trees and bits of grass, not the total blackness of before. He looked forward, spotting the beginning of the total darkness that he had just been in. Whatever that thing was, it didn’t want him around.

And he was fine with that. Ryan continued along his way, eager to get away from that area and stay in the lighted section of the forest. Now, he was in a less densely vegetated area, but he could at least see more than ten feet in front of him. There was a small river here, exactly the kind he would be needing in the future. Around him, there were plenty of small trees and bushes, good for building a house of some kind. Away from the river, he might be able to find some drier logs and whatnot for making fires. Of course, the safest place for that would be a cave.

Rather than continue and try to find a cave nearby, Ran decided to take a break and eat some lunch. Dropping his backpack, he fished around it for some food and a canteen to drink from. He had no idea if this water was actually drinkable, so he would down a canteen or dump it, then take some of this water into it. He would drink it back in town, and if he got sick, e would get to a hospital. Perfect plan.

He ate a protein bar and drank his water as slowly as he could. he felt exhausted after carrying so much stuff through that harrowing bit of forest, and he needed a chance to sit down. He needed his heart to slow back down and to regain control of his breathing. That thing may not have taken over his mind, but it sure as hell took control of his body. At least in some respect.

From his seat on the ground, he could hear the water running and little creatures moseying about. “I can tell you’re there.” he said, taking a swig of water.

The Wraith came out from behind a tree and leaned up against it, facing his longtime accomplice with an amused grin. “Well, aren’t you the observant one.”

“No.” Ryan replied, turning around to face his tormentor. “You just suck a sneaking around.”

The Wraith smiled. “I suppose that I’m not as good as some others.” A pause. “I see you’ve met the landlord of the forest.”

“I suppose that I have.”

The Wraith nodded slowly, gently closing his eyes. “Yes... he doesn’t like trespassers. But he always tends to listen to me, so I can come and go as I please.”

Ryan went to drink from his canteen, but noticed that it was empty. Now that it was, he got up and walked over to the little river and dunked it in the water, filling it up and capping it. When he came back to his spot, The Wraith was still just waiting for him there, only now, he had a book in his hands.

Ryan sat back down and looked at his watch; it was already half past three in the afternoon. He figured that he could spend another half hour resting here, then he would go up or downriver to see if e could find a cave or decent campsite where he was less likely to be killed in the night. He had his guns and knife, so as long as nothing huge came after him, he could handle anything that came his way.

The Wraith’s eyes were fixed firmly on his book as he spoke. “You know, this might not be the best place for you to go.” he commented casually.

“Why not?” Ryan replied from his spot on the ground. “It’s pretty far in; not many ponies would dare this journey.”

The Wraith didn’t speak for a second; he was enthralled with the book. “True; but that little area you just went through is too dangerous. If somepony were to follow you, they would certainly die in there. Not to mention,” His eyes shifted and he glanced at the river. “This river runs through the town. They might just follow it.”

Ryan cursed in his own head, but refrained from saying anything out loud. If that were true, then at least he had another way into this area of the forest. But at the same time, he would have to abandon the prospect of setting up here, for it was too risky for being found. All that trouble, and the area that he ended up liking was totally shot.

He would have to go upriver, since he knew that the river that ran through Ponyville didn’t come through the forest first. If he went that way, he might be able to find a little cave or open area where he could bed down for the night. The boy got up and decided not to wait any longer, and began to make his way upriver for better prospects.

Evidently, the Wraith had nothing better to do, so he followed. Initially, he didn’t speak, just kept his eyes glued to that book. Ryan tried to ignore him while they moved, but the quietness of his steps had a distinct loudness that Ryan could not hear, but knew was there. It was like incredibly deep bass; he couldn’t really hear it, but it resonated within his body.

Eventually, Ryan came upon a rocky area, which turned out to be the base of a mountain. He knew that the mountains were around nine miles away from Ponyville, so it was clear that he was extremely far into the forest. Farther than anypony would be willing to go to find him, and with enough... security, to prevent ponies from trying to travel through the forest. After looking around, Ryan could see that there was a series of caves in the mountain’s base, varying in size, shape, and even color. One of them emitted some kind of gas.

“Stay out of that one.” Ryan concluded.

With one down and what looked like seven to go, Ryan set about checking the remainder of the caves for potential dangers. The first one turned out to be just an indentation in the rocks, so it was generally useless to him. It would provide no protection from the elements, and in the winter months, that would be key. There were two other caves that he could check left.

He began to walk into one as the Wraith spoke. “You know, this is hardly a good thing for you to be doing.” he said.

Ryan tried to ignore him; although it never went particularly well for him. He decided not to continue the effort. “Why would that be?” he asked, not really wanting an answer.

The Wraith shook his head. “You’re just going to leave them all behind?” he asked, sounding disappointed. “Those ponies who helped you so much, who care about you? That hardly seems like something a half decent person would do.”

“Who ever said that I am a half decent person?” Ryan asked back, growing frustrated. He tried to cool himself down by breathing slowly. “You remember Asia.”

The Wraith sighed. “What about Luna?” he asked, giving Ryan pause. “She’ll still be able to come to you; but you know that she won’t approve of this. She’ll want you someplace safe, like the town.”

Ryan didn’t speak for several tense minutes. “Should I really care?” he asked. “All I want is to live out my life without anything to remind me of what I did out there. Without any kind of reminder at all. Luna will understand; I know she will.”

Ryan walked into another cave as the Wraith started up again. “And what about the Cutie Mark Crusaders?” he asked. “Would you so readily leave them behind to wonder if their new friend is even alive, or if he was ripped apart by the monsters of the Everfree? What kind of person does that to children?”

“I’m sure they won’t wonder about that.” Ryan said defensively. “I wouldn’t do that to children; I know they will be fine.”

“No, Ryan! You’re just telling yourself that in order to justify what you’re doing!” the Wraith shouted, getting Ryan to turn around, a scowl on his face. “You did the same thing in Asia, and look what happened! You’re just going to cause pain and suffering with what you’re doing!” His voice took on a dark tone, and his mouth twisted into a devilish smile. “But then again, you would have no problem with that, would you?”

Ryan snarled angrily at the Wraith, hand tight on his gun. “You shut it. I never wanted for any of that. I never wanted for any of this. I’m doing the best with what I have-”

“You are doing the worst possible thing with what you have!” the Wraith accused. He dropped the book where he was and walked forward. “You’re a coward and a traitor! You run away from your problems instead of dealing with them, and you abandon everything that matters when you think it’ll get you what you want! YOU ARE A COWARD, YOU BASTARD!”

Ryan’s fist connected with the Wraith’s jaw in an explosive shot to the face, sending the Wraith backwards just a tad. He blinked twice, unsure of how exactly Ryan just struck him. Ryan didn’t seem to notice as he railed.

“Fuck you, you twisted son of a bitch!” he shouted, in an absolute rage. “I tried! I tried, and I failed! Is that what you want to hear, huh?! I know that I failed! That’s why I’m out here!” Ryan was staring angrily at the Wraith as the man looked back at him. The Wraith did something unexpected then; he sighed, shook his head, and turned around. “Is that what you want to hear?” Ryan asked, getting close to tears.

“No.” the Wraith said, turning around and beginning to walk away. “I want you to acknowledge what you are. But I don’t see that happening tonight.” He turned around before going past the treeline; his face looked hard and stoic. “Think on your past sins, Ryan. Think, and understand.” Wit the last word, the Wraith walked off past the treeline and disappeared into the forest, leaving Ryan behind in an angry cloud of hatred.

Ryan spat in the direction that the Wraith left in and looked around. The cave he had walked into was small, but just big enough to accommodate him and anything he might want to bring. Looking at the entrance, he concluded that he should be able to build himself a makeshift door when the time was right. The cave went back about thirty-five feet, plenty of room for him to live well enough in.

Something caught his eye on the floor; it was the book. The Wraith had dropped it when Ryan punched him, and never picked it back up. Ryan walked over and tentatively picked it up, unsure of the magic within it. Upon inspecting the cover, he felt a chill run down his spine when he read the title; it was his full name. Nothing else was on the cover or binding, just his name on the front cover. Opening it, he found that the pages did, in fact, contain a log of everything that had happened since he first arrived. He flipped through the pages, eventually coming to the end, where he read about himself reading about himself in the book.

He shut the book and stuck it into his backpack; he was sure he could do something with it later. For now, though, he just knew that he wanted to rest up and get ready to head back in the morning. He had drinks with Mac, Soarin’, and Fancy tomorrow night, and he didn’t want to miss it.

The Nightmare Goes On

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The Nightmare Goes On

“All that’s necessary for the forces of evil to win is for enough good men to do nothing.” (Edmund Burke)

Time went on, as it always has and always will. Ryan continued to work a the library and boutique, went to the gym, explored the forest a bit. He had pretty much found the spot where he planned to stay, that cave system from before, so he had little reason to explore any more. The days were growing shorter, the weather cooler. Now he actually needed to wear the jacket, and at night, the cloak. October tends to be that way.

Around the middle of the month, he learned about Nightmare Night, their version of Halloween. Walking around in silly and scary costumes, getting candy, then getting sick... it brought Ryan back to the good days, back home. Kids were ecstatic, preparing for the night of fun and crazy activities. Ryan had prepared himself by making a Ghillie suit out of some of Rarity’s extra cloth and by gathering plants to attach to the suit.

He got up on the Sunday morning of the day of the holiday, feeling extra tired. He did not really know why; nothing had happened lately. He hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the Wraith. Luna sent him some letters, checking up on him, that he replied to. Life was... normal, for the first time in a while. But as he had grown to be, he knew that it could never last.

Ignoring his body’s desire to sleep, he got up and got dressed, putting on a new pair of long pants Rarity made him and then his shirt and jacket. He left his exploratory gear inside, save for his tactical vest, of course, then donned the necklace and beret. Once he was certain that he was good to go, he went upstairs for food.

It was about seven-thirty, the usual time he would be going to school right now. His classmates were probably wondering where he was, unless the world news told everyone what happened. They all probably thought he was dead. What were they saying about him? Did they think he could have done all the damage to Haqqani, or would they accredit it to military forces? And what of his family, how were they coping? It pained him to think about these things, so he stopped doing so.

As he exited the basement and entered to the kitchen, he witnessed Rarity trying to put down some kind of gray ash from her bowl. Sweetie Belle was wearing a huge smile as Rarity ate, indicating that she was the one who made the food. Ryan chuckled as he walked by, patting Rarity on the head a he went.

“Sweetie Belle, I think you should cook more often.” he commented, going into the fridge for milk. Realizing that he had yet to pull out any cereal, he moved quickly to avoid warming the milk too much. “You might not be cutie mark-potential, but you certainly have a way with food.”

Sweetie Belle cheered and Rarity glared at Ryan for his comments. “Yes, Ryan.” Rarity said. “Why don’t you try some of this? It really is something.”

Ryan finished preparing his own food, set it down, and planted himself in a seat at the table. “Don’t mind if I do.” he said, pulling Rarity’s bowl over. Dipping his spoon in, he quickly pulled it back out and stuffed it into his mouth, chewed rapidly, and swallowed. “Good stuff.”

Rarity just stared at him for a second, shook her head, and sighed. “Yes I suppose that it is, if it pleases your palate.” Ryan smiled mischievously as Rarity was forced to keep eating.

Ryan blew through his own food quickly, trying his best to ignore the woody taste of the pony cereal, trying to hide his troubles for the day. It would be easy to mask and ignore them in all the festivities, helping his neighbors prepare, walking around the park. It would get his mind off the troubles of his life.

When he finished up, he cleaned his utensils and bowl and set out. “I’ll see you ladies later, I guess.” he said, using a well-faked casual tone. The mare and filly waved goodbye at him as he walked briskly out the front door.

Out in the open air, exposed to the elements of the world, Ryan pulled his jacket close to guard against the cool Autumn winds that tried to steal his warmth. He wasn’t a fan of the cold; never had been. Knowing that the trees would guard him against the gusts that buffeted the town, Ryan made his way to the park, where he could at least sit down in relative comfort.

As he walked along, he could see all the little kids preparing for a night of candy and fun, the parents setting up decorations. The pegasi were moving the clouds to allow for warmth during the day, but later would move them back to cover up most of the night sky, with the exception of the moon, of course. Clouds at night would help to keep heat on the ground, and make it easier for the kids to go around town.

There were all sorts of costumes being worn by the excited little ones; soldiers, doctors, monsters, and assorted plants and silly things. Just like back home, it seemed, many of the adults wore skimpy costumes that, were it not for their regular nudity, would have revealed quite a bit to any onlooker. It’s something that Ryan always looked for back home when he walked around with friends that night.

It didn’t take long for Ryan to reach the park, needing the temporary isolation it would provide him. He desperately needed to think right now, to clear some things out of his mind. They were too-

“Hi mister Ryan!” a British accent sang out. Ryan sighed, put on a smile, and turned around to see little Pip, the British kid. “What are you doing out here?”

Ryan thought fast. “Well, I have an idea to prank...” Who? “Rainbow Dash.” Yeah, great idea. “I just need to check a few areas for the prank.”

The little one looked up at him with awe-filled eyes. Something wasn’t right. “YOU want to prank HER?!” he shouted. That might not be good. “Wow, you sure are brave. Good luck!”

Ryan thought about what he may have just done for a moment, but passed it off and decided he would just say he was kidding later. “Yeah, thanks, kid. Run along and play.” And the colt ran off, leaving Ryan to his thoughts.

Ryan entered the empty park and found the bench he had adopted for himself as of late, dropping onto it and letting out a drawn-out sigh. He needed to sit down in a cool spot, away from noise and movement, just think about... something. It was hard to keep himself still.

The previous night had been rougher than usual; he still had his nightmares, they would likely never go away. Ordinarily, he just sees his old friends in his dreams, reliving moments of what happened. He would watch them die, sometimes from the first person, sometimes looking on as his body killed them. It was never pleasant, and he always felt troubled when he awoke, but he had gotten used to it. The last dream was different, though.

This time, he saw it from the perspective of those he failed. He watched himself kill Joey and Catherine from their eyes. He knew the fear that they experienced before he killed them both, how terrified they were, knowing that nothing was going to be okay. From Catherine, he felt a sickly loss of hope, lost his will to live. He knew that he was about to die, but hadn’t accepted that.

When he was killed in the dream, it was all black for a moment. When he opened his eyes, he had no idea where he was, or what was about to happen. He could feel someone embracing him, holding him tight, but didn’t really know who it was. The only thing he knew was that his mother would never come back, that her screams, though muffled by the hands of his protectors, could only signify her end. He didn’t understand what they did to her, but his protectors did. That they didn’t tell him made him want to cry.

“It’ll be okay.” his holder said. There was a small bit of comfort in those words, a faint glimmer of hope. The bad man had just talked about giving him Anthrax, then sending him home. Anthrax sounded like it hurt. “It’ll all be okay.”

A small smile crept onto his toddler face, holding his protector tighter. “Thank y-”

And all was black once again.

He felt nauseous, sitting there on that cold, lonely bench. The dreams weren’t ever going to stop, and nothing could ever alleviate the pain. The only companion he had to share hi spain was the endless passing of time, the stale winds that came and went through the world, forgotten forever once passed. The grass around his bench was brown, the leaves falling off the trees, the park fountain turned off. There was nothing for him anywhere, it seemed.

He sat there for an hour, letting the air chill his bones and take away his urge to vomit. He tried and tried to come to terms with what he did, what happened, but he couldn’t get the feelings out of his head. He knew their fear, he knew their pain; he knew that he inflicted it all upon them.

It was ironic, really. Tonight was Nightmare Night for the ponies. Every night was Nightmare Night for him. He let out a loud, cynical laugh into the still air, hoping that it might alleviate some of the pain in his head. Nothing.

Giving up, Ryan decided to stand up and walk around the park. As he stepped away from the bench, he could feel some kind of weird presence behind him, like something was watching him. He could tell who it was, though he didn’t know why it was back right now. It made sense, though, when he thought about it.

He walked over to the big pond in the park and parked himself before it, looking out at the water. It was so still, so serene, like it had already turned to a sheet of white ice. Below, he could still see signs of movement, but they never approached the surface of the water. Where did the fish go, anyway? Could they survive the frigidity of the ice above them during the winter, cut off from the world by that which sustained the world? He never did understand the whole thing.

The leaves on the ground crunched behind him as his tail approached. “So what brought you back today, of all days?” Ryan asked, sticking his hands in his pocket.

The Wraith shrugged, then did the same with his own hands. “Oh, nothing, really. Just thought I would come out for the celebration.” He walked over and stood right next to Ryan. “It always has been my favorite day, you know.”

“I can imagine why.”

The two Ryan’s stood in silence, watching the water, waiting for the other to make a move. Ryan wore a stoic frown on his face, completely still, while the Wraith had a simple smile on. Ryan never got why he had the smile on, but he wasn’t sure he cared to know. It wasn’t like he needed to.

Ryan broke the silence, agitated by the Wraith’s demeanor. “What do you want?” he asked. “I thought I made it clear last time that I don’t like you or being near you.”

The Wraith turned his head, smile still persisting. “Well, I was taken a bit off guard last time. This time, though, I’m ready.”

Before Ryan could respond, the Wraith brought his left fist around in a hook punch and slammed his fist into Ryan’s solar plexus, crumpling him to the ground. While Ryan tried to get his breath back, the Wraith grabbed his face and tossed him backwards, sending him sprawling on the ground. He followed up the takedown with a quick stomp on his solar plexus once more, then kicked him in the side, leaving him groaning in pain on the ground before him.

All this, he did with that same agitating smile. “I figured I should pay you back.”

Ryan coughed. “You dick.”

The Wraith shrugged. “Well, I just wanted you to know.” He leaned over Ryan’s face, voice taking on a dark tone. “I can do anything I want to you, anytime I want to. You have no control anymore, not like in Asia.” Ryan was in too much pain to argue that. “I own you; you can’t do anything without me allowing it. The only freedom is that which I give you.”

Ryan rolled away and stood. “Well fuck you.” he said, brushing himself off and getting into a deep Sanchin stance. “I can take you.”

The Wraith chuckled. “You really want to do this?” When Ryan didn’t move, he nodded. “Alright.”

The Wraith took his hands out of his pocket and looked Ryan over. Ryan waited in what felt like an interminable state of anxiety, following his opponent’s eyes to see where he was looking. The Wraith was watching his torso, by the looks of it, maybe trying to determine where he had hit him before to generate maximum pain. Ryan, meanwhile, was trying to keep himself safe while looking for weak points in the Wraith’s stance. It was full of perfect spots, but if the Wraith was him, none of that would matter. he knew how to counter every attack that came to mind. It put him in a tight spot.

The Wraith rushed forward suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, hands getting into position to put Ryan on the ground with whatever takedown he had planned. Ryan lowered his stance, setting his center of gravity as low as possible, and prepared himself for a eha don collision. It wasn’t the most ideal way to stop the attack, but he had to think outside the box for this, avoiding anything he was trained to do.

The Wraith had expected this, though, and when he was within grabbing distance, he shot his hands up between Ryan’s guard and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket. In a swift motion, he brought his right leg in between Ryan’s legs and set it behind his left leg, then went forward, putting his full bodyweight behind the motion.

As they fell, Ryan maneuvered his right leg to be in front of his chest, between him and the Wraith, and planted his foot firmly on the Wraith’s chest, creating as much distance as he could. As he smacked into the ground, sliding back just a little, he pushed up with his leg and then back, sending the Wraith backwards in a perfectly executed Tomoe Nagi.

As he spun around onto his belly and pushed himself up, the Wraith rolled forward and back up onto his feet, ready for another go. Ryan took the initiative this time, trying to get to his opponent before he could prepare himself for their next round, speeding forward with closed fists.

As he closed in, the Wraith pulled a fast one and dropped to the ground, shooting his right arm forward to get under Ryan’s groin for a throw. Ryan saw it, however, and jumped up a little, going right over the Wraith, catching him off guard, and landing on the other side. As soon as his right foot touched the ground, he spun himself around, sending a roundhouse kick powering through the Wraith’s face.

The Wraith went spinning away, but the kick didn’t stop him. He just hopped back up, smiling, sickening joy in his eyes. “Nice.” he commented. “I imagine that was kind of like what Harris felt when you punched him in the face.”

Ryan snarled and rushed at his enemy, losing some of his focus to anger at the lack of effect on the Wraith. As he approached, the Wraith sidestepped left and shot his hand out to grab Ryan’s oncoming punch. As Ryan’s fist came into contact with the Wraith’s hand, he let his arm collapse and from an elbow strike aimed at the Wraith’s head. The Wraith hadn't seen this coming, and promptly received an elbow to his nose.

Again, there was little to no effect. The Wraith just shrugged it off and resumed his cool demeanor. “I thought you would be something worth fighting.” he said. The Wraith lowered his head and closed his fists. “I suppose I was wrong.”

He lunged at Ryan, grabbing him by his collar, and threw him to the side, sending him stumbling toward the pond. As Ryan rolled up, he found himself face to face with the bottom of the Wraith’s shoe. The kick struck him in in the nose with the force of a phone book, sending him further back and smashing his nose. At the edge of the pond, he managed to stand up and face his enemy.

“I can’t fight him.” Ryan realized. He didn’t stand a chance. Looking around, he searched for anything that might help him to escape. Behind him, there was the pond. To either side, there were small rocks, but he did spot a drainage pipe that might lead to the river not too far away. It was half-submerged and looked like a tight fit. Ahead, there was only the Wraith. He had to make a split-second decision.

And he made it a split-second too late. Before he could act, the Wraith moved in on him and grabbed him by the neck, raising him up into the air with strength he had no business having.

“I really don’t like you, you know. I wish you were the way you used to be.”

Ryan brought his own hands up to alleviate the pressure on his neck. “Sorry to disappoint.” he replied, voice dripping with sarcasm.

The Wraith sighed. “You were better before, that much I can tell. There was something in you, that extra drive. Now... now you’re just a pathetic excuse for a human being. A shell. There’s nothing inside you that’s worth fighting for, and you know it. The only reason you’re alive is that you cling to this small bit of honor you don’t even have. It’s just sad.”

Ryan swallowed, not an easy thing to do when you’re basically being choked. “Well, at least I can see.”

“What-?”

Ryan shot his right hand forward, fingers together and pointed, and shoved them right into the Wraith’s left eye, digging in. When he was deep into the Wraith’s socket, he hooked his fingers and ripped them out, tearing the eye out in a mess of stringy veins and nerves, blood coating his hand. The Wraith shouted, letting Ryan go, and put his hands to his eye, falling back.

Ryan took the chance and dove into the freezing water, smashing any bit of peace that had once been existent there, and made his way for the pipe. When he got there, he dared a quick look back and spotted the Wraith, looking coldly at him with his one eye, then darted into the small pipe, crawling his way to safety.

The Wraith sighed, and removed his hands from his eye. As he reopened it, he blinked a few times, regaining the sight in his eye. Using his reacquired sight, he found the eyeball on the ground, walked over, and kicked it away, over to a rock. He followed by using his own powers to lift the rock and stuff the eye underneath it, leaving it there to never be found.

“Clever.” he said, smirking. “You’re getting there, Ryan. You’re getting there.”

And with that, the park was empty once again, save for the waves created by the one human and the mark left by his battle with an undefined enemy.

**************************************************************************

Ryan found himself at the river at the end of the tunnel, cold and wet, and quickly ran out, eager to get to someplace warm.

As he came out of the river, getting scared looks and gasps from the ponies around him, he looked for anything familiar. The first thing he spotted was the library, where he knew Twilight would help him; her magic couldn’t possibly hurt. Deciding on what to do, he ran through the streets to the door and slammed his fist into it.

“Twilight, I could use some help.” he said, voice sounding funny from what was likely a broken nose.

He heard the clip-clop of hoofsteps from the door and the sound of Twilight talking to someone, liekly Spike. When she opened the door, she looked like she was taken aback by Ryan’s condition, like she didn’t know how to respond, but her look quickly turned to horror.

“Get inside, you’ll die of the cold out there!” she shouted, ripping Ryan inside with her magic and shutting the door. Ryan fell to the floor, just grateful for the warmth, but soon found himself floating over to a fireplace in the corner and saw sparks starting up inside. “What in Equestria were you doing out there?”

She set Ryan down in front of the fireplace and the flames began to burst into life, giving Ryan the sweetest relief he had ever had. He sighed contentedly, letting himself be consumed by the fire before him.

“Well?” she asked, reacquiring Ryan’s attention.

Ryan thought fast. “I was walking in the park and slipped and fell in the pond.”

Twilight looked doubtful. “Then why is your face covered in blood?” she asked, repulsion in her countenance.

Ryan felt his face, then pulled his finger away to investigate. Yeah, there was blood, all right. It had mostly been around his nose and mouth, but at some point, he must have maneuvered himself so that the blood came out toward his eyes. Or maybe the Wraith just kicked him that hard.

“Like I said. I fell.”

Twilight frowned at him, unconvinced, but turned around and opted not to pursue. “Fine. I’ll get you some hot chocolate.” Before she entered the kitchen, she had one last thing. “And take those clothes off; they’ll dry faster that way.”

Ryan waited for her to leave, then obeyed and stripped down to his underwear. The sheen of water and light of the fire seemed to accentuate his scars, like the fight had somehow made them that much more relevant. Looking at his chest, he traced his finger across his bullet wound, trying to feel for any change in texture. Sure enough, there was, and it felt odd to him to know that he had been shot. Most people don’t know that feeling.

“Woah.” a male voice said. It was clearly Spike. “What happened to you?” he asked.

Ryan looked back, seeing Spike already right behind him, then shrugged. “I fell in the pond, hit my face on a rock.”

“Ow.” Spike replied, cringing at the thought. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay.” he came over and sat down next to Ryan.

“Me too.” Ryan said.

A few minutes passed, and Twilight returned with the hot chocolate and some pads. Setting the drink down, she planted herself down in front of Ryan and said, “Stand still, I’ll clean you up.”

Ryan did as he was ordered and remained still, letting Twilight drag the cloth across his face, wiping away the blood, but leaving streak marks. She focused intently on his face, especially his broken nose, like she was trying to solve a puzzle. Problem was that this puzzle had some missing pieces.

“There, all clean.” she said, levitating the cloth over to the fire to burn. “Now, let’s fix that nose.”

Before Ryan could tell her no, her magic gripped his nose and shoved it back into place, making a loud snap as it shot into place. Ryan shouted from the pain, but felt an instant relief of pressure from his nose when it was all done.

“Thanks.” he said.

“Don’t mention it.” Twilight replied. She remained in front of him. “So what are you thinking of doing tonight?” she asked.

Ryan raised an eyebrow at her. “Interested?” Ryan asked. Twilight blushed just a bit. “I’m gonna be a plant; I made a Ghillie suit for it. I’m sure you’ll see it tonight.”

Twilight nodded, then, like a lightbulb went off in her head, she got a big smile. “You want me to see your bush?”

Ryan smiled right back. “I’d prefer that you see the wood that the leaves come off of.”

Twilight laughed uncontrollably at Ryan’s response, unable to come up with anything to beat him with. No one could beat him at this game. Not when it was played fair.

As she rolled on the ground before him, Ryan thought about when she first found him. She was the first pony he really had any communication with, the first to try to talk to him peacefully. At least, that was who he saw it. He had given his hammer to Applejack, and his old jacket to Rarity. They had been helpful to him, and he repaid them with something that meant something. Twilight had received nothing.

Well, he had something that he could give her later. “Twilight, why don’t I meet you here tonight at seven to get ready for the night?” he suggested.

Twilight was surprised by the suggestion, but her smile never faltered or became awkward. “I think that sounds fun. I’d like to see your costume too.”

Ryan stood up, still almost naked, but not caring. “Wonderful.” He started to move for the exit.

Twilight cleared her throat, getting Ryan to turn around. “Forgetting something?” she asked rhetorically, holding up Ryan’s now dry clothes.

Silently, Ryan walked over and put on his clothes, then walked out and said goodbye, an idea in his head as to what he would do that night.

******************************************************************************

Ryan decided to put his armor on under the ghillie suit, just in case he startled somepony and they went to kick him. There was no need to get another broken bone today.

Now, he was sitting next to the door to the library, a wrapped up, box-like object hidden under his outfit, waiting for Twilight to open the door. He had made sure to get into position when nopony was looking, hiding perfectly in plain sight. As of yet, the younger fillies and colts still had no idea he was there. He almost considered scaring them when they came to Twilight’s door for candy.

He was sitting there for a while before Twilight finally came out, wearing some elaborate wizard costume, complete with a beard and staff. When she came out, Spike on her back, she looked around, trying to find Ryan, who was a mere three feet to her left.

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE.”

“Ahh!” she yelped, shooting into the air and rocketing Spike off her back. When she calmed down enough to speak, she looked angrily at the Ryan bush and said, “That was unnecessary.”

“It was entirely necessary.” Ryan replied, standing up to reveal himself. Twilight scrutinized his costume/tactical garment, looking him over. Her eyes ran over the package, but didn’t stay there.

She growled to herself, not noticing Spike land on the ground next to her, and turned and walked out into town. Ryan picked up Spike and followed behind, wondering if he had made the wisest choice.

They walked through the town, noting good costumes, looking for their friends. Their friends... when did that happen?

They walked through the fair, where there were games and contests going on, ponies having a blast and enjoying the festivities. Ryan might actually have enjoyed himself if his day hadn’t already been wrecked by the Wraith. His mind kept turning to it, how he nearly got himself killed by that crazy son of a bitch. It was unpleasant to think about.

Spike and Twilight had been talking the whole time, arguing about candy consumption, and by the sound of it, Spike had lost. “Fine.” he finished. “Let’s head on over to the apple cart; the others are waiting for us there.”

Ryan figured this could be as decent a chance as any. “Why don't you go ahead, meet us there, Spike.” he said. “I need to talk to Twilight.”

Spike shrugged and went along, leaving his boss/mom/best friend with the human. Ryan watched him leave, wishing that the little kids back home were as cool as him. Most of them would be up in your business, trying to be grown up or cool. It annoyed the hell out of him when kids tried to get into things they didn’t understand.

Twilight watched as well, then broke the silence. “What do you want to talk about?” she asked, thinking that it was about his broken state from earlier.

Ryan breathed slowly and deliberately, feeling up the gift he had prepared. Really, he only wrapped it, but it was something. He would feel like an ass if he didn’t give her something.

“I have something for you.” he said, pulling out the gift.

Twilight blinked twice, looking at the gift, a bit surprised. “Oh.” she said, taking it in her magic. “Umm... thank you.” She looked it over and shook it, trying to discern what it might be. “May I open it?”

Ryan had thought hard about this part. He wasn’t sure he wanted her to have it just yet, at least, not in the sense of what it was. That could backfire on him easily.

“Actually, this gift has a special nature.” he began. He looked Twilight in the eyes. “I have to ask you not to open it, not until a specific day. Once that day comes, you can open it and enjoy it as much as you want.”

Twilight cocked he rhead, confused, and asked, “What day might that be?”

“You’ll know it when it comes. I can tell you, it will be a day where my life will take yet another turn for the unknown. Trust me; you’ll know it when it comes.”

Twilight was clearly not amused, but in keeping with respecting Ryan’s wishes, she agreed not to open it until “the day” came. “The day” was the day that Ryan would leave, and likely never be found again.

He felt comfortable giving the gift to her. He knew that she was responsible enough to possess it, and she could handle what she got from it. At least now, that damn book was in safe, trustworthy hands. Or hooves. Whatever.

******************************************************************************

They had met up with their friends at the apple cart, Ryan taking a gander at Mac drooling over Fluttershy’s “Rainbow Dash Approved” costume, a stage-magician’s outfit with some unexpectedly accentuating parts. Mac never even noticed that he was so obvious;Fluttershy, however, definitely did. She made sure to stay next to him, and if Ryan’s hunch was right, Mac would be totally crashed from all his sugar intake on this night.

From there, they all just walked around, making the best of the night. Ryan would sit on the side of the road, making noises at ponies who passed by. They mostly just looked at him oddly, resulting in howling laughter from the others off on the other side of the path. When the ponies looked away, RYan would get up and move right next to the ponies, then resume his noises. He scared one pony so bad they actually dropped their candy and ran.

Feeling like a dick, but still enjoying himself, Ryan and the others took the candy and looked for their victim to return it. As they walked around, Ryan began to notice the sky taking a dark turn, getting stormy. Nopony else seemed to care, in fact, they were all pretty excited, so he let it go. It must not be that bad.

Everyone seemed to converge on the town square at one point during the night, so Ryan decided to try there. Mac said that he had to go do something, sounding rather nervous, and ran off, followed by Fluttershy. The girls and Spike were confused, but Ryan just chuckled and told him, “Don’t eat all your candy in one sitting.”

With them gone, the rest of the group went to the center of town. When they got there, the mayor was up on the stage, talking about sacrificing their candy to someone named Nightmare Moon to prevent her from doing bad things to them in their sleep. The girls and Spike cheered as the group began to leave, and followed them out into the forest. Ryan had no idea what to do, so he went along as well.

The walk through the forest was short and easy, with big paths carved out for the mass to follow. The trees weren’t nearly as evil-looking, and there was no suited, blank-faced dude trying to steal their souls, so it wasn’t so bad. After the walk, they were in a clearing with a massive statue.

Upon inspection, Ryan found that it looked rather like Luna. “Okay, little ponies!” the mayor announced. “Let us offer our candies to the evil Nightmare Moon so that she might let us be this night!”

Ryan watched as the little ones started to file in and drop their candy onto the statue, one by one, giggling all the while. Ryan wasn’t sure he got it, but hey, ponies will be ponies.

Then, the unexpected happened. At least, to Ryan. The statue started to move, lightning splitting the air around it, and laughed. Sensing a potential trouble, Ryan crouched low and got next to the bushes on his right, hand on his pistol. The little ones were screaming... but they were also smiling. What?

The voice of the statue began to speak, and instantly, Ryan’s hand lightened up and came off his gun. “Foolish foals, did you believe that I would leave you be just because you gave me your candy?! AHAHAHAHAHA! Taste the wrath of my Nightmare Powers!”

The winds started to kick up and the kids screamed, enjoying themselves immensely. Ryan stood up, watching from the sidelines, a little smile coming onto his face. He would never have pictured Luna as being good with kids.

The kids soon ran off, parents and guardians in two, leaving only Luna, the elements minus Fluttershy,Spike, and Ryan in the clearing. The elements were all laughing and having a good time, alongside Luna, loving the little spectacle that must have been tradition. Ryan stepped out of the shadows and joined the ponies in their merriment.

Luna had changed back into her normal from while she laughed, and her eyes had resumed that innocent look they alway shad. “Ryan!” she exclaimed. She ran over and hugged him. “It is good to see you again!”

Ryan hugged back. “Yeah, good to see you too.”

She released him and stepped back, looking up into his eyes. “I suppose that life has been well for you?”

“Pretty well.”

“That is good to hear.” a more motherly tone replied. It took him a moment of looking around, but he was able to find Celestia, who came out from behind the statue. “I’m sure that life will continue to be good for you.” Luna seemed to step away, looking a little less giddy than before, like she was guilty of something akin to a cruel prank. Ryan took a note of that as suspicious. “Why don’t we head back to town?” Celestia suggested.

“That sounds great, princess.” Twilight replied for everyone, taking the lead and walking back along the path to the town.

Luna looked warily at Ryan as she took a place with the main body of the group, seemingly worried about Ryan. Ryan, in turn, waited for the group to get some ways ahead before following. He had a feeling that there was a reason that Celestia was also waiting.

He started to walk, and, as if synchronized, Celestia started after him. The forest was dark and the path hard to see, but Celestia’s presence seemed to brighten the area up just a little. Not as much as he would have expected, but still a little.

They walked for a time in silence, watching the group ahead to avoid losing pace with them. Ryan could feel Celestia looking at him, and eventually, gave into his curiosity. He looked up at the large mare, meeting her gaze, a look of terrible shame and fear in her eyes. What they were about, Ryan could only guess at.

“You seem troubled.” Ryan commented.

Celestia blinked slowly, then nodded. “Yes, I am afraid that I am.” she replied. “There is trouble in the south, in the Southern Gryphon Colonies.”

Ryan didn’t like the sound of that. “What kind of trouble?” he asked, still curious.

Celestia sighed. “What did you once tell my sister you wanted to be?” she asked. She already knew the answer.

“A SEAL.”

“Why?”

Ryan shrugged. “At the time, I wanted to protect people. I loved the idea of being able to go into a place with a team to rescue someone, bring them home, then disappear into the shadows to continue my work. I never liked getting credit for things or being famous.”

Celestia nodded. “I wish that we had some of your SEALs here.” she said, getting a surprised look from the human. “One of our soldiers is being held prisoner by a group of evil gryphons that wish to take control of the country. He fought them many years ago, and now, he is their prisoner. And we have no one to go in and rescue him.”

Ryan thought about what she was saying to him. She knew his past. She knew that he had fought unconventional enemies before, that he killed them and knew how they fought. She knew that he was a skilled fighter, along with having the most powerful weapon they had ever known. She knew that her guard was hopeless and that the only chance there was was in a human.

“That’s a damn shame.” Ryan said. “I don’t know how Discord brought me here, so I have no idea how to get SEALs or Deltas here.”

Celestia’s shine seemed to dim a bit, leaving the area dark again. “Yes...” she replied. “A shame.”

They kept on walking, no longer interested in conversation or interaction. The mood had died off and become depressed, a hopeless abyss in the darkness of the forest. That darkness extended deep into Ryan’s mind, blank and empty of emotion.

He thought about what he was just told. This guy, who fought for this benevolent ruler, probably for a good cause, was being held prisoner somewhere. He fought to defend the innocent, and now, he was suffering for it. What would the SEALs do? They would go in to rescue him, obviously. Ryan had always wanted to do that.

But now, he had no chance of being a SEAL. There was no reason for him to try any of that, no reason to stick his own neck out again and possibly get killed. Ryan, the original, was gone. Now, he just wanted to live in peace, alone with his misery and failings where no one would have to see him, be subjected to his appalling presence. Whoever this guy was, he was suffering. And Ryan could sympathize. But he couldn’t help him; that was simply impossible.

Feeling like he had been defeated in a battle for human dignity, Ryan walked back to town alongside Celestia with his head hung down, eternal shame pressed upon him by his irreversible decisions and the knowledge that he would never be capable of redeeming himself and deserving his life again.

Loyalty

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Loyalty

“A man’s country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle; and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.” (George William Curtis)

The days were becoming short and the air frigid.

The month of November went by pretty quickly. Nothing much happened. Ryan went out and saw the cave a few times, just to get the route there down. Whenever he went out there now, though, he went with his gear and weapons. He spotted multiple kinds of wildlife out there; some of which were more than a little dangerous; and he needed to be prepared.

Whenever he went out, he would always get on the search for Discord. He remembered Discord disappearing on him some time ago, and with the magical, crazy nature of the forest, it seemed like the most ironically logical place to search. He would head out to his cave, then, from there, branch out further into the forest to look. He was always careful to avoid the black sections of the forest.

He saw the Wraith more than once during the month, but they never got close to each other. The Wraith would just stand of fin the distance, looking. Whenever Ryan went out to the forest, the Wraith would be standing just behind the treeline, like he was waiting for Ryan to leave the safety of the town. Every time he left, though, he went through the forest mostly unhindered. But the Wraith never followed him into town.

With the end of the growing seasons, Ryan no longer had a job on the farm, either. Without anything to do on Thursdays and Fridays, he had to find other work, but unfortunately, no one would hire him unless he told his story. Ultimately, he had to just go to Twilight and Rarity for more work. His new schedule went to Mondays and Tuesdays at the Boutique and Wednesdays through Fridays at the library. Thankfully, Twilight’s questions were spaced out and easy to answer now.

Of course, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Ryan was still going out on Saturday nights to drink at The Salt Lick with Fancy, Mac, and Soarin’. They all met there at eight on the dot, every weekend where everyone was available. As of yet, all weekends had been pretty fair game. No one missed a day.

Until this weekend, on Saturday, the first of December. The trains weren’t running today and the majority of the pegasi were forbidden from flying because they planned a major snowstorm. The winds were whipping by, yanking on the plants, trying to rip them out of the ground by their roots. Any clouds underneath the stormclouds were blown away and disintegrated by the powerful gusts. From the dark gray overcast fell countless icy knives, each one tearing away at the skin and fur that it came into contact with.

It was on this weekend that Ryan decided to make another trip out. Donning all his gear and taking small sums of food and water, he silently set out of town in the morning while Rarity and Sweetie Belle slept. He left no note to explain his absence, nor any indication of where he was. He also wore the scarf under his cloak, around his neck, for added warmth.

As he fought against the gusts on his way to the forest, he thought about why he decided to head out on this particular day. “I need to know what it’s like in extreme weather.” he had reasoned. Well, he was regretting it now. The weather was outright dangerous. From the road, he could hear the branches of trees on the side of the road snapping and crashing to the ground, even over the howling winds.

Ryan could barely see fifteen feet in front of him, let alone see the treeline. He was forced to rely purely on the memory of which directions he went at what points along the path as he walked along, coat held close and hood tied tight around his head. As much as he would have liked to wear his aviators to keep the snow off, it was much too dark for them at the moment. It was a miracle he could see in front of himself at all.

After around half an hour, he found himself stepping onto a portion of the path that had more weeds growing on it. The only reason he could tell through the snow was that some of the weeds were actually roots that jutted out and threatened to send him stumbling to the ground to be buried in the snow. When he leaned over to investigate, with gloved hands, he found a root and ripped it out with all his might. Upon close inspection, he found that it matched the size of the roots of some of the plants of the forest.

He continued forward, laser-focused on making it through the storm and into the cover of the trees, where the snow would pelt him less severely and he would be granted a short respite. As he walked, he could tell that he was starting to enter the forest by the slowly dimming light around him, his visibility creeping closer and closer with each agonizingly long step.

His visibility didn’t die altogether, but it was close enough that the farthest thing he could see was the back of his hand. Deciding it was finally dark enough, he went into his cloak and pulled out a medium-sized wooden stick and a lighter he had recently bought (how ponies used it was beyond him). With a flick of his thumb just under the stick, the flame came to life and ignited the end of the stick, creating a controlled inferno on the end of the stick.

Ryan held it in place and placed the lighter back on the tac-vest and looked around briefly; there was nothing there. The snow fell in greatly reduced quantities, allowing for the light to dance around the area and illuminate the darkened forest. As he scanned the area, he checked for any potential threats, be they wildlife, freakish plants, or even the Wraith. Oddly, he didn’t see anything. The Wraith had been there every time he recently went into the forest. Maybe he felt like sleeping in today.

Ryan held the torch out to his side as he continued forward into the dark forest. He had to hold it out to his side, or he would be blinded by the light in front of him. He kept the torch moving to be able to look all around himself in the event of an attack by any unsavory creatures.

He made his way slowly through the forest, the snow crunching under his boots and his right sleeve wet from the heat of the torch melting the snow from earlier. His breath came out in a fog in front of him, the only sounds hitting his ears those of his own breathing and the wind above the trees. The leaves rustled seemingly peacefully, betraying the scene outside the forest. It was so isolated, so quiet. It was exactly what Ryan was looking for.

After a time, Ryan finally made it to his cave. Over the last month, he had added a door to the front with a makeshift fence of large branches he had gathered from around the site. The door itself was actually just a massive, partially rounded boulder that he rolled over from about fifty feet away over the span of two weeks. It was a genius contraption, really; all he had to do was push it forward to open, then push it back into place to close.

When he arrived at his soon-to-be home, he took it all in in a moment of objective observation. The door functioned. The fence kept animals out, he hoped. Inside, he had gathered firewood and such for warmth. He had no flintstones, so he would have to find a way to light the fire without a lighter; he didn’t want to have to go back to civilization just to light a damn fire.

He walked over to the entrance and leaned over the fence, checking the inside of the cave for bears or other dangerous animals. When he saw none; it was a fairly small cave; he went to the rock and shoved it forward to get inside.

Once inside, he opted to leave the door open and simply look around. He had the wood on the side, and a little circle of rocks in the center where he would put it to burn. On the other side, he had a pile of rocks, not too far from the fire pit, where he could leave clothes to dry if they became wet. There was nowhere to store food, but with how he planned on living, he wouldn’t need one. The only part he was unsatisfied with so far was the lack of a decent place to sleep.

He didn’t plan on staying in the cave for the moment, seeing as he had to experience the weather out there to know who to survive it and hunt in it. He had to figure out where the little animals hide, how to catch and kill them, what kinds of plants he might be able to take an deat. For that one, he would have to take samples back to town and ask about them. So once he got a decent look around, he turned right back around and walked out.

Outside, he looked back at the door with a contemplative look on his face. “Should I close it back up?” he wondered. “Nah, I’ll just come back. It shouldn’t lose much heat between now and then.” As much as he didn’t actually understand the physics of heat involving caves, he thought that it would be cold enough already that it wouldn’t make a difference. He could just use the lighter to light some logs later anyhow.

Torch still in hand, Ryan looked around for a direction to walk in. He had traveled far during November, usually coming up with nothing. But there was one thing he did find that was pretty huge; a lake, off to the north of his location. It was only about two kilometers off in that direction, easy walking distance. Figuring it was a good place to start, Ryan held his cloak close and his torch tight, trudging along through the frozen forest and silent darkness.

As he pushed through the inclement weather to get to the lake, the canopy above started to thin out in some places. He had noticed this the last time he came out, how as you go farther in, the forest gets to be less difficult to see in. Through the openings, he had a clear view of the tearing winds and freezing snow above.

He was only about halfway there when something in the sky caught his eye. Ryan dropped low to the ground and threw his hand into his cloak, placing it as gently as possible on the Automag. Eye up high, he moved his head left and right to see if he could spot the sight again.

Sure enough, he did. It was a blur, through all the snow, but it was definitely there. There were at least four colors trailing after an unseen object flying through the sky. The flight pattern was erratic at best, with the object going up and down, left and right, all over the place. Ryan took his hand off the Automag as he tried to discern exactly what it was.

That wound up becoming unnecessary; the object, in its uncontrolled, random path, dove right at the ground, not far from Ryan, and, right as it was about to slam into the snow, it pulled up and went straight back up. When it flew down so close, Ryan could clearly see the form of a pony, trying its best to keep stable in the howling winds. That could only be one pony. Ryan sat back as Rainbow Dash continued to try to fly, though he couldn’t help but worry that she was going to go down soon.

He saw the trail continue through the air, but now, it was accompanied by a hoarse voice. “Dammit dammit dammit dammit!” With nothing to do, Ryan could only watch as the trail went off. “AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!”

The trail made a straight line, seemingly out of nowhere, and made a beeline for the ground, just to the north of where Ryan was. Alarms went off in Ryan’s head, and, like an ambulance makes its way to an injured person, he hauled it in the direction of the trail.

In the distance, he heard a loud crash and the sound of massive branches snapping off of trees. He double-timed his pace as he moved through the forest, pushing aside any branches or bushes that got in his way. “Dammit Rainbow.” he thought unhappily.

He covered the second kilometer in half the time of the first, arriving at the frozen lake and finding the sight less than encouraging. To his right, he could clearly see where Rainbow had crashed through the trees, as there was a massive hole in the canopy and branches all over the ground and ice. Looking out, Ryan tried to find where the foolish little pony might have landed.

“Oh no...”

He could clearly find where she landed by following the broken ice with his eyes. In the lake, about twenty feet, lay Rainbow Dash, unconscious and at least half-submerged in the freezing water. On the ice next to her, Ryan could clearly see blood against the whiteness, and it looked like the amount was going to be increasing soon. She had a wing bent at an angle that was likely not normally possible, and he reyes were both closed like she was just taking one of her regular naps.

Ryan dropped his torch and stripped down, setting his cloak, scarf, and jacket out on the ground, laying them out to be easy to put on once he came back. He left everything else on as he walked out onto the ice.

Before he even out all his bodyweight on the ice, it crackled and crumbled under his foot. The shock of the freezing water engulfing his foot forced him to take in a sharp breath, trying to ignore the new sensation of pain in his foot. He could tell that if he didn’t do this quickly, his foot would be lost and maybe fall off due to Frostbite.

He looked down at the water; it was so cold, his foot actually felt warm. “Fuck.” he thought as he lifted his other foot and stuffed it under the water. If one foot was in, might as well just take the water route. It was safer anyway.

With both feet submerged up to the ankle, Ryan set out to wading over to Rainbow's position out on the ice. As he advanced through the ice-cold lake, the water steadily grew deeper, getting to just above his knees by the time he was halfway out. If it continued like this, Ryan wouldn’t be able to reach Rainbow Dash in time and they would both wind up freezing to death out here. Thankfully, the water didn’t get too much deeper; only to about his waist, freezing his groin; and he was able to get close enough to reach for the unconscious mare.

But the world had already made very clear its distaste for Ryan’s attempts at helping others. Suddenly, the ice that supported Rainbow and kept her from going under cracked and collapsed under her, sending her beneath the glass-like barrier.

“NO!”

Ryan lunged forward, going under himself, as he reached out for the rainbow-maned pony who hated him without personal reason. As his face went under, he could feel the sting of the cold as it sapped at the heat in his face, trying to stop him in his tracks. Ryan fought through it, though, and continued to reach out to Rainbow Dash, quickly finding her mane in his hand. With one strong pull, Ryan yanked her back and rose out of the water, dragging her with him.

With his face out of the water, Ryan was able to reopen his eyes and make a quick assessment of the situation. His hands continued doing their job, pulling Rainbow out and holding her up above the water in both arms in a one-person carry and keeping her as tight against his chest as possible. He could feel her, barely breathing, completely unknowing of what had just happened.

Pony in arms and rapidly losing body heat, Ryan started back towards dry land. As he walked through the unforgiving lake, his mind turned toward how he was going to get back to town in time. There was no chance. As he pushed his way out of the water, he realized that he had dropped the torch without keeping track of where. By now, it was covered with snow and would never be found.

Acting quickly, Ryan dropped the unconscious Rainbow Dash onto the jacket, which was in turn on the cloak, and went about wrapping her up in a bundle to keep her warm. Once he had the jacket zipped up around her and the cloak tightly wrapped around her body, he picked her right back up and held her close to his own core to keep as warm as possible. Unfortunately, he hadn’t thought that anything like this would happen, so he didn’t wear a long-sleeved shirt, and his arms were already feeling the numbness of the cold ebbing through the skin.

He looked along the ground for any hint of his previous footsteps, finding them in an instant thanks to the dragging nature of his walking through the snow. Once he spotted them, he rushed over and reentered the forest.

He trudged along, trying his best not to fall over or hit the mare on any branches around them. Ryan was growing worried; the biting breeze and cruel snow were driving a little too much warmth from his body. He might have to drop her and run...

Ryan stopped dead in his place. He could feel it, that sensation that there was something trained on you, ready to strike at you. He had seen what was out here; manticores, those freakish bee things, timberwolves. He hadn’t seen any spirits, but they could be just as dangerous. They were all prepared to come out and kill him, and they would no doubt all be ready to eat him since there was almost no food nearby.

A branch snapped to his left. Ryan whipped his head around to get a good look at whatever had failed to sneak up on him, prepared to drop the mare and pull out his Automag if he had to-

That smile. That fucking smile. The Wraith just smiled at Ryan, teeth bared and unusually sharp, malicious and deathly. He was standing there, just beyond the trees, watching Ryan as he carried the mare out. His arms were crossed and he had on short sleeves and shorts, like the cold didn’t mean anything to him. But of course it didn’t; when you’re born in it, it’s a part of you.

Ryan took the image with a dose of adrenaline and sped away along his chosen path. He wasn’t sure where he would go, but he did know that he had to get away from the Wraith. It had been the Wraith who had knocked Rainbow out of the sky. It had been the Wraith that tossed Rainbow into the lake. It was the Wraith who had used it as bait to catch Ryan off guard and unprepared.

The Wraith chuckled loudly at Ryan as he just stood there, holding the freezing pony in his arms and not moving. “Well, what are you doing?” he asked. “I think it would be safest for you to run.”

Without hesitation, the boy began to sprint through the forest, panting out visible breaths and taking dry air back in. The snow sandblasted his arms, tearing away at the skin and latching on like leeches. The water from earlier was already frozen on his arms and torso, and was freezing on his legs as he ran. In the cloak and jacket, Ryan could only hope that Rainbow wasn’t feeling the same way as him at the moment.

It took Ryan nine minutes of agonizing pain, running through branches, being lashed by wind, and blinded by snow to cover the two kilometers to his cave. Upon closing the distance and spotting the cave, he felt like an idiot for not having thought of it sooner. At least, not consciously thinking of it.

As he approached the entrance to the cave, which was wide open, he looked around for any sign of the Wraith having followed. When he spotted nothing, he spun back around and ran into the cave.

Inside, Ryan promptly went to work. He dropped Rainbow, still in the clothes, next to the fire pit and removed the protective layers. As he removed them, he could see the relieving sight of her chest moving up and down, signifying breathing, weak, but still there. With that bit of reassurance, he went over and pulled some firewood out of the pile and dropped it into the pit. Not wanting to take any risks, Ryan checked Rainbow again to make sure she was at least stable. He was able to confirm that she was stable, though still weak, and so went for the lighter on his vest.

But it wasn’t there. Eyes wide and hand trembling, Ryan realized that it must have fallen off his vest back in the lake. The torch was gone too, so there was no easy way to light a fire to get the wood burning.

“Shit!” Ryan cursed loudly, angry with himself for losing such a vital tool of survival.

He started to pace. If he didn’t get a fire lit soon, both Rainbow and he would freeze to death in that cave. There was no water in there, and without fire, they couldn’t access any safely. Ryan’s clothes, from himself and Rainbow, were still soaking wet, and there was little hope that they would provide much warmth any more. He had to think of something new. He had to be versatile, like a Navy SEAL.

Ryan set his hand son his hips and found that his right hand his his Automag. Still angry, he yanked it out of its holster and got ready to throw it across the cave.

But he didn’t. “Wait a minute...”

The Automag is a pistol. Pistols area type of firearm. Firearm... fire...

Ryan ripped off his vest and threw it aside, keeping the Automag in hand. Leaning over the fire pit, Ryan released the magazine from the gun and emptied it. Five round, plus the one in the chamber. The powder inside the rounds was what propelled the bullets forward. If Ryan could use that ignition to make a good enough spark in the wood, he might be able to light a fire.

Ryan emptied all the rounds from the magazine and lined them up. He had to work fast. Opting for safety, Ryan unchambered the remaining round from the Automag and held it by the end of the barrel, like one would a hammer. Than, one by one, Ryan hammered away at three of the rounds before him on the ground, being very careful not to hit the primers on the end of each one.

He managed to knock the bullets loose from the three rounds, and, very carefully, he removed the lead and moved the empty casing into one of the logs. The one in the center had a perfect little hole in it; not too big to spread the flame everywhere but not so small as to not allow oxygen to get to the fire; and so Ryan dumped the powder from the three rounds into it.

Now, though, he had a new problem. How was he going to ignite the powder? His mind raced about, trying to think about how that would happen. He remembered the way that machine guns overheat if fired for too long and the muzzle flash that came out of the end. That muzzle flash was the explosion of the gunpowder! And it was hot enough to make a gun barrel overheat! If Ryan could maneuver the Automag so that the muzzle flash hit the powder, it might be enough to make it catch and light the wood.

Now down three more round, Ryan loaded up the other three into the gun’s magazine and loaded the magazine into the gun, but without pressing the button to release the slide and chamber the round. Before getting into position, he looked over at Rainbow one last time; she looked all right. Her breathing was still going. Then, turning back to the fire pit, he positioned himself just right so that the bullet would ricochet off the wall away from them.

“Not bad.”

Ryan’s heart rate spiked at the unexpected guest’s words. Now, really pissed off, he glared up at the Wraith, who was positioned at the door to the cave.

“I don’t know that I would say it’s a great idea, but I would never expect less of you than to fire a .44 Magnum in close proximity to a pony. But hey: No one ever said you had to care.”

The Wraith was still smiling, something that only fueled the rage in Ryan’s mind. “I am firing it.” he replied, voice seething with hatred. “But not at anything in the cave.”

The Wraith didn’t seem to understand as Ryan moved himself one last time until it was too late. Ryan placed himself directly behind the fire pit and positioned the Automag to be pointing right up at the entrance, straight into the Wraith’s center of mass. With a malicious smile of his own, Ryan clicked the little button and sent the slide forward, then fired off the massive bullet right at the Wraith.

The round hit home, slamming into the Wraith’s chest and sending him flying out the door in a mess of blood and force. The loud BOOM of the Automag’s .44 Magnum round reverberated through the cave, blasting into Ryan’s eardrums. Rainbow didn’t even flinch at the noise; at least she wouldn’t remember what that felt like,

The flame from the muzzle flash passed over the gunpowder, lighting it in its little cave and creating a small inferno inside. With nowhere to go, the heat had to spread anywhere it could, be it out the hole or into the wood and setting it on fire. Thankfully, probably at least partially due to the odd physics of this world, the log caught and went up in a blaze. After just a moment, the blaze spread to the other logs and set them up, throwing blissful warmth all over the cave.

With no Wraith in sight and no more cold eating away at him, Ryan was able to fall back on his ass and just take in a deep breath of relaxation. It felt good, really, what he just accomplished. He had carried that mare, who was heavier than she looked (though none would say that to her face), all the way from the lake to the cave, two kilometers. He managed to light a fire using just a gun. And he shot the Wraith right in the chest, sending him back outside where he belonged.

He figured he should probably go up there to make sure the Wraith was down, or to find out if he would have to put the other two rounds in the Wraith’s skull to get him down. it would be the best way to make sure he and Rainbow would be safe in the cave. After that, he could seal off the entrance and go about finding a way to get back to town.

Thinking about Rainbow subconsciously made him turn around to take a quick look at her. He didn’t feel too worried; she was sleeping peacefully, her eyes gently shut and her hooves still on the ground. her mane was still wet, but being so close to the fire, that would dry out soon. She still looked like a drowned rat, but Ryan would just let her know later. She looked so peaceful...

Too peaceful, Ryan thought. He moved closer to get a better look. He rside was bleeding, as he had seen before at the lake. That wasn’t so bad, though, so she shouldn’t be going into shock. No doubt the cold had something to do with it, and that probably gave her hypothermia, but the cloak and jacket should have kept her warm enough that it wouldn’t put her to sleep. And he was fairly certain that there was no sleep from hypothermia, only death. What was wrong?

But looking at her still body, he finally noticed what was wrong.

She wasn’t breathing.

“Oh no.” he said, moving next to her. “No no no no no no no no!”

He put his fingers on her neck, right around where he learned the pulse would be; it was extremely weak, if it was even really there. Her chest didn’t rise up and down, and her body was completely still. Everything wasn’t peaceful; everything was in shutdown mode.

Ryan acted fast, placing his hands just behind the haunch of her exposed foreleg. Going through the procedures he learned in his Rescue Diving course, he started to press away on her body, forcing the heart to start moving the blood around. After thirty compressions, he moved his mouth up and placed it directly into hers and let out a massive breath into her airway, filling her lungs to capacity.

He repeated the process more times than he can recall. The entire time he treated her, he had no idea how it was going to end up; CPR isn’t to restart the heart, it’s only for getting oxygen to the brain. If he was lucky, then restarting the brain and getting oxygen to her cerebellum would make her brain restart her breathing, but if that wasn’t the problem, or that part of her brain suffered damage from a lack of oxygen for a quite frankly unknown period of time, she was doomed to die.

Thirty compressions.

One massive breath.

Thirty compressions.

One massive breath.

It went on and on and on. Ryan was starting to feel lightheaded. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep it up much longer.

When he came up for a breath, exhausted and ready to pass out himself, the most beautiful sound at that moment, the greatest thing he could ever have heard, hit his ears. “Not now, AJ, I want to sleep.”

Rainbow Dash had just spoken. Albeit not exactly to Ryan, but she still spoke. She had no idea what was happening, and likely wouldn’t for a long time, but she was alive and well. She was drying off quickly and getting warmer, and her brain function had hopefully been fully preserved. Who knew how this world worked about that stuff.

Ryan fell back and sat down, gracious for the respite and a chance to just sit. Now, he knew that there was nothing wrong. He knew, for a fact, that Rainbow was good. he was already nice and dry, and his clothes were on a rock right next to the flame, drying off. At the moment, even though he was in a cave in the middle of a hazardous forest with a flying mare who hated his guts and a demonic beast potentially still outside, he felt like he was in heaven. All seemed like it would be all right.

But he knew better than to leave loose ends untied. Begrudgingly, he grabbed his Automag, two shots left, and made his way to the entrance to look outside. If the Wraith was there, he would shoot him. If not, he would just close up the entrance and wait the night out. His watch read five in the after noon; time flies when you’re busy.

Ryan poked his head out of the cave, Automag right under it, and looked around. He could see a pool of blood on the ground, but no body. The pool turned into a trail that led west, into the trees, and got thinner and thinner as it approached. The Wraith had already healed; he must have had some kind of spell for it. It would explain how he had two eyes.

Ryan walked away from the entrance to the cave, but kept it in sight, just in case the Wraith decided he would go in after the sleeping mare. It was cold, and it had already gotten pretty dark again, but he could handle it if he was only going to be out for a short time. It was nothing that a quarter of the world back home didn’t do every winter.

Ryan walked over to the edge of the trees and stood, looking out for any sign of his nemesis. There was a bush that had clearly been moved, as all the snow had come off of it. Behind it, Ryan could barely make out the form of footsteps in the snow. The Wraith must have run off. Deciding that it was safe, Ryan turned around and went back into the cave.

The Wraith watched from just above the entrance as Ryan went back inside, escaping the unpleasant cold air. Ryan had actually managed to shoot him this time, something he hadn’t really seen coming. It was no problem, though. The Automag would never be able to kill him. He wasn’t really sure anything could.

But this did signify something very different. Ryan was advancing, just as planned, even if a bit ahead of schedule. He had had a bit of a hiccup today, but the Wraith knew the real Ryan. He knew the Ryan who had died in Sumatra, and the Ryan who took his place. he knew that the last Ryan was never going to be able to live in a society of peace and prosperity. And he knew that that Ryan was the one who was weak enough for him to overpower.

“In due time.” The Wraith jumped off the ledge he was sitting on and landed silently on the ground, then walked off into the distance, eventually entering the dark section of the forest.

Ryan sat back down next to the fire, wondering what his next move should be. He hadn’t actually eaten since just before he left, so that was a priority. Taking a look at Rainbow, sleeping peacefully now on the ground by the fire, he went over to his vest where he kept the food and water and pulled some of each out. What he had was a simple bottle and a few candy bars, which he downed faster than he had expected.

Once he was done, he checked his clothes, finding them to be completely dried off. He wasted no time in getting them on and shaking them out to get back used to the feel of wearing them. With the vest on underneath and the now almost empty Automag back in its holster, Ryan threw on his cloak and jacket over it and started walking around the cave.

He looked down at Rainbow, wondering how she had gotten herself out here in the first place. Her side still bled, but it was slowly getting better. Nonetheless, it would be better if she received some kind of medical attention soon.

He sighed. “All right. Come on.” he said, not expecting a reply. He leaned down and picked her up in his arms and moved the cloak over. “Let’s head out.” Tossing her over his shoulder and then throwing the cloak over her, he carried her out of the cave and back into the wilderness. But this time, he didn’t forget to close the door.

With so much extra weight, the walk back to town took almost twice as long as the walk here in the morning had. The snow wasn’t even falling that heavily anymore, and it still took him that long. he had to be constantly on the watch for the Wraith, since he could be anywhere, any time. The crunch of the precipitate under his feet and the constant need to push the branches out of the way only added to the boy’s discomfort as he made his way back.

Eventually, he exited the forest and found the welcome sight of Ponyville in the distance, with hospitable lights in windows and young ponies heading inside after a day of playing in the snow. If only Ryan could have had such a good time in the snow today.

Deciding that it was safe now, Ryan moved his cloak over so that Rainbow was no longer underneath it. If anypony wanted to know why he was carrying her, he could easily make up a story to explain. He would have to make sure it didn’t implicate him of going into the forest, so it would probably have to be the kind of story that would require Rainbow to explain it later.

Alas, no one asked him any questions as he walked through the town. Ponies would stop and look, some growing wide-eyed, but none stopped. At first, Ryan was concerned, but as he went along, it was clear that no one suspected him of doing anything. That was all Ryan could have asked for.

Ryan stopped when he got to about two hundred feet into town. “Where am I going?” he realized. As always, he had no real plan for this, he just kind of went along with it. He thought about where he could drop Rainbow off to stay for the night. There was certainly Fluttershy’s, but she was all the way on the other side of town, and this mare was just getting too heavy. Rarity’s wouldn’t work, seeing as that was where he lived, and Rainbow probably wouldn’t remember what happened out there.

Should he try Pinkie’s? No, the Cakes owned that place, and they might not have room. Not worth the risk of having to walk all that way. There was no chance of bringing Rainbow home, for obvious reasons. Applejack might take her, but that walk was even longer than going to Fluttershy’s.

“Oh!” Ryan said loudly, mentally smacking himself. “I’ll head to the library.”

With a new objective in place and a reason to complete it, Ryan set off for the library, eager to dump his heavy cargo and get back to the boutique for some rest. As he walked along, he thought over the day that had tired him out so very much. Overall, it was pretty productive; he found his cave in really bad weather and navigated the forest in said weather. He proved himself to be very physically fit, which would be necessary for living out there. He had a fire, which he forgot to put out (it was in a cave, who cares anyway?). The only thing he missed was looking for food out there. Well, he could do that another time.

Before long, the Golden Oaks Library came into view in all its splendor and warm-looking glory. As soon as he laid his eyes upon it, the boy quickened his feet and ran to the door, but couldn’t stop himself. Instead of knocking, Ryan simply braced himself as he rammed right into the thick, oak door, being sure to keep Rainbow out of the way.

As he hit it and came off, Ryan pulled his hand over to his shoulder, straining against Rainbow’s body, and held it tight to try to cut off the pain. “Ow.” He took in three deep breaths, listening for any chance of the library’s door opening for him to enter.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long. “Hello?” a little boy’s voice said as it opened up. Spike stood in the doorway, looking at Ryan’s feet. When he looked up, his face instantly lightened up. “Hey bro!” He put out his fist for a fist-pump.

Ryan nodded. “Hey. Sorry, but my hands are kinda full.” He jerked his head at the unconscious Rainbow Dash. “Mind if I come in?”

Spike looked up at the mare and went into full panic mode. “Oh man, yeah, get inside!” Ryan walked right in and went over to the fireplace to drop Rainbow. “Twilight, we got an emergency! Come quick!”

Once Ryan dropped Rainbow down by the fire, he felt a burning need to leave and avoid being a part of explaining what had happened out in the forest. But he was doomed to have to explain, as Twilight ran down the stairs and stepped right in front of him.

“What is it Spi-”

“Shit!” Ryan couldn’t get out of the way, and bowled over the lavender mare in a mess of arms and legs. As he jumped up, he tried to run away, but to no avail.

“Hang on!” Twilight said, grabbing Ryan’s pant with her magic. “What’s going on?”

She held tight. “Are you that desperate to get into my pants?” Ryan asked, cocking an eyebrow at the mare. He caught the mare totally off guard, and she let go of him instantly.

“No!” she shouted. “But I do want you...” She paused, giving Ryan a look that made him uncomfortable. “TO EXPLAIN THIS TO ME!” She shoved a hoof in Rainbow’s direction.

Ryan sighed. “All right, fine. But don’t be so freaking loud.” Twilight ignored his request and sat herself down, eager for the whole story. The story didn’t take too long, though, and Ryan skipped over a number of parts, all including the Wraith and his irritating presence, plus the reason he was out there. When he finished, Twilight looked worriedly over at her friend.

“Oh my.” she said. She stood up and walked over, her magic poking and prodding at the Rainbow-maned mare, looking for her wound. When she found it, she immediately went to work. “I’m glad you were out there to help.”

“Yeah. Ironic, that I was the one to save her life.” Twilight cringed at the truth of the statement. Turning around and heading towards the door, Ryan went to leave her with, “Farewell.”

“Hold up.” Spike said out of the blue, all eyes going to him. “What were you doing out in the forest in that kind of weather anyway?”

Ryan desperately wanted to simply tell him that it was his own business, as Spike would respect that. But Twilight would never let him get away with it.

“I was out doing strategic recon.” he said half-truthfully. “I want to know what all weather is like out there if I want to keep looking for Discord.”

Spike bought it, but Twilight didn’t. She had never pursued him after his clear lies, though, and by the looks of it, she wasn’t about to now, either. “Alright.” Twilight said. “You can head on out if you need to.”

Ryan nodded and gave her a light bow just for giggles. “Of course, dear princess.” Twilight gave him a funny look as he left, unsure of whether that was a backhanded compliment or a front-handed insult.

Ryan shut the door behind him as he left the library, glad to be free of that burden. He took a look at his watch; it read eight o’ clock. It was pretty late already, and Rarity would be mad at him when he got back. But that’s what bars were there for; that way, you don’t have to go back to an angry woman until she’s asleep.

Twilight lay next to Rainbow, looking hard at her, willing her to wake up and talk. “Come on, Rainbow. Wake up!” She desperately needed to get Rainbow’s take on what happened, even if she had to explain to the athletic mare the nature of the events.

“You want some hot chocolate, Twi?” Spike asked as he walked toward the kitchen.

She thought. “Yes, I think I would. And make one for Rainbow.”

Spike nodded and went to work in the kitchen. He donned his little apron, which he had been ridiculed by Rainbow herself for wearing, and finished up the drinks in no time. Everyone knows that real men can wear aprons comfortably; ladies dig the aprons.

Spike brought he drinks back and set one down in front of each mare in the room, then sat himself down next to Twilight. “So how long do you think this is gonna be?”

“Right now.” Twilight responded with a big smile.

Spike looked at Rainbow confused, but soon saw that she was rolling off of her side and onto her belly. “Wha..?” she said, rubbing at her eyes with a hoof.

“Rainbow?” Twilight started, getting the mare to look in her direction. “Rainbow, it’s Twilight. Are you okay?”

Rainbow looked at Twilight like she had six heads. “Yeah, I feel fine, just a little tired. Why?”

“How about the fact that you nearly died!?” Twilight shouted, shocking Rainbow into full awareness and surprise. Twilight glared at the mare as she waited for a response.

It finally came. “What?”

“Yeah, you almost died out there in that storm! What were you thinking, flying out there? Why would you do it?”

Rainbow’s jaw was hanging low, like she didn’t even remember doing that. Although, she definitely did. “I was training, and I just got lost! I landed a little in the forest, I think, and I don't remember anything after that.” Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Look, I just wanted to strengthen my controlled flight capabilities. Besides, you were there to save me, so it wasn’t that bad, right?”

Twilight tried to respond, but her words failed her. No amount of berating would get through to her at the moment, no amount of possible other outcomes. But there was one thing that would get to her.

“I didn’t save you.” she said flatly. The truth would get through to her.

Rainbow’s face froze. “You... didn’t?” Twilight shook her head. “Wait... then who did?”

Twilight gave Rainbow a second to think about it, but didn’t want her to come to any wrong conclusions. “Ryan saved you.”

The words were like a whip across the face to Rainbow, causing her to physically reel back from the sound of them. Ryan? Ryan had saved her? The guy who killed forty of his own kind? The one who let himself die and killed his friends? The one who was more dangerous than any foe they had ever faced?

“You can’t be telling me the truth.”

“I am, Rainbow.” Twilight said authoritatively. “Ryan was the only one out there to save you. He pulled out of a frozen lake at the risk of his own life, wrapping you up in his clothes to keep you warm instead of him. He carried you back to a cave he saw on the way out there and made a fire to get the both of you warm. He fought off a bear to keep you safe.” That part was a lie, but hey? “He provided you CPR when you stopped breathing, and somehow managed to restart your heart. You would be dead and likely never found if it weren’t for him.”

Rainbow thought about the significance of what Ryan had done. What he did for her was beyond what anypony had ever done for her before, and she hated him. Didn’t he hate her, for hating him? Did he honestly not care about her hatred, or was able to forgive her and bring her back to town? He had little to gain from helping her, so why not let her die? Most importantly, would she have done the same for him?

Was he a better person than her?

“...” Rainbow thought. “I... I had no idea...”

Twilight crossed her forelegs. “Well, now you do.” She pushed the hot chocolate over to her friend, who, upon seeing it, greedily grabbed it and slurped it up. “You’ve treated him like garbage from early on, Rainbow. You’ve hated him without proper reason, refused to trust him. And now, here he goes, saving your life at the risk of losing his own. Doesn’t that say something about him?”

“Yeah...” Rainbow replied. She knew now; she knew that he was good inside, even if he didn’t let everypony know. “I guess he is a good guy after all.” Maybe it was time to start being nicer to him.

“Good.” Twilight concluded. “Tomorrow, I Think the two of you should talk.” Rainbow groaned. “None of that! You owe it to him, at least that much. I want you to find a way to make it up to him.”

“Can’t I just start talking nicer to him?” Rainbow responded. Twilight glared daggers at her. “All right, fine. I’ll find him tomorrow.”

A smile burst onto Twilight’s face. “Good! And I wish you luck.”

Rainbow Dash groaned from her spot on the floor, thinking about how awkward it would be while Twilight went off to do her own thing. How could she make it up to him? She didn’t really have anything to offer him. She could give him favors, but he was really, really independent. He wouldn’t take money, and that would be kind of weird anyway. Rarity would give him a kiss, but that wasn’t really Rainbow’s thing.

What did she have? A love of flying. Maybe she could give him a little show, do some tricks? “Not that kind of show.” she thought, knowing what Ryan would say to that. She could make it like a Wonderbolts show...

“Oh!” Rainbow said excitedly.

Spike, who was long forgotten by a random bookshelf, turned around at her exclamation. “What?” he asked.

Rainbow stood up and stretched. “I have two tickets for a Wonderbolts show on the fourth, this Tuesday! I can bring Ryan along.”

Spike blinked at her, understanding the sentiment. “Okay... but how are you going to get him up to Cloudsdale?”

Rainbow chuckled and shook her head. “No, it’s up in Canterlot this time. I think Prince Blueblood scheduled it to be up there or something.”

Spike gagged at the name. “Well, that’s convenient. And since you’re both pretty close to the Wonderbolts, you might even be able to get special treatment.”

Rainbow gasped and her countenance changed drastically from happy to ecstatic. “Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh! Yes, we totally could!” She flew over to Spike and picked him up in a big hug. “Thanks!”

Rainbow dropped the baby dragon and flew off, eager to have the next day come as soon as possible.

****************************************************************************

Ryan got up the next morning feeling sore and exhausted. Wasn’t sleep supposed to take care of that? He must have overexerted himself the day before.

He sat up in bed and swung his feet around, his heels striking the ground with more force than was comfortable. He could explain all the problems he was having at the moment; Carrying Rainbow required a lot of strength, so he was sore. His exhaustion, though, came from Rarity the previous night. He had gone to the bar until after eleven, but she was still waiting for him to come back. When he did get back, he was in for quite the earful.

“Where have you been!? Sweetie Belle and I were worried sick when we couldn’t find you this morning! And what’s this about you going into the Everfree Forest during the strongest snowstorm we’ve ever had made?” How did she even know that? “Explain yourself now!”

Ryan had to tell her exactly what he told Twilight, only with dozens more interruptions and a lot more submission to her anger. Rarity actually smacked him upside the head once during her verbal assault, shouting how stupid Ryan was. He would have sworn that Sweetie Belle could hear everything, but somehow, she never came down. And it went on until well after one in the morning.

Now, he was told, he would have to check with somepony before going someplace. However, he countered with the fact that he was an adult in Equestria, and could go where he pleased. The counter to that was that, if it was dangerous, he still had to tell somepony so that he could do whatever he planned on doing safely. Why him? Wasn’t Rainbow the dumbass who nearly got herself killed yesterday?

“Ah well.” Ryan concluded. He could cope with the circumstances.

He got dressed, though only in his pants, and went up the stairs and made his way to the kitchen. It was just after seven in the morning, and he was starving. He had only eaten twice the day before, and light meals at that, so he could feel the weakness in hi sleg as he made his way up.

When he entered the kitchen, he was greeted with the presence of three little fillies and one little colt with a camera, which flashed brightly as Ryan walked in. There were several cheers from the small group as Ryan blinked away the blindness now afflicting his eyes. Once he recovered, he looked over the group and tried to figure out what was happening.

He just asked. “What are you doing?”

“We were having a sleepover last night!” Scootaloo answered loudly. “We were hoping you would be here so we could go over strategy with you for that game you taught us, but YOU weren’t here.” Ryan silently groaned to himself; he wasn't going to live this down for a while.

“Sorry, but I had some things to do.”

Applebloom snickered. “Yeah, we heard.” Ryan sighed. “Rarity really laid you out last night!”

“Yes, yes she did.” Ryan replied. A moment of silence followed. “You.”

Ryan pointed at the colt, Featherweight, if he remembered right. “Me?”

“Yeah, you. Whatup with the picture, bud?”

The colt swallowed hard under the scary human’s scrutiny. “Well, the savior of Rainbow Dash can hardly go without being known, can he? I’m just letting the ponies know what happened.”

He was never going to get any privacy. Ever. This was why Special Operations appealed to him; no fame, no personal credit. Silent professional, completely private life.

“Fine.” Ryan said with a defeated sigh. The colt smiled wide and ran out, leaving Ryan alone with the fillies. Turning to them, he decided that he should get back at them. “So, I guess you had him over?”

Sweetie Belle looked at him, confused. “What?”

Ryan threw his hands up. “Hey, I won’t judge. I know that you girls are growing up, you want to get to know the boys.”

“EWWW!” they all shouted in unison.

Ryan continued. “Don’t worry, though! Soon, your interest in them will become uncontainable, and you’ll actually WANT to spend lots of time with them! There’ll be lots of movies, dinners, walks...” The fillies were getting a little too comfortable. “Hugs, kisses, odd sensations...”

“Ahg, stop! You’re weirding us out!” Scootaloo shouted.

“What is all that noise!?” Rarity shouted from upstairs. With that, Ryan immediately regretted his little joke. “I’m trying to sleep! I was up late last night with Ryan!”

“Yeah, she spent lots of energy on me!” Ryan included loud enough for Rarity to hear.

A pause.

“Girls, tell him that he had better watch what he says, or he may find himself unable to ‘expend energy’.”

Ryan gulped hard. “Okay!” he said with a clap of his hands, ready to change the subject. “So, uhh... what’s up?” With nothing else ready to distract them, he just gave them a nervous smile.

The fillies looked to each other, trying to figure out what they would do. “Well,” Sweetie Belle started. “We were gonna go and try to get our construction cutie marks!”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea!” Ryan replied, throwing his arms out to emphasize his statement. “I think you should go about that sooner rather than later; the sooner you get your marks, the better!”

“Yeah!” Applebloom shouted. “Come on, girls, let’s get movin’!” The southern filly ran off out the kitchen and out the front door, eager to start the day.

Sweetie Belle followed right behind, but Scootaloo waited for a moment before leaving. “Hey, what’re you waiting for?” Ryan asked.

Suddenly, she ran up to him and hugged his leg as tightly as her tiny body could manage. “Thanks for saving Rainbow Dash.” she said, nuzzling his leg.

Ryan leaned over, wearing a little smile on his face, and patted the filly on the head. “Don’t mention it.”

With that, she ran off after her friends, ready to face the future with more gusto and more certainty than Ryan could ever manage. He always had marveled at the child’s ability to rush into the future without hesitation, without any worries about failure. They seemed like an unstoppable force, one that, as they changed into adults, they simply lost to the wind, replacing wonder with treachery.

“I’m glad they like you.” Ryan turned around to see Rarity coming down the stairs. “It’s nice to see them look up to anypony with so much admiration.”

Ryan breathed in deep, unsure of how to respond. The truth never hurts. “Well, I kind of wish they wouldn’t. I’m not that great of a role-model.”

“Nonsense!” Rarity exclaimed. “You’ve only been helpful to us, and we’ve learned a good bit from you. I’m certain that you’re a fine role-model. It’s not like you’re telling them to go out and commit crimes.”

Ryan chuckled. “No, I suppose not.”

Rarity walked into the kitchen and went through her fridge, looking for food. She decided on a head of lettuce, and walked back to the table with it in her mouth. Ryan decided to follow her into the kitchen and leaned up against the wall, then remembered that he had yet to eat as well. Quietly, he walked over to the fridge and went through it, eventually settling on some kind of breakfast pastry that looked like a croissant.

He sat down and started chewing away. “So, Ryan. Plans for today?” Rarity asked.

Ryan wasn’t that into small talk, but he could manage it. “Not sure. I could go around and find stuff to do, but that hardly qualifies as a plan. Maybe I’ll head to the gym.”

“Ooh, that sounds great!” What? Rarity hated the idea of being sweaty and nasty. “Maybe you’ll run into Rainbow Dash. She’s going to be looking for you.”

Ryan’s ears perked at that. “What? Why? And how do you know that?”

“Twilight sent me a message last night that I read after chewing you out.” Spike’s message delivering ability must have been a really handy thing to have. “And I would bet that Rainbow wants to thank you. You know, for saving her life.”

“I’ve saved lives before, and I didn’t ask for thanks then either. Besides, she doesn’t exactly like me. I can’t say that I expect real gratitude.”

Rarity leveled her gaze at him. “Now, Ryan, just because she didn’t like you doesn’t mean that she can’t be genuinely gracious that you SAVED HER LIFE. Just listen to her when she finds you later; I’m sure it will be from her heart.”

Ryan stuffed the rest of the pastry in his mouth. “All right, fine. I guess I’ll head to the gym later, see if she finds me there.”

Rarity beamed at him. “Splendid! Now, you get going. I have work to do, and you’ll only be in the way.” Rarity used her magic to lift Ryan up and toss him to the basement door.

She hadn’t controlled the throw much at all, and Ryan went stumbling down the stairs through the door, grunting and groaning all the way. At the bottom, he hit with a loud and unceremonious thud, landing square on his chest. Once he was set to go again, he got up and got himself dressed.

He donned his usual outfit, which was everything minus the cloak and the armor vest, and set out into town. Outside, he could see that no one was around or about today, as it was cold and snowy. Where, then, were the fillies going to get their construction cutie marks? He ignored the question and opted to go to the park and just sit down for a time before going to the gym. In the park, he could sit quietly and be in a peaceful place.

The walk to the park was short and silent, with not a flake of snow coming from the sky. Today, it was completely clear, not a cloud in sight. It was quite the change from yesterday, when it was dark and forbidding, ready to step out and kill whoever crossed it.

“Quite the transformation.” Ryan thought to himself.

In the park was exactly what he was expecting; his bench, the same trees, and total silence. It was all he could ask for, all he had been asking for. That was what he was preparing to live in the forest for. A place where he could be secluded, quiet, and alone with his crimes.

But, as always, things just wouldn’t go the way he wanted. “Ryan!”

Ryan sighed, knowing exactly who the loud, scratchy voice belonged to. He hadn’t expected to deal with this so early. “Hello, Rainbow.” he responded, going to his bench and taking a seat. “What brings you out so early?”

Rainbow had been flying about twenty feet off the ground and made a dive-bomb for where Ryan was just standing. “Hey.” she said as she landed.

After landing, she just sort of stood there, in her scarf, saddle, and boots, staring at the human in front of her, trying to formulate what she wanted to say. Meanwhile, Ryan simply waited, starting back at first, then looking away to take in the scenery as Rainbow thought. She couldn’t have been more thankful for that. The less he looked into her eyes while she talked, the easier it would be.

“So.” she started.

“So.”

Rainbow fiddled at the ground with the tips of her hooves, her eyes following suit. “So. I, uhh... Twilight told me... Uh, she said that you kinda... saved me.”

“Yeah.” Rainbow’s gaze shifted to Ryan’s face. He was so casual in his words, and it even showed on his face. How was he so cool about it?

“Umm... yeah. I wanted to thank you, for that. You know.”

“Okay.” Ryan replied, not sure if the mare was telling the truth.

“You think I’m lying.”

Well, she guessed it. “Honestly? Yes.”

“Why?”

Ryan gave her a flat look and crossed his arms. “Let’s see; you hate me, for one. You said how you want me to go away and never come back. You haven’t respected me in the slightest, and you’ve been outright afraid of me. I would bet that you’re only thanking me because you were told to.”

That last one hit Rainbow like a slap across the face. “Hey!” she said, losing her cool. “I’m trying to thank you here! You saved my life, I can be grateful for that, can’t I? Just because I was bad to you before doesn’t mean I can’t thank you and start being better, okay?”

Ryan blinked at the mare, who now stood huffing and angry before him, like she was ready to pounce on him and eat his face. “Hmm.” he said. She was angry. At him. For not believing her. Maybe she was genuine. “I believe you.”

“Well, I-” The anger came to an abrupt end. “What?”

“I believe you. I can see that you’re serious. I can also see that you’re swallowing a lot of pride by doing this.” Rainbow’s face turned slightly red and she turned away. “You’re a good pony for that.”

The red got a little deeper. “Thanks.”

“Yeah.” Ryan said with finality.

But Rainbow stuck around. “Yeah.” Curious, Ryan raised an eyebrow at her, though she didn’t seem to notice. “And, uhh, I wanted to really thank you for saving me. I’d be dead in a lake right now if it weren’t for you, after all.”

Before she had a chance to reach into her saddle and pull something out, Ryan had to get one word in. “Well, I can’t promise you that I’ll be very good, but I can certainly try my hardest.”

Rainbow’s face turned completely red and her hooves failed her for a moment, going completely astray and missing the intended target. “Hey!” she shouted.

Ryan couldn’t keep himself from laughing and smiling at her dismay, and very quickly, the laughter became contagious and spread to the mare. “Very funny.” she said between chuckles. “But seriously, I wanted to give you this.”

She pulled her hoof out, holding (How, for God’s sake?) a small slip of paper. “What is it?” Ryan asked as he took it from her. It read “WB 12/4”.

“It’s a ticket to the Wonderbolts show up in Canterlot this Tuesday. I thought you might want to go see them in action, and since I’ll be there, I can help you navigate the stadium.”

Ryan opened his eyes extra wide and looked at the ticket. Rainbow had given him something of actual value here, both monetary and sentimentally. This had significance.

“Wow, thanks.” he said, pocketing the ticket. “That means more than I think you know.”

Rainbow smiled at him, but not with her usual, cocky smile. It wa as gentle smile, one that displayed care and compassion, one that conveyed a feeling of friendship. Ryan hadn’t seen a smile like directed at him in a long time, really. And you know what? It felt pretty damn good.

“Don’t mention it.” she said. “Meet me at the station Tuesday morning at eight. Twilight and Rarity both know that you’ll be missing work on Tuesday and Wednesday, so don’t worry about them.”

Ryan stood up from his seat and stretched out his legs. “I’ll see you then.”

Rainbow hopped up into the air. “See you then!” And she sped off, clearly in a much better state than when she arrived.

With a ticket in his pocket and a schedule for the week, Ryan took off from his seat in the park. For some reason, he felt a need to go and work out. Right now, he had to go to the gym, get stronger. It would be useful for later.

****************************************************************************

Discord felt more than a little bit happy that Ryan accepted the ticket and the apology. In fact, he was so happy that he decided to play a little prank on Luna. Nothing huge, just pick up Starstep in his sleep and put him under her covers in a compromising position. Odds were pretty good that Ryan would have a name for it.

Other than that, he was having a ball, playing around with the residents of the castle. He hadn’t actually been watching Ryan as intently as he probably should lately, barely taking so much as a look at him during November. Ever since he shot down Celestia on Nightmare Night, he had pretty much decided that he would have to give the boy some time before he took a look at him again. He had really hoped that he would take on the call.

Even so, he had been fairly justified in not opting to take it. After all, he had gone through enough at the hands of terrorists in his life. He had no reason, desire, or obligation to anyone to have more done to him. Celestia thought that he could handle it, but she had yet to actually see these gryphons in battle. They were ferocious. Maybe not as clever or trained as Ryan, but still ferocious.

Ryan was in a tough spot at this point. Discord knew that Celestia would continue to believe that only Ryan was able to do this. She had been that way since the olden days; when she got on something, she stayed on it for the LONGEST time. That was part of why Discord had always been at odds with her; she was so resistant to new ideas.

Which was why Discord found it odd that she was so willing to go straight to Ryan instead of trying out her special mission tems for the rescue. Sure, the Nighthawks were gone right now, but she still had other Air Guard Assets; the 22nd Rapid Acquisition, Prosecution, Termination, and Objective Reconnaissance battalion was a good one to go with. Or the 35th Joint Strike Force. Those were her top two pegasus assets, her favorite overall, yet she refused to use them. Of course, they did require rather large teams to operate effectively, so maybe those units weren’t the best for the mission.

But back to Ryan! He was going to have to deal with indirect, pestering requests from the princess for a while at least, was Discord’s bet. They would be really annoying too; Ryan wouldn’t be able to outright say that he wouldn’t do it because Celestia would make the “request” in a public place with other ponies. He had to control his responses more than any other time, and word them more cleverly than ever before.

“‘Tis a shame.” Discord thought as he watched Ryan walk to the gym. “Celestia just can’t seem to see the value of the assets she already has. She needs to learn to be more like her sister; flexible and agile, open and adventurous, accepting and loose. If she were, she would be happier and have peace with those stupid gryphons.”

As he thought on the actual wording of his thoughts, another little prank came to be in his head. “Ooh, now THAT should be fun!” Happy with Ryan and how life seemed to be going, Discord reeled in his mind’s eye and prepared to torment poor young Starstep once again.

******************************************************************************

Tuesday came by like any other day, though when Ryan awoke, he knew that it would be different from any other day. Rainbow was bringing him to Canterlot to see an airshow, bringing along an attitude that wouldn’t make the human feel like he had to just leave and stick to his cave. It was set to be an interesting day.

As per the norm, Ryan was up fairly early, right around six, so he got changed as quickly as he could and set out. Since he knew it was cold, and would be especially so up in the mountain city, he opted to wear his armor under his vest and jacket. While it wasn’t massively warm, it did provide something, and Ryan didn’t expect to be needing a lot up there once they were inside the stadium.

As Ryan exited the boutique, he set the beret on his head and headed out to the train station. It was early and cold, so, as always, there was no one out. Lately, he had become fascinated with how such a populated town could seem so empty to anyone who wouldn’t know better. The lights were all off and there was no movement save for his own through the snowy ground. It was like the world of Fallout, almost.

Ryan arrived at the train station in not time and found himself surprised to see Rainbow Dash already there, waiting impatiently for the train. Or him. He wasn’t entirely sure.

“Morning, Rainbow.” he greeted as he stepped up onto the platform.

Rainbow yawned loudly, an action that spread easily to Ryan. “Yeah, morning.” she replied.

“You arrived here early.”

“Well, I don’t want to risk missing the train to the best airshow ever!” Rainbow shouted excitedly. “I mean, why did you come so early?”

Ryan stuck a finger in his ear, wishing the ponies weren’t so loud all the time. “Well, I’m always up early. I just planned on waiting here for the train and you to show up, but I guess now I’m just looking for the train.”

“Yep.”

Ryan looked around and found a bench and sat. Who wants to stand for an hour and a half while they wait for a train? Feeling the same way, Rainbow decided to take a seat next to him on the bench, playfully shoving him aside so she could lay down and nap. She fell asleep almost instantly, so Ryan was left alone for the rest of the wait, feeling awkward as Rainbow moved around in her sleep and set her head on his lap.

“This is weird.” he concluded quickly.

The horn of a train blasted in the morning air, causing a stir in the sleeping Rainbow, but failing to wake her up. “Get up, Rainbow.” Ryan ordered, poking her in the ear. “Time to get going.” Rainbow just mumbled something and rolled. Ryan sighed. “Wonderbolts.” he said, leaning right into her ear.

Her eyes shot open and she burst into the air, striking Ryan in the nose as she rose up. “Where?!” she asked. She looked around for a second, then turned her attention back to Ryan. At first, she was a bit peeved, but when she saw that she might have nearly broken his nose, her anger ebbed away. “Sorry.” she said as she came back to the ground.

Ryan rubbed his nose tenderly. “Don’t worry.” Ryan told her. The Wraith had done worse to him. “I’m good.”

Rainbow let out a sigh of relief, glad that she hadn’t inadvertently angered the human she was trying to make amends with. Knowing that Ryan wasn’t hurt, she turned around and took in the new scene. There were lots of ponies on the platform now, many with bags and suitcases, other, like her and Ryan, with only what they were wearing. They were all dressed for the cold weather, wearing scarves and boots and saddles. Some were even snottily dressed, like they were actually from Canterlot or something.

The train began to come to a stop, screeching loudly as it did so. In an effort to ignore it, Rainbow turned her attention to Ryan. His clothes were very different from anything the ponies were wearing. He wore his jacket, but he must have had something under it, because it looked really bulky and almost jagged in spots. He had long pants on, courtesy of Rarity, and he wore a pair of shoes that he had said once offhandedly were made for running. It was a very unique appearance he was giving off.

Rainbow was about to ask him about it when the train ponies shouted out, “All aboard!”

While Rainbow was looking away, Ryan stood up and stretched his back. “Well, we should probably get going.” he said as he walked toward the train.

Rainbow fell in line next to him. “Oh man, I can’t wait! This is always one of their best shows of the whole year!”

Ryan assured her that he would agree as they entered the car and looked for a place to sit. There were very few seats available in the car, many being occupied by groups of four ponies or more. Eventually, after moving all the way to the back, Ryan and Rainbow were able to find themselves a place to sit. After they were seated and the car doors closed, the train got moving and they set off to the city, one pony very much excited and one human curious as to what awaited him up there,

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The train ride had gone well enough, Rainbow explaining to Ryan everything she knew about the Wonderbolts and their training methods. She talked nonstop about how incredibly fast they were and how tough they were when it came to flying. She then went on to tell him about her own training methods, and how she was trying to match the Wonderbolts before she considered actually trying out.

When the train reached the city and everyone disembarked, Rainbow took the lead throguh the city. Ryan had no idea where the stadium was, so it was probably best to leave it to her. Initially, they had to walk through a less-than-nice section of the city, where they were surrounded by sketchy-looking ponies and gryphons who always had their claws and hooves or horns hidden. Ryan kept his hand on his Automag just to be safe.

But that area didn’t take very long to get through, and soon, they were in the nice, snooty, overindulgent section of the city. “I think I might have preferred the other area.” Ryan thought as he compared the two. At least the other area was full of the kinds of people/ponies/gryphons that he was familiar with.

Neither Ryan nor Rainbow seemed to be well-dressed enough to fit in around here, if the looks they were getting were any indication. Rainbow was adept at ignoring them, but Ryan kept finding his own gaze meeting those of the jackass ponies around him, more often than not getting them to look away. It seemed like his little fiasco here when he arrived with Rarity had been long forgotten.

The stadium came into view in all its cloudy and stony glory. “There it is!” Rainbow squealed as a fangirl would.

Ryan thought he should make that known. “You sound like quite the fangirl.”

Rainbow looked up at him with a mock frown. “Well, every mare can have at least one thing that makes them lose it.” She started trotting forward, requiring Ryan to jog alongside her to keep up. “Mine is watching all those Wonderbolts fly around in their tight spandex.”

“The mares or the stallions?” Ryan asked without thought.

“Trade secret.” Rainbow replied, getting Ryan to throw his hands into the air and give up easily. It wasn’t really his business anyway.

When they arrived at the stadium grounds, there was a massive line in front of the gateway in. Ponies were crammed into that line, at least two hundred, all wearing various Wonderbolts paraphernalia. Some wore silly hats, others had flags with their favorite stars on them. There were saddles, scarves, pony coats, ponies with painted faces, and little ones with dolls and such. There was no chance they would get in any time soon that way.

Ryan was about to point this out when Rainbow grabbed his arm and started pulling him in another direction. “Come on, we can get in the special way! That’s what these tickets are for!” Wait, really? They didn’t say anything but “WB 12/4” on them. How could they tell?

His question was answered when Rainbow brought him up to a door with a very large unicorn bouncer in front of it. The magic from his horn glowed a dark blue around the horn and the tickets, somehow checking for authenticity. “Go in.” he ordered. Rainbow squealed again, rather girlishly, and dragged Ryan through the door.

Through the door, Ryan noticed an instant rush of heat from above, implying magical heating, just as he had suspected the place would have. It was a good thing he didn’t bring his cloak, or he might have to leave it somewhere. Rainbow, on the other hand, had to take off her saddle and hang it in some closet for later retrieval, then removed her boots and scarf. When she finished with that, she beckoned to Ryan.

“Come on, let’s go! I’m starving!”

Ryan followed Rainbow through the building, going up a flight of stairs, down two halls, and through one last door. Through that door, there was a very nice room with lavishly decorated dining tables and the wondrous smell of well-prepared food.

A waiter came over to them as they entered. “What can I do for you?” he asked in a less-than-friendly tone.

“We’re here for our special seats.” Rainbow said, flashing her ticket. Ryan pulled his back out as well to avoid causing any trouble.

The waiter looked unsure. “Well, I’m glad to see you have the tickets, but this area requires... formal attire.”

Rainbow’s face deflated. “What?”

Before the waiter had a chance to speak, Ryan cut in, knowing that the mare might cause a scene if it went on to any length. “Well, I’m sure you have clothes for rental, right? Most high-class places where I’m from had such.”

The waiter blinked, then nodded. “Uhh, yes, we do. If the lady would go left down the hall and enter the first door on her right, there will be a changing room with outfits.”

“Go ahead Rainbow.” Ryan said. “I’ll get us our table.” Rainbow wanted to protest, but she knew that this was the only way to get in, so she just stalked off, grumbling the whole way over the fact that she had to make herself “pretty”.

Ryan turned back to the waiter, who still looked unsure. “Well, she will be taken care of. But what of you?” he asked. “We have no formal attire for you, sir. I’m sure you understand.”

Ryan nodded. “I do understand. But please, understand this; what I am wearing IS formal attire. At least, in the human world.” Ryan patted his clothes. “If this isn’t to your class standards, I must say that I find it personally offensive that you would say such things about my race, and I might not be liable to remain here if that is the case.”

The waiter’s eyes bulged from their sockets, exactly the reaction Ryan was looking for. “Oh, my, I am terribly sorry! I just thought that with how similar you seem to be to us, that you had the same fashion! I’m dreadfully sorry.”

“Think nothing of it.” Ryan replied. “But may I enter, is the question?”

“Oh, of course! What is your reservation?”

Ryan thought. “Uhh, try ‘Rainbow Dash’.” The waiter pulled out a list from his waiter uniform and looked it over, nodded, and had Ryan follow him to a table next to the window.

Ryan thanked the waiter and took his seat, glad that he was able to lie his way in. While he waited for Rainbow to show up, he figured he would take a look around, face his seat in the direction of the door like his dad always did back home.

Around him, there were only the highest-class, snottiest ponies one might encounter in Canterlot. Most of them had their menus out and some other form in their hooves, chatting incessantly about one thing or another. None of them looked in his direction, probably not noticing his presence, which was actually a welcome change. There was one in particular, though, who just got under Ryan’s skin for some reason. He was a tall white stallion with a blonde, wavy mane and tail, and wore this ridiculous looking pony suit that only covered his chest. His cutie mark was that weird symbol that you see as a compass on really old maps, but Ryan doubted that that was what he did.

Choosing to ignore the presence of the stallion, Ryan looked out the window at the grounds. Outside, there was what was obviously a racetrack, so that might make the extra forms gambling forms. Rich people and their rich people habits are always the same, it seemed. Also outside was a series of cloud hoops, some of which were white, others which were clearly thunderheads. There were all kinds of interesting obstacles out there that would demand the most of the Wonderbolts flight team. It was no wonder they were the best.

‘So what do you think?”

Ryan turned his head around to see Rainbow Dash wearing a simple white dress walking up to the table. “Of the grounds or you in that dress?” Ryan asked, getting a small blush from the mare. Not sufficient. “‘Cuz either way, I would say that lots of ponies would love to be all over it.”

Rainbow’s blush became a full-on flush on her face, and when she walked over, she gave Ryan a strong punch in the shoulder. “Cool, Ryan. Cool.” Ryan chuckled as he rubbed his shoulder. Damn, she hit him hard. “But yeah, it’s a pretty awesome track. I really want to run it someday.”

“I bet you will, as long as you keep training.” Ryan said simply.

Rainbow grinned at his compliment, obviously enjoying the lack of hostilities. Ryan had to admit that he was enjoying it himself. He picked up his own menu and started going through it. There were, of course, all sorts of vegan options on it. Salads, steamed vegetables, and other things Ryan had never heard of. But there was one thing on it he hadn’t seen coming, one thing that stood out; a slab of beef.

“Is that beef?” Ryan asked.

Rainbow took a second to reply. “Uhh, yeah. They have that for visiting gryphons.”

Rainbow sounded uncomfortable. “I guess that you would be uncomfortable if I ordered it, then?” Ryan asked. He didn’t want to impose.

“No, no, you can order it.” Rainbow said. “I promise not to freak out.” Ryan gave her a look of uncertainty. “No, really. Go ahead, I know you eat meat.”

Well, she did say he could order it. Once Rainbow had decided what she was going to get, Ryan waved over the waiter and they placed the orders. After jotting them down on the paper, the waiter walked off without taking a glance back at Ryan like Ryan had expected him to. Ryan was a strange being to them, so a strange appetite must make sense.

His stomach growled. “This may be awhile.” Ryan thought, looking around at all the other patrons. Given that most of them had ordered first, it was a good bet that they would be first.

He stood from his seat and looked around. There was a salad bar, albeit lightly done, over at the other end of the room. “I’m gonna hit the salad bar while we wait for the actual food.” Ryan said.

“All right then.” Rainbow replied. “While you’re there, could you grab me some bread?”

“Sure.”

Ryah walked off to the other end of the room and took inventory of what they had. There was indeed some bread, which Ryan took immediately and placed on a small plate for Rainbow. After a bit more scanning, Ryan was able to pick out some more bread for himself, some lettuce, tomatoes, and mashed potatoes. There were also little ketchup packets in a tray on the end of the table, of which Ryan grabbed several. You can never have too much ketchup ready.

It didn’t take long for Ryan to get the food. But on the way back, he noticed that there was a stallion, that annoying looking white one, talking to Rainbow. Rainbow’s face had a very distinct look of disgust and disdain on it for the stallion, who had his own look of smugness about him. He kept trying to put his hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder, which she would swat away. Amazing, how much can happen when you’re just going to grab a plate or two of salad items.

Ryan got close enough to hear and slowed down to get the full story. “For the last time, Blueblood, I’m not interested!” Rainbow almost yelled.

“Come now, miss Dash. You must admit that it would be most enjoyable.” Oh boy. “I can assure you that I have the greatest abilities of anyone here. I can make you feel like a real mare.”

“No, you ass!” Rainbow cursed. The one called Blueblood feigned offense. “I don’t want you, and I never will. So leave me alone!”

Ryan was right up behind him now, ready to act. All he needed was one cue. “Come now. I’m royalty! I can give you anything.”

“I’m not a prostitute.” Rainbow growled, baring her teeth.

“Well, then, let me tell you this last thing.” Blueblood lowered his voice dangerously low. “As royalty, I get. Anything. I. Want.”

And that was the cue.

Blueblood had been aggressive, and now, it seemed like it was paying off. After he said that, he noticed the Rainbow mare’s eyes shoot extremely wide, clearly realizing that she couldn’t say no. But at the same time, something cold and circular seemed to be poking the back of his head.

“What do you want?” he asked without turning around. “I’m trying to talk to this mare.”

“I don't give a fuck.” came the response. A male voice, probably another stallion trying to take his mark.

He wouldn’t stand for it! “What do you want, you repugnant knave?!” Blueblood shouted loudly as he spun around.

But his eyes didn’t land on any sort of noble pony. Nay, nopony at all. It was a strange creature with a bizarre instrument in its grasp. “What I want is for you to stop harassing my friend.” it said.

Blueblood took in its full appearance, but focused more on its face and eyes. In the eyes, he saw more rage than he had ever seen before. But it wasn’t a powerful rage, like an inferno that would burn down all of Canterlot. It was a frozen rage, the kind that kills silently and with no visible aftereffect.

“And who are you, to determine what I am doing, or who I am doing it with?”

“I’m Ryan.” the creature replied, placing two small plates on the table where the mare was sitting. “And I’m the guy who won’t tolerate ponies like you existing in the same world as me.” Blueblood was about to respond when Ryan cut him off. “As such, I will give you a choice. You can either leave her alone and go back to your own business, where neither she nor I will be around to speak to you. Or, you can defy me, and we can find out what the inside of your skull looks like.”

“I refuse to-” He stopped. Wait, did Ryan just threaten him? For real? “I... I refuse to let you speak to me this way!”

Ryan cocked his head to the side. “Really?” he said. The human leaned in close, just close enough for his breath to cake Blueblood’s face. “What’re you gonna do about it, bitch?”

Whoever this guy was, he was clearly very unafraid of Blueblood. But at the same time, he didn’t know who he was. “Do you know who I am?” the stallion asked confidently. He had him now.

“Do I give a shit?”

So rude. “I am Prince Blueblood, nephew to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna! You bow to me, respect me, and do not hinder me! I am your ruler, and you will treat me as such!”

Ryan furrowed his brow, his eyes becoming slits on his face. “All right.”

Before Blueblood could react, Ryan brought his hand back and then threw it forward, striking him across the muzzle with the instrument in his hand. As Blueblood fell back, Ryan followed the strike with a knee to the chest, raising Blueblood into the air, then put his hand on his chest and shoved him back onto a nearby table, throwing him down on it full force. The table was smashed to pieces under Blueblood, splintering and cutting his back. The couple sitting at the table screamed as the prince went down.

“Ahg!” he shouted as the pain shot through him.

He tried to get up , but the pain was too much, and a large weight on his side kept him down. “You know what makes me really angry? Ryan asked, grinding his foot into Blueblood’s side.

Blueblood couldn’t respond. “What makes me angry is people in positions of power who think they can do whatever the hell they want. You think you can take what you want from us. You think you can abuse us, treat us like garbage. Well, guess what?”

“You only have power because we give it to you. If people, or I guess ponies, were to just stand together and say ‘No’, you would have no power. They wouldn’t listen to you. They wouldn’t follow your law. They follow your law because it’s worked so far. But what you do, taking advantage of that? It makes me very angry.”

“Ryan, stop!” Rainbow yelled from the sidelines.

Ryan let up and took his foot off the prince. Looking around, he could see that everyone was watching him kicking the crap out of the prince, some with looks of fear, others with looks of glee. He stepped away from the pathetic prince and walked back over to the table, where Rainbow was waiting for him.

“Consider yourself lucky, Prince Blueblood. I let you go this time. But if you try anything again, I will hurt you. For real.”

Ryan took his seat and started eating his bread, ignoring the looks of those around him. At first, Rainbow looked around, worried that they might be kicked out for what just happened, but when no one moved to come at them, she sat down, though she still felt uneasy. After a few minutes, she decided to do what Ryan was doing and ignore the other ponies. Pretty soon, they were unlooked at and no longer noticed.

Rainbow chewed slowly and quietly on her food. “Uhh...” She wanted to muster up the courage to thank Ryan for doing what he did, but for some reason, it was really hard at the moment. “Thanks.”

“Your welcome.” Ryan replied. “He had it coming.”

The mare chuckled lightly. “Yeah, he’s had it coming for a while now.”

She went on to explain the events of the last Grand Galloping Gala to the human, telling Ryan about how Blueblood had mistreated Rarity there and how generally he was a total ass. She also told him about the other adventures they had, from Fluttershy’s insanity to Rainbow’s own disappointment at not being noticed by the Wonderbolts. Ryan listened quietly, occasionally throwing in his own comment here and there. It was a pleasant conversation.

“MARES AND GENTLECOLTS!”

The announcer was loud and sounded large, like an announcer at a good sporting event. This had potential to be pretty good.

“WELCOME TO THE CANTERLOT RACE! TODAY, WE GET TO SEE WHO IS FASTEST; SOARIN’, SPITFIRE, OR THUNDERBOLT!” He then went on to tell the crowd about the obstacle course above the track, which would be featured after the race.

As soon as he was done talking and the crowd started cheering, the Wonderbolts came out to race. Rainbow Dash started screaming for Spitfire, trying to demean the other two fliers at the same time. Of course, Ryan had to root for Soarin’, them being drinking buddies and all.

They were buddies. Friends, even. Ryan had saved his girlfriend from imminent bodily harm, after all. He did it because he was angry at the Wraith, though. Right? So did that make them friends? He remembered seeing Nadine again in the alley, and he attacked because of that. At least, that’s what he thought he did. Why did he help? What drove him to do that?

His thoughts were interrupted by the horn blowing and the racers speeding off down the track. They were fast, to be sure. From the distance Ryan was watching at, he could see them, but from down low, they were probably just blurs to the spectators. As they passed by the crowds, hats were lost and the winds from the pegasi tore at the ponies, causing them to list to the side from the force.

The race didn’t last that long, only about six minutes. A pony can only fly so fast for so long, one would suppose. The winner was Spitfire, followed very closely by Soarin’, and then by Thunderbolt. All three of them were very amiable afterwards, hugging each other and waving to the crowds, who was clearly very satisfied with their performance. The only ponies who were unhappy were up with Ryan and Rainbow, and they were only unhappy because they lost their bets and their money.

The following stunt show was a sight to behold. The Wonderbolts made the tightest turned imaginable, going more than ninety degrees on numerous occasions. They shot through hoops and closing doors made of the thunderhead clouds, flashed by each other less than an inch apart. It was astonishing that they never struck each other or screwed up in the air and got hurt. No wonder Rainbow wanted to join.

Then, an intermission came, along with the food. The waiter, a unicorn, carried the plates on his back under a dome, head held high, and eyes closed. That last part was really unnecessary though.

“Lunch.” he said simply, setting the plates down with magic.

“Awesome.” Ryan replied, taking the dome off his dish. What he saw turned his mouth into a lake; a beautifully cut and cooked steak, seasoned with pepper and onions, the juices culminating at the base of the cut of meat. The smell wafted off of the delicious meal and into Ryan’s nostrils, immersing them in the familiar taste and smell of cooked meat. It had been so long since he had a decent meal... he would have to savor this.

Rainbow scrunched her nose at Ryan’s food, but when she opened up her own, her mouth practically became a waterfall. In the center of her plate was a Bloomin’ Onion, like at Outback Steakhouse, surrounded by several very well-seasoned sections of assorted cut veggies. When Ryan looked at her plate, he found his own mouth watering, but not nearly to the extent to which it watered at his plate. Without waiting to be polite, they dug into their meals and made quick work of them.

Ryan let out a large belch at the end of his feeding. “Sorry.” he said. “I just couldn’t help myself.”

“Oh, no prob-” Before Rainbow could finish her sentence, she let out her own behemoth of a belch, attracting the attention of more than a few other tables and waiters. She slapped a hoof to her face, which was completely red, and her eyes darted from left to right, gauging how bad it was. As she saw how many ponies were looking at her, she started to sink lower and lower into her seat.

“Bahahahaha!” Ryan couldn’t help himself, it was just too funny. Here was the ordinarily socially uncaring Rainbow Dash, shrinking away because of a mannish belch, the likes of which she made regularly. That girlish fandom in her was coming out a little strong, it seemed.

She frowned at him, her embarrassment getting worse with every laugh. “Oh, stuff it.”

“I would, but it might come back out if I did.” Ryan decided to go with light teasing, seeing as they were in public and Rainbow was clearly embarrassed.

Gradually, Rainbow regained her comfort and was able to once again ignore the other ponies, getting them to, once again, ignore her and Ryan. And after a minute of calming chuckles, Ryan was able to continue their conversation.

“So, how long is the intermission?” he asked.

“They’re usually about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. Wonderbolts have to eat too.” Her words made sense, a sense that, for some reason, most people don’t seem to have. Famous people aren’t superhuman, or superpony. They’re just like everyone else, just talented in certain areas.

Ryan leaned back in his seat and threw his hands behind his head. “Well, since we have time to kill, what do we do?”

Rainbow shrugged. “I don't know. Talk?” She looked around. “I don't think our premo seats will still be open if we leave.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

So they sat there, talking about various things. At first, it was all about Rainbow, but later on, it became about Ryan and his world. Ryan ended up telling her about the US Navy Blue Angels, and how closely they resembled the Wonderbolts. They even had the same color scheme and similar flight stunts, something Rainbow found fascinating. The conversation quickly turned to other forms of flight, and eventually to the fastest planes around.

Unfortunately, Ryan didn’t notice a certain white stallion coming up to them from the side, positively steaming from anger. He stomped over, completely unnoticed by the distracted pair, and placed himself beside the table, releasing loud huff to announce himself.

The conversation ceased, with Ryan just tilting his head to look at the prince. “Problem?”

“There is a problem.” Blueblood responded maliciously. “YOU are the problem. You have no business being here, and neither does your pathetic marefriend.”

“Hey!” Rainbow said, flying up into the air.

Ryan put up his hand to stop her. “Well, let me correct you on some things. We aren’t together. This trip was a gift from her to me to make up for some things that are all in the past now. Second, she isn’t pathetic, and I won’t tolerate you berating her so unjustifiably.” Ryan ended the statement with a strong air of finality on the issue. If Blueblood decided to keep it up, he might have a little something coming his way that Ryan knew all too well he would get in trouble for.

“Yeah!” Rainbow interjected. “I’m gonna be a Wonderbolt someday, so don’t think you can treat me like that! I’m the fastest in Equestria, and never forget it!”

“Who gave you that nickname?” Blueblood asked, taking up a defensive stand. Ryan knew that something was coming, he knew that Blueblood was about to do something he would regret. And by God if Ryan wouldn’t make sure he did regret it.

“Your friends, or your local peasant stallions?”

Rainbow’s jaw dropped like a sack of grain at his words. She had no response to him; that one would stoop so low as to say that to a mare with no backing whatsoever was almost unheard of. The other ponies around had heard him as well, and many of them found themselves slack-jawed ta his boldness. Most of the mares were clearly pissed, and they looked like they were ready to jump on him and beat him.

But Ryan had another idea. “Alright.” he said, standing up casually. “I’ve had enough of you.”

Blueblood turned to him to berate the peasant some more, but when he faced him, he found himself staring down the tube of the object in Ryan’s hand. He wanted to let the human know how pathetic he looked, holding that silly thing like that in a threatening manner, but something stopped him. For just a split-second, he saw the Rainbow mare’s face change from a look of fury to a look of horror. It was enough to make him think for a moment.

A moment too much. “Ryan!” the mare shouted.

The open tube had been pointing directly into Blueblood’s eye at first, but Ryan moved it at the last second, pointing it slightly upward and away from Blueblood’s face. Then, before he knew how to react, an ear-pounding BOOM roared through the room, and he found himself being hurled back by the top of his head.

There were screams from all around the room, ponies running every which way and knocking tables over. The Rainbow mare had dove away, covering her ears with her hooves. Blueblood would have covered his ears with his own hooves, had his head not demanded that they go there to apply pressure to a massive pain up there.

“I don't know if horns grow back on their own, but you better hope they do.”

Blueblood felt his horn; it was gone! Shattered, blown to pieces! A large chunk of it was sitting right in front of his head, a chunk that he found himself oddly fascinated with. There was a piece of him, a part of his body, sitting there, no longer attached to him. Out of it, some kind of strange, golden liquid, one that almost looked like a magic aura, flowed freely, pooling around the horn. As he noticed that, he noticed the feeling of something trickling down his own forehead.

It was the very same substance, and when he looked at his hooves, he noticed that they were covered in it. The pain in his forehead, clearly centered around his horn, was subsiding to the shock of seeing a piece of him so far from where it was supposed to be.

Blueblood realized what was going on; that instrument had smashed his horn off. He had no idea how, but it had done it. And it could probably do the same to the rest of him.

Blueblood looked up at the human, a renewed sense of fear in his eyes, and trembled. He had never been so afraid, never encountered something so barbaric, so powerful. This human put fear in him. And it had no fears of Blueblood. Nor, likely, of the princesses.

“Please!” he shouted, pushing himself back ineffectively. “Don’t hurt me!”

Ryan cocked his head to the side, then put the pistol against his hip. “Why?” he asked, a tiny grin splaying out on his face.

He pulled the gun back up and aimed it at Blueblood. “Maybe I should? he said. Blueblood whimpered. “Maybe I can just kill you, save someone else the trouble later. I could, you know.”

“Please!” Blueblood begged. “Please, spare me! I won’t do anything else, I swear!”

Ryan sighed. “I know that you’re just saying that, that you aren’t serious or truthful. You know it, too. So don’t lie to me about this. You need to offer me something real, an actual reason for me to let you live.”

Blueblood tried to think of something, anything, that would get him out. Then it popped into his mind. With a new sense of power, and a passion to get back at the human, he said, “You’ll go to prison for the remainder of your days.”

Ryan didn’t move. He didn’t speak. Blueblood had him! Even the rainbow mare, who was peeking at them from under the table now, could obviously see the severity of these consequences. There was no way for Ryan to get out now.

“Back home, they would give me death.” he said in a stale voice. “You guys really don’t know what real crime and punishment is, do you?”

And the fear was back. “No! Y-you can’t do this!”

Ryan simpered at him. “Wrong answer!”

And with that, the final shot from the Automag was loosed into the world, the .44 magnum bullet whizzing towards its target. It hit home, smashing it to pieces and sending bits of it all over the place. The target crumpled under the destructive power of the bullet, falling apart and going limp on the ground.

Blueblood stared up at the human, terror across his face. “Well.” Ryan said, holstering the gun. “I guess I missed.” The human smiled sneered at the prince as he fainted on the ground in front of the tableleg Ryan just destroyed.

Goal achieved, Ryan took a look around. How had so much damage been done to this room in that fight? They hadn’t even moved from this area. It must have been the other patrons. Of course, Ryan would probably get most of the blame.

While he surveyed the damage, Rainbow came out of her hiding spot and stood next to him. “Wow.” she commented. “You, uhh... really know how to be scary.”

“Thanks.” Ryan replied without thought.

“I thought you were gonna kill him.”

The boy laughed heartily. “You know, I just might have.” The Prince was still breathing, but that wasn’t the point. “Come on, we should probably leave.”

Rainbow nodded. “That would be best.”

They made their way out of the stadium, moving through panicked crowds and angry fans who were missing the second half of the show. Apparently, the sound of the shot had rang throughout the whole stadium, and everypony was told to evacuate. Ryan could only hope that he would be able to get out unnoticed, as he had no desire to deal with the shitstorm that was about to ground all his flights out of the city.

Too late, though. “You there! HALT!”

Rainbow spun around and Ryan halted his movement. “Gah, fuck.”

He turned around to find himself face to face with a dozen royal guards, all in their impractical golden armor and carrying their primitive spears. After counting them, Ryan determined that he would be able to take them, if he was so inclined, and if he was willing to sacrifice any of his 1911 ammunition. He still had all fourteen shots left.

“Don’t move.” the obvious leader ordered as he approached.

“Do I look like I’m trying to leave?” Ryan asked back sassily.

Rainbow gave him a disapproving look, though it went unnoticed. “We have reports that you were involved in a fight in the stadium and that you are the source of the explosion.”

“That is correct.” Both the guard and Rainbow reeled back, stunned at his giving up the information so easily.

“Uhh, right. We need the details.”

Ryan was about to start talking, when, of course, a very angry, very nasty-looking prince came out of the building behind them. “Arrest him!”

“When did I tell you you could get up?” Ryan asked without turning.

The guard looked confusedly back and forth between Ryan and the prince, trying to figure out who would speak to the prince in such a way. “What’s going on here?”

And off Blueblood went, whining about how Ryan beat the shit out of him and then smashed his horn. But it didn’t stop there. He started making crap up, saying that he pulled a knife on the prince, and that he stabbed him with it. Sure, he had a knife, and the thought crossed his mind, but that never actually happened. At the end of his tale, the guard looked shocked.

He turned to Ryan, unsure of how to safely do this. “You are coming with me.” he ordered.

“Uh, how about fuck you?" Ryan replied. Now, he had no intention of being taken by authorities.

The guard furrowed his brow at the human. “I’m not asking.”

“And I’m not telling.” The guard raised an eyebrow at the odd phrase, but ignored it.

“Guards!” he shouted, getting his spear from where it hung on his side. “Arrest him!”

The guards started moving in around Ryan to capture him. Ryan, in turn, moved himself into position, namely by shoving Rainbow away and getting as low as possible. He considered grabbing Blueblood, but figured that kidnapping would only make the inevitable punishment from Luna that much worse. It ha been a while since he last saw her; this was NOT how he wanted to see her again.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?”

Two royal Canterlot voices boomed through the air, deafening all who stood in the general area. Many ponies were as affected by them as by the gunshot, and dove for cover, sticking their hooves in their ears. The guards all ceased their actions and stood at attention, whereas Blueblood looked elated that the cavalry had arrived.

The two princesses floated down from the sky, eyes aglow, wings flared. When they landed, they were indisputably unhappy with what was going on. As they stomped over to Ryan’s position, they took careful note of all parties involved.

And Luna was incredibly displeased. “Ryan. What have you done here?” she asked. Then, in the blink of an eye, she and her sister were before him. “Why are you involved in this mayhem?”

Ryan went to speak, but again, found himself interrupted. “Auntie, he assaulted me!”

“Shut it, Blue.” Ryan ordered in his most commanding voice. Blueblood’s jaw shut instantly, hesitant to continue. He hadn’t heard him talk like this; he was serious now. Even Luna had to admit that it was intimidating. “Let me tell you the truth of the matter.”

Ryan went on to explain how Blueblood had been harassing and trying to intimidate Rainbow into going home with him, and how Ryan responded the first time. Luna did not seem to care, though Celestia clearly showed some level of concern in her face. When he went on to explain the second confrontation, Luna started to look a little less than furious, but still more than angry. Celestia, on the other hand, looked like she was ready to shank someone.

“Blueblood.” the princesses said, murder in their voices. Ryan swallowed hard; it was probably directed at him.

“Yes?” he replied shakily. Whoever you are, wherever you are, when you’re around two very powerful, very angry princesses who could literally murder you and get away with it, it tends to put your own lack of power into perspective.

“Go to the castle. We will speak with you later.” Blueblood’s eyes shrank to pinholes, and he sprinted off, tail between his legs, leaving a trail of that weird stuff behind him.

“As for you.” the princesses said to Ryan, still together.

“I was defending Rainbow from your rapist of a nephew.” Ryan said, still smoldering from earlier.

The princesses were silent for a moment. “I understand.” Luna said, her eyes losing their glow.

Celestia sighed, her own eyes calming down. “Yes, I as well. We will address this problem later.”

Ryan was surprised, to say the least. He thought that shooting a member of the royal family would have consequences. He had severely injured the prince, possibly crippling the one thing that might have made him special. But then, from the reactions of the princesses, Ryan could tell that this guy was problematic. Maybe it was a fitting punishment.

“Rainbow Dash!” Luna shouted.

She shot back over in the air, looking ready for a fight. “What is it, princess?”

“Can you vouch for everything Ryan has said?”

“Yes.” she replied without hesitation. “He’s telling the truth; he doesn’t have reason to lie. You can trust him.”

Ryan looked up at the rainbow mare, a smile creeping onto his face, then turned back to the princesses. “I hope that I can go now.” Ryan said.

Luna nodded, but Celestia shook her head. “I am sorry.” she said, causing Luna to spin around to face her sister with accusing eyes. “But I need to get an official statement from you.”

When she said “I’m sorry”, Ryan felt himself tense up and prepare to flee the scene, but when Celestia finished her statement, he let out a pent-up breath he didn’t know he was holding. Still, though, he couldn’t help but suspect something.

“Okay then.”

Celestia nodded. “Come with me, we shall do this elsewhere.”

Ryan glanced at Rainbow and Luna, both of whom gave him reassuring smiles and encouraged him to follow. Rainbow helped a little, but with Luna’s reassurance, RYan knew that it would be safe to go.

“Lead the way.” he said, sticking his hands in his pockets.

Celestia turned around and started walking off with Ryan behind her. As they furthered themselves from the large group of ponies still exiting the stadium, Celestia slowed down, allowing Ryan to start walking next to her for a time. Neither spoke as they walked, Ryan waiting for Celestia to initiate and Celestia trying to determine what she was going to say.

When Celestia deemed that they had distanced themselves enough from everypony, she had them stop. Now, they were standing outside the Wonderbolts Entrance, where there was normally beefed up security, and there were mirrors all over the place.

“Let’s sit.” Celestia said, walking over to a wall and planting he rhind on it, sliding down to the ground and into a sitting position. Ryan shrugged to himself and decided that he may as well sit also. Ryan walked to a spot about six feet from the princess and dropped to the ground, legs crossed.

“So we’re here.” Ryan said, crossing his arms in his lap. “But I’m not sure what needs to be said.”

Celestia breathed deeply and quietly for a minute, looking at the ground. “You know why I brought you over here.”

“It seems pretty obvious.”

She sighed. “I know that you don’t want to do it. You don’t have any obligation to me, my subjects, or even Luna.”

“You’re right.” Ryan said. He put his hands on the ground and started to push himself up, looking away. “I don’t.”

“Please.”

Ryan stopped. He looked at the princess before him, sitting against a concrete wall, a bastion of light against a gray canvas. Her face looked not serious, but sad. She was sad, sad about Ryan and Blazer and everything that was happening. She could hide it from everyone else, but Ryan could see it plain as day.

“Please... we need help.”

“What makes you think I can help?” Ryan said, standing all the way up. “Why do you think I can do anything?”

Celestia looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Because you have more to lose in this fight than anypony else.”

Ryan took in a deep breath and let it out slowly and deliberately. “If there is one thing you need to know about me, princess,” Ryan started. He lowered his voice to a whisper, just barely audible over the chaos not too far away. “It’s that I have nothing to lose any more.”

Celestia stared into the human’s eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Then, sighing deeply, she stood up, and looked down at Ryan sadly. “If only you could see.”

“I can see.” Ryan said, his voice like a razor. “I can see that I’m done here.”

He started to walk away without the princess, but she trotted to catch up to him. “Very well.” she said in defeat. “I can’t make you do anything.”

Ryan nodded his head slowly. “I’m glad we understand each other.”

There was a pause, an unusual stop in conversation that told Ryan exactly what the princess was thinking. “I suppose, then, that we have nothing else to discuss.”

“We don’t.”

Nothing else was said, no more words exchanged between the two that day. They just walked back to Luna and Rainbow in silence, doing their best to hide the growing tensions between them. When they came back to Luna and Rainbow, they were greeted with oblivious smiles and pleasantries.

Rainbow flew up and tapped Ryan on the head, pushing on the beret. “Hey, so is everything done?” she asked.

Ryan looked at the princess, then back to Rainbow. “Yes, I would say that it’s finished. Unless something comes up again, then I’ll probably have to restate my story.”

Celestia flashed a look, just for a split-moment, of disappointment, one that Luna just managed to catch. She figured it was probably just something about Ryan wanting to further injure Blueblood, something she understood perfectly.

She walked up to the boy from behind and tapped his shoulder, and when he turned around, she grabbed him in powerful hug. “It is good to see you again!” she said, squeezing him as tight as she could. He was lucky that her forelegs weren’t designed for the motion, or it might actually be bad.

“Good to see you too.” he strained out. When he finished, Luna dropped him, and he barely managed to catch himself when his feet hit the ground. “How’s life?”

“Life is nice.” Luna replied. “I trust Ponyville is treating you well?”

Ryan looked at Rainbow and smirked. “It seems to be getting better over time.”

Luna beamed at him, oddly excited about his comment, and was about to continue speaking when a guard ran up to the group from the crowd.

“Princesses, your presence is needed at the castle. The leader of the Southern Gryphon Colonies is scrying us through the mirror. He needs to speak with you both.”

Luna frowned frustratedly at the guard. “Very well. Sister?”

Celestia was already in the air. “Yes, I am on my way there now. Don’t take too long.”

With that, the princess of the sun was gone. “Well, I suppose I should go.” Luna said, just glad to say goodbye. “I’ll see you again soon, I hope!”

She jumped at Ryan and hugged him around the neck, a hug which Ryan returned heartily. “Yeah, I hope so too.”

At the guard’s urging, the princess disengaged herself from the human and took some steps back, waving to him as a teleportation spell flashed into being and she disappeared.

With nothing keeping them there and no reason to stay, Rainbow grabbed Ryan by the arm and started dragging him off. “Let’s head home.” she said.

Ryan went with her without question, but wondered why she wasn’t eager to stay. They trotted and jogged away from the insanity of the stadium, angry fans still yelling every which way and guards trying to keep the peace. As they got further and further away from the stadium, the sounds faded away more and more, eventually leaving them with the standard noises of any big city.

They reached the train station quickly, though because they were missing the second half of the show, they were over two hours early to get their train.

“Rainbow, we’re kind of early.” Ryan said as they walked onto the platform.

Rainbow shrugged. “Yeah, well, they’re pretty lenient. We can just board the next train that shows up.”

Ryan could accept that; terrorism didn’t seem to be a huge problem here. While they waited, standing there on the platform, surrounded by less-than-lavishly dressed ponies of varying colors and sizes, Ryan tried to think of anything that could make sense of everything that was happening. Life was becoming weird to him; not weird in a “something is fishy” kind of way, but in a “I don’t know what’s going to happen next” kind of way. Nothing seemed to make any sense, nor did it become any clearer as the days went on.

The blaring horn of the train yanked him from his thoughts. “The train’s here, let’s get ready to board.” Rainbow started moving toward the edge of the platform where the doors to the car would be. Ryan followed soon after, trying his best not to run into any other ponies on his way there as everypony converged on that one area.

The train came to a screeching stop and the doors flew open on the other side, letting the passengers out before the crowd rushed inside. Once they were gone, those doors shut and the doors on Ryan’s side opened up, and he and Rainbow were shoved inside by the mob of voices and bodies behind them.

As soon as they were in, Rainbow led the way to a table where they could sit comfortably for the rest of the ride and claimed it. Ryan quickly took the seat across from her to avoid getting separated by aggressive ponies looking for seats. These ponies were no better than the people back home.

The seating and luggage storing took only minutes, and soon, the train was off, horn blowing and wheels grinding against the tracks. As the train lurched forward, Ryan looked at the window at the passing landscape. The forests and mountains in the distance were really quite glorious from up in the mountain city, and they reminded Ryan of a few places back home.

Home. He hadn’t been giving it that much thought lately. He was from the United States of America, a land with enormous geographic variation, tons of people, and all sorts of stuff going on. Here, he was in a peaceful land, one where he could sit aside and let things happen. Back home, he wanted to be a part of his land, to defend the freedom he had grown up with. He always felt a strange obligation to.

But here, he had no such obligation. Why? Just because it wasn’t America didn’t mean he couldn’t still defend freedom. What was it that was stopping him? Where did his loyalty truly lay, anyhow? He had no desire to affiliate himself with the politicians in his government, that was for certain. Who was he loyal to? The people of the United States, that was true. But there was more. He had always hated that people out there suffered for what they believed in or for who they were. His loyalty was to his country, sure; but his true loyalty was with the well-being of the people. Of all people.

And he did have an obligation to those people, at least, in his mind. Back in the day. He had wanted to protect them, and by killing Narendra, he did do something. But the reason... his reason had nothing to do with people. It was all about him. Was he truly loyal to them? Or was he only concerned about himself?

“Ryan?” Rainbow said, waving a hoof. He didn’t respond. “Yoohoo! Ryan, you in there?”

Ryan flinched back into reality. “Huh, wha?”

She chuckled. “You kind of spaced out there.” she said, looking at him oddly. Her countenance took on a look of concern. “You okay?”

Ryan took in a deep breath, then nodded. “Yeah. I am.” he said. There was a strange hint of ... something, in his voice. Like he was done with something, that he didn’t want to talk about something any more, as if he had been talking about it. “I’m good.”

“Okaaay...” Rainbow said, leaning back into her seat. “So how did you like the show?” she asked.

Ryan took off his beret and set it on the table, the item catching Rainbow’s eyes. “I thought it was pretty epic.” he said, getting an approving look from Rainbow Dash. “But I have to ask.”

“What?” Rainbow replied, confused.

“Why so ready to leave at the end?” Ryan asked. “You love the Wonderbolts.”

Rainbow blinked, then shrugged. “Well, I’ve seen them a lot, and I didn’t want us to get in trouble.” Ryan only looked half-convinced at her, raising an eyebrow. “Aaand, you gave me a show by beating up Blueblood. I’ve always wanted to see him eat it.”

Ryan smirked, letting out a small chuckle. “Well, I’m glad I could please you.” he said, receiving a sheepish smile from the mare.

Rainbow didn’t continue; she just looked at the beret on the table. Eventually, she mustered up enough courage to bring it up.

“So, what is that, exactly?” she asked.

Ryan looked at it, then back to Rainbow. “I thought I explained it.” he said. Rainbow didn’t look up. “Well, it’s the beret worn by US Army Special Forces. I got it from Narendra just before we killed each other.” Rainbow poked at it. “The guys who go through the training and earn the right to wear it are some of the best. Not as good as SEALs, of course. But still; some of the best.”

Rainbow kept poking it, moving it around and looking at the various spots on it, trying to find anything other than the insignia on the top. She even flipped it over, though Ryan didn’t really care that much. She could handle it if she wanted to; it was never his anyway.

“You can try it on if you want.” Ryan said casually.

Rainbow staggered in her seat for a moment, surprised, but then, a big smile splayed out across her face, and she grabbed the green beret and threw it onto her head. Wearing it, she looked like a parody of a Special Forces soldier, wearing a goofy smile and looking like she felt a new sense of toughness. It was honestly adorable, the way she puffed out her chest and looked all confident.

“This feels really cool.” she said.

Ryan didn’t respond at first. He had to think about her statement; it was pretty cool, actually. Ignoring how he got it, wearing the signature item of the Green Berets is pretty special. That you would be allowed to wear it shows something in you, something that either someone saw in you or something that enabled you to get your hands on the beret. And in all honesty, Rainbow had that something. She had it a lot more than Ryan.

She put her hooves into the air. “Mess with the best, go down with the rest.” she said.

Ryan laughed lightly at her display. “Very nice.” he said. “It looks good on you.”

“Thanks.” Rainbow replied with a smile.

She went to take the beret off. “Actually, wait.” Ryan said, freezing the mare’s movement. “Why don't you keep wearing it? I think it suits you.”

Rainbow blinked several times, shocked. Ryan was letting her continue to wear the beret, the symbol of being one of the best. He was passing that symbol to her; he respected her. And he said she could keep wearing it.

“Wait, does that mean...” She felt herself swell up with pride. “When can I wear it?”

Ryan grinned at her and leaned back in his seat, looking to the ceiling. “You’ll be able to wear it any time you feel like it.”

Rainbow smiled at the human before her, and though she knew he couldn’t see it, she mouthed one phrase to him: Thank you.

And the rest of the ride was spent in silence, a silence that spoke with greater strength and finality than any words ever could have managed.

'Tis the Season

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‘Tis the Season

“A hug is the perfect gift; one size fits all, and nobody minds if you exchange it.”

It’s the most, wonderful time, of the year.

That was what was going through Ryan’s head as he awoke that morning on the twenty-first of December, a Friday morning. He lamented having to get up, but he did agree to go with the girls, sort of. If only this could have been a normal work day. Though at this point, he wasn’t even sure why Twilight kept him on the job. Her questions were much reduced now, and all Ryan actually did was move books or go out to get things. It was mostly just Ryan getting paid to do Spike’s work while the dragon took some time off.

Ryan sat up groggily in his bed and stretched his arms as wide as he could, feeling the stretch in his muscles as they went to their maximum extension. As his arms slowly receded back to their regular positions, Ryan let out a silent yawn, rolling his head back and forth to get any cricks out. As he stood, he could feel a distinct stiffness in them.

The human walked around his basement room to warm up his legs and prepare to move about that day. While he walked around, he took a look at the space where he kept his outfit. Everything was accounted for; he didn’t quite understand why he always felt a need to look. More of that old mild paranoia setting in.

Once he felt warmed up and ready to face the day, Ryan walked over to his little dresser and started to take out the clothes he would wear, a simply pair of cargo pants and a long-sleeved black shirt. Rarity really was a master seamstress.

He looked up from his dresser at a large mirror that sat atop it, leaning seemingly unsafely against the wall. The reflection of himself was... odd, for some reason. He was getting back to the point where he would need to shave and he definitely needed a haircut again. After all that work on the farm for so long, the muscles in his arms, chest, back, and abdomen had become significantly stronger and larger, very clearly defined against the rest of his body. His skin was a lot cleaner somehow, even though he lived in a world where the idea of hygiene was... different.

And then there were the scars. They were still very much there; they would never go away, after all. A permanent reminder of the shit he pulled in Southeast Asia and Indonesia. They would always be there, always remind him of what he did. Why he did it. Who he did it to. It would be impossible to forget.

Ryan ran a finger over the scar on his chest, feeling at it like he would find the hole that had once been there. It seemed like if he pushed hard enough, the skin would tear, like a tissue, and he could stick his finger right into his lung. It’s an odd thing, knowing that something that shouldn’t have been in a certain part of your body was. It makes one feel strangely vulnerable, yet at the same time, less vulnerable. If that makes sense.

The boy turned around and looked at the big “USA” carved into the top of his back. Even if it was backwards in the mirror, it was still easy to understand. That was his country, the land where he grew up. The land he had been willing to die for, and now, he knew, still would. It was the land he was loyal to, the principles that he made a part of his life. And somehow, some way, Narendra had used the name of his own country to hurt him.

Ryan turned back around and looked at his face, scrutinized every little detail. The stress of everything that had happened was still there, plastered onto his face like clay. The damage was still evident, he still looked like he could go to sleep and never wake up. To himself, he looked dirty still, covered in the waters of the shit river in Vietnam.

Ryan frowned at himself and moved closer to the mirror. His eyes, his eyes were off, somehow. They weren’t the eyes of the one from New Jersey. They weren’t the eyes of the one from Australia. They weren’t even the eyes of the hate-filled one from the journey. They were somewhere else, somewhere where there was nothing to be had. If only he could find them...

“Ryan!”

Ryan flinched at the sudden calling of his name, jerking his knee up and slamming it into the bottom of the pulled-out drawer. He cursed loudly as he fell to the ground, clutching his knee and rolling about. From his painful position on the floor, he could hear hoofsteps coming from the stairs.

“Yeah?” he asked, sucking in air through his teeth. It was like he hit the funny bone of the knee or something.

When he looked over, his eyes were greeted with the form of Rarity, hoof in mouth and trying to stifle giggles. Ryan rolled over and sat on his rear, still holding his knee, waiting for Rarity to recover enough to speak without being obviously entertained.

“Get yourself ready, we’re heading to Canterlot to put on the Hearth’s Warming Play!”

They had told Ryan about this, and they had also told him that he would have to be up around six thirty to get ready. That wouldn't have been a problem, had it not been for the nightmares keeping him up for most of the night. But that wasn’t important at the moment.

“Yeah, I’m getting ready. Just give me a minute.” Rarity nodded at him and trotted back up the stairs.

Once she was gone, Ryan let out an exaggerated sigh. He had been hoping to get something done today, but he wasn’t quite able to get out of this. The girls insisted that he go, see their performance and enjoy the festivities. Only to avoid offense did Ryan agree to go, especially considering that two were his current employers and one had employed him, and hopefully would employ him in the future, at her farm.

Ryan later found out that Cinny and Mac were going; they had gotten some kind of special invitations from an anonymous harmonious pony (It wasn’t hard to guess). At least Ryan would be able to sit next to some familiar ponies.

Ryan threw on his clothes and prepared himself. As always, he threw on his vest, carrying his knife, guns, and ammo. He didn’t even really know why he was bringing the Automag; a blunt weapon, he reasoned. He slipped on his necklace and wrapped his scarf around his neck, following it by throwing his jacket on and grabbing a bag of bits. Once all that was done, Ryan climbed the stairs out of the basement and went to meet Rarity in the shop. She was standing in the middle of the room wearing a pointlessly elegant winter outfit.

“Ready to go?” she asked.

“Yep." Ryan replied, heading to the door. “Let’s head out.”

They exited the shop and Rarity locked the door behind her, though Ryan couldn’t help but wonder what Sweetie Belle would do if she had to get back inside later. Nothing to worry about, though, since Rarity would have thought all this through. She had been pretty good about that, and it was especially evident in her inviting of Mac and Cinny.

They walked along their merry way to the train station, snow all over the place and falling lightly, not a sound to be heard from anywhere. Most people aren’t up and out so early in the morning, especially when it’s so cold out. It’s a sobering thing, really. To be out when there is no one else out, to see what the world was like before the hustle and bustle of modern living. And you can do it on any morning during the winter, too.

They arrived at the train station in no time, a place that Ryan was finding himself going to more than he had expected when he first agreed to live among the ponies. Of course, he hadn’t really been expecting to be revived in a world of talking, pastel-colored ponies, either.

“Ryan!”

The human had been looking toward the ground while they walked, thinking about important things about himself. The shout from a mare up on the platform completely derailed his train of thought, forcing him to look up and see who had called him. Before he could register who it was, Cinny ran up to him and leapt at him, wrapping her hooves around his shoulders in a big hug.

“Hey Cinny.” Ryan responded, returning the hug weaker than he thought he should. Rarity smiled at the pair as Cinny slid off of Ryan.

“It feels like it’s been forever since we got to hang out!”

They had been hanging out a bit more, especially since the fourth. It had often been more of an excuse to get away from group events, but Ryan actually found that it wasn’t that bad. Cinny was pretty smart, though she wouldn’t be college educated in this world. She was exceptionally respectful about the more touchy subjects of Ryan’s life, clearly going out of her way to avoid bringing them up. Overall, she was really nice.

“Yeah.” They had only hung out a few days before. “Times flies.”

Cinny turned around and stood next to Ryan to walk to the platform with him, Rarity off to the side. On the platform, the other Elements of Harmony were waiting, plus Spike and Big Macintosh. As Ryan approached, Big Mac greeted him with their usual silent nod, which Ryan returned in kind. Spike ran up to him and greeted him as a “bro”, putting out his fist for a bump, which Ryan could not leave hanging in good conscious. The girls all just said hi.

“So when does the train come?” Spike asked with a yawn.

Twilight looked over at a clock on the station house. “It should be here in about ten minutes. Look,” she said, pointing out in the distance. “I can see the light from the train already.”

Sure enough, the train was coming, though not blaring its horn in the quiet morning. As it rolled up, the frozen tracks screamed against the weight of the locomotive, sending a new chill down everyone’s spines. When it finally stopped, everyone pulled together what little was coming with them and boarded the train for Canterlot.

They were just about the only passengers on the train this morning, so once they were all on, the train got to moving again. As soon as it went off, the girls all started discussing what they were going to do for the Hearth’s Warming Eve Pageant. They didn’t want to spoil it for Ryan, though, who had never seen it, so they moved to another car to have their discussion.

That left Ryan alone with Mac, Cinny, and Spike, whose role was minor enough that he wasn’t needed for other details. Spike, being a baby dragon, was already extremely tired from getting up so early and fell right back to sleep. Cinny positively gushed about how adorable he was while sleeping, while Mac and Ryan just sort of watched her watching him.

“So what kind of holiday is Hearth’s Warming Day?” Ryan asked Mac, who was sitting quietly next to him.

“It’s a holiday where ya give gifts to ponies.” he replied simply. “Do y’all not have it where you’re from?”

Ryan shook his head. “No, we have it. We just call it Christmas. Same idea.”

Cinny was done watching Spike sleep. “So what do you usually do for ‘Christmas’?” she asked. “What happens?”

Ryan shrugged. “Well, not everyone celebrates it. It’s a religious holiday, though it has a huge presence in business and industry in my country.” He wasn’t too sure about other countries. “For those who celebrate it, in my experience, it has given them a conscious that they otherwise don’t seem to have and generally people seem nicer to each other.”

“Sound a lot like here.” Cinny replied, taking a seat next to Ryan. “Here, Hearth’s Warming Day brings us all together and everyone is merry and loving! Even the gryphons, who don’t generally celebrate it, since it’s really a pony holiday, take part in the festivities.”

“What does ‘even the gryphons’ mean?” Ryan asked, curious.

Mac jumped in. “Relations aren’t great with them. The Southern Gryphon Colonies were at war with us not that long ago, and now, they’re still troublesome for us.” Mac shrugged. “Those that are here, though; even the ones from down there; will forego our differences and celebrate with us.”

Ryan remembered reading about the Southern Gryphon Colonies in the papers. If he remembered correctly, that was also where that soldier, Blazer, was being held. That was something to think about another time.

“That sounds a LOT like Christmas.” Ryan said. “I remember when we learned about World War One in history, my teacher told us how, in the first year, the two sides actually stopped fighting and exchanged gifts, much the the brass’ chagrin. It didn’t happen again, not ever again, but the holiday had enough power to stop the fighting of one of the largest wars in history for a day and get everyone to give gifts, even to their enemies. This one, sort of shared holiday of ours seems to have a great bit of power.”

Cinny whistled. “Wow. Maybe it’s not a coincidence?”

“We can only wish.”

The rest of the train ride was spent talking about various holidays in the Ryan’s world, mostly, with a few from the ponies’. Ryan had to explain the religious significance of several holidays, like Easter, Eid al-Fitr, and Yom Kippur. Some that were made later to celebrate people, like President’s day, Veteran’s day, and several celebrated birthdays, required a little less explanation.

The train ride was short, as always. Ryan watched the landscape as it seemingly flew past, blanketed in snow and almost completely still. It was tranquil, watching the landscape go by, seeing the world as it should be. No battle, no conflict, just peace and quiet. The cave would offer him that...

When they stopped at the Canterlot station and got off, the girls and Spike immediately said their goodbyes and went off to prepare. Ryan hadn’t expected them to ditch him there, but it did explain why Cinny and Mac were invited. At least, until that night, Ryan would be able to stay out of trouble. At least, that’s probably what the girls thought.

“Let’s go into the city!” Cinny shouted. “I haven’t been there since I was a little filly!”

Cinny started leading them through the city, eager to explore and see the sights. It was like seeing a child in New York for the first time; the awe and admiration was extraordinary. Cinny was always pointing at something, talking about something. At least she was enjoying herself.

After a time, they ended up in the market district, surrounded by ornaments and sales and the feeling that it truly was the holiday season. Green and red adorned all the store windows, mannequins were all dressed up, pictures of presents and boxes all over the place. And there was at least two of every kind of store here.

“What should we do?” Cinny asked, still very excited to be in the city.

Mac looked around. “Ah say we go there.” he said, pointing his hoof at a massive store.

The store’s name was Tallmart, something Ryan had to try desperately not to notice. It was huge, at least three stories high and took up an entire block. Their sign read, Lowest Prices in the City! Further adding to the difficulty of ignoring the name was the color scheme; blue and yellow. The store windows were huge, showing all kinds of toys for little kids.

“Sure!” Cinny replied. “Let’s see what’s in there.”

Apparently, Ryan had no say in what was going on, so he just went along with it without complaining. They trotted on over and went through the front doors. Inside, it was total mayhem. Ponies everywhere, trying to find the right things to get for their loved ones. Some were a bit more aggressive than Ryan would have thought okay, but back home, it was no different. So he figured he would just try to survive as he always had.

The trio stuck together as much as possible, though Mac broke off pretty quickly. He needed to find some tools that he would need to keep the barn up during the winter, and a few other important items of a similar nature. Ryan watched him as he walked off, quickly seeing that he was also trying to find good gifts for his sisters and granny. He probably just wanted to keep it a surprise.

That left Ryan and Cinny together to wander the store, looking for anything interesting. Ryan had some money on him, so he could buy something if he saw anything interesting. He still needed to get his friends their Hearth’s Warming gifts, but he was reluctant to get anything from this store. He liked to get his friends personal gifts, the kind of thing one might buy at a market stall in a foreign country. Getting something from a chain store seemed... less attached.

“Ooh!” Cinny shouted, shooting forward toward a shelf. “This is nice!”

Ryan stepped forward, curious, and took a look. They were in a section that specialized in maps, from small and single-country, to very large world maps. The world maps were incredibly odd-looking to Ryan; this world looked nothing like his. The land was all oddly shaped, the seas had pictures of monsters that were probably very real, and the borders between countries were marked differently in different areas. The Southern Gryphon Colonies, in particular, utilized the unusual borders.

“It’s a very fancy map.” Ryan said as he approached. It reminded him of that one in SkyMall, the one that you put pins on to mark various places.

“It sure is.” Cinny said, taking a closer look. “Let’s see...” She was squinting at it with purpose. “I’ve been to Canterlot, Ponyville, and Fillydelphia here in Equestria.” She pointed out the locations on the map.

Ryan nodded to her. “I guess you don’t move around all that much?” he asked.

“No, but I would love to.” Cinny replied. “I would really love to see Saddle Arabia, the Dragon Lands, Roam, and Ponya. I’ve heard so many things about their beauties.” Cinny’s face looked like she had gone off to la-la land.

“I’ve traveled a bit in my day.” Ryan said, acting as if he was older than he was. “Lots of places, mostly south of my home country. But I can proudly say I’ve been in all four hemispheres of my world.”

“Wow.” Cinny replied, her eyes wandering off the map. “That’s pretty great.”

“Yeah. It provides a lot of perspective.”

They left the maps section and went off to find Mac, starting in the tool section. Of course, as Ryan had expected, he wasn’t there, so they started looking elsewhere. They started off by heading to the mare’s clothing section, thinking Mac might be buying a nice outfit for Applejack or Fluttershy, but it was no dice. They moved onto the toy section, but still no Mac. Thinking he might be at the front door, Ryan and Cinny went off in that direction.

It turned out that they were wrong, so they just waited at the front for Mac to show up. After around thirteen minutes of waiting, he finally came by, carrying what looked like a lot in his saddle bags.

“What took you so long?” Ryan asked, directly referencing the bags.

Mac shrugged. “Jus’ had to get some things.”

“Uh huh.” Ryan said, unconvinced. But he could let it go for now.

They walked out the door and back into the cold, but as soon as they were out, they were swarmed by a massive group of shoppers. Apparently, no one wanted to get up fifteen minutes ago to do their shopping, they all had to do it now. The instant the door opened, they started trying to rush inside, nearly toppling over the trio.

Ryan wrapped his right arm around Mac’s neck and grabbed Cinny with his left, pulling them all as close together as possible. Mac was barely able to stand against the wave of shoppers, but it was enough to keep them from being trampled to death. Once the shoppers were inside, and everything was clear, Ryan let go of his friends.

Cinny fell to the ground, hyperventilating from fear. “Th-thanks.” she said, trying her best to calm down.

“No problem.” Ryan replied. He turned to Mac. “Nice work.” Mac just nodded back to him, silently giving his own compliments to Ryan’s quick thinking.

They just remained in their spot for the moment to let Cinny calm down, though Ryan felt uncomfortable at the entrance to the store. When Cinny was prepared to go, she took in a deep breath, stood up, and shook herself off.

“Let’s head to the playhouse.” she said, eager to find a seat inside and just relax for a bit.

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Ryan replied, equally as eager to get out of the area.

The group got a move on to the playhouse, trying their best to remain off to the sideline the whole way there. It seemed like everypony was up now, trying to get their shopping done. Some of them were young, others very old, and some who looked so lonely they couldn’t possibly be shopping for anyone. The funny thing was that the old ponies were the most aggressive. The younger ones weren't willing to be aggressive to them, so the older ones would just shove them out of the way to get what they were looking for. It was a sight to behold.

Getting to the playhouse didn’t take that long, though the cold air and distinct hostility that seemed to be inexplicable present in the ponies made it feel longer. Once there, they were only able to get inside because their friends, and in Mac’s case, sister, were running the play. Anyone else who was their to watch was kept waiting outside, and they were not happy about Ryan and his friends getting in first.

Ryan was awestruck by the building inside. The walls were excellently decorated and extraordinarily tall, with marble pillars that would make Athens green with envy. The stained glass windows were beautiful, depicting scenes from all over history; Nightmare Moon, Discord, some guy named Sombra, a mare named Chrysalis, there was all sorts of stuff depicted in them. Even Spike had a part in one of them, which made Ryan chuckle quietly to himself.

With no one else around and nothing to do, the trio decided to take their seats now and take the time to relax, with Cinny to Ryan’s left and Mac to his right. That didn’t last very long, though, as the “investors”, or some such nonsense, were allowed in soon after. All of them snorted at the trio when they spotted them, to which Ryan promptly responded to by flipping the bird at them. None of them got it, but when Ryan mouthed “Fuck you” to them, they got the point pretty solidly.

Then, pretty soon, the general audience was allowed in, and the entire room was jam-packed. Ryan felt like something was off, so he looked at his watch. It read 5:46.

“We didn’t spend that long in the city, did we?” he wondered. He knew that they hadn’t been in the theatre very long.

Everyone in the room was chatting away while they waited for the play to start. Ryan picked up a few random bits of conversation here and there; something about a business venture gone horribly awry, resulting in the loss of big money. Someone was being resentful of their ex-wife, cursing her for doing something in the last holiday season. Another pony was talking about some half-witted plan to get with a princess. If Ryan was lucky, he would read about said failed attempt in the papers.

Not wanting to be left out, Ryan looked to Mac for conversation. Mac, however, was asleep, and in no state to talk. So Ryan turned to Cinny. She was just glancing around, listening to ponies, watching them walk around. She looked like she was spacing out.

“So, Cinny.” Ryan started, hopeful that she would have a topic of conversation.

She turned to him in an instant. “Yes?” she asked, glad to be talking to someone.

Ryan thought fast, trying to come up with something to talk about. “So...” he began. He had to wing it. “You got anypony you plan to spend the holidays with?”

Her eyes positively lit up. “No, actually. I didn’t plan on it. My parents aren’t around this season, though I did get a card. But I don’t have any plans for this year.” She leaned in a little bit, eyes way open. “Why?”

Ryan had just foolishly planted himself firmly in a corner with no way out. He had no plans at all, and if he lied, that would mean he had to make plans immediately. If he told the truth, she might want to spend the holidays together. Ryan wasn’t sure what that might be like, but he wasn’t too keen on finding out. But he had been dumb enough to put himself in this position. So he had to go through with it.

“No reason. I was just wondering. I don't have any plans myself, so I’ve been trying to come up with something.” Cinny’s face exploded into a big smile, a big, toothy smile that made her look childish.

“You should spend Hearth’s Warming Eve with me!” she said, causing Ryan to silently curse himself. “I have room, and I would love the company!”

Ryan opened his mouth to respond in the negative, but halted. She looked really excited about this. She had no one that she was spending the holiday with, so that must mean that she hadn’t that often before. Thinking about it, her life was probably kind of lonely, working at the bar and not seeing many ponies other than the ones that leer at her. And besides, how bad could it be, spending the holidays with somepony? Maybe it would be enjoyable.

Ryan smiled warmly. “Sure, that sounds great.” Cinny squee’d at him and grabbed his arm, hugging it tightly to her chest. “It’s a holiday to spend with the ones we care about, after all.”

With Cinny now latched onto his arm, Ryan turned his attention back to Mac, who seemed to be waking from his little nap. Ryan gave him a moment, then used his remaining arm to flick Mac on the nose. Mac flustered about in his seat for a moment, then opened his eyes, looking groggy and tired.

“Did Big Mac need a big nap?” Ryan asked jokingly.

Big Mac seemed like he was only half there. “Big Mac needs to hit the big sack.” he replied.

Ryan blinked. “Just gonna softball it in like that?”

“What?” Mac didn’t quite get it, but Cinny was giggling away next to the human.

Suddenly, all conversation ceased around them, save for a few hushed and excited whispers here and there. Ryan took it as the cue that it was time for the play to start, so he removed Cinny from his arm, much to her dismay, and started to watch. Before long, the lights in the room dimmed, and the play began.

Truth be told, most of what was happening wasn’t all that new to Ryan; he had read it in those books back when he first got here in the library in the old castle in the forest. There were the three tribes, and they were having some kind of fight over land or something ridiculous. Then, a winter storm blew in and made the land uninhabitable. They were about to duke it out when ultimately, they decided to split ways and find a new place to call home.

“Why can’t people back home be like that?” Ryan thought. It would make life so much easier.

They left each other and traveled, but somehow, they took different directions to the same place. Initially, they were about to fight it out again, but then, they were hit by a winter storm again, and they took refuge in a cave.

“Kind of like me.” Ryan thought. Hateful persons or ponies, living in a cave? Yeah, like him.

Then the rest was pretty much easy, the leaders were frozen for being assholes, while the helpers were being nice to each other and enjoying their dying moments together. However, they ended up being saved by the Magic of Friendship. Ordinarily, Ryan would have called bull, but, as per the norm, this world didn’t have unbreakable laws of physics, and it did have magic. So Ryan let it go.

Soon after, the play ended, though only after a merry holiday carol. When the curtains closed, actually knocking into Spike and sending him flying backwards behind them, the crowd got up, cheered and clapped their hooves, and the chatter resumed.

Ryan, Cinny, and Mac weren’t feeling like waiting, so they decided to make their way to the stage to congratulate their friends on a job well done. It wasn’t easy; the ponies in the way weren’t very happy about moving out of the way. Mac had the lead initially, but when he was proving too soft, Ryan took the lead with a caustic voice and a vocabulary of anger. Gotta love the holidays.

They made it to the stage with little incident, and simply climbed up and went in under the curtain. As they poked their heads through, they were greeted with the sight of ponies busily putting away props and actors getting out of costume. Over by the mirrors sat the girls and Spike, winding down after a well-done performance.

“Hey!” Cinny shouted to them.

They all looked in their direction and smiled. “Hey!” they all said, coming over. Ryan, Cinny, and Mac walked on over, Mac heading over to talk to Fluttershy.

“Darlings, it’s so good to see you!” Rarity said, giving Cinny a big hug. When did they become the best of friends? “How did you like the show?”

“It was amazing!” Cinny complemented.

“I certainly liked it.” Ryan affirmed. “You all did a great job.”

The girls and Spike started chatting away with Cinny and sort of at Ryan, though Ryan wasn’t paying that much attention. He was watching Mac, who stood with Fluttershy off to the side. She was shaking a little bit, but she had a silly grin on her face with Mac’s foreleg wrapped around her in a hug. They were talking quietly to each other, as anyone who knew them would suspect. Ryan could see that they were trying to have a private moment, so he removed his gaze from them and paid more attention to the girls before him.

But his mind remained on Mac and Fluttershy. They had something really nice, over there. They clearly loved each other very much, and they were both so gentle, yet strong in their respective ways. They just wanted to live their lives together, and not have to worry about the rest of the world. Ryan had once been like that, but he never had anyone he loved that way.

It was something beautiful, to see two beings who loved each other. To see two beings who wanted to stay together forever, who would stop at nothing to help each other and keep each other safe. Two beings who would never leave each other’s sides. Who represented everything that was right with the world.

In a few ways, it made Ryan think of Harris. His best friend, the guy he had counted on during the hardest part of his life. He never let Ryan down, but Ryan let him down. Mac was like him. Dependable. Headstrong. Capable when necessary. It was almost like Mac was the pony version of him.

WIthout realizing it, Ryan’s hand went to the Automag, which had no ammo, and simply rested on it on his hip. He wasn’t gripping it, though, just had his hand on it. It wasn’t his weapon, really. Harris would never have wanted it, not after seeing what such weapons did, but this weapon was his. It had never done anything wrong. It never killed an innocent person or pony. It distracted Narendra. It shot the Wraith. It was an ironic symbol of the power of good in the world.

“So, Ryan.”

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sudden intrusion. “Yes?” he asked. When he looked for the source, it turned out to be Applejack.

“Cinny says that y’all got a similar holiday back home.” Ryan nodded. “So, tell us about it!”

Ryan smiled. “Sure, but on the way to the train station. We don’t want to miss our ride home.” It was about time anyway.

Ryan rehashed everything he had said earlier, plus explaining the well-known and lesser-known facts about Christmas back home. The ponies were all fascinated by it, especially Twilight, who loved its historical significance. Mac and Fluttershy were still just quietly sticking together, with Fluttershy leaning into him while they walked, and Cinny was talking to Rarity about something. It was a pleasant walk for Ryan.

The train was already in the station when they got there, so they just boarded and waited to leave. Ryan took a seat toward the front of the car, pretty much away from the others, and thought he’d just look out the window into the dark night, looking for the festive lights of near and far towns and cities. He saw a whole lot out there, actually; Fillydelphia, he guessed, was positively illuminating the night sky. Luna was probably having a fit, what with all the ground light blocking out her night sky.

“Seat taken?”

Ryan tore his eyes away from the sight and saw Mac, standing before him, with a sleeping yellow pegasus on his back.

He chuckled. “Not at all, my friend.”

mac sat down and set Fluttershy on the bench next to him, leaning her on his side to keep her from waking up. She must have tuckered herself out, making herself get up in front of all those ponies in that room and performing. She had done a good job, and deserved a nice rest.

Mac looked out the window at the world as it passed by. “Ya know, Ah love the lights this time o’ the year. Makes everything feel... happier.”

“Yeah...” Ryan agreed. “Makes the world seem like a better place.”

Mac laughed a bit. “Yeah. Ah don’t care much for what happens to the rest of the world, though, jus’ what happens here.”

“Amen to that.” Ryan said.

They sat in silence for a time. Fluttershy had this adorable way of snoring, and the way Mac looked at her, it made it clear that he knew that snore already. As Ryan took in the sight, he still reminded him of Harris. Here he was, the symbol of strength and good, just sitting here, minding his own business. Like Harris would have wanted.

Ryan put his hand on his Automag and looked at it thoughtfully. Mac noticed him and just stared at him, knowing what he was touching, but not understanding the look on his face or why he even had it at all. What was so special about it? Ryan hadn’t shot anyone with it, save for a few timberwolves, but he still treated it like it was his close friend.Though it was the weapon of his old friend harris.

Ryan pulled the gun out slowly and laid it on the table, inspecting it It was shiny, at least on the metal parts. The wooden parts were in good shape, though they showed some wear from the lack of maintenance. The gun had fired recently, though, so it was clearly usable. If not for the lack of ammo.

Ryan looked down at it, then at Mac, then back down.

“Mac...”

Wordlessly, he pushed the gun forward and left it on front of Mac. The stallion blinked, surprised, and looked at Ryan, who was looking right into his eyes. He was about to ask Ryan what this was, but with that shared gaze, he knew exactly what this was. He held the gaze for a bit, trying to see why Ryan wanted to give him this, but Ryan’s eyes said it all without anything to hide. Silently, Mac brought the gun to the side of the table with his hoof and moved his saddle bag to drop it inside.

Once the firearm was safely inside, he returned his gaze to Ryan, who was still staring at him. Then, slowly, the human brought his arm up onto the table and rested his elbow on it, palm out and fingers extended, and waited. Mac brought his foreleg up and put his hoof into the human’s hand, which then grabbed the hoof and gripped it firmly. Their eyes still engaged, they held that stance for a bit, with no words needing saying or movements necessary.

Mac said nothing to Ryan. Ryan said nothing to Mac. But they both knew what that gun was.

They disconnected and sat back in their seats silently, their pact set, eyes now shut, and let their minds wander to the future.

What We Leave Behind

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What We Leave Behind

“For since mine eyes your joyous sight did miss, my cheerful day is turned to cheerless night.” (Edmund Spencer)

Discord floated above the city in an absolutely elated state. It was his favorite time of the year, after all: the night of Hearth’s Warming Eve.

He had been watching Ryan recently, and saw him go to the play and hang out with Macintosh and Cinny. But more importantly, he saw Ryan hand his Automag over to Mac. Mac seemed to understand exactly what that was, but Discord was completely in the dark. No matter; it was nothing he needed to know.

Every year, since he was encased in stone, Celestia would let him wander about as an invisible spirit on Hearth’s Warming Eve and Day because she was in a generous mood. Of course, the holiday affected everyone, so Discord was also generous; he kept his antics to purely harmless fun.

At the moment, though, he was distracted by the thought of what Ryan must be doing in Ponyville. He was seen Ryan back himself into a corner and find himself spending the holidays at Cinny’s home, but he hadn’t watched him yet today. They could be playing chess, Monopoly, reading books, watching tapes, listening to music... who knew?

“I think I’ll drop a mistletoe by there later.” Discord thought. That would be fun.

He flew about the city in a mild haste, throwing little spells here and there to avoid having Celestia get suspicious about the lack of little pranks here and there. It had become something of a tradition for them; he left her his presents, and she had to unwrap them. Sometimes, there was even a hidden message. Once, he told her that she had a nice flank.

“And she promptly shoved it in my face the next time she saw the statue.” he remembered, chuckling to himself. She always did have ways to make the imprisonment a little bit easier.

Throwing the pranks around didn’t take too long, and once he was done, he started flying towards Ponyville to see his favorite human. The snow was a little bit difficult, as it was only mild, so he couldn’t do anything without being noticed, but it was just enough to make navigating difficult. Still, he was able to find the little town by simply looking for the lights.

He made it there in no time and took a position on top of town hall, scouting the area. These ponies certainly knew how to decorate boringly; there were a few light strands here, some snowponies there. There was even a snowman, though Discord had no idea why. On the town hall, there were wreaths everywhere and signs on every door that read, “What are you, Twilight? Take some time off.” Discord had to openly laugh at those ones.

He had a feeling of where Cinny lived, and so flew up into the air and faced that direction.

“Actually, wait.” he thought. “Maybe I should check and see what the other ponies are up to first.” He had been meaning to check on some of the relationships in this town.

So instead of flying straight to where he thought Cinny lived, he decided to check on the Elements of Harmony first. They had put him back in the stone a while ago; why not see how they spend their holidays?

He started with Twilight Sparkle, making a beeline for the library. She was the closest, if he remembered correctly, so she would be the easiest to check on. Only a few seconds into his flight, he could see the library. Once there, he lowered himself to the ground and looked into the window.

Inside, he could see Twilight, wearing a fuzzy green and red sweater, carrying several mugs of hot chocolate in her magic. She was walking towards a fireplace, where her parents, brother, sister-in-law, and assistant all sat around the fire. Everyone was laughing, just enjoying the night. Shining Armor’s foreleg was wrapped comfortably around his wife’s waist, the same with Nightlight. Discord could tell that Twilight wished she had a special somepony, but that she was willing to wait.

With a quick snap of his fingers, Discord made a mistletoe appear above the young couple’s heads, attracting the attention of Shining’s parents. When he saw it, his and his wife’s faces turned bright red, while Twilight Velvet and Nightlight were giggling and motioning for the young couple to go ahead. Before they went at it, Discord was long gone.

The next best place to see was Rarity’s, and who knew what might be happening in there? He shot off in that direction and made it to her place in no time.

At her home, he looked into the first floor and saw nothing, so he moved onto the second floor. Up there, he could see Rarity, walking around in a fancy robe, mane disheveled, looking like she had just gotten out of bed. She didn’t have to be all made up right now, so it only made sense. Her only company was her sister.

Which actually surprised him. There she was, laying in bed, snuggling under the covers. It was a positively adorable sight to behold, one that might induce a heart attack in any being other than Discord. He watched quietly as Rarity walked over to the bed and kissed her little sister on the bed, then climbed in with her. Her little sister immediately snuggled up to her older sibling and snored away.

Discord had to stop right there; it was too much. Instead of remaining there, he opted to run off to Pinkie Pie’s home, the Sugarcube Corner.

Once there, he saw exactly what he was expecting to see; Pinkie Pie, making cakes and such. There were gingerbread ponies, houses, and little towns all over the room. She even made a little city, just like Canterlot. How anypony could do this, Discord was unsure.

Then, suddenly, two little foals came down the stairs, flying and floating. Pinkie Pie made some incoherent noise inside, something like a squeak with words somewhere inside, and ran over to them. She grabbed them in a big hug and carried them over to the little town, showing them everything there was to see. She jumped all over the place, light as a feather, and not doing the tiniest bit of damage to the town.

Then, she set the foals down in the middle of the gingerbread city and did something unexpected.

She started attacking the city, smashing down the walls of her little buildings and making loud growls. The foals, startled at first, quickly imitated her, destroying the city around them and devouring everything they could get their tiny hooves on. Not two minutes in, everypony there was covered in frosting and gingerbread, and Pinkie in hysterics on the floor. Discord decided it was a good time to leave, just missing the reaction of the Cakes as they came down to see the commotion.

“Where to next?” Discord wondered, flying up into the sky. “Why not Applejack?”

he flew off to Sweet Apple Acres and landed himself on top of the barn, taking in his surroundings. Even in the winter, an apple field where all the trees were bare was a very creepy sight. The snow made it a little bit better, but it still looked like a serial tickler could be hiding out there.

“I’m watching you.” Discord thought as he looked out into the fields. Bandits, bandits who were looking for cuddles and wearing little animal masks. He couldn’t stand them, not one bit.

He jumped down to the ground and walked over to the farmhouse, just peeking into the window. Inside, he could see three ponies, a green old lady, a young orange farm girl, and a little yellow filly, all sitting around a fireplace. Applejack had a book in her hooves, and she was clearly reading to her little sister. Granny Smith, on the other hand, was quietly sitting in a rocking chair, just listening in contently.

“Well, I see nothing of particular interest here.” Discord said.

Then he noticed something. Not so much a thing as a lack of a thing. Didn’t Applejack have an older brother? Where was he?

“Probably off working in the fields.” Discord concluded. That pony had been a workaholic for a long time.

Two Earth Ponies down, Two Unicorns down. That left two Pegasi to go see before he stopped by Cinny’s home. From where he was, he could see some lights in the sky, presumably Rainbow Dash’s home. He eagerly flew off in that direction; if anypony would have a different holiday experience, it was her.

Getting to her home was actually a bit easier than the other elements’ homes, since Rainbow lived way up in the sky. Her home was lavish, of course, since cloud was an incredibly heap (free) thing to use to build your home. When he landed at her house, he landed on the balcony to what seemed to be the living room, where there was a strangely placed tree inside.

Around the tree were three ponies; Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and an unknown stallion with the same mane color as Rainbow. Presumably, that was her father. He looked old enough.

He had a silly look on his face, and Rainbow looked like she was ready to burst. Just then, another pegasus walked in, a pink one with a blue name. She looked tired, but really content with whatever was happening.

“Thanks for letting me stay here for the holidays!” Scootaloo said gleefully, running up to Rainbow and hugging her leg. “It’s been a while since I spent the holidays with somepony...”

Discord almost choked from the need to cry when she said that. Who would ever want to be in that position, spending the best time of the year alone? It was like being single and ugly on Hearts and Hooves Day.

“Don’t mention it, kid.” Rainbow replied. “We still need to exchange gifts, so let’s get to it!”

And they were off. Rainbow received two tickets to a Wonderbolts special performance some time in January. For her parents, she got them some special items that only pegasi know the significance of, and her parents got each other silly, lovey-dovey gifts.

That left Scootaloo. “So, kid. Wanna know what we got you?” Rainbow asked, excitement in her voice.

Scootaloo’s eyes looked like they would burst. “Is it a position as your best sidekick?!” she asked excitedly.

Rainbow’s parents looked at each other for just a moment, nothing but love and happiness in their eyes, and put their hooves together. Rainbow Dash chuckled, confusing her little fan, then looked to her parents. Her father pulled out a paper and handed it to Rainbow.

“How would you like to be my little sister?”

Discord poofed up a tissue and blew his nose into it, barely able to see past the tears in his eyes. Scootaloo was tearing up inside, overcome with emotion, and leaped at her new sister, thanking her all the way. Rainbow, tears welling up in her own eyes, hugged her right back, pulling her as tightly to her chest as she could. Her parents, off to the side, were looking on, pride for their daughter and happiness for their new daughter overtaking them.

Discord left them to themselves, to enjoy their private moment. It was hard not to be overcome with emotion, even for him. The amount of happiness in that room was enough to make Ryan’s world a better place, if it could just make its way there.

He flew off to Fluttershy’s home, just by the edge of the Everfree. When he landed there, in the back yard, the animals, though they couldn’t see him, all flipped out completely. They all knew that something was there, though they couldn’t tell what. Discord just hoped that their noise wouldn’t tell Fluttershy that he was out there.

Discord hopped along the grass and path to Fluttershy’s front door and stuck his head through. The inside was modestly decorated; little wreaths here and there. A few lights. There were lots of candles around, placed just right so they wouldn’t set anything on fire. The windows were all shut, the curtains half-drawn, and the rugs on the floor looked warm and inviting.

Discord raised his head and looked around, spotting Fluttershy after a moment. But she wasn’t alone.

She lay on the couch with Big Macintosh, Applejack’s older brother. They were sitting together on the couch by the other end of the room. Macintosh had his back against the back of the couch, while Fluttershy had her back to him. Her eyes were gently closed, and she was leaning into the large stallion behind her. Macintosh’s eyes were closed as well, and he had his chin set gently atop Fluttershy’s head, nuzzling her slowly. They were both under a blanket, and from the look of it, Macintosh was rubbing Fluttershy’s side with his hoof.

It was an adorable sight. They must have been at least half asleep, because when Fluttershy moved her head a bit, Macintosh took a moment to realize it and move his own head. He moved it underneath his mare’s head, and moved his hoof to gently run up and down her neck. She made little noises of contentedness at his touch, snuggling closer to him as his hoof went along.

Discord felt more peaceful just watching the gentle giant and the little lady. “Reminds me of me and Celestia so long ago...”

That reminded him; he had yet to see what Celestia and Luna were doing for their holiday break. He had forgotten to take a look at them earlier, so he might as well do that after he saw Ryan.

Happy with what he had seen so far tonight, Discord left Fluttershy’s home and flew back off to the town, eager to see his favorite human’s holiday pastimes. As he flew, he thought about what Ryan might have done back home. He no doubt spent time with his family, he seemed the type. What might he hope for for gifts, and what might his parents, brother, and friend shave gotten him? What did he get for others?

The flight was short, and Discord was at the door of Cinny’s home quicker than he expected. Her house was hardly decorated on the outside; a wreath on the door, and a couple strings of lights. Of course, judging from the way her house was painted and how old it looked, she might not be able to afford a whole lot more.

Discord didn’t think it was a good idea to actually go inside; Ryan might sense that he was there. There was no explaining why Discord thought this, but it seemed to make sense to him at the time. Instead, he conjured up his mind’s eye and sent it inside.

Slowly, the rooms began to come into focus. He was in a kitchen right now, looking at some old-style appliances in there. The oven was wood-fire, and the stove was the kind that used a small gas tank. The fridge was pretty small, and it looked old, like it was passed down to Cinny. Thee flooring was old hardwood, and there were stains in a few spots from food falling.

He moved out of the kitchen and made his way to the living room, a small, modestly furnished room. There was a green couch, an old fireplace, a wooden rocking chair, and the floor was carpeted from wall to wall. The fireplace had a warming fire, casting a soothing orange light around the room.

On the couch, under a big white sheet, sat Ryan and Cinny, talking. Cinny leaned against Ryan’s shoulder, listening to him telling her s story about some diving he did during a holiday vacation around this time of the year back home. She looked absolutely enthralled with the story; all the crazy creatures of the deep, the amazing adventures Ryan had had in his short lifetime.

Discord watched them for some time. Sometimes, Cinny would jump in and give her own little story, to which Ryan would listen to intently. Sometimes, they would say something and laugh, other times, Cinny said something that would cause Ryan to pull her close and comfort her. Ryan didn’t notice, but Discord could see Cinny maneuvering herself closer to him by the minute underneath the blanket.

They were just having a merry holiday in that little room, letting themselves become blissfully unaware of the world outside and the world from whence Ryan came. The snowblowing across the land outside was just a little bit of wind against the windows to them, nothing more. They were in an exceptionally peaceful time... Ryan didn’t even have his weapons with him.

Discord brought his mind’s eye back and thought for a moment. “Why not?” he thought. He snapped his fingers, and, though he was unable to see it, he knew that a mistletoe had appeared over the human and mare in the room. He had no idea if they would notice it, or if it would remain there once he was gone. But he did his job; he didn’t feel like he needed to stick around.

So he flew back off to Canterlot, feeling fulfilled and content with what he had witnessed this night. There was no malice anywhere, no hatred, no violence, just ponies being happy. Everyone was in good spirits, be they sick or well, rich or poor, big or small, everyone was in a good mood. The most wonderful time of the year.

The flight back to Canterlot took some time, but when Discord saw the big clock tower on one end of the city, he could see that he still had three hours to enjoy himself.

“I should stop by the princesses.” he concluded. He wanted to see how Celestia spent her holidays.

So off he went, shooting down to the streets and zipping along, creating wind gusts to cause as much harmless mayhem as possible. He flipped over tables, blew snow everywhere, even flipped over a couple of guards he passed by. They were pretty drunk, though, so they probably had no idea they were knocked over by a gust of wind.

He made it to the castle and waited before going inside. He had to make sure that there were no spells that would screw him if he entered, but once he had that taken care of, he went right along his merry way. There weren’t many guard around, seeing as they weren’t as necessary this time of the year. The few that were around were just hanging out with other guards, drinking hot chocolate and tea, and occasionally something stronger. But they were generally pretty quiet.

Discord made his way to the royal quarters, passing right by Luna’s room on his journey to see Celestia.

“I’ll stop by there later.” He wanted to see how Starstep was doing, after all.

When he reached Celestia’s quarters, he stopped before the door and considered a few things. He could enter with a bit of a flare, but he wasn’t sure how that would end. It would be better to enter quietly. And should he cast any of his little spells on her this time, or maybe leave her alone?

He decided on what he would do and made his way inside, taking a gander at everything around him. The room was nice, nicer than he remembered. The bed was big and poofy, made of clouds. The rugs were all very old, but still in excellent condition, and soft to the touch. Candles around the room cast a somewhat romantic light about, but he knew that she was alone this night.

He walked on in and made his way to the back, hoping that she would be in her private library. And he was lucky that night; there she stood, looking for a book to read with half-lidded eyes and a fuzzy white bathrobe on. Her name was long and went straight to the floor; she had just gotten out of the bath.

With a smile and a snap of his fingers, Discord started moving a few of the books around in front of the princess. When she noticed them moving, she let out a little giggle, looking about the room for the Spirit of Chaos. When she didn’t see him, she just went into the middle of the room and laid down on her belly, waiting.

Discord decided to give her a nice read for the night, so he went to the old, OLD books, and pulled out an old photo album, back from the good old days when they got along nicely. When he levitated it over to her, a little smile crept across her face, and she accepted the album and set it out before her.

She opened it up and started reading, while Discord placed himself right next to her and slightly released his invisibility spell. They hadn’t looked at this album in years, not since Twilight took up most of her time as her student. It was nice, just looking at the pictures of them and Luna, Starswirl, everyone, just having good times in their youths. Discord was always hitting on Celestia in front of everyone to make her uncomfortable, but Celestia always shot something right back to throw him off.

The good memories... too bad they all had to grow up at some point.

After about an hour, Discord lifted himself off the ground and waved Celestia goodbye, to which she waved back, and he left the room. Celestia remained, just looking through old photo albums, a ghost of a tear streaming down her cheek.

Discord walked through the door and back out into the hallway, then turned right toward the Lunar wing. He actually felt like kind of a dick for what he did to Starstep right before he disappeared, but that was in the past. He bet that Starstep would forgive him, especially if he didn something nice for him tonight.

Soon, he was at the doors, and no sooner than he was at Luna’s doors did he walk right through them. Luna’s room was not unsimilar to Celestia’s; the theme was just more night-oriented.

He had expected Starstep to be playing chess or something with luna, to see them having one of their little games like Discord and Celestia back in the day. Instead, he heard light snoring, and saw two forms laying asleep in the bed. Starstep was hugging Luna tight to himself, like she was a life raft in the arctic sea, and she held him back, stuffing her muzzle into his neck. It was an adorable sight, but since they were asleep, there was nothing for Discord to do here.

Discord looked around the room, thinking. “Well, that’s everyone.” he thought. “I guess that I can just hang around for a while.”

He decided to walk into the library to see what kinds of books Luna had on her shelves. When he walked in, however, something crossed his mind. It was quick, like a flash of lightning, but it burned itself into his mind just as well. He could read Luna’s books, sure. But he knew those stories. The story he had yet to see was elsewhere.

Discord snapped his fingers and made a hole in Luna’s spell, revealing the staircase that led to the pool below. Then, like a falcon diving after prey, he shot through, letting the hole close behind him, and let gravity carry him to the bottom of the long spiral staircase, hidden well from view. The tunnel was dark, but Discord dared not cast a spell for risk of being found.

In no time, he was at the bottom, gently letting his feet hit the ground to avoid kicking up too much dust. Then, slowly, as if tiptoeing beside an angry dragon, barely even breathing, he made his way to the pool. At the moment, however, the pool had nothing in it. It was just like any other body of water.

“Well, that’s no good.”

Discord snapped his fingers, and like that, the pool began to swirl and generate light of all different colors. Slowly, an image began to form, an image of a town. The town was covered with snow, with ponyless carriages driving about, moving it off the roads. Small versions of Ryan, with their fingers, and numerous layers of clothes, were heading home from a fun day in the snow. As they left, all the noise from the pool went silent, and soon, nothing moved.

“Well, that’s no good either.”

With one last snap of his fingers, Discord created a mind’s eye once more, and shot it into the pool.

*****************************************************************************

When he opened his eye, he was in front of a medium-sized white house, snow coating the environment, festive lights hung up on the front of the house. However, the lights were placed haphazardly, like the owner of the house didn’t care. Only half of the lights were even on, and what few other decorations there were were hung lopsided and uncaringly.

Discord felt curious about the house and moved up to the front window, trying to peek inside, see who was so glum this holiday season. Inside, though, he saw not one family or person, but an entire group of people, sitting around a room with a fire in the fireplace and being completely silent. More curious now, he slipped in through the window to try to learn more.

It was warm inside, like a fresh loaf of bread, not too hot, but far from cool. The people inside, though, were bundled up all the same, like the frigid air was working its way in with Discord to chill their holiday spirits and kill the holidays happiness.

There were no empty chairs available, so Discord sat on the floor, and waited. Soon after, someone finally spoke.

“I wish Ryan were here.” a young man muttered.

Discord blinked.

“He’s somewhere out there.” another young man replied in a whisper. “He’ll be back. He’s too good not to come back.”

Whoever these people were, they all knew Ryan. Some were young, some were older, but all of them had the same look of loss on their faces. One woman, man, and younger man in particular, though, looked awful. They all had bags under their eyes, as if they hadn’t slept, and all slumped in their seats, their sadness acting as sandbags, dragging them to the floor. They must have been Ryan’s family.

The younger man, Ryan’s likely brother, stood.

“Um, so, I’m not sure what to say.” he began. “I just want to say thank you to all of you for coming here to spend Christmas with us. It means so much.” He had trouble holding in his sobs as he spoke. “It’s good to spend time with family in times of... crisis.”

“Yes, thank you.” Ryan’s father added. “It really means a lot.”

There were several standard replies, like “We couldn’t let you be alone” and “I’m glad to be here for you”, but the whole time, Ryan’s mother was silent. Her eyes were closed, almost as if she was asleep, but she could definitely hear what was going on. Tears began to well up in her eyes, and slowly, they began to stream down her face.

Her husband, hugging her close, noticed it immediately and addressed the problem. “Thank you for coming everyone, but I think we could use some time alone.” No one complained; they all knew what was going on. One by one, everyone got up and left, saying their solemn goodbyes, and soon, the family was left alone.

The father looked at his son once, and, understanding, the son left the room to let the parents be together. Ryan’s father rubbed his wife’s shoulder.

“Come on, it’ll all be alright.” he said, but got no response. “You heard the report from the Australian government. Ryan’s friend Harris said that Ryan was taken away by the group, but that he was still alive when he last saw him. He can still come home, he’ll be back...”

“No...” Ryan’s mother replied, shocking her husband. “You know that isn’t how those monsters work. They killed him, or they will soon, and then we’ll never see him again!” She began to sob uncontrollably. “He won’t even get a proper burial...”

Discord felt his heart wrench as he watched the scene unfold before him. He had never considered this... he never thought about how the events in Asia would affect people so far away. He never thought of Ryan as anyone’s son, or brother, or friend, besides Harris. He had chosen to ignore the fact that Ryan had a family. Discord made Ryan forget them. And he felt like he could vomit.

“No, don’t say that.” Ryan;s father said, tears beginning to run from his eyes. They were like rainclouds, releasing the torrential downpour of that damn day on the family of the boy who had to swim through it. “He’ll be back... he has to.”

“What are they doing to him?” Ryan’s mother wondered aloud and hopelessly. “Why did this have to happen to him? Why?” She finally broke down completely, losing herself in her misery. “WHY!? Why him!? Why my son? What did he do to deserve this!” She gasped for air, only to have it blasted back out in her grief-filled cries. “WHY!?”

Her husband couldn’t hold himself any longer, and so broke down with his wife, both of them sitting on a plain white couch, wondering what terrible darkness had taken their son.

Discord had to leave; it was too much. He ran out of the room through a door next to the couch, looking for Ryan’s brother. As he searched, trying to drown out the sounds of mourning over a lost son, he felt himself beginning to cry. He knew that this was his fault. He had encouraged Ryan to pursue that man, Narendra. Discord had taken their son from them, and Discord had been the one responsible for him being shot and dying out in that goddam jungle.

Discord failed to find Ryan’s brother inside, so he went outside, glad to be away from the grief and pain of that house.

He found the young man outside, sitting on a bench swing in the snow. He was wearing all his layers, so he was warm and able to sit outside safely, but he seemed to be unzipping them and letting the cold air flow flow across his core. As Discord approached, he saw that the man was holding something, something small that had a leather strap going around his neck. When he opened his hand to look at it, Discord could see that it was some sort of piece of blown glass, shaped like a dragon.

The man shook his head. “Why did they take you, Ryan?” he wondered aloud to himself. “You’re the only decent person they could have taken... it’s always the best of us who are taken by tragedy.”

Discord saw a small green chair just in front of the bench swing and took a seat. He wanted to know more about this, to know the full consequences of what he had done. He felt an obligation to try to fix this. But he had no idea how.

“You sent me this a few days before you were taken.” the man said to himself. “Always, you were thinking of me. Of us, back here at home. You were always thinking of others... even to the point where you forgot about yourself.”

Discord knew that part of the boy all too well.

“Meanwhile, I was just going about my life, not noticing that you were away... I... I’m sorry. I should have been thinking of you, I should have been talking to you. You told me how you wished we talked more, after I got busted for having alcohol. You told me that you wished we could talk more, that we could be the way we were before. I took it with a dose of salt...”

The man put his head down and let tears flow freely, not noticing how they froze before reaching his chin, solidifying his unshaven facial hair. “I should have talked to you. I wish I could have told you that I love you,that we’ll always be brothers. Family is forever...” The man sniffed and wiped at his face, knocking off some of the ice. “I never really knew how much you meant to me until I heard the news that you were taken.”

“When I heard, I thought, ‘I’m going to find those mother fuckers and kill them myself!’ I never went out there, though. I came up with half-assed excuses... I never had money... Work... Legal trouble...” The man lifted his hand up and held them before him, watching them tremble, not from the cold, but from his own weakness. “I should have gone there, I should have been there for you. Who can I say I love you, that I’m your brother? How can I even say that, if I abandoned you to those bastards?”

The man put his hand down. “Why can’t I do anything? Why can’t I help?” Ryan’s brother stood up and walked away from the bench swing, then stopped and looked back at it. “You used to love sitting here, listening to your music, exploring your mind. You said that it was how you learned all that you knew about life.” He swallowed hard. “Maybe I can learn from it, too.”

He walked off toward the house, but not to any of the doors. Rather, he walked over to the side of the house, where, secluded by fences and trees, there stood a lone, flat post, dented and chipped all over.

Without warning, he began to punch the post, attacked with a ferocity the likes of which Discord had never seen. Not even from Ryan. His brother ripped away at the board, venting all his anger and frustration at it with everything he had. After a full minute of tearing away, he finally started to lose his energy, though he kept attacking. With little energy left, he was really just tapping the board with his fists, trying to do as much damage as possible.

Exhausted, the man fell to his knees, using the board to support himself. He began to sob, letting his anger and his hate out all at once, knuckles bloody and coloring the snow around him a shiny crimson, freezing over and becoming etched into place, like the misery that the man was feeling. Discord wanted to go to him, tell him that his brother was still alive and doing well, but he couldn’t. The last time he revealed himself to humans, he got his only real friend killed.

The man gasped in air through his nose, sniffing loudly as he tried to regain control of himself. After a few minutes, he was able to stand up and, though still barely capable of coherent sentences and thought, spoke.

“You have to bring him back.” he said.

Discord looked around for anyone, but no one was there. Confused, he looked back to the man before him.

“I don’t know if you’re a spirit, God, the devil, a terrorist, or what, but you have to bring my brother back to me. I want my brother, I want life to be the way it was.”

The man turned around and looked straight in the direction of Discord, his eyes boring into him, drilling through, somehow knowing that he was there.

“If you don’t, I will give you the worst feeling you’ve ever felt. I don’t care if it’ll take me days, months, years, or decades. But I will find you. And I will take my brother back.”

Discord just looked back, locking eyes with the human, and nodded. “I can’t promise that I can bring him back.” he projected, in a feeling rather than a thought. “But I can promise that I’ll make sure he doesn’t suffer any more.”

Ryan’s brother nodded. “That’s all I want for him. Peace”

And so Discord flew off, bolting into the sky, and decided to look for one more thing. He needed to know what Ryan’s friends were doing, what they thought of the whole thing. One of the people there had been his friend, he could tell from how they spoke earlier. So he shot off, using his magic to find out where they all went, and got a lock. Then, like a Sidewinder, he shot off in that direction towards his target.

He landed at a nice house, where, inside, there was a party going, with loads of adults within view of the window. But Discord didn’t care about them, so he just floated on inside and looked around for any younger people. Using a simple tracking spell, he was able to follow their trail and locate them out in the back, sitting in a circle around a fire pit.

He decided to take a seat over the fire pit and listen to them talk.

“So what happened?” a girl asked. She was asking the boy who had just been at Ryan’s home.

He shook his head. “You can see their misery. They try to look strong, but they can’t hide it. It’s... it’s just awful.”

“We all miss him.” another boy said. “But I can’t imagine what they’re going through.”

“He was my best friend.” a third boy, much taller, said. “I know him. He can’t be dead. He’s too good for that.”

“But we all know that he must be suffering right now.” a second girl said. “And we all know that he’s staying strong. For us. For his family. He’s going to get through this.”

Everyone affirmed, then raised bottles of some amber-colored liquid. Discord could tell that none of them were drinkers, but he could also tell that, whatever beer they were drinking, it wasn’t exactly cheap. They all took the caps off their bottles and tossed them aside.

“To him. And all those who go through Hell so we don’t have to.” And they all drank their beers silently, the reverence for their lost friend permeating the very air.

When they all finished, they sat around silently in the circle, not sure what to do with themselves now. No one spoke at first, no one even moved. They all thought it would be disrespectful.

But one person spoke. “You know, when the media came by and started harassing us and Ryan’s family, I thought it would be good. I thought that it would help in the search for Ryan, maybe get more attention so that we would have more people helping.” he shook his head. “Damn, was I wrong.”

“I sent the story anonymously, under the name TheGrimReaper. I thought that it would be a good idea to get more attention on the family, to let people know how bad it was back home for them... The attention only made things sadder. No one actually helped, just offered meaningless condolences. Eventually, they found Harris, and they squeezed a story out of him like juice from a lemon. Half of the information wasn’t even confirmable, and some of it seemed more likely to be lies than truth.”

“I just wanted to help. Now, no one will leave them alone, and no one is willing to at least help. I tried, but sometimes, trying just isn’t enough.”

“At least you tried.” the tall boy said. “That’s more than just about anyone else in the world can say.”

And from there, the conversation stopped, so Discord decided it was time to leave. It was the holiday season, a time of glee and contentedness. It was supposed to be a happy time.

But for these poor people, it was only a time of suffering. It was only a time of painful reminders. A time to know just how terrible the world could be. Ironic that such a holiday could do such a thing as this.

Discord released his mind’s eye, returning to his body, and tried to think.

***************************************************************************

“Why did I let that happen?” he asked himself. “Why? And why is there never an answer to these questions of ‘Why?’, never anything to tell us what to do? There is never anything to guide us; we’re left on our own, we have to choose our own way, with no knowledge of what may come or how we may hurt others.”

“Why can’t I fix this?”

His face was soaking wet from the tears he shed, and so, without saying another word, he returned to his stony prison in the garden, glad to have something solid to be a part of rather than the everchanging, ever more terrifying world that existed outside his understanding.

New Year's Resolution

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New Year’s Resolution

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do... I only know what I can do.”

The wind howled through the thick forest, whipping up snow and swaying trees along its path.

Ryan went out that day, a Tuesday, the fifth of January, early and bundled up, wearing his usual setup plus his scarf. The scarf was gentle and silky, just like he remembered when he took it from that dresser in Narendra’s home in Vietnam, and it did wonders against the cold. It protected his silver Shen pendant on his chest from the cold, and kept the searing cold metal from getting too cold and warping.

During his trek through the forest, he was constantly thankful that his makeshift armor was so light. On his head, he wore his helmet, the basic construction helmet he bought that day in Canterlot. So far, though, it had yet to see any real use.

Ryan set a large crate down in the center of his cave and let out a long sigh of relief. The crate landed on the ground with a loud crack and sat still as Ryan leaned over it. Inside was a plethora of potentially useful items for when he moved in.

The most important, and most dangerous, item was a large number of sticks of dynamite. Ryan had spent a massive portion of his money to buy about five kilograms of the explosives from a local mine. He figured he might be able to use it to expand his cave if necessary later, or maybe to fight off much larger creatures. Other than that very prominent item, he had several lighters, boxes of matches, blankets, and wooden planks and plywood for building any furniture he might want later. He could also take apart the crate for that, adding more to his stockpile.

Of course, he would want to keep the crate to safely store the dynamite sticks until he got a better case. After spending so much of his funds on the explosives, though, it would take some time, especially without his best-paying job, to get enough money to get through the rest of it all. It would take time, but this little project was finally taking shape.

In the meantime, though, he had some other things he had to do. But that could wait until he got back to town; right now, he needed to set up some stuff in his cave home. So he carefully unpacked his things, being sure to separate the dynamite from the fire-starting materials, and thought about what he needed to build.

Ryan pulled out the wood and blankets and set it aside and started scanning the room for anywhere that would be good for building. After a bit of thought, Ryan felt that, at least in the early days, he would have little or no no need for a bed, so that idea was scrapped immediately. He could sleep on the ground and the blankets would do a good enough job of keeping him warm. But if he wanted to blankets to be dry, he would need a rack to hang them if they did get wet or need washing.

So he set aside several planks of wood next to the firepit, but far enough so as not to risk burning anything, and went about the rest of what he had. Given the nature of the cave, and how it angled down, if it were to rain, the water would get all over the place inside and potentially flood the entire place, destroying his house and livelihood. Then, there was the matter of not having a place to store any non-perishable foods.

So the first thing he did was give a little fix to the flooding problem. To start off, he thought about how he would be able to sleep in a flooded area. The boy concluded that he would need to st up some way to keep himself off the ground during floods to avoid severe exposure to the elements and potential disease, so he did end up having to build a bed. But, like with the sheet rack, he would have to just set aside his building materials, since he had no nails or screws, and for quite some time now, he was out one hammer.

Down five wooden boards and two sheets of plywood, Ryan took the remained of the wood up to the entrance. He wouldn’t have enough left after this to address the issue of storing food, so he might as well use everything there.

Up at the entrance to the cave, Ryan looked around and thought about what might be a weakness and what he could make into a strength. His door was a massive rock, thankfully round enough to move, but it didn’t cover the opening very well. At the top, base, and sides, there were several good-sized openings where water and small animals could get in and cause all kinds of hell. So that was a problem that would need to be taken care of quickly.

Ryan moved the rock aside and tried to see what he could do to fix the holes. To take care of the openings, he would need to boards of wood to place at the base of the rock to block off water flow inside and some rocks to cover any spots where the wood failed. The sides would take some more effort, probably needing something above them in order to keep them dry. That left him with just the top, which he could address by building a makeshift awning or tent out of wooden boards and plywood to redirect the water away.

That took up the remainder of his wood, and even then, he still didn’t have enough, so he would have to earn some cash and make another trip to the carpenter’s store when he got back to town. Maybe over the weekend weekend, he would get back out and start building the stuff he was thinking about. Then again, he might be busy with his drinking buddies, so it was hard to say.

He stopped.

“Whoa.”

They were his drinking buddies. His close personal friends.

That was an odd concept; he had never thought of himself as a drinking person before. He actually couldn’t stand alcohol for the longest time. But then...

“I should get back now...” he said softly to himself.

With what few things he could do done, Ryan set out back through the forest to town, eager to get out of the cold and back to work so he could earn the money he would need.

**********************************************************************

Luna yawned deeply as she woke up, stretching her stiff limbs in all directions. Her wings felt the stiffest, so she pushed them all the way out, forcing them to stretch and regain usefulness.

Her left wing bumped up against the familiar form of Starstep, drawing a little smile onto her face as her friend attempted to roll away from the prodding appendage. Luna decided to have some fun, though, and flipped herself around to look at her guard.

He was sound asleep, jaw open wide, snoring softly. His own wings were all the way out, but they looked suspiciously stiff as opposed to Luna’s now floppy wings. Snickering, Luna inched her way closer to the stallion, ultimately ending up against his chest, and hunkered down there, nuzzling her face into him. Starstep just groaned in his sleep, and Luna could feel the covers being pulled in his direction by his wings.

Curious, but already really knowing what she would see, Luna raised her head up and looked behind her guard. Sure enough, his wings were as stiff as wooden boards, yanking away the covers and exposing Luna to the elements. Or at least those which were in the room.

She giggled like a little filly who had played a joke on some poor colt and moved back to her spot at Starstep’s chest, feeling silly. It wasn’t a joking kind of silly, though, more of an excited type of silly. No, not that kind of excited; just... excited. She couldn’t really explain it, she was just feeling silly.

She wrapped her forelegs around her guard and pulled him extra close ,causing him to stir just a little bit. His response ended up being to hug her back and bury his muzzle in her name. There was something pleasant about that to Luna, just the feeling of somepony nuzzling you and you nuzzling them back.

She removed her head from her guard’s chest and took a good look at his face. He had a strong jawline, and his fur was clean and handsome. His open mouth closed itself when he went to adjust, an action Luna hindered so that she could look at him some more. When he found himself unable to move, his face made a scowl and he grunted, but he didn’t try again. Now, his mouth was mostly closed, and not drooling all over Luna’s nice bed.

Luna needed to get a better look, so she started moving her head closer. She was hoping to see her guard’s eyes, as soon as they opened, but she would need to be right there when they opened in order to get a good view. It wasn’t that she wanted to see the color, she already knew that. She wanted to see into his soul, to find out just what he wanted-

And before she knew what was happening, her face got too close, and her lips landed on his.

It took her a second to realize what was happening, but when she did, she didn’t move immediately. It felt... interesting. This was what it was like to kiss somepony one cared about. Wait, did she care about him that much? Of course she cared about him, he was her best friend. But that much? They had all kinds of fun, but she had never really thought about him this way.

An wait, if she wasn’t sure, why was she still locked in that position with him?

Slowly, so as to avoid waking him up, she told herself, she removed herself from his face and stared at him. As she left, she noticed that his face was trying to follow, trying to get back into the position they had been in prior. Luna used her hoof to stop him, staring at his face, trying to make sense of the whirlwind of thoughts going through her head.

“Is this right?” she wondered, going back to Starstep’s chest. “What would he tell me?”

She started thinking about what he would say.

“Starstep, I need advice on love.”

“Uh, sure, my princess. What is it?”

“I think I might love one who is not royal, but I do not believe that I am supposed to. What should I do?”

“I believe that you should follow your heart, princess. That is the way that one must live life if they wish to achieve true happiness.”

But how would he react if she told him that it was HIM that she might have fallen for? Would his duties take priority, making him say no, or would he give her the chance? What would result from such a relationship?

“Bah,” she said softly to herself. She had no need to trouble herself with such thoughts right after waking. She could deal with it later.

*****************************************************************************

When Ryan returned to town, it was only seven-thirty. He had enough time to get into less battle-oriented clothes and get to work at the boutique. The trek through the forest was fairly uneventful, with the only notable occurrence being that Ryan saw a Manticore way in the distance.

Once he was back in town, he drudged through the snowy streets and forced his way to the store in which he lived. Luckily, since it wasn’t Twilight running the place, he would have time to think rather than answer questions, and he could figure out how much wood he would need and how much extra to get. Thinking about it now, actually, he would need an axe to gather more firewood in the future. Onto the list it went.

Ryan slowly cracked the door open and took a look inside. When he confirmed that no one was awake, or at least in the foyer, he opened the door and strode in, shaking himself off to get the snow off and warm up.

He immediately went down to the basement and took off his exploration clothes. The outfit was warm, to be sure, but he wouldn’t be needing it any longer today. To continue wearing it would only be suspicious. He briefly contemplated keeping the scarf on, but ultimately decided it was unnecessary and tossed it onto his bed.

Rarity had upped the heating, and Ryan noticed that the heat was way up in the basement, to the point where it was actually getting fairly uncomfortable. To avoid overheating, Ryan took off his jacket, and then, still feeling hot, he removed his shirt, exposing his scars to the world. If he found himself having to go somewhere, he could come down and get his jacket, and since he didn’t expect to go anywhere today, he could leave his weapons down here as well. But he would still where the Shen around his neck.

After all that, it was about eight in the morning, and Ryan was starting to feel hunger taking over. He walked up the stairs to the boutique and went to the kitchen, where he would hopefully find something good to eat.

He walked straight into the kitchen and to the fridge, hoping that there would be something there he could eat.

“Good morning, Ryan,” Rarity’s voice said from seemingly nowhere.

Ryan sucked in his breath and turned around, taken completely by surprise. When he turned, he saw Rarity sitting at the table, sipping a coffee, looking disheveled. She hadn’t prepared herself for the day yet, obviously, and her eyes were barely even open all the way. Her coffee smelled wonderful, the scent alluring and inviting.

Ryan turned back to the fridge and opened it up. “You seem up a bit early,” he said.

She shrugged behind him. “Well, a lady does sometimes find herself waking up early.”

“Why is that?” Ryan asked.

“When a pony has a guest, she usually wants to know that all is well. I woke early, and when I went to see you, you were gone. What were you doing so early in the morning, Ryan?” She sounded suspicious and unhappy.

“I was out, doing stuff,” Ryan answered, dodging the question as best he could. “What got you up so early?”

Rarity huffed at him; she saw that he was reluctant to answer. “Well, I was feeling a bit creative, and I thought you might be able to tell me a bit about your home fashion. Evidently, you weren’t here, so I was wrong.” She wasn’t going to let the answer slip away, not this time.

Ryan sighed. “Alright, I was out in the forest this morning looking around. Nothing happened though, and I never saw anything.”

Rarity sighed this time. “Well, I suppose I can’t tell you what to do, but please, don’t go out there without telling somepony first. it just isn’t safe.”

“I’m not taking anyone with me, if that’s where you’re going," Ryan said, narrowing his eyes. From the fridge, he pulled out a carton of milk and went about pouring himself a bowl of cereal.

“That isn’t what I was saying,” Rarity replied. “If somepony knows, then at least if something happens, we know where to look. Won’t you please tell me next time?”

Ryan pulled the cereal out of the pantry, poured it, and stuck it back where he found it. When he turned around, he looked at Rarity, who was giving him the most pathetic pouty-puppy face he had ever seen. He couldn’t fight the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ faces, so it was no shock that he couldn’t fight Rarity’s.

He sighed and went to sit down. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll tell you next time.”

Her face lit up. “Good!” she exclaimed. “Now, if there is one more thing you could tell me...”

Hmmm. Ryan wasn’t too sure about this.

“What got you up so much earlier this morning?”

Ryan was about to stick his spoon in his cereal, ut froze. Should he tell her? He had woken up earlier than usual because the nightmares were back, and they were stronger than ever. They had been in a period of remiss for a while, but last night, when they came back, they were enough to make Ryan wake up almost screaming. The previous night’s nightmare was uniquely horrible, to the point where he didn’t feel he could speak of it. The Wraith had a special part in it, as did Narendra and his little minions. When Ryan tried to look at himself in the mirror, he almost vomited.

“Just got up early,” he lied. “Felt like going out.”

“Ah. I see.” Did she?

Ryan went to eating his breakfast and scanned the room for anything else to think about. There wasn’t much new stuff here. Little changed. Of course, that was something he noticed about the town as well. Not a lot typically happened here, not to him, at least. Things were slow to change, easier on the residents. The only troubles were usually either silly or could occasionally be serious and nation-affecting. It was nice.

Ryan’s eyes fell on the newspaper under Rarity’s hooves, and he noticed a strange-looking creature on the front.

“Hey Rarity, mind if I see the paper?” Ryan asked.

She looked down. “Certainly.” She picked it up in her magic and tossed it over.

Ryan caught the paper and opened it up, looking for the story about the creature on the front. When he found it, he read the title softly to himself.

“Gryphon Colonies to the south in dire need...” he read. He continued reading to find that there were some serious troubles in the Southern Gryphon Colonies, mostly dealing with terrorism. Some group called the Hawkanni, something Ryan tried desperately not to notice, felt that Equestria had no business being in their country at all. The paper didn’t exactly have details, but from what Ryan read, it looked like they lost some kind of war, and then were occupied shortly by Equestria. Then, Equestria set up a friendly government, which this group was not a fan of.

“Ain’t it a bitch,” Ryan said to himself.

“What?” Rarity said.

“Nothing, just this story reminds me of some things.”

Interesting that these ponies had war as well. Ryan had given them a bit too much credit, by the looks of it. Now, the wars they had were nowhere near the scale of what humans had, and no doubt, the atrocities here were nothing compared to those back home. But this was still a war. Ponies still died. It was ruining the perfect view Ryan had of Equestria.

“Do you remember the war with the Southern Gryphon Colonies?” Ryan asked.

Rarity shook her head. “I do. It was a nasty bit of business, I remember. Almost all of us ponies wish to forget that it happened. But, if we want to avoid repeating history, I suppose that we have to make sure we remember it.”

Ryan snorted. “True that.” If only humans could remember how awful war is.

He kept on reading, taking note of anything that looked like it might be important. There was actually a plethora of information in the article, from the weapons and armor being used to some of the preferred tactics of the gryphon fighters. Their numbers were unknown, but the article said that they had an estimated one thousand plus fighters.

He would need to look more into their culture and look at the history behind the war. What had driven this group to start doing this, exactly? To attack innocent civilians is a cowardly way to fight your war. They were too scared to attack military targets, so they instilled fear in the population by attacking civilians.

One he gleaned everything he could from the article, he set the paper down and started thinking. What exactly could stop them? If their leader was killed, he would likely just be replaced by someone worse. If you destroy all of their things; their weapons and armor, homes, infrastructure; they just keep going, because they feel more justified, since you’ve taken everything from them. To make matters worse, that means they have nothing to live for, and that’s when you start seeing suicide attacks.

“The only way to stop an enemy such as this is to kill every last one of them,” Ryan concluded.

But such an endeavor is no easy feat, or even a doable feat. If you killed every last one, someone would see you as a monster, and then, you would have another enemy to fight, one who fought you not because you were in their home, but because they thought you were evil, and needed to be stopped. And that’s if you succeeded in killing all of them. The odds of actually doing that are slim to none.

The only way to effectively fight them would be to kill them when you can and to prove that you can kill them whenever you want, but not just killing all of them. You have to show them that they have little power over you, that you can do anything you want. That the only reason they still exist is because you are kind enough to allow it.

It got Ryan to thinking. He couldn’t do it now, but he would have to go to the library for work soon, so he could do some research then. But he would need to find out what the culture was behind these gryphons and how they defined honor.

But that was to be done later. “So, Rarity, what’s on the agenda today?” Ryan asked.

“Well, I have to make several dresses, one for each of my friends. We’ll be going to the Grand Galloping Gala. I assume that you will receive an invitation as well, so I’ll be sure to make you a brand new tuxedo for the occasion,” she replied cheerily.

Well, now Ryan had three things on his list; Prepare the cave for living in, learn more about these gryphons, and, perhaps most difficult, prepare himself for a huge event where tons of ponies would be.

“I have no idea where my life is even going.” Do any of us really know?

**************************************************************************

Luna held her grip firm as she battled on.

“Do you submit?!” she asked.

“Never!” Starstep replied with a grunt.

She had put him in a headlock some time into their little wrestling match. Starstep had been joking around and poked and prodded at Luna, until finally Luna started coming back at him. Imitially, it was just them going for pokes, but eventually, Luna started grabbing at him. Each time, Starstep managed to get out of it, but now, Luna had his neck, laying on the ground behind him, trying to get at his exposed belly.

Starstep was rolling around, trying to get free, while Luna used her magic to bring a feather over to tickle him with. He could see it coming; she brought it slowly to torment him with the knowledge that it was coming; and squirmed about, trying to liberate himself from her iron grip. When nothing seemed to work, he tried other methods.

“So I guess that you love holding my head, don’t you?” he asked, still struggling to get free.

“Of course!” Luna responded. “I find it requires great effort, and it is a good workout!”

“Well, my bulging muscles make me a lot bigger, so I guess that I can understand your grunts of enjoyment,” Starstep said, grinning.

“To be certain!” Luna shouted back. Her grip was beginning to weaken. She tried to tighten her grip. “I love having you within my grasp.”

Starstep chuckled. “You hold me much tighter, and my head might just explode!”

With that last word, Starstep was able to break free and flip himself around, getting belly to belly with the princess and grabbing her in a big bearhug. Luna tried to fight against it, but she was too exhausted to do anything. She dropped the feather from her magic grip and resigned herself to her new fate.

“Now, do you submit?” Starstep asked.

Luna sighed and relaxed herself, letting out little giggles of joy. “Okay. I submit to your superior strength.”

“I am the champion!” Starstep announced, holding Luna close.

She just giggled some more and pressed herself into him. “Yes, you get to be my champion,” she said. Starstep grinned a silly grin and hugged her as tightly as he comfortable could.

He liked these moments, where he could just hold her, and they would stay there. he would ever tell her that, of course. That might make the whole relationship weird, and he didn’t want that. She was a princess, he a guard. She probably wasn’t interested in a relationship, and at that, not with a mortal. Though he wasn’t sure if he could given the same life span; hadn’t Shining Armor gotten something like that after marrying Cadence? Even so, Starstep liked their friendship, and wouldn’t dare do anything to ruin it.

Luna, meanwhile, was just feeling cozy and warm in Starstep’s embrace. She liked it there herself; it felt nice. She hadn’t snuggled with anypony since her parents stopped doing that when she was just a filly, millennia ago. It was nice to get to just hold somepony you care about for a little bit. She couldn’t explain it, but that wasn’t her job.

So she just held him tightly to herself and hummed a little tune. “Princess?” Starstep said.

“Hmm?”

“I like what we do.”

“As do I,” Luna replied warmly. “We should do it more often.”

Starstep chuckled. “That sounds like fun.”

They didn’t say anything after that, just lay there in each others’ embrace. It got Luna to thinking.

What had happened this morning? Was that an honest mistake on her part, a random occurrence, or did she do it on purpose? To be sure, she had never kissed anypony before. Was she just curious at the time, and felt Starstep was safer than anypony else? What exactly had happened and why? Why was the most important question.

She had no idea how Starstep felt about her, so she had no idea that he would have liked to have been awake when she kissed him. But alas, not all of us are lucky enough to have been kissed by a princess, and fewer are lucky enough to know that it happened.

Starstep pulled the princess tighter. “Is there anything that must be done today?” he asked.

“No,” she replied, bringing her head up to him. Her muzzle was just an inch from his. “Nothing that comes to mind.” She looked into his eyes; the princess desperately wanted to ask him about how she was feeling, but, because he was the subject of her confusion, she couldn’t. So, she simply let herself be hugged, and snuggled in.

“Let us enjoy the day shall we?” Starstep smiled at her in agreement, and the two dislodged and went about figuring out what they would do for the day.

***************************************************************************

Thursday the seventh came by faster than expected.

Ryan was glad to be working in the library now, as it provided him with a means of doing research on these gryphons. He felt curious about their culture, and believed that it might provide him with the reasons for why they were doing some of the things they were doing. The greatest cause of war; a disagreement between two cultures. In reality; people being asswipes and not just letting each other be.

Ryan was going through the anthropology section, trying to find anything he could on gryphon culture. He had found a couple of books already, but they were about the gryphon colonies to the northwest and ancient gryphons across the sea who were all dead and gone now. The northwestern gryphons had some intense disagreements with the southern gryphons, it seemed, so their culture would provide few answers.

Twilight came up behind Ryan as he searched. “What are you looking for?” she asked.

“I need to find books on the culture of the southern gryphons,” he replied. “I find myself curious as to the hows and whys of the war down there and the instability there now.”

Twilight smiled obliviously at him. “If you want that, you’ll need to go to the recent history section. There should be several books about the war over there.”

“Gracias, chica.” Twilight blinked her lack of understanding as Ryan turned and walked to the other section.

As Ryan reached the section and started sifting through it, Twilight came up behind him. he pretended not to notice, like he was so engrossed in his search, but she just stood there, her curiosity practically dripping from her soul.

“Yes?” he finally asked.

“I don’t know that language. What was it?”

“Spanish?” Ryan replied. “It’s a really, REALLY widely spoken language in my world. I’d even go so far as to say it’s the second language of my country, so many people speak it. Also, our neighbor, Mexico, speaks it.”

“Where does the language come from?” Twilight asked.

“It comes from the nation of Spain. Within Spain, there are at least dozens of dialects. Then, when you leave Spain, you get even more versions. Geography and distance tend to change languages in different ways.”

“How did the language get spread so far?” Twilight asked, setting herself down on the floor.

“Well, in the early days of colonization, Spain pretty much took half the world. Or at least the western hemisphere,” Ryan replied. “When they took over, they, as all conquerors in history do, tried to lessen the native culture’s presence and replace it with their own. Be it by force or economics, they managed it at least to an extent. England did the same thing later when they started the thirteen colonies that became my country, and then my country did it later when it wanted to get more land that was held by Native Americans.”

“Why would your country do that, or that England place? Didn’t you say that they’re free countries, that they look down upon that now?” Ryan had tried explaining that to her some time ago.

“Well, I never quite said that,” he replied. “We as people in those countries tend to look down on that, but economics mean a lot. Colonization doesn’t happen the same way now; now, the empires are made of business, not land. And anyway, that was a very different time from modern England and America. I like to think that the countries have gotten a lot better about human dignity.”

“Ah, I see,” Twilight replied.

Apparently satisfied with Ryan’s explanation, she walked back to her desk, where she had her own book, and went back to reading it. Ryan kept on searching for the book he was looking for, going across several rows before he finally located it. It was titled The Conflict in the Southern Gryphon Colonies. Pretty straightforward.

Ryan pulled the book out and walked over to a comfy-looking chair and sat down, curious as to what he might find. Before he could start reading, though, Spike came by and preemptively interrupted him.

“Whatcha’ reading, dude?” the young dragon asked.

“I’m reading an account of a war from years ago, one that you wouldn’t remember anything about. I feel curious as to what exactly drives them to do what they are doing now. Maybe it’s similar to what happens in my world,” Ryan said, mostly to himself.

“Oh, okay.” Spike turned around and made as if he was about to leave, but he didn’t move. Instead, he just stood there, doing something with his hands out of Ryan’s view.

“What’s up?” Ryan asked. “You’ve got a question in you, I can tell.”

Spike turned back around. “Well... can I ask you for advice?”

Ryan shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”

“What do you know about mares?” Spike asked. It took RYan slightly by surprise.

“Well,” Ryan said, trying to formulate an answer. “Assuming that they’re like the women back home, I can tell you what I know, but my knowledge is limited, I think. What do you need to know?”

Spike looked back and forth, like he thought someone would see him stealing a valuable jewel.

“How do I get a mare to notice me?” he asked. “I’m not sure what need to do. It’s like she doesn’t even notice the things I try to do...:

Ryan looked at the open book in his lap, sighed, and shut it. “Well, it depends on the wom- mare. Is this Rarity you’re talking about?” Spike’s face turned red. “I thought so.”

“So what do I do?”

“Well, son, I can’t say that my advice is what you’re looking for, but I suspect it’s the best thing you’ll hear,” Ryan said. “I think you might be trying to climb the wrong mountain.”

“Huh?” the dragon replied.

“You like Rarity, right? She’s pretty.”

“Yeah,” Spike said, seeming to lose some of his attention.

“But think about everything, not just that. Is she nice? Certainly. But so is Fluttershy, and Applejack, and Pinkie Pie, and Twilight-”

“Why did you include her name?!” Spike shouted, evidently disturbed.

“My bad,” Ryan conceded. “Anyhow, they’re all nice ponies. They all have wonderful characteristics to their personalities. So when you get down to it, it’s decided pretty heavily by physical attractiveness.”

Spike frowned. “When you put it that way...”

“Exactly,” Ryan said, leaning forward. “Now, think about this. Rarity is an adult. You, are a baby. You see the problems?” Spike seemed to draw a blank. “Well, first problem; difference of interests. A couple should have a few similar interests to be happy.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Spike replied.

“Good,” Ryan replied. “Second problem; I don’t know how it works here, but there are some... societal issues to be had with the age difference, at least where I’m from. As in, it is HEAVILY frowned upon. No need to go into it, though.”

“Well,” Spike began. “Age differences tend not to be much in Equestria.”

“Yeah, so you see the problem there.” Spike nodded. “Good. Third...” Ryan was about to speak, but opted not to. “Well, it’s something you’ll learn about when you’re older.” When in a relationship with someone you love, a healthy sexual relationship is recommended. But Twilight would murder Ryan if he told Spike that.

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Okaaay,” he said suspiciously. “But what should I do then?”

Ryan blinked. “Now I’m confused. You understand why you won’t have luck with Rarity so... what are you asking?”

Spike looked down. “I’m not sure,” he said. “But... I don’t know, what if I keep feeling this way?”

Ryan chuckled. “Trust me kid, you won’t. I used to be in your position with the daughter of my parent’s friends. It’ll pass.”

“I guess I believe you,” Spike said, seemingly in defeat.

Ryan didn’t like seeing a young boy have his dreams shot down, even if they were silly. But then he thought of something. After scanning the area quickly for any signs of Twilight, and confirming that she was out of earshot, Ryan leaned forward right up to Spike’s ear.

“You know, though, I bet there are some girls your age who you might find interest in later,” he said.

“Seriously?” Spike replied, taking interest.

Ryan kept scanning. “Yeah. You never know, if you go crusading for them, you might just find one that you like.”

Spike took a second, but when he understood, he had to try hard to suppress his laughter. “Okay, that’s absurd. No way am I gonna be into them.”

“Oh, really?” Ryan said with a knowing grin. “Just you wait. I’m sure you’ll be thanking me later, IF you start hanging out with the girls now. Just you wait.”

“What are you two scheming about?”

Ryan and Spike’s eyes shot wide and they whipped their heads around to see Twilight on the stairs, looking suspiciously at them. They just stared at her, unblinking, like deer in headlights. Spike slowly turned to Ryan, who slowly turned to him, and they took one look at each other. Already, their plan was formulated, and already, they knew exactly what to do.

“She’s onto us, RUN!” Ryan shouted.

He bolted off his chair, dropping the book to distract Twilight, and Spike ran the other way, toward the door. Spike was able to get through the door before Twilight used her magic to shut it, but before Ryan could get out the back door, that was closed as well. Panicking, Ryan saw the circular window.

“What is going on!?” Twilight shouted.

“You’ll never take me!”

Ryan sprinted for the window and dove at it. Twilight had nowhere near enough time to react, so Ryan could easily get through the window and out into freedom, leaving her to wonder what it was that he and Spike were talking about in there. He went for the dive and-

THUD

He ran into the window face first only to find out that it wasn’t about to break any time soon. With that strike against the glass, Ryan slid down the window with a loud, continuous squeeeeeak, feeling the burn on his face as he was dragged down the glass by gravity. At the floor, he peeled himself away, putting his hands to his face to ease the burn.

Twilight gasped loudly and ran over. “Oh my gosh, are you alright?”

Ryan nodded through his hands. “Yeah, I’m good,” he replied, though it was muffled. “When did you install special glass?”

“I installed it after I caught Rainbow Dash sneaking in to steal books to read, since she didn’t want to rent them,” Twilight answered with a giggle. “And to stop her from crashing into the library all the time.”

“Ah,” Ryan replied.

“Come on, let’s see it,” Twilight said. Ryan lifted a finger to look defiantly at her. “If you don’t show me, I’ll pry your fingers away.”

Knowing he couldn’t win, Ryan released the grip on his face, earning a somewhat annoyed sigh from Twilight.

“Is it bad?” he asked.

“No, not if another broken nose and blood all over your face and my window qualify as good,” Twilight answered. “Come on, I’ll fix you again.” She lifted the human up in her magic and carried him away.

Ryan didn’t fight it; he rather enjoyed not having to walk himself. When Twilight set him down, he found himself laying on a couch, facing up.

“You know, you keep this up, and I’ll have to start charging,” Twilight said as she started her magic.

“I’m pretty sure that the one on their back charges and the one top one receives service,” Ryan replied. Twilight ignored him and kept at his nose.

“So what were you talking about?” Twilight asked. “I overheard most of it from the stairs, but when you started whispering, I got suspicious.”

“So you know what I told him about Rarity?” Ryan answered, trying to keep away from his indication of the CMC as girls for Spike to consider. They were all sisters of Twilight’s friends, after all.

“Yeah. I’m glad you told him; he wouldn’t believe anyone else.” She sighed. “He really does see you as sort of a brother, you know.”

“Ha, nice. Wait,” Ryan thought for a second. “Does he think of you as his mom?” Twilight nodded. “Well, that makes everything weird, then, I guess.”

“Only if you make it weird,” Twilight replied without thinking.

Ryan grinned. “Now that’s how you should look at things.” Twilight laughed lightly at him.

“But seriously. What did you whisper to him?” Twilight asked.

“Sorry, can’t tell you. Bros before...” Whoa, think before you speak. “...females.” Twilight raised her brow at him, but let it go.

“Well, I’m sure that you’re integrity is important to Spike,” Twilight said. Her magic grip tightened. “But I still got your nose.”

“So that’s your game, huh?” Ryan replied. Twilight nodded, getting Ryan to sigh in defeat. “Alright. I told him that he might find nice mares in the future that are his own age.”

“Aaaaand?” Twilight knew there was more.

“I... might have told him that one of the CMC could be the one.”

SNAP

“MOTHER..!” Ryan’s hands shot up to grab his nose.

Twilight gasped loudly. She seemed to be doing that a lot today. “Oh, oh, oh, oh, I’m so, so sorry!”

“What was that for?!” Ryan could feel the blood coming from his nose.

Twilight levitated a rag from the kitchen. “Sorry, I-I was just surprised, is all!” She removed Ryan’s hands and shoved the rag onto his face. “I didn’t really think you would do that... those are my best friends’ sisters! Spike is like... my little boy, my tiny dragon assistant! I can’t imagine him growing up and... being, with a mare. Thinking about him with them is just, weird!” She seemed to have trouble comprehending her little man growing up to be an actual man.

Ryan held the rag on his face. “Aren’t you the one who said it’s only weird if you make it that way?” he asked. Twilight blushed. “Besides, you know that it’s fine. As long as your friends NEVER find out it was me who put that idea in his head,” Ryan said with emphasis. “They might actually hunt me down and murder me.”

“You don’t need to tell me,” Twilight said. Ryan was really hoping that she would say ‘They would never do that!’ But alas, he was not so fortunate. “But why did you guys run from me?” She tried to feign hurt, but it wasn’t working. The shame of rebreaking Ryan’s nose was still there.

“One: It was funny,” Ryan explained. That just got Twilight to narrow her eyes at him. “Two: I was afraid you would hurt me, or tell your friends. Evidently, you hurt me.”

“Well, I’m sorry,” Twilight said, going back to work her magic. In no time, she was done. “There. Need me to kiss it and make it feel better?” She said with added ridicule.

“Are you gonna charge me extra for that?” Ryan laughed as Twilight gave him a punch to the shoulder.

All fixed up and with no more distractions from the young dragon, Ryan went and picked up the book from where Twilight didn’t pick it up and returned to his chair. Once down and comfortable again, he found himself being joined by Twilight, who sat at his side without a word and simply looked at his reading choice.

“The war with the Southern Gryphon Colonies? Why are you interested in that?” she asked.

Ryan looked at the book. “I think that what I read in here won’t be unsimilar to what happens in my own world. I’m just curious, is all,” he responded.

Twilight furrowed her brow at the book for a moment. “Why don’t you take it to the couch?” she suggested. “I never read this book because I wasn’t that interested in reading about war. We can read it together.”

Ryan shrugged. “That seems fine, I suppose.” He stood up and walked over to the couch, where Twilight hopped up and sat next to him.

She couldn’t find a comfortable way to sit, though. “Mind if I lean on you?” she asked, a sheepish smile on her face.

“Only if you think you can behave yourself while you’re on me.” Twilight hit him in the shoulder again as he laughed at her self-consciousness.

He opened up the book and started at chapter one, which read about the old, still relevant culture of the southern gryphons. They were generally a nomadic group, or groups, seeing as they were very tribal most of the time in the olden days. Now, they were supposed to follow a single government, but that government was grossly ineffective and all it seemed to do was breed violence between itself and the tribes by trying to claim their ancient land and force them all under one banner.

They were brutal fighters, these gryphons. They lived in the most mountainous region of Equestria and in one of the much hotter climates, it read, and would fight to the death for hunting grounds and such. Their lands were not only their lands; they were their lifebloods. To lose the land would be to lose the areas in which the food is hunted.

So they were constantly at war with each other, trying to get the best hunting grounds. They held honor, seeing as they had few worldly possessions, as the most valuable thing in their lives. As often as for hunting grounds, the gryphos fought and killed each other for honor and glory. There was nothing written on what was done after one side claimed victory.

They had no armor or weapons, save for a few ranged weapons, like bows and crossbows. They primarily used their talons and beaks for battle, ripping apart whatever foes they encountered. Gender had no relevance to them, for anyone who could fight well was considered a warrior. All honors and ceremonies were the same for males and females.

What they did with their dead was actually interesting to Ryan. To them, if a gryphon wasn’t buried within twenty-four hours of death, it was dishonored by whomever had failed to bury it, an offense punishable by honor killing. Ryan had to guess that it came from the fact that it was a hot climate; it the body wasn’t buried quickly, it would naturally begin to rot away and stink up the place, plus bring in disease.

And they had this code of honor. It was no ordinary code; they followed it until death. Ryan couldn’t pronounce it, but it reminded him of something he once read about called the Pashtunwali. The gryphons, at least those who were considered honorable and respectable, would always show hospitality, have honor, courage, bravery, and loyalty, sought justice, and gave asylum to those who seemed to be wrongfully accused. Overall, they tried to live righteous lives.

“Wow,” Twilight said, moving her jaw against Ryan’s now sore shoulder. “I never thought I would learn all that from a book about a war.”

“War is terrible,” Ryan said. “But that doesn’t mean that there aren't things that we can take away from it. That’s why it’s up to us to remember war; if we don’t, then what did we learn?”

The first chapter had been fascinating, providing an uncommon look into a culture widely unknown to most ponies. Ryan knew that the rest of the book would provide him with all kinds of information.

Hopefully, all kinds of useful information.

Life in the Spotlight

View Online

Life in the Spotlight

“Real heroes don’t brag.”

It was the sixteenth of January, Saturday afternoon. That meant it was time to hang out with the guys.

Ryan and Mac were waiting at the train station for Fancy Pants to show up. Saorin’ sent a message saying that he would be flying out from Cloudsdale at about the same time Fancy’s train left, so he just said he would meet them at the station. Oddly, both stallions had said that they would be coming by earlier than usual. Ryan paid it no mind, but Mac had a bit of suspicion going.

On the way to the station, Ryan noticed that Mac was spacing a little bit on the way there. When he asked about it, Mac played it off as nothing. Ryan didn’t believe him, but at the time, he didn’t feel like pressing it.

But with nothing to do at the platform, he decided he might as well.

“So, what’s been on your mind?” he asked. “You look like someone who’s thinking.”

Mac shook his head and sighed. “Alright, Ah’ll tell you. But ya can’t speak a word of it to anypony. Got it?”

“I hear you.”

“Well,” Mac started. “Ah’m tryin’ to think of a gift to get Flutters, since she asked me to come with her to the Grand Galloping Gala. But Ah’m drawing a blank; Ah got nothing. Ah don’t know what Ah should get her, since she never talks about anything she wants.”

Ryan nodded slowly. “I understand.” No, he didn’t. “At this point, I think the best option for you would be to either get her something that really fits with her personality, or maybe make something yourself. There’s nothing quite like a gift that you made yourself.”

Mac seemed to contemplate this idea. Ryan watched his facial movements as the gears of his mind turned and spun, trying to see what he was thinking. Ryan knew that Fluttershy was all about animals, so Mac would have to do something revolving around that. As a farmer, he was a decent builder. Maybe he could build something? But how would he carry that to the gala? Maybe-

“Ah got it.” Mac didn’t say it with much gusto.

“And what is ‘it’?” Ryan asked.

Mac grinned. “Ah’m pretty good at metal workin’, fixing the tools and whatnot. Ah’ll make her a special bit o’ jewelry, something unique and special.”

“Nice,” Ryan complemented. “Any idea what you’re going to make it look like?”

Mac’s face fell back to neutral. “Not really,” he admitted.

Ryan shrugged. “Well, I’m certain you’ll get something in mind. Maybe something that combines what you do and what she does?”

“Ah like that,” Mac said, his grin coming back. “Thanks for the help. But Ah think Ah need to take it from here.”

“Glad I could help.” Ryan could already see the gears turning faster and stronger than before in Mac’s head.

They stood there in silence for a time longer, waiting, until finally, from up in the sky, they heard someone hollering out. Ryan turned around first, thinking it was Soarin’ hollering his excitement about getting plastered tonight, as they agreed they would the last time they met, but then, he noticed a somewhat different tone. He continued listening to it, noticing an increasing level of alarm in his friend’s voice.

Then, out of the clouds with ferocious speed, Soarin’ shot by, skidding to a halt on the platform. His hooves almost looked like they were glowing from the friction, with a bit of steam rolling off of them. The pegasus looked around frantically, trying to find his friends, and when he saw them, he sprinted over.

“Soarin’, what’re you-”

“No time!” Soarin’ interrupted Ryan. “Get inside the station, go!”

Without waiting for their consent, Soarin’ pushed his friends across the platform to the stationhouse, threw the door open, and shoved them inside, joining them soon after. While Ryan and Mac tried to determine what exactly was transpiring, Soarin’ kept his eyes on the door, looking through the window to see whatever he was running from.

“What’s going on?” Mac asked. “Who’re you running from?”

“Quiet!” Soarin’ whispered. “They're out there now.”

Curious, Ryan walked over to the door and looked out the glass window. Outside, there were pegasi, at least eight, all carrying cameras and notepads. Some were wearing Hawaiian shirts, too, like photographers back home.

“The paparazzi?” Ryan asked. “I like to call them the ‘Harassment Bureau’.”

“That they are,” Soarin’ replied. “They’ve been trying to talk to me since yesterday, and they won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

“What’re they askin’ ya?” Mac asked, stepping forward.

Soarin’ groaned. “They want to know if Fleety and I are getting married, and if we’re trying to... have a foal.”

Soarin’ was evidently embarrassed by this, so Ryan and Mac did what any dutiful friend would.

“Prodding at your sexy time, eh?” Ryan asked, getting another groan from his friend. “Well, we can see what we can do to get rid of them.”

“No!” Soarin’ responded quickly. “They know I’m here to hang out, and no, I don’t know how they know that, but if you go out there, they’ll know I’m nearby. Please, let’s just wait in here for them to leave.”

Ryan looked to Mac, and they both shrugged. “Alright.”

And they waited. They didn’t have to wait too long, though, as the train was coming in. It was easy to tell that as soon as Fancy walked off that train, Soarin’ would be safe, and Fancy would have all the attention. They could take the time to get Soarin’ out of there, and even if Fancy saw them, he would definitely be willing to distract the Harassment Bureau for them. As a classy stallion, he knew that their questions were entirely inappropriate.

And soon enough, the whistles of the train blew into the air, temporarily deafening the harassers and drawing their attention toward the train. Ryan and his friends waited in silence for a bit, moving away from the window. Then, over time, they started hearing ponies departing the train and some of them giving pieces of their minds to the harassers who were in their ways. And at last, they heard what they were hoping for.

“Fancy Pants!”

One of the harassers shouted his name, and soon, there was a flurry of motion toward the train. Ryan took a look out the window to make sure no one was looking their way. Sure enough, they were all hustling and bustling around Fancy.

“Go, go!” Ryan said, throwing the door open.

Mac took the lead, covering Soarin’ from the harassers, and Ryan took the back. They moved quickly, avoiding looking in the direction of the harassers to avoid attracting their attention. Once they were off the platform and Soarin’ was on his way, Ryan took a glance back at the group.

Fancy was classily answering questions as vaguely as possible, and when he saw Ryan running off, he understood instantly what was going on. He must have heard about it, being in the loop as much as he was. As Ryan moved away slowly, Fancy gave him a wink cleverly disguised as a twitch, telling Ryan that he could handle it.

Ryan couldn’t hope to catch up with Soarin’ and Mac, but he could still follow their hoofprints in the ground to see where they went. Mac;s massive hooves next to a smaller pair were hard to miss, after all. He was able to follow them well into town, all the way to the library, but then, out of nowhere, they vanished. Ryan looked around, but he couldn’t seem to find anything to tell him where they went.

“Psst!” Ryan looked up at the noise; it was Fluttershy. “Up here!”

Ryan understood what had occurred, and so went to the door to try to get inside; it was locked.

“Who locks the public library in a place like this?” Seriously, who would want to steal a book?

Instead, he was forced to move back to the road and take a running start at the tree, then jumping up and redirecting the force so that he would bounce up off the wall and be able to grab a branch. Thankfully, he got on the first try, and he was able to pull himself up and jump onto a couple more branches until he made it to the balcony.

Once there, he was greeted by the gentle sight of Fluttershy. “Oh, I’m glad you got up alright,” she said.

“Me too,” Ryan replied. “Where’re the guys?”

Fluttershy pointed to the door. “They’re inside.”

Ryan nodded and went inside, opening the doors slowly and sticking his hand in to show who he was. When he heard a sigh of relief, he threw the doors open and waltzed in.

“And how is my flying friend today?” Ryan asked, walking toward the blue lump in the middle of the rug called Soarin’.

“Heh, I’ve been better,” the pegasus replied. When Ryan got close enough, he put out his hoof, which Ryan grabbed, and they pulled each other into an embrace. “This wasn’t exactly how I planned on coming by.”

“I had a feeling,” Ryan said, chuckling.

A cluster of noises came from outside, toward the ground. Everyone in the room went completely silent and still for a few moments, listening for potential harassers coming toward the library. The only problem with a location like this was that it was hardly defensible; being a public place, the harassers would have to be allowed in. If they were found, Ryan would have to fight their way out.

The cluster of noises became more coherent voices, and Soarin’s name came up a few times. The stallion started to sweat, cursing the harassers for being assholes like they were, with Mac getting ready to defend him from their barrage of flash-cameras and incessant questions. Luckily, though, the harassers took another route, away from the library, and their voices slowly began to fade away.

Soarin’ fell onto his rear and sighed. “Jeez, that was close,” he said. “I thought they might actually catch up to me.”

“You wouldn’t have answered their questions though, right?” Mac asked.

“Never,” Soarin’ replied proudly. “I would never talk about me and Fleety’s private life to such pests.”

“That’s good,” Ryan commented. “Gotta stay classy.”

Fluttershy, whom they had almost forgotten about, walked away from the balcony door and over to Mac. “Are you alright?” she asked, getting right up to his chest and leaning into him.

“Ah’m good,” he replied, lowering his head to protect her from unseen nasties somewhere in the world. “Thanks for letting us in, sugar.”

“I bet he gets some of that sugar in all his meals,” Ryan muttered to Soarin’, who couldn’t keep himself from chuckling. When Mac looked over at them, they just stopped and started looking around blankly, like nothing had happened.

“I’m glad to help,” Fluttershy replied with a smile. “Actually,” she began with a sheepish smile. “I had no idea you needed help at first, since I couldn’t see Soarin’. I just thought I’d invite you in...”

Ryan and Soarin’ actually stopped paying attention now; no need to hear private information. “Uh, thanks, sugar,” Mac said, wishing that she hadn’t said that in front of the guys. “hey guys, why don’t y’all head downstairs and read or something, maybe raid the fridge?”

Soarin’s eyes exploded, and he rushed down the stairs to raid the fridge. Maybe there was pie!

Ryan just walked over to the staircase, taking one look back at Mac.

In the public library? Really? I thought we said it was good to be classy.

Don’t you give me that; we’re in the private section.

Yeah, Twilight’s private section. I don’t think this kind of privacy is what she had in mind for the loft where she sleeps.

Mac grunted; he had lost this one. “Flutters?” he said.

She was pressing her face into him. “Mmm?”

“Ah think Ah can meet you at your place tomorrow night for dinner,” Mac said, trying to get her off of him. She was shockingly resistant. “Ah can bring some food.”

“I’ll make you a pie,” Fluttershy said, understanding.

Ryan just watched. He tried and tried to resist it, but he just couldn’t. He had to do it. He just had to.

“Even if you don’t give him that pie now, I’m sure it will be just as good tomorrow.”

With that, Ryan sprinted down the stairs and went for a place to hide.

Fluttershy looked up at Mac. “Does he always know?” she asked. Mac was surprised that she was her usual, sheepish, embarrassed self. Maybe she knew him well enough by now.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Ain’t nothing hidden from him for very long.”

Ryan was in his hiding place on the rafters, barely hidden from Mac and Fluttershy, waiting for whatever was going to happen next. Soarin’ had failed to locate any pie, and instead just started picking random books and reading them. Fluttershy and Mac were cuddling beneath Ryan, tempting him to jump down and join them just for the sake of doing it. He had done it to his friends at school a whole bunch of times; ruining ‘perfect moments’ and at the same time getting closer to all of his friends and their significant others. In a not-weird way, of course. At least for him.

But he didn’t, because before he went for the jump, the door started banging loudly. Soarin’ leapt up and ran for the door, but stopped when Fluttershy shouted for him not to risk it. Instead, she got up, much to Mac’s chagrin, and answered the door.

It was Fancy. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry. Is this the library?”

Mac jumped up, Soarin’ flew into the air, and Ryan fell from the rafters onto his front. When he got up, rubbing his shoulder, they all walked up to the door.

“I say, I’m glad you boys are alright!” Fancy waited for Fluttershy to let him in, as any gentleman would.

“I’ll say,” Soarin’ replied. “I almost got eaten alive by those photographers.”

“Thanks for the save, by the way,” Ryan added, poking Soarin’ in the shoulder. “This guy would have been boned by someone OTHER than Fleetfoot for once if it hadn’t been for you.”

Soarin’ glared daggers at Ryan, who just poked him in the shoulder again, while the others just chuckled at the joke. “I’m glad I could aid you.”

Fancy walked in and they all took seats around the main room of the library, Mac and Fluttershy taking the couch, while Soarin’ and Fancy took chairs. Ryan just leaned against a table.

“So, what brought you both here early?” he asked. “I think I can get why Soarin’ showed up early, but what of you, Fancy?”

The large unicorn stallion sighed. “Well, chap, my wife has been on me about getting my next line out there sooner, rather than later. The reporters keep bothering her about it, and she just sends them away.”

“So you came early to get away from her?” Mac asked.

“No, I came because she told them that I would answer their questions,” Fancy answered with a chuckle. “I suppose that’s what I get for letting them pester her all the time.”

“For whatever reason, the magazines have been getting some kind of hard-on from getting stories about famous ponies,” Soarin’ added. “They’ve been harassing all of us. Some of us were just a little less fortunate and got thrown under the bus by the other famous ponies.”

“Like my wife, and I would guess Spitfire,” Fancy finished.

Ryan and Mac nodded slowly. “Ah,” Ryan said. “I can’t say that I know anything about how that feels.”

Fancy cleared his throat. “Well, don’t count on that too long,” he warned.

“What?” Ryan didn’t like the sound of that.

“Yeah,” Soarin’ said. “You are kind of famous, after all. You kicked Blueblood’s ass, seriously injured a mugger, and you’re a close friend to the Elements of Harmony. Plus, you’re a human, and the only one here at that. They’ll jump at the chance to talk to you.”

“What about Mac?” Ryan said, pointing at his friend. “He’s the BROTHER of the Element of Honesty, and they don’t seem to want to bother him.”

“Well, family tends to be left out of it,” Fancy said. “My wife is only bothered because she is a model; they won’t bother any of my older children, nor my parents, when they were around.”

Ryan looked sourly at Mac. “Well, aren’t you just one lucky son of a bitch.”

Mac smiled devilishly at him in response.

“Well, what do you suppose we do now?” Fancy asked. “The bar won’t be much of an option until later tonight, and walking around wouldn’t be the wisest thing for us to do. What do you fellows have in mind?”

They all thought about it, including Fluttershy. The silence was thick, almost like it was a blanket muffling any noise that was made, inside the library or outside. Fancy seemed to be genuinely thinking, as did Soarin’, but when Ryan looked at Mac, he was whispering some unknown phrases into Fluttershy’s ears, earning several giggles from her. RYan realized that he wasn’t thinking of anything at the moment himself, and set his mind back on track.

Soarin’ jumped up. “I think I have an idea!” he shouted urgently.

“Does it involve pie?” Ryan asked, sounding just as urgent.

“No!” his friend replied happily. “I think we can have fun at the expense of the reporters.”

Fancy, now interested, leaned in. “Pray tell, what have you in mind?”

Soarin’ chuckled. “Well, here’s what I’ve got...”

******************************************************************************

They had snuck over to Rarity’s boutique, keeping certain that they were never seen, to get started on their fun. Ryan took the lead, followed by Mac, carrying Fluttershy, then Fancy, then Soarin’. A few times, they could hear the reporters calling out for the two stallions, forcing them to dive and take cover behind anything available.

Now, though, they were there, unbeknownst to the owner and proprietor, hiding in the basement while Ryan fished out everything he had. It was possible that he would need everything for this plan, especially if shit went totally sideways.

After donning his vest and helmet, then his weapons, and finally his cloak, he turned to his friends.

Soarin’ whistled. “Damn, dude, you could go to war in that outfit,” he commented.

“I say, that is a rather ferocious setup. Where did you get it?”

Ryan turned around and looked for his sunglasses. “I got it in Canterlot, when Rarity took me there to meet you, Fancy,” he explained. “I go into the forest quite a bit, and some protection is a nice thing to have out there. It’s light, portable, and flexible, so I can move normally, just with added safety.”

Fluttershy, still on Mac’s back, nervously looked Ryan over. “Oh, you shouldn’t be going places that are so dangerous, Ryan. You could get hurt! You might sprain your ankle, or your wrist, or you might fall and hurt yourself, or you could get a broken bone, or you might have to fight some poor creature and kill it, or-”

“Flutters,” Mac interrupted. “Ah think Ryan knows what he’s doin’. He’s done it plenty of times before.”

“Yeah, don’t worry, Fluttershy,” Ryan added casually. “I was in a forest much more dangerous than this for a while, with much less protection. I survived it for a long time, until I finally got made by someone much more dangerous than anything I’ll encounter here any time soon. I also kept Harris safe, sort of, so I can keep the reporters from dying.” Fluttershy cringed a little at his last words.

Ryan found the sunglasses and set them on his face. “There,” he said to himself. “Now all we need to do is hope that the reporters follow me into the forest.”

Once all of it was set up, they all confirmed their roles and went up the stairs, and out the door to look for the reporters. Except for Fluttershy; she was sent home by Mac because it would be too dangerous for her specifically.

The guys searched the town for the reporters. It took a surprising amount of time; a group that large and loud shouldn’t be that hard to find. They hadn’t left, that much was definitely true. They could easily have been off bothering the other elements of harmony right now or something. Speaking of which, where were they?

It didn’t matter, though, because soon enough, they found the reporters. They were all gathered around some unseen pony, camera flashes going off constantly. Mac and Ryan walked forward, nodded to Fancy and Soarin’ as they walked, signaling them to make their way to the Everfree.

Once they were gone, the plan went into motion. Ryan and Mac just sort of walked along, pretending not to notice the reporters and chatted nonsensical subjects, sometimes not even using coherent words. All they needed to do was attract the attention of the reporters, and everything would go according to plan.

The reporters didn’t seem to notice though, so Ryan and Mac stopped walking and leaned on the building across the street from where the reporters were gathered and just watched. At first, Ryan wasn’t sure who they were talking to. But when he took a better look at the house, he suddenly felt a little guilty about not going in to stop them.

It was Cinny’s house, and it was a safe bet that they were harassing her at her own front door. Ryan couldn’t confirm this at first, as there was no way to see through the wall of bodies blocking off their view. Soon, though, another body came out, shoving its way, and managed to get out of the thick of things.

Cinny pulled herself away and rolled, eager to escape the madness, right into Ryan’s legs. When she stopped, she looked up at him and smiled like she was meeting the Messiah.

“Hey Ryan!” she said with exasperation, though not at him. “Glad you came by!”

“Likewise,” Ryan answered, offering his hand to help her up. She took it. “What’s happening here?”

The reporters turned around, realizing that Cinny was no longer at the front door, and started asking questions again. But instead of speaking, they stopped and just stared.

“They were hoping to talk to the mare who always serves Soarin’ and Fancy Pants,” she answered, shooting a glare at the group. “I just wanted to have a peaceful day.”

Ryan looked up at the group. “I think I can help you,” he whispered. “Just make your way to wherever you were going to go.”

Cinny got up to go and ran, leaving a trail of dust in her wake. To Ryan’s mild surprise, the reporters made no move to chase her.

“You know,’ he began, putting on an authoritative voice. “You shouldn’t be bothering a young mare in her home like that. You have no right to do it; she deserves some privacy. You ought to be-”

“Mr. Ryan, Mr. Ryan!” the reporters all started shouting.

They rushed at him and Mac, the latter of whom ditched immediately to make his way to the forest to prepare himself. Ryan braced for the full brunt of the impact, wondering if he would even survive the stampede of hooves and bodies coming at him. Luckily, they all managed to stop right before him, though.

“Mr. Ryan!” the first one yelled. They were all yelling, actually, she was just the only one who seemed to make it through. “What’s your opinion on the conflict in the Southern Gryphon Colonies?”

“What?”

“Mr. Ryan! What are your secrets to success? How did you become the friend of such important ponies?”

“Ryan, care to comment on how you think the Royal Guard should be run to be more effective in the future?”

“What the shit is going on here?!” Ryan shouted back, though his words seemed to go nowhere.

“Mr. Ryan, what is your view on-”

“Enough!!” Ryan bellowed. All went silent.

He looked over the group. They were actually somewhat more aggressive than the paparazzi back home, being much more physically there than any human would be. There must have been more lenient laws regarding unwanted physical contact in this land.

“Why do you want to talk to me?” he asked.

They all just sort of looked at each other, confused. “Well,” one began. “You’re different. You’re respected. Ponies want to know what you have to say!” They all started up their shouting again.

“How did I get this respect, might I ask?”

“You saved ponies from harm several times; you’re a hero! Like the Elements of Harmony!”

Ryan sighed and looked down. “Heroes give everything they have for good. That isn’t me. I don’t want any credit, because that isn’t why I did anything.”

“And why did you rescue those ponies in the forest from the timberwolves?” Ryan had almost forgotten about that.

“I really don’t have an answer to that,” he said, preparing to make a break for it. “But I need to be going. So, if you’ll excuse me...”

Ryan pushed the heads of two of the ponies before him aside and jumped up, landing his feet on their backs. From there, he propelled himself forward with as much force as he could muster, just barely managing to break the crowd and roll away. When he got up, the crowd was already turning around to chase after him.

“Run, run, as fast as you can,” Ryan said to himself, taking his chance to run away.

Ryan hauled ass away from the reporters, hearing their cries for his attention as he ran away fade, then get louder. He didn’t dare take a look back, for he might have tripped and fallen, which would doom him to being surrounded by the reporters and their incessant questions.

As Ryan ran through the town toward his destination, he thought about the Elements of Harmony. Why was Fluttershy the only one he had seen today? Where did the others go? It was entirely possible that they were also hiding, since they were more famous than Ryan was, but then why would Fluttershy still be here? If Twilight wanted someone looking after the library, she could have asked Ryan to do it.

“No matter,” Ryan thought. “I’m sure it’ not important.”

He escaped the town and started running toward the forest, where he and the guys agreed to try to lure the reporters inside. Quickly, Ryan reached the edge of the treeline and dove into the forest, rolling forward to reduce the impact. When he got up, he took a look back.

The reporters were right there, and they were closing fast. They didn’t seem to notice that the forest was going to be surrounding them soon, so Ryan took that as his confirmation and turned around to run off. As he went, the sounds of the reporters were slowly drowned out by the sounds of the forest.

He was to the right of the path at the moment, not too far from where he and the guys were going to meet up. Ryan put his hands out in front of him to push the brush and branches away as he trudged through, trying to keep the forest out of his eyes. The leaves were frustratingly loud under his feet, and he could just tell that the reporters could somehow hear it.

Ryan pushed aside a large, leafy branch, and was greeted with the familiar sight of his friends.

“What’s up, guys?” he asked as he came out into the small clearing.

Ryan took in their appearances; they were all looking pretty scary. To any pony, that is. They all had black ski masks on with skulls painted onto them, and wore black cloaks over their bodies to hide their colors. Over the eyeholes, there were screens to cover the whites of their eyes and prevent them from being spotted.

“Just finishing up getting ready,” Mac answered. “Fancy, hand him his stuff.”

Fancy Pants’ horn glowed glowed a gentle yellow, and a small outfit came out of his bag and levitated over to Ryan. As the boy looked it over, he felt a smug joy come over him. The mask Fancy had made for him was perfect, and didn’t have a screen over the eyes. Ryan put the mask on over his head and put his sunglasses on over that, hiding himself fairly well.

“How is it?” he asked.

“Pretty frickin’ scary,” Soarin’ complemented.

“Awesome.” Ryan patted himself down and felt the satisfactory sturdiness of his armor under his cloak. “Say Fancy, why do you have these masks?”

Fancy shrugged. “Well, I just thought I would make them for Nightmare Night. I never did come by to give them to you fellows, but I figured this was an excellent time to bring them down. Little did I know that we would wind up using them.” The stallion chuckled lightly at the end of his statement.

Everyone checked themselves again. “You boys ready?” Ryan asked. His friends nodded. “Let’s go teach these bastards a lesson.”

The reporters walked along through the forest, uncaring of their surroundings. They had a lead on the story of the year on their hooves; they couldn’t just let it get away!

The pony in the lead, one very excited Flash Pic, was eagerly scanning the area with his camera. Who knew when the human might pop out, giving him the perfect opportunity for a picture? So far, he only had pictures of the human’s backside, and though some might find them to be perfectly adequate, he wasn’t a fan. He had to get a good photo of the human’s face.

It was during this time of scanning that Flash figured out exactly where they were. Or rather, where they were definitely not. He didn’t stop walking, but a feeling of dread began to wash over him from the realization that they were walking through the Everfree Forest. In all the excitement, they hadn’t paid attention to where they were going, and now, they could easily pay for it. The human ran here, so he probably knew his way around, but none of these ponies would know how to get out without being in serious danger.

Flash stopped. “Everypony,” he said loudly. No one seemed to notice. “Everypony!”

They were all too busy chattering amongst themselves and trash-talking about each others’ respective employers to notice Flash’s increasingly worried voice. Some of them were apparently half-aware of their surroundings; they would move aside branches and bushes in their search, but they didn’t seem to register just how risky their actions were. Flash moved back to the group and got into the center of it.

“EVERYPONY!”

They all stopped, some covering their ears and moaning about the loudness of the stallion’s voice. The ones who had separated and were searching the surrounding area all stopped what they were doing and looked back at the stallion, curious as to what he had to say. Did he have information on the human?

“We need to get out of here,” he said. “We’re in the Everfree Forest, and I don't think anyone was paying attention to our route.”

The group members made various motions of discomfort, ranging from gulping hard to shrinking down as much as possible, and looked around. They were, indeed, in unknown territory. They hadn't even been following the human for a while, they were just moving in the hopes that they would see him somewhere. Everypony rushed in to get into a tighter group and huddled.

Flash saw the opportunity to get a raise and walked up to the group. “Alright, everypony!” he shouted authoritatively. “We’re going to turn around and get back to the road. I’ll lead!” Flash went to the other side of the group and started walking off. He was happy when the group followed him; if this became a story, he would definitely get a raise! Making the other magazines and newspapers look bad, and save lives! It was perfect!

Ryan was crouched up in a tree, watching the group as it made its way back to the town through the dense forest. On the ground to either side were his friends, Mac and Soarin’ on one side, Fancy on the other. They all exchanged quick glances, nodded, and moved out.

Ryan stuck to the trees while Fancy took the right and Mac and Soarin’ took the left. The forest was dark, so with the cloaks, the group of reporters would hardly be able to see them moving about. The only things they would see were the milky white patterns on the masks.

The small group moved quickly through their environment, much quicker than the reporters were capable of. Before long, Ryan was just over the group of reporters, with Fancy on their right, Mac to their left, and Soarin’ moving to their front. Being the biggest of them, Mac and Fancy had to take the ground roles to prevent any ponies from running off to parts unknown, and Soarin’ and Ryan would be able to keep an eye on anyone who managed to get past them.

But that was the emergency plan. Now was the time for fun.

Ryan made a fist and knocked it against the trunk of the tree he was sitting in in a rhythmic pattern, a very distinct one. The group of reporters all turned about, terrified expressions on their faces, trying to find the source.

Before they could find Ryan, Mac and Fancy both stood up out of some bushes they were each hiding behind. In the darkness, their bodies were well-hidden, but the masks showed perfectly. As the reporters started to notice his friends, Ryan couldn’t help but start to laugh at the terror on their faces and the gasps they released into the air.

One of them, a mare, screamed, and Mac and Fancy took that as their cue. The two large stallions came out from behind their cover, still well-hidden by the darkness, and started moving around the group. The reporters huddled close together, hoping that if they closed their eyes tight enough, that the monsters would go away. Mac and Fancy said nothing as they moved around the group, just stared at the group as they moved.

Then, without warning, something landed in the middle of the group with a loud thud. The reporters in the center turned around to see what it was.

“Souuuulss...” the form said ominously.

It was Soarin’, of course, but the reporters didn’t know that. They all flipped an absolute shit, screaming, and tried to run off. Mac and Fancy were able to catch the ones that tried to run, throwing them back into the group with their invisible arms. Soon, they joined in on Soarin’s fun and started moaning the same way, moving throughout the group and grabbing ponies at random as they went.

Ryan watched it all from his tree with immense amusement. These harassing reporters were getting what they deserved right now. If only he could do this to the ones back home, then his world might be a little bit better. There would be less trouble to deal with all the time because the reporters would be more careful about reporting the true facts, lest they risk being abused by those they reported on.

Ryan watched quietly, waiting for his chance to get in. The group was so scared, it was petrified in its place. Except for one.

Somepony whose nametag read ‘Flash Pic’ ran out form the group and tripped, rolling right into Ryan’s tree. He slammed his head into it, dazing himself, and just sat there for a moment, groaning. Slowly, he tried to get up, but the pain in his head tried to tell him not to.

Ryan took the opportunity and lowered himself to the branch just above the stallion. Flash was really getting up now, shaking his head to clear his thoughts as he thought about how to get away. To either side of him, there was a way out, a way away from the madness. But could he just leave the others here at the mercy of these creatures? He turned around to take one last look.

He froze as he found himself staring down a mask not a foot in front of him. The mask was upside down, like a monkey hanging from a tree by its tail, totally unmoving. Flash tried to look into its eyes, but there was only black, with no light whatsoever coming from the other side.

“Your souuuul...” Something reached out and pressed against the underside of his neck.

“AHHH!”

Flash Pic screamed and ran off in the opposite direction, through the group, bowling through the reporters and Soarin’. The others all took a page from his book and followed him, screaming and flailing about as they escaped from the monsters of the Everfree Forest. Behind, watching them run, were three stallions and a human, laughing their heads off at the spectacle.

“That was perfect!” Soarin’ shouted, barely able to take in breath.

“It certainly was,” Mac agreed, nodding his head slowly.

Ryan jumped down from the branch, landing on all fours. “Good work, boys,” he said, clapping his hands together. “I’d say we make a pretty good team.”

“Amen to that!” Fancy replied, pushing his hoof towards Ryan for a hoof bump. Though it was painful for him, Ryan felt a compelling urge to bump it.

They all took a minute to calm down, mostly by taking in their surroundings. From the looks of it, the reporters would make it home safe, if their speed and direction were anything to judge by. They would easily get back, they knew their way. Each of them took off their masks and set them in their pockets or under their cloaks.

“Well, I guess that’s the highlight of our day,” Soarin’ said. “What say we head back for a drink?”

“Ah’d say that sounds like a mighty fine idea,” Mac replied, everyone cheering and hoorahing as they started the walk back.

The bar that night was busier than usual. It might have been from the fact that those reporters were there, off to the one side. They were probably pretty shaken up by the whole experience.

When they passed them on their way to tell Cinny they had arrived, Ryan set his hands on their table and said, “So did you get that story you were looking for?” With a smug grin and swagger in his step, Ryan left them there to figure out exactly what had occurred in the forest that day.

Now, they were sitting in their usual booth, waiting for Cinny to come by and take their orders.

“So, what’s been happening in the worlds of Mac and Fancy?” Ryan asked. “Other than being harrassed by reporters, of course.”

Fancy looked to Soarin’, clearly expecting him to answer first. “Well, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, mostly,” he said, a light blush moving across his face. “I’ve been thinking about my relationship.”

“Oh?” Ryan replied. “What kind of thinking?” There were two kinds that this could be.

Soarin’ smiled sheepishly and chuckled. “I think I want to marry Fleetfoot.”

The news was met with a sudden, raucous barrage of cheers and fists and hooves striking Soarin’ on his shoulders and sides. The pegasus stallion felt pride swell up in his chest as he received the many congratulations.

“Thanks guys,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, and I think the time is right.”

“I think it is a splendid idea,” Fancy added. “When I first thought about marrying Fleur, I was nervous and questioning myself constantly. But when I did marry her, it was the best decision I ever made. I’m sure you’ll be very happy together.”

“Yeah man, you’re a great couple,” Ryan added. “It’s good to hear about you taking it to the next level.”

“Yeah,” Soarin’ replied lightly, his eyes going off into space. When he realized he was spacing out, he shook his head and turned his attention it Mac. “So, how is your relationship going, Mac?”

Mac shrugged. “Good.” When he didn’t continue, the guys all just stared him down to keep talking. He sighed. “Well, I’m trying to make something nice for her as a gift to give her when she takes me to the Gala,” he explained.

“Well, I had no idea you would be there!” Fancy announced. “I’m glad to hear it. What do you plan to wear?”

Mac blinked. “Do Ah have to wear somethin’ special?”

Fancy chuckled. “Well, it is a formal event. You should wear formal clothes.”

Mac nodded slowly, thinking. “Ah’ll wear mah fancy yoke and mah pa’s tuxedo. It ain’t got any use lately, so Ah might as well.”

Ryan turned to look at him. “They make fancy yokes?” he asked with incredulity.

Mac smirked. “Well, if there’s someone willin’ to pay, someone’s willin’ to make it.” Ryan had to admit, that was totally true.

The chatter went down for a little bit, everyone’s minds turning to the Gala. Soarin’ would probably propose to Fleetfoot there, seeing as it was such an excellent place for it. Fancy would be doing whatever it is that he does at events. Mac would be with Fluttershy, and the Elements of Harmony would probably be doing things similar to Fancy Pants. That left Ryan alone at a big party. Always, he ended up standing around alone at social gatherings. It was why he quite frankly loathed them so much.

“So how about you?” Soarin’ asked, turning his attention to Ryan. “You going with anyone?”

Ryan chuckled. “Well, you see, unlike you guys, I’m-”

Ryan was interrupted by the sound of hooves coming up to the table.

“Hey, boys.” Cinny walked up to them with a tray and four drinks on her back.

Ryan’s face lifted at her sight. “Hey, Cinny! How’s it hanging?”

“Oh, the usual,” she said, dropping the drinks down. “Good pay for good work, spending time with the gals, talking about the guys.”

The guys suddenly felt interested. “And what guys would those be?” Mac asked. Three of them were taken, but it was still a point of pride to have mares talk about you.

Cinny giggled. “Only single guys,” she replied. The stallions nodded, somewhat disappointed, but not surprised. But that still left Ryan on the table, though he doubted they would have any reason to talk about him.

“Well, that’s good to hear,” Ryan said, picking up his drink. “You try to keep your mind out of the gutter, you hear?”

Cinny giggled. “Well, when so much is left to the imagination, it’s hard not to explore the possibilities.” Cinny turned around and walked off, her usual swaying attracting all kinds of attention.

The guys all just stared for a moment; not at Cinny, but at Ryan.

“Anyway, as I was saying; I’m forever alone in this world, so I haven’t got anyone I’m particularly thinking about.”

Fancy blinked. Then he blinked again. Then one more time. “You... really?” He looked around. “I wouldn’t have thought that.”

“Yeah, brah,” Soarin’ chimed in. “You sure about that?”

Ryan nodded. “Positive. What mare would find a human attractive?”

Soarin’ and Fancy just looked at him, so Mac answered. “Well, Ah can’t rightly think of any Ah know of, but when in doubt, take a friend. Odds are, Cinny won’t be going, so you can take her with you.”

Ryan thought on it for a moment. “You know what, I like that idea.” He looked out from the table. “Yo, Cinny!”

A few moments later, the mare came trotting by. “Yes?” she asked.

Before Ryan could respond, he noticed a number of stallions looking her way, some of whom were making lewd gestures. As much as Ryan wanted to get up and knock them out, he knew better than to pick fights that would land him in trouble. He just had to ignore it as best he could and talk to Cinny.

“I plan on going to the Grand Galloping Gala, but no one wants to go alone. Feel like going with me?”

Cinny’s face went from content to super-excited in less than a tenth of a second. Her big, toothy smile took over most of her face, her eyes squinted, and she couldn’t keep herself from bouncing up and down.

She rushed forward and hugged the human. “Oh my gosh, that would be awesome!” she said.

Ryan hugged her back with one arm. “Great!” he said, glad that she was excited. “I’ll get two tickets from Luna, VIP tickets. We’ll go together.”

She squeezed Ryan tighter, preventing him from taking in breath into his crushed lungs. “Oooh, this is so nice! Thank you!” When she released him, Ryan had to breathe in deeply and slowly in order to recover.

“Can’t wait for it,” Ryan said. Cinny, wearing a goofy smile and with a bounce in her step, walked off to take care of her other customers.

Ryan turned back to his friends, who all gave him approving nods. “Good move, bro, good move.” Ryan was confused at Soarin’s words, but opted to pretend that he understood.

The guys all remained in their seats for a while that night, trading stories and life lessons, and thought about what each of their futures held.

Suffice it to say, the future would be more than a little interesting.

Study Group

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Study Group

“It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us." Marianne Williamson

Ten days after the craziness brought by the reporters, on the twenty-seventh of January, a Wednesday, Ryan walked along his way to work at the library. He had spent some extra time in the basement today, seeing as he had nothing to do befor the library opened. The previous week, he had broken in because it was cold and the door was locked. Twilight got mad at him, so Ryan wasn’t too intent on doing it again, at least not if he didn’t have some kind of joke to play.

At the moment, he was leaving the boutique, bundled up for the cold and saying goodbye to Rarity and Sweetie Belle. As he shut the door, he eyed his watch. It was about half past eight, much later than he would like to have left. But the cold didn’t permit, so he was stuck waiting in the basement, checking his gear and everything to make sure it worked properly. It was boring work, leading to him having to play with Sweetie Belle to keep her off of Rarity’s work.

So he was off, feet crunching the snow underneath and hands in his pockets. Rarity had offered him a scarf, but he simply took the one he already had. As usual, he had all his weapons on him, which was actually only his M1911 and KaBar knife. He wore his pendant around his neck, his watch on his wrist, the jacket under a coat Rarity provided, and his armor vest. It may have been heavier than regular clothes, but it was certainly warm.

The town wasn’t as quiet as when he typically left early in the morning, but that didn’t mean that a lot was happening. Rather, there were just a few ponies out, doing various chores, shoveling, heading to the train station to go to work. Some were kids, celebrating what was apparently a snow day.

“I swear, it’s like these kids never go to school,” Ryan said to himself.

“I wouldn’t say that!”

Ryan jumped with a yelp at the unexpected statement just behind him. Startled, he spun around to see Pinkie Pie sitting there, an innocent smile on her face and crumbs all over her mouth.

“Pinkie,” Ryan said, catching his breath. “What brings you out so early?”

Pinkie shrugged. “Well, my Pinkie Sense went off this morning and I figured that it meant that there meant that there was gonna be a doozy today but I couldn’t figure out what the doozy would be so I decided to leave work to see if I could find out what the doozy would be and then I saw you and I thought, ‘Half of what Ryan does is a doozy!’, so I decided to follow you after you left the Rarity’s and now here I am!”

Ryan let his eyes fall closed and chuckled, a little smile crossing his lips. “Well, I can’t say I expected to be followed this morning on my way to work, but okay. Feel free to tag along.”

Ryan waite for a response, but instead, Pinkie just stood up on her hind legs and put her forelegs out. With another set of chuckles, Ryan picked her up, eliciting giggles from the pink mare, and carried her to the library.

On the way there, he was forced to put her over his shoulder. She was a lot heavier than she looked, although Ryan would never say it. Maybe it was all the sweets? Working and living in a bakery can do that, especially when you’re as crazy as Pinkie. While he carried her over his shoulder, he was getting odd looks from the other townsfolk, but most of them ended up just shrugging and muttering, “Pinkie being Pinkie.”

From his shoulder, Pinkie was glancing about, not a care in the world in her eyes. She liked being carried around; it was fun. It made her feel like a royal, able to tell Ryan where to go and what to do. She would never do that of course, but hey. And it made her feel like she was being carried away by a brave knight to be loved and held forever.

“Every mare has a right to her fantasies,” Pinkie thought at unknown viewers.

Pinkie looked down at the back of Ryan’s jacket. It was a cool symbol, the golden eagle with an anchor, weird thing, and a trident. But it didn’t help to remind Pinkie of what was underneath the clothes Ryan wore. His scars really were something to behold, a humbling experience for anyone who thought they had encountered an evil being. Ryan knew evil, and he suffered at its hand in the most awful of ways. Pinkie’s mood dropped a little at the memory.

“What’s up, Pinks?” Ryan asked, surprising but not taking Pinkie off guard. “You’re not bouncing up and down.”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” she said, trying to play it off. She couldn’t though. “I was just thinking about the scars on your back...”

“Oh.” Ryan didn’t like that. It made his friend sad. “Don’t worry about that; that’s all over. And you’re life is great, you don’t need to worry about anything like that.”

“Yeah, but... I mean...” Her mood was dropping fast. “We think that Nightmare Moon was evil. We think Discord is evil, that Sombra and Chrysalis were evil. They were nothing next to that guy you talked about, uhh...”

“Narendra?” Ryan said, a foul taste in his mouth.

“Yeah,” Pinkie replied. “It makes me sad to think that you’re world has to deal with guys like that, but ours doesn’t. You didn’t do anything to deserve any of that, after all.”

Ryan slowed down; he could see the library. But this wasn’t a library conversation.

“No, I suppose we didn’t,” Ryan conceded. “But then, why would they be there? They’re humans, just like us.” Ryan shrugged. “Sometimes, the world is just testing us to see if we can do the right thing. It’s up to those who pass to stop those who fail, I guess.”

“Ponies don’t have to prove themselves, I guess,” Pinkie replied sadly.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Ryan responded. “Plenty of times, ponies do. Just not in a violent setting. The neverending battle between right and wrong isn’t as strong here, but there are still plenty of tests. Helping the needy, sticking by your friends when they need you... just because there isn’t some terrible price doesn’t mean that a lesson isn’t had or a point isn’t made.”

Pinkie lightened up just a tad. “I guess...” she said. “But why did you have to go through so much pain?”

“Beats me,” Ryan said without thinking. “But I’m here now, so that makes up for it.”

Pinkie’s usual bounciness suddenly resumed with a jump start, and she spun around on his shoulder to hug his face.

“You are here!” she shouted, blocking Ryan’s field of vision. “And we like that!”

Ryan laughed under her forelegs. “Thanks,” he said, putting his hand on her leg to pat it. “It’s good to be here.” Pinkie seemed to have brightened up quite a bit, so Ryan le the conversation end there.

He made it to the library door and knocked three times. Looking at his watch, he realized that he was late, what with Pinkie showing up and all. But that was alright; he kind of enjoyed it.

The door opened to reveal a tired-looking Spike releasing a yawn. “Yo?” he said. He picked that up from Ryan.

“Yo,” Ryan replied from behind Pinkies foreleg. “Can I come in?”

Spike looked up. “Oh, sure. Come on in.” Ryan walked in, ducking to avoid hitting Pinkie’s head on the door frame. As he took his time getting his coat off, Spike walked over to the kitchen.

There was arguing somewhere in the room, but seeing as Ryan was unable to see, he simply ignored it for the time being and felt around for a chair. He thought that he remembered where there was a chair, so he headed in that direction, hands out in front of him like a snowplow. He found something that felt soft and cozy to sit on, so he hopped up and plopped himself down.

“Ah!”

The chair yelped and collapsed, bringing Ryan and Pinkie down with it. Pinkie hopped off of Ryan’s head at the last second, landing on her hooves, while Ryan went down to the ground. When he hit, he heard a groan from underneath him, and when he looked, he saw it was Rainbow Dash.

“Oh hi,” Ryan greeted, rolling off.

“Yeah, hi,” Rainbow replied grumpily.

Ryan turned to Pinkie. “Why didn’t you tell me that I was about to sit on Rainbow Dash?” he asked.

Pinkie snorted. “Well, I thought it would be a fun surprise, landing on Dashie’s soft back! She makes a great chair.”

Ryan turned to Dash. “You alright?” he asked.

“I’m good,” she replied.

He stood up and offered his hand to help Dash get up, which she accepted with minimal grace. Wondering why she was here, Ryan took a look around. Immediately, eh spotted Applejack, searching intently through the book shelves. They were in a section about ancient rituals and trials, probably trying to find a contest to prove who’s the better pony at whatever nonsensical activity they would choose.

“Looking for something?” Ryan asked Applejack. She grunted in response. “Well, keep at it, I’m sure you’ll find it.”

“Hey, don’t you work here?” Rainbow asked. Ryan nodded. “Well, why don’t you help us find what we’re looking for?”

Ryan sighed. “What are you looking for?” he asked.

Applejack turned around. “We’re lookin’ for a book that has challenges for us to compete in,” she explained. “Ah need to show her that Ah can best her any challenge of her choosin’.”

Ryan looked at the shelves. “Well, you’re in the right section. Unless you’re looking for something specific, I can’t really help you further.”

“Why don’t ya help us search?” Applejack suggested. “It’ll make everything go a lot faster.”

Ryan rolled his eyes and moved over to the shelves. At the moment, Applejack was looking through books on ancient trials and customs that were used once upon a time to prove adulthood. Ryan moved over to the more modern sections that read about current challenges and physical contests, but found little that the two competitive ponies would be interested in. Instead of staying there, he thought it would be better to check the physical fitness section.

He walked over to that section, and as he did, he looked for any sections about gryphons and geography that he could find. He had already done a good bit of reading on gryphons, but the actual layout of their lands was still a mystery to him. The geographical information about resources and the lay of the land would help to explain some of their culture, and help him to understand how they fight.

The walk was short, though, so he didn’t see where the books he would be looking for were. Diverting his attention back to his current task, he searched through the sectio until he found a good-looking book for the ponies; The Most Painful Workouts Ever Designed. He pulled it from the shelf and carried it over to the athlete and farmer.

As he walked back, he noticed that Rainbow and Applejack were nose-to-nose, looking aggressively into each other’s eyes with huge grins on their faces. Pinkie watched on with her typical bounciness, making everything fun in her own way. The ponies didn’t notice Ryan as he dropped the book in front of them.

“There,” Ryan said, failing to draw their attention from each other. “Try those, they’ll ravage your body once you’re done ravaging each other.”

He turned around and walked about, looking for his book, and didn’t notice the screeching halt that was the expressions of the two ponies.

“What the hay does that mean?” Applejack asked.

ryan turned around and saw that the faces of both ponies were totally red. “What?” he asked innocently.

“What do you mean, ‘Ravaging each other’?” Rainbow repeated.

“Oh that!” Ryan replied, as if he just remembered. “Well, the way you two were staring into each other’s eyes, you looked about ready to take it upstairs.” Both their faces turned a bright shade of red, and Pinkie started laughing her head off behind.

“We are not!” Applejack shouted. “We were just pushin’ on each other!”

“I’m sure that you would love to push on each other some more,” Ryan replied. “But please, keep it upstairs. I’m sure Twilight will get it.”

“Get what?”

Ryan looked over to the stairs to see Twilight coming down with several books levitating next to her. Rainbow and Applejack’s faces were still red, drawing a temporarily confused face from the librarian. When she saw Ryan acting like nothing had happened, though, she knew.

“They want to have a romp in your room, since I won’t allow it down here,” Ryan explained.

“No!” Rainbow shouted. “We were just trash-talking!”

“Talking dirty is more like it,” Ryan countered, drawing glares from the two mares before him. “Their faces were so pressed into each other, I thought they would break down and snog right there.” Ryan pointed a where they were standing with his thumb.

Twilight looked neutrally at her two friends, then at Ryan, then back at them. “Girls,” she said, coming off the stairs and stepping towards them. “This is what I have to deal with all the time. You have my permission to attack.”

Ryan did a double-take at Twilight, then looked to Applejack and Dash. They looked to each other, smiled, then looked back at Ryan.

“Oh, no.”

They launched themselves at the human, before he could get away, and each took control of part of him. Applejack grabbed his legs, while Rainbow flew up with her forelegs under Ryan’s armpits, holding him up. The sound of Pinkie’s uncontrollable laughter only got stronger with each passing second.

“I didn’t consent to this!” Ryan said.

Twilight walked up to him. “You don’t have to,” she said, an evil look in her eyes. “Pinkie?”

Pinkie reigned in some of her laughter. “Yeah, Twi?”

“Do you still have that can of whipped frosting?” Ryan’s pupils shrunk and his eyes widened at the phrase.

Pinkie pulled it out of seemingly nowhere. “Yep! You never know when you’ll have a frosting emergency!” What?

Twilight levitated it over with her magic and pointed it at Ryan. “You see, Ryan, this is what happens when you play these games with magic users.”

Ryan watched as she uncapped the can and shook it. He swallowed hard, hoping for the best. The best was not to come.

“No no no no no!”

Twilight yanked the front of Ryan’s pants and pointed the can in, letting the frosting loose. Ryan yelped and squirmed as it went in, the cold, unforgiving content slowly filling his pants. He tried to fight it, but it was in vain, the can was in place. All the mares laughed maniacally at him as they put him through the torture.

Applejack and Rainbow released him when the can was empty, leaving him standing in a wide stance with frosting coming out the bottom of his pant legs. His face was contorted with the cold, weird feeling of frosting everywhere, getting more laughs out of the mares.When he took a step forward, the frosting squeezed out of his pants, getting all over the floor. Twilight was too busy busting her gut on the floor to notice.

They had gotten him, to be sure. But that didn’t mean that he last laugh was theirs.

“Now who’s gonna lick it all out?” Ryan asked.

The three mares involved in the act all went totally silent, turning completely red, while Pinkie started crying from laughter behind them. Ryan moved towards Twilight, moving with slow, deliberate steps, then changed his direction toward Applejack and Rainbow. Before he could make it, though, the frosting came out in a force and coated the floor. Ryan didn’t notice, though, and slipped on it.

He landed with a loud squish on the frosting and slid toward the two mares. Rainbow managed to fly up out of the way, but Applejack was too stunned to move. Ryan bowled right into her, sending her to the floor next to him, covering her in frosting.

Rainbow started laughing again, as did Twilight. Applejack tried to get up, but the frosting was too slippery. Ryan didn’t even bother trying to get up, just watched Applejack try in vain. Rainbow was directly above them, barely able to keep herself in the air.

“What’choo laughing at?” Ryan asked.

Before Rainbow could react, Ryan reached up with his long arm and grabbed her tail, dragging her down the the ground. He shoved her to the floor and rolled her around, covering her with as much frosting as possible. Ryan as too busy watching Rainbow to see it, but he could hear Applejack laughing next to him. When he finished with Rainbow, he sat up.

Rainbow lay on her side. “Alright, alright!” she said, trying to control herself. “You got me.”

“I’d say that worked nicely,” Ryan replied. “Now, both of you can-”

“Don’t even,” Applejack warned. “Ah may be coated in frosting, but Ah can still wrestle you down.”

“Well, I was going to say you can have a water fight to clean off,” Ryan lied. “But I suppose that if wrestling is the first thing that comes to mind, you could go at it with Rainbow. Or,” Ryan slowly shifted his gaze. “The two remaining mares.”

Twilight’s face took on a panicked look as Ryan carried the two mares up as he stood, while Pinkie put on a face of determination. Without waiting or a cue, the three frostig-coated warriors lunged at the two mares, Applejack and Rainbow going after Twilight, and Ryan going after Pinkie.

Twilight tried to teleport away, but Equestria’s fastest flier was already on her, holding her down. Applejack came up next and took her hind legs, and they carried her off to the spot on the floor where her fate was sealed. The dropped her down and rolled her about, the lavender unicorn barely even fighting against it as her face went from terror to amusement and laughter.

Ryan, meanwhile, had to get Pinkie. He was trying to get his hands on her, but every time he thought he had her, she would slip right out of his grasp, like she was made of the frosting. It was a confusing problem that Ryan had no solution to. At first.

“You can’t get me!” Pinkie said, making a face.

Ryan looked at her with intense determination. “We’ll see about that.”

He reached down and grabbed some of the remaining frosting from the bottom of his pant legs and took as much as he could. From there, he launched it upward toward Pinkies face, earning a gasp of surprise from the party mare. To avoid being covered, she opened her mouth wider than it had any right to be and swallowed the frosting.

But while she did that, Ryan moved in right behind it and went for a bear hug. He succeeded, taking Pinkie by surprise, and took her to the floor. Once there, he took more frosting form his leg and foot and tossed it onto her, then rolling her about as he did the others.

The whole endeavor proved to be pretty exhausting, so when Ryan felt that he had won, he rolled away and sat up, leaning on his knees. He looked over at the other three, giggling and talking over where they were. From behind him, Pinkie jumped up and leaned on top of his head.

“That was fun,” she said, still stricken with the giggles.

“It sure was,” Ryan replied, reaching up and scratching Pinkie behind her ear. He leaned forward to get her on his back and crawled over to the group to join them.

Ryan sat himself down with the others and shrugged Pinkie off. She moved over and sat down next to him, licking the frosting off of herself with glee. The others were all working on taking the frosting off of themselves, save for Twilight. She was just kind of sitting there, looking amused.

“Care to help, Twilight?” Ryan asked.

She smiled. “Certainly.” With a flash from her horn, all the frosting was gone.

“Thank you,” Ryan said, giving a little bow of his head. He stood up and stretched his back, getting several satisfying pops form it. “That was fun.”

Pinkie was lamenting the lack of frosting on her, leaving the others to respond. “Yeah it was!” Rainbow said. The others simply agreed with her and they started talking about whatever it was they talked about.

Ryan moved away from them and looked for an atlas, the most detailed he could find. He had to go to the maps section to find it, and that was easily one of the most annoying-to-navigate sections. There were literally hundreds of maps, ancient and modern, old and revised. It could take some time, unless they were organized by date.

Which they were, thankfully. Ryan walked straight over to the modern section and started his search. He saw maps of the everfree forest, though he had no need for those any more. There were loads of maps of the towns, cities, and municipalities of Equestria, though those were equally useless. Soo enough, Ryan came across the foreign maps section, a scarcely populated part of the library. Most of those maps probably weren’t useful to the residents of small-town Ponyville anyway.

Ryan found what he was looking for; an atlas of the Southern Gryphon Colonies. It was small, which made sense, given that it was one region, though it definitely had enough pages for plenty of information to be had. Ryan pulled it from its place on the shelf and walked it over to a reading chair, where he sat himself down quietly and opened it up.

The first page was introductions. No one ever reads the introductions. he skipped it and went on, finding a map of the region as a whole. The entire thing was mountains, not a plain in the entire area. According to the atlas, the average depth of the valleys was at least one mile. To make matters worse, the average incline of the mountainsides was fifty degrees.

“Wow,” Ryan said to himself. Fall down there, and if you can’t fly, you’re basically guaranteed to die.

He read on, looking for specified regions. Knowing that the general landscape was hostile to him was fine and all, but he wanted specific information that he could use for something other than caution. The first bit of that he found was in the northernmost region, known as The Wetlands. The region was known for its near-constant rainfall, as well as the systems of caves that made up most of the settlements. There were entire cities in those caves, some of which had easy access to power for lights and whatnot.

Ryan moved onto the easternmost region, known as the Goldtop Mountains. The name gave it away; there were all kinds of riches there, and that was where most of the wealth in the region was. They had exceptional warriors, as they had to; no one wants to think its easy to be stolen from when they have loads of money. They more or less let the other regions rot, though, not getting involved in any conflicts or helping to broker any peace.

The southern region was pretty straightforward, as was the eastern region. They both had mostly tribal societies, fighting over water and hunting grounds. They had the steepest slopes and several volcanoes, making them the most volatile regions in the atlas. The tribes in those areas rarely ever ventured out, though, instead opting to fight each other.

That left the central region, the heart of the colonies. This place was an outlier to be sure. It had mountains that ranged from two thousand feet to three miles high, and the valley floors were flat and easy to navigate in for ponies. Other civilized regions typically had roads and bridges for the gaps between the mountains, but this one had none. It was known for its dangerous roads, made dangerous by the locals and other groups. This was where most of the fighting in the war several years ago had occurred. It was nicknamed the “High-dive of Death”.

Ryan was about to continue reading on when a tuft of pink hair obscured his view of the page. He waited for it to go away, but when it didn’t, he simply sighed and looked up. Pinkie’s face was over the book, her eyes staring down at the pages, actually bulging out of her head like spear points.

“What are you doing?” Ryan asked.

“Reading.” Pretty simply. “What are you doing?”

“I was reading, until this pink mane got in the way. You wouldn’t happen to know whose it is, would you?”

“Nope!” She kept on reading. “Oh, wait, it’s mine! Teehee! Sorry.”

She stepped back to reveal the other mares, all staring at him. “What can I do for you?” Ryan asked, curious as to why they were staring.

“What’re you reading?” Rainbow asked, stepping forward.

“I’m reading an atlas, getting a lay of the land,” Ryan replied, holding the atlas up. “You never know when you’ll need to know the geography of someplace.”

“The Southern Gryphon Colonies? Why would you ever go there?” Rainbow asked as she observed the name of the atlas.

Ryan shrugged. “You never know,” he replied. “I doubt I’ll ever end up there, but I like to know as much as possible. I’ve been reading up on other atlases as well, like Saddle Arabia and Zebrastan.”

Twilight nodded approvingly. “Well, you can never be too well-read,” she said proudly.

Ryan nodded. “Truth.” He was about to get back to reading when there was a clattering from the kitchen.

“Hey, I got snacks if anyone’s hungry!” Spike announced as he walked out.

Everypony walked right over and nabbed some snacks, while Ryan just sighed and set the atlas aside for another day. As the mares all walked away, Ryan approached and grabbed a snack. They were fresh gingerbread cookies, shaped like the Elements of Harmony, himself, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Why would he include those three?

“You took an awfully long time, considering how long you were in the kitchen,” Ryan commented, giving Spike a sly smile. “You enjoying the show?”

Spike grinned right back. “Oh, you better believe it.”

“What’re you two scheming about?” Applejack asked suddenly from off to the sides.

“How to make the next one even better,” Ryan replied, getting a confused look from the mare. She just ignored it and went back to eating and chatting.

Ryan took the cookie of himself and bit down on its feet. “Why did you make some of the CMC?” he asked. “Gonna give’em to them as gifts?”

Spike nodded. “Yeah, they’re my friends too, so I thought, why not?”

Ryan nudged his shoulder. “You suuuure it isn’t because of what I told you?”

Spike gagged. “As if! You may be smart, and good with mares and stuff, but you’re definitely wrong about that.”

Ryan chuckled and ruffled Spike’s spines, then walked off to put the atlas away. Once he did, he thought about what to do. He clearly wasn’t going to get more reading done, although he had gotten a lot done today. The mares were whispering about something that they clearly wanted no one else to hear, so they were out. Maybe he could head out?

He walked to the door. “Yo twi, mind if I head out for a bit?”

“I’ll give you an hour and a half for lunch!” Ryan chuckled as he grabbed his coat and exited the library.

He had no idea what he was doing, as usual, so he just wandered. Maybe something would strike him and he would have something to do. Or something would strike him and he would have to go back to Twilight for a broken nose. Either way, he was hoping for something.

He had money in his pocket, so he could just go to a restaurant for lunch. Though there were few enough in town he actually liked, and it would be a pain to trudge through the snow to get to them. Even so, with nothing else, Ryan decided to go for it and find one.

He had only been walking for about ten minutes when he spotted the restaurant he was looking for, some lunch place whose name escaped him. It was a good place, serving pleasant vegetable dishes and proteins that weren’t from meat, so he could eat here and feel good about it. thinking about it, he hadn’t eaten any crap foods since he came here. Equestria was great for his health, apparently.

Ryan needed to know if there were any seats, so he walked over to the window and looked inside. Nopony seemed to notice his face against the freezing glass. He spotted no empty tables, unfortunately, so he would probably have to go inside and wait for a table to open up.

Ryan felt vibrations in the glass. He pulled his face away and looked about, trying to find the source. What he saw surprised him.

Rarity and Fluttershy were at a window-side table, looking at him with smiles. “Ryan!” Rarity said. “Do come inside and join us, it’s far too cold for you to be out there.” Ryan smiled back and waved, happy to accept the invitation.

He trudged through the snow and walked in through the door, bypassing the waiter and heading for the table. Funny thing about that; if you just walk in like you’re supposed to be there, they won’t stop you. Just go in and grab a table, no one stops you. At least, if they don’t see you snag a table.

He walked over to his friends’ table and greeted them. “Hey, girls,” he said. “How’s it hanging?”

“Just fine, darling,” Rarity replied. “Do pull up a cushion and sit for a spell.”

Ryan did as he was told and stole a cushion from another table. “Thanks,” he said. “Twi gave me an hour and a half for lunch, so I decided to come out. She and the others were talking things privately, so I thought not to intrude.”

“How gentlecoltly of you!” Rarity complemented. “Much more so than Mister Macintosh, if I may say so,” Rarity added, looking at Fluttershy.

“Oh, I didn’t have a problem with it,” Fluttershy replied. “He was just curious, was all.”

“Oh, come now, why would he listen to us? He must have some kind of secret if he was so stricken when we saw him.”

“What were you talking about?” Ryan asked.

“Well, we were talking about the gala dress I’m making for her. I’m sure he wanted to know what it would be like, but it has to be a surprise!” Rarity said the last bit with some flare added. “It’s going to be the greatest night of their relationship yet, but it has to be a surprise!”

“Greatest night, huh?” Ryan asked, shifting his gaze to Fluttershy. “Got any ideas for why he was listening?” She shook her head. “Good, I’m sure he wants it to be a surprise too.”

“Do you know something?” Fluttershy asked. It took Ryan off guard.

“In all honesty, not really. I just know that he plans to make it extra special.” When he finished, Ryan took a look at Fluttershy’s face. It was already off in La-la land, her eyes taking on a dreamy look at the thought of her big red stallion.

“So what do you boys talk about when you go out?” Rarity asked while Fluttershy was out of it. “Anything... interesting?”

Ryan laughed. “Yeah, but not like that. We respect each other’s privacy and the privacy of our other friends. Very well. We mostly talk about what goes on in our lives, get advice from each other, drink and have fun. Significant others come up, but not in intimate ways.”

“Oh?” Rarity asked. Fluttershy was just coming back to the real world. “Do you have one?”

“Why? You want the position?” Rarity smiled at his little quip. “No, I don’t. Not a lot of ponies who would want a human, I reckon.”

“Don’t say that, Ryan,” Fluttershy chided. “You never know when love will find you, or from whom, or from where! Have some hope.”

Ryan gave her a look. “Well, I don’t, I guess. But I bet you know when it comes for you, and from where, and from whom.”

Fluttershy’s eyes darted around. “Well, y-yes, I do. But not everypony does, so I’m not a great example.”

“I’d say that Mac loves your example,” Ryan said. Fluttershy blushed. “I’d say that he’d like to make a case study.”

Rarity frowned at Ryan. “Now, Ryan, no need to be prying.”

“Prying?” Ryan said with a scoff. “Library. That’s all I need to say.”

Rarity cocked an eyebrow, then looked to Fluttershy. She was breathing slowly to keep herself under control, face still reddened. At first, Rarity didn’t get it, but when she did, she had to put a hoof over her mouth to keep her gasp in.

“In the library?” she asked in a hushed voice.

“No,” Ryan cut in. “I told them not to. Twilight’s room hardly seemed appropriate.”

“In her room!?” Rarity said, still hushed. “Fluttershy, I never knew you to be so... so... driven!”

Fluttershy managed to calm herself, but not completely. “I never said it, just.. never mind! Can we talk about something else? Please?”

Ryan felt bad now. “Sorry,” he said. He reached forward and ruffled Fluttershy’s mane. “Didn’t mean to distress you.”

“That’s okay,” she said.

“Well, since we don't want to talk about Fluttershy, let’s talk about Ryan.” She looked to him with curious eyes. “What of your life and relationships?”

“Never had one,” Ryan said easily. “Never really considered it.”

“Really?” both mares before him asked.

“Really.”

“I would have thought a gentlecolt such as yourself would be taken at least once.”

Ryan shook his head. “Nope. Most girls back home were either nasty or mean. When I say nasty, I mean NASTY. Like, bad hygiene and such.” The two mars before him looked like they understood. “And for the future... my hopeful career field didn’t give much room for relationships of that nature.”

Fluttershy looked sad at the statement. “So soldiers don’t get married where you're from?” she asked. “That sounds awful.”

“No, no, they get married and have families and girlfriends and stuff.” Ryan explained. “Plenty of soldiers do. Even special operations soldiers, like I was hoping for. But more often than not, those relationships don’t work out. It’s tough on all involved, with one partner being gone for so long and so far away. I never considered a serious, long relationship because of that, so I never really thought about short-term relationships.”

“Oh,” Fluttershy said. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Yeah,” Ryan replied. “It’s tough, but that’s what they choose, a lot of the time, at least. For those for whom it works, props to them. If not, well... You can always look again after the military.”

They pretty much ended the conversation there and ordered some food, which came in no time, considering how many patrons there were. They ate, but not in silence, finding several other things to talk about, like the other guys and the other Elements. It was pleasant, the lunch, and it ended too quickly for Ryan. He excused himself with about thirty minutes to get back to the library, and made his way out.

He walked out of the restaurant and went down the street, thinking about what he would do back at the library. If the girls were still there, he would probably end up just doing his job, unless they were still being all secretive. If they were gone, he would most certainly get a chance to get some more reading done.

As Ryan’s feet crunched through the snow, he wondered about some things. Nothing particularly huge or important right now, but still, some things. He thought about Mac and Soarin’ and Fancy, and the girls. They all had significant others, and one was married, with another getting ready for just that. He was alone, probably forever.

Which was just as well. Whom would want to sleep next to a guy who woke up sweaty and terrified half the time? Who rarely got a decent sleep through the night? A guy who did horrible things and had yet to actually do something about his past? The more he thought about it, the more forlorn he felt.

He tried to think about something else, anything else that would make him feel less lonely. Let’s see, his favorite drink of all, though expensive, was Mallorquin, their equivalent of MaCallan scotch. It was expensive, depending on the number of years, but it was certainly the best. He couldn’t afford some of the older stuff, but he could bet he knew what it would taste like. He had yet to test his armor and such, but he wasn’t sure he actually wanted to do that. It would never withstand a bullet, but a blade would probably not get through it. Probably.

It was tough work, but Ryan got his mind to go to other places, some of which were empty and consisted of thinking about food and water. One of them was less empty, thinking about the cave. He would need to head back out there with some bottled waters or something, for when the river freezes over too much or him to get through. Or just bring more firewood. That would suffice, although he did need more wood to build stuff for his home.

Ryan left the wanderings of his mind to find out where he was; he was nowhere near the library. He had taken a wrong turn, and now stood next to the river. The ice was thick and white, blocking off any view of the river underneath. Everything was perfectly still, frozen in time and space, like a painting in a private collection. The branches on the trees were coated in a thin layer of ice, preserving them through the winter. Ryan took in the scene quietly and with great respect to nature.

“Beautiful, huh?”

Ryan didn’t look over. “It sure is,” he replied. “Though there is one thing out of place here.”

“Oh?” the voice replied. Its owner, the Wraith, walked out in front of ryan, facing the frozen river, hands in his pockets. “And what might that be?”

“The presence of a human and his faithful companion,” Ryan replied, like it was obvious. “I would hate for you to ruin the scene by releasing your waste all over the pristine snow.”

The Wraith didn’t turn. “Ah, but my waste consists of your bodily fluids,” he said. Now, he turned around. “I’ve always thought that crimson snow was a sight to behold.”

“Well, just spread your legs and stand up,” Ryan replied with a wave of his hands. “I’m sure your time is near anyway. After all you do like crimson snow.”

“But that would be a waste!” the Wraith said in a mock tone. “I have better ideas for my own bodily excretions.”

“Such as?” Ryan asked, curious as to what the Wraith meant.

“Showing you what I think of you.”

Ryan mocked like he was slapped across the face. “Come now, Wraith, you can do better than that!” he chided. “I expected better of you, though I suppose that I’m not sure why.”

The Wraith chuckled and smiled. “Oh, I think you know exactly why,” he said, moving toward Ryan. “It’s because I am better than you. Always have been, always will be.” He sounded casual, like he was stating a fact in an essay.

“In what ways might those be?” Ryan asked. “In the sense that you have nothing, or that you’re stuck with no one but me for company?” Ryan put his hand to his chest with that last remark.

“Well, I suppose that you have a point,” The Wraith conceded. “No one would want just you for company.”

“And that’s why I’m better than you!” Ryan replied. “I can actually get decent company to spend time with.”

“Yes, I’m sure you do,” the Wraith said. “And that company makes you weak.”

“Oh, more of this?” Ryan asked disappointedly. “I would love to have this chat with you again, but I haven’t the time. My weakening company needs me back at work. It was a nice try, though.” Ryan turned around and started to walk away.

The Wraith just stood there. “You know,” he said. “Company doesn’t have to last.”

Ryan stopped dead in his tracks. He turned around to take a look at the Wraith, his eyes taking on a cold, savage look. The Wraith just stood there, looking like he had done nothing at all, watching. Ryan stepped back toward him.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.

The Wraith shrugged. “Oh, nothing. Just that, you know, life can be so short sometimes. But that’s the way the world works.” The Wraith leaned toward Ryan. “Isn’t it?”

Ryan took a wide stance. “I don’t like threats.”

The Wraith put his hands in the air. “Who’s threatening you?” he asked. “Not m-”

“I don’t know who you’re trying to fool,” Ryan said. “But it sure as Hell ain’t me.” He walked up to the Wraith and poked him in the chest. “You will never threaten them again. You will never go near them. You will keep this between you and me.”

The Wraith smiled. “Or what?” he asked, his expression unchanging.

“Or I will kill you.”

The Wraith chuckled. “Oh, is that supposed to scare me?” he asked.

“No,” Ryan said, stepping back. “Just let you know what’s on the table.”

“Well, if that’s what’s on the table, I’d say I’m about ready for dinner,” the Wraith replied, widening his own stance “Care to dine with me?”

Ryan narrowed his gaze at the Wraith. “Let’s.”

At first, neither moved. They took in the appearance of the other, observed their guards and fighting capabilities. The Wraith knew what Ryan could do, and he could do it all just as well. He just had to put Ryan back down where he belonged, and it would be set.

Ryan was different, though. He had to fight the Wraith, he had no choice; the safety of his friends was riding on this. He needed to win this, and he needed to win it as absolutely as possible. He was going for the kill.

It all happened extremely quickly. Ryan took the initiative and launched himself forward, hands up in front of his face to guard. The Wraith got as low as he could in preparation for the attack. When Ryan reached the Wraith, his target was low and small, minimizing his target range. He threw a left punch at the Wraith, which the being blocked, then followed it with an elbow to the top of the Wraith’s shoulder.

The Wraith was knocked back and spun from the strike, but recovered quickly. Using his spinning momentum, he whipped around and sent a backfist at Ryan’s head. Ryan saw it coming and moved in the same direction as the fist, just getting clipped by it. He responded with a swift back kick to the Wraiths gut, sending him back.

Ryan turned around to keep from exposing his back and found the Wraith already on him, throwing a right hook at him. Ryan moved his hands up to block, but couldn’t get them there enough in time, and felt the fist come across his face like an ice ball. The strike stung like Hell, but Ryan did his best not to notice and countered with a haito strike to the Wraith’s chin.

The Wraith’s head whipped up, and he fell back a few feet, recovering. Ryan wouldn’t give him the chance, though, and advanced on him like lightning to the ground. He started throwing punches, powerful but controlled, at the Wraith’s head, connecting each time. The Wraith was hardly able to withstand the assault.

That was what Ryan thought, at least. He started to run low on energy, and decided it was a good time to stop his onslaught. He stepped back, rubbing his knuckles, and looked at the dazed Wraith before him. But that didn’t last long; the Wraith opened his eyes and grinned.

“My turn.”

He sprinted at Ryan and went on the offensive. Ryan switched to a Hindiandi guard, both hands out and legs locked, and tried to defend himself. The ease of blocks with the Hindiandi guard, simply having to move his body left or right, made it easy to block most of the Wraith’s attacks. Some got in, though, and Ryan found himself being pushed back.

The Wraith was getting in very few body shots, but he was constantly attacking Ryan’s legs at the thigh and calf, practically immobilizing him. After a few moments of that, the Wraith managed to get in a shot at Ryan’s face, hitting him right under the eye. Ryan fell back, to the ground, and rolled backwards in an attempt to get a break.

When he was up, the Wraith was coming at him again, but this time, Ryan was ready. He waited for the Wraith to get just in front of him and, when he was in the right spot, Ryan thrust his left hand out to stifle the Wraiths assault. The Wraith saw it and tried to move around it, going for the inside of the guard.

Ryan then moved his right hand low and moved just under the Wraith’s guard, getting his arm between his legs and standing straight up. The Wraith lost his connection to the ground and went flying back through the air behind Ryan. Ryan watched as the Wraith went down and took a hard landing on the ice at the edge of the river, smashing right through it and being half-submerged in the freezing water.

He stood there, looking at the Wraith as he dragged himself from the icy water. The being looked haggard now, and was breathing heavily down below Ryan, the cold sapping at his strength. Ryan could feel himself losing his ability to move much, but still stood there, watching. When the Wraith was all the way out of the water, he decided to go for one last thing.

He walked down to the Wraith and picked him up by his shirt. “You hear me?” he asked. “You stay away from them.”

The Wraith looked at him and smiled. “Oh, you don’t need to worry about that,” he replied smugly. “I’ve already got you going where I want you.”

The Wraith started laughing a maniacal, evil laugh. Ryan held him there for a moment, listening, wondering what the being could mean. There was something up here, that was for sure. But Ryan couldn’t figure out what Instead of asking, Ryan just walked over to the water and dropped the Wraith back in, the being sinking down lower than the ground should have let him, and stared at the spot until the bubbles disappeared.

When all was calm, he looked at his reflection in the water. “Aw, shit,” he said. He was going to have to make up a fight story to tell Twilight this time, and it was a safe bet that she would be mad.

But that wasn’t much of a problem, not in comparison to this. Ryan simply turned around and walked off, thinking about what he would tell her when he got back to work.

Laughter

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Laughter

“Those who laugh the most have often experienced the most pain.”

Saturday, the sixth of February. How the time flies.

Ryan was leaning on his dresser and staring at his mirror, trying to think about how it was almost his eighteenth birthday. How he was getting close to the point where, in America, he would be a legal adult. Eighteen years had passed since he first came into this world. He wondered what kind of mark he had left.

That wonder didn’t last, though. He knew exactly what kind of mark he had left. It was the kind of mark he hoped that no one would ever have to learn about, the kind that he hoped would fade into history along with the dozens of nameless faces he had killed. The faces were the only thing that he would ever be unable to forget. He tried and he tried, but still, they persisted to haunt him.

He had awoken that morning in a sweat, almost shouting out. The nightmares were still coming, stronger than ever before. Every single person he had killed was coming back to torment him, coming to destroy what was left of his sanity. Ryan tried to fight them, but in the deep recesses of his mind, he was incapacitated by the memories.

The previous night had been bad; in every way, his failures came back with a force. Narendra had Ryan strapped down and made him watch as he killed everyone Ryan loved. He started with Harris, blowing his head off with his gun. Then, he moved onto Catherine and Nadine, to whom he cut with his razor all over their bodies. He never made a particularly deep cut, though, instead simply nicking the skin all over. He then threw them into a cesspool, where he released waste upon them. They soon after began to rot away, screaming Ryan’s name, asking him why he wasn’t saving them.

The unnamed girl from the compound was next. He pushed her to the floor and stomped on all her joints, breaking them. Ryan tried to fight his restraints, but he was immobile. He could only watch as the sick man broke her down until she turned to dust, floating away in the breeze.

Joey came up next. But Ryan couldn’t watch, so he closed his eyes in the dream. At first, he was thankful that he was able to keep himself from watching this time, but it didn’t last long. He could hear the boy crying. He could hear him screaming for his mother, but Ryan stayed silent and sat there, waiting for that unmistakable bang. When it finally came, Ryan felt all his strength sap away, and he simply fell down and lay where he was, unable to move.

The voices of the fallen came back as he lay there, with Narendra laughing at him in the background.

“You are weak,” a whispery Catherine told him.

“Pathetic,” Nadine added.

“Why wouldn’t you save me?” Joey asked. “You said you would protect me. You said you would protect me!”

That was when he woke up, and went over to the mirror to try to keep his mind away from it all. He was failing.

“What am I doing?” he asked the mirror. “What’s wrong with me?”

He should have been doing something to redeem himself for everything he did out there. hye should have been trying to improve, to become a better person. But he wasn’t doing anything at all. He was just coasting along, waiting for life to be the way he wanted. He made his cave better every so often, preparing himself to hide away from his troubles.

But hiding wasn’t going to make the nightmares stop. They would continue to eat away at him until he was an old man, or until something finally managed to kill him. He would never have any level of peace, not even when he was old and alone. He would have nothing to lean on but his own knee, nowhere to sit but the cold, stone floor.

Yet he had no idea what he could do. He was a lost cause, no matter what the ponies thought. There was no way to make amends for his killings, the lives he ruined. He couldn’t fix it, and he couldn’t face what he did. His only chance, even if he knew it was hopeless, was to hide, die in seclusion, and hope that no one ever found his body.

He knew all this. And yet, he chose to live. Because of that one promise he made, seemingly so long ago, to his best friend.

“The one thing I have left...” Ryan thought solemnly. “Is the promise I made to my friend.” He had to uphold it; if not, what else did he have?

The only way he was going to get his mind off of everything from the past was to get it back in the present. So, he got into his clothes, brushed his teeth, and went up the stairs and to the kitchen. When he arrived, he found no one there and nothing moving. Given that it was around five in the morning, he wasn’t expecting anything else.

He wasn’t feeling hungry, so he decided to just search for something to do. He checked the dishes, but they were clean and put away. The floor was spotless, as was the table and the counter. He moved out into the storefront, but that was neat and tidy as well. So with nothing else to do, he got down to do some pushups and situps to start his day.

It worked nicely; the rhythmic movements were good to empty his mind and get him into a kind of zen. He kept up his work for almost half an hour, until he felt the burn grow to be too much to handle.

Now, though, he was exhausted and spent. And he grew hungry. He stood up off the ground and walked back to the kitchen, where, as he expected, there was still nothing there. Like a car on cruise control, Ryan mechanically went about making himself a batch of eggs to start the day. He would have wondered why ponies ate eggs, but he really didn’t care about that stuff any more.

Breakfast went along in a desolate silence, nothing but the sound of chewing and arms rubbing against a table giving any indication that something was alive in the kitchen.

*******************************************************************

Discord had actually not disliked his stone prison this time around. Perhaps it was because he chose to be there.

But no one cared about whether or not he liked it. Discord, and probably Celestia, knew how he got out last time, and knew that he could do it again if he wanted. Celestia was making it worth his while to stay, though. She... well, she really wanted him to stay there. So she made sure he didn’t want to leave.

At the moment, Discord was toying with different things in his own head at the moment. He had been hearing lots of interesting things lately, some of them about Ryan, others about unrelated events. He had heard about Ryan’s new drinking group, referred to as Soarin’s drinking circle by one pony and Fancy Pants’ drinking circle by another. Stick Big Macintosh in there, and that’s it. It was good to know that he had friends.

He was also hearing ponies talk about where the human may have come from. Some believed that there was a far away land where humans lived alone, and Celestia was too scared to send anyone there to investigate. While it is true, there is a far away land that Celestia is too afraid to send anypony, Discord was fairly certain that there weren’t any humans there. He was scared of that area too; whatever was there had slain the master of Starswirl the Bearded; so why would anyone know what was there?

But that meant nothing to him; Discord was more interested in what was here. He had been hearing about Starstep and Luna, mostly rumors with little basing on facts. Some were actually true; they slept next to each other; but most were nonsensical ninniness. He was interested, however, in how Luna would react to the rumor that she had become pregnant. Celestia had told him that one, though she snickered a good bit as she spoke...

Back to now.

Discord was watching as a rather large and impressive pegasus guard was preparing himself to talk to a very nice-looking little pegasus guard. Of course, the magical armor that these guards wore made them look the same, unlike Luna’s Guards’ armor, but still. It didn’t alter anything but mane and coat color. So it was quite entertaining to Discord to watch this powerful-looking stallion stammer just thinking about talking to the mare.

Discord decided that he would give him a bit of a helping hoof on this one. Who knew, maybe it would blow up in the stallion’s face. So, when the stallion finally picked up the courage to go talk to the mare, Discord waited for him to be about to talk to her. As he approached, Discord turned the floor beneath the both of them to a frictionless surface. The stallion slid and collided directly with the mare, sending them both stumbling to the floor.

He watched in silent hilarity as the stallion tried to explain and apologize with the mare laying on top of him in a very compromising position. He was completely red in the face as he stuttered his response, but the mare seemed to be perfectly understanding. She just hopped off of him and went back to where she stood. The stallion watched her go for a moment, then, with a defeated sigh, went back to his own post. But as he walked by the mare, she nipped at his tail and gave it a good tug, eliciting a yelp from the stallion.

Discord left as he noticed her giggling and girlish expression. Sometimes, the guards were known to play all kinds, ALL kinds, of games when they were stationed in places where no one went.

So Discord simply chuckled at the lesser-known antics of the guards and thought about his own past here. Sure, he had once been a tyrannical ruler over a world where chaos ruled. But he hadn’t always. Before him, there were the Great Ones, who came after an unknown being. And during their rule, Discord was just a regular Spirit of Chaos, not the powerhouse he was now. He took part in less harmful antics back in those days.

He remembered when he first met Celestia and Luna. They were both much younger in those days, and sure as hay better looking than they were at this time. Celestia hadn’t lost much, in Discord’s eyes, though. Ah, the days they spent together, rolling around in the grass, playing hide-and-seek. Before the Great Ones disappeared, he was really into her. Then, though, when they disappeared, everything changed...

As Discord continued to think, he got to thinking about his first time meeting everypony he knew. The current bearers of the Elements of Harmony had hardly been friendly to him, nor he to them. The guards were all fearful, and rightfully so. Most of the servants knew he wasn’t going to harm them, simply make their day harder, so they lamented ever meeting him. He had left a rather negative mark on his image with ponies.

And of course, he remembered when he first met Ryan and Harris. He felt a sharp sting in his gut, like the guilt of his own failure had come back to stab him where it hurt the most. The two boys had been wonderful young men. If Discord had been better, they would still be. Their lives could have some semblance of normalcy now, they could be living happily with their families. Discord had no idea if Harris made it home, but he certainly knew that Ryan was nowhere near his.

Making sure no one was around, Discord physically moved his stony head to look up at the sky. Given the month, and that it was like half-past five, he could still see the stars. He had noticed Ryan look up at them the few times he recently checked on him, and he could see why. While Discord thought Luna to be a less pretty mare, her skies were phenomenally beautiful. The stars were always arranged differently, making various shapes in the sky. Some shapes were always there, mostly for navigation purposes, but others were absolute works of art.

And there was one star that stood out. Discord had never noticed it before, but it shined brighter than just about all the others. It even blocked out some of the stars near it, it was so bright. There was something about this star, something he couldn’t quite place. It seemed special somehow, like he should keep an eye on it.

It also reminded him of Ryan, though he wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was because he was already thinking about the boy. So he decided that he might as well take a look at how Ryan was doing today.

Ryan was just leaving the Boutique, heading off to who knows where.

***********************************************************************

Ryan had a nagging feeling that he was being followed, but he ignored it and went along on his way.

He figured he could try to negotiate the purchase of some more dynamite today to store in the cave for use later. The more, the merrier, and the more matches and fuses he had, the better. They had all kinds of uses other than explosives, after all. Maybe he could make a rocket with it, and get himself a steel tube? But then again, he could just buy fireworks instead of making his own warheads. But where’s the fun in that?

And he hadn’t the slightest idea of how to do that at the moment, so he put the thoughts into storage for now. He could also put going to the mines on hold, since they wouldn’t be too inclined to sell him high-explosive so early in the day. There was just something suspicious about people buying dangerous materials in the darker hours of the day.

Ryan walked on, feeling the cold in his bones, through town and to the park. Everything was still this morning, nothing moved or made noise. It was an eerie thing for Ryan; he noticed that it was like that a lot. But maybe it had always been like that, and he only noticed it now because he had been in an environment where there was constantly some noise of something dangerous.

Ryan walked through the gates into the park and the sensation hit him again. He decided to look around this time; no one. At least, that was his first impression. Now, he definitely knew he was being followed, and he was going to find out who it was.

The best way to do that was to go and sit down with his back against a wall. If he could see everything in a one-eighty in front of him, he would certainly spot his pursuer. So, he walked over and sat down against some statue, facing out. And he saw nothing.

“HIYA RYAN!”

Ryan felt his heart jump as his head shot up, looking above. It was Pinkie Pie, hanging off the statue above him, with her face mere inches from his own. She wore her classic smile, and her poofy mane seemed to defy gravity and stay high up in the air.

He took a deep breath to calm down. “Hey, Pinkie,” he replied. “What brings you out so early on a morning like this?”

Pinkie let herself fall from the statue and onto Ryan’s lap, somehow landing with almost no force. She then rolled off of him and into the snow, getting it all over her coat and in her mane, making her look like a snow monster. When she sat up, she just smiled at him.

“You!” she said loudly. Ryan raised an eyebrow. “Well, I was going to the bathroom and looked out my window and thought, ‘Ryan is always up early, so he’s probably up now!’, so I ran outside and went to Rarity’s, and sure enough, I saw you there! So, I decided to follow you here, but you figured out that I was following you, so I decided to drop in and say ‘HIYA RYAN!’”

Ryan chuckled and ruffled her mane, getting some of the snow out. “Well, I guess that explains it perfectly,” he said. Pinkie chortled. “But it’s awfully cold out here. Do you need a jacket?”

Pinkie shook her head. “Nope, I’m good!” she said. Ryan could see her shaking a little, though.

With a roll of his eyes, he lifted her up, set her aside, and stood. Ryan removed his outer coat, one that Rarity recently made for him to “stay in style”, and put it on Pinkie. It didn’t fit great, but it stayed where it was, which was good enough. Pinkie held it tightly to herself, appreciating the gesture.

“Thanks, Ryan,” she admitted. “But won’t you get cold?”

Ryan chuckled. “Sure. But I come from a place where it get to the single digits in the winter and triple digits in the summer, not including wind and humidity indexes. I can handle a bit of cold.” It was only twenty-seven out at the moment. Ryan could cope; New Jersey tends make you learn to.

Pinkie stretched herself out as she stood. “Well, why don’t we head to Sugarcube Corner? Neither of us has anything to do right now, right?”

Ryan shrugged and nodded, and followed her to the bakery. She always seemed to know what was going on, regardless of how much she was told. Did she know about the cave, then? Or his plan to leave Ponyville and live quietly on his own? Ryan couldn’t risk her finding out, so he decided that he had to act like there was nothing to hide.

At the sugarcube corner, Pinkie quietly unlocked the door and slipped in, making sure no one was around as she entered. When she confirmed that no one was there, she ushered Ryan in and pointed him to a table by the window. Ryan sat there, curious, and simply watched as the pink mare moved about in total silence, checking whatever she was looking for around the room.

Ryan’s curiosity grew to a need to ask. “What are you looking for?” Pinkie didn’t answer. “It someone’s birthday?”

Pinkie, who was running by, turned and shushed him harshly. “Don’t be so loud!” she said in a loud whisper. “I’m getting the party for Mr. and Mrs. Cake’s tenth anniversary ready!”

Ryan nodded his appreciation. When his friend’s parents celebrated their twentieth, it was a big deal. Something about multiples of ten and five seemed to be very important to anniversaries. No one made a big deal about the big forty-three, but the fortieth was huge. Ryan never did get it, but then, he had never been, married.

“Got it,” he replied.

Pinkie checked a couple more things, some of which were spring-loaded, some rolling, and seemed satisfied. When she was done, she let out a big sigh of relief and joined Ryan at the table.

“Phew!” she said. “Glad that’s taken care of.”

“I bet,” Ryan replied. “So what do you think they have planned for their anniversary?”

Pinkie grinned. “Well, I know that Mr. Cake go them a week-long trip to the Phillipony Islands. And Mrs. Cake got her husband some really, really nice bottles of wine. But I don’t think they leave for the trip until tomorrow, so the party is gonna be today.”

“Nice,” Ryan said. These ponies went all-out when it came to important dates and gifts.

They sat at the table in silence, waiting for the Cakes to wake up. Ryan wasn’t sure he should be there for the little party, unless others would show up, but Pinkie didn’t seem to mind. He glanced at the clock; it was about seven. He had loads of time before he needed to go out, so he could wait.

“So when is your birthday?” Pinkie asked suddenly.

“Huh?” Ryan replied. “Uh, my birthday is on Wednesday.”

Pinkie’s eyes shot wide and she gasped loudly. “You’re birthday is on Wednesday and you never told us?!” she said in shock.

Ryan shrugged. “It didn’t seem that important,” he replied. “I turn eighteen. It would mean something back home, but since adulthood is at sixteen here, I didn’t think it mattered.”

“Doesn’t matter?!” Pinkie replied, almost seeming angry. “Of course it matters! It’s the day of your birth! Why wouldn’t you want to celebrate that?”

Ryan didn’t answer that. “Well, I haven’t had a party in a while, so I guess it slipped my mind.”

Pinkie looked like she would faint. “How long had it been since you had an actual birthday party?” she asked incredulously.

Ryan thought back. “Last time I celebrated my birthday was in eighth grade, so... three years, I want to say?”

“I can’t believe this! It’s not okay! You should-”

There were some hoofsteps from upstairs, drawing Pinkie’s attention away from Ryan for the time being. Ryan looked that way as well, wondering how the Cakes would react to Ryan’s presence in their home without their knowledge. The noise became louder, and soon, the parents came down the stairs, yawning and mumbling about coffee.

Pinkie ran up to them and shouted, “SURPRISE!”

The mare and stallion jumped up at the sudden pinkness, fully waking up as party noise-makers sounded and lights turned on, and streamers and banners fell into place. Ryan looked around for how she did it, but saw nothing.

“Happy anniversary, Mr. and Mrs. Cake!”

The terror and startledness of the cakes seemed to dissipate as they realized what was happening. They looked warmly at each other, then back at Pinkie. Ryan stayed back as they walked up to her and hugged her close, appreciative of the pleasant surprise on their anniversary. It was enough to bring a smile to Ryan’s face.

They never seemed to notice him, so when they moved away for Pinkie to show them the cake she baked them, Ryan slipped out the front door and took one last look through the window. The couple was already eating some cake while Pinkie danced around and sang for them.

Ryan just chuckled and walked on, happy that someone was able to find something or someone meaningful in life.

***************************************************************

Discord was never sure what to make of Pinkie Pie. She was even more random than him.

But that wasn’t eh object of his concern. He was busy watching Ryan walk away from the bakery and off to find something to do for the day. He could probably have stayed for the anniversary party, but then again, it wasn’t really his place. He wasn’t affiliated with the Cakes, so it would be weird for him to celebrate.

But of course, Discord also found out that it was Ryan’s birthday on Wednesday. He would be eighteen, the age of legal adulthood in his home country. It was an odd thing to think about, him still being a child in the eyes of their law.

But he was anything but a child. He had gone through the battle against Human Traffickers before he turned eighteen. That made him an adult; it forced him to grow up. Even in his world, there must have been only a handful of children who matured the way Ryan did. It made Discord feel guilty again.

“I put a child through that,” he realized. He wanted to throw up.

And to make matters worse, he had the Wraith to deal with now. All of this, all these trials, before he was even an adult.

“I wonder if they would make an exception for him?” he wondered. They certainly could.

He decided that he should keep an eye on the boy-to-be-a-man for the next few days, to see if anything significant happened to him. It was the least he could do, especially if it meant possibly keeping him safe.

He could at least make this passage into adulthood less unpleasant.

*********************************************************************

Luna was going through her library, looking for spell-books. She had been dealing with a few things regarding the Southern Gryphon Colonies lately, and she needed a spell to help her relax.

Starstep helped her search, though he had to disagree with using magic to deal with stress. He was more into the natural way of relaxing, just taking some time off to sit down and unwind.

“I really think this is silly, princess,” Starstep said. “Just unwind the normal way, and you’ll be fine. It doesn’t take that long.”

“I’m sure you would love to see me unwind,” Luna replied. “And I’m sure you have a very natural solution for my stress.”

“Well, yes, princess, I would love to see you unwind. But I think undressing would be more fun.”

Luna dropped the book she was holding up and spun around to look at her guard, who looked back at her with his tongue sticking out. She chuckled and rolled her eyes, tossing her book at him.

“Well, you keep searching. Maybe I’ll try your method over where you can’t see me,” she said tantalizingly.

Starstep tossed the book back to where Luna had taken it and kept on searching, while Luna went to her bed and hopped onto it. She pulled up her covers and wrapped herself up, getting all warm and snuggly, and closed her eyes. She had to admit, it was easy to relax this way. Having found this, she could tell Starstep to finish up.

“Starstep!” she shouted. “You may cease your search. Come and join me in here.”

Luna couldn’t even see outside her cocoon if she opened her eyes, so she didn’t see that her sister had just walked in, barely keeping in her laughter at her sister’s state. As Starstep walked in, he noticed, and couldn’t help but chuckle himself. Celestia saw him and nodded toward her sister, urging the guard to jump on her.

Starstep silently obeyed and flew up into the air. “Okay, here I come,” he said casually. He flew down to her and tackled her on the bed. Celestia could hear a loud “Oof!” from the cocoon.

Luna reacted by opening her cocoon with her magic and pulling Starstep inside, pulling him close and locking him in place. “You thought you could get me, little guard?” she asked, still oblivious to her sister’s presence. “I knew you would try something, so I was prepared!”

“Were you prepared to see me here?” Celestia asked.

Luna yelped and spun around, using her magic to lower the sheet over her eyes. When she saw her sister, her face turned a deep purple, and Starstep stuck his face out right in front of her.

“No,” Luna said meekly. Then, she practically exploded out of the cocoon, sending Starstep flying off. “W-what brings you here?” she asked, flustered.

Celestia still giggled. “I have a message for the both of us,” she explained. “I thought I would wait to open it until you could see it as well.” Celestia lifted a small envelope out of her chest piece as she spoke.

Luna looked at it; there was no return address. “Well, let us see what it contains.” she said.

The princesses stood next to each other before the envelope in the air, wondering what the letter would say. When they opened it, though, instead of a letter, there was an explosion of confetti and streamers from the envelope. The princesses reeled back, and when they recovered, before them stood Pinkie Pie with a massive grin on her face.

Luna was bewildered, but Celestia was simply amused. “Pinkie Pie,” she said, stepping forward to greet the unexpected guest. “What brings you here?”

Pinkie Pie looked around for a moment, then turned her attention to the princess. “I’m here to invite you all to a very special party!” she announced.

Luna raised an eyebrow at the pink mare. “Party?” she asked. “What kind of party do you speak of?”

Pinkie reached back into an unknown space and pulled out three pieces of paper. “It’s Ryan’s eighteenth birthday party!” she shouted. “We’ll be celebrating it on Wednesday, which is his birthday, since you would never celebrate a birthday on any other day. Except maybe a half-birthday, which is just as awesome, since it’s like-”

The princesses let Pinkie go on as they both considered. Celestia would love to get away from everything to celebrate the birthday of Equestria’s only human resident. It would be easy enough to make an excuse to skip out on her duties for that day. She might even be able to claim diplomatic reasons, like negotiating with another species.

Luna immediately decided to go. Ryan was one of her closest friends; the only one she would say is closer is Starstep, and that’s... different. It’s a little more special. And she did sort of owe Ryan for not seeing him as often as she should.

Luna cleared her throat. “We would love to go, Pinkie,” she interrupted. “Sister?”

“I would certainly enjoy a party,” Celestia replied.

Pinkie leapt up into the air and more confetti exploded from behind her. “Great!” she shouted.

Starstep, meanwhile, was just laying on the floor where he hit the wall, watching the whole spectacle. If Luna was going to a party, especially for Ryan, it was a safe bet he would go too. Unless Luna didn’t want him there, though he certainly hoped that was not the case. He didn’t know Ryan particularly well, but he had had some friendly enough interactions. Maybe he could-

“And here’s an invitation for you!” Pinkie yelled in Starstep’s face, interrupting his thoughts. She shoved a piece of paper onto his forehead and hopped off.

He removed it, and sure enough, it read, “You are invited to celebrates Ryan’s super duper eighteenth birthday!” he hadn’t expected an invitation; it was a nice surprise. Pinkie bounced off into Luna’s library while the princesses talked and Starstep lazed against the wall.

Luna looked to her sister. “So, how long has it been since you went to an unofficial birthday party?” she asked.

Celestia sighed. “Far too long,” she said. “And neither of us has celebrated our own birthdays in some time. It will be nice to attend a casual party this time.”

“Quite,” Luna said. “What kind of gift do you think you’ll get him?” She had to think of her own as well.

Celestia pondered this. “I’m not sure,” she replied. “What does one get a young human male for his birthday?”

“Not a clue,” Luna replied. “Pinkie, what do you think- where is she?”

“I’m in here!” Pinkie shouted back.

The princesses turned towards the library and walked on in, looking for the pink mare. They didn’t see her at first, which was unusual, considering the dark blue tone of the room. They walked around the center book column, but they didn’t spot her.

“Pinkie?” Luna said. “Where did you go?”

Pinkie Pie walked out from the other side of the book column with a look on her face. It was hard to place just what the look was, but it seemed to be a combination of awe, humility, and a massive amount of excitement.

“I was hiding in the books, of course!” she said. “You got some neat stuff here!”

“Why, thank you,” Luna replied, feeling proud. “What did you like the best?”

“I liked the thing about other worlds a lot!” Pinkie said excitedly. Luna looked confused. “There’s so much to learn from other cultures!”

Luna nodded her agreement and Celestia smiled. “Very true, Pinkie,” Celestia responded. “I am glad that you think so.”

“Yeah, and there’s so much to do with other worlds too!” Pinkie shouted. She looked at her wristwatch, which came from nowhere. “Ooh, I gotta go! See ya!” With that, she ran out of the room and out of Luna’s chambers, back to Ponyville.

The princesses remained where they were, thinking. That seemed a bit out of character for Pinkie, but who were they to judge? Especially with a random mare like that, you never know what you’ll get. One thing she says might be really deep, another might have no meaning whatsoever. No one could say what went on in her head.

Luna’s head shot up. “Shoot!” she said.

“What?” Celestia asked, alarmed.

“We never asked about what gift she would get for him.”

Celestia chuckled. “Well, I’m sure we’ll think of something. Come, we can begin now.”

“Wonderful!” Luna replied. “Starstep, you’ll be coming with us!”

Starstep got up from where he lay comfortably and went along with the princesses on the quest to find something to get Ryan. But what does one get a young human man with no particular or known desires?

Something that has meaning always works.

**********************************************************************

Wednesday came, the tenth, and as Ryan turned eighteen, he felt no different. It was just another day in his life. Not particularly worth celebrating, in his opinion.

He got up that morning and made himself up, getting his usual clothes on, his necklace, and his jacket and scarf. As usual, he carried his KaBar knife and M1911 on him. One never knows, after all.

When Ryan exited his basement home, he found himself in an empty home. He had actually remained down there much longer than usual, until about half past seven, trying to think about whether or not he should do anything today. He had at least expected to catch Sweetie Belle on her way to school, but neither she nor her sister were anywhere to be seen.

“Odd,” Ryan concluded. But weirder things had happened; he didn’t think anything was wrong.

He took little time preparing for his day, As he would simply be hanging around the library today. The only ponies who showed up when it was this cold were either Twilight’s friends, or ponies who had something too important on their minds to care about what Ryan looked like. Which was just as well; Ryan was never all that caring of what he looked like anyway.

When he left the Boutique, he made sure to lock the door from the inside as he left so that no one would try to steal anything while no one was home. It wasn’t so much that Ryan suspected the residents of Ponyville of such acts, but you never know who might stroll through town. And as Ryan walked to the library for work, he kept his eyes open.

He was about halfway to the library when he felt like he needed to stop. He took a quick look around to see if there was anything of interest. He already had a feeling of what was causing him to stop, but he wanted to make sure he got his eyes on target first. It’s always important to have a tactical advantage when you know a conflict is coming.

And, sure as cold air in February, there he was, leaning against a house. The Wraith was just standing there, not looking smug or angry, just neutral. Ryan stood his ground, watching for movement. When nothing happened, and the Wraith seemed to be out of it, Ryan decided he should just leave the being to his thoughts.

“Now hold on there,” the Wraith said.

Ryan stopped and looked back, sticking his hands into his pockets. “What?” he asked. “I need to get to work.”

“Yes, yes, you always say that,” The Wraith replied. “That’s how you get the money to set up the cave so that you can run away later.”

“Yeah, it is,” Ryan said with a hint of annoyance. “So what do you want?”

The Wraith shrugged as he pushed himself off the wall. “I don’t really know,” he replied casually. “At this point, I’m just waiting for things to fall into place, honestly.”

Ryan grew suspicious. “Oh?” he asked. “And what, pray tell, does that mean?”

“Just that I’m getting what I want,” the Wraith replied.

Ryan took an aggressive stance. “Wanna bet?”

“Actually, I would love to. But I have no money, so I can’t.” The Wraith moved away from the wall. “I’m already getting what I want, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“What do you want?” Ryan asked, getting defensive. “You’ve been following me for months, and I still don’t know.”

“In due time,” the Wraith said with a malicious grin. “You’ll find out when the time comes.”

“I don’t like that answer,” Ryan warned. “What’s your game, Wraith? Why are you harassing me?”

The Wraith let out a deep, throaty laugh. “Oh Ryan, you think I’ll just tell you? That could compromise the entire thing!” As he stopped laughing, he stared into Ryan’s eyes. “All you need to know is that when I get what I’m after, YOU won’t be in the picture any more.”

Ryan swallowed. Despite his best efforts, the Wraith was getting to him at the moment. Did he plan to kill Ryan? Was that why he was trying to get him to go out into the forest and live there? And what was he? These questions and more swirled through Ryan’s mind as he attempted to make sense of what the Wraith was saying.

Ryan put his hand on his knife. “Try anything, and I’ll kill you,” he warned. “Leave my friends alone and fight me like a man.”

“Why would I fight you like a man, when I am most certainly no man?” The Wraith asked incredulously. “And they’re your friends?”

“Yes,” Ryan said, cutting off the Wraith. “They are. And you are never to go near them.”

The Wraith put his hands up. “Earth to Ryan, you can’t stop me. No one can.”

Ryan ripped his knife out. “I’ll take you out right now.” He was dead serious.

The Wraith looked aggressively at him. “What, like you took out Narendra? Or his many cronies and friends? Imagine if Narendra’s son came by and killed the ponies around here. He would be no different than you.”

“You’re wrong!” Ryan said. “Those men killed and enslaved other human beings! These ponies have done no such thing. There is no justification for hurting them.”

The Wraith got a look in his eyes at Ryan;s words. It was a drastic change, going from aggressive and perhaps arrogant to enlightened and almost glad. Ryan had no idea what to make of it, and kept his hand on his knife. The Wraith resumed his neutral expression from the beginning, though not perfectly. There was still that inexplicable look in his eyes, and it made Ryan uneasy.

“Remember all that was said here, Ryan,” he said, stepping away and toward an alley. “And always remember what once was.”

The Wraith disappeared into an alley, leaving Ryan alone in the middle of the street. The young man looked back at the alley, contemplating whether or not he should pursue the being and fight him. But the Wraith was right; he was no man. Fighting him like a man would be foolhardy at best. So Ryan just put his knife away and turned right back around and resumed his walk to work.

It was quiet as usual, but there was something amiss at the library when Ryan arrived. He saw some movement in the window as he approached, like someone was watching for him. It also didn’t help that all the other windows had their curtains drawn, making the inside of the library unseeable. His suspicion was further aroused by the presence of tamped down snow, as if a dozen ponies had been walking there in the last few minutes.

Cautiously, he stepped toward the door. He placed his hand tentatively on the door knob, waiting for some kind of prank like an electrified knob. When no shock came, he braced himself for an impact, be it pony or machine. He wouldn’t put it past Twilight to ask Rainbow for help pranking him in some way that might hurt. He opened the door slowly and entered, waiting for-

“SURPRIIIIIISE!”

Ryan shut his eyes tight as the lights in the library turned on, temporarily blinding him. After a rapid recovery, he looked about the room. There was a mass of ponies in the room, all of whom he knew well, from the Elements, to the princess, to his drinking buddies and the other Wonderbolts. Cinny was inside as well, along with Luna’s guard, Starstep. And they managed to get the Cutie Mark Crusaders up early for the party.

Ryan swung his head back and forth, confused. “What?”

From the middle of the crowd, Pinkie hopped forward. “Welcome to your fantastic eighteenth birthday party!” she shouted enthusiastically.

Ryan blinked a couple of times, then looked around again. There were streamers and balloons everywhere, banners that read “Happy Birthday!”, and sweets of all sorts. On one of the several tables in the room, there was a huge cake with an image of his head in frosting, smiling and in front of his home. Ryan had no idea how Pinkie managed to get that image, but it made him feel warm inside, seeing it.

Ryan smiled. “Wow,” he said. “I, uh, didn’t expect this.”

“Of course not, silly!” Pinkie responded. “If you expected it, then it wouldn’t have been a surprise party, and then it would just be a regular birthday party, but you weren’t planning one, so I had to make it a surprise or else you wouldn’t be interested, so I thought that the best way to get you here was to make sure you didn’t KNOW you were going to be here! So I had to plan it in a way that you would never find out-”

Just as anyone else would or had, Ryan let her continue, only partly paying any attention. He was more concerned with the crowd, which was now talking amongst itself. Soarin’, Fleetfoot, and Spitfire were talking to Rainbow Dash about stunts and training requirements to enter their group. The girls were talking to Celestia, Cinny next to them. The CMC were making trouble, as usual, trying to find their special talents. At some point, Pinkie stopped talking and moved away, over to the girls, and started up a conversation with Cinny.

Ryan walked further into the library and over to Mac, who sat quietly in a chair, out of the eyes of the others. As Ryan approached, Mac looked to him and nodded. Ryan nodded back and took a seat near his friend.

“So,” Mac said, starting up a conversation. “You turn eighteen today.”

“Yeah, but I guess I saw it coming,” Ryan replied. “Recently, at least. Before, I wouldn’t have expected it.”

“Ah can imagine.” He added a little nod to his statement. “Ah remember when Ah turned eighteen. It was a fun day.”

“And what did you do that day?” Ryan asked, his curiosity piqued.

Mac chuckled. “Well, Ah already knew Fluttershy by that day. She gave me some nice presents.”

Ryan grinned at his friend. “Well, it sounds like a good time. If only I were so lucky.”

Mac grinned. “Ya never know what can happen.”

“Ain’t that the truth.”

They continued talking for a short bit, sharing stories of their lives before they turned eighteen. Ryan talked mostly about his friends from school, though he felt less longing for them this time. He told Mac about all his crazy adventures with his friends, ones he rarely told other people. When he got the Australian strip club, Mac seemed particularly interested.

Eventually, Mac found himself called over elsewhere, and Ryan let him go. Before he had a chance to find someone to talk to, Pinkie showed up in front of him again.

“Hey, Ryan!” she greeted enthusiastically. “How’s the party?”

“Great as always,” Ryan replied. “I appreciate you doing this.”

“Yayzees!” Pinkie said. “And I bet you can’t wait to get your presents!”

Ryan looked surprised. “Now that was hardly necessary,” he said. “I have everything I need already. No one had to go and do that.”

“Nonsense!” Pinkie responded. “Every birthday party has to have presents! Without them, it would be like, a regular party, and this is special, ‘cuz it’s your birthday! You managed to survive for eighteen years, so of COURSE you get presents! It’s like a prize!”

That was quite a way to look at it. “Uh...” Ryan had no idea what to say. It was true; it was amazing that he survived this long. “Okay?”

“Right!” Pinkie shouted. She looked around. “I don’t want to keep you all to myself, but I do, but that wouldn’t be polite to the other guests, so you should go talk to CInny!” Without waiting for a response, Pinkie got behind Ryan and started pushing him towards where Cinny was.

Cinny was talking to Fancy Pants’ wife, Fleur, in the corner. The two of them seemed to be laughing about something, though with all the noise, Ryan couldn't tell what. As Pinkie pushed him closer, he took the steps on his own. When he was mere feet away, still unable to hear, the two mares noticed him approaching and hushed up. Ryan raised an eyebrow at them as he came to a stop.

“Hi Ryan,” Cinny greeted.

“Yes, hello,” Fleur agreed. “I don’t believe we formally met the last time we met. I am Fleur De’Lis.” She stuck her hoof out.

Ryan took it in his hand and shook it gently. “And I am Ryan. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Fleur looked surprised and took her hoof back as Ryan let it go. “Cinny, you never said he was such a gentlecolt. From the stories you told me, I thought he would be some unrefined barbarian, like my husband in his ‘Stallion Cave’.” Ryan never thought Fancy to be a slob in private, but looks can be deceiving.

“Oh, trust me,” Cinny replied with a giggle. “He has his moments.”

“And I’m sure that those moments are ever more... enhanced, when he is out of the public eye.” Both mares giggled wildly as Ryan simply stood there, confused. “Well, I should make sure Fancy doesn’t do anything silly. It’s a wonderful party, Ryan.”

“Thanks,” Ryan replied, still unsure. As Fleur left, he turned to Cinny. “Should I be worried about something?” he asked, worried.

“Oh, no.” Cinny waved her hoof through the air. “It was just girl talk.”

“That’s what scares me.” Ryan looked back to where he had been sitting; still empty. “Care to sit?”

“I’d be delighted.”

The pair walked over to the chairs and sat down. Cinny seemed to have trouble getting comfortable, so Ryan looked around. The party was going nicely, everyone was having a good time. All the most important ponies in his life were there at the moment. The princesses, all his friends. It made him feel like he was in a good place, like he was actually somewhere he could be without the risk of violence rearing its ugly head. It was, perhaps ironically, a peaceful party for him.

Until he looked out the window. There, just outside the window, the Wraith was standing there. He was just staring into the room, still with that neutral look on his face. It would be easy for somepony to spot him there, forcing Ryan to explain everything. Not only would that possibly get him in trouble; it would ruin the party.

But then, as quickly as Ryan had noticed him, the Wraith vanished. Ryan glanced around to see if anyone noticed. Most of the ponies were talking about something, not paying any heed to the window or its recent inhabitant. Celestia, though, when Ryan looked, wore an odd expression. But she wasn’t facing the window, so she couldn’t have seen him.

Cinny was still having trouble getting comfortable. “You know, if it’s that hard, you can always sit on my lap,” Ryan offered. “It might be easier than squirming about that chair.”

“You just want me in your lap,” Cinny replied quickly with a grin. Ryan smiled back; if she wanted to play this game, Ryan would happily oblige.

“Well, why wouldn’t I? You’re so soft, and warm, and cuddly.” He leaned toward her. “So how about it?”

Cinny laughed. “I’ll stick to where I am so that you don’t stick me, thanks.” That was not bad, not bad at all.

Ryan tried to think of a response to that. “You can be sticky wherever you want , I guess. I won’t judge.”

“I happen to enjoy being sticky to one spot. I find that I feel more relaxed,” Cinny said.

“I imagine most people would be relaxed after becoming sticky. It does take some energy, after all.” He leaned back in his seat. “I think that BOTH of us know all about that.” Cinny’s face turned red at Ryan’s insinuation at their respective private moments by themselves. She looked away from him, trying to think of something witty to come back at him with.

While she looked away, Ryan’s thoughts wandered back to the Wraith. What did that bastard want, exactly? What was he after, and why did he want it from Ryan? Ryan supposed that he was a good target for the Wraith, given his state, but he felt like he could take the Wraith now. And how close was he to getting what he wanted? And most importantly, would he go after the ponies after he got it?

“Ryan?” Cinny asked. Ryan snapped his attention back. “Ryan, are you okay?”

Ryan smiled lightly at her. “Never better,” he lied. “Why?”

She looked unconvinced. “You just had this look on your face, like you were worried about something.”

“Nope,” Ryan replied, a little too quickly. “Just kind of blanked out for a second while I was waiting for your witty response.”

Cinny gave him a look. “Yeah, yeah,” she said. “I’m amazed that nopony has smacked you for the things you say yet.”

Ryan chuckled. “Well, I’m just not that smackable. But one pony has hit me before.”

“Really?” Cinny asked. “Who?”

Ryan looked around for the subject of their conversation. He spotted her with her sister and Starstep, talking to Fancy Pants, Soarin’, and Mac. Ryan would have been concerned, but he knew that the guys would never sell him out or tell the princesses things princesses shouldn’t hear. For a moment, he just stared at Luna until she turned around and noticed. When she saw, she excused herself from the conversation and came over.

“This one, right here,” Ryan started as Luna approached. “She decided to hit me right across the face with her hoof when she first saw me again here.” Luna didn’t hear him as she came up to the pair, so Ryan stood up and went to hug her. “This lady-” he poked her chest. “Thought that the best greeting for meeting a long-lost friend again was to hit him across his face.”

Cinny looked wide-eyed at Luna, who was grinning at Ryan. “Think of it as me hitting you to make up for all the times you should have been hit,” she said, successfully justifying herself. “You deserved every bit of force behind my hoof that night.”

Ryan chuckled and sat back down. “Even so,” he said.

Luna used her magic to pull over a cushion from somewhere to sit on. “So, what’s going on over here?” she asked. “I was trying to learn about your various exploits from your ‘drinking buddies’ over there, but they were tight-lipped about the whole thing. Even Fleur couldn’t get Fancy to spill.”

“If you couldn’t get the information out of them, what makes you think you can get it out of me?” Ryan asked. “None of my buds will fall for their ladies’ feminine wiles. Their wills are too strong for that.”

“Really?” Luna asked. Her horn glowed for a second, then stopped. “Well, I just told all the mares what you said. We will see how long your buds last.”

“They can handle it.” Ryan was confident in his friends’ willpower.

Luna put on a determined face. “Cinny?” she said.

“Yes?” Cinny replied.

“Why don’t you try out your ‘feminine wiles’, as Ryan out it?”

“On who?”

Luna smiled. “On him, of course!”

Ryan didn’t see that coming and wore a shocked expression. Cinny turned red again, not having expected Luna to say something so direct. Luna just laughed as the two tried to figure out how to respond. For Ryan, this was one of the few times he might have actually lost at this game.

But maybe not. “I know Cinny has acted extra feminine at the bar to get customers to buy more drinks,” Ryan said, throwing her a silly look. She blushed even more. “But you might need to coach her to do it outside a professional setting.”

“I can do it easily!” Luna shouted. “You will learn from the best!”

“You know how she became the best?” Ryan asked Cinny. She shook her head. “She practices on Starstep every day.” Luna’s lead on Ryan came to a screeching halt, keeping her from speaking for a moment. He wasn’t out of the game yet.

And it didn’t help her when Starstep came over. “Yeah,” he said, inserting himself into the conversation. “She practices on me a lot. And I must say, she is getting rather good at the art of seduction.”

Luna’s face turned red under her coat, giving her a dark purple shade, and she shot her guard a death glare. He just chuckled and moved toward Ryan and Cinny for safety.

“Well, you would only let me practice on you if you enjoyed it,” she said back. “I suppose you rather like the idea of spending time alone with me?”

“We do spend time alone. Every night.” Starstep had her there. “And I do enjoy it, especially how you nuzzle into the back of my neck.”

Luna had trouble responding. “Well, I have to make sure I’m behind you. I know what lay on the other side of you, and I would rather not have to avoid being stuck on your standard-issue spear.” Ryan whistled, Cinny laughed, and Starstep sighed. He definitely lost.

Starstep looked accusingly at her. “Well, just remember; YOU issued it to me.”

Everyone had a good laugh at the end of it, and conversation shifted from innuendos to all kinds of other things. That was good, because, as much fun as those conversations are, they can get old if no one gives up. And in the game of innuendos, you either win or turn red from embarrassment. And if you won’t give up, it means you are in the latter, and you’re only digging yourself a deeper hole.

“So what’s happening in the world of a princess?” Ryan asked. “Crazy adventures, international conflicts, taxes?”

Luna laughed. “Mostly that last one, but some of number two. Unfortunately, there are no adventures for us; that is the job of the elements now.”

“What kind of conflicts are there?” Cinny asked. “I’ve never heard of any conflicts that recently.”

“Ah, mostly problems in the Southern Gryphon Colonies,” Luna said with a wave of her hoof. “They demand our help, even though they rejected it for so long. We said no, and now, they won’t stop asking.” She looked to Starstep. “We are not currently in a position to provide them any aid anyhow.” Starstep’s face took on a somewhat sad look at her words.

“That’s a shame,” Ryan said. “So much work was put into making that region stable. It’s too bad you can’t respond properly at the moment.”

“Yeah,” Starstep said, keeping Luna from letting the talk go on. “But shit happens. We all have to accept it sometimes.”

“Amen to that,” Ryan replied. He looked back to Luna. “So what else is going on the world of Luna and Celestia?”

Starstep and Cinny looked uncomfortable at hearing Ryan refer to the princesses without titles. Back home, sure, Ryan might have said Mr. President if he somehow met the president, but he generally didn’t give people their titles unless they were in some official capacity or they had some level of granted authority over him. The princesses had no such authority.

“Nothing much,” Luna said. “We’ve been studying different kinds of magic, different policies, seeking new technology.” She looked hopefully at Ryan. “You wouldn’t be willing to aid with that last bit, would you?”

“Not a chance,” Ryan responded. “The only tech I could possibly tell you about is either simple, and you already have it, or it’s simple and, thankfully, you don’t have it. The mechanics of certain items are easy but deadly, and I cannot, in good conscious, give them to you.” Luna gave him puppydog eyes. “And no amount of that is going to get you anything; it’s the thing I am trying to protect, after all.”

Luna tsk’d at him. “Fine. I suppose we can let it go.”

“Good.” Ryan stood up. “If you’ll excuse me, I should go see some of the other guests.”

The ponies nodded to him, and he walked off to find someone new to talk to. It was his party after all, he should speak to all of his guests. At the moment, he was looking for Fancy Pants and Soarin’, whom he spotted speaking to Spitfire and Fleetfoot. As Ryan came closer, he overheard their conversation.

“I would be delighted to make you new uniforms,” Fancy stated fancily. “I would hate to change your color scheme, but I could certainly make you sturdier outfits for better flight.”

“Great!” Spitfire replied. “We could really use something like that. Our current uniforms are good, but the designer has been... disagreeable lately.”

Ryan came up to their side. “Yes, I find it rather frustrating when an associate is disagreeable as well,” Fancy replied, just spotting Ryan. “Rather like my friend here.” He put his foreleg around Ryan’s shoulder. “Tell them how you handled the last situation where you dealt with a less-than-agreeable pony.”

Ryan thought back. “Well, the first one that comes to mind was that guy who tried to mug me and Rarity some time ago.” Back when they first visited Canterlot. “I took out his hind leg.”

“That’s an odd way to put it,” Spitfire replied, looking unsure. “But I guess he did have a knife, from what I’ve heard. You were justified, even if not totally within accepted boundaries.” Ryan shrugged.

“Screw accepted boundaries, he saved my girl!” Soarin’ interjected, throwing his leg around Fleetfoot. “If not for his disregard for publicly held standards, I don’t know what would have happened. So thank you.” Ryan wasn’t sure exactly how to respond to that, so he he just smiled and nodded.

They kept chatting for a while, mostly about stunts and air shows. Ryan told them about their eerie similarity to the Navy Blue Angels, leading the conversation toward the previous military services of the individual Wonderbolts. Spitfire turned out to have been with the 14th Tactical Combat Support Battalion, well-known as the Tomcats. Fleetfoot had been with the 17th Cargo Group, resupplying units around the world in emergency situations. They were the masters of the globe, and had some of the best geographical knowledge of any service branch.

They all talked for a while longer, mostly about the Equestrian armed forces. Ryan learned that the Royal Guard was mostly just distinguished soldiers who had retired from frontline service for one reason or another, and didn’t want to stop serving. They generally didn’t do a ton in Equestria, but if the nation was invaded, they would act as the primary blocking force to keep invasive forces out. Few enemies would ever try to invade Equestria, like the Changelings, but it never hurt the ponies to be ready.

The conversation came to a stop when Celestia picked up a glass and tapped it with a spoon to get everyone’s attention. Everyone but Ryan and Luna immediately snapped to attention like their mother was chastising them, something Celestia clearly found amusing.

“I just thought I would offer up a toast,” Celestia began. “To Ryan, on the day he becomes an official adult. Though he has had many trials so far, may he forever be able to live how he chooses.” Everyone gave a cheer and got a drink to down. “May may you be strong and swift in whatever trials come in your future, Ryan.”

“Thank you, Princess Celestia,” Ryan replied, raising a glass. “I will do my absolute best.”

After the toast, conversation started up again, though Ryan decided to take a moment away from his. He made his way to Celestia, politely going past ponies and trying to avoid being bowled over by the CMC. When he did finally get there, he met Celestia with a little grin.

“Those kids are gonna grow up to be interesting young ponies,” he commented.

“Indeed,” Celestia agreed. “I remember when I first started teaching Twilight, she was much more neurotic than I had anticipated. To this day, she is still rather crazy about some things.” She giggled at the memories.

“I bet you have all kinds of stories about her that you intend to tell her first coltfriend,” Ryan said, nudging her.

Celestia snorted. “That may be some time from now, the way she studies. But when she does, hoho, am I going to go all out. I’ll be sure to get her mother in on it, as well.”

“And what about Nightlight?” Ryan asked. “He’ll never let anypony date Twilight. If it were my daughter, I sure as hell wouldn’t let some guy just start taking her out.”

“You males and your possessiveness,” Celestia commented, getting a snort from Ryan. “It’s true! And you never know when to stop. You’re all so stubborn.”

“Maybe so,” Ryan said back. “But I’d rather be stubborn about protecting my daughter than have her be at risk because I’m too easygoing.”

“Bah, you don’t know what you speak of,” Celestia replied with a roll of her eyes. “Anyhow, don’t you think now is a good time to open your presents?”

“Well, I want everyone to enjoy the party before-”

“Of course it’s a good time!” Ryan tensed up as the high-pitched voice loudly struck his ears from behind. Pinkie bounced forward. “It’s never a bad time to open presents! Let’s get started!” She left the pair standing there to bounceabout and inform everypony what time it was.

“Well, we still have a minute,” Ryan said casually. “Mind if I ask you something?”

“Shoot,” Celestia replied. Ryan wondered if she normally spoke like that, or if she was trying to make him feel comfortable.

“Well, I got to thinking about some things from back home,” Ryan began. “And I got kinda curious. What kinds of enemies do you most typically fight here, with your military? We find ourselves in a battle with groups and organizations now rather than with nations that much. That could change soon, I think, but even so. So what threats do you typically face?”

Celestia took on a look that looked hard and contemplative. “Well, we haven’t had to battle a nation in some time,” she began. “The Changelings attacked us, but we didn’t counter-invade them for it because their defeat was so crushing. Before that, the last fight we were in was with the Southern Gryphon Colonies.”

“I’ve been hearing about problems down there. Care to elaborate?” Ryan asked.

Celestia gave him a look of mock suspicion. “That’s not common knowledge. How would you know about that?”

Ryan grinned. “Call it intuition.”

Celestia laughed. “Very well. After the rapid defeat of the government, we found ourselves battling loyalists and power-hungry groups. The loyalists are mostly gone now, but other groups are generating serious issues. And we simply cannot provide aid to them at the moment.”

“I see,” Ryan replied. It gave him an idea of what kind of enemy was down there. But before they could continue, Pinkie bounced on back with the rest of the partygoers on her heels.

“Present time!” she announced.

***********************************************************************

Discord watched with interest as Ryan sat down and the various boxes were brought forth. He could see how obviously uncomfortable Ryan was with the situation, but none of the ponies seemed to care. Friends will be that way at times.

The first gift Ryan opened up was from the Wonderbolts, in a medium-sized box that looked like it must have weighed a good deal from how Ryan picked it up. When he opened it up, the first thing he pulled out was a printed piece of paper that read, “One Favor From the Wonderbolts”. All things considered, it was pretty huge. The second thing he pulled out was a cotton Wonderbolts suit. It was more than one piece, Spitfire explaining how they had trouble figuring out exactly how to make a single-piece suit.

“How did you know my measurements?” Ryan asked. They had asked Rarity.

Discord thought it to be a good gift. Few ponies ever got to wear those outfits, and nopony ever even wore them for Nightmare Night. Given the nature of earning it, it meant a lot that the Wonderbolts were willing to give one to Ryan.

“You’ve certainly come quite far, kid,” Discord thought.

The next one came from the CMC, and Ryan opened it with care. The other ponies in the room were all prepared to dive for cover if it exploded, but the little girls all looked innocent enough. When Ryan opened it, nothing happened, and most of the ponies let out sighs of relief. The little ones were somewhat miffed at that.

They had each made Ryan a special card for his birthday. The drawings on them were crude, of course, and the writing was in crayon. But when Ryan opened them, Discord saw a little flicker in his eyes. He actually liked the poorly made cards, and a lot. He read each one aloud, and the CMC girls beamed with pride at how much they made Ryan smile.

Next came Luna, Celestia, and Starstep. Their present was pretty big, standing at about half of Ryan’s height. He stood up to open it, and when he did, the look of surprise on his face was extraordinary.

“How did you..?” he asked, looking to the trio. He pulled out several steel rods, a baseplate, and one last rod with a banner wrapped around it. When he unravelled the banner, he held it high.

“We thought you would like it,” Luna said. “It seemed like it would fit you.”

They had gotten him an American Flag, and not a small one. He held it up high to look at it with a light behind it, amazed that the princesses had gotten him one. They watched with silent satisfaction as Ryan admired the flag.

“Thank you,” he finally said after a minute.

“You’re welcome,” Celestia replied. “You come from that land; you have to represent.”

Ryan felt his chest swell with pride. “And I promise you that I will.” Celestia looked warmly upon the boy as he spoke.

Discord felt like he was being stabbed in the heart. These ponies were all giving him really incredible gifts, now, it was the turn of the Elements of Harmony. Each of them gave Ryan something that corresponded with the pony. The gifts were all thoughtful, but were not quite as impressive as the flag from Celestia and Luna. His drinking buddies had all banded together to get Ryan some insanely expensive bottle of whiskey, comparable to Macallan 55. And yet here was Discord, one of Ryan’s closer companions, doing nothing.

Well, he couldn’t let that be. He had to give Ryan something good, something to outshine everything else he got that night. The primary reason was so that he could beat Celestia and Luna and shove it in their royal faces, of course, but he also had an obligation to his friend.

“But what would he want?” Discord wondered. He had to think fast, too.

Then it came to him in an “Ah-ha!” moment of unmatched power and size. Quickly, he thought the magic over in his mind and how he would go about it. When he got it, he looked back into his mind’s eye to see what was going on. Cinny was giving Ryan her present.

“Well, I have a couple parts to mine,” Cinny explained. She handed Ryan a small envelope. “This is the first part.”

Ryan used his finger nail to get the lip of the envelope open, then tore it open and pulled out its contents. It was a small piece of official-looking paper, fancy print and everything/ Ryan read it aloud.

“Reservations for two to Hinny of the Hills in Manehattan,” Ryan read, impressed. He had heard the ponies talk about it, and even rainbow Dash loved it. “Wow, where did you get this?”

Cinny brushed her mane aside. “I know some mares,” she said like it was nothing. “And the second part of your gift is three nights of drinks on the house at the Salt Lick.”

Ryan smiled eagerly. “Oh, wow, thanks. I’ll be sure to use that in no time.”

Soarin’ decided to get a word in. “What, not gonna wait for our Saturdays, Ryan?” he mock-asked.

Ryan leaned over to get a look at him. “Ha, you bums can buy your own!”

“We’re bums?” Fancy Pants asked with a chuckle. “Says the man who barely has a job!”

Everyone started laughing, including Discord in his stony prison in Canterlot. It was great to see them all having so much fun together, to see Ryan actually enjoying himself. Some of the ponies were almost dying of laughter, some rolling and others struggling to breathe. Ryan sat in his seat, just-

Frowning. Why was he frowning?

“Why are you frowning, Ryan?” Discord asked himself.

Indeed, why was he frowning? Discord had spotted the Wraith before, sitting outside the window like a creeper, but Ryan seemed to ignore him. He also saw his encounter from before, which not even Discord could quite understand. But he thought that Ryan managed to get past them. Was he faking everything right now? Was he still the soulless husk of a human being that he was back when he had the eponies calling him Harkness?

He couldn’t be sure, because when they all looked back at him, he put on a smile that looked completely genuine. He was thanking Cinny with a tight hug and a little nuzzle on her cheek. He threw in a suggestive phrase quietly into her ear to turn her face as red as possible. She pulled her head away in embarrassment.

“What, can’t I just hug my good friend?” Ryan asked. “Or am I just too sexy for casual gestures?” Everyone laughed again, though Cinny just looked at him with what could be described as mildly frustrated, immense amusement. She punched him in the shoulder and left his embrace.

“Only if you give me enough of that free booze will you be that sexy,” Cinny replied.

Fancy Pants jumped in. “Burn!” he shouted, pointing right at Ryan, who laughed in his seat.

Overall, the situation was a bit confusing for Discord. He was glad that Ryan seemed to be enjoying himself, but he wasn’t entirely sure that he actually was. But there was one way to know for sure. With a bit of focus and a pinch of magic, Discord sent Ryan his birthday present, one that he knew would make Ryan feel something.

******************************************************************

Ryan sat in his seat. He was enjoying himself, to be certain, but he was having trouble getting his mind off of the Wraith, among other things. This game he was playing, what was the intended end? Where would he stop, and where would Ryan be able to stop him?

His conflicted mind was becoming increasingly difficult to deal with as the party went on. He liked it, but he wished that he had some peace to think for a bit. He needed it really badly. Even Discord, wherever he was, would be able to help him right now. Ryan wished that his old companion was here.

“I loved the gifts, everypony,” Ryan said. “And this party is tons of fun. What say we get to some games of-”

Suddenly, Ryan felt something yank on his hip, and his gun came flying out. He thankfully didn’t have around chambered, or something may have happened, but it was still a cause of concern. Everyone in the room flipped a shit when the gun came flying out, diving for cover, as it landed in the center of the room. Ryan, too, dove behind his chair, grabbing Cinny and pulling her with him.

When no loud BANG came from the firearm, Ryan risked a glance over the chair. The gun was spinning in the center of the floor, a bright outline forming on the handle. As soon as it started, it stopped spinning, and everyone risked their own heads to look. Ryan stood up and advanced on the potentially dangerous firearm, ready to jump aside in the event that it started acting on its own again.

Trepidatiously, Ryan leaned forward and inspected it for damage or risk before picking it up. Then, like it was a child, he cradled it in his hands as he lifted it up. That was when he noticed something new on the handle. It was an inscription, freshly burned in.

“What fun is there in making sense?” Ryan read aloud.

He knew exactly what that meant. There was only one being in this world or his world that would say something like that. Somewhere, somehow, Discord was watching Ryan right now, and he probably had been since he left Ryan out in that field to be found by the CMC.

“You sly bastard,” Ryan said to himself. The ponies came out and saw his grin.

“Ryan?” Luna asked. She walked up to look at the gun. “What just happened?”

Ryan held the gun by the barrel so she could see the inscription. “Just a word of wisdom from an old friend.” Luna didn’t get a clear enough look at it before Ryan put the gun away. She couldn’t see what it said, but whatever it said, it had made Ryan a very happy young man. If it did that for him, then she supposed it was good enough for her.

She looked to her sister. “Well, I suppose that is a good enough note to end our visit on,” she said. “It has gotten late, and we must raise the moon and lower the sun. It was a wonderful party, Ryan. We loved seeing you.”

Ryan smiled somewhat sadly at her. “Well, I hate to see you go, but duty calls. Guess I’ll see you ladies and stallion later.” He tossed a salute to Starstep as he walked by.

The princesses said their final goodbyes and made their exit, leaving the mortals to their party. The whole event quickly took on a much more relaxed tone, a change that Ryan didn’t see coming. They all seemed to want to be as well-behaved in front of their rulers as possible, even when the princesses didn’t give half a damn. It was an interesting bit of psychology.

So, the party went on, and before long, the night began to take over. Everypony was beginning to tire out, and there was much more sitting around now. The atmosphere had gone from fun and nice to casual and simple. Ryan preferred this to the way the party was before, since it fit more his style. It had still been nice, though.

Ryan talked some more with Cinny and his friends, but before long, everyone was beginning to show how tired they were getting. No one seemed to want to leave, as there was still plenty of food to be had, Ryan not being an exception. He was eating a slice of the marble cake Pinkie had made, even when he knew he would regret it later. Pinkie came by to get her own slice of cake.

“Hiya, Ryan!” she greeted. “How’s the party?”

Ryan took a bite of his cake. “It’s gfreat,” he said with a full mouth. “I’ve had a great time.”

“Good, good,” Pinkie said. She was looking at Ryan suspiciously. Uncomfortable with the look, Ryan changed the topic of conversation.

“How can you live in a bakery and eat so many sweets, yet not be overweight?” he asked. “You’re slim enough for me to pick up, yet you eat a metric ton of sweets every day.” Pinkie smiled and giggled, twirling a hoof through her mane.

“Well, I exercise, and I keep fit,” she said. Before long, though, her look resumed. “Anyway, can we talk outside?”

Ryan was confused, but he agreed to talk to her. They walked outside quietly, so as to avoid being noticed by any of the other partygoers, making sure to shut the door gentle as one holds a newborn. When they were outside alone, Ryan tried to gauge what Pinkie wanted to talk about. It didn’t look good.

“You’re not very happy,” she said.

Ryan blinked. “What?” he replied. “Of course I am, this was a great party.”

Pinkie shook her head. “No, you can’t think that! I saw you a bunch of times today looking like a sad pony, and I couldn't figure out why! You must not like my party!” Her mane was beginning to flatten out.

“No, no, no, that’s not it!” Ryan replied quickly, trying to keep her mane poofy. She looked sadly at him. “I just have a lot on my mind right now.”

Now, Pinkie looked curious. “Like what?” she asked. “What could be on your mind right now that would make you sad?”

As much as Ryan wanted to answer that, he couldn’t. He would have loved to get this off his chest, to be able to work with his friends to take down the Wraith. But that would only put them in harm’s way, an unnecessary and unwise thing to do when he was the only target. He hated the idea of lying to his friend, but it seemed to be the only option.

“Just some old memories,” he said.

Pinkie’s mane came back up, but she still looked sad. “Old, or make you feel old?”

Ryan sighed. “The latter.”

“Why do you still think about all that stuff?” Pinkie asked. “It’s all in the past, you can’t change that. So why do you think about it?”

“I don’t know,” Ryan said. While he had lied, what he said was completely true. “I feel like I don’t have any right to be forgiven for everything that I did. What kind of man am I, that I would have done those things without thought? Why didn’t I think about it at the time?”

Pinkie went to him and put her hoof on his shoulder. “No one can answer those questions, Ryan. It’s like asking what makes cake so tasty-” she let her tongue stick out. “Don’t question it, just accept that it is. You can’t change the past.”

“I know that,” Ryan said, putting his hand on Pinkie’s hoof. “But what does it say about me now? I still did those things. Horrible things. Will I do them again?” He shook his head. “I can’t just accept something that I don’t know like that.”

Pinkie pulled herself up and gave Ryan a big hug. “I know,” she said. “But I can tell you that you aren’t that man today.”

“How is that?” Ryan asked.

She pulled away and looked him in the eyes. She saw a beautiful shade of hazel, lights shimmering in the deepness of his eyes. They were watery from tears, tears of uncertainty, regret, pain. She wanted nothing more than to see those tears go away forever. To see her friend smile genuinely for more than a second. She wanted to just see him happy.

“Because,” she said. “I know you. And because we’re friends.”

Ryan could feel his face grow wet from the tears falling from his eyes. He pulled Pinkie in for another hug. She believed in him. They all believed in him. They all saw him as a good person, as someone they could depend on to do what was good.

He pulled away from her. “I can never forget what happened,” Ryan said.

“And you shouldn’t,” Pinkie replied. “But don’t let it make you a frowny-faced man ever again.” Ryan smiled at her and picked her up, and Pinkie Pie giggled ferociously as she moved through the air. When Ryan put her down, she looked at him, then back to the library, then back to him. “I’ll be right back!” she said, and ran into the library.

Ryan waited outside patiently, his emotions just beginning to calm down. He had learned a lot just now, about himself and about the others. They all loved him; he had never really thought about it that way. They all cared about his well-being, they all wanted to see him as happy as he wanted to see them.

And he learned that the Wraith could fuck himself. He was wrong about Ryan, he was wrong about everything. The Wraith was trying to beat Ryan in a game of wits, nothing more. Ryan knew he could outwit him, just like he used to outwit his friends back home.

And he learned a little something about life, too. Nothing is set in stone, nothing is unchangeable. He could always beat his past by being better in the present. If you let the tragedies of the past define your life, your future will be just as tragic.

Pinkie came back out. “Come on, Ryan! We need to get to the train station!” Without waiting for a response, she grabbed Ryan’s wrist and dragged him along to the train.

“What?” Ryan replied, confused. “Where are we going?”

“I have an extra special gift for you!” Pinkie replied happily. “But it isn’t in Ponyville, so we have to take the train!”

Ryan took Pinkie’s previous advice and just accepted it rather than question it. They ran almost full sprint to the train station, and when they arrived, the train was getting ready to leave. Ryan had no idea the trains ran this late, but who really knew? This could be part of Pinkie’s plan.

They got onto the train just in time and they were off to Canterlot, Ryan learned. Pinkie didn’t seem like a Canterlot mare, so he had no idea what to expect to get when they arrived. She might have had some kind of extra special present for him, probably some sort of food. They also could have been going there to do something, but Ryan had no idea what.

Though when Ryan thought about it, Pinkie had already given him an incredible gift. She hammered the truth that he wasn’t a monster into his head. She made him realize that he wasn’t such a terrible being, that he could be redeemed. That anything could be redeemed.

Pinkie had been talking about something the whole time, though Ryan wasn’t paying attention to that. He hadn’t even noticed. He was looking out the window as they passed over the countryside, on the mountain. These lands held infinite possibilities. There was untold glory for those who sought it, riches for those who wished it, and power for those who lusted for it. While there was so much opportunity for evil, the opportunity for good was so much greater. Just like back home.

He looked up to the sky to count the constellations. But he didn’t see any; rather, he only saw a single, bright star.

“How did I forget about that?” Ryan wondered. The star shone brightly in the night sky, outshining everything around it. It was the most powerful light in the sky at the moment, a beacon for wise men to follow. When a comet not too far off flew straight at it, the star didn’t lose a single bit of its light, and outshone the comet with ease. Ryan turned his attention back to Pinkie and realized she was talking.

“Sorry, Pinks, I didn’t hear that,” he said apologetically. “I was off somewhere else.”

“Now, how could you be somewhere else if you were sitting right there the whole time?” she asked. “Unless you used the mirror pool, but until just now, you didn’t know that existed, and the only way you could have found out would have been to have heard it from me! And I would have said, ‘No, Ryan, don’t use it!’, and you would have listened, ‘cuz you’re a good listener most of the time! Other than now, but I think you get the point!”

Ryan smiled. “Yeah, I get it,” he said. “What were you saying?”

“I was talking about the importance of cake to the royal family!” Pinkie replied in a bubbly manner. “Throughout their history, cake-eating has been a tradition, but it was a well-kept secret, so nopony but a select few great bakers knew!”

“I guess you were one of them?” Ryan asked. Pinkie nodded.

They sat in silence for a moment, something Ryan thought to be impossible with the pink mare. She just sat there, twiddling her hooftips, looking at them like she was discovering some new piece of physics or chemistry that would change the world. it was amusing to watch, her fascination with her hooftips Ryan wondered what made them so fascinating. But that wasn’t important.

“Hey, Pinkie,” Ryan said, grabbing her attention.

“Hm?” she said, looking up.

“There’s something I want you to have,” Ryan said. He reached down to his waistline and pulled out the knife, still in its sheath, and put them on the table.

Pinkie looked at it, then back to Ryan. “I don’t know,” she said. “Doesn’t that mean a lot to you? And what would I use it for?”

Ryan pushed it forward. “A knife can be used to cut anything, regardless of what it was made to cut,” Ryan began. “I don’t think I need this knife any more, and when I look at it, I see the things I did with it. I want you to take it; to redeem it, give it some level of value that it never had before. Use it for something other than its intended purpose; I want you to make it the Good Knife of Pinkie Pie, instead of it being the Bad Knife of Ryan.” He looked her in the eye. “Can you complete this task for me?”

Pinkie looked back down at the knife with a look of uncertainty. Then, steeling herself, she slowly put her hoof on the knife and slid it toward her.

“I can,” she said with determination. “And I will.”

Ryan took his hand off the knife and let Pinkie put it wherever she put all the things she carried. It was weird for Ryan to let the knife go, since it was one of his main weapons. One of the first weapons he had learned how to protect himself from and use from his sensei was a knife. It felt like he was giving a part of himself away. But at the same time, he was a Karate Ka, an empty hand fighter, and it seemed fitting for him to be rid of the blade.

The rest of the ride was spent in further silence, and when they arrived in Canterlot, Pinkie wordlessly led Ryan through the city. It was quiet and mostly dark, something odd for a city that Ryan had seen bustling before. He had gone out at night, sure, but he was buzzed or wasted when he did. Thinking back, Ryan felt some shame at letting himself get so drunk.

Pinkie took Ryan to the palace, where they stopped at the gate. “Pinkie, why are we here?” Ryan asked.

She looked around; no guards. “Because,” she began. “Your gift is inside. We need to get through without being seen, or it’ll ruin the surprise!” She spoke in a loud whisper and through clenched teeth to emphasize her meaning.

Ryan shrugged and let her lead him inside. She seemed to know her way around surprisingly well, evading guard patrols with ease. When they were nearly caught in the courtyard, Pinkie shoved Ryan into a bush that was too small for him and hid behind him. Somehow, they weren't seen by the guard, and they managed to continue on.

She seemed eager to avoid the castle garden for reasons she refused to explain, but Ryan didn’t pursue it. Maybe there were more guards out there, and maybe the princesses were doing something outside. Luna could still be playing with her stars or something, who knows? Ryan let Pinkie lead the way through the palace to wherever their destination was.

It took some time, but eventually, they arrived at a large set of double-doors with a moon symbol on top. Ryan could only assume that it was something of Luna’s.

“Is this it?” Ryan asked.

Pinkie nodded. “Yeah, but we gotta be SUPER DUPER quiet,” Pinkie warned. “Luna’s probably asleep.”

Ryan took a moment to process that. It was Luna’s bedroom, where she slept. He had never really thought about it, but he supposed that even the princess of the night had to sleep sometime. Pinkie slowly opened the door and the pair took a look inside.

Luna was snoring peacefully on her bed, not shockingly next to her favorite guard. Now that Ryan had seen it himself, he could easily use that as ammo the next time they had a go at it. But Pinkie didn’t give him much time to look at them, as she pulled him on through the room to what appeared to be a library.

Inside, he looked around. Obviously, there were books of all kinds all over the place. There were books on foreign culture, books on history, science books, math books, and old tomes of stories. Some more recent additions were self-help books on interactions, and even one on maternity. Ryan knew that it was about Luna trying to be a motherly figure like Celestia, but that still only added to his arsenal.

“Did you bring me here to get a book, Pinkie?” Ryan asked. “Because I don’t think Luna is gonna appreciate us stealing her stuff.” Pinkie started to respond, but was interrupted by another voice.

“No, she won’t.”

Pinkie and Ryan both froze and looked to the source of the voice. It was Starstep, having gotten up from his place next to Luna, looking haggard and sleepy. Ryan wasn’t terribly worried about getting in trouble, and he knew Pinkie would be exempt from any consequence, but it was still an uncomfortable position.

“Don’t worry, Mustang,” Pinkie said, shocking Starstep with his old callsign. “We aren’t here to steal anything.”

Still surprised, Starstep looked at the duo before him calculatingly. They said that they weren’t there to steal anything, and he could trust them. And he didn’t particularly care if they borrowed a book, so long as they brought it back eventually. But if Pinkie said they weren’t here for a book, why would they be here?

“Ah, do whatever,” Starstep said, giving up. “Just don’t break anything.”

“We won’t!” Pinkie replied. Starstep walked off and went back to bed. When Starstep was gone, Pinkie turned to Ryan. “Are you ready for your present?” she asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Ryan replied.

Pinkie turned to the center column of the library and took a good, long, hard look at it. After a minute, she seemed to realize something, and started reaching through her nonexistent pockets for something. What she came out with was some weird rod that seemed to glow as she held it.

“What on Earth is that?” Ryan asked.

“I borrowed it from the Doctor,” Pinkie replied, pointing it at the column.

After she answered, she walked up and pressed the tip of the rod into the column of books, resulting in something Ryan never saw coming. The column began to disappear, simply fading away into oblivion. Behind it, in the floor, there was a spiral staircase that led down through the floor to an unknown depth.

Pinkie bounced onto the stairs. “Come on, it’s down the stairs!” In disbelief, Ryan followed her down the steps.

At the base of the stairs, there was a small room, lit only by a single candle. It would have been a fire hazard, had the room not been made of stone, or not had a small body of water in the center. Pinkie trotted over to the pool and urged Ryan over. Curious, he followed her.

“Here it is!” Pinkie shouter, the sound reverberating in the room.

After the recovery of his ears, Ryan looked at the pool. “A pool of water?” he asked, confused.

“Not just any pool of water,” Pinkie said. “Take a closer look.”

Ryan looked hard into the water. He wasn’t seeing anything, just an empty, dark pool of liquid. There were some ripples here and there, and he could almost see the bottom. It was smooth tile floor underneath, but he didn’t see anything special.

“I don’t see-”

“Of course you don’t!” Pinkie said, like it was nothing. “You aren’t trying to!” Ryan frowned as he looked back into the pool. He looked hard for something, anything, that might be there. But there was just the blackness of the water, with a few more ripples than before.

But the ripples were coming more and more, distorting the water more with each pass. Ryan didn’t look away from the pool, as he might have risked missing something. Soon, an image began to form, with colors and distinct shapes. Before long, it was there, and Ryan could hardly believe his eyes.

There was his mother and his father, sitting at a table in the family room of the house, watching TV with nearly emotionless looks on their faces. On the table, there was a picture of Ryan, clad in colors, flowers, and hopeful scribblings. His parents were almost unmoving, and when they did move, they just moved their heads to look at the picture.

The room was just how he remembered it, with a big TV by the window, it had always been poorly placed. There were Chinese-style lamps hanging from the ceiling, and a brown ceiling fan in the center of the room. The couch his parents were sitting on was the same old brown thing they had been sitting on for years. Other than the picture, everything was the same.

Ryan reached his hand forward and poked the water, creating more ripples. As the ripples moved out from where he touched the water, something happened. His parents started looking around, like they had heard a noise. Ryan could tell that they hadn’t, because he could hear everything that was going on. They both turned their heads and looked in the direction of the invisible eye that was watching them.

“Hey,” Ryan said, forgetting himself for a moment.

“They can’t hear you,” Pinkie said, though RYan didn’t hear. He was too transfixed on the pool.

Ryan’s mother stood up and walked around the couch, using it as support, toward where the invisible eye was. If Ryan could place it right, the eye was on top of some stained-glass work that she had made many years ago. Gently, as if the glass was a baby, his mother dragged her fingers across the surface.

“What are you doing, honey?” Ryan’s father asked.

She shook her head. “I’m not sure,” she said. Her eyes started to tear up. “Something just feels... right, over here.”

Ryan had been holding his breath, and when he finally took breath in, it was with a loud, short gasp. Tears began to flow from his eyes as his mother’s hand moved to where he was touching the water, and then remained. Her fingers began to close around that spot, as did Ryan’s. Ryan’s tears fell into the pool freely, unhindered, going hitting the water and creating more ripples. The waves no longer hindered the image, which became that of his mother beginning to cry.

“When will you come home, Ryan?” she asked.

Ryan started to sob. “I don’t know,” he said, with a shake of his head. “I don’t know.”

Pinkie watched on as Ryan spoke mutely to his mother through the pool, feeling tears of her own well up and begin to fall, heavy, like raindrops on an icy day.

******************************************************************

Starstep went back to bed after seeing the duo in the library without another thought. Well, he had one.

“Maybe they’re seeing the pool?” he thought. He wouldn’t put it past that pink mare.

He crawled back into bed and pulled the covers over himself, eager to get back to sleep. His movement, however, stirred the princes of the night, who turned around to see what was going on. As she awoke more, she started to give Starstep an unhappy look.

“Why are you moving about?” she asked. “I thought that you would be as exhausted as I tonight.”

He shrugged. “Eh,” he said simply. “I just heard some movement. Pinkie took Ryan up here, they’re in the library.”

Luna nodded and rolled over to go back to sleep. But, suddenly, she jolted upright and looked frantically around.

“The library?!” she shouted.

Starstep looked grumpily at her. “Yes, the library,” he said. “What’s all... the...” As he trailed off, he realized just what was wrong.

Without waiting for him, Luna sped off into the library and found her column was missing. She should have known better than to think Pinkie Pie couldn’t have found the pool, that mare can do anything. As soon as she saw the opening, she flew straight down and rushed to the pool room.

When she got there, she didn’t quite get what she was expecting; Ryan was just sitting there, barely touching the surface of the pool water with his fingertips. Pinkie Pie was some distance behind, sitting and crying silently. When Luna approached, Pinkie turned around and put her hoof to her mouth to tell her to be quiet.

“We can speak like this,” Luna said mentally.

“He’s with his mom right now,” Pinkie explained quickly. “He hasn’t said a word since it started.”

Luna looked away from the mare and at Ryan’s back. Against her better judgment, she moved herself to be to the left of Ryan, to get a better look at his face. What she saw surprised her, yet somehow, she expected it. His face was wet and shiny in the candlelight, his eyes were reddened, and his body was stiffly in place. He didn’t even notice Luna walk not four feet from him, nor the extra ripples in the water when she poked it.

She moved away from him and back to Pinkie Pie, where she gave Ryan one last glance. He was in a world entirely his own right now, a world where no one could hurt him. He had everything he could have wanted, the world belonged to him. It seemed fitting for his passing into adulthood.

Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, was on her way up the stairs. When Luna noticed she was leaving, she asked why.

“This is his moment,” Pinkie replied softly. She said nothing else as she left the room and went up the stairs.

Luna looked back at Ryan, and, silently, she went up the stairs as well, leaving Ryan alone to be with his real family.

Hanging Out?

View Online

Hanging Out?

“Friends are people who know how weird you are, and yet, they still choose to be seen with you in public.”

The smell of salt water overpowered Ryan’s nostrils as he looked out at the horizon.

It had been one week and three days, making it the twentieth of February and a Saturday. Cinny had gotten the tickets to see the show on a Saturday so that Ryan wouldn’t miss any days of “work”. He didn’t think it mattered all that much any more; he never did much at work anyway. At this point, the Rarity and Twilight were really just handing him money to spend on himself. Half the time, he only worked two thirds of his day.

But he was fine with that. Who wanted to work, anyway, especially when the work was never really your first choice? Sure, he liked spending time with the girls, but he did prefer to spend his time with the guys on the weekend. He felt like he could be more like a guy around them. When around the girls, he had an inexplicable obligation to make things weird for them to get a laugh. He couldn’t explain it back home, and he couldn’t explain it here.

The ferry to get into Manehattan was a pretty big boat, but it still rocked in the waves of the harbor. Some ponies seemed to have a hard time dealing with it, including Cinny. She was next to Ryan, leaning over the rails, ready to feed the fish. Ryan stood next to her, in a fancy Rarity tuxedo, rubbing her back in an attempt to make her feel better.

“Don’t resist it,” Ryan coached. “The sooner it happens, the better you’ll feel.”

“How would you-URP- know?” Cinny asked.

“I’m a SCUBA Diver, remember?” Ryan replied, reminding her of the long forgotten fact. “I’ve been on my share of boats, thrown up my share of times. You’ll feel way better, and the taste doesn’t take too long to go away. Especially if you drink something.”

Cinny didn’t reply right away. She was keeping her eyes on the city, trying to prevent the inevitable for as long as possible. Ryan, though, didn’t need to stare at the unmoving city for nausea purposes. He was still trying to take in the sight, and accept that there was a lot more about Equestria that was similar to home than he had ever thought. Some of the city’s names were actually starting to annoy him.

“And what would-” She swallowed. “What would you recommend?” she asked, doing everything in her power to keep up.

Ryan thought. “Well...” He could either keep her like this, or make her vomit sooner. “The best thing you can drink is cockroach stew.” He could hear Cinny start to heave, but she kept it in check and instead gave Ryan a death glare. “Or you could drink a Cran-brrrr-ita.”

“What’s a Cran-brr-ita?” Cinny replied.

“I hope you never have to find out,” Ryan replied. His brother told him to try it after he concluded it was nasty; Ryan would have sworn it burned his taste buds off.

Cinny turned back to the water. “Why would you make me want to throw up?” Cinny asked painfully.

Ryan sighed. “Because it’ll make you feel that much better,” he replied matter-of-factly.

“Tell me, Ryan,” Cinny asked. “Who would want to kiss a vomit-mouthed lady?”

Ryan shrugged. “You asking me to?” Ryan replied and leaned in closer. “Cuz’ if that’ll make you feel that much better-”

Cinny promptly lost it all over the side of the boat, creating a large splash in the water below. In the water, fish were already swimming up and taking bites of the chunks of undigested food on the surface, practically making fun of Cinny by eating her food. Ryan leaned back while Cinny coughed and recovered from the endeavor.

“Well, if that’s how you feel,” Ryan said with a fake frown. Cinny shook her head and let out a few more coughs.

“Oh, you... You know I don’t think you’re THAT gross,” Cinny said with a smirk of her own. “Only that you’ll kiss something with barf in its mouth.”

Ryan chuckled. “If the price is right,” he said. “Feel better?”

“Much,” Cinny said.

He could see her knees trembling from the violent action, so Ryan moved himself under her and picked her up on his back. Once she was secure, he carried her to the front of the boat, where the city was almost within docking distance. He heard her sigh in relief at the sight of stable land, and once they were up, he found a place to sit and set her down, then sat next to her.

“Am I glad that this is over,” she said as the boat hit the dock.

“You and me both,” Ryan replied. He stood back up and picked her up. “Now, let’s go.”

Carrying her in front of him, Ryan waited for the ramp to lower so they could get off the boat. There was no one on the dock waiting, so as soon as it was down, Ryan rushed down the dock and onto land. If Cinny was going to throw up, Ryan needed to make sure he had stable ground to drop her on.

“Thank you, superhero,” Cinny said with a batting of her eyelashes.

“You’re welcome, perpetual damsel-in-distress,” Ryan said, earning a look. “Come on, you were practically asking for that one.”

“Well, when I get pony-napped, I expect you to come and save me.” Cinny crossed her forelegs as she spoke.

“And you also expect me to whisk you away, to take you and make you mine forever, like a knight in Shining Armor?” Ryan asked jokingly. “I’ll get you, but you’ll have to walk yourself out of there.” That wasn’t true, he would totally carry her out.

“Deal!” Cinny said.

Ryan continued to carry the heavier-than-she-looks mare to the street, where they waited for a cab to show up. Ponies gave them extremely confused and odd looks as they passed by, since most of them were vastly unfamiliar with the story of the Human. The way Cinny held onto Ryan’s neck, most just assumed that they were together, and that he couldn’t possibly be dangerous.

Eventually, a cab stopped not too far from them, so Ryan ran over to hop on. Right as he jumped on, a stallion got in on the other side. At first, the two just stared at each other, unsure of what to do. Then, the stallion gave Ryan a very grumpy-looking frown, one that said Get off my ride.

“I think this cab accommodates more than two,” Ryan reasoned. “We can go to your destination first.”

“Good,” the stallion replied. They all sat down in different spots, though Cinny opted for Ryan’s lap, and went off.

They rode through the heart of the city, Timeturner’s Square, and Ryan and Cinny marvelled at the sights. It was there that Grumpy Man got off, where Ryan saw a grumpy-looking cat as his cutie mark. Odd.

Anyway, Ryan and Cinny continued to look around, taking in the sights. There were neon signs everywhere, like Ryan would expect in the nineteen-twenties. Ponies ran about, as did some gryphons and what appeared to be regular horses, plus a whole lot of other races. Manehattan looked to be as much a melting pot of culture as New York. It made sense, really.

The puller turned around. “Yo, where you going?” he asked, his accent heavy.

“You know this city better than me,” Ryan said to Cinny. “Your call.”

Cinny thought for a moment, then looked around. She seemed to be scrutinizing everything, from the signs, to the streets, to the ponies, and to the buildings. For a moment, she didn’t speak, leaving Ryan to glance about himself. Just as the puller was growing impatient, Cinny finally spoke again.

“Take us to thirtieth street,” she commanded. The puller nodded and started off in that direction.

Ryan was curious about the destination. “What’s on thirtieth street?” he asked. “Is there a restaurant? It is close to lunch.” His stomach growled lightly at him.

Cinny shook her head. “Nope!” she replied giddily.

“Well?” Ryan asked, though he received no answer. “What’s there?”

“My auntie and uncle live here! My parents used to take me here to visit them all the time, and we would do all kinds of things in the city while we visited. I’ve been meaning to see them again.” Cinny explained.

Ryan was suspicious, though. “That isn’t all, I can tell,” he said.

Cinny smiled sheepishly. “Well, the last letter I got from my parents said that they would be visiting Manehattan to see family today. They are probably over there now.”

Ryan looked flatly at her. “Your parents,” he said, receiving a nod. “You didn’t do this so that I would meet your parents, did you?” he asked.

“No, I just remembered after I bought the tickets,” Cinny said. Ryan wasn’t too sure he believed that, but he let it go.

“Alright,” he said. “Anything else you want to tell me?”

“Umm, yeah,” she said. “My cousin will probably be there too. He was like a brother to me.”

“Oh joy, this can only go well,” Ryan thought sarcastically. “That sounds like it might not be the most peaceful experience,” Ryan said.

Cinny waved a dismissive hoof. “Oh, no, not at all. He tends to assume the worst about stallions around me, but you’re not a pony, so you’ll be fine!” Ryan still wasn’t too sure about what she was saying.

They rode the cab through the busy streets, nearly running over pedestrians and trying to remain unseen in the cab. Ponies and other residents of the city would yell at the cab driver, but sometimes, the pedestrians would yell at them instead. When they did so, Ryan would give them a glare and mouth for them to keep on walking while they could. Soon, they stopped before a small apartment building.

“Here we are!” Cinny announced excitedly. “Celestia, the memories I have in this place.”

Ryan tossed the cab driver some coins and sent him off. When he looked up at the building, he thought that it was identical to a New York apartment. The building was classic brick, at least on the outside, and had uniform, patterned windows for the residencies. Some of the windows had shutters, others had AC units. Some were just wide open, even though it was not the warmest day, letting the air flow inside freely.

“Reminds me of New York City,” Ryan said casually.

Cinny ran forward. “Come on, I want you to meet my family! They might feed us while we’re here!” Ryan liked that idea and ran in after her.

Inside, it was still a lot like a New York apartment, though there were some distinct differences. Everything looked extremely clean inside the hall, and the paint looked like it was redone at set intervals of time. The carpet was well-groomed, vacuumed and cleaned frequently. The lights were all very bright, meaning they were replaced any time they were broken. The stairs looked extremely secure against the wall.

“So what floor are we going to?” Ryan asked.

“Third floor up, apartment fourteen C,” Cinny replied, already starting up the stairs.

Ryan followed he rup the flights of stairs. He hadn’t climbed that many stairs in Equestria, but he was just now noticing how shallow most of the steps were. There were close to triple the number of steps and each one was about half the size of a normal human stair. Ryan supposed that it made sense, since the ponies couldn’t lift their legs up the way a human could.

Up the stairs, they went down the third floor hall and found apartment fourteen C. Cinny knocked excitedly on the door while Ryan stood back, waiting for it to open up. As they waited, Ryan gauged Cinny’s anticipation of seeing her family. She clearly loved them very much, and loved this city. Given how happy she would be to see her family, her family would probably be very happy to see her as well. Hopefully, that would work in Ryan’s favor.

Slowly, the door started to open, and a pair of eyes looked out. Cinny just smiled wide and bright, staring back at the eyes. The eyes shifted to Ryan for a moment, then went back to Cinny who was still smiling. Then, the door closed again, and swung back open.

“Cinny!” a stallion shouted as he stepped out.

Cinny lunged forward and grabbed him in a hug. “Hey Ari!” They held the embrace tightly for a moment, then let go. “How have you been?” Cinny asked.

“Good, good. Life’s been pretty easy for us here, what with all the exports to Saddle Arabia lately.” Ari looked behind her. “Who’s your... friend?” he asked.

Cinny stepped back and leaned on Ryan. “This is Ryan. He’s a good friend of mine, just arrived in Equestria not one year ago.”

“HE’s a good friend,” Ari repeated, narrowing his eyes at Ryan. “Well, I’m Ari. What might your name be?” he asked, extending his hoof.

Ryan took it and shook. “Ryan,” he replied. “I’m a human from the United States of America. Equestria is different, I can say that much. And in a good way, too.”

Air liked that. “Well, come on in, see the rest of the family!” Ari said to Cinny.

They walked inside, where Ryan had to remove his shoes to avoid ruining the nice carpet further in the apartment. When he removed his shoes, Ari sniffed the air once and looked down. He didn’t seem shocked when he saw the shoes that the feet smelled bad. Ryan also removed his tux jacket and hung it on a rack next to the door. While he went through this, Cinny was already going inside to see her family. Ryan finished and went to follow her, but was stopped by Ari’s hoof.

“Now, I understand that you aren’t exactly a stallion,” he said. “But I hope you know that I see her like a sister. Anyone who breaks her heart is gonna be regretting it on my watch.”

Ryan looked him dead in the eye. “Well, I have no intention of doing that,” he said. “And that makes two of us. I don’t like it when people hurt my friends, or prevent them from being happy.”

Ari blinked at Ryan surprisedly, not having expected a warning to come from the human as well. Then, a little smile cracked onto his face, and he nodded to the human. While he was trying to protect his sister, he could see where he might go too far. And he could respect that Ryan wasn’t going to be letting him go that far.

“Alright,” he said, turning around. “Oh, and before you go in, feel free to wash your feet in the basin in the closet there.”

Ryan opened up the closet on his left and looked down to find a small basin. There was fresh water inside it and a bar of soap next to it. Ryan sat down and stuck his feet in, finding it to be ice-cold. Through gritted teeth, he went to work making his feet smell less so that he would be presentable to the family.

When he finished up, he stood and walked into the apartment. It was nice, with good carpet, tasteful decorations, and well-maintained furniture. The coffee table had several little books on it, plus one undrank coffee. The scent of the light brown drink wafted through the apartment, hopefully masking the travelling smell of Ryan’s socks and shoes by the front door.

He could hear chatter in a room to his right and went in that direction. When he got there, he found a rectangular archway, and through it, a group of ponies sitting around a table in a small kitchen. From the looks of it, he would barely fit in there with what little room was left, so he stayed outside and listened to the conversation. It was primarily small talk, one thing or another that happened recently in the city or Ponyville. At least until Cinny brought Ryan up.

“So yeah, like I told you in the letters, he’s not any race in our world. He was brought here by Discord after Discord nearly got him killed,” Cinny explained. “He’s great, and he does really well in Ponyville. We’re here in the city today because I got us tickets to see Hinny of the Hills.”

“And I’m still convinced she just wanted me to meet her family,” Ryan commented from the side.

He had startled everypony but Aria and Cinny, who had positioned themselves to see the archway and his arrival. When Cinny and Ari’s parents turned around, their eyes became massive circles on their faces at the sight of the only human in Equestria ever. Ryan let them stare at him for a moment, letting them take in his sight, then spoke to break the silence.

“It’s good to meet you.”

One of the stallions shook his head. “Oh, good to meet you,” he said. He had a deep, southern voice. “I’m Cinny’s father. My name is long and hard to pronounce, so you can call me Pappy.”

“Alright, Pappy,” Ryan replied.

Pappy nodded. “Yes, and with any luck, you’ll call me Pops, and I’ll have grandfoals to tell stories to as well!” he said with a laugh. Ari and Cinny had been drinking some water, and both spat it out at the same time.

“Dad!” Cinny shouted.

“Well, I can’t promise you grandfoals, but we can always try,” Ryan replied with a smirk.

“Ryan!!” Cinny shouted. Pappy and Ryan both howled like monkeys at her mortification.

The mare next to Pappy, Cinny’s mother, shook her head. “These stallions are always thinking about that,” she said to her daughter and sister. “Even you, Ari.”

“What?” Ari said in shock. “What have I done to be a part of this?”

“Don’t think your parents don’t tell us about your relationship with that mare,” Cinny’s mother said. “Just like we talk to them about Cinny’s life.”

“Mom, what the hay?!” Cinny shouted. Meanwhile, in the background, Pappy and Ryan were barely able to stay upright.

“Well, Ari is the one who wanted to know the most,” Ari’s mother said, deflecting the blame. “He says that someone needs to watch out for you.”

Cinny turned angrily to Ari. “Ari, I’ve said it SO MANY TIMES, I can take care of myself. And if not, I have Ryan to help me.”

All eyes turned on Ryan, who took a moment to quell his laughter. Pappy tried to speak, attracting their attention for a moment, but was unable to do so, and could not keep their attention. So, they looked back to Ryan, who had just recovered from his fit of laughter.

“I can always help out,” Ryan said. “I can chase the guys off, I can keep them away, I can lock the door after she lets me in for the night-”

“Argh!” Cinny shouted, putting her hooves to her face.

Her brother, Ari, seemed only partially amused. He chuckled lightly at her embarrassment, but seemed to be giving Ryan a side glare at the same time. Ryan played it off with a little look of his own, reminding Ari to be mindful of his own role.

Her mother patted her on the back. “Oh, just ignore them,” she said. “Stallions are stubborn and silly.”

“And yet, here you are, married to one,” Pappy replied.

Cinny’s mother got up and trotte dover and nuzzled his face. “And you’re my stubborn old fool,” she said.

Ryan enjoyed watching the family. They had a great dynamic going, one that almost ensured peace in the end and few serious conflicts. The only ones that seemed like they could arise were involved with either Cinny’s love life or family gossip, which was never particularly significant. Except in the cases of illegitimate children, but there was no reason to worry about that.

“This is fun and all,” Ryan cut in. “But Cinny and I were looking for a place to go eat lunch.”

“Right, I had totally forgotten about that,” Cinny said with a silly smile.

Her aunt shook her head. “See? They always have one thing on their mind at a time, usually food.”

“Or romping!” Pappy exclaimed, getting another frustrated sigh from his daughter.

“Exactly,” Cinny’s aunt said. “I suppose that there are some places you could go, but I’m afraid that I can’t show you how to get there. Pappy and Jelly can show you around, but we have to remain home for some furniture.”

“So Jelly is her name,” Ryan thought, looking at Cinny’s mother. What could have inspired her parents to give her that name?

“Sure, I could show you around,” Jelly said. “But we should go now so that we get a seat at a restaurant.”

She and Pappy stood up and said bye to Cinny’s extended family and left the kitchen. Cinny gave a quick glare to Ari, who put his hooves up defensively before she left. Ryan stayed behind a bit next to the archway, then nodded to the family as he exited. He didn’t care about the protective gaze of Ari on his back as he left. He probably wouldn’t see him again anyway.

At the door, he put his socks and shoes back on and left with Cinny and her parents. It felt a bit awkward for him, being the male companion of Cinny who was also not a pony, but her parents didn’t show any level of concern. At least, while she was there, they didn’t.

They walked off down the hall and down the stairwell, chatting all the way. There was this really nice restaurant down the street, a classic pizza place, that had been there for three decades. Cinny’s parents offhandedly mentioned that that was only about eleven years older than them, meaning they were around forty-one. And it was eleven years older than Cinny, making her nineteen, just barely older than Ryan, and not too far from the age that her parents had kids. Ryan couldn’t help but wonder if she was expecting to find somepony soon.

But his thoughts quickly shifted again as they left the building and went into the busy streets. At first, they were looking for a cab, but Ryan said they should just walk, that it was better for their health. They insinuated that Ryan couldn’t go the distance, being a biped, to which he responded by going into a deep Seiunchin dachi and going the distance like that. Ponies looked at them funny while they moved, but, against the wishes of Cinny and her parents, Ryan went the whole way like that.

By the time they reached the restaurant Jelly was raving about on the walk, Ryan’s quads felt like they were ablaze. He didn’t show it, though, in an attempt to look tough in front of Pappy and Jelly. When they entered the restaurant, Ryan glanced around. There were no chairs, unfortunately, only cushions. And the tables were not designed for humans, so Ryan couldn’t properly extend his aching legs underneath them.

“Hi, do you have any tables available?” Jelly asked the waiter at the front.

Ryan hung back while they talked. “Hmmm,” the waiter said, not looking at her. “I’m afraid that we have no tables available at the moment. I am terribly sorry.”

“What do you mean?” Pappy asked aggressively. “I see three table,s clean as a whistle, over there.” Ryan looked; they were, in fact, quite clean.

The waiter shook his head. “Those are special tables, for special guests. I am afraid that they are not available to you.”

Pappy grew red in the face, classic New Yorker coming out of him. Or Manehattanite. Whatever. He was about to go off at the waiter, being held back by Jelly, when Ryan decided to jump in.

“I think that we qualify,” he said, shoving his hand in front of the waiter. The waiter looked up and started, jumping back. “We would like a seat,” Ryan said calmly.

The waiter bowed. “Yes sir, right away!” he said, then ran off.

Ryan turned around and noticed that everyone in the area was staring at him. “What?” he asked.

“How did you do that?” Pappy asked. Ryan shrugged.

“Ryan is a personal friend to Princess Luna and Princess Celestia,” Cinny explained, getting gloriously shocked expressions from all present. “He’s a good friend of the Elements of Harmony, he’s saved several lives, and, obviously, he’s the only human in the world.”

Pappy whistled. “Wow,” he said. “I would never have guessed.”

Ryan shrugged, saying, “Well, you never know what you might learn about someone until you either ask or it comes up.”

Pappy pointed at him with his hoof. “And I’ll be asking more about you later,” he said, half excited, half suspicious.

“Dad, please be nice,” Cinny said. “He’s my best friend.”

Pappy grumbled. “Sounds like more than that from the way you two joke around.”

“Oh, Pap, don't get on their case,” Jelly chided. “They can make their own decisions. They’re both adults.”

“Mom!” Cinny said. Ryan laughed at it all and remembered his own family.

The waiter returned and guided them to their table, a very nice, ornate table with fancy-schmancy silverware. Cinny’s parents looked astonished at the quality of what they saw, as did Cinny. Ryan had lived in a very nice, generally well-off neighborhood, so it wasn’t really new to him. They never noticed this, though, as they were too distracted looking at their concave reflections, like children looking in a mirror for the first time.

The menu was nice, and they served meat, but Ryan had to be cautious. He leaned over to Cinny and pointed at a meat item, asking with a few motions if he could. Cinny looked to her parents, who were distracted by the special menu, but couldn’t figure out what they would say. Eventually, she just asked.

“Mom, dad,” she began, barely getting their attention. “What would you do if you sat at the same table as someone who ate meat?”

“Probably feel extremely uncomfortable,” Jelly replied. “The smell would be odd, I think. But some things just have to eat meat.”

“I would make sure he knows that my daughter ain’t for eating,” Pappy replied, looking directly at Ryan. “She doesn’t taste good.”

“Well, I don’t know that I’d say that,” Ryan said with a toothy smile.

It took a tense moment for Pappy to get it, but when he did, he howled, drawing the attention of most of the restaurant. Ryan turned around and flashed his canines at the other patrons, convincing them to turn around. Jelly didn’t understand, and neither did Cinny, at first. Ryan and Pappy enjoyed the laugh together at the expense of those who couldn’t understand.

“You know, you’re a lot more okay with this stuff than most dads I’ve ever met,” Ryan commented.

“I know,” Pappy said with a sigh. “But I know how the world is. I-”

“Wait, what?” Jelly cut in. “What are you goons talking about?”

“Really? You didn’t catch what he just said?” Pappy asked. When Jelly and Cinny said no, he briefly explained it to them, to which they both wretched and made the males laugh even more.

“Why do you do this to me, Ryan?” Cinny asked.

“Because I’m not actually doing any of this to you,” Ryan replied. “It’s funnier that way.”

Pappy laughed. “But anyway, I know how the world is. Young ponies do these things.” He seemed to lose himself in thought for a moment. “I remember when Jelly and I were younger...”

“Stahhp!” Ryan and Cinny yelled simultaneously.

Pappy laughed, though his wife was red and punching him in the shoulder. “What? It’s the truth!”

“A truth that never should have been known,” Ryan replied. “Even I feel traumatized by that one.”

“Yes, as good as you are, you’ll never be able to make things as gross and awkward as a father or mother,” Pappy replied, still being hit. It’s a sad truth that dads will always be able to troll harder than anyone else.

“But a mother doesn’t do that to her kids and their coltfriends!” Jelly said, ceasing her attack.

“Mom!” Cinny shouted at her parent seemingly for the umpteenth time. “He’s not my coltfriend!”

“I’m a human boy,” Ryan corrected. “It’s called a boyfriend where I come from.” Cinny gave Ryan another unhappy glare.

The waiter returned and took their menus and orders, then ran off to fulfill their wishes. The group chatted while they waited, Ryan explaining the appeal of eating meat. It wasn’t going too well for him, but the family persisted on knowing what was so great. Ryan tried to find words to use that wouldn’t scare them, but nothing came to mind, so he just gave up and said, “It’s a human thing.”

Faster than any restaurant service Ryan had ever had, they had their food before them and chowed down. The chefs must have used magic, because the savory smell of a New York Strip was missing from Ryan’s plate. The family didn’t look at the meat on his plate, instead focusing on their conversation. It switched from food to other things Ryan liked, like SCUBA and Karate.

Pappy was impressed by the end of lunch, as was Jelly. Ryan felt glad that he attained his goal there, and felt so good that he offered to pay for lunch. Cinny’s parents refused to allow that, though, stating that Ryan was basically a bum and probably couldn’t afford it. Cinny tried to reason with them otherwise, but Ryan stopped her. He wasn’t one to turn down hospitality any more, which earned him a grin from Pappy.

They left the restaurant and stood out on the sidewalk for a moment. “Well, what’re you kids doing next?” Jelly asked. “You said you came to see a show?”

“That’s right,” Ryan replied. “I came in a tux since it’s a requirement to dress with class. Cinny thought we could rent something for her while we’re here.”

Jelly gasped loudly and jumped into the air. “Oh, yes, yes, yes yes!” she said, grabbing her daughter. “I’ve been waiting for the day I could take you out to buy you a dress! We have to visit the Boutique Le’Chique, and Yves, and Lauren’s, and all the others! Nothing but the best for my little filly!” Jelly started to pull Cinny away in the direction of the stores.

Cinny looked back. “Ryan, we’ll meet at the playhouse at six!” she shouted.

“Got it!” Ryan shouted back. And then, Cinny was off with her mother into the crowd.

That left Ryan alone with Pappy, who stood waiting for Ryan to make a suggestion. Ryan looked around for something to come to mind, but while the city was like New York, it wasn’t really the same. He had no idea what the map looked like, or if there was even a subway line. He had no idea what sorts of activities there were to do, nor where they would be. He turned to Pappy.

“You know this city better than me,” Ryan said. “You got any ideas to kill-” Ryan glanced at his watch- “Four hours?”

Pappy shrugged. “Well, we can head to the park,” Pappy suggested, walking up close to Ryan and putting his foreleg around his arm. “We can chat there for a while.” Ryan swallowed hard a that, unsure of how menacing exactly the tone was meant to sound.

*****************************************************************

Cinny had to stand completely still as the seamstress worked her magic. Literally, her magic. She was a unicorn.

Jelly had insisted that she try on as many dresses as possible to find what she liked. They had tried on all kinds of colors, from red all the way to blue and green. The colors were generally nice, often complementing her eyes or her coat, but most of the styles were too much for Cinny. She really wanted something simple, like Ryan would probably like.

Jelly had managed to sneak in a couple of wedding dresses, to which Cinny would always respond with a look of really? Her mother just smiled sheepishly each time she was caught. Which was every time.

“Mom, why are you giving me these wedding dresses?” Cinny asked as she shooed one away. “And please be straight.”

Jelly walked up to her daughter and patted her side. “Look, honey, I know it’s hard to understand now, but you’re a young mare. Stallions line up for your attention, even though it’s already taken.”

“What do you mean, already taken?” Cinny asked defensively.

Jelly snorted. “Come now, you don’t think I can’t see it,” Jelly chided lightly. “Your father sees it, your aunt and uncle saw it. You like him!”

Cinny scrunched her nose. “Yeah, but not like that!” she insisted. “We’re best friends! We like to spend time together and have fun, we make jokes, we do silly things! We aren’t in love.”

Jelly looked sadly at her daughter. “You aren’t, or you don’t think he is?” she asked.

“Neither of us,” Cinny said, now feeling aggressive. “We’re just. Best. Friends.”

“Your father and I were best friends,” Jelly said. “We loved spending time together, making jokes, being silly. We had lots of fun. And he asked me to marry him. It was the best decision I ever made.”

Cinny let her guard down for a moment. “That’s great, mom, but I don’t think that Ryan and I are going further. We aren’t looking at that right now.”

“So you might eventually?” Jelly asked hopefully, earning yet another glare. “Alright, alright. But you know you’ll want somepony eventually. And from what I remember, Ryan is exactly what you were always looking for.”

Cinny shook her head defiantly. “No. That may be true, but we aren’t looking at that. We have a great dynamic right now as it is. Besides, don’t you want grandfoals?” Cinny asked, trying to deflect it onto her mother.

Jelly chuckled. “We want you to be happy,” she said. “If we get grandfoals, that’s just a bonus, a side-product of your happiness.” She chuckled. “You know, a lot of mares talk about how there are so few stallions worth loving in the world. If they took a look at the stallions who are their friends, they might just find a stallion worth loving. They’re already stallions worth spending time with, after all.”

Cinny shook her head. “Thanks mom, but we really aren’t considering that. We know what our relationship is, and we don’t want to push it.” Jelly gave up on her endeavor and went to get another dress.

Cinny looked in a mirror while she waited for her mother to return. She knew her relationship with Ryan. He was playful, strong, maybe not that charismatic, certainly a pain at times, and a bit crazy. He had made some bad decisions, but he was working on that. He was nice, funny, giving and loving, loyal, honest... and there was something else about him.

She knew what she had. He was her best friend, the best she had ever had. They spent time together, having fun. She served him and his buddies drinks at the bar every weekend, and more often than not, she joined them in their merriment. The guys seemed to always be watching her and Ryan, like they expected something to happen. What did they expect?

They weren’t like her parents, were they? There was no way that they thought that. Unless Ryan had told them that... no, that was impossible. They were just good friends. Cinny knew what their relationship was.
.
.
.

Right?

*******************************************************************

Ryan survived his “little chat” with Pappy, mostly due to his denial of he and Cinny having a romantic relationship. Neither of them were interested, so it was an easy stance to maintain. Once they were finished, they left the park and made their way to the theatre where the play was showing.

Ryan and Pappy arrived first, and so waited together. Pappy was telling Ryan all about what it was like to be married, how you couldn’t do anything wrong or you ended up sleeping on the couch. If Pappy were to leave without his wife with him, she would have made him sleep on whatever couch or chair was available. As much as Ryan thought that was scary, if he were to get married, he would always be trying to keep his woman happy anyway.

They stood patiently, waiting. “Man, the play is gonna start soon,” Ryan complained. “Where are they?”

“When they said they were going dress shopping, you should have seen this coming,” Pappy said. “Mares will do whatever they can to look perfect, regardless of the situation. If that means being thirty minutes late, go figure.”

Ryan grunted. “Well, I hold everyone to the same standard,” he said, crossing his arms.

Pappy laughed. “Well, then, that’ll get you few places in life,” he replied.

Ryan shook his head. “Even so, I don’t like it when people are late. If we decide to be somewhere at a time, then we should both be there-”

“Hey!” a voice sang out. Ryan turned around to see Jelly and Cinny.

Cinny was walking delicately, trying to keep her new dress from touching the ground. The end of it, going over her hind and draping to the ground, was a bit long, but it flowed easily in the wind, keeping it aloft. The dress was a nice, simple light blue, not terribly thick. Ryan could see that Cinny was cold in the February air, but not so much that it showed significantly. The dress was light, and didn’t hide her like most fancy dresses in Equestria seemed to do. It looked nice, overall.

“Hey,” Ryan said, approaching Cinny. “I like the dress.”

Cinny blushed a little. “Well, I’ve never been that into dresses, but I gave in to my mom,” she replied. “She knows her stuff.”

“Certainly,” Ryan said, looking to Jelly. He turned his attention back to Cinny, sticking out his arm for her to take. “Shall we head inside?”

Cinny took his arm. “Certainly,” Cinny replied. They walked into the theatre, but not without Cinny throwing one last glance at her parents. They looked proudly upon her, but not without that bit of parental worry that was always there. Cinny ignored it; there was no reason for it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The show ended, and applause rang throughout the theatre with the decibels of a bomb going off in the room. Neither Ryan nor Cinny minded, as they clapped and cheered as well. It was an excellent show, worthy of the reputation it had gotten.

They left the theatre among the last, as they wanted to avoid being separated in the crowd as it made its way out. With all the noise, it was hard to talk to each other, so mostly, they just searched for other ways out. They got it in the form of a back exit.

They left through the back exit, with Ryan going first to check for any less-than-good ponies who might want to take their things. The alley was clear, and Ryan had Cinny come out. The ground was nasty, though, and Cinny didn’t want to ruin the dress her mother bought, so Ryan carried her again. His arms would be killing him the next day. When they got back to the streets, Ryan set Cinny down gracefully, so as to keep the dress nice.

“So, you gonna wear that all the way home?” Ryan asked.

Cinny moved her wings under the dress. “Yeah, I think so,” she said. “No reason not to. And it’ll be easier to carry this way.” Ryan couldn’t argue with that.

They walked back to the ferry, chatting about the play. It had been a great play, not unsimilar to Les Miserables back on Earth. It wasn’t quite as sad, mind, but it certainly tugged at the heart. Cinny had cried during the show, requiring Ryan’s strong arm for something to weep silently into.

They arrived at the ferry after a long walk and boarded. Cinny said that she wanted to sit inside because the air was chilly, but Ryan reminded her of what had happened before, and that it would only be worse if they were inside. Reluctantly, Cinny agreed to take a seat outside, where there was no one there, because of how chilly it was. They took a seat next to the wall of the cabin.

“That was a fun day,” Ryan said, moving around in his tux to create friction. “You ponies do have some stuff that I would never have guessed.”

“Yeah, we do have some great things,” Cinny said, though she was shaking. “I’d say we aren’t that different from you humans.”

Ryan got up from his seat across from Cinny and placed himself next to her. He wrapped his arms around her, protecting her from the wind chill and sharing body heat with her to keep warm in the windy air. She definitely appreciated it, letting out a contented sigh to be relieved of the wind.

“I have to agree with that,” Ryan said. “We really aren’t so different. We have a lot of the same or similar innovations, similar communities, and even lifestyles. The only real difference is in our different anatomies.”

“Ha ha, yeah,” Cinny replied. She was silent for a moment. “Where do you think your life is going?” she asked out of the blue.

Ryan thought hard about that for a moment. He had been planning on going to his cave for a while, and stocking up for that. But there were certain things he planned on doing first, important things that couldn’t be left behind. And there were other matters he needed to tend to before he left, simple things that would prove vital later on.

“Well, I can’t rightly say,” he said. “I have a general direction, but I’m not sure where exactly it’s going.”

“No one knows exactly where their road leads, Ryan,” Cinny said with a nudge. “You of all beings should know that. People may come and go, life may continue on with or without us, but we are the ones who decide our fates. Time may give us a limit, but who says that time can tell us what can or can’t happen in its vast span?”

Ryan looked down at Cinny in shock. “You know, I would never expect something so insightful from you,” he said, impressed.

Cinny hit him in the side. “Well, thanks for the vote of confidence,” she said jokingly. “But thanks.”

“I might just have to quote you on that,” Ryan said, mentally jotting it down.

They spent the rest of the ferry and then the train ride huddled together, quietly enjoying the cold, still night and the warm embrace of someone you care about being so close to you.

What Is Love?

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What is Love?

“A life without love is like a year without summer.” (Swedish Proverb)

The final day of February, the twenty-eighth, Sunday. Ryan could feel the winter starting to fade away and give to springtime weather. Back home, there was maybe a week of transition before it got unbearably hot.

He was sitting in the train to Canterlot with Fancy, Soarin’, and Mac. They couldn’t meet the previous night, so Fancy offered to have them out for a day in the city. Mac had been unsure, but after some prodding and pestering by Ryan, he agreed to come along. They had the option of flying in by carriage, but that would have cost even Fancy an arm and a leg to do.

So there they sat, a famous group of ponies and a human, like anyone else. Everypony around them couldn’t help but glance over every now and then, not that the group really minded. This was what happened when they took public transportation. Even the gun on Ryan’s side did nothing to deter anyone. Of course, most of them had no idea what it was.

They were chatting about ponies and persons of other species that they knew. Ryan talked a lot about the Elements of Harmony, taking the occasional jab at Mac about his sister. Mac would respond with some bit of unexpected wit each time, though, something he said he got from his own bouts with Granny Smith. Fancy talked about ponies none of the others knew, and Soarin’ mostly talked about the wonderbolts.

“How is Fleetfoot doing?” Fancy asked. “You haven’t mentioned her yet.”

Soarin’ grinned. “She’s doing great,” he replied. “She’s been getting better and better lately, outdoing most of her previous records. I noticed that she’s been in a really good mood, and it’s just been rubbing off on me.”

“Does this have anything to do with your future proposal?” Ryan asked.

“I don’t see how it could,” Soarin’ replied. “Though she might have a feeling that I’m gonna do it soon.”

“Are you?” Ryan asked.

Soarin’ nodded emphatically. “Hell yeah, and I can barely keep myself from flying next to her during training! The time seems perfect.”

Ryan looked out the window at the approaching city of Canterlot. “I would have thought that the best time for that would be at the Grand Galloping Gala,” Ryan said. “Can’t wait?”

“There’s definitely that,” Soarin’ said. “But I think that there’s gonna be a lot going on at the Gala, and I want the focus to be on us.” Ryan couldn’t help but notice that Soarin’ threw a mischievous glance toward Mac as he spoke.

“Well, that seems like a great idea,” Mac said. “Ah can’t wait for the wedding.” Now Ryan noticed that Mac wasn’t going to pursue the Gala thing. He and Fancy decided not to pursue it themselves.

“So, you guys all have lovers,” Ryan said, getting blushes from all of them. “And I’m just sitting here, wanking and waiting.” Soarin’ sputtered out some laughter, along with Mac, and Fancy just put a hoof to his face.

“That isn’t something that we ever needed to hear,” Fancy said.

“And yet, here you are, hearing it.” Ryan looked back out the window. “Amazing how time goes along. Time waits for no one, which is why it’s so good to have friends who don’t waste it.” Ryan smiled at his friends.

“You got to go after what ya want, or it won’t be there long,” Mac said. “If you just have the courage to jump, the parachute’ll open.”

“Amen to that,” Soarin’ said.

They were silent for a moment. Everyone was thinking about how they had spent their time in the world thus far. Three of them had found love and pursued it successfully, and those three were successful in the rest of their lives as well. Ryan had wasted a good bit of time, pursuing Narendra, but that was all in the past. It was time for him to stop wasting his time.

“Hey, you guys remember Starstep, right?” Ryan asked. His friends all nodded.

“Yes, the chap who guards Princess Luna, correct?” Fancy asked.

“Guardin’ nothin’, she don’t need protection,” Mac said. “He’s there ‘cuz he like her.”

“Well, yes, didn’t you see their banter?” Fancy asked.

“Ah saw it, but that ain’t what Ah meant,” Mac said. “He’s in love with her, hooves down.”

Fancy looked unsure. “Now, I’m not terribly sure-”

“I am,” Ryan interrupted. “He’s totally hot for her. Trust me; I know things about those two.”Everypony there raised an eyebrow.

“Oh?” Soarin’ asked. “What kinds of things might you have?”

“They aren’t in a relationship,” Ryan explained. “But from what they tell me about their various antics, Starstep is absolutely in love with her. I can’t tell if she feels similarly to him, but-” Ryan leaned in to whisper- “if they sleep in the same bed, they are clearly more than just friends. I don’t know how it works here, but you don’t just sleep next to your opposite gender friends back home.”

“You do have a point,” Fancy conceded. “Has he tried to pursue any kind of relationship?”

“Besides being her personal guard? No,” Ryan said. “Would you try to become the special somepony of an immortal princess, one who has seen millions of ponies, who has likely been proposed to by thousands and rejected every one, who has more power than just about anypony else other than Celestia?”

Fancy blinked. “When you put it that way, no,” he said.

“Me neither,” Soarin’ said. “Fleety has seen thousands of ponies and been proposed to as many times, but I don’t feel intimidated by her.”

“And you shouldn’t, when you love someone,” Ryan said. “So what say we go find our friend Starstep and see if we can’t help him out?”

The stallions all smiled devilishly. “Aye!” they said.

“Good,” Ryan said. “Now the trick is to find out where he is.”

When they arrived at the city, Fancy took the group through a special exit from the platform into Canterlot. It was made as a way for ponies to pay or a quicker way off the train platform and find transportation through the city more easily. It’s good to have a rich friend.

They took a very nice cab cart into the city. It was still like Ryan remembered it; the political capital of Equestria. He could see snobbery all over many of the ponies’ faces, which Fancy seemed to find frustrating. He was certainly a politically significant pony, but he wasn’t much of a fan of politics. He preferred to stick to his designing.

The cab dropped them off at a nice hotel, assuming that they would be staying the week. Fancy would obviously be sticking around, but Soarin’, Mac, and Ryan all had to leave later to get home. For all of them, there would be an unhappy pony waiting for them at home if they walked in late.

“So, where shall we look first?” Fancy asked. “If we are to find our Starstep, we must think about where he would be at the moment.”

“I remember running into him in a bar last time I saw him without Luna around,” Ryan said, remembering the only time he ever saw Starstep without Luna. “But odds are that he’s hanging around Luna at the moment.”

“Sounds like something we could have some fun with,” Soarin’ said mischievously.

“Now, now, Soarin’, we’re going to talk to him about pursuing his love,” Ryan replied. “We want him to express his feelings. As his fellow stallions, it is our obligation to aid him in his quest for love.”

“Who are you and what have you done with Ryan?” Mac asked.

Ryan rolled his eyes. “You see, Mac, you already have a relationship with Fluttershy,” Ryan explained. “Because it already exists, I can do what I do to you, since it won’t affect your chances of either finding love, since you already have it, or damaging the love that already exists. I might even go so far as to say that I’ve helped you out!”

“Oh?” Mac said with a laugh. “And how might that be?”

Ryan shrugged. “You know. I mention some things. You two start thinking about some things. Things happen later...” He trailed off and didn’t finish.

Mac raised an eyebrow. “Ah’m gonna go with the assumption that ya don’t follow me all day and spy on me and Fluttershy,” Mac replied. “And Ah’m gonna deny your allegations regarding your role in our choice of... activities.”

“Fellows, it isn’t classy to talk about these things in public,” Fancy said. “If we are to talk about such things, we should keep it in the dark, so as to keep it more private.”

“Sounds good to me,” Soarin’ added, fearful of being added to the conversation.

The started walking through the city to get to the castle, seeing some sights along the way. They stopped by the Museum of Magical History first, easily walking past the guards with Fancy next to them. He told them how he had special connections to the owners of the museum, so he could take anyone in without issue. The museum featured all the most prominent ponies in magical history, shockingly not having much from the princesses.

They actually had little to do with any magical research. The only extent to which they showed up in the exhibits were in mentions that they either provided approval, funds, or materials for the experiments. And, also surprisingly, several experiments featured were wildly unethical by anyone’s standards. The only reason they were featured was because their results wound up aiding later research and because they set precedents for experimental ethics later. One of them had an eerie similarity to the story behind HeLa cells.

After that, they continued on their way, stopping at several pubs on a side street. They were extremely nice; positively slathered with class. Fancy had been to a couple of them himself, and even Soarin’ had been in the fine establishments. They were the kinds of places that famous or powerful ponies apparently frequented, as they never told anyone who was in their clientele.

Fancy and Soarin’ explained how there were actually quite a few places in the city like that. With so many important ponies in the city, and then so many nobles, they had to be that way. Otherwise, the paparazzi and ponies looking for something would be able to find them in their downtime. Ryan thought that they could actually use that, probably tonight.

Next, they visited a couple of odd gift shops. One was called Enchanted Comics, and not one of the stallions nor the man thought it to be a fine establishment. The guy at the desk seemed seedy, and he kept trying to send them to the “Adult Section”. As they were leaving, Ryan thought he saw a couple of familiar tails behind a shelf in that section. The ponies they belonged to sounded like they were trying to explain why they were there.

The last place they stopped by before they made their way to the castle uninterrupted was a very odd store, selling knick-knacks of all kinds. There were snow globes, some with special properties, strange amulets, bracelets, and other jewelery, and much more. The owner wore a fez and an outfit that Ryan would swear was traditional somewhere in his world.

“Ah, I never would have expected the famous Fancy Pants to come here!” the clerk said. “And with famous company to boot! How can I help you on this fine day?”

“We are just browsing, my good stallion,” Fancy said. “Just seeing if something catches our eyes.”

The clerk nodded. “Well, simply see me if you find anything of interest.”

The group split up and explored the unusual store, checking for anything that looked cool. Ryan started in a section labeled “Fire and Ice and Elements Galore”. It tons of interesting stuff, though none of it, Ryan could afford at the moment. There were special fire starters, sort of like lighters, but without fuel. There were also small sticks that could apparently put out a fire without issue, just sucking it in and storing the flames within. As awesome as it was, Ryan had no practical use for it.

He left that section in search of his friends. Given the prices of the items in that area, it was a safe bet that Ryan couldn’t get anything else in the store. Mac probably couldn’t either, and even Soarin’ would be hard-pressed to buy a few items in there. The odd nature of the items combined with the price made Ryan wonder about the legality of the store.

Ryan heard some arguing from another area of the store. It sounded like Fancy and Soarin’, and given Mac’s quietness, he could easily be there as well. Ryan made his way in the direction of the argument, hoping that it wasn’t his friends there and hoping that it wouldn’t break out into anything more.

When he arrived on the scene, his fears were realized. Mac and Soarin’ were on either side of Fancy, who was having a very serious argument with some guy and his buddies. The guy and his buddies wore similar outfits to the clerk, telling Ryan that they worked here. They looked even more seedy than the clerk, though, and as Ryan got closer, it became that much more obvious that the store wasn’t exactly legitimate.

“We can sell what we want, Fancy Slacks,” the biggest one said. “It’s a free country.”

“What you are selling is illegal, and for a good reason,” Fancy replied aggressively. “Items form a sanctioned nation are one thing, but drugs? You are poisoning our society with this garbage.”

“We aren’t the ones looking for it,” the big guy replied.

“You are providing it, which is that much worse,” Fancy said.

Ryan walked over and placed himself between the quarreling groups. His friends seemed happy to see him there, but the other group did not seem to be so. They tried to tell him to move out of the way, but Ryan did not. Instead, he turned to the big guy.

“What’s your name?” Ryan asked. He received no answer. “Fine,” he said with a sigh. “How do ponies know you?”

“Ponies know me as Matias,” he said.

“Well, Matias,” Ryan began, putting his hand on his side, by his gun. “You must understand that when something like that is written into law, it is because the majority of ponies want it that way.”

“No, I don’t think so,” Matias replied.

“Well, that is how this system of law works. By doing what you are doing, you are not only breaking the law, you are defying the accepted standards of society. This makes you an outcast. You don’t want to be an outcast, right?” Ryan had guessed correctly when he thought that saying that would get to this guy.

“If no one finds out-” he leaned in close to Ryan- “That won’t happen.”

“Well, now, that’s where the problem is,” Ryan said. “What happens when someone does find out? Odds are, you go to jail, ruining your family’s good name forever. Not that you could do much worse to it than you already have, but being a convict can hardly help.”

Matias got mad. “Why, you little-”

“So I’m going to give you a choice!” Ryan said loudly, smiling wide. “You see, I have this thing on my side-” Ryan pointed to his 1911- “And it really is quite an item.”

“Let me guess,” Matias said, rolling his eyes. “You give it to us, we leave?”

“Not quite!” Ryan replied. “You see, what it does, is it creates a small explosion, sending a small piece of lead flying out the front close to the speed of sound. If you don’t leave, that little piece of lead will be yours, and I might even add in another one for free!”

He pulled the gun out, one hand on the handle, the other straddling the barrel like he was holding a cleaning cloth. Matias looked down at it and saw Ryan chamber a round, and began to question whether or not he should challenge the human. Ultimately, he chose against it.

“If I do not attack you, you cannot hurt me,” he said.

“Wanna bet?” Ryan replied.

Matias frowned. “Yes,” he said. “And I will not fight you here. We would like you to leave our store now.”

Ryan put the gun away. “We weren’t planning on staying,” he said. “But remember; if you don’t leave today, the guards will make you tomorrow.” With that, Ryan and his buddies left the store.

As they left the store, Mac looked back. “Ah don’t think that’s the last we’ll be seeing of those guys,” he said.

“I bet,” Soarin’ replied. “What should we do about that?”

“Wait and see,” Ryan said. “We just need to let them do what they will. We’ll see it coming. And we’ll be ready.”

They made their way straight to the castle. After the encounter in the sketchy store, they weren’t too keen on finding anything else like that. There were other stores like that around, too, and it was easy to tell. They were usually located in alleyways and up on the second floors of buildings. Ryan was constantly watching for anyone who might approach them.

When they arrived at the castle, the guards gave them some odd looks. They had yet to actually see, or even hear about, this group of ponies and human. It was odd to them to see the famous ponies Soarin’ and Fancy Pants hanging out with the human and farmer brother of the Element of Honesty.

“What business have you here?” one of the guards asked.

“We came to see a friend in the castle,” Ryan said. “His name is Starstep, and he’s the personal guard to Princess Luna. Is he in?”

The guard nodded. “Yes, he is here. Ordinarily, I don’t just let ponies in to see one of the princesses in her downtime, but I understand that you and Princess Luna are quite familiar.”

“You could say that,” Ryan said. “And we’re here to see Starstep, we’ll be taking him from the princess for a time.”

The guard looked confused, but didn’t ask. “Alright, go on in.”

“Thanks,” Ryan replied.

The group entered the castle like they owned the place, ignoring any other guards they walked by. The guards hid it well, but they didn’t like the group acting so lax. Most ponies were always watching the guards, being sure to behave; these guys were just too casual. Of course, there had to be a reason for that.

The guys randomly walked through halls, trying to figure out where the princesses were or where the guards’ barracks were. They actually didn’t run into many guards after leaving the public area of the castle, which wasn’t very easy. They had to explain the exact nature of what they were doing, and of course, they lied about that, and had to be obviously willing to turn around. By looking like they were willing to wait until another time, it takes away the urgency, and one can do a lot more when they really aren’t supposed to.

Eventually, they found their way to the throne room, where Celestia was inside, talking to a group of gryphons. They seemed to be really going at it, and the guys were all ready in case something broke out. As capable as the guards were, the guys had their own, very specialized individual talents and capabilities that could prove useful.

“We need help!” a gryphon shouted. “This is your fault, you must help fix it!”

Celestia sighed frustratedly. “I grow tired of this,” she said. “You attacked Equestria. We responded, we stayed after it was done to help. We fulfilled our obligation; you must handle this on your own.”

The gryphon spat at the ground. “Bah!” he said. “You are just weak.”

The guys all looked at each other; this was not acceptable. These gryphons deserved a serious ass-whooping. They couldn’t legally give it to them, however much they wanted to, but the least they could do was shut them down. So the guys approached them from behind.

“I don’t think you understand how the world works,” Ryan said.

The gryphons startled and spun around. Ryan had his hands in his pockets, surrounded by his stallions, smiling calmly. The gryphons looked tense, ready to attack. They were incredibly mad, by the looks of it.

“Who the hell are you?” one of them asked.

“That’s not important,” Ryan replied.

“I demand a name from those who think they can speak to me.” The gryphon was apparently quite the asshole.

“You can call me Harkness,” Ryan said, going with safety. “And you need to understand how this stuff works. You guys were foolish; Equestria didn’t have to stick around after they beat your sorry asses, yet they did. If anything, you owe them for doing that much for you.”

“We owe nothing!” the gryphon shouted.

Ryan shrugged. “Whatever. But you can’t come here and be a bitch about it. Learn to deal with it yourself, you sorry bucket of KFC.” The gryphon looked confused. “Now get out of here before I deep-fry you and eat you. It’s been too long since I ate me some good fowl.”

The gryphons all went very pale, and it got worse when Ryan flared his canines. They turned to Celestia and murmured something Ryan didn’t catch, but whatever it was, Celestia grinned very lightly, trying to hide her enjoyment. The gryphons left immediately after, throwing Ryan a nervous glance as they went.

Celestia sighed with relief. “Thank you, Ryan,” she said, sure that the gryphons wouldn’t catch his name.

“Don’t mention it,” Ryan said. “Have you seen your sister and Starstep around?”

Celestia thought. “Well, I haven’t seen them since I raised the sun earlier. I imagine they are still in Luna’s bedchambers, playing their silly little games.”

“Muchas gracias, mi princesa,” Ryan said.

“Eres bienvenido,” Celestia replied with a smirk. The guys turned to leave. “Oh, Ryan, one more thing.”

“Yes?” Ryan said with a turn.

“If we need to deal with them again, can I rely on you to take care of it?” Celestia asked. “You seem to be the best-suited for it.”

Ryan nodded. “You can count on me.” Celestia smiled sincerely at him as he led his buddies out.

They made their way back to the private areas of the castle, this time taking the time to explain why they were going there. Some of the guards were hesitant, but they all knew who he was and let him pass. The halls took some time to get through, as they were extremely wide and had many different rooms coming off of them. When they eventually found their way to Luna’s chambers, they stood still.

“Who wants to knock?” Ryan asked.

“What the hay kind of question is that?” Mac asked. “She knows you best. You knock.”

“I don’t want to be that guy who knocks on her door and interrupts!” Ryan said. “She already has a green light for hitting me. And I’ve bothered her plenty lately.” Ryan looked at each of his friends. “Soarin’, you do it.”

“What? No!” Soarin’ shouted. “Why would I do it?”

“Because you’re a pegasus, and so is Starstep! You have a connection there!” Ryan shouted back, receiving a deadpan stare from Soarin’.

“Why not have Fancy do it, then?” Soarin’ recommended. “He has more connection than me to the high life in Canterlot. He’d be good for it.”

“I cannot recommend that,” Fancy said. “I have few enough acquaintances who would be willing to take the flak for me pestering the princess, and I would like to maintain them.” While Fancy went on, the door opened, and Luna came out to see what the noise was. “They would have some trouble if they lost their connections.”

“Well, I don’t want to get smacked by Luna again,” Ryan said. Luna kept quiet. “If she’s in sexy time with Starstep-”

“Can I help you?” Luna asked suddenly and with some annoyance.

The guys all hopped up, not having noticed Luna there. The stallions all went and hid behind Ryan, who stood stock still out of fear. Luna glared at him through narrowed eyes, and Ryan swallowed hard. He tried to move back a bit, but the guys behind him kept him in place.

“Heeeey, Luna,” Ryan said with a nervous smile.

“Sexy time?” Luna asked.

“Uhhh...” Ryan replied. “Nnnnnnno?”

Luna put her hoof to her face. “What do you want?” she asked.

“Is Starstep here?” Ryan asked.

“Yes,” Luna replied. She turned around. “Starstep!”

“Yes?” Starstep replied from inside.

“Ryan and his friends are here to see you!” Luna shouted.

Starstep came running. “What? Why?”

“We want to talk to you,” Ryan said. “Come with us.”

“Can’t you talk here?” Luna asked.

“This is a stallion’s conversation,” Ryan explained. “No princesses allowed.”

Luna huffed. “Well, I suppose I can let him out,” she said. “I want him back by ten!”

“Don’t worry, wify, I’m sure we’ll have him back for playtime before then,” Ryan said. Luna glared at him even harder. “Let’s go, Starstep.” The guys started walking away, and Starstep followed behind with trepidation.

“Where are we going?” Starstep asked.

“Somewhere we can talk, man-and-stallions to stallion,” Ryan said. “And where we won’t be eavesdropped upon by unruly and crazy princesses.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The guys brought Starstep to one of the establishments Fancy had mentioned earlier. They really didn’t want to be bothered by anyone while they had this conversation, and they knew that if they did anything in public, Luna would find out about it for sure. Even with this, there was still that chance, but at least it made them feel safer.

The pub they were in was a very nice place. The cushions were extremely comfy, and the stools that they had for other guests were padded and easy to sit on. Ryan had grabbed one when they decided what table they would sit at and dragged it over while his buddies made sure Starstep was stuck in the corner and couldn’t get out without their sayso.

The conversation started normally, with them talking about whatever was happening in their own lives. Fancy and Soarin’ were hinting at their personal love lives, talking about how well they were doing and the importance of openness in their relationships. Starstep didn’t catch it from them, so Mac put himself out there and talked about the first date he had with Fluttershy. He had to be pushed there by Apple Bloom to be courageous enough to do it.

“So that was when mah sister brought Fluttershy along,” Mac concluded. “She had me chained down and told Fluttershy that Ah needed help. After that, she left us as alone as she could to make sure Ah asked her to dinner.” Everyone laughed.

“Wow, dude, I wouldn’t have guessed that even YOU were that shy,” Ryan said.

“Yeah, well,” Mac replied, putting his hooves up to say whatever.

“That’s really something,” Starstep said. He seemed to be thinking about something; it was the time to strike.

“So, Star,” Ryan said, getting the guard’s attention. “You got any mares that you’re angling towards?”

“Uhh, no, not really,” Starstep replied. He refused to look at Ryan as he spoke.

Ryan glanced at each of his friends. Star wasn’t about to tell them on his own, and it was painfully obvious that it embarrassed him. As much as it hurt them to put their fellow stallion in a tough position, if they wanted him to at least pursue happiness, they had to give him the push. Ryan leaned forward.

“Star, we all know who she is,” he said.

Starstep raised his head. “What?!” he asked urgently.

Ryan nodded. “We can all see it,” he said. “I’ve known since before I was even in Equestria. It really wasn’t that hard to tell.”

Starstep looked at everyone around him. They all gave him sympathetic looks, understanding what he was going through. He gave them a defeated sigh.

“So you know..?” he asked with the tiniest glimmer of hope.

“The princess in your fairy tale,” Ryan finished. Star groaned. “Look, we aren’t here to step on anything.”

“Yeah, we want to help you out,” Soarin’ added. “We all know what it’s like to like a girl from afar and not be confident enough to pursue her or be afraid.”

“I remember when I first met Fleur, I was terrified,” Fancy said. “She was the prettiest mare in my university, and she was incredibly smart. She handles most of my finances now. I was just an average stallion at the time, I did well in my classes, but I had little going for me. When I finally picked up the nerve, she said yes, because I was the only one, ‘Grow the pair she wanted’, she said. Of course, I had to make a lewd joke at that. She loved it, and now, we’re married with plenty of kids.”

Starstep blinked. “Uh, wow,” he said. “But, and I mean no offense, this is a very different pony we’re talking about. She wouldn’t say yes to me.”

Ryan shook his head. “No, no! That kind of thinking results in missed opportunities! Back in the Air Guard, didn’t you learn not to let such huge opportunities to bag your objectives slip by?”

Starstep hung his head. “No, and I suspect that you guys don’t know how that ended,” he said.

Ryan waved his hands. “Let the past stay where it is; behind you. Look forward, never back.”

“Mares are special,” Mac said. “Ya have to have the confidence to ask them if you want them to even respect you.”

“Luna and I respect each other,” Starstep said, slipping and saying her name. “We always have.”

“And that’s important,” Ryan replied. “You respect each other. You have to ask now; because she respects you, she has to at least give you a chance! And even if she doesn’t, even though I would bet a thousand bits she would, if you two really are friends and do respect each other, you’ll STAY FRIENDS!”

“That isn’t guaranteed,” Starstep replied. “What if she thinks it’s too weird? What if she doesn’t want me around because she thinks I’m looking at her a in a way that isn’t professional?”

Ryan gave Starstep a deadpan look. “Star, you’re relationship is ANYTHING but ‘professional’,” he said. “If you think it is, then you need to go around and see how the other guards. And Luna doesn’t really need protection; she keeps you around because she likes having you around.”

Starstep looked extremely uncertain. “I... I don’t know...” he said. He put what were probably his elbows on the table. “I mean, we’re great friends. Doesn’t that mean I’m in the ‘zone’?”

Ryan breathed in slowly and blew out his breath. “Star, if there’s one thing that I wish all people could understand, it’s that the ‘Friend Zone’ isn’t real. It’s a pathetic excuse people use to get out of asking someone to be closer with them. When you love someone, or have ANY romantic interest in them, you SHOULD be friends first. If your wife isn’t your best friend, then what the hell is she? You have to have friendship and everything that comes with it to be intimate on any level.”

“Ryan is right,” Fancy said. “I trust Fleur with everything that matters to me; her our kids, and everything else. We built our relationship, just like friends build their friendship, through trial and error. And we came out stronger than I ever imagined.”

“Exactly,” Ryan said. “One of my closest friends went straight into the USMC out of High School. But he knew that it wasn’t going to be easy, so he wanted someone he could care about and who could care about him nearby to be there for him. He married his best friend; an when I saw my friends... under special circumstances, not long ago...” Ryan had to pause. “They talked about how happy they were together. You never have to look far or focus on romance. Your best friend is just as good a candidate as anyone to be your love.”

Starstep shook his head. “I’m afraid...” he said. His shame was getting to be too much. Time to man up.

“Of what?” Ryan asked. “What’s the worst that can happen? She says no. End of story.”

“But what if she doesn’t want me around?” Starstep asked.

Ryan sighed. “What I said about respect; if she has respect for you, she’ll keep you around and if she has enough, even give you a chance. If she doesn’t want you around any more after, then she never respected you enough in the first place, and you should be out of there for your own good.”

“If there ain’t any respect, y’all can’t expect to live a happy life,” Mac said.

Starstep looked defeatedly at each of the stallions and man before him. He was trying his best, but there was nothing he could do. They had him beat at just about every corner; he had no cards to play. He hoped that it wasn’t as obvious to Luna as it was to them, because that might be bad. Of course, with that concept of respect, it could be good...

He shook his head. “Ah, I don’t know,” he said. “Let’s order some drinks.”

“Sounds good, brother,” Ryan said.

They got their alcoholic beverages and spent the rest of the time exchanging other stories, mostly listening to Starstep’s old stories, since he wasn’t a regular part of the group. He told them a dozen hysterical stories from when he was in the Thirty-fifth Joint Strike Force and the One-seventeenth Nighthawks. The thirty-fifth was a battalion-sized unit that was kind of like the US Army Rangers. Only they were predominantly for air-based combat and operations.

Eventually, the night, as all others, came to a close, and it was time to go. Ryan said that he would cover Starstep’s tab, but Starstep refused. In response, Ryan got up to go to the bathroom, and instead went and found the waiter and paid him the entire bill. He had almost no cash left after that, so when he returned and told everyone, he got pats from all but Starstep.

They all left and said their goodbyes, the guys heading toward the train station and Starstep heading back to the castle. It was already ten past ten, so Luna would probably be slightly miffed at him for staying out. But it wasn’t like she was his wife or something.

“Wife...” Starstep thought.

He immediately crushed any thoughts about pursuing her. She was a princess, and he, a guard. He didn’t know how it had worked out with that Shining Armor fellow, but he was afraid that she would say no because of an immortality issue or something. But if it worked for Shining Armor, it could work for him, right?

“Now I’m working against myself,” Starstep thought.

Could he try to express his feelings for his princess? Should he? The guys had certainly made some excellent arguments for it. Starstep had yet to generate any good arguments against it. To be sure, there was massive mutual respect between Starstep and Luna, and loads of trust. More so than most couples out there, and they weren’t even together.

Starstep sighed. “Why is life so complicated?” he wondered aloud. He walked the rest of the way silent and empty of mind.

******************************************************************

Ryan and the guys walked with pride. They had just shredded any arguments Starstep had for not pursuing love. They could see it in his face the entire night after they finished talking about it. Overall, it was a good night.

The street lights were dim and worthless on the walk back to the platform. The train wouldn’t be there for some time, though, so they could take their time. Not that they wanted to take their time walking through dark, dangerous street at night. Who knew what unsavory characters would be out?

... They knew exactly who. They were just waiting at this point.

They were halfway to the train station when they were finally confronted. Ryan had been expecting as much on the walk, though his buddies seemed to have been taken by surprise when they were surrounded. They were startled, but no one was that scared; there were four of them, and there were four baddies. Not a problem.

“You got some stones, Matias,” Ryan said, addressing the leader. “In the middle of the street? Props to you.”

Matias walked toward them from a shadow. “We don’t want you telling anyone about us, so we’ve come to silence you.”

“No shit,” Soarin’ replied, getting low. he could propel himself up and get the drop on them. “We thought you were coming to give us some fucking gift cards.”

“Now, boys, I don’t believe violence is necessary,” Fancy said. “Though if I am wrong, I suppose that I am ready for a fight.”

Mac grunted. “Y’all ain’t as ready as me,” he said. “Ah’ve been waiting for a fight for a while now. Gettin’ ancy.”

“You can’t win,” Matias said, signaling for his boys to close in. They inched their way toward the group, hooves scratching against the cobblestone street. “Just let it happen.”

“Well, this may seem out of character,” Ryan said. He opened his left palm and punched his fist into it. “But it’s been too long since I’ve killed anything.”

“That makes you sound psychotic,” Soarin commented.

Ryan shrugged. “You know my story. Would you expect any less?” Ryan said it to scare them, but he was more than ready to fight to kill if it came to that.

Matias didn’t seem to care, though. “ਨੂੰ ਖਤਮ ਕਰੋ!” he shouted. Punjabi

The action started right off. Matias’s goons rushed the group from multiple directions, trying to get them off guard. Soarin’ shot up into the air and rocketed back down to tackle one of them and went into the fight. Mac and Fancy, with their massive sizes, were able to take the brunt of the others’ force and toss them back, giving them time to get ready for their own fight.

While they went at it with their own targets, Ryan moved in toward Matias. The stallion was watching for him, though, and pulled out a knife with his hoof. Ryan slowed his approach to a halt, unsure of how exactly the stallion was holding the blade at all.

“Well?” Matias asked.

“Well what?” Ryan responded.

“Aren’t you going to-”

Ryan didn’t let him finish and attacked while he spoke. It took Matias off guard just a little bit, and that little bit was enough to give Ryan the window he needed. He closed the distance, taking away the resch that Matias would need to effectively use the knife. Matias tried to move back to get the knife in front of him, but Ryan stayed right on him.

Ryan started off with a closing right elbow strike to the center of Matias’s body, keeping his left hand up to block the knife arm. As Matias fell back, Ryan reached around and grabbed his mane, then swept the hind leg as he pulled it away from Matias. Matias rammed full force into the ground, but managed a small roll away and got up quickly.

Ryan was already on him again and landed a right roundhouse punch with a left middle block, then a left punch, then another right punch. When Matias was good and broken of mind and body, he stepped back with his right leg, then brought it back around in a wide roundhouse kick to Matias’s chest. When his foot landed, Ryan threw an uppercut at matias’s chin, jarring his jaw and skull for maximized concussive force.

To end the onslaught, Ryan stepped into Matias, brought his right foot in between Matias’s hind legs and behind the left hind leg, then propelled himself forward and into Matias with another elbow, sending him straight to the ground. Matias lost his breath when he landed and was wheezing loudly and painfully on the ground when Ryan lowered himself down to him and kicked away the knife.

“I could have disarmed you,” Ryan said, speaking loud enough so that Matias could hear him through his own wheezing. “But then I would have had an obligation to go easier on you. I can’t legally go all out if I now have the weapon, at least in my country. I think. So I let you keep it, and I got to teach you a lesson you won’t soon forget”

Ryan stood up and looked over to his friends. They were just wrapping up, dropping their opponents into a pile in the middle of the road. Without looking at him, Ryan picked up Matias by his hind hooves and dragged him over to the pile, ignoring his protests of pain on the way. he drapped him on top and left him there.

“What do you suppose we do with them?” Ryan asked.

Fancy’s horn lit up. “I just alerted the authorities that they are here,” he said. “They have all the drug information and the confrontation just now. These heaps of garbage will en put away for some time.”

“Nice,” Ryan said. “How did you do that?”

“I have special connections,” he said, winking. “You never know when you’ll need favors or assistance.” Ryan took a note of those connections before continuing with his own thoughts.

“Alright then,” he said. “I think we’re done here. Let’s head home.”

“I shall at least accompany you to the train,” Fancy said. “I can’t just leave my friends alone, not after such a riveting experience!”

“One that Ah don’t think we’ll be telling anypony else of,” Mac said with emphasis.

“Yeah,” Soarin’ replied. “I don’t want Fleety fretting over me. We’ll be doing that plenty soon enough.”

The guys all shared a chuckle and went on their way, happy to have helped a friend this night and happy to have kicked some serious ass on the way home.

Certain Considerations

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Certain Considerations

“I ask not for any crown but that which all may win, nor try to conquer any world except the one within.” (Louisa May Alcott)

Starstep walked through the castle halls mindlessly. He wanted to avoid much thought right now, because he knew exactly where it would lead. The guys had left already, so the only reason to think about his situation was gone.

But at the same time, he couldn’t ignore everything that was said to him. Nor was his reason to think about it gone; in fact, as he got closer to Luna’s quarters, he got closer and closer to it. The guys hadn’t been the reason for it at all, they only forced Starstep to actually put thought into his problem.

The other guards nodded to Starstep as he passed by, and he instinctually nodded back, not even noticing his own reaction to their acknowledgement. They could all see that he had a lot on his mind at the moment, or that he was trying to avoid that, so they let him be. None of them were the type to pry into somepony else’s business. Luna was, though, and they had no doubt that she would get it out of him.

Starstep reached Luna’s door, but stopped. Briefly, he listened for her, to figure out if she was still awake. When he heard nothing, he put his hoof on the door, but didn’t push it open. He knew that Luna was probably in there, and she would probably ask him about what he went out and did, especially since he was late. But he really didn’t feel like talking about it.

He had been in love once before. He remembered it all too clearly: Serene, a truly beautiful red Pegasus mare. She wasn’t quite gorgeous, but in the Air Guard, most ponies aren’t. She was great at her job, a technical mare, and smart and strong, too. Over time, they fell in love, and their love was stronger than any soldier or battalion on the battlefield.

She was killed, though, when the base was attacked. The gryphons spared no one in their assault, and many of the ponies on the base were killed. When Starstep found Serene, under one of the casualty blankets, he felt a mix of emotions: anger, hate, sadness, loss. He loved her with everything he had; to love somepony else felt… wrong.

And yet, here he was, doing just that. Starstep’s stomach tightened as his hoof pushed the door forward, feeling conflicted and sick with anxiety. As he entered, he saw Luna, sitting silently on the bed, staring at the door.

“Starstep,” she said.

“Luna,” Starstep replied.

He walked over to the bed and hopped in, then groped his way under the covers and held them tightly over himself, trying to keep Luna from seeing him. If he couldn’t see her, maybe she wasn’t there.

“Starstep?” Luna said, sounding concerned. “Are you alright?”

Starstep nodded. “I’m fine,” he said. “Just… thinking.”

“About what?” Luna asked. She lay down behind him and put her hoof on his side. “You do not look okay.”

“Just…” He contemplated whether or not he should tell her the truth. He decided on part of it. “Serene. I miss her…”

“Oh,” Luna said. She couldn’t help him with that. She didn’t know what his pain was like, but she wanted to help him. Unsure of what to do, she climbed under the covers and held him as he went to sleep.

He fell asleep quickly, snoring lightly, chest rising and falling like the waves that wash over the beach. Now, he seemed peaceful, calmly sleeping next to his princess, a silly expression taking over his face.

He was a nice guy, Starstep. Ever since he first became her guard, he was always there to give her advice when she needed it and comfort her when she felt alone. He was strong, something he had proven from his early days back in the Air Guard. That was a part of the appeal he had; he was a proven individual. Anypony could rely on him.

He was wonderful; Starstep held a special place in Luna’s heart. Her best friend, yet closer. Celestia had made many jokes about the two of them, and she knew that ponies talked about them. But she didn’t care. It was worth being talked about to keep him around. He was somepony truly special.

“Special somepony…” Luna thought.

The thought was inappropriate, she knew. But then again, so was everything else about them. Their interactions, their conversations, the games they played. None of it was what the nobles would call “classy”; it was a part of why rumors went around about them.

And of course, while she was a goddess, she was still a mare. Romantic relationships had crossed her mind before as with just about any mare other than Twilight Sparkle, not counting her books. She hadn’t thought about anypony particular, to be sure, as that could lead to trouble if it ever came out. But if she were to select anypony, she would have to be with Starstep; she knew him so well and cared for him so much.

“Could I?” she wondered. “It has been so long… for both of us.”

Was it really worth it, though? There was so much that could go wrong. She knew that she would be able to do what Cadence did with Shining Armor and make him live as long as her, but what would he say? Many believe immortality to be a curse, not a blessing, Luna almost one of them. And how long would the love last? Or was it even there, really?

Luna shook her head and shut her eyes. There were times and places to think about things such as these, and right before bed, and already laying down, was not one of them. She let her mind empty and reach out to her guard and friend to share their dreams for the night, so that she could see what he dreamed of.

Discord watched the group part ways, Ryan and Mac getting on the train and Soarin’ flying off toward Cloudsdale. Fancy Pants walked home, a content grin on his face and looking classy as usual.

What else did he have to do, this night like all other nights? Watch ponies, of course. He had to admit, it was growing quite boring, but there was usually something he could find that would make up for it. It wouldn’t be Ryan and his friends this night, though, he could say that for certain.

Who else might he look at? There were dozens upon dozens of nobles for him to snoop on and play games with, but they grew boring after long enough. The guards were generally stoic with a few exceptions, and it wasn’t even like the Royal Guard actually did anything most of the time. What to do?

Discord tended to lose himself to his imagination in times such as these. There is so much to do in your imagination; you can build worlds, change people and places, make your own rules, or simply have a lack of rules. Starstep was still in the back of Discord’s mind as he let him imagination explore his part.

Starstep reminded Discord of himself and Celestia, millennia ago. Before Discord lost himself to chaos, or rather found it as his calling, he had been a very shy individual. It was true; and, like modern ponies, he went to school. He was made fun of for not being a pony in Canterlot High, but he was able to use his powers to avoid the other ponies.

Celestia had been a popular mare in her day, before and her sister became Alicorns. She was a basketball mare, something she didn’t bring up much any more. Discord had always liked her, but he was too afraid to so much as look her way when she was nearby.

But once, he saw her in a hallway, crying. He never did find out why; he just knows that she was sobbing and sad in the corner. So he walked over and sat next to her without a word. That was the day they first became friends.

Starstep’s situation wasn’t too terribly different, though the friendship was really thrust upon him without significant warning. Luna was troublingly alone at some time, and she needed a friend, so she got one. And as hers and Starstep’s lives went on, an attraction began to develop.

“I wonder how they’re doing?” Discord wondered.

Discord moved his mind’s eye with a purpose, eager to get to Luna’s chambers to see how those two were getting along. He knew Starstep’s pain; there was nothing to learn there. But he wanted to know if Starstep was destined to know Discord’s pain. The pain of never getting to really and truly express how much you love someone.

When his mind’s eye arrived in Luna’s chambers, he saw the two of them sleeping in the bed silently and cozily. At first glance, Discord thought that they were definitely ahead of where Discord had ended up, but upon further inspection, Discord concluded that this was business as usual.

He lowered his eye down to get a closer look at the pair in the bed. They were close, Luna hugging Starstep from behind, like he was going to slip away if she let go. Starstep had his wings hanging out loose, somewhat over the princess and drooping around her.

“Oh my god, just do it already!” Discord thought.

It was obvious to him, at least he thought, that the two were interested in each other. The way they treated each other in public and the conversations they had and the games they played in private were massive indicators. They nuzzled warmly like happy little ponies and were just too adorable together.

It brought Discord back to his younger days with Celestia again. Luna wasn’t often around for it, but Discord and Celestia were always close since that first day. Celestia would talk to Discord about anything that was bothering her, and with his experience, he was typically able to make her see that whatever it was, it wasn’t really all that terrible. If one of them had a problem, the other was always around.

They would hang out often and in the open, kind of showing each other off. Celestia would sneer at the kids who looked funny at Discord because she didn’t care for them. Discord would sneer at them because he was spending lots of time with a pretty mare.

As they aged and their roles and powers began to develop, they spent their time together doing various things. They would play more physical games, at times, wrestling in the grass or throwing mud at each other. When they were just hanging out, they might have gone to see a play or went out for a meal together. All the time, there was a mild undertone of romance. At least in Discord’s mind.

Discord shuddered as he thought about what came later. He could only hope that it or something like it never happened to Starstep. Discord might be considered evil, but few are evil enough to wish this fate on anypony.

The madness took Discord after the fall of the Great Ones. Something had swept through the land and altered a great many things, ripping away all magical controls from the Everfree Forest, carving gashes in the land, and raising Hell everywhere. The Northern Territories of Equestria became the Frozen North, and the once proud nations of Gryphons, Ahuizotls, and Sea ponies were razed and shredded. Mountains and gullies separated them for decades, and when they finally recovered and found each other, they were at each other’s throats.

But that was of little concern to Discord; his own heartbreak was his main point of sadness. When he was lost to the Madness, Celestia tried to bring him back. Instead of listening, the voices of Shayogo and Wrath, demented and manic, in his head, told him to strike her down. He attempted to do so, but luckily failed.

Celestia fled in tears to find her sister and the Tree of Harmony. When they returned, they battled Discord and ultimately defeated him. But the Madness had one last cruel trick to play; just before Discord was turned to stone, he was released from the grip of the voices. He had no idea what was going on as the searing pain hardened his flesh and he cried out.

He cast one last look to Celestia, who stood there, looking horrified. She finally understood what had occurred, but it was too late. Discord stood a cold, lonely statue in the middle of the courtyard, and the only thing he had left was his ability to hear Celestia wail in agony at the loss of her close friend of so many years.

Discord put it back into the back of his mind, where it belonged. He had gone slightly mad while in stone, but not dangerously so, so he turned out all right in the end. At least he had his friendship with Celestia back, and potentially a closer relationship than before, like he had always wanted and had suspected she wanted.

But was there hope for Starstep? He wouldn’t live forever, not unless Luna loved him enough to give him an eternal place by her side. Discord thought they should at least give it a try, and he also thought they would do well together. It was just a good relationship.

He took one last look at the pair. He had never gotten quite so close to Celestia, he wasn’t that lucky. Starstep probably didn’t know how well he had it there, cuddled up with his secret love. Maybe Discord should just give that a try soon? Celestia would maybe possibly hopefully kind of allow it.

He took his eye off of them and thought. Who else was there that had a relationship that was stagnant, but could easily go somewhere? Fancy was married. Soarin’ was going to be married, and soon. Big Mac was steady with Fluttershy and had something big planned. Who was left?

Ryan and Cinny were all that came to mind. Discord actually wasn’t entirely sure where the two of them stood on the grounds of a relationship. They liked each other, sure, but how far did it go? They looked like best friends, the kind you go to when you need advice on the opposite gender or something. And it was, as all people should know, the best place to look for your love is with your closest friends.

Discord launched his mind’s eye into the sky and shot it toward Ponyville faster than sound. That would only have matter if his mind’s eye had a physical element to it, o course.

It had been long enough since Ryan and Mac boarded their train that it would have already arrived at Ponyville, so Discord went on the search immediately for Ryan or Cinny. The first place he looked was, naturally, Cinny’s home. It was no different from the last time he saw it when he arrived.

Cinny was asleep inside, alone, and there were no pictures of Ryan to speak of, so Discord left her alone. They hadn’t known each other that long, he guesses, so there wasn’t that much reason for her to have a picture of him. Thinking about it, Discord didn’t know of many pictures of Ryan existing in this world. He would have to make a point of it to destroy all current ones in the world later on.

So he went on the hunt to find Ryan. He might be able to coax an answer out of the boy through sly subliminal messages via use of magic, if he was careful. Discord shot through the streets to Rarity’s boutique and into the building.

Ryan wasn’t inside, though. In the basement, there lay only the things he had left there that morning. Not even his gun was there. He must have still been out, but why would he still be out past midnight?

Discord left and made his way to Sweet Apple Acres. Ryan might have gone there with Mac for whatever reason, maybe to get some apples? It didn’t matter. Discord just hurried there to try to catch Ryan before he left.

When he arrived, he saw that the lights were on in the farmhouse and went over there. There were a few shadows dancing outside the windows, ponies by the looks of it. One was huge, probably Big Mac, but the other was smaller, maybe his sister Applejack. When he approached the window, he took a gander inside to see what was going on.

Mac and Applejack seemed to be having an argument. Applejack was leaning on the kitchen table with her forelegs crossed and eyebrows furrowed. Mac stood in a defensive position by the fridge, going through it mostly with his eyes when they weren’t on his sister.

“What were ya doin’ out so late?” Applejack asked.

“Ah was with mah friends,” Mac replied. “Ain’t nothin’ to worry about. Why’re ya so suspicious?”

“Cuz’, Mac, yer never out so late! Ah know that Fluttershy is spending the night with Dash, so that doesn’t leave me with anything to assume. What were ya doing?” Applejack narrowed her eyes further at her brother as she finished speaking.

“Mah friends and I went out to Canterlot, remember?” Mac replied. “We found our last buddy and went out to a pub. We chatted, and earlier, we saw some of the funky shops. That’s all.”

“Funky shops?” Applejack asked. Mac just opened a can of worms that he would so wish he hadn’t. Applejack let her expression calm a little bit. “Ah guess Ah can understand.”

Mac closed the fridge and stared at his sister. “What’re you thinking?” he asked, suspicious.

“Ah know you an’ Flutters like to have fun, and Ah won’t judge you,” Applejack said. “If you two want to try growing something a little outside your normal crops, Ah won’t talk.”

“That ain’t what Ah meant!” Mac almost yelled. “That’s… that’s… ugh, Ah can’t talk to you. Ya don’t listen to reason.”

“What were these shops, then?” Applejack asked. “What did they sell?”

Mac sighed before he responded. “You know; souvenirs, snow-globes, random things that are pretty interesting. One of the stores turned out to sell drugs, so we got out of there pretty fast-”

“A store sellin’ drugs?!” Applejack said. “How did ya end up in a place like that?”

“It was run by some foreign fellas, nasty lot,” Mac said. “They’ve been dealt with, though. Guards took’em away.”

Applejack nodded. “Well… Ah guess that’s good enough for me.” She leaned toward him, still in her seat. “Did ya have a confrontation with them?”

“No,” Mac responded, albeit too quickly. “We just left.”

“Ya know that lyin’ to the Element of Honesty isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do, right?” Applejack asked smugly.

Again, Mac sighed. “Fine,” he said. “They tried to jump us in the street on our way to the train station. We put’em down easy enough.”

Applejack got a big grin on her face. “Yeehaw, that’s mah brother!” she said.

Mac shook his head. “Just please, don’t tell Flutters. She’ll worry and fret about it and Ah’ll never hear the end of it.”

Applejack made a motion of pulling a zipper across her face. “Yer secret’s safe with me!” she said.

As interesting as the conversation was, Discord was still looking for Ryan. After a brief search of the house, he concluded that Ryan wasn’t there, and so left the premises in search of the human. He knew that he wasn’t here, and he wasn’t in any of the other places in town he normally would be, so where would he be?

Then it hit him; the forest! Ryan might be in the forest, though why, Discord could only guess at. His mind’s eye shot into the sky and blasted off toward where Ryan’s cave was.

The flight over the forest was brief, but interesting. As of the passing of midnight, it was officially March. There was still some snow on the ground, though not much, so the forest looked like a mess. Branches, hanging about the way they were when they were covered in snow and ice. There was no movement anywhere, and the forest was still frozen in time.

Discord lowered his eye below the tree line and glanced about. When you got down to the ground, that was when you saw the signs of life. Mostly small critters, skittering about, looking for whatever tiny morsels they needed to stay alive. As the cold winter recedes, and the hidden life thaws out, you never know how much that life may have changed while it was trapped under the snow.

Discord continued on, keeping his eye open for Ryan. There was a clear path through the snow that he always took here, and it paid tribute to how often he went here. He was actually coming out here less and less often. Maybe he was getting close to finishing the cave?

Discord made there in no time and looked around outside. There were signs that Ryan had been out there quite a bit, but he didn’t see the human anywhere. Rocks were scattered about in the most random of spots, like they were brought in and then abandoned. There was probably a reason for it, but everyone has some bit of madness that never quite goes away.

Discord moved his eye forward toward the entrance of the cave, but halted before moving even a few feet. Something was amiss. He couldn’t quite place it, but he knew that something was wrong. And the feeling was somehow familiar.

“I see I’m not the only guy who possesses an interest in the young human,” a voice said.

Discord’s eye spun around, but found nothing. “Who are you?” he projected.

“Oh, I’m no one important,” the voice replied.

Discord recognized the voice and knew just how dangerous it was. He released his mind’s eye, letting it face into oblivion, and then teleported himself to the location, potentially setting off all kinds of alarms back in Canterlot. When he flashed in, he took a moment to allow his eyes to adjust, then looked around again.

“Somehow, I don’t believe you,” Discord said.

“Now, you hurt me, Mr. Discord!” the voice said. It sounded like it was coming from a surround sound speaker set. “Why would you accuse me of lying when you hardly know me?”

Discord kept his eyes going in circles. “Because I know enough of you to know that you aren’t a good guy,” he said.

Discord returned his eyes to his head and looked out into the forest. Whatever it was, it was out there, watching. Ryan was probably in his cave, minding his own business. Discord would be damned if he let something happen. He turned around to see if Ryan was in the entrance.

Discord would be lying if he said he didn’t have a small heart attack when he turned around to see that the Wraith was standing between him and the cave. Discord snapped his fingers to get a little electric shock to restart his heart, but for some reason, it didn’t work. It was only when the Wraith started chuckling that Discord’s heart went back to working properly.

“Do you?” the Wraith asked. “Do you really know enough to say that I’m the bad guy? What if I’m the good guy, and you’re the one stopping me from doing good deeds? What if Ryan is the bad guy, and I’m trying to stop him, or even turn him?”

“That’s total garbage,” Discord said. “I’ve seen what you’ve tried to do.”

“Have you now?” the Wraith said. “Well, I guess there’s nothing else for us to discuss.”

“I guess not,” Discord replied.

The Wraith stuck his hands in his pockets and stood casually. “So what is your interest in Ryan?” he asked. “If I remember correctly, it’s your fault that he’s here at all right now.”

Discord frowned. “You remember correctly, I’m afraid,” he said, floating up into the air as if that would keep him safe. “I want to make up for it.”

The Wraith laughed. “Make up for it? That’s how you put it? I’m not sure you understand the severity of everything you’ve caused. Would he not be better without you?”

“Yes,” Discord replied absolutely. “Same as he would be better off without you.”

“You’re sure?” the Wraith said. “I rather believe that everything is going perfectly.”

Discord moved himself over to the spot on the wall above the entrance to the cave. The Wraith didn’t move, didn’t even turn around to see where Discord went. It was like he knew exactly hat Discord was doing, and didn’t care either. Discord was no threat to him; the Spirit of Chaos presented no danger. It scared Discord.

“And how is everything going perfectly?” Discord asked.

“He’ll be where I want him soon,” the Wraith said. “I’m just here to nudge him in that direction.”

“And what direction is that?” Discord asked.

The Wraith shrugged. “The direction that is best.”

Discord looked hard at the Wraith before him. This being, this unknown, was a void of information, sucking in anything that came close and releasing nothing. If you weren’t careful around it, you might slip and fall into its eternal grip. Nothing had ever come back from that grip, Discord could tell just by looking; that was why no one could know what was within its grasp.

“I don’t know what you want,” Discord said.

The Wraith turned around and stared at him, dead in the eyes. The stare was unlike anything Discord knew, and not at all what he was expecting. The eyes in the Wraith’s head were white. They weren’t a milky white, though; they were reflective, although there was no light to reflect at the moment.

“Does any of us know what I want?” the Wraith asked.

Before Discord could respond, the Wraith disappeared from view, leaving an unaltered landscape in his stead. Where he stood, there were no footprints, no indents in the snow. It was as if he were never there.

Discord wasn’t sure what to do, so he waited there, contemplating. There were questions abound in his mind, but he was worried about Ryan right now. He laser-focused on finding the human, turning invisible and heading into the cave.

That was where he finally found Ryan, sitting next to a fire, chewing on some bread. He bit down on it and yanked off a piece like a dog chewing on a bone. The light of the fire reflected off of his face with a glare, making him hard to look at from this angle. Discord took a seat and waited for Ryan to do something.

“Gotta build some more stuff… Gonna want it to ride out winters…” Ryan said. He didn’t say much, just muttered things to himself that seemed important.

Discord determined that Ryan was safe, and could easily enough make it home without trouble, so he left the cave and rushed back to Canterlot. He needed to get back quickly, so as to evade the wrath of Princess Celestia.

He returned to his garden in an understandable haste. When he arrived, there didn’t seem to be anypony nearby to have noticed his absence. Few ponies ever came to the gardens for anything that might result in them noticing Discord missing, and none ever went there at night, when it was cold and dark and hard to see. He quickly reverted himself back into a statue and placed himself on his pedestal.

With nowhere to go anymore, he went into his memory and thought about the Wraith. What was he, exactly? Why was he so powerful, what could he do? Most importantly, what was his angle? The mot dangerous beings in the world are those that we cannot predict.

While Discord thought, he failed to notice Princess Celestia walk into the gardens. She immediately looked to where Discord was, a relieved expression showing on her face in the moonlight. She couldn’t see any expression, since he was stone, but she could tell that he was thinking.

“Discord?” she said. She could tell that she got his attention. “Care to share where you went?”

“Nope!” Discord said, projecting his voice. “I rather think that it’s more fun to keep you in suspense.”

“I see your point,” Celestia said, a smirk forming on her face. “But I think the most fun thing is to watch as somepony has to be completely still while they see something they want…”

Discord would have blinked at the princess if his body wasn’t frozen in stone. If he could have swallowed, he could have. He understood exactly what the princess meant.

And he stood there, incapable of safe movement, watching as Celestia taunted him with everything he ever wanted.

Cloud Nine

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Cloud Nine

“To attack a man’s friends is to attack him as well.”

It was the middle of March now, the thirteenth, a wonderful time to be outside. The sun was finally starting to shine, the birds were coming out to sing, and the clouds were generally clear in the crisp, cool sky. Farm work was just starting to become relevant again, and Ryan couldn’t wait. On Monday, just the day after the next, he might be able to talk to Applejack about that.

When he got up that morning, he felt bright and ready to face the day. He felt like going for a run early, like he used to, so he threw on some shorts and a short-sleeved shirt from the summer when he arrived and hopped outside. Still, being March, the morning was cold, so he hopped back inside and convinced himself that it simply wasn’t worth it.

Now that he was totally awake and his hairs were standing on end, he did a quick workout to prepare for his day. While he pushed himself up from the floor and let himself go back down, he thought about what he had been doing lately. He had visited the cave a couple of times, and now, he actually had some respectable furniture. It was, of course, of questionable integrity, and took him a while to build.

It was getting to be a place where a person could live comfortably. Not the regular kind of first-world person, though; this kind of living required a grit not commonly possessed by them. Grit that he had discovered within himself a long time ago.

He hadn’t thought about that part of his life much lately, and slowed down his workout as it permeated his thoughts. Where had it gone, all that time from when he arrived here? He hadn’t even been here a year, not even three full seasons. So much was happening so fast that Ryan ceased to keep any real track of time.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt like slowing down and just laying on the ground. As such, he figured it would be a good idea to just let it lay where it was and not think about it. Take the Ostrich’s strategy.

He went back to the basement and out on some casual clothes and his usual getup, then returned to the upstairs area to eat breakfast. The comfortable feel of his necklace against his neck, the cold silver of the Shen pendant, stabbed into him, with its little edges as he shifted his weight in the awkwardly shaped chair to eat. While he fussed with that, scraping it all over the floor and making an ungodly amount of wretched noise, hoofsteps sounded out from the staircase.

Sweetie Belle walked in and watched Ryan with tired eyes as he finally finished with his chair and sat down. He didn’t notice her as she walked up to him and climbed up onto the table to see what he was eating. When he did notice her, he felt his heart jump a little at the sudden introduction of the little pony.

“What’re you doing up?” Ryan asked, moving his bowl away.

Sweetie Belle yawned. “I woke up form the noise you were making with the chair you built,” she replied, earning an apologetic smile from Ryan. “You know what you should do?”

“What?” Ryan asked, thinking this would be a harebrained scheme to get cutie marks.

“Not build more furniture,” Sweetie Belle said. It was like a slap in the face; Sweetie was her name, so what the hay was that harshness about?

“Duly noted,” Ryan replied, understanding. He had taken CADD classes in his freshman and sophomore year, not woodshop. No wonder he couldn’t build anything.

They then sat there in silence for a time, Ryan eating his cereal and Sweetie Belle sitting next to it, doing nothing helpful. Eventually, Ryan reached up and ruffled her mane and scratched her ear, which she seemed to enjoy. Having hooves couldn’t possibly be anything but a detriment to those who have a serious itch. In fact, hands beat out hooves in almost every way, from Ryan’s perspective.

When he finished, he cleaned off the utensils and silverware and such that he used and set them back where they ought to be. And, with nothing to do on a cool Saturday morning, he thought about what he could go out and do. There was the gym, of course, and he hadn’t been there in about a week, so he should try to do that. He had all the explosives he could need for the cave and they were stored very well, nice and safe for the time being.

He elected to go for the gym later, see what he would do there. For now, though, at half pasts six, he could just sit around like a lump, or a Rainbow Dash. Sweetie Belle fell asleep again on the table, though, so Ryan would have to carry her up to her room before doing anything else. A filly falling off the table on his watch would end poorly for him.

He carried her up to her room, an easy feat since she was so light, and tucked her back in. Gingerly, he shut the door behind him as he exited and tiptoed down the hall. He glanced into Rarity’s room for a moment, but when he immediately saw nothing, he thought better of it and kept on going No reason to spy on a lady who wasn’t human.

When he made it back downstairs, he saw that the door to the basement was opened a little wider than he had left it. Tentatively, he put his hand on the door and pushed. It opened silently, like a perfectly oiled cog in a machine, and he advanced down.

At the base of the stairs, he spotted the intruder; it was Rarity. She was looking around her basement, the room she was lending to Ryan, tiredly judging his sense of fashion and lack of decorative vision. She seemed to know when Ryan hit the bottom and gently looked back, mane frazzled and eyes droopy.

“Good morning Ryan,” she said with a yawn.

“Morning,” Ryan replied.

Rarity shook her head. “I haven’t the slightest idea how you get up early and do things,” she said. “Very few ponies anywhere in Equestria have to deal with that, and those who do, do it for a job. You just do it.”

“Meh,” Ryan said. “My job is to be that guy that people look at and say, ‘That is a standard that I can meet and surpass,’ and then they meet me and are better. I’m always improving, too, though, so they have to keep getting better.”

“Well said,” Rarity complimented.

“So what brings you to my humble corner of your not-so-humble abode?” Ryan asked.

Rarity shrugged. “Oh, I just thought I’d see what you’ve done with the place. I can see that you have done nothing with it.”

“Meh,” Ryan said again. “It’s livable.” Truth be told, it was a tad bland, but Ryan only slept here, really. He wasn’t one of those hermit millennials that spent all his time in his room, on the computer or otherwise failing to communicate. If he weren’t doing something, he would go insane.

Rarity sighed and shook her head. “You are a simple boy, Ryan,” she said. She turned and went back up the stairs.

“Is that a bad thing?” Ryan replied in a normal voice, unsure of whether or not he was heard. It didn’t matter though; Rarity knew he wasn’t so simple.

That was his encounter for the morning, so he loaded himself up with his workout clothes and his usual outfit and waited a short time to go to the gym. It opened up at eight, so he had some time to kill. He went through his drawers, checked himself in the mirror, and tested the springs and mechanisms in his gun; the normal things. Once the time had passed, he was off to the gym.

The walk was pleasant, warmer than most of the days of the receding winter. There was no snow on the ground any longer, and the winds were calming down. When the sun came out, it made it feel warm again, almost to the point where one could walk around without protection. But then the wind inevitably kicked up, and the icy breeze cut through you like a powerful laser through paper.

When he arrived at the gym, he was surprised to look through the window and see so many ponies already inside. Bulk was in there, as usual, getting yuked, as he would say. He had spoken to him a little, but avoided him for the fear of a roid rage. Thunderlane was there occasionally, and he was there this morning, but he was normal. There were no other regular stallions.

The regular mares did so much cardio that they could probably outrun a flying Thunderlane. It was seriously ridiculous; and there was always that one guy, that ONE GUY, doing cardio with them, trying to talk to them. He typically went ignored or drowned out by music. Some pegasi would be on the equivalent of a flying treadmill, but there weren’t many.

Ryan walked in and waded through a stench that would have made a lesser man cry to get to the changing room. Given their society, there really didn’t seem to be any reason at all for such a thing, but Ryan wasn’t one to complain. It was more useful to him than if he had to strip naked and change.

He changed and came back out and walked over to the matted area to start with push-ups. He cranked them out until he couldn’t do any more, then moved onto sit-ups, and then moved to a pull-up bar and went through that. Once he was done, he felt warmed up enough to move to the free weights.

None of the guys at the gym ever really spoke, because they weren’t there to do that. They silently acknowledged each other and nodded, but there was really nothing for them to discuss. Ryan went through his weight training and moved onto some cardio.

At the treadmills, he saw a sight he hadn’t been expecting; Rainbow Dash, running with her wings tied, wearing a funny-looking sweatband on her head. She was breathing heavily and sweating hard, running at about fourteen miles per hour. For the ponies, it wasn’t fast, but they could still beat him at speed any time. He just hoped that he could go for longer.

Ryan moved to the treadmill two down from Rainbow and started it up. Rainbow didn’t notice him nearby as he started running. Once he was really running, at about nine and a half miles per hour, able to zone out of anything, that was when Rainbow noticed him.

“Hey- huff- Ryan,” she said between breaths.

Ryan frowned, his focus broken. “Hey Rainbow,” he said quickly. “That brings- you here?”

Rainbow hopped off her track and onto the sides of the treadmill, letting the track slide past underneath. She took a short moment to check her pulse, setting her hoof against her neck and then ripped off her sweatband. After turning the treadmill off, she hopped off of it and walked over to Ryan.

“I’m trying to get better at running,” she said. “Twilight let me read some books on exercise science or something, and it said that you have to cross train to get as strong as possible and healthy. So I’m running now.”

Ryan nodded, and then took his feet off the treadmill. If he was to talk, he wasn’t going to run.

“You should swim, too, once you get the chance,” he said. “That’s a good workout, too.”

Rainbow nodded, looking thoughtful. “Alright, that sounds like a good idea,” she said.

“I think I’m probably about done for the day,” Ryan said. Cardio could wait until another day. “Wanna hit the bath?” The bath in the gym was co-ed because the ponies rarely wore clothes anyway. Ryan brought his swim trunks so he could clean himself off after his workout.

“Sure,” Rainbow said.

They separated for the time being so Ryan could get his trunks and get to the bath. It didn’t take long for Ryan to change, so Rainbow waited and they waded in together. It was a good-sized bath, magically heated and cooled in various areas. If you walked from one area into another without knowing what to expect, it was a really unpleasant surprise.

The duo entered into the warmer area and relaxed in their spot. Feeling a little to hot, though, they quickly moved to a cooler area to lower their body temperatures so that they wouldn’t sweat while they were in the bath. Once they were in the perfect spot, they laid back and relaxed.

“I never thought I would see you in a gym,” Ryan commented.

Rainbow shrugged, eyes closed gently and body floppy and relaxed. “I never thought I would come to one,” she replied. “But this is what the books said to do to maximize my performance, so here I am.”

“I imagine flying is great, but not the best for certain muscle groups,” Ryan said. “That was why I ran and swam when I could back home. Gotta get everything, y’know?”

Rainbow laughed. “Oh, I know,” she said. “I’m gonna try out for the Wonderbolts, so I need to be the best I can be.”

Ryan nodded. He knew what it meant to want to be the best. At the very least, you had to be the best you could be, even if that wasn’t the best that anyone could be. Failure to do that was the deepest kind of failure.

“What’s it like to be a Pegasus?” Ryan asked randomly. It just kind of popped into his head.

Rainbow opened her eyes and made a face, looking at the ceiling. It was a contemplative face, with her lips puckered toward the side of her face and her eyes half-closed. She took her time trying to word out a response.

“Well,” she said without continuing. Ryan waited. “I guess you know what it’s like to fly, sort of. You said you went skydiving once, so you know what that’s like. But those aren’t the same. To blast through the air, speeding away, on your own power… It’s something else.”

Ryan chuckled. “Can’t describe it, huh?” Ryan said. Rainbow nodded and sighed. “I get it. There’s no context or comparison. It would be like me trying to explain to you what it’s like to swim through a wrecked ship a hundred feet underwater. Ain’t nothing like it.”

Rainbow nodded, then froze. Her face betrayed the cogs and gears now shifting in her head, solving some puzzle. Ryan let her go, opting not to interfere in her mind’s rare attempt at solving a problem not related to flying, exercise, or napping. When she finally spoke again, the words that came from her maw surprised the human.

“You should totally come with me and Fluttershy to Cloudsdale!” Rainbow announced.

Ryan blinked a couple of times, taken by surprise. The thought of walking on clouds had never occurred to him, not even once. It wouldn’t occur to any normal man. What was he supposed to do up there? Probably the usual city stuff, just with a flying style. And how was he supposed to get there?

“Uh, I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” Ryan began, turning around to point at his back. “But I don’t have any way to fly.” Rainbow Dash cringed at his back. None of the ponies were used to seeing it yet, and probably never would be. Some things just never seem normal.

“Twilight has a spell for that,” Rainbow said, averting her eyes. Ryan turned back around.

“And I can’t walk on clouds either,” Ryan said.

Rainbow looked oddly at him. “Well, that’s what the spell corrects,” she said. “We fly you up there with a balloon and then you get off onto clouds. Twilight can take care of it, both balloon and walking.”

Ryan thought about it for a moment. The prospect was uniquely terrifying, walking on a cloud. He would swear that his weight should carry him through, so the first step would be difficult. For the ponies, of course; they would be the ones to make him do it. Then there was the issue of balloon travel, unless it was pulled by Rainbow.

“That sounds great,” Ryan said. “But if it’s you and Fluttershy, I imagine you’ll be having girl talk.” Ryan chuckled as Rainbow made a ‘Bleh’ face at the suggestion. “I’d love to go some time, but if you two are going to be conversing about things that mares converse about, I wouldn’t want to overhear.”

“No, nothing like that!” Rainbow said, splashing Ryan. “We’re going to see an airshow, an amateur league for non-professional fliers. I think you might enjoy it.” Ryan looked unconvinced. “Fluttershy will probably invite Mac along, so you won’t be the only guy there.”

Ryan felt a little bit relieved at that. His bets friend would be there, and that was always a comforting thing. Back in Asia, Ryan wouldn’t want to have anyone but Harris by his side. It was him that kept Ryan sane for as long as he was, and the presence of a friend is enough to make any guy want to outmatch his friend. Even if that means stepping on clouds.

“Alright, sounds cool,” Ryan said. “When are we doing this?”

“Tomorrow!” Rainbow proclaimed loudly.

Ryan nodded. “I suppose that I won’t need long to prepare?” he asked. Rainbow confirmed his thought. “I guess we’ll head up tomorrow, then.”

Rainbow shot out of the water. “Awesome, see you tomorrow! Meet us at Twilight’s as soon as you get up, we want to spend as much time up there as possible.” With that, the rainbow mare was out like a flash of lightning, as if the gym had nothing else for her.

It begged the question; was that the purpose of her visit? She couldn’t have known Ryan would be there. Unless she saw him go in while she was going about her morning routine and thought to take care of it now. It was all very suspect, but Ryan let it fall under the rug and left it there. It would be best not to be thinking about it the next day.

He stepped out of the bath and changed into his normal clothes, then went back to the boutique to see if he had any clothes that would be good for high altitude exposure.

Ryan sat in one of Twilight’s chairs, foot tapping and fingers rising and falling. Rainbow had told him to come here as soon as he was up. She must not have accounted for him being an early riser.

No one answered when he knocked, so he had to go in through a window. Instead of trying to crawl through the puny windows on the ground, he climbed up the tree onto the balcony and snuck in through the unlocked door there. Not great security; easy to climb, and any Pegasus or unicorn could easily get in. It spoke volumes about the town.

He snuck past Twilight and Spike and went to the library area to read some books. With all the crapping on his carpentry skills lately, he looked for a book on the subject. It was exceedingly complicated; there was a huge amount of math to go into it. A lot of it looked like Calculus, the next math up form what he had taken. He put it away and looked for something more useful.

He found a book on Cloudsdale and its culture and decided to take a look. The pegasi, especially from the semi-Roman Cloudsdale, had a male-dominant society. It had receded a lot over the years, but the macho, strong pony stuff remained in a few ponies, Rainbow Dash being one of them. Ryan wondered what her father must be like to have raised her to be a hardheaded, yet, to other ponies, pretty mare. Ponies and their culture are odd indeed.

Ryan concluded from his reading that the pegasi were a hardy race, not easy to impress. Their food came mostly from the ground, and because of that, in the early days, they had to resort to extremely strong defenses to protect their food supply from Diamond Dog raids. They also lived high up, in the cold, thin air, so their lungs were more efficient. They were, however, smaller than the other ponies, so they lacked in physical mass. They couldn’t produce the same energy for attacks, and that was their one weakness.

Ryan kept on reading as he heard the first noises of Twilight Sparkle coming down the steps. She didn’t see him in the relative dark as she walked by, so when she was in the kitchen, Ryan slipped the book back and hid next to the archway. When Twilight came back through, Ryan snuck up behind her.

He stayed right behind her until she sat down at a small table next to where Ryan had been sitting. She was carrying a cup of coffee and some eggs in her magic and set them down on the table, loosing a loud yawn as she did so.

“Time to start the day,” she said tiredly. She went to scratch just behind her ear with her hoof.

Ryan took the initiative and scratched the spot for her. Twilight arched out her neck, pleased with the sudden relief, and let out a happy grunt. Ryan proceeded further and scratched her spine just under her neck, and Twilight rose up like a cat.

Suddenly, she gasped. “What the-?!”

Her hind legs shot out and caught Ryan square in the groin, sending him back several feet and sprawling onto the floor with a noiseless scream. The pain in his groin was incomprehensible, like someone had taken a sledgehammer to his beautiful silverware. On the ground, he rolled around silently, barely breathing as Twilight prepared to continue her assault.

She charged her horn and saw that it was Ryan, no longer concealed by the dark. With yet another gasp, she lit opened the blinds on the windows and let natural light start to fill the room. Then, she walked over to Ryan.

“I’m not going to help you up,” she said. Ryan groaned in response. “You earned that, and you know it.”

Ryan chuckled. “You… ugh,” he couldn’t continue.

“I..?” Twilight asked.

“You’ve been waiting to buck me,” Ryan said.

Twilight groaned and put her hoof to her face. “You’re a goon,” she said.

“And you are a shrew mistress,” Ryan replied.

Twilight used her magic to help him get up and guided him back to his chair. Once he was sitting down, she went back to the kitchen and brought back some food. Once Ryan was eating and comfortable, she started eating her own food.

“So, you’re heading to Cloudsdale with Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Big Mac?” she asked.

“That’s right,” Ryan said, the soreness seeping into his voice.

“Just try to relax as you go up,” Twilight said. “It’s not so bad, being that high up. If you fall, some Pegasus will DEFINITELY catch you. And my spell will keep you up there for however long you plan to be there.”

“This spell wears off?” Ryan asked, suddenly alarmed.

Twilight looked at him like he was crazy. “Yeah, there are no spells that I can do that last forever,” she said. “I can give you a max of twenty-four hours up there. It’ll take a lot out of me to do the sixteen you’re gonna get, so be grateful!”

“Always,” Ryan said, though his sincerity may have been harder to see behind his physical discomfort.

They waited a short time for the others to arrive. Mac was first, greeting Ryan silently as he walked in and took a seat nearby. The early risers fidgeted about while they waited for the pegasi to show up, checking books and investigating the grooves in the floor. Soon after, Fluttershy arrived, and went straight up to Mac.

“Hey,” Mac greeted softly, leaning forward and nuzzling his lady affectionately. “How you doing?” He seemed to emphasize his southern drawl a little more than normal.

“Oh, the usual,” Fluttershy replied, nuzzling back. “Playing with my little animals, waiting for the chance to play with my big one.” She giggled at her little joke, and Mac chuckled.

Ryan moved further away to provide them with some level of privacy, but he couldn’t prevent himself from overhearing some of it. Most of it was sweet nothings, of course, as loving couples do. Some of it was a little less so. Ryan had to cover his ears for most of it as they waited for Rainbow Dash to arrive.

She finally showed up about half an hour later, shooting in through a window and landing on Fluttershy’s back, getting a ferocious blush from the Pegasus as her talk with her coltfriend was interrupted unexpectedly. Rainbow hopped off after figuring out what had been going on and walked over to Ryan, pretending it had never happened.

“So you ready for this?” she asked Ryan, nudging his side.

“I sure hope so,” Ryan replied with a gulp.

Twilight signaled for him and Mac to stand in the center of the room, in the middle of a circle made of white chalk. Once they were in position, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash moved off to the side to avoid getting in the way. Twilight charged up her horn, and just before she shot out a bolt of magic at the males, they both looked at each other as if it would be the last time.

The magic shot forth, and after a brief flash of light, all was silent. The guys opened their eyes and looked around for a moment, then to each other again. They were alive; that was good. But they felt no different.

“Did it work?” Ryan asked trepidatiously.

Twilight fell back onto her rump and didn’t respond. Her mane was haggard, her eyes half shut. She was sweating profusely, exhausted and about ready to sleep.

Mac stepped forward. “Well, Miss Twilight?” he asked slowly. Twilight, as slowly as Mac had spoke, nodded her head and yawned.

“Yes,” she said. “You guys can walk on clouds now.”

“You’re sure?” Ryan asked.

Twilight continued to nod. “Yes, I’m sure.” She turned to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. “Can you guys help me upstairs? I don’t think I’ll make it on my own.” The ladies nodded and got under either side of Twilight to support her.

“We got ya, Twi,” Rainbow assured her friend. “And we’ll take the balloon up to Cloudsdale. We’ll bring it back in one piece.”

Twilight yawned again. “Thanks.” With that, she promptly nodded off while she was carried upstairs.

That left the two guys alone downstairs while they waited for the mares to return, and they stood in conversational silence. Neither of them felt comfortable with this, as neither had ever walked on clouds before. They were both substantially heavier than the mares, which, without Pegasus magic, they were convinced would work against them. Without a word, they agreed that they hated the idea.

Ryan looked to Mac. I feel like I’m gonna fall and die.

Mac shrugged. Rainbow can catch you, probably. They’ll have to work together to get me.

And where does that leave me if we both fall? Ryan frowned at his friend. I’ll be totally and utterly screwed to fall to my death.

Mac shrugged. “Eeyup,” he said, shooting Ryan a coy smile.

“It’s good to have friends,” Ryan said, shaking his head as he turned away.

The mares returned from upstairs and walked over to the guys. Fluttershy cozied herself into to Mac’s chest, supplementing his puny amount of courage in this endeavor with the desire to impress his lady. Rainbow stuck her tongue out at the pair in disgust, and Ryan just felt lonely.

“Let’s go,” Rainbow said, pushing the couple out the door. Ryan followed along.

The balloon had to be moored outside the town because it was too big and unsafe to land in the town. When they arrived, Ryan was even less sure about this whole thing. The basket might fit three of them, and it would barely get Ryan and Mac together. Fluttershy and Dash would probably pull it, what with the rope hanging off the front, but it didn’t do much to help Ryan with dealing with the fear of falling.

“Get inside, boyos!” Rainbow said, flying over and picking up a rein. “We have an Airshow to get to!”

Ryan and Mac exchanged one last look and made their way into the basket, uncomfortable shifting their weight and scrunching body parts to fit in. Once they were in, Fluttershy fluttered over and rested on Mac’s back.

“Let’s get this show on the road!” Rainbow yelled. As she dragged them into the air, Ryan shut his eyes for a few minutes and tried to think about that time he went skydiving in Mexico. It couldn’t be scarier than that.

It was worse. Much worse. Balloon rides are terrifying. The basket felt like it would be torn off the balloon at any moment, especially with how fast Rainbow was dragging it. Ryan clenched the sides until he had white knuckles.

Mac didn’t fare any better; he was so pale, one would say he turned pink during the ride. Fluttershy tried to get him better, but when nothing worked, she leaned in close to his ear and said something that brought his complexion right back.

They arrived at the city, and what a city it was. There were pegasi everywhere, flying about, doing their work. Most were interacting with the clouds in some way, shape, or form, but others were doing other things. There were restaurants, shops, and homes that pegasi went in and out of. Most of the buildings were made of pillars the style you would see in Greece or the White House.

Fluttershy jumped out and walked over to Rainbow, who was removing her reins as fast and ungracefully as possible. Once she was free of her restraints, she shot up into the air and took in a deep breath of the thin air.

“Nothing like that Cloudsdale air!” she shouted. She landed back on the clouds and turned to lead the way into the city. “Let’s go!” Rainbow Dash marched forward excitedly, unaware of the trouble behind her.

“Umm… Rainbow?” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah, Flutters?” Rainbow replied.

“I think we need to help the guys out of the balloon,” Fluttershy said sheepishly.

“Oh, come on, they don’t need-“ Rainbow turned to see Ryan and Mac, frozen in place, staring at the clouds in front of them. They looked catatonic, like they were staring at dead bodies. Their dead bodies.

Rainbow groaned and flew over to them. “Oh, come on, guys!” she said, though going unnoticed. “It isn’t that hard! We’re right here to catch you.”

Ryan took in a deep breath. “Okay,” he said slowly, trying to stay calm. “It’s just like jumping from a Cessna, just without a parachute.”

“Ah don’t like this,” Mac said, eyes wide like a spooked cat. “Ah don’t like this one bit.”

“Oh, come on, Macky,” Fluttershy called. “You can do it!”

Mac was stuck now; his mare was calling to him. He looked once at Ryan, and Ryan met his gaze.

We go together? Mac asked.

On three. Ryan replied.

The guys put their jumping legs on the edge of the balloon and took in three deep breaths. One… Two… Three!

They leaped forward, taking Rainbow by surprise, and she dove out of the way of the large living projectiles. They went pretty far, Mac getting ten feet and Ryan getting six, before they reached cloud level. They started to go through the clouds, and it appeared that the spell failed-

WHUMP

They both hit the clouds like a memory foam mattress, only instead of sinking in, it just felt cold. Ryan slid forward on his face for a second, since he hadn’t kept his hands out to catch himself, and came to a painful stop after about a foot. He lay where he stopped and groaned in pain.

“Good news; it worked,” Mac said, getting up.

“Thanks for informing me,” Ryan said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Rainbow could be heard in absolute hysterics nearby. Ryan stood up and rubbed his face. It felt like it had been scraped with an icy cheese grater, but after rubbing his hands together to get warm, and putting them on his face, he felt better. After Rainbow received a look from Ryan to get her to stop laughing, she coughed twice and calmed herself.

“Let’s go,” she said.

The group got walking toward a massive cloud stadium that strongly resembled the coliseum in Rome. Ryan could see it form the moment they arrived; it was massive, hard to miss. Pegasi swarmed around it, some flying with intense speed from inside, going up, then down, then through the arches and rings that made up the exterior of the building.

Ryan glanced at his watch as they walked; it was about half past nine now. He would have sworn that Rainbow said that the show would start at noon, but he could have been mistaken. Of course, he could very easily be right about the time, and Rainbow could just be an eager beaver to get to the show.

Ryan whistled to get her attention. When she turned around, he asked, “What time does the show start?”

“Noon,” Rainbow answered excitedly. So Ryan was right.

“Why are we going to the stadium this early, then?” Ryan asked, getting a confused look from Rainbow. “They won’t want us lining up, and being there three hours early as opposed to one or one and a half isn’t going to do much.”

Rainbow looked scandalized at Ryan’s words. “Wha- are you kidding?” she asked. “We have to get there early to get good seats!”

“Ryan does have a point, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said from atop Mac’s back. “And the way the seats are arranged, and given that they assign seats to tickets, we wont miss anything. And from what you said, our seats are good…”

“Hay yea, they are!” Rainbow replied. “Front row!”

“Then we don’t need to be there this absurdly early,” Ryan concluded. “Don’t you want to show me and Mac Cloudsdale, since at least I won’t be back any time soon, probably?”

Rainbow looked hard at Ryan, then conceded and let her expression soften. With a defeated sigh, she turned around and away form the stadium.

“Yeah, that does sound like a nice idea,” she said. Suddenly, her expression became very excited. “You guys should totally see the Cloud Factory!”

“Cloud Factory?” Ryan asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, it’s where we make the clouds for places outside the Everfree Forest and similar places!” Rainbow replied. Ryan was more surprised at the fact that there were places like the Everfree Forest that weren’t the Everfree Forest.

Ryan thought it sounded like a fine idea, and so did Mac and Fluttershy, so they went along and followed Rainbow to the factory. True to her word, when they got there after about half an hour of walking, it was shooting clouds out of its cloud doors like a cannon.

Rainbow explained the differences between the clouds briefly. There were several different types that went out into the population. Storm clouds brought train to places that needed it. White clouds provided breaks from sunlight, especially during the summer. Gray overcast clouds were for more solemn occasions. And lightning clouds were to release Nitrogen into the air to help plants to thrive.

She took them on a tour inside the factory, which was only allowed because she had once worked in the factory, and was now the head of the weather team for Ponyville. There were large machines, made of wood and, almost shockingly, more clouds, pumping water around and mystifying it to make the many different clouds. Pegasi wore helmets when they worked, which only confused Ryan, as the clouds weren’t THAT hard. But no one ever said tha the ponies made sense more than a third of the time.

After the tour, Fluttershy brought the group to the Rainbow Factory. Ryan couldn’t explain it, but the name of that building just put shivers up and down his spine. They took another half hour to get there, so this was their last stop before heading to the show. When they arrived, Fluttershy looked at the building like it was a flower shop with cute little animals and squee’d hard. Mac nearly had a heart attack from it.

“This is where I worked very briefly, during the Rainbow Peril a few years ago,” she explained. “They needed pegasi to work on making beautiful rainbows so Equestria could keep peace, so I volunteered.”

Rainbow put her hoof to her chin in contemplation. “I remember that,” she said thoughtfully. “That was a serious problem.”

Ryan and Mac deadpanned at each other. There was no way that a crisis of Rainbows had proven catastrophic to the safety of a nation. Neither of them was about to believe it, but, being males, they had no choice but to accept the females’ vie won it. Especially Mac; one thing that a guy learns when he gets a lady friend is that, more often than not, she’s right, even if she’s wrong.

They entered the factory, and Mac and Ryan’s mouths fell agape with breathless gasps at the sight. Everything was gold; the machines, the equipment, the outfits, even the clouds. Rainbow liquids were being brewed in golden pans and poured out into molds, then dropped form a hole in the ground to the world below.

“Oh, my, this is new,” Fluttershy commented.

“How in the living hell did they make golden clouds?” Ryan asked, tapping the cloud below him. It was solid metal.

“How in the hay should we know?” Rainbow asked. “We didn’t build it.”

“Well, I guess I can still show you around,” Fluttershy said.

She led them around the area and explained everything to them. The only explanation for all the gold was that Rainbows had the fewest chemical reactions or some such nonsense with gold. It made sense, then, to make everything in the building gold to minimize loss of product.

The rainbows, it turned out, were key for the safety of Equestria. The rainbows had a certain magic to them that pacified other groups; specifically the dragons to the west; and kept them from attacking Equestria. Ryan couldn’t figure out why it pacified them, but hey, if it works, don’t try to fix it.

The process, it turned out, was much more complex than any development of an Rx drug back home. There were around four dozen materials that went into rainbows, and if anything at all wasn’t perfect, the rainbow would come out brown and looking, literally, like feces. That would be bad, obviously.

They concluded their tour with Ryan and Mac sneaking a taste of the Rainbows. It was a stupid idea; it burned like a volcano erupted in their mouths. They were the firs tones of the building because they needed a water-based cloud to cool off their tongues. Rainbow and Fluttershy were, naturally, laughing at the foolishness of the guys, though Fluttershy offered some boo-boo kisses to her coltfriend afterwards. Problem was; they were in his mouth.

Ryan and Rainbow looked away and in the direction of the stadium. Pegasi were just starting to arrive there for the next show, the noon one, so time was important now.

“Alright, love bird and love hound, let’s go!” Ryan shouted, trying to put an end to his and Rainbow’s feelings of awkwardness.

“Feel better?” Ryan heard Fluttershy ask her coltfriend

“Eeeeeyup,” Mac replied.

They made their way to the stadium as fast as Rainbow could make Ryan go. He felt like dead weight to the group, being the slowest runner and also unable to fly. Rainbow kept throwing him impatient looks as they ran, which Ryan would return with apologetic looks that also told her that he was doing his best. Meanwhile, Mac and Fluttershy were next to each other, trying not to bump into each other, but staying nice and close.

When they arrived at the stadium, there was already something of a line there. Rainbow started to complain about having to wait, but Fluttershy managed to keep her whining to a quiet groan. Pegasi gave them curious looks as Ryan and Mac stood next to the ladies in line, wondering what on earth an Earth Pony and a weird human were doing on the clouds.

The line moved fairly quickly, contrary to what Rainbow was whining about, and they were in the stadium in no time. They stopped at a concession stand before heading to their seats to get some traditional Pegasus cuisine. It consisted mostly of wheat and barley, with some oats and few veggies. There was a large number of select fruits, like grapes and apples, but there was little else. Ryan stuck to the wheat, barley, and oats.

They waded through the massive, flowing crowd of pegasi to their seats and sat down. For whatever reason, the seats were substantially softer than the clouds they had been walking on. Ryan accredited it to the cloud factory making so many different types of clouds.

He sat back in his seat and leaned on his elbows. “So, what should we expect from this airshow?” Ryan asked.

Rainbow took up her large drink and took a loud sip. “Ahh,” she said. “What? Oh, we’ll probably see a lot of amateurs showing their stuff, trying to get recruited by the fliers in the stands.”

Ryan looked around. He spotted a few pegasi who wore official looking uniforms, but none he could recognize. There was only one he could recognize anyway, the Wonderbolts, but still. That just meant the others weren’t famous enough for him to have heard about them.

“So they’ll be doing some impressive routines?” Ryan asked.

“Yeah, it should be interesting,” Rainbow said. “I can do most of their routines, since I’m so awesome, but the only way these guys will advance up in the private sector of flying is to start from these teams.”

“Private sector?” Ryan asked.

Rainbow nodded. “The Wonderbolts are public; they’re funded and paid for by the princesses. Unlike these other teams, or even other public flying teams, the Wonderbolts are also military, the stunt team of the Air Guard. They don’t get called on much, but they can be called on to battle.”

Ryan smiled. “Good luck to you, then,” Ryan said. “It seems like it’ll fit you pretty well.”

“Thanks,” Rainbow said, giving Ryan a genuine smile. A horn blew off on the other side of the stadium. “Ooh, it’s starting!”

The first few fliers shot out of an archway at the base of the stadium wall, and Ryan leaned back forward to get a good view of the action that was to ensue.

The show was really something. A lot of highly talented fliers made their marks, and Ryan even saw each recruiter write down a pretty significant number of names on some clipboards. A lot of the flying was difficult maneuvers that didn’t include speed, which was really one of the only things that made Rainbow that much better. Rainbow could do the same thing, but faster, and with some more control. She also had a bit more spirit, but that was all.

The stadium began to empty the moment the three hour airshow was finished. Ryan and Mac recommended that they wait for a time so that the crowds will be smaller as they tried to get out so that they wouldn’t be separated. Should that occur, panic would surely permeate Ryan and Mac’s minds.

When they finally did leave, they were able to do so unhindered. They didn’t stop at any concession stands or gift shops on their way out, instead deciding that they would continue their tour of the city. They walked out of the stadium and Ryan took in a deep breath of fresh, thin air.

“So, where to next?” Ryan asked. “Any thoughts? Anyone?”

Rainbow thought. “Hmmm… There’s a bunch of places we could go. I say we-“

“HEEEYY!” a stallion somewhere in the distance shouted.

The group turned to see where the voice came from. When Ryan laid eye son the source, he instantly knew who it was. He didn’t know his name, and he had never seen him before. But the rainbow mane on his head and the older look of the stallion told him all he needed to know. Rainbow’s eyes exploded wide in excitement and she ran forward.

“DAD!” she shouted, tackling her father at max speed. The guy was a tank; he didn’t flinch, and he didn’t move when he was hit. “Ohmigosh, I didn’t know you would be here!”

Her father laughed. “I wasn’t expecting to see you, either,” he said. “I know you’re going for the Wonderbolts, after all.”

“I wanted to show my friends here what Cloudsdale is like,” Rainbow said.

Rainbows father looked past her and stopped at Ryan and Mac. It was odd, he thought, that an earth pony was here, and even more odd that this other thing was around. He had heard things about some new guy in Ponyville where his daughter lived, but he hadn’t expected anything like this.

He walked past Rainbow and extended a hoof. “Hey there, I believe I have heard of you,” he said to both guys in front of him.

They both nodded and Ryan responded, “I’m not surprised. Seems like the brother of an element and a human would be pretty well-known.”

The stallion laughed. “I suppose so.”

“I had a feeling you were Rainbow’s dad,” Ryan said. “The mane is what really gave it away.”

“I imagine,” Rainbow’s father replied. He looked back at his daughter, who was unexpectedly right behind him. After a bit of a start, he turned back to the guys with a smile only a dad can give. “So…” He looked at Ryan.

“Ryan,” Ryan said.

“Ryan,” Rainbow’s father repeated. “Are you the one my daughter is after?”

Rainbow’s face turned bright red. “Dad, what?” she shouted. Ryan started laughing, earning a glare from the prismatic mare. “He’s not the one I told you about!”

Ryan jumped in. “Now, Rainbow, no need to hide it!” he said, glancing at Rainbow’s father to ensure him it was just him joking. “I know how sexy confidence is.”

“No, he isn’t the one!” Rainbow shouted. “I’m looking at-“

A huge gust of wind came out of nowhere and drowned out any noise being made around them. Rainbow didn’t notice and kept yelling, probably barely able to hear herself, until she calmed down and the wind went away. Ryan, however, was able to read her lips and knew whom she said.

“Okay?” she asked, exhausted from her yelling.

“Okay,” Ryan and her father said simultaneously.

Rainbow looked at the two of them, huffed, and went to talk to Fluttershy and Mac. While she was over with them, ignoring the trolls behind her, Ryan and her father chatted with each other.

“So, how’s life living in the same town as my daughter?” Rainbow’s father asked.

“It certainly never gets boring, I can say that, Mr..?” Ryan trailed off as he spoke.

“You can call me Mr. Dash,” he said.

“Mr. Dash,” Ryan repeated. “I bet it was interesting, raising her.”

“Ha!” Mr. Dash shouted, just getting Rainbow to look over for a second. “You don’t know the half of it. She used to be obsessed with wearing nice dresses and being a proper lady.”

“Bullshit,” Ryan said. “There is no way she was ever like that.”

“It’s true,” Mr. Dash said. “And when she decided to go sports, that was the best day of my life. I just wish her mother had been there to see her daughter grow so strong…”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Ryan said. “I’m sure she was really something, to have a daughter so loyal.”

Mr. Dash chuckled. “Yeah…” They stood there for another moment in silence, respecting the deceased.

Rainbow Dash walked over, sensing the mood. “Hey, so it was great seeing you, dad,” she said. “But Mac wants to go meet Fluttershy’s dad. We’re gonna head on over that way.”

“Okay, you guys have fun,” Mr. Dash said. He turned to Ryan and extended a hoof. “It was good to meet you.”

‘Likewise,” Ryan said, shaking the hoof.

They parted ways, and Mr. Dash flew home alone. Rainbow looked after him sadly, knowing what he was thinking about, but let it drop so that they could go see Fluttershy’s father.

The trip was short, and the whole time, Ryan felt like something was off. There was something nagging at him about going to see Fluttershy’s father. The feeling was only enhanced when Ryan looked over at Fluttershy; she was looking nervously at Mac, like she was worried about him.

When they arrived, Fluttershy was barely able to put on a brave face. Whatever her concerns, she hadn’t voiced them to Mac, as he looked completely oblivious to the entire thing. Rainbow failed to notice as well, and when they walked up to the door and knocked, Fluttershy almost seemed to put herself in front of Mac like he might get hurt.

Hen the door opened, the guy standing there wasn’t what Ryan was expecting. He had been expecting a slender, happy, easy Pegasus stallion in the doorway. What he got was a very muscular, angry-looking, and judgmental Pegasus with an attitude problem. When he saw his daughter in the group, his expression remained unchanged.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

Mac stepped up. “Hello, Ah’m Macintosh Apple, of Ponyville,” he said. “Ah thought it would be right to introduce mahself to mah marefriend’s father.”

The stallion’s eyes widened and he looked at his daughter with an extremely brief, barely seeable look of contempt, then switched back to his stern and assholish look.

“Hm,” he said, scrutinizing Mac. “I suppose you can come in.”

Fluttershy’s father left the doorway and let them enter the cloud house, though everyone entered with caution. It was obvious that this wasn’t the nicest guy on the block, but now that they were here, they had an unspoken obligation to at least stay for a bit. So when they entered, they entered fully prepared to haul ass outta there.

The stallion led them to a living room, where there was a small Pegasus mare sitting in the middle of the room. When she saw Fluttershy, her eyes brightened up immensely and she rushed over to hug her.

“Oh, my baby, you’re visiting!” she said. “I can’t believe it, what’s it been, three years?” Three years? That was an awfully long time to not visit.

“Yes, just about,” Fluttershy said, reciprocating the hug. “I’ve just been… busy.” She threw a microsecond of a glance at her father, who was turned around. Everyone noticed.

“Yes… busy,” her mother said.

Ryan stepped forward to reduce the feelings of the situation. “I’m sorry, but I do not know your name,” he said.

Fluttershy’s mother turned and gasped in surprise. “Oh! I’m sorry, you startled me. I am Summer Wind, and my husband is Flanker.”

Ryan gave her a small bow. “Thank you for having us,” he said.

“Yeah,” Flanker interjected, walking back into the room from wherever he had gone. “What exactly brought you here?”

mac answered that one. “Thought it would be right for me to meet Fluttershy’s parents,” he said.

Flanker narrowed his gaze at Mac. “Well, you can go back to Earth now,” he said. “You met us.”

Mac flinched at the harshness of his tone. “Sir, if Ah’ve offended you-“

“Not you,” Flanker said. Fluttershy and Summer had their heads down, and Rainbow was off to the side, looking shaken. "What you represent. I don’t like it being near anything affiliated with me.” He added extra poison to those last words, emphasizing his inexplicable hatred for Mac. Ryan just watched it unfold at first, gauging the reactions, then jumped in.

“Well, I can assure you, Mac is a good guy,” he said.

Flanker snorted. “We’ll see,” he said. With that, Flanker left the room.

Ryan and Mac exchanged a look. It was clear that this was trouble, and it could easily become more trouble in the future. It would be unfitting, though, and probably ineffective, for Mac to handle this the way it needed to be handled. Ryan jerked his head towards Fluttershy and Summer, and Mac took the hint with a nod and walked over to them to talk. Ryan started toward the room where Flanker was.

Rainbow, though, got in his way. “What’re you doing?” she asked. Ryan put his hand on her left side and pushed her to his right, out of his way.

“I’m gonna have a chat with Flanker,” he said.

Ryan walked into the room without further interruption and spotted Flanker, standing in front of the fridge, pulling out foods. He didn’t seem to notice Ryan as he walked in, to focused on getting his food and sitting at his table. When he set the food down, though, he turned and looked right at Ryan.

“I don’t like them,” he said.

“I had a feeling,” Ryan said. “But they’re your family and their friends, so it sucks to suck.”

Flanker shook his head. “No. Earth ponies. And anything else tied to land.” Ryan raised an eyebrow as Flanker kept on talking. “They aren’t worthy of anything that flies. They are dirt ponies, at best. They can do nothing but serve those of us with true power, magic or flying. They are servants, and deserve nothing form us. And they will get nothing form us.”

“They took ’re jerbs ‘n shteal ‘re women!” Ryan parodied, receiving a confused look. “Boo-fucking-hoo. That isn’t how it is, and there’s a reason for it. And what do you mean, ‘won’t get anything from you’?”

“Exactly what you said, you arrogant little shit,” Flanker said, getting closer to Ryan. “My daughter will not be with some worthless, sweaty, farming, pathetic earth pony. I won’t allow it.”

Ryan narrowed his gaze at Flanker and stepped forward. “So what, you’ll make sure it doesn’t work out?” Flanker nodded.

“I can’t allow our blood to be contaminated,” he said.

Ryan took in a deep breath and leaned forward. “Listen here, you goddam shit-kicking Nazi,” he said, getting up in Flanker’s face. “Mac is my best friend, and Fluttershy is pretty damn close to the same place. Their happiness is my top priority, unlike you, who cares for nothing but the easily lost blood in his veins.

You are everything that is wrong with life in general. You’re hate-filled ways cause unnecessary suffering. You’re anger is dangerous to those around you. You have no love to give, you only suck in what people try to give you and shit it back out later. You’re a drain.

So here’s what I have to say to you; you will NEVER go near Mac. You will NEVER go near Fluttershy. You will leave this household and you will never come back. Everyone would be better off without you.”

“And what if I don’t?” Flanker said, standing up to meet Ryan’s eyes.

Ryan snarled at him and they touched foreheads. “If you ever… hurt my friends…” he put his finger to Flanker’s chest and ran it up to his jaw. “I will take this jaw from you-“ He gripped it hard. “-And I will wear it as my new necklace.”

Flanker looked into the human’s eyes and froze. He could see the deadly seriousness, the icy tundra that was the rage Ryan felt toward him. That was where he would go if he didn’t do exactly as he was told. He felt his knees begin to tremble as his resolve started to give, the foundations of his power going from being chipped away to crushed with a wrecking ball. He stepped back and tripped on the table, making a loud noise.

“You better run, little man,” Ryan said, moving toward him. “Because if I ever find you near them again, if I ever hear you came by, if I ever even think you broke my rule-“ he rushed forward and gripped the jaw again. “You know what’s coming.”

Flanker’s resolve fell apart, and he flew out of the room like a peregrine falcon on a dive. Ryan watched him go, the adrenaline fading, and a strange feeling of pride taking its place. He felt like he did something good.

He returned to the room to see Mac comforting the mares, all of them, on the couch. As Ryan walked in, they all looked up at him, expecting him to have someone with him. When he didn’t, Summer spoke up.

“Where did Flanker go?” she asked, a glimmer of what sounded like hope in her voice.

Ryan looked back to the room, then back to Summer, and shrugged. “No idea,” he said. “Must have headed out. For the sunset.”

Everyone got it, and the feeling of tension in the room dissipated into nothingness as they sat together and started to share stories in the new safety of Fluttershy’s childhood home.

Kindness

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Kindness

“As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.” (Albert Schweitzer)

On Friday, the twenty-sixth of March, Ryan got out of work early because Twilight had some silliness to deal with regarding the Grand Galloping Gala. It was still like a week away. He never did understand girls and fancy dressing occasions.

Since he had no work to do, and none of his buddies were available, he decided to go out and do something with the cave. He could still build some furniture, and more dynamite wouldn’t be so bad. He might be inclined to use some of it today, actually. Ryan threw on his usual outfit; his scarf, jacket, necklace, gun, and other key items.

He carried a small amount of plywood in his hands and a sum of explosives on his back. The trek was easy, even with so many of the woodland animals starting to wake up. He walked like he belonged in the forest, like he was untouchable to them, so they didn’t bother him much. Not like it would matter; Ryan only ever went into the forest with his 1911 and his two magazines for it.

Ryan whistled a little tune as he walked, alerting everything around him to his presence. It was a better idea not to startle anything out here, because then he would actually have a problem with the creatures. It’s true for any animal; if you don’t startle them and they aren’t hungry, they won’t bother you.

To his right, there was a rustling in the bush. Ryan stopped in his spot and looked over n that direction, doing his best to look uncaring. The rustling increased in magnitude until, finally, something poked out. It was Sweetie Belle.

“What?” Ryan said, surprised at her sudden appearance. “Sweetie Belle?”

The filly looked up. “Oh, hey Ryan!” she said. “What’re you doing out here?”

“What am I doing out here?” Ryan repeated. “What are you doing out here? Shouldn’t you be in school?”

“No, Miss Cheerilee lets us out early on Fridays if we’re good. It’s how she gets her class to behave!” Sweetie Belle gave a huge, toothy smile at the end of her explanation.

Ryan looked about. “Where are Apple Bloom and Scootaloo?” he asked.

Sweetie Belle turned around. “Girls, I found Ryan!” she shouted. More rustling, and two more fillies popped out of the bush.

Scootaloo looked up. “Hey Ryan!” she greeted happily. “What’re you doing out here?”

“Yeah, Ah thought y’all had work at Twilight’s!” Apple Bloom added.

Ryan chuckled. “Well, the ladies are all freaking out trying to prepare for the Gala next week, so Twilight let me out early. I swear, I’ll never understand what these events do to people.”

Sweetie Belle groaned. “You should see my sister. She’ll be spending the next week spending sixteen hours a day in her studio, trying to make the perfect dresses for her and her friends. Her mane gets frazzled, and her pupils look like dots made with a pencil!”

Ryan chuckled some more. “Yeah, that sounds about right,” he said. “Anyway, what are you fillies doing out here?”

“We’re heading off to Zecora’s!” Scootaloo said excitedly.

Ryan raised an eyebrow at her. “And what could bring you in that direction?” he asked.

“We think that’s where Fluttershy is, and we need both her and Zecora for our next Cutie Mark plan!” Apple Bloom shouted.

“And what would that be?” Ryan asked with a smile.

“We’re gonna be veterinarians’ assistants!” Scootaloo said. “Administering medicine to little animals under proper supervision!”

“Well, I’m glad that you’re getting supervision for this,” Ryan said. “Need a travel buddy?”

“Maybe for a bit,” Sweetie Belle said. “Better safe than sorry.”

“Cool,” Ryan said. He picked his trail back up. “We’ll head about halfway there, then I’ll split off and go my way.”

They started along their way silently, the fillies constantly on watch around them for movement. Ryan used his peripherals to check for movement, but mostly just listened for anything. That was why he wasn’t talking; he wanted to hear anything that came at them.

Eventually, though, that was shot, and the fillies started talking, mostly in hushed voices. They could tell that Ryan was listening for threats, and they didn’t want to hinder his efforts. It didn’t help much, though, because even in whispers, their voices carried far enough to distract Ryan and drown out the sounds of nature.

He overheard some of what they were saying. They, too, would be attending the Gala the next week. Sweetie Belle had managed to get some colt to go with her, named Button Mash or something silly, and she was about ready to burst. She had apparently had a crush on him for a while. Apple Bloom was going to go with Spike, and Scootaloo had that Rumble character. It could be rather fun to watch them flounder about trying to act like adults when the time came.

The fillies kept on talking, and Ryan didn’t feel like it was his sort of conversation, so he kept his eyes scanning. Thinking about what he might see, he hadn’t had an encounter with the Wraith in some time. He knew that the rat bastard wasn’t about to let him live his life, so if he hadn’t seen the Wraith in a while, it was a safe bet he would soon. If the girls were close by, he would have to act fast and act hard to keep them safe.

They reached a fork in the trail and stopped. To the right, there was the path that led to Zecora and maybe Fluttershy. To the left, there was a path that led to the river, and beyond that, the cave.

“Here’s were I have to leave you fillies,” Ryan said. “You sure you’ll be alright on your own?”

“Yeah, we’ll be good!” Scootaloo said confidently. “We know the rest of the way. It isn’t far.”

“Good,” Ryan said. “Good luck with your marks.” He started down his path.

“Wait, where ARE you going?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Ryan didn’t stop, merely waved a hand. “I got some stuff I need to deal with out here. Just a few things.” Behind him, the girls shrugged and went along their way. They had no idea what the truth was behind Ryan’s forest trips, and they were never going to know.

Discord watched closely Ryan as he took his leave from the fillies. The man hadn’t exactly lied, merely played down what he was doing and gave no details. But was that lying? Meh, it didn’t matter.

Discord had been watching him for a few days now. With the Gala coming soon, he wanted to see how Ryan was going to act. While everypony who was going was fussing about, trying to prepare, Ryan was doing nothing special. Discord knew that he had a tux coming from Rarity, just standard bowtie tuxedo, but he one wouldn’t guess it from how he was acting. It was like nothing was happening.

Ryan walked through the forest as quietly as he could, barely making a sound. The birds were chirping, the little critters were scuttling and scampering about, and all was calm in the Everfree Forest. Ever since Ryan decided to make his permanent residence here, it really seemed to calm down. At least, whenever he was around it did.

The magic of the forest had a lesser effect on him than the other beings of the world. Discord, when he chose to, could physically see the magic running through the forest, as could Celestia and Luna. When Discord saw the magic, he found it odd how it flowed through him much less than others. It was like there was a barrier around him, protecting him from the magic.

He was an oddity in every sense in this world, not helped by the presence of the Wraith. Could the Wraith be keeping the magic off of him? Could he be doing some of the strange things that pertain to Ryan’s presence?

Discord might find out soon; the Wraith was following Ryan through the forest as he thought. The spirit of chaos knew tha the was grossly incapable of battling the Wraith and keeping him away from Ryan, so he simply watched as Ryan failed to notice the Wraith sneaking around not twenty feet behind him. Discord’s heart started pumping hard while he waited for the Wraith the make his move.

But he didn’t do anything. He only followed Ryan, watching him make his way quietly through the forest. It was like both of them were trying to make sure that there was no evidence that they were ever there, like they wanted to be hidden and secretive. Ryan, he understood, but this didn’t pertain to the Wraith’s usual prerogative.

When Ryan arrived at the cave, the Wraith stayed back in the tree line so as to remain hidden. While Ryan went to work, the Wraith merely watched, stroking his chin contemplatively. What he was thinking was anyone’s guess, but Discord’s was that he was thinking about how to hurt the young man.

Then, as an idea popped into his mind, he snapped his fingers and disappeared from sight. Discord did a quick scan of the area to see if he was nearby, but he didn’t catch anything out of the ordinary. A bear nearby just left the area, but if the Wraith was close by and Discord didn’t have powers of his own, he would ditch, too.

With no Wraith in sight, Discord refocused his attention on Ryan in the cave. He had dropped everything he brought with him and set down the dynamite for use, and was building furniture. He didn’t seem to be putting his heart into it, though, giving only a half-assed effort. There must have been something on his mind.

It took a bit of time, but Ryan was able to make several items; a crude nightstand for next to where he would sleep, a new bedpost, and a kill rack for when he went hunting. The rack was located near the fire pit so that when he needed to cook something, it would be right there for him to grab.

Once he finished with those chores, he stood up and cracked his back satisfactorily. He believed the furniture to be plenty adequate, even if those back home thought that he couldn’t do anything of the sort.

“I wonder if I should get a safe for my gun?” Ryan wondered aloud.

Discord put only minute thought into that before he thought it was a good idea. If someone were to be exploring the area and came across the cave, and Ryan weren’t there, what if they found the gun? It could be dangerous, especially to him, if they were an unsavory character.

“Nah,” Ryan said with a shake of his head. Discord was more than a bit surprised. “I shouldn’t need one by the time I can move in here.”

“Shouldn’t need one?” Discord wondered.

Why wouldn’t he need a safe place to put the gun? Did he intend to get rid of it? No, that didn’t seem like such a good idea. Some ponies would try to reverse engineer it to figure out how it worked. He still had ammo, so he might have planned on using it. But what would he use it on?

Discord couldn’t make heads nor tails of what Ryan just said, so he let it die. Who was he to question the ways of a human who temporarily went completely off the reservation?

Discord took another look at the furniture. His lack of skill really did show itself here, and some of what he made might not even be safe to use. The bedpost was only moderately safe because the nails pointed away from where he would be sleeping, so if it collapsed, he wouldn’t be impaled. If it collapsed, though, it would still hurt.

So Discord decided to do Ryan a little favor. When the young man wasn’t looking, Discord used his magic to adjust everything Ryan had made and made it safer to use. When Ryan turned back around, he didn’t even notice the differences. They were mostly little, regarding nail placement and size. It was the least Discord could do.

Ryan looked like he was doing a well enough job of taking care of himself, so Discord thought it would be a good time to leave the man to himself. With a swirl of light and not a sound, his mind’s eye returned to him in Canterlot, and Ryan kept on living his life.

Ryan was proud of the work he got done that day. It was a lot, but he managed it in the end.

He had some suitable furniture in his home to be, and it looked stable enough. The interior of the cave was starting to look like a place he could actually live in. Now, he just had to go outside and detonate some dynamite a ways away from the entrance so that he could collect rainwater not too far from home.

He picked up the dynamite he came with and went outside to find a spot he could decimate for his reservoir. He had to at least go to the edge of the clearing to avoid damaging the cave, and it might take some time, since he couldn’t do the whole thing at once. The shock wave could cause problems in a multitude of ways.

It didn’t take too long to find a spot that would work nicely; He denoted the area on the ground using sticks and rocks to mark the area he wanted. That wouldn’t be particularly useful after the first explosion, but it gave him something to shoot for. Once he had the zone mapped out, he pulled out some dynamite to stick into the ground in the middle. He intended to get it nice and deep, light it, and then haul ass away.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!”

Ryan stopped in his tracks at the scream. It was a feminine scream, and it sounded like more than one scream. It sounded from somewhere in the distance, toward the path Ryan shared with the Cutie Mark Crusaders on his way here. Ryan stopped to listen again, and sure enough, it came again. The fillies were in trouble.

“Girls!” Ryan shouted as he bolted into the forest.

Ryan sprinted through the forest at maximum speed, trying to reach the Crusaders before anything bad happened. He had no ide what it might be; the wildlife was just starting to wake up, and odds were, something big would be hungry. And big things like to eat little things.

There were more screams, and Ryan could make out the voices that they belonged to now. Sweetie Belle was the loudest, followed by Apple Bloom and then Scootaloo. As he grew nearer to the location of their screams, he could hear much more noise, like some kind of scuffle.

Ryan broke the tree line and saw his worst nightmare come to life; the girls were running in circles, trying to escape from a massive bear. Every time it drew close to one of them, it would swipe at them with its massive clawed paws. It nearly got them more than once, and quickly had them pinned against a tree.

Ryan didn’t wait to act; he ran out from his position and jumped in between the girls and the bear. The fillies were cowering behind him, wishing the bear away to no avail. In front of Ryan, the bear stood on its hind legs, growing to about eleven feet tall. It let out a feral roar as it came back down, making the Earth shake from its incredible mass.

Ryan stood his ground and looked at his opponent. There was something very off about this bear; its eyes were blood red, maybe tired. Its fur was strange and mangy, so it could have been rabid. The rabies possibility was further reinforced by the small sum of foam at the mouth. It growled, not hungrily, nut angrily at Ryan and the fillies.

Ryan looked for a weapon, any weapon that he could use to keep the bear at bay. A stick, a rock, anything at all that might help him to at least fight the bear off of the fillies. His eyes scanned the tree line for anything he could use to his advantage, a hole in the ground or some environmental hazard.

He found one; but it wasn’t the kind he wanted. Standing just beneath the trees was the Wraith, wearing a smug grin on his face and simply watching the events unfold. He had something to do with this. He was the one who put the fillies in danger. Seeing him there made Ryan’s blood begin to boil.

Though he made no moves to get closer or do anything. He just stood there, watching Ryan stand down his bear. The fillies were still cowering behind him, crying and sobbing about what they thought was to be their early demise. Ryan knelt down to be next to them, keeping his eyes on the bear the whole time.

“Girls,” he said in a loud whisper. No need to piss off Mr. Bear.

None of them answered; they were catatonic at this point. Briefly, very briefly, Ryan thought about running off, but tha thought was squashed in a heartbeat. The fillies needed him, and even if he got the bear to follow him, the Wraith would still be there, the Wraith could still pull something. That would be worse than anything this bear could do.

“Girls!” Ryan said again, this time getting them to look up at him. “Girls, I need you to listen to me very carefully.”

“R-r-r-Ryan?” Sweetie Belle said.

“Yes, it’s me. Now listen!” Ryan said through gritting teeth. “You will do what I tell you to, and you will do it immediately and without question. Understand?”

At first, there was no vocal response, but soon after, he heard Sweetie Belle say, “Yes Ryan.”

Ryan kept his eyes on the bear and on the Wraith. “I am going to tell you to run away from here. When I do, you will do so without hesitation and without question. You will run as fast as you can toward Ponyville and you will stop for nothing. Understand?”

She didn’t. “What about you?” Sweetie asked.

“Sweet of you to worry,” Ryan said. “But that’s not what you agreed to do. Do you understand what I told you?” Ryan asked with force in his voice. If he had to coerce the girls into running, he would.

Sweetie Belle nodded. “Y-y-yes.”

“Okay,” Ryan said. The bear was growing tied of waiting, and it was beginning to advance on the group in front of it. Ryan put his hand on his 1911 and prepared to yank it out and shoot. He could only hope that the twenty-one foot rule didn’t apply to bears.

“RUUUN!!” Ryan shouted.

As soon as he said it, Sweetie Belle got the girls moving toward Ponyville, and at the same time, the bear lunged. Ryan pulled out his gun, not his first choice, and took aim. Stopping power meant nothing to a bear, but if he were lucky, a well-placed headshot would at least stun him.

But he wasn’t lucky; the bear swatted the gun away, claws tearing flesh off Ryan hand as they passed. The gun landed fifteen feet away to Ryan’s right, toward the fillies.

“Ryan!” Sweetie Belle shouted as he lost his weapon.

The bear went for a swipe, but Ryan ducked down and rolled away sideways, trying to make it difficult for the bear to get him. When it recovered, it stood on its hind legs again, revealing an enormous hole in the ground where it had just landed. Ryan had gone left and now found himself even further from his gun than he would have liked.

“YOU HAVE TO GO NOW!” Ryan shouted, eyes still on the bear.

It went at him again, and this time, he ran in the same direction. It chased him all the way to the tree line, where, after briefly locking gazes with the Wraith, Ryan jumped up and kicked off of a tree to reach a branch. He had to grab on with his left hand, since he right was torn up and felt like it was broken.

The bear stopped underneath him, about fourteen feet below, and roared voraciously at him. Ryan risked a look away to see if the fillies were there; they were gone. The hoofprints didn’t go toward town, but they went toward Zecora’s hut, which was good enough. She would be able to protect them from the bear.

The bear stood on its hind legs again and tried to reach Ryan. At its max height, it reached up with his massive front legs, giving it another few feet of height. Ryan hadn’t seen that coming, so when the paws and claws came for him, he wasn’t quite ready.

The bear grabbed him by the foot and threw him away form the tree like a rag doll. Ryan slammed into the ground and rolled and bounced over toward his gun, grunting and swearing along the way. He was cut up on the way, and from the feel of it, probably had at least two cracked ribs.

He shot back up and tried to get to his firearm, but the bear reached him first. From behind, it brought its paw around and smacked him in the side, breaking any cracked ribs, and maybe one uncracked rib, and sent him flying again. The claws dragged along his side as the bear struck, leaving three large lacerations on his side.

Ryan managed to get up and move just in time for the bear to miss him when it came down. He rolled away, wincing from the pain in his side as his wounds rubbed against the ground. Far enough away, he got back up and ran to the tree line and leaned against a tree, eyes ever on the bear.

The Wraith tsk’ed him from behind. “You know, fighting a bear hardly seems like a good idea,” he said.

“Well it wasn’t my goddam idea,” Ryan responded raspily.

The bear locked onto its target again and ran toward Ryan with incalculable speed. At least to Ryan. Judging from its speed, Ryan knew that id he moved at just the right time, he would slam into the tree behind him, or maybe even veer off and hit the Wraith. He just had to time it perfectly. If he could give himself a chance to escape-

He judged it all wrong. The bear was upon him too quickly. Time seemed to slow down. As it raised its paw, images flashed before Ryan’s eyes. His friends back home. His friends here. The fillies, running away. It all meant the world to him, and here he was, about to lose it.

He put his arms up to defend himself, but to no avail. The bear’s paw and claws came down on him, striking him across the neck and slashing deep, ripping away the scarf from his neck. Ryan didn’t go flying this time, didn’t move much at all. His arms were swatted away and both made loud SNAPs as they left their spots. Ryan felt pinned against the tree, not by the bear, but merely by the force of its strike.

Ryan could feel his neck getting wet and tried to bring his hand sup to top the bleeding. With broken arms, though, he was hopeless to stop it, and slid down the tree behind him to the ground. His rapidly fading vision granted him the time to see the bear being pushed away by an unseen force. In the distance, he could just make out the sounds of shouting and yelling for him.

Just before his vision faded to black, he spotted movement by the end of the path, and he decided that if he died here, he could die proud of the fact that he died defending something worth fighting for.

Warm.

That was how he would describe it; warm.

It encompassed his entire body, like a little cocoon of heat. His eyes were shut, so he couldn’t see, but he could still feel a little bit. The cocoon was made of wool, it felt like. But there was something else to it. His right hand had some kind of tape and cloth on it. The same was for his side, and he felt something constricting his neck.

Ryan tried to open his eyes, but when he did, his eyes were greeted by a blinding light. He groaned in displeasure, wishing that the light would simply go away, but it didn’t work. He couldn’t turn his head because of the restrictive thing around his neck, so he could only shut his eyes as tight as possible.

He couldn’t move his right arm because it was tied down; his left side hurt too much for his left arm. He could still move his legs, but he felt too tired to do anything with them. His cocoon of warmth was nice, though, so not moving wasn’t really a problem.

He tried to open his eyes again, but the searing pain was just as bad as before. He barely caught a glimpse of what may have been the source, but it was obstructed by something. From the feeling on the sides of his head, Ryan guessed that something was wrapped around his face. If this was the Wraith’s idea of a joke, Ryan wasn’t about to start laughing. It would hurt too much anyway.

He could hear noises in the distance. Several voices, females, talking about something that sounded delicate. It was impossible to make out what it was, but Ryan was never one to give up.

He slowly tried to move his legs around to find a way out of his cocoon and off whatever platform he was on so he could stand. After a few minutes of moving at a mind-numbingly slow pace, he found the ledge and let his feet be taken off by gravity. Once they were on the floor, he tried to crawl off, but instead found out he had a hot date with a hardwood floor.

He landed on his side, making him hiss form the pain and grunt loudly. He couldn’t tell, but the conversation in the other room came to an abrupt halt. A moment, later, the carriers of the conversation rushed into the room to find Ryan on the ground, getting blood on the nice rug underneath him.

“RYAN!!” one seemingly shouted. Ryan jerked his head from the pain of the loudness of whoever it was.

He felt himself being lifted off the ground and floated back to his cocoon, where he was promptly wrapped back up and placed gently. He could hear a very quiet voice chiding the magic one for being too loud, and the loud one apologized for being too loud.

Ryan breathing was ragged and sounded awful. He couldn’t see the beings around him, but he could tell that they were giving him sad, piteous looks. One of them walked over to him and petted his arm gently, very gently, and he could hear her breathing like she was right next to his face.

“Ryan?” she said quietly.

“Gnngha,” Ryan said in response. It hurt to talk.

“Ryan, it’s Fluttershy,” the voice said. “The girls are here with me. You’re safe now. Nothing will hurt you.” Ryan saw a number of his things, including his gun, jacket, and other clothes, laying in a bloody heap on the floor in the corner. At least eh still had them.

Ryan moved his mouth as if trying to speak, but had to stop, as the pain in his neck was too great. His ragged breathing grew faster and less stable as he tried to do things, and he was already starting to panic. Fluttershy was able to keep him calm, though.

“Ryan, you’re safe now,” she said gently, still petting his side. It was a strangely comforting gesture. “Mr. Bear is sorry. He doesn’t know what came over him, and he promises that he won’t ever hurt you again.”

“I know exactly what came over Mr. Bear,” Ryan thought to himself.

He heard the clip-clop of another pony coming up to him. “I’m still looking into that,” she said. It sounded like Twilight. “I don’t know why Mr. Bear did that yesterday.” Ryan remembered. The Wraith, the bear, the fillies-

“Ngh!” he said, trying to speak.

“Oh, dear, please, don’t!” Fluttershy pleaded. “You mustn’t talk, it hurts you too much. You need to rest.”

Ryan had to know, though. “G-gurlsz…” he managed, nearly going into a coughing fit. Fluttershy gently put her hoof to his head and stroked his hair. Her hoof was surprisingly soft to the touch.

“They’re fine,” Fluttershy said. “They came back to Zecora’s to get me. When they arrived, in such a panic, I ran as fast as I could.”

Ryan felt relief wash over him, and suddenly, he felt much more tired. His muscles started to relax, and he felt like he was in free-fall. A few moments later, he was fast asleep and breathing peacefully.

The girls let Fluttershy check on him, then left when they knew he was okay. They made sure to leave quietly since Ryan was especially vulnerable to noise right now. He was laid out on Fluttershy’s couch, in the living room, so they had to go outside to talk.

Outside, they all exchanged worried, yet slightly relieved glances. Fluttershy, shockingly enough, was the least worried, though that may have been from the fact that she was the one to administer the medical aid. She knew what she was doing, but that didn’t stop the rest of the girls from worrying.

“So…” Rainbow Dash broke the silence. “What happened out there?” Everyone looked to Fluttershy for the answer.

She shook her head. “I don’t know. Mr. Bear says he doesn’t remember any of what happened. He remembered seeing Ryan on the path without the crusaders, then saw him again on the path without them a few minutes later. After that, he can’t remember anything.”

“Y’all sure about that, Fluttershy?” Applejack asked. “Ah mean, as trustworthy as Mr. Bear seems, could he have been hungry and you just saved Ryan from being eaten?”

“Applejack!” Fluttershy said defensively. “How could you? Mr. Bear would never hurt anyone! I know him too well, he would never be able to lie to me.”

“Well, what happened then?” Rainbow asked. “I mean, this doesn’t just happen randomly. He nearly died out there! Weren’t you the one who said he should have been dead by the time you got him here?”

Fluttershy sat down. “Yes… but I don’t think we can know anything until either tomorrow, when Ryan’s neck can be fixed, or when the crusaders can calm down enough to talk about it.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. They couldn’t know for now, and anyway, they had some other things to take care of. Soarin’ and Fancy Pants needed to be informed of Ryan’s condition, as did Mac. Princess Luna would want to know what happened, and she may want to visit. They would all want to know exactly how he was, of course.

“How bad are his injuries?” Applejack asked.

Fluttershy sighed. “Really, really bad,” she said. “He had lacerations on his torso, neck, and head, and nearly bled out. Both his forearms were broken, the ulnas were snapped in two.” The ponies shuddered at the thought. “He had a concussion, which is why he’s so sensitive to light and noise, and he had three broken ribs and two cracked ribs.”

“Oh my,” Rarity said.

“That’s not all,” Fluttershy said. “At some point, he sprained his ankle, and I guess luckily, the bones in his wrists were bruised instead of being broken. And thanks to Twilight’s magic and the magic of the doctors who came this morning, he should be healed up by the Gala.”

“That’s good,” Twilight said. “We wouldn’t want him to miss it.”

“Oh, dear, and Cinny would no doubt refuse to go!” Rarity added. “They are going together, after all.”

Twilight looked to Pinkie. Her mane was flat out, drooping and swaying in the light wind like the last time she was super sad. Her eyes were big and watery, and she looked about ready to cry.

“You okay, Punkie?” Twilight asked.

Pinkie nodded. “I just… need to get my head around this.” She said.

Fluttershy looked back to the door. “He needs to rest for now, so we should all leave him be,” she said. “We need to tell the others about his condition, and let them know they can visit tomorrow.”

“Are you certain it has to be tomorrow?” Rarity asked. “Cinny may want to stop by today.”

“I don’t know when he’ll be awake, but if she stops by and he is, I guess she can see him.” Fluttershy didn’t want to cause a fuss.

“Alright girls, we should get moving,” Twilight said. “Applejack, you tell your brother. Rainbow Dash, it’s up to you to tell Soarin’ about this with whatever method you can.”

“Got it,” both girls said.

“Rarity, you tell Cinny, and I’ll send a letter to the princess. I’ll tell her not to go into Ryan’s dreams, since the extra mental stress might be detrimental to his health.” Rarity nodded her agreement.

Fluttershy stayed where she was as her friends all ran off to go do their duties as Ryan’s friends and gather the others who were close to him. She was to remain nearby in case something went catastrophically wrong and Ryan needed immediate aid. From what she had seen, Ryan had no serious infections or illnesses from the exposure, which was a miracle, and he only had bodily injuries.

She desperately wanted to know so much about what happened to Ryan out there. She knew that the fillies were attacked, and Ryan ran in to save them like anypony would expect of him. But why did he stay and fight? After the fillies ran, he could have escaped, she knew he could. What drove him to go into a fight he knew he couldn’t win? What was so important that Ryan had to stay and risk death?

Fluttershy would have to find out later; right now, she just needed to make sure Ryan was comfortable and that he wasn’t at risk of serious complications.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[This scene contains content that may be disturbing to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.]

Ryan crouched in the jungle, smoking a cigarette and watching the trees for movement. Who knew where they were, what they would try next… It was enough to set any man on edge.

He stood up and listened intently. The sounds of the jungle were uniquely quiet, yet so loud, like they were pounding in his ear. They were perfect for concealing the sounds of the movement in the night, perfect for stealth. The enemy was near, they were always near, but no one could ever hear them.

Ryan picked up his M16 of the ground and made his way back to his Marines. Vietnam was an unforgiving place, and any man separated form his fellow warriors for too long was liable to be shot or captured. As he walked back, he felt his helmet fitting snugly on his head, his only protection, against the enemy. His unit was given no flak jackets, as they were typically reserved for their pilots.

He entered the clearing where his unit was, a group of twelve Marines and a Sheridan tank that they were given after the Army decided it had too many of it. The tank had cage armor around it to protect it from RPG fire since it was a light tank. The guys wanted to airdrop it into the war zone like they heard it could, but its precious cargo was a little too important.

“Gear up, boys, we’re heading out!” Ryan shouted. He received a large array of “Oorah!”s from his men as they got to work.

Ryan walked over to the other side of the Sheridan, where the precious cargo was standing around. They were three individuals, and the Marines had no idea how they had found themselves in Vietnam in 1969. One young woman, mid twenties, maybe, with her little boy, and another young woman, probably not even out of high school.

The Marines had found them on a routine patrol, cold, wet, tired, and practically dead. No one could imagine why they were out there, and when they finally picked up the nerve to ask, the civilians said they had been captured by bad people and left to die in the woods after they caused trouble for the bad men. The Marines felt like they had an obligation to get the noncombatants out, so they offered them a way home. They were riding on top of, or in the case of the kid, inside of, the Sheridan.

“So, how’re you people doing?” Ryan asked. The ladies looked up, startled, but the kid just beamed at him.

“Awesome!” the kid said excitedly. “I get to ride in the tank, just like my grand dad did in Europe!” Ryan smiled at him, glad that the kid had no idea just what he was saying.

“We’re doing just fine, Sergeant,” his mother said as she put her arms around him and hugged him tight. “It’s been a long journey. We just hope to get home soon.”

“I can promise you; all of you; you’ll be home soon. We just need to get back to base, and a liberty plane will take you home.” Liberty planes were tha planes that brought the men home after their deployments were up. Draftees gave them that name because it meant no more war.

“That’s good,” the other girl said. “My boyfriend is probably worried about me. And he’s almost eighteen; he’ll want to know what it is like here.”

Ryan faked his next smile. If that kid was turning eighteen, he would, without a doubt, want to know about this place. Ryan had already been here for three years. That’s what happens when you enlist of your own will. Few people would be able to handle this kind of life, and even Ryan was approaching the end of his rope.

“And I do hope that you aren’t able to fill him in based on your personal experience,” Ryan said. He looked at his watch, not to see the time, really just to look like it mattered. “We’ll be moving out soon. Get yourselves up on the tank and get ready.”

“Yay, another ride!” the boy shouted as he jumped up and climbed his way into the tank.

Ryan walked off to check on his men as the women prepared to ride off on the tank. It was already late, the sun falling from its place in the sky, and darkness would soon take the jungle in its ghoulish hold. The Marines had to prepare quickly; the enemy loved to move around in the darkness.

It didn’t take long for the Marines to be ready, and they were moving back along the trail before anyone had a chance to complain. Not that anyone would complain; even if being on the move was tiring, everyone just wanted to get back to the base.

The trail was a scary place in the blackened night. Enemies, animals, plants, improvised bombs, everything about the jungle wanted them dead. The tank never went first, what with its precious cargo, it was always in the middle with men on either side of it. If someone or several someones had to die, even the draftees had to agree that the untrained women and child were not the ones to do it.

Ryan stood fifteen feet in front of the tank on every patrol. If they were ambushed, the enemy would try to shoot out the leader of the group, and if the leader made himself as open as possible, away from noncombatants, who could resist that kind of target? It would draw the fire away from the majority of the unit, letting them shoot back enough to keep the enemy away.

Ryan’s feet ached in his boots, and he could feel the sweat starting to lube up his socks. The weight of the things they carried was starting to get to everyone, but Ryan could start to feel it a bit more than the others. He could feel it especially bad when bullets whizzed by his head, he could feel the heat of the jungle sapping the strength from his body, he could feel his boots slogging through the mud…

He looked down at his boots. “What the hell?”

“Sir, we’ve hit a river!” one of his men called from the front. “We’ll need to cross if we want to get back to base by tomorrow!”

Ryan sighed. “The tank can cross it, however deep it is!” he shouted back. “We’ll have to provide cover while it’s moving. Try to find any areas where people can cross and get up there! The guys behind the tank will wait here while it moves across.”

“Yes sir!” the Marine replied. Ryan could hear, but not see, the Marines already crossing the river up ahead. Being one of the front men, Ryan had to get moving so that he could do the job he inadvertently assigned himself.

Ryan ran forward and saw his Marines slogging though thick, pungent-smelling mud, then having to walk on stones and rocks to get the rest of the way. The tank rolled along behind Ryan, and thanks to its floatation ability, it wouldn’t need to slow down. Ryan ran forward to make his ay across the river and provide cover.

He started trudging through mud and nearly lost his boots with every step. The mud sucked at his feet and he was forced to carry his rifle above his head in case he fell. By the time he hit the rocks, about halfway across the river, the tank was already caught up to him. He could feel the Earth shake from the weight of the tank that was now loudly next to him.

And then, all Hell broke loose.

“CONTACT!!!!”

The instant his voice hit Ryan’s ears, a fiery explosion lighted up the river from next to the tank. Ryan was thrown down onto the rock he was standing on, a loud ringing in his ear blocking out any other noise. He could feel an intense heat on his left side form the explosion, followed by the icy cold of the water swallowing him up.

When he stood out of the water, picking his rifle up, he could see flashes in the trees from enemy rifle and machine gun fire. Next to him, in the water, he could just barely make out the shape of the tank, track knocked off, sitting in the water. Then, a thought occurred to him; where were the ladies sitting when the tank was hit?

His worst fears were assuaged when he saw them shoot up out of the water, sputtering for breath, and swimming in his direction. Ryan got onto his knees on his rock and started returning fire into the trees, hoping to kill at least a couple of the fuckers out there before they had a chance to kill the civilians.

The ladies approached, and the mother looked like she was in a panic.

“My son is still in there!” she screamed.

Ryan looked a the tank, which was taking intense fire. No more rockets, thankfully, but there was at least some 7.62 fire.

“Get down low and stay behind a rock!” Ryan shouted.

He slung his rifle over his shoulder and made his way to the tank. Though it was only a few feet away, it felt like it was a mile out. When Ryan reached the side of the tank, he placed his feet on the twisted and burned metal to climb up to the top. Bullets slammed into the sides of the tank as he climbed up, all just barely missing him. But the bullets couldn’t remain intact, and super-heated shards peppered his face, stinging his eyes and singing his hair.

When he reached the top of the tank, he found the hatch closed. He slammed his fist against it, shouting for whoever was inside to open it up and get out. After what felt like ages, the top opened up, and a small boy looked up fearfully at the man in the darkness outside his Aluminum tomb.

“It’s okay, son, I’ve got you!” Ryan yelled. He reached down and grabbed the boy and pulled him up and out of the tank.

Ryan hopped off the tank with the boy and waded his way to the mother, who grabbed for her baby boy without regard for Ryan. Ryan handed him off to her without complaint and lowered himself as much as possible to avoid the oncoming fire.

“Alright, here’s the plan!” he shouted, getting everyone’s attention. “We need to get across the river! The only way we’re making it is if we get moving and stay low! Stick to the rocks, and-“

Mortar rounds started falling around them, one close enough to knock the group off its feet. Ryan fell back into the water along with the others, but when he resurfaced, he couldn’t see any of them. He whipped his head round, searching frantically for them, but couldn’t find them. While he looked, another Marine came up from behind him and grabbed his shoulder.

“Sir!” he shouted. “SIR!”

“What!?” Ryan replied, still searching.

“Sir, they started across the river when you were knocked into the water!” the Marine said. “We have to get out of the kill zone, NOW!”

Ryan looked toward the other side of the river, and sure enough, he saw them, heads barely out of the water, making their way across. The mother was struggling with her child, but she was managing. Ryan and his fellow Marine rushed through the water to get to their side and cover them with their bodies.

The civilians were moving slowly, unaccustomed to the situation, and were sitting ducks in the water. It was a stroke of luck that they hadn’t been killed yet. Bullets plunged into the water around them, but none hit their marks. Ryan and the Marine were almost there…

They were within vocal distance, finally. “Are you alright!?” Ryan asked.

“Please, help, we’re going to die out here!” the young girl screamed. “Help me, please, I don’t want to die!” When she finished screaming, the boy started to cry in his mothers watery embrace.

“We’re getting you out of here!” Ryan shouted. He and his Marine were upon the women and child now. “Marine, give us covering fire while we-“

Another mortar round slammed into the river next to them, knocking everyone off their barely held footing under the water. The river was deep here, and it was rough enough in the fighting that swimming it would be extremely difficult. When everyone resurfaced, Ryan called out.

“Everyone alright?!” he asked.

The Marine behind him saw the terrified look on the mother’s face and looked around to find the source. He soon realized tha tit wasn’t what was there, but what wasn’t.

“The kid went under, Sir!” he shouted.

“I’ll get him!” Ryan shouted back.

Without hesitation, Ryan dove into the cold river water and continued to dive down. The river was unnaturally deep here, deeper than it had any right to be. Ryan could just make out a shape at the bottom, only by the aid of the flashes from the battle above. Feeling his lungs constrict form the lack of air, Ryan kept going until he had his hands on the figure in the abyss. When he picked it up, it felt furry and soft, not like any boy he had ever grabbed. But it was all he had, so he took it and went up.

He shot back to the surfaced and sucked in a much needed breath of air. Instantly, he lifted up the figure into the air so it could breathe too.

The figure he lifted out of the water was Sweetie Belle, and she sputtered and coughed as she tried to take in air and survive her near drowning. Ryan took one look at her, then pulled her close and swam. He had to get her out of here, he had to get her away from all this. She had no business seeing this sort of violence.

He approached the shallower water and saw Fluttershy, carrying Apple Bloom and Scootaloo on her back. They all looked terrified, panic-stricken eyes surveying the battlegrounds for any signs of enemies. Ryan made his way to the muddy riverbank, doing his best not to be sucked in by the earth.

“Fluttershy!” Ryan shouted.

She turned. “Ryan!” she said. “Oh, thank goodness you got her out of the water!”

“Here.” Ryan handed Sweetie Belle off to her. “You take her and get someplace safe. I and the Marines will fight these guys off.” Fluttershy stood there for a moment, looking concerned. “There’s no time to wait, GO!” With the order, Fluttershy ran off into the darkness and out of sight.

Ryan unslung his rifle and pointed it in the direction of the flashes from the brush and let loose a hail of 5.56mm bullets. He had heard about a way to change one of the parts so that the three round burst setting became fully automatic, and he always used it in these scenarios. But however many rounds he put downrange, the incoming bullets never seemed to lessen.

Ryan’s Marine from the river came up to him. “Sir, we’re outnumbered too heavily! Radio’s dead, but we managed to get out a call for some Cobras before we lost it!”

Ryan looked at the Marine. “Nice work, Corporal Harris!” he replied. “We should be able to hold off until then-“

Seemingly from nowhere, a gargantuan barrage of bullets rained down on the pair while they spoke, littering the ground around them. Ryan dropped onto his belly to avoid the bullets, but the Marine wasn’t quick enough. Ryan saw his body jerk all about in every which way until it eventually fell to the ground.

“Marine!” Ryan yelled. He crawled over to the young man’s body.

He was beyond saving. The machine gun fire, as that was all it could have been, tore his chest wide open and shredded everything inside like it went through a blender. The colors of blood and organ tissue and muscle and bone mixed in liquid form to create a smoothie of evisceration inside the Marine’s chest. His head had been hit several times, leaving barely more than the stump of what was his neck and pouring blood into the foot-deep mud around them. When Ryan lifted his head up, mud poured out of the many holes in his body along with most of his insides.

Ryan dropped the body, hopelessly lost, and moved. He had to move, or he would die. He ran away from the dead Marine and toward drier land, where he would hopefully be able to get his footing and fight back.

He reached the drier land, but right when he did, it started pouring rain. The fire seemed to die down instantly at the falling water, though it may have simply been masked by the noise. Ryan kept his rifle barrel pointed forward, listening for either the sounds of his men, the ponies, or the enemy.

He spotted movement in a bush and pointed his rifle toward it. Ryan remained absolutely still; to move could mean to die. A bolt of lightning light up the night sky, and briefly, Ryan saw an enemy foot soldier in the bushes. He opened fire a that spot, but when the lightning flashed again an instant later, the soldier was gone.

Ryan turned in his spot and scanned the area. There was movement all around him, he could see it even through his rain-obscured vision. The enemy was everywhere, waiting for him, waiting for the perfect time to strike.

“Marines!” Ryan finally decided to shout. No one responded. “Sound off!” Still, nothing. He was on his own.

He kept turning in his place, searching the area for movement. Every time a bolt of lightning flashed, he saw an enemy, and every time, he opened fire only to hit the air. The enemy was fast, too fast, and Ryan hadn’t much of a chance if he waited for them to show themselves every time. He kept his eyes open, squinting to see through the drenched, murky night.

His eyes caught a bit of movement, just behind some bushes, and he let loose a hail of rounds in the general direction of whatever moved. The magazine never seemed to empty, and he just kept on firing until finally his gun jammed and the barrel evaporated any droplet of rain unfortunate enough to land on it.

Ryan sat back and sucked in air. The rain started to let up, and before long, the sun was shining again. The area was drenched from the rain, yet more blood ran through the ground than water. Ryan could hear Marines talking to each other in the distance.

“Sergeant?!” one shouted out.

Ryan waved his hand. “Over here!” he shouted back.

A minute later, a group of twelve Marines walked his way, haggard, exhausted, and some bleeding. They were all standing around at first, but then some of them decided to look around, find the casualties. The enemy usually carried off their dead, so that was out. They just wanted to find their Marines and the ponies.

“How bad was it?” Ryan asked.

One marine crouched next to him and smoked a cigarette. “We lost eight guys and our tank,” he said. “And we can’t seem to find-“

“Guys, I found the ponies!” a Marine yelled.

The Marine next to Ryan stood. “I stand corrected,” he said. “Let’s go.”

Ryan stood and walked alongside the Marine to the other one who said he found the ponies. Ryan would have to make sure he gave them a good meal and a warm place to sleep when they got back to the base, it was the least he could do. They were never meant to be here anyway, never supposed to…

Ryan felt his stomach lurch. “No,” he said.

Before him lay the bodies of the ponies, tattered and ripped and beaten up. He could tell Fluttershy, but only because she was the biggest. Bullet holes riddled her side, dozens of them, and the flesh seemed to peel away and reveal the sheening, clean muscle underneath. Bones protruded out of her sides and stuck up into the air. Her hooves had been shattered by bullets, with bits and pieces scattered here and there. The skin on her face looked like it had been peeled away to reveal the skull underneath, and an empty eye socket was all that there was to greet Ryan.

Her wings were featherless now, barren, skin-colored thing protruding off her back like cancerous growths. Her spine was broken and bent disturbingly far, and her tail had been so ripped up that little pink hairs decorated the entire area.

He knew who the other three were; though he couldn’t tell which was which. Little legs were sitting on their own, away from whoever had previously owned them. There was no colored fur to be seen, no identifying anatomical traits left. They were barely more than slabs of meat that you see on a grill.

“No…”

Ryan fell forward and vomited out all of the nothing he had been eating. Some of what came out looked like blood, but whether or not it was from the vomit or it was already there was hard to tell. The other Marines just stood there, looking sadly at the bodies, not doing anything. One of them finally knelt next to Fluttershy and examined her wounds.

“Bad news gents,” he said. “This was friendly fire. These aren’t 7.62 wounds.”

Time froze. Ryan looked up at the frozen Marine who said that, the one who knew exactly what had happened. Ryan still had his rifle in his hands, and he pic edit up to look at it more closely. The grooves on the weapon where his hands had worn it down were even more prominent now. The smoke from the barrel continued to flow until it was like a fire was inside the rifle.

Ryan stood up and time took its place once again. The Marines turned to look at their sergeant.

“Sir?” one of them said.

Ryan didn’t respond. His face had a catatonic look to it, a look of total and utter hopelessness and loss. He turned around and started walking toward the river.

“Let him go,” someone said. “Just let him go.”

Ryan walked to the river. Nothing else mattered; not the mud, sucking at his boots, not the water and blood filling them. Not the Marines watching him go, not the bodies he was leaving behind. All that mattered was the gun in his hand, the blood on his hand. He removed the helmet from his head and dropped it, where it slowly sank into the mud.

Ryan’s feet hit the water, but he didn’t notice. He just kept on walking, walking like there was someplace he had to go. The water rose up slowly, like it was trying to push him back, but he just kept on walking. He never looked back, his Marines never came to get him. The rifle seemed to fade away under the water, leaving him with only the blood on his hands.

There was no noise as he went further into the river. The birds weren’t chirping, the plants didn’t move in the wind. It was complete silence, muted. The icy water became colder, nearly frozen, but Ryan didn’t notice. He just kept on walking.

His head face was entering the water. The river calmed and became completely flat, with no evidence that anything had just happened. The tank sank into the river quietly and without fanfare, and everything looked like it was as it should be. But it didn’t feel that way, it couldn’t. Everything was wrong, no matter how hard the world tried to make it seem like nothing was wrong.

And at last, Ryan’s head dipped under the water, and all was silent and unmoving. He never resurfaced, he never came up. The Marines went back to their base, and the Ryan faded from memory.

He was just a colt to forget.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Gah!”

Ryan’s eyes shot open and he tried to get up, but the pain in his chest and abdomen was too much. He was forced to lay in his spot, sweaty and hot, and just live with the immense pain. He hissed through bared teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to shut out the images.

“Ryan!?” Fluttershy said with alarm. She ran into the room form the kitchen with wide eyes and a frazzled mane. “Ryan, are you alright?” She flew over to the young man to check on him.

Unexpectedly, he grabbed her form her flight and yanked her down. She ‘eeped’ lightly as she was pulled into a tight embrace, so tight she could barely breathe. She could feel Ryan’s bot breath on the back of her neck and a wet spot beginning to grow on her fur. He had sporadic jerks, mostly bobbing, like he was crying.

“Ryan?” she said gently. He didn’t let go. “Ryan, you’re alright. You’re safe. You don’t need to worry…”

His grip lightened, and Fluttershy was able to slide off the bed and stand before the human. His eyes were red and exhausted, and they were wet with tears. He sniffed loudly, trying to keep his nasal fluids from ruining the couch, but it was not very successful. Fluttershy fetched a rag to help keep his little area nice and clean.

Ryan didn’t say a word while she worked, just stared at her with guilty eyes that were filled with pain. Fluttershy didn’t know why he would look at her that way, but she was determined to find out. As soon as he was clean and safe. When she finished, she tossed the rag into a can nearby and sat next to Ryan.

“Ryan..?” she said. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Ryan replied quickly. “Just a dream.”

“Nothing that’s ‘just a dream’ can do that,” Fluttershy said. She set her hoof gently on Ryan’s shoulder. “Something is wrong.”

“Fluttershy, I-“

“Young man, you are going to tell me what’s wrong right now.” Fluttershy stared into his eyes as she spoke with a determined gaze. “Tell me.”

Ryan felt mesmerized by the stare, like he was looking into infinity. Everything seemed different in her stare, everything seemed… safe. The world seemed to be protected in her stare. The world seemed less horrible there. If only he could stay there.

“Fluttershy… you don’t want to hear it…” Ryan said weakly, doing whatever he could to avoid talking about it.

“I do, Ryan,” Fluttershy said. “The only way you can get over your inner demons is by fighting them and kicking them out.”

Ryan gave her a pathetic, weak look, like that would convince her not to press more. He did his best to give her a look like he was an injured animal, trying to gain as much sympathy as possible. Fluttershy was to have none of it though. She had gotten this look countless times, and countless times, she was able to resist it.

Ryan closed his eyes and laid his head back. “I was crouching in the jungle, scanning the trees…”

Fluttershy could hardly believe what she was hearing, let alone picture it. The imagery he was describing was the most horrific thing she had ever heard. Nopony she knew of had ever suffered such nightmares, even returning soldiers from the front lines. The worst part was that she and the fillies were the source of the pain in this dream; they were the subjects of his terror. But with nightmares like this, they were never isolated incidents.

“And so I walked into the river. I didn’t know what else to do… I couldn’t g back to base. I couldn’t face my men. I couldn’t go home, not after that. I didn’t know what I would tell everyone, so I… I walked into the river.”

Fluttershy had maneuvered herself during Ryan’s retelling of his dream so that her head was next to him so he could lean into it and cry. He did, more than once, and each time, Fluttershy held him close and did her best to comfort him. It took almost an hour to tell Fluttershy the dream, but it was still early. Ryan had awoken at four in the morning.

“You aren’t there any more,” Fluttershy said. “You’re here with me. You’re safe. You won’t go back there, Ryan. You don’t have to and you never will.”

“I will go back there,” Ryan said. Fluttershy moved up to hold him.

“No, you won’t-“

“I will!” Ryan said. “Every night, every fucking night, I go back there. My friends always die, and it’s always my fault, just like everything else.” He sobbed into her shoulder. “It’s how it was, it’s how it is, and it’s how it will be…” Fluttershy rubbed his back gently, mindful of his injuries.

“It won’t ever be that way again,” she said. “You have control over your life, no one else. It’s up to you to live your life how you believe you should.”

“I know I have control,” Ryan said. “That’s why I’m afraid.”

Fluttershy moved back to look at his face. His eyes were red and shiny, and filled to the brim with the worst kind of fear. She could see his guilt in them, and she saw what was wrong. It was amazing that she never saw it before, that no one saw it. No one had ever addressed it before, and he had been suffering like this for the longest time because no one looked for it.

“You don’t believe in yourself,” Fluttershy concluded aloud.

Ryan sniffed. “There’s nothing to believe in, Fluttershy. Trust me, I’ve looked.”

“You’re wrong, Ryan,” Fluttershy said. She picked up his hand in her hoof. “I believe in you more than anypony else in the world.”

“I’ve failed,” Ryan said. “I failed to protect Harris from harm. I’m the one who attacked him. I failed to protect Nadine. She was raped and murdered. I failed to protect Joey. I executed him in my own arms. I failed my friends by not coming home. I failed my parents by going back on everything they taught me. I failed my god by throwing everything His lessons aside for my own personal gain. I’m a complete failure. How could anyone believe in me?”

“You aren’t a failure!” Fluttershy said loudly. “Twice now, the girls would be dead without you! I would be dead without you! Fleetfoot would have been terribly assaulted if not for you! Rainbow Dash would be dead without you! Rarity would have been mugged if not for you! Princess Luna would still be in mourning if you hadn’t chosen to come back and show her that you were still alive!”

“That was my fault to start-“

“You insist that you’re such a bad person Why do you keep doing these good things, then? Why do you keep helping ponies, if you’re so evil? Why do you go out of your way to make the crusaders happy and safe? Why do you spend time with us and smile and try to make us feel good about life? Huh?” Fluttershy leaned right up in Ryan’s face when she finished.

“Fluttershy-“

“You don’t believe in yourself because you’re afraid to,” Fluttershy said. “But there is no reason to be afraid of that!” She floated up and poked Ryan in the chest, getting him to grunt from the discomfort. “You made your mistakes, that’s true. But we all do. Who would have done anything better in you situation? Maybe some, but would they have tried to put a stop to the bad men and what they were doing? You never turned your back completely to what you believed in, Ryan.

You sought to protect the things you saw as worth living for. You still do. You take upon yourself to protect the good and innocent, to be the one who stands between us and the dangerous evils tha lurk out there. You take the hits so that we don’t have to; you make sacrifices that we can’t even begin to comprehend. If you do all this for us, Ryan, then tell me: What makes you so evil?”

Ryan blinked twice at her, trying to formulate a response. Nothing came to mind, though. Ryan hadn’t thought about what he was doing here much at all. Had he really done all those things she was talking about? Was what she was saying true?

“Fluttershy-“

“You just need to learn to believe in yourself again, Ryan,” Fluttershy said. She took a couple of steps back. “Maybe that’s why you were brought there?” With a question lingering in the air, Fluttershy took her leave of Ryan and went back to the kitchen, where she promptly went back to sleeping on her kitchen table.

It was silent when she left, and Ryan had nothing but his thoughts and that lingering question to think about now. Why did he do all those things here, he, the man who killed dozens of people? Why did he protect the ponies when it was anything but convenient for him? He almost died. He hadn’t gained anything.

He also hadn’t gained anything from killing Narendra. He hadn’t gained anything from killing his henchman, from doing so much damage to the Haqqani terror network in Southeast Asia. He never did know why he did those thing. Not before.

He did those things, he did these things, and he always would do those things because they were to protect the people who needed it. He did those things because there were so many people and ponies who couldn’t protect themselves. They needed someone, and no matter the personal cost, Ryan had always sought to fill the role of the guardian.

He had the abilities. He had the will. He had the stamina. He could do it; therefore, he did. He never really thought about it, never considered himself that good of a person. Could Fluttershy be right?

But no, Ryan knew that there was a reason for why he did these things, a reason that he could never identify until now.

He did these things because he loved to do them, he loved how he felt afterwards. He enjoyed looking at a world where people were happy, where there was less negativity to be spread around. He did these things because being good to others is its own unique reward. Doing good things for others is what makes life worth living, what makes the world worth living in, worth fighting for.

It wasn’t until now that Ryan understood the true meaning of that phrase. People throw it around all the time, sure, but they just want people to be nicer to each other. They don’t quite get what it really means. He did understand it now. He comprehended the true value of doing good in the world wherever possible.

Ryan had received many gifts in this world, gifts he could never repay, but Fluttershy may have just given him a gift that most people don’t even know exists; Now, he understood.

Fluttershy poked her head back into the room. “Oh, I had Rarity fix up the scarf,” she said. She walked out with it in her hoof. “I thought you would want that, since it’s really a very nice scarf.”

Ryan glanced over to her and shook his head. He tried to speak, but he had some trouble, choked up by emotions and residual blood, so Fluttershy trotted over. She leaned into him so that she could hear.

“Keep it,” Ryan said.

Fluttershy stepped back and took one look at the scarf, smiled at Ryan, then left the room. She understood; words weren’t necessary.

That day, Ryan woke up again at some time after eight. Fluttershy could be heard lightly snoring in the kitchen. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the world was starting to get into its day. It was a nice, peaceful morning.

Until the door nearly came down.

“RYAN!” a little voice called out from the other side of the door. “Ryan, are you in there?”

“Yeah, I’m in here!” Ryan shouted back, though his voice was coarse as sand. “Fluttershy-“

“I’m coming!” Fluttershy said, groggily bumping into the walls and things as she flew to the door. When she opened it, three differently colored little balls of blur ran in under her followed by a slow mountain named Big Macintosh.

“Morning, Shy,” he said slowly. “Y’all doin’ okay?”

Fluttershy smiled drearily and leaned on her colt. “Great now,” she said. She and Mac cuddled at the door for a moment before coming in. While they did that, Ryan had to contend with the three fillies bouncing up and down in front of him trying to talk at the same time.

“Girls, one at a time!” Ryan said in a loud whisper.

“Are you alright?!” Scootaloo asked in a panic.

“Yeah, thanks to Fluttershy’s amazing medical abilities,” Ryan said. He threw a look her way, getting a blush. Mac made it worse by nibbling on her ear affectionately. “Just recovering.”

“Does it hurt?” Apple Bloom asked. “Ah mean… are ya feelin’… good?” She smiled sheepishly at the end of her question.

“As good as a man in my condition can,” Ryan said with a smile.

Scootaloo couldn’t wait any longer. “Man, you were so COOL!” she shouted. She leaped into the air with the aid of her small wings. “First, we were like, ‘AHH!’, and then you were like, ‘Get behind me!’, and then we were like ‘AAAHHH!’, and you were like, ‘RUUN!’, and we ran and you stayed and fought a bear and saved us and then we came back and Fluttershy carried you here and fixed you as much as possible and it was insane!”

Ryan chuckled lightly. “I guess it was,” he said.

He looked over the little ones. Scootaloo was bouncing up and down excitedly, clearly still on the adrenaline of the near-death experience. Apple Bloom sat there with heeded glee, like she didn’t want to be too happy, but she couldn’t help it. Sweetie Belle was different, though. She just kind of sat there, quiet, looking down, and didn’t move to talk.

“Sweetie?” Ryan said. “Are you alright?” She looked up, and her eyes were filled to the brim with tears.

“I didn’t think you would wake up…” she said. The tears streamed down her face. “I-I though y-y-you were gonna die, and I d-didn’t want that, and-and…” Then, she broke down into tears in her seat and couldn’t talk. Her friends moved in to hold her and try to tell her it was alright, but they couldn’t get to her.

“Sweetie,” Ryan said. She looked back up at him. “Sweetie, come here.” With the help of her friends, she walked up to the couch and looked up at Ryan. “Can you climb up?”

Sweetie Belle made her way up. “I-I was afraid-“

“Ssshh,” Ryan said. He scooted aside so she could sit without hurting him. “I’m right here, and I’m gonna be fine. I have the best doctor in the world looking after me, and no one is gonna come after me again.” Sweetie Belle buried her face in Ryan’s chest. He grunted once, but held it back and took the pain.

“Y-you’ve been living with us for so long,” she said. “You always help me with my schoolwork and make it so much easier. My dad isn’t home very much… When you help me, I-I feel like I have a daddy to watch me and help me and care about me…”

Ryan nodded as she spoke. “I’ll be here for you for a while longer, Sweetie,” Ryan said. “Tell you what. After the Gala, we can go do something. Anything. I’ll be healed up all the way by then. It’ll be your choice. I promise.” Ryan made a note to chat with Magnum later about his frequent trips.

Sweetie belle pulled herself up and sniffed. “R-really?” she asked. Ryan nodded, and she dove into him for a hug. “Thank you!” Ryan felt like he would snap in two, but the filly’s hugs were worth the pain.

“Okay, girls, Ryan needs some more rest,” Fluttershy said. Her mane was even more frazzled than before. “Big Mac will talk to Ryan, then he’ll have to rest. Say goodbye.”

The girls all ran to the door, then turned and waved. “Later, Ryan!” they said in unison. Then they ran off, happy that their human friend was alright and would be good to go in no time. Ryan looked to Mac, who was watching Fluttershy go into the kitchen.

“That kind of energy has to be hard to channel,” Ryan commented.

“Eeyup,” Mac said. He looked at Ryan. “Ah need to thank you fer saving mah sister.”

“No, you don’t,” Ryan said. “I gained just as much as any of you did from doing that. I don’t need any thanks or reward.”

Mac smiled. “Doesn’t change the fact that you have mah gratitude and the gratitude of everypony in town again. At the rate your going, you’ll be more popular than the princesses soon.”

Ryan laughed. “Yeah, imagine that,” he said. “Thanks for coming.”

“Like Ah said; Ah had to thank you And what kind of friend don’t visit his injured buddy to remind him that it as drinking night. We’ll bring something real nice for you-“

“Absolutely not!” Fluttershy shouted, storming out of the kitchen. “No drinking alcohol in this house as long as Ryan is hurt! It won’t be good for him to drink in his state!” The stallion and human pouted at her.

“Come on, one drink won’t hurt me, will it?” Ryan asked.

“With how much blood you lost and still don’t have, yes, it will,” Fluttershy replied with finality. “Ryan will not be drinking tonight.”

“Alright, babe,” Mac said, grabbing her and hugging her. “But they’ll still want to visit him today. Ah think they said they would be here at around noon to see him.” Fluttershy tried to squeeze away, but it didn’t work, so she let Mac hold onto her.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll start preparing some refreshments and snacks for them.” Mac let her go and she went back into the kitchen.

“She’s so perfect,” Mac said quietly.

“You’re a very lucky stallion, Mac,” Ryan said. “Hold onto her; you won’t find another like her.”

“Ah plan to,” Mac said. He leaned in close to Ryan’s head. “And Ah plan to for a long time. That’s part of why Ah came to visit.”

“Oh?” Ryan replied. “And what, pray tell, do you need of a temporarily crippled human?”

Mac puffed his chest out and replied, “Ah’m gonna propose at the Gala.”

Ryan smiled. “About damn time” he said. Mac blinked at him. “I saw it coming, like, two months ago. What do you need me to do?” Mac glanced at the kitchen, terrified that Fluttershy would walk in and see it.

“Ah have my proposal wing piece for her, like you’re supposed to give Pegasus mares,” he said. “Ah made it mahself. Had to get the measurements real discretely-“

“Glossing over that part,” Ryan said.

Mac bushed through his red coat, no easy feat. “Mm hm, yes,” he said. “Ah have a real special thing planned out for her. Ah got some special packages that Ah’ll need someone to deliver to the light ponies at the Gala. Ah want this to be perfect for her. Ah need this executed like a Wonderbolts performance. Can you help me?”

Ryan put his hand up into the air and grinned. Mac grinned right back and brought his hoof around in an arc to meet it. When the hand and hoof met, Ryan closed his fingers around the hoof and the hoof’s wrist bent to get a grip on the hand.

“You can count on me,” Ryan said.

Just then, Fluttershy walked back in with a tray of snacks and another tray that had shots and medicine on it. She set them down on the table next to the bed and Ryan’s eyes went immediately to the shots.

“What are those?” he asked.

“What are you two scheming about?” Fluttershy asked jokingly, ignoring Ryan.

“Just about how we’re gonna overthrow the princesses once everypony love Ryan enough to follow him,” Mac said casually.

“Guys, seriously, whatup with the needles?” Ryan asked. Still, he was ignored.

“Hardy har har,” Fluttershy said. She picked up a needle. “If you don’t want to get pricked, Big Mac, you best get running.”

Mac saw the needle and stood up. “Welp, have fun, Ryan!” He turned and ran out the door.

“Get the hell back here!” Ryan shouted after him. His voice had come back. “Don’t leave me here!”

“Oh, Ryan, it won’t hurt,” Fluttershy said. He looked at her with relief. “It’s a rabies shot, so I just need to do a couple more injections into your abdomen and you’ll be all done.”

“Sounds simply jovial,” Ryan replied.

Ryan was rubbing his aching belly when the door made noise again It wasn’t nearly as loud this time, but he could hear some sort of arguing outside. It sounded like a mare and two stallions, with the two stallions taking one side against the mare. Ryan wanted to answer the door, but Fluttershy had to get it again.

“Oh, hey boys,” Fluttershy said. “And Cinny! I wasn’t expecting you.” Ryan wasn’t expecting her today either. “Please, everypony, come in and make yourselves at home. Ryan is on the couch just over there.”

Ryan slowly turned his head to see his friends come inside. Cinny was in the front, practically shaking from the anticipation of talking to Ryan after he was attacked by the bear. Fancy and Soarin’ were just behind her, looking proudly at their buddy on the couch.

“Ryan,” Cinny said. She took a seat next to him. “How are you feeling?”

“Good, good,” Ryan replied. “It’s always nice to see you.” Cinny smiled and her face flushed at the comment.

“It’s good to see you’re alright, old sport,” Fancy said.

“Yeah, man, we thought you were dead from the way the letters put it.” Soarin’ added a face like he was being hanged to add to the point.

“Well, it’s like I’ve said before; I’m not that easy to kill.” Ryan’s chuckles at his own words proved contagious.

“It seems like every time something big happens to you, it involves you being the hero,” Soarin’ said. “Or you being the victim.”

“I’m never off to the side, am I?” Ryan said.

“Maybe it’s a sign,” Fancy said.

“Yeah, right,” Cinny said. “I think it’s him being reckless and dumb.”

“Hey now, no need to go saying those things, even if they are true,” Soarin’ said.

“Thanks for the impenetrable defense,” Ryan said sarcastically. “And as for Cinny; You know you love it.”

“Well, you are pretty helpless now,” she said with half-lidded eyes. “I can make you as… uncomfortable as I want.”

“I didn’t know you were into cripples,” Ryan replied. “I’m not a perfect state right now, but I’m sure I can oblige.”

“Ryan, Cinny, there are other ponies in the room,” Fluttershy cut in form her spot off to the side. “It isn’t appropriate.”

“You would know about the inappropriate,” Ryan said. Fluttershy furrowed her brow at him. “Just kidding, hahaha, pleasedonthurtme.”

Fluttershy smiled at him with cruel satisfaction and left the room. She reminded the group of the snacks she had set out for them, which Soarin’ eagerly dove into. Fancy declined, having already eaten, and Cinny said she just wasn’t hungry. Soarin’ had his mouth full of cookies when he spoke again.

“So I proposed to Fleetfoot,” he said, now wearing a stupid grin.

Ryan waited. “Well?” he asked. “What did she say?”

“She said yes!” Soarin’ replied and shot into the air. He did a coupe of circles in the room. “We’re gonna get married just after the Gala!”

“Nice!” Ryan said. He tried to sit up, but Cinny pushed him down. “Good to hear the good news. So what’re you doing for the wedding?”

“It’ll be a classic Pegasus wedding,” Soarin said. “We’re gonna get married in her hometown, Cloudsdale, and I’ll put my family wing crest on her. We make our vows, kiss, and fly off to a mountainside to consummate it!”

Ryan opened his mouth to congratulate his friend, but that last phrase dawned on him before he spoke. He had to shake his head for a moment to get it out of his head before continuing.

“Sounds like it’ll be a great ceremony,” he said. “I assume guests?”

“My family, her family, and our friends,” Soarin’ said. “She has her bridesmaids ready; our teammates Spitfire and Surprise; and I need to get a best stallion.”

“Any ideas on who?” Ryan asked. Truth e told, he had a feeling he already knew what was going to be said.

“I discussed it with the guys, and they agreed with me; I want you to be the best stallion.” Soarin’ approached Ryan and bowed his respect. “You saved her form the worst kind of harm, you are the reason she came back to me unharmed that night. I would be honored if you would accept my request and be my best stallion on my wedding night, the most significant night of my life.”

Ryan looked down at his friend with a smile. Resisting Cinny’s hoof, he tried to sit up, but without luck. She moved to his back to help him this time, as it now seemed appropriate for such an act. Once Ryan was up, he put his hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“It would be my honor,” Ryan said.

Soarin’ rose. “Thank you, my friend,” he said. “It’ll be the greatest night of my life.”

“I look forward to it,” Ryan said.

Now that the official business was out of the way, the guys were able to talk about other matters, like what the stallions would be drinking tonight in Ryan’s absence. Ryan ordered them to drink the best stuff from the top shelf tonight for him to celebrate his survival in the face of death.

Not long after that, the guys took their leave, leaving only Cinny with Ryan. Ryan waved to them as they made their exit, and when they were out the door, he turned to Cinny. She had been mostly quit while they were here, and Ryan wanted to know why.

“Cinny, why were you so quiet?” Ryan asked.

His answer came in the form of Cinny rushing forward and grabbing him in her forelegs, then unfurling her wings to wrap those around him as well. Ryan was taken by surprise by the sudden embrace, but took it happily. Cinny breathed in deep while she held him, trying to formulate the words she wanted to use.

“You colossal fool,” she finally said. “You nearly got yourself killed out there.”

“I had to defend the fillies,” Ryan said. “If I hadn’t, they would have been-“

“I know that!” Cinny shouted, gripping Ryan tighter. “I don’t understand why you stayed after they ran. You could have run, you could have escaped, but you stayed. Why?”

Ryan tried to think of a way to answer that without causing her to worry about him more. The Wraith was his worst foe, and a more dangerous enemy than even Narendra had been.

“I just had to, Cinny,” Ryan said. “I don’t expect anyone to understand.”

“You won’t even let us try?” Cinny asked. She pulled her face away from Ryan.

“I’m afraid not.” Ryan stroked her wing for just a moment, and she retracted it instantly. Afraid that he offended her with his words, he said, “I’m sorry.”

But she was blushing. “No, no worries,” she said. “It’s fine.” Ryan was confused, but he didn’t want this meeting of their to be more awkward.

He sighed. “Thanks for coming to visit me,” he said. “It means a lot to me.”

“It means a lot to me to get to come visit,” Cinny said. She smiled gently at him, a smile that he returned. Than, she looked at the time. “Oh, dear, I need to get to work. It’s been great seeing you alive and getting better.”

“It was great having you,” Ryan replied. “And we’re still on for the Gala. I’ll be up and walking by then.”

Cinny turned to the door to hide her face. “I can’t wait,” she said. “Rarity has a dress designed just for me.”

“It’ll look lovely on you, I’m sure of it.” Ryan waved to Cinny as she left him there.

Fluttershy was looking on from the kitchen archway the whole time. Ryan was a clueless young man, but was he really that dumb sometimes? Mac had caught on quickly, she thought. Fluttershy knew that Ryan had never had much of a relationship before, but come on! Really? Seriously?

No matter; the Gala was only a week away, and only the stars could say what may happen on that ever-fateful night.

The carriage rolled up the hill slowly and bumpily, knocking its two passengers about. They sat across from each other, dressed up all fancy and feeling classier than anyone else in the world. The tuxedo and dress were made by world famous designer Rarity of Ponyville, so there was no reason not to feel classy.

Ryan checked his watch; they were set to arrive early at this rate. Ryan’s recovery had been very good. The doctors came to visit him and give him magical aid in repairing his bones and lessening the severity of any cuts he suffered. Cinny came to visit him every day and give him updates on the day-to-day events outside the cottage. It was only for three days, but it was still a blessing to Ryan. A daily visitor who didn’t give him shot sin the abdomen was welcome sight.

That sight, though, was invisible right now. He didn’t understand why, but Rarity insisted that they have a carriage that was blacked out on the inside so that Ryan wouldn’t see Cinny’s dress until they arrived. He thought it weird, but he was still an alien here. Some customs wouldn’t come up until the right times.

The carriage came to an abrupt stop. “Here we are!” the puller shouted from the front. “The Grand Galloping Gala!” Ryan stretched himself out and stood in the cramped cabin.

“Shall we, Cinny?” he asked, going to the door.

“Ooh, I can’t wait!” Cinny said. Ryan felt her hopping up and down. “I’ve never been to one of these! It’s so exciting!”

Ryan smiled. “I’m sure it will be quite a night.”

Ryan opened up the door and stepped out, then turned to offer his hand to Cinny to help her out. Her hoof came out of the darkness, and with Ryan’s aid, she stepped down from the carriage to the ground. Ryan was impressed; she looked very nice. Rarity had made her a dress of gold trimming all along the perimeter and silver webbing on the back and sides. The general color under the webbings was a deep navy blue, like the night sky just before the blank. She had very well done eye shadow, but nothing else on her face, which seemed much better than her face would have looked otherwise.

“You look fantastic,” Ryan said honestly.

Cinny blushed. “Thank you,” she said. She put her foreleg out for Ryan to lock his arm with. “Shall we?”

“We shall.”

Before he locked his arm with Cinny’s foreleg, he felt his tux to make sure the “special packages” were still there. They had to be made nice and small to sit in Ryan’s tux, but big enough and shaped properly enough to fit the contents. Twilight agreed to help set up the boxes, though she desperately wanted to know what they were for. Ryan refused to elaborate, much to her annoyance, but assured her that it would be a grand show.

Ryan and Cinny locked and walked up the red carpet to the castle, getting curious looks from everypony around them. Most were actually looking at Cinny with regard to Ryan, but few looked directly at him. Cinny held her head up with pride and scooched closer to Ryan as they walked, practically showing him off.

They entered the castle and took in the scenery with awe. The decorations had been overhauled completely, with the actual building barely visible from the inside. Streamers and banners and balloons and everything else kept the ceiling and its likely guard sentinels invisible. There were tables everywhere, adorned with the finest silverware and food.

“Wooow,” Cinny said. She was stricken by the scene.

“No kidding,” Ryan said. While not as overwhelmed as Cinny, he was certainly taken by surprise.

They went further in and were surrounded by the highest-class ponies chatting about the things that high-class ponies talk about. Ryan overheard talk of business, talk of politics, and the pettiest of attempts at gaining favor socially. Cinny was too concerned with taking in everything around her, the opulence and the wealth and the classiness, to notice the ponies.

As they walked, Ryan spotted the Elements of Harmony, all very dressed up and acting very well behaved. Except Rainbow Dash. She had no interest in that, and she did what she wanted, so she only had the dress. Ryan chuckled at the sight of her squirming in it, and the sight of her friends trying to make her stop being so noticeable. Cinny saw it and laughed too.

Fluttershy stood with Mac, away from the group, in a cleared, wooden area. Before Ryan could think of why, slow music started to play, and the pair started slow dancing to the rhythm. Ryan smiled; it was an adorable sight.

“Excuse me,” Ryan said to his date. He left her standing there, though she opted to go talk to the other girls while Ryan did whatever he was doing.

Ryan walked toward the dance floor to get a better look at Mac. He had his eyes closed, so he couldn’t see Ryan’s initial approach. Ryan waited, and when Ma reopened his eyes, he spotted Ryan and smiled. Ryan gave him a thumbs-up and then walked back to the girls and Cinny.

When he returned, he came to not only his friends form Ponyville, but also a fancily garbed Starstep and an almost distressed Luna. He approached quietly to hear what they were talking about, but with all the noise, he couldn’t hear. He saw Luna sigh with what looked like relief, and then calm down significantly. He made his approached at the perfect time.

“So, what’re we talking about?” he asked.

Luna spun around and lunged at him with wide eyes. “Ryan!” she said loud enough for him to hear. “I was worried to death about you! What were you thinking?”

“Are you gonna hit me again?” Ryan asked jokingly.

Luna smacked him across the face. “I guess, since you asked.”

Ryan rubbed his face. “I thought Cinny was the only one who was weird,” he said. Both Cinny and Luna blushed. “I’m just kidding, pleasedon’thitmeagain.”

The mares exchanged a glance. “You deserve so much more than you get.”

“You all love me too much to hurt me,” Ryan replied.

Cinny walked up to him and brushed her tail under his chin. “Maybe I love you enough to hit you just like you deserve,” she said. Ryan opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. He was speechless. Even he didn't normally go there.

“Given that this is technically a public event, maybe we should keep our silliness to a minimum,” Twilight said from off to the side. “Everypony around us can see.” Cinny suddenly blushed hard at the realization, getting a laugh out of Ryan.

“Maybe we should continue then,” he said. “Imagine all the kinds of fun we could have.” Everypony laughed lightheartedly at the comment and the mood went back down to neutral.

Luna smiled happily at Ryan. “I am so glad that you are alright,” she said. “The world would have lost a great person had you been taken from us. And we would have lost a very dear friend.”

“Thank you, Luna,” Ryan said. “I’m glad to be here. And it means a lot to her you say that.”

“It’s true,” Starstep said. Everyone looked to him. “You’ve helped all of us in one way or another.” Starstep let his eyes shoot briefly to Luna, though only Ryan seemed to notice. “We’re learned about life and ourselves thanks to you. You’ve really been a great influence on everything.”

Ryan smiled. “I’m glad I could help,” Ryan said. “How’s life changed here, exactly?”

“Not much, really,” Starstep said. The mares all looked incredibly confused. “I hope that it’ll all come together eventually.”

“I’m sure it will, buddy. I’m sure it will.” Ryan looked at his watch; the time was getting close. “Cinny and I should go see some of the other guests. It was great talking to you.”

“See you later, Ryan!” Pinkie shouted with a jump. Ryan and Cinny walked off and went back on their own.

“Who are we talking to?” Cinny asked.

“No one,” Ryan said with a shrug. “I just felt spending some time with you individually.”

She grinned sheepishly. “Oh, uhh… heh…” She looked embarrassed.

They walked off, but not out of visual range of Mac and Fluttershy. Ryan always had one eye on them and his ears on Cinny. He was accustomed to watching one thing and listening to another, and it was the perfect time to employ that skill. Cinny and Ryan held a wonderful conversation about their simple lives and their dreams. Ryan had to think hard about his dreams, but he had something in mind.

They found a table and sat down, eager to get off their feet and hooves. The floor wasn’t all nice, soft wood. Most of it was marble, and that tends to really put pressure on your feet and such wen you walk on it for a while. Most ponies around them had fancy adornments on their hooves to prevent that, but Ryan only had cloth shoes and Cinny had nothing.

They talked for a while longer, and Ryan had positioned himself so that Mac and Fluttershy were behind Cinny the whole time. They continued to chat, and Cinny had no idea that Ryan had a plan going through his head. He was working out how he would go about delivering the packages to the light ponies. Cinny would have to be distracted so he could slip away just long enough to deliver the packages.

And the distraction that came couldn’t have been better.

“Ah, I see you are accompanied by a lovely young mare, Ryan,” a motherly voice said from behind him.

Cinny looked with awe upon the figure behind Ryan and then bowed her head to her. Ryan knew who it was, but being him, he felt no need to bow. He did, however, turn and stand to greet her.

“Would you expect any less of me, Celestia?” Ryan asked with a smile.

Celestia grinned at him. “I’ve heard plenty of stories,” she said. “Though I was never sure how they might affect your ability to get a date.”

“I think it increases my odds,” Ryan replied. “Right, Cinny?” Cinny stood up and walked around the small table to stand with Ryan.

“Unfortunately, yes,” she said. “I don’t know why I keep coming back.”

“I’m just too sexy,” Ryan said. Cinny punched him in the shoulder, making him laugh.

“You two are really quite an interesting pair,” Celestia commented. “I always love hearing about your lives. Especially yours, Ryan.” Celestia switched her gaze to Cinny. “Of course, I find your life interesting as well.”

“He is a human,” Cinny said. “I would be more interested in him if I were you, too.”

“You’re already pretty interested in me,” Ryan said. He grabbed her and hugged her with one arm, a toothy grin on his face. “You don’t need to be a princess to want to know all about me.” Cinny hit him again, and he just laughed some more. So she hit him one more time.

Celestia chuckled lightly. “Ah, young love.”

Cinny flushed. “I- no, not- I mean, we aren’t-“

“Would you deny me, Cinny?” Ryan asked, still holding her close. “Would you deny all the great times we’ve had together?”

“Sounds like I was right,” Celestia said with a wink.

Cinny pouted and harrumphed. “Two on one is hardly fair,” she said.

Ryan glanced mischievously at the princess. “Maybe, but the two won’t be on you.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, then burst into a massive collective fit of laughter. The ponies around looked at them at first with annoyance, but then surprise at a laughing princess Celestia. Then, they looked at Ryan and Cinny with massive envy at their incredible relationship with the princess.

Even through this conversation, Ryan had his eye son Mac and Fluttershy. Their dance had come to an end, and Mac was whispering into her ear as they walked away from the dance floor. Ryan only made out one word, but he only needed the one; Garden.

Celestia followed his eyes and knew. “Well, Ryan, as fun as this has been, I would like to have some girl talk with Cinny here.” Cinny’s eyes widened excitedly. “Since you aren’t a girl…”

“Well, I may be forced to come back and listen in on you…” Both mares narrowed their gazes at him playfully. “But I can go away for a bit.” Ryan turned around and walked off. He ha da job to do.

Cinny felt conflicted. Ryan was her date, but Princess Celestia wanted to talk to her! What would they talk about? Issues regarding Equestrian societal structure? Pegasus culture? The ancient ways that the princesses are so very familiar with? She was so excited!

“So…” Cinny said.

“So,” Celestia replied. She leaned in trollishly. “I had a feeling that the two of you would come together.”

Ryan left the castle through a big side door and waded through a sea of ponies. Wings flared all over the place, smacking Ryan in the face as he walked by, and unicorns were floating food rudely through the crowd, also smacking Ryan in the face. Ryan never got one apology for the rudeness, but he didn’t expect to. It didn’t seem like the kind of crowd that cared. It was like he was in D.C. or something.

He had to make his way to the gardens to get a look at where Mac and Fluttershy would be. Mac said that he gave Soarin’ the wing piece, that Soarin’ placed in a bush near where Mac planned to be. He had to check it the area to make sure Soarin’ succeeded. Fancy Pants paid off the lights ponies to allow the special packages that Ryan was to bring to them. It was a tough operation, but the guys could do it.

Ryan reached the garden, not too long before Mac and Fluttershy were to show up, so he made his visit brief. He confirmed the presence of the wing piece and then ran off. He looked back as he ran; Mac and Fluttershy had just arrived. He would have to move fast; it meant that the show would start soon, and they had to start with what Ryan brought to the party.

Ryan ran hard, though it was difficult and hot in the tuxedo. He couldn’t take it off, though, because of how it was done, and he didn’t want to get too sweaty. So he parkoured his way to the light ponies, going over tables and ponies and interrupting as many of their pointless, goal-driven conversations as he could.

He made it just in time; the light ponies were about to start the show. They were setting up their machines and their gear, and they had everything they would need lined up. As soon as Ryan was within visual range, though, they all stopped everything and waited for him to approach.

“Hey,” Ryan said, catching his breath.

“We’ve been waiting!” one of the ponies said. “Where have you been? We thought we would have to start and give Fancy Pants his money back.”

“Who gives a damn?” Ryan asked. “I got here in time. I have the packages.”

“Then hand them here,” the pony said. Ryan reached into his tux and pulled out the two boxes, then handed them over.

“You can use them?” he asked.

The pony opened them up and revealed the packages’ contents, two very unique looking rockets. Ryan had a feeling that they were fireworks form the start. It would be the best show ever had at one of the princesses’ galas.

“Yeah, we can use ‘em.” The pony handed them to his associate at the launcher. “That’s everything; hope you enjoy whatever show you have planned.”

“We will,” Ryan said. He turned around to run back to the garden.

When he turned, though, he was greeted with the sight of a very impatient-looking Cinny. She wore a pout on her lips and a narrowed gaze at her date for going so far away. Ryan swallowed, and behind him, he could hear the light ponies snickering at the unfortunate situation.

“Ryan,” she said. “Why are you here?”

“Well, uhh…” Ryan tried to think of something, but nothing came to mind. Did he really need to think of anything? He had done his job, everything was set in motion. No one would ruin it, no one even could.

“Well?” Cinny asked, growing angry.

Ryan sighed. “Well, if you really want to know…” He looked at Cinny with a grin. “Mac is proposing to Fluttershy in a few minutes, and everything is ready. I was just gonna go watch the show.”

Cinny’s face lightened up immediately and she gasped in excitedly. Her pupils exploded in size, taking up most of her eyes, and she put her hooves to her cheeks in the excitement. She leapt forward and grabbed Ryan’s wrist.

“We have to go to them NOW!” she said. She started pulling Ryan. “Where are they?”

“They’re in the garden,” Ryan replied, trying to get his footing. Cinny didn’t say anything in her response, just dragged Ryan harder.

They plowed their way through the crowd, thoroughly ignoring the other snotty ponies there. They had more important things to worry about and much better things to watch as it was. The guards did nothing to stop them, and didn’t even care when the guests complained. Ryan had a bit of a hunch that Celestia had known about this for some time.

They arrived at the garden, and Ryan had to yank hard to stop Cinny from running in. She resisted him hard, but Ryan’s superior arm strength beat her legs, and he pulled her to the side to knock her over. Her dress might be a little bit dirty, but this was absolutely vital, and nothing could ruin it.

“We have to be quiet!” Ryan hissed. “We can’t interrupt.”

“Okay,” Cinny said. Ryan had her pinned under him.

“So much romance in the air,” he said. Cinny shoved him off and dusted herself off.

They were in the garden now, but not within range of seeing Mac and Fluttershy. They had to crawl in the dirt, mussying up their nice clothes, moving brush and grass aside. Before long, they could hear Mac and Fluttershy talking to each other, and they had to slow their pace to avoid detection. And then, finally, once they crouched up behind a bush, they were able to see the couple before them. They went completely silent and watched the events unfold.

“Ah’m really glad that you brought me,” Mac said. “This has been a really nice night.”

“Oh, um, yes, it really has,” Fluttershy said. Her face was just a little bit red. “Th-there’s no one else I would want to have with me more.”

“That’s how Ah feel too,” mac said. He leaned in and nuzzled his lady’s cheek, getting a little squeak of joy. “Ah love spending time with you.”

Fluttershy leaned into him. “Every day with you is a dream to me,” she said. “I never want to wake up.” She rubbed her face against Mac’s, a gesture that had Cinny biting her hoof to avoid making noise. Ryan was on the border of a heart attack from it all.

“Ah love you, Fluttershy,” Mac said.

“I love you too,” Fluttershy replied. She turned to kiss her stallion, and he did nothing to resist. It wasn’t the kind that you see when two people or ponies share when they first get together; there was so much there, so much emotion, it was overflowing. The redness in either pony’s face disappeared while they were in the trance of their joining at the lips; they were in their own world.

They separated, and gazed into each other’s eyes. No words were exchanged, but Ryan knew the look. They could talk to each other with nothing but their eyes, they could tell each other anything without so much as a peep. They let their eyes close and touched their foreheads together, just content to be touching each other.

While they stood like that, there were some fireworks going off in the background. Ryan was worried that the special fireworks would go unnoticed, but the first ones weren’t the special ones. There must have been a special arrangement with a unicorn or something, because that kind of luck doesn’t just happen.

Mac pulled his head away and looked to the fireworks in the sky. Fluttershy joined his gaze, and they moved themselves quietly over to the railing at the edge of the garden. The fireworks were beautiful, mesmerizing, but neither of the two ponies seemed to care that much. They just leaned into each other while they watched, less entertained by the fireworks than by each other.

“You know, Ah hadn’t much considered relationships too much before Ah met you,” Mac said, breaking the silence. “You made me want to try. You made me think that there’s more than apple farming in the world.” Fluttershy beamed at her beau and started playing with her mane. “You mean everything to me. Ah don’t want this to ever end.”

Mac directed Fluttershy’s attention to the sky, and then, as he had planned, the special fireworks went into action. The first of the two made a picture in the sky that Ryan hadn’t seen coming. It was a red apple, at least an outline of one, which had three small butterflies, with yellow bodies and pink wings. Fluttershy was awestruck by the sight, completely taken by surprise.

“Ah love what we do, how you make me feel,” Mac said. “It’s the best feeling Ah’ve ever had.” The second firework went up into the air. This one was more of what Ryan was expecting.

The image wasn’t a picture this time. It was just two simple words, yet those two simple word shad some of the greatest significance in the world. Those two words meant everything. They had the power to change life, the power to create life.

Mac leaned forward in a bow and, from underneath his belly in his tux, he pulled out a pin-like item and held it in his hoof. Fluttershy put her hooves to her mouth and started tearing up the instant he leaned forward, and her wings flared completely out, knocking away parts of her dress and letting them fly off in the wind.

“Will you marry me?”

Fluttershy could hardly move. Her face was stuck in her look of shock and joy and love, and she didn’t say a word at first. Mac stepped forward and put the pin-like item on her wing, and her eyes just followed. They locked gazes for just a moment, a very brief moment, but that moment was all it took. Fluttershy jumped forward and kissed her stallion with a passion Ryan had never seen before.

“Yes,” she squeaked out. “Yes, I will!” Mac’s face took on the biggest grin in the world, and he hugged his mare close and sat back so he could hold her.

Ryan watched on with enormous pride as the couple embraced in the garden, uninterrupted by anything and undeterred in showing their affection. It was a truly beautiful sight; the kind that makes you tear up when you see it. There aren’t words to describe the wonder and joy in these scenes, but all poets have to try.

Next to Ryan, Cinny was going silently and maniacally insane with the overflow of emotions that reached out to her. It was too adorable for her, and she could barely handle all the feelings of happiness and pride she got from watching the couple. Ryan saw this and, to give the couple a bit of privacy that they didn’t know they didn’t have, pulled her away and went back into the castle.

Cinny was still squee’ing while they walked in, getting all kinds of looks from the ponies around them. The stallions hadn’t a clue about what had just occurred, but all the mares knew. They all looked after her with huge, knowing grins, and refused to explain to their stallions what was going on. Ryan didn’t like all the attention, so he dragged Cinny away to a balcony upstairs and away from the party.

They went past the guards without issue and found their way to the balcony. It was a beautiful night, and neither had noticed that, they had ben so overtaken by the party itself and the events of just minutes ago. The stars twinkled flawlessly, with some even forming apples and butterflies. Luna must have seen what transpired, and she would naturally want to contribute.

“It’s such a gorgeous night,” Cinny said as she took in the sky.

“Careful, Cinny,” Ryan said. “Being a friend of the night, I might start to take that little phrase the wrong way if you keep it up.”

Cinny gave him a look. “I’ll never know why you have to do that,” she said.

“You know exactly why,” Ryan said. He scooted over to her and put his arm around her neck. “Because it’s funny.”

Cinny chuckled and shook her head. “Yeah, maybe.”

They stood there in silence for a few moments. Cinny was feeling like the top of the world; one of her more recent good friends just got proposed to, and she was there to see it. She had a fun, if occasionally awkward conversation with the ruler of the country. And she was standing here, with Ryan, the most important guy in her life. It had come out to be the best night ever.

“I hope we can do this again someday,” she said. She leaned into Ryan and kept on watching the sky.

Ryan rubbed her neck gently. “Someday,” he said. “Someday.”

All Together

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All Together

“Friends don’t let friends go it alone.”

It had been three weeks since the Gala and Mac’s proposal. As soon as the pair got back to the party, Fluttershy ran to her friends to share the news. Everypony was taken aback by the shared glee. Mac told the guys how it went, and Ryan acted like he hadn’t seen the whole thing. It would ruin the mystic feel of it all for Mac.

A lot had happened in the last three weeks; Soarin’ and Fleetfoot got married. It was a mostly private ceremony, no photographers or anything to publicize it. Only the good friends of the newlyweds were there. Mac, Ryan, Fancy, and a few other guys were there, and the rest of the female Wonderbolts plus a few others were there. After that whole thing ended, there was a party, and, as was customary, the newlyweds flew off to “make the marriage official”. Things like that had never made much sense to Ryan.

Mac and Fluttershy had to start planning their own wedding, too. There were a few problems with the conflicting customs of Earth Ponies and Pegasi, but both Mac and Fluttershy were so easygoing about it that the issues were only with what their families would want. Ryan promptly told them to ignore that and do what they wanted to do, a piece of advice that they took to heart.

They decided that they wanted to have a wedding on the farm, where Mac worked, and to have doves and other animals roam about during the ceremony. It represented the two of them quite well, Ryan thought. Only the families and close friends would come, seeing as both ponies were pretty shy about being the center of attention at such a huge event. The Elements, the drinking crew, as they referred to themselves now, Cinny, the families, and select friends would attend.

The wedding was set for six weeks after the proposal, so about three weeks away now, so there was lots of time to get everything ready. Ryan overheard Soarin’ talking about a bachelor party, but after a brief conversation, they both concluded that Mac wouldn’t want that. They might run the idea by him, but it wasn’t of particular importance, so they could forget and not have a problem. Fancy would undoubtedly approve, but even he wasn’t going to put Mac through the classlessness of a bachelor party against his will.

When the idea came up in casual conversation, Mac was very clear; no parties like that. The guys could always go for it, but Mac wasn’t going to take part. Soarin’ wouldn’t, since he was married, and neither would Fancy, but Ryan, Mac suspected, would be game for it. When he discretely made his case about it, Ryan only acknowledged the idea with a grunt, annoyed that they could see him doing that. He still had trouble thinking about the whole pony-human thing. Eesh.

News about the Southern Gryphon Colonies was buzzing around like a swarm of angry hornets. Shit was really going down over there, with more kidnappings and attacks than ever. The violence was mostly directed against the government, but civilians were fair game too. Celestia and her embassy made an announcement that all non-essential ponies were recommended to leave the country. But Ryan wasn’t a pony.

He sat at the table, the usual table, with his buddies, and they were having good laugh sharing stories about the people and ponies they met, the relationships they had or observed. The machismo was awfully high this time; each guy trying to outdo the one another. It was all friendly competition, of course.

“So I once knew this mare back in my old university. I never did learn her name, but she was positively radiant. One night, I went to her door to try and get to know her some more. She opened the door, crying, and I asked, ‘What happened?’ She yanked me in and cried into my shoulder, telling me about her terrible hoofball-playing coltfriend. One thing led to another, and we had hot sweaty special time in her room.” Fancy Pants smiled smugly as he finished his statement.

“What happened to her?” Soarin’ asked, impressed.

Fancy laughed. “We got married.” Ryan had been drinking from his cup, but spat everything out all over the table and his friends when Fancy said that.

Ryan laughed uncontrollably. “Holy shit, seriously?!” he asked. Fancy nodded. “That’s just… I have no words to describe that.”

“We should’ve brought a poet!” Soarin’ yelled.

They all had a laugh at that.

They were making a huge raucous, but no one seemed to mind. In fact, the place was getting more and more like them. At first, when Ryan came here and Oktoberfest was running the place on his own, it was a depressing place filled with losers and piles of misery. But over time, as Ryan and his friends drank here more and had more fun, the crowd increased in size and variety. Oktoberfest placed a picture of the guys on the wall to commemorate what they did for his business.

Thinking back, a lot had changed for Ryan during his time here, too. When he arrived here, besides his injuries, he was a soulless man, trapped in the darkness of the deepest reaches of the mind. He couldn’t see a way out, and he thought he would remain there forever. But the friends he made here became the light in his life. It was a small light at first, but Ryan followed it none-the-less. Now, he was out of the caverns of self-pity and misery and in the world of happiness and genuine living.

Not everyone was as lucky, though. A lot of people, and even ponies, were trapped in circumstances they couldn’t deal with. Not on their own, at least. The original crowd at the Salt Lick was like that. There were homeless ponies here and there who were like that. And Ryan knew of one pony in the Southern Gryphon Colonies trapped in less than desirable circumstances.

Ryan had been thinking about him a lot lately. Blazer, if he recalled the name correctly. He had been quite the hero in his day, but fate had other plans for him.He fought hard and brave, but he was taken prisoner by some nasty gryphons. Assuming he was still alive, he was suffering. If not, his captors needed to be brought to justice, even if he has long since past on.

But justice in this world was not unlike justice on Earth. People talk about how certain people need to be taken care of; bad people, like Joseph Kony, Félicien Kabuga, others like him, get away with terrible crimes all the time. The world doesn’t seem to care if it doesn’t affect the world directly. Here, the Equestrians won’t go back to help because there is no direct connection yet. There will be, but not yet. Because of the nonexistent problem within Equestrian borders, no one will lift a hoof to help the ones who need it most. In the end both worlds have plans but don't act on them.

Ryan hadn’t stood for that before, and he still wouldn’t stand for it. He could have gone home, and left Narendra and his men to their own devices. He stopped them because people needed him to. People he would never meet, people he would never know existed, but people all the same. And the ponies here were no different.

“Oh, man, those were great times,” Fancy said. “Too bad my wife isn’t as frisky anymore.”

“Part of that new-status feeling, I would guess,” Ryan said. “Right, Mac?”

Mac glared at him. “Ah won’t answer that,” he stated.

Ryan raised his glass. “An honorable answer.” Mac glared for a moment longer, then smiled and raised his glass. Everyone toasted and finished their drinks.

Cinny happened to be walking by with perfect timing. “You rambunctious young colts want more?” she asked.

“Yes, please,” Ryan said. The guys gave her the most pathetic puppy dog eyes they could muster. The only reason they were pathetic was that the expressions were just that poorly done.

Cinny giggled. “I’ll go grab you some more.” And she walked away, with that ever-present swagger. Ryan watched her go and then turned to his buddies.

“So, I guess that makes me the last one who, at least, won't be married a month and a half from now,” he said.

“Ever the bachelor,” Soarin’ said. “But I think you can find somepony.”

“Not likely,” Ryan replied.

It wasn’t likely at all. Not here, at least. Ryan had some things that he needed to get done, and once he had them finished up, he would be on his way. His friends wouldn’t be able to come with him. They might be able to keep a tab on him, if they really wanted, but none could go with him. Cinny wouldn’t be able to come, either. That would be hard, especially for Ryan, but it was necessary. It was just something he had to do.

“And why is that?” Soarin asked

Ryan’s face hardened. It only took a moment for the guys to figure out that he was serious now, and they all matched his expression. The news would be tough to break, but Ryan needed to tell them.

“I’m going down to the Southern Gryphon Colonies,” he stated.

Everyone was dead silent. The other patrons went on with their business, but to the guys, it was like the world was standing still.

“Ryan,” Soarin’ said. “That’s not the kind of place ponies go. It just isn’t safe, especially with the amount of conflict there. Why would you go there?”

“I’m not a pony,” Ryan said. “And I've got plenty of reasons.”

“What reasons could you possibly have?” Fancy asked. “There is little but danger and violence down there. Nothing can be gained by going there.”

“Maybe not for me,” Ryan said. “But for others, there is an entire world of reasons to go.”

“Would ya mind explaining?” Mac asked. “Ah would like for mah best man not to get killed before mah wedding. Ah could ask one of these guys to fill in, but without you, it won’t be the same.”

“Man, we don’t want to lose you!” Soarin’ said.

Ryan scowled. “I said, there’s plenty of reasons, so-”

“And what are they!?” Mac asked aggressively. “What’s so important that ya have to go down into the most dangerous area in the world?”

Ryan sighed. “I’ve known about it for a while,” Ryan said. “There was a war not long ago, right?”

“Yes, I remember that horrid affair,” Fancy said.

“Yeah. Well, not everypony who survived came home.” Ryan clasped his hands together. “One, at least, is still down there. One that has a lot meaning to certain ponies we know, and even more to ponies we don’t know. He’s been down there for a long time. I’m not even sure he’s alive.”

“Then why go?” Soarin’ asked. “I was in that war, I know what it was like. If we aren’t sure-”

“Because no man ever gets left behind!” Ryan said. “No one is ever left out to die, not while I’m around. The princesses aren’t doing anything because they can’t, with international politics and shit. They can’t save this guy. The guard can’t help him. I am the only one who can go after him. And I won’t have his blood on my hands.”

“Why would his blood be on your hands, though?” Soarin’ asked. “It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

“It doesn’t have to,” Ryan said. “I’m just telling you guys this now. I don’t expect you to understand. It’s something that I have to do; I won’t let myself fail again. Not like I did last time.”

That was when the guys understood, at least to some extent. Ryan had always been like this; if they had paid more attention to what his past entailed, they would have seen that this is all he does. He failed the last time, failed at the one thing he wanted to be in life, failed to do what he believed he was meant to do. This was more than just doing the right thing; it was redemption.

“Ryan, ya know Ah’ll support whatever you choose,” Mac said.

“As shall I,” Fancy added.

“Me three," Soarin’ said, rounding out the group. Ryan smiled, but before he could respond, Cinny came back with drinks.

“Hey boys, here you go!” she said. She dropped the new glasses on the table. “Enjoy.”

“Thanks honey,” Ryan said with a little smile. Cinny smiled, though she was a bit embarrassed about it, and walked off. Ryan didn’t quite understand why she was so embarrassed lately.

He turned back to the guys. “I’m glad you all are cool with this,” Ryan said. “It would feel weird to know that you didn’t support me out there.”

“We will support you, but we still don’t want you out there, not on your own,” Fancy said. “So I’ll be going along with you.”

“Hang on-”

“Yeah, Ryan, we aren’t letting you go this alone.” Soarin’ leaned onto the table and nearly tipped it. “You had to go the last time with only your one friend who you had to protect. This time, you won’t be on your own.”

“Guys, I appreciate it, but-”

Ryan was cut off again. “But nothing,” Mac said. He turned to his friend sitting next to him. “Ah know how much you want to handle this on your own. Ah understand that you think you have to, that you have to prove that you can do it.” Ryan went to respond, but didn’t get the chance.

“Ryan, you fought hard before. You proved just how strong you are and always shall be; there is no need to do that again,” Fancy said. “There is no shame in accepting help from friends. There is nothing wrong with not being able to do this on your own. Even the strongest warriors have support behind them; it’s what makes them strong.”

Soarin’ nodded. “We’re your friends, Ryan, your support group. You won’t leave anyone behind, and we won’t leave you out alone in the world. We have your back, and if you have anyone else’s back, so do we.”

Ryan paused and looked back and forth between his friends. They were all staring at him expectantly. He had intended on doing this alone, but his friends had other plans. Ryan wanted to be able to do it on his own, but deep down, he knew he couldn’t.

His friends would always be there for him. He hadn’t truly realized that until a short time ago. He was always willing to help them, and they him. They had become a team, and no team can function when one of its members is trying to break away.

“Thanks guys,” Ryan said. They all grinned. “It’s good to have friends.” The group cheered and raised their glasses to their new goal.

They downed their drinks and set the glasses down. “So, Ryan,” Fancy asked. “How do you plan on getting to the Southern Gryphon Colonies?”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Ryan said. “I looked over some atlases some time ago. I think the best course of action would be to go to Las Pegasus, then travel south through the San Palomino desert. Then I- we’ll be in the Colonies. And the search can begin.”

“I have connections in Las Pegasus,” Fancy said. “I’m sure they can help us get through the desert.”

“Excellent,” Ryan said.

“You think there’ll be fighting?” Soarin’ asked.

“Loads,” Ryan replied.

“Sweet.” Soarin’ smiled deviously at Ryan.

“I can get us Gryphon money in the city,” Fancy said. “I can also get us fake documents and new clothes to conceal our identities.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Ryan said. “If no one knows who you guys are, we are less likely to gather unwanted attention, or be kidnapped ourselves while we’re down there looking.”

Ryan looked at Mac. He had been waiting for whatever questions he would ask the whole time, but the stallion remained silent for most of it. He wasn’t waiting for his turn or anything like that. He didn’t look like he had a tangible question, nothing about hardware or travel. But there was a question there, one that needed asking.

“Mac?” Ryan asked. Mac looked sideways at him and sipped the remaining froth of his drink.

“How do ya plan on finding this guy?” Mac asked.

Ryan grinned and raised his empty glass. “I haven’t got a damned clue,” he said.

Mac waited for a moment, then smirked back. Ryan turned his gaze to his other buddies, who were also grinning. They waved at Cinny, elsewhere in the bar, to come and get them more drinks, and Soarin’ leaned in.

“I always did like a well-thought plan,” he said jokingly.

“Everyone here has skills that will prove invaluable,” Ryan said. “We just have to use them appropriately, and everything else will fall into place.”

Cinny came over a few minutes later with the next round of drinks. She saw that the guys were talking and thought she would just walk away, but a grabby hand thought otherwise. She felt herself being pulled on at the tail, a rude gesture to anyone who was a pony, and could think of only a person who would do that publicly. She turned around and stood next to Ryan, who let go of her tail.

“Yes?” she asked, trying to look unrustled.

“So, Cinny,” Ryan said. “I’m afraid that the crew won’t be here next week.”

“What? Why?” Cinny asked.

“We have a trip to Las Pegasus planned,” Soarin’ said. “All of us had something planned around the same time, except for Ryan the near-homeless bum, so we thought we’d drag him along and show him the city. It’ll be a fun, guy’s vacation.”

“Guy’s vacation?” Cinny said doubtfully with a distrustful expression.

“Yep,” Ryan said. He leaned on her back and hung his hand off her wing. “Basically what we do here on weekends, but every day and to a much less respectable extent.”

“You really are something, you who make up this group,” Cinny said, trying to sound fancy. “I don’t think I could ever understand what goes on in your heads.”

“Don’t question it, just accept it,” Ryan said.

Cinny grinned devilishly. “Well then,” she said. She leaned up and pecked Ryan on the cheek with considerable force, knocking him back a bit.

“What?” Ryan asked instantly, taken by surprise. “Wha, huh? Why..?”

She grinned at him. “Don’t question it, just accept it.” With the last word, she turned around and swaggered away, leaving a confused and conflicted Ryan behind her to watch.

Ryan tried to reel in his mind and got back to the guys. “So…” he started. He was still derailed. “Uhh, we should depart as soon as possible. Tomorrow would be really good.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Fancy said. “Everyone, we need to get our story straight tonight to avoid suspicion, and I’ll make my necessary arrangements to get us out of the country.”

“And prepare yourselves, gents,” Soarin’ said. “I suspect that the SGC hasn’t improved much since I was running recon missions over it.”

“Ah’ll pack some food before we leave, canned stuff that we can live off of if we need to,” Mac said. “Ah can do some heavy lifting too, so if y’all have heavy stuff, Ah can take it. Since Ah am the strongest one here, after all.” Mac smiled smugly at the truth that no one wished was true.

Ryan nodded and stood. “Alright, boys. We all have our jobs. Let’s do them.” He turned to the main area of the bar. “Cinny!”

“Yeah?” the Pegasus mare replied.

“Can you put this on a tab for us?” Ryan asked.

“Sure thing! You can pay when you get back from your sausage trip!” Ryan groaned at her choice on the name for their coming trip.

The young man and stallions left the bar and went to their respective homes to start thinking about how to prepare for the coming trip. One way or another, it was going to be a huge event.

*********************************************************************

Mac shut the door behind him as he entered his home. He did it as quietly as he could, hoping that he wouldn’t wake his youngest sister and have to put her back to sleep. Applejack would be annoyed at him for waking her, but that was no problem, and Granny wasn’t about to wake any time soon.

He snuck in quieter than one would think a stallion of his build could, keeping his hooves on carpet as much as possible to keep the noise to a minimum. There were only a few rugs here and there, though, so he had to take it nice and slow on his way up to his room.

The stairs creaked as he climbed up and he was forced to put his hoof on the rail to reduce the pressure he exerted on the steps. Each time, with each squeak of an old board, Mac cringed. He knew it only sounded so loud to him, because he was so intent on being quiet. Even so it was still frustrating to him.

He crept through the halls, taking glances in each of his family members’ rooms as he passed. Apple Bloom was sound asleep, snoring away under her covers. Granny Smith had a bit of a tendency to talk in her sleep, an action that always gave Mac the willies. He could never tell if she was awake or not. Once, he thought she caught him with Fluttershy in the barn and both he and his mare froze, but she turned out to be sleepwalking and talking to Mac’s deceased father who happened to have done the same thing.

Applejack was a light sleeper, a problem Mac had for a long time when they were younger and she always wanted to help out in the fields early in the morning. After she reached her adolescent years, though, it got better for Mac, and she started sleeping more. Not much more, though, but enough that she wasn’t trouble.

Mac finally reached his room and slowly opened the door. He slowly peeked his head in; everything was as it should be. His mirror hung over his dresser, showing him a reflection of the window and what lied outside. He didn’t know why he had a dresser; the fancy outfits he had for the proper occasions were in his closet, and those were about the only clothes he wore. He had a nightstand with a lamp next to his bed for doing “fancy mathematics”, as Applejack tended to call the farm accounting. His bed was neatly made, with only one lump right in the center-

Mac blinked in confusion, then smiled as he entered his room. Inside, he shut the door quietly and listened, absolutely still. He could see the rhythmic rise and fall of the sheets and he could hear the steady intake and outlet of air from underneath. It must have been pretty stale under there.

He approached the covers nonchalantly and let out an exaggerated yawn. Then, he let himself fall onto the bed, right next to the covers, and immediately rolled over and grabbed the lump in a vice grip. It let out a little “Eep!” and Mac chuckled at its surprise.

“You can’t hide from me,” Mac said, holding the lump tighter. “Ah’m like a bloodhound; Ah know your scent, and Ah can always catch you with it.” A head popped out from under the covers with a frazzled pink mane and butter yellow coat.

“And I remember how you got so good at sniffing me out,” Fluttershy said.

Mac chuckled some more and held her close. “Does anypony else know you’re here?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Nope… just you.” She leaned in and nuzzled his nose.

“So, what inspired this act of boldness?” Mac asked. His eyes were closed and he tried to maneuver himself to be under the covers. “Today didn’t seem any different from the usual.”

“I just wanted to see you,” Fluttershy said. She lifted the covers so he could get under. “You’re my big red apple, after all.”

“Came to take a bite?” Mac asked.

Fluttershy blushed and nipped at Mac’s ear. “Only if the apple is ripe enough.”

Mac hugged his mare close and let his eyes close. “Ah can’t believe it’s actually gonna happen,” he said. “We’ll finally be…”

“Together forever,” Fluttershy finished. “We still need to prepare though.”

“Yeah,” Mac said. “Any ideas?”

“Well, the girls are going to help out a lot, which is great. But Rarity said she wanted to do the dress first.” Fluttershy poked Mac in the chest. “But you can’t see me in the dress before the ceremony. It’ bad luck.”

“What?” Mac asked. “Does that mean Ah can’t look at you for the next three weeks?”

“No, no,” Fluttershy said. “But the dress will take at least a week and a half.”

“How am Ah gonna survive without you for such a long time?” Mac asked. Then an idea occurred to him.

“I’m sure you can hang out with your friends, and Ryan would be more than happy to help you spend time.” Fluttershy nodded. “He’s a good friend.”

“Yeah,” Mac said. “Actually, Ah think he and Ah might be able to go and do something together to kill some time.”

“What might that be?” Fluttershy asked.

“He said that he and Fancy Pants are gonna go to Las Pegasus for some business meeting. Fancy wanted for Ryan to see the city since it’s a place where the three pony races worked together so efficiently after the dissolution of the three tribes. They’ll probably let me go with ‘em.”

Fluttershy ponder it for a moment. “That sounds like a wonderful idea,” she said. “How long would the trip be?”

“Hard to say,” Mac replied. “Two weeks, maybe a bit longer? Not longer than three, though, Ah can guarantee.”

“Good. I wouldn’t want you to miss our wedding.” Fluttershy added a semi-serious stare at the end of her statement.

Mac held her closer and kissed her forehead. “Me neither, Flutters, me neither.”

**********************************************************************

Soarin’ landed on the tarmac of the Wonderbolts training ground with extraordinary precision in the dark night. On his feet, he wore special horseshoes to protect his hooves from grinding against the pavement and practically opening him up. When he stopped moving, he could smell the heat from the metal horseshoes that just finished being shredded away at by the ground.

He flew straight to the barracks to see his wife. He knew exactly what he was going to tell her and wanted to get through with it now. He hated lying to the mare he loved more than anything, but it was a necessary evil to help Ryan and that other guy. Soarin’ just hoped it wouldn’t come back to bite him in the end.

He landed on the balcony of Fleetfoot’s room and tapped on the window. While they were married now, they were still supposed to have different rooms. They didn’t understand completely, nor did they typically follow that rule, but they didn’t bother questioning it. It was an old rule.

Fleetfoot opened the window. “Wha..?” she said. “Soarin’, you usually just slip in quietly. Why didn’t you do that again?”

“Because I have important news for you.” Soarin’ let himself in and floated next to Fleetfoot. “I need to tell you ASAP.”

“What is it?” Fleetfoot asked. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. “It’s late.”

“I’m going to have to go away to Las Pegasus for a couple of weeks,” Soarin said.

Fleetfoot woke up a little. “What? Why?”

“My buddy Fancy Pants is taking Ryan and Mac to see the city. Problem is, some places won’t let them in without a Pegasus present. And Fancy actually needs to be in those places for some business.”

“I see,” Fleetfoot said. “We don’t have any shows for a while, just training and recruiting, so Spitfire shouldn’t mind. But why do you have to go?” Fleetfoot looked unhappy about losing her new husband to a trip to Las Pegasus.

“Because the other pegasi available are preparing another wedding,” Soarin’ said. “Besides, it’ll only be three weeks at most, at least two-“

“What?! Three weeks?” Fleetfoot said. “Why so long?”

Soarin’ moved to the bed and lay down. “Because Fancy has a lot of business to take care of,” Soarin’ said. “And I actually have another task that I’ve been given.”

“What?” Fleetfoot asked. She floated over to Soarin’ and lay next to him. “What other task?”

“Gryphons have been crossing the border,” Soarin’ said. “My job is to fly high and far to find them in the desert and report them to the guard to deal with it. I won’t be in danger; I’m just doing the recon that I used to do.”

Fleetfoot looked unhappily at her husband and then sighed. “Fine, I suppose I can understand,” she said. She leaned over and pecked him on the cheek. “You’re just keeping Equestria safe again.”

“As long as I keep you safe,” Soarin’ said. He returned his affection to his wife and they went to bed.

*************************************************

Fancy Pants hopped off the train and grabbed a carriage home. He had worked out what he would tell Fleur, and he made sure it matched with his friends’ stories before he boarded the train. If they did this wrong, everything could fall apart before it even came into place.

When he arrived at home, he teleported himself to the other side of the gate and ran up to his house. He could see some of his kids’ lights on, even though they shouldn’t have been awake. He knew that his wife had made some agreement with them regarding how late their father was out, and he would have to find some incentive to give them to go to sleep.

Fancy opened his front door and waltzed on in and climbed the steps to the third floor. His mansion was very large and his room was located toward the back, where photographers would have a hard time getting pictures of either him or Fleur in a compromising situation. Or both of them.

It took him a couple of minutes to get to his room. Looking under the door he could tell that the lights were off, and he couldn’t hear anything from inside. Figuring Fleur was asleep, Fancy cracked the door open and glanced in. he didn’t see any movement in the dark room, so he slowly opened the door, snuck in, and then shut the door. If Fleur was asleep, he could talk to her in the morning.

But the lights suddenly turned on, and when he turned around, he saw Fleur leaning against the doorframe to the master bathroom. She wore a towel wrapped around her head and her mane and tail hung wet and heavy. The small amount of makeup she always wore was gone, revealing her natural good looks much more.

“Awfully suspicious, a rowdy stallion coming home stealthily from his night of drinking,” Fleur said. “One might think you did something you shouldn’t have.”

“Well, the kids are still awake,” Fancy said with a wink. “If you’re up for it, I can still do something I shouldn’t do.”

Fleur smiled at her husband sideways. “Oh? And what might that be?”

Fancy jumped onto the king-sized bed. “Keep them up past their bedtime by being… loud.” He flashed a toothy grin at his wife, but she only laughed.

“Maybe tomorrow,” Fleur said. Fancy pouted. “Oh, don’t give me that look. You were out late again, and I’m tired.”

Fancy rolled onto his back. “But you’re aaaaaaaaaalways tired!” he whined.

Fleur giggled and walked up and kissed Fancy’s forehead. “And you’re always a goob,” she said. “Even in public. But I don’t whine about that.”

Fancy rolled back over and pushed his face outward. “That’s because you love it,” he said.

Fleur laughed and shook her head. “That is why I married you,” she said.

“Really?” Fancy asked. “It wasn’t my charm, or my witty banter, or my skills and good taste?”

“If any of those were real, maybe,” Fleur said.

“Now that’s just mean,” Fancy said with a pouty face. “You gave me an emotional booboo.”

Fleur giggled at her husband’s silliness. “Do you need me to kiss it?” she asked.

“That always makes me feel better,” Fancy said.

Fleur jumped onto the bed and made her way under the covers, followed in short order by Fancy Pants. Once he was under, he scooted closer to her and snuggled up close, a snuggle that Fleur readily returned. They both sighed contentedly and lay there together. Fancy Pants used his magic to shut off the lights in their room and throughout the house and chuckled when he heard his kids whining about it down the hall.

He closed his eyes gently. “So I have potential business over in Las Pegasus,” he said casually.

“Hmm,” Fleur said. “That sounds nice.” She sounded tired and ready to sleep next to her stallion.

“Yes, we should be leaving tomorrow,” he said.

“Tomorrow?” Fleur asked, her surprise waking her a bit. “Why so sudden?”

“It’s a short order type of thing,” Fancy said. “It could take a couple of weeks, perhaps a bit longer.”

Fleur huffed. “Well, that sounds silly. Is it a good deal?”

“Very,” Fancy said. “I also said that I would bring Ryan, Big Macintosh, and Soarin’ along. We all have some reason to go except Ryan, who is only going for the sights and history.”

Fleur nodded slowly. “I suppose that’s nice,” she said. “But soon, he’ll have to start doing these things himself. He can’t mooch off everyone forever.”

“Come now, he hasn’t even lived here a year,” Fancy said. “He’ll be on his feet soon enough. He has money saved up, and he says he will be able to go off on his own soon.”

“Any idea where he’ll live? I don’t know of any homes available in Ponyville,” Fleur said.

“I don’t know,” Fancy said with a hint of pondering. “He said he would have to go and do things, so he may not live in Ponyville any more. I don’t know if he even intends to settle, really.”

“What about that nice young mare, the one you said something of a crush on him? Any chance there?” Fleur asked.

“We will have to wait and see on that one,” Fancy said. “But she seems the adventurous type. The two of them would be adorable.” Fleur breathed out slowly and nestled her head into Fancy’s shoulder with a yawn.

“Well, I’m sure it will all work out in the end,” she said. “Goodnight, sweet prince.”

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

*************************************************************************

Ryan dumped everything he might need on the floor in front of him. He had his cloak, his makeshift armored vest, his gun and holster, and the mask Fancy had made him for Nightmare Night. He had a pair of gloves that could prove useful for handling machinery, much like the Mechanix Gloves what he could get back home. His jacket was on his bed and a pair of lightweight boots was under the bed.

He went to his closet and pulled out the steel plates that he would be using to armor his work vest. It was already cut resistant, so the steel plates would be good for reducing impact damage on his body from enemy weapons. The plates were all about three quarters of a centimeter thick, but Ryan had been training with it on to make the weight less of an issue. It would still be less than ideal for quick movement, of course.

Once everything was laid out and in order, Ryan left it on the floor for the morning. He would need to pull out a pair of sturdy long pants to deal with the potential cold of the mountains and that could survive a real beating. But that was something for tomorrow.

He looked down at his things, then walked to his dresser. He had a few sheets of paper and a quill and ink there that he would use to write a message to the others telling them that the would be out for a while. How should he write it out? He didn’t want to reveal too much. He could just write out that he was heading to the city with his buddies. That was what they were telling their loved ones, right?

“Ryan?”

Ryan felt his heart jump a little at the sound of his name and spun around to find the source. Up on his stairs was Sweetie Belle, sitting there with tired, baggy eyes and a messy coat and mane. Rarity would have a fit about it if she saw it.

“Yes, Sweetie?” Ryan replied as he caught his breath.

“What are you doing?” she asked. She continued down the stairs and trudged to Ryan’s preparations to see what he was doing.

“Just getting ready for a trip,” Ryan said. He saw her try to lift the now steel-filled vest, but to no avail.

“What kind of trip?” Sweetie Belle asked. “This is a weird set of things to pack.”

“It’s a special trip,” Ryan said. “I’m heading out with my drin- the guys.” No need to poison the young mind. “We have some plans for what we’re gonna do that need special stuff.”

Sweetie continued through the items on the floor, though Ryan made no move to stop her. He probably should have, considering the particular assortment of things there, as she may be able to figure out what Ryan was going to do or tell somepony about his loadout for the trip. But he wasn’t thinking far enough ahead at the moment.

Sweetie Belle picked up the mask. “This is kind of creepy,” she said. “Why do you need a mask like this?”

“To hide my face, of course,” Ryan said. If something is incriminating, the best way to remove suspicion is to agree with what someone says and to act like it doesn’t matter or mean anything.

“From who?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Are you going somewhere dangerous?”

“No,” Ryan said quickly.

“You’re lying,” Sweetie Belle said with a frown. “Rarity!” she called.

“Shh, shh, alright!” Ryan whispered to her. “You can’t tell anyone, and I mean ANYONE,” he said. Sweetie Belle fell back on her rump to listen, and with a sigh, Ryan went on. “I need to head down south for a bit.”

“Why? What’s down there?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“A friend of a friend who needs some help,” Ryan said. “No one else can help him. So I and my buddies are going to.”

“Why can’t anyone else help?” Sweetie asked.

“Because they just can’t,” Ryan said. “There’s too much going on to explain.”

“And why can’t I tell anypony?” Sweetie asked. So many questions with this one.

“Because they might try to stop us,” Ryan said. “We have to help our friend, Sweetie Belle. And we can’t let anyone prevent us from doing that.”

“So what are you going to tell everypony when you have to leave?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Ryan sighed. “We will have to lie,” he said. “We’ll go to Las Pegasus and we’re telling everyone that that’s where we’re staying.”

Sweetie Belle looked unhappy. “Lying is wrong,” she said.

“Yes, lying is wrong,” Ryan said. “When it’s malicious. This is a lie to do good. I do not bear false witness against anyone, Sweetie Belle, I bear it for them.” Sweetie Belle looked confused at the language choice Ryan had made, the result Ryan had been hoping for.

“Is it going to be an adventure?” Sweetie asked.

“Yes,” Ryan answered. “It’ll be quite the adventure. Though I’m afraid no one will likely ever hear the true story behind the adventure.” Sweetie Belle yawned loudly as Ryan finished. “You need to get to bed. Go on now; night night.”

Sweetie Belle started up the stairs and Ryan turned back to his things to double check. Sweetie Belle didn’t go all the way up, though. She stopped about midway up the steps and looked back down at Ryan.

“What’ll it be called?” she asked.

“Huh?”

“What are you going to call your adventure? All the adventures in the books my parents and sister read to me when I was little had names.” Sweetie Belle looked at him expectantly.

Ryan had to think about it for a moment. If telling her a name would get her to be, he would give her a name. But what would work? She would only accept a good name, one that summarized the entire tale in a few words. Instead of giving it the proper thought it would need, though, Ryan gave her the first thing that came to mind.

“Operation: Imminent Harkness,” Ryan blurted out.

Sweetie Belle looked thoughtful. “Okay,” she said. “That sounds pretty cool.” With that, she went back up the stairs and to her room to go to sleep.

Ryan let out a sigh of relief. She would probably forget half of the details of the night, at least, and even then, he had a feeling she wouldn’t talk. Not before they left, at least.

So Ryan finished up his lookover of everything he would be bringing and went to bed. He would need all the rest he could get before heading out the next day.

Perilous Roads

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Perilous Roads

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” (Lewis Carrol)

Ryan and the guys stood waiting at the train station for their ride to Las Pegasus. Fancy had sent a message via magical fire to his buddy down there to outfit them with everything they would need. Turned out, he was some kind of official in immigration, or something, and he owed Fancy a favor. It really is good to have connections.

It was the middle of the day, and the oncoming Spring weather was already feeling really warm. It was actually relatively cool, naturally, but when you’re used to the cold, even mild warmth feels hot. Ryan rolled his sleeves up, freely allowing his scarred arms to show. On his back, he carried, in a huge bag, all of his extra gear, other than his 1911. It was heavy, especially with the steel plates, but he had to act like it was nothing, or someone might get suspicious.

Not many other ponies were getting on this train. Ryan heard that Las Pegasus had a bit of a reputation for taking ponies’ money, and Ponyville was by no means a rich town. Gambling could have serious repercussions for anypony here.

The guys all left their homes early to avoid having to retell their story. They hadn’t thought about it nearly enough, and looking back, it was pretty damn shaky, at the very best. The girls could expect them to go blow whatever money they bring, or get drunk and cause a raucous, or disappear off the face of the earth. If they weren’t careful, that last one would happen, too.

Silently, they waited for the train. They were all very nervous, worried that someone would come and ask what the hay they were doing going to a city of vice and crime like Las Pegasus. Their answer would have to come from one of them, and it would have to be the truth in that they weren't going to gamble, but not reveal their travel plans. None of the guys were particularly great liars; that was why they told their respective loved ones late at night; and one flawed statement could screw them.

“Are you guys sure you want to do this?” Ryan asked. “We’re getting close to the point of no return.”

“Of course we do,” Fancy Pants said. “We’re sticking together, Ryan. No one goes alone.”

“Y’all ain’t fighting by yerself,” Mac added. “It’s just foolish.”

“Mac would be an excellent warrior to keep by your side,” Fancy said. “He has the abilities and physicality for it. I might not join in the combat, but I have resources and strategy at my disposal that I will aid you with.”

“And I was in the 71st Recon,” Soarin’ said. “I’ll be way up high, watching. If I see trouble, I’ll signal you. And fight if necessary.”

“We can work that out on the ride,” Ryan said. He was happy to hear that at least one of them would be likely to get home. he looked away from the platform. “It looks we have company.”

The guys looked in the same direction and saw a group coming up. It was the Elements of Harmony and Spike, and Cinny too, sauntering casually up to the platform. If only they had moved slower, the train might have gotten here before them, and this could have been avoided.

“Hey!” Pinkie Pie shouted from thirty feet away.

“Hey yourself,” Ryan said. He blinked, and suddenly, Pinkie stood before him. He put his hands around her torso and picked her up, eliciting numerous giggles from the pink mare. “What’re you gals doing here?” Ryan asked.

“We came to see you boys off,” Pinkie said. “It sounds like it’ll be quite a trip.” Pinkie waggled her eyebrows at Ryan, who rolled his eyes in response.

“And we want to make sure that you don’t go too crazy out there,” Twilight said as the rest of the group caught up. “We know all about that city, and we know that you do too. The only one we aren’t worried about is Big Macintosh.”

“What about me, milady?” Fancy asked. “Surely, you suspect no bad behavior of me.”

“If what Fleur has told me is anything to go by,” Rarity said. “Then you must be reminded not to overdo it at the various pubs.”

“Ah, foiled again by my lovely wife,” Fancy said.

“Indeed,” Rarity replied. She turned her attention to Ryan. “Dear, might I speak with-”

“I can’t believe you’re going to Las Pegasus and I don’t get to come!” Rainbow Dash complained, shooting into the air. “There’s so much flight history there, and they have so many competitions! There’s at least two every week!” She landed in front of Soarin’ and poked his chest. “I’m so jealous of you guys.”

“As well you should be,” Soarin’ said. “I might just compete in one if I feel up to it.”

‘Dammit, I never get lucky!” Rainbow said.

“Well-” Ryan started.

“Don’t,” Rainbow warned with a glare. Ryan put his hands up in defense.

Rarity cleared her throat. “So, Ryan. I was hoping that I could-” And she was interrupted yet again.

“Oh, Big Mac, please be careful in the city!” Fluttershy said louder than typical. “It would break my heart if something bad happened before our wedding! What if the casino bosses don’t like you? What if they hurt you? Or a bum who lost everything wants to take your money and attacks you? Or you guys get jumped by gryphons from the south, or-”

“Fluttershy, Ah’ll be just fine,” mac said, pulling her into a hug. She instantly calmed down. “Ah’ve got mah good buddies here to protect me, and me to protect them. We’ll come home just fine.”

“Yes, Fluttershy, they will be alright,” Rarity said. Ryan caught a hint of frustration in her voice, but no one else seemed to notice. “They can handle themselves; they are fully grown stallions. Except this one.” Rarity nudged Ryan with her elbow. “He’s still a child.”

“It’s a good thing I’ll have the adults with me, then” Ryan said. “They can teach me the goodies and the baddies when we get there.” Rarity was about to start talking, but this time, she didn’t even get to begin.

“Ryan knows all about the baddies,” Cinny said. “But I bet he doesn’t know much of the goodies.” Twilight and Applejack groaned, while Ryan’s buddies all “Oooohed!” with tremendous volume at the smoking burn.

“Well, I suppose that you are right,” Ryan said. He leaned toward her and put his hands innocently behind his back. “Care to teach me?”

“My lectures are pretty intense,” Cinny said with half-closed eyes and a devious smile. “I tend to have hooves-on demonstrations, since it’ll help you to learn that much faster.”

“You’ll want me to learn fast,” Ryan said. “That way, during the tests, I can take it nice and slow, make sure I get everything correct.”

“I would hate for you to finish early and have nothing to do,” Cinny said. “Then we would both be bored.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I can usually occupy myself in the downtime.” Ryan walked over to Cinny and put his hand on the back of her neck. “It is called downtime, so I like to lower my head and close my eyes.”

Cinny giggled. “And in the end, you will receive a gold star for your excellent work, I’m sure of it.”

“I think I should be able to earn some extra credit,” Ryan said. “I could also-”

“As much as Ah’m sure we all love hearing your little exchange, Ah have to do work while Mac is away,” Applejack said. And we need to prepare for the wedding. Ah’d like to say goodbye to mah brother in a normal setting.”

Ryan cleared his throat. “Right,” he said. He was about to get carried away anyway.

Rarity pulled on Ryan’s elbow. “May I speak with you?” she asked. She was pulling him away, not really giving him a choice.

“I guess,” Ryan said, nervous. He let Rarity pull him over a few feet away from the group. They didn’t really notice because they were watching Fluttershy and Mac say goodbye.

Ryan stuck his hands in his pockets. “So whatcha need?” he asked.

Rarity looked thoughtful. She seemed a little unsure about whatever she was about to say, which really started to get to Ryan. Every second was eating at him like an hour, and he started to wonder what was so important that she would take so long.

“So you’re going on a trip south,” Rarity said.

“That’s right,” Ryan said. “Heading to Las Pegasus-”

“Are you now?” Rarity asked. “No adventures worth retelling, nothing major?”

Ryan swallowed. “We-”

Rarity sighed. “Sweetie Belle gave me what few details she could remember,” Rarity said. “She saw the metal plates that can only serve one purpose. Don’t try to say they are something else, because I make such items for the guard.”

“You never know when a thug might come at you,” Ryan said. It was a weak attempt.

Rarity shook her head. “She said you were going south. As in, SOUTH south.” She looked up into Ryan’s eyes with concern. “I don’t know what could ever possess you to go there...”

Ryan looked seriously at her. “I can’t expect you to understand,” he said. “I don’t expect the guys to really understand. All I know is that they stand by me.”

“I know,” Rarity said.

“Rarity, this is important,” Ryan said with a hint of pleading. “I can’t... I have to do it.”

“And I know that,” Rarity replied. “I said I don’t understand. That doesn’t mean I won’t try.”

Ryan felt a massive ball of tension leave his chest. “You really are generous,” he said.

“More than you know.” Rarity glanced over at Mac and Fluttershy, who were in a loving embrace. “You know that Fluttershy will be heartbroken if Big Macintosh were hurt.”

“He will come back fine,” Ryan said. “You have my word.”

“It’s not me who you must give your word to,” Rarity said. “Though I doubt Fluttershy will accept even your word on a matter such as this.”

“Then I’ll just have to make sure Mac comes back alright,” Ryan said. “I plan to bring everyone home alright. Plus one more.”

Rarity blinked. “So, that’s what this is about,” she said. “I don’t know who; I have no idea, really; but I won’t stop you now. Good luck.”

“Thank you, Rarity,” Ryan said.

“Don’t mention it,” Rarity said. Ryan started to turn, but she stopped him. “But I have something for you.”

She started fishing through a bag she had on her side for whatever she had while Ryan waited. He had no idea what she wanted to give him, seeing as there was no reason for her to give him a gift. She was generous, sure, but Ryan did nothing to deserve her generosity. Truth be told, he didn’t even deserve to live in her basement. So the extra generosity made him feel kind of guilty.

“Ah, here it is!” Rarity said, pulling something wrapped in cloth out of her bag. She levitated it to Ryan, who began to unwrap it. “I saw it some time ago on a business trip, and it made me think of you. I had planned on giving it to you as a gift for getting your own home, since you seem to be looking at that...”

Ryan finished removing the cloth and stared, mouth agape, at what lay in his hands. It was a blade. But not just any blade; perhaps one of the best he had ever seen. The edge was razor sharp, and it felt excellently balanced in his hand. The handle was expertly crafted exotic hardwood, a wood similar to Kamagong. But the most striking thing about it was the material that made up the blade; it was no metal. Instead, it was Obsidian, volcanic glass, carved by a master to be the perfect weapon for slitting through flesh.

The blade was designed exceptionally. It had a slight curve to it all the way up and down both sides, which would prevent it from catching inside whoever Ryan fought. There was not a flat spot on the blade, so it could always slide through its target. Toward the handle, there were two Navarro hooks on the blade to do extra damage when it was pulled out.

“Rarity...” Ryan said. He couldn’t finish.

“I saw it and it reminded me of you,” Rarity said. “I remember that Pinkie said you gave her your knife. I know it meant a lot to you, and that you liked to have it, so I thought I would give this to you when you went off on your own. I suppose that I’m going to have to give it to you now as you head off with your friends.”

“Thank you,” Ryan said as he gingerly handled the blade. “I’ll take good care of it.”

“Don’t worry too much,” Rarity said. “After he carved it, the unicorn used magic to reinforce it a bit so it would not shatter as easily. It was the only magic he used in the whole process. He also said that obsidian has one of the best cutting edges in the world, so I thought it would fit well with you.”

Ryan opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He was enraptured by the blade in his hands, the expert craftsmanship. It would almost be a shame to sully it with the blood of his enemies. Almost.

“I don't even know what to say,” Ryan finally managed.

“Just promise me that you shall bring everyone home,” Rarity said. “You have my friend, my best friend’s fiancé, and my other friend’s future teammate. Do whatever it takes.” She stared Ryan down as she gave him his orders.

“I will,” Ryan said. “I know I will.” Rarity half-smiled at Ryan, worried, but doing her best to believe that Ryan would get it done.

They returned to the group to see Fluttershy and Mac in a close embrace, ignoring everyone else around. They were all extremely preoccupied with those two, and hadn’t paid any mind to Rarity and Ryan. Ryan slyly stuck the wrapped up knife in his jacket pocket and rejoined the group.

“Ah’ll come back as soon as Ah can,” Mac whispered.

“I know,” Fluttershy said. She nuzzled her fiancè, mussing up the short fur on their faces. “Just come back in one piece.”

Ryan heard the train’s horn blow in the distance. He turned and saw it, perfect timing. On the train ride, they would be able to discuss their specific roles in the job, and what they would need to get when they arrived in Las Pegasus. There were a lot of logistics to deal with, and the sooner they left, the better.

“I hate to interrupt this moment,” Ryan said, walking up to Mac and Fluttershy. Fluttershy moved herself to be between Mac and Ryan. “But we really need to go, and the train’s about to arrive.”

Mac tried to separate from Fluttershy, but to no avail. “Honey,” he said, nuzzling her. She sighed contentedly. “Ah have to get ready.”

“Not yet,” Fluttershy said. “We still have a few minutes.” Mac glanced at Ryan without turning his head, and Ryan just shook his head and sighed.

They waited without talking for the next few minutes while the train stopped and the passengers disembarked. The ponies went about their business, completely oblivious to the plans of those around them and uncaring of what they may be. It’s amazing, how many things are and can be going on around you, and how little you care because it doesn’t involve you.

“Alright, boys, let’s head out,” Ryan said. He waved goodbye to the girls and Spike and pushed through the crowd to the train.

His buddies followed behind him after escaping from the girls and joined him on the train. They decided that it would be best to wait to discuss their plans until the train was moving again, just in case somepony got off and blabbed the plan to the entire town and country. That could have dire consequences, not so much for the guys, but for this Blazer fellow.

Mac was looking out the window until the train got moving again, smiling at his fiancè. She smiled back. It made Ryan feel lonely. His buddies were all loved and had their own loved ones, but he was the bachelor of the group. He knew that he would want to remedy the situation someday, but right now, he had bigger fish to fry.

Once the train was going, he sat back in his seat and took in the car they rode in. The seating areas were far enough away from each other that lip reading wasn’t easy, and with the noise of the train, it was hard to overhear other groups of ponies without trying. The setting was perfect for what they needed to do.

“Alright, boys, let’s get to business,” Ryan said. He and his buddies all leaned in on the table.

“What’s the plan?” Soarin’ asked. “How will we go about this?”

“I’m still working on that,” Ryan said. “For now, we need to figure out what we’ll want to bring to make this go as smoothly as possible. I have what I want, but new ideas are always welcome. Suggestions?”

“My friend in Las Pegasus can get us anything we need,” Fancy said. “All I need to do is send him a message before we arrive, and he will have it for us.”

“Good,” Ryan said. “But that won’t help if we don’t figure out what we need.”

“Radios,” Soarin’ said. “We used them in the Air Guard, standard issue equipment. Mount them on your head, communicate from up to two miles away. We’ll want them to stay in contact, or we could get separated. It happened to a group from the 16th Assault Falcons Battalion out there, and no one saw them alive again.”

“Sounds good,” Ryan said. “Will it fit under a helmet?”

“Wouldn’t be good military gear if it didn’t,” Soarin’ said. He looked to Fancy Pants. “Make sure your guy gets us some of those.”

“Most certainly,” Fancy said.

“We’ll also want some better clothes,” Soarin’ said. “My Wonderbolts flightsuit is hardly the best outfit for avoiding death. And we’ll all need to stay warm in those mountains.”

“I’m good for that,” Ryan said. “You’ll need to get those clothes for stallions only, Fancy.”

The train started to rattle, drawing everyone’s gaze to the window. Outside, the smooth lands around Ponyville and the gentle wilderness were replaced with rough badlands and desert horizons. There were no cacti like Ryan would expect, only shrubs, adding to the eerie feeling of an almost Afghanistan-like landscape in the near future.

“Anything else?” Fancy asked. Everyone thought hard for a moment about what they could need beyond that.

“Ah want a weapon,” Mac said. The guys turned to him.

“Are you sure, Mac?” Soarin’ asked. “I mean, Ryan’s the best fighter, since he has had actual training...”

“Ah know, but Ah won’t let him go in there alone. Not into any fight.” Mac looked at Ryan. “You can’t take on more than one gryphon alone, you know that. You’ll need somepony by your side.”

Ryan smiled. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said. “All of us should have weapons. I have what I need, but you guys need to arm yourselves. Regardless of where you are, you are south of the border; it’s dangerous country. Best to be prepared.”

Fancy nodded. “Very well, I shall have my friend get us some arms.”

“So. We’ve got the roles, the gear, and the bodies. What’s the actual plan?” Soarin’ asked.

Ryan nodded. “I’ve been thinking about that. Whenever I had a chance, I looked at atlases in Twilight’s library.” Ryan reached into his jacket. “I snagged this from one of them.” He tossed a rolled up map onto the table.

Mac whistled. “That’s bold, Ryan,” he said. “Twilight’s liable to murder you for that.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t easy,” Ryan said. “But before we go on, I think we need to establish something important.”

“What’s that?” Soarin’ asked.

“Names.” The guys looked at Ryan confused. “These aren’t governmental bad guys. These are, in their most basic term, terrorists. They will target individuals who go against them. If any of you guys say your name, they’re going to be able to find you and your families.”

“Oh, my...” Fancy said.

“So we need to use fake names, not just for safety from our enemies, but to keep records from showing up that we crossed the border if we get caught in doing so. Fancy, we need fake documents.” Ryan pointed his finger into the table to emphasize the point.

Fancy grunted. “It shan't be easy, but I will see that it is done,” he said.

“Good,” Ryan said. “Now, names. I have something for each of us, and if you don’t like it, then suck it, ‘cuz that’s what you get.”

“And what are these names?” Big Mac asked.

“You’re Whopper,” Ryan said, staring into Mac’s eyes. He saw a flash of distaste, chuckled, then moved onto his other friends. “Soarin’, you’re going to be Osprey, and Fancy, you’re Gatsby.” The other two didn’t seem to mind their names, unfortunately.

“And what’re you gonna be?” Mac asked. “Something else ridiculous, like Thumbs?”

“No, my name is something you guys all know already,” Ryan said.

The guys all waited for him to go on, but he didn’t. He was looking back and forth between them, waiting for one of them to get it. None of them did, though. While he waited, he could feel the bumpy terrain under the train smoothing out, signifying that they were getting closer to the city. When they got off this train, they would become their new personas, and they would be those personas until they were safely at home and nowhere to be seen. Those personas would be famous for the rest of time, written down in the history books as the souls who refused to leave anypony behind. One of those personas would end up a replacement for the true identity of its owner.

“I’m Harkness.”

************************************************************************

The guys stepped off the train and into the ground-based cloud city known as Las Pegasus, a wretched hive of scum and legal villainy. Ponies lost their livelihoods, some, their lives. Few good things ever happened here, and the guys couldn’t wait to get out and into the more ethical lands of the Southern Gryphon Colonies.

They walked the streets of the city close together, evading the newly made beggars, the older ones, and the ponies who looked like they would shank you if they thought you had a single bit. They were all over the damn place, at least, away from the casinos and areas of business. Any that were near places or money or business were thrown out with the trash to keep the place clean.

Ryan ignored it all. Their problems weren’t his, and he wouldn’t spare any thoughts for them. Certainly not now, probably not ever as long as they were out of sight. Fancy seemed a bit bothered, and Ryan could see that he wanted to toss some bits out for them. Soarin’ stayed between him and the beggars to keep them at bay; many would recognize him as rich and famous; and Ryan kept his hand in his jacket where he had Rarity’s Obsidian knife.

The walk to where Fancy as leading them wasn’t terribly long, but it was terribly awkward with all the ponies around. Once they were there, at some nice-looking office building, Fancy rushed them inside and shut the doors behind them.

“Here we are,” Fancy said.

“Yeah,” Ryan responded mechanically. “Did you get that message out?”

“Yes, I did,” Fancy said. “My friend will have all the things we need in his office.”

“And who is this friend?” Soarin’ asked. “I don’t know about this...”

“Relax,” Fancy said with his hoof up. “He owes me a huge favor. I am simply calling it in.”

“As long as we don’t owe him later,” Ryan said.

They walked through a large foyer and to a receptionist’s desk, where a young mare was sitting with a pencil in her mane and her eyes glued to some papers. Fancy said something in a hushed voice to her, but she only jerked her head to the side to tell them which way to go. The guys went past her and off into some hall.

They walked down the hall for a time until they reached the end and found a large set of double doors. Fancy stepped up and knocked three times on the door. At first, no one answered. But a few moments later, the door casually opened on its own, revealing a small office inside and an armored stallion behind a desk.

“I see you really have made friends,” the stallion sad as the guys came into the room.

“Is that so surprising?” Fancy asked.

“Is that a question?” the stallion replied. He stood from his desk and moved around it to greet his apparently old friend.

“It’s good to see you again,” Fancy said, putting his foreleg up and hooking it The stallion hooked his foreleg onto Fancy’s.

“You too,” he said.

“You have what I asked?” Fancy asked.

“I got the message,” the armored stallion said. “I must say, I wasn’t expecting for a burst of flame to appear over my desk and drop a paper on my desk. Haven’t had that happen since my days in the guard.”

“Ha, I can imagine,” Fancy said. “How has the private contractor world worked out for you?”

“As much as I love people having fun reunions, we have a schedule to keep with,” Ryan said. “We need to get moving ASAP.”

“Right,” Fancy said with a sheepish smile. “Gary?” Gary? Really?

“I have it all,” Gary said. “Though why you guys plan on going down there, I can’t comprehend-”

“You don’t need to,” Ryan said, cutting Gary off. “As long as we have what we need.”

Gary looked oddly at Ryan. “And just what the hell are you, exactly?” he asked. “Some experiment of the princesses gone horribly wrong?” The stallions, especially Fancy Pants, all looked shocked at Gary.

“Yeah, so fuck you,” Ryan said. “I’m still better looking. What are you, the guy who drives a desk now?”

Gary narrowed his eyes at Ryan and Ryan narrowed his in return. The guys were quiet around them, watching with bated breath. The human and ex-guard stared at each other intently, like they were getting ready to fight. Then, out of seemingly nowhere, they both smiled and let their eyes soften.

“Good to see you’ve found the proper company,” Gary said. Fancy Pants breathed a sigh of relief.

“Too bad your definition of proper hasn’t changed,” Fancy said.

Gary walked over to a large drawer and opened it up, revealing everything that the guys had asked for. No one cheered or celebrated, only went in and took what they needed. Gary stood off to the side watching neutrally, possibly worried about his friend, but at the same time, looking relieved.

“I guess that would make us even?” he asked.

Fancy placed everything he took in his saddle bags. “Almost,” he said. “You said you could get us south?”

“I can, and I will.” Gary sounded like he was all business now. “Then I’ll be free of your debt. As for the others-”

“They will owe you nothing,” Fancy Pants said aggressively. “They are a part of the favor you owe me.”

“This wasn’t exactly easy, Pants,” Gary said, equally as aggressive. “And there’s a lot of risk involved.”

“Because there wasn’t risk involved when I paid a fortune to have another group of private contractors bail you out when you found yourself in that ‘pickle’,” Fancy Pants said. “That was a massive investment, one which I intend to receive the return from now. And I expect a full return.”

“You got yours,” Gary said. “But now I expect a return from these guys.”

“If you think I’m paying you back, you’ve got another thing coming,” Ryan said. “Same for these guys. This is part of your debt, so we don’t owe you jack.”

“And what for my silence?” Gary asked. He returned to his desk and held his hooves together. “You will owe me quite a bit to keep from telling the world about such a famoud group going into a war zone.”

“There are other ways to buy your silence,” Ryan said ominously.

“Now, Ryan...” Fancy said.

“Oh?” Gary replied. “And what might those be?”

Ryan pulled the obsidian knife out of his jacket. “You know what’s funny? Everyone seems to have a thing for having a good, steel blade. One that cuts clean, handles well, serves its user. But steel isn’t even the best blade. Obsidian is much sharper and cleaner.” Ryan flipped the knife in his hand. “It’s lighter, too. And since it isn’t metal, metal detectors can’t find it. Your world doesn’t have X-ray scanners, so that won’t help either.”

“So I should get an obsidian knife?” Gary asked, unperturbed.

“No,” Ryan said. “You would suck with it. What you should do is remember that, wherever you live, whatever protection you give to your family, an obsidian knife can always get in.” Ryan glared at Gary and gripped his knife hard.

Gary stood. “Are you threatening me, colt?” he asked. Ryan’s buddies froze again.

“Not you,” Ryan replied darkly.

No one moved. Gary’s eyes betrayed everything; he wanted to rush forward and put a knife through Ryan’s neck. The positive attitude he had for Ryan just before had disappeared entirely. Ryan stared back with emptied eyes, his hand on his knife, ready to fight. Gary’s teeth slowly started to show themselves, and he moved his hoof to his side.

Make your move, Ryan said with his eyes.

Gary’s teeth were completely bared now, and he was leaning on his desk, ready to lunge. If he came at Ryan now, there would be a lot of blood, from either one of them. If Gary scored the first hit, he would have to deal with the guards, who weren’t fans of private military contractors. If Ryan won, he would have to haul ass out of the building.

On the whole, it just wasn’t a good situation.

Gary leaned back. “You’re not worth the effort,” he said.

“The effort. Right,” Ryan replied.

Gary turned to the stallions. “Pack your shit and go,” he said. “There’s a guide waiting for you at the south fountain, on the edge of the city. He’ll take you where you need to go.”

“Thank you,” Fancy Pants said.

Gary started going through papers. “Just get out of my building.”

The group took their new stuff and made their way out. It felt like Gary and his ponies were watching them the whole way, but when Ryan glanced around, they couldn’t seem to care less about them. When they were finally out of the building, none of them took a single look back as they walked away.

“That was a good bluff,” Soarin’ said. Mac looked away, and Ryan looked confused.

“What?” he replied.

“That thing, about your knife,” Soarin’ said. “It was a risky move, but it worked really well.”

Ryan took in a deep breath. “I don’t lie,” he said. Soarin’ frowned, but said nothing, and the guys went on their way.

They arrived at the south fountain after a long, arduous walk through the city. WIth all their stuff, they thought it would be a better idea to take the longer, safer route through the better neighborhoods to avoid a mugging. At the fountain, they looked for anyone who appeared sketchy or shady, since that was probably who they were hooked up with. Ryan spotted a pony who wore a coat and droopy hat and approached.

“You the one who brings us down south?” he asked.

“Ssshh!” the pony said. “Not so loud. Yeah, I’m the guy.” He took one look at Ryan. “You’re definitely my charge. So let’s go.”

“How do you expect to get us down there?” Ryan asked. “How do I know I can trust you?”

“I’m ex-Unicorps Recon,” the stallion said. “That was my job before I retired.”

Ryan nodded. “Alright,” he said. “Yo, guys, it’s time to get going.” The stallions came over at Ryan’s beckoning. “Ready?”

“As ready as we can be,” Mac said.

“Good,” Ryan said. He turned to the shady stallion. “Lead the way.”

The stallion nodded and turned around to leave, taking the crew of near-misfits out of the world of what they knew and into a world of danger, uncertainty, and war.

It reminded Ryan of home.

Operation: Imminent Harkness

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Operation: Imminent Harkness

“Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Because, I am the shadow, and the valley is mine.”

The journey through the San Palomino desert was boring and uneventful. Not that that was a problem; the more uneventful the journey leading up to finding Blazer, the safer they were.

When they arrived at the border, the Recon unicorn pointed out a path for them to follow and then started back home. They had taken a couple of days to make the journey, and he seemed eager to get back to his family. It almost had a sense of irony to it, but no one was paying enough attention to possibly notice it.

The group stood before the path silently. There was no turning back now; the only way they would get home was to get the job done and then head home either through Fancy calling in his airship or by going home legally, which would have all kinds of hurdles. They just had to hope that his airship would eventually be able to sneak past the border patrols of both nations.

“So. Here we are,” Ryan said, looking forward contemplatively.

“Indeed we are,” Fancy said.

Soarin’ flapped his wings and jumped into the air. “Ryan, I’m gonna-”

“Harkness,” Ryan replied. “I’m Harkness here. You’re Osprey, Mac is Whopper, and Fancy is Gatsby. Try to remember; the last thing we need is for the bad guys to follow us home.”

“Right,” Soarin’ said with a sheepish smile. “So, uh, I guess I’ll head up into the sky and watch for any movements ahead of you guys.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Ryan replied.

Soarin’ nodded. “I’ll stay in touch.” He keyed his mic to make sure it worked on his way up and flew high into the sky, well beyond the visual range of either the stallions or man.

Ryan shrugged his pack on his back. “Let’s ge tmoving,” he said. He started forward into the valley, followed by the two earth-bound stallions walking alongside him.

They started on their way along the barely-existent path with heavy hooves and trodden feet. It was a steep slope, being on the side of the first mountain of an entire region of them, and they had to carefully watch their steps as they went. Dirt and rocks shifted constantly underneath them, threatening to throw them off balance, and every time a rock rolled away, it sounded like an avalanche to them. No one wanted to make too much noise, as the consequences could be catastrophic.

At the top of the path, far from being the top of the mountain, they took in the landscape before them. Ryan had been expecting a massive valley, bordered by craggily mountains and deathly falls. Instead, there were only clouds over the valley, blocking it and anything in it from view.

Ryan keyed his mic. “Osprey, you there?”

“Yeah, I got you,” Soarin’ replied.

“It looks like we’re going into the Wetlands, lots of cloud cover,” Ryan explained. “We’ll stay above the cloudline as much as we can, but if we dip below, you’ll have to come down and join us if we want to stick together. Try to stay in the clouds if you can, without moving any of them.”

“Got it,” Soarin said. He kept his watchful eye on the group and the area around them, ready to swoop down and save the day if need be.

Ryan put his hand in his cloak and felt for his pistol. He had two magazines, only fourteen shots, so he would have to use it sparingly, if at all. Even so, he kept it loosely in its holster so he could rip it out if any enemies came by. On his lower back, he had put the obsidian knife Rarity gave him, though he would rather have out it elsewhere. He couldn't risk being an armed foreigner here, though, so it all had to remain as hidden as possible.

Ryan wasn’t sure where exactly they would go. He wasn’t even sure if they would end up going into any major cities. He had done his research and found that the faction they were looking for liked to hang out in the Wetlands and the tribal region to the east. The caves were well-liked by this group in the Wetlands, though, so the search would mostly be here. It had some convenience to it, but given the enormous size of the region and the unknown number of caves, it was hardly convenient at all.

The group started into the valley with watchful eyes. They wanted to avoid going below the cloudline, as it would be substantially harder for them to spot enemies and get any heads up on them down there. Up here, even if it was hard to hide, they would at least see enemy gryphons coming.

“R- Harkness, Ah’ve got a question,” Mac said as he stepped carefully on the mountainside.

“Yeah?” Ryan replied.

“Where did ya get these names for us?” Mac asked.

“An Osprey is a bird, so up there is Osprey” Ryan explained, trying his best to avoid real names. “It makes sense. He’s Gatsby, for reasons involving finances, but you guys wouldn’t get the reference. And you’re Whopper because of another cultural reference back home.”

“So each name is based off of something you knew about from yer home?” Mac asked.

Ryan nodded. “That’s right. These gryphons can’t possibly go to my home, so they’re good references to use. And if they did, even if they brought a small army, a small police force could probably take them without trouble, so the people would be safe.”

“Makes sense to me,” Fancy said.

Mac harrumphed. “Ah still don’t understand Whopper,” he said >Ryan and Fancy chuckled and the group kept on walking.

The paths along the mountainside were treacherous and difficult to navigate. The guys had to take their time in traversing the mountainside, staying certain to keep their footing and avoid falling over. It took several hours for them to navigate this first section of mountain, all the while staying on the lookout for enemy patrols or legitimate government patrols. No one was on their side here, but the number of gryphons they could fight was not the same as the number of ones they had to avoid.

After a time, they were able to get off the side of the mountain and onto a decently beaten path. It wasn’t even, rather torn up by gryphon claws, but it was something. They were just above the cloudline now, where they could feel the moisture from the rain and the static from the occasional bout of lightning.

“Osprey, we’re on a path. Any idea which way to start going?” Ryan asked.

“Not sure, Harkness, but I-” Soarin’ paused for a second. “Wait, no, whatever you do, do not go West! You’ve got a group of gryphons, five strong, armed and armored. Suggest you guys climb up the side of the mountain to stay hidden.”

Ryan looked west. “How far are they?” he asked.

“They’re about a thousand meters back, walking, but if they start flying, you’re screwed,” Soarin replied. “Sooner is safer, get moving.”

“Got it,” Ryan said. He turned to Mac and Fancy. “Guys, get your climbing hooves on, we’ve gotta scale this little mountainside.” Ryan pointed at the slope behind him. “Gryphons coming this way.”

The stallions looked up. “Well, what’re we waiting for?” Fancy asked.

They all ran to the slope and started making their ways up. Ryan had the easiest time, since his body was more built for climbing than those of the stallions, and helped them to get up whenever he could. All the while, Soarin’ was counting down the distance that the gryphons were from them, effectively acting as a timer for whether or not they would get far enough.

When they were only a hundred meters out, the guys stopped moving and sat completely still, pressing against the slope and remaining as small as possible behind some rocks. They were only about thirty feet from the path, and when the gryphons finally passed, they could hear them talking.

“So, what are your plans tonight?” one asked.

questioned one clicked his tongue. “I got screwed, my friend,” he said. “I get to pull prisoner duty tonight. Some old dude from the war or something.”

“That’s unfortunate,” another one said. “That war ended a long time ago. If he is still fighting, then he should just be eliminated for the safety of us all.”

“No don’t be saying that, he could still be useful...”

Ryan tried to listen, but the gryphons left earshot too soon and he couldn’t make out the rest of their conversation. They were clearly talking about someone they had captured some time ago, during the war between the gryphons and Equestria, but who it was was questionable. It could be Blazer; or, it could be legitimate government patrol gryphons, talking about another gryphon they had in prison.

“You guys catch that?” Ryan asked. He raised his head to watch the gryphons go.

“Yes, I did,” Fancy replied.

“Me, too,” Mac said.

Ryan keyed his mic. “Osprey, can you follow those gryphons, see where they go?”

“I can,” Soarin’ said.

“Do it, they might lead us somewhere good,” Ryan said.

Soarin’ replied in the affirmative and tailed the gryphons while the guys made their way back to the path. Ryan wanted it done quickly, so they all slid down the side, sending rocks and dirt flying in the air as they went. At the path, Ryan did a quick scan of the area and a check of himself to make sure he didn’t lose anything he was carrying.

“Let’s get moving guys,” he said. “Osprey, which way to follow?”

“Go east, Harkness, and stick to the path. I’ll tell you if anything pops up,” Soarin’ said.

“Got it,” Ryan replied.

Ryan led Fancy and Mac along the path in the direction that the gryphons were heading in the hope that it would lead them to one of those cave cities or cave complexes he had read about. If it was an enemy held cave, they wouldn’t be able to enter; that would be suicide; but if it was a city, they could at least find a place to stay for the night and gather information regarding the gryphons they were looking for.

They kept on walking, at a speedy pace, trying to catch up a little to the gryphons. Soarin’ had eyes on them, but if for any reason Soarin’ were to lose his sight of them, he would have to come down and join the guys so they could follow together on foot.

Ryan heard a mic key. “Harkness, Osprey, they just went underneath the clouds. Los sight of them.”

“Shit,” Ryan said. “Alright, get us to where they entered the cloudline and come down and join us there.”

“Got it,” Soarin’ said.

The guys picked up their pace and ran down the path. In the distance, they could just see where the path started to dip below the clouds. The clouds were black and ominous, occasionally sending a flash of lightning into the sky as if to warn them to stay out. The warning went unheeded, though, as the group came back together before the end of the path above the clouds.

Ryan, being the slowest runner, was winded by the time they reached the clouds and had to take a moment to catch his breath before continuing forward. The guys waited patiently for him, none too eager to head into the dangers that lay ahead. When Soarin’ landed by them, he looked cautiously to the clouds.

“it’s gonna be rainy down there,” he warned. “I won’t be able to fly much. Even if I stay in the clouds, it won’t be easy.”

“Then you should stick with us,” Ryan said. “It’ll be dark, too, so perhaps planning for you to fly in the clouds wasn’t the best idea. We’ll stay together, walk single file. Hang onto each others’ tails, and whoever is behind me, the hem of my pants.”

The guys all exchanged a look. “Harkness,” Fancy said. “There’s a little something about that...” Ryan waited for the answer. “Generally, only special someponies are supposed to nip at or bite tails...”

“I don’t give a damn about that stuff right now, and neither should you,” Ryan said. “We will do what we have to in order to be safe and stay alive. Unless you guys don’t want to return to your special someponies...” Ryan glanced around at the now guilty-looking stallions. “I thought so. Now get in a line and follow me.”

Ryan took the lead, followed by Mac, then Fancy, then Soarin’. The lightest ones took the outer areas because they would be the least likely to drag someone else down or the whole group if they fell. Soarin’ would be able to do a little something with his wings to keep from falling, but Ryan would just have to hope Mac had a strong jaw.

They advanced into the clouds and were instantly assaulted with extreme moisture and cold. Their clothes and exposed fur quickly grew wet before they were even all the way out of the cloud, and the frigid mountain air was only multiplied by the water. When they did get to the other side of the cloud, it was pouring rain, and the clouds must have had some sort of magic to them, because only then did it become deafeningly loud.

They could hardly see through the rain, but thanks to the hood on Ryan’s cloak, he could at least make out details on the ground in front of him. The path was mostly stone and rocks, now, with all the dirt washed away by the rain. Over the thousands of years, the rocks and paths under the cloudline had been smoothed out by the constant rainfall, making for a clear picture of just how deadly the area was.

Ryan led his friends down the path slowly, like a snail on a twig hanging precariously from a tree branch. One misstep, and Ryan could slip and fall down the smooth mountainside. It offered him no chances to grab at something to stop himself, nor any way to slow his descent with his feet. To fall here was certain death, as there was no way anything could stop him.

The group moved along the path for a time, with Ryan trying to see ahead for any gryphons or any sign of life and the others just trying to keep their footing. The rain pounded at their bodies in massive drops, beating them like a massage pony using a hammer made of ice. It was a miserable place to be, ad no doubt even harder to live in.

“Do you see anything?!” Fancy yelled over the rain.

Ryan looked as far ahead as he could. “No!” he shouted. “It’s too dark! I can’t see more than twenty feet up!”

“This may help!” Fancy yelled.

Fancy Pants leaned sideways and shot a light forth from his horn, illuminating the area before them. With the new source of light, Ryan was able to see a good fifty feet up, maybe more. Nothing was clear, it couldn’t be with all the rain, but at least he could make out shapes.

“Nice, Gatsby!” Ryan shouted.

With the new light and the ability to see far ahead, they continued on forward. As they went, the sloped mountainside next to them started to get steeped, until it finally turned into a vertical wall of nearly polished granite mountainside with the occasional random gem here and there.

“I’m no gemologist, but I don’t think gems are generally located inside granite,” Ryan thought. Learn something new every day.

The wall went on for a while, but at one point, Ryan noticed a black spot on the wall, and of a good size. As he and the guys got closer to it, he realized that it wasn’t a spot on the wall, but a hole in it. The light from Fancy’s magic poured into the hole. Ryan slowed to s stop and turned to face the group.

“Gatsby, turn out the light,” Ryan said as quietly as possible in the rain. A moment later, the light was out.

“What is it?” Mac asked through his teeth on Ryan’s pants.

“I think I found a place for us to rest,” Ryan said, pointing forward. “There. Let’s go.”

Ryan made his way to the hole in the wall with his friends just behind him. He was in a mild state of euphoria about finding a way out of the pounding rain, as were the guys. Without the light, Ryan had to feel along the wall until he felt the wall disappear and turn into a hole. The rock was smooth, like it had been polished, and felt cold to the touch.

When they reached the hole, Ryan ducked in immediately and started to shake his cloak off. Behind him, the guys came in and started shaking themselves off as well, sending water flying all over the place and onto each other. After a few minutes of that, everyone was as dry as they would get, so they circled up in the middle of the new zone.

“So, what is this?” Soarin’ asked. “The start of a cave system?”

Ryan looked behind himself into the hole. It was a long tunnel they were in, one that was long enough that they couldn’t quite see the end. Fancy cast a light spell and sent a ball of light down the tunnel. The guys watched quietly as it went, waiting for it to stop. Eventually, it did stop but it was a good three hundred or so feet in before it finally stopped.

Mac whistled. “Ah don’t think this is just a cave,” he said.

“No kidding,” Soarin’ said.

Ryan stood. “If this is more than a cave, then it is exactly where we need to be. It’s a good bet that those gryphons from before came in here, and they’re probably in whatever room is at the end of this cave.”

“What if they aren’t friendly?” Fancy asked. “It wouldn’t be wise to attack them in their own lair.”

“And we won’t, if it is a lair,” Ryan said. “We go to the end of the tunnel, see what we see. If they look bad, we leave or wait until it’s safe to go in. If not, and it’s one of those cities, we go in and search for clues to find Blazer. Sounds good?” Everyone nodded. “Then let’s get moving.”

Fancy cast a new light spell from his horn to illuminate the area immediately around them and they started walking down the tunnel. The group moved as quietly as it could, though that wasn’t very quiet, seeing as they were dripping wet and three of them had to walk with hooves on stone. Ryan had his hand behind his back the whole way, ready to pull his knife. He didn’t want to use a gun in such a confined space because it could easily deafen him and his friends.

When they arrived at the end of the tunnel, they found themselves in front of a very large door. The door wasn’t a regular door, it was a sliding door, made of what was probably five inch thick steel. No one could bust that open without high explosives, which would be grossly unsafe in the tunnel anyway. To the right of the door, there was a metallic rectangle sticking out of the wall with a button in the middle. With a hard gulp, Ryan steeled himself and pressed the button.

A speaker crackled to life. “This is Kasteel city. Who is out there?”

Ryan pressed and held the button. “We are travellers, from Equestria! We’re going around the world exploring! Please, let us in!”

Ryan stepped back from the speaker and waited. “Alright,” the voice finally said. “Step back from the door.”

Everyone took a step back from the door and watched in awe as it began to open. Slowly, it slid to the left, revealing behind it a good-sized cavern with small buildings here and there and large sections cut out of the walls. In those sections sat at least two gryphons, armed with crossbows and armored with steel plates, sitting and watching. On the ground, the gryphons carried swords and lances, and watched intently as the human and stallions entered their city.

When the group walked in, they stopped at spear point and told not to move while the commander came. They obeyed without question and remained almost motionless. While they waited, Ryan looked at the individual guards before him. They all wore war paint, though each one was different. Some had stripes on their faces, others had colored wingtips. They all looked extremely aggressive and ready to stab the possible intruders if they so such as sneezed.

Eventually, the commander arrived, though he took his sweet time. His war paint was very unique; it covered his entire face and extended along to his claws, which were painted red. He carried a blade as well as a spear, and was only armored on his torso.

“Well, I never expected to see something like this,” he said, seemingly unhappy.

“Equestrians, adventuring into gryphon territory?” Ryan answered.

The gryphon grunted. “That, yes, but you... Who are you? I have never seen you or someone like you before.”

“I’m Harkness, a human,” Ryan answered. “I come from very, very far away. Found myself in Equestria, made some friends. They-” Ryan pointed at the stallions- “are Whopper, Osprey, and Gatsby. Now they come with me on adventures.”

The commander grunted again. “That makes as much sense as it can,” he said. “But you see, I still have a problem. I have never faced an issue like this. I don’t know if I can trust you, or your friends, so I am torn as to whether or not to let you into my city.”

Ryan lowered his cloak hood to reveal his head. “Sir, I can assure you, we would be totally obliterated if we were to try to cause trouble with your city guard. Nothing to fear from us.”

The commander looked with squinted eyes at Ryan and stepped toward him. he stepped right up to Ryan and stared him right in the eyes. Ryan never moved, only stared back as softly as he could. He could see that the commander was trying to decide on multiple options. Let them in, but watch them. Let them in, who cares? Send them away. Or kill them so they aren’t a risk any more.

He stepped back. “Very well,” he said. Ryan took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You may enter my city. But be warned; any trouble, and you will be removed from here.”

“Understood,” Ryan said.

With that, the commander turned around and walked away, and the rest of the guard went back to their posts. Ryan looked to his friends, who all let out enormous sighs of relief, and got their attention.

“I guess that we’re good to go,” Ryan said.

The group started into the city with small steps and feelings of being watched by hawks. Possibly literally. Everyone around them, from the very start, was staring at them, some curious, others distastefully. There was a clear feeling of distrust towards those from outside the city, or maybe just non-gryphons. Given the number of battles Ryan read about here between Equestrian forces and gryphons, it was a safe bet that the wouldn’t be the biggest fans of ponies here. The sooner they finished up here, the better.

The group went a ways into the city, then decided that they would need to find a place to stay before they kept on going. It was growing late, and they would want to be rested for this mission. Any rest they could get would be a blessing.

“Before we find a place to sleep, Ah suggest we find some food,” Mac said.

Ryan felt his stomach growl at the mention of food. “Ya’ know, that sounds like a fantastic plan,” he said.

The group scoured the city for a place to eat. Nothing was labeled anywhere, not even named. Gryphons went into buildings and came out of them with whatever they went to them for and simply knew which was which. Few of the buildings in the main cavern of the city they were in had windows, seeing as they were pointless inside a cave. When the guys didn’t find anything in the main cavern, they went off into a side tunnel to check out what might be there.

The side tunnel they went in had restaurants, but most of them wouldn’t serve them. No one trusted the stallions, and they were extremely trepidatious of Ryan. Half the time, they weren't even through a door before they were sent off. A few gryphons tried to pick fights, but the guys simply left to avoid causing trouble and being thrown out of the city.

Their salvation came in the form of a small, hidden away, one story building in a dark corner of the tunnel. The guys didn’t like it, but given how hungry they were and the lack of food on them, they had no choice. When they entered, they were hastily shown to some seats and given menus.

Ryan picked his up and read through it. “Uh, guys,” he said. “I don’t think this menu caters to you very well.”

“Not really,” Soarin’ said with a look of distaste. The menu was mostly meats and fish, “caught locally”.

“Well, they have something else,” Fancy pointed out. “They have a small assortment of breads and greens that we can eat, chaps. We can survive off that.”

Ryan nodded. “You’ll have to, by the looks of it,” he said. “But tasty food isn’t really a big issue for us. If it’s edible, eat it.”

“Amen to that,” Mac said.

A waitress gryphon came over to them. “Would you like to order?” she asked worriedly.

“Certainly, fair lady,” Fancy said. She beamed at the news and quickly pulled out her little notepad. From the way she was acting, Ryan suspected that this restaurant was struggling, and pretty badly.

The guys placed their orders and the waitress left them at their table toward the side of the room. There were only a few other patrons in the restaurant, either ignoring the guys entirely or watching them with contempt. Ryan kept a close eye on the more angry-looking ones while the stallions just tried to ignore it and tried to look like it didn’t matter.

One of the pairs that Ryan was watching shifted, catching his full attention. They stood from their chairs and started walking toward the door, but then changed directions and moved toward the guys. Ryan knocked the table with his knuckles to warn the stallions, a warning that they all received instantly, and everyone got ready for a fight.

“Yo, equines,” one of the gryphons said. He was a tall guy, with long talons and a protruding beak.

No one responded. “Hey!” the other, smaller one said. “We’re talking to you!”

“We know that,” Ryan said.

“When someone talks to you, it’s considered polite to talk back,” Long Talon said.

“Why emphasize the ‘one’ in that statement?” Ryan asked. “Just curious.”

Long Talon huffed. “Because I don’t think that we should be changing our vocabulary just to cater to some fucking ponies, that’s why,” he said.

Ryan sat back in his chair. “Look, we don’t want trouble. All we want is a bite to eat, then we’ll be going.”

“You’ll be going, alright,” the small one said. “But you’re going hungry tonight. Pack your shit and leave.”

“Well, I don’t think that sounds like such a great idea,” Ryan replied. “We still need to pay, and if they prepare the food and it doesn’t get eaten, that’s a major loss for them.”

“In case you didn’t notice,” Long Talon said, leaning in and narrowing his eyes. “We don’t give a damn. This is our city, our hangout. We don’t want your filthy money here.”

Fancy chimed in. “Please, fellows, let’s not be-”

“Stuff it, horse!” Long Talon said. Fancy closed his mouth and furrowed his brow.

“Hey,” Ryan said, standing. “Don’t you talk to my buddies that way.”

Long Talon and the smaller one glared daggers at Ryan. “Or what?” the smaller one asked.

“I’ll be forced to change my order from salmon to fried chicken,” Ryan growled.

The gryphons stepped forward. “You better have a good knife, ‘cuz this meat ain’t gonna cut too easy,” Long Talon said.

“Oh, I don’t need a knife,” Ryan said. “I’ll toss you into the fryer as you are and rip into you with my bare teeth. With a little plucking, those feathers will prove excellent toothpicks.”

“You wanna go?” Long Talon asked.

“I couldn’t care less one way or the other,” Ryan answered. “Do you?”

Long Talon didn’t respond with words, opting instead to lunge forward and go for the grab on Ryan’s throat. Ryan was prepared for it, though, and fell back into his chair, putting his feet up for a tomoe nagi. The gryphon landed on Ryan’s feet and flew forward, over him, and rolled along the floor and into the wall.

The smaller one tried to jump in, but was stopped when Big Mac stepped in between him and Ryan. He tried to get around the stallion, but Mac was not letting it happen.

“You think you can take me?” he asked of the powerful stallion before him.

Mac didn’t say anything, only turned around and bucked the gryphon away from the table. The gryphon flew back and landed on another table, smashing it to bits and rolling away in the debris. Mac continued forward to see if the gryphon was down for the count, and was surprised to see him get back up after such a kick .The gryphon flew at him, but before he made it to Mac, he was tackled from the side by Soarin’ and sent into another table.

Meanwhile, Ryan and Long Talon were going at it over on the side. Long Talon was taking swipes at Ryan with his razor sharp talons, nearly cutting Ryan where it count a few times. Ryan always sidestepped the swipes or blocked them and countered them with his own strikes, frustrating the gryphon.

“Fight like a gryphon!” Long Talon shouted. He lunged at Ryan, but this time, Ryan put his hand in between two of the gryphon’s talons and stopped him.

“Why would I do that?” Ryan asked.

He gripped the middle talon of the gryphon and yanked him toward himself. As the gryphon flew toward Ryan, Ryan’s fist flew toward the gryphon, colliding with his throat with massive force. The gryphon went back to the wall, falling against it and clutching his throat. He slid to the ground, not breathing, about to lose consciousness and die.

Before that happened, though, Ryan hopped over and kicked him hard in the side of the neck. He had no idea if it would work, but he thought that he might be able to uncrush the gryphon’s larynx by hitting it at another angle to undo the dent in the front.

It worked, unexpectedly, and the gryphon started gasping for breath. This would never have worked back in Ryan’s world, but given the nature of this world, it wasn’t too shocking that it would work here. Ryan kneeled down next to the gryphon and whispered to him.

“I hope you know how lucky you are to be alive,” he said. “Regrettably, I have nothing to base calling you a terrorist off of, so you’re getting a pass this time. But if I find out you are, trust me, the next time, I won’t fix you.” Ryan stood up and walked away, leaving the gryphon sputtering for breath on the ground.

He looked over to his guys and saw that they were just wrapping up with their gryphon. He was in a beaten heap on the floor, surrounded by broken tables and chairs and probably covered in splinters. It was a shame that the restaurant was so damaged, but the fight hadn’t exactly been started by them.

Ryan walked over to his friends. “Looks we’re getting it to go,” he said.

They waited for the waitress to return so they could get their food and leave. It felt weird, waiting in the same room as the assholes they just outfought, but they weren't a problem. The gryphon just lay where they had fallen, waiting for the safe departure of the human and stallions.

When the waitress came back with the food, she gasped and nearly dropped it.

“What happened?!” she shouted.

Fancy Pants stepped forward. “I am afraid that we must take our food to go,” he said, levitating the food from the waitress. He and the guys turned to leave, but before they left, Fancy turned to the waitress one more time. “Oh, and terribly sorry about the mess. Here...” Fancy Pants levitated a sack of bits from his side bag and sent it to her. “For the trouble.”

The waitress had never seen that much money before and stood agasp at it while the guys left, eager to get away from the scene and into the relative safety of obscurity for the night.

****************************************************************

The next morning, the guys all woke up poorly rested and stiff. When they finally found a hotel that would let them stay there, it turned out to be a gryphon oriented one. That meant that the beds were all nests, made of branches, twigs, and leaves. There were no pillows, so anyone who wanted one had to pile the leaves together and use that.

Before they left their room, they had to discuss what they would be doing.

“So, what’s the plan, Ryan?” Soarin’ asked.

Ryan sighed. “Buddy, remember, fake names. You never know who’s listening.”

Soarin’ huffed. “Fine,” he said. “I don’t see why in our room. But back to the question; what’s the plan?”

Ryan sat on the edge of his nest. “Well, I think that we can safely assume from last night that we won’t have very long before word gets out that we beat those goons up. And when it does, the city will hardly be a safe place for us.”

“Then why not leave?” Fancy Pants asked. “If it isn’t safe, we can just leave.”

“Not quite,” Ryan replied. “Those guys hated you because you’re ponies. And from what I’ve seen in the news and read of the history, the sentiments of the gryphons here are really only in two ranges; very positive, and very negative. And the very negative ones tend to be pretty vocal.”

“So?” Fancy asked.

“So, it’s a safe bet that the negative ones support the anti-government groups in the region,” Ryan said. “If we’re going to find information that we can use to find Blazer, this is the place to start.”

“And how are we gonna do that?” Mac asked. “We can’t exactly walk around askin’, ‘Who here wants to overthrow the government?’ We’d disappear from the streets in a heartbeat.”

“That’s why we have to listen more than we talk,” Ryan said. “People don’t mind people who like to listen more than talk.”

“So, what, we just go places and hope to hear something useful?” Soarin’ asked. “Won’t three ponies and a weird human look kind of suspicious in areas where ponies aren’t very welcome?”

“I thought about that, and I have a solution,” Ryan said. “We go as pairs. Whopper and I will go into the tunnels, where there aren’t as many guards, and you guys will go around the main cavern listening for things and looking for hangouts that these guys like.”

“Why are you and Whopper taking the tunnels?” Soarin’ asked.

“Look at us,” Ryan said. “Of the three of you, Mac is the least likely to be attacked, given his size and physique. I’m weird and scary, so they’ll naturally want to avoid me.”

“That doesn’t really answer the question,” Soarin’ said.

Ryan crossed his arms. “Well, if there aren’t as many guards in the tunnels, a fight is more likely to break out. You can fly away, Osprey, and Gatsby can use his magic to get away. In a tunnel, though, neither of those are options for escape. There is only fighting your way out, so Whopper and I will take that risk.”

Fancy Pants nodded. “I don’t like you two going so far into hazardous territory, but I suppose it makes sense.”

“Good,” Ryan said.

“What should we do if we find something?” Mac asked.

“If anyone hears anything, tell your buddy immediately in case he didn’t catch it. Then, you follow the guy when he leaves, but be careful to avoid being figured out. Act like a tourist. If they interact with you, disengage them and walk away. Try to find him after you lose him, but if you can’t, come back to the hotel.” Ryan pointed at the ground as he finished.

“And what about when he goes home or something?” Soarin’ asked.

Ryan cupped his hands together. “If you can figure out where he lives, or where he goes to sleep or spend personal time or whatever, come back here. Key the mic, the radio waves might be able to bounce through the tunnels. We all meet back here, share what we learned, and move from there.”

“And what does ‘move from there’ mean?” Fancy asked.

Ryan stood up. “That means we go to where the guy is, nab him when no one is around to see it, and we question him someplace private,” he said. “We get whatever information we can out of him.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Mac said.

Everyone stood. “This is hardly a safe place, guys, so remember, no piece of information is worth your life. If it gets too dangerous, get out.” Ryan looked around at each of his friends. “I thank you all for taking this journey with me. I wouldn’t want anyone else on my side.”

“We’ve got your back, man,” Soarin’ said.

Ryan nodded. “Thank you. Now let’s go and find out where our guy is.”

The guys paired up and left the hotel room, none certain that they would be back, but all certain that they were going to finish the task they had chosen.

*************************************************************************

Fancy and Soarin’ quietly and quickly made their way to the main cavern of the city. They did their best to stay off to the side of the street, staying out of sight and out of mind from most of the gryphons. There was no telling who was hostile, who might try to take them out for being ponies. They tried their best to hide it, but the tenseness of their situation was too much for them to just ignore.

It was fairly early in the morning when they set out, so the number of gryphons out in the streets wasn’t overwhelming. They mostly walked in pairs, some with an eyas, others just talking. Given the small number of individuals walking around, the stallions were easily noticed, and many of the gryphons avoided walking near them. Some would take flight after giving the stallions particularly nasty looks.

To avoid arousing suspicion by walking aimlessly through the city, Soarin’ and Fancy looked for a place that they could stop and do something, like eat breakfast or get the news. If they could just find a place to sit, they would be in a good way and they could listen for anything interesting.

After a long period of walking and searching, they finally found a place to sit. They were able to find a relatively empty area with benches and a surprising amount of plant life. No one would ever have thought that a park could exist inside a mountain, where there was very little natural light in the form of holes bored through the mountain, so it was the perfect place for them to sit. If ponies were going to hang out anywhere in a city like this, it would be somewhere pleasantly more green than the rest of the place.

The pair found a bench in a little secluded corner and started exchanging meaningless chatter, keeping their ears open for anything interesting. A few gryphons passed through every now and again, but the traffic in the area was very low, and it proved to be a poor spot for gathering information. After making sure they had spent enough time in the park, they left to try their luck elsewhere.

Unfortunately, being tourists in this city was difficult because there weren’t exactly brochures to tell them where they should visit. It was a safe bet that there weren’t any attractions at all, and that if they hung out in any one area for too long, they would look rather suspicious.

They continued to walk around for a time, and more gryphons were starting to awaken and go about their daily business. This early, one might expect them to be groggy and need something to energize them, but that was not this city. Most of the gryphons were flying about, many looking for an exit. After a bit, those who came back usually had some dead animal in their beaks, so it was clear that they were leaving the city to hunt for their breakfast. Supermarkets weren’t much of a thing here, it seemed, and only a few restaurants were around. Bars were aplenty, though.

Even though it was early, Fancy and Soarin’ loudly said to each other that it was a good time to get a drink, and entered one of the bars. By the looks of it when they were inside, it was a popular site when the time of day came. There were very well-maintained tables and chairs, and the bar was pristine and squeaky clean. On the shelves, there were very expensive bottles of liquor and what looked like crystal glasses.

The barkeep was wiping down his bar when the stallions walked in. He heard them come in and looked up, then froze. He didn’t give them a look of contempt like other gryphons, nor did he say anything. He mostly just looked surprised that there were two ponies walking through his door. The stallions stopped and waited for the barkeep to say something, but when he just went back to cleaning, they walked in and found a table.

Shortly after they sat down, other patrons started walking in and taking seats around the place. They were mostly male gryphons, and many of them were wearing uniforms or construction outfits. It made little sense for them to be drinking before the job, but in an alien land, it wasn’t the stallions’ place to question the local culture.

Soarin’ and Fancy were sitting toward the wall, where they were easy to miss and wouldn’t find much trouble. None of the other patrons noticed them in their corner and went about their business like usual, which was perfect. The barkeep seemed to have forgotten about the stallions and was already serving the others in the bar.

“So, Gatsby, who do you think is the most likely in this motley crew to be who we’re looking for?” Soarin’ whispered.

Fancy scanned the room. “Over there, two tables from us, left diagonal behind you. They aren’t wearing any working uniforms.”

Soarin’ took a quick glance behind him to see who Fancy pants was talking about. He spotted them instantly. It wasn’t hard, they were the only ones who weren’t wearing anything and they had war paint on them. One of them primarily had it on his face, around his eyes, and had stripes on his arms down to his wrists. The other one, facing away from Soarin’, had paint all over his back and along the rear of his feathers.

“They don’t look too nice,” Soarin’ said as he turned around. “I wish they weren’t so far away.”

“Not a problem,” Fancy said. His horn glowed very faintly, just enough to notice if you were looking for it, and then stopped.

Soarin’ blinked. “Uh... what did you do?” he asked.

Fancy grinned. “I can hear every word that they are saying,” he said.

“When did you learn to do that?” Soarin’ asked.

“When you work in the cut-throat business of fashion and design, you have to know a few things to succeed,” Fancy said.

Soarin’ smiled and stopped talking so Fancy Pants could listen to the pair of gryphons talk. Fancy listened intently, blocking out as much other noise as possible. Soarin’ kept scanning the room while Fancy did his magic, trying to see if there was anyone else here who might be less than cordial to ponies.

After a few minutes, Fancy Pants let his magic go and sighed. “I am afraid that they are not saying anything incriminating,” he said. “I think they’re just punks.”

“Dammit,” Soarin’ said. “Well, I guess we can stick around for a little longer. See if anyone comes in.”

The pair continued sitting in their secluded corner. Both stallions scanned the room constantly for potential targets and threats. It was a miracle that they hadn’t been noticed yet, save by the barkeep, but he had forgotten them. Gradually, more gryphons were coming in while few left, but they all kept their conversations at an inside volume. They were very respectful toward each other when it came to conversation and politeness, it seemed. No one had to speak over anyone to hear.

That let others hear their conversations too, though. Fancy Pants and Soarin’ were able to listen with impunity to any and all conversation, and could easily switch from one to another by keeping their eyes in the beak movements and listening to the direction that the sound came from.

Soarin’ was listening to conversations behind him when he finally caught something. Before he said anything, though, he listened for a minute to hear if they were who he thought they were.

“So, how’s life been in the east lately?” one asked. It was a female, one that was clearly gruff and very independent.

“Good enough, I suppose,” the other said. This one was a male, though he sounded like he might have been smaller than the female, odd for gryphons. He sounded like an average guy, one you might give your order to at the coffee shop. “Things haven’t exactly been calm, but that is sort of the goal.”

“Seems more like a method,” the female one said.

“Hmm... I suppose you are right. Our goal is at the end,” the male said.

“How much longer before our goal is finally achieved?” the female asked.

“Ah, it’s hard to say... if the government gets help, it’ll be a while, maybe years or never. If not, though...” The male gryphon paused. Soarin’ waited with bated breath, hoping that he would incriminate himself right there. He could hear the gryphon sigh and shift in his seat as he remained in pause, much to Soarin’s displeasure. “If not, we’ll probably have the region in a few months.”

Bingo. That was what he was looking for. Soarin’ risked a glance back to see who he was listening to. It turned out, they were anything other than what Soarin’ expected. The male gryphon was huge, with wings that looked like they could span three times the width of the table he was sitting at. He had no paint on at all, which was weird, considering he sounded like a fighter. The female in front of him was short and looked rugged, to say it politely. Her feathers were matted and grimy, and from what Soarin’ could see of her, she seemed to sit oddly.

“Gatsby,” Soarin’ whispered. Fancy looked his way. “Behind me, pair, male and female. Big guy, little girl. They’re the ones we want.”

“You’re certain?” Fancy Pants said.

“Positive,” Soarin’ replied.

Fancy glanced their way, then nodded. “Very well. We will follow them to see where they go.”

“Good,” Soarin’ said. “Let’s wait til they leave. No need to have them cause a scene if they spot us.”

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Mac and Ryan strutted through the tunnel they selected like they owned they owned the place. The best way to avoid being targeted by bad guys is to look confident. No one wants to mess with a guy who looks like he won’t take any shit.

Gryphons had looked at them more with confusion than with distaste. Ryan had been expecting to have to avoid an all out battle royale, but it looked more like the gryphons felt that way than him. Mac noticed it as well, and both of them moved forward with hidden caution and quick steps.

The first place they checked out was furniture store, but there were no solid leads there. No one talked to them, only went on furniture shopping. The second place was another store, a spice store, but no one seemed to care one way or the other there either.

After that, Mac and Ryan mostly walked around and made their presence obvious. With what little luck they were having thus far with finding anyone, they had to try something. When bringing the gryphons to them didn’t work either, they continued deeper into the tunnel in the hopes that the gryphons they wanted liked hiding in the dark.

When they arrived at the very end of the tunnel, they only found a wall and a hole in the ceiling that led outside. They stood on top of a grate, and underneath the grate was a reservoir of rainwater. In the Wetlands, the rain never stopped, giving them indefinite water, though with the dirty human and stallion standing in the rain, it may have tainted it just a little. It smelled fresh and clean, much unlike the city they were currently residing in. Without indoor plumbing, the gryphons had to do their business in a bucket, then bring the bucket out for disposal. And not all of them left the city to get rid of it.

“We haven’t gotten anything,” Mac commented.

“I noticed,” Ryan said. The rain was cold, and even though it was hellish the previous day, it felt good after sleeping on branches and leaves.

“Maybe we’re searchin’ in the wrong place,” Mac said.

“That may be, but look at this city,” Ryan said pointing back through the tunnel. “We’re probably going to have to search through more wrong areas than right areas before we find something. We already spent an entire day searching through, evidently, the wrong tunnel. Gatsby and Osprey took the main room, which is most of the city, so their chances are much better than ours. Investments may give greater rewards when they’re risky, but the same doesn’t hold true for much else.”

“An’ here Ah thought ya knew what you were doing,” Mac said.

“I did it once, Whopper. And it didn’t work out too great for me.” Ryan chuckled uncomedically.

“Well, Ah don’t know about you, but Ah think we should head back,” Mac said.

Ryan nodded. “Sounds like a good idea,” he said.

The pair turned around and started walking back to the start of the tunnel. Still, as they walked, no one bothered them or even seemed to care about the pony and human. The amount of confidence the pair was exuding may have been too much to entice someone to try them, but they were done for the day and didn’t feel like fighting after walking what felt like miles. It may have been miles, too. They had no references points in the tunnel for distance.

Back in the main chamber, they walked back to the hotel they had been staying at. As unlikely as it was, Ryan really hoped that Soarin’ and Fancy had found something. If they did, they would be able to get the job done tonight and probably not have to sleep in those scratchy nests again. However, this was not due to their ability to leave, but their urgency to leave after finishing up. If they weren’t fast, the guards would inevitably find out about their activities and arrest them. Or worse.

Mac and Ryan used mostly side streets to get back to the hotel. Street peddlers harangued them to buy their wares, beggars asked for money, it was all stuff that you would find in any city. But there was something different about it, something that made it all seem out of place in this society. The guys ignored it as they went along their way.

When they reached the hotel, they didn’t waste any time getting back to their room. At the room, they hastily shut the door and locked it, then sat down in their sleeping nests. Neither of the two had anything to talk about, so they waited in silence for Fancy and Soarin’ to return.

Three knocks sounded at the door. “Who is it?” Ryan asked.

“Osprey, and Gatsby, open the damn door,” Soarin’s voice said.

Ryan got up and opened the door. “It sounds like you don’t have any good news,” he said.

Soarin’ grinned and walked in, followed by Fancy Pants. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Fancy said.

Ryan raised an eyebrow. “Really?” he asked. “Do tell.”

Everyone took a seat. “Well, we started off in a park where we got nothing,” Fancy started regaling. “After that, we walked around and thought to try a bar. At the bar, we looked into several pairs of gryphons without effect. But then, we found one.”

Ryan waited. “Well, that sounds anticlimactic,” he said.

“In a way, yes,” Fancy said. “But we know that he is a fighter against the government who spends time in the easternmost region. We overheard that little bit of conversation.”

Ryan smiled. “Good. Did you follow him?”

“When he left, we tailed,” Soarin’ said. “We’ve got his address. He lives in one of the tunnels, nice and out of sight.”

“Do you know if he left after you stopped tailing him?” Ryan asked.

Fancy shook his head. “”We don’t think he did. He said he needed rest to get back to the east tomorrow.”

Ryan scowled. “Alright then,” he said quietly. “It looks like we have time sensitive information to get. Get yourselves ready, guys, and we’ll head out at midnight.”

Mac stood. “Ah hope this goes accordin’ to plan,” he said.

Ryan looked up at his friend. “It’s easy to act according to plan when the plan is being made along the way.”

Advanced Methods

View Online

Operation: Imminent Harkness

Advanced Methods

“One may not reach the dawn save but by path of night.” (Kahlil Gibran)

The guys got their things together and set out. They were going to leave immediately after this little stunt to get out of sight of the guards, so they would have to carry everything the whole way.

Leaving the hotel was the first major challenge. They had to make their way out suspiciously in the middle of the night without being seen by the gryphon ta the front desk. At the end of the hall before entering the lobby, Ryan poked his head around the corner to check on the situation. The desk lady was nowhere to be seen. Swiftly and quietly, Ryan pointed forward and led his buddies out the front door and into the now seriously darkened caves.

Out in the street, they were in a new zone of danger. They had seen the guards stationed up high when they first came into the city, and given that they had literal hawk eyes, if the guys were anywhere that they were easy to see, they would no doubt be stopped and questioned. Heavily laden ponies and a human sneaking around at night was hardly an indicator of good will.

Ryan stuck to the wall and pressed himself up against it. “We gotta try to make this fast, guys,” he whispered. “Stay quiet, try to stay in the dark. If we get seen, we’re done before we start.”

“Just like the old days,” Soarin’ commented.

“Are there alleys we can use?” Fancy asked.

“You and Osprey would be the ones to know that,” Ryan said. “You two were exploring this area before, right?”

“Exploring is hardly the right word,” Fancy said.

Ryan huffed. “Well, whatever. We’ll use them if we see them. Gatsby, you take the front and lead the way.”

“Certainly,” Fancy said as he moved up to the front.

“Osprey, you’re behind me. Whopper, you go behind Gatsby,” Ryan said.

“Why are we takin’ the front?” Mac asked quietly.

“We can only move as fast as our slowest. If we take an alley that you guys can’t fit through, we don’t want to get separated. If a route works for you, it’ll work fine for us,” Ryan explained, pointing at himself and Soarin’.

Mac nodded. “Makes sense,” he said.

Without any more dialogue, the group pressed forward through the city, wary of eyes up above and along their path. Few torches were lit in the streets at night, it seemed, casting dark shadows for the guys to walk through. The stony ground made little click clack noises as they ran, and to Ryan, each one sounded like a full on dynamite explosion.

Few gryphons prowled the streets at this time of night, but they weren’t citizens out this late. They were all guards, making ground rounds to check for trouble. Ryan overheard one saying that there was a curfew that was instituted some years ago after the war ended to keep a limit on how much fighters from any side of the conflict could travel through their city at night. They weren’t a part of the war and didn’t want to be now, however the residents of the city felt about it.

It served as some good news then, because if the gryphon they were about to interrogate were to go to the guards, he would have to take his time to establish a story they would believe first. If he incriminated himself, since he would have no protection from that here, he would be prosecuted by the guards without mercy. Unless, of course, the guards were corrupt in any way.

In the darkness of the cave at night, it was hard to see anything at all. Ryan squinted to see farther forward, but all he saw beyond the occasional light source was darkness or faint buildings.

“Gatsby, you sure we’re going the right way?” Ryan asked.

Fancy nodded. “Certain,” he replied. “I have my tracker spell active. It shall lead us straight to our friend.”

“Good,” Ryan said.

Fancy Pants led them onward, but he had to take some detours because of guard patrols along their route. They snuck through some tight alleyways, were forced at times to get on top of small buildings and hunker down, and even had to duck inside residences to avoid being spotted. It was all extremely risky, but to get the job done, they had to do it.

After almost an hour, they reached the tunnel entrance. A sign before it read Snake Way, and showed a map of the tunnel and what was in the tunnel. The tunnel was curvy, like a crawling snake, and inside was primarily homes and water holes. None of the homes were labeled, nor the water holes, but the group had a spell to lead them, so it mattered not.

“About a fifth of the way through the tunnel is where we need to go,” Fancy said. “There doesn’t appear to be much light in the tunnel, so we must stick together.”

“Gotcha,” Ryan said. “Boys, if you remember what we did on that cliffside, now is time again for it.” Ryan heard the guys grumble and sigh as they went about getting connected tail to mouth.

As quietly as they could, they started through the tunnel. Ryan tried to see in the dark, but it was so bad, he could barely see Mac in front of him. The ground felt gravelly and crunchy, adding to Ryan’s anxiety that they would be made and have to fight their way out of the city. Surely, they would all be killed if they tried that.

There were no guards in the tunnel at night, making the travel relatively easy compared to the main chamber of the city. Though they did have to keep their ears open for any gryphons leaving their homes to investigate any noise they made or if the gryphons wanted water. Everyone was watching in a different direction to cover everything; Soarin’ had the rear, Ryan had the right, Mac took the left, and Fancy was watching up ahead.

Every so often, they would see a house where there was a small light on inside. Whenever they saw it, they had to stop, make their way to the walls of the house, and be totally silent and listen. Each time, there was movement inside, and Ryan would peek around a corner to see what was happening. One of the houses was just a gryphon female feeding a baby, another was of a more questionable nature, and the rest were just gryphons getting a snack in the night. Those houses smelled awful; the meat had been unrefrigerated, left out on a table for eating later.

The guys had to sneak underneath windows to avoid the light and safely pass the house, something not easy for Big Mac and Fancy Pants. Ryan started to get worried; if they took too long just to travel to the gryphon fighter’s house, they might not have the time to get out of the city. They would have to make the interrogation speedy.

Finally, they arrived at their location. “Here it is,” Fancy said in a whisper. “This is where we followed him to.”

“Okay,” Ryan said. “Everyone, wait around the front entrance. I’ll look for windows, see if we have anything. Gatsby, is there anything that makes this guy distinct?”

“I remember him being a big guy with no war paint anywhere. His wings were also enormous, bigger than what we’ve seen elsewhere in the city.” Fancy emphasized the point by extending his forelegs all the way out to the side.

“Good enough,” Ryan said.

The stallions all moved up to the door and waited on either side of it, Mac and Soarin’ on one and Fancy on the other. Ryan moved around the one story house to look for any windows that would let him see inside and check on whether or not their mark was actually inside. There were a few windows here and there, but with how dark it was, Ryan could barely see inside at all. Though, that in itself was a good way of knowing that no one was in a room at a given time.

Ryan had to move all the way around the house to find what he was looking for; a window leading into a bedroom. Inside, he could just make out the shape of a lone lump in a nest underneath a blanket. The gryphon was asleep, though, and Ryan couldn’t tell if it was who he was looking for.

“How do I get you up?” Ryan wondered.

He crouched beneath the window and thought for a minute. The best way to wake someone was to tap them or touch them with something, but Ryan couldn’t go in the room. He would have to throw something in. That something couldn’t be too heavy, though, or the gryphon would know someone threw it. It had to be small enough to wake the gryphon, but not big enough for it to know that someone else threw it.

Ryan’s best bet was to find a very small rock or clump of dirt and throw that in. It would blend well with the cave floor after hitting the gryphon, and there would be little indication that it was thrown inside. He ran his hands along the ground, blindly feeling for whatever size rock felt right. When he found one that felt the right size, he held it in his hand to test the weight and gripped it tight to make sure it would work.

Ryan poked his head over the windowsill and cocked his arm to throw the pebble in his hand. The gryphon slept peacefully, but that wouldn’t last. With a flick of the wrist and a thrust forward of his arm, Ryan launched the pebble into the room.

And missed by several feet. The pebble bounced almost noiselessly off of the wall and fell to the ground out of sight. Ryan frowned, picked up another good pebble, and tossed it in. Again, he missed.

“Son of a bitch,” he quietly cursed. “t shouldn’t be that hard.”

One last time, he picked up a pebble, this one slightly larger. Before throwing, he mapped out the ideal pat of the small rock so as to try to make it hit its target. At last, when he was ready, he threw the rock, and this time, it hit home. The gryphon stirred and started to get up.

“Come on, light a lamp or something,” Ryan whispered to himself.

Thankfully, the gryphon did just that. Ryan only had a brief glimpse before he had to move away from the window, but what he saw confirmed the gryphon’s identity. He had no war paint anywhere, and his wings were, as Fancy had put it, enormous. He groggily looked around, rubbing his eyes, but by the time he was looking to the window, Ryan was gone.

As quiet as possible, Ryan crouch walked to the front door where the stallions were waiting. When he arrived, they were still just standing there, awaiting confirmation dutifully and patiently.

“That’s him alright,” Ryan said as he approached the door. “He’s awake now.”

Everyone went silent to listen for movement. Inside, there was a faint sound of scuffling feet and claws against the rock floor, and it was going all through the house. The gryphon was doing something, but what it was couldn’t be said.

“Sounds like he’s moving,” Soarin’ said with a hint of frustration.

“Not a problem,” Ryan said. “Just be quiet until we can tie him up. I’ll knock him with something, daze him, and we’ll secure him to a chair. We get the information we need fast, then we bug out of this nasty city.”

The stallions all felt fine with that plan and silently agreed to it. Then, like mice in a church, they walked through the front door, gently pushing it open and sneaking right in.

Soarin’ stopped in the foyer and waited there to avoid being seen. The house was small, so Fancy and Mac would need bigger rooms to hide in. As Ryan, Mac, and Fancy advanced into the house, they could see the light from the gryphon’s torch through the halls. Fancy managed to find a closet he could hide in, and Mac ducked into a room to the left in along the hallway.

Ryan continued forward toward the light. He could see it moving through the house, and he could hear the gryphon grumbling something under his breath. Ryan wished he could hear it better, but he would have to be uncomfortably close for that.

At the end of the hall, Ryan stopped. The light was strong; right around the corner. The gryphon he was about to assault was just around the corner muttering to himself about something making him hungry.

Then, in what must have been a long stretch, the gryphon’s wing extended all the way to be right in front of Ryan’s face. Ryan completely stopped, fearful that the gryphon might end up touching him and compromising the entire thing. The wing came back to its owner, but rather than provide any reassurance, the gryphon then walked out right in front of Ryan and was about to enter a room to Ryan’s left. Ryan swallowed hard, anxious as to the gryphon’s potential actions.

The man should have controlled his reaction better. The gryphon stopped, its ears perking up. He was holding the lamp out in front of him, but he brought it closer to his body. His beak twitched as it smelled the air, and his face began to scrunch. Ryan gripped the wall, ready to use it to move as fast as possible if necessary.

The gryphon spun around and glared down the hallway. But the hall was empty; no one was there.

Ryan now stood behind the gryphon, where the gryphon had been standing before he stretched out his wings. Ryan took the chance to move into another hall before the gryphon turned, just barely evading detection. Now, behind the gryphon, whose eye he could clearly see, he held his breath and didn’t move a muscle.

The gryphon huffed and relaxed his arm. “Damn rats, always scurrying around in the shadows. Making me jumpy.” Feeling safe, the gryphon moved on into the next room, where Ryan followed close behind.

The gryphon set his lamp on a table and stretched again. He was in his kitchen, where it smelled familiarly of meat and a few spices. He loved walking into this room. This room was his, he could do as he pleased in here. He could be a total slob, and no females would ever know.

He even had something other gryphons didn’t often have; a fridge. He managed to snag it after an attack on a government building out east. It wasn’t huge, but it was big enough to fit some water for cooking if he felt like treating himself and meat that he could store for serious problems with the food supply.

To the left of the fridge, he had his coking materials; pots, pans, utensils, all the like. To his right, he kept his spices. Being a fighter for the rebels was great because you could steal so much great stuff. Who wanted to pay for nice things when you could take them from the ones who didn’t deserve them anyway?

He opened up the fridge and looked at what he had. He was actually running a bit low. Meat, even in a fridge, didn’t last forever, and he had been forced to give some away before it went bad not long ago. He needed to restock, and to restock when he returned from fighting, he had to take inventory now to restock later.

Before he could, though, a loud crash came from his left. Startled, he jumped up and faced the noise, ready to fight if need be.

But nothing was there. His pots and pans had crashed to the floor. Odd, considering how well he had secured them to prevent just this. Frustrated with all the paranoia he seemed to be feeling this night, he went about putting the kitchenware back in its various places.

It was annoying to put it all back because it made so much damn noise. It hurt the gryphon’s ears to move all this metal around so late at night right after waking inexplicably. He took only minutes to get it all back in order. Now, he could finally go back to sleep. Before he left, though, he had one thing to do.

“Gotta close the fridge,” he said to himself. He turned around to close the fridge so he could go to bed.

Before he even realized what was happening, though, a strange creature on two legs swung a pan around that collided with the gryphon’s face, knocking him out and ruining a perfectly good piece of kitchenware.

Ryan dragged the unconscious gryphon out of the rotten smelling kitchen and toward the back of the house where he was less likely to be heard making any noise. After the relatively loud clang of the pan on a skull, the stallions all moved freely through the house to the room where Ryan ended up dropping the gryphon.

When the stallions waked in, Ryan already had the gryphon tied up with a blanket around its wrists and a small pillow in its beak. He was sitting on a chair, and Ryan was looking for more things to tie him up with.

“Well, we got him. What now?” Soarin’ asked.

Ryan rubbed his cold hands together to heat them up. “Now, we get the information we want when he wakes up.”

“Ah hope you didn’t break him,” Mac said. “That wouldn’t be very convenient.”

“Indeed, that would be rather unfortunate,” Fancy agreed. “Finding his friend would take far too long to be feasible.”

“Don’t worry, guys. I’m sure he’ll be fine.” After Ryan finished talking, the gryphon started groaning. “See? He’s already getting up.”

The gryphon’s head started lolling back and forth as he opened his eyes. He had only been out for a couple of minutes, but apparently, that was long enough for him to be in really serious trouble. When he finally came to, he looked around the room at the ponies and creature and realized what his situation was.

“I’m not telling you shit,” he said with a growl.

Ryan nodded slowly and looked down. “Now, you say that…” He stepped forward and put his hand on the gryphon’s shoulder. “Btu you don’t even know what we’re offering yet. A wise man always listens to his options before making a decision.”

“No one gave me credit for being wise,” the gryphon said.

Ryan shrugged. “Then take it from me,” he said. “I’m offering you a chance at-“

The gryphon spat violently in Ryan’s face. Ryan just stood there silently, didn’t move, and shut his eyes. The gryphon let drool fall from his mouth and smiled at the show of disrespect he just gave. The stallions didn’t move to the sides, just watched.

Ryan wiped his face with his hand. “Well, I can se how you are,” he said. “And here’s my response.”

In an instant, Ryan’s fist connected with the gryphon’s belly in a rotating uppercut, with his torso twisting for maximum torque and shooting his hand forward and up. The gryphon gagged and lost his breath, and he fell with his chair to the ground. On the ground, he gasped for breath as his diaphragm spasmed and threatened to make him vomit.

Ryan followed the strike with placing his foot on the gryphon’s beak and pressing lightly down on it. The gryphon groaned from the discomfort as much as he could without his breath.

“With a bit more pressure, I can remove that beak of yours from your ugly mug. Maybe I’ll mount it on my wall.” Ryan pressed a little harder on the gryphon’s beak.

Just then, Fancy stepped forward. “Now, Harkness, that hardly seems necessary,” he said. Ryan looked his way angrily, but then, when he looked into Fancy’s eyes, he saw what he was doing.

“I don’t know. My wall is awfully bare these days,” Ryan replied.

Fancy walked up and moved Ryan aside. “It hardly fits as a decoration.” When Ryan was out of the way, Fancy knelt down next to the gryphon. “Come now, you can definitely help us. We won’t tell anyone it was you, and if anyone finds out, Equestria can offer you safety.” That was a lie, of course, but the gryphon didn’t need to know.

The gryphon shook his head. “No… I won’t… I won’t tell you anything! We will overturn this pathetic excuse of a government and save our cultural heritage!”

Ryan stepped forward. “Oh, we don’t give half a shit about your culture, or this government that cares less for it than us. We’re here for a pony.”

The gryphon shook his head again. “We don’t have any ponies, so you can go home.”

Ryan and Fancy exchanged a look. Ryan nodded, and Fancy got up and walked back to his spot. Then, Ryan indicated to Mac to come over.

“You see this guy?” Ryan said. The gryphon looked at Big Mac and paled a little. “This guy is big. You are not nearly as big as him. Whopper is naturally red; you’ll be red when he’s done with you, as will the water hole we dump you in.”

The gryphon snarled. “Do your worst.”

Ryan nodded. “Very well.”

Ryan cocked his leg back and then swung it forward into the gryphon’s torso, right in his belly. Mac, feeling uncomfortable with the whole thing, played along more lightly, scraping his hoof on the gryphon’s beak to dull it and trapping feathers between his hoof and the ground to pull them out. He didn’t last long, though, and relented early.

Ryan leaned down again. “We don’t care what you do with your time. Nor what happens to your government. Nor what your group does, so long as it doesn’t attack our country. We just want our friend back.”

The gryphon was breathing heavily on the ground, but managed to respond. “Who is it you want, anyway? We haven’t fought Equestria for years, we haven’t taken any prisoners.”

“No one ever said this prisoner was taken recently,” Ryan said. “Stallion named Blazer. Years ago. Ring a bell?”

“Blazer?” the gryphon said, shocked to hear the name. “It took you this long to come get that old stallion?”

“So, you do have him,” Ryan said with a smile.

The gryphon scowled. “Yes, we have him. But you can’t. He’s ours now.”

Ryan frowned. “That’s a problem,” he said. “Because we aren’t leaving without the equivalent of one full body. Whether it is alive or dead doesn’t matter. And like I said; I’ve been wanting to mount something on my wall.” Ryan grabbed the gryphon by the feathers on the back of his neck and held him close to his own face. “I can take the parts of you that I want, and then, when we find some of your friends, I’ll complete my collection so that when I get home, I’ll be able to stuff them all and glue them together for a taxidermy gryphon. Maybe I’ll leave it in my basement, or the foyer.”

The gryphon looked at Ryan with wide eyes. “You would take my ability to speak?” he asked.

Ryan neutralized his expression. “And your ability to fly. And walk. And climb. Maybe see, too. But you’ll be alive the whole way, for years to come, with any luck, and every morning, when the sun can’t greet your eyes where I’ll keep them, you’ll know that I’m always ready to come back and find a way to make it worse for you. And trust me; it can ALWAYS get worse.”

By now, the gryphon was practically shitting himself. He had already urinated on the floor. He trembled in Ryan’s hand, too weak from fear to do anything, fully in the knowledge that he was powerless to fight this hellish creature before him.

Could eh give up the information? He wouldn’t be any use to his cause if the creature did these things to him. And if he just wanted to find this other pony, how would that hurt their cause? He already said that he didn’t care about their fight with the government. Maybe if he helped, the Equestrians would be more sympathetic, or owe him and his cause a favor? Yeah, that would be really, good. And if it failed, well, the cause would go on like it always had.

“I-I’ll tell you what I can,” the gryphon said.

Ryan let him go. “Good. Start with where we need to go.”

********************************************************************

Luna was sitting on her bed, watching her guard sleep because she really had nothing better to do. She had been thinking about him quite a lot lately, too. If Celestia were to hear about it, she would give her no end of grief over it. But she could be right for it.

Starstep slept next to the fireplace. His chest rose and fell in a steady, slow rhythm, like the waves of the open sea. Luna desperately wanted to know what he was dreaming of, as he seemed perfectly content, but she would not violate his privacy like that. Not when she felt so conflicted about it.

It took all her brainpower to not do it. She thought about all manner of other things. There was Discord’s sudden appearance in the garden. There was also the present need to recreate the Nighthawks. The one that worked best, though, was thinking about that trip Ryan was on. What did he plan to do in Las Pegasus? Even after the events in his world, he didn’t seem like the kind of person to partake in such activities.

With that, she occupied her mind for a time with her eyes still on her guard. Life had been fairly normal and uneventful lately, something they always wished for and then found themselves disliking. At the very least, something had to happen sometime that required their attention.

And something came. Three knocks at Luna’s door pulled all her attention away from Starstep and Ryan and threw it toward the door. With the grace of a cat, Luna fluttered into the air and landed before the door, then slowly opened it up to reveal a guar don the other side.

“Yes, what is it you are here for?” she asked.

The guard stood tall. “Princess Celestia requests your presence in the garden by Discord,” he said.

“Discord?” Luna wondered aloud. “Very well. I shall go there now.” The guard nodded and ran off.

Luna waited for a minute, then set off to the garden. Why would her sister want to meet her near Discord? Was this just a place to meet, or did it have something to do with Discord? Her steps grew faster as she walked, curious to find out why Celestia would meet her so late in the night and at such an odd time.

The halls are strangely quiet at such hours. No guards are moving about like in the day, though some are standing at their posts. Without moving, though, they are like painted statues. In the olden days, Luna entertained herself by playing games and jokes on them because they could not fight back.

When she arrived at the garden, it was much the same. Statues, silence, and no movement anywhere in sight. Luna walked through the gardens, looking at the statues on her way, pondering them and why they were there.

“I should give Ryan one,” she mused with herself. She knew Ryan would object to his real name being on any monument, if not being mentioned anywhere at all.

After some minutes of silent walking, she finally came across Celestia, standing before the statue of Discord. Celestia looked up at it with a sense of longing, one that Luna understood only because she dared to look into her sister’s dream on her birthday earlier this year. She never mentioned it to anypony, and rather than be displeased with her sister, she felt sorry for her. She knew how close they had been.

“Sister, I have arrived,” Luna said. “What was it you wished to see me about?”

Celestia turned to her sister with a smile. “Ah, I am glad you came,” Celestia said. “This is a matter of the utmost importance, to our national safety and criminal justice system.”

“What?” Luna replied.

Celestia chuckled. “I think we should free Discord.”

Luna took a moment to process her sister’s statement. “Wait…” she said. “You WHAT?!”

Celestia flinched at her sister’s loudness. “Yes, I think we need to give him a chance. We won’t just let him go, obviously; He is too dangerous. But we may be able to bring him to our side of the battle between good and evil.”

“Discord was always in the middle, and he loved it there,” Luna said. “Why would he switch sides?”

“All it shall take is a bit of convincing,” Celestia replied.

Luna raised one eyebrow at her sister. “And what kind of convincing is that?” she asked.

Celestia frowned. “The Elements of Harmony changed you for the better, sister. They can do the same for Discord.”

“Discord is not the same as Nightmare Moon,” Luna said. “Are you not thinking of other methods of persuasion that you might try?” Luna leaned toward her sister with a knowing look.

“I am sure,” Celestia said.

“I won’t come to find your chambers in total chaos any time, will I?” Luna asked.

Celestia scrunched her nose. “No, sister, you will not. I am not planning on changing my room to accommodate two,” she said, trying to put the light on Luna.

Luna wasn’t to allow that, though. “You want to bring Discord from the middle and onto our side. How does that serve our national security interests?”

Celestia looked up at Discord. “He has power that no other being has,” she said. “His abilities would prove invaluable in information gathering and sabotage. With his magic, we could alter the flow of conflicts easily.”

“Among other things,” Luna muttered.

“What was that, Luna?” Celestia asked suspiciously.

Luna shook her head innocently. “Nothing, please, go on.”

Celestia huffed. “Like I was saying. He would be a very useful asset-“

“Not as much of the ‘et’, I think.”

“-he can change himself into almost anything-”

“Ooh, exotic!”

“-and he knows the lay of the lands as well as you or I.”

“With how long I was gone, I imagine he mostly knows the lay of YOUR lands, sister.” Celestia glared at Luna. “What? Your lands were the only ones he saw… ever, really.”

Celestia took in a deep breath. “Are you done?”

Luna looked thoughtfully to the sky. “Hold on… He knows the best flanking maneuvers to take hill fortresses. There, I’m done.”

Celestia blushed and turned away. “I know that this may be a risky plan, but I think it is worth a shot. Especially if we are to fight the gryphon menace in the future.”

Luna became serious. “You think we will have to?” she asked. “The ponies of the kingdom may not get behind that.”

“I know,” Celestia said. “Dedicating ground forces to a war is not an option, I am afraid. Special Mission Units are all we will have to defend Equestria within our rights and powers. Shadow Operations, the kind that nopony ever hears about.”

“There are no Nighthawks, sister. We still need to recreate the unit.” Luna knew Starstep could do it, but whether or not he had the spirit to do so was in question.

“I understand. I know we need to bring them back. But most of them have died off. Others have disappeared off the face of the planet. Starstep is the only one I know any more, and I don’t know that he is up for it.”

“He can do it,” Luna said. “He will just need something to get him motivated.”

“You can’t motivate him?” Celestia asked with a smirk. “I heard you two always keep each other going.”

Luna grinned. “Well, I don’t find him hard to stimulate,” she said. She sat down and leaned rom side to side. “But it doesn’t take long for that stimulation to run dry.”

“You have to oil up the machine,” Celestia said. “Otherwise, the gears will rub up against each other and then jam. Then, you have to get in there and fix it by hoof.”

“I always hate doing work with my hooves,” Luna said. “They always get stained with the hydraulics fluids.”

“Yes, if you’re not careful, the fluid liens may burst and get everything dirty,” Celestia finished.

The two sisters sat in silence, staring at each other for a moment, then burst into laughter. Despite the situation they were discussing and its severity, they couldn’t help it. If one doesn’t have a good laugh every now and then and try to enjoy life even in hardship, everything becomes dull and horrible.

Luna calmed down first. “That was good. I needed that.”

“As did I,” Celestia replied.

Luna took in a deep breath and sighed. “So you really want to let him out, huh?” she asked.

Celestia nodded. “I do.”

Luna chuckled. “You might be saying that again, eventually.” Celestia didn’t respond. “Well, do it with my blessing. I can see the value of this.”

“I thank you for understanding,” Celestia said. “Tomorrow, I will send him out to Ponyville. If anypony can convert him, the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy, will do it.”

Luna nodded and stood. “It is a sound plan, and I wish it the best of luck. Good night sister, and sweet dreams.”

“You too, Luna,” Celestia replied.

Luna walked off back to her chambers, while Celestia just stayed where she was, looking up at the statue.

********************************************************************

The gryphon told them everything they needed to know with little need for further convincing. They knew that the secret mountain cave complex they needed to get to was near a major city by the name of San Peregrino. The city itself was a hive of scum and villainy, but the guys didn’t intend to stay there very long at all, if at all.

They would probably have to go in once to get specific information on where this cave complex was and maybe get a layout of it. It would be risky, though, because if they went around as Equestrians asking dangerous questions, they were inviting a fight. The complex was where most of the insurgents hung out, but some were in the city, while the rest of the city was either victims of criminal activity or the perpetrators of said activity.

There were dozens of fighters at the compound, maybe over a hundred. They were, from the gryphon they interrogated, apparently armed to the teeth with crossbows and some new, exploding magic rock. They were working on harnessing the magic for better use later. If the guys happened to come across any, they would happily snag it and either ruse it or bring it home for experts to examine.

The most important part; Blazer was definitively there. The gryphon had been a guard for him. They never moved him because he would undoubtedly try to escape. His wings were always kept tied up; not broken, because they would never take anyone’s flight from them; so the muscles might not be that strong. He sounded, from the account, to be in deteriorating shape as of recently. For years, he was a captive, and it was finally getting to him physically. Who knew what it had done to him mentally.

As soon as they were done with the gryphon, the guys had to sneak out of the city. It was no easy task, and when they reached the gates, they were stopped and questioned. Ryan took the lead on answers, but there were times when the others were asked and Ryan was ignored. They all stuck together in their story, though, and when they left, the gryphon guards even offered them goggles for the rain. It was tough to get them to fit, but they roughly worked.

San Peregrino was also in the wetlands, frustratingly, but the walk there took several days. They were forces to ration their food carefully and sleep only in secure places with one lookout at all times. Rainwater refilled their canteens, and other than Ryan, they mostly survived off of bread that could still be eaten after getting wet. The journey was a pain. But now, after an exhausting journey, they had arrived.

“Well, boys,” Ryan said, looking up the mountainside through his goggles. “Here we are; San Peregrino.”

Half of the city was outside, and half of it was in the mountain. The part of the city that was outside consisted mostly of businesses and shipment receiving ports. Inside was where all the residences were. There was little for them to see in the outer section of the city besides guards who didn’t look like they cared about their jobs and sketchy deals going down.

“Should we get inside?” Soarin’ shouted.

“Ah like that,” Mac replied.

The guys ran to the city and past the numerous uncaring guards. They were able to go right past the shipping sites without issue, like the guards didn’t even notice. Some would say it indicated the quality of the guards. Others would say it indicated the safety of the city; that no one would dare mess with the residents here.

When they were out of the rain and inside the mountain, they were unimpressed by what they saw. For all the trade this city seemed to get, it was an absolute dump. Kasteel City was better. Here, there didn’t even look to be that many residences, though it was the first section of the city. Even so, the buildings that were there weren’t very big, maybe a hundred square feet of space.

They continued through the city to find an area where many, many more gryphons tended to gather. It was the residential area they were looking for. There were several bars right off, various stores, and a lot of gryphons who were all business and didn’t look like they tolerated tourists. It was perfect for the guys, but it was as much a danger as a benefit.

As they walked through, they received looks of varying levels of disgust, but disgust all the same. Gryphons bumped into Ryan in the lead and even tried to trip the stallions at times. Mac and Fancy were growing wary while Soarin’ was getting angry. Ryan could tell that he wanted to fight, but he knew better.

Their only option for survival here was to stick together. The amount of hate was practically oozing off the gryphons, unlike in Kasteel. If they separated, any bad guys around, regardless of allegiance, were likely to come at them without mercy.

Ryan spotted a bar that looked less than friendly. Its name was State of Gryphonia; definitely not pony friendly.

“What say we go make some waves?” Ryan said.

“Sounds like something a crazy pony would do,” Soarin’ said. “Let’s do it.”

Ryan turned to Mac and Fancy. “You guys ready?”

Mac nodded and Fancy replied, “Ready.”

“This won’t be fun,” Ryan said, turning back toward the bar. “But we’ll do it, get out, and finish the job. When we get home, it’ll be drinks on me.”

The guys mentally steeled themselves for what they were likely about to experience and walked forward. They walked toward the bar with a purpose, trying to dissuade any fighters from picking a fight with them, but that didn’t keep them completely safe. Someone might wait until they’re leaving the bar to get them, or until they find a place to sleep if they need to.

They entered the bar and found a massive crowd of gryphons, smiling and talking. There were groups everywhere, but few individuals or pairs. Drinks were spilled on the floor, laughter and chatter were loud and cheerful, and gryphon coinage flew from tables toward the bar.

When the stallions walked in, some of the conversation near them ceased, and then the rest in the room followed. The guys stood there, all eyes on them, waiting for someone to do something. Some of the gryphons turned their chairs to get a good look at them, and others put their claws on their chair backs, ready to stand.

Ryan crossed his arms. “What’s the best you got?” he asked.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, every gryphon in the room cheered and stood, raising mugs and roaring approval. Ryan flinched from the unexpected response, as did his stallions, and they just stood there, dumbfounded. They recovered quickly, though, and walked further into the bar.

They stuck together, almost staying in physical contact as they moved. It wasn’t easy; gryphons were grabbing at the, trying to pull them to their tables for drinks or games. They couldn’t trust any of them, though, as they could be individuals or groups with the insurgents, or even just petty thieves and muggers. If the guys were separated in here, they may not be able to meet up again until they left, if at all.

They were hounded until they finally arrived at a spot where there were fewer gryphons; all the way at the bar, as far from the door as possible. There were four empty seats at the end of the bar, with just enough space to accommodate all four of them. Ryan looked around; there was a bathroom not too far, but he didn’t know if there were windows or holes in the wall for them to get through, or if they could all get through them if they were there.

When they were sitting, most of the fervor for them died down, and the gryphons went back to their own conversations. The guys all kept their ears open to listen for any less than friendly gryphons. They could be talking about where they would go, what they planned to do now that there were ponies here, or, if the guys were lucky, they would talk about the location of their cave base.

But to avoid too much suspicion from the gryphons, they had to act normal.

“So, guys, where do you want to head next?” Ryan asked loudly. “We’re making our way through the Wetlands, and we’ll be finished up soon. Are we looking for history, fun, what are we thinking?”

“Well, Osprey might want to have fun, but I’m a history stallion,” Fancy said.

“You’ve always been that way, dude,” Soarin’ said. “Gotta loosen up, do something to get your blood pumping.”

“I do, plenty,” Fancy said. “Whopper, you like history, right?”

“Can’t say as Ah do, honestly,” Mac said. “Ah like math and science the most. Never had a taste for old mares’ tales.”

“Bah,” Fancy said with a wave of his hoof. “Harkness? You’re a history man, right?”

“We can always learn from history,” Ryan replied.

The barkeep came over. “You boys looking to drink?” he asked with a smile.

Ryan scrutinized the smile. Any normal person in a normal situation would have thought it was fine. But there was something in there, something that betrayed a key piece of information about him. He knew something. Whether it was something good for the guys or very bad was yet to be determined, but he knew something.

“Sure are,” Ryan aid with a grin. “Do you accept bits?”

“I do,” the barkeep replied happily.

Ryan pulled up a bag and dropped it on the table. “We’ll take however much of the top shelf this will get us.” Ryan was willing to dump his personal funds for this endeavor now because he didn’t anticipate it taking much longer, so he might not need it. And he may get something out of the barkeep for all this cash.

The barkeep beamed. “Right away!” he said. He turned around, flew up to the top shelf, and grabbed two bottles of something with several glasses. He was back in just seconds. “Here you go, anything else?”

Ryan accepted the glasses and poured into each. “Actually we could use some help,” Ryan said.

“Oh? Help with what?” the barkeep asked.

“Well, obviously, we’re pretty recent to the area,” Ryan began. “We aren’t staying, we’re travelling the world to see what it has in store for us. We don’t know this area at all. We practically fell off the slippery mountains on our way here!” Ryan shared a laugh with the barkeep.

“Yes, foreigners to this area tend to have trouble with that,” he said.

Ryan nodded. “Exactly. So, we were wondering what you could tell us about this area.”

The gryphon looked thoughtful. “Well, that really depends on what you want to know. Anything specific?”

“We know the geography of the area, but we don’t know about the area, you know what I’m saying?” Ryan asked. “What kinds of things do the gryphons do here? What kinds of dudes and gals live around here?”

The barkeep hesitated for a second before answering. Ryan saw his eyes flicker to look behind him, toward the mass of gryphons behind him. Ryan didn’t dare turn around and attract attention to himself. The guys were continuing their innocent conversation to Ryan’s left, but beyond them, Ryan just spotted a gryphon looking at them in a most unwelcome fashion. Ryan had seen him cheer for them when they walked in; he would be good to watch and listen for.

The barkeep spoke up. “Well, most folks don’t like ponies here,” he said. “It’s good that you came in with those guys. They might not have been welcome without you.”

“The gryphons here seemed eager to have us,” Ryan said.

The gryphon nodded. “Yeah, but they would have had them in a whole other way,” he said. “You showed them that you didn’t care. They see you as tough, and they respect that.”

“That’s good,” Ryan said. “This landscape seems to breed toughness.”

“And then some,” the barkeep said. “A lot of gryphons are tough enough to be on their own and survive like that. They don’t like the government.”

“Well, living in a city defeats that purpose,” Ryan said. If he could steer this in the proper direction, this might be all he needs.

“Most of them don’t,” the barkeep said. “Most live in some caves just outside the city. They like to get the services here, but not the taxes and rules.”

“Is that an area to avoid?” Ryan asked.

The barkeep nodded. “Yeah, but it’s in a remote area above the city. You won’t run into it unless you try to.”

Bingo. That was what Ryan needed. They had the location of at least one gryphon fortress around here. If they went there, and Blazer wasn’t there, they could probably find information on where he was. Getting there would be trouble, since it sounded like there weren’t exactly trails, but Ryan might be able to squeeze some more info out of this guy.

“Are there any areas to avoid in the city, areas where these guys congregate?” he asked.

The barkeep nodded. “Yeah, avoid the east side, where it opens up into the intermountain river. It’s a dangerous place; that’s where the ones who live here are, so they can keep track of what comes in and out. A bunch of the shipments that come here are for them.”

“There’s a river in the mountains?” Ryan asked with feigned interest. He had to appear more interested in other things.

“Ha, that always surprises visitors to the city,” the barkeep replied. “Even other gryphons. But yes, there’s a river. It crosses several mountains, and provides us with water and fish. We put fish in there years ago to breed so we could catch them for food later.”

“Very clever,” Ryan said.

The barkeep nodded. “So yeah. Avoid that area. One of the bosses lives there, knows everything and has a group of guards. You can see his house from down the street, so use it as a point of reference.”

Perfect. Once they were done here, Ryan would take the guys around the shops to look like tourists, then they would set out for this boss’s house. They could interrogate this guy, find out where Blazer was, find a better way up the mountain if necessary, and head home with the job done. This had the potential to go off without a hitch.

“Thanks for the tips,” Ryan said. He stood up. “Alright guys, let’s see what else the city has for us.” The stallions stood up to leave.

The barkeep looked surprised. “Wait, you need to get change, you haven’t drank all of the money you gave.”

Ryan grinned and waved his hand. “Nah, you keep it. A tip for you, for the tip you gave us.” The barkeep smiled and waved to the guys as they made their way out.

The guys left the bar and meandered about the shops for a time. They had to make the image that they were here as tourists, or they would certainly be stopped and taken to a dark alley by unsavory individuals. They were occasionally rejected by store owners who didn’t like ponies, but bits were worth more than the gryphon coins, so they were begrudgingly accepted most of the time.

When they decided that they were clear, the guys left the immediate area in the direction of the safer areas of the city to check for tails. Fancy Pants noticed that they were being followed right off the bat, so the guys had to go through several small buildings and side streets to lose them. When they deemed that they were safe, they walked to a less populated area to get their footing and then proceed to their new target.

They found an area with no one in it, around it, or above it and were able to set themselves up. The stallions removed their weapons form their saddlebags and set them on their sides, easily access and ready for action. Ryan dropped his cloak, not anticipating needing it ever again, and revealed his armored vest, gun, and obsidian knife. He had also brought his helmet, tethered to his back during the journey, and donned it as well, not willing to take any risks. Once they were all ready, Ryan addressed his small team of fighters.

“Alright guys, this is it. This is our chance to end this now, and to bring this guy home. This is when we get the chance to go home to our loved ones, when we can finally be done fighting and get a good rest.”

“We go in fast and hard, take out anyone who fights back. We know who this guy is, we know who’s with him. Priority is to get him, get his information, and go get Blazer. When that’s done, we get to the shipping yard and find transportation home. They ought to have some airships there, and Gatsby can drive.”

“I can,” Fancy said.

“Whopper, you and me take the lead, take out the big guys. I’ll take the front, watch your neck.”

“Ah got your back,” Mac said.

“Osprey and Gatsby, you two stick together. Osprey can move fast and distract and fight the enemy while Gatsby hits them with magic blasts.”

“I like that plan,” Fancy said.

“Works for me,” Soarin’ said.

Ryan pulled his M1911 out. It had been some time since he did that. “Okay, boys, let’s do this.”

Ryan took the lead, followed by Mac, then Soarin’, then Fancy Pants. They ran through the back streets and alley toward the river, where they could see the tall house of the alleged insurgent boss. There was a strange lack of gryphons on the way there, which was just as well, since it made traveling there that much easier. Still, it was odd, and it made Ryan feel uneasy.

They rounded a corner and ran down one last alley. At the end, Ryan looked left and right out the end to see if any enemies were around. He didn’t spot anyone at all, and took it as his chance o get the guys to the building quickly and quietly. With a flick of his wrist, he sent his guys forward as he ran out and to the building.

They were at the entrance in moments, ready to go in. Ryan had the guys stop for a moment outside to catch their breath before running in. Ryan took in several deep breaths to calm himself. He could feel his blood pressure going down, and the shaking that usually accompanies adrenaline and running disappeared quickly.

“Ready?” Ryan asked his friends.

“Ready,” they all replied.

“Okay,” Ryan said. “Three… two… one… GO!”

Ryan ran forward and thrust his foot into the door before him. The door stuck fast, though, and his foot bounced off painfully and he went to one knee, holding it. Behind him, he heard the stallions stop suddenly and nearly topple each other over. Ryan quickly holstered his weapon and looked to the door.

“We got a problem, guys-“

“OH, SHIT!”

Ryan looked back immediately to see Soarin’ looking up and followed his gaze. In a heartbeat, he understood Soarin’s outburst. Above them, three windows had opened up and out flew a dozen gryphons that were quickly descending upon them. And they weren’t even in a position to fight back.

“Scatter!” Ryan shouted.

But his order went unheard. The gryphons were on them, they had Soarin’ pinned and knocked out in an instant. Fancy Pants was bagged and cut with a small knife, then he dropped like a ton of bricks. The knife must have been poisoned.

Mac almost got up in time to fight back, but two gryphons were able to choke him out and put a bag on his head. They tied him up with massive ropes and chains, and he was helpless to get away.

Ryan got up and pulled out his knife. If he used his gun, he might hit one of his friends, an unacceptable tactic. With a quick movement, he ran forward and cut at one of the gryphons holding Mac down, slicing away feathers but nothing more. He slashed at him again, but the gryphon was too fast and dodged, then struck Ryan in the back of the hand, knocking the knife out of his hands.

Ryan lunged forward, arms out, and tried to grab at the gryphon, but before he got his hands on it, another gryphon came down on him from above and behind and knocked him to the ground. His face struck the street hard, just barely not smashing his nose thanks to an indirect impact. He received a cut on his forehead and saw a brief flash of white. When his head came back up, he saw a gryphon kneeling before him.

“You thought you could come here and finish what you started decades ago?” the gryphon asked. “You ponies should have known we wouldn’t be defeated. When you ran with your tails between your legs, we only stayed here because we need to get rid of this puppet government of yours before we kill you all. And I’ll be damned if I don’t love how I kill every last thing you love in this world.”

Before Ryan could say anything, he felt something metal crash against the top of his helmet, and all the lights from the street lanterns suddenly disappeared, replaced with an inky black.

None Braver

View Online

Operation: Imminent Harkness

None Braver

“Freedom is a light for which many men have died in the darkness.”

Ryan could remember a bag over his head. He didn’t know when it got there, though it was probably after he was struck in the head.

He remembered being dragged through the street by his shoulders, his feet scraping at the ground as he went. He couldn’t tell where Mac, Fancy Pants, or Soarin’ were. He could only hope that they were alright.

While he was dragged through the street, Ryan heard gryphons on the sides of the street cheering for his captors. A lot of them were shouting incoherently, but Ryan heard several distinct cheers calling for his beheading or hanging. Rocks collided with his torso and head after being chucked at the group.

After being dragged through the streets, Ryan was tossed onto what felt like a raft. The air around it was cool, indicating the presence of water, and it rocked unsteadily. His arm flopped around and his hand landed in the water. The gryphons taking him didn’t care enough about his safety to pull him away from the side.

Several other large bodies landed on the raft, rocking it and nearly toppling it. Ryan couldn’t tell if they were his friends or if they were gryphons. No one spoke a word. Ryan wasn’t sure if he and his friends would be transported together, separate, or if they would just be floated down the intermountain river and allowed to eventually sink and drown.

Ryan tried to move his hands, but found them to be bound. Movement wouldn’t have helped anyway; his head was still covered and he was guarded by who knew how many gryphons. His ears were still ringing from being struck earlier. The entire plan had fallen apart, and he was in no condition right now to develop a new one.

He tried to move again, but some gryphon had noticed his squirming and pinned him down with his claw.

“Awake already?” he asked. “I thought you were hit hard enough to be out as long as your buddies.” Ryan didn’t answer. “You’re a tough one, aren’t you?” Still, Ryan stayed quiet. “I’ll tear you down. You aren’t that tough.”

“I’ll tear you a new one,” Ryan said, muffled by his bag.

The gryphon laughed. “Hah! That’s funny. Now you’re a funny one, too. Well, by the time I’m finished with you and your friends, you won’t be funny any more either.”

“Still funnier than you,” Ryan said. If he kept this guy talking, he might survive to see the next day.

But the gryphon was done talking. “We will see later,” he said. “But for now, you sleep.”

Before Ryan could say anything, he felt something stick in his neck, and his consciousness quickly faded away.

When Ryan came to, it was dark as the cloudy night sky. He still had the bag on his head, but he had a strong feeling that that fact wouldn’t change the level of darkness in the room.

Unlike before, now, he felt groggy and dirty when he woke up, instead of pained and throbbing in the head. There were other changes as well; his clothes were gone, and all over his body, he felt freezing cold and wet. Water droplets steadily fell onto his body from above.

His small bindings on his hands were replaced with heavy chains. He tried to move, but when he did, he could feel the weight holding him down and knew that straining against it was a bad decision. The new shackles were on his wrists and his ankles, though he could feel that they clearly weren’t designed for a human. They were uncomfortably round, like they were for pony legs. Judging from the weight, they were meant to keep an earth pony from being able to break them off the wall and keep a pegasus on the ground.

Ryan could feel himself hanging and experimented with moving his torso back and forth. He hit nothing, no wall. His wrist chains were suspending his arms up while his ankle chains kept his legs down, forcing him to hang with his knees just over the ground and his hands in the air like he was praying. It was incredibly uncomfortable, but compared to what a pony would feel in these things, belly exposed and stretched unnaturally, he was perfectly fine.

He was getting his wits back about him and already starting to think up a new plan. He was in a bad way here, as were his friends, if they were alive. He desperately hoped they were. There was only one way to check at the moment.

“Guys?” he asked the darkness. “Guys? Are you there?”

“Ryan?” Mac’s voice answered.

Ryan released a sigh of relief. “Thank God,” he said. “I thought you guys were gone.”

“No, we’re still here,” Mac said. “At least, Ah am.”

“I’m over here,” Soarin’s voice called. “They’ve got me chained to the ground.”

“Ah’m on the wall,” Mac replied.

“I don’t know where I am, just that I’m partially hanging off the ground,” Ryan said. “Where’s Gatsby?”

“I’ll check if he’s near me,” Soarin’ answered.

Ryan wasn’t sure how he planned to check until he heard the awful sound of iron scraping against stone. Soarin’ was managing to drag himself around. He must have been on a long set of chains to be able to go for so long.

“Do you have anything?” Ryan shouted.

A few more seconds of scraping. “I think I got something,” Soarin’ said. “Yeah, it’s him, horn and all. He’s out like a lamp.”

“They don’t want to risk him using any magic,” Ryan thought.

“Can ya tell if he’s okay?” Mac asked.

“I’m as blind as you guys and I can’t lift any of my legs, so no,” Soarin’ said. “It’s a miracle I got this far.”

“We can’t be relying on miracles,” Ryan said. “We’ve got to find a way out of this.”

“I’m all ears,” Soarin’ said.

“Ah ain’t much of a planner, Harkness,” Mac said. “An’ it looks to me like we ain’t in such a good spot.”

“How in the hell do we get out of this?” Soarin’ asked. “This was never a part of the plan.”

“When did we actually plan anything down here, Osprey?” Ryan asked. He got no response. “We had our goals and did what we could to achieve them. This is no different.”

“I don’t see any way out of this,” Soarin said disparagingly.

“Neither do I,” Ryan said. “That’s why I’m waiting for light. So I can see a way out.”

Soarin’ didn’t respond, and Mac said nothing. Ryan could feel their sense of hopelessness for their situation, and he could feel its icy grip taking hold of his heart as well. But he couldn’t allow it to take over. Not when they were so close, not when he promised to bring his friends home.

He got to thinking. From here, there was no clear way out. There was no way out at all. But they were all alive, hopefully, and they were all being held as prisoners, so someone would come eventually. That was going to be their one chance at escape.

But whose chance would it be? Not Fancy’s, he was out. Soarin’ would be intercepted if he tried to fly out in the shape he was probably in, so that was out too. Mac could fight, and he might make it out. It all depended on if they took one of them out or more, and who was taken out. Ryan hoped he would be out first at least. He was down now, but he wasn’t out, not by a long shot.

He always had a trick or two up his sleeve.

Three loud clangs rang throughout the room, deafening the stallions and man inside. Following the loud noise, a light shone through into the room and ever so slightly through the bags over the guys’ heads. Ryan couldn’t make out any shapes, but he could tell where the door was.

“So, who gets to be taken first?” an unknown gryphon asked.

“How about me?” Soarin’ asked. “No one’s taken me in a few weeks.”

“Now, Osprey, hold on,” Ryan said. “I’m sure the guy they want us to meet has already spent time with pegasus stallions. He’ll want something fresh.”

Ryan felt a balled up claw strike him in the torso, directly on the solar plexus. It took all his willpower not to vomit into his hood. He mostly succeed, only feeling a little bit cough up out of his throat and into the sack in front of his face.

“Think you’re funny?” the gryphon asked. “You won’t be when I peck that little cock of yours off.”

“Well, I’ve never been blown by a gryphon before, but if you want to try it that bad…” Ryan was greeted by another fist to the gut.

“If you want be first so much, I will be happy to take you out,” the gryphon said.

"Glad to know you'll take me out to dinner before taking me," Ryan said.

There was movement, and Ryan felt his shackles release and he dropped to the floor. He tried to catch himself, but he fell too fast and landed on his front. The gryphon wrapped his talons around Ryan’s shoulders and started to drag him, bag still on his head.

“Hope you enjoy the ride,” the gryphon said.

“I like being ridden hard,” Ryan said.

His bare skin dragged against the gravely floor, scratching and cutting at him without mercy. Ryan had to lift his pelvis up to protect his most sensitive area from the damage. As he was dragged away, Ryan tried to look back, but the bag still blocked his vision. He just had to hope that he would be able to come back for his friends after all was said and done here. But at least he knew where they would be.

The ride didn’t last long, thankfully. Ryan wouldn’t have been able to hold himself up much longer, a truly traumatic experience would surely have followed. How could he go home like that? Sorry, my crown jewels were a little tarnished while in the city of vice and sin. Not a great story.

When the dragging was done, Ryan was thrown onto a chair and his hands were cuffed again. Still, they were the pony cuffs, round and frustrating to move in. But with a quick process of thoughts, he was already finding a way out.

Then, as he finished up his plan, the bag came off his head to reveal a very large gryphon glaring daggers at him. Ryan looked up and down at him, taking him in. He had scar feathers, if they would be called that, all over his wings, and war paint on the tips. His talons were painted gold, and his beak had silver paint on it.

Ryan raised an eyebrow. “The hell is this, a drag show?” Ryan asked.

“What?” the gryphon said.

“You have me tied up, but you didn’t come out of a cake for me,” Ryan said. “Whatup with that?”

The gryphon put the tip of a talon on Ryan’s chest. “Nothing for you today, I’m afraid,” he said. He took the talon back.

“So who the fuck are you?” Ryan asked, trying to be as caustic and tough as possible. “Some chicken bitch?”

“Hardly, freak,” the gryphon replied. “I am Bull’s Eye, third in command of this safe haven. Who are you?”

“Call me Harkness, for the sake of ease,” Ryan answered. “If you asked my real name, you would get Jack Shit.”

“Well, Jack Shit Harkness,” Bull’s Eye said. “Do you know why you’re here?”

“I assume you want to take me?” Ryan answered.

“You are here,” Bull’s Eye said, starting to walk around. “Because you have piqued my curiosity.”

Ryan looked down. “Well, I admit, it is pretty glorious.”

Bull’s Eye chuckled. “No, no, that is a joke,” he said. Ryan frowned. “What piques my curiosity is what you are. I do not know. And that is why you will tell me.”

“Why don’t we help each other out?” Ryan answered. “I answer you, you answer me.”

“You are in no position to bargain,” Bull’s Eye said menacingly.

“Oh, but I am, you see? I have key information that you can’t get unless you’re willing to trade. Call it intellectual capital. And if you trade with me, you’ll be rich. As long as you give me what I want.”

Bull’s Eye growled. “That isn’t how this works.”

Ryan shrugged. “Then we’re done”

Bull’s Eye leapt forward and put the tips of his talons back on Ryan’s chest. “I don’t know how you received those unholy scars, but I know how you’ll get more,” he warned.

Ryan laughed. “You can’t even compare to Narendra, sorry,” he said. “You’re a bad guy wannabe compared to him.”

“Oh, really?” Bull’s Eye asked. He twisted his talons in a circle, eliciting a grunt of pain from Ryan. “You think so?”

“Bitch, I know so,” Ryan said.

Bull’s Eye removed his talons again. “I guess you are tough after all,” he said. He hopped over to a desk. “Those scars on your arms say so, I suppose. But what about your friends? I have them.”

“There is one problem with that,” Ryan said. “If you hurt them, or have them hurt, or any shit like that, not only will I not give you anything; I will kill you in such a way that you will wish your boss had killed you.”

“Big words from a naked creature whose bag of seeds is visible to everyone,” Bull’s Eye said.

“Truer words are never spoken than when I’m naked,” Ryan answered.

Bull’s Eye sat in a chair behind his desk. “Well, alright, since you’re such a pest, and I know I won’t get anything from you otherwise. I will play your game.”

“Good,” Ryan answered. “The rules are easy to follow.”

“I will go first,” Bull’s Eye said. “Just who are you?”

“Just a few guys looking to bring our friend home,” Ryan answered. “We don’t give a damn about your quarrel with your government. Do what you want with them, just give us our friend back and we’ll be on our way.”

“Not happening,” Bull’s Eye answered. “Especially now that we have three pony civilians and whatever the hell you are. I assume you’re with Equestria.”

“I’m with me and my friends,” Ryan said.

Bull’s Eye shrugged. “Here, there, does it matter where our allegiances lay? Equestria will pay for you.”

“True enough,” Ryan said. “My turn. How did you know to get us the way you did?”

Bull’s Eye deadpanned, “Did you honestly believe that the gryphon you attacked in Kasteel wouldn’t get the word to us tha the sent you here? Gryphons fly faster than ponies and you walk. We knew days ahead of you that you would be here. We knew what you looked like, what you wore, everything. You were watched on your way here through the rain.”

“How?” Ryan asked.

“We have the best eyes in the world,” Bull’s Eye said. “What we see is four times magnified what you see.”

“And the barkeep?” Ryan asked. “He sent us to the building you ambushed us at.”

Bull’s Eye smirked arrogantly. “Everyone in this city is on our side. How did that not seem suspicious to you when you walked into that bar? Any drinking establishment would have greeted you that way because we told them to. And you fell for it.”

“That was stupid of me,” Ryan mentally scolded himself.

“Honestly. You miscalculated our capabilities so much that now, you are here, in my talons,” Bull’s Eye said. “It was a truly pathetic effort. That’s how I know you’re all civilians.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ryan said. “Your turn again.”

“Very well.” Bull’s Eye thought about his question. “Ah, yes. What are these things you were carrying?” The gryphon held up Ryan’s gun and a magazine.

“My canteen?” Ryan asked. “It’s special. Don’t use it.”

“How is it used?” Bull’s Eye asked.

“You just stick the end in your mouth, get your talon into that little groove, and pull the moving piece back,” Ryan said.

Bull’s Eye was about to try it, but stopped. “I’m not an idiot,” he said, setting the gun down. “I know it kills. I’ve heard stories from Canterlot. I never thought I would see it, though.”

“That was a different one,” Ryan said.

“Still. Quite a weapon.” Bull’s Eye examined it. “I guess that you just told me how to use it, then?”

“Not sure,” Ryan said. “Is a round chambered?”

“What?” Bull’s Eye said.

Ryan grinned. “Guess I didn’t,” he said smugly. Bull’s Eye snarled then put the weapon and magazine down.

“I will put these in the box for now,” he said. “Until I figure out how to use it on you so I can dispose of you.”

“I thought you wanted to ransom me,” Ryan said.

Bull’s Eye laughed. “But this is worth so much more,” he said. “This is what I would rather spend my time with. If I could figure this out, I would be the most respected gryphon in the colonies.”

“Well, I don’t know how exactly it works either, so you’ll need some serious luck if you want to take apart and put it back together right,” Ryan said.

“Time is all I will need,” Bull’s Eye said. “But for now, what of these other items? You abandoned a perfectly good cloak.” Bull’s Eye picked the cloak up off the table and held it out so it fell open. “It’s very nice. No reason to ditch it.”

“I don’t see why that matters,” Ryan said. “It’s just a cloak I bought a while ago. I won’t be needing it again.”

“I shall keep it, then,” Bull’s Eye said. “It will serve me well in the colder regions of Equestria and the Crystal Empire when the time comes to expand our territory.”

“Given that your territory can’t expand any other way,” Ryan said.

Bull’s Eye’s grin slowly faded, then shot to a frown. “Clever?” he asked.

The gryphon rushed forward and flew up into the air and threw his legs forward. Ryan took the full force of the attack to his torso and flew back in the chair, landing awkwardly on his arms. It was an extremely painful landing, and Ryan grimaced as the gryphon’s talons closed around him.

“I’m getting really tired of your shit,” Bull’s Eye said. “But as much as I would love to end it now, I need to know a few more things from you.”

Ryan grunted under the gryphon’s weight. “Well, too bad. It’s my turn.”

“No,” Bull’s Eye said. “I’m done with your little game. I feel confident that I can get the rest of the information from your friends, who aren’t nearly as tough as you. If you don’t answer me now, I’ll just kill you and be done.” He got off of Ryan and pulled his chair back upright, then went back to his desk.

Ryan was pissed. His plan fell apart this time, and he couldn’t get any more information out of this guy. Not directly, at least.

“Alright,” Ryan said curtly.

Bull’s Eye picked up the knife. “This is a strange blade,” he said. “Where ever did you get it?”

“It was a gift,” Ryan said. “I don’t know where to buy this stuff. If I did, I would have a bunch.”

Bull’s Eye nodded slowly. “I would get a sword,” he said.

“You fight with swords?” Ryan asked.

“Swords, claws and talons, and crossbows when I can,” Bull’s Eye answered.

Ryan didn’t respond. It was good to know how Bull’s Eye fought.

“But I have only one last question for you.” Bull’s Eye leaned on his desk. “Why do you want to bring this individual home so badly? What do you gain from this? No one knows he is here. No one remembers or cares. What inspired this quest of yours?”

Ryan took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It’s something I have to do,” he said. “Like why you have to fight the Equestrians. Like how the dragons migrate. The reason is irrelevant, because regardless of whether or not it was good enough, I would find another one.”

“You sound like a fool to me,” Bull’s Eye said.

“I don’t’ care,” Ryan said, defiantly sitting up straight. “I came down here with a job to do. And I plan to do it.”

“And I plan to stop you,” Bull’s Eye said.

Bull’s Eye rushed Ryan again, talons out, and stabbed them into Ryan’s chest. They didn’t go very deep, just enough so that Ryan could feel them between his ribs. Blood trickled out of the wounds between the skin and talons, flowing down his chest and belly and dropping to the floor. Ryan gritted his teeth through the pain and pulled his hands forward as eh tensed under the pain. When his hands were caught and stopped by the chain, he could just feel exactly what he needed.

“After we kill you, we’ll take little parts of you and send them to the princesses. See how long it takes them to figure out what we’re sending home.” Bull’s Eye had a sick smile on his face as he slowly dug his talons into Ryan’s chest.

Ryan looked Bull’s Eye directly in the eyes with as much anger and defiance as he could muster. In the man’s eyes, Bull’s Eye could see something he wasn’t expecting he thought he would see hopelessness, acceptance of the inevitable end. Instead, he saw determination, anger, and a very clear intent to fight back.

“There’s one thing you didn’t account for” Ryan said, pulling his arms forward.

“What would that be?” Bull’s Eye asked. Ryan smiled.

“These cuffs are for pony forelegs. Not human arms!”

Ryan gave his arms one last, powerful yank forward, and as he cranked up the tension on them, the tiny metal links of the cuffs snapped. Ryan’s right fist came hurling through the air with enormous power and collided with Bull’s Eye’s face, crashing into his skull and sending him to the ground in a mess of feathers and a cry of pain. Free, Ryan launched forward from the chair and landed on his belly on the ground, then rolled to the side and stood up.

Bull’s Eye recovered quicker than Ryan would have thought and was standing at the same time as Ryan, ready to fight. He was physically closer to the table than Ryan, so the human was unable to retrieve any of his weapons. His gun was in the box behind the desk, so that was out as well. He had nothing; not even clothes to protect him.

“Let’s do the chicken dance,” Ryan said.

Bull’s Eye growled at the human and got into a low battle stance with his arms out to either side. His talons were fully bared, ready to rend flesh from bone. Ryan responded with a deep Seunchin dachi and put up a steady Seunchin fighting guard. One hand before his solar plexus to serve as a sacrifice guard, the other forward, ready to block or strike as needed.

Bull’s Eye wasted no time and lunged forward with incredible speed and power. Ryan kept his eyes locked with Bull’s Eye’s the whole way, keeping track of them to determine what his plans were for his next move. The angry gryphon let out a feral roar as he swung one arm at Ryan, who blocked it with a simple high-block with his forearm.

Ryan saw his opening and went for it. With half of his guard gone, Bull’s Eye was wide open. Ryan sent a quick uppercut into the gryphon’s gut, and, with the force of his strike combined with the gryphon’s forward momentum, he sent Bull’s Eye up into the air and past himself, right into the wall. Bull’s Eye’s face struck it with a loud smack, and he appeared dazed for a moment.

Ryan went to continue the onslaught, but Bull’s Eye recovered quickly and was already facing Ryan again by the time he was on him. The gryphon shot a quick stab of his talons forward at Ryan, which the man had to dodge because a stab from those talons meant death. As Ryan veered out of the way, Bull’s Eye brought his other arm around to slash at Ryan’s neck. Ryan just maneuvered himself so that he caught an arm to the face instead of sharp points to the neck.

Ryan took the hit in stride and let it carry him to the side, where he fell to the ground and rolled back up. When he was back up, he was on the defense; Bull’s Eye was relentless. Pissed off, in pain, and already on intent on killing the human, he was in a frenzy. He slashed haphazardly at Ryan, just missing every time and growing more frustrated as he went.

Ryan was able to dodge one attack and draw the gryphon to slash at the stone wall. With a loud scrape, like nails on a chalkboard, a fork on a plate, the talons dragged across the wall with an ear-piercing sound. Ryan ignored it, as did Bull’s Eye, and the man pushed off the wall to get toward the center of the room and drive Bull’s Eye into a corner.

The gryphon paused for a moment and looked at his now dulled talons on his left claw. They were chipped and broken, but not jagged enough to be usable as sharp weapons. With a growl, Bull’s Eye balled that claw into a fist and turned around to continue his attack.

Ryan was there when he turned, though, and gave him one powerful roundhouse punch across the face. Bull’s Eye went straight to the ground after blacking out for just a second, and hadn’t fully recovered when Ryan was on him. Ryan put his hands around the gryphon’s neck and began to squeeze.

“You aren’t going to kill me today!” Ryan said through gritted teeth.

Suddenly, he felt two feet press against his abdomen, and he was thrown off the gryphon and onto the floor in the center of the room. Bull’s Eye coughed and sputtered and Ryan rolled away. When they were both up again, Bull’s Eye gave him a death glare.

“Oh yes I am!”

Bull’s Eye lunged again, this time punching Ryan in the gut with his dulled left claw. Ryan just got his guard down to prevent it from connecting with his belly, but the force pushed him back and he landed against the table Bull’s Eye had been sitting at earlier. Bull’s Eye jumped over to him and grabbed his neck with his left claw and raised his right.

“And now you will die!” Bull’s Eye shouted.

He thrust his talons forward, which Ryan caught with both hands. The squeezing around his neck was too much, though, and Ryan had to rededicate one of his hands to preventing himself from being choked out.

He was in a dilemma. If his right hand was all that stood between him and death, he would be gone. If his left was all that was keeping the talons from ripping his neck to shreds, he would meet a bloody fate. He had to act fast, or it was all over.

Ryan removed his right hand from his neck, leaving him only seconds, and reached hopefully on the table. His hand met with his obsidian knife that Rarity gave him, and he gripped the handle hard. Before Bull’s Eye could stop him, Ryan swung his hand around with his remaining strength and stabbed it into the gryphon’s shoulder.

“AHHH!” Bull’s Eye screamed and jumped back.

The knife stayed firmly in Ryan’s grasp, slicing cleanly out of the gryphon and leaving a trail of blood behind. Bull’s Eye fell back, gripping his wound, and Ryan lay on the table, coughing and trying to regain his strength. When he felt ready, he stood off the table and looked at Bull’s Eye.

“Not too fun, is it?” Ryan asked with a wrathful glare.

Knife gripped firmly in his right hand, Ryan ran forward and started slashing away. He kept his attacks controlled and strategically placed, forcing Bull’s Eye to dodge each time to avoid being cut. Bull’s Eye faltered more than once, just barely being missed by Ryan’s knife, and soon found himself in a corner.

Desperate, Bull’s Eye did what every fighter’s instincts say not to do; he rushed into a situation where he was being attacked. Ryan foresaw the attack, though, and when Bull’s Eye sent his talons forth to stab at him, Ryan parried the attack and sent the gryphon on, immediately following behind. Bull’s Eye turned and went for a wide-arc swipe at the human from underneath in an effort to take him off-guard.

Ryan saw it from a mile away and had the knife ready. When he saw the claw coming at him, Ryan slashed downward at the gryphon’s wrist. His counter hit home, and as Bull’s Eye watched in horror, the knife stayed in place as his arm kept on going, and his claw found another direction to follow.

Bull’s Eye took three shocked steps back. His claw on his right arm was gone. Replaced with a cleanly cut, bloody stump, shooting blood out. He stared in terror and awe at the alien sight, then looked back to Ryan.

“I… I…” His chocked expression slowly turned back into a sanguine anger. “I will KILL YOU!!!”

He ran forward at Ryan with nothing. Ryan simply stood there, in guard, ready to fight. When Bull’s Eye was upon him, Ryan sent his left fist up and struck the gryphon in the eye, blinding it temporarily, and then brought the knife around and stabbed him in the side. Bull’s Eye let out a gasp of pain as the knife slipped in between his lower ribs.

“I know about you,” Ryan said, pushing the knife hard. “I know your heart isn’t there. You can survive this.” He pulled the knife out and switched his grip to hold it like an ice pick. “But I-“

He punched him once in the face with his closed, knife-wielding fist, sending the gryphon back several steps. Without missing a beat, Ryan stepped forward and grabbed him by his chest feathers and hit him again.

“Won’t-“

He punched him again and again and again.

“LET YOU!!”

Ryan pushed Bull’s Eye up against the table and had him leaning back against it and punched him repeatedly across his ace. He struck the gryphon with savage, nonstop force, once smashing the beak and breaking it off, and breaking its facial bones until the skin drooped. He kept on punching it until it didn’t respond. With one last punch, he hit it straight on, forcing it back all the way and extorted a loud snap from the gryphon’s back.

Then, with one last bout of primal rage and strength, Ryan brought the knife down on the gryphon’s eye in a massive arc, burrowing it deep into his head and sending it out the other eye on the other side. He then tore the knife out and fell back, letting the broken and mangled body drop to the floor like a sack of sand and broken glass.

“I told you I would tear you a new one,” Ryan said coldly.

He breathed heavily on the ground for a few moments before he was able to do anything. Without any fanfare, he looked to the dead body before him and then discounted it as another enemy. He kicked it off the side it landed on to reveal a set of keys on the other side.

“There we go,” Ryan said to himself.

He pulled the keys, which had some blood spilled onto them, and went to the box by the side of the room. He tried several keys until he found the right one. All of his things were inside; his armor, his gun, only the knife and cloak weren’t in there, because they were on the table. Quickly, he donned them all and placed the key he just used against the table and stomped on it to bend it out of use.

Ryan had two magazines for his 1911, and now he had one loaded and ready to go. He would have to be conservative with his ammo usage, mostly relying on knife work and his Karate to get through the rest of this journey. He wasn’t out; not by a long shot.

Ryan opened the door to the room he was in and glanced around outside; no one was there. He ran out and looked at the floor. There was still a trail of water and a bit of blood from where he had been dragged earlier. Without hesitation, he followed it down the hall and sprinted to where his friends were being held.

When he reached the end of the hall, he saw two options; go left or right. To the left, he could hear the rainfall of the region, indicating that it was a way outside. He noted it. To the right, the trail continued on. He immediately went right, hoping tha the guys were alright.

Some ways down the hall, he heard two gryphons chatting. He slowed his pace to be nice and quiet as he continued on. When he reached another intersection, left, right, and forward, he stopped. To his left, he could hear the two gryphons talking. That was the direction the trail led, and it was a safe bet that that was where his friends were as well.

Ryan took a brief look around the corner to see what he was dealing with. There were, as he heard, two guards standing there, fully clad in light metal armor, probably aluminum form the shine. It was nice and light, and it could prevent a sword from slashing you and maybe deflect an arrow or bolt if it hit on an angle. It was perfect for fliers. Fliers who weren’t up against firearms.

Ryan thought carefully. He wouldn’t e able to fight with his knife, as it would shatter against the stronger metal. He could sue his fists and feet, but that would take substantially more of his strength and tire him out. The only good option was the .45 M1911, and that presented its own issues. But then again, they were his friends in there. He would do whatever it took to free them.

Ryan a deep breath, Ryan held his gun up and rounded the corner. The gryphons looked to him for a moment, then double-taked at the prisoner approaching them. Before they could draw their weapons, Ryan pointed the gun at one and put a bullet in his head. The other flinched hard at the loud noise, during which time, Ryan put one in his gut. As the gryphon fell, Ryan stepped toward him and thrust his foot against his throat in a fully powered side-blade kick.

He started sifting through the keys and trying them until he found the right one. When the door opened, he looked inside to see his friends, still tied up and with bags over their heads. They all looked toward the door.

“Harkness? Is that you?” Mac asked. “Ah assume you’re the only one who knows how that darned thing works. I can’t even figure out the other one works.”

“It’s me,” Ryan said. He walked up to Mac and pulled off the bag. “And I never expected you to figure it out.” He looked to Fancy and Soarin’. “Help me with Osprey and Gatsby.”

Ryan took Fancy Pants while Mac released Soarin’ from his chains. Soarin was an easy fix once Ryan tossed the keys to Mac to free him, and Fancy was only held down by the bag. When Ryan removed it, Fancy immediately woke up.

“W-what?!” he said. “What happened, where are we?”

“We’re alright,” Ryan said. “We were captured. It was just a hiccup though.”

Fancy frowned. “Being captured hardly hounds like a hiccup.”

“Then you don’t know much about my story,” Ryan said. “Just a colt to forget, eh?”

Fancy stood up and stretched. “You’re the most memorable individual I’ve ever met.” Now regrouped, the guys all stood in a circle.

“So what now?” Soarin’ asked.

“We continue with what we were doing,” Ryan said. “This is a huge opportunity. They have no idea we just escaped. I killed the only gryphons who saw. If we can get your guys’ stuff back, we can take them totally by surprise and rescue Blazer.”

Mac looked unsure. “Are y’all sure we can do this?” he asked. “We were already grabbed once. Ain’t likely to happen again.”

“They weren’t going to spare us anyway, Whopper,” Soarin’ said. “We were expendable. Nothing has changed.”

“Quite right,” Fancy said. “And even if we did get out, as soon as I started driving one of those airships out, they would know, and we would be fighting a battle in the air when only one of us can fly. We must press on.”

Mac nodded. “Ah suppose that you’ve got a point.” Mac looked to Ryan. “Ah believe in you, Harkness.”

“And I in you,” Ryan said. He turned to the door. “Let’s get moving.”

They group left the room of torment and capture to go look for the stallions’ gear. If they were to advance through this cave system and find a way out and onward, they would need every weapon they could use. Ryan had no doubt that this was going to be the biggest fight of his young life.

They ran through the halls in the direction Ryan came from in the hopes that the stallions’ gear would be stowed not too far from where Ryan was taken. Ryan took the lead, followed by Soarin, then Mac, and then Fancy, who could blast magic back at any gryphons who gave chase.

When they arrived at the room Ryan was taken to, Ryan kept on leading them forward. As each stallion passed, they looked through the open door and saw a dead, bloody body on the ground. It was facing away form the door, so they couldn’t see what had happened, but they took an odd sort of comfort after seeing it in knowing that Ryan was leading them through the caves.

Eventually, they hit another intersection. The right had an upward slope to it, while the left went flat and became dark after a short time. Lights were few and far between in that hall, while the upward slope was illuminated almost excessively, like it was inviting the guys to go that way.

“We must not be in the caves above the city,” Fancy said. “If we were, there would not likely be in inside path to get to the top.”

Soarin’ thought on that. “You’ve got a good point,” he said. “That must be the way to the top.”

“Should we take it?” Mac asked. “We ain’t equipped for whatever is up there, but this other hall is real dark.”

Ryan thought about their options. It was too suspicious. Why would the way up be so bright? If it was a slope, it was a little more important to see where you stepped. But gryphons could fly up that hall, it was big enough. The darker left hall screamed ambush, but that was what Ryan’s instincts would say.

“We take the flat hall,” he said.

“Why do you say that?” Fancy asked.

“These guys said that they know what my gun can do,” Ryan explained. “That they had heard of it being used on that mugger in Canterlot. They know how loud they are. When I shot those guys outside your door, everyone probably heard it. If they did, they know something is up, and they’re preparing. Probably trying to send us the wrong way while we’re ill-prepared for a fight.”

“So then we’ve lost our element of surprise?” Soarin’ said dejectedly.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Ryan said. “I don’t think they took your guys’ weapons too far, so we should check the flat passage first. If we don’t find anything, I’ll lead us up the slope.”

“Sounds good to me,” Mac said. “Lead the way.”

Ryan took careful but quick steps as he led the stallions down the darker hallway. He couldn’t see anything in the darker sections between lights, so it was hard to say if they might be ambushed by a gryphon at any given moment. Ryan kept a careful ear open for anything that sounded suspicious.

Nothing attacked them on the way through the hall, and about halfway through, they started seeing rooms to either side of the passage with large wooden doors. The doors were shoddily constructed, plywood sheets or2x4s thrown together for some level of privacy. Behind a couple of them, there were small noises and feathers ruffling, but the group paid no mind to those doors.

One door, though, about three quarters of the way down the hall, had a heavy iron door instead of wood. Thankfully, it was cracked open just a tad, enough that as Ryan got closer, he could hear two gryphons talking. He slowly and stealthily inched to the door along the wall and listened.

“So just how few of us were they expecting?” one gryphon asked.

“They don’t care about the colonies or the problems here, so I imagine they had no idea what to expect,” another replied. “They probably sent this group as, like, a sacrifice group to find out how strong we are.”

“They will receive a rude surprise when they get the heads of these ones in the mail,” a third one said. “I plan to personally behead the big red one. Show these ponies that however big they are, they still can’t beat a gryphon.”

Mac took offense to that and wanted to storm the room and kick some ass, but Ryan kept him back. Who were these gryphons to think they could just murder Big Macintosh? If he got his hooves on tha tone, he was going to show him just what a big pony could do to some feather-brained peacock.

“Hang on,” Ryan whispered.

The gryphons went on. “You have to admit, the weapons they came with are pretty nice,” the first gryphon said. “Well sharpened, good steel, ergonomic handle for pony jaws and, coincidentally, our claws. They were prepared for a small, talented force.”

“What they got was a huge, unstoppable force,” the third gryphon said. “They can’t win, however many troops they send. It’ll be just like last time, and we’ll overrun them and overpower them. When we take Canterlot, I’m gonna take those princesses for myself and make ‘em mine forever.”

They went too far that time. No one threatened the pony princesses. Ryan felt himself fuming about hearing the threat against Luna, one of his best friends, and the guys were enraged by the threats against their leaders and their nation. The time for listening had just ended. Someone was about to die.

Ryan stood tall, before the door, and kicked it in. “HERE WE ARE, MOTHER FUCKERS!” he shouted. He burst into the room followed close behind by his friends.

The guys stormed the room and found it to be occupied by more than the number of voices they heard. There were seven gryphon in there, but none were prepared for a fight, so the guys had an easy time initially. Ryan started off the assault by rushing one gryphon and stabbing it in the neck with his knife, ripping it out sideways for maximum damage. The gryphon clutched at his open throat as he slowly crumbled to the ground.

Mac charged one on the right because that was where he heard the voice of the one who wanted to behead him come from. The gryphon just managed to pull a knife, but it was useless. Mac spun around right before getting up to him and fired a powerful buck at him, thrusting him into the wall with a broken spine and rib cage.

Soarin’ and Fancy Pants worked together against three. Soarin’ used his smaller stature and rapid movement to get underneath the gryphons and distract them, also punching them in the guts and groins, while Fancy blasted magic at them. One of them noticed Fancy’s attacks and tried to attack Fancy Pants, but Soarin’ tackled him form the side and knocked his neck into the side of a table, breaking it.

The last one, who was fortunate enough to get up after being blaster, tried to attack Fancy while Soarin’ was occupied. Fancy Pants saw it coming, though, and turned around and bucked the gryphon. While not as powerful as Mac’s, he was able to stun the gryphon for a moment so he could rush forward and impale him in his horn. The gryphon let out a gasp, then went limp, and Fancy let him fall off his horn.

“No real stallion doesn’t know how to fight without magic,” he said.

Ryan handled the last two by blocking one’s swipe and following it with a slash to the throat. The second one thought to pick up a sword and stab through his almost dead friend to kill the human. The sword didn’t get all the way through, though, and when Ryan tossed the body aside, the sword went with it. The gryphon fell onto his backside with Ryan advancing resentfully toward him.

“P-please, mercy!” he pleaded.

Ryan stepped on his head and held it down. “The same as you would give to any pony,” he said, with venom dripping from his words. The gryphon yelled out as Ryan removed his foot and stomped on his neck, but it lasted no more than a second.

The stallion started looking around. They heard the gryphon talking about their stuff and figured that this was the room it would be in. Some of it was here, plainly laid out on the tables and against the wall, but there were other things that were missing. The missing items were just clothes, though, and had no particular impact on their fighting ability.

Once the stallions were saddled up and ready to go, they all regrouped for a moment in the middle of the room. Everyone was a little shaky form the adrenaline and, in the case of the stallions, their first time taking a life. If Ryan wanted this to keep going and to escape with Blazer, he had to keep them moving and keep their minds away from hat they were doing.

“Everyone have their stuff?” he asked.

“Ah got mah sword and knife, and a neck guard,” Mac said, referring to the thick cloth now around his neck. It would do fairly well to guard against cuts.

“Sword, no knife, didn’t bring one,” Soarin’ said. “I got no armor or anything either.”

“I have my knife, and my sword,” Fancy Pants said. “Though I would prefer my magic over the knife.”

“I’ll take your knife, Gatsby,” Soarin’ said. Fancy Pants gave him the knife. “This will be better than a sword for how I’ll fight.”

“Alright, everyone feel as good as they can?” Ryan asked. They all nodded. “Okay. So we know that we aren’t over the city right now because there is a path heading up. But for all we know, the city may not be nearby. That upward path could lead us outside and show us that we’re miles from the city for all we know.”

“Not likely, actually,” Soarin’ said. “I recall them saying that we were taken down a river? I know this river, it’s the only one like it in this area of the world. It is long, sure, but to get through it means to go through white-water rapids at parts. We would have fallen off, since we weren’t secured very much at all.”

“Good to know,” Ryan said. “So then we might be near the city. Still, we aren’t above it. That means we have to go up.”

“But we don’t know where that slope will take us,” Mac said.

Ryan nodded. “Right. So I say we look through a few more of these rooms, see if we can find a map of the caves. New guys in this group would need something like that, so it’s our best shot at knowing where we’re going.”

“So we continue down this hall and if we find something, we head back. If not?” Soarin’ asked.

Ryan didn’t need to think about it. “We keep on going and we be careful every step of the way. We’ve gotten this far without knowledge, we can get farther. And we will do it carefully and minimize the risks.”

“About as good as any plan we’ve had so far,” Mac said.

Ryan chuckled humorlessly. “About as good as any plan I’ve ever made.”

The guys hit their hooves and fist together with a cheer and left the room. The halls were still empty, but there was no sound coming from any rooms. They advanced cautiously, listening for any sounds in the darkness or any doors opening. Once or twice, Ryan thought he heard a door crack open and close, but his eyes showed him that he was just hearing things in his nervous state.

They glanced into any rooms they could as they went down the hall, but found that most were just bedrooms with nothing but a cot or nest and a pillow. No drawers, no mirrors, no nightstands, nothing. These gryphon really had nothing of their own in here.

“It takes a lot of dedication to a cause to live like this for it,” Ryan thought. There were very few things in this world he would live like this for, and he would certainly never do it to instill terror in a population.

The end of the hall had two rooms on either side, but nothing on the very end. The room on the left had a label, Selection, and the room on the right just had a picture of a pair of birds on the wall. Ryan started by looking into the room on the right with the stallions right behind him.

The room had a nest that looked substantially more comfortable than any of the others they had seen. It was made of carved pieces of wood, rather than random, jagged sticks found outside. To the right, there was a rack, filled with huge eggs, and each one had a pair of names on it.

“Holy shit,” Ryan said.

“What?” Soarin’ asked.

Ryan shook his head in disbelief. “They aren’t just recruiting to get their numbers up, guys,” he said. “They’re actually working to develop an army for the future.”

The stallions, curious, all decided to walk up and take a look. Ryan stepped inside, and the guys followed him. The moment they each entered, they were awestruck with what they saw. Terrible, yet, in its own way, genius. They were ensuring that their fight would go on past their lifetimes. If this group stayed around, they would always be conducting warfare against the ponies, and every generation would be more extreme.

“What do you suppose we do about this?” Fancy Pants asked. “I’m conflicted here.”

“Me too,” Soarin’ said. “This is our enemy. But we can’t…”

Ryan looked at the eggs before him. Inside each one was a tiny life, waiting to come into this world. They were created to fight him and his pony friends. They were created to kill ponies. Ryan’s center of logic said to do it, and Ryan couldn’t find a logical argument to fight it.

“Eeeeenope,” Mac said.

Ryan looked to Mac and connected eyes with him. Right there, he saw why Mac wouldn’t do it. These eggs hadn’t done anything yet. They had not yet wronged anyone. However certain it was that they would, they were innocent until proven guilty. Ryan had no right, nor did any of the stallions.

“Right,” Ryan said. He turned around and started walking out the door. “Leave them. They’re the future’s problem.” The stallions, still disturbed, left behind Ryan and shut the door.

Ryan went across the hall to the selection room. If that was the room across from the last one, he had a good idea of what was inside. Slowly, he opened the door.

It was precisely what he thought; a breeding room. Effectively, it was a harem. There were female gryphons inside and several male gryphons looking them over. One of the females looked like she was trying to catch the males’ attention, but the rest just stared forward or looked down. It really was selection, but only for the males.

“I like that one,” a male said. The one he pointed at fluttered over. “Are you strong?”

“Yes,” the female replied mechanically.

Ryan turned to his friends. “There were no maps in any rooms,” he said. “So I say we go in, kill the ones who fight except one of the males, and find out where to go.”

“Lead the way,” Fancy Pants said.

Ryan nodded, turned back to the door, and kicked it all the way open. The gryphons inside spun around to see the intruders and were shocked to see three stallions and a man. They all brandished various weapons and charged at the invading group.

Ryan decided that he would make sure to keep one alive, so that the stallions wouldn’t have to hold back. The first one to attack him, one from off to the side, thrust his sword at Ryan’s belly. Ryan parried it and pulled his knife, then stabbed the gryphon in the chest. This one was not to be spared.

There were only a few ales in here, so Ryan had to spare the next one. He was the one who was selecting a female to breed with. He rushed Ryan with light flail, swinging it every which way, and Ryan was forced to roll back and dodge. The gryphon swung it in a large arc down at Ryan, but the man rolled to the side, and the ball struck the ground.

Ryan quickly countered the move by grabbing the chain the ball was attached to and using it to pull himself up. When he was halfway there, he thrust his fist out and punched the gryphon in the right eye, then followed it up with an elbow to the side of the head, dazing him.

With that gryphon down, but alive, Ryan looked to his friends. They had handled the other gryphons relatively easily, mostly by breaking backs and necks. The guys walked over to where Ryan stood over the male. The females in the room didn’t flinch, not even the one that was showing off. Ryan ignored it all and picked up the gryphon by the feathers on his chest.

“Hey! You awake?” he asked, shaking the gryphon a little.

The gryphon shook his head. “Dammit,” he said.

“Where are we in relation to the city?” Ryan asked.

The gryphon looked up at him, snarled, and spat in Ryan’s eye. “Fuck you!”

Ryan closed his eyes to keep the spit out, then wiped it away. Without warning, he brought his fist around and struck the gryphon in the face.

“Where are we!?” he shouted.

The gryphon spat blood on the ground. “To the right,” he said.

“Which way to the area above the city?” Ryan asked.

“The slope you no doubt saw on your way here,” the gryphon said. He smiled deviously. “But there’s no way you can find our leader.”

“I’m not here for him,” Ryan said. “I’m here for Blazer.”

“Yeah, I heard that too,” the gryphon said. “You still can’t win.”

“Why’s that?” Ryan asked.

The gryphon laughed. “You think that we all don’t know you got out? The only reason you got me by surprise and whoever was guarding your weapons is because it had been so long since you used it that we thought you were dealt with. By now, the guys up top know you’re out, and they’ll be waiting.”

“I’ve beaten the odds before,” Ryan said.

The gryphon shook his head. “No, you don’t get it. They know why you’re here. Blazer is being readied for movement as we speak. By the time you get up there, he’ll be gone.”

“Then we’ll just have to follow,” Ryan said. Ryan dropped him to the ground and put his knife away.

“Why?” the gryphon asked.

Ryan put his hand on his M1911. “Why what?”

“Why do you keep it up?” the gryphon asked. “You were captured, You were beaten, chained up. You failed, lost your element of surprise. For Sirin’s sake, the reason you came is being taken away and you will lose him! You can’t win. Leave now, while you still have some small ounce of dignity left.”

Ryan pulled the gun out. “To hell with dignity. I’ll leave when the job’s done.”

He put one bullet in the gryphon’s skull, silencing him forever. He still had to get Blazer, for Luna, Starstep, Celestia, for the Equestria that saved his life, his soul. This was more than altruism. This was more than redemption. This was a debt, a debt he owed to his friends and Equestria for saving him. He had to try to save Blazer, whatever it took.

And nothing was going to stop him. Not this time.

A Colt Once Forgotten

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A Colt Once Forgotten

“It is my duty to save lives and to aid the injured. I will be prepared at all times to perform my assigned duties quickly and efficiently, placing these duties before personal desires and comforts. These things I do, that others may live.”
(Pararescueman’s creed, Richard T. Knight)

Ryan led his stallions through the hall and to the slope at the end of the corridor. He could feel his heart racing as he ran against the clock, hoping that he could make it up the slope and through the caves fast enough to find Blazer. Sweat flew from his long hair and threatened to blind him. Ryan fought through the stinging of the salty liquid on his eyes and kept on running.

When they all made it to the end of the hall, Ryan stopped for a moment to catch his breath. However much he wanted not to, he knew that he would have to be ready for anything, and that meant not being in a state of panting for breath. The sloped hall wasn’t terribly long, but given where they were, it meant that there were several levels, and at each one, there would be another slope to go up. Odds were, they would have to fight their way through each level to keep advancing and search each level to make sure Blazer wasn’t lost.

“Guys, I have an idea,” Fancy Pants said.

“Lay it on us, clock’s ticking,” Ryan said.

“We need to advance quickly,” Fancy explained. “But if there are multiple levels, we also need to search them to make sure we don’t leave Blazer behind. I know that this goes against what we would like, but if the group is to continue through the caves, somepony should stay behind and search each level as we move up the mountain.”

“That’s suicide,” Ryan said. Before he could continue, Soarin’ cut him off.

“Harkness, it’s the only way we’ll be sure,” he said. “I know that it doesn’t sound great, but it’s all we’ve got. Besides, if we focus on clearing each level first instead of searching, it’ll make searching that much safer after.”

“I don’t like it,” Ryan said. He had to hurry; time was still moving forward, and they weren’t. “What do you think, Mac?”

“It might be necessary,” Mac said. “We don’t know how many levels there will be. If we try to search fast, we can try to get together again after each search, Ah guess. But Osprey’s right; it’s the only option we’ve got.”

“Shit,” Ryan said. “Alright, that’s the plan. But I don’t want anyone to be somewhere they can’t handle themselves. If anything at all happens that makes it unsafe, haul ass out and try to regroup. If you can’t, just get out and make your way home.”

“We will need to find Blazer,” Fancy said.

Ryan looked thoughtful. “Guys, this is the absolute. This, right now, is where we succeed or fail. I know my options: win or die. But I promised that I would bring you guys home. If you don’t, that would make me a liar.”

“I’d rather be friends with a liar than a fool,” Soarin’ said.

Ryan sighed. “I really wits you guys weren’t the best friends I ever had,” he said. “Since you give me no choice, let’s move!”

Ryan led the charge up the slope holding his obsidian knife in his left hand and his gun in his right. The slope was fully lighted, making for a safe run, but had no cover. If a pair of gryphons was waiting at the top behind the walls to pop out, they could hop out and shoot down Ryan and his stallions in a heartbeat.

Luckily, no one was waiting at the top of the slope for them, and they were able to file into the new level with ease. Ryan thought hard for a moment. If they were going to clear and then the levels, they would have to draw the gryphons out of the rooms to make them safer to search later. Together, they could take most of the gryphons, but alone, any of them would be killed and probably eaten like carrion.

“Here we are!” Ryan shouted into the halls.

“What the hell are you doing!?” Soarin’ asked angrily.

“If we want to clear the level, we need to draw them out of the rooms,” Ryan explained. “Then, searching the rooms is safe for whoever stays behind.”

“Good call,” Fancy Pants said.

The hall they came into was a four-way intersection; the slope, a forward passage, and two passages to either side. Down each of the passages, Ryan and the stallions could hear metal clanging and voices chanting and roaring. The group huddled up and faced each direction. Ryan faced forward, Fancy took the right, Mac took the left, and Soarin’ took a center position to fly in and help someone if need be. In the distance, small torches were being lit in the halls, revealing the menacing forms of the gryphons on level two of the compound.

“Prepare yourselves,” Fancy Pants warned. “Here they come!”

With an uproarious bellowing and earth-shaking steps, the gryphon in each hall charged from several dozen yards out. There were four in Ryan’s hall, four in Fancy’s, and three in Mac’s. Fancy started right off with magic blasts, aiming for center of mass. When one went down, he refocused onto another and then, when they were all down, started using lethal blasts to the head, spine, and neck.

Ryan didn’t want to use his ammo yet, especially if this was just this level. He would need it later. Instead, he, Mac, and Soarin’ had to wait until the gryphons were up on top of them fighting close. When they got close enough, the man and stallions exploded into action.

Mac and Soarin’ took Mac’s group. The first gryphon jumped up into the air, followed underneath by a second gryphon. The top was attempting at a slash down while the bottom went for a stab. Mac got low and put his sword on his hoof and stabbed it forward, striking the gryphon in the shoulder and burying it deep into its torso. The top one went for the slash, but was tackled down by Soarin’, who then thrust him into the wall of the tunnel. With the gryphon against the wall, Soarin hopped off and delivered a spine-snapping buck to its chest.

The third gryphon tried to make a sideways slash against Mac’s neck, but Mac hopped back just in time for it to miss. Taking a page out of Ryan’s book, he leapt forward while the gryphon got ready for another swing, closing the distance and taking away any ability he had to continue his attack. Mac then countered with a rising head butt to the gryphon’s chin, dazing him. With the advantage now clearly with him, Mac followed it with one powerful buck to the gryphon’s throat, crushing its larynx and cutting it off from air. The gryphon clutched at its throat as it felt its consciousness fade away.

Ryan’s group attacked in two pairs. The first pair went for two side slashes, one high and one low, both in opposite directions. Ryan ducked underneath the higher ones, a move that would normally have put him in a position to counter, but also had to block the lower strike by putting his 1911 in between him and the sword. He angled the block to prevent it from damaging the firearm, sending it up at an angle and nearly hitting the gryphon’s partner.

With a clear opening, Ryan pushed the sword farther with his right hand and stabbed forward with his left. The knife hit home, cleanly and easily penetrating the gryphon’s weak hide and slicing up its insides. The gryphon gave Ryan a look of shock that quickly became a look of excruciating pain when Ryan ripped the knife out sideways, disemboweling the bird.

Ryan closed on the second one, who was trying to step back to reestablish his space, and went for another stab. It hit home again, but this time, he went higher up, toward where the gryphon’s arm was. With his face practically buried in the gryphon’s shoulder, Ryan pushed down with his chin and rose up his knife, forcing the gryphon’s shoulder up and his body down. The incredibly sharp obsidian blade sliced right through him, taking his arm off, and Ryan followed it by slashing it across the gryphon’s throat.

The other two gryphons hadn’t been able to attack, as there was not adequate space, and merely watched the fight unfold. They watched in absolute horror as their comrades were ripped apart in front of them by the savage human creature. When Ryan turned his attention to them, both went pale, and spun around to run away. Ryan pulled up his gun and fired once at one, shooting him in the back and knocking him to the ground, but the other one escaped into the rest of the complex.

“Fuck,” Ryan cursed resentfully.

He turned back to his friends to check on how they were doing. Fancy Pant shad taken out his gryphons before they even got close, and Mac and Soarin’ had swiftly taken out their three, and only one remained. He could run if he wanted; he would die later anyway.

“Which way?” Fancy Pants asked.

“Right,” Ryan said.

The group ran to the right and down the corridor, passing few doors and making as much noise as possible along the way. There was a good chance that most of the gryphons of this floor had already come at them, but there was no added risk in making sure. Any time there was an open door, the guys all looked inside briefly, but they kept on running through.

The corridor took a sharp left turn at the end and curved all the way around to go in the opposite direction. When Ryan turned the corner, he saw a lone gryphon down the hall, trying to interact with something on the wall next to a door. He sped toward the gryphon, taking his own stallions off guard, and closed the distance quickly.

The gryphon was too busy with whatever he was doing to notice the human coming up on him, and didn’t make any moves to escape. When Ryan was upon him, the man did not stab or shoot him, but instead leapt into the air and thrust his foot out in a jumping side blade kick, striking the gryphon in the side of the neck. With a loud crack, the gryphon fell to the ground and didn’t move.

Ryan took a look at the wall where the gryphon was doing something. On the wall, there was a padlock type mechanism that was presumably connected to an opening in the wall a few feet to its left. Ryan looked inside and didn’t quite understand what the problem was. There were small, glass-like orbs, glowing a dull orange inside. They were probably magical in some way, which meant that they were worth taking a look at.

“Gatsby,” Ryan said.

“Yes?” Fancy said as he ran up.

“What kind of magic is in those orbs?” Ryan asked.

“Just a moment,” Fancy replied. His horn glowed for a brief moment, then faded as Fancy took on a look of apprehension. “Those are explosives. If you throw them against something, they could go off.”

Ryan looked back into the room. “That sounds like something worth grabbing,” he said. “We each need to take some and bring at least one of them back to Equestria for the princesses to see. If the gryphons can make large scale weapons like bombs, they could generate untold havoc.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Soarin’ said.

The guys all entered the room and took whatever they could carry. Mac took several orbs and put them into his saddlebags, along with several pieces of cloth that were used to keep the orbs from touching on their racks. Soarin’ grabbed four and did the same, and Fancy only took two. Ryan took the least at only one.

“No more?” Soarin’ asked.

“I don’t expect that I’ll use many,” Ryan said.

“Where do you suppose they’ve been making them?” Mac wondered.

“I don’t know,” Ryan said. They all left the room. “But I don’t intend to find out. Fancy, is there anything like a timer to these things?”

Fancy Pants looked uncomfortable at Ryan. “I didn’t mention it because I knew you would want to know,” he said. “There is. If you rub it once, it takes five minutes. Twice, fifteen minutes. Three times, and you have half an hour.”

“Good,” Ryan said. He rubbed his orb three times and then rolled it into the room and shut the door. “I don’t like them having these things.”

“We’d better hurry,” Fancy said. “I couldn’t tell how powerful they are.”

The guys hauled ass through the rest of the floor and encountered little resistance. There were only two gryphons in the entire area now, and one of them ran away on sight. Fancy Pants took him down with a magic blast, and the Ryan stabbed him as he ran past. He heard someone, probably Mac, step on the gryphon’s neck and break it behind him.

Thy soon found the second slope up at the end of the current hall. When they arrived, there was movement at the top of the slope, prompting Ryan to have the guys take cover behind the wall. When Ryan peeked around the corner, two crossbow bolts flew past his face, just missing him and bouncing off the rock floor and into another hall.

“Mac,” Ryan said, sticking his hand out.

“Gotcha,” Mac replied. He pulled out an explosive orb and gave it to Ryan.

Gripping the orb in his right hand, Ryan bolted out of cover, under fire, and made it to the other side of the tunnel. Once there, he cocked his throwing arm with the orb and took three deep breaths. When he felt ready, he moved out of cover again and chucked the orb up the slope. Immediately, he was being shot at again, and immediately, he went back to cover. He heard one of the gryphons shout an explicit word as the orb flew toward them.

Then, with a loud boom, the orb struck something up top and exploded. A concussive wave shot down the slope and into the next hall, just missing the guys. They could all feel the wave going past them into their side halls, but most of it continued forward and bypassed them. Their ears were ringing from the loud noise and the earth felt like it was shaking underneath them.

“How big was that orb!?” Ryan shouted.

“It was small!” Mac shouted back.

“The orbs are unstable!” Fancy Pants yelled out. “We really need to move or else this entire complex may be leveled by that room!”

Ryan looked around the corner: no gryphons. “Who’s staying?!” he asked.

“I will,” Fancy said. “If the orbs blow early, I’ll use my magic to try to slow it down!”

“If the orbs blow early, you better already be out!” Ryan said. “Okay, let’s go guys!”

Fancy took off down one of the halls while Ryan, Mac, and Soarin’ ran up the slope to the next level. It felt like they were going in the right direction. When they hit the top of the slope, there were two barely intact bodies on either side of the hall, one twitching and the other without most of its face.

“Quite a bomb,” Ryan said. “If they can make these and bring them into a place like Canterlot, the damage would be catastrophic.” It was a good thing Ryan was detonating their supply in this location.

There were only two paths for them this time, forward and to the left. The guys opted to go left, with Soarin’ taking the lead this time, Mac in the middle, and Ryan in last. They changed their placement in the line because they wanted to give Ryan a rest from taking the heart-pounding lead.

The corridor they were in now had a massive number of side rooms and doors in it. It made Ryan paranoid. What if they were ambushed and Soarin’ was at the front? Or if they were attacked from the side, and Mac was targeted? On that one, Ryan could respond swiftly, and if they were attacked from behind, at least Ryan would be in the back. It didn’t make him feel much better though.

The number of rooms was staggering here. When Ryan looked into some of them, it was clear that they weren’t even residential. Some of them had natural light from the ceiling, indicating an exit and possible area for Blazer to be held. Others had cages inside and animals making noises, more places to hide an old soldier. This was a huge floor with a lot of places to hide; only one of the guys still in the group was suitable to stay behind.

The guys passed a closed iron door, but as soon as Ryan was past it, it burst open and crashed into the cave wall with a loud clang. Ryan spun around and saw three gryphons coming out of the room armed with swords and armored with steel plate. Mac and Soarin’ spun around as well and took positions on either side of Ryan.

“They’ve got plate,” Soarin’ said. “I can’t dent that much.”

“Ah can,” Mac said. He huffed and pawed at the ground. “Ah’ll crush ‘em like rotten apples.”

“Soarin’, you and me have to be strategic,” Ryan said. “Mac… crush whatever you can get your hooves on.”

The gryphons and the guys all rushed each other at the same time, meeting three quarters of the way between the guys and the gryphons. The gryphons were heavily armored and slow, but they were nearly indestructible, which easily made up for their lack of speed.

Mac charged the one on the right and, when he was just in front of him, spun around and gave him a powerful buck to the chest. The gryphon yelled out as he flew back onto his back, coughing from the force of the hit and struggling to stand back up after losing his breath. With the gryphon on the ground, Mac took his opportunity and jumped up and landed on top of him. The steel plate on the gryphon’s chest dented halfway between the front plate and the back, cracking and breaking several of the gryphon’s ribs. The gryphon tried to take in breath, but its crushed chest didn’t have the space to expand and take in air, and he asphyxiated on the ground in his armor.

Ryan and Soarin’ had a harder time with their opponents. Ryan’s tried to swing his sword at him, but the weight of the armor and the sword together were too much for anything more than a slow attempt at raking Ryan’s belly. Ryan dodged it easily, but he couldn’t respond just yet. A bullet wouldn’t get through the thick steel plating he was wearing, and his knife would shatter, so he was going to have to find a weakness somewhere on the Juggernaut gryphon.

Soarin’ flew circles around his fighter, but the fighter didn’t try to follow, just waited. When he saw a chance, he swung his sword sideways in Soarin’s path. Soarin’ was just able to evade the slash, but the blade took part of his tail off and dragged at the section it didn’t tear off. Soarin’ lost control and careened to the side, ramming into the wall.

“Soarin’!” Ryan shouted.

Soarin’ recovered just in time to see a sword come falling toward him and rolled away, just barely evading the slicing edge. The blade screeched as metal dragged on stone, sending sparks flying and dulling the edge of the sword. The gryphon didn’t even flinch, didn’t notice anything, and retained its focus on striking down the pegasus stallion lying vulnerably on the ground before him.

Soarin’ hopped up and jumped back, soon pursued by the gryphon. Ryan wanted desperately to get in there and aid his friend, but the gryphon in front of him was giving him no easy time either. Ryan couldn’t get a good counter in because the only weak points were inconveniently located on its sides, under its arms. It would take some careful maneuvering to get into position.

Ryan soon didn’t have to worry about Soarin, though; Mac had him covered. While Soarin’s gryphon pursued him, Mac came up from behind and tackled the armored bird and sent it to the ground. The armor it was wearing was exceedingly heavy and it couldn’t get up. Mac finished it off by stomping on its helmet, cracking its skull and doing fatal damage to its brain inside its head.

The last one before Ryan witnessed its companion go down, but did not back down. Instead, he grew reckless, and tried to get close to Ryan to make sure that if he did fall, he would kill the human upon landing. When he rushed Ryan, Ryan couldn’t react fast enough except to get his arm up and place his hand on the gryphon’s chest.

Ryan stiffened his arm and was shoved back, landing on his rear and far away from the gryphon. The gryphon continued his charge, but Ryan rolled out of the way, and the bird ran straight into Mac and Soarin’.

Soarin’ flew low and to the side of the gryphon, drawing its attention away from Mac, while Mac reared one last time for one last, powerful buck. The gryphon tried to not only follow Soarin’ with its eyes, but also swing its blade at him. It missed, as Soarin’ was going too fast, but to make things worse for it, it also tripped and fell. When Mac’s powerful apple bucking legs connected, they connected with the side of the gryphon’s face, twisting its neck and eliciting a sickening cr-r-runch from it. It fell to the floor with a loud crash.

With the enemies dealt with and relative safety achieved, the guys made their way further into this level of the complex. They had found terrible and disturbing things on the first level, but no Blazer, so there was no telling how awful this floor would turn out to be. These gryphon fighters had horrifying secrets to their methods, secrets that if they were learned by the world, they would not likely be tolerated.

The guys continued through the hall, Ryan again taking the lead, taking several sharp turns but finding no intersections, searching for their charge. Later in the halls, they did encounter a couple of intersections, but neither of them had a slope or staircase that led up. Ryan was growing nervous that they might be going the wrong way, reducing their time to get out and increasing the amount of time the gryphons had to get Blazer to a new location.

The trio continued on with no real sense of direction, only their ears and eyes to guide them. There were no more ambushes on this floor, but there were plenty of rooms that could serve such a purpose.

As they ran through the halls, Ryan started hearing something coming from up ahead. Ryan slowed down and ultimately stopped, putting his hand up to tell Mac and Soarin’ to stop as well. Down toward the end of the hall, Ryan could see a turn to the right, and on the other side of that turn, the voices grew louder and angrier.

“Shit, hide!” Ryan ordered, ducking into a room to his right.

Mac and Soarin’ followed close behind him and they shut the door. Ryan had heard more than a few voices, it sounded like at least eight or ten. If they were caught in a frontal assault, where the forces against them weren’t split up, their chances of winning were much slimmer. The guys’ only chance was to hide and hope that the gryphons passed. Though that presented a problem for Fancy if they continued and found him.

Ryan couldn’t let Fancy be taken by surprise down below, so he thought quickly. He had to kill this large group of enemy fighters in an enclosed space without risking himself or his friends. He couldn’t fight them head on, at least probably not, and his gun wasn’t capable of mowing them down. They did have one weapon that had proven itself already, though.

“Whopper,” Ryan said. “I’m gonna need another orb.”

“Be careful,” Mac said as he gave one over. “They’ll be right outside.”

“You two move away form the door,” Ryan said. “When they get close enough, I’ll open it and toss it up and out. I’ll shut it and hopefully dive far enough away that I won’t get killed.”

Mac and Soarin’ moved to the far side of the room and waited. Ryan stood by the door, which was made of plywood and two by fours, and examined the orb in his hand. It was about the same size as the last one, if a bit smaller, so the blast was going to be intense. He would have to toss it pretty high to give himself time to get away from the door and behind cover. If he tossed it too high, though, it would smack the ceiling and detonate early. And if he tossed it in such a way that it had too much time, a gryphon might catch it and throw it back in.

Ryan cracked the door open and saw a group of lightly armored gryphons coming down the hall. None of them noticed the open door or the eye peeking out and kept their pace up. Ryan prepared himself. He would throw the orb toward them when they were close enough, so that it was away from the door, and then run forward on his side of the wall to avoid the pressure wave. It was the best option he had.

The gryphons drew closer, and right as Ryan could see the whites of their eyes, he pulled the door open enough for them to see and then tossed the orb at them. The firs tone in the group panicked and tried to stop, but ended up being bowled over by the ones behind him, resulting in a pile up, exposing more and more of them to the blast. Ryan shut the door and ran along the wall, and as he arrived at the wall perpendicular to the one next to him, he heard the loud boom and felt a shockwave rock the cave walls.

Mac and Soarin’ had their ears covered and their mouths open on the other side of the room. When the blast concluded, they released their vice-like grips on themselves and rushed to the door, followed soon after by Ryan. When they left the room, they found a pile of mangled and ripped-apart bodies thrown about the corridor every which way and a few groaning, fatally injured gryphons in the back. All in all, there were twelve gryphons in the group. They could have killed the trio without much trouble at all.

The guys advanced forward to the end of the hall. At the end, Ryan felt his heart skip a beat; they found the next slope up, and this was a long one. With any luck, it was the last one, and up there would be their way out and maybe Blazer. The gryphons’ leader would no doubt be up there as well, but Ryan would only be concerned with him if he presented an active barrier between him and his goal of rescuing the stallion.

“Alright, this looks like it could be the last level,” Ryan said as he turned to his friends. “Someone needs to stay here and search the massive number of rooms.”

“I’ll do it,” Soarin’ said.

“I was about to ask you if you would,” Ryan said.

“I knew,” Soarin’ replied. “You gave me a look while we were running. I’m a fast flier and I can search the level quickly. That slope can only be walked, not flown, since it’s so confined, and only a workhorse can make it. Mac is the best bet for making it up, besides also being the best fighter against those heavily armored guys.”

“Eeyup,” Mac said.

“You already put more thought into this than me,” Ryan said. “Thanks. Be safe.” Ryan and Mac turned and started their way up the slope.

“Your the ones who need to worry more about that I expect!” Soarin shouted back before flying off to search his level.

Ryan and Mac had to walk up the slope because the length and severity of the angle didn’t permit for running. Ryan kept his gun up and his knife out the whole way in case something got ugly, and Mac kept low to the ground so he wouldn’t be knocked back.

“It’ll be good to get home,’ Mac said out of the blue.

“You’re telling me,” Ryan said. “You’ve got a fiancé waiting for you. Of course you want to get home.”

“Ah can’t wait,” Mac said. Sweat was pouring from his and Ryan’s heads. “To just relax with her’ll be somethin’ wonderful.”

“Too bad we never got a chance to go shopping or something,” Ryan said. “You could’ve gotten her a gift and said that it reminded you of her on the trip.”

“Ah don’t doubt Ah would have found somethin’,” Mac said. “A necklace maybe. But she don’t really like those a ton.”

“It’s the thought that counts,” Ryan said.

“Where did you get your necklace, Harkness?” Mac asked. “Ah don’t think Ah ever did learn.”

“I would have sworn I told you,” Ryan said.

“Remind me,” Mac said. “Get me t stop thinking about this damn slope.”

Ryan laughed. “It was a gift from my parents and Karate Sensei after I got my Shodan,” he explained. He could feel it bouncing against his chest. When he threw everything on after killing Bull’s Eye, he hadn’t even noticed putting it back on, it was so automatic to do. “It means ‘Spirit’. It reminds me to not give up on my goals and dreams. I forgot it for a while, but you guys made me remember. Maybe for me, it’s the spirit of friendship.”

“Now yer sounding like mah sister,” Mac said with a chuckle.

Ryan shared his amusement. “Yeah, well. Your world rubbed off on me just a tad.”

“Not as much as you rubbed off on this world,” Mac said, thinking of everything he learned from the man.

“I would say the same for you, but you’ve had a special somepony for long enough that I don’t think it works,” Ryan said with a grin.

“Hey now,” Mac warned.

“Library,” Ryan said. Mac grinned and shook his head as he and his best friend continued on.

Finally, they reached the top, only to find that it split into two directions; left, and forward. To their front was a long hall, but they could clearly see an end to the hall. If the rooms had extra halls behind them, that would be a problem, but that didn’t seem to be the layout of this place so far. To their left, at the end of a short hall, there was another split. On the left down there, natural light came in in huge quantities; a way out. The other direction likely had another hall.

This was clearly the final floor of the complex, and there were two ways they could go. There were also two guys left still moving and exploring. Ryan turned to Mac with a serious expression.

I got left, he said with his eyes.

Ah got the right. Ah’ll try not to take too long.

Ryan looked apprehensively down the hall. You don’t do anything reckless, buddy. This is the last stretch.

Ah ain’t the one who’s gonna be reckless here. You said you made a promise to bring us home. That don’t mean we don’t have a responsibility to make sure you come home too.

I’ll be careful. I always am.

Ah know.

Ryan turned to the hall to his left, but gave one last look to Mac. Stay safe, friend.

You too.

The stallion and human parted ways and ran down separate halls, wary of the dangers ahead and fully prepared to put an end to their journey once and for all.

Mac ran down the hall checking one room at a time. The first two had nothing particularly special. There were cots and nests in them, some nightstands, and a couple of lamps. Mac checked inside any drawers he saw for anything useful, a sheet of paper with information or a small weapon. They were totally empty, devoid of contents, telling Mac that the gryphons were either gone already or getting ready in the open area he spotted down the other hall.

The next few rooms were about as productive as the first two. These ones had wooden crates and boxes stacked all over the place, but when Mac knocked them over, they were all either empty or had junk in them, like scrap metal or burned books. It was possible that the books used to have valuable information, but in their current states, it was unlikely that they could help.

Mac was able to just glance into some of the other rooms and see that there was little of value. A couple of them used to have furniture, but were now empty rooms, only usable for echoes and a lonely emptiness. Mac bypassed them when he found them.

The last few rooms were of more interest. The first of them contained a smelter and forge, presumably for the scrap metal, and several molds for shaping swords, axes, bolts, and arrowheads. A rack on the wall had many newly forged weapons sitting on it, but none of them were very impressive. Mac could make a hammer with a better cutting edge, a HAMMER, using his own small forge, than these gryphons could make a sword with a cutting edge.

There were flames on the forge, which Mac doused using the cooling buckets filled with water. Even if this part of the cave did survive the coming explosion, this forge would be difficult to restart and use if they returned for it. Mac wanted to damage as much of the gryphons’ facilities as he could to reduce their fighting capabilities to rubble while he and the rest of his stallions reduced their numbers to the smallest possible amount.

Once the forge was doused, Mac took the weapons, set them against the wall, and bucked them, bending them out of shape and slashing them against the wall to make them unusable. He followed that by breaking the grindstone and scattering the pieces around the room, then throwing water into the smelter, then kicking it over. It was heavy and took some effort, but when he had it down, he felt proud of the work he did. He also noticed how much cooler the room got and how much steam there now was.

He moved onto the next room. It was a storage room. Mac pulled one of his orbs out of his saddlebag and rubbed it twice. If his memory were correct, this one would go off five minutes after the big explosion, so if this floor were even still intact after, it wouldn’t be in the end. Mac shut the door and moved on.

The last room had a much better made wooden door than any others. It was obviously meant to be sturdy, but it wasn’t supposed to be indestructible. Or maybe it was meant to be more comfortable. Mac opened up the door and took a look inside.

His last theory was correct; it was meant to be more comfortable. Inside this room, there was a female gryphon with several little babies in front of her, behind the nest where Mac couldn’t actually see them. She was cowering in her nest, covering her little ones as best she could from the big, scary stallion that had come to take them from her.

“Stay back!” she screeched. Mac didn’t flinch. “I’m warning you, I’ll kill you!” Mac still didn’t move, only looked.

He moved inside and shut the door behind him, then looked back at the mother. She looked about ready to break into tears, to beg for mercy like Mac was here to murder her. Her talons, Mac noticed, weren’t sharp or dangerous. They had been dulled to the point where they were rounded stubs on her claws. The most she could do was beat something with them.

Finally, she burst into tears. “Please, don’t hurt my babies!” she said. “I can’t lose these ones! I can’t! I won’t let you take them!”

“Ah ain’t here for them,” Mac said slowly in his southern drawl.

The gryphon looked at him and blinked. “What?” she said.

“Ah ain’t here to take them,” Mac said. “Ah ain’t here for you at all. Ah came for a pony, Blazer. Ah don’t right care what you do, long as you don’t attack me.” The gryphon looked happy for a split second, but quickly went back to protective mode.

“How can I trust a pony?” she asked.

Mac looked around the rom for a moment. There were no decorations, save for pictures of some large gryphon that he assumed was the leader of this group. He was in several places, with large portraits, and only one of them had this female gryphon in it. There were no kids anywhere, other than the two that Mac hadn’t actually seen in the nest.

“’Cuz Ah’m not the one who holds you here,” Mac said.

The gryphon looked distrusting at him, but her expression softened, and she eased her tension a little. Mac could just make out the forms of the little ones, sleeping quietly despite their mother’s cries for mercy. The mother scooped them up and put them into a harness on her chest and stepped tentatively out of the nest, watching Mac all the while.

“You would just let me go, like that?” she asked. Mac nodded. “Why?”

“Mah fight ain’t with you,” Mac said. “Mah fight is with my search for mah fellow stallion.”

“I know where they have him, if he’s still there,” the gryphon said. “He’s in the open air area, just in the other hall. Probably caged up. He fights a lot, though, so he might have bought you some time.”

“Thanks,” Mac said, turning around to leave.

The gryphon flew out ahead of him and stopped outside the door. “Thank you,” she said. “For not bringing the fight to me.”

“So long as you don’t bring anyone else to the fight, we’re square,” Mac said. “So long as you do that.” The gryphon nodded emphatically and flew off down the hall, out of sight and out of mind.

Mac left the room and ran down the hall. The gryphon was already gone, but that was just as well. It was better that she got out, hopefully. Mac now knew where Blazer was, and if he knew Ryan, Ryan avoided that area as soon as he saw a small army in there. Ryan was either waiting there or working down the other hall, however long it was.

When Mac reached the end of his hall, he was about to make the turn when he heard something coming from the slope. He braced himself for combat, not even pulling his sword out, and instead opting to use his hooves. He couldn’t see into the sloped hall because of his angle, but he was ready to pounce on whatever came.

“Ah!” Mac gave a feral roar as he jumped up to startle the new fighters.

They weren’t new fighters, though. It was Soarin’ and Fancy Pants, coming up from searching their levels. Mac already knew that neither of them had found anything about Blazer, and anything else could wait until later. Before they could recover from the startle and say anything, Mac pointed down the hall.

“Blazer is in the open area, being moved! We gotta move!”

“Where’s Ryan?” Soarin’ asked.

“Somewhere in that direction,” Mac said. “Come on, let’s go find him!”

The stallions were back together again, and sprinted down the hall and to the right at the end to find their closest friend and best chance at escaping this hellish place.

Ryan left Mac to his hall and ran down his own. At the end, went straight to the right, ignoring the rainy opening in the other direction. If that were a way out, he would check it on his way out. In the meantime, he would see what lay in the other direction.

The hall he entered was short, with only three rooms. There was one to either side, and one at the end. The ones to the side were normal, like any others he had seen so far, but the one at the end was special. It had a very nice hardwood door, an actual doorframe, and an eagle claw painted on it. Underneath the eagle claw was a crude depiction of a pony being scooped away and screaming.

Ryan checked the doors to the left and right before going to the end. They were clearly for some elite fighters, probably those juggernauts he ad fought earlier. There were multiple sets of heavy armor inside each room and some very large swords. They weren’t quite the Scottish Claymore, but they certainly came close. Too bad the users were gone now.

Ryan stopped before the final door and listened. He pressed his ear against the door, hoping to get something, but nothing came through. Either there was nothing happening on the other side, or someone was being very quiet. Ryan didn’t like it. Carefully, gun in his right hand and knife in his left, he pushed the door open and kept his eyes forward as he entered the room.

It was extremely spacious inside. The ceiling went at least thirty feet up, and there were no stalactites on the ceiling, permitting for easy flight inside. That would be especially useful for reentering the cave from the outside. Around the room, there were various pieces of household furniture sitting around, though they were quite far apart. There were a couple of couches by the walls, a bed on the far end, some large box labeled “Cooling Box”, nightstands, tables, and rugs. Ryan would never put a nice rug on a cave floor, but then, he was no interior decorator.

When he walked in, a lone gryphon was sitting in a chair toward the center of the room, but a little bit closer a massive opening to the outside than to the door. He didn’t move to get up or see who had come in, just kept sitting there. Ryan saw him and froze, hoping he had been unnoticed. His hopes were dashed when the gryphon turned to look at him.

“I was wondering if you would make it here,” he said. Ryan pointed his gun at the gryphon. “Really? You would kill an unarmed, old, helpless gryphon?”

“You’re far from helpless,” Ryan said.

“True, true,” the gryphon said. He motioned his arm at another chair to his left. “Please, come and sit. Let’s talk.”

“No time for that,” Ryan said, glancing at his watch. “This whole cave is going to go down in ten minuets.”

“You found the explosives, didn’t you?” the gryphon asked, shaking his head. “I told them it was foolish to try something like that. Told them that it was better to wait until we were ready to attack Equestria in force.”

“Who the hell are you?” Ryan asked.

“I suppose my name doesn’t really matter to you very much,” the gryphon replied. He motioned to the chair again. “But very well. My name is Guifrond Wat.”

“That isn’t a name from around here,” Ryan said. He moved to the chair but didn’t sit.

“No, it isn’t,” Guifrond said. “I come from the Western Gryphon Colonies, far from here.”

“You’re sympathetic to their cause, right?” Ryan asked. He had heard about this all the time back home with terrorist fighters. “You came to provide them the means they needed and the leadership they deserved.”

“Yes,” Guifrond said. “I have always hated the ponies. That I can help my brethren destroy them is all I have wanted.”

“And why is that?” Ryan asked.

“Because they killed my mother’s family,” Guifrond said. “And my mother. She was in the South, here, when the ponies attacked. She was innocent, trying to get out with her family, when she was caught in the middle of a battle. The ponies killed her and never even admitted to it.”

“As sad as that is, I don’t give a shit,” Ryan said.

Guifrond sighed. “That’s the problem with you foreigners,” he said. “You never care until it affects you, and then, it is too late. Tragedies are unavoidable when that is how you do things, and I aim to make the ponies understand that.”

Ryan looked outside. “Those are my friends you’re talking about,” he said. “If you insist on doing this, I’ll have no choice but to take you out.”

“I understand that,” Guifrond said. “It affects you now. You must act. You have a rare chance to prevent a tragedy, and you want to take it.”

“I can’t unless you give me a reason,” Ryan said. “I don’t have my reason just yet. But I do have a question.”

“Yes?” Guifrond said.

“You know that what you do will hurt innocent ponies, so why do it?” Ryan asked. “You said yourself it would be a tragedy.”

“Because the ponies could have had their government end its fighting,” Guifrond said casually. “They did not. They could have acted to prevent my tragedies and what will soon enough be theirs. These are the consequences of their actions.”

“But you have the chance not to enact the tragedies,” Ryan replied. “How will it be their fault if you make their choice irrelevant by acting on your own whims?”

“My whims are shaped by their inactions,” Guifrond said. “But at least if I do it, it will happen the way I want. I have colleagues who would bomb the little fillies’ and colts’ schools. I will not start with such an act. I want this done in a certain way, in my methodical order, to get what I want.”

“You sound like a sociopath,” Ryan said.

Guifrond shrugged. “I would bet that you are,” he said. “How many lives have you taken, hm? Do you count like a psychopath, or like a guilty individual? Do you forget like a sociopath, or forget like an ashamed child?”

“I stopped counting,” Ryan said. “How many have you killed?”

“Seventy-eight,” Guifrond replied nonchalantly. “Though that number will soon increase.”

“You’re more of a sociopath than me, then,” Ryan said. “I don’t go out looking to kill people.”

“Don’t you?” Guifrond asked. He stood up. “You are here to find your friend. You knew that coming here would mean violence, yet you came while saying you didn’t seek to kill anyone. It is your basest instinct. All beings, save for a few exceptional individuals, have two needs; to create… and to destroy. You came here to make something you think is good by saving your friend and to destroy your enemies.”

“You aren’t my enemy,” Ryan said.

“I’m not?” Guifrond asked. He laughed. “Well, I guess that you can’t kill me then. Or any of my fighters that you’ve already killed. That would make you a murderer.”

“Does it?” Ryan asked. “What makes me a murderer? That I seek to destroy your acts of violence and your future acts of violence against the ponies? That I seek to protect the ponies that have cared for me? Where do we draw the line between good killing and bad killing? Is there a line?”

Guifrond looked outside. Here, they were just above the clouds. They could still hear the rain, but the sun shone through the opening like a normal day in an Equestrian pasture. The sun’s warmth, courtesy of Princess Celestia, ironically, was what made Guifrond’s living space pleasant enough to live in.

“There is no line,” Guifrond said. “Right and Wrong are one and the same. It all just depends upon whom you ask. I believe that fighting the ponies is right. You-“ he pointed at Ryan. “Believe that fighting me and protecting the ponies is right. So who, of the two of us, is truly evil?”

“When no one is evil, there can be no conflict,” Ryan said. “Yet here we stand.”

“In mutual evil and good,” Guifrond said.

“Fighting for what we believe in.” Ryan looked outside.

“One of us is leaving this place,” Guifrond said.

“Or two good men can leave,” Ryan said. He looked to Guifrond. “I won’t kill a good man.”

“No?” Guifrond said. He flared his wings. “That actually surprises me. Maybe you aren’t so evil.”

“I like to think not,” Ryan said. He put away his knife.

Guifrond positioned himself at his personal exit. “I hope that you will not regret this,” Guifrond said. “I will plan out my attacks on the ponies. And I will carry them out. I hope that by then, you can see how evil they are.”

“They aren’t evil,” Ryan said.

“I believe they are,” Guifrond said. “And I will start by eliminating their false symbols of righteousness; the hypocritical Elements of Harmony.” Ryan stared at Guifrond as the gryphon approached the ledge and was about to take off.

Before Guifrond got off the ground, an ear shattering bang erupted from behind him. He didn’t know what it was, but something small and as hot as a burning coal ripped through his chest. He watched as a spatter of his blood flew out before him and rained down onto the mountain below.

He clutched at the hole that went all the way through his chest and tried to breathe, but felt his chest sucking in. He turned around in shock to see the human standing behind him, pointing the L-shaped weapon directly at him. A small plume of smoke came out the front.

“You… you shot me,” he said.

“Yes,” Ryan replied uncaringly.

“You said you would not kill a good person,” Guifrond said angrily.

“That was before you said you would still kill my friends,” Ryan replied coldly.

“You son of a-”

Ryan fired twice at the gryphon, aiming low the first time and high the second. The first bullet flew through Guifrond’s gut, pushing his torso back and shoving his head forward. The second bullet slammed into his head, exploding into the right side and ripping away most of what was there. His skull shattered on that side of his head, revealing a torn up mass of brain tissue as the gryphon twisted and fell limp to the ground. His head and neck went over the edge, then dragged the rest of him away, falling off the ledge like a rag doll falling off a dresser.

Ryan looked at the empty space for a moment, then turned and walked away, dropping his empty magazine and loading a full one to continue his search for Blazer.

The guys heard three loud bangs come from the hall to the right. They knew what that meant; Ryan really wanted someone dead. When they hit the end of the hall they were in, Fancy Pants glanced left. There was a small army of gryphons in an open area, surrounded by boxes and small cages and sacks. Fancy didn’t get a good enough look to see where Blazer was, though.

The next hall was short, but they didn’t have to go far. Right as they turned, the door at the end opened slowly, and out walked Ryan with a face of pure ice. Ryan slowly made his way down the hall, walking right past the guys toward the open area.

“A lady gryphon said he was in that area,” Mac said.

“Good,” Ryan replied. “I had a feeling.”

The guys had to ignore Ryan’s attitude for the moment while they slowly approached the end of the hall and got really low. When Ryan hit the ground, his attitude turned right back around, and his face took on the same cautious, observant look it had before. He crawled slowly to the end just far enough so that he could poke his eyes over the edge.

The stallions joined him and they surveyed the room. There were boxes everywhere, getting ready for transport. The gryphons had sky carriages not unlike those of the ponies, but these ones were clearly meant for cargo, not royalty. They had straps and chains to keep stuff on as it flew in the unstable winds of the colonies.

They couldn’t see Blazer. He was in either a cage out of sight or in a box, that was for certain. It didn’t look like any carriages had left, if the full parking area was any indication. The guys had to hurry, too; they had less than ten minutes.

“We need to get down there,” Ryan said. “Any ideas?”

Mac looked over the edge. “These boxes below us should be good to hide behind,” he said. “Just gotta get down there.”

“Okay, that’s where we’re heading,” Ryan said. “Get up and run in three… two… one!”

Everyone got up and ran at the same time. Soarin’ launched himself over and glided down quickly, beating the others there. Mac and Fancy Pants slid down on their four hooves while Ryan had to take quick little steps to avoid further destroying his already broken down shoes.

But they took too long. “Up there!!” a gryphon shouted.

Before Ryan made it all the way down, bolts started flying at them. Mac and Fancy were just able to make it down before the majority of the barrage hit, but Ryan was still going when they came. He put his hands up to prevent them from hitting his head, and thankfully, none went in that particular area. Several, however, did come at him and strike his torso, on the steel plate he had installed in his vest as armor. They hit at an angle and didn’t pierce, luckily, but they did knock him down and send him tumbling to the floor.

“Aaahhh,” Ryan groaned, holding his gut.

“Ryan!” Mac shouted carelessly, more concerned about his friend. He ran up and dragged him to cover with his teeth. “Are you hit?!”

“Nah, I’m good,” Ryan said through gritted teeth. “Steel plate.” He tapped the metal graciously.

“You clever bastard,” Fancy said.

The bolts were still coming, and not too far away, a small explosion rocked the room. “Dammit, they’ve got bombs!” Soarin’ shouted.

“We’re not getting’ out there without something to keep ‘em down,” Mac commented.

Ryan thought about the situation they were stuck in. They couldn’t press forward, not without taking a hundred bolts to their fronts and being killed in a heartbeat. If there were explosives being thrown at them, they wouldn’t be able to stay here. The enemy was in a heavily defensible position form the inside; from here, the guys were helpless.

From here.

Ryan turned to Soarin’. “Osprey!” he shouted, getting his attention. “You still have your bombs?”

“Got ‘em right here!” Soarin’ said.

“Good, ‘cuz we’re gonna need them! You see that opening?” Ryan asked, pointing at the opening. Soarin’ nodded. “There’s another one in the room at the end of that hall! Fly out that one, come back through there, and drop some ordnance on ‘em!”

“Gotcha!” Soarin’ shouted back. Like a bolt of lightning, he zipped out of the rom and followed Ryan’s instructions.

That left three of them still being barraged by the gryphons. The bolts weren’t stopping, like they were from automatic weapons or something. The explosions were few and far between, mostly being used as area denial weapons to keep the guys form getting close. If they started throwing them farther, though, that would be a real problem.

“We do not want to be here!” Fancy shouted.

“Just wait, Soarin’ll come through any second!” Ryan shouted back.

They waited for several seconds: no air support. “Harkness, are y’all sure he knows the way!?” Mac asked.

Just as Mac questioned Soarin’s navigational abilities, a blue bolt shot through the room and landed next to them, followed by the sounds of several large explosions rocking the latter half of the cave. Gryphons screamed and flew every which way, with body parts separating and blood flying. Boxes and cages fell over, making a huge mess to navigate and causing more than a little concern for Ryan.

“Where’s Blazer?” Ryan asked no one in particular.

“He wasn’t in that area,” Soarin’ replied. “That was all equipment.”

Ryan looked out from his cover. Up ahead, one specific zone had been leveled, destruction dominating the room. On the other side, everything was mostly intact, and gryphons were scrambling to get boxes onto carriages and out of the building.

One of the gryphons had a stallion on his back.

“THERE HE IS!” Ryan shouted, jumping out and running toward the gryphon.

The stallions followed close behind as Ryan sprinted toward his enemy. Ryan watched as the gryphon loaded Blazer onto a carriage, then turned around and panicked as he saw the human approach. The puller of the carriage freaked and started running, dragging the stallion with him.

The stallions addressed the several gryphons that were loading gear and boxes while Ryan chased after the carriage. It was about halfway to the runway when Ryan caught up. Ryan couldn’t stop the carriage by taking the actual carriage out, but he was able to tackle the gryphon dragging it to the exit. Tangled in a mess of harness and ropes, the gryphon was helpless to stop Ryan as he pulled out his knife and stabbed it in the neck.

When that was done, Ryan got up and walked over to the stallion, lying in the carriage only half awake. The carriage loading dock was short to the ground, around Ryan’s knees, so Ryan had to kneel down to look Blazer in the eye. As he lowered himself down, Blazer started to come to a bit more, looking at Ryan with a terrified expression.

“Wha- w-who are you?” he asked.

“Blazer?” Ryan asked. Blazer furrowed his brow, then nodded once.

“I’m here to take you home.”

Blazer looked shocked at Ryan, then turned to see what else was happening. When he saw three ponies, a Unicorn, Earth Pony, and Pegasus, fighting his captors and killing them, his eye started to tear up and his jaw quivered. He turned back to Ryan and weakly lifted his hoof up, which Ryan readily took and used to swing the stallion onto his back.

Blazer’s wing muscles were too weak to fold his wings, so an odd pair of leathery bat wings draped over Ryan’s body as he carried Blazer away from the action. Soon after, the action eased, and all was quiet in the cave, save for the sound of rain pattering away at the mountain below the clouds. Never again would any of them have to walk through the dark, freezing clouds. Hopefully.

Ryan was surrounded on all sides as he carried Blazer to the exit of the cave. The guys were all looking at Blazer kind of funny, like they never really expected to save him or see him.

“So this is a bat pony,” Soarin’ commented. Now Ryan understood.

“Exactly what Ah expected, honestly,” Mac said. “Wasn’t sure it would be.”

“I never have designed for one before,” Fancy Pants said. “I shall make him a special garment as a welcome home gift some time soon.”

“First we need to focus on getting home,” Ryan said. They were standing before the walkway to the rest of the complex. “There’s probably a map of the area in that room at the end of the ha-“

FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The cave floor started to shake, and loud cracks and crackles sounded out everywhere. Ryan looked back at the opening to the cave and saw several incredibly hug cracks and breaks in the wall and floor. Before he could shout, some of it was falling away.

“RUUUN!” he shouted.

He and the guys sprinted up the steps in an absolute panic. Sweat poured off their brows and their muscles screamed at them for the exertion, but they didn’t notice the pain. Their survival instincts had kicked in, their blood was pumping, adrenaline rushing. They didn’t notice the walls of the cave releasing dust and small fragments around the, as they ran to the leader’s room.

Inside that room was no better. The ceiling, thankfully, had nothing large to drop on them, but that didn’t stop a huge crack from permeating the whole damn thing. If they stayed here, the whole thing might collapse and either trap them here or crush them all to death. It wouldn’t do that now, not when they were so close.

“What the hell do we do now!?” Soarin’ asked.

Ryan looked around, trying to think. There were no maps in here, there was no escape. Ryan pulled over Big Mac and placed Blazer on him, tying him down with the straps from Mac’s saddlebags. For safety, Ryan took Mac’s remaining orbs and tossed them out the opening. Seconds after they went outside, they hit the ground and detonated. From that, Ryan gleaned the most important piece of information eh could have asked for.

“Outside,” he said quietly to himself. He ran to the ledge and looked out; the clouds had been moved by the shockwave, and he could clearly see a mostly smooth rock face below. “Outside!”

The guys all ran over and looked. “You want us to go out there!?” Fancy Pants shouted. “We don’t know what to expect! We can’t see or stop ourselves!”

“You want to stay here!?” Ryan asked. Fancy Pants looked into the room.

“A fair point,” he conceded.

“Then come on, jump!”

Ryan took the lead, followed by Soarin’ who flew, then Mac with Blazer, and then Fancy, who used his magic to push a ball of light forward so they could see. When they passed the clouds, everything got loud and wet, and Ryan could feel the orb-damaged rock face become smooth as porcelain and slippery as a slip n’ slide. Thanks to Fancy’s magic light, he could just make out the airships from the city below. Talk about luck.

“There!” Ryan shouted, pointing at the airships. “Get to the ship!”

The guys continued to slide at the same speed down the slope with the light ahead of them. Down below, Ryan could see gryphons starting to come out of the city holding lamps and torches, trying to see what was happening. With the mountain’s shaking, many of them were fleeing and flying away, lights fading in the darkness of the storm.

The guys hit the bottom of the mountainside after several minutes of sliding. The mountain had stopped rumbling, meaning that the city might not be taken out, and the gryphons may return later in the day. Ryan didn’t care much, though. He and his friends wouldn’t be around much longer.

At the bottom, in the darkness and with the light far ahead of them, none of the gryphons could see the guys as they ran from the steep slope and toward the air docks. The rain pressed down on the guys like an I-beam on a crane. They were dead tired, but they pressed on until they made it to the docks.

The docks, with the mountain’s sudden rumbling, had more guards hanging around, patrolling and making sure that the ships hadn’t been damaged or lost. As the guys came up on the docks, there were three guards watching the gate with directed lamps pointing in different directions.

One of them saw the guys. “Ponies!” he shouted.

Ryan pulled out his 1911 and shot the gryphons. He put one in the first gryphon’s chest, knocking him down and making him sputter for breath while blood drained into his lungs and drowned him. The other two tried to react, but couldn’t see well in the rain, and Ryan shot the first in the gut and then the second in the head. He followed it up with one last shot to the gut-shot gryphon’s head.

“Dude, they were guards!” Soarin’ shouted.

“They gave us up knowing that we would be killed,” Ryan said. “They’re just as much our enemy.” Soarin’ couldn’t argue, also still angry about being handed over by the citizens of the city to these thugs.

The guys ran straight to the first small airship they could get, the only kind Fancy could fly. When they boarded, there was no one on board, leaving them free to steal the ship and make their getaway. They forgot using their aliases, as they would be unnecessary for the duration of the travel.

Fancy Pants moved to the Captain’s Cabin, while Mac took Blazer to a sleeping cabin and Soarin’ and Ryan took topside to watch for enemies. No one came, and they were able to lift off without any problems. Mac came up out of the cabin just as they took off, taking a spot next to Soarin’ and Ryan as they watched the land behind them get smaller and smaller as they made their final getaway.

Fancy took them up above the clouds immediately, out of sight of anyone who might try to stop them. None of the gryphons were thinking about where they were flying, only that they had to avoid the mountain they loved because it might collapse and kill them all. The stallions thought they could finally relax.

Ryan couldn’t, though. Something felt off.

“I can’t believe we pulled it off,” Soarin’ said distantly.

“Eeyup,” Mac responded proudly. “Be proud of ourselves, saving that stallion like that.”

“Yeah,” Ryan said. “I’m gonna check on Fancy.”

Ryan made his way across the short, forty-foot deck to the captain’s cabin in the back and waltzed right in. Fancy was in the zone, a little too much really, keeping the balloon in the air. Ryan felt a sudden pang of panic; what if they took a ship without fuel?

“Welp, we did it, Fancy Pants,” Ryan said. He slapped Fancy on the back, ripping him out of his focus. “You did good.”

“Yes, yes,” Fancy said, not really paying attention.

“Something wrong?” Ryan asked.

Fancy shook his head lightly. “Probably nothing,” Fancy said. “But I know this model air ship. The fuel shouldn’t be going this fast.”

“Something wrong with the engine?” Ryan asked.

“Maybe,” Fancy said. “Would you mind checking it out?”

“Not a problem,” Ryan replied. “Where is it?”

“Down in the inner cargo bay, directly beneath us,” Fancy said. “Thanks. The fuel door is probably loose.”

Ryan nodded and walked out. Fancy Pants had abated his worries. Ryan expected some catastrophic failure, like an engine explosion. If there were someone down there, and they knew the ship was stolen, they would have taken it down already. Or come up to see what was happening.

He made his way down to the cargo bay at the bottom and found the engine. From a distance, nothing appeared wrong with it. The coals inside burned bright, providing the life-supporting flight of the airship. Ryan examined it closely and, to Fancy’s exact words, the fuel door was loose and hanging just barely ajar. Ryan corrected the problem and turned to exit.

Before he made it up the stairs, though, the door squeaked open again, this time landing a little more open and spilling a few hot embers. Ryan ran over and stomped out the embers on the wooden floor and then shut the door to the engine. He pondered the problem for a moment; the locking mechanism was busted. After a bit of thinking, he just shrugged and pushed a box in front of the door, blocking it closed. Ryan turned around to leave and started walking.

“You…”

Ryan froze. Slowly, he began to turn around, and, as if Luna had yanked his worst nightmare right out of his head, there stood his mirror image, leaning against the box in front of the engine door. The Wraith had a sickly smile on his face, smug and perturbing. He just leaned on that box, not saying anything else, tapping his fingers on the back of his hand.

“You...” Ryan said back.

“You made quite a bit of trouble back there,” the Wraith said. He pushed himself from the box. “Quite a bit of trouble that I have to fix.”

“You better find a wrench then,” Ryan said. “You’re gonna need it.”

“Oh, I have one already,” the Wraith said, picking up a wrench from nearby and holding it in his right hand like a knife. “I know exactly how to fix the problem, too.”

“You’ll need more than a wrench to fix your biggest problem,” Ryan said. “Might I recommend a proctologist to get my foot out of your ass when we’re done here?”

“I think I may need a plastic surgeon, actually,” the Wraith said. “You have changed just enough that we don’t look quite the same. I need to fix that.”

Ryan narrowed his eyes at the Wraith. “More like to fix your nose after I shove it into your head.”

“You still don’t get it, do you?” the Wraith said. “I’ve got you alone, away from the ponies. I have you all to myself, with only those pathetic stallions nearby. They can’t stop me, I can just fool them into thinking I’m you.”

Ryan’s eyes widened. “Wait,” he said.

“I’m going to kill you here, Ryan,” the Wraith said. “You see, it’s been hard getting you here. I had to get you alone, ultimately. But that was just one late step in a sequence. I had to fix you, you see. You were a hopeless pile of trash when you came here. I’m not; I could never imitate that kind of disgusting level of sadness. I had to fix you, being you up… that way I could tear you down.”

“You didn’t account for one thing,” Ryan said.

“Oh, but I did!” the Wraith said. “I know you’re better at fighting now. And I’ve prepared for that. You know that gun of yours won’t work-“

“It worked last time,” Ryan interrupted.

The Wraith went on. “Because I am prepared for anything you throw at me now. I can’t be killed. You, though…” The Wraith smirked like a wild beast and held up the wrench. A feral look took control of his eyes, changing them. They didn’t change physically, but there was something new, something Ryan had never seen. “You’re nothing more than flesh and bone.”

The Wraith leapt at Ryan and raised the wrench high into the air. Ryan ducked sideways and rolled away, standing up quickly and ramming into a pile of boxes. When the Wraith brought the wrench down, it broke through the floor, splintering the wood and ruining a perfectly good finish. The Wraith immediately jumped sideways to swing at Ryan again, but this time, the human ducked below and did a high clock to keep the wrench up.

The wrench lodged itself into a support beam and stuck there. He tried for a brief moment to pull it out, but in that brief moment, Ryan elbowed him in the face and knocked him away. While the Wraith was down, Ryan yanked out the wrench and tossed it to the side. It wouldn’t work on the Wraith anyhow.

The Wraith held his nose, and when he took his hand away, he found blood on his hand. He looked confused at first, but something dawned on him, and he returned his attention to Ryan.

“I have to be human to take your place, I guess,” he said. “But I still have my strength and speed.”

“Why do you want my place?” Ryan asked. “What would you do with it?”

“Please, Ryan, if you don’t understand by now, you really are thick,” the Wraith said. “I am you. From Asia. I am more than just a man; I am your desire to destroy, the joy you take out of ending and destroying lives. This world, this ‘wonderful place’… I hate it. I can’t stay here, not when it’s like this.”

Ryan felt his breath catch. “You can’t,” he said.

The Wraith laughed dementedly. “I will bring this world down. REALLY make it perfect.”

“That doesn’t explain why me,” Ryan said.

“Because,” the Wraith said. “I am you. And nothing is more enjoyable than watching you suffer, as I already saw. I’m going to start with your friends, take out those Elements of Harmony, the only things that can kill me.”

Ryan growled at the Wraith. “They aren’t the only things that can kill you,” he said. Ryan ripped his gun back out and went to aim for the Wraith.

The Wraith hadn’t lied about his speed and strength, though. Like a cheetah, he was on Ryan in an instant and knocked the gun right tout of his hands with a quick swipe. The pistol landed toward the wall, just below a button next to a set of mechanical releases.

The Wraith went after Ryan like a dog chasing a rabbit. He followed his swipe with one punch, then another, straight into Ryan’s solar plexus. The man felt a strong urge to vomit, but promptly forgot it when the Wraith pulled his face up and punched him straight on in the nose, smashing it and drawing blood. Ryan fell back, out of the Wraith’s grip, and hit the ground.

With the man dazed and aching, the Wraith dragged him over to the button on the wall and pressed it. Slowly, Ryan could hear a door lowering behind him, and wind howling past in the high skies. Sunlight poured into the cabin, casting an angry orange glow on the Wraith’s rage-contorted face.

Ryan could feel himself being pushed out the now open cargo door. He did whatever eh could to prevent himself from being shoved out. He grabbed onto the wall with his left hand, the Wraith’s shoulder with his right. He could feel the pressure on his shoulder, threatening to dislocate it if it got to be too much more.

“You’re done, Ryan!” the Wraith shouted madly. “I am going to kill you!”

Ryan gripped hard at the wall to his left. His hand started sliding down the wall, losing its grip. He stared into the Wraith’s eyes; all he saw was rage. The rage he left behind in Southeast Asia, he rage he experienced when he shot Blueblood, everything he had ever done out of his anger. It startled him to see that.

And it just served to piss him off.

Ryan felt his left hand touch something metal at the all. Using one finger, he was able to maneuver it just enough to figure out what it was. When he knew, he could barely contain his glee, and a cynical smile crossed his face.

“What?” the Wraith asked.

Ryan got a good grip on the gun. For just a moment, he turned his head to look behind him. They were coming up on several mountains that just managed to breach the cloudline, showing jagged points to avoid and carved paths leading down into the rain.

“You can kill me,” Ryan said. “But I'll take you with me!”

The Wraith understood just as Ryan released his left hand and started pulling the gun up to shoot him. Time seemed to slow as the two Ryan’s made their moves. Ryan focused everything he had on getting the Wraith off the aircraft, gripping his shoulder tight and taking aim with the gun. The Wraith released his pressure on the man with one arm to bring it around to block the gun, his eyes going wild with hope that he would make it.

And he did; he blocked the gun, and Ryan discharged a round right into the ceiling.

“Hah!” the Wraith shouted triumphantly.

“’Hah’ yourself,” Ryan said. The Wraith didn’t seem to understand what Ryan meant. He still had a grip on the Wraith’s shoulder.

Ryan, with one powerful lurch and push of his legs, shoved his body upward and knocked the Wraith off balance. The Wraith tried to get back to his position, but Ryan was not having any part of that. Ryan pushed once more with his legs and yanked the Wraith by the shoulder, throwing him over the edge and into the clouds.

The Wraith was not one to be fooled so easily, though. He maintained his grip on Ryan just enough that when he fell, he was able to bring his other hand back around and grab Ryan by the ankle before he fell to the abyss. Ryan felt the heavy weight tug on him, trying to drag him down.

The airship dipped a little into the clouds, obscuring the Wraith from view. Ryan held tight, though, trying to shake the Wraith loose. He was stuck here, and if he fell, it was over.

“GUYS!!” he shouted.

From above, Soarin’ poked his head over. “Ryan!” he shouted. “What are you-”

“Keep going to Equestria!” the young man shouted. Before Soarin' could respond, Ryan lost his grip and fell back into the darkness of the storm within the valley.

“RYAAAN!!!!!!”

Ryan fell through the clouds blind and silent. He didn’t know what lay beneath, but he knew it wouldn’t be good, whatever it was. The Wraith still had a vice grip on him, too, so even if he did survive, it wasn’t’ over yet.

In the darkness of the storm, Ryan couldn’t see far and held his arms against his face in case he hit something. It turned out to be a good idea; there was a mountaintop not far from where he fell out of the ship, and he and the Wraith crashed into it with a wet SLAP.

After the initial contact, the pair slid down the side of the mountaintop with rapidly increasing speed. Subconsciously, Ryan registered that he might fall off the mountain and his heart started to race even faster as he thought about falling to his death. Luckily though, there was some sort of path cut into the mountain that led up above the clouds, and Ryan hit the flat path and rolled to a stop just before the edge.

Ryan grunted and stood up, barely keeping his footing stable and almost slipping off his hands. In the distance, a bolt of lightning exploded into the dark sky, illuminating everything for a brief moment. Ryan could see down the side of the mountain before him and moved away from the ledge in a panic. There were more levels of paths below, but the distance between them increased exponentially, going from eight feet, to fifteen, then to twenty and further into darker, invisible distances.

Ryan moved back and sat against the wall of the mountain. When he landed, he landed partially on his front and side, and had a hard landing on his back on the path. Pained and cold, Ryan feebly stood up with his hand on the wall. His shoes were the only reason he wasn’t stuck lying on the ground, with the rubber-plastic soles keeping their friction in the water.

Another flash of lightning illuminated the area, this time landing much closer, revealing the Wraith getting up a few yards ahead on the path. The bolt was much closer this time, and when the thunder hit, the mountaintop shook, ever so slightly, throwing both Ryan and the Wraith off.

“Not the end I imagined for you!” the Wraith shouted.

“Same!” Ryan shouted.

The Wraith stood up and looked out over the edge of the path. More lighting flashed through the sky, all over the place, revealing the landscape as few had ever seen it. The valleys were deep, miles, potentially, and everything was smooth, polished by the rain. Gryphons could be seen, still flying away form the broken mountain, drawing a laugh from the Wraith.

“You really are more like me than you know!” he shouted.

“They were ready to kill me and my friends,” Ryan replied. He pulled out his knife with his right hand; he had dropped his gun. “And other ponies. It’s justified.”

The Wraith frowned. “Maybe I’ll hand you off to them,” he said. “Let you see justice.”

“There is no justice,” Ryan shouted. More lightning, thunder, rocking the mountaintop. “You know that. It’s how I’m still alive.”

The Wraith stood ready. “Not for long.”

They ran at each other in the rain, kicking up water behind them and shattering rain droplets, and collided in a massive explosion of rain. The Wraith thrust his fist forward at Ryan’s face, but Ryan dodged it and threw his own fist up into the Wraith’s gut, pushing him back. With the Wraith off him and on the defense, Ryan went for a backhanded slash with his knife, going for the Wraith’s throat.

The Wraith back stepped and got out of the way just in time, and the knife swung straight into the rock face, shattering to pieces. Undaunted, Ryan continued with the broken obsidian blade and stabbed it into the Wraith’s shoulder.

The knife, being broken, didn’t go far, though, and the Wraith was able to swipe it away and send the handle over the edge of the path and into the abyss. The Wraith followed it with a roundhouse punch across Ryan’s face, knocking him back and toward the edge, and then kicked him in the rear.

Ryan let his body go limp just as the kick connected, letting his right hip twist while his left remained where it was. It prevented him from falling forward and sent him spiraling to the side, where he hit the stone ground and rolled away. He jumped up, using the momentum of his roll, and put up his fists.

The Wraith cried out in rage and ran at Ryan, determined to send him over the edge. Ryan moved right, toward the wall, and lowered his center of gravity. When the Wraith was on him, Ryan let himself fall onto his back and stuck his foot out. The Wraith ran straight into it, and Ryan threw him backwards in a rain-blinded Tomoe Nage. The Wraith flew helplessly through the air and landed on his face on the stone path.

Ryan spun around on the ground and stood up. Ahead, he saw the Wraith standing up already with a bloody face being washed off by the rain. His nose was clearly broken, but that was all that the throw had accomplished. Ryan silently cursed, as he knew that the Wraith was still perfectly capable of fighting and had plenty of energy to spare.

Ryan put his guard up in a Hindiandi guard, keeping his hands and arms close to his body to keep the Wraith from hitting him. He could just see him thanks to lightning in the distance and by making educated guesses as to where the being was.

It wasn’t perfect though. Nearby, a bright flash of lightning lit up the clouds and valley, binding Ryan for just a moment. In that same moment, the Wraith seemed to teleport across the distance between them and close on Ryan.

Taking the man by surprise, the Wraith threw his foot at Ryan’s shin, not a terrible hit, but a strong distraction and stance weakener. Ryan’s stance faltered, and the Wraith took advantage.

He threw a powerful uppercut into Ryan’s gut, pressing past his guard and knocking his wind out. He followed it with another uppercut, this time to Ryan’s face, smashing his nose and making Ryan see a flash of light. Dazed, Ryan tried to fall back, but the Wraith still had him, and he threw the man to the side, toward the wall.

Ryan hit the wall face first and tried to push away, but the Wraith was waiting for him and grabbed his shoulder. He ferociously spun Ryan around by the shoulder, punching him again across the face. Ryan heard what might have been a small crack in his jaw, but wasn’t able to think clearly enough at the moment to know what might have happened. The Wraith punched him directly in the face several times, damaging small bones and cutting the man’s face.

Ryan felt himself thrown rom the wall to the side, where he slid across the smooth rock and stopped just before the edge. He looked back and just registered the Wraith closing in on him. Desperate, he looked for anything he might be able to use, but there was nothing.

He looked over the edge and found a godsend; there was his gun, in the middle of the path below. It was steeper here than other spots, though, over ten feet, and there were rocks on the way down and on the path. Boulders covered the area below; if he landed wrong, he might crack his skull, and regardless of what that meant, he would be killed.

But he didn’t have much of a choice; he couldn’t win here, not any more. Just as the Wraith was coming up on him, Ryan pulled himself over the edge and swung his feet around so they would go first. The Wraith watched with disinterest as Ryan went over the edge, as he could easily follow him without harming himself.

Ryan slid down the edge and hit the ground, where he staggered to stop himself with the rocks and boulders. The darkness was worse down here, as he was farther from the clouds, and light had a harder time penetrating the clouds and rain. He fumbled around for his gun, hoping to find it before the Wraith could come down.

Another lightning bolt flashed nearby, and Ryan was greeted with the sight of the Wraith sitting on one of the boulders ahead of him. Ryan stopped where he was and looked up at the Wraith. When he tried to stand up, his ankle felt like it was on fire.

“Not the most graceful landing,” the Wraith said. Ryan didn’t respond. “I guess you just ended yourself, huh?” The Wraith almost seemed to look sadly at Ryan. “No one wants to go that way.”

He walked over to Ryan and picked him up with weak resistance from the young man. Ryan tried to reach up and grab at the Wraith’s hands, but couldn’t reach, and couldn’t stop himself from being thrown onto a boulder. There, the Wraith turned him around and pinned him on his back and hit him several times in the ribs. He managed to crack one of them, then threw Ryan over the boulder.

Ryan rolled away and hit another boulder and rolled a little away from the boulder. He opened his beaten, exhausted eyes and watched in slow motion as the Wraith came over the boulder to chase after him. Going purely off his survival instincts, he turned around and pulled himself away from his attacker, even if there was a wall.

Ryan stopped. He was on top of several rocks, oddly shaped and cold. Ryan stuck his hand under himself and found rocks, some smooth and some strangely sharp. And one that felt odd.

The wraith stopped and looked at Ryan. “You humans really are sad when you’ve lost,” he said. “You can’t accept it when you’ve lost. You still try to fight.”

Ryan held his fist to his chest and stood up, despite his pained ankle. He had to lean on his other leg, making sure not to reveal his hand to the Wraith by turning around. He took in a deep breath and calmed himself down, relaxing his muscles for maximum speed.

“When you threaten my friends, I can’t give up,” Ryan said.

“Noble, I suppose,” the Wraith said. “But it won’t do you any good.” The Wraith raised both fists into the air to bring them down on Ryan’s neck, ending the fight once and for all.

Ryan spun around and launched himself at the Wraith, shooting his left hand forward to grab the being and keeping his right, armed hand close to his torso. The Wraith hadn’t seen it coming, and Ryan was on him, locked in place and too close for an attack.

The Wraith hadn’t known what was coming, but when it came, he knew exactly what it was. Ryan pressed the Colt M1911 he picked up from underneath himself before turning around against the bottom of the Wraith’s chin. The wraith didn’t look angry as the cold metal barrel was shoved into him, he didn’t look shocked or scared. He simply had this look of mild surprise.

Ryan held the Wraith close as he pulled the trigger, sending one 230 grain, .45 caliber bullet crashing through the Wraith’s jaw and into his skull. The Wraith’s face didn’t change at all while the bullet tore through, or after it exploded out the top of his head. He just maintained that look of mild surprise that Ryan had bested him.

The Wraith’s eyes rolled back, and he fell to the ground. Ryan stood there, staring at the Wraith’s perforated head as blood and brain and bone fell to the ground in a lifeless heap. His breathing was heavy and he shook violently. It wasn’t from the cold or his exhaustion, though. He only felt weak-kneed.

Ryan stepped back and leaned on one of the boulders as the lightning continued to flash. Every time, the blinding light would force him to look away or close his eyes, and every time, he expected the Wraith to disappear. But he didn’t. The Wraith just lay there, head exploded, bleeding onto the smooth, stone path. Thunder roared and shook the mountains, lightning left the smell of burnt air lingering, but the Wraith remained, unmoving and unliving.

Ryan stood there in the rain, all alone. Finally, all alone.

It didn’t last, though. His friends weren’t about to abandon him.

“Ryan!?” Soarin’ yelled form up high.

“Down here!” Ryan shouted back without thinking.

Soarin’ made his way down, following the echo of Ryan’s voice, and found him, beaten, bloody, and exhausted. He looked like he had been through hell. There were no gryphons nearby, and he couldn’t immediately see any bodies, so he figured Ryan tossed it over the edge. He landed next to Ryan and tapped his shoulder.

“Are you alright?” Soarin’ asked.

“Yeah,” Ryan replied distantly. “I’m good.”

Soarin’ looked out into the storm. “It’ll be good to leave this behind,” he said. “Let’s go!”

He floated up and held his forelegs out for Ryan to grab on. Ryan moved slowly due to his pain, but was able to hold on strong enough for Soarin’ to be able to fly away with him.

Soarin’ looked down at Ryan, expecting to talk to him, but said nothing when he saw Ryan looking back at that mountaintop. In no time, the pair was above the storm clouds and back in the light of the sun, leaving more than just their short war with the gryphons behind. Ryan looked forward and closed his eyes. It was over.

It was finally over.

Carry On, Wayward Son

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Carry On, Wayward Son

“There is no substitute for victory.” Douglas Macarthur

The guys flew the airship to the border and expected to be stopped, but no one came. The borders had little to no security, it seemed, and they flew through unopposed. That could be a problem later… but this was now.

From there, they were able to fly unopposed through the rest of Equestria on the way to Canterlot, going well into the night. During the course of the flight, over uninhabited lands, they tossed whatever orbs they had left over the side, deciding that the princesses wouldn’t need them any more. Not for a long time, at the very least.

When they were close to Canterlot, they started to think about potential problems with the ship. Soarin’ was quick with his wits and grabbed tools to scrape any markings off of the outside of the ship. When they landed at the city and the guards came up, Fancy Pants took over and explained to them that he had just bought the air ship and would pay whatever fines were necessary to make up for an unplanned landing in the middle of the night.

Mac carried Blazer right past the guards without being stopped, with Ryan citing that the stallion was tired and had to sleep on Mac’s back. He had woken up briefly during the flight, but said nothing to his rescuers and didn’t even see Ryan. After years of captivity, he deserved some rest, so the guys let him have it.

They carried him through the city and, when they could see there were no guards around, using magic and careful timing, snuck through the more guarded areas to get to the castle. There, Fancy Pants came up and started talking to the guards, asking them questions about their armor and improvements he could make. While he did that, Soarin’ took custody of Blazer and brought him over the castle walls.

Fancy kept up his act and Soarin’, once Blazer was over, grabbed Ryan and then Mac, the last one proving more than a little bit difficult. When they were all over, they snuck through the remainder of the castle to make it to the garden.

There was only one suitable place to bring Blazer that they knew, and Ryan led the way through the garden. He brought them to underneath the balcony to Luna’s library. Once there, Mac and Ryan watched wordlessly as Soarin’ carried the sleeping bat stallion up to the balcony and left him there. When Soarin’ confirmed that it was taken care of, the trio left their trespassing behind and made their way out. Once out, they met up with Fancy Pants and took a train back to Ponyville.

Only one thing was left to do.

Ryan held up a mug of beer. “Congratulations on a job well done, boys.”

Everyone held their mugs up and cheered, clacking them together and downing their contents. Cinny wasn’t in tonight, apparently, but the guys could live with it this time. They figured it would be better not to have anypony ask them why they were back.

“To the best stallions the world has ever known,” Ryan said, nodding to his friends.

“The best group of friends the world will never know,” Mac said.

“Cheers,” Soarin’ and Fancy concluded.

The guys continued to drink celebratory drinks in their favorite bar. The place had taken a real turn from when Ryan first showed up. Sad ponies weren’t coming here nearly as much, and sometimes, there was a live music act. It really livened up the atmosphere.

Oktoberfest was serving them tonight. “You boys are in a real good mood,” he said, dropping more drinks on the table.

“The whole place is,” Ryan replied.

Oktoberfest nodded with a smile. “Yeah, ever since you guys started coming and having good times, more ponies started enjoying themselves here. Thanks for that, even though it wasn’t long before I plan to retire.”

“You’re welcome,” Ryan said. He had a feeling the old stallion would retire soon.

Oktoberfest left the group to the rest of their drinks, and the guys kept cheering each other and clanking their glasses together for the rest of the night. It was a good night to be alive, and they planned to make the most of it.

High above, in the night sky, a single star outshined all the others, unnoticed by the sleeping ponies, but always there, watching over them.

Tying it Up

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Tying it Up

“I had to fight all my life to survive. They were all against me... but I beat the bastards and left them in the ditch.” (Ty Cobb)

When the guys were back, life resumed as if they had never been gone. The girls would ask how Las Pegasus was, and the guys would all say something along the lines of “It was fun, but I’ve had my share of it for now.” And they had; they all needed a break from that little adventure.

A lot had apparently happened while they were gone. Well, not a lot, but something big. Discord was released. He was one of the first to greet the guys when they returned. He and Ryan had a starkly emotional reunion, physically hiding everything but in their minds, overjoyed to meet again. They had both had an enormous impact on each other; Ryan changed Discord’s perspective on life, and Discord saved Ryan from being dead.

It was only when they returned that Ryan finally put active thought into the coming wedding. Naturally, other than needing to get Mac home in one piece, it had slipped his mind. He was to be the Best Man, and he needed to get his act together and prepare whatever the Best Man prepares for the wedding. Discord was helpful to Ryan in that regard.

Later on, after days of preparation, the wedding finally came. Thanks to Rarity and the others; mostly Rarity; it was an extravagant affair for the few who were present. Everything was pristine and of the absolute highest quality. The wedding took place at a gazebo in the park, which had been vacated of its usual park-goers for the event. The grass was all cut to be just so high, enough to be a cushion for hooves but still looked long enough so as to block the dirt.

The guest list had everyone Ryan expected, and then a few others he certainly didn’t. Fluttershy’s mother was attending, of course, as were her friends. The ones he didn’t expect were pretty high profile. Discord had apparently become Fluttershy’s homie or something when he was released. Princess Celestia was there to actually marry Fluttershy and Big Mac, and Princess Luna came by with Starstep in tow. Besides them, Soarin’, Fleetfoot, Fancy Pants, Fleur, a bunch of animals, and parents of friends and friends of friends and showed up. Cadence and Shining Armor came, but the Princess of Love was sort of a must have for this.

The ceremony went off perfectly. Mac stood still in his spot at the end of the aisle, waiting for his beloved whom he had not yet seen because of some weird legend regarding seeing the bride in her dress before the ceremony. To everyone else, he looked confident and strong. Ryan knew better; he was a nervous wreck. Ryan had been forced to put a paper bag over his snout in the bathroom to make him calm down. It was good that someone had thought to bring them.

When Fluttershy came down the aisle, Ryan felt a twinge of pride swell up in his chest. Over time, he came to see what ponies saw as pretty and such in their species, and if what other ponies thought was anything to go by, Mac had done incredibly. A pretty, kind, talented, and loving mare was what he had gotten in Fluttershy. He thought he might not deserve her, which was the source of his earlier panic. Ryan was almost to the point of smacking him to make him see that he had earned her love.

When Fluttershy finally came close, Ryan could see Mac’s heart getting ready to stop. But the workhorse stood strong, and when Fluttershy came, he barely managed to avoid being lost in her veiled eyes and astonishing wedding dress and turned with her to face Celestia.

“Mares and Gentlecolts,” Celestia started.

Ryan didn’t particularly listen to her speech, mostly watching Mac and the crowd. Fluttershy’s friends looked about ready to burst, especially Pinkie. She looked about ready to die from waiting for the no doubt outrageous reception she planned. Ryan heard that she also did the bachelorette party, and somehow managed to respect Fluttershy’s desire to have a toned-down party, like what Mac would have done. Mac’s big pre-marriage event was just a little bit… “More exciting”, than a standard party.

Eventually, Celestia finished, and it was time for Ryan to hand over the equivalent of the wedding ring. It was a gold set of wing pieces, attaching to the base of the wings and clipping on. They didn’t interfere with flight or look uncomfortable, and even if they were, she wouldn’t have noticed. When she turned back around, Mac brushed away her veil and they sealed their lives together forever with one short, love-filled kiss.

The crowd cheered and clopped hooves together, whistling and, in some cases, crying. Fluttershy’s mother looked on with tears of joy as her daughter went back down the aisle with her new husband. Rarity nearly fainted form the happiness of the occasion, if that can even happen, and her friends were all cheering. Applejack, in particular, was in an uproar of glee. One of her best friends and her brother, together in matrimony. The apple family just gained one welcomed new member.

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle were the flower fillies, and followed the two down the aisle. When the group left, everyone else poured after them, exiting through the gate. Outside the park, a large number of chariots awaited them to take them to a new venue where the reception was set to be. Mac and Fluttershy would arrive first, followed by Ryan, Soarin’, Fancy, the girls, and then everyone else. Even the princesses took a back seat tonight.

The next venue was simple; a large white tent just outside of town with food, tables, and other reception items. As ponies arrived, everyone wanted to congratulate the bride and groom and wish them their best. Presents were brought and arrived, ponies took their seats, and everyone settled in.

“So have ya got a speech ready?” Mac asked, leaning over to Ryan.

“I’m bad at speech writing,” Ryan said. “I’ve got a bit, but if it’s cool, I think I’d rather wing it.”

Mac smiled. “With you’re wit, Ah’m shocked you couldn’t get something with the amount of time ya had,” he said, drawing a grin from Ryan. “Don’t let me down.”

“I won’t,” Ryan said. He stood up and clinked his fork against his glass to get everyone’s attention.

“So, here we are,” Ryan said, lifting his glass and sort of pointing it at everyone. “We’re here celebrating the joining of two souls into one, celebrating the end of one glorious, raucous part of life and the beginning of a new, calmer, simpler part of life. At least until kids come in.” Everyone chuckled, especially any parents in the crowd. Mac and Fluttershy chuckled, too.

“But it’s tat new beginning that’s really what we celebrate. People, and I guess I should say Ponies, never really want anything to end. We never want to end relationships; we never want to see a part of our lives come to a close. Marriage… it gives us something new. When we know we love someone, it gives us another level to strive for.

It’s these beginnings that define our lives. Can we accept a new beginning? Can we embrace what the world has to offer us, what it plans to throw at us? No one can plan for everything, but that’s a part of the fun of life. You two-“ Ryan pointed at Mac and Fluttershy. “-Are going to find all kinds of new things that you never would have thought about before. It will fill you with excitement, fear, happiness, anxiety, passion, and a bunch of other stuff I don’t know any words for. Twilight, I’ll need to borrow your dictionaries later.

Mac, I know that you and Fluttershy will lead incredible lives, an incredible life, together. You two… you might be the best couple I’ve ever seen. I know that you’ll always support each other.

I know that because both of you saved my life.” Ryan felt his eyes getting wet as he spoke. “Mac, when the girls found me out in that field, dying, and brought me to you, you could have seen me as dead there. You could have made an excuse to leave me, and never have dealt with me at all.

Fluttershy. When the bear attacked me in the forest, I thought I was gone. I was broken, bleeding, my mind was numb. But you came out there to save me. You left the comfort of your home to run through the most dangerous place in Equestria, through monsters, beasts, poisonous plants, a Hell on earth, to come get me. It would have been reasonable to leave me out there, but you put yourself there to save me.

That’s why I know you two are going to do great things together, why you’ll always be with each other and you’ll always support each other. You’re my friends, and I am your friend. If you both would do those things for me… My mind can’t comprehend what you will do for each other. Only that your love is unmatched anywhere.” Ryan looked to Cadence. “I said that, yeah.” Again, chuckles, even from Shining Armor.

Ryan looked back to the newlyweds. “So, what advice would I give you? Nothing you don’t know. If anything, it’s you who would give it to me. But I’ve already learned a lot from you. And I can only hope to match you someday.” Ryan raised his glass one last time. “To Fluttershy and Big Macintosh!”

“Fluttershy and Big Macintosh!” Everyone cheered. Ryan sat back down, and everyone went back about their business.

Mac leaned to him. “Ah liked it,” he said.

Ryan smiled. “Thanks. Every word was true.”

Now, as Best Mac when the music started, Ryan had to dance. The Maid of Honor had been Cinny, a choice Ryan didn’t expect. Ryan was willing to leave Mac and Fluttershy with the other guests who wanted to see them, and he hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to Cinny, so he jumped at it.

“May I have this dance?” Ryan asked when he reached her table. The music was just starting. Cinny stood from her seat, where sitting around her was Fleur, Spitfire, and Fleetfoot.

“I’d be glad to,” she said with a smile.

Ryan took her hoof in his hand and led her to the dance floor, where they started tearing it up.

…

Not really. Ryan can’t dance for his life. But it’s about having fun, right?

He kept her hoof in his hand and spun her around. He tried to his best attempt to imitate the good ball dancers that were his parents, whom he hadn’t seen in some time, but when dancing with a pony, it doesn’t work so well. Cinny was having fun, laughing and stepping in tune with Ryan and the tune.

“So how was the wedding for you?” Ryan asked. Around them, other ponies started joining in.

“Oh, it was great!” she said. “While you boys were being riotous ruffians elsewhere, we were having a blast preparing. Fluttershy has a great sense of humor, I’ve learned.”

“It’s good to see you’re the maid of honor,” Ryan said.

Cinny pssh’d. “They did this because they knew you were the best man,” she said.

“Oh?” Ryan said. He pulled her in close. “They knew that you would be scared of asking me for a dance?”

“Hardly,” Cinny replied, putting her foreleg around Ryan’s neck. They took a few steps in whatever direction. “They knew I would be resistant to your charms and wanted to force me here.”

“So I AM charming and beautiful,” Ryan said with a grin.

Cinny grinned back. “A little, I guess,” she said.

Ryan spun around with her a bit. “Oh, you love me,” Ryan said.

Cinny poked him with her nose. “What if I do? She asked.

Ryan pressed back. “Then I hope you’re ready for a roller coaster of being happy at the top and confused when it derails and lands on some new tracks,” Ryan said.

Cinny laughed. “You’re definitely a friend of Discord, that’s for sure,” she said.

Ryan spotted the Spirit of Chaos sitting with Celestia. “Friends? Totally. But compared to me, he looks like a psychiatrist.” Cinny laughed, and they continued to dance and have a ball on the dance floor.

Away form them, at a table with the girls, Princess Luna situated herself with Starstep by her side to have pleasant conversation. She noticed that the girls would look oddly between her and Starstep, and Rarity glanced at the dance floor once after meeting Luna’s gaze. After looking once at Starstep, she made up her mind.

“Starstep,” she said.

“Luna?” he replied.

“You seem to be falling out of the Royal Night Guard’s fitness standards,” she said, poking him in the side. He squirmed, but chuckled. “You must dance with me to get back into shape!”

“Seems reasonable,” Starstep replied. The pair excused themselves from the table and walked to the dance floor. The whole way, the girls and Spike, who was with them, watched them knowingly and with bated breath.

Luna took Starstep’s foreleg in hers and they started doing a pony ball dance, far better than Ryan or Cinny could manage. They had, after all, learned dancing and such for classy events and were both ponies, making it much easier. With the music in full swing, they started up and got right to it.

Not thirty seconds in, they were laughing and breathing hard and sweating it up. The wooden dance floor under them vibrated from the force of their hooves crashing down on it. Starstep couldn’t stop smiling, and his face practically tore in half from the smile when he got to get in close to Luna and hold her up by her back.

When he pulled her back up, she nearly landed on him. “Oh, sorry,” she said between giggles.

“Keep it up!” Starstep said. “All that royal cake has gotten to you too!”

Luna smirked. “I’ve never understood chubby chasers,” she said.

“I don’t chase chubby mares, personally,” Starstep said. “It reflects on their lifestyle.”

“So you like skinny mares?” Luna asked.

“I like healthy mares,” Starstep said. “You’re healthy, for example.”

“Example?” Luna repeated with a cocked eyebrow.

Starstep realized his blunder and smiled nervously. “E-example, eh, yeah.”

Luna put her head next to his. “I like healthy stallions, a similar standard,” she said. “And from what I know, and that’s quite a bit, guards must be quite healthy.”

Starstep’s heart skipped a beat. “Uh, yes!” he replied eagerly. Luna removed her head and looked into his eyes. “We are. Quite, healthy.” He smiled, still nervously, but also excitedly.

Luna felt the music pick up, and Starstep maneuvered her to be just off the floor, facing up, held up by his foreleg. Over her was Starstep’s face. Using her magic to help her up, she brought herself back up past his face, brushing it with her ethereal mane.

“I suppose we will have to learn more about each others’ fitness levels,” Luna said. “Perhaps over lunch, we should find a restaurant and eat together. Nutrition is a big part of health.”

“Sounds lovely,” Starstep said.

Away from them, off of the dance floor, Celestia and Discord were sitting together relatively quietly. They had been pestered by Cadence and Shinning Armor earlier, being prodded at with questions and private affairs, but the duo soon left to see the owners of this night. Now, they were watching Luna and Starstep dancing their hearts out not so far from Ryan and Cinny.

“Even now, Luna can’t keep herself far from Ryan,” Discord commented. “It’s like she sees him as her own little man.”

“She has her own stallion now,” Celestia said, looking at her sister. “I think she’ll be rather distracted for a time with this, though she will keep Ryan in mind. It’s not like she can easily forget what happened.” Celestia looked up at Discord after her last statement.

“I know what that feels like,” Discord said, bad memories coming back.

“It is important not to forget the moments and events that have significant impacts on our lives,” Celestia said. “But we must learn to move past them. It looks like one of you already managed it.”

Discord looked at Ryan. “Hm… I wasn’t sure he ever would.” He smiled. “I’ glad I was wrong for a change.”

“For a change?” Celestia scoffed.

“Well, I was right about you,” Discord said, scratching just under her chin. She liked it and closed her eyes. “You waited for me.”

“I did,” Celestia said. “But after so long in stone, so stiff and rock solid, you must have trouble moving. We’ll need to work on your flexibility.”

Discord stretched out tall. “Well, whatever yoga positions you have been practicing in anticipation of my return, I would love to try them out.”

“And we might,” Celestia said. “If you behave properly.”

“I won’t misbehave,” Discord promised.

“I never said that,” Celestia said with a smirk. “Just that you need to behave properly.”

“How naughty can I be?” Discord asked.

Celestia ran her tail across his torso. “We’ll see.” Not long after she said that, the music slowed, and Ryan and Cinny finished dancing and moseyed back to a table. “Excuse me for a moment.”

“Tell him I said his dancing is bad and he should feel bad,” Discord said. Celestia shook her head playfully as she walked over to Ryan.

Ryan and Cinny were too busy talking to notice the large, white, shiny princess’s approach. She watched them for a brief moment before letting them know she was there. They were having a fun time, chatting about old stories with the bride and groom and the craziness of their friendships. They sat right next to each other, always holding each other somehow, and Celestia felt some joy at the sight of a human and a pony.

“Greetings, young ones,” Celestia said.

They turned. Cinny bowed immediately, but Ryan just looked up at her with a grin and leaned back in his chair.

“What’s up, Sun Butt?” he asked.

“At this point, the moon,” Celestia replied. “Moon Butt did a good job with the stars tonight. It is a special occasion, after all.”

“Very special,” Ryan said, looking to Mac and Fluttershy chatting away with their guests.

“I liked your speech,” Celestia said.

“Thanks,” Ryan replied. “I had one planned, but it wasn’t so great, so I sort of made it up as I went.”

“Impressive,” Cinny said.

“Very,” Celestia affirmed. “How was the bachelor party? Fluttershy’s was pretty tame.”

“We were generally tame,” Ryan lied casually. “Nothing deviant going on.”

Celestia chuckled. “Yes, unlike my niece’s bachelorette party,” she said. “It was just us princesses and a few select individuals. Cadence didn’t do anything, but you should have seen Luna; she was hammered.”

“Moon Butt loves Moonshine?” Ryan asked.

“Not just her,” Celestia said. “I might have partaken, just a tad.”

“The princess of the sun, being naughty?” Ryan replied. Cinny looked up, shocked. “I would find that hard to believe if I didn’t see you sitting with Discord over there.” Ryan looked past Celestia. “I see you!”

“Hi!” Discord replied, emphatically waving his hand in the air.

Celestia laughed. “Oh, he said that you dance bad, and you should feel bad,” she said.

“What can I say? I dance the way I dance.” Ryan shrugged. “I’m not at Luna’s or Starstep’s level, but I can always say that as a human, I dance just as well comparatively.”

“Really?” Cinny asked.

“No,” Ryan said truthfully.

Celestia giggled. “Well, I’m glad that you two are having a good time,” she said. “I must keep an eye on Discord, though. Keep him from doing anything chaotic.” She looked at Cinny. “Do enjoy yourself.”

Cinny blushed and smiled sheepishly. “Absolutely, your majesty.” With that, Celestia left them to their own devices and went back to her… guy, person, thing. Whatever.

A new song came up, one that sounded less demanding, so Ryan and Cinny made their way back to the dance floor, not far from Luna and Starstep, still going at it. They were dancing a little slower and with fewer large movements, making it safe to be near them. Both Ryan and Cinny wanted to hear whatever was happening there, as they both knew what was inevitably to be.

The dancing duo saw them coming and invited them to come over. When they got there, Starstep and Luna separated and offered to switch up dance partners. Cinny accepted in a heartbeat, eager to get details from whoever she could. Luna accepted Ryan’s hand and they got to dancing.

“So. You and Starstep,” Ryan said with a cocked eyebrow and a trollish grin. “I was wondering how long it would take.”

Luna’s face took on some redness. “Well, I hadn’t thought about it for a long time until somewhat recently. After I met you, actually.”

“I just inspire others to find love I guess,” Ryan said with a playful shrug. “I’m like the male, human, sillier, and more hittable version of Cadence.”

Luna laughed. “Definitely, you are more hittable,” she said.

They did some light spins. “So, how has it been, having this guard for so long that you just now decided to give a try?” Ryan asked.

“Interesting,” Luna replied. “We always had a special relationship.”

“I’ve heard,” Ryan said, drawing a bush from Luna.

“Yes,” Luna said. “But recently, he has become much more vitalized and happy.”

“Oh?” Ryan asked, not so curious. “What happened?”

“We don’t know,” Luna said. “His old friend and comrade, Blazer, has come home. He’s in a military hospital right now, recovering from years of captivity. We tried to ask him how he came to be here, but he said that he didn’t remember. He knows that he was rescued by ponies, or maybe gryphons that are on our side, but he can’t be sure. He was so exhausted and pained at the time that he wasn’t able to easily keep anything in his mind.”

“What a shame,” Ryan lied. “I’m sure the public would love to know who brought him home.”

“They would,” Luna replied. “As would I and Starstep. The heroes should be rewarded! They have done a great service to Equestria.”

Ryan chuckled. “I’m sure you’ll find them eventually,” he said. “Maybe not soon, but eventually.”

“What do you think of them?” Luna asked.

Ryan thought for a moment. “I think they’re good guys who probably just want to help. It would explain why they don’t want to be known. Back home in America, a lot of guys like Special Operations Forces, SWAT, and the like don’t reveal their identities because of either safety, or, as often, because they aren’t interested in fame.”

“A good point,” Luna said. “It’s nice to know that we have such ponies among us.”

“Among us,” Ryan repeated. “Always, they’ll be among us.”

They continued to dance near Starstep and Cinny, who were talking about Starstep’s and Luna’s newly formed relationship. After a short time, all four of them were tuckered out, and went back to the side to sit down. They made small talk and watched the ponies around them. Ryan saw Spike asking Sweetie Belle to dance, and the two of them made their way to the floor. When Spike saw Ryan watching he blushed, and Ryan raised a glass to him in congratulations.

Ryan also saw the girls dancing with various stallions. Twilight was with some orange guard with a blue mane who came here with Shining Armor and Cadence, who were also dancing together. Shining was giving a death glare to the guard every chance. Applejack danced with someone Ryan didn’t know, as did Pinkie and Rarity. Rainbow Dash was sort of on her own, but looked to enjoy dancing with Braeburn, AJ’s cousin.

Finally, off at the main table, Mac and Fluttershy were freed from everyone’s graces and could hit the dance floor. Ryan was expecting a slow dance song to play, one that he wasn’t sure Cinny would be so interested in dancing to. When they approached the dance floor, that was what started playing. But Mac and Fluttershy weren’t interested, and gave a quick nod to the DJ with the electric blue mane.

A different song came on, and Mac and Fluttershy took the center of the floor and led the way through the night. With tha kind of lead, who couldn’t go to dance? Everyone; royals, spirits of chaos, regular ponies, the human and maid of honor, and the little ones, all piled onto and around the dance floor, forgoing any thoughts of preserving dignity and dancing into the night.

Everyone started doing a square dance, picking the right partner and just having a blast. Spike and Sweetie, Scootaloo and Rumble, Apple Bloom and some dotted guy, Ryan and Cinny. The most ridiculous, though, was Celestia and Discord. It was weird, seeing those two having fun like normal ponies. It made the atmosphere so joyous and fun that no one even seemed to care about who Discord had been to them for so long.

Eventually, the dancing and the songs finished up, and Mac and Fluttershy said their goodbyes and ran off to a carriage to go somewhere “more private-like”. Mac carried Fluttershy on his neck the whole way s she could wave goodbye to her friends, who waved and cheered to her as she went. None of them seemed to be thinking about the context of where they were going, which was far from lost on Ryan. He gave Mac a quick salute as he looked out from the carriage one last time before going to parts unknown for the honeymoon.

When the carriage was out of sight, ponies started making their ways home. Ryan didn’t, though. He still hadn’t had any of Pinkie’s cake. There was still a little bit left of the massive wedding cake, so he quickly made his way back under the tent to snag a piece.

He picked up a big piece and made his way to a table. He was the only one sitting inside the tent now, as the others were finished for the day. The princesses were heading home, to either Canterlot or the Crystal Empire, and all the girls were eager to get to bed after such a great event. Ryan was still awake, though, and he wasn’t alone.

Discord entered behind him, floating and doing his best to be silent. Ryan knew he was there, though; a guy his size has trouble breathing silently. Ryan swallowed his first bite and gestured with his hand for Discord to sit.

“Come on, sit,” Ryan said. Discord snapped himself over and sat across the table.

“Not heading home?” Discord asked.

Ryan took in a deep breath. “I am. Just not yet.”

Discord nodded. “Not just ready?” Discord asked.

“I still need to have my cake and eat it too,” Ryan replied.

“I love cake,” Discord said, snapping his fingers and getting a piece. “Mm, this is good!”

“Pinkie’s got talent,” Ryan said.

“So how has life been for you?” Discord wondered.

“You’ve been there the whole time,” Ryan said. “Why don’t you tell me?”

“I wasn’t always there,” Discord said. “Not the week that Fluttershy ‘reformed’ me. Nor several other weeks and individual days throughout the months you’ve been here.”

“Months, huh?” Ryan repeated, staring at nothing. “Feels shorter. Not even a year here.”

“Good times,” Discord said.

“Yeah,” Ryan replied. “Good times.”

Discord waited for a moment before standing. “Well, I should be going back to Canterlot, I guess.”

“Shouldn’t you be coming into Canterlot?” Ryan replied with a grin.

Discord chuckled. “Not any time soon, I’m afraid.” He put a paw on Ryan’s shoulder. “Good to have you back, Ryan.”

“Always a pleasure,” Ryan replied. In the blink of an eye, Discord was gone with a flash, and Ryan was left alone in the tent.

Ryan finished his cake and left. Cleaning ponies would take care of it in the morning, so all he did was move a few chairs and make things orderly before exiting. When he left, no one was outside, and there was only a cool, late night breeze, caressing his face. The lack of light in the night made everything around him too dark to see, but it didn’t mean anything. The dark didn’t scare him.

He looked to the sky. Up there, there were millions of stars, planets, and other astronomical phenomena lighting up the world as he knew it. Every little thing in the universe was there, giving something to him and his friends and family. Everything contributed something.

One slow step after another, Ryan walked back to Carousel Boutique, his ponyville home, and kept his eyes on the sky, thinking about what he would do and what was left for him. He didn’t smile or frown, his pace didn’t change. He knew what was left.

It made him sad, in some ways. But he knew that it had to happen.

Where the Heart Is

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Where the Heart Is

“Stories never end; we just stop writing about them.”

It had been a couple of weeks since Mac and Fluttershy returned from their honeymoon. A lot of ponies were constantly pestering them for details about what they did, how they did it, where they went. They said that they went to Rainbow Falls, but kept tight-lipped about what they did there. Just as well; it was not anyone else’s business.

While they were gone, and after they returned, Ryan had to get some writing done. It wasn’t anything huge, not books, biographies, or memoirs. They were just a series of notes for a few ponies he knew. Writing them was harder than he expected, actually. He expected to be able to get it done quickly, just a few short notes. He found himself wanting to write all-out books for them, but the notes had to be short. It was hard to find the right things to say.

When Mac and Fluttershy came back, Ryan, Soarin’, and Fancy Pants were all there to drag Mac off to the bar. At first, Mac was intent on sticking to Fluttershy like a birr to a bathing suit at the beach. It was only when Fluttershy told him she was exhausted form the trip and thought he should spend time with his buddies that he went.

They spent that first night drinking expensive things, with Ryan running through the majority of his money as quickly as possible. He bough everyone’s drinks that night, and no one objected to his generous actions. Rarity had come off on him a bit. So did the other girls, though, so no one in particular could take credit.

Over the next couple of weeks, leading up to where Ryan sat now, Ryan considered what he was doing. Did he want to do this? Was it necessary? Every time he thought about it, he came to the same conclusion; he needed to do this, and as much as he wanted to stay how he was now, he wanted to do it.

It was a lot of contemplation for such a short time. Ryan was used to that, though; it was all he had really been doing for months.

With the notes in his pocket, his gun under his SEAL jacket, his Shen around his neck, and every last bit he had, he sat with his best buds at their usual table in their favorite watering hole. Cinny was here tonight, serving them their drinks and sitting down with them when she could, much to the envy of the other stallions in the bar. They were making a raucous of laughter and slamming mugs on the table in celebrating whatever they could.

“So then, when Fleety flew through the hoop, I grabbed her hoof and pulled her down to me and held her like that while we fell into the water!” Soarin’ announced proudly.

“And how did that work out for you?” Ryan asked, chuckling. Cinny sat on his lap.

“She was soooo mad,” Soarin’ said. “But she found it funny later, which was the whole goal.” He grinned devilishly. “And she, uhh, forgave me.”

Ryan smiled and laughed. “Sounds like a good way to work it out,” he said.

Cinny shook her head. “You boys are so silly,” she said.

Ryan patted her shoulder. “And yet, you mares can’t get enough.”

“True enough,” Cinny replied. She hopped off Ryan’s lap. “I should keep working, my shift ends soon and I don’t want to get in trouble.”

“You look tired, Cinny. Why don’t you stay on Ryan’s lap?” Fancy proposed.

Cinny laughed. “As much as he would like me to, I am pretty tired. I think I’ll hit the sack soon.”

Ryan put his hands over his groin. “What?” he said.

Cinny giggled. “No, not yours,” she said. With that she said bye and walked off.

The guys continued talking at their table, bringing up anything entertaining. Special Someponies, business deals gone terribly off the train tracks, funny training stories, siblings, anything. Ryan remembered stuff from America and his childhood that was simply hysterical. A lot of the cultural references were lost on the guys, but they got the universal humor.

They stayed at the Salt Lick for a good, long time that night. Cinny left, as did most of the other patrons, and the guys quieted down to avoid being that group that just makes to much noise. Ryan looked around; Oktoberfest was cleaning glasses behind the bar, other ponies were just paying their dues, and the guys only had their remaining drinks left. Ryan had been careful not to have too much too fast. The other guys were similar. But Ryan did it because he had one last thing to say to his best friends.

“These have been some great times,” Ryan said. He was already choking up; it wasn’t easy.

“They sure have been,” Mac said.

“Ditto,” Soarin’ said.

“Simply fantastic,” Fancy replied.

“Yeah,” Ryan said. “I don’t think I’m ever gonna have times like these ever again.” He looked up at the guys.

The guys all looked at his eyes and knew what he was telling them. They didn’t need to hear him say it. They knew what it meant. To an extent, they had all sort of expected something like it to happen eventually. It didn’t stop them from feeling sad though.

“Every man needs his family,” Fancy Pants said.

“Family is the only friends you’re ever guaranteed,” Mac said. “Ah know that. And you never abandon your friends.”

“Sometimes, you might leave friends, but they’re never really gone,” Soarin’ said, thinking about teammates left and lost. “They’re always there, in your memories and your heart. You’ll always be here with us, Ryan.”

“And you guys will always be with me,” Ryan said. Tears started welling up in his eyes and slowly streaming down his face. “You are the best friends any man could ever have. It’s been an honor to know you.”

Everyone stood up and left the booth. After leaving bits and huge tips on the counter for Oktoberfest, they stepped outside for their last goodbyes.

“I trust you’ll stay classy, Ryan,” Fancy Pants said.

“Always classy,” Ryan said, taking Fancy’s hoof in his hand. “And you know what? No man will ever match your craftsmanship.” They released and Fancy stepped back.

Soarin’ came up. “It’s been good flying by your side,” he said, taking Ryan’s hand. “You can be my wingman any time.”

Ryan chuckled. “I’d gladly have you as lead pony any day of the year.” Ryan hugged Soarin’. “Stay safe, flyboy.”

With that, Fancy Pants and Soarin’ made their ways home, Fancy heading to the train and Soarin’ flying off. Ryan was left alone with Mac, the first real friend he had in Equestria. It seemed fitting, in a way.

They exchanged one look and started walking to Sweet Apple Acres. The whole way there, they didn’t say a word, just walked side by side. Neither of them needed to say anything, as the silence sang between them.

So you’re heading out.

Yeah. It’s hard, but… I want this. I love this world, but I want to go back home.

Y’know y’all are always welcome here. Ah’d have you in my home any time you need.

Thank you. But I don’t think I’ll be needing it.

Ah know. Ah just wanted to tell you.

They arrived at the farm and stood by the gate, still silent. Ryan looked out over the field at the first real job he ever had, here or in America. It had supported him, gave him a means to life and to find his purpose and survive. The Apple family had provided so much for him.

“So. This is goodbye,” Mac said, looking out over the fields. “Ah never really knew what to expect it to be like.”

“No one can,” Ryan replied, also looking out over the fields. The moon shone bright in the night sky, casting a light glow on the land before their eyes. “We all just have to take it in stride and keep on going.”

Mac turned to Ryan and stuck his hoof out. “It’s been real good, Ryan,” he said.

Ryan took his hoof and shook firmly. “Times like these,” he said. “We learn to live again. I learned from you. I hope you remember me, for that if nothing else.”

Mac released. “Ah’ll never forget you.” With that, he turned around and started walking away to his new home in Fluttershy’s cottage.

Ryan watched him go for a while, and when he disappeared from sight, he put his hands into his pockets and leaned on the fence. Doing this was the hardest thing he had ever done, but he had to do it, and he was doing it. He still had more.

He pulled the notes out of his back pocket and looked them over. Applejack. Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash. Rarity. Twilight Sparkle. One for each, written personally for each. Nothing long, but to Ryan, there was more meaning that way. He tried to pack as much as possible into them, but he was afraid that there wasn’t enough to say what he wanted to. But he had what he wrote, and he knew that the girls would know what he wanted to say.

He started walking, first to the barn. The dirt crunched under his feet as he walked up. There were no lights on anywhere, and the door was closed. When Ryan approached, he gingerly pushed the door open and walked in. Carefully, quiet as a church mouse, he made his way up the stairs to find Applejack’s room.

When he found her room, he gently pushed the door open and saw her sleeping by the window, the gentle moonlight revealing her snoring face to him. Ryan smiled a little bit, despite the solemn occasion. These ponies were adorable.

With a few small steps and a quick hand movement, he left the note on her dresser and made his way out. As he left, he couldn’t help but wonder what was going to happen in the morning. The notes would be all that was left of him.

After Applejack, he went to Pinkie Pie. Getting in there was a much greater challenge, what with sleeping babies and it not actually being Pinkie’s house, but the Cakes’. H did it, though, and when he found Pinkie Pie, sleeping curled up into a little ball, he dropped her note on her dresser. Before leaving, he just had to stick his hand into her mane and see what he could find. Oddly, all he got was her head, which he lightly scratched, earning a happy moan from the little pink mare.

When he left, he nearly bumped into the wall of the babies’ room. He glanced inside quickly and saw them, lying there peacefully in the night.

Next, he stopped by Fluttershy’s house. This one was the hardest because he knew Mac could still be up. As he made his way there, he contemplated how to go about this. Getting up the stairs would be hard, and he didn’t want to be seen. When he arrived at the house, he looked up into the windows for any signs of conscious ponies.

Before he could go in, he heard a low growl behind him. Slowly, Ryan turned, and none other than Mr. Bear was there, staring him down. Ryan put his hands up.

“I’m not here to do anything to hurt anyone,” he said. Mr. Bear saw the paper in Ryan’s hand and raised an eyebrow. “It’s a note. For Fluttershy.”

Mr. Bear got it. No longer growling, he walked up to Ryan and stuck his paw out. Ryan understood and put the note in it.

“I’m trusting you to get this to her for the morning,” Ryan said. Mr. Bear nodded and took the note, then walked into the cottage to place it somewhere Fluttershy would find it.

Ryan looked at the cottage one last time before leaving. “Good job, you two,” he said. Then he left.

Rainbow Dash’s house was close to impossible. She lived in the clouds, so getting there as far from easy. Ryan had to snag that balloon of Twilight’s for the journey, plus a conveniently located cloud walking spell scroll in it. Twilight didn’t put it there, he could tell. But he didn’t care. He was just glad to have it.

Getting up to the cloud house was hard, what with the winds, and maneuvering it so he could step onto Rainbow’s home was a logistical nightmare. He didn’t know what the clouds would do. When he landed, the balloon thankfully didn’t fall through, and he was able to step off. Getting into the house was easy; he could just shove his way through cloud walls, then fix them.

He didn’t need to creep around here, the clouds made no noise at all. Other than his breathing and the frustrating amount of nose his pants made when they rubbed together, he was totally stealthy. Rainbow snored like a wildebeest, too, though, so stealth was not priority.

When he found her, snoring like said wildebeest, he tested her bookshelf to see if the note would fall through. It didn’t. In one of her books, he found a book mark. Taking the book from the shelf, he replaced the book mark with his note and left it on Rainbow’s nightstand. Rainbow’s name was visible on the note outside the book, so she would see it.

When he left, he brought the balloon back to its spot and made it look as much like he did nothing with it as possible. He wanted the ponies to wonder how he did it.

Next came Rarity, the mare who took him in off the streets and ditches and cleaned him up and made him presentable. Back home, doing that made you a hero, an angel on Earth. Here, it made you Rarity. Ryan was more thankful to her than he could express with words, so her note was the hardest.

When he arrived at the boutique, he just walked right in. No one was awake, so it was an easy matter of walking about. He climbed the stairs and went to Rarity’s room, but she wasn’t there. When he checked Sweetie’s room, he saw her there, with her sister, sleeping like little angels. Ryan looked on contentedly, happy to see the sight before he left. He dropped the note on her horn, poking it through so no words were lost, and made his way down the stairs.

Before he left, though, he went to the basement. His living space was in a mess. To be courteous and minimize his signature, he tidied up the place, making the bed, moving old clothes, and cleaning the floor. Ultimately, he decided to put the clothes in a drawer, where they wouldn’t be seen nor likely found, and left the room

Last note. This one was just a small slip of paper, just a few words. But those words said it all. He had thought hard about this one. Twilight was the one who convinced him to give Equestria a chance. She was the reason he was where he was today, at least, the first reason. She deserved the best, and the best was just a few words.

When Ryan arrived at the library and walked in, he had to find something very specific. A wrapped up thing he gave Twilight months ago, a gift that he knew she would want to have. He didn’t know why he gave it to her at the time, but he did, and he was glad he did. It took some searching, but eventually, he found it.

When he found it, he slipped the note under the string that kept the paper closed. He was honestly just a little surprised that Twi hadn’t opened it already. But she was really respectful of him, and Ryan would always think of her as a friend. When he left, he gave her one last salute as he made his way to the last stop in Ponyville.

His last stop was Cinny’s house. He hadn’t written a note for her. No words were even remotely able to say what he wanted to say. Instead, he had something else to give her.

When he got there, he looked over the house. She had fixed up a few things since he last saw it. It was repainted, the grass was replanted, and the windows were cleaned up. She had really overhauled it, by the looks of it. Ryan would happily have lived in this house, had he been able to.

He walked up to the door. He stood before it for a time, just remembering everything that he did with her. She let him stay here when she found out where he lived in the ditch. She had him here for Hearth’s Warming. She was always there at the bar, happily hanging out with him and his buds. She was always there with him, always ready to spend time with him. She even invited him to meet her family.

Ryan pulled off his jacket and set it on the doormat, splaying it out so that it lay open. Then, he pulled the gun off his back and looked at it. This gun had served him well. He never used it for evil intent, unlike his previous guns back in Asia. This one, and Harris’ Automag, had been good. Used for evil, but not for evil desire.

Ryan unchambered the final round, the one he didn’t use in the Southern Gryphon Colonies, and held it in his hand. This round had been meant for him, this last one. The Wraith would have used it on him, anyone he had fought would have. Even Ryan was going to use it on himself. Like a sniper after taking down his attacker, Ryan took the round and planned to keep it. The round was meant for him, so he was going to take it.

He let the slide shoot back forward and pulled the trigger, getting a light click from the gun and watching it shut. Gingerly, he placed the gun in the jacket and folded the jacket around it so that it was still visible. He looked down at it. There were no words, but it said everything. The SEAL trident underneath the .45 caliber pistol. Everything Ryan had done. Everything he was going to do. Ryan turned to walk away and do one last thing before heading out.

The door behind him opened with a creak, and he stopped.

“Ryan?” Cinny asked, clearly not sleepy. She had been waiting.

“Hey,” Ryan said, not turning.

“What’re you…” She looked down. “Oh…”

Ryan turned. “Yeah,” he said.

She looked back up. “So I guess this is it,” she said.

“It is,” Ryan replied.

Cinny walked over the jacket and gun and leaned into Ryan. “You have to go, don’t you…”

Ryan hugged her. “I do.”

“I can’t understand…” Cinny said, starting to cry a little. “I don’t think I could. But I know that you have to. I won’t stop you. But…”

Ryan looked down at her, and she looked up. Her eyes were shiny and wet from tears, but in them, Ryan could see that she knew. She didn’t want to accept it, she didn’t want it to happen, but it was going to happen.

“I love you.” Cinny pressed her head back into Ryan’s belly.

“I love you too,” Ryan said. Cinny swallowed and stepped back, then jumped up and put her hooves on Ryan’s shoulders. Ryan put his hands on her back to stabilize her.

With one sad, yet proud, movement, Cinny moved her face forward and met Ryan’s. They shared one long, emotional kiss, with no sobs or movements during. The world froze just for them, so that they could enjoy their last moment together. Tears streamed down both their faces, but neither noticed as they finally gave that last acknowledgement of how they felt. There were no sparks, no fireworks in their minds. It was too important to let something like that distract them. They were wholly in tune with each other, absorbed by each other’s presence. Nothing else was in their minds or eyes or senses; just each other.

They released, and Cinny looked into Ryan’s eyes. “Go and be what you were meant to be,” she said. “I’ll miss you.”

Ryan hugged her close. “A wise pony once said to me” he said. “People may come and go, life may go on without us, but we are the ones who decide our fates. We may have limited time, but since when can time tell us what can and can’t happen in what it gives us?” He squeezed Cinny to himself. “It can’t.” Cinny squeezed him back, then lightened her grip.

Ryan released her and put her down, then stepped back twice before turning around and walking away. Cinny watched him go, tears of sadness combining with tears of pride and joy as they fell to the ground in drops as thin as the light from the stars. When Ryan disappeared from sight, Cinny continued to stand there, as if she could still see him in the distance.

Ryan stood in the grass, looking at his little project of the last months. He never really put proper thought into it, did he? He put survival thoughts into it, but nothing else. It was a terrible idea from the start, and he was thankful to be rid of it.

No one else knew, except maybe Discord. It was his secret place. Or it was.

Ryan had put quite a bit of effort into this place. Furniture, fire pit, safety, warmth, everything that one would need to live. Not comfortably, but he wasn’t concerned with that at the time. He was a fool back then.

He had everything he would need. Before him, a line of powder snaked around and into the mouth of the cave. In his hand, he had the lighter from inside. With a flick of his finger, he opened up the top and made a little fame and dropped the lighter.

He didn’t turn back to watch as he walked off, only heard the massive explosion when he was already beyond the tree line and far away from the cave that he never needed.

The train ride to Canterlot was quiet. No one else was on board. It made sense; who used the train at midnight?

When it stopped, he got off, and was greeted by a ghost of a platform. The guard on station was asleep, letting him slip by unnoticed. He walked through the quiet city, taking in the night sights as best he could before leaving them. It as a beautiful city, clean and tastefully done. The princesses built up quite a place for themselves.

Ryan walked all the way to the castle, where there were plenty of guards but none who seemed to care about him. They just nodded to him as he passed. They knew him well by now as a friend of the princesses, so he was cool.

Ryan walked through the castle halls for the last time. He didn’t have much in the way f memories here, but this was where Luna lived. Ryan wanted to remember it as her home, the pace where she lived like a normal pony. He had always known her as a normal pony, so he wanted to keep that image.

He wanted to go to the garden, but before he could get there, he was stopped.

“Hey, Ryan.”

Just ahead of him, Ryan saw Starstep, walking through the hall.

“Starstep.”

“So, what brings you here?” Starstep asked.

Ryan put his hands in his pockets. “I think you know.”

Starstep nodded. “I do. Luna doesn’t. She doesn’t know you’re here.”

“How did you know?” Ryan asked.

“Word travels fast in the guards,” Starstep said. “As soon as you walked up to the castle, the guards saw and started talking.”

“So you wanted to say goodbye?” Ryan asked.

Starstep nodded. “Yeah. But I also wanted to say thanks.”

“Thanks?” Ryan asked.

Starstep nodded. “Yes. I know what you did. No one else does, but I know.”

Ryan took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “That wasn’t me,” Ryan said. “Harkness and his stallion friends did that. I don’t know what happened.”

Starstep smiled and nodded. “Well… Harkness will always be remembered for his actions. He saved my best friend.” Starstep walked past Ryan, and patted him on the shoulder as he passed. “The hero Harkness will always have a place with the guard.”

Ryan smiled. “Harkness would appreciate that.”

Starstep continued through the hall n his patrol, and Ryan walked on to the gardens onto his final location.

He entered the gardens and started walking more slowly. This was such a serene place, so quiet and unmoving. As far as he knew, besides adding new statues, nothing changed in here. It had always been perfectly green and maintained. Ryan liked it here, where there were no problems or fights. It was a good place to take a break.

Ryan decided to do just that. He went and found a bench and sat quietly and stilly, taking in the area around him. Up above, on the wall, was Luna’s balcony, which he would have to climb up to. There were vines and pieces of stone jutting out form the wall, so it wouldn’t be hard. He could take his time here.

The bushes and shrubs were all perfectly shaped squares, and the grass was all identical in height. His bench, unlike most, was level on the ground, making it easy to sit on. When he was finally ready to go, he stood up and started walking.

“So this is it for now,” a voice said.

Ryan stopped. It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t. Slowly, he turned around. There, not far away from the bench on the path, was the Wraith. He was standing there, hands in his pocket, smiling in a way Ryan never thought he could.

“You can’t be alive,” Ryan said, facing him full-on. “I killed you.”

“I can’t die, Ryan,” the Wraith said. “You always knew that, deep down.”

“What do you want?” Ryan asked. “You can’t replace me, not any more.” The Wraith looked at Ryan funny, like he didn’t understand. “You’ve lost. Get over it.”

“I’ve won, actually,” the Wraith said. His mile looked genuine and he looked happy for some reason. “My goal was achieved. I just came to see you off.”

“What?” Ryan asked.

The Wraith nodded knowingly. “Tell me, Ryan. What was I here for?”

“You were here to take my place and spread your evil in this world,” Ryan stated matter-of-factly.

The Wraith shook his head. “No, not really. I’m surprised you believed that; I made it up on the spot.” He sat down on the bench, letting his arm lay on the back. “So why was I here?”

“To kill me?” Ryan guessed.

The Wraith shook his head again. “I would have done it long ago if that were the case.”

“Why are you here, then?” Ryan asked. “What did you want?”

The Wraith leaned his elbows on his knees. “I’ve only wanted you to find who you are,” the Wraith said. “That’s what I’ve always wanted for you. For anyone.”

“Bull,” Ryan said.

“Not so,” the Wraith said. He stood up. “I’ve been there from the start, Ryan. Since before you came here. How do you think you arrived here? Do you think Discord did it? Does he?”

Ryan blinked. “Wha...”

The Wraith looked to the stars. “Tell me, Ryan. How long have you been good?”

Ryan shrugged. “Uh… a couple of months, maybe?” he answered.

The Wraith shook his head. “You were never bad, Ryan. I saw you become misguided, but you were never bad.”

“Wraith, I did terrible things, fully of my own will,” Ryan said.

“Misguided,” the Wraith said. “Were you evil when you came here?”

“I was,” Ryan answered.

The Wraith nodded. “Alright. Why, then, didn’t you do anything evil?”

Ryan blinked and shook his head. “I… I did. I stole, fought ponies, I-“

“Those aren’t the kind of evil either of us is referencing,” the Wraith said. “You were never bad.”

“How do you even know?” Ryan asked, frustrated.

The Wraith looked him in the eyes. “When you found Fleetfoot being attacked in an alley, did you not stop to save her?” the Wraith asked.

“Yes,” Ryan answered. “But I was looking for you.”

The Wraith smiled. “And when you found Rainbow Dash, you tried to save her. Why did you run so hard to get her to safety?”

“I saw you in the forest, and I had to get Rainbow away from you,” Ryan answered.

“Why?” the Wraith asked.

“Because you would have hurt her,” Ryan said. He didn’t get what the Wraith was saying.

“And when the Cutie Mark Crusaders were attacked by a bear, did you not fight that bear to save them?” the Wraith asked. Ryan nodded. “Why?”

“I had to protect them from you,” Ryan answered. “What is this?”

“And when we fought in the Colonies, why did you fight so hard to kill me?” the Wraith asked.

“You said you would hurt my friends,” Ryan replied.

“Exactly.” The Wraith walked up to Ryan and stood two feet form him. “An evil person would have let any of those terrible things happen. He would have done nothing to prevent them, and yet you, who you insist is evil, put yourself in harm’s way to save them. How can you be evil?” Ryan didn’t have an answer. “And what can you tell me is similar about all of them?”

“You were there,” Ryan answered, starting to put the pieces together. “You made me do those things.”

“I didn’t make you do anything,” the Wraith said. “I presented you with a situation, and you responded how you would. Because you are a naturally good person. No one was ever in real danger, because I was there, watching. The bear gave me a scare, so I had to jump in on that one, but I made sure no one was killed or permanently hurt.”

“Why?” Ryan asked.

“Because you forgot that you’re a good person, Ryan,” the Wraith said. “I was just trying to remind you.”

Ryan just looked at the Wraith. “What are you?” he asked.

The Wraith put his hand on Ryan’s shoulder and patted him. “You know exactly what I am,” he said. He walked past Ryan down the path.

Ryan waited for a moment, trying to comprehend what he just learned. When he finally understood after precious seconds, he turned around to say one last thing to the Not-Wraith. When he turned, though, he was gone, not a trace left of him anywhere. Ryan stared at the space for a moment before smiling inside to himself and saying what was on his mind.

“When you see two sets of footprints, I walk beside you,” Ryan whispered. “When you see one, I am carrying you.” He understood what that phrase meant now. Ryan heard the crunching of grass behind him.

“So that’s why He was here,” Celestia said.

Ryan turned to see her. “Wait… you knew?” he asked, surprised.

Celestia nodded. “I saw our friend at your birthday party, through the window,” she explained. “I didn’t know what brought Him here, but I knew it had to be serious. I guess you were in need of some guidance.”

“More than some,” Ryan said, looking back to where the Not-Wraith disappeared.

Celestia nodded. “Aren’t we all,” she said. She leaned down to have her head level with Ryan’s. “I know what you did. The entire Night Guard is in your debt. As am I; Blazer and Starstep said they would reestablish the Nighthawks together.”

“Ma’am, with all due respect, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ryan said, turning to her. “Starstep knows. That was Harkness who brought Blazer home. I don’t know who he is or was, only that he, supported by wings, a horn, and hooves, was able to bring that stallion home.”

“Of course,” Celestia said with a smirk. “I understand.”

“Harkness did just about all of it,” Ryan said. “Most ponies, as far as I would know, don’t even know the name Ryan. Only those who were closest to him know.”

Celestia nodded. “I understand,” she said. “I can cast the memory spell-“

“I don’t know what you’re telling me,” Ryan said. “I don’t have a reason to know.”

Celestia nodded. “Very well.” She looked up to Luna’s balcony. “I suppose it is time, then?”

“It is,” Ryan said.

“I’ll help you,” she said. With her magic, she started lifting Ryan up.

“Thank you, Princess Celestia,” Ryan said. He shot her a salute as he landed on the balcony and turned away for the last time. Celestia, for her part, simply walked back to her chambers as if she had never seen Ryan that night or ever.

Ryan carefully walked into Luna’s room and spotted her instantly on her large round bed, looking more ungraceful than anypony he had ever seen. Her tongue was lolled out and she was drooling on her pillow. The sheets were everywhere, and it looked a bomb had fallen. Nothing smelled off, so it was safe.

Ryan approached the bed and stood there for a moment. He wanted to give her a big hug, but that would wake her up, and he didn’t want to disturb her. Slowly and gently, he ran his hand across her soft face and through her ethereal mane. His best friend. He was leaving her here, but he knew she could always see him. And he wasn’t leaving without a goodbye.

With a quick movement, Ryan removed his Shen pennant and held it before his face. This necklace represented a lot of him, more than he could describe. Without making much noise, Ryan left it on the nightstand beside Luna’s bed, right before her face. He gave he roe quick kiss on the cheek, then left her presence.

He walked into the library and played with the book case until it disappeared and revealed the staircase. Before going down, he looked back one last time. He was leaving this world. He wanted to get one last, good look at what it had to show him before leaving.

When he got what he could, he descended down the stairs to the pool. It took some time. At least, it felt like it did. For all he knew, it was dozens of miles of stairs. More like thirty feet, really. When he hit the bottom, some torches on the walls lit up to his presence, revealing the pool.

He looked down into the pool. It was day time in New Jersey, and his old yard was still the same as it always was. He didn’t know if Luna was watching or if it changed automatically to his presence, but he didn’t care. The front door to his house was closed, but he could see activity through the windows.

With closed eyes, a deep breath, and a leap of faith, he fell forward into the pool and left Equestria.

Ryan opened his eyes. He was lying on his front lawn. The familiar grass tickled at his face, telling him that he was, indeed, alive. He gripped some of it in his hands. It was sharper than he remembered it being, and it poked him in his palm.

He stood up and looked around. It all looked the same as it used to. The little old lady’s house across the street… the neighbors being blocked off by lines of trees… the huge house down the street on the corner… it was all there. Just like he remembered.

He turned to his home and looked up and down the front. It was all there, brick and wood and glass. He walked over to the front door. It was still white, though some of the paint was gone. Th doorbell was still broken, forcing him to knock. With a closed fist, he rapped his fist n the door three times.

After a few tense seconds, the door started to open.

“Yes, can I…” it was his mother. “Help…” She started to cry right there. “Ryan?”

Ryan felt his face grow wet. “Mom…”

His mother fell forward and grabbed him in a tight hug, which her son happily returned, and they fell to the ground, where they kneeled in each other’s embrace. In the house, Ryan could hear loud footsteps coming to the door and then slowing to a stop as they approached. They immediately sped up until there were four people, huddled together on the ground at their front door.

No one else saw it, no one else came running. And it was exactly what Ryan wanted it to be.