Looking on The Inside

Chapters

Haunting Memories
Please, Please, I Need You
Just Leave Me Alone
I Need You
Notice

Haunting Memories

Chapter 1: Haunting Memories

Snow gently fell over the land of Equestria blanketing almost every nook and cranny in a soft velvety coat of white. Surprisingly, the rural town of Ponyville was abuzz with life like any other day despite the rather uneven ground and somewhat poorly cleaned roads. Many of the towns folk walked around merrily, some dressed for the weather, some doing fine with just a scarf and cap, and others fine without any such clothing. The foals and fillies happily played about in the snow; having snowball wars, sledding, skiing, and decorative building of snow structures were some of many activities they all enjoyed to partake in.

Elsewhere in the rural town of Ponyville near Sweet Apple Acres Farm, which was currently shut down for the winter season. A pair of boots crunched evenly into the hard snow, leaving odd cracks and craters in the otherwise perfectly smooth landscape. Black boots with sharp teeth clawed away at the snow unforgivingly, a pair of snow pants comfortably snuggled inside the heel of the boots. A thick black jacket with blue stripes on the shoulders was wrapped tightly around a tall man, who wore a scarf that hid everything below his honey-brown eyes to protect his face from the cold merciless frostbite that tried to nip at any exposed tan skin. He shivered slightly as he carefully adjusted his cap to further protect his ears and the back of his neck from the low temperature to make sure that his spiky hair wasn’t slipping outside of the warm tight embrace of the dark blue cap.

A somewhat large home loomed onwards in the distance, its red tiled roof and yellow brick design where the only noticeable details as the rest of the property was deeply buried in snow. For some reason, he felt as though he was being watched, but thought nothing of it as he focused on getting too said home and out of the cold atmosphere.

A cyan colored pegasus who was generally known as Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier in all of Equestria, was currently bored out of her mind. She wanted nothing more than to head outside and take a roll in the wide open, but chilly skies. Between the low temperatures, high winds, and currently falling snow; the idea seemed ridiculous in and of itself. Rainbow Dash sighed in boredom and walked into the bedroom she shared with her human lover, her eyes not quite wanting to make visual contact with anything in the room except for the window she took a liking to staring out of. Looking out over the nice view of the town, usually helped relax her when she felt tired, sad, or stressed.

As she looked over the peaceful landscape however, a figure caught the attention of her sharp eyes. It seemed to walk on two legs, and was dressed completely in winter clothing, only leaving three distinct features that made her heart sink when she realized who it was.The honey-brown eyes, the short spiky locks of brown hair that slipped out from his cap and the exposed bits of tan skin made her eyes widen in shock; her heart fluttering out of control. Just the sight of him filled her with a feeling of dread and panic, her mind racing to find some sort of logical reasoning as to why he went so far out of the way to visit them in the middle of moderately bad snow storm.

She awkwardly hurried out of the shared bedroom and paced around the second floor of the house; walking back and forth between the many hallways that connected to the different rooms. The poor pegasus was so distracted and flustered by her dilemma that when the doorbell rang she nearly jumped high enough to smack her head into the ceiling from the unexpected fright. Surprisingly, she managed to keep quiet and not scream. Quietly, Rainbow Dash walked over to the top of the stairwell trying her best to stay concealed from the angle of the stairs to observe their interaction.

The door opened and inside, a man stood almost equal in height to the person dressed in winter clothing. His ivory skin was so pale, that the comparison between the two was like comparing night to day. Piercing blue eyes looked on in curiosity at the person who stood silently outside, wiping some of his somewhat long locks of blonde hair out of the way and tucking them behind an ear.

“Surprise.” Was the only thing the tan figure said.

"A surprise indeed Aramis. What's brings you around this part of town?" he asked with a curt tilt of his head in questioning.

"I was just in the mood to catch up on things, Ryan," the young man answered back with a small grin on his face.

"Not a problem in the slightest,” Ryan replied stepping aside to let his friend in.

Aramis quickly walked in; glad to get away from the frosty air. He took off his coat and cap, hanging them on the hooks placed inside the hallway. Gently, he pulled off his gloves and shoved them inside one of his coat pockets and followed Ryan into the private study located just ahead of the opening hallway. The two walked slowly, an amicable silence shared between the two in blatant disregard of their observer. Aramis politely pulled the doors together, leaving them slightly ajar.
Rainbow Dash carefully floated down the staircase and peered in at the two humans who walked towards the further end of the study. Ryan took a seat at the desk and Aramis sat across from him. It seemed as though they were preparing for a lengthy conversation so she focused her ears intensely in their direction and heard the first pieces of their conversation.

"So how's life been for ya these past couple of weeks Ryan?" Aramis started off politely, hoping to work some form of conversation.

"Between doing accounting work for the mayor and trying to manage the budget for the plowing crews, it’s been just dandy," he replied sarcastically earning a chuckle from his closest friend.

"Wouldn't have it any other way?" the young man questioned with a grin.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Ryan replied with an equal grin. He looked over some paperwork for a couple of moments before looking back at his close friend.

"How have things been going for you? Did you manage graduate from Fluttershy's animal care course?" curiosity clear in his voice.

“Aced her class with flying colors and since then, I've been trying to train myself in understanding the animals with their needs, questions, and standard analyzing when taking care of wounds." A soft smile tugging at his lips in remembrance of the fun, if slightly trying experience he gained when he took the course from the humble yellow pegasus.

"That is a mighty fine accomplishment if I do say so myself,” his friend complimented.

"It's kinda funny just how far we've made it in Equestria after being so hopelessly lost when we first got here,” he commented offhandedly, the memory of their arrival bringing a smirk to his lips.

"Gotta agree full-heartedly with you there bud. After the whole car crash, I would have never expected that we would be given a second chance..." Ryan spun his chair around and stared out the study window.

(V) (;,,;) (V)
~Line Break~

It had been roughly around the middle of December of 2009 when a sleek black SUV drove up the side of a long winding road. Pine trees, cliff faces, and snow whizzed past it, as it steadily climbed its way up the side of the mountain, long black windshield wipers diligently wiping off any excess snow. Its bright white headlights barely managed to illuminate anything within a couple of feet in front of it. It was currently Ryan's turn to drive and they had more than fifty miles to go before they would reach the next rest stop on their journey through the scenic route of New England. Aramis quietly slept in the passenger seat, hoodie pulled low to keep any bright-lights from bothering him.

A yawn sneaked its way passed his lips, his eyes lazily fluttering as he fought to stay awake, but found it increasingly difficult to resist the temptation. Ryan rubbed at his eyes with one hand while steering with the other. The road ahead was slowly becoming hazy and blurred as sleep started to overtake him, its grasp ever so gentle and soft, soothing out the aches and mental exhaustion he felt from the nonstop driving. His head nodded off, his hands barely maintaining a tight grip on the steering wheel. He was almost fully asleep, when a long sound cut across the storm. It blared through the mountain side like the call of a wild animal, but he paid it no mind.

Suddenly, a large eighteen wheeler appeared through the snow storm, it's loud horn startling Ryan. The truck was nearly driving on the oncoming lane and if he didn't do something about it things would get messy. With a hard tug on the steering wheel, Ryan jerked the car roughly to the right so fast that he nearly crashed into the guardrail, narrowly avoiding it by mere inches. Unfortunately, he was too concerned with straightening out the car that he didn't see a large patch of black ice up ahead.

The SUV immediately spun out towards the other side of the road, and no counter steering or braking could prevent it from sliding across the road. It smashed into the tail of the large truck, the force of the turning truck sending the car sliding back towards the other side of the road, clearing the guard rails and throwing the car into free fall.

The moment the car went through the barrier, Aramis was awoken from his nap; eyes bleary, his mind trying to make sense of the situation at hand. When he looked out the windshield, however, he began to struggle to get a hold of his bearings. They were falling off the side of the mountain, and the feeling of weightlessness started to kick in.

With a loud crash, the car made contact with the rough incline of the mountain side, Ryan trying his hardest to get the car to stop driving down the slope; but to no avail. He tried turning the car parallel to the direction he was driving in, but with the snow and uneven ground in the way, it seemed nearly impossible to do. A cliff edge loomed dangerously in the distance; the empty abyss below it seemed almost welcoming with its indiscernible features. A large rock stood proudly just before the edge. The sight of it made Ryan struggle even harder to gain control, until an idea popped in his head.

If he pulled the emergency brake and rotated the car so it would be parallel to the cliff edge, he could use the rock as a cushion to stop their steep descent on the mountain side. Ryan counted the seconds in his head, trying to come up with a good timing for when to pull off his bold maneuver. He managed to count to ten before he slammed the brakes, pulled the emergency break, and with a hard tug on the steering wheel, managed to quickly twist the car parallel to the cliff. Ryan sighed in relief and closed his eyes, as his heart was slowing down from all the adrenaline. However, the moment was short lived, as the momentum was too much for the rock to bear and sent the car flipping over the now inconveniently-positioned rock. The car was promptly sent into another free fall, rolling over itself into a quick descent towards its end at the bottom of the cliff. The two held on as tight as they could, eyes closed in preparation of their imminent deaths.

It rocketed faster and faster until it landed upside down. Immediately upon impact, the windshield of the car blew out, sending glass in various directions. Its hood crumpled instantly from the force, sending parts of the engine and chassis out the bottom of it; cables, wires, and parts coming loose. Various flammable fluids began pooling inside the car’s hood; hydraulic fluids, gasoline, and oil lubricant mixing together in a dangerous cocktail of easily combustible liquids.

Ryan and Aramis, dazed from the harsh and unforgiving impact, were, at the moment, completely unaware of the deathtrap they were locked in. Aramis was the first to rouse from the state of near-unconsciousness he was caught in, and quickly started shaking Ryan in a hurried attempt at waking him up. It was in vain, however, as he just hung limply upside down, blood trickling down his cut face.

Aramis’ slight rocking of the vehicle sent disconnected wires into contact with the pool of fluids, igniting them in a fire which quickly progressed into a full scale explosion, consuming the two young adults in a massive and deadly fireball. Neither of them had time to shout as the explosion killed them instantly, burning them with the intensity of a sun, using their bodies as fuel for the intense inferno of fire and metal that crackled brightly in the dark like a bonfire.

(V) (;,,;) (V)
~Line Break~

The two sat there in a contemplative silence, thinking over the catastrophic accident that brought them to the magical land of Equestria.

Even Rainbow Dash seemed thoughtful about the accident that brought them to her world. Hearing it again after such a long time, still gave the same intent feeling of fear, danger, and a hint of awe. She shook her head, as if to clear the thoughts and once again paid close attention to the two friends who sat there in silence.

“...You know, even after all these months, I still can’t get over her...” Aramis commented quietly from his seat, his eyes set forward with a faraway look.

“I’ve told you once and I’ll tell ya gain bud—you need to forget about you two being an item and move on. There are plenty of fish—er ponies in the wild. I already have Rainbow Dash and we don’t need anypony to come around and try to screw things up for us, “his friend answered back, his chin raised above his hands as he inclined on them.

“You do not need to get so boastful about it you know,” Aramis answered back roughly.

“Well then, you shouldn't have involved her in this conversation then,” the ivory skinned man replied back smugly, tucking a stray lock of blonde hair behind his ear.

“Really? That I shouldn’t have involved her? Are you serious Ryan!? I can guarantee that you’re the reason I barely got to spend time with her. Even YOU know that there’s no way she could be constantly so busy that she couldn’t magically make time for me,” Aramis’ temper was rising like molten lava, and his ire was beginning to tire out rather quickly from Ryan’s smug attitude.

“I did no such thing at all Aramis. I just happened to know when to make free time with her, without it coinciding with her day to day stuff,” Ryan said in a dismissive tone, brushing off the accusation as though it were nothing more than a small ball of lint on his shoulder.

“Shut the fuck up Ryan! I'm so sick and tired of your fucking bullshit. You know as well as I do, that your relationship with Rainbow Dash isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Quit the fucking act... you’re probably treating Dash exactly like how you treated Alexa,” he said angrily, his frustration and anger overflowing dangerously.

Suddenly, a sharp gasp cut through the tense argument, and neither made any sign of acknowledging it. However, Aramis took that as a chance to leave; not wanting to say another word to Ryan, lest he wanted to fully lose his temper.

Aramis stood up and glared down, his honey brown eyes narrowed and staring intently into equally angry piercing blue eyes, “Words cannot sum up the disgust I feel towards you right now. You’ve disappointed me in more ways than I thought possible,” his anger and frustration seemed to radiate off him in hot and fast waves.

“Do I look like I fucking give a shit? Go drown yourself in alcohol... that’s probably the closest thing to a lover you’ll ever have,” Ryan shot back, a smirk pulling tightly at his lips.

"It’s better than being a-- you know what, I'm not even going to bother to finish that sentence; because if I did, I think I'd personally kill you right here and now..." the threat hung sharply in the air, but Ryan's composure refused to falter.

Aramis stared at him for several moments before turning away from Ryan and walked away from him as calmly as he could muster. He opened the door and smiled, though the feeling didn’t quite match his eyes.

“Hello there, Rainbow Dash. Do pardon me for holding him up. I didn’t know you needed to see him,” he said politely, courtly nodding to her in greeting.

She stood there, rooted to the spot, unable to conjure up a coherent response in the midst of the shock that recoiled strongly through her.

Rainbow Dash looked between the two, focusing steadily on the subject at hand. How could Aramis have known that she was being abused? Maybe that's just what Ryan is like to all females. That somehow made her feel better, as she now thought that it wasn't too much of a personal thing against her, or so she hoped, but even then the seed of doubt rested deep inside her.

She couldn’t gather the courage to look into his lifeless honey-brown eyes that seemed full of nothing but sadness. Gone was the bright, honey-brown color that looked so deep, so full of mystery and life that anyone could’ve stared into his eyes for hours without feeling even the slightest bit of boredom, and replaced were the eyes that looked nothing like how she had remembered them. They barely held any color; the liquid honey-brown reduced to a flat and even tone that looked unnatural. The life held by those lovely eyes had died a painfully slow death. His posture, which had always been regarded as being full of class, was completely different now. It no longer looked regal, charming, relaxed, and peaceful. If anything it seemed tired and broken; defeated yet hardened, sort of like a veteran who had seen and understood things that no one deserved to experience.

An awful feeling of guilt slowly built up deep inside her, only furthering her inability to look at her friend as a realization dawned upon her. It hit her like a ton of bricks. She was part of the reason he had become so broken. Not because she didn’t make enough time for him and her to talk and hang out. Not even because of the failed blind dates she had insisted on setting up for him, while she went out and had a ball with Ryan, but because she misunderstood his feelings for her. She had broken him into pieces because she rejected him for her love of Ryan without ever being considerate of his feelings. The thought of it made her inside turn into tight knots full of sadness, regret, and guilt.

Rainbow Dash tried to close her eyes tightly and shake her head to clear the thoughts that ate at her conscious, but it proved to be futile as a tear slipped down her muzzle and fell onto the hardwood floor with a loud drip.

Aramis sighed dejectedly and bent down onto one knee as he pulled her close to him, “Aww, please, Dashie... don’t cry. It isn’t your fault in the slightest... I shouldn’t have tried to go for somepony who already had their eyes set on somepony else. I’m so sorry for putting you on the spot all those months ago Dashie. That was unfair of both Ryan and I—it was far too unreasonable and demanding now that I look back on it,” he said to her sincerely, trying his hardest to hold back the tears threatening to overspill.

He held her tightly in his arms and leaned down, parting her bangs before placing a soft kiss on her forehead, “I don’t like to see you cry Rainbow Dash. It hurts to see a beautiful, intelligent, and loyal pegasus such as yourself cry. I always love to see you smile, to see you laugh. Heck, even seeing you boast about your achievements makes me smile. There’s nothing that could make me hate you. Don’t ever forget that Rainbow Dash,” with that, Aramis stood up, grabbed his stuff, adjusted it, and quietly walked out the door.

Once the door had closed, she sobbed quietly to herself. She had murdered her best friend from the inside out.

Ryan watched her sob on in the same position Aramis had left her in for several moments. Calmly, he walked over to her and looked at her for a moment, trying to find the right words to say to her, “Rainbow, why don’t you head upstairs and take a nap? It’ll make you feel better since sir asshole doesn’t know how to be respectful of other’s feelings,” the ivory skin man suggested in a smooth and even tone.

She only nodded her head before slowly walking up the steps, not caring enough to take a second glance at him. The room still looked as lifeless and still as it always had... it just didn’t feel lively to her at all. Ignoring his advice, Rainbow Dash pulled up to the window just in time to see Aramis stomp away quickly through the snow, gloved hands inside his pockets. A long while had passed as she intently stared at his retreating figure, and she stood there unmoving until he disappeared from sight, the town of Ponyville just off in the distance. She looked away from the window before she laid on the floor, legs tucked into her body; her face covered by her hooves as she violently shook, sobbing the entire time.

Her tears dripped to the ground like minuscule, crystalline drops, dispersing upon impact with the polished wood beneath her. Each tear of guilt, of grief, of regret fell onto the cold unforgiving polished wood, breaking apart like glass. It was as if the cold numb realization froze her tears as they slipped down her muzzle. Each tear broke like glass, sending shards of glass onto the floor. The sobs began to softly quiet, the pegasus perked up, watching as her sorrowful tears were reduced to bits of glass that cut into her front hooves.

Around her, the room appeared to spin and expand. Either that or she, herself, was shrinking within its dark, unforgiving walls. They loomed above her, growing dark and threatening. The windows and doors slapped on faces of their own, grinning madly and cackling at her. Shakily standing, the pony slowly began to back away, horror filling her teary violet eyes.

Whipping around, she promptly bolted, trying to get away from the teasing smiles and the terrifying walls. However, even as she ran as fast as she possibly could, she didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Those madmen glued to the walls still grinned. Still cackled. It was like they were holding her back. Forcing the ground before her to stretch and expand. Their black, teasing tendrils broke up from beneath the floor, causing her to let to a surprised scream. She desperately tried to dodge them, even as they reached for her.

“You’re treating her just like Alexa!” his smooth voice echoed endlessly throughout her mind. How did he know about that? How did he know about how Ryan had treated her? Abused her? Made her feel like there was something wrong with whom she was? If her closest friends didn’t know, just how, how could he of all people know her deepest, darkest secret she kept to herself? Just who was Alexa and what did he mean?

At the peak of her horror, everything seemed to fall to ruins. The appendages began ripping at the wood floor, tossing pieces into the air and revealing a hopeless expanse of nothingness beneath it. Tripping on a piece of broken wood, Rainbow Dash fell head first into the dark pit. It seemed to welcome her in its own sickening, caressing and tender way; swallowing her up, even. She tried desperately to whip out her wings. To fly to safety. Anything to get away from the darkness that tried to wrap around her, but to no, horrifying avail...

The darkness had surrounded her...

Had taken her in...

She screamed as loud as she could...

Please, Please, I Need You

Chapter 2: Please, Please, I need you.

“AAAAAHHHHH!” Rainbow Dash screamed as loud as she could, eyes open wide in fear, her ears standing tall, trying desperately to pick the sound of the taunting laughs, the never ending whoosh of the darkness that swallowed her; even her wings were spread wide, her fight or flight senses on edge. She gasped as her lungs pumped oxygen into her body, working as if she had been running a marathon and trying to maintain a clean level of oxygen in her brain. Sweat trickled down her face, causing her rainbow mane to stick to her forehead, which almost obscured her vision in a multi-colored veil; almost protecting her from the darkness around her. Even her legs were sporadically twitching in fear; refusing to cooperate with her in the slightest, as if her body was still fooled by the nightmare she just had, still reliving the memories from months ago as though they had just happened.

“Rainbow...” a gruff voice cut across through her panic. She took a few more moments to try to calm down before facing her partner, Ryan.

“Yeah...” she whispered back to him, her breathing slow, deep, and steady, but her eyes still moved around rapidly, as though on the lookout for any imminent threat.

“Go back to sleep Rainbow...” he told her, raising his head to look over her at the alarm clock, “It’s barely even four thirty in the morning. We both need our sleep... please, try to get some more...” he yawned deeply into his arm, “...sleep. I gotta go to work in a couple of hours and I need my rest just as much as you need yours, Okay?” The pale, ivory skinned man was very irritated about being woken up yet again by her nightmares and wanted nothing more than to get back to sleep and rest up.

She was quiet for several moments as she let his statement sink in. With a sigh, Rainbow Dash rolled over to face the alarm clock and blankly stared ahead, “Okay, I understand,” she answered back with a defeated tone.

The cyan pegasus simply laid there and blankly stared at her dresser, trying to tire herself out and possibly get more sleep. Her eyes gently fluttered closed and for a moment, sleep’s comforting and caressing embrace seeming to envelope her, until his voice resounded clearly in her mind, “It isn’t your fault in the slightest... I shouldn’t have gone after somepony who already had their eyes set on somepony else,” his voice was just as heartbroken, weak, and apologetic as the day he had last spoken to her so many months ago.

Rainbow Dash tried her hardest to say something, but she couldn’t find the strength to say anything, anything that could make things alright. Something to comfort the breaking man in front of her and assure him things would be okay. Yet all she could do was stand silently and watch the events unfurl in front of her. She tossed and turned, trying with all her might to fight against the cruel nightmare that haunted her nearly every time she tried to sleep, but found it futile. The mare got fed up with trying to sleep so she groggily woke up, quietly flapped her wings, and carefully floated off the bed without waking up Ryan.

While still being quiet so as not to disturb Ryan; Rainbow Dash slowly tiptoed towards the dresser and stood in front of it, staring at her reflection. She took a long look at her reflection, and grimaced at her appearance. What was once a beautiful pair of deep, violet pink eyes now looked dull and almost lifeless. Sure the competitive spark remained in them, but it seemed to be the only thing that kept them from looking completely lifeless. Dark rings rimmed the edges of her violet eyes and at first glance seemed as nothing more than exotic eye liner, but upon closer examination it was clear that the cyan pegasus had gone many a night without sleep. The expression on her face looked defeated, tired, and weak; a far cry from the strong mare many had come to know her as.

With a shake of her head, Rainbow Dash passed a hoof through her messy and tangled mane, straightening out quickly and efficiently. After combing through it with her hoof for several minutes, her hair looked neater, though it was still too fluffy. She shook her head and gave a small smile of content as the rest of her mane fell into the usual messy style she was accustomed to. Quietly, Rainbow Dash walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs, past Ryan's study and into the well-stocked kitchen, grabbing a seat at the breakfast table.

The mere thought of the nightmare kept her on edge to the point she just sat there. She sat there and didn't dare move an inch, nor bat an eyelash; anything that could keep her away from the cruel, merciless nightmare that haunted her dreams nearly every night. It was almost maddening. Time seemed to flow around her at such a speed that her mind made no attempt to comprehend as to why the ticking clock had so suddenly moved from four in the morning to nine in the morning. Rainbow Dash stared blankly ahead until the sound of loud footsteps on the stairs snapped her out of the trance she was in.

The ivory skinned man walked in, adjusting a blood red tie around the silky black collar of his long sleeved dress shirt. He took a seat across from his lover and took a good look at her solemn expression.

"Rainbow, you okay?" he asked her softly.

"Yeah... why do you ask?" the same tired tone laced deeply in her usually edgy voice.

"What do you define as okay? You woke up crying late last night and I'm pretty sure you sat down here for the rest of the night," Ryan stated in an even tone, wanting to figure out her problem.

"I—It was nothing!" Rainbow Dash insisted, her eyes looking away from his, almost as if she were afraid that his eyes could see her inner turmoil. Thinking quickly on her feet, the Pegasus flashed him a seductive smile and asked, "How's the weather doing today?" Rainbow Dash hoped that would be enough to keep him from questioning her further on the topic.

He gave her a small smirk in return and held a hand to his chin, pondering her question, "It’s somewhat cloudy out there, but at least it's sunny for the most part," he glanced over at the clock and stood up, “I gotta get going to work, Dash; I'll see you later." Ryan leaned in to give her a kiss on the lips, but she turned to the side and took it on the cheek. He hurried out of the house, a small tight frown on his face, as he grabbed his jacket and shut the door.

The moment the door closed, she sighed in relief; her face lowering into her arms as she lay against the cool surface of the table top. She felt glad he had to leave to work, but at the same time she felt that she should have at least kissed him on the lips. The cyan pegasus might not be at her best, but that shouldn’t be an excuse to not even kiss her lover... or was it? Taking a look at the clock, she almost cursed when she realized she was about to be late to her best friend Fluttershy’s breakfast gathering she was having today at her place with the rest of their close friends.

Without taking a second glance, she zoomed out of the kitchen, grabbing her key chain and securing it around her neck. She halted at the door and opened it, making sure to lock it behind her before she took off with a rocketing blast; sending snow in every direction.

Taking to the skies, Rainbow Dash smirked as she flew out at a casually fast speed, the air seemingly molding about her thin figure. Her wings flapped in small but powerful bursts so strong that it seemed as though she was floating quickly through the skies. Ponyville came into view, its colorful roofs and homes shining brightly in the partially cloudy skies. She veered to the right and steered herself in the direction of the Everfree forest. Slowly, she descended from her preferred high altitude and steadily made her way to the ground, landing softly by Fluttershy’s cottage.

Rainbow Dash walked up to the door, shaking her rainbow mane every which way in an effort to get the static out of it, and rapped on it once. Several moments passed before a yellow pegasus with a bubblegum- pink mane and deep cyan- green eyes opened.

“Hey Rainbow Dash. I’m so happy you could make it!” she said excitedly in her quiet tone.

“So am I. I’m sorry if I almost ran late, I kinda got held up at home and stuff,” Rainbow Dash
apologized; a cheeky smile on her face as she rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment.

“Come in and join us Rainbow. Everypony else is here and we're just about to have breakfast,” Fluttershy insisted, glad her friend was able to make it just in time.

Rainbow Dash walked in, and the small smirk she had on face just from the simple act of flying had bloomed into a friendly smile, although it still couldn’t quite reach her sleep deprived violet eyes. The other girls had been excitedly chatting up a storm until Applejack had taken notice of her.

"Howdy there R.D., how ya doin'?" the orange colored farm mare greeted from her seat.

Before the cyan mare could respond, a pink blur shot from the table and knocked Rainbow Dash clear off her hooves, "Oh my gosh Rainbow Dash, how are you!? It’s been forever since we've last seen each other and we haven't hung out in such a long time and it’s been FOREVER since we've last played we a prank and—" Pinkie was suddenly silenced mid-speech by Rainbow Dash's hoof being inserted into her mouth.

"I'm happy to see ya too Pinks!" she giggled at her friends over enthusiasm. Applejack walked over to them, wanting to help them up when she saw Pinkie Pie wink at her. She just smirked and nodded her head in approval. Pinkie seductively smiled at Rainbow Dash and slowly sucked on her hoof as if it was a—

"Pinkie! Cut it out, we’re supposed to be having breakfast, not watching you pretend to get it on with Rainbow Dash, darling!" Rarity chastised, bouncing her beautifully curled purple mane over her shoulder. Everyone laughed at Pinkie’s joke, even Rainbow couldn't help but laugh despite how weirded out she felt by Pinkie's dirty euphemism.

After all the girls got the laughter of their system, they all sat down at the kitchen table and chatted away while Fluttershy delicately placed pancakes on everypony’s plate. Once they had all been served, everypony began to add small little touches to their plates like cherries, raisins, maple syrup, or strawberries. Fluttershy quietly ate and watched her friends interact amongst themselves.

“So Rainbow Dash, how have you been these past few weeks?” Twilight spoke up, wiping some excess maple syrup off her face with a napkin.

“I’ve been *munch* doing pretty good, just *munch* busy wiff *munch* work,” she answered in between bites of her pancakes.

“Where ya’ been all this time R.D? I’ve barely seen ya’ anywhere and you’re always going off sum’where. Is everythin’ okay?” Applejack asked her, the concern clear on her face.

“Like I said Applejack, I’ve just been busy with work. A lot of assignments, errands, and stuff,” Rainbow Dash insisted before stifling a deep yawn with her hoof.

“If ya’ say so Rainbow. Ah’ hope them ponies at the weather factory take it a bit easier on you once all this extra work is finished,” the cowpony looked over at her friend and noticed just how tired she seemed, but knew better than to get on her case and try to question her about it.

Until then, Pinkie Pie had also quietly sat there and looked on at her friend’s conversation and decided to speak up, “Rainbow Dash, I don’t think you’re okay,”

“What makes you *yawn* think that?” she asked, her patience beginning to run out with all the personal question her friends kept asking.

“Well you keep yawning and your hairs all over the place instead of in its cool, crazy manner. You look like you haven’t slept in months and you’re all gloomy and not smiling and your eyes look all—”

“Will you get off my case Pinkie Pie!? For Celestia’s sake, why is everypony suddenly so interested in all my personal business!? Can you all just please, please just leave me alone!” Rainbow Dash yelled angrily before standing up in a huff and flying out a nearby open window.

“Rainbow wai—”

“Applejack, I think its best we leave her alone for now. I really think that some of us shouldn’t have pressed the issue,” Twilight pointed out, slightly upset with the way Applejack and a certain pink pony had treated Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie, for her part, looked sadly at her plate.

(V) (;,,;) (V)
~Line Break~

Rainbow Dash angrily flew off through the high skies, refusing to stop even after the cowpony tried to reason with her. Pinkie Pie wasn’t in any position to be questioning her appearance, nor trying to butt into her personal affairs. To make matters worse, she was supposed to start clearing the skies over the town in preparation of the late afternoon rainstorm Ponyville would be going through, but the frustration and anger she felt was just too much for her.

“Screw clearing the skies. Somepony else can get off their lazy haunches and do something around here for once,” she angrily scoffed at her remark and continued to fly onwards. Her anger just kept boiling to such an extent, that Rainbow Dash wasn’t quite paying attention to where she was going.

“Look out below!” a voice shouted distantly above her. She didn’t really care and flew anyway until something smashed onto her on the head, sending her plummeting to the ground.

The rainbow mane pegasus tried her best to gain control of her flight in the midst of her fall, but she was so distracted and unable to focus, that her wings refused cooperate with her. Luckily for her, the welcoming branches of a tree caught her shortly before snapping under her weight and sending her to the ground with a loud thud. Rainbow Dash looked up at the sky, her vision swimming violently from one side to another. Colors and shaped blended and blurred together as she dazedly tried to stand up, only to fall flat on her face. For several minutes she laid there, unaware of another fellow pegasus who stood there worriedly.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to drop the refrigerator on your head!” she heard a voice bounce around in her head. Shakily, Rainbow Dash turned her face in the direction of the voice and the first color she saw was grey. Looking up, she immediately knew who it was. The bubbles cutie mark, blonde mane and tail, and bright yellow eyes identified the pegasus as Derpy Hooves.

“Derpy?” Rainbow Dash slurred, her head lolling from side to side.

“Are you okay!?” Derpy shouted. She lent down and cradled the downed pegasus’ head in her hooves with delicacy.

“Sure... just give me a few minutes,” the cyan blue mare answered back. She let her head rest for a couple of more minutes before she took another attempt at standing up on her own. This time she was successful. She took a few wobbling steps before Derpy ran in front of her.

“I'm so sorry,” Derpy exclaimed, “but I have to make sure you are Ok.” Derpy pulled out a flashlight and shone it into Rainbow’s eyes to check for a concussion. Rainbow pulled away from the bright light.

“I’m fine, Derpy. You don’t need to do that,” Dash said. She tried to walk away, but fell over into the dust. Derpy walked over to her, as she struggled to her feet.

“See what I mean? Here, let me finish and you'll be right as rain in no time!” Derpy said, as she pulled Dash to her feet, “Now hold still,” several minutes passed as Derpy fixed Dash up. She finally finished and patted Dash on the head. “I'm so sorry about that again, have a muffin. It will make you feel better,” she said, as she brushed some dirt off of Rainbow.

Derpy looked at her for a minute noting her disheveled appearance. “Are you feeling alright? You don't look so good. Is it something at home?” she asked the pegasus.

“I’m bucking fine Derpy! Or at least I was until you dropped that damn package on my head!” Rainbow shouted at the gray pegasus in frustration. “Don’t you have somewhere to be or something for Celestia’s sake!?” Her patience was rapidly running out, especially with everypony questioning her mood purely on her appearance.

Derpy craned at the sun for a secon,. “Oh no, you’re right!” she gasped, “I'm going to be late!” she flew up into the air, “Sorry Muffin, I have to go or I’m going to miss the mail call,” Derpy flew off towards Cloudsdale.

Rainbow sat on the ground staring at the muffin in her hoof for a minute. “What was that?” she looked at the receding dot headed towards Cloudsdale that was Derpy. “Did she just... how? UGH can this day possibly get any worse now!?” She shouted angrily, her face flushing a deep red in anger.

She sat there for many minutes, her rage and anger heating up more and more, as her mood declined faster and faster. Not even the delicious muffin she had eaten did anything to lighten her mood. Rainbow Dash was just so fed up with people being on her case and trying to inquire her about her business. It was aggravating, rude, and borderline obsessive in her opinion.

The frustration she felt kept her distracted for so long, that when she cared enough to look up at the sky, she had noticed just how much later in the afternoon had gotten. Her eyes widened for a moment, as she realized that work at the weather station was about to start and she needed to get her butt in there as fast as possible.

With an angry huff, Rainbow Dash took off as fast as she could to continue her valiant attempt to get to work. After flying up for a few minutes, she finally arrived at her destination, the Ponyville Weather Factory. The state of the art facility was built with the latest in pegasus technology, to provide easier assistance with weather tasking, scheduling, and efficiency. That also left the equipment as an easy task to upgrade to even newer technology.

She landed with a loud thud on the workers bay and pushed her way past the workers that had been waiting on her. Many had noticed her foul mood whilst either flying through town, or in her anger towards the other workers. Nopony dared ask the pegasus about it for fear of having her anger unleashed upon them.

“Alright everypony! You all better be ready to get this rainstorm rolling or so help me Celestia I will bite one of your heads off!” Rainbow Dash barked angrily at her workers in an unusually angry voice than what was expected of her as manager of the Ponyville weather department.

Everypony saluted her and began to quickly set up for the nearly all day rainstorm and began to send out thick black thunder clouds into the air for a while until enough clouds covered almost all of Ponyville. Once the clouds had been evenly distributed, several pegasi flew out of the weather factory and hopped on some clouds to get the thunder rolling across the town and eventually came back to the station. Rainbow Dash knew it was her cue to finish it up and get the rain going and with an angry glare, she flew out of the station and went over to a massive cloud in the middle of town.

She hopped on it, but no rainwater came out of it. Again, she hopped on it with just a bit more force, but only managed to send a few droplets, if any, to the ground. Rainbow Dash grit her teeth in anger and flew up before quickly slamming into the cloud with all the force she could muster, causing it to rain instantly from that cloud. She felt so frustrated with everything that had gone wrong that day that she began to angrily slam onto clouds, causing the rainstorm to become increasingly denser until a powerful torrential rainstorm had been formed. Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash was too frustrated, angry, and annoyed to notice or care and just angrily huffed back to the station to attend to other business.

The thunder clouds continued to gush rain in sheets. They rumbled with thunder before beginning to grow in size and ferocity. They raged on without control and began flooding the low-lying areas of the poor town below. The nearby river burst its banks just to add to the whole mess. All the while, the clouds went on pouring down rain uncontrolled.

(V) (;,,;) (V)
~Coffee Break~

Aramis slowly trudged down the street, not caring a single bit about the unforgivingly cold and pelting rain that had assaulted him out of the blue. His black trench coat was almost instantly soaked through by the pouring rain and his long brown hair became plastered to his head. Still, he walked calmly ahead, his dress shoes sinking somewhat into the muddy ground. He was on his way to the more seedy part of town, the underground life of Ponyville that was more or less kept out of sight. The human walked past the town square and stood in front of a nondescript apartment and quickly rapped twice on the big wooden door before knocking lightly a third time after a small pause.

The door opened and two burly brown stallions stood at the door and looked him over for a moment. He gave them a curt nod, which they returned and ushered him inside, cautiously closing the door to prevent any prying eyes from getting a glimpse inside. Aramis went down the stairs and suddenly had his senses battered by all kinds of smells, sounds, and sights. However, he took a seat on a bar stool without a care in the world. The bartender took a single glance at him before sliding him a bottle across the counter. Aramis took the bottle and turned to survey the rest of the room.

A darkly lit parlor greeted in his eyes; pool tables, dart ranges, card table, and regular tables were littered all over the large room. The smell of fried foods, alcohol, and sweat permeated the air. It was overwhelming at first, but deep and atmospheric after a couple of drinks with the bronies hanging around. Somewhat loud music syphoned across the entire room, the vibrations being felt through everything.

The stench of harshly brewed alcoholic beverages was one Aramis had come to know quite well. Day after day he sat inside the dim interior of the Ponyville Pub, wasting his money, getting drunk, and vomiting outside. He was not as elegant as he once was. His dark brown hair had grown long and messy, dark bags had formed under his eyes, signifying the lack of sleep he put himself through. The murmur of voices drifted across the room like smoke from a campfire. Aramis sighed and turned around to face the bar again. His head dropped, staring at his feet and the filthy wooden floor; his hand curled around the bottle, containing a mix of chemicals that both intoxicated him and wore him down from the inside out.

His clothing was still as pristine as it had always been; he hadn't let his laundry slip as much as he had his appearance but; when one considered appearance, clothing played a large part in defining who you were. Aramis raised his head and put his lips to the bottle, tilting it back and letting the bitter fluid drown his sorrows. He groaned and set the bottle back on the bar, ignoring the fact that it toppled over and rolled dangerously on the polished wooden surface. The bartender turned from his duties which consisted of running a filthy rag over the top of the bar. He sighed as he took in Aramis' disheveled appearance. The bartender had seen him many times in the spot he sat in now, drinking and drinking. With another sigh, the sympathetic pony approached the human, shaking his head at the absurdity of Aramis' condition.

"Hello... hey, you still in that noggin' of yours," he waved his hoof in front him, still not getting any sort of reaction from him, "Alright, I’m giving you to the count of three or I'm giving you a wakeup call," he warned.

"One," the bartender tapped the tanned man's cheek, his body still as a statue, eyes staring unfocused into the beyond.

"Two," this time he tried to slap Aramis awake with more force, but it barely made him react. Aramis’ eyes blinked, but he still refused to acknowledge the barkeep.

"Three!" the barkeep let loose a powerful left hoof that knocked Aramis clean off the stool and onto the hard unforgiving wooden floor. He pathetically moaned in pain, as the bartender went around the bar and helped him back onto the stool; returning to his position right after.

"Did you really have to hit me so hard, ya’ git?" questioned the young man with a slightly lopsided grin.

"Well, ya’ wouldn't react. Almost thought you were dead on yer feet or something,” the barkeep answered off-hoofedly while cleaning a shot glass before placing it below the counter. The two fell quiet for a while until Aramis decided to break the strike up a conversation with the bartender.

“How’s business been here in the past couple of days?” Aramis asked the bartender, staring longingly into the latest in his countless beer bottle collection.

“It’s been a bit slow with the recent lack of ‘em pegasus workers, but it ain’t too bad, as some new foals decided to join da’ Ponyville Pub and take a shot at da’ underground life,” he answered, as he cleaned another shot glass.

The human chuckled at the thought of the new foals. “How have them new foals been holding up?”

“Well they haven’t gotten too rowdy and I gotta say two of them— a stallion and a mare can hold their own. Give or take some five or six visits, and we’ll be havin’ new members to the roster.” he commented, a bit excited at the prospect of more new people to talk to.

Aramis sat there quietly for a long while after the conversation trailed off, drinking beers and staring absentmindedly into the empty abyss in front of him. He suddenly sighed loudly and laid his head down on the bar, "Man, what am I doing here?"

The barkeep shrugged, "Drinking, moaning. Forgetting,"

"What a waste! What a life!" Aramis cried out, but he didn't stop there, he continued on with his drunken speech, "I could have had a chance you know! She could have been mine, but I fucked it up. I... I didn't try hard enough I guess." Some bitter tears spilled forth from Aramis’ eyes and he angrily rubbed them away to hide his shame.

The bartender repeated his shrugging motion and slid another bottle of beer down the bar towards Aramis who caught it in thankful hands. It didn't take long for the distraught man to finish his drink. From that point onwards, Aramis drank and drank and drank until he literally couldn't tell his right hand from his left. Hours had passed, but to Aramis it seemed like mere minutes. He laughed loudly, disrupting the bar’s once peaceful attitude and the bartender sighed at him.

“You’re wasted Aramis. Ya’ need ta’ go home, alright?” he suggested.

“I don’t wanna *hic* go home!” Aramis said as he drunkenly stood up.

“Brutus, Cassius, can you please kick him out? He needs to go home and get some rest,” the bartender said with an air of finality.

“Awww *hic* come on! This is *hic* bullshit and you *hic* it!” the human complained.

Before the situation could escalate any further, the same two bouncers who had let him in "escorted" the man out of the bar. That consisted of Aramis being grabbed roughly and kicked out of the door. Rain and mud greeted the vision of the very drunk and distraught man. Aramis had landed face down in the muddy street and groaned as he attempted to get to his unsteady feet. His disoriented hands reached out for the wall but they failed to locate it and the intoxicated young man landed in the mud again.

By this point he was drenched in mud and was absolutely filthy. He crawled along the slimy road, vomiting several times in the process. Aramis felt his eyelids grow heavy and he began to doze off despite being in the middle of the street and the fact that it was raining.

(V) (;,,;) (V)
~Line Break~

A pony with midnight blue hair trotted down the street in a jacket that covered her purple coat and hid the sprinkled stars that formed her cutie mark on her flanks. A tightly sealed bundle bounced against her sides, just barely containing all the books she had received from Canterlot, courtesy of Princess Celestia herself. She wanted Twilight to study psychology for some reason. When she pressed for more information the Princess had simply said, “It will come in handy when the time calls for it,” and had left it at that. She had briefly read one of the books titled The Inner- workings of The Mind and Psyche. Although the idea of studying psychology seemed rather odd at first, Twilight was very excited to learn about it since it was the chance to learn something new.

The excitement of reading something new motivated her to try to get home even faster. As she hurried through the plaza, she almost tripped over a form lying on the ground, covered in mud. She examined the prone figure and gasped, recognizing the downtrodden figure of her friend.

"Aramis! Oh sweet Celestia, please be okay..." the purple unicorn muttered worriedly, as she strenuously lifted him onto her back. She adjusted his limp body to prevent him from falling and trotted quickly in the direction of his home, which was just nearby her place.

He groaned in his semi-conscious state, as he slumped over Twilight's back. Buildings passed by his half open eyes, blending together in an array of muted colors and dark shades. He felt chilled to the core from the cold rain, and began to shiver. His long hair stuck to his face as he coughed brutally, causing his friend to increase the speed of her walking. Soon Aramis' house loomed up ahead and Twilight pushed open the door with her magic, carrying her very intoxicated friend inside. The house was warm and Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, as the house's temperature washed away the feeling of the cold; unforgiving rain.

She struggled to reach the living room and soon Aramis was lying haphazardly on the couch. His eyelids opened slowly, revealing the bloodshot eyes of a man filled with regret. There might have a been a tear or two welling up in the corners of his eyes, but they vanished as soon as he blinked them. Twilight sighed and sat down nearby, preparing to lecture her human friend on the dangers of drinking, but he stopped her before she could speak.

"Please...don't leave..." Aramis pleaded quietly, the melancholy and sadness he felt, was only intensified by the constant alcohol intake he had put himself through the entire day.

"What's wrong Aramis?" the unicorn asked, ready to take action at a moment’s notice.

"Everything!" he exclaimed as he burst out sobbing, his entire torso shaking from how hard he cried.

Twilight was shocked at his behavior. In all the time she had known him, she had never seen him cry, but it hurt to watch the man break apart even more at the seams. Twilight approached him and nuzzled into him, her warmth radiating around him like a blanket of safety. He hugged her fiercely and refused to let go until he had calmed down, which was okay with her. Aramis needed somepony to help him, and if she didn't, then who would?

Once he had calmed down enough, Twilight shifted herself in his embrace to face him,"I think you should talk about what's troubling you," she had a good feeling that it would be an uphill battle to get through to him, especially with him being drunk.

"No..."

"Why not?"

"Because I'll just be a bother,"

"No you won't, just talk to m—"

"I don't want to fucking talk about my problems! It’s no one’s business, but my own to reflect on how much of a failure I am," he trailed off bitterly into the couch so as to avoid her fierce purple orbs, that were determined to get to the bottom of the barrel and pull her friend out of the dark hole he had dug himself into.

"What exactly makes you feel like a failure? What has you so deep into this depression you’re going through?" Twilight was beyond determined to help her depressed friend.

"Do you really want to know why I'm so down?"

Twilight nodded anxiously, "Of course I do!"

Aramis bit his lower lip before continuing, fingers gripped in a tight fist. "I coulda’ tried harder Twilight! I could have fought! She slipped away from me and now... now HE has her."

"Who has whom, Aramis?"

The broken man drove his fist into the couch as he stared over Twilight's shoulders and at the wall behind her, "It's all dark now, all purged in black. Every day I stare into the bottoms of beer bottles, every day I drag myself home and wish that it was all just a bad dream, but it's fucking not!"

Aramis stumbled to his feet this time, but only stood for a second upright before tripping over himself and falling through the glass table across from the couch. He smashed through the glass top and became entangled in the iron framework, cutting him quite badly. Twilight attempted to help him but he pushed her away and wearily pulled himself out from the broken table. He kicked over chairs and slammed his fist into the drywall before finally tripping on the edge of a rug and collapsing to the hardwood floor. It was a pitiful scene to be sure. A man who once had been the very pinnacle of etiquette and happiness was now crawling around on the floor of his home drunk, bleeding, and crying. Hot salty tears had started their way down his cheeks, as he laid face down on the floor, sobbing.

Twilight sighed and knelt next to him, observing the very image of inner turmoil. Aramis was covered in cuts both superficial and serious that formed many blood stains on his shirt. The erudite pony dragged him to his bedroom and carefully deposited the human on the large bed before leaving for several minutes. Twilight returned with several bandages and a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide, most likely scavenged from Aramis' bathroom. She unbuttoned his shirt and exposed Aramis' damaged chest. Cuts decorated the smooth skin, pieces of sharp broken glass sticking out of many of them.

One look at all the wounds made her wince at just how bad he managed to hurt himself just by tripping over his own feet. Quickly, Twilight used her magic to steadily pull out the glass shards embedded in his chest and for the most part it worked efficiently. Unfortunately, some of the deeper lacerations required more hands-on work in the form of her having to use her hooves to spread open the injury, pulling apart damaged and bleeding skin to use her telekinesis. She kept at it without even taking a break, stopping what she was doing long enough to pour some water on his chest to wash off the blood that covered his torso.

Surprisingly, the man just blankly stared at the ceiling, his body unmoving. No matter how roughly she handled his bruised and sensitive body, it seemed to do nothing to him. He didn’t even flinch or bat an eye. Nothing seemed to bother or matter to him while he laid there like a broken doll.

Still though, she worked diligently to remove all the imbued glass, and she had finally managed such a feat after almost an hour of intense, non-stop, medical treatment. However, this brought the hardest step in the process for her— closing the wounds with just her magic. The task itself sounded easy until the fact that she was exhausted and the fact that it would be her first time performing such an action on a non-pony added a certain level of stress to it. It took a lot more concentration than removing the glass, as she had to nearly envision the muscles, flesh, tendons, and skin melding back together. Twilight, however, was not going to allow her exhaustion from preventing her from doing the right thing and treating to her close friend’s wounds to the best of her abilities. After another forty five minutes of strenuous mental exertion, Twilight Sparkle had managed to successfully treat all the wounds he had just suffered at his own hands. She grabbed the gauze and used her magic to lift him up high enough from the bed to allow her to wrap the gauze around his torso.

Gently she used her hooves and some magic to move the gauze around and begin to wrap it from his stomach to the base of his neck. Slowly, she wrapped it around his back and over his stomach, making sure that it partially covered the last roll to prepare it for tightening. After several minutes of carefully wrapping the gauze around his torso, she grabbed the end of it with her teeth and carefully pulled on it, until she had it wrapped tightly around him. She noticed that some blood had managed to slip down onto his neck and the bottom of his face and grabbed a towel.

Wiping off the excess blood with a towel, Twilight looked at her friend thoughtfully before speaking, "Aramis, what are you doing to yourself?"

The man took a moment to reply, still fixated on the slowly twirling fan, "I'm trying to forget... or maybe its forgiveness... but I'm not the one that needs to be forgiven,"

"You're speaking in riddles Aramis. How can I help you if you won't tell me the straight facts?" Twilight applied a stern, yet gentle tone, and it had an effect on him to some extent.

Aramis slowly turned his head so that he was facing the purple unicorn, "You're smart Twilight. You'll figure it out."

She shook her head and continued wiping the blood off of Aramis' chest. He mumbled under his breath but despite the close proximity to him, Twilight was unable to make out any distinctive words. Aramis was the first to break the silence, "Will you stay here tonight, Twilight? I don't want to be alone, I don't want to..." he trailed off with a sniffle.

The bookworm nodded slowly, "Of course I will Aramis, of course," She helped arrange him into a comfortable position so as to not irritate his wounds or tear his bandages. Once she had gotten him wrapped in some blankets, Twilight levitated the blankets up to his chin and walked over to him.

“Sleep well Aramis. I’ll sleep here on the floor, or maybe on the couch,” Twilight wasn’t too bothered by the idea as she usually slept on a variety of things whenever she carried out an all-night reading session.

“Please... I don’t want to be alone Twi. Please sleep with me...” Aramis called out to her tiredly, unable to stifle a deep yawn that forced its way out.

She stood there for several moments, contemplating whether or not it was a good idea. She had been attracted to him for some time now, but wasn't this pushing it? Sleeping in the same bed was a bit too far for her, but as she looked at his pitiful condition, she couldn't help herself and comfort her hurting friend. Twilight yawned quietly, covering her mouth with her hoof before carefully agreeing, “Sure Aramis, it’s not like we haven’t done this before,” slowly, she climbed in and smiled softly to herself. It was just like a sleepover... a more personal one than usual, but a sleepover all the same.

“Thank you Twi—” he yawned loudly, his fatigue and exhaustion taking its toll on the drunken man.

“It’s no problem Aramis. It’s what friends are for,” Twilight finished by nuzzling into his warm body, causing him to sigh comfortably. Sleep began to overtake-

“Aramis?”

“Yeah...”

“I’ll always be here for you if you ever need me. Don’t ever hesitate to ask for my help,”

“Thanks Twilight,”

“You’re welcome,” he pulled her in close, her face nuzzling into his chest and shoulder blade. Sleep came quietly and unexpectedly, but when it came, they were submerged into a deep slumber, and as the hard rain gave way into a soft patter, the moonlight slipped through the clouds and into the room. Neither of them unaware of the waste and destruction that had run its course through their town.

Just Leave Me Alone

Chapter 3: Just Leave Me Alone

Ever so slowly, Princess Celestia’s sun began to rise over the expansive land of Equestria. Inky dark valleys that were once as black as visually possible suddenly came back to life. The grass hidden in the darkness began to rise through it like sunflowers reaching for the sun, the wet dew dripping onto the dry ground. Trees seemed to bloom under the warm caressing heat of the morning sun. Every nook and cranny was bathed in warm sunlight, from the superdense town of Manehattan to the well plotted-out city of Canterlot. Even Ponyville was graced by its beautiful ray of orange, pink, and a light midnight blue reminiscent of Princess Luna’s mane.

The sun’s warm rays began to filter deeply into the suburban town of Ponyville, though it didn’t do much to cheer up the many pegasus and earth ponies who were busy cleaning up the town after the horrible mess of a storm that had violently raged throughout most of the day. Although the storm hadn’t done much damage to the homes of the citizens, the same couldn’t be said about their yards. Many a pony could be seen picking up scraps of fence posts, broken yard gnomes, and ruined patio sets.

A suburban home sat a fair distance away from the more populated part of the town on a large green hill that gently sloped inwards towards the town. Many homes sparsely surrounded the nearby area with enough distance in between so that it felt very calm and homely, similar to the country town of Appleloosa. In a spacious room on the second floor, a man slept in a wide comfy bed next to a purple unicorn. He slept deeply; a peaceful expression on his face as he rested his exhausted body. Sunlight streamed in from the balcony window, but he paid it no mind by turning away from the bright light, burying his face into the midnight blue mane of his friend. The lavender scent that wafted his nostrils seemed to put him even more at ease than what he was used to.

Twilight was the first to wake up, her large exotic purple eyes taking in the sight of her friend’s bedroom. She turned over and smiled warmly at the sight of her close friend. His peaceful expression, his relaxed breathing, and the overall relaxing aura he gave off was just so infectious. She stretched out her hind legs, feeling many of her bones comfortably pop into place, her muscles feeling relaxed and soft. With a light yawn, Twilight removed the covers from herself and got off the bed. She walked over to Aramis’ side and nudged him gently on the back.

He incoherently mumbled a reply in his sleep and ignored her. Unfortunately for him, that wouldn’t be enough to deter the purple unicorn. She backed up and lightly trotted up to him and jabbed her horn into his back, scaring the human awake.

“Celestia dammit! What the fuck is going on!?” Aramis yelled, his honey-brown eyes wide shooting open in alarm. He heard a loud giggle behind him and turned around to face the sound, only to come face to face with Twilight Sparkle, who ended up busting out in full blown laughter at his reaction.

He sat up in his bed and yawned deeply into his fist before groggily rubbing the sleep away from his eyes, “Yeah, yeah, good morning to you too, Twilight,” he grumbled tiredly, his speech a bit slurred after just being woken up.

Once she had calmed her laughing fit and wiped away the tears of mirth that dripped down her cheeks she gave him a cheery smile, “Good morning to you too, Aramis,”

“Great way to wake up in the morning, huh?” he commented with a hint of sarcasm.

“It was a creative way of handling the task, if I do say so myself,” she answered in a posh accent, a smirk tightly pulling at her lips.

“Hardy har, har. Now if we’re done with our sarcastic banter, mind telling me why you woke me up so early?” Aramis asked, slowly rubbing his eyes while yawning.

“It’s only nine thirty in the morning. That’s kind of late for me on a regular day. Why don’t you freshen up and meet me in the kitchen?” the purple mare offered.

“Sure, just give me like ten, maybe fifteen minutes at the most and I’ll join you there,” With one last yawn, Aramis threw the covers off his body.

With a grunt, he managed to push himself into a sitting position and got off the bed shakily. Cold hardwood floor graced the bottom of his bare feet as he stumbled out of bed, trying his best to control the hangover that seemed to throb from his very bones. He was struck by a sudden bout of nausea and dashed for the bathroom.

Twilight winced at his retreating figure, one hand clasped around his mouth as he nearly gagged in his attempt to hold back the urge to throw up, another wrapped tightly around his bandaged torso as if to comfort his contorting muscles. She took one last worrying glance at him and quickly trotted into the kitchen, an idea cooking in her mind on how to make him feel better.

The bathroom door was cracked open slightly and Aramis pushed past it and into the tiled bathroom, vomiting into the sink. He finished his retching and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Turning on the water, he looked at his appearance in the mirror. He was truly a sad sight: Dark bags under his eyes, hair twisted and knotted with mud, and a bloodstained shirt. Aramis looked down into the porcelain sink and watched as the last of his watery vomit travelled down the drain. Splashing water onto his face, the hungover man felt slightly more rejuvenated.

He began to brush his teeth in an effort to get the awful taste out of his mouth. Several minutes of hard brushing and repeated mouth-washing ensued from his attempt to clean up his image a bit. Once he was satisfied with the freshness of his breath, he took off his clothes and threw them in the hamper, almost pinching his nose at the stink that emanated from them. With a small sigh, he stepped into the shower and cleansed himself, taking extra care to get rid of any debris or blood from his hair and skin. After a somewhat long hot shower, he dried himself off, put on the pair of briefs he took with him, and wrapped a towel around his waist, scratching his messy stubble with a yawn as he went back into his room to put on a change of clothes.

Aramis looked through his closet and decided to dress a bit differently from the expensive suits and fancy clothes he usually styled himself in. At random, he managed to pull out a black long-sleeve shirt with a slight turtleneck, blue capri's, and a pair of flat-bottom sneakers with a black and white checkered design on them. Afterwards, he put on his clothes, made his bed, and went to join Twilight at the breakfast table. As he sat down to join her, his peripheral vision took notice of several long necked bottles. He craned his neck behind and almost felt his blood run cold.

The collection of various kinds of high class liquor he had worked hard for had been neatly piled together in his sink; their content emptied out and drained. His eyes dangerously twitched as his hand curled into a tight fist; the boiling anger heating him up like an oven inside. However, it only made his throbbing head hurt even worse than it had been aching when he woke up. With a deep sigh of resignation, he leaned his head into his forearms, resting his throbbing hangover. Although it really irked him that she had done it without even talking to him about it, with his current hangover, arguing about it seemed pointless. For now he’d forget about it and save that argument for another day.

“Aramis?” Twilight asked in a quiet, concern-filled voice.

“Yes?”

“Would you like some tea? I wasn’t able to find any food in your fridge or your cupboards, so I made some and I think it’ll help you relax,” she offered, hoping that the tea would help him with his hangover.

“Sure, it’s not like I have much to lose,” he answered her with a toneless expression.

She quietly walked over to the stove and levitated a cup and the pot over to the table. The cup floated over to him and gently stayed in place while the pot caught up and slowly poured its contents into the cup. Once the cup was full enough, he grabbed it from her telekinetic hold and took a long sip from it.

His bored and frustrated expression molded into one of pure and simple bliss. He kept drinking the tea until he emptied the cup. Aramis wiped some excess tea off of his mouth with a napkin and placed the cup down.

Twilight watched him drink the tea with an amused grin at how he seemed to enjoy it when moments before he seemed on the borderline of losing his temper.

“That was a really fantastic blend of tea you made there!” he complimented sincerely.

“It’s a secret recipe I created a couple of years ago,” Twilight admitted with a small grin.

“You gotta tell me how you make this blend Twi! My hangover is almost completely gone and this would be a lifesaver for me!” Aramis begged, hoping to get his hands on the recipe and save himself many days of alcohol-related migraines.

The purple mare merely smiled demurely at him with a sly grin, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “Hmm...” she seemed to consider his request for a moment before responding, “No, I don’t think I will. After all, it wouldn’t be a secret recipe if somepony else knew how to make it, now would it?” the same cheeky, yet mischievous grin was still on her face as he pouted childishly and crossed his arms, huffing indignantly at her.

Aramis’ stomach grumbled loudly and his face immediately flushed slightly in embarrassment. He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, his eyes avoiding the purple orbs nearly overflowing with mirth.

“I would have made us some food... but there wasn’t anything I could have used to make a meal with,” she confessed shyly, not sure if he would be offended with her going through his kitchen after pouring out his collection.

“Eh, it's fine. I sorta got used to eating out and the rest was history,” he laughed a bit awkwardly at admitting the lazy attribute he had acquired.

“Why don’t we go over to my place and have some lunch, since we missed breakfast,” she offered. Taking a glance at the clock proved her assumption correct, as it was quarter to noon.

“Alright Twi, I’m down,” and with that the two cleaned the few dishes they had used and exited his home.

The day was slightly colder than the average day, but it felt comfortable either way with the sun’s warm rays. It was a silent trek for the most part, but it was an enjoyable kind of peace, one filled with plenty of peace and tranquility. Townsfolk went about their business, but some stopped to say “hi” and make some minor small talk. After a half-hour or so, they had finally arrived at the town library, which also served as a home for Twilight and her number one assistant, Spike.

She unlocked the door with her magic and Aramis followed her inside. He took a seat at one of the few tables not completely cluttered with books dealing with Twilight’s studies.

“Would you like anything to drink, Aramis?” the purple mare offered as she walked towards the kitchen.

He cupped a hand near his mouth and called after her. “Yeah! Lemonade would be fine if you have any! If not, then surprise me!” She imagined the smirk that played tightly at his lips and giggled before shaking her head. Twilight heard him laugh shortly after and snorted in response.

After a few minutes, she came back with a tray, a pitcher of lemonade, two glasses, and some cookies balanced precisely on it. She set them onto the table, took a seat across from Aramis and looked at him with a cocky grin.

“Lemonade has been served,” she said in a posh accent.

“Indeed it has, my good lady. May I have the honor of serving an astounding young mare such as yourself some ice cold lemonade?” he requested in a British accent, similar to the old formalities he had always been accustomed to.

“Why yes you may, my fair gentleman,” Twilight said with a flash of her eyelashes, her purple eyes looking even more exotic than normal, if that were possible.

He carefully filled her cup and gently gave it to her with an outstretched hand, but not before suddenly grabbing her hoof and kissing it delicately, “Only the finest for you milady,” he said in that same posh voice, the happiness that slowly flowed from his eyes seemed genuine. It was as if some life had been returned to those intricate honey-brown eyes.

She giggled and took the glass of lemonade from him, placing a straw in it and taking a slow sip. Aramis did the same and relaxed calmly in his chair, absentmindedly eating a cookie which conveniently turned out to be his favorite type: chocolate chip. He wiped off the crumbs on his mouth with the back of his hand and took a deep sip of his lemonade.

“Say Twilight, what are we making for lu—”Aramis was interrupted by repeated knocking that came from the door, “I’ll get it. Without a doubt, it’s probably Pinkie with some obscure new party she’s devised in her evil lair of party making,” Twilight giggled at the cynical way he had described Pinkie’s party planning, especially with the manic grin he had used throughout it.

He calmly opened the door, only to be tackled to the ground by a nearly invisible pink blur. Aramis became winded the moment his back slammed into the hardwood floor and began gasping for breath. The young man laid there for several seconds while the pink blur that had slammed into him worriedly chattered away at him.

Her lips moved, but no sound seemed to come forth at all. Dazedly, Aramis shook his head and suddenly his eyesight and his hearing came back into focus.

“...So sorry Aramis! I totally didn’t mean to knock you down like that! I mean I was just so excited to come see Twilight, but when I first came by she wasn’t here and then I went to your place and you weren’t there so I assumed you two were here and I got so excited that I jus—” the disorientated young man shoved her off of him and sat up, softly rubbing the back of his head from the throb he still felt after the hard impact with the floor.

“Alright, alright Pinkie Pie! I get it, you’re sorry. Can you please relax and just let me sit down and catch my breath for the love of Celestia?!” Aramis gritted his teeth in frustration at the eccentric party pony.

She helped him up by allowing him to use her as a boost and sat down with them at the table.

“So what exactly brought you around here so excitedly, Pinkie Pie? Twilight asked her bluntly, trying to dissuade the rather bashful run-in she had with Aramis, who was now glaring at Pinkie.

“I’ve been so excited for this and it’s finally time for it! I’m having a super duper fun Weekend Breakfast party and I was wondering if you two would be down for joining all of us party girls and have a great time!” she cheered excitedly, pulling two invitations out of the blue and placing them on the table.

Twilight grabbed one and read it over.

Dear Twilight,

I was wondering if you would love to join me for a super duper fun Weekend Breakfast party! There’s gonna be so many fun things to do like decorating our breakfast platters, pin the tail on the pony, and even bobbing for cupcakes! I’m just so excited and there’s no way I could fit all the awesome things we’ll do together! It’ll start Saturday morning around eight o'clock and it’ll run till we drop! Hope to see you there!

With all my love and fun,

~Pinkie Pie!

She read it over once again, taking note of how elaborate the design Pinkie had used truly was. It was so extravagant that it seemed like she had brought pieces of the party with her! The purple mare thought it over, and as far as she knew, there weren’t any plans she had committed herself to. Twilight nodded at Pinkie before responding, “I don’t mind joining you on Saturday, since I don’t really have anything planned,”

“YAY! I’m so glad you’ll go Twilight, trust me it’s going to be so awesome! What about you Aramis? Do you wanna go?” Pinkie excitedly said in her loud indoor voice.

Aramis stared off into the distance and made no effort to acknowledge that he had been spoken to. She waved a hoof in front of him and one of his eyes shifted over in her direction. He slowly closed them before sighing quietly. He folded his hands and allowed his chin to rest on top of them.

"So Mr. Grumpy Pants, what's been bothering you so much for the past couple of months?" she asked as she poked him lightly, her voice still holding the same amount of enthusiasm she had come to be known by.

"It's nothing... just some stuff that's been on my mind is all," his eyes couldn't meet her inquisitive, piercing blue eyes and found more interest in inspecting his glass of lemonade.

"If it was nothing, then you wouldn't be so grumpy about it to the point of drinking all the time you silly filly! You would be working hard and having fun with us, instead of locking yourself away in your home and drinking yourself sick," the energetic pink pony pointed out, causing him to further lower his head in .

"Look," he begun gruffly, "I don't want to talk about it, okay?" It was clear that he didn't want to speak with anypony about it yet, but Pinkie felt it was her obligation to help, even if he didn't want it.

"You never had an issue talking about your problems until a couple of months ago," she said, a confused gaze on her face as she racked her mind for an answer as to why he became so distant and closed off.

Twilight recognised the warning signs of anger and decided to speak up, "Pinkie, I think you sho—"

"Nonsense Twilight! He needs our help, and for it to work he needs to talk about his problems," Pinkie Pie interrupted her, blue eyes a lit with determination to get to the bottom of things.

"Can we please talk about something else?" Aramis begged her, the discomfort of the topic at hoof clear on his face.

"Not until you ta—"

"It's nothing alright! I don't know about the problem you so badly feel I need to talk about, but... I'm fine," he insisted, his hands clamming up nervously.

"You were fine until you had that last talk with Ryan a couple of months ago... was it abo—"

"Don't you dare say her name. She has nothing to do with it," the young man warned in a low growl, a torrent of emotion about to break through the oh-so-fragile dam he had carefully built around himself.

"Who exactly are you talking about? Did it have something to do with Dashie?" Pinkie Pie asked with a tilt of her head.

His blood ran cold... honey-brown eyes were frozen in shock and fear that someone might know what had been happening to the cyan blue mare. He hyperventilated as sweat trickled down his forehead in a steady rush. The young man's legs were paralyzed to the spot he sat in. A blank expression covered his face for several moments. It seemed as though time had frozen for him at the mere mention of the name Pinkie had just said. Pinkie Pie had finally realized she had pushed him too far, though it was far too late to do anything about it. Twilight felt horrible at failing to keep Pinkie in line.

The young man stood up from his chair, and glared intently into Pinkie's eyes.

"I told you to stop pestering me about my problems. To stop trying to ask me about them; to just drop it…. but you refused to listen to me... and then when I tell you, no, beg you not to say or involve her name in this, what do you do? You go ahead and involve her anyways! You don't know when to stop, and that's always been your biggest flaw. I really hope your hap-ppy," he stammered, tears freely pouring down his face, "I really hope you're happy, you insensitive, heartless, BITCH!" he yelled at her, his eyes burned brightly with the nearly uncontrollable rage he felt towards her at the moment. He stood up and briskly walked out of Twilight’s home, slamming the door on the way out.

"Aramis! Wait!" Twilight called after him, throwing open the door and dashing after him as she tried to get things under control.

Pinkie sat there in the chair quietly, an empty expression etched on her face as tears rolled down her face, not because of how insensitive or brash she had been with him, but because of how mean he was to her.

(V) (;,,;) (V)
~Line Break~

Aramis set off into a run the moment he heard the purple mare call after him, his feet pumped forward on their own like a well-oiled machine. His arms swung tightly to his sides to reduce wind resistance and to maintain a stronger center of gravity for sharp turning. Everything around him blended into a slanted blur of colors as the adrenaline pushed him further ahead. At the moment, he wanted to get away from everyone and anything, unable to cope with being around other intelligible life. The wounds he had tried so hard to keep closed, despite the pain they caused him, had been heartlessly ripped open by Pinkie Pie, who insisted that she was trying to "help him", but had only managed to further deepen the guilt and the emotional scars that had been created over his life in Equestria. A giant range of Oak trees loomed in the distance and he changed his direction towards it, in hopes of losing his pursuer.

Twilight tried her best to keep up with him, but was finding it increasingly harder to maintain the human in her line of sight. It was as if the harder she tried to stay hot on his trail, the faster he would go. What he was doing was dangerously unhealthy for his mental state of mind. He couldn't keep running from his problems like he had just done at Twilight’s house, even if Pinkie Pie had foolishly provoked him. She hoped dearly, that he wouldn't do anything reckless and get himself severely injured.

He finally reached the stand of Oak trees, sliding behind the first one he saw and slid to the ground, breathing heavily, his face flushed from the nonstop sprint he had done. All his senses were going wild as they tried to stabilize and return to a more controlled state. His heart thumped loudly in his ribcage, almost reminiscent to the sound of pounding drums. Aramis' head throbbed achingly in his cranium, the blood rushing sporadically as his blood pressure tried to simmer down. All his muscles burned and twitched uncontrollably, his fingers cramping up randomly and his legs kicking out at odd intervals.

The pursuing unicorn had seen him hide amongst the Oak trees and looked for him, trying to pick up any sign of her best friend. After several minutes of looking, she heard the sound of heavy breathing emanating from behind her. Twilight slowly walked around, attempting to pinpoint the location of the sound with her sharp ears. She followed the sound until she had found Aramis in a tired mess at the base of one of the many Oak trees that filled the orchard. His long dark brown hair was strewn about and stuck to his forehead in several places. The young man's clothes looked disheveled and were covered in dirt from top to bottom.

"Aramis… please, calm down…" Twilight breathed out heavily, sitting down on her haunches across from him, sweat profusely pouring down his face.

He gingerly moved into a sitting position, careful not to stress his tired muscles, finding the trunk to be a comfortable backrest, "What do you want Twi? I went away from you guys to spend some time alone. I didn’t ask for you to follow me," his voice sounded raspy from how hard he had pushed himself to get away from her, as his lungs tried to their hardest to get a steady supply of oxygen in his system.

"You need to calm down and actually think about what just happened," she started quietly, looking him straight in the eyes, "I understand that Pinkie Pie pushed things too far, but you also have to understand that you can't just waltz off and walk away from your pro—"

"I'm not going to fucking calm down! She knew damn well I don't like talking about it and all she did was press the issue. She had it fucking coming her damn way, and you know it!" he seethed, fresh tears dripping from his eyes.

"I know Aramis, I know. It wasn't right of her to go after you like that, but I don’t think there was any real nee—" he cut her off again, the rage building even more intensely.

"Quit defending Pinkie Pie as if she's in the right! If you all truly cared so much about me getting ‘better’,” at that he made air quotations in an over-elaborate manner. "On top of that, you throw out my entire collection of alcohol and don’t even have the common courtesy to ask if I’m okay with it. Then you girls wouldn't get off my back about my problems and try to persecu—" A loud slap resonated clearly in the Oak grove, his face twisting away from the hard blow.

He stared back at Twilight, a blank expression on his face, as hot salty tears poured down his cheeks even faster, his right cheek beginning to flush red from the hoof to the face he had just received.

The human pressed a hand against his right cheek and quickly retracted it from the burning sensation he felt, "Why…" Aramis asked in a hushed, almost inaudible whisper.

"Because, I'm sick and tired of this! All you do is bottle up your feelings up and whenever anypony tries to talk to you about it, you clam up or get angry. I understand that the way Pinkie handled things at my place was rude, insensitive even, but she's your friend for Celestia's sake! If you keep bottling your feelings up, all you're going to do is hurt yourself even worse than you did last night. All we want to do is help, that's why we pester you, that's why I poured out your alcohol. I know you want to find some sort of relief or release from all the pent up pain deep inside your heart, but if you won't let anypony in, how can we possibly help you?” Twilight was crying, the pent up frustration at her inability to help her close friend and his stubborn attitude had become too much for her to handle and she broke down, refusing to look at him.

"…I deserved that… I'm a horrible friend Twilight. I'm just a sc-screw up!" he sobbed bitterly, his fist smashing into the soft soil in anger. Aramis pulled his legs up to his chest and just angrily stared at his feet, the tears stinging bitterly at his eyes. The two cried for their own reasons, the silence created between them only broken occasionally by a sniffle or a choked sob.

The guilt ate away at the young man until he shakily crawled towards Twilight and wrapped his arms around her neck, shoving his face into her mane and sobbing quietly. Her anger had slowly subsided, but she didn't want to be near him until she heard him whispering a small phrase over and over to himself.

"…I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" was all he repeated in a quiet chant. She hugged him back just as tightly and the two sobbed quietly onto each other, both feeling guilty for what they had said and done.

They cried together for a long while before Twilight broke the hug and wiped away at her tears with the back of her hoof. She looked sullenly at Aramis before she quietly spoke. “I’m really sorry Aramis. I—I shouldn’t have lost my temper with you like that. It was uncalled for to some extent, but I just felt like I wasn’t reaching out to you and it was just so frustrating!” she stated, said frustration clear in her voice.

“Yeah... I see your point Twi...”

“You really need to think about what you’re doing to yourself Aramis. If you really wanna get past your problems, you’re going to eventually have to open up you know.”

“...”

“I’m gonna head back to the library. You mentioned you wanted some alone time to think about everything so...”

“Thank you Twilight.”

She smiled softly at him, “You’re welcome. Come and talk to me about it when you feel ready.” Twilight hugged him tightly and slowly trotted off towards Ponyville, leaving him by himself.

He saw a large hill to his right and decided to go lay on it. Standing up, Aramis dusted himself off before walking away from the stand of Oak trees, climbing over a log fence on the way. The young man trekked up the hill and sat back on the side that faced the rest of Sweet Apple Acres and the surrounding Everfree forest in the distance. It was a very peaceful view and it relaxed him without him even noticing. Slowly, his eyelids drooped until they closed, his breathing slowing down to a long and steady drawl. Aramis slept peacefully on the hill until a slow voice gently nudged him awake from the nap he had taken.

“Hey there Aramis. What’cha doing all tha way out here? Shouldn’t ya’ll be down in Ponyville or sumthin’?” Big Macintosh’s voice drawled inquisitively at the human.

He turned his head to face him from his spot, “I’ve just been having a rough day is all, Big Mac. A lot to think about and I don’t know what to do,” the human admitted, as a worried frown formed over his features.

“Sumthin’ botherin’ ya brony?” he asked his friend as he took a seat next to him.

“I-its fine Macintosh...” Aramis sputtered weakly, turning away from his friend to look at the beautiful vista once again.

“If it was fine, ya’ wouldn’ look like ya’ jus’ lost the war there bud.” Big Mac countered bluntly.

“I... I just don’t know what to do anymore, to be honest. I don’t know who to talk to, or who I can trust, or how I can... love,” he whispered the last part more to himself so quietly that Macintosh hadn’t heard what the human had said.

“Well maybe if ya’ jus’ opened up and talk somepony, anypony, it might just help you find the right information to steer ya’ in the right direction,” the tall stallion wisely advised.

The human sat up in the grass, hands leaning behind him to keep him balanced. He breathed deeply before exhaling slowly, “Alright, I guess I’ll give it a try Macintosh...” he contemplated what to say before he pulled his knees up to his chest and stared blankly ahead, “I- I messed up, Big Mac... and on top of that, I’ve just not been in the mood as of lately and everypony just seems to enjoy going at my neck to bother me about my problems. I just don’t feel ready to talk about it, ya know?”

“Eeyup.”

“Thanks, at least you seem to get it,”Aramis sighed. He sat there quietly for a moment before continuing, “You’re a good friend,” Aramis looked back at the town, “But I’m not sure you would be able to help,” He turned back to face Big Mac, “But I’ll ask anyway. If you had a marefriend taken by a ‘friend,’ what would you do?” Aramis peered at Big Mac expectantly.

Big Mac chewed on the ever-present piece of hay for a moment. He finally responded, “ ‘Ah don’t know ‘bout you, but ah think it’d be best if you jus’ accepted it fer what it is.”

Aramis nodded slowly in understanding, “Exactly; you get over it. But what if you can’t, huh? What if it’s in your face the entire time and there’s no avoiding it?”

“Ah’d probly do sumthin’ about it.”

“Exactly! You have to do something about it,” Aramis was really on a roll now. “But... she won’t want to talk to me the way I am. I... I guess I need to get myself back together,” Aramis slumped back against the tree.

For a moment, there wasn't a sound but the wind rustling in the grass and Big Mac occasionally chewing on his ever-present piece of hay. Suddenly, Aramis stood up, eyes alit in sudden understanding of meaning, “Thanks for hearing me out Big Macintosh. I really needed someone to talk to and I think I got a pretty good idea of how to start handling the situation from here on out,” Aramis thanked the tall stallion with a small smile, holding his fist in front of Big Mac. Macintosh bumped his hoof with his hand, a successful brohoof being shared between the two friends. The two quietly split ways, Big Mac heading towards the apple orchard, and Aramis walking the dirt path back to Ponyville.

As Big Mac walked back to the farmhouse, he smiled softly, “Works every time,” he said, as he reflected on all the ponies who had come to him for advice over the years.

(V) (;,,;) (V)
~Line Break~

Aramis took his time walking back to town, enjoying the soft wind blowing through his long brown hair. The trees swayed lightly in the wind, almost pointing the familiar way back to Ponyville. After many minutes of walking he had arrived back in Ponyville, the late afternoon blaze warming his tan skin without making him sweat. He decided to head to Twilight’s tree first. He felt he should apologise for his behavior and arrange a time to come in and talk out his troubles with her.

He found himself in front of the library after walking around town for a bit. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. He stood there for several moments and was surprised to see Spike answer the door, who peered at him quizzically, “Aramis?”

Aramis smiled at him, “Hey there buddy.”

“It’s been so long since I’ve last seen you!” Spike shouted gleefully, jumping at his friend and pulling him into a hug.

“How have you been holding up since we’ve last seen each other?”

The human pondered his answered and carefully chose his next words, “ I’ve been holding up pretty okay, could be better, but I’m not really one for complaining if ya’ know what I mean,” Spike nodded in understanding and ushered him inside, “Say Spike, is Twilight home? I need to talk to her about something for a while.” he asked, looking around for some sign of the purple mare.

Spike scratched his head, “She came back in a huff a while ago, but I think she got over it. Let me call her for you,” He walked over to the bottom of the staircase and yelled, “TWILIGHT! Somepony’s at the door for you!” This was followed by a surprised yelp and several thuds.

A moment later, Twilight stumbled down the steps after apparently having been surprised by Spike’s shout at the top of the steps. The two of them stared at her, as she laid in a groaning heap of limbs at the bottom of the steps.

“Ohhh...My head...Ugh,” Twilight shakily stood up, “Spike, did you have to be so loud? This is a library after all you know,” She shook her head to clear the hazy fog that crept in after her small incident and looked up, “Oh, hi Aramis. Come on in, I guess you decided to take me up on that offer, huh?”

Aramis smiled, “Yeah, I thought it over and I decided that if I really want to talk to Dash again I’ll have to get my act together.” He followed Twilight into the kitchen.

“Oh, Spike, I need you to go and get me some more quills, do you mind?” Twilight asked abruptly. “I’ll let you go to Rarity’s after that,” she gazed imploringly at Spike.

“Alright, Twilight. Whatever you say,” Spike shrugged, “See ya’ around Aramis,” he said as he walked out to the front of the library. Twilight and Aramis listened until they heard the front door slam shut on Spike’s way out.

“Ok, now that Spike isn't here, we can talk.” Twilight said.

“Alright, lets,” he took a seat across from her at the breakfast table.

“Before we start these ‘sessions’ if you will, I need to ask you a rather important questions. Have you been to a psychologist before?” the purple mare asked, notepad ready to jot down notes.

“Yeah, I use to see one for some years before I ended up here.” he responded honestly, looking at her with a peaceful expression.

“Okay. Well now that is out of the way, there are some things you need to know about the therapy I'll be putting you through. This is going to be far more different than the conventional method. What I’m going to do is use my magic to project us in your memories and we’ll sift through them until we can put things in perspective,” she explained diligently.

“One thing is certain, it sounds a hell of a lot different one than the conventional. I know most people or ponies, would be uncertain about this, but I’m willing to try anything to feel better, to be better as person,” his eyes were lit brightly in determination, the hope at getting rid of his sorrows instead of drowning them was a great opportunity unto itself.

“I’m really glad that you’re willing to try and better yourself. Like I told you earlier, i just can’t stand seeing you go down the path of self-destruction. Since today is Friday and tomorrow is Pinkie’s party, why don’t we start on Sunday or Monday? If you don’t want to start on either of those days, then just think it over the next two days and we can start,” Twilight finished, as she finished jotting down some notes on her pad, teleporting it away to another location to give her full attention to Aramis.

Aramis sat there for several moments and thought it over, “I’m not really sure when I want to start, but I’ll keep you posted on whens the best time for me to start these sessions,” he concluded with a neutral expression.

“That’s alright. Take your time and think it over,” she advised with a small smile.

Aramis suddenly stood up from his chair and walked over to the purple mare, “I’m sorry for being so rude and ungrateful to you earlier. What you said to me at the orchard along with the talk I had with Big Mac really helped getting the gears in my head spinning,” he admitted with a sheepish smile.

The unicorn smiled at him and stood up on her hind legs, tightly wrapping her hooves around his neck in a warm hug, “It’s alright Aramis. I already forgave you,” she pulled back for just a moment to softly nuzzle his face before sitting back down.

“Thanks Twi, I really needed that. I’m gonna get going home, relax, and try to get some rest for tomorrow. Celestia knows how much energy I’m gonna need to deal with Pinkie Pie tomorrow,” he laughed loudly, as he headed for the door; Twilight laughing along with him.

In between his bouts of laughter, he managed to stop momentarily to say something, “I’ll see you tomorrow at Pinkie’s party Twi!” he bellowed before shutting the door on his way out.

Twilight only shook her head at his antics, “I like it when he’s not drinking; he acts more like how he used to be,” a sad smile appeared on her face momentarily before a determined fire light up in her eyes. She was determined to not only get Aramis back on his feet, but Rainbow Dash too. The question was how and when.

(V) (;,,;) (V)
~Line Break~

He took the most direct route home, cutting across the town square and Sugarcube Corner. Foals and fillies scampered about the town, some playing hide and seek, others racing each other around parts of town, and others just animatedly talking with their classmates and friends.

He walked up the slow slope to his house and turned around to take a look at the suburban town. Most of it seemed somewhat cloudy, with uneven patches of sunlight streaming in random areas. The human looked over the town for a moment longer before turning back to his place only to notice something rather odd. Most of the town was covered in uneven patches of sunlight, yet his small neighborhood and the surrounding area was completely devoid of any clouds. Aramis pondered it for several moments as he approached his home until he stepped on something that nearly made him slip.

Bending over, the young man grabbed the object he stepped on and was perplexed by it. A long sleek cyan blue feather lay in his hand and he just stared at it for a moment until something dawned upon him. There was only one pegasus he knew that had cyan blue feathers. The mere thought of whom the feather belonged to brought tears to his eyes. His face scrunched up, torn between a mixture of anger and sadness. Everything felt uncomfortably light as he barely had the strength to breathe. Memories he had long worked hard to repress came back at him like the breaking of a dam. A particular memory came to mind as the overwhelming flood of emotions, thoughts, and memories crashed over him like a wave.

(V) (;,,;) (V)
~Line Break~

“I’m really glad you were able to find some free time Dashie, It’s been awhile since we’ve hung out,” Aramis pointed out, a smile tugging at his lips as he looked out over the cliff edge at the beautiful forest that stretched out for miles before the memorable mountainside of Canterlot Castle could be seen. The sun’s late afternoon blaze was a rusty orange that bathed everything in a very relaxing glow
.

“I know Aramis, and I’m sorry I wasn’t able to make time. When your Equestria’s fastest flier, assistant manager of the Ponyville Weather Division, and constantly practicing for the Wonderbolts, time seems to be way too short, if you ask me,” Rainbow Dash said in a boisterous tone, laughing shortly after and snuggling into her human friend; causing him to blush ever so slightly.

“You make a fine point there Miss Dashie,” he teased back in a husky tone, causing Rainbow Dash to blush a bright red.

“S-s-shut up!” she stuttered weakly, trying to get away from him while he tickled her.

“Awww come on Dashie! Live it up why don’t ya!” he cheered as he kept tickling her.

Suddenly, Aramis was slammed onto the ground, clean on his back while Rainbow Dash stood proudly on top of him, as if laying claim to the slaying of an opponent, “Look who's living it up now Ara-chan!” the pegasus teased back. Aramis just sighed in defeat as he laid there and thought one thing: ‘I knew I shouldn’t have told her my nickname my friends used back at home,’

(V) (;,,;) (V)
~Lunch Break~

As the memory ended, so did the anger he felt at finding the feather that belonged to her. In its stead, the only feeling that remained was sadness, which evolved into grief and regret at what could have been. If only he had been bolder, if only he had come clean with it, if only— He stopped the train of doubt and second thoughts by squeezing his eyes closed tightly. When they opened, a single tear fell to the ground and he opened his hand to look at the pristine feather. With a sigh, Aramis walked into his home, feeling regretful at how he screwed up not once that day, but twice...somewhere deep in his heart.

With a slow creak, the door to his treehouse opened and he walked inside; instinctively shutting it behind him. He walked into the kitchen and was yet again greeted with the empty bottles of liquor. For a moment, Aramis felt that same anger he felt earlier well up inside him, but he didn’t allow it to truly boil. Although it was rude of Twilight to just empty out his collection, after that talk with her; he understood that she didn’t do it to spite him, but she really sincerely wanted to help him out.

Calmly, he opened the cover beneath the sink and grabbed a trash bag, carefully placing all the emptied bottles in it. Once he filled the bag to the brim, Aramis went out the back door and dumped the bag in the recycling. Just looking at the bottles filled him with a terrible urge that steered him away from home. He took a few steps down the road to town, to the comfort of the pub. He halted in his tracks, the memory of Twilight's tear-streaked face returning to him. He could still hear the desperation in her voice, the tone of watching a friend slowly destroy himself. He steeled his resolve and turned around, heading back inside. For Twilight and his friends. For himself.

For Rainbow Dash.

I Need You

Chapter 4: I Need You

Celestia’s sun was starting to dip into the horizon, it’s intense white light that warmed all the creatures of the day transitioning to a warm and relaxing yellow. Fillies and Foals fooled around, playing tag, racing, or just talking; doing anything to make the last few hours of daytime count for what they were worth. A few shops began preparation for closing time, some of them sending their employees home for the weekend for some well deserved time off. The clock in the town center rung melodically, its jingle carrying through the breeze so nice and smooth, that even the Apple family could hear it from Sweet Apple Acres. Five ‘O'Clock was the time the majority of the workers at town hall were let out and one particular worker was glad to be left off the clock.

A tall man dressed in a black suit with a blood red tie and light blonde hair walked out of Major Mare’s office, specifically from the accounting office. Many other workers were either packing up their things, talking to other co-workers, or wrapping up the last of their work before they left for the day. Ryan walked amidst the crowd of fellow employees and made his way to the central staircase where the main entrance and exit were located. As he started the slow, calculated decent down the stairs, a co-worker called out to him.

“Hey Ryan! Wait up brony!” the voice called out to him. he stood on the stairs and turned around to face the pony who had gotten his attention.

From in between the crowd of workers, a unicorn stallion popped out and approached the human. He was almost taller than his fellow co-worker, but it wasn’t his height that made him stand out. It was his midnight black mane and tail, piercing forest green eyes, and the long thin scar that went from the top of his face and cut across diagonally to his jaw. His coat was a dark blend of midnight blue that seemed to sparkle slightly depending on the lighting of the environment around him. A friendly smile was wrapped tightly around his contrasting features and he begun to walk alongside Ryan.

“Hello there Midnight Forest.” Ryan greeted with a friendly smile, brohoofing his fellow co-worker.

“Today was a hectic day huh? I’m not sure what was the most difficult part of my day-- filing the compensation claims or meeting with all the ponies who had suffered any sort of property damage after last night’s overkill storm.” he commented with a laid back attitude.

Ryan looked at Midnight Forest thoughtfully before replying, “I have to agree with you there. I got slammed with a lot more work than I ever thought possible. I never want to see another treasury report for the rest of my life. Do you know how many reports I had to fill out?” he questioned the stallion.

“Hundreds?”

“Yep...One for every pony who filed a compensation claim.”

“That’s pretty grueling.”

“Did I ever tell you that I never want to see another treasury report from the insurance department for as long as I live?” he said with a deadpan expression.

“You sure did.” Midnight answered in agreement.

Ryan looked down at his watch and cursed. “Shit! I’m gonna be late to Rarity’s charity event for the victims of last night’s storm! I’m gonna have to cut our conversation short and get going. I’ll treat you to the bar this weekend or something. Is that alright with you Forest?” Ryan asked as he straightened out his tie and smoothed out his suit.

“Yeah Ryan, it’s alright brony. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Best be going now if you don’t wanna be late.” Midnight Forest encouraged with a dismissive wave of his hoof.

Ryan waved at him and ran off, weaving his way through the crowds and running out the door. The moment he had made it outside and away from the other workers, he smirked, “Sucker. I got another half hour to spare. Just didn’t want to talk to you bud.” He chuckled quietly to himself as he fixed his red tie before calmly walking to the Carousel Boutique.

(V) (;,,;) (V)
~Line Break~

Within fifteen minutes of walking, Ryan had made his way to the Carousel Boutique. Numerous decorative banners and streamers adorned the exterior of the building, and the same could be said for the interior as well. In keeping with typical Rarity design, everything had a unique yet relatable appearance, so that the style and color of each decoration served to bring attention not only to itself, but those around it.

The owner of the boutique was in the process of arranging and rearranging some the minor interior decorations, the determination to make everything as presentable as possible was clearly conveyed on her face. She was so absorbed in her last-minute preparations she did not notice Ryan walk up behind her, folding his arms behind his back patiently as he waited to be acknowledged.

With a contented sigh, Rarity stepped away from the wall she had been so intently focused on, admiring her handiwork. The unicorn was startled slightly by a loud throat-clearing from behind her, and turned to see Ryan smile slightly.

“Oh, do pardon me, Ryan,” Rarity apologized, “I didn’t hear you walk in.”

The human chuckled, “Well, I didn’t want to disturb you during what I could clearly see was a situation requiring nothing less than your undivided attention.”

“Oh, of course darling. You know all too well that these preparations must be perfect in every way. It wouldn’t do to have such an important event appear so slovenly put together.” Rarity said with a light chuckle, bouncing a stray curl over her shoulder as she looked at the magnificence of her setup work.

Ryan put a hand to his head, a sudden ache coming from the thought of how precise all paperwork in his line of work had to be. Yes, he could certainly relate, “Of course. Perfection is the only acceptable standard. And with that in mind, may I ask if there is anything I can do to assist you?” he asked in a courteous tone.

The unicorn looked around her and felt her eyes widen before facehoofing almost immediately, “How could I have forgotten?! I forgot to put up posters around town letting ponies know about the event. We have an hour and a half before the actual drive starts, and if folks don’t show up, then the sponsors may very well take back their bits, and they are all very high class ponies from companies that I’ve dreamed of working f—” Ryan held up a hand to prevent her from rambling any further.

“Relax Rarity, I’ve got you covered. I know some buds from work that can help me spread the word and get posters handed out and hung up around town. I mean, how hard could it be?” he pondered with a small chuckle, thinking it would be a cakewalk.

“Are you sure you can do this Ryan? I need about five hundred posters handed out and or posted before six thirty this evening...” the fashionista admitted in a quiet murmur.

Ryan’s eye twitched. “Five...hundred? Did you just say five hundred?” he nearly stuttered at the obscenely large number of posters. The human almost wished he could crawl in a hole and never come out.

Rarity smiled sheepishly, “Sorry, darling. I did say five hundred. But you can handle it, can’t you?”

The human looked at her for several moments in contemplation and gave her a small smile, “You can most certainly count on me Rarity. I will do my best to get word of the charity drive out in what little time we have left before it starts.” He grabbed an armful posters and took off with a running start, heading towards the town center.

(V) (;...;) (V)
~Line Break~

Upon arrival at the town square, Ryan noticed a group of stallions from his work clustered together, having a conversation. Getting an idea, he calmly walked over to the group of stallions who acknowledged him just as he approached them.

“Hey there brony, what’cha up to?” one of the stallions greeted.

Ryan shrugged and smiled, “Nothing really. I just have to have to hang a bunch of posters up for Rarity’s charity drive later this afternoon.”

“Later this afternoon?” another asked, “Don’t you think it’s a bit late to be hanging up posters for an event in just a few hours? And how many posters do you even need to put up?”

The human’s smile weakened slightly as he pulled at the collar on his shirt, “Well, you see, that’s the thing...five hundred if you, must know. Would anypony mind helping?”

The group of stallions looked at one another for a few seconds, contemplating whether to help the desperate creature before them. Silent questions and responses flickered between them, and eventually a single, unified consensus was reached. They all turned to face the expectant Ryan, who was sure that his associates would graciously accept his request.

He was rudely surprised when they began to laugh at him.

“Are you mad? There’s no bucking way we’ll get these slips posted all over town in an hour and a half” one of the workers pointed out.

“Yeah, he makes a good point. There’s only six of us and there's five hundred posters. Plus, the towns getting real busy with everyone leaving work and wondering about with today being Friday, specifically Friday evening,” another complained off to the side, taking a swig of a small flask he had on him.

“Come on guys, the time we’ve been spending here arguing is time away from actually getting anything done. You got my back, right Forest?” Ryan pleaded as he looked in the direction of Midnight Forest who stood up from a milk crate he had been sitting on and stood by his human friend.

“Like I’ve said before Ryan. I got your back brony,” he said with a small smile.

“What about the rest of you huh? You can’t seriously be this lazy and just help with putting up posters. This is a relief effort for everyone who suffered property damage or loss from last night’s storm. You can’t seriously think that it's too much work when there are families who don’t have a bed to sleep on.” Ryan pointed out, a fire or ire beginning to burn behind his piercing blue eyes.

“Look Ryan, we just got out of work, we’re tired, and we earned some layback time,” a stallion grumbled to him as he tried to pay attention to the card game he was playing.

“Yeah, come on brony, give us a break,” another piped up, tossing a card in between the himself and his opponent.

“Come on, guys, help a brony out here!” Ryan begged, nearly on his knees in desperation. “I need you to make this work!”

“Forest, if you want to help this sap, that’s your problem,” the first stallion said, waving his hoof dismissively.

Ryan’s face immediately lost its playful demeanor. Offence was not something he took kindly to, and now he was done asking nicely.

“Put up the damn posters,” he said lowly, a threatening tone covering his words.

“No means no,” the second repeated. “Didn’t you go to any Iron Will seminars lately?”

The human angrily slammed his foot down, startling everypony. Now he wasn’t going to ask at all.

“Take these posters and hang them up, NOW!” he yelled, throwing most of the rolled up papers at the group of stallions, who only cringed in fear of their co-worker’s explosive rage.

Each of them quickly took a mouthful of posters before running away to hang them up, hoping Ryan would not direct any more anger towards them. The only two who stood there were him and Midnight Forest who seemed calm despite the explosive outburst from his friend.

The human breathed deeply through his mouth and slowly exhaled out his nostrils, brushing some loose strands of blonde hair out of the way before he spoke, “I’m sorry there Forest, I was just getting so bucking fed up with their bullcrap.”

“Don’t worry about it Ryan. All you did was ask for help with a good charitable event and they were being lazy. They need somepony to keep ‘em motivated, and you're just the brony for the job.” Midnight Forest chuckled lightly to himself, remembering other occasions when his group of friends needed to be motivated to complete a task.

“If you insist Forest, although we might as well get cracking with our piles.” Ryan nonchalantly said, bending over and grabbing his pile of posters. He stretched for a moment or two before he set out in a light jog out of the alley, Forest quietly trotting behind his human friend.

(V) (;...;) (V)
~Line Break~

The two friends ran sporadically all over the southern part of Ponyville, handing flyers out to citizens, glueing them to posts and buildings, and even spreading news of the event to as many passerby ponies as they could manage. Once they had peppered the southern part of the town in posters, they jogged back up towards the town square to finish handing out their piles of flyers.

They walked towards a bench near their town office and sat down to take a break. To say it was relaxing was an understatement, it was relieving. After resting for a couple of minutes, Ryan stood up and approached a nearby walking citizen.

“Excuse me ma’am, but would you be interested in attending a charity drive of Rarity’s over at the Carousel Boutique and help with the relief effort from last night’s storm?” Ryan asked a cream colored unicorn mare with poofy caramel colored hair that went down to her shoulders and striking hazelnut eyes that looked at him with mild curiosity.

Gently, she grasped one of them with her magic and levitated it in front of her face. Almost instantly, her hazelnut eyes widened in joy, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. “Thank you so much sir! There’s no way I could have afforded to replace everything we lost in the storm. Words cannot express just how much you’ve helped!” The mare looked beyond relieved at just how lucky she was to receive such generous help, from one of the Elements of Harmony nonetheless.

His pale cheeks light up at the raw praise he was receiving. He dug at the ground with his shoe and tried to look away in embarrassment, “It was n-nothing ma’am, just trying to help out and do the right thing.” Ryan said in a humble tone, not wanting to take credit for all the hard work that Rarity had put forth for the event.

The mare looked at him, her eyes on the borderline of over brimming in tears. It was as though her true thoughts on the matter wanted to leap out from the inside and be heard. Suddenly, she leaned and whispered gently in his ear, “It really does mean a lot...If not for Rarity and your kindness to spread word of this charity drive; I would have had to make a very difficult choice…either spends weeks without a bed for my sweet little filly and I to sleep on...or starve myself so we could have something to sleep on and at least have my daughter well fed...” she leaned back while he stood there in mute shock, though it didn’t show. This mare was willing to go to the ends of the world to not only keep her daughter furnished, but also well fed, even if she had to ration herself.

“Thank you very much for the flyer. I’ll see you around mister...” she let her sentence hang, waiting for a proper introduction.

He offered his hand shook her hoof, “Ryan Marcinko. A pleasure to make your acquaintance miss?” Ryan mimicked with a small smirk on his face.

“My name is Butterscotch and this is my wonderful daughter Lilly Springs.” He hadn’t even noticed the little unicorn filly who had hid behind her mother the entire time. The filly was a teal blue color with a baby blue mane with a white and gray stripe through her straight mane. Her eyes were a striking mix of the colors of her body, almost like an aurora borealis.

Ryan knelt down onto a knee and scooted closer to the shy filly before gently patting her over the head with a small smile, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Lilly Springs. I must say that the name is both beautiful and suiting for you.” Lilly Springs’ face lit up in an intense blush at the compliment that even her mother and Midnight Forest laughed at the cute scene playing out in front of them.

“T-thank you mista’!” Lilly Springs said shyly as she ran over to the safety of her mother.

“You're very welcome sweetie.” Ryan answered back with a chuckle.

“Will you be at the charity drive Ryan?” Butterscotch asked while she settled Lilly Springs on her back.

“Yes, I will most certainly be there, but first I need to finish handing out the last of these posters here with my friend Midnight Forest.” he pointed over to Midnight Forest who picked up his stack and walked over to Ryan and politely waved over to the mare and filly, “You’ll definitely see us there so no worries.” he assured.

“Then we’ll see you at the drive Ryan and Midnight Forest.” and with that, Butterscotch and Lilly Springs went on their way, leaving the two friends to their thoughts.

Midnight Forest walked up to Ryan and tapped him on the shoulder, “You alright Ryan? Ever since Miss Butterscotch whispered in your ear, you’ve been looking off into the distance. Was it something bad?” he inquired, beginning to feel concerned for his human friends’ odd behavior.

Ryan stood there, still not quite acknowledging his friend, his mind in a place farther away than the ends of Equestria. ‘That mother...to be willing to starve herself for the comfort and nourishment of her own kid...she’s strong. Very strong indeed...Why does she remind me so much of—’ his thought were interrupted when a hoof shook him back to reality.

“Brony, you alright? You look like you're about to cry or sumthin’.” Forest pointed out in concern.

“Yeah...I’m alright Forest, just had some things on my mind.” Ryan admitted quietly.

“Wanna split up the last twenty or so flyers between the two of us and get going?” he suggested with a small smile.

“Sure. We got another half hour to spare at most before the drive starts; though I honestly believe all of us have managed to get word around. Why not just leave them outside of town hall for passerby’s to see.” Ryan’s plan seemed simple and a smart way to get out of finishing the last of it.

The two slowly walked across the town square before going up one of the principal roads on the way to the Carousel Boutique. They were just shy of a couple of blocks when Ryan noticed a rather downtrodden looking pink mare.

“Pinkie Pie?” Ryan called out in a questioning manner, not really believing he was seeing the same mare.

The quiet pink mare approached and looked up at him with sad eyes, “Yeah, it’s me.” it almost perturbed him just how unlike herself she sounded.

“Are you okay?” he asked the party pony who looked off into the distance, her sky blue eyes clouded behind a veil of haze.

“O-of course! Why w-wouldn’t I b-b-be?” She shakily replied, mustering up a trembling smile. Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. Ryan stood oblivious to her true state.

“Well, … I guess I don’t really know.... You just seemed kinda of, how do I say this, ...off....” Ryan nervously began rubbing the back of his neck with his palm. Pinkie’s smile wavered then solidified, her eyes, however, shown of her true emotion.

“Oh, so I’m off, well, maybe YOU are off, Ryan! Why is it you are so nervous?” Pinkie demanded, staring directly into Ryan’s eyes. He shifted uncomfortably, dodging the daggers.

“Oh! I am trying to get these flyers up before Rarity’s charity drive for the townsponies.” Ryan said matter-of -factly producing the flyers as proof. A small flicker of life shown behind the dark lenses of the Party Pony.

“Oo! Do-you-need-any-help?I-would-love-to-help!I-can-put-up-flyers-sooooooooooo-fast!” She spit the words out, almost faster than her lips could follow. Ryan looked at her, replaying the sentences again slower in his mind.

“Actually Pinkie, Forest and I pretty much have it covered.”

“Butbutbutbutbutbutbut-Im-so-good-at-it!” She began to bound around the two in a tight loop. Suddenly, she came to an abrupt halt right in front of Ryan, “Let me show you!” She leaned forward and reached for the flyers with her mouth. Ryan ripped them away.

“I said we have it covered! Calm down! Can you not take no for an answer?!” Ryan raised his voice as he chided her. Pinkie became rigid and her eyes began to glaze over.

“no... I guess I can’t...” Her head fell slowly at these words.

“Wow... that was pretty insensitive.” Forest commented to Ryan. A tremor rocked through the pink pony’s body as her hair fell flat around her, falling eerily straight. The words of Aramis echoed through her mind.

‘Insensitive, heartless, BITCH!’

“No.” came a calm voice, originating from nowhere.

“What did you say, Pinkie?” Ryan asked, leaning closer.

“NO! I’M NOT BEING INSENSITIVE! ALL I WANT TO DO IS BUCKING HELP BUT YOU’RE ALL SO DAMN SELF-RIGHTEOUSLY HYPOCRITICAL, YOU. WON’T. BUCKING. LET ME!!!!!”

“Wait... What!? What are you tal—”

“I HOPE YOU RUN OUT OF BUCKING HOOF-TACKS!” She spun around and ran off, leaving only a small, imperceptible trail of stains on the ground in her wake.

“Well, that was a bit of a nasty run in.” Midnight Forest commented with a wince.

Ryan huffed indignantly, “I don’t get what her fucking problem is. Good fucking grief, because of her we’re gonna be late. We better get running if we want to make it on time.” He said, holding the papers tightly to his side as he began to run towards the Carousel Boutique, Midnight Forest in tow.

(V) (;...;) (V)
~Bathroom Break~

Neither of them were expecting people to arrive early for the drive or for the initial crowd to be large. However, both were terribly mistaken to just how important the charity drive would end up being.

So many ponies had shown up that a vast number of citizens were standing around the sidewalk, since the area Rarity had set up for the main event was just not large enough to contain everypony. Ryan and Forest pushed their way through the crowd.

“Holy cow! This has gotten to be a big event!” Ryan turned towards Forest, “Most of the town must be here.” His eyes shone a little brighter than before as he began to search for Rarity in the mass of ponies.

It was not difficult to do, Ryan simply had to follow the throes of ponies thanking her for the event. In a sense, he needed to only “go with the flow.” But that was not his style.

“RARITY!” The cry broke through the weeping ponies and found the mare in question; Rarity turned to see her friend towering over the sea of bodies.

“Over here, dear!” she replied, waving her hoof towards him. Ryan smiled.

“Ooh... never again will I listen to you...” Midnight Forest groaned as Ryan stepped down off his back to the sigh of relief from the stallion.

“Oh, Forest, you’ll be fine! Get yourself some punch and be merry!”

“Is there even punch here?”

“Hell if I know, see you later!” Ryan waded through the waves of ponies, making his way to Rarity. Midnight Forest simply sighed and shook his head, becoming one with the mares and stallions among him.

(V) (;...;) (V)
~Charity Drive Break~

All the ponies who had attended or volunteered to help with the charity event had slowly dispersed until only Ryan, Midnight Forest, and Rarity remained. The fog lights they had helped set up as the event went underway came in handy as it took several hours to provide everypony with the help they needed. Luckily for Rarity, she had not been short on help. Her close friends had volunteered to help run the drive the moment they found out about it, knowing full well that it would have been nigh impossible for Rarity, even with the help of Ryan and Midnight Forest, to run the event without difficulties.

Rarity levitated a box with her magic into a closet near the entrance of the Carousel Boutique before grabbing a couple of bottles of water and returning to the front steps of her shop and home.

“Here you go dearies, a bottle of water for each of you to cool off after all the hard work you have done for me!” She offered with a dazzling smile.

“Thanks a bunch Rarity.” Ryan said tiredly, grabbing a bottle from her telekinetic grip.

Midnight Forest grabbed the other bottle with his magic and held it against his forehead, sighing comfortably at the feeling, “Thank you very much Miss Rarity!” He said happily, glad to have found a way to calm the throbbing in his head.

“It’s no problem at all! If you two need a new outfit or two crafted by yours truly, don’t be afraid to stop by the Boutique and let me know. Consider that a bigger way of me repaying you two for all the effort you’ve put in to this event.” Rarity said with a delighted swish of her tail.

Ryan turned around to face her from where he sat, “There’s no ne—” He was interrupted by Rarity before he could manage to finish his rebuttal.

“Ah, ah, ah! I shan’t hear none of it good sir. You and your friend have earned and I will not take no as an answer to a fair reward.” She finished with a smile, her blue eyes locking with his as if challenging him.

They stared at each other for several moments before Ryan rolled his eyes and chuckled, “All right Rarity, you win this time since you insist, but you know how I feel about always accepting such nice gifts from you gals.” He pointed out as he stood and stretched his back, “Anyways, I’m gonna get going back home. I’m about as tired as a dog and I have a wonderful gal waiting at the house for me.” He said with a small smile.

Rarity’s smile softened at the way he had addressed Rainbow Dash, “Completely understandable. She may be hard headed, but I know that at heart she’s a great mare with a good heart.”

Ryan gave a hearty laugh, “I swear it’s the way she smiles that caught my heart. I’ll see you at work on Monday, Forest.” He bumped his fist against Midnight Forest’s hoof before he set off towards his home, walking near the town library, where he saw Twilight Sparkle about to enter her home before she spotted him.

She galloped the short distance between them and he turned to address her, “A good evening to you Twilight.” He said in his typical courteous manner.

“Likewise, Ryan.” She replied with a nod of her head.

“Is something up?”

Twilight looked at the ground before sighing and look back at him, “I want to help Aramis out, but I need some more advice on how to help him deal with his problems.” She admitted.

Ryan gave her a light hearted grin, scratching the back of his head in a pensive manner while on the inside, he seethed with disgust at the mere mention of his former best friend, “I’d help you out this moment, but I must confess I am very tired after helping out with the charity drive. All those assignments you handed out weren’t exactly the easiest things to do you know.” He chastised playfully.

Her ears splayed against her head as she chuckled embarrassingly, “I’m sorry about that Ryan, but I didn’t really have a lot of time to really plan out everything so I could distribute the work in a way that would be easy for everypony to do.”

“It’s no problem in the slightest Twilight. How about we meet at Sugarcube Corner tomorrow around lunchtime with the rest of the group, my treat. We can all discuss how to handle the situation and whatnot. It’ll also give me time to sleep on it and give it thought.” He explained, straight to the point.

Twilight nodded her head as she thought it over, “That makes perfect sense,” She started with a smile. “That would also allow me to write notes on it and come up with a efficient way of helping him.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then Twilight.”

“Have a good night!” she merrily said, walking towards her home.

“Likewise.”

Notice

Hey there everypony,

Just here to make a small announcement. Looking on The Inside is going to be put on hiatus. The story just isn't feasible and I can tell its not entertaining many of you. It doesn't feel fun writing a story that nopony is enjoying and its pretty demotivating. On the good side of things, I have two one shots coming out called "Lucky Strike" and "Love Somepony" which I'm sure you guys and gals may definitely love, especially with how hot they get. For those of you who enjoyed the story, sorry to disappoint, but the only way I'd really continue writing this story would most likely be with a co-author to help make this an easier piece to write.

I hope you all understand,

Henry