Promotion

by AndrewP

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Romance, Drama, Mystery
Length: 28081

The first face of the summer sun

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2016-08-23 02:58:02 UTC

The Faded Light

Dry Boy placed the bong on the dashboard of his Gurkha. As he let out all the smoke from his lungs he felt the consciousness of his soul fade into a state of haziness and fog, a state where he forgot but did anyway. The steering wheel looked and felt smoother than ever and the tree he parked in front of looked like the blessed tree of blooming nature and life even though it had a couple of dead branches and was slightly curved to the right. He hated it. He loved it. He didn't know. The armor of the hood of his car reflected from the gleaming risen sun and captured his eyes by the beauty of reflecting light beams beaming into his eyes . Risen, he always used to think that the earth fell, not the sun and moon, but that was a long forgotten and false debated topic that was only used by the once communist Chineigh to make Princess Celestia and Princess Luna look like deceivers. Well that was until the sun was never risen in the beginning of the Chineigh war. Not only did she stop the sun from rising, she also commanded the Air Force to bring dark rainy clouds over all of Chineigh and at extremely high altitudes so that the Pegassi cannot be seen or shot down, that way the rest of the world can have sunlight.  Dry Boy knew a lot about the Chineigh war, it was a war that nearly broke into a world war if it continued any longer than four years. Dry Boy then started getting lost in all of his knowledge of the Chieigh war, but then was soon reminded how he lived through his war. Dry Boy wasn't in Equestria during the war nor was he there now. He had only been there for a couple of years until Andrew ended his Veterans for Veterans deal. Dry Boy lived in another great nation known as Caneighda.  Dry Boy fought in the Caneighdian War, when the lost, forgotten and abandoned bat ponies had invaded the nation after their Princess, Princess Luna, had neglected them another land for more resources. The entire war ended because of him, all because he found an LMS.90 and happened to kill Commander Summerset, the leader of the Bat Pony Knights.  The Caneighdian war pushed his knowledge back to a moment in his life where there was a skip. The blast of the sniper shot that pierced the robotic armor was the last shot that was able to take Dry Boy down, and after he woke up from the unconscious faint and on a hospital bed and a hole in his upper left abdomen, he didn't remember his memories from the ages of 13-17.  Dry Boy was 23 when he partially died, he fought in the war since he was 21, he enlisted and he attended the Royal Caneighdian Military College when he was 17. The years lost in his history were sinful years, years of rebellion and abominations, living as a slave to evil. He also didn't remember how his cutiemark appeared. He was only 11 when he obtained his destiny, for some mysterious reason he also forgot that aswell. Dry Boy always assumed that his destiny was helping other ponies with PTSD or other forms of mental illnesses, or that his destiny was to be strange and weird but in a fun type of way, and while that was a nibble of the truth, that was not entirely his destiny, but he didn't know that.

Dry Boy got immensely lost in his thoughts and flashbacks of the war, which led to the reasons why he joined the military, then he was just led to an empty space in his bruised and savagely beaten and leashed mind where he was knocked back into his natural pony eyes that wanted to cry but could not because the drug put him in another realm where there was only an unnatural high with an unnatural smile, and an unnatural, uncontrollable laugh. He knew in his Spirit, that he hated the things his soul pleasured in but at that moment, his spirit was muted by the sound of the pleasuring waters that flooded into his lungs and prevented him from breathing the breathe of life. Dry Boy just sat there, leaned back in his seat and his hoofs on his tummy, then it grumbled and he remembered he had a bag of hay fries right beside him with a 2 liter bottle of hyper cider. He also noticed that his left shoulder started to sore up and burn, it's been twitching for the past 5 minutes. He laughed for both the reasons that it felt like an hour when it's only been 5 minutes and because his shoulder's been twitching without him realizing it. His twitch spread to his pectoralis transversus then to his left gluteus maximus and then to his  tensor fascia latae and all those muscles twitched on both sides of his body, uncontrollably without stop, caused by his anxiety that was sourced from the fear of what is greater than him. He sat there, thinking about his life, while high and eating hay fries and drinking hyper cider, for a good two hours and once his senses began to regulate again and became of an earthly unicorn, he still thought about his life, but only this time, he began to cry. He cried, just as much as every thought in his head was every tear that streamed from his tear glands all the way down to his jaw lines and chin and sprinkled on his chest. Being sober was a lot more scary than being high, when he was high, he was vulnerable to the dark fallen spirits of heaven, but when he was sober, he was only vulnerable to the owner of heaven, and He was not rewarding.

"Such as the snake that fell, do I see you. Fallen from glory and grace and blinded by your own iniquitous pleasures from a place with the absence of light. Have you not been the one that is chosen? The one as puffy as the clouds, happy like the flowers, warm like the booming rainbow, and bright like the revealing and gleaming radiant sun, that brought life to all that was once lifeless. Weren't you re-made by the grace of your Creator? Reconstructed by the word and sealed with a love as strong as the universe and as powerful as the winds that leveled mountains and turned kings to slaves and slaves to kings? Yet you have deconstructed yourself. You have made yourself as a dark cloud with excess rain, floating over a dead flower, with the cold arctic winter, in the middle of the darkness that brought death to the flower. You say to yourself: I love my Creator, but you are here loving a destroyer. When your actions speak as your desires and when your desires turn into my desires, return to me". Dry Boy heard the messenger. Dry Boy wondered why the Author didn't speak to him like he used to then the messenger said "You have fallen from your worth to hear His voice" and Dry Boy in his growing doubt and pride questioned the messenger

"Are you truly of Light?"

And the messenger responded "Yes, but ask yourself before you ask another" and there was silence in the car, and silence in the heart and mind of Dry Boy. Unlike his split-self, Andrew, Dry Boy was easy to fall. Strong at the legs and voice, but weak at the skin of his soul. At that time in life, he was like smoke from a small fire, easily guided and moved from small winds or from the wafting of hoofs. His fire was a fire from grease, not put out by water but only a fire extinguisher, and when all others used water, only one used a fire extinguisher. His name is Mercy, Father, Love, Compassion, Soul-Winner, Conqueror, Law maker and Law giver, Justice, Freedom, Righteousness, Holiness, Light, Truth, and Author of all things. But the flames of failure were not yet smothered until the tree with bad fruit was cut down and a new one was planted and brought the entire island back to a prosperous fertility and bloomed a booming life from the single four worded sentence that came from the Creator's mouth saying,

"Let There Be Light!"

At this time in life there was a darkness covering the light that shined upon Dry Boy, and that was his own way, his own will replaced the laws written in his heart and he ignored the words of his Creator and he said to himself "I make what is right, I say what is good" but what he said that was good made his stomach growl and churn and his soul bitter and tasteless. He leaned on his own understanding and ignored the rules of living. Dry Boy was deceived and he ate the poisonous berries, thinking they were juicy grapes. He wiped his flank with poison ivy, thinking they were large soft leaves.  He thought to himself, "Without Holiness, I will replace it with my own pleasures and that will be my new holiness" Dry Boy felt how every villain felt before they began their mischief and crimes, but also like every villain, he did not know this feeling, but just the day before, he would have called that feeling temptation. Dry Boy didn't know what to do now, he felt hopeless, he knew he could always just turn his life back around but he didn't know how, he didn't know where he could start, so he never started. This was the first day after Andrew kicked him out of his house and ended his Veterans for Veterans deal. Dry Boy fled back to Caneighda, fearing Andrew who threatened to murder him if he didn't leave. The land above Equestria, divided by Yakyakistan was the largest land in all of the earth, but given to only few. The land was not as populated as Equestria, but it had a lot more natural land instead of big buildings and long bridges and train tracks. And Dry Boy dwelt there, because that was the land where he was raised from 8 years old till he moved to live with Andrew when he was 25, and now he was 27 and back there again. He got that last bit of marijuana from his doctor when he finally came back to Caneighda. He bought the rolling papers and the bong at some convenient store, along with the hay fries and the hyper cider. He checked the time and saw that it was 5:30pm, but he also saw that the pegassi weather team was late for winter and was floating in a broad cloud with sprinkling snow flakes across the open fields where he was. Dry Boy lived in his Gurkha, he had to sell his original home in order to start the Veterans for Veterans company. He missed Andrew, he was a stubborn pony at times but he was his split-self, the dividing of his being. But his left side spoke to him, saying "Who cares?" and Dry Boy agreed and fell into his own trap, and he fell with the ponies of shadows into a spiritual abyss, and in just one day, his mind, soul and flesh went from walking in holiness and bathing in righteous magical water to walking in a short path to death and bathing in unrighteous spiritually wicked black magical toxic fluids. He felt an invasion inside of him, the 4 million charging and banging at his door repeatedly finally came in and settled into his home, not because they broke in but because Dry Boy was tired of hearing the  banging, so all he did was open the door.

Dry Boy stopped thinking too much about the past and started thinking about what he was going to do in Caneighda. At this point he knew there was an Almighty and All-knowing and Just Creator that was watching him and planned his judgments according to his sinful deeds, but he didn't care. He was out of marijuana and also out of somepony to snuggle with, he was alone in his car lost in his own mind, thinking his corrupted thoughts and ignorantly planning his reoccurring corrupt life of his youth. Dry Boy heard no messenger, and set his eyes before wickedness, he became like a child again, looking for his old toys, but all a Dad needs to do for his child to start crying is to take away his toys, but it's that child's own childish nature that they became addicted to toys, that's why it was time to grow up. But Dry Boy knowingly sought to get younger and dumber and he didn't set his eyes forward to be wise, but he rather set his eyes backward and lost his saneness and demolished himself back into insanity. Dry Boy moved to the back of his Gurkha where there was a mattress he placed covered in warm toasty blankets, and as he cuddled with his pillows, he snuffled his muzzle into his pillow and pressed his chest firmly onto it's puffiness, and he squealed as he pushed his crotch at the middle of the pillow and brought his knees to each side of it. He stayed there trying to sleep but couldn't, so he decided to call his old military buddy and tell him he was back in Caneighda. He called him, and they talked.

"Hello?" The commemorating, PTSD-triggering voice answered from the other end, and Dry Boy was a bit nervous to respond. It's been years since he ever talked to Slick Snare. Ever since he left the regular force and joined the special force and moved away for a while, it was kind of hard talking to one of his first friends he made during basic training.

"Hello" Dry Boy finally responded.

"Who is this?"

"It's the Caneighdian Polar Bear"

There was silence at the other end of the phone for 5 seconds. "No... No" Slick Snare laughed in disbelief. "No... Is it... Is it really you, Dry?"

Dry Boy sighed and said "Yeah"

"No way! Oh my goodness! Where you been all this time? Me and the boys been dyin' to meet with the legend"

Dry Boy sighed again both because it was a big tale and because he was tired "Yeah I been running my business in Equestria, helping other veterans get it straight, it's kind of a long story. So how is the company? Do they actually miss me?"

"They all doing good for themselves, and I mean, well, I mean we forget about you sometimes but every time we see your statue in Oatawa, we remember. Plus I'm sure they'd be surprised to talk to you like I was"

Dry Boy chuckled as he remembered the statue of him on Parliament Hill "Oh yeah, that statue. Yeah, I was just calling to say I'm back in Caneighda"

"Really? Where are you?"

Dry Boy sighed again "I don't know, Reintario. Somewhere up north, just parked my car in an open field"

"You still know how to get to Trotonto?"

"Maybe, I still know south and west. Just text me the address or something and maybe me, you and the company can chill sometime"

"Yeah, yeah sure. I'll see if I can get the squad. You still know the old pub we used to chill at?"

Dry Boy answered awkwardly "I think so? Maybe. Not really"

"Um, the place where we celebrated your farewell before you went to the special force"

And Dry Boy remembered "Oh yeah, I remember"

"I'll just text you the address. When are you good for?

And Dry Boy sighed once more "Tomorrow, and the the day after that, and all the days after that"

"Alright, I'll try to get everypony but everypony might not show up"

"That's cool. I just want somepony to talk to and, um, maybe cuddle with"

Slick Snare recognized Dry Boy's character and chuckled and laughed "Well, that definitely ain't gonna be me" and Dry Boy chuckled and laughed with him.

"Oh, the olden golden days" said Dry Boy "Hopefully visiting my past won't make me remember my past, eh? Anyways, can we meet tomorrow?"

"Yeah, why not? Most of us are kinda done with our contracts already. What time?"

"I'd say somewhere around 3pm. But, I gotta sleep now, I'm really tired"

"Alright I'll see ya tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, see ya tomorrow"

"Bye"

"Goodbye friend"

Dry Boy hung up and planted and rubbed his cheek on his pillow again and hugged it as tightly as he could and even though he was covered in thick blankets, the brisk air from outside curled up with him beneath his blankets and Dry Boy was chilled. Feeling the cold air encompass his fur, he got up and went to turn on the A/C to the max, he made sure that the doors were locked and all the windows were closed. Dry Boy fell underneath his blankets again and he fell asleep with no one beside him.

The Dead Shades of Grey

Dry Boy had a dream that night and as clear as the breathe of the air, he remembered it. Just as it is easy to breathe it was easy to remember that dream for it was a message from the eternal Creator. Dry Boy dreamed that he stood in an open field, the sky was covered by grey clouds that dropped no rain but blasted and casted lighting and thunder down to the grass of the earth and to the trees of the earth and even to the dirt beneath the grass of the earth, and the sky and clouds raged with noises that sounded like roaring beast, wailing beast, and hunting beast. There was one lighting bolt that caused all other lighting bolts to stop and there was silence in the sky. The lighting bolt fell to the ground and dug beneath it, and the grass and dirt lit up like a pulse and the wave of the pulse reached to the trees and they also lit up like beating stars. Then there fell another lighting bolt in the same spot and again all of the land was illuminated with waves and it happened six times but as soon as the sixth bolt landed, there was no more light coming from the land, instead death spread from the grass to the trees and the dirt was completely blackened. After it had finished, there was complete silence through out the land, but Dry Boy could hear a voice.

"O Brave and Powerful Warrior, hearken your heart unto Him that made you and knew you before your parents even thought of you. For this is a message from the highest of the highest of heights, The All-knowing and Almighty Creator of all Creation, the Judge of judges and the most Righteous of the Righteousness: The Creator has seen your heart and has measured your poison and has found that it has been filled once again and the magic of your heart has faded once again. Therefore, let all of heaven watch, for the great prophet warrior has stumbled and is a disobedient child of the Creator. As long as you are repent-less and living far from who you truly are, the Creator will curse you with six curses and judge you with six judgments. Now let anxiety be the first of the curses and let pain be the first of the judgments." After the words were spoken, the dead grass started intensely flapping and Dry Boy heard moaning and groaning coming from the dead trees and they bent and tried to straighten themselves but couldn't but instead they just foolishly hit into each other. Dry Boy saw all of this, but because the spirit of wisdom had left him he didn't know what any of the signs meant so he looked up into the grey clouds and asked

"O Heavenly Father, what do you mean by all of this?"

And the voice in that dream spoke again "You will soon see".

Dry Boy woke up from the sleep and upon sitting up, his left shoulder was already twitching and his neck and back were stiff. As his shoulder twitched more than it used to on regular days and as he tried to stretch out his stiff neck and back, he remembered the trees and the grass of his dream, but Dry Boy being deceived he ignored it and immediately went to his phone and there he read it "The Dropping Dropling Pub . Finxful Rd. Trotonto." Dry Boy yawned and he slowly crawled to the front seat of his Gurkha and he yawned again but as he was up there he noticed that the ventilation of his car wasn't working even though it was turned all the way up. In Dry Boy's laziness, he did nothing about it and instead said to himself

"Big pony's gotta take the heat" and as he turned on the car, he chuckled and said "I mean, ugh, cold, hehe". Now some ponies of Caneighda were as friendly as Equestria, despite Equestria having it's reputation of being the friendliest place on earth and sky. The Creator used the weather team that made it snow the day before and made one of the members strategically shape the snow patterns of the cloud to not snow on the Gurkha and to leave an open path to the nearest road. Despite Dry Boy's wickedness of heart and actions and soon to be actions, the Creator still showed kindness to Dry Boy so that in the future Dry Boy will look back and see that the Creator still loved him all the way through, for the Creator chose Dry Boy and he became the Creator's  own, out of love and mercy. That time was not the time of realization though, rather it was the second day of the week of stupefying and it was also the first day of judgement and curses. Dry Boy drove, from the open fields of Uphill to the clustered and less-friendly streets of Trotonto. Even as he drove, he passed by a sign in the farm lands that had raid "Grace be to the Creator of the world, the Speaker of order and harmony" but again in Dry Boy's rebellious state, he didn't listen. When Dry Boy finally reached the municipality of Trotonto, he felt his anxiety jump to the heavens and his twitching rattled like maracas. For some reason, seeing all those cars made him think of car bombs and seeing large crowds made him paranoid of hidden terrorist. His ears were ripped open and he felt the necessity to listen to everypony's conversation but since his windows were closed he only saw the lips of ponies move which made him more nervous, not only that, he continuously changed his focus to the sound of his car to make sure it was operating finely and he also kept on looking behind him to make sure nopony else was in the car and nopony was following him. Dry Boy even smelt the air like a dog near food to make sure there were no strange gases. His anxiety which increased his awareness helped him to find the bar. Dry Boy parked in the parking lot and there he waited with useless adrenaline and an annoying twitch.

Dry Boy waited for an hour and he grew bored in his car and sore from all the twitching that was still happening, and he would constantly grow uneasy in his own space and would look out his windows both left right front and back for dangers. Dry Boy's unoccupancy intensified and with it his paranoia. Dry Boy knew nothing was going to happen to him, especially in that great rhinoceros of a car but his heart still had battle-horse instinct and he couldn't help it. To relax himself, he undid his protection spell and it unveiled his private parts before his eyes and he felt it between his legs and in between his buttocks. Dry Boy reclined his seat so no one would see him and he relieved himself for 10 minutes and when he finished he cloaked himself again with the protection spell, he wiped away the mess with tissues and threw the tissues into the trash bag. Dry Boy waited for another moment and tried to sleep with his seat reclined.

Afar off in the distance were 7 noble stallions, they all walked together and they all talked with one another remembering the days and operations they had with Dry Boy. They turned the corner and saw the humongous Gurkha parked beside the pub and immediately knew who was in it. They went and knocked on the door that was twice as tall as them all. Dry Boy quickly peeked over the door and saw them all standing there then Dry Boy opened the door while still sitting back and he saw all of them clearly this time and they all looked up at him. Most of them were wounded but one, one with pale fur who's name was Stephen Wallrunner had an eye patch, one with orange fur and a military cap who's name was Juicy Loosey had hind wheels, one with green fur who's name was Alfred Stronghold had half a horn that never healed, one with purple fur who's name was Jackson Smith had a bullet wound at the left side of his neck, one with red fur who's name was Leo Frio had a prosthetic hoof, and one with magenta fur who's name was Will Holobuff had a long and wide cut that went diagonally from the top of his hind leg to his fore pit. The last pony was Slick Snare and he was the only one of the eight that was not wounded. Dry Boy remembered all of their faces and he remembered who they all were, he smiled and cheered when he saw them all and they all were delighted in their hearts. These eight appeared as broken ponies but in the eyes of all Caneighda they were looked upon with such amazement and gracious gazes, for these 8 were the most effective in the Caneighdian War and it was Dry Boy that had ended it. Dry Boy jumped out of his seat and onto the rough pavement in front of them all and closed the door behind him. They were all merry and joyful when they met their long lost friend and they each hugged him separately. Some of them said "Dry Boy, my boy!" and others said "What's good crazy flank?" while some said "Hey Dry, I missed ya buddy" and Dry Boy was positively energized in his heart. The squad of ponies made their way into the pub and as they went through the front doors Juicy Loosey said out loud

"Hey! Guess who's back"

The bartender looked at the mass of ponies and when she saw Dry Boy, her eyes enlarged and her smile widened to the ends of her face "OH MY GOOD FEATHERS!"

Dry Boy laughed happily when he saw that pink young mare standing behind the counter, cleaning dishes. "Hi Mariam!" said Dry Boy but she stood in disbelief, then she ran around the counter and pushed the other ponies out of her way and gave Dry Boy an embracing tight hug.

"Oh how good it is to see you!" She shouted as she plumped her face into his big soft white chest "My big cuddle bear" and by the way she hugged him, Dry Boy could sense that she's been meaning to see him again for all the years he's been away. But as her cheek rested and smothered on his chest, he felt aroused by it and blushed lightly and hugged her back softly. Such contact would have just been pleasant and comforting instead of arousing before the days he left Equestria, but as the fallen pony he became, almost everything felt sexualized.

"Okay okay" said Dry Boy as he tried to get Mariam off of him. Eventually after a last squeeze, she let go and she blushed and giggled as she whipped her blond hair back with her hoof.

"So, um, what brings you back here, Dry?"

"Yeah. What does bring you back here?" asked Stephen Wallrunner.

"I would answer that but I can't without poutine in my mouth" Dry Boy responded as he looked to Mariam. Mariam shrugged and blushed again and crossed her hind legs. "Oh-um, right away captain" She saluted him and went off to make make poutine. As Dry Boy and his friends waited for their meals, they all sat down and talked.

"So how was Equestria?" asked Will Holobuff.

"Meh, it was fun. All the ponies there are just as friendly and unfriendly as they are here. It's just that the friendship there runs the country."

"Yeah, isn't it supposed to be like the friendliest place on all of the earth or something?" said Alfred Stronghold.

"I guess, they even got a princess that's princess of friendship and she helps spread it and makes laws that make everypony friendlier"

"What happens if you break them?" asked Jackson Smith

"Nah, see they're like laws as in like laws of behavior"

"Oh"

"So not civil laws"

"Oh"

Time passed and Mariam finally came back with only one container of poutine. She gave it to Dry Boy and Dry Boy winked at her and said "Thanks, hunny bun buns" she giggled and flicked her hoof at him.

"Oh you're welcome, sweetie" Then she also grabbed a seat and sat beside him, in between him and Slick Snare. Juicy Loosey spoke out loud again

"What, are you guys going to start dating now?" And they all laughed and Mariam the blusher, blushed again. "You know there's some things in life that are good not to have even though they are perfect to have. I lost my hind legs and ever since then, they never got tired" And they all laughed again except for Mariam, who didn't understand soldier-humor. Mariam ignored his statement and just hugged Dry Boy's foreleg and said

"No! I just miss my polar bear"

"Pfft whatever"

Dry Boy opened his container of poutine and started eating away. The smell reached to the other ponies' scent and they also craved poutine.

"Hey, what about us?" asked Stephen Wallrunner

Mariam looked up at Stephen and said "What?"

And both Stephen, Juicy and Leo said "Poutine!"

Mariam whined and groaned "Fine!" and she gave Dry Boy's foreleg one last tight hug and got up and left. As she got up and left to the kitchen, Dry Boy watched her leave and lusted for her.

"Was she like this to any of y'all" asked Dry Boy after she had closed the doors behind her.

"Not really. Except once for Will, but he's got that big ol' scar on his side and she says it feels weird" answered Slick Snare.

Then Will Holobuff's eyes opened and he said "Did she really say that?"

Slick nodded "Yup"

"Well... I guess there's more enjoyment in knowing that she's happy with Dry rather than an imperfection like me. Also with knowing that my scar paid for her to be freely happy"

"Bah don't say that, we're all being made perfect through the graceful restoration of the loving and merciful Creator" said Stephen

"Yeah, just like the Book of Parables says 'All who seek gold must dig, but they cannot dig without a shovel, for if they dig with their bare hoofs they will break them before years of coming close' I just read that this morning"

"May the Lord guide you through your journey to holiness, Will" said Alfred

"Thanks, and thanks be to the Lord" said Will Holobuff. For some reason, all this talk about the Creator troubled Dry Boy in his heart and his heart began to harden.

"Since when did you ponies become so religious?" asked Dry Boy

"Ugh since you witnessed to us in this very pub during the Caneighdian war" replied Slick Snare, wondering why a pony with a strong religious background would ask such a question. Dry Boy couldn't answer properly, instead he just said

"Oh" and he continued eating his poutine. After a while again Mariam came back with more poutine, one for all, steaming and greasy.

"So you still haven't told us why you came back to Caneighda?" asked Mariam as she sat down with her hoofs at her cheeks, and all the other ponies agreed. Dry Boy swallowed his food and prepared his memory for the tale.

"Alright, so this goes back all the way to when I was transferred into CSOR. When operations in Hoofghanistan started happening, I was deployed into an operation where I needed to recover a stranded unicorn who was out of ammo and being hunted down by a bunch of terrorist . He was a part of the Equestrian Special Forces and he was deployed by himself to retrieve some stolen equipment, ugh intel, or something like that. As we're heading back to base we talked a bit, and as we talked we told each other how we got into the special force. We were both branched into the special forces, we were both branched in on the same year when the Caneighdian war and the Chineighes war ended, and we both had the same service numbers, we were both the same rank and age, same heritage and colors. He had grey fur with a black and white mane and tail and I have white fur with a black and grey mane and tail. Me and him on the battlefield, we were completely unstoppable. It took us around 3 weeks to finally reach HQ. Before he got on to the Transport heli, I gave him my business card and after the war was over, we became closer than brothers, we got so close that I eventually moved to Equestria and lived with him as a Veteran Peer Supporter. We lived together side by side, partner with partner, just like in the war. Eventually he found some girl named Trixie, but he was called to duty when riots broke out in Equestria, there were even some full fledged revolts being launched by rebellion groups and the more riots the less time he spent with his girl, and boy did he love that girl. Anyways his job got so stressful that he needed to relieve stress... sexually, and for some reason he thought it was a good idea to release it out on me"

"Huh?" said everypony with a questioning look on their faces.

"I know. I have no idea what demons were in that pony. I guess because his girl and him were waiting till marriage, he didn't want to harm her. He used a bounding spell on me and my hoofs were tied together by his magic so I couldn't really do anything. The only thing that could stop him was his girl walking in before he actually did anything worse."

"Damn! All that just for a stressful day at work?" asked Jackson.

"Nah, see he actually had some other things going on in his life that just broke him down, like his girl being kidnapped once just so a bunch of mercenaries could have a bounty that was on his head. Ponies on the internet drawing nasty pictures of his girl. Plus he had some extremely intense PTSD. He also got deployed to Zebrafrica for a week and had is horn blown off. Plus having to do daily night scouting of Ponyville because of martial law, and remember he loved his girl a lot, he practically had soft-core almost-sex with her every night. After that day, his girl left him, and he was just devastated on the inside, he was so mad that he eventually wrote a note saying that when he comes back from work, if he sees that I'm still there, he was going to kill me" Dry Boy resumed eating his poutine and finished after one bite. "And that's why I left Ponyville... or-um-Equestria"

"Holy Macaroni, that's insane!" said Mariam.

"So what are you gonna do now?" asked Leo Frio.

Dry Boy shrugged and stretched his forelegs across the table "I dunno. Probably just gonna live here and die here"

"Now that's not a very happy ending" responded Leo.

"Yeah why don't you just come with us to the synagogue sometime and maybe find some answers there?"

Dry Boy rubbed his forelegs together and looked down nervously. "Yeah, I don't think I'll be in a place like that for a very long time"

Everypony stopped munching down their meals and looked at Dry Boy in confusion. "Why not? The Dry Boy I know wold have gone there before coming here" said Stephen.

Dry Boy started to stutter and flick his eyes up and down as he tried wording a sentence properly. "See, the thing that happened recently. It doesn't really sound like a loving and caring story, and I was questioning what kind of loving and caring Creator would let his own child be treated like this. Plus why would he let my best friend go through such hardships, 'cause he was a believer as much as I am... I know he's there, I know he's real, but my faith has just vanished ever since the past two days because of the things that happened"

"... Well, alritghy then. That's your decision"

They were all together until the beginning of the evening. The sun was partially set and each one of the 7 other stallions started to leave. Dry Boy was eventually left alone at the table and Mariam started to get busy taking orders. Dry Boy being alone at his seat, was asked twice if he was Dry Boy the great Caneighdian Polar Bear. A young mare asked if she could see  and touch his bullet wound at his upper left abdomen and a ten year old boy asked to take a picture with him. Then later when the pub was empty again, he sat at the bar in front of Mariam just to get her attention. No one else was in the pub but them two only, and a spirit of adultery and rebellion was casted upon him that week, but he did not know it because during the week of stupefying he walked in the flesh and not in the spirit. Dry Boy was highly tempted by Mariam, she was 4 years older than he was, and Dry Boy had an affection towards older mares. Mariam had blonde hair that sparked along with her eyes and matching colors warmed Dry Boy's pleasures pleasantly. Mariam's smile and cheeks were sweet and adorable and she had a beautiful feminine fatigue that curved like smooth round hills, and a lady's endearing appearance impassioned Dry Boy's desires like a bee giving nectar to a sun flower, except this bee was a lion and it tore the flower and ate it. Mariam turned to see Dry Boy sitting there with his chin resting on the table and his forelegs at the side of his head, and Dry Boy yawned and he looked up into Mariam's eyes and Mariam looked back into Dry Boy's eyes. As Dry Boy opened his mouth to speak, a drunkard came and stood at the front entrance with his leg swinging and shouted before Dry Boy moved his tongue.

"Hey! D-Do you hor-horses got any alholmonic beverages?" The clumsy pony asked, and Mariam left from behind the counter and marched to the front entrance and screamed at the pony

"GET OUT!" and Mariam slammed the door in his face and locked it then she trotted back behind the counter and smiled at Dry Boy. "You were saying?" and Dry Boy began his first stages of intimacy with her.

"Have any of the other lads ever told you how beautiful you are?" asked Dry Boy, and Mariam tucked her lips as she tried to hide her smile and looked down at her hoofs.

"Um-not really"

"Well, I guess I'm the first one to say it then, eh?"

"Yeah I guess you are, sweetums"

"Y'know I was thinking about you while driving into Caneighda"

Mariam leaned on the table also, with her hoofs at her cheeks "Oh yeah, so what went through your head about me?"

"Just those bright yellow eyes with that smile making me blind and your spirit that fills me with joy"

Mariam giggled "Aw, Dry Boy"

Dry Boy sat up "Is it okay if I can have a Caneighdian Haysome?" he asked. Mariam turned and grabbed a bottle of it and gave it to him. Dry Boy struggled to open it, he twisted it and pulled it, he banged it lightly on the table, he tried biting it open, but he couldn't open it. Then he hoofed it to Mariam and said "Do you mind?" Mariam grabbed the bottle and opened it with a special technique she learned as a bartender.

"Since I opened it, I get to drink first"

"Whatever. Go ahead"

Mariam put the brim to her lips and gulped down the beer five times and let out a relaxing "Ahhh" then she lent it to Dry Boy to drink the rest.

"You know I'm not good at doing that" stated Dry Boy and Mariam shrugged with an obnoxious smile. Dry Boy drunk and drunk and drunk that night until he was moderately drunk. At his first drink there was only one bottle but at his last there were eight. Mariam knew Dry Boy was in no condition for driving, especially if he was only a decent driver when he was sober. Dry Boy also knew he wasn't able to drive, so he tried sleeping there at the bar. While Mariam was in the middle of cleaning dishes and cleaning tables she noticed that Dry Boy was still there and that he was sleeping. In Mariam's heart, she felt pity for Dry Boy, alone and helpless but also not brave enough to seek help. Mariam remembered the scripture study she went to on Saturday of the week before, there she learnt that the Creator created the female to be a natural nurse, they were designed to nurse the needy with built in desires to help and care for others. Unable to resist her feelings of sorrow for him, Mariam went up to Dry Boy and rubbed his shoulder to wake him up.

"Hey, Dry?"

"Mhm?" Dry Boy answered

"Do you plan on sleeping here tonight?"

"Would you let me?"

"No!" Mariam happily exclaimed "But I will let you sleep with me"

Dry Boy tilted his head side ways and straightened his eye brows in confusion. He knew Mariam to also be a devout believer, and he worried that if intercourse happened she would be forced to marry him and if not marriage, a life-time servant for him.

"I mean-like-just sleeping... ugh maybe a bit of cuddling, but-I mean no like sex or anything" Mariam nervously laughed as she questioned herself whether she worded everything out correctly. Dry Boy knew not to behave sexually, but Dry Boy also knew not to care and follow his heart. Mariam truly desired nothing more than cuddling, for as such there was no standard or law against but Dry Boy desired non-insertion seductive intimacy and for that there was a way out but it involved repentance. Dry Boy was silent and after staring at her for a while, seeing her staring back with a nervous smile that dissolved into a worried look, enforced his hormones, and having no sword and shield, he was struck with a sword of darkness. The knight of darkness wielding that sword was eventually struck with the two edged sword from behind but this was not yet fulfilled. The Savior, bearing the two edged sword planned an ambush and the time was not yet come, so for that night and for the rest of the week Dry Boy remained in his wicked heart that grew and grew into an even more depraved plight.

Eventually, Dry Boy started awkwardly trying to nod and he felt his anxiety jump up again and he nervously said "Y-yes." Dry Boy, being without wisdom, he was without self control, and without self control, he was without himself. Rather he gave himself up for his carnality that changed him from his childhood into a perverted adolescent-hood, which was his adolescence, perverted. Mariam who was standing there, felt merry in her heart and much comfort in her soul to the sound of his response. "Mind showing me the bedroom then?" Dry Boy asked Mariam and Mariam tugged on his foreleg and invited him to walk with her

"It's this way" she said as she pointed to the kitchen doors. Dry Boy got out of his seat and walked with Mariam who had to hold onto him to stop him from toppling over. They went through the kitchen and up the stairs and through the doorway of Mariam's sleeping quarters. The room was messy, with tossed out clothes in a corner, bed sheets flopped around, and unorganized papers on her desk, but none of this was minded by Dry Boy instead he fell straight onto the bed before Mariam did and he snuggled up with her pillows and wrapped himself up with her blankets. Mariam stared at him getting comfortable and did not get angry when he helped himself to her bed and her blankets and her pillows. Instead Mariam felt a strange enticement at the sight and she started to remember their high school days together and she thought to herself This is going to go wrong but she thought to herself in response, thinking No it won't. Dry Boy, finally settling into comfort, with a pillow underneath him and his forelegs hugging the top of it, his head straight up, and his belly facing downward with his legs straightened out, he opened up a space with the blanket being levitated by his magic and said "Ain't ya coming in?" and Mariam trotted to the bed in excitement and she tossed herself into the space beside Dry Boy and the blanket fell upon her and she laid on her side, looking at him, and by staring into each other's eyes seductively in bed, Mariam felt the lusting feeling of old from their high school days together but Dry Boy felt a familiar feeling but did not know from when and where he remembered it.

For some reason, Dry Boy felt as if he already knew where he was, as if he has been there before. Her mattress felt like he's slept on it before and her blankets felt like he's slept in them before but he did not bother to wonder about the familiar feelings. Instead, Dry Boy slowly started shifting towards her and Mariam towards him, and eventually they met each other with one hoof over top of each other, and Dry Boy started to do what he pleased but he knew his limits regarding Mariam's intent. Dry Boy hugged her side and put his head underneath her muzzle and rested his cheek over top of her breast, Mariam also hugged him and rested her hoofs on his back and she rubbed her cheek against Dry Boy's grey and black fluffy and long mane. Dry Boy slowly slid his leg in between her legs and he felt the warmness of her thighs hug his leg, along with the plush and softness of her pudgy breast settled against his cheek, it was enough to entice his heart like a spicy twelve-inch burrito. That night, the lust of his flesh was engulfed in deep flames, not because of the level on how much he touched Mariam, but because he knew that this was a breathe closer to more intense and sexual cuddling of the rest of the nights and days ahead.

Worship of the Dead

Dry Boy had a dream that night and as clear as the breathe of the air, he remembered it. Just as it is easy to breathe it was easy to remember that dream for it was a message from the eternal Creator. Again, Dry Boy was in the same open field as the last dream and as the last dream the sky was covered in clouds and it roared, it whaled, and it growled as if it was hunting. Six lightning bolts pierced the earth and dug beneath the dirt of the earth and the earth pulsed with light that spread out to the trees and so likewise the trees lit up. At the last lightning bolt, it pulsed once and as the light passed through the grass and dirt and trees, as it passed all was dead except for Dry Boy. The grass fumed with toxic harsh smelling smoke that invaded his nostrils and the dead trees stole the dead grass from the earth to cover their nakedness. Dry Boy heard a voice, a voice like the waves of the sea.

"Oh stumbling stone, you move not yet you fall. Peel your eyes open and uncloak your ears as you sleep. You are shrouded with pride so you don't remember, you cover yourself in cologne so you filter your own filthiness. Become blessed with the fruits of the Spirit and endure what tempts you. I Am still here and though you shroud yourself with pride, I still see your faults, though you cover yourself with cologne, your filthiness has never changed to the scent of My nose, and though you have transgressed against Me, I Am still willing to forgive for My mercy endures forever, but since you have not and will not, let there be another curse and another judgement. Let the second of the six curses be ravaging thoughts and let the second judgment of the six judgments be extortion" and Dry Boy did not answer the everlasting Father of creation instead after His few words Dry Boy awoke.

There on top of red bed sheets Dry Boy was under the embrace of a sleeping young mare and he was also embracing an older mare. He remembered the dream he had and thought about it. "What could be so wrong about having feelings for someone?" he asked to himself, not realizing the place from where he left three days before that day and the place where he was now. Dry Boy thought he was in the right, but he knew he was in the wrong, nevertheless he still dwelt in the wrong for the feeling that he felt to be right. It seemed peaceful until he was led to think about what Mariam was dreaming about. He imagined it to be a romantic dream of her and him but his imaginations were led to thinking she was actually having a nightmare where she was stolen from Dry Boy and got violated and abused and mutilated, and it bothered Dry Boy greatly to the point of feeling a wrathful anger against himself for thinking such a thought. Eventually, Mariam was awakened by the twitching of Dry Boy's shoulder. Mariam peered with her vibrant golden glowing eyes through her opening tired eyelids and she could only see Dry Boy's frustrated face, frustrated by the thought he had and the annoyance of his shoulder's twitching, but as Dry Boy paid attention to her pupils and her opening eye lids, his twitching ceased as he remained in focus and his thoughts were silenced as he remained in focus. Only just from looking away from her eyes once, the thoughts and images of his thoughts came again into his head but he found a bypass by softly and gently smothering his face against her warm, plushy breast and softly whispering into them, saying "Mine" and this brought comfort to Dry Boy's heart and it pleased his arousing pleasures like the waves on the shore and the warm soft sand. By Dry Boy's actions it was enough to wake her up fully with enjoyment in her heart that Dry Boy's head rested over.

"Oh - well, Good morning Staff Sargent" said Mariam with a mild lusting surprise in her voice, which only aroused Dry Boy more. Dry Boy moved his leg from in between her thighs and hugged her lower back with it and pressed his crotch against her, nearly making himself lay on top of her and he also had a bit of a moan to his voice when replying.

"Good morning General, is there anything I can be of service today" Dry Boy was always like this in the mornings even when he was alone. Mariam blushed and she also became aroused as she felt Dry Boy's body attach to hers and as she felt his thin fur rub against her, for a moment she forgot about what was right. Mariam combed Dry Boy's mane back and she was warmed by the sight of Dry Boy's face at her breast.

"You can just look adorable for now" said Mariam while gently tugging Dry Boy's mane back. Dry Boy however did not just lay there to look adorable, he felt something old yet new rage on inside of him, like fluttering butterflies flapping their wings near his belly but also like a mammoth smashing the inside walls of his chest. Dry Boy entirely hugged her with his leg and sat up right with Mariam in between his legs and he felt the center space between his legs, where his invisible untouchable boy-parts were, firmly rest comfortably on top of her waist.

"Is it okay if I can lay here?" asked Dry Boy while digging his hoofs into Mariam's belly. Mariam nodded with glee in her eyes as her two braided tails of her mane crossed over her neck and her hoofs being folded over her chest. Dry Boy slowly laid himself on top of her, and being on top of her made his heart rush a bit. It felt like the first time Dry Boy has ever been on top of anypony, the first time ever being this close to a female, laying and pressing firmly against a nice smooth feminine belly and looking up only to see a small portion of her face  being blocked by the rump of her curving chest. Dry Boy felt a slight fright in him, but he had enjoyment in his fright like drinking lightning and burping thunder.  Dry Boy's head still reached underneath Mariam's muzzle and as he slid his head in between her hoofs, she slid her hoofs to Dry Boy's shoulders and skimmed across his smooth muscular forelegs. As Dry Boy settled his head underneath her muzzle and cuddled with her, Mariam could see Dry Boy's large curving plot and she slowly rubbed her hoofs down to Dry Boy's waist and nearly touching the top of his lower lower back. As Mariam stared at Dry Boy's extra large voluptuous rump she began to feel the rising arch of his softness.

"Dry Boy?' Mariam asked "You have a really nice tush"

Dry Boy's face turned red. It's been a very long time since he's heard a compliment like that and as he blushed he tried to hide his own butt but could't because it was always seen. Dry Boy pleasured off of her hoofs almost touching his rear and just to encourage her to do so, he moved up on top of her and firmly rested his chest on hers and hugged her with his forelegs and slowly started humping her. With every slow moving and gentle press he made with his crotch against her waist and with every smooth and pleasant swing of his hips, the bed creaked and lightly began hopping back and forth as Mariam's cheeks turned into a deep visible red and her eyelids were peeled back and her pupils shrinking just a small way. Dry Boy then proceeded to sit up on top of her and he did something that triggered an unexpected yet ever so exhilarating yet arousingly comfortable feeling in them both, Dry Boy reached with both his hoofs and fondled and groped and squashed her breast. Mariam yelped and gave a small surprised groan, her eye lids opened wide and her pupils shrunk completely to the size of marbles and her cheeks became red and heated with lava. Dry Boy felt something old in him being reestablished. Dry Boy felt rehired. Covered in invisibility, Dry Boy felt it raging violently stiff. Something like this was only done before he enlisted and he started to remember that day of the days before enlistment.

Mariam grabbed a hold of his hips and moaned his name while he started to jump up and down on her and plummeting his rear on and off of her crotch. Mariam reached down to his large, tsunami-like, wave-hurling man-buns with intent to give them a deep and angry squeeze, but just before doing so her alarm rang and they stopped. It was time to open the doors of the pub and start standing behind the counter for Mariam. Dry Boy on the other hoof, did not know what else to do other than take Mariam's suggestion and just look adorable. As Mariam slipped away from underneath the heavy Dry Boy, Dr Boy whined a little and gave his adorable little pouty face.

"Must you start work so early?"

Just before exiting the bedroom, Mariam turned her head back "Ugh, yeah" then she shut the door behind her. Dry Boy's loneliness bothered him as he laid there in Mariam's bedroom. After Mariam had left, he found himself doing nothing but staring at the door Mariam had just exited through. There was nopony beside him, no comfort and no warmth from organic life. The nice women-smell and the softness of breast had left from underneath him and he was left to start playing with his own. The ravaging thoughts in his head led him to fantasies of Mariam, but also twisted, wicked and dark fantasies of himself that just earlier, he would have rebuked. The ravaging thoughts was a strong deception to him, to be fearful of nothing or to be tempted in an animalistic and evil way, either way, his saneness was taken from him. Dry Boy even got up to follow his flaming desires. He walked through the kitchen and passed the bar, he waved to Mariam and got in his Gurkha and drove to the nearest adult store.

Dry Boy stepped through the ringing door, and as he stepped, he examined the entire room and it all set his soul ablaze. There were magazines in baskets, sex-toys of all sorts and sizes organized and hung across the walls, and even sex-machines. Dry Boy desired it all. Lust and sensuality beat in his heart like raging hoofs and he stood there gazing amongst the gods. He went and searched for the simple thing he desired, he grabbed it and brought it to the cashier.

"Back into that life again I see" said the cashier with her eyes flicking back and forth between Dry Boy and the purple sex-toy.

Dry Boy looked confused at her.

"Well, you didn't look any different than you do now, so I guess it won't be any different" She scanned the purchase.

"Do I know you?" Dry Boy put his hoof to his chin, recognizing familiarity but experiencing no memory of her yellow heavily make-up covered face. A feeling that worried him.

The cashier put the toy in a white blank bag and hoofed it to Dry Boy with a fed-up look in her face "Five silvas, Papa Bear"

Dry Boy poofed up his pouch and brought out five pieces of silver. As he placed them in front of her, he examined her face again and for the first time, he remembered. Papa Bear. Why was that name she had given him so triggering? He knew her name but he did not yet know their past-relations. His face froze with straight eyebrows and the small opening of his mouth. "Caneighda still using ancient currency. Ain't it, Glaceylin?" He checked to make sure if it was the correct name.

Glaceylin chuckled "Somepony has been in Equestria for too long"

"Meh. It's not even that ancient. In Equestria they use gold. They just call them bits because they're bits of gold" Dry Boy floated the bag. "Anyways I'm going now" Dry Boy waved joyfully with a happy smile. "Goodbye!"

Mariam waved and when her hoof rested on the counter, she fluttered her long and thick eyelashes.

When Dry Boy had turned, he looked back, arched his back inwards so that is bottom buns could stick out and he winked with a kiss. Something they used to do to each other.

There, in his car, he examined the toy while Glaceylin's voice uttering "Papa Bear" floated and bounced around in his mind like hopping snakes. There, he looked at the brand name and remembered only it from the years off in high school. This is the same brand he owned when he was just fifteen and was later forgotten when he was seventeen. This is the start of the remembrance of his peeled off memories, but it was also when keys unlocked doors. "Badoinkadoinks" read the packaging of the sex-toy. By it Dry Boy chuckled at the name and also the coincidence of him buying the same brand, the same type, the same color, from the same store, from the same pony, and for the same reasons. Or so he lied to himself, calling it a coincidence, but inwardly, knowing there are no coincidences and there are no random chances but only the fate of history repeating itself. Dry Boy shook his head before he overthought it and remembered too much and he drove back to the pub. Still he twitched and grew paranoid while driving and as he drove the ravaging thoughts did not leave him at peace with questions and wonders of what else he was going to start remembering. His thoughts played like a piano, at moments they were a beautiful composition but at other moments they sounded like slamming hoofs on the keys. He realized something. He realized what was going on, the week was going to be a week of remembering and a week of going back to an old way he thought of but wasn't sure if it was true. He knew he was in rebellion of his master, he knew that he was a runaway child and he knew that the end of the week wasn't going to end with the whorish smile he had now rebuilt. Has the Spirit of wisdom truly left him, that plans of order were seen before they occurred? The Spirit has never left him, but there dwelt a loud mouth in him and a gluttonous prostitute that shouted merrily and without care, burning curses at heaven and a hating witch that mocked before the shining throne. Is the Creator mocked without justice afterwards? Where is revenge that this young child will obey? Has it not been before and in his eyes, blaring at his soul and eating him inwardly like worms. Dry Boy was a blindfolded cripple walking towards the edge of the cliff, who else blinded and crippled him other than his own self and who put him on the path to destruction other than his own self. He doesn't care. He just wanted sex, he didn't care, he wants the pleasure of slicing his throat and flooding the dirt and staining leaves with fat blood. What pleasure was there in clouds he'll just fall right through when he can just bathe in the mud-pit that was set before him, mingled with blood and wet dirt.

Dry Boy arrived at the pub. He went in and headed straight to Mariam's room. There were a few ponies in the pub and just after Dry Boy entered through the kitchen door, he stopped because of the familiar voice he heard talking with Mariam. Dry Boy took some time to pause at the doorway, he looked into the bag and thought of the voice that spoke with Mariam, familiarity struck him like gum on a shoe and it did not leave him. He took a peek back but then headed through the doors and went upstairs. There Dry Boy laid. Waiting for his lewdness to return to him, but it had left him empty-hearted with thoughts floating through his mind until discovery ignited something in him. Gerard Buckingham. His weed dealer. He remembered him. Suddenly memory was given to him. He listened closely and listened to his deep breathy voice as he chatted away with Mariam. He remembered the mental tastiness of weed again, and the pleasures of it's high ingrained itself into Dry Boy. Now having a lust after an old drug, he poofed the bag with the toy back into his Gurkha, and began to remember the days of his youth. He remembered his abuse of the drug, his long hair (the same as he had right now), and oddly he started to remember a pair of blue pajamas which were his favourite as a teenager. He giggled. Continually hearing Buckingham's voice made him crave the drug ever more. He remembered his favourite part of the days before he enlisted, cuddling while high. Going to sleepovers with a couple girls, being the only boy there, getting hammered off of weed and then having intensely sexual snuggling. Cuddling, something so innocent and loving perverted into something demoralizing and a shameful pleasure that was as useful as the waste of a dog. Especially for Dry Boy, for him it was as a dog going to eat from the cats full litter box and licking the outer stained rims then going back to its vomit after it has puked it out. It did not seem like this to him though. To Dry Boy, divine grace was something long lost forgotten. Dry Boy having an unending and tempting crave, he went down to the bar and sat in front of Mariam, beside Gerard Buckingham.

"Well, well, well-" Gerard began to speak "Good to see the Caneighdian Polar Bear again"

Dry Boy looked to Mariam "Has everypony forgotten my name? Or has my name been officially changed?"

Gerard took a sip of his cider "How's it going Dry?"

"It's pretty tight, though to be honest, I kinda prefer Papa Bear more"

Mariam raised an eyebrow, knowing that that name wasn't something he was supposed to remember.

"Didn't Mariam give you that name back in highschool?"

Mariam did nothing as Dry Boy's past grew inside of him right before her.

"Matter of fact! I think she did" Dry Boy looked to Mariam as a memory began forming itself again, but not completed. "Actually, Gerard, can I speak to you about something outside?"

"Sure" They both got up from their seats and headed out through the pub entrance, and they walked over to Dry Boy's Gurkha.

"Listen man" Dry Boy leaned against his car "I haven't smoked in a couple days, and I just recently got on it again, but I ran out so quickly. So I was wondering if you could get me some of it again?"

Buckingham took some time to reply. Here was the Great Caneighdian Polar Bear, a devout religious believer in the Almighty who left his old ways of drug use to follow the will of his Creator and join the military to save Caneighda from evil foreign invaders, who was greatly blessed with strength and wisdom, loved all as Love has loved and inspired many to live lives of purity, who left behind all his friends in Caneighda for a complete stranger he found in the middle of the desert simply because God told him to, and who spread his testimony across the world in an open display of giving glory to the One who is worthy. Here he is, now coming back to his old weed dealer, in hope for the deteriorating things of old. Gerard Buckingham paid no attention to it, instead he went along. "Yeah, I still got loads. I can give you"

"Alright! How much for a kilo?"

"One hundred pieces of silver"

"... I have that-" Dry Boy opened the door of his Gurkha and looked for his stache of silver. In his car, he was about five minutes busy counting all the silver until he stopped counting at his last piece which was his hundredth piece. "Where's your crib at?  I don't remember that yet"

"We can go right now if you want? I can show you the directions"

Dry Boy immediately hopped into his car "Alright let's go then"

Gerard Buckingham opened the passenger door and was also inside of the Gurkha and they went off. Gerard showed him the way, and when inside of Gerard's house, Dry Boy began to remember meeting there in his highschool days along with other ponies. He began to remember certain events that happened and just random moments that sprung up in his memory. He also remembered his backyard, where he still grows marijuana. It took about thrity minutes to get a kilogram of weed and as Dry Boy waited, he talked with him.

"Who were the rest?"

"Hm?"

"The rest. Were there not other ponies that smoked with us here?"

"Oh, there were a few. Smiling Dice, Ray Rastomer, Bob dobbing, and a couple others. I hardly remember them either. We all split up after graduation"

"I remember always pretending as if I was going to sit on somepony. I almost got my flank kicked because of it, too"

Gerard chuckled. After the marijuana was weighed and prepared in a large bag Gerard hoofed it to Dry Boy.

"Oh my goodness. That's actually a lot" Dry Boy paused before he grabbed it and turned back to get the bag of silver. Once they had made the exchange they talked more and Gerard started to remind Dry Boy of the past due to Dry Boy's questions. As they talked, they also used a bit of Dry Boy's newly bought weed. They talked about how it's been since graduation, they laughed at stories, they ate, they exchanged jokes and they acted foolish, all for two hours. Then Dry Boy had left his house, dead broke with no money but with about a kilogram of weed.

Arriving back to the pub, he saw Will Holobuff drinking a coffee by the window seat while staring at Dry Boy as he walked into the pub. He waved to Will and Will waved back. Dry Boy went up to Mariam's room and took a long nap and fantasized. The window was open, guitarist were playing outside at the street corner and wind blew in from the window, at last there was a serene peace. While being partially asleep he was interrupted with thoughts not of his own that whispered again "Extortion" and it repeated itself in his head until he was sound in deep sleep. Upon waking up, there came Mariam in her bright yellow pajamas which glowed with her eyes, and two jugs of cider balancing on her back. Dry Boy sat up and Mariam hoofed a jug to Dry Boy. She chugged down her own quickly before Dry Boy could finish his. Dry Boy wiped his lips after he had finished and they stared at each other for a second until Mariam jumped onto his chest with a tight embrace onto the bed and snuggled him. She squealed, she moaned, and she even playfully bit him as she fit herself in between his legs. They laughed and giggled.

"Oh yeah by the way, your buddies don't want to see you anymore" Mariam blurted out.

Dry Boy's seriousness took place "What? Why?"

"They don't want to see you because Will saw you leave with Gerard and give him a huge bag of money, and when he saw you come back your eyes were red" Mariam explained.

"Did they tell you this?"

Mariam nodded "Mhm"

Dry Boy broke eye contact and a bit of a grieved face grew on him as he couldn't help but realize that his brothers were stolen and now became strangers. "BAH! Who cares-" Dry Boy began to twirl her mane "Just as long as I got what I need, I got what I want"

"And for me, that's my big snuggly Papa Bear"

"Oh yeah, why does that name sound so familiar?"

"Would you like me to explain it to you?"

"Yes please"

"Okay. Back in high school, we used to date and I gave you the name Papa Bear. Do you wanna know why?"

"Yes"

"I called you Papa Bear because you were the only boy at school who was fit enough and willing enough to cuddle at slumber parties"

"Oh" Dry Boy flushed a little.

"For money"

"Oh" Dry Boy began to remember those parties again. Sleepovers that involved drugs, food, movies, and being really touchy, especially multiple ponies towards Dry Boy.

"Sometimes we'd all lay down on someone's bed, circle all around you and start touching you"

"Was Glaceylin one of those ponies?"

"Y-yes. How'd you know?"

"I went to the store again and met her"

Mariam knowing what he bought, asked him of it "Did you use it yet?"

"No... You never used that kind of stuff on me, did you?" Dry Boy was hoping he hadn't forgotten that memory also.

"Oh! Goodness no. I mean we were horny girls, but not that horny"

Dry Boy and Mariam chuckled "Okay good"

Mariam glanced at his thick thigh "Unless, of course, you wanna try something out like that" Mariam began to rub his thigh.

Dry Boy blushed and giggled "No, no, no, no, no, I enjoy to stay pure"

"Okay..."

Dry Boy received another memory that had to do with the same manner, but he honestly hoped it was his imagination. Even though, he was greatly pleasured by it, he dared not hope it was true. "Was there also another boy involved?"

Mariam awkwardly answered "Yes... His name was Chocolaty Goodness, and he was from another school, but also my friends boyfriend"

"Oh... So did you just ask me out at one of the parties?"

"Mhm, the first one. I just couldn't resist, I absolutely love a guy with a nice and big bum, and yours is freaking monstrously huge, even bigger than mine"

Dry Boy was just awake and with newly found energy, Mariam also was not finding herself tired but the cider made them both awake. "Are you still okay with smoking weed?"

"Yup" Mariam nodded. "And I know you bought some"

"Yeah I did"

"So then let's live the good ol' days" Mariam exclaimed joyfully. That night both of them got high and they made sexual contact with each other throughout the night until they slept. They told tales, they laughed and they were merry. Dry Boy with his flooding thoughts didn't stop with the questions, and he mostly asked questions about Chocolaty Goodness. Because of his memories, he began to desire him. He even told Mariam how he desired him once again That night they called Chocolaty Goodness and arranged that he should come the next day, but only for a price of thirty silvers in order to snuggle with Dry Boy. Dry Boy decided that only with Mariam he would do it for free, but others he will charge. After receiving and giving kisses, they fell asleep.

Kissing the Coffin

Dry Boy had a dream that night and as clear as the breathe of the air, he remembered it. Just as it is easy to breathe it was easy to remember that dream for it was a message from the eternal Creator. Again, Dry Boy was in the same open field as the last dream and as the last dream the sky was covered in clouds and it roared, it whaled, and it growled as if it was hunting. Six lightning bolts pierced the earth and dug beneath the dirt of the earth and the earth pulsed with light that spread out to the trees and so likewise the trees lit up. At the last lightning bolt, it pulsed once and as the light passed through the grass and dirt and trees, as it passed all was dead except for Dry Boy. The grass, each and every individual blade of grass turned into types and shades of colors, and from the dead trees, from the darkness, emerged strange creatures like deers but they were malnourished, their fur was gray, and their eyes like an empty space as if they were gauged out, from beauty they fell and from death they reigned, their teeth sharpened like pitch forks, they had no nostrils, their legs broiled and naked, and their ears cut off as if they were ripped. They went to eat the colored grass, but when they did, their tongues steamed and they fell out of their mouths. One deer came stumbling towards Dry Boy, but it fell dead right before his hoofs. From the tongueless dead deer's open mouth came a voice saying:

"Young boy, today you shall fall into delusion. You're naturality is dead and you shall make everything to your own liking, to the way you see it, but behold, it shall cause the rest to fall dead and you shall no longer be with what was to be, but you shall dwell with what you have despised. Unless, you change and leave the field, all of it will be brought back to life and grow poisonous to kill you. Be aware, for these are the third of curses and judgments. Let the curse be a great delusion, and let the judgement be a seal to close grave"

Dry Boy woke up, and again there was Mariam beside him. Did Dry Boy leave the field? No, he paid no attention to the dream and simply excused the dream as a product of the marijuana they smoked before bed time. Dry Boy then went again to the thing he thought produced the dream, and smoked it all morning, making himself high on the creation rather than the Creator.

"This is all I need, good ol' weed and a woman" Dry Boy said to himself as he watched Mariam sleep. Her ears fluttered a bit. Dry Boy got up from the bed and stretched while the joint was still in his mouth. He even remembered how to roll one along with all the other memories that came back to him. Dry Boy urinated in the bathroom and when he came out Mariam was already awake. dry Boy walked backwards to her bad and showed off his backside to Mariam. "Is it still the same as back then?"

Mariam giggled, and nodded.

Dry Boy sat on her bed-side and continued smoking, he offered some to Mariam but she refused because it was still early. The morning went by quickly, though it felt long to Dry Boy. Mariam did her usual job, but Dry Boy went out to explore. Walking of course, he was not yet used to being high and just a little bit made him sky rocket and sometimes behave awkwardly. He walked a straight path that went northward. He walked and walked until he came to open fields, and by a lake he poofed up the kilogram of weed and rolled another joint. He began to meditate while smoking, he lost himself in his thoughts and began to make ideas. He led himself to believe in things that are not, as if searching for a replacement of faith. He believed himself do be done with his past life of living with Andrew, helping others with love and compassion. He now continued his past life of only helping himself, and living with devils around him and inside of him. He began to think about how quickly he changed, and thought in his own head that he was wise with the thoughts that he was thinking. He convinced himself that leaving the dull life of Equestria was a good thing and that he was better off here rather than there because here was his home and here were his friends. Rather than questioning why he had been sent here, he gave thanks to himself for travelling here and indulged himself in the pleasures of self-gratification and self-delight. The sun shined after the Princess of the Mid-West had lifted it and it shined through the pretty leaves of the trees Dry Boy sat under. Flowers flourished with the soothing winds following the steady motion of grass and small bushes. The lake reflected the sky and the majesty of the royal sun shined onto his face by the reflection. Fish swam in it, and geese came to bathe and  paddle in the water. Dry Boy could see rabbits spring and hoping in between bushes, and he saw a small fox come to drink from the lake.  On the other side there was walk-way that went through a lightly condensed forest. He could have sworn just two days ago it was snowing. He looked up at the sky and saw that there were no clouds thick enough for snow. Dry Boy wanted to look for a new path, a path that didn't require him to go over a lake, he wanted a path that wasn't so hard to maintain and a path that wasn't so easy. Something that would keep his heart satisfied. He didn't want a way that would get him wet, but he didn't want a way that scorched him with heat, he wanted and searched for a middle way.

Dry Boy made his journey back, and upon returning he realized it was already the middle of the day. Mariam made her youthful little smile and wave to Dry Boy. Dry Boy sat in front of her and asked for a drink and received a glass of tap-water because he had no money for some cider. Dry Boy chuckled as he gave thanks to her, and he drank it. He also felt an emptiness in his tummy, and his mouth desired to be stuffed with delectable foods. He sighed, because there was now boredom surrounding him even though inside of him a mellow green cloud irrigated his soul and it inflated with fuzziness.  He was hungry, but he could only wait until the night for food when Chocolaty Goodness came. He tried begging Mariam for food, but the only thing she gave him was a small fry she was able to take from another pony's order. It still tasted heavenly as the gravy on the fry smothered all over the walls of his mouth. He was satisfied and after a while of just sitting there, he went up to Mariam's room again. He could only snuggle with her pillows and again he rolled up another joint, opened a window and smoked as he watched nature pass by. Ponies walked and played and entertained and laughed. A vast majority of civilization didn't have automobiles and taxis were still horse-drawn carriages. Vehicles like Dry Boy's were only seen for military service, everypony else's were all so simple, most were even still riding in regular carriages. Dry Boy laid there, thinking and worrying about the future and when the future came worry increased inside of him. The night came and Mariam closed to pub early for the occasion. Chocolaty Goodness showed up and him and Dry Boy greeted one another joyfully. They hugged and padded each other on the back brotherly, they sat at a table and Mariam gave them glasses of water. Chocolaty Goodness didn't look much different to Dry Boy, the same old slim brown pony with thick fur as usual. His memory did not fail him. Dry Boy did not look any different to Chocolaty Goodness other than his bullet wound on his stomach, other than that, he was still the same bubbly thick-meated white pony, although he noticed that Dry Boy's eyes became a lighter shade of grey than when he was younger, almost pure white.

"Well you don't look any different than the last time I saw you, no not one bit" said Chocolaty Goodness.

"Neither do you, Choco Bobo" Dry Boy had remembered his nickname that his girlfriend had given him.

"Well, that's what nirvana can get you" Chocolaty leaned back. "Some good meditation clears your mind real swell"

"Oh yeah? Well, I didn't do any religious growth recently anyways I'm done with that, just dealing with weed and the lady for peace"

"Dry Boy, there is more to life than just cuddling and drugs. Yes, they are good but not only these"

"Oh yeah? How so?"

Mariam began to look a bit worried, as if she didn't want to sit at that table anymore. Chocolaty had presented an unexpected fruit to the table.

"You see, with greater knowledge of what wealth is built upon, pony sees what pony does. This idea of a creator, has this ideology brought you so far only to fail? What this faith you once had did not teach you is that liberation from uncertain and unknowable forces makes certainty of the unknown  that this force blocks you from and thus it is knowable. What they never told you is that if you follow the real path of reality your eye shall be opened and you will even see as if you were God himself" explained Chocolaty.

Dry Boy was amazed with what he had said, Dry Boy knew Chocolaty for being this kind of pony, but back then he was only a learner. Dry Boy for his faith, however, was a dropout, but time came and he went back to school, but then he dropped out again, but soon he will join again and graduate. Mariam didn't know how to feel, she questioned where Dry Boy's character was heading, she even wondered if Dry Boy was starting to leave. Back then, Dry Boy had a strange philosophy of mixing things with things he wasn't supposed to do. He believed by doing pleasurable rituals and heavy consumption of drugs was somehow going to build a closeness to his Creator, and today he was stepping back into those steps, but this time the Creator was nowhere to be found in his voice, Dry Boy had completely abandoned Him. Just like the old days, Dry Boy was disappearing and now Papa Bear was reemerging. Dry Boy had a bursting interest in what Chocolaty said to him and he wanted to learn more "I heard yoga is a big part of it?"

"Yes, and meditation"

"Is it true if I meditate so hard, I can start floating without magic?"

"Haha, actually since you're a unicorn magic starts to get rid of the gravity around you and you start to float. But no pony has done that since thousands of years. Actually that's how it all started, Ra Malak achieved an eternal deep state of peaceful conscience that his body found an inner hidden magic of enlightenment"

"Was he also a unicorn?"

"Oh no, he was an earth pony"

"I AM INTRIGUED!" Dry Boy blurted before chugging down the glass of water. "I desire more knowledge" On his shoulder, he felt a tender and quiet poke and it was Mariam, he quickly looked "What is it Lady?"

"Dry Boy, do you really think hopping from faith to faith is a wise idea?"

Dry Boy did not want to answer so he ignored the question "BAH! Who cares? I'm not going back to that waste of time, not until my face is burned with this 'Flame of Judgement' I kept on being told about all my life. Why don't we just float to the bed and get on with business"

`The three went upstairs. Mariam paid no attention to what was discussed and quickly forgot about it and only focused on the enjoyment. The three smoked and of course Chocolaty taught Dry Boy how to find an inner peace using marijuana. Dry Boy was paid that night, and he dearly missed the contact he used to make with Choco Bobo when they were just boys. They embraced each other as they did in high school, the three of them did, sexually. They kissed each other passionately and they kissed in places without lips and of course Dry Boy again was the center, being the softest to caress and squeeze. They experienced a romance and they did as their hearts desired. Chocolaty missed Dry Boy more than Dry Boy had missed him due to lack of some specific memories, so Dry Boy was sometimes stolen from Mariam a bit. There was relaxing music that Chocolaty had played that was suited for the moment, and the room was filled with smoke from all that they blew out of their mouths. That night they also discussed, Mariam thought of inviting the entire gang back together but it never exited her mouth until it slipped off of Chocolaty's tongue. There was never an absolute answer but it remained an open possibility that Chocolaty was going to try and accomplish it. That night, Papa Bear stood again with a great delusion to keep him alive but Dry Boy was sealed into a coffin and remained dead for the time being.

Grave Yard

Dry Boy had a dream that night and as clear as the breathe of the air, he remembered it. Just as it is easy to breathe it was easy to remember that dream for it was a message from the eternal Creator. Again, Dry Boy was in the same open field as the last dream and as the last dream the sky was covered in clouds and it roared, it whaled, and it growled as if it was hunting. Six lightning bolts pierced the earth and dug beneath the dirt of the earth and the earth pulsed with light that spread out to the trees and so likewise the trees lit up. At the last lightning bolt, it pulsed once and as the light passed through the grass and dirt and trees, as it passed all was dead except for Dry Boy. Slowly the grass appeared to rip itself from the dirt and crumple together to make the shape of a pony and from the dead trees poured out blood and the blood slithered like snakes to come and bite the shape of the pony, but when they bit into the shape, the grass scattered all over the ground and blood splattered all over the surrounding grass, thus everything was stained because the splatter of blood was very great,  it even reached to the trees and also to the tips of Dry Boy's ears. The small droplets that landed on the tips of his hears became into larger streams that crawled it's way into his ears and when it was in his ears he heard a voice.

"Where is the warrior now? Behold, he is dead, brutally slaughtered and mutilated, his fur is burned off and his mane is shaved. He was once a glorified Stallion, but now he's a soft and helpless little girl who cannot find her parents. He is like a hen running around with it's head sliced off, looking  for her children but finding only death. The search for life will only lead to death, what you once brought forth is now dead, and you only dwell in death by the name of death and for the glory of death because of death. Even though you say to yourself 'I live' you shall remain in death. Thus let the fourth of the six curses be instability and the fourth of the six judgments be an open grave to the unclean."

Dry Boy woke up, and being scared by the dream he hurried to his drug and smoked to calm himself down. Finally, he felt something from the dreams. Remembering the shape of the grass in the dream made him remember a memory of seeing a dead body in Hoofghanistan, but seeing it splatter everywhere reminded him of what happened to that dead body. Being high, he was able to convince himself that it was only the splatter of blood that scared him and the snakes, though in reality the dream was able to make his PTSD jump again. Dry Boy felt his nerves calm down, his twitch ceased to control his movement and his thoughts did not bother him as much. He sat by the window and peered out, fighting beams of the lifted sun. Mariam and Chocolaty Goodness closed the gap between them and began hugging while sleeping, while Dry Boy contemplated on how he was going to forget about that dream and move on with the rest of the day. That spot at the window would become Dry Boy's spot in the morning, he just sat there smoking and meditating. He stared out into the beauty of nature and felt as if he became one with it, like he shared a commonality with it all. The smell coming from Dry Boy was able to wake Chocolaty Goodness up and he got up and went to converse with Dry Boy about even more things of the teachings of Ra Malak. He taught him that experiencing extreme levels of spiritual realms through the power of the brain was obtainable by the usage of other and a more expansive array of drugs. Drugs paired with rhythms. Mariam was awake and able to hear what Chocolaty Goodness was teaching him, but for some reason she was troubled at heart and she did not know why. She even had a feeling in her heart of kicking them both out of her house, but she dared not to think that again. Instead she got up and went to go open the store early.

Chocolaty Goodness took the free time to text his girlfriend and all of her friends, the old friends from high school, and invited them all to come to Mariam's house for the night as if he was inviting them all to jump into the coffin with them. Chocolaty Goodness told Dry Boy about the messages and told him that they needed to prepare things. First to anoint the bedroom with perfume, change the bed sheets to romantic colors like red, pink, and purple, get a lot of scented candles, and also different kinds of clothing like loosely-fit pajamas but also snug undergarments. Together they went out to collect them all, but first they went to Chocolaty's house to meditate. At his house, Chocolaty taught Dry Boy various meditating positions, he taught him how to stare into a mandala for a complete hour, and he taught him all the various drugs used to achieve higher spiritual experiences. Chocolaty also planned on using these drugs for that night, but the drugs were saved for the night and at that moment they only did the moderate forms of meditation. Dry Boy was well pleased by all these things. With Chocolaty Goodness' money, they went out to buy all the things they needed, Chocolaty's girlfriend already had perfume and bed sheets and she already had Chocolaty Goodness' clothes. Dry Boy didn't know what was gonna happen that night, and he wasn't all that excited. The night was going to be a night of lewdness and sexual immorality with unnatural affections. Perverseness dwelt among them together, something like a flaming passion that drove them to be like animals, and they went out searching for materials do build their nests and their dens and their holes. They bought black tightly fit boxers for Dry Boy, and blue loosely-fit pajamas that still made his rear look big. They also went to Chocolaty Goodness' girlfriend's house to pick up the bed sheets, but she came with them instead because she had most of the things, perfume, candles, and even her own revealing clothes.

Chocolaty Goodness and Dry Boy went back to the pub along with Tracey Stickles, Chocolaty's girlfriend. The day was filled with business, Mariam was taking orders and making food quickly as she could to satisfy the pony folk, back and forth she was making poutine like a machine, and filling large glasses with cider to the brim, spilling a lot of the fuzz from the cider. She stopped a few seconds to look at the bag they were carrying, but quickly shook her head to continue working. The three went upstairs to prepare everything, they closed the curtains swept the floor, changed the bed sheets, lit and placed the candles in appropriate places and turned off the lights. In front of them both, Dry Boy changed into his clothing, he had his tight boxers while his pajamas hung just underneath is glutes. The two others being tempted by Dry Boy's flaunting began to play with him early. Mariam, downstairs, finally had a moment where there were no more ponies to serve and she had a tendency of a curiosity to go up stairs and see what they had purchased but to also say hello to Tracey. Upon opening the door to her own room, she found everything changed, her bed sheets changed, candles everywhere and a romantic scent, all the clothes she had lying around were thrown into her closet, but also she found Tracey making out with Dry Boy and Chocolaty rubbing his face all over Dry Boy's back side and kissing it also. Seeing this, Mariam didn't know how to react. She had a mix of emotions, being tempted with lust but also a raging jealousy in her heart. Dry Boy was supposed to be her boyfriend and her boy toy, but he was slowly starting to be forcefully shared by a spiritual force of rebellion. Tracey and her boyfriend immediately stopped when the door was opened and they blushed immensely.

Night came, and the store closed but two other mares came, dressed in harlot's clothing. At first Dry Boy thought they were real hired prostitutes, until he recognized that they were Glaceylin and Ra-Hashamel, the two other girls from high school. There were many other mares that Dry Boy provided service to in high school who were also part of their little slumber group, but they did not show up, because their lives were changed to better things. They still did with what they had, they had a messy slumber party. Tracey brought the heavy drugs Chocolaty talked about for higher levels of spirituality, and when Dry Boy was peer pressured into taking them, he let himself go and some sort of other being took control of him, another being named Papa Bear, and that's what they all called him for the rest of the night, except for Mariam. Instability had a high toll on Dry Boy's psychological balance. Sounds became deeper, he began to hear added music to the music that was already playing, he began to hear moaning of other mares that were not just of the mares that were there, and Dry Boy's perception felt a bit disoriented, colors started to change and his sense of touch felt a lot more pleasurable, especially when he was rubbed against and squeezed in his sweet spots. Music played and eventually they got the entire room to fill up with fume because of all the weed they smoked. At a moment they all got extremely and lavishly aroused that Dry Boy brought his toy out, but since his cloaking spell was a Marriage spell, he couldn't have uncloaked himself. They still managed to find ways on how they could use it on him and on him only, and Dry Boy was surrounded by mares and a stallion who all sexually contacted each other, but still managed to keep Dry Boy at the center of it all, they embraced him from all sides and found ways on how they could lay with him and on top of him comfortably. They kissed him endlessly, and licked him all over, and they had the most perverted cuddling that night such that as was not since they were in high school. Dry Boy had long broken his promise that his first kiss would be from his wife.

Broken Tombstone

Dry Boy had a dream that night and as clear as the breathe of the air, he remembered it. Just as it is easy to breathe it was easy to remember that dream for it was a message from the eternal Creator. Again, Dry Boy was in the same open field as the last dream and as the last dream the sky was covered in clouds and it roared, it whaled, and it growled as if it was hunting. Six lightning bolts pierced the earth and dug beneath the dirt of the earth and the earth pulsed with light that spread out to the trees and so likewise the trees lit up. At the last lightning bolt, it pulsed once and as the light passed through the grass and dirt and trees, as it passed all was dead except for Dry Boy and another One. As all was dead, a mysterious black-cloaked pony came from the darkness of the dead trees, he walked and searched for food because he was very hungry. He bowed his head to eat some of the dead grass, but after a couple chews and a swallow he vomited it all out of his mouth. After wiping his mouth, the strange pony faced the opposite way of Dry Boy and looked up to the clouds and a voice was heard that was smooth and ran along with the rushing winds that grew stronger.

"Dry Boy, do you remember Andrew?"

Dry Boy needed to find strength to respond because he was afraid of that mysterious pony. "Y-yes"

"Thus, you shall live as him, for he is hated by his beloved, and I have made him homeless because he too has rebelled against Me. Thus let, the fifth of the six curses be hatred, and let the fifth of the six judgments be poverty" As the pony spoke, to the end of his speech, the winds rushed like an angry water fall and it started to blow some of the dead grass off the ground but the cloak of the pony appeared not to move at all. Dry Boy slightly lost balance because of the wind but the pony did not move, no, not one little bit. Dry Boy struggled to stand up straight yet the pony did not even lean towards the force of the wind.

The dream had not ended yet, because Dry Boy released an urge to ask the mysterious pony while fighting the winds with his voice "WHO ARE YOU?"

Then slowly, the pony started to turn and from his hood was a bright light as if the sun was walking on the earth.

Immediately, Dry Boy woke up. Immediately, he pushed the ponies off of him and he went to his drug to seek a hiding spot from his fear, but could not find a way to roll up a joint because his hoofs shook and rattled like maracas, as if a song was being played inside of him and because of this Dry Boy struggled to find a hiding place. Poverty and hatred, right after being given a home and love. Dry Boy's thoughts raged on inside of him and he found himself taking short and rapid breathes. He looked to the bed and all the mares were lying there on top of Chocolaty, except for Mariam. Dry Boy remembered the night before, and despite wanting to forget that night, memories and flashbacks of it continually played in his head and did not stop until Mariam came up stairs. She burst through the door standing on her hind legs, holding a double barreled shotgun in her forelegs. She was very angry and steam built up inside of her like a flaming wrath that was difficult to put out.

Mariam screamed so that everypony would wake up "Everypony has a minute to pack everything and get out!"

The mares woke up frightened, they hesitated and didn't know how to react because of shock.

Mariam yelled at them again "What the hell are you ugly sluts looking at. Get all your junk and get out of my house!"

Out of fright, the girls took everything that Tracey had filled Mariam's room with and hurried out of her house.

Once Chocolaty was awakened, he stood beside Dry Boy and tried to reason with her.

"Mariam, what is all this abo-"

"What the hay, are you two still doing here? Especially you" She aimed the end of the barrel at Dry Boy. "Why don't you just go out and do your gay crap somewhere else?"

Dry Boy began to speak "But Mariam, you were a part of it, too-"

"YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH YOU DISGUSTING WHORE!" Mariam began to tear up, and her voice started to crackle a bit. "You shut your filthy whore mouth... We were supposed to be together. You were supposed to be MY Papa Bear. Instead you went back to this faggot, and you dragged me down with you!" she began to weep "I used to be a pure, and righteous woman, but then you came with your devious little snotty attitude and made me into the same little trashy SLUT THAT YOU ARE! Back in High School I saw something in you, something so fresh and new, something that would last, not only for you but also for me. We both studied scripture together wen you came back from deployment, we both ate together and you lived here after the day your parents died, we were both happy together and I thank God you lost your memory of High School, but now you just decide to start remembering everything for some god damn stupid reason and you have to bring everything back to the way it was because your pussy ass had daddy issues" Mariam was referring to Dry Boy's conflict with the Creator. "You even taught me how to hold this thing right, how to load it, and how to shoot it. You were supposed to be my boyfriend, my Papa Bear, but you just went ahead and committed adultery in front of me and convinced me to take part in it"

As soon as Mariam mentioned Dry Boy's parents, he started to cry as well. "M-Mariam... Please... I have nowhere to go"

"I DON'T GIVE A FLYING BUCK WHERE YOU GO. JUST GET OUT" Her face steamed now, instead of pink she became a furious red and tears ran down her hot cheeks while a raging stampede of bulls slammed against her heart, tempting her viciously to pull the trigger. "GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!"

Dry Boy ran out before Chocolaty, holding back a flood with a weak dam. Behind him followed Chocolaty, and when they were outside of the pub, he called to Dry Boy.

"Dry Boy. Wait! Where are you going, you can stay with me"

Dry Boy ignored him and he ran into his truck without looking back. While struggling to start the truck, Mariam came out of the front entrance of the pub and threw out what was left of Dry Boy's bag of weed and his rolling papers onto the pavement and went back inside. Dry Boy poofed them back into his truck, he strapped his seat belt and started the car. He quickly drove out of the parking lot, and went away, having nowhere to go and no where to stay.

Dead and Forgotten.

Dry Boy had a dream that night and as clear as the breathe of the air, he remembered it. Just as it is easy to breathe it was easy to remember that dream for it was a message from the eternal Creator. Again, Dry Boy was in the same open field as the last dream and as the last dream the sky was covered in clouds and it roared, it whaled, and it growled as if it was hunting. Six lightning bolts pierced the earth and dug beneath the dirt of the earth and the earth pulsed with light that spread out to the trees and so likewise the trees lit up. At the last lightning bolt, it pulsed once and as the light passed through the grass and dirt and trees, as it passed all was dead and casted on fire except for Dry Boy. There was silence in the clouds until the fire consumed everything and was finished consuming, then he heard a voice move with the winds like the last dream, and the dark gloomy clouds were pierced by a great light and a hole was formed into the clouds by that light and it shined onto the grass. The light breathed on the first section of the field and the grass came back to life and it flourished with a living moisture. The light moved across the field like a highlighter highlighting sentences throughout a paragraph and where ever the light shined upon and where it breathed, what was once dead came back to life and what was once black and burnt regained its natural color and flourished with a living moisture of water. After all was finished the light had gone away but the hole in the clouds was still there and from the edge of the clouds, peeking into the hole, there was a pony dressed in a white robe and he opened a scroll to read out loud to Dry Boy.

"Let the last curse be a great agony, and let the last judgement be a great flame of wrath" The pony closed the scroll and then walked away and through the hole Dry Boy saw the sun rising and then he was awakened.

Dry Boy woke up in his car. Last night, he decided to drive to an open field that was different from last time. It also had a tree but this one was still alive. Dry Boy didn't feel good, even the flickering snow that started to trickle down could not make him happy again. He felt heart broken, his friends gone, his girlfriend gone, his best friend Andrew gone, his parents dead, his army buddies gone. He thought how they all last left him, they all left him because of hatred except for his parents, but he imagined if they were still around they'd probably hate the way he is, too. He thought about Chocoalty's last words to him, he knew he didn't hate him but Dry Boy imagined that he did now for running away from him. Dry Boy thought to himself that the other mares weren't his friends at all, but only stayed with him for the pleasures. He convinced himself that since all the others hated him, he would hate himself also. However, there was still One that loved him, but Dry Boy did not think of that One. Since winter was restarting, it began to grow cold in his truck. The sun was blocked and there was no heat being spread anywhere. Dry Boy had a candle on his dashboard and knew a flame spell he learned in the military. Dry Boy was unfaithful, he did not even have enough enthusiasm to light the candle for a bit of warmth so he just looked at it. His heart felt as if it was bleeding and Dry Boy began to wallow around in his own agony again. He began to weep bitterly and whisper to himself "I hate you. I hate you. I hate you" He started to remember all the ponies he witnessed being killed in front of him during both the wars he fought in, and he wished that all those casualties had been him. He wished he was in that IED blast and his members being ripped apart while his  blood splattered in different places and his heart turning into non-existence. Having his thoughts and pain interrupted by a cold breeze, he finally tried to light the candle so he can be distracted. He focused onto the tip of the candle and he ticked his horn so that it sparked. The candle could not light so Dry Boy tried harder. It was a very precise thing to light a candle and the third try Dry Boy tried too hard. He felt an utter gruesome and brutal stinging pain engulf his face. The pain was unbearable, his eyes were closed but he could still feel his eyelashes being burned off and the only thing he could hear was the whooshing of the growing flames in his truck and his own screaming.  He started to smell burning rubber and smoke, he felt for the handle of the door and jumped out of the truck. He felt a nice cold batch of snow and plunged his head into it and the flames on his head were put out but the pain still stung like a million wasps clinging onto his face. He could finally open his eyes and he turned around to see his truck. The two front seats were filled with flames along with the mattress in the back. Dry Boy walked to the back of the truck and pulled it out by the bottom corners and set it aside from the car. Dry Boy waited for about an hour until the fire was put out by the snow that fell, and he even threw some snow to speed up the process.

Once the fire was completely gone,  Dry Boy went through out the car to look for items that had survived the flames. He was surprised to find many things that were still intact. His dismantled C6 and his box of 200 rounds were still there in the case underneath the driver's seat, his forgotten Bible was still perfectly well inside of his foreleg rest compartment, and a thick rope and his bag of weed somehow were still underneath the passenger seat. Dry Boy had no food, and still felt badly hurt, both physically and emotionally. Snow was already about ankle height, and Dry Boy had no clothing to keep himself warm. Along with his past connections that had left him, the Great Caneighdian Polar Bear also had left him. He was alone, no shelter, no food, no friends, no love, no happiness, no comfort, no resting place, no endurance, and no dignity. Dry Boy grabbed the thick rope and walked to the tree, and he found his only comfort just a knot away. He climbed to the tallest branch of the tree, tied one end of the rope to it and tied the other around his neck. Before he dropped himself down, he said a prayer with his heart screaming.

"Lord. I am not strong enough to endure through your righteous anger. I, the pony whom you strengthened to kill hundreds and thousands cannot stand against One, who is you" He looked down at the drop and began to weep and he cried out "Forgive me. Lord, my God. Forgive me" He dropped himself and his legs hung and wiggled in the air and he started to black out

Living and Remembered

"You are forgiven"

Dry Boy's eyes flashed open and breath pushed into his lungs like a breached door as he gasped and clutched to it like a prepared meal after a long journey. He was laying on his back, and above him, he saw the broken branch that he hanged himself on. The thick branch was rested at his side, and the rope was neatly rolled beside him also.

"The branch broke, so I removed it from on top of you and I rolled the rope neatly beside the branch" Said a voice.

Dry Boy had to get up because of the snow blocking his side view. He got up and shook all the snow off of him. He cracked his back, and he twisted his sides. Dry Boy felt like a new pony, after receiving a new breathe that he had long missed, he turned back into the new Dry Boy after that breathe. "Forgive me for what?" Dry Boy turned and saw a farmer holding a walking stick, wearing a plaid shirt underneath overalls and a tan cowboy hat. The pony faced away from him, looking to the hills but from the back of his head his hair sparkled like the galaxies and was white as wool.

"For breaking my tree" The pony had a very calm tone to his voice, pleasurable and desirable like the sweet juice from a fruit of life.

Dry Boy looked up to the broken branch again "How long was I up there?"

"Not long, but not too short. At a perfect moment of time you hung there, and at a perfect height you descended to not be fatally harmed. I watched the whole thing, from the beginning to the end"

"Oh you did? But, ugh, I don't see any houses near by"

"I live near by. I'm always at reach in places like these"

"You must travel these open fields a lot then, I'm assuming"

"You speak correctly. I have been wandering the fields for trees that bore fruit, then I found the tree from where you hanged and the branch from where you hanged was broken off because you fell"

Dry Boy was about to say something but the pony interrupted him with the answer to the statement Dry Boy was about to make.

"Winter just recently, started. There are certainly still fruits on the tree, but the fruits are horrible and rotten"

Dry Boy looked closely and did see a few fruits and indeed they were rotten. "What are you, on retirement or something?"

The farmer laughed "What is age?"

Dry Boy chuckled and for a moment of silence he thought of what to say. "Ugh... so, did you also hear what I said before trying to hang myself?"

"Yes, from beginning to end and as I said before, you are forgiven"

Dry Boy then looked at him funny, and he asked the farmer "Ugh, who are you?"

The farmer sighed "Dry Boy, have I been with you all your life, from your lowest to your highest, from the day I named you to the day you named yourself, from the day I adopted you to the day you left me to the day you came back to me, from the day you were born to the day that you will die, and yet you still ask me 'Who are you?'. Am I not the One who told you that you will be shot hundreds of times and never die, but you will be shot once and only faint and wake up as a hero of war, and it was so? Did I not tell you that ponies will tremble before your presence in battle, and when you were in battle even your own comrades trembled because I dwelt in you? You know me, then you forget me, then you know me again, then you forget me again, but this time you shall remember me and know me forever"

By these words, Dry Boy began to be shaken and his heart skipped a beat, and a totally different expression developed on his face while a single tear crawled out of his eye and started to stream down his cheek. Dry Boy was dumbfounded and could barely utter the word "L-Lord?"

The farmer turned and His face shined as bright as the sun. His face shined so bright that Dry Boy fell flat on his tummy and his face was buried into the snow because he could not bare to look at the Creator's awesome countenance. The Creator spoke again with His eternally galactic water-like voice "Dry Boy, you are my child. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be not afraid, for I will give you rest where ever you go and I shall be there with you and for you forever and ever. Be not afraid, for you shall see the face of God and live."

Dry Boy slowly lifted up his face, now filled with tears, and he saw the Lord in His glory. His eyes burned like fire, completely white and spotless fur, white as wool hair that waved and sparkled and shined like galaxies, hoofs like bronze glowing gloriously as if they were in a furnace, and he had two cutiemarks, on one side he had "Alpha" and the other "Omega" Dry Boy, feeling the extremity of His magic that was aired around Him, he could not stop weeping and crying with a loud voice "Lord, Lord, OH MY LORD!" and Dry Boy felt the Magic from the Creator captivate him to say "Long have I mercilessly beaten you and have pierced you, yet You have shown me everlasting mercy. Long have I shown you a brutal hatred, yet You have shown me an eternal love"

And the Creator said to him "Dry Boy, rise up and sit with me and look at the hills with me"

So Dry Boy lifted himself up and sat beside the Creator. He hardly looked to the hills, he looked back at the hills then back at the Creator but he mostly stared up to the Creator with a tearing smile.

"Dry Boy, you see the hills are covered with a smooth blanket of snow"

Dry Boy looked to the hills again "Yes, they are"

"Do you remember the time period when you graduated elementary school yet hadn't entered high school yet and you asked me to make your first kiss be your wife's kiss?"

"Yes, I do"

"I was ready to keep my promise, but you were still not ready. Continually, you asked 'Lord, give me this mare' or 'Lord, give me that mare' yet I did not give you any because you were not ready and also I was keeping my side of the promise. However, when the temptress came you abandoned me. Continually, you moaned about your loneliness, but did not think that if I gave you a mare as a partner, you would leave me lonely. Continually, I told you not to worry about it because my timing is perfect yet you followed your own desires and destroyed what I had built you up to be, my child. Because you defiled your face with many ponys' lips, I purified it with a righteous flame, for I burst my magic through your horn and caused the flames to engulf you and cleanse the filthiness from it, to burn off the impurities. Now that the week is over though, and you have returned to me, you will see what I meant by what I said long ago 'My timing is perfect' and you will finally understand. The sin that troubled you all those years, and that internally destroyed you will finally be diminished. You will grow higher than you have ever reached before. I will make you into a Prince."

"Lord, I don't even have a running car anymore yet you're telling me I will be made into a Prince, how will this thing happen?"

"You know we face the south, right?"

"Yes"

"Look at the hills, they are covered with a smooth blanket of snow. Flowers cannot grow underneath the snow, but when spring time comes, the snow melts and the water causes the flowers to spring up and during the summer the land is overflown with a garden. There is a special one whom I have prepared for you beyond the hills. She is far more precious than jewels. She is as beautiful as the plains of the arctic snow, her eyes are as wondrous as the depths of the night sky, her hair waves like the raging sea, her curves are like the bending of space and her breasts are as large as your face"

"Lord, I already got out of a failed relationship that I caused to be destroyed. How could I behave myself around a mare like that if I couldn't even behave myself around Mariam?"

"She is full of much more wisdom than Mariam she opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue, she is much more disciplined, and much more elegant than any other mare you have ever heard of. She surpasses all other mares and being around her will not be like being around Mariam or any other mare. She is like the ships of the merchant, she brings her food from afar. It will be like the great polar bear's first face to the summer sun"

Dry Boy marveled at the sayings of this Great Almighty Being, and he eventually stopped crying. Dry Boy remembered and repeated the words the Creator told him back in the Caneighdian war, "The polar bear does not go sun bathing when summer comes, but goes in search for food, making use of its precious time"

"When you meet her, you will not be there to waste time, but to work. She will also be the one I use to take you away from the curse of the evil one. The curse will be taken away by the dabbing of the flames of the eternal everlasting passions that do not pass, but is never ending; patient and kind, not envious nor brags in pride of its chattels, that is not rude, selfish or easily angered but easily understanding and easily satisfied in the ways of the truthful light that will never be put out. And when you receive your first true kiss, you will be a complete creation, such as she is"

Dry Boy snuffled "Y'know, I always thought I was just providing those ponies with comfort back in the high school days"

"Oh my son, it is good that you seek to comfort others but there are levels of comfort that no other deserves, because for that level of comfort only one is worthy of feeling and I will set you in her bed, and you shall comfort each other"

"Just as long as I am where you want me to be, I am happy"

"Dry Boy, look at the hills. Look beyond the hills. Look at what awaits for you at the end of the climb. I send you back to Equestria . Go to Canterlot, and into the royal palace and look for employment. There you will find your delight, there you will find your crown." Suddenly, the snow around the bright One began to levitate into the air, encircling Him. "I go now to my dwelling place, you must also go to the safe haven I have prepared for you"

Dry Boy leaped down onto the ground and hugged His forelegs until a storm of snow built up around Him and blew around him intensely like a tornado. Dry Boy looked up, and through the thinness of the snow he could still see the glow of the Creator. The snow eventually grew too thick that his eyes were blinded and he had to put his face down with his eyes sealed shut. After five seconds the snow descended back onto the ground and Dry Boy could see again. Only this time, he found himself hugging the tree and he looked and saw the branch of which he hanged himself on replaced and a pare, perfectly ripe and green, hanging off of it. An overflowing glow of magic embraced his spirit and made him feel rejuvenated and he heard a whisper saying "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser"  and he realized why he hugged the vine-covered tree and he cried on that tree saying: "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you"

Escaped from the Grave

The Gurkha lay there in ruins. It was immobile and sat there like a roasted marshmallow. However, it was not completely toasted. Dry Boy took the time to search throughout the car and found some parts of the internal workings that were not harmed by the flames. He figured that if he was going to travel across the arctic toward the south and reside at the kingdom of Equestria, he was definitely going to need a good pair of snow shoes and very thick winter clothing. His phone however, was also destroyed in the fire and he had no way to locate any major cities or to contact anyone. The pathway he took to get by the tree was covered in snow and he did not know where the road was. Dry Boy could still manage to make a bag out of the burnt blanket that was on top of his bed, it was not completely destroyed because of the snow that landed on it. Inside of the bag he put the small parts that he needed, and in another bag he made, he put in his Bible. He tied them both around his waist with the rope he used to hang himself with, he strapped his C6 around his side also with the ammo belt hugging around his torso, he looked to the sky and suddenly remembered where the road was, so he left and abandoned the bag of weed and left it there to be dead and forgotten.

Dry Boy knew that there was a village just south east of where he was, he remembered passing it when he came out here. He walked a long distance on the road and did not grow tired. He arrived there, he looked around the village for a mechanic and upon finding a store for used mechanical goods, he put down his belongings at the front entrance and said to himself "Good ol' army legs still work" The bell to the door jingled, and the pony behind the counter called out to him:

"Hello, there"

Dry Boy carried the bag of items to him and threw them on top of the counter. "Yeah, my car broke down so I'm selling what was left of it"

The pony at the counter made a deal with him, five hundred pieces of silver for everything. With that much money, Dry Boy had more than enough for snow shoes and winter clothing, he had enough for food. Dry Boy picked up his C6 and the bag with his Bible and carried them away again. Looking through out the village, he first searched for a restaurant where he could eat a small meal. Then he went to a small super market where he could buy food for the journey. Finally, he looked to local shops for the snow shoes, snow pants, and an orange and brown fur-jacket. Once everything was obtained, he left the village and began his journey to Equestria. He stepped off of the road and made his own path that faced south. He did not know where exactly he went, all he knew was that he faced Equestria and walked straight. Food in his bag, his C6 strapped to him, and his book of faith also tied to him, but the most important of all these was his faith. Without faith, he could go no where. Dry Boy thought as he walked. He thought how his tale sounded so crazy from an outside perspective, but since he was regained in wisdom once again, he knew that once a pony understood the ways of reality, what was once crazy and extreme to think is now the founding base of what life stood upon.

The new week was the beginning of the journey. The weather was not bad, and walking across the flat-land was not difficult. The snow sparkled from the sun, and the sky was cloud-less. However, it was still freezing. Dry Boy walked a very long distance already, he almost thought for a second that he did not move because he saw no mountain, hill, ice berg, or any sign of life just the same old flat land, until he finally saw an iceberg. That was a sign that further beyond was going to be even colder, so he slid up his scarf over his snout. He started to see winter birds and small clubs of penguins diving into cold little bodies of water. There was a slope down hill and when he came across slopes too difficult to walk down, he slid down with his belly and his legs spread out open. Dry Boy walked and walked and walked, his legs staring to grow tired and sweat inflating his fur like a sponge underneath his clothing, but further into the arctic he went, the colder it got. Dry Boy decided to rest for a while, it had already been noon and the sun was beginning to set. He didn't know how far into the center drift he was, he didn't even know if he was still in Caneighda. He sat down and started to eat one of the hot buns he picked up from the super market, he looked up to the sky and already started to see the moon being lifted and the stars fading into appearance in the orange and purple sky. He carried a burden of weight for such a long way that when he stopped to sit and eat, he did not mind the cold or even the moisture of his nostrils freezing his nose hairs, he just enjoyed the hot bun's tastiness and the filling of his hungry tummy. He had much more food in his bag, but knew he was going to need it for the rest of the journey. As he looked up, he saw something that appeared to be a shooting star until it moved in circles, squiggles and zigzags, and he noticed it was fleeing from something behind it. It was a phoenix being chased by a ravenous raven. The raven seemed enormous, or the phoenix was still young and had not grow yet. Dry Boy looked to see nature take it's course as he just swallowed the last piece of his hot bun, but then he saw something sparkle from around the phoenix's neck. It was a golden collar, and at that point he knew that it was a runaway pet. The raven caught up to the phoenix and as it spread it's wings it clung it's claws onto the phoenix's hot glowing feathers and cleaved into it. Dry Boy tried to aim his C6 at the raven, but it was too dark to see and this machine gun wasn't really designed to be that accurate to shoot birds at such a distance. The phoenix screeched like metal rubbing against metal and quickly it defended itself by lighting itself on fire and the raven screeched also as it's feet were scorched with a heavy burst of heat. The raven knew it was no match against fire, so it desperately flew away, but the phoenix spiraled and plummeted down to the snow and puffed into it like a splash. Dry Boy hurried to the crash site of the flightless bird and he saw the thing struggle to move as it's flames died down because of the coldness of the snow. He first took off his front snow shoes and poked it to see if it would move even more, the bird squirmed just slightly then Dry Boy decided to pick up the bird and cradle it like a young baby as he imprinted his bum onto the snow. The phoenix looked up to the eyes of the thick fox-furred-coat hooded pony behind a green scarf, it's pupils were orange and it's blinks were slow. Dry Boy moved his hoof to get a closer look at it's collar but when moving his hoof, the sleeve of his jacket was stained with blood. Dry Boy did not know any kind of healing spell, so he ripped off a portion of the bag he used to carry his food and tightly squeezed it around the bird and knotted it. He cradled it again and looked at his golden collar again. It had an inscription on it that read "Canterlot Castle" along with small purple jewels all around it. Dry Boy knew what he had to do with it, at first he thought about selling the collar for money, but he was corrected and knew that he should return both to the castle. The bird was lost, and in the wild it was nearly destroyed, but in the wilderness it was found and it will be brought back to peace in the safety of a strong embrace. Dry Boy made it his priority that they safety of the bird comes before him that it will not be wounded any more. Which was going to be a laborious task because even if he was alone, as soon as he reached the center drift he was bound to feel pain one way or another.

"Maybe I should put you in my jacket as soon as we get to the center drift" Dry Boy said to the bird "eh, for now you can just sit here" Dry Boy saw that the bird's legs were not badly injured so he put the bird on his back. Dry Boy put his hoofs back into the snow shoes, he still managed to tie the bag even though it was a smaller fit for all the food, he re-strapped his C6 and continued walking forth through out the night.

The Living Wild

The phoenix was a calm little bird and it did not seem to sleep. Dry Boy periodically looked back to it standing on his back and it simply just stared back at him. Dry Boy looked at the further distance, his legs were already growing heavily sore from all the walking and the wight carrying. The jacket wasn't the lightest, and the machine gun wasn't a submachine gun. His snowshoes weren't so comfortable either and they really started to bruise up his hoofs since he's put them on. The deep night was beautiful, he looked up to the stars and wondered about the words that the Creator had spoken to him "Eyes as wondrous as the depths of the night sky" the stars glistered with pizzazz, and they shined like well defined golden and silver statues, but also like sprinkling and purifying water or wonderful carvings of clean and crisp ice. The sky was big, how could they fit into just two eyes?

"This pony must be well known for her eyes then, if the entirety of outer space is in her eyes" Dry Boy said to the phoenix. He looked back to see if the phoenix heard him, but the phoenix made no response or any kind of motion. Dry Boy looked forward again and yawned. He was getting tired, his brain started to malfunction when he tried speaking to the bird but couldn't even complete words and just mumbled them with his lazy lips. Dry Boy used a spell he learned in the special forces, an energy boosting spell. He had used it only on one operation on a stakeout for a high priority target, the only difference is Dry Boy was in the same spot for two weeks in a humid region and here he is on the move, using more energy, in a frozen region. He lifted his head and walked even faster with the energy spell waking him up from potentially dropping into a slumber. Dry Boy saw in the really far distant distance, dark clouds and a drape falling from the clouds onto the ground, and knew that it was the center drift. Dry Boy estimated to be about ten furlongs away. Dry Boy still held on to that distance and when he closed in about half the distance from where he was, he could already feel the raging winds beat against the inside of his hood and forcing it to blow off. Dry Boy grabbed a hold of the phoenix and held it tightly underneath his coat. The wind forced him to walk on two legs, he held the phoenix with his right foreleg and held his hood with his other. He had to maintain his position for a moment to use his magic to take off his snowshoes  and tie them to his bag, then he continued with his energy spell and walked forward fighting against the growling winds. It wasn't until about one furlong away that the snow kicked in and really started to tear at his flesh and maul him like a vicious mutt. Dry Boy saw the fury of snow come to attack him like the battlefront of an ancient lunar republic brigade. He turned his head and shut his eyes and once the snow had ensnared him, the coat was nearly useless and he felt the harshness of ice frosting his fur up like a Popsicle. Only his snow pants were able to keep the lower half of his body protected. The phoenix underneath, felt the harsh cold and it heated it's own feather to stay warm, but to also keep Dry Boy warm. Dry Boy had to stop walking again and use his magic to flip down his goggles that he also grabbed from one of the stores in the village. Dry Boy continued his energy spell and walked forward.

The center drift was dark, stormy, and loud. There was no lighting or beast that roared but the storm itself was the beast and it did just roar, but it pounced on you like a vigorous timber wolf and split your flesh but also consumed your spirit. Dry Boy's spirit was strong though, because with him he had One who was eternally stronger, the spirit of the Creator. The legends of the center drift were true. ponies once told hearing the winds talk to them like voices of evil spirits, seeing pictures formed by the snow of frightful and taunting beings made to only discourage you. Even if you were alone in the storm, you would still manage to lose somepony, and that somepony would be your own self, as if your soundness was stolen by the winds and your peace frozen. Dry Boy began to hear those voices, mocking him, taunting him.

"Give up, white horse. To whom do you go for? A mare? HAHAHAHAHA! Heroic war hero falling desperate for his virginity to finally be taken" The laughter grew and grew and grew, as he walked forward he saw something being formed by the blowing snow in front of him, he saw himself walking backwards in front of him "Just go back. Why waste your time going for somepony you don't know when you have mares waiting for you back in the comfort of your hometown? Why do I even want to go back to Equestria? I will only encounter more poverty if I am denied from the Canterlot castle. I will go there and only find the same as I have lived back home, youthful foolishness, poverty, and then suicide again but only this time I will remain dead. I mean really, you hunk dunky, what are you going to get from following the light? You will only blind yourself and no longer see. You think happiness awaits you? You think you're gonna get out of here alive? You're nothing but a loser, and you will die here as a loser"

Dry Boy being annoyed by the thing that was in front of him, he found strength in his voice to look back at the being and shout something back at him: "Not so, demon. The Lord is my shepherd, and I will not want the things you tempt me with. He makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul, he leads me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake" Dry Boy looked up to the sky and cried out to his Creator "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil! For you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my horn with oil, and my cup overflows" Dry Boy then looked down in front of him again but the being was gone and he said "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of Lord forever". The rest of the walk was difficult, but it was calm however. The voices had gone away, and Dry Boy still remained mentally sound, all he heard was the howling winds of a million wolves and the only thing he fought was nature, and nature was slowly starting to prevail against him. Time was different in the center drift, it was in the arctic and since it was winter, there was no sunlight until summer.

Dry Boy walked and walked, his back snowshoes didn't help because they were still getting buried underneath the snow, and the only thing keeping Dry Boy warm was the phoenix underneath his jacket. The food in his bag was determined to be no good after the journey, that is, if he even finishes the journey. An exceptionally mightier wind hammered against the two creatures and with a shocking fright, the phoenix underneath Dry Boy's coat dug it's claws into Dry Boy's fur to grab a tight and good grip so that it would not slip out from underneath the coat. Dry Boy screamed from the piercing pain, but laughed afterwards once the claws were out-felt by the biting of the brisk arctic. Dry Boy's horn however was not as determined as Dry Boy, and it's magic started to short out slowly. In total Dry Boy walked in the beginning of the arctic for three days, and he walked in the center drift for what was currently two days, but he did not now how many days he walked because when he looked up all he saw was a night sky throughout most of the arctic. Without his energy spell, he would travel no further than five seconds in weather like this especially when he's been walking this far on just two legs with so much weight. Time came quickly and his magic was worn out. Being worn out of magic made him tired the more, he tried getting some nutrients in his system to build up more magic by eating something from his bag quickly while facing the opposite direction of the wind, but he had no energy at all. He struggled to untie the bag, but his vision became hazy and his brain drifted into fuzziness, his muscles became numb and he felt no more pain at a all, he felt nothing at all. The storm got the best of him, and the blizzard ran over him like a dump truck over a squirrel. The bag ripped open because Dry Boy had loosened the knotting by trying to get food, and the last thing Dry Boy saw was the blanket being yanked out of his hoofs and the food getting lost into the storm.

Dry Boy was knocked out, he did not know what was going on around him but there wasn't much to know. His body lay there in the snow and was soon starting to be buried underneath the snow that had quickly built up to where the tip of his horn was the only thing that popped out of the snow. The phoenix still underneath his coat nudged and nudged to try and move, but it could not break free from his pressing weight. The Phoenix was the only one of the two that was still conscience, he kept his heat radiating from his feathers so the white pony on top of him could still live. The only thing the phoenix was able to do is fall asleep with the big pony, but as the phoenix snuggled into the inside of the coat, it heard thumps coming from above the snow, something like hoof steps onto the snow. Two mighty large paws drilled through the snow with a fierce jab and dug out a huge chunk of snow to be able to see the orange and brown fabric of Dry Boy's coat. The large beast gripped onto the coat with it's teeth and pulled the raggy and spindly body out of the snow and set it aside. The phoenix felt fearful and planned to pop out of the jacket if it was ever breached by the creature, but the jacket was never opened. Instead the humongous beast lifted the corpse of the coated pony with it's snout and managed to slide underneath it so that the body slept on the back of the animal.  Then the beast walked southward to the end of the storm and eventually it made it out of the center drift, where the winds died down and and there was finally a steady calm. Time passed and it was the next day, but the sun was still not out. Dry Boy finally received enough sleep to gain enough energy and he was awakened by the heat of the phoenix underneath him, burning the fur on his belly. To his surprise he woke up, riding a giant polar bear across the arctic plains. He took time to think about what was in his sight, but he took no time to give thanks for the gift of another breathe of the next day. Dry Boy also remembered how back in the Caneighdian War, he rode back to his base on the back of a giant polar bear, which is why he famously known as the Ceneighdian Polar Bear. He thought about how he laid there back in the center drift as a dead pony, to be forgotten and loved by no pony but he was loved by One that is beyond pony and back there he was lost but now here he is found. Underneath death he was determined to die but by the faith of Love he was redeemed to continue in life. As he sat up with a cracking back, he straightened himself and the phoenix came out of his coat and stood on Dry Boy's shoulder and as a growing phoenix's yawn is, it screeched a mighty bird's howl. Dry Boy looked into the distance and bathed himself in the liberation from the clutches and imprisonment of the storm and as he stared further beyond of what is visible he was able to see the unseeable and he said to himself "Oh, how He loves me" A wind flew through Dry Boy's main and his hair flowed along with it. Dry Boy shed a tear as he looked into distant plains that sat underneath the open heavens and he uttered with a crying whisper "Freedom"

Kissing Life

A breeze blew again, calm. The arctic was a calm place, no crickets, no chirping birds, the only thing that Dry Boy heard was the breathing and stepping of the polar bear and soothing winds. The travel was nearing to it's last southern region, which means in the next day or so, the sun will finally be out. As Dry Boy rode the back of the polar bear, he looked up to the sky and saw the waving and giant glowing lights flashing themselves and dancing like ribbons in the sky. Then a small little voice spoke inside of his head saying: "Her mane will be like the sky as it is now. It will  be as colorful as the northern lights, with stars scattered all about it". Dry Boy took a breathe and remembered those words and every other word that was spoken to him for things that will happen. He will soon see whether his grand amount of faith was worth it or not. Dry Boy continued to stare up at the artwork above him, the beauty of it made him feel like being prepared to having a filled stomach with a satisfying end to a fire inwardly engulfing him. The polar bear's steps crushed the snow beneath him like a steady tempo and Dry Boy decided to hum his favorite gospel song along with it. There was nothing else to do, but continue the journey and walk with his Creator. He tried moving his legs to go along with the song, but his hind legs did not seem to move, he still had a bit of trouble feeling anything with those legs.

He began to think again. Why a polar bear? All his life he was called a bear, and the Creator sent a bear to carry him to safety two times already. He remembered the days after his parents had died, he was sent to a mental asylum for trauma treatment, it was where he got his cutiemark, a straitjacket. Dry Boy would have his emotional and mental breakouts and breakdowns. His breakouts were screams, kicks, fighting the doctors and nurses, biting himself, tearing off his own hair, and peeling off his own fur. His breakdowns were constant day-long crying and weeping. If he wasn't having a breakdown he was having a breakout, and if he wasn't having a breakout he was having a breakdown. Dry Boy wasn't willing that the doctors and nurses would give him the needle because he was very terrified of it and seeing the needle made his breakouts even worse and it turned his breakdowns into breakouts. The needle put him to sleep, and Dry Boy was paranoid about the things the doctors and nurses would do to him while he was asleep. Dry Boy was still younger than ten and the only way the doctors and nurses were able to calm him down was by giving him a big stuffed polar bear, he cuddled it, hugged it, and cradled with it, he cried on it, he kissed it, and he played with it, he laughed with it, he smiled at it, and he was happy with it, he loved it. Dry Boy loved polar bears from that point on, it was the only thing that understood his anguish, the only thing that felt his heart break along with him. Dry Boy's parents were dead and that bear was the only thing that Dry Boy felt love from. Dry Boy remembered accidentally getting a tear onto the bear's cheek and he remembered saying to it "Don't cry, Mr Beary" At that age, the bear was the only thing Dry Boy knew, it was the last thing Dry Boy had for himself, the only resting bosom that a young little boy could sleep upon and say "I love you", and the last delight glowing with positivity for his shattered and bleeding heart. Dry Boy remembered what he said to that stuffed animal when he was a young foal, and he said it aloud along with the memory but also along with his heart to the thing he was being carried by

"Some day, I want to be just like you. A nice big cuddly polar bear" Then Dry Boy saw where was the Creator in those days. The Creator had always been in the bear. Here he was again, carrying him, the pony with broken legs but a walking heart, an empty stomach but faith filled like a pool of water. A mission for pony, an impossible mission for a pony, but a possible mission for a carried pony. Not carried by things that are seen, nor by principalities and traditions, or works or sayings, but a pony carried by the Creator. A pony carried by the Creator's grace. A pony carried by the Creator's faith. A pony carried by the Creator's Love. A pony carried by the Creator. Then Dry Boy started to sing the lyrics to his favorite gospel song "Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I was once was lost but now I'm found. Was blind but now I see. 'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed. When we've been there ten thousand years bright shining as the sun we've no less days to sing God's praise then when we first begun. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see." Dry Boy remembered how much he cried after his parents had left, almost as much as if the entire arctic were to be melted. Nearly his entire life was spent crying. When he was born, he was crying. His first time hearing about the Creator, he cried. His first time reading his Bible, he cried. Growing up, he was crying. His parents dieing, he cried. Being in the asylum, he cried. Getting his cutiemark, he cried. Graduating elementary school, he cried. As he went through high school, he had a period in life where he didn't cry, but when he was accepted into the army when he was seventeen, he cried. Graduating high school, he cried. Before deployment into his own country to fight off invaders, he cried. Through out the four year Caneighdian war, he cried at moments. When the war was over, he cried. When the war in hoofghanistan begun, he cried. When he met his new best friend Andrew, he cried. When the Hoofghanistan war had ended, he cried. When he went to live in Equestria with Andrew, he cried. When he was kicked out of Andrew's life, he cried. While he was travelling to Caneighda, he cried. When he was kicked out of Mariam's house, he cried. While he was fleeing, he cried. When he came to the tree, he cried himself to sleep. Before he hung himself, he cried. After he hung himself and he met the Creator, he cried. And from that point on, he has had his periodic moments of crying while traveling to where he is now and he still has a lot more crying to do until he eventually runs out of tears. Dry Boy reminisced how good the Creator has been to him all through out his life, and eventually he started to cry again, he cried until he felt sleepy and since he couldn't cry and sleep in the same time, he decided to lay down on the fluffy back of the bear and fall asleep.

Dry Boy woke up. No dream, and nothing special, just another cracking back and still no movement in his legs. He didn't take a long nap, but upon waking up. He looked into the distance and saw far out there that the color of the sky was fading into an orange, and Dry Boy felt very relieved. At long last, he was finally nearing the end of the arctic. Just a couple kilometers more, and he was hoping to find some life, native ponies or hikers, anything he'd be able to get some food from. He thought about eating some of the penguins he saw, but he had nothing to cook up the meat with, the bear however took no time to rush them down and eat one of the penguins. Strange how there were penguins all the way up there, they usually don't hang around in the northern area of the southern region, but the polar bear needed to eat if it was going to have sufficient amount of energy to carry Dry Boy. Dry Boy remained awake until the sun was finally out, and when the rays of light hit the three of them, they all felt splendid. The phoenix, finally seemed to be happy from the heat coming off of the sun, and it jumped as if it was dancing with a very content joy in it's soul. The polar bear walked with a smile on it's face, and Dry Boy felt a satisfying pleasure as light finally shun upon his face. At the southern region, Dry Boy began to see a lot more wild life, more penguins, seals and sea lions, and birds, winter foxes, fish in the waters where the glaciers floated, white rabbits, afar off he saw another polar bear, and even a party of whales. But Dry Boy rejoiced the most when he saw something that was not living, a snow-angel on the ground. A sign that there were residents near by, a sign that intelligence treaded the same snow he walks on. Dry Boy saw hoof prints as well, but not the same as a pony's hoof, but he knew that it was something that could speak, he felt it. The polar bear seemed to follow the hoof prints without Dry Boy having to tell it, Dry Boy started to get paranoid if the pony of whom the hoof-prints belonged to didn't want to be disturbed. After all, they lived out here for a reason. He thought about taking a different path, but whether Dry Boy wanted to or not the polar bear followed the hoof-prints. Eventually, the hoof-prints led over a hill, and once Dry Boy was over it, he saw a walled kingdom made of wood. Once Dry Boy came close to the back gate, he looked to the carvings on the wood of the gate. He couldn't read the inscription, but if he knew anything about geography, he recognized those characters from the yakyakitani language, and once he saw the writing, he new that this was Yakyakistan.

"HALT! WHO GOES THERE PONY?" a grungy voice shouted at him from above the walls inside of a watch tower. Dry By looked above and saw an armed yak looking down at him through it's thick brown hair.

"Just a traveler, friend. Do you happen to have any food? I haven't eaten in days and I can't move my legs"

"FROM WHERE DOES PONY COME FROM?"

"I come from the distant land of Caneighda, from beyond the center drift"

The yak took time to observe the pony riding on the back of the bear while putting his axe and crossbow aside and combing his beard. "WHY PONY HAVE GUN?"

"I have it for self defense... I mean no intention to cause harm with it"

The yak still looked down at him, and remained silent for a while, "PONY STAY WHERE YOU ARE, PONY!" then he went away. Dry Boy waited at the gate for about five minutes, then the large gates were opened but he was greeted by a party of armed yaks. The yak wearing a golden ironclad helmet, who looked to be the leader of the bunch commanded Dry Boy.

"Give yaks gun and yaks take you to prince. If pony no give yaks gun, yaks refuse entry into Yakyakistan"

Dry Boy disarmed himself and gave them his C6 and the entire belt of bullets around his torso.

The yaks took the machine gun and held onto it while one of the other yaks led the polar bear to the castle of Prince Rutherford. The journey was long. They had to travel through twenty districts until they got to the barred walls of the tall standing wooden castle. The city in total was made out of wood, every shop and every house was made out of wood. Dry Boy was even curious of where they got all that wood in the snowy land. They civilians looked almost as if they were regular ponies, except they weren't ponies. The national guard yaks looked much taller than the everyday yak and of course they were decorated with much jewelry and what looked to be little-to-no armor. Dry Boy paid his most attention to the food markets scattered across the kingdom, and he almost fell off his ride when trying to get a better sniff at roasted meat from one of the shops. Of course a pony riding a massive polar bear through the middle of Yakyakistan caught some eyes, and Dry Boy had a feeling some of the local populace who looked at him too long were saying something about him in Yakish, maybe some ponies recognized him or maybe it was typical anti-pony racism or maybe it was because he was riding on top of a massive polar bear that was taller than the guards escorting him. This was his first time every encountering yaks, and he wasn't scared or nervous but he was hungry. He didn't even think about what he was going to say to the prince, all he thought about was eating and it was the only thing he looked forward to when finally entering the kingdom.

Time eventually passed, and they were at last entering through the front doors of the castle of Prince Rutherford. The yaks asked if he could get off his bear but Dry Boy had no way to walk because his legs were still immovable. So Prince Rutherford decided to go and meet Dry Boy instead.

"Greetings, pony" The pony came out through a large doorway with statues of yaks at the side and wooden carvings and vines with leafs all over the walls. The tall yak had multiple golden rings hugging the horns of his head, a crown with what looked to be made out of a dark grey marble and gems at every pointing top corners of the crown, he had earrings of golden bells that hung from his drooping ears, and a turquoise drape that covered the large arch of his back.

"Greetings, good sir"

"What is your name, pony?"

"My name is Dry Boy SnuggleBottoms"

"SnuggleBottoms, why pony come to Yakyakistan?"

"I am travelling to the land of Equestria, and came across Yakyakistan. Instead of going around it, I am now here to see if I may have any food"

The large yak gave an abrupt "Hmph" the prince thought about what he should do with the pony "From where pony come from, again?"

"From a land beyond the center drift, from the land of Caneighda"

"Oh, so pony must have traveled far. What does pony go to Equestria for?"

Dry Boy paused for a moment and looked at all the yaks looking back at him, he thought about what to say because he barely even knew what he was going to Equestria for, but he answered with what he was told "I go to someone whom I love"

Prince Rutherford looked astonished "Woah... Pony must really love other pony if pony cross center drift for her"

"Yes, she is finer than all the riches of the world"

"Ponies always surprise me. Ponies have much friendship, even more than yaks. I have learned much friendship from ponies before in the past" The yak yelled out to his bondservant in Yakish, and when the shorter yak came, Prince Rutherford instructed the bondservant to bring food for Dry Boy. "How long will pony stay?" asked Prince Rutherford to Dry Boy

"Well, I just plan on getting a good meal and continuing on my journey"

The yak gave another breathy and abrupt "Hmph" the short little bondservant came again with a container with steam leaking from the openings of the container. Dry Boy quickly grabbed it but then stretched out his coat to rest the hot container there. "Thanks, friend" He opened it to see what it was.

"Chicken of the north" said the Prince yak. It was penguin meat.

The steam floated out like a fiery furnace being opened and covered the entirety of Dry Boy's head. He blew away the steam and blew on the meat so that it may be warmed, but he figured he might as well eat it on the journey where it would be much colder. "I'd rather eat this on the rest of the way to Equestria, would be better if I saved it till then"

"So then I guess this is goodbye, pony friend"

"I guess it is, good sir" Dry Boy saluted the Prince, and the guards led the bear out side of the castle. He was led all the way to the southern entrance of Yakyakistan and eventually he left Yakyakistan, and he continued with his journey.