Author's Note

Welcome, douchebags and ass-mongers, to the heavily anticipated sequel to The Perfect Mate I realize that a lot of people might not like the decision I've made with the main character and how I decided to make this story and basically pretend like the last one didn't exist, but I couldn't help myself. I wasn't ready to give up Ryan, but I was definitely ready to be done with the first story.

Regardless, I hope you will all give it a chance and learn to love it as you did with the original. I hope that I can get close to as many people to follow this as I did with the original, but I don't expect it.

With that being said, let's get started and if you like this story, share it with your friends and feel free to leave a comment below. Comments make me feel special. :P

LET'S DO IT!!!

I Saw You In The Rain

Twilight has spent day after day doing nothing but reading one particular book in her bedroom. She never leaves her room, she just sits and analyzes each page, occasionally calling for her assistant to bring her food every now and again. Her recent, almost obsessive, behavior brought her assistant a great amount of discomfort.

Spike would sit outside for hours trying to listen in to find out what has been holding her up for so long. He wanted to find out why she was so interested in this book. Since the first day she showed up with it she's just locked herself away to read it in peace. Alas, he has yet to hear a peep from her unless she is specifically requesting his service. This was very worrisome for the young dragon. The mare who he basically considered his sister had become a complete shut in. He had to do something about it.

After a bit of wandering he managed to find all of their friends, at least the ones that were connected to Twilight through the elements, and inform them of the situation.

They had all noticed that Twilight didn't seem to be out and about, but naturally assumed that she was doing work for the princesses or following up on her own royal duties. Once spike explained the issue though, they became concerned and followed him back to the castle.

The group gathered around her bedroom door and knocked several times, but received no answer. Following Spike's example, they pressed their ears to the door. They could hear the unmistakable sound of pages being flipped from a book. Clearly she was in there and locked into one of her heavy reading trances.

Rarity became the first one to break the silence, but spoke in a whisper. "How long has she been like this?" She asked Twilight's number one assistant.

Spike shrugged, showing a level of uncertainty. "I'm not completely sure, but if I had to guess; About three weeks now."

"THREE WEEKS!?" They shouted to the dragon in unison.

"Um...yeah?"

"You waited three weeks to tell us something like this!?" Rainbow piped up, her loyal demeanor kicking in with an aggressive tone.

"I-I didn't know what to do!" Spike said with a hint of panic in his voice and features. "She just sits in there and won't say anything. The only time she really talks is when she wants something. So I go and get what she wants, bring it back to her, then she just tunes back out. I didn't know what to do!"

Spike looked like he was on the verge of tears. The saddened expression on his face tugged painfully at the heartstrings of the surrounding ponies.

Fluttershy got down on to her knees so that she was almost level with spike. She placed her hands on either of his cheeks and began wiping the wetness from his eyes with her thumbs. "It's okay spike." She said in that soft, calming voice of hers. "It's not your fault. Rainbow Dash is just concerned, she didn't mean to make it sound like she was blaming you."

The yellow mare turned her head to the rainbow maned Pegasus, giving her a look that sent chills down her spine. "Right, Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow Dash smiled nervously and rubbed the back of her neck. "Yes, of course! Sorry, Spike."

Fluttershy smiled and went back to comforting Spike. Rainbow took a breath to recompose herself, only to notice the smug stares of her friends, complete with beyond shit eating grins practically carved into their faces.

Before another word could be exchanged between them, a strange noise began to echo through the halls. It was hard to identify as it sounded like a scooter sliding its wheels across the floor, only this was much louder. The sound of some kind of horn going off followed. Then sound of Twilight screaming soon caught their attention.

Seconds later a strange creature broke through the bedroom door, coming out into the hallway. The force was enough to knock the mare's back a few feet as a large metal beast flipped into the corridor, rolling several times with a loud bang each time it struck the floor. When it finally came to a stop halfway down the hall it rested on its back.

After pulling themselves back up and making sure everypony was okay and not hurt too badly, they turned their attention to whatever it was that had nearly crushed them.

Nopony could utter a word about it, it was unlike anything they had ever seen. It was large, and very long. It's skin was black and reflective. On it's front were a pair of eyes that were giving off some sort of light. An awkwardly positioned mouth over top of these eyes was exhaling a continuous stream of some kind of smoke while simultaneously making an odd hissing sound. Several chunks of it's body were beaten, scratched, and had even fallen off and scattered themselves about the hall.

Twilight ran out of her room for the first time in weeks, moving directly for the creature that had just torn itself apart and made a mess of everything in its wake. A look of fear, determination, and shock filled her face as she charged after it, only to be stopped by one of her friends.

"Hold on there, partner!" Applejack shouted as she grabbed Twilight to keep her from going any closer to whatever it was. "Don't get too close to that thing. It could be dangerous."

"It's not dangerous!" Twilight snapped, making her friends flinch as she tugged her way out of the farm pony's grasp. "It's in trouble. We have to help him!"

She ran over to the metallic monstrosity, dropping down to a window-like structure on its side. Peeking in, she could just barely make out a form inside of it. Her eyes squinted as she tried to get a better look.

Suddenly it's head turned, causing Twilight to shriek and jump back a few steps. Her fear, as well as her friends', only seemed to grow by the second as a fist broke away the glass from the inside.

The fist uncurled, revealing itself as a simple hand, but different. It was devoid of any kind of fur and moving about as if it were reaching for something. A voice picked up from behind it, but they couldn't seem to make out what it had said before it fell completely limp.

"Ryan!"

Ryan was suddenly pulled out of his daydream as someone called his name. If you ask him though, it was hardly a daydream. It was nearly two in morning and he had been driving for what felt like hours. He and his friend Roland were on their way home from a job site. Being a temp construction worker sucks!

He turned his head to the passenger side of the car to see his friend glaring at him. His dark skin made it hard to see at this time of night, which he had commented on several times in the past. This usually led to him being called racist, then retorting, and eventually ended in a small field of laughter between the two.

Roland really liked Ryan, they had been friends since they met in Chicago Behavioral Hospital. However, his buddy's mind seemed to escape him a little too easily sometimes. "You really gotta stop zoning out like that man, you're gonna get hurt doin that shit."

Ryan playfully huffed at his comment. "Calm down, I'll be fine. This is normal for me, you know that. I aint dead yet, so I must be doing something right."

Roland just shrugged. "Whatever, but if I turn on my TV and see your dumb-ass on the news stuck in a ditch imma slap the shit outta you."

"Your TV?" Ryan said with a questioning gaze. "I'm pretty sure that belonged to the lovely white couple three blocks from you."

"I outta beat your white ass."

"Mmm, sweetheart. Are you gonna spank me?" He said with a wink.

Roland couldn't help but laugh. "Man, you're a fucking freak."

Ryan chuckled and let the air between them fall silent for a moment. "So how's the baby mama? She aint kick you out yet?"

"Not yet." He replied, chuckling himself. "Nah, things between us have settled down. We're getting along great...Thanks again for that."

"Don't worry about it, it was nothing."

"It wasn't nothing." Roland began explaining, his tone becoming much more serious. "If it wasn't for you then she'd still think I was cheating on her. You saved my relationship, man. Because of you, I gonna be able to keep my family going."

"Hey, you're my buddy." Ryan replied with an equally serious tone. "I know I give you shit all the time, but that's just how I am. If you are having problems or need any help at all, just get ahold of me...And remember, she started thinking that way because you kept going out with your friends. Just keep spending more time with her and the kid and you'll be golden."

The car slowed down as they approached a red light before coming to a complete stop. Ryan rolled down the windows to let some fresh air into the vehicle. The night air flew in and cooled down their warm bodies. After spending so much time at work, this was just what he needed. A calm, relaxing drive with one of his friends.

A question had been buzzing around in Roland's mind for a while now. He never really thought it was his place to ask, being the respectful man he is, but his curiosity was starting to get to him. "You know, you do shit like this all the time."

Ryan gave him an awkward look. "The hell you talking about?"

"Helping people, man." He began, "Whenever you see one of our boys having problems with someone you always find some way to fix it. It don't matter if it's girl problems or just some shit going on with them and one of their friends, you always have the answers."

"It's just my super power, I guess." Ryan said with a shrug.

"But, if you're so good with helping people stay together and shit, how come you don't have a girl of your own."

Ryan felt his heart start to ache at this question. He had tried several times to find a nice girl for himself, but always came up short when it came to keeping the relationship going. The light turned green and car started moving again. "Ever heard of Cupid's Curse?"

"What's that?"

"It's Cupid's Curse." He said plainly, earning him a deadpan look from Roland. "What it does is it makes people like me. If I see a problem with a friendship or, in most cases, a relationship. I become a guru of peace. I can mend any friendship and I can sure as hell fix any relationship...but when I get put on the spotlight, I just can't do it."

Roland silently listened, nodding to show his friend that he understood and let him continue. "Cupid's Curse, is the curse of loneliness. I can help keep people together, but at the price of not being able to help myself." As his story ended he pulled into a nearby neighborhood.

"That's bogus, man." Roland commented. It sucked seeing his friend have such a talent for helping people, but always doing it on his own. A guy like him deserved to have someone special in his life. "I'm sure you'll find someone one day."

Ryan glance over at Roland, again flashing him an odd look. "Are you coming on to me?"

"Fuck you, man!" He shouted, "I'm trying to be a good friend, stop playing."

He laughed at his friend's reaction. "Alright, alright. I'll stop."

"What I'm saying is; There's someone out there for everyone and you'll find her one day."

What makes you think it's a girl?

Ryan snorted, doing his best not to laugh. This caused Roland to roll his eyes and nod his head. "Just say it..."

"Say what?" He asked, playing innocent.

"Don't give me that shit. We both know you wanna run that smart ass mouth of yours. Just do it now and get it out of the way."

He tried with all of his might to resist, but couldn't contain it any longer. "What makes you think I'm looking for a woman? Maybe I'm looking for a nice, big, hunky, black man."

Roland face palmed and dragged his hand down his face.

"I really like names that start with the letter R too. Call it my inflated ego, but names that start with R are straight up sexy!"

"Oh my God, you are hopeless!"

Ryan busted out in guffaw, his laughter causing him to nearly pass by Roland's place. Luckily, he managed to catch sight of it and calm himself down. "Alright, we're here."

Roland unbuckled his seatbelt and exited the car, but not before thanking Ryan for the ride. Once he was back to the confines of his home, Ryan took off and drove onto a nearby highway. His house was a good few miles away from Chicago, but it shouldn't take him more than thirty minutes to get there. He caught sight of a few drops of water hitting his windshield, clearly its was going to start raining. With that bit of knowledge he made sure to roll up his windows so he could stay dry.

The rain was coming down hard as he drove, but Ryan was too distracted with what Roland had said to notice. Guy said that there was someone out there for everybody. He went through a mental list of every girlfriend he ever had. Twenty eight relationships, twenty eight failures, and only two of which weren't his fault. It all boiled down to the same thing, his fear. Fear of being committed, of sharing his life with someone, of never being able to express himself to his significant other. He could keep them happy, that was easy. The hard part was keeping himself happy.

All of these faults fell on him, leading him to his current life. Working long hours for a good pay, then going to parties and hooking up with strangers just for a night of fun. The only thing he had ever really been good at maintaining with any of his ex's was being a decent fuck-toy. He would get calls from time to time from his ex's when they were feeling lonely just so he could go over there and end up being straddled on sight.

He wasn't complaining about it, it's fun to have girls lined up and ready to fuck your brains out at a moments notice. However, no mater how much sex he had or how many drinks he could swallow down, it never filled this ever growing void in his chest. He glanced up at his rear view mirror and angled it down so he could see himself.

His short blond hair was a bit of a mess, his face still youthful and full of life, his bright blue eyes surrounded by dark soulless rings. He looked tired, he felt tired.

A bright light soon began filling the entirety of his vehicle, causing Ryan to flinch slightly. His attention moved from the mirror to the source of the light; A large red semi-truck. The truck honked its horn several times and Ryan turned the wheel to the right. Rather that the vehicle actually turning the tires slid across the wet road, repositioning the car.

With his vehicle sliding driver side first toward the oncoming behemoth, he watched his life flash by him. Small moments from when he was a child, then blackness, his brother saving his life from a group of gun-happy assholes, then blackness, seeing him in the hospital, watching him die, blackness, running through the woods, blackness, finding himself at a cliff with one of his ex's chasing him, blackness, waking up on a boat with a group of fishermen who had saved him, seeing his ex's lifeless body floating several feet from them, blackness, going to the hospital, meeting Roland.

It all came up until this point and he couldn't help but wonder why some chunks of his life seemed to be missing from his memory. What happened all of those times? What happened in the woods? Why was that girl chasing him? What was with that cliff?

None of that really mattered now though, seeing how he was about to get crushed by a truck more the ten times the size of his little car. Just when all hope seemed to be lost, another light entered his vision. This one was brighter and more...purple? Before he could take the time to register what was going on the vehicle flipped and started rolling.

Needless to say, this was a very painful experience. His body was flailing around like a ragdoll the entire time until it finally came to a skidding halt. He would have preferred to land right side up, but that would be too easy, wouldn't it? With his mind dazed and in a sate of absolute fuckery, everything seemed to be moving really slowly. He could hear voices coming from somewhere.

He needed to snap out of it, if someone is near then he needs to call for them, he needed help. Ryan turned his head to see a figure kneeled down outside of his window. He reached out and tried to open the door, but it was stuck.

Letting his instincts kick in he tightened his fist and punch the window, shattering the glass on contact. He tried to reach out to the woman who had been beside him just a moment ago, only to find out that she wasn't there.

"Shit..." He muttered to himself. "Brain, status report."

*Static*

"Fuck..." With that final word the world around him faded away and he became lost to the land of sleep, diving head first into the never ending sea of dreams that would await him...and possibly death. Death seems like a thing that exists right now.