Things are never as they seem, there are always hidden facts.

The sun was still in the sky, but it had started going down. The river was a nice source of water when he was thirsty, but he really didn’t want to stay out here at night, and was beginning to walk slightly quicker.

One thing he had noticed, he felt great, like he was young again, but trapped in this old man’s body. He’d looked at his reflection. Grey hair, neatly combed back. Moustache and his full beard, all grey, combed down neatly. He pulled down his shades, looking at his blue eyes, smiling at the image, “Still handsome.” He said to himself, pointing a finger at himself.

He stood, patting Scruffy’s head, and began walking again. He sighed, rubbing his face, “I wish my children were here.” He said aloud, getting a whimper from Scruffy, causing him to chuckle, “Don’t worry ol’ boy, we’ll figure this place out.” He said, smiling at the dog.

Ray was still worried though, where was this place? Did they get him, and throw him in a river? He couldn’t figure that’d be right, since he remembers shooting the man; one bullet right beneath the left eye, beautiful shot.

He could hear voices ahead, and dipped into some brush to his left. For all he knew, these could be more business rivals. Scruffy decided to stay in the open however, staring at Ray like he was weird, “Damn it Scruffy!” He whisper/yelled, hushing up as he saw brush getting moved aside.

Out came three small… Really small horses, which confused Ray a great deal, “Those are smaller than normal foals…” He said quietly to himself, Where are their owner? He thought, only to be dumbfounded soon after.

“I’m tellin’ ya guys, we ain’t gonna find no cutie-mark in fishin’. Just simple.” one of them said, the little yellow said, with a red bow said.

Ray thought he was going mad, “I…” He just stared at them, taking it in now. There were three of them, Yellow, White and a… Light Orangish one? He really couldn’t tell.

“Oh come on Applebloom, we have to at least try.” Said the Orange One, who was carrying sticks with strings attached. The White One spoke up, he voice high pitched, “But Scootaloo, this is pretty silly…” She said, looking around, “We shouldn’t even be here… The Everfree is dangerous.” She continued.

Everfree… So that’s this place. He thought to himself. Scootaloo, and Applebloom, got some names. Then Applebloom noticed Scruffy, “Dog!” she yelled, pointed a tiny little foreleg at him, causing Scruffy to tilt his head. The other also looked over.

“Sweetie Belle, I bet you won’t go and pet it.” Scootaloo said, grinning at Sweetie Belle, who shook her head, “It’s twice the size of me! What if it’s dangerous?” She asked, keeping her eyes on Scruffy.

Ray chuckled, and then noticed Applebloom begin to cross the river, “It jus’ a dog, Sweetie Belle, ain’t gonna hurt ya nothin’.” She said, her thick accent an odd enjoyment to listen to.

Ray continued to watch, “Please ol’ boy… Do not make a scene.” He said quietly, and Scruffy looked at him, then over to Applebloom who had stopped, and was staring at Ray, her eyes widening slowly, “Swe- Sweetie Belle… Somethin’ watchin’ us…” She said quietly, causing Ray to sigh and stand, showing himself, “Good day!” He said aloud, holding his arms out wide.

There was a pause. Various looks on their faces. Scootaloo look interested, but didn’t dare step forward. Sweetie Belle looked horrified. Applebloom, being the closest, was terrified, like she was going to die. Scruffy was bored, and stood, padding over to Applebloom, and began licking her face, startling her, “Ah!” She yelled, falling over.

Ray stepped out, only to have Scootaloo land in front of him, stamping her hoof on the ground, glaring up at him, “You don’t hurt her!” She yelled, holding her ground.

Ray sighed, and smiled, “I’m a good guy. He said, kneeling in front of her, reach out, rubbing behind her ear, “I would never hurt such little things as yourself.” He said warmly, smiling as he scooted her aside.

Scruffy was laying across Applebloom, panting as Applebloom shoved him, “Get him offa me! He’s gonna crush me!” She yelled, and Ray leaned down, wrapping his arms under Scruffy, then proceed to heft him up and set him to the side, “I’m sorry, Scruffy is very fond of meeting new people.” He said, kneeling beside the group, “Do you mind telling me uh… Where I am?”

Scootaloo laughed, “You live under a rock? You’re in Everfree Forest, only the most dangerous place in Equestria.” She said, smiling that she knew such things.

Ray nodded, patting her head, “Is there a town near here? I imagine since it’s so ‘dangerous’, you wouldn’t be living here… Just the three of you.” He said, taking a look around. Suddenly, he couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched.

Scruffy stood, looking around, sniffing a few times.

“Ponyville is near here mister!” Applebloom said, staring up at Ray as he stood, “Why don’t we all go there? I could go for some food.” He said, reaching into his vest.

“Mister, are you alright? You’ve got a big black spot right here.” He felt something poke the bruise, and jumped, looking down at her, “Jesus... Oh… Yes, I’m quite alright, just fell on some rocks, ruining my clothing as you can see.” He said, pulling out his PMM, “Let’s get on the move.” He said, heading to the other side of the river, followed by the Fillies.

It was a quiet walk for the most part, Ray was holding his pistol, keeping his finger off the trigger as he looked around, shuddering. Now that he was thinking about it, the place felt a lot more eerie and such.

“Um, excuse me Sir, but my sister could fix your clothes if you’d like, for you know… Taking us back home…” Sweetie Belle said, looking at the ground as they went.

Ray nodded, smiling, “Why, that’d be lovely.” He said, smiling as they went.

Snap. A twig broke.

Ray stopped in his tracked, and Scruffy began to growl, causing the three fillies to look around, “Wh- what’s wrong?” Scootaloo asked, worried.

Ray knelt, holding his pistol in the air, “We’re going to run… Do not stop.” He said, slowly standing back up.

Ray looked around, and could see green eyes, watching them. Wolves. He thought to himself.

Three.

Two.

One.

“Run!” Ray yelled, firing into the air, the fillies tearing off, Scruffy following them, followed by Ray. Hopefully the shot scared them. He thought to himself.

Ahead, he could see a fork in the road, and a post, but he couldn’t understand the chicken scratch on it, “Left!” He yelled, and they went down the left.

However, ahead of him, Sweetie Belle tripped over a rock, tumbling forward, the other rushing ahead of her, “Wa- Wait! Guys!” She yelled, but they kept going, leaving her.

Ray stopped, kneeling to quickly Scoop her up. Or that would have been the plan, had a wolf not slammed into his back knocking him over Sweetie Belle, onto his back.

The wolf stood over Sweetie Belle, who was crying whilst kicking at it, ready to take a nice chunk out of her.

BANG!

A shot rang out, the odd looking wolf fell, laying limp beside Sweetie Belle, who was holding her ears. Another wolf shot out of the brush, and Ray rushed forward, sticking his non dominant arm out, letting it sink it’s teeth into hit, causing him to yell, “Oh you motherfucker!” He yelled through the pain.

Sweetie Belle stood, not really wanting to leave him, but Ray glared back at her, “Run, God damn it!” He yelled, making her turn and run, the wolf shaking it’s head, tearing apart his arm, but that could wait, two more left the trees, circling him.

Ray laughed aloud, “Oh hell no!” He aimed his PMM at the right one, firing, and the bullet went into it’s ribs, making the thing stagger and fall over.

The one, now realising Ray was still a threat, rushed him. Ray shifted, and moved so the one on him was in the way, making the rusher collide with the current pest’s back.

Ray yelled, pressing his gun right against the wolf’s forehead, firing.

The bullet went through, hitting the one on top of it in it’s throat, causing the damn thing to fall back, clawing at it’s neck, tearing it apart even further.

Ray, whilst that was happening, was really feeling the pain now, his arm was almost on fire, and prying the damned wolf’s head off wasn’t easy.

Finally getting his arm free, he held it tightly, seething, his eyes full of tears, “Oh… Fuck this…” He said, shaking as he stood, looking around. Nothing else was around, likely scared by the many shots.

He knelt back down, picking up his gun, noticing he had dropped it apparently.

After pocketing it, he turned, and continued running down the path, he arm covered in blood, that was getting on his suit, and leaving a trail. The wolf had tore him a new one. Ray glanced at his arm, and grimaced. It was torn apart nearly, blood pouring out of the wound, and he could feel the familiar sense of cold and tiredness reaching for him, chasing him.

Eventually, he could see light, and a creepy looking hut, the three fillies talking to what looked like a miniature zebra. It gets better. He said to himself.

Stumbling forward, he made quite a bit of noise, causing them all to look at him, “Zecora! See! Ya gotta help ‘em!” Applebloom said, noticing Ray was hurt. Zecora moved forward quickly, bringing him towards her hut, “Yes, please, come with me.” She said, a very odd accent.

Ray followed, but staggered, falling to his knees, hearing muffled voices and barking. At least Scruffy is safe… he thought to himself, falling into a black abyss.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ray was cold, and began coughing, his youth from earlier gone, “Son of a bitch…” He said to himself, sighing as he opened his eyes. He was in a bed this time. Wonder where I am now. He thought to himself, shifting to sit up in bed, looking around.

The room was small, with a large amount of trinkets and masks along the walls, most of which were making scared or scary faces.

Ray could feel his arm itch, and looked at it, noticing the red bandages wrapped around it, “Well… At least I’m still alive.” He noted to himself, sighing as he slumped.

“To hell with it.” He threw the covers off himself, and slowly tried getting up, which was surprisingly easy. Wobbling slightly, he placed a hand on the wall, balancing himself, smiling, “Bah, even a wolf couldn’t… Keep…” He could hear voices coming from the door leading into his room, and slowly walked over, trying not to lose his balance.

He leaned against the door, pressing his ear to it, “Gosh darn it, I told ya not to go into the forest Applebloom, and you did so anyway.” He heard a southern female say, “But Aj, we was tryin’ to get our cutie-marks!” He heard Applebloom say, which made him wonder. The hell is a cutie-mark anyway? He asked himself, but was stumped.

“And Sweetie Belle, I agree with Applejack, I cannot believe that you would go off into the Everfree.” He heard a far more posh voice say. That must be Sweetie Belle’s sister… Probably. He thought.

But Rarity! We found someone, and they saved us from wolves!” he heard her say.

“That explains the blood.” He heard someone say bluntly.

Ray sighed, and grabbed the handle, turning it and opened the door, “Excuse?” He said, getting looks of surprise in return.

The looks were varied.

Shocked, overly excited, scared to near death and cowering, thankful, curious, and challenging. It was all very uncomfortable for Ray.

“You know what, I’m just gonna lay back down.” He said, slowly closing the door.

“Wait! Excuse me?” He heard a voice say, but he clicked the lock, and smiled, getting into bed.

Click. He heard the unlock undo, and the Ponies filtered in, the first one was Purple, and began speaking, “I am Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and… Where’s Fluttershy?” She suddenly asked, looking around.

Ray felt very uncomfortable, “Oh my, are you alright, your bandage isn’t clean, I’ll fix that.” The one he could only assume was Fluttershy said, lifting his bandaged arm, and began unwrapping it, revealing a torn apart, blood and pretty much ruined forearm. She gasped, “Oh… Nothing to worry about, I’ll just clean this and wrap it.” She said, acting like it was all sunshine and daisies.

He looked at the others, wincing at the pain in his arm, “It’s… Nice to meet you all…” He said, taking in the site. What is with her hair? Did she color like that on purpose? He asked himself, staring at Rainbow Dash, who only stared back.

“First we deal with that Nightmare Moon lady, now we got this… this… Overgrown monkey.” Applejack said, scowling.

“That…” Ray paused, “Is extremely racist. “ He continued, causing her eyes to widen, “You can talk?” She asked. I was just fucking talking! He thought, upset, “Yes… I can talk… I’m the one that saved those little ones… But no… You’re right, stupid monkey. Should I do a show?” He asked, angry.

Aj traced the floor with her hoof, “Nah… I… I’m sorry… I jus’ was worried ‘bout mah sister was all…” She said, looking at him, frowning.

Ray waved a hand at her, “Yeah.” Then he looked at Twilight, “So, what can I do for you? I’m sure you want to ask me something just as much as I you.”

He was wrong.

Author's Note

I've gone through for all the mistakes, have no fear... Most of them anyway. I must say, I am Ashamed, though, the internet went out while I was in docs, so I couldn't see mistakes. It's not all my fault.

Anyway, good day.