Ray, Vinyl and Octavia were walking through town to the gym when Rainbow Dash and Applejack raced by them stopping near the Carousel Boutique. Ray waved the two down and walked over to them then said "What have y'all been doin?"

"We've just been racing to prove that i'm the fastest even on the ground." Rainbow said blowing her hoof like it was a smoking gun.

"That there was a tie and you know it Dash!" argued Applejack.

Ray smiled and an idea come to his mind "Hey y'all two wanna come to the gym with us?"

"Yeah you may be the fastest but there just ain't no way you're the strongest." Applejack said grinning.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"OH YEAH!?"

"YEAH!"

Ray sighed and walked in the Carousel Boutique's doorframe and yelled "HEY RARITY,YA WANNA COME TO THE GYM WITH US?"

Ray heard a yelp and a loud thud and a few minor crashes when Rarity came into the room wearing purple sweatbands "Sure darling i'll come and participate. After all I hear muscles are the new black."

Ray nodded and the group started walking toward Sugarcube Corner. Ray walked into the store holding up Rainbow dash as a shield when Fluttershy walked out the kitchen and waved to the group. Sighing in relief, Ray let a slightly annoyed Rainbow Dash go and walked over to Fluttershy who retreated behind her hair. Sighing Ray bent down and asked "Ya wanna go to the gym with us?"

Fluttershy nodded and then said "Yeah I have a membership there and was supposed to go tomorrow but, oh well."

Ray grinned then stood up to see the group staring at him and something right behind him. "What I got something on my fa-" Ray shut up when he heard a very muffled giggle then slowly turned around yelled out when a pink pony fell on top of him. "HEYA FRIEND CAN I COME TO THE GYM TOO PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE CAN I CAN I CAN I?!?!?!" yelled Pinkie right into his ear.

Ray, who was still shell shocked weakly held up a thumb and crawled to his feet and out the bakery. Ray was leading the group to the treehouse/library and was thinking to himself "Why am I taking all of this so well? Is it because everyday life isn't hell, is it because everyone is rather accepting?, is it because I can get real good Cherry Cheesecake real cheap?, or maybe because I think that if I can't adapt and move on then i'm as good as dead anyway? Probably all of these reasons lol. I wonder what might happen if i was to prank Rainbow Dash or Pinkie....Probably not a good idea...oh well, fuck it imma do it anyway." SLAM! Ray shook his head after meeting the door head-on when Vinyl, Pinkie and Rainbow started laughing and Fluttershy asked "Are you okay?"

Ray nodded and looked up to see Twilight standing in the doorway. "Where are you girls going? she asked.

"Gym, ya wanna come with us?" asked Ray.

"Sure just a minute." She said turning around.

"Spike! I'm going to the gym, when you get done you can go play with snips and snails!" she yelled.

"Alright let's go" said Ray.

Ray and company walked in the gym and waited at the desk for the receptionist. Pinkie was slightly bouncing when she saw the little service bell. "ding....ding ding....dingdingdingdingdingdingding" "PINKIE!....at least let me add a beat."said Ray.

Ray thumped his hand on the table "thump thump..now pinkie." "ding" "thump thump ding, thump thump ding, thump thump ding." Ray started singing. "Buddy your a boy make a big nois-" Ray started when "STOP!" was yelled by a mare that appeared behind the desk.

Fluttershy handed her a slip of paper and the mare gave the go ahead. The group walked into the gym and Vinyl and Octavia set up the laptop and flash-drive and started playing "We Will Rock You" by Queen. Ray listened hard and grinned when he heard the receptionist mare groan. Ray watched the eight pick their stations. Rainbow dash got on a treadmill and set it pretty fast while Fluttershy got on one and set it at a brisk jog. Applejack was using a leg press and Pinkie was somehow doing sit ups. Rarity found out how to work the camera and started taking pictures of herself curling a somewhat heavy weight and Twilight was trying to pick which energy bar she wanted based off the nutrition labels. Octavia was stretching and Vinyl was doing squats. Ray took off his hoodie and was wearing a black polyester muscle shirt. Ray walked over to a pull-up bar and was about to start when "Enter Sandman" by Metallica started playing. Ray grinned and started doing dead arm pull-ups and singing the lyrics. Ray done three sets of fifteen when he stopped and got on a treadmill alongside Dash and Fluttershy. Rainbow looked over at Ray then turned up her speed and smiled. Ray rolled his eyes then set his to it's top speed which Dash yelled in anger followed suite. The two were running in a dead sprint when Ray tripped and was slung off to which sent Dash into a laughing fit falling, and subsequently getting slung off right into Ray. Ray stood up and dusted himself off before going to a crash mat and starting his diamond push-ups. Ray was hitting number thirty when Vinyl jumped on top of him and was soon followed by Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. The three were yelling at him to keep going when Octavia and Applejack joined in. Ray was straining and his arms were shaking when Twilight and Rarity piled on. There was now a small mountain of ponies of Ray who was shaking hard enough to feel the vibrations in the floor. Fluttershy looked uncertain before a very red faced Ray nodded and she climbed on top of the mass of ponies. Ray was able to shake his way back into the up position before his arms failed him and he slammed into the floor. The ponies all stepped off of a panting Ray who shakily stood back up and shook his arms. "Alright then imma take a small break and then we can get back to it". Ray said.

Ray sat down and grabbed the laptop and saw that the camera was still on. Ray clicked on the gallery and saw 130 new photos were added. All of them were of Rarity in different athletic poses with different exercise equipment. Ray rolled his eyes and yelled "WORKOUT SQUAD PICTURE!".

Ray held the laptop with one hand in the air at an angle and waited for the group to get in the picture. Once everybody was in the picture Ray clicked the button and they all heard the click. Ray set the computer down and changed the song to "Sail" by Awolnation and went to work on a punch bag.

Ray and the group had left the gym a few hours ago and were now at Rarity's boutique making sure Ray's gloves were more suited to his taste. The fight had brought more business to her store and she was able to get even better materials. Ray voiced his ideas on what could be changed in the gloves and shorts when Fluttershy walked up to him and whispered something. Ray bent down "Could ya please repeat that Ms. Shy?" he asked.

"Is there anyway you could help bring in more ponies to adopt animals from my shelter?" she asked.

Ray nodded and said "Yeah, but i'm gonna need you to help me in return. Ya see, I don't have a doc to patch me up when get knocked around a few times, are ya up for it?"

Fluttershy nodded and hugged Ray who was surprised for a moment before hugging back. Ray let go then stood up and walked over toward Rarity and said "Can you add Fluttershy's mark to the design somehow? It looks like i'm sponsoring her animal shelter now."

Rarity smiled and said "Of course darling, it's lovely to see that your helping her find homes for the animals. I'll have you a new set of shorts and gloves before too long."

Ray and the rest of the group except for Rarity exited the shop "Hey Ray, Princess Celestia said that you have some things that she would like further reports on." Twilight said.

"Is there anywhere with enough empty space with objects that won't be missed?." he asked.

"Hey we can go to mah farm, i've gotta lotta bad apples that we don't need." answered Applejack.

Ray nodded and the group headed toward the farm. As they were walking Twilight looked at Ray and asked "What was the Princess talking about when she mentioned those things you have?"

Ray slid the gas mask on then with his right hand whipped his pistol out of its holster and spun it on his finger before stopping it then aiming it at nothing. He took the saber out its scabbard and spinning it around and slicing the air ending the display with a spinning slice. Ray put all the weapons away and kept walking toward Sweet Apple Acres. "If ya wanna see what they can do then come on." he said.

"Alright, just set those apples side by side but with a little distance in between them." Ray instructed.

Applejack did as she was told and ran back behind the line Ray had drawn with the rest of the group. Ray took his revolver and looked at it as memories flooded his mind for a moment. "Ya might wanna cover ya ears for this."

Ray holstered his gun and got in his QuickDraw stance. The air was deathly silent until a raven cawed and quicker than most eyes could process Ray drew his weapon. Three of the apples exploded into little chunks sending bits of apples and their shredded peels everywhere. Ray threw three apples in the air and shot them making it look somewhat like fireworks that rained bits down on him. Ray flicked the gun over and let the casings fall to the ground letting the magic reload his gun a second later. Ray spun the cylinder and flicked it back into the revolver. Ray holstered the .44 and walked back to the group. Fluttershy was hiding in her hair while Twilight was scribbling things in a notebook. The rest of the group were speechless when Twilight stopped and leaned over to Applejack then whispered in her ear. Applejack picked up an apple from a tree and slung it at Ray who was fiddling with his hood. Ray saw the apple in the corner of his eye and drew his saber swinging it in an upwards arc which cut the apple in two. He caught one of the slices and took a bite out of it with a small smile then wiped and put away his blade. Ray flashed a grin and said "Happiness is a warm gun."

Author's Note

Wow. I was supposed to be done with this a while back. Oh well it's here now aint it? Tell me what ya liked and leave a thumbs up if I did good if not then give constructive criticism. Or you know start a riot in the comments. Whatever works right? GOODNIGHT