"You what!?" Twilight all but yelled in response to what Applejack had just told her. She and her, and Apple Bloom, were sitting at the table in the Apple Family's home. It had only been a few hours since the incident with Ryan occurred and AJ just really needed a friend to talk to about the whole thing.

"Ah hit him and one of his teeth just came out." The farm pony confessed with a guilty tone. She wasn't proud of what she did, but felt as though she was justified in her actions. She was hoping that Twilight would side with her, which would have made her feel better. However, that didn't look like it's going to be the case.

"You didn't just hit him!" Apple Bloom cut in with a bit of scorn directed at her sister. "You beat him! You hit him over and over again until he couldn't stand!"

Applejack huffed at her little sister. "Would you pipe down, yer makin' it sound worse than it actually was."

Twilight stared down her friend with a look of shock and awe. She knows first hand how Ryan can get, but beating him...It was one thing to give him a wack here and there so he could come to his senses, but given the blood stain on the floor and this talk of one of his teeth coming out, this wasn't just a wack.

"Applejack, what could have possibly gotten into you?" Twilight asked, mostly out of surprise.

"Why am ah the bad guy all of a sudden?" She asked with a hint of venom in her words. "He's the one gettin' wasted all the time, harassin' everypony he goes by, and puttin' mah kin into situations they have no business in. And, on top of that, he was the one who started yelling at me and provoking me to keep hittin' him!"

"That was yer own fault!" Apple Bloom interjected.

"Apple Bloom! The big ponies are talkin'." AJ said, hoping to get her sister to stop interrupting.

Twilight was about to say something, but was cut off by the younger farm-pony. "No! You can't just point the blame on him. Yer an adult and yer just as responsible for your own actions." Applejack was surprised by the way her sister was acting. Isn't this supposed to be something she is supposed to tell her? "I know Ryan messed up, he knows it too. He came here to apologize and everythin' was fine. He didn't start actin' out until you came in and started demonizing him." She went on to say, "Even ah know that he's got a short fuse and he's unstable. He can't control himself when he's upset. You know that too and you still went off on him."

Applejack started becoming upset with her sister, clearly not liking that she was pointing the blame at her. "Ah don't see why ah'm the one who's gettin' blamed here! He's-"

"He's a good person with a good heart!" Apple Bloom said, cutting off her sister. "He ain't perfect and he makes mistakes, just like everypony else."

Applejack was locked in a stunned silence. Even though she wanted to argue about how she was in the right, her sister was right too. Nopony was perfect, they all made mistakes, even her from time to time. Her ears fell flat against her head upon coming face to face with this realization.

"Alright!" Applejack said with a sigh, "I messed up, ah know." She admitted, feeling defeated and even a little guilty for everything that had happened. "Ah just- I don't know what came over me."

She felt a small hand grab on to her own, turning her head to see Apple Bloom smiling at her warmly. "Like I said, everypony makes mistakes." She said, helping to alleviate some of her older sisters guilt. "It's just in our nature."

Applejack smiled, pulling her hand from her sister and ruffling her mane some. "Thank you Apple Bloom. Sometimes, I swear you're gettin' wiser than me." She removed her hand from her sisters head and laid it down in front of her, her smile wavering. "I just hope ah didn't upset Ryan too much."

"Come on, this Ryan we're talking about." Twilight added, "He's a tough stone to crack. I don't think this will bother him for too long. Especially if you go and apologize."

"Ah don't know." Applejack replied, looking back on the fight with concern. "You didn't see him when he left. He looked like he was ready to kill somepony."

Going through his track record in her head, Twilight had seen him with similar expressions before. While he did prove to be much more of a loose cannon during these moods, he never really took it out on anypony else. Not to the extreme, at least.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." Twilight continued, "If anything I bet he went straight home to calm himself down. As long as he safely made it to his house, nothing bad will happen."

There was a number of powerful and frantic knocks at the front door, giving the ponies within a start. Applejack rose from her seat and made her way to the door, opening it only for a blur of pink to come rushing at her.

Pinkie grabbed AJ by the collar of her shirt, locking her panicked blue eyes with Applejack's confused green. "Applejack! I need Twilight!" She said, nearly screaming out every individual word. "It's an emergency!" She released AJ and went after Twilight, throwing the princess over her shoulder and taking off out of the door. "Come on!"

Applejack glanced back at her sister, giving her a questioning gaze. She shrugged in response, being just as unaware of the crazed pink mare's intentions. Pinkie said it was an emergency, so without further hesitation, Aj took off after her. She couldn't keep up with her bubbly pink friend, but managed to run at a decent enough pace to keep her in her sights.

After a short bit of running, something peculiar entered her vision in the distance. A large black cloud of smoke was coming from somewhere near Ponyville. She ran faster, bringing herself to a full sprint. It didn't take too long for her to reach their destination after that; And that destination was the raging inferno that was once their alien friend's home. The house was still standing, but it was completely engulfed in flames.

Applejack came to a stop beside Pinkie, the heat being too intense for any of them to go any closer. "What in tarnation!?"

The house was surrounded by weather ponies, each bringing in powerful storm clouds in an attempt to put out the fire. Twilight had already took to the skies as well, using her magic to bring in more rain clouds. A small explosion erupted from the left side of the once cozy home, sending wood splinters and broken glass flying out at random.

Several ponies stood among the burning house, staring at it with wide eyes as they hoped and prayed that nopony would get hurt. The pegasi were becoming worn out. No matter how much rain they brought in, it was almost as if somepony was reigniting the fire as soon as they put it out.

Applejack started looking around frantically, noticing something that caused her heart to sink into her stomach. "Where's Ryan!?"

It's happening again...

Ryan threw another cocktail from his hand, smashing it against the wall. The contents immediately caught, spreading the fire that was surrounding him. A few drops landed on his shirt, causing it to burn as well. He quickly tore off the offending material, throwing it into the flames.

We were a piece of shit back in our world and we're no different here.

He stood in the center of his living room, the only place that the fire had yet to reach. "Come on!" He yelled to the heavens, throwing his last cocktail into his bedroom. "Burn, motherfucker!" The flames raged on around him, but were nowhere near as strong as the fire in his gut. "Burn!"

We've done everything in the worst possible way, lost everypony's trust, and made them despise us.

His sweat covered body and furious expression gave him the appearance of some sort of monster as he grabbed his burning couch, barely managing to lift it off of the floor before running it into a wall. The weakened structure gave away, causing it to collapse, nearly landing on top of him.

There's nothing left for us here...

Ryan stumbled and fell onto his back, the heated wood burning his skin as it made contact. He growled in pain, but stayed in place as the sounds of boards falling and his ceiling cracking breached his ears. It wouldn't be long before the entire house came crumbling down on top of him.

We deserve this...

"Fuck!" He yelled to no one in particular, taking deep, heavy breaths as he lied on the floor. His angered expression slowly melted away as he stared up at the ceiling, waiting for the end to come. "This is all my fault." He said, thinking back on all of the trouble he's caused, all of the pain he brought. A single tear worked its way down his sweat soaked face. "They'd be better off without me." The walls began to creak as the structure comes closer to its downfall. "All I do is fuck up and I can't stop it." Several boards started to fall, landing haphazardly onto the floor around him. "I want to be better, but I can't. All I've ever done is hurt the only ones who care about me." Another small explosion echos from the furthest side of the house. "I deserve this."

I hate you...

Ryan closes his eyes and waits for the end, hearing the roof begin to fall, soon bringing his ceiling down with it. "I hate me too."

Applejack struggles against the Firepony's as she tries desperately to get into the burning house. "He's still in there!" She yelled, having heard his shouting not even a few seconds ago. "Let go of me."

Pinkie managed to slip pass the Firepony's and started running toward the burning home, only to stop when the roof started to cave in. The momentum she was carrying caused her to slip and fall face-first into the ground when she tried to stop herself.

Pulling her head up, she shook the chunks of grass and ashes from her face and mane, looking up at the plummeting structure and it slowly caved in on itself. "No!" She screamed, altering the Firepony's to her presence as she climbed back to her feet. Unfortunately for her, they were able to apprehend the teary eyed pink mare and pull her back. "Ryan!"

Another explosion could be heard, but this one didn't come from the house. Following the sound, everypony looked up into the sky, spotting a large circle of color in the distance and what could only be described as a rainbow charging straight for the burning house.

It came in like a bullet, crashing straight through the wall just as the house finally collapsed on itself, leaving nothing but a large burning pile of boards, siding, and plywood behind. Suddenly, ponies started running to the backyard, leaving the pegasi and Fireponys to do their job in peace.

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight followed them, finding a single pony laying in the center of the circle the crowd had formed. The pony had smoke rolling off of their body as it got onto its knees and pulled off a set of goggles and a mask that hid its face.

Rainbow Dash peeled off the parts of her Wonderbolts uniform that were melting from her brief entry into the burning home, leaving it tattered and torn, but still clinging tightly to her body.

Once the burning sensations on her body had ceased, she turned her attention to the half-naked human laying on the ground in front of her. His body had patches of burnt hair, skin, and blisters littering it. She placed an ear to his chest, then proceeded to grab his head and tilt it back before placing her mouth against his, breathing into him a few times.

She removed her muzzle from his mouth and placed her hands on top of each other, resting them on Ryan's chest and pushing down hard several times before returning to giving him mouth to mouth. She repeated this process five times, causing the ponies around her to lose hope for the human.

Rainbow looked down at Ryan with tears in her eyes as she pressed against his chest again, desperately trying to revive him. "Come on!" She cried out, going back to giving him mouth to mouth, but only managing to cry short breaths into him. She pulled her muzzle from his face. "Please wake up..."

Adrenaline and anger kicked in as the fear of losing her friend started tearing her apart on the inside. She didn't bother hiding her tears as she let them fall down her face. "Wake up, dammit!" She yelled, pounding closed fists into his chest. "You can't do this to me, you can't!" She continued, still pounding on his bare chest, each hit becoming softer as she broke down. "You can't..." Reaching down, she grabbed the human's shoulders, pulling his lifeless body into a crushing hug as she prayed to whatever deity may listen for him to come back. "Please don't leave!"

She felt a hand on her shoulder, but not the one she hoped for. She turned back to see Applejack staring down at her with sad eyes. "Please stop, RD." She begged, not wanting to see this horrible scene continue. "Just stop...he ain't comin' back."

This only made Rainbow feel worse. She went back to her embrace, burying her muzzle in the human's neck as she sniffled against him. "He can't be gone, he just can't!"

The farm pony removed her hand from Rainbow's shoulder. Pinkie Pie and Twilight came up behind her, shedding their own silent tears for their alien friend. For so long they thought they'd wake up to see his grumpy face each and every day. With everything he had been through and walked out of, they had almost started to think that he was invincible. Not once had they considered the thought that he would be gone.

Applejack felt terrible, blaming herself for this entire situation. If she had just listened, if she had just given him a chance, then maybe this wouldn't have happened. He'd probably still be at her house, laughing and joking with her and her family. While he may not have been the most ideal character, he was still their friend. One that, even though he acted like he hated them, cared deeply for everypony he became friends with.

As Rainbow held the human's limp body, she continued to hold hope that things wouldn't end this way. She prayed that this was some kind of cruel joke. But, it wasn't, and she knew that. She couldn't bring herself to accept this though. "You're too stubborn to die..."

I hate to say it...but, she ain't wrong!

Ryan's body started to convulse, it started out slow, but quickly picked up in both speed and force. The human reached up and grabbed Rainbow Dash's shoulders, shoving her to the side as he propped himself up on his arms and emptied his stomach onto the soot covered ground.

Twilight acted fast, running over and grabbing one of Ryan's arms, forcing him to stand up. She looked over at her friends, "Ponyville General Hospital, now!"

Her horn sparked to life, engulfing her and the human in a bright lavender glow. There was a blinding flash and just like that, they were gone.

The nurse glanced at the human, looking over his bandaged body before going back to her notes. "Aside from a few broken ribs and only some severe burns, you're in pretty good condition." She set her clipboard aside on the counter just across from the bed. "You should be healed up in no time with only minimal scarring."

"You're very lucky they got you out of there when they did." Ryan raised an arm, looking over the gauze-covered appendage with a sigh. "You might not have been revived otherwise."

"I'm not sure if I'd call it luck." The human said, earning him a curious look. "If anything I'm unfortunate."

Red Heart shot him an unsure look, being slightly disturbed by his word choice. "Well, if you're feeling up to it, you have a few visitors who would very much like to see you."

Ryan groan in frustration, but accepted. "Fine, whatever! Send them in." As the nurse left he started to inspect his other arm. It was dressed almost identically to his other, but had an IV tube taped in place. "Motherfucker..."

A few seconds pass in silence before a group of mares come walking into his room, each one standing around his bed and getting as close to him as possible. He could have guessed who all was coming if he had bothered, so it was no surprise to him that he was surrounded by the same six mares he's come to know all too well since moving to Ponyville.

"How ya holdin' up there, big guy?" Applejack asked with a half-smile.

"I hope you're not in too much pain." Fluttershy followed up with.

"I would offer some reassuring words, darling." Rarity bluntly began, "But, you look dreadful."

Ryan was going to retort, but soon became reacquainted with a long-time friend of his; Pain. A few grunts work their way out of his throat as two mares cling to him, one on each side, wrapping their arms around his bandaged torso.

"Uh, guys." Twilight started, "I don't think you should-"

"I. Don't. Care." Rainbow stated with clenched eyelids as she pressed her face into Ryan's chest. Pinkie also responded in kind, nodding her head and humming in disapproval of Twilight's statement.

"I can't believe how much I hate everything." Ryan muttered under his breath, turning his attention to the farm horse on his right side. "What the hell are you doing here?" He asked, causing her smile to fall. He then looked over everypony in the room. "What are any of you doing here; Shouldn't you all hate me?"

I know I do!

"Darling," Rarity began, "We could never hate you."

"Why would you think that?" Fluttershy asked innocently.

"Cause I'm a piece of shit!" Ryan responded in a raised tone. "I've fucked each and every one of you over at some point. I've never done a good damn thing for any of you!" He leaned his back, letting it rest on the wall behind him. "I should have set myself on fire, not the house."

Rainbow Dash's eyes shot open upon hearing this, her and Pinkie both pulling away from him while everypony else went wide eyed at his comment. "Wait a minute; You started that fire?"

"You started that fire?" Ryan mocked, "Yes, I started that fucking fire!"

Twilight blinked a few times before she could respond. "But, why? Why would you do something like that?"

"Hmm! I wonder!" Ryan started, making it sound as if he were pointing out the obvious. "Maybe because I was hoping I'd burn to death!" He looked down toward his feet, laughing a bit as he did so, "I mean come on, what would you guys possibly have to lose with me being gone? Suddenly your lives are a little less stressful, that's a good thing!"

"But, Ryan!" Pinkie sounded off, "You've never done anything-"

"Bull! Shit!" Ryan said, cutting her off without a care. "When have I NOT done something wrong?" He looks over at Applejack, "I've gotten you and your family into trouble more times than I can count. I sneak into your fucking cellar and chug down hard cider until I can't see straight." His attention moves to Twilight, "I pester you constantly, show no remorse, ignore everything you say, swear like a sailor in front of your niece, AND I have struck you physically!" Turning his attention to Rarity, he continues. "I had you convinced that we were going to start dating, fucked you four times, then went out and fucked two other mares that same night."

Fluttershy stood at the end of the bed with a raised hand. "You haven't done anything wrong to me."

"Is that what you think?" Ryan asked, sounding more devious than ever. "Do you even realize that half of the time I'm with you I can't even remember your fucking name? I'm too busy ogling you and hoping that one day I can get into your pants." He admits, causing her blush and hide behind her hair out of embarrassment. "Pinkie," He says, turning his attention onto her. "Name one time that I've done anything nice for you, one time where you didn't have to cry and beg in order to make me comply, or get me drunk so I wouldn't care." Pinkie opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. She could not recall him doing a single thing for her unless he was intoxicated or she persuade him somehow. "That's what I thought." His attention finally turned to Rainbow Dash, who looked at him with sad eyes while he grinned evilly at her. "Then there's you, my little Dashie." She almost cringed hearing him say her pet name in his current, twisted tone. "How many times have I broken your heart?" He asked, waiting a few seconds for a response that simply never came. "I'm sorry; Are you ashamed, or is it simply too many times to keep track of?"

Ryan looked up at the ceiling; Body trembling, eyes watering, voice shaking, but still smiling. "Just leave..." He said, doing his best not to choke on his own words. "Get the fuck out of here...Stop letting me ruin your lives." His smile finally falls and he has to bite his lip to keep himself composed. "And next time; Just let me die."

They were all left in a stunned silence. There was simply no way to respond to something like this. He had just confessed all of his faults, but instead of looking to better himself, he was looking to destroy himself. No one spoke for nearly a full minute.

Finally, Dash broke the silence, starting with a hug. She grabbed Ryan from the side and pulled him into her chest, wrapping her arms around his shoulder so he couldn't get away. "I forgive you."

Now it was Ryan's turn to be surprised. Eyes widened and full of shock, he forced himself to look up at her. "What!?"

Rainbow Dash giggled a bit at his reaction. "I said, I forgive you." She repeated, only strengthening his confused expression. "I don't care what you did in the past."

Applejack walked over, taking a seat on the bed and wrapping her arms around him as well. "We all make mistakes, sugarcube. But it takes somepony with heart to own up and confess to what they've done wrong." The farm pony explained, taking a page from her little sister. "Ah forgive ya. Ah just hope you can forgive me."

We cant let them do this!

"No..." Ryan pleaded, "Stop!"

Suddenly he found Pinkie nuzzling up against him as well. "I forgive you, Ryan."

We'll only hurt them more!

"Don't forgive me, hate me!" He yelled, "I can't change, this is who I am." He went on to say, trying to save them from him. "I can't be anything but this...Please hate me..."

Surprisingly enough, Twilight made her way over, joining in the embrace. "I forgive you , Ryan."

"Me too." Rarity chimed in with tear filled eyes.

Fluttershy flapped her wings, descending onto the bed. "I don't need to forgive you." She says, laying on his legs and placing her head on his stomach while she worked her arms around his back. "You haven't done anything wrong."

Ryan sat trapped beneath their embrace, his body still trembling as his mind plagued him with thoughts and fears that he would only make things worse. "Why can't you just hate me?" He asked, his voice as shaky as the rest of him. "Why?"

"Because we're your friends." Twilight answered, still holding strong to their embrace. "And we care about you."

"Some of us more than others." Rainbow said in a cocky tone, causing all eyes to move onto her. She pulled away from the group hug to smugly ask, "I'm sorry, would any of you take him as your special somepony?" Their eyes went neutral and moved on to avoiding her gaze. "That's what I thought." She said, returning to her previous position.

Ryan's trembling arms wiggled their way out of them, slowly working their way around whomever they could reach and pulling them tighter against him.

Do you think that...maybe...we're not as bad as we thought?

Author's Note

Sorry! I thought that was funny!

ALSO: Anyone here ever heard the song Pittsburgh by The Amity Affliction? If not, check that song out. I feel like its fitting to this chapter.

Anyway, as always; If you're enjoying the story make sure to slap that LIKE button like a bitch, share it with your friends, and leave a comment below. Comments make me feel special :P