Neither dead nor alive

The other girls didn't see Fluttershy again until the next day, Fluttershy was carrying what looked like a photo frame in her arms. Naturally Rainbow asked if she was ok as she was concerned about yesterday, Fluttershy gently brushed that off as she layed the photo down on the table they were sharing at the juice bar. I looked at the photo before a memory came back to me, it was an old photo of me and a group of my best friends.

Rarity looked at the photo before exclaiming "my parents have the same photo", everyone else except Sunset also confirmed that they had the same photo. Fluttershy pointed out to the picture of me, "I met him yesterday" she said gently with a smile. "After you girls left me I felt him by my side, he lent me his shoulder to cry on as he comforted me". Fluttershy left out the other details as she gazed at my picture, her fingers stroked my hair in the picture.

"Are you sure darling?" Rarity asked, "he's been dead for years" Applejack chimed in. Angel jumped out of Fluttershy's backpack and sat on her lap, Fluttershy stroked his head "Angel told me that he pointed out where you girls were so he could get you". Of course, this had the girls at a loss when they heard this, Spike and Angel appeared to have a conversation before Spike turned around and said "it's true. He said he saw the guy trying to stop the boys but was unable so he asked Angel to find you girls", Angel nodded his cute little head as Spike spoke.

Sunset had a question "so how is this guy connected to all of you?", Applejack pointed out to a fellow that was standing next to me in the picture. "That there is my erm I can't remember how many but great, great whatever number grandpappy, he was good friends with all of the folks in this picture including him". She pointed at my picture "That there is Phan Tasm and he helped plant half the trees on my farm after the last Vampire Fruit Bat invasion".

Fluttershy pointed to two that were kneeling in front of me in the picture, "those two were always too shy to the point they didn't know each other existed. Phan helped introduce them to each other and in turn well", she pointed to herself "I guess I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him".

Rainbow was next to point out a girl standing on the opposite side of me, "this awesome lady won several trophies because Phan helped out with her training. It's only natural her awesomeness would pass down through the line to me", she was clearly bragging but she wasn't wrong about her heritage. I still remember when Blitzy (a nickname I gave her) won her first trophy, she was so happy about it. She then went on to win numerous trophies and even enter various tournaments, she even won a few medals in the Olympics to boot.

Rarity was next as she pointed out another two in the photo, "Mine never really had a spark for each other before Phan got them together. All they did was argue all the time but he helped them, once they saw how much in common they had they couldn't help but fall in love". A soft sigh escaped her lips "how I wish I could meet the matchmaker himself".

Pinkie excitedly pointed at another chappie in the photo, "still trying to figure out if he's related to the Apples but that's my great whatchamacallit". I held back a laugh as she said that, "He was at a low point in his life and was gonna commit suicide, Phan actually stayed up all night talking to him and comforting him". I heard some fondness and sadness in her voice which felt unusual for Pinkie, "but he turned his life around and well I'm here now".

Twilight looked at the last two in the photo, "Phan helped mine to pay for their new start in life. They thought their life was getting a little stale so they wanted to branch out and explore a bit, I guess it's only natural that my folks slowly moved back closer to here".

The girls all reminisced the tales their parents told them, while they couldn't pin the date of the photo it was clear that several generations had passed since then. Sunset then spoke up "so what happened to Phan?", the girls simply replied "unknown". Applejack added on "he just up and vanished just like that, some say he left after helping our folks but most say he was in an accident and passed on. No body to bury and no indications of him anywhere, but our families still pay tribute on his birthday at the tree he planted in our school". Sunset answered with a question "you mean that solitary tree in the corner of the football pitch?", Applejack nodded "yup that's the one and it's still growing strong".

As they spoke I started stroking Angel's ears, Fluttershy noticed him arching his head as I got the spot where he loved being scratched. Spike looked at him before saying "apparently Phan is right here scratching his ears", the girls gasped as Fluttershy tried to look at where I might be. Despite being spooked Rainbow randomly said, "um where ever you are, thanks for telling Angel where we were so we can rescue her".

I noticed Spike almost looking at me as I asked Angel to tell Spike I said "your welcome", Angel and Spike relayed my message before Spike said. "Hey, Twilight remember that movie of that hunter with the active camo?, the one where we're allowed to see it as a slight distortion of the spot where he is?. I think I see that right there" he pointed to roughly to where I was standing, I walked over to Spike and gently stroked his head. "Oh man I think I feel him," he said as he cocked his head into my palm, "man he's good at scratching behind the ears," he said as his leg started twitching.