We had spent the entire day talking, and it was.. actually fun and interesting.

I learned a lot about where she came from. Even though a lot of it was hard to believe, mainly because I still can't believe magic even exists, but whatever. She came from a world called Equus, filled with ponies just like her. There are multiple races. Unicorns, Pegasus, Earth, and Alicorns, which is what she is. A combination of all of them. Apparently there were only a handful that are like her, so she's a rare kind.

Explaining the Rim to her was.. more of a problem than I anticipated however.

She didn't believe a lot of the things I told her. Not in the way as of 'I think your lying' but more like 'I cant believe thats true.' Her world, as she had explained, was peaceful and was built off of 'friendship' and love or whatever. However, the Rim was almost the opposite. There were friendly faces of course, but they were outweighed by the unfriendly faces. Death is normal here, and most have to kill to survive. Most things are solved with bullets instead of words.

She had asked if I had ever killed someone, which I replied truthfully. The answer was yes. Multiple times. I never went out of my way to kill anyone, but if you're shooting at me you're considered dead to me. I was expecting her to be scared of the fact I killed someone, but she instead apologized. She said something along the lines of 'sorry for what you went through.' I said she didn't need to apologize for something that wasn't even her problem, but I can't deny the fact that it felt good to have somebody give some compassion to me. Even if it's a pony.

The day went by faster than I imagined, and before I knew it we were going to bed. This time, I gave her my pillows and an extra blanket. I wasn't going to use it, as I already had a parka and all the other clothing on me which kept me warm. I also wanted to show her that I wasn't evil, just in case she ever had that thought in her head. After explaining to somebody that the world you live on is filled with murderous people who don't care about life, they tend to bunch you in with that society.

She didn't seem to do that, but still. She enjoyed the extra luxury of the pillows and extra blanket.

She snuggled into the blankets and laid on the pillows while she slept. She was undoubtedly adorable. Was that weird to say? I mean, she is clearly the most adorable thing on the planet at the moment, but it might just be me finally enjoying some company. God, it seems like I've fallen from grace. I used to be a sociable bartender, and now I forget how social situations work.

The night passed quickly, and the day was finally upon us.

I awoke as I usually do. Which, is groggily. I usually am that way until I take a good few steps, or shake my head awake. Yet, I was actually looking forward to getting up. Usually, I hated it. It meant work, it meant having to deal with raiders, it meant dealing with bullshit that I really, really didn't want to deal with. However, now I was waking up to talk to a purple pony. And, that alone, urged me to get up more than anything else in the world did.

I sat up from my bed, shaking myself awake as I scanned the room. I saw Twilight, curled up in her blanket and pillows over in the far corner once again. This time, instead of a look of uncertainty and fear, she had a small smile on her face. I smiled at seeing that, a little happy that she wasn't hating her stay. I got up onto my feet, and quietly made my way to the kitchen, ready to cook breakfast once again.

The other day, I asked her why she was scared to try the meat. As I feared, she was vegetarian. I mean, she is basically a horse, so that made sense. However, she quickly swatted my fears away as she said that the meat was just so.. delicious. I guess I converted her over, huh? She explained that most ponies in her world frowned upon meat consumption, and if you were to even try it you were an outcast. Yet her first taste of it, and she was in love with it.

I began to cook breakfast as I usually did. Went to grab the meat from the walk-in freezer along with some potatoes, and setting them to cook. The sizzling and smell must've woke Twilight up, because she did exactly as she did the day before, and watched me from the doorway. Her eyes were wide, a smile on her face. She definitely couldn't wait to get another taste of glorious meat, even if cooked by a less than mediocre chef.

I poured the food onto the trays teasingly slow, watching her eyes slowly follow the food as it was laid out onto the tray. I chuckled, which seemed to snap her out of her gaze. She had a slight blush as she left to go curl up in her corner, to which I followed her out and set the tray in front of her. I sat at my small table, and began to eat, though watching her while I did so.

Watching her magic work the way it did seriously boggled my mind. I mean, it was just.. floating. Funnily enough, it wasn't the strangest thing I've seen on the Rim, but it definitely was up there. While I was staring, she glanced over at me and gave a smile.

"You like to do that a lot." She said.

I chuckled. "You're one to talk."

We both laughed lightly while we continued to eat. A minute or so later Twilight was already finished, so she laid comfortably on the pillows and stared up to me. "What are you doing today?"

I shrugged, finishing off a small piece of meat in my mouth. "I think hunting. It's not that I need more meat, but more or less that I need more leather. I could make you your own little bed or somethin'." I continued to eat.

She shook her head. "I'm fine with the pillows and blankets. I don't want to trouble you."

"Nonsense!" I said, my mouth full. I covered my mouth with my hand until I finished, giving a nervous smile. "You deserve better than sleeping on the floor. It wont be a hassle, I swear. It'll actually help me practice my woodworking. And, after I make that, I'll most definitely have extra, which can be used for.. Well, whatever."

She gave me a smile. "Thank you."

She was definitely different than us humans. I've noticed that humans usually can't take compliments or someone insisting to do something for them without feeling guilty. While I worked on the ship, I would always compliment people, and they would usually deny it. If I insisted to do something for someone, they kept on denying. I guess us humans are just that prideful.

I finished off my tray, wiping my mouth with the sleeve of my parka as I stood up and headed over to my bed, picking up my rifle. I turned to her. "You want to come with?"

She gave me a nervous look. "I.. I don't know if I can hunt.."

"Why's that?"

She frowned slightly, looking away from me. "I don't know if I can.. kill.. anything."

Ah, I should've expected this. Hailing from a world that is based on peace and friendship and all of that, death and killing are probably extremely taboo. I shrugged. "You don't have to come, but it's sort of a requirement to live in this world. I don't want to make you do anything you won't want to do, but sometimes we don't want to do the things we have to."

I didn't want to make her feel like shit for not wanting to kill something, but if she was going to be here with me for.. however long, she needed to learn the basics of survival. Hunting was one of those basics. I mean, I never wanted to kill another person, but I had to learn and adapt to it. Sometimes, we need to be pushed out of our comfort zones to truly be able to survive.

She looked at me, a slight sadness in her eyes before she closed them and gave a sigh. Shaking her head, she stood up, her eyes now filled with a certain look of determination. "Alright.. Yeah, I'll go with."

"Great. I guess I'll have to teach you how to shoot then. Stay here for a second." I opened the door that led to the storage room, and stepped inside. I know there was a revolver somewhere around here. It wasn't the best thing, but it was viable. After a couple seconds of searching around, I found it. I picked it up, dusting it off with my gloves. I grabbed some bullets as well, and made my way back into the main room.

"Alright- you know those guns I was telling you about?" Twilight nodded. "This is one of 'em. I'm going to show you how this one works. You understand?"

She nodded, though I could tell she was slightly nervous. First things first when it comes to firearms is always etiquette. How to treat it, how to use it properly, and how to be safe with it. I showed her the side of the revolver, and pressed the release button for the cylinder. Pushing the other side with my other hand, the cylinder came out.

"This is how you open the cylinder. This is where the bullets go-" I showed her a single bullet before loading it into one of the cylinder holes. I closed the cylinder, and pulled the hammer of the revolver back. "- and how its ready to fire. Now, you never, never, ever point this at anyone that you don't want to shoot. You keep it aimed at the floor. Even if its not loaded. Okay?"

It took a few more minutes of explaining how the revolver worked, but I think she understood pretty well. I showed her multiple times how to load the revolver, and how to unload it. She got pretty fast, but she was using magic. It allowed her to do multiple actions at once without having the limitations of physical hands.

With that, she loaded all six cylinder-holes with bullets, and was ready to go hunting along with me.

I opened the front door, and began the journey to find something to hunt. It was no longer snowing, yet there was still a lot of snow on the ground. The sun was beaming high in the sky, making the day way warmer than the previous week. Both Twilight and I had traveled for a good fifteen minutes off into an unknown direction until we came into contact with a herd of elk passing by.

There was one at the end of the herd, travelling slower than the rest. It was the prime target.

I looked over to Twilight, who stared back at me nervously. I pointed at the elk, to which she nodded and raised the revolver with her magic. She did exactly as I instructed back at the house. She centered her aim with the elk, taking deep breaths. The shot wasn't exactly easy to hit, given the distance, but I believed luck might be on her side.

She breathed out and squeezed the trigger with her magic, the loud bang from the barrel of the revolver echoing throughout the area. The herd ran off together in a random direction, however the one she was aiming at had fallen onto the snow.

It was a perfect fucking shot.

It wasn't a body shot, it was a clean headshot. I made my way over to it with her, seeing up close just how good of a shot she made. It was right through the side of the head. I knelt down, examining the elk. It was of decent size, and didn't have any bodily injuries except for the obvious gunshot.

I glanced over at Twilight, who looked like she was conflicted with her emotions. She seemed happy that she was able to hit the target first try, especially so clean. Yet, I could tell she was having trouble accepting the fact that she just killed another creature.

"It didn't suffer, Twilight. It was instantaneous. This is the quickest, and least painful way to go out. Be proud, because any lower would've hit the body. And.. that would've been much more painful." This seemed to cheer her up a little, but not by much. I stood up.

"Do you think you could lift that thing with your magic or something?"

Without even a second going by, the corpse was picked up with a magical aura and hovered into the air. God damn I was jealous. I flashed a smile at her and made my way back to the house with her and the elk. It was much easier than dragging a corpse all the way into the house, so that was nice.

Though we weren't stopping at only one elk. There were others still out there, and any more we can pick off will just mean more meat and leather. As soon as we dropped that elk body off into the freezer, we immediately made our way back out into the cold snow once more, searching for those elk that ran away.

They couldn't have run far.

We both laid behind a small mound of snow as we spotted the elk off in the distance. It was a much farther range than before, but with my rifle it wouldn't be too difficult. I propped my rifle against the snow, taking aim at one of the stand-still elks in the distance. I slowed my breath, before giving out a large breath and squeezing the trigger. The shot rang echoed throughout the area, scattering all of the elk into another direction, but the one I was aiming for had dropped.

We both made our way over to the elk, before we noticed something.

It wasn't a clean shot.

The elk laid on the floor, it's breathing erratic. It kept trying to get up but it just couldn't, as the wound caused too much pain. It's head flailed around as it tried to get away from the both of us, obviously terrified. However, I wasn't concerned about the elk as much as I was concerned about Twilight handling this. As mentioned before, she wasn't used to killing anything, and seeing a creature in as much pain and agony as this one, might not be so great for her.

And, as I expected, Twilight had tears in her eyes.

I sighed, shaking my head and pulling a knife from my pocket. I could just shoot it, but that would be a waste of a bullet. I knelt down to the elks level, and used my left hand to keep its head still. I could hear the gasp from behind me as Twilight realized what I was going to do. I didn't hesitate, and plunged the knife right through the neck of the elk. I could feel its breathing slow, and its eyes began to stop frantically searching the area. Within the next minute, it stopped, now completely still.

I used some snow on the ground to wipe the blood off of my knife before slipping it back into my pocket, standing and turning back to Twilight. She obviously did not like what she just saw, but I wasn't going to say sorry. I did what I had to, and I'm not going to feel ashamed for that.

"I tried getting a clean shot, but I obviously missed. This is the next best thing to do." I said as I motioned for her to pick up the elk with her magic. I could tell she was getting cold from being out for a little while, and it was best to get this elk back into the house before some predator could smell the blood.

She hesitated picking it up, but did so a moment later, looking away from me. Was she upset? Or was she simply just sad at the event that just played out in front of her? What the hell would she have done? If I didn't do anything, it would've just bled out in agony.

I'll ask her about it when we're back at the house.

Twilight's POV

Am I really okay with this..?

Rex did it so quickly without hesitation. He was obviously used to doing it, seeming to know where to put the knife in. It was probably the best thing to do in that situation, but why do I feel so.. upset? Not at him, no. More like, i'm mad at the fact that he's forced to do something like that.

We take things for granted in Equestria. We got used to the fact that we don't have to fight for survival, but everything I've heard about this new world I'm on, that exactly what everyone here has to do. They have to kill, they have to struggle to survive because its apart of life here.

I'm upset that its a requirement in order to live here.

I've barely been here for three days now, and it's already hitting me harder than I thought. I'm not so sure that somepony will come and get me. Where would they start to try and find me? Maybe they'll never find me, and I'm stuck on this world until I end up like that elk.

The world can't be all bad though, can it? Perhaps Rex was exaggerating. They way he talked about the violence and the bloodshed on this world was casual, almost like he didn't even care. Even with how nice he acts to me, I can tell that he's definitely got a more violent side to him. Perhaps he wasn't exaggerating, and he's just got used to the violence and bloodshed? Maybe he copes with it by laughing about it.

I'm not sure..

And oh sweet Celestia, I ate meat.. He served it to me not knowing if I liked it or not, and I was so hungry that I just had to eat something.. And that first taste was so delicious.. The fact that it tasted so good frightened me. If anypony saw me they would exile me, for sure.

I have a strange feeling that this place will change me, for better or for worse. I feel lost.

I'm scared.

Twilight's been acting strange since we got back to the house. I had an idea why, but I still wasn't sure. She just sat back into her little corner, looking at the floor with a stern face. She was obviously thinking about things, and I didn't want to disturb her. Instead, while she was busy thinking, I was going to get these elks prepped up. Skinning, cutting their meat up, that sort of thing.

She didn't come to watch, for obvious reasons. Killing the creature was one thing, but watching it get skinned and all of that definitely would disturb anyone. It definitely disturbed me when I had to do it for my first time.

It took a little while to do all of that, but once I was done, the meat was all prepped up in their packages, and the leather that was left behind was put into storage. I would get working on a small bed sometime later, instead I wanted to chill out for a little while. I sat on my bed, looking around the room. It sure could use some decoration. Oh, what about a potted plant? That might be great. It'd give me a little something to do every once in awhile. Water it, take care of it, it'll be like a little kid, except you don't have to pay attention to it every five seconds.

Twilight, as stated before, was still in her corner, staring at the floor. Her wings would move slightly ever so often, and she would move around a little to get more comfy in her spot on top of the pillows. She certainly was in deep thought, though about what I couldn't tell.

Some of it had to have dealt with the elk from earlier. That I knew, but that alone couldn't have caused her this much stress, could it? I suppose it could actually, since she hasn't ever done anything like that. A lot of people I used to know, including myself, said that we could all hunt and kill animals if we had to, but actually doing it is a different story. First time I killed a rabbit, I felt so depressed for a day or two.

Why do they have to look so cute, but taste so good?

That was life on the RIm though. You've gotta' do things you aren't proud of, and things you never thought you'd ever be able to do before. Like, learning how to shoot. I remember that very well. Now i'm quite decent at it, but before I was complete dogshit. I would squeeze the trigger and the rifle would jump up out of my hands. I learned really quick to actually hold tight onto the damn thing.

"Rex?"

My eyes which were dancing across the room fell onto Twilight, who looked at me with her large eyes. She seemed anxious.

"Yeah?" I asked.

She shifted upon the pillows, tilting her head slightly. "Do you.. think somepony will come for me?"

I sighed. Of course this was what she was thinking about. I had the same thought when I landed. I didn't want to upset her, or to make her sad, but she wanted my honest opinion, right? She might be some magical being from another world, but as far as I knew, she was in the same boat I was.

"I thought somebody would come for me two years ago. Now look at me." I said with a nervous chuckle. "I can't tell you that the answer is no, but.. don't bank your hope on it."

I could see her shift on the pillows more after I said that. She obviously didn't like the answer, but she asked. She nodded her head, giving a light sigh. "Alright.. Thank you."

I shook my head. I didn't like seeing her upset. I scooted over on my bed and patted the side next to me. "Come sit."

She stared at me before looking at the spot I was patting with my hand, before standing up slowly and walking over to the bed. With a little jump, she made it on top of the bed and sat next to me, staring out at the front door.

"I know it doesn't mean a whole lot, but I'll be here for you as long as your around. Whether that means until somebody comes to pick you up, or if you're here for good. Either way, you got a friend in me." Her ears perked up and she looked at me, a slight smile on her face now.

"That's good to know." She stared back at the door once again.

I don't know what caused me to do this, but I rested my hand on top of her head and began to scratch between her ears, like you would do to a dog. She seemed to instantly freeze at my touch, and I immediately backed my hand away from her. Personal space was a thing, Rex. Did you forget since you've been out here for two years?

"Sorry." I said, before she gave a light chuckle.

"Don't worry.. I just wasn't expecting it." Her tone of voice was sweet and calm, much more different than anyone I've met on the planet. It was a nice change, to have someone kind to you.

"Does that mean I can continue?"

She smirked and turned to look at me. "Do you want to continue?"

Instead of responding, I put my hand back on her head and began scratching behind her ears once again. She stared back at the door, though she gave out a light hum as I continued to scratch. She seemed to be enjoying the head-massage, and oddly enough, I was enjoying doing it.

She's much happier now than she was a couple hours ago.

I'm glad.

Author's Note

Let me know how I did on this chapter!

If you liked it, be sure to comment, and if you have criticism, be sure to comment too!

I usually respond to comments, and if I don't, don't worry about it! I read all of them, promise.

And to anyone who needs it,

Others may not know about your pain and the troubles you've gone through in life. It is not their fault that they do not know, and you should never hold it against them. Instead, talk about your experiences in a way that doesn't sound like your trying to one-up them. You can turn your pain into wisdom.